Peeling Back Time

Watching the Newsnight 30 Year Birthday Special on BBC2 tonight, the premise of which was to discuss how the country has changed in the time that the program has been on air, the most obvious development for me appeared under the noses of the guests (A S Byatt, Martin Amis, Neil Kinnock, Tracy Emin and Jarvis Cocker)…that the modern broadcasting media, up to the very top of the BBC, is so obsessed with controlling itself and creating tight intellectual frameworks, that only the most disciplined/boring of people can function properly within it. As Amis bemoaned the lack of “control” of the internet, Byatt spoke of the lack of representation of older females on television, Kinnock blew hot air from his arse, and Emin sat down for more air time to feed her profile with the ease of sitting on her toilet at home, the only refreshing thing was to see Jarvis Cocker mumbling and fumbling, feeling, naturally, out of place amongst it all, and showing signs of a conscience.

Is the legacy of Peel only noticeable in the modern BBC in the discomfort of the people he made whilst placed under their spotlight? And where’s Groucho Marx when you need him? The whole scene cried out for him to march in there, light a cigar, and cause some happy disruption. NJ

© Miwsig