Recording of the week: Linton Kwesi Johnson on dub poet Michael Smith
This week's selection comes from Stephen Cleary, Lead Curator of Literary & Creative Recordings.
In this recording, poet and reggae artist Linton Kwesi Johnson gives a lecture on the late Jamaican performance poet Mikey Smith (1954-1983), author of 'Me Cyaan Believe It'. The talk is based on his personal knowledge of the poet and the obscure circumstances of his death.
Remembering Michael Smith_Linton Kwesi Johnson
The recording was made live in Cambridge in 2012, at the conference 'The Power of Caribbean Poetry: Word & Sound'. Linton Kwesi Johnson's oral history interview, made for the British Library project 'Authors' Lives' 2014-2015, is available to listen to at the Library by appointment.
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Li sends congratulations on China-Australia Tourism Year
Premier Li Keqiang sent congratulations to the opening ceremony of the China-Australia Tourism Year, which was held on Sunday in Sydney.
The premier affirmed that cultural exchanges are one of the most significant pillars for a bilateral relationship and he hopes both countries can expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges through such events as the China-Australia Tourism Year.
Li also said China and Australia are popular tourism destinations, with more than 2 million trips made between the two countries last year.
Both countries, the premier said, respect the diversity of global civilization and China is willing to promote cooperation with Australia based on mutual respect and openness, and bring more benefits to both peoples as well as global peace and stability based on their friendship over the past 45 years.
In his congratulatory letter, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the past 20 years has seen major achievements in tourism cooperation due to the efforts of both countries. China has become the most significant tourism market for Australia, and the number of tourists visiting the Oceanic country reached 1.2 million in the last year, he said.
Turnbull said the China-Australia Tourism Year marks the beginning of a new era for bilateral relationships and both countries will share opportunities for development in the future.
More than 2,000 people, including officials, leading tourism figures and local residents, attended the ceremony.
Bias, balance and alternative facts
The BBC regularly says it must be getting it right because both sides accuse it of bias. The problem is there are more than two sides in many cases.
I have never argued the BBC is biased against the Conservatives and in favour of Labour. I understand the lengths they go to criticise both Conservative Ministers and Opposition Spokesmen, and grasp their idea of balance, offering an alternative view in many cases.
The issue of bias and alternative truth takes more subtle forms. There is firstly the bias in the selection of stories. The BBC loves running endless Brexit and climate change stories. It loves making other news items into Brexit or climate change stories, when many of us think there is little or no link. There is the endless sourcing of “the government should spend more” stories, because there are so many lobby groups with that as an objective. People who want less government, who like Brexit, or are sceptical about the theory that man made C02 is driving damaging climate change do not feel properly represented. Scientists are not interviewed with a view to highlighting errors, inconsistencies and poor research in the way politicians are.
Then there is the unintentional bias of the questions. Ministers are regularly put under pressure for not spending enough. It is very rare to hear Ministers under pressure for spending too much, for presiding over government waste, for failing to find cheaper and better ways of doing things. There is nearly always an automatic assumption that spending a lot in any particular part of the public sector is good, and spending more is even better. There is little probing behind the slogans to find out what the real numbers are, and to ask why in some cases so much is spent to so little good effect.
There is the permanent anti Brexit bias in many scripts and questions. The interviewer or journalist starts from the assumption that Brexit must be damaging. Good news is then recorded “despite Brexit”, often with a caveat that it could deteriorate in the future when Brexit bites more. Never do you hear an interviewer asking the other side to comment on how the Brexit vote has triggered higher car output, more homes being built, higher consumer activity, better confidence levels.
Prior to the referendum there was always a bias against Brexit or Eurosceptic speakers. We had to be introduced with unflattering descriptions, interrupted more, and usually assumed to be wrong. I remember when I was warning about the banking crash and had a proposal on how to handle it, I was competing with Lib Dem Vince Cable. I wanted controlled administration of overstretched banks – the system they now say they will use in future – whilst he wanted bank nationalisation. He got many more interviews than I did. He was often introduced as an expert because he had had a former job as an economist at Shell. I was introduced as a Eurosceptic with my past roles in business and investment ignored, though they were more relevant experience.
I’m all in favour of them asking me tough questions, but I just want them to do the same for all the so called experts as well.
Plane strikes sky lantern, resulting in airport delays
A Kongming lantern, or sky lantern, caused delays at the Beijing Nanyuan Airport on Saturday night after becoming stuck in the engine of an airplane, the airport confirmed on Sunday.
Information about the incident was first released on the Sina Weibo account of a civil aviation maintenance forum on Saturday night, posted along with a photo showing a broken sky lantern on the engine vane of an airliner at the airport.
The airplane eventually took off after checks revealed there was no damage to the aircraft.
With the Lantern Festival approaching, the airport has warned people not to release Kongming lanterns or drones near its runway clear zone.
A Kongming lantern is a small hot-air ballon made of oil paper, which rises into the air due to a small flame warming the air inside and thus lowering the density of the lantern. People release the lanterns to make wishes, especially during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Lantern Festival celebrations.
An aviation professional who declined to be named told Beijing News that sky lanterns, drones and kites pose safety risks to aircraft in runway clear zones, as they can interfere with a pilot’s vision or come into contact with aircraft.
Changshui International Airport in Kunming released a statement on Sunday, saying that it had experienced numerous cases involving illegal unmanned flying objects in the airport’s runway clear zone recently, adding that its public security department is conducting an investigation into the issue.
According to Legal Evening News, an unmanned drone entered the runway clear zone at Mianyang Nanjiao Airport in Sichuan province on Feb 2, causing three airliners to be diverted and five flights to be delayed. The airport resumed regular services two hours later.
Meanwhile, unmanned flying objects caused delays to departures and arrivals at Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu on May 28 and Aug 2 last year, the paper reported.
According to China’s Civil Airport Regulation, it is illegal to release birds or fly unmanned balloons and other flying objects in an airport’s runway clear zone.
Many provinces and regions, such as Yunnan and Beijing, have released detailed aviation regulations banning the launching of fireworks or the flying of drones and balloons in airports’ runway clear zones. Those who violate laws may be fined between 20,000 and 100,000 yuan ($3,000 and $15,000).
In January, the Ministry of Public Security released a draft regulation to punish those who violate public orders, which states that those who ignore State regulations on flying all-purpose aircraft, including drones and powered paragliders, or other objects such as balloons, will be taken into custody for five to 10 days. In cases of gross violations, offenders will be taken into custody for 10 to 15 days.