Madeleine ... beats me

I know, I know... this probably will enter the history of this blog as the most contemptible piece I have written... BUT, someone's got to say it. Some 10 days or so ago, a blond little British girl (Madeleine) was kidnapped by someone in Portugal. No doubt this is terrible news for the little girl, the distressed parents and anyone who has heard about this story.
Ever since, however, something or other (is it the blond hair?) has blown this sad saga out of all proportions. The story remains the number one news item on the evening news and any other news bulletin you choose to pick (not the many more kids that get murdered on a daily basis by allied troops in Iraq, for instance). The suggestion was made, somewhat excitedly, to broadcast the girls photo on Eurovision (a particularly tacky EU wide song contest). Dutifully the BBC News wrote to the organisers of the song contest and requested just that. One wonders how many other national broadcadsters in Europe suggested the same in response to kidnapped kids in their respective countries. It goes without saying, there's plenty of prey-alongs, too, as if this would change anything substantially for the kidnapped girl. The family's priest reportedly flew to Portugal to ... do what? The BBC reports, 'In the UK, a text message urging mothers to pray for Madeleine's safe return to her family is being passed on by mobile phone and in internet forums.' There's also an army of UK lawyers in Portugal that won't be able to change anything in the ongoing investigation by the Portuguese police force. We even had a 'run for Madeleine' (no kidding, people in Glasgow ran 10k 'for' Madeleine). Evidently the kidnapper didn't really give a toss. As usual, when there's a limelight related opportunity, Richard Branson offered some cash to find this girl (as opposed to any other girl that's also currently missing).
So, while one appreciates the need to generate publicity to ensure the case isn't forgotten, one can't help but wonder what it is that makes this girl so special when compared with other kidnapped (disappeared) kids in the UK and the rest of the world.

Virgin vs Sky vs ... us the paying subscribers

I feel stupid. The UK's 'free market' system which is supposed to guarantee low prices due to 'real' competition is more often than not a pseudo-free-market. One duopoly is probably the British Airways / Virgin Atlantic control over London's Heathrow Airport. No big surprise that Richards Branson (image to the left), the greedy ex-hippie trying to line his pockets with our hard earned cash, didn't much like the idea of an open skies agreement with the US as it would have brought competition into the market and the prices down.

No big surprise when this self-appointed hero of the small man (read people like you and me), was recently at it again. After taking over NTL (a pretty terrible US cable company selling cable packages to UK TV audiences) his Virgin group refused to pay anylonger for a number of Sky channels. This is partly because a bun-fight has broken out between two billionaires, Rupert Murdoch (aka Darth Vader of the media world) vs Richard Branson (aka ... well, I don't know, nothing complimentary, that much is certain). Sky lost a million or two viewers from the Virgin cable customers who can't tune into its channels anylonger. Advertisers want some of their cash back, of course. And here's an interesting twist in the story. Sky has already budgeted for this loss of advertising earnings and will return money to its advertisers due to its loss in audience share. Compare this to the consumer hero Richard Greed Branson. I wrote to Virgin demanding a reduction in subscription fees seeing that some of my favourite programmes have disappeared without much of a warning. There's been no reply. Richard Greed Branson declared that subscribers would receive no reduction in their subscription fee and people who didn't like that could go to Sky.

I am pleased to see that these operators' activities are currently being investigated by the UK's media regulator. After all, this has been scandalous... and it has been a direct result of a serious lack of competition. These two organisations essentially hold the viewing audience for ransom.