A night of British TV
Spent the evening watching the TV for once! Cost = FR££!!!
All started out with the Graham Norton show, had a really good laugh watching it. Even though i couldn’t catch some of the more localized jokes, the rest were still seriously hilarious! Tonite’s guest were, Catherine Tate and James Nesbitt on the red sofa (the couch they have in the show). And ending the show were none other than, The Kooks with “shine on”.
You can view the episode here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00cf70d.shtml
(The site says available for 6 more days, so not sure if you still can view after this. So watch it now if you’re reading this)
Channel surf for it bit after it ended. Then it was Newsnight on BBC Two. On to some serious topics and issues going on in London and the world. On the top of everyones concern here in London, knife crime. As they were reporting the news on Ben Kinsella, the 16 year old who was stabbed to death.
The situation kinda reminds me of Singapore in the 80’s and early 90’s. When gangs were rampant and you hear and read about gang clashes and people getting slashed or killed with parangs (aka machetes) or bread knifes.
Going up as a teenager, i was also back then quite fearful about going to some places in case i came into any trouble with gangs. I think that’s one thing that the Singapore government did right. They were quick at clamping down such issues and eradicating it (maybe not completely but at least a good clean job).
I think for a start, stepping up on security and checks is a definite must. But to really solve it, i think they just need to start throwing them in jail for even just carrying a knife. That will definitely weed out the bad ones off the street, fast and furious. Ha! Or maybe even introduce National Service 
And i don’t really agree with the current Mayor’s advice that “people should simply walk on by if they saw trouble”. I know, no one wants to get themselves in trouble unnecessarily. But come on, i think one can at least gather a few people and shout for help and call the police immediately. If not, step up on the police patrols and checks!
BBC News Night (3rd July 08): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00cf70g.shtml
Street Protest video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7488852.stm
Question time was next up, a show where basically british voters ala citizens are giving a chance to question decision-makers (aka MPs) on the events that’s happening in the country. From the credit crunch to politics to welfare. I felt such programs and openness to politics and govt policies was really enlightening. Something we lack back home totally. Maybe with our gahmen’s current attempt to keep with the times, like getting on facebook, they might actually be more open about people voicing their opinions eventually. We’ll see about that.
Last thing i watched was The Culture show, another variety sort of show imho. The interesting thing i saw on the show was on this feature animation “The Control Master“. It had this 2 dimensional feel to it with images used from clip art from the 20th century. True enough, when the creator was interviewed after the animation (part of it) was played. He said it was taken from old advertising cuts and clipart. And he was influenced by punk rock style. I can totally see what he meant, the whole cut and paste feel to the show. Punk rock!
This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 12:39 pm and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Vortex July 4th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Here’s on interesting blog post on knife, guns and teens by BBC Home editor, Mark Easton on the situation and some statistics. A lot of very valid comments by other readers too.