A quick scan of today's menu has told me that
there is no news today, apparently. The furore over Clarkson's comments is
forgotten, and do I remember something about a strike earlier this
week?
You don't do follow-up stories (only repeats - there is a difference) so let me do two for you...
Clarkson first: It is interesting, don't you think, that our beloved state broadcaster has decided not to make Clarkson's appearance on the One Show available on iPlayer, and the only clip available anywhere that I can find is the "should be shot" snippet. This was played to death on the R2 and 6Music news bulletins all day and I can probably quote it word-for-word now! What I would like to see is the whole interview as, according to others, the clip is not entirely representative of what was said. The best I can find is a transcript on a BBC news page (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15993549) that allows me to do the usual BBC thing and part quote what was actually said to completely change the emphasis: When asked about that day's strike over pensions by public sector workers Jeremy Clarkson said, "I think they have been fantastic".
Being the cynical old bugger that I am, I am coming to the conclusion that this was all a "set up" to boost the One Show's ratings, which will almost certainly succeed as it is all over the papers and other news stations. Clarkson has apologised (after he was told to?) and so the BBC has a win-win situation. After all, why would they get a well-known out-spoken court jester on the show on THE MOST contentious day of the year without realising what he would do? He has previous form, after all! Whether JC was in on it from the start is open to debate, but it all smells a bit fishy to me. You can't buy publicity like this, and it is probably safe to assume that sales of Clarkson's two Christmas DVDs have been boosted too. So, who's on tonight's One Show then? Nick Griffin, maybe?
Meanwhile, James Delingpole discusses Clarksongate in the Daily Telegraph (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100120977/jeremy-clarksons-critics-should-be-taken-out-and-shot/) and the over-the-top coverage from the BBC that his misdemeanour has attracted. Allow me to quote:
For at least the last fifty years "they should be taken out and shot," has been a socially acceptable, perfectly unexceptionable way of expressing colourfully and vehemently one's distaste towards a particular category of unpleasantness, be it striking Unison workers, revolting students, poorly performing members of your football team or the Lib Dem members of Cameron's cabinet. Context is all.
What the BBC and its brain-dead apparatchiks clearly fail to understand at moments like this is that they are actually endorsing and cultivating our culture of abject stupidity. If Lord Reith were still around, he really would want the entire BBC staff – management especially but also grinning half-wit presenters like The One Show's Matt Baker and Alex Jones – taken out and shot for what they have done to a once-fine institution.
The damage the BBC is wreaking on our culture in ways both large and small is all but incalculable. The Clarkson affair is at the smaller end. At the larger end, I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to giving you the gory details of the BBC's complicity in the Climate Change scam – as revealed both in the Climategate 2.0 emails and in Christopher Booker's magisterial new report for the Global Warming Policy Foundation. And I'm quite sure Roger Harrabin is too.
You don't do follow-up stories (only repeats - there is a difference) so let me do two for you...
Clarkson first: It is interesting, don't you think, that our beloved state broadcaster has decided not to make Clarkson's appearance on the One Show available on iPlayer, and the only clip available anywhere that I can find is the "should be shot" snippet. This was played to death on the R2 and 6Music news bulletins all day and I can probably quote it word-for-word now! What I would like to see is the whole interview as, according to others, the clip is not entirely representative of what was said. The best I can find is a transcript on a BBC news page (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15993549) that allows me to do the usual BBC thing and part quote what was actually said to completely change the emphasis: When asked about that day's strike over pensions by public sector workers Jeremy Clarkson said, "I think they have been fantastic".
Being the cynical old bugger that I am, I am coming to the conclusion that this was all a "set up" to boost the One Show's ratings, which will almost certainly succeed as it is all over the papers and other news stations. Clarkson has apologised (after he was told to?) and so the BBC has a win-win situation. After all, why would they get a well-known out-spoken court jester on the show on THE MOST contentious day of the year without realising what he would do? He has previous form, after all! Whether JC was in on it from the start is open to debate, but it all smells a bit fishy to me. You can't buy publicity like this, and it is probably safe to assume that sales of Clarkson's two Christmas DVDs have been boosted too. So, who's on tonight's One Show then? Nick Griffin, maybe?
Meanwhile, James Delingpole discusses Clarksongate in the Daily Telegraph (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100120977/jeremy-clarksons-critics-should-be-taken-out-and-shot/) and the over-the-top coverage from the BBC that his misdemeanour has attracted. Allow me to quote:
For at least the last fifty years "they should be taken out and shot," has been a socially acceptable, perfectly unexceptionable way of expressing colourfully and vehemently one's distaste towards a particular category of unpleasantness, be it striking Unison workers, revolting students, poorly performing members of your football team or the Lib Dem members of Cameron's cabinet. Context is all.
What the BBC and its brain-dead apparatchiks clearly fail to understand at moments like this is that they are actually endorsing and cultivating our culture of abject stupidity. If Lord Reith were still around, he really would want the entire BBC staff – management especially but also grinning half-wit presenters like The One Show's Matt Baker and Alex Jones – taken out and shot for what they have done to a once-fine institution.
The damage the BBC is wreaking on our culture in ways both large and small is all but incalculable. The Clarkson affair is at the smaller end. At the larger end, I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to giving you the gory details of the BBC's complicity in the Climate Change scam – as revealed both in the Climategate 2.0 emails and in Christopher Booker's magisterial new report for the Global Warming Policy Foundation. And I'm quite sure Roger Harrabin is too.
Nail hit on head there, I reckon. And all this on the same day
that the BBC hit the news itself - again - in a story successfully buried under
Clarksongate. From your beloved Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068411/BBC-chief-Caroline-Thomson-says-swearing-comedies-good.html
BBC chief who says swearing in comedies is good
One of the BBC’s top executives caused fury last night after she insisted it is acceptable for comedies to feature expletives.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068411/BBC-chief-Caroline-Thomson-says-swearing-comedies-good.html
BBC chief who says swearing in comedies is good
One of the BBC’s top executives caused fury last night after she insisted it is acceptable for comedies to feature expletives.
Caroline Thomson, the corporation’s chief operating officer,
claimed that one of the points of comedy was to cause offence
and make her ‘flinch’.
So, just to make this clear, it is unacceptable for the BBC to broadcast Clarkson's comments as they MAY cause offense, but it is perfectly acceptable to broadcast comedy that WILL cause offence. Good one BBC!
The other news story I hoped you might cover was this one:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/3973322/Unison-union-bully-boy-Jon-Rogers-scab-email-fury.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068742/Scab-jibe-workers-crossed-picket-lines-defy-strikers.html
Union bully boy ‘scab’ fury
So, just to make this clear, it is unacceptable for the BBC to broadcast Clarkson's comments as they MAY cause offense, but it is perfectly acceptable to broadcast comedy that WILL cause offence. Good one BBC!
The other news story I hoped you might cover was this one:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/3973322/Unison-union-bully-boy-Jon-Rogers-scab-email-fury.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068742/Scab-jibe-workers-crossed-picket-lines-defy-strikers.html
Union bully boy ‘scab’ fury
Unison's Jon Rogers
sent out a furious email after barely a million union members joined Wednesday's
strike, saying: "What you did was immoral and unacceptable and you should be
ashamed. If you cross a picket line you are a scab. There is no other word for
it and it is one of the worst things that can be done."
Mr Rogers, branch secretary at Lambeth, London, later withdrew the 3am email.
A union spokesman said: "It was sent after a long, tiring day. He regrets it and apologises for any offence caused."
Mr Rogers, branch secretary at Lambeth, London, later withdrew the 3am email.
A union spokesman said: "It was sent after a long, tiring day. He regrets it and apologises for any offence caused."
Pot, kettle, black. It was Unison, of course, who were offended by Clarkson's remarks, so much so that they were saying that they would waste their members' subs by attempting legal action against him (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15977813), yet they are happy to send out an email that may have offended their own paying members. I think they live in the same version of The Real World that you do!
Anyway, all this mention of "offence" has offended me.
Today's issue that affects me: Where can I get a membership application form for The Illuminati?
So, Radio 2's flagship programme for "news, views and live guests" has no news today then. I suppose that two out of three ain't bad...
1) HAPPINESS - Despite the current economic turmoil and uncertainty, an ONS happiness survey suggests three quarters of us are satisfied with life. How do you keep "smiling through?" : Easy ... by not listening to the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2 everyday at 12, and by telling you why. Next...
2) SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS - Have you witnessed a science experiment go badly wrong?: Well, there was the day at school when we were making a barometer using a vacuum pump, a glass tube and a large glass trough of mercury (several pints). You can guess what happened, and we spent the rest of the class pushing blobs of mercury around with our bare fingers so that it could be sucked in to a syringe. Then there was the day the science teacher dropped maybe too large a lump of sodium in to a glass bowl of water with a pretty impressive explosion following. And then there was the day that the science teacher insisted that an experiment involving the production of hydrogen should be done in the fume cupboard, which was then blown to smithereens (and with the consequent Ball Of Flame you mentioned on Ken's show) when he switched on the extractor fan and the resultant spark ignited the hydrogen. No goggles, no gloves, no face masks, no H&S investigation, no serious injuries, lots of laughs and I'm still here to tell the tale. The problem with safety gear is that it lulls some people in to a false sense of security and safety, and then they get injured. With no safety gear an inbuilt mechanism for self-protection takes over and you stay well away from the action. And that is the real lesson to be learned, in my opinion. Somehow I don't think you will be promoting my viewpoint today. Next...
3) CHILDREN'S SAVINGS - Is it ever acceptable to raid your child's savings? : I'd have to have some children first, and I can't wait that long. Next...
4) TERRY WALTON - We speak to Terry Walton on the official Jeremy Vine Show allotment: As I was saying, there is no news today.
The Jeremy Vine Show - we forgot to buy a paper today :-(
Just got in and switched onto JV, and he is on that blooming allotment. No pun intended. Do the BBC seriously expect us to beleive this load of old manure? reminds me of Archie Andrews, a ventriloquist act on the radio!! Well, you never saw his lips move, Sometimes i think we are all still in the 50's. ye gods!
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