Abolish the BBC Y/N

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The British RT, employer of Lawro (still? probably). Time to put it to bed?

Poll Results

OptionVotes
No 33
Yes 9


anvil, Monday, 11 February 2019 11:19 (six years ago)

if you abolished them some of the worst riff-raff would still turn up like bad pennies on Murdoch tv. DPRK style liquidation by aircraft gun or nothing I say.

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 11:39 (six years ago)

Some parts of the radio are not beyond redemption, but all the current affairs/consumer programs/moral maze type trash is poisonous noise.

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 11:47 (six years ago)

I would prefer to (radically) reform it, but right now am sorry to say it's more a force for evil than good, so yes.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 February 2019 12:01 (six years ago)

No, though I fully realize it's easier for me to escape their evil side than it is for you. Lots wrong but I too would suggest radical reform instead of full scale abolishment. A post-BBC media landscape is more likely to be worse a dystopia than the current.

Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 11 February 2019 12:50 (six years ago)

What's the matter with the BBC these days? Haven't been paying attention.

peace, man, Monday, 11 February 2019 12:55 (six years ago)

lbi otm, the bbc needs an overhaul (as does the government's hold over their finances tbh) but we def need public-funded broadcasting and the bbc is still the best there is

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 12:58 (six years ago)

if we’re doing this then quid pro quo abolish ilx

||||||||, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:01 (six years ago)

steady on there, let's not do anything rash

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:02 (six years ago)

State broadcasters are a bad idea imo, its become far too infected and rotten to be reformed and I want to see the back of it forever.

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:07 (six years ago)

The main problem is that their news department has gone from being a mouthpiece for the establishment to a compromised mouthpiece for the worst people in the country, this is partially due to some of these worst people being in charge, but also it has been bullied with its own rules on impartiality and fairness to such an extent that any good journalists there seem to be scared to actually speak truth to power rather than perform a pantomime version of the same.

I wouldn't like it to be abolished and replaced by commercial media, I would like it to be abolished and replaced by something along the same lines, but better and more independent. Radical reform doesn't work as it seems that many of the people working there are part of the problem. The English establishment need to be cut out of it completely.

Not saying any of this is likely to happen.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:07 (six years ago)

Also, from people I know who have worked there in some small capacity, they are even more infected with the "target audience" stuff than other stations

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:11 (six years ago)

a state broadcaster and a public service broadcaster are not the same thing, tho, and the bbc is - at least in conception - the latter

the bbc trust could do with being overturned and/or massively expanded, with much stricter rules on who can be part of it, but the bbc has done so much good stuff that commercial broadcasters would have no interest in doing that i am v reluctant to throw the baby out with the bathwater

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:12 (six years ago)

it isn't like they are even making quality gear like Tinker, Tailor .. any more though.

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:15 (six years ago)

the BBC's radio output alone is worth the licence fee, even taken with all the problems mentioned above and elsewhere

Neil S, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:17 (six years ago)

aye but we can all agree that the greatest dancer is amazing tho xp

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:17 (six years ago)

got to admit R3/4/WS are pretty much my constant listening, when not music and there is still some quality on there.

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:18 (six years ago)

neil s otm, i feel like most of britisher music-ilx wouldn't be here if it wisnae for the interest in music that bbc radio sparked and/or nurtured

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:19 (six years ago)

calz are you talking yourself out of your own trenchant position here already

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:19 (six years ago)

What is good on the radio right now? There is a fair bit I like, but the majority could be done much better, could go through station by station, but they all seem to be declining in terms of quality, except possibly R3. I have listened to R4 since I was a kid but have finally given up on it in the last 6 months.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:22 (six years ago)

... erm In Our Time and erm.. much of the regular schedule is pure trash tbh. usually it is one-off series that stand out like The Ratline recently for example.

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:26 (six years ago)

Couldn't get Match Of The Day on iPlayer around midnight last night. Game's gone Gary.

nashwan, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:28 (six years ago)

margaret macmillan reith lectures was quality radio as well tbf

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:29 (six years ago)

I listen to 6Music fairly often and I know it has its problems (too much whitebread indie, Shaun Keaveney, retirement home for aging punks etc. etc.) but it does still have a lot of good stuff: Freakzone, Gilles Peterson, Iggy Pop. They should deffo play more dance music, hip hop, reggae etc. but one of the issues is the segmentation of audiences thing, already alluded to above.

Neil S, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:30 (six years ago)

Guess I still sometimes listen to In Our Time and Thinking Allowed, but in (awful) Sounds App rather than actual radio.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:30 (six years ago)

xp and this is probably not the place to rehash these arguments anyway, sorry all

Neil S, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:31 (six years ago)

I listen to 6 music in the morning now Lauren Laverne is there, so guess I like it? But the playlisting is still annoying, started turning it off because "not a bad track but I don't want to listen to it every day"

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:33 (six years ago)

The US has no BBC and it's worked wonders for them.

pomenitul, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:34 (six years ago)

Do you think it would an improvement on Fox if they had though?

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:35 (six years ago)

Not in terms of sick entertainment, it wouldn't.

pomenitul, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:37 (six years ago)

only one broadcaster brought us nearly a decade of noel's house party and i'll give you a clue it wasn't the one owned by rupert murdoch

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:38 (six years ago)

I knew mr blobby would indirectly show up at some point on this thread!

calzino, Monday, 11 February 2019 13:42 (six years ago)

surprised it took as long as it did tbh

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:44 (six years ago)

It is mostly garbage these days, the current affairs/news side is a disgrace - just in terms of quality of output, without mentioning toadying to the Tories and right wing scumbags in general - I never listen to the radio since Humphrey Lyttleton died.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:46 (six years ago)

t/s: paying the bbc £150.50 per year for mostly garbage but with some gems vs paying rupert murdoch at absolute minimum £264 for utter garbage

Calgary customer Elvis Cavalic (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:48 (six years ago)

Sky News is miles better than BBC 24 fwiw.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:50 (six years ago)

http://i.imgur.com/6rLHI.gif

Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:52 (six years ago)

fun fact from the v entertaining noel's house party wikipedia: the format was sold to belgium, germany, denmark, spain and the netherlands, each of whom produced their own version

any european ilxors care to weigh in with their recollections of those shows, and whether they justified the bbc licence fee?

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:58 (six years ago)

More importantly, was there a Herr Blobbisch?

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:59 (six years ago)

Originality. Quality. Excellence.
Noel's. House. Party.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 February 2019 13:59 (six years ago)

This whole Panorama ‘leaked audio’ thing.. something major? Seems like pretty thin gruel so far. This R0b1nson tosser attempting to cover his tracks and distract people from what was obviously going to be a big expose. Wonder if the programme will still go ahead as scheduled.

piscesx, Monday, 11 February 2019 14:01 (six years ago)

xp Never seen a Dutch version of Blobby, can't find any on youtube, and going off by who they say did a Dutch remake, I'm glad I never had to witness that.

Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:03 (six years ago)

booooo

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:05 (six years ago)

Can we get Frederik B. in here to clue us in on the Danish version?

Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:08 (six years ago)

paging stan m for the rundown on belgian blobby

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:09 (six years ago)

Found the Danish one through a Danish blobby fan page! (no joke). It's @ 1.10 in this video:

http://tvtid.tv2.dk/2013-09-25-hvilket-program-er-tv-2s-mindst-savnede

Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:11 (six years ago)

a Danish blobby fan page!

truly the internet is a blessing and a curse

this is extraordinary footage tbh, it's incredible in every sense of the word to see blobby on the international stage

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:17 (six years ago)

Some pedigrees are more recognisable than others. Just from the goats running round the studio, you can tell that Germany's Hamster TV is a Teutonic Pets Win Prizes. And Mr Blobby's presence betrays the origins of Denmark's Greven pa Hittegodset. But you'd need Belgian assistance to work out that Raar Maar Waar, a lively looking show performed in a plaster replica of a classical ruin, was the spawn of That's Life.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/game-on-the-broader-picture-1252893.html

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:17 (six years ago)

Beth Rigby & Faisal Islam on sky politics are far better than the muck the BBC churns out.

my drug of choice is @BethRigby interrupting Boris Johnson to read him Donald Tusk’s statement & then telling him to his face that he is deluded pic.twitter.com/ZUOiyF8jwr

— Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) January 29, 2019


With the exception of Eddie Mair, has the beeb ever taken Bojo to task like this?

gyac, Monday, 11 February 2019 14:22 (six years ago)

Sky News is so superior to the BBC its scary. They do allow wankers from spiked on to review the papers though. But still not as infuriating as the amount of absolute cunts the BBC allow on Question Time though. Last week was a joke yet again.

I'd happily just get rid of the BBC news output and concentrate on making good telly.

Friedrich B. Neechy (Oor Neechy), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:42 (six years ago)

State broadcasters are a bad idea imo, its become far too infected and rotten to be reformed and I want to see the back of it forever.

― calzino

commercial broadcasters are a worse idea

why not just abolish all media except for ilx?

the scientology of mountains (rushomancy), Monday, 11 February 2019 14:52 (six years ago)

The BBC gets as many accusations of left wing bias as it does of right wing bias - the people smashing up that socialist bookshop last year were carrying anti BBC signs. I wonder why this is. Maybe it's an anti establishment thing. Or maybe it's confirmation bias. You can see them trying to be impartial but this does lead to equal time for right wing zealots. Also it's a large place so parts of it can be right wing whilst other parts (all the comedy) are left wing.

(And it's not strictly a state broadcaster, the government wouldn't be trying to ruin it by removing funding if it was. It runs under a royal charter rather than a government one. Depends what you mean by state, I guess)

Personally annoying is the focus on 18-35 year old demographic which is turning all the music stations into pop stations. And moving Radcliffe and Maconie to weekends means I have nothing to listen to at work (and the new show is pop-heavy, see above)

Also: Sounds.

koogs, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:14 (six years ago)

(I am not in the 18-35 demographic. And even if I was I like to think I had better taste)

koogs, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:15 (six years ago)

Try the new download/app

Mark G, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:16 (six years ago)

neil s otm, i feel like most of britisher music-ilx wouldn't be here if it wisnae for the interest in music that bbc radio sparked and/or nurtured

this is surely insane/sign of a generational divide. idk anyone who got into music through radio, bbc or otherwise

ogmor, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:26 (six years ago)

The BBC being accused of being left-wing isn't proof that the truth lies somewhere in the middle, it's just because they occasionally cover social justice issues, usually in a twitter-chasing completely superficial manner, then cover economics/brexit/our-fucking-sham-of-a-democracy from an almost universally pro-parasite perspective. For little-Englander types the former is PC gone mad, the latter is completely unnoticed.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:28 (six years ago)

congrats, u are young xp

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:29 (six years ago)

the kind of people that label the bbc "lefty" are usually quite deranged and not worth taking seriously.

calzino, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:29 (six years ago)

mb just abolish the bbc's news coverage

ogmor, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:29 (six years ago)

i'm not young, you're just v old &/or wrong

ogmor, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:30 (six years ago)

well colour me insane, Peel/Mark & Lard/Rock Show/1 in the Jungle/Essential Mix, Westwood etc. etc. were all ways into all sorts of new stuff when I was a teenager

Neil S, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:31 (six years ago)

I suppose growing up with the internet is the decisive factor re: millenial/gen x divide

ogmor, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:34 (six years ago)

oh no doubt, and I'm probably right on the cusp of that divide, I was 13 when the web was first made generally available

Neil S, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:35 (six years ago)

getting groomed by paedos on the internet vs watching/listening to their shows on the bbc

calzino, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:36 (six years ago)

I once realised I was being groomed by a 30something canadian in a yahoo chat room when I was 13, he kept calling me "my favorite brit" and every time I hear "brit" now it reminds me of desperate, horny paedophilia

ogmor, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:43 (six years ago)

i'm 38, i've been on the internet since 1995 when it would take three days to download a music file if you were lucky enough to find one

so like neil s i spent my formative years poring over the music press and hoping to catch some of the music i read about on the radio, and in between hearing those songs i was exposed to all kinds of other stuff

i dunno if that makes me v old but it doesn't make me wrong, i dunno why you're being so aggro about this ogmor

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 09:46 (six years ago)

Feel like non-current affairs BBC programming has improved over the last few years, like the rise of Netflix has altered the way in which they do drama in particular. And the best of BBC drama is better than most of the badly-scripted-slickly-produced shit you get on Netflix in any case.

BBC current affairs is getting worse and worse - one reason for this is that it gets virtually no support from the government, who would happily abolish or privatise it if they thought they could get away with doing so. As a result they're terrified of the Tory party and the Tory press in a way they weren't pre-2010. You see it everywhere, the ventriloquism of anti-immigration rhetoric their journalists clearly don't believe in, the false balance that leads to Farage or some other overprivileged Spectator/think tank gobshite on every panel instead of non-political experts who might know what they're talking about etc etc.

The good thing about this is that you don't need to abolish the BBC to improve it - it'll improve if we just change the government. On balance I prefer a BBC that's holding the government properly to account, whoever it is - at the moment there's too much credulity about the way they report every government announcement. For the last few years of New Labour, post David Kelly at least, they were virtually at war with the government even as they were being caricatured as the Blair Broadcasting Corporation.

Matt DC, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:00 (six years ago)

I'm older than that and I haven't listened to the radio voluntarily in about 20 years, once I had an internet connection and Audiogalaxy that was it, I could listen to pretty much whatever I wanted when I wanted and not have to listen to some wanker in between songs

xp

Colonel Poo, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:01 (six years ago)

none of that contradicts what i said, though - when i started seriously listening to music i was 14 or so, and filesharing wasn't an option for me until the late 90s/early 2000s, so there were five years or so where listening to the radio was the only option i had to find new music without blind-buying records i'd read about which sounded interesting but hadn't yet heard (which i still did anyway)

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:15 (six years ago)

neil s otm, i feel like most of britisher music-ilx wouldn't be here if it wisnae for the interest in music that bbc radio sparked and/or nurtured

this is surely insane/sign of a generational divide. idk anyone who got into music through radio, bbc or otherwise

― ogmor, Tuesday, February 12, 2019 9:26 AM (thirty-three minutes ago)

It's very unlikely that most pre-millennial British rock music would have evolved in the way it did without the contribution of BBC radio, and people like Peel and Annie Nightingale in particular.

Radio 3, which usually gets left out of these discussions, continues to provide a vital opportunity for emerging British composers to get their music performed and heard, not least because it employs several orchestras and isn't purely driven by market considerations.

Impossible to imagine the development of British dance music, particularly jungle/garage/dubstep/grime, without the ecosystem provided by pirate radio. 1xtra, despite passing on a lot of this stuff early on, has helped it to develop and for a lot of the artists concerned to become legitimate pop stars at the same time.

Obviously Spotify, Youtube etc have more relevance *now* and are the main gateway drug but the idea that radio hasn't contributed massively to British music and British music fandom is ahistorical guff.

Matt DC, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:16 (six years ago)

matt dc otm

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:19 (six years ago)

since 2010 there have been a number of key BBC appointments straight from the tory party machinery and/or machinery-sympathetic adjuncts no ? sarah sands, that britain first QT lady, rob burl or whatever his name is, nick robinson etc

||||||||, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:22 (six years ago)

xps
the difference in quality between Radio 3 and Classic FM is a good argument for the bbc tbf.

calzino, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:27 (six years ago)

BBC drama only ever produces a handful of decent things per year imo but they have a huge advantage over Netflix in seeming to start with an assumption that you can tell a story in three or four parts, rather than dragging it out to nine hours by default.

A system where Labour is held to account in government but the Tories are untouchable, through fear or favour, is unsustainable. The news element suffers from slack editorial standards and a relentless push to simplify stories for an audience apparently assumed to be incapable of dealing with nuance, the opinion / commentary element is plagued by aggressive faux-Paxman snark that is mostly water off a duck’s back to the right but more damaging when Labour tries to engage it in better faith. Abolishing it isn’t the answer - privately funded news is at least as bad - but cultural reform is essential. Idk how it can be done, though.

Radio 3 is great, though, as is some of the Radio 4 drama stuff.

ShariVari, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:35 (six years ago)

I don't think the 9 hrs thing is BBC Vs Netflix, I think it's a UK Vs US thing.

koogs, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:37 (six years ago)

Yes, thats probably true.

ShariVari, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:38 (six years ago)

Basically, allowing the BBC to go to the wall because of the way its news team covers the Tories would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater and yet another example of willful Tory vandalism to go with the thousands we already have. Even if it's by proxy this time.

Matt DC, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:39 (six years ago)

Its probably a box-set thing and also follows on from films being much longer now as well. xp

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:41 (six years ago)

btw the ans to this question is N, whatever the current failings of the news output. Its not based on masses of engagement with it in the last five years although the comaparison with Sky News above seems faulty. 24 hour news is horrible in general (but that's another tangent) and Sky News don't have their version of Question Time which is more part of an entertainment output - its terrible by design. Sky or ITV don't produce an equivalent (thank fuck) anyhow so I wouldn't use QT to beat BBC news with it.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 10:46 (six years ago)

Abolish rolling news.

nashwan, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 11:02 (six years ago)

otm - has there been a single news story since the advent of rolling news which has benefited from being covered as-it-happens instead of forever offering the unedifying spectacle of ill-informed news anchors flapping about and offering glib here's-what-we're-seeing-now comments until someone better-informed stumbles in front of a camera?

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 11:07 (six years ago)

It isn't just the news output though, most of the factual content on both TV and radio is not up to standard. Can't count the number of times I've sat down to watch a documentary and it's either "my journey to find out about..." or "here are some clips a load of famous people who apparently know even less about it than I do but we contractually have to interview on every programme we broadcast." and it's infuriating because I just know there are people around who could do a much better job, but they are never going to get a chance.

My background is in linguistics and I would love to have a decent TV or radio programme on the subject, but they invariably hand over the entire topic to people like Stephen Fry or Victoria Coren Mitchell who know next to nothing about it and invariably get basic things wrong (e.g. the infuriating Fry's English Delight episode on "Linguistic Relativism") - Sure that people from other disciplines have similar complaints.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 11:08 (six years ago)

A guarded no from me but I would like to see it hugely reformed. Problem with saying what it shouldn't do is that other people get different things from the Beeb but imo light entertainment and popular drama are available elsewhere so fuck that noise. Much as I despise BBC3 with unbridled old man radge it probably fills a niche not offered elsewhere. BBC4 and all of the radio that isn't popular music has some value to me altho God knows I've got a big cull list there too.

Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 11:11 (six years ago)

Can't count the number of times I've sat down to watch a documentary and it's either "my journey to find out about..." or "here are some clips a load of famous people who apparently know even less about it than I do but we contractually have to interview on every programme we broadcast." and it's infuriating because I just know there are people around who could do a much better job, but they are never going to get a chance.

That's more to do with a current style of documentary that is in fashion across all channels though.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 11:57 (six years ago)

Much as I despise BBC3 with unbridled old man radge it probably fills a niche not offered elsewhere

Feel like once upon a time E4 was consistently beating BB3 at that particular game in terms of both viewing figures and cultural impact but that seems to have trailed off now.

I've also been half-baking a theory for a while that one reason British pop has churned out so many tepid drama school types over the past 15 years or so is because Later With Jools Holland remains the BBC's flagship music TV show and it hasn't even tried to create anything for a younger audience.

Matt DC, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:10 (six years ago)

i'm down with any theory that blames jools holland for anything tbh

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:16 (six years ago)

xp
no aggro intended bg, was just surprised/sceptical that listening to the wireless was a decisive formative experience in the music fandom of a lot of ilmers. pirate&internet radio is a different world but the ppl I know who listen to the radio, especially a lot, are largely casual listeners & as a cultural force it's been fading for about 20 years. thinking abt it I do think there's quite a sudden gulf amongst ppl I know depending on how big a deal p2p file sharing was, with the dividing line being ppl born before/after some point in the early 80s, which I guess explains the probably doomed obsession w/ trying to get listeners under 35

ogmor, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:19 (six years ago)

the bbc is good when i agree with it and bad when i dont i cant quite decide if that means it should be abolished or not

ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ (darraghmac), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:23 (six years ago)

no prob ogmor, i think you're right that probably filesharing does represent a hard dividing line - once i had access to napster / slsk etc i was definitely more inclined to risk the wrath of the riaa by chasing down stuff i was interested in on my own than sit by the wireless waiting for mark radcliffe or john peel to play it, but for the years where i was starting to develop a music obsession that was my only option

weird that is is such a hard line tho, where people who are only very slightly younger than i might never have listened to radio of their own volition at all

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:31 (six years ago)

I barely watch the bbc as is but the thing about them running scared of the Tory government has been around for a lot longer than the last few years. I remember there being a lot of people complaining about their lack of coverage of what then became the Health & Social Care Act, especially as one of the original drafts was removing the duty for the SOS to provide a health service (!).

People like to say “both sides being angry with it” is indicative of them being fair, except there’s a bit of a difference between being even handed with the government, who control the agenda, and the opposition, who don’t.

gyac, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:31 (six years ago)

xp I am now surveying all my 30something friends trying to pinpoint this better, there also seems to be a bit of a gender divide.

ogmor, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:38 (six years ago)

> it hasn't even tried to create anything for a younger audience.

There was a Friday night pop show filmed at TVC. It's had 2 series so far, about 6 or 10 episodes each. Don't know if more are planned and can't remember the exact name of it, but then I am outside the target audience (by a factor of 2 probably).

koogs, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:57 (six years ago)

Sounds Like Friday Night
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09cnb5g

koogs, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 12:59 (six years ago)

I'd say filesharing was the start of the decline but it's streaming that's really killed radio. Look at Radio 1's listening figures over the last 20 years, the real collapse begins around 2010.

I'm always sceptical of the romanticised personal and private/'sitting in your teenage bedroom listening to John Peel' view of pop discovery. The way most people under 30 got into music has always primarily been through social situations - friends swapping tapes, clubs, parties etc. Even now streaming has updated that, rather than replaced it, but radio has for most of the last 50 years been a major driver of the artists and scenes providing the backdrop to those social situations.

Matt DC, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:00 (six years ago)

The first artist name I saw on that Sounds Like Friday Night page was the Manic Street Preachers, which strikes me as a failure right out of the gate.

Matt DC, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:01 (six years ago)

what was the last good music show on bbc tv outside of one-off docs?

goats eat grandma (NickB), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:01 (six years ago)

BRING BACK TOP OF THE POPS BBC!!

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:06 (six years ago)

ok having consulted my world of 30somethings my theory is the turning point is around 34/35. most ppl younger are p2p babies who didn't tape anything or rely on the radio for music, and there's a crossover period for the older 30somethings who did a mixture.

romantic/private listening is going to be much more prevalent amongst hardcore music nerds and the boundaries are blurred when yr on social media in yr bedroom

ogmor, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:07 (six years ago)

bring back dance energy with normski more like xp

goats eat grandma (NickB), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:07 (six years ago)

has there been a single news story since the advent of rolling news which has benefited from being covered as-it-happens

You mean apart from Moaty, it's Gazza?

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:37 (six years ago)

okay, you got me, that's the exception that proves the rule

a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:38 (six years ago)

'Killing Eve' the only drama I've watched start to finish on BBC in the last few years I think. 'Detectorists' last thing I unequivocally loved. 'Life Scientific' is v enjoyable on Radio 4 and 'Start the Week' is fine (except when Andrew Marr is hosting).

oscar bravo, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 14:09 (six years ago)

otm - has there been a single news story since the advent of rolling news which has benefited from being covered as-it-happens instead of forever offering the unedifying spectacle of ill-informed news anchors flapping about and offering glib here's-what-we're-seeing-now comments until someone better-informed stumbles in front of a camera?

― a surprise challenge that ended with a gunging (bizarro gazzara)

at some point i watched the first surviving american tv news broadcast - from the 1940s - and i was surprised at how well it fit in with the spectacle of ill-informed anchors flapping about and offering glib comments, because that was pretty much exactly what the anchor was doing there. the dream of rational/edifying monoculture media was, i'm concluding, only ever a pipe dream.

the scientology of mountains (rushomancy), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 14:24 (six years ago)

Personally annoying is the focus on 18-35 year old demographic which is turning all the music stations into pop stations. And moving Radcliffe and Maconie to weekends means I have nothing to listen to at work (and the newshow is pop-heavy, see above)

sharp satire

Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 00:53 (six years ago)

BBC provides US public broadcasting with hours upon hours of the equivalent of direct-to-dvd, off-the-rack programming. If it should disappear, the PBS schedule would look like the victim of a shotgun blast.

A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 01:46 (six years ago)

Last week I spent three days with my 86 y/o father, whose evening schedule consists of watching back-to-back documentaries on BBC2 & BBC4. I was shocked by how awful most of them were; had I been on my own I would have been shouting at the screen and turning off in a foul mood. Especially noxious were Andrew Marr on Thatcher and a terrible thing about hump-backed whales, which seemed to be aimed at children. He liked them well enough, although he'll have forgotten them by now.

fetter, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 12:08 (six years ago)

Portillo seems to be on every day too. in fact, twice today.

koogs, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 12:15 (six years ago)

Andrew Marr, forgot about that cunt. Abolish the BBC.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 13:16 (six years ago)

oh but that really influential doc he made on the shitty, drunken, sunday painter daubs of Winston Churchill will really stand the test of time.

calzino, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 13:34 (six years ago)

everyone pays for the BBC so it has to represent value-for-money for everyone and that puts it in the position where it has to do opposing things simultaneously, it has to speak to young and old, left and right, etc. I don't think it's got the balance quite right in recent years and they've lost a generation in Scotland due to their wilful ignorance of what was happening with the SNP at Indyref but I don't know how they could do it perfectly for everyone and I'd rather have it than a race to the lowest common denominator of programming

boxedjoy, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 15:18 (six years ago)

I mean I think about something like Only Connect, which is unflashy and knowingly kitsch and intellectually demanding of its contestants and viewers, and how you would never see that on prime-time ITV in the same way

boxedjoy, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 15:19 (six years ago)

> they've lost a generation in Scotland

Maybe this will help

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1hx87NrNp3Y45hF2NyQDhFs/welcome-to-your-brand-new-television-channel-bbc-scotland

koogs, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 16:52 (six years ago)

BBC Scotland's Nine news will show 'world through Scottish eyes

lolling too hard to want to abolish these nobheads now

Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 16:57 (six years ago)

everyone pays for the BBC so it has to represent value-for-money for everyone and that puts it in the position where it has to do opposing things simultaneously, it has to speak to young and old, left and right, etc.

I feel like there are ways of doing balanced news in particular that don't just amount to "attempt to cover every bias at once" though.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 17:16 (six years ago)

Really worried about whoever the entire BBC1 daytime schedule except for Bargain Hunt is speaking to

Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 17:23 (six years ago)

100% agree with that - the Reithian principle of education and informing still stand and I think it's utterly ridiculous that eg the BBC News website gives any credibility to flat earthers

boxedjoy, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 17:25 (six years ago)

nick robinson vs salmond during indyref was all time classic beef

||||||||, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 17:38 (six years ago)

Jeremy_Vine_cowboy.gif

Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 17:39 (six years ago)

An academic on twitter refused to take part in R4s Moral Maze and:

In case you haven't been following: @PriyamvadaGopal published an email she had sent to the producer of The Moral Maze on BBC Radio 4, saying she wasn't happy to appear with a "known racist"; she didn't name names. The producer, in response, made it clear who the racist is. pic.twitter.com/nycAbRS07p

— Robert Hanks (@RobertHanks) February 13, 2019

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 18:12 (six years ago)

R4 sounds pretty awful most of the time (although a few ppl were vouching for its drama but Radio drama is really not my thing)

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 18:14 (six years ago)

Gogol's Dead Souls adaptation with Micheal Palin not tempt you sir!?

calzino, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 18:28 (six years ago)

haha nah I'm cool tx

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 18:32 (six years ago)

was watching an old 70's BBC series Alistair Cooke's America a couple of years back and was enjoying it + thinking: it sure helps when the writer/presenter puts some trust in the audience, rather than glassy faced mediocrities like Dan Snow condescending to them like they are all thick as pigshit, or just disseminating ultra dullsville conservative takes on history for ageing Mail readers.

calzino, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 20:08 (six years ago)

Dan Snow condescending to them like they are all thick as pigshit Dan Snow.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 20:19 (six years ago)

the half interesting ones, like Bartlett the medieval specialist for example. Get about 1 series a decade, to piss poor generalists like Dan Snow's half dozen.

calzino, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 20:40 (six years ago)

I hate the oh it was better in the olden days but there really is some amazing BBC documentaries , particularly the ARENA ones, that I have watched on youtube and I recently discovered some 70s and 80s interviews by Brtan Magee where its just him and his guest chatting on a couch discussing philosophers.
Such a great premise and I cant imagine the BBC running with it now.

Friedrich B. Neechy (Oor Neechy), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 20:55 (six years ago)

I think I remember those shows from when they were broadcast.

Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 20:58 (six years ago)

OH GOD HERE COMES ANDREW MARR SAVE ME PBS AMERICA

Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 20:59 (six years ago)

I've got a persistently annoying rash on my arse that I call Andrew Marr. But tbh it goes a lot deeper than that - I would seriously celebrate his death when it comes tbh. I know that probably sounds deeply unpleasant to outsiders and maybe other UK ppl, but this is what the BBC has done to me. That same peado-golem who got caught whispering "that was good" to Penny Mordaunt and also unwittingly showed his bullying game when he lost his shit under mild duress from Shami Chakrabarti is deffo one of the biggest BBC politico cunts next to Nick Robinson.

calzino, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 21:40 (six years ago)

I think asking Gordon Brown whether he was on anti-depressants was about as low as I've ever seen an interviewer stoop.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 21:47 (six years ago)

that outside no 10 broadcast he did stanning for Blair/Iraq as well.. what a snivelling piece of shit !

calzino, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 21:55 (six years ago)

Browsing radio 4. Do I want to listen to this or shoot off my toes and bathe the stumps in acid? pic.twitter.com/NNuqCu0bme

— Louie Stowell (@Louiestowell) February 13, 2019

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 22:17 (six years ago)

that program is like being the beef that j petersen eats, but being completely sentient and aware while he digests you and shits you out.

calzino, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 22:22 (six years ago)

I caught a bit of the moral maze when they were complaining that Hans Christian Anderson had written all the fairy tales and yet Disney kept adding non-white princesses. It was odd.

koogs, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 22:48 (six years ago)

wtf, what's that about?

Frederik B, Thursday, 14 February 2019 00:04 (six years ago)

i agree with a lot of the criticisms here.

what are people's specific beefs with Sounds? you can think of me as the glenn macdonald of Sounds.. i can tell you what i know and find out if i don't know.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 14 February 2019 09:57 (six years ago)

My technical beef with Sounds is that when I was trying to play The Ratline series it wouldn't play the episodes in sequential order, and when each 20 min ep finished I had to manually load the next ep. I can't remember if I had that problem before the revamp. i'm sure it didn't used to be in shuffle mode.

calzino, Thursday, 14 February 2019 10:32 (six years ago)

I don't get the point of Sounds. They have this huge archive of audio and it makes both recent radio and archive programmes much harder to find somehow. The search function is terrible and the front page is stacked with stuff nobody wants. It looks nicer but does a worse job than the radio iplayer app did.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 14 February 2019 10:36 (six years ago)

yes, good point. the search function is completely dysfunctional.

calzino, Thursday, 14 February 2019 10:38 (six years ago)

like if you type the EXACT name of the program you are looking it returns all sorts of other unrelated shit that isn't helpful at all.

calzino, Thursday, 14 February 2019 10:40 (six years ago)

Beefs with sounds:

No descriptions of shows

No original broadcast dates on shows - I was recently listing to a good doco about northern soul in japan which talked about the Wigan casino opening 40 years ago this year; its a good job I know a bit of northern souls history so know that 1979 is too late but the original TX date is 2013 and is necessary for placing the narrative in context.

I want to know which station shows were comissioned for - a 3 drama sounds different from a 4 one, and a world service doco is different from a 4 one.

Searching/browsing is terrible. I want to be able to filter by network - witness is a good strand but it dominates the documentaries category

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Thursday, 14 February 2019 10:45 (six years ago)

Ok, two of those things seem to have been fixed since I last used sounds.

American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Thursday, 14 February 2019 10:45 (six years ago)

when I was trying to play The Ratline series it wouldn't play the episodes in sequential order

this works on web, but not in the app. they are working on a fix.

The search function is terrible

yes :( this is in the hands of "the search team" in salford. the most important thing it to match the first few words of the title exactly. there are improvements coming to this but i have no idea when.

the front page is stacked with stuff nobody wants

the manual curation is geared towards under-35s. ;) but the front page is also filled with: algorithmic recommendations and "continue listening" which should be pretty specific to the sorts of things you listen to. the algorithm at the moment is fairly blunt - there is a lot of work being done to make this better. another big difference coming up is "segmentation" - where Sounds can serve up different curations to different audiences. currently everyone sees the same manual curations (similar to iPlayer). but fairly soon you will get a different mix of stuff on the front page if you're, say 60, than if you're 25. it can be tricky to get this stuff right because you don't want to immediately get served up The Archers and Gardener's Question Time the day you turn 35.

No descriptions of shows

No original broadcast dates on shows

Ed if i find Shine Like Tokyo (the doc you mention) in the app it has a full description. at the bottom of that description it says "first broadcast in 2013". it is true that the latter depends on the producer being wise enough to include that in the description - it's not a field that automatically gets pulled in in a structured way (though it does on web). others have complained about this too. i'll see what the plans are on that.

Searching/browsing is terrible. I want to be able to filter by network - witness is a good strand but it dominates the documentaries category

weirdly (to me) the categories at the bottom are more popular than the lovingly curated collections above them. even though they're just a bone-simple reverse chronological firehose of stuff that's been tagged with a particular genre. it's weird. so there are plans afoot to make those categories better.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 14 February 2019 11:02 (six years ago)

one thing that bugs the shit out of me is that upcoming episodes, that have not been broadcast yet, don't show you their descriptions - it's greyed out.

the people who designed it started from the principle that only playable audio should be accessible. if something wasn't playable it just wouldn't show up. including future episodes. at launch there weren't even schedules. they have backtracked on that a little but you can still see that principle at work.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 14 February 2019 11:05 (six years ago)

I think I remember those shows from when they were broadcast.

― Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 20:58

the 80s one I assume and not the 70s?

Mark S (who also inspired my Oor Neechy d/n) told me that he had the book with the transcriptions of the series. So I got one cheap on ebay.

btw did you know Bryan Magee was still alive?

Friedrich B. Neechy (Oor Neechy), Thursday, 14 February 2019 14:15 (six years ago)

this statement seems... ill-advised

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/14/bbc-attacked-for-failure-to-provide-abortion-advice

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 14 February 2019 22:43 (six years ago)

All part of the pathological obsession with being 'fair and balanced'.

large bananas pregnant (ledge), Friday, 15 February 2019 09:24 (six years ago)

NHS comeback was measured and otm but could have done with more spittle-flecked invective about what gormless fuck decided that free access to legal abortions is the "controversial" side of this "argument"

seriously hope somebody loses their job over this

Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Friday, 15 February 2019 09:27 (six years ago)

https://www.clashmusic.com/sites/default/files/field/image/bobby-gillespie.jpg

koogs, Friday, 15 February 2019 13:26 (six years ago)

His little setpiece speech about Churchill at the start of last night's show was nauseating - he's such a boilerplate West of Scotland Unionist Orange cunt.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Friday, 15 February 2019 13:42 (six years ago)

... and Andrew Neil's almost as bad.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Friday, 15 February 2019 13:42 (six years ago)

I would keep the show but just change everything about it.

nashwan, Friday, 15 February 2019 13:46 (six years ago)

whoever thought it would be a good idea to inject some humour into the show, with the comedic talents of portillo/postman twat really deserve a good shoeing.

calzino, Friday, 15 February 2019 13:46 (six years ago)

Can someone turn that pic of Boaby into an animated gif where he's nodding and giving a thumbs up?

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 15 February 2019 13:47 (six years ago)

(xp) That would be Andrew Neil.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Friday, 15 February 2019 13:48 (six years ago)

is Fraser Nelson going to be his replacement? the BBC fucking loves him.

calzino, Friday, 15 February 2019 13:53 (six years ago)

Wallcome taw this weeg's odition of Thus Weeg, I'm Freezer Nolson.

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Friday, 15 February 2019 13:58 (six years ago)

Isn't he that shit comedian?

CDU next Tuesday (Noodle Vague), Friday, 15 February 2019 14:08 (six years ago)

he is about as funny as most comedians with the added bonus of having a mystery daft accent that is NOT scottish, not fucking anything tbf!

calzino, Friday, 15 February 2019 14:14 (six years ago)

Oti Mabuse, Gillian Smart, Mishal Husain, Kawser Quamer and Alina Jenkins are the only reasons I wouldn't say television should be abolished altogether.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 February 2019 17:28 (six years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Sunday, 17 February 2019 00:01 (six years ago)

All Britain tensely awaits the verdict.

A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 17 February 2019 00:22 (six years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Monday, 18 February 2019 00:01 (six years ago)

Cheers break out in certain pubs in W1.

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 18 February 2019 02:08 (six years ago)

one month passes...

pic.twitter.com/zcNZpxboiV

— Peter Hampson (@IvansMeads) March 31, 2019

xyzzzz__, Monday, 1 April 2019 13:27 (six years ago)

Mentioning Orwell automatically means I'm sceptical of that post but there might be interesting bits of detail that explain, and it does name names.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 1 April 2019 13:28 (six years ago)

six months pass...

shouting at the sky, Kuenssbergs gonna Kuenssberg etc, and also I'm 2 days late, but I am not liking the wording in the bottom section of this at all
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49972097

"a fair hearing from the EU ... just doesn't appear to have happened"
"Sources say the EU ought to listen 'to the people who won the referendum, not the people who lost'"

accurate, impartial, independent and fair

a passing spacecadet, Thursday, 10 October 2019 11:09 (five years ago)

while I'm happy to be subsidising simpering CCHQ fanfic, maybe next time they ought to not make such a fuss when someone says the Klan man is possibly a bit racist.

calzino, Thursday, 10 October 2019 11:20 (five years ago)

one month passes...

So did they do good last night? Fiona Bruce also seemed ok? Wonder if there was more care or scrutiny with the QT special last night

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 23 November 2019 10:07 (five years ago)

corbyn’s manifesto has radicalised them

actor Robert de Niro disguised as an Uzbek homeopath (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 23 November 2019 10:08 (five years ago)

QT was good last night entirely because it wasn't at all like QT, we will be back to the usual rigmarole next week.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 23 November 2019 10:14 (five years ago)

Facebook Tories moaning like fuck about it, looking forward to being told in the pub

FBPRieu (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 23 November 2019 12:34 (five years ago)

Just watched it (skipped Sturgeon). Thought Fiona Bruce did a great job and I felt like everyone was properly held to account with an interesting range of policy questions.

(Lol at that fucking Morales melt tho')

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 23 November 2019 12:45 (five years ago)

Think there will be a lot of complaints sent in to the been about it from Tories. Don't know what a Lib Dem will do beyond hide under the sofa

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 23 November 2019 12:46 (five years ago)

they have been spoilt by years of a version of laughable public scrutiny in bbc studios that usually involves a back massage and a pre-broadcast agreement on what questions will be asked. They don't like it up 'em!

calzino, Saturday, 23 November 2019 12:50 (five years ago)

Emma Barnett is going to chair a 'young people's Question Time' on 9 December

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 23 November 2019 23:53 (five years ago)

bbc do have a tradition of letting blond haired lunatics loose on young people tbf

calzino, Saturday, 23 November 2019 23:58 (five years ago)

Just watched it (skipped Sturgeon)

Worth watching Sturgeon to see someone actually tell Fiona Bruce she's misinterpreting. It's a very good demonstration of what it looks like when a party leader believes what they're saying rather than parroting rehearsed lines and panicking when challenged or asked to deviate.

Anyway, we seen this doing the rounds on Twitter?

https://t.co/PjhAQsWLoH

ailsa, Sunday, 24 November 2019 10:03 (five years ago)

new polls looking v good for tories and v bad for Labour in scotland and resolutely unshifting for the Labour-Tory gap. i don’t know where you all find your optimism from.

there was at least some poll variance in 2017 but this seems resolutely unfavourable across the board including that MRP tracking done by Datapraxis. (i know it’s still only as good as the data that goes in but still).

Fizzles, Sunday, 24 November 2019 11:08 (five years ago)

wrong thread.

Fizzles, Sunday, 24 November 2019 11:09 (five years ago)

Wrong electorate

stet, Sunday, 24 November 2019 11:32 (five years ago)

Will try and watch Sturgeon later.

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 24 November 2019 11:36 (five years ago)

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/nov/24/jack-whitehall-review-o2-arena-london

this guy sounds absolutely hellish from this review.

" he has always come across as the Conservative party in standup form"

I don't know how much they pay this cunt but he sounds bad. A search shows he is all over the bbc and according to them is: "one of Britain's favourite comedians". He's a posh Tory cunt who does a tv show with his dad .. no wonder the UK is so fucked.

calzino, Monday, 25 November 2019 14:13 (five years ago)

I have been out of the UK for ages and back a couple of years and one thing I can't figure out is Jack Whitehall, is he supposed to be unfunny? Is he doing a parody of a posh guy who isn't funny but gets by on confidence alone? I feel like it isn't a joke, he is just that terrible, but then why is he always on TV, sometimes with people who are actually good? Do some people actually like him? Why?

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, February 25, 2019 12:03 AM (nine months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Bantz, fella. The Archbishop of Bantlebury. Lord Bantlington. Etc.

― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Monday, February 25, 2019 12:06 AM (nine months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Death to bantz, double death to posh boy bantz.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, February 25, 2019 12:16 AM (nine months ago) bookmarkflaglink

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 25 November 2019 14:43 (five years ago)

I've never knowingly seen him, but double death to posh boy bantz sounds good to me.

calzino, Monday, 25 November 2019 14:50 (five years ago)

the Brian Logan review of his 02 show is excellent stuff btw!

calzino, Monday, 25 November 2019 14:51 (five years ago)

He was actually good as an irritating clueless poshboy cunt in "Fresh Meat" but that was, er, acting.

'Skills' Wallace (Tom D.), Monday, 25 November 2019 18:07 (five years ago)

BBC making the biggest splash they can with this story, it seemed to take up the first 10 minutes of the 10 o'clock news on R4

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50552068

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 25 November 2019 23:14 (five years ago)

It's a shameless attack. Same w/ Laura K's "not saying just saying" tru colours, the editing out of the jeering of bojo, etc etc. I was never naive about the bbc, but I can't remember seeing them stan for the tories so much in such a short space of time, with such fervor.

Retroactively - given the last couple of weeks - I would really like to change my vote in this poll to a firm 'N' instead of my initial 'it's bad but 'Y''. Never thought it could be as bad as reported here, but it is. My new vote is:

Abolish the BBC: Y (but find a good home for Catherine Southon).

Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 25 November 2019 23:35 (five years ago)

*I was never naive about the bbc: I didn't watch enough to be convinced to watch less.

Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 25 November 2019 23:38 (five years ago)


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