http://www.annaraccoon.com A jaundiced view of the mainstream media. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:33:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 http://www.annaraccoon.com/annas-personal-stuff/save-the-whale/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/annas-personal-stuff/save-the-whale/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:40:11 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=7112 Greenpeace would have been proud of the BBC last night. Caught between the rock of trying to report on one of the day’s hottest story – that of the tragic death of Dawn Brancheau at the Orlando, Seaworld by a killer Whale – and the hard place of their own commitment to liberal values which must [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/annas-personal-stuff/save-the-whale/feed/ 41 http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/and-steve-jobs-spake-saying/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/and-steve-jobs-spake-saying/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:00:40 +0000 Thaddeus J. Wilson http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=6250 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is from Nokia, or that is from Dell, or that is from Acer. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Steve your Jobs am a jealous Jobs, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/and-steve-jobs-spake-saying/feed/ 19 http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/craig-cunningham-debtmanship-man-bites-dog/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/craig-cunningham-debtmanship-man-bites-dog/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:15:00 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=6242 A Dallas man, mired in the recession that has caught so many multi-property owners during the collapse of the sub-prime market in the US, has developed an interesting and profitable side line. Side line scarcely does justice to his working day, he is fully employed -  suing the companies that try to collect on the substantial [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/craig-cunningham-debtmanship-man-bites-dog/feed/ 7 http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/her-majestys-blog-referees/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/her-majestys-blog-referees/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:31:57 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=6218 Britain’s intelligence services raised the threat level of a terrorist attack from ’substantial’ to ’severe’ last week, meaning an attack was considered to be ‘highly likely’ – despite the Home Secretary saying that there was ‘no intelligence’ to suggest that an attack was imminent! Who to believe? The Joint Intelligence Service or the Home Secretary? Is [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/her-majestys-blog-referees/feed/ 8 http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/irish-mail-on-sunday-desk-top-publishing/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/irish-mail-on-sunday-desk-top-publishing/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:27:34 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=6211 The self-appointed luminaries of the former ’street of shame’ like to complain that the trouble with bloggers is that we take their ‘free source of news’ and enlarge on it, without thought for the cost of producing this ‘news’ in the first place. Any bloggers thinking of basing a post on the story on female Air [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/irish-mail-on-sunday-desk-top-publishing/feed/ 4 http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/the-silent-voice/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/the-silent-voice/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:00:17 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=5919 Today, the Righteous Brothers will march on the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, banners proudly held aloft, ready to do battle in the endless contest between the clash of two fundamental rights: the right to freedom of expression and the right to reputation. They will demand that the Lisbon court treat the opposing arguments as being [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/the-silent-voice/feed/ 30 http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/in-the-shade-of-the-sun/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/in-the-shade-of-the-sun/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:45:39 +0000 Christopher Winsley http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=5233 Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that my journalistic career would commence with me being the catalyst for the arrest of an international criminal. A man who has outwitted some of the finest investigators and police forces in the world. A man who is alleged to have [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/in-the-shade-of-the-sun/feed/ 8 http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/the-final-curtain/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/the-final-curtain/#comments Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:59:47 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=5094 Those of you who know me well, will be aware that I have not been well in recent months. Thanks to the excellent French medical service, which is second to none, I have undergone a battery of tests in record time, no waiting, no messing, outstanding courtesy and efficiency at every turn. Hopefully they have now [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/madeleine-mccann/the-final-curtain/feed/ 114 http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/michelle-obama-offensive-images-google-and-the-land-of-the-free/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/michelle-obama-offensive-images-google-and-the-land-of-the-free/#comments Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:08:10 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=5087 Somewhere between my greasy gang land garagiste era and before sliding into the ice age of the Lord Chancellor’s Office, I ran a small hotel in Suffolk on the outskirts of a vast American air base. I had a sign on the wall – ‘two peoples separated by a common language’ – to remind the [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/michelle-obama-offensive-images-google-and-the-land-of-the-free/feed/ 10 http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/political-debate-a-challenge-to-the-politicians/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/political-debate-a-challenge-to-the-politicians/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:42:58 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=5074 I don’t doubt that X-Factor is important to a lot of people, 12 million of them on average. I don’t doubt that a lot of those people are potential voters. I am curious as to how or why the PR strategists at 10 Downing Street manage to connect those two pieces of information into a strategy [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/political-debate-a-challenge-to-the-politicians/feed/ 10 http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/last-remaining-incandescent-rosbif-writes/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/last-remaining-incandescent-rosbif-writes/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:08:41 +0000 John Ward http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=5054 Down on the Googlemail funny-forum, one patient won’t be taking any more medication Earlier this year I had a long and at times irritable email correspondence with Oliver Letwin, the Tory MP for Lyme Regis. My points were that (a) every ISP with whom I worked was lying about selling on [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/last-remaining-incandescent-rosbif-writes/feed/ 10 http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/saturday-evening-posts-worth-reading-6/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/saturday-evening-posts-worth-reading-6/#comments Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:12:36 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=5047 The Anger of a Quiet Man on the farce that is Catherine Ashton’s new appointment. Raedwald on the need for a European Army. Letters From a Tory for the only precis of the ‘climate change emails’ that has made sense to me so far. The Croydonian for the name they cannot say. Goodnight Spilsby for reminding us that things [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/saturday-evening-posts-worth-reading-6/feed/ 0 http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/religion-offensive-weapons-its-me-religion-innit/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/religion-offensive-weapons-its-me-religion-innit/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:20:04 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=5030 Young Mohsin Khan was driving along with this collection of 10″ blades held together with chain under his car seat. He was stopped by Police on his way to a West End nightclub. Several years earlier, 2005 to be precise, young Charlie Booker was found to be in possession of a butter knife with ‘no handle, [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/religion-offensive-weapons-its-me-religion-innit/feed/ 11 http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/delroy-grant-the-danger-of-following-the-sun/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/delroy-grant-the-danger-of-following-the-sun/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:20:47 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=4979 The blogging world is essentially diamagnetic to the iron fist of controlling legislation.  We scattered like whirling dervishes to our keyboards to denounce Baroness Buscombe’s suggestion that the PCC might encompass the blogging world in its efforts to do the Government’s thinking and control all dissenting voices. ‘Never!’ we cried, ‘Prise our cold dead hands from [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/delroy-grant-the-danger-of-following-the-sun/feed/ 12 http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/ed-balls-tweeting-playing-catch-balls/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/ed-balls-tweeting-playing-catch-balls/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:50:12 +0000 John Ward http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=4962 Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children. Salary: £142,000 pa Claimed expenses: £21,429 last year Outlined above is the official nature of Ed Balls’ job spec and remuneration. But Ed also has a hobby: tweeting on Twitter. And this tells us quite a bit about what Ed was really up to over the last few months. Mr Balls [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/ed-balls-tweeting-playing-catch-balls/feed/ 16 http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/what-to-do-with-a-shrink-on-the-brink/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/what-to-do-with-a-shrink-on-the-brink/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:38:05 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=4878 Amidst the politically correct carnage which is the American corporate media trying to write something, anything, on the meltdown of politics and religion triggered, quite literally,  by Major Hasan Nidal at Fort Hood, without offending anyone……..perish the thought! -  something is troubling me greatly. The Council on American-Islamic Relations are ‘urging calm‘ amidst fears that retribution [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/what-to-do-with-a-shrink-on-the-brink/feed/ 41 http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/orwell-prize-2010/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/orwell-prize-2010/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:54:09 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=4811 The previous winners of the Orwell Prize have been illustrious political writers. The prize was founded in 1993 by Sir Bernard Crick who, through his long-standing connection with The Political Quarterly, had negotiated with them a guarantee of funding to launch and administer two annual Orwell Prizes for political writing – one for a book and [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/orwell-prize-2010/feed/ 8 http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/lordy-lordy-look-whos-40/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/lordy-lordy-look-whos-40/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:49:31 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=4788 Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the creation of the ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. On that day in 1969 a small laboratory on the UCLA campus unleashed a force which has spread to every corner of the world, revolutionising communications forever. Henceforth people working in far corners of the globe would be able to [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/internet/lordy-lordy-look-whos-40/feed/ 9 http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/exclusive-matthew-parris-on-thinking-before-bedding/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/exclusive-matthew-parris-on-thinking-before-bedding/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:29:13 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=4648 ‘Journalists think before they write – bloggers write before they think’, runs the popular mantra of those who extol the virtues of professional journalists over bloggers. The uproar over Jan Moir’s article in the Daily Mail last week prompted my own article on the hypocrisy of the Twittter crowd who had jubilantly hailed their own success [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/exclusive-matthew-parris-on-thinking-before-bedding/feed/ 24 http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/the-pink-princess/ http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/the-pink-princess/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:21:15 +0000 Anna Raccoon http://www.annaraccoon.com/?p=4611 When Stephen Gately’s death was first announced in hushed reverential tones on the BBC news, my first reaction was Stephen Who?  Never heard of him. By the time the ‘breaking news’ announcements had given way to long deferential reportage over the course of the evening, I had gathered that he was some sort of Pop Star. [...]]]> http://www.annaraccoon.com/media/the-pink-princess/feed/ 79