DIARY
Mr Michael Checkland, the new director-general of the BBC, has been quoted as saying that 'there are only five or six times a year when the director-general has to make an editorial decision'. This is clear evidence of why Mr Checkland's appointment is a mistake. The BBC's chief difficulties in recent years have been edito- rial and so have its chief errors. News and current affairs have been particularly adrift. The new director-general should bring them under much closer editorial supervision. He must understand politics. Mr Checkland is also unsuitable because he comes from the existing hierarchy. He is being asked to do something for which his career disqualifies him — justify the ways of the Corporation to the rest of us outside it. The man for this job must be by temperament extrovert and communica- tive, by experience outside the uncharmed circle of Broadcasting House administra- tion. If, on the other hand, he has appeared on the BBC, that is an advan- tage. Mr David Dimbleby is such a man and was a candidate for the job. But the reaction to his candidacy was extraordin- ary. Mr Michael Grade, the Director of Programmes, who is 44 to Mr Dimbleby's 48, said that he would resign if Mr Dimb- leby got the job. A strange and unpleasant stop Dimbleby campaign began. He couldn't administer, apparently; he was lazy and enjoyed parties too much; he was improperly close to Duke Hussey, the BBC chairman. Newspapers were fed stor- ies. Mr Dimbleby's real offence, of course, was to come from below stairs. He is a mere presenter, not a bureaucrat, and BBC bureaucrats look on presenters with a snobbery tinged with envy because they often earn more than they do. It is not surprising that the BBC's reputation is steadily sinking?
You say mongol We say Downs Syndrome His mother calls him David,' says the poster on the Underground placed by the Downs Children Association. That sounds just as it should be: people in general use a descriptive, simple word; people who care for the children profes- sionally use a medical term; the mother, of course, uses the Christian name. But no, it is not as it should be, as an accompanying poster makes clear: 'Sarah's just learned to say hullo. Can you learn to stop saying mongol?' Why should I? Mongol is a clear word, neutral in respect of esteem. I can see that its English use might annoy the inhabitants of Mongolia, but why should it make life difficult for mongols? The poster is part of a growing tendency of charities to bully the public. It is not good enough to CHARLES MOORE contribute, apparently. One must accept the opinions of the charity and speak in its jargon. I hope Sarah learns more words and I am sure that by sending money to the Downs Children Association, 12-13 Clapham Common, London SW4, we can all help her. But keep saying mongol.
M r David Bulstrode is surely the most public-spirited man in London. He owns Fulham football club. He wants to merge the club with Queen's Park Rangers and have it play on the QPR Loftus Road ground. He eventually wants Chelsea to squeeze into Loftus Road as well. On the sites cleared by these changes, he wants to erect houses, shops and offices. He there- fore wants what all sane people want homes, jobs and less football. But he is execrated for his pains. At a meeting at Hammersmith town hall on Monday, Mr David Prentice, the leader of the Labour council of Hammermith and Fulham, ac- cused him of having 'stitched up' Chelsea and of trying to do the same thing for Fulham. Mr Prentice said that Mr Bul- strode would not get planning permission from his council for the development of Craven Cottage, the Fulham ground. Mr Prentice is not supposed to say that sort of thing. Planning is a quasi-judicial proce- dure and councils are meant to give ap- plications a fair hearing, yet Mr Prentice was rejecting the application before he had considered it. This will interest the Depart- ment of the Environment when Mr Bul- strode appeals against the council, as he will presumably have to. Appeals are more and more frequent anyway, because the council's planning department is so incom- petent that large numbers of applications are not dealt with in the eight-week period after which applicants can take the matter straight to the DoE. By the way, Fulham- loving Mr Prentice is increasing his coun- cil's portion of the rates by 120 per cent this year, representing the party which puts jobs before everything else. There is cer- tainly an interesting connection between the decline of football and the decline of the Labour Party. But it will take more than Mr Prentice to reverse either.
Ihope that the appointment of Peter Imbert as Metropolitan Police Commis- sioner will hasten the review of a serious injustice. The four people convicted of the Guildford pub bombings in 1974 are still in prison. The 'Maguire Seven', convicted, as a result of the Guildford arrests, of running a bomb factory, have all served their full sentences. As Robert Kee's book Trial and Error makes clear, the convictions were almost certainly mistaken, based on con- fessions extorted by the police using vio- lence and threats. Mr Imbert knows about the cases because he was involved in the investigation of the Woolwich bombing at that time, and in this connection ques- tioned some of those who confessed to Guildford. (There is no suggestion, need- less to say, that he had anything to do with violence or threats.) Last year, Mr Imbert asked Detective Inspector Roger Pearce to conduct an investigation into the Maguires' case. It would be interesting to know what the result of this investigation is. Mr Imbert should use his important new posi- tion to get to the bottom of the matter.
Being a Cambridge man, I have no right to promote a candidate for the Oxford Chancellorship. So I merely observe that it would be more prudent and dignified of our second greatest university to prefer someone who has the ear of the Prime Minister to someone who is always trying to have her scalp.
This week, we begin a new section in the Spectator. Previously unpublished material by Evelyn Waugh on The Unquiet Grave inaugurates this innovation on page 27. The idea of the new section, which will appear frequently but not every week, is to give space to a major piece of writing which need not be as closely related to news as the lead article in the first half of the paper. The section will include memoirs, interviews, work-in-progress, book serialisations, travel pieces, literary discoveries. Authors include Kingsley Amis, Piers Paul Read, Craig Brown and Mark Boxer.
We are sorry to lose Peter Ackroyd this week as our film critic. He has done the job since 1979 and, as he says on page 41, feels that that is long enough. His replacement will be announced soon. Zen- ga Longmore will be writing the column next week. Next week's Diarist will be Alan Watkins.
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