"The Russell Brand Show goes (or went) out after 9 p.m. in the evening."

So that makes it OK then? This 'watershed' business is pathetic. We never used to be this way, so why have we all become so frightened of standing up and saying "Bloody hell! This is beyond all common decency!"   If, I, as an individual, took children or young people into my home, showed them private videos, on a par with some of the filth that is now shown on our TVs, then I'd no doubt be arrested and considered to be some kind of pervert. Yet, because it's on our TVs it's apparently considered to be OK?

Just occasionally, I steel myself to watch 'Eastenders', not only is it the most depressing thing I've ever seen, but some of the things that are in the storyline make your hair stand on end! Yeesh! And it's on BEFORE the dreaded watershed, being watched in adulation by thousands of children around this country who think it's 'real life'...and THAT is what we want our children to aspire to? That, and Ross and Brand?

And they were merely doing what they were hired to do? So they were hired to drag us down into a moral cesspit then? Why?

Look around at what is happening in your land. See how so many of our young people are behaving, what they're talking about, how they think, what they're doing, etc..and then ask yourself this....Are our young people being consistently 'groomed' to accept the unacceptable? And if so, why, and by whom? Many young people can see *nothing* wrong in any of this. They can see nothing wrong in many things, things that you or I would have backed away from at high speed in our youth, perhaps. And nope I'm not talking about being Miss Goodytwoshoes here, but when you have mothers who think that being 'responsible' is ensuring your 13 year old goes out with contraceptives in her bag, or makes her an appointment with the GP for the Morning After Pill (and yes, that happens, here in Sidmouth) well, it seems to me that we've lost it, bigtime. And Brand and Ross are part of the *whole* picture, as is the BBCs decision to employ them in the first place and encourage them to behave as they did, along with many other things the BBC has done. The BBC make some incredible, brilliant, inspirational and wonderful TV and Radio and they should be damned proud of that. They should be deeply ashamed of the rest though.

Over the years, I've turned off Jonathan Ross many a time, because my kids and their friends were around the place on a Saturday morning, when he let his mouth completely run away with him. Unacceptable.
Sorry, but I'm glad they're both gone, albeit temporarily with Ross, and I certainly hope he cleans up his act when and if he comes back. Hell, both these men have fast and witty minds, they don't need to sink to this level and drag everyone else down with them. WHY do we want to go down, and not up? Why do we want to hear conversations, watch things, which a few years back would NEVER have made it to our screens or radios, and most of us would never have imagined they would, or wanted them to. WHERE does it stop?

"I've been present at most anti-war protests and, try as I might, I don't recall seeing one person reading, carrying, or selling the Daily Mail. And I wasn't surprised. "

Oh, that's the evidence.   Well, I hate to tell you this, but my mother and father both read the Daily Mail when I was growing up. Neither of them were racist, facist, bigotted or non-accepting. It wasn't 'filled' with hate stories, as I recall. My mother thought the Greenham Common Women were wonderful, and I remember her standing outside her church one day (she went through a 'religious' phase') trying to collect money for CND, whilst everyone ignored her. If she could have, she'd have gone to Greenham, but she wasn't able to do that, at that time in her life. But no, she never carried The Daily Mail around with her, nor talked about it, nor asked anyone else what paper they read. It just didn't enter into conversation.

And as far as Diane Appleyard goes, I agree, that sounds weird and extreme. SO weird and extreme that I've just written to her, via her website, included that email in it, and asked her what it's about and if it's real or not. I'll let you know if she comes back to me, and if she does, what she says.

The Brand and Ross matter HAD to be taken up by the press, because the BBC have refused to listen to their public for a very, very long time. Now, they are listening. I'd have been behind any paper who had taken this up and brought it to public attention, even one I was perhaps not too keen on.

This matters.

And yes, McGrath, the Mail did seek to get justice for Stephen Lawrence, over and over.