Posted in TV/Radio

Statement on my BBC Radio 4 interview

Lunch with

Yesterday, the BBC aired an interview with me as part of its occasional “At lunch with…” series. The full episode was 18 minutes long and a shorter version appeared on the PM program on Radio 4.

In the interview, I said that under the New Labour project, we alienated millions of our core voters, who have gone over to other parties or to not voting. I then said that Jeremy Corbyn could win them back. This statement has been presented by some as criticism of Jeremy by saying he could, rather than has already, won back these voters. My comments were not a criticism but a statement of how important Jeremy’s leadership is to the party. He can win back these lost voters, and we are on a path to do so but we are not complacent about the task ahead. Continue reading →

‘Genius of the modern world’ or hackery at the BBC?

 

Karl Marx in 1861

Karl Marx in 1861

A new BBC Channel Four series on Genius of the modern world was launched on Thursday 16th June. The series is  to deal with Marx, Nietzsche and Freud – one 60 minute programme for each. The presenter of the programmes is historian Bettany Hughes (BH). In the opening passages BH says that her three geniuses “still shape how we make sense of our lives today”. This first programme is on Marx. (Programme transcript.)

Before getting into any detail we encounter the first warning notice: “Marxist ideology claimed to be liberating but led to dreadful suffering and brought superpowers to the brink of Armageddon”. This is already enough to make the viewer think that if Marx was a genius he was probably one of the mad variety. Continue reading →

Question Time and the the BBC’s problem with black people

David LammyDavid Lammy early this month made waves in theQuestion Time obsessives’ community by pointing out how limited the panel composition is. He wrote:

Within the meagre 9.2% of Question Time slots filled by a BAME panellist, there is a staggering lack of diversity. Black women have appeared just 16 times in five years, and 12 of those appearances have been made by Diane Abbott. Another two appearances were by South African black female politicians during the Question Time South Africa special in 2013. Bonnie Greer has appeared twice. There are about 1 million black women in Britain.

Similarly, almost 50% of the appearances made by black men were by Chuka Umunna. Together, it means that just two people have filled well over half of the slots given to black guests since 2010. As talented as they are, Diane and Chuka cannot speak for the entirety of Britain’s diverse black communities, just as Alan Johnson and Caroline Flint should not have to be the sole voices of the white working-class.

There is a similar lack of diversity when it comes to guests of Asian heritage. Again, the same few names dominate: Mehdi Hasan and Baroness Warsi, for example, have filled almost a third of the guest slots filled by British Asians. Analysis of the available data shows that, of the 63 appearances made by British Asian guests, just four have been by people of Hindu heritage. That’s 0.3% of total guest slots – five times less than we should expect given the UK population is 1.5% Hindu. Britain’s half a million Sikhs are also woefully under-represented.

Continue reading →

Why the Establishment loves Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy ClarksonPetrolheads everywhere, sob into your empty oil cans. For Top Gear is, as was, no more. The verdict couldn’t have been anything else. Whatever you might think about Jeremy Clarkson, which in my case is not a lot, it was impossible even for him to cling on to his job after a 20 minute tirade, followed by a 30 second assault – all because a steak dinner wasn’t available. At a stroke, Clarkson became a demi-god to babymen everywhere but cost him a prestige job and an international audience numbering in the tens of millions. Continue reading →

Time to empty-chair debate-dodging Dave?

empty-chairThe weak man of British politics is at it again. Having moved heaven and earth to try and avoid the television debates, Dave has now condescended to appear in a single contest with six other party leaders. In what can only be described as some of the barest face lies I’ve ever seen the witless Grant Shapps utter, on today’s Daily Politics he charged the broadcasters with the muddle. Never mind that Dave’s been body swerving this with the deft of a Conservative donor expecting a tax bill. Never mind CCHQ has thrown a Kalahari’s worth of sand into the face of the broadcasters to prevent this from happening.

As far as I’m concerned, I am of the school that the debates can suck life from an election campaign. A chance for an audience to interrogate leaders as per special Question Time episodes in 2001 and 2005 are preferable, in my opinion. However, the genie’s out the bottle and it is undeniable that in 2010 the debates reached a much wider audience than the 65% who did turn out. Anything that encourages political participation, even if it’s only voting, has to be take seriously and encouraged even if it runs counter to one’s own (slightly geeky) preferences. Continue reading →