322 replies to this topic

[Futtocks]

Breaking news: Tom Watson MP has said police must investigate claims of a "powerful paedophile ring" linked to a previous prime minister's "senior adviser" and Parliament.

[gingerjon]

Ted Heath.

[gingerjon]

Oooo ... Thatcher, apparently.

The internet will melt.

[John Drake]

Its not really like that , though. An analogy: just because everyone else breaks the speed limit does not make it right for me to do so too. Its the BBC I am concerned with not the Bank of Scotland. In any case News International, when exposed to Leveson, was ultimate forced to clean up its act. Also, the BBC has rather been forced into this intense navel gazing. Its initial response especially to the Newsnight issue hardly merits the use of the word excoriate.

I just hope that Entwistle stays to resolve this, for a better and cleaner and less arrogant BBC is clearly needed.

The initial response to the Newsnight issue doesn't deserve the use of the word excoriate, true enough, but that wasn't what I was applying it to. The Panorama programme certainly deserves that description. Would the latter have been made without the stink that erupted in the first place? Well, wasn't the stink over the Newsnight investigation being canned started by those at the BBC who worked on it?

Are we not entitled to ask why ITV didn't broadcast its own Savile documentary sooner too?

The Beeb as an organisation certainly has its faults, but it ought not to be the big story here, Savile should be. He appears to have hoodwinked almost everyone he came into contact with over many decades both inside and also way beyond the boundaries of the BBC.

[John Drake]

Good article by Steve Richards in The Independent on the BBC/Savile furore.
http://www.independe...ng-8221893.html

[l'angelo mysterioso]

The initial response to the Newsnight issue doesn't deserve the use of the word excoriate, true enough, but that wasn't what I was applying it to. The Panorama programme certainly deserves that description. Would the latter have been made without the stink that erupted in the first place? Well, wasn't the stink over the Newsnight investigation being canned started by those at the BBC who worked on it?

Are we not entitled to ask why ITV didn't broadcast its own Savile documentary sooner too?

The Beeb as an organisation certainly has its faults, but it ought not to be the big story here, Savile should be. He appears to have hoodwinked almost everyone he came into contact with over many decades both inside and also way beyond the boundaries of the BBC.

Wasn't the guy who put together the ITV programme-the ex police officer a meber of the team that did the BBC documentary that was spiked? maybe one followed the other.

Saville should be the big story right enough, but it is likely to beget more big storys-some emanating from goings on at the BBC as more and more stones are lifted.

[JohnM]

Are we not entitled to ask why ITV didn't broadcast its own Savile documentary sooner too? Oh, yes. and yes to the same question about the Daily Mirror many years go.

The Beeb as an organisation certainly has its faults, but it ought not to be the big story here. and I don't think it is.

Entwistle seems to me to be an honest and genuine person and I would not like to see him hounded out of office.

[John Drake]

Entwistle seems to me to be an honest and genuine person and I would not like to see him hounded out of office.

It seems almost inevitable he will be, though.

You say above that you don't think the BBC has become a bigger story than Savile.

This suggests otherwise.
http://www.guardian....onal-newspapers

The Beeb under fire for not properly investigating Savile, by everyone else who didn't properly investigate him either. Sickening levels of hypocrisy there.

[JohnM]

Hypocrisy or Schadenfreude? Not so long agoBBC journos reveled in the Leveson exposures, so why the surprise when they gift the press in this way? It's a tough life in the national media.

Remember, Savile WAS the face of the BBC for many many years. As it happens, I beat Savile by about four or five places in the 1982 Pony British Marathon. He better not have cheated!!

Edited by JohnM, 24 October 2012 - 02:33 PM.

[Martyn Sadler]

It seems almost inevitable he will be, though.

You say above that you don't think the BBC has become a bigger story than Savile.

This suggests otherwise.
http://www.guardian....onal-newspapers

The Beeb under fire for not properly investigating Savile, by everyone else who didn't properly investigate him either. Sickening levels of hypocrisy there.

John, I don't see the hypocrisy.

Savile worked for the BBC and, as far as I am aware, not for the Guardian or any other daily or weekly newspaper.

He was allegedly able to get away with to much because of his position in society gave him a false respectability that was bestowed on him largely because of his role with the BBC. So it's hardly surprising that the BBC is receiving the flak, and other media outlets are having a field day.

Savile was by no means the first predator to work for the BBC. Chris Denning, who was one of the first presenters with Radio 1 when it came into being in the 1960s, was a predatory paedophile who is, I think, currently in jail somewhere in Europe because of his activities. Denning used to turn up to the studio and to parties with his young lads and no one seemingly batted an eyelid in those permissive times.

What was particularly interesting to me was the Daily Mirror article that interviewed the woman who had been Savile's PA for 32 years until 2001. She claimed not to have been aware of what he had been up to. It struck me as odd that she shouldn't have spotted anything when she had been with him for so long.

[JohnM]

The internet will melt.

you mean like this?

Edited by JohnM, 24 October 2012 - 02:57 PM.

[JohnM]

It seems almost inevitable he will be, though.

to be honest, I'm a bit fed up of people falling on their swords as it were. its just an easy and rewarding way out. far better they remain and fix things.

[Johnoco]

Hypocrisy or Schadenfreude? Not so long agoBBC journos reveled in the Leveson exposures, so why the surprise when they gift the press in this way? It's a tough life in the national media.

Remember, Savile WAS the face of the BBC for many many years. As it happens, I beat Savile by about four or five places in the 1982 Pony British Marathon. He better not have cheated!!

Funny you mention that. I know someone who claims he used to cheat at that by getting a lift round the course. Claims he overtook Savile yet he was there at the finish line smoking a cigar.

I don't care if it's not true, it's of the moment so I'm putting it out there.

[JohnM]

I'm putting it out there.

Is that legal?

[Futtocks]

to be honest, I'm a bit fed up of people falling on their swords as it were. its just an easy and rewarding way out. far better they remain and fix things.

True, but if the gutter press* howl for blood long enough, token firings will be needed to shut them up.

*Murdoch, Desmond et al... hardly without their own competing interests in the field of broadcasting.

[Futtocks]

Funny you mention that. I know someone who claims he used to cheat at that by getting a lift round the course. Claims he overtook Savile yet he was there at the finish line smoking a cigar.

I don't care if it's not true, it's of the moment so I'm putting it out there.

Has your mate been reading Richard Herring's webpage?

[Johnoco]

Has your mate been reading Richard Herring's webpage?

Unlikely knowing him but I'll certainly point this out to him. I was unaware of anyone else claiming this honestly.

[Johnoco]

Is that legal?

What, cheating at marathons?

[JohnM]

"Obviously I don't have any real evidence of this and it's based mainly on word of mouth and supposition, but apparently we don't need to bother with the due process of law any more and someone writing something in a blog is proof enough."

[Hornetto]

Breaking news: Tom Watson MP has said police must investigate claims of a "powerful paedophile ring" linked to a previous prime minister's "senior adviser" and Parliament.

No.. Thatcher screwed the MINERS.