Author Archives: Peter Briffa

And they say the BBC isn’t biased. (Stolen from Paul, who probably stole it from somewhere else).

So I’m wondering what’s on the tv tonight and I go and take a look at the Radio Times website. Yeah, I know it’s run by BBC subversives, so it’s all part of the Axis of Evil, but even so… Here’s the promo for No Sex Please We’re Teenagers:

“There are some surprising results when the teens trying to give up sex for five months face the zeal of the American abstinence movement”.

And as for Medium:

“Death-penalty-themed episode of the new US supernatural drama that no doubt appealed to American right-wingers”.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s programming anyway. I wonder how they’ll review Lost:

“Survivalist drama much loved by red-state oil-guzzling republicans who dream of living in a no-tax, pro-life hellhole”.

In the Guardian John Humphrys justifies a great social evil:

“Independent journalism is too ingrained in the BBC. It is our lifeblood. It is the main reason for the BBC’s existence. It is by a mile the most important thing we do”.

Really? Not as important as presenting Mastermind, surely?

In the Guardian Zoe Williams justifies a great social evil:

“We cling on to the licence fee out of some civic humanist ideal, the value of a medium that is above commerce, above the ignoble scramble for popularity and cash”.

Well if that’s the best defence then there really is no alternative. Privatise it, now.

The BBC comes clean: We lied.

Okay, it’s only about Dr. Who, but we’ve all got to start somewhere.

is the director of television at the BBC, and she explains her philosophy thus:

“People who express highly controversial views are welcome on the BBC but they cannot be presenters of a news or current affairs programme”.

So what’s Paxman doing working there, then?

“Television must be allowed to engage with the real world, to challenge and inform audiences”.

So that’s why we pay our licence fee. To be patronised, uncontroversially. Can’t be easy.

Brian Micklethwait, desperate for hits over at little-known blog venue Samizdata, pleads for a link to an outrageous piece of mischief-making by the Radio Times, the BBC’s literary mouthpiece. Happy to oblige, guys.

, you’ll understand.

( Link stolen from the ever-alert Tim Blair ).

Whenever I write for this site it’s almost invariably to point out BBC stupidity rather than straightforward bias. And here I am doing it again, pointing out this article by Andy Hamilton, about a series of his being dropped for poor viewing figures. Seeing as one of the justifications for the the existence of BBC1 is that it is supposed to be ‘above all that’, and that Andy Hamilton is in the top five most significant comedy writers working in British television right now, I think it more than amusing that he writes so savagely about our favourite broadcaster.

Libelling Hilter isn’t an easy thing to do. However, in this piece on the Tories, Megan Lane portrays the Great Dictator in an unflattering light.

“The Nazi regime cracked down on abortion and equality for women”, she claims. Not true, as a brief Googling can confirm. Adolf was very pro-choice. I wonder why she feels obliged to make such a claim. Right-wingers anti-choice, left-wingers pro-choice, perhaps?