BBC are attempting to coax younger viewers with interminable discussions about Taylor Swift

I DON’T know if it’s perhaps escaped your attention, but Taylor Swift has a new double album out right now.

It certainly won’t have escaped your attention if you have been watching or listening to the BBC. They’ve gone mad for it.

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The BBC’s Taylor Swift obsession has gone too farCredit: Getty

And I don’t mean Radios 1 or 2 — which are the singer’s rightful space. I mean everywhere else.

I have heard debates on the supposedly serious Radio 4 about just how brilliant the woman was.

They decided very. She was also, bizarrely, the topic of the same channel’s Thought For The Day. That’s supposed to be about God.

But I suppose, if a bigger subject comes along . . .

Elsewhere there was a piece explaining about how Taylor’s usually dim-witted lyrics fit into the great traditions of the Ancient Greeks.
I’m like, WTF?

If you didn’t know any better you’d think they had bought a controlling interest in the lass — and listeners have been complaining about it.

One of them, Sonia Haines, said: “How is the fact a pop singer has brought out two new albums a news story?”

And Claire McLennan told the BBC’s Newswatch: “I’m not sure I’ve ever heard any other musician or artist talked about on so many channels.

“It seemed a major item on the news coverage on BBC One, several times a day for several days — and it was just, ‘Not again!’.

“I couldn’t believe the level of coverage — really the BBC should be paid for marketing her.

Kim Kardashian vs Taylor Swift – the showbiz feud that refuses to die
“Are they desperately trying to get young people to watch?”

Ah yes, Claire. The nail has been hit upon the head. They are courting the young listeners and viewers.

In other words, it is a spectacular display of Dad Dancing.

The BBC has become obsessed with attracting yoof, which is why there are so many cringey things on the BBC.

They think if youngsters aren’t listening, the BBC might shrivel up and die.

And so they junk much-loved presen-ters on Radios 1 and 2 and bring in funky new people who promptly lose the entire audience.

Hilarious results

They get rid of people like Sue Barker from A Question Of Sport because she’s getting a bit wrinkly.

And so the programme eventually gets pulled because her replacement was about as compelling as an insurance seminar.

To be fair, they’ve always chased the yoof vote. And often with hilarious results.

When I worked there they decided to cover the 20th anniversary of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Really with it, Daddio!

And the elderly reporter dispatched to do the story asked his boss: “Will Sgt. Pepper be there?”

Another time, I remember a middle-aged editor, in the early 1990s, saying: “We really must do something on this McHammer chap.”

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The Beeb are attempting to coax younger viewers with interminable discussions about TaylorCredit: Getty
Yes, he thought he was a Scottish rapper or something.

So it’s all a bit cringey, and rather more than the fairly boring, if hugely successful, Taylor Swift deserves.

But the other problem is that it’s not what the BBC is really for.

And in attempting to coax younger viewers with interminable discussions about Taylor Swift, the BBC is treading on the toes of the commercial entertainment networks.

It is indulging in a bit of overreach. And I wish it would stop.

Anyway, tune in tonight to hear Newsnight discuss what impact Taylor Swift’s new albums will have on the war in Ukraine.

Probably.

BANISH SLAVE TIRADE

THERE’S a new report out which suggests that slavery did not make Britain rich.

The money we got in the 17th and 18th centuries from slavery was of only “minor importance” to the nation’s wealth.

It is about time someone told the whole truth about our relationship with slavery.

Rather than the partial truths taught in schools. Listen to the campaigners demanding reparations and you would think we invented slavery.

That we are uniquely wicked.

The truth is, almost every civilisation has used slavery – and we were very late to the party.

We also led the world in abolishing the horrible practice.

It still continued though – with Africans enslaving fellow Africans.

And yet to state these facts is enough to get you branded as a racist.

That is because there are some people on the Left who are determined to blame Britain for every ill in the world.

And put their hands over their ears when they are told the truth.

Agony aunt Katie? I’d rather ask Uncle Kyle

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I’d rather go to Kyle Walker for relationship advice than Katie PriceCredit: instagram
BIG-boobed bankrupt Katie Price is trying a new career as an agony aunt.

She’s dishing out advice to people at £120 per minute. Via video link.

Well, I suppose you have to admire her chutzpah.

But frankly I’d be slightly more likely to go to Kyle Walker for relationship advice.

STORE GREED

YOU remember what the supermarkets said when inflation was rampant and food prices soared every week?

“No, no, we’re not profiteering. How could you suggest such a thing! We’re actually trying to keep our prices low, to protect our customers, who we love so much.”

Now we discover the big three supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, have seen a staggering 97 per cent rise in their profits in the last financial year.

It is fairly difficult to escape reaching the conclusion that they are extremely greedy tossers.

Shop locally and avoid the money-grabbing. And those self-service tills.

Sorry, Dan is wrong

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Daniel Radcliffe lost no time in dumping the woman who made him a multi-millionaireCredit: Getty
THAT odious little squit Daniel Radcliffe has been talking about his feud with JK Rowling.

He lost no time in dumping the woman who made him a multi-millionaire. He criticised her stance on the transgender issue.

Now he’s said it’s “sad” they fell out. But there was no apology.
Either from him or the even worse Emma Watson.

Radcliffe said a few years ago: “Transgender women are women.
“Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this . . . ”

Except that this is now directly contrary to the medical advice which says the sex you are born with is immutable.