BBC

Monza F1 GP 2011 – BBC TV coverage

By fifthdecade 10 September, 2011 Leave a comment

Having just lambasted ITV for their awful TV coverage of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and said that the BBC have the best sports TV coverage, I’m now wishing I hadn’t been quite so profuse in my praise of the Beeb.

Monaco 2010 GP: wheels of confusion

By fifthdecade 29 May, 2011 Leave a comment

It was certainly a Black Sabbath for McLaren when the Monaco GP kicked off. But they weren’t the only team making a mess of things, they just seemed to have been the only ones to have suffered from their errors. Red Bull on the other hand made worse errors, but remembered one vital fact – […]

Monaco GP 2010 Qualifying: “52 billion chickens in the world”

By fifthdecade 29 May, 2011 Leave a comment

Monte Carlo is where the wheeler-dealers hang out, and when the Formula One circus comes to town it’s difficult sometimes to tell them apart. Both packs drip with riches, glamour, and excitement as they strut their stuff in the paddock, but how much of it is show? As Martin Brundle said, “I know there’s 52 […]

2011 China GP – race

By fifthdecade 18 April, 2011 Leave a comment

BBC1 F1, TV, Jake Humphrey, Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Lee McKenzie, China, GP, F1, Turkey, Schumacher, Ross Brawn, Mercedes, insurance risk, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, White City,

2011 F1 China GP – Qualifying

By fifthdecade 17 April, 2011 Leave a comment

China GP, GP, China, F1, Formula One, Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, Damon Hill, Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov, Renault, DTM, BTCC, Paul di Resta, Red Bull, Fisichella, Adrian Sutil, Jake Humphreys, Anthony Davidson, McLaren, Ferrari, Massa, Vettel, Webber

2011 Malaysia F1 GP – race and TV coverage

By fifthdecade 11 April, 2011

There’s good luck, and bad luck, and then there are Formula One Grand Prix. Malaysia was rather a different kind of luck for the drivers this year. No rain, or at least, none by Malaysian standards. Not so many parts breaking as qualifying, but mechanical issues still gave some drivers a hard time, others good. […]

Malaysia GP 2011 – Qualifying

By fifthdecade 10 April, 2011

BBC F1, F1, Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, Malaysia GP, GP, Michael Schumacher, Mike Gascoigne, McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, Renault, Alguersuari, Sepang, Sebastian Vettel, Lotus,

Australian GP 2011 on BBC

By fifthdecade 29 March, 2011 Leave a comment

After a disastrous time with Jonathan Legard as main commentator, this year the BBC have gone for an all-driver commentary team, sticking with the excellent Martin Brundle and adding David Coulthard as the newbie. How did they do as a team, and how was the race as entertainment?

The punishment should fit the crime

By fifthdecade 1 March, 2011 Leave a comment

One of the principles I grew up with was that “the punishment should match the crime” so it came as a surprise to me how some offences are dealt with when I watched an episode of “The Lock Up” on BBC3. The case I saw didn’t just shock me, it made me re-examine my whole […]

UK Pension cuts

By fifthdecade 9 July, 2010 Leave a comment

BBC’s Newsnight this evening was full of a “scare story” about how private pensions were going to be hit hard by new changes. The guy they had reporting on the story clearly didn’t have a clue about how ordinary pensions work (he’s in the BBC pension scheme of course). So what are they talking about? […]