Channel 4’s diversity hypocrisy

Some good news for the BBC: for once it’s not them causing bad headlines. Today’s latest shining example in public service broadcasting is offered by Channel 4. It seems that in their never-ending quest to boost their flagging ratings, producers have turned in desperation to a TV ‘personality’ with some rather unsavoury views. Go Back to Where You Came From is a new social experiment programme which airs next week. It aims to show ‘a group of Brits experiencing the life-threatening danger asylum seekers find themselves in’. It reportedly will show ‘the terror of small boat crossings’ – will it emphasise the illegality too?

One of those featured is Bushra Shaikh, a self-styled ‘political commentator’ whose main claim to fame seems to be in saying the downright stupid. Yesterday an Iraqi Christian who desecrated a Koran was murdered in Sweden. Shortly afterwards, Shaikh posted on X that ‘the public desecration of any holy book should be viewed as a hate crime and the offender should face consequences.’