Arise Sir Charlton Brooker!

It has been so refreshing to see an alternative take on the news in the form of Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe on BBC4 (the beeb don’t seem brave enough to unleash CB onto it’s more mainstream channels).

Maybe it’s a sign of me becoming a grumpy old man, but I can’t help but agree with Charlie’s satirical and extremely non-pc view of the media. The most recent episode at the time of writing (broadcast on Wed 1st April) focused on the media circus surrounding the death of Jade Goody, and the resulting U-turn of epic proportions by the broadcast and print media from a position of castigating her as a vile racist to comparing her to a saint within a matter of a few months. What happened to Jade was very sad and if her death leads to a greater awareness of health issues than that can only be a good thing, but the sickening need for the likes of OK magazine to cash in on a commemorative issue before the poor woman had even died is disgraceful.

On a lighter note the recent problems of the Home Secretary were given the newswipe treatment and the contributors seemed to draw the conclusion that the majority of MP’s are unwilling to stick the knife into Miss Smith, not because they feel sorry for her but because a great many of them are also guilty of being ‘creative’ with their own expense claims.

While the programme tackles a lot of serious subjects the emphasis is primarily on humour as was it’s predecessor Screenwipe, if you want intelligent satirical humour this is the show for you.