Holidays in the Axis of Evil - an A-Z of Iran

Advantages: Fabulous people, fascinating things to see
Disadvantages: Headscarves, awful food, expensive visas

...When you announce to friends, family and colleagues that you've just booked a holiday in Iran (an 'Axis of Evil Tour' as they might see it), their responses tend to be fairly predictable. They range from the geographically mistaken 'but isn't there a war there?'(nope, that's Iraq) or 'aren't they fighting with Israel?' (nope, that's Lebanon) to the most predictable of all responses - a look of bemusement and the question "What on earth would you want to do that for?' So I say to you put aside the thoughts of mad mullahs and the bellicose but oddly attractive (in a Jose Mourinho despotic sort of way) prime minister Ahmedinajad. Try instead to think Persia - the world's first great empire and the land of carpets and fluffy kitties with squashed up faces. As there's so much I could say about this fabulous country I'm going to enforce...

koshkha 27.11.2006 (03.12.2006) · Read review
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Review of General: Iran

Boxing News

Advantages: Quality, Easy To read, Likable
Disadvantages: Short, Price, Formulaic

...If Ring magazine is the world champion of boxing magazine it's big European rival is British based Boxing News that is now celebrating it's 100th year in production. It's currently a weekly magazine (though it's a registered paper) priced at £2.80 and released on a Friday ever week. Although the history of how it's become what it is, is an interesting story that saw one of my personal hero's Harry Mullan become it's editor for quite some time before his very untimely death, this review will stick to what the magazine currently is. It's currently almost full of regular features, like most magazines and it's opening article titled ?Fighting Talk? is written by current editor Claude Abrams and although not always a fan of his views an opinions it's often a well written piece to open the magazine. It's almost certainly based on just...

iamasadlittleboy 13.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Boxing News

Sky Sports News

Advantages: Dedicated Sports News
Disadvantages: Repetition

...So here's a TV channel that's been reviewed plenty of times by plenty of people, yet few get fed up of reading about it?? Why? Because it's the freeview-made-famous station Sky Sports News. Available on Freeview channel 83 and Sky channel 405, it's a 24-hour rolling news station because, apparently, sports warrants this much coverage. Or perhaps more cynically, Sky pump that much money into their sports coverage, a 'news' channel is the least they can provide to the majority for free with having to subscribe to their sports package. Hosted by two newsreaders, normally a man and a woman, although some times it can be just same-sex pairings, they do all the things any normal news station would do. Deliver the headlines, breaking news and in-depth interviews with important figures from the world of sport. The on...

carl.mcqueen 04.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sky Sports News

Rolling Sports News

Advantages: Quickly catch up on sports news, Soccer Saturday
Disadvantages: Same stories repeat quite often

...***Sky Sports News*** Sky Sports News is a 24 hour news channel focused just on sport and this means you can always tune in whenever you like for about five minutes and find out what has been happening in the world of sport quickly and easily. Although the name suggests it is only on Sky the channel is also on free view which is good. It is Freeview channel 83 and Sky channel 405. The channel does quite often repeat the same stories over and over again however so I would not recommend watching it constantly but you could have it on in the background so you can hear all the news but don`t have to really listen to the same stories again and again and get bored. I do check the channel about twice a day to see if anything important has happened but I can go weeks without watching it and I don`t always remember to watch it and am...

mariofan123 19.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sky Sports News

Hard News, easily forgettable

Advantages: Easy reading
Disadvantages: Poor storyline

...Hard News is written by Jeffery Deaver, who is probably best known for his Lincoln Rhymes series, the most famous of which was The Bone Collector which was made into a film starring Denzel Washington. The book is about a young woman who is working in the news room of Network News, when she receives a packet containing a video from an inmate found guilty of a murder for which he has constantly pleaded his innocence. After watching the video Rune cannot help but believe the man, his plea has hit a nerve and she wants to tell his story to the world. In order to do so, Rune must convince the anchor of the station?s current affairs broadcast that it would be a worthy cause. The anchor (Piper Sutton) is unimpressed at first, until she discovers the man in question is the very man who was convicted of murdering her boss and Network News...

Fiver29 08.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Hard News - Jeffery Deaver

News without moving the goalposts!

Advantages: 24 hour sports channel!
Disadvantages: Wifey will not like it!!!

...I refuse point blank to pay for anything with Sky; personally I don't see the point of having a TV Licence and then having to fork out so much money for other things such as movie channels and sport. So having Freeview for me is a benefit without crossing the line of forking out more money for something I might not actually watch or don't need. Launched on 1st October 1998, Sky Sports News was a revolution to broadcasting. This was the first time that a dedicated 24 hour resource had been launched specifically to tell people what was going on in the sporting world. This in turn gave a serious kick up the backside to rivals such as BBC and ITV in what they broadcast and how they broadcast it to which the bidding wars began for the sports and sporting events that we came to know being broadcast on terrestrial TV. I usually refer to...

Timbo3107 29.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Sky Sports News

The (parochial) News Of The World

Advantages: Local news, for local people
Disadvantages: It helps to have the life outlook of Genghis Khan

...a college opened', 'Anglia Poly tries to pretend to be a real university' and 'Clive Sinclair and his ridiculous trike, bless him' lines. Ely fares little better, even if Oliver Cromwell DID live there for a bit in the 1630s (and boy, do they hype that up to the max): the fact remains that he didn't kill anyone during that period, and even if he did they didn't have remotely the public profile of King Charles I. To this day, major news events aren't one of the area's principal exports...in fact, one suspects that without the ghastly tragedy of the Soham murders in 2002, the rest of the nation could consider it comfortably ignored. It's into this none-too-auspicious scenario that the area's primary factual organ, the Cambridge Evening News, thrusts itself. 'I Read The News Today, Oh Boy...' The News is based in the village...

greenierexyboy 21.07.2008 · Read review
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Review of Cambridge Evening News

Iran - Not the country I had seen on the TV

Advantages: People, Food, History, Architecture
Disadvantages: Cars, Cars, Cars, Cars

...I travelled to Iran with my Iranian wife and daughter with no concerns at all, it was a place I had heard so much about that I was desperate to see it with my own eyes. The Iranian community had been amazingly friendly and hospitable since I had married my wife especially as I had failed to pick up more than very basic Farsi!! Our 2 week holiday was the most amazing time I have spent in my life so far. We didn't go with a tour we stayed with my wifes family in Tehran and then in Sari (Northern Iran) and visited many of the sights. Tehran - smoky, loud and continually moving. We walked most places as driving was a nightmare, the bazaars were a great treat and gold was well priced compared to the west (wife thoroughly enjoyed that part!!), Shah's palaces had to be seen to be believed the architecture and splendour, drinking tea in...

bbicuk01 07.02.2007 · Read review
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Review of General: Iran

SEXY ACTION SKY NEWS

Advantages: News whenever you want it, stalking Maddie's parents
Disadvantages: Can over do the seriousness of news

...of this have to do with anything you maybe wondering, well as I sat in my armchair in the living room reading the Daily Star and the match report from the Man City v Everton game, I could not believe what was happening. But after the rumbling had stopped, my first instincts were not to run for safety in a doorway, but to flick on Sky News to see just how long it would take for them to put reports up of what had happened. And if it was an earthquake, or something more localised such as an explosion. My brother didn't seem concerned he had just missed the end of first look Shameless on E4+1, because it is interesting news reports such as these that bring people together in fascination. Around 10-15 minutes after the rumble, breaking news flung up on the screen and they were reporting tremors felt in the Norfolk area. Of course we now know that...

nathaninnit 27.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Sky News - sky news

BBC News ups and Downs

Advantages: Bring the latest news and fast in breaking news broadcasting
Disadvantages: Doesn't focus on the international topics as it should be

...from the One and Six O'clock News bulletins which I mostly miss, Breakfast, BBC World and national and regional newsrooms plus sports and entertainment. BBC news 24 brings you the latest updates and stories and the first for breaking news and exclusives. With great presenters with lots of experience and enthusiasm they bring you the best forecast with fluency and clear view. The correspondents are brave, fast to the actions theatre bringing you all what they can as soon as they fitted in. On the other hand it's not all sweet and perfect, I can say the international news not covered as it should be specially in the red hot zones like Iraq, Darfur Iran and Palestine. On 2006 when israel stroked Lebanon by air, sea and land, with missiles flying every where killing innocent children , women ,elderly and men, all running for their...

karimkha 08.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of BBC News 24