The Best of the Web
In this week’s round-up of the Internet: the aftermath in Arizona, what the Oldham by-election means, an unexciting PMQs, Wikipedia turns ten, and much more.
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Welcome to this week’s round-up of the best articles, graphics and videos from across the web.
As expected, Labour won the by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth: Nick Robinson asked what it meant for the coalition and Labour leader Ed Miliband, whilst Mike Smithson tackled the assumption that Tory losses saved the Lib Dems. Meanwhile, the first PMQs of the new year saw nothing very new politically, says The Economist; PoliticsHome listed the top five insults to emerge.
The fall-out from the shooting in Arizona came to a head when President Obama visited Tucson, and gave what was, by most accounts, a remarkable and astute speech. Meanwhile, in the wake of this year’s other high-profile assassination, Christopher Hitchens touched upon Jefferson, Marx, Nehru and Castro in exploring how the murder of Pakistani politician Salman Taseer differed.
On a more positive note, Matthew Taylor, previously associated with IPPR, Tony Blair and the Labour Party, chooses his FiveBooks on Progress, whilst in the best TED Talk of the week, Noble Laureate Jody Williams offered a vision of world peace.
Stat attacks: an infographic shows once and for all that the world is obsessed is obsessed with Facebook, whilst a map shows how big America’s economy remains.
Podcast of the week: This American Life discovers that money is essentially fiction.
Ten years after the birth of Wikipedia, Clay Shirky and Timothy Garton Ash are both complimentary about the online encyclopedia, while the New Scientist takes a look at some of the most intriguing first entries.
Map of the week: a map of London based on the support of the capital city’s various football team.
As Ofcom called for a competition review into News Corp’s proposed takeover of the broadcaster Sky, inside Rupert Murdoch’s print empire, the Sun continues to ‘subsidise’ the Times, whilst former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neill had some choice words to Richard Bacon about his erstwhile friend and boss.
Finally, The Economist’s Bagehot offers an alternative vision of the recent hit film ‘The King’s Speech’, and any student currently fretting over postgraduate applications might find some comfort in what John F Kennedy came up with.
On The Vibe this week: Anca Voinea discussed the media industry, Simon Stiel explored David Miliband’s television proposals, Chris Jacobsen assessed the likely impact of the royal wedding, Laura McPhee discussed both the Arizona shooting and digital piracy, James Le Grice debated heated political rhetoric, and Georg Hoehne interviewed a Pirate Party figure.
