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Wednesday 25 April 2012

23/04/12, 24/04/12 and 25/04/12


I've been busy over the last couple of days so I have missed my daily updates. However, I'm off to the dentist (only a check-up) soon so find myself with an opportunity to do my thing. Let's start with Monday...

1) MARINE LE PEN - The biggest surprise of the French elections is that one in five voted for the national front candidate Marine Le Pen. What accounts for the rise of the far right in France? : It is well-known that the BBC finds any political view other than left of centre to be totally abhorent. Like London, I view France as a place to get through as quickly as possible on my way to somewhere much nicer. And my interest ends there. Next...

2) BLINDNESS IN ONE EYE - A diplomat loses an eye in a vicious attack. Are you someone who has had to cope with just one eye? : How awful, but I have not been that unfortunate. Next...

3) CARE WORKER - A family secretly film their mother being slapped by a care home worker. How can this happen in a care home that’s been rated ‘excellent’? : I've no idea, but I note that "All five main care workers filmed by Jane Worroll were sacked" so hopefully it will not happen again. But then this was all just a promotion for Monday's edition of Panorama, wasn't it? Next...

4) I LOVE WHERE I LIVE - All this week Radio 2 wants to hear why you love where you live. We will be hearing your 1 minute love letters about your town, village or city : Yeah, whatever.

So that was Monday. Sounds dire. Was Tuesday any better?

1) POSHNESS - Conservative MP Nadine Dorries says that Cameron and Osborne are “arrogant posh boys” who “don’t know the price of milk”. Does poshness matter anyway? : Ah yes, a good old-fashioned Jeremy Vine Show Character Assassination. It's been a while since you did one of those. I take it that this was as one-sided as all of the others? Aside from that, is a bit of name-calling really "news", especially when bearing in mind the current legal matters entangling Peter Hain (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17822347
) and Jack Straw (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17746561 and http://order-order.com/2012/04/24/secretary-of-state-spook-connection/). Next...

2) MEAT THEFT - There’s been a rise in the theft of meat both from supermarkets and from the ‘back of lorries’. Is this something you’ve witnessed? 
Find out more from the Financial Times: No. And the link you provided is hidden behind a "pay wall". You may wish to waste my TV licence tax money on a subscription, but I do not. Next...

3) CLAIRE SQUIRES - Claire Squires ran the marathon to raise money for the Samaritans in memory of her brother. She collapsed and died near the end. Since then, thousands of people have donated money in her memory : Tragic. Did you discuss banning marathons? If not, why not? Next...

4) LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE - Radio 2’s homage to every nook and cranny and of the UK continues. Today, ‘I Love Where I Live’ moves to Wales and Northern Ireland. There’s still time to write your one minute love letter, to where you live : Is there really. Great.

And while I'm at it, I may as well dismiss today's show as well...

1) RUSSELL BRAND - Did you see Russell Brand give evidence on drug abuse to MPs yesterday? He called for people to have more compassion for drug addicts, but were you somebody who said what right did he have to be there in the first place? : Who? Oh, him. My answers are no, and no. This is a former Radio 2 colleague you are talking about here, have you no respect? Me neither. Next...

2) BUS LANES & CYCLISTS - The man that runs one of Britain’s biggest cab firms says that minicabs should be allowed in bus lanes and cyclists should be made to pay road tax : I have no idea where my nearest bus lane is, in England probably, but your Twitter feed is full of references to your endeavours with a bicycle around London, so I fail to see how you could possibly conduct an unbiased discussion on this topic today. Your BBC colleague Stuart Hughes launched a Twitter attack on the minicab company concerned and this has been fully documented elsewhere (http://biased-bbc.com/2012/04/20/taxi-2/ and http://biased-bbc.com/2012/04/24/taxi-update/) and this, if nothing else, illustrates perfectly the kind of bias that permeates through the BBC when somebody there uses their position to further their own views. As for me, one day many years ago I was stopped at traffic lights on the Euston Road in London and a cyclist rammed in to the back of my car. I got out and the cyclist picked himself up off the road and said "Sorry mate, I didn't see you". What he meant was he wasn't actually looking where he was going. The rear bumper and boot lid on my car were both dented, but the cyclist's bike appeared to be undamaged. I know that because he then rode off at high speed and left me with the repair bill. I'll leave you to guess what my view of cyclists is ... can you manage that? I'll listen to this on the iPlayer later as I hope that the chap from the minicab company gives you some grief. Next...

3) MURDOCH - Rupert Murdoch gives evidence at the Leveson Inquiry today as his son leaves cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt’s career hanging by a thread : Murdoch appears at Leveson, and you are all over it like. Yet back in January (25th) you chose to ignore the evidence given by the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror and our beloved BBC. Bias, bias, bias! Any news reporter worthy of his trade would give equal coverage to ALL of the news organisations involved, but you only choose to report on Murdoch. Your choice, or a directive from On High? Next...
 
4) LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE - ‘I Love Where I Live’ heads to the middle of England today. We hear your one minute love letters to the place you love : WTF?
 
And at 12:08 the Off switch does its job.
 
It was interesting to hear Chris Evans's comments this morning on the forthcoming repeat of 2DAY. "We loved it, you loved it", he said. That is not my recollection of last year's disasterous day when hordes of R2 listeners found that other radio stations are available. And your beloved newspapers slated it too. But the BBC always know best, don't they?

The Jeremy Vine show - telling you the news that WE want you to hear

7 comments:

Gill said...

Fortunately I shall be on holiday when radio 2 turns turtle and flips its day. it was rubbish last year and I don't expect it to be better this year. Where do they get their figures from? No don't bother answering, they made it up.
Have you heard from the trust yet?

Hope your dentist doesn't have the JV show on, unlike mine!!

Radio2LunchtimeLoather said...

Hi Gill!

Nothing from the Trust yet, and I probably won't until next month.

My dentist does have R2 on, but only in reception and I deliberately time my appointments (if possible) to be around 10:30 so I can do Pop Master while waiting!

Will said...

I'll be on a coach and train until arnd 5pm on 10th May but because of pre-warnings on here I can avoid R2 for the day.As Ive got Daily podcasts of Ken Bruce,Simon Mayo and Danny Baker neither mind Mayo&Kermode I'll load the phone up with days and days of each.

The Good thing is the reception is always abit dodgy over the Pennines so this will be better as not missing anything.

This week:
Mon-Heard bits when on train as FM only.
Tues-Turned off
Wed-Didnt listen to R2 and will listen to Mayo 5-6pm probaly.

Im thinking the BBC described Jeremy Hunt correctly the 1st time.If he survives the week or 7 days I'll be surprised.

Cameron saying he supports him fully means he's on his last days as they always usually go when that line is trotted out.

Stonyground said...

I was surprised to hear from Mr. Vine that David Bowie is blind in one eye. In fact he had an eye slightly injured in a playground accident which, I believe resulted in a paralysed iris. Mr. Bowie has always made a thing about being wierd and so likes to emphasise that his eyes are different too.

I used to cycle a lot years ago but always used to follow the highway code. I also used to pay road tax because I also had a car, which I would have been using had I not been cycling.

Anonymous said...

' illustrates perfectly the kind of bias that permeates through the BBC when somebody there uses their position to further their own views'

Along with the seamless move from creating the news to 'reporting' it, all topped off by then 'discussing' what has been created to report.

Their intranet emails would be a treat to read if ever exposed like NI's in a Levenson-style inquiry.

But then, as Mr. Murdoch alluded to yesterday, while the press is big in the UK, broadcast is bigger, with one very big beast atop it all, monopoly of message-wise.

And, as he said, at least folk can opt not to buy his papers.

As a matter of interest, how was the interview with the Addison Lee boss? Any mention of the questions still being asked that this was all spun up by a BBC employee?

Radio2LunchtimeLoather said...

Just listening now... and look who Vine has in the studio as a representative of the cyclist community: Rent-A-Gob Peter Tatchell. From the Bahrain Grand Prix last Friday to cycling yesterday - the man's talents and knowledge obviously have no limits.

The whole discussion was London-based and turned in to the usual two against one attack. Words were continually put in to John Griffin's (the Addison Lee chap) mouth, which he had to deny. It then turned in to a Black Cab vs Mini Cab vs Buses debate.

And, of course, there was no mention of the BBC's involvement.

Will said...

I did like Murdock yesterday saying that 'The BBC was a joke and disliked by all Prime Ministers but yet the BBC got what ever they asked for!! ;-) which resulted in a laugh from the inquiry and was broadcast live on 5 Live.

On Tuesday when questioning James Murdock,an email was quoted which had F-words in.Richard Bacon had to apologise and explain the content;-)
Not even turned Radio on until 2pm and then 5live until 3pm when Danny Baker starts on BBC London,Mayo at 5pm.Podcasting Kens Shows for later.