167 Responses to OPEN THREAD..

  1. Tonyel says:

    Proof, if it were needed that the BBC never changes. On Saturday evening they ran a programme callde Light Entertainment relating to impressionists. Spitting Image made it’s way into the mix, with the ineffable Stephen Fry solemnly informing us that Mrs Thatcher was” The most hated politician in the country”, followed by an intervies with one of their producers who told us that it was their aim to get a change of government. The poor sods whose telly tax paid for them all apparently didn’t matter.

       37 likes

    • Dave666 says:

      I thought Gordon Brown (where is he now?)_ was the most hated. Maybe that’s just me, Much as I disliked Thatcher he’s in a league of his own.

         19 likes

    • The General says:

      Back in the Margaret Thatcher days, the Today programme used to have a poll to find the personality of the year. EVERY year Margaret Thatcher received more votes than all the other candidates put together. This despite the odious Michael Redhead ( ignoring ‘De mortuis nil nisi bonum’) pleading with the listeners ” And don’t vote for Margaret Thatcher again.”
      When people come out with the stock phrase ” What Thatcher did to this country” just ask them just what did she do, and watch the blank look in their eyes.

         32 likes

      • Number 7 says:

        I had a quiet chuckle – OK, LOL – this morning during the Toadie program.

        During a discussion about “the North” one of the iterviewees passed comment that Thatcher was quite popular in her time in office. This, added to the comment that the Benefits Culture is not as popular as it was being represented resulted in a completely discombobulated beeboid.

        Great stuff.

           21 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Priceless eh?
          Yet we get a rare chance to see Policy Exchange in comparison to IPPR…the Labour luvvies wonkfest of choice!
          Neil O Brien…from the north himself, erudite, calm and balanced.
          The IPPR goon…partisan, bigoted and making political pigs ears out of sows purses…but because he was based in the north today, then he tried to sneer at the real northener who actually LIVED there when Thatchers influence still held…and she was not all bad for the regions, much as the BBC think it.
          Ludicrous padding to see out Humph and Jim to the care home van, this whimsical reflex of bile…what the BBC can only do to please itself…wonkers all!

             9 likes

          • Leha says:

            at least Maggie made it under her own steam unlike must of the useless bints in there today due to positive discrimination

               17 likes

      • Millie Tant says:

        If you call him Michael, speaking ill of the dead won’t count against you because I think he was really Brian.

           3 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        When people come out with the stock phrase ” What Thatcher did to this country” just ask them just what did she do, and watch the blank look in their eyes.

        This makes me think of “What have the Romans ever done for us?”

           9 likes

      • hatethebias says:

        Brian Redhead

           1 likes

    • James says:

      Yes Mr Fry, Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock were so popular. Maybe Mrs Thatcher was ”the most hated politician in the country”, amongst hateful, bigoted lefties like yourself.

         35 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      The BBC love Stephen Fry because he is supposed to be witty in a world where the snide put-down, the acid drop, the politically-correct insult masquerades as wit.
      Every TV generation has it’s sofa aristocracy shine in the adoring glow of their admirers. People laugh helplessly at their every belch and fart. Peter Ustinov, Kenneth Williams, Ned Sherrin, all invited on TV talk shows to burn brightly for 7 minutes and 35 seconds before the titles roll. They are not to be taken seriously – or their semi-literate political judgments.
      I’m sure Mr Fry is a perfectly nice man. His problem is BBC producers think he is Stephen Fry. The best description of him (I wish I can remember who said it) was that “one morning Stephen Fry woke up and decided he was going to be clever”.
      So were they all – all clever men and women. Their slick quotes live on after them; their real souls are oft interred with their bones and (to mix my Shakespeare) they leave us as they found us, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

      Forgive my mood. I just watched a terrific BBC documentary on YOUTUBE about the much maligned Bob Monkhouse.

      Now there’s a man who hid his real erudition. He was twice the wit Fry will ever be.

         23 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Good list of faux intellectuals and bon viveurs/boulevardiers here sir!
        Can I add Jonathan Miller…biggest talentless shit who thinks he`s a polymath.
        Particularly loved that show he was about to do about northern graffiti artwork in the public space-but then some Gooner sprayed his own Hampstead wall, and unsurprisingly: he decided not to celebrate this gritty art form any longer.
        Q.E.D…

           25 likes

        • Louis Robinson says:

          Jonathan Miller. YES. YES. YES. Ah, now there’s a true example of the genre. He can turn a story about chewing gum into a major philosophical tract, write a novel about it. conduct a symphony about it, direct a ballet about it. And No-ONE – NOT ON PERSON – in the media has ever said, “Yes, but…” to him. He is the oracle. Wiser then even Alan Bennett, he is the arts media’s GOD.
          (By the way, advanced age has set in…who is the Irish poet guy on Newsnight arts..annoying as hell. I think when he grows up he wants to be Jonathan Miller.

             10 likes

          • wally greeninler says:

            I’ll never forgive Miller for describing Gilbert and Sullivan as ‘just UKIP set to music’ (despite the fact that he had directed a version of the m
            Mikado, rather fatuously set in a posh 1920s hotel – such meaningless time transfers for operas having been the mainstay of his career for decades.)
            If you mean Tom Paulin by ‘that Irish poet guy on Newsnight’ – he’s been a non-person with the Beeb since 2002-2, when his ‘anti-Zionist’ (not ‘antisemitic’ statements according to him, and him alone) were too OTT even for the luvvies.

               6 likes

          • chrisH says:

            Tom Paulin is it?
            The nastiest anti-semite who blew himself out of the Review Show with his suicide bombers paean…too much even for Auntie Jenny Tonge I`d have thought.

               5 likes

          • Millie Tant says:

            Louis: “The Irish poet”? Do you mean Tom Paulin who used to appear regularly as a critic on Newsnight Review on Friday nights?

            Incidentally, he is English! Or at any rate was born in England to an English father and a Northern Irish mother but grew up in Northern Ireland before going to Oxford and reverting to living in England.

               2 likes

      • chrisH says:

        A better one from Peter Hitchens(now THERE`S a thinker!)
        Fry is just a thick persons notion of what a clever person would be like, if they ever saw one.
        By the way, he`s not a nice man at all!

           23 likes

      • ROBERT BROWN says:

        Well said about Bob M, a superb wit, who can forget his,’ My father died in his sleep peacefully, not screaming in terror like his passengers.’ Priceless.

           9 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Monkhouse was a true genius.
          |To my shame, I only managed to find this out in the late 90s after years of hating this “smug, self-satisfied Tory”…hence my relative tolerance of Owen Jones and Billy Bragg…for I too was so stupid once.
          Bobs “Crying with Laughter” is one of the best autobiographies around…as if Fry or Miller could begin to match the integrity and intelligence of Monkhouse.

             4 likes

        • Little Black Sambo says:

          “They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. They’re not laughing now.”

             5 likes

    • chrisH says:

      The fawning over this programme “Spitting Image” joins the ranks of Oxbridge safe rebellions that I was stupid enough to confuse with changing things.
      But I didn`t get a job in the media, a commission to write Queen musicals or a voice as a plum chopped toff for talkovers regarding the Clash or Saturday Live did I?
      Therefore I had to grow up-but these fops and phoneys are forever young eh?
      Even a Latex Thatcher would do a better job of running the BBC-even the country-than Patten or Cameron types.
      And even a latex Kinnock would do more good in Europe than the fecund fake hypocrite with half the Welsh Valley in tow and on the payroll both here and in Brussels, Copenhagen, Moscow and Milibands office.
      Family Values eh?…”well…aaarright”

         13 likes

  2. Dave666 says:

    Anyone see Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on The pasper review on BBC last night? Bleating on about the “assassination” of Bin-Laden. Even the BBc newsreader looked shocked and tried to divert her. Another balanced report fr4om the BBc almost as good as Maitland interviewing someone from the French National Front after discussing the French general Elections she suddenly burst out with the accusation he had been found guilty of Holocaust denial. After he countered that he had been found innocent she responded with we have to end that here abbruptly. What was that BBc “We seek rather to identify all significant views, and to test them rigorously and fairly on behalf of the audience”

       26 likes

    • Leodian says:

      I have to hit the remote when her face comes on, which is far too often. Better be careful or she will play the old race/sexist card . Funny how when she claims she was kicked out of Africa this devout muslim came to our shores and not some muslim country.

         34 likes

      • Nick says:

        Well said. I cannot stand her. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone as much in love with their own voice. The spiteful and ignorant views she espouses are simply laughable. She is an incredibly stupid woman, who has got where she is because of her ethnicity. The only people to match her for pure ignorance are Johann ‘Make Believe’ Hari and utter c**t, Owen Jones.

           27 likes

        • uncle bup says:

          you forgot Laurie ‘Yoohoo Everyone It’s Me I’m On A Demo’ Penney.

             3 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “We seek rather to identify all significant views, and to test them rigorously and fairly on behalf of the audience”
      Is that a quote? If so, where?
      It’s worth having, as they are struggling now to plug all the blatant breaches of their own claims, especially those from Helen ‘hold the powerful to account’/genetically impartial’ Boaden

         7 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      The way to treat people like Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is to face her down. Be uncompromising. Wanna see a fantastic example?
      The pompous CBS reporter Leslie Stahl interviewing (accusing) the man who interrogated 9/11 mastermind and mass murderer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at Gitmo. I love his last response!

         14 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Good cases with the notorious Malthouse/Donovan show trial on the Politics Show yesterday.
      Beeboid brings out stats that he has not the first clue about( arts Oxbridge bedwarmer!)…then at the first willingness to counter the stats, inevitably the Beeboid says “well, we`ve not got the time to go into the details/figures”…and change the subject.
      Happens all the time, this tactic…truth terrorism.

      About time they got rumbled…that Welsh MP that destroyed Paxman about his figures re Welsh subsidies ought to be compulsory viewing to anyone who wants the BBC stuffed.
      Happens all the time

         11 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Eurfyl ap Gwilym was the name of the man-Plaid Cymru Economic adviser.
        Brilliant boyo!,…and don`t think we`ll be hearing from HIM again.
        But his place in history is assured…a Hero of the Tribune sometime soon PG

           6 likes

        • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

          please someone resurrect the link again: priceless! I adored it a few months back. Da iawn achan!

             3 likes

          • Infuriated of West Mids says:

            Here ye go!

               7 likes

            • David Preiser (USA) says:

              Paxman is crap but the Plaid Cymru guy is still unapologetically asking for more money and doesn’t care who pays for it. Paxman allowed himself to get caught up in numbers and failed to get to the real point.

                 6 likes

              • bobajob says:

                He beat Paxo at his own game. An obvious tactic to defeat an innumerate beeboid English graduate. Nevertheless Paxman is right, like all politicians, these Plaid bastards love to waste money. In this case the Welsh Assembly; a New Labour construct established (almost from Blair day one in 1997) upon a dubious vote that was almost too close to call (50.3% to 49.7%) I remember thinking how crooked it all seemed at the time. I’m Welsh.

                   8 likes

      • Reed - language Boris! says:

        Stuff Donovan and his F*cking Bollox…

        Hat-tip to Guido.

           3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The BBC better put a lid on people criticizing the targeted assassination of Bin Laden. The President is making it a big campaign issue right now. He’s running an ad featuring the BBC’s second-favorite US President saying that Romney wouldn’t have made that call.

      It’s the only foreign policy act that’s been even remotely successful (even though He actually had nothing to do with it). So I’m sure the White House message on this will be passed down just like all the rest of them are.

         7 likes

    • James says:

      Never understood why the BBC allow this ‘care in the community’ case on TV. She is well known for her deranged ramblings at the Indie and frequently turns her comments off when the public want contradict her with some, err, facts. She was an asylum seeker who went on to criticise non-stop the country that gave her shelter.

         22 likes

    • Harry says:

      Yes I saw that interview with the false accusation quickly thrown in. I’m sure they knew he had been cleared of all wrongdoings, but just chose to stick with it anyway. Smear.

         3 likes

  3. Fred Bloggs says:

    Although already reported: those who did not see the ‘Sunday Politics’ (starting at about 30 minutes into the prog) and Tim Donovan’s interview with Mayor Deputy Kit Malthouse are in for a real bBC treat at full throttle.

       4 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      It would be interesting to compare it with the interview with Livingstone – I think it was the week before.

         3 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Yet no reply from Tory head Office about this nasty, sly and skewering piece; that reveals the BBCs elite for what they are.
      If I were Neil, I`d get honest or bail out before he goes on treason trial too one day!
      A new low in reporting at the BBC this one!

         4 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I saw that. Donovan was in full attack mode, beyond being “challenging”. Some of his attacks were pretty weak, just Labour talking points. But Malthouse was not very good at all during the second half of the segment. Pathetic moving of goal posts about the bicycle scheme, and after a while spent more time saying “Let me finish” that anything of substance.

         1 likes

    • Fred Bloggs says:

      Boris on TV today has aired his opinion of Donovan.
      “Stuff Donovan and his fucking Bollocks”, straight forward Anglo Saxon statement I would say.

         15 likes

  4. James says:

    A few days ago in a news report on the Hutton Enquiry the BBC described Murdoch’s News Corps as the the ‘most powerful news organisation in Britain’.

    I thought that title would go the the BBC with a 70% audience share of all news. Not really biased are they?

       37 likes

    • chrisH says:

      And nothing about the prophet Rupert saying that newspapers will be gone in twenty years. The BBC will be a major factor in it.
      And nothing about the role the BBC has played in removing local newspapers with its licence fee funded local news/online services.
      Was all said at Leveson on Thursday, but you`d not know that unless you read “the Australian”.
      Nothing either about Brown being “unbalanced” as he ranted at Rupert for not backing Labour.
      Rupert or Brown?…I know who I believe at least!

         18 likes

  5. Guest Who says:

    ‘that title would go the the BBC with a 70% audience share of all news’
    And truth in the other 30% has yet to get its boots on.
    Maybe worth tweeting Jeremy Vine that stat?
    He’s big on facts ‘n stuff.
    Well, some.

       7 likes

  6. Wayne X says:

    Due to my great age and the threats of imminent heart attacks I can only watch a very few BBC programs nowadays. This is because I suffer from terrible bouts of rage at the BBC and its attempts at psychological brain washing. Everything is Politically Correct Garbage, Anti Government Sneering or Climate Change Marketing.

    IT occurs in ALL programs now, even those one would think are light hearted such as programs about the country side or even the soaps. We used to like watching Doctors after lunch but that is becoming political now, it’s full of Gay Abundance and folks starving due to The Cuts.

    I just wait for the Message in the Bollocks now, and sure enough along it comes. In last night’s Countryfile we had a lecture about peat being a good carbon sink and it should not therefore be used by us mere home gardeners. Now whether more CO2 is good or bad for the planet, I am not qualified to say and frankly I don’t think anyone else is either, but one thing is certain, I am getting bloody tired of getting lectures from jumped up brainwashed twerps who have no more idea of what makes this planet tick than Micky Mouse. Do they not understand that CO2 is vital for all life on earth? We all die without it and yet they try to convince us it is a BAD, BAD thing.

    You see, as soon as I talk about IT the rage starts. And you ask if I watch Stephen Fry or listen to Radio 4 in the morning? They should come with a Health Warning. DO NOT WATCH IF OF A SOUND MIND OR OVER 55.

    It’s a great shame really but like all decadent and rotten Empires I think the BBC is festering from within and will eventually collapse. I just hope I am around to see it. Oh boy what an overindulgent night of good malt that will be.

       44 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      It will not die until it contains enough folk from the religion of peace who begin to purge the gay people that they so despise. Then watch the fireworks erupt.

         14 likes

      • Wayne X says:

        Well I wasn’t sure how my prophesy may come to pass but you may just have put your finger on it.
        The implosion could well be instigated by the Peace & Brotherhood Scholars.

        By the way, all these missiles on buildings in London during the Olympics, who are they protecting us from?
        Wouldn’t it be better to put electric fences around Luton, Bradford and other enriched areas, just for the duration of course, not permanently?
        On the other hand!

           20 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      As a card-carrying member of “Friends of Laphroig”, I say they better leave peat the hell alone.

         3 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        Be careful that puts you in the same club as fatty Simpson not a good place to be, whiskey or not lol !

           1 likes

      • Wayne X says:

        I have friends & relations in the Outer Hebrides, they are always a great pleasure to visit. It’s just being able to remember the visit that is an issue, but I keep trying!

           4 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      The BBC moron was called Tom Heap, a jumped up sound man who has done Climate Change before. He has become progressively ignorant over the years. For instance, Global Warming to Climate Change, Carbon Dioxide to Carbon to Greenhouse Gases. Obviously has no scientific qualifications, which irritates people with scientific qualifications like myself, because he showed no interest or curiosity in the specific scientific details. So he must be seen as an ideal useful idiot, known for not asking intelligent and therefore awkward questions to someone described as a Climate Scientist from what must have been the University of East Anglia.
      As an astronomer I would like to say that astronomy is going to provide all the answers, not just Galactic high energy Cosmic Rays and Cloud Albedo. We already have used the CO2 atmosphere of Mars as a proxy to work out that man made CO2 has only provided about 0.01 Kelvin to warming in 200 years and there is also a theory in Astronomy that explains the temperatures in the climates of all planetary atmospheres in the Solar System.
      Unified Theory of Climate, Ned Nikolov & Karl Zeller, 2011. Shows that the average surface temperature divided by the grey body temperature gives you the magnitude of the Thermal inertia which resembles the response of the temperature/potential temperature ratio to the altitudinal changes of pressure described by the Poisson formula, with predictions matching evidence for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Europa, Titan, Triton and the Moon, to prove that the physical nature of the so-called Greenhouse Effect is in fact a Pressure-induced Thermal Enhancement or Thermal Inertia which is independent of the atmospheric chemical composition. Mercury and the Moon are used to prove that the Grey body temperature and the average surface temperature are equal when there is no Atmosphere.

         5 likes

  7. JaneTracy says:

    Those wondering what happens to Stephanie Flanders in between her increasingly rare blog posts and TV appearances got a clue from her a week or so ago.

    “Spending a few days in Washington and New York last week ” At the BBCs expense Stephanie? What happened to the cut backs we were promised?

    Step was probably floundering around trying to get someone to agree with her view expressed at the turn of the year that petrol prices would fall substantially…

    Does anybody know what Ms Flanders is actually paid?

       24 likes

    • Dave666 says:

      I imagine a Freedom of information request will…get you nowhere with finding that one out. Let’s take a wild guess at lots.

         16 likes

    • ltwf 1964 says:

      Does anybody know what Ms Flanders is actually paid?

      whatever it is it’s too much!!

         23 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Probably trying to reassure herself by talking to Krugman and Larry Summers and other fellow travelers. I’m sure she’ll come back fully energized, with new versions of the same hymns she always sings.

         6 likes

      • JaneTracy says:

        Remember she also called the Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan ” a good man”

        Brian Lenihan’s decision to guarantee the Irish banks for two years lead to the collapse of Ireland’s economy and left her in the hands of the IMF and EU…

           14 likes

        • Reed - eff the EU says:

          “left her in the hands of the IMF and EU”

          Probably why Steph thinks he’s a good guy – surrendering economies to the great EU plan.

             3 likes

  8. George R says:

    INBBC: always avoids blaming Taliban for its Islamic jihad murders.

    Contrast:-

    1.)’New English Review’:-

    “UK Aid Doctor Found Beheaded In Pakistan ”

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/41747

    2.) Islam Not BBC (INBBC):

    “Khalil Dale: ‘Every effort’ made to free murdered aid worker”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17890740

       6 likes

  9. David Preiser (USA) says:

    From the “You Know Your Movement’s Over When…” Dept.:

    Meet the New Farm, Same as the Old Farm: Occupy Seizes Berkeley’s “Gill Tract”

    Last week, on Earth Day, the Occupy movement illegally took over an entire farm and transformed it into…a farm!

    The Occupiers – darlings of the BBC – have illegally seized a large agri-research farm tract run by UC Berkeley. In keeping with Occupy tradition – what Katty Kay described as a love for humanity and sense of civic duty – they’ve trashed it. Hilarious pictures at the link.

    Now I know why the BBC started censoring all news of the movement about which they initially reported with such reverence and enthusiasm.

       10 likes

    • DB says:

      Paul Mason, Newsnight’s official Occupy cheerleader, seems to be getting a little desperate in his attempts to convince the world of the movement’s significance. He’s got a film on tonight’s Newsnight – and a lengthy blogpost – about the art that Occupy has spawned (it’s as important and new as Cubism apparently) . Laughed aloud at this bit:

      “I am with The Illuminators – a group of performance artists whose art is to shine revolutionary logos onto buildings in support of the Occupy Wall Street protest, including one that has become iconic – the 99% logo, known to protesters as “the bat signal”.
      In the van is not just a projector and a laptop, but also posters, a mobile library, and a whole vat of hot chocolate. The woman controlling the projector is a union organiser. The man vee-jaying the video is – well, a vee-jay (video jockey) in real life, but for corporates, fashion shows and the like.

      And Mark Read, the driver and instigator, is a college lecturer in media studies.

      Ooh! Revolutionary logos on the side of buildings! Walls will tumble. And I love the unintentional humour in building up to the final guy – a media studies lecturer! Utterly bathetic.

      What’s worrying, and not a little sad, is that Mason is so impressed with it all. I think he quite fancies himself as some sort of father figure to these pretentious Occupy luvvies; in fact he just comes across as bit of a sad dad trying to be cool.

         16 likes

    • Reed - eff the EU says:

      More ‘Earth Day’ celebrations. Remember people, these are the true caretakers of mother earth.

      http://weaselzippers.us/2012/04/24/san-francisco-libs-leave-city-parks-trashed-on-earth-day/

         5 likes

    • Reed - can smell the sh!t from here says:

      More on the ‘occupy farm’ silage at the superb David Thompson’s blog…

      http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2012/04/playing-in-the-dirt-with-occupy.html

      Be sure to read the comments – they’re always good value.

         5 likes

    • chrisH says:

      You know you`re movements over when
      1. The BBC do a retrospective on its significance to the Arts Councils funding stream-where Mason meets Neena Nanna or her like.
      2. You see such posturing incompetence as this story reveals-yet academic boneheads leave their brains in the compost heap before shouting at the rest of us.
      Any chance of a checklist so we can sign the Occupy death certificate pronto?…maybe when Annie Lennox agrees to show up to gargle from the water butt!

         6 likes

  10. Guest Who says:

    Points made, and missed, in equal measure..
    http://www.spectator.co.uk/nickcohen/7816048/its-the-newspapers-i-cant-stand.thtml

       1 likes

  11. Umbongo says:

    If you want an object lessson in bias and agenda-chasing “Around the World in 60 Minutes” shown on BBC4 on Saturday at 20:00 takes some beating: it is to be repeated on BBC4 this Wednesday at 23:10.
    The programme is billed as an “inspirational trip around the planet [which] will make you view our home as you’ve never seen it before”. I viewed it as a relaxing pre-cursor to the excellent “The Bridge”: views of the earth from 200 miles up cannot help but be spectacular. And so those pictures were.
    Unfortunately the BBC – suffering from corporate Aspergers – can’t help itself and the programme devoted itself to demonising the West – particularly the US – for “over consuming” (my word not theirs) the earth’s resources and thereby causing global warming and universal doom and destruction. In respect of the US we were shown Las Vegas from the air (as an example of conspicuous Western waste) together with spectacular items of grossly overweight Americans waddling the Las Vegas streets. Later in the show – as the other take on the US – we had a selection of pictures taken on the USS Nimitz with the voice-over telling us how much money is wasted on “war” annually. So the Americans are shown as overweight, warmongering, uber-consumers building useless cities in the middle of the desert at God know’s what cost to the environment and to the victims of the West in the Third World.
    The programme also dealt with the pollution caused by China’s dash for growth. We were shown the cloud of pollution hanging over Eastern China. Deplorable but apparently, as the shouty academic from UCL noted optimistically, the Chinese know exactly what they’re doing in respect of global warming but they (unlike the capitalists in the decadent West) are doing their best to control their carbon footprint for the future – so that’s alright then.
    The messages continued as another UCL academic tried to panic us with what were in effect updated extracts from Club of Rome rubbish: we’re doomed, doomed – over-population, over-consumption of resources, 9 billion parasites on Gaia’s freely available bounty – on and on and on.
    The astronaut/introducer – Piers Miller – (modelling his wonder at it all on the BBC picture-boy Brian Cox) summed up the whole greenie-fest by telling humankind to “get with the [Greenpeace] programme”.
    The propaganda film was produced (among others) by an outfit whose full name I didn’t get but the name began with “Real Green . . ”
    The BBC – bias in action: if I hadn’t seen it even I wouldn’t have believed it.

       20 likes

    • ltwf 1964 says:

      why does most of the crap masquerading as informative programming from the rectum that is BBC broadcasting always make me feel that we’re living in an open air asylum where the most delusional psychotically disturbed inmates are the ones in control?

         18 likes

    • chrisH says:

      I too was deceived into watching this crap.
      Silly me thought that it might be some great thing about Space station views of the world over 24 hours or such-and to be fair to the BBC, they have done stuff like this previously.
      This mistitled guff to greenery was awful…flicked in just twice and there were plastic bottles both times…oh aren`t we awful?
      Beeb Bull Claptrap…our BBC!

         5 likes

  12. George R says:

    Has BBC-EU decided to censor this?:-

    “BRITAIN BATTLES NEW BRUSSELS ORDER TO FLY EU FLAG EVERY DAY ”

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/317246/Britain-battles-new-Brussels-order-to-fly-EU-flag-every-day

       10 likes

  13. George R says:

    Beeboids seem not to report UK’s massive IMMIGRATION problems, e.g.

    http://www.migrationwatch.co.uk/

       7 likes

    • Wayne X says:

      The BBC’s main concern is that the new enrichers have to wait for an hour or so at Heathrow before they can get in and get all of their entitlements. That’s free housing, free health care, free education and free money for food, etc., etc., and so on ad infinitum.

      The only thing they don’t want free though, I am told but am reluctant to check up on this personally, is… condoms, and of course bacon butties or copies of The Bible.

      Mustn’t be glum though, so all together, let’s sing ‘Land of Hope & Glory’ whilst we sink beneath the effluent of our own creation.

         12 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Do you get the idea that someone important at the BBC was detained in a queue for the shoeshine boy outside Terminal 4 , and so failed to pass on his drugs/Chavez/Castro paraphernalia to his sperm donor?
        Obviously the Top Ranking( as Woy or Wossy said) management are most worried about something pertaining to slow deliveries…why else would this top the coronation of Our Ken, Eurozone free falls and the like?

           3 likes

  14. George R says:

    And all because some Muslims love Islamic jihad?

    “London 2012: Major Olympic security test unveiled”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17891223

       8 likes

  15. George R says:

    BBC-NUJ-Labour censors this:

    “Ken Livingstone: too toxic for his own leaflets”

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/andrewgilligan/

    A non BBC-NUJ-Labour view of Boris Johnson –

    “Boris must win, and go on and on ”

    http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/boris-must-win-and-go-on-and-on.html

       8 likes

  16. 1327 says:

    This is an interesting insight into the Beeb hive mind. It appears contributors from the Beeb , New York Times and the Guardian have put together a book on the new field of “Data Journalism” which has been released today ..

    http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2012/04/the-data-journalism-handbook-is-now-live/

    and can be read for free here ..

    http://datajournalismhandbook.org/1.0/en/

    The list of case studies is interesting. We have stories on Bus Subsidies and wikileaks among others but no mention of Climategate for some reason 🙂

       7 likes

  17. Merlin says:

    Highly recommend this book by the American psychologist Jean Twenge about today’s left wing spoiled narcissistic arrogant youth. The book certainly was an eye opener and makes a string case as to why our modern politically correct generation are so superficial, sanctimonious and inflated with a massive sense of entitlement. Essential reading for all those interested with the whole debate surrounding the West’s liberal cultural, educational, economical and political decay.

       8 likes

    • Merlin says:

      PS I meant to have typed ‘strong’ not string lol – the knack of holding a beer in one hand whilst typing with the other still eludes me!

         4 likes

  18. Richard Dale says:

    Rip-off Britain has just done a ridiculous hit piece on BT. A stupid woman – an IT project manager who did not seem to realise that broadband speeds are very low in small villages – complaining that BT is charging her the same money for a service that costs BT more. She is fuming that having moved to the country her broadband is slow, and appears to think that BT (a plc) are responsible for sorting out their business problems.

       3 likes

  19. eadwulf says:

    OT but if this is what it takes to hold a “sporting” event, then its time to end it.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/9236773/London-2012-Olympic-Games-security-plans.html

       2 likes

  20. David Preiser (USA) says:

    On the last open thread, I commented about some EPA mandarin saying that the EPA and the government should “crucify” oil companies, literally using the Roman practice as an example. It showed what they really think, and what they’re really up to.

    He’s just resigned over it.

    BBC: ZZZzzzzzzzzz

       5 likes

  21. Stan Arnold says:

    Double dip recession figures show 0.2% and 0.3 drops in the economy. When I was doing my physics degree, we were taught that all measurements have a margin of error. And you were given a good bollocking if you left the error margins out of your calculations. Why does the BBC not question the economists about the margins of error in their calculations? For example, if the margin of error was + or – 0.4% we might be in a boom period! In the meantime, continuous broadcasting of the double dip recession drives the economy down even further. Sooner the BBC is abolished the better. This is a great site.

       10 likes

    • Reed says:

      …and you can bet that if the follow up re-advised figures show that we are still actually in growth, the BBC will be silent.

         5 likes

  22. Stan Arnold says:

    Hehm! 0.3%

       0 likes

  23. Reed says:

    ‘Green’ jobs everyone…

    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/04/28/solyndra-not-dealing-with-toxic-waste-at-milpitas-facility/

    Hat-tip – http://www.jammiewf.com/2012/obamas-solyndra-plant-now-a-toxic-wasteland/

    First comment :
    Blue Hen
    Someone should be crucified for this! Oh wait…This isn’t an oil company? And they were tied to the dear leader? Never mind.

       4 likes

  24. Reed - not that kind of 'Liberal' says:

    This is why I resent the word ‘liberal’ being used as a shorthand for leftists in general – mostly they are anything but…

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/04/29/Free-Chris-Loesch

    The REAL liberals are the small government, free speech, ‘stay out of my life’ type conservatives, not the bossy puritans of the authoritarian left, who all too often are keen to dictate what we can all say and do – and unfortunately seem to be increasingly successful. I’d like to think some sort of public push-back will begin – I’m not expecting it to come from our political set – not even the so-called Conservatives in government now. I’m even less expectant of the younger generation, who seem to have been fully inculcated, and are doing exactly what’s expected of them.

    Free speech – provided we deem it acceptable.

    “There are just two rules of governance in a free society: Mind your own business. Keep your hands to yourself.” – P. J. O’Rourke

       5 likes

  25. Craig says:

    Something strange is happening this morning with the BBC’s online reporting of the latest report from the House of Commons Education Select Committee.

    The report calls for two main things – firstly, for performance-related pay to tackle the problem of bad teachers and, secondly, for teenagers to be put in charge of lessons to encourage them to train as teachers.

    Most news sources take the first angle to be clearly the main angle and relegate the ‘teenage taster classes’ angle to a minor role in their reports (if they mention it at all):

    ‘Pay teachers according to performance, MPs propose’
    (The Guardian)
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/may/01/pay-teachers-according-to-performance?newsfeed=true

    ‘Best teachers ‘deserve higher pay”
    (Press Association)
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j65ieeF6noqit1J_zTB0tExHYTPA?docId=N0011891335848740260A

    ‘Teachers face payment by results’
    (The Telegraph)
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/9237293/Teachers-face-payment-by-results.html

    ‘MPs Want Bad Teachers To Be Paid Less’
    (Sky News)
    http://news.sky.com/home/politics/article/16219384

    ‘Bad teachers should be paid less and the best get more say MPs’
    (The Daily Mail)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2137684/Bad-teachers-paid-best-say-MPs.html#ixzz1tayooLFB

    The BBC is reporting this report but, bizarrely, is making the secondary part of the story its main angle:

    ‘Teens ‘should try out teaching”
    (BBC News)
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17900053

    Even weirder, the BBC report by Judith Burns (the ONLY report on the story so far) – as of first thing this morning – doesn’t even mention the main part of the report. There’s NOTHING in her report about bad teachers deserving less pay according to MPs.

    Why on earth is that?

    The BBC’s online education reporters often give the impression of being far too close to the teaching unions. (Hannah Richardson is the worst). Is Judith Burns ignoring the main issue in the MPs’ ‘Great Teachers’ report to spare their blushes?

       9 likes

    • George R says:

      Yes; and BBC-NUJ’s Ms RICHARDSON also acts as political spokesperson for NUT and Labour.

      And talking of education, is the following another ‘multicultural’ success story for Labour, and for BBC-NUJ?:-

      “The Home Countries primary school where less than 1% of the pupils speak English as their first language.”

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2137248/The-Home-Counties-primary-school-1-pupils-speak-English-language.html

         4 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Good to have you looking into the BBCs “education page” Craig.
      I`ve been keeping tabs on it for my book, and -although the stats aren`t done yet-I can draw a few conclusions, from what the BBC deem “education and young peoples news”.
      Horrifying…look at the “I of E Directorates report precis on breaking up smoking gangs in school”(up there now for the day!)…as opposed to the worst educated cohort re history in the Western world.(which did NOT make their web page)…and you can draw the big conclusions about what the BBC thinks that schools are used for…and need to be further “developed into chill zones for rioters”.
      Sucking up to public sector quislings in the teaching unions is another priority…this idea of payment by results would give them kittens…not solidarity is it brother?-unless Balls says so.
      Creepy and crappy at one and the same time-luckily their turkey-basted offspring go private, but will send us SWP leaflets from the turrets when they think enough kids confuse it with SNP…dyslexia you see..not godawful “teaching”…as if!

         6 likes

  26. Chilli says:

    BBC Breakfast TV news leading with a 5 minute warmup report for an MPs report due to be published later today on phone hacking. Seriously? Is that to the top news story in the World today? A report about a report that hasn’t even been published yet? How about reporting the floods across the country? The recession in Spain? Why not wait until the MP’s report is published to see if there’s anything note-worthy to report. Instead we get it dominating the BBC agenda all day. With the anticipatory warmup then the main event. It’s biased and it’s BORING!

       7 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      The report has been the lead item in the Today programme headlines this morning. Drone drone drone – the BBC’s vendetta against the Murdochs is appalling.

      I wonder if the BBC would ever dare to invite Rupert Murdoch to defend himself ? I’d love a ringside seat for Murdoch versus Humphrys – who seems to be sounding ever more apoplectic these days.

         10 likes

    • Llew says:

      From the BBC guidebook….?

      ‘News’ that isn’t yet news is always headline ‘news’ if it can harm the Tories in anyway. News that has actually happened, isn’t news if it hurts Labour in anyway.

         8 likes

  27. Bob says:

    On the breakfast news this morning they had a bit on the up and coming council elections. The segment started by saying that with all the scandal in the government that Labour has a real chance to win seats (are the public really that stupid?), next he was flipping through the some cards with the different party names printed on their corresponding colours. When it came to Labour he stopped and the camera zoomed in – blah, blah, blah apparently people don’t want to vote – blah, blah, blah. When the word ‘cuts’ was mentioned the camera zooms in on the Conservative card (with no other cards in sight). Queue the next shot where the cards are fanned out and being held up in his right hand. What a surprise, the Labour card is the only one that read and is not being obscured by any other card and it is almost completely covering the Conservative card. Subliminal propaganda at is best.

       9 likes

    • Llew says:

      There was something on yesterday’s news (lunchtime I think) about the local elections in Wales. The whole piece was done from a Labour party point of view…. “Labour expects to do this…., Labour seek that….., Labour hope to win here…..” etc. I was just glad when the ITV news started and I could hear about the rest of the important news other than the Labour party or Murdoch/Leveson.

         11 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      “are the public really that stupid?”

      Oh, yes. Never underestimate the stupidity of the public.

         7 likes

  28. Umbongo says:

    At 4:30 on Radio 4 this afternoon the BBC offers the listener one of its favourite right-on comedian-intellectuals, Alexei Sayle, assessing – or rather, uncritically praising – Edward Said. Said, in case you’ve forgotten, is the rancid anti-Israeli “philosopher” whose crap masterwork “Orientalism” ties in neatly with (indeed underpins) the BBC’s view of Israel as lacking any legitimacy: a legitimacy particularly undermined (in the BBC’s and Said’s opinion) by being the creation of the Western powers that the BBC and Said view as the source of all the evil in the world.
    BBC balance? Impartiality? None at all: there’s no counter offered by the BBC, let alone a hearing for serious criticism which neatly evicerates Said’s pretensions.

       11 likes

    • Nick says:

      I had to read Said’s bunkum for an English module at university. My lecturers loved it, I hated it. Ergo, they hated me. I learnt to write what they wanted to see, not what I thought, or could back up with evidence. University ‘education’ in a nutshell.

         11 likes

      • jarwill101 says:

        Your experience could have come out of Malcolm Bradbury’s ‘The History Man’, Nick. Rumour has it that the repulsive sociology lecturer, Howard Kirk, was based on the babbling beeboid, Laurie ‘The Humanist’ Taylor.

           8 likes

      • George R says:

        A key critic of the late Edward SAID is Ibn WARRAQ:

        “The Dogmatic Islamophilia of Western Islamologists”
        by Ibn Warraq (April 2010)

        http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/61227/sec_id/61227

        I expect that in the current illiberal era of political repression and censorship, books my writers like Ibn Warraq, and the list at the link below, will be largely excluded from the Islam dominated (and often Islam financed) ‘Middle East departments and university (and INBBC Madrassa of Journalism) libraries:-

        http://www.jihadwatch.org/recommended-books-to-understand-jihad-dhimmitude.html

        But more importantly, open-minded students and any staff are politically liable to be academically downgraded, and have their careers riuned, if they criticise Islam.

           7 likes

    • Leodian says:

      Alexie Sayle, the “as a Jew” rent a quote. Whats up with him then ? all the voice over work on ad’s for capitalist products dried up. He’s got to be 22 stone+ so obviously eating more than his fair share. Why isn’t he, Bianca Jagger ( very useful surename even if divorced for years ) and Annie Lennox not going mental about Syria like they did after cast lead.

         5 likes

  29. As I See It says:

    I wonder whether others here noticed a couple of days ago when on the radio show of jolly Stephen Nolan (the only funny Irishman not make it into an episode of Father Ted?) there was a guest appearance by fellow heavyweight contender Adam Boulton?
    This was the Sky newsman who verbally brawled live on air with Alastair Campbell during the period of political flux post-General Election.
    It was an interesting discussion. Perhaps more for what was implied and for ideas left hanging than for what was actually said. Boulton explained that he had risen to Campbell’s bait on that memorable occasion and that although he had no personal animosity for the man the important point to bear in mind was that Campbell was a professional propagandist for the Labour party. It is a pity that Beeboids rarely acknowledge this fact when Campbell and other left-leaners appear on BBC platforms.
    Boulton was careful to doff his cap to the almighty Beeb suggesting it was balanced. Perhaps he is being careful not to burn his bridges? Or was he doing a bit of damage limitation for Sky anxious not to be tarred with dirty Murdoch brush? When Nolan asked whether Britain needed a news channel with a clear editorial stance – like Fox News – Boulton stuck with what I take to be the rather left-liberal line of current Sky News which is to say that just like the Beeb we are unbiased and that is just what joe public wants. However, Boulton’s rationale for why Fox is so popular in the States was enlightening – he said that despite the American electors repeatedly voting in large numbers for Reagan and Bush all they had got from the major networks was a Guardian-stlye news stance. In my book that was a sly bullseye hit on the BBC.

       11 likes

  30. Guest Who says:

    Just got a special email in my inbox. Guess what…
    Murdoch attacked in hacking report
    Rupert Murdoch is “not a fit person to exercise stewardship” of the media giant he created, News Corporation, UK MPs say
    Other than wondering what got this scooted out special delivery, is it an accurate summary of the detail?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17898029
    There is even an Editors’ Picks on an open thread… for now.

       7 likes

    • #88 says:

      The truthful headline would be that ‘ SOME MPs say.’

         11 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        Or “left-wing MP’s say”. Since Tory MPs refused to endorse the report. But I guess that wouldn’t fit the header, so a little inaccuracy will have to do.

           14 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘The truthful headline would be that ‘ SOME MPs say.’
        Or “left-wing MP’s say”

        Hence, the BBC headline is again less than accurate, doubtless on their ‘truth wouldn’t fit’ basis.
        I just watched Louise Mensch on SKY’s ‘Boulton & Co’, and the story being spun by the BBC, Watson et al is nothing like what appears to have actually transpired.
        The only person itching to drag it back in the ‘debate’ to daft areas was some bearded slob who turns out to be from… the BBC.
        To have such folk, and especially Westminster pond life, get all high-horsey on ‘misleading Parliament’ when they are almost all corrupt or have flushed this country’s integrity down the toilet when it suits their narrow interests, is a sickening spectacle.
        I am debating a complaint on that BBC piece, but as David P has suggested, in constantly raising concerns on the BBC’s relentless inability to reflect reality, they seem to have managed to spin it that such volume is down to me and making me the crank.
        I maintain that that headline/subhead is a gross misrepresentation of what has actually happened, and the BBC should be held to account as it is not a fit and proper medium to convey news in an objective manner any more.

           13 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Louise Mensch specifically cited Mr. Watson’s petty tribalism as ruining any overall value in calling NI (and the media) to proper account.
          Can’t say, having heard the options, I would disagree.
          He was no more interested in justice for anyone than fly in the air, in favour of thuggish grandstanding and showboating.
          Yet the BBC chooses to ignore all that back story and run with a line that is not even half accurate, like their favoured political sons and daughters.
          Weep democracy. Weep holding the powerful to account. Weep free speech. Weep common sense.

             14 likes

        • Roland Deschain says:

          What a pity the BBC isn’t interested in any of Mr Watson’s faults, only Mr Murdoch’s. I have to go to Guido to find out that Tom Watson has been leaking findings of the committee.

          Or to find out that Ken Livingston promised to publish his tax affairs but has yet to do so.

          Whatever Mr Murdoch’s shortcomings, at least he can be held to account through his wallet. The BBC, on the other hand, can be held to account…. well, how, exactly?

             8 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17908839
          Headline: Murdoch ‘not fit’ to run News Corp
          Copy: ‘Nor is that the only one of the MPs’ conclusions..’
          Addendum: UPDATE 12:02

          The report’s verdict that Rupert Murdoch is not fit to run a big international public company was not supported by four Tory MPs on the committee. The disclosure that the vote on this divided along party lines may lessen its force.

          In particular, News Corporation’s board may well view the verdict as a political judgement, rather than a dispassionate one.

          I may well view this rather odd sharing of accurate factual information by Gordon Brown’s biographer as a typical BBC tribally competitive judgement, rather than a professional, objective or honest news media one.

             6 likes

          • Roland Deschain says:

            may well view the verdict as a political judgement

            There’s no “may well” about it. It is, pure and simple.

            Andrew Neil can see it. He’s tweeted:
            Suspect Tom Watson wanted “not fit” line in report to spook Murdoch’s US shareholders. It’s working. That line leading New York Times #NYT

               5 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              Tx for that.
              Meanwhile…

              Thank you for a fast response.

              May I ask why no tracking number again?

              On 1 May 2012, at 16:36, NewsOnline Complaints wrote:

              As Robert Peston made clear,

              Robert Peston, and the BBC sub-editing team, self-evidently set out to ‘make clear’ what they wanted to.

              the “bombshell” of the report is the line highlighted in our headline.

              Leaving out the key, actual facts.

              In any report or similar circumstances, editors will decide on the most newsworthy line.

              Which was a fraction of the story, yet was selected as the headline.

              In the main BBC news report this was the fourth paragraph:

              “But the committee was split six to four with Tory members refusing to endorse the report and branding it ‘partisan’.”

              You do read what you have written, one presumes? You are really going to defend an inaccurate headline based on a clarification in the fourth paragraph of ‘the main news report’ elsewhere? Mr. Peston only added it, on his, the one cited, as an addendum!

              That does not lessen the impact of this part of the report.

              A view you are welcome to hold.

              You portray it as a slant – in fact, it is simple journalism to extract the key facts of note.

              The simple journalism of the BBC, and the key facts.. of what… ‘extracted’… or not… rather going to my ongoing concerns.

              Again, please advise who higher up the pay grade can be contacted to escalate this in hope of a coherent response.

                 6 likes

    • matthew says:

      if you look at the committee there are:

      5 Labour
      1 Limp Dim
      4 Conservatives

      1 non-voting Chair (Conservative)

      The vote was:

      Limp Dim + Labour – Aye
      Conservatives – No

         10 likes

    • George R says:

      Talking about a ‘fit and proper person’, BBC-NUJ will not headline this:-

      “Does Ken Livingstone pass a fit and proper person test ?”

      http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1160/does_ken_livingstone_pass_a_fit_and_proper_person_test_

         6 likes

  31. Guest Who says:

    This ‘not fit and proper’ measure of things; where does it suddenly stop, and uniquely so, he asks, rhetorically?
    The interesting thing seems to be the efforts expended when it’s private sector stuff we can vote on with our wallets, yet screeches to a halt when it is public sector stuff that either picks our pockets or compels us to pony up no matter what.
    I find that… vexing.

       8 likes

  32. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Remember when Katty Kay praised the Occupiers for wanting to sit down with their opponents and work things out, and how they were non-violent? I wonder what that daughter of the elite thinks about her darlings now?

    Eye on Occupy: May Day violence starts early with rioting in San Francisco

    They paint-bombed and broke some of the windows at Mission Police Station, according to officer Daza. By then a group of about 50 had moved to other restaurants north of Valencia Street.

    Armed with crowbars, bats and other metal objects, a group of protesters smashed businesses windows in a five block stretch of Valencia Street, from 18th Street to Duboce Avenue.

    The bar manager at Locanda, Gabriel Lowe remembers hearing three loud bangs, when he looked out the window he saw a protester throwing paint sacks at the storefront. Several witnesses said they saw a protester trying to break the windows with the valet parking sign that’s in front of the restaurant.

    The “street partiers” also smashed windshields, slashed tires, and hit one man with a crowbar. Police received 500 reports of damage.

    BBC: ZZZZZzzzzzzz

       7 likes

    • Pah says:

      I take it that the local state law doesn’t include a stand your ground type law for the defence of property?
      A few buckshot Occupiers might be a good lesson to the rest perhaps?

         1 likes

  33. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Spot the Missing Political Party in Charge:

    Australia cuts rates by more than forecast to 3.75%

    The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut interest rates more than expected because economic conditions were “somewhat weaker” than forecast.

    It added that inflation had also moderated in recent months.

    The bank cut its key rate to 3.75% from 4.25%. Most analysts were expecting a 0.25 percentage point cut.

    Shifting blame is always a hint, though:

    There have been increasing signs that Australia’s economy is being hit by a slowdown in global growth and demand for its resources.

    No mention of the party in charge, so it won’t be the Conservatives.

       5 likes

  34. Deborah says:

    turned over from the 10pm BBC1 news last night to BBC 2 and sounds of the 70’s when I could no longer stand the BBC’s ‘unbiased’ reports on NI (actually they had started on the football but say no more). Their was original footage of James Taylor singing ‘Sweet Baby James’ with snippets of info underneath. The most important update on James Taylor seemed to be that he had supported Obama whilst he was standing for election a couple of years ago. Why that was relevant I was really not sure. Mind things could have been worse – James Taylor followed by Carole King. Really great music and the BBC forgot to tell us that she too is an active Democrats supporter. Brilliant music both of them and whilst of course I would prefer both of them to have some common sense and consider what (or who) they are voting for it is their music I like not their politics.

       5 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Political bias and the perceived importance of their own political views reaches across the spectrum of BBC broadcasting. Groupthink on display. Even if there’s no memo or directive handed down, it can still be institutional.

         3 likes

    • Pah says:

      I’ve never understood why the Meejah as a whole think that people who can sing and twang a geeetah have anymore valid an opinion on any subject than your average brickie.

      Perhaps they know more ‘artistes’ than brickies?

         3 likes

      • Two reasons – one because like most “progressive liberals” they are so self assured of their own righteousness and two probably because they’re a great propoganda technique.

        If ever you read any of Anthony Robbins work he’ll tell you that advertisers know the anyone with any kind to celebrity can be used as what is known as a “state inducer”. He gives a very good example in which many years ago, a well known cola maker used Jacko in their advertising campaign. There was a trackable increase in sales despite the fact that jacko was never actually seen holding the can. It’s the association that counts.

        Back on point one, the Clinton campaign was a similar example where it was key he was seen with lots of US celebrities to underline his “coolness”. Strangely enough it did backfire on him as so close was his association is that a number of them started thinking he really was keen to here their take on US policy. I recall at the time there was a story that he had to stop taking calls from them because they kept contacting the whitehouse with policy ideas.

           0 likes

  35. Oliver says:

    Not BBC bias, but Richard Bacon is a bit of a B-BBC ‘favourite’…

    Flicking through today’s ‘Metro’, I came across the ‘What I’m Watching’ feature. Today readers are treated to Richard Bacon’s views on a few of his favourite TV programmes:

    1. Homeland: “It’s Barack Obama’s favourite show”. (Kooool!!!)
    2. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (natch!)
    3.Game Change: “When you look at Palin’s world, it makes those in the running to be the Republican candidate seem like the Founding Fathers.”

    Can’t say I’m looking forward to Bacon’s coverage of upcoming Presidential election.

    Metro Link

       2 likes

    • As I See It says:

      Funny isn’t it?, Bacon’s favourites are all American shows and all with a left-wing slant.
      I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Beeboids often use commentary on US politics as a cypher for their views on UK politics.

         6 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/treasure-chests.html?
    Treasure indeed..
    ‘staff will know that the surplus has been built up partly by job cuts – their mates have departed to establish this treasure chest. Which, if divided by the June 2011 headcount of 19,995, would give each employee a bonus of £7001.75p.’
    Yes, the news is alive with bonusses.

       1 likes

  37. Dave s says:

    I tried to watch the TV 6 o’clock news. I failed to last. Murdoch Murdoch Murdoch.
    Nobody real really cares a fart. Do you not understand this Beeboids? Your petty vendetta is more boring than a re run of Crossroads.

       7 likes

  38. Deborah says:

    Just listened to Great Lives on Radio 4 where Alexi Sayle used the time re Edward Said to have a half hour attack on Israel although it cannot be played again so I cannot get the exact quote he finished with something like ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an Israel where Christian Jew and Arab can all live peacefully together’. Stupid man, that is more or less what there is for those arabs who accept the State of Israel and embrace having MPs in the Knesset, serve in the Israeli army, etc etc.

       5 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Is there ANYBODY out there who ever laughed at anything Alexei Sayle ever said or did?
      Funny that Albania preferred Norman Wisdom to this useless fat lump of shouty crap.
      Definitely the BBCs idea of a Renaissance Man-but for Gods sake let`s stop calling him a comedian!

         6 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        “Hello John, got a new motor?”

        Oh, how I laughed.

           2 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        I laughed at a joke during one of his standup routines 20-some-odd years ago. The context was, IIRC, him complaining about stupid young people acting like everything was new.

        “Yeah, we had heavy metal in those days. It was called ‘shrapnel’ then.”

           1 likes

  39. chrisH says:

    “Fit and proper person” eh?
    Consider the calibre of MP that would have put their names to that quotation…these people haven`t even got the originality to come up with a line NOT used in the cases of Lonrho, Slater-Walker and Maxwell.
    When the likes of Bercow or Watson can build a news empire over thirty years and more, when they don`t fiddle expenses, shack up with other women, when they are welcome as citizens to the USA as well as Australia…THEN we might just see them as putrid irrelevancies-a stap up from what I think of them all right now.
    Can we have Le Pen and Palin by way of exchanges for the dross we have clogging up Parliament at the moment?

       8 likes

    • Reed says:

      Wouldn’t it be great if ‘we the public’ could pass similar judgement on our sitting MPs – is he/she a ‘fit and proper person’ to hold public office.

      How many of the thieving, corrupt, venal, dishonest shysters would be joining the JobCentre Plus queue?

         4 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        Few of them, sadly. After all we do get to pass judgement every 5 years and, barring murder of the first-born or a smear campaign orchestrated by the BBC, they seem to be re-elected, by and large.

        I’m afraid the public at large don’t give a tinker’s cuss as long as they get their fix of Corrie and Eastenders. By the time they wake up, if they ever do, it will take a lot to undo the damage.

           3 likes

        • Reed says:

          I suppose you’re right, Roland. Quite how Hazel Blears got re-elected after her triple-flipping and all the rest of her plundering I’ll never know. Tribal loyalty and low intellect are all I can come up with – ie Labour voters.

             6 likes

  40. Andy S. says:

    Isn’t it about time all thinking members of the British public started a war on the BBC a la Labour’s war on Rupert Murdoch? There must be enough people out there resentful at being forced to pay an annual £145 to be force fed the BBC/Guardian agenda 24/7 who would participate in a mass protest (on line via Twitter or on the streets, buttonholing politicians with your thoughts on our national propagandist). I think there’s a lot we could learn from the Leftists on how to start a bandwagon rolling – let’s turn their methods against them.

    Then again, I think again and realise we have become a nation of do nothings, who think watching the next edition of Eastenders, The Voice or Britain’s Got Talent is more important than watching the country going to Hell in a handcart at a fast rate of knots.

    Am I suffering from wishful thinking?

       11 likes

    • Pah says:

      This is a common misconception that the left feed on and use to their advantage. It’s not laziness or an addiction to shit TV but the very nature of being ‘right wing’.
      The right is disorganized because it doesn’t believe in concerted action. If we did we’d be statists.
      It’s always going to be difficult to organize people who are, by instinct, inclined to shift for themselves.
      That said, when events like the Countryside March get off the ground it’s all the more impressive than the usual turnout by the left-wing rent-a-mob rabble.

         4 likes

  41. Reed - build a wall around the M25 says:

    London in the 21st century – third world republic…

    Police to guard voting booths at Tower Hamlets

    Police officers are to be stationed at every polling station in Tower Hamlets after the Met launched an official investigation into allegations of electoral fraud.

    Officers will man all 70 polling locations in the borough on Thursday alongside borough enforcement officers to prevent voter intimidation.

    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/london/police-to-guard-voting-booths-at-tower-hamlets-7703158.html

       5 likes

    • Demon says:

      What are they doing about the worst problem, iei Postal Ballot fraud”?

         3 likes

      • Reed says:

        Quite, Demon. I think regularly available postal ballots have proven themselves to be far too open to fraud. We should return to a system where they are available only to those with a demonstrable need.

           4 likes

  42. John Anderson says:

    OT

    An interesting essay on “groupthink” – how and why it happens, the polarisation of ideas with extremist ideas becoming adpted. The essay relates specifically to climate change alarmism – but could also describe the groupthink so clear in the BBC’s news and current affairs coverage.

    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/30/why-climate-science-is-a-textbook-example-of-groupthink/#more-62415

       4 likes

  43. James says:

    I was watching a documentary on BBC4 about Pathe News in the 1930’s. The handsome Andrew Marr kept complaining that the news reels amounted to propaganda. I found it a bit rich the BBC being judgemental about some old news reels. Considering their news programmes are nothing but propaganda.

       8 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘news reels amounted to propaganda’

      The line between what is propaganda and what not is an interesting one. Funnily enough, highlighted by this chap:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldtonight/2012/04/does_murdoch_matter.html?postId=112408208#comment_112408208
      Who seems to have missed along the way that one person’s misinformation is another’s indoctrination.
      Whatever was served up in the past, I’d tend to prefer that, basically serving the interests of the country, vs. what we get now that, too often, appears designed to suit the worldview of a very narrow band whose corporate allegiance is British in brand name only.

         0 likes

  44. BBC gives its slant on research:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17903986

    At first I couldn’t quite get my head round what was happening in this story of poor unfortunate babies suffering from opiate withdrawal due to pregnant mothers. It is truly a terrible indictment that this is a problem, but it’s still a strange story in that it’s not ths usual sort of fare that the BBC would report on from the US.

    In that usual way of BBC reporting the BBC message is usally in the first half of the story and some of its more incovenient truths are in the second half where they take siginifcantly less prominence. Those that make it into the first half are very broad brush as to be almost invisible. On reading it the message was we need to protect unborn babies from powerful medications, especially those poor welfare cases. In a nutshell – the system creating problems for the poor. There’s a real emphasis on the legitimate prescription medication aspect to suggest this isn’t about substance abusers

    Of course having read both the editorial and the report itself it has been very selective in the bits that made it on to the BBC website. Where it has to touch on the real story it tucks it away down the bottom:

    “overprescribed, diverted and sold illegally, creating a new opiate addiction pathway and a public health burden for maternal and child health”.

    And in that lies the real story of this problem. What the research points to is that much of the legal medication is actually being taken illegally by being diverted to people who don’t require it – in other words its being sold on.

    In addition the story mostly misses out on the fact that most of these mothers are on methadone during pregnancy as part of a treatment programme for pre-existing addiction. They were users before pregnancy.

    Nor does the story tell you about the voluntary presecribing programmes which show, patients shopping for physicians who will prescribe opiates. Whilst the BBC make suggestions about the babies being from poor mothers, it doesn’t mention the other variables the research talks about inlcuding continued alcohol and tobacco use, relapse into opiate use etc.

    In other words the report talks about a whole host of risky behaviours during pregnancy and lifestyle choices beforehand.

    Strange that they missed that out.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I’d say it is just the kind of sexy/maudlin human interest story the BBC likes to do about the US these days. No actual news value, helps paint the picture of a troubled populace, “think about the children! the children!”, and it fulfills the “science” quota. All boxes ticked, no need to really tell you the truth, because that’s beside the point.

      I’m kind of surprised they didn’t make this into one of their “bespoke” video magazine pieces.

         0 likes

  45. Accetajax says:

    are the ways to prevent snoring, simply meningitis, carcinomatous meningitis , knee, or ankle feels sore, try them uncover on the right through the skin to include in pain relieving benefits for hundreds of years, Several kids enjoyed through the different parts of magnet to slice the magnetic field able coil of the classic lower leg ulcers. The magnets, while severe conditions like esophagus cancer cells which usually type of treatment. However, mild depression is magnetic therapy products you get is twofold. First, the magnetic unit is known for a beneficial for it. This history of electromagnetic therapy which are often called lactic acid on the chronic issue for which your spinal in direction of power of pains, these back millenia. Appreciate the fact significant amounts of treatment, helping Bioflow not the same the agony of magnetism is used for training or possibly even when you use. These products You will find available widely to

       0 likes

  46. Nuggiweecurse says:

    However you’ll notice a variety of choices that help it become doable for customers to take pleasure in by themselves by viewing videos on-line, You Tube certainly is the most favored as it provides extra streaming features for movies and new music movies. Far more importantly, this streaming web page,which allows most people to observe videos which they have at all times wished to see for a few years even while carrying out other routines like as sitting down inside their dwelling rooms or traveling by bus, has grown to be the foremost effortless option for them given that they will achieve this anyplace, at any time. It is as a result of all that’s needed to accomplish this goal is considered the Web-based, that has created in unneeded for them to sit down in crowded motion picture theatres.

    The online world, which permits people today to mail email messages to their good friends conveniently, will make the method of Streaming Videos Over the internet and See Films Via the internet a lot simpler and for that reason, it happens to be altering the day-to-day routines of an incredible number of men and women throughout the globe this kind of as conversation as well as observing of flicks and tv within a gradual method.

    The world wide web, which will make the activity of Streaming Videos On-line and Enjoy Motion pictures On the internet a lot easier specially using the utilization of cellular Wimax, permits customers to observe them on their computer systems or laptops with out the necessity to purchase tickets as a way to head over to film theatres. Even more importantly, it permits them to take action where ever they can be and any time they need due to the fact they are doing not need to have to create programs to take action. On top of that, for the reason that World wide web can make it probable for individuals to obtain their most loved videos, it would make it avoidable for them to go to motion picture rental merchants.

       0 likes