General BBC-related comment thread:

Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may be moderated.

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741 Responses to General BBC-related comment thread:

  1. Essex Boy says:

    So why is the BBC so silent on the exposures of corruption within the GLA, Ken Livingstone and Lee Jasper.

    Gilligan (Ex BBC reporter) has been producing the goods in the Evening standard for a while now, yet it’s strangely silent on the BBC.

    Guido has picked it up on http://www.order-order.com

    and

    http://tinyurl.com/33wvpf

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  2. Martin says:

    Obvious. Red Ken is up for election next year. The BBC won’t allow ANYTHING to prevent his being beaten by Boris.

    You can be assured that even the slightest thing that Brois does will be reported by the BBC.

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  3. David says:

    It’s even more astounding (though not unsurprising), when you consider that the nonsense the BBC reported on about Boris being a racist had actually come from one of Lee’s publications.

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  4. PeterUK says:

    Why must the BBCs motives always be ascribed to doctrine,don’t beedoids like money as well?

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  5. Martin says:

    Money? Of course. The BBC is full of Champagne Socialists, just like Nu Labour and the garbage at the Guardian newspaper. They LOVE money. in particular, taking yours and mine to give to human scum who don’t want to work but are just about bright enough to put an X in a box for Gordon and his cronies.

    These Socialists are funny. None of them has ever had a real job. They go straight from the £1 a pint of snake bite in the Uni bar and their “Wimmins” Studies courses into Government or the BBC, then try to tell the private sector how to run things. It’s a joke.

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  6. Beeb infiltrated says:

    A friend of mine has just started working for the BBC, and I have to report (and I know it’s been known for a long time, but this is first hand evidence) that he simply cannot believe how many Guardian newspapers there are around BBC HQ. He says virtually everyone at the BBC reads it. The BBC probably account for half of the Guardian’s readership.

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  7. PeterUK says:

    “They go straight from the £1 a pint of snake bite in the Uni bar ”

    Can’t see Gordon stumping up a quid for a drink,probably taxed someone else’s.

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  8. PeterUK says:

    The Guardian carries all the BBC job advertising,wouldn’t be surprised if the BBC got free copies.

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  9. woodentop says:

    Beeb sustainability quiz!

    “How sustainable is the food you buy and eat?

    Are you aware of the issues that crop up every time you pick something off the supermarket shelf?

    Test yourself on food, fish and other sustainable factors.”

    Dully predictable and riddled with pressure group “opinions” given as correct answers.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7147794.stm

    This Greenpeace-style propaganda is tedious and depressing. Can we have a rest, please, BBC?

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  10. PeterUK says:

    “”How sustainable is the food you buy and eat?”

    This is rather a personal question,but if I chew it well and it isn’t too indigestible,about a couple of days.

    Oh God,now someone will be round from BBC Midlands for a stool sample.

    But on the whole,I should think that farmers grow things which they can grow again.

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  11. Mailman says:

    Beeb at it again with their news Russia was sending Iran enriched nuke material but their headline was “Russia sending nuclear material to Iran, but guess what? George Bush is ok with it”.

    The report then goes on to say its linked to the latest NIE report BUT in the 2 second quote they had of GW he was talking about how if Russia was sending already enriched material then Iran doesnt need the technology to make it themselves.

    The rest of the 10 minute story was made up how how the NIE had GW running scared for cover or how NIE had American hawkes hopping mad yadda yadda yadda etc.

    Mailman

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  12. Lurker in a Burqua says:

    PeterUK:
    Why must the BBCs motives always be ascribed to doctrine,don’t beedoids like money as well?
    PeterUK | Homepage | 17.12.07 – 10:39 pm | #

    Reminds me of Cyril Connolly talking about George Orwell:

    Orwell was an unashamedly political writer and Cyril Connolly, who had been at school with him, once wrote that, ‘He would not blow his nose without moralising on conditions in the handkerchief industry.’

    The BBC have exactly the same condition.

    (quote helpfully provided by BBC)
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1758_blue_plaque/page10.shtml

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  13. George R says:

    BBC’s chums, ‘Liberty’, are taken to task on 42-day detention:

    ‘ Be liberal, but not with the facts’

    (David Aaronovitch)

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article3065614.ece

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  14. teddy says:

    http://devilskitchen.me.uk/2007/12/how-liberty-dies.html#links

    from the above….

    a commenter has left the following…

    (I have spent some time looking at the BBC news website, and Mark Mardell in particular, for this story, and have not seen anything about it)

    This is, of course, quite correct. Despite the fact that there were BBC journalists there, in the EP at the time that this was happening, I have seen nothing on the BBc website about the protest. I may, of course, have missed it.

    But the BBC has been maintaining a very strong policy of not quoting anyone from UKIP for the last few months. It is a corrupt organisation which should be removed from state control—and state funding—forthwith.

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  15. George R says:

    This doesn’t fit the BBC’s ‘Multiculturalist’ propaganda on high immigration rates into UK, so the BBC doesn’t report it:

    ‘100,000 lose out to migrants in hunt for work’

    “More than 100,000 young Britons may have been pushed into unemployment by the new wave of Eastern European immigrants, an economic analysis on the impact of migration has revealed.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/18/nmigrants118.xml

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  16. Tony says:

    BBC Northern Ireland is still failing to cover itself in glory, covering a ‘Real IRA’ terrorist attack in 70 words online.

    The BBC NI motto must be, “move along, nothing to see here“. Whatever happened to “inform, educate and entertain”?

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  17. p and a tale of one chip says:

    “This doesn’t fit the BBC’s ‘Multiculturalist’ propaganda on high immigration rates into UK, so the BBC doesn’t report it”

    Except as a lead item on the Today programme, of course.

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  18. Martin says:

    I’ve been listening to Radio 5 today where they have some 8 year old called Nimal or something filling in for Victoria Derbyshire.

    They’ve been doing a phone in for the decision by Radio 1 cutting the worlds Faggot and Slut form the Pogues song.

    You wouldn’t believe how left wing this Nimal bloke it.

    Funy that the BBC sees it OK to film Muslims calling for the beheading of those that insult Islam or go soft on Muslims selling extremist literature in Mosques.

    Oh and the BBC get all worked up over the use of Faggot in a song, but NEVER NEVER NEVER mention the execution of homsexuals in Iran.

    The BBC is a bunch of pathetic scumbags who should be made unemployed tomorrow.

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  19. Ritter says:

    George R – Interesting article on the ‘dodgy’ Liberty report on detention.

    Maybe Newsnight will do a ‘Policy Exchange’ on the Liberty Report – you know, do some investigative journalism, and report on the actual evidence before us that suspects in such places as Italy, Spain etc, seem to be held much longer than Liberty claim in their report.

    Can you imagine Paxo questioning Shami in the same tones he did the guy from PE? Fat chance.

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  20. Oscar says:

    BBCs love affair with Castro continues. R4 news this morning gave amazing prominence to a letter ‘hinting’ he ‘might’ step down, complete with broadcast extract in Spanish (no translation) on 7am and 8am news bulletins. Followed by breathless interview from Montaquinn. It was given much much more prominence that the LibDem leadership contest, which is, after all, only a real story concerning British politics in a period when LibDems might have real influence in a hung parliament. Strange how the LibDems have been relegated of late – nothing to do with futile attempts by the Brown Broadcasting Corp to bolster Mr Bean surely?

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  21. George R says:

    More on the BBC’s daily drip of selective Multiculturalist agenda:

    IRAN; the BBC Radio 4 ‘World Tonight’ with the somnolent Lustig, last night enthused about saffron production in Iran and how the wonderful Ahmadinejad had visited the saffron-growing area.

    In contrast, I’m struggling to find a BBC mention of this second story, about the subsidies which UK taxpayers are paying to Iranians to set up ostrich farm in Iran.

    Is it that the first story fits the BBC’s Multiculturalist agenda, but the second story doesn’t?

    “British taxpayers pay for failed asylum seekers to set up ostrich farm in Iran”

    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23428081-details/British+taxpayers+pay+for+failed+asylum+seekers+to+set+up+ostrich+farm+in+Iran/article.do

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  22. Anonymous says:

    Lurker in a Burqua:
    BBC censors The Pogues’ Christmas classic

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/…/ npogues118.xml
    Lurker in a Burqua | 18.12.07 – 1:12 am | #

    I get the feeling that this may well be a breach of music copyright by broadcasting it in a different form to that which it is intended. Unless of course permission has been obtained. But I doubt that has happened.

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  23. George R says:

    Following on from the ‘Today’ programme’s superficial treatment of ‘feminism’ this morning, I wait for the BBC to get serious and allow an anti-multiculturalist treatment of ‘feminism’, to include material like this, on which the BBC is currently silent:

    ‘Academic Feminists and Sharia’

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=E0F5040D-F1EF-43D7-AD20-777C68E4D39D

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  24. pounce says:

    Ref Radio 1 and the censorship of “Fairytale of New York” Seeing as Simon Mayo wants it at Number 1?
    What has happened to most records on Radio 1 that have been banned or censored?

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  25. Roland Deschain says:

    Re the Pogues.

    I think you’ll find it’s a marketing ploy to upstage the X-Factor song.

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  26. Roland Deschain says:

    Sorry Pounce, your post crossed with mine.

    Great minds think alike….

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  27. Dr R says:

    Regarding the great Socialist Success of Cuba, how come Al Beeb refers to their despotic, ossified leader as “Fidel”? You may say it was to distance him from his, errr, democraticaly-elected brother Raoul (ie elected by Fidel), but I think it was a bit more chummy than that.

    And, naturally, not a word about the suppression of dissidents, the dire poverty or the decline in standards of every kind in Cuba.

    I guess all our NW3 Beeboids would just LOVE to live in Cuba. Wish they bloody would. Stinking hypcrites.

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  28. Lurker in a Burqua says:

    BBC blows £120,000 on staff Christmas bash – as 2,800 workers face axe

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=503214&in_page_id=1770

    Will the pogues song be played at the party?
    I think we should be told.

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  29. Martin says:

    More Bias from the BBC news. In discussing te new proposed cut on visas for non Eu visitors why did the BBC use a Muslim family?

    I bet far more americans Canadians and Australians etc would be affected by this.

    Is it just the vile BBC trying to make out that this is racist legislation?

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  30. pounce says:

    Israeli raids kill Gaza militants
    Israeli air strikes have killed at least 10 Palestinian militants in Gaza, including a top military commander of the Islamic Jihad group.
    Israel accused Majed Harazin of leading rocket and mortar attacks against its territory. Reports say he is the most senior militant to be killed in a year.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7149066.stm

    Notice how the BBC have edited the story to remove the part where ‘Hamas’ radio informed people to keep away from the burning car as it was full of explosives? Maybe it kind of contradicted the part I highlighted.

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  31. Martin says:

    Even more rubbish from the BBC. On the Northern Rock farce the news presenter asked the left wing political journlist that £100 BILLION (about £3300 for every one of us) was a lot of money.

    The leftie reporter then spun it by firstly saying well actually it might only be £50 billion (well that’s nothing is it?) then he claimed that Northern Rock had plenty of assets? Er like what? Their bank showrooms? What assets then? Are they going to make everyone with a Northern Rock mortgage sell their homes to get their money back?

    Utter rubbish from the BBC trying to defend a failed corrupt Government that has wasted trillions of pounds over the last 10 years.

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  32. PeterUK says:

    “Oh and the BBC get all worked up over the use of Faggot in a song, but NEVER NEVER NEVER mention the execution of homsexuals in Iran.”

    There are no homosexuals in Iran – now.

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  33. George R says:

    In the Bowen/BBC continuing support for ‘Palestine’, and its opposition to Israel, the BBC’s headlines contrast with CNN’s on same event today:

    BBC: ‘Israeli raids kill Gaza militants’;

    CNN: ‘Israeli strikes kill Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza’;

    The BBC does refer to Islamic Jihad several times in the body of its report; but the CNN page here includes a VIDEO report showing the effects of Islamic Jihad rocket attacks on Israel:

    http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/18/gaza.airstrikes/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

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  34. Ritter says:

    A BBC Chair writes…..

    BBC ‘failing to make enough original TV’
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/18/ntv118.xml

    “The BBC is failing to produce enough original television programmes, according to research commissioned by the corporation’s governing body.”

    Letter from BBC Trust Chair to BBC DG

    Click to access chairmans_letter.pdf

    “Performance in News and Current Affairs is rightly seen to be strong but the BBC is not always serving everyone on the audience as it should, with those who fall within the category of ‘low BBC approvers’ perceiving a performance gap. You are addressing this as part of the six year plan to reach out to new audiences without jeopardising the support of existing and loyal audiences.”

    ??? – six year plan? Sheesh!

    Are B-BBC’ers ‘low BBC approvers’?

    and don’t forget (from the appendices)

    “Sustaining Citizenship and Civil Society
    Licence fee payers consider this to be one of the most important purposes overall and it is encouraging that the BBC’s performance is considered to be strong. While, overall, the Priority to engage a wide audience in news, current affairs and other topical issues (Priority 2) is seen as being delivered effectively, there is not surprisingly a performance gap amongst low approvers of the BBC5. As before, the Executive is seeking to address this as part of its six year strategic plan.”

    Click to access priorities.pdf

    “Sustaining Citizenship and Civil Society???!!! – who thought that one up?

    BBC’s own take

    Don’t chase ratings, BBC is told
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7149630.stm

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  35. George R says:

    Joining the dots…

    Islamic jihad in ‘Palestine’………

    ..Islamic jihad train bomb massacre attempt in Germany:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7149644.stm

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  36. Ritter says:

    The Tiems letters…

    Can the BBC licence fee survive?
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article3064832.ece

    “The state funding of the BBC results in inefficiency, waste and misallocation of resources…”

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  37. Ritter says:

    That should of course be ‘Times’

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  38. PeterUK says:

    “Sustaining Citizenship and Civil Society”

    If the BBC really believes this then television must be made available to all,free.
    The license impost excludes many in civil society,as such alienates many poorer citizens.

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  39. vervet says:

    “Politics is no longer left or right, it’s authority or freedom”
    Ian Parker-Joseph

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  40. pounce says:

    The BBC, its so called green credentials and did anybody check this story?

    The carbon cost of Christmas cherries
    It is really not that long ago that the seasons dictated what fresh fruit we ate and when we ate it.

    But go into any of our UK supermarkets today and you will see a huge selection of “out of season” produce.

    Take cherries for instance. Britain’s freezing orchards are bare at this time of year. But still you will have no problem finding delicious fresh cherries on the shelves.

    The trouble is that the cherries we enjoy in December have to be shipped from the southern hemisphere. Many come from Chile which is some seven and a half thousand miles from the UK.

    And some environmentalists insist it is plain madness that, in a time of global warming, we transport a non-essential luxury-food item half way across the world.
    ……………………
    And at the bottom of that article
    For Chilean cherries to get into our supermarkets they have to be packed into refrigerated containers loaded onto ships and then transported some 7,500 miles through the Panama canal and across the Atlantic.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7150037.stm

    Does anybody at the BBC realise that the UK is an Island nation. That the vast majority of our imports come by sea. Be it Cars from Japan, Vegemite from Australia or even immigrants from France. But hey what’s the point of a honest look on the subject of GW. I mean it’s not as if we really require flowers from Africa? Should we discuss the impact of millions of Muslims travelling to Mecca for the haj. How about just where were these BBC product made?
    http://www.bbcshop.com/icat/toys

    I mean if the BBC really wanted to play the green card. They could say the Jews are the greenest people going. I mean they don’t have any power on a Saturday. But something tells me Abu Bowen won’t be going in that direction.

    The BBC, its so called green credentials and did anybody check this story?

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  41. Gibby Haynes says:

    The funny thing – and pounce alluded to it – about these people who’re so vociferous about so called airmiles are the very same people who’ve, over the years, systematically destroyed any industry we once had by giving too much power to trade unions. And now they’re whining about carbon emissions from importing goods. What should we do – roll over and just die? Actually, that’s precisely what greens (scratch beneath the surface and they’re red all the way through) would like us to do.
    Anyway, thanks for the suggestion BBC, I’ve just developed a powerful appetite for some Chilean cherries. And whilst I’m buying those, I’ll see what produce from Australia I can find.

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  42. David Preiser (USA) says:

    It’s no wonder the British Public have no real idea what goes on in US elections, or have such a confused idea about who Americans really are. Justin Webb is practically your only source, and he clearly could not be less enthusiastic or engaged.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/justinwebb/2007/12/the_oldfashioned_way.html

    His previous entry on the Iowa Caucus was little more than a postcard written from the airport after he had talked to a couple of people. His report for Matt Frei’s Low-Budget Cavalcade of Condescension last week was slightly more informed, but equally detached and bored.

    Now both Justin and Katty Kay, wearing her “Washington Correspondent” bonnet, have reported over here that they are confused and concerned that only a tiny portion of Americans are involved in such an important task as sorting out Presidential candidates for the rest of the country. Katty even twice voiced her own concern that they were all white, so not diverse enough to do any good. They both seem somewhat comforted by the fact that the people in Iowa are very dedicated and pretty clear-headed about what they are doing, but the concerns linger in the air. If Justin’s own video report has been shown on News 24 or something, you’ll know what I mean.

    But why must it be their concerns? Why are they not reporting on what Americans think? Why is it always a BBC point of view, or “what the world wants”? What sort of news broadcast do they think this is?

    However, I have to wonder why the BBC keep Justin on when he says stupid things like this on his “Justin Webb’s America” blog:

    I have a proposal: that every state in the Union share the honour of kicking off presidential elections, thus getting their moment in the sun every 200 years.

    For someone being paid quite a few pieces of silver by the BBC for covering the US elections, he has the comprehension of an overripe tomato. Even after realizing that the people actually get to spend a good deal of time meeting the candidates and learning about them, he doesn’t grasp why it is that this is even possible. It’s because the population is small and manageable, and the communities are fairly close-knit.

    This is cumbersome, I know, but might address the fairness issues. What it would surely be a mistake to do is have some kind of national primary early on that keeps the candidates away from individual voters.

    The ridiculous Webb doesn’t get that the same kind of up-close-and-personal stumping – the only saving grace of the process, as far as he can tell – would be absolutely impossible in half the other states.

    The unfairness thing is an easy story to report on, though, as it requires little thought, and even less effort, other than parroting the complaints of other US states. The thing is, it works rather well, and certainly this kind of up-close and personal campaigning is impossible in much of the rest of the country, for a variety of reasons.

    Contrary to the opinions of elitist media types, the rest of the country doesn’t just follow Iowa, regardless of the result. Rather, the candidates appearances at the Caucus give all of us a chance to see and hear the candidates outside of the phony interview and debate settings. No, we don’t meet them personally, but we do get lots of footage of them in un-scripted situations, which is key. Lots of inner workings and interesting personality traits and policy beliefs can be revealed during these few days, and that’s all due to the way the candidates have to go around meeting the folks and explaining themselves. This wouldn’t happen in a place like Texas or New York. It would be like comparing the intimacy of a solo piano recital in a salon to the faceless crowd seeing a rock band at Wembley.

    Any other state that complains about it just wants to be first. “Fairness” and “diversity” have nothing whatsoever to do with it. Those are just fig leaves for political envy. The argument has been done to death for years.

    Yet your highly paid Justin Webb – not to mention Matty and Katty – takes the lazy route and makes a suggestion that is routinely dismantled in every high school social studies class. I know it’s too much to ask to come up with something more coherent, but why do I have to listen to it? He says the same nonsense in his reports on BBC America News Thingy, as does Katty. At least Katty actually attends some of the meetings and sits there scowling earnestly. They both see intelligent, forthright people trying to do their best in a task they realize is very important, but neither of them can accept it.

    So foreign citizens who are employees of a foreign broadcasting organization try to tell me how to think, rather than letting me make up my own mind. They take the BBC shilling, and are thus bound by its Charter. They violate that Charter every day.

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  43. Martin says:

    Well said Pounce: I saw that article on the news as well. It’s all bollocks by the BBC. They are desperate to keep the greenie leftie vegetable eating enviro crap on the front page. But no one cares or is listening.

    I wonder how much crap the BBC ships overseas (like DVD’s of shows or books)

    What about the cost of immigrants traveling here? Perhaps we shouldn’t allow ANYONE into our Country, that would save lots of Carbon.

    What about all those third world farmers that Bob Gandalf and Bozo keep bleating on about? Who are they supposed ot sell their goods to?

    The BBC has simply become a joke. Interesting comment I heard on the radio (not the BBC) where a woman was commenting that The Global Warming joke has now become like a Cult. They are lead by fatso Al Bore and no matter what evidence you put to them, just like other religious nutters they refuse to believe that THEY might be wrong.

    Notice that no one has bothered to ask why all across the world we’ve got really cold temperatures?

    The BBC can prattle on about Climate Change as much as they like, but not using my taxes.

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  44. George R says:

    Apparently, the BBC is unable/unwilling to communicate/comment on this news story nationally:

    “British children targeted with sing-along DVD for would-be suicide bombers”

    It re-enforces what we already know about the BBC’s unswerving commitment
    to MULTICULTURALISM at any price.

    Is the BBC’s silence on this part of its ‘social cohesion’ agenda?

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019215.php#comments

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  45. Martin says:

    Well the Tory MP that handed the DVD over to the Police WAS interviwed on 5 lite an hour or so ago.

    However, we’re more likely to see the BBC investigate the Tory MP or perhaps the receipt.

    Stuff the BBC. It’s full of leftie nonces.

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  46. Reg Hammer says:

    The BBC have already backed down on censoring “Fairytale of New York”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7150693.stm

    Lying lefty asswipe Andy Parfitt, the controller stated:

    “While we would never condone prejudice of any kind, we know our audiences are smart enough to distinguish between maliciousness and creative freedom. In the context of this song, I do not feel that there is any negative intent behind the use of the words, hence the reversal of the decision.”

    So earlier on this morning Parfitt had done the complete opposite to ALL of that dreck he has just spouted, and decided that listeners were as thick as pig shit and would all become raging homophobes if they heard the word “faggot” in a Christmas song. He also decided it was of negative intent.

    12 hours later. Oooooooh! What was I thinking!!

    The doddering twat probably got so tired of all the sniggering coming his way from various BBC employees (many of whom he would have been ASTOUNDED too see were gay) he had to do his almighty U-turn in the snidey, unapologetic way that only the BBC can perform.

    This proves conclusively, that the only opposing voices the BBC are ever willing too listen and adapt too – are their own.

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  47. JG says:

    Tonight:

    Spooks
    “The team race to stop a CIA plan to assassinate the Venezuelan president in Britain”

    You couldn’t make it up.

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  48. Reg Hammer says:

    No doubt that fat, asinine telly tax leech Chris Moyles was one of the “opposing voices” too.

    So when will he start gobbing off about the downside of multiculturalism then?

    Not anytime soon I’m sure.

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  49. dave t says:

    Not necessarily just the BBC but symbolic of much of the British media in general. Here is what CO 1 SCOTS (Royal Scots Borderers) said in his newsletter today:

    “The British media pack was escorted to visit Mons Coy 1 SCOTS, working with an Iraqi Army battalion in the desert. I briefed the press quite clearly on our role and the importance of PIC in terms of our overall strategy for Southern Iraq. At this briefing I noticed that most of the journalists seemed to have made up their minds on a story of a defeated British Army deserting the people of Basrah, leaving the place to be run by the militia and policed by corrupt security forces. They pushed and pushed for me to say that I was concerned that, without the situational awareness gained from joint patrolling, the Iraqi Army would be bound to engage in inappropriate and occasionally atrocious behaviour. This is simply not the case and I told them so. I have absolutely no reason to doubt the professional or moral integrity of the Iraqi Army units and formations with which we have been working. Indeed I have every reason to trust them.

    I was asked whether we could patrol in Basrah and I explained that, as an armoured battlegroup, we had the military capability to do any task required of us, anywhere, but that we worked to an operational plan and respected the wishes of the local senior Iraqi joint commander, who is currently keen to ensure that the Iraqi Army patrol alone in the city. This observation was twisted by one well known television news journalist when she said to the Iraqi Army battalion commander (through my interpreter):

    ‘The British are blaming you because they’re not allowed to patrol in Basrah. How do you feel about that?’

    Not just the BBC then…..

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