Eyewitness
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Get an insider's perspective, as a guest author blogs each week for Sky News.en-US2008-07-01T03:00:00+01:00This Blog Has Moved
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/07/this-blog-has-m.html
This blog has moved. As part of the changes to the Sky News website, our blogs are moving to a new platform and I am afraid that means they have new URLs. Please clIck HERE to go to the new...<p>This blog has moved. As part of the changes to the Sky News website, our blogs are moving to a new platform and I am afraid that means they have new URLs.</p>
<p>Please clIck <a href="http://blogs.news.sky.com/eyewitnessblog"><strong>HERE</strong></a> to go to the new URL.</p>
<p>If you have bookmarked this blog, please make sure you change it to the new address. </p>
<p>Sky News blogs now have a new home page, displaying the latest posts, which you can find <a href="http://blogs.news.sky.com/editors"><strong>HERE.</strong></a></p>
<p>If you want to make a comment on the new blogs, you will need to sign up. It's a simple process and will also allow you to use the new story-tracking feature on the Sky News site. </p>
<p>We have moved recent blog posts to the new blogs, but unfortunately we cannot move the comments as well. Sorry about that. </p>
<p>We hope you like the new-look Sky News site. If you have any comments please send them to us, either by using the survey form on the new site, the feedback area on the Discussion boards or by e mailing <a href="mailto:messages@skynews.co.uk">messages@skynews.co.uk</a> </p>
<p>Many thanks. </p>Eyewitness2008-07-01T03:00:00+01:00Inside Afghanistan
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/06/inside-afghanis.html
Shadow secretary of state for international development, Andrew Mitchell MP, visited British troops and aid workers in Helmand province and Kabul just a few weeks ago. Here are his thoughts, written for Sky News online readers: Real progress has been...<p><img title="350blogpiceyewitnessmit" alt="350blogpiceyewitnessmit" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/17/350blogpiceyewitnessmit.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> </p>
<p><strong>Shadow secretary of state for international development, Andrew Mitchell MP, visited British troops and aid workers in Helmand province and Kabul just a few weeks ago. Here are his thoughts, written for Sky News online readers:</strong></p>
<p>Real progress has been made since the removal of the Taliban in 2001. </p>
<p>The vast majority of Afghan people live in areas which are relatively stable. </p>
<p>Health and education indicators today are much stronger than under the Taliban. </p>
<p>But many Afghans I spoke to are disappointed and disillusioned: the security situation is precarious; corruption and crime are rife; the global food crisis has hit people hard. </p>
<p>The Government of Afghanistan and the international community must make a concerted effort to put things right. </p>
<p>We should start by improving the effectiveness of aid to Afghanistan. </p>
<p>The twin challenges here are donor coordination and Government capacity. </p>
<p>There is a marked lack of effective coordination between donors. </p>
<p>The Paris Conference last week generated substantial extra cash - the challenge is to ensure that it is spent effectively. </p>
<p>Building the capacity of the Afghan state is absolutely vital. </p>
<p>I found that some elements of the central government, such as the army and the rural affairs ministry, are making progress. But others such as the police and the Ministry of the Interior are beset by problems. In many parts of the country the Government of Afghanistan is unable to exert influence, and at a local level its institutions are often weak. </p>
<p>We need concerted effort to bolster and reform Government structures. </p>
<p>I was deeply impressed by the courage and skill of the servicemen and women I met in Camp Bastion and Lashkar Gar in Helmand. </p>
<p>I applaud both their bravery in combat and their insightful and sensitive approach to winning the battle for hearts and minds.</p>
<p>In Helmand we now have a unique window of opportunity. </p>
<p>British forces have got the Taliban on the back foot. Larger areas of the province are now under the control of the Government of Afghanistan. </p>
<p>And on the political front, the newly appointed Governor of Helmand, Mr Mangal, is dynamic and impressive. </p>
<p>We must now press home this advantage by letting development flourish and working for a sustainable peace. </p>
<p>Afghanistan is the ground where multiple and complex regional and international interests are being played out. </p>
<p>We must ensure that full diplomatic energy is put into addressing the role of Afghanistan's neighbours in the conflict, and into driving forward the long-term process of stabilisation and statebuilding.</p>
<p><strong>:: Andrew Mitchell MP is one of the guests on a special Sky News programme, 'For Queen And Country: The Longest War?', at 8pm on Thursday June 19.</strong></p>Eyewitness2008-06-17T14:47:40+01:00In The Museum Of News
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/in-the-museum-o.html
Editorial development manager for Sky News, Rob Kirk, visits Washington DC's 'Newseum' An American comedian said the only time things end up in museums is when there’s no use for them any more – so Washington DC’s ‘Newseum’ means the...<p><strong>Editorial development manager for Sky News, Rob Kirk, visits Washington DC's 'Newseum'</strong></p>
<p><img title="350newseum" alt="350newseum" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/27/350newseum.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> An American comedian said the only time things end up in museums is when there’s no use for them any more – so Washington DC’s ‘Newseum’ means the ‘end of the news’.</p>
<p>I know this because I saw the clip from Stephen Colbert’s <em>Colbert Report</em> in a video display – in the Newseum; the seven-level 450 million dollar extravaganza with 14 galleries and 15 theatres has room for parody and satire.</p>
<p>This new and mightily expanded palace – part-sponsored by News Corporation - opened in mid April and joins the Smithsonian, the National Art Gallery, the National Archives and the National Museum of the American Indian in that remarkable complex in the centre of the US capital – surely the most star-studded celebration of culture in the world.</p>
<p>Does it work? Some critics call it a monument to journalistic vanity, and there’s certainly a heady message of the journalist-as-hero-or heroine running through it. </p>
<p>You also have to pay to get in – unlike the publically-funded jewels across the Mall - but the fee is almost worth it for the view from the top-floor gallery alone: an unequalled glimpse of the Capitol Building.</p>
<p>More important: it works as an evocative and moving record of modern times. It’s more the ‘Story of Our Lives’ than the ‘Story of the News’. It proves, if proof were needed, that news really is the first draft of history.</p>
<p>Sure, it attempts to define ‘news’ and trace its development from the time when Man first began to grunt, through the invention of printing, and on to the massive technical developments of the last century, with radio and TV, colour and live-broadcasting, and the arguably even more seismic shifts of today’s web-led convergent world.</p>
<p>And it’s fun to see inside a live TV gallery, to ‘be-a-reporter’, and to slip on special glasses and see a film in 4-D. Yes: 4-D.</p>
<p>It’s also fun to see some of the detritus of journalistic history, like the notebook from a Newsweek reporter containing – for the first time – a telling reference to a ‘Monica Lewinsky’, or the fire-exit door found taped open at the Watergate complex which led to a sequence of events that eventually toppled another President.</p>
<p>But the Newseum’s best when it’s simply telling stories, which after all is what journalism is really all about.</p>
<p>History really does come to life when you browse the sensational display of early journals, including a report on the execution of King Charles I, the killing of Jesse James, and turn a corner to see a large section of the Berlin Wall and an East German watch-tower – and see and hear accounts of the journalists who reported its building, those who died trying to cross it, and its fall in 1998 – nine months after Sky News was launched.</p>
<p>Turn another corner, and you’re face-to-face with a battered section of the antennae from the top of the northern tower of the World Trade Centre, backed by an entire wall of outraged 9-11 front pages.</p>
<p>Here, the cameraman who filmed the collapse of the towers tells us how he did it, and a widow tells us how her photographer husband died when the tower collapsed, leaving his final pictures as his legacy.</p>
<p>Not without reason, this gallery has two boxes of tissues on a ledge.</p>
<p>It goes on. War reporting, from the Crimea, through the World Wars to Vietnam and today’s fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan...the role of reporting the fight for Civil Rights...the struggle to get equal treatment for woman (it wasn’t until 2006 that a solo woman presented a regular nightly newscast in the USA)...and there’s an open-minded section called ‘Who Controls the News?’</p>
<p><img title="180terrylloyd" alt="180terrylloyd" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/27/180terrylloyd.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> </p>
<p>Above all, it reminds us about the continuing cost of the news in human lives. Here, it strikes home.</p>
<p>There’s another huge wall, with pictures of journalists and technicians who’ve died bringing the news home. Their names are also engraved on a glass wall, which ominously has several large and vacant panels.</p>
<p>Among the names and pictures is the British TV reporter Terry Lloyd, who was shot dead whilst working for ITN in Iraq in 2003. An inter-active touch-screen register contains details about him. </p>
<p>And it’s honest enough to report that he almost certainly died as a result of so-called American ‘friendly fire’.</p>Eyewitness2008-05-27T13:10:37+01:00China Earthquake
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/china-earthquak.html
Roger Musson from the British Geological Survey At 06h 28m GMT today, the rocks either side of a major fault in south-west China suddenly and violently broke apart. The shock waves spread out in all directions, like waves in a...<p><strong>Roger Musson from the British Geological Survey</strong></p>
<p>At 06h 28m GMT today, the rocks either side of a major fault in south-west China suddenly and violently broke apart.</p>
<p>The shock waves spread out in all directions, like waves in a pond. In a mere seven minutes, the fastest waves reached the UK, where they were recorded on monitoring equipment up and down the country, operated by the British Geological Survey. </p>
<p>BGS, a component of the Natural Environment Research Council, is the UK’s national institute for all aspects of earth sciences. </p>
<p>While the seismic network is primarily directed to recording British earthquakes, the larger earthquakes from all over the world are also picked up. </p>
<p>Quickly alerted, BGS seismologists analysed the data and prepared an alert to inform government and relief organisations.</p>
<p>In the long term, data gathered about earthquakes such as this one can be used to build up a picture of the rate and severity of earthquakes in different parts of the world, used to assist engineers in designing safer buildings. </p>
<p>Ultimately, most earthquake deaths are caused by collapsing buildings. A safer urban environment is the key to reducing death tolls in the future.</p>
<p><img title="340quakeblogpic" alt="340quakeblogpic" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/12/340quakeblogpic.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> </p>Eyewitness2008-05-12T15:21:16+01:00'Freedom is so close I can almost taste it'
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/freedom-is-so-c.html
'Hope' is a blogger in Zimbabwe, who is writing for Sky News as President Robert Mugabe clings to power. I’ve been mulling over Mugabe’s options with regards a looming ‘run-off’ election. I’d be interested to know what other people think....<p><em>'Hope' is a blogger in Zimbabwe, who is writing for Sky News as President Robert Mugabe clings to power.</em></p>
<p><img title="350zimbabweharareeyewit" alt="350zimbabweharareeyewit" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/04/350zimbabweharareeyewit.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> </p>
<p>I’ve been mulling over Mugabe’s options with regards a looming ‘run-off’ election. I’d be interested to know what other people think.</p>
<p>What are Mugabe’s options realistically? </p>
<p><strong>1.</strong> Go through the run-off against Tsvangirai and unleash violence on the people and rig the result to the last paper in the box. </p>
<p>I am hoping he is too arrogant to do this (as my UK friend seems convinced of now), but what if he does do this? We just need to prepare and stay calm and keep our eye on the ball. What’s different now is he has to go through a run-off in the face of a nation that already knows he is a loser and in a weak position. He also has to do it with the world staring at him like he’s an insect under a microscope.</p>
<p><strong>2.</strong> Avoid the run-off and retire. I hope so, but this will involve losing face so it’s a hard one for me to imagine him doing as much as I would like too.</p>
<p><strong>3.</strong> Try to bluff it out and declare himself the outright winner and refuse a run-off. This is very Mugabe-esque to me, but he has to deal with the uncertainty of how the world and the people will react. It isn’t that I think he cares about what anyone thinks - he doesn’t - its more that I’m not sure how he can ever begin to hope to solve the crisis facing him with hyper-inflation etc, if the world thinks he has stolen the election. </p>
<p>He needs legitimacy to get the help and investment he needs. At the end of the day, its the economy that’s his biggest enemy, not the opposition. </p>
<p><strong>4.</strong> The final option is the talk, the fear that everyone has been expressing tonight with the latest news - of him avoiding a run-off by imposing military rule. Maybe, but this must be kept in perspective. </p>
<p>At this precise moment in time Zimbabwe is incredibly calm. The air is thick with expectation, but the people are quietly, peacefully, patiently waiting. The one thing Mugabe’s government has taught us how to do very well is ‘wait’. We queue for everything. So we can wait.</p>
<p>To me, to suddenly declare a military takeover in this climate of calmness would be impossible for him to justify to the region or to the world, or even to the Zimbabwean people. There is no instability. We are not trashing shops, looting property, or hurling stones at the police. We had elections and he lost; its called democracy (although our version is a bastardised version of democracy) and it happens in lots of countries around the world. It isn’t an argument for military control.</p>
<p>So maybe he needs to poke us a bit and make us frightened and force a reaction to create the necessary conditions. Maybe that’s what the raids on a hotel are about? Especially a hotel where journalists were staying? And why not arrest a couple of journalists too to make damn sure the media don’t miss the actions. He can certainly rely on them to ramp up the drama and drum home the fear.</p>
<p>I am determined to not let Mugabe scare me. I plan to try to consciously hold my nerve in the face of his horrible bullying of our nation - and God knows it probably will be a rough ride and cruel. (What do we expect? This is Mugabe we’re talking about!) </p>
<p>But we all have important work to do and we can’t afford the distractions that fear brings to the table. </p>
<p>Freedom is so close I can almost taste it.</p>
<p><strong>:: </strong>Find out more about Sokwanele, the Zimbabwe Civic Action Support Group, <strong><a href="http://www.sokwanele.com/">by clicking here</a></strong></p>Eyewitness2008-04-04T08:21:28+01:00My thoughts are about Mugabe
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/my-thoughts-are.html
'Hope', a Zimbabwean blogger who has written for the Sky News Eyewitness blog in the past, has a new message for Robert Mugabe: He has been unwelcome for so many years now, and he has always known that he has...
<p><em>'Hope', a Zimbabwean blogger who has written for the Sky News Eyewitness blog in the past, has a new message for Robert Mugabe:</em></p>
<p><img title="350zimbabweblog" alt="Zimbabwe" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/03/350zimbabweblog.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> </p>
<p>He has been unwelcome for so many years now, and he has always known that he has lost previous elections. This time it is different.</p>
<p>He can’t stand in front of us and tell us how popular and wanted he is, daring us to say different, with us silenced and only knowing by the proof that is in ours hearts and bodies that he is a liar. </p>
<p>This time, as one newspaper report put it, ‘the writing is on the wall’: in every little nook and cranny of our lovely country, ordinary people, rich and poor, saw with their own eyes that Mugabe and his band of thugs was finished.</p>
<p>Try to stand before me now, Mr Mugabe, and tell me how much the nation wants you! </p>
<p>Now I can smile to your face and tell you that you are deluded, a liar and the worst kind of thief. A man who through selfishness and complete arrogance will hang on to a figment of his own imagination that he is respected and wanted and admired, and in so doing impose the worse kind of suffering on an entire nation of people. </p>
<p>We could have said all this to Mugabe before, but he would have looked at us in that smug, self-centered, challenging manner he has, with a smirk that says ‘prove it’!</p>
<p>Well, now we can. You are not popular, Mr Mugabe. You haven’t been for a very long time. </p>
<p>Being able to prove it, however, doesn’t make it true at last; it merely confirms what we all have known - you included - for years and years and years. What it means is that you have to find a way to accommodate within yourself the enormity of the realisation that we, as a nation, have been filled with disgust and despair at you for years. </p>
<p>You are not adored. Mr Mugabe. Move on and allow us to breathe again. Your presence in power suffocates our future and ruins our lives.</p>
<p>It may surprise people to know that a person like me, who has worked against this man for so many years, actually spends very little time thinking about the man that Mugabe is. </p>
<p>My thoughts, and I know the thoughts of my colleagues, have always been leaden with the weight of the knowledge of how much the people in Zimbabwe are suffering. How deep their pain is; how ingenious and incredible they are in their ability to keep surviving despite the odds against them; and how tragically and bitterly isolated they have been for so many years in their grief and hardship, shut off from the world and seeingly abandoned to a fearful future. Forgotten. </p>
<p>I have not been motivated by hate for Robert Mugabe; I have been motivated by the deepest compassion for my fellow human beings. </p>
<p>I am endlessly overwhelmed by Zimbabwean people, and my bond has grown immeasurably through the last few years. How can I do anything except admire the fortitude of human beings who can always find a bit of dry humour in a crisis, who toil in loneliness in foreign countries simply so they can send home money for elderly relatives and young siblings; who manage to stand apart from violence no matter how deep the provocation has been? </p>
<p>If I could be half as courageous or half as strong as the Zimbabwean people I encounter I would be such a rich person. Zimbabweans are amazing; and their quiet strength and dignity only makes Mugabe seem so much more abusive and cruel.</p>
<p>So I don’t usually think about Mugabe on a personal level at all: but today I have.</p>
<p>Find out more about Sokwanele, the Zimbabwe Civic Action Support Group, <strong><a href="http://www.sokwanele.com/">by clicking here</a></strong></p>Eyewitness2008-04-02T15:24:35+01:00Why McCain Has Already Won the US Election
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/03/why-mccain-has.html
By Mel Graykin, New Hampshire Voter, Writer And Blogger I observe with amusement that your man in Washington, Jon-Christopher Bua, is still treating this as if it were really an election, as if there were really some doubts as to...<p><strong>By Mel Graykin, New Hampshire Voter, Writer And Blogger</strong></p>
<p>I observe with amusement that your man in Washington, Jon-Christopher Bua, is still treating this as if it were really an election, as if there were really some doubts as to the results. Heck, doesn't he know that it was decided already long ago? This is just a block-buster entertainment spectacle, the kind Americans are known for. McCain will be the next president of the United States. It was rather predictable, given the field of candidates. For all the talk of Change, pick the one least likely to upset the status quo and put your money on him.</p>
<p>The Democratic strategy has been pretty clear; they've narrowed it down to two candidates who are unelectable. Makes it fun for the Progressives (and scares the pants off Conservatives) to think that we might actually elect a black man or a woman (or both, if you heed the rumor that one might choose the other for a running mate). </p>
<p>But of course it won't happen. When push comes to shoveling mud, the opposition will play on the basic dark fears of the American People "You don't really think a woman could be trusted with the most powerful office in the land?" and "Should the United States be represented by someone of Black Moslem heritage?") and of course, prejudice will prevail. The way it's looking now, Obama is likely to be the anointed one for the Democrats. An easy defeat; can you conceive of a US president without a thoroughly Anglo name?</p>
<p>There's big money in War, and the folks who backed Bush are turning a tidy profit in Iraq. They aren't anxious for us to get out, and McCain has already said he'll keep us there 'til Doomsday if necessary. That won him the election right there. Never mind that the vast majority of Americans want out. They'll vote as they are told, and if they don't, Diebold will just fiddle with the numbers until the totals come out right. Corporate Republicans will keep control of the White House, and the gravy train will just keep on rolling.</p>
<p>Any chance the United Nations could intervene one of these days and oversee American elections? It would be nice to actually get back to free and fair, like they have in other countries. </p>
<p>By the way, one of my favorite news sources, <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/video/diebold_accidentally_leaks"><strong>The Onion, ran an absolutely marvelous piece</strong></a> on Diebold (you know, the electronic voting machine people) accidentally releasing the results of the 2008 election prematurely. In the best spirit of black humor, it is horribly funny because of its grim proximity to truth.</p>
<embed src="http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" width="350" height="250" flashvars="file=http://www.theonion.com/content/xml/74800/video&autostart=false&image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/DIEBOLD_article.jpg&bufferlength=3&embedded=true&title=Diebold%20Accidentally%20Leaks%20Results%20Of%202008%20Election%20Early"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/video/diebold_accidentally_leaks?utm_source=embedded_video">Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early</a>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.justinegraykin.com/"><strong>Find our more about Mel Graykin here</strong></a>.</p>Eyewitness2008-03-08T12:47:57+00:00Hillary Is Too Strong In Ohio
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/03/hillary-is-too.html
By Dave, Republican blogger from Ohio Last-minute reshuffling makes it appear that Hillary might just tough out this election in Ohio, in fact it feels like New Hampshire all over again, when all the hype was focused on Obama, and...<p><strong><img title="Senatorhillaryclinton" alt="Senatorhillaryclinton" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/04/senatorhillaryclinton.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> By Dave, Republican blogger from Ohio</strong></p>
<p>Last-minute reshuffling makes it appear that Hillary might just tough out this election in Ohio, in fact it feels like New Hampshire all over again, when all the hype was focused on Obama, and by the early evening it was clear that Hillary was going to win the day.</p>
<p>The same dynamic is going to happen tonight. According to Quinnipiac and the local Ohio Poll, Hillary remains in the lead by a 5 to 9-point margin. She is just too strong in Northeast Ohio (Cleveland) and Southeast Ohio which is largely rural and Appalachian. Think coal miners of West Virginia and you’ll have a good picture.</p>
<p>Obama remains strong in Southwest Ohio, which is the most Republican area of the state, so unfortunately for him, there won’t be as many voters to counteract Hillary’s strength in Ohio.</p>
<p>I’ve got a report in from Hamilton County from a longtime Republican who thought about it, but couldn’t quite go over to help Hillary out. </p>
<p>There’s been some talk about Republicans voting Democratic in order to run against Hillary as they see her as the weaker candidate in November. </p>
<p>In the end though, most Republican voters will vote on the Republican ticket. My friend ended up voting for Fred Thompson as a protest vote, and I may end up doing the same.</p>
<p>McCain may have won the nomination in all practical effect, but he has not won the hearts and minds of Republican voters.</p>Eyewitness2008-03-04T20:40:00+00:00The Romanian Aiming For UK Eurovision Glory
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/the-romanian-ai.html
This weekend the competition to find the UK's entry for this year's Eurovision Song Contest gets under way. One of the six contestants hoping to represent the UK is a bit different - she's Romanian. Here Simona Armstrong tells Sky...<p><strong><img title="Blogsimonanew" alt="Blogsimonanew" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/29/blogsimonanew.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> This weekend the competition to find the UK's entry for this year's Eurovision Song Contest gets under way. One of the six contestants hoping to represent the UK is a bit different - she's Romanian. Here Simona Armstrong tells Sky News Online why she would be proud to fly the flag for her adopted country.</strong></p>
<p>My name is Simona Armstrong. I'm originally from Romania but I've been living in the UK now for over six years.</p>
<p>I first came to this country to have a second opinion on a skin condition doctors in Romania diagnosed as cancer. However, luckily for me, it wasn't and I was cured within several months by herbal remedies from Napiers in Scotland.</p>
<p>From then on I have been living here trying to pursue my acting and singing career, again I count myself lucky and have had several roles in TV productions.</p>
<p>Then a great break into musical theatre came along when I found myself passing several auditions to appear in Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit TV show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria.</p>
<p>The response I got from the British public was overwhelming, I'm extremely grateful for that and although I'm Romanian I very much regard the UK as my home.</p>
<p>This Saturday is the UK's qualifying show for the Eurovision song contest.</p>
<p>Once again I will find myself competing against other contestants, this time for the chance to represent this nation in Eurovision.</p>
<p>I love Eurovision and I think the UK is in with a good chance this year as the songs and artists are all very good.</p>
<p>Some people say "But you're Romanian, you can't represent the UK".</p>
<p>But if I do happen to win I won't be the first foreigner to represent Britain and knowing this great country I'm sure I won't be the last.</p>
<p><strong>The other contestants are Michelle Gayle, Rob McVeigh, Andy Abraham, LoveShy and The Revelations. Eurovision: Your Decision is on BBC1 on Saturday at 7pm.</strong></p>Eyewitness2008-02-29T07:17:49+00:00Democrats Play Out TV 'Bore Draw'
https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/democrats-play.html
By Jeff Coryell (aka. Yellow Dog Sammy), US political blogger Everyone pretty much expected Hillary Clinton to march into that debate and clobber Obama. She practically promised as much. But then, she couldn't really do that, could she? So she...<p><strong><img title="350democrats" alt="350democrats" src="https://jeremythompson.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/27/350democrats.jpg" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /> By Jeff Coryell (aka. Yellow Dog Sammy), US political blogger</strong></p>
<p>Everyone pretty much expected Hillary Clinton to march into that debate and clobber Obama.</p>
<p>She practically promised as much. But then, she couldn't really do that, could she? So she compromised, dropping down about six notches from righteous indignation to petty annoyance.</p>
<p>And it didn't really work. Although she called Obama's tactics "disturbing" and referred to his campaign mailers several times as "inaccurate" and "misleading,' her fusillade appeared to inflict no real damage and soon subsided.</p>
<p>Surely it was disappointing to her chanting, cheering, sign-waving supporters out in the snowstorm, or would have been if they had heard her say it.</p>
<p>The supporters of the two candidates weren't deterred in the least by the storm that arrived in the hours before the event, the worst such storm we've had this winter so far.</p>
<p>They trudged through the icy slush and took up their station along Prospect Avenue, chanting and hollering and trying to elicit responses from the passing cars. (A big dump truck honked to the Clinton supporters while I was nearby, and a city bus seemed to slow as it turned the corner so that the passengers could rap on the windows and wave to the Obama people.)</p>
<div class="promobox"><h4>View From The Press Room</h4><embed src="http://video.news.sky.com/sky-news/app/flash/SkyvideoWrapper.swf?playerType=embedded&type=sky_production&videoSourceID=1297623&flashVideoUrl=feeds/skynews/latest/flash/coryell2_blog.flv" width="350" height="240" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed> <p><strong>Rival supporters make themselves heard.</strong></p></div>
<p>One woman told me that she had come down from Michigan, in part because the delegates from that state would not be counted, a sanction imposed when Michigan party officials moved their primary to an unauthorised early date.</p>
<p>Inside, attendees who had paid thousands of dollars for packages that included a VIP reception were probably dissappointed as well. Both candidates had a detailed grasp of health care policy, spouting statistics and studies as they dissected each other's proposals.</p>
<p>But it was, in a word, tedious. A fellow blogger who spent the first half hour of the debate in the general audience returned to the media room to announce that the whole affair was boring.</p>
<p>Certainly Clinton did not do well with her attempt at humour. The hundreds of reporters in the media room groaned and booed when she complained about always getting the first question and made a reference to a TV comedy skit.</p>
<p>I don't think either side got quite what they wanted. The Clinton camp wanted some vengeance for the unfair treatment they feel she has received from the press and from her adversary.</p>
<p>Obama's people wanted him to soar to the inspirational heights of the speeches he gives at his rallies. Instead the contest turned into a long slog of wrangling and policy disputes.</p>
<p>They were both competent, they displayed their respective strengths well enough, but there was no decisive moment and no clear advantage to either.</p>
<p>In the spin room afterward, Clinton's biggest supporter in Ohio, Governor Ted Strickland, sounded almost plaintive in his defence of her performance.</p>
<p>She made important points to which people should pay more attention, he said, and she shouldn't be blamed by association for something that her husband did while president (that is, the much maligned North American Free Trade Treaty).</p>
<p>Sparse praise for a candidate who clearly needed a knockout blow to turn around her sagging fortunes in this race.</p>Eyewitness2008-02-27T08:57:34+00:00