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I don't recall the output being much different when Blair and Brown were in control. A bit of lampooning maybe, and stronger attacks on Blair in more recent years when the liberal left disowned him, but not the level of cynicism and venom that has been directed at Conservative politicians in and out of power for many years.Originally Posted by BigFatPie
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Well done Mr WooWar, you have created a new NCM record for the 'number of website links in a single post' by some distance. The previous record was three links, but you have managed an incredible NINE!!!!
Have you ever considered getting a life?
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In any normal betting market I would agree, but this event will be decided by the American electorate. Despite what I would guess must be a good education system over there, their stupidity appears to know no bounds. Trump's gross mishandling of Covid-19 alone should be enough to see him out of office in disgrace, but when he tells them he's "done a really great job", half of them seem to believe him.
My regret is that when Trump went to 7/4 I waited for 2/1. I really wish I had taken advantage of the 7/4.
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So the new DG has wet his pants because they didn’t take the piss enough out of a government from 10 years ago?? Really? Also, do you remember the treatment Corbyn got from virtually the whole media? He never got near power.
Also, also, if you think that any comedian worth their salt shouldn’t be taking the mickey out of the current shower, pretty much all the time, I would have to heartily disagree.
Last edited by BigFatPie; 02-09-2020 at 07:59 PM.
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Yeah betting on the outcome is, even at this point, a hazardous business, but Biden’s figures at this stage are apparently similar to Obama’s in 08. If your life depended on it, there’s only one way you’d go.
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It's not really a case of "if you can still get evens" - his odds are drifting and if you wait a few days you'll probably get better than evens.
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No, I agree that the new DG will be focused on the current situation. The reason I mentioned the previous situation under 13 years of Labour government is because you implied that the Conservatives' 10 years in power makes them an obvious target. I'm sure it does, but I don't think the Labour Government of even longer standing was subject to the same treatment by the BBC. Even in opposition, the Conservatives took more flack from the never-ending procession of liberal/left comedians and commentators. The lame justification was/is often given that they are "kicking upwards" against the Tory aristocracy, which is quite ironic when quite a few of the 'kickers' come from the Oxbridge mafia or other privileged backgrounds themselves.
Yes. And you may recall that despite my own politics I expressed the view on several occasions on this board that the treatment of Corbyn was at times unfair. I don't recall much of that treatment coming from the comedy and entertainment circles though. It was unsurprisingly the right-wing press and some Blairite journalists who played the man rather than his policies and I genuinely didn't think he deserved that. I disagreed with his politics, but I respected the sincerity with which he held his views and the courtesy and patience he showed in the face of some unfair personal attacks.
I don’t mind comedians taking the mickey out of left or right-wing politicians including the Government, but that’s the problem: in recent years on many BBC comedy/commentary shows it’s pretty much a one-way liberal/left narrative, hence the observation made by Andrew Neil and the new BBC DG’s own acknowledgement.
I can laugh at the material of left-wing comics if they are good. I watch a lot of Stewart Lee’s stuff and I like the way he uses satire and deconstruction, even though I don’t necessarily agree with his (apparent) political conclusions. I like Frankie Boyle even though he is avidly anti-Tory and deemed “offensive” by some. I think they’re both very sharp and talented. I’m also a big fan of Dave Gorman, whose material is sometimes gently ‘woke’ but brilliant in a geeky kind of way.
I’d just like to see more comedians of the same ilk from the opposite/different perspective, to cater for all views and tastes, which a national broadcaster should do. Hopefully they are out there, and if they aren’t, then perhaps it’s precisely because there’s not enough opportunities for them to get a break. Meanwhile, some liberal/left-wing comics who are frankly not good at all appear to get TV gigs quite easily for no other apparent reason than they pander to the hitherto preferred audience.
I suppose there’s another way of looking at it, though. As you say, the Conservatives have been in power for 10 years while broadcasters like the Beeb and Channel 4 have been churning out all of this one-dimensional material, so it obviously hasn’t indoctrinated audiences or voters. In fact, many people north of Watford probably might conclude that this bunch of liberal/left luvvies say nothing to them about their lives, and either turn off the TV or take delight in actively rejecting their ideology. Eddie Izzard in particular seems to generate a Tory win wherever he goes!
Last edited by jackal2; 02-09-2020 at 10:32 PM.
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This article suggests the reason is that right wing comedians just aren't particularly funny:
The BBC does not book rightwing comedians for its shows because they are not funny enough, according to an individual involved in making some of the corporation’s best-known comedy programmes. On Monday the Daily Telegraph claimed that the new BBC director general, Tim Davie, was preparing to axe left-leaning comedy shows, such as Radio 4’s The Now Show and Have I Got News For You because they are “unfairly biased against the Tories, Donald Trump and Brexit”, as part of a push to make the corporation’s output appeal to a broader audience. The BBC comedy insider disputed this story, telling the Guardian there had already been substantial pressure from BBC executives over the last 18 months to find pro-Tory, pro-Brexit comedians. Instead, the source said the real issue is that many of the Conservative-leaning performers considered by BBC producers “aren’t very good”. The insider added: “Internally we’ve been asked to make sure we have more balance across our shows – we are constantly on the look out but there aren’t many people who have those viewpoints on the comedy circuit. Tell me the names that we’re missing out on? Some people aren’t very good. The issue is a shortage of rightwing comics.”
I'm sure it will be dismissed because it's from The Guardian, but personally I don't thing right wing views and comedy go together well.
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You could read that a number of ways, though. Are the BBC producers making the judgement on what is "good" or "funny" the same ones who consider certain left wing comedians to be funny? Comedy is so subjective that you perhaps just have to take the risk with a batch of apparently right-leaning comedians and let audiences decide for themselves. Some might work, some might not. The BBC have seemed more than willing to experiment with left-wing comedians in that way.
Incidentally, an early review of Fawlty Towers famously concluded "Long John (Cleese) Short on Jokes", but audiences worldwide subsequently decided that it was among the best sitcoms every written, and I agree (even if John Cleese is a Lib Dem!). Producers, critics and experts don't always recognise a winner when they see it.
Like I said above, if there is a lack of quality right-wing comedians, is it because there's very little incentive to start down that direction if you want to make it onto TV? I suspect there are a fair few secretly right-wing celebrities who pretend to be left-leaning for career progression purposes in a very 'luvvy' environment. If so, you can't blame them for protecting their interests. When I was a student I used to write a fair few left-wing essays, not because I believed the tosh I was writing, but because I thought it was worth a few extra marks from my lefty tutors, and I was generally proved right. Pride and principles are all very good but sometimes you have to play the game!
Last edited by jackal2; 02-09-2020 at 10:58 PM.
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Its called providing evidence from different sources, something you don't understand. Keep being spoon fed your opinions from the Guardian, you are clueless.
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