Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want the BBC to explain wreathgate properly

123 replies

Hingeandbracket · 12/11/2019 08:12

The BBC has apologised for cutting a section of 2016 coverage of Boris laying a wreath into the coverage of Sunday.

But they haven’t provided a proper account of how or why they did it.

I would like to know.

This was not a simple or easy mistake.

OP posts:
JacquesHammer · 12/11/2019 11:12

Heaven forbid people reuse stuff

That’s some amazing mental gymnastics there.

Why would the BBC need to reuse footage from 2016 when there was in fact footage from 2019. Now what on Earth could be the motivation...

Alsohuman · 12/11/2019 11:27

If anyone doubts the BBC’s bias towards the Tories, follow Laura Kuenssberg on Twitter for a few days. It’s embarrassing.

What an incredibly convenient mistake, Johnson rolls up looking like an unmade bed, wavers about, bungles the wreath laying and behold three year old footage of him getting it right is suddenly found and broadcast. Mistake? Yeah, right.

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 12/11/2019 11:38

Personally I think the reason it was done was more to do with "Brand GB". The eyes of the world would have been on us as the ambassadors from all over the world laid their wreaths (correctly). It would look undignified and embarrass the Queen and country if Boris's "mistake" was broadcast, so it was edited not just for Boris's sake but for the Queen and government more widely. It was probably a palace edict.

I don't actually have an issue with that. What I do have an issue with is how on earth Boris managed that. As a Minister, he would have laid a wreath before lots of times. Including the time this footage was broadcast. Every year the Secretaries of State lay wreaths in their own Whitehall departments commemorating the lost lives from their own civil service employees.

His gaffe has been widely reported in this country, so his own political campaigning is unlikely to be affected too dramatically, as most people know what happened and that the footage was spliced in.

Mishfit0819 · 12/11/2019 11:44

I'm with you OP, too many small 'mistakes' like this recently. If it was a private news company you could vote with your feet but its the BBC and nobody to hold them accountable.

Shocking we need to pay for propaganda.

PigletJohn · 12/11/2019 11:47

@tvstar "He looked very smartly dressed to me."

You are talking about the shambling man with his coat hanging open?

videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/backup/2019/11/10/5067204884754615421/640x360_MP4_5067204884754615421.mp4

presumably he doesn't own a hairbrush or comb, but he might have benefitted from an assistant to signal the correct time to step forward, rather than going too early and having to shuffle back to his place.

lemonjumper · 12/11/2019 11:56

The archive footage was used in news segments BEFORE the ceremony happened on Sunday. Then the same archive footage was used accidentally on Monday.

As for why it was 2016 footage and not last year's footage, probably something to do with our current PM Boris Johnson having resigned from cabinet by this time last year, so he probably wasn't in the broadcast footage.

For those saying it was 2016 spliced into 2019 footage, I didn't see anything that looked spliced. The 2016 ceremony footage is easily found on YouTube for comparison. If someone can show me the specific shot from 2019 footage that appeared alongside the 2016 footage on Monday morning, I'd be most grateful!

I do think it's very telling that so many people have zero trust in the BBC though.

KatherineJaneway · 12/11/2019 12:07

either
a) you didn't see the state Johnson was in because you didn't see the correct footage
or
b) you're being very picky for some other reason that escapes me

I wasn't talking about anyone else, I was talking about the bowing part specifically and I noted how disrespectful he had been while watching it. I would have felt the same had it been Jo Swinson that didn't bow. He is the leader of one of our main political parties and for him to be so disrespectful is disgraceful.

Tvstar · 12/11/2019 12:10

Looks a smart outfit to me

JacquesHammer · 12/11/2019 12:18

He is the leader of one of our main political parties and for him to be so disrespectful is disgraceful

You mean like Boris Johnson?

Lumene · 12/11/2019 12:21

It’s a pretty easy mistake to make. It made hardly any difference anyway Boris is just a bit fatter and scruffier this year.

yolofish · 12/11/2019 12:35

I reckon BJ was extremely hungover, got there late, didnt read the briefing notes (as per usual).

His posture is terrible!

Corbyn looked much more the part to me.

But I do agree with PP about the 'brand GB' being a possible reason - no way was it an accident.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 12/11/2019 12:37

Johnson’s coat doesn’t fit him. I wonder if he is wearing a borrowed coat.

tinyteece01 · 12/11/2019 12:39

The present day BBC? They are often engaged in smoke and mirrors. This particular “attempt” was lame though and begs the question whether a 16 year old work experience kid was involved at a crucial stage in the planning.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 12/11/2019 12:39

images.app.goo.gl/uGtx6hWxBo1CoPwb9

Look at the sleeve length.

Deathgrip · 12/11/2019 12:40

It would have been honest and dignified to cut away to a different camera so the PM was not shown at that moment to save him embarrassment.

Is that what they would have done if it were Corbyn looking a state and laying his wreath upside down - cut away to spare his embarrassment?

You know it isn’t.

yolofish · 12/11/2019 12:47

chaz you are so right about the coat! and don't they teach them at Eton about scrubbing up for the occasion? I'd be asking for the school fees back...

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 12/11/2019 12:55

Maybe Larry the cat peed on his coat!

Evilspiritgin · 12/11/2019 12:56

I don’t think they can just get rid of the tv license, didn’t Gordon brown scupper it???

yolofish · 12/11/2019 12:58

or Dilyn the dog crapped on it?!

Alsohuman · 12/11/2019 12:59

New governments can do whatever they choose. No government is bound by its predecessors.

Hingeandbracket · 12/11/2019 13:01

Oh get a life OP

Is it really that much of an issue?
Don’t you think it’s a little ironic coming on here to post a nasty goady comment about something that isn’t an issue?

OP posts:
bellabasset · 12/11/2019 13:06

Didn't he put the wreath down the wrong way round? If so I would expect the BBC to edit it out in case it caused offence.

MustardScreams · 12/11/2019 13:09

Corbyn apparently didn’t bow low enough. They showed that. And the time he didn’t sing the national anthem which clearly means he is a terrorist or whatever the Daily Heil headlines said. They all reported that.

Biased.

KevinsCarter · 12/11/2019 13:13

Michael Foot's famous coat was actually from Harrods and cost quite a bit. It's on display at the peoples history museum.

I reckon he was either trying to be Winston Churchill in his peacertimr term or he had a late night at the colombian embassy.

Swipe left for the next trending thread