MONDAY OPEN THREAD..

OK, George here and so glad we aree back to normal after last week’s disruptions so I am wanting to get our natural rhythm back and so here is the Monday Open Thread just in time for this new week! BBC bias bothering you? Detail it right now….we are all ears.

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105 Responses to MONDAY OPEN THREAD..

  1. chrisH says:

    For some reason I chose to listen to a bit of the Radio 2 Titanic festival on Saturday night.
    I myself chose to jump ship as soon as Bragg-yes him again!- had done his “song”.
    Yes-and I was prescient-spookily enough his was a tribute to-go on…guess….yes, the ICEBERG!
    Turns out that a miners sweat or a tear from Chavez` maid goes up and down and round the world…and only finds socialist purpose in unity and solidarity with many other drops and drips when it becomes a strong and proud iceberg seeking asylum, but only after a party badge has been attached in a ceremony…with Billy piping something in the background.
    So Socialism brings us all together as one-but ends up killing thousands….is that what Billy was trying to tell me?
    I reckon there`s an unintended irony and genius here at work…this song was too serious to get clapped from Captain Vine as O Leary stoked the boiler below(ooer missus).
    If only Bragg had been a foghorn available to Captain Smith at the time…certainly his whining toots to socialism could have been heard by the Californian with no carrying wind!
    Would recommend Braggs paean to the water cycle about half an hour into this needless, tragic shipwreck of a programme-three hours…if you don`t bale out and risk the whales and hypothermia, you`ll have earned your place on a passing boat!
    Bragg…may well ask him to do this “Iceberg Song” at Tolpuddle before scooting off…the crowd will KNOW I`m the piss taking git on a bike so that should get me home that bit quicker eh?
    How many wasted drops and drips from that iceberg comprise Sir William Bragg of Barking and Burton Bradstock then?…every eggcup helps Billy, you dessicated fake!

       13 likes

  2. Rueful Red says:

    Hmm, it wasn’t exactly Thomas Hardy, was it?

    I’m still wondering why Marcus Brigstocke didn’t get the gig….

       3 likes

  3. Merlin says:

    Jut been watching the BBC swarming around outside the trial of that evil and twisted psychopath Breivik; just comparing their terminology to that which is used in the reporting of Muslim atrocities (of which there have been many around the world over the last twenty years). It seems the BBC have no problem making ‘value judgements’ when applying the term ‘right wing extremist’ to some lone madman but they hesitate when confronted with Muslim extremism preferring the less offensive ‘radical Islamist’. Just a wee observation. Perhaps I’m being petty?

       20 likes

    • George R says:

      Two very relevant comments:

      1.) Melanie Phillips (July, 2011):

      “Fanaticism, mass murder and the left”

      http://www.melaniephillips.com/fanaticism-mass-murder-and-the-left

      2.) Bruce Bawer, a writer resident in Norway.

      (March, 2012)

      “Pampering the Oslo Killer.”

      http://frontpagemag.com/2012/03/09/pampering-the-oslo-killer/

         4 likes

      • Merlin says:

        Thx for the links 🙂 Melanie Phillips is brilliant! Great piece!

           2 likes

        • tek says:

          first part of melanie’s article is pretty spot on, but as usual she blames the left wing for everything. lets face it almost nothing in this world is black or white, it’s normally a shade of grey, however a self-proclamed rightist who commits mass murder is the same as a self-proclaimed leftist that commits mass murder. they are insane.
          but back to the original point of disaster porn coverage of mr breviks trial. wow. even for the bbc it’s a bit much. they ran the entire victim list (about 1h40ms) including a description of injuries, then john sopal stated that it was disturbing to hear it read out! damn, the hypocrisy!
          either laugh or cry, am i right?

             4 likes

          • Merlin says:

            I agree up to a point that nothing is as simple as ‘black and white’ but that’s not the way the left wing MSM view it in my humble opinion. Personally, I agree with Melanie that cultural Marxism and the left have destroyed much of our traditions and society and continue to do so but to try and link what this nutter did to a non-existent uprising of Western right wingers is typical of the socialist lefties who cannot entertain any view but their own. And I don’t think Melanie Phillips is paranoid but genuinely concerned with many other millions about the sheer scale of multiculturalism, political correctness and socialist dogma that is permeating our culture and stifling debate.

               15 likes

            • johnnythefish says:

              ‘Stifling debate’ is a keystone of the left’s strategy we should all fear if we value an open and democratic society. The straitjacket of political correctness, pioneered by the ‘alternative’ comedians of the 80s and now taking so many forms (climate change ‘deniers’ anyone?), has been their most successful tactic in my view.

                 8 likes

    • As I See It says:

      ‘He told the court he “acknowledged” the acts committed, but said he did not accept criminal responsibility.’

      Sounds as though this man is dodging his own responsibilty.

      Wait a minute, his plea sounds rather similiar to the general tone of this BBC report on our very own August riots….

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16035543

      Mark Easton happily quotes the LSE/Guardian

      ‘No, it is not “criminality” or “underclass” or “greed”. It is “courtesy” – or a lack of it from the police’.

      Actually, apologies may be due to Breivik…he doesn’t appear to have followed his argument of his own innocence and society’s guilt as far as the BBC favoured conclusion. He at least stepped back from the extreme position of trying to blame the cops for his actions.

         7 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      Did they describe Breivik as a Christian? You have a point if they did.

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        It’s about ideology, full stop, I’d have thought. Shouldn’t have to be specifically Christian to count here.

           2 likes

      • Merlin says:

        Yes Jim, initially the MSM did link him to ‘right wing extremist Christian’ views but they’ve subsequently moderated their label to ‘right wing’.

           2 likes

        • Jim Dandy says:

          Quite. Although Breivik is a Christian, and defined some of his views in ways that drew on Christian imagery, it would be wholly wrong to blame his faith for his actions.

             1 likes

          • Merlin says:

            I agree; faith or political ideology has nothing to do with it. The man is a sick and twisted psycho-path, pure and simple.

               1 likes

          • NotaSheep says:

            How about if he’d recorded a video explaining that he was killing in the name of the Lord and that all non-Christians deserved to die? Would that have made his religion worth mentioning?

               7 likes

  4. As I See It says:

    It always looked to be a good each-way bet that the Beeb would make a strong showing this year in the ‘should the Grand National be banned’ Stakes?

    Sure enough there they are out front, making all the running, the people’s favourite, the odds on cert, bar none. I only wish I had followed my own tip.

    Just consider their form. This was the Beeboids last TV outing at this event so they were going to find some good soft-going and their trainers would be unlikely to ask them to rein it in. A liberal appliance of the liberal ‘something must be done’ whip from the BBC and the formally quietly plodding RSPC are suddenly a strong front runner in this race to the taped comment and the photo-op finish.

    Personaly I’m no great horse racing fan and yet suddenly the BBC are once again telling me that I ought to have an opinion on the ways and means that other people choose to lawfully make their livelihood or spend their own leisure time!

    What was it that Basil Fawlty said about how Germany went wrong…?

    ‘…too busy sticking your noses into every corner, poking about for things to complain about…..a lot of layabouts with nothing better to do than cause trouble’.

       5 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Fine analogy-and you`re correct about the BBCs sudden conversion to the plight of the horse….after all those years of ” go on gran…have a flutter on the National…we ALL do “.
      If Channel 4 etc get the Grand Prix….wonder if global warming and the waste of petrol will rear its hydra-like heads?
      No problem filling those swimming pools for the Olympics I note…no hosepipe ban for Stratford hmm?
      And as for all that landfill of old tellies and radios, now we`re all digital?…I`ll not be hearing too much hand-wringing over this full frontal assault on the face of Mother Earth…

         6 likes

  5. moise pippic says:

    Labour Peer and former beeboid Dame Joan Bakewell is now at Classic FM. Last night (Sunday evening April 15th) she presenting a programme about musical loves. Referring to Jaqueline du Pre and Daniel Barenboim she opined that ” when Israel attacked Egypt and started the six day war” Barenboim and Dupre flew to Israel to give a concert……..Is this Bakewell’s own take on the origins of the Six day War, or a residue of her beeboid indoctrination?

       15 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      It’s in the blood, as they say. Born to be a Beeboid and re-write history.

         4 likes

    • David Gregory says:

      What Joan Bakewell actually said;
      “On the eve of Israel’s surprise attack on Egypt in 1967 at the start of the six day war, Daniel Barenboim flew into Tel Aviv to be with his family. He took with him his fiancé the cellist Jaqueline du Pre. The war began on June the 5th. Israel declared victory five days later. Five days later the couple married and Jaqueline converted to Judaism. I met them at the Brighton Festival a few weeks later in the euphoria of both victory and their love for each other. ”

      She then introduces a piece by Bruch based on a traditional Yom Kippur incantation played by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra! It’s all on the Classic FM website. She’s not rewriting history or criticising Israel in any way. This kind of stuff does B-BBC no favours.

         1 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘This kind of stuff does B-BBC no favours’
        Best I can judge, that is in response to a post from a person on B-BBC on the open thread, so you again seem to be trying to conflate an individual with a free and independent collection of folk in trying to create a single entity [sigh]. The correction would have sufficed.
        On matters of rewriting history, the concern remains when a paid, institutional monolithic monopoly does it either through ineptitude, agenda, or both, coordinating staff and ‘guests’ to do so.
        At which point the silence of some is deafening. So highlighting that is a favour indeed.

           0 likes

      • Sue says:

        David G,
        This will sound like semantics to you, but if Dame Joan had used the phrase “Israel’s pre-emptive attack on Egypt” rather than “Israel’s surprise attack” she wouldn’t have left the uninformed armchair listener with the distinct impression that Israel ‘started’ the six day war.

        The surprise element of the attack was [luckily] a surprise to the Egyptian airforce, but alas no surprise to those who had been in the region in the months preceding the six-day war.

        What I’m saying is that Israel didn’t start that war in some random fashion, which I assume the commenter believed Dame Joanie had implied.

           4 likes

  6. George R says:

    Has Ms KNELL, INBBC’s romantic, political non-critic of all things Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, reported this?:-

    “Arab Spring democracy on the march:
    Hugging and kissing banned from Egyptian public TV”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/04/arab-spring-democracy-on-the-march-hugging-and-kissing-banned-from-egyptian-public-tv.html

       2 likes

  7. George R says:

    D.G THOMPSON promised to close down ‘BBC Asian Network’, but he reneged, and the apartheid radio channel of and for so-called ‘British Asians’ now gets more money to expand this version of BBC-NUJ ‘multiculturalism’.

    “Stars join BBC Asian Network line-up.”

    http://radiotoday.co.uk/2012/04/stars-join-bbc-asian-network-line-up/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+radiotoday+%28Radio+Today+-+News%29

    How D.G Thompson has reneged:

    ‘Daily Mail’ 2010 –

    “Bloodbath at BBC: Thompson wields the axe to fund £600m drive to quality programmes ”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254793/BBC-close-6-Music-Asian-Network-slash-online-budget-25.html#ixzz1sCkznOm1

       4 likes

  8. Nick Darlington says:

    It was a relief NOT to see a ‘John Craven Investigates’ spot on Countryfile last night – we all know how he can harp on about climate change and CO2 until the cows come home.
    Where was John I wonder – jetting off on holiday or jetting off for a more detailed ‘investigation’ somewhere?
    Unfortunately his slot was taken by Tom Heap doing something similar – investigating the ‘controversy over onshore wind farms’. A chance to get all the facts out in the open perhaps? No such luck… it all revolved around (couldn’t resist that pun) the visual appearance of these useless monstrosities and our EU obligation to have countless more of them. Nothing about their inefficiency, need for backup, use of rare earth materials, or even bird-chopping potential (on one clip a bird did fly scarily close!). One unfortunate women whose area has been blighted by these things got very emotional as she described how being among them made her feel physically sick but yes – all because of their appearance as ever increasing blots on the landscape. But hey-ho our EU obligation to save the planet is not questioned. Another wasted opportunity but are we surprised? Not with our Biased broadcaster.

       19 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      They don’t realise how risible their one-sided observations are, including Oz Clarke in one of his otherwise entertaining jaunts with James May showing us a half-empty reservoir and blaming it on ‘global warming’. It was nothing to do with the programme but the reservoir just happened to be close to where they’d parked their caravan for the night, so it was like the producer just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
      There is only one version of ‘climate change’ at the BBC, and it’s something to do with ‘hide the decline’.

         9 likes

  9. maturecheese says:

    While driving back home I just caught someone talking about the BBCs Horrible History program on Bacon. They (Bacon and guest) were singing its praises and saying how wonderful it is that children can talk about historic facts with each other because of this BBC offering. What they should have said was children can talk about the BBCs version of ‘historical facts’ as I think it has already been pointed out on this site before how ‘doctored’ this so called educational history show is. Yet more Leftish propaganda.

       16 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      Horrible History is wonderful. Best children’s programme by a mile.

      Have people on b-BBC taken against it? There’s some good old style narrative history in it ( the royal lineage song) and the new Darwin sing to Bowie’s Changes is rather good. It did have a sketch this morning saying Saladin’s physicians were better than their Crusader counterparts. But then that it is factual.

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Of course Saladin’s physicians were better than the Europeans’. His personal physician was a Jew, and a rather important one at that. Did they mention that?

           8 likes

      • Span Ows says:

        It did have a sketch this morning saying Saladin’s physicians were better than their Crusader counterparts. But then that it is factual.

        Yes but did they try to make out this was because of Islam? That’s what many fools try to do.

           5 likes

      • Dave s says:

        The BBC view of English history in particular is an important part of their mission to undermine this country’s view of itself. How many times have we been told this is a nation of immigrants.? And how many times have I failed to get an answer to this question.
        Between the Norman Conquest and the 19th century who were they and where did they come from? And please don’t go on about the Hugenots.
        I never get an answer only abuse or silence.

           6 likes

    • As I See It says:

      BBC anti-British history? Just think about that title – HORRIBLE Histories. Get it? The overall message is that we British did bad things in the past and should now feel guilty.

         1 likes

  10. Louis Robinson says:

    Compare and contrast:
    “Britain’s House (of Lords) Islamist Places £10 Bounty on Obama and Bush” – National Review Online

    http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/296047/britain-s-house-lords-islamist-places-10-million-bounty-obama-and-bush-andrew-c-mccart

    “Suspended Labour peer Lord Ahmed ‘horrified’ by bounty claim” – BBC

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17732128

    The Beeb riding to the defence….anyone know how to get to the source of his Lordship’s remarks?

       5 likes

    • TPO says:

      True to form. Slip the rebuttal into the headline to take the sting out the allegation.

         5 likes

  11. chrisH says:

    Let`s hope we get to hear Brieviks manifesto in some form or other-I doubt very much that the all-tolerant BBC and its Euro partners will let it pass.
    The bloke is a psychopathic nutjob…but with the therapeutic culture that continually negates evil to extreme episodic sadness borne of disappointment…no lefty hug a hoodie Longford apologist will lose his career in stating the incoherence and hypocrisy of the lefty loons in charge of political,social or penal policy.
    Better still to charge the windfarms to vlow tumble weed over ambient mood music and ignore the views of Breivik-which will surely chime with much of Europes unease and rage at what their EU masters are imposing on us all.
    Islam as the lefts Trojan Horse of choice?…safe to say that we`ll not be getting anything unedited from Oslo.
    Like Geert Wilders-there may well be too much truth for we lime green mushrooms to absorb, and Auntie might not wish this for us….

       2 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      So In broad terms you see the force of Breivik’s analysis, but don’t agree with his methods?

         0 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        If you simplify Breivik’s ‘analysis’ as being a product of his fear of the Islamisation of Norway in particular, and maybe Europe in general, then that is a view that would chime with a lot of people who at the same time would be horrified by his methods. Think Stalin and the many admirers he used to (?) have amongst the British Left.

           4 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘So In broad terms’
        Cool, a new level of input.. further adding to the CV for BBCphilic ‘analysis-that-is-usually-just-wot-I-would-like-to-fink’ Editor application, with a great weasel term in caveat: ‘in broad terms’. Nifty.

           0 likes

  12. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Yet another Congressman has called for Atty. Gen. Eric Holder’s resignation over the Fast & Furious scandal. Apparently 124 of them so far have either called for his resignation or signed a no-confidence letter.

    BBC: ZZZzzzzzz

       5 likes

  13. TPO says:

    Who can forget how we all chortled when the BBC gave wall to wall coverage of George Bush’s gaffes, real or imagined.
    However I can’t recall the BBC ever mentioning Obama’s 57 states gaffe, or his “Hawaii being in Asia” gaffe.
    And today I’ve been looking in vein for any BBC reporting on Obama’s latest gaffe where he describes the Falkland Isles as the Maldives.
    We can only speculate on how the BBC would have reported it had GW uttered it, but one thing’s for sure, it would have had hours of coverage.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/9207183/Barack-Obama-makes-Falklands-gaffe-by-calling-Malvinas-the-Maldives.html

    I shudder to think about the mass hysteria that would have gripped the BBC had Sarah Palin said it.

       15 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Except that to the BBC, it’s not a gaffe: it’s the approved name for the islands.

         3 likes

      • TPO says:

        Read it again David.
        Obama didn’t say “The Malvinas”, He said “The Maldives”

           2 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      That’s very funny.

      Telegraph’s first sentence:
      ‘Barack Obama made an uncharacteristic error, more akin to those of his predecessor George W Bush, by referring to the Falkland Islands as the Maldives.’

         0 likes

      • TPO says:

        It is for the DT. They seem to have forgotten that Obama thinks there are 57 states in the US and that Hawaii is in Asia.
        The point however is that had Bush or Palin uttered such a thing, the BBC would have been crawling all over it like a sack full opf maggots.

           12 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Oops, my brain read “Malvinas”. I was giving Him too much credit!

           7 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      Time the DT caught up…here are a few Obama cock-ups – apart from the economy.

      http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=44749

         2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      It just occurred to me that, aside from the stupid mistake about the name, this could be viewed as yet another betrayal by the President of our greatest ally. He claimed that He wanted to remain neutral in the dispute between Britain and Argentina, yet by calling it the Malvinas (which was His intention), He is technically taking sides. It’s a minor thing, but if He had said Falklands there would have been an outcry.

         4 likes

  14. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Hey, Canada has made its semi-annual appearance on the BBC News Online US & Canada page. Naturally, a favorite BBC issue has caught their attention: unions.unions. The pilots’ union staging a sick-in to protest a law preventing them from going on strike during arbitration.

    News about Canada is so rare one could be forgiven for forgetting it even exists.

       4 likes

    • TPO says:

      Canada rarely features on the BBC’s North American webpage.
      Notable exceptions are how bad are the Alberta oil sands for the environment, and of course when our own version of the BBC, the CBC started a series entitled “Little mosque on the prarie”.
      Wow, did that get never ending coverage from the beeb.
      I actually sat through one episode. Expressions like dire, excruciating, or “losing the will to live” spring to mind, yet for the beeb it was viewed as a cultural pinnacle

         5 likes

  15. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Aside from censoring His “Maldives” gaffe at the Summit of the Americas, the BBC also omitted another remark which would have been met with Beeboid scowls had it been made by Bush or Palin or Romney:

    Just two days after President Barack Obama gave a sharply edged response to news anchor Larry Conners of KMOV in St. Louis after Conners had asked the president about Americans who “get frustrated and even angered when they see the first family jetting around [to] different vacations and so forth,” Obama told a panel at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia that part of his job there was to scout out locations for a future vacation with First Lady Michelle Obama.

    I believe this is what you Brits refer to as “extracting the urine”.

       7 likes

  16. Oooh oooh ooh – let’s have a Joo caught red handed:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17726614

    Perfect for the BBC – a senior Israeli officer caught on video smacking a Palestinian sympathiser in the mouth with his rifle.

    He’s obviously guilty because for once the the words of Bibi and the IDF are taken at face value and not the usual “according to Israel” and they’ve suspended him. There we go – a nice slam dunk.

    To add a little something more to it we get two stories for the price of one with the added content of the flytilla. I presumed this had more to do with the idea that the story is a little light on detail and would have been a bit of a bugger to stretch out without getting repetitive.

    Of course, maybe not is all it seems and that there is another side to the story that doesn’t make it so cut and dried.

    I’ve tried to dig around. If there’s an incident in Israel you can normally guarantee the place is crawling with TV cameras and photographers whose shots are plastered all over sites such as popular sites such as reuters. This story seems a little short of that plethora of images and footage we normally get. In fact it seems the only material is that released by the International Solidarity Movement. At this point that includes the video and a photo.

    What hasn’t come out is that Lt Col Eisner has begun to tell some of his side of the story. His story is one that suggests that the video footage released by the ISM at just over 2 minutes long isn’t much to show for what he says was an incident that was almost 2 hours in duration. Curious eh?

    There is still an investigation to be had but Eisner appears to have suggested that the protest intended to attempt to close Route 90 and that the efforts were to prevent that happening in part because of the number of people travelling the route because of the holiday. It’s also pointed out that Eisner did not call on water cannon because he wanted to give them some opportunity to protest away from the route and also he had access to gas grenades which were also not deployed.

    The other story also suggests Eisner is nursing broken fingers and an injured wrist from an earlier stage of the protest in which the activists set about the IDF with sticks.

    There’s not even an “according to Israel” on this. It’s just a straight out rampage by an out of control soldier that beautifully fits the narrative.

    Of course, I’m sure the ISM will release every single bit of footage, totally unedited and unaltered to refute any of Eisner’s claims and to ensure that an impartial presentation of the story takes place.

       5 likes

    • TPO says:

      Today on CNN we had a reporter (with a Brit accent) out on patrol with the Afghan army.
      At one point they detain a Taliban suspect. They disable his motor bike, give him a lecture and then finish up be giving him a slap.
      Wonder if the BBC will show that footage?
      No, on second thoughts…..

         2 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      That is a push, maybe even a violent push, look at the way he is holding the rifle; when I read the above post and the news I presumed a butt to the face (no, no, no, no sexual connotations!). This must go on AT LEAST a thousand times a day across the world.

         2 likes

  17. jonuk says:

    yayyy!!! Tony Blair is on the BBC news, who gives a shit what he has to say

       3 likes

  18. George R says:

    Will any Beeboids protest against BBC political bias? –

    e.g.

    -pro-Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and against Israel;

    -pro-Labour, and against Tories;
    -pro-E.U, and against British national sovereignty.

    ‘Russia TV’ had this a few weeks ago:

    “Al Jazeera exodus: Channel losing staff over ‘bias’”

    http://rt.com/news/al-jazeera-loses-staff-335/

    Of course, INBBC’s political line is close to that of Islamic Al Jazeera (with which INBBC has at least a ‘technical’ agreement), and where many ex-Beeboids happily work at the Al Jazeera English HQ on the South Bank Embankment, overlooking Westminster.

       1 likes

  19. jonuk says:

    i think the lefties confuse multiculturalism with cosmopolitan , or vice versa

       2 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      They dont have to confuse them, they all think it means the same thing.

         1 likes

  20. jonuk says:

    the major supermarkets should ban the berka

       0 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘the major supermarkets should ban the berka’

      I was going to chip in on the proofing front, but that word has a lot of potential as a collective noun.

         0 likes

  21. George R says:

    The following is not an issue for BBC-NUJ, in its political promotion of mass immigration and colonisation of Britain:

    ‘Daily Mail’:-

    “Britain for sale: How long before a foreign power turns out Britain’s lights?”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2130221/Britain-sale-How-long-foreign-power-turns-Britains-lights.html#ixzz1sF7SCpAJ

       1 likes

  22. eadwulf says:

    Britain? It no longer exists. We are governed by a foreign power.
    http://europa.eu/

       7 likes

  23. Jeff Waters says:

    Fracking ‘should continue with checks’ – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17726538

    Richard Black seems unimpressed, ending his piece with a quote from someone from Friends of the Earth…

    Jeff

       3 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      In the spirit of ‘but they are all doing it’, like that matters with an enforced monopoly that reports science using agenda more than balanced input, the peroxide sink on SKY just wailed about Earthquakes flattening Blackpool last year.
      This may rather be gilding the ratings potential somewhat, as the spokesperson later on pointed out that the equivalent was about the same as a bus going past. As I speak every car hitting the pothole in the road opposite sends a shock wave through the house.
      Actually I feel this is an issue that needs careful monitoring and, in turn, trustworthy, competent reporting. So if Mr. Black is what a £4Bpa thinks is the credible choice for such a thing, they deserve all the derision they now get.
      A worthy article on our agenda/ratings-driven MSM in complement…:
      http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/charitable-giving-tax-relief-and-the-agenda-ridden-media/
      I’d hazard that spewing out that ‘most trusted’ repetition may work for a while, but on an ‘everything is relative’ basis, getting only enhanced narratives and/or errors by omission for £145.50pa seems a pretty poor deal on any measure.

         1 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        SKY just ran the flaming tap footage.
        Was that not shown to be less than accurate?
        http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2011/12/19/flaming-taps-methane-migration-and-the-fracking-debate/
        The MSM has been promised rich protest goodies, so given the success in managing such things with little attention to fact or balance with charitable issues as discussed above, this seems like a story that will require a great deal of personal investigation to actually arrive at an objective view.
        This country’s policy is now driven by weak, non-engineer/science polls motivated by focus groups in turn driven by media ‘news’ ‘reporting’ that is essentially activist-PR’d fiction.

           1 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          I just kicked SKY into touch for its risible Breivik-to-the-exclusion-of-all-else obsession, and flipped to BBC Breakfast in hope of news.
          What did I get? Two beauty queens defending tot competitions to a planet ban-it harpie with the bouffant and the brunette chipping in idiotically to keep this non-issue going to the next slot.
          Broadcast ‘news’ is beyond help.

             2 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      The Greenpeace quote comes right at the bottom of the article which beforehand quotes heavily from members of the panel and from Cuadrilla.

      This is not biased article. If anything it is biased to the panel view, which given the balance of the science is right.

      Just listened to Evan Davies’ piece at 7.10 where he interviewed someone from Policy Exchange ( I think) who was broadly pro.

         1 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        On a Richter scale of ‘this is not.. biased, um, I think.. broadly’ certainty, just to check who you are replying to..
        ‘The Greenpeace quote comes right at the bottom of the article’
        Beyond the fact that owning the headline and last para is pretty much the story in news, the one I am looking at, as quoted, is from Friends of the Earth.
        Meanwhile SKY seems to be trotting out excitement via celebrities as I type.
        Other than that, many seem to be ‘getting it about right’.

           1 likes

  24. Jim Dandy says:

    Sorry, Friends of the Earth.

    Evan Davies is getting a little giddy about the story. He quotes the Guardian , but then the pro Telegraph. He then quotes. Mike Giggler type Tweet about fracking under Notting Hill. Keep them peeled bias hunters.

       1 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Sorry… Evan Davies is getting a little giddy’
      No problem.
      Seems a lot of folk are rather getting ahead of themselves with opinion and letting fact catch up.
      It happens, but when it happens with vastly overpaid ‘talent’ with no clue what they are talking about on a compelled-funding ‘news’ entity that claims trust as its bedrock… that is a concern.

         4 likes

  25. Guest Who says:

    http://www.kernelmag.com/editors-blog/1868/laurie-penny-johann-haris-final-victim/
    In other news… now that Newsnight has joined the entire UK population and doesn’t even pay much attention to itself, has it and its in-house talent spotter Mr. Mason ‘discovered’ any other bearers of truth and justice to boost its ‘reporting’ ranks?

       3 likes

  26. Guest Who says:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9206960/Seven-Up-Now-we-are-56.html
    Interesting, and not just for the comments.. that are rated highly.

       1 likes

  27. David Preiser (USA) says:

    What’s happened to the Recent Comments widget in the sidebar?

       0 likes

  28. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Oh, dear, the Norwegian Nutbag made that clenched fist gesture for the cameras, and the BBC was so concerned that people might think he’s left-wing they got Jon Kelly to write 780 words outlining the historical, righteous legacy of the gesture and how Breivik’s use of it is an insult to the families of his victims. One would have thought his bragging about the mass murder would be the actual offense, but what’s a little projection amongst friends?

    In reality, the left-wing Beeboids were offended by it, and so we get this lecture, which can be summed up thus: Don’t worry, kids, it’s a left-wing gesture but nobody thinks he is.

       2 likes

    • Dave s says:

      A very weird article as you say. The order seems to have gone out. At all costs link Breivik with the conservative right in Europe and deligitimise any political oppostion to the prevailing liberal world view.
      Us conservatives can expect a difficult time from the liberal dominated media. Ideally they would like to silence us and we should be very careful how we comment on this trial.
      The modern liberal is but one step away from the modern tyrant. It is in their dna.

         4 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        I found the piece to be very silly because Breivik was obviously using it as a generic protest gesture, with no political leaning implied one way or the other. He obviously had some right-wing leanings before he went mentally ill, so I can’t really object to the BBC pointing that out.

        It’s just amusing that the BBC was concerned that the victims’ families are offended by his use of the gesture simply because it is generally associated with Left-wing causes. What the f@#k difference could that possibly make to anyone except an ideologue?

           2 likes

        • TPO says:

          Makes me wonder how the BBC would explain away the goose stepping of North Korea’s armed forces.

             3 likes

          • Jim Dandy says:

            I thought Goodwin made some good points. The extreme right has increasingly taken on a victim mentality. The notion of struggle, activism, and subjugation of the individual to the greater good is what unites communism and facism and Breivik is in line with the extreme right variant. What’s chilling is his inspiration by fairly mainstream blogs and opinion. So not Stormfront, but blogs and commentators widely linked to on various sites we all read.

               0 likes

            • David Preiser (USA) says:

              Jim, I believe the first part of your comment supports my argument that the BBC article is dopey because Breivik was merely using the gesture as a protest sign, political leanings aside, no?

              As for the last two sentences, I don’t find it chilling at all. Mentally ill or otherwise ugly people get inspired by anything and everything. I don’t accept your smear (if I’ve understood you correctly, unless “chilling” was a poor word choice) anymore than I accept the usual mewlings that I should be worried that this or that movie or video game inspired some idiot criminal.

                 1 likes

              • Reed says:

                Indeed, David. I loathe the misery of our British soaps, but I wouldn’t insinuate that there might be something sinister in their indirect connection to a recent murder. Unhinged people don’t respond rationally to the world around them.

                   0 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              ‘I thought Goodwin made some good points.’
              Sir Fred?
              Mind you, I’d be invoking Godwin’s Law if I even hinted that the term ‘xx had a point’ had a rather dubious legacy.

                 0 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Don’t worry, kids, it’s a left-wing gesture but nobody thinks he is.’
      Well, brought up on a diet of History Channel docos, I have to say the ‘right wing gesture’ du jour seemed pretty locked down at Nuremberg rallies.
      And this one did indeed spark altogether different memories, and not just in me.
      Glad to see I am being educated and informed on how I got it all wrong as per required narrative.
      Can’t say I have much faith in anyone feeling the need to stick their hands up or out in much beyond a shared high five, but there you go. It’s that lover not fighter in me again.

         1 likes

  29. Jim Dandy says:

    Newscaster on PM just said ‘Aquascutum has just been put into administratum’. made me larf.

       0 likes

    • johnyork says:

      If that’s what makes you laugh/larf Jim, the next time you break into hysterics – do us all a favour – keep it to your fuckingratum self !

         2 likes

  30. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Huw Edwards on the News Channel just now arguing…sorry…discussing Qatada’s re-arrest and the latest gesture towards deporting him with Conservative MP Dominic Rabb (sp?).

    Edwards is concerned that Qatada might get mistreated if he’s sent back to Jordan. “Lots of people are worried about Britain’s international reputation if that happens,” frets Huw.

    Really? Who’s worried, BBC? Did we do a poll? Or is he referring to a bunch of Beeboids and Selective Human Rights activists?

       11 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “Lots of people are worried about Britain’s international reputation if that happens,” frets Huw.

      He works for the BBC, who speaks for the nation, therefore he speaks for lots of ‘us’, apparently. At least, that’s what critics are possibly not saying… at least the ones that get quoted. It’s a ‘unique’ thing.

         4 likes

    • Dave s says:

      I suspect Edwards knows full well nobody cares a jot .certainly not in my part of the world. He is just trying it on and making sure he is seen by the right sorts to be “one of us” and a good little liberal .
      Idiots.

         6 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      makes me ashamed to be Welsh having to listen to him.

         4 likes

  31. George R says:

    In Beeboids’ own words:

    “BBC better protected than ministers by Freedom of Information, says Jack Straw”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17740465

       3 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “BBC better protected than ministers by Freedom of Information, says Jack Straw”

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17740465
      Some questions can’t get asked.
      Unique.

         0 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘By a “quirk of the drafting of the act” the BBC had “ended up with far clearer class exemption than has any government”, said Mr Straw.
        One shall need to add ‘quirk’ to ‘unique’.
        How long before an errant Minister or despot turns to a Humphrys or Paxman and coyly declines to answer under interrogation claiming a uniquely quirky ‘exemption’ ?

        ‘He pointed to the Supreme Court ruling in February that the BBC did not have to publish the internal Balen report into its Middle East coverage. The court ruled that, once it was established that the information was held by the BBC to any significant degree for the purposes of journalism, it was exempt from disclosure.
        Labour really didn’t do much very well when in power, did it? And much seemed to fall in favour of its de facto PR agency. No wonder they want them back in.

        ‘Mr Straw said: “So it has a total class exemption for the operation of its internal decision making. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander in my opinion. If it’s good enough for the country’s largest journalistic institution it’s good enough.
        That seems a longer version of ‘they can say they get it about right because saying it makes it so’.

        “The BBC’s a very important institution but it’s not actually running the government.”
        Well, with £4Bpa, 10’s of thousands of coordinated staff sharing common purposes, and 24/7 access via all broadcast means to attempt to sway public opinion with skewed production choices and editorial, you could have fooled me.

           0 likes

  32. George R says:

    For BBC-greenies:

    -Anything to do with climate change?:-

    “Powerful solar flare erupts on surface of the Sun.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17747002

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I saw them mention this on the News Channel earlier today. Ben Beeboid chuckled that the science was all very deep and confusing and nobody understood it, as he handed the broadcast off to the sports center.

      I remarked to myself at the time how it’s funny that the Beeboids are never so unsure about “the science” when it comes to AGW.

         1 likes

  33. Guest Who says:

    OT-ish (it does involve HIGNFY, which does often exhibit odd choices for ‘celeb’ guests from fellow media… though I am sure she was witty and funny):
    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/feeds/pr-employee-chastised-for-vulgar-and-puerile-tweet-to-journalist/4747
    I simply note the ‘how much do you like your job?’ comment(s).
    Yet another utter plonker not quite grasping the public nature of twitter, especially when you work for a private company and not a public entity where you can post what you like so long as you have a bit (squeezed in amongst the employer references and URLs) that says that all views are your own.
    So even if you are ‘tracked down’ by a well resourced medium, you are probably golden…
    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/bbc-tracks-down-a-facebook-troll-video/8874
    If unique.

       0 likes

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       0 likes