Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Site stuff

Join our Innovation Panel to try new features early and help make Mumsnet better.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

MNHQ might want to call Radio 4...

33 replies

NetworkGuy · 07/01/2011 20:30

Michael Portillo (at approx 20:15) on R4 "Any Questions" was dismissing the number of complaints to the BBC and suggested Mumsnet (because of having a lot of e-mail addresses) might have 'suggested' members complain to the BBC.

I for one had no such e-mail from Mumsnet, and I suspect there is never any suggestion of sending requests to members to act in a co-ordinated way, while there may be information about campaigns (distinct difference) and why MNHQ suggests a specific campaign is worth supporting.

I feel it would be worth someone high profile at MN listen to the piece (on the East Enders storyline) and consider whether it would be worth commenting about this specific suggestion made on national radio and implying that if Mumsnet doesn't like something it would 'organise' thousands of 'individual' complaints.

I think you really ought to set the record straight, that MNHQ picks up on views and may sometimes consider a campaign but does not 'muster support' with a secretive mass e-mail to do such things as individually complain to push up numbers.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Original poster
NetworkGuy · 09/01/2011 22:44

I was tempted to PM yourself, Justine, but felt it might be better coming from Helen... [as someone at MNHQ might know who was available and prompt them to send an e-mail] ...

... so a 'real' e-mail or SMS to someone could bring them up to speed and they'd send an e-mail to the BBC by 10:00 on Saturday, in ample time to be seen by a researcher and passed up the chain to a producer.

Given the accusation, it would have been nice to have a timely and flat-out rebuttal for those listening to the Saturday repeat.

It seemed a bit too "chummy" that MP and MP (who are both broadcasting on Radio 4) were on this programme, and for them to get away with suggestions that complaints can be a mountain out of a molehill and safely ignored.

Many in the BBC are arrogant enough, without this type of comment to encourage them...

OP posts:
DirtyMartini · 09/01/2011 22:17

Michael Portillo, for example...

MNHQ
JustineMumsnet · 09/01/2011 22:12

Hi all,
Thanks for raising this - was obviously equally irritated when I listened to it on Sat am and really wanted to go on to Any Answers to correct Michael Portillo's hypothesis but had a house full of kids (who hadn't seen me all week) and people round for lunch and no food in the house etc and I just couldn't manage it I'm afraid. We don't have lots of folks on at weekends I'm afraid, so it was one that got away...

Original poster
NetworkGuy · 08/01/2011 14:54

My e-mail was sent only after the Bible lesson was on the radio wasting lots of air time.

OP posts:
Original poster
NetworkGuy · 08/01/2011 14:53

An e-mail from a Mumsnet.com mail address with an office or mobile number might have had some joy. Could have been sent at 23:30 yesterday to have had chance to catch their attention!

Sorry, just hearing nothing, seeing nothing added to thread in 12+ hours, you can see how it looked...

I sent an e-mail to the BBC, since the "Chairman" usually invites calls from bodies or individuals as a "right of reply" and suggested he seemed to have missed this "nasty accusation" and that Mumsnet should have had a right of reply.

OP posts:
MNHQ
HelenMumsnet · 08/01/2011 14:39

NetworkGuy: It was definitely our plan to call. Calling Any Answers is not the same as getting through live on air, though...

Original poster
NetworkGuy · 08/01/2011 14:36

Hey Helen, are MN happy to allow this to go by, so others will think twice about doing something in case they get not ~6,000 complaints, but 60,000 or 600,000 complaints (enough to crash many e-mail systems!) ?

:) :) :)

Could not resist. Guess everyone at MNHQ out shopping today. Nice and sunny here.

OP posts:
Original poster
NetworkGuy · 08/01/2011 14:20

Rather long passage read out from the Bible so plenty of time to have had MNHQ call, had one been made.

OP posts:
Original poster
NetworkGuy · 08/01/2011 14:18

No reaction from anyone at MNHQ to Any Answers (so far as I have heard) ?

Puzzling.

OP posts:
Ponders · 07/01/2011 23:15

have listened now & I am cross too.

The EE storyline had previously passed me by apart from internet headlines, & possibly that's true of the majority of the AQ audience, but the atmosphere of the discussion & the responses seemed far too light-hearted all round considering the subject matter, & I couldn't believe that M Portillo could refer to the objections as pusillanimous Shock

I don't know how many of the quoted 6000 objections came from MN users (does anybody?) but it would be good if MNTowers could draw up a timeline of the objections that were posted on various threads here before the message was sent by Justine to the BBC, in order to dispel the spectre of an orchestrated MN campaign Angry

Original poster
NetworkGuy · 07/01/2011 23:09

MP [Matthew] (ex-MP) is openly gay, I believe, and I assume has no children.

MP [Michael] or in full: Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo married in 1982.

OP posts:
Original poster
NetworkGuy · 07/01/2011 23:00

ZD - I'm only familiar with them missing the point because MN spokesperson Katie O'Donnovan[?] made the point yesterday near the end of "The World at One" that it was a step too far and how a grieving Mum is likely to be treated with suspicion.

I did spot a number of threads, but I didn't read them as I don't follow EE and could add nothing useful to them.

OP posts:
Ponders · 07/01/2011 22:54

re the EE storyline, I would be interested to know if there has ever been a case of a newborn being taken by a bereaved mother? The only ones I can recall were women who'd been pretending to be pregnant, had reached the end of their pretend pregnancies & had to produce a baby

Confused

Michael Portillo and Matthew Parris don't have children, do they? so they'll have less empathy with parents than many others in public life.

(Still haven't listened to iplayer though, sorry)

ZephirineDrouhin · 07/01/2011 22:42

I heard this too this evening and much swearing at the radio ensued. Quite agree NetworkGuy both about responding to Portillo's suggestion that there might have been an orchestrated campaign and about how spectacularly the panel missed the point.

Original poster
NetworkGuy · 07/01/2011 22:35

Perhaps MNHQ can let us know if a response has been made by e-mail, or whether someone is likely to call in/ ask to be called back, to answer the accusation... thanks.

OP posts:
Original poster
NetworkGuy · 07/01/2011 22:34

FlamingoBingo - you know and I know a load of people complained independently but the suggestion that MN orchestrated a load of complaints is an accusation that could 'stick' if not refuted promptly.

It seems to me that the first two male contributors seem to have missed the point ( if I am correct in assuming one problem with this story is that while the death of a child is incredibly tragic, it rarely makes the heartbroken mother become a baby thief/ swapper).

Unfortunately there was no response from the chairman of the programme to dispute the suggestion by Michael Portillo, and then a little later, Matthew Parris suggested a lobby can be achieved via IT, and himself dismissed the number of complaints to some degree.

"Any Questions" is on iPlayer here and this question runs from approximately 11 minutes into the show.

OP posts:
MNHQ
HelenMumsnet · 07/01/2011 21:27

Thanks for letting us know.

Christmastreedelivery · 07/01/2011 21:04

Have emailed the show

I responded to the Jody MacIntyre response in the same vein, as I really resent being given a voice, by the power of the media or whatever, and then being told not to be silly and sit down.

Ponders · 07/01/2011 20:59

well they shouldn't, but I can see they might Hmm (MN is turning into a kind of media bogeyman Grin)

it may be possible to give your contact details in the email & say that you're happy to talk to a researcher but that you don't want to speak live, or have your name mentioned if quoted?

FlamingoBingo · 07/01/2011 20:58

It's irrelevant anyway - doesn't it just mean a load of people who think something was bad complained about it? What does it matter if they all heard about it at the same time? MN aren't brainwashing people to make them complain about things they don't have a problem with.

Original poster
NetworkGuy · 07/01/2011 20:54

If a lot of people complain by e-mail, the BBC will think there is truth in the suggestion.

Maybe we can see if there's a response from Justine or Carrie or someone else from MNHQ responds on the thread... and if not, then let loose with e-mail/ phone calls...

OP posts:
jonicomelately · 07/01/2011 20:53

Funny isn't it. I'm trying to think now. Obviously I've never paid much attention to it before.
It annoys me how a politician can so flippantly question the motives of MN in such an ill-informed manner.

Ponders · 07/01/2011 20:51

afaik if you email all they need is your email address - they may reply to you for more information but otherwise emails are read out unattributed (I think, haven't heard it for a while, I used to work Sat afternoons until just before Christmas)

jonicomelately · 07/01/2011 20:50

You have to give your name though don't you?

I often listen to Any Answers and I do have strong views on the subject. Perhaps I should...

Original poster
NetworkGuy · 07/01/2011 20:48

It's one thing SEA if there's rubbish posted online, but let's face it, we can all take "with a pinch of salt" what is on the internet as some is speculation, some is true, and some is just plain lies.

However, "Any Questions" has a sister show, "Any Answers" (and responses can be by e-mail too) and nipping this one in the bud is perhaps a different situation as the impression might stick with people not using the internet.

Mumsnet perhaps had more prominence in newspapers before the election, but may wish to respond to this accusation via the same medium and in a timely manner, ie straight after the rebroadcast of "Any Questions" tomorrow afternoon.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread