OH. WHAT  a surprise – I’m in disagreement with Compass. Again.

This time, I’m stepping up to defend the principle of product placement in TV drama. Compass are upset because it’s all about the kids, see? Apparently the ban on product placement during children’s programmes is all very well, but most children’s daily diet of TV is gleaned from non-specific children’s programming. So if, as expected, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s recent consultation leads to a policy decision to allow TV companies to sell screen time to well-known brands, then parents will be forced to feed junk food and alcohol to their under-fives. Or something.

(Sorry, I just took a break from my keyboard to pour myself a refreshing glass of Diet Coke©; it really is the Real Thing© – and delicious too… Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes…)

So, if Compass have their way, production companies would have a major source of income denied to them, forcing them to rely ever more heavily on the TV licence payers. Domestically-produced TV drama would become as rare as a Scottish Tory and we would have thousands of redundancies in the industry. And for what? Some disputed research in 20 years’ time that may or may not tell us that children’s health has improved and that the banning of product placement on non-children’s television may well have played a part, even though no-one can say exactly how much of a part or confirm definitively whether it had any affect at all.

Result!

(Excuse me a second: I have to vacuum the living room before Carolyn gets back. Fortunately, I have a Dyson© DC25 whose revolutionary bag-less design makes all those household chores a breeze…)

Would it be so hard for our “think tanks” on the Left to come up with policy ideas that stopped banning stuff? Why are they so keen to feed the (entirely justified) accusation from the Right that too many on the Left want to restrict individual choice, and don’t trust adults to make their own choices? Don’t they realise that if all these ideas were actually adopted by a Labour government or became part of a Labour manifesto, you’d hear the likes of Tim Montgomerie and Iain Dale high-fiving from miles away?

I reject absolutely the notion that there is anything remotely right-wing about wanting to leave lifestyle decisions to grown-ups. To claim that a desire to respect indivdual choice is incompatible with being Left wing is… well, bloody stupid, actually. And those of us on the Left who still have the sense to speak out about such nonsense do so not because we seek the approval of Tory commenters, but because we want Labour to be successful as a political party and as a government.

Now, I’m going to relax for the rest of the evening, and I’ll start with the delicious aroma of Tassimo© coffee – real coffee, but instant – and perhaps a little bit of that sweet… oh, what’s it called? Can’t remember, but I know for a fact that one a day helps you work, rest and play. So it can’t be bad.