One of the items on today's From Our Own Correspondent began with a telling (though doubtless unconscious) admission from Kate Adie:
In 60 years this programme has broadcast many dispatches from the Middle East, particularly the West Bank.
The BBC's obsession has been well-documented in recent years but it's good to see it admitted at last.
The report from Ed Lewis (a piece about a rock-climbing club in Ramallah) began, inevitably, like this:
Ramallah has a new wall. Not a vertical grey concrete wall but a bright blue, green and white one. It has no look-out posts, razor wire or steel gates...
It was a largely upbeat piece but, just as inevitably, there were passages like this:
The West Bank has not become an adventure playground overnight. Nor will it anytime soon. Israeli restrictions and the designation of many parts of the West Bank as military zones or nature reserves severely restrict the scope for more outdoor activity...
Human interest stories from inside Israel (especially upbeat ones) aren't something you hear very often on From Our Own Correspondent (or at least not in the recent past). Why ever not?
