woolybanana Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 I am glad someone spotted that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 More a question of you being blind drunk when you posted? [6] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 [quote user="You can call me Betty"]Well, it's certainly no worse than when Thatcher died, and frankly her accomplishments (for the want of a better word) certainly didn't warrant the airtime.[/quote]But at least she was a British Prime Minister.....so there was some logic .......I know what Mandela did was huge but as has already been said he was an old man who died of natural causes...Shame the SA authorities had not thought to put a memorial ceremony plan in place, if that's what they do for someone they so adore, heaven help anyone they actually dislike...what a shambles....PS and now we have Question Time from South Africa.......perhaps Strictly will come from there too ;-) ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Usual scenario, isn't it. damned if they do.......Nice to know that Mandela's legacy is to be "an old man who died of natural causes". So the 27 years in prison were a waste of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 All QT did was underline that there is a long way to go in SA.....maybe Dimbleby is in SA to commentate on the funeral? Read the whole post Betty, I already said I know what NM did was great. But he wasn't always perfect......Who else is going to get this treatment from the BBC ? After a while it ceases to be interesting and actually has the opposite effect, which is a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 You can imagine the scene in the BBC News room:'So and so has died what shall we do''It's very cold and rainy there and the hotels are not very good''OK we will do it from here with interviews with our correspondent on the ground''Oooh, this is just coming in, Mandela has died'.'What luck, it is nice and warm in SA and there are some decent hotels and that superb restaurant in Jo'berg''Right, let's get packed and out there - who wants to come'And so the creative minds in other parts of the BBC go in to overdrive thinking of tenuous reasons why they should go to SA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 I wonder how many of them did some Christmas shopping ?Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 What ever happens I hope they make sure that Bono, Naomi and all the other freeloaders are available to attend the funeral? They may even be able to persuade Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey to put in an appearance to give the occasion some gravitas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 [quote user="Hoddy"]I wonder how many of them did some Christmas shopping ?Hoddy[/quote]Carvings of animals and top heavy women for all that's for sure ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 [quote user="PaulT"]'What luck, it is nice and warm in SA...[/quote]Did you SEE the weather at the memorial service??? It might be early summer in SA, but it's also the thunderstorm season. I just had a look and it's scheduled to be stormy for the next week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 [quote user="Russethouse"]Read the whole post Betty, I already said I know what NM did was great. But he wasn't always perfect...... [/quote]Like most of us, he was human. I am trying, still, to reconcile your comment with the acceptance that Thatcher should take up so much airtime, after all she was an old woman who died of natural causes. And although I have no doubt she would dispute the fact, she too was far from perfect. But she was British. So that's OK. As long as we can keep it parochial, I'm sure the important news from the rest of the world should just be a post-script. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Thatcher had a more immediate effect on those in the UK and polarised opinion, a lot of air time (I agree, probably too much) was taken up with lively debate from detractors and supporters....in addition she had a well organised State funeral.....but actually I don't remember programmes being suspended for hours....With the coverage of Mandela we have seen many people interviews that once met him for 2 minutes twenty years ago and have nothing to add of any importance or interest. His memorial, by most commentators standards, was a shambles and a lot of the time did not give the impression he was being 'honoured', but maybe I missed the cultural nuances. Empty orange seats could be the new must have tributeFrom http://thebackbencher.co.uk/3-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-nelson-mandela/The apartheid regime was a crime against humanity; as illogical as it was cruel. It is tempting, therefore, to simplify the subject by declaring that all who opposed it were wholly and unswervingly good. It’s important to remember, however, that Mandela has been the first to hold his hands up to his shortcomings and mistakes. In books and speeches, he goes to great length to admit his errors. The real tragedy is that too many in the West can’t bring themselves to see what the great man himself has said all along; that he’s just as flawed as the rest of us, and should not be put on a pedestalThe BBC seem to have airbrushed a good portion of Mandela's life......and sent 150 staff to do it. Who else is going to get this treatment ? George Bush Snr ? Tony Blair ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 [quote user="Russethouse"]Read the whole post Betty, I already said I know what NM did was great. But he wasn't always perfect...... [/quote]Like most of us, he was human. I am trying, still, to reconcile your comment with the acceptance that Thatcher should take up so much airtime, after all she was an old woman who died of natural causes. And although I have no doubt she would dispute the fact, she too was far from perfect. But she was British. So that's OK. As long as we can keep it parochial, I'm sure the important news from the rest of the world should just be a post-script. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Peter Hain I noticed was out there :I did not see most of Question Time from Jo'berg so can't comment on how much he participated. Whatever his contribution the BBC thought he was worth flying out at their expense just for it .. ..Business Class flights returning via Amsterdam .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Question Time isn't screened until later this evening.Peter Hain has more claim than most to talk about Mandela. He was an early anti-apartheid campaigner, following his mother who was the only white woman who was in the public gallery every day throughout Mandela's trial.HoddyOops, getting mixed up with his brother who is on the Radio 4 later tonight. Question Time was last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Peter Hain is an opportunist creep who did not have the guts to stay and fight, but ran away to UK wherre he could mouth off in safety.And he was a useless m noister in UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Hain was 16 when his family moved to England, hardly an act of cowardice.I agree wit your second point though.Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 He went to my old school although he would have been in the upper 6th when I started. I don't remember him at all, he certainly didn't row or play rugby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Betty, Whatever your or my opinion of her (and mine is not all good by any means) the fact is that Thatcher was the first British woman Prime Minister and the first British Prime Minister since Churchill to be accorded a state funeral (whether you agree with that or not). It's therefore hardly suprising that the British Broadcasting Corporation saw fit to devote time to her .....even so I don't remember that programmes were broken into and normal broadcasting suspended when she died...I seem to remember a 'News Flash' and further coverage at an extended News Bulletin...then endless debate about whether she was good or bad.It's not about Nelson Mandela, its about the reporting, over the top and excessive coverage requiring 150 staff to be flown out to SA...really anyone would think the BBC is left wing . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbie Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 RH, thank you for expressing my feelings on this so well. Although I don't think you need to be left wing to admire Mandela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Last night I read that the BBC sent three times the amount of staff than all the other British companies put together ; 140, the next in terms of people sent was Sky News with 15.......That shows a startling lack of responsibility with licence payers money compared to a commercial company who have shareholders to worry about.In addition the reporting, for much of the time ,has been banal, as lampooned on HIGNFY last night, and in my opinion, unbalanced. As Nelson Mandela admitted his mis deads and faults it hardly honours him to whitewash the facts.....surely one of the remarkable things about him was that he realised that he could only fulfil his ambitions for South Africa successfully if he changed?In the back of my mind I can't help thinking how all those people who lost a loved one in an attacks he sanctioned must feel.Yes, Thatcher got a lot of air time, but by golly her faults and mistakes were debated 'ad nauseum' she wasn't made out to be perfect, she clearly wasn't, and neither was Nelson Mandela! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoss Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 [quote user="Russethouse"]Last night I read that the BBC sent three times the amount of staff than all the other British companies put together[/quote]Lucky nothing else has happened since Dec 5th, then[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 [quote user="Russethouse"] .....even so I don't remember that programmes were broken into and normal broadcasting suspended when she died...I seem to remember a 'News Flash' and further coverage at an extended News Bulletin...then endless debate about whether she was good or bad.It's not about Nelson Mandela, its about the reporting, over the top and excessive coverage requiring 150 staff to be flown out to SA...really anyone would think the BBC is left wing .[/quote]Thatcher's death: The news broke at 12.54 pm, six minutes before the daily 1pm news on BBC1. The announcement was made and there was then an extended news programme which went on considerably beyond the normal finish time. There was then a further extended news programme beginning at 4 pm, some 2 hours earlier than the normal evening news. That was just the beginning. It went on all day including a BBC1 special from 8.30pm to 10 pm, followed by an extended News,whilst Newsnight was extended to 90 minutes from 10.30 pm to midnight. And that was just the BBC.It's surprising how quickly people forget. I'm sure that will also be the case with Mandela. In another few weeks it'll seem as though there was only a few minutes' coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 So as you say we had extended news coverage and lots of other coverage of which we had warning...that isn't what happened on Dec 5 th....programmes were just stopped with no idea for the viewer whether we would go back to normal programming or not.....which proved to be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomoss Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 We just switched off the Nelson Mandela channel and watched other ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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