BLESSED ARE THE MEEK…

…for they shall be granted a BBC interview. With the anarcho-communist rabble polluting the space outside St. Paul’s being asked to move on, the BBC needs to try and shore up support for these noble protesters. So,  at 7.51am, the BBC wheeled on two London based  Church of England clerics who performed as required. They expressed the required admiration for the bravery and courage of Swampy and his pals and were so dripping wet that I though their parish was the Thames!

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56 Responses to BLESSED ARE THE MEEK…

  1. Roland Deschain says:

    Not living in London, I can’t understand the attention given to what even James Naughtie described as a “small number of people” this morning.  Can any residents enlighten me?  It seems to me that the excessive level of attention given to them shows the BBC is taking sides.

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  2. Sres says:

    My favourite quote from that interview was the one from the non-church person, who said, ‘The church should throw open it’s doors to the protesters and turn the church into a place homeless people can stay during the cold winter nights’.

    I had to laugh at that…

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      I thought that was one of the two Reverends interviewed before the 8:00 news.  The drippier-sounding one.

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  3. Natsman says:

    What’s the matter with the wimpy UK?  How come you’re all being held to ransom by a bunch of tent-dwelling weirdos?  And church elders resigning – what’s all that about?

    The should be rounding up these nutters, subjecting them to some sort of inquisition, and hanging/burning or otherwise despatching them to the happy protesting ground in the sky, or at least giving them a good kicking before getting the local constabulary to nick ’em, give ’em another kicking and jail ’em.

    What on earth has happened to the Former UK?

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    • Sres says:

      That’s just it, we’re not being held to ransom by them, it’s the media making out that a bunch of unwashed tossers camping on church grounds makes a blind bit of difference…

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    • Barry says:

      It’s all about showing that you CARE, and parading your compassion at every opportunity.

      It’s become a disease.

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      • jarwill101 says:

          A disease called ‘narcissistic altruism’. How good does my reflection look in the mirror now that i have the full complement of correct badges on? As shallow, wet & transient as a puddle. A condition that thrives on a complete lack of analytical thought, & really should have cleared up by the time the sufferer has reached their mid-twenties & ventured out of the hive, alone.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      Hanging/burning is perhaps a tad severe, but I take your point.  Why are we now expected to tolerate people breaking the law because no-one’s allowed to use force to stop them?

      To quote from Aliens: “What the hell are we supposed to use man? Harsh language?”

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    • Derek Buxton says:

      Somebody stole it when we weren’t looking.  The prime suspects are our politicians.

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      • hippiepooter says:

        It wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the indifference and apathy of a huge swathe of British people.  I guess subsequen post-war generations just got more and more spoilt with the fine country that their forebears bequeathed them.  We stopped paying the price of liberty: eternal vigilance.

        Not that I in any way share the sentiments of Natsman.  Minimum force with the odd boot up the arse and arrests if there’s retaliation would more than do the job.  I’m sure as an ex-bobbie this is an England that Natsman remembers too.

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  4. Deborah says:

    As I half-listened to the introduction (I try not to give Today my full attention – my bp wont stand it) it appeared that these two clerics just happened to be at the demo and it just happened that the BBC fell upon them – it was chance that they agreed with the BBC’s view point – wasn’t it?

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  5. Bob says:

    They can not help themselves on this matter. Later in the Today show there was a little piece on the Halloween parade in New York and they still had reinforce this ‘global effort’ by mentioning that 200 ‘occupy Wall St.’ protesters had joined the parade.

    Please stop.

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  6. ltwf1964 says:

    I really do have to chuckle at the heavily bBC featured “what would Jesus do” banner outside the cathedral

    now of course I would not presume to speak for Yeshua,but going on previous well documented form I suspect he would knot rope together and chase them from the environs

    probably to be followed closely by the excuses who occupy the premises on a “professional” basis

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Jesus will be delighted at the BBCs new found concern about what Jesus would do in the light of current events?
      1. Would he be flying around the world to wind up the local polar bears…to claim a Pina Colada at Cancun or a Johnnie Walkers in an expat bar of the Fiyadh Radisson?
      2. Would he just read froma moronic aotocue or peddle his editors vacuous scripts? As if Lennon, Marley, Mercury or Strummer were the writers of BBC gospels?
      3. Would he continue to cream in the shekels from the nations widows whilst sniffily condemning the tax collectors that did the muscle and the frighteners on His behalf?

      So then we`re clear what Jesus would NEVER have done…but the BBC do it all the time whether a prelate prattles to them on the steps of St Pauls or not!
      James Naughtie said he was there last night…nothing on at the Portrait Gallery then last night…D`Oyly Carte letting the rabble in on Mondays now Jim lad?
      Anne Atkins said it all well enough last night…Jesus would always have the right to get an education in the Temple and be able to worship His dad there…he`d not have let a load of amoral pimply would-be Che Guevaras stop Him because it suited the BBC!
      Kirsty Wark or the Langham-lookalike didn`t like that…so well done Anne!

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  7. Beeboidal says:

    If you read through the musings of the people at Camp Crusty, it’s clear that they crave media attention. The BBC are only too happy to oblige. Why is that BBC? What do you find so attractive about an anti-capitalist demo?

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Camp Crusty eh?…just got it!
      Nice one centurion!…take me there now, now now!

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    • Grant says:

      Beeboidal,
      It is an easy one for them to report and close to their favourite wine bars and restaurants.  Siberia would be a different matter.

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  8. james1070 says:

    I dunno these crusties might be on to something. I am thinking of setting up camp BBC in the grounds of Television Centre or Maybe Media City to protest about the TV Licence.  I am sure various interested parties would donate some empty tents and masks.

    I wonder how the BBC would react, might have to close down because of elf and safety.

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  9. Jeremy Clarke says:

    The Occupy protestors at St. Paul’s have one useful function to braodcasters – they fill a lot of dead air.

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  10. Umbongo says:

    I noticed that one of the soaking wet clerics got in the obligatory dig at the ESL.  What was laughable was that clearly neither cleric had any idea what the protest is about (has anyone?).  One cleric said that “we” must help the campers articulate what they’re protesting about . . er . . whatever that is.

    It’s truly pathetic and the BBC can’t give it enough publicity.  According to Mrs U, yesterday afternoon on Radio 4 the BBC religious correspondent – Piggott – interviewed some “protestors”.  Piggott was mystified as to why demonstrators should seek anonymity by wearing balaclavas.  He didn’t get any non-garbled explanation: I suspect they are public sector employees on a sickie.  Piggott then encouraged some harpy to expatiate at length on the evils of capitalism.

    This demo would have gone absolutely nowhere without the active support of the BBC (and, of course, the limpness of the CoE clerics): it would already have collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions and the lack of publicity.  Meanwhile the BBC is gearing itself up for a repeat of the Dale Farm atrocity tomorrow (maybe Thursday) when the Bishop of London asserts some authority at St Pauls.

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    • deegee says:

      I suspect they are terrorist wanna-be’s. Their heroes in the IRA, ETA, Hamas etc. wear masks. It’s just so cooooool!

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  11. hippiepooter says:

    Blog award for your last line DV.  You have outCramnered Cramner.

    On BBC News24 a couple of hours ago a Spokesman for the ‘leaderless’ protesters was being ‘interviewed’.  Well, no.  As we’ve all come to expect, he was being given an uncritical platform to promote his action.  More, the interviewer asked him to quote the lyrics of a song he had written about the Occupy Movement, and he obliged with a verse, but that wasn’t enough, the ‘interviewer’ prompted him to give another verse of quite uninspired doggerell.

    There are huge parallels between the EDL and ‘Occupy’.  One are a group of right wing extremists exploiting a popular issue to gain support, the other are a group of left wing extremists exploiting a popular issue to gain support.  The BBC is biased against one and aids and abetts the other.

    If Britain ends up lurching to one (or both) of the extremes the left wing bias of the BBC against the EDL and for ‘Occupy’ will have played a large part.  People will be repelled by the way the BBC tarnishes the message of the EDL rather than the messenger, the gullible will be swayed by the propaganda campaign mounted on behalf of ‘Occupy’.

    The BBC should have a democratic bias against both groups.

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Some well heeled horsey girl called Lucy seem to get a few soundbites nicely wrapped up for her to feed to camera, I notice.
      If these Cof E blatherers are weeping away and losing houses over the likes of her; then it only shows just how craven and spineless the whole charade of an established church has become.
      As for this…they`ll be homeless line I keep hearing about regarding Giles and Graeme…surely they can get into one of those many unoccupied tents outside the cathedral…then downsize when the kids have grown up a bit!

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  12. james1070 says:

    Not on BBC. Here is an amusing list from the Blaze of organisations that support the Occupy movement.

    This Is the Comprehensive List of Those Supporting Occupy Wall St.

    It includes The American Nazi Party, Communist Party USA, Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei and The Govt of North Korea. And the BBC said that the Tea Party was supported by nutters?

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  13. As I See It says:

    A couple of points concerning the Cathedral protesters….

    1. CofE: This just goes to show where pacifism gets you when you are confronted with determind and unscrupulous trespassers. I guess the challenge to the clergy is ‘If you won’t beat em – join em’. Oh dear what will the Church do? Perhaps they will take a leaf out of the Russian strategic book and await the arrival of General Winter? Seems today the Bishop of London is doing a Pontius Pilate and hoping the Corporation of London will do the dirty work of eviction for him. A great lesson in moral leadership!

    2. BBC: I noticed the Beeb were aching for this protest from the start. Dale Farm received little real sympathy from the licence payers so the baton was passed. I heard with dismay the BBC putting the shout out days prior to this becoming an actual news event – giving both time and location for those interested. It now reminds me of that old movie Ace in the Hole. The cynical reporter played by Kirk Douglas covers the story of an unfortunate man trapped in an underground cavern. It is such a great story that so as to keep it up the reporter does all he can to delay the poor man’s rescue.

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    • Grant says:

      As a matter of interest, does anyone here know anyone personally who is talking about this protest ? None of my family or friends have mentioned it.  Are any normal people really interested ?

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  14. andrew slack says:

    The Church of England had now become an irrelevance. For too long it has been infiltrated by leftists intent on using the church as a vehicle for the propogation of left wing dogma at the expense of Christian ethics. Let’s not forget that the useless, wishy washy druid that poses as the Archbishop of Canterbury was a Blair placeman. He has since presided over the greatest decline of C of E members in modern times.

    It matters not a jot to me what happens to the C of E as I’m atheist but I suspect many churchgoers in this benighted country must be shaking their collective heads in despair at the antics of the leaders of their faith.

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    • Grant says:

      andrew,
      Despite also being an atheist, it still saddens me to see the C of E  sinking.  Well, I mean the Church “leaders”, most of whom don’t even seem to believe in God, which I always thought would be a bit of a pre-requisite. The faithfull “followers” deserve better.
      By the way, have any Beeboids asked any of the protesters whether they are Christian ?  Maybe that one is off the BBC agenda.

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      • Geyza says:

        If they were Christians, then the BBC would be duty bound to attack ans ridicule them.  So they ignore that ‘awkward’ possibility.

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  15. David Preiser (USA) says:

    So this group of extremists outside St. Paul’s excite the Vicar of Shoreditch because they’re introducing “a new kind of politics”. Naughtie is clearly fascinated, but fails utterly to ask what exactly he means.  All we’re left with is a vague notion that being deeply concerned about….something….income inequality?….is a new political way.  Was this actually a short play written by college students?  Let’s not vote, eh, BBC?  Let’s just scream until we get our way.

    You’ve got two people from the official State religion of your country openly advocating for neo-Marxism, giddily enabled by the BBC, your official State broadcaster.

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  16. Invicta 100 says:

    Perhaps the clergy could ask the protesters if they have heard of the term Protestant

    Work Ethic. This ideal was the main driving force behind so much of the industrial success of the West during the last two centuries. Rowntrees, Cadburys and yes our banks including Barclays all started by hard working religious families who tried to look after their workers.
    So here is what I would say to the protesters. Use the Protestant Work Ethic copied from the Quakers and go and start your own businesses, be guided by the principles you espouse during your demonstration, employ staff and look after them. Build a successful business empire and show the world how it should be done.
    If you are in need of start up capital, ask your parents as some of you seem to have parents who are quite well off.

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    • John Anderson says:

      Whatever happened to the Church Militant ?   Why has the CofE turned so spineless.

      I hope the Bishop of London holds the line now – he usually seems a firm kinda guy,  at least when reading the Remembrance Day service in Whitehall. Unlike the dripping wet clergy we have seen so far.  They seem to fear violence – but any violence will be caused by the layabouts,  just as at Dale Farm.   The hand of the law is meant to be the hand of the law – decades of official weakness and PC attitudes have reduced Britian to the present sorry mess.

      And there is Boris on all this ?   I know it is stictly in the territory of the City of London Corporation,  but St Paul’s is bigger than all that.   Where are any other politicians saying that the layabouts should be moved on.

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  17. deegee says:

    Perhaps the squatters will move on to a mosque? That will be fun to see for the twenty minutes it lasts.

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    • John Anderson says:

      East London Mosque is between the Square Mile and the city’s extension down at Canary Wharf.    And it is surrounded by shops.  Ideally placed to demonstrate against capitalism and consumerism.

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  18. D B says:

    I’m not big fan of Mayor Bloomberg, but credit due to him for telling the OWS crowd this:

    “I hear your complaints,” Bloomberg said. “Some of them are totally unfounded. It was not the banks that created the mortgage crisis. It was, plain and simple, Congress who forced everybody to go and give mortgages to people who were on the cusp… they were the ones who pushed Fannie and Freddie to make a bunch of loans that were imprudent…”

    We don’t hear that sort of thing nearly enough.

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  19. jeff says:

    Shallow, pretentious, lefty, arrogant, clueless, pointless and puerile.
    Any sign of Billy Bragg setting up camp yet?

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    • RCE says:

      Do you know what, I thought exactly that when I was listening to PM.

      With maybe an extra 4-letter word thrown in for completeness.

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    • jarwill101 says:

        A bit too rough & ready for our Billy Boy. He’s a Dorset squire these days, with a rather inflated sense of entitlement that sits uncomfortably with anti-capitalist sentiments. He’ll probably do a bit of long-range protest singing from his manor by the sea, Hypocrite House. Most people will probably take his warbling for a dysfunctional foghorn. Only craven fools could take such a blatant phoney, this ‘man of the (rich) people’ seriously. Billy Braggart, one of the greatest onanists of the British left in a very competitive field. A bellowing quack.

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      • cjhartnett says:

        “A bellowing quack”.
        That`s the Bard of Burton Bradstock summed up in three words!
        Him and Tom Robinson-both ends of the pantomine horse that is leftie tuneless poseurs…the Beeb will only ever interview the arse end too!

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  20. cjhartnett says:

    You`d have thought that Benn, Bragg etc would, by now: have offered their many roomed mansions to the protestors.
    Poor poppets clearly don`t like camping, so let`s hope the Pink Solidarity tendency are putting the Bolly on ice-before climate change ruins it all!
    Maybe if Billy leaves his guitar at Wandsworth, then they`ll be reassured that he`ll not be giving us his greatest hit…and one day we will hear it!

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  21. Reed says:

    Two clerics have gone so far. Now if only the Anarchy Bishop of Canterbury were to get involved and bring about his own downfall, this thing might actually have achieved something worthwhile. Fingers and toes crossed. Perhaps then he can officially join in the anti-capitalist jamboree, as I’m sure he’s just itching to. Then he can sort out their message for them, as right now it’s definately in the ‘unclarity’ territory.

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    • Grant says:

      Reed,
      From listening to the news on Sky and Channel 4 today, ( I have minimal contact with the BBC these days, although shall be watching “Scots who made the Modern World ” tonight  😀   ),

       it seems there are lots of complicated “competences”  and “jurisdictions” within the C of E to be considered. I am not sure if ol’ weirdy beardie can just step in like that.
      Seems a bit like the EU in many respects. 

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      • Reed says:

        A bit unfortunate, Grant. I think the beardie druid would fit right in with the anti-success brigade camped outside. We all know he’s cheering them on from behind the palace walls. Of course, come the new Red Revolution, the clerics will be the first to go into hiding.

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  22. My Site (click to edit) says:

    ROBERT BROWN; Is it any wonder that people are rejecting the Church? Where are our robust, warrior churchmen of times gone by? The types that gave alms and succour to the poor, but took up arms to smite the turk and any threat to the church. What drippy, lefty excuses for men of God these creatures are, no wonder the muslims regard them with contempt and continue untroubled on their construction of the world wide caliphate

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Yes, why aren’t these sainted clerics out there doing their effing jobs and holding Mass and singing hymns with the Occupiers, instead of engaging with them on a purely political level?  What sort of crap shepherds are these guys?

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    • Teddy Bear says:

      Just the SILENCE that is deafening us from this bunch on the treatment of Copts in Egypt makes them completely beneath contempt. I think they’ve interpreted ‘turn the other cheek’ as an excuse for cowardice, or making complete arses of themselves.

      Whatever qualities and values Christianity holds, these ‘representatives’ are the worst to inspire. 

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  23. john says:

    There is an ill wind blowing towards St. Paul’s.
    And it’s a cold one, damnably cold.
    In a week or so the resolve of the analchists will be sorely tested (frostbite hopefully). So if they don’t get their SKYPE systems in place now, how else will they enjoy their unfettered access to the BBC’s airwaves ?

    Mind you, a few sneaky ones might slip away whilst nobody is watching and report from their nice warm homes – Further – live rantings from St. Paul’s.

    They’ll have to. God has yet to invent Snow Boots good enough to pass the BBC’s rigorous H&S requirements – thus the intrepid reporters will just have to make up stories with the mandatory left-wing bias from their own nice warm homes. Something many of us here acknowledge they need no further training in. At that, they are indeed, already World Class !

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