dailyplanet.org.uk

With the election to the European Parliament of BNP leader and convicted racist Nick Griffin, British politics has entered a subtly different era. We were hoping that the storm over expenses would lead to a higher vote for smaller parties: well it did, with UKIP gaining 2nd place nationally, and the Green Party’s vote up by 44% nationally. However, Britain still only has the two Green MEPs it has had for the last 10 years and the one place where this is a tragedy more than anywhere is in the North West, the new European seat of Nick Griffin, where the Green Party needed only 0.3% more of the vote to overtake him and to occupy the seat instead. Even on the night of the count, as the ballot results rolled in from around the region it looked like the Greens were ahead time and time again… 13.6% in Manchester, ahead of the Conservatives in Manchester and Liverpool, ahead of the LibDems and on 14% in their stronghold of Lancaster. But when the Returning Officer took the agents and candidates aside and revealed the final seat allocations, the Greens still needed an extra 0.3% of the vote to overtake the BNP, and the seat went to Britain’s leading fascist Nick Griffin, instead of the Green, Peter Cranie, a former social worker and a life-long anti-racist campaigner.

This is – ironically – exactly what the Greens predicted and feared happening. Continue Reading »

So, I have just this morning read Seven Jewish Children by Caryl Churchill, as not seen on the BBC. It won’t be seen on the BBC at all in fact because the BBC have decided that – even though they like it – it would “compromise their impartiality” to air it. Where have we heard that before?

In my post on the BBC’s refusal to air the Gaza humanitarian appeal, I gave BBC Director-General Mark Thomson one more bat, in baseball terminology. Well, after the BBC’s decision this week not to broadcast this excellent little play, Thomson’s had, in my view, his third strike, and he’s outta there.

It took me about 5 minutes to read Seven Jewish Children. I read it in the bath. It’s not terribly upsetting, it’s not really particularly graphic either. In fact, like the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s opinion of the Earth, I would say it was “Mostly Harmless”.

The Jerusalem Post gives some useful background information that each of the series of mini monologues in the play is referring to an event in Jewish history. This relatively crucial information is not in the script, and seeing it now I can understand how it makes it more politically precise and cutting as a commentary. But overall, I must say I think this little play is fairly harmless. Its monologues consist entirely of variations on the formula “tell her” or “don’t tell her”, said by a parent thinking about what to say to a child, as in “Tell her she’ll have cake if she’s good” and “Tell her not to come out” or “Don’t tell her about the trouble with the swimming pool”.

Continue Reading »

Why can the BBC not broadcast an appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee about Gaza?
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) concerns are humanitarian, not political. They are a committee made up of representatives from the world’s aid agencies, including Oxfam, the Red Cross, Cafod, Christian Aid, Help the Aged, Save the Children and so on. Their job is to provide humanitarian assistance wherever it is needed, aside from any political considerations.
So why is the BBC – and now Sky – standing in their way?

Continue Reading »