The Glass Box, and free Gin and Tonic, for Friday.
The Glass Box is where the PM team meets in at 18.00 every weeknight to discuss the content of the programme.
We try to be honest with each other, but not hurtful, as we talk about what worked and what didn't...what met our expectations and what fell short.
This virtual glass box is where you're encouraged to take part in the same spirit. Tonight's editor, Joe Carr will read your comments and may well add his own.
Listen to PM
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~28~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Cutting a bit fine there Mr Mair?
Complain about this comment
Wot is this, The Beach? I don't drink G&T.
Complain about this comment
Hang on - isn't Jo Carr female?
Complain about this comment
Head, arm, and leg from same person. A verrrry tall person.
Complain about this comment
Eddie, you'll be in sooo much trouble with The Joker! though the G & T might just get it past her ...
Complain about this comment
Who gets the 150K fine?
Complain about this comment
Apologies, I should have said, "Who benefits from the 150K fine?"
Complain about this comment
Two points.
If the Swiss banking system is so brilliant, how come their flagship bank UBS is in such dire straits?
Secondly, govt ministers (eg Jim Knight just now) are always telling us that they have "spent more money than ever before"; well, with galloping inflation - which we had until lately - they will have to spend more simply to stay put.
Complain about this comment
Mr. Dimbleby sounded rather under the weather just now. It has been noted that he is in no longer to have Eddie step in. I couldn't possibly imagine why! ;o)
Complain about this comment
I was especially unimpressed by the Minister's attempt to drag in "unlike the Tories we mean to do this" when the point was not what they *meant* to do but what they had *done*.
The big boys didn't do it and ran away? It was pathetic!
Complain about this comment
Why do people 'step up to the plate' when few of them play baseball? While I'm at it, why do so many people in GB get attacked with baseball bats when so few play baseball? What's wrong with a good hefty cricket bat or rounders bat? Must be a lot of those around.
Complain about this comment
Can't believe what I've just heard schools minister Jim Knight saying, or not saying. Or rather, I can believe I heard it. I just wish I hadn't. Or didn't. Or something.
Totally shameful and yet shameless in response. Education budgets cut by 4% "because it was too popular". Yet there's money squirting around all over the place to fund badly run banks.
Sounds very similar to the end of funding for renewables last week "because they were too popular".
I'm just counting the days until NuLabour find how truly UNpopular they are. It's only keeping that sweet sweet moment in mind that's stopping me from joining protest marches.
Another good interview Eddie.
Complain about this comment
I confidently predict that Eddie will be unwell next week. That's the second person on his programme to be sporting a nasty cold.
Complain about this comment
BS 13, Jeffery Bernard is unwell.
Complain about this comment
(12) Alan, don't you make movies?
Complain about this comment
Yes! Brand and Ross should have been fined.
Though it equals the equivalent of about 15 mins pay for them.
Complain about this comment
ggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrfffwwwttt
General noise of gender indignation. Wait till I get my hands on that meddling Mair. Any ideas for revenge?
Have a good weekend all,
Jo
Complain about this comment
The Swiss cheese should have been criticised, condemned even, of course.
Easy target.
But Edgie's suggestion that tax avoidance was the cause of the financial crash and the slump is downright silly.
It sounded to me as if the Swiss cheese told him so, 'cos the lack of continuity in the Q's and A's suggested 'heavy edit' to me.
BBC impartiality does not require that the probability of capitalism not recovering be ignored.
Equally it does not prevent Edgie, Nils, Peston, etc giving their personal view of things. In the current circumstances their NOT voicing real anxieties is to fail to whistle-blow on the BBC's 'all for the best in this best of all possible worlds' ideology.
There's no excuse for not speaking out. MI5 may have stopped the BBC and the progamme from telling torture as it is-was.
But if the studio minder is 'tut-tutting' at renegade economic views, too, Edgie should say so. We don't want the MoD to take over, do we. Do we?
As it is, Edgie's perpetual sillinesses, which he seems to think are justified by the (on current form) once-in-a-blue-moon good question (none this year so far, John Bolton and Greg Dyke are history), well, they bore me silly.
But not Syd, Hearse (who hopes Brown can save capitalism) and WR of course. 'Cos Edgie being silly means he is isn't considering the view that it is all over for captialism. Bar the shouting. Etc.
Which, one assumes all three can't bring themselves to believe.
Complain about this comment
(17) Jo, if I were you, I would take that key and confiscate it. Serves him right.
Complain about this comment
Isn't it funny how some people don't realise their very NAME sends others scuttling to the end of their entry.
Obviously that's aimed at you Joe. x
Complain about this comment
I have just read the full Ofcom adjudication on the Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross business. I can only hope that the BBC will now display a greater degree of humility when excoriating other organisations for failures in management and processes
Complain about this comment
Obama in Paris.
Recognising that when it comes to controlling Islam, France, in Algeria etc (along the north African coast) and in Africa, south of the Sahara, is more than doing her barbaric bit.
Augurs well for Nato murders in Afghanistan doesn't it.
Forgotten already? Check the role of the French in Algeria itself. Democracy destroyed. Human rights too. The abuses backed by France.
No wonder that nice Mr. Obama lost articulacy and became tongue tied there.
Complain about this comment
Out of the thousands of words I have read over the last few days about the G20 big Junket at our expense and all the hours of listening to the Radio...several stations...only a few people have really hit the correct note for me...Larry Elliott which is always above approach and today George Monbiot as well in the Guardian who probably told more Truth about the whole thing that all the rest combined.
And not forgetting JH on the Today Prog this morning who really hit a raw nerve when discussing was Capitalism moral or amoral....before and after this shindig....because lets face it... the really Truth is that this sort of society structured in this way is nothing more than a criminal conspiracy by the very few on the majority of the worlds population...and nothing more!!
Brian V Peck
Complain about this comment
That key looks a bit like a non-rusted version of the one I dug up in my garden the other week...
Complain about this comment
Must be a still life. There's no way a G&T would be left undrunk so long around the PM office! :-P
Eddie, that's why the scroll wheel om my mouse is wearing out, after scrolling through long posts that are only good as insomnia cures ;-)
Complain about this comment
Pick-n-Mix the tapas of sweeties!......brilliant, he gets my vote.
Complain about this comment
DIY: did you only just get that? Tad slow for you!
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
20
Really?
I never miss anything worth reading by so doing. You obviously do.
You mean people read stuff like 20 as 'Edgie Marex' and don't even notice the highly amusing intrusive and repetitive 'e' appearing in Jo Carr's name?
Glad your remonstrations are free of the sort of rudenesses ('cloth ears' to a listener, 'you're ugly' to a fellow theatre goer) that stamped your early remonstrations with the great unwashed - we, the public.
You're learning. But slowly.
Anyway. Ca suffit. For the moment. Why should the aged eagle stretch his wings?
RBS shareholders have voted overwhelmingly against the directors' 'remuneration' package.
But it is non binding. The CEO doesn't have to do anything about it.
Shareholder democracy in action. Or wot?
Who cares what social policies the Karzai government pursues just so long as it's pro - West, eh!
10. One further thing about the Swiss cheese interview.
The singling out of some parts of the economic system as criminal is to divert attention away from the essentially criminal nature of the whole capitalist project.
In this tax case, criminality is of piece with the corruption of 'normal' business practice.
Tax is not, as Tories claim, a check on enterprise but a step towards economic justice.
Have a great weekend, one and all!
Enjoy the Camellias that are everywhere!!!!
And to think the Victorians thought they needed special (splendid) greenhouses to survive here!
And the cherry blossom!!!!
And the blackthorn (Thank you again, BS and DIY)!!!
And hey, Eddie, 'Bring that bottle over here'!
Complain about this comment
Communique
What is a communique ?
Does it help the down trodden deprived people in Africa feed themselves. Does it give them back their human rights?
Does it help us with our mortgage payments, give back our homes, pay our pensions and rid us of our debts?
Does it build our hospitals and schools and help the younger generation to become more socially responsible?
I think it probably helps the people who have been marketing endless dreams and who govern by trial and error. Those people who hide their massive mistakes by drawing focus onto individuals, sacrificing them and all sense of decency so that they can cling onto power and pretend to manage greed and selfishness that is rapidly running out of control.
Where are the students? Where are the intellectuals? Where are Tony Benn, Ken Livingston, Glenys Kinnock, Ben Elton and other voices of reason? Not so long ago, the streets of Britain would have been filled with protesting students demanding radical change and most importantly, demanding answers.
Tony Benn once said: "I want to leave plenty of time for discussion: I have heard myself speak before."
save-uk
Complain about this comment
Isn't Ben Elton a comedian?
Complain about this comment
Eddie 20, But he/she/they/it keep changing their name. Same boring message, though.
Complain about this comment
gS 23, So you thought you'd add a few thousand more.
Complain about this comment
L_S 31, Yes, sparkly suit and red tie.
Complain about this comment
The Joker 17
In answer to your question, I was going to suggest castration; but even Eddie can't be "done" twice. Can he..?
Mmmm... I'll give the matter further thought.
In the meantime I see from the Glass Box photo that Eddie's somewhat foolishly left the key to his private bar on display so, why not confiscate that for a start..?
Complain about this comment
Charlie: see mine at 19! I already suggested key confiscation. Definitely the right way forward until Eddie grovels accordingly.
Chocolates might help.
Complain about this comment
L_S 36
You're quite right. I hadn't noticed. Apologies.
And I guess hitting "him", where it really hurts, in the booze-box will have to do because the thought of young Eddie singing in the "Castratto" range really doesn't bear thinking about... For too long...
Complain about this comment
Charlie - spot on
Complain about this comment
Eddie 38, Spot on where?
Complain about this comment
Nice that you know who made it back from Portugal to eulogise you know who at the funeral.
Complain about this comment
Oh boy, time or the iPM program, back at 5:30pm.....yawn....
Complain about this comment
29randomnonsenseyeahthat'srightmmmm
Complain about this comment
*Sigh*
Complain about this comment
(29) - As a learned man, could you tell me, are there two Ps in dippstick?
Complain about this comment
Horse: did you have a flutter on the Grand National? Wasn't it exciting!
Complain about this comment
TIH (44)
One for MAX the other for MIN. The oil level should be between the two.
Complain about this comment
TIH 44, Where you're concerned, any number will do.
L_S 45, No, and no. I don't care to see horses falling and getting injured just to please people. A bit like fox hunting, barbaric. There, I said it, and I'm glad. Next, motor racing...
Complain about this comment
TIH 44
Dipstick..? Dippstick..?
Well, this (from the "G-Dubbya" era) might help:
A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in America.
Well, there's a very simple answer. Nobody bothered to check the oil.
We just didn't know we were getting low.
The reason for that is purely geographical. Our OIL is located in Alaska, California, Oklahoma and TEXAS
Our DIPSTICKS are located in Washington DC..!
Complain about this comment
Charlie: made me chuckle! Are you really in America?
Complain about this comment
L_S 49
Not at present.
For what it's worth I was born a Brit. But I don't now live in the UK (and haven't for many years) and these days rarely get there although, I was in London for a couple of days last week - first time in about 8 years.
Back to the US in a few days.
Believe me, I'm doing my best to return the US to Colonial status. And, the way things are going that may not be as foolish an objective as it sounds.
Mind you, 360 million or so people "hitting" the NHS..!
Complain about this comment
So much for the Grand National...
And bear baiting....I forgot bear baiting. Aaaand, I say that if a horse has to be SHOT because of being injured in a race, so should the jockey. Or the owner. Or both. Make dog food out of all three of them...for Sue's dogs. And fishing, where you throw them back after putting a hook through their lip. If you catch 'em, eat 'em! Dang, I'm mad. Grrrr! Now they're shooting seals because they eat farmed salmon. Seals eating salmon! Who do they think they are. They have no right to eat! Yes, before you get on your high horse, I eat meat. Lots of it. And fish tonight.. BUt nobody, as far as I know, chases the chickens or cows or pigs in circles or breaks their legs before killing them. BANG!!, they're dead. And Songs of Praise is a bl**dy choir competition. That's not praise. Time to email them again. Or Terry Wogan on whatever that program is. Or whoever is running it now. I'll bet wossername complains about foie gras being cruel to foie.
Complain about this comment
D_M 51
You're right on Sooooo many levels.
So, no need to shout...
Nature's now taking care of things.
Complain about this comment
Presume you are in transit then Charlie. As an Ozzie, I don't know that' I'd go for a return to Colonial status for America or anywhere else!
David: for once I nearly agree with what you are saying. Though I am surprised that, for one who feels so strongly about animal cruelty, you are not a vegetarian or even a vegan. A case of "do as I say, not as I do"?
Complain about this comment
Charlie: at the risk of irritating you with questions, might I ask how you came to be a regular listener to R4 and PM in particular? Also a regular blogger? What is it that draws you to PM over American radio programmes?
Complain about this comment
David McN and Lady Sue, it would appear that the credit crunch is raising animal cruelty levels to a new high as thieves turn to rustling sheep and cattle to turn a quick buck. In the newspaper review on Paddy's show this morning, somebody was talking about a cow being found in a lane with half its guts hanging out and a leg cut off, and I see in the farming news that this type of thing is not an isolated incident.
When people who don't know how to kill livestock humanely muscle their way into the food chain, there's no way of knowing how much barbarity there will be.
There aren't many other species who would behave so obscenely.
Complain about this comment
L_S 53
Have you listened to American radio programmes..?
Complain about this comment
Big Sis: that is just terrible. I listened to part of Paddy's programme this morning but missed this barbaric news.
Charlie: er, no - I get the picture, or perhaps I should say "the sound".
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
PS I, eat foie gras, not wear it. It doesn't keep its shape. Just had to clarify that.
Complain about this comment
PPS No comma needed after 'I' in 59.
Complain about this comment
Well, I ain't going to repeat 58. You either can't say the 'b' word of the 'J' word here. No, not Jewish.
Complain about this comment
I understand the N Korean rocket failed...or not. They said it succeeded and is transmitting. At least the Japanese didn't have to shoot it down.
Complain about this comment
So it's official.
The V shaped graph of the economy (first a nose dive down then a swallow dive up) is wrong.
Well, you scrolled through it on sight, here, first, when Darling first thought of it in September.
Precipices don't have recovery slopes. Our economy is falling off one.
The BoE is to hold rates at 0.5 per cent. It's worried the low price of supplying funds to borrow that it is setting is discouraging ......
.........banks from lending!!
Well, you yawned through that, here, first - last year again!
The Tories are talking complete nonsense. The worry is the financiers TREATING government borrowing as the enemy and so damaging the economy via self fulfilling theories and strategies.
The Tories are giving succour to such economic practise.
You first ignored the mechanism adopted by the big bad financiers that predicts inflation and so causes it, here, last year, and the year before!. (They adopt it 'cos they profit from it and get the government they want (a Thatcherite one))
Unless you collar big money, treat it like a dangerous weapon that shouldn't be in private hands, we're wrecked.
Complain about this comment
64
So, did the G20 do enough to tie big money's hands?
I ask under the 'Freedom of Information Act' and 'Listener Need to Know' legislation.
16 on the Silvio Update may make the question easier for y'all at PM.
Complain about this comment
TRW (pick a number), And the bell-shaped curve for IQs puts you somewhere to the extreme left.
Complain about this comment
Regarding UBS, it's noteworthy that a certain (master de-regulator)
Gramm is on a hefty retainer....
;-)
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS