The great Blue Peter voting scandal

The breaking news is that the BBC Blue Peter cat-naming scandal was even murkier than it first appeared. As the Beeb fessed up today, the true result of a viewer competition to choose the name of the cat – ‘Cookie’ was the people’s choice – was over-ridden by heartless Corporation executives who imposed the name ‘Socks’ instead. There are now sensational allegations of electoral fraud, as the inevitable blame game begins. Apparently, there was a suspicious late surge of votes in favour of ‘Cookie’, leading the heirs to Reith to conclude that they must intervene – a dubious decision which has now backfired spectacularly. As any parent knows, you don’t mess with children’s choice of name for an animal. To adapt Quentin Tarantino on messing with another man’s vehicle, You Just Don’t Do It. The BBC now proposes a grovelling apology and the addition of another cat called Cookie to the Blue Peter menagerie.