This week's Dead Ringers was a bit of a dud (no offence), but this bit made me laugh:
Gabby Logan: Mo, a win in your next race could make you the first athlete in history to achieve a triple-double. What's your secret?
Mo Farah: Well, I've always kept it under my hat but as you asked nicely, miss, I'm happy to reveal my secret to success: I move my legs really fast.
Gabby Logan: Right, but surely it can't just be that?
Mo Farah: Well, of course, obviously I don't just move my legs really fast. That would be silly. I also make sure my feet are really fast as well.
Gabby Logan: Genius. And how do you recover from falling over, like you did in the semi-final?
Mo Farah: You know, it was tough but I always remember what my coach taught me. He said: If you almost fall, just don't and then run really fast to the end.
The Dead Ringers writer clearly fails completely to understand the austere beauty of a 10,000 metres competition.
ReplyDeleteThey laughed at Dead Ringers’ sketch about Mo Farrah. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34089451
ReplyDelete..........they’re not laughing now!
(Apols. to Bob Monkhouse)
“What's his secret? Is the way to win at sprinting to move your legs faster than your rivals do?”
As we social media aficionados say: Lol!
DeleteApologies for being off topic, but I just saw this in the Telegraph:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11829351/Ignore-the-histrionics-Cameron-cant-bothered-to-take-on-the-BBC.html
Fraser Nelson lets out a little insider info that I believe is yet more evidence of my charge of the BBC colluding with the Government over the public relations war over the license fee and the BBC's budget. As I have alleged, Cameron and Tory leadership have no interest in even remotely reforming the BBC. All he cares about is getting less negative coverage, and it apparently works.
The scam works as follows:
Cameron talks tough (actually, I think Osborne did more) about the BBC during the election campaign. Tories win and Cameron appoints Whittingdale to talk tough about the BBC. The BBC gets to go on a public "You Love Your National Treasure" campaign, and all the Beeboids and celebutards who take the BBC shilling get to signal their virtue in a public campaign to save the BBC.
Behind the scenes, Tony Hall is colluding with No. 10 on the issues of ISIS and the new budget deal. This is all kept very quiet. Only a handful of people are aware of all of this. The staff are fed tales of their worst nightmares possibly coming true if they don't help get the word out to save the BBC and fight the nasty Tories. Cameron then makes a public statement that the BBC should take the 'Islam' out of the 'Islamic State', even though the BBC has essentially had that policy in place for about two weeks. Then the BBC gets to scream bloody murder in public about the nasty Tories pressuring them to report a certain way. They get to make a strong public defense of their so-called editorial independence, the "You Love Your National Treasure" campaign adds "Don't Let the Nasty Tories and Enemies on the Right Destroy Your National Treasure" to the hymn sheet. Danny Cohen gets a bunch of celebutards who take the BBC shilling to sign a "We Love Our National Treasure" letter. Without actually doing anything, Cameron gets to appear tough on the BBC and please some backbenchers who inexplicably (to him and Fraser Nelson) don't much like some things the BBC does. In turn, the BBC gets a whole new round of love from the media and steps up the campaign.
The new BBC deal is made public, and both No. 10 and the BBC spin it as an absolute disaster for the BBC, the nasty Tories making the National Treasure take a huge cut and they have to sell some of the furniture and the silverware, and they're not sure they can afford to have grandma stay with them any longer and might have to be put out on the street to starve. The campaign to save the BBC from this phantasm continues apace, the most recent propaganda piece being some project getting people to express their love for the BBC after not watching or listening to any output for a few days.
Kept very quiet is the fact - and it is a fact - that the BBC will actually come out ahead in the end with this new deal, and Cameron is going to leave it at that. Tony Hall and James Harding can set about reducing a handful of middle management positions while adding more up top, and generally ITV-ising the BBC structure with all their old friends, reshaping rather than truly reforming it and cutting it down to a sensible size. There will never be the kind of purge of personnel who are responsible for most of the BBC's integrity problem. Both No. 10 and the BBC get to spin the whole thing for their own benefit, and nothing changes. Cameron gets a little less strident coverage, the BBC gets to stay on the gravy train with no fear of being broken up or privatized, and the establishment Beeboids keep their status and lifestyle.
Good analysis.
DeleteBut I am unsure the Tories are gaining as much as they think they are in this pact with Tony, Rona, Danny, James, etc.
Because it looks, sounds and smells like a stitch up.
And when it's one this obvious folk feel cheated and patronised, and that can have a nasty effect when making voting decisions.
Assuming a credible alternative does emerge, the Tories had their chance with me, and have blown it.
The Tories already got what they wanted, as far as I can tell. It wasn't much, but they didn't need much. The BBC is already on the same side as Cameron on four important issues: mass immigration, 'Nowt to Do With Islam', the EU, and keeping the BBC as intact and funded as possible. All Cameron required was a little spin and for the BBC brass to act their part in the kabuki play.
DeleteI'm actually surprised nobody else is noticing this.