The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is caught up in yet another controversy this evening, this time over the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. One song from that show is likely to top the download charts this weekend, and the BBC is concerned if it should be played on the radio. I’m not sure that in 1939 they had any grasp of music charts let alone music downloads, probably more interested in what a certain German was up to. Now I can understand the BBC being worried about the lyrics of certain songs, like Relax recorded by Frankie Goes to Hollywood which had clear sexual innuendo and Je T’aime a duet written by Serge Gainsbourg, sung with lover Jane Birkin in 1969. As attempts at censorship both of these failed badly, and in the latter case because it was effectively banned from sale in the UK, so a copy was given away with every copy of Private Eye one week, which I believe is still one of Private Eye’s top selling issues. This however is a children’s song and the lyrics simply celebrate the death of the wicked witch. The problem seems to stem not from the song itself, but from the people who bought it. Yes, for the slower amongst you, it has been bought by people who are not supporters of the late Baroness Thatcher. The BBC’s proposed solution is to have two audience guests in to discuss the reason why the song is in the chart and then play less than 10 seconds of it. The irony of all this of course is that Thatcher was very against state control and censorship for censorships sake, and she would have opposed any moves of this sort were she still in office. It does however serve as testimony to the divisiveness of Margaret Thatcher that tens of thousands of people have downloaded this track as mark of protest even though she left office nearly 25 years ago.

I never know whether one should try to make a post to fit a picture, but as this picture will be both amusing and nostalgic to some of my audience I thought I’d give it a go. I was reading recently that BT has a very prolific wireless network around London, and much of it is based around their street furniture. So their street cabinets and their phoneboxes have all benefited from the addition of wireless network equipment, it must be quite heavy, look what it did to these phone boxes !!! Street Art in Kingston Apologies that the light is not in the best place for the image, but I was in a little bit of a rush.