IT IS HARD to believe, but in the whole of
the British Broad- casting Corporation there is apparently nobody who can be trusted to argue its case on the air. For what other explanation can there be of the decision to put up Sir Ian Jacob as the Corporation's spokesman, in At Home and Abroad last Friday? Sir Ian deserved to be commended for his decision to stand firm in this dispute: particularly as, by refusing arbitra- tion, the Musicians' Union have tacitly confessed that their case was poor. But Sir Ian is no broadcaster. The secretary of the Musicians' Union was quick, crisp, and plausible in his replies : his case may have been poor, but he made the best of it. Sir Ian was laboured, woolly and repetitive in his replies : he had a good case, and bungled it. Surely the BBC could take one man out of, say, their French services (its staff is popularly believed to be considerably larger than its listening public) and train him to act as spokesman, when the need arises?
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