The Glass Box.
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in the Glass Box you see above. Add your comment here.
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The blog for the afternoon news and current affairs programme presented by Eddie Mair.
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The SNP lets Trump and other rich foreigners build unnecessary golf courses in Scotland despite complaints. The SNP loses by-election in Glerothes.
Discuss.
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Right. I've just looked on the webcam (not done that for 'oh so' long - it being a bit of a palaver to get there) and - Guess What? - there's nobody there.
So, tonight's question (see strapline) is:
Where the heck is Eddie broadcasting from? ;o)
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I don't think it ever works.
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(1) DMcN - Nicely put.
(PS. Thank you to all the officials involved in the huge yacht drug capture. It is good to know that it was a tip-off of odd behaviour that alerted them. Big Sister this is the other big problem of the high seas, other than piracy.)
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It works for me....
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That report about the WWI soldier with the bullet "between his eyes" had me tearing up. Think there should be a ban on making your listeners cry on a Friday eve...
I don't think I could cope with a series of stories about all those brave young men first thing in the morning tomorrow. Especially as I'd have to get up particularly early to tune in - why torture myself twice over?
Tell the BBC bosses to wise up - iPM is a good programme, put it on at a sensible time and rearrange things on the basis of having saved such a lot of money sacking those two silly boys.
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Me too, David - there are 3 lovely chaps there now!!
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Yes, quite a party now, isn't there? But nobody in sight at 5.05p.m. .... I guess Eddie was on autopilot.
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... Oh, and no tickertape (which was what I was checking). I guess I'll have to check on Freeview sometime.
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Gillianian (7):
Aren't they all small? I suppose that's how they fit inside my radio.
Lady_Sue (6):
I agree wholeheartedly. I'm glad I managed to get away from work early tonight to be able to hear that item.
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What the hell is that cinema bloke talking about? I'm listening open-mouthed. I recognise English, but it is as clear as mud. Exit polls? Trials? Baffled.
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Sorry Eddie, my radio doesn't pick up music on Radio 4.
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What are crouton torpedos?
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How long will it take for BBC news presenters to pronounce Barack Obama in a strange way?
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Eddie, I wish you'd asked that chap what exactly a "Middle Eastern Spy" smelt of.
On Vue Cinemas, i went to one today it wasn't a great experience a sign at the entrance informed me of compulsory bag searches and at 12 midday they were selling alco pops to any dodgy bloke that wanted to get pie eyed whilst watching Quantum Of Solace.
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Eddie, Was that Alan Freed introducing Little Richard?
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I was so annoyed by the item about cinemas offering projections for over 18s. The suggestion was that only young people might be so inconsiderate as to disturb other cinemagoers. My own personal experience is the opposite; the constant chatting and wrapper rustling is often down to the complacent middle- aged who feel they can do no wrong. Yet another example of the demonisation of our children. I am middle aged, by the way......
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Approx 20 years ago there was an enforcement on a house hidden in a woods. The owner shot the planning officer.
Why should they get a house illegally? It is happening too regularly that criminals are trying to get away with hidden or oversized houses. There was a case in the last 2 years of a small barn conversion that ended up as a huge hilltop house. It was in the papers about the council destroying the family home and sob sob. They never had any intention of living in it. It was just a money making scam. The house was given a reprieve but they still live happily on another farm miles away.
Maybe the solution is to compulsory purchase all associated land and sell it off to support the local community. But then who would want the builder as a neighbour. It has to be destroyed. It did not have any building controls during construction, so no idea if it is fit for use anyway.
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(10): TSSCat: thankyou. Still sniffling...
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Lady_Sue (6) - It is a pain. But until they restore it to a sensible time you can go to the main BBC site and follow the links to 'Listen Again' and hear it at whatever time is convenient for you.
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As of today I've stopped listening to the news, its an overload of bad, negative financial data - we really dont need it right now - go up beat for goodness sake - my regards from a current NON LISTENER.
Thanks
Eric
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(20) QLoon: thankyou. Will do as you suggest as there is no way I'll be up that early. This time of year, living as I do 200 years from where you all are, I get up in the night when the open fires stop crackling to re-load them at about 3am. I so don't want to have to wake up to listen to a programme I can "listen again" to later.
I'm so annoyed (being in Blighty) I missed the piece on "being lonely" - that poor chap I heard tonight who hasn't said anything more than "hello" to anyone in ten years!
Sniffling myself off to my open fire and my good book.
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I wonder, was the crane there for Mr Clarkson, or:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3400839/Radio-2-executive-resigns-over-Jonathan-Ross-and-Russell-Brand-prank.html
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1.
Hole in 1.
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Dear PM,
I am becoming increasingly bewildered by the way that you choose to present (or not) news features. This evening a cinema manager was given a hard time for attempting to give his customers what they wanted and yet the people that are most obviously not giving their customers what they want - bankers -are left in peace. I have yet to hear an interview with any serving banker since the financial crisis started and while I'm sure they are not anxious to talk in public, what suprises and dismays me is that it seems that journalists are not trying to speak to them. Normally the media go to any lengths to bring us pictures and reports of any minor scandal, but on this issue which adversely affects most of the country you are either unwilling or unable to speak to the people responsible. Please can you tell me why? Patrick Owen
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25
Brilliant!
Well, editors?
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Hello All,
Thanks for your posts.
A frustrating day, but in a way that made for some more room on the programme for some more unusual stories, such as the the man who hid a two story house inside a barn, the smell enhanced computer games and the cinema story. We generally try pretty hard to make sure there is a good mix of light and shade, to try to break up what can sometimes be quite and unrelenting high fibre agenda... especially in recent weeks.
stdavidsdrive (@25)... we spent the whole day asking various banks to come on. Dozens of calls. Likewise yesterday. We have spent many days over the past few months and months, making hundreds of calls, asking the banks to come. They accept our requests for interview only very rarely. Much as we'd like to, we can't force them to come on. Most often, the closest we get is the British Bankers Association or the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
Rog
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The chap from Vue was fascinating in the slippery way he tried to explain the benefits of segregation without trying to alienate the rest of his customer base.
I guess his job is somewhat like trying to coordinate BBC programming in a way that keeps the different groups of listeners separate while making sure they all tune in. Perhaps he would consider a job at BBC2.
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Two quick points:
Those of a certain age who liked the Robinson Crusoe theme might also like to hear the themes from Belle and Sebastian and (especially for some) The White Horses. All three are available on YouTube.
One of your listeners wrote in calling Jeremy Clarkson "brain dead" and "twit". The reader you chose sounded uncannily like James May. Was this mere coincidence, deliberate attempt by the reader, Mr May taking the mickey?
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FLASH: Obama said he wasn't born in Pret a Manger.
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(27) Rog - I was tremendously impressed with your comment. I don't think the bloggers or your PM listeners realise just how much hard work you and the team put in. That you mention making hundreds of calls to try to get bankers on and the refusal of same because they don't want to be hauled over the coals (which is what they deserve) by the PM interviewers explains why there aren't lots of bankers being interviewed. It was one of those things that is obvious, once it's pointed out. Thank you for doing so.
No-one (sadly) will read this comment as it is late on a Saturday but I feel duty bound to copy it again on Monday's Glass Box to force people to take notice. Watch this space!
The comment about the team trying to "make sure there is a good mix of light and shade, to try to break up what can sometimes be quite and unrelenting high fibre agenda"...
What can I say? That's why you have such a devoted following. You all do your jobs exceptionally well.
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The BoE cuts rates sharply.
But that IS the lender of last resort rate.
So if a higher rate is given to lenders to government (given their borrowing programme) then the banks get given a(nother) money pump.
At the same time, to banks short of funds, this rate cut must lower their borrowing rates in London since retiring government debt looks so attractive.
So LIBOR is lowered.
But that is illusory.
How do low rates in London encourage lenders in Yen, in Chinese, Indian and oil backed currencies to lend to British institutions? And those lenders are the ones we have to borrow from. There's an external drain. Bagehot worried about it but, somehow, the influential Robert Peston never mentions it.
My friends, la lutta continua.
As does the credit crash
Danny Blanchflower, as the too old captain of his Irish team in Stockholm, said that the football his team played wasn't so hot, but the conversation in the dressing room was first rate.
The MPC's Danny Blanchflower (it isn't his real first name either) seems to echo his great namesake.
He has turned out to be right, a superb judge of tactics. But he is surely the least technically minded of any Professor Warwick has produced - let alone member of Merve's MPC.
His instinct is sometimes wrong. But on this occasion his 'out of thin air' insights fared better by far than all the econometric modelling of the BoE and its MPC laid end to end.
An idea from a paper never written, from a research project never started let alone completed, can sometimes be more potent than one researched till it's threadbare.
Particularly in a subject like economics where the 'science' always limps tamely behind reality 'cos people take on board the 'science' and modify their behaviour accordingly. (It's hot. Science tells us the swimming pool will be crowded. Everyone knows that. So it's empty)
Its useful as Danny used to do, to say the absolutely obvious and get credit for it. If they've got the ball, we can't score. And players get more money the harder it is to get into the team they play for. Either of our Dannys might have said that.
Can we fix it
Yes we can
But not unless we collar the people who see unemployment as good for an economy - the Contractionists. It disciplines labour and even whole countries and economies.
Their wealth and power are in the private sector. It's no use saying they won't come on the programme to be interviewed, 27.
You'll have to name and shame them. They are doing far more damage than the spivs Esther Ranzen and Roger Cooke nail. And than Nick Clegg's automated calls.
People will begin to think you are part of the problem if you don't. Too concerned about what side your bread is buttered on.
I'm sure they're wrong, but there IS talk.
Anyway, lets hope you continue to rebut properly the right wing claim that government spending (which actually stops recession and slump) instead causes inflation and crowds out private investment.
It's precisely because of THAT theory, of course, that the Gavin Davies's of this world (your old Beeb bloke) speculate against the pound (with money they should be investing), crash it (the pound), and so cause inflation they claim government causes.
Hold on lads and lasses. Maybe this time 'export led' recovery will work, and we'll bring proper jobs back to the economy here.
To be done by... but that's another rant entirely.....
That the pound MUST fall (he, I think, thought through interest rate cuts) was Danny Blanchflower's insight.
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I find myself liking 'No Drama Obama'. When I ask myself why...well I like his look, his dignified walk and his lack of angry delivery. Maybe it is enough for me that he is not Bush. However I don't really have a clue about him. His statements have been careful and a bit bland. He says sorry very quickly for his mistakes. I am full of hope and really want him to deliver something to the world. I am beginning to think that we may well be in a period where we are projecting our hopes and wishes onto him. I remember this with TB. It will be fascinating to find out what he is really like.
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Dear Roger Sawyer,
Thank you very much for your reply (27)to my question (26, 7th Nov) about interviewing bankers. I am pleased to hear that you are indeed trying to speak to them, tho' still think they are not being treated the same as everyone else, in that it is common for you to announce that you asked a particular government department for a comment 'but this was declined'. I think that if you have made such efforts then that should also be mentioned in your reports, and even then I would suggest they are being treated unusually gently because a 'public interest' story like this would normally result in crowds of reporters camped out at offices and homes until they do get their interviews. An individuals desire not to be talked to is seldom reason for the media to behave so meekly. Please keep trying, and good luck!
Patrick Owen
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pmL 32, Can you send a recipe for Danny's Blanched Flowers (the expurgated version, puhleeze)? You can deep fry courgette flowers and elderberry flowers. I knew an Elder Berry in the Mormons once, but I don't think he deep fried flowers. Probably against his religion.
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stdavidsdrive @ 34, maybe the difficulty is that if the PM programme included a list of bankers who wouldn't agree to be interviewed on air, it would be so large that the rest of the programme would be lost! There isn't 'a spokesman' whose job it is to speak on behalf of all these many and various people, so s/he can't be shown to have failed to do so, and the others probably don't feel called on to speak for everyone in this really quite large group. That would make sense to me, anyhow, if someone from the BBC rang me to ask me to be a representitive for a large group: I'd probably say 'no, sorry, I don't think I am entitled to speak for everyone who rides a bicycle' [or whatever it happened to be that needed a soundbite].
Given some of the twits who *do* feel entitled to speak for everyone in a whole class of people, I don't blame anyone for not wanting to be among their number. :-(
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your interview on10/11/2008 with the head of child services at haringey council must be your worst ever.a child was murdered who was supposed to be in their care.your questions were bland,and very much on the back foot.why?
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