, so I really must take steps to preserve the limericks about the Master of Balliol that were sent in by readers.
Here they are:
There once was a Master of BalliolWhose writers delighted in onlyoil.
Needing nary a push,
To blame all on Bush,
Will Master throw Gilligan down’t’ hole?
Don Eyres
There was a Master of Balliol, called Graham
Who thought things and knew how to say ’em
When he looked at old Auntie,
He denounced her as slanty
And t’is pity we’re all forced to pay ’em.
Graham, old Balliol’s Master,
Knew Beeb was set for disaster
When Gilligan said,
Through a hole in his head,
“I’m sad to report I’m a bastar- “
Sharpshooter
There once was a Master of Balliol
Who, taking a break from his daily toil,
claimed democracy
needs Aunt BBC
which in turn needs its unquestioned Charter Royal.
Too cloistered, the Master of Balliol
was blind to the Beeb’s abject failiol
to be aptly fair
‘tween the critics and Blair,
falling in with the anti-war wailiol.
Laban Tall also comments, but not in rhyme.
There once was a Master of Balliol
Whose writers delighted in onlyoil.
Needing nary a push,
To blame all on Bush,
Will Master throw Gilligan down’t’ hole?
There was a Master of Balliol, called Graham
Who thought things and knew how to say ’em
When he looked at old Auntie,
He denounced her as slanty
And t’is pity we’re all forced to pay ’em.
Graham, old Balliol’s Master,
Knew Beeb was set for disaster
When Gilligan said,
Through a hole in his head,
“I’m sad to report I’m a bastar- “
September 2, 2003
Moral Guidance and Light Entertainment for the Andrew Graham and the BBC.
At the risk of interfering with the internal affairs of a
sovereign entity, we at
Blog-Irish cannot resist fulfilling out historical calling to give moral guidance and light entertainment to the dreaded conqueror, so we rise to the challenge posed by
Biased BBC
to give cadence of proper gravity to Andrew Graham’s musings on the BBC in the
Guardian.
Eh hem.
There once was a Master of Balliol
Who, taking a break from his daily toil,
claimed democracy
needs Aunt BBC
which in turn needs its unquestioned Charter Royal.
And we invite Biased BBC’s readers to peruse our several articles on the Beeb’s recent shenanigans:
Short Circuit: Clare’s War and the Consequences of Vanity
Conrad Black in Dublin
Nik Gowing (BBC)
Roy Greenslade, Revisionist
The Guardian Sexes Up the Hutton Inquiry
Irish Headlines: BBC vs Blair
Irish Headlines: David Kelly
John Waters on the Corruption of the Media
BRAN
(Posted on September 2, 2003)
Too cloistered, the Master of Balliol
was blind to the Beeb’s abject failiol
to be aptly fair
‘tween the critics and Blair,
falling in with the anti-war wailiol.
“Citizens are entitled to core information about their society, much of which now comes from broadcasting. Citizens are also entitled to participate fully in society; and democratic discussion, much of which takes place via television and radio, is an essential part of such participation.
The delivery of these rights is not the purpose of the market. To be met, they require the existence of broadcasters – public service broadcasters.”
There is a case to be made for a state broadcaster, and two dozen cases against Mr Murdoch. Unfortunately Mr Graham isn’t going to make it. Anyone who thinks ‘rights’ are to be ‘delivered to’, rather than possessed by, citizens is off to a bad start. Anyone who thinks that the discussions we hear on BBC are ‘democratic’ has just made his case worse – isn’t this the organisation where ‘populist’ is a term of abuse ?
And this destroys his piece. “Notwithstanding the friction between the government and the BBC on the particulars of Gilligan’s report, no one has cast any serious doubt on the much more important question of whether, overall, the BBC reported on the arguments about the war in an objective manner.” There we hear the authentic voice of the liberal – ‘no one I know thinks the BBC is left wing, so it can’t be’.
http://www.ukcommentators.blogspot.com/2003_08_31_ukcommentators_archive.html#106245890059713989
Your piece was very apt, Laban. But I think we’re going to have to work on that AABBA rhyme scheme 😉
On Monday, Margaret Hodge was the guest on The Daily Politics. She continually referred to ‘this Conservative Government’ without correction. I rather think she should have been.