'Pipeline? We rather threw it away'

Last Modified: 25 Apr 2008
By: Newsroom blogger

Inside the morning meeting...

"Busy Friday but still the best story around is Grangemouth," says the programme editor as producers, reporters, correspondents and editors troop in for the last morning meeting of the week.

"I've just got off the phone - they're shutting the plant today."

The two-day strike at the Grangemouth refinery is due to kick off on Sunday and its potential political, economic and day-to-day impact make it big news.

'Where's the 60-odd days of stockpiled oil?' asks one voice. 'Makes a good picture story if nothing else.'

The strike could in turn force the closure of BP's Forties Pipeline - a line we got yesterday but one, a senior editors feels, we didn't make enough of.

"We we're the first with the pipeline and we rather threw it away," he says.

That leads to a discussion about how to treat tonight's coverage.

Our home affairs correspondent Andy Davies remains in Scotland to cover the story as it unfolds but, by consensus, a second piece is probably needed either to act as an explainer or to tell the economic / political story.

One aspect of the saga that dominates discussion is contingency planning. "Where's the 60-odd days of stockpiled oil?" asks one voice. "Makes a good picture story if nothing else."

"One thing we didn't look at yesterday was the impact on the markets," says another voice. Which might mean pulling our business reporter off an OFT report into anti-competitive pricing on tobacco products by UK supermarkets.

Elsewhere there's a degree of scepticism shown towards a story slugged 'Prisons'. According to the Prison Officers Association jails are so 'cushy' that inmates given the chance to escape don't want to.

Some smell political manoeuvring, namely the POA pushing for more prison officers. Others don't even think it's that credible. "Sounds like an urban myth," says a senior editor.

A correspondent in line to cover the story - should the prog ed choose to do so - is identified. Someone then suggests we should try and break into prison to see just how cushy it is.

"How's your tunnelling skills?" the correspondent is asked.

"Yep, don't worry about me," she replies. "I'm good at getting myself out of a hole."