I laughed out loud on the tube this morning, always embarassing, but how could you not smile over this. Today is the first day in England for civil partnerships between gay couples, Northern Ireland was on Monday and Scotland yesterday and there were some typical protests from the religious right.
This is a letter from today's Metro:
"This is the final straw - our young children will no longer have any moral values. They will see same-sex marriages as the norm and opposite-sex marriages will be read about in history books. What are we teaching children? If God wanted two women or two men to join together in marriage, then he would have made them so they could reproduce
W Bent, West Yorks"
Now I obviously snorted at this on the train but I am doubtful whether that's genuine. I will confess here and now that publications, even newspapers, don't get anywhere near the amount of letters every day, week or month that most people think. We go out to 11,000 subscribers, and each issue is passed on to five others so that's 55,000 readers and we rarely get more than one and usually get none at all. The trouble with only getting one letter is that you can't really have a "Letters Page" with just a single missive on it so it's not unknown for the editorial dept to just make some up. The usual give away is "Name and address supplied" or something along those lines.
Of course, I would've put "I M Bent, West Yorks" or "I Bendover, West Yorks" so maybe I'm being overly suspicious.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Friday, December 16, 2005
Points of View
Being the whining anal pedant that I am, I left a comment at the BBC's Newswatch website moaning about my thoughts on reporting viewers' comments as fact. Newswatch was set up after the Hutton inquiry as a way for the BBC to be much more touchy feely with its viewers and listeners and deal with any complaints they have over news coverage. Think of it as Points of View but with the why-oh-why dial turned down a few notches.
Anyway, here's the reply in full:
Andrew,
Thanks for your comments. I have to say I did hear the explosion and I live in south London. I was awake at the time and thought my boiler was packing up!
But you're right that all comments from readers and viewers should be treated as just that and not taken as a reliable source. Interestingly, in the wake of the shooting at Stockwell tube station, the BBC defended
its extensive use of eyewitness accounts to tell the story. Now, as more evidence gradually seeps out, many of them appear to have been wrong.
A sensible warning, and one all broadcasters would do well to take note of.
Best wishes,
Ian Jolly*
NewsWatch
I thought this was quite a reasoned reply to be honest, although I would still argue that it probably was his boiler but several people in South London have told me in a got-your-eye-wiped kind of way that they heard it to. I'm obviously just a much heavier sleeper than I thought, I'd have been fucked in the Blitz.
*It's admirable that, post-Hutton, the BBC is hiring people whose name corresponds with their demeanour. If Andrew Gilligan's real name had been Andrew Killagain they might have avoided a lot of jip.
Anyway, here's the reply in full:
Andrew,
Thanks for your comments. I have to say I did hear the explosion and I live in south London. I was awake at the time and thought my boiler was packing up!
But you're right that all comments from readers and viewers should be treated as just that and not taken as a reliable source. Interestingly, in the wake of the shooting at Stockwell tube station, the BBC defended
its extensive use of eyewitness accounts to tell the story. Now, as more evidence gradually seeps out, many of them appear to have been wrong.
A sensible warning, and one all broadcasters would do well to take note of.
Best wishes,
Ian Jolly*
NewsWatch
I thought this was quite a reasoned reply to be honest, although I would still argue that it probably was his boiler but several people in South London have told me in a got-your-eye-wiped kind of way that they heard it to. I'm obviously just a much heavier sleeper than I thought, I'd have been fucked in the Blitz.
*It's admirable that, post-Hutton, the BBC is hiring people whose name corresponds with their demeanour. If Andrew Gilligan's real name had been Andrew Killagain they might have avoided a lot of jip.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Wrong, wrong, wrong
Ok, I'm always prepared to admit when I'm wrong. Sitting at my desk today I can gaze out the window at a plume of smoke hundreds of feet high. The strange thing is that it's a spectacular sight and most people here have been taking photos out of the window. There is a chance, of course, that it's nothing to do with the oil depot fire and is actually a big cloud or a really faulty exhaust.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Nothing but blue skies from now on
Incidentally, when I came to Harrow this morning there was a beautiful blue sky without the slightest hint of devastating black clouds anywhere. Funny that because, apparently, people could see it from miles away according to the news...
Oil be back
Sunday's oil depot fire in Hemel Hempstead (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4520430.stm) has been dominating all the headlines today. That's fair enough, it's a huge fire and has caused a lot of disruption. You'd think from the coverage though that armageddon had arrived and the four horsemen of the apocalypse were about to ride out of the smoke cloud.*
The Daily Express called it 'Hell on Earth', the Sun 'Black Sunday' and the Daily Mail relates the 'apocalypic scenes'**
What's really angered me though is the 'give us your views' part of the 24 News coverage on TV. It's all very well encouraging feedback from viewers, and getting them to send in video and images of the scene, but it shouldn't be accepted that simply because they're a viewer then they must be right.
"We've had a text from someone in Hastings saying they were woken up by the sound of the blast, which gives you some idea of the scale."
No they weren't. Of course they weren't. It's patently ridiculous to even imagine that someone in Hastings on the South Coast was woken up by the sound of a blast that, while spectacular, barely registered with people 20 miles away. If it had been loud enough to wake up someone in Hastings, well over 100 miles away, it would've been so powerful that Hemel Hempstead and many of the surrounding towns would've been completely obliterated.
Some tit even texted in from Holland saying they'd heard it. No he didn't and any respectable news organisation shouldn't be saying he did as if it was fact.
Many people here live very near Hemel Hempstead, one in Bovingdon which is less than five miles away. The force of the blast, which was heard in Holland remember, woke him up and his mother in law's loft hatch sprang open. Devastating.
What is it about some people that requires them to write themselves into events even if it's something totally unrelated to them. They see it on tv and suddenly that slamming car door that woke them up MUST have been the blast. The ultimate manifestation of this phenomenon is the flowers left when celebrities die or there's been a well publicised murder. I didn't know these people but I'm going to pay my respects anyway because I've been told by the news that it's very sad.
It just shows that despite hundreds of years of human development we're still just as gullible as a 15th century peasant being told there's monsters in the sea, the world is flat or smoking a leech will cure your headache.
Unbelieveable.
*Probably coughing
**In fairness, the Mail tends to use that phrase pretty much every day
The Daily Express called it 'Hell on Earth', the Sun 'Black Sunday' and the Daily Mail relates the 'apocalypic scenes'**
What's really angered me though is the 'give us your views' part of the 24 News coverage on TV. It's all very well encouraging feedback from viewers, and getting them to send in video and images of the scene, but it shouldn't be accepted that simply because they're a viewer then they must be right.
"We've had a text from someone in Hastings saying they were woken up by the sound of the blast, which gives you some idea of the scale."
No they weren't. Of course they weren't. It's patently ridiculous to even imagine that someone in Hastings on the South Coast was woken up by the sound of a blast that, while spectacular, barely registered with people 20 miles away. If it had been loud enough to wake up someone in Hastings, well over 100 miles away, it would've been so powerful that Hemel Hempstead and many of the surrounding towns would've been completely obliterated.
Some tit even texted in from Holland saying they'd heard it. No he didn't and any respectable news organisation shouldn't be saying he did as if it was fact.
Many people here live very near Hemel Hempstead, one in Bovingdon which is less than five miles away. The force of the blast, which was heard in Holland remember, woke him up and his mother in law's loft hatch sprang open. Devastating.
What is it about some people that requires them to write themselves into events even if it's something totally unrelated to them. They see it on tv and suddenly that slamming car door that woke them up MUST have been the blast. The ultimate manifestation of this phenomenon is the flowers left when celebrities die or there's been a well publicised murder. I didn't know these people but I'm going to pay my respects anyway because I've been told by the news that it's very sad.
It just shows that despite hundreds of years of human development we're still just as gullible as a 15th century peasant being told there's monsters in the sea, the world is flat or smoking a leech will cure your headache.
Unbelieveable.
*Probably coughing
**In fairness, the Mail tends to use that phrase pretty much every day
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
I had such dreams once....
I have received the kind of press release that has triggered one of those epiphanys (epiphanies?) that come along every so often. What the hell am I doing here?
"Verplas, the rapidly growing manufacturer of domestic modular ventilation ducting, has just launched a range of stainless steel wall outlets and ceiling extract valves in 100, 125 and 150mm.
"The product designs include two varieites of Bull-Nose shaped outlets, a Gravity Flap Outlet and a Cowled Outlet with Back-Draught Damper, all made in top quality steel and manufactured to last."
I can't believe they're still going with the Gravity Flap Outlet, that's soooo last year.
Take me now Lord, take me now.
"Verplas, the rapidly growing manufacturer of domestic modular ventilation ducting, has just launched a range of stainless steel wall outlets and ceiling extract valves in 100, 125 and 150mm.
"The product designs include two varieites of Bull-Nose shaped outlets, a Gravity Flap Outlet and a Cowled Outlet with Back-Draught Damper, all made in top quality steel and manufactured to last."
I can't believe they're still going with the Gravity Flap Outlet, that's soooo last year.
Take me now Lord, take me now.
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