[Bones McCoy]

Holy Crap:

Dorries spoke in the commons today expressing admiration for BBC (and other) journalists operating in and reporting on Ukraine.

[Oboogie]

I wonder if she had clearance from Johnson to go off message like that? The hard right will be furious.

[Bones McCoy]

I wonder if she had clearance from Johnson to go off message like that? The hard right will be furious.

"The hard right will be furious".

Just like every other day, Pinkie....

[Andy McDandy]

The problem here is whether it was deliberate or accidental. It may be an exceptionally cunning bait and switch strategy aimed at keeping critics off balance and confused, or it might be a bunch of monkeys throwing shit and every now and again hitting something.

Or both. Who knows? Who cares?

[Bones McCoy]

Nadine Dorries exclusively reads aloud from her newest novel again.

(A parody video M'lud).

[Samanfur]

[Cyclist]

That's my MP, that is. Makes me so proud.

[Nigredo]

Have we even got any soft power left to erode?

EDIT: Some context Mad Nad's personal crusade against big tech:

https://www.politico.eu/article/nadine- ... -big-tech/

[Oboogie]

Send 'em back to Algorithmea.

[Samanfur]

Nadine Dorries to press ahead with plan to privatise Channel 4

The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, is pushing ahead with plans to privatise Channel 4, with the government backing proposals to sell off the broadcaster after 40 years in public ownership.

The plans had met a fierce reaction from the media industry, with TV production companies and prominent broadcasters such as Sir David Attenborough opposing them.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Malcolm Armsteen]

In the culture wars Dorries is a self-propelled howitzer.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Well, at least we should have a laugh when she announces this to Parliament. She was bad enough at the select committee, which not many people watch.

I assume a big conglomerate will buy this. For a start, will they be interested in the public service remit? Will they care about spreading jobs out of London to Bristol and Leeds? Maybe the sale will specify these are kept, just like the old ITV franchises used to require newsrooms in Nottingham etc. But old ITV franchises were very profitable. How profitable is Channel 4 going to be, with its commercial hands tied like this?

Leeds was the wrong choice for Channel 4 anyway- would have worked much better in Manchester-Salford, dovetailing with BBC. I wonder if that's what the new owner will think? Would have been better to give Leeds something else. Unfortunately the "something else" has been having HS2 East cancelled.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Bit more here. Apparently public service broadcaster to stay with regards to news. Channel 4 News gets a good audience, I wouldn't think a new owner would fuck with it, but it's certainly a risk.

Is it me or is this a bit of a slow timetable? I might be wrong, but the timing suggests getting in money for Rishi's "war chest", with any shit hitting the fan after the election.

[mattomac]

I keep seeing 2024 on stuff, I think it basically suggests we won’t be seeing an early election. It would also suggest they aren’t that confident.

[Tubby Isaacs]

My interpretation is that this will replace existing arts funding.

[Crabcakes]

I reckon this might be one where the govt. lose the vote - some senior Tories already coming out against it. It might be Nad has just decided to do it out of spite. That, and being as dumb as a bag of hammers.

[Watchman]

I agree she is competing with Vacant in the spiteful stakes, but I don’t think she’s doing just because she can. It’s their only card now “the war on woke”, and they’ve got to bet the house on it as it’s all they’ve got

[Boiler]

I do wish people would stop drawing comparisons with streaming services - their output is fucking *tiny* by comparison with mainstream broadcasters. Just compare the amount of hours of content produced.

[Crabcakes]

It may also be proof of concept for them - ‘look, we did it with Channel 4 so now we can do it with the BBC’. But the timing is exceptionally suspect - I can see that money going straight into a conveniently scheduled one-off tax cut.