Tag Archives: 80s

Triumph of the Eastern Will: How the Olympics came clean about winning

Posted on August 28, 2012 by samiraahmed

A version of this article originally appeared in The Big Issue Magazine By the time you read this a couple of weeks will have passed since the end of the London 2012 Games. The Paralympics are about to start. Politicians … Continue reading →

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Call Me Sir: Ben Kingsley, Anne Rice and novel erotica

Posted on July 9, 2012 by samiraahmed

A tech journalist once told me that if watching tv on your mobile phone was such a great idea, loads of people would have been walking around with a primitive giant tv on their brick sized phones long ago. By … Continue reading →

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Raise your kids the David Bowie way

Posted on January 7, 2012 by samiraahmed

As a child David Bowie frightened me. I mean, really frightened me. The lyrics to Space Oddity, overheard on the radio,  left me in existential torment for the lingering death of Major Tom. Then there were those creepy emaciated illustrations on his 70s album … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Education, Film, Germany, Music, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Natalie Wood’s last film: How Hollywood tried to wreck Brainstorm

Posted on November 19, 2011 by samiraahmed

This week the Los Angeles Police Department reopened enquiries into the death of Natalie Wood. Many people will not be aware of her work. She had been making the film Brainstorm (1983) at the time — and it’s such a … Continue reading →

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The Libyan exile’s tale.

Posted on August 27, 2011 by samiraahmed

How must the events unfolding in Libya look to exiles? Today I met Jalal Shammam, a Libyan exile who was protesting outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 when someone inside opened fire. In an interview for the PM … Continue reading →

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My secret life in the Albert Hall: Backstage at the Proms

Posted on August 11, 2011 by samiraahmed

The first rule of presenting the Proms is.. No one wears red at the Proms. The second rule of Prom club is.. No one wears open toed shoes on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall. (This is apparently a … Continue reading →

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The Swingeing (cuts) 80s: Lessons from The Ghost Town Generation

Posted on June 30, 2011 by samiraahmed

They were playing the jaunty TV theme tune to “Jeeves and Wooster” on Monday night when guests walked into the Financial Times summer party at Lancaster House near Green Park in London. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed … Continue reading →

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Privilege: Lessons from the Swinging 60s and the Swingeing (cuts) 80s

Posted on June 30, 2011 by samiraahmed

This has been superceded by the longer post above which is the full comment piece on how far we really are re-living aspects of the 1980s: major strikes, job cuts, recession, Two Nations. Since the Royal wedding in April I’ve … Continue reading →

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The Truth About The Jam Generation (80s remix)

Posted on May 10, 2011 by samiraahmed

Since David Cameron claimed class war anthem “Eton Rifles” as one his Desert Island Discs, many political journalists seem to have bought the argument that they are “The Jam Generation”; the subject of a recent Radio 4 series. It seemed … Continue reading →

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Do They Mean Us? A lecture at the Three Faiths Forum about journalism

Posted on March 18, 2011 by samiraahmed

This is posted with kind permission of the Three Faiths Forum. (Links to video clips of my speech are on their website.) I spent much of February 28th at the National Liberal Club just off Embankment in London today — my … Continue reading →

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