Strictly woke

Strictly 2022 contestants                                                                                                                              Source: BBC Media

You can read everything you need to know about Strictly Come Dancing 2022 here - according to the BBC.

Others have a different story. From Mail Online: "The first live show of the new series of Strictly Come Dancing was watched by an average of 6.8 million viewers, according to overnight ratings. This was a drop in viewing figures from 2021's first live show which was watched by an average 7.9 million."

The reason according to other reports is that Strictly Come Dancing has become the BBC’s latest woke box-ticking exercise. Allison Pearson wrote in the Telegraph: "From mis-matched same-sex couples to the show’s first contestant with dwarfism, it’s clear producers value ‘inclusion’ over entertainment."

The show is following the same trend as the Eurovision Song Contest with next to no link between actual performance and voting. Even the judges appeared to be influenced by the tightness of a contestant's trousers which three commented on before what I thought was a lack lustre performance.

How far this has come from the Television Dancing Club which I commented on in 2019 when I wrote A million miles from Victor Sylvester! The BBC commented in 2014:

"Television Dancing Club first took to the floor on 27 January 1948. It was presented by popular band leader Victor Silvester and his Ballroom Orchestra, and brought some much appreciated glamour into the homes of viewers struggling with post-war austerity. Its mixture of dance lessons, competitions and show-dances proved a great hit and it launched television’s fascination with ballroom dancing that continues to this day."

Glitz without guilt. Those were the days.

Strictly come politicking

They're off! 

The annual, glitzy culling ritual has begun but with a new twist as ballroom dancing competitors dance against each other to get their hands on the prized glitter ball trophy.

After weeks of speculation the first same sex dancing partnership has been revealed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing show. 

From Twitter: Strictly Come Dancing launch sees Nicola Adams and Katya Jones paired. The Olympic gold medallist and former boxer joined 11 other celebrity contestants for the launch of Strictly.

In defence the corporation said that the show was 'inclusive' and that it was happy to facilitate Ms Adams' request to dance with a woman. 

So much for the BBC's mission to act in the public interest, to educate as well as entertain. What next one wonders if BBC policy is to facilitate personal requests.

The BBC defended their decision to have a same-sex pairing on the new series of Strictly Come Dancing after receiving complaints from viewers about the move when it was first rumoured. 

"The sex of each partner within a coupling should have no bearing on their routine", they said. Much like the Anglican Church's attitude to same sex marriage. More liberal drift.

Among the 'celebrities' I had heard of was boxing gold medallist Nicola Adams. Why anyone would want to take part in boxing is a mystery to me given all the evidence of brain injury resulting from the so-called 'sport'. The more so for women as they risk breast damage. This is entertainment? 

I had also heard of former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith but for very different reasons which resulted in her quitting her Cabinet post in 2009. 

Caroline Quentin rang a bell but I failed to recognise her from her Men Behaving Badly days. I recognised Bill Bailey mainly because I find his sense of humour irritating. The rest of the celebrities were unknown to me. The full list is here.

The surprise partnering of celebrities was a joke. There were no disappointments as one might have expected. All were delighted at the happy coincidence of the pairing of their dreams. 

As ever the professionals maintained their composure throughout. Let's face it. It can't be easy to maintain a smile while dragging around the dance floor an amateur retained purely by popular demand of the various voting factions regardless of terpsichorean ability.

 Strictly it's not dancing, just glitzy politicking.  

Anything but orthodox Christianity

Part of the human chain of "faith leaders from across Wales" who gathered outside a Cardiff Mosque as an act of solidarity with the Muslim community. BBC   

In their Evening News programme yesterday, BBC Wales Today gave extensive coverage to the Welsh link in the aftermath of the Finsbury Park mosque attack.

On the extreme left of this video still as if she were preparing for the hokey cokey is the dancing Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Ven Peggy Jackson. Brought into the Church in Wales by former Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, to impose his liberal agenda on the faithful, this late convert is happy to see cradle Anglicans left with no church while she supports just about any cause other than orthodox Christianity.

The hypocrisy of it all.