Fernanda Porto - "Amor Errado" - videoclipe

Monica Salmaso - "Pau de Arara"

Roberta Sá - "Belo estranho dia de manhã"

Ana Cañas -- "Devolve Moço" - Videoclipe Oficial

"Deixa o Verão" - Mariana Aydar

Pagu by Maria Rita

Bar é arte

Vladimir Kudryavtsev

Nude in Red

Oil on canvas ( 2007 )

Bar é poesia - Suzana Vargas

Suzana Vargas

COCHICHO


(Suzana Vargas)




Quando escrevo, o

medo

é sempre o mesmo:

chegar atrasada ao que

quero dizer



: E de me dar por inteira

nua

e freira

Bar é arte

Lawrence Supino

Sheer Embrace

Charcoal over acrylic on canvas

Bar é poesia - Virna Teixeira

Virna Teixeira

PORTRAIT


(Virna Teixeira)





Os olhos dele

uma gaiola



onde um

pássaro



às vezes,

canta

Conheça os atores e atrizes indicados ao Oscar - UOL Cinema - link (aqui)

Richard Jenkins

Quem: Hollywood adora quando um ator veterano ganha a chance de interpretar um papel principal e arrebenta. Richard Jenkins construiu uma carreira sólida interpretando o pai da heroína ou o chefe do herói, mas quando ele teve a chance de brilhar por si só em "The Visitor", seu convite para o Oscar estava assegurado.
Não perca: "Terra Fria" (2005) apresenta Jenkins como um mineiro de carvão cuja filha (Charlize Theron) o deixa consternado ao decidir trabalhar como mineira, apenas para se tornar alvo de assédio sexual. Theron é adorável, mas é difícil tirar os olhos de Jenkins, cujo rosto é um filme todo por si só.
Outras opções: Para muitas pessoas, Jenkins, que tem dezenas de participações em filmes, é mais conhecido como o desprezível Nathaniel Fisher da série "A Sete Palmos" (Six Feet Under, 2001-2005).

Frank Langella

Quem: Um símbolo sexual na época de "Drácula" (1979), o veterano da Broadway passou a papéis de ator de composição nos anos 90 e esteve à beira de tornar sua carreira irrelevante após interpretar Esqueleto em "Mestres do Universo" (1987). "Starting Out in the Evening" (2007) impressionou aqueles que o assistiram, mas foram poucos. O mesmo não aconteceu com "Frost/Nixon", em que sua interpretação do ex-presidente Richard Nixon lhe rendeu elogios entusiasmados e prêmios no teatro londrino, na Broadway e agora no cinema.
Não perca: "Drácula", no qual Langella recria seu triunfo na Broadway com uma sensualidade sedosa muito diferente de qualquer coisa que Bela Lugosi tenha imaginado.
Outras opções: Langella exercita seu formidável talento humorístico no hilariante "Banzé na Rússia" (1970) de Mel Brooks e no charmoso "Dave - Presidente por um Dia" (1993).

Sean Penn

Quem: Considerado por muitos o melhor ator de sua geração, o ex-Jeff Spicoli acrescenta outro trabalho atraente ao seu currículo, com sua interpretação impecável como o supervisor Harvey Milk de San Francisco, um ícone do movimento dos direitos dos gays. Como sempre, ele desaparece no papel tão completamente que é difícil perceber que é Penn.
Não perca: Sua interpretação angustiada como um pai desolado em "Sobre Meninos e Lobos" (2003), que valeu a Penn o Oscar de Melhor Ator, e basta assistir ao filme para saber por quê.
Outras opções: Duas outras interpretações indicadas ao Oscar mostram o quanto ele é versátil: como o assassino inarticulado em "Os Últimos Passos de Um Homem" (1995), e como um guitarrista de jazz obcecado por si mesmo em "Poucas e Boas" (1999), de Woody Allen. Ele é igualmente brilhante nos dois filmes de formas completamente diferentes.

Brad Pitt

Quem: "O Curioso Caso de Benjamin Button" é outro projeto arriscado - longo, com trama bizarra e baseado em um conto do autor nada badalado F. Scott Fitzgerald- para Pitt, que está fazendo carreira desafiando sua imagem de ídolo de matinê. Sai interpretação em reverso de um homem que nasce velho e envelhece de trás para frente o obrigou a atuar sob camadas de maquiagem durante grande parte do filme, o tipo de desafio que a Academia adora ver os atores superarem.
Não perca: Em "O Assassinato de Jesse James pelo Covarde Robert Ford" (2007), o retrato anti-heróico de Pitt de um James taciturno, paranóico, soa mais verdadeiro do que o de Tyrone Power no clássico "Jesse James" (1939).
Outras opções: O jovem Pitt nunca foi mais magnético do que em "Nada É Para Sempre" (1992) de Robert Redford, e exibiu uma de suas melhores interpretações como um garoto rico problemático em "Os Doze Macacos" (1995).

Mickey Rourke

Quem: Hollywood adora uma história de alerta, e Mickey Rourke - um ator com enorme talento, mas que o desperdiçou com escolhas ruins de filmes e uma vida de excessos a ponto de, após deslumbrar os críticos nos anos 80, ter passado grande parte dos anos 90 como boxeador profissional - é uma grande história de alerta. Mas Hollywood também gosta de uma história de volta por cima, e com sua interpretação magistral em "O Lutador", Rourke concluiu um retorno improvável ao topo do monte.
Não perca: "Quando os Jovens se Tornam Adultos" (1982), o primeiro dos "filmes de Baltimore" de Barry Levinson, que conta com todo um elenco de novos talentos, nenhum mais promissor do que Rourke.
Outras opções: Rourke incorpora o escritor Charles Bukowski em "Condenados pelo Vício" (1987) e fornece uma humanidade inesperada para "Sin City - A Cidade do Pecado" (2005), um filme baseado em história em quadrinhos.

Anne Hathaway

Quem: A doce ingênua de "O Diário da Princesa" (2001) amadureceu em uma jovem atriz equilibrada capaz de interpretar um papel coadjuvante cuidadosamente modulado em um filme de prestígio como "O Segredo de Brokeback Mountain" (2005), carregar um grande filme de Hollywood como "O Diabo Veste Prada" (2006), ser a protagonista de drama de época como "Amor e Inocência" (2007) ou, como faz em "O Casamento de Rachel", exibir uma atuação semi-improvisada em um filme independente com um forte elenco coadjuvante.
Não perca: Meryl Streep recebeu toda a atenção por interpretar o papel-título de "O Diabo Veste Prada", mas o filme não é a respeito dela. O filme é de Hathaway e ela o conduz com desembaraço.
Outras opções: "O Diário da Princesa" ainda é um bombom encantador combinando a faísca de um filme adolescente com o brilho de princesa da Disney. Hathaway exibe seu lado humorístico, incluindo um jeito para pastelão, em "Uma Garota Encantada" (2004) e "Agente 86" (2008).

Angelina Jolie

Quem: A Academia adora atrizes interpretando mães lutando contra o sistema em prol de seus filhos, e adora histórias baseadas em fatos reais. O impressionante mas verdadeiro "A Troca" de Clint Eastwood dá a Jolie seu melhor papel até o momento, e ela o trata com um realismo pé no chão raramente visto em seus trabalhos.
Não perca: "Gia -Fama e Destruição" (1998) exibe Jolie como a supermodelo Gia Marie Carangi e ela desaparece no papel sem deixar um traço.
Outras opções: A presença física dinâmica de Jolie e seu gosto pela comédia nunca foram melhor exibidos do que em "Sr. e Sra. Smith" (2005). Ela já conquistou um Oscar de Atriz Coadjuvante por seu trabalho como uma paciente de problemas mentais em "Garota, Interrompida" (1999).

Melissa Leo

Quem: Muito poucas pessoas viram "Rio Congelado", mas cada uma delas ficou impressionada com a atuação de Leo como uma mãe solteira envolvida em uma operação de contrabando na fronteira canadense.
Não perca: Leo interpreta a mãe de uma criança seqüestrada em "Lullaby" (2008), um poderoso drama criminal.
Outras opções: Leo apareceu em dezenas de filmes em papéis coadjuvantes, sempre fazendo um bom trabalho. Tanto o drama "21 Gramas" (2003) quanto o "Três Enterros" (2005) de Tommy Lee Jones seriam bons lugares para começar.

Meryl Streep

Quem: Atriz com o maior número de indicações ao Oscar, 15, Streep é considerada por muitos a melhor atriz americana de todos os tempos. Seu calcanhar de Aquiles: ela tradicionalmente fracassa em comédia enquanto demonstra excelência em drama. Neste ano ela cobriu as duas bases, emplacando o sucesso de bilheteria "Mamma Mia! - O Filme" e obtendo outra indicação ao Oscar como uma freira tradicional em "Dúvida".
Não perca: "A Escolha de Sofia" (1982) permanece tão cativante como comédia, tão envolvente como drama e tão angustiante como tragédia quanto há 25 anos.
Outras opções: "As Pontes de Madison" (1995) poderia facilmente ser tão meloso quanto o livro no qual se baseava, mas Streep e o diretor/astro Clint Eastwood lhe deram nova força e profundidade. A mais recente melhor atuação de Streep foi em quatro papéis diferentes, incluindo o de um rabino idoso, em "Angels in America" (2003).

Kate Winslet

Quem: Winslet pode ainda ser mais conhecida como a Rose de "Titanic" (1997), mas como Leonardo DiCaprio - seu co-astro naquele filme e no atual "Foi Apenas um Sonho" - ela provou que é capaz de muito além daquilo. Seu trabalho como uma ré em um julgamento de crimes de guerra dos nazistas em "O Leitor" é apenas mais um entre uma série deslumbrante de atuações fortes e originais.
Não perca: "Pecados Intimos" (2006) apresenta Winslet como uma esposa e mãe suburbana com um resultado excepcional.
Outras opções: "Brilho Eterno de Uma Mente Sem Lembranças" (2004) poderia facilmente ser um filme esperto porém cerebral e não envolvente, mas a Clementine de Winslet lhe dá coração. E a atriz brilha como uma intelectual luxuriosa e irresistível em "Íris" (2001).

Os coadjuvantes

Se você gostou de Josh Brolin em "Milk -A Voz da Igualdade", veja sua atuação tragicômica como George W. Bush em "W." (2008) ou seu protagonista atormentado em "Onde os Fracos Não Têm Vez" (2007) dos irmãos Coen.

Se você gostou de Robert Downey Jr. em "Trovão Tropical", não perca seu trabalho incrível em "Chaplin" (1992) ou o divertido, maluco e não convencional "Beijos e Tiros" (2005).

Se você gostou de Philip Seymour Hoffman em "Dúvida", dê uma olhada em sua atuação premiada com o Oscar como Truman Capote em "Capote" (2005), ou como um pregador inepto em "Cold Mountain" (2003).

Se você gostou do falecido Heath Ledger em "Batman - O Cavaleiro das Trevas", experimente sua atuação indicada ao Oscar como um caubói lidando com sua própria sexualidade em "O Segredo de Brokeback Mountain" (2005), ou sua interpretação em um papel inesperado como o filho furioso de um guarda penitenciário (Billy Bob Thornton) em "A Última Ceia" (2001).

Se você gostou de Michael Shannon em "Foi Apenas um Sonho" , veja ele em atuações bem diferentes em "As Torres Gêmeas" (2006) e em "Antes que o Diabo Saiba que Você Está Morto" (2007).

Se você gostou de Amy Adams em "Dúvida", veja seu trabalho como uma garota interiorana grávida e surrealisticamente otimista em "Junebug" (2005) ou como a princesa de desenho da Disney que vem parar no mundo real em "Encantada" (2007).

Se você gostou de Penélope Cruz em "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", não perca "Tudo Sobre Minha Mãe" de Pedro Almodóvar, que demonstra que ela é uma atriz muito mais forte e mais sutil em sua língua natal, ou no desprezado pela crítica "Vanilla Sky" (2001), que talvez seja o melhor trabalho de Cruz em língua inglesa.

Se você gostou de Viola Davis em "Dúvida", seus melhores trabalhos provavelmente foram no teatro, mas ela tem fortes papéis coadjuvantes em "Voltando a Viver" (2002) e "Solaris" (2002), além de um pequeno papel hilariante em "Kate & Leopold" (2001).

Se você gostou de Taraji P. Henson em "O Curioso Caso de Benjamin Button", cheque a atuação que a projetou como a prostituta grávida em "Ritmo de um Sonho" (2005) e sua provocação sarcástica hilariante em "Uma Coisa Nova" (2006)

Se você gostou de Marisa Tomei em "O Lutador", sua atuação cômica vencedora do Oscar como Mona Lisa Vito em "Meu Primo Vinny" (1992) é obrigatória. Ela também está dolorosamente convincente em "Entre Quatro Paredes" (2001).

15/02/2009 - 07h00

GAYDEN WREN
Hollywood Watch

A cada ano a Academia de Artes e Ciências Cinematográficas de Hollywood indica 20 atores para sua maior honra, o Oscar, e todo ano os indicados são uma mistura de nomes familiares e inesperados. Este ano não é exceção. Nomes habituais do Oscar como Sean Penn e Kate Winslet integram a lista deste ano, assim como nomes constantes como Meryl Streep, ao lado de Melissa Leo, que recebe sua primeira indicação, e do candidato póstumo Heath Ledger. E quem é Michael Shannon?

Às vezes um nome familiar aparece, mas até mesmo cinéfilos de carteirinha podem ter perdido o filme em questão: Mickey Rourke trabalha há uma eternidade, mas o que é "O Lutador"? Richard Jenkins parece familiar de uma centena de filmes, mas alguém assistiu "The Visitor"? Aquele é o mesmo Frank Langella que fez um Drácula tão sensual há 30 anos? E Robert Downey Jr. realmente trabalhou em "Trovão Tropical"?

Uma história, duas versões, um jornalista distraído, um fantasma, e nós leitores feito bobos - Ricardo Noblat e o caso Paula Oliveira

O caso Paula Oliveira, e seus acanhados desdobramentos, nasceu, quem diria, nuna singela festa de aniversário.

Como relata, e informa, o jornalista e blogueiro aguerrido, Ricardo Noblat, em post justificativo no dia 13 de fevereiro, dois dias após triunfar com seu insólito furo de reportagem, ao tentar justificar a matéria que colocou a Suiça, Paula, reminiscências do nazismo, racismo, soberania nacional, atos desastrados da diplomacia, e, como não poderia deixar ser, pitos de Lula I em autoridades estrangeiras, num mesmo e absurdo novelo.

Relata o nobre jornalista:

- 'Às 12h02 da última quarta-feira meu celular deu o sinal de que recebera uma mensagem. Abri e li:

"Caro Noblat: minha filha sofreu um ataque de neonazistas na Suíça onde trabalha oficialmente. Teve o corpo retalhado a faca com a sigla de um partido de extrema direita. Grávida de gêmos, abortou-os. Você me conhece do bairro de São José, no Recife.. Nós nos reencontranos no aniversário de 80 anos de Armando Monteiro Filho. Trabalho com Roberto Magalhães. Assinado: Paulo Oliveira"."

Aqui a motivação e justificativa para estampar o relato como notícia, o fraterno aperto de mãos em festa alheia.

Afinal escreveu Noblat no dia 11, às 15:52, no seu seu blog:

"A advogada Paula Oliveira, 26 anos de idade, funcionária em Zurique, na Suiça, do maior conglomerado econômico da Dinamarca, A P Moeller/Maersk, líder mundial em transporte marítimo de contêineres, foi atacada na noite do último domingo por três skinhead neonazistas.

Um deles exibia uma suástica tatuada atrás da cabeça.

Dois dos agressores a imobilizaram depois de espancá-la e deixá-la seminua. O terceiro sacou de um estilete e passou a retalhar várias partes do seu corpo - braços, pernas, barriga e costas.

O ato final da sessão de tortura foi entalhar nas duas coxas de Paula a sigla SVP - Scheiz Volks Partei. Em português, Partido Popular da Suíça ou Partido do Povo Suíço.

Paula estava grávida de gêmeos há três meses. Eram duas meninas. A agressão a fez abortar.

Há pouco, ela estava em um hospital de Zurique. Os médicos ainda não haviam decidido se deveriam esperar que o organismo expelisse a placenta espontâneamente ou se deveriam submeter Paula a uma curetagem."

Em ato revelador o jornalista destacou na apresentação: EM PRIMEIRA MÂO


O pai da suposta vítima, apresentado na festa, é citado na "reportagem" como autor de frases complementares ao fato "noticiado", como por exemplo:

"- O que fizeram com minha filha parece uma história de filme de terror - disse-me o advogado Paulo Oliveira, secretário parlamentar do deputado federal Roberto Magalhães (DEM-PE), ex-governador de Pernambuco."

A credibilidade do jornalista fez o resto do trabalho, e todos dormimos com o pesadelo do nazismo atingindo "nosotros brazucas".

Essa a realidade, eu, você leitor de jornal e blogs, Lula I e suas bravatas, o Itamaraty, de saudosa memória, apenas escorregamos na casca de banana afoitamente deixada no caminho da informaçõa pelo destacado e renomado jornalista, em dia de foca inexperiente, em que produziu sucesso de acessos, sem contudo cuidar do básico, ou seja a velha e obrigatória averiguação dos fatos relatados pelo pai da vítima. ao contrário escreveu o texto sem usar, uma vez sequer a expressão "conforme o alegado".

Assim caminha a informação!

Caso a realidade esteja com a versão do pai de Paula, o que a cada dia parece mais improvável, ainda assim, por incomodo tempo, teremos permanecido na escuridão.

Caso a verdade venha a se apresentar como as declarações iniciais das autoridades suiças, nós os brasileiros, tão ciosos de nossa soberania e cidadania, sentiremos então, o peso do escracho.

Comercial antigo - Karman Guia

Charge do dia

Sinfrônio - Diário do Nordeste - Fortaleza, CE

Jaguar XFR - The Times, uk - link (aqui)

February 15, 2009

Tom Ford

Sometimes it’s wise to have a good ponder about your prejudices, an internal audit of long-held beliefs, just to make sure that stuff hasn’t changed when you weren’t looking. As evidence, I submit the fact that for 25 years I haven’t eaten curry, convinced that it was food-shaped napalm containing suspect meat.

This was of course more than a little misguided. But I’m not the only one: people do like to write stuff off, even if their experience of a product is actually quite limited. And so it is with Jaguar.

The number of times I’ve heard people harrumphing themselves almost inside out and declaring that Jaguars are an “old man’s car”, based on the fact that they once saw Inspector Morse fondling a Mark II. When you ask them whether they’ve ever driven one, they tend to say no, or hold up as evidence an aged X-type that their brother-in-law once borrowed from work. But time for a revisit, because Jaguar has been busy.

In a stroke of genius timing, and in the face of a global economic meltdown, Jaguar has launched this: the newest and fastest version of its XF saloon, the 510bhp £60,000 XFR. Sod the credit crunch and all that. And you can forget the bleating that the new engine produces less CO2 than the previous 4.2-litre V8 and that it is still comparable on fuel consumption, because a four-door saloon that does 0-60mph in 4.7sec and an electronically limited 155mph is not here to save the world — albeit perhaps from boredom. It is here to step Jaguar’s game up a notch because this XFR is seriously good.

Now I’m not being randomly pseudo-patriotic, as the basic XF is a pretty good starting point: stylish, swish, fast and comfortable. It’s good looking, possesses an interior you want to lick and has a decent drive that concentrates more on the waft than the on-the-limit cornering weave.

It’s so good in fact that you’d think all Jaguar needed to do to make the XFR would be to just slap on some Vaseline, squeeze in a hugely powerful engine and — bingo — instant world-beater. But no. The XFR is more than that, and really quite a subtle, rounded prospect.

It doesn’t look like a car with a supercharged V8 and 510bhp, for a start. It just looks like an XF, albeit one with extra tailpipes and ducts on the front bumper. It hasn’t sprouted a fungal mess of spoilers or suddenly developed a “look at me” complex. True, the 20in wheels have the word “supercharged” engraved showily around their centres, but there’s a comforting lack of cheesy bolt-on bits’n’bobs that might chip away at the confident subtlety.

And it dribbles around like a diesel XF — which is to say very well indeed — with a great ride, nice steering and a slick-shifting six-speed automatic gearbox. The XFR serenely manages all the slightly dreary, day-to-day stuff without breaking sweat. But when the road clears and you snap the accelerator to the floor, the realisation is that under the thick veneer of sophistication the car is completely bloody bonkers.

The change is quite extraordinary; somewhere along the lines of your local vicar suddenly brandishing a Desert Eagle handgun and addressing the problem of littering on the village green with extreme prejudice. Indeed, if you were to drive the XFR gently, you might never even tap the well of extreme dynamic violence that it is blatantly capable of. But when you really go for it, the huge reserve of deep-chested power becomes a very real, colourful thing; the supercharged fishing rod that you can use to reel in the horizon.

It accelerates spectacularly from rest, but it’s on a sweeping A-road or motorway where the big Jag will really bare its teeth. Flick the paddles behind the steering wheel to select third gear, stamp on the throttle at 50mph and an enormous 461 lb ft of torque will shunt you forwards with supercar pace, pinning your body back into super-comfortable seats. You know the bit when an airline pilot guns a jumbo and you surge up the runway? It’s like that. Except slightly more scary. Suddenly that beautifully crafted English brogue turns out to have a steel toecap — and it’s perfectly capable of using it.

You arrive at the first corner rather more rapidly than you anticipate and, somewhere in the back of your mind, expect to wake up in hospital wearing the XFR’s steering wheel as a headband. But you don’t. The XFR has a new system called Adaptive Dynamics that alters the way the dampers work (500 times a second, no less) depending on how the car is being driven. Thus you can have a bottom-friendly ride when cruising back from the supermarket and something a little firmer when you fancy annoying the boy racers. It also means you can drive around corners at a speed that borders on witchcraft — and still listen to Radio 4.

Fiddle with a couple of buttons and you can even stop the auto gearbox changing up at the red line for extra control, stiffen things up even further and allow the car to do the kind of effortless powerslides that should keep even Clarkson happy. Yet it also has tremendous grip. Grip that can happily pull your features into interesting new arrangements and alter the orbit of your pupils. And brakes that can clench the car to a stop. It is, from where I’m sitting, absolutely exceptional.

The trick is that the XFR has a supreme grasp on the duality of purpose it needs to succeed. Fast four-doors generally have some sort of glaring personality disorder, a piece of the overall puzzle that inexplicably goes missing in the pursuit of out-and-out speed. The BMW M5, for example, is horrendously clever, and takes a lot of perverse pleasure in demonstrating exactly how much cleverer than you it actually is. There are way too many settings for human comfort, lending it an air of technological brilliance that somehow fails to connect at an emotional level. It’s like trying to have an affair with a calculator.

The £65,000 M5 also uses a naturally aspirated and extremely revvy V10 engine that unfailingly encourages you to drive like your nether regions are on fire — all of the time. The Audi RS6 at £75,000, on the other hand, offers the surety of four-wheel drive and the sneering absolutism of not just a V10 engine, but one with twin turbos and 572bhp. Which is a lot, and the car is brain-meltingly fast as a result. The problem? It’s deadly dull to drive.

The point is that the XFR is more complete than any of its rivals. No, the automatic gearbox isn’t as fast as either the Audi or the BMW, the V8 could do with being a tad noisier when it gets going and in the final reckoning I still think a brilliant driver could wring more speed from either of the Germans. But 99% of us aren’t brilliant, or if we are, aren’t in a position to be brilliant on a daily basis. On those days, you need your four-door saloon to be able to swan around doing normal, everyday stuff.

You need it to go shopping, carry people without making them sick and then, on the odd occasion you’re in the mood, still make that idiot in the BMW M3 swallow his tongue. And it is this the XFR manages so well. It’s got old-school Jag values, with cutting edge performance. What more could you ask?

The Fordometer

ENGINE 5000cc, V8, supercharged
POWER 510bhp @ 6500rpm
TORQUE 461 lb ft @ 2500rpm
TRANSMISSION Six-speed automatic
FUEL 22.5mpg (combined)
CO2 292g/km
ACCELERATION 0-60mph: 4.7sec
TOP SPEED 155mph (limited)
PRICE £59,900
ROAD TAX BAND G (£400 a year)
RELEASE DATE March 2009
FORD'S VERDICT Perfect car for those with nothing to prove

A guide to the 100 best blogs - Part I - The Times, uk - link (aqui)

February 15, 2009

The online world of the bloggers and how you can connect, communicate, publish your thoughts or diaries and 'spy' on the famous

Bryan Appleyard

Blogs — an ugly word, but now unavoidable — were born with the internet. As soon as people started to use the technology that would link computers, they started leaving messages. In the 1980s, these were “pinned” on virtual “bulletin boards”. Then, in the early 1990s, online diaries appeared, personal journals to be seen by the entire online world. As internet use spread, people were dazzled by their power to connect and communicate. But they didn’t just want to stare at pages. They wanted, above all, to make their mark on the explosively expanding world of cyberspace. So, in the mid-1990s, the online diary became the web log, or blog.

Blogs let you jot down what you think, feel or know and, at the speed of light, publish it to the world. They now cover everything from quantum theory to politics to low-life celebrity gossip and intimate personal confessions. They can be vast publications written by teams of writers, or fragmented jottings from a student pad. They are the most successful, addictive, potent and radical application of all the new technologies and applications spawned by the personal computer.

The total number of blogs is thought to be approaching 200m, 73m of them in China. I can see no reason why there shouldn’t be hundreds of millions more, because, you see, blogging is like smoking or gambling — hard to give up. Ever since I started blogging (March 15, 2006), I’ve been trying to stop. It’s not that it’s time-consuming — I’m a casual blogger. Nor do I feel intimidated by the brutal worldwide abuse from other bloggers that every blogger of any prominence inevitably attracts. I don’t even feel it’s much of a burden: if I don’t want to post, I don’t post, and on a couple of occasions I’ve handed over my blog to others.

No, the reason I keep wanting to quit is the intimacy and exposure of the blogscape. (“Blogosphere” is the name everybody else uses, but I’ve invented my own, slightly better word.) I am, because of my blog, “out there” in a way that, three years ago, I would have found inconceivable, terrifying. I still do. I am also, thanks to Thought Experiments (the title of my blog), exposed to the tribulations of an enormous extended family of commenters, linkers, gypsies, tramps, thieves and, worst of all, intellectuals. Being a nuclear type myself, this is traumatic.

Related Links

• How to search the internet for blogs

I sent a guy in LA out to buy a book in the middle of the night; he liked it. Commenters e-mail me their visions and problems. Some flirt, some try to get me to go down the pub, some send me their writing for approval. Chinese people ask me about English usage, Americans ask me if I know Bill Nighy, Australians ask me about the afterlife. Everybody wants to know what I eat and why, inmates of Folsom Prison weep and rage at me because of my loathing of tattoos, Darwinians become entirely irrational in my (virtual) presence. And, a week or two ago, a regular commenter on my blog killed himself.

So the blogscape is not for the faint-hearted. Start blogging and you will initially be lulled into a false sense of security by the ease with which you just knock out a few paragraphs and click Publish Post. At once, there it is, out there for all to see. Remember, I do mean “all”. There’s a shocking disconnect between one fact — you sitting at your computer — and the next — what you just wrote being instantly visible to the entire world. Try to think of it as like stepping out of the toilet to find yourself standing on the centre spot at Wembley on cup-final day.

Yet the disconnect is the point. Blogging, says the supreme blogger and Sunday Times contributor Andrew Sullivan, “is the spontaneous expression of instant thought”. In addition, as Matt Drudge, one of the originators of the form, puts it: “A blog is a broadcast, not a publication.” The true value of blogs is the combination of that initial, unconsidered improvisation, done on the spur of the mood and the moment, and its ensuing broadcast to the largest audience ever created — about 1.5 billion internet users.

There is an important distinction to be made here between wayward solo bloggers, like me, and the more or less “official” blogs that appear on newspaper and magazine sites or on a giant blog aggregator such as Huffington Post. The latter are closer to — often coextensive with — traditional journalism. They tend to involve large staffs and to stick tightly to the news schedule, and they are required to fit into certain categories, usually politics, and not, like me, to wander randomly from technology to metaphysics to politics to the iniquity of all breakfast cereals (except porridge). For these official bloggers, the vertiginous sense of the disconnect between Wembley and the toilet has faded, to be replaced by something like normal publication. It’s the respectable end of the business. It’s blogging, captain, but not as we know it.

So, leaving those official types to one side, what is it that keeps me and all those millions of others blogging? The answer is those very things that make me want to stop — intimacy and exposure. They are, in fact, the same thing. Once you are exposed in this way, intimacy tends to follow. The blogger is able to show important aspects of himself to the world in a way that was hitherto unimaginable. Blogging is a novel form of being.

Yet from the most intimate to the most functional, the important thing about blogs is connection. This is what lies at the heart of the intimacy/exposure nexus. It takes time to get the hang of this. The way to get your blog going is to use connectivity. Link to other blogs and place comments. They’ll come back to you. Once they do, a few will stay. You will acquire regulars. You’ll get to know them. If they stay away for a while, you’ll miss them. You’ll feel, if you’re a sucker like me, somehow responsible for and to them. This is weird, I know, but then good things start to happen. I reviewed a couple of books for the Philadelphia Inquirer. One was a collection of John Ashbery’s poems. This resulted in my resuming my own connection with that great artist. Connections pile upon connections.

I inspired two commenters to start their own blogs — the physicist Gordon McCabe (mccabism.blogspot.com) and the ineffable Nige (nigeness.blogspot.com). In finest familial style, the former turned on me rather savagely over Darwinism. I was at one with King Lear: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child!” One discovers unexpected soul mates. I found Patrick Kurp via a mutual love of the novelist Ford Madox Ford. And then — very naughty, this — I arranged a few small raids on Jeffrey Archer’s blog (jeffreyarchers.blogspot.com). My commenters went over there and posted comments saying how great he was. Sorry, Jeff, it’s my child within.

Throughout, I was accumulating this faithful band of commenters, most of them bloggers themselves. I would name a few, but those I missed out would get all tetchy, so I’d better not. The striking thing about this little community is how, over time, we got to know each other in surprising detail. We trend, bend and blend together. I can do irony on the blog in ways I would never get away with in this organ, and I can assume quite a high level of knowledge. This latter is hugely helped by the world-changing technology of the hyperlink — I don’t have to quote an article, I can just link to it. We are, thus, all instantly informed about the same things.

This, combined with the relief involved in getting something instantly off my chest, is what keeps me blogging. I want to quit, I really do. I dream of going cold turkey, I even once posted my resignation. But someone somewhere always says something stupid or funny, Lord Jeff emits another post or I am stunned by some unexpected fragment of beauty and truth — and, once more, I am lost in the limitless land of fancy now known, to me, anyway, as the blogscape.

bryanappleyard.com

World affairs

normblog.typad.com
Based in Britain, Norman Geras offers an indispensable window on the world, culling items from newspapers and blogs from around the globe so you get a regular focus on what’s caught his eye, as well as his intellectual, humane comments on what he's found.

willwilkinson.net/flybottle
The blog of a high-grade Washington policy wonk, this works well as a hub — providing links to good articles elsewhere — but also as the thoughts and brief essays of a very smart man. A superb way into the mind of America.

andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com
Andrew Sullivan’s blog, like Wilkinson’s, is both a hub and a personal testament. The assumption is that you are on the journey with Sullivan, that you read him every day, as indeed millions do.

kausfiles.com
Part of Slate magazine, Mickey Kaus’s blog is a good stop for witty and non-PC politics.

thewashingtonnote.com
Informed comment from Steve Clemons, of the New America Foundation, on DC politics and US foreign policy.

truthdig.com
A feisty, left-leaning American news and comment blog that promises it will be “drilling behind the headlines”. Anything is game, but it naturally has its bead on the new American administration’s performance to date.

blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/harare
An extraordinary blog maintained by the staff of the British Embassy in Harare. It must be unique in the annals of British diplomacy — embassy officials saying what they really think (and describing the perils of going to a Zimbabwean toilet while they’re at it).

tmz.com
The ultimate in “snarky” (that untranslatable American word that blends “sarcastic” and “cheeky”) celebrity gossip. This is the blog that broke Christian Bale’s berserk rant and had the most up-to-the-minute coverage of Heath Ledger’s death. No celeb can hide.

myspace.com/lilymusic
Famed for her spats with fellow celebs, Lily Allen recently claimed she has never regretted anything she has written on her MySpace page. And why should she, when it includes such gems as the truth behind her feud with Elton (she wasn’t that drunk, really, and they were just joking around, apparently) and the real reason the scurrilous blogger Perez Hilton hates her (because she’s friends with Sam Ronson). Plunges the Z list to whole new depths.

rosie.com/blog
While still on the American talkshow The View, Rosie O’Donnell’s tirades on subjects such as “radical Christianity” and Bush’s foreign policies often got shouted down by her more conservative co-hosts. Not so on her blog, where her streams of consciousness on current affairs flow unedited. Witness her birthday poem to Joni Mitchell, demanding that she “let her little light shine on science, and shine on fertile farmland”, and her almost-haiku on Sarah Palin: “Women who hunt in high heels / gives one pause.” Charmingly bonkers.

moby.com/journal
Known as quite the philosopher, pop star and herbal-tea entrepreneur, Moby shares his musings on everything from the early days of hip-hop to unusual road signs spotted around New York. Exactly what you’d expect from the mind of one of pop’s most wounded and vulnerable ecowarriors, it’s the online equivalent of a heated debate over a cup of camomile.

myspace.com/parishilton
Ever wondered what goes on in the brain of the heirhead — and alleged superbusinesswoman — Paris Hilton? This is a captivating ride through her round-the-world trips, peppered with insights on what it’s like to host a reality search for a new BFF (best friend forever) live on TV, and the death-defying feats it takes to launch the Paris Hilton Fall Footwear Collection. Perfect for anyone who needs proof that, in the current climate, you can’t make any money from selling old rope.

Style

thelipster.com
The Hobnobs of hip style blogs — you can’t stop munching. Witty and smart, while posing as artlessly breathless, the two women behind this blog have such a good time rifling through the dressing-up box of pop culture that you do too. They offer insights, downloads, Photoshopping. A recent highlight: grafting the heads of musicians in skeleton costumes onto fluffy kittens to find the scariest (winner: Drums of Death).

gofugyourself.celebuzz.com
The scourge of all fashion faux pas, this American blog is like a burst of Mexican beer on an overheated day: distinctive and sharp. Being “fugly” is the greatest sin, and no celeb’s wardrobe is safe. Don’t think this sartorial eye of Mordor is trained only on Hollywood: it has helpers around the globe, seeking out the tragic and inept in celebrity dressing and posting what they find.

thesartorialist.blogspot.com
Scott Schuman began his blog nearly four years ago, simply snapping his favourite styles on the backs of real people on the New York streets. Thanks to his rigorous, classic aesthetic and eye for a picture, his blog is a fashion phenomenon: even Karl Lagerfeld has undergone his forensic gaze. Carine Roitfeld, the editor of Vogue Paris, now wants to work with him. That’s even cooler than Anna Wintour, by the way.

copenhagencyclechic.com
What do cyclists in Copenhagen look like? Not at all like the ones in Britain. Protective clothing extends more to thick tweeds and nice scarves than sci-fi helmets and all things Lycra. This blogger posts regular photos of them, but also casts the net wide, snapping people on bicycles wherever they look cool or colourful, from Madrid to London. It’s enough to make you get on your bike.

englishcut.com
Enter the world of a Savile Row bespoke tailor, who posts regularly about his company and how the individual cutters are faring, showing samples of their handiwork. Chummy but focused: a calm place in a troubled world.

asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com Will Boehlke, a San Francisco-based traditional men’s clothing enthusiast, muses daily on such vital matters as whether paisley ties go with tweed. Could the paddock coat make a comeback? And what’s the best way to knot a scarf? Knowledgeable and surprising.

Words

evidenceanecdotal.blogspot.com
A formidable literary blog by Patrick Kurp, from Washington state, Anecdotal Evidence is forceful, sensitive and highly personal. “Maintaining a literary blog,” Kurp says, “is like keeping a big band on the road during the waning days of swing music. The audience is ageing and no longer guaranteed.”

dgmyers.blogspot.com
A Commonplace Blog is another literary blog, this time from Texas. It’s a suave, informative discussion of reading in the broadest sense. DG Myers is an academic, and he grapples with literary and philosophical ideas more than Kurp.

booksinq.blogspot.com
A mainly literary blog, this time from Frank Wilson in Philadelphia. It’s basically a hub, providing links to items of interests. Wilson is opinionated, passionate and generous. Many bloglines intersect here.

vanityfair.com/online/wolcott
James Wolcott’s blog on the Vanity Fair site provides high-dandy prose for the East Coast smart set. “Let us part the beaded curtains of time...” It all comes from another age — just what we need now.

bookslut.com/blog
Morsels from several hands about the latest in the books world, with handy hyperlinks. In a recent amusing item, the writer instructively experimented with reading a section from Charlotte Roche’s X-rated Wetlands alongside one from Shmuley Boteach’s The Kosher Sutra, a sage guide to reviving your sex life from a seasoned counsellor. As she put it, she had to stop before she got the bends.

nytimesbooks.blogspot.com
A nicely snippy blog about the design of book covers: the ones that made it and the ones that shouldn’t have. One juicy item recently lined up all the covers for new editions of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, “Now a Major Motion Picture”, noting that “most of them are pretty horrible”.

orwelldiaries.wordpress.com
Seventy years to the day after he wrote them, George Orwell’s diary entries are reproduced here in sequence each day, word for word, starting in 1938 and running until 1942. A more rounded version of the writer emerges, a man who was concerned not just with politics and the world order, but with how many eggs his chickens had laid.

Cult

jeffreyarchers.blogspot.com
Hypnotically awful, as in: “We dined around a magnificent oak table in their private room, with its beautiful Jacobean oak pannelling (sic); the food was sumptuous, the wine delicious and the company scintillating. Sitting next to me was a man who had recently lost $75m with Lehmann (sic) Brothers, and on the other side, a man who sold Dutch paintings, so it was an evening of learning.”

goop.com
Having bored a host of interviewers with her macrobiotic credentials, Gwyneth Paltrow has styled herself as the detoxified Martha Stewart. Her all-encompassing lifestyle site places tips on how you, too, can accelerate your bowel eliminations beside her treatise on creating the perfect family gathering, which includes getting everyone to rummage through your cupboards to help you donate to the local food bank, should you happen to be wondering.

pauldaniels.co.uk/blog
Provided you don’t lose the will to live while reading, Paul Daniels’s jottings (and holiday snaps) about his colourful life are a must. A sample: “Yes, folks, we are home again after an overnight flight from Barbados. Debbie’s Mam and Dad met us at Gatwick, which was amazing because it was still nighttime at 0630hrs.”

Original thinkers

markvernon.com/friendshiponline/dotclear

maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher

Two good philosophy blogs make the point that this is a subject made for bloggery.

Philosophy is arguing, and arguing is what bloggers and their readers do best — or at least a lot, in an obsessive-compulsive sort of way. Both are highly recommended if you fancy stepping out into an intellectual blizzard with, occasionally, real snow.

stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com
A tough-minded take on economics and politics from Chris Dillow, this is very much a blogger’s blog. It gets quoted everywhere, and rightly so. Why did bankers pay each other so much? “Traders must be bribed not to plunder the firm. If you don’t pay them millions, they’ll sell the banks’ assets cheaply to rival firms, for which they then go and work.”

nigeness.blogspot.com
Bryan Appleyard recommends this offering from, admittedly, his “oldest and best friend”. But he is unabashed: “This is a great blog, a spin-off from my own — Nige for a while was my co-blogger. Relaxed, warm and fabulously well read, he never ceases to amaze.”

A true omnivore, Nige can contemplate Ruskin one minute, stoats the next. An endlessly stimulating daily companion.

www.thinkbuddha.org
A blog that brilliantly suggested a Buddhist bus in response to the atheist and Christian advertising signs now stuck on traffic jams around the country. The Madhyamaka bus would bear the slogan: “Neither an entity nor a nonentity moves in any of the three ways. So motion, bus and route are nonexistent.” That settles that.

cstadvertising.com/blog
Dave Trott was not only a brilliant advertising copywriter, but a great team leader. He now shares his thoughts about how you do advertising and run departments. His ideas are equally applicable to writing a novel, making a film, launching a product, managing a football team, instituting life changes and any activity you can imagine. Genius.

Comic relief

richardmadeley.blogspot.com
Richard Madeley’s prose is touched with comic genius, expertly weaving a path between mildly fruity vulgarity and brilliantly controlled farce: see his entry of February 1, which manages to meld Judy playing the trombone and the effects of a faulty spa bath on one’s privates. Who knew the man had such talent?

hughgrantsquidtest.blogspot.com
Dr Theophilus Pudding’s World of Knowledge of the World is a random set of definitions, all fearless, all wrong. A sample: “George Michaels was born Giorgy Mikailastrakan in Armenia in 1850. His parents had been killed in a horrific but amusing factory accident before he was born, and he spent the early years of his life as an urchin, wandering about the sea floor feeding on molluscs and protecting himself with poisonous spines, both of which habits he still hasn’t shaken today.”

garfieldminusgarfield.net
Here you can revisit the famous comic strip with its titular hero removed, which reveals “the existential angst of Mr Jon Arbuckle as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb”. Well, that’s what the blog’s creator, the Irishman Dan Walsh, says it is. It’s like Spot the Ball for the philosophically advanced.

passiveaggressivenotes.com
This is subtitled “painfully polite and hilariously hostile notes from shared spaces the world over”. Full marks to a recent post showing a broken glass, a scrubbie and a mop, tastefully arranged on the floor of an art students’ shared flat by their long-suffering roommate. A note says: “This is art. A narrative piece called F*** You, I’m Fed Up, Clean Your S*** Up.”

ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com
This blog serves as a sort of Aunt Sally for the bile-filled, who can send it examples of “ignorance, narcissism, stupidity, hypocrisy and bad grammar” from items posted on the BBC’s Have Your Say site. The blog then has its say about the people having their say — in spades. Ouch.

unnecessaryquotes.com
Begun in the spirit of Lynne Trusses everywhere, fuming at the promiscuity of the apostrophe in public signs — and some of the places it turns up really are extraordinary, as in LADIE’S — the blog has now branched out into recording other areas of punctuational abuse, notably pointless quotation marks. Watch and “wonder”.

Domestic politics

iaindale.blogspot.com
Iain Dale’s Diary is the brand leader in frank and fearless comment on politics today. “What can the electorate make of a Speaker who buggers off home before lunch on a Thursday and doesn’t return until mid-morning on Monday?”

order-order.com
Guido Fawkes (aka the Irishman Paul Staines) is your man for the latest Westminster gossip and barbed comment. Guido credits himself with triggering the fall and resignation of the work and pensions minister Peter Hain over his failure to declare campaign contributions, which would make him the first blogger to bring down a serving minister.

johnredwoodsdiary.com
Everybody’s favourite Vulcan, John Redwood, hacks into the thickets surrounding today’s top issues: rather cerebral, but he’s good on the current economic crisis. And you get lovely pictures of him in a nice shirt and cardie.

john-prescott.labourhome.org
You can tell John Prescott’s blog is authentic from entries like: “...what’s made me very angry is that is (sic) was entirely preventable and the result of a bank’s greed.” The Prezza has gone quiet since Christmas, but let’s hope he comes back soon; he’s been getting admiring reviews from other pol-bloggers.

tomharris.org.uk
The former transport minister’s blog has a feisty, cut-to-the-chase tone. Viz: “A committee of Lords (aka, the Great and the Good) has decided our civil liberties are threatened by CCTV cameras. Yawn.” We especially like the pic he has posted of himself dressed up as the devil, aged, oh, about 14.

Visual aids

chine.blog.lemonde.fr

venicedailyphoto.blogspot.com

Two gorgeous photoblogs. The first is part of the Le Monde site and runs exquisite pictures of daily life in China. The second is a more casual collection of snaps of Venice. Beautiful and consoling.

hphotolucidapdx.blogspot.com
A Portland-based snappers’ site with a photoblog section. The Cover Songs item is great fun, with contemporary versions of classic photos.

agencevu.com
Superlative photos from this leading photo agency, regularly updated. Check out Chris Maluszynski’s beautiful selection of close-ups of people in the crowd at the Obama inauguration.

runningfromcamera.blogspot.com
“The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on ‘2 seconds’, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.” That’s it. A regularly updated portfolio of shots of a Dutchman in streets, parks, basements, running away from you. A simple but moreish pleasure.

jezblog.com
One of the most visited photoblogs in America and Britain comes from Jez Coulson, who posts regularly from his assignments around the globe. Sometimes his hectic itinerary is a thing to marvel at in itself. And the photos are lovely.

Contributors: Bryan Appleyard, Tony Allen Mills, Christopher Goodwin, Sarah Baxter, Louis Wise, Mark Edwards, Pip McCormac, Thierry Kelaart, Camilla Long, Roland White, Clive Davis, David Mills and Helen Hawkins

'We cannot return to the old macho ways' - The Guardian, uk - link (aqui)

The past few weeks have seen a parade of men appear before the male-dominated Treasury select committee to discuss the credit crisis. Women's voices are not being heard in the debate over what went wrong or how it can be fixed. Business Editor Ruth Sunderland, who has written extensively on this topic, organised an Observer round-table discussion with seven business leaders to discuss City culture, machismo's role in the crisis and how women can help bring about a resolution

• 
• • Ruth Sunderland
  • The Observer, Sunday 15 February 2009
  • Article history

Male workers were the main victims of the 1980s recession, but the current credit crunch is affecting women at least as badly as men; tens of thousands of female workers have already lost their jobs, with more to come. Although women are suffering alongside men in the economic downturn, their voices have been conspicuously absent from the debate on what went wrong and how we should go about reconstructing the banking system. Very few female delegates were invited to the World Economic Forum at Davos, and the Treasury select committee hearings into the crisis did not call any women journalists or commentators. If men were the architects of a risky and fragile financial system whose flaws have now been laid bare, should we be looking to women to help create a more balanced and sustainable economy? We brought together seven women from the world of business and finance to give their views.

We asked whether one of the causes of the credit crunch was machismo: did an overdose of testosterone in male-dominated financial institutions lead to risky behaviour and strategies? Had the panel experienced the macho culture at first hand, and did they believe the current crisis might have been avoided if there had been a better gender balance at the top of banks?

Dr Ros Altmann
Age: 52
Job: Independent investment banking and pensions expert; governor and non-executive director of London School of Economics
Lives: London; married, three children

Ros: I have absolutely no doubt that a significant factor in all of this is excess machismo; the idea that you always have to be one step ahead, that you always have to beat your rivals. There was not the co-operative thinking that there would be in a female environment: it was about how to be the best, the first, almost irrespective of the risks. I certainly wouldn't argue that if women had been in charge everything would have been different, but if there had been a greater female contribution to the running of businesses, there would have been a natural tendency for a woman to say, "Let's take a bit of a longer-term view."

Ruth Lea
Age: 61
Job: Economic adviser, Arbuthnot Banking Group
Lives: London single, no children

Ruth Lea: I half agree with that. I used to work at Lehman Brothers and there was a huge atmosphere of machismo. This was 10 years ago, but it was overwhelmingly male-dominated then and I suspect City institutions still are. It reminds me of going on a far eastern trip with a male colleague and it was totally wearing. Every time we got to another financial centre he would be off to the gym. I thought, "I can't bear this," and I would be off to the mini bar. At the end of the week I was the one still standing, though not totally sober! It was macho, risk-taking, and a sales culture that I won't say was immoral, but it was buccaneering. The problem is that buccaneering spirit migrated from the investment banks into general banking and infected the whole financial system. You just have to look at what's happened to Sir James Crosby [the former chief executive of HBOS who stood down as deputy chairman of the Financial Services Authority after it emerged he had ignored warnings from a whistleblower, Paul Moore, about risks at the bank] and hear what Paul Moore has to say about HBOS. It is quite clear that the awful macho risk-taking has got into the bloodstream.

Emma Howard Boyd
Age: Early 40s
Job: Head of socially responsible investment and governance, and director, of Jupiter Asset Management
Lives: Kent; married, three children

Emma: I don't think it is about men and women. Paul Moore blew the whistle, and he was a man, after all. It is about diversity of attitudes towards risk. We need broader ways of looking at investment and risk-taking.

Charlotte Crosswell
Age 37 Job: Chief executive, Nasdaq OMX Europe
Lives: West London; single, one child

Charlotte: I think women do have a different attitude to risk, but you need to take some risks in business. I believe in the diversity argument, that you need a balance. You are beginning to see that more though there is a long way to go towards true equality.

Ros: You need a moderating influence to all that testosterone, and there wasn't that influence, or certainly not sufficient of it.

Toni Eastwood OBE
Age: 41
Job: Training director, Everywoman
Lives: Cambridgeshire; married

Toni: You don't have a balance at the top of banks. The higher you go up, the less you see women. You are losing the impact of women and the ability of women to contribute. Their views are being lost at that top level.

Cary Marsh
Age: Mid-30s
Job: Chief executive of Mydeo.com
Lives: Wimbledon, London; engaged, two children

Cary: I agree with Charlotte. It is not necessarily that you needed women in there, but you need different types of people. My personal experience starting up a technology business is successful firms are the ones with a diversity of thinkers. They would have a live-wire entrepreneur who is gung-ho and a risk-taker, but you would also have calmer people who temper the risk-takers. There is a pack mentality in the City. It is about people who want to run with the pack. This whole crisis is caused because people were all taking risks at the same time.

Ros: It is about not wanting to be a wimp. Everyone is taking risks and if I don't do that I am going to be the wimp. What man would sign up for that? It's just not going to happen.

Toni: But what woman in that environment would sign up to be a wimp either? Even if there were more women, the ones in that culture are very similar. They might not be comfortable, but they either have to run with the pack or leave.

Janice Warman
Age: 50
Job: Deputy editor, Spectator Business magazine, and co-author of The Hey Nonny Handbook, which looks at women's work-life balance
Lives: West London; married with children

Janice: There is the Thatcher factor, where you have to behave like a man to get ahead and that is a negative thing. In fund management, for instance, a lot of firms like women because they are better at client relationships, better at treating their staff, but longer term a lot more women left the field because they found it hard to have a domestic or social life.

Toni: There has been some research on the gender balance on boards in financial institutions and those with more than 25 per cent female participation have greater profit and greater achievement. But what is happening is that women are not seeing enough role models and are voting with their feet. They see these testosterone-filled environments and they don't want a career in that.

This recession has been described as the first equal opportunities downturn because women are losing their jobs alongside men. Is enough attention being paid to the impact on women? Does the panel think there is unconscious sexism going on, with employers feeling it is more acceptable to make a woman redundant because there is probably a man in the background supporting her?

Charlotte: Most women don't have such luck. But I would only imagine that a part-time worker would be an easier person to cut than a full-timer. I would imagine employers, given the choice of cutting a full-timer or a part-timer, will cut the person on three days a week, whether they are a man or a woman. What they forget is the person on a three-day week is probably doing five days' work anyway.

Toni: You are seeing women are getting made redundant from low-skilled, lower-paid, part-time jobs. It will be harder for them to get back into employment, because they are less likely to have qualifications and skills. Not enough attention is being paid to this.

Ros: This is the first time we have seen a general rise in unemployment since the dramatic increase in labour-force participation by women. It may feel worse but I'm not sure we're suffering more than men.

Ruth Lea: Because the economy has moved on and is more service-based, it is affecting women more, but I wouldn't make a big issue of that. Men overwhelmingly identify themselves with their job, much more than women. In the 80s recession I knew men who lost their jobs and it was absolutely devastating for them. In fact, in many cases, it was the women who still went out to work. The men were at home just wrecked as people and it was deeply, deeply socially destructive.

Emma: I think there is an opportunity to look creatively at how people work. I would bet there are as many men as women who would like flexibility, rather than being made unemployed.

Cary: If the result of this is that companies start introducing more flexible working practices then that will have a brilliant effect on bringing more females into the talent pool, so it could be a blessing in disguise.

Ros: I think the group that is worst affected is older workers, not just women but men as well. They are more at risk because employers think they haven't got much left in them. I'm talking about people who are 50-plus, which is still very young.

Charlotte: I would go the other way as an employer. I would be loth to sack an older worker because of the guilt factor over laying off somebody who is 45-plus and who is going to find it a lot more difficult to find a job. I don't think ageism kicks in earlier for women, I think it is almost the other way.

Janice: Yes, it is, because you have had your children. Women who are younger are discriminated against. If you are older you are not suspected of wanting maternity leave.

Has the media coverage of the slump been biased and male-dominated, or is it just reflecting the fact that women have not made inroads into the upper ranks of business and finance?

Ruth Lea: The media are covering reality. You can't blame the media or the Treasury select committee for calling all male journalists because that is the reality. I was a journalist in the past and I was the only female economics editor - you have Stephanie Flanders now, but it is still dominated by men.

Ros: That's not true, I think the women journalists are not being picked out.

Ruth Lea: No, I don't agree with you. I just don't agree, sorry, because I have to say this, I was never held back by being a woman. In fact, ironically being a female economist helped me, especially at the dear old BBC, which gets criticised for everything. Somebody said to me one day, "They wanted a male and a female economist because it looked better than having all chaps. They had thousands of chaps all coming along, and then they had you." I said, "Well, thank you for making my career. I'm not sure whether I take that as a compliment or an insult."

Emma: We shouldn't just focus on business journalism. If you look at Observer Woman magazine, for example, there is lots of coverage about being stylish in a recession, so the female journalists are writing about it, just not exclusively in the business sections.

Ros: I fundamentally disagree. I honestly think that the choices in the male-dominated select committees on whom to call have been biased against women. There are many good business journalists who are women: if they had wanted to even find one woman they would have been spoiled for choice, but they didn't think to ask any.

Are women really more ethical and responsible? Didn't women contribute to the crunch by conspicuous consumption?

Ruth Lea: The average consumer, male or female, doesn't give a toss about ethical issues - their budgets are squeezed and they want the biggest bang for their bucks. I wouldn't criticise that, because I understand their reality.

Emma: The ethical consumer has always been a relatively small proportion of consumption as a whole.

Ros: I still think that, listening to us all round this table, our female values are coming through whether we like it or not. This is a caring mind-set, a nurturing mind-set, a mind-set that says let's worry about the future. What's happened at the top of institutions and in the economy as a whole has been very different from that. It has been very short-term, and very much about instant gratification. I know you can't generalise, but there is a gender difference in outlook, whether it is because of the nurturing role mothers play. What has driven these men has been short-termism and irresponsibility.

Toni: We all have to take some responsibility. I've got my fair share of credit cards. I've gone out and bought things maybe I shouldn't have because I've thought, "Hey, jam later's no good to me, I want my nice car now," or, "I want my house so I'll stretch myself." Women make 80% of buying decisions.

Cary: But you are not asking the taxpayer to bail you out. You are taking personal responsibility for your debt.

Ruth Lea: Macroeconomic policy was highly irresponsible. We can all say that Gordon Brown, who was chancellor for such a long time, just sat on an economy that was essentially running on steroids, it was running beyond its capacity.

Does the panel think that female-led businesses are better equipped to survive the slump than ones run by men? Will we see a positive outcome for women, and companies run by women?

Cary: Yes, I mean I hope so. The one good thing about this is that the people who have been worst behaved have had their heads on a spike. The banks might be thinking that if they are lending to a woman in charge of a business, she might be slightly more risk-averse. Look at the trend for women-run businesses who get venture capital. It is tiny because I think women with their own businesses have a realistic, medium-sized goal, whereas the venture capitalists look for all or nothing. I wasn't prepared to do that. When I showed the venture capitalists my business plan, they said to go away and put more noughts on that. It's this casino mentality, that we only want to play on the big machines. We don't want to play on the little ones, even if they are much more likely to pay out.

Charlotte: What a lot of men say is that women are good at multi-tasking and I don't think anyone would argue with that. It is the advantage women bring, looking forward. A lot of female leaders bring the ability to sit there and go, "OK, I'm going to sort this crisis out, but I'm not just going to think about that, I'm thinking about growing my business as well." That's a major advantage that will stand us in good stead for the future.

Cary: Obviously some men can do that, but multi-tasking is a female trait, isn't it?

Charlotte: When you speak to a chief executive and she has children, generally she will be the one getting up at three, four, five in the morning, teething them and still going to work - I'm going through teething and Calpol at the moment. I think there is an ability among women just to take on more work, and not to turn round and say, "I can't do this."

Emma: I think if a guy says, "Right, I'm leaving now because it's my child's sports day", all these women around the table will go, "Aah, what a lovely guy." But if you answer the phone and it is your nanny calling, they will say, "Oh, can't you sort out your childcare?"

Toni: Women can be women's worst enemy. Actually, you can't do it all wonderfully.

Charlotte: You can if you don't sleep.

Cary: I think what would be nice is if we were able, as women, to support whatever choices we make, whether that is going back to work after two weeks, two months, two years or two days, if you are [former French justice minister] Rachida Dati, or not going back to work at all.

Ros: I think women have a natural tendency to feel guilty whatever they do, and men don't do that, I'm not sure why. It doesn't mean women can't achieve, it just means that there is some emotional baggage that goes along with it.

Janice: Women have different perspectives. I was lucky enough to interview the novelist Margaret Atwood about her book Payback, which is about debt. She started working on it before the crunch and I wondered how she did that. She said she had a sense of what was going on because she is a nosy person, she saw the advertisements for debts and mortgages. She said the economy is not just the banks, it is us.

Ros: That's why I feel policy is so wrong at the moment, because it is looking at institutions, not what the crunch is doing to people.

In Iceland, women have been appointed to run the banks because they were not a part of the male culture that created the problems. Should we do the same thing here? Is the thinking about how to repair the economy still dominated by a male mind-set?

Toni: There will be people looking for the first sign of failure from those women in Iceland. They will say: 'You wanted that high-powered position - have it. We can't wait to see you fail.'

Emma: We need to look beyond gender and look at some of the ways people are incentivised and remunerated, we need to move towards long-term mechanisms for assessing people. It goes right back to the basis of accounting. If you have a long-term focus, you bring in a different way of valuing things. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how you value things socially and environmentally. If you value things purely from a financial perspective then you possibly end up with the wrong type of metrics. Look at some of the happiness data. How do you measure people's general welfare? Looking at purely monetary data is not the right way to do it.

Ruth Lea: This idea that you put women in to clean up the mess men have made is a very dangerous one. I don't know the women in question in Iceland but I just hope they have the requisite skills because if these women are not competent it will horribly rebound. I don't like the idea of women being appointed to clean up messes unless they have the skills.

Ros: But why are you assuming they haven't?

Ruth Lea: I'm not assuming anything.

Toni: We don't want women running everything. (Chorus from the table: "Why not? We do really" ... laughter) We want diversity. It is about reflecting society, having different opinions and a balance.

Janice: There could be something positive that comes out of this, because there has been such a focus on the whole macho culture and where it has got us that there might be a change; it is something that could be capitalised on.

Ros: But I still think the whole debate we are having in response to this crisis is being led by men and conducted with a male mindset. We are trying to solve the problems by continuing the policies that got us into this mess. The debate is dominated by how can we get back to how we were before, and that is not what we need. We need long-term thinking, not short-term thinking. You have the Bank of England governor saying he knows what we are doing is short term and wrong, but we are doing it anyway.

Ruth Lea: What's that then?

Ros: Taking money away from people who have been saving and giving it to people who have borrowed too much, and to bankers.

Charlotte: I don't like the fact the Icelandic experiment was about appointing women because they are women: it should be about the best people and the right mix. I don't want a whole macho sales culture when I'm building my team. I might want one or two people like that, but I'll choose others to balance that off. Whether that is a man or a woman is irrelevant.

Ros: But women are much more open to thinking like that than men are. You are doing that because you are a woman, whereas a man might recruit people in his own image.

Ruth Lea: I have been keeping quiet because no one agrees with me, but in nearly every debate I hear, apart from some of those extraordinary Neanderthal type bankers, there is a realisation that we cannot go back to the old system. I am an old age pensioner and a saver and I am disgusted that interest rates are where they are, but to defend the Bank of England governor Mervyn King, I took his point that if there is a sudden readjustment, then my goodness me, this recession, which is already dreadful, will be considerably worse. That's all I will say. Now you can disagree with me, Ros.

Ros: We have had a sudden readjustment that the policy-makers don't understand. Pensioners' incomes have been cut by 75 per cent. We are trying to keep intact this system of banking that has failed, using the banking channel to get loans to business instead of the government taking charge, and trusting male bankers - and they are male - to get their act together. We are holding the whole economy to ransom, the millions of savers in this country. We are undermining capitalism by removing the risk of failure, by bailing out banks at the expense of those who did nothing wrong.

Ruth Lea: Ros, I agree with you entirely, but I wouldn't start from here. We had a housing boom, a huge pile of personal debt, a huge experiment in the banking system where risk wasn't something anyone worried about, but the trouble is we are here. It's not easy and it's going to be nasty.

Emma: I would hope that we get a mind-set that comes into this debate that allows a different type of thinking about other areas, about the environment, about green issues. We are going through a financial crunch but there are a whole range of other crunches coming up around carbon, around water and a lot of those will impact first on developing countries. We need to think about some of the risks that have built up in the financial system and also to understand the other risks that are building up.

Toni: I think what will happen as a result of this is that you will get a whole new ethos around business, ethics and the environment. Many of the businesses started and led by women who leave these big City jobs will be about giving back. They are more environmentally sound and more ethically sound. Businesses will have to start justifying themselves and their decisions because of the credit crunch and the issues coming up around the environment and resources. Firms will have to be more aware of their role in the community, and businesses will have to start justifying themselves more. Customers will demand it.

Janice: We have a US president who says he's a feminist. Is that going to lead somewhere? Maybe it will.