On TV & Radio.

What a wonderful crop of young women we have in our crime thrillers just now. They are all obsessive, let's say. Their work-life balance isn't what it might be. Some stray into the autism spectrum and some claim great chunks of it. I make ten, and counting.... Read more...

Ian Hislop very nearly told us (When Bankers Were Good, BBC2) that Dickensian bankers were more moral than our own. A couple of literati on the Today show  (BBC Radio 4, 7 December 2011) did actually say how awful and Dickensian our times are. (The inequality! The homeless!) So which is it? Read more...

In recent episodes of  BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme there have been interesting examples of - and some challenges to - the show's dogma. I think it is fair to say the show is crusading for something it calls "real food". But what is that? Read more...

So. You're a crook, a colleague, a swain: which of TV's top female cops do you fear or hope for? The French Berthaud of Spiral is needy, sulky. There's an element of the kittenish. The Danish Laure of The Killing is laconic and schtum to the point of surliness. Both are romantic figures. Both are richly sympathetic. Read more...

Mr Gervais's new comedy is not very funny. But it made me uncomfortable only because I am not sure it is proper to let Ricky Gervais pull my chain. Read more...

I've been booked for the BBC TV's Sunday ethics and religion show, and here are some sketches of what I hope to say... Read more...

John Lloyd (who is one of my moral compasses) writes in his FT TV review (18/19 June 2011) that the BBC's great prides are "enlightenment values and devotion to impartiality". But, as he defines them, are these compatible? Read more...

The Today Programme (10 March 2011) asked a  man from Compass (the think tank) and me what we thought about the idea of a Public Sector Covenant. Is there, like the Military Covenant, a special understanding or settlement with civil servants of every sort. I said no.... Read more...