tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post5156194177047648756..comments2024-02-06T16:17:25.826+00:00Comments on THE GRØNMARK BLOG: A preview of the advert for the BBC Director General postScott Gronmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-80140664559567587822012-02-02T11:29:00.527+00:002012-02-02T11:29:00.527+00:00Orla Guerin is an Irish woman who left RTE to run ...Orla Guerin is an Irish woman who left RTE to run as a LABOUR candidate for the European Parliament in 1994. Mark Thompson removed her as the BBC’s Middle East Correspondent in 2005 after Israel had complained about her anti-Israel bias, and sent her to Africa (she has subsequently returned as “a” not “the” Middle East Correspondent, no doubt because terrorists and dictators in the area were running out of cheerleaders in the media). But that isn’t the problem I have with her. As you imply, she has a very distinct “look” – unique, I’d call it – which makes me wonder whether the Arabs she comes into contact with imagine she represents a sort of benchmark for feminine pulchritude in these islands (she will be viewed as British and not Irish, I’m sure). Bad for Britain’s international standing (and frustrating for home-grown journalistic fuglies).<br /><br />Her replacement as THE BBC Middle East Correspondent was (and is) Jeremy Bowen, whom you mention. In his early years he sported a luxuriant moustache – and, when he shaved it off, we discovered why: he has a mouth like a turtle’s. Some faces are born to be bearded (mine certainly was). My wife points out that beards are slowly coming back into fashion. We must all hope that Jeremy and Orla are keen readers of GQ.<br /><br />As for Witchell, he was an early example of the media’s penchant for wizened little redheads (they have subsequently become standard issue). The problem with them is that, if they lose their hair, they end up looking like they’re suffering from a long-term wasting disease. Witchell was appointed when the Royal Family was in trouble following Diana’s prang: bosses no doubt thought he’d be reporting on the demise of the monarchy. Well, tough luck. Now that the Royals are back in favour, I think the BBC should give Kate and William a break and appoint a “looker” with a sense of humour as Royal Correspondent – but I expect we’ll get Lyse Doucet or David Loyn.Scott Gronmarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118026157459333174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2215553202978284468.post-61751113831021798182012-01-29T10:25:43.267+00:002012-01-29T10:25:43.267+00:00Some comments:
1. Could we have a DG who doesn...Some comments:<br /><br />1. Could we have a DG who doesn't favour the Arafat beard-stubble [both Thompson and Dyke sported the bum-fluff and the former chairman Gavyn Davis joined in]? Coupled with their penchant for wearing suits without ties they always looked as if they had been on a binge. The Toby Young shaved-head look should be an immediate disqualifier.<br /><br />2. A female DG would be the solution. Boaden and Thompson [Caroline, that is] are obviously a couple of dyed-in-the-wool apparatchiks and would guarantee more of the same. The male George Entwistle appears to have had a series of jobs within the corporation with incomprehensible titles which is a favourable sign for the applicant, but he appears to have no hair on his head and is a Yorkshireman [Ranulph Fiennes never hired males from Ripperland for his expeditions because he thought they were all bastards].<br /><br />3. Two outside candidates could be Lord Puttnam [he and Thompson have the same faltering, creepy mannerisms] or Diann Abbott [Lady Helium of Haringay]. Given the whispering Lord's disastrous stewardship of Columbia Pictures 1986-88 which resulted in its sale to Sony and Helium's monumental epistemic arrogance [the difference between what you know and what you think you know] they would trigger the BBC's current downward quality spiral into free-fall and HMG could then flog off the remnants to HBO [with budget intact as the sweetener] and we could get some decent programming. Goodnight Sue Barker and all her little bambi friends.<br /><br />The immediate concern for the new DG is the health of Nicholas Witchell, Jeremy Bowen and John Humphries. They all look as if they have been got at by a tribe of Papuan head-shrinkers and are fast losing their human features - and all this while their heads are still attached to their trunks. John Simpson needs to be put on a diet because his flak jacket now only covers 20% of his vital organs.<br /><br />My choice for DG would be Orla Guerin [" A nice lass who likes a good laff " Wayne Rooney]. A quick course in make-up and an extensive study of Michael McIntyre's joke book would be a good preparation. She is a devout socialist and pro-Palestinian. So what's not to like? But again, I would not play chess with her on a deserted beach.BBC Watchernoreply@blogger.com