BBC & ENGLISH HERITAGE

The BBC are hoping to sell their Television Centre which was built around 1960. After all they don't make many programs now as much of their output is dreary old repeats. But there's a fly in the ointment in the shape of our old friends English Heritage. EH want to have the building listed which may well make it more difficult to sell and if anyone does go ahead and buy there could well be restrictions on what they can do with it. A new doormat will probably need planning permission in triplicate. The main purpose of EH is to make life difficult for normal people at the expense of normal people.

BBC

Just watched the BBC 6 o'clock national news. A short bit (very short and easily missed) piece about the Tory win (and Labour disaster) in the Henley byelection was followed by a long piece about Gordon Brown's popularity going over the last year of his time as prime minister. Interesting in a way but decidedly NOT news. The trouble with these people at the BBC is that their noses are so far up the Labour bottom that their brains are fill of shit. What is so difficult about the concept of "news" as relating to events in the last couple of days? Their lapses into documentary means that real news is not being fully reported.

And then we had a piece about the costs of the monarchy - BBC employees are republican wallahs to the hilt. I suspect the present Queen and her likely successor, Prince Charles both have a sense of duty to the nation which would be totally lacking in (say) Tony and Cherie Blair as President and First Lady. And I have no doubt that this wretched couple would be an even greater drain on the workers' purse.

ZIMBABWE

Yesterday Gordon Brown was talking tough on Robert Mugabe. But just talking — no doing. A pity he can't be tough on the ruffians and scoundrels who roam the streets of our cities.

CIGAR BOX SOUVENIR

So the Metropolitan Police are on the case of yet another master criminal! A robber? rapist? murderer? fraudster? No, it's none other than the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. He visited Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion and was strolling round the looted rubble of Tariq Aziz's mansion. He then saw a cigar case lying with all the rubbish on the floor and picked it up and put it in his pocket as a souvenir. Hardly worth mentioning when one considers what else was going on in Iraq at the time. But he did happen to mention this in article he wrote. Someone from the Labour Party saw the article and realizing a great crime had been committed informed the Met. Of course they're only too happy to put manpower and time (= taxpayer's money) into this as it means the squad involved won't have to tangle with real villains for a while. And Tariq Aziz wrote to Boris telling him he was happy for Boris to have the case as a gift.

ENGLISH HERITAGE

The local council describes Birmingham Central Library as a "blot" and wants to pull it down. Freddie Gick, chairman of the Birmingham Civic Trust calls it a "brutalist incinerator" though he may have been influenced by Prince Charles who in the past likened it to an incinerator suitable for burning books. Step in English Heritage who want to have the building listed. That means like the pyramid of Cheops it will be preserved for all time. Except that whereas the pyramid lasted for thousands of years because the pharaohs employed decent architects the library is likely to keel over in less than half a thousand years unless endless amounts of public money are spent on it. The jobsworths at English Heritage are the ones who should be pickled in strong brine and preserved for a few years as an example to other meddlers. Go ahead Birmingham — call in the demolition crew.

WESTMINSTER EXPENSES

Well our MPs have now come up with a new fix for their problems with housing expenses. As we know they have been very reluctant to open their expense claims to public view led by Michael Martin. The fix is simple — just look at the maximum that can be claimed annually and add it to the salary of MPs on a no questions asked basis and irrespective of whether it is needed. The amount seems to be around £23,000 pa tax-free which is roughly equivalent to £40,000 pre-tax. Discussions are still taking place so it has not been finalised and I gather HMRC have been involved in the discussions because of the tax implications. As far as I can make out the amount just replaces the housing allowance so there will still be other expenses eg for staffing and secretarial help. Now most of our legislation comes from Brussels perhaps we could reduce the burden on a long-suffering public by cutting the number of MPs drastically.

BRITISH AIRWAYS

So Naomi Campbell has been given a community service sentence for "abusive" behaviour towards British Airways (BA) staff on on aircraft at Heathrow's Terminal 5 prior to take-off. Well BA, one of the world's worst airlines, had lost her bag. She was a passenger/customer who had paid £5000 for the flight. So quite frankly I don't blame her for getting upset. I would. And as long as police/courts/magistrates continue to arrest/prosecute/punish BA passengers who demand a reasonable service the more BA's obnoxious stewardesses will feel able to continue giving their passengers one of the worst services in the world. Of course our police service would much rather arrest a female model than the hoodlums who now rule our streets. What I really find amazing is that some people still opt to fly on this wretched airline.