The Folies Farage

If ever a Twitter avatar told you everything you need to know about the bias of a particularly BBC programme then this is probably it:

That episode of 15 Minute Musical came not from The Folies Bergère but The Folies Farage. (Yes, that was the kind of joke you missed if you didn't listen to it).

The previous day's episode, Lady and the Trump, contained such quips as this (sung to of The Lady is a Tramp):

Hillary: "He don't like dark skins". Trump: "You got that right!"

Get Corbyn

It was interesting watching the early evening news bulletin on BBC One last night to see how they reported Sadiq Khan's inauguration as Mayor of London in Southwark Cathedral. They had three main angles on it: (1) that fact that the first Muslim mayor of a major European capital was "celebrating diversity" throughout his swearing-in; (2) the  criticism of the tone of the Conservatives campaign and, above all, (3) the absence of Jeremy Corbyn. 

Almost one minute of the less-than-two-and-a-half-minutes-long report was spent on the latter question, ending with BBC reporter Alex Forsyth saying:

It's undoubtedly a boost for Labour in another disappointing set of election results. But the fact that the new London mayor has distanced himself from Jeremy Corbyn means there's a limit to the credit the Labour leader can take for this victory. For now it belongs to the new face of London.

 Then it was back to the studio where Alex Forsyth discussed the same matter with newsreader Kate Silverton. The burning question on Kate's lips was, "How big a surprise was it that Jeremy Corbyn then wasn't there today?" Alex said it was "unusual" and "read into that what you will". She said "it raises questions" about How Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn will work together.  Then it was back briefly to the "growing criticism" of Zak Goldsmith's campaign.. The question there is whether it will damage to the Conservatives' appeal to ethnic minority groups.

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Incidentally, given that people weren't suppose to talk about Sadiq Khan's Muslim faith during the election, isn't it astonishing how much the BBC is mentioning his Muslim faith now? They've gone from barely mentioning it to never shutting up about it within the space of 24 hours.

"The Daily Mail, it's shit, isn't it?" Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Radio 4 comedians are a notoriously political lot. 

It's not that surprising then that a whole clutch of them - Mark Steel, "the renowned Jeremy Hardy" and 15 Minute Musical's Dave Cohen - is taking part in that dispiriting stunt, 'Bethlehem Unwrapped' (as Sue notes in her previous post.) Not surprising, but still depressing. 

The majority of Radio 4 comedians are on the Left politically and they aren't shy of expressing their political opinions on BBC programme after BBC programme - from The News Quiz to The Infinite Monkey Cage, from The Brig Society to The Mark Steel Lectures. We're even 'treated' to their opinions on the likes of I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue and Just a Minute.

Labour's David Blunkett has it right: “Sometimes actually it isn’t comedy, it’s comment and current affairs in the middle of what is supposed to be a comedy programme. There’s a bit more of that going on at the moment.” 

Nor are the Radio 4 comedians shy about being tediously predictable in their targets either: The Daily Mail, UKIP and Eurosceptics in general, the Bullingdon Club/Eton Tories, U.S. Republicans, coalition policies on the NHS and education, Putin, The Daily Mail, Michael Gove, and The Daily Mail. Oh, and for balance, Tony Blair. 

Just last night, for example, David Mitchell's The Unbelievable Truth (one of those 6.30 Radio 4 comedy shows) got less than twenty seconds into its stride before having a dig at The Daily Mail, and this was preceded by Dave Cohen's 15 Minute Musical, which had Michael Gove and his education reforms as its satirical target. 

15 Minute Musical is a clever concept and can be quite funny at times but, being a Radio 4 comedians' show, you always know where it will be coming from politically. There are never any surprises about that. 

The targets for this series have been Simon Cowell, Julian Assange, Nigel Farage, Morrissey, Michael Gove and (tonight) Vladimir Putin. 

The Julian Assange episode was, as you would expect, pretty sympathetic to the Wikileaker's cause. The Nigel Farage episode smeared UKIP as racist and its supporters as far-right and ended with a hymn to EU generosity towards the UK (as Nigel saw the error of his ways and embraced the EU) and the Michael Gove episode made all the usual cheap, left-wing digs about his educational reforms (as well as getting in a few of the usual Bullingdon Club references). Yes, the latter did also have a dig at Ed Balls, but for what? Yes, for promoting academy school - an attack, inevitably, from the Left.

The problem with the left-wing bias of the Radio 4 comedians is so acute (and so noticeable) that even the BBC - never an organisation to willingly 'fess up to bias - felt the need to admit that, yes, there is a problem. 

The defence offered by Caroline Raphael, Radio 4’s commissioning editor of comedy, was that it's "very difficult to find comedians from the right"...

...which, with a shrug of its shoulders, thereby excuses BBC Radio 4 of any responsibility for the problem.

As a result, on marches that monstrous regiment of Radio 4 comedians, free forever to make their endless jokes about The Daily Mail, how posh George Osborne is, how racist UKIP is, how stupid right-wingers (and religious Christians) are, etc, etc, etc, day in and day out, with no counterbalance from the Right (or religious Christians).

That's great for them, of course, but not so great for those who don't share their point of view. Or for the BBC's reputation for impartiality.