happy_renting Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Working lunch I thought was a dumbed down version of channel 4s 1980s Business Daily. From the dead pan and deadly serious Susannah Simmons to something akin to a comedy show and Andy Pandy with Adrian Chiles. +1 Working Lunch was an embarrassment to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Working lunch used to be really good. Then they made a huge effort to kill it by allowing Declan Curry to present it, which was the clearest sign possible they wanted rid of it. It turned into "Blue Peter for adults" overnight. +1......newsnight also used to be good.....no longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Allegro Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I don't think the BBC can do 'business'. Basically, these quasi civil servants think of it as being totally dominated by sharks, nasty people, chancers, liars. That is why their two main programmes are "The Apprentice" and "Dragons Den". If they actually populated the real world rather than inheriting a long term class disdain from both the snooty establishment and the left wingers who infect the BBC, they would find things are very often different to how they think and what they portray to its extremity. What they show is no more than a characterisation they hold firm to in their own minds. I think you're right, but I suspect the Beeb's not aware of that bias. They're more interested in making exciting telly that people will be willing to watch as they shovel spaghetti hoops into their mouths on Saturday teatime. A sensible, informed programme on entrepreneurship would be a ratings disaster, mainly because anybody who wants that can get far better information online. The idea of the entrepreneur as a dodgy wheeler-dealer is engrained in British culture anyway - that's probably why 'Minder' was such a success - the basic plot was 'honest but put-upon lacky (Terry) versus capitalist swindler boss (Arthur). In the USA the culture is much more admiring of the self-made and business in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunko2010 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 The BBC can't portray business - but then no media outlet can either. They need to dress it up as bitchiness, backstabbing and everyone being a general c**t a la Simon Cowell. Nobody would watch it if it was endless boardroom meetings and ordering stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Allegro Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 The BBC can't portray business - but then no media outlet can either. They need to dress it up as bitchiness, backstabbing and everyone being a general c**t a la Simon Cowell. Nobody would watch it if it was endless boardroom meetings and ordering stock. Yes. It would be like 'The Office' without the jokes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spunko2010 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 On a related note (as a business owner myself) what really grinds my gears is the way that the government/meeja portray all small businesses as something quirky and interesting - artisan chocolate maker, dog walker, organic beekepper. These aren't businesses, they are hobbies. You never hear about the small business owner who makes industrial spec pipe insulation on some industrial estate in Milton Keynes. That is the reality of being a small business owner though. It's boring but it makes money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opt_out Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Don't forget that before all the restaurant/hotel/shop makover programmes, it was all started off back in in 1990 with the brilliant Troubleshooter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Allegro Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 On a related note (as a business owner myself) what really grinds my gears is the way that the government/meeja portray all small businesses as something quirky and interesting - artisan chocolate maker, dog walker, organic beekepper. These aren't businesses, they are hobbies. You never hear about the small business owner who makes industrial spec pipe insulation on some industrial estate in Milton Keynes. That is the reality of being a small business owner though. It's boring but it makes money. Yes! The very good book 'Millionaire Next Door' points this out - that most businesses that make money are ones which offer something 'boring but necessary'. I work quite a lot with those types of businesses - grommit makers, staple makers, etc. They're usually based in dull magnolia coloured portakabins off the ring road somewhere. BUT the people that run them are by and large very clever, savvy business people who don't go on about 'passion', 'vision', 'journeys' etc - they just get the job done, and generally don't sp*nk the profits on Del-Boy self-aggrandisement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venger Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Maybe he was deliberately useless so that it would go viral as car crash TV? He couldn't lose. From memory. 1. Was a 'success' in the past £2m+ company sold. 2. Had Aston Martin on order when, to use that easy line from Adam Applegarth, "the world changed" and lost everything. 3. The watery eye look whilst outlining this.. pitch of entrepreneur-with-courage going to climb back to the top 'where I belong'. It will lead to more investments imo / - unless it unnerves existing clients - I doubt it. There will be no breakdown from me when crowdfunders yield chasing in buying properties to rent out, find they have less money, in a market turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saving For a Space Ship Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 You also get rammed down your throat about the need to be 'innovative'...like inventing the first computer, a time travelling machine or whatever. Whilst that is great, I think this naivety of people (esp. in the media) and the way it is communicated to the next generations causes them to freeze...because they can't think that original something up AND be able to do it. So they never get started. It needs to be communicated that the secret to most businesses, particularly small, local businesses is that you find a need and you fulfill it well such that someone is willing to pay for it....whether it be a pub, a window cleaning round or machine tooling. Then, whilst doing that and gaining experience and skills, you may well think up new and better ways of doing things, of meeting peoples' needs. I try to inspire my daughter to think that way...like pointing out the run down baker/sandwich shop that someone bought for a song and totally transformed it such that they expanded into the premises next door too. I read some yrs ago, that that inventor having success in his garage hardly ever happened these days. It was teams with serious R& D budgets that invented & got results Don't forget that before all the restaurant/hotel/shop makover programmes, it was all started off back in in 1990 with the brilliant Troubleshooter. +1 hero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNACR Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 You also get rammed down your throat about the need to be 'innovative'...like inventing the first computer, a time travelling machine or whatever. Whilst that is great, I think this naivety of people (esp. in the media) and the way it is communicated to the next generations causes them to freeze...because they can't think that original something up AND be able to do it. So they never get started. It needs to be communicated that the secret to most businesses, particularly small, local businesses is that you find a need and you fulfill it well such that someone is willing to pay for it....whether it be a pub, a window cleaning round or machine tooling. Then, whilst doing that and gaining experience and skills, you may well think up new and better ways of doing things, of meeting peoples' needs. I try to inspire my daughter to think that way...like pointing out the run down baker/sandwich shop that someone bought for a song and totally transformed it such that they expanded into the premises next door too. Yeah, or just have some sort of price-fixing cartel, which is much less aggro. TBH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashmonitor Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) It appears my memory wasn't playing tricks if this is anything to go by, Business Daily was a bit high brow and liked to bullet out the information in a no nonsense fashion. If that was the FT then Working Lunch was the Sun's Business section. How much information would we have got out of Adrian Chiles in a minute, my guess we wouldn't have got past his first joke of the day. Edited July 17, 2015 by crashmonitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 It appears my memory wasn't playing tricks if this is anything to go by, Business Daily was a bit high brow and liked to bullet out the information in a no nonsense fashion. If that was the FT then Working Lunch was the Sun's Business section. How much information would we have got out of Adrian Chiles in a minute, my guess we wouldn't have got past his first joke of the today. The only good bit of Working Lunch was the bald bloke who talked company finances, I think he was called Adam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtickle Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 You never hear about the small business owner who makes industrial spec pipe insulation on some industrial estate in Milton Keynes. That is the reality of being a small business owner though. It's boring but it makes money. You definitely used to, on the pre-Declan Idiot Curry version of Working Lunch. In the days of Adrian Chiles/Adam Shaw/Simon Gompertz. In fact Simon Gompertz was nearly always the person sent around the country reporting on these factories, the others were studio-based. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.