Last night’s News at Ten on BBC1 was fronted by a back room cove with hair pulled straight from a Brylcreem ad. The lead item presented Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, as a cross between a schoolboy caught with his shorts down, and a Klan buddy with his ex-best man. The editorial line was let’s pop Liam on a spit and roast him, because he might produce some good crackling. But then again he might not. We shall have to wait and see.
The second item featured a collection of brightly coloured blood stained table clothes spraying lead in the air somewhere in North Africa. A man wearing the neutered remnants of a community support worker’s uniform made from recycled egg cartons winced in the bottom left hand corner of the screen every time a gun went off. In between winces, he assured viewers that, whatever else was going on, there was a lot of gunfire going on. Gaddafi might have been somewhere in the background. But then again he might not. We shall have to wait and see.
And so on, world without end, though a day in which the reported news hadn’t been so much slow as glacial. After a while a talking football popped up, and got excited about nothing in particular. The hottest news was that a man had landed himself in hot water after jumping ship somewhere on the other side of the world. But then again he might not. We shall probably never know, let alone care.
And so finally, to the closing cockle-warmer, Paul McCartney’s latest wedding. Not much had changed from his previous nuptials, not even the venue, only this time the bride was an American heiress, who by all accounts was both loaded and stacked. But then again she might not be. We shall have to wait and see.
But no mention at all, anywhere on the programme, of the NHS, or the Westminster Bridge demonstration against the Health and Social Care Bill, with its package of reform so large it can be seen from space. Just as there was no mention of the Bill on the day it passed its third reading in the Commons. Tomorrow, and the day after, the Bill will be debated in the Lords. Surely the BBC will cover this major event – an event, which if it goes the wrong way, will see the end of the NHS as we know it – on its flagship TV news programme. But then again it may not. We shall have to wait and see.
I watched BBC News 24 on my break this morning hoping to see coverage of ‘Block the Bridge’ but nothing appeared as indeed no in-depth coverage of the HSCB moving to the House of Lords. No lively debate on what is to become of our NHS.
The media has been worryingly quiet throughout the whole affair and I don’t know what to make of it.
Reading “Ministers fear Lords will kill of NHS reforms” in yesterdays Observer (front page) – sorry, for the life of me can’t find a link despite numerous attempts to do so – temporarily raised my spirits in that perhaps the bill could be halted in its tracks and the NHS (despite its flaws) could/would be saved. I doubt it but sincerely hope my pessimism is misplaced.
We shall see. Let’s see what Wednesday brings.
Anna :o]
I’m afraid this doesn’t surprise me at all. The same thing happened when junior doctors -10 000 of them – marched on Westminster along with the Queen’s own surgeons. I heard that a D notice had been slapped on coverage that time (which is normally for military sensitive info)and would not be surprised if it hadn’t happened this time. There is no way that the Beeb cannot know the implications of this bill, because they watch the debates that are going on on blogs and we have been talking about this for a year. If this bill goes through, the Beeb will be every bit as culpable as the Tories for allowing it to pass.
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