Vision On (or off)

That veritable British broadcasting institution the BBC has been making the news itself of late. Its decision not to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for aid to Gaza the other week was taken because of fears such a broadcast may breach the Corporations strict rules on impartiality. The commercial stations all went ahead with the appeal for humanitarian assistance - with the notable exception of SKY (although I suspect their decision was more to do with Rupert Murdoch's business interests in the USA being affected if he was perceived to be siding with the Palestinians) But it's the BBC who have taken most of the flak although there have been a multitude of reports on BBC News, on television and on-line, about the row which seems to me to have defeated the purpose of not broadcasting the appeal in the first place.

In the wake of the Jonathan Ross fiasco, Auntie Beeb is falling over herself not to offend anyone. Yes, there is a clause in the BBC's charter, reviewed by the government every ten years or so, that requires the Corporation to be impartial or face possible legal consequences. But it seems to me the BBC breaches impartiality on other occasions and it doesn't appear to be an issue.

Take the aforementioned Jonathan Ross for example (please, somebody take him) Ross infamously insulted the grand-daughter of actor Andrew Sachs on a radio show last October and the ensuing furore resulted in Ross being suspended from the BBC for three months. His return last month was trumpeted as a major news story by the Corporation, with coverage given on BBC News programmes both on its terrestrial BBC 1 and digital BBC News24 as well as substantial coverage on the BBC News website. The BBC reported that people queued outside Television Centre for hours and that the audience welcomed the return of Ross (who returned to insulting people on his BBC Radio 2 show a couple of days later)

Now I don't doubt a lot of people were glad to see Ross return and he does have a huge fan base. But, equally, many people wanted Ross sacked from the BBC and despise his crude style and cringing self-importance. So where was the BBC's impartiality here? I didn't see much evidence of it - but, of course, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross is a huge ratings winner for the Corporation....

In my view, the Beeb typifies standards in this country these days. There's a general dumbing down in broadcasting and anything of quality the BBC does make tends to be shunted on to its digital station BBC Four. It might also wish to consider investing in its weather forecasting technology. Twice this week we were warned that severe snow falls would affect Edinburgh. On both Monday and Wednesday night we were told to expect several inches of the white stuff to fall overnight. Many schools in the borders didn't open on the basis of this forecast only to find there was little snow on Tuesday and Thursday morning - and it was raining. Saturday, we were told, would be dry, sunny but cold. As I write this blog early on Saturday morning it's snowing quite heavily in Dalkeith...

Another example of the BBC incapable of handling adverse conditions...

A True Champion

I spent an enjoyable afternoon today watching the final round of the Open Golf Championship, this year being held at Royal Birkdale. Well, I tried to watch as grandchildren Jack and Hannah came over and they demanded Papa's attention...

Padraig Harrington, the defending champion, played some outstanding golf to retain his title. His second shot at the 17th was quite phenomenal. But what particularly impressed me was the quite superb sportsmanship from everyone concerned. In his winner's speech, Harrington thanked just about everyone in the Emerald Isle but his tribute to the runner up Ian Poulter, the amateur champion Chris Wood and the legendary Greg Norman - who came close to an astonishing and historic triumph - showed that modern day sportsmen - and women - can behave with dignity and courtesy.

Footballers are probably the worst example of poor behaviour with constant winding up of the opposition and the shameful trait of cheating to gain an advantage a feature of almost every game these days. I know it's too much to expect the Corinthian spirit in sport these days but golf is as close to retaining that as any. Although disappointment was etched across his face at the end, Greg Norman still took time to pay tribute to the champion, saying it was a very impressive victory by the Irishman.

The BBC coverage was excellent - unlike SKY, ITV et al there was no cutting for advertisements at crucial points in the day's play, thus losing the 'moment' - although the comment as the engraver was marking out the name of the winner on the claret jug - perhaps he's trying to find out how to spell Harrington - was a bit crass as the Dubliner's name was on the trophy from last year.

If I had a small gripe it was the constant bellowing of 'in the hole' from some of the crowd as soon as a shot was played - even the tee shots. That got a bit tiring at times.

But, overall, watching the Open was hugely enjoyable. And with his compassionate speech, Padraig Harrington proved it's not only on the golf course that he's a true champion.

Those Black and White Days

I read last week that there are 34,700 people in the UK with a licence for black and white televisions. For younger readers, yes, there is such a thing as a television which shows black and white pictures only. Okay, there are 25 million colour licence holders. And this begs the question - why are there a number of people that would fill Hearts Tynecastle Stadium twice over still watching in monochrome?

Now I don't want this to turn into a 'when I was a lad' rant. But, when I was a lad...growing up in the early 1970s we had - as most people did then - a black and white television. In fact it was a portable television and there were three channels - BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. But given the reception where we lived we could not receive BBC2. So it was BBC1 and ITV - far removed from the multiple channel choice we have now in the digital age. The choice in 1970 was take it or leave it.

If truth be told we didn't know any different so it wasn't a big deal. True, when the football was on I did wish I could see the mighty Heart of Midlothian resplendent in maroon and white rather than black with white cuffs. And watching the snooker programme that was Pot Black - when we eventually did receive BBC2 - was a challenge. But we knew nothing else and thirty plus years ago the BBC showed a spinning globe as its ident and closed down just before midnight to the strains of God Save the Queen (when I lived in Aberdeen I was impressed by the fact that commercial station Grampian TV at least showed grainy old film of the Queen on a horse before closing for the night)

The first time I watched colour television seriously - as opposed to gaping through the window of Radio Rentals (ask your Mum and Dad, younger readers) - was when I went round to one of my pals on a Saturday afternoon in May 1975 to watch the England-Scotland football game live from Wembley. My pal's Dad was an archetypal 1970s husband - under the thumb - and had been dragged out to do the weekly shop by his wife when the Scotland game was on his newly acquired colour telly. So, at the tender age of 13 I combined my first experience of colour television with my first experience of alcohol. A can of Tennents Lager was consumed and I soon felt like Scotland's hapless goalkeeper Stewart Kennedy - all over the place. Scotland lost 5-1 and I wondered if this was some kind of punishment. But watching television was never going to be the same again and three years later my dear mother succumbed to my nagging and rented a colour television. The cost of the rental and the huge increase in the fee for the television licence nearly bankrupt her but there was no going back.

So, it's somewhat reassuring to hear that there are still thousands of people who remain faithful to their black and white set. I suspect there may be a number of the 34,700 who have a colour set but think that buying a licence for a black and white one will save them money. It will until the authorities catch up with them. But I'm of the old school who harks back to the 1970s as the golden age of television. In 2008 we have hundreds of channels and very little worth watching on any of them. In 1978 there were just three channels but there seemed to be so much more quality to watch.

Especially if you had one of those new fangled colour tellies....!