HERAT CITY , AFGHANISTAN – Noria Barkot with her father. She was injured in the attack on Granai Village. Published here by kind permission of Guy Smallman/guysmallman.com. (c) Guy Smallman, 2009.

“The enemy has the momentum in Afghanistan” – Channel 4 News.

“The innocent are always caught up” – Channel 4 News.

“New footage of deadly Afghan bombing” – Channel 4 News.

“Villagers’ legacy of pain from US air raid” – Guy Smallman, Financial Times.

“Afghans’ legacy of pain from US air raid” – Guy Smallman, Financial Times.

My friend and colleague Guy Smallman is back from working in Afghanistan – and with a world exclusive. He visited the Afghan village of Granai in which a US air strike killed 147 civilians in May of this year, the highest number of civilian casualties since the Afghanistan conflict began. Click on the links above to read Guy’s report and view his pictures and to watch the Channel 4 News report as well – which was the lead story last night.

GRANAI, AFGHANISTAN – On May 4th 2009 Granai Village in the Bala Baluk area of Farah province was the subject of air strikes by Coalition Forces. 147 civilians were killed making the single biggest loss of life since the war began in 2001. Published here by kind permission of Guy Smallman/guysmallman.com. (c) Guy Smallman, 2009.

Below is Guy’s previous investigation from Afghanistan – which was published in the Financial Times magazine in December last year.

Publication: 6/7 December 2008, Financial Times magazine.

“The Afghan man squatting in front of us in the former Soviet cultural centre in Kabul was oblivious to our presence. In his right hand he clung to a scorched piece of tinfoil. He was about 20, and rocked slowly backwards and forwards, not registering the questions being put to him by Khalid, my interpreter. Eventually we gave up, leaving him to his heroin-induced daze amid the rubble and used syringes. Lenin looked down from a decaying mural behind him.”

“Kabul’s lost tribe” – Guy Smallman, Financial Times.

Publication: 6/7 December 2008, Financial Times magazine.

Publication: 6/7 December 2008, Financial Times magazine.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 26.08.06. Site of the planned £500m medical research laboratory in King’s Cross, London, England on Saturday 26th April 2008. The laboratory, yards from St Pancras Eurostar station and the British Library will replace the current National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill, which houses a category four laboratory for the study of highly contagious diseases like Ebola. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2008.

Click on the link below to view more images.

Images : “Site of the planned £500m medical research laboratory in King’s Cross, London – (26.04.08)”

Clients : Images are available for rights managed editorial licensing. High resolution images are available on request.

“High security laboratory to be built in central London” The Guardian.

“No threat posed by new research centre, says Labour” The Guardian.

“Disease lab a ‘terrorism target’” BBC News.

“Residents oppose medical centre’” BBC News.

“Deal secures £500m medical centre’” BBC News.

Archive Link : www.archive.marcvallee.co.uk

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 24.04.06. 10 Downing Street, the historic office and home of the British Prime Minister. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2006.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 06.11.06. The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) (often known as MI6) headquarters in Vauxhall on the River Thames. The distinctive building is a well known London landmark designed by the architect Terry Farrell. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2006.

“Police took MP bugging decision” – BBC News.

“Straw announces inquiry into claims MP was bugged” – The Guardian.

“Brown was warned that MP was being bugged, say Conservatives” – The Independent.

“What is the Wilson Doctrine?” – Channel 4 News.

Here is a new gallery of images of political buildings which you can view on my archive. The images could be used by editorial clients to illustrate the story of the New Labour MP Sadiq Khan being bugged by the police.Clients : Images are available for rights managed editorial licensing. To view the full set of images click on the link below. High resolution images are available on request.

Image Link : PhotoShelter – “Political Buildings 2005 – 2008″

Archive Link : www.archive.marcvallee.co.uk

PUTIN BY PLATON, 2007. Published here by kind permission of Platon. (c) Platon, 2007.

My good friend Andreas and his boss Platon went off on a trip to Moscow a few weeks back to shoot Vladimir Putin for Time Magazine. I’m told that the shoot took 5 minutes! Nice work if you can get it boys! The only head of state I have shot lately was Hugo Chávez (2006) but I had the whole UK press pack next to me at the time, but I did get to spend a bit more time with him.

PRINT ABOVE : JFK Airport, 2006. (c) Marc Vallée, 2006.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 06.11.06. The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) (often known as MI6) headquarters in Vauxhall on the River Thames. The distinctive building is a well known London landmark designed by the architect Terry Farrell. (Photo by Marc Vallée/marcvallee.co.uk) (c) Marc Vallée, 2006.

Some of you will know I’m a huge fan of John le Carré and today I found a very good “unofficial” resource of all things John le Carré.  The biography section is very enjoyable and useful and if you are a fan you will love it.  The Front Row interview with Mark Lawson is one of the best and gave me a few things to think about. The Radio 4 Today interview from 2004 is also well worth listening to. Enjoy.

Link : www.johnlecarre.co.uk (unoffical)

Link : www.johnlecarre.com (offical)

ARTWORK ABOVE: Copyleft Flag – who should I credit?

“How the anti-copyright lobby makes big business rich” – Sion Touhig, The Register.

Here is a link to an excellent article on copyright by – my friend and colleague – photojournalist Sion Touhig. The case that Sion makes sums up how I – and many – feel and is well worth taking a look at.