Notes from a philistine

The BBC reported yesterday on a boy in Detroit who stuck a piece of chewing gum onto the corner of an abstract painting estimated to be worth $1.5 million, thus leaving a stain that will now need to be removed. A look at the painting, The Bay by Helen Frankenthaler, suggests to me that the BBC missed out on the real news story here, which is that someone might actually be willing to pay $1.5 million for a piece of “work” which might…I emphasize might…garner praise from a nursery school teacher.

Given the utter absurdity of the art world, I wonder if anyone stopped to think that the gum might have actually addded value.

FYI

Received today from the BBC (links added by TAE):

Thank you for your email of 27 February to our Complaints Website.

Firstly, may I offer my sincere apologies on behalf of BBC Information for the response you received from this department in reply to your email regarding the News Website article "Supreme Court to rule on abortion". It is most unfortunate that your concerns about factual inaccuracy were not addressed and I would assure you that the way in which your initial complaint was handled will be raised as a training issue.

I have been in contact with senior editors at our News Website who tell me that your original complaint did lead to this piece being checked and amended. You can view this at the following link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4737082.stm

I do hope that the fact that this article was changed has reassured you in some way that the BBC does take complaints seriously. I note you have also contacted us regarding another article on our website "Churches urged to back evolution" and I have today been in contact with Paul Rincon, who you also emailed, and I understand from Paul that he will be responding to your concerns.

Thank you again for taking the time and trouble to contact us.

Yours sincerely
Denise Tattersall
Divisional Advisor
BBC Information

BBC cracks the case

So just how long do you suppose the BBC has been working on breaking this story?

US President George W Bush was waving to police when he fell off his bike at the G8 summit in Scotland last July, newly published police papers reveal.

This has been under wraps since last July, and has only now been "revealed"? It seems Bush's penchant for secrecy knows no bounds.

You just can't put a price on the service provided by the Beeb.