Monday, 13 January 2025
Sunday, 12 January 2025
The best friend (2)
An image of my father, Maestro Fernando de Carvalho, with
his best friend, Nero, in Ericeira, Portugal.
Greetings, JEEVES, António Sérgio Rosa de Carvalho
Saturday, 11 January 2025
Friday, 10 January 2025
Are private schools losing their grip on the British elite? – podcast
Are private schools losing their grip on the
British elite? – podcast
Presented by Helen Pidd with Sam Friedman;
produced by Courtney Yusuf, Ruth Abrahams and Joel Cox; executive producer Sami
Kent
Wed 8 Jan 2025 03.00 GMT
Professor
of sociology Sam Friedman charts the enduring influence of private schools in
the making of the British elite and asks whether the Labour government is
looking finally to curtail it
The
current Labour cabinet has been described as the most state-educated in British
history: it’s not just Keir Starmer who went to a grammar school, all four
holders of the great offices of state were state-educated.
It is, as
LSE professor of sociology Sam Friedman explains, a marked departure from
governments of the past – traditionally dominated not only by old public school
boys, but by alumni of an even more exclusive circle. Two-thirds of the
country’s prime ministers have come from so-called Clarendon schools – a group
of nine of the most elite, prestigious, and expensive private boys’ schools in
the country.
Indeed,
it is not just positions of government – private school graduates are vastly,
disproportionately likely to take up places among Britain’s elite, as judges
and CEOs, newspaper editors and pop stars.
It is a
power, Friedman writes in his new book Born to Rule – written with Aaron Reeves
– that has had a profoundly unequal influence on British life, and still one
that is underappreciated in the way we talk about class.
Yet
starting this school term, and despite vociferous opposition in the rightwing
press, the Labour government has repealed a VAT tax exemption enjoyed by
private schools in the UK. As Helen Pidd asks, is this finally a moment when
the influence of private schools will be curtailed?
Who are the elite running Britain? | The Story
Born to
Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite Hardcover – 10 Sept. 2024
by Aaron
Reeves (Author), Sam Friedman (Author)
A uniquely
data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who
gets in, how they get there, what they like and look like, where they go to
school, and what politics they perpetuate.
An Economist
Book of the Year.
A Times Book
of the Year.
Think of the
British elite and familiar caricatures spring to mind. But are today’s power
brokers a conservative chumocracy, born to privilege and anointed at Eton and
Oxford? Or is a new progressive elite emerging with different values and
political instincts?
Aaron Reeves
and Sam Friedman combed through a trove of data in search of an answer,
scrutinizing the profiles, interests, and careers of over 125,000 members of
the British elite from the late 1890s to today. At the heart of this
meticulously researched study is the historical database of Who’s Who, but
Reeves and Friedman also mined genealogical records, examined probate data, and
interviewed over 200 leading figures from a wide range of backgrounds and
professions to uncover who runs Britain, how they think, and what they want.
What they
found is that there is less movement at the top than we think. Yes, there has
been some progress on including women and Black and Asian Brits, but those born
into the top 1 percent are just as likely to get into the elite today as they
were 125 years ago. What has changed is how elites present themselves. Today’s
elite pedal hard to convince us they are perfectly ordinary.
Why should
we care? Because the elites we have affect the politics we get. While scholars
have long proposed that the family you are born into, and the schools you
attend, leave a mark on the exercise of power, the empirical evidence has been
thin—until now.
Wednesday, 8 January 2025
Gloverall Heritage
1950
1960
1970
1980
HRH Princess Anne visits Gloverall in her first year as President of the British Knitting and Clothing Export Council.
Tuesday, 7 January 2025
Monday, 6 January 2025
Sunday, 5 January 2025
Ralph Lauren Makes Fashion History With Top Civilian Honor
Ralph
Lauren Makes Fashion History With Top Civilian Honor
After
decades of being nearly synonymous with American fashion, the 85-year-old
became the first fashion designer to win the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Jacob
Gallagher
By Jacob
Gallagher
Jan. 4, 2025
On Saturday,
the United States of America’s clothier in chief met its commander in chief, as
Ralph Lauren became the first fashion designer to receive the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.
Dressed in a
tweed blazer, a knit necktie and squishy dark sneakers, Mr. Lauren, 85, was
described in an introduction as “classic yet creative, timeless yet
innovative.” He was praised for reminding “us of our distinct style as a nation
of dreamers and doers.”
Established
by John F. Kennedy, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest
civilian honor. It has been bestowed upon a host of cultural, corporate and
political figures, including Babe Ruth, Mother Teresa, Julia Child, Warren
Buffett, John McCain and Rush Limbaugh.
If ever
there was a fashion designer worthy of this award, it is Mr. Lauren. A son of
the Bronx, Mr. Lauren marketed a preppy image to the upwardly mobile masses,
building his eponymous company into a multimillion dollar corporation — one he
remains executive chairman and chief creative officer of nearly a half-century
after he founded it.
The fashion
world, which had been largely absent from the event in the past, was well
represented at the White House on Saturday. Joining Mr. Lauren in receiving the
gilded medallion from President Biden was Anna Wintour, a steely Brit (and
longtime supporter of Democratic causes) who has been Vogue’s editor in chief
since 1988.
The fashion
world was also represented at Saturday’s event by Anna Wintour, the longtime
editor in chief of Vogue, who was one of the 18 people honored by President
Biden.Credit...Valerie Plesch for The New York Times
In her
introduction, Ms. Wintour, who was dressed in a shin-length plaid coat and
forwent her ever-present oversized sunglasses for the occasion, was hailed for
using “fashion as a mirror to reflect our culture.”
Other
recipients on Saturday included Hillary Clinton, Bono, José Andrés, Lionel
Messi and George Soros.
Mr. Lauren,
was joined at the ceremony by his wife of 60 years, Ricky Lauren, dressed in a
sleek black suit, and his elder brother Jerry Lauren. Also in attendance were
Mr. Lauren’s three children: Andrew, David and Dylan.
Born in New
York to immigrant parents in 1939, Mr. Lauren nosed into the apparel market in
the late 1960s by introducing a line of men’s neckties, which he sold out of a
drawer in a showroom in the Empire State Building. Soon, Mr. Lauren was
marketing a holistic shoes-to-suits brand of aspirational prepwear.
The rest is
well-trod fashion history, as Mr. Lauren rode his brand’s pony logo to the
celestial heights of American fashion. In a sense, he found success by
perfecting the building blocks of the all-American look: bluejeans, polo
shirts, white T-shirts, flannels and work boots. As Mr. Lauren told the luxury
magazine Robb Report in 2023, “I loved things that were American.” His brand’s
brisk-selling American flag sweaters put an exclamation point on that.
Mr. Lauren
expanded the brand into winsome home goods and personally came to embody the
aspirational image pushed through his label’s cinematic ad campaigns. Mr.
Lauren’s holdings include a garage full of automobiles and a sprawling ranch in
the Colorado mountains. Rife with leather furniture, saddle blankets and
polished wood accents, Mr. Lauren’s oft-photographed homes are lived-in
tableaus of his well-honed all-American look.
Through his
brand, the designer has been a patriotic cheerleader, and if not a friend, at
least an acquaintance, to many political figures. For decades, his company has
outfitted the United States Olympic team, dressing athletes in all forms of
spangled and striped sportswear. In 2022, during a period of national
soul-searching about racial inequity, Ralph Lauren collaborated with Morehouse
College and Spelman College, two historically Black colleges in Atlanta on a
collection including silk wrap dresses and a schoolboy blazer — dressy pieces
defying the look of today’s sweatpants-loving undergrads.
There is
bipartisan appeal to Mr. Lauren’s clothes. Nancy Reagan and Michelle Obama both
wore the brand’s designs during their time in the White House. In 2017, Melania
Trump wore a cashmere dress from the brand at her husband’s swearing in. Mr.
Lauren’s son, David, married George H.W. Bush’s granddaughter Lauren, in 2011.
Mr. Lauren’s
company seems to hold a special significance for the Bidens. Mr. Biden wore a
Ralph Lauren overcoat and suit at his inauguration in 2021 while Jill Biden,
who has often been photographed in the brand’s designs (including on the cover
of Ms. Wintour’s Vogue last year), was the marquee guest at Ralph Lauren’s most
recent runway show, held in the Hamptons in September.
Jacob
Gallagher is a Times reporter covering fashion and style. More about Jacob
Gallagher
Saturday, 4 January 2025
Friday, 3 January 2025
2 Years Ago : Full | Tailoring in Conversation: E25 - Matthew Gonzalez / Meet Matthew Gonzalez. The only American on Savile Row.
Meet Matthew
Gonzalez. The only American on Savile Row.
https://www.matthewgonzalez.co.uk/our-story
Matthew
Gonzalez is a Savile Row trained tailor who founded his eponymous bespoke house
in 2020 after working with some of the worlds most renowned tailoring firms.
Being the only American pattern cutter in an otherwise traditionally British
industry, Matthew’s house style is a unique blend of mid century American
menswear with the highest level of British bespoke craftsmanship.
Matthew was
born and raised in Long Beach California, a city who’s sartorial style is far
more relaxed than the storied streets of London’s Mayfair & St. James’s. He
moved to London in 2007 to pursue a degree in Bespoke Tailoring from London
College of Fashion. Shortly after his course work commenced Matthew began an
apprenticeship with the head cutter of Thom Sweeney. After seven and a half
years of training and cutting at Sweeney he decided to explore different
avenues of tailoring and design.
In 2015
Matthew began a Masters Degree at the University of Oxford in the History of
Design and in 2016 he undertook a pattern cutting role with Alfred Dunhill’s
bespoke tailor team looking after their Japanese trunk shows. Oxford provided
him with an opportunity to think critically about design choices and their
meanings while his experience representing
Dunhill in Tokyo further enriched his skills as a bespoke tailor.
After a year
of working with Dunhill, Matthew was approached by Huntsman, one of the most
renowned names in the industry, with an offer to cut on Savile Row for the
first time in his career. He spent four years constantly aiming to perfect his
craft when he decided it was finally the right time to create his self named
tailoring firm.
This house
is a reflection of Matthew’s personal life experiences. His unique background
of growing up in a west coast American beach community, his training in some of
the world’s most prestigious tailoring firms and his academic research at
Oxford have collectively shaped his signature silhouette, which rids itself of
unnecessary rigidity while maintaining a sense to timeless elegance.
ANGLO-AMERICAN
TAILORING
Our House
Style
We
collaborate with each client on every commission. It is our role to understand
your lifestyle so we can best advise on cloth selection and design details.
While we can cut any style of your choosing our quintessential house silhouette
is a blend of mid-century American menswear with traditional Savile Row
elements & techniques which we refer to as Anglo-American tailoring. The
cut can best be described as fitted with out being tight, a natural shoulder
line, with a structured chest but using lighter weight canvases. Many of the
suits we make are Single Breasted with a 3 Roll 2 button configuration.
Meet the Only American Tailor in London’s Most Storied Bespoke District
Just a few
blocks from Savile Row, a young Californian named Matthew Gonzalez is turning
out Ivy League sack suits and Western denim shirts using the finest British
craftsmanship.
By Alex Freeling
July 18, 2023
https://www.gq.com/story/matthew-gonzalez-tailor-profile
London’s Savile Row is arguably the most famous destination
in all of tailoring. More than a retail address, the Mayfair street is the
spiritual center of bespoke suiting, home to century-old outfitters like
Huntsman—which once counted King George V and Ronald Reagan among its
clients—and Anderson & Sheppard, inventor of the English drape cut and a
favorite of Fred Astaire and Fran Leibowitz. The Row and its most storied
occupants represent tradition, heritage, the pinnacle of British style. But just
a few blocks away, an American revolution of sorts is quietly taking shape.
In Princes Arcade, one of London's historic covered shopping
streets, a 37-year-old bespoke tailor named Matthew Gonzalez is readying his
new permanent digs. Gonzalez—bearded, bespectacled, always immaculately dressed
in worsted-wool suits and gun-club check tweed jackets—doesn’t fit the typical
description of a London haberdasher. For starters: He’s originally from Long
Beach, California. And there’s the small matter of his surname.
“Being an American in a very British industry, there’s a
tension with my last name,” Gonzalez says. “Sometimes people told me the name
Gonzalez might hinder potential clients. It’s not that I’ve been looked down
upon, but there’s an idea for consumers of pure British tailoring. It’s
important to normalize a Mexican or Hispanic name within what is normally seen
as a white, British, male industry.”
That tension is ever-present in the clothing Gonzalez makes
too. Despite training as a tailor in the UK for over a decade, Gonzalez has
developed a decidedly American house style. His soft-shouldered jackets nod to
the midcentury Ivy League aesthetic, as do his button-down shirts and knit
ties. He offers Southern-style seersucker in the summer and Western-style denim
shirts all year long. It’s not about disrupting the bespoke tradition, Gonzalez
says, but showing the range it can accomplish.
How did Gonzalez land in London in the first place? In the
early 2000s, he enrolled at Orange Coast College, a small school in Costa Mesa,
California, with the aim of eventually becoming an architect. Instead, an intro
to sewing class got him hooked on the idea of making his own suits—even though
his school’s fashion program was aimed at a slightly more casual demographic.
“It was designed to send students to the active sportswear industry,” Gonzalez
recalls. “Wet suits, board shorts, bags for surf shops.”
After graduation, he took a job at Nordstrom as an
alterations tailor, before eventually making the leap to the London College of
Fashion and enrolling in its then-new bespoke tailoring program. “The tailoring
class was small and surrounded by fashion,” Gonzalez says. “We were constantly
pushed to be more creative in our approach.”
After completing his degree at LCF, Gonzalez was taken on as
an undercutter at Thom Sweeney. He spent eight years there honing his craft
before moving on to Dunhill and then Huntsman, where he achieved a longtime
goal of working on the Row as a pattern cutter. “I developed a silly technique
to help guys relax at Huntsman,” he remembers. “Oftentimes we’d offer water,
tea, coffee, and I’d get into the fitting, fit the trouser, and as soon as I
put the jacket on the client would stand straight like a soldier on parade. I’d
say, ‘Why don’t you get a drink? Your coffee is getting cold.’ They’d reach for
it and immediately relax and allow the jacket to hang the way it should.”
But it was another stint in academia—pursuing a master’s
degree in the history of design at Oxford during his stints at Dunhill and
Huntsman—that crystallized Gonzalez’s desire to start his own business. “It
gave me a really wonderful insight into a slice of British culture that
overlaps very neatly with bespoke tailoring, and it also allowed me to think
outside of a very narrow lane of tailoring. It made me start thinking about why
we dress the way we do,” Gonzalez says. “That allowed me to start thinking critically
about what a brand is.”
For Gonzalez, figuring out his brand meant establishing a
house silhouette. Rather than the classic English business suit (strong and
structured, with multiple layers of canvas and padding) or the Neapolitan
leisure suit (shorter, slimmer, no padding to speak of), Gonzalez drew most
from the so-called “sack” suits of midcentury America. His jackets are cut
square and without darts, featuring soft shoulders, straight pockets, side
vents, and a three-roll-two closure—a classic American technique of cutting a three-button
jacket so that the lapel rolls over the third button. The result is elegant and
yet relaxed; formal but not stiff.
“It’s very American,” Gonzalez says of his house style,
“because it takes away any kind of flourish. It avoids extremely slanted
pockets. I want to strip back all those flourishes into a very simple design.”
And while his style takes plenty of cues from traditional
Ivy style, Gonzalez isn’t trying to perfectly replicate the clothes from any
one time period. “I don’t want to know exactly how long the coats were in the
’60s in Princeton,” he jokes. “The buttons aren’t the same, the cloth isn’t the
same. I want to look at reference images and look at the proportions and try to
make something evocative of that for the contemporary man.”
Gonzalez’s ultimate ambition is to give his British clients
a taste of true American style, and give his American clients (whom he’ll soon
be courting through a series of US trunk shows) the quality of Savile Row
bespoke in more familiar forms. Above all else, though, he wants to craft
clothes that make his customers feel supremely confident. “It’s about dressing
for your environment with aesthetic proportion and comfort,” he says, “wanting
to look good for yourself rather than wanting others to recognize you for how
well you dress.”
Thursday, 2 January 2025
Italie : la fontaine de Trevi rouvre à Rome mais limite le nombre de touristes / Fishing Coins From Trevi Fountain and Putting Wet Money to Work
Rome to
regulate Trevi Fountain crowds after restoration
A general
view shows the Trevi fountain after renovation works in Rome, on the day of its
reopening with crowds of people huddling round the grand re-opening.
More than
10,000 people used to visit the baroque landmark in Rome every day
Thomas
Mackintosh
BBC News
Published
22 December
2024
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwypvvplj05o
Rome's
world-famous Trevi Fountain has re-opened after a three-month restoration.
Built in the
18th Century by Italian architect Nicola Salvi on the façade of the Poli
Palace, the historic fountain is one of the city's most visited spots.
Between
10,000 and 12,000 tourists used to visit the Trevi Fountain each day, but a new
queuing system has been installed to prevent large crowds massing near the
landmark.
Speaking on
Sunday Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri said imposing the limit will "allow
everyone to better enjoy the fountain, without crowds or confusion".
Gualtieri
also said city authorities were considering charging a modest entry price to
finance the fountain's upkeep.
Sunday's
re-opening took place under light rain in the presence of several hundred
tourists, many of whom followed the mayor by throwing a coin into the fountain.
The
three-month cleaning project involved removing mould and calcium incrustations.
The fountain
and other key city sites have been cleaned ahead of the jubilee of the Roman
Catholic Church which begins on Christmas Eve.
A new
queueing system will be put in place to avoid large crowds, like this in
September 2024
Its poor
structural condition was exposed in 2012 when bits of its elaborate cornice
began falling off after an especially harsh winter which required a
multi-million euro renovation the following year.
Making a
wish and tossing a coin into the water is such a tradition that the city
authorities used to collect around €10,000 (£8,300; $10,500) a week.
The money
was donated to a charity that provides meals for the poor.
It is the
end point of one of the aqueducts that supplied ancient Rome with water
The Acqua
Vergine runs for a total of 20km (12 miles) before flowing into the fountain
Tourists can
drink from a special tap tucked away at one side
According to
legend, the water source was discovered in 19 BC by thirsty Roman soldiers
directed to the site by a young virgin - which is why it is called Virgin
Waters
The
tradition of throwing coins into the fountain was made famous by Frank
Sinatra's Three Coins in the Fountain in the 1954 romantic comedy of the same
name
Fishing
Coins From Trevi Fountain and Putting Wet Money to Work
Who gets to
spend the millions of euros in change tossed into the Roman landmark?
By
Elisabetta Povoledo
Reporting
from Rome
Jan. 1, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/01/world/europe/rome-coins-trevi-fountain-caritas.html
There’s a
good chance that many first-time visitors to the Trevi Fountain in Rome know
the drill. To ensure a return to the Eternal City, the legend goes, stand with
your back to the water and toss a coin with your right hand over your left
shoulder.
The ritual
became famous around the world thanks to the 1954 film “Three Coins in the
Fountain,” and its eponymous song — recorded by Frank Sinatra — which won the
Oscar for best original song.
The coin
throw is such a popular item on tourist itineraries that even a recent
three-month restoration that cut off direct access to the 18th-century fountain
was not a deterrent. Visitors still crowded in front of the transparent panels
protecting the work site to lob coins — about 61,000 euros’ worth, or $63,000 —
into a squat utilitarian tub.
“The tourist
is going to toss a coin, they don’t care about construction or no
construction,” Fabrizio Marchioni said on a chilly December morning a few days
before the fountain’s reopening.
He should
know.
For 13
years, Mr. Marchioni’s principal job for the Roman Catholic charity Caritas has
been to collect and count the coins tossed into the fountain.
“These are
coins of solidarity,” as “they’re put to good use,” said Giustino Trincia, the
director of Rome’s Caritas branch. More than 52,800 meals were doled out at
Caritas soup kitchens in Rome in 2023, just one of many projects the charity
runs.
The coins
are claimed by Rome’s municipal administration, but it has donated them to
Caritas since 2005. The proceeds in 2023 were close to 2 million euros.
The recent
cleanup of the fountain, 10 years after a major restoration, came just in time
for the start of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year on Christmas Eve. With some
32 million visitors expected over the next year, Rome is in a state of busy
preparation, with dozens of monuments being cleaned and polished.
The
fountain’s temporary closure also allowed city officials to test out
controlling visitor access. At the reopening, just before Christmas, officials
announced that only 400 people at a time would be allowed into the sunken area
in front. Visitors will enter at one end of the basin and exit on the other
side, with monitors keeping watch during daytime hours.
“The goal is
to allow everyone to enjoy the fountain to the fullest without the crush,
without confusion,” Roberto Gualtieri, the mayor of Rome, said at the
reopening. The city is also considering charging a nominal fee, he said.
Rome has a
plethora of fountains, the public, decorative faces of aqueducts that were
originally built by the ancient Romans, but none match the fame of the Fountain
of Trevi. In the early 18th century, “a practically unknown architect,” Nicola
Salvi, replaced a more modest iteration of the fountain with the monumental
work that reaches nearly 115 feet in height, arguably “the best known monument
of modern Rome,” said Claudio Parisi Presicce, Rome’s superintendent for
cultural heritage.
Celebrated
in a symphony, as well as in artworks over the centuries, the fountain became a
cinematic star in the 20th century, most famously in Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita,”
where Anita Ekberg throatily called to Marcello Mastroianni to join her as she
waded in its waters (an act that would be much frowned upon in real life).
Fresh fame
came via the 2024 season of Netflix’s series “Emily in Paris,” after the
protagonist, Emily Cooper, made the fountain one of her first Roman stops.
The
coin-tossing ritual began at the end of the 19th century, when German academics
studying in Rome reprised an ancient Roman practice of throwing coins into
water for good luck. It quickly caught on.
Over the
decades, the coins — and people sitting on the marble edge of the fountain
(another definite no-no) — have contributed to its wear and tear, especially as
visitor numbers have risen sharply in recent years.
“These are
magnificent, enormous monuments, but they are very delicate,” said Anna Maria
Cerioni, who has overseen many of Rome’s fountains for three decades in her
role as head of restoration for the city’s art superintendency.
The minerals
in the coins often leave marks on the product used to waterproof the basin.
Specially developed for the fountain, it is known as “Trevi White,” and
periodic maintenance is necessary.
The fountain
is still supplied by the Aqua Virgo, built in the first century B.C.E. and the
only one of the 11 aqueducts built by the ancient Romans that has remained
almost constantly in use, said Marco Tesan, who oversees the maintenance of
some of Rome’s fountains and aqueducts for the water and electricity utility
ACEA.
Twice a
week, the utility’s workers use a machine developed for swimming pools to suck
up the coins from the basin. During the maintenance phase, brooms and dustpans
sufficed, “though you still feel achy at the end of the day,” said Luca
Tasselli of ACEA.
At the
fountain, the collected coins are weighed under the oversight of city police
officers before Mr. Marchioni takes them to Caritas offices. There, they are
first washed under tap water, then laid out on a towel-lined table so that
impurities can be removed. Along with other stuff.
Larger
objects commonly found in the fountain, like bottles, umbrellas, fruit and
drinking glasses, are removed directly by ACEA workers. Mr. Marchioni and the
volunteers who help him root out smaller items.
Recently
found: religious medals, guitar picks, subway tokens, keys, marbles, shells,
and pins of all shapes and sizes. Bracelets and rings were also common, and Mr.
Marchioni surmised that they might have fallen off during particularly
enthusiastic tosses.
Expensive-looking
jewelry is turned over to the police.
Because
there isn’t a market for coin-drying machines, Caritas tasked a company that
makes machines to dry cutlery with converting one for its purposes. The coins
are dried and then passed through a machine that separates euro coins from
everything else. It’s so sophisticated that it even detected a bunch of fake
two-euro coins that were making the rounds in May and June.
Foreign
currency is sent to a company to exchange, which can get troublesome, said Mr.
Marchioni. “Let’s say that tossing euro coins is best,” he said.
The proceeds
are used for a variety of projects, from youth activities to care programs for
people with Alzheimer’s disease. Mostly, Caritas helps needy families make ends
meet, reaching almost 10,000 people in 2023, said Mr. Trincia of Caritas.
He added
that he hoped tourists visiting Rome were aware of the good they are doing
through the fountain. “Poverty doesn’t go on holiday,” he said.
Elisabetta
Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the
culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about
Elisabetta Povoledo
Wednesday, 1 January 2025
From constant scandals to its best shows ending – how 2024 turned into the BBC’s annus horribilis
From
constant scandals to its best shows ending – how 2024 turned into the BBC’s
annus horribilis
With star
names such as Gary Lineker, Kirsty Wark and Mishal Husain leaving, a slew of
others embroiled in legal troubles and a sharp drop in income, this has been a
dreadful 12 months for the broadcaster. But could it get worse?
Mark Lawson
Mon 23 Dec
2024 11.00 EST
The BBC’s
three top earners this year will never be repeated. They are: Gary Lineker (who
will step down from Match of the Day at the end of the 2024-25 season), Zoe
Ball (resigned from Radio 2 breakfast show), Huw Edwards (convicted of
accessing indecent images of children). It is a striking degree of churn for
their biggest names.
But four
more of their highest-paid employees will also be absent next year: Mishal
Husain (resigned to go to Bloomberg TV), Kirsty Wark and Martha Kearney
(semi-retired) and Steve Wright (who died in February). There is also
significant doubt about whether three of the likely recipients of the biggest
pay cheques from BBC Studios (which, by claiming independent commercial status,
does not have to make public pay disclosures) will be issued again: Jermaine
Jenas had his contracts for Match of the Day and The One Show terminated in
August after allegations of workplace misconduct. Gregg Wallace left In the
Factory after similar concerns were raised, while he remains under
investigation for issues arising at MasterChef, from which he has stepped away
(with Grace Dent to replace him on the next series). Jay Blades (The Repair
Shop) is scheduled, next May, to defend charges of coercive or controlling
behaviour against a former partner.
Depending on
the outcome of those cases, the BBC faces starting 2025 with many of its
most-invested-in faces and voices absent from the schedules.
This flight
of talent is symbolic of a horrific year for Britain’s oldest broadcaster. Some
presentational reshuffling is inevitable and even refreshing. The BBC could not
reasonably have known about the crimes and alleged crimes that brought Edwards
and Blades to court, although it could be held responsible for the reported
conduct at work of Jenas and Wallace. And managers can be squarely blamed for
the catastrophic loss of the best presenter and most effective political
interviewer on Radio 4’s Today programme – as well as one of its most
accomplished TV hosts: Husain’s departure completes a disastrous year for
talent management. The delayed post-Lineker succession announcement – his Match
of the Day duties seem likely to be shared between Gabby Logan, Kelly Cates and
Mark Chapman – was also less smooth than corporate communications best
practice.
This year
has also been problematic for BBC programming. With 13 shows in the Guardian’s
top 50, the corporation is still the single biggest content provider, but, like
a frontrunner in the Grand National, is surrounded by a pack of hot-breathed
challengers – lavishly funded thoroughbreds from the streamer stable, led by
Disney+/Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max and Apple TV+.
This clearly
illustrates the heft of the new television. The BBC can sometimes compete
creatively (Wolf Hall, The Responder) but never financially. Another worry for
it is that two of this year’s hits from overseas – Disney+’s Rivals and FX’s
Say Nothing – were British stories: a Jilly Cooper adaptation and a show about
the Troubles in Northern Ireland, warning of the ability of streamers to make
dramas for export that look homegrown to viewers in the locality depicted.
Another
concern for the BBC is that many of its strongest shows have reached a natural
end: there can be no more Wolf Hall, the creators have shut the door on Inside
No 9, and The Responder feels complete after two series. Only The Traitors and
David Mitchell’s Ludwig suggest the organic longevity of, say, Slow Horses on
Apple TV+ or Netflix’s The Diplomat. Credit should also be given to executives
for stabilising Strictly Come Dancing which – after its own professional
misconduct allegations – looked potentially doomed earlier this year. However,
comedian Chris McCausland, the first blind contestant, has proved one of the
most adept and admirable participants in the 22 series.
In earlier
decades, the election of a Labour government would have been ideal for the BBC.
Conservative administrations have tended to target the state broadcaster for
structural and funding reform. Just in case the Tories won again, the BBC had
employed its usual tactic, ahead of charter reviews, of getting prestige,
Westminster-pleasing material on screen as the process begins: Wolf Hall, plus
two beloved long-absent double-acts – Wallace & Gromit and Gavin &
Stacey – in the Christmas schedules.
These
MP-treats may be unnecessary given Keir Starmer’s immediate support for the BBC
in its current form. This backing, though, may be less good news than it
appears. This year’s annual report showed an £80m year-on-year reduction in
licence fee income – driven by half a million households failing to renew – and
a £253m drop in commercial earnings. (Even Wallace & Gromit is now shared
with Netflix.) Alarmingly, this marks a simultaneous drop in traditional and
alternative income, with a third ominous factor being a cliff-fall in BBC
consumption by younger audiences.
Because
statistics suggest licence-fee purchase will continue to drop – hastened by the
lack of political will for legally enforced purchase – some senior BBC figures
had come to accept the need for another funding system. However, with Starmer
and his culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, so far sounding cautious about change to
the corporation, next year’s negotiations over the new royal charter (a period
that will run from 2027 for a decade), may, for the first time, feature BBC
managers urging politicians to be more radical. Anything close to the status
quo could doom the BBC to ruin.
Some in
politics and broadcasting have floated the idea of a public service
broadcasting levy on broadband bills or house prices, but media and social
media reaction to tax increases in the first Labour budget suggest that tying
the BBC to state revenues could make it even more vulnerable. A stepped
subscription system, with a basic free package of news and culture, seems the
likeliest post-2027 outcome.
Nandy,
though outwardly a friend of the broadcaster, could also threaten it in another
way. During the Gregg Wallace episode – in which he has denied allegations of
sexual harassment but faces accusations of breaking BBC guidelines – Nandy
called for the BBC and other broadcasters to reform working practices, possibly
because that is the sort of ministerial intervention that costs nothing but
suggests action.
The jeopardy
for Broadcasting House is that, after the very different departures of Edwards
and Jenas (and possibly also knowing about the trouble coming for Blades), the
BBC chair, Samir Shah, and the director general, Tim Davie, commissioned the
company Change Associates to investigate the “workplace culture” of the BBC,
and report in “spring” next year.
This process
would need to be extremely lucky or incurious to identify no further targets
for internal discipline and external media scrutiny; possibly, this time,
including executives who have previously escaped by putting themselves in
charge of supervising punishments. The BBC may soon face further chaos.
