Back Again - Bashing The Beeb

Hello again. I think I have a blog backlog. I have finished Geoff Mulgan's book which (after a slow start) turned out to be full of blog post potential. I also quite fancy the idea of blogging about relative poverty having just spent some time in deepest Slovakia (because obviously my mere presence in the gf's village increased the levels of poverty there). I also have some 2006 review stuff to do and there's at least a few posts on Birmingham in me.

But I'm going to ease the posts out gently as I have other things to do.

Being away for a few days without access to any media was nice, but inevitably involves a bit of catch up. Not much seems to have happened apart from England losing another match in the cricket - but the BBC doesn't cease to amaze me. Leaving to one side that the Grauniad's reporting of the BBC settlement has particularly grated, I was reviewing their current web news stories and came across this.

I *love* this extract from their crap article.

Critics say President Robert Mugabe has ruined what was one of Africa's most developed economies. As well as chronic unemployment, Zimbabwe has the world's lowest life expectancy and highest inflation rate. Mr Mugabe says he is the victim of a Western plot to bring him down because of opposition to his seizure of white-owned land.

That's right. Mugabe's legacy is up for debate at the BBC - and it's neck-and-neck at the moment. Instead, I advise readers to visit Guthrum's site for some proper Zimbabwe coverage.

Also, I know it's a slow news day, but surely they can do better than a leading political story on MP opposes hospital closures in own constituency shocker. Now, I'll make political capital as much as the next man (no really), but this attack on Hazel Blears is extremely weak. As the salutary tale of one-term Labour MP David Lock demonstrates, not standing up for the local hospital is as close as you can get to political suicide, so what is the story?

And who decided that this should be the leading UK political story and why are they in that job? Just another case of the Beeb playing ball with our rulers under the thinnest veneer of even-handedness. Rant over. It's good to be back.