The Craven Broadcaster

John Humphrys, the BBC Today presenter got a dressing down from his bosses last month for remarks which made fun of some Labour politicians.

But the Telegraph today reports that:

BBC chiefs wanted to sack the Today presenter John Humphrys over jibes he made about Labour leaders in an after-dinner speech ...

... According to John Kampfner, the New Statesman's editor and a former BBC journalist, Mr Grade [the BBC chairman] was intent on making an example of Humphrys to placate the Government at a time when it is reviewing the corporation's charter. He said Mr Grade also saw the Humphrys issue as an opportunity to prove to politicians that the corporation's new governance system is effective.

If true, it is a good reason to abolish the 'licence fee' and let the BBC find its own way in the world, truly independent of any government.

If it isn't true, it is a good reason to abolish the 'licence fee' and let the BBC find its own way in the world, because the idea that the BBC is in thrall to the politicians is all too believable.

Being English Now Banned

On the same day I learn from Mark Steyn about a Tory council banning all pig related items, including an employee's box of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet tissues, due to Muslim sensitivities - and a so-called wish for 'tolerance', I now discover the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Ann Owers has been at it too:

A section on race relations in Owers' report [on Wakefield prison] said: "We were concerned to see a number of staff wearing a flag of St. George tie-pin.

CNN goes on to report:

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, said Tuesday the red cross was an insensitive reminder of the Crusades.

"A lot of Muslims and Arabs view the Crusades as a bloody episode in our history," he told CNN. "They see those campaigns as Christendom launching a brutal holy war against Islam.

"Muslim or Arab prisoners could take umbrage if staff wore a red cross badge. It's also got associations with the far-right. Prison officers should be seen to be neutral."

Doyle added that it was now time for England to find a new flag and a patron saint who is "not associated with our bloody past and one we can all identify with."

I say wave the flag, sing the national anthem, march on St George's Day, and let's see who our friends are!

To have pride and respect for our past, and support the ancient institutions that have grown out of it in the face of a new intolerance is to stand firm for our country's freedom and future. The tail cannot wag the dog. Down with PC prats and religious bigots.

It's nearly enough to start me eating meat again - pork, that is.

Dogs' Dinners

Jamie Oliver exposed the dire state of Britain's school dinners on TV.

The government commissioned a report which says:

The state of many school meals is an indictment of more than two decades of public policy which has in effect stripped nutrients off plates, removed skills from kitchen staff and seen the take-up of school meals drop precipitously.

So, caught out, the government intends to enforce nutritional standards and on-site cooking (even though it will mean building kitchens for many schools - another one-size-fits-all approach), while banning many 'junk' foods.

Very good. But would school meals have got so bad if schools were not controlled by the state, and obliged to direct their attention and resources to satisfying the bureaucracy and politicians rather than children and parents?

Having spent "more than two decades" making a dog's dinner of school meals, the government still thinks it knows best, showing no respect for the freedom of parents to determine what their children may eat. According to the Telegraph:

At first, the standards will cover only the provision of food. By 2011, however, they could be applied to its consumption, which would involve restricting the food children were allowed to bring into school.

Government conceit joined by the heavy hand of an obese state.