Post by Teddy Bear on Aug 10, 2012 22:07:06 GMT
I never saw the documentary, but reading that the BBC use it to try and deprecate University Young Conservatives hardly surprises me, even if they haven't realised how 'odd' are the facts presented.
The puzzling logic of the BBC's documentary on the young Tories of Oxford and Cambridge
By Alex Singleton
Student Tories across Britain have a new hate figure. His name is Joe Cooke. This recent graduate was the star, if one can call him that, of a BBC documentary broadcast yesterday, which examined life at the Oxford and Cambridge University Conservative Associations.
How much of the programme showed the real Cooke, I can't say, but there was one significant problem with how the BBC handled the programme: the chronology made no sense.
According the the documentary, Cooke, after his term as president, became outraged at the behaviour of the Oxford Tories. He was particularly venomous about his successor, who, I suspect, found him to be a prima donna. So Cooke leaked to the student newspaper lurid details of student Tories singing Nazi songs, and then caused the national press to get involved.
But there's a problem with this story. The singing of Nazi songs by two or three people - obviously not real Tories - actually occurred in Michaelmas 2010. This was two terms before Joe Cooke become President. The BBC failed to say this explicitly - not surprising, because it would have ruined the programme.
If Cooke was so outraged by the behaviour, why did he not resign in protest in Michaelmas 2010, rather than a year later during his successor's term in office? Or, indeed, why did he not insist upon disciplinary systems during his time in office to ensure such singing would never again be tolerated? Was it not his duty to expel the perpetrators, and then, in the interests of his party, shut up? Certainly, if he had raised his concerns with CCHQ, the central party would have insisted on measures - and helped him to implement them.
There's another problem with the documentary. With the BBC's help, the whiny Cooke seemed to want to be seen as a poor, impoverished outsider with a father who was sent to prison. He is not, apparently, as posh as the other members of the Oxford Tories, and is forced to change his accent. So he wants to stop the society being as toffish.
This seems to be a new view, because when he was standing for election The Independent reported that: "Young Cooke appears blissfully oblivious to the coming cuts, inviting fellow OUCA members to a weekly lunch of quails' eggs and champagne as part of his campaign for the association presidency".
By Alex Singleton
Student Tories across Britain have a new hate figure. His name is Joe Cooke. This recent graduate was the star, if one can call him that, of a BBC documentary broadcast yesterday, which examined life at the Oxford and Cambridge University Conservative Associations.
How much of the programme showed the real Cooke, I can't say, but there was one significant problem with how the BBC handled the programme: the chronology made no sense.
According the the documentary, Cooke, after his term as president, became outraged at the behaviour of the Oxford Tories. He was particularly venomous about his successor, who, I suspect, found him to be a prima donna. So Cooke leaked to the student newspaper lurid details of student Tories singing Nazi songs, and then caused the national press to get involved.
But there's a problem with this story. The singing of Nazi songs by two or three people - obviously not real Tories - actually occurred in Michaelmas 2010. This was two terms before Joe Cooke become President. The BBC failed to say this explicitly - not surprising, because it would have ruined the programme.
If Cooke was so outraged by the behaviour, why did he not resign in protest in Michaelmas 2010, rather than a year later during his successor's term in office? Or, indeed, why did he not insist upon disciplinary systems during his time in office to ensure such singing would never again be tolerated? Was it not his duty to expel the perpetrators, and then, in the interests of his party, shut up? Certainly, if he had raised his concerns with CCHQ, the central party would have insisted on measures - and helped him to implement them.
There's another problem with the documentary. With the BBC's help, the whiny Cooke seemed to want to be seen as a poor, impoverished outsider with a father who was sent to prison. He is not, apparently, as posh as the other members of the Oxford Tories, and is forced to change his accent. So he wants to stop the society being as toffish.
This seems to be a new view, because when he was standing for election The Independent reported that: "Young Cooke appears blissfully oblivious to the coming cuts, inviting fellow OUCA members to a weekly lunch of quails' eggs and champagne as part of his campaign for the association presidency".