20.10.07

The European treaty and borrowing ideas

To David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of HM Opposition

 

Dear Mr Cameron,

 

The European Treaty

 

I can see no point whatsoever in your campaign re the European Treaty for a couple of reasons:

 

1 No one will fall for the tactic that the Prime Minister is failing to keep a promise

2 Someone is either lying to us or doesn't understand the Treaty

 

1 That is my personal assessment and you are free to disagree with it but I think you are wasting your time. If I were you I would move on to something much better than this. Europe has dragged down your Party before and it will do so again if you want it to.

 

2 William Hague was recently interviewed on Radio 4 and said that the new Treaty will mean a permanent European President. A fellow interviewee, a government Minister whose name I have forgotten, corrected Mr Hague by pointing out that whilst there is a provision for a European President, such a Presidency is for a two and a half year term, albeit potentially renewable. The current six monthly revolving Presidency is to be scrapped, as you are doubtless aware.

 

You repeated that misinformation on BBC Breakfast the other day: that there is to be a permanent Presidency.

 

Are you deliberately trying to mislead us or do you and William Hague really not understand what the Treaty says on the matter of the Presidency?

 

Borrowing Ideas

 

I pointed out to you the other day the results of some research by IBM to the effect that 20% of all innovations implemented by commercial organisations come from their competitors. Whilst you did not respond to that message, let me inform you that Virgin Atlantic has just let it be known that their idea for a 'drive through' service whereby their first class passengers go from airport door to aircraft door in 10 minutes, was essentially 'borrowed' from McDonald's the fast food chain. I don't hear anyone from McDonald's crying foul, do you? To what extent are you now changing your stance on the possible borrowing of your ideas by competitor Parties. After all, George Osborne is still desperately trying to take credit for much of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s recent pre budget ideas.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Duncan williamson

 

Cc Duncan’s Diurnal Diatribe Blog

18.10.07

bmi an insult to the intelligence

These people at bmi and Luggage Loss Adjusters are still not talking to me so when I leave from Manchester Airport on Friday I'll be handing out a load of leaflets that say: Fly bmi? You must be joking ... and here's why They'll lose your luggage and when they do they ...
  • tell lies about your entitlements
  • make you wait a week before you can even think about claiming
  • will not communicate with you in any way for weeks
I've got a graphic of the bmi logo on it with a big red 'X' over it and I am using the bmi house colour as the background for the entire leaflet. I'd upload it to let you see it but there's a problem at the blogger.com server at the moment. DW

17.10.07

Letter to the BBC Trust on 17th October 2007

You may agree with none, some or all of what you are about to read. My motivation to write this letter has come from the news today that the Chairman of the BBC is to present to the BBC Trust his plans for saving £2 billion of BBC costs. I then went to find out what the BBC Trust is as it said in the news today that they represent the BBC's viewers and listeners. As a result of what I found, I then wrote this:

My complaint/suggestion relates to the following two aims of the BBC Trust and how I think the Trust is failing in this respect:

We aim to ensure

...

· that the BBC's management delivers public value by providing distinctive services of the highest quality to all the people and all the communities across the United Kingdom

· that the BBC contributes to the standing of the United Kingdom in the world, to the economy and to British culture

I am becoming more and more worried by the quality of written and spoken English on the BBC now. A simple but good example of the kind of problem I am referring to is on this Contact us page that I am on now. I am instructed to "... fill OUT the form below ..."

All news readers now speak AmerEnglish. The Alan Sugar version of the Apprentice had a screen for a while which said "Your fired". Right now, glitches, upcoming and even neither ... or. It's not difficult to hear something like this, "It's about English language, it's about standards, it's about AmerEnglish." What utter rubbish. All these and many more AmerEnglish constructions have come into use on an every day basis now.

My complaint, then, is that the Trust is not ensuring that BBC programmes are of the highest quality and that the BBC is now beginning to fail to contribute to British culture.

I don't want anyone to tell me that English has developed and is developing otherwise we would merely grunt and not speak because I know that. I also know that many of the constructions that are being used now are blind imports from across the Atlantic. I worry that of all the cuts that are being made across the BBC, one major area where they are being made is in editorial departments. How else can we account for the change from the BBC being a bastion of English language correctness to being a place where the language of the street can happily be welcomed?

Further evidence for my argument can be found on the language used on Radio 4 now. I can't even type what we can hear now because you would accuse me of being offensive. However, there was a Laurie Taylor programme on Radio 4 last week that played a clip that included the word f***ing. In the middle of the day now I can here such awful language. Why wasn't it bleeped out? Moreover, plays and comedy programmes readily include swear words now. Words that are still really offensive for polite society are now freely used.

I don't want anyone to tell me that I can always reach for the off switch if I don't like the language used. Excuse me, but what about your aim that includes delivering the highest quality? I was brought up on Radio 4 and it is my radio station of choice. I work from home for much of my time and Radio 4 is on in the background almost all day every day. Why should I be forced to switch off something that is so deeply ingrained in me and that is, on balance, excellent in all other respects?

Your failure to uphold the standards of language is a major failing in my opinion and I would like some reassurance and then action in this respect.

Yours faithfully

DW