The BBC British History on-line article about the Great Fire Of London has been altered after complaints -
With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife.
"Of the period" has been inserted after "familar English trait". But this is still wrong to my mind, still anti-English. Did Bruce Robinson have a Tardis so that he could nip back and do an Esther Rantzen-style vox pop? And even if paranoid xenophobia was rife, surely it was not confined to the English alone in the world?
The article's better. But still not right.
That won't do at all....
ReplyDeleteI rang their editorial policy unit to complain - an office infested with plummy sounding bints with names like Bunty and Penelope...
Their defence was to cite that it was 'of the time' - i then said that EVERYONE 'of the time' was similarly disposed to paranoid xenophobia.. I asked her if she could, in her wildest dreams ever see Scotland or Wales inserted where England was. I asked her whether she thought that the building of the great wall of China was built to keep hordes out in a xenophobic kind of way - or to welcome them in with open arms.... Bunty laughed a horsey kind of laugh.
I told her it wasn't a laughing matter - and if things didn't change - and quick then I could see a massive licence fee non payment revolt happening in England...
I felt that I was actually speaking to someone further up the greasy pole trail than those no marks in the call centres.
If anyone wants the number, let me know. (But a word of advice - if you do ring them, tell them you are representing a body - like the CEP or similar - they will take more notice of you.)