THE THREE D's - DIVERSITY, DIVERSITY, DIVERSITY!

                          

                             THE THREE 'D's - DIVERSITY, DIVERSITY, DIVERSITY!

I was brought up in the so-called 'Golden Age' of television.  From 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium' to 'Top of the Pops', 'Morecombe and Wise' and 'The Two Ronnies', 'Match of the Day' followed by 'Parkinson'... or was it the other way round?  It matters not, it was great television.  The BBC was the flagship, it not only commissioned innovative programmes covering history, the arts, science - 'Tomorrow's World ' - but it assumed a place in society as a paragon of faithful reporting that transcended continents. BBC 1 and 2, Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 plus that bastion of all that was fair and square, the BBC 'World Service', they did us proud.  Anchor gents and anchor ladies interwove programmes seamlessly without the listener feeling that their senses had been derailed by something cheap and nasty infecting the airwaves.... Oh how times have changed and our culture diminished.

The BBC's left-wing bias has been apparent for many a broadcast, but diversity?  There is not a programme, a news story, a filler that doesn't have a disproportionate number of ethnic actors, presenters or newsreaders.  I recall the days of Moira Stewart and Trevor McDonald waving the flag on behalf of ethnicity and offering the viewing public a glimpse into the world of diversity.  That is all we needed, a glimpse.  We certainly didn't need the word shoved down our collective throats as is current, and I suspect, will remain future policy.

Subtle inroads into previously enjoyable programmes have been made over the past few years, but the speed of change has put paid to an awful lot of pleasure where black and Asian staff have been added to a team or cast and the mix becomes rather skewed in favour of the so-called minorities.  I no longer watch 'Countryfile'.  It used to be presented by white men and women.  Anita Rani was added to the staff.  I have no problem with the lady, she seems very nice, but thin ends of wedges rapidly become thicker.  They never know when to stop.  Recently these in charge of recruitment added a presenter called Sean Fletcher. Again, a pleasant enough fellow, but I do not want those from an ethnic background informing me of the problems facing our countryside be it Brexit, climate change, interesting places to visit or walks in Cumbria.  And before anyone shouts 'Racism', let me tell you that if I was Ugandan, Kenyan or Indian, the last person I would want showing me around - whether it was harvesting coffee in Zirobwe, trekking with the Maasai tribes or growing rice in Kashmir  - would be a white presenter whose family originally hailed from West Byfleet!   It is their country, with their history. Being second or even third generation doesn't give anyone title to that country's background.  You cannot feel the same empathy as that of the native occupant.  You may be white and possess a Jamaican passport, but it doesn't make you Jamaican, you are still an Englishman abroad.  Similarly, in my book, a Jamaican may well hold a British passport, but they will never be British, let alone English!  Incidentally, as I write, there are viewers raising their irritation concerning a recent episode of 'Countryfile' featuring a group of walkers calling themselves 'Black Girls Hike'.  Other than the obvious kudos of ticking another ethnic box, can someone tell me why this group was singled out for nationwide promotion on primetime TV?  Could you imagine such publicity if it were a group called 'White Girls Hike', there would be hell to pay!

'Homes under the Hammer' is another example of ethnic incursion and kow-towing to diversity. From it's inception in 2003 until 2015 the programme ran very nicely co-hosted by Lucy Alexander and Martin Roberts.  In that year Dion Dublin joined the cast - why?  Why employ a third member, be they black, white or any shade in-between?  It didn't need three presenters.  It didn't add anything, but the move no doubt hit an ethnic target set by some un-named individual or committee within the BEEB's hierarchy! Lucy Alexander left in 2017 to be replaced by a Scottish lass named Martel Maxwell, again, seems like a nice girl.  The powers that be have recently announced that the 'Gang of Three' is to be enlarged to become the 'Famous Five' with the addition of Tommy Walsh, a chap who made his name on 'Groundforce' several lifetimes ago and a black lady, whose life no doubt matters, called Jacqui Josephs.  The team appear as overcrowded as some of the streets within which they ply their trade.  But... and it's a big but, another target has been hit.  Twenty per cent of the cast are now from an ethnic background.  How smug and self-satisfied those in control must feel!  So, another programme consigned to my viewing history.

Last night I watched 'House of Games', a half-hour programme hosted by Richard Osman.  Just before the programme commenced  the male continuity announcer informed the viewing public in an accent that left you in no doubt that he was black, that following 'H o G' would be a show called 'Lightning' at six-thirty, both pronounced without the 'T'. Why do the BBC employ staff and then let them loose on licence payers when their diction is so sloppy and lazy?  Presumably it's all to do with equality whilst quality can go to the wall!

Do you remember 'Wish You Were Here', a travel show presented by Judith Chalmers from 1974 until 2003?  You knew where you were with 'Our Judith', ably assisted over the years by the likes of Chris Kelly and John Carter.  Nobody dropped their 'Aitches' and 'T's back then, the BBC had standards.  All gone sadly.  The modern day equivalent is a glossy, loud offering compressed within BBC's weekend Breakfast programme and fronted by a variety of chaps and chapessess, one of whom sticks out for all the wrong reasons.  It's not that he is black or in a wheelchair, though it ticks two boxes on the BEEB's Wishlist.  Again it's the dreadful diction. Football commentary is ruined by the likes of Micah Richards, Clinton Morrison, Ian Wright and Karen Carney.  

All is not lost or without fairness and one must be seen to be whiter than white!  There are those from foreign climes and backgrounds who I would promote as 'beacons of light' from within in the vacuous media and acting world.   Perhaps Samira Ahmed and Art Malik could be persuaded to use their  silky, well-honed diction and speech patterns to further the education of todays 'yoof' brought up on a diet of 'Eastenders' and  reality shows,  where everyone speaks badly and pronunciation is a word too far!  Oh for the days when commentators spoke in 'BBC English'  and MOTD was presented by Barry Davies, John Motson, Jimmy Hill etc.  These were class acts to a man from an age when diction came as standard.  No thought was given to the possibility that one day their successors would be required to commence their commentary with a doffed cap and an ingratiating reference to certain peoples' colour, giving the impression that one mattered more than another!