BBC is snubbed by Royal Northern
OrchestrasPlans to turn the BBC Philharmonic into a training orchestra for the Royal Northern College of Music have been angrily dashed by the Manchester institution.
The RNCM said last night: ‘Any discussions with the BBC regarding talent development and professional experience for students pre-date, and are wholly unrelated to, the recent announcement of a reduction in salaried musician posts at the corporation.’
In other words, it wants nothing to do with a cost-slashing BBC orchestral department led by one of its own governors, Simon Webb.
Perfect!
Unrelated, save in the BBC’s mind. Looks like the College is being manipulated by the BBC as a pawn in its chess game.
The BBC has now also told the MU that these plans are not intended to be implemented and were just an option that had been under consideration. Well, we’ll see.
Surely it is time, long past time, for Mr Webb and the woeful management team at the BBC who have presided over this whole debacle to consider their positions and resign. Their argument has been comprehensively beaten. Now is the time for them to acknowledge their mistakes, apologise and leave the building.
Incompetence in the BBC isn’t seen as a reason to resign, more as a reason to be promoted.
They will not resign BUT they need to be sacked by the BBC.
They have continued to prevaricate, deny, u-turn, pretend that what they declared at the outset, was not what was intended after all.
In other words, ‘this was what we said, but we didn’t mean what we said and this is now what we mean’.
This in any other commercial organisation would have been deemed gross incompetence, and the miscreants would have been given the rest of the day to clear their desks, and be escorted off the premises by security. Not the Beeb though – they will continue to try to defend the indefensible all the way, and try to keep secure the positions by those who should no longer hold them. Fire them now, before they do even more damage to what once was an august organisation.
Pre or post, discussions were still going on. The BBC didn’t dream up cuts one Friday night. Been going on for some years. Sounds as if the RNCM as distancing themselves from any talking with the BBC. Not all one sided.
Quite right! What a cheek. Absolutely disgraceful, and what will the new controller and Suzy Klein have to say (if anything) about this scurrilous proposal?
He’s still on the RNCM Board, the sheer bloody chutzpah!!
and still very much in charge at the BBC.
All eyes on the RNCM though:
Going, going……………..
Very wise of the college to sit this one out. They cannot be a training structure for potential professional musicians and play a role in measures designed to reduce the number of jobs available . Well done RNCM for clarifying their position.
Webb, as governor at RNCM has a conflict of interest and needs to jog on from misusing both his governance role and that of the BBC disaster of the year (so far..)