PROMGATE
BBC accused of separatist agenda after it fails to show Rule, Britannia! in Scotland and Wales
THE row over the Proms intensified last night after the BBC refused to show concertgoers in Scotland and Wales rousing patriotic songs like Rule, Britannia!
Scottish Conservative MP Alister Jack has written to BBC director Lord Hall attacking the ‘ridiculous’ decision, and has accused the BBC of ‘short-changing’ its audiences.
The BBC screens live Proms in the Park concerts in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each year, so that fans who do not get a ticket to the main event at the Royal Albert Hall in London can take part.
Tens of thousands attend each year, ready to sing along to the Rule, Britannia!, Jerusalem and Land Of Hope And Glory.
But on Saturday their hopes were dashed, as the live feed to the Royal Albert Hall was switched off just as the orchestra was tuning up.
Presenter Katie Derham told the audience in London that it was ‘time to say goodbye’ to the crowds gathered in Glasgow and Swansea, who saw local performers instead. The Scottish audience sang along to live versions of Loch Lomond and Auld Lang Syne.
Now MPs and musicians have accused the Corporation of ‘politicising’ the concert series in order to push a ‘ separatist’, ‘ anti-British’ agenda.
In a letter to Lord Hall, seen by this newspaper, Mr Jack, MP for Dumfries and Galloway, demanded assurances that the BBC will not repeat the blunder in the future.
He wrote: ‘It is ridiculous that the BBC chose to deny the Scottish Proms fans on Glasgow Green the rousing conclusion they have come to expect. The BBC give the impression that they are pandering to a separatist agenda that neither the majority of Scots, nor the majority of the United Kingdom, want.
‘I would like your reassurance that this error will be a one-off.’
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Jack said: ‘It’s the flag-waving brigade who go – so of course they are going to be disappointed. They tend to be fans of the United Kingdom and all that she has to offer.’
The MP’s misgivings were shared by Scottish pop star Tallia Storm, who said: ‘It was so incredibly short-sighted of the BBC.
‘Do they forget that the Scots voted to remain in the UK at the referendum?’
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen added: ‘There is a clear metropolitan, Left-wing agenda which is antiBritish and which I and the majority of the country are uncomfortable with, but which we’re forced to pay for regardless.’
decision,The BBC insistinglast night that defendedthe Proms its in the Park were ‘never designed as a sing-along’.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Nothing has been cut from the Proms in the Park events. Since BBC Proms in the Park launched 21 years created ago live especiallythey events have for traditionallybeen their standaloneaudiences with a distinct programme and line-up of live performers. ‘They were never designed as sing-a-long concerts of The Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.’ There were of course joint moments for the Proms in the Park concerts and London. Fans at the events were all treated to a stirring performance of Sir Henry Wood’s sea shanties from his Fantasia on British Sea Songs – just as it was played by the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall. They then heard performances of the Irish classic Danny Boy and the Scottish Eriskay Love Lilt.
However, that was where the unity ended and the live feed was switched off in Glasgow and Swansea. The decision is not the only point of controversy. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has also lambasted anti-Brexit concertgoers for waving EU flags at the traditionally patriotic event.
Speaking to The Guardian, he said: ‘These people are still in denial over the referendum result. They are trying to make it all about them instead of a great concert. The British people want to leave the EU no matter how many flags they fly.’
THE Last Night Of The Proms is a unique international celebration. It features singers, orchestras and conductors from all over the globe.
Audiences thrill to the music of great European composers such as Brahms, Beethoven, Bartok and Bach. And that’s just the Bs!
Nobody at this multinational festival is remotely offended when it culminates in a mass rendition of the most stirring patriotic music ever written, including Rule, Britannia! and Land Of Hope And Glory.
But in a move as outrageous as it was ridiculous, the BBC failed to broadcast those climactic moments of the Last Night in all regions of the United Kingdom on Saturday.
The performance at the Royal Albert Hall was beamed to Proms In The Park gatherings in Swansea and Glasgow, as well as Hyde Park in London and County Fermanagh’s Castle Coole. All four venues received a live feed of the BBC Concert Orchestra playing Sir Henry Wood’s sea shanties, taken from his Fantasia On British Sea Songs.
Rousing
But while the English and Northern Irish audiences were then able to join in the rousing anthems of Rule, Britannia! and Land Of Hope And Glory, that part of the broadcast was mysteriously missing in Scotland and Wales.
A BBC spokesman later described the Proms In The Park events as ‘ a mix of bespoke programming’ and ‘separately curated’. But this does not explain why people in Wales and Scotland were denied the opportunity to join the most celebrated sing-song in all of classical music.
I was simply appalled by the decision. It is about far more than music.
The BBC was denying people the opportunity to celebrate their Britishness. In doing so, it is denying our collective identity as a United Kingdom, and promoting separatism.
It is encouraging the cultural disintegration of our country, and fostering the pernicious idea that people in Wales and Scotland have nothing to do with those in England.
If we are going to have Rule, Britannia! sung only to the English, perhaps it is time to change the BBC to the EBC — the English Broadcasting Corporation.
I tend not to get worked up about the BBC’s Left-wing cultural bias. On the whole I tolerate it because I admire the quality of some programmes and because I’m a great fan of Radio 4. In particular, I enjoy the Today programme and the jousting of interviewers such as John Humphrys. I’ve been on the receiving end of that many times, and it’s enjoyable, as well as informative, radio.
But the fact cannot be ignored that, in the digital age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify the existence of the BBC. There is a greater variety of news and entertainment sources than ever before. People absorb information from a multitude of channels, above all from the web and from social media.
Yet I have been opposed to all calls for the abolition of the licence fee because it seemed to me our national broadcaster was just that — a force for unification, a common cause binding the disparate reaches of our islands into a single whole.
In an increasingly atomised society, where everybody does their own thing on the internet, carrying their own tiny screens around instead of sitting down with family and friends for communal viewing, the BBC is not just a symbol of national identity but also the means by which we feel that identity.
Without it, we would have the monarchy and sport in common, but not much else. The BBC is meant to be a national institution.
Millions of people outside Britain interpret our national character through the lens of the BBC. And its schedules affect the way we perceive ourselves, and what it means to be part of the United Kingdom family, wherever we live. This to me is the strongest argument that remains for the continued funding by the licence fee of the BBC. And by its atrocious decision not to broadcast Rule, Britannia! in Wales and Scotland, it undermines its own reason to exist.
It has been obvious for some time that the BBC has been positioning itself in readiness for the event that Scotland becomes independent. There is for instance its absurd Gaelic channel, BBC Alba, featuring sporting events with commentary in a language virtually no one can understand — and I’m speaking as a Scot myself. Alba is a complete waste of money.
My suspicion is that BBC executives censored Rule, Britannia! without being asked. Have they forgotten that its lyrics were penned by a Scottish poet, James Thomson?
They may have cravenly feared antagonising the nationalists, but I doubt that any politicians asked them to suppress the broadcast.
However it was taken, this was a decision with enormous cultural consequences.
I have never before thought the BBC should be part-privatised, or must move to pay-perview, or that the licence fee has to be abolished.
But today, after its selective broadcasting of Ru l e , Britannia!, I have come to the decision that the simplest thing would be to abolish the Corporation altogether, while maintaining one or two smallscale services such as Radio 4.
Vanity
There’s a lot of vanity about the BBC. It still clings to the belief it is the best broadcaster in the world. But that is no longer the case: its news service is inferior to CNN and Al Jazeera, especially on international affairs, and it no longer provides current affairs analysis of the highest quality.
It used to be that only the BBC had the financial clout to produce really spectacular drama, but that is no longer true. ITV’s best is equally good and Netflix and Amazon have revolutionised the landscape with their original shows. The video- on- demand providers have colossal budgets and their producers are free from the BBC’s stifling political correctness. BBC comedy is even worse. I’ve sometimes wondered what might happen if I quoted the scatological language of Mrs Brown’s Boys in the House of Lords. I would probably be asked to leave the chamber — perhaps permanently.
Since the Brexit referendum last year, the bias of the broadcaster has been increasingly obvious. Barely an evening goes by without an interview with some businessman who claims to be anxious about the effect of leaving the EU.
Divisive
Yet we never hear the counter-argument — that foreign investment is increasing and that British exports are at the highest level for over 20 years. The bias of BBC editors seems to filter out those facts before they ever reach our screens.
I wouldn’t suggest it’s an organised conspiracy. The real problem is that an unconscious Left- wing culture within Broadcasting House is deeply ingrained and self-sustaining. The editors lack self-awareness and are unaware of how people think and feel outside their media bubble.
But they have a sworn duty under their charter to be impartial, and it’s hard to see how BBC bosses could have been unaware that the Last Night of the Proms has become politically sensitive.
There is nothing xenophobic about a boisterous crowd singing Rule, Britannia! — just as there is nothing aggressive about a rousing chorus of La Marseillaise from French supporters at Twickenham before a rugby match... a far more blood-curdling set of verses.
The BBC has chosen to shoehorn its divisive political attitudes into an occasion where it has no place. In doing so, it stands accused of encouraging the break- up of the United Kingdom and denying our national identity. That, I believe, is unforgivable.