Stephen Pollard reports hearing Sir David Frost on ‘Breakfast With Frost’ introduce Vanessa Redgrave with: And now, the social conscience of us all, Vanessa Redgrave. Pollard has his own preferred introduction. This seems to me to be another case where you suspect the BBC presenter must have their tongue in their cheek at first, but it appears not. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Is the government going to be driving around with “Computer detector vans” soon? Will you need to pay the government to use a computer? The BBC faces losing hundreds of thousands of pounds in licence fees because of a legal loophole that allows viewers to watch television on the internet for free. Soaring take-up of broadband and technological developments are making internet-streamed television a reality. Last summer, for the first … Continue reading →

is the director of television at the BBC, and she explains her philosophy thus: “People who express highly controversial views are welcome on the BBC but they cannot be presenters of a news or current affairs programme”. So what’s Paxman doing working there, then? “Television must be allowed to engage with the real world, to challenge and inform audiences”. So that’s why we pay our licence fee. To be patronised, … Continue reading →

Several people pointed out this piece by Justin Webb about deducing the innermost soul of America from half a dozen guys you met in a ski-lift gondola*, too. It seems the same piece was spotted (in its first incarnation as a Radio Four broadcast) by Myrna Blyth of NRO. (Hat tip: Hazel Stein.) Actually, I’ve got a soft spot for Justin Webb. No one who can write Faced with another … Continue reading →

Several people have pointed out this Normblog post linking to, and quoting from, an article by Bartle Bull in Prospect Magazine. Iraq is not about America any more. This has been increasingly true every day since last June, and the failure – or refusal – to recognise this has underpinned much of the misleading coverage of Iraq. In the evenings leading up to the election, I sat on carpets on … Continue reading →

is how the BBC’s Nisha Pillai introduced a report by Brian Barron about the growth of Christian music, radio and publishing in the US on BBC News 24’s Reporters programme this week. Did you notice a far right putsch in the US last November? Me neither, though I do recall a democratic election – one in which the winner took office in accordance with the law. Either the BBC’s definition … Continue reading →

You’ve probably seen this article from the Times. As Neil Craig of A Place To Stand On says, it’s “generally going round the anti-green bits of the net” SOD OFF SWAMPY WHEN 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail. What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on … Continue reading →

writes: In browsing the BBC complaints website recently, there is a report on complaints over the last few months, preceded by a statement from Mark Thompson, the Director-General. In that statement, I found a remarkable sentence. He states: “Of course there will always be cases where people are dissatisfied with the BBC’s initial response, and the aim then is to give them the opportunity of independent investigation by the Editorial … Continue reading →

(from Blithering Bunny) Rare good news story about Iraq sighted at BBC: Iraq’s devastated marshlands can be partially revitalised, says a team writing in the journal Science. (via reader D. Burbage). Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Ok, first off I’ll admit that I’m a luddite sceptic when it comes to the global environmental debate that seems to have been foisted on us for an indefinite period from around the mid-eighties. I’ve heard little except grave warnings, and deep grave warnings, throughout my life about what a mess we’ve made/are making of the world’s environment. My feeling about this statement has always been that it’s a shame … Continue reading →