Open Thread


Ministry of Truth here – tell me about the latest bias in which we have been engaging..four legs good, BBC better…

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95 Responses to Open Thread

  1. Bupendra Bhakta says:

    Any chance someone could tell Helen Boaden to tell her news monkeys that actually Labour *lost* the last election and that Wee Duggie Alexander is *not* the Foreign Secretary.

    They seem not to be aware of this,

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  2. James says:

    More pro-homosexuality on the Beeb, yet again! And on ITV. And, b*gger me, in the Telegraph, too! And in offices and schools and hospitals around the land. 

    Seems like no-one hates homos now – at least, no-one under 68. Looks like gay-hate is extremely uncool these days. The last vestiges of barbaric, backwards, pig-ignorant, hate-fuelled homophobia are dying out.

    What a shame.

       0 likes

  3. David Preiser (USA) says:

    BBC really ramping up the anti-cuts agenda today.  The latest Cut Of The Week is police budget cuts.  Yes, I know it’s because this is what they talked about at Prime Minister’s Questions today, and not because of the BBC setting the news agenda.  But their Narrative is clear all over.  I’ve now seen two separate doom and gloom segments on the News Channel, trying to say that everything is a front line service, and the nasty Tory plans will cause a severe shortage of “the bobbie in the street”.  Is that term still in regular usage?  Or is it just rolled out for effect to evoke a cultural memory in order to sway the viewer?

    Needless to say, it’s no surprise at how the BBC News Online crew massages a story to support the anti-cuts agenda.  NewsSniffer has two versions.  Notice how the language changes, section headings are removed, and details are shifted.


    Ministers say savings can and must be made while protecting the front line.   
    Police are losing a fifth of their central funding over four years.

    becomes:

    Police are losing a fifth of their central funding over four years.
    The government says this is manageable with greater front-line productivity and savings in back and middle offices.

    Quite a difference in priority and portrayal of the Government position.

    The section heading “Room for savings”, which is about the Government position is removed in favor of “Pay the price”, which is obviously more scaremongering on behalf of the anti-cuts side.

    The extra statement from the policing minister gives a bit of balance to a piece which was otherwise giving far more space given to the anti-cuts crowd.  However, “outsourcing” is a very unwelcome term among union supporters, so this helpfully makes the Government seem nastier still.

    Even so, the piece is still heavily weighted in support of one side, as there are three different voices against the Government as opposed to one minister from the Government, and it’s not even Theresa May.

       0 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      This is the reall way in which the online BBC shows it’s bias. The online editors are very, very snide in the way they highlight certain things, miss out certain words, distract from the real story, play up certain things when it suits them etc. I would really like to know WHO these editors are.

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  4. wild says:

    James,

    Your poor English grammar tells me that you are probably a 20 year old student. As is to be expected from somebody who was probably educated within the State education system, you do not have the faintest glimmer of comprehension of any political views further to the Right than the Labour Party.    
       
       
    Indeed it is possible that you find the Labour Party too Right Wing, and prefer instead to march around dressed in black, hurling bricks at the property of the bourgeoisie, while waving signs condemning Israel; or at least you would if you could be bothered to get out of bed in the morning.  

       0 likes

    • James says:

      1) Criticising typos is the last resort of a desperate man / woman.

      2) Don’t you dare to presume that you know who I am. I’ll tell you, actually, because you’re so wrong. I am 30 years old, work for a private sector PR company, was privately educated at two of the oldest, most prestigious and academically excellent public schools in the country. (Want to know which ones? Email me.)

      3) The fact that you assume that anti-homophobia must mean blind, Palestinian-flag-waving leftism shows how utterly out-of-touch you are with the modern world.

      4) By the way, where were grammatical errors? I can see I didn’t use complete sentences – I assume you always do whenever you’re talking or writing comments on forums. Or should that be fora?

      5) I can deduce quite accurately from your reply to my comment that you are a cunt.

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      • Chairman of Selectors says:

        What a desperate response James. Pathetic.

           0 likes

        • NotaSheep says:

          Just read ‘James’s’ history of posts and come to yor own conclusion as to his purpose on this blog. What is noticeable is that he has an answer for every challenge: Jewish grandfather, public school education, private sector job etc.

             0 likes

        • James says:

          Chairman,

          If you can’t see how ironic your reply is, then you really are a myopic cunt. I pity your children, should you have any.

             0 likes

      • wild says:

        James,

         

        If you had not already proved yourself to be a moral imbecile your outrage would have a little more traction. I (too generously it turns out) gave you the benefit of the doubt by assuming that your are an under-educated 20 year old lout. You seem blissfully unaware that by informing us that you are 30 years of age, and was educated at “two of the oldest, most prestigious and academically excellent public schools in the country” that you are merely proving your idiocy to be hard wired.

         

        I think you will find that I mocked your grammar not your “typos”, but I appreciate that such subtleties go over your head. You will have to work out the errors all by yourself. The desperation you speak of is of course entirely your own, as you have to struggle with your inadequacies all by yourself.

         

        No doubt your teachers “at your most prestigious and academically excellent public schools” will be unsurprised to find you asserting that “The last vestiges of…hate-fuelled homophobia are dying out. What a shame.” I however gave you the benefit of the doubt and assumed that you were merely pretending (rather unconvincingly) to be a hate filled idiot, but it turns out that it comes to you naturally.

           0 likes

        • James says:

          Right – so none of you have the wit, intelligence or courage actually to answer my original post. That is the sign either of rank stupidity or moral cowardice. Or both. (Oh dear – that wasn’t a full sentence – you had better attack my grammar while completely ignoring my point!)

             0 likes

          • Span Ows says:

            So what was your point James? You didn’t make one: you made a statement which was about there seeming to be no anti-homosexual attitudes these days. You also said that it was “barbaric, backwards, pig-ignorant, hate-fuelled” etc…then said it was a shame that this was fading out. Now, this could mean you are a barbaric, backwards, pig-ignorant, hate-fuelled gay-hater, that’s certainly how it came across; but, my point is that you made no point so how do you expect others to answer it? They answered it in the way they did because you wrote as a troll would write, something polemic to get a reaction…maybe if you are a troll this was your point, if not then you just posted an opinion.

               0 likes

            • Span Ows says:

              P.S. Also see kitty shaw’s reply posted Today at 10:19:46 (comments page 3)

                 0 likes

  5. My Site (click to edit) says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/03/political_future.html

    I was interested in the picture of the BBC dream ticket.

    I recognise Ms. ‘representative of so many it’s hard to comprehend’ Lucas ‘cos she’s never not being featured, but who are the two other blokes?

       0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      ps: when I say ‘dream ticket’, that of course concedes that the actual getting/representing voters bit, democracy-wise, is not top of our national broadcaster’s agenda too often.

         0 likes

  6. AndyUk06 says:

    Something to occupy the BBC for a short while.

    http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/30/tesla_sues_bbc_for_defamation/

    I hope Tesla sue the arse off them.  In actual fact, if they can prove that the BBC has affected their reputation or financial situation, then in all likelihood Tesla can look forward to a hefty payout from the beeb.

       0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      look forward to a hefty payout from the beeb’

      Sadly, as hell would freeze over before any accountability in personal or corporate terms for ‘making stuff up’ is going to happen, the hefty payout will not likely be from the Beeb.

      Like poor pension performances down to staff-supported agenda, it will either be from uniquely funded licence fee money or reduced (still further) services.

      The rate the market rate talents are running things (into the ground), it will soon cost £4Bpa to get a half hour a day of Zadie Smith reading the news and Caroline Lucas presenting Top Gear using Scalextric powered by Helen Boaden back-pedalling furioulsy.

      All to keep Mark Byford and Jon Humphrys in the genteel comfort to which they have been concerned, or fight off yet more litigation. 

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  7. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, cuts to the Arts and the Ebbinghaus Illusion  
    Hundreds of arts groups lose funding  
    More than 200 organisations that received regular funding from Arts Council England have missed out after “a series of painful decisions”.About 1,300 venues, theatres, galleries and arts groups applied for grants from the council, which had its budget cut by £100m in October’s Spending Review.  
    Some 695 groups will get funding for 2012 to 2015 – down from 849 – while 110 new groups have been successful. 
     
    Continuing it stance against the present government and the cuts it has to make. The bBC turns to the art world in which to find victims in which to demonise the Government. However its seems that the person who wrote this article went down the arts path himself rather than the sciences at school. I quote:  
    “More than 200 organisations that received regular funding from Arts Council England have missed out after “a series of painful decisions”.  
    And the math say’s  
    “Some 695 groups will get funding for 2012 to 2015 – down from 849.”  
    849-695=154  
    Ok somewhat pedantic of me, but 154 isn’t more than 200.

       0 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      Snap! See my comment on the Philistines thread below this one.

         0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      “More than 200 organisations …
      “Some 695 groups will get funding..”

      Ok somewhat pedantic of me, but 154 isn’t more than 200.

      Not pedantic at all. That’s a straight correction of a rampantly abused fact. Worse than than the 10:10 critics to defender 100:1 ‘split’ views attempt.

      Sadly, this one is going to be a lost cause as celebs are involved, and where they are ratings follow, and where there are ratings such as SKY will sell their granny.

      I have lost count of the single-issue A-Z lister whose pet project is now under threat and must be saved, with no nasty questions on what gets the chop as Liam Byrne’s ‘no more money’ needs triage.


         0 likes

    • NotaSheep says:

      What do you expect from Arts graduates; ‘Maths is like, so prescriptive’

         0 likes

  8. George R says:

    Tonight on BBC-Labour ‘Newsnight’- a vital issue for Beeboids, which they will politically spin for us: the personal relationships and morality of the MILIBANDS – an everyday story of New Labour folk.

    -from tonight’s ‘Newsnight’ blog:

    “Labour leader Ed Miliband is to marry his long-term partner, and mother of his two children, Justine in May.
    “But Ed, who was best man at David’s 1998 wedding, has said there will be no best man or bridesmaids at next month’s ceremony in Nottingham.
    “What does this tell us about the relationship between the two brothers?”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/fromthewebteam/

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      Will there be threats to Miliband wedding by ‘UK Uncut’ and by ‘Muslims against Crusades’, or is that just the royal wedding?

      “U.K.: Thugs from ‘Muslims Against Crusades’ intend to disrupt royal wedding”

      http://thewestislamandsharia.blogspot.com/2011/03/uk-thugs-from-muslims-against-crusades.html

         0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      “What does this tell us about the relationship between the two brothers?” 

      As, to the best of my knowledge, neither runs anything of note (and Ed certainly doesn’t his Party) the obsession the BBC holds with them, near daily, seems… misplaced. And hence this simply tells us more about the mindset we are compelled to support, uniquely.

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  9. jarwill101 says:

    Ed’s stag night should be a right old knees-up. It’s going to be held at Yentob’s; ‘a discreet, but luxurious Islington eaterie’. I can’t wait to hear Bob Crow on the old joanna singing ‘You’ll do it My Way.’

       0 likes

  10. David Jones says:

    This might be interesting – http://rallyagainstdebt.org/

    Follow on Twitter #RallyAgainstDebt

       0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      Nifty, but rather minds me of when I was studying Civ. Eng at Kings.

      The Student Uni was dominated by the arts guys who called votes only when they drifted in to collect an essay paper once a week mid afternoon, while the rest of us were on 5/7, 9-5 lectures, etc, and so the minority (college mostly engineers, medics, law, etc) prevailed.

      No one much fussed at naming the hall after Nelson Mandela, but when beer money was siphoned off to fund terrorist groups enough was enough. We ducked classes, got docked on grades and restored order to kick the leather elbow patches out briefly until the weasels found new rules to get back in.

      I admire the above initiative, but most who might like to show solidarity are working their backsides off around the country to earn enough to support their families whilst being gouged for taxes to keep self-servants, UKuncut and their PR agency BBC chums in mandatory sick days to bog off at the drop of a cuts banner.

      If using the internet that is great, but let’s not forget the likes of Mr. Mason only gets turned on by 500k+ (out of 70M) on the march, and Mr. Easton only puts finger to keyboard about stuff outside the CC zone if invited by a twitter chum to see ’em board a bus in the Home Counties. And that is what gets broadcast, only, on TV.

      No harm in showing solidarity, mind.

      ps: Their twitter URL does not seem obvious on the home page

         0 likes

      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        Sorry, it’s just a hashtag. May be worth getting a twitterfeed for folk like me who are not so keen on FaceBook

           0 likes

  11. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Good grief!  Robert Halfon, MP was on the News Channel just now talking about Libya and what’s going on.  The discussion was about the reasons for helping the rebels, and Halfon said that Ghaddafi was guilty of human rights abuses for decades.  Back when Ghaddafi took over, there were “pogroms” against the Jews.  He then said that his father, and Italian Jew living in Italy, had his house and business taken from him and had to flee the country.

    The Beeboid’s response:
    “Well, you obviously have an axe to grind against him,” but……and changed the subject.  I won’t even get into anything as subjective as her tone of voice.

    Sickening.

       0 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      …and disgraceful and to be honest IMHO a sacking offence: this is a direct personal insult to a guest ON AIR. Did Halfon complain?

         0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      “Well, you obviously have an axe to grind against him,” 

      By the logic of BBC senior market rate talent, using that as a reason they should have appointed him as Mr. Bowen’s boss in impartially ‘analysing’ things Middle Eastern.

         0 likes

  12. DCP says:

    nice review of peter Sissons’ book by Michael Buerk in Standpoint:

    http://standpointmag.co.uk/books-april-11-blowing-the-bbcs-gaff-michael-buerk-when-one-door-closes-peter-sissons?page=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C2

    I like this bit:

    “He doesn’t quite skewer the complicated issue of the BBC’s supposed institutional bias. What the BBC regards as normal and abnormal, what is moderate or extreme, where the centre of gravity of an issue lies, are conditioned by the common set of assumptions held by the people who work for it. These are uniformly middle class, well educated, living in north London, or maybe its Manchester equivalent. Urban, bright thirty-somethings with a pleasing record of achievement in a series of institutions, school, university, BBC, with little experience of — and perhaps not very well disguised contempt for — business, industry, the countryside, localness, traditions and politicians. The Guardian is their bible and political correctness their creed. In the Corporation’s collective eye, Tony Benn is a lovable national treasure, Melanie Phillips a swivel-eyed fanatic. It’s all very well-meaning, and painstakingly even-handed, but often notably adrift of the overriding national sentiment.”

    Worth a read.

       0 likes

    • Dez says:

      Right-wing BBC journalist reviews book of other BBC right-wing journalist in right-wing magazine. Complains about a lack of BBC right-wing journalists.

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        You’re right, Dez.  One right-wing former BBC journalist wrote a book, ancd another reviewed it, complaining about a lack of right-wingers at the BBC does seem silly on it’s face.

        Even though they’re not there any more, these two plus Amdrew Neil and Nick Robinson balance out the other thousands on the Left.  Right?  Is that your position?  You’re rolling your eyes and dismissing the entire issue based on that math?

           0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      ‘Some of our bosses… Helen Boaden… been extraordinarily bright, decent and effective.

      Beyond the effectiveness of twitter pleas for restraint that seem to have been totally ignored by her staff, I presume this was just another ‘off’ day, bright-wise:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/03/coverage_of_the_tuc_rally.html

      If she keeps on digging at this rate she may soon catch up with Dez.

         0 likes

    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      “Had a long talk to the Chinese First Secretary at the embassy — a very charming man called Liao Dong — and said how much I admired Mao Tse tung or Zedong, the greatest man of the twentieth century.”

         0 likes

  13. George R says:

    INBBC’s favourite people?: the (elusive) ‘moderate Muslims’ –

    “The Missing Moderate Muslims”

    Amil Imani

    http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9108/pub_detail.asp

       0 likes

  14. fred bloggs says:

    Freebie labour Campaining:  Thurs morning 7:10 R4,  just making tea so rather than LBC, tried R4 to hear the latest from the supreme leader.  Did not have to wait long, an item about the forth coming elections and how Labour wants to convince the southern voter.  They even had a sound bite from Andy Burnham.  I pondered as I stirred the tea; where was the informative news content there, none it was a blatant propoganda plug for the Labour party.

       0 likes

    • NotaSheep says:

      Welcome to BBC Radio 4’s Toady programme usually presented by James ‘if we win the election’ Naughtie.

         0 likes

  15. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Rather interesting (and amusing, if in a train crash way) to see Norman Baker ‘interviewed’ by Mr. Holmes on SKY, and see the way our politico-media estate operates, if only in the generation of heat over light.

    The story was about potholes, which a person more used to being in opposition sniping was clearly not comfortable with, especially given this revolves around protecting car travel using road funds from taxes.

    What was fascinating, and Mr. Baker did point it out, was that Mr. Holmes did not care a jot about facts, or where money was coming from or who was getting money and not using it. In fact he pretty much contradicted himself a few times whilst not letting his guest get a word in edge-wise. At one point I thought Mr. Holmes might explode. I can only presume his morning limo ride was not as smooth as desired.

    That this was down to local government redirecting funds to where it does them the most good did not spoil his flow.

    I wonder if the BBC will pick this up too? Trouble is, for them, there is a ‘good’ Lib Dem, and making life easier for motorists in the mix. But a good government bash, even if it is nothing to do with them, must be tempting.

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  16. Sres says:

    Hats off to the BBC this morning on R4, I thought the presenter took Ed Milliband to task about the cuts & his march speech from the weekend even though he had his huge deflector pants on from the outset.

    Milliband sounded weak to me, trying to deflect the fact that their cuts would be 2/3’s of what the Coalition are doing now, yet he stood in front of gawking swivel-eyed public sector workers that under a Labour government they would have all kept their jobs.

    Probably the best and most honest interview the BBC have done in a quite some time in my view.

       0 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      It wasn’t a bad interview but Evan never went for the jugular.  For instance, when Miliband cited the post-45 Labour government as an examplar of what could be done when funds were short (and with the massive overhang of debt from WW2), Evan – who is an economist and knows these things – didn’t point out that Attlee’s administration worked with a balanced budget.  Throwing this fact into the interview would have cut Miliband off at the knees.  Evan could have delivered the killer punch by opining (cf Corelli Barnett) that Attlee’s government threw Marshall Aid down the toilet of buying votes (financing consumption and housing) instead of – like the Germans – investing the money in industry.

      BTW who is (or is supposed to be) fooled by Miliband’s faux working class pronunciation of using glottal stops and ignoring “T”s at the end of words?  FFS he read PPE at Oxford.  The last two PM’s not Oxbridge educated (Callaghan and Major) spoke well and clearly if not in an “Oxford” accent.  Neither of them stooped to kidology of this sort.

         0 likes

    • fred bloggs says:

      oh, no mention of the massive loan from US and Canada because we were effectively bankrupt, or the devaluation on the pound in 1948 to get over another monetary crisis.  Amazing how these little trifles get overlooked?

         0 likes

  17. kitty shaw says:

    “Seems like no-one hates homos now – at least, no-one under 68. Looks like gay-hate is extremely uncool these days. The last vestiges of barbaric, backwards, pig-ignorant, hate-fuelled homophobia are dying out.” <James>  
    Eminent scholars of Islam, such as Sheikh Ul-Islam, Imam Malik, and Imam Shafi amongst others, ruled that Islam disallowed homosexuality and ordained capital punishment for a person guilty of it. Homosexual activity is a crime and forbidden in most Muslim-majority countries. In the Islamic regimes of Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen, homosexual activity is punished with the death penalty. In Nigeria and Somalia the death penalty is issued in some regions. The legal punishment for sodomy has varied among juristic schools: some prescribe capital punishment; while other prescribe a milder discretionary punishment such as imprisonment.
    Ibn al-Jawzi records Muhammad as cursing sodomites in several hadith, and recommending the death penalty for both the active and passive partners in same-sex acts. Sunan al-Tirmidhi again reports Muhammad as having prescribed the death penalty for both the active and the passive partner: “Whoever you find committing the sin of the people of Lut, kill them, both the one who does it and the one to whom it is done.” The overall moral or theological principle is that a person who performs such actions (luti) challenges the harmony of God’s creation, and is therefore a revolt against God. Al-Nuwari in his Nihaya reports that the Prophet is alleged to have said what he feared most for his community were the practices of the people of Lot.

    Abu Bakr condemned a homosexual to be buried beneath the debris of a wall, and prescribed burning alive as the penalty for all those guilty of such practices. In this respect he was followed by Abd Allah bin al-Zubayr and Hisham bin Abd al-Malik. For his part, Ali bin Abi Talib ordered the stoning of a luti’ and had another thrown head-first from the top of a minaret; according to Ibn Abbas, this last punishment must be followed by stoning. Abd Allah bin Umar went a step beyond the condemnation by the Prophet, reckoning that these people would be resurrected in the form of monkeys and pigs.

    The Islamic UK-based group, the Shar’iah Court of the UK has issued a fatwa calling for a death sentence for playwright Terrence McNally for depicting Jesus and his followers as a group of homosexuals.

    Homosexual relations are a crime and face punishment in some Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia or Islamic Republics such as Iran. The death penalty is currently in place in Mauretania, Iran, Saudi Arabia,  northern Nigeria, Sudan, and Yemen. It formerly carried the death penalty in Afghanistan under the Taliban, but subsequently has changed from a capital crime to one that is punished with fines and a prison sentence.
    The legal situation in the United Arab Emirates is unclear. In many Muslim nations, such as Bahrain, Qatar, Algeria and the Maldives, homosexuality is punished with jail time, fines, or corporal punishment. This has led to controversy regarding Qatar, due to host the world cup, Sepp Blatter head of FIFA joked that gays would have to “refrain from sexual activity” while in Qatar.
    In Saudi Arabia, while the maximum punishment for homosexual acts is public execution, the government will generally use lesser punishments—e.g., fines, jail time, and whipping—as alternatives, unless it feels that individuals are challenging state authority by engaging in gay movements. Iran is perhaps the nation to execute the largest number of its citizens for homosexual acts. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution the Iranian government has executed more than 4,000 such people. In Egypt openly gay men have been prosecuted under general public morality laws. Most Muslim nations insist that such laws are necessary to preserve Islamic morality and virtue.
    A gallup poll of UK muslims showed near zero that believed homosexuality to be morally acceptable.

    Nearly all of these muslims are under 68.

    Be careful what you wish for bBC and James.

       0 likes

    • James says:

      Whoops – just realised you copied ‘n pasted from Wikipedia. Good work Kitty!

         0 likes

      • Span Ows says:

        Whoops? Why? So what if it’s from Wiki, does that make it wrong? Partly wrong? A bit wrong? Or factually correct? Also, does it answer or add to your original “point”.

           0 likes

  18. James says:

    You took quite a long time to type that, didn’t you Kitt? It’s a shame that it’s all based on the assumption that I apply double standards to Muslims. For the record, I think that all homophobes are barbarians, as is anyone who believes in FGM, lapidation or any of the multifarious cruelties practised by states like Iran, Sudan, Saudi and so forth. What’s more, these are the points that I raise whenever I see Muslims with their trestle tables outside supermarkets and in the streets – along with asking them: “Do you condemn suicide bombers?”

    Be careful with making assumptions (not just you Kitty, but everyone else on this site). You run the risk of looking like an idiot…but of course, that’s why “commies” like me flock here, to point and laugh at the monkeys throwing shit. 

       0 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      What assumption was kitty making? It seems to me she was helping you realise that homophobia isn’t as “dying out” as you seem to believe. And so now you’re a “commie”…this is you assuming what other commentators here think is it? I’m sure the irony isn’t lost on you.

      This quanitity that “flock” here, many people is it?

         0 likes

    • Demon1001 says:

      James, What got this started was you coming on here making a bizarre statement about views on homosexuality which appeared to have come from naught.  Why you started like you did is frankly bewildering.  If you were following someone else’s comments attacking gays then your post might have had some merit.  All it does, however, is make you out to be a little bit simple.

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Seems like classic troll activity.  Pop in, drop a stink bomb presenting the opposite point of view one believes, but matching what one assumes is the beliefs of those at whom one is sneering.  No intent to debate or have an honest discussion, just making trouble for a laugh.

        Troll, not a respectable defender of the indefensible.

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  19. George R says:

    A political angle which BBC-Labour will try to avoid:

    “Gordon Brown and Tony Blair should be worried by the defection of Libya’s foreign minister, Moussa Koussa ”

    (by Nile Gardner)

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100081963/gordon-brown-and-tony-blair-should-be-worried-by-the-defection-of-libya%e2%80%99s-foreign-minister-moussa-koussa/#

       0 likes

  20. As I See It says:

    BBC London News this morning. That part of the breakfast news where they say “…and the news and travel where you are…”

    A couple of of bona fide headlines then…’this week are asking “How are the cuts affecting you?”

    (Just this week? Sorry but my impression was that ‘the cuts’ were the central plank of your broadcasting week in, week out).

    We see a quick soundbite from a feisty old dear upset about the threatened closure of her daycentre. She has been warning her mates, “When this place closes, they will spend all day in their beds!”

    Now this was a brief item. I wasn’t taking notes but I certainly didn’t absorb much in the way of context or explanation. I just got an impression.

    So what was this item?

    Was it a puff or teaser for the show? (“Do you enjoy a diet of shroud waving anti-coalition anti-cuts pieces? Then have we got a show for you! “).

    Or, was it intended as a political advert in all but name?

    Either way the makers of this programme should come out of the closet with their politics and get themselves funded directly by Labour/the Unions/voluntary subscription.

    Oh and next up “…the Museum of London/students from Goldsmiths College are requesting anti-cuts demonstators give them a selection of their placards and outfits for an art installion”. Cue chance to replay scenes from you know what march – (some peaceful scenes).

    See link in case you (like me) can’t quite believe it…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12870248

       0 likes

  21. hippiepooter says:

    Check out yesterday’s Nicky Campbell call-in ‘Is Britain a beacon of human rights?’.  ‘Rueben’ from Tower Hamlets calls in slagging of Britain with any excuse he can think off.  John Guant comes on @ 48:24 extolling Britain’s proud record and ends up telling Rueben if he doesn’t like it here why doesn’t he leave?  Marvellous stuff.  
     
    When ‘Reuben’ blamed Al Qa’eda terrorist attacks on Shia Mosques in Iraq on us Nicky Campbell could contain himself no longer and strayed into condescencion.

       0 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Own up. You’re either his agent or his dad. 😉

         0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        I wouldn’t mind getting 10% of what he’s on!

        No, its just that I’m completely staggered that such a class act and objective broadcaster is such a pet hate figure here.

           0 likes

  22. George R says:

    Questions for INBBC to ask Muslim Libyan defector, Moussa Koussa:

    1.) How large is your extended family which you are bringing to settle in infidel Britain?

    2.) How many more Muslim Libyans do you want to follow you and come and live in Britain with their extended families?

          a.) 100,000 b.) 200,000 c.) unlimited.

    3.) Which area of London do you intend to live in?:

          a.) Hampstead b.) Knightsbridge.

    4.) Might you make a bid for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi s London            mansion?

    5.) Why did you, as a Muslim, choose to come to infidel London rather than Islamic Tehran or Islamic Riyadh?

    6.) Do you now support the ‘rebels’ of Libya because they are likely to follow the Sharia and jihad policies of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb?

    7.) Why shouldn’t Britain deport you?

       0 likes

  23. Andrew says:

    Full credit to Pounce for his find and his analysis of Jon Donnisons report on the attack on Gaza:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12903259

    Digging a little deeper he was spot on that there was more to it than met the eye which I’ve added to my blog:

    http://calvinballgame.blogspot.com/2011/03/omission-speaks-volumes.html

    Among Pounce’s questions was that given the pounding that building took, where was the debris?

    Donnison’s analysis was that the building struck by the Israelis took a serious pounding the other night and that the school got caught up in it.  The conclusion, Israeli is needlessly risking innocent lives with such attacks, even though he identified the Hamas compound was abandoned. 

    What he didn’t tell us however paints a very different picture.  This is stuff I would imagine as a middle east reporter for an organisation that is all over every Israeli attack he would be very much aware of.

    It’s not just any old abandoned Hamas compound.  That building appeared in the Daily Mail in this story:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369926/Gaza-Strip-tensions-rise-Israeli-leaders-threaten-major-ground-invasion.html

    After some digging around I found that the building was formerly the Fatah Internal Intelligence building when Fatah ran Gaza.  The building has history and this story has a nice photo of the building before it got hit:

    http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2007/06/14/breaking_news_hamas_takes_gaza_abbas_dismisses_government

    It turns out that this was one of the buildings that when Hamas stormed to power they reportedly dragged Fatah members out of before executing them.  Surely they knew this story.

    In addition, the  photographer who took the Daily Mail shot took several others.  In the accompanying commentary he points out that in his view this raid they had only hit the left hand side of the building becauase as stated on the Getty website commentary:

    The left part of the building was definitely destroyed as the rest was already bombed

    That’s right folks, this building has been hit repeatedly by the Israelis on several occaisions.  That might well explain why the most debris in the DM article is to the left of the building and why overall there is a lack of debris for a building this size hit this hard.  So all of that damage is from multiple attacks over a period of time in repsonse to attacks from Gaza.  But no – they wanted us to believe Israel hit that building hard in one night risking innocent civilians.  Donnison partly gives the game away when at the end of the report he shows damage also in the immediate area from Operation Cast Lead.

    In fact if you look at some of the other photos of the situation they paint a picture that the strikes were a bit more targeted and limited than the footage suggests.  take a look at the other side of the building:

    http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/110862644/AFP

    http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/111166521/AFP

    In addition I learned from another site that the raid in question:

    The targets included an abandoned building which used to be the headquarters of the Palestinian National Authority’s intelligence department, a nearby sports hall and a neighboring training camp for the military wing of Islamic Hamas movement in northwest Gaza City,

    So all of a sudden Donnisons analysis of this attack is busted.  Instead of questioning the risks being taken by Israeli strikes, one wonders why he didn’t ask either  why a school remains a hot miliatry zone as this turns out to be, or who puts a Hamas military training camp, right next to a school.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Except, Andrew, we know that’s not how the BBC or their Amnesty and anti-Israel fellow travellers see it.  From their perspective, Hamas or any terrorist group using children as human shields places the onus on the Israelis, full stop.  Israel must lie back and take it so long as there is a possibility of harming the hair on one child by accident.

      In their opinion, Hamas et al. are collectively David of Palestine against Goliath of Israel, so are excused as this is the only way they can make their voices heard against a powerful bully.  So in Donnison’s view – and according to BBC editorial policy – we can’t really blame Hamas for this even though we know it’s not normally acceptable behavior.  Because of the lopsided numbers in the ghoulish Body Count Narrative, Hamas gets a huge pass because hardly any (by comparison) Israelis have been killed to balance it out.  Until such “balance” has been achieved, they will not openly blame Hamas for deliberately putting children in harm’s way.

      Some here may remember that intrepid defender of the indefensible “Angry Young Alex”, or the actual Beeboid “John Reith”, both of whom insisted that Israel was responsible for any collateral damage, and simply should not retaliate at all if there was a chance that a child could be harmed by accident.  They insisted over and over again that Israel was guilty of deliberately killing children if the IDF went after a Hamas or Hezbollah military target if children were made to stand near the mortar or rocket position.  When asked how many Israelis were required to die before Israel was allowed to strike back, they were unable to provide an answer.

      Jeremy Bowen and any BBC corresondent for the region have made the same case in the past. This is their position.  The fact that the school is in a hot zone is Israel’s fault for hitting back, not the fault of Hamas, because of the BBC’s twisted white-and-black perspective.

      Some day the BBC may allow this position of theirs to be challenged on air, but I won’t hold my breath.

         0 likes

  24. kitty shaw says:

    Yes James it was (largely) posted directly from wiki. so what? It was Wiki which happens to be true. You don’t deny that. What was wrong with that, what is your problem?
    Do you have issues with facts, do you have something against truth?

    Well maybe you do since you clear posted nonsense about a variety of anti homosexual behaviours ‘dying out in those under the age of 68’ which my posting showed to be an absurd falsehood.

    Instead of acknowledging that failing you now allege the truth makes us ‘look like idiots’, whareas presumably your falsehood does not. In your strange upside down world it seems those telling the truth ‘look like idiots’, but we must bow to the knowledgeable like yourself who espouse clear and proven falsehoods and only come to troll since it was not directed at bBC bias in the fiirst place.

    Sorry but your arguments are a mere scutcheon, you only come to troll and I will have no more of it.

    What a shame.

       0 likes

  25. Shay says:

    The BBC News website front page could not give a much lower profile to the link to a report about the  jailing of an ex-MP for expenses fraud.

       0 likes

    • wild says:

      If the BBC supplied 100% of the news coverage in the UK (instead of the approximately 80% it does now) the MP’s expenses would never have been covered at all; for the simple reason that the pay and pensions of people who work at the BBC are also taken from the tax payer.

      The narrative from the BBC is only ever going to be the about what tremendous value the public service are, and how important it is that tax serfs (for example working class Sun readers) redistribute any wealth they create into the pockets of Guardian readers.

      For Leftists giving a tax serf freedom of choice is the equivalent of drawing the curtains and letting sunlight fall on a vampire. Just to utter the word “Murdoch” is like waving a crucifix in their faces.

         0 likes

  26. My Site (click to edit) says:

    There’s also that unique way in which one gets educated and informed…

    http://order-order.com/2011/03/30/av-too-much-for-bbc/

       0 likes

    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      I believe AV in Australia occasionally results in the third choice in the first round getting the gig.

         0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The whole AV thing gives me the creeps and smacks of “All Must Have Prizes”.  The reason for it I keep hearing from the BBC is that people who vote for the losing candidate don’t feel like they won, so the system must be changed to make them feel more involved.  Madness.  And I’m not even thinking about which party it may or may not benefit.

         0 likes

  27. George R says:

    “John Simpson has got it badly wrong on Moussa Koussa”

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/concoughlin/100082028/john-simpson-has-got-it-badly-wrong-on-moussa-koussa/#

    ‘Daily Telegraph’s Mr Coughlin appears to bemisguided in partly condoning INBBC’s Mr Simpson’s reporting on Moussa Koussa.

    It is not acceptable that the INBBC is economical with the truth about the Gaddafi regime so that INBBC can get exclusive interview with Gaddafi.

       0 likes

  28. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC and how actually the US is actually to blame for the reason why China is rearming.
    China eyes US military ‘expansion’
    Yet again the bBC defends the Chinese increase in military spending without asking the neighbours. Yup according to the bBC , the US are to blame, what with its increase in its military presence in the region. (Yet the facts show that the US is cutting its armed forces under Gates to the tune of $63 billion over the next 5 years). That the US is a bugger for helping Tawian defend itself (While leaving out that as of last July China had 1600 ballistic and cruise missiles aimed at Taiwan) and that countries are signing up to military acts with the US in the region. While leaving out that actually Chinese pressure against its neighbours is the reason why these countries are getting the US on their side (Vietnam/Japan/Philippines/India/Thailand) The funny thing about that Chinese report, is that while it mentions the US, it fails to mention how actually India and Russia are its two biggest threats which explains why Russia has recently moved a large chunk of its armed forces to the east. Oh they say it’s to defend against Japan, with the Japanese saying it could be aimed at the US. But there is only one big player in the region and that is China.

    India is concerned about how China is building roads and airfields on its border with India in Tibet and has started to do likewise and which explains why they have started buying US kit in which to combat the quantitative edge the Chinese have in virtually the same military equipment the Indians use. (All ex Russian)

    Then there’s that new Chinese Stealth plane, it now appears that it is aimed not at the US but rather the neighbours. Oh it may be used against the Yanks, but its build suggests that it wouldn’t fair well against most western designs (Typhoon/F15/F16/F18/ Rafael) never mind the F22. But would agaisnt say the Su27/30 which can be found in a large number of the neighbours airforces. 

    Instead the bBC spins a view that China is magnanimous I quote:
    “It says China’s armed forced, known as the People’s Liberation Army, are there purely to defend the country. China, it says, has a strategy of “attacking only after being attacked”.
    And as I pointed out before, China had no problem attacking and invading: Tibet/India/Vietnam without been attacked first. Just as it bullied Japan and the Philippines early on this year without any provocation.
    Funny how the bBC fail to mention any of the above incidents while keeping the Red flag flying.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      A couple top brass in the Chinese Army have been playing up the big bad US as threat in order to whip up support, but that’s an excuse for expanding their power, not the actual reason.  I guess the BBC listens to them and takes the Chinese at their word.

         0 likes

  29. George R says:

    How Islam Not BBC (INBBC) reports ‘uprisings’ in Islamic countries:


    Stage 1. – Show INBBC political enthusiasm for early ‘Tahrir’ type demo, and dismiss criticism of Muslim Brotherhood(MB) power;

    Stage 2. – Suggest (falsely) that MB does not intend to install Sharia law;

    Stage 3. increasingly hand over ‘analysis’ of Islamic issues to Islamic people such as: ‘Islamic Groups Analyst, BBC Arabic’, one Murad Batal al-Shishawi, paid for by British taxpayers, and soon by British licencepayers:
    “Are Libyan rebels an al-Qaeda stalking horse?”By Murad Batal al-Shishani Islamic Groups Analyst, BBC Arabic

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12923579

    Alternative, non-Islamic, non-INBBC reports:

    “Are we facilitating the al-Qaeda takeover of Libya?”

    http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/03/are-we-facilitating-al-qaeda-takeover.html

    “US Dilemma: Either Arm Jihadist-Infiltrated Libyan Rebels Or Let Gadhafi Prevail”

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/us-dilemma-either-arm-jihadist-infiltrated-libyan-rebels-or-let-gadhafi-prevail/

    ‘Jihadwatch’:

    Psst! Entire world press reports Obama greenlights “secret” action in Libya






       0 likes

  30. Demon1001 says:

    Something else the BBC won’t mention, unless they proclaim it as a positive action: 

    http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/47284/protests-drive-ahava-out-covent-garden

    I’m afraid it looks like it is starting again.  This time the nazis cannot be allowed to win.  A good start is to bring down the BBC who condone and encorage this sort of activity.

       0 likes

    • dave s says:

      I read the JC report. There is something here we are not being told. I find it odd that there is no automatic lease renewal negotiation. Is it now possible to discriminate against a properly constituted company on grounds of race ? This is what it seems to amount to.
      Imagine if this had been an Arab or other minority company. The BBc and the liberal media would be howling the place down

         0 likes

  31. George R says:

    Islam Not BBC (INBBC)’s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) membership must carry out trade union policy and oppose the English Defence League.

    So we get NOT reports like 1.) below, but

                         reports like 2.):-

    1.)
    A Luton Update from Tommy Robinson

    2.)

    “Blackburn EDL protest to be ‘peaceful'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-12917467

    Meanwhile, ‘Newsnight’ in its reporting of ‘UK Uncut’ demos…

       0 likes

  32. My Site (click to edit) says:

    At least it goes with the thread pic…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/paulmason/2011/03/orwell_prize_english_spoken_wi.html

    ‘Unaccustomed as one is to humble speaking…’

    Interesting he would place himself around George, especially with gems like this…

    The first is from New Statesman blogger Laurie Penny..’

    Rather steering around his evident closeness to the good lady, and her evident slight problems with even the home team by certain unmentioned antics deemed unmentionable by the ever diligent Mr. Mason.

    http://www.labourlist.org/uk-uncut-owes-a-lot-of-apologies

    I guess Mr. Orwell had editors too.

       0 likes

  33. George R says:

    INBBC’s Gavin Hewitt, however hesitantly and tentatively, propagandises for the Islamising Turkey of Erdogan.

    Hewitt, as with Tories, Lib Dems, Labour, Obama, and of course Patten’s INBBC, want Islamising Turkey allied to the West (and therefore to have 80 million Turkish Muslims in the European Union).

    Hewitt’s conclusion:

    “And the West needs Turkey on side.”

    No we don’t: We need Islamising Turkey outside the EU and NATO.

    Hewitt’s piece:

    “Turkey: The growing power”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/gavinhewitt/2011/03/turkey_the_growing_power.html

    Alternative view by Paul Weston, UKIP candidate:

    “Turkey in Europe: A Bridge Too Far ”

    http://paulweston101.blogspot.com/2009/07/review-of-bridge-too-far-by-philip.html

       0 likes

  34. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Best quote I have heard on any ‘news’ programme in an age, intoned by a SKY moppet with a bob billed as a political ‘reporter’: ‘The government has said it has no intention of providing a running commentary…’ on issues pertaining to the very fluid Libyan situation, defections, etc.

    All I can say is… GOOD!

    The demands of a dead-air phobic 24/7 ‘news’ estate has seemed more of a hinderance to sensible evolution of events, and getting back to these cretins simply telling folk what has happened once properly substantiated seems welcome over guesswork and not very subtle attempts at shaping policy.

    I suspect the BBC might find it equally hard to resist meddling, though.

       0 likes

  35. pounce_uk says:

    I watched this hardtalk chat with the Political spokemans for the Muslim Brotherhood. While the questions been asked come across as hard, actually the man is given a very easy time. If you haven’t the time to watch all this man spluttering then watch a couple of minutes at 12 and everything from 19 minutes. Esp the 19 mins. Talk about an easy time.

       0 likes

  36. George R says:

    Moussa Koussa.

    INBBC (inc Mr J Simpson) seem to be quite circumspect in their assessment of MOUSSA KOUSSA, implying that he had ‘mellowed’ of late:

    “Profile: Libya’s Moussa Koussa”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12915987

    The following report is less circumspect about MOUSSA KOUSSA:

     ‘Daily Mail’:

    “Up to his eyeballs in murder… Gaddafi’s fingernail-puller-in-chief”

    (by Michael Burleigh)

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1372166/Libya-Gaddafis-fingernail-puller-chief-Musa-Kusa.html#ixzz1IG7Q6AlY

    Who’s to say that Moussa Koussa will not become resident in Britain?

     Of course he should be deported to America in connection  with the Lockerbie investigations; but it seems that a different sort of deal has been done.

       0 likes

  37. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC is currently news flashing with this story:  
    Bomb plotter Nezar Hindawi wins legal bid over release  
    A convicted terrorist, jailed for 45 years for plotting to blow up an Israeli airliner, has won a legal challenge against UK government refusals to allow his early release.Nezar Hindawi was jailed in 1986 and is serving what is believed to be the longest specific jail term imposed by an English court.The Parole Board has recommended release but the government has refused.The High Court ruling does not mean he will be freed immediately.A further hearing will be held to decide whether the Supreme Court should now make a final ruling.  
     
     
    Now, I remember this blokes name, as the reason why he was jailed was something special. You see this prat dated a white girl got her pregnant and then packed her bags for her as she travelled (alone) to get married in Israel.Lucky for her El Al check everything and found a bomb inside her hand luggage. He was jailed and refused parole in 2001. I wonder if the bBC will mention that he was jailed for trying to blow up a plane by using his pregnant fiance .

       0 likes

    • pounce_uk says:

      I see the bBC have filled out their breaking story and make out that actually Hindawi is actually the victim here. I quote from the bBC:
      “Hindawi’s 45-year sentence is believed to be the longest specific jail term imposed by an English court.”
      and 
      “The judges ruled that Hindawi was subjected to a “flawed and unfair” decision-making process.”

      Here is a deeper account of the story behind a man who was prepared to murder nearly 400 people including his girlfriend and unborn child. The man the bBC tries to promote as a victim.
      I’m sure they will have some human rights org talking about his human rights.

         0 likes

  38. Shay says:

    Rachel Burden, sitting in for the Tittering Coquette on R5 breakfast, should go far. She interviewed Chris Grayling about his intention to cap housing benefit payments in order to limit the extent to which the economically idle can live in properties beyond the means of the normal salaryman/taxpayer.Burden muttered petulantly “so rich areas only for the rich?”
    This juvenile socialism is typical of the Beeboids. Would she be shocked to find that Fidel does not live in a terraced house half way down Calle Acacias?

       0 likes

    • pounce_uk says:

      Funny you should mention housing benefits. I’m currently reading a story about how a couple (brother and sister) were evicited from their Covent garden home because they were informed that there were lots of families requiring homes and they didn’t score enough points to remain. Neighbours were shocked to find out that, the pressing family was actually Labour counciller Sue Vincent, a director of Seven Dials housing association, which manages the homes. What suprised the Evening standard is how Sue sends her daughter to a £14,000 a year private school.  
      I wonder if in light of how bad the lib/con cuts are going to be, the bBC will air this story.  
       
      Here are the womans council details please feel free to e-mail your disgust. I have.

         0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      Didn’t hear it myself, but a pretty asinine comment from the context you’ve given.

      I must say though, I dont find any discernable bias in M/s Burden.

      (And let me repeat once more, I am in no way influenced by her sexy, husky voice =-O ).

         0 likes

    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      Sandy Lane Hotel, Barbados?

      Just for the rich?

      Well, duh yes.

         0 likes

  39. George R says:

    How is INBBC’s pro-Islamic policy for Libya etc, updated on a daily basis?:

    -get on the couch, an ex-‘Libya Islamic Fighting Group’ member (political embryo of ‘Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’) to tell us about his relationship with Moussa Koussa:

    “Libya: ‘I helped Moussa Koussa defect'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12931415

    A non-complicit viewpoint:

    “Libya, Britain and an inversion of morality”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1372191/Libya-Britain-inversion-morality.html

       0 likes

  40. Bupendra Bhakta says:

    Caught about two minutes of Jeremy I’m Bonkers Me Vine interviewing – megayawnarama- some stupid women from UKUninteresting who had nothing to say but kept on saying it.

    The rest of us if we’ve got a beef, have to write to our council. write/visit our MP, in extremis rustle up a petition, and get a vote now and again.

    But start a halfwit protest group on facebook and twitter, cobble together some halfwit stunts, get some young ‘n’ edgy yo! pretrendy leftie BBCC producers on board, and suddenly you’ve got the freedom of the airwaves.

    It’s actually not about tax avoidance, it’s not about ‘fairness’, it’s not about social(ism) justice, it’s about ME, ME, ME, YOOHOO, EVERYONE, LISTEN TO ME, ME, ME !!!!!

       0 likes

  41. George R says:

    INBBC, Islam and Slavery.


    Another INBBC ‘don’t-mention-Islam’ item:

    “Ugandan women tricked into domestic slavery in Iraq”

    (by INBBC’s Ms A CAVELL)

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12887018

    For INBBC:

     Islam and Slavery –

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/33512

       0 likes

  42. Philip says:

    It’s a rare day that the BBC ‘photography’ feature ‘Day In Pictures’ doesn’t feature some Allahu Akbar’-ing or other – and they haven’t disappointed today.

    Shoving Islam down our throats at every given opportunity: This is What They Do.

       0 likes