Historical Maritime combat

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran writers of shows such as Birds of a Feather The

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Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, writers of shows such as Birds of a Feather, The New Statesman and Goodnight, Sweetheart, will make their attack at the most prestigious occasion of the television year: The James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival. Marks and Gran have described their speech as "biting the hand that feeds them". It will criticise BBC Director General, John Birt, and corporate bosses at ITV for starving producers, writers and directors of money and creative control. They will propose that British TV mimic the American practice, where hits such as Friends have 40 per cent of their budget spent on writers. In Britain writers are likely to get no more than 4 per cent of the programme budget.American situation comedies are thought more successful because big teams of gag-writers produce up to 32 episodes of a show a year.

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By contrast, teams of one or two that produce UK sitcoms can only deliver eight to 12 episodes a year. This makes it a longer process for viewers to get to know the characters in British comedies and for the programme to become a hit.Mr Marks told the Observer yesterday: "We are calling our lecture "The Betrayal of Talent" because that is just what has happened in British television "We've got nothing whatever to lose by stating the truth. It needs to be said since both the bosses and the system have badly let down the talent."They say the BBC is obsessed with factual programmes, and that ITV, whose comedy they think is in a much worse state than the BBC, diverts cash from their creative talent to their shareholders.. In a tale fitting for its own Street of Shame column, Lin Cook, widow of Peter Cook, says that she is going to sell the 40 per cent share of Private Eye magazine she inherited from her husband because people on the magazine have not been nice to her. Mrs Cook told a Sunday newspaper that she would be happy to sell her shares to one of the Eye's many enemies, even Mohamed al-Fayed, owner of Harrods and of the ailing rival magazine Punch. Peter Cook became a majority shareholder in Private Eye after the closure of his satirical club, the Establishment, in 1962.After his death in 1995 it was thought that all his 65 per cent share would go to Lin Cook and it was reported, mainly by foes of the Eye such as the gossip columnist Nigel Dempster, that Mrs Cook would bring modern management to bear on the famously eccentric magazine.As it turned out, Cook left 26 per cent of the magazine to his sisters, although division of the shares were subject to a legal challenge."I knew he [Peter] was very fond of the Eye and I was too," Mrs Cook was reported as saying. "I sort of thought Peter would not have wanted to sell the Eye. But because of their totally careless attitude towards me, I just feel that Peter loves me and my welfare would mean more to him than anything else and it would be OK."However, it is unlikely to be: So farewell then Ian Hislop, editor/I am a banana/that was your catchphrase just yet.The magazine's articles of association dictate that other shareholders, including Cook's sisters and Sir Dirk Bogarde and Jane Asher, be given first refusal if there is any sale.Mr Hislop dismissed the threat of a new, hostile, Lord Gnome: "Legally she can't, as I understand that she is bound by the articles of association.

And practically she can't, because I'll burn down the building."The source of Mrs Cook's dispute with the Eye is unclear, but she has a reputation as a difficult woman and has fallen out with her late husband's relatives. She was reportedly unhappy to find a jazz band rehearsing in the magazine's offices when she first visited after his death.Private Eye's finances are at present relatively robust, with a reported turnover of nearly pounds 3m. In contrast, Mr Fayed's reborn Punch magazine has failed to make a sales impact. Despite a recent redesign planned to give it mass-market appeal, Punch's publishing frequency was cut this month from weekly to fortnightly..

Freemasons have been found not to have declared their Masonic links in an apparent attempt to influence a local authority planning decision. The investigation by the local government ombudsman into Bedford Borough Council is only the second time that Masonic links in a local authority have been proved to have resulted in maladministration. The case is part of a rising number of complaints alleging misuse of Masonic influence in local authorities; there are around a dozen such cases each year, compared with one or two in the early Nineties. But many complaints are impossible to prove, or are mistaken, and only in one previous case, in Castle Point, Essex, last year has maladministration been proved.The increase is thought to be partly a result of greater public awareness of Freemasonry and partly because councils have begun to interpret the guidance on Freemasonry more strictly, ensuring that Freemasons declare their interest. The Code of Guidance says that Freemasonry might be something that needs to be declared.The Bedford case concerned an application for planning permission by a local company, given the name "Diatek" in the ombudsman's report, which was seeking to relocate to the town. The application was turned down and it later emerged that another company seeking to move to the site eventually succeeded.Diatek complained to the ombudsman that Bedford's development control committee had deferred its decision in order to allow the second company to buy the site.