Writing - Peoples' News Beneath Headlines

I am quite a political, with a small 'p' kind of person. I've no time for the established political parties because their sole purpose is to feather their own nests. This blog was sparked by a conversation on the Andrew Marr Show in which an energy minister, speaking for the government was asked about the Ukrainian/Russian situation and the price of gas. His answer was along the lines of 'Well the gas companies buy their gas eighteen months in advance. He was suggesting that the consumers wouldn't feel any price rises at the moment. Like all politicians he skilfully avoided answering the question but the insulting thing is that we will end up paying exorbitant prices in the long run.

So a couple of articles that I spotted which were somewhat more interesting.

Italy up in arms over Michelangelo's David rifle advert

  David is on show at Florence's Accademia Gallery

Italy's culture minister has expressed outrage over an advertisement by a US weapons firm showing Michelangelo's David holding a rifle.

Dario Franceschini said the image was offensive and violated the law.
A number of Italian media web sites carried the image of the advertisement showing David holding a bolt-action rifle.
The advertisement, from Illinois-based ArmaLite, carries the line "a work of art" in promoting the $3,000 rifle.

I suppose that this depends on your levels of sensitivity. This statue will not be the first piece of art misused by some corporate giant to market their products. If you're going to ban this ad then no art should be used for advertising!

World War One: Family stories uncovered

 

The World War One centenary means personal war diaries, letters and photos are emerging from dusty attics and drawers across the UK and beyond to offer a different perspective of the conflict.

The National Archives has begun the mammoth task of digitising 1.5 million WW1 diary pages, mainly taken from official war diaries, describing the lives of British soldiers on the front line.

The remembering of such conflicts is quite difficult. The media tends to focus on the reasons for the fighting beginning in the first place but it is the human stories that should be remembered so that we will be encouraged to avoid such wars. It has to be remembered that the politicians and decision makers rarely end up on the frontline!

Finally

Missing flight MH370

Radar signals show that a Malaysia Airlines plane missing for more than 24 hours may have turned back, Malaysian officials have said.

Rescue teams looking for the plane have now widened their search area.
Investigators are also checking CCTV footage of two passengers who are believed to have boarded the plane using stolen passports.

Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared south of Vietnam with 239 people on board.

There are some strange anomalies about the flight. Many of the passengers were Chinese and members of the artistic elite of that country. Five people didn't turn up for the flight! Then there were the two flying on stolen passports!
Sounds like a queue for a good story!

God Bless