Archive for the ‘television’ Category
This Is Real Journalism. Honest And Heroic.
Russia Today presenter Abby Martin speaks out about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A brave woman, probably now unemployed.
Exposure. Britain’s Booming Cannabis Business.
WATCH HERE
Well I thought it was excellent. The only complaint I have is some wild and ridiculous claims about the value of cannabis plants. Other than that, the film did an excellent job of making the case for regulation. It must have been crystal clear to anyone watching it that present policy is idiotic, self-defeating and causes far more harm than it prevents.
Well Done Stuart!
My former colleague on the CLEAR executive, Stuart Warwick, was the star of the show. He came across as warm, humane and truly sensible. He was also the only man with the balls to show his face. Well done Stuart!
The dealers and grow robbers were blindfolded with their voices disguised. Even Orson Boon, promoter of the London Cannabis Club (LCC), was too scared to show his face. So it was ironic in the extreme that he stole the words I have published so often that “cannabis is not a subculture but a mainstream issue”. I admire the LCC’s entertaining Facebook page where it publishes some delicious photos of weed and buds but it is the very essence of the cannabis subculture. It is for the nerdy tomato grower when 99% of us buy them at the supermarket! This is exactly what needs to change.
All in all, a very good programme. I hope it does some good.
BBC Staff Display Rudeness And Ignorance Towards HM The Queen
I have seen nothing so shameful, crass and ignorant as the behaviour of staff in the BBC newsroom during the Queen’s visit today.
I saw not one bow, curtsey, nor even a bow of the head as Her Majesty passed by. Instead, in vulgar and embarrassing fashion virtually everyone was pointing their mobile phone, gawping, intruding, forgetting themselves. ‘Chav’ seems the perfect moniker for such individuals.
If this is the behaviour of well educated people at the world’s leading news organisation at the pinnacle of British cultural life then we are sadly diminished.
Masterchef. It’s My Secret Pleasure.
I love Masterchef. Every year, in every version: the original, professional, junior, celebrity – I’m sure they’ll come up with another one soon.
This is finals week and I never knew you could get teared up about cooking!
My hot tip is Natalie, the ‘common as muck’ but charming ingenue. Personality plays a big part.
It’s worth watching. The music, which reveals the rhythm of cooking, is a vital ingredient.
Witch Hunts. Self-Flagellation. Paedophilia. I Admire The BBC.
An extraordinary and bizarre event took place tonight between 10.30 pm and 10.35 pm.
Newsnight was running its lead story about Panorama’s story about Newsnight not doing a story about Jimmy Saville.
Five minutes later Panorama started its story about Newsnight not doing a story about Jimmy Saville.
Meanwhile on BBC News the lead story was Panorama, Newsnight, Panorama on Newsnight, Newsnight on Panorama on Newsnight.
You have to give the BBC due credit and respect.
Clearly bad things took place on its premises and under its auspices but the absurd level of guilt by association or even suspicion is pernicious and evil. MPs are grandstanding over it, including John Whittingdale, chair of the Culture select committee, whose politicking and pre-judgement of his own inquiry is disgraceful. Obviously the print media and other broadcasters are exploiting it for their own ends but I admire the BBC’s handling of the scandal. Any other media organisation would have covered it up.
The BBC is its own fiercest critic and I congratulate it for that.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and a dreadfully cruel thing for those who had the best intentions.
The Newsroom
This is a wonderful new HBO television series of the standard of the Wire, The Sopranos, ER and, most significantly, The West Wing. Its writer, the legendary Aaron Sorkin, also writes and produces The Newsroom. Official website here.
Emily Mortimer
It is beautifully done and sows so many seeds of so much plot and character potential in its first episode – and it gets even better in the second.
Emily Mortimer is gorgeous as the female lead. It amuses, irritates and then enrages me that this delightful British actress plays the noble American “land of the free” story but at least she doesn’t feign any accent and it’s clear she’s a Brit.
It starts as the Gulf of Mexico disaster is breaking news and it has a great, inspirational philosophy too – do you remember when we used to regard journalists as heroes and seekers after truth?
The Newsroom is exciting and very special.
Watch it.
Crimewatch On Prohibition
It’s not my favourite programme. It’s the BBC doing tabloid exploitation and sensationalising crime. Since Fiona Bruce was kicked off for being “too old” it’s lost all semblance of any dignity. I watched it tonight though and was struck how three out of four of the vile. disgusting crimes featured were all, quite obviously, the product of prohibition.
The first two were characterised by levels of risk or violence totally out or proportion to the potential gain – crack or smack heads in need of a fix or a pipe. The third was clearly a punishment attack over drug debts.
These evil crimes are the product of government policy. I make no apology nor claim any excuse for the scumbags that committed them but if prohibition was ended, the criminal markets were undercut , then there would be no motive for such evil. Those few that wished to destroy their lives could do so without being forced into crime against those innocents who choose a more productive and decent life.
It is the most absurd idiocy of modern government that this moral retribution against those who err is the cause of most crime in our society.
Is it not time that we opened our eyes and employed a touch of common sense?
The Most Immoral Man In Britain
Douglas Murray is an abomination. He is deeply, deeply corrupt, perverse and evil. I have long despised his disgusting attitudes but his perfomance on Question Time tonight was shameful. The BBC gives him an extraordinary amount of air time. Who is he doing what favours for? In the past year I have made four complaints about his behaviour on televison but, of course, the BBC complaints system, as so many know, is a self-serving deception and worse than useless.
The sickest joke of all is that Murray is the director of the Centre For Social Cohesion. There is no more divisive man in Britain.
Peter Reynolds 