Today's show 20/02/12

Monday morning again, and somebody has very kindly updated your web page nice and early - thank you!

I see from today's menu though that you will not be discussing a couple of news stories that are of interest to me. For completeness these are:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2103258/BBC-pays-1-8million-legal-help-stars-pay-confidential.html

BBC pays £1.8million legal bill to help keep stars' pay confidential

The BBC’s governing body has paid £1.8 million to a top international law firm for work including advice on keeping the wages of some of its most high-profile stars confidential. Figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday show that the BBC Trust – the body that has overall control  of the public broadcaster – paid an average of almost £20,000 a week  to the London office of Baker & McKenzie during the past two years.

Do you consider that this gives us - the TV Licence Tax payers - value for money? I don't.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9090976/How-Moira-Stuart-makes-sure-tax-doesnt-have-to-be-taxing.html

How Moira Stuart makes sure tax doesn't have to be taxing

Moira Stuart, the BBC newsreader who has become the public face of HM Revenue & Customs, has set up a company that allows her to avoid the full impact of the 50p top tax rate.

How about discussing the pros and cons of this arrangement one day then Jeremy? I'd listen!

Instead, we have this lot...

 

1) LONG DISTANCE COACH TRIPS - Following the crash in northern France of the coach returning children from a ski trip, we talk to someone that says it’s time to stop the transportation of children on long distance coach trips at night : "Someone" ... bless. Where do you find them? You said to Zoe, "It is not very easy to sleep on the front seat of a coach". A lot of coaches used on these trips have a separate sleeping compartment for the driver away from the main passenger cabin but I have no idea if this was the case on the coach that crashed in France. Do you? A similar incident occurred on a trip abroad when I was at school in the 1970s, but fortunately without loss of life. It is true to say that it had an affect on everybody at the school as we all knew somebody who had been injured. They all went on to make a full recovery but, presumably, some still bear the mental and physical scars of that incident to this day. However, I wasn't on the trip, I hate travelling by coach and we have no children who would go on such a trip. Next...

2) POLIO - India says it’s eradicated polio. We did the same a generation ago, but are you someone who can remember the terrible disease? Maybe you even suffered from it yourself?: Fortunately no, and no. I had a vaccination when I was only a few years old and I still have my polio vaccination card here somewhere. Next...

3) BOXING BRAWL - The brawl between the two heavyweight boxers has been said to shame the sport of boxing. But hang on a minute, wasn’t your reaction : ‘I thought boxing was about being violent?’ : I've never been a fan of boxing, and frankly could not care less what these individuals get up to. Wrestling, now there's a sport! Next...

4) HUGGING - John Prescott regrets that he’s unable to hug his sons. Are you somebody who wished your dad had hugged you? : He did. Thankfully he was not John Prescott. Ewwww....

 

The Jeremy Vine Show - come on, it's Monday, what did you expect?