So, quite quickly, we learned the name of the new British Prince of Cambridge. He is George Alexander Louis, or a boy named GAL — an interesting thought. Rarely, maybe never, in the ages of media commentary has so much empty hot air been expended by so many people over something so insignificant.
I am referring specifically to BBC World television coverage of the arrival of George Alexander Louis, which was wall to wall with gush and coo and mush, morning to night, for hours and days before the 8-pound-6-ounce (3.8 kg) boy emerged, and then rejuvenated for days after his birth with mindless prattling about what he would look like when he finally appeared. Would he look more like Kate or William (surely that is lese majeste to talk of the duke and duchess as if they were the BBC's own children).
It was a disgrace. Lord Chris Patten as the chairman of the BBC Trust should call in Lord Tony Hall, the director general, show him a world map and point to the insignificance of the United Kingdom in the global scheme of things. He should urge him not to squander the reputation of BBC World by pushing parochial British matters.