Abolish the BBC Y/N

Beefs with sounds:

No descriptions of shows

No original broadcast dates on shows - I was recently listing to a good doco about northern soul in japan which talked about the Wigan casino opening 40 years ago this year; its a good job I know a bit of northern souls history so know that 1979 is too late but the original TX date is 2013 and is necessary for placing the narrative in context.

I want to know which station shows were comissioned for - a 3 drama sounds different from a 4 one, and a world service doco is different from a 4 one.

Searching/browsing is terrible. I want to be able to filter by network - witness is a good strand but it dominates the documentaries category

Ok, two of those things seem to have been fixed since I last used sounds.

when I was trying to play The Ratline series it wouldn't play the episodes in sequential order

this works on web, but not in the app. they are working on a fix.

The search function is terrible

yes :( this is in the hands of "the search team" in salford. the most important thing it to match the first few words of the title exactly. there are improvements coming to this but i have no idea when.

the front page is stacked with stuff nobody wants

the manual curation is geared towards under-35s. ;) but the front page is also filled with: algorithmic recommendations and "continue listening" which should be pretty specific to the sorts of things you listen to. the algorithm at the moment is fairly blunt - there is a lot of work being done to make this better. another big difference coming up is "segmentation" - where Sounds can serve up different curations to different audiences. currently everyone sees the same manual curations (similar to iPlayer). but fairly soon you will get a different mix of stuff on the front page if you're, say 60, than if you're 25. it can be tricky to get this stuff right because you don't want to immediately get served up The Archers and Gardener's Question Time the day you turn 35.

No descriptions of shows

No original broadcast dates on shows

Ed if i find Shine Like Tokyo (the doc you mention) in the app it has a full description. at the bottom of that description it says "first broadcast in 2013". it is true that the latter depends on the producer being wise enough to include that in the description - it's not a field that automatically gets pulled in in a structured way (though it does on web). others have complained about this too. i'll see what the plans are on that.

Searching/browsing is terrible. I want to be able to filter by network - witness is a good strand but it dominates the documentaries category

weirdly (to me) the categories at the bottom are more popular than the lovingly curated collections above them. even though they're just a bone-simple reverse chronological firehose of stuff that's been tagged with a particular genre. it's weird. so there are plans afoot to make those categories better.

one thing that bugs the shit out of me is that upcoming episodes, that have not been broadcast yet, don't show you their descriptions - it's greyed out.

the people who designed it started from the principle that only playable audio should be accessible. if something wasn't playable it just wouldn't show up. including future episodes. at launch there weren't even schedules. they have backtracked on that a little but you can still see that principle at work.

I think I remember those shows from when they were broadcast.

― Stephen Yakkety-Yaxley-Rosbif (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 20:58

the 80s one I assume and not the 70s?

Mark S (who also inspired my Oor Neechy d/n) told me that he had the book with the transcriptions of the series. So I got one cheap on ebay.

btw did you know Bryan Magee was still alive?

this statement seems... ill-advised

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/14/bbc-attacked-for-failure-to-provide-abortion-advice

All part of the pathological obsession with being 'fair and balanced'.

NHS comeback was measured and otm but could have done with more spittle-flecked invective about what gormless fuck decided that free access to legal abortions is the "controversial" side of this "argument"

seriously hope somebody loses their job over this

Good evening!

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/feb/15/bbc-this-week-to-end-after-16-years-as-andrew-neil-steps-down

https://www.clashmusic.com/sites/default/files/field/image/bobby-gillespie.jpg

His little setpiece speech about Churchill at the start of last night's show was nauseating - he's such a boilerplate West of Scotland Unionist Orange cunt.

... and Andrew Neil's almost as bad.

I would keep the show but just change everything about it.

whoever thought it would be a good idea to inject some humour into the show, with the comedic talents of portillo/postman twat really deserve a good shoeing.

Can someone turn that pic of Boaby into an animated gif where he's nodding and giving a thumbs up?

(xp) That would be Andrew Neil.

is Fraser Nelson going to be his replacement? the BBC fucking loves him.

Wallcome taw this weeg's odition of Thus Weeg, I'm Freezer Nolson.

Isn't he that shit comedian?

he is about as funny as most comedians with the added bonus of having a mystery daft accent that is NOT scottish, not fucking anything tbf!

Oti Mabuse, Gillian Smart, Mishal Husain, Kawser Quamer and Alina Jenkins are the only reasons I wouldn't say television should be abolished altogether.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

All Britain tensely awaits the verdict.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Cheers break out in certain pubs in W1.

pic.twitter.com/zcNZpxboiV

— Peter Hampson (@IvansMeads) March 31, 2019

Mentioning Orwell automatically means I'm sceptical of that post but there might be interesting bits of detail that explain, and it does name names.

shouting at the sky, Kuenssbergs gonna Kuenssberg etc, and also I'm 2 days late, but I am not liking the wording in the bottom section of this at all
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49972097

"a fair hearing from the EU ... just doesn't appear to have happened"
"Sources say the EU ought to listen 'to the people who won the referendum, not the people who lost'"

accurate, impartial, independent and fair ™

while I'm happy to be subsidising simpering CCHQ fanfic, maybe next time they ought to not make such a fuss when someone says the Klan man is possibly a bit racist.

So did they do good last night? Fiona Bruce also seemed ok? Wonder if there was more care or scrutiny with the QT special last night

corbyn’s manifesto has radicalised them

QT was good last night entirely because it wasn't at all like QT, we will be back to the usual rigmarole next week.

Facebook Tories moaning like fuck about it, looking forward to being told in the pub

Just watched it (skipped Sturgeon). Thought Fiona Bruce did a great job and I felt like everyone was properly held to account with an interesting range of policy questions.

(Lol at that fucking Morales melt tho')

Think there will be a lot of complaints sent in to the been about it from Tories. Don't know what a Lib Dem will do beyond hide under the sofa

they have been spoilt by years of a version of laughable public scrutiny in bbc studios that usually involves a back massage and a pre-broadcast agreement on what questions will be asked. They don't like it up 'em!

Emma Barnett is going to chair a 'young people's Question Time' on 9 December

bbc do have a tradition of letting blond haired lunatics loose on young people tbf

Just watched it (skipped Sturgeon)

Worth watching Sturgeon to see someone actually tell Fiona Bruce she's misinterpreting. It's a very good demonstration of what it looks like when a party leader believes what they're saying rather than parroting rehearsed lines and panicking when challenged or asked to deviate.

Anyway, we seen this doing the rounds on Twitter?

https://t.co/PjhAQsWLoH

new polls looking v good for tories and v bad for Labour in scotland and resolutely unshifting for the Labour-Tory gap. i don’t know where you all find your optimism from.

there was at least some poll variance in 2017 but this seems resolutely unfavourable across the board including that MRP tracking done by Datapraxis. (i know it’s still only as good as the data that goes in but still).

wrong thread.

Wrong electorate

Will try and watch Sturgeon later.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/nov/24/jack-whitehall-review-o2-arena-london

this guy sounds absolutely hellish from this review.

" he has always come across as the Conservative party in standup form"

I don't know how much they pay this cunt but he sounds bad. A search shows he is all over the bbc and according to them is: "one of Britain's favourite comedians". He's a posh Tory cunt who does a tv show with his dad .. no wonder the UK is so fucked.

I have been out of the UK for ages and back a couple of years and one thing I can't figure out is Jack Whitehall, is he supposed to be unfunny? Is he doing a parody of a posh guy who isn't funny but gets by on confidence alone? I feel like it isn't a joke, he is just that terrible, but then why is he always on TV, sometimes with people who are actually good? Do some people actually like him? Why?

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, February 25, 2019 12:03 AM (nine months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Bantz, fella. The Archbishop of Bantlebury. Lord Bantlington. Etc.

― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Monday, February 25, 2019 12:06 AM (nine months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Death to bantz, double death to posh boy bantz.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, February 25, 2019 12:16 AM (nine months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've never knowingly seen him, but double death to posh boy bantz sounds good to me.

the Brian Logan review of his 02 show is excellent stuff btw!

He was actually good as an irritating clueless poshboy cunt in "Fresh Meat" but that was, er, acting.

BBC making the biggest splash they can with this story, it seemed to take up the first 10 minutes of the 10 o'clock news on R4

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50552068

It's a shameless attack. Same w/ Laura K's "not saying just saying" tru colours, the editing out of the jeering of bojo, etc etc. I was never naive about the bbc, but I can't remember seeing them stan for the tories so much in such a short space of time, with such fervor.

Retroactively - given the last couple of weeks - I would really like to change my vote in this poll to a firm 'N' instead of my initial 'it's bad but 'Y''. Never thought it could be as bad as reported here, but it is. My new vote is:

Abolish the BBC: Y (but find a good home for Catherine Southon).