March 2024 – Jack Sanger

The Trap (BBC 2 Sunday 9.00)

I watched the second of this three-parter, last night. It is an analysis of how the US and British governments have slavishly followed a doctrine of hands-off government, when it comes to the shape and direction of society. By reducing Big Government and tossing the stubborn infrastructures of bureaucracy and class into the liberalising air… Know More
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The Secrets of Suicide

In my role as a Panel member at the British Board of Film Classification, I occasionally see films that have caused the viewing public some disquiet. The Panel’s role is to debate whether such films have been given the most appropriate classification. I enjoy Panel meetings. The debate is penetrating and represents a wide range… Know More
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Oscars and Helen Mirren

The last couple of years have seen the eulogising of the impressionist, the mimic, the imitator to the detriment of the actor who creates a character. Capote, Amin and the Queen are part of the current cultural establishment’s fetishism with bringing out good copy. Actors can spend hours of research with videotapes and radio speeches… Know More
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Who are You? Mark 2

For those who haven’t read it, Richard Dawkins’ book, The Selfish Gene, suggested that the flesh and blood persons that you and I are, do not necessarily represent primary life forms. This honour goes to our genes. They ride our bodies through countless lives, reproducing and refining themselves as they transfer from host life to… Know More
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Who are You?

It is a paradoxical fact about a person that, in fact, there is no one there! Ask anyone to be introspective about the self that should lurk behind the senses that connect us to the world, and a befuddlement ensues. Try as people might, they can’t locate who lives indoors. David Hume wrote about this… Know More
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God and Country

For any thinking person, life is riddled with the absurdities of people’s belief systems.Personally I wonder why people think royalty has any place in today’s society. Equally, I have no real idea why we maintain an established church. On top of this I cannot understand why our political imperatives pay such overweening regard to any… Know More
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Goody Goody MPs

Is it a sign of an egalitarian society that Jade Goody is regarded as a significant subject on whom self-opinionated, pompous parliamentarians can focus their sound bytes? Big Brother appears to create a virtual fence over which we can all be neighbours, spilling our vitriol, whether we are taking part like Jade Goody or voting… Know More
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“God, how brilliant was that?!”

Not very, most of the time. I watched a programme about University Challenge a couple of months ago. There were cuts from Bamber Gascoigne’s times to Jeremy Paxman’s. There was an amusing infill from the Young Ones and shots of the then student, Stephen Fry, gaunt and earnest. A central motif was that this was… Know More
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Tony Blah, Prime Minister

What can one say of a Prime Minister who has led his people into war, his socialist party (New Labour) to drown in private sector mores and lately suggested that individuals could not be held responsible for their carbon footprints? (forget his gruesome u turn). What is the explanation for this apparent disregard for self… Know More
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Father and Son

There have been many novels and short stories based upon the sins of the father being vested in the behaviour of the son. The murderous instinct. The weakness for alcohol. The failings with women. More so than mothers and daughters, I’d venture. Perhaps men have a greater propensity for weakness, full stop. In the last… Know More
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