The BBC and the new Culture Secretary

[oddoneout]

Having started to read this I had to check that it wasn't a spoof article or politics sketch https://www.theguardian.com/politics...nadine-dorries
Having finished reading it I despaired.

[french frank]

Having started to read this I had to check that it wasn't a spoof article or politics sketch https://www.theguardian.com/politics...nadine-dorries
Having finished reading it I despaired.

This was a bit buried in the article:

"The BBC made no comment in response, but said it was the first broadcaster to measure socioeconomic diversity; that of its entire workforce for whom there was data, 11.5% went to private schools; and that it was investing heavily in recruiting people from a broad range of backgrounds.

In contrast, 60% of the cabinet in which Dorries serves attended private schools."

Arguably, in a representative democracy, the constitution of the government matters more than that of the BBC.

[oddoneout]

This was a bit buried in the article:

"The BBC made no comment in response, but said it was the first broadcaster to measure socioeconomic diversity; that of its entire workforce for whom there was data, 11.5% went to private schools; and that it was investing heavily in recruiting people from a broad range of backgrounds.

In contrast, 60% of the cabinet in which Dorries serves attended private schools."

Arguably, in a representative democracy, the constitution of the government matters more than that of the BBC.

I would tend to agree but we don't have much of a democracy, representative or otherwise so it's wishful thinking.
Perhaps the low %age of employees from private school background is one reason why the government has such a downer on the Beeb - it means there are too many "not one of us" for comfort.

[Serial_Apologist]

I would tend to agree but we don't have much of a democracy, representative or otherwise so it's wishful thinking.
Perhaps the low %age of employees from private school background is one reason why the government has such a downer on the Beeb - it means there are too many "not one of us" for comfort.

And yet the latter also form the Red Wall majority demographic the government claims to appeal to!

[rauschwerk]

I don't think Ms Dorries really knows what the definition of nepotism is! Just because members of the same family happen to work for the same organisation, it surely doesn't follow that any appointment procedures were bypassed.

[LHC]

I would tend to agree but we don't have much of a democracy, representative or otherwise so it's wishful thinking.
Perhaps the low %age of employees from private school background is one reason why the government has such a downer on the Beeb - it means there are too many "not one of us" for comfort.

On that basis, the Guardian should be the Tories’ favourite paper given the high proportion of its journalists who were privately educated, but I suspect it’s not.

[french frank]

I don't think Ms Dorries really knows what the definition of nepotism is! Just because members of the same family happen to work for the same organisation, it surely doesn't follow that any appointment procedures were bypassed.

I wonder who she had in mind? I know the previous chairman, David Clementi, was descended from Muzio Clementi, but I don't imagine that got him the job.

[oddoneout]

Marina Hyde in the Guardian has come up with

culturicidal secretary Nadine Dorries

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/05/tory-conference-british-fuel-shortages

[french frank]

Marina Hyde in the Guardian has come up with
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...fuel-shortages

Also 'something entirely unsubstantiated to do with nepotism at the BBC'. Quite so.