The New Dawn and just not getting it

Part 1

So, the ‘Big Day’ dawned and finally we are a sovereign nation again, able to plough – for better or worse – our own furrow and shape our own destiny. Not that the EU seems to have noticed yet, seemingly they want to take on the world’s fifth largest economy and a prime minister who seems to have levelled the playing field by leaving it and moving on to a new pitch.

Much of the media, and presumably the types that read it and soak up the EU propaganda, have been left behind and need also to get a grip, although if media reports are correct and one of Cameron’s security detail left an automatic firearm and passport in the lavatory on an aircraft, the message has yet to permeate  the security services; there have been so many odd stories reported in the press since we became ‘free’ of the EU that I wonder if that was not some sort of planned media incident along the lines of ‘look here guys I’m still around’ by Cameron, but then I’m often accused of being a cynic.

Times are changing though, and changing fast, maybe the left and what some commentators describe as the Marxist media are about to find out for a change how it feels to have their ‘noses rubbed in it.’  They certainly don’t seem to like it ‘up em’ as Corporal Jones would have said in less PC times. They should be reminded that it was the Blair government that was going out of its way to rub the noses of the right in diversity; ‘you reap as you sow’ comes to mind.   Talking about the left, they are certainly getting in a twist now with Johnson being given the ‘Trump’ treatment by remainers still smarting at losing control of the Brexit narrative and still not accepting that ‘we’ve left the EU actually’ coupled with Boris trouncing Corbyn at PMQ’s – and why not? As that EU deputy speaker said: ‘Politics is a serious business.’

Stories in the press have included opinions on just about everything that the government may have suggested, said or implied in the last week. The economy? Boris is about to find out just how fragile it is.  Boris is about to Americanise the UK, Boris is going to go for WTO, Boris isn’t going to go for WTO , may sell out fishing or there again may not sell out fishing, terrorists may have licensed parole or not, HS2 may go ahead or not, and so it goes on. Apart from the political speculation by the informed people in the know (most of which could also be heard during a conversation in your local pub – if you still have one that is open – or in a coffee bar) the press is full of non-news stories, well, non-news if hearing about some personality’s sex life or some celebs latest farrago counts.  I counted 61 such stories covered in one on-line tabloid newspaper. The broad sheets are just as bad.  How about ‘Churchill’s other woman’ who turned out to be his cook who supported him throughout the war? I’m not sure of the age demographic of that newspaper but I’d bet it’s not the ‘millennials’. Another story was that the BBC, that bastion of fairness, impartiality and infallibility, often shows lack of respect to black MPs and treats them, and all BAME MPs, as the same. Apparently, part of the problem is the lack of diversity in most newsrooms and Ms de Cordova who raised the issue and is Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people, said the BBC’s name caption mistake was “not OK at all”. The population as a whole would probably agree about lack of respect as MPs as black and white have been disrespecting the wishes of voters for some time.  Maybe they haven’t noticed what anti Brexit MPs of all parties said about leave voters of colour or not and how they and their views have been treated by the BBC.

Meanwhile, the general population smarting from being ignored or talked down to by failed politicians, luvvies and  political broadcasters, having given fair warning of its intentions at the last general election and seen already that warning has not been heeded, is starting to take action.  Trust in the media, especially the broadcast media and particularly news channels, must be approaching an all-time low.  I’ve lost count of the number of people who now say they don’t watch TV news any more and instead watch any amount of internet alternatives.

In the United States CNN has lost thousands of viewers, mainly it would seem because of its political bias – does that sounds familiar?  Calls to remove the licence fee from the BBC or make it a subscription service are increasingly vocal, as the output is talked about with derision by many and not watched or wanted by others.  Has it gone unnoticed that young people are not interested in terrestrial linear TV and don’t watch it? For those that do, the terrestrial stations’ coverage of Brexit Eve, the hostile treatment of Brexiteer people interviewed, seems to have been the last straw, something that politicians, advertisers and marketers may like to note.  Many people – particularly those who pay the license fee – are indicating that they are totally fed up with the ‘woke’ culture, political correctness, climate change propaganda and the full-on left wing anti-British messages relentlessly portrayed on TV comedy, drama and advertising.

Many people are turning away from the self-important personality, the political editor venting their personal opinion as news – mostly it seems on ‘leaked’ information or the view of a source or insider.  No evidence given of course, just innuendo and distortion by so called journalists, one of whom having apparently been asked to leave an invitation-only briefing at Downing Street indicated that they thought the government was trying to avoid being scrutinised and held to account by the media.  No, actually the government is held to account by parliament and the voting public; the media reports the results.

The current situation with the media is an example of how the media thinks these days and why it has such a bloated sense of collective importance.   The BBC, ignoring the hole in its budget payments from the EU now we have left, received £3.75 billion from the TV licence tax last year, the licence fee is going up by £3, this April too and the over 75s won’t get their free licence. Maybe ignoring the huge salaries paid to its ‘stars’, the dozens of local radio and news rooms, its web-site, its ‘pod casting’, education and training departments, world news and its charity BBC Media.  Maybe it’s feeling the pinch of austerity and needs the extra money? but I think not. Do they think that they are too big to fail or too powerful to take on? just like their friends in the EU who also sowed the seeds and failed to see the whirlwind coming.

Part 2 of The New Dawn and just not getting it will be published here tomorrow.