Quote of the day

"The decision-making is one around the significance of Nelson Mandela. Nobody needs a lecture on his importance but we are probably talking about the most important statesman, the most significant statesman, of the last 100 years, a man who defined freedom, justice, reconciliation, forgiveness. The importance of his life and marking his death seems extremely clear to us."

BBC News director James Harding defends the extent of the corporation's coverage of Mandela's death following 850 complaints from viewers, some of whom demanded more coverage of the storms and some of whom were unhappy at a repeat of Mrs Brown's Boys being interrupted. Ah, the great British viewing public. Harding's response should have been much more blunt: "Fuck off, you fuckwits".

It's stories like this that make me feel humanity doesn't deserve to survive and the sooner we're obliterated by a massive flaming meteorite, the better.

(Thanks to Ben for the link.)