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It was the usual haughty performance from the Prime Minister at PMQs. Cameron looked delighted at his own ability to deftly avoid questions on child poverty and public sector suffering, as his party and the liberal democrats next to them chortled and brayed at every witty evasion. There were even a few heart-warming jokes about honourable members’ facial hair grown for Movember. Top fun! Has there even been a more potent example of being out of touch? The anger from Ed Miliband and the Labour opposition, an inoculation-strength dose of the real bad blood that has been let all over the UK, was rejected, ignored,Read More →

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Perhaps it was because a Friday afternoon coffee had turned into a beer, or perhaps it was because I was on my way out of my job as a reporter, that a contact was being unusually honest. As we sank our pints and rued the barren economic climate that had cost this senior property agent his big-bonus lifestyle and me, in part, my job, he volunteered a very simple truth in honest language. “Ben,” he said resignedly, “our system exists in one of only two states: fear or greed”. Speaking for himself and his Mayfair colleagues, he explained how when things are good the industryRead More →

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If there was any doubt in my mind about which way to vote on AV, the ‘no’ campaign has helped clear up the matter. The patronising force-feeding of crudely couched untruths and malevolent over-simplifications instead of presenting us with a well thought-out list of arguments and cogent analysis shows the present system up for all of its flaws. Is it because they think we wouldn’t get our feeble heads around their elevated and lofty arguments? Is it because they don’t know why they are against it themselves they just know that they don’t want change? Is it because they know that if they tried toRead More →

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Ah you have to love the French…(well you don’t have to as most people find).. For the majority of (working) people the idea of drinking at lunchtime is becoming more of a treat than a habit. The fear of returning sheepishly to the office and having to snake past colleagues to slump down at your desk, trying to avoid any contact with your pink and bleary eyes. The inevitable afternoon hangover as the short burst of tipsyness that seemed perfectly sane before subsides by three leaving you feeling wretched and unable to function at anywhere near the usual level. And in most jobs the worstRead More →

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Until I have my travel writing section properly updated (it will involve going through the journal I would write while I was sitting on some magical street corner in Vietnam, screeching through the night on a train through the Cambodian countryside, or surrounded by a sea of red flags and hate-filled banners in the protests in Bangkok) here are a couple of video’s I’ve made of my photogrpahy on Youtube. Youtube – My month in Vietnam Youtube – Travels around Cambodia Note – they have sound…  Read More →

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After many restrained but ill-felt disputes with my laptop, myself, and my internet host, benedictcooper.co.uk is now live… Feel free to have a look around – there will be regular blog posts here of my meandering thoughts on, well, the things that I’m interested in – politics, media, people, music, life, that sort of thing. And as (I sincerely hope) you’ll find from having a click through the buttons above, you can take a look through my CV and read detailed descriptions of the work I’ve already done – and the work I’m available forRead More →