Broken
Things have been bad. Sorry. Normal service will resume if, and when, we can get the blog fixed. Until then your email, letters, phone calls and carrier pigeons are always welcome.
Archives for November 2007
The Glass Box for Friday
Good luck with trying to post a comment...
Taking over
Andrew Bomford writes:
"Today 5,000 children in England got the chance to see if they could do a job better than the adults. Take Over Day was organised by the Children's Commissioner for England Sir Al Aynsley Green, and children have been working on jobs as diverse as coaching at Manchester United, being journalists, and becoming MP's for the day. One 17 year old, Charlotte Pridham, who won an award as an anti-bullying campaigner, took over from the Education Secretary Ed Balls... visiting Osset Holy Trinity Primary School in West Yorkshire...The photo shows Charlotte Pridham, Ed Balls, and children in the library at the school.
Eddie writes: I am told you might have a terrible time trying to use the blog at the moment. As ever, on behalf of those people who have the word Blog in their job title, please accept my apologies.
Hugh reported for us last night and sends these snaps
"from Israel/TOT (The Occupied Territories)....
Shaul Goldstein, mayor of the settlement block Gush Etzyon.
Najib abu Rokaya, Arab-Israeli human rights worker.
Jewish boy hanging out up 'the Lone Tree' in Gush Etzyon settlement
Arab boys hanging out in East Jerusalem.
Arab boy from a refugee camp selling chewing gum to bus passengers at Qalandia chekpoint.
The wall. East Jerusalem is not almost entirely separated from the rest of the West Bank by the wall. And it IS a wall. The Israelis prefer us to call it 'the separation barrier', but where most people see it it is a wall. It is a fence mostly out in unpopulated areas. Many Israelis also hate this wall - they say it cuts them off from Biblical Israel.
A watchtower on the, er, wall."
Eddie writes: I am told you might have a terrible time trying to use the blog at the moment. As ever, on behalf of those people who have the word Blog in their job title, please accept my apologies.
The Beach
is here.
The Glass Box for Thursday
Sorry this is late. We thought the blog wasn't working. It turns out it is. Or might be.
Please comment on the programme here.
I am the PM editor and don't you forget it.
The Glass Box for Wednesday
Comment on the programme here. All data will be shared with the Government.
Have you seen the missing discs? Email your sightings
to pm@bbc.co.uk. Please put: "GIANT DISC BLUNDER" in the subject line.
The Stainless Steel Cat sends this:
"Found this photo slipped under my office door together with a note saying "Mwahahahahahahahah!" Hope this helps..."
DI Wyman writes: "'eres a big 'un. came in 'The Daily Wail' this morning..."
And have just been alerted to .
Gillian writes: "Look what just arrived in the post - the letter started with ''In response to your query.....''
Roger Craven says: "Tyne & Wear? Now who was that MP who had a constituency somewhere up there? Anyway I saw this woman wearing rather fetching matching earrings..."
Then Roger believes he saw a disc here:
PM BLOG EXCLUSIVE: We think Alistair Darling's discs
could be in this bin at TV Centre...
From the Listener Log for last night's programme...
"Felt that the presenter of the programme should not have been trying to get the representative from the HM Revenue and Customs to apologise."
Scrooge is a woman
…called uScrooge, onstage at the Young Vic Theatre in London.
It's a South African township version of Charles Dickens. Nigel Wrench explains all tonight with some spirited singing from the cast, performed especially for PM.
Here, in the meantime, is a picture from rehearsals with our two interviewees at the front: director Mark Dornford-May and actor/dancer Mbali Kgosidintsi, who plays the ghost of Christmas present (Nigel says he's sorry it's a bit blurred, but his flash wasn't working properly. You can make up your own joke).
The Revenue and Customs Scandal.
Read the Chancellor's statement . Let us know what you think of the story...or tell us how it affects you, by clicking on the Comments link.
There is some advice on what to do, .
The Glass Box for Tuesday
is the place to comment on the content of tonight's programme.
Bilal Hussein.
This is him.
We're talking about him in the programme tonight. This is how Reuters reports the story: (by the way we may post examples of Mr Hussein's work shortly)
"WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. military will recommend criminal charges in Iraqi courts against an award-winning Associated Press photographer it accused of working with insurgents, the Pentagon said on Monday. The military will present evidence against Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi, to Iraq's Central Criminal Court this month, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. Morrell would not discuss the evidence against Hussein, who
has been held by the U.S. military since April 2006. In a statement, the AP called for the immediate release of
the photographer, who was part of an AP photo team that won a Pulitzer prize in 2005. The U.S. military previously said Hussein was detained for possessing materials for roadside bombs, insurgent propaganda and a surveillance photo of a coalition installation. "Since his detention, additional evidence has come to light that makes it clearer than before that Mr. Hussein is a terrorist media operative who infiltrated the AP," Morrell said."
His bosses at AP take a very different view. I've been hearing from the President of Associated Press and its Chief Operating Officer, Tom Curley.
This is his Pulitzer Prize winning photo:
If we were allowed to play games in the office
is the sort of thing we would play. I have NOT played this. I cannot stress that highly enough.
But I'm guessing that if I did my highest score would be 456. If today's editor played, it might be 859.
What's yours?
Here's Jonnie!
Well the photo is not of him, but the man who runs the froggers' refuge, has returned from...well, where do you think...based on the photo?
Jonnie says hello from (SECRET LOCATION) "and as part of our froggers on holiday occasional feature says 'Eddie, I was too embarassed to draw a large 502 in the sand, so instead thought I'd email you a picture of a lttle friend that's been sharing the odd beer with me. When I rattle the beer can he scurries out and appears to love it.
This pic, only taken on a mobile, shows him drinking some from a bottle top. I did try an experiment by substituting water but he/she prefered beer. A real pm beach buddie?"
TEENSY WEENSY correction at 1140: Jonnie is not back yet. And to prove it/rub our noses in it, he says "listening to Radio 4 on a pocket pc by the pool on wifi."
Interesting call to the Listener Log
about my comment last night that we had to drop an item (about Papworth hospital) but the interview would appear on the blog (it's here).
A listener called to say:
"Unhappy that Eddie Mair stated information was available on an online blog. Older listeners who may not be computer literate are not considered when it comes to features like this, if there is any information relevant to the programme it should be broadcast there and then."
First of all - how patronising to "older listeners".
Secondly, we took the view that if the item was going to be dropped from the programme, we could at least offer an outlet on the Blog. Otherwise no-one - older listeners or younger listeners would have got to hear it. I realise the audience here on the Blog probably is computer literate, but should we not do these things?
Schools and the power of the pupil...
On the programme tonight, Andrew Bomford will report on what's happening at John Hanson School in Andover in Hampshire.
The introduction to the item says:
"Do children need more rights? If you're the victim of anti-social behaviour at the hands of children you're probably thinking "certainly not". But today, on the 18th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN is asking you to think again. Here's one reason why. In the UK more than 200 schools have become "Rights Respecting Schools", which alongside rights also stress "respect" and "responsibility". Its the 3R's, but not the traditional ones... "
And Andrew adds this to accompany the photos below which
"show some Year 11 students discussing a recent visit to a secondary school in a rural part of Ghana which they are linking up with. Note that it is the students, not the teacher, leading the discussion. The concept of "rights, respect, and responsibility" is all about pupils having the right to voice their opinions, and others respecting their right to be heard. The students say the pupil-teacher relationshiop is not about "us and them", and the result has been to create a school which feels more like a community. They say it has had a big impact on issues like bullying, and helped foster an improvement in attendance and exam results. More schools are becoming rights respecting schools."
Free speech and the Oxford Union
What do you think?
Fathers, IVF, Lesbians etc
What is your view of what we discussed?
You can read more
The Glass Box for Monday
is the place to comment on tonight's programme.
Healthcare at Papworth..
...we'll talk tonight about report.
Heart transplants have been allowed to resume at Papworth Hospital near Cambridge after concerns about the number of patient deaths. The Healthcare Commission stepped in this month after seven of the 20 adult heart transplant patients died within 30 days. It found no common factors to explain the rise in early mortality. At around 1430 I'll be recording an interview with Nigel Ellis who heads investigations at the Commission.
UPDATE: We weren't able to fit this item into tonight's programme, but you can listen to Nigel Ellis's interview here (3.24 mins)
West Midlands Police and Channel 4.
The Press Association reports:
"Media watchdog Ofcom has rejected complaints by West Midlands Police about a Channel 4 undercover programme that exposed extremism in British mosques. Police claimed that the Dispatches programme had misrepresented the views of Muslim preachers and clerics with misleading editing. Following today's ruling, the broadcaster called the police's actions "perverse" and said they had, in some people's eyes, given "legitimacy to
people preaching a message of hate". Ofcom said: "Undercover Mosque was a legitimate investigation, uncovering
matters of important public interest. "Ofcom found no evidence that the broadcaster had misled the audience or that
the programme was likely to encourage or incite criminal activity. "On the evidence (including untransmitted footage and scripts), Ofcom found that the broadcaster had accurately represented the material it had gathered and
dealt with the subject matter responsibly and in context."
I'll be recording an interview with Ofcom on this story in the next half hour. is a link so you can read the Ofcom stuff for yourself. It's on page 9.
1310 UPDATE:: And here is the draft of how we're planning to tell the story tonight:
"It must be one of the most analysed pieces of television in recent years.
This Despatches documentary for Channel 4, entitled "undercover mosque".
The programme was broadcast in January and claimed to have uncovered extremism in British mosques. The programme included excerpts from preachers and teachers such as "allah created the woman deficient"; "it takes two witnesses of a woman to equal the witness of the man"; "take that homosexual and throw him off the mountain", and "whoever changes his religion from Al Islam to to anything else - kill him in the Islamic state".
After the programme went out, West Midlands police investigated whether any of the people featured had committed a criminal offence.
But the police ended up investigating the programme's makers: had they distorted the views of participants during the editing process?
The Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was insufficient evidence that racial hatred had been stirred up as a result of the programme. So West Midlands Police complained to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom. Today Ofcom ruled on the police complaint, and on 364 others. It ruled in favour of Channel 4.
I've been hearing from (TITLE) of Ofcom, Ed Richards.
[GOTO AUDIO
NAME: that]
The National Secular Society said it wanted to know why West Midlands Police had conducted a "witch hunt" against the programme makers. For the Liberal Democrats Don Foster has written to the force asking why it had targetted Channel 4. He said: "Public figures should have thought twice before instantly damning Channel 4
for conducting what turns out to be a scrupulous piece of journalistic investigation into a matter of significant public interest." For the Conservatives, David Davis called it a "serious misjudgment to continue to pursue the editorial team and risked impeding freedom of speech."
Having just tried to post a comment,
I know that our blogs are bloggered once again. Again, please accept my apologies.
At least we're not trying to do a weekly show with a working blog at its heart!
In the meantime, Hugh has been in touch. He writes that he's:
"off to Israel/the Occupied Territories, to gather opinions ahead of the Annapolis peace conference, which is expected (but not absolutely confirmed) next weekend, or early next week. The reports should be on PM towards the end of the week, and on The World this Weekend next Sunday.
Who needs video on demand on a plane when you've got the best show on earth out of the window? Here's a sample of the 4 hour flight to Tel Aviv on Sunday morning:" (PM would like to apologise to the people behind Hugh on the plane, for all the bobbing up and down...Eddie)
Hugh writes: "Fresh snow on the flat plateaus of southern Germany, near the Swiss border"
"Fresh snow on the Alps, east of Innsbruck."
"A Greek island"
"Ironic advertising in the baggage claim area at Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv. Many Israelis do have a good life here - but one of the first of many insightful comments I read in the English-language Sunday papers was: "Israelis may be content on the personal level, but they are depressed on the national one." Palestinians I have spoken to say they are not content on either level."
The Furrowed Brow
This is the place to talk seriously about a subject of your choice. Go on!
As we prepare for iPM
this snap was taken three minutes ago of Rupert chatting to Mr Blog, whose face he has obscured on purpose.
That's Paddy's back you also see there.
Meanwhile - a note from Jonnie re the forggers refuge which - incredibly - has been as out of action as the PM blog. He says that the "froggers refuge doesn't work as i forgot to renew it. sorry, i'm back on the 24th".
Thanks Jonnie. We will try to get the link taken down before then. But will we?
Excited, of course,
about tonight's iPM. Check the iPM blog to see what's what.
We recorded an interview last night around 19.00 with a guest in the US. When I was leaving, Children in Need was in full swing and TV Centre was all lit up. There haven't been this many floodlights on it since during the war.
Since this blog is bloggered again,
I am replacing tonight's Glass Box with this classic shot of a frog.
I thought you'd want to know
we're talking to a former frogman on the programme tonight.
The Beach
which is always a refuge from the 502 monsters.
Ahem.
The Glass Box.
Although we all know you're just wasting your time. Sorry.
Orgasms.
There, I said it.
I have just recorded an interview for Saturday's iPM. Every week on the programme (and on its blog - www.bbc.co.uk/ipm ) there is a spot where someone tells us about their Internet Favourites...those little sites they have bookmarked.
The person I was just talking to was Jean-Michel Jarre.
And he pointed us all towards a site which shows the above word. But it's "not porn".
The iPM blog will have full details. Keep checking back! The iPM blog also has details of how you can podcast the show.
Gordon's GOATS
was a topic in today's newsletter. Since people are having trouble posting (sorry, again) here are some of the emails we've received at pm@bbc.co.uk..
Gobby Old Admirals Temporarily Silenced?...Paul Armstrong
Get Out And Tax Someone...Tim Robson
Gordon's Obvious Answer to Tony's Sofa....Barrie Singleton
Grasping, Offensive, Annoying Tory Standards?...Andrew Harrison
Gordon's Onerous Allegiance To Scotland...Matt Whitby..
More will follow, no doubt...
such as:
Great Oaf Announces Terrible Screw-up...from Robin Guest.
Climate Change.
The Government has published its bill. There is more . I've just recorded an interview with Mr Benn.
By the way: can you identify from the following website slogans, which is Friends of the Earth and which is the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs?
A:"Making life better for people by inspiring solutions to environmental problems"
B:"Enabling everyone to live within our environmental means"
Which is which?
Big Sis
sends this...in the light of our current/recurring/never ending problems with this Blog.
That Eurostar thing from last night..
...we can belatedly bring you this shot of our North of England reporter James Alexander - and Radio Leeds reporter Spencer Stokes before they left Leeds.
James is on the left. Or possibly the right. We are trying to sort it out. In any case they are both now, inexplicably, in Peru.
UPDATE 1055 (thanks to Layla at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Leeds) Spencer is on the right with darker hair… James has the scarf on!
Who in the world would you most like to 502?
As we struggle to make comments and get 502 error messages...I was wondering whether we could compile a list of people who you'd like to 502.
Do you know what I mean?
The Glass Box for Wednesday is here
..although if my experience of the Blog today (and it seems others) is anything to go by, you might have a devil of a job posting a comment. Shall we just assume that everyone thought the programme was magnificent and leave it at that?
(Sorry.)
Would you like to see a hotel explode?*
* well they call it imploding but you know what I mean.
Saw this yesterday...and today, having been 502'd till I am crimson, I thought I would post this for our collective amusement. Worth watching in full...first for the fireworks and then for the explosion that's really an implosion.
Oh and here is the moment itself in close-up. Like the little countdown (do not be put off by Elvis. He makes way for a giant implosion...ahem...)
Did you ever stay at the Frontier? More importantly, did you leave anything in the room....?
60,025
is the new total for comments on the blog. I have forgotten how to take a non-blurry photo of the page to show you. Can anyone advise?
We had this lovely call to the "listener log" last night..
"I felt that the programme could have provided information to terrorists, as it discussed how to make a 'dirty bomb'."
Alcohol
its pricing...and the treatment of people with problems... what do YOU think?
The Glass Box for Tuesday
is where you can comment on tonight's programme.
This afternoon, I'll be talking about voice colour
with Philippa Stanton, in an interview for this week's iPM.
By the way the podcast for our first programme is now up and running. It will be a collector's item. Of sorts. There's more here.
1450 UPDATE: Just recorded the interview. I found Philippa fascinating. Here's where she talks about the picture she painted of my voice:
And this is where you'll find MUCH more.
The EU's finances
will be the subject of an interview I'll be recording in a few minutes. Mr Mardell has written on the subject.
1245 UPDATE: Just spoken to the guest, Terry Wynn - who suggest you might find helpful.
This hand
belongs to someone who has won 16 Grammy awards and three Emmy awards. He's appeared with Telly Monster on Sesame Street. And he's on PM tonight.
Come on. WHO IS IT?
We don't get many visitors here at PM...
... here you see someone who popped round today.
(Left to Right: The World at One presenter Shaun, Pudsey, then Lucy and Ryan - producers who are working on The World at One but will also work on PM tonight)
The Glass Box for Monday..
..comment on the programme here.
The fire in East London
has Mr Hugh Sykes reaching for his camera.
This is
"Smoke from the fire in east London today"...while the one below is I suppose a "before" picture..
"East London at dawn with a clear sky one morning last week."
16.05 UPDATE:
Hugh sends the "all clear"...
Jonathan Aitken is
at pains to stress that his appointment to head a study for a prison reform think-tank is not all about him.
"I have been at pains to say that this is not an ego trip for me. It's certainly not a political comeback. "What it is is an assignment, a job which I've been asked to do, to head a team of very distinguished experts."
On our programme tonight, Andrew Bomford will have a report for you on prisons. As he tells it:
"Being a father is difficult when you are behind bars. Many prison-dads lose touch with their children and partners, and once they're released having no stable home to go to is likely to increase re-offending. At Wandsworth Prison in South west London they've come up with a novel idea for helping counter this problem. Once a week children are allowed into the prison if they bring their homework with them to do with their dads." Andrew has had access to the Homework Club. You can hear his report tonight. Here are a couple of snaps to go with it..
Thank you
...you know who you are...for all of these...and Fifi too for my lovely e-card. That Eddie card must have been months in the organising. Much appreciated - thank you.
The person at the top of the shot is Jasper, who's editing tonight...
And thanks to GossipMistress for this...
How did you know about my new job..?
The Furrowed 502 Brow...
...where, if you can raise the energy to actually post something, you can get serious.
This comment made to the Listener Log, apparently without irony...
"Claimed that a reported on the show, when speaking about Blue Peter said 'None of the children was paid'. "If we cannot rely on Radio 4 for good grammar, what chance is there?"
Today's the day
that we launch iPM. Apologies if you're already bored rigid with the previews and appeals and trails. We'll calm down after today.
I do want to say what a bang-up job the team have done. As you'll see from the iPM Blog, they have done a ton of great work - I find it really rewarding to have a rummage round the blog. One of their great ideas is the "favourites" feature...asking a variety of people what web sites they've saved for regular access. I'll be doing mine soon.
Yesterday we recorded three items for the programme - all great guests. A discussion on Enoch Powell was fascinating, and best of all can be heard at its full length on the iPM blog, along with links to articles and most importantly, the original 1968 Powell speech so you can judge it for yourself. The item was almost dropped from the running order but our interest perked up after contact from a listener. And there are already responses posted to an as yet unbroadcast (on Radio 4) interview. It's as interactive as it gets
Perhaps my favourite piece so far was talking to Mr Design from Transport for London about the new tube map. He was saying that copies had been distributed to stations ready for unveiling tomorrow, but if the one on display at Great Portland Street last night was any guide, someone's ahead of the game. I should have taken a pic shouldn't I?
1030 UPDATE: By the way we are aware that the 502 error messages are back. Great day for it to happen, no?
A tad
busier than I might have like to be this afternoon. But at least I know I'm valued.
Done lots of stuff for tomorrow's iPM...including a fascinating discussion with the title: "was Enoch right?" (hear the full interview tonight on the ipm blog...www.bbc.co.uk/ipm) and a chat with a prominent blogger in Pakistan...again there's much more on the iPM blog.
We WILL have another advent thingy this year then. If you have a photo you would like us to use, please email it to pm@bbc.co.uk...please put ADVENT in the subject line. Obviously if we get more than 24 or 25 we won't be able to use them all...please don't be cross if we don't use yours. Although as I recall we ran photos all the way through December last year. Look forward to receiving them...
The Glass Box for Friday
Comment here on tonight's programme...
Christmas is coming
and I was thinking that we should try to repeat our glorious success of last year - the PM blog Advent Calendar. Froggers sent in a photo each and we put them on the blog every day.
Whatcha think?
59,524
comments by the way. Goodness me.
Just been chatting with Rupert who, annoyingly, now sits just behind me. We're gearing up for tomorrow's first ever iPM. One of the things we were discussing is how, like any weekly programme, some of the ideas won't "make it", but might hold for another week. There can be all sorts of reasons for that. The right guest not being available, or not enough research being done, or just some vital facts missing.
The great thing about iPM is, we will tell you and show you the stories that NEARLY made it, and ask the listeners and bloggers whether they can share what they know to get the story on the following week...or even just develop the story on the Blog. Rupert, Chris (Mr Blog) and all the team have done a great job so far. I hope you'll give us a whirl here regularly, and tomorrow night at 17.30. And yes - iPM WILL be podcast!
Meanwhile here at the office we're thinking of going to see Henry Winkler in panto for an office outing. He was very good last year apparently...
1030 UPDATE: Just seen on the Guardian website
The Beach
What is the Beach?
It’s a place to go when the stresses of your real life need relieving. Sometimes it is fairly quiet and you might feel like you’re the only one around, but you can leave your ‘footprints’ for others to find later on. Othertimes it is the home for a real party, with constant gossip, leg-pulling, rumour, innuendo, chit-chat and weirdness.
If this were a forum (and it sort of is because we post responses to each other, not just to Eddie, hence our term for ourselves 'Froggers', a combination of forum and blogger) then the beach would be the off-topic area.
It's a tropical location, no matter the time of year it's always warm and pleasant there.
Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular, the evenings balmy. It has a number of different locations; the Nick Clarke waterfront bar; the smokers corner; Fido's Run for the dog-walkers; the Naughty Step and many others.
How do you find your way around? There is no direct answer to the question.
The beach is a moveable feast, literally. It will be renewed by our Lord and master Mr. Edward de Mair each Friday morning. This is because we have found in the past that when the number of posts exceeds about 600 the entire thing becomes unwieldy and unstable. A case of the beach turning to quicksand.
Froggers often leave bottles / glasses / trays of their favourite tipple on the bar for others to sample, not to mention big / small eats.
There is a herd of camels who frequent the sands, which froggers are very fond of. There are sun-loungers, so you can take it easy and catch some rays. Quite often the late-night attendees will have a barbie.
It's a fun place, with only one real rule; Be nice to each other; we are ALL chums here. New Froggers are ALWAYS welcome.
The real debate happens on the other threads. The beach is a place for banter, whimsy, relaxation and friendship, where jarring comments are not particularly welcome. There are certain very mild protocols, which you tend to pick up as you go along. So slip your shoes off, feel the sand between your toes, relax and enjoy yourself.
Flood Warning!
is the official advice.
The Glass Box for Thursday
Comment here!
The Stockwell Shooting
will be a talking point in the programme tonight.
will give you some insight into the IPCC's thinking and the recommendations are . Oh and for a fuller picture from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ - there's .
You tubery. Chris...
..or Mr Blog as we know and love him, has posted a really interesting thing on the ipm blog - which has greater resonance in the light of events in Finland yesterday. See it here.
When I was in Oz the other week there was a HUGE fuss about a song about the dead which featured on a comedy show on the ABC called "The Chasers War on Everything" (there may or may not be an apostrophe problem in my memory). I was thinking of posting the You Tube version here so you could judge for yourself but it is late-night rude so I won't. But if you went to the site and entered "Chasers death" you might find it. BE WARNED the language is strong and the sentiments in the song might disgust you. It certainly disgusted many Australians - even the Prime Minister spoke out, though there is/was and election campaign going on. Needless filth or top satire?
And in the meantime here is an uncontroversial Sydney photo...
Dementia
...your thoughts and experience....just click on the comment link.
The Glass Box for Wednesday
is here. And not late tonight. Ahem.
If you have some praise or criticism - click on the comment link.
Olympic Stadium
What do you think?
We'll talk about it tonight: more details .
I am indebted to Jonnie
who very kindly sent some details last night of how to get online with a broken hub. After two days offline I was beginning to go mad - in the way that pathetic types do when there is the tiniest bump in the road. Armed with the details I headed home last night - only to remember that when the new wireless thingy arrived last year I did something quite out of character. I put the old broadband gear in a box somewhere in case the wireless thing broke down.
Within a minute - without all the usual swearing - I found the box containing the kit...and would you believe EVERY wire I needed was in the box. No searching round for that vital widget. How uncommon is that?
I am hoping this small piece of good fortune is being repeated around the land.
The Glass Box for Tuesday
Comment here on the content of tonight's programme.
The Queen's Speech
is and we'll talk about it quite a bit tonight. What do you think?
The World at One
opened with the bongs today. Or rather the bong. We had a bit of a chat in our meeting about whether one bong has more or less presence. Are you a pips or bong person?
Pictures!
Nigel Wrench has been out and about and he returns with this question:
"How sexy is the sea?"
The artist Maggi Hambling has been telling Nigel why she's turned from portraits of everyone from the Dalai Lama to Stephen Fry to portraits of waves and waterfalls. "Orgasmic," is a word she uses. I'm sorry but there it is. Orgasmic. There. I said it again.
Here are two of the pictures, Nigel says try to imagine the waterfall -- the long one -- nine feet high and the wave one nine feet wide.
By contrast, our third picture from her show, a new self-portrait, is only a little larger than a postcard.
The big waterfalls involve a dream, but hear more on PM tonight. You might also know of Maggi Hambling from her controversial sculpture for Benjamin Britten on the pebble beach at Aldeburgh, it is.
Confusingly, all this talk of the sea was in the Lake District. We're still assessing Nigel's "generous" gift of Kendal Mint Cake.
It's an oddity
that in the very week I start the new iPM thingy my internet at home has gone kapput. They're delivering a new "hub" by tomorrow. And the internet on my mobile has packed up. I think it could be a sign.
Came in for an iPM meeting I was assured was at 10am but you know what? It's at noon. Will be going for a coffee at 10 instead. I will take a photo for you.
Making 16-18 year olds do something.
What do you think?
The Glass Box for Monday
THIS is the place to comment on the content of tonight's programme. Go on!
Well it's
good to be back. Wish I had slept a bit more than I did last night but that's jetlag for you. Quite how I got it returning from the Isle of Wight I do not know.
As it is told to me, the Blog, which was decidedly dodgy for days before I departed, pretty much exploded for a few days. I am told it is working normally now.
(Pause for laughter).
Another thing. Why do I get colds after long plane journeys?
It's been a busy time here at the office what with one thing and another. When I feel a bit more awake I will write some more. I try to keep the rubbish to a minimum (pause for more laughter).
The Furrowed Brow
No, seriously.
The Glass Box for Friday
Your way of telling us what you thought of tonight's programme....
What do you run to?
We're following up a story in the Times about marathon runners in America being banned from using their iPods and other music players during races because of "safety concerns".
We're trying to compile a list of the best music to run to. The Times suggested Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, Don't Stop me Now by Queen, Keep on Running by the Spencer Davis Group.
Any thoughts?
Eh, what?
Spotted outside the PM window. How come he gets a mask and we don't?
Any caption thoughts? This effort from the BlogPrince: ": if you want to keep your ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ job, you have to survive what i'm decontaminating"
Once more with feeling...
I just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed conversing with you and sharing your views over the past three weeks. Thank you for being so welcoming, as always.
Sir Ed - for surely, like Bruce Forsyth he should have been knighted by now - will be back foraging in the cocktail cabinet from Monday. Rupert and the Blog Prince have been busy working on his new iPM programme which starts on Saturday 10th as you no doubt know, so I'm looking forward to hearing you all take part.
The Glass Box for Thursday
So what did you think?
The Furrowed Brow
What's on your mind?
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