TV News Review - Tuesday 5th June

The News at 10 on BBC began with a feature on the story of Channel 4's plans to show a documentary about the tragic death of Princess Diana which will include photographs taken just after the crash. Prince's William and Harry are none too happy about this and therefore their private press officer, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton has taken the unusual step of writing to Channel 4 and asking them to remove the offending images. C4 have refused.

This feature contained many images of Diana, in most she was receiving flowers from toddlers and young children. Images of paparazzi and cameras flashing were also in abundance. We were told that Di was a "perpetual princess" and that W&H believed that these "new" photos were an affront and invasion of privacy. This story was covered from a slightly different angle on ITN news and I shall discuss it further, later.

Next up were the Russians and their disagreements with the "West". President Bush is heading over for the G8 in Germany so matters will no doubt continue to make headlines. We saw Bush making a speech and then we saw a Russian girl being interviewed who stated that "Bush is not right". However, our reported confided that Russia have a "weak parliament and legal system" and that there were ongoing questions over "media freedom" in this country.

John Prescott is in a high dependency unit in hospital, suffering from pneumonia. He is 69 and has had a tough polictical life apparently. No mention was made of his obesity which was remarkable, firstly given his size and secondly given the current popularity of obese stories. Maybe a bit close to the bone. Anyway, Tony is away and so that means that Gordon will need to step into Tony's shoes on Thursday. It would be just Gordons luck for a crisis to occur (maybe stock market related) and this scupper his whole leadership challenge. Images of outside the hospital were shown

Over on the supposed other side of the political spectrum, we saw David Cameron being interviewed by "Old Nick" Robinson over his U turn on Grammar schools. This feature was also illustrated by means of juvenile graphics showing Cameron in a variety of fancy dress outfits which were all scrambled up until he was revealed as a teacher, a boxer, a gangster etc. This actually ridiculed Cameron but shows who apparently wields the power in this country. But who "runs" the media ?

Coming up - Climate Change and the Aborigines

First though, 7 million adults have a drink problem we were told. A lot of these are "older, social drinkers". This allowed us to view sooties (men & women in suits) relaxing in their garden after work, quaffing wine. These professionals told us how they liked a small drink at the end of the day, to unwind. However, the recommended weekly intake of alcohol is 21 units and a lot of us are unaware of how much this actually is.

This story was covered only a week or two ago if my memory serves me well so it all seemed pointless until we seemed to be told that the "middle aged" "middle classes" spent their time, cooking, dining and drinking at home whilst watching television. This was illustrated by showing a stir fry cooking, a table set for dinner and then the "ubiquitous" television set. So once again we are watching other humans, watching television. Middle class to boot.

A senior insurance executive in London has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act after apparently killing his toddler daughter. Wonder how much television he watched ?

Over at Glastonbury the police were preparing to exhume an body in order that it can be analysed for signs of poisoning in a potential care homes murder scandal. We saw images of the floodlit graveyard with teams of police all awaiting the midnight toll of the bell before commencing the actual exhumation. We were told that some locals had expressed concerns over the witching hour timing but that this was in fact a traditional time for exhumation. This story reminds me slighly of Whisky galore, where the islanders await the end of the Sabbath. Please see here, I discussed it only recentlyhttp://newspaceman.blogspot.com/2007/05/reason-for-sabbath.html.

Only yesterday, the new Olympic logo was unveiled and I mentioned it here in the newspaceman. Apparently, the animated sequence of pastel shaded pyramids have caused epilepsy in some individuals, the number given was 8 which seems remarkably high. Ben at btb has invited comment on this peculiarity. http://www.the-daily-behemoth.blogspot.com/

The nightly health feature; A drawback with getting too old seems to be that one gets more blind and so we saw how medical science is progressing with developing a treatment. An old man was shown whos sight has been partly restored and we were told that this was a significant step forward even though the treatment has not worked on others. So, yet again we were reminded of the need for "stem cells" and that this was "global therapy"

Time for the native Aborigines who have secured a lucrative contract worth half a million a year to coordinate forest fires and therefore create fire breaks. The abos have been doing this for years as they preserved their habitat however it appears to have been a natural, organic, unhurried process. We saw them round a fire, playing the Rolf Harris instrument, my memory fails me. Now, as they are being paid for it, the fires are started by men in helicopters using "ping pong balls", while the Abos travelled below by Landrover, dressed in Guantanamo Bay style orange boiler suits which curiously, were packet fresh. This feature reminded me slightly of the Victorians and their penchance for human zoos (and all curiosities), in the manner of Tarzan.

The reason given for this almost disturbing feature was to let us know of the struggle against global warming and that it can, in fact, produce profit.

Over to ITN, where the Princess Diana story was somehow linked to media narccism. That is a dangerous philosophy to offer and one should keep ones mind open on this whole saga which has not yet unfolded completely. It is all a matter of timing and maybe matters are being progressed in this very manner for a reason.


If you havent seen the reporter on the yomp on ITN, please check it out. I can see no purpose other than to remember the Falklands, but why ?

cheers