links for 2009-05-21

"Two of the biggest publishers in the regional press have agreed to trial the new free video service from the Press Association. Trinity Mirror Regionals and MEN Media will now receive news footage as part of a free six-month trial, launched earlier this month. The video wire service provides file-based footage of the day's main stories for broadcasters, online newspapers and digital customers, ready for them to edit into their own packages."

"Join us this afternoon as the Commons debates whether the BBC should enjoy a licence fee increase. The debate has been called by the Conservatives who insist that the BBC should not receive the £3 licence fee increase because of the recession."

The church owning the former Granada Cinema in Walthamstow has written an open letter saying why redevelopment plans have stalled. The McGuffins are adamant that a cinema could be revived there. Personally, I'm aggravated that a beautiful art-deco building that once hosted The Beatles is falling into ruin due to the planning delays. [Hat-tip: Stella Creasy via Twitter]

Gutted that I haven't had time to get up to Bletchley Park yet and see all the early computer goodness - but I must add that if you only ever read one fictional story featuring Alan Turing, it should, of course, be Paul Leonard's "Doctor Who: The Turing Test"

"I would be willing to bet whatever you think your scheme is going to accomplish will not work. This is the real world, Frog, the big time. So unless you are in an 80s action movie with a British accent, I need you to hop back into the water and go make some tadpoles and stop acting like you just went through metamorphosis for the first time in history or something. "

"Is this disparity a symptom of market failure? Or its cause? Or both? Should the situation be changed? If so, why? And how? I'm genuinely unsure about all of these questions. What I do know is that the disparity is going to become increasingly harder to justify as the downturn continues."