Originally published @ 1:46 am, Thu 31st Dec 2009
A Lib Dem Councillor I know runs a blog that is feted for being one of the wittiest written by a Lib Dem. But recent glances suggest very little is being written about politics. His latest entry is how he enjoys "Come Dine With Me".
No, this is not going to be the third attack in a week for Lib Dems not having core values, triggered this time perhaps by envy of someone else getting recognition. (It transpires that my winning Labour party web-site of the week back in 2000 doesn't count cos there was only fifty-two Labour web-sites back then so at some stage you were bound to win.)
No, no, it's just an expression of concern that may be I need to writing more about popular culture.
So, OK, the celebrity who demonstrated a fear of walnuts in last week's "Come Dine with me" special was funny.
Like the majority of TV viewers, I settled for BBC1 during the evening (with the obvious exceptions of "Strictly Come Dancing" and "Eastenders"). In truth, it seemed like the other channels weren't really trying that evening.
Now, as write-ups go, that's got to be one of the most boring TV reviews you've ever seen. So why even try?
Well because of a Daily Mail article that bemoaned all the repeats on Christmas Day as viewing figures showed that BBC 1's figures were down on last year, despite dominating the airwaves that evening.
And the Daily Mail analysis was clear - it was because of all the repeats.
Except there weren't any.
And I am again indebted to a web-site that I would nominate for an award - "Tabloid Watch" - which as early as the 10th December - http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/2009/12/lack-of-repeats-on-prime-time-bbc1-over.html - exposed the lie and was exposing a campaign by the Express, Telegraph and Mail to characterise the BBC as showing repeats.
P.S. You can find a similar set of points made in a blog entry I wrote in December 2008.
P.P.S. I enjoyed last night "Miranda Hart's review of 2009", despite the rather flat attack on all the political parties. I like the celebrity comments on events, particularly John O'Farrell's attack on Mastermind, which he said had clearly been dumbed down cos 50% of the marks were now given for coursework.
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