Bringing Up Britain (Radio 4) | iPlayer
Donald Duck Gets Drafted (Radio 4) | iPlayer
Jo Good (BBC London) | iPlayer
The news is too much to cope with at the moment, and Bringing Up Britain, Mariella Frostrup’s programme on parenting, takes on a comforting air. What can parents do to increase their children’s intelligence when their kids are already being educated free, in a safe, rights-protected environment? We are lucky to be able to even consider such so-called problems.
Frostrup, a careful, warm and prepared presenter, steered the discussion through such potential IQ-boosters as schools in general, reading in particular, learning an instrument, being forced into two more years of education, eating well and going for walks. Many statistics were bandied, many reports considered, many experts consulted. But in the end, nothing seemed to make that much difference to children’s intelligence, other than exercise (more than you’d expect) and reading (a teensy bit).
Much seemed to be random – whether a child has parents who talk a lot, whether they have a teacher who inspires, whether they like eating fish. I found this element of chance reassuring, but then one of the experts pronounced: “Everything in the home is interconnected… Everything we do, every way we ask a question, every tone of voice in which we talk to our child, builds a picture, and develops them, gives them competence or confidence or not.” Blimey. Talk about pressure.
But then another expert pointed out that we’re only bothered by IQ tests, and intelligence in general, because we’ve structured our society around education. We could, she pointed out, have a system where every university place was decided by lottery as opposed to A-level grades. Then we might not worry quite so much whether little Alfie should have booster lessons in Mandarin or the violin. Or, indeed, the tone of voice in which we call him in for tea.
Continuing my avoiding real news policy, I also enjoyed Gerald Scarfe’s documentary Donald Duck Gets Drafted, about how Walt Disney helped the US war effort in the second world war. I mostly enjoyed it because Donald Duck kept popping up, and it’s hard to think of a more cheering sound than him getting irate over income tax or Hitler.
After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, and the US became involved in the war, Disney was commissioned by the government to make a few morale-boosting propaganda films (or “psychological productions” as Walt preferred to call them). By the end of the war his studios had made more than 25 war-themed promo shorts, 150-plus military training films, more than 1,200 pieces of free Disney war insignia (such as badges for squadrons) and several full-length foreign features. The techniques used in these films were developed in later Disney films, such as Mary Poppins. As Walt, a pragmatic man, said later: “Not many people get the chance to help both their country and themselves.”
But the programme that has cheered me up the most over the past few days was Jo Good on BBC London. Not because of Good herself, though she lives up to her name, but because on bank holiday Monday she broadcast an hour-long show hosted by Julie Burchill and Suzanne Moore. This had me laughing from the very first record – a silly Noël Coward type thing by Spike Jones called Cocktails for Two – and kept me chuckling, despite the interminable traffic and travel, and live links to Notting Hill carnival.
Burchill and Moore were hilarious, nattering on about dancing to soul music, watching hamsters go round and round on records, wondering why Vanessa Feltz is so thin (“I could use her like a toothpick!” exclaimed Burchill). You just don’t hear middle-aged women chat with such wit and freedom on the radio. I enjoyed their occasional bouts of professionalism, too. “You’re listening to Radio London, 99.9,” said Moore, confidently. BBC London broadcasts on 94.9FM. More Moore and Burchill please.
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