Opinion: The Beeb and the Royal British Legion

Ok.. Where were you all... Last night?
All those commentators/reporters/hack who will shriek for a politician to be hung from a lampost via a rectal hook for not sporting a poppy from the first second they come on sale... those people who take pride in the forces to a fetishistic level... where were the howls of delight about the BBC putting The Royal British Legion against the might of the X Factor?

I knew which one I wanted to watch. I never watch the X Factor... even if I had I would have watched the Royal British Legion.. Why?... well as somebody with political views that are... shall we say... 'Out of step'... with both mainstreams, my freedom of thoughts, speech and action are even more important to me.  I also feel immense proud for my brother, who serves in the air-force and my elder relatives, who sacrificed a lot for my freedoms (Which of course include the freedom to challenge the political mindset of the men who sent them to war).

My Granddad would be happy to know I'm wearing a poppy, and although a 'Famous Commentator' has said his Granddad would be appalled, I'm less inclined to worry about that as I have and never will meet him.

I watched the Royal British Legion, and I read the Twitter feed as it went. I was proud and I was moved. It was the kind of thing TV was made for. All the while I could read other people's tweets about how the X Factor had 'Broken' and feel slightly sad for them. Reading Twitter there seemed to be no particular generational or political line.. some were watching one, some the other.

Now... If the BBC weren't there... would there have been that choice?
There were no phone lines that you could make money from, promotion seemed to be brutally restricted to the Royal British Legion Itself, anyone attempting to place adverts within would have found them looking ludicrously inappropriate. Would this even have worked on a commercial station?

The BBC put the British Legion against the Xfactor... I don't know how the numbers totted up... Who 'Won' in that respect... What I do know is that I didn't hear any of those aforementioned commentators backing up the BBC.. not one... Not one of those people who would have liked to see Russell Brand and Wossy kicked from the White Cliffs of Dover in a coffin full of glass actually swallowed it back and said "Well actually, this is what the BBC does very well".

I love the BBC. I feel it is one of our countries greatest cultural achievements, but it is under constant threat from commercial interests disguised (Poorly) as news outlets.

Last night they did exactly what all those pundits said it should be doing, and what was their response?
A silence a lot longer than two Minutes...