CBC and the BBC

 The national public networks both here and in the UK are under some pressure and the BBC created more by offending a large segment of the conservative population, which is perhaps a dwindling portion of the larger one. Still, it is powerful and many of its members did not like the idea that the BBC was not going to play the lyrics of Rule Britannia! and the Land of Hope and Glory at the conclusion of The Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, lest the lyrics offend. 

The Prime Minister Was Not Happy

   Here is what he said and it is worth repeating:

“It’s time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history, about our traditions, and about our culture, and we stopped this general bout of self-recrimination and wetness,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson to reporters, adding with an indignant flourish, “I wanted to get that off my chest.”

Those in charge at the BBC changed their minds.

Sources: 

"BBC Lost a Battle Over British Songs, and the War Is Far From Over," Mark Landler, The New York Times, Sept. 2, 2020.

LONDON — It had all the ingredients for a juicy skirmish in Britain’s simmering culture war, so when the BBC announced last week that it would strip the lyrics from two popular patriotic songs in its telecast of a beloved annual concert, Conservative leaders predictably lined up to express their outrage....

On Wednesday, the BBC reversed itself, announcing it had decided to have a small choir sing the words to “Rule, Britannia!” and “Land of Hope and Glory” after all. Critics say the lyrics evoke a British colonial, imperialist past that is at odds with the values of the Black Lives Matter movement that has spread across the Atlantic….

Score another point for the government in its feud with Britain’s revered, but embattled, public broadcaster. And though the BBC’s viewer numbers have been as strong as ever, the decision was only the most visible setback for the broadcaster, which faces commercial as well as cultural headwinds.

Post Script:

   To some, Defunding the BBC/CBC is more frightening than Defunding the Police. Nevertheless, both Boris and Erin O'Toole have threatened to do so. For more about the Tory policy here see:

Defund CBC 

For some reactions:
"Erin O'Toole's 'Defund the CBC' Plan is Bogus Policy," John Doyle, Globe and Mail, Aug.31, 2020.

"Defund the CBC and Shower Parents With Cash: Four Things Erin O'Toole Has Promised to do Earlier, " Stuart Thomson, National Post, Aug. 24, 2020.

The Bonus:

 I wasn't sure what the Prime Minister meant by 'wetness', but it sounded right. I looked it up:

INFORMAL•BRITISH

a lack of forcefulness or strength of character; feebleness.

"a profession which regards loyalty as weakness and decency as wetness"