Any idea when the beeb will be showing the highlights from the weekend?

I switched over last night to see what was going on on BBC1 – only to find they were showing 'highlights' of the concert I had almost entirely managed to avoid the night before.

It was as Gary Barlow's Jubilee song was being sung. Badly. I don't know who the two women I saw 'singing' were, but they were flat. Both of them.

I accidentally came across Gary Barlow's programme about how the Jubilee Song was put together, and having expected to press the button after 30 seconds, instead found myself watching a really good piece of television. Barlwo comes across as a true gent, one of nature's nice guys, but I didn't realise what a musical whiz he actually is, recording and mixing on his laptop in the most remote of locations.

The young lads with the oil drums were the Slum Drummers, a group of lads from the slums of Kenya, who were inspirational, especially Michael, who in addition to being from the slums was also blind, yet had an indefatigably positive outlook. What they must have made of the audience and the event as they took the stage I have no clue.

Snapshot bios of some of the performers are [url=http://www.jubileesing.com/performershere[/url. The two women were both military wives. they will have had better singing days, but that was live in front of millions and sorry but I think you're being mean and churlish.

But if you can catch Barlow's programme on iPlayer or something I recommend it. My personal favourite was the unique and haunting voice and guitar of a blind Aboriginal musician called Gurrumul, sitting on the edge of a cliff at sunset somewhere in the outback, but all in all it was an unexpectedly uplifting and inspirational bit of TV. Well done Gary Barlow.

Well, first of all, as I said in my previous post, I didn't know who they were – assuming they were the Tweedy woman and some equally untalented, overhyped and over-promoted individual, the likes of which increasingly populate our TVs and our dumbed-down culture.

Hard cheese if that entirely understandable 'mistake' was "mean and churlish".

Perhaps asking amateurs (and I do not mean the word deprecatingly) to perform live in such a situation was a mistake. Although given the performances of some others, excerpts of which I have seen, perhaps they were in good company. Funny how we now seem to consider that past-it or flawed performances are excusable at something that is supposed to be highlighting and celebrating something on a national scale. Although it was entirely in keeping with the totally embarrassing 'pageant'.

Maybe that tells us something about the UK?

It certainly makes me dread the Olympics even more.

Comment of the evening award must go to Fleet Street Fox on twitter, critiquing Grace Jones's performance: "She must have a pelvic floor like a trampoline"

If you really didn't know the basic premise of the Jubilee Song, it wouldn't have taken a lot of your journalistic nose to sniff it out. Personally I really enjoyed the performance and thought it had to be done live. Was kinda the point.

And you of course unravel your own point about the wisdom of using 'amateurs' when you (fairly) point out the ropey spots from some hard-bitten professionals. Though quite what Grace Jones was doing on the card, beats me.

Some quit witted relative of mine came out with "she would have had 4 buzzes are 4 "never in a million years" if she was auditioning for Britains Got Talent"

Just watched the concert.

How wonderful London looks.

So it required a journalist to switch on to work mode, on a day off, in order to find out about it? A good thing nobody might just have flicked between channels then ...



Amateur Night at Buck House.



Nope. There's a difference between performers of genuine talent, who were once great but whose voices are way past their best (but who don't actually sing flat) – and people who cannot actually do it properly in the first place. But in combination, they perhaps tell us something about the country as a whole.

All right, all right, I will accept the highly unlikely premise that you've in fact been living in a cave for 3 months, and had not inkling of what Gary Barlow was doing, and never heard the intros either




The People's Night.


Nope, you're still missing it. They could have got Kath Jenkins or Lesley Garrett or somebody to front the choir, but that wasn't what it was about. I would agree that the event did tell us a lot about the country, whether as a whole I'm not sure, but the hundreds of thousands there for the live event seemed like a pretty jolly bunch to me. Maybe all the curmudgeons stayed away.

FA... I've not been living in a hole, but I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.



I did manage to miss the whole event though, going to try a similar level of dedication to both Euro 12 and the Olympics (tm)

Considering Grace Jones is 64 she's in great shape, doesn't look much older than she did when she was Mayday in James Bond.

Talking of which I was surprised Duran Duran were not on the ticket....they cranked out some old Bond hits with Shirley Bassey and Paul McCartney so they could have had Simon LeBon there doing View To A Kill.

I'm glad to say that I didn't watch a single second of it.

I'll be giving it a try too regarding Euro 2012 and the Olympics.

uk.news.yahoo.com/unpaid-jubilee ... 42492.html If it was in Korea, or some other country where 'spontaneous celebrations' rarely are that, someone would be talking about this. I wonder why they're not doing?

uk.news.yahoo.com/unpaid-jubilee ... 42492.html If it was in Korea, or some other country where 'spontaneous celebrations' rarely are that, someone would be talking about this. I wonder why they're not doing?

I accidentally caught a few seconds of Paul McCartney when changing channels and boy, was he embarassing...

I have far better things to do with my limited time than spend it reading celebrity gossip and chatter and 'reports' about what was going at some party to celebrate someone not having kicked the bucket just yet.

Obviously you do. That's your choice.



Bread and circuses.

But as for it being for 'the people' – it's interesting that you assume that said 'people' all have tastes that can be catered for by what was on display on Monday night. So would that really mean that it was for 'certain people'?



Had a party on Saturday with neighbours. Most enjoyable it was too.

Before amateur night started, the Beeb interviewed people about the DoE being ill. 'The show must go on', said at least one, according to the online version.

Well yes – why would an old woman want to spend the evening with her even older husband, who has been hospitalised by having to stand in dismal weather for hours so people he didn't know could see a speck on a boat, when she could spend it at a 'free' concert for loads of people she doesn't know?

In all probability, listening to music and comedy she has no liking for – and then, to top it off, being carted outside to be displayed to the masses and eulogised by her idiot eldest son as "mummy".

An heroic illustration of the state of the nation.

Quote ="Scooter Nik"uk.news.yahoo.com/unpaid-jubilee-stewards-probe-urged-132642492.html If it was in Korea, or some other country where 'spontaneous celebrations' rarely are that, someone would be talking about this. I wonder why they're not doing?'" They are talking about it, its been all over Twitter and there's articles in the Guardian and Independent about it, and now John Prescott has published on his website the letter he's sent to Theresa May: johnprescott.nationbuilder.com/a ... _secretary Now Prescott has put that out in the open with a direct challenge requesting the contractor's behaviour be checked to see if it breached the approved contractor terms and conditions something will have to be done about it. The cynics will say well Theresa May will just carry out a cover up to protect the contractor so they don't lose the contract, but if she does that she puts herself exactly in the position her opponents want her, vulnerable to a resignation level scandal, and journalists will sniff and dig around the truth here to unleash it on her at a time of maximum damage to the government. Prescott knows what he's doing here and if the contractor has done something seriously bad Theresa May is going to have to come down hard on them else take a massive risk with her own future. Also this involves the Secretary of State for DCMS (Jeremy Hunt) as well as the Home Secretary so it's dragged him into it just after he's squeaked through Leveson. Prescott is of an age and stage in his political career where he has nothing to lose and he can drop this like a ton of poop on the government and not let it go.

Quote ="Scooter Nik"uk.news.yahoo.com/unpaid-jubilee-stewards-probe-urged-132642492.html If it was in Korea, or some other country where 'spontaneous celebrations' rarely are that, someone would be talking about this. I wonder why they're not doing?'" They are talking about it, its been all over Twitter and there's articles in the Guardian and Independent about it, and now John Prescott has published on his website the letter he's sent to Theresa May: johnprescott.nationbuilder.com/a ... _secretary Now Prescott has put that out in the open with a direct challenge requesting the contractor's behaviour be checked to see if it breached the approved contractor terms and conditions something will have to be done about it. The cynics will say well Theresa May will just carry out a cover up to protect the contractor so they don't lose the contract, but if she does that she puts herself exactly in the position her opponents want her, vulnerable to a resignation level scandal, and journalists will sniff and dig around the truth here to unleash it on her at a time of maximum damage to the government. Prescott knows what he's doing here and if the contractor has done something seriously bad Theresa May is going to have to come down hard on them else take a massive risk with her own future. Also this involves the Secretary of State for DCMS (Jeremy Hunt) as well as the Home Secretary so it's dragged him into it just after he's squeaked through Leveson. Prescott is of an age and stage in his political career where he has nothing to lose and he can drop this like a ton of poop on the government and not let it go.

To follow Sally's post, there is certainly talk on the social media that the company in question dropped paid staff in order to replace them with free labour. It's not going to simply go away. There's already plenty of momentum around the government's 'work experience' policies and the culture that it seems to be producing of unpaid 'internships', as illustrated last week (IIRC) by such things as an online magazine advertising for an unpaid sub-editor and a retro clothing shop wanting an unpaid 'intern' too.

The company, incidentally, is saying it was a "logistical" problem. [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18338724Story[/url

So that's okay. They didn't have much time to plan things, after all.

I saw a bit of all the ballyhoo on the news and was struck by the Prince of Wales' uniform.
My Grandfather was in the first World War and got three medals for all that sheer bloody awful hell ... so how come the Prince of Wales has virtually an entire gong orchestra on his left chest?

Also, in these austere times, I think maybe the extended Royal family could do with a bit of rationalisation.
What I'd be looking for is an initial headcount reduction of around 10% (cut out the dead wood) plus a further 10% year-on-year, plus flexible contract terms including a productivity-related pay deal for those remaining who would be TUPE-ed out to the winning privatisation bidder. (All that ribbon-cutting and "Have you come far?" chit-chat could easily be virtualised and offshored to India.)
Palaces and staff could be centralised at Buckingham Place which would free-up Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral for bids from hotel chains.

Because he's the Prince of Wales and a vewy, vewy bwave man.

And because his mummy gave them to him.

Phew.
Well that's all right then.