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Where are the Big Beasts?

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gryffron
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410409

Postby gryffron » May 8th, 2021, 10:44 pm

XFool wrote:when young I instantly knew and could easily recognise every vehicle on the road. How?

Me too. But then they were all British... and rubbish.

Nowadays there are dozens of foreign imports. Many from firms you’ve never even heard of. And they all ask the same questions of the same aerodynamics software, so all the cars look identical no matter who makes them.

Gryff

tjh290633
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410415

Postby tjh290633 » May 8th, 2021, 10:50 pm

It takes a lot to beat Brian Walden's interviewing technique.

I remember John Freeman making Gilbert Harding cry.

TJH

Arborbridge
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410444

Postby Arborbridge » May 9th, 2021, 7:36 am

UncleEbenezer wrote:
Arborbridge wrote:If you think the BBC is biassed in some way and that the Times isn't, I would suggest thinking again.

Arb.

Being biased and having an Agenda are not the same.

The BBC very clearly has an in-your-face Agenda which can get very tiresome. But accusations of bias (to the BBC as a whole, as opposed to particular programmes) would need to be rather more focussed and nuanced: for example, who gets offered an uncritical platform. And it can be unintentional: for many years Farage - not at all a proponent of BBC Agendas - got more airtime than any other politician, even prime minister (for most of that time) Blair. And that airtime was - until they belatedly started to take him seriously - a whole lot less critical than they'd give to any elected politician or serious candidate.


I've no idea what an in your face agenda is.

The BBC has a strict policy of giving a balanced view on average across the listening hours-days-months - you might say that was their agenda. If it wasn't they would get into trouble from the trustees downwards. The problem for individuals is that we are very self selective in what we watch, partly through our time restraints, and partly through our own subconcious choice. We are looking through our own keyhole and picking up what we can and only remembering what strikes us as being noteworthy. Often this is what makes us annoyed rather than what pleases us - particularly for those who have antennae attitude to being critical of the BBC.

I note that over the years the BBC has received heavy criticism and threats from governments from both right and left. This suggests it is doing a good job in balancing the output, and it is the fact that it speaks truth unto power which irks.

Arb.

brightncheerful
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410447

Postby brightncheerful » May 9th, 2021, 7:59 am

Mike4 wrote:Did anyone else mis-read the thread title?

:D

But I agree with your point. We need more Dennis Healys and Norman Tebbits.


And Harold Wilsons. And James Ramsay MacDonalds

servodude
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410457

Postby servodude » May 9th, 2021, 8:55 am

brightncheerful wrote:
Mike4 wrote:Did anyone else mis-read the thread title?

:D

But I agree with your point. We need more Dennis Healys and Norman Tebbits.


And Harold Wilsons. And James Ramsay MacDonalds


But certainly not Cyril Smiths... big odious dirty f*king beast

terminal7
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410542

Postby terminal7 » May 9th, 2021, 1:19 pm

I can hardly name more than a very small handful of the Labour front bench


. . and now one of them has gone! Though she may be lucky and pick up fishing or Northern Ireland in the reshuffle.

&7

stewamax
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410595

Postby stewamax » May 9th, 2021, 6:29 pm

tjh290633 wrote:It takes a lot to beat Brian Walden's interviewing technique.
I remember John Freeman making Gilbert Harding cry.


Yes - add Brian Walden to the list. He could be stroppy but that put interviewees on their toes.
Worth noting that Walden and Freeman has both also been MPs so knew life on both sides of the fence

And I also remember Freeman's 'Harding' Face to Face and the aftermath: it seems likely that Freeman - who asked pertinent and sometimes pointed questions but was not callous - simply hadn't known that Harding's mother (to whom Harding was most attached) had died a few years previously and that Harding had been present at the last.
The only time I remember Freeman being wrong-footed by an even deeper reply to a deep question was in his 'Jung' Face to Face (recommended, and on YouTube) when he asked Jung was he a believer and Jung's reply was ' I don’t need to believe. I KNOW' - a reply that stumped Freeman.

In passing, I have sincere admiration (an a touch of envy!) for anyone capable of doing lengthy interviews with those preeminent in their field such as Bertrand Russell and Jung. I would have loved to have seen a Freeman Face to Face with Maynard Keynes had not the latter's life been cut short.
And Keynes would also have made a formidable Face to Face interviewer... a very Big Beast

BobbyD
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410618

Postby BobbyD » May 9th, 2021, 7:42 pm

Arborbridge wrote:I note that over the years the BBC has received heavy criticism and threats from governments from both right and left. This suggests it is doing a good job in balancing the output...


Yes, because a Government under fire will usually hold its hands up and say 'it's a fair cop guv, you got me' rather than seeking somebody else, anybody else, to blame... Machine gun the messenger, and seek better reviews through intimidation. Politics 101.

Bminusrob
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410693

Postby Bminusrob » May 10th, 2021, 9:21 am

I agree with the general feeling on this thread that we haven't had any big hitters in poitics for getting on for ten years, and even before that, you probably need to go mack 25 years to see a football team's worth of big hitters on boths sides.

I agree that the rise of career politicians has had some influence here, but I wonder how much the rise of Twitter and other one-liner social media Internet sites has had an influence too.

My other thought is that we have had things much too easy, and therefore politicians do not have any meaty issues to get hold of, resulting in the rise of the woke agenda.

Happy Monday.

88V8
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410713

Postby 88V8 » May 10th, 2021, 10:12 am

Bminusrob wrote:My other thought is that we have had things much too easy, and therefore politicians do not have any meaty issues to get hold of, resulting in the rise of the woke agenda.

Very true.
It was one of the upsides of the panpanic, that the Woke carp largely disappeared from the news agenda.

And the 24 hour media... I wonder how the big beasts of the past would cope with that... it's hard for anyone to look big, with the puerile media constantly breathing down your neck and overanalysing every word.

V8

gryffron
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410847

Postby gryffron » May 10th, 2021, 6:31 pm

Massive increase in media, tv channels, internet, means that these days fame is spread mighty thin. So the titans of the past in music, entertainment, politics, journalism, film stars etc, are now gone and replaced with vast quantities of social media mediocrity.

Gryff

Redmires
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410908

Postby Redmires » May 10th, 2021, 11:04 pm

gryffron wrote:Massive increase in media, tv channels, internet, means that these days fame is spread mighty thin. So the titans of the past in music, entertainment, politics, journalism, film stars etc, are now gone and replaced with vast quantities of social media mediocrity.

Gryff


I was thinking the same over the weekend when watching a couple of programmes about Muhammad Ali. I'm no boxing fan but here was a sports star known the world over, a very big beast. I'd be hard pressed to list any sporting champions today, let alone the heavyweight champion of the world. Media dilution and pay per view etc has been a major factor.

On a separate note, I'm looking forward to Amol Rajan joining the Today programme. I was much impressed by his sharp and clinical presentation of The Media Show.

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Where are the Big Beasts?

#410920

Postby UncleEbenezer » May 10th, 2021, 11:58 pm

Redmires wrote:On a separate note, I'm looking forward to Amol Rajan joining the Today programme. I was much impressed by his sharp and clinical presentation of The Media Show.


Ali was a showman, and would've been very much "at home" in today's media world.

Among today's sports stars, I could name Rashford. What he plays is irrelevant, except insofar as it gives him a platform to be noticed by the meeja (and - presumably - a fortune). The reason we non-football-fans have heard of him is that, like Ali, he's made a name for himself outside his sporting area.


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