Chat's That For Richard and Judy

It was a case of “chat’s that” on Channel 4 this evening, as daytime TV stalwarts Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan signed off for the last time on the programme that they have hosted on the channel for the last seven years.

The husband and wife co-presenting team have been in my living room for so many years now, that I almost feel that I know them. This is partly because I can think of at least one couple where a long-suffering wife has to keep her errant husband under control and her fingers permanently crossed that he won’t show her up too much in public. In short, everyone knows a Richard and Judy. The only difference between Judy Finnigan and other wives is that her husband can show her up on live television.

Like anyone that puts themselves in the public eye, Richard and Judy have come in for more than their fair share of criticism down the years and everything from what they wear, their choice of guests on the show through to their general presenting styles have been held up for incredibly close scrutiny. While I have never quite understood their fascination of giving air-time to so-called “funny” clips found on the internet, which seem to mainly involve mildly amusing pet antics and crazy Japanese game shows, the warmth that comes over from watching a married couple present a TV programme really draws me in as a viewer.

If I was being critical, I would say that they sometimes tend to forget that after asking someone a question, it is common courtesy to listen to the answer. Too often have I seen them interviewing someone only for them to talk over the answer and ask more questions before dealing fully with the one just asked. They also have a habit of taking huge subjects and then cramming a discussion into a few minutes and never really doing it justice. This together with the newspaper hacks that they have a habit of inviting on, so they can comment on news stories they seem to know next to nothing about can infuriate.

There is also the fact that Richard seems unable to distinguish from being on TV with people watching him and a private conversation we cannot hear. It is this perhaps rather unusual approach to his job that has brought us moments such as the time he said during a discussion on sexual health on “This Morning”, the programme he presented for ITV for over ten years, that his wife and co-host, Judy, was “not a stranger to thrush!” and has made him a TV legend. While the less is said the better about his Ali G impression, his ability to ask guests about their sex lives and generally seeing all topics as worth a shot, have left the viewing public coming back for more night after night.

However, while many will watch for Richard, many more will watch for Judy. Although some would say that even after all these years, Judy still seems a little uncomfortable with live TV, it’s impossible not to like her. Her warm smile and easy going manner made her an instant hit with the viewers. The fact that at sixty years old, she still has all her original parts as it were, make her a fantastic role model for women of all ages.

Also, there aren’t many TV hosts who can jab their co-presenter on the arm or leg and tell them to shut up or talk about everyday things like her children and weekend breaks to Cornwall and make them sound interesting. It’s her normality that makes her both watchable and likeable.
However, you can’t have Judy without Richard, nor can you have Richard without Judy. In this day and age, where couples seem to get together, have children, split up, meet someone else and have more children, all within a blink of an eye, it’s refreshing to see two people still happily married after all this time.

The next chapter for the nation’s favourite husband and wife will start in the autumn when they move to the UKTV digital channel, “Watch”.

As published on Instablogs.com 22nd August 2008

"Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime"

"Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” was a phrase uttered by Tony Blair pretty early on in his time as Leader of the Labour Party. It was short, punchy sentences like this that symbolised the ‘sound-bite’ style of “New Labour’s New Man” as he took charge of the Party in 1995, followed by the country itself two years later.

Many said that Tony Blair’s speeches were just rhetoric, that were written just to grab headlines and held no real substance. In the intervening eleven years since Labour came to power, I have felt that socially there has been a definite shift in a direction that can at best be described as “not very good.” I would therefore agree that Tony’s words were just literally words on a piece of very expensive paper and they have never seen the actions that they were supposed too. I don’t speak as someone who has always voted for the other side, but as someone that believed in Tony Blair and voted for his vision.

Not only to I feel very let down, but since Tony Blair disappeared to write his memoirs and count his money, Gordon Brown as done nothing to give me much in the way of hope for the future.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought we elected Governments to take tough decisions during the bad times to make things better and generally sort stuff out. If I’m correct, then I have to say that they are not getting it right at all when it comes to sorting out crime, especially knife crime committed by young people.

I accept that we can never totally eradicate crime as there will always be people who will want to, for reasons too numerous to list and too complex to understand easily, commit crime. My difficulty with everything I hear and read about crime and so-called punishment at the moment, is that rather than having strict laws and harsh penalties, we seem to have just wishy-washy nonsense instead.

Since the beginning of 2008, more than twenty youngsters have lost their lives as a result of knife crime on the streets of our Capital city. This is a statistic that truly shocks me and while it doesn’t put me off visiting London, it does make me a little nervous. However, what makes me more angry than nervous, is that should anything nasty happen, either to me or someone I care about, the chances of seeing justice being done are so remote as to barely register a single percentage point.

We have a justice system that seems content to pretty much let people off. Criminals are getting younger and their youth is allowing them to commit terrible crimes, because if they are caught, any prison sentence is more than likely to mean they will be released with their whole lives ahead of them.

We don’t need campaigns, snappy slogans or celebrities pretending to care if spending ten minutes at a press conference would help them increase their public profile. What we need a decent helping of logic. People need to respect authority and if they don’t, then they have to suffer the consequences. If a severe crime has been committed, then a severe punishment should be the result. Those who carry a knife should find themselves in prison for the next few years and if, God forbid, they used it, they should be inside for much, much longer.

To me, this is just commonsense, so either I’m the crazy one and the likes of Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, is the personification of a totally sensible person or we’re being run by cretins who are allowing us to be held to ransom by a bunch of kids.

As published on instablogs.com 18th August 2008

Happy Birthday Madge !

So Madonna has turned fifty years old today and I’m sure that there will be huge numbers of journalists, all queuing up to fawn over her under the spurious guise of an interview.

I’ve never quite got what it is about Madonna that everyone seems to find so fascinating, nor why her words seem to carry so much weight. She’s a singer for God‘s sake! She sings songs (probably written by someone else) and performs in concert. I don’t doubt that it isn’t hard work, but she gets paid a pretty hefty wedge for doing it. She’s not a doctor or someone trying to discover a cure for cancer. If she was, I could understand a bit more the interest that many people seem to have in her every move. Her music is ok, but nothing life changing and, in my opinion, it certainly doesn’t warrant the acreage of press coverage that it seems to attract.

Many things annoy me about this woman, her patronising attitude to the rest of us trying to be clean and green, in as much as our budgets allow, is just one example. However, it is mainly the adoption by Madonna of David Banda, the little boy from Malawi, that sends me off my anger scale. Why adopt one little boy from Malawi, when she has enough cash to make a real difference to the lives of so many other children that live there?

David’s mother, Malita, died a few days after his birth and hadn’t even reached her thirtieth birthday. I don’t know how the adoption came about, but it would be hard to blame David’s father, Yohane, for going through with the it. According to news reports at the time, Madonna did offer to support the child and have him remain with his family, but Yohane declined.

While I can see the logic behind that decision, it still strikes me as a bad idea to take David away from his home and make him part of the whole Madonna extravaganza. With all the speculation over her marriage, the almost constant press attention and general lack of privacy, I’m not sure if the obvious materialistic benefits of life with Madonna is really enough to make it worth it.

Would David be better off had he never been adopted ? I think that would be a hard question to answer yes too, however, I still maintain that Madonna could have transformed the lives of so many more than just one child had she invested her time, efforts and money into the area instead. This together with her celebrity connections could have made a real difference and David would have grown up with his roots and culture intact.

Taking one child away from a situation, even if it is as horrific as it was reported to be for David Banda, solves little in the long-term, especially for those still there.

As published on Instablogs.com 16th August 2008

Are we a well integrated, multi-cultural society or just a number of divided communities ?

I like to think that I am a pretty grounded, well balanced individual without too many hang-ups and am happy with tolerance as long as it’s a two-way street.

However, what makes my hackles rise more and more these days are what seems to be the ever growing numbers of people arriving in this country without, it seems, not much of a plan and no real means of supporting themselves. Often in such situations, the main barrier is language and an inability to speak English and lack of motivation or interest to learn it.

I find it very disturbing to see a foreign family, all talking a totally different language to mine as they push their brood of children in pushchairs in the direction of the Job Centre. This is something I see a lot and while I agree that it is possible that they are there to try and find work and contribute to the economy, I don’t really see what jobs are out there for them. What sort of jobs are available to people who speak English as a second language and have difficulty in communicating with English people ?

I’ve encountered many such people in my professional career and I do feel for them. It must be a terribly isolating experience to be so shut out from mainstream society, simply because they cannot understand what everyone else is saying. Even a simple telephone call to their bank to check a balance can turn into a real struggle.

Are we really helping them by allowing them into the country so easily ? Would it not be better to have some control and a few rules ? If a person applies for a National Insurance number and is in the UK to work, are we being unreasonable to expect them to speak our language to a reasonable level ?

Personally, I don’t think so. I think we are not doing anyone any favours by carrying on the way we are. All we are achieving is a divide between communities and an immigrant under-class that is having real trouble integrating with everyone else as a result. In 2008, in towns and cities with many different cultures and races amongst its population, the thing that I notice the most in my daily life is people sticking with their own. People have to want to integrate and the rest have to want to be integrated with, but what I tend to witness the most these days is divided communities.

The Government’s whole approach to immigration is dangerously flawed in my opinion as its ‘fluffy cloud utopia’ that it seems to be striving for just isn’t going to happen. This has nothing to do with racism or prejudice, it is about basic fairness and giving everyone a decent chance. I don’t see that the current system really benefiting anyone, least of all those who come to the UK seeking a new life.

As published on instablogs.com

If Voting Change Anything, They'd Ban It!

That’s pretty much as cynical a response as you’re likely to get when discussing the pros and cons of voting, but it’s a view that the older I get, the more I tend to agree with.

Although I always vote and take my right to vote seriously, I find myself wondering more and more these days what difference it really makes. Having lived through Thatcher, Major, Blair and what many would desribe now as an elected dictatorship rather than a democracy, I can only conclude that while two totally different parties have held power for long periods of time, neither of them have done much good.

What we need right now is a Government with a radical agenda. We need someone who isn’t afraid of taking tough and, in many cases, unpopular decisions. We need someone who isn’t afraid to speak out and for a start, we need someone who really is tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.

I’m getting very frustrated that my vote changes nothing.

As published on instablogs.com

Old People Behaving Badly

"Two elderly women on mobility scooters had to be dragged apart as they exchanged blows and rammed into each other in the aisle of an Iceland supermarket. Staff at the store in Crawley, West Sussex, intervened when they heard them screaming.

A shelf-stacker, who was too frightened to be named, said: ‘They could have been seriously hurt - they were ramming each other like dodgems. ‘It was shocking. Seeing these two old ladies going for each other like that was truly disturbing.’ Police called to the scene were told that the women had been friends but fell out over money." (Source Daily Mail 11th July 2008)

Isn’t being old great ? It really is the time when you get to behave exactly how you like, without having to worry too much about what people think. They might think that you’re as batty as anything, but they’ll be so busy not knowing where to look, that you won’t let that bother you too much.

I’m quite looking forward to the day when I can sit on the top deck of bus, as it motors out to Woodingdean, chattering away to myself and waving regally to passing motorists. I think it must be quite liberating to have the freedom to have a brandy at 10am, before going into town with a purple hat on, while telling teenagers to "get the f**k out of the way!!". After all, it’s pretty much always been the way that the younger generation are regarded as uncouth and yobbish, so it must stop them in their tracks to hear someone old enough to be a grandparent turning the air blue.

There doesn’t seem to be much that being old won’t let you do. You can drive an Austin Metro the wrong way on a motorway, as it seems it’s down to the individual to decide when they should give up driving and you can have views that might raise eyebrows amongst even the most extreme.

Don’t get me wrong, I think that the older generation are in the main great people, who deserve our respect. However, respect is a two way street and the older generation are just as capable of bad behaviour, such as what happened between the two ladies in Iceland. A lot of it comes down to class and some of us have it and some of us don’t. Age doesn’t always come into it.