BBC suspends phone competitions

MediaGuardian (registration, etc) is saying that they thought the poll was fixed: http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2173646,00.html

The BBC has made Richard Marson into a scapegoat. What a shame that the BBC “Trust” or senior managers have not appreciated the passion that both Richard and former editor Steve Hocking put into Blue Peter. Both these editors have revitalised Blue Peter from the dark days post Biddy Baxter. The only people that will loose out will sadly be whom the programme is produced for, its audience

Out of interest, what happened to the seperate Blue Peter cat thread?

The Daily Mail had a right field day today, devoting its front page, a whole inside page and its comment to the BP cat scandal. While in contrast it barely got a mention in The Sun. No breach of viewers' trust should be tolerated, so how long please BBC before Dean Lydiate is taken to task for stating on Friends Reunited that continuity "is all done live" and Phil Vowels for making the same assertion on Ready Steady Cook?

I'm worried about the cat. Will it now be called Cookie instead of Socks?

The name Cookie was apparently rejected as being "sexually offensive". Erm....explain?

According to the Blue Peter website, Socks will keep his name, and a new cat will be introduced on Tuesday and will be named Cookie.

Eh? As far as I can tell, Cookie was rejected because Socks was leading most of the way, and there was a late surge for Cookie which looked suspicious.

Either way, I consider Socks to be far more suggestive. It implies the presence of a certain type of profelactic.

It was Sky News that made the suggestion - not the best source admittedly.

I thought it might have been rejected because it was a shortened version of the spoonerism "Cooking Fat"

I don't think most children would know what a spoonerism was, let alone make the connection between "Cookie" and "Cooking Fat". If that was the reason for the deception then BBC Management have gone truly mad and over sensitive

I do like the way the media is reporting the story as "Socksgate"

Nonsense, it has no socksual connotations at all. Only someone with a filthy mind could possibly think it had anything to do with secks.