'Ariel' is also the name of the
BBC's in-house staff magazine (although, oddly, it's also available to
the general public); it's published every Tuesday morning and, as you might expect, it's mostly very, very dull, reading like the kind of free pamphlet the local government or transport system might hand out (Londoners who commute will probably have read the page of '
The Metro' which is written by London Underground - it's the same thing, really).
The exception is the letters page, which is usually filled with bitchy letters from employees fed up with the BBC (most famously Terry Wogan, who seems to send in rants directed at the lack of change / superfluity of change / whatever takes his fancy).
Here is a real letter from May the 15th, 2002, as an example of the insane fury unleashed over this page:
Fobbed Off
About ten years ago I purchased a recoil ski pass holder for my ski pass. It has served me well and is now used as my dongle/fob carrier. Why then, in these days of cutting the crap, have I had to replace by BBC yo-yo/skipass/id on a string? The last one survived approximately five hours before it broke, prompting me to put fingers to keyboard. Can we not spend a few pennies more and get decent ones?
Kevin White
Senior physical network manager
Technology