Author Archives: Barrie

About Barrie

Digital Storyteller, Media Trainer, Hill Walker, Cyclist, Husband, Father, Grandad, Christian, Blogger, Writer, Baby Boomer, Mac Head, Photographer

Give Chris Evans the chancellors’ job

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David Cameron’s first criticism of the budget speech was that it was delivered with all the enthusiasm of someone reading out the telephone directory. So I assume he thinks the job should be given to a presenter.

Chris Evans
Chris Evans

I switched off – that’s the prerogative of a listener – assuming that, as the opposition leader’s prime criticism, there was little to follow.

Presentation over content is the scourge of the modern age. Make your talk glitzy enough and no one will notice you have nothing to say.

David Cameron

So if David Cameron is elected to power and you want to be Chancellor now would be a good time to put in some broadcasting hours to up your game. Or perhaps David Cameron himself should be given a radio show of his own. If he wants even more popularity he should be a gameshow host, “Vote or No Vote“, or “Who wants to be a Millionaire Tax Exile” with a “Giveaway Budget Jackpot“. The audience figures would be a painful gauge of his popularity.

This is not a defence of Alistair Darling’s budget, just another example of how easily David Cameron can get up ones nose, in the same league as Noel Edmunds and Chris Tarrant.

This couple want a deaf child. Should we try to stop them?

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According to one caller to Victoria Derbyshire’s phone in on BBC 5 Live this morning, deaf people become so frustrated with their deafness that they may try to commit suicide. He was argueing against the campaign of a deaf couple featured in The Observer this Sunday. Garfield and Lichy say the Embryology and Human Fertilisation Bill would prevent them from having a deaf baby by IVF. Their first child, conceived naturally, was born without hearing.

This couple want a deaf child. Should we try to stop them? | Science | The Observer
We celebrated when we found out about Mollys deafness, says Lichy. Being deaf is not about being disabled, or medically incomplete – its about being part of a linguistic minority. Were proud, not of the medical aspect of deafness, but of the language we use and the community we live in.

The problem with the callers’ argument is that if we stop the birth of babies with any kind of disability we devalue all people with disabilities. Their frustration of course is often caused by those who don’t or can’t be bothered to understand how to communicate with them.

In many ways the the problem afflicts everyone. How many times have you been frustrated because someone else didn’t take the time to understand what you were trying to say. Deaf people simply help us realise how poor we are at communicating. Perhaps it’s a British thing and explains why we shout in English at people who don’t speak our language thinking that somehow it’s their problem and volume will penetrate their stupidity. It’s not communication, it’s ignorant and patronising. Perhaps a little like the fine detail of the bill currently going through parliament.

Forty seven years ago today

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My little brother Mark was born in Lincoln in 1961 – that’s before we’d even heard of The Beatles. I can remember having to sit in the car outside St Giles Hospital while Dad went to visit Mum and the new baby. He was ages. It was dark. We got bored.

Forty seven years later I’ve forgotten to send Mark a card. I thought about it when I was on the train home from London last night – briefly. I mentally logged that I should buy a card. My memory was jogged this morning by his Facebook status. Sorry Mark – a Facebook Wall note, blog entry and quip about late cards don’t really make up for forgetting. But then it’s not the first time. My two sisters usually suffer the same fete. So while I remember Happy Birthday – past present and future – to all my siblings.

How many verses?

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Abide With Me Hymn
How many verses do you know of this hymn? If you watch the FA Cup Final at Wembly you would be familiar with the first, and if you’re a church goer you’ll know a few more.
At the funeral of Mike Hurley we sang the full version. Eight verses. It was noticeable that the “gusto” disappeared from the singing in the congregation as we hit the unfamilair words:

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

There followed three other little known and somewhat incomprehensible verses until the familiar words “I need thy presence, Every passing hour” restored volume to the voices.

I’ve been singing this hymn for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never waded through all eight verses before. But somehow, at Mike’s passing, it seemed appropriate. Tradition meant a lot to Mike.

Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Capital day

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I’m at my son’s house in London, staying overnight before a workshop day in the capital tomorrow. The is the fourth workshop day I’ve run as part of the Women’s Interfaith Media Literacy project.
I’ll run two short workshops to experience the storytelling part of digital storytelling while other practitioners pass on their skills in print media, broadcasting, and PR. Previous days have been in Bradford, Leicester, Coventry and now London. No matter where I go, I find that people love telling stories, but many don’t know where to start – or finish!
So I will use my Magic Story Bag to see what secrets it reveals and then teach them how to structure those revelations into a story script. Behind all the best journalism is a good story and the best writing is storytelling. What’s your story?