Tumbling Dice.

I read the news today… oh, boy… 2,000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire. Hey, if that was all that the front-pages were reporting on, if that was the main item then… would we all be worried? Nah – of course not.

Am I a tad late in catching up… yes, a bit because its been a mad-crazy week for Project X. So, a bit like the cow’s tail, I’m all behind.

So... what's on the good old agenda today? House prices across the UK down by a staggering 17%... The recession is biting but no one seems to have the guts to say, wait up a moment, this is really a depression… not just a recession. Why won’t anyone stand up and actually be… honest for once, and tell it like it is?

Lets look across the water – and ask ourselves this then. Why, just as a random example, did it take CNN – one of the most reliable news resources on this earth – 48 hours last weekend to acknowledge that the US of A had taken Syria to task by deploying a number of helicopter-gunships and strafing the shit out of a number of innocent women and children… the BBC, The Times of London – the Thunderer, The Daily Stale (whoops, Mail), Reuters and AP all had it… watching it all unfold over the Internet as a running news item wasn’t all that invigorating - in fact, it was truly madly deeply depressing but… CNN… nope… they ignored it. Highly curious.

So why is it significant? Well, in that CNN would be a primary source of news all over America… one would have thought that the American populace would have wanted… needed… to know what their outgoing President, good ol’ George double U was up to; one of his final throws of the tumbling dice at the end of his crumbling regime that’s destined to ignominy with Barrack – half man, half biscuit – Obama coming up on the outside rails like America’s new Messiah.

But, will he solve the Wall Street shuffle?

London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Dubai, Merle. It’s the same everywhere; the value of the Euro is bound up in the exchange-rate of the Dollar which is controlled or not as the case may be by the fluctuating Pound whose strings are pulled by the puppet-masters of the Yen while the Rand nestles up to the Rupee because every company is outsourcing.

Outsourcing – what a lark. Call Directory Enquiries in Britain only to find that you’re talking to someone, somewhere in Bangladesh; ask for a number in Rochdale and receive the details for a connection in Roehampton. The rationale – its cheaper to do it that way. Does it matter that information that one requires is wrong? Absolutely not; we (company Z) are saving money so it has to be better. Bollox.

Directory Enquiries used to be one of the Great British institutions… a bit like the BBC. Reliable Aunty. And, this week, what on earth do the BBC think they’ve been doing?

On the one hand there was crazed uber-comic Russell Brand lambasting Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs in an unforgivable manner on his radio show. Aided and abetted by Jonathan Ross – who I first came across when he was a columnist on one of Britain’s lesser music magazines. Ross now earns (so it is said) 16,000 GBP… daily. If I earned that in a year, I’d be more than happy.

But… the BBC became weighed down by over 30,000 complaints for the ghastly outspoken comments made by the pair on Brand’s show. OK… that’s that bit… One has, thankfully, resigned and the other... oh dear, he's been suspended without pay for 3 months. Poor Jonathan, he'll only loose what... about a million. Poor dear, don't we all feel sorry for him. Act like a twat and get away with it.

But… there’s another bit that no one seems to have picked up on. Unless I haven't listened to the right news bulletins.

That was a pre-recorded show. Which means that – like every other show on radio and / or television, it’d have a producer at the helm. And, a producer’s role is to ensure that certain guidelines – niceties if you like – are met.

Yet… while the presenters were – justifiably – up in front of the Aunty's Beak… the producer lay silent… Why? Isn’t he (or she) the one ultimately responsible for saying yes… the show is fine for broadcast.

Isn't it time that people took responsibility... or, maybe I've got it all wrong and this isn't the 21st Century.