I have in my time commented and pitched to BBCs Working Lunch a fair bit. Like when they went on an eco-tour of the country ands I thought we'd be worth mentioning. It all fell on deaf ears. Not a dicky-bird, despite their frequent exhortations to get in touch in their mails, show and site. It was something raised in a Newswatch or Newsnight a while ago, I recall, by another frustrated, failed contributor.
Of course, nice does not cut it these days.
So it is with interest that I note the following terse reply (with mine back... the plot thickens) to my admittedly terse enquiry (prose gets binned I've found) just now about one of their pieces:
It is/was open to those in the UK, and further field who have a business needing investment to continue its growth and it is meant to be more than just a one off competition. I'm sorry you were disappointed with the item.
I was disappointed in as much as I tuned in to see about a further opportunity to expand, which seemed to have passed. If it is still open to those in the UK then maybe I should have not have been. Where can I find out more?
May I ask do you use "see us on the BBC" on all your promotional literature ?
As we don't have any, I'd say no, unless you count my email signature. May I ask why you ask? Would you like me to stop? It was a while ago.
It will be interesting to see where this leads. I'm guessing she's going to equate me looking for promo for my frre, public service website, with giving 3 minute commercials to for-major-profit CEOs, a major beef of mine with a public broadcaster.
Addendum:
Didn't hear back. Surprise. Didn't like that. Big surprise. Took issue. Well, there's a surprise.
The BBC has a complaints system. As they get a lot, they may not alwasy answer. Let's see what happens:
Not a complaint... yet. But as things have been left hanging more than 24hrs after a flurry of activity, I have a... concern.
I wrote to the above programme with a question, and in addition to my answer had the following comment regarding my email signature:
May I ask do you use "see us on the BBC" on all your promotional literature ?
Best wishes
Lynne Jones
I immediately answered, but then asked why this was posed, but to date have not heard back.
May I therefore formally ask for an explanation as I remain
unclear for the reasons behind this question and the manner in which it was asked.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
OK, I'm the Grinch That Stole The Planet
A long, long time ago, I lived in Hong Kong. And I was a slob. I worked all day and played all night. So I decided to get fit. So every lunch I took a tube to a city helth club, and then up a lift, where I static-cycled and Stairmastered for an hour.
Then I thought: 'Why no cycle there and walk up. And then turn back?' A lot cheaper. And better for me.
I'm afraid this is what ran through my mind when I read this: Kids walk to Moon and back in climate campaign
I'm all for awareness, but Britta Freitag of the German-based Climate Alliance travelled how far to hand a suitcase stuffed with 618,315 paper "green footprints" to U.N. climate talks in Nairobi on Monday?
100,000 children cut out the shape of their foot from whatt pieces of paper for every mile?
Some 5,000 delegates are discussing ways to step up the fight on global warming, with Austria a leading contributor to the campaign with more than 200,000 cut-out coloured footprints.
Apparently, most scientists say that global warming is being stoked by emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and vehicles.... like, paper making ones and planes to get folk to jollies?
Nil points.
Then I thought: 'Why no cycle there and walk up. And then turn back?' A lot cheaper. And better for me.
I'm afraid this is what ran through my mind when I read this: Kids walk to Moon and back in climate campaign
I'm all for awareness, but Britta Freitag of the German-based Climate Alliance travelled how far to hand a suitcase stuffed with 618,315 paper "green footprints" to U.N. climate talks in Nairobi on Monday?
100,000 children cut out the shape of their foot from whatt pieces of paper for every mile?
Some 5,000 delegates are discussing ways to step up the fight on global warming, with Austria a leading contributor to the campaign with more than 200,000 cut-out coloured footprints.
Apparently, most scientists say that global warming is being stoked by emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and vehicles.... like, paper making ones and planes to get folk to jollies?
Nil points.
Working for whom?
Working Lunch just ended.
I had to write, becuase I felt my time had been wasted. They sent me a 'heads up' that made me watch to see about enetring a contest. Hnece:
"I tuned in to watch because of this:
On Tuesday we talk to venture capitalists from the Isle of Man who are running a competition to find entrepreneurs.
Interesting questions posed.
So I'm clear, this is now a closed competition and it was/is not open to me anyway? So really it was a promo piece for the IoM than of any real value to businesses like mine?"
They also had in the programme a pitch to appear on Friday if you paid enough (for charity). Now what's airime on the BBC worth to the right business with a pitch to make? Hmmn. Your licence fee at work.
I had to write, becuase I felt my time had been wasted. They sent me a 'heads up' that made me watch to see about enetring a contest. Hnece:
"I tuned in to watch because of this:
On Tuesday we talk to venture capitalists from the Isle of Man who are running a competition to find entrepreneurs.
Interesting questions posed.
So I'm clear, this is now a closed competition and it was/is not open to me anyway? So really it was a promo piece for the IoM than of any real value to businesses like mine?"
They also had in the programme a pitch to appear on Friday if you paid enough (for charity). Now what's airime on the BBC worth to the right business with a pitch to make? Hmmn. Your licence fee at work.
The sound of silence
I'm watching BBC Working Lunch. Just emailed them (it says it all):
"I'm watching your show.
This morning on BBC Breakfast, Govt. Minsister Darling was asked about incentives to help us engage more environmental measures in the home. What I heard was a ton of waffle, with at best, 'it was being looked at'.
Now I hear another Minister, Mr. Pearson, being asked pretty much the same question, this time on eco-fuels for transport. And guess what... the same non answer!!!
What is the point of asking these very pertinent questions if they are to be allowed to get air time to say nothing."
Addendum: Worth a gander, from the dti website.
"I'm watching your show.
This morning on BBC Breakfast, Govt. Minsister Darling was asked about incentives to help us engage more environmental measures in the home. What I heard was a ton of waffle, with at best, 'it was being looked at'.
Now I hear another Minister, Mr. Pearson, being asked pretty much the same question, this time on eco-fuels for transport. And guess what... the same non answer!!!
What is the point of asking these very pertinent questions if they are to be allowed to get air time to say nothing."
Addendum: Worth a gander, from the dti website.
The trouble with high horses: being behind a higher one
Sorry, I am inordinately proud of that title. And in scouting around for something to go with it, I came across the attached. I've arched an eyebrow at words vs. deeds (Pols telling how to save the planet and not doing so themsleves. Green media mouthing off on eco-stuff whilst promoting less than optimal behaviour - I'll try and get the URLs) before, and make no apology for doing so again. Let they who are without carbon offsets cast the first nasturtium!
Just(ify) the facts, man
I keep breaking my vow to avoid debates on climate change, but this one is too big to ignore, both figuratively and literally.
Lord Monckton's artcile - Wrong problem, wrong solution (plus another, Greenblinkers) makes for an interesting read. It certainly stirred up something. And a sad explantion for where we are, and headed: the PDF of responses to his last article. 77 pages of small type! Who on earth has time to read all that and still have a life?
Suffice to say that I can't be bothered with so much needless argument, but have to say that I am depressed that much of it is fulled by vitriol rather than a desire to seek answers.
Lord Monckton's artcile - Wrong problem, wrong solution (plus another, Greenblinkers) makes for an interesting read. It certainly stirred up something. And a sad explantion for where we are, and headed: the PDF of responses to his last article. 77 pages of small type! Who on earth has time to read all that and still have a life?
Suffice to say that I can't be bothered with so much needless argument, but have to say that I am depressed that much of it is fulled by vitriol rather than a desire to seek answers.
Little that you know that I know that you know less than me
A big day for windbags - This is a dazzling debunking of climate change science. It is also wildly wrong
Here's my contribution:
"Golly, I wish we could harness all this energy arguing about who knows more than whom. Then it may be some use. I'm a bit more interested in what I can (which has many parameters) do. For instance, as one of the rotation ('scuse the pun) there was a nifty wind turbine ad spinning up in the top right hand corner of this piece. Funny if it was between a bottled water and skiing holiday one, eh? It says I can go green without going into the red. Is this true? I have heard the payback period can be quite a long time. And even the environmental side seems to be being challenged, too: "Wind turbines 'may actually do more harm than good' Daily Mail" (ah, that may explain it, though the quoted bods are mainstream eco): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=415993&in_page_id=1770 I just wish when it comes to matters of fact these days I could trust, and act on, what I read. Anywhere. Not any more, sadly."
One billion Chinese can't... er... what?
And so one leads to the next. Couldn't not pitch in with my nifty headline previously, so here's what I lobbed into the Guardian blog: The smoking dragon
"This morning on Breakfast TV I watched a reporter outside a suburban semi telling me the owners 'were laughing', one presumes on account of the nice perch they had provided for the pigeons, as the thing was in negative rotation mode.
Meanwhile, at the weekend I read that even some expert (whatever they are) environmentalists had conceded that not only were these things not exactly the panacea to our energy needs, but may actually detract from the overall planetary benefit environmentally!!!
One has to wonder where all this stuff gets made, and shipped from, especially if it is now looking like a marketing fad just to get us to buy more stuff.
Who the heck do we listen to? Who do we believe?
Certainly not our Government. To a series of rather pertinent questions about VAT rebates and grants Mr. Darling seemed to manage 5 minutes' worth of waffle amounting to 'it will be looked at.' Meanwhile Mr. Cameron is going to set targets and fire the guy at the top if we don't meet them.
That'll sort it all, then."
"This morning on Breakfast TV I watched a reporter outside a suburban semi telling me the owners 'were laughing', one presumes on account of the nice perch they had provided for the pigeons, as the thing was in negative rotation mode.
Meanwhile, at the weekend I read that even some expert (whatever they are) environmentalists had conceded that not only were these things not exactly the panacea to our energy needs, but may actually detract from the overall planetary benefit environmentally!!!
One has to wonder where all this stuff gets made, and shipped from, especially if it is now looking like a marketing fad just to get us to buy more stuff.
Who the heck do we listen to? Who do we believe?
Certainly not our Government. To a series of rather pertinent questions about VAT rebates and grants Mr. Darling seemed to manage 5 minutes' worth of waffle amounting to 'it will be looked at.' Meanwhile Mr. Cameron is going to set targets and fire the guy at the top if we don't meet them.
That'll sort it all, then."
Labour Is Working... 'Til You Drop
OK. so I'm getting political. But this one was hard to resist. In reply to this - Public sector aloof from pensions chaos - in the Telegraph, I had to offer:
'I think it was a recent programme that commented on US-style attack ads, and asked what if we had them here. I always thought we did. We need them.
In light of this, may I suggest to the Tories an homage to their famous poster, this time with a line of pension-aged folk lining up at the factory gates: 'Labour Is Working... 'Til You Drop.'
I pondered an asterisk that would point out that the only ones work on government side would be younger box tickers monitoring our progress to ensure enough is skimmed off for their comfortable retirement.'
'I think it was a recent programme that commented on US-style attack ads, and asked what if we had them here. I always thought we did. We need them.
In light of this, may I suggest to the Tories an homage to their famous poster, this time with a line of pension-aged folk lining up at the factory gates: 'Labour Is Working... 'Til You Drop.'
I pondered an asterisk that would point out that the only ones work on government side would be younger box tickers monitoring our progress to ensure enough is skimmed off for their comfortable retirement.'
A Total Lack Of Effective Spin
Another day, another initiative. Another media talking head. Another Minister. Another anchor asking but not worrying about failing to get an answer.
Against the backdrop of a suburban home, a BBC reporter says the owner ' is laughing' because of, amongst other things, his wind turbine. Sadly, it seemed to be more of a bird perch than energy generation device as it was, well, still.
Then we had Al Darling, Minister for Gravitas, being interrogated by the vanilla of the day, who actually asked(well, had been given) some good questions. Sadly, she seemed less than concerned that he didn't actually saying anything useful in reply. My email to the Beeb:
'Who is laughing, exactly? ... when I read stuff like the article attached - Wind turbines 'may actually do more harm than good' - I just get confused when I am told how great* wind turbines are. And did Mr. Darling answer a single question (such as your one about wall cavity and VAT reductions), or simply say things were going to be looked at?'
My faith in Government and the Media takes a further dive. I wonder if this was their plan when they figured talk was cheaper than action?
At least there was one good bit of advice. Move your fridge a tad more away from the wall. It makes it more efficient.
*On present evidence it looks like another way to make more stuff, which is hardly eco, and of course more money for the chancers.
Against the backdrop of a suburban home, a BBC reporter says the owner ' is laughing' because of, amongst other things, his wind turbine. Sadly, it seemed to be more of a bird perch than energy generation device as it was, well, still.
Then we had Al Darling, Minister for Gravitas, being interrogated by the vanilla of the day, who actually asked(well, had been given) some good questions. Sadly, she seemed less than concerned that he didn't actually saying anything useful in reply. My email to the Beeb:
'Who is laughing, exactly? ... when I read stuff like the article attached - Wind turbines 'may actually do more harm than good' - I just get confused when I am told how great* wind turbines are. And did Mr. Darling answer a single question (such as your one about wall cavity and VAT reductions), or simply say things were going to be looked at?'
My faith in Government and the Media takes a further dive. I wonder if this was their plan when they figured talk was cheaper than action?
At least there was one good bit of advice. Move your fridge a tad more away from the wall. It makes it more efficient.
*On present evidence it looks like another way to make more stuff, which is hardly eco, and of course more money for the chancers.
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