THE APPRENTICE, BBC1, 9pm
TONIGHT, the teams are let loose in a gorgeous luxury hotel, Stoke Park, which featured in Goldfinger.
Filled with marble and chandeliers, the hotel charges a fortune for rooms. The teams are given one each which for which they must create a theme and then decorate and furnish it.
The boys opt for a “British” theme – quite unadventurous given that they’re in a British hotel. But instead of getting red, white and blue paint, they see the room has yellow walls so they amend the Union Jack to be red, yellow and blue – making it look like a Romanian-themed nursery. It’s a room Sugar says might be rated on “CrapAdvisor”.
The girls go for a golf theme, and get speckled wallpaper which is supposed to look like the skin of a golfball but which Lord Sugar dismisses as “bubblewrap”. As the women bicker, Claude, usually so stern-faced, openly laughs at them. It’s a great episode.
BILLION DOLLAR DEALS AND HOW THEY CHANGED YOUR WORLD, BBC2, 8pm
THIS series has looked at the big-money deals which are made in boardrooms across the world, and show how they trickle down to affect our daily lives. In tonight’s final episode we look at a subject I care passionately about: the world of work and how it shapes us.
It’s quite fitting that this has been scheduled immediately before The Apprentice, which presents work as a world where the best triumph and everyone else is crushed underfoot. I’m sure most of us have looked around a dreary office at an appalling manager and questioned whether they are indeed “the best”.
This episode looks at how the concept of 9-5 is dying, with workers expected to be online or accessible at all times. And whatever happened to job security and the idea of “a job for life”? And if companies care less about their employees, why are so many going on about their “values” and “mission statements”?
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here