You will remember your show that was broadcast from
Iceland back in June. I submitted a Freedom of Information request about the
costs and travel arrangements associated with that programme, but my request was
turned down by the BBC's FOI department as my questions fell outside the BBC's
own special interpretation of the FOI legislation. So, I appealed to the
Information Commissioner's Office for the BBC's decision to be overturned and
that the details I requested should be supplied. Despite their best efforts,
they have advised me that previous legal challenges to the BBC have failed and
that my request would fail too. This is all connected to the BBC refusing to
give any information that relates to "art, journalism or literature". I am left
wondering exactly what information the BBC would provide that could possibly
fall outside of these three criteria in one way or another. Not much, I
suspect.
As a licence payer I feel that I should be able to find out exactly how MY MONEY is being spent, but the BBC choose to keep that secret from me, and I feel that that is unfair. So...
Today's issue that affects me: Why is the BBC so secretive?
As a licence payer I feel that I should be able to find out exactly how MY MONEY is being spent, but the BBC choose to keep that secret from me, and I feel that that is unfair. So...
Today's issue that affects me: Why is the BBC so secretive?
In the absence of any
hard facts, I will continue to think that your trip to Iceland was nothing more
than a "jolly" for you and your team. I am, of course, happy to be proved
wrong.
I guess it will be a cold day in hell when you
choose to discuss anything that relates to the corrupt, inefficient, biased and
over-bearing BBC.
So, moving on to today's irrelevancies, and I note that you have chosen not to supply links to relevant pages today for some reason, so I shall supply my own....
1) ECONOMY - David Cameron says we're not quite staring down the barrel when it comes to the world economy but the pattern is clear. Is that how it feels in your business and high street, or is that too negative? : I rarely visit our nearest High Street so I am unable to form an opinion on that particular aspect. As for my business, I have more work than I know what to do with and I am currently taking bookings for work that I will not get to until next Spring. I have even tried quoting ridiculous prices for work in an effort to turn away work that I am not overly keen to do, and the reaction is always "Oooh, that sounds very reasonable". Is it just me? Next...
So, moving on to today's irrelevancies, and I note that you have chosen not to supply links to relevant pages today for some reason, so I shall supply my own....
1) ECONOMY - David Cameron says we're not quite staring down the barrel when it comes to the world economy but the pattern is clear. Is that how it feels in your business and high street, or is that too negative? : I rarely visit our nearest High Street so I am unable to form an opinion on that particular aspect. As for my business, I have more work than I know what to do with and I am currently taking bookings for work that I will not get to until next Spring. I have even tried quoting ridiculous prices for work in an effort to turn away work that I am not overly keen to do, and the reaction is always "Oooh, that sounds very reasonable". Is it just me? Next...
2) LIVING IN A SHED - A couple in Hampshire move into a shed to save money to buy a house - but the council says they can't live there : No surprise at all that I found this one in the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2040486/Havant-Council-bans-NHS-worker-Victoria-Campbell-living-parents-shed.html). Interesting that the picture of a shed that you use on your web page (http://wwwimg.bbc.co.uk/programmes/i/86x48/45c918a66a7b50ffb8776ce2cf988a009aca227f.jpg) bears absolutely no relation to the shed in question. Was this a deliberate attempt to mislead your listeners? Planning Law is quite clear, and if this couple are in breach of those laws then the council will always have the final word, so what is there to discuss? Next...
3) FEMINISM - We discuss whether feminism has failed women : As a
bloke, I hope you will understand why this is of no interest to
me. Next...
4) RAG AND BONE MEN - Rag-and-bone men in Staffordshire have been told that they're too noisy : A quick search found more details (http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Residents-want-noisy-rag-bone-men-fined-making/story-13380777-detail/story.html) but I don't live in Staffordshire and this is not a problem that we have around here. In the 9 years I have lived here I have never seen a so-called "rag and bone" man. In fact, they are not "rag and bone" men at all, they are scrap metal collectors. Rag and Bone men collected precisely that, rags and bones, but I suspect that there are not many - if any - left in the UK. More misinformation from the BBC!
The Jeremy Vine Show - completely unaccountable, apparently
I have been looking through the archives and having a bit of a laugh at them. One thing that I came across was a couple of references to oil fired central heating. I am surmising that Jeremy has at some point admitted to having no clue how OFCH actually works. Since the principle is so simple that a child could understand it I am assuming that you keep bringing it up to emphasise what a total dimbulb he is. Am I close?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely on the button SG!
ReplyDeleteIt was back on 28th January that he did an item about thefts of oil from oil-fired central heating system storage tanks. See http://lunchtimeloather.blogspot.com/2011/01/todays-show-280111.html and http://lunchtimeloather.blogspot.com/2011/02/complaint-response-280111.html
He had no comprehension at all of how OFCH works and could not understand how such thefts occurred as, surely, the storage tank would be buried in the garden, so how could a thief possibly find it? His basic error was quickly identified and corrected by the guy from the NFU.
One of the questions he asked the NFU bloke was along the lines of "If people are worried about this then why don't they switch to gas?". He is completely oblivious to what happens anywhere outside of London and the South East.
The whole thing was a typical JV "I can wing my way through this" moment with no research and no interest in the topic being discussed.
A few weeks later an elderly lady neighbour told me that she had heard him discussing these thefts, and for several nights afterwards lay in her bed listening for any noise that may possibly have been somebody stealing from her tank. Only JV could cause a 90+ year-old lady to have sleepless nights for several weeks, and yet be completely oblivious to what he had done.
So I was pretty much correct. You have now reminded me of the discussion on traditional cameras becoming obsolete because digital cameras were getting better and cheaper. A caller was talking about putting slide shows onto a DVD and taking it round to a friend's house to show it. JV suggested that he would have to take a TV and DVD player with him. The guy actually had to explain that all of his friends have a TV and DVD player of their own, so no, he doesn't have to take his, just the disc.
ReplyDeleteOnly on the JV prog, although several years ago when MP3 players had just started I was in my local corner shop, and a lad came in wearing one and listening to his music. The shop assistant asked him what it was, and when he replied , music, she asked how he fit the cd's inside
ReplyDeleteIve been thinking for a few years now if JV is clueless or just puts it on but for a while now I truly think he is clueless.
ReplyDeleteHow many years has Martin Lewis been doing JV but JV is still has thick about all that stuff as it was Day1.How ML doesnt turn around&insult him sometimes I dont know;-)