Important to be in control of ‘things’
The Guardian this week included a recruitment advert for a freelance journalist and a freelance photojournalist for Group JS, a Danish marketing company.
It says for further information about the vacancies you should go to its homepage, www.groupjs.com.
Freelance Andrew Don did just that and was intrigued to find that under the heading “qualifications”, the following specification was required: “You have your things under control and have a creative and solution-orientated mind.”
“I’m not quite sure what ‘things’ I am supposed to have under control,” says Don. “But I think this might be one freelance job opportunity I’ll take a rain check on.”
The coats of arms, from left, of East Riding, North Riding and West Riding. The latter two carrying roses similar to the East Riding Mail
County’s personal war of the roses
The Hull Daily Mail’s attempts to win over new readers in East Riding may be going great guns journalistically, but they have hit a thorny problem. The paper has redesigned its masthead for the county area as the East Riding Mail, complete with “patriotic” white rose.
Unfortunately, there is a slight snag: they’ve done the rose upside down. Those tetchy Tykes are even more upset because the rose so proudly shown on the East Riding Mail is actually that of their sworn enemies in “wessie land” – the West Riding rose. That is akin to a Liverpool supporter asking a decorator to paint his house in the colours of the Anfield team only to discover a wonderful shade of blue.
Dog turns, of course, to the Yorkshire Ridings Association for the definitive, er, fascinating history of the county symbol: “The white rose has been associated with England’s Yorkshire for more than 600 years and has become universally accepted as the emblem for England’s largest county. There are in fact three white roses, one representing each of the Ridings. Those of the West and North Ridings depict the rose with a petal uppermost, while the East Riding rose shows this in reverse with a point at the top and a petal at the base. No authoritative account exists as to why one version should differ from the other two.” Only in Yorkshire…
Milne’s bum deal
The Sunday Times Scotland has unchivalrously been poking fun at BBC Scotland television presenter John Milne for his “incisive journalism”. Conducting an interview on Newsnight Scotland on the Scottish Executive’s new strategy on sexual health, Milne, a former professional footballer who is highly respected in Scottish journalistic circles, inquired: “When it comes to improving sexual health, is it not better to start at the bottom and work your way up?”
Rough-Duff-stuff
Grampian TV journalist Steven Duff has been hitting the headlines in his role as a Scottish Premier League referee.
Diplomat Duff had to physically restrain Aberdeen FC assistant manager Duncan Shearer from invading the pitch during a heated moment at Pittodrie in a bad-tempered clash against Hearts in which the Dons had two players sent off.
The pictures of Duff grappling with Shearer in front of the main stand were plastered over every Scottish daily newspaper, and replayed time and time again on television.
Unfortunately for Duff, the camera angles gave the impression that both were indulging in a real set-to when he was playing peacemaker.
As the fourth official, one of Duff’s duties is to ensure that the management teams in both dug-outs are a model of propriety.
Despite all the brouhaha, Shearer has escaped scot-free as Duff’s referee colleague in charge of the game declined to highlight the unsavoury incident in his report to the SFA.
Gervais original too rich for Dyke
Youth Culture Television isn’t the kind of film production school where a shining CV or handy family contacts would necessarily bag you the job. Kids from deprived backgrounds are targeted, hand-picked from the country’s finest youth offending teams.
In a money-raising auction for the charity held at the BBC, eight celebrity self-portraits went under the hammer before a sea of less-deprived wallets.
Ann Widdecombe depicted herself as the pretty little Weed from the Flowerpot Men, while Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow’s use of garish colour reflected his taste in ties, and fetched a handy £260 from YCTV’s managing director, Salim Salam.
But, amazingly, it was Ricky Gervais’s simple line drawing that drew the most aggressive bidding. BBC director general Greg Dyke was in the thick of things, until the going got too tough for his £400,000-or-so salary and he dropped out before the gavel fell at a cool £1,500.
Along with donations, £12,000 was raised in all.
From the Ormskirk Advertiser. Certainly not the first, and probably not the last, team photograph to include a hilarious wag showing off his, er, tackle. But Dog loved the juxtaposition of the headline below.
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