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Post by RitaLittlewood on Feb 15, 2009 12:37:32 GMT
And this really isn't going to make a difference. From the Daily Express:
ITV MAY HAVE TO SELL CORRIE
Could the Rovers be up for sale?
Sunday February 15,2009
By David Stephenson
ITV was in a state of turmoil last night, facing the prospect of having to sell off its most popular shows like Coronation Street to raise money.
Against a background of steeply declining revenues, City and television sources have revealed that Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster may cease making television programmes altogether.
Executive chairman Michael Grade admitted last week that flagship shows such as News at Ten cannot be guaranteed “indefinitely” as the ailing company struggles with the recession.
Mr Grade said the firm was facing a “dramatic” fall in revenues while being locked into a regulatory regime drawn up when it had a near-monopoly on television advertising.
He said the financial state of commercial television was “severely challenged”, adding: “I have seen the cycle come and go over the years. I have never seen anything quite as dramatic or quite as profound as this in terms of the effect on advertising revenues.”
Mr Grade told the House of Lords communication committee that ITV needed a string of concessions if it was to survive as a public sector broadcaster.
These include lifting the ban on product placement in shows, scrapping the production of regional news and allowing it to cut broadcasting hours to shore up advertising rates.
If the company is forced to sell off ITV Studios, it would become a so-called “front-end broadcaster” like Channel 4 and Five, which buy in shows rather than make them.
As an interim measure ITV will announce more redundancies next month, and is considering closing Yorkshire TV and making Emmerdale, its other famous soap, set in the Dales, from Manchester.
The crisis has also engulfed news coverage. ITN, which makes News At Ten, is said to be “up for sale”.
An ITV spokesman denied the production wing would close, but left open the possibility of a sell-off, or management buy-out.
He said: “As you know, operational reviews are taking place to ensure that ITV is in the best shape to meet the unprecedented challenges facing the economy, but there are no plans to drastically scale back, or shut, ITV Studios.”
However, a well-placed insider said: “It’s fairly certain that Leeds will be closed and Emmerdale will be run from Manchester, which is effectively the end of Yorkshire TV.”
On a management buy-out, he said: “They were always angling for this but they are the very management who have brought ITV to its knees.”
A City media source said: “A sell-off could be excellent news for other independent production companies. But if it’s a management buy-out, its market share compared to other production companies could fall as all the other indies try to grab work.”
One large media investor said: “ITV is a real mess. The real value is the value of its content and library. The rest of the business is still too fat.”
Gordon MacMillan, editor of Brand Republic, said: “Seeing its prime-time police footage show In the Line of Fire coming third in the ratings behind Five this week does not help.
“Add to this the fiasco over the FA Cup replay between Everton and Liverpool [when adverts on a loop meant viewers missed Everton’s winning goal], then you can see why advertisers are thinking twice.”
Mr Grade insisted that ITV “will survive”, but acknowledged the firm was having to take “painful decisions”.
It shed 1,000 jobs last year and is lining up further job cuts and a salary freeze for executives earning over £60,000. It has also axed funding to the National Film and Television School.
Its chief operating officer, John Cresswell, said the firm had planned for a modest rise in advertising revenues but was having to deal with a fall of up to 10 per cent. He said experts were now forecasting a drop in total advertising revenues of £350million.
The broadcasting regulator Ofcom and ministers are considering the future of ITV’s public service broadcasting obligations. Mr Grade said: “It is for policymakers to define how they see ITV going forward as a public service broadcaster.
“If it is in excess of what the licence is worth, we cannot do it. We have an alternative, which is to give up our public service broadcaster status and take our chance in the market.”
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Post by CG Wendy on Feb 15, 2009 19:35:00 GMT
If they hadn`t closed Corrie St to tourists years ago, maybe they wouldn`t be so cash strapped now. Perhaps losing the Cadburys deal was the start of it.
And maybe if they had listened to us with dropping some Corrie and Emmerdale episodes years ago they wouldn`t be in this mess now.
I can balance our a cheque book to the nearest penny, maybe I could apply for a job at ITV as financial advisor. Heck we all could!!
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Feb 15, 2009 21:05:45 GMT
One of the comments mentioned having to queue if you want to visit so they clearly either haven't been for years and think it's still going or never been at all and just think it is.
I heard about this first on the radio this morning when they mocked the overdramatic headline and asked listeners to suggest what ITV should axe. Most of it was the reality stuff. One mentioned less soap eps. One of the money saving options is staring them in the face and I can't believe they're not doing it.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Feb 21, 2009 20:46:29 GMT
Some people are so stupid, reckoning ITV would do better if it wasn't so 'UK-centric'. It would do better if it wasn't so crap! They're selling Friends Reunited, which is now only worth £20-40 million when they paid £175 million for it. Share prices are at record lows. ITV are idiots. We can see what they need to do but they're not doing it.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Feb 25, 2009 21:23:37 GMT
From Yahoo News:
ITV considering tie-up with Channel 4 and Five
2 hours 56 mins ago
Reuters
ITV, Britain's biggest commercial broadcaster, is looking at a tie-up with rivals Channel 4 and Five as one of a number of ways of reshaping the cash-strapped television industry, a source close to the matter said.
ITV declined to comment on Wednesday, but confirmed it was looking at "a number of radical ideas" in response to a recent government invitation to comment on the future of public service broadcasting.
"ITV is fully engaged in that debate, which must include exploring all options for the future, including a number of radical ideas," it said in a statement.
Communications minister Lord Carter said in a report last month the government was exploring how it could create a second body to compete with the BBC in producing public service content, with the ailing Channel 4 at its centre.
Channel 4, a commercially funded public service broadcaster, has been hit hard by a downturn in advertising.
That same downturn has also dealt a heavy blow to ITV, which is expected to report a big fall in 2008 profits next week.
A tie-up between ITV, Channel 4 and Five could save hundreds of millions of pounds by combining back-office functions and cutting jobs.
But it would also control huge swathes of the television advertising market, and so would need government backing. It would also probably provoke opposition from pay-TV group BSkyB.
Media regulator Ofcom said last month Channel 4 should be allowed to merge with BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, or Five, owned by European broadcaster RTL.
The source said ITV might also propose turning Channel 4 into a publicly funded broadcaster in the hope that a big chunk of its advertising revenues would flow to ITV.
(Reporting by Mark Potter and Kate Holton, Editing by David Jones/Will Waterman)
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Post by Nick on Feb 25, 2009 22:17:34 GMT
Greedy bastards...we have all said how to save money....get rid of ITV's 3 & 4 BBC's 3 & 4 More 4...then cut all the crap from the shedules from the main channels and replace it with the good bits from those channels mentioned above
Crap like Paris Hiltons Best Friend,Katie and Peter the Next Chapter,Freaky Eaters,Celebrity Juice anything with Tara Palmer Fa Fa....GET THEM OFF NOW
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Feb 25, 2009 23:47:30 GMT
They can't see it. I'm surprised what an idiot Michael Grade is. He used to be so good and could have saved ITV. What happened?
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 3, 2009 18:39:45 GMT
Interesting from Media Guardian, especially since the old LWT studios were mooted for closure. And does this mean rumour of Heartbeat and The Royal's axing ARE true? It said they'd closed the offices:
ITV prepares to mothball Yorkshire studios site
* Leigh Holmwood
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 March 2009 21.23 GMT
ITV is preparing to mothball its huge Yorkshire studios site, home to shows such as Heartbeat and The Royal, as part of its cost-cutting plans which will see hundreds of jobs cut and millions of pounds shaved off its programming budget.
The commercial broadcaster, which will announce its full year results to the City on Wednesday, is struggling to tackle its onerous £2.6bn pension fund and debt position as well as increasing its dwindling operating cashflow while battling a severe advertising downturn which could see its revenues decline by at least 15% year on year.
It is expected to axe at least 500 jobs from its 4,500-strong workforce, less than six months after the departure of 1,000 staff, as well as cut its annual £1bn programming budget by at least £30m.
MediaGuardian understands that the majority of the "savage" job cuts will come from ITV's production arm, with its Yorkshire studios in Leeds – which employs about 600 jobs – expected to be heavily affected. "There will be a big hit there," one source said.
Sources have said ITV plans to mothball the studios aside from its regional news operation and transmission centre, which found itself in the news a month ago when it accidentally cut to an ad break during the broadcaster's coverage of the FA Cup Merseyside derby match meaning viewers missed the winning goal.
The five-acre Leeds site in Kirkstall Road, which was set up in 1967 by then independent ITV company Yorkshire Television, currently houses production offices for four major ITV network shows – Heartbeat, The Royal, Emmerdale and A Touch of Frost – as well as Channel 4's Countdown.
However, ITV recently confirmed it was shelving Heartbeat and The Royal, while A Touch of Frost will end later this year when David Jason retires from the title role. It is thought Countdown could also be moved to another production centre, while Emmerdale would remain on its purpose-built permanent set on the Harewood estate near Leeds, although with a "much reduced" staffing level.
ITV is understood to believe it can no longer afford two big studio set-ups in the north of England and is planning to focus its efforts on its Manchester Quay Street site, home to Coronation Street, although cuts are expected to be felt there as well. However, it could be July before a full plan is unveiled for a full reorganisation of ITV's northern production operation.
ITV has been warned that closing the Leeds studios would be a "killer blow" to the production sector in Yorkshire and Humberside.
A spokesman for ITV declined to comment as the broadcaster is currently in a closed period ahead of its results, but it has previously admitted it is "carefully examining all options" to try to cut costs.
Lee Bartlett, the managing director of ITV global content, the broadcaster's production arm, has admitted that regional production has to stand up commercially.
"We obviously have to produce in London and outside London, whether it's Leeds or Manchester or both, but it's becoming a commercial question," he told a Broadcasting Press Guild event.
"Any company in today's economic environment needs to look at their production efficiencies and whether what they do makes sense."
ITV has already moved to significantly cut back on its programming budget commitments with dramas such as Wire in the Blood and the costly period drama A Passage to India axed, while police show The Bill will drop one of its two weekly episodes.
Expensive stars, such as Ant and Dec and Simon Cowell, have also been warned that future golden handcuffs deals may have to be cut back when their contracts come up for negotiation later this year.
ITV is expected to slash or completely drop its dividend and is looking to offload assets such as social networking website Friends Reunited and its stake in ITN.
In a mark of the situation it has found itself in, the Guardian revealed last week that ITV had drawn up a radical plan for a three-way merger with Channel 4 and Channel Five.
Background on ITV's financial crisis at guardian.co.uk/media/ITV.
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Post by Nick on Mar 3, 2009 22:51:03 GMT
Don't they realise that its a vicious circle?
cut back on budget...make cheaper & crappier programmes..less viewers....advertisers won't pay hight prices for advertising slots..so they have to cut prices.....thus less budget...making even crappier programmes with more and more ad breaks to make up the money...less viewers...and so it goes on in an ever downward spiral till we end up with TV relying on US imports and trashy homegrown shows featuring non entity celebrities !!
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 4, 2009 1:55:11 GMT
Nope. I was talking to my dad this morning about how these days there's very few must-see programmes the whole family will sit down and watch together. If they made more of those it would get people away from the computer games etc. But even with videos, DVD recorders, Sky+ etc etc there's still not really that muc on ANY channel worth watching.
It's funny really. When we grew up BBC and ITV were filled with US imports yet they still made decent programmes. One of ITV's problems is ever since sponsorship came in plus being allowed to let independents make programmes. BBC too to some extent with the independents. At least in our day something like Euston Films was an offshoot of Thames so made good programming. Just not the sort Thames would have made at their own studios. Yet Channel 4 whose whole remit was not making anything of their own have gone the other way. Great with all these indy progs but shit now.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 4, 2009 15:11:13 GMT
This Morning is meant to be facing the summer being off air. Good. Bloody stupid having it all year round as it was to make money rather than put stuff on for kids.
Patsy
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Post by Nick on Mar 4, 2009 17:05:09 GMT
it used to go off in the summer anyway...they seem terrified of putting new things on and breaking continuity incase people start watching something else and never come back..hence why we get the same boring shite every day
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 4, 2009 17:39:41 GMT
Yep. I think the rot started with Carlton. Meridian's remit, like theirs, was not making their own programmes. However as with Thames, they had an offshoot (Witzend) and made some good stuff. Carlton made cheap crap, usually copying something already done. Then they were allowed to gobble up regions so the competitiveness went. We were left with Granada's excellent output versus Carlton's shit while STV barely got a look in still. During this time too programme innovators went out and the money men came in. Finally we get the 'One ITV' to be a global contender when the reality is they've become a global loser. Why? Copying all those programmes done by BBC and Channel 4, latterly ditching children's output for repeats and a total lack of imagination. What's Dancing on Ice but Strictly Come Dancing on skates? All those decorating, finding new homes, auction etc cheap crap. So whereas BBC turned itself around (though I think it's a mistake forcing them out of London and the government should stop interfering) and does have independently produced programmes, they make a lot of their own too and get better ratings. They could do without the cheap crap though. BBC isn't perfect and doesn't make nearly as much in profit as ITV yet with all its sponsorship, ads etc, ITV is losing money. Take out the ad revenue and look at sponsorship. That should more than make up for the drop in ad revenue but they want to increase minutes per hour. But where's the sponsorship money going? Not into original programming that's for sure. And you notice the one thing they STILL haven't done to cut costs? Maybe they will tomorrow.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 5, 2009 16:08:43 GMT
From Media Guardian and some of these names are a surprise since they've been with ITV and Granada donkey's years:
ITV broadcasting: 25 jobs to go
Leigh Holmwood
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 March 2009 15.56 GMT
ITV's broadcasting division is to axe around 25 jobs - 14% of its work force - as part of the 600 post closures announced by the broadcaster yesterday, with a number of key executives expected to leave.
The cuts in the ITV broadcasting division, which employs around 180 people commissioning and scheduling shows, are part of the introduction of a slimmed-down operation at the company's Network Centre in London.
It is understood that the controller of alternative programming, Layla Smith, will be one of those to go, with sources saying she is to join independent production company Diverse, replacing its outgoing creative director, Roy Ackerman.
In factual and daytime, headed by director Alison Sharman, controller of daytime Adam MacDonald is understood to be leaving.
In drama, headed by Laura Mackie, commissioner Victoria Fea - currently on maternity leave - is to leave. ITV1 peak time scheduler Stephen Price is also set to depart.
Each genre department such as drama, entertainment and factual and daytime, is expected to lose two commissioners and a number of support staff. It is believed that under the new structure each department will continue to be headed by a director, with three commissioners as well as two personal assistants. It is thought that executives in certain departments will have to reapply for their jobs.
The new set-up has similarities to the structure in place before the arrival of former ITV director of television Simon Shaps at the Network Centre in 2005. Then, each genre department was led by a director, with one commissioner underneath.
In entertainment, which is headed by Elaine Bedell, the former BBC executive who is currently on gardening leave before joining ITV at the end of this week, the cuts are expected to mean the loss of two commissioners and one PA.
In the company's production arm, ITV Studios, the Manchester-based factual drama team are being made redundant, although the department's head, Jeff Pope, will stay. Manchester-based Sita Williams, the executive producer of drama The Street, will also leave.
Other departures from ITV Studioes include Rachel Ashdown, who worked on Soapstar Superstar and University Challenge; and John Hollywood, the chief of operations in the entertainment and factual department.
Mark Wagman, a talent executive in the entertainment department, whose credits include An Audience with Neil Diamond and specials involving Girls Aloud, Take That and Kylie Minogue, is also set to leave.
Meanwhile, there is speculation that the controller of factual entertainment, Natalka Znak, could head the entertainment and factual production team, with the department's director Jim Allen expected to leave.
An ITV spokesman said he could not comment on individuals as the broadcaster had entered a consultation period on redundancies.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 6, 2009 0:33:14 GMT
From the Sun:
Exclusive
ITV are taking the mic
By COLIN ROBERTSON
Published: Today
DEBT-RIDDEN ITV shelled out £25,000 prize money in a karaoke contest that nobody has seen.
The channel — currently axing 600 jobs — filmed a Christmas special of Who Dares Sings last August.
Winner Carly Evans, 26, took home the cheque and the show, fronted by Ben Shephard and Denise Van Outen, was due to be aired on December 21. But TV Biz understands it has been scrapped.
Staff whose jobs are under threat say the £25,000 Who Dares Sings jackpot could have saved one worker from the axe.
One angry employee raged last night: “ITV tells us it has to sack us because it’s running out of cash.
“Well, handing over £25,000 in prize money on a show that never airs isn’t exactly going to help is it?”
ITV said this week that 600 jobs must go after it ran up a £2.7billion loss.
It also plans to axe £135million from its programme budget over the next three years.
But staff say the cheque handed to Carly Evans for winning the scrapped karaoke special is the final insult.
The insider added: “The money wasted on making the show in the first place was probably another £250,000.
“Ben and Denise aren’t exactly cheap and there’s no way they didn’t get paid.”
ITV has already admitted it has made £10million worth of shows — mostly dramas — which may NEVER air.
They include an adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s steamy novel Octavia and one-off drama Whatever It Takes, starring Shane Richie.
ITV also blew £225,000 on the rights to make a drama series of classic E.M. Forster novel A Passage To India — which has now been scrapped.
Last night winner Carly, 26, of Herne Bay, Kent, said she did not know why the show had not been aired.
She said: “I’m surprised it didn’t go out but at least I got my prize.”
An ITV spokesman said: “There wasn’t a suitable slot in the schedule to show it.”
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 6, 2009 0:39:15 GMT
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Post by CG Wendy on Mar 6, 2009 11:01:23 GMT
To save money they should look no further than Michael Grade to get rid of. He`s costing ITV millions!!! I`m sure there is someone else that could do his job for way less money.
In fact I nominate all of "Lets talk Soap" to do Michael Grades job. We could get quality shows for far less money and get rid of all the dross. It`s a win win situation
;D
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 6, 2009 11:20:31 GMT
LOL! Why is it Michael Grade cannot see it? Why is it everyone who posted comments beneath the article and us and every other critic can see it? All commercial channels are in the same boat but are more realistic. He's in something higher than Cloud Cuckoo Land!
Patsy
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Post by sootycat on Mar 6, 2009 13:29:07 GMT
The trouble with Michael Grade is that he lacks the foresight and 'golden touch' of his uncle Sir Lew Grade. Who had an uncanny talent for picking out winners. Unfortunately, his nephew is a dead loss.  |
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 6, 2009 13:54:11 GMT
Yet in the old days he had it in spades while Lew made the turkey, Raise The Titanic. LOL!
I wonder if it's the money men. I've mentioned before a marvellous book by Michael Cox about the Granada Sherlock Holmes series and in it he went into great detail of how things changed when the money men arrived and programme risk takers left. He had been a resident producer at Granada and was sacked, meaning they hired him back as a freelance.
There's also another problem. Granada are making programmes for the Beeb because ITV didn't want them which are out-doing their own channel.
Patsy
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Post by sootycat on Mar 7, 2009 13:07:55 GMT
I can't understand when ITV splash the cash making programmes...they then don't put them on.
There is always a slot somewhere.
They did this with a drama called Jane Hall which they had sat on for two years. It was really good.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 7, 2009 13:52:57 GMT
They did it with a drama on the first night of ITV3 which had been gathering dust which never saw the light of day on ITV1. Also have you noticed how many original programmes they're making for their other channels? Surely the cost thing would apply there too but more so with them being minority channels.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 15, 2009 20:41:30 GMT
Michael Grade has complained about this so if he wins, it will be deleted:
From The Times
March 7, 2009
Grade's ITV is in a classic lose-lose situation
We could be facing the end of television as we've known it for 50 years. The ITV Chairman has not yet cottoned on
Greg Dyke
This article is the subject of a legal complaint
This week's news that ITV is in serious financial trouble is not surprising. ITV, like so many media businesses, is in the middle of a perfect storm. The television company was already in trouble because of structural changes caused by the digital revolution, when suddenly it got blown totally off course by the biggest recession in advertising we have seen for many years.
It is easy for ITV's management to blame their current ills - 600 jobs to be cut, £135 million to be slashed from its budget over the next couple of years - totally on the recession. But they cannot escape responsibility; short-term leadership over the past decade has played a big part in ITV's failure to respond to new competition. But it is true that the main reason for the disaster that is ITV's finances is the current recession; very few businesses could cope with a sudden downturn in revenue of 20 per cent with no one knowing when it is likely to end.
In these circumstances I suppose one should have some sympathy for Michael Grade, Chairman of ITV since 2007, but not too much. He left the BBC in the lurch when he resigned as Chairman at a crucial moment in the licence fee negotiations, having first gleaned every bit of information he could about BBC One's future schedule. Armed with this intelligence from within, he jumped ship to ITV with the aim of making his millions, only to discover the ship was sinking.
Michael Grade has to take some of the responsibility for the state ITV is in. He personally bought the FA football rights, taking them from the BBC and Sky, only to discover he had massively overpaid. He has already been round other broadcasters trying to sell the rights on but so far he has failed to find any buyers. When ITV's results were announced this week he wrote off a great chunk of these costs. It is also reported that he wants the FA “to share his current pain” by reducing the cost of the contract. I sincerely hope the FA tell him where to get off.
The truth is Michael Grade never had a workable strategy for ITV - which to be fair to him had been a strategy-free zone for years before he arrived. I suspect he believed that just by him arriving and mouthing the right platitudes that things would get better so that he would make his money. Instead, things got worse and although he's still well paid - too well, given the mess ITV is in - he is not going to make the many millions he expected. And by leaving the BBC when he did he gave up the prospect of a knighthood as well. It's the classic lose-lose situation.
The current crisis in advertiser-funded television is not necessarily in the BBC's interests, though. With ITV, Channel 4 and Five all in real trouble, BBC management has got to be very careful not to exploit its relative position of strength. Winning in the commercial world is one thing. But using bucketloads of public money to hit your commercial competitors when they are down and, in the case of ITV and Five, nearly out, will not look good and will not be well received in political circles.
But the real question to be asked is straightforward. Is what is currently happening to television simply a blip or are we close to seeing the end of television as we have known it for the past 50 years in Britain?
There is no doubt that change is happening on a massive scale. Hardly a week goes by when I'm not introduced to some new format or technology. This week it was four-minute internet programming with targeted advertising; next week it will be something else. Some of these ideas will work and some won't but the speed at which all manner of people are coming up with different ways of selling to the public is quickening. This is bad news for the likes of ITV, whose finances are dependent on old-style, mass-market advertising.
The BBC is currently working with BT and others on something called Project Canvas, which, if it works, will revolutionise television viewing in the same way as Sky did 20 years ago, Freeview did in the first part of this decade and the iPlayer is doing now. As I understand it, Canvas is essentially a box that will take a broadband signal and convert it for use on a bog-standard television set. Overnight anyone who buys one of these boxes will be able to get hours and hours of internet television on their set.
So what does all this mean for television? I still believe there will be a place for channels like ITV and Channel 4 in the future. But they won't have the money to deliver the whole mix of programmes they have in the past. ITV still spends twice as much on original, indigenous programming as any other commercial channel in Europe - but there is no way ITV will be able to do that in the future. I'm not sure that Michael Grade understands that yet. Regional programming, religion, arts, current affairs, regional news, expensive drama will all be a thing of the past on ITV; the sooner regulators and politicians cotton on to that and realise that the world has changed the better.
A decade ago a company I ran had a drama series cancelled by ITV because it only gained nine million viewers. Today ITV would bite any producer's hand off to get ratings half that size. Tomorrow ITV will not be able to commission that sort of drama at all because it won't have the resources. Coronation Street, Emmerdale, The X Factor, I'm a Celebrity will still all be be found on the channel, but not a lot else. So yes, the world of traditional advertiser-funded television is changing - and changing fast.
Greg Dyke was Director-General of the BBC 2000-04
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Post by sootycat on Mar 16, 2009 12:42:22 GMT
Great article Patsy, he is spot on with his comments.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Mar 16, 2009 13:12:05 GMT
He was only saying what we've and countless others have been. What was there for Grade to be offended by? I don't blame Grade entirely for the state of ITV. It's been nearly 20 years since people like him actually ran the place. It's the money men who came in while the programme risk takers went out. Grade's hope of turning the channel around was admirable. But his delusion and excuses for his failure are pathetic because he didn't do what we all could see he needed to. Instead he went the opposite way. Maybe his hands were tied financially. If so, he should say they wouldn't let him. But that may have been to him a sign of weakness after his uncle's might. Either way he failed while refusing to accept it. He shouldn't win in the case of this because Dyke, while a moron himself, is spot on.
Patsy
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