The World Today

Another week begins, and as we survey the world scene, one question above all others is on everybody's mind - had she been alive at the appropriate time (and with rather more access to the outside world), would Anne Frank have been a Belieber? I'm not sure; I've got a feeling she might have been more of a One Direction girl. What do you think? Do let me know. Or, even better, don't.
  Meanwhile, here's a little thought experiment. Had a newspaper - rather than the BBC - used a student group (organised by a reporter's wife) as a human shield while they filmed secretly in one of the world's most dangerous countries, without full and informed consent from all involved - what would the BBC, Hacked Off, Leveson et al have had to say about it? Nothing good, I fancy - but then no newspaper would try to get away with such a stunt. I'm beginning to wonder if the BBC has an unconscious death wish...