Not racist say police

The Police Federation of Scotland has indignantly protested that their members say they are not racist. 

Have you ever met a racist who admits being a racist?

 

 

Flash Fiction

Wikipedia, perhaps unintentionally, gives the impression that flash fiction is the preserve of the elite.

However, the most important practitioner of flash fiction is you, the reader. It is a readily accessible form of writing which does not require a Pulitzer or Nobel Prize. You should try it. There are a plethora of online outlets for flash fiction which you can find by typing "flash fiction submission" into a search engine.

Like any form of literature, the guiding principle is "don't give up." If one editor does not appreciate your talent then try another! 

Derek McMillan

#worthingflash

BBC cannot stop lying

BBC cannot stop lying

Dear  Mr McMillan 


Thanks for contacting us about our coverage of the Coronation.

Our reporting of the Coronation of King Charles III has reflected the historic nature of this event, and the interest it has generated around the country and globally. However, we do realise that not everyone is interested in the Coronation, and that attitudes towards the monarchy vary; we have acknowledged, represented and examined this diversity of opinion in our coverage.

Across our output, in programmes such as ‘Panorama: Will King Charles Change the Monarchy?’ we have explored the significance of the Coronation in terms of what it means for the monarchy and its place in modern Britain, looking at issues raised by those who are critical of the institution. We have featured the viewpoints of groups such as Republic on various aspects of the Coronation, for example, the oath of allegiance to the King during the service, and the response to protests.

The Coronation is a celebration so our coverage has inevitably had a positive tone, which in this context we believe has been duly impartial. However, we’re sorry if you continue to be unhappy and have shared your feedback with programme makers and senior editors at BBC News. 

Kind regards,

BBC Complaints Team

TV journalism

I thought the BBC coverage of the Coronation was an abysmal abandonment of any journalistic principles. I thought it was as bad as it could get, until I watched ITV of course.

If the media are not lying, then there would be no problem with having an elected head of state. Everybody loves Charles and Camilla so the people would vote for them and that would be a simple solution. 

Strangely the craven monarchists of the media do not suggest such a solution.

Charles rules by divine right. The will of the people does not come into it. And the police are there to see that people do not have a different opinion. 

52 people were arrested without committing any offence. The figure keeps going up, the police were lying. 

People are being imprisoned for their opinions by a government which protests that freedom of speech is very important.

 

The arrests included volunteers for Westminster City Council who were distributing rape alarms. 

The Coronation is an expensive diversion from the cost of living crisis. It is an incidental diversion from the Tories' parlous election results this week too.

Complain to the BBC

Celtic supporters have a suggestion for the Coronation

The i Newspaper headline: "Chilling’ police crackdown of anti-monarchy protests during King’s coronation ‘deeply disturbing’, MPs say."

Even members of Parliament were shocked by the vicious response of the boys in blue to the anti-monarchy protests.

Charles III has as much respect for freedom of speech as Charles I and we all know how that ended up.

The police admit they arrested 52 people. The actual figure is unknown. Extraordinarily the usually tame Labour Party thought this was a bit much. 

The link is here

In other news, thousands of Celtic supporters chanted "Stick your Coronation up your ar**." The police didn't try to arrest them all.

Liverpool fans put the same point the day before the royal jamboree.

There were protests against the coronation all over the country. The police cannot silence everybody.

May the Fourth be with you

Happy Star Wars Day

Great Expectations on the BBC

Great Expectations on the BBC

This is not a faithful reproduction of Dickens' classic. It is a wickedly unfaithful version, a parody or re-imagining. The characters are all in the novel but many of the events are quite different. It does, however, reflect aspects of Victorian society which Dickens only hinted at.

Pip (Fionn Whitehead) has the ambition to become a gentleman. Jaggers (Ashley Thomas) teaches him that becoming a gentleman involves fine clothes, a sense of entitlement and the ability to rob and swindle other gentlemen.

No wonder the fascist Daily Mail denounced it as a "woke adaptation".

The enigmatic Miss Havisham completes Pip's education as a gentleman by introducing him to a prostitute and to opium. Prostitution was something Dickens' readers did not want to know about. Opium was not illegal and indeed the British Empire fought against China when the Chinese government refused to allow opium imports.

The cast is multicultural, another reason for the Daily Mail's fury. This is a bit rich considering that in the past the role of black characters like Othello were repeatedly played by white actors. It is more like justice.

Magwitch (Johnny Harris) sums things up in the final episode. "Gentlemen can do whatever suits them. They built an empire on it."

In a very clever moment, Biddy (Laurie Ogden) declares that she is a Chartist. The Chartists respect women and she won't have time to slave in Pip's kitchen!

The fraught relationship with Estella (Shalom Brune-Franklin) is resolved as Dickens originally intended. Pip opts not to marry Estella. In this version, he actually marries the Chartist Biddy.

This BBC adaptation is well worth a watch. Being hated by the Daily Mail is always a badge of honour.

Derek McMillan