The PM Glass Box.
The Glass Box is where the PM team meets at 18.00 every weeknight to discuss the content of the programme. If you want to let it all out in this virtual glass box, be my guest. The PM editor Jo "anonymity" Carr will read your comments and may well add her own.
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Ah, the square cowpat photo again.
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One warm sunny spring day a little fluffy bunny was happily hopping about in a large field. He was enjoying the warmth of the sun and the smell and taste of the fresh grass. When suddenly he bumped into something.
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"Ow" he said, "Ow" said the object. What are you asked the fluffy bunny, as I’m blind and I can’t see you. That’s a coincidence said the other animal because I’m also blind. Tell you what I’ll reach out and touch you and work out what sort of animal you are. That’s a good game said the bunny.
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I fear that Gordon Brown's new PR man - brother of the Telegraph editor-hasn't quite cracked it yet then. It was looking promising.He had gone off to do no publicity 'community service 'in Fife and we could have been treated to a few well chosen photos or quotes from grateful recipients. You can see the plan. Keep him out of the media for a while since he's not too great at that, get back to the old stuff about a serious man of intergrity and so on despite all the evidence to the contrary and we'll see how it goes. Mmmm.Maybe back to the drawing board, guys.
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Therefore, the other animal reached out and felt the bunny’s furry face and the animal said, “Hmm furry face could be any number of animals, your turn.” So the bunny reached out and felt the others head “that’s a big head” he said. “I suppose it could be any number of animals” he remarked. The other animal reached out and felt the bunny’s whiskers.” Furry face and long whiskers still could be any number of animals,” he said. The fluffy little bunny reached out and this time he felt the others mouth,” well that’s a big mouth you have”, he said, “still could be many animals.” Then the other reached out and felt the bunny’s long ears. “Ah, ha I have it” he said, “Furry face, long whiskers and those long ears, you are a Bunny”. “Well done” said the bunny “you are right”. The bunny now reached out for a third time. This time he felt the animal’s skin and it was cold, and slippery.
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The bunny now reached out for a third time. This time he felt the animal’s skin and it was cold and slippery. “Yes”, he said I know who you are, “with a big head, bigmouth, cold and slippery”.
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You must be Alex Salmond.
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Ln 2,3,5 , Is this a variation of the blind man/elephant story?
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Was it really necessary to lead PM on the sterile topic of Gordon Brown's attitude to al-Megrahi's release?
The decision - which was never his - has already been made and implemented and any post-facto pontification by Brown will do nothing but create a diplomatic and/or constitutional row.
The substantive issues of the Israeli Prime Minister's visit are far more relevant and much less pointless.
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Speaking of Strauss, didn't he pretend to catch a ball that actually bounced before he 'caught' it? And a very important out is was indeed. What ever happened to the idea of good sportsmanship that the British used to cherish?
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#8 David_McNickle
Well when I was last up in Scotland visitig family we all thought it was funny. Many a true word spoken in jest, as they say round here.
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Ln, As you can see, I only got as far as 5 before I replied. Still, not that funny. (I just wanted to italicise.)
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Ln, I really annoyed the doodah out of a couple of people on the Lockerbie thread. I can't imagine why...
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Can you please remember this isn't the beach thread folks.
I'm not at my best today.
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#12 DMcN
I know this story is old. I first heard it in the early/mid 80's and the unknown animal was a Tory cabinet minister.
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Leading on the superficial story of whether Gordon Brown agrees or disagrees on the decision made by the Scottish Justice Minister was an example of media obsession with the 'irrelevant,' particularly when there are issues of much greater importance in the world. The judgement was, after all, a judgement - and limited to a few weeks of one man's life. It doesn't set precedents. Whatever Brown thinks is irrelevant - it wasn't his call.
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#16 Richard_SM
Exactly this was to be a trap for Gordie and so the story becomes Brown/westminster interfering in Scottish government and justice. still the BBC loves a mountain from a molehill.
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Is it sexist?...is it ageist?
No its just crap...never watched it! Strictly gone fishin'!
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#18 FJD
I thought this ageism topic was thrashed out on the PM blogs a week or so ago. Is this the "Dave" channel.
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A very poor report on the Netanyahu visit.
A simple one-page map summarises the problem between Israel and Palestine, for anyone unaware of the history.
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Looternite (19)
Strictly Dave já vu I think?
Eddie brought it up not me.
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Ln 15, Still, a good joke is worth repeating.
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#20 Richard_SM
Those maps say it all. As you know I have said this before. If Israel really wants peace they can Stop stealing land and hand back what they have stolen. They will I am sure get peace. Cannot say any more as I will be accused of anti-semitism.
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And before I go home, let's have another shot at the links which didn't appear to work this morning:
How Israel is by-passing the settlement freeze.
A New Booklet by “Breaking The Silence.”
Fifty-four testimonies of Israeli combat soldiers who participated in the offensive on Gaza in January and want the outside world to know the truth.
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#13 David_McNickle
Is that thread still running. Must pop over and have a look.
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I wonder if Stanford University has heard of OZ?
Will 13 year old Dutch sailors wear a Dutch cap?
Is the Middlemarch reader a Time Traveller?
I'm up to page 2076 of A Suitable Boy. I think...
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Ln 25, Sort of, but I just post to annoy two other posters. One keeps wanting to quote the Koran, I tell him it is fairy tales, the other then says I am arrogant. So I said, nyah, nyah so are you. And so on.
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#13 DMcN
Wow you certainly did.
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Mr. Netanyahu isn't going to concern himself with the worries of the Palestinians until Iran is dealt with. The British and Americans aren't going to deal with Iran. Israel is incapable of delivering a knockout blow as they've left it too late. The German-led EU will be left to deal with Iran. A two-state solution after that will be irrelevant.
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I have a long memory and I remember crime leaping up in the 80's as all the police south of Birmingham were sent to the coal fields to beat up the miners. When they returned they paid of their mortgages and crime was out of hand.
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Hello everyone,
It's a bit early to fully digest your responses (I'll be honest, I want to go and eat my dinner) , but since a few of you raise it, I thought I'd say a few words about our lead. I don't think it was sterile as a subject (9), but in true Glass Box honest and open spirit, I think we could have done better today at the top. The Prime Minister's response to the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber is clearly of acute interest, partly because, not in spite of, the devolution settlement we have in the UK. There have, after all, been a lot of questions raised about the role of the UK government. I also think it's entirely appropriate to ask why the Prime Minister often comments quickly on things which are also not his decision (SuBo being the most obvious example), and to say it's only the media raising that question (#16) is to ignore the political opposition parties and the people who have made their views known.
Having said all that, I do think we treated the topic too lightly at the top of the programme. On a daily news programme, it's often not possible to hear the pieces before they are transmitted, and in retrospect, I would have run the piece further down and possibly with a slightly different make up.
On the seriousness front generally, I thought it was great to hear the man in charge of the Electoral Complaints Commission in Afghanistan on his shoulders, and I also hope you're all finding Terry Stiastny's series on economic thinking interesting.
A bientot,
Jo
p.s. it's true, I find spelling anonymity bizarrely difficult
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Macavity, Macavity? Unkind wasn't it?
Charles Caleb Colton
"When you have nothing to say, say nothing."
I am making up for it on another site mind. One that doesn't get monitored. But I must admit - it doesn't get seen much either.
Luckily for our relations - such as they are - with the USA and others.
Oh the book I never could finish. It had a title akin to "Diplomacy For Dummies" I think it was.
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I've had three attempts at Middlemarch and I haven't got past book 6. At the last attempt I remembered an English teacher who had said if you're not enjoying a book by page 50 you've given a good try and feel free to give up. It was a truely liberating moment.
And as for Gordon Brown. It's none of his damn business and he's said so as diplomatically as is possible.
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But Gordon did he do it?
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The worst book I ever read, and it was a struggle, because it was so tedious was The Gulag Archipelago. I had to force myself to finish it.
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JotheEditrice (31) Of course Gordon Brown is going to keep his opinions to himself - he's sitting very comfortably at the moment!
He will not say anything in public which will make him appear to be interfering in Scotland's business, and this leaves him able to declare to America ''Well it wisnae me who let al-Megrahi go!''
It doesn't matter how many questions are raised about the involvement of the UK Government, or how many other petty comparisons are made (with SuBo, for goodness sake!)It'll take more than an invitation to Gordon Brown to share his public opinions with us to get anywhere near any honest answers!
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D McN @ 10
No, he didn't.
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Hello all!
As Dave And Sid seem to be the local regulars in here perhaps Eddie could ask listeners for a suitable name for a pub with the initials PM?
The 'Pig and Mutton'?
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37
Oh, yes he did!
31 Good stuff, Jo.
But Terry Stiastny says David Li DISCOVERED Gaussian copula functions!!!
http://article.wn.com/view/2009/07/21/UK_libel_laws_a_danger_to_global_economy/
Pleeease!!!
And, well, Nato didn't bomb a polling station, I suppose (Did it?)
But under the 9th picture down at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/2009/08/afghanistan_goes_to_the_polls.shtml
we find:
Kabul bookseler, Turaj Mohammed Rais, who told us on PM earlier this
week "this is not a real election - people vore for who they're told
to vote for".
Is that true?
Were voters intimidated by Nato?
Did any candidate promise war crime proceedings against any of Karzhai's 'collegues?'
Was the Taliban allowed to stand?
Would the Afghani ECC chap pick up any of those sorts of questions at all?
Talking of the title in the first link, is it true of UK libel laws and our great and good here? Or of how PM thought they applied?
As I say, good controversial stuff, Jo Carr!
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#38. BEEED-Sharp-Mordent
the P***ed Man will do for me.
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39
Still in Moderation are YOU (as I'm called (aren't we all))?
I'd change my nickname to ForeverAmber but the Change Your Details programme says I can't (change my details, that is)
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Ah, if only Scotland had found compassion like this 250 years ago. Maybe then we wouldn't have allowed ourselves to be the British Empire's cat's paw for so LONG!
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The poor Americans who died today.
Evidently all those helicopters they have didn't help, either.
The real cause of death, and real wrong, is the American Army being there in the first place, of course.
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41 PeoplesMandate
Who are you talking to?
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@31 Jo - thanks for that.
I've just popped in to write, and now I've read your post, you've already said it - the early piece by your reporter on 'McCaverty Brown' was not a lead piece for PM, more a Broadcasting House type piece.
Still, an interesting programme!
nikki
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BSM 38, the Post Mortem.
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Sid, Did.
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When can we talk about what we did on our holidays? Do we have to do it on the Beach? I haven't read a paper or heard the news for a whole two weeks.
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