COMMUNITY FURY AT SONG

APARODY song by a BBC presenter joking about women from the Hartcliffe area of Bristol has been criticised for reinforcing ‘shambolic and negative stereotypes’.

The song was written and sung in a mock-Bristolian accent by BBC Radio Bristol presenter James Hanson, and was aired on his Saturday daytime radio programme.

It was later uploaded to the BBC Sounds website and app.

The song is a parody cover of Blondie’s Heart of Glass, renamed Hartcliffe Lass.

It tells the story of the singer starting a relationship with ‘a Hartcliffe Lass’ who would go dogging in locations around Hartcliffe, with the punchline of the ‘joke’ that she turned out to be his aunt.

Since it was uploaded to the BBC Sounds platform, illustrated with a picture of Hartcliffe, it has sparked something of a furious reaction from local residents who heard it.

They said it was sexist, and repeated and reinforced damaging stereotypes about Hartcliffe that people from the area had spent years trying to counter and overcome.

“It’s an outrage that a person in his position, with a public following and an influential BBC broadcaster, should know better than to uphold such a shambolic, negative stereotype that people from Hartcliffe, especially women, are all degenerates,” said Kerry Bailes, one of the three elected residents’ representatives on the Hartcliffe and Withywood Neighbourhood Partnership.

“And to add insult to injury, he clearly thinks it’s funny,” she added.

Ms Bailes said when she first heard the song she thought it had been submitted by a listener to the James Hanson show, but was shocked to discover it was written and recorded by the BBC presenter himself.

“You’d think someone of his age would know better about feminism and equality,” she said.

“It’s not like he’s from an older generation where this type of Benny Hill ‘comedy’ was socially acceptable,” she added.

“But it is the stereotyping that is the worst - the stigma that comes from living in Hartcliffe. I’m pretty shocked it’s on a BBC platform,” she added.

“Imagine if it was about people from Easton or St Paul’s? If it was about BAME people, it just simply wouldn’t be broadcast,” she added.

Another Hartcliffe resident, Donna Bull, said she was appalled when she heard it.

She said: “It’s a joke.

“It makes me mad when someone like him says all ‘ Hartcliffe lasses’ are easy and sleep about anywhere.”

Mr Hanson has been a Radio Bristol presenter for two years.

From Nailsea, his brother is Clifton College-educated William Hanson, a leading international etiquette expert.

A BBC spokesperson said the song was going to be removed from the BBC Sounds platform because ‘it didn’t work out of context’.

“James affectionately mocks different areas of the city in his show, as regular listeners will know,” she said. “On reflection, we think this clip doesn’t work out of context.”

The BBC spokesperson later added: “No offence was intended and the only response we have received so far has been positive.”

BBC radio presenter James Hanson has beencriticised for his song about Hartcliffe, below