Writing
Articles, ideas and creations
A selection from the archives.
2012
Why I Made Stuff Up For The New York Times
Open letter to the CEO (3 September, 2012)
“I got freaked out by the Times, where news is routinely skewed to suit the powerful. This still happens daily, although the distortions aren’t always as flagrant as they were.”
Yoga wrecked my hash habit
Elephant Journal (13 January, 2012)
“My first encounter with yoga was in India, but not by contorting on a mat. I was sitting round a fire smoking dope with dreadlocked sadhus. They told me postures were for babies.”
2011
How BKS Iyengar kicked my asana
Yoga International and Yoga Magazine (Winter, 2011)
“Flanked by two very senior U.S. teachers, he looked like Yoda in a knee-length golden kurta. Silver winged eyebrows and a mane gave him the air of a mad professor crossed with God.”
The housewife who shone light on American yoga
Yoga Rahasya and Elephant Journal (Autumn, 2011)
“When Diana Clifton started yoga, there weren’t any schools. She attended Iyengar’s first class in London, and was made a teacher on the spot. Now in her 90s, she still practices daily.”
2010
A Critical Chomsky Reader
Balkan Witness (30 May, 2010)
“We’re not saying ignore Noam Chomsky. He’s an insightful critic of U.S. foreign policy. But we suggest that you read him as critically as he suggests reading The New York Times.”
On Media Lens, lying and the Balkans
untitled blog (13 January, 2010)
“We should criticize both Balkan and Western governments, and deconstruct ‘our’ propaganda without adopting ‘theirs’. Intervention can be opposed without denying war crimes.”
2009
Barack Obama’s censored Nobel Prize speech
Dissident Voice (8 December, 2009)
“Our suicide pact with militarism has to end. It bankrupts us morally, financially and strategically. We can’t keep stalking the world creating enemies. But saying so might get me shot.”
Media ineptitude? We’ve been framed…
British Journalism Review (Autumn, 2009)
“The views that frame a story shape its message, so you don’t have to censor the news to hobble journalists. Since they defer to powerful sources, you just bury the truth until it no longer matters.”
Journalists are pawns of the powerful. The views that frame a story shape its message, so you don’t have to censor news to dictate its focus. You just bury truth till it no longer matters.”
Tomorrow’s news today: a fake FT from 2020
Not The Financial Times (27 March, 2009)
“Journalists frame debate, and the City frames policy […] If they reframed their thinking, they could help build a different world instead of conning us with lifestyle porn and bubbles.”
2008
Are you soft enough for Buddha’s boot camp?
untitled blog (16 January, 2008)
“How I learned to stop worrying and love pain: 10 days of silent Vipassana, with no meals after noon. Meditation feels like psychedelic drugs; it breaks you before it makes you.”
2007
The People vs. Tony Blair
untitled blog (7 September, 2007)
“The media won’t put Tony Blair on trial. They don’t explain what makes him criminal, or what keeps him out of court. This film does, which is why it got nowhere with UK broadcasters.”
2006
News As If People Mattered
untitled blog (4 April, 2006)
“Honest reporting is more in demand than ever, yet the news business seems to value it less and less […] Journalists of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your illusions.”
Diego Garcia: the special relationship’s dirty secret
untitled blog (14 March, 2006)
“While Britain and America refuse to let the Chagos islanders go home, their disputes over compensation reflect conflicting views on identity: is suffering something to escape or exhibit?”
2005
Rebels without a cause: Joseph Kony and the LRA
untitled blog (17 April, 2005)
“Western donors let Uganda attack its people, in return for a military proxy in East Africa, and a pseudo-success story. Meanwhile, the world’s weirdest warlord remains at large.”
2004
Dubya Money in God’s Casino
The Gurgling Ulcer (3 August, 2004)
“Last year I heard some serious gangsta shit. Eminem was really George Bush, and Dre was Cheney, craving oil: ‘give me one more crack at Iraq and fuck rap, you can have it back’…”
Endless Fear And Loathing In The Balkans
The Gurgling Ulcer (22 March, 2004)
“Having promoted conflicting doctrines of ethnic nationalism and human rights, Western powers must now decide […] ‘Do we cave in and accept, or do we reassert our principles?’”
2003
Serbs’ Premier Is Assassinated; Led In Reforms
The New York Times (13 March, 2003)
“It’s crunch time,” said the 37-year-old cipher Dejan Medic. “Either people are going to get serious and take on the criminals trying to undermine our country or we’re doomed.”
A Wartime Star Endures, Singing To A Torn Serbia
The New York Times (28 January, 2003)
“It would be difficult to find a more divisive figure in Serbia than Svetlana Raznatovic and her come-hither cleavage […] pop culture remains stuck in the vulgar excesses of the 90s.”
2002
Music To Make Glum Serbia Want To Sing Again
The New York Times (29 July, 2002)
“Changing the world with a music festival sounds ambitious. But the zeal and professionalism of the organizers has secured them influential backing. The U.S. gave them $180,000…”
2001
Ghosts of Christmas past still haunt Romanians
Reuters World Service (21 December, 2001)
“Christmas has never been quite the same for Dorin Carlan and Octavian Gheorghiu since they executed Nicolae Ceausescu […] They feel betrayed by the men they helped to power.”
