The BBC has dismissed a complaint that a joke based upon Mrs Thatcher’s Alzheimers and wishing death upon her was offensive…justifying the dismissal on the basis that she was a ‘divisive and controversial figure who aroused strong opposition‘……it is therefore OK to make such jokes if people on the Left hate her apparently….oh and the show is well known for its edgy comedy….so again anything goes then.
Similar jokes about Tony Benn are being prepared for future BBC comedy shows.
Summary of finding
The complainant alleged that a joke in a comedy panel show concerning the death of Margaret Thatcher (which had originally been produced and broadcast some years before the former Prime Minister’s death and subsequently repeated afterwards) was offensive.
The Committee concluded:
- that the programme had made clear the possibility that its content may be provocative. The participants would have been well known for their banter and edgy humour.
- that, while the exchange was open to different interpretations, its editorial purpose was rooted in the fact that Lady Thatcher remained a controversial figure among those who opposed her when she was Prime Minister and criticised her record as Prime Minster.
This edition of the comedy panel show The 99p Challenge was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra on 29 March 2013 at 2.30am. The edition, which had originally been broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004, included a round that was intended to spoof newspaper birth, marriage and death announcement pages.
The following exchange took place in this part of the programme:
MirandaHart: I just want to announce, regretfully, the untimely death of my billionaire father, Rufus, in the billiard room with the lead piping at three pm this afternoon. At which time I was in the Red Lion in Chislehurst in front of 42 independent friends, sorry, witnesses. Also I would like to announce the death of Margaret Thatcher. (Audience laughter).
SuePerkins: Surely that must now be an inevitability?
Armando Iannucci: Actually Margaret Thatcher has got Alzheimer’s and is pretty senile, so her condition is satisfactory.
2. The complaint
The complainant asked if it was entertainment to wish for anyone’s death or to be glad that anyone suffered from Alzheimer’s. She asked if the BBC would make a joke of this nature about other former Prime Ministers.
The nature of the comedy was signposted by the continuity announcer describing The 99p Challenge as a “provocative panel show”
It was clear that the comments about Lady Thatcher were said knowingly rather than with genuine malice.
The BBC said that, in common with much of the programme’s content, the panellists were engaged in exaggerated bad taste, in this case for comic representation of the divisiveness and strong reactions that Lady Thatcher provoked amongst those who disliked her policies even some 14 years after she had left office.
In terms of portrayal, the joke was clearly targeted at Lady Thatcher and the strength of feeling she provoked, rather than against people with dementia in general.
The Committee believed that, while the exchange was open to different interpretations, its editorial purpose was rooted in the fact that Lady Thatcher remained a controversial figure among those who opposed her when she was Prime Minister and criticised her record as Prime Minister.
The Committee concluded that although this broadcast came very close to the limits of what was acceptable in terms of offence and undoubtedly would have offended some listeners, it would not have been outside the expectations of most listeners to this programme.
Finding: Not Upheld
The BBC – no better than vermin.
Finding upheld.
The BBC were not quite so brave when Mrs Thatcher was at no 10, and in her in her prime.
Its only when she is no longer here, they have the guts to make fun of her.
Not qute right there. They constantly made fun of her during her time in offfice, but it wasn’t brave it was cowardly because they knew she couldn’t answer back.
Surely having Alzheimer’s must be the standard state of anyone holding office in the Labour party – as they have clearly all forgotten the damage they have done to the country.
Ah yes, I remember well how BiasedBBC objected to Ofcom’s dismissal of 736 complaints about Jeremy Clarkson’s “striking public sector workers should be shot” comments on the One Show…
Ah yes, I remember it well…
Because it definitely must have happened…
And can’t at all have included any criticism of the humourless-leftist-pc-brigade who just can’t take a joke…
No. Definitely not.
http://tinyurl.com/m6swr45
Hmm, Clarkson is clearly an anomaly tolerated through gritted BBC teeth. His utterances (Brown is a one-eyed Scottish idiot etc) are clearly a deviation from the BBC norm.
Can you cite one other ‘right wing’ incident by someone other than Clarkson?
On the other hand, the BBC is awash with Thatcher haters _ Jeremy Hardy had a habit of constantly stating that he wished to dance / urinate on Lady Thatcher’s grave prior to her death, etc. He also assures us that Tories are literally evil, satanic scum that enjoy ‘oppressing’ the poor just for hellishness. I can’t be arsed citing all the other edgy political comedy routines that daemonise the right but I suppose that you citing one counter issue just destroys my arguement Dez……
Never mind Clarkson – do you think it is alright to make fun of people (anyone) with Alzheimers disease?
Do you think people should be compelled under threat of imprisonment to pay for a broadcast service they do not want and that insults their beliefs in a vicious manner?
God you are a creep dezzy Clarkson said something and ? what ?nothing happened that’s right no one was shot in the head no one was dragged into the street were they ? but a woman did have a crippling condition and did die! so thicko one was a joke with no consequences generating a union lead online attack and the other a vile hate filled attack on a real person with a real condition !
I never wish hurt on others so I hope you never get to see a loved one fall to this condition if you do you won’t find much funny I can tell you pal !
It seems a long time ago now but remember when the likes of Ben Elton introduced us to ‘Alternative Comedy’?
All very ‘PC’, its main characteristic was that it was no longer ‘acceptable’ to make jokes about groups of people, the classic one being ‘mother-in-laws’.
The strange thing about that was that most of the time our ‘classic’ comedians were making jokes about their own mother-in-law so, presumably, they had clearance to do this, or, at any rate, had to take the consequences. The jokes worked, of course, because even mother-in-laws had mother-in-laws so they could share the joke too!
The other important point about ‘groups’ is that often members of that group can say “not me guv!”, bit like how every Muslim is a peace lover, not a jihadist like the rest. Often members of these groups are secretly proud of the joke; the ‘mean’ Scot or Jew sees that as being canny or careful, virtues not faults, so the joke is on ‘you’ not ‘them’.
And so the groups increase in number, the boundaries of ‘acceptability’ get ever wider, (but not so wide as to include UKIP or Daily Mail Readers [why readers not writers?]. What is left to tell jokes about? Why the individual of course! Anyone seen as being ‘of the right’ is fair game, it can be as vicious as you like!
So now we have the strange situation where a joke told about a group, say ‘Blacks’, is deeply offensive to right-on ‘Whites’, secretly a source of pride to the ‘Blacks’, (who as individuals can easily self-exclude themselves from the joke), yet a barbed and pointed jibe at a named individual is OK! Didn’t that used to be called bullying?
Typically, Dez, you have failed once again by providing a link which contradicts your own argument. Read the article again and you will see that what Clarkson said was that he supported the strikers because it made London fun to be in. He then jokingly said the bit about shooting the strikers as a joke against the BBC and the need for balance.
So, no wrong again. better luck next time.
But that didn’t stop radio 5 running one of their ‘hate for the day’ specials. Running the story every 15 minutes and inviting people phone in with their outrage , Like they did with David Starkey when he went off message over the London riots
In fairness if they did that every time one of their fauxcialist house comics said something hateful about thatcher there would be little time for anything else.
…And I bet when the Left’s Margaret Thatcher – Polly Toynbee that ‘divisive and controversial figure who aroused/s strong opposition‘ well she does in my book- gets Alzheimers disease there will be jokes aplenty on BBC topical radio shows.
Oh no. She was once the Social Affairs Editor at the BBC and they like her ‘cos she is one of them, same background, same hypocrisy…No it won’t happen.
The foul stench of the middle-class-sneering-metropolitan-elites hypocrisy at the BBC goes to it’s very marrow.
I despise the Labour Party, of which I was a member, because these characters were becoming increasingly rife within its ranks and took over. I stopped paying my subs and left. Unfortunately I have to pay by law £145 subscription to another group that represents the same.
“…[W]hen…Polly Toynbee…gets Alzheimer’s…”?
You mean she isn’t ALREADY senile?
Flood left wing forum, blogger and newspaper sites with similar comments about Alzheimers and wishing death onto elderly labour MPs and then when the inevitable left-wing fucktard replies, feigning offence or political correctness, you can reply with the line that it’s perfectly acceptable, because the BBC says so! Funnel their nastiness back at them and watch ’em squirm with hypocrisy when they receive back what they dish out. The fight against both the BBC, the left-wing MSM and left-wing websites needs to be ramped up because at the moment they are dominating the webosphere.
Dez,
Do you not get the subtle distinction between generically making a joke about a group in a,deliberately ott and grotesque manner and making a joke about a single person who happens to have the disease in question. A disease that would have prevented her from defending herself.
What next, mocking downs kids, oh wait a bit Frankie Boyle does that, or maybe mocking all disabled kids ,oh wit a bit Jimmy Carr does that , or perhaps calling for the death pan innocent kid just because he is disabled and born from a right wing family ,oh wait a bit the BBC approve of that. (Richard bacon)
There is no limit to the vile lefts comic genius.
How many years before QI puts on a death party special, remember ‘thatchers grave’ becoming britains favourite dance floor and urinal.
Clarkson makes a joke about a ‘slope’ on a bridge and you lot want his job.
My dad has Alzeimers, my Grandad had it, and it is no laughing matter. I hope Ms Hart is never confronted by this heartbreaking illness.
Would it have been acceptable to approve of Mo Mowlams cancer?
Because she was divisive .
If Scargil has a stroke would it be Ok to take the piss out of that?
C’mon Dez,
How’s about a one liner about Cameron’s dead son, its about your lots level isn’t it.
Demarcation brother, demarcation
That’s Rufus (tax dodger) Hounds job
The hypocrisy of the left laid bare.
You can make a joke about Margaret Thatcher, her illness and her dying. That it would appear is OK to the BBC, to humourless left wing comics and to the left in general.
You can probably extend the target of such sentiments to any “Tory”, any middle class, middle England, Home Counties suburbanite who read the Daily Mail, or pretty well any other person the progressive metropolitan elite despise.
Now turn that around and laugh or make a joke about the death or illness of a lefty and they will squeal, shout racist or bigot or homophobe or sexist pig or such other PC thought crime they feel appropriate.
It seems much modern “comedy” replaces wit with political vitriol and spite directed at those that the left hate simply for having different views and values.
Stand up comedy seems little more than the Two Minute Hate.
And the left call the right nasty……
Now that is a joke.
Perhaps some jokes about the only pipe Tony Benn is smoking is 24ft tall?
‘it would not have been outside the expectations of most listeners to this programme.’
Semantically, which is all the Trust usually has, that is probably perfectly correct.
Doesn’t make it right, though.
And another interesting precedent for the speaker unto nation broadcaster who has a more than variable attitude to majority views and tastes, rather depending on whether they agree with them or not.
Waste of time bothering with complaints. The BBC is the liberal elite’ s house organ.
Pod people with the pod sanctioned views. Stuff them.
Who the hell are ‘the committee’? Recruited from the Wheeltappers and Shunters, the jobs pages of The Guardian or on a Common Purpose nod and a wink?
I think we know the answer.
First Bob Crow dies, then Tony Benn.
Typical socialists – one out, all out.
First Bob Crow dies, then Tony Benn.
Typical socialists – one out, all out.
The participants would have been well known for their banter and edgy humour.
———————————————————————————–
Yeah, try being well known for your banter and edgy humour and saying ‘nigger’ – see whether your feet touch the floor.
It really is a pathetic argument by the droids.
Gordon Ramsay can say ‘cunt’ because he’s ‘well known’ for it – but Michel Roux can’t.
Is that how it works then, droids?
Certain people, certain programmes get super smashing special golden passes?
The BBC is corrupt – no other word for it.
I believe the extremist Muslim types don’t like jokes either. You’re a perfect fit!
MirandaHart, Sue Perkins, Armando Iannucci. What have they all got in common? All from very expensive fee paying schools and moneyed parents. Which is fine. But this “Ohh isn’t Thatcher awful” smacks of being a little bit of over compensation on their part.
It takes the privileged background to get them into the glittering world of the media in the first place. Then follows the perverse denunciation of “privileged people”, as though they weren’t one of them. They are all the same in the BBC, inside the hive. Glittering prizes, world travel, huge salaries, best restaurants, all hidden from sight by hand-wringing over the effect of the cuts on the poor, and the club membership card, mocking Fatcher.
…like many on the Labour front bench.
Blair junior is shoehorned in to safe Bootle and the old, generally respected, Labour MP Joe Benton is pushed out.
Sickening bunch. All make me vomit.
What is it with Miranda Hart? Why does she get so many gigs on the BBC as well as her own show? She’s not the least bit funny and simply resorts to prat falls ad nauseum.
Now Sue Perkins is funny and nice to look at, in a guilty secret sort of way. Has she ever had her own show?
Did you hear the one on the BBC about Gordon Brown turning a blind eye to the banks’ reckless lending?
No, me neither.
The lefty comedians attitude to Thatcher’s death was really awful. Their smug sneering made my flesh crawl. One might have thought that someone’s death wasn’t a deep well of snide humour. They choose easy targets for their venom. lapped up by vindictive audiences. I might have a smidgen of respect for them if once in a while they chose rather tougher targets. How about a certain religion, not known for its sense of humour, tolerance, or willingness to turn the other cheek?
Nah, not going to happen…
Note how left-wing people like Arthur Scargill or Bob Crow are referred to as ‘controversial’ or ‘strong willed’. Divisive is the ultimate Beeboid speak insult, only used on the right wing, preferably on Conservatives. Someone like Kinnock, who never won an election is referred to as popular, but Thatcher, who won three elections is called divisive.
‘Divisive’ people are not given any quarter, and if ‘comedians’ mock them in illness or in death it is because they deserve it.
In the someway leftwing extremists are always ‘firebrands’,muslims always ‘devout’, washed up drunken faggot actors are always ‘hell raisers’, chav infested pisshole areas are always ‘deprived’ and so on.
I remember a few years ago, the BBC did change their approach to deaths after issues that were first raised here. Issues that proved without doubt a bias operating at the BBC.
When a left wing figure died the BBC would set up an obituary page and invite readers to contribute. They would ask them to enter “Your tributes “. When a right-wing person died, the BBC merely asked for “your comments”.
The different approach was stark and revealing. The BBC
knew they’d been caught out because they changed their practice as soon as people complained.
In praise of Scott.
One thing I have to say about our chutney ferret friend is at least he isn’t just a,drive by merchant. He wil stand his ground and at least argue his point. He may be a deluded trot but at least he seems sincere.
Des on the other hand is just a drive by numpty.
I know a lot of contributors here get annoyed with Scott because he does on occasion play the man not the ball but at least he has the courage of his own convictions.
Scott seems a reasonable bloke just a bit deluded Dez is just a wind up merchant.
There will always be true believers brainwashed by auntie. It is our role to question and hold the beeb to account. By answering Scott we are also answering a large section of the leftist clitterati. Dez is just a waste of good air.
‘In praise of Scott.’
Yes, credit where its due. And whisper it quietly, he has occasionally been right… ish.
The reason is simple, Dez is a composite. A team led bbc effort.
His efforts are prepared in advance, after a meeting of the commisariat, and scripted. They cant respond immediately because the committee has to meet to vet any response.
And all of them psid by your licence fee.
It would appear Dez has fucked up yet again!
Now Sue Townsend has passed on could the BBC have some jokes about a blind diabetic who died early..?
Oh come on Beeb why not?