British self-deception

Part of the dream world that many Brits live in, where our mediocre society is supposedly the envy of the world, is that the English language has many more words than any other. Some idiot on the BBC said as much this morning, claiming 400 000 words. In fact the vast majority of these words are scientific compounds which exist in any cultivated language. Also, the German LEO dictionary claims to have 400 000 words. The way to deal with these idiots is to ask them to produce a word unique to English. They'll then say "chocolate" or some other word common to many languages.

The Weather

Earlier this year the Beeb announced it was changing its weather supplier from the official Met Office because of its naive performance.

It's now announced that it's retaining the Met Office. I'm preparing a Knol on the incredible BBC-Speak used to justify this volte-face.

BBC & Wealth

The Beeb likes to attack David Cameron, the Tory leader, for being rich. They constantly refer to the fact that he went to Eton, Britain's top school, at £28,000 a year (2010). About 33,000 Euro.

Nick Clegg, however, is Ok. He went to Westminster School. Current fees: 28,000 a year. In addition he has a house in Sheffield, an even bigger one in Putney, SW London, and his family have a chateau in France and a 20-bedroom chalet (?) in Switzerland. But that's OK by the BBC, he's not a Tory.

The BBC - a national f-g institution

My suggestion for the BBC's campaign to defend its licence fee (£142 - Eu 160) against possible action by the next Gumn - which will be Tory.