h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Perhaps those of us who weren't brought up wth the Beeb aren't aware of how much store is set by what the BBC says? I can't imagine an American worrying what the Fox network's opinions are, but in the UK the BBC is all pervasive and still very highly respected.

So if something appears on a BBC website, people may not stop to ask whether it's something the BBC said or something Joe Researcher came up with on the spur of the moment. That causes problems for the BBC, as demonstrated by the Celebdaq team last year when someone posted a 'piece of gossip' that in fact violated a court injunction.

It's a tricky business, this.

Very true. Personally, i think the Beeb are doing a damn good job of trying to carry on letting us express our opinions, whilst being aware that the BBC itself is under pretty intense scrutiny.

Terri.

I couldn't agree more. What other media outlets or other corporations for that matter are constantly scrutinized by the public, the private sector, and the government. Each think they have a say since *everyone pays taxes*, etc.. to the lot!

I hadn't checked this thread earlier but figgered it might be time to see what kind of anti-Beeb, anti-italic, anti-Auntie rant had broken out.

What a delight to read only these last three postings and see reasonable-ness breaking out all over.


>> ..how much store is set by what the BBC says? <<

Most of the young-uns can't begin to imagine what enourmous power was wielded by radio in the early 20th century. It was a revolution in mass communication and social dynamics combining mass hynopsis and magic. And the BBC was the only thing that stopped Hitler.

So please, let it be hereby decreed that any future time travellers must refrain from tampering with that history. Let them restrain their appetites for perfection just as we now must endure the present rationing of Truth. We could all stand to lose a few pounds anyway.


~jwf~

*the BBC was the only thing that stopped Hitler*

Puleez!

All rationing of truth aside, the Beeb is a solid column holding the heavens aloft.

I suspect more accurately, the BBC played a vital part in the resistance and lifeline routes that helped mainland Europe against the growth of Nazi Germany during WWII. It was used to convey messages across Europe that led to the safe return of many thousands of British and American airmen who had crashed in occupied territory.

The beeb played Vera Lynn,

without her, and the home service, the moral of the plukky brits might have been dashed !!

the differance between what Fox can say and what the BBC can say during elections is because of the BBC being state owned and paid for by the public they have to remain netural.

I guess the UK is still a mystery to me. I heard the author of "House of Bush, House of Saud" on the radio talking about how his book is a bestseller in the US and some other countries, but publishers in the UK are scared to touch it because of the different standards of libel there.

I shouldn't complain too hard. This really is a sign of progress compared with the policies during the sensitive moments of Iraq and Afghanistan and the last UK General Election. You could have kept the same policy again, but you were willing to listen to proposals by h2g2 regulars. Thanks.

Thanks Deidzoeb,

It's lovely to get positive feedback!

*Plugs grandad's guitar in and cranks it up to 11 then moves right in front of the amp*

That enough feedback for you Peta?

I too am very pleased to see this happen, too many have left in the past.

<vodka&vimto>

>> Puleez! <<

zoomer you are obviously not a war baby.

In addition to Vera Lynn's esprit d'corps, Churchill's speeches and the services Jim mentioned, they carried thousands of 'coded' messages over the air. They made the many aware of what the few were up against.

One of their most brilliant tactics was the use of the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth - tum-tum-tum-dumb - as their signature for breaking news boadcasts because:
1. Beethoven was German .
2. The rhythm of those notes spells the morse code for 'V' which stands for 'Victory'.

And they achieved it.
And I don't mean the events following D-Day when, with a little help from their friends, the Allied Armies crushed the Nazi regime. I mean they stopped the invasion of Britain in 1940 and 41. The German armies sat poised on the coast of France listening to the BBC and ventured no further.


~jwf~

J3! (Jimster, Jon, jwf) Whoa! I was merely objecting to the *absolute* of the statement. I wasn't being sarcastic when I said *the Beeb is a solid column holding the heavens aloft*. I recognise the invaluable service it has, is, and will provide. I was just protesting that is was not the *ONLY* thing that stopped Hitler, neither in the Invasion of Britain or any other facet of the war. It was hugely influential and had a secret and public part in the war that may remain immeasurable, but it was not the single, solitary, winning effort.

And no, I missed being a war baby by six years. My sisters were both born in Britain before 1944, though so I've had my share of stories. My father being a commander in the RN for the entire war is one of the reasons I had to *share the compliments*.

>> ..was not the *ONLY* thing that stopped Hitler.. <<

Is it the 'big' versus 'little' factor that cripples your imagination?

Like the butterfly flapping its wings in the Congo wasn't the only thing that caused a tornado in Arkansas a week later? Maybe.

Or like the mouse that stepped in the path of a charging herd of elephants and turned them away from the farmer's fields?

Or that small block of wood that stops an entire automobile from rolling down the drive?

Or the nail for want of which a shoe, a horse, a rider, a message, a plan, a battle and a war were lost?

C'mon picture yourself on a boat on a river where tangerine porters have looking glass ties... OK? Now picture yourself in full Waffen SS regalia, lounging on the beech somewhere in Normandy in the early 40s, a glass of '37 Pinot in your hand, listening to Beethoven on the BBC.

Now could you invade? I didn't think so.


>> ..a commander in the RN ..<<

Yes we mustn't forget the nurses either.


~jwf~

No you mustn't forget the nurses! Me Mum was one!!

Can I make a tiny, tiny point about the forthcoming national & local elections in the UK?

Seems to me that we've had (i)no warning and (ii) no possibility to choose regarding the fact that these elections will be EXCLUSIVELY carried out by post.

This has NEVER (as far as I'm aweare) been done before. The electorate wasn't asked for an opinion, it was simply presented as a "fait accompli".

I'm concerned that the results could be distorted beyond 'normal tolerances' level by people not knowing (or being bothered) to vote AT ALL, and also by the possibility for electoral fraud which this untried system could present for unscrupulous politicians (and/or their agents)

Comments?

My comment is that you are wrong - they are not to be exclusively by post. The combined election notification I was sent specifies a polling station. However, 2/3 of the piece of paper is allocated to trying to persuade me to vote by post, including a form to request a postal vote. If you've received nothing but a postal vote, perhaps that's because you are in an area with no suitable polling station or you had requested a postal vote previously.

Manchester is totaly postal, or so said the letter I got

Voting will be entirely by post in the East Midlands, the North East, the North West and Yorkshire & Humberside but you will be able to deliver it by hand (or have it delivered) to the Returning Officer up to the time the poll closes.

Any chance of a smiley in time for the election, Amy?