A matter of standards

Anyone remember way back in 1984 when Tony Butler got sacked from BRMB after a row with a disabled colleague? I'm not going into the ins and outs of what Butler always maintained was something blown out of all proportion but it does serve to illustrate that a quarter of a century ago we still had some standards, particularly regarding those in the public eye, which were maintained.

I must admit I am not a Russell Brand fan. I think he is the ultimate alternative comedian, a complete alternative to funny but that is hardly the point. That he and Jonathan Ross could believe that their bad-taste joke at the expense of Andrew Sachs and his granddaughter was acceptable brioadcasting shows a monumental error of judgement both on their part and on the BBC staff who put out what was after all a recorded show.

There must have been at least one producer who knew the content of the calls and should have had enough instinct of self preservation to have passed his concerns, and with it the responsibility and sackability, up the line to his boss. In the time between recording and broadcast one would have thought that even Brand and Ross might have thought that perhaps the line which they have stretched further than most had finally been snapped. But no, in a celebritocracy, the words of such highly paid stars as Ross and Brand are sacred texts so common sense and decency goes out of the window.

Mistakes of that magnitude in most professions would bring at the very least some sort of serious sanction and more likely a P45 but although the BBC might find some lowly technical type as a scapegoat, the chances of senior heads rolling, at least very far, are slim while a bunch of flowers and a sorry seem to be all that is required for the rehabilitation of Ross and Brand.