The BBC and a 21st-century media madness

The story of the famous BBC television presenter who, at the time of writing, has still not been named, has all the elements of 21st-century-media madness – something allegedly sexual which may or not involve a person too young for such things; a desperate hue and cry to see who will dare to name the accused first; anonymous accusers; a clash between strong legal rules about the accused’s anonymity and the strong social media custom of ignoring them; a confusion as to whether the ‘victim’ is a victim or whether he/she even believes he/she is a victim; gabby lawyers; the Sun; an angry mum; a stepfather; ‘fresh allegations’; a ‘concerned’ government which does not exactly know what it is concerned about; show-off MPs who want to use parliamentary privilege to name the accused; a perplexed police wondering whether a crime has been committed; a ‘suspension’; a frightened BBC which says it may have ‘some learnings’ [whatever happened to the word ‘lessons’?] from the case; a lack of facts, and a readiness to comment all the same. I suppose this little item is itself another example of the last phenomenon.

If one complained about every example of woke, one would send oneself mad and everyone else to sleep. For this reason, I forbore to comment on the fact that, for the whole of Pride month, Coutts Bank filled its entire front in the Strand with an enormous piece of propaganda. Having walked past it a dozen times, however, I stopped to read what it actually said. I decided I would pass it on. The enormous headline, framed by the Adelphi stucco, said ‘CHAMPIONING THE POWER OF PRIDE’. ‘What started as a riot,’ it continued, ‘ignited an unstoppable force for good.’ Further elucidation followed: ‘We believe everything we do should play a part in benefitting the environment and people of all identities and backgrounds.