Everything Else: January 2004 Archives
Dramatic stuff at the BBC yesterday, it was hard to do any work and concentrate on anything else…
In many respects I missed being there – being across what was happening – sharing the pain with friends and colleagues, being at the heart of the action rather than picking it up from the Media Guardian website and live updates on Five Live.
On the other hand I was glad not to be there too, the atmosphere must have been very very strange.
Alison managed to get herself on ABC, Sky and Five Live as a result of taking part in the protests and sharing her opinions to camera. Go girl! It’s hard to think of many other managers – in any business - who could inspire such a response.
Listening to coverage on the radio yesterday didn’t prepare me for the TV picture though – the reaction of BBC staff was simply amazing! And rightly so, Greg Dyke has been an inspirational leader and the BBC will be all the poorer for his departure.
Certainly when I left the BBC last year after 5 years it was a much better, confident and fun place to be than when I joined under John Birt – and a lot of that has to be down to Greg Dyke and the people from the top table down that he inspired.
The capitulation of the Governors and Ryder’s statement disgusted me. The man has no credibility and has lost the faith of his staff on day one.
As for who will be the next DG, who knows. Byford may be tainted by association with Dyke, but he’s also a safe pair of hands with only two years to go before Charter Renewal. Mark Thompson hasn’t been at Channel 4 long enough to make his mark there and again is closely associated with Greg. Jana Bennett would be good – world wise, female and highly credible. But does she have a news track record? Does that matter?
My biggest fear is that the Governors decide to go for an outsider. I think they’ve no choice, they need to show a break with the past. But that’s dangerous too, does the BBC adopt it’s own root and branch approach headed by someone like David Elstein who basically wants the job but hates the BBC, or does it wait for Government to apply the chainsaw and then simply try and pick up the pieces afterwards?
As I said yesterday, tough times ahead, and tough choices to be made.
It’s hard not to think this about Hutton. The whole report has been very very disappointing. It’s hard to agree with Rod Liddle’s comments about this being yet another inquiry which exonerates Government – including the impeachable civil and secret services – and demonstrates how out of touch with reality the judiciary is.
I’m convinced that the majority of the public (and press,) will continue to think – irrespective of what Hutton has to say – that:
• Gilligan’s story was basically right.
• The dossier was ‘sexed up’.
• The Secret Services said what their paymasters wanted them to say.
• That Blair did know about the outing of Kelly – despite what he said in Hong Kong.
At the same time, the BBC is far from blameless. That Greg Dyke and Richard Sambrook, appear not to have listened to the 6:07am report before they responded to Campbell is astonishing. Perhaps they trusted the integrity of Gilligan, Marsh et al. If so, that was incredibly naive. It’s not rocket science to suggest that they should have listened to the evidence before they defended it.
It’s also hard not to question the effectiveness of the Governors too, a group who have been weak for a long time. I always wondered how they could carry out their functions part-time and when so many of them don’t have any idea about broadcasting or how the BBC works on the shop floor. I have the same feeling about non-Executive Director’s per se, so my feelings here are not unique to the BBC Governors.
What’s most worrying however is that with Charter Renewal looming this will be a stick that all the BBC’s enemies will use to beat it with. Auntie isn’t perfect, but those of us who support it will probably need to support the call to arms sooner rather than later…
As it's snowing here in London, I thought - by way of a contrast - I'd post an interesting email I got from Rob a couple of weeks ago whilst he was working in India. The guy has always been a great story teller, and the eidted version below demonstrates his skills in the anecdotal arena...
Dear Friends,
Four years ago, when I left India, I was secretly impressed that I was still alive and able to do so. I genuinely had no idea that I would ever go back, and certainly I would never go alone without Lori to protect me from frogs and lizards.
Well, a few months ago - I was invited to come back to India and teach at the Asian College of Journalism in Madras. They offered to fly me there and pay for my accommodation and it was too good an opportunity to turn down.
And so, on a cold and wintry New Year's Day, I set out from Chicago and flew off to India - via Frankfurt and London (needed to pop in for a cup of tea). 24 hours of flying.....
When I arrived in Madras it was 1:00 a.m. and very hot. It hits you like a wet kipper and makes you look instantly ridiculous wearing a jumper and thick trousers. And so I waited, with my other passengers to go through immigration. In the line in front of me was a German chap who struck up conversation with me to pass the time. He was carrying a duty-free bag, which he told me contained a bottle of fine whiskey. "You cannot get good whiskey in India", he said, "so thank God I have brought my own!". At this point he put the plastic bag back on the marble floor of the immigration hall and there was a loud crack. I nearly saw a grown man cry, as all his whiskey seeped from the bag and into the hall.
Quickly, I was met by a driver outside the airport, who whisked me away to my hotel - or guest house - and I collapsed into bed at 3:30 a.m. in a state of surreal disbelief that once again, I would fall sleep in India. Except, I really didn't. The jet lag had descended like a fog. Being 11 and a half hours ahead of America is quite nice - I like the notion of most of my friends living in yesterday, but I am struggling to accept the time zone my body is now in.
So I awoke to the smell of dusty air and a sticky heat covered my skin like an adhesive lacquer. The first thing was breakfast - my caretaker cooks all my meals for me as well as making my bed and cleaning my room everyday. I soon found out that unless you say 'STOP', he will keep making food for you and bring in such things as platefuls of six sizzling eggs, bacon unidentifiable animals, chicken with an assortment of glutinous matter attached and enough toast to make chest padding armor for future plane flights.
I managed about two bites and was done. I was rather ashamed. He returned to the kitchen and then I heard him shout several times very loudly and violently.
I have no idea whether I was the reason why.
- Rob
Following on from an earlier entry two more contenders.
1) A new arrival at CSV - Duncan Tree.
2) Emma's friend - the fantastically named Gordon Mole.
Further real life examples welcome - then you too can wow friends at Dinner Parties with your human and insight into the human condition....
Brian May's website are reporting (Queen News Thurs 15th Jan) organisers of the NFL Super Bowl have decided not to feature a duet between two of the world biggest music stars - Bono, and J-Lo - during the interval.
The reason?
Because the song they were going to sing, entitled American Prayer is about AIDS in Africa.
The Superbowl attracts a huge audience in the US and the halftime advertising slots are as expensive as those allocated during the Oscars. It looks as if the TV companies don't want their revenue hit by such inappropriate (sic) subject as AIDS - nevermind AIDS effecting people in another farawaycontinent.
No doubt it will be fine to promote patriotism e.g. American soldiers killed in Iraq, great American companies e.g. Pepsi or Coke, or new gas guzzling, pollution spewing cars, but a direct mention of a key challenge facing mankind - well, that's just not cricket is it? Afterall who wants their entertainment 'ruined' by the mention of somebody else's problems?
Quite. I'm not going to say anymore lest I become even more incoherent than normal - but I could rant about this for quite some time....
Mark tells me they've been doing this in the States for ages, and probably here in the UK too, but I've only just clocked this.
Guardian Unlimited are doing a packagae now where you can rent DVDs from their website. Either pay £3.25 per title for a weeks rental, or pay £13.25 a month for unlimited rentals.
The DVDs are delivered to your door by first class post and when you're done you put it back in the post in a pre-paid envelope. Nice.
What with this, pay per view and VOD from the web, it's hard to see how Blockbuster et al will stay in business - granted browsing for a title on the web is not quite the same as browsing in a shop, and the digital poor / illerate will keep them in business for a while, but it's hard not to think that the writing is on the wall for the traditional video and DVD rental business....
apart from by catering from the browsing trade, and the digital poor...
... about an earlier comment regarding my compatability of otherwise with Paris Hilton?
In particular I note that we are supposedly 99% compatible intellectually. Now Miss Hilton may be many things, but Mensa material she ain't - is somebody somewhere trying to tell me much the same thing?
One of the entries on Mark's blog reminded me of the fact that I spotted someone on the staff list here at CSV whose name I thought was rather good:
Steve Reckless - a media trainers in Birmingham (top bloke took - despite his punk rock name).
Top BBC name was a guy called Rocky Rising who I worked with in Presentation.
Anybody got any better 'comedy' names?
Creative genuis admired the world over, and Brian May.
Other pics from Bri's opening of The House of Guitars available here.
Ayesha recommended this site - which is really good - well worth looking at.
Other top tips I'm going to try and roll out this year:
1) Borrow books from friends instead of buying them. Yes I like to fill up my shelves with nice things, but I simply don't have the room anymore, and seldom read things more than once - so borrowing is a good way forward.
2) Ditto for music. If I copy stuff onto Minidisc I can do so for £1 or less.
3) Use libraries to get into new books and music. Used to as a kid, don't know why I don't do so anymore...
4) Try to drink less when I go out. Make the most of Happy Hours etc.
5) Use Top Table whenever I'm going out for dinner - esp. the 50% offers.
In short, become a student all over again...
It just goes to show that you can take the boy out of the BBC, but you can't take the BBC out of the boy... On the tube this morning I spotted the main headline in Mirror:
Unable to see the picture at the bottom my mind immediately assumed that this was Greg Dyke - before I realised that there are a few other Greg's in the world...some of whom are probably slightly better know to tabloid readers than the Director General of the BBC...
.... or am I the only one who doesn't understand the new pricing structure for the tubes...
I've tried to work it all out - but I can't - I find all the info from TfL very confusing - and as I'm discovering to my peril, when I don't cycle everywhere it's costing me a fortune...
Of course I shouldn't complain - the service is after all fast, clean, reliable and comfortable, so I'm clearly getting my money's worth...
Everyone I know seems to be on a major economy drive this year.... it's as if consumer excess of the Christmas period has acted as the catalyst for a return to frugality...
What seems to be driving this is a desire to cut get what my ex boss used to call more “bang for buck” – a desire to cut down on unnecessary expenditure which is matched by an equal desire to ensure that expenditure focuses on delivering a high quality experience.
How does this work? Well one example is buying your daily coffee from Café Nero instead of Starbucks (same thing, but a quid cheaper each time,) and using local sandwich shops instead of Pret (same saving again). So if you save £2 a day – that’s a tenner a week – or nearly £500 during the course of the working year –enough to pay for an additional, or more expensive, holiday.
Trend watchers have also noted an increased desire amongst young burnt out execs to spend more time ‘in’. There’s a strong desire to save money and have a better time by having people round for dinner instead of eating out, or drinking wine from the supermarket at £3.99 a pop, rather than in a horrid smoky bar which costs you £14.99 for the privilege.
With the increasing hustle and bustle of metropolitan life, this seems the perfect antidote, a way to get in touch, as Matt put it yesterday, with “your inner sofa”.
Nice.
Whether this trend will make it to February remains to be seen, but for now at least, the new going out - is staying in.
A lovely day on Wednesday for the above - the sun shone, family decamped in Sussex from all across the country, and a wonderful time was had by all. I can't even begin to describe the emotions that we felt, but suffice to say it was a really great day and one which after the trials and tribulations of the last few months, we were all glad to see.
Pictures will follow on Monday, but in the interim, if you want to see a copy of the speech I gave then click here.
For timing purposes I had to trim it down as we went along - the passages in italics show what was cut, but are included here so you so you can see the full extent of my punning (in)ability.
