Mailwatch(ed) Forum

soulboy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 2:48 pm Are podcasts still considered an audio medium? The big bucks are now on YouTube so many are "video-first" formats, with the occasional bone thrown to listeners with a description of what the viewers can see.

Here is a prime example of the BBC.

Ed Gamble hosts the official visualised podcast for the ultimate game of trust and treachery.

Isn't that just a TV show?

Well, quite; one YT channel I follow does these 'visualised' podcasts which is a pity as I would listen to them in the car if they were audio-only...

Meanwhile, the BBC has changed the title of the article I linked to earlier and dropped the "hacking" from it.

It's just people chatting, but with fucking enormous microphones in front of their faces. Because it's a podcast.

Radio stations now stick cameras in studios, they're still radio shows not Later with Jools or the Graham Norton show.

They've been doing it for years. I remember Victoria Derbyshire doing it in the early 2010s.

Samanfur wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 5:07 pm They've been doing it for years. I remember Victoria Derbyshire doing it in the early 2010s.

That was a TV studio show with audio broadcast on the radio. There are podcasts that make an effort with some sofas and guests knocking back some bevvies but its mainly heads behind mics in a studio.

Killer Whale wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 4:27 pm It's just people chatting, but with fucking enormous microphones in front of their faces. Because it's a podcast.

Ah yes: Reassuringly Large Microphones, the trademark of so many podcasts.

Unless your RLM says Neumann or AKG on it, you can fuck off.

There still seems to be quite some outrage over the BBC's coverage of what is happening in Iran, "leaving it all" to the very tittersome, Omid Djalli. Yes, he is good and he might be well-informed. But, that is commentary and is not news.

The BBC were clearly struggling to verify the snippets of information which they were receiving and only a fool would blame them one bit for not running with what might have been utter nonsense.

Where the BBC have failed their audience, their BBC Persian team and the wonderful Lyce Dousyeeeria, is that they just kept schtumm. A brief explanation would have changed everything.

Amol Rajan to leave Radio 4's Today programme

Jolly good. Don't let the doors at BH hit your arse etc. etc.

However, he continued: "Twenty years after I first flirted with the idea, I'm extremely excited to jump into the Great Digital Narnia of the Creator Economy, and build my own company. I'll still do Britain's oldest TV quiz and most exciting podcast.

I quite like him. Mrs Whale can't stand him, and particularly his ubiquity. Mind you, she's a notoriously poor judge of radio presenters - she doesn't like the lovely Katie Razzall, for example. Incomprehensible.

Well , how could you not love a woman named after a scud mag ?

Abernathy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 15, 2026 4:10 pm Well , how could you not love a woman named after a scud mag ?

I have to say, that always crosses my mind...

The Ian Dury song "Razzle In My Pocket" is an earworm every time the announcer mentions her name.

I read this in the voice of Chris Morris.

It sounds like he was having a wank.

It's the most obviously cynical Tory politician joining the most obviously cynical party (Reform). Jenrick was (astonishingly) very senior in the Tories, that's the only thing of note. He's been trying to get kicked out for ages. About all we were missing was Jenrick parading down Whitehall with Rupert Lowe and Sammy Wilson, dressed as the Black and White Minstrels.

Why is it a "waymarker" anyway? He sounds like someone who's already decided Reform are the next Government, or at least the winner on the Right. That's quite a presumption in itself.

mattomac wrote: ↑Fri Jan 16, 2026 9:47 pm It sounds like he was having a wank.

You beat me to it.
My contribution was going to be.

I'll be in the shed contemplating future developments.

Nigel / Bob slash fanfic to follow.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sat Jan 17, 2026 5:25 am It's the most obviously cynical Tory politician joining the most obviously cynical party (Reform). Jenrick was (astonishingly) very senior in the Tories, that's the only thing of note. He's been trying to get kicked out for ages. About all we were missing was Jenrick parading down Whitehall with Rupert Lowe and Sammy Wilson, dressed as the Black and White Minstrels.

Why is it a "waymarker" anyway? He sounds like someone who's already decided Reform are the next Government, or at least the winner on the Right. That's quite a presumption in itself.

Waymarker sounds like a word Mason heard at his D&D table.

Bones McCoy wrote: ↑Sat Jan 17, 2026 7:56 am

mattomac wrote: ↑Fri Jan 16, 2026 9:47 pm It sounds like he was having a wank.

You beat me to it.
My contribution was going to be.

I'll be in the shed contemplating future developments.

Nigel / Bob slash fanfic to follow.

But I didn't expect it this soon:

Jenrick's move is massive - but could it cause a bigger fight on the right?

Laura Kuenssberg

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9yxwqwjxgo

There is fresh paint in Reform HQ - and a fresh face in its line-up.

Before Thursday, the last time Robert Jenrick walked into Millbank Tower, a fabled address in Westminster where lots of political campaigns have been run, was decades ago as an eager Conservative activist.

Now, he's Reform UK's biggest prize so far - the best-known Tory to defect, and a favourite of Conservative party members.

Like or loathe Jenrick's tactics he has campaigning guile, a knack for grabbing headlines, experience of government, knowledge of Parliament and, of course, insider knowledge of what Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and her team are up to.

Calm down Laura, does he "grab" headlines, or are you falling over each other to spotlight his latest stunts?

The media frenzy over this bloke has been extrordinary. He' a snivelling little shit of a man not some political visionary or great leader of the people. I suspect that most people see him as just another full of crap politician doing what politicians do.

and, of course, insider knowledge of what Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and her team are up to.

He didn't this week did he and is unlikely to from now on.
So Jenrick's a Tory big beast and a huge Reform catch. But zero insight from Laura K about what this tells us about the talent levels of these two parties.