Well, Rupert is editing the programme tonight
...a fact which will send a chill through subscribers to the PM newsletter. I sent it to him shortly after 13.30 and I'm afraid he says there is some sort of - ahem - technical problem. It's the reason Rupert was banished from editing for many months.
So here is what we planned to send. Please keep your fingers crossed for us getting on the air tonight...
"Hello,
Rather tardy with you today. I'm sorry about that. There's been a small frenzy of things to do and people to interview. For example - here's the intro to an item you'll hear tonight:
"How much should you be able to rely on the police to protect your life?
Seven years ago, 25 year old Giles van Colle was due to give evidence against a former employee who was accused of theft. In the run up to the trial, Mr van Colle suffered worsening intimidation and expressed fears for his life. Despite asking the police for help, he was murdered.
His killer was jailed but Mr van Colle's parents pursued legal action against the police. A disciplinary hearing found the officer in charge, David Ridley, had failed to perform his duties properly.
Today at the court of appeal, Hertfordshire police managed to reduce an earlier award of damages by half - to 25 thousand pounds, but the court agreed that the police had acted unlawfully - under the Human Rights Act, by failing to discharge their obligation to protect Mr van Colle's life.
Afterward the judgement, Irwin and Corrine van Colle spoke to PM."
The case, as the guests point out, has wider implications, and we'll talk about those.
We're also watching the Yeltsin mourning, wall building in Iraq and the teaching of history in Britain. Were the dark ages any fun? John Reid speaks to MPs this afternoon - will he have anything to say about claims by the former Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf that reforms to split the Home Office in two and create a new Ministry of Justice are being rushed through too quickly.
My favourite sub headline of the day from the papers: "big Bro bully's bloody battle" (the FT).
See you on the ice at 5.
Interest free till 2010!
Eric its de Woolf"
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aagghhhhh! not Rupert! you know that if he goes within 20 yards of anyting techy it inexplicably breaks down and sulks. But he's a nice guy despite all that. It was so long since we had heard anything of him I rather thought you had promoted him sideways to You and Yours.
I don't know what your weather is like guys but coming back from the Chesapeake Bay area on Sunday my sister suffered sunstroke and we had to find a hotel quickly and settle her down in a cold dark room for an afternoon and night.
You will be pleased to hear, after the horrors of last weeks shootings at Virginia Tech that Virginia does practice gun control. You can only buy 12 guns in any one year, So that's a relief then.
"Were the dark ages any fun? John Reid speaks to MPs this afternoon"
I look forward to this.
Wolf
Welcome back, Rupert. Don't let Eddie bully or be nasty to you.
We want you back on the photoboard, btw. And, while you're at it, could you post up a recent one of Eddie for us? ;o)
On a point of order, the newsletter has now been sent..late, very late but it has been sent. BTW it's nice to be back, obviously it won't last ( there's been a terrible mix up on the rota ). Can I also recommend tonight's report about Moira Stuart. The DG has been given a tough time over the decision to drop her from her screens. Torin Douglas will report on this tonight.
Eddie,
I have learned, if you are mugged on the street, don't yell "Help!" Yell "Fire!" Nobody wants to come to a mugging, but everybody is interested in a fire.
Wolf @ (2)
If your name really is Wolf, are you scary?
Rupert - hello! yes photo back please, that look always made me grin when I was a having a bad day! Keep eyes posted for newsletter....oh, and good choice re Moira. There has been much debate - Big Sis I think?
Scrolling thro` your blog it has just occurred to me that I must be one of the few of your listeners that have actually sat in the "glassbox".
I think it was where I waited with my daughter in law to be interviewed by Ed Sturton of "Today". (Now there`s a radio prog and a news journalists)
I bet you go straight into the glassbox and wait for someone else to buy the coffee.
PS I did not get the job.
Susan (6)
:)
As you can imagine, people frequently ask me this question.
I can reassure you - I am lovely.
Are you?
Wolf
Peter (7). Why not? Was it your spelling and grammar?
WW - Yes, indeed, I'm very much on the Moira Stuart case, so glad it's being raised on the prog tonight. Not before time, eh, Eddie? ;o)
Lovely to see the Wolf back with us (or have you been lurking in sheep's clothing all this time?)
WOLF!! Welcome back! But why have you not got those scrummy pictures of you in your towel on your website any more?
xx
LadyP
Rupert;
Thanks for posting. There has been quite some discussion on the Blog previously about the Moira Stuart decision. If it were down to the regulars here she'd be back in and the D-G would be polishing his CV. Expect people to be interested in this package.
Can I second BigSis' call for a photo of yourself on the sidebar and a recent one of the Edd-meister please.
Susan;
Click through to Wolfmans website, and through from there to his other website and click on the FAQ tab, which answers your question directly.
Si.
Rupert & Eddie, I can happily report that the newsletter arrived only 20 minues afte you sent it (r at least that's the case here in the Saarf of England:-))
Eddie: That was very very naughty. One hour in the Naughty Corner for you.
Welcome back Rupert - hope the programme runs smoothly. I look forward to hearing the piece on Moira Stuart, as it did generate some comment here on the blog and it would be interesting to hear the justification.
And if Eddie's "interest-free until 2010", what does that say about the programme???
Big Sis (15) Are you having a larf? An hour? AN HOUR? I've been put there for days for just smirking! Is this some new sort of sentencing policy that I missed?
Well Eddie, that's rich, coming from someone who thinks "weird" is spelt "wierd". Or did you just mean his spelling & grammar were too good for the job?
Actually, it could be an interesting game (after the blot letter/photo you posted yesterday) to have a sample of some of the team's handwriting. Then we could guess who were the authors.
Somehow I imagine Carolyn's writing to be immaculate, with impeccable spelling.Clear & tidy.
I imagine Rupert's today is a bit spidery & , well, panic-stricken (no newsletter here, btw). Am I right?
Thank you for the welcome back Big Sister.
I have been undercover amongst a herd of sheep. I will soon be writing up my findings and finally expose their nefarious ways.
On an (ever so) slightly different subject, a friend of mine, while travelling Peru, came across this item on the menu: "Alpaca to the sauce". This has amused me for some time now, so I thought I'd share it with you.
I don't think it's anything to eat. My theories are as follows:
- It's a battle-cry; from the olden days of Alpaca farming, when there were feuds between the alpaca farmers, and they would shout 'alpaca to the swords!'.
- Another usage is derived from the remaining social strata of Peruvian society - those who were not Alpaca farmers. When they were served food which had a particularly bad sauce, they'd deride it by shouting, contemptuously, "Alpaca to the sauce", which was the equivalent to "b*s to this", or potentially translated as "Get the (resident) Alpaca to lick this off my plate - it's so bad it doesn't even deserve to be taken out to the Alpaca (when it would be "sauce to the Alpaca").
Of course, I could be wrong and it's simply an instruction via the intercom for the italian-american sauce-chef, Al Paca, to come and help in the kitchen.
I have successfully used it all over London. It's particularly useful while driving. I said it with a smile, quietly, as I waved a pedestrian across a zebra crossing. Pointing at the lights which for me were green, I grunted it at another pedestrian who walked confidently across red traffic lights.
What do you think it means?
Wolf
My dear LadyPen
They're still there - my other website - click the name above - different link.
Scrummy. He he.
Wolf
RJD: I'd have made the sentence longer, but there's a programme to present at 17.00. Perhaps he'll buy Peter a drink at the NC Bar afterwards? ;o)
LadyPen (12)
What's all this then?? ;-)
Mollyx
The newsletter's just arrived in the nick of time. At least we know what's ahead of us (or what WAS ahead of us when it was written).
Annasee (18), I LOVE the idea of panic-stricken writing!
I wonder if the lateness of the newsletter was a result of the vodkas that Eric and Carolyn were piuring out before the 1100 meeting?
Eddie, in the first 13 minutes of 'Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation' he said 'anyhoo' three, yes, three times.
It's obviously very fashionable.
Time for you to move on.
Welcome back from me too Wolf!
Oh! Oh! Can someone please give me a heads up when Eddie's about to start his hour in the Naughty Corner? -- I'll say a quick "bum" or something then I can get thrown in with him and be naughty too! An hour should be plenty of time for starters ;-) Oh I'm so excited!! :-)
Ap - If it is punishment for Eddie then there is no way that you are allowed to join him.
If it is punishment for you . . . I think you know the rest!
Frances,
My mother used to say 'anyhoo' long, long ago. As in many ways, she was ahead of her time.
;-)
ed
Appy: Sorry to disappoint you - he did his stint between 4 and 5 p.m. yesterday.
Just as well I didn't give you any notice of that - you'd have been in there tickling him for a full 60 minutes, wouldn't you? ;o)
Gahh! You're all agin me!!!
"Tickling" Big Sis? Well that's one word for it ;-)