Things That Matter...

Power of yes! - is a drama explaining the financial crisis in a simple way, it causes, its growth, its consequences and its...originators. I saw the performance recently at the Royal National Theatre. I loved the story, and I loved the fact its tackles such an actual national issue as an economic downturn. It is truly said that the drama raises “questions to which we all want to know the answers.” This is not just a play, its educative tool about what happened in the world economy from 1979 to 2009, when the banks went bust, capitalism was replaced by a socialism that bailed out the rich alone. The originators of the crisis cry out loud they are not blameworthy. Powerful financial figures move from the one influential position to another. Yesterday’s bank owner is today’s LSE director and tomorrow’s politician. Nobody’s fault, nobody’s responsibility, nobody is punished. The play writer in the drama, learning from bankers and journalists, calls attention to the government and regulat...

Israeli press follows up yesterday’s Obama-Netanyahu meeting with the headline “Obama humiliates Netanyahu”. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting "a hazing in stages", poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House phone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received "the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea". Al-Jazeera says no concrete announcements were made and Netanyahu “twice pushed back his departure as the Israelis scrambled to assemble a package of goodwill gestures to bring the peace process back on track.” Russian NTV , referring to Israeli newspapers only, reported: “Obama requested from Netanyahu a written promise of concession on the construction “freeze” in East Jerusalem. Not having received this paper Obama has left a trunk-call room with the words: “I am still here, let me know when you have something new”. British media outlets say ...

What would you prefer: to buy a thick version of The Times with a huge volume of unreliable articles or The Times which would be twice thinner but much trustworthy? Cardiff University researchers came up with striking findings – that the most respectful newspapers in the country are routinely recycling unchecked second-hand materials. They found that “60% of those quality-print stories consisted wholly or mainly of PR material and wire copy. And a further 20 % contained clear statements of wire copy or PR to which more or less other material has been added. Only 12 % of the stories were generated by the reporters themselves and only 12 % of key facts being checked. ” Today journalists working in a national newspaper are turning out nearly ten stories a day, spending most of the time in office. In the times when the speed efficiency and short deadlines are above everything else journalists are not able to check the facts and to tell their readers the truth about what's go...

Woke up at 9 am... It is pretty early for me considering the fact I worked until 1 am yesterday :) Today I have been asked to check TED conference published recently on youtube and express my opinion. The question of whether science should be an authority on moral issues raised by Sam Harris led to vivid discussion with my friend. Does a husband beating his wife somewhere in Syria understand that it is against commonly accepted moral and bad? Does a dog owner kicking his dog realize it’s contradicts human ethic? Do they actually have a right for these horrible things? Should everyone consider that as a wrongdoing or maybe we should be free to do whatever we want depending on the society we live in? Sam Harris, “an outspoken proponent of skepticism and science” with a degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in neuroscience, believes that science can answer moral questions. He proposes the idea to create a universal system where science dictates morality. Beating women and children is bad exec...

On Saturday I went to Curzon for premiere of Budrus in the UK– an award-winning feature documentary about peaceful resistance as a means of Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution. To say it was good means to say nothing. It is excellent film, which makes you see behind all these sensational news headlines, shows the conflict on a local level and how it affects people’s lives. Even though I am from Uzbekistan, living in the UK and the problems in the Middle East are far away from me, the film made me feel sensitive about the issue, made me empathize… The plot of the film is unarmed movement organised by Palestinian, Ayed Morrar, who united local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. At the end of the premiere filmmaker Julia Bacha told the audience about the process of filming, main characters and their lives today, about Budrus and issues the other Arab villages facing today, about non-viole...

“Burden of virginity” is the first Uzbek documentary unveiling Uzbek traditions on female pride and honour. The movie was issued on March 5 and raised an important issue not only for Uzbekistan, but also for all oriental countries. The film focuses on the preservation of virginity by the wedding ceremony. The controversy of the topic promised higher attention of the public. The movie was produced by the director of Tashkent Cinema Museum and film-maker Oleg Karpov and his wife Umida Ahmedova. According to the old tradition, the relatives of the groom want to demonstrate the bed sheet with blood spots as evidence of the fiancé’s virginity after the wedding night. It is a big shame for the girl if the bed sheet is clean. The majority of people in Uzbekistan, particularly in the rural areas, support the old tradition. The relatives of the groom often insist on medical examination of the bride prior to the wedding. Moreover, this custom is supported by prominent scient...

Twelve Dorset schools performed on the spectacular show "C2R Dorset Police Rock Challenge "in Pavilion yesterday night. Each school created their own eight-minute "mini-West-End" performance in electric competition. The event is drug and crime prevention vehicle that comes in the form of a friendly performing arts competition. Achieving a natural high through performance rather than through the use of substances was the aim of the event. Dorset Police in their statement said "the police proud of local students and delightful to support the event, which aimed to improve the quality of life for all of society by encouraging young people to take an active role in building safe and healthy communities." Scholars presented variety of social issues in their programmes such as slavery issues, clones phenomenon, credit crunch, madness of reality TV and others. There were other great pieces concerned youth directly. So, Testbourne Community School made a great per...