Mastermind's David Lammy strikes again

You can always rely on David Lammy. Here he is tweeting today:

Nigel Farage has appeared on #bbcqt 33 times. There has not been a single British pro-EU MEP on in many years.

Farage does not have the guts to stand in #GE2019 and his party has no candidates in half the country.

Give us someone else instead.https://t.co/AbJMGOYsE0

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) November 14, 2019

You only have to pop onto Wikipedia's List of Question Time episodes page to see that Caroline Voaden, anti-Brexit Lib Dem MEP for the South West of England, was on the programme just three weeks ago. 

Andrew Neil asks another question (of David Lammy MP)

So let me get this right, David: all white people have an evil ancestry and, as a consequence, are still evil? https://t.co/h8WPu8ShNT

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) September 14, 2019

Points of View

Meet Westminster's newest political animal 🐾

Boris Johnson's dog has arrived in Downing Street – but luckily for Larry, he's used to feline company

[tap to expand] https://t.co/IiW0uGa358 pic.twitter.com/Uuqqd97kJ8

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 2, 2019

David Lammy MP: Boris Johnson plans to suspend democracy and his ministers refuse to say whether they continue to support the rule of law. Meanwhile @BBCPolitics reports on the PM's new dog. At this time of national crisis we deserve journalism not public relations. Spectacularly pathetic. 

Matt Wells (CNN): Oh for god’s sake. The BBC gave extensive and ample coverage to the substantive developments today. Anyone who suggests otherwise clearly hasn’t been following its output. 

Andrew Neil (BBC): Spot on Matt. Mr Lammy has an agenda that doesn’t involve facts. Quite Trumpian really.

Lam(my)basting Stacey

The boy is saying, "Don't tell David Lammy!"

There's been an almighty spat this week between David Lammy MP and Strictly winner Stacey Dooley. 

The spat followed the (attention-seeking) Labour MP's critical comments about the (virtue-signalling) BBC star.

The latter had posted images of herself doing her bit for the BBC's Comic Relief, including an image of herself holding a sad-looking Ugandan child whilst smiling radiantly - an image she captioned “Obsessed!”.  

"The world doesn't need any more white saviours", tweeted the Mastermind-losing Mr Lammy. 

He also talked about how black people worry about the "poverty porn" side of Comic Relief, especially in regards to modern, up-and-coming Africa. 

My social media feeds have been full of people taking sides, some finding themselves unexpectedly agreeing with people they don't normally agree with. 

I can see the fine points made by Janice Turner in today's Times in defence of Comic Relief and against the race-separating strictures of Mr Lammy. Janice concedes that Miss Dooley's picture was "crass and self-serving" but she defends Comic Relief in terms of the good it's done and the money it's raised against the "purely destructive" attack from the Labour loudmouth, who she characterises as someone who has "switched from being a nuanced, thoughtful progressive politician to a self-contradicting hot-head".

Still the "poverty porn" charge and the undervaluing of a rising Africa are points that have some truth to them.

And (h/t Fraser Nelson of The Spectator) this piece of Norwegian satire still remains spot-on (and funny):

P.S. Has Sir Lenny commented yet?

In Praise of David Lammy MP

To be sarcastic or not to be sarcastic, that is the question....

We don't often complain about Radio 4's Profile. 

Speaking for myself (and, so, not presuming on Sue!), I find it to be generally very engaging and pretty scrupulous when it comes to questions of balance and bias.

This week's edition, however, took me by surprise - so much so that I'm now posting (and strongly moaning) about it.

*******

It profiled a prominent UK politician. 

Now, Profile often profiles politicians and, I'd say, usually succeeds in giving a fair and balanced view of them. 

Not this time though. 

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Seriously, O Dear Reader, please listen to it for yourselves and see if you agree with me that (this week) Profile came far, far too close to sounding like a puff piece for the politician concerned.

Even presenter Mark Coles (a very engaging presenter) dropped his trademark John Peel-style deadpan irony. 

Indeed, listening to it, I thought of it as being a radio version of one of those notoriously hagiographic Wikipedia entries which turn out to have been edited (on the sly) by the very politician in question!

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The politician profiled by Radio 4's Profile, if you were wondering, was Labour's David Lammy. 

Every voice featured -

his godmother Auntie May; his sister; Alastair Campbell; his school friend Patrick; his fellow choir member Kate; his former deputy head Trevor; his former Harvard professor Alan Stone; and Huff Post editor Paul Waugh 

- had only good things to say about him, and defended him against the very rare mentions of criticisms of Saint David of Tottenham featured in the programme...

...(including a fleeting mention of his, ahem, slightly embarrassing Mastermind experience).

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I was genuinely taken aback by this Radio 4 Profile. (Should I have been?)

I expected (from past experience) to hear at least one or two dissenting voices - (that's what Radio 4's Profile usually does as far as profiling UK party politicians goes) - but there were no dissenting voices...

...and that is very unusual for Radio 4 Profile.

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What got into the BBC here? Why didn't they dare to bring balance and irony into their profile of David Lammy? Why the near hagiography? Did the excellent Mark Coles cringe whilst reading out this script? What were they up to?

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If you think I'm in any way exaggerating, please listen for yourselves and feel free to to disagree (and I'd love to hear an attempted defence of the BBC here).

Meanwhile, in the wake of this programme, I'm off to pray at the premature shrine of Saint David of Lammy, as he makes our present saints (on the evidence of Radio 4's Profile) sound like sinners.