THE BBC AND ANIMAL CRUELTY

That this House is appalled that the BBC intends to repeat a showing of the episode of 'Around the World in 80 days' which contains an act of unspeakable cruelty to a snake; believes that the flippancy displayed by the presenter Mr Michael Palin whilst the animal was disembowelled and skinned alive for the table, to be wholly repugnant; further believes that such conduct transforms the documentary to the level of light entertainment; asserts that this active participation in an act of cruelty by a servant of the BBC to be unacceptable; and therefore calls upon the Director General to omit the offending scene from any further screening of this otherwise excellent programme.