The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

[LMcD]

I'm sure someone has the answer to that. Maybe he doesn't want to, or maybe there isn't a studio there. Your question did make me think of the days (do they still do this?) whe BBC TV news used to send Andrew Marr to stand oiutside Downing Street in the pouring rain at 10 o'clock at night just so he could report 'live' from a place where a meeting may have been held some hours earlier at which something might have been discussed, or Simon Calder sent to Gatwich airport to tell us something he (or anyone else) could have said from his own home.

Ever since it was rumoured that Mrs. T might be about to resign, I've always done my best to clear the proverbial decks and remain glued to my TV set or PC, eagerly waiting for somebody important to enter or leave 10 Downing Street. or for a BBC News update that's not a repetition of the previous reports. The thrill of actually watching when something actually happens or somebody actually has something substantive to say shouldn't be underestimated.

[kernelbogey]

indeed kb they seem to be …….

Yes Anton, and I feel for Martin who said a week or two back that he 'hadn't had the greatest of years'. For me, he's definitely 'old school' R3 in that he's a musician, former Choral Scholar, former opera repetiteur and conductor. He has a great microphone technique too....

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes Anton, and I feel for Martin who said a week or two back that he 'hadn't had the greatest of years'. For me, he's definitely 'old school' R3 in that he's a musician, former Choral Scholar, former opera repetiteur and conductor. He has a great microphone technique too....

Yes very good broadcaster and immaculate script Writer, Thing is it’s not unknown for people just to get cheesed off with it all. Presenters as a group tend to get mucked around more than most. The shenanigans over the presenters’ freelance / employment status being a prime example. I always used to warn new recruits that media organisations generally expected to throw any of your outside plans out of the window at a moments’ notice with little in the way of compensation. It never put people off though.

[french frank]

Yes Anton, and I feel for Martin who said a week or two back that he 'hadn't had the greatest of years'. For me, he's definitely 'old school' R3 in that he's a musician, former Choral Scholar, former opera repetiteur and conductor. He has a great microphone technique too....

And actor. My guess is he's decided to retire (unless he gets a good offer) - he passed the official age a few years back.

[Old Grumpy]

Perhaps he will reappear on CFM...

[LMcD]

Yes Anton, and I feel for Martin who said a week or two back that he 'hadn't had the greatest of years'. For me, he's definitely 'old school' R3 in that he's a musician, former Choral Scholar, former opera repetiteur and conductor. He has a great microphone technique too....

(Perhaps there will shortly be an article in The Guardian listing all the programmes and presenters that we Forumites DON'T hate ...)

[oddoneout]

Ever since it was rumoured that Mrs. T might be about to resign, I've always done my best to clear the proverbial decks and remain glued to my TV set or PC, eagerly waiting for somebody important to enter or leave 10 Downing Street. or for a BBC News update that's not a repetition of the previous reports. The thrill of actually watching when something actually happens or somebody actually has something substantive to say shouldn't be underestimated.

Like this...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68209691

[oddoneout]

I'm sure someone has the answer to that. Maybe he doesn't want to, or maybe there isn't a studio there. Your question did make me think of the days (do they still do this?) whe BBC TV news used to send Andrew Marr to stand oiutside Downing Street in the pouring rain at 10 o'clock at night just so he could report 'live' from a place where a meeting may have been held some hours earlier at which something might have been discussed, or Simon Calder sent to Gatwich airport to tell us something he (or anyone else) could have said from his own home.

I haven't watched TV news for decades, but the irritation of viewers with the habit, especially when it means random bods flown to other countries to do the same thing, is something I often come across in conversation, comments online and in the press etc. Increasingly the irritation is compounded by questions about cost, and in the case of foreign reports the environmental aspect of flying staff around just to tick the "presenteeism" box - why can't people actually working there do it if it is considered necessary is often asked.

[LMcD]

I haven't watched TV news for decades, but the irritation of viewers with the habit, especially when it means random bods flown to other countries to do the same thing, is something I often come across in conversation, comments online and in the press etc. Increasingly the irritation is compounded by questions about cost, and in the case of foreign reports the environmental aspect of flying staff around just to tick the "presenteeism" box - why can't people actually working there do it if it is considered necessary is often asked.

In the worst example of this that I've come across, the BBC sent a reporter from London to cover a major story in Ipswich for the 6 p.m. news, and immediately afterwards a Look East reporter who had also been covering the story was joined by the regular Norwich presenter and these two then proceeded to interview each other from the same spot occupied earlier by the chap sent down from London.

[Old Grumpy]

In the worst example of this that I've come across, the BBC sent a reporter from London to cover a major story in Ipswich for the 6 p.m. news, and immediately afterwards a Look East reporter who had also been covering the story was joined by the regular Norwich presenter and these two then to interview each other from the same spot occupied earlier by the chap sent down from London.

Yes, this sort of thing annoys me too - one of the reasons I no longer watch TV news.

Interesting choice of word: down from London to Ipswich (or indeed Norwich)

[LMcD]

Yes, this sort of thing annoys me too - one of the reasons I no longer watch TV news.

Interesting choice of word: down from London to Ipswich (or indeed Norwich)

I believe one comes down from, and goes up to, London. Unfortunately, as Ipswich hasn't got much going for it, one would, in a sense, be coming down from Norwich to Ipswich even though one was heading up to London.
One of the numerous reasons for my decision to stop watching BBC News was that it is increasingly being used to promote other BBC programmes.

[smittims]

Just to clarify 'up and down' are railway terms used to describe the direction away from (down) or towards (up) the start of the line. It can be confusing to the uninitiated, as 'up' does not always mean towards London,though it does with most main lines.

Examples: Derby to Goucester is 'down' , as is Derby to Leicester, but Leicester to Bedford is 'up'. A Manchester to Cardiff train is 'up' until Crewe, when it is then 'down' to Cardiff. On the Lancashire and Yorkshire system,, all lines were 'up' to Manchester Victoria.

'Up' ad 'Down' also have meanings in 'Varsity' lingo; one always goes 'up' to Oxford or Cambridge, and vice versa.

[Old Grumpy]

Just to clarify 'up and down' are railway terms used to describe the direction away from (down) or towards (up) the start of the line. It can be confusing to the uninitiated, as 'up' does not always mean towards London,though it does with most main lines.

Examples: Derby to Goucester is 'down' , as is Derby to Leicester, but Leicester to Bedford is 'up'. A Manchester to Cardiff train is 'up' until Crewe, when it is then 'down' to Cardiff. On the Lancashire and Yorkshire system,, all lines were 'up' to Manchester Victoria.

'Up' ad 'Down' also have meanings in 'Varsity' lingo; one always goes 'up' to Oxford or Cambridge, and vice versa.

Interesting, thank you. I always go down to "that" London from Yorkshire, whether by rail or road (in fact IIRC, in some stations the London bound platform is the "downline" and Edinburgh bound the "upline").

I try to avoid going to Manchester at all!

By the same token I imagine once one was up in either Oxford* or Cambridge one would have no desire to go up, down or indeed across to the other place!


*I have no personal axe to grind, being "redbrick" myself, but was always amused by the Cambridge putdown as Oxford being "a light industrial town in the South Midlands"

[Ein Heldenleben]

Interesting, thank you. I always go down to "that" London from Yorkshire, whether by rail or road (in fact IIRC, in some stations the London bound platform is the "downline" and Edinburgh bound the "upline").

I try to avoid going to Manchester at all!

By the same token I imagine once one was up in either Oxford* or Cambridge one would have no desire to go up, down or indeed across to the other place!


*I have no personal axe to grind, being "redbrick" myself, but was always amused by the Cambridge putdown as Oxford being "a light industrial town in the South Midlands"

Oxford University has also been called Cowley’s Latin Quarter. When you look at the map it’s not far off the truth. Particularly so in the sixties when the University was smaller and perhaps even dwarfed in economic terms by British Leyland. Not so now where money (as at Cambridge) seems to be the driving force for everything. Both are building everywhere they can get away with. Oxford is massively constrained by the many flood plains around it - perhaps even at the limits of expansion. But to building around Cambridge there seems no limits. Pretty soon it’ll be a sea of little boxes , science parks and a dinky little university. And that’s progress…

[LMcD]

Oxford University and environs has also been called Cowley’s Latin Quarter. When you look at the map it’s not far off the truth. Particularly so in the sixties when the University was smaller and perhaps even dwarfed in economic terms by British Leyland. Not so now where money (as at Cambridge) seems to be the driving force for everything. Both are building everywhere they can get away with. Oxford is massively constrained by the many flood plains around it - perhaps even at the limits of expansion. But to building around Cambridge there seems no limits. Pretty soon it’ll be a sea of little boxes , science parks and a dinky little university. And that’s progress…

Might that be a reference to the Pete Seeger song in which 'they go to the university and they all get put in boxes, little boxes, all the time'.?