Comment Awards, 2015Teenage ebola diarist honouredTuesday 24 November, 2015
A 13-year-old girl whose diary of life during the ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone made the Observer splash became the youngest winner at the EI Comment Awards in London today. Bintu Sannoh was named young commentariat of the year for this piece about the crisis and two further articles about the stigma and poverty and hunger that came in the wake of the disease. Six months later she was able to return to school - but she writes about how everything had changed, with only a third of pupils having survived. Janan Ganesh emerged the sole double winner of the morning as the Financial Times took pride of place at the ceremony at the RIBA headquarters. He won the top accolade of commentariat of the year, having earlier been named political commentator of 2015.
His paper won the award for the best comment pages, Gillian Tett was business commentator and Michael Skapinker won the new prize for business ethics commentary. The Times also claimed a clutch of prizes: David Aaronovitch was honoured for comment piece of the year for this article after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Jenni Russell won the new diversity award, Hugo Rifkind was arts and culture commentator and Sathnam Sanghera media commentator (in succession to SubScribe). Other winners included Simon Jenkins, Gary Younge and Cory Doctorow of the Guardian, Allister Heath of the Telegraph, Channel 4, and the science writer Philip Ball. The chairman's award went to Andrew Rawnsley, of the Observer, while the Sun punctured the domination of the broadsheets (even if few of them are physically broadsheets these days) by winning the eiDigest special award for its leader column. SubScribe was honoured and surprised to find a place on the individual blogger shortlist, but delighted to see the award go to Matthew Scott, whose excellent Barrister Blogger can be seen here You can see all the winners here and the full shortlists here. The commentators 24-11-15...on the strategic defence reviewIt is telling that we crave the simulation of strategy. This busy week is the outstanding example of our times. The two reviews look more rational than they are, or ever can be in a system such as ours. The defence plan is a dart thrown at a board by competing departments of state, who will doubtless overcorrect for their mistakes in 2010 and prioritise the threats that happen to have manifested most recently. The spending review does not review spending, not really. We have the elaborate, well-choreographed pretence of strategy. It is harmless, unless it fools us that we are doing all we can about our problems - Janan Ganesh, Financial Times
Over the past five years the UK has increasingly been seen by its allies – both in the US and in Europe – as a power in retreat, focusing on its domestic political and economic crises at the expense of its international activism. This review, and the stability which it provides, should help to reverse this perception. Over the coming period outside observers will pay particular attention to the imminent Commons vote on Syria, and to the forthcoming referendum on EU membership. If the prime minister can get what he wants from both votes, then this review will have played an important role in restoring the UK’s reputation as a reliable security partner
- Malcolm Chalmers, The Guardian The Government’s long-awaited Strategic Defence Review undoes some of the damage caused by David Cameron’s last one, in 2010, when he inflicted cuts on the Armed Forces, and especially the Army, more brutal than any in their modern history. But the underlying reality is that Britain’s debt blackhole — together with rising welfare, pensions and NHS costs — consumes so much cash that there is woefully little left for anything else, defence included - Max Hastings, Daily Mail
Money reveals priorities. This Strategic Defence and Security Review shows that the Government, understandably, remains determined to crush the adversaries of today on the physical rather than digital battlefield. That is not as forward thinking as it could be. But it represents a marked improvement. It is often said that Britain’s military is set up to fight the battles of yesterday, tomorrow. Now we will fight the battle of today, tomorrow
- Lewis Page, Daily Telegraph Only a few years ago, the puff would have been chucked out the moment the scale of a story like this became apparent, partly as a matter of taste and partly to maximise the potential for display and give the story room to breathe.
Last night only the Telegraph dispensed with the blurb - and that decision may have been influenced by the oversized ad at the foot of the page. The Times had signed up Bake-Off's Nadiya and wasn't about to surrender a millimetre of her promo. The Guardian was similarly wedded to its taste of autumn and the Mail to its Lego toy... but journalism was still the winner How the papers covered the Paris attacks Comment archive, 2015 |
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November 20 Politics November 19 Paris attacks November 18 Terrorism November 17 Paris attacks November 16 Paris attacks November 13
Politics November 12 Politics November 11 Politics November 10 Britain and Europe November 9 Remembrance Sunday November 6
Sinai jet crash November 5 UK politics November 4 UK politics November 3 State surveillance November 2 Politics October 30
Politics October 29 Tax credits October 28 Tax credits October 27 Tax credits October 26 Lords v Commons October 23
UK politics October 22 UK politics October 21 Xi Jinping October 20 Xi Jinping visit October 19 Xi Jinping's visit October 16
Politics October 15 Politics October 14 Politics October 13 EU referendum October 12 EU referendum October 9
Politics October 8 Cameron speech October 7 Conservatives October 6 Conservatives October 5 Conservatives
October 2 UK politics October 1 Labour conference September 30 Labour conference September 29 Politics September 28 Volkswagen September 25
Politics September 24 Volkswagen September 23 Politics September 22 "Pig-gate" September 21 Politics September 18
Labour September 17 Jeremy Corbyn September 16 Jeremy Corbyn September 15 Jeremy Corbyn September 14 Jeremy Corbyn September 11
Jeremy Corbyn September 10 Migrant crisis September 9 Drone strikes September 8 Migrant crisis September 7 Migrant crisis August 28
Virginia TV shootings August 27 Jeremy Corbyn August 26 Politics August 25 Politics August 24 Labour leadership August 21
Politics August 20 Student debt August 19 Labour leadership August 18 Labour leadership August 17 Labour leadership August 14
Labour leadership August 13 Politics August 12 Politics August 11 Politics August 10 Labour leadership August 7
Kids Company August 6 Kids Company August 5 Labour leadership August 4 Labour leadership August 3 Calais July 24
Labour leadership July 23 Labour leadership July 22 Labour leadership July 21 Counter-terrorism July 20 Boris Johnson, Greece If you would like
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