MR HACK N0. 104

 

 

It is good to bring you good, happy news ... Betty Rainsford (nee Lowry) is well known to a whole raft of journalists. She was at one time Woman's Editor of the Belfast Telegraph and carried out that job with style and skill. She celebrated her 90th birthday on Monday and a group of her ex-colleagues thought it would be a good idea to mark the occasion with a lunch at the Reform Club in the heart of Belfast. A good time was had by all ... and the pictures show that clearly. Present (in no particular order) were three editors of the Belfast Telegraph - Roy Lilley, Ed Curran and Martin Lindsay. Plus Belfast Telegraph's best known and legendary sports editor, Malcolm Brodie along with ex-colleagues from the Features Dept. of those early days, Billy Graham and Blogmaster John Caruth. Also present to celebrate was an old friend, Desmond McGimpsey, ex-Northern Whig, the Press Association and later with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. And last but not least: Suzanne Lowry who happily took the time and trouble to fly from France to attend. Along with the two pictures featured here, we have an album, Betty's 90th Birthday with additional views of the lunch.

Comments

[Chris Ryder]

There was a celebration of the life of former Sunday Times photographer, Peter Dunne, in his home village of Fendrayton, Cambs on Sunday afternoon. Copyboy Cal McCrystal was among many old ST hacks who attended. The village hall was hung with many of his finest photographs but my favourite was actually a Bryan Wharton portrait of 'the Colonel' himself, as he was affectionately known, taken shortly before he died . The caption referred to a conversation with his doctor as Pete was nearing the end. Asked if he had any beliefs he replied emphatically: 'Indeed I do. I believe that Plymouth gin is infinitely superior to Gordons.'

Collapse of doctor onto Peter's bed.

[Smyth]

I must take issue with Mr McGimpsey's note about a ``local'' in Bundoran talking about ``tunder'' coming. I'm in Bundoran at the minute and I can assure him the locals speak with a very northern accent, no dropping of the aitches. You've gotta go farther south to hear the brogue.

[ruthie]

For those Copyboys who are interested in music, check out Claudia Clendinning singing on You Tube. Classical and pop covers etc.
New songs coming soon from new CD and a specially written one recorded in Dublin.

[Smyth]

Here in Donegal I'm impressed with the political coverage of the Dail and Aras etc. in the Irish Daily Mail, but not so much impressed with the rest of the paper: I think they've set their sights too low -- routine court cases, for instance, where their equivalent in England wouldn't make a ``national'' paper. But I see the other ``Irish'' titles -- Star, Mirror -- hardly touch the political scene. Wonder why the Express stays severely away from Irish coverage.

[Chris Ryder]

Cost.

[Chris Ryder]

And total disinterest, of course.

[A.McQ.]

The TV people have been having a field day with the phone hacking scandal and all the assorted bits and bobs going with it. But what about last night's ITV "flagship" documentary on Gaddafi and the IRA and the phoney clip? I nearly fell off my seat when I saw the "shooting down of the British helicopter." It turns out today that it was from a shoot-'em-up video game "mistakenly inserted during editing!" Oh yeah. And some of the other stuff was quite blatantly from newsreel coverage of the recent Libyan uprising. And then they topped if all off with "quotes" from MI6 about some Libyan courier arriving in UK with a case containing more than a million pounds to be handed over to "Dissident Republicans" by a courier who went to ground in a safe house behind Harrods - another gift from Gadaffi while he was on the run! Really classic investigative journalism - most of the stuff was so old it's got a very long grey beard. If a newspaper had done that the TV holier-than-thou brigade would have been screaming their heads off. What a bloody shower.

[A.McQ.]

Still on TV: Has the programme about The Europa been aired yet and if so what is the verdict? I'm sure Mr Ryder will pen us a critique. Chris?

[Blogmaster]

We have no interest in politics around here either, happily ...

[Chris Ryder]

Europa doc went out on BBC NI last night. Should get a national slot soon. Will keep you posted. As I was involved feel it best left to others to pen critique.

Did not see rival Gadaffi programme - in which old Mirror hand Sylvia Jones was involved. But use of video game footage undermines credibility of entire programme.

Also having heard grapevine reports and reaction today it was a documentary worthy of the best efforts of the old 'Lisburn lie machine' still
apparently with some lingering gasps in it.

[Simpson]

Sadly I missed all these great TV documentaries due to circumstances well within my control. Read the TV schedule and asked myself, am I really in the mood for more politics and old bomb blasts? No. It had been a rough day and watching old scabs being scraped until they bleed again seemed a bit like having a root filling. Dug out an old western from my movie library and watched Randolph Scott gun down Richard Boone and a couple of his henchmen. Occasionaly I require a little western frontier therapy to relieve the stress of a hard day. Gadaffi and the IRA wouldn't have worked. I'll watch them some time when I want to feel bitter.

[sm]

I'm with you Mr Chairman. A good old Western beats the hell out of the Europa, the IRA and old footage of bombs and riots any day!

[JC]

Went to listen to Barry Norman, who was one of the excellent guests on the Aspects series of talks at Bangor Town Hall last week. He spoke for an hour without notes about films, the stars he's interviewed and not, and about his life in journalism before he was persuaded to put himself before a television camera and where he stayed successfully for more than 30 years. One film he did not rate was Oceans 11 (the original with the Sinatra clan). He thought the George Clooney remake was much better ... the original cast he felt spent too much time partying and drinking instead of concentrating on their acting. I thought the original was quite good fun.

[Smyth]

A million pounds in a suitcase. Is that possible? What's the largest-denomination banknote: 50, 100 pounds?

[Blogmaster]

MOTORING NEWS ...

I hear that Sue Corbett, one of the few female motoring correspondents around, has been 'sacked' from her long-serving job with Sunday Life ... Her successor, somewhat surprisingly to some, is Paul Connolly, the Belfast Telegraph's Reader's Editor ... it seems he is also going to be the new motoring correspondent for the Telegraph itself, which will possibily amuse its long-serving man who held that post, Derek Black.

[A.McQ.]

Saw the Europa documentary on iPlayer. And they say nostalgia is a thing of the past...Well done, too, Big Chris.

[Chris Ryder]

Thanks.

[Derek Black]

Reports of Sue's demise may be a little premature - she tells me she will be continuing to contribute. A new motoring corr at the BT would be welcome instead of all the advertorial. I wish him well and hope they give him enough time to do a proper job!

[Ian Sanderson]

Regarding the denomination of banknotes... during my time with the (then) Belfast Banking Company (circa 1959)I was involved in the transportation of two one thousand pound notes from the Shankill Road branch to Head Office in Waring Street.
One of our weathier customers wanted to give them to his daughter and her fiance as a wedding present.
I had to have an armed escort in the back seat of an ordinary taxi, clutching an ordinary envelope containing the notes.. which I have to say were grubby and well handled... and, yes - ordinary. The only thing that set them apart was the magic 1,000... more money then sense, I'd say...

[Smyth]

Wikipedia tells me that 50 pound notes are the highest denom. in England, and 100 pound notes in Scotland and N ireland. It also says (and this surprised me)
``BAnk of England notes are the only banknotes that are legal tender in England and Wales. Scottish and Northern Ireland banknotes are not legal tender anywhere, and Jersey, Guernsey and Manx banknotes are only legal tender in their respective jurisdictions. The fact that these banknotes are not legal tender in the UK does not however mean that they are illegal under English law, and creditors and traders may accept them if they so choose. Traders may, on the other hand, choose not to accept banknotes as payment as contract law across the United Kingdom allows parties not to engage in a transaction at the point of payment if they choose not to.[16]

In Scotland and Northern Ireland no banknotes, not even ones issued in those countries, are legal tender.[9] They have a similar legal standing to cheques or debit cards, in that their acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved, although Scots law requires any reasonable offer for settlement of a debt to be accepted.''

[Derek Black]

Ah that hoary old one. I used to have problems with Northern Bank notes when I was in England but now in Scotland. Once in Newcastle on Tyne a taxi driver almost threw me out of his cab. In more recent times, however, I have used NI notes in London without them being challenged. Legal tender or not you can still spend them.

[Blogmaster]

Reading a fascinating interview with Alex Ferguson in yesterday's Daily Telegraph Sport about how television had become the 'devil' or even better 'God' over football, but what caught my eye was the fact that the interview was granted to North West Tonight originally as a tribute and to mark the retirement of the show's long-time host, our friend and former Krypton Factor presenter Gordon Burns. Congratulations Gordon, if that is in order and well done on years of good service. Cheers from us.

[ruthie]

Its a small world. Met a freelance sports photographer at Lisbon airport last year and told him there was money to be made in shooting at championship equine sports.
Couldn't understand who this guy was kept smiling and waving at me in the press room of the World Young Horse championships in Belgium last weekend.
Transpired it was the same camera man I met in Lisbon.
Another camera man I know in Paris earns one million euro a year doing racing photography alone.
I knew I was in the wrong business all along.

[Cal McCrystal]

A favourite pessimist of mine is Norberto R. Keppe, Ph.D., a pschoanalyst, educator, et al. whose book on the pathology of power came out in the 1980s. In it he said our social structure is in a calamitous state and that if we continue as we are, our end as a civilization is near. I couldn’t agree more. Has anyone, other than myself, noticed how adults in these islands are straining to return to the womb? Walk down the street and what do you find? You find nearly every man wearing short pants and with his head shaved to look like a baby’s. Look again and, yes, he’s carrying a schoolbag/satchel over his shoulder or over his back. He’s bawling or whingeing and holding his ear as if he’d just been chastised with a slap. Women in the street also appear to have had a slapped ear because their hand is covering it and they are also whingeing and bawling like children. Their short skirts look like slipped bibs. Both men and women when not whingeing and bawling are sucking on bottles - these bottles being as ubiquitous among them as comforters are for infants. What’s going on?

[Chairman]

The problem Cal is that many of our generation where raised in a society where it was instilled into us that happiness was not something to chase. It was a by-product of doing something useful. Not a constant but an occasional visitor. Sadly there is a growing belief that happiness is an entitlement and if you are not in a constant state of euphoria, your life is crap. Hence the popularity of the bottle and the needle to provide instant happiness that you don't have to work at. And chemically induced happiness tends to involve some bitter hangovers. The frontiers of sin have been pushed so far back by the permissive society, even a frontiersman like the Marquis deSade, today, might have trouble qualifying for a ticket to hell. Oh Dear. I've started sounding like me Da.

[Chris Ryder]

I deplore the demise of what were once social norms. Proper dress. Politeness. Respect. Consideration. Common sense. Red wine in one arm and White in the other and let me expire in gradual inebriation. But not for wee while yet.

[JC]

... and too many drivers don't indicate their intentions at roundabouts annoys me greatly.

[Cal McCrystal]

Oh, I haven’t finished. An increasing number of adult men wear their trousers well below the waistline, exposing what my friend and former Sunday Times colleague Walter Ellis calls “buttockial cleavage”. That means the crotch of the garment is level with their knees, giving the appearance of a baby with a over-laden nappy. One of these would-be infants was crossing my local High Street the other day when his rompers fell down and tripped him up. So many of these adults have their skin painted (tattoos on head, neck, cheeks shoulders, arms, hands and legs) that one is reminded of nursery school face-painting. Grown women with absurdly high heels resemble children learning to walk on stilts. Grown men often carry rattles to a field where other grown men scramble to kick a ball. Like toddlers, they can’t pronounce words: “wanna”, “dunno” “whah?”, “axe” (for “ask”), “muvver,”, “favver”, “bruvver”. Like infants, numerous adults, male and femal enjoy public nudity. In my local park I’ve see couples chasing one another bare-arsely through the cow parsley in order to hasten copulation. I seldom see these people with prams, but I can easily imagine them inside supermarket trolleys, feet in the air, thumbs in mouth, or singing “Mama Mia, I’ve got diarrhoea ...”

[Terence Bowman]

I know it could be viewed as shameless self-promotion – it’s never held others back – but in case there’s an interest in the past County Down Spectator/ Spectator Newspapers journalists who have contributed their memories to “Bangor in the Seventies”, which is due in the shops by the end of next week, here’s the list:
Peter Gibson (News Letter and Belfast Telegraph) – still working in Vancouver.
John Savage (Newtownards Chronicle) – Can anyone match or indeed beat John’s career longevity? Next year he notches up 40 years, all with the same company and still in his mid-50s.
Michael Megarry (Belfast Telegraph) – now working for Shell in The Netherlands.
Mervyn Jess (Newtownards Chronicle, Downtown Radio and BBC Northern Ireland) – has penned a tribute to the late Philip Conaty (DTR and BBC Northern Ireland).
Peter Russell (DTR) – writing, painting and developing internet projects.
David Crossen (Belfast Telegraph) – now in Queensland, Australia, where he is Editor-in Chief of Quest Newspapers’ Sunshine Coast division.
Author Colin Bateman and Ian Alexander who is still very much involved in running Spectator Newspapers, are also among the contributors.
There’s an official launch ‘do’ at the North Down Museum at 7.30pm on 3 November and members are very welcome. Can’t promise all the above but some will definitely be there. Did I mention the free wine?

Posted by: Terence Bowman |

[ruthie]

Sounds super, a bit far for me but have a great night.
Very impressive list of journos indeed.
Keep us posted.

[Chris Ryder]

Some of you might like to go to this Festival event:

Belfast Festival at Queen's
The Press Club: The Europa 40th Birthday Debate
Venue :Penthouse Suite, Europa Hotel, Belfast
Times : 25 Oct 2011 7:30PM - 25 Oct 2011 10:01PM
Booking information :
Book online
Tickets: £7.50

Do you think there should be statutory regulation of the news media?

In the aftermath of the great phone-hacking controversy - your chance to have your say at the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s Europa Debate

Hear a panel of prominent speakers, have your say and vote on what you think.

Chaired by Noel Thompson

Presenter BBC Newsline and Hearts and Minds

Introduction: Sir Billy Hastings

Speakers:

Chris Bryant MP

Labour MP for the Rhonnda

Paul Tweed

Belfast based International libel and defamation lawyer

Bob Satchwell

Director Society of Editors

Suzanne Breen

Freelance journalist

Penthouse Suite Europa Hotel Belfast Tuesday 25 October 2011 at 7.30pm

Afterwards stay for a drink at the Penthouse Press Club Bar. Open until 12.30am.

Further Information
For further information please contact Belfast Festival on 02890 971197 or email festivalservice@qub.ac.uk

[Smyth]

It used to be , surely, that one ``stood'' for elected office. Now, I note from the Irish papers here (in Donegal) that Martin McGuinness et al are ``running'' for the presidency. Another example of creeping Americanisms? Soon you'll be talking on cellphones and changing diapers.

[ruthie]

Firemen also became firefighters.
And 'like' became the 'in' word before and after all sentences.
Not forgetting that all important word 'huge' now used by all broadcasters, reporters and weather people.

[Chairman]

Who is the freak on Hack 85 with the snake oil cure for everything? I expect the blogmaster will eradicate him/her/it when he returns from England shortly. Job done ... even on our hols!!

[Cal McCrystal]

It's spam. I'm afraid the new Spivocracy has details of all our privaate correspondence. But surely there must be a way of excluding these Mafiosi!

[A.McQ.]

There's a wonderful story in today's Daily Mail with a detective - about to retire - calling lawyers Robbers In Suits. And, of course, there's more lawyers banged up in various chokeys throughout the land than representatives of our inky trade. More coppers as well.

[Michael]

**RANT ALERT**

A few weeks back I was ranting about the loss of the embargo system and speeches released in advance being presented as news. Cue another rant about the latest development ...

The meejah made much of David Cameron's Conservative conference exhortation to pay off our credit card bills, which I thought he intended as a personal example of the national need to pay off our debts. It was the lead in one of the tabloids and the Beeb ran it in most bulletins.

When Mr. Cameron actually delivered his speech the reference to credit cards had been deleted. Shock horror ... the meejah immediately reported this as a U-turn by Cameron, with much furious hand-flapping as hack spoke onto hack about its significance.

On second thoughts, delete noun hack, subst media person. Any old hack worth the title will remember the warning at the top of PA and Reuter copy over the Creed. EMBARGO: Not to be published before the stated time ... Must be checked against delivery.

All clear. Rant alert cancelled. Apologies to all.

[A.McQ.]

Michael: It was also widely reported yesterday that when Call-Me-Dave and his caravan of meeja advisers saw the reaction to the proposed reference to credit cards they quickly had the speech redrafted. It's an old trick - so-called PR man leaks parts of speech to guage reaction then has it changed if reaction is hostile or mocking. Simply shows the politicians and meeja "experts" for what they are - a collection of chancers.

[Chris Ryder]

But that was in the days when reporters took shorthand notes of speeches. If they didn't put out texts these days not a word would appear in the newspapers and the camera crews would not know when the sound bite was coming. News management or spoon fed journalism? Bit of both I'd say.

[Michael]

Quite so, these are points I should have made, they reflect sadly on today's journalism as strained through the sieve of PR.

One meejahperson even commented on the PRdroids' enforced segregation between the meejah and the Great Ones. Presumably this explains the frequent interviews between the handflappers themselves ... oh dear, I'm off again

[A.McQ.]

Of course "back in the day" official spokesman were of the calibre of Tommy Roberts, David Gilliland, Bill McGookin etc. All had a track record in journalism before crossing to the other side. Today's lot are mainly a collection of "on-message" zealots. But while we're having a pop at the PR personages we should pause to have a look at ourselves or, more correctly, those who have succeeded us. John Dale, former Daily Mail reporter and for a long time editor of Take A Break Magazine, has penned an interesting piece for UKPG about freebies. Part of it is on the Press Gazette website.

[Cal McCrystal]

John Dale has pressed the right button. Over the decades, we have tended to ignore, or forget the corrupting influences to which we may have succumbed. Travel features are the most common seducers of course. The Indie did make a brave attempt to resist company favours, but in the end it too succumbed. However, since we're on the subject, should we not regard being embedded with troops in a war situation as more of the same? After all, by going along with the practice we are accepting favours in order to be controlled in our journalism.

[A.McQ.]

A couple of years back a national newspaper phone me and asked how "I was fixed for a foreign job - a two page spread." Have passport will travel as long as the fee and expenses are ok was my response. No no, I'd got it wrong. There was no fee as it was a travel feature and I would get "a free holiday" out of it. Expenses? No exes, not even mileage to the airport or airport parking. I declined, but not very politely and they've never bothered me since.

[Chairman]

It's been estimated that today organised crime probably employs more lawyers and PR consultants than it does hit men. Presumably because there are some things even a hit man won't stoop to.

[RedRick]

Headline seen on the Belfast Telegraph website - "Gutted McGinley must go under the knife, yet again".
Can't be much of him left to remove???

[Chris Ryder]

Some of the worst freebie abuses concern fashion shoots where all editorial independence seems to be abandoned in exchange for sponsorship to do shoots in exotic locations.

Also some of the people taking freebie travel trips are already highly paid and should know better than to compromise their journalistic integrity.

[Blogmaster]

We shouldn't let the day pass without recording the fact that the Independent (English version) is celebrating its 25th anniversary ... here are a couple of articles marking the event, the first by its original editor Andreas Whittam Smith.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/a-25year-adventure-the-independent-celebrates-a-quarter-of-a-century-2366676.html

[Cal McCrystal]

Have government cuts included The Copyboys? If so, they seem to have curtailed activity somewhat.

[Chairman]

This is an appeal for financial support to help me sue all the popular newspapers over the phone hacking scandal. Notice how they discriminated in favour of celebrities and folk who've slept with celebrities. People who are living life on the edge and doing exciting things. The hackers never bothered their arse about tapping into my phone. Blatant discrimination against dull people. Nonentities should have been able to get a crack at all those millions being paid out to rich stars who don't need it. So this is an appeal for the dosh to hire an ambulance chasing shyster to fight for equal rights for us dull people to get an 'agreed settlement' of a large cheque with lots of zeros on it. We'll have to provide a united front in case there is a counter claim from some private detective claiming listening to my boring calls sent him into a coma. So start the ball rolling. No cheques. Just unmarked notes in the traditional brown envelope. No receipts will be returned so as not to put any more pressure on the rain forest than is absolutely necessary.

[Simpson]

Perhaps this rant belongs in another section but for what its worth, one of the things that has got up my nose since the 1950s was the fact that so many films and television shows felt they had to include the obligitory misunderstood teenager. A role usually played by wannabe James Deans, all of whom lacked that actor's charisma. Have no idea whether Dean was a great actor or not. All I ever saw him play was whiney-nobody-understands-me misfits. Which he was very good at. But from then on the screens were filled with whiney teenage boys crying that their dad/mother/girlfriend/bookie didn't understand them. Well the TCM TV channel has recently resurected the old western series from the 60s and 70s, "The High Chaparral" which wasn't a bad series with Lief Erickson and Linda Cristal. Plenty of action, good actors and apart from trying to put late 20th century sensibilities into the dialogue of 19th century pioneers, not bad for its kind. But sadly unwatchable by me due to the inclusion of the obligatory whiney teenage cowpoke in the person of an actor called Mark Slade. A man in his 30s when he got the part and pushing 40 when the series ended, still whining and still misunderstood. Tried watching a couple of episodes recently and could not take Mr. Slade's performance for more than a few minutes. Erickson was a solid character actor who deserved to be a star and Linda Cristal (now as old as I am) was very easy to look at. But having to endure Mr. Slade was worse than trying to watch a late night movie with that little man in the corner of the screen waving semiphore at the deaf. Sub-titles would make more sense. And what makes broadcasters imagine that the deaf only come out after midnight?

[Michael]

We all receive emails from Nigerian generals who want to give us $50 million in exchange for a small contribution to their legal fees. Less amusing was the story in The Times last month about the middle-aged woman who lost £20k to an internet romeo.

Copyboys with a deviant turn of mind may enjoy http://forum.419eater.com/forum/ where some 30,000 very odd people reply to these generous offers rather than deleting them. The 419 refers to the Nigerian penal code which deals with such scams.

The idea is to waste the scammer's time, often with hilarious results. Scammer A may be led to believe that Scammer B has stolen his payment. The diplomat or barrister who requires payment before the 'funds' can be released has a difficult time: "The UN Diplomat feel so embaranced going to Money Gram twice without receiving any money from Money Gram".

It might raise a few smiles these grey days.

[chairman]

I see that freak flogging snake oil cures has attached himself to Hack 85 again. Don't click on to any of his links. It could poison the blog and may not do your computer any good either. Blogmaster will dispose of him/her/it when he returns from England in a day or two. (Mission accomplished, Mr. Chairman.)

[A.McQ.]

Ah, so that's what it was - a blagger on the loose. I thought for a moment when I opened it that The Best Chairman We Ever Had was attempting to file copy after a decent gourmet lunch as befits a personage of his standing with a snake-hipped, long-legged and buxom blonde PR lady who had spent several hours massaging his ego. Ah well, we can always dream.

[ruthie]

Some really funny stories on Hack 104
have had a laff today.