ANY QUESTIONS UPDATE.

So I didn’t get to hear this when it was broadcast last night but unfortunately I did catch the repeat earlier today and I have to say that it really was a classic in sustained political bias. As ever, the beat is left. For once there were no politicians on the panel – with Univeral Shami (Left) Gulam Noon (Left) Joan Bakewell (Left) and Peter Obourne ( (No fixed position or indeed no fixed hairstyle) – but there was quite the consensus amongst this commentariat. They all agreed it was vital that a public enquiry was held RIGHT NOW into the disgraceful UK “invasion” of Iraq; they mostly all agreed that until the Palestinian question was sorted out there would be no peace inIraq or Afghanistan; they mostly all agreed that our capitalism of the past twenty years was morally wrong and that Brown’s Masterplan of digging deeper when in a hole was the inspiring way forward; Joan Bakewell came across as a really bitter uberleftist, Shami is so sweet when she talks of her patriotism whilst simultaneously bitterly undermining the basis for our armed forces ever going into action. The audience whooped and cheered each time every left wing cliche was spouted. When it came to the issue of whether it was right to have liberated Iraq from the Saddamite diktat, out of an audience of 300-400, around half a dozen felt that our presence had achieved at least some good. This programme achieves the impossible and makes Question Time seem almost fair and balanced and it is another instance of the BBC using its taxpayer funded bully pulpit to endlessly propagandise left wing values.

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 also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.

WHAT A GAY DAY

The BBC reports that the United Nations, that fine body of..ahem.. recognised global moral authority, is having a bit of a problem getting all of its members to sign a declaration decriminalising homosexual acts. The Sodomists charter, put forward by la belle France and the Netherlands, seeks to stop legal punishment of homosexuals. Given the tendency in Islamic nations such as Iran, for example, to hang gay people, I suppose that is a fair enough aim but the assertion by the BBC that “Gay men, lesbians and transsexuals worldwide face daily violations of their human rights” seems remarkably close to propagandising on behalf of the militant gay lobby for my liking. Since when did the right to gay sex become an inviolable “human right”, exactly? And how does the BBC quantify this assertion? Does it consult with the transsexual community and compile a data-base of transgressions against trannies? There are certain topics that engage full-on BBC editorial sympathy; Eco-wackery is one, Gay Rights is another. The fact that the UN cannot even agree on a definition of terrorism is ignored by the BBC as it evangelises on behalf of the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered community.

Not remembering the dead

There is an extraordinary omission from this BBC article on South Korean troops leaving Iraq. Plenty of figures are given, from the four years and three months spent there to the 18,000 troops who served in Iraq. One figure is missing though- only one Korean soldier died in Iraq according to icasualties, and he apparently has been forgotten. Don’t you think it would be appropriate to mention this loss, especially as it helps to contextualise the Iraq war for history?

EYELESS IN GAZA

Been away for a few days folks so just trying to catch up on the news! I see that Hamas, those nice people for whom the BBC carries such a candle, have decided to declare open season on Israel just in time for Christmas. As the BBC puts it, “The Egyptian-brokered deal began on 19 June but has been tested regularly by Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli operations in Gaza. ” Just wondering why the BBC equates Hamas terror attacks with Israeli efforts to, erm, prevent rocket attacks. Testing indeed.

It depends where you start from…

There is room for a whole thesis-worth of discussion in this on-the-face-of-it stark raving lunatic headline from the BBC in this article:

‘Some Imams ‘biased against women”

What I say is this just points out the need to work harder at increasing the number of female Imams. Oh. Wait a minute…

The BBC- not p.c. at all, oh no.

Hat tip to DumbJon.

Roundup

  • Bishop Hill on the close yet unclear relationship between the Cambridge Environment and Media Programme and the BBC.
  • Tom Gross of the WSJ writes, “If this isn’t terrorism, what is?”

    For much of the Mumbai siege, the BBC went out of its way to avoid reporting that the Jewish community center was one of the seven targets. At one point viewers were told that “an office building” had been targeted (referring to the Jewish center as such).

    Then on Friday morning, TV pictures of Indian commandos storming the besieged Jewish center were broadcast by networks around the world. Heavily armed commandos, their faces covered by balaclavas, rappelled from helicopters onto the roof while Indian sharpshooters in buildings opposite opened fire and a helicopter circled overhead. Huge crowds of onlookers could be seen looking aghast as they watched from nearby streets. While Sky News and other channels were gripped by these dramatic pictures, BBC World was not, almost pretending there was no siege at the Jewish center — even though by then it was one of only two sites that remained under attack in Mumbai. Had the terrorists chosen to besiege a church or mosque instead, can you imagine the BBC ignoring it this way?

  • You mean those scary statistics in the letters from TV Licensing weren’t true?
  • Following on from Laban’s post, I was listening to Radio 4 the day before yesterday at about 6.15pm. There was quite a lengthy discussion of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s corruption without, yet again, any mention of what party he represented. I expect this tactic works quite well. Anyone listening properly would have gathered Mr Blagojevich was of the same party as Mr Obama, but the many, many people who listen with half an ear while they get on with something else would never hear “blah blah corruption blah blah Democrat blah” whereas you can be sure that in a similar scandal involving a Republican they would get “blah corruption Republican blah THAT’S RIGHT, REPUBLICAN blah”.

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 also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.

BURNING DOWN THE HOUS

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By the way, did you read the BBC report detailing how the Church where the Obama family go to worship has been burned down in a suspected arson attempt? Alright then, it didn’t happen but if it did, I figure it would be splashed across the BBC. Fair bet? So, isn’t it interesting that when the Church where Sarah Palin worships is torched, not a word from the BBC. Maybe she never existed?