iPM's Theme Time Radio Quarter Hour
Bob Dylan has a radio show with a weekly theme. It's not a bad idea.
With iPM limbering up for its slimmer 5.45am slot, we're thinking about how we do justice to the things you share with us. With only 14 minutes to play with we'd like to try and tackle just one topic in each edition.
We're starting with a programme, prompted by listener Stephanie Butland , about what role mental attitude plays for those diagnosed with cancer.
In coming weeks iPM might* be about:
- Credit crunch crime. John Maher wrote to say that shop security guards treat him like a shoplifter. iPM is investigating whether theft is on the increase. And where do the stolen goods go? Does a recession make people more willing to buy things that have, ahem, fallen off the back of a lorry?
- Gissa volunteer job Following our item on the stigma of unemployment, Janiece Spence emailed to say that people shouldn't let their skills go to waste and while they hunt for a paid job they might consider becoming a volunteer. iPM called several volunteering organisations and found a marked increase in the numbers seeking unpaid posts. Have you lost a job, but become a volunteer? Are you in need of unpaid helpers? Or is it, in your experience, just not that simple?
*It's up to you, really.
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... or even fallen off the back of a milk float.
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I want to know why you've been punished by being returned to the early-morning slot!
I happened to be awake this morning, so did hear the excellent show, with the thoughtful interviews Eddie did about cancer. Really interesting points of view from all the speakers.
My mother has had cancer twice. Said she viewed it as "a nuisance" that had to be got through so you could carry on with life. Seems to have worked for her. Think she's found the breast cancer support group she goes to very helpful and interesting too. A good way of sharing knowledge and experience.
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"With only 14 minutes to play with"
There are far too many "promo" items on R4 and they start in the first 90 seconds from broadcasting World Service overnight (or schools radio or whatever, on DAB).
Why do they only give you 14 minutes? It could be 24 or even a full 30 if they wiped out the bulk of the adverts through the day!
I consider these promos as irritating as "proper" ads on commercial radio - there should be some investigation by the Trust to see if they cause mental damage for those unable (through being housebound, for example) to switch the darn things off.
The RAJAR figures no doubt skew figures so the average listening time is under an hour or two (which is why commercial stations charge much more for morning and evening 'drive time' when they will be able to target the A/B/C1 drivers going to/from their office as well as C2/D/E 'proles' who have the station playing all day at work, and aren't as good a target for expensive cars, fancy restaurants, or new homes).
So if the RAJAR figures suggest average listening is, say, 2 hours, it means the BBC R4 schedulers think they must play those same promotions again and again to hit the 2 hours of some (figment) average listeners hearing time.
Please check back to when Clive Anderson did a piece about Wikipedia one Tuesday morning around 11:00 (I remember time and day more than the content for reasons that will be obvious)... That particular programme was given trails for the 8 days beforehand. It might have been so office-bound 'geeks' would know to 'listen again' but for the average pensioner, and those working from home, it must have put them off the show.
There are lots of spare minutes in the week - we don't need a 'chav teaser' of what's on The Archers just after the news at 1400, and then after that episode, a further 'teaser' of what will be on in the broadcast after 1900 - for heaven's sake, this is the most widely known radio series going and hardly likely to attract more audience by sinking to the drain level of commercial TV (where they want you to come back because the advertisers won't pay if there aren't viewers).
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Life is too short to read through too long comments.
Some limit please !.
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No offence, but if you find it too long to read a moderate length comment, how do you cope with news pages, articles on any academic topic, or some of the blog posts (Editors Blogs, for example)?
If 'life is too short' that you don't feel able to spend time reading thoroughly, it seems odd to then 'waste' time typing a response.
For anyone else: please don't hold back if there's some flaw in my thinking which needs a reasoned response.
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It is, for some reason I do not understand, for us oldies at least, not as easy to read, or skim read text, on a computer screen as it is to do that with printed/hard copy text.
In the comments in the cancer feature excessively long contributions,( not just contributions of "moderate length), I suspect from previously published sources, have been downloaded in their entirety with no effort made to condense their content.Almost every other 'comment' feature has found there is a need to impose some limit which can be a generous one to make all of us edit our comments.
I "waste time" commenting on things I think can be improved because I have not yet given up on trying, in my own small way, to leave the world a better place for my grandchildren and others.
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Blogs and other online forms are not the place to post a thesis. I agree, please keep it short and snappy.
Unlike IPM... 15 minutes is way too short!
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Why has Jezza apologised. He only stated the facts!
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'Political correctness' has done more damage to the 'once great' Britain than anything in our history. The 'compensation culture' is a close second. Just about everything that was worth having in our society from a police force, that was the envy of the world, an education system that actually challenged and educated young people and our national broadcasting corporation are just some of the numerous victims of these 'values' in our society! Grumpymike65
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Does anyone else feel that Ben Fogle's Extreme Dreams is just too boring for words? The whole weeks episodes could easily fit into one single programme, I appreciate that this show is made for other markets where they perhaps have a different level of understanding, but is it really necessary to keep on repeating every mind-munbing step of their journey? Each episode is exactly the same as the previous one, with perhaps a slightly differnt terrain - high up, low down, hot, cold, wet or dry. But there is always soneone who threatens the team and who either is close to being air lifted or has to be air lifted out of the area. I would rather watch paint dry!
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All you Archer fans out there - does anyone else think that Susan Carter and Brian Aldridge should get together?Perhaps they were separated at birth?
Please, please, please, Archer writers, will you finally "out" Susan as the narrow minded, meddling, devious person she actually is and get her out of the programme, preferably in the back of a black maria on her way to prison (again!) for something that means she will be away for years and years.....
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I just need to get this off my chest:
If we are going to have a minimum cost of alcohol per unit, surely this will only help to reduce the drinking off the poorest in society. Is it OK for rich people to be alcoholics.
The effect that it will have is that families of alcoholics on low incomes will suffer more as more of the family income will be spent on alcohol.
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15 minutes far too short for iPM. But I agree, blogs in this context should be succinct.
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This comment has been referred to the moderators. Explain.
Living in an un-aromatic world -
I have anosmia, (no sense of taste or smell), as do many others, but as the condition isn't usually life threatening, GPs & consultants seem to take the view that those with the condition are low on the priority list or aren't on any list at all.
I have many questions relating to anosmia and would be very interested in any research already undertaken, or taking part in any research:-
Is the language of sufferers affected as they have no need to use descriptive words for taste & smell?
Is aromatherapy effective?
Does this affect the wild animal kingdom? (If an animal is unable to taste or smell does it shorten its life?)
Is appetite affected?
Does anosmia have a detrimental effect on different cultures?
Is sex drive reduced if humans rely on scent for stimulation?
Can the loss cause depression?
How are synthetic smells produced?
Which jobs would sufferers be unable to carry out?
Which jobs would be ideal?
I'd be very keen to hear from fellow anosmics, specialists and scientists as I am looking for funding to investigate this condition.
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Demise of tinned cat food?
Am I the only person that has noticed the reduction of tinned cat food? The food being replaced by non-recyclable 'pouches'. If we as a nation are trying to reduce our landfill, surely this practice is something that needs investigating.
Is it more detrimental to the planet to produce tins, or to recycle used ones? Or is it more cost effective for the manufacturers to produce pouches? Pouched food is more expensive than tinned, so is it a ploy to increase profits?
I'd welcome other people's views.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Are you a Buddhist? If you are what changes it has brought to your life. Sorry I don't want to be nosey. It is just that I would like to know how other people thinks the way life is revolving now days and what contribution we can make to go forward. Not anything complicative, but simple steps. I use the BBC Radio & Tv progs as an educator. Would like to hear your comments.
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I live in rural France. I went through our local town and counted 0 cameras. We have no cameras and no crime - which comes first - cameras, crime, or a need for a government to know whats going on...?
Rodcreuse
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Listeners' Opinion Poll
My Question is:
In view of the current state of the world economy, should all businesses in the UK be compelled by law to become worker co operatives using a business model similar to the very successful John Lewis Partnership?
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I agree with others here, short and snappy is the way to go.
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I don't know if this is the correct place, but here goes with my one sentence for the week:
"On going to the office window of Burlington Slate Quarries with my weighbridge ticket, it was taken from me by Misty, a gentle border collie, who trotted over to the lady at the computer and handed it to her in exchange for a dog biscuit!"
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Hello Eddie! I just caught your topic of mistakes in prescriptions & thought the following story might interest you. I had been fitted into the end of my doctor's Friday evening surgery for attention to an ear infection. He told me he would give me eardrops & I picked these up from the pharmacy the next morning on the way from home in Shropshire to London, where I was playing in a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I was surprised to find in the bag from the pharmacist a second item - a small bottle of little white pills. Not recognising the name of the pills, I assumed the doctor had decided to give me some oral antibiotics. I started taking these (3 a day) on the Saturday afternoon during the break in rehearsal. After the evening concert, as it was our conductor's 60th birthday, there was a reception at which I had a glass of wine. (Yes, one is not supposed to have alcohol with antibiotics, but only because it reduces the effectiveness of the antibiotic.) I then set off to drive home to Shropshire but found I had to stop three times in the first 30 miles as I couldn't stay awake. The third time I slept until 5am. When I finally got home, my wife decided to try to find out what the white pills were which seemed to be making me excessively tired. To our surprise, they turned out to be a type of Vallium & I had never had any reason to be prescribed that! The combination of alcohol & vallium & night-time had made it impossible for me to stay awake - I could have been wrapped around a tree! I transpired that the original last patient on the doctor's Friday evening list had not turned up for his repeat prescription of Vallium & the computer had simply added his prescription to mine. Doctor's mistake in not checking the prescription, pharmacist in not asking about a strange combination in the prescription & mine in not asking why I had an item which the doctor hadn't mentioned! Not knowing that someone could have gone to prison for this, I did wonder why they all jumped so high on the Monday morning! John Hargreaves
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How is changing the voting systems the answer to the question of how to deal with morally corrupt politicians who a have been abusing the expenses system and seemingly evading tax and committing fraud. A more obvious answer would be to half the number of politicians, this would definitely reduce cost and the potential for abuse of the expense system by 50% and we would still have more MPs per head than in the US. Marcus
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The conversation on today's IPM between liberal Tom and BNP supporter Alan was a fascinating example of how unreasonable views can be put reasonably and reasonable views put unreasonably. Tom was hectoring and patronising to Alan whereas Alan courteous and restrained to Tom. Tom - I'm afraid you actually made the BNP sound almost acceptable - quite an achievement - and I decided I'd much rather live next door to Alan than to you! Why not invite Alan round for a cup of tea and try listening to him instead of talking at him? The party he supports may be obnoxious but he actually sounds like quite a nice bloke! You could learn a lot from him, maybe not about politics but about communication!
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LOS ANGELEEEEEEEEES - Ugh!
When ever there's an LA-based story on the news (as with Michael Jackson at present) you get a whole slew of newscasters on radio and TV insisting on calling the city "Los Angeleeeeeees".
Why is that? Having been there many times over the years I don't think I've ever heard a native of that city, or any other American come to that, put that ridiculous emphasis on the last syllable.
Most Americans use the Anglicised "Los Anjell-uss".
Mexicans and other Spanish speakers tend to say "Los Ankle-iss"
UK visitors insisting on saying "Los Angeleeeees" are usually regarded as some kind of affected nut, who will hopefully soon learn better if they stay around long enough to listen.
Is there some obscure BBC pronunciation manual given to newscasters that contains a typing error that perpetuates this ugly atrocity?
Ugh!
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Our Local authorities have been closing schools due to falling birth rates ; now surprise surprise they are short of spaces.I thought only central Government could get things so wrong
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The aArmy is calling for more Helciopter , did they not see what happend
to the Russian use of Helicopters in Afganastan !?
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Last night another power cut, just 5 minutes but enough to ruin the breadmaker setting, disrupt several alarm clocks and the radio and wreck an evening's recording a dvd. I've had more power cuts in the last 3 years in Cambridgeshire than in 25 years living in London. Is the electricity infrastructure as bad as they say the broadband infrastructure is? Or are we just a third world country that can't do it any more?
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Hmmm... British rail recently installed fibre-optic cable along our stretch of rural railway. In an ideal world I suppose they could have worked in co-operation with British Telecom to give us fast internet access - but I suppose I misunderstand the problem?
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THE most tender program - that I know of - on the BBC.
I wouldn't normally give Paddy O'Connell credit for anything. He changed from Patrick to Paddy when he moved to New York - many hair follicles ago.
But - THIS - is a great idea. Well done. I love it. Been listening since the beginning.
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Listened to the piece on Cheryl Gillan (MP) and can support all that was said.
I have tried to get her to engage on expenses but she always turns the discussion around to the hard job an MP has- thus avoiding the question around why she was able claim expenses for a second home while her constituents could not and have to commute.
The electorate do not seem to have any importance on this topic for our MP and she seems to have no intent of following David Cameron's recommendation that all MPs hold public meetings on the expenses issue nor the example of the neighboring MP who has held such a meeting.
Come the election I do not believe that she should be permitted to stand until the electorate have had a public meeting.
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I listened with great interest to the interview with Heather Howells. I thought she put the case for a public meeting with our local MP very eloguently. The fact that Cheryl Gillan appears not to want a public meeting reflects very badly against her. I want my MP to be pro-active, and try to find out what her constituents want. A public meeting would address this admirably. I feel that MPs are totally insulated from the real world, and need to be told exactly what is happening to the real populace out there. I have met Ms Gillan once before, and like the blog 32, found that all she wanted to do was to tell us how hard life for an MP is. I would very much like Ms Gillan to have that public meeting, and know many people who would attend also. Regrettably, with such an enormous majority as the conservatives have around here, she does not have to do much to get re-elected. Please ask her to have the public meeting that Heather Howells is rightly asking for.
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My opening blog .. put my winter duvet back on the bed this week - 15 tog of sheer luxury. What's this talk about global warming?
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Re items on child protection, I do some music teaching on a self-employed basis with pupils under 10 and would love to be able to say to parents that I had been vetted. Everyone tells me that vetting can only be carried out for EMPLOYERS and as I have none, I can't be vetted. Surely this can't be right?
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It may be frustrating for MPs to feel that they have ‘kept to the rules’ and yet are still being accused of wrongdoing with their expenses claims.
I have not yet heard anyone reply that most of the public have no problem with expenses for travel, accommodation and so on, needed in the course of their duties. However, it is extravagance to which we all object. When MPs are living in far more luxury than the public, it WILL make us angry. It is common sense that they should be careful with money allowed to them from the public purse. I would never dream of warming a duck house or paying two mortgages with money from the public purse. That is what my salary would have to fund.
Perhaps the problem is that MPs don't know how much less the public have.
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No offense to Jennifer but am I the only person who struggled to understand the question on ipm this week "Should all grey squirrels be eliminated ?" At first i thought it was gracelands, then, on closer listening on high volume, grey swirls and finally realisation of GREY SQUIRRELS. Now i understand the laughter ! I agree about squeezing the time of ipm to 15 minutes - ridiculous. 30 minutes so much better - and your slot now is a travesty. What on earth is behind putting you on at 545 ?
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