ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Should Eddie and the whole PM team go to Cannes?

Comments

1. At 05:50 PM on 17 May 2007, anth wrote:

   Yes. Why not take the bloggers with you as well?

2. At 05:50 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

   Yes, do please go to Cannes on the next flight.

   And stay there.

3. At 05:52 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

   Indeed -- yes not for too long though

4. At 05:54 PM on 17 May 2007, Big Sister wrote:

   Ha! Only if we can come with you.

   And as for the follicly challenged - Not you, guv, surely?

5. At 05:54 PM on 17 May 2007, RJD wrote:

   Yep

6. At 05:55 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

   Only if you promise to take all of us with you.

7. At 05:55 PM on 17 May 2007, Carol Clark wrote:

   No, no, no, no, please don't go there - a bunch of wasters.... wasting money making films no-one is going to pay money to see. I spent 10 years of my life plying between Cannes-Milan-Los Angeles and eventually came to the conclusion that the film industry creates enough hot air itself without PM having to add to it. Nooooo oh, those egos.......

8. At 05:55 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

   I'll vote for it!
   xx
   ed

9. At 05:55 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

   Indeed -- yes not for too long though

10. At 05:57 PM on 17 May 2007, jim blake wrote:

    Eddie and the whole PM team go to Cannes

11. At 05:58 PM on 17 May 2007, Bedd Gelert wrote:

    Hair Loss ? Is this a contrived plug for Annually Retentive with Rob Brydon [which is excellent by the way] where he is concerned about the effect that Hi Definition TV will have on his TV Persona..

    Perhaps you could visit him in Cannes to discuss hair loss, in a totally non-contrived way, of course..

12. At 06:08 PM on 17 May 2007, pc wrote:

    Please DO go to Cannes and you can report back to us less fortunate folk on the antics of the teams from ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News and others who will be there en masse to breathlessly report on the minutae of celebrity trivia and which airhead they've spotted being 'normal'. Wonderful!

13. At 06:14 PM on 17 May 2007, Stewart M wrote:

    But you said the hotels were overpriced. Are we camping?

14. At 06:21 PM on 17 May 2007, Rachel wrote:

    No, not Cannes. I do think you should plan a summer tour, though - borrow the Newsnight camper van and broadcast from around the country during the summer hols. I'm sure froggers will let you pitch your tent in their gardens.

15. At 06:31 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    Yes, but only if you take me with you!!

16. At 06:33 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    And of course we must all go by train to keep the carbon footprint down....

17. At 06:37 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    Yes

18. At 07:02 PM on 17 May 2007, The Stainless Steel Cat wrote:

    Eddie:

    Why go to Cannes? Wait six months and the films will be out on DVD. You'll save money, save the environment, and save being mistaken for Brad Pitt.

    You don't want Angelina Jolie accidentally snuggling up to you, do you?

    ...

    OK then, go.

19. At 07:09 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    Eddie / team...go for it, I personally would love to see you 'camping' in Cannes.

    My only concern is: Would the Newsletter be in French?

    ..the public has a right to know..

20. At 07:30 PM on 17 May 2007, Gillian wrote:

    ''Spontaneous'' thread indeed! Off you go then - we all need a bit of razzamatazz.

21. At 08:01 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    Good grief - isn't a train trip to Whitby tomorrow enough? And Manchester last week? It's just "take take take" with you lot, isn't it? What's France got that Whitby hasn't ?(careful now...)

    I like Rachel's idea of PM "on the road" over the summer. "Today" get around occasionally I've noticed, & there usually seems to be food involved too. Perhaps you could do a series of News Barbeques at 5pm? You might have more luck getting some of those reluctant guests on the programme if you could bribe them with steak or sausages. It's obvious that most politicians love their food.

22. At 08:15 PM on 17 May 2007, Perky wrote:

    I liked the way you called this a "strand", Eric, rather than a "thread". Are you sprucing things up a bit round here?

    I too heard a note of amusement in your voice as you introduced the hair-loss piece (or was it the hair-piece loss?).

    Anyway, stay here. Cannes is over-rated, and you and the team would surely stick out for not taking yourselves seriously enough. ;)

23. At 08:35 PM on 17 May 2007, anth wrote:

    Annasee #21

    PM on the road during the summer must, of course, be broadcast from the beach.

    It's true that some of the most interesting seaside locations don't have sandy beaches.

24. At 08:35 PM on 17 May 2007, Bedd Gelert wrote:

    I second Annasee's fantastic, nay, inspired idea for PM 'News Barbecues' !!!!

    In the absence of Jeremy Vine to crash the Newsnight camper van [as he did in Bristol a few years back] perhaps Carolyn Quinn could be in charge of the driving ??

25. At 09:03 PM on 17 May 2007, Miss De’meanour wrote:

    AnnaSee @ 21.

    
    cracking idea, get the poor souls out into the fresh air and meet the punters...I will sponsor 5 sausages, 4 burg's, 3 Turkey twizzlers, 2 French Hens and a Alan Partridge in a pair of speedos.

26. At 09:21 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    Thank you Bedd - though it was Rachel who suggested the original touring idea. I've just expanded on it. They could advertise it as "Guests to be grilled - along with the steaks"

    And as for the follicly-challenged remarks that seem to be creeping in - can I just report, purely without prejudice, but as an eyewitness, that contrary to the photo on the blog (where Eddie appears to lack any sort of top to his head whatsoever, the poor lamb) the man DOES have hair. Or at least he had last week in Manchester. ( Though I suppose he might have torn it out this week after a few sessions of Rupert's editing...)

27. At 09:25 PM on 17 May 2007, mittfh wrote:

    By all means go to Cannes, but don't forget to take your team with you! Of course, taking us froggers with you as well would be nice, but I think you'd have trouble authorising the necessary expenditure...

    Nonetheless, there's no excuse for not taking a digicam or two - we'll demand pictures - and lots of them - of you mixing with the great and the good. See if you can blag a trip on someone's yacht...
    

28. At 09:29 PM on 17 May 2007, Humph wrote:

    A few days ago the blog had a posting about a petition for Lyons Travelodge (or whatever her name is) saying that she should not go to prison for being a criminal. The entry also had details of a link to a counter-petition. I think that this entry also needs a reference to a counter-petition. There are some people, and I count myself among their number, who would regard a visit of the PM team to France for a jolly would be a great loss in the quality of news reporting on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ. Sequin’s occasional replacing of Mr. Mayor in seat number 1 (or throne) works okay because the PM team are still there. Take the whole team away and you take away that which is β€œPM”.

    H.
    

29. At 09:35 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    As long as you all take into consideration your carbon footprints, then I'm kool, too. And it's SO good to hear from Mr. Iglehart and Ms. Sister; I was getting worried.

    XX

30. At 10:09 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    Humph....OK Eddie goes and does a sort of Nils in the North Sea thingy, the rest stay here...compromise..go on, you know u want to

31. At 10:13 PM on 17 May 2007, stewart M wrote:

    The PM roadshow does not have the same ring as the Radio 1 Roadshow. But could work. You could get some tips from Chris London who occasioanlly posts from Radio 2. Did Radio 1 stop their roadshows after he did one?.

32. At 10:52 PM on 17 May 2007, wrote:

    Humph - "Lyons Travelodge "indeed! I love it - just as you were writing that, SO had booked us in at a Travelodge, making use of one of their best bargain rates (Β£26). How spooky!

33. At 01:15 AM on 18 May 2007, Monty wrote:

    Should PM go to Cannes? Well, I dunno. I guess it depends on how good your film is...

34. At 08:03 AM on 18 May 2007, wrote:

    PM should go to Cannes, yes -- but only in order to do a Terry Wogan on it.

    And it would be essential to have a representative sample of froggers along, NOT to carry bags (!) but to provide the input you'd normally get throughout via emails and blog.

    After all, they're bound not to have enough broadband connections that time of year. And we do win you awards, y'know....

    It's a busy time of year for me though. I couldn't go, sorry.

    Fifi ;o)

35. At 08:26 AM on 18 May 2007, wrote:

    Yes.

    And Rachel's idea about PM 'on the road' is a very good one.

    Worth some discussion? You could pick your locations and cover one or two big regional stories, as you did last night with the Staffordshire care-homes story.

    Yes, I know that you can do it from London. Yes, you've got your big security blanket of being at base. But it counters the idea that you are too London-centric. and that all news springs from Westminster.

    Please give it serious consideration. After all Eddie has been clocking up his rail-miles recently, getting into practise for it.

    Si.

36. At 09:07 AM on 18 May 2007, witchiwoman wrote:

    Yes but you will need an entourage....I think I know some people that could assist

37. At 09:36 AM on 18 May 2007, Big Sister wrote:

    Perky (22): Interesting that you've picked up on the word 'strand'. Time for a confession from me. Way, way back last October, the Beach was born (see Blog History on the Froggers' Refuge), and as other froggers know I started to refer to the Beach, from which grew our weekly playplace. Now, my first reference to a beach occurred because of my own linguistic interests and the connection I'd made mentally between strands (a term I've often seen used on Blogs, etc.) and nice sandy places called beaches. Because as many of you will probaby know, a strand is a beach or shoreline, both in English and, presumably originally, Dutch.

    Anyway, I hope you'll forgive an oldtime frogger just clarifying that now. Perky's comment just reminded me.

38. At 10:02 AM on 18 May 2007, Fiona wrote:

    We have a camper van! If we head off soon we should just about make it. Pick you up later than shall I?

39. At 10:16 AM on 18 May 2007, Pete wrote:

    Listening to PM last night I heard some ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ hack discuss the new film about Ian Curtis from Joy Division. The hack used the term " grim northern landscape" in relation to Curtis. Is this the best the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ can do?
    Curtis was brought up in Macclesfield which being home to massive Astrazeneca facilities and on the edge of the Peak District National Park is not grim in either employment or environmental terms.
    This is typical of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's ill informed and patronising attitude to the north.
    As a collective punishment no ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ journalists should be allowed to go to Cannes.
    

40. At 10:55 AM on 18 May 2007, Big Sister wrote:

    Rachel: I think the PM Newsletter borrowed the Newsnight camper van and is currently having a long jolly around the British Isles.

    If it happens to pass this way, I'll try to flag it down so we can divert to Cannes.

41. At 11:29 AM on 18 May 2007, wrote:

    Pete;
    I'll have to beg to differ on that one. The older industrial areas of Macc are pretty grim, although the town centre is not so. And your point about the Peaks is well-made. Plus many people who think they know about Ian Curtis will never realise that he was from Macc. His public story is intimately bound up with the image of Manchester in the late 70's and early 80's.

    That association with Manchester, of course, came through Factory records and the Hacienda nightclub (the Hacienda site is now very chic and expensive urban apartments!). Back then Manchester was the epitome of grim. Even the words 'grim' and 'Manchester' were virtually interchangeable.

    It was that background and image which gave birth to not only Joy Division (and by extension New Order) but also the Smiths, and greatly influenced the tone of their music. It was at the Hacienda that Ecstasy was supposedly first introduced to Britain from Amsterdam, kicking off the clubbing scene in the U.K.

    But the knock-on effects of that early scene have been more or less beneficial for Manchester, the drug problem aside. The success of Hacienda encourage other major nightspots in and around Manchester. Out of them grew 'Madchester' and then BritPop.

    All of a sudden Manch was one of the places to be. Youth flocked in as the nightlife developed, especially around Canal Street and the Northern Quarter. Inner-Urban living was reborn in Manch. The IRA bombing gave impetus to the redevelopment of the city centre and the cash inflow helped other quarters develop. There has been an emphasis on Manch as a cultural city, which boosted that redevelopment which led, amongst other things, led to Media City at the reborn Salford Quays, where the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ is soon to move some substantial production units.

    I realise thast most of this is beside the point you make. But to look around the region now is to overlook the state it was in back in the late 70's when Curtis was alive. And there are still major areas of deprivation. One only has to look at the swathe from Oldham, via the Eastlands area, via Levenshulme, Rusholme, Longsight and on around to Moss Side to realsie that the problems are not cured.

    Si.

42. At 01:27 PM on 18 May 2007, maureen butcher wrote:

    Eddie Mair deserves a great holiday as he is a brilliant pm presenter, just not sure Cannes is the place

43. At 03:28 PM on 18 May 2007, Pete wrote:

    Si

    You make a lot of good points in your message.
    I am just bored with the old cliched language used when referring to the north and felt like having a whinge.

    If ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ journalists want to keep earning the nice license payers funded salaries then they should try harder. If they can't do that then they should forego the part of their salary paid for by us northerners. What we need are some new cliches about the north.

    In the meanwhile I stick to my collective punishmenet of no jollies to Cannes.