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Can i just ask, who has passed RCB Main board and if you have, which did you find to be the best broadsheet or other type of media that was spot on for the group discussions, current affairs etc??

I've heard "the week" is very good.

Charles.

gone

I've never done RCB but I can maybe help you a bit here.

The Week is good for a general overview of the weeks news but does not go into much detail. It can be useful for getting an idea of he different stances that broadsheets take over the same issue. I read it mainly out of interest.

The Economist has very detailed analysis of current news issues and is well worth a read. It may give you a perspective on things that you had not considered.

As for broadsheets, The Daily Telegraph is supposed to be the one of choice for potential officers. Apparently it's what is read by most serving officers. Make sure you read the comment & editorial pages as well though.

Hope this helps.

Dan

The Week is good; i agree. The Telegraph is more right-wing, conservative, and is more suited for an Army Officer.

Its up to you though. I would read a couple of papers every day, maybe the Telegraph and Independant. Then get The Week once a week aswell.


James

james (future Para) wrote:get The Week once a week aswell.

So would "The Week" that comes out once a week be a weekly, or would it be a periodical that comes out periodically???

When I was trying (and failing) to do my AIB I bought all the broadsheets one day and sat down and tried to read what was in them. In the end "The Times" won because if I couldn't read all of the paper it had the main news stories condensed on one of the pages. Newsweek is a must. Lots of very good news that you don't always see on the mainstream conduits. Try and watch some of the current affairs programmes, boring but they do give valid points to some arguments.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter what "broadsheet" that you read, but make the effort!

Cliodna wrote:So would "The Week" that comes out once a week be a weekly, or would it be a periodical that comes out periodically???

No, it does actually come out once a week. Get our copy on a Wednesday weekly. Hense it called "the week"

james (future Para) wrote: No, it does actually come out once a week. Get our copy on a Wednesday weekly. Hense it called "the week"

Thank you so much for making my life complete james........I'll think you'll find that mine was said very tongue in cheek though

Oh and another thing....ref the bad spelling that you were having a pop at someone else about......I suggest that if you are going to start playing at "teachers", you should use a spell checker on your own posts before commenting on anyone elses.......its HENCE not HENSE.
PS and thats only one of many spelling mistakes that I've read on your posts.

Get back in your box kid

Personally speaking I prefer The Daily Telegraph for a wide range of topics, but would suggest that you take a couple papers from both ends of scale so to speak and in doing so you would have some comparison on just what is being said about the same stories.

To round-out a good world view,
You could try some foreign papers,most of which are available on-line.
Chicago Sun-Times and The New Yuck Times are always good for a larf.
Sidney Herald,Belfast Telegraph and The Newfoundland Incomprehensible
are equally good on the topic of world views.
Me,I stick to the Beano as I can no longer read the small print in Viz.
Biffa.

Well the president of RCB suggested the independant and not the "torygraph" as he called it. I really don't have a clue myself.

CP,

The Telegraph is more right-wing, conservative, and is more suited for an Army Officer.

True, but the RCB would prefer you to be small-c conservative, which is what I was told before I passed the RCB in April 2002.

For 1 1/2 years before passing, I read the Telegraph, as I am a right wing conservative, but the column that most of my current affairs and history knowledge came from was this one, which I've been reading since 1998:

http://www.bigeye.com/fcorrlst.htm

Eric Margolis is an American Vietnam veteran (Engineers) who is socially conservative, but is opposed to Bush because of Iraq. My take is that his bias towards Islam arose from the USSR-Afghan war and his hatred of communism above all else. He's been everywhere and done it all, if there are specific topics you want to hear about I might be able to scan in some old columns for you.

df2

I read the Independent myself, though it's not a broadsheet any more, and probably too left wing for your average soldier's tastes, I like to have an alternate view point from the BBC

It doesn't matter what you read as long as you read a quality broadsheet and watch the news. You will inevitably get a question in your discussions along the lines of 'is abortion right' 'were we right to go into Iraq' etc. Just make sure you're competent on such issues.

The actual on-screen current affairs test is laughable. It's 10 questions on literally the last two weeks of news. I was lucky as I watched Sky News religiously including sport and show-biz. One question was: 'Which Halle Berry film premiered in London last week?'

Cliodna: You quite clearly baited James knowing that he would reply (with a very innocent post might I add) then proceed to lay into him. Do you get a kick out of that? How often does James correct people's spelling? Get over yourself, he'll be gone in two weeks.

Mike_b

EDIT:

"PS and thats only one of many spelling mistakes that I've read on your posts."

Come on. You're correcting someone for correcting someone else incorrectly. So you are like Ofsted if he's playing teacher. And if you're Ofsted methinks you need to sort out YOUR grammar. It should read:

"P.S That's only one of many spelling mistakes that I've read on your posts."