And Why, I Wonder, Would Anyone Have Cause To ‘Hate The BBC,’, Nihal?

Former BBC radio presenter Nihal Arthanayake, who was at Radio 1 for more than 10 years at the same time as Mills, told ITV's Good Morning Britain on Tuesday: "My first thoughts were obviously with the alleged victim here, without question.

Shouldn't the first thought have been 'Is there even a 'victim' here?; apart from Mills, that is, who appears to have suffered from the BBCs desire not to repeat past mistakes? Full disclosure here - I listen to Radio Two every day, and Mills is a presenter I liked. 

But even if he had not been, his abrupt sacking is looking like an overreaction driven by an over-cautious management, that could backfire if he decides to sue. 

"But also, Scott Mills is a human, he's a person who got his dream job that has now been taken away from him, and his validation, largely, in life, probably was defined by that job. 

Good point, shame it then descended into self pity on behalf of Auntie Beeb.... 

"Therefore, we have to be very careful. There's a current feeding frenzy going on. 

Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!  

"A lot of that is driven by people who just hate the BBC, so they'll use that as a stick to beat the BBC with.

Whu eould that be, I wonder Nihal. Is it it's frequent peddling of obvious propaganda on behalf of those it has decieded are 'vulnerable minorities' instead of groups who want to change British society as it is, or who want to overthow basic principles in favour of insanity?  Is it its strangely partisan approach to what it considers to be news?

"But there is a human being - well, there's two human beings - at the centre of this."

And a lot of humans out there who are no longer willing to fund a national broadcaster that appears to hate them. 

Well, Despite What BBC Historical Dramas Would Have Us Believe...

...I doubt there were very many of them. 

The findings have parallels with the Covid pandemic where, early in the crisis, it emerged Black people were four times more likely to die than white people, mainly because they had a higher risk of infection. Such disparities in mortality decreased as the pandemic wore on. “Medieval England was a diverse population and, like today, issues around people’s heritage [and] wealth have health outcomes,” said Dr Rebecca Redfern, a co-author of the research at the Museum of London.

A 'diverse population', eh? OK, I'm not great with numbers, so...what are the numbers, here? 

Writing in the journal Bioarchaeology International, Redfern and colleagues report how they analysed remains from 145 individuals buried at East Smithfield emergency plague cemetery, St Mary Graces and St Mary Spital in London.

145 out of the hundreds of thousands of plague victims, eh? And how many were black? 

Of these, 49 died from plague and 96 died from other causes.The results reveal nine plague victims appeared to be of African heritage, while 40 seemed to have white European or Asian ancestry.

Nine? Well, I might be no better than Diane Abbott at maths-related stuff, but I know a miniscule percentage when I hear one. 

Dr Onyeka Nubia, a historian at the University of Nottingham and author of Blackamoores, about Africans in Tudor England, said for some, it remains a challenge to accept that people of different ancestries and heritage were an established part of England’s past.

No, it's not a challenge at all, what's a challenge is the attempt to make it sound as if a time traveller to medieval London would find it no different to today in terms of 'cultural enrichment'. 

But, he cautioned, historical evidence must be treated objectively. “We have a responsibility to make sure that this information does not get divided between left and right in a culture war,” he added.

If there's a culture war, who was it who fired the first shot, hmm,,? 

The Strangeness Continues...

It seems coroners are increasingly becoming laws unto themselves...

Beth Grossman, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, told The Telegraph that it was 'remarkable' that the identity of the dog walker had not been released. She added that imposing arbitary restrictions impeded the investigation of serious incidents.

'Coroner’s courts don’t operate to the same rules of procedure as other parts of the courts and tribunals system. For members of the public, including bereaved families who find themselves in this system, it can be difficult and bewildering.'

And yet excessive concern and protection is arbitrarily handed out to some families... 

Other sources agreed that the refusal was 'unusual and strange'. An expert on inquests said the only precedent for not revealing the name of the deceased was for children in care.

Independent Press Standards Organisation guidance says that the death of a person is a matter of public record.

'Journalists have a basic right to report the fact of a person’s death, even if surviving family members would prefer for there to be no reporting and regard the death as private.'

Well, grandstanding coroners are nothing new, after all. But this one seems to be in a class of its own.