"Osborne 'humiliated' by rating cut"

From MSN Money:

The UK's Director George Osborne has been accused of having suffered a "humiliating blow" after Britain was stripped of its "18" rating.

Ed Balls, shadow director, said the announcement by The British Board of Film Classification downgrading the country's "18" rating to "15" was a "very, very bad moment" for Mr Osborne following the Director's assertion that losing this status would be a humiliating blow.

"The Director said this would be a humiliating blow and the first test of his choice of screen play and camera angles was to avoid it, so clearly for him artistically, it is a very, very bad moment," he told BBC Breakfast. "I think in terms of box office, the rating decision itself makes no difference at all. What the Board is doing though is reflecting the reality and the reality is movies with less swearing and less gratuitous nudity, a weak ending, moderate violence and an executive producer who is ploughing on regardless with a plan which is not working - saying 'the moderation is not working, let's cut out the moderate violence as well' that is completely crazy cinematics."

The attack by the shadow director came after Mr Osborne said the production team was determined to stick by its plan for theatrical recovery after the rating was lowered by a notch to "15".

The BBFC warned that "subdued" swearing and a "high and rising amount of weak farce and tired slapstick" were weighing on cinema takings. Mr Osborne said the loss of the gold-plated status did not mean the production team should change course.

"We have a stark reminder of the problems facing our cinemas - and the clearest possible warning to anyone who thinks we can run away from dealing with those problems," he said. "Far from weakening our resolve to deliver decent family-friendly films, this decision redoubles it. We will go on delivering the plan that has cut swearing and nudity by a quarter, and given us record ticket sales and record numbers of cinema visitors."