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.  

Diversity!

Dr Who used to provide regular family viewing many years ago when the children were growing up.

They now have children of their own. Accustomed to advanced computer graphics they are not easily upset by such as the Daleks.

Asking one of my grandchildren if he found a particular computer game too gory after seeing blood being splattered everywhere he looked at me in astonishment and explained that it was not real.

After reading that the new Dr Who played by Jodie Whittaker was 'a triumph for diversity' I thought I should take a look so watched the new series on Sunday evening.

The current Dr Who is far removed from William Hartnell, the original doctor. I was reminded of a youthful-looking Emily Thornberry. The word that came to mind was not diversity but tokenism.

Gender swapping is not diverse, it is perverse. Sex is determined by chromosomes, XX for a female or XY for a male, yet people born in New York City are to be allowed to have their sex recorded as 'X' in another nod to LGBT rights.

The NYC Mayor signed the provision into law with the words, "We want to make sure that people are not dependent on the subjective judgement of anybody else including a doctor"! That will be no comfort for the women prisoners sexually assaulted by a fellow inmate who self-identified as a woman and had previously raped two women.

In the next episode Dr Who meets 'civil rights icon' Rosa Parks.

When William Hartnell played Dr Who entertainment was entertainment, not political posturing.

One Born Every Minute

Looking at this evening’s television schedules I see that Channel 4 is offering One Born Every Minute in which “a man struggles with the knowledge that his partner is pregnant with someone else’s child”. I don’t know why anyone would want to advertise that let alone enter themselves in the minor celebrity stakes but that’s life these days.

I have to confess that I haven’t watched any of these programmes but I know a midwife who has, driven as she was by professional curiosity. One glance was enough, appalled by the sight of a woman in the agonies of her labour being laughed at by the husband/partner and their teenage son. How entertaining.

Nowadays of course even the news is classified as entertainment. As Gorgeous (to some) George says when he has finished conducting his Six O’clock News slot, “Stay with us for all the day’s entertainment on the BBC’s News Channel”! Where will it end? I see that the Church of England is moving increasingly with the times telling people that they are “welcome to marry in the Church of England whatever your beliefs, whether or not you are christened and regardless of whether you go to church or not”: http://www.yourchurchwedding.org/youre-welcome/you-can-marry-in-a-church.aspx

That had me thinking that with a little more imagination the C of E could have pandered to people’s curiosity even further by providing facilities for the congregation to witness the consummation as well but of course that would usually have occurred much earlier in our more enlightened society.