THE BBC'S Middle East round-up on Saturday night was a
notable project—but a sad disappoint- ment. It began well from Iran with an admirable interview of the Shah by Christopher Chataway, and ended well with another good interview from Israel by Derek Hart; but there was some very second-rate stuff in between. We saw quite a lot of Robert Kee in Turkey and of George Scott in Cyprus; but from all the light they shed on the situation they might as well have stayed in Soho—at least the recordings from Soho would have been more intelligible. I would have ex- pected the main part of the programme to be devoted to the trouble spots, Jordan and the Lebanon: but from Jordan there was only a short, scrappy interview with King Hussein (con- sisting of those parts of the interview which the BBC considered too dull to include on their programme two nights before?); and from the Lebanon a desultory car ride and shots of American tanks. Considerably the longest sec- tion was devoted to Aden; and Aden, after all, whatever its ultimate strategic significance, has not exactly been in the centre of things these last few days.
Previous page
