Some Comparisons

Benito Mussolini and Gary Lineker striking poses

Soccer pundit Gary Lineker dropped himself right in it when he compared the language used to launch the government's new asylum policy with that used in 1930s Germany.

In the same spirit, his balcony pose in a BBC News bulletin reminded me of more graphic analogy from that era.

The BBC said that the sports presenter was taken off their Match of the Day show after a row about the impartiality of Lineker's tweets claiming that he had breached its social media guidelines for tweeting about the government's new migration law.

Not wanting to be left behind, an increasing number of pundits are withdrawing their services in a show of solidarity for Lineker.

I see from his Twitter account that Lineker has 8.8M followers which may account for the outpouring of sympathy for the BBC’s top earner of over £1 million annually. 

By contrast Home Secretary Suella Braverman has a mere 120.9K Twitter followers.

From a Church Times tweet about another BBC casualty: "The BBC Singers is one of the leading advocates of choral music in the world, and their budget probably equals one sport presenter’s salary. The BBC corporate spin on it is beyond belief."

Sympathisers can sign a petition to stop the planned closure of the BBC Singers here.

The BBC previously announced that some of their News channel’s most famous faces, including Jane Hill, Ben Brown and Martine Croxall, were to be axed before the launch of a channel that combines international and domestic news.

For those of us who find the BBC's obsession with soccer completely disproportionate, some trimming of the seemingly endless number or presenters, commentators and reporters is long overdue.

The commentator John Motson  unwittingly summed up the problem in a quote from a tribute following his death. When the BBC apologised for a delay in presenting the News because coverage of a soccer game had overrun, Motson retorted, soccer is the news!

For too many he was right.

Hostilities

Some good news for a change:

Aid to the Church in Need reports that Christian girl Farah Shaheen, aged 12, from Pakistan, the subject of an earlier entry A slave for her faith has been joyfully reunited with her family this week following an unexpected court ruling in her favour. Farah had been abducted, forcibly married and made to clear filth in a cattle yard while shackled and attached to a chain. After being rescued, her father went to court to have the marriage rescinded. Aid to the Church in Need mounted a major media campaign in support of Farah, her family and advocates in Pakistan.

That is welcome news but the persecution of Christians around the world continues. From International Christian Concern:

Open Doors reports that "More Christians are murdered for their faith in Nigeria than in any other country. Violent attacks by Boko Haram, Hausa-Fulani Muslim militant herdsmen, ISWAP (an affiliate of the Islamic State group) and other Islamic extremist groups are common in the north and middle belt of the country, and are becoming more common farther south.

"In these attacks, Christians are often murdered or have their property and means of livelihood destroyed. Men and boys are particularly vulnerable to being killed. The women and children left behind are very vulnerable and living testimonies to the power of the attackers. Perpetrators are seldom brought to justice. Christian women are often abducted and raped by these militant groups, and sometimes forced to marry Muslims."

Meanwhile in Great Britain a BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour interview with the first woman to lead the Muslim Council of Britain has been criticised for being "strikingly hostile" with complainants calling for a greater representation of Muslims within the BBC.

The "hostility" referred to was an attempt by the interviewer to find out how many female imams there are in Britain. Either the Muslim Council's leader did not know or simply refused to say. She could have said so. Instead there are accusations of Islamophobia.

A sense of proportion is needed. 

Today's top story

I am not a soccer fan, nevertheless I understand why so many fans are wrapped-up in the 'beautiful game' which allows a degree of escapism from the trials of life but I despair that it dominates the news when matters of substance affecting the lives of people should make the headlines. 

Having endured the extended deference to Sir Alex Ferguson's impending retirement at lunch-time I thought that gesticulating George may have offered a more balanced presentation on the BBC's News at Six, but no, it was Sir Alex Ferguson's retiremant again. Soccer is portrayed as the beautiful game despite the disgusting example of over-paid players spreading germs not only by constantly spitting but by evacuating their nasal cavities onto the pitch, a habit that has become the norm along with having to drink excessive amounts of water at every conceivable opportunity. So as far as I am concerned the less exposure the better.

Normalisation was also the process highlighted in today's second story, the State opening of Parliament. Yesterday we absorbed the news that Charles would represent the Queen at the Commonwealth Conference in gesticulating George's home country of Sri Lanka and that Charles would have a more prominent role in future so here he was with Camilla his former mistress  being prepared to act as consort despite all the denials that accompanied their establishment as a couple after the death of Princess Diana, rather like the denials that accompanied the appointment of women priests then bishops - just give it time!

Afterwards came reports of abduction, murder and abuse with the obligatory gut-churning statements before what appeared to be almost an afterthought when some time was given at the end of the bulletin to the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous campaign of WW2 which ensured our survival and enabled us to watch events unfold now as a free country, sadly in decline, not through war but through total indifference.

Thank God for all those who gave their lives so that we are free to endure the trivia that has become all important today.