[TobyD]

Arguably worst of all, most of this tsunami of shit barely appears on the most watched BBC TV news.

Really? I don't think that is the case at all. I've seen many reports on the BBC on all of the above; the lack of arts funding,  the Cummings civil service reforms,  deceit over the testing figures,  the poor timing of the reopening of pubs and its poorly communicated announcement,  the Jenerick affair, and so on. Its frankly bollocks trying to claim that the BBC aren't willing to criticise the government at the moment. 

I strongly suspect that when  many people are criticising the BBC, from the right or the left, it eventually boils down to them being unhappy about it not exactly replicating their point of view.

[Offwidth]

I'm talking the main most watched BBC TV news. Yes R4 and Newsnight have covered most of the list (not all). This way  it's easy for the BBC to claim they meet scrutiny requirements and keep the government happy by keeping harsh criticism from the news most ordinary folk watch ( BBC1 breakfast, 18.00 and  22.00). If you are calling BS tell me when they were on or where they were discussed cumulatively as it's a pretty big list for just one week.

[ali k]

I strongly suspect that when many people are criticising the BBC, from the right or the left, it eventually boils down to them being unhappy about it not exactly replicating their point of view.

Yes R4 and Newsnight have covered most of the list (not all). This way it's easy for the BBC to claim they meet scrutiny requirements and keep the government happy by keeping harsh criticism from the news most ordinary folk watch (BBC1 breakfast, 18.00 and 22.00).

I’m somewhere in between these. I’m definitely guilty of getting frustrated the BBC don’t often go as far as I’d like with their scrutiny of govt. But if you ever click on the comments section on the BBC news website you get a whole stream of people convinced BBC is all leftie luvvies so they must be getting the balance right in some ways.

Having said that, I do think there’s something in what Offwidth says too. BBC breakfast is a joke, and there’s often huge disparities in how stories are presented between different news slots. I get this may be down to different editors but do wonder if it’s as Offwidth says too. Maitlis on Newsnight is comparable with Channel 4 in terms of scrutiny but that’s an exception and has pretty low viewing figures compared with 6 and 10pm news. BBC Reality Check and More or Less are excellent at countering the bullshit govt ministers spout, but they are quite niche and it rarely seems to feed back into the other news programmes to set the record straight.

[Oldmanmatt]

I suspect it’s down to target audience, rather than inherent bias.

The viewership for Breakfast television, is liable to evaporation in the face of the heat of rigorous journalism.

They don’t want “News”, they want reassuring “Olds”.
To paraphrase Pratchet, they want to hear that a dog bit a man, not that a man bit a dog.

[TobyD]

I suspect it’s down to target audience, rather than inherent bias.

The viewership for Breakfast television, is liable to evaporation in the face of the heat of rigorous journalism.

They don’t want “News”, they want reassuring “Olds”.
To paraphrase Pratchet, they want to hear that a dog bit a man, not that a man bit a dog.

I think that is pretty reasonable,  Ali  I'll accept that I don't watch breakfast television ever, but is it where anyone who was interested would look anyway? I'd assume that its a fairly light news magazine style format. None of you have mentioned Emma Barnett on 5 live who has a good sized audience as far as I'm aware and is routinely very good at grilling ministers properly but without being  hectoring or rude. Panorama is widely watched and also  not shy about laying into government when its appropriate. 

One thing I would say is that BBC comedy is disproportionately left wing,  but that may well be that there really aren't very many right wing comedians!

[ali k]

I suspect it’s down to target audience, rather than inherent bias.

I think that is pretty reasonable, Ali I'll accept that I don't watch breakfast television ever, but is it where anyone who was interested would look anyway?

Me neither, I’ve just caught it occasionally when staying away with work and it’s nauseating. I agree you’re not gonna look there for in-depth journalism but if most people just watch that and then maybe the 6 or 10pm news there’s an argument for the BBC needing to get the balance right even more and not just being a mouthpiece for the govt on those particular shows (which is what Dan Walker’s questioning amounts to on Breakfast), otherwise they do open themselves up to the criticism.

None of you have mentioned Emma Barnett on 5 live

She’s great but I don’t think late morning radio gets anywhere near the reach of those three prime TV slots.

Don’t get me wrong, on balance the BBC does a decent job on news coverage. And I’m under no illusion that if it disappears it’ll be replaced by a good quality centre or slightly left of centre media organisation so I don’t want it to go anywhere.

[ali k]

One thing I would say is that BBC comedy is disproportionately left wing, but that may well be that there really aren't very many right wing comedians!

I’ve often wondered this. Maybe there’s less acceptable material now for right wing comedians?

[*over-simplified categorisation warning*]
If left is generally thought of as being on the side of the poor and discriminated and right on the side of the wealthy and powerful it’s a lot easier for left wing comedians to ‘punch up’ and not down. What would right wing comedians take a pop at? Wokeness?

[teestub]

Funny that the ‘disproportionately left wing‘ BBC comedy is partially responsible for us ending up with our current prime minister!

[Oldmanmatt]

Is it not, rather, about mocking “the powers that be”, more than right or left wing politics?
Coupled with predominantly Tory government for post war/TV era Britain?

[Offwidth]

The story of Moscow Bob (presumably way too hot for the BBC)

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/06/23/sweeney-investigates-what-connects-robert-jenrick-to-the-gambino-crime-family-and-putins-oligarchs/

[tomtom]

Much as I’d like to not consider it comedy - where does Mrs Browns boys fit on the left to right political spectrum?

[TobyD]

Much as I’d like to not consider it comedy - where does Mrs Browns boys fit on the left to right political spectrum?

I did wonder about things like that after I'd posted. I've never seen it, but my totally judgemental prejudiced guess is that if you really like MBB, you're not interested in politics, but voted leave, think that lowering immigration would be good,  and that we never should have had a lockdown in the first place.

[tomtom]

Can I put Michael McIntyre in the same dark box as MrsBB please? I never watch long enough to know if he has any political angle - my crawling skin makes me leave the room rapidly.

[Dac]

I believe Michael McIntyre to be to on the conservative / right wing of things politically (based solely things said during his appearances on Mock the Week many years ago).

As for Mrs Browns Boys, the only person I know who actually watches it is my father in law; he is a lifelong Labour voter / and voted Remain, however I suspect this is mostly based on tradition and inertia.

[TobyD]

Since a few years as what might charitably described as a mediocre performance as PM, Theresa May is doing rather a good job of causing trouble as a backbencher. Her furious questions to Gove about the appointment of David Frost precipitated a series of um, err ... faultering from Gove.

[Evil]

Can always rely on Stewart Lee to answer comedy questions (albeit from 2013 so a bit out of date now) - https://www.stewartlee.co.uk/written_for_money/where-are-all-the-right-wing-stand-ups/
Even he doesn't dip as low as Mrs Brown's Boys

[SA Chris]

Can I put Michael McIntyre in the same dark box as MrsBB please?

Not sure which one is less funny. I can't be in the same room as them without teaching the kids some new vocab.

[tomtom]

Can I put Michael McIntyre in the same dark box as MrsBB please?

Not sure which one is less funny. I can't be in the same room as them without teaching the kids some new vocab.

Indeed. Room 101ing both of em.

[SA Chris]

Actually MMI wins, based on the fact that so many twats like him.

[Offwidth]

More worrying news from HK

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/08/china-great-firewall-descends-hong-kong-internet-users

[Offwidth]

Top wally appointment yet in the wallygarchy:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/10/chris-grayling-chair-intelligence-committee-

[TobyD]

I haven't read the link, but I don't think it's a matter of debate that Chris Grayling is incompetent, and being recommended for the post on the grounds that he's a very loyal politician. He stuck with Theresa May continuously, and he'll do as he's told, I suspect.

What's more concerning is that the committee hasn't released the Russia report. I doubt that it's as damning as some hope, but it may be embarrassing for the government; but it fits within a pattern of avoiding scrutiny which indicates that the government will avoid any blame for mismanagement of the pandemic, mismanagement of leaving the EU, failing to have a plan for social care, failing to have a functional environmental policy, and so on until the next election.

[ali k]

What's more concerning is that the committee hasn't released the Russia report.

Yet. But it hasn’t been set up for long enough, and Dominic Grieve yesterday said it’s understandable if it doesn’t get released until the new committee have read and digested it, which may take weeks due to the content. But they also have the power to further redact or edit it I believe, so the new chair could steer the committee to remove parts that are embarrassing I suppose. Which is far from unlikely.

[Offwidth]

On a different  topic:

New Day...
News and Comment from Roy Lilley
I'm up early.  The new day is announcing its arrival with a tangerine streak, low across the London horizon.  The light, catching windows in the steel and chrome office blocks, by the river. The Thames is deciding between coming and going.  The water, like glass.  The Clipper, London's water-bus, makes elegant ripples, as it moves effortlessly, westward. Daybreak is a good time to reflect on optimism.  What will I achieve today?  Who will I talk to?  What will I read?  What will inspire me?

What's next for the NHS?  Who knows? Are we edging our way back to normality?  Fingers crossed there won't be a second spike, the flu-season won't be too bad. We'll start to make a dent on the waiting lists.  There's new money in the offing.  A building programme getting its shovels ready.  We'll find ways to hang-on to the radical changes, obliged on us by Covid.  Innovation, efficiency and new ways of doing things seem to be in our grasp. Dare we spare ourselves a moment of optimism?  The NHS, applauded by the nation, perhaps on the cusp of a new beginning.  A new dawn. I thought so, I hoped so.  I really did think... this time.

I turned to my in-box, to see what the day was offering.  The usual stuff; press releases, interviews, emails denouncing me as wrong, others saying I'm right, some saying I should be locked up! ... then came the wrecking ball.  The plug, pulled on my day. A report, like an unexploded war-time bomb, a time-machine, dragging me back to the 70's and 80's.  The bad old-days. The Cumberlege Report; The report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, was published yesterday. 

I bet you didn't know it was being written and for sure you wouldn't have known it was finished and published. Its full title is borrowed from medical ethics.  The Hippocratic Oath, taken from the Greek text... First, Do No Harm. It is a report all about harm.  It is about butchery, carelessness, system failure, arrogance, nonchalance, ignorance, thuggery, lies and covering-up.  Dissembling and dodging responsibility.  Everything, I stupidly thought, we had left behind with a past that was, often shame-full.  It is a report about ruined lives, abandoned patients and neglect. It is a report about lack of leadership, cowardice and arrogance.  Timid policymakers, unresponsive systems and the view that patients are somehow a disruption of the working day. A system that ignores the wisdom of data, is flying blind, into catastrophe and refuses to regard failure as a lesson to learn... instead, a reason to bury it.

The report takes us into the treacherous, duplicitous world of hormone pregnancy tests, prescribing sodium valproate in pregnancy and the use of pelvic mesh. Much of the report is told through the narrative of patients.  One of whom describes her experience as if she was;

'... an unsuspecting and unwilling participant in a cruel experiment'.

This is a life changing read.  I can't do it justice in an eLetter but you can.  You can read it, or the summary.  Flick through the pages and on each one is evidence of a human disaster, lives ruined, hopes dashed.  Of people's experiences ignored and dismissed as 'anecdotal'.

This is a report that if it doesn't make you angry, you are working in the wrong job.  The response of some medical device and pharma-companies is infuriating and reinforces much of the self-inflicted prejudice against them, that festers in the NHS. Page 187 has nine recommendations.  They speak to; data, transparency, implementation of the report and its findings. 
They recommend a new, Patient Safety Commissioner to work where all other organisations, responsible for our safety, have failed.  Redress, specialist treatment centres to try and ameliorate the impact of these disasters and a good kicking for the MHRA, asleep at the wheel.

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001CuYroyYoEBqkqziJ62vMUaUuIIwQRK3b95kqv9DafZzia1MPSmzY4vuWSWKCZsHOEH6N4BUl3Nxx-QoifHdSsxVu6c3HxqXWesBuOWDNgKaMzUP5N-PFXjA8-3HtPsUdGOr2oZ9l9tmVgXkW1xHaL7CJFaPwvAcGlw-uOLAdYiwlrQP253_Y0C3iN1gHNA5MSaG5o9bQJ1h1LfW3Zggbp4Z-_pxnrsjq&c=y8i6OimWZ3ubQ1aQWmJNPVyrt6WY-PBupJmqHevvnOzhf_im1_9sQg==&ch=ED9DYwrqBemUqpiWvQMyWH8ki_XSh75Vc0Lz9wRXKnIAt-t0DGIytQ==

The NHS has dragged itself through political neglect, ten years of austerity funding, workforce shortages, useless regulation, the shock and aftershock of Covid-19, PPE, deaths of colleagues... to arrive at this morning, this day.  If No18 doesn't implement every paragraph, every word, full-stop and comma, of this towering, detailed, exquisitely researched report, we will never scrape the past off our boots and never step a sure-foot into a new day.   
----------------
Contact Roy - please use this e-address
roy.lilley@nhsmanagers.net

[ali k]

What's more concerning is that the committee hasn't released the Russia report. I doubt that it's as damning as some hope, but it may be embarrassing for the government

So a full 15 months after this report was concluded and following the farcical attempts to improperly install Cummings’ stooge as committee chair, obviously it’s just pure coincidence that on the same day as it’s announced the report will be published the govt screams “Well they did it to other people too you know. Look - Russian meddling everywhere”.