By Denis Campbell
As US healthcare reform passage draws near, my mailbox fills with incoherent Right Wing hate screed and rage. Meanwhile the Obama Administration and Democratic controlled US Congress seem unwilling to buck the echo chamber and do the right thing.
The public located outside the 24 sq. miles of fantasy surrounded by reality known as [...]
Does Anyone, Anywhere Have Real Courage?
Posted on 16 March 2010 by Denis Campbell | Comments (0) | Tags: Anthem Blue Cross, BBC, Bush Tax Cuts, CNN, equal time standard, FOX News, Frank Luntz, GDP, hands off my Medicare, Healthcare debate, insurance, Larry King, Media Matters, Medicare, MSM, Natoma Canfield, NBC’s Meet the Press, news mien, Obama Administration, Obama death panels, Ohio, reconciliation, Sky News, Social Security, Washington DC
It’s the Top Line Sir. An Open Letter to the New Welsh 1st Minister
Posted on 07 December 2009 by Denis Campbell | Comments (4) | Tags: 1st Minister, Amsterdam, BBC, BMI, Bridgend, Cardiff Airport, Cardiff and Co, Cardiff Hilton, Cardiff Marriott, Carwyn Jones, Florida's Sunshine law, International Business Wales, KLM, Labour, National Assembly, Sir Humphrey, St. David’s Hotel, The Ryder Cup, The Vale Hotel, Wales, War Cabinet, Yes Minister
By Denis Campbell
Congratulations, you won. You have no more bottom line to manage or expenses to cut so time to focus on swiftly building Wales’ top line. One only need walk past your constituent office in Bridgend to see that 1 in 4 storefronts lay empty (or leased by charity thrift shops). Economic growth is [...]
UK Progressive Earns Place on UK’s Total Politics Radar Screen
Posted on 29 August 2009 by Denis Campbell | Comments (1) | Tags: Alwyn Ap Huw, BBC, BBC Wales, Cambria Politico, Chris Jones, Cynical Dragon, Dave Raybould, Miserable Old Fart, Total Politics, Total Politics magazine, Total Politics Wales Top 60 Blogs, UK Progressive, X-Ray
Please forgive a bit of chest thumping.
We’ve gone from invisible to 38th on the Total Politics Magazine list of the top 60 Welsh blogs. We feel very honoured in this our 16th month (9th as UK Progressive) of business. Editorial staff around the globe grateful and doing happy dance this Bank holiday weekend.
Deep, heartfelt thanks to [...]
0 to 50,000+ in Under 24 Hours
Posted on 12 March 2009 by Denis Campbell | Comments (0) | Tags: 300000 followers, @JamieandLouise, @TheEllenShow, all the cool celebrity kids are using it, BBC, CNBC Europe, Dalai Lama’s Twitter account, Ellen DeGeneris, Jamie Owen, Jay Leno, later revealed to be a fake, Louise Elliot, Media Tweets, Meet the Press host David Gregory, NBC, NBC’s oldest and most famous news program, newsfotainment, President Barack and Michelle Obama, serious business, Stephen Fry, The Jamie and Louise Show, The Rocky Mountain News, Twitter, Wales, Welsh versions of US news anchor Brian Williams and Tod, Wolf Blitzer of CNN
Media Tweets are Serious Business
What sounds like an expensive turbo-charged sports car is actually the social media platform Twitter and all the cool celebrity kids are using it to build an audience. In this recession, with the shuttering of The Rocky Mountain News, huge newspapers on financial life support and advertisers pulling back on network [...]
Moments of Twitter Terror
Posted on 02 February 2009 by Denis Campbell | Comments (0) | Tags: (movie ingénue scream of terror and spooky organ cresce, 02 February, 2:21 am, 357 other, a man who will make so much money on the chicken and pe, BBC, did a very bad white guy attempt at rap at the gridiron, Doing nothing now could mean like the movie monster “th, don’t say you were not warned, For 8-years we did nothing, generally made fun of publicly destroying the life on a, his 140 character at a time plan to dominate the world, his own national economy, http://www.twitter.com/karlrove, I get to follow his Twitter Tweet as he and his team of, Imagine being able to now decode the sinister meaning b, incoming e-mail crossed my screen, innocuous as a 70’s draft notice beginning “Greetings”, I’m screwed, Just so much chum sitting on the blogosphere surface of, KarlRove is now following your updates on Twitter, little old political journo living in Wales, Moments of Twitter Terror, Monday morning, mounting a furious comeback in Super Bowl 43, Next I decode the Rush Limbaugh FIX Noise and Bill O’Re, Our only brief advantage was local terrain knowledge, ran around the house and pulled down all the shades shu, sky is the limit for this uber consultant with the shar, Sky+, The Arizona Cardinals, the man who laughs in the face of Congressional subpoen, very long memory, was now following me, was sure a Delta Team strike force was converging on th, we are all enablers!, You have been warned, “Bush’s Brain”
An incoming e-mail crossed my screen: KarlRove is now following your updates on Twitter… (movie ingénue scream of terror and spooky organ crescendo here!) It was 2:21 am, Monday morning, 02 February. The Arizona Cardinals were mounting a furious comeback in Super Bowl 43 on both BBC and SKY.
It seemed as innocuous as a 70’s [...]
Obama Almost Elected US President
Posted on 16 December 2008 by Denis Campbell | Comments (0) | Tags: 000 more votes than George Bush but lost the Electoral, 14-days later Obama will take the oath of office at Noo, 156 “faithless” Electors, 1st Monday following the 2nd Wednesday in December (I k, 2000 election, 27 in Florida, 3 in the District of Columbia, 538 state electors met in Capitol buildings across the, 55 people in CA, Alabama, Arizona Senator, awarding Florida and its 27 Electoral Votes to George B, Barack H. Obama, BBC, certifies the elector result, compromise was to set up an Electoral College system th, controversial mechanism of presidential elections, country obsessed with Mondays (Supreme Court meets for, created by the framers of the U.S. Constitution 220 yea, Democrat Al Gore received 538, Denis Campbell, electors in Tennessee, in Presidential election years this is the date when th, Johnny Carson speaking as Karnac the Magnificent, mandated by the Election Day result, McCain, not be officially elected 44th President until the 111t, obama, Obama Almost Elected US President, officially cast their one vote, only true check and balance for smaller states to ensur, others objected to giving Congress or a ruling party th, purely popular election was too “reckless”, source of great frustration, South Carolina, swears in its new members, The Electoral College, two elections now in the bag that would be the end of i, United States Supreme Court ordered a halt to the Flori, US electoral system, voted against the wishes of the voters, votes are then sealed and sent to the president of the, you would be wrong there ballot box breath
By Denis Campbell
Say what? After spending much of this year explaining the US electoral system for BBC listeners and viewers, this headline could cause coffee to spurt out of some noses in the UK. What do you mean almost? Will it ever end?
Yesterday was the 1st Monday following the 2nd Wednesday in December (I kid [...]
Tough for Convention Telly Abroad
Posted on 26 August 2008 by Denis Campbell | Comments (0) | Tags: 4 in the booth, 4 minutes behind last night, Abroad, Access Hollywood, amazing online HD Player, bad hair days, BBC, Bill O’Reilly, BSkyB, C-Span, CNBC, CNN, Convention Telly, DNCC, four terrestrial Dutch (and three German) channels, FOX, Good Evening Wales, HD, hundreds of choices, John Stewart, Keith Olbermann, leg muscles atrophy, McCain, MSNBC, NASA like array, obama, poker 24/7, rip-off quiz call-in shows, Rupert Murdoch, rural Eastern Holland, satellite dish, Sky News, Sky+, streaming live convention feeds, sync up, taping on SKY+, telly makers, three shows run in the background, tired of them both, Tough, UK, US Congressional elections
Ten years abroad and I have to say it is getting better. I now have C-SPAN and MSNBC streaming live convention feeds on each computer, CNN is taping on SKY+ in case Mr. Sandman calls before 5 am local time. The DNCC have an amazing online HD Player for streaming video that is better than [...]
The Money Medal Tally
Posted on 25 August 2008 by Denis Campbell | Comments (0) | Tags: $5 million dollars a year before the Games, 29th Summer Olympiad, 80-official police requests, abuses of Chinese workers, American protesters held in Chinese jails, athletic and financial success, BBC, business as usual in Beijing, corporate partners, corporate sponsors, deaf ears, deported, disciplined, fanfare, human rights, lack of pure unbridled celebration, made millions on the Games, Michael Phelps, military precision, Money Medal Tally, NBC, not allowed to raise their head, not rock the boat, Olympics, only seven medals, Paralympics, pasted on smiles, released at request of the US Ambassador, ritualistic, September, Slate Magazine, sneak out of town, spectacle, stultifyingly precise, surgeon’s precision, the American broadcaster, three official protest parks were empty, two key dissidents were taken away in a car
The bar has been raised to an impossible height. While innovative the human price had to be high with 25,000 people working night and day for more than a year The 29th Summer Olympiad ended with the same ritualistic, disciplined, spectacle and fanfare as they began. It was stultifyingly precise at every turn. Not one [...]
16-Days of Oranje Celebration
Posted on 23 August 2008 by Denis Campbell | Comments (0) | Tags: 000 Oranje clad spectators, 10th in the medal pool, 16-Days, 2, 2000, 6 mile+, all was forgiven, Americans looked at silver as if someone had spit in th, Athens, Australians were gleeful, BBC, BBC Radio Five, Beijing, beside themselves with joy, China, come-from-behind effort, Coronado California, Dutch know how to throw a party, Dutch passport, Dutch sports reporter Jack van Gelder, Dutch women’s water polo team, epic battle, etire community backed two young US women, Eurosport (German), extraordinary, Germany, grace in defeat, hanging display of lamps, Holland House, hottest Olympic ticket, Kayak racing, lack of class and celebration, Lance Armstrong, less ridiculous nation baiting in winning, leukaemia survivor, Maarten van der Weijden, McCain and George Bush, men's 10k Open Water event, Michael Phelps, nation’s joy was uncontainable, NBC, near mourning, NOS (Dutch), NOS Studio Sport Olympic set, number 2 is forgotten, Number one ranked Team USA, Opening or Closing Ceremonies, Oranje, paper Chinese ornament, parties so festive and long, Peter van den Hoogenband, second best team in the world, signed by each medallist, Sydney, Sydney Harbour, team Oranje danced and sang, The Netherlands, two hour long race, upset, Wale's David Davies, winning his own set of gold medals
The Dutch know how to throw a party. In 2000 in Sydney, the hottest Olympic ticket was not to the Opening or Closing Ceremonies. It was to Holland House beside Sydney Harbour where the parties were so festive and long that athletes from other countries clamoured to join in and one eventually had to produce [...]
The Brown Mutiny, Chapter One
Posted on 04 August 2008 by Denis Campbell | Comments (0) | Tags: 2012, 48-hour media blitz, Alistair Darling, BBC, Beijing, Blair memo, blood sport, Chancellour of the Exchequer, Conservative Party, courageous, David Cameron, David Miliband, Deputy Party Leader, Foreign Secretary, General Alexander Haig, Glasgow, Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman, John Prescott, Ken Livingston, Labour, London, London Mayoral, Margaret Thatcher, Number 10, Number 11, Olympic Closing Ceremonies, over/under bets, President Reagan, Prime Minister’s holiday, Scottish National Party, Shirley MacClaine, shot in 1981, Sir Humphrey Applegate, Sir John Major, SNP, State Secretary, The Brown Mutiny, The Telegraph, Tony Blair, Tories, White House, Yes Minister
It begins with one whose ambition gets ahead of him or herself. Like the proverbial drip, drip, drip of the tiniest hole in the dyke, Labour front bench cabinet ministers sat silently for the first few moments of Gordon Brown’s holiday and then one-by-one began to stick toes or more in to test the waters [...]
















































