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O
CCASIONALLY Mediawatching will receive contributions from the same publication – but never
have we had two contributions from the Church Times before. So, in a first for Mediawatching, we have two contributions from… Church Times. First up is from Derek Timms, who writes “Not too sure if Church Times features on your reading list, if not the comment on page 14… may be of interest.”
Indeed it is. The article, titled “The Book Police”, was first published on 22 June (
https://bit.ly/2OnZHwF) and begins with a quote from CILIP Carnegie Medal winner Geraldine McCaughrean’s post-victory speech, in which she said: “No witches, no demons, no alcohol, no death, no religion…” while talking about the publishing industry. The article looks at how that ethos could impact on biblical tales of martyrdom. It concludes with a paragraph that calls for children to be able to explore darker themes in a safe environment, rather than a complete ban, saying: “If children are to exercise their imaginations as well as their limbs, they need to face difficulties and overcome challenges – not unsupervised, of course. There is a traditional way in which adults monitor the way that children are exposed to life’s serious topics. It is precious, and needs to be protected from interference. It is called a library.” A week later and the Church Times was at it again, this time in a less than flattering case of librarian stereotyping. In a book review of Out of the Mist by Lynne Chitty. First spotted by @ABTPL, the Twitter feed of the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries, which simply added an angry face emoji to a screenshot of the article (
https://bit.ly/2MaGJMh). Anna James subsequently brought it to Mediawatching’s attention. The book is about Eliza, who has lost her faith, and her relationship with a brother just released from prison and the crime he committed. The review describes Eliza as having “given up on life and God, and leads a death in life between her bedsit
September 2018
Orkney Library confirmed they have no vacancies for MI5 agent librarians.
and her library job, abandoning the poetry that she used to write.” The full review is at
https://bit.ly/2nmYMRm. Also freshly released from prison is former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson (formerly Stephen Yaxley-Lennon). Robinson had been serving a 13-month sentence – 10 months for a contempt of court offence at Leeds Crown Court where he filmed defendants and published the video on Facebook, despite a ruling that no reporting of the case could be made until the end of the trial. He was also given three month’s jail time for breaching the terms of previous suspended sentence. Having won an appeal against his conviction at Court of Appeal he now faces a rehearing, but in the meantime comedian Jeremy Hardy tweeted: “Tommy wants to be important. MI5 should recruit him as a Special Agent in the war against terror, give him a new identity as a mild-mannered librarian on Orkney and tell him it’s imperative that he doesn’t break cover until the day he gets the call.” Orkney’s famously active Twitter feed (@OrkneyLibrary) was quick to respond, just under an hour later, despite the fact the first Tweet was sent at 5.06am) with a firm “Sorry we’ve no vacancies at present.”
Jeremy Hardy, thinker.
Thanks to Margaret Hung for sending that in.
If Jeremy Hardy is keen to see less of Tommy Robinson, then perhaps he should suggest sending him to Cardiff’s Old Library. Figures obtained by the BBC found that a faulty lift at the library resulted in 13 call-outs for the fire brigade to rescue a total of 28 people trapped inside it over the last two years. The spate of trapped patrons forced Cardiff Council to act and it duly stuck up an “Out of Order” notice as it set about getting the lift repaired. And just eight months after the sign went up, the lift is now back in fully working order (
https://bbc.in/2OTQ7T1). IP
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