Phil the Greek, him gorn

From: william (WILLIAMA) 9 Apr 2021 12:35
To: ALL1 of 33
Born outide this Sceptered Isle, he disguised his wealthy entitlement and casual racism under a cultivated veneer of rascally bonhomie. Cut from similar cloth to BoJo really - but posher.

Still, at least he was a great success as a patriarch, instilling strong values into the generations that followed on.
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 9 Apr 2021 12:42
To: william (WILLIAMA) 2 of 33
According to MrsD., who recently completed an online course in Scandinavian history, Phil was of Danish royal ancestry, like half the crowned heads. Even though he was raised in Greece, he carried a Danish passport and met HRM whilst serving in the Danish navy *with distinction* (the distinction of being a royal in military service).
EDITED: 9 Apr 2021 12:47 by DSMITHHFX
From: william (WILLIAMA) 9 Apr 2021 12:52
To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 3 of 33
Indeed, and descended from Queen Victoria, as is HRH Elizabeth. Phil and Liz were third cousins.
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 9 Apr 2021 13:18
To: william (WILLIAMA) 4 of 33
From: milko 9 Apr 2021 15:00
To: ALL5 of 33
another fucking one timing it so that I have to do extra work on a Friday afternoon ffs. 

News: old man pops clogs. I don't suppose we get to pay any less for the royals now there's one less of them? They keep having babies so it's probably for the best it doesn't work that way.
Message 42768.6 was deleted
Message 42768.7 was deleted
From: koswix 9 Apr 2021 18:47
To: william (WILLIAMA) 8 of 33
Can't believe they've cancelled have i got news for you for extended coverage.
From: william (WILLIAMA) 9 Apr 2021 18:58
To: milko 9 of 33
Sorry to hear about the extra work.

My personal gripe is trivial by comparison, but then most irritating things are. It's my habit to start cooking dinner at 18:00. At this point I don the old headphones and listen to whatever scifi/fantasy radio broadcast Radio 4 extra has to offer. Could be Vincent Price, could be an old Journey into Space from the 50s. At the moment it's I am Legend, a 2006 reading of the actual 1950s book which is far more engaging than the Will Smith "I am sexy" version. Except it isn't/wasn't. It was the SAME FUCKING NEWS BROADCAST that was on ALL BBC Radio channels, as the BBC rolls onto it's tummy so the Boris party won't hate it.
From: koswix 9 Apr 2021 19:19
To: william (WILLIAMA) 10 of 33
presumably we'll all be getting refunded a days license fee?
From: koswix 9 Apr 2021 19:19
To: koswix 11 of 33
oh, and even CBBC had a double length extra special Newsround to make sure the younglings don't miss out on their indoctrination either.
From: ANT_THOMAS 9 Apr 2021 20:50
To: william (WILLIAMA) 12 of 33
Usually listen to BBC Radio 6 Music when I'm WFH. Really pissed me off. Had to let Spotify pick my music instead this afternoon.
From: william (WILLIAMA) 9 Apr 2021 21:53
To: ANT_THOMAS 13 of 33
I don't get it. Yeah, OK, he was the queen's old feller, and a big deal, and famous and all sorts of stuff. But every channel the same news broadcast? WTF? Sounds like a committee decision with the committee being told what was going to happen by Richard Sharp.
From: william (WILLIAMA) 9 Apr 2021 21:57
To: ALL14 of 33
Oh, keep up!
 
Quote: 
 a committee decision with the committee being told what was going to happen by Richard Sharp

Wikipedia:
Quote: 
Sharp was an advisor to Boris Johnson during his tenure as London Mayor, and to Rishi Sunak as Chancellor. He has donated more than £400,000 to the Conservative Party.
​​​​​​​
From: Dave!!10 Apr 2021 05:34
To: william (WILLIAMA) 15 of 33
The BBC are great at going overboard like this.

I remember a few years ago being on holiday in a remote part of Scotland without Wifi or phone signal. After a nice walk, I decided to see what had been happening in the world by popping on BBC News 24. Turned on the TV to find out that Terry Wogan had died.

"That's shit" I thought to myself. Half an hour later, I had no idea if anything else had happened in the world, they were still going on about Terry and interviewing the sister of his friend's tennis partner to get her thoughts.

I do hate when they hijack the news just to go on and on and on about one story. Yes, things like this deserve to be covered - probably to a bigger degree than some stories. But they do like to take the piss and ignore anything else that may also have happened.
From: william (WILLIAMA)10 Apr 2021 07:11
To: Dave!! 16 of 33
Yes, and this is exactly the time to keep eyes peeled for "controversial" government news being released.
From: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX)10 Apr 2021 12:26
To: Dave!! 17 of 33
One senses they have amassed a trove of such material (Phil's obit)  over the years, and they want to get their money back out of this sizable investment.

Wait 'til queenie dies, you ain't seen nuthin' yet!
EDITED: 10 Apr 2021 12:27 by DSMITHHFX
From: Dave!!10 Apr 2021 14:02
To: CHYRON (DSMITHHFX) 18 of 33
Well, the Beeb has been so inundated with complaints about their wall-to-wall coverage and cancellation of numerous shows that they've set up a dedicated complaint link for it.

So, if you were pissed off at hearing/seeing nothing but Prince Philip everywhere, here's the link to complain: https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/death-duke-of-edinburgh-tv-coverage/#/Notification
From: Peter (BOUGHTONP)10 Apr 2021 16:00
To: Dave!! 19 of 33
That link is returning a generic 404 now, and the header on the complaints form is gone.

Still the Wayback Machine has copies of what they contained...
https://web.archive.org/web/20210409175919/https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/death-duke-of-edinburgh-tv-coverage/
https://web.archive.org/web/20210409215827/https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints

Given the way the BBC responds to complaints in general, I'm not sure why people would bother.


The complaints from 2011 includes the following:

> Royal Wedding 2011, General coverage 09 May 2011
> Complaint
> We received complaints from members of our audience who feel that we devoted too much coverage
> to the wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton.
>
> The BBC's Response
> The royal wedding was an event of national significance, which captured the public imagination both
> in the UK and internationally. We're pleased to have brought coverage of this celebration to audiences
> on the BBC. The fact that in the UK a peak audience of 20 million people watched the wedding
> service on the BBC and that more than 34 million viewers watched some of our coverage of the
> wedding across the day is testament to the considerable interest among our audience.

And:

> BBC News, coverage of Osama Bin Laden’s death. 04 May 2011
> Complaint
> We have received complaints from members of our audience who feel that we have devoted too
> much coverage to the announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden.
>
> BBC News' response
> The discovery and death of Osama Bin Laden was by any standards a major news story. The
> operation to find him had lasted over a decade, during which time Al Qaeda has continued to mount
> attacks around the world. The details of his killing, his hiding place and the many political ramifications
> in the US, Pakistan and elsewhere fully justified the level of coverage BBC News devoted to the story.

They didn't give a shit then, and I doubt they'll give a shit now.

EDITED: 10 Apr 2021 16:01 by BOUGHTONP
From: Dave!!10 Apr 2021 16:55
To: Peter (BOUGHTONP) 20 of 33
I wonder who's betting that the Tories have leant on them to take the easy link down...