Another of those rare occasions

Only rarely are the BBC's left-wing, anti-Israel prejudices challenged on 'entertainment' shows. I have provided two examples before:

First from 2009 when Marcus Brigstocke dared to criticise Islam:

'Do you want to hear a Radio 4 audience clench its collective sphincters?

...  the end of Marcus Brigstocke's spot in tonight's Now Show. Marcus Brigstoke takes a "satirical" swipe at God, the Bible and Christianity and his audience are happy to laugh along. Then he says that people ask him if he would say similar about Islam and he says he would and has and then points out some home-truths about the Koran and the audience is almost silent, silent that is apart from the sound of sphincters being clenched.

...  From the Christianity section of Marcus Brigstocke's spot re the 10 Commandments: "God spent the first four flattering himself and being jealous..... Good grief, he's like a paranoid, menopausal housewife with an adulterous husband..." (laughter and joy from the audience)... Then Marcus Brigstoke says "And in case you'd wondering... would you say all of that about Islam? Er yes, yes I would (nervous titter) ... including all of the details of the beheadings, the under-age sex, the misogyny and the fact that Mohammed was illiterate (some very nervous laughs and sphincter clenching) It's all right, don't be scared for me, I've done this before (relieved laughter).'

 Secondly from 2011 again the Now Show:

'Radio 4's Now Show is generally a safe place for lefty types. The humour is safely aimed at Conservatives and those further to the right, the NHS is sacred, the Daily Mail worthy only of disdain and so on. So I was somewhat shocked last night to hear John Holmes's rant on yesterday's show. It's target was The Guardian and its hypocrisy. The Now Show audience seemed a trifle nonplussed by the attack on one of the good guys and so the laughs were sparse and a little forced. I hope it did the audience good and that this is the start of a less leftist viewpoint on BBC Radio 4 satirical shows, although somehow I doubt it.'

Yesterday I heard another example, on Desert Island Discs of all places. The castaway was Julie Burchill  and you can hear the programme here. One of the eight pieces of music chosen by Julie Burchill was Hatikvah - The Israeli National Anthem - and Julie explained why. Julie Burchill even chose that piece of music as the one she would have if she was allowed only one, rather than eight records. Unusually Kirsty Young did not ask about that choice of music.

When I heard this yesterday, I thought that I could also hear the sound of beeboid heads exploding. This morning I turned to the Desert Islands Disks section of the BBC website and what do I see?

Well it's still up there but I can still hear BBC teeth being clenched!