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Seven months down, five to go. Thanks for your support and comments, and here's to a splendid August!

Some things never seem to change. Rod Liddle’s article in the Sunday Times has a segment  about a Jewish student at Leeds university who ‘failed’ her sociology degree. “Danielle Greyman had written about the use of human shields by Hamas and clearly failed to qualify her arguments by adding the rider “which is the legitimate voice of the oppressed Palestinian people in their righteous fight against the Zionist entity”. An outside examiner said the 23-year-old’s essay should have passed. You get good grades these days only by agreeing with the adolescent views of the lecturers." Never mind “These Days!” Because  .......... in 2005 “ right-wing journalist Melanie Phillips ” published an email on her website which she had received from a student at Aberystwyth. The student complained that: [T]he only way to really succeed within the university industry is to pander to the prejudices of the academic staff; anything that differs with the anti-Semitic orthodoxy results in ra

As discussed on the open thread , here's the running orders of the main BBC One news bulletins since Friday... Friday News at One 1. 'Wagatha Christie' trial 2. Fatal stabbing of a nine-year-old girl in Lincolnshire Friday News at Six 1. 'Wagatha Christie' trial 2. Calls for compensation in blood scandal 3. Fatal stabbing of a nine-year-old girl in Lincolnshire Friday News at Ten 1. Commonwealth Games 2. Calls for compensation in blood scandal 3. 'Wagatha Christie' trial 4. Cost of living 5. Ukraine War 6. Fatal stabbing of a nine-year-old girl in Lincolnshire Saturday 1pm Weekend News 1. Train strikes 2. Fatal stabbing of a nine-year-old girl in Lincolnshire Saturday 5pm Weekend News 1. Train strikes 2. Fatal stabbing of a nine-year-old girl in Lincolnshire Saturday 10pm Weekend News 1. England women's football final the next day 2. Fatal stabbing of a nine-year-old girl in Lincolnshire

The Sunday Times reports that Eastenders has dipped below one million viewers for the third time this month - “ratings to make BBC bosses quake” - and quotes former producers, writers and directors describing it as in “terminal decline”; “unsalvageable”; “toast”.  The problem with pulling the plug though is that the BBC overspent to the tune of £86.7 million on a new set, which one former executive calls “the broadcaster’s HS2”.  What's the issue? Well, here are some suggestions from the Sunday Times report: There is a disconnect between the audience and those making EastEnders. One called it “a series for Brexit Britain written by Remainers”. He says: “There are too few people sympathetic to the concerns and experiences of characters in the show — they don’t know what it’s like to sign on or do a manual job.” Another former producer adds: “ EastEnders is no longer a show reflecting audiences lives back to them . . . It has lost its identity. It’s also sensationalised.”

The Mail on Sunday reports that “BBC chiefs” blocked plans to bring back The Fast Show 's coughing Bob Fleming “over fears his affliction may offend Covid sufferers”. The character was cut from last year’s Christmas special of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing . “A production source” told the paper: A decision was taken to drop the sketch. It is important to remember Covid was really rampant at the time. A lot of viewers would have found the sight of a man persistently coughing unfunny and upsetting. Consequently, both the production company and BBC decided not to go ahead with the sketch. It was very disappointing as the whole production were thrilled to have Charlie Higson join them on location. But under the circumstances, it was the right decision. I suspect one of Bob Fleming's colleagues, Jed Thomas, would have summed this up perfectly:

Roger Harrabin is no longer the BBC's environment [ activist ] analyst. It was his final day this week. Earlier today, he tweeted : I've finally left BBC after 35 years on the environment. Thanks everyone for the tributes. Many brought me to tears. The one I like best was from UN's Nick Nuttall: "BBC without Roger is like solar power without sun, gin without tonic, the Muppets without Kermit." Among the tributes he received this one stood out for me  from green campaigner Jonathon Porritt: You’ve been a total star, Roger - thank God the idiotic BBC didn’t know what you were up to during all those dark days of them insisting on ‘balance’ in their climate coverage!  Roger replied, "Thanks". I think it's fair to say that even if "the idiotic BBC didn't know" plenty of people on blogs like this were well aware of "what [he was] up to". Talking of which, I've lost count of the number of times I've recycled that &

'The Thunderer' thunders : The Times view on Tiggy Legge-Bourke and Panorama: BBC Betrayal The corporation treated Princes William and Harry’s former nanny disgracefully That the former nanny to Princes William and Harry should have been defamed by a false rumour that she had become pregnant by Prince Charles is scandalous. That this rumour should have emanated from the BBC is appalling. And that in order to extract an apology from the corporation she has had to wait a quarter of a century and take it to court is beyond belief. Tiggy Legge-Bourke, as she was called when she worked for the royal family, was a victim of a scheme cooked up by Martin Bashir, a BBC reporter, in 1995 to persuade Princess Diana that those around her were in league with her husband and conspiring against her. Bashir hoped this would persuade the princess to grant an interview to the BBC’s Panorama programme. The plan involved spreading a false rumour that Ms Legge-Bourke, now known as Alex

May 21, 2022–August 14, 2022 University Research Gallery, University Teaching Gallery, Harvard Art Museums A Scandinavian Landscape. -  Between the late 16th century and the early 18th century, artists working in the Netherlands—then known as the Dutch Republic—produced an extraordinary number of landscape drawings. Many of these works depicted sites that were either recognizable as or evocative of the country’s cities, villages, and countryside. This profusion of local imagery coincided with the young country’s quest for global dominion, as well as with war and dramatic ecological change at home. As notions of Dutch “territory” shifted, artists engaged with the world by drawing outside, from direct observation—a practice repeatedly encouraged in the art theory of the period. Once back in the studio, they could produce finished drawings and works in other media, adapting observed motifs or fusing them into altered or imagined views. In so doing, they constructed a