Who paid ?

The clock had barely ticked into 2021 before the Mail Online managed to make a political 'woke' issue out of the London 'fireworks', on BBC1. They said the event was funded to the tune of £1.5m by City Hall.

Viewers may not have had a very clear idea of what they were really watching, but it seems there was, after all, at least one barge full of real explosives, set off in the middle of the The Thames, near the Millennium Dome. There were also some rockets and lasers on the top of Tower Bridge. A connected fleet of SKYMAGIC drones hovered in the sky nearby, and produced graphic images of slightly less clarity than CEEFAX of yore. The messages included hearts, the NHS, 'Join Together', "Audio Muted", David Attenborough, fundraiser Tom Moore and the three fists that are the emblem of Black Lives Matter. 

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was pretty clear that they were 'our' fireworks. The BBC credits go to BBC Studios, under three women - creative director Claire Popplewell, and multi-camera directors Bridget Caldwell and Julia Knowles. There will be some calls for transparency on who signed off the drone segments. 

Meanwhile the drones seemed to have been deployed earlier and recorded by BBC Scotland for their Hogmanay. And, of course, BBC Alba had to have their own show - which, to my brief scan, seemed to feature more than one band singing in English.