All the President's Men: A great scene that's representative of the newsroom power structure. If you watch the movie, there's a newsroom meeting that says it all. Trust me, you'll recognize it. Journalists are a protective bunch, especially when it comes to their newsroom meetings. The invite lists typically enforce the professional hierarchy they not-so-secretly crave. My favorite morning news meeting remains the one I attended in the early 80s at Newsweek. At 10 am (news was a civilized profession back then), talented editors who had risen to proud gatekeepers reveled in debating and deciding what the magazine’s then three million subscribers should know every week. The best afternoon show was lorded over by Abe Rosenthal, the legendary New York Times editor. Thirty years later, ... Continue reading →
Simon Pegg, losing friends and alienating Americans as Toby Young.You might think that you come off all charmingly Alan Rickman or Emma Thompson, but don’t think Americans aren’t incensed by bits of your Britishness. If you want to make friends in these parts, avoid the following:1. Over cooking your vegetables The authentic British way to prepare edible plants is to immerse them in boiling water for a fortnight. Americans think this is weird and unpleasant, to which I say: “Until you’ve had a carrot disintegrate on your tongue, you haven’t lived.”2. Being standoffish When strangers in shops and people I pass on the street make eye contact, nod or say “Hi!” I like to reply with an icy stare or low growl. Lately, I’ve come ... Continue reading →
Stars and stripes forever... until they rip your plate away. (Canadian Press via AP Images)American people are some of the loveliest you’ll ever meet and make us expats feel all warm, cuddly and very welcome. But just occasionally they do or say something that we Brits find a tad… eccentric.1. Saying “I love your accent!” Before I moved here, I never imagined that my dreary London burr made me sound smart or lovable. At first the compliments were nice, but then a New York tiger mom asked me to talk to her snoozing two-year-old in the hope that it would rub off. A bit much, I thought.2. Putting last names first The fashion for inflicting quirky monikers on babies started with American parents giving their ... Continue reading →
22 May 2012 Last updated at 20:32 ET Nazi legacy: The troubled descendants By Frances Cronin BBC News Amon Goeth's daughter Monika only learned the true extent of her father's war crimes when she watched the film Schindler's List The names of Himmler, Goering, Goeth and Hoess still have the power to evoke the horrors of Nazi Germany, but what is it like to live with the legacy of those surnames, and is it ever possible to move on from the terrible crimes committed by your ancestors? When he was a child Rainer Hoess was shown a family heirloom. He remembers his mother lifting the heavy lid of the fireproof chest with a large swastika on the lid, revealing bundles of family photos. They featured ... Continue reading →
