Click here to hear the official BBC statement. [MP3 0.6Mb]
Read More30Oct08 — 1
Media
30Oct08 — 1
The Ultimate “Comment Is Free” Comment?
I don’t read or link to “Comment Is Free”, The Guardian‘s cesspit of a group blog. Sadie saves you, me, and everybody from ever having to do so again by republishing a comment from the site that captures the spirit of the place. Under an article about rape, a reader writes: “rape is never a […]
Read More30Oct08 — 7
Top Brand
Further to my last post about this, Russell Brand makes a proper apology to camera here. I can think of several politicians (amongst others) who could learn from it. He doesn’t mess about with words like “inappropriate”, which these days is used to describe everything from ironically referencing a passage in the Koran to trying […]
Read More28Oct08 — 1
Aural Sachs
Andrew Sachs has just been on BBC Radio 4, walking around London Zoo with Tim Samuels and reminiscing about how he used to sneak in there during World War II. Sachs was born to a Jewish family in Berlin in 1930. He and they fled Germany in 1938. He witnessed Kristallnacht—“Goodness, those Stormtroopers are going to get into trouble […]
Read More16Oct08 — 0
Too Horrible To Contemplate?
Imagine several million small children across the planet waking up on Christmas Day to discover that six of Santa Claus’s reindeer had had pixie dust blowouts at 30 000 feet over the North Atlantic, leading to a catastrophic loss of power and Santa’s sleigh plunging into the freezing ocean, killing all on board and scattering the […]
Read More25Sep08 — 2
Palin Derangement Syndrome—PalinDrome?
You could argue that Mick Hartley won this game when he collected Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. from The Huffington Post, but I think quoting Naomi Wolf is cheating. Here’s a good one from yesterday’s International Herald Tribune. Roger Cohen writes: From an inspirational notion, however […]
Read More12Sep08 — 2
Timing
This afternoon, I walked through my door and picked up this week’s local free newspaper, The Brighton and Hove Leader. Amongst the insert spam included today was a glossy advert for Forbes TV rentals, inviting me to hire a flatscreen TV in time for the Beijing Olympics 2008 and a brochure inviting me to come […]
Read More05Sep08 — 2
Temper Temper / Pro Tempore
I keep meaning to write something about the response of the liberal Left media to the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States—there are parallels with the way parts of the Right responded to Bill Clinton’s sexual incontinence—but, as I bring my fingers to the keys, I […]
Read More11Aug08 — 6
Say What You Like About Joseph Stalin, At Least He Made The Underground Trains Run On Time
It was quiet here last week because I had a lot of things on—to the extent that I had to stop off at the 24-hour Tesco superstore in the small hours of Saturday on the way back from singing at a gig to do my week’s shopping. I’ve read some extreme tales about the goings […]
Read More30Jul08 — 3
Cliquey Back-Slapping
One of the nicest things about blogging is being able to congratulate other bloggers on (what you believe to be) good blogging, so it’s unfortunate in a way when you are seen as part of a gang because, if you congratulate another supposed gang member, then doing so looks like cliquey back-slapping. Worse, if the […]
Read More26Jul08 — 2
Eternal Prurience Is The Price Of Liberty
Woman E, demonstrating again the superiority of film over digital portraiture From the BBC News Website: World motorsport boss Max Mosley has won a legal action against a Sunday newspaper over claims an orgy he took part in had Nazi overtones. The High Court ruled the News of the World did breach Mr Mosley’s privacy, […]
Read More11Jun08 — 2
The Book ‘Em Prize
In an effort to push through an extension to the number of days the police can detain you without charge (if you are suspected of being a terrorist), the government—sorry: “Gordon Brown”, because all current and future legislation is the work of a single overbusy Scotsman—is suggesting that it will compensate innocent suspects held under […]
Read More03Jun08 — 0
Slapped
The top of the BBC News page about a possible new cure for baldness carries an image of an anonymous baldie: The bottom of the same page has images of Nick Robinson and Terry Wogan: Yesterday, as I was running to the gym past a bunch of army cadets waiting outside a local youth centre, […]
Read More30May08 — 0
How Entertainment Industry Feuds Begin
In the space of a few days, My Scarlett Johansson post has become the subject of a round of Bloggese Whispers. First, Clive Davis linked to my “review” on his Spectator blog. One of God’s little jokes is that Clive Davis, London Times music critic, shares his name with Clive Davis, US record producer, executive, […]
Read More21May08 — 0
Hasta la vista, Aunty
OPRAH: I’d just like to say what a great privilege it is to have you with us on the show today, Barry. BARRY: Thank you, Oprah. I’m so grateful to God for my good fortune just to be here, but my good fortune is all the greater for my both being here and being here […]
Read More09May08 — 3
Busted By Aunty Beeb’s Licence Nazis
Stephen Pollard (under the title “Is the BBC out of control?”) and the Centre Right Blog at Conservative Home (under the title “Big Brother Corporation“) embed video of the recent, and undoubtedly threatening, ad warning unlicensed TV viewers of the completeness of the TV licensing authority’s database of UK addresses. In SP’s comments, Nicholas writes: […]
Read More07May08 — 1
“Unpleasant thuglike looking Jew” Also Jungle Bunny
Like me, Clive Davis is a product of one of those godless unions of black and white, but, because I am an expert on the conspiracy of sinister media Jews, when I took his byline photo I offered to make him look more Jewish in order to help his career. Now see what’s happened. I […]
Read More10Mar08 — 15
Future News: Headlines Of 2108
NASA ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE ON CENTAURI IV AND ENCOUNTER POPULATION OF HUMANOIDS SO PRIMITIVE THAT THEY STILL HAVE FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS. PANEL OF HISTORIANS VOTES ON MOST HATED FIGURES OF 21ST CENTURY. SADDAM HUSSEIN, CLONED HITLER, HEATHER MILLS-MCCARTNEY TOP POLL. HUMPHREY LYTTELTON FORCED TO STAND DOWN AS PRESENTER OF I’M SORRY I HAVEN’T A CLUE AFTER EXPOSURE […]
Read More06Mar08 — 2
Maggie Out
While I’m on the subject of Tories, this evening, I finally got round to watching the second part of the very good Michael Portillo documentary about Thatcher and the Conservative Party (The Lady’s Not For Spurning) that I downloaded from the BBC’s excellent iPlayer site. I put it off for so long because I was […]
Read More03Mar08 — 3
Parallel Lives
It’s all over for the ‘Head On the front page of The Spectator online, Fraser Nelson suggests that David Cameron could be “the British [Barack] Obama“, which struck me as a coincidence, because I am the British Gore Vidal.
Read More03Mar08 — 3
King’s English
Burger King’s slogan “HAVE IT YOUR WAY™” really is a Registered Trade Mark. Luckily for those looking for a similar marketing gem to promote their products or services, “IT’S YOUR FUNERAL” and “SUIT YOURSELF” are still available.
Read More25Feb08 — 2
Columnist Sneers At Drunken Fool And Demonstrates His Own Ignorance
It’s been global find-and-replace time again at the nationals over the past couple of days as the columnists check the “Fallen_Hero.dot” Word template out of the their publications’ databases in response to the detention of former football star Paul Gascoigne under the Mental Health Act. They haven’t had to do that since “Bestie” died. The […]
Read More16Feb08 — 3
Guests? But I Haven’t Hoovered For Days!
A couple of my friends txted me this morning to let me know that PooterGeek is in The Guardian‘s Guide today. Unfortunately, as has been the case for most of the past week, I’m too busy to write anything new and the best-of section is over a year out of date. Come back next week, […]
Read More02Feb08 — 10
Dopey
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post in which I pointed out that statistics disprove the media myth of an excess of unmarried thirtysomething females, complained about the parallel emotional indoctrination of women by commercial interests, warned of the uselessness of online dating services, and described a good evening out I’d had instead […]
Read More01Feb08 — 7
Can We Talk About Something Else Now?
Islam isn’t a race. Martin Amis isn’t a racist. This video is fun: [via The Ambrosini Critique]
Read More15Jan08 — 1
A Series Of Unfortunate Events
23Dec07 — 2
Christmas Shopping
WHSmith, home of the Tragic Life Story, brings us a Great Gift Idea for Christmas: Madeleine: A most heartbreaking and extraordinary disappearance
Read More18Dec07 — 8
Fully Acknowledged Broadcast
Alan Tracy off Thunderbirds Rhydian Roberts off X-Factor
Read More12Sep07 — 17
Poll: Top BBC Radio 4 Turn-Offs
Following the success of the last one—current Messiah: Christopher Hitchens—and because I am again busy, it’s time for another poll. As an experiment, I will allow you lot to add extra answers to the choices available: Which of the following is most likely to make you switch off Radio 4? the sound of John Humphrys’ […]
Read More12Sep07 — 12
Toshiba Tecra A8 Review
As I admitted yesterday, I’ve taken part in Talk Toshiba‘s blogger outreach programme. I thoroughly approve of this sort of thing. Not only does it make bloggers feel even more important than we already think we are, but it allows us to play with shiny things for free. (It’s also a boon to those with […]
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