[Tubby Isaacs]

Heavyweight Andrew Neil doesn't know that fascism and Nazism aren't the same. Edit- bit crass of me to say this now. Apologies

[Tubby Isaacs]

I think Emin and Hirst is a bit flattering. I'm expecting Chris Evans to pop out parping a joke horn.

[Youngian]

Neil always used to be pro immigration and is only having to overcompensate due to anchoring this tawdry GBNews project. Should have known better.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Gloria De Piero must be regretting it already. Part of her show (with Liam Halligan) got no discernible audience.

[davidjay]

Heavyweight Andrew Neil doesn't know that fascism and Nazism aren't the same. Edit- bit crass of me to say this now. Apologies

Fortunately a lot of replies are reminding us that fascism doesn't start with concentration camps.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Audiences fall to zero.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/ ... g-the-knee

GB News attracted zero viewers during some of its broadcasts this week, according to official television audience figures produced by rating agency Barb, after a viewer boycott prompted by one of its presenters taking the knee in solidarity with the England football team.

Business editor Liam Halligan and former Labour MP Gloria De Piero attracted no measurable audience to their show between 1pm and 1.30pm on Wednesday afternoon. During the same timeslot the BBC News channel attracted 62,000 viewers, while Sky News had 50,000 people watching.

Staff at GB News describe an exhausting rush to get the channel on air, with the studio built in a matter of weeks rather than the planned three months and with key equipment not turning up due to delays blamed on the pandemic. GB News invested in new software called DiNA, introduced to automate many of the television production processes that require large staffing levels at the BBC and Sky News. But high levels of on-air typos, the inability to get some remote guests on air, and the short-lived but incredibly popular GB News Fails Twitter account hit morale.

One incident that summed up the channel’s problems was when McCoy presented a section on cute animal pictures but viewers were unable to see any of the pictures, leaving the exasperated presenter to describe them instead.

It would take a heart of stone etcetera...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Fortunately a lot of replies are reminding us that fascism doesn't start with concentration camps.

Indeed, and it doesn't have to finish with them either.

My friend in Spain seems pretty sure that Franco was a fascist.

[Youngian]

If you want to be intellectually pendantic, neither Franco or Hitler quite reach the criteria to be described as fascist (for different reasons). ‘Fascist’ is now accepted shorthand to describe all sorts of right wing authoritarianism. It helps avoid confusion not fuel it.

[zuriblue]

And Guto Harri has now been cancelled. I thought that GB News was all about Freeze Peach

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/ ... e-knee-row

[Youngian]

Neil had made clear before the channel’s launch that he did not want to be a “British Fox News” and would be committed to traditional journalism values albeit with a rightwing twist.

That would describe Times Radio but Tom Newton Dunn didn’t insult and sneer at half the nation on Twitter calling them woke and other such bollocks. Not a good marketing strategy from Mr Neil.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And Guto Harri has now been cancelled. I thought that GB News was all about Freeze Peach

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/ ... e-knee-row

Nice hint there Harri could sue.

[The All New KevS]

Times Radio I don't mind to be fair. It does me good to hear the opposing point of view, especially if it's delivered in a more respectful measured tone as in days of old.

When not playing to the gallery, I do think TND does do this, as did, to be fair, Michelle Dewberry did in her Sky News tenure. Didn't mean I agreed with them.

Back to GBeebies, and Alistair Stewart has gone for a while, apparently due to a broken hip. They're falling like ninepins.

[Youngian]

And Guto Harri has now been cancelled. I thought that GB News was all about Freeze Peach

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/ ... e-knee-row

Nice hint there Harri could sue.

He comes on to defend Johnson but doesn’t seem to be in his political loop benefiting from the PM’s patronage anymore. I think he’s actually Johnson’s friend. Like Artie Buco who was Tony’s only real non-business friend in the Sopranos

[Watchman]

Stewart’s broken hip, he didn’t do it taking the knee, by any chance?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Or someone else putting the knee in...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Director of Programmes has quit.

[Cyclist]

It's all falling apart faster than a Datsun Cherry

[Andy McDandy]

Director of Programmes has quit.

Must...resist...obvious...joke...

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Good report in the Grauniad.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/ ... e-knee-row

Sources suggested he had come under pressure to dial down the focus on local reporting and free debate in favour of full-blooded culture war topics, so chose to resign.

The incident comes amid a growing crisis at the channel, which launched only four-and-a-half weeks ago. Some senior off-air staff are understood to have left in recent days amid ongoing turmoil following the channel’s disastrous launch, which was plagued by technical difficulties.

They include Gill Penlington, a respected and experienced producer at rolling news channels such as CNN and Sky News who has worked in the past with the GB News chairman, Andrew Neil. She was brought in as a senior figure before launch, only to leave earlier this week. The departure of other key off-air figures could be announced imminently, according to sources at the channel.

There is also strong speculation about Neil’s current relationship with the channel. He was involved with its creation and is chairman of its board, and the station was counting on his flagship 8pm show to bring in the viewers required to make it a success. However, after two weeks on air he has taken an extended holiday in the south of France. Despite posting dozens of tweets, Neil has not mentioned GB News in almost two weeks or shared any of its material.

[Tubby Isaacs]

John McAndrew (the departed director of programmes) is Daisy McAndrew's husband. She's appeared a few times, I gather. Be surprised if she appears again. They could have done with her.