LinkedIn believes it is now available again in China
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Business networking site LinkedIn says access to its services appears to have been restored in China, a day after it was blocked there.
“We will continue to monitor the situation,” a US spokesman for the site said.
Shortly before the site went offline on Friday, one user set up a forum, discussing the idea of a “Jasmine Revolution” in China.
The phrase has been used to describe the popular revolts in the Middle East.
The Agence France-Presse news agency says that one of its journalists in Beijing was able to access the LinkedIn site on Saturday.
Last weekend, a number of pro-democracy demonstrations were held across China, with police making a handful of arrests.
The protests are thought to have been organised in response to calls made on the website Boxun.com, access to which is banned inside mainland China.
Shortly afterwards, a LinkedIn user named Jasmine J created a group called Jasmine Voice.
In one posting, they wrote: “OMG, some pro-democracy fighters really did something here after the triumph of Egypt.”
China already exercises strict control over what citizens can view online, with many websites and politically sensitive subjects blocked. Access to Facebook and Twitter is barred.
But LinkedIn, which is used by a relatively small number of professionals, is accessible via domestic internet servers within China.
However the authorities there appear to have increased the level of filtering in response to the wave of popular uprisings across the Middle East.
Searches for the word “jasmine” are now blocked on the country’s most popular website, Sina.com.
Internet users inside the country reported that some sites were also blocking information on Jon Huntsman, the US ambassador to Beijing.
Mr Huntsman was seen attending one of last weekend’s pro-democracy rallies.
Campaign group Reporters Without Borders criticised the escalation in Chinese net censorship, accusing the authorities of trying to stamp out “all forms of freedom of expression”.
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Impressionist Jon Culshaw talks to Matthew Stadlen about how he discovered his talent for mimicking voices, the rich pickings in the world of politics, how he studies his “victims” and what other careers he might have pursued.
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Bacteria are one of the causes of meningitis
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Doctors should check for leg pain, confusion, stiff neck and sensitivity to light in children as the “red flags” for meningitis, a study says.
Headaches, pale colour and cold hands and feet are not reliable early signs of the disease, the report in the British Journal of General Practice says.
The classic meningitis rash appears later during an infection.
Charities said parents should still keep an eye out for all symptoms.
Approximately one in 10 patients infected with the condition will die.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes which cover the brain and spinal cord and can be caused by a viral or bacterial infection.
The researchers said half of children with the condition were initially misdiagnosed, perhaps because symptoms such as the classic rash, appear later in the infection.
The study looked at symptoms at the early stages of the disease by following 1,212 cases at 15 GP surgeries in Oxfordshire and Somerset.
The authors said: “Only confusion, leg pain, photophobia, rash and neck pain/stiffness can be considered ‘red flags’ for this illness.”
They said headache and a pale colour were less common in children with meningococcal disease than in those with minor infections.
Sue Davie, chief executive of the Meningitis Trust, said: “Anything that helps early diagnosis is a good thing.”
“It’s important for parents to trust their instincts”
Chris Head, Meningitis Research Foundation
However, she said this was advice for GPs and warned against parents ignoring other symptoms: “I’m always cautious about homing in on one or two symptoms as parents need to be vigilant against them all.
“Everyone gets hung up on the rash, a third of people said they wouldn’t take action without a rash and that can be deadly.”
Chris Head, chief executive of the Meningitis Research Foundation, said: “This is a significant move forward to enable early recognition of these diseases. Not everyone with meningitis and septicaemia gets all the symptoms.
“Children with septicaemia may not have a stiff neck or dislike of bright lights. Children with meningitis may not get a rash.
“That’s why it’s important for parents to trust their instincts and not be deterred from seeking medical help again if their child gets worse after being seen by a doctor.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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Oil prices have retreated from Thursday’s multi-year highs amid optimism producers could offset a drop in supply caused by unrest in Libya.
Brent crude was trading at $112.65 a barrel, after almost breaking through the $120 mark i the previous session.
US light crude was at $97.49 a barrel having surged past $100.
Reports suggest Saudi Arabia has increased its oil production by almost 10% to offest production shortages resulting from the unrest.
Global stock markets gained ground after the threat of rocketing oil prices receded.
Leading European markets Paris and Frankfurt were up about 0.5% in early trading – though London’s FTSE 100 index was suspended due to a technical fault.
Earlier, Singapore’s STI stock index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng saw increases of more than 1% while markets in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan also gained.
Analysts said that the mood had been helped by comments from Saudi Arabia and the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Saudi Arabia has said that it would step in to fill any shortfall in supply should it be needed now, or should the Libyan situation deteriorate.
Reuters news agency quoted an oil industry source saying that Saudi had increased production by 700,000 barrels a day to more than 9 million a day in total.
At the same time, the IEA said that Libyan production had been less affected than many observers had first forecast.
Analysts said that the markets want to see crude supplies becoming available as and when they are needed.
The worry is that if oil prices climb too high, then they will slow global economic growth, and hurt consumers and company profits.
Trying to predict the oil price when it is being driven by geopolitical events, rather than the fundamentals of supply and demand, is particularly difficult, analysts say.
“The fear factor in the market remains high, as the extent of contagion remains unknown,” said Barclays Capital.
“The price correction, should the situation in the Middle East ease somewhat or in the event of Opec production increases, is likely to be quite sharp.”
However, others argued that the drop in the price of oil seen on Thursday afternoon would be short lived.
“I think oil prices are going to trade higher, even with Saudi assurances,” said Tom Kaan at Louis Capital Markets in Hong Kong.
“I think Opec wants to see higher oil prices.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The first MTGs will launch later this decade
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The all clear has been given for Europe to press ahead with the 3.4bn-euro (£2.9bn) project to build a next-generation weather satellite system.
Eumetsat, the international agency charged with looking after Europe’s Meteosats, said on Friday that all participating nations had now agreed to the programme and its financing.
The new system should bring a step change in weather forecasting capability, guaranteeing European access to space-acquired meteorological data until at least the late 2030s.
Full approval has come thanks to a decision by Belgium’s caretaker government to support the project financially. The nation has not had a ruling administration since a general election in June, and was unable to commit the necessary funds when asked to do so at a meeting of the 26-nation Eumetsat organisation in December.
But the caretaker government has now indicated that Belgium will honour its commitments and this has allowed the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) programme to go into full implementation.
Belgium was not the only member state in Eumetsat to have difficulty in meeting the costs of MTG. Portugal, with its vast public debts, also struggled to meet the timetable for implementation, and only came onboard in recent weeks.
Eumetsat Director-General, Dr Lars Prahm, welcomed the news: “It was not an easy process and the overall financial situation in Europe certainly did not help but I am very pleased to see that all member states have now approved a vital programme which will assure the future of Eumetsat’s geostationary observations over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean over the next few decades.”
METEOSAT – BIGGER, BETTER
Europe’s 1st imaging satellite (800kg) was launched in 1977; it had just three channelsToday’s 2nd generation imager (above) has 12 channels; it’s a 2-tonne class spacecraftThe planned 3rd generation imager will be a 3-tonne satellite; it will have 16 channelsMTG adds a second platform: a sounding satellite to see the different layers in the atmosphere
MTG will be one of the biggest and the most complex space projects ever undertaken in Europe.
It will be run as a joint undertaking between Eumetsat and the European Space Agency (Esa)
The latter will act as the R&D partner, developing the technology. The former will then operate the space platforms.
MTG will comprise six satellites in total, with the first spacecraft likely to be ready to enter service in 2018.
The platforms will be of two types: an imaging spacecraft to picture weather systems, and a sounding spacecraft (one which can return information about different layers in the atmosphere).
They will be quite unlike their forebears – the second-generation satellites (MSG) that provide weather data today.
For example, MSG satellites are spin-stabilised and build up their images as they rotate across the field of view.
The MTG spacecraft, on the other hand, will look more like standard telecommunications platforms. They will sit and stare at the Earth.
Their image data will have a much higher resolution (capturing details as small as 500m across) and will come down to the ground in a fraction of the time – in as little as 2.5 minutes.
The new spacecraft will also carry many innovations that should translate into more accurate and more detailed weather forecasts.
One key development is an Infrared Sounding Instrument that has been pioneered on Europe’s Metop polar-orbiting Earth-observation spacecraft but which will now be flown in a geostationary orbit by MTG 36,000km above the planet.
The instrument will be able to detect layers of moisture in the atmosphere long before they have developed into weather systems.
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“Low surface brightness” galaxies like F549-1 lend greater precision to the Mond theory’s predictions
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A controversial theory that challenges the existence of dark matter has been buoyed by studies of gas-rich galaxies.
Instead of invoking dark matter, the Modified Newtonian Dynamics theory says that the effects of gravity change in places where its pull is very low.
The new paper suggests that Mond better predicts the relationship between gassy galaxies’ rotation speeds and masses.
However, critics maintain that dark matter theory is a better general description of the Universe we see.
The study, available online, will be published in Physical Review Letters.
The theory that first proposed dark matter was developed in large part to account for mass that, if everything else we think about gravity is correct, seemed to be missing in rotating galaxies.
Standard formulations of gravity have it that matter circling, for instance, spiral galaxies, should rotate more slowly with increasing distance from the centre of the galaxy – much as the outer planets in our Solar System orbit more slowly than their innermost counterparts.
But the matter in rotating galaxies seems consistently to rotate with roughly equal speed near their cores and at their edges.
In the standard dark matter theory, cosmologists proposed a massive yet invisible quantity of material in order to solve this “flat rotation curve” problem.
This dark matter is imagined to exist in a “halo” around galaxies, providing the extra gravitational pull necessary to speed up those outlying bodies.
By contrast, Modified Newtonian Dynamics (Mond) first appeared in 1983, when Mordehai Milgrom of the Weizmann Institute in Israel proposed it in an Astrophysical Journal paper.
As a modification to the dearly-held formulation of gravity laid out by Isaac Newton, the theory came immediately under fire. It has always maintained a minority position among theories proposed to solve the missing mass problem.
Now, Stacy McGaugh of the University of Maryland in the US says that a study of galaxies that have few stars and are dominated by gas adds weight to the Mond theory.
“Sometimes I wish I didn’t work on this…if your own data don’t get in your face about this, it’s easy to say ‘so-and-so screwed up’”
Stacy McGaugh University of Maryland
The current work hinges on what is known as the Tully-Fisher relation, which maps out the interplay between galaxies’ mass and their speed of rotation.
However, mass estimation is a tricky business because it depends on the amount of light a galaxy emits, which varies considerably with the types and quantities of stars it contains.
To get around this error, Professor McGaugh studied 47 gas-rich galaxies with few stars, known as low surface-brightness galaxies.
He found that the Mond theory neatly predicts the relation between the galaxies’ masses with their rotation speed – and contends that dark matter theory would do so far less accurately.
“My attitude toward low surface brightness galaxies at first was ‘great, this will finally be able to falsify the Mond theory’,” Professor McGaugh told BBC News, “but it was the only thing that explains this shift in the relation.”
“Whenever I look at smallish things like individual galaxies it works really well.”
However, he conceded that “when you get up to the big scale of clusters of galaxies and you try to apply Mond to the whole thing, you fall short of fixing the missing mass problem”.
Lambda-CDM theory holds that dark matter “haloes” surround galaxies and clusters
Dan Hooper, a theoretical astrophysicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the US, said that Professor McGaugh’s formulation “overstates the case” in that it assumes all galaxies will have the same ratio of normal matter to dark matter.
“That’s not what we’d expect,” he told BBC News.
“Some galaxies have very little stars and gas material compared to dark matter, and we don’t expect the biggest galaxies to have the same fraction – which would change the shape of that line (relating galactic mass to spin speed).”
“I don’t think the Mond/dark matter debate hinges on the Tully-Fisher anymore,” he added. “Mond only explains galaxies – everything else it fails to do or simply can’t address.”
Nevertheless, Mond still counts several prominent cosmologists among its adherents, and Professor McGaugh said his work continues to show that Mond is a serious contender that dark matter theory will have to work to disprove.
“Sometimes I wish I didn’t work on this,” Professor McGaugh said. “If your own data don’t get in your face about this, it’s easy to say ‘so-and-so screwed up’.”
He maintains that Mond represents a missing piece of the dark matter model that a majority of his peers hold to be a complete picture of the makeup of our Universe.
“At the very least, it’s telling us something about dark matter that’s not native to our current model.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
David Willetts wants to see a market in university fees
The government is to delay the publication of its plans to reform higher education in England, partly so that it can take into account what fees universities are likely to charge.
The Higher Education White Paper was due to be published by March 2011.
But universities minister David Willetts said he was delaying it in part to see how “price-setting works this spring”.
It comes after MPs voted to raise fees to between £6,000 and £9,000 a year.
The vote was a difficult issue for the coalition government as the Liberal Democrats had opposed any rise in tuition fees.
Labour said the delay showed the coalition’s plans for higher education were “in trouble”.
Mr Willetts has repeatedly warned university vice-chancellors against automatically going for the higher fee level.
Concerns have been raised about the cost to the Treasury of providing subsidised loans to cover raised fees.
The government has used average fees of £7,500 to model its proposals, but higher education experts have suggested that most universities will want to charge nearer £9,000 to avoid being seen as a poorer option.
Speaking to vice-chancellors meeting in London, Mr Willetts warned that if average fees were above £7,500, the government would have to consider cutting teaching grants further by “making offsetting reductions”.
The government’s plans already assume cuts of about 80% to teaching grants, with the money to be replaced by raised tuition fees.
“We have decided to take more time on developing the White Paper”
David Willetts Universities Minister
Originally ministers said higher fee levels would only be allowed in “exceptional circumstances”.
Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial have all suggested they will charge £9,000 a year.
Mr Willetts said: “We have decided to take more time on developing the White Paper – in part to test proposals more thoroughly among the sector, student and other experts; in part to learn from how price-setting works this Spring”.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said fee levels and where and what students decided to study would influence how much money was available for universities.
He said the White Paper, which will set out the wider reforms to the university sector, was now likely to be published before June.
Universities have to submit their draft access agreements – their commitments on measures to help recruit disadvantaged students – to the Office for Fair Access in April.
These will then be finalised with the regulator and published in July.
But in order to give vice-chancellors an insight into his plans, Mr Willetts confirmed that private providers would be allowed to access the government-subsidised student grants and loans system.
And he confirmed that he would be inviting debate on the issue of whether universities would be allowed to accept additional self-funding students.
These are students who pay for their courses themselves without recourse to the government package of fees and loans.
He said: “What are the pros and cons of universities being able to recruit additional students off quota at no cost to public funds, and can that be done in a …socially progressive way?”
He also said he would work with the Home Office minister, Damian Green, to ensure that any controls on student visas “don’t inadvertently make the UK less attractive to genuine students wanting to come and study”.
Labour’s shadow universities minister Gareth Thomas said: “The delay in publishing the White Paper on Higher Education is further proof that the government’s plans are in trouble.
“Universities are having to plan their future whilst waiting for the government to make its mind up on a whole series of major questions.
“Trebling tuition fees isn’t fair, wasn’t necessary and it’s increasingly clear; the sums don’t add up either.”
He has also writing to Mr Willetts asking for clarifcation on a range of issues.
Paul Marshall, executive director of the 1994 Group of smaller research intensive universities said it was disappointing that the White Paper setting out the package of reform was being delayed.
“With the sector getting to grips with changes to fee arrangements introduced before Christmas, the government must be aware that delaying the White Paper risks creating uncertainty and instability.
“Well targeted radical reform is welcome, but the aims and ambitions need to be clear.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
David Reid visits Chateau Margaux to discover the serious steps they are taking to protect their wine from fraudsters
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Bad winter weather is blamed for the bulk of the UK economy’s contraction at the end of 2010
The UK economy shrank by more than previously thought during the last three months of 2010, revised figures show.
Gross domestic product (GDP) slipped by 0.6% in the period, according to fresh data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Its initial estimate had suggested the economy had contracted by 0.5% – with heavy snow blamed for the slump.
However the ONS said that the revision was not a dramatic one.
“It’s not that much of a shock, this is a very small revision,” the organisation’s chief economist Joe Grice told BBC News.
“The snow effect we think is still 0.5%. On the basis of that, the economy is still flattish at minus 0.1%. The overall picture is still a flattish underlying economy in the fourth quarter.”
The ONS statement added that manufacturing appeared to have done quite well, but that the construction industry was weak. The services sector, which accounts for a large percentage of the economy, contracted.
GDP figures for a particular quarter are produced first as a so-called “flash” estimate, and are later revised at least twice as more detailed information is collated.
“It wasn’t a bad dream. The recovery really did stall in the final three months of 2010, and it wasn’t only the weather. That is the most important conclusion to be drawn from today’s second round of GDP estimates for the fourth quarter”
Stephanomics: No good news on GDP
Labour has criticised the the introduction of a VAT rise and the government’s plans to dramatically cut public spending while the recovery remains fragile.
But a Treasury spokesman said it stood by its position.
“The chancellor said that the fourth-quarter growth figures were disappointing and today’s revision doesn’t change that fact.
“It also doesn’t change the need to deal with the nation’s credit card – the country is borrowing more this year than is spent on the entire NHS.
“What’s more, the survey data so far this year has exceeded expectations.”
The BBC’s economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, said: “Those looking for bad news in these figures (and that is usually everyone) might do better looking beyond the first page, to the trade and investment tables towards the back.
“Investment was 2.5% down on the previous quarter, and was a key factor in the slowdown.”
Joe Grice, chief economist at the ONS: It is ‘a very small downward revision’
She added that net trade, once again, made a negative contribution to the recovery – exports growing 2.3%, but imports up 3%.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, took a gloomy view, calling the figure “a hugely disappointing set of data”.
Documents from the Bank of England’s rate-setters, released on Wednesday, had hinted that those who had opposed a hike in rates this month would consider a change in stance if the UK’s GDP figures had suggested the economy had picked up.
Equally, as Vicky Redwood, an analyst Capital Economics, said, figures showing a worsening economics performance may cause a change of heart among those previously in favour of raising rates.
“The slight downward revision might give the more hawkishly inclined members of the MPC reason to pause for thought,” she said.
Three of the bank’s policymakers voted for a rate rise at the last meeting, with the remaining six Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members voting to keep rates at historic 0.5% lows.
Minutes from the MPC’s last meeting stressed that recoveries from recession were rarely smooth, so more weakness would not be unusual – but it also said growth could pick up in the first quarter if the level of activity returned to normal after the snow, helped along by postponed expenditure.
The MPC will be watching closely to see how the economy has been performing so far this year, without the influence of severe weather.
Worries are growing about the recent pick-up in inflation, boosted by rising commodity prices and the VAT increase.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Dr Alison Tedstone, Department of Health, explains the risks of eating red meat
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People should cut back on red and processed meat to reduce their risk of getting cancer, the government says.
New advice recommends eating no more than 70g a day – equivalent to three rashers of bacon or two sausages.
Experts say thousands of bowel cancer deaths could be prevented every year if people kept to the new limits.
Advisors to the Department of Health in England say the restrictions would not put people at risk of iron deficiencies.
Bowel Cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK – about 36,000 people are diagnosed every year, and 16,500 die.
Eating 100 to 120g of red and processed meat a day – things like salami, ham and sausages – increases the risk of developing the condition by 20 to 30%, according to studies.
But some commentators have questioned whether reducing red meat consumption would put people at greater risk of iron deficiency; red meat is a very good source of iron.
Iron deficiency causes anaemia, which leads to tiredness and dizzy spells, can affect brain development and result in behavioural problems.
But a report from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition says if adults cut back to 70g of red meat a day, there would not be much impact on the number of people with low iron intake.
“Try and make sure as little as possible of their 70g per day is processed”
Dr Rachel Thompson, World Cancer Research Fund
“Red meat can be part of a healthy balanced diet,” said the interim Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Sally Davies, “but people who eat a lot should consider cutting down.”
“The occasional steak or extra few slices of lamb is fine, but regularly eating a lot could increase your risk of bowel cancer.”
The charity Beating Bowel Cancer welcomed the report.
“A diet high in red and processed meat may increase your risk of developing bowel cancer,” said chief executive Mark Flannagan. “But the good news is that red meat can still be enjoyed in moderation.”
Some experts, though, say the advice should distinguish between red and processed meat, which is thought to carry a higher bowel cancer risk.
The World Cancer Research Fund advises avoiding processed meat altogether.
“We would suggest that people following this new report’s guidelines should try and make sure as little as possible of their 70g per day is processed,” said Dr Rachel Thompson, deputy head of science for the fund.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Jim Davidson, starring as a bigoted comic in a new play he has written, has apologised for any offence his humour might have caused in the past. So would it be possible for such a controversial figure to make a comeback?
He was once one of television’s most popular comedians.
But some of Jim Davidson’s humour, especially his jokes about race, disability and women, has caused outrage over the years. And in the mid-1980s, the tide turned in favour of a generation of politically-aware comics, epitomised by Ben Elton.
Although Davidson returned to primetime television in the 1990s to host the BBC’s Generation Game, his particular brand of comedy seemed rooted in the past.
Jim DavidsonDec 1953: Born in Kidbrooke, south LondonYoungest of five, spoke later about difficult upbringingBig break in 1976 winning TV talent show New FacesHosted his own TV show The Jim Davidson Show, and continued success as stand-up comicPresented BBC’s Big Break with John Virgo (1991-2002) and The Generation Game (1995-2002)
Now he is touring with his new creation, Stand Up and Be Counted, a play about Eddie Pierce, a washed-up, bigoted comedian in his 50s who is forced to confront his prejudices when he shares a dressing room with a young, black, up-and-coming comedian.
This week, Davidson apologised for any offence his humour had caused in the past and admitted he missed the money and the fame of a career in television.
Comics like Bob Monkhouse and Frankie Howerd went out of fashion for very different reasons. Rather than being offensive, their humour just came to be seen as uncool. They managed to reinvigorate careers that seemed to have lost their way, but could Davidson?
1. Repudiate the past
“With other comics, you might accept an apology but it depends on whether they are likeable”
Karen Bayley Comedy Junction
Accepting the offence caused in the past is a start, and Davidson has suggested he has regrets about characters like Chalky White, a crude stereotype of a West Indian, with a fake Jamaican accent and a cannabis joint.
“If I’ve offended anyone, I will apologise,” Davidson, now in his late 50s, said in a radio interview with BBC Radio 4’s Front Row this week. “But in the 70s I didn’t have a lot to apologise for. Maybe all the audience that came to see me and made me rich and famous should apologise to their ethnic neighbours.
“But I never really thought of it then. Yes, I would like to apologise for Chalky. It’s not something I would choose to do now.
“This play is not really Jim Davidson apologising but it might go some way to say ‘Hey, I was wrong’ and I’ve reflected this in the character of Eddie Pierce.”
He said Eddie’s character, described in the play as a “sad and lonely old man”, is partly based on the public perception of himself, which he thinks is a misconception that is difficult to correct.
But some critics might suggest Davidson is somewhat less than fully repentant. Speaking to the BBC again a few days later, he says he had no wish to be back on television, which he says is for young people.
“I’ve not got anything to prove. The BBC don’t put out an apology every night for Love Thy Neighbour and the Black and White Minstrel Show.”
2. Be likeable
You have to like the person that’s making you laugh, says Karen Bayley, a comedian who runs her own club The Comedy Junction in Birmingham.
That’s why comedians like Bruce Forsyth, “a lovable old rogue”, are accepted more readily than Davidson, for whom it would be hard to start afresh, she says.
“The problem is that he defended himself for so long. The horse has bolted. With other comics, you might accept an apology but it depends on whether they are likeable or not. A lot of successful comedians have that.”
3. Adapt with the times
“Bob Monkhouse was a big fan of today’s comedy and kept up with it,” says Bayley. “Spike Milligan went to comedy clubs all the time to see what was relevant. They adapted their content to reflect that.”
Others managed to pitch themselves to a new, younger audience. Rolf Harris became a hit at Glastonbury by tapping into a new appetite for kitsch.
4. Play yourself
The career of Les Dennis seemed to be on the rocks. The work had dried up after the success of a comedy double-act with Dustin Gee and later as a presenter for 15 years on ITV’s Family Fortunes.
Extras was Dennis’s chance to reinvent himself
One comeback attempt on Big Brother failed to spark a revival, but in 2005 he appeared in Extras with Ricky Gervais, playing himself in a searingly honest appraisal of his faltering career.
That appearance earned him a new-found respect and he has been in demand ever since, currently appearing in Alan Ayckbourn’s Drowning on Dry Land in London’s West End.
“To play yourself in a fictional setting is very, very difficult for any actor,” says Ivor Dembina, stand-up comedian for 25 years and resident host of Hampstead Comedy Club. “I thought he stepped into it rather well.
“It takes bravery or courage, it takes something to admit your failures in such a public way on such a successful programme. If anything, my estimation for him went up.”
Michael Barrymore appeared on Celebrity Big Brother as he tried to revive his appeal after the tragedy of Stuart Lubbock’s death at his home. Although he finished runner-up, it failed to bring much work.
Playing someone else can also help breed mainstream success too. Mike Reid, purveyor of very adult humour on the comedy circuit, became a household name as Frank Butcher in the BBC’s EastEnders.
5. Find a younger champion
“If he’s going to be successful, he’s going to have to reinvent himself”
Max Clifford PR expert
“What you need is someone who is hip and cool and fashionable to champion you,” says Bruce Dessau, comedy critic on London’s Evening Standard newspaper.
“Bruce Forsyth appeared on Have I Got News For You with Paul Merton. Bob Monkhouse did some gigs with younger comedians. Frankie Howerd was massive in the 50s, slipped out of favour in the late 60s and then Peter Cook had him on The Establishment in Soho and that kicked off his comeback.”
Ronnie Corbett enjoyed an upturn in fortunes after appearing in Extras and with he also had the likes of Rob Brydon and David Walliams singing his praises.
6. Do an Oprah-style confessional interview
An expert in publicity and career management might suggest that improving an image is best started with a bare-all confessional television appearance.
It would not be easy because the public perception of Davidson is not very good, says PR guru Max Clifford, who has known the comedian for 30 years.
“That’s why he’s not on television any more, so if he’s going to be successful, he’s going to have to reinvent himself, which would be very hard but not impossible.
“He’s got to appear as a totally different person in a major television interview, saying something like ‘I’m not drinking any more’. Some soul searching. And proving he was convincing and sincere, then things could start to change. In order to change Jim Davidson, you have to change the public perception of him.”
About 12 months of regular charity work prior to such an interview would help, says Clifford, along with widely-admired famous people occasionally praising him for his support.
7. Wait for ‘uncool’ to be cool again
Comedy changes over time, allowing for people to come back as their style of humour is reinvigorated, says Mark Boosey, editor of the online British Comedy Guide.
“Comedies like Miranda and Not Going Out are making the ‘old skool’ studio-based sitcom format cool again, for example.
Cannon and Ball have reappeared in cameo roles
“Bobby Ball has been on Not Going Out a couple of times off the back of this. Mick Miller, another comedian who went out of fashion for a bit, is back too. He’s been acting alongside Johnny Vegas in BBC3 sitcom Ideal, and appeared on Jason Manford’s ITV stand-up show Comedy Rocks.”
Politics has a massive influence on comedy because it shapes the mood of the country, he says. The recession, for example, has stigmatised “flash” comedy and elevated humour that is “down-to-earth”.
Comedians who are in their wilderness years are hoping that their style will find favour again. But some who might not be on TV much, like Jethro or Roy Chubby Brown, can still sell out venues because they have committed fans.
But coming back from being perceived as offensive is a lot harder, he says, unless society’s attitudes change as a whole.
The rise of edgy comedians like Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr might leave some to question whether some present-day comedy is much different from Davidson’s. Carr was criticised for telling a racist joke about Gypsies, and also threatened to sue Davidson for telling a joke he considered to be his own.
A Jim Davidson comeback would be miraculous, says Dessau, but at least the success of Boyle and Carr suggests that comedy has moved away from the disapproval of the 1980s when Davidson was shown to be so out of touch.
“It’s a bit like flared trousers,” Dessau says. “If you stick around long enough, you might make a comeback into fashion again. It would be very hard for Jim Davidson, but stranger things have happened.”
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7.
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6. John
Like the article says, Jim Davidson has defended his stance for so long now any contrition will now seem false and even desperate.The play may be brilliant, but if it is it will be a first for him.I personally don’t like his style, or that of Frankie Boyle for that matter, but I suppose it takes all sorts. I just can’t see him making a significant comeback any time soon.
5. Mark Rodos
Oxymoron Alert! “comics, epitomised by Ben Elton” – a great comedy writer, yes, spoilt by opening his mouth.The whole PC censorship of comedy got it all wrong – if people would be honest, I’m sure the vast majority would admit fear the thought-police becoming a reality!I say this as a committed anti-racist (etc.) Comedy is funny, hate is abominable. Surely INTENT matters most?
4. Megan
He’s never been funny… so what is going to change?Bring back Dave Allen, now there was someone who could be offensive but was hysterically funny as well.
3. Jason404
I don’t think Davidson’s appearance on Celebrity Hells Kitchen, a couple of years ago, did him any favours.
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