NevilleHobson.com

Who gets the last laugh? asks Nick Robinson, the BBC’s political editor, in a summary yesterday of the campaign and result of the 2008 election for London mayor.
As everyone now knows, Boris Johnson won the contest and officially takes on the job at midnight tonight.
Johnson defeated incumbent Ken Livingstone who has been mayor for [...]

Channel 4 broadcast a hard-hitting report on Monday by its Dispatches investigative reporting team on the UK mobile phone business.
Allegations of sharp practices by mobile phone retailers (an outfit called Phones4U came under especially severe criticism), denial of responsibility by mobile operators when things go wrong with changing contracts, and government collusion to keep voice [...]

One of the more interesting entrants to the Twitter community is DowningStreet, the moniker of a person or persons unknown in the digital communications team at 10 Downing Street.
Daily tweets inform the worldwide Twitter community of events, Prime Minister’s speeches, official announcements, what’s happening, etc.
Of most interest is the fact that this is not [...]

French president Nicolas Sarkozy is in the UK on a state visit, the first by a French leader in over a decade.
Watching the BBC News 24 live coverage this morning of his arrival at Windsor Castle for all the pomp and ceremony associated with such occasions - see this 6-minute Qik video I did [...]

I’m probably one of the relatively few Englishmen who think the European Union is a good thing.
After all, I am from a country that talks about Europe generally as a separate place, as in "I’m going to Europe" rather than "I’m going to continental Europe." Or even "I’m going to the Continent," always with [...]

In The Economist this week, there’s a fascinating feature about China and the country’s development of its infrastructure - roads, railways, airports, etc.
As with much of the writing in The Economist, it’s a well-written and compelling piece that draws you into the story.
And what a story.

With almost every paragraph, I felt bombarded, smacked in [...]

The 2008 meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, wraps up today.
One of the most interesting aspects of the meeting has been The Davos Question, the YouTube channel where a single question was posed:
What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better [...]

I don’t write about politics in this blog even though it has a category/tag called Politics.
Yet I’m becoming increasingly tempted to do so because there has been so much going on in just the past six months that prompts a wide sway of feelings, from disbelief to outright anger.
Perhaps I ought to be clearer in [...]

Did you have a great Christmas? We did in our family, a time of year when everyone gets together - parents, children, siblings, cousins - to simply enjoy each others’ company in a relaxed atmosphere.
Plenty to eat and drink, lots of great conversations, and the pleasure of giving and receiving gifts.
There is a dark side, [...]

In the blogosphere, you’ll always hear talk about how people who write blogs or otherwise use social media can wield some influence in affecting the opinions of others.
There is plenty of evidence to indicate that social media does have influence on not only the opinions but also the actions of others.
The recently-completed New Media, New [...]