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Wednesday 30 July 2008

You, Me and Our Aunty


My thanks go to the BGT for pointing out this little conundrum.

The great man roared at a story which hit the headlines today and which reminded me of the great Colin Bomber Harris, the man who wrestled himself in a Monty Python skit.

So, what has occurred? Well................."Record Fine Over BBC's Phone-Ins!!" screamed the headline. "Quite right too!" belched the idiot British public. "That'll learn 'em. They won't do that again in a hurry."

The "occurrance" is that the beloved British Broadcasting Corporation (known affectionately, for my overseas reader, as "Aunty Beeb") has been fined £400,000 by media watchdog Ofcom for misleading its audiences by faking phone-ins. In short, viewers were urged to phone some premium rate competition phone lines when winners had already been selected while some shows were pre-recorded and so no-one could win competitions which were supposedly "live".
The offending shows (pun intended) included the Comic Relief, Children in Need and Sport Relief TV shows, Liz Kershaw's offerings on 6 Music and Jo Whiley's Radio 1 show.

Hmmm! Let's examine this a little more closely, shall we? So, the BBC (that is to say "us", as we are the taxpayers who fund the organisation) has been ordered by a quango set up by the Government (i.e. "us", as we elected it and the money it has is ours because we pay taxes) to pay £400,000 to state funds (otherwise known as "us", as explained previously) for the corrupt actions of a bunch of dickheads employed by "us".
Call me Mr Picky, if you like, but shouldn't the headline have read "We Order Ourselves To Pay Us £400,000 For the Fraudulent Actions Of People We Employ"? Not quite as catchy, I'll grant you, but at least it's a little more accurate.

Watchdogs, eh? Don't ya just love 'em? Here's an idea, Ofcom. Instead of these wankers trying to rip people off and then expecting us to fine ourselves and pay ourselves a lot of money so that they won't do it again, why don't you actually take punitive action against the "people" who perpetrated this scam, or at least were the faces of the shows during which it was perpetrated?
Why not publicly hang Terry fucking Wogan? Wouldn't Jonathan Ross look nicer in a chair which has straps on it and is plugged into a mains supply? Why not deport Lenny Henry to Alabama after first tattooing him on the head with a simple "I hate whitey"? Perhaps we could order Seb Coe to....to....to....to just go and fuck himself! As for Liz Kershaw and Jo Whiley, Christ knows! There is no punishment in Hades adequate for the pair of them. Perhaps they should just be ordered to listen to each other's radio show all day, every day, for the rest of their disgusting, futile, purulent, lager-stained, vomit-inducing, stinking lives!

Harsh?...........Maybe, but fair.

Ofcom can go to Grantham.

3 comments:

fiwa said...

Hey, that sounds like something we would do. In the Seattle area recently there were some spikes found in a lake where people swim. Everyone was up in arms over the TERRORISTS! who put spikes in the lake. Weeks and weeks went by, they were offering rewards to catch these loathsome terrorists... when suddenly the parks department said "Oh yes, oops, sorry... that was us." They had put the spikes in to anchor a tarp trying to kill off some algae about TEN YEARS AGO, and just... forgot about them.

Brad said...

Dang, fiwa stole my story! (not)

Goverment, it's all just smoke, mirrors, and money sucking leaches. Covered on the evening news by the corporations they serve.

Anonymous said...

£400,000 really isn't very much, is it, when you think about it? Not that I'd sneeze at it, being officially broke (of course, being a student I am less-than-broke anyway, but now I actually can't afford to eat). I personally think 'they' should run a phone-in competition to win this money, where I have already won it a pre-recorded show. sweet.

I'm going to go and raid my neighbours dustbin now.

WEDNESDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2007

SHORTS DON'T MATTER! 1. From the greatest programme ever made about association football, Barnstoneworth United FC manager Mr Dainty delivers one of the finest English soliloqiues of all time.......and afterwards, spare a thought for the club steward's wife Vera (YOU ONLY HAVE TO WATCH HALF OF THE CLIP!!).

Monday, 12 November 2007

Not everyone who agonises over their life is a painter. Some of us agonise because we're NOT painters.

....And On the Subject of Great Public Services

I know most of you have heard this marvellous song by those doctors who are the Amateur Transplants......but I think the video is a nice addition. P.S. If there are kids in the room I'd shuffle them out before hitting play.

...There's More

On the subject of those great doctors, here is their version of More Than Words which presents their challenging views on women outside Watford. The very-soon-to-be ex-Mrs Pither, coming from Cumbria, is a huge fan. Again, get those kids out of the room!

Leave Britney Alone, Ok!!!

Oh...........my............God!!!!! My heartfelt thanks go to BGT for this. I won't say much more, I don't need to. Mr Loony of Loonytown, USA (I think it's a bloke, anyway), says it all. I fear he may be wound too tight for.....well.....well for everywhere, really!

Tuesday, 18 September 2007.

I wish I'd sung this! For non-Americans, and with apologies to all the smart arses out there who already knew, the FCC is the Federal Communications Commission and it monitors TV and radio output in the States - a sort of broadcast police - while the EPA is the Yanks' so-called Environmental Protection Agency, a body which does exactly the opposite of what it says on the can. (P.S. We went to the same school, you know? Eric and me, that is, not George, Martha, Dick and Condoleeza and me. I don't think they went to school.) P.P.S. Please see below if you are I Like The View, Malc or Doris.

To Make You Laugh and Cry

I was listening to this on a Sunday, the very-soon-to-be ex-Mrs Pither is a Catholic, Tom Lehrer is one of my all-time heroes and this is one of his best.............no other reasons. On a more sombre note (and with thanks to Fish for coming up with this Woman's-Own-passes-the-time-in-the-dentist's-waiting-room nonsense), why not get a computer to tell you that you are a waste of space and your life is a sham of a mockery of a farce? Ok, it's from one of those poxy dating sites but...go on, take the test. You ain't got much to beat!!
This Is My Life, Rated
Life: 4.2
Mind: 4.1
Body: 2.7
Spirit: 8
Friends/Family: 1.6
Love: 0
Finance: 5.9
Take the Rate My Life Quiz
Apparently, in my case, "computer say 'no!'"

I First Saw This When I Was Little - And Loved It! I Hope That Explains a Few Things

Fuck, Fuckety, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck

It has been pointed out to me that, particularly for one whose profession is supposedly literary, my language is getting worse. My use of the "F" word is, I am told, far too prevalent and hence loses impact. To those who share this view I suggest you watch the following:

Tony Blair Isn't a Burglar - But If He Was.........

In the spirit of Gustav Holst's Jupiter and Manfred Mann's Earth Band, I feel like raising a smile today. The Big Green Thing alerted me to this and, for no other reason than to raise a smile on an otherwise crap Wednesday, I think it has to be shared. Grantham shall not have him - when he gets out of prison.

Life On The Edge - No Net.

I was wrong when I feared it might be a dull weekend, what with my pals being away, my soon-to-be ex-wife in rehab and only the dogs to play with. How wrong can a man be? This much fun must surely be illegal? Just click to see the japes and hoots I am having! Click again to see how things got REALLy exciting! Tomorrow we're going to chase pigeons.

The Good Old U.S. of A. - Guardians of Freedom and Democracy. Nothing to Be Scared of, Then?

Be honest........

IT'S THE QUIZ OF THE WEEK! JUST SCROLL DOWN AND HIT "FULL QUIZ".