BBC TV News Review - Thursday 9th August

We commenced with Fiona Bruce and BAA on the BBC News at 10, as we heard of questions over customer service, in particular, the horrendous delays and queues that passengers experience nowadays, if travelling by air. Accusations were made about airports simply being shopping malls, however Stephen Nelson, the chief executive of the airline, said, after apologising, that the basic problems were that of security tightening plus they were full to capacity.





Our reporter, Evan Davies, was at Heathrow to tell us more; bizarrely he was dressed in a hard hat and yellow reflective jacket as he spoke of "baggage mountains" and indicated piles of suitcases. We went back to the studio where Evan had performed a quick Mr. Benn routine and was now dressed in suit and ready to chat with Fiona. Here, he elaborated slightly on the story and told how it was not just security that was slowing the airport function down, there are "immigration queues for example."





Iraq next, another 2 British soldiers killed, 4 this week, one of their sisters was interviewed, obviously upset. We heard from an MP who told how these soldiers are "keeping us safe", no mention was made of what. Talk was of the situation in Basra, we heard how our troops are in "danger of getting a good kicking" and an arial map was shown with the danger-zones highlighted in blood red. Images of burning vehicles and urban anarchy were shown to close.





2 RAF men killed in Yorkshire - helicopter crash





A serviceman at Sandhurst has been arrested after a female cadet plunged from a third floor window to her death. Mention was made of a love triangle.





17 holidaymakers have been injured in the Artic circle after the luxury liner they were cruising on, was involved in an altercation with an ice flow - a chunk fell off, and heavy waves then rocked the vessel. We were told how the Artic was a "popular tourist destination" and that the Russian crew had perhaps been "too close". The local artic constabulary are looking into this matter further - allegations of shipmates monkeying about?











Foot and Mouth - still some debate over who exactly is to blame for the outbreak(s) and we heard how a worker at the states Institute for Animal Health (IAH) research station had contracted legionairres disease although obviously this has no connection. Dr Anderson, a chief government scientist told that this was an irrelevant side issue - he spoke of scientists working 24 hours per day (amphetamine?) and seems to be insinuating that Merial must be to blame as they had handled one million times more of the virus than the IAH.

We continued as we heard of another 300 cows culled today; farmer John Emmerson was "gutted", he couldnt watch it. "Some better news" though, as we saw "cattle heading for an abbatoir." They'll be gutted too, shortly.

Coming up - Death in the Jungle - Gorillas

First, floods in Asia. We heard of the problems - lack of shelter and drinking water. An arial map was shown with the affected zones highlighted. A reporter told how he had witnessed "a woman, minutes from death, just reaching a hospital in time".Images of flood victims were shown, we heard of diarrhoe and saw individuals drinking clearly dirty water, they had "no choice." More images were shown of infants and hospitals along with flooded bamboo shack style housing.

Pakistan - no state of emergency has been imposed (implying it should be) and we heard of George Bush and a "key in the war on terror."

Stock markets - crashing worldwide

A Dr. Sandhu has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a thirteen year old girl at the hospital in Norfolk where he worked. Police also found indecent images of a juvenile on his personal computer at home. We heard how all the appropriate security and background checks had been carried out before he was offered employment in the UK.

Gun crime - Jesse James in Manchester, two individuals described as prisoners, have been charged wth his murder. Our government have advised that "young black men need positive role models", an example of Tim Campbell from the Apprentice TV show was given. We were reminded of previous deaths in this culture and we saw the rapper, 50 cents. Peckham teenagers agree, one told how he would love "money, a house, a wife - and all legitimate." Apparantly, "negative media stereotyping" is partly to blame. A youth worker spoke and plans were revealed for a new government race minister, just in time for the Olympics.

Post Office workers have called off their proposed strike action.

As promised, the gorilla story and we went to the Congo to hear of deaths and to see babies, the quote was along the lines of "to prevent stealing breath from infant, mountain gorillas". Thick in the jungle we went to witness the astonishing sight of a juvenile, parentless gorilla which has been adopted, in the manner of Madonna, by a mature female. This told us that "something serious must have happened to the original mother" and was therefore cause for concern.

To close, we were told how the mountain gorilla is a "gentle and curious animal" and a "profound mirror for our species." Surely a contradiction, somewhere ?













cheers