Déjà vu

I'm getting a slight sense of déjà vu on reading Steerpike's latest piece at The Spectator - especially the last pair of paragraphs [and the last paragraph in particular]. 

It's mostly what you heard here at ITBB 24 hours ago, but with added juicy detail from the Speccie.

If Mr S. is partly copying us I'd happily invite him to continue to 'borrow' as much as he likes. Share and share alike in a good cause after all. Nothing here is copyrighted. 

It could, of course, just be a highly likely coincidence of people reacting the same way. 

Anyhow, Mr Steerpike turns out to be even meaner to the BBC than we were yesterday because he forgets Mayor Khan's involvement and blames it all on the BBC. Mayor Khan deserves some of the blame too: 

Watch: BBC’s cringe New Year monologue 

Some accuse Britain of being a mawkishly sentimental nation. So what better rejoinder could be offered to that than the BBC's New Year's Eve fireworks display, when an army of drones spelled out the letters 'NHS' in the sky. As Big Ben struck midnight yesterday, actor Giles Terera recited a poem more twee than a tea commercial, eulogising the country's supposed 'achievements' in 2021. For nothing screams progress like a Hamilton actor performing a YouTube star's piece about COP26 on the Millennium Bridge.

Emphasising every word as if it were crafted by Shakespeare himself, Terera did his best with a structure that managed to rhyme 'vaccination' with 'nation' and Tom Daley's 'cardie' with 'camaraderie.' All the usual nods were there: Marcus Rashford's free school meals. Drink. Our NHS heroes. Drink. The Glasgow climate change conference. Drink. All we needed was a stammering Hugh Grant and an Oasis backing track to round off the Brit-Popping vibe, given the strong echoes of the London Olympics.

Forget 2022: it appears that half the cultural elite want to turn the clock back to 2012.

“Vaccination/nation”

  

I didn't watch the New Year on TV. I listened to a piece of Vaughan Williams I'd never heard before and read the chapter on Carlisle railway station in Simon Jenkins's Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations. [I certainly know how to party]. 

Catching up on the BBC One/Sadiq Khan midnight offering just now made me smile. The first bit of doggerel reminded me of McGonagall - long lines in pursuit of a rhyme [new/2022, come/2021, vaccination/nation, seen/18, camaraderie/cardie, heals/free school meals]. 

The verse asked us to “relish the magnificent things we achieved in 2021” - very BBC/Sadiq Khan things by and large:

We rallied round our NHS heroes as they rolled out the vaccination./ And stood beside our Three Lions, heads raised and proud - united, together, as a nation./ We won 124 Paralympic medals, one of the greatest hauls we've ever seen./ And our star Emma Raducanu won the US Open, and she's only 18!/ We saw the return of live events and reclaimed companionship and camaraderie./ Tom Daley took home gold and still found time to knit a cardie!/ COP26 convened in Glasgow, aspiring to build a world that heals./ And Marcus Rashford and his fans gave out 21 million free school meals!

The commentary continued by looking forward to the England women's football team going one better than the men's this year and in place of last year's controversial BLM black first in the sky contented itself by the voice-over earnestly saying, “The players take the knee united in their stance against racism.”

UnHerd's Mary Harrington captured it all rather brilliantly in a tweet: 

2012-style Danny Boyle nationalism is alive and well inside the M25 time capsule.

And for the BBC that's just perfect to welcome the nation to 2022.

''Why do some horrors cause outrage and others do not?''

This is an important exchange about a horrific incident that took place on 24 July:

Benedict Spence, writer and commentator - I’m still staggered that the death of a woman who was set on fire in a street in England isn’t the biggest story in the country. 

Benedict Spence - Civilised people should be appalled and enraged by this primitive savagery in our midst. Everyone needs to know this happened. 

Ben Cobley, author of The Tribe - On the contrary, it is not in the least bit surprising.  

Stella Coppard - Cold blooded premeditated murder & it is almost hidden from mainstream news channels. Shame on them. The pain & horror this women suffered is unthinkable. NOTHING honourable about murder, downright malicious evil.

Lord Milton Damerel - I'm even more amazed that MPs such as Jess Phillips who've worked so hard to highlight violence toward women, don't seem interested. Of all the atrocities we've seen in the news this needs to be spoken of in Parliament.

And this is a telling question:

Emma Webb, The Free Speech Union - A Muslim woman from Bury has died after she was found on fire in the street. Three men in their 20s and 30s have been arrested. It’s barely been covered. Why do some horrors cause outrage and others do not?  

As far as I can see, searching via TVEyes, this story has received no coverage on BBC One or BBC Two's national news programmes and just two brief mentions on the BBC News Channel on 24 July at 7.14pm and 8.14pm. North West Tonight, the BBC local news programme hereabouts, also gave it two short mentions on 24 July, adding little but the ages of the victim and the three men arrested.

A Modest Proposal

 

Champagne may be being readied at the BBC with the news that Ofcom wants to give the corporation much greater freedom to set their own programming targets free from the 148 quotas which presently require them to provide certain amounts of public service programmes - i.e. arts, religion, documentaries, etc. 

This would allow the BBC to to set it own targets and mark its own homework, and to use its £3.5 billion a year in licence fee funding to become even more like its commercial rivals and even less like a public service broadcaster.

Last Saturday, BBC One viewers saw Celebrity Mastermind followed by Celebrity Catchpoint followed by Celebrity The Wall followed by Pointless Celebrities. With any luck, thanks to Ofcom, they could soon be enjoying Celebrity BBC Weekend News read by Michael McIntyre. The news department could select ten stories to cover and 'spin the wheel' to decide which ones are covered and the order they're covered. BBC reporters like Mark Easton and Orla Guerin could then emerge through dry ice and talk about how awful things are and then wave goodbye to the audience at the end of their reports to lift viewers' spirits again.

Viewers in Scotland...

 

Curiously, BBC One viewers in Scotland are still being treated to the Scottish government's daily coronavirus updates, without fail. 

Nicola Sturgeon's political opponents remain aghast at that. 

There was another one today of course, broadcast live in yet another BBC Scotland News Special. 

(They're hardly special, as they happen nearly every day, except weekends).

In contrast, today's UK government coronavirus update from Downing Street was dropped from BBC One and relegated to the BBC News Channel. 

What's the BBC's thinking here?

The BBC's Real Official New Year's Message

I didn't know this until Charlie mentioned it, but between Doctor Who (which I watched, and after which I immediately switched the TV off) and Eastenders on New Year's Day came an extra item - a New Year's message, not from the Queen, or the Prime Minister, or the Archbishop of Canterbury, but from Sir David Attenborough, the patron saint of the BBC. And it was a campaigning message too:

Hello. I'm David Attenborough. I'm speaking to you from my home because, like many of you, I've spent much of the last year indoors, away from friends, family, and access to the natural world. It's been a challenging few months for many of us but the reaction to these extraordinary times has proved that when we work together, there is no limit to what we can accomplish. Today we are experiencing environmental change as never before. And the need to take action has never been more urgent. This year, the world will gather in Glasgow for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. It's a crucial moment in our history. This could be a year for positive change, for ourselves... ..for our planet... ..and for the wonderful creatures with which we share it. A year the world could remember proudly and say we made a difference. As we make our New Year's resolutions, let's think about what each of us could do - what positive changes could we make in our own lives? So here's to a brighter year ahead. Let's make 2021 a happy New Year for all the inhabitants of our perfect planet.

Just as The World at One was signalling yesterday that it approves of Black Live Matter, so BBC One couldn't let New Year's Day pass without signalling its commitment to urgent action on climate change at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. 

Admittedly, probably because Doctor Who isn't what it used to be, the audience for this was under 5 million, so its reach wasn't anywhere near what it would have been even a few years back.  

On which theme, here's the BBC's Lizo Mzimba:

The Doctor Who New Year special Revolution of the Daleks was the BBC's most watched show last night with an overnight audience of 4.69 million. The two most watched programmes overall were ITV's Coronation Street with 5.02m and the ITV Evening News won the night with 5.54m.

Lizo then added a coda:  

Doctor Who's overnight figure is up by almost a million from the previous episode, March's series 12 finale The Timeless Children.

This is an area I know a bit about. The Timeless Children was the second lowest-watched Doctor Who ever, only beaten by the episode which preceded it. It 'achieved' a meagre 3.78 million viewers. Jodie Whittaker's first episode had got 8.2 million viewers, so the programme had lost some 4.4 million viewers under her - and showrunner Chris Chibnall's - tenure. Doctor Who seasonal one-offs always get higher figures. Peter Capaldi got 6.34 million for his in 2014. This year's 4.69 million, therefore, is dire for Doctor Who. To say it isn't the audience-puller it used to be is a considerable understatement. 

So Sir David's homily won't have been seen by the VAST majority of the public, and those catching up with Doctor Who on the iPlayer won't be catching it either.

The BBC doesn't have the reach it used to have.

More...

 

Former children's (and Dads') favourite Jenny Powell wasn't impressed with BBC One/Mayor Khan's New Year celebrations, tweeting:

What soulless propaganda on  BBC 1 to see in the New Year. Just awful.  

From most of the responses, she clearly struck a chord, including one saying, "Is there any wonder people are calling for the BBC to be defunded. That was not a celebration of joy." 

P.S. Besides the 'woke' NHS tributes, the BLM fist salutes, the 'colours of the EU flag' and the climate change lecture, no one sang the traditional Auld Lang Syne.

First footing

 

For those who missed BBC One welcoming in 2021, here's a transcript courtesy of TV Eyes. There was coronovirus, lots of celebrating the NHS, clapping for carers, Captain Tom, support for Black Lives Matter and a final homily from Sir David Attenborough. Could it have been more 'BBC'?

(The BBC worked with London mayor Sadiq Khan).

Wonder how many people enjoyed being lectured at midnight on New Year's Day?

*******

This programme contains scenes of Repetitive Flashing Images MUSIC: End of The Year Theme by On The Sly 10...9...8...7...6...5... 4...3...2...1. BIG BEN STRIKES THE HOUR MUSIC: Let's Dance by David Bowie MUSIC: Firework Elements by On The Sly In the year of 2020, a new virus came our way. We knew but must be done and so to help, we hid away. Old habits became extinct and they made way for the new, and every single act of kindness was now given its due. The Nightingale Hospital, based at the ExCel exhibition centre in London, was constructed in just nine days. Buildings were lit up in blue, the colour of the NHS. _ I will leave the light on _ If you look into the distance, there's a house upon the hill _ Guiding like a lighthouse to a place where you'll be _ Safe to feel our grace _ And if you've lost your way _ If you've lost your way _ I will leave the light on _. MUSIC: Take Care Of You by Ella Henderson _ Oh, I'll take care, take care of you _ And I'll do the things that no one else will do..._ Thousands of people opened their windows and doors to applaud NHS staff who are working on the front line of this coronavirus crisis. In residential streets across the UK, people have come onto their doorsteps to clap for carers. _ Oh, I'll take care, take care of you..._ Thank you, NHS heroes! _ Take care of you _ And I'll do the things _ Yeah, I'll do the things that no one else will do _ Oh, I'll take care, take care of you..._ Captain Tom Moore set out to raise £1,000 for the NHS. He's raised just a little bit more than that. He's a 99-year-old war vet, he's a one-man fundraising machine. Thanks, Captain Tom! _ I'll be there, I'll be there for you _ Oh, I swear, I got enough love for two _ You'll never be alone, I'll be there for you _. Thank you all very much. _ Hello... _ Is it me you're looking for?_ We're living in a world now where working from home, that teleworking phenomenon, is something we all have to deal with. Let's just join you into the meeting. Yes, I can see you. Hang on... No, you're on mute. MUSIC: Love and Hate by Michael Kiwanuka So many of the nurses, and doctors and consultants as well as cleaners, the helping hands guiding us through this storm, are black, Asian, and minority ethnic. The future holds unexposed danger, but no stress. Humankind is no stranger to progress. And as we've proven, when we collaborate, progress follows fast. This is one voice with one message - Black Lives Matter. _ Lord, I've been broken _ Although I'm not worthy _ You fixed me, I'm blinded _ By your grace _ You came and saved me..._ 2020, a year we'll never forget, but we can make the new year a year of hope. _ Gather the rainbow _ Make you wanna move your dancing feet now... _ Dancing in the moonlight _ I'm a rainbow too, I'm a rainbow too _. _ And I said, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights _ No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch _ I said, ooh, I'm drowning in the night _ Oh, when I'm like this, you're the one I trust... _ Say my name _ And every colour illuminates _ We are shining _ And we will never be afraid again _ Say my name _ As every colour illuminates _ We are shining..._ _ But my heart goes _ Cos my heart goes _ Bum bum bum da bum _ Oh my God, oh my God _ This feeling's just begun _ I'm saying things I've never said _ Doing things I've never done _ But my heart goes _ Oh my God, oh my God _ When I see you I should run _ But I'm frozen in motion _ And my head tells me to stop bum, bum bum bum da bum _ But my heart goes..._ MUSIC: Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall by Coldplay. _ I turn the music up _ Is a waterfall _ Every tear, every tear _ Is a waterfall..._ MUSIC: Chilled Lang Syne by Jason Creasey SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Happy New Year. Our planet is unique - a living world of diversity and wonder. It's also fragile. With a new year comes the opportunity for change, and if we act in 2021, we can make a world of difference. Together, we can turn things around. Together, we can restore our fragile home and make it a happy new year for all the inhabitants of Planet Earth.

Ratings

       

How fascinating that Her Majesty the Queen's 2020 Christmas message beat everything else to win the annual Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (Barb) ratings prize on Christmas Day! 

Though she crossed channels, on the BBC figures alone Good Queen Elizabeth beat Call the Midwife, the revived Blankety Blank, Strictly Come Dancing and Michael McIntyre's The Wheel by almost a million viewers. 

The licence-fee-funded BBC claimed victory over its commercial rivals though because it got all the the non-royal top spots, with ITV's Coronation Street coming into sixth. 

Alas for the BBC though, former Christmas ratings giant Eastenders fell behind ITV's Emmerdale - and even behind the BBC programme BBC defenders are allowed to hate: Mrs Brown's Boys. 

Still, here's Kate Phillips, the acting controller of BBC One, crowing about the ratings:

BBC One had the most popular show on Christmas Day as audiences escaped to Poplar for the Call the Midwife special. 

I’m really proud of the range and quality of programmes we’ve shown across this special day. BBC One entertained the nation and provided something for everyone to enjoy after a particularly difficult year.

Don't forget though Kate. "Everyone" didn't watch your channel. 

Far from it in fact: All the four non-royal BBC programmes in the Top 5 ranged between 5.43 million and 4.66 million - under 10% of the UK population. Back in 1986 Eastenders on Christmas Day claimed 30.15 million viewers. Is 5.43 million for your top Christmas Day show this year really something to crow about, Kate?

Oddly, because of family circumstances, I did watch The Wheel and Blankety Blank. (I know!)

It's the first blog of the year

So what should we post as our very first post of 2020? 

Well, here's something that's happening right now...

I've switched on BBC One and am seeing the BBC at its most self-indulgent. It's New Years Day primetime evening BBC One viewing and the BBC is paying tribute to 'Miranda', a minor hit on BBC Two a decade ago, and they've booked a massive hall and a cast of thousands  - at, doubtless, ridiculous expense - to do it. 

Seriously, BBC, why? 

And, just as seriously, why am I even watching it? 

To tell the truth, I'm locked in a tense philosophical discussion with myself this evening. I can't decide who deserves a dose of nirovirus more: everyone involved in this grim, back-slapping piece of BBC death-by-chocolate, or me for watching it.

*******

Ah, Twitter - where the damned float on eternally. 

I didn't want to start the first post of the year with something about Twitter, so I waited a few paragraphs. But.... 

It's not been a good start to the year for Newsnight's new policy editor Lewis Goodall. He's already had to delete a tweet. He was responding to this Times headline...

...and wrote, "Or to look at it another way, you might need some optimism to believe that the nation state of Britain will survive the 2020s."

After heavy criticism (from the likes of Kate Hoey) he 'vanished' it.

It looks like he's very quickly getting back into the BBC spirit of things.

*******

This morning's Today still seemed as if young Greta was guest-editing it. I heard at least four pieces that reflected her influence. I think the BBC will be carrying her torch with some enthusiasm throughout this year.

*******

Not a particularly great first post of the year I'll admit, but onwards and jedwards. Happy 2020!

A change?

It's not too long ago that any conflict between Israel and the terrorists of Gaza would have received heavy coverage on BBC One's main news bulletins, with BBC reporters rushing to the scene. Except for overnight, when BBC One broadcasts the rolling news channel, this past week's BBC One news bulletins have totally ignored the latest goings-on there. I don't know whether this is a good or a bad thing, but they used to have an obsession with the story - and that wasn't good. Maybe the war in Syria has finally put things into perspective for them?

Even the BBC News Channel hasn't devoted much time to reporting the latest violence, with nearly all the coverage being broadcast overnight. Here, for the record, is the BBC's daytime reporting of the story. It all occured on Tuesday:


12 November 2019 1:38pm
Newsreader: Fresh fighting has broken out between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip, with dozens of rockets fired into Israel and air strikes being carried out against sites in Gaza. It follows Israel's killing of a commander of a Palestinian militant group. Tom Bateman is near the Israeli border with Gaza. This was a man that Israel said was responsible for hundreds of attacks on its territory?
Tom Bateman: Yes, he was the senior commander for Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the north of the Gaza Strip. He controlled hundreds of fighters, but had ncreasingly been seen as acting independently outside of the control of the dominant militant force in Gaza, that is Hamas. I'll just give you a sense of where we are. This is the Israeli town of Sderot, which is a couple of miles from the Gaza Strip. Behind me here is a warehouse. These firefighters have been trying to douse the flames for well over two hours now. It took a direct hit from a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. As we showed up we heard three extremely loud blasts which appeared to be interception by Israel's anti-missile system shooting down another barrage of rockets. The trigger for all of that is the predawn air strike by Israel of Abu al-Ata this this morning in which they said that he needed, in their view, to be killed because he posed an imminent threat to Israel. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described him as "a ticking bomb", and the significance of that is this is something that Israel has not done in this way for a very long time, targeted killings of senior militant figures. We have not had that for around five years, this kind of level. As for militants in Gaza, well, they said this was "a red line ", that they would respond. We have seen now waves of air strikes by the Israelis on militant targets in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian media are saying that in addition to Abu al-Ata and his wife, who was killed, there have now been the deaths of another two Palestinian militants. 


12 November 2019 7:20 pm
Newsreaders: Fresh fighting has broken out between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip. It follows Israel's killing of a senior commander of the Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad. Baha Abu al-Ata was killed along with his wife when a missile hit their home. At least 150 rockets have since been fired at Israel from Gaza in response, injuring more than a dozen people. More airstrikes are being carried out on sites in Gaza too. The Hamas-run health ministry says two Palestinians have been killed. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is warning of prolonged tensions in Gaza while the Palestinian presidency has called for international pressure to stop Israel's attacks. Let's speak to our Middle East correspondent, Barbara Plett Usher, who's in Jerusalem for us. Barbara, if I can go back a bit, what can you tell us about this top Gaza leader that's been killed, and how this operation, how long it was in the planning? 
Barbara Plett Usher: He is the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the commander of the northern Gaza region, and he has been in the Israeli news and in the Israeli Defence Force's discussion for quite some time as a person who is quite aggressive and operates independently and has been responsible for many of the recent rocket attacks in Israel, and they say he was planning more to come and that he would even challenge the main Islamist movement in Gaza, Hamas, which had taken a more moderate approach. So there was a rocket attack in September in which the Israeli Prime Minister had to run for cover and, since then, there has been discussion in the security cabinet about his fate, and we understand that ten days ago they decided to kill him and they had been waiting for the moment, they said, when they could do it in a surgical way with as few casualties as possible, and so they said today that was the day. 
Newsreaders: And more rockets today from Gaza, Barbara, but it's interesting that the Israelis are putting the focus very much on Islamic Jihad and not on Hamas. Seemingly..,It looks as if they are trying to give them an off ramp here. 
Barbara Plett Usher: It is interesting, because the past three Gaza wars have been between Israel and Hamas, which is the governing body in Gaza and the main Islamist movemen. But the Israelis have been sending quite clear messaging that their confrontation is with Islamic jihad. They have been attacking Palestinian Islamic Jihad sites not Hamas targets, which they've done in the past. They've also said that they are not planning to resume their policy of assassinating militant leaders. They haven't done this for five years. It's the first time they've carried out a so-called targeted killing in five years, and I think the message behind that is they are saying to the Hamas leaders, we are not coming after you, this is about this particular leader of Islamic Jihad. Now, Hamas has so far joined together with Islamic Jihad in a statement saying that Israel has crossed all red lines and it's going to be responsible for the consequences, but it's not clear what action it' going to take. 
Newsreaders: Barbara we're going to have to leave it there. And some context: This comes as Israel is in deadlock after a second election this year didn't produce a government. That escalation of violence there likely to have a knock-on effect. 


12 November 2019 9.15 pm
Ros Atkins: There's been intense fighting in the Gaza Strip after Israel carried out a missile strike against his man. He's called - or was called - Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior commander of the Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad. And we have these pictures which show the aftermath of that missile strike. It destroyed a whole floor of his home. Authorities in Gaza say five people died - and two other missiles strikes elsewhere in Gaza killed three people. Well, in return militants based in Gaza fired around 150 rockets into Israel. This is footage of one of them striking a motorway, and you can see how close it came to hitting some motorists as they drove along near to the city of Ashdod. So far, more than 20 people in Israel have been injuredl Well, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, says Israel is not interested in an escalation, but he has said. "We will do everything required to protect ourselves..." And he's added, "This could take time". Well, let's here from the BBC's Barbara Plett Usher is in Jerusalem. 
Barbara Plett Usher: This is a serious escalation because this is the first time the Israelis have carried out a so targeted killing against a militant leader in Gaza in five years, and in the past that has lead to wider conflict. But the Israelis have very much been stressing that this is about this man, it's about these circumstances, they say that he is responsible for most of the rocket attacks in recent months from Gaza into Israel and that he was planning more attacks, and so they had to act. They say they are not looking for further escalation but they are prepared for it should it happen. Now whether this goes on for just a few more days or whether it continues for much longer than that depends on the number of casualties. So for around 20 or so Israelis have been slightly injured, and that includes people who suffered from shock or who hurt themselves as they are running for shelter. Seven Palestinians have been reported dead. It also depends on the position of Hamas, the main Islamist movement that governs Gaza. And it has a different strategy than Islamic Jihad. It has been involved in tacit truce arrangements with Israel, trying to alleviate the economic and humanitarian suffering in Gaza. And Islamic Jihad has been challenging that with these rocket attacks. Now, the Israelis have been signalling pretty strongly that they want Hamas to stay out of this fight, that this is about a confrontation with Islamic Jihad only. They've been targeting Islamic Jihad sites, not Hamas targets. And they've also said they don't plan to resume their policy of assassinating militant leaders. In other words Hamas leaders don't need to worry about whether they might get hit. So far the group has joined together with Islamic Jihad and put out a statement saying Israel has crossed all the red lines and that it will suffer the consequences, but it's not clear what sort of action it plans to take. 

I have a little list

Fans of lists might be interested in reading the following - a list of those appearing on BBC One's State Opening of Parliament special yesterday. This interview list is nothing if not Remain-heavy:

• Dame Margaret Beckett 
• Lord Fowler 
• Bronwyn Maddox, Institute for Government 
• Robert Hardman, Daily Mail 
• Dominic Grieve 
• Andrew Bowie, Conservative; Ed Davey, Lib Dems; Jenny Chapman, Labour; Joanna Cherry, SNP (the four mainstays of the programme in the studio) 
• Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru 
• Caroline Lucas, Greens

Ratings

The BBC is pleased (with itself). 

According to The Times, they beat ITV all hands down this Christmas, ratings-wise, taking 9 out of 10 of the places on this year's 'most-watched programmes on Christmas Day' list. 

Charlotte Moore, director of content at the BBC, said: “We’re happy so many people chose to watch BBC One. We want to offer something for everyone.”

That said, not that even the highest-rated programme, Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show, with 6.1 million viewers, got anywhere near the kind of viewers that Morecambe and Wise got in 1977 (28 million) but, of course, there's vastly more choice nowadays. 

The BBC will be much less pleased if they read the comments below the Times article though. It's a long list of complaints about how unimaginative, how PC, how rubbish, the BBC's offerings were this Christmas.

More hardline activity from the BBC

A quick update on the use of the word 'hardline' by BBC reporters and presenters.

A TV Eyes scan of BBC One, BBC Two and the BBC News Channel from the 1st December till now reveals 4 uses of 'hardline conservative', 11 uses of 'hardline Brexiteers', 2 uses of 'hardline Hindus' and 2 uses of 'hardline' in connection with Frances's Yellow vests.

The BBC reporters and presenters responsible (besides BBC newsreaders) are David Willis, Alex Forsyth, Rob Watson, Jon Pienaar (frequently), Emily Maitlis and Hugh Schofield. 

So: conservatives, Brexiteers, Hindus and Yellow vests. 

There was a use of 'hardline Remainers' but it was by a BBC guest. Naturally. 

The first time we did an extended survey of this there were, of course, lots more 'hardline Brexiteers' (and variations thereon), but also uses referring to President Trump's immigration policies, a Second World War era Japanese governor, Germany's right-wing interior minister, "hardline tax-cutting conservatives" in the US, the right-wing Austrian government for its stance on immigration, the populist Italian and conservative Hungarian governments for their stance on immigration, European governments in general who oppose mass immigration, the conservative CSU in Germany (for opposing Mrs Merkel over immigration), a right-wing politician in Turkey (Meral Akşener), "hardline clerics" opposed to women drivers in Saudi Arabia, and Italy's Matteo Salvini.

I'm still seeing a pattern here. Aren't you?

A hardline take on the BBC's use of language

The word 'swullocking', I've just learned, is "a near-perfect old dialect word that describes a sweltering, sultry, and all-round sudiferous (sweat-inducing) day"

It's certainly been a swullocking day in Morecambe today. The bay is looking like the Bay of Naples and it's so hot here that a volcano has just this very afternoon sprung up over the sea on the Furness Peninsula and within minutes erupted and buried Barrow. (Our thoughts and prayers, etc). 

Another word that's been on my mind recently is 'hardline'.

As you know, 'hardline' means "advocating or involving a rigidly uncompromising course of action". Its synonyms include:

uncompromising, strict, diehard, extreme, tough, inflexible, immoderate, intransigent, intractable, unyielding, undeviating, unwavering, single-minded and not giving an inch (etc)

It can be a neutral word, but most people don't tend to use it neutrally. They tend to use it negatively, about others. You rarely find it used as a term of praise. 

The BBC has been putting it to quite a bit of use in recent days, especially to describe certain UK politicians. (Can you guess in advance which ones?) 

Just looking at BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning (with help from TV Eyes), the BBC presenters and reporters used the term 'hardline' about Mrs May's Brexiteer cabinet members at least eight times, including such phrases as "hardline critics of the European Union in her cabinet". 

And Uncle Mark Mardell, whilst telling us a tale today, gave us a particularly fine example on this afternoon's The World This Weekend (also concerning Mrs May's Chequers cabinet meeting):

The seven hardline Brexit ministers knew they were in a minority in the oak-panelled room.

Checking TV Eyes again, the other BBC TV uses of the term 'hardline' this past week involve President Trump's immigration policies, a Second World War era Japanese governor, Germany's right-wing interior minister, and - again - Brexiteers (BBC political correspondent Alex Forsyth using the term "hardline Brexiteers" on Friday's BBC Breakfast).

Is there a pattern emerging there? 

Possibly. 

So let's go back to June where there are 118 TV Eyes results for 'hardline'. Are there any Remainers described as 'hardline' by BBC reporters? Any left-wingers? Any pro-mass immigration people? Any EU officials?

Well, put simply: no. 

Working my way through them all, it's lots and lots more uses (throughout the month) of "hardline Brexiteers", that wartime Japanese governor again (a repeated programme), Trump's immigration policies (again and again and again and again referred to as "hardline by the BBC - when they aren't being called "controversial" that is!), "hardline tax-cutting conservatives" in the US, the right-wing Austrian government for its stance on immigration, the populist Italian and conservative Hungarian governments for their stance on immigration, European governments in general who oppose mass immigration, the conservative CSU in Germany (for opposing Mrs Merkel over immigration), a right-wing politician in Turkey (Meral Akşener), "hardline clerics" opposed to women drivers in Saudi Arabia, and Italy's Matteo Salvini. And that's it.

Yes, there's definitely a pattern there, isn't there? Opponents of mass immigration, right-wingers and people who want Brexit to mean Brexit are the people the BBC chooses to call 'hardline'. 

Do you think they're using the word in a neutral sense when so doing? I don't.

Addendum to the Open Thread

Following up on comments on the Open Thread about the BBC's reporting of the latest Islamic terror attack in Paris...

Checking Newssniffer (and converting from UTC to BST): 

The BBC News website first reported the attack at 21:05 last night, saying "The motive for the attack was not immediately known". 

At 22:15, they added "French police warned the public not to spread rumours".

At 23:25 they dropped ""The motive for the attack was not immediately known" and added "Witnesses say they heard him shout 'Allah Akbar'". 

At 00:35 they dropped "French police warned the public not to spread rumours".

As for BBC TV...

Last night' s BBC One News bulletin (23:50), which featured it as its third story, reported it like this:

Police in Paris say a man has stabbed several people, killing one person and injuring others, before being shot dead by security forces. President Emmanuel Macron praised the efforts of the police who he said had tackled the terrorist. Andy Moore has the latest.

The immediate aftermath of the attack. One person lies motionless on the ground, others flee in terror. There was panic as people ran inside cafes and restaurants for safety. Police in Paris were already on a high state of alert. Their response was swift. The knifeman was reportedly tasered by police before finally being shot dead. Witnesses said he was shouting, "Allahu Akbar" - 'God is great'. This woman said she was having a drink with friends, when she heard "boom boom", which she thought were gunshots. She got closer and saw a man lying on the floor. Counterterror police are leading the investigation. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. Police said five people were attacked. One was killed, two were seriously injured, and two others slightly wounded. Andy Moore, BBC News. 

Using TV Eyes, the attacker's use of "Allahu Akbar" was thereafter mentioned once or twice each hour overnight and then once each hour during this morning's Breakfast. It wasn't mentioned, however, in The Andrew Marr Show's brief news bulletin or in The Sunday Politics's brief news bulletin but there have been several further mentions on the BBC News Channel since 9 am. And, like the earlier bulletins, BBC One's early afternoon  bulletin (13:00) didn't mention it:

Police in Paris say a 21-year-old man who killed one person and injured several others in a knife attack last night was on a list of people thought to be a threat to national security. So-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack by the man who police say is a French citizen born in Chechnya.

P.S. On BBC TV the phrase "Allahu Akbar" has been consistently translated as meaning 'God is great'. The latest BBC News website report on the story, however, translates it as meaning 'God is greatest'.