For once they weren't discussing a forthcoming BBC programme on Breakfast this morning. No. They were discussing a Channel 4 programme aired last night, focussing on the meddlesome Prince Charles. And who did they get on to discuss it? Two arch-Royalists in the form of Dickie Arbiter, a Royal hanger-on wheeled out by the BBC at every opportunity, and another pro-Royal, Eve Pollard. The former made some rage-inducing comments such as 'Prince Charles can't make choices like the rest of us, he can't decide, I'm going to go and be a solicitor...' (I paraphrase). Well, actually, he could, couldn't he? Haven't some minor royals dallianced with business in the past, and hasn't Charles himself forayed into the organic food industry? The only difference is, he wouldn't have to try very hard at playing solicitors, because if Charles, Wales and Prince Limited went tits up, he wouldn't have to sell the house (well, houses...no, hang on, palaces) to pay off his debts. Moreover, he wasn't faced with the prospect of having to find a job as quickly as possibly after study to avoid living on the streets, like most of us.
I have to say that Prince Charles, of all the royals, is the one that I come closest to not loathing, probably because he's a man of principle, and some of those princples are aggreable and quite cute (OK, not the one where you're allowed to tear a fox apart with hounds for fun...). But what I find baffling is that the corporation felt they could assemble a 100% Royalist panel to rubbish Channel 4's argument. And don't pretent that Dermot and Sian's interrogation was in any way challenging to these two pundits -it wasn't: it was all comfy-sofa talk, and Dickie is sat on that sofa so often he's probably got a pair of tweed slippers underneath it (with his family crest on them, naturally). There was a disturbing air of, 'So, we're all in agreement that Channel 4 were wrong are we? Marvellous. Over to Carol for the weather.'
I like BBC Breakfast. I think Sian Williams and Dermot Murnaghan provide much needed, probing analysis of all of the key stories that will dominate the news agenda on any given day. I find the programme's arts coverage second to none and I rarely come away from watching an item without having my prejudices challenged and new, important thought provoked. Who am I? I'm an idiot.
Posted by: Matthew Whitfield | March 13, 2007 at 06:52 PM