Strictly Come Dancing

That Guardian analysis is nothing of the sort - it is an opinion piece by two academics with an agenda to push.

"It is designed to promote family values and a sense of British national identity" - says them. There is nothing about British national identity in the format of the show - you only have to look at how it has translated to many other countries to know there is nothing essentially British about it.

They admit 'It is clearly not possible to say for certain that Strictly’s voting patterns are because of racist British attitudes.' yet go on to say 'We would suggest that Strictly and this genre of programming reflect a distinctly “British” race narrative;'

They make no attempt to show their 'analysis' - saying that it has not yet been published. But there is no discussion about the profile of the various contestants, their initial dance ability and what improvement (if any) they show or how they perform on any given occasion. It also does not appear to factor in for how prior performing experience/training is perceived.

It is interesting to note that this the only piece they have contributed to The Guardian - there was certainly no follow-up piece that put their analysis into the public arena and a quick google does not show any other publication of this analysis. Their research is cited in a Daily Mail article - but the only source for that is their Guardian piece.

It is wrong to publish an article making very specific claims out without having the methodology and data sets being available for independent review.

I am not saying that race doesn't play an issue in voting patterns. I can't say that because we just don't know what motivates people to vote in certain ways. I am sure that this could be researched and the data presented. We would then have a clearer picture.

But an article such as this does nothing to advance our understanding of what is going on. Indeed, it actually lessen our understanding because it presents unpublished/unfinished data without proper context or explanation - which means it is an opinion piece where assertions are being presented as facts - which is very poor in academic/journalistic terms.

BAME celebs have a decent record on Strictly and Danny went a lot further than a lot of contestants. Charles has done two good dances but other weeks hasn't got the votes, Karen may not be as popular as other pros so that may not help Charles.

Could it have been an age thing with Danny and Amy as he is 58 and she is about 27, maybe he didn't like being bossed around by a much younger woman or could Amy be a bit quieter than the other female pros and Danny may have been able to be more forceful with her than he would have been with a more feisty pro dancer.

. There is no evidence in that article that this is true, but these days we all believe everything we read. I once read an article in the tabloids about two actors who were having an affair. I knew the bloke who is gay. They were friends but were pictured “gazing into each other’s eyes” - having a laugh in other words. Regarding DJJ the damage has been done: we all now think he is a no-show and are castigating him accordingly. I am going to wait and see what happens.

I put it to you, your honour, that the interpretation of people’s facial expressions is an inexact science. I also put it to you that he may have been angry with himself rather than the judges because he may be a perfectionist. We will never know, but either way this does not necassarily make him a bully.

Yes no matter what happened Danny has not given any explanation or sought to offer any other thoughts on the speculation. He indeed has done nothing but perpetuate the speculation and I do not have much if any sympathy for him. If you sign up for a show like this then you must accept what comes along with it.

Given his opinions on the show, I was amazed when DJJ agreed to be part of this year's competition.

Just catching up with this Guardian stuff. They say ‘the ballroom is a white space.’ I can’t say about professional or even amateur dancing competitions but for the general public I don’t think this is so. Going back we can see that the ballroom or dance hall was/is a very diverse space.

For those of us with children born in the late 90's/early 2000's Danny John-Jules will forever be associated with CBeebies, specifically the programme Storymakers in which he played Milton Wordsworth (other presenters were styled as Shelley, Blake, Byron, Rossetti and Webster Wordsworth). I can summon up the theme tune now without even trying.

That opening number with Gloria Estefan made me feel 30 years younger and nearly had me up dancing..... well that's a lie but made me realise how I loved her music at the time.
Guess I'll be off to the ENO next year.

OK - it was stripey rock - not pink. But still phallic

And that was only half a salsa... the rest was more stagey/disco