264 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. George R says:

    Beeboid health advice: you walk, I’m getting a taxi.

    “Cycle and walking ‘must be norm’ for short journeys”

    By Nick Triggle
    Health correspondent, BBC News.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20499005

    “BBC executive on £328,000 pocketed £2,500 in taxi expenses in just THREE MONTHS… and reclaimed £2 cash machine fee”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2189430/BBC-executive-running-new-Director-General-328-000-pocketed-2-500-taxi-expenses-just-THREE-MONTHS–reclaimed-2-cash-machine-fee.html

       50 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Ah yes, it’s that old advice ” Dont do as I do, do as I tell you”.
      The world is full of folk offering advice like that.

         40 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Especially the environmentalist/warmists at the BBC – they’ve got to follow the script given to them at their secret CMEP meeting in 2006, doncha know.

           23 likes

    • GCooper says:

      Yes and the BBC is clearly wetting itself with joy at Cameron’s latest nanny state wheeze – (even) higher booze prices.

      Hard not to suspect that Beeboids would be somewhat less ecstatic if cannabis and cocaine were being targeted for the jackboot treatment.

         35 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      The favoured trick for the droids is to ‘cab it’ to that very important high-level lunch and keep the cabbie outside on the meter for the duration because…

      1. I can
      2. I am a VERY IMPORTANT PERSON
      3. I want everyone at the lunch to know that I am a VERY IMPORTANT PERSON.
      4. Hailing a cab is for you, the little people.
      5. It’s someone else’s money.

         57 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The nomenklatura are exempt from the rules the rest of us must follows. It was ever thus. Makes one wonder if part of the new DG’s compensation package includes a dacha in the countryside….

         22 likes

  2. Pounce says:

    The daily anti-Semitism spot from the bBC
    Raising Israel’s Altalena ship ‘a lesson for the future’
    A project to raise a sunken ship in Israel, the Altalena, is stirring up painful memories of a violent confrontation between the army of the newborn state and the Irgun Jewish paramilitary group, reports PRI The World’s Matthew Bell. Schoolchildren in Israel this year are studying two former prime ministers – David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin. Next year 2013 will be the 100th anniversary of Begin’s birth, and 40 years since Ben Gurion’s death. All these years later, Israeli authorities believe there is a great deal to learn from the two national icons.The truth is, Ben-Gurion and Begin did not like each other very much.

    bBC verdict:
    “How can you trust a people who kill their own.
    I quote:
    Jews killing Jews. That is what makes the Altalena affair such a painful one for Israelis.

    The bBC, making you hate the jew is what we do.

       24 likes

    • As I See It says:

      ‘Arab Awakening’ but Jewish Civil War.

      Only on the BBC

         30 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘”People were very angry,”
      Unleash… The Mason!
      He must be knocking round the region by now, or is it free of his unique take on the human condition due to the amazing results of the the RoP’s beard-on-beard hug-fest to date?

         6 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I think this is more like a welcome (to them) reminder that Israel was founded on terrorism. It’s one of the favorite tactics of anti-Israel types when arguing about the legitimacy of the PLO/Hamas/Hezbollah vs. Israel. I’ve been hearing this for at least 25 years.

      The anti-Israel side will demand that one either accept the suicide bombs, mortars, and rockets, or denounce Israel’s legitimacy because, they say, Israel was founded on terrorism. And they killed British troops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

         11 likes

    • Ian Hills says:

      Both in the run-up and during Israel’s 1948 war of independence, the Arabs killed more of each other than they did Jews, and the Hitler fan who ordered more Arab deaths than anyone else was a cleric of the religion of peace – Haj Amin el Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

         16 likes

  3. uncle bup says:

    Further re other thread and Paxman eventually crawling out from under a rock.

    Re the Newsnight disaster he of course did his press release (that no-one had asked for) and then de haut en bas declaimed that he would make no further comment on the matter (no-one had asked) nor would he answer any questions (which again no-one was asking).

    Of course arrogant horse-faced twat can’t keep his gob shut so now we have ‘friends of’ or ‘sources close to’ Horseface briefing the press instead.

    Time to strip out the ‘nearly’ from his ‘nearly resigned.

    Or failing that, he could actually *join* the BBC – I mean it’s only been thirty years or so now.

       36 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Thank you for your comments Uncle Bup, my previous questions about paxo were indeed seeking information because I don’t have chance to see every episode of newsnight, so I was never quite sure if he had indeed popped up while I wasn’t watching. It would appear that he didn’t then, and your comments ring very true.

         8 likes

  4. Earls Court says:

       1 likes

  5. George R says:

    EGYPT.

    Islam Not BBC (INBBC) manages the news, and censors out the Islamic murder verdicts on Christians (in absentia):-

    “Egyptian court sentences seven Christians to death for Muhammad video”

    [Excerpt]:-
    “Since Obama has repeatedly condemned this video, don’t expect him to stand up for the freedom of speech or say a word about this new advance of Sharia in glorious ‘Arab Spring’ Egypt.”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/11/egyptian-court-sentences-seven-christians-to-death-for-muhammad-video.html

       19 likes

  6. George R says:

    ‘Daily Mail’ (Ephraim Hardcastle’s Diary- scroll down)-

    “BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten and new Director-General Tony Hall both have life peerages – the first a consolation prize for losing his Tory parliamentary seat in Bath, the second for making a success of the Royal Opera House after retiring from the BBC.

    “But will Mark Thompson and George Entwistle get knighthoods, the usual retirement gift for ex-DGs? Both say they knew nothing of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

    “And Entwistle additionally knew nothing about Newsnight’s unjustified attack on Lord McAlpine. But would any Director-General over the past 40 years have got his ‘K’ if he’d admitted hearing of what BBC star Savile was doing, sometimes on Corporation premises? ”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2239523/Was-new-Archbishop-Canterbury-born-wedlock.html

       15 likes

  7. George R says:

    “Mongoose v snake … this contest was as thrilling as I’ve seen”
    By QUENTIN LETTS

    [Opening excerpt]:-

    “Rudyard Kipling wrote a Raj story about a mongoose fighting a cobra.
    I thought of that pulsating tale while watching BBC chairman Lord Patten thrash in the dust with Tory MP Philip Davies (Shipley).”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2239531/Lord-Patten-Tory-MP-Philip-Davies-Mongoose-v-snake–contest-thrilling-Ive-seen.html

       11 likes

    • George R says:

      A reprise of part of the exchanges:-

      (5 min video)

         18 likes

      • GCooper says:

        I listened to this last night and, I must say, for once I disagree with Letts. I thought Davies exposed Patten for the condescending irrelevance that he clearly is.

        And I say that without having known who was doing the grilling. Hearing his accent (I turned on after the section began) I jumped to the shameful conclusion that it was some Northern Labourite who was doing such a good job of letting Patten reveal the depths of his utter loathsomeness.

           37 likes

        • Wild says:

          Chris Pattern clearly resents having to answer to anybody. It is easy to see why he was perceived to be a suitable for the BBC.

             43 likes

        • lojolondon says:

          I never heard of Davies before, but I think I like him! Pattern is exactly the pompous twat he always appears.

             35 likes

          • Louis Robinson says:

            “I was asked by the government to chair the UK-India Round Table…” translation: “I am a confidant of the great”

            “And I’m afraid there’s a dinner afterwards” – translation: “You’re not in my class, you little oik”

            “Chancellor of Oxford University, a post that was held by Harold MacMillan when he was Prime Minister, by Roy Jenkins while he was leader of his party when he was in the House of Lords” – Translation: “THAT’S how important I am!”

            Boy! Has he changed from the boy wonder of Bath into a complacent elder who is above being rigorously cross-questioned. Those questions needed to be asked. The Chairman of the BBC is NOT a part time job.

               40 likes

            • Moise Pippic says:

              Wonder how the BBC would have reported the exchange if Rupert Murdoch had responded to Tom Watson the way Patten did with Davis.

                 33 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Davies was too rude to be ultimately effective, I think, but just the fact that Patten refused to take responsibility for appointing Entwistle should be grounds for his impeachment.

               16 likes

          • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

            ” never heard of Davies”
            Me neither, but Davies for PM in my book. He shoved it up that pompous tub really well.

               19 likes

          • Daphne Anson says:

            Like him? I love him!!!

               3 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          Patten is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the BBC.

          They are as suited to each other as pigs are to shit.

             22 likes

          • Ian Hills says:

            A vote of no confidence would have been nice, but I guess MPs would have got bad publicity for it – fake pedo allegations, maybe.

               7 likes

          • John Anderson says:

            Patten is also the epitome of what is wrong with the Tory Party. “Not one of us” – Maggie used him but did not like him.

               10 likes

          • dez says:

            So Conservative PM David Cameron appoints Conservative party member and ex-Conservative Party chairman Chris Patten to be in charge of the BBC and he is; “the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the BBC.”
             
            Couldn’t agree with you more!

               3 likes

      • noggin says:

        a mixture of smug arrogance, mixed with the squirming of a fat slug who has just been salted …..
        avaricious, hign handed pr-ck.

           33 likes

        • wallygreeninker says:

          As well is an expression of contemptuous conceit, he has the face of a tippler as well.

             18 likes

          • graphene fedora says:

            Prescottian jowls, but just a little more patrician. Equally contemptible. A louche, seasoned old trougher, ideally suited to squander public money without the slightest remorse. The unacceptable face of ‘Conservatism’. A grubby, overpriced, fake jewel, coming loose in its setting, but reluctant to fall out of the BBC’s increasingly twisted old crown.

               34 likes

      • Dave s says:

        The BBC and Patten deserve each other. Whether the taxpayer deserves either is another matter.

           32 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Labour MPs Ben Bradshaw and Paul Farrelly laughed, gusting their adoration.’
      By their sycophants shall thee know them.
      ‘Why had Lord Patten not intervened in the BBC’s editorial affairs? ‘I just wonder if you’ve ever read the Charter,’ said Lord P with modulated loathing’
      So, that’s no’s all round then, evidently.
      But by treating this as a game along with the Westminster Lobby detritus so long as alcohol pricing is for us and not them, Mr. Letts has now managed something remarkable; I have reassigned his value as a journalist on par with the majority of the BBC.
      No mean feat.

         13 likes

  8. chrisH says:

    The segment of Today devoted to Yesterday in Parliament this morning was a typical piece of BBC propaganda.
    The likes of Naughtie and Webb seemed pleased at the flummery and pas-de deux between the Tory(boo) and the Chairman of the BBC Trust(hooray).
    Philip Davies was put in his place, as it were-or so the BBC narrative implied-and his pertinent questions about Pattens countless other jobs, and his sleeping at the wheel during Saviles travels were seen as nitpicking from the lower orders downstairs.
    1. Davies is elected by people-Patten is a padded grandee, as foisted on us by the BBC.
    2. That Patten called Human Resources “Human Relations”, amongst other errors showed him to be a man out of time, and on a sinecure…but the Today lot wouldn`t have that.
    The BBC seemed fascinated by these two swapping acid tongues in the corridors of Westminster-but, as ever, no mention of Pattens costs, his time management-or indeed how much this wasp chewing is costing the taxpayer…as if the BBC ever care about such transient trifles.
    So much for accountabilty and Mockney classnessness-when push comes to shove, the BBC side with whoever ponies up for their drugs, booze and transport…as long as its not the bloody white trash and civilians of populist nightmares…Patten deserves better, and he`s worth it.
    As to Entwhistle…who?

       24 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Amazingly Patten was foisted on us by Dithering Dave not the BBC. As usual Dave missed an opportunity to do something about BBC bias . Perhaps he supports the BBC ! How he reconciles this with being leader of the Tory party , which the BBC rubbishes at every opportunity , even if they have to lie to do it, is beyond me.
      Basically I think he just a daft, dithering ,timid patrician Tory who doesn’t realise what the BBC is up to.

         21 likes

      • ltwf1964 says:

        call me dave isn’t even a conservative with a small “c” ,never mind a tory

        he made the same mistake appointing Patton as the tories did appointing HIM

           23 likes

        • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

          Yes we are speaking here about a Tory who believes that admitting 80 million turks into EU is a wonderful act.
          Dopey Dave huh?
          Sorry for the repetition of this message (not really).

             24 likes

          • David Lamb says:

            Think of Dave as a member of Blair or Brown’s cabinet and you will see his allegiances.

               4 likes

  9. noggin says:

    i hear on the bbc coming home, that another tory dhimwit, “little willy” vague, has been stealing good air again.
    “the UK would not oppose moves to recognise the Palestinians as a “non-member observer state”
    and may abstain until certain conditions are met .
    “may”??? … the slippery slope.

       14 likes

  10. chrisH says:

    No BBC -do tell me-what would health experts, campaigning Scots, Welsh or Europe have to say about pricing booze per unit at high rates then?
    What`s that?…that it`ll save us all many lives-and if it saves just one, then no price is to high?…oh, and here`s the research to back that up?..well, that`s news to me -thank you so much!
    Campaigners, experts and health professionals from advocacy groups?,…aren`t this lot just killjoys and sticky-beaks on a crusade to turn us Muslim?
    The EU spawned this lot of whey-faced boots and creeps…and they mushroom in our Celtic Fringes, so they can be virtuous Socialists at our expense.
    Anyone seen Vivian Nathanson?…I`m in danger of enjoying a glass of wine this weekend with my meal, and need to confess this to the BMA!

       12 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Hey mate, us Welsh don’t want their bloody version of pricing booze out of the reach of us plebs!
      As per usual it won’t make diddly squat difference to the cost of the lafite or margaux, but when I want my white lightning I’m not going to be happy.
      However, in Wales, maybe we can get an opt-out? after all we get free prescriptions.

         15 likes

  11. JaneTracy says:

    Things are going from bad to worse for BBC Economics Editor Stephanie floundering Flanders. Her latest piece on the Euro had comment after comment telling her she was out of touch. How dare they as Steph knows the price of caviar and champagne as well as anyone!

    Unfortunately he analysis of the UK economy has hit more naysayers as the most popular comment says.

    “Steph,

    You were puzzling that one over a while back:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19984877

    “Economists have spent a lot of time pondering the jobs puzzle. So have I (sigh).”

    Many pointed out the obvious (even me – told you so!). Are economists really that dumb?”

    Yes Steph really is that dumb…

       27 likes

  12. George R says:

    BBC-NUJ wants extended holiday for its members in late December= cancelled programmes for licence payers.

    “BBC Christmas strike threat grows as redeployment row escalates”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/28/bbc-strike-threat-grows-nuj-redeployment?

    (Save apartheid Asian Network now.)

       10 likes

    • Stewart S says:

      I so want the NUJ to strike ,at christmas and over this issue.

         12 likes

    • DJ says:

      BBC journalists on strike?

      Does that mean they’ll have to bring in the troops to ensure a continuous supply of libelous drivel about elderly ex-politicians?

         20 likes

    • Reed says:

      Note to BBC News – there are now plenty of free alternatives to your news provision.

      You might have guaranteed funding, but no longer have a guaranteed audience.

      From national treasure to national embarrassment. Plebs.

         16 likes

    • TigerOC says:

      Cannot have that a permanent strike please.

         5 likes

  13. Alex says:

    There are two things which are really making me angry with the BBC at present. The first is their constant and blatant playing down of the fall in unemployment in every way imaginable; they just simply cannot bring themselves to accept that the Government’s back-to-work agenda might be taking some effect. Under Liebour’s catastrophic reign, Paul ‘I can pretend to be a trendy urban socialist because I’m on a massive wage’ Mason and Steph ‘Snooty Spoiled Rich-kid’ Flanders were so busy idolizing their every move that gaping incompetencies in Labour’s ‘boom and bust’ nonsense went largely unreported.
    The second irritating indoctrination is a little more subtle and subliminal. You might have noticed that whenever the BBC are reporting on cultural positives they mostly use ethnic minorities as examples or interviewees. Conversely, any negatives are reported using white British people.

       39 likes

    • Chop says:

      Non-white chappies n chapesses can’t be wasist dear boy…

      Tis an exclusive domain of evil whitey, doncha know.

         16 likes

    • dez says:

      “The second irritating indoctrination is a little more subtle and subliminal. You might have noticed that whenever the BBC are reporting on cultural positives they mostly use ethnic minorities as examples or interviewees. Conversely, any negatives are reported using white British people.”
       
      Yes Alex. Or perhaps they just interview “people”.
       
      Ever think that maybe not everybody is as interested in skin colour as you are?

         6 likes

      • Maturecheese says:

        Oh I think they are but they just keep their mouths shut these days due to people like you who are right behind our wonderful cultural enrichment.

           18 likes

      • TigerOC says:

        Dez that is a truely wonderful concept but……………

        If I landed here from Mars and plonked in front of a tv via ANY British media I would quickly assume that the country was inhabited by a 1/3 black, 1/3 asian and a 1/3 white people.
        To randomly select people out of crowd is one thing to stage manage the right quotas is another.

        You are as aware of the quotas as me. We are all aware that the whole thing is managed and bears absolutely no reference to reality. It’s all part of the program of multicultural indoctrination.

        Speak out and likely you will be locked in jail until you confess to being a racist. Emma West has been in jail for a year and no trial scheduled yet. Heard any hue and cry about justice from the BBC. No neither have I.

           18 likes

        • ROBERT BROWN says:

          What? She’s still in jail? That is a monstrous example of our useless and biased legal system. Three people known to me have moved out of London, stating that they’re worried for the education of their children, the schools being swamped by immigrant kids of many nationalities, and the feeling they are strangers in their own country. This is a disgrace, thank you Blunkett you blind c… and all the other worthless politicians that have foisted this upon us.

             13 likes

    • JaneTracy says:

      Dont forget Robert “my father is Labout finance peer Lord Peston”. Now where did he get his scoops like the way he destroyed Northern Rock from?

      This week without such contacts Robert Peston named 4 men on a shortlist for the job of Governor of the Bank of England and it was none of them. The temerity! You mean that he has to think for himself now?

      Where will he find time to write another book and spend all that time being invited onto the BBC to discuss it?

         2 likes

  14. Guest Who says:

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/colinfreeman/100191765/fixers-the-unsung-heroes-and-villains-of-foreign-reporting/
    ‘Namely, somewhat self-obsessed, not terribly well-informed, and, in speaking little or no Arabic, somewhat under-qualified for relaying the complexities of the unfolding crisis to the outside world. ‘
    No reason, Jon, Jeremy, Orla, Ted & Alice… no reason.

       13 likes

  15. Bannerman says:

    Jacqui Smith on Radio 5 live tonight 10.30pm with a show called “Stoned Again” funny I unfortunately missed the thieving witch’s first stoning.
    Hope its a phone in!

       23 likes

  16. As I See It says:

    BBC : Stoned Again

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p0v7k

    ‘Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith re-examines whether her decision to reclassify cannabis, against expert advice, was the right one. And four years on – if she had to make the decision again – would it be the same one?’

    Later Former Chancellor Gordon Brown re-examines whether his decision to flog off at bargain basement prices British gold reserves for Euros, against expert advice, was the right one. And years on – if he had to make the decision again – would it be the same one?

    Former PM Tony Blair re-examines his decision to embark on a decade of massive state borrowing and expansion of the public sector.

    Former Home Secretary David Blunkett on his open door immigration policy.

    Just kidding on all but the first one there!

    I’m perplexed about who it is who might be suspected of being the most badly stoned here?

    The Labourites, the BBC or is it us British for putting with this drivel?

    The BBC: Legalise it, we’ll advertise it.

       29 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

         4 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Should we be holding our collective breath for the BBC to hire Smith to re-examine whether her decision to ban Geert Wilders from your shores was the right one?

         15 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      And yet… and yet… the BBC seems oddly keen on the present Coalition of the Billing’s latest vote loser when it comes to redirecting tax from 99.9999% of the population’s ‘get you through the week’ evening chiller to their golden pension plans using the excuse of the a few slappers and chavs doing an #Occupy in the back of a police Panda.

         7 likes

    • splish says:

      Thought it was amazing myself to hear an honest conclusion stated at the end. To have this on the BBC is pretty positive. If only something similar would happen with vaccination……

         0 likes

  17. As I See It says:

    Top two BBC stories on their UK On Line News page.

    Minimum alcohol pricing

    Restrictions on pay day loan rates.

    Sorry I must have nodded off and woken up in a socialist state.

    Of course BBC reporters and commentators are purring with approval for these ideas. They can hardly contain their delight.

    And what do we suppose will be the outcome of these measures?

    The hard up will find it more difficult to get a legal high street loan and will fall back on illegal loan sharks.

    The lads will be setting off to Calais on another big booze cruise.

    That is if Brussels actually permits our puppet parliament to pass these measures into law – because they haven’t thought of them first.

    I despair.

       16 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      Having been in my time a lending banker, I got to say I’m with the government on this one. The idea that these are somehow ‘payday’ loans is a joke. They are just bog standard loans with a criminal interest rate. They don’t protect people from penury they drive them into penury.

      A few years ago a Glasgow money lender was arrested, charged and convicted, Over and above the thuggery, one of his several books (and they were books) showed a take of £90,000 a year and he never had more than £3,000 out on loan at any one time.

      Wonga et al are just cheaper versions of this. The millions of pounds of profit they make are coming straight fom the poorest, most gullible, and most vulnerable – it’s hardly providing a service – it’s legalised criminality.

      I’m as capitalist a the next man, but sometimes the plebs really need protected from themselves.

      I agree with all your other posts though 😉

         31 likes

      • Alex says:

        Well said.

           11 likes

      • Albaman says:

        Got to agree with you. Like you I was a “lending banker”. Decisions to lend were always based on the borrowers ability to repay. Pay day lenders make their income from an inability to repay.

           13 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          And the people who take them out don’t know that, of course?

          If you were a ‘lending banker’, you must have been appalled at how Brown allowed the greedy banks to let rip with irresponsible lending and, of course, encouraged greedy people to load themselves up with crippling mortgage, loan and credit card debt.

             2 likes

          • Albaman says:

            Not really sure of your point – apart from disagreeing with me for the sake of disagreeing. Very few people (except fraudsters) will take on a loan or overdraft with the intention of not repaying it. Banks, no matter how much you may dislike them, do not make a profit on the non-repayment of a debt. If, after looking at the applicants full financial position, I was not satisfied they could repay the debt I never lent to them. As for laying all the blame at Brown’s door this conveniently ignores the free marketeers who at the time were pushing for even less regulation of the financial services market.

               2 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              ‘apart from disagreeing with me for the sake of disagreeing’
              Now that… is pure gold.
              Tx!
              Even if I do have now to get the Windowlene for the monitor screen.

                 1 likes

            • johnnythefish says:

              As for laying all the blame at Brown’s door this conveniently ignores the free marketeers who at the time were pushing for even less regulation of the financial services market.’.

              What a load of balls – sorry – Balls. Is that you Ed?

              If you were a banker you might be familiar with the monthly and quarterly returns the banks had to make to the Bank of England, and the key ratios the B of E used to track as a key part of its supervisory role. So, for example, Norhern Rock would never have been allowed to get near a fraction of the 11 times total of customer deposits it was borrowing on the inter bank market to fund its reckless lending (remember 125% mortgages?).

              Now who relieved the B of E of its supervisory role?

              As for my own view – greedy banks, greedy borrowers, greedy government – simple as that.

                 5 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      When I worked in the City, at one time I was responsible for the my employer’s relationship with a large US-owned (what would now be called) pay-day lender which years later was taken over (and run into the ground as it happens) by one of the large UK banks. We gave the lender an enormous (at the time) credit facility and I was curious as to how their business could be so profitable.
      The average amount out (always unsecured) to any particular customer (then – the late 70s) was about £200. The annualised interest rate was around 30-40%. I don’t know what the Wonga comparison is but, whatever it is, AER is not an appropriate measure to assess interest rates charged in this kind of business.
      According to Mr Big in London, the key to the business was simple and obvious: finding good borrowers ie those who would repay on time. So successful was this part of the business strategy that bad debt provisions were, basically, non-existent since the open secret of this type of banking (which disappeared in the UK commercial banks in the run-up to 2008) was to identify who was good for the money. I asked why, if this was such good business, the major UK commercial banks were not competing madly for it or, more to the point, why didn’t his customers just pop in to the local Barclays.
      Mr Big laughed and said that, first the clearing banks weren’t interested in small unsecured loans – too small, too time-consuming, too expensive to administer. More revealing though was who wants to deal (and he quoted a senior official at a well-known clearer) with “those sort of people – we’re bankers not pawn brokers”. Mr Big added that his customers would not want to go into a bank anyway: they felt patronised and were likely to be shown the door sharpish so his outfit benefitted. Furthermore the major banks then (and I reckon now) were only really interested in loans secured against property (ie mortgage) or assets (which resolved into leasing and HP).
      Mr Big added that, in any case (and this rings true), the major banks were so incompetent generally that running the tight ship which this type of business required was completely beyond them. Accordingly, there was no competition and the rates charged both reflected this and the (admittedly) high expense of administering the lending book.
      So what is going to happen now? The “feel-good” crowd will see to it that Wonga and its legitimate competitors eventually leave the market. High interest rates cover the very high costs of administration and – although I don’t know their extent – bad debts. Where does a small borrower with few securable assets go?
      The banks? Don’t make me laugh. I find it bad enough dealing with them and I’m not even a borrower, let alone a small, regular one with a marginal job and Christmas coming up. The obvious and easiest place to go is your friendly neighbourhood loan-shark whose money-lending business is generally an offshoot of his day-job as a drug dealer (getting rid of the cash is always a problem in the drugs trade). Interest rates will be higher than Wonga and the cost of not repaying on time, financially and physically damaging.
      Luckily though, the BBC and its employees will be pleased: they and other professional bleeding hearts in the political class can go home to their mansions in Islington or Salford on their 6-figure salaries content that they have put another robber-baron capitalist out of business. The punters? Who cares about them? They’ll find a way.

         7 likes

      • Albaman says:

        The late 70’s was also when the Consumer Credit Act 1974 came into effect which initially led to additional documentation for unsecured personal loans and subsequently overdrafts and mortgages. It was at this stage that APR started being used which covered not only the interest element but any other costs associated with the sum borrowed. As you rightly state for small short term loans this can produce some “astronomic” APR rates. Comparison between lenders was also difficult in that the interpretation of “associated costs” was different across the lenders. A good example is Valuation Fees where some lenders took this as an associated cost and others argued that it was not (in effect for a very small % of mortgages they would not ask for a valuation and as such extended this across all mortgage lending).
        You assertion that major bank’s were only interested in secured lending at this time is wrong. At that time the majority of high street banks did not provide mortgages (this was the realm of the traditional building society) but they did have sizable unsecured personal overdraft and personal loan books. It was the mid 80’s before the major banks started taking mortgage lending seriously. Whilst banks continued to lend against the customers ability to repay it was the former building societies (Northern Rock in particular) who became an aggressive lender to those wanting 100% or more, high salary multiples and non-certified income mortgages.

           2 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          Good post, but ‘It was the mid 80′s before the major banks started taking mortgage lending seriously.’

          They could only do this because of de-regulation and the lifting of restrictions on their balance sheets. Prior to that time, too, Building Societies were operating a near-cartel on savings and related mortgage rates, making entry into the market uncompetitive for others and also restricting the amount of money available resulting in mortgage ‘queues’.

          Home ownership rose from 50% in the 1970s to two thirds in the 1980s mainly because of deregulation and making the market more competitive, but partly also because of the introduction of ‘right to buy’.

          PS ‘Unsecured lending’ was one of the key figures banks had to report to the B of E every month.

             3 likes

  18. Chilli says:

    O/T but CH4 news leading tonight on a report which claims 100% of women in the armed forces have been “victims of unwanted sexual attention” at some point in their careers. This was damned by the lefties as if it were paedophilia. But surely “unwanted sexual attention” encompasses all manner of perfectly innocent things: some ugly bloke complimenting a woman on her appearance or asking her out on a date. If the woman thinks the bloke is ugly or a berk then this would qualify as “unwanted sexual attention”. Are the army to be smeared with charges on sexism on the basis of this drivel.

       19 likes

  19. AngusPangus says:

    Readers might be interested to know that on clicking through to Stephanie Flanders’ blog today, I was invited to complete a survey on what I thought of it, which was nice.

       17 likes

  20. noggin says:

    i note that 5live-ers are getting back in touch, with their roots – where it all began – back to the “common” people?
    before the “gravy train”?
    today, (Marr/Jagger lovechild) R. Bacon goes to Mansfield obviously to “give back” now he moves in different circles. like watching a petulant only child when no one gets the joke.
    apparently, (cracker joke wannabe) N Campbell is scooting up to Edinburgh, and Bill Turnbull s off to well
    who cares – bored already.
    bbc still flogging their “golden” olympic horse today too
    radio 4, 5live, the one show on and on, lord “dummy spitter ” Coe turns up on the one show … bbc still are absolutely desperate to get Mo Farrah sportsmen of the year – to tick every shitty lefty, multiculti box for them.

       18 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Well, they have fixed the shortlist, now they’ll fix the vote!

         8 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        Just heard ITV are featuring Mo Farrah on their This Morning Prog.
        So the softening up process has begun by the MSM. Stand by for many more placements in the near future.
        I wonder if This Morning will announce that many other sporting choices are available? ( all carefully selected by the INBBC this time).

           7 likes

        • As I See It says:

          I suppose you can’t blame the BBC for going on and on and on about the Olympics. They were the most PC games ever. I recall distinctly that Usain Bolt was the Beeboid hero prior to the games. Rachel Burden (I think, perhaps another Beeboid female – or perhaps all of them?) told us how her 4 year old idolised this fast Jamaican runner. Oh the things the little ones pick up. I’ve nothing against this USA based/Somalian/GB badged athlete. Good luck to him. But he is just a nice big PC badge for the Beeboids to pin on their 4 year olds.

             12 likes

    • leha says:

      how about Sir Chris Hoy? – a man who can pedal a bike really fast.

         3 likes

      • noggin says:

        exactly …
        how about b wiggins? for example
        but the sly-sters, at al bbc have a narrative and agenda

           7 likes

        • TigerOC says:

          Wiggo – no chance. Told the media; listen I hold you lot (the msm) in total contempt after the T de France. Just leave me alone to ride the bike and you report on it.

             6 likes

  21. Mavis Ramsbottom says:

    the BBC bigging up tomorrow’s Leveson Report, as if anyone in the UK gives a shit, it’s never been a topic of conversation at my workplace

       18 likes

  22. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Good grief, Paxo hosting newsnight again?……wow!

       3 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      opening subject: overcrowded Britain, shortage of housing, how will we cope?
      Anyone going to ask where all these extra folk are coming from?
      Not Likely!

         19 likes

      • Stewart S says:

        Yes government spokesman,Nick Boles,openly gave figure of 43% of new homes required due to immigration.
        Not,to my surprise,greeted by hysterical screams of racist.

           12 likes

        • dez says:

          Stewart S;
           
          “…Nick Boles,openly gave figure of 43% of new homes required due to immigration.
          Not,to my surprise,greeted by hysterical screams of racist.”
           
          Or, in other words, he was allowed to state this completely bogus statistic with out any challenge whatsoever.
           
          So much for “left-wing bias”.
           
          There’s a housing shortage because fewer homes are being built every year than in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s or 80’s:
           
          http://goo.gl/CrlIY
           
          It’s been that way for the last two decades, and in the last five years it’s got even worse:
           
          http://goo.gl/NZNra
           
          Blaming immigrants for the housing shortage is as empty headed as saying the Irish potato famine was caused by too many Irish.
           

             2 likes

          • graphene fedora says:

            ‘It would be foolish to deny that immigration contributes to housing pressures.’ George Monbiot.

            http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15400477

               16 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              To Detective Friday such witness testimony can no longer been considered valid, as a Bradley Manning amongst news commentators pulls a William Calley and rather lest the side down.. “They were all enemy. They were all to be destroyed.”

                 2 likes

            • dez says:

              Yup, standard BBC bias – not enough potatoes because there are too many Irish.

                 3 likes

              • Kanburi says:

                There would seem to be 3 factors contributing to any claim that there is a housing shortage (market conditions notwithstanding): 1) Increase/decrease in housing stock; 2) Net population growth / decline; 3) Net migration

                Nobody can claim that net migration is the sole cause of the housing shortage. Neither can anyone dismiss it as a contributing factor.

                   5 likes

              • DJ says:

                Except, the thing is, once you eat a potato, it’s gone. Meanwhile, houses should last a hundred years.

                Building houses with open borders is like trying to fix a leaky bucket by filling it with a bigger hose.

                   10 likes

              • Alison says:

                Yes, houses come and go from season to season.

                Perhaps they up sticks and leave – like that Monty Python animation.

                   4 likes

          • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

            So Dez, did all those immigrants bring their homes with them?

               12 likes

            • ltwf1964 says:

              no

              much like dez,who doesn’t bring her brain with her when she trolls here

              but the bile generator is usually functioning within normal leftard perameters

                 10 likes

          • johnnythefish says:

            So we would have accommodated c. 2 million immigrants by continuing to build houses at the 1950’s rate?

            PS Were you aware of the population boom in western Ireland leading up to the famine?

               5 likes

            • Ian Hills says:

              Pity their church never helped them out much, despite substantial contributions over the years.

              Or that Ireland-wide blight was caused by eejits just planting one type of potato.

                 0 likes

          • ROBERT BROWN says:

            So, five million plus immigrants into the country in the last couple of decades say, has no effect on housing? Dispute the figure if you like, the government has no idea of the numbers anyway. Dream on Dez, even ‘Mud-hut’ Monbiot agrees that it has had an effect.

               9 likes

          • Stewart S says:

            Yep that’s the response I expected
            But boles put the case with such determination I think paxo was stunned into momentary silence.
            As for bogus I would agree my impression ,you know from looking around the area I lived in for 50yrs
            (and my father and father before me for what that’s worth), is its more like
            83%

               3 likes

  23. Mavis Ramsbottom says:

    Newsnight talking bullshit again

       11 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Newsnight talking bullshit again’
      Under the BBC cuts to cover the funds uniquely required now for anything but programming, that sentence can be reduced by 25% and still be accurate.

         8 likes

  24. As I See It says:

    Paxo – like other BBC bigheads – is busy empathising with ‘phone hacking’ “victims”.

    But wait, the BBC has already led the way with how to recompence victims of shoddy journalism – no legislation required; say sorry and bung them £185 grand.

       16 likes

  25. Teddy Bear says:

    Naturists accuse BBC of major ‘cover-up’ by putting clothes on the actors in Andrew Marr’s History Of The World

    The fact that the BBC has been exposed for rewriting history is no surprise to me. I’m only disappointed it’s for something really small in comparison to the damage they do in their daily grind. Having said small, the elements involved reveal something far deeper and significant.

    A naturist society has found the BBC purposefully distorting history by putting costumes on certain societies in the past that were probably nude at that time.

    The BBC have confirmed this was the case, and their excuse is:
    ‘When filming a series for a mainstream audience on BBC One we have to take into account the sensitivities of the widest possible audience.’

    So there are those in the ‘widest possible audience whose sensitivities would be offended to see human beings depicted in the past as having been naked. I can guess which group of people the BBC are specifically trying to protect, as I’m sure so can most of you.

    Then rather than distort history, the BBC should just stay away from it. In trying to be the media outlet for everybody, it serves none properly. It needs to make up its mind just which society it is serving. While it’s thinking about it, let’s stop funding it.

       8 likes

    • pah says:

      Well it depends on what the actresses look like doesn’t it?

      Angelina Jolie – yes please.

      Claire Short – No No NO NO Please God No.

         1 likes

  26. Teddy Bear says:

    Some fine revelations from BBC Watch:

    BBC employee: “What was done by the Jews is a shame for the entire Umma”

    and

    What the BBC is not reporting from Gaza’s border with Israel

    Among which is:
    Around 4 a.m. on Monday morning (November 26th) a man from Gaza infiltrated the southern village of Sde Avraham, after having breached the border fence, and broke into a home. The mother of the family, whose members were all asleep at the time, was at home alone with her four young children. She fought off the attacker and trapped him in the bathroom until help arrived, but was stabbed by him in the face and shoulder in the process. No report of this incident appeared on the BBC website.

       22 likes

  27. Reed says:

    Sky News opens with the UN vote re Palestinian statehood.

    BBC News opens with Leveson, taking the opportunity to remind us of David Cameron’s ’embarrassing’ text messages, with yet another outing for the clip of Mrs. Brooks’ informing us all about the PM’s occasional sign off technique (tee-hee).

    I thought this was all about the hacking of phones and other press abuses, not petty trivia. Oh well…

    Note to BBC News Channel- in case you all hadn’t spotted this – the word ‘news’ is based on the word ‘new’.
    If I wanted constant repeats I could turn to all your other bloody channels.

       23 likes

  28. Guest Who says:

    The SKY ‘newspaper review’ is usually a welcome distraction, if predictable, with an earthy male in a suit bookended by an emoting (and often easy on the eye) ‘journalist’ or ‘historian’ or ‘actress’ whose insights on wars, the economy etc, are suddenly treated as gospel.
    On the day of Leveson, a small comment slipped through as they inevitably spent most of their time on the Clotheshorse of Cambridge’s shoes, clothes and fringe… or daily fertility check.
    And that was it was odd that if all was so dire out there, why was it folk seemed to have so much, if not most of their time for this tripe?

       6 likes

  29. Guest Who says:

    On matters Leveson, SKY now has on an ‘ex-BBC journalist’ (so many to call on) who was ‘hacked’.
    Seems SKY, and many in the broadcast industry seem to feel there is merit in ‘the press’ being regulated.
    For… um.. hacking celeb phones.
    Earlier the bluff Mr. Whale emphasises that the world of broadcast is of course wonderfully kept in line, by that paragon of quango ombudsman effectiveness, OFCOM.
    Which no doubt explains minor slips like McAlpine, 28gate, etc.
    And hence the ‘coverage’ of hackgate is fully justified by the broadcast remoras, and Leveson will be wall to wall no doubt.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20537029
    ‘It is understood the report, which runs to hundreds of pages, criticises press, politicians and police.’
    Of course, some reports don’t get to be ‘understood’ or seen… ever.
    http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1565/exclusive_bbc_spends_a_third_of_1_million_concealing_middle_east_balen_report_
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240121/BBC-refuses-release-evidence-Savile-report.html?

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/07/bbc_is_private_go_away/
    ‘Under the opt-out, it the BBC does not even need to acknowledge it holds the material requested if it is for the “purpose of journalism”.
    That… seems pretty unique to me.

       7 likes

  30. Joseph says:

    What should be of great concern is the YouGov poll which claimed 79% of the UK population wanted a new Press watchdog which is backed by law.

    The problem with this survey and its results which were trailed on most of the BBC news programmes is in the way the questions were framed which were designed to manipulate the results.

    Of course for Hugh Grant, the Guardian and the BBC using a poll results which is completely at odds with ALL the other surveys commissioned over the course of the last month is normal operating practice to ensure that you can distort the real picture.

    Interestingly enough the organisation which commissioned this actual poll was none other than the Media Standards Trust, that’s right the organisation which has been at the centre of the news for the last couple of months for all the wrong reasons, and just happens to have two members of its board directly assisting the Levenson enquiry.

    This is a scandal, and I think worthy of further comment.

       25 likes

  31. Alex says:

    BBC Breakfast is pathetic. It patronizes and treats us like infants. Thanks to the BBC, we’ve turned into a nation of weak, moaning drama-queens unable to think for ourselves.

       20 likes

    • Reed says:

      …and yet we all now seem to possess record breaking qualifications in every subject you’d care to think of.

      BBC/Labour’s race to the bottom. Excellence is elitist, we’re all plebs now.

         14 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      Speak for yourself. I’m not wearing a vest today.

         4 likes

  32. Leftie-Loather says:

    Just wanted to say.. I won’t be able to sleep a wink tonight after hearing this morning that Julian Law-Unto-Himself Arseange is a bit poorly and might need hospital attention, before being booted out of the country.

       19 likes

    • Reed says:

      …apparently they have a good medical programme in Gitmo. 🙂

         10 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20537157
      Julian Assange ‘has lung infection’

      Julian Assange, who is living at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, has a chronic lung infection “which could get worse at any moment”, the country’s ambassador to the UK has warned.
      So we have a ‘warning’ as a ‘diagnosis’ from the world-renowned NHS’ latest recruit?
      That famous BBC analysis at its peak today.
      Can’t wait for their Leveson…’ insights’.
      ‘Nick Robinson’s sources will say the Gaurdian says that there’s a coalition split… the BBC can reveal… understand… make up…’
      Anyway, just so’s no one is in any doubt it’s the press that’s out of control and not the broadcasters, Lord MacAlpine…
      Nick Robinson ‏@bbcnickrobinson
      @OLAdams No. That’s because the BBC is, like other broadcasters, legally obliged to be impartial. Press not and won’t be

      What’s it they say about only reading your own PR?

         10 likes

    • Stewart S says:

      Does he have a hacking cough?
      Sorry couldn’t help myself.

         14 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Send St. Julian to Libya. They’ve got such great health care that a man with terminal cancer and a couple of months to live survived there for almost three more years. Just think what they could do for poor St. Julian if he’s just a bit under the weather.

         9 likes

  33. As I See It says:

    Today is Thursday. No. Rachel Burden on BBC 5 Live reminds us that today is Leveson Report Day.

    I now realise that it is considered impertinent to question Brian’s Broadcasting Company (Lord Patten told us so).

    Our Rachel has a great technique with her guest “So welcome onto our show (delivered by BBC taxi) oh wo is you, you poor victim of ‘phone hacking’. So tell us what did you tell Uncle Brian about the nasty old press?”

    “I wasn’t invited to that party Rachel”

    “YOU WEREN’T INVITED TO THE INQUIRY??????!!!!!”

    Oh Rachel, Dame Maggie Smith will have to up her game this year to bag that BAFTA

    Now Rachel, say goodbye nicely luv.

    “Thank you for letting us use your voice”

    Oh the irony, the satire – USE YOUR VOICE! Geddit? geddit? See what she did there? The BBC only used his voice with his permission.

    And what exactly was the problem here? Well as far as I could tell (beyond Rachel’s routine) our ‘victim’ (7/7 say no more – I mean let’s not call him a victim of Homegrown Muslim Terrorists 7/7 should just about do it. Oh the horror of numbers!) so I seem to have learnt this guy lost a relative in that great numbers event. Then a copper told him his moby number appeared on some list. By the way that would be the responsibility of some dodgy cop passing his number on to a tabloid employed private dick. This stuff has always been illegal.

    I’m losing the strength to go on. OK BBC you win.

       9 likes

    • leha says:

      the 5kg tubs of Glee are being taken up from the basement and distributed to all outlets at the bBC as we speak. oh the irony.

         4 likes

  34. johnnythefish says:

    BBC Farming Today featured their Farmer of the Year, Guy Watson. A self-confessed ‘left of centre anarchist’, Watson was also described as an ‘eco warrior’ and someone who is keen to ‘look after his carbon footprint’.

    It also came out in the interview that his huge organic farming set-up, which he grew after inheriting the family farm, will not be floating on the stock market but rather sharing its wealth with employees, customers and suppliers. Keen to see his children deprived of his own priveleged start, they will not be inheriting his business but rather will inherit ‘opportunity’.

    Watson ticked just about every box you can think of in the BBC’s guide to a better eco-socialist world and something tells me we might be hearing a lot more of him on our cherished R4 propaganda slots.

    The BBC, day by day bringing Agenda 21 closer to you, your home and your family, whether you want it or not.

       15 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Where do they get them? I’ve yet to meet anyone like that and yet the BBC appears to have an inexhaustible supply.

         12 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘Where do they get them?’
        Wild guess, but often the same places that feel affordable housing and affordable flood plain house insurance is for others to fund… uniquely… often for the same folk to live in. Affordably.

           10 likes

  35. Jeff says:

    Something very odd seems to be happening at the BBC. Their recent coverage of UKIP and in particular Nigel Farage is worrying me. He was given an easy ride on Question Time, he’s been bantering with Paul Merton on Have I Got News For You and he’s never off a sympathetic Radio 4. Now all of this could be entirely innocent, of course, but I’m suspicious. There are three elections today, UKIP are known to take votes from the Conservatives and in Rotherham, held by Labour since 1930, the revolting Respect party are expected to make inroads into the socialist vote. Perhaps I am just being paranoid and the BBC are (at last) behaving as a publicly funded organisation should, but on the other hand…

       15 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      Brillo made a monkey of him a few weeks ago. Really pulled his pants down on expenses.

      But I agree he gets a lot of coverage and airtime. Because he gives good copy I reckon rather than a sinister bbc plot. But I guess that’s the explanation you need if you think the BBC is always slanted to the left in its coverage.

         2 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Yep, one man on his own balances out the rest of the organization. That’s me convinced to give up this blog. >_>

           7 likes

  36. Jim Dandy says:

    Right wing bbc tweet alert:

    @BBCJLandale: Net migration down “significantly”, says ONS, from 242k to 183k. Good day to bury good news??

       4 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      Breaking news – news organisation with ‘brilliant journalists’ and £4 billion of public money a year actually manages to cut and paste an AP story without wrapping its own liberal left campaign around it.

      Two words.

      BIG &

      WHOOP

         7 likes

      • Jim Dandy says:

        Chalk it up. David P’s sandal wearing alter ego would be writing a one thousand word Fisk on this.

           2 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          This being more a playing the alter ego than the man, and hence a unique exclusion to the ‘rules’ you set then?

             5 likes

    • ltwf1964 says:

      it’s down probabaly due to the number of natives who’ve had enough here jumping ship to other parts of the commonwealth

      and not for economic migrant purposes either-ie a full raft of benefits available on arrival

      let’s not forget these people have to actually qualify to enter another country due to having a trade or skill that’s actually needed there-notbecause some unelected bureaucrat in another country tells them to open their borders up to all and sundry

      right wing tweet alert my arse

         13 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      I like James Landale, good on him. He was breath of fresh air after Nick Robinson.

         4 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Why is that right-wing as opposed to neutral?

      I find it very ambiguous as regards any slant.

      PS how you doing re a comment on the secret 2006 CMEP meeting? Any bias to be found in that particular branch of BBC political activity anywhere?

         7 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      I’d say it’s an even better day to publish a controversial Energy Bill. Second on the BBC website as I write, but I don’t think second is going to cut much mustard amongst the navel-gazing and point-scoring that will go on today.

         6 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Ah, just sussed this one.

      Those figures are good news for the Tories, who have pledged to reduce immigration to manageable levels.

      However, the good news will be lost in the tsunami-like coverage of Leveson, especially by the BBC.

      So for the BBC, a good day to bury good news (and thus yet another left-wing tweet).

      Geddit?

         5 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Congratulations are in order, Jim. I have saved the link to put up against the other 100+ from all the other Beeboids. One vs. 50? That’s me convinced again. So Andrew Neil and James Landale balance out the rest of them? Is that your contention?

         5 likes

  37. uncle bup says:

    James Complete And Utter C*** was ‘doing the rounds’ yesterday hawking his latest piece of vanity programming/ back door pay rise and as natural as breathing came out with

    ‘Rupert Murdoch, not the most popular of people’.

    Ah well, 8 million people who (voluntarily) read the Sun and the 10 million who (voluntarily) subscribe to Sky might have a different view, James, but there you go.

    Preceded by another droid who again as natural as breathing came out with,

    ‘Of course that’s why the NHS is such a beloved institution in this country’

    I happen to think the NHS is a £110bn per annum pile of steaming sh*t, but, again, there you go.

    What it is to live in a leftie-weftie, soppy-woppy, libbie-wibbie, hopey-changey bubble and to drift of to sleep each night to Sailing Away, cup of Nytol and the Guardian on your bedside table, and dream of a happy-wappy world with no Tories, more windfarms, no prisons, and Barry the US president-for-life.

       22 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      Sorry did I say ‘James Complete And Utter C***’.

      I meant of course James Naughtie. Ha ha, funny how these things just slip out.

      And bee tee dubs, before the cherry vultures come on and suggest some of the 10 million Sky subscribers might also read the Sun – I am aware of that. In fact I went to Uni at the same time as the great grandson of John Venn.

      Not exactly the same time – but we overlapped 😉

      You’ve heard em before, but I tell em better.

         8 likes

      • wallygreeninker says:

        ‘Sailing by’ is probably a bit late for Naughtie – he has to get up at 3am. He mentioned it this week on R3, where he’s picking his fave raves every morning at 10.30. It’s all a bit incestuous if you ask me.

           6 likes

      • Rueful Red says:

        “Not exactly the same time – but we overlapped.”

        I do like that.

           5 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        ” Sorry did I say ‘James Complete And Utter C***’.”
        That’s understandable Uncle, I’m sure that if someone refers to Jeremy Hunt as Jeremy C*** often enough then one day it will slip out accidentally while on air. Therefore I understand your slip completely.

           4 likes

  38. Dave s says:

    A good day to switch off every possible news outlet.?
    This being the Leveson Day.
    It is going to be so boring. Really boring. About as boring as it is possible to be without being as boring as I am now going on about it.
    My really great idea is to prohibit all newpapers except the Guardian and Independent. Ban every TV and radio station except the BBC and put bloggers in prison/to death whatever seems nastiest.
    The sun is shining . It isn’t raining. Make the most of this fine day.

       18 likes

  39. As I See It says:

    This is a nasty case.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20537588

    ‘Enfield park rape: Man charged over attack on girl’

    Of course those legendary ‘legal reasons’ will protect the identity and indeed the ethnicity of the victim. Now there was once a time, not so very long ago, when justice was open and public and when the community was trusted to know something about the victim. Nowadays it is thought best that we are kept in the dark. We are thought too prurient to know the details. Perhaps we would leap to the wrong conclusions. Enough said.

       10 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      The colour of the person being sought was reported, including on the BBC.

      His identity will be a factor in this case, but why would his ethnicity be relevant. Perhaps his religion should be exposed too.

         2 likes

      • Span Ows says:

        As I See It was writing about the victim, as he makes perfectly clear.

           6 likes

        • Jim Dandy says:

          Yes, sorry my mistake.

          Even more bizarre though the notion that we should know the ethnicity of the victim. Or anything that would expose her identity.

             4 likes

          • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

            It may seem bizarre that ‘we should know’ the ethnicity of victims but these data have been collected for the last twenty years following the 1991 Criminal Justice Act.
            This was originally introduced to meet the concerns of ethnic lobby groups that they were discriminated against, but the same data show that ‘BME’ (black and minority ethnic) people are about five times more likely than white people to be convicted of serious crimes in Britain.
            http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/criminal-justice/race

               10 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Bizarre? Isn’t there now an entire legal industry based on the ethnicity of victims?

               5 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘but why would his ethnicity be relevant.’
        I recall those old 5-0’s, where Steve would call Danno and describe the perp as a white caucasian.

        Enfield park rape: Man charged over attack on girl
        A man has been charged with the rape of an 11-year-old girl in a park in north London.

        The schoolgirl was dragged from Galliard Road into Jubilee Park, Lower Edmonton, Enfield, after getting off a bus from school at about 17:00 GMT on Friday.

        Opemipo Jaji, 18, of Osward Place, Enfield, is charged with rape and attempted rape of a girl under 13.

        A 26-year-old man was arrested on Monday and bailed for more inquiries.

        Mr Jaji will appear at Enfield Magistrates’ Court later.
        No longer. ‘Man’ really zeroes in much better.
        ‘The colour of the person being sought was reported
        Don’t see it myself… unless you mean elsewhere… to this story?
        Or is getting colour from a name surely not an ‘ist all on its own right there?

        But to some, his voting record should probably be headlined…. well… unless that backfires.

           5 likes

    • Albaman says:

      What purpose would be served by naming the 11yo victim? I am sure her parents and those close to her know her identity. If it was a relative of yours would you wish her named and if so why?

         3 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘What purpose would be served by naming the 11yo victim?’
        Tend to agree.
        But I guess some in the media would feel the public has a right to know, and journalistically it may add context. Maybe, at a stretch, it would help with any investigative leads, given victim/abuser trends in grooming stories, or at least those not subject to FoI blackouts.
        Certainly if she had a mobile phone I’d be hacked off to find it used to spin tribal political or commercial points in cause of some luvvies, without worrying about the personal costs to poorer public victims, today of all days.

           0 likes

    • As I See It says:

      Just to be clear. I am refering to the victim. There are on the web references to the supposed ethnicity of the child. I don’t know whether those are true. In the abscence of truth I’m afraid rumour and speculation will abound. The BBC quite correctly obeys the law on this. The law is relatively recent and was, naturally, intended for the general good. Well actually we have gone beyond laws for the general good. We now tend to legislate for the particular good and for the minority good. I detect bias in the BBC in the fact that it will never question such laws where unintended consequences may arise out of well intentioned legislation. Particularly when they have the effect of coinciding with the wider BBC PC agenda.

         2 likes

    • bodo says:

      The victim was white. Reported on Sky iirc.

         1 likes

  40. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    The current headline on the bBBC ‘News’ website has a running slideshow of seven images to accompany its ‘Leveson is expected to say …’ item. Five of the seven images are of campaigners against tabloid newspapers.
    Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

       6 likes

  41. Umbongo says:

    Today went to town this morning on the Leveson Report and fully 3-4 minutes of the 9-10 minute 8:00 Radio 4 News was devoted to telling us that the Leveson Report was due to be released today. Why? Surely blanket coverage should be reserved for after the main event, not devoted to pure speculation about what the report might recommend.
    As it is, we had endless BBC commentators talking to each other; an interview with a victim of the press (who received generous compensation under the existing set-up) and a discussion between two MPs on opposite side of the debate on press regulation. What a complete waste of time. The Report is to be released this afternoon and then we’ll all know what we’re talking about. The report on the 8:00 am news could have been restricted to a brief mention: we’d have been no less wise about the issues if that had been it.
    I’m not saying this is bias: the discussion between Eustice and Blunkett moderated by Naughtie was a civilised and unexceptionable item but it would have been far more interesting for it to take place on tomorrow’s show.
    .
    Meanwhile – unlike the more or less balanced MP invitees brought on to debate Leveson – to discuss the latest theft from the taxpayer/energy consumer a BBC correspondent previewed the Energy Bill which (he somehow failed to mention) will be tilted to keep our cash flowing into the pocket of Cameron’s father-in-law. Then for a judicious survey of the energy situation, the BBC – in an exercise of its genetic impartiality – chose as a follow-up, Lord Oxburgh (ex-chairman of Shell). He demonstrated, not only why he was chosen to put his seal of approval on the corruption of science by the crooks masquerading as “academics” at UEA but that big business – including Big Oil – is right in there lining up for handouts from the taxpayer in the guise of subsidies and enforced “renewables” payments. What no-one thought to mention was that Shell as a part of Big Oil – still, unbelievably, the all-purpose villain to greenies – is in the business of making money. It doesn’t care where the cash comes from. As Oxburgh demonstrated, he’s happy to see the nonsense perpetrated by the warmists: Shell will profit whatever happens. Oddly, these points were omitted from the discussion.

       7 likes

  42. Invicta 1066 says:

    My local newspaper when referring to wanted assailants has taken to giving ethnicity as white. Where no such colour description is given it really makes you wonder why not! This is also a common feature of BBC local news both radio and TV.
    I listened to Mr Jeffries on Today this morning giving his reaction to the way certain sections of the press virtually accused him of murder in Bristol. I recall that the BBC interviewed neighbours, former pupils and staff at the school he had taught, a common theme was what a weird loner he appeared.
    At the time I thought the BBC treatment of this man was disgraceful and prejudicial should he be arrested and prosecuted. Interesting how the BBC point their sanctimonious fingers at the press, yet are blind to their own almost identical reporting.

       15 likes

      • Stewart S says:

        Yes especially as they were just a bad
        as the tabloid press. almost as though the BBC had some sort of immunity
        from prosecution

           11 likes

        • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

          Well, it’s a fact that the INBBC has an almost bottomless pit of money(OUR money) with which to defend against actions like that. Therefore it’s wiser to avoid taking them on. Also as we have seen they occupy a higher plane than us mere plebs, being immune from FOI requests.
          However, they very quickly caved in to Lord Macalpine’s legal team.
          Scum at the Beeb!

             2 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Careful, using the word strange in the wrong way and he may come after you too.
        Having listened to SKY joining up with the BBC to boot into the press ‘because broadcast is so much more carefully regulated’, maybe Mr. Jefferies was less confident of a result vs. the might of the TV empires than he was that of print?
        Or are you saying that the BBC was, as always, pure as driven snow in their… ‘reporting’.
        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12097577
        ‘Former public school teacher Chris Jefferies, 65, was arrested on Thursday in the flat above the one Miss Yeates had rented in Canynge Road, Bristol.’
        Now, why would the fact that the school he used to teach at was independent have any bearing?
        Guess that’s what you get when you are better regulated… along with MacAlpine, etc.
        At least, there’s OFCOM, possibly the most ineffective quango there is.
        Points that one lone voice on SKY was making as Alan Boulton and collected friends blustered their way back to the feeding frenzy based on spinning up lies top suit tribal and commercial interests.

           7 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        Strange that he took no legal action against the BBC but did against 8 newspapers.

        Actually, that’s one I’ve wondered about. I can clearly remember watching a news report on the BBC at the time which as good as said he was guilty. The reason I remember it is that I mentioned to Mrs D that they had overstepped the mark.

        I also thought Mr Jeffries wasn’t a good example to use this morning. He got legal redress – in other words there was a law already there, the press transgressed and got punished. Unless you want to go for a Minority Report form of justice.

           9 likes

  43. Daphne Anson says:

    Re Donnison:
    http://bbcwatch.org/2012/11/29/bbcs-jon-donnison-gets-yellow-card/comment-page-1/#comment-2389

    But on Twitter:
    Paul Danahar ‏@pdanahar

    For the sake of clarity: Twitter rumour that BBC apologized to #Israeli Gov’ Press Office on Weds is a lie
    Retweeted by Jon Donnison

       2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      For the sake of clarity: Twitter rumour that BBC apologized to #Israeli Gov’ Press Office on Weds is a lie
      Quick question for Paul.
      How can he, of all people, tell?

         5 likes

    • DJ says:

      The Twitter rumours are a lie, but running with bogus photos is jus’ one of dem things.

         4 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      As predicted, Donnison and the BBC are proud to have stood up to Israeli tyranny. He’s wearing this as a badge of honor.

         7 likes

  44. Guest Who says:

    http://order-order.com/2012/11/29/leveson-wants-ex-brown-adviser-to-regulate-the-press/
    “First he came for the BBC DGship, but could not get a bite..
    So then he came for the role of media overlord, and there was no one left….”
    As to this question:
    “Do we really want Gordon Brown’s henchman in charge of regulating the press?”
    Rather depends on who is meant by ‘we’; though I am sure this is one question the BBC and its acolytes will at last be happy to respond to.

       5 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20543936
      BBC analysis:
      ‘He says parts of the press acted as if its own code simply did not exist and “wreaked havoc” with the lives of innocent people. ‘
      Unlike, say, Lord McAlpine?
      147 comments so far.
      Bets on a closing before the UK public gets back from real work this evening?

         7 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Oo, I lose. Still up.
        But I am intrigued as to how the 10th (of several hundred) most popular is..
        1. John Problem
        4 HOURS AGO
        This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain.

        Seems that world-renowned free speaking wanting views at the BBC may be less pervasive than Jim & the girls keep moaning doesn’t exist here.

           2 likes

  45. johnnythefish says:

    ‘The Science is Settled’ – Episode 10,483 (look away now dezprolejim) :

    What is an obvious standstill to some – the global temperature hasn’t increased for 15 years – is to others a not so rapid warming, or as the Met Office puts it; “Although the first decade of the 21st century was the warmest on record, warming has not been as rapid since 2000 as over the longer period since the 1970s.”We are investigating why the temperature rise at the surface has slowed in recent years, including how ocean heat content changes and the effects of aerosols from atmospheric pollution may have influenced global climate.”.

    In other words, their models were wrong because the science might be a bit more complicated than they thought.

    Read more here, but prepared for a severe loosening of your Gigglepin:

    http://www.thegwpf.org/2012-temperature-standstill-continues/

       7 likes

  46. George R says:

    National Health Service (NHS) becomes:

    ‘International Health Service ‘(IHS).

    There seems to be an ‘understanding’ that U.K.’s NHS will provide free health treatment to a wide range of ‘health tourists’ in U.K .
    (Even BBC-NUJ did a ‘Panorama’ report on this a few weeks ago.)

    And now there are more reports of U.K’s NHS/IHS being under strain:

    “NHS cracks ‘beginning to appear'”

    By Nick Triggle
    Health correspondent, BBC News.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20511609

    Could there be any connection between NHS becoming IHS, and ‘strains’ in the health system?

    “GPS TOLD TO TREAT ALL FOREIGNERS FOR FREE”

    By Macer Hall.

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/361031/GPs-told-to-treat-all-foreigners-for-free

    ‘Migrationwatch’:

    “Rule Change Opens NHS to the World”

    http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/pressReleases#339

       4 likes

  47. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Looks like the UN will vote to begin undoing their mistake from 1948. The Beeboids will be pleased.

       4 likes

  48. Owen Morgan says:

    In “The Dark Ages: An Age of Light” (BBC4, Tuesday), Waldemar Januszczak introduced his new art series on a slightly false note. The first programme was devoted to early Christian art. Subsequent programmes, he said, would be devoted to the art of the “Barbarians” and the muslims.

    No harm in that (although most early “muslim” art of any value, such as the Dome of the Rock, was probably made by Christian Greeks); what grated was the way in which Januszcak prepared us for the stars of his third episode about the

    joyous and innovative religion, islam, which did so much to light up the dark ages.
    I generally don’t mind Januszczak, who is a more informative presenter than most (although he clearly knows damn all about the Roman Empire), but I can’t imagine any other religion getting quite such a bizarrely oleaginous and self-evidently inappropriate introduction.

       8 likes

    • chrisH says:

      He quoted Pauls Letter to the Galicians-as opposed to Galatians 3.28 that he was meant to be quoting, I`d expect.
      Let`s hope that he gets no Sura verses wrong…even Qatada would be entitled to be cheesed off if he does this.
      Bet they`ll not be getting those wrong though-only the Christians get such loose cross checks..

         3 likes

    • Mark says:

      A religion spread by the sword could not be described as joyous for the victims.

         4 likes

    • noggin says:

      “Dome of the Rock, was probably made by Christian Greeks” – definitely the usual muslim penchant for “claiming everything as their own” mantra … goodness they even own the bbc – (without even trying) 😀
      prime example
      1001 inventions and the library of secrets … or!
      to be more exact “a handful of modifications and the library of exaggeration”

      this inappropriate bias to muslim art is no different

         2 likes

      • Stewart S says:

        Still looking for part 2. (If made yet)
        Apparently makers censored by copyright.
        No trick too low for liberal inquistion, in defence of their sorelian myths I guess

           1 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      ” islam, which did so much to light up the dark ages”
      Comedy of the finest order. I haven’t laughed so much in years! And the moon is made of green cheese and the earth is flat, supported on the backs of turtles, which everyone knows ” it’s turtles all the way down” ( Brief History of Time: Hawking).

         1 likes

  49. Fred Bloggs says:

    News24: 9.25pm – Item about Ed Davey and the £100 needed for green energy investment; interview with ‘friends of the earth’, interview with someone with an opposing view non existent.

       9 likes

    • Chilli says:

      Yup – attrocious bias. They have 2 talking heads to give their balanced opinions. First guy is an investment banker from ‘Climate Change Capital’ – says bill hikes are welcome. Then for balance they have someone from ‘The Green Alliance’ who says the measures to hike bills don’t go far enough – and is allowed to get away with an outrageous claim that he wants to promote business investment, subsidy farming business that is. Then to top it off they end the news with a nonsense report about greenland ice melt causing sea level rise ( which has been rising at more or less the same rate of 3mm/year for hundreds of years ). Queue lots of footage of summer ice floes caving into the sea ( obviously not recent since the sun has already set permanently for the winter ). Just attrocious biased reporting. Unquestioning scaremongering excuse making for green parasites.

         11 likes

  50. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Well Paxo has worked himself to death and done two consecutive nights on Newsnight.
    Now it’s Esler’s turn.
    Expect the show to big up Leveson. These wankers expect the printed news orgs to be neutered to leave them free rein. Well I think they can f*&^ off.

       13 likes