The Moon of Liberty

Childrens television, once an integral part of early evening and Saturday mornings, is now very difficult to find on maninstream TV. There is of course the temptation to go down the 'It was better in my day' route, Every generation remembers it's own, the problem now is todays children seem to have virtually nothing at all.

This report in the Times suggests the two remaining flagship chidlrens TV shows, Blue Peter and Newsround, have seen plummeting viewing figures after the BBC decided to move the timeslot for these shows forwards to accomodate the ritual of seeing Anne Robinson mauling contestant on the 'Weakest Link.' Nothing worng with that in itself of course, but if it means the Blue Peter ship, and the wrekage of TV for young people sinks with it, It would be a sad thing indeed.

The BBC of course are an easy target with the decision that has been made, Fear that there will no new generation of cartoons, entertainment shows ect that todays chidlren can remember as there own is alive and well. But whatever can be said of the BBC, at least they still make, however token, an effort. Unlike ITV who just gave up completely. The channel that gave us Button Moon, The Sooty Show, T-Bag, Childrens Ward and Rainbow to name a few, now have absolutely nothing in the mainstream schedule. The old 4-5.15 slot has been taken over by gameshows like Golden Balls. They have decided to try and compete with Channel 4's gameshow slot where Countdown and Deal Or No deal rule the roost, rather than have the imagination to serve it's younger audience coming home from school.

It appears all the younger viewers have left is digital cartoon channels. The BBC have a CBBC channel and a CBEEBIES channel for the very young, it appears this in their view justifies the reduced schedule on mainstream BBC1. These channels generally have repeats of what has already been on BBC 1 earlier in the day anyway, or repeats of aged shows. There is also it may surprise some, a CITV channel digitally as well, although it's content is a combination of cartoons made years ago with no direct link to CITV, or the odd show which adults can remind themselves of days gone by, not the sort of output children would want to watch today anyway.

So there are some places to go for a child today, but nothing new is there for them. Nothing that will stick in the memory, nothing to call their own. Many say childhood is dying anyway, broadcasters appear to be feeding that view with their lack of imagination. It seems Blue Peter and Newsround may be all that is left, and even those brand names are not enough to keep a flicker of hope alive. There will be no new Crackerjack, or watch with mother, or magpie, or Art attack, or Rolf's Cartoon Club, or even the Tewwnies from more recent years. There will be no more stars like Roy Castle, or The recently departed Tony Hart to come through the world of chilrens TV presenting. No more anchors like Phillips Schofield, or Andy Peters to come through the ranks. No more shows like SMTV live, or Byker Grove or Grange Hill, that set up the careers of the likes of Ant and Dec and many of todays soap stars. If it is not re thought, childrens TV will soon be dead without trace, and be under no illusions that we will ALL be worse for it.

 

 

 

 

Had some problems posting so had to split this into 2.

Political howler of the year - Gordon Brown - For claiming he 'Saved the world', What a fool.

Politician of the year - Barak Obama - Defeating both the Clinton and Republican machines in the same year, hugely impressive.

Political comback of the Year - Peter Mandleson - Back in the cabinet, has masterminded a shock Labour bye election win, and now a Lord, love him or hate him, he has had a great year.

TV Comedy of the year - Outnumbered - A comedy where children are the stars, a great series.

TV Young star of the year - Ramona Marquez - Plays Karen in Outnumbered, she is 6 years old, and delivers brilliant lines with the timing of an old pro.

Silliest TV Moment -  Strictly Come Dancing - The Semi-Final farce, what a shambles.

Worst TV Show of the Year -  Little Britain USA

Sadest TV moment -  Carol Vorderman leaving Countdown - After almost 25 years, Carol left the words and numbers show in December.

TV Loser of the year -  Jonathan Ross

Radio show of the year -  Fighting Talk

Award for Foreign film - The Orphanage  - A gem of a Spannish film.

Surprise moment in film -  Angelina Jolie - A brilliant serious acting performance in Changeling.

Biggest disappointment in film -  Four Christmasses - With Vince Vaughan and Risse Witherspoon, I was hoping for a comedy treat at Christmas, is was more of a Turkey sadly.

Worst film of 2008 - The Strangers

I'm getting some problems so just testing if this blog is still working.

There are no set categories for this, it's time for a random set of year end awards, covering anything I like really.

Non UK Sporting hero of the year - Usain Bolt (simply amazing sprinting in the olympics major events)

UK Spoting hero of the year - Rebecca Adlington (Two gold medals in the pool with nowhere near the support some of the other sports the UK did well in had)

Pleasant sporting suprise of the year - Chris Hoy winning the Sports Personality award  - I really though Lewis Hamilton had won it, he will win it, but right it went to an olympian in olympic year)

Unsung sporting hero of the year - Victoria Pendleton - always seems to get overlooked due to the exploits of other cyclists, but consistantly the worlds best cycling female sprinter

The BBC red button award - Olympic sailing - The interactive red button system meant many sports you never usually see could be watched during the olympics, The coverage of the sailing was a pleasure to watch, espcially with the explois of Ben Ainslie, Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb, Pippa Wilson and Zac Purchase bringing home golds to boot.

Best olympic medal won that wasn't gold - Bryony Shaw - An unexpected bronze in the windsufing, and a reaction that showed it meant everything, look out for her in 2012.

Most exciting sporting moment - The last lap of the Brazilian GP - An incredible last lap when Lewis Hamilton won it, lost it, then won it again.

Sporting howler of the year - John Terry - Slipping over and missing in the Penalty Shoot out in the European Cup Final, handing Man United the win.

Biggest Sporting dissappointment - Shanaeze Reed - Red hot favourite for the olympic BMX gold, crashed on the final corner.

Just a note to wish everyone a Happy New Year, lets hope I will keep this more up to date this year, lol, we shall see.

It seems to create passions few other things can. The end of the world. Ove the last couple of days there has been no escape from it's discussion. Certainly where I work it's been the topic of many a conversation over the last couple of days, and from what I here a topic in many a home too. Scientists are currently attempting to re-create the conditions of the big bang, the start of the universe as we know it. Apparently the experiment has got off to a great start. 

Scientists state they will be able to learn more about the very start of the universe. faciniating if true, but does beg the question, how can they possibly know if what happens here mirrors the start of the known universe several thousand billion years ago? As nobody was there, how do we know, we don't of course, and neither do the scientists.

As a result of this we have also heard the lazy arguments around this being a waste of money, the UK alone has put £500 million in, thetotal cost is £6bn. Why can't we spend it on fighting climate change, or fighting world povety or whatever more 'worthy' causethey say. Well the reality is scientists may learn something from this, even if it's not to do with the start of the Universe, sometimes we have to stop feeling guilty about everything and expand into other areas, as a result, I say good look to the scientists, I hope you learn something, and well done to the affiliated Governemnts for agreeing to such a large scale project.

The experiment has caused a stir in another way. Endless suggestions that the experiement could create black holes we could die in, or the explosions would destroy the Earth and create the end of the world. The most amusing observations go along the lines of 'wouldn't it be funny if it happened.' Well, no, because if it happened we would be all dead, so nobody would be here to find it funny anyway.

In any case, lets break a world exclusive (well not really, but The Sun and The Mirror would claim it, so hey, why can't I) I'm writing this, and we are all still here, so the World did not end. Thankfully the prophets of the end of the world have a 0% record so far, although i guess they only have to be right once. For now though, until next time the 'end of the world' is nigh, I hope you all sleep well safe in the knowledge, we will all wake up tomorrow to find another day.

A number of years ago I sat down to watch what proved to be a fairly dull evening of football. Liverpool were playing German side Bayer Leverkusen in the 1st leg of their Champions league Quarter Final.1st legs of these games tend to be standard fair, the home side tries to establish a lead, the away side plays off the break to try and keep themselves in with a shout for the 2nd leg.

This particular game was a fine example of the pattern. Liverpool were trying to build a lead to take to Germany, Leverkusen played a defensive formation with just the one man up front in order to try and create something on the break. The man up front would be alone with little support most of the night, working as hard as he could to try and give the defense a break, but some time, run down the clock to make it more difficult for the home side to score.

On this night the man up front was not even a first choice striker, they were aving their main men for the second leg. I recall thinking their lead striker would make a great name for a Robot Wars Robot. Entering the arena, and now from Leverkusen ... BERBATOV!!! With Jonathan Pierce then telling us about the robots attacking weaponary and obvious weaknesses. Dimitar Berabtov was that nights man to play up front alone, working tirelessly for no reward, a bit like a robot really. only to be dropped for the second leg. As it turned out Liverpool only won 1-0, Leverkusen went through two weeks later, and Berbatov have done his job for the night.

Little then did we know that a few years later the saem Dimitar Berbatov would be right here in England, being bought by Manchester United for over £30 million as a top rated superstar player. He re-created himself after signing for Tottenham as a top goal scorer and brilliant technical player. From being a small squad player at Leverkusen he suddenly became Tottenham's top striker, and now a few years on he will be back in Europe's top competition not as the lone man up front in a team trying to retrict first leg damage, but as a star in his own right. Jonathan Pierce may also be doing the commentary, in days where Berbatov need not be a robot anymore.

Only time will tell of course if he actually delivers, but the story of Berbatov, a little known Bulgarian who has become a superstar, a man who learned his trade by doing his bit for the squad in his earier days, is an example for all youngsters who want to get into football.

2007 has gone, and could prove to be a hugely significant year. A significant year in politics, a significant year in English football (if football is what you call it.) A significant year in the way Britain is run, a depressingly significant year in the world of entertainment. But it's in the political arena where 2007 has seen most movement. I will start this year review with the world of UK politics.

UK Politics

The year started with Tony Blair (remember him) as Prime Minister. David Cameron for the Conservatives was on the rise, the Liberal Democrats where nowhere and the scene was abuzz as we knew we would have a new PM by the end of the year. The favourite, Gordon Brown, was visibly trying to crush any opposition to him in the forthcoming leadership contests, polls suggesting he would do worse than Tony Blair however, meant many were looking for an alternative, possibly including Tony Blair himself, as all reports had his relatiosnhip with Gordon Brown hitting an all time low.

The smart Blair loyalist David Milliband was touted as a challenger to Brown, but in the end he did not have thw ill to go for it. Therefore the 'challenge' was left to the laughable duo onthe Labour left, John McDonell and Michael Meacher. There attempt failed as they could not, even between them get enough nominations to launch a bid, So Brown walzed into Downing Street unopposed as the new PM.

The Lib Dems too had whats eems to be ebcoming an annual leadership contest. Ming Campbell, far too smart and intelligent for modern politics, faded into the abyss and Nick Clegg eventually took the job. Lib Dems may regret that Vince Cable, who coined the Mr Bean phrase to ccharacterise Gordon Brown's leadership, did not stand. Maybe if Clegg fails, that's next years contest.

The Tories had problems in the middle of the year. The cloud that is Iain Duncan-Smith (remember him) emerged with some traditional right-wing policies on the family, the fact teh Tories lost their lead at this point is no conincidence. Cameron also got into trouble over Grammar schools. These along with the Brown honeymoon allowed Labour to take the lead and look at holding an election, The Tories then produced a brilliant conference with lots of ideas that went down well, espeically on tax. John Redwood came up with economic policies that also went down with the mainstream media very well. These things steadied the ship, and Brown had to U-Turn on what is now known as the 'election that never was.'

The last few months went from bad to wrose for Brown, Northern Rock, millions of bank details being lost, an economy on the slide, all contributed to a collapse in confidence. For Brown the honeymoon is over, Cameron is back in the lead and Brown for many looks like a loser with failed solutions to offer.

To add to Brown's misery, a word about Scotland, the SNP won the Scottish elections, and polls show they continue to be on the rise. The Union and Brown's attempts at defining Britishness have failed north and south of the boarder, Alex Salmond is the Scottish First Minister, and Brown is under attack from all sides.

The most significant thing this year appears to be the way the debate is being framed. The Governemnt's defense of state spending against 'Tory cuts' is not working anymore. When John Redwood proposed his ideas fort he economy for the Tories, there was not a huge amount new, what was new was the Labour attacks on these policies that have worked for 10 years were turned on it's head , particularly by the written press. The debate is essentially the same, Labour support the state as the answer, the Tories do not, the difference now is, the press and the public used to agree with Labour on this debate, they don't anymore, and Labour's strongest card is gone as a result. 2007 is the year Britian lost it's faith in the state, and that is bad news for Gordon Brown.

Hello, I'm Kevin Alcock, and your somebdoy else. I begin here, this blog will deal with anything I wish. Politics, news, sports events, films and cinema, television, newspaper articles and any other random concepts I feel worthy of my time. Welcome to the ride. I hope you enjoy.

Of course being my blog this whole thing will be shamelessly biassed at times. But it's my blog so tough luck.

Regards

Kevin Alcock