juliet: (grrrr)
Bah, the BBC are proposing cutting 6Music & the Asian Network (among other things). Dammit, 6Music is about the only listenable-to music station going (apart from when George Lamb's on. If they cut George Lamb I'd be cheering them all the way).

Argh. Quote from the report, courtesy of the Guardian:

With an average listener age of 37, the report said, 6 Music "competes head on for a commercially valuable audience". Closing it, and refocusing BBC Radios 1 and 2, would "recognise the lead role that commercial radio plays in serving popular music to 30- to 50-year-old audiences".

Xfm? No ta. Also, why the fuck *shouldn't* the BBC compete for a commercially valuable audience? If they're providing something that people want to listen to, surely that is precisely what they're supposed to be doing? (And then later on they talk about their commitment to "new and live music" -- isn't that something that 6Music is doing well? This seems to be decidedly incoherent!)

I am not at all sure what the argument for closing the Asian Network is. I doubt that it's a good one.

This all sounds like a reaction to the continual banging on from the Murdoch empire about how the BBC are CHEATING and providing FREE stuff (or rather, stuff that we have already paid for) thus meaning that commercial media has to either a) follow suit, or b) actually generate content that people want to pay for. Obviously they can't manage b), so they do a) and whinge about it.

38 Degrees have a petition. This is at the 'proposal' stage so public opinion is in theory being solicited.
juliet: (round the world)
(Disclaimer in advance: this following is largely speculation/rambling on my part based on very little direct experience and similarly little information. Factual correction more than welcome, as well as any other thoughts generally.)

Also it got a bit long )

I am aware that this is a ramble, without conclusion. In part this is because I simply don't know enough - enough political history, enough political theory, enough political present - to come to any conclusions[6]. And in part it's because I'm not sure there are any conclusions available. If forced to make a prediction, I think my tentative one would be: things will continue to change gradually at the bottom and in practice, and less so at the top and in theory. I think there probably will come a point when the current system cracks under the contradictions; but with the potential global political/economic changes we're facing, it's far from clear how inevitable that is, or whether it'll be overtaken by other things.

[0] A side-note: last time I headed off to Foreign for any length of time was India in 2002, and I didn't take a phone or Walkman (this was pre-MP3 player, or at least pre-me-having-MP3 -player), as I was concerned about waving Western tech around, inviting theft, etc etc. This time, phones & MP3 players, or possibly phones that are MP3 players, are ubiquitous. I'm sure this isn't entirely true in, say, rural Chinese villages or similar, but it's a very obvious change nevertheless.
[1] At least it does until you've nationalised enough banks. Man, that is all very weird.
[2] Well. For "might" read "would", as at least some of you will know from bitter personal experience ;-)
[3] Which I would strongly recommend. I gather that his book "A Bright Shining Lie", about the US & the Vietnam War (which he covered extensively at the time as an on-the-ground journalist in the South), is famous, & after reading this one I intend to locate & read it. "Two Cities" is about him returning to Hanoi & Saigon in 1989, and the changes and lack of changes that he saw.
[4] One of the great things about taking the train - you get to see things!
[5] I also made many interesting observations about field/plot shapes & how this relates to hand-cultivation! Which I will refrain from sharing with people who aren't interested i.e. nearly everyone, I expect.
[6] Reading suggestions welcome; and I promise that this is the last footnote.

December 2024

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