Bbc

Tuesday

Steerpike

Calm down Dave: Eagle camp hits back over chopping board

What Dave said in his kitchen during an interview with the BBC has blown this week’s news agenda wide open, yet Mr S couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact the PM was in the kitchen at all. After Miliband’s ‘kitchenette’ spin gaffe last week, it was no coincidence that Dave and Sam invited James Lansdale to their plush Cotswold scullery. The contrast to Ed’s ‘bland’ kitchen – which Sarah Vine likened to ‘a Communist era housing block in Minsk’ – was obvious. Besides Cameron’s pre-resignation, what has got people talking is Dave’s ‘Calm Down Dear’ chopping board, which is clearly on display above the sink. Cameron got into hot water in 2011

Friday

Steerpike

Jeremy Clarkson rants about BBC at charity event: ‘I didn’t foresee my sacking’

Next week Lord Hall will read the BBC’s report into Jeremy Clarkson’s suspension from Top Gear and make a decision about Clarkson’s future. In light of this, Clarkson may well live to regret his night out at the Roundhouse gala. Mr S was a guest at last night’s charity fundraiser and witnessed Clarkson launching a foul-mouthed attack on the BBC over his alleged ‘fracas’ with a producer. The presenter got on stage at the glitzy bash and told the audience that the BBC were ‘f—ing b—–ds’, adding that by suspending him they had ‘f—ed themselves’. The comments came as Clarkson raised £100,000 for the arts charity, which helps young people in the creative industries, by offering attendees the chance to join

Thursday

Kate Chisholm

Radio is the best way to mug up on the classics

If ever I found myself at a pretentious literary party obliged to play David Lodge’s ‘Humiliation’ game and to confess to the great books I’ve never read, I’d only escape the ignominy of winning (by being the most ignorant) because of the radio and the almost weekly possibility of hearing yet another classic adapted as a drama or read at bedtime. The nuances of the novel may be lost in translation — the depth of characterisation, the complexities of the plot, its many threads and diversions — but a good adaptation will capture the essence, the true feeling of the original and take us there in our imaginations as effectively

Wednesday

Steerpike

Wolf Hall gets an American makeover

Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall documents the rise of Thomas Cromwell, one of history’s most famous anti-heroes. Chronicling Henry VIII’s ill-fated marriage to Anne Boleyn, it is just one of many accounts of life in Tudor times under Henry VIII. However as well known as the story may be, Mr S hears that there are fears it could be lost on Americans when the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Wolf Hall transfers from the West End to Broadway next month. The New York Post reports that producers have made some changes to the play in an attempt to make it more palatable to American audiences. Due to fears that the Tudor tale would be lost on Americans, the play has been shortened to make

Tuesday

Steerpike

Michael Dugher blasts Jeremy Clarkson following Top Gear incident

David Cameron came out in support for his old chum Jeremy Clarkson last week after he was suspended from Top Gear for allegedly punching a producer. Members of the opposition, however, appear to be in a less forgiving mood. Speaking at the LabourList pre-election conference, Michael Dugher criticised Clarkson for his actions saying that the idea that he could return to the BBC belongs in the ‘stone age’. ‘When you look at it, there’s a consistent pattern of pretty obnoxious, racist behaviour,’ the Labour MP said. He added that to call Clarkson a mere ‘idiot’ would be a compliment. This is not the first time that the shadow transport secretary has laid into the presenter. Last month, after Dugher

Monday

Ed West

What’s the point of the BBC if we no longer share common cultural values?

Is privatising BBC3 as bad as Isis’s destruction of Nineveh? That was the wonderfully trolling headline on a Stewart Lee piece in the Guardian over the weekend. He was making the point that even though BBC3 was not to his tastes it should be preserved because the Beeb is ‘the greatest cultural achievement of any 20th-century democracy’ and such diversity was part of its remit: In the wake of the licence freeze, the BBC plans to move the youth channel BBC3 online and halve its budget. As a middle-aged, middle-class man, I hate pretty much everything on BBC3. Snog Marry Avoid is just one of many BBC3 show titles that resist parody. The

Steerpike Steerpike

Is Ian Katz plotting a return to ‘snooooozepapers’?

With Katharine Viner guaranteed a final round interview to be the next Guardian editor-in-chief after winning a staff ballot, rumours are circulating that her former colleague Ian Katz is the other horse left in the race. Hot goss: final two in race for Guardian editorship are now @iankatz1000 and @KathViner, insider tells me. — Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) March 13, 2015 Katz left his role as deputy editor of the Guardian to join the BBC as Newsnight editor in 2013. At the time, it was reported that he had grown tired of waiting for Alan Rusbridger to step down as editor. If it is the case that Katz is in the final two, his interview with the

Thursday

Ed West

The abolition of anti-discrimination laws would prove how tolerant Britain had become

My mum once told me about a man she knew who’d come from a poor background and had no luck finding a job. He’d applied for over 400 positions but never got a response, but then he made one change to his CV and the next job he landed straight away. What did he do? He used a friend’s address, a friend who lived in a neighbouring postcode. The point of her story was that perseverance and lateral thinking will win out in the end, but what I took from it was that employers tend to choose people on arbitrary grounds. Postcodes are just one way in which employers use

James Walton

Poldark review: drama by committee

By my calculations, the remake of Poldark (BBC1, Sunday) is the first time BBC drama has returned to Cornwall since that famously mumbling Jamaica Inn — which may explain why even the lowliest yokel here tends to project from the diaphragm. Leading both the cast and the diaphragm-projection is Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark, initially seen as a British Redcoat in a wood rather unconvincingly captioned ‘Virginia, America, 1781’. The short scene that followed efficiently established that he had a rackety past and some politically radical ideas, before the American rebels attacked, leaving several extras dead. Ross himself suffered injuries bad enough to bring on a severe case of flashback,

Wednesday

Steerpike

BBC catering is enough to make anyone resort to violence

Yesterday Jeremy Clarkson was suspended from Top Gear by the BBC following a ‘fracas’ with a member of staff. Today, the Telegraph reports that the incident occurred on set in Newcastle after the Top Gear presenter grew angry about the lack of catering arrangements for the crew, allegedly leading him to punch a show producer. While sources close to Clarkson deny any punch-up occurred, the BBC are still pushing ahead with plans to drop the remaining Top Gear episodes from their broadcasting schedule. This has not gone down well with Clarkson, who appeared to let his feelings known when he retweeted an upset fan on Twitter: @JeremyClarkson how can @BBC not show the remaining episodes of

Tuesday

Rod Liddle

I suspected the ‘liberal’ fascists would eventually get Jeremy Clarkson

I read that Jeremy Clarkson had been suspended by the BBC for ‘a fracas’ with a producer. We don’t know what happened yet – but that hasn’t stopped my phone ringing with requests for interviews from Channel Four News (natch) and, yes, the BBC – the producers beside themselves with glee. And already one witless columnist – the staggeringly hopeless Deborah Orr in the Guardian, who nobody has ever read voluntarily – demanding Clarkson resign. Before this imbecilic woman knows even the slightest about what has taken place. Strike one up for the usual ‘liberal’ fascism. What’s he done? Dunno – but sack the bastard anyway. Evil, stupid, people. I

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Justine Miliband rushes to her husband’s defence

Justine Miliband has given an interview to the BBC, a sort of ‘back my husband, my hero’ contribution to the Labour election campaign. She starts by talking about the pressures on the family and how ‘being a working mother’, she hasn’t really had a chance to think about what it would be like for the family with Ed in Downing Street. ‘I’ve thought about this and I think it’s going to get worse, I think over the next couple of months it’s going to get really vicious, really personal, but I’m totally up for this fight and I’ve thought about the reason why and the reason is because I think

Steerpike Steerpike

Jeremy Clarkson suspended from Top Gear

Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended from Top Gear following an alleged ‘fracas’ with a producer. What’s more, there will be no episode airing this Sunday while the BBC looks into the incident. A BBC spokesman confirms the suspension: ‘Following a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation. No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. The BBC will be making no further comment at this time.’ While no more details are currently known regarding the incident, the news is likely to cheer Clarkson’s critics who have been calling for his suspension for some time now. Last year the Top

Thursday

Dot Wordsworth

How long is it since anniversaries stopped being measured in years?

‘You must promise to be with us for our silver wedding D.V. which will be in four years,’ wrote Queen Victoria in February 1861 to her daughter Vicky in Prussia, where her husband had just become Crown Prince. But D was not V, and dear Albert was dead before the year was out. I think the German connection is relevant here to the use of silver wedding, for mother and daughter would both have been familiar with the notion of a silberhochzeit. Silver wedding had not long been in English usage, although, in the late 18th century, some people aware of German customs used the phrase silver feast. I was

Toby Young Toby Young

My plan for Question Time: mug up and fail anyway

I was invited on Question Time this week, which gave me a few sleepless nights. Natalie Bennett’s disastrous interview on LBC was a reminder that appearing on a current affairs programme in this febrile pre-election environment can be a bit of a minefield. Admittedly, I’m not the leader of a political party but that’s no guarantee I won’t make a fool of myself — a moment that will be preserved for ever on YouTube. There are no opportunities for glory on Question Time, but plenty for embarrassment. The most you can hope for is to get through the experience in one piece. By now you may well have seen what

Steerpike Steerpike

Revealed: Emily Maitlis’s hairdressing dream

Mr S was a guest at last night’s Grazia ‘News at 10’ panel discussion, where Christina Lamb, Jayne Secker, Sue Turton, Emily Maitlis and Mishal Husain discussed their experiences as female newsreaders. For Maitlis, however, talk turned away from journalism and onto her first choice of career: ‘I never envisaged myself being a journalist – I was committed to being a hairdresser from the age of 14. My parents had a heart-attack.’ While her dream is yet to be fulfilled, the Newsnight presenter did manage to find work at a young age as the ‘world’s worst radio reporter’. ‘My first job was in radio – and I was the world’s worst radio reporter. Every

James Delingpole James Delingpole

The Great European Disaster on BBC4 reviewed: propaganda worthy of Leni Riefenstahl

My favourite bit of The Great European Disaster (BBC4, Sunday) was the lingering shot that showed golden heads of corn stirring gently in the breeze. It was captioned ‘Europe’. I cannot even begin to describe what a powerful effect this had on my subconscious. It was worthy of Leni Riefenstahl. Indeed, when I experimentally turned off the colour, it was Leni Riefenstahl. ‘Bloody hell!’ I thought to myself. ‘Suddenly it all makes sense.’ But my journey of discovery and enlightenment was only just beginning. I haven’t yet told you what the Ukrainian peasant said. I forget his exact words, but it was something along the lines of, ‘When I think

Wednesday

Lara Prendergast

An uncomfortable interview for India

British film-maker Leslee Udwin’s video interview with one of the Delhi rapists may not make for comforting viewing, but there are some home truths in there that must be faced up to. In the past hour, the Indian government has banned the video – a move which is both cowardly and futile. They fear the rapist’s remarks that he has ‘no remorse’, and that he ‘blames the victim for fighting back’ might create ‘an atmosphere of fear and tension’. In the West, a similar message is being touted around: that the rapist should never have been given a platform. Don’t show the video and allow him to justify his actions. I visited Delhi’s

Sunday

Fraser Nelson

Måns Zelmerlöw’s ‘Heroes’ shows why Sweden rules the pop world

This is a blog written after the first screening of Måns Zelmerlöw’s Heroes, which went on to win the Swedish nomination and the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. The world’s most-watched cultural event is some time away, but for Eurovision affectionados the entertainment has started already. Britain and Sweden are the continent’s two greatest exporters of pop music, but the UK Eurovision contestant is annointed by the BBC whose institutional snobbishness and soft xenophobia prevents it from understanding the contest. Sweden asks Swedes to choose from one of 28 entries in a six-stage event called Melody Festival, now in full flow. For MelFest, a song starts with songwriters. They’re celebrated, and shown on camera before the performer gets going. A song that wins Eurovision

Thursday

Alex Krasodomski

Monitoring social media is easier said than done

The three British girls who packed their bags and took a flight to Turkey have apparently crossed the border into Syria. Their intention seems to be to join the Islamic State and it looks like they may have succeeded. It emerged over the weekend that there had been contact between one of the girls and Aqsa Mahmood, a Scottish woman who travelled to Syria herself. Initially communicating through Twitter, it appears Mahmood played a role in their journey to Turkey and now into the heart of the conflict in Syria. Criticism turned on the security services: according to Aamer Anwar, the lawyer for the family of Aqsa Mahmood, they are not even doing the