Album review: Inform Educate Entertain – Public Service Broadcasting

INFORM EDUCATE ENTERTAIN Public Service Broadcasting (Southbound) The novelty of mixing soundbytes from archival British propaganda material and public information films could so easily fall flat as a musical project but the curiously named J Willgoose Esq and Wrigglesworth, the electronic duo behind PSB, have the sonic nous to “teach the lessons of the past through the music of the future”. The late Margaret Thatcher features prominently on both the title track and Theme From PSB, while the strongest two tracks – Everest – a dazzling synthesizer soundscape about our own Sir Edmund Hillary’s climb to the top of the world, and Night Mail, which blazes with punk fervor and blazing guitars showcase the expansive compositional skills that PSB use to give the past meaning in the present.

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Iran mulls suing Hollywood

Iranian media say authorities are planning to sue Hollywood over the Oscar-winning “Argo” because of the movie’s allegedly “unrealistic portrayal” of the country. Several news outlets, including the pro-reform Shargh daily, said that French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre is in Iran for talks with officials over how and where to file the lawsuit

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Historical Notes Jottings from the Third Reich

“May this book help me to be clearer in spirit, simpler in thought, greater in love.” Unlikely as it may seem, so begin the voluminous diaries of one of modern history’s most diabolical figures: Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for the Third Reich. Despite these noble intentions, the entry soon reveals the ugly disposition of the man who became a fanatical member of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle.

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China Gropes for a Response to North Korea’s Nuke Moves

In the summer of 2006, in the immediate aftermath of North Korea’s unexpected long-range missile launch, the Chinese government quietly sent a senior envoy, former foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan, to Pyongyang to express Beijing’s displeasure. Tang cooled his heels for a couple of days, before finally meeting — briefly, diplomatic sources have said — with leader Kim Jong Il. Just three months later, in October 2006, North Korea again defied the world and tested a nuclear bomb for the first time

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