Flashman

And yet the replacement was an inferior model.

Radio 2 putting him out to pasture was a snapshot of everything wrong about the BBC. Snotty BBC management thinking they know better than their audience, forcing a poor replacement on the listeners. It appears he was loved by his colleagues, didn’t get dragged down by Yew Tree and had a loyal audience. His later R2 shows reminded me of listening to R1 in the 1980s - which was a good thing

Perhaps a better description of those using the King’s cancer as a political stick to beat him with is, “woke, virtue signallers.” Lots of guff about the fact he’s getting cancer treatment - the same as everybody else. I’m also sceptical about the assorted examples of lack of NHS services. In my own personal experiences in the last three years, consultations were performed within a fortnight of the GP’s referral to the local hospital. I’m lucky enough to live in England, so I can’t comment on the criminally poor service provided in Labour Wales & SNP Scotland.

“Look at me! I want attention!”

Give it a rest. A 75 year old has cancer and you have to play politics.

Still one of the best lines on telly: ”Don’t tell him (your name) Pike!”

Buy from Ikea. Good quality, cheap, expect to replace it because nothing’s that well-manufactured anymore, but their stuff’s pretty good.

I’m surprised this hasn’t been reported in the press, as a shooting accident normally warrants a couple of column inches.

That’s the least criminal thing going on his family at the moment.

You wonder what Stuart Broad has to do to win, after the Ashes he had.

1. Fine the parents for truancy. 2. Report the families to Prevent - this is radicalism. 3. Look at benefits - why should the State pay for this mindset? 4. Are these state schools or faith schools? Look at mind & management of schools that encourage these protests.

Labour and the SNP appear to be the parties of Muslim solidarity, rather than the majority of their constituents. Perhaps the shadow of Corbyn, Williamson and the rest still hangs over them?

The Govt. plan to ban Muslim protests on Remembrance weekend - such events are “provocative and disrespectful.”

Wife loved the book. All TV reviewers, and wife, said the telly version’s rubbish.

By coincidence, from today’s Telegraph: A few years ago, when Left-wing activists started calling on the Government to “Defund the police”, I ridiculed them. Now, though, I wonder whether they might have had a point. It’s not that I think we shouldn’t have a police force. It’s just that it’s growing less and less clear what we’re getting for our money. These days, the police hardly ever solve crimes such as burglary and theft. In 2021, a mere 5 per cent of burglaries in England and Wales were solved. And if your bicycle or laptop has been stolen, forget it. You won’t be seeing them again. (I’m referring to the bicycle or laptop, although I might as well be referring to the police, since you probably won’t be seeing them, either.) Even if officers can’t track down our valuables, surely they can at least help us to feel reasonably safe when walking our streets. But apparently not. Look at the approach the police have taken to the anti-Israel mobs overrunning our cities. It hasn’t just been ineffectual. It’s been downright cowardly. Take the tearing down of posters depicting Israelis taken hostage by Hamas terrorists. It was bad enough seeing members of the public do it. But it’s staggering to see police officers doing it, too. Yet that’s what happened this week in London – and reportedly also in Manchester. In response to the outcry from Londoners, the Met released a statement. Officers, it explained, had received “at least two calls” from residents in Edgware, objecting to the presence of the posters. And the Met, it went on, had a duty to take “reasonable steps” to “avoid any further increase in community tension”. Note that phrase, “community tension”. It seems to be the police’s explanation for everything they’re currently doing – or not doing. There is, however, just one small problem with this excuse. It makes absolutely no sense. After all, doesn’t removing the posters risk inflaming “community tension”? And marching through cities, calling for “jihad”? And holding mass anti-Israel protests inside railway stations (as we’ve seen in London this week) while chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a slogan the Home Secretary has called “a staple of anti-Semitic discourse”? Do none of these activities cause “further increase in community tension”?I’m pretty sure they do. Obviously, they heighten tension among people who are Jewish. But they also heighten tension among those of us who aren’t. We too find these scenes disturbing and intimidating. Yet the police have done next to nothing to prevent such scenes recurring. So forget our communities. When the police say they want to avoid an increase in community tension, it feels as if there’s only one community they’re actually concerned about. Officers aren’t always reluctant to take a firm line over illicit mass gatherings. In 2021, they certainly didn’t hold back during the lockdown-breaking vigil for Sarah Everard – the 33-year-old who’d been murdered by one of their colleagues. But then, that particular mass gathering consisted almost solely of women. The police weren’t scared of them. When it comes to the mobs swarming our streets today, however, it’s a different story. Plainly, the police are scared. Scared of upsetting them. True enough, upsetting the more radical elements might be dangerous. But letting them do as they please is even more dangerous. It will embolden them – while intensifying the fear and resentment felt by everyone else. In theory, tiptoeing around “community tension” may appear pragmatic. But in practice, it means caving in to bullies. This isn’t sensitivity. It’s appeasement.

You're right, I agree that most right-thinking people side with Israel. My circle of friends and colleagues are all clear - Israel is free to prosecute its war on its own terms. However, one cannot say, "despite the media...". The BBC is the national broadcaster and it's clearly pro-Hamas biased. Ditto Channel Four news, Guardian, the rank & file Labour Party, etc. Even the newly-minted non-racist Yorkshire Cricket Club is rocked by anti-Semitism, per the Daily Telegraph: "Amjad Bashir, who was appointed by Yorkshire Cricket Foundation (YCF) in March, posted a series of statements on X following the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas. His posts are hugely embarrassing for a club still reeling from the racism scandal that threatened their very existence, which included anti-Semitic comments made by the man who blew the whistle on it, Azeem Rafiq." So clearly, there's a proportion of UK residents who seem keen to celebrate murder, rape, beheading babies and kidnap. I don't even think it's aligned just to religious beliefs. There's multiple examples of union leadership also being pro-Hamas, whether the Labour Party or its underlying union backers. I struggle to understand why this is the case, but I don't claim to know why or that I'm going to expend much energy trying.

I think it's clear in both my previous posts.

Since the Hamas murders in Israel, France intends to ignore ECHR and deport failed asylum seekers immediately, HMG revoked visas because of anti-Semitic rioting and USA sent two carrier battle groups to the Med to protect Israel. I can only marvel at the British public's deep knowledge and concern for the cause of all this upheaval. However, I'm cynical and don't believe that it's concern for Gaza - It's a Jewish issue and the hatred of them thereof.

I watch Pointless on BBC1. They ask 100 members of the public assorted general knowledge questions and give them 100 seconds to provide as many answers as possible. I am always disappointed, but no longer surprised, by how little the great unwashed know about UK history - low teens recognition of Magna Carta, 1990s/2000s cabinet ministers, 20 century UK social events, etc. in a similar vein, there was little UK interest about the ethic cleansing of Kurds in Turkey, Poland's flat refusal to accept asylum seekers, war in Libya or the ongoing deaths in the Mediterranean in small boats. Then we come to Israel. I find it remarkable that so many people claim to know every twist & turn of the Oslo Accords, settlers, the Geneva Convention, laws of war, Muslim sectarianism, etc. Above, I bemoaned the lack of UK history education, yet so many people know everything (that Israel does wrong) about Gaza. Similarly, there's no general public engagement or discussion regarding Iran's assorted terrorism, Poland, Austria and others breaking EU laws on open borders or thousands dying in the Med trying to get to Italy. However, hundreds of thousands across Western Europe rage over the IDF. No rage about the murders, rape & torture that preceded it on 7 October, I note with no real surprise. So, I wonder why the Palestinians garner so much attention? I read everywhere that this isn't about the Jews and that people may criticise Israel without being anti-Semitic. But does anybody believe that? Look at the swivel-eyed loons who say that - hard left Labour, I think that's all absolute rubbish. Having considered the general public's lack of history education and the lack of empathy for all other humanitarian charity cash calls, I think this is really just Jew basing. The surrounding Arab states couldn't give a tinker's curse about Gaza or the West Bank. Iran is happy to arm them because it keeps the Israelis from bombing Iran's nuclear sites (and God help us all if Iran gets nuclear missiles). Egypt closed the Gaza border years ago and won't allow their fellow Muslims out. Jordan, which borders the West Bank, won't grant their fellow Muslims any asylum rights either. So, when I read or hear that assorted Labour Party members, or the BBC, or trades unions officials, or all Republic of Ireland government minsters, or the SNP don't have a problem with Jews, but they care about the poor Palestinians, I call it out as lies because it flies in the face of my wider experience of current affairs generally. For what it's worth, I don't think Gaza's worth the cost of the ammunition. The real war will be with Iran, supported indirectly by Russia and China. All the protestors are simply undermining the West's ability to defend itself against those authoritarian regimes. But really, they don't care because for them it's Jew bashing.

Talking shops like this won’t benefit the public. All that will happen is that worst practises across the various Forces will be adopted by the rest.

Let’s see who’s hosting these programmes next season. If I were the BBC’s DG, I’d let this blow over now and have a clean sweep of the whole lot in the summer. Call it a revamp, fresh approach, more inclusivity, etc. and dump all those who withdrew their labour this weekend. They’re all tax-minimising consultants and don’t have the benefit of employment laws. Revenge best served cold, etc.

Lineker realises that leaving the BBC will affect his visibility and therefore future earnings. All those ex BBC employees, like Matlis and Soper, have disappeared since they stormed off in a huff. Radio and podcasts cannot compare to being on the national broadcaster. MOTD without the studio guff sounds ideal to me. If the BBC said they’ll save £10m per year just from the football budget, the vast majority of punters will support them.

This is a silly comparison, I’m afraid. it’s a shame we don’t teach proper history in schools. Watching “Fury” and U571 do not a historian, nor a current affairs commentator for that matter.

What do you think he meant? What other 1930’s German comparison was he drawing - the Bauhaus art movement?