A FEW CRUMBS

*
Just a few more brief vignettes from Radio 4's coverage of the recovery yesterday:
*
At 6.35am you would have heard Nils Blythe on the Today programme talking up expectations of 0.4% growth when the figure came. Well, not quite Nils.
*
Both Nils (on PM) and Stephanie Flanders (on The World Tonight) were suggesting that a revision upwards of the 0.1% (rather than a revision downwards) was not unlikely. We'll see, and we'll remember these pronouncements if they're proved wrong yet again.
*
The expert on Andrew Bomford's report on the recovery for PM was a Professor Paul Gregg of Bristol University (and a former advisor to James Purnell), who talked on the "lost generation" of the 1980s (Mrs Thatcher, booo!!) and said everything must be done to make sure that doesn't happen again.

THE BEEB'S FAVOURITE DOUBLE-ACT

*
Who was invited to discuss the issue of the government's secret loans to RBS and Lloyds on Tuesday's PM programme? Well, first up was Vince Cable, then straight afterwards Labour's John McFall. They appear together so often on the Beeb that they should thinking about buying a tandem.
*
*

**
PLEASE THINK OF THE YOUNG ADULTS!

*
This edition of the programme also gave a platform to T2A, an alliance convened by the 'social justice charity' the Barrow Cadbury Trust that aims to promote non-custodial sentences for young adult criminals (aged 18-24). "Custody is not the answer for this age group," said its deputy stool, Shan Nicholas. She would prefer 'treatment' and 'community sentences'. (More on the alliance can be found in the article Shan wrote for - it almost goes without saying! - The Guardian: http://www.guardianpublic.co.uk/young-adults-criminalisation). The sympathetic reporter was Andrew Bomford, the BBC's social(ist) affairs correspondent. Bomford is keen on the Barrow Cadbury Trust, as you can see from this BBC News website article from last year: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7391532.stm.