Zephyrist's sunday night briefs - week 14, 2007

Sunday night briefs on a Monday, what an earth is going on? Don't panic just the four day Easter weekend meant that I left it till Monday night to write the briefs.

So this week the Royal Navy prisoners were freed by Iran as a gesture of good will and arrived back home to a media storm. Questions were asked about why they didn't resist, the MoD and should people profit from telling their story.

MoD ban on troops selling stories (BBC)

The MoD have reversed their earlier decision to allow navy personnel to sell their stories as they saw fit. This follows a row where Faye Turney has sold her story to the Sun.

This is a very complex situation, the story does need to be told and it should be told by those people who know about it first hand. The Sun and therefore a significant section of society put monetary value on such stories. This poor taste voyeurism is one of the baser levels of society but if the public buy the Sun to read those stories how can they then criticise people for selling their stories. Surely that is double standards as society at large is responsible for moral standards not just one person.

At least one of the officers has decided to tell his story but has declined any payment, he has also gone to more reputable less sensationalist media outlets such as the BBC. He and perhaps some of the other members of the team have realised that the story needs to focus on what can be learnt from the incident rather than provide stories for entertainment.

I do not blame any of them for deciding to sell their story. I personally believe that they should if they wish be able to sell their story, although I would question the need for obscene payments to be made. I would urge anyone considering selling their story to consider the media outlets they choose and avoid ones which would turn the story into sensationalist or inflammatory stories.

East - West Rail link Boost (Bicester Advertiser)

I have previously written articles on the east - west rail link which would link Oxford to Cambridge. In a further boost to the fight to get it re-opened English, Wales and Scottish Railways (Freight operators) have announced it is one of their "super 16" list of projects which it says will allow the railways to increase freight traffic and remove it from the roads.

There is now a online Number 10 petition so people can pledge their support to the proposed east - west rail link.

Shoppers eat chocolate billboard (BBC)

Thorntons designed a large chocolate billboard 4.4 by 2.9 metres made entirely out of 390 kilograms of chocolate. They then encouraged the passing public to help themselves.

The display was expected to last a week, guess how long it actually lasted?

It was polished off in just three hours, 50 brownies who were allegedly just passing were implicated in the speedy chocolate snaffle.

Companies urged: 'let your staff blog' (BBC)

Generally unless you work in a tech / software company you work in a blog un - friendly environment. Most rules are draconian forcing bloggers under ground especially if they wish to criticise the organisation.

However bloggers can also spread positive news about the organisations they work for and can help counter the negative information in the blogosphere and the wider interweb. So in this article companies are encouraged to reconsider their positions on blogging. The article suggests that rather than ignore these forums of customer communication they should embrace them.

Scientists' 'perfect' bacon butty (BBC)

Scientists have researched the formula for a perfect bacon butty. How dare they, a good bacon butty is a work of art not of science. In addition what constitutes a good bacon butty is very subjective, so really thanks for your help but back to the lab.