In the immortal words of Jim Anchower…

“Hola, amigos. S’up? I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I’ve had a lot of stuff goin’ down.”

I took a well-deserved holiday and also moved! I’m back to the U.S. where, in my absence, they’ve apparently started an easy-to-follow color-coded scheme to designate the likelihood of a terrorist attack. Today is ‘yellow’.

So, what’s happened since early September? Not much, it appears.

There was a very average summary of what’s ahead for Ofcom, entitled ‘Get Charter’ (hasn’t Luke used than pun before?), in The Independent on September 14, 2003. Jamie Cowling writes:

The biggest of [Ofcom's planned policy reviews] is the BBC charter review, to be concluded by 2006. The new multimedia regulator, Ofcom, will publish its own review next year of public service broadcasting which, according to its boss, Stephen Carter, will have “a major input” into the Government’s charter review.

[yawn] This BBC charter renewal process clearly needs a little energy injected into it. What we really need is a different perspective.

And speaking of different perspectives, I checked out the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom’s website today and the ‘Ofcomwatch’ portions were removed. Smackdown! Apparently, Luke’s practice of hanging outside their offices, unshaven and holding an over-sized meatcleaver, worked - (editor - he’d need a meatcleaver in Walthamstow)

What else? Hmmm…there was a great Emily Bell piece on September 1st, but I don’t have the energy to summarize it. Check it out here.

~Later.