A Million Minutes…



Morning all, it’s Monday 10th February. Let’s kick off with the week ahead:

Monday: MPs debate Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

France hosts Global Summit on Artificial Intelligence.

Tuesday: Andrew Bailey speech on financial markets.

Manchester City face Real Madrid in UEFA Champions League play-off.

Wednesday: UK convenes Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting.

US Senate votes on Tulsi Gabbard nomination for Director of National Intelligence.

Thursday: GDP figures for final quarter of 2024. 

High Court trial begins in Niger Delta communities’ case against Shell.

Friday: Munich Security Conference begins.

Saturday: Palestine Solidarity Campaign protest in London against Trump proposals for Gaza. 

Sunday:  BAFTAs.

“Things Learnt (Then Forgotten)” – Week 5.

How many hours will you work across your lifetime?

Ex of X

A flavour of the reaction from last week’s post on our decision to leave X…

“We discussed leaving X last year but decided to watch and wait as our engagement on there was still high and Bluesky wasn’t there yet for us. 

We are reviewing again this week…”

“Interesting to hear you’re coming off X/Twitter. I’m going to suggest that we do the same soon. To your point, the algorithms mean that our stuff is being viewed less and less, but also I find it impossible to find anything useful/relevant on the feed now.”

“X doesn’t really make much sense any more. I’m astonished that government departments and quangos still publish there.”

“I don’t think you’re alone in making this move. I’ve seen a number of businesses move their content from X & meta platforms to other places – LinkedIn being one of them.”

And the view from a Norwegian reader:

“Musk has far too much influence, even on my own country. I find that hard to swallow, especially considering we were occupied by people quite fond of such arm movements not too long ago. Thank you for being historically and politically aware. We cannot afford not to be.”

The article itself is behind a paywall, but this headline from Nature is telling…

“Alexander Armstrong is on a mission to get kids reading” announced Susanna Reid excitedly on last Monday’s Good Morning Britain, before cutting to a shot of the Pointless host holding a copy of his book. But he’s not on a mission is he? He’s just the 400 millionth celebrity this minute to think they can write (or in some cases ghost-write) this stuff.

Let’s at least call it out for what it is. 

See or hear a brilliant (or terrible) interview over the last 7 days? 

We’re always looking to build our library of news clips and examples.

Drop us a line 

“After over a million minutes of live tv news, more than anyone else in the world…”

Kay Burley signs off from her final show on Sky News with typical understatement… 

“After covering 12 separate General Elections I’m retiring from Sky News. Let politicians at every party just rejoice at that news.”

She’s not without her critics, but anyone who has been the face of a channel for 36 years (from its inception) deserves immense credit.

Or…

You can read this spectacularly mean-spirited piece by the Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey, who describes her as “TV’s Liz Truss.”

READ HERE (paywall)

News In Brief:

BBC Radio 4 essay series A Point Of View will come to an end in April as “part of the BBC’s need to make savings.”

___

RTS News Awards nominations:

Political Journalist of the Year: 

Paul Brand (ITV) – Sam Coates (Sky) – Beth Rigby (Sky)

Network Presenter of the Year:

Susanna Reid (GMB). – Anna Foster (BBC) – Sophy Ridge (Sky)

FULL LIST

___

RAJAR

Times Radio is up, GB News Radio is down, 5 Live is down. But overall, audio is doing OK according to the latest listener survey.

Footnotes:

On this day: Charles and Camilla announced their engagement on this day in 2005.

Monday weather: 5 degrees and cloudy in Edinburgh, 6 degrees and cloudy in Exeter.

Mutts: Special guest stars this week, thanks to Klare. Monty will be a mighty 17 in April, happily cuddled up with his 7 month old brother Basil.

Be part of the MMB. Thoughts on this week’s content, or interviews you’ve seen, heard, or (best of all) done. We’re @insideedgemedia or just reply to this email. 

Have a brilliant week.

All at Inside Edge

LinkedIn  Twitter