Is the BBC fit for purpose?

Leaving aside the ability of the weather forecasters to get it wrong on seemingly every call, the thing which really hacks me off the most is their blatant left wing bias. I understand that during this last week there would inevitably be a natural concentration on the Labour Party, but with the exception of Liam Fox, I don't think I have seen a member of the government on the beeb at all. It will be interesting next week to see how they try to balance coverage particularly when the journalists and some of their fellow travellers are talking of walkouts and other industrial action to sabotage coverage of the Conservative Conference.

I expect to have my print media show political bias, it is for many their USP; and for private media companies such as Sky, CNN, Fox, ITV etc to spin according to the dictates of their owners has to be acceptable, but the BBC is nationally owned and must be politically neutral. I do not want a BBC that is on the right, nor the left; I do not want one that is slavishly pro-government nor vehemently anti-government, what I want a BBC which uses its immense power to hold the government to account, to criticise where appropriate and praise in similar vein. In short I want it to tell me what I need to know not what I need to think. Give me the information and facts, I will do the thinking.

I do not think that the BBC is stuffed to the gills with socialists intent on pursuing a Stalinist agenda although there are a few no doubt who fit into that category. Instead they seem to be forever putting forward the idea that we should all be cocooned by a big warm fluffy state blanket from the harshness of the world beyond. The whole ethos seems to be that of “nanny knows best” when in fact she doesn’t.

I do believe there is a need for a state run politically independent broadcasting service but it should operate as a gatherer and disseminator of facts not opinion.

As for its entertainment output, that has no place in a state run broadcasting operation, I have no wish to pay for Eastenders or Come Dancing, they hold no interest for me so why should I be forced to pay for them? I do however have an interest in history and science and am more than happy to pay for this entertainment through a subscription to Sky TV.

There has been a bit of a kerfuffle going on over the French President kicking out a bunch of thieves called Roma and sending them back to where they came from. As they generally seem to do no work, contribute nothing to society and take what they want when they want it, it seems a bit of a no brainer to me. Good call Sarko!

It seems as if we have our own problem with the thieves now and I congratulate Judge Morgan for not being conned by the crocodile tears and handing down a sentence which should stop her stealing but only while she remains in prison. Unfortunately he should have been able to throw her out of the country via the first available plane, and until we are able to deal with thieves from beyond our shores in this way we will be prey to their voracious dishonesty.

It will no doubt be anathema to many bleeding hearts out there, but to my way of thinking, if you come into my country and then play fast and loose with the laws of the land you forfeit the right to stay and should be thrown out ASAP

Manners maketh man

What is it with people today, particularly the youth that they no longer practice common courtesy. At school yesterday my daughter arranged to meet up with a couple of friends in town this lunchtime. After waiting a while nobody had turned up so she rang one of these girls and was told that she had decided to go shopping with her mother instead to another nearby town. It would have cost her next to nothing to send a text about the change of plan but it never even occurred to her. It would never have occurred to me to make such an arbitrary change of plan when I was her age without notifying my friends but it seems to be normal teenage behaviour these days. My daughter seems totally unfazed yet had I been stood up like this I would be spitting blood.

Why do so few parents teach their children basic manners, is it because they are lacking in them themselves or are they just outmoded for society today. Are good manners an anachronism that are no longer relevant for modern society?

I am afraid that I cannot accept there is no need for manners, in fact I would contend that they are more needed today than ever.

The BBC and the Labour Party

Last night I settled down to watch the weekly mudslinging which of late has come to characterise Question Time only to be confronted with what I can only describe to be a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party. The five contenders for the party leadership were given around one hour of prime time television to ostensibly make the case for why they should be chosen as the next leader of the Labour Party, but how big is the legitimate audience for this. As a non-member I do not have a vote as to who becomes party leader so a leadership hustings debate really was of no relevance to me nor I suspect was it relevant to the majority of the viewing audience. I have my own views as to who might be the best leader for the party and who might be the worst, but as I do not have a vote in the outcome it is irrelevant. I await the outcome and then along with everybody else who is not a member of the Labour Party, will try to live with that outcome.
If we assume the party has a membership of 250,000 souls then this was the maximum audience to which a leadership hustings could be relevant. As somebody who is not a member of any political party, the only information this programme was able to impart to me was how wrong the coalition government is in everything it says or does. There was not a single voice raised in opposition to this viewpoint. It did inform me of differences between the candidates on a number of issues but as I have no vote, these nuances were wasted on me and I suspect most of the audience.
It is vitally important that those who do have a vote, and especially those with several votes such as Harriet Dromey, are informed as to the respective candidates merits and policies but at what point is it the responsibility of the BBC to provide a platform for such a narrow audience. Will they give over a whole show to the candidates for the leadership of the BNP when they next choose their new fuehrer? I think not.
I suspect that a significant proportion of those who are entitled to vote in the elections for Leader of the Labour Party will have now made up their mind as to their preferences and cast their ballot accordingly, for those who have already committed, last night’s show was also irrelevant; in fact Question Time last night was really only of relevance to those who have not made up their minds and how few in number are they?
I appreciate that the choice of Labour leader will become of relevance to me in a little over four years time and I will take note of what they say and do in the period between their being anointed as Leader and the next General Election but until the leader is chosen I do not want to see countless hours of coverage of Labour’s internal squabbling funded through the licence fee particularly when most of what is said is an attack on the parties currently in power.
Maybe in the spirit of balance we can have a future edition of the programme featuring four coalition cabinet ministers and a senior backbencher from one of the coalition parties to promote their agenda. It will be equally valueless but it will at least restore some semblance of balance to the output of the BBC which for many years has been sadly lacking.