News
Five favourite gadgets for the kit bag
I’ve got quite a bit of travel coming up over the next few months and these five gadgets have become must haves in my kit bag. Do let me know if you’ve got any essential travel gadgets that you don’t leave home without. 1. Novatel Mifi 2352 portable wireless hotspot Stick in a SIM card […]
What to do about Greece?
It wasn’t so long ago that the Germans adored the Greeks. Cast your mind back to 2004 and the European football championship. It was a fairy tale football finale for Greece, cheered on whole heartedly by Germans, who though a tad shocked after their national side was knocked out, were elated that Greece was guided […]
Is the era of two tribes politics over?
Will reform of the political system be inevitable after the election on 6 May? Vernon Bogdanor, professor of government at Oxford University, described as the doyen among British constitutional scholars will be at the Frontline Club on the eve of the election to discuss the implications should traditional Labour-Tory dominance be ended in the polls. […]
Climategate: Trust in climate science under the microscope
When Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth was released in 2006, global warming and climate change were at the top of the news agenda around the world. Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were rewarded with the Nobel Peace Price for "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about […]
Wikileaks, journalism and the military
I did mention the possibility of writing a piece on the publication of a US military video by Wikileaks which depicted two Reuters journalists being killed in Iraq in 2007. But one of my colleagues at the War Studies Department, Jack McDonald, has beaten me to it. While not representing my own views, he does […]
Military bloggers turn on Michael Yon after comments about McChrystal
A while ago now I wrote about Michael Yon and the end of his embed with the British Army in Afghanistan. Well it seems the lightning has struck again – only this time much harder. Another Yon embed came to what he regarded as a premature end earlier in the month, but this time rather […]
Nick Clegg rides Sky high: The second leaders’ debate
View in iTunes While there were no definitive answers on Trident, Iran, or immigration at last night’s second televised leaders’ debate, one thing is for sure: it was an entertaining night of political theatre as Britain’s three vying political leaders grappled with foreign policy and the new televised format. The Frontline Club screened the second […]
World Politics Review: Disputes Threaten Chad-Sudan Peace Deal
Crashed Chadian helicopter. David Axe photo. by DAVID AXE On April 16, a Chadian helicopter with at least three people aboard crashed in Adre, a town abutting the border with Sudan in the desert region shared by the two countries. One person died in the crash, while two were injured. The incident was an unwelcome […]
Ambassador-at-Last
As anti-American hysteria of official Baku reaches its climax these days, Steve LeVine brings back an old rumour – after nearly eight months with a Chargé d’affaires, US has decided to appoint an ambassador to Baku.
The Liberal Democrats: Strident change or Trident tweaking?
So the Liberal Democrats want to scrap, replace, consider replacing…hang on a minute, let’s find the manifesto…"commit not to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system on a like-for-like basis" if they are voted into office. And I would be very surprised if the Trident issue fails to make an appearance in tonight’s leaders’ debate. After […]
Frontline Club Networking Party: Freelance video journalism showcase
For our next Frontline Club networking party, we’re inviting members, guests and friends to join us in celebrating the very best in independent video journalism.
Leaders’ Debate at the Frontline: Is it really a three-horse race?
Last week’s historic political party leaders’ debate showed just how uncertain the result of 2010 election will be (here’s The Times’ coverage). Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was considered the winner of the debate in many opinion polls, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted his defeat, at least in terms of style and delivery Brown claimed […]
Livestock and Too Many Smoking Barrels.
As predicted in the post on Somali Victory in the World Cup, K’naan did indeed wave a couple of Juno awards. He won both Artist Songwriter of the year 2010, his manager Sol Guy breaking the news on his Twitter page. While K’naan fans in the diasporas will no doubt be celebrating, no one in the […]
Social media for social change comes to the Caucasus
Tbilisi, Georgia, and a conference on using social media for social change. Nothing new in that for many people reading this blog, perhaps, but low Internet penetration thanks to high costs and slow connections makes the situation somewhat different in the South Caucasus. A 4 mb/s connection in Georgia, for example, costs around […]
In the Picture: Haiti earthquake with David Levene, Roger Tooth and Inigo Gilmore
View in iTunes David Levene spoke at the Frontline Club on Friday to Roger Tooth, head of photography for the Guardian, about videoing and photographing the earthquake in Haiti. We were joined live from Port-au-Prince by Inigo Gilmore, who reported in the aftermath of the earthquake for Channel 4. If you missed the event you […]
Neil MacFarquhar’s tales of ordinary Middle Eastern life
"When you work for the New York Times, people expect you to know everything," according to Neil MacFarquhar. The journalist remembered: "Like the time I was at a dinner party in San Francisco and a woman came up to me and asked ‘Are there any normal people in the Middle East? People like you and […]
Sundays have never tasted so good….
Come and enjoy a delicious Sunday roast at Frontline; 2 courses for £15 (12pm-4pm)- and then why not wonder upstairs for a 4 o’clock screening.
Pre Theatre Menu
We have a specially selected 2 course menu for diners heading off to a screening, discussion or even the west end. Order by 6.30pm
Superinjunctions at the Frontline: Heated debate on libel cost controls
By Jasper Jackson The threat to freedom of speech from costly libel cases and the "chilling" fear of legal action could be alleviated by reforming the system to deal with smaller cases faster and cap the maximum costs lawyers can charge. That was at least one agreement in an otherwise combative debate amongst the panel […]
Are you going to vote on the basis of defence policy?
Heard your local parliamentary candidates talking about defence policy and their parties’ plans for the defence industry recently? You might have done if you live in a constituency with specific military or defence industry links. Dorset South, for example, includes Bovington Army camp and the MP for South Ribble notes that his constituency in Lancashire […]
Anti-dog fatwas, famous Lebanese chefs and comedy shows in Saudi Arabia: reporting the under-exposed side of life in the Middle East
From bloggers taking on the government in Bahrain to a satirical comedy show that has attracted millions of viewers and caused outrage in Saudi Arabia, Neil MacFarquhar has always been drawn to the people and groups that influence daily Arab life, steering away from more typical tales of conflict, death and revenge when he can. […]
Georgia Mourns ‘Hero’ Kaczynski
Lech Kaczynski may have been a controversial figure in his native Poland, but here in Georgia, he was seen as a great and principled leader, and many people are genuinely upset by his death in a plane crash on April 10. That’s because of Kaczynski’s robust support for this country during and after the war […]
Rise of the superinjunction: why libel reform matters to journalism
Download this episode View in iTunes By Ewan Palmer and Patrick Smith The shark-infested waters of UK media law could be about to get a little safer, thanks to Ministry of Justice reforms to curb extortionate lawyer success fees earned through "no win no fee" conditional fee arrangement cases (CFA). But Jack Straw’s quick-fire […]
Whir of helicopters drowns out some serious defence questions
This post you’ll note is a little off topic. That’s because I’m really writing it for Talk Issues, a new group blog set up to look at the issues that matter in the imminent General Election here in the UK. Hopefully, I’ll be dipping into this mode occasionally to write about defence policy. So here […]
First Wednesday: Exporting Russia’s radical Islam to the West
By Heather Christie Is Russia’s radical Muslim movement related to the global jihad movement? Or are the targeted attacks executed in Russia fundamentally different from those that take place in the West? That tricky question was debated at April’s First Wednesday event at the Frontline Club, after the recent Moscow metro bombings. If you couldn’t […]
Haiti photographs: Too shocking or a necessity?
The earthquake in Haiti is thought to have killed more than 200 000 people and has seen some harrowing imaged published around the world in an attempt to show the true extent of the devastation. Were the images of death and suffering too shocking to be shown in the first place or were journalists merely […]
Going Solo: Freelance multimedia journalism is nothing to be scared of
By Jasper Jackson Journalists embarking on a freelance career should not be afraid of going it alone, but they must take advantage of new technology and multimedia toll to get noticed, according to a Frontline Club panel of freelance experts. If you couldn’t make the event, here is a video of the whole thing in […]
Wikileaks video portrays the dangers of reporting the war on terror
By Ewan Palmer Last night Wikileaks revealed a shocking video of two US military helicopters killing a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad, including two staff members of Reuters. The footage was shot in 2007 and shows an unprovoked attack filmed from one of two Apache military helicopters. Two children were also […]
My Pakistan Reading List
I move to Islamabad on Wednesday to become The Telegraph’s Pakistan correspondent. Here is my current reading list: In the Line of Fire by Pervez Musharraf – currently still sitting in a warehouse somewhere, and I fear this won’t arrive in time A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif – novels tend to have […]
Rules of the Game- Detention, Deportation, Disappearance
Rules of the Game by Asim Qureshi “The Rules of the Game belongs to those who have suffered the most throughout the ‘War on Terror- the victims and their families.” This opening line of the book gave me goose bumps since exactly eight years ago today, the ‘War on Terror’ came banging on my door […]
