There, that headline got your attention, didn't it?
On Bank Holiday Monday, BBC Parliament is broadcasting a "Permissive Night" hosted by Joan Bakewell. She will lead a discussion on the impact of all the social legislation of the mid sixties which legalized abortion, consenting homosexual relations for men over 21 and freed up the divorce laws. Permissive Night will start at 6pm on BBC Parliament and run through to midnight, and will include many memorable programmes from the BBC archives
Leading up to an edition of Late Night Line Up, Joan will introduce original editions of Panorama-(presented by Richard Dimbleby) first shown on the evening when the Commons was debating the abolition of hanging ( it was successfully abolished for an initial trial period of five years), Man Alive documentaries from 1967 on male and female homosexuality ( the one on lesbians presented by Angela Huth), A Whickers World on divorce illustrating the case of author Elizabeth Jane Howard and naturalist Peter Scott. There will also be original editions of Late Night Line Up, and other original programmes dealing with issues like abortion, race relations and theatre liberalisation.
There's also an original edition of the BBC's Talkback programme presented by David Coleman ( later rather better known for his football commentaries) where a panel of viewers question David Dimbleby on his Panorama programme on censorship. Watch out for one young member of the panel, appearing long before we all got to know him, a young clerk from (in his words) "swinging Sheffield"….one David Blunkett.
I can't wait.
Can I make a prediction? Verity, will NOT be tuning in. Bl**dy Commie propaganda!
ReplyDeleteJoan Bakewell is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteApropos of nothing in particular it amuses me that certain public cycle ways are known as 'permissive paths'..
Ooh er, missus..
Alternatively Sky Sports one have replay action from the League Two play-off final to see who Crewe will be playing the season after next!
ReplyDeleteShame they're not showing Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant. This year he would have celebrated his 100th birthday. (he died in 1999) Great film.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show that televison a) has dumbed down and b) used to be better,
ReplyDeleteIf you give a 6 year-old child the keys to the sweet shop, that child will eat until it is sick.
ReplyDeleteWell, you all got the keys and now you have Aids, Abortion on demand, murderers taking the government to the court of human rights, all women lists, rotting sharks in formalin paraded as art, persecution of religion and the abolition of fatherhood.
I am not recommending a return to the days of the sixties. I only point out that, despite freedoms gained, from persecution for sexual orientation, and for the abolition of hanging and for artistic expression - all good things, we are decadent and moribund as a society.
There is nothing on offer to those who ask "what is right?"
We have been given our freedom - and what have we done with it? We have created a society so repressive, so fragmentary, so in thrall to the tyranny of minority groups (who now stand in competition with each other for hegemony)that all the optimism and intellectual energy has gone. It has been replaced with lowestcommondenominatorism. We are in thrall to the mob.
You cannot suggest cultural dissonance without being branded a racist. You cannot criticise the promiscuous homosexual lifestyle without being branded "homophobic". You cannot champion the sanctity of unborn life without getting hate mail. You cannot be a Tory candidate without engendering specious claims of being a "toff" and you cannot stand up as a Christian believer without attracting scorn and derision.
Above all, in the sixties, we were hoping that mutual respect,tolerance and freedom of speech would herald the dawning of the age of Aquarius.
And yet, I cannot openly proclaim my Christian faith without being shouted down.
I was at a music club the other night. One of the many musicians proceeded to rant about the non- existence of God and the stupidity of Christians. He was cheered.
Can you imagine the reaction if one of the performers had quietly told the crowd he was a Christian? I doubt if he would have been asked back.
When you watch these fuzzy black and white cutting edge 60' programmes and pat yourselves on the back about how liberal we all are, think again. We are no more free now than we were then. Only the goal posts have moved.
Conservatism without a religious ethical foundation ultimately cannot stand, since it will end up becoming libertarian, which is the antithesis of conservative values. The liberalisation of divorce laws, sexual mores, and laws protecting the unborn has meant the unpicking of the family as a societal foundation. Laban Tall in his blog understands this point very well. And if you want to be nativist about it (I don't), reflect that while there 200,000 abortions a year and the birth rate has crashed, the new generation of Britons are disproportionately of Asian Muslim heritage or immigrants. I don't imagien Joan Bakewell in the 1960s anticipated any of this. The law of unintended consequences is really the law of selfish myopia.
ReplyDeleteWrinkled Weasel, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe Day Today did this years ago with its "Attitudes Night" sketch. Difference was that was satire...
ReplyDeleteJoan Bakewell. The thinking man's crumpet. Hope she's wearing a mini. Yum
ReplyDeleteYeah, it caught my eye, mainly because I was looking for opportunities to plug my post on Mary Whitehouse.
ReplyDeleteBut much as I hated Whitehouse and her moralising minority, I have to say that since she departed the scence, we have all become so desensitised that FILTH! is just no fun any more.