Mark Andrews on Saturday: Chubby chequered, a double decker, and the BBC gets bang up to date
Speaking via an anonymous 'spokesperson', Wolverhampton Council has pledged to review its booking policies after a councillor called for a show by controversial comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown at Bilston Town to be cancelled.
Mr/Mrs/Miss Spokesperson says the council always endeavours to be "fair and inclusive", reflecting the "diversity of the city", although possibly not so diverse or inclusive as to include Chubby Brown fans.
Of course, entertainment venues are a little thin on the ground in Wolverhampton these days, what with the refurbishment of the Civic Hall now scheduled for completion in time for the next millennium. All the same, it will be interesting to see who will be welcome under the new "fair and inclusive" policy to reflect the "diversity of the city". I'm sure the new Polly Toynbee season will go down a storm.
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The objections to the Chubby Brown show came from Councillor Celia Hibbert, who says he is "well-known" for slurs relating to race, sex and homosexuality. Having never seen his act, I am in no position to comment. My only question is, has Councillor Hibbert?
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So what do you think of the BBC's new logo? What, you haven't noticed?
The one the corporation has revamped for an undisclosed cost – and what's it got to do with licence payers? – after viewers complained the old one was "old fashioned and out of date". Allegedly.
Not surprised. Never mind the woke culture, inflated salaries or turgid programmes, my main bugbear with the BBC has long been that its logo was "old fashioned and out of date".
Anyhow, the BBC has now brought its logo kicking and screaming into the 2020s, by making the letters fractionally smaller, and moving the grey three blocks they are in about a 16th of an inch further apart.
And not before time. The last rebrand came in 1997, the era of Britpop and Cool Britannia, when the BBC replaced the sloping boxes with square ones. Not quite as radical as in 1988, though, when it sharpened the rounded edges of the boxes.
Anyhow, that's the logo sorted. Now any chance of some decent programmes?
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One also wonders if the BBC name is itself a bit "old fashioned and out of date". Maybe BBCQ+! would better reflect the "inclusivity and diversity" that Wolverhampton Council is blazing a trail for.
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Traffic was brought to a standstill and a gas main damaged as a bus driver took a detour through the front of a chip shop in Dudley.
Perhaps he thought it was a drive-through.
