johnnyboy

Top of the Pops

As an uber-Queen fan, I remember my Mam and Dad telling me that everyone remembered and loved the BoRhap video when it came out and it was part of the reason it stayed at No 1 for 9 weeks.

Of course, it it essentially a stage performance video with the exception of the opening section and the mock opera section whose appearance is inspired by the Queen II album cover. And it was those sections and the rudimentary special effects which got people so excited, I'm told.

They were worried that people would get sick of it after 4-5 weeks and they released a second version. The second version is remembered for the flame but the biggest change is actually in the stage performance section which is full of new camera angles.

Has anyone ever spotted the mistake in the original BoRhap (flameless) video just after the song exits the opera section and enters the heavy rock section?

Newsnight

This is what Emily actually said...

“Dominic Cummings broke the rules, the country can see that, and it's shocking the Government cannot. He should understand that public mood now. One of fury, contempt and anguish.

"He made those who struggled to keep to the rules feel like fools, and has allowed many more to assume they can now flout them.

"The Prime Minister knows all this, but despite the resignation of one minister, growing unease from his backbenchers, a dramatic early warning from the polls, and a deep national disquiet, Boris Johnson has chosen to ignore it.

"Tonight we consider what this blind loyalty tells us about the workings of Number 10."

There are multiple parts of this opening whose "truth" is patently not objective.

Durham Police have decided not to prosecute - the evidence is, it would seem, not strong enough. Where is the evidence that the "public mood...is of fury, contempt, and anguish"? Who has decided that it's "shocking"? Where is the evidence that "many more (will) assume that they can flout the rules".

Your statement about "fantasies their fevered overactive imaginations have cooked up" applies just as much to this as it does to Infowars, Newsmax, etc.

I could go on.

Whether or not people agree with the sentiments expressed, this is Fox News/Daily Mail/Guardian-style editiorialisation. Just look at the emotively loaded language - "broke the rules", "fury, contempt, and anguish", "flout", "dramatic early warning", "deep national disquiet", "chosen to ignore it", and "blind loyalty".

We're all intelligent enough here to know that facts can be presented in such a way to create an impression and this was clearly Emily's goal in delivering this opening.

I'm no fan of Boris or Cummings - I am also no fan of the BBC editorialising. And, right now more than ever, it puts the BBC in danger.