There’s a lot of trash on TV, and the news on BBC 1 is no exception. Near to top of the heap is BBC Regional news, which seems to strive to achieve mediocrity and still fall short of its own mark. The BBC London news this evening lead with an article about unexploded WWII bombs that litter the Olympic site in East London. The article is one in a long line of attempts by the media to trash the Olympics in London – some more deservedly than others. I personally don’t really care about the Olympics being in London. I probably won’t go and watch any of the games, I don’t own property in the East end of London, my work isn’t really related to the Olympics and the wider economic benefits of the Games seem to to be marginal at the best.
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East London
With all the aspects of the London Olympics that can be criticised its no suprise that the chronically unimaginative drudge of the media have resorted to such rampant bad-mouthing. This article gives a slightly more balanced view regarding the issue – but still falls short of the mark. Take the leading paragraph:
Unexploded World War II bombs may be buried under the east London 2012 Olympic Games site, BBC London has learned
This is not news. If its taken BBC 1 journalists this long to figure out that there are unexploded bombs in east London, then the Corporation needs to raise its recruitment standards. The truth is that most urban areas in Britain’s industrial cities are littered with unexploded bombs. There were, after all, several years of intense aerial warfare over the skies of Britain. Unexploded bombs rarely explode. When they do, its usually because a piling rig drills into them; its really hard for human action to set off an unexploded bomb. Risk assessments are carried out by construction companies (who stand to loose lots of money if the negligently allow bombs to explode) who employ ex-Armed Forces personnel who work on medium to high-risk sites all the time that there are construction personnel present. This is not an issue that is related to the Olympics in London – it is related to any form of construction in most urban areas in Britain.