The Observer, also known as The Gaurdian, reports that:
Reading is ‘worse than Beirut’, claims Terry Waite
Former hostage Terry Waite stunned Women’s Institute members in Reading by telling them that dealing with their town’s traffic was worse than being held captive for almost five years, after being delayed on his way to speak to them.
Do I think Terry is exaggerating a bit at the detriment of our glorious town’s already overly maligned reputation?
OH YES!
The town traffic may indeed be a bit slower than the executive’s posh car, or Fiat Panda, can travel. It is, however, a reasonable, leisurely, pace for the good and even-tempered people of the town to go about their honest toil.
Even the BBC doesn’t cite Reading’s roads as main UK traffic black spots. No wonder those members of the Women’s Institute were stunned to hear such ill considered twaddle uttered from a professional public speaker and humanitarian.
Outraged-Wendy-citizen-of-Reading
Just incase there is any residual doubt amongst my readers that generally women are not considered praiseworthy, or enabled to take-on prasieworthy roles beyond those condoned by patriarchal values, the BBC reported an analysis that confirms that celebrity females are more likely to be HATED and less likely to be LOVED than celebrity males:
In a nutshell, despite years of equal opportunities, the media - and the people who watch and read - prefer the stay-at-home mother over a woman who lives her life in public, particularly one who is overtly ambitious or successful in making money. There is great satisfaction among many people in seeing them humbled
I do hope no one is terribly suprised or shocked by this result.
Excerpt from BBC article:
A woman who was seen being punched by a police officer in CCTV footage has said she is disappointed after it was confirmed he will not face charges.
Punching a female suspect (guilt undetermined) five times while the suspect is on the floor after having fallen down a flight of stairs, while colleagues watch, is legally acceptable according to the ‘Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)’ who stated that the police officer being investigated used
“justified and proportionate force”
Watch the BBC video footage which includes a brief explanation of legitimate subdue techniques that include punching. I had naively believed that the Police are trained to act in concert to restrain suspects using a range of effective techniques prior to resorting to punching.
The BBC article is at pains to state that the victim boes not think she has been racially abused. Unsuprisingly, whether this is an act of hate against females is not raised.
why I love England #2: The BBC
Public funded broadbcasting in the public interest rather than in the interest of making profit. With journalists all over the world who assume their audience has some intelligence and ask insightful rather than tabloid questions. I suspect that I have a crush on Jeremy Paxman. They produce high quality drama, comedy productions and Dr. Who. They backed Red Dwarf on BBC2 and Top Gear. They employed Dennis Potter and delivered Blue Peter who provided me with my first and enduring female role model in Valerie Singleton and gave me profound appreciation of the potential of squeezy bottles and sticky-backed-plastic to contribute to orld happiness.
Stephen fry quoted on Wikipedia’s entry about Valerie Singleton:
I have been pondering this business of fame since I was young enough to know Valerie Singleton from the Queen (for Americans and other non-Britons I should explain: one is a remote, god-like, autocratic woman endowed with powerful charismatic charm and the other is a constitutional monarch recently played on screen by Helen Mirren
What more could a girl want from broadcasting?
