For an organization that boasts that it does not carry advertisements the BBC seems to carry rather a lot. There are the adverts for how wonderful the BBC is and for various books and other products that the BBC produces, and there are the endless trailers boasting of the wonders of various BBC shows.
Two recent trailers (both trailers were often repeated) on BBC Radio Four caught my attention. One was for a standard communist comic – not someone with any great grasp of Marxism of course, just someone who makes various anti-British comments (such as that Gibraltar should be under the control of Spain) to a standard BBC studio audience of Guardian reading scum – who hoot their agreement. The United States is (as always with such folk) an evil power that controls British policy (more hoots of agreement).
The other trailer was for a series on the history of the Arts Council (the government body that hands out art subsidies). This trailer declared that the creator of the Arts Council, J.M. Keynes, was a ‘brilliant economist’. Lord Keynes being the man who argued that the way to create prosperity was for the government to issue money and spend it (perhaps by giving it to the banks and borrowing it back – or perhaps directly). Any government spending (including having men dig holes and fill them up again) being “investment” and this ‘investment’ stimulating the economy via the magic of the ‘multiplier’ (a concept used by cranks long before Keynes).
We were also told that before the Arts Council the only thing people in Britain could do was ‘go down the pub’. The vast network of activity in the world of the arts before World War II (both supported by mutual aid – as in the literature to be found in Working Men’s Institutes, or the voluntary theatre groups) or by charitable giving (as with the art galleries to be found in every major British town) being totally ignored.
I do not know if the series is as bad as the trailer – such was the impact of the trailer that I could not bring myself to listen to the series. And such was the impact of the trailer for the communist comic that I could not bring myself to listen to his show (perhaps he has lots of witty lines that did not get into the adverts – I will never know).
Well it seems advertising does have some power. Due to the BBC adverts I will never listen to these programs.
Funny this should get posted just when it did; for a take on government-funded National Public Radio in the States, with very similar gripes, see my post on a blog called Au fait, titled NPR supporters? I just posted it Thursday, with no idea this post was here until today! Great minds, and all that, I suppose.
After re-reading my comment, I see how it could be misinterpreted to mean that I’m implying that Samizdata gets editorial ideas from my blog. FAR far from it! My lowly blog is less than two months old, and has had a total of something like 35 visitors so far. I simply haven’t been around long enough nor gotten big enough for anyone to be wanting to crib my stuff.
I just thought it was an odd little bit of synchronicity.
I’ve heard both trailers as and they put me off as well.
The comic is Jeremy Hardy and the line is “It’s quite clear to anyone than Gibraltar is connected to Andalucia and not Surrey” (que laughter) to which my reply whilst driving along in my car (not that he could hear me) was to shout out “Oh fuck off you slimy little bastard!”, which I’m sure you’ll agree is a retort worthy of Oscar Wilde.
Alaska is attached to Canada, too, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to give it to them. AFN theoretically doesn’t show commercials, either, but it sure has commercial breaks.
Just wondering how many times it has to shown that Keynes has been TOTALLY discredited for his crackpot economic theories before people stop preaching that crap…
When I first got to England I was excited to listen to the BBC. Because it is such a huge, all-encompassing company I thought it was going to be cool to listen to and watch. Well, after just 2 months of trying to find a decent program on TV and radio from the Beeb I gave up. The BBC must have the most boring, weak, leftist programming I have ever heard in my life. I now only listen to TalkSport, and I hate sports!
I just feel awful for the Brits at how they MUST pay the TV tax to the BBC whether or not they watch the Beeb. It’s just terrible.
The BBC have also broadcast Jim Davidson. You could say they are therefore advocates of homophobia, sexism and racism.
I don’t find that joke funny, nor do I agree with it – but it is the BBC’s duty to satisfy a wide range of minority interests – and somebody, somewhere, must find Jeremy Hardy funny.
Dalmaster writes:
“The BBC have also broadcast Jim Davidson…”
Yes, and now perhaps you would like to name us another Right-wing comedian on the BBC? Just one will do.
The BBC’s entire R4 comedy output comes from Left-wingers – in the case of Jeremy Hardy and the hateful Mark Steel, from extreme Left-wing activists.
Citing the solitary example of Davidson proves nothing at all. Well, other than that you have gratefully swallowed the sop tossed to the herd by our Marxist would-be masters at the Beeb.
I’m really glad that someone has mentioned these two trailers as they’ve been driving me crackers all week.
Call me paranoid, but I detect a hardening of attitudes at the BBC, post-Hutton. Dimbleby, Humphrys et al seem to have become even less bothered about hiding their transparent bias, the news has become yet more selective and for the past two months, Radio 4’s drama output has presented almost nothing but a steady stream of ‘social realism’ tripe interspersed with Leftist polemic. It was always bad, but now it is terrible.
My impression is that the Marxist vermin that scuttle around Broadcasting House have taken the ousting of Greg Dyke to heart, have regrouped and are hard at work on The Mission, with redoubled fervour.
God rot them.
I wonder if the Radio 4 documentary will incorporate this juicy quote from no less than 53 years ago.
The Kenneth Williams Diaries entry across 2nd-7th February 1951
A few tears ago – whoops! that was a typo, but I think I’ll leave it in – when I man who I suppose was from the BBC’s collection agency Capita called me to see why I hadn’t paid my licence fee, I told him because I didn’t want to. I said I disapproved of the BBC so why should I pay for it? And he said, “Well, it provides a huge variety of programming, and it doesn’t have any commercial breaks.”
My King Charles’s head. The BBC’s long winded, aggressive, moronic commercial breaks for itself – most of them far more irritating than commercial breaks which advertise products and services that create wealth in the private sector.
I launched right in. The chap had no reply because he was unprepared to address a subject the callee had been stewing about for the previous six months – ever since I had returned to Britain and become appalled with the Beeb’s leftwing, smartypants bias and its very obvious intention of furthering its propagandising. It was so overweeningly confident that it didn’t even bother to cloak its leftwing agenda in comedy. Alternative comedy. Alternative to what? Humour?
Slanted news? Ignorant reporters? Sneering ‘discussion’ programmes with the sans sabots in the studio audience howling their displeasure?
Always with the assumption that the viewer shared their vicious hatred of their country and their collectivist dismissal of our history.
God, I hate the BBC. I have said before, getting rid of them all and sluicing down the corridors will not accomplish what needs to be done. This is a case for Terminex.
Once, I believe. Do go ahead…
Has it ever occured to anyone that there are no funny right-wingers?
Who, exactly, is being denied the limelight because of some nefarious conspiracy of “communists” at the BBC?
On second thoughts, they could re-run Bernard Manning, Jim Davidson and Roy Chubby-Brown ad infinitum.
Hmmm…. Jeremy Hardy (allowed to call for the public execution of BNP voters), Mark Steel (allowed to endlessy regurgitate his Leninist – Trotsyist ideas), Lida Smith (“Humanist” , moral degenerate – Trotskyist and general sneerer), and their lesser contemporaries (Marl Lamarr, Phil Jupitus, Andy Hamilton etc ) topple over each other to split the pot of gold at the end of the BBC rainbow.
A collection of more talentless sneering shit stirrers (acting as a fifth column in support of every loony idea which spews forth from H.M. Govt) would be hard to assemble except on the creens of TV in the USA and Hollywood. I have given up on the BBC and generally listen to Classic FM or Talksport, where amonst the religious nuts, UFO watchers and little Himmlers there is at least an alternative view from the BBC (has anyone listened to a Five Live “Phone In” @9am?? a more biased collection of left wing propaganda would be hard to find!)