The Glass Box for Wednesday
The Glass Box is the place where you can comment on what you heard on PM, interact with other listeners and get responses from the people who make the programme. This is proving to be a useful tool for us, and we hope, for you.
Just click on the "comment" link. If you've never commented on the Blog before - don't worry. There's a simple registration process you only have to go through once.
Don't worry either if you didn't catch the whole programme, or were busy doing other things and not giving us your full attention. If there was something that "caught your ear" we want to hear about it.
The Glass Box is named after the booth outside the PM studio where we all discuss the programme at 18.00 every weeknight. We try to be honest and constructive. Sometimes there is criticism, and the criticised get a chance to explain themselves. And sometimes it smells. But not now.
The people who make PM will read the comments posted, and will sometimes respond. Unless it's Roger Sawyer editing. He's completely hopeless.
Please feel free to post your thoughts. There is a link to previous Glass Boxes on the right.
Also on the right, you'll find lots of other links you might like. The Furrowed Brow for example is the venue where you can start talking about anything serious: The Beach (there's one just below this entry) is a fun place, and there are links to Blog entries with photos, audio and links.
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This mornings interview with the Portuguese Ambassador suggested that the borders should have been closed immediately Madeleine went missing. The whole idea of "Schengen" is that there are no border controls! The interviewer was unduly harsh on the Ambassador.
Eddie: I think you need to edit your intro to the Glass Box. There is no Beach below this Glass Box - in fact tonight there appears to be a strip club operating underneath the Glass Box.
I have a question.
How long has the Sony Award Banner been in place on the Blog Heading?
Do I have to send back my Girl Guide observer badge?
Ah!
I have two questions:
How long has the Sony Award Banner been in place on the Blog Page?
Do I have to send back my Girl Guide observer badge?
Has it been mentioned anywhere else and I missed the comment?
Ah!
I have three questions:
...
Mrs Naughtie!! How wonderful, how are you and where have you been? I think the banner's been there about 5 days, after their historic victory last week.
How many Girl Guides have you observed?
I'd also suggest dropping the phrase "You only have to register once". In fact, there's no registration process at all. If you register with a site, then your ID (Name) is linked to a password, ensuring that all posts were from the same person. Here, you only have the option to "Remember Me" (which doesn't always work!)...
Re Shambo the bull:
Once again, religion tries to place itself above the law. Faith over public health. Marvellous.
I didn't manage to listen carefully all the time but Austrian Erotica interview was fuuny, especially the question about 'For those unfamiliar with Austrian erotic literature, where should they start' haha.
Also enjoyed the intro to the Home Office divorce bit and the extra sharp pronounciation of Günter Verheugen!!
Perfect space to bongs!
I think the decision to keep Imperial and metric measurements running alongside each other is ridiculous. People soon got used to decimalised currency, and the same would happen with measurements. At the moment we have a situation where sometimes one has to buy a yard of something the dimensions of which are metric!
PM - I switched off part way through the item about splitting the Home Office. Was I interested in the subject - definitely.
Did I want some half-witted sound effect of a chain-saw? - NO.
Did I want the process compared with a divorce? NO
Are you not capable of just telling us the facts and setting out the issues?
Do not insult us with this drivel.
MG
Lord Adonis sounds otherworldly and his observations about special needs clearly demonstrate that he does not inhabit the same planet the rest of us do. Special needs children ar routinely being held back, unprovided for and humiliated. Parents do not go to tribunals because they do not know they can or should. The problematic special needs kids are often the poorer and fragmented familes who would not be able to go to tribunal - they have enough on their plate.
The teachers are effectively gagged and so you do not get the full story.
It was also scandalous that Lord Falconer has only just worked out the problem of teachers being victimised by kids and parents with false accusations. This has been known about for years but never let the facts get in the way a policy or TBs legacy
One way to cut the prison population explosion may be to go down the route of one of Thatcher's and Blair's favourite countries where beheading is common and they love our weapons of mass destruction...and let's face it; we could privatize the whole process like virtually every thing else in little Britian...or better still may I suggest all PM listeners read As Used on The Famous Nelson Mandela by Mark Thomas...I could not put it down...while researching my 3rd project...last year.
Brian V Peck
Well I was Editing tonight and I found the programme a real struggle. We were clinging to the leg of the duck. It is like that sometimes, guests not there when they're supposed to be, things going on too long, the lawyers were worried that one of our interviews breached the official secrets act so we had to re cut and run it late. We had to run the Gaudi feature as the second item because there was absolutely nothing else ready to run. After such programmes I often wonder if listeners notice. Did you?
Big Sis and Fred - point taken. I try to refresh the script there every day, but I've obviously missed some bits!
Peter Rippon (12) Well as far as I'm concerned, the programme put itself together very well!
I certainly don't analyse the running order as I listen...I take each item as it comes, without mentally ''weighing'' it in terms of its significance.
It's always evident when there is ''breaking news'' - it happens quite often, but I know it must cause a degree of panic in the studio, when items are unscripted and have to be accommodated in the running-order. But when all is said and done, that's what you are all paid for....it's what you do.....and you do it well enough to keep yourselves in gainful employment and keep listeners like me coming back day after day! ;o)
Peter (12) , I did notice that the beginning of the programme sounded a bit ropy and it occurred to me that the Official Secrets piece was sailing close to the law (and that was, presumably, after you cut it!). Otherwise, I agree with Mike (9) (if not quite so grumpily) that the chain saw sound effect in the Home Office bit was dire.
Loved the erotica!
Peter Rippon PM - does Gordon Brown know you've already got the job he was expecting would be his in a few weeks' time?
I missed the first half of the show, but didn't notice anything amiss in the second half. No sense of the frantically-pedalling feet under the smoothly gliding swan that is Eddie's presentation.
Peter (12):
I did find the piece about the leak enquiry frustrating and unsatisfying, but without disclosing the contents of the leaked memo, I don't see how that could have been otherwise.
I've been serching the Internet for clues about what's in the memo so that I can judge for myself the seriousness of the leak or the contents, but I can only find a reference to one part - which I won't repeat here - which Mr Bush has claimed was a joke.
It's impressive that nothing apart from that has leaked from the leak. The government's plumbers are evidently quite adept at plugging *some* leaks.
(After writing all that, why do I have an image of Max Boyce in my head?)
Eddie, for the first time in ages, I've read your intro to the glass box and noticed what you've written about poor Roger. Has he seen it? And are you still making him pay for that email? Ooh, you can bear a grudge sometimes, can't you? At this rate we'll be having to start a listeners' petition to protect Roger from your cruel jibes.
I thought that the gentleman commenting on how good it was that we are to retain the Imperial measures as well as the metric ones was living in the past. My youngest daughter who is 31 years old was taught metric at school and has no idea what Yards, Furlongs, Rods, Poles or Perches mean. I have taught myself the metric system because it is so much easier to do calculations with. Who wants a piece of wood 1 yard, 3 inches and 3/32 nds long. Weights are also realy easy in metric. We changed to metrication for our money a long time ago now. Can you imagine children at school having to calculate 7 items at £1.17.61/2d. No calulators to work that one out I'm afraid. Lets get into the 21st Century and GO METRIC, NOW. Mike.
Mike (19) and the Metric/Imperial debate,
I was surprised at the claim that the UK told the EU we would convert, and that they are then holding us to that claim, with fines if necessary. The story today being that the EU are no longer holding us to it.
I looked back at a 1970's OS map; it had that key symbol with an M in it - which reminded me quite how long road distances were supposed to be metricated...
But I'm half and half. Miles and metres. Stones and grammes.
Listening to Lord Adonis on PM earlier had me shouting at the radio in frustration especially when he said that going to tribunal over an LEA statement cost nothing. The tribunal itself may be free but as anyone who knows anything about this process is well aware it frequently costs parents several hundreds of pounds in getting reports and evidence to take to tribunal. It certainly did in our case. The man was,at best, being disingenuous at worst knowingly dishonest.
It was refreshing to hear the piece on Shambo the bull. We rarely hear voices on Radio 4 that argue for the value of non human lives. Animal rights supporters are so marginalised and demonised in the mainstream media that I wonder if the religious angle hadn't been there and the unfortunate animal was living instead on a farm animal sanctuary the story would have been covered at all.
Eric (22) My guess is that if the bull had been living anywhere else, there would have been no issue. The owners would have complied with the law - end of story.
Mike (19)...Who wants a piece of wood 1 yard, 3 inches and 3/32 nds long......me me me me!
Seriously though, as usual I joined PM at 17:35 so can't coment on the first half, but i do agree with the comments about the chain saw. The splitting of the Home Office is a topic that should be taken v seriously.
On the upside, erotica and flower eating sacred bull....brilliant.
To be honest, Peter, I almost never hear the first 15 minutes of the programme. If I were to leave the office dead on 5pm, it wouldn't get me home any quicker, as I'd be stuck with all the other cars trying to leave the estate, wasting fuel whilst stationary. It's only on the days I'm at home or I'm driving back from somewhere else that I even know what the top items are.
That said, I can understand that the first 10 minutes must be the hardest for you, as you have to cover the most high profile events, with probably the least amount of time to prepare. You're forgiven!
Quite, Gillian (23). Once again, religion thinks it's above the law. Animal rights has nothing to do with this, Eric (22) - it's about controlling a highly dangerous disease called TB. It's not something you can pray away.
Quite, Gillian (23). Once again, religion thinks it's above the law. Animal rights has nothing to do with this, Eric (22) - it's about controlling a highly dangerous disease called TB. It's not something you can pray away.
En-nobled ministers announcing new policies in the very endgame of the Blair Imperium? Does one detect the aroma of rodents and other carrion enthusiasts?
xx
ed
VT Thinblot (26), (27) thinks that animal rights has nothing to do with the case of the threatened bull.
But if a human is suffering from a highly contagious life threatening disease and is being kept by caring people from harming others should that person be "culled"? No? Then the rights of humans are being valued more highly than animals. That probably fits your belief system. But not mine, or that of the Hindus interviewed on the program.
Eric (29),
This is about the law of the land, and whether exceptions can be made for this religion or that, in this circumstance or that. Plainly, that's unworkable, especially when dealing with a dangerous disease like TB.
Whether the law of the land is right is something that can be debated. If you disagree with this particular one, then you're at liberty to lobby your MP about it or campaign in any legal, moral way to get it changed (though not through violence or intimidation, as embraced by some animal rights campaigners).
If your argument wins the day, the law will be changed to your satisfaction, and we will all have to abide by it. Until then, we all have to abide by the law as it stands. It is presumably there for a reason - whatever you think of Defra, I don't think their mission in life is to be mean to animals for the sake of it - and I'm guessing that the reason is to protect the livestock (as a whole) and people of this country from disease. If you take issue with this, as you are at liberty to do, then take it up through the proper democratic channels. What can't be tolerated is maverick groups flouting the laws they don't happen to like.
Yes, I do put the welfare of people above that of animals, and so does the law. I think most people would concur with that view, and that is why the law is as it is. That's democracy, and I for one don't want to live in a country that's in thrall to religion (any more than it already is) and governed by superstition.
Thanks to VT Thinblot (19) for the patronising explanation of democracy. That's told me.
Anyway, back to the point I originally made. If, rather than being on a Hindu retreat, the unfortunate animal in question had been in a farm animal sanctuary (run and supported by those, like myself, who respect all life for non-religious reasons) the story is very unlikely to have been covered by PM. The only animal rights stories that are routinely covered are those few that are reported as involving "violence and intimidation". Democratic, lawful protests are not only not covered, but are more and more being outlawed by the law (injuctions, ASBOs against lawful protestors, mass arrests on "fishing expiditions" followed by restrictive bail conditions, the list is expanding all the time). Again, these changes in and abuses of the law are not covered in the mainstream media. Where does this all fit in with the democratic channels so beloved of VT?
I thought the Glass Box was meant to reflect on the editorial process and decisions made in putting together the program rather than debating the issues within it. But thanks again for this lesson in democracy.