I’m still feeling a bit lazy after Christmas, but in the meantime here’s a thought from a Scot Goes Pop reader about Ian Botham – a man who earned his permanent unelected spot in the UK Parliament through sheer merit, because after all he can bat and bowl. And making laws we have to obey isn’t enough – it was only right and proper that the BBC handed over editorial control of the Today programme to him as well.
“Dear James,
I don’t have any online presence, but I do follow a lot of good folk, and so far I have seen no-one comment on the fact that in the oleaginously obsequious ‘interview’ with the stomach-churning bigot Botham at the end of that broadcast he edited, in the discussion of Brexit, Botham said straight out that ‘England’ would be fine, and the BBC interviewer did not pick him up on ‘England’ at all. It was a gift to an interviewer, and it was completely ignored. I once wrote to Radio 3 about such a mistake made by a Danish presenter of an archaeological documentary (‘and England became an island’) and goodness me, they wrote back very quickly and most apologetically; for as you know, BBC policy is push ‘Britain’ and GB and UK 113.0573 % round the clock. But for Bottom in Midwinter’s Night Dwam, no rules apply.
I cannot remember the exact words of the sentence, but it could doubtless be found on the i-player. I am not signed up, however.”
This isn’t the first time, of course – a few years ago, Botham famously said “remember, England is an island and we should be proud”. Really quite impressive stupidity from a man who once did a high-profile walk (not swim) from John O’Groats to Land’s End, and who has a grandson who plays rugby for Wales.
