Catherine Wylie

Catherine Wylie is a reporter at the Press Association in London.

London Letter: Do we have the wrong idea about teaching and elitism in Northern Ireland?

| Readers 20

Cool isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think of an English public school headmaster, but Anthony Seldon, head of Wellington, and Tony Little, head of Eton, are teetering dangerously close to it being an accurate description.

The old stereotype only goes as far as their plummy voices, or if we’re being pernickety, then Little’s perfectly coiffed moustache deserves a mention.

As an Irish woman from a modest background, I found myself feeling both shocked and surprised at a great deal during The Sunday Times Festival of Education, which was held at the cinematically beautiful Wellington College where each term costs up to almost £10,000.

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London Letter: Facebook – Be careful with the online you

| Readers 13

A titan of the internet universe, Facebook is now said to be even more popular than google, and is valued at $50 billion after investment by Goldman Sachs. A quick glance over some Facebook profiles, however, and you would question how dumbed down English, cringe worthy tributes to the deceased and shocking status updates from some individuals could be part of such a phenomenon. Debate continues over privacy issues on the site, and while a lot of this will be …

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London Letter: A new flag for Northern Ireland?

| Readers 279

A Tory MP said yesterday that Northern Ireland should have its own recognised flag, but is it realistic to think that the people of Northern Ireland could ever become united under one flag, symbol and nation? The MP in question, Andrew Rosindell, dressed his dog, Spike, in a union flag waistcoat whilst campaigning during the 1997 election, and is known for being in favour of firearm ownership, the death penalty and the detention of asylum seekers. “Northern Ireland is the …

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London Letter: Arts face tough year in 2011

| Readers 10

It’s hard to make an economic case for the arts at a time when all departments face cuts and shortages. However, many believe that the survival and continued nurturing of the arts needs to be fought for, as thousands of people are employed in the sector in Northern Ireland and it is such a huge part of the social structure. In recent years, it has become more popular for people to attend the theatre (particularly affordable community theatre) and it …

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London Letter: Newspaper journalism student seeks job on paper

| Readers 20

The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade says that we are “marching slowly towards the death of newspapers”. The internet is awash with blogs such as ‘Newspaper Death watch’ and ‘Cynical journalist – Tracking the demise of the newspaper industry’. Figures show that sales of the newly launched ‘I’ paper, the first new national to be launched in years, have fallen by over half in the month since its launch.

So, what idiot would pay thousands of pounds to do a newspaper journalism course?

Well, I’m one of 37 idiots at City University London doing the MA in newspaper journalism. Call me naive, but I’m confident that I’ll come out the other end with at least some sort of job vaguely related to newspapers and journalism, and if I have to wait a year then so be it. I might not be on the Guardian news desk, or writing features for the Sunday Times, but even if I was, it surely wouldn’t be THAT outlandish or unbelievable, would it? The world wants news and trained journalists are needed to provide that news. Ironically, the aforementioned blog, ‘Tracking the demise of the newspaper industry’, is written by one of the students in my class.

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