The Chinese, By Stealth

Learning from Wikileaks. Or not


A nice example of how even the skeptical, worldly-wise, wiki-leaking press still swallows everything whole. The Grauniad covers the news that China's new stealth fighter may be based on technology obtained by reverse-engineering bits of a US stealth plane shot down over Serbia. Charmingly, it goes on to say:

"The Chengdu J-20 made its inaugural flight on 11 January, revealing dramatic progress in the country's efforts to develop cutting-edge military technologies. It is at least eight or nine years from entering service."

At least 8 or 9 years, eh ? And you knew this by, err, looking at it, right ? You can just sort of tell.

And this would be the Chinese who couldn't feed themselves, so they definitely couldn't develop an H-bomb ? The Chinese who would crush Hong Kong's business activity by their heavy-handed takeover ? The Chinese who would struggle to industrialize because they have no oil ?

Oh dear oh dear.

ND

Andy Burnham hasn't got the X Factor

Andy Burnham can't be a real politician. A real politician looks for certain things in their policies. Number one is is it beneficial.{ie beneficial to the introducer.} Then there is media coverage, seeking to reinforce belief, narrative or previous position. Cost. Public opinion.Commons support and necessity amongst others.
So why was he against the product placement ban? The ban exists to prevent companies placing their wares in full view of the public on the television and benefiting from a perceived association. The reasoning is that ordinary members of the public are very stupid. If a news reader on Channel Four has a Starbucks on their desk, then they are implying that Starbucks is a caring, sharing, thoughtful, edgy,independent but deeply public service committed kind of coffee. If you drink Starbucks you would have a Liberal outlook. If a Coca Cola appears on Coronation street then the drinker is a rabid right wing, Fox news, Republican, warmongering, third world enslaving nuclear button pressing maniac. Also the argument extends to advertisers would put pressure on TV companies to make long infomercials disguised as drama or something. {it doesn't apply to magazines,video games,blogs,books,newspapers, tube advertising ..for some reason.}
This is nonsense, but even if it weren't, there is a very good economic argument for allowing product placement. That is the Independent television companies are doing an HBoS. Channel 4 was supposed to tie up with BBC Worldwide {announced back in January} But this looks like a collapsed deal. C4 do not like the terms.

C4, BBC, ITV and C5 bosses have all forgone bonuses, they have sacked workers and held down pay. Channel Five has slashed its value by more than half. The TV companies that rely on advertising revenues are really suffering from the downturn, advertising moving platforms and falling mass audience share. As they said about Royal Mail recently, the status quo cannot continue.
Naturally safeguards were being discussed that would have meant no products placed in News, Children's, Political campaigns or Documentaries. There would of course be a code of conduct and full on regulation. In the USA there are higher standards for news than for entertainment. Assume the same would apply here, only more so.
So it seems odd that Mr Burnham would not have embraced with open arms something that would help alleviate their suffering. Mr Burnham sparked some mild controversy back in June 08 when he appeared to rule out product placement ahead of a debate on the matter. After all its such good strategy and fits so nicely in the overall plan of state intervention , bailouts and help for hardworkingfamilies.
The companies get extra revenue. It costs the government zero. It shows helping out of the media industry during 'these difficult times' It is easy to achieve and quick to implement (BBC "Relaxing the usage of product placement would inject more than £72m into the UK television market in the short-term."} so the effects will be felt in time. And its aimed at the media themselves so will generate thousands of words of praise for the government.
Its not as if many of the top programs on our screens don't come from the USA already. Lost,West Wing,Sopranos,The Wire, Big Bang theory, America's top model..? etc. They all have product placement. They just blur the logo. As do just about every program. Inspector Morse drove a Jaguar. The X factor is one long advert for the X factor. . The white and silver parkas that Bianca wore for about seven years in Eastenders was sold by a well known discount store. BBC have teams that go out looking for certain types of clothes. A Hoodie, a druggie, a retired major etc. They don't print Matalan on the side, but if you know..then you know. So if someone in the Queen Vic asks for A pint of Guinness and pack of skips,instead of a "pint please Peggy" would this really damage the show and the integrity of the nation

The picture at the top has this caption.
Which goes to reinforce the thinness of the argument.
We were settling down with our tea to watch Eastenders the other night and were amazed to discover Brothers Pear Cider is now stocked in the Queen Vic. Peggy Mitchell is obviously a lady of great taste.We will have to put the Queen Vic on our Cider Finder, where all our known stockists are listed.

Meanwhile the campaign for a diverse, democratic and accountable media welcomed the ban.

Do As We Say Government

Our embattled government, currently being given a bizarre free ride in the media, continues to act in an authoritarian and cynical manner;




- At the weekened, the hystercial reaction to George Osborne was a sign of massive tension within the Government. The PM, Chancellor and several ministers were put out to slate the Tory statement of the obvious.


- Today, the Chancellor has dismissed the claims that HBOS could remain independent. He has unilaterally withdrawn any potential support for the Bank outside of the current Lloyds merger, as agreed by Gordon Brown. The show must go on as directed with no deviations allowed

- Next week, a Labour Government who have raised taxes for11 years are to announce tax cuts to stimulate the economy. This in itself it ideologically, morally and fiscally wrong. Labour know it, bu they have no clothes. No doubt they will attack the Tories for opposing them. This is real George Orwell Doublethink territory.

- Finally today and crucially the economic news is still very bad, inflation has fallen by 0.7% and the markets continue to tick down anyway. Worse, rents are falling as demand for housing dries up. House prices cannot find a new level with rents still falling - so expect a much further fall in house prices next year. Current predictions of 15% are laughable. it is quite possible top to bottom average fall will be nearly 50%; that is 30% more from here.

You won't here this from the housing minister. Next week the Government will announce more borrowing to spend our way out of a debt crisis. The insanity continues and I am at a loss as to why the media either cannot grasp this or are happy to see the current Government take little flak for its appalling economic mismanagement.