Radio
Soothed by the strike
Michael Vestey
On waking last Thursday morning, later than usual, I switched on the radio and spent one of the most soothing periods between eight and nine that I've experi- enced for some time. There seemed to be a longer than normal news bulletin read by Peter Donaldson, followed by a digest of the newspapers. Then, I heard Petroc Trelawny introducing music by Handel and Vaughan Williams. Radio Four had merged with Radio Three.
My first thought, though, was: where was I? I hadn't retuned the radio to Radio Three the night before. Or had I? It tran- spired that BBC technicians had gone on strike and Today and other news and cur- rent affairs programmes had been forced off the air. What bliss! The house seemed strangely tranquil. No Humphrys, Frank Dobson, David Blunkett, no dubious sur- veys on which to peg a reporter piece, no politically correct clergy on 'Thought for the Day'. Just Trelawney and the music from his programme On Air. An almost holistic calm descended upon me. I no longer had to worry about what was going A little olive oil and easy on the newts.' on; an addiction to Today that often pre- vents me from listening to Radio Three at that time of the day, had been broken tem- porarily. I loathe unions and during my BBC career I never once went on strike, happily crossing the picket lines outside Broadcast- ing House. Portly well-paid broadcasters would stand there, asking in disbelief: 'Why are you going in there?' I would give them a cheerful wave and move on. An Old Eto- nian presenter once drawled that he couldn't possibly cross a picket line, so 1 stood in for him. Usually one wasn't thanked by the management who often felt confused about the issue, within them some atavistic sense of solidarity was struggling with their obligations as managers. Howev- er, Ian Hargreaves, who came from the Financial Times to run news and current affairs, did thank me once, no doubt a chastening experience for a future editor of the Independent and New Statesman.
So last Thursday I was grateful to Bectu, the union that had called out its members at the BBC. When can you do it again? I ask. Of course, the reason for the strike was absurd, as usual. The BBC is turning its technical arm into a separate company called BBC Resources and the union thinks this is privatisation by stealth. Of course it is, but this is where the BBC is heading as the realisation grows that an ever-increas- ing licence fee is untenable. I doubt if there's anything Bectu can do about it except in limiting the redundancies that will follow. If the BBC had stuck to what it is good at, that is making programmes, instead of wasting millions on management consultants, venturing into hugely expen- sive digital broadcasting and launching its 24-hour television news service that nobody watches, it wouldn't be in the mess it is today. The Corporation has also made a hash of its news information service, closing down the Broadcasting House branch and merg- ing it with the television cuttings library. The result has been that it cannot cope with demand and producers and reporters have gone without important background information for their items. There was a moment on Monday this week when I hoped the union would stage a lightning strike. It was when I was listening to Start the Week on Radio Four which had assem- bled a startling collection of bores, even by its own standards.
The BBC's favourite feminist Bea Camp- bell was talking about her latest book, a dosh-for-tosh tome about Diana, Princess of Wales. When she mentioned dysfunc- tional aristocrats, repeating all the fashion- able clichés about upper-middle class upbringings — Prince Charles had been a victim of 'institutionalised abandonment' by being sent away to school — I groaned. Oh God, we're not into more cuddles are we? It seems we were. At Cambridge, she said, Charles was prevented from behaving like other undergraduates. That's not what I've heard. The idea, though, that a future king can be one of the chaps seems to be deeply rooted in the left-wing mind but this is probably because they'd really like to see the monarchy wither away or abolished.
Campbell seemed to think that it's only the upper-middle classes who have prob- lems, as if marital breakdowns were uncommon elsewhere in society. She's now busily turning the Princess of Wales into a feminist icon. I might be unlucky with Start the Week as I don't catch it every week but I have often thought it too long and ram- bling, especially if, as seems to happen reg- ularly, some of the contributors are poor talkers. The programme needs to be much sharper. On Monday it was suddenly faded out because the presenter Melvyn Bragg couldn't remember whether or not it was coming back next Monday. It seemed entirely appropriate that the Daily Service which followed it was conducted by a man announced as the Reverend Tosh.
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