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The Glass Box for Friday

Comments

1. At 04:02 PM on 14 Dec 2007, wrote:

   Glad o see the Glass box hasn't slid into the sea after yesterday's picture!

2. At 05:35 PM on 14 Dec 2007, Adam wrote:

   The Diana Inquest as the lead item??! A truly bizarre choice to lead the show, given the climate conference, EU meeting etc.

3. At 05:59 PM on 14 Dec 2007, Peter Coghlan wrote:

   A shame you missed the opportunity to capitalise on the kidney transplant item you did with Maff & Andy a while ago.

   The renal nurse from Derriford Hospital Plymouth who donated a kidney to a complete stranger is example of altruism at its very best and an encouragement to the 3/4 of the population who have yet to sign up on the Transplant Register at

4. At 06:03 PM on 14 Dec 2007, david anderson wrote:

   Why on earth couldn't a sandbag enclosure have been built around the trapped man and the water pumped out, or at least checked, until he was freed?

5. At 09:24 PM on 14 Dec 2007, wrote:

   Re the man killed when trapped in a gutter

   If police frogmen were there, why did they at least give him (a) the top of a wet suit, and (b) breathing apparatus. I note he died of hypothermia, so the wet suit top could well have saved his life. (Wet suits work on the fact that they do let a little water in, but then body heat warms up the water, and the water plus suit acts as an insulation layer).

   David A (4), it could well be a case of the water level rising too quickly to get that organised.

6. At 10:03 AM on 15 Dec 2007, Amanda Lewis wrote:

   I was output editor for Friday's PM. Thanks for your interest in the programme.

   Adam (2) You're right - the Bali Climate Change conference is an important event, and that's why Roger Harrabin reported on it for us (despite having no sleep for what seems like days). But the timing for us was tricky, there was no 'top line' as negotiations were still going on through the middle of the Indonesian night. I'm not sure the EU meeting was especially interesting - but am willing to be convinced otherwise.

   Our main issue as we went on air was that just as the pips were pipping, the Football Association announced that Fabio Capello was the new England manager. Eddie had to ad lib his opening headlines and our newsreader Carolyn Brown read a hand-written script that had been rushed in to the studio by our newsroom producer. As we'd been planning on doing 'why is it taking so long for the FA to make the annoucement?' there was quite a bit of re-writing going on.

7. At 11:55 AM on 15 Dec 2007, wrote:

   Never mind, Amanda,

   You also managed not to mention that the markets' response to the generous concerted actions of the big central bankers continued to be "subdued" at best.

   xx
   ed

8. At 02:04 PM on 15 Dec 2007, wrote:

   For some acerbic comment, and for the sake of interest (sic), an extract from Wall Street:
   

   KEEP THE HELICOPTERS FLYING! That, vowed Ben Bernanke before ascending to the top of the Fed, was the key to how he would rescue the economy should it, as economies are wont to do from time to time, stumble into a perilous morass. The helicopters, he elaborated, would not be your ordinary run-of-the-sky choppers but special numbers from which you can drop billions of bucks fresh off the Fed's own printing press.

   And, as one who has criticized the chairman for being too accommodating in every sense of the word, we must commend him for resolutely adhering to his pledge. While we're at it, we might also dispel the rather malignant myth that, like his predecessor, he has a figurative "put" designed to buffer any unseemly decline in the stock market.

   Fact is, there is no such "put" as there was when Mr. Greenspan was monetary maestro. Instead, working on the incontrovertible assumption that money is the root of all cures, Mr. Bernanke, whenever the market seems serious about taking a dive, calls in the helicopters to drop their billion-dollar payloads, targeting whatever seems to be the trouble.

   It isn't, as some nasty types snicker, that his touching solicitude for Wall Street springs from a desire to please his friends in the investment business (he's a very serious fellow, but that doesn't necessarily preclude his having a few friends in the investment business). Rather, he's apparently possessed by the bizarre belief that a bull market is what makes for a healthy economy; we say bizarre because, of course, it's the other way around.
   
   

   Salaam/Shalom/Shanthi/Dorood/Peace
   Namaste -ed

   Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.