A Layman's View of the News

I was listening to Peter Saville this morning extolling the virtues of the BBC move to Manchester and apparently whole purpose is to bolster Manchester's economy and image. But at what cost I wonder? I am from the North but now live in the south and nothing on this earth would get me to go back or to work and live in Manchester and especially Salford. The city has none of the excitement of London and none of the wonderful sights and sounds or familiar landmarks. It does however have the highest rainfall in the country, yippee!
When I was a boy living in Sheffield, I was star struck, when at the age of 13 (1963) I went to London for a weekend of sight seeing with a pal. We arrived at seven in the morning on a Saturday and found myself in The Strand at a Lyon's Corner House having breakfast and being served by a Nippy, which is what they called the Lyons waitresses then. I was instantly hooked by the atmosphere of London. There was a slightly metallic smell in the air, a different smell to home and a sense of expectation, anticipation as though the sleepy city was rising from its slumber. There were street paper sellers already and bundles of papers waiting to be cut open. Just along the road, there was the great Trafalgar Square and flocks of pigeons and the red buses, just as I had seen in films. It was unreal and exciting to be there.
So here I was in London; London, I couldn't take it all in. There's a black taxi with its yellow "For Hire" sign inviting custom. I'd seen a sign advertising Brian - now Baron - Rix in a Whitehall farce. I'd heard about that and seen him on TV, and here it was just up the road from my bacon and egg breakfast. This was where TV programs came from. They made nearly all of them here in London. Later I would go and look at Broadcasting House in Portland Place and of course visit the famous Regent Street at the same time, which of course wasn't far from Piccadilly and so on. And that in a nutshell is what London is. A vast metropolis of famous landmarks, excitement, life, people, famous people, style, focus and so much more.
Here were all the great places I'd read and heard about, the icons, the landmarks, Soho, Knightsbridge and Kensington, Marble Arch,The West End, Hyde Park, the names were already familiar and it was like landing on a film lot because all the places and monuments I'd seen in British movies were right in front of me within touching distance. There were the fabulous museums and galleries and monuments and artifacts. Even the shops were exclusive and different and in many cases specialist because this was the hub where people from around the world came to buy and to be. Then there was the Tube and red buses and black taxis, London's iconic transport system that people fly the Atlantic and across continents to see. Piccadilly with it's lights and statue of Eros, the great Shaftesbury Avenue and theatre land, the dark neon lit streets of Soho where I never felt at risk, teamed with all kinds of life. I would never feel that way in a Manchester back street. Manchester and the North is a place to come from and go back to perhaps if you make your pile so you can live away from places like Manchester and the city in suburbs like Alderly Edge and Prestbury, as all the footballers and successful business men do. Needless to say I completed my education in London. As a visiting celebrity I might visit Manchester to get my face on TV but I'd be hitting the airport to get back to London as fast as my legs could get me there. There is no national familiarity with Manchester no monument I can think of off the top of my head other than Manchester Piccadilly which is nothing like the London Piccadilly. I got beaten up in the Manchester Piccadilly by football supporters some years ago. There is the Arnedale center too which was blown up by the IRA. Hmmm! Anyway, the Beeb want to move there for a reason I can't fathom.
It makes me sad to think of the BBC leaving London it's natural home. But then the truth is I hardly watch the BBC anymore as it is nothing but reality shows, magazine shows and occasional drama. I think Miranda, HIGNFY and the news are the only things I watch. I watch a few of the wonderful programs on BBC 4 and of course listen to Radio 4 and especially Today. But the BBC seems to be in decline and the move to Manchester just underlines that. I think it is a blunder to move North after all the years being established in London at the wonderful White City HQ. And what will happen to that. Sold off for flats and office blocks no doubt, gone forever. It seems like a disaster in the making to me and I completely understand Clarkson (another Northerner) when he says he'd rather quit than go up north. I wonder how many more truly feel that way but wont say it. There is a well used saying that fits this matter to a tee. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I remember when Coronation Street got a new young producer on board and he came in and swept all the great older characters away, Percy Sugden, Phyllis Pearce, Mavis and Derek, and others, thereby removing most of the comic elements to the show just to appeal to a younger demographic so that their then sponsor Cadbury's could sell more chocolate. It ruined what was a true and witty representation of back street life in the north, since when it has never fully recovered, and now of course to supposedly reflect the times it's full of gay sex and transvestites and this is supposed to reflect real life? On what planet? Well the BBC is doing much the same with this move only much bigger and much more catastrophic and all it seems, to make Mancunians feel better about themselves. If I'm wrong that's fine and we can all accept it but if I'm right, the BBC will never recover. Despite the devious going's on of Murdoch (don't we just love him) and co. right now, he and his son James - desperate to live up to his father's reputation - who has always criticised the BBC - will be poised to take over as the major provider of programs and more depressingly news coverage. When that happens, impartiality will be dead!

LORD PIE COCK-A-HOOP

I'm just a bemused observer but who could have failed to miss the dark goings on in newspaper journalism over the last few frantic weeks, preceded by about ten years of speculative back and forth discussion. Finally the truth is out and nobody is too happy to hear it. Except those who get high on schadenfreude and there must be a few of those around.
Also bloody embarrassing for Cameron, though if he has any sense whatever, he'll make sure he throws his friend Rebekah Brooks to the lions now or risk his own career. You can just sense goofy Miliband chomping at the bit. Of course there's no reason Cameron should have been aware of just what was going on but he will be guilty by association so the more he distances himself from the crime and it perpetrators, the better. Just as well his aide Andy Coulson packed it in when he did, though he is now firmly under the spotlight and about to be arrested.

If the phone hacking scandal has now been acknowledged as fact by none other than supremo son and heir James Murdoch, who's to say Murdoch Newspapers in the US aren't tainted by the same desperate tactics. For instance, I wonder how many senators have had their phones hacked. How many celebrities and film stars have had their private conversations monitored. These are questions the Americans must now be asking themselves.

Rebekah Brooks

Not even Harry Potter can get you out of this one Rebekah. In truth you should be tried convicted and have your head chopped all orf (metaphorically of course). Frankly for you to announce you were on holiday when all of this was going on is just daft. Just how long a break do you get? Nope, you may be guilty of ignorance in some way but not about this; and as we all know, and as your paper often used to point out, ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law.
No I fancy you for this one. Somewhere along the way you believe you have a right to do what you please in the name of journalism - if you can call it that and Rupert and James Murdoch are protecting you. I wonder why.
Andrew Marr loves to go on about us meddling bloggers spouting off and pretending that our jottings are journalism and yet here you are, a supposed journalist, qualified, intelligent and part of the 2nd most powerful news group on the planet, and that, you presume gives you licence to break the law. Well come on Andrew lets hear your poinion on that! No I'm not a journalist, just a concerned member of the public. One of those who you need to buy your paper so you can sell advertisng. One of those who is supposed to believe in the integrity of UK journalism. Sorry Andrew but that qualifies me to make a judgment here - YOU'RE ALL RAVING MAD, you Andrew and especially you Rebekah Brooks.