BBC

The BBC sinks further into the gutter by the hour. Earlier this week it was announced they had been fined £50,000 for rigging a children's phone-in show. As a letter to the press pointed out no-one got sacked and the fine comes out of licence money. The great British Public has to pay for the sins of this wretched corporation. The latest scandal was a film of a Year with the Queen. One episode dealt with a photo shoot by Annie Leibowitz. A trailer was produced to market the film. Peter Fincham, Controller of BBC, had the trailer shown to press and sure enough the next day the UK papers had images/stories of the Queen stomping out of the session in high dudgeon after Annie had suggested she remove her crown. Except the trailer was in the wrong sequence. Queen complaining about heavy, hot, ceremonial dress came before she met Annie. Of course Peter doesn't regard it as a resigning matter — why should he when he's on such a cushy number? The BBC just don't get it: nobody trusts them as impartial purveyors of truth any more.

SCHOOL CURRICULUM

A recent report by Civitas notes the harmful effects of increased political interference in the school curriculum. This is partly through attempts to make education anti-elitist and to make it more relevant to children. Examples given include history where children studying for GCSE often learn next to nothing about British history in the past but discuss more modern themes such as Hitler, Stalin and present-day terrorism. Some would say they are learning a methodology rather than 'facts'. In science they may discuss the virtues of GM crops, genetic engineering, nuclear power, and environment ('green') issues. My own feeling is that:-
1. Many children do not have a wide range of knowledge on many issues. If you do not have a good grasp of the scientific facts (in the case of the last topics mentioned) you are not really in a position to discuss them. Many pupils who do not read at home, do not have parents who talk about these matters, will need to be 'led' which brings me to point 2.
2. A politically motivated teacher or one with a 'cause' can put forward a distorted view. Or present controversial theories as gospel truth.

LONDON 2012

So it now appears that the much criticised logo for London2012 which cost £400,000 may actually net quite a lot more for its producers when it appears as an element in letterheads and other materials. All this so a few prima donnas in T-shirts and short shorts can jump up and down at cost of millions to the hard-working public.

DIANA

So Channel4 decide to screen their documentary of the fatal crash of Diana, once Princess of Wales. On the BBC a speaker for one of the political parties stated that there had been several inquiries but there were still unanswered questions. Doubtless he thought this tacky programme would solve the issues once and for all. Why do we bother with coroner's inquests. In future deaths let us just hand footage of the accident or moment of death (if available) to C4 together with close-ups of the autopsy/post-mortem and let the viewers phone in and vote. Rather than costing money it will probably make money.