Just how big is it?

BBC understating scale of Conservative triumph

With the results all in from the councils in England and Wales which held elections yesterday (other than London), the BBC tell us that the Conservative Party have recorded net gains of 256 seats and 12 councils and Sky News are reporting gains of 300 seats and 9 councils. Who are we supposed to believe?

I understand that the BBC have included the number of new unitary councils but not the seats (seeing as many of them weren’t there four years ago.)

Check these two graphics.

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Snappy troubles

The hassles of photography highlighted by BBC too!

Following on from the massive amounts of reads for this post outlining my Easter troubles in South Shields, a number of other photobloggers, journalists, professionals, and amateur photographers have been telling their tales of police suspicion when out and about with the camera.

Austin Mitchell’s EDM has now gained the signatures of 131 other MPs, and I am happy to note that they include Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn, additionally the campaign by photographers has now been picked up and featured on the front page of the BBC News website today, and a further petition has been launched on the No. 10 website which has amassed over 1600 signatures already.

I have just taken a telephone call from a BBC producer asking me to appear on the Breakfast Show tomorrow morning, but I’m afraid that at this time of night it’s all rather short notice to be jumping on trains and finding hotels - oh well. At least the campaign will get a little more publicity tomorrow.

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the two kind gentlemen who wrote letters of support to the Editor of the Shields Gazette, it was much appreciated. It is indeed very sad that the simple acts of recording life in our town for future generations to enjoy is despoiled by the over reactions of suspicious people living their lives in fear of paedophiles or terrorists.

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Ernest Thompson Seton

Environmentalist and founder of the Boy Scouts of America

He was born Ernest Evan Thompson in South Shields, County Durham (now part of South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear), England of Scottish parents and his family emigrated to Canada in 1866. As a youth, he retreated to the woods to draw and study animals as a way of avoiding his abusive father. He won a scholarship in art to the Royal Academy in London, England.

More Wikipedia entry here.

I’m posting this because (a) not enough South Shields people, particularly our younger people, know enough about Seton, (b) Michelle Styles has an interesting post about him here (he was a friend of her father), and (c) there are some good pages about him here

It’s gratifying to understand that South Shields has exported more than just coal.

Programming you can set your watch by

BBC gets more commercial

“This is the BBC news, brought to you by Rolex.” The corporation has sparked fresh concerns over creeping commercialisation after signing the watchmaker as an official sponsor.

Creeping commercialisation?

Well why not?

It’s about time the BBC went the whole hog, it’s about time the licence tax fee was abolished, and the corporation and it’s viewers were set free. Perhaps then they could get back into the game of competing decent sports programming again.

In all honestly there is only a certain proportion of the BBC’s content that requires any sort of protection or subsidy, and it’s all on The World Service, and even that could benefit from some private cash injections. There are so many “in house” promotional advertisements in between BBC television programmes they may as well be substituted by commercial ads, so long as there are no commercial breaks mid programme I doubt that too many people would be displeased to see the licence fee go west!

Nick Robinson

I’m impressed with the BBC man’s blog, it’s upsetting numerous MPs, he’s sounding more like Guido Fawkes every day!

Too chicken to hold a referendum

There is better acceptance of protest in South Shields Town Hall

While we are still arguing over who won this week’s bish bash at Prime Minister’s Blankety Blank Questions, Trixie at Is there More to Life than Shoes reminds us that the European Parliament was today having a vote on the EU Constitution (oops, sorry, the Lisbon Treaty.) Oddly the BBC are not reporting this event on it’s News website, not even in the European section, obviously this occasion is neither momentous or newsworthy.

Quite why anyone wishes to be an MEP anyway is beyond me, the EU parliament is a toothless crocodile with tiny ears and a big mouth, unfortunately the Council of Ministers is the real beast!

I digress, Trixie was wearing a tee shirt with the pictured logo printed upon it;

“This year, as the EU Constitution is being voted upon, I was only roughly shoved by one person. I quite clearly told him to “keep his hands off me and don’t lay a finger on me” which was caught on camera, and his senior jobsworths told him to get off me, but they are so quick to use violence. IT’s the natural language they understand against people who don’t agree with them.”

“The Head of Security even tried to convince us that it was clearly written in the Rules and Regs that ‘No person is allowed to wear a chicken outfit in the European Parlaiment’. When asked to show this regulation they declined.

There were about 15 security guards for three chickens and a few members of staff in chicken jumpers.

I was told I had to leave the European Parliament building and when they got around that one by me calling people and telling them they said if I wanted to walk anywhere else I would have to take off my jumper. I said I was quite happy to, but since I was wearing nothing underneath I am sure that would certainly break the rules. They weren’t too bothered about that one.”

“Having seen yet again the actions today by the European Parliament and their hypocrisy and double standards, I really do fear for people who don’t want to be part of the EU. Pro EU MEPs are allowed to call people who support a referendum ‘like Adolf Hitler’, ‘mentally ill’ and ‘idiots’ but anyone who is in favour of people sticking to their election promises and actually asking the people in a free and fair referendum rather than waffling on about ‘getting closer to the people’ and then completely ignoring them can just f*** right off. “

I applaud Trixie for even bothering to take the fight over to the parliament, certainly none of them seem interested in bringing the debate to us, and parliamentarians of our own (Labour) who won seats on a mandate that included a commitment to a referendum on the Constitution (and this Treaty is little different to the failed constitution) should be ashamed to sit on the same benches as the Bruins.

Brown and Miliband seem intent on watching this measure take a rough ride through the Commons, as long as it comes out patched up at the other end.

Federalists, both of them! 

BBC in apology hot water

“Pandering” to political correctness

I’m not sure how many of these are growing in gardens in South Shields, but if you have one of these Purple Bell Vine plants do try to refrain from using it’s more common name “black man’s willy”.

The popular BBC Radio 4 programme Gardeners’ Question Time has found itself in hot water from the politically correct brigade after use of the term promoted fits of sniggering in the audience, the innuendos didn’t help either.

But some listeners accused the show of indulging in racial stereotyping and their complaints were upheld on Tuesday by the BBC’s editorial complaints unit, which said the programme makers did not fully appreciate the potentially offensive nature of the debate.

The BBC has pandered to the complaints by issuing a public apology, heaven forbid!

However, Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for culture, media and sport, said the apology was “over the top”.

“Pandering to political correctness and drawing attention to the programme doesn’t do the anti-racist cause any good.”

Gardeners’ Question Time has been running for many years and I’d be somewhat surprised if they haven’t discussed the horticultural problems associated with such lovely plants as bastard toadflax, lady of the night, phallus impudicus, Indian paintbrush, rupturewort, naked ladies, Black Mulberry, or bush pickle without the need to publish a public apology.

If we can get into racial and sexual issues by discussing plant life in the allotments there isn’t much hope for us at all. 

Mr. Tumble’s quiz time

One of this trio wants a grown up career

Which one is it?

Click the picture to find out 

“Absolute Bollocks!”

That’s just about what I think too

Bob Ainsworth, Labour’s Armed Forces Minister has featured in this blog in the past (October 5th. 2007) at the time of Gordon Brown’s “spin mission” to Iraq, I wrote;

It was all the more gratifying to watch Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth firmly put on the spot by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight, when the former Deputy Leader of Coventry Council twisted and turned like a snake dropped on the glowing embers of a camp fire!

Ainsworth had difficulty with his words and temperament back then, just as he appears to be having similar difficulties with his parliamentary language now. There have been numerous comments over the past few years from politicians and serving officers about the equipment shortages faced by our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan but blundering Bob appears not to see things in the same way, and his “obscene” outburst has created a new parliamentary precedent. However, at least it was straight forward, direct, and conveyed his disbelief, unlike the language of obfuscation used to withering effect by Works and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain, who now finds himself up to the neck in mire over his non declaration of funds for his deputy leadership campaign.

Hain is coming under increasing attack again, particularly within the blogosphere, Guido Fawkes has numerous posts revealing sources of income and endorsements for products in exchange for cash (at least so it seems), and Iain Dale featured a rather witty cartoon two days back.

But it is the stance of the BBC that is getting up my nose this morning, having mostly consigned the Hain affair to it’s political page of the BBC News website over the past week, today they wade into the ring with a story on the main page about George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, and £487,000 of donations, reflecting a report in The Mail on Sunday. These donations have been fully and openly declared to the Electoral Commission and Osborne is awaiting a ruling from the Commons Standards committee (at his own request)  to decide whether the sums should have been declared in the Register of Members Interests.  So far, it seems, all open and above board, very much dissimilar to Hain’s money washing through the Public Policy forum!

So, just why did the BBC decide to rehash this Mail story and give it such prominence? Balance, public interest, or plain bias?

My thoughts on the matter are exactly the same as Bob Ainsworth’s, “absolute bollocks!” 

Sharing BBC licence fee

Tory idea is not one of it’s finest

The Conservatives are floating an idea for sharing the proceeds of the television lecence fee with broadcasters other than the BBC, it’s not the finest idea I’ve ever heard on how to deal with the out of touch corporation!

What the licence fee buys

More than 25 million households pay an average of £10.96 per month for the licence. Of this:

49p is used to develop the BBC’s 240 websites
£7.54 keeps on air the eight television channels, including BBC One and BBC Two
£1.17 ensures that the ten national radio channels broadcast a range of music, news and sport
75p goes to the 40 local radio stations, from Radio Jersey to Radio nan Gaidheal
£1.01 covers the cost of broadcasting all television and radio output and collecting the fee

BBC websites are massive, really massive, one might question the need for keeping so many available and alive. Of the eight national TV channels how many are actually watched? Of the ten national radio stations who listens to any apart from Radios 1,2,3,4,and 5? If almost 10% of the licence fee is consumed by it’s collection costs and broadcasting costs then we must question the financial budgetary skills of the corporation.

Really it is time to consider removing the licence fee altogether and requiring the BBC to become self financing, raising it’s own revenue in the same fashion as other broadcasters in the UK market. It ought to become a private body with shareholders, competing in the market for advertising revenue, perhaps with a requirement and subsidy to allow the World Service to operate as it does at present. There should be no need for the licence fee to be seen as little more than an additional tax to be used in keeping the BBC in the comfort zone to which it has become accustomed.

With an almost certain source of revenue from the licence fee it is little wonder that the broadcaster fails to inspire or improve it’s output. A better course of action for David Cameron would be to privatise it as soon as the Conservatives are elected!