Tim Worstall

…last week a cameraman arrived at the London to record a video clip of Ramsay for the Emmy Awards. “The guy said to me, ‘Can you be angry?’” Ramsay recalled wistfully. “I said: ‘No, I can’t, f*** off’.”

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With Carol Vorderman’s departure from Countdown a sign that the bubble has burst, the BBC will presumably be telling its own presenters to take a 90 per cent pay cut or go searching for another job. That will mean Jonathan Ross’s yearly earnings falling to £600,000 a year, Graham Norton’s to £250,000 and Jeremy Paxman’s [...]

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Whether product placement should be allowed in TV shows or not. Hmm, difficult question. …ministers are consulting on whether to implement part of a European directive, which would allow product placement in the UK from as early as 2010. Under the proposals advertisers would be able to pay to have products featured in most TV [...]

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A review.

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None of this modern nonsense on the TV screens: If the BBC was hoping its new drama about England’s courts and prisons would ruffle a few wigs, the corporation can indulge in a leisurely moment of self-congratulation. Criminal Justice, which charts one young man’s journey through the prison system, has provoked a terse exchange between [...]

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Speccie. Wow, incentives matter and the licensing of estate agents. If you’ll excuse me, this summer lurgy thing is sufficiently bad (a horrible hacking cough plus what feels like a bad port hangover but I haven’t been drinking) that I need to go for my morning nap.

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No, I didn’t know this. All South Park episodes are now available for free online. Here.

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Now here’s a truly inventive use of the Channel Islands and no, it’s got nothing at all to do with tax. The loophole allows ITV programmes to be registered for compliance purposes with a tiny franchise, Channel Television, based in Jersey and Guernsey. About 40% of ITV shows – mostly made by independent production companies [...]

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Now, I wonder if I can interest Bravo in "When Celebrity Parachutes Go Wrong"?…

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If that wasn’t enough to put you off, it also features an ill-advised cameo from Kerry Katona. What more could be said?

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There’s also a cultural objection to the new ways of seeing, which is the one Davies makes. The biggest defining feature that TV has had, in comparison with other art forms such as theatre, film and literature, is that millions of people watched the programmes at precisely the same moment – in the way they [...]

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Please save us from idiot regulators: Internet service providers could face a new tax to help pay for unprofitable programmes shown on ITV and Channel 4, which may in turn lead to higher broadband charges for consumers. The levy could be imposed by the Government on the service providers and websites within the next few [...]

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Fun series of videos about a visit to North Korea.

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There’s an element of truth to the complaints: Stephanie Flanders, the Newsnight presenter, has become the latest high-profile journalist to criticise the lack of women over 50 on television. The Oxford and Harvard graduate, who is to replace Evan Davis as the BBC’s economics editor, said it was wrong that female news presenters were dropped [...]

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Yes, Virginia, it really is true that politicians are lying bastards and no, there’s nothing we can do about it.

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This is interesting: BSkyB’s 17.9pc stake in ITV may have offended many people’s sense of what’s fair but it didn’t appear to offend the Government’s very own 2003 Communications Act which allows BSkyB to own up to 20pc in ITV – it became known as the Murdoch clause after all. That was introduced under the [...]

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My secret fantasy is that one day the two genres should collide, and Jeremy Clarkson be filmed as the tall, sneering Regency hero in the tight pantalons, test-driving his four-in-hand racing curricle at high speed. I know, only 4bhp. Not a patch on a Bugatti Veyron. But think of the viewing figures, boys, think of [...]

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In a thinly-veiled swipe against some younger women presenters, Miss Scott told The Daily Telegraph that the BBC and other news operations were more interested in "presentation over substance". "So often you see people coming through the system without a strong journalistic background, who haven’t covered a wide range of stories," she said. "Women are [...]

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The Olympic Games’ ability to attract controversy is enjoying a new twist after China’s equivalent of Des Lynam was humiliated at a television ceremony by his wife storming onstage and accusing him of conducting an affair. … Opinion was divided. While many enjoyed the humiliation doled out to the CCTV anchor – a breed held [...]

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What are these people thinking of? A plan to end the BBC’s sole claim on the £3.2 billion licence fee and parcel it out to other broadcasters is being considered by David Cameron, The Times has learnt. I’m told that this is the sytem here in Portugal. You don’t buy a licence, there’s a tax [...]

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