Bbc

This morning Nick Robinson made his debut as a presenter on the Today show. However, it was Robinson’s co-presenter James Naughtie who managed to make the news, after he turned the air blue during the broadcast. The Scottish presenter uttered a four letter expletive on air just before 7am after failing to realise he was on air. While the BBC have since had to issue an apology, it appears that the corporation are also keen to wipe the incident from history altogether. The radio show is usually made available to listen to on demand on BBC iPlayer within minutes of the broadcast finishing. However, one day on and it is still nowhere

Watching the increasingly bleak and depressing Peep Show the other night I was pleased to note that my on-screen alter ego Mark Corrigan is a big fan of Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation, which is I think my all-time favourite documentary. To me Civilisation, and the then controller of BBC2 who commissioned it, David Attenborough, represent what the BBC should be, and is at its best: a strangely Freudian father figure to the nation, erudite, intelligent, open-minded and very British. The BBC was a product of a strong national culture, but it also helped to further cement it, making events like the Proms or FA Cup final part of our collective experience.

The farcically named ‘Islamic Human Rights Commission’ has featured here many times before. The last time was earlier this year when this Khomeinist group decided to award their ‘Islamophobe of the Year’ award to the murdered staff of Charlie Hebdo. At their ‘awards ceremony’ for this the IHRC even joked about what a shame it was that none of the staff of Charlie Hebdo were around to collect the award. Today the IHRC has thrown a smoke grenade into the public debate by issuing ‘findings’ claiming that the UK government’s counter-extremism and counter-terrorism policies are having a ‘negative impact’ on British Muslims. The ‘work’ is the usual confection of non-research

Two reports on the BBC Ten O’Clock News this week, both unashamedly partisan. Yes, yes, I know they are not the only reports this week guilty of bias. There’s the same ol same ol refugee hugging every night and there was also a report on the fact that our population is about to rise by ten million without even the faintest suggestion that this might not be a bloody good thing. But I mean two specific reports. One, by Reeta Chakrabarti about protests outside abortion clinics. This was the most egregiously biased piece of reporting I have seen for a long while. It took, as a statement of unalterable fact,

Although Russell Brand has stopped producing his YouTube series The Trews after tiring of being in the spotlight, fans of the comedian-turned-revolutionary can now get their fill in the new documentary Brand: A Second Coming. While the film, which is directed by Ondi Timoner, was originally supported by Brand, he later got cold feet on viewing a first cut. After asking for changes — and saying that he would try and prevent the film’s release — he went on to distance himself from the project by boycotting the film’s premiere. So what was it in the film that caused Brand to perform a U-turn? Well aside from disclosures about his colourful love life, it appears to be none

Earlier this week Mr S reported how Robert Peston’s appointment as ITV’s new political editor had led his former BBC colleagues to place a sign outside their press room at Tory conference making it clear that he was no longer welcome. Now, in a further sign that his new job has not gone down well with his former colleagues, the BBC’s deputy political editor James Landale has posted a cryptic tweet directed at those journalists who have not been promoted in recent months. Landale — who was overlooked in favour of Laura Kuenssberg for the role of BBC political editor — has sent a message praising those who — like him — put the story first,