245 Responses to OPEN THREAD SUNDAY

  1. Jeff Waters says:

    Re: The thread title – If only it were true! LOL!

    Has anyone noticed how ultra-serious articles like this one get a comments section – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22232304 – but articles about less important matters such as the death of Lady Thatcher and what’s happened in Boston don’t?

    It’s interesting that the aforementioned article doesn’t have an editor’s picks section. Maybe that’s because the most popular comments are complaining about why there aren’t more comments sections!

    Jeff

       15 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Thank you Jeff for posting that link. If I had missed that item, I don’t think the rest of my life would have had any value.
      I just have to comment now and tell the bbc how wonderful the article is.

         9 likes

    • David Brims says:

      Rap ‘music’ is poetry for retards.

         23 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        It IS retarded poetry, but more for those that cant sing, than anything else.

           15 likes

      • Andrew says:

        Interesting to look up the German “Sprachgesang” in a bilingual or music dictionary.

           2 likes

        • Andrew says:

          This got detached from someone else’s comment about rap that was, perhaps, removed because of use of the n-word. That’s why it makes no sense on its own here.

             0 likes

      • Joshaw says:

        And if it originated with any other race it would be treated with the contempt it deserves.

           24 likes

      • Mark says:

        The only people who profit from that (c)rap seem to be the manufacturers of spray paint.

           14 likes

    • Ian Hills says:

      So Holland is getting a rap national anthem, and the unspoken suggestion is that we’re supposed to want one, too. Can’t wait for the video of the Dutch royal family looting and rioting to it.

         19 likes

      • +james says:

        I found the song rather enriching…..

           3 likes

        • lojolondon says:

          I am with the Dutch people – it is 4 minutes and 38 seconds too long.

             4 likes

          • Andrew says:

            Maybe they should choose instead “Four Minutes Thirty-three Seconds” by John Cage: silence is golden, after all.
            [4m33s = 273 secs; 273 associated with absolute zero -273C; quite a joke!]

               4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      They want your views… about this, but not about that…
      And if anyone goes off piste the mods, refs & HR dept stand ready, with hands poised over the ‘closed for comments’ nuke option.
      It’s what enables the BBC to select how unique people get told they are.

         13 likes

    • Edited Highlights says:

      Of the 13 carefully selected topics on the ‘Have Your Say’ page you can’t at the moment actually er… freely have your say on 12 of them! The topics are effectively in pre moderation control or are ‘closed for comment’. All very North Korean.

      They avoid allowing any truly open comment on contentious matters in order to control the narrative and where open comment is allowed if you stray very far from the BBC approved left wing agenda you will soon be moderated out, under their ludicrous comments policy which is in place so that they may in their view legitimately remove any viewpoint which is not on message!

      Editor’s Picks is in itself evidence of bias – and you will notice how often on message comments are championed ahead of any challenge to the left wing mantra.

      Last week I was examining the comments on the subject of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral and it was apparent that most remotely right of centre comments got minus scores whereas of course the on message left wing comments were positively rewarded! For someone who ‘divided a nation’ so definitely should there not have been an equal balance?! No. Of course the BBC with its Guardian inspired editorial stance repeats the left wing agenda to a very receptive audience, who in turn reflect that they like what they see and hear.

         23 likes

    • The General says:

      To have a comment section following any article regarding Margaret Thatcher would run the risk of the general public posting favorable comments about the former Prime Minister….and the BBC want to avoid any possibility of that happening.

         23 likes

  2. David Brims says:

    Boston police arrest a Saudi, suspected of terrorism.

    Saudi Foreign Minister jets in to have a private meeting with Obama on Wednesday. The Boston police cancels press conference. The FBI also cancels 3 press conferences. Saudi suspect deported immediately. Case closed.

    Hmm, curiouser and curiouser. Here’s a photograph of the Saudi terrorist suspect smiling in hospital.

    shoebat.com/2013/04/18/another-photo-of-alharbi-in-hospital-this-time-smiling-with-saudi-diplomat/

       20 likes

    • Adi says:

      He was arrested completely by accident when tackled by citizens because he was “acting suspiciously” after the bombing.

      The authorities determined he was illegally in the US after his visa expired. Ketchup Kerry and The Messiah Himself meet with Saudi officials immediately and unscheduled. It is determined the suspect’s family has deep AlQ ties and some of his relatives are in Gitmo. He is scheduled to be “deported” within hours and cleared as a “person of non-interest”. The First Queen of the United States pays him a visit in the hospital.

      Quite a story, innit?

         31 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “Hmm, curiouser and curiouser.”
      —-
      Astoundingly so, given the context.
      Seems like it was decided that mistakes may have been made, but all involved have opted for a bit of carpet-sweeping.
      Given the media seems quite on board with this, one can only presume whatever was/is behind it has been deemed one for the back burner of analysis.

         6 likes

  3. David Brims says:

    Peter Allen ( no fool like an old fool ) on Radio 5 was playing the free speech and no censorship card last week in regards to playing ”ding dong the witch is dead.”

    Strange that, since the BBC is very happy to censor and suppress all mention of ‘muslim’ terrorism and ‘black’ crime, it’s all euphemisms, ‘yoofs and men.’

       55 likes

    • Adi says:

      Actually, they’re “Asian”. So there.

         11 likes

      • lojolondon says:

        Thing about ‘Asian’ is that could mean anywhere from India to Pakistan, Mongolia, China, Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Saudi, Kuwaiti, Afghanistan and 20 other countries, including half the world’s population! The BBC enjoys such muddying of the waters, and would hate to be specific, eg ‘Muslim Saudi man’ – unless of course, if it was a member of EDL, when they would be happy to say ‘white British man’…..

           6 likes

    • Royboy says:

      The BBC are not frightened of using the M word. Three times in the first 48 words.
      Check out:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22243676

         6 likes

      • Mat says:

        Yep it’s all there loads of ref to the ‘M’ word and pretty much all of it about how they are ‘victims ‘ of others violence the fact that their community started the cycle of murder by beating to death a Buddhist monk is a side issue in the story !
        BBC +Muslim =victim!

           25 likes

      • Daniel O'Flaherty says:

        News24 was leading with that story at 2am this morning. I was disgusted and switched off. The BBC does not show or even mention the continual attacks in the Far East by Muslims on peaceful Buddhists. Shocking.

           27 likes

        • Bodo says:

          Same reaction here, sickening isn’t it ? The number of times Christians or others have been persecuted, often brutally, by Muslims and the BBC just isn’t interested.

             21 likes

          • hadda says:

            It seems that Christians being persecuted anywhere has a ‘dog bites man’ level of newsworthiness for the UK MSM. (Buddhists are also persecuting Christians in places like Sri Lanka, but that doesn’t make the news either.)

               9 likes

            • stewart says:

              That would be fair enough,but before the BBC could get ‘tired’ of reporting on the persecution of christians they would have to start

                 4 likes

      • The PrangWizard of England says:

        Just seen this on the 6 o’clock news. The report with the whining Fergal Keane is appalling. Some one I hope will count the number of uses of the word ‘muslim’ or ‘muslims’, seemed to be every half a dozen words to me. An absolute disgrace of a report. No mention of the other side of the story, just something about a ‘dispute’ over some gold I think. The BBC are clearly being selective once again and attempting to raise feelings of sympathy towards the ‘muslims’ as victims of unprovoked violence, and notice the selective use of imagery too. There can be no other explanation for such repetition.
        Can anything but done to reign in this outrageously partial BBC? Or will the people have to take to the streets? They just get worse and more blatant.

           14 likes

        • Big Dick says:

          Fergal Sharky , or some name like it was bused into Dale Farm in Essex , when the council was evicting the pikeys , the reason being ,a lot were Irish & he was Irish , he is normally reporting from abroad , but the Axis of Evil (bbc) was up to its old tricks , trying to give some moral support to the evil conservative council! The Axis of Evil are utter bastards , but it was so fucking blatant !

             7 likes

  4. David Brims says:

    Meanwhile, in the parallel universe that is Richard Bacon, Joan Collins was the guest last week.

    Collins ” Oh my goodness, your flys undone.”
    Bacon ” Sorry about that, I’ll zip them up immediately.”

    Later on in the interview he said ” You’re getting to a certain age in life, have you ever thought of retiring ?”

    Tactless.

       17 likes

    • Mat says:

      Tut tut BBC staffer exposing himself to woman !
      So a another normal day at the ministry then .

         17 likes

  5. JimS says:

    According to BBC News those wicked ‘conservatives’ might have been an influence on the alleged Boston Bombers. No doubt the Thatcherite wing of Islam!

       31 likes

    • Adi says:

      Well, there are Muslim conservatives who are pro limited government and low taxes, and liberal Muslims who are for gay marriage and believe in global warming.

         8 likes

  6. Joe Chapman says:

    Not sure if anyone has seen this mildly terrifying documentary, its certainly explains an awful lot:

    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od#3508771

       5 likes

  7. David Brims says:

    Marxism or Decadence ? The Cause of Western Weakness

    ” It is also true that not all those who undermine Western civilization through support for Multiculturalism and mass immigration do so out of a hidden political agenda. Some do it out of plain stupidity and vanity. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s most open-minded of them all?”

    It’s a beauty contest for bored, Western intellectuals who use immigrants as a mirror to reflect their own inflated egos, a sport where they can nurse their vanity in the mistaken belief that denigrating your own cultural heritage is a sign of goodness and lack of prejudice.

    I suspect that part of the craziness on display now stems from feelings of guilt because of affluence. I hear so many of these open border activists talk about “solidarity,” but in reality it’s all about me, me, me. They don’t show much solidarity with their own children and grandchildren who are going to inherit the Balkanized nightmare they leave behind. It’s all about making them feel good about themselves right now, without regard for future consequences of their actions.

    So their “solidarity” is really an extreme form of egotism and holier-than-thou self-exaltation. Besides, many of them have lived sheltered lives for so long that they honestly don’t understand that something bad can ever happen to them. They’ve never had to fight for their freedom or their prosperity, which had been ensured by others.”

    Read full article here

    https://whitelocust.wordpress.com/the-morality-of-survival/marxism-or-decadence-the-cause-of-western-weakness/

       25 likes

    • Andrew says:

      An excellent extract. Several times I have come across younger, supposedly educated liberal/Left people who seem to hate everything about their own country. They are xenophiles – everything foreign is per se better than anything British. Their reasoning skills are poor, their knowledge of history virtually zero. When contradicted, they start pulling ugly faces and resorting to ad hominem arguments. One of them (English) said he always supported whichever team was playing against England at sport! Oh, how clever of him, how very “enlightened” to rise above “petty nationalism”, gee whiz, all based on a bit of Interrailing around Europe, a true “citizen of the republic of letters” and fan of the EU super-state no doubt. They make me want to puke.

         38 likes

      • David Brims says:

        Peter Hitchens, ex Marxist

        ”When I was a Revolutionary Marxist, we were all in favour of as much immigration as possible.

        It wasn’t because we liked immigrants, but because we didn’t like Britain. We saw immigrants – from anywhere – as allies against the staid, settled, conservative society that our country still was at the end of the Sixties.

        Also, we liked to feel oh, so superior to the bewildered people – usually in the poorest parts of Britain – who found their neighbourhoods suddenly transformed into supposedly ‘vibrant communities’.

        If they dared to express the mildest objections, we called them bigots.

        Revolutionary students didn’t come from such ‘vibrant’ areas (we came, as far as I could tell, mostly from Surrey and the nicer parts of London).

        We might live in ‘vibrant’ places for a few (usually squalid) years, amid unmown lawns and overflowing dustbins.

        But we did so as irresponsible, childless transients – not as homeowners, or as parents of school-age children, or as old people hoping for a bit of serenity at the ends of their lives.

        When we graduated and began to earn serious money, we generally headed for expensive London enclaves and became extremely choosy about where our children went to school, a choice we happily denied the urban poor, the ones we sneered at as ‘racists’.

        What did we know, or care, of the great silent revolution which even then was beginning to transform the lives of the British poor?

        To us, it meant patriotism and tradition could always be derided as ‘racist’.

        And it also meant cheap servants for the rich new middle-class, for the first time since 1939, as well as cheap restaurants and – later on – cheap builders and plumbers working off the books.

        It wasn’t our wages that were depressed, or our work that was priced out of the market. Immigrants didn’t do the sort of jobs we did.

        They were no threat to us.

        The only threat might have come from the aggrieved British people, but we could always stifle their protests by suggesting that they were modern-day fascists.

        I have learned since what a spiteful, self-righteous, snobbish and arrogant person I was (and most of my revolutionary comrades were, too).

        I have seen places that I knew and felt at home in, changed completely in a few short years.

        I have imagined what it might be like to have grown old while stranded in shabby, narrow streets where my neighbours spoke a different language and I gradually found myself becoming a lonely, shaky voiced stranger in a world I once knew, but which no longer knew me.

        I have felt deeply, hopelessly sorry that I did and said nothing in defence of those whose lives were turned upside down, without their ever being asked, and who were warned very clearly that, if they complained, they would be despised outcasts.

        And I have spent a great deal of time in the parts of Britain where the revolutionary unintelligentsia don’t go.

        Such people seldom, if ever, visit their own country. Their orbits are in fashionable London zones, and holiday destinations.

        They are better acquainted with the Apennines of Italy than with the Pennines of their own country.

        But, unlike me, most of the Sixties generation still hold the views I used to hold .The worst part of this is the deep, deep hypocrisy of it. ”

        hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2013/04/how-i-am-partly-to-blame-for-mass-immigration.htm

           44 likes

      • Mark says:

        Such people existed in 1885:

        The idiot, who praises, with enthusiastic tone, all centuries but this, and every country but his own.

        (W.S. Gilbert)

           17 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:

        Maybe he is a racist who wants “All White” teams to win, because teams such as Scotland, do not have any Black players, unlike England.

        It’s why Socialists in Scotland are so passionately Nationalist.

           4 likes

        • Albaman says:

          Utter nonsense so no doubt Richard will garner a lot of “likes”.

             0 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            That worked well, then.
            I’ll leave Mr. Buster to do his Lynne Truss bit on how that reads.

               2 likes

    • Aerfen says:

      Its also got a strong basis in snobbery. Traditionally the higher up the social hierarchy you are, the geographically broader. When the peasants never left their villages the eighteenth century gent spent the ‘season’ in ‘town’. The ruling elite were always international, the royalty marrying the royalty of Europe, the wealthiest young men doing the Grand Tour, while the daughters were tutored in French and Italian.

      ‘Cosmopolitanism’ has thus always been held up as an admired marker of the higher social classes, small wonder that the aspiring middle classes like to flag up their own ‘cosmopolitanism’ too – and along with regular visits to ‘ethnic’ restaurants, what easier way than distancing themselves from the ‘ignorant’ ‘thick’ ‘Little Englanders’ or ‘chavs’ (as they call those they until recently tarred as ‘common’ )
      who they assume everyone opposed to immigration to be?

         21 likes

      • David Brims says:

        Aerfen

        Before the advent of the steam train, the majority of people lived, worked and died within a 5 mile radius of where they were born.

        Now with the invention of the airplane, you could be sending scam emails from Nigeria, jump on a plane and within 8 hours, you could be sending scam emails in London !!

           15 likes

        • David Brims says:

          I don’t know why Nigeria and scam emails popped into my head, it just did !!

          en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_scam

             5 likes

          • David Brims says:

            Internet scam emails and witchcraft from Ghana. Strange how Lenny Henry doesn’t mention witchcraft during Red Nose Day.

               13 likes

            • Gibberish Buster says:

              You are right of course. Everyone knows that Red Nose Day is all about witchcraft. The BBC are shameless.

                 6 likes

        • Aerfen says:

          That actually applied to *most* people until very recent times, it was a minority who moved away from their homes to work.

             2 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          ‘could be sending scam emails from Nigeria’
          —–
          Failing which, CECUTT Directorship or pulling ugly faces and resorting to ad hominem arguments may beckon?
          A rich menu of career choices are indeed presented those who offer little productive contribution but see themselves beyond reproach.

             2 likes

  8. Will Jones says:

    ABC in Philadelphia runs a local journalist chat show on Sunday morning that discusses primarily local issues. Today a woman journalist says the lesson to be learned was that you shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Liberals thought that the bombers were “right wing extremists” and conservative thought they were “jihadists” and they were both wrong. No one on the five person panel said a word. If those buys aren’t jihadists what are Jihadists?

       36 likes

    • Chop says:

      Or….you could listen to someone like….ohhh, I dunno….Jeff Kuhner who right from the off suspected (like any other reality dwelling person I might add) Islamic Jihadists.

      His show on the day of the Boston bombing is free to listen to on youtube, as are his following days shows, and he was right.

      £4bn well spent by the Beeb, or a show put together on a shoestring budget, presented by a man with more intelligence than the whole BBC news network…

      I know what I’d rather listen to, and I also know who tells the truth, and who are deceitful bastards.

         23 likes

  9. Big Dick says:

    Half watched something on News 24 about cars & congestion , not so much the Global Warming rubbish this time ,but a Beeboid went to India , & visited a place called ” Mumbai” as he called it , but Indian local traffic expert kept calling it , wait for it “Bombay ” , Oh how I laughed , Beeboid kept inserting the “M ” word as you would expect, as much as possible in his voice over , but the Axis of Evil ,(bbc) will go on & on with these false names , the bastards !

       28 likes

  10. #88 says:

    Back to Margaret Thatcher, I found this tucked away in the DT.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/10007474/Margaret-Thatcher-v-the-BBC-a-loathing-finally-laid-to-rest.html

    I think the author, Robin Aitken is being rather generous to the BBC in his view of the BBC’s coverage of the death and funeral of Mrs Thatcher – there was still quite a bit of loathing on display and even more just beneath the surface.

    That said his insight, as a Beeboid of 25 years uncovers, at first hand, the reality of the left wing group-think that pervades the Corporation. It adds weight to the comments of Peter Sissons and many others concerned and unhappy with the BBC’s bias.

    Aitken’s book, ‘Can we still trust the BBC?’ is published on Wednesday.

    I do, though, wonder what does he mean by, ‘Still’ !!!

       22 likes

  11. It's all too much says:

    NOT BBC Bias, but I thought that this might bring a sardonic smile or two to those of us who have to work for a living as a PAYE drone, handing over up to 60% of your income (if you include excise duty, NI, VAT, insurance tax, airport tax, etc).

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2312541/A-lavish-eco-hotel-fireworks-beach-initials-lights–Dawns-secret-wedding-Mark-Bignell.html

    Eco hotel eh, so metropolitan etiquette is being observed – I wonder if they bought a rain forest to off set the carbon footprint of all those flying in to Plymouth……

    This is how our ruling class lives

       10 likes

  12. It's all too much says:

    The BBC report “Labour is to set up an independent commission to investigate how best to integrate health and social care.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22243685

    “INDEPENDENT?” Who has drafted the terms of reference and has your reporter seen them? No? FFS BBC just how many options like “closure of excessive capacity in marginal seats”, “charging for A&E”, “introduction of a comprehensive private medical insurance scheme to pay for old age care” etc will be considered?

    This is a Labour Press release with the BBC logo crudely drawn on the top in crayon. This will be a political review and about as independent as an East Bloc satellite state in 1964.

       18 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      There are a few words trotted out in ‘reporting’ now that serve more to raise a smile and a few red flags.
      Po-faced intonation by the BBC of anything ‘independent’, especially about itself or tribal clients, pretty much topping the list.

         10 likes

  13. Lynette says:

    Did anyone see a local BBC report on how the (kind and tolerant ) Moslems in Bradford are helping the last synagogoue in Bradford ? The BBC report doesnot mention is that since there are only 30 jews left in Bradford it makes perfect sense for them to put a financial stake in the building which will become a Mosque quite soon

       20 likes

  14. Alex says:

    Predictable result of a BBC survey?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22221841

       5 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘BBC surveys in each country… suggest most would move only with a firm work offer.’

      Such surveys doubtless ‘suggested’ as being being ‘independent’?

         4 likes

    • DJ says:

      Yep, given it’s own segment at 7:21 on the Toady program.

      It was a BBC classic, one Beeboid lobbing softballs to another Beeboid with not a dissenting voice to be heard for miles around. You could almost hear the ostentatious eye-rolling and air-quotes as they sneered at the less enlightened masses.

         16 likes

  15. AsISeeIt says:

    Nicky Campbell and his concert party consult the Big BBC Book of Days and discover that Monday is the anniversary of…. wait for it…. Stephen Lawrence.

    Agenda? What agenda?

       23 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      To be fair, an industry now exists that would make it impossible to ignore, as #prasnews releases fly out with a list of those available to interview about institutional racism.
      Ian Blair doing sterling work with Sky’s peroxide sink on the creation of jobs or juggle inconvenient social realities to meet targets rather than addressing actual crimes.
      Not sure it always works out well.
      Giving ‘Caucasian’ grannies full cavity searches at Boston airport as some folk are waved through like that scene in ‘Airplane’ may tick a few boxes and satisfy brain dead ‘news’ anchors, but hardly serve common sense.

         8 likes

    • Mice Height says:

      Don’t worry, Dave’s making a speech later, telling us how racist we all still are.
      Perhaps he’ll suggest a ‘three strikes’ rule, that’ll allow black gangsters to murder three whites, or Muslim peados to drug and rape three white girls before any police intervention is considered.
      Meanwhile, Dave’s UAF comrades were out attacking those that celebrate the well known Nazi festival of hate – St. Georges Day – in Brighton yesterday. Here’s a video of the brave class-warriors attacking four police officers, just before heading to the beach to hurl stones at the racists that were celebrating the Fascist St. George.

         18 likes

      • David Lamb says:

        I have posted on this later down. Worth mentioning that Kenneth Loach’s supporters in Left Unity are boasting on their Facebook page how they used their fists against fascist heads, and how they would not remove their face masks when requested by the police. Cameron, Loach, and the the vivacious Green MP, Lucas, support these thugs..

           12 likes

        • Chop says:

          Set of scumbags, little shitty wimps.

          Wonder how they would react to someone who is prepared to fight back (unlike the Police, who have been tied in knots by successive governments)

             6 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      No remembrance of Kriss Donald and Ross Parker? The BBC won’t bother because both lads, both white, were murdered in racially motivated attacks by youths “of Pakistani descent”. The description of “racially motivated attack” is the courts’ – Glasgow and Peterborough – not mine.

      Their lives were just as important as Steven Lawrence’s but they weren’t considered important enough by left-wing race warriors to make their deaths into a cause-celebre. Interesting to note that the BBC admitted not giving enough coverage to these two murders when they were criticised for ignoring them, but used weasel words to mitigate their lack of interest in the cases.

      Think it also shows the inherent racism of left wing race warriors.

         17 likes

      • Andy S. says:

        Just to add, both Kriss Donald and Ross Parker suffered greater injuries than the stab wound suffered by Lawrence. Kriss Donald, in particular was tortured by his killers before being murdered.

           13 likes

  16. Dave666 says:

    It’s Monday it’s the start of yet another week of bias on the BBc. As I have yet another cold(well man flu) I wasn’t fully taking everything on when I turned on BBc breakfast.
    So the 20th anniversary of the murder St. Stephen of Lawrence. Wonder if the BBc will be covering any other anniversary’s of murders?
    Oh what’s this an article about EEc immigration was it Romania? Only hardly any want to come here. They will only tend to come here if they have definite job offers. Well that’s right we are crying out for works here-yep no unemployment here! Oh but on the survey the better qualified are the ones that are indicating that they would consider coming here.
    Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

       18 likes

    • Andrew says:

      Many Romanians are already here. I worked with one over a decade ago; he first did crop-picking in East Anglia, then a job as a butler, ending up in an insurance company with me; very educated and interesting he was too. I’ve heard a few others in my town speaking on mobiles, doing cleaning, offering ironing services, etc.
      One BBC pseudo-argument I heard a while ago was that, as speakers of a Romance language, they would be more likely to go to Italy, France or Spain, where the culture would be more similar. I’m not convinced about this last bit. And don’t forget the Moldovans: once they escape their poor country and get into EU Romania they may want to come west too.

         7 likes

      • Aerfen says:

        Of course they would prefer to come to an English speaking country, when they learn English at school, than go to Spain or Italy where they have learned nothing of the language, even if it is more similar to Romanian.

        Bulgarian is Slavic, so this crazy idea doesnt even apply to them.

           7 likes

      • Dave666 says:

        Bit like all the Poles that were here before Poland had joined the EU. They made up a large proportion of Agency staff hired by a well known High street company I used to work for in the early 2000s

           4 likes

    • Deborah says:

      right at the end of the item on Today this morning about immigration they did say that the figures had to be treated with caution due to ‘the small sample size’. In science any analysis of data has to be put through a proper statistical analysis to see if it is ‘statistically significant’. Were these figures put through such an analysis? I also have to wonder why people in Romania and Bulgaria would answer truthfully if some stranger came up to them and asked if they were going to move? If someone stopped me in the street here and asked me similar questions I would probably tell them to mind their own business. I haven’t forgotten how wrong the past government was in its estimate of the number of Polish immigrants – why does the BBC now think it can do better?

         17 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘why does the BBC now think it can do better?’
        Wish fulfillment seems to be the order of the day for policy in government and ‘reporting’ in most media.
        At least it is only via omission when passive.
        The interesting part is when they try and make the news (up), and a BBC ‘research suggests’ tends to be the start of such a process.
        They still have the Graun, but unsure if the LSE part of the independent triumvirate will be as on board now as before.

           10 likes

      • Aerfen says:

        “I also have to wonder why people in Romania and Bulgaria would answer truthfully if some stranger came up to them and asked if they were going to move?”

        Especially when they know there is a threat, albeit a small one, that Britain will shut our doors to them!
        Of course they will give the answers that help to allay anxieties.

           6 likes

  17. George R says:

    Is British political class (inc BBC-NUJ) aware of this now?:-

    “Warning to UK on its ‘open door to fanatics’:
    Russian government says MI5 should watch ‘extremist Islamic’ exiles from the country in wake of Boston bombing.
    MI5 should play far closer attention to immigrants, said security specialist.
    Igor Korotchenkosaid has claimed Britain has created a ‘ticking timebomb.’
    Said some admitted as asylum-seekers, and are enemies of Vladimir Putin.”
    By WILL STEWART.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2312711/Warning-UK-open-door-fanatics-Russian-government-says-MI5-watch-extremist-Islamic-exiles-country-wake-Boston-bombing.html#ixzz2RB7JMLA5

       9 likes

  18. thoughtful says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22189158

    The bBC still banging on about Stephen Lawrence and anti racism.

    Why does no one ever mention the black power salute he is making in the usual photo?

    Why does no one ever question the account of the sole survivor?

    We may never know the truth of what happened in the minutes leading up to the murder of Stephen Lawrence , but we certainly should not just take one parties evidence as Gospel truth!

    For all we know the pair could have been shouting all kinds of racist taunts prior to the attack, and it is rare for an attack to have been carried out in the way recounted by the witness.

    But Lawrence has been accorded a position akin to sainthood he is beyond criticism and as a totem of the left anyone doing so risks arrest & imprisonment, by the ministry of love !

       27 likes

  19. Framer says:

    BBC speaking truth unto nation – Headline on website story about BBC opinion poll on Romanian and Bulgarian intentions from 2014
    FEW PLANNING TO MIGRATE TO UK – POLL
    First key lead statistic: “When all of those polled were asked to pick their first choice of EU country to move to in either 2013 or 2014, 4.6% of Romanians and 9.3% of Bulgarians chose the UK.”
    The story is on Newsnight tonight at 10.30.
    Now move along.

       8 likes

    • It's all too much says:

      “FEW” indeed, a small percentage of the population. Cripes would one percent of the population of India (12,414,916 people) still be considered a “few”? I guess the BBC could have headed the Story (as did the telegraph) “350,000 want to migrate to Britain from Bulgaria and Romania” but then that might cause some concern amongst the dreadful racists who inhabit the home counties.

      what is the demographic of this population of 350,000 potential migrants? I guess that most of them will be 20 to 35, so they will add to the enormous spike in babies born to parents from outside the UK

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9096761/Two-thirds-of-London-babies-born-to-foreign-parents.html

      2/3rds in London.

      So perhaps (and it is unlikely given experience of mass migration) only half or so of these people come to the UK – that is still the same as adding another city the size of Aberdeen in addition to the underlying gross immigration rate.

      Ignoring the diversionary ‘net rate’ data – gross the gross figure was that 566,000 people immigrated to Britain in 2011 – 1,550 new britons per day. In context that is three entirely full HST trains arriving with new residents every day 365 days a year.

      Is that a few? The BBC simply refuses to engage with the fundamentals here – it is not just an elephant in the room it is an entire herd of them, cripes they are even trumpeting and spraying water about, yet the BBC still cannot see them or any evidence that 28 elephants are roaming about the living room other than that wonderful upbeat piece on all platforms about just how fantastic rhubarb is these days.

         8 likes

  20. +james says:

    The BBC have found the new bad guys, the Buddhists. After being silent about attacks on Christians in Nigeria, Sudan, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran etc etc. The Beeb are taking great interest in what is happening in Burma. Notice how liberally they use the word Buddhist, or Buddhist monk and the phrase anti-Muslim violence. Yet they are loath to use the M word in other contexts.

    Compare this report from reports from Nigeria or Egypt which usually have titles like “Christians clash with Muslims” and then when you read down you find out that a suicide bomber has blown himself up in a Church. Anyway these Buddhists don’t f**k around.

       21 likes

    • noggin says:

      damn those insane violent indiscriminate murderous erm ……………………. buddhists?!*$?!? (shakes head)
      so filled with erm ….. islamo-faux-bia obviously.

      one expects tonights panorama on dangerous sharia courts … to feature douglas murray or melanie phillips
      baroness cox, as they understand fully the, situation, the danger, its appalling record, the inherrent difference between it and beth din, its supremacist imperative etc etc.
      but! …….. erm ….. don t hold your breath
      this is the bbc after all,
      clean shaven muslim apologists?
      or double talking beardy imams? …
      overjoyed sharia adherrents?
      tiptoeing bbc types?
      vague references, to cleaning up its act?
      etc, etc

      we shall see? 😀

         10 likes

    • Scrappydoo says:

      The reporter even looks ill delivering the commentary, why do all BBC reporters deliver their reports with this strange unatural emphasis that makes them sound like a text to speech computer program.

         8 likes

  21. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    Today’s bBBC racism story is about the 20th anniversary of Stephen Lawrence’s murder. They want us to consider what effect it had, but no-one is allowed to make the obvious points.
    It is OK for every ‘community’ to establish racist groups, apart from white people. Even the police.
    News reports cannot mention the ethnicity of criminals, except if they’re white. Otherwise, code-words have to be used such as ‘men in a black BMW’, ‘gang culture’ or ‘Operation Trident’.
    The bBBC’s news stories have to over-emphasise the number of people from ethnic minorities, in street scenes, school classrooms, etc. Everywhere except prisons and dole queues.

       24 likes

    • Scrappydoo says:

      Racism – one of the BBC’s favourite subjects.

         8 likes

    • Kim says:

      ‘News reports cannot mention the ethnicity of criminals, except if they’re white.’

      You can’t be that stupid can you?

         6 likes

  22. Guest Who says:

    Sounds like a case for ‘Inspector Beeb’ given their experience in such matters…
    http://order-order.com/2013/04/22/crime-wave-hits-parliament/

       6 likes

  23. Scrappydoo says:

    17 questions the MSM won’t ask about the Boston bombing.

    http://www.infowars.com/17-unanswered-questions-about-the-boston-marathon-bombing-the-media-is-afraid-to-ask/

       7 likes

  24. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC : Compare & contrast

    BBC London News headlines with ‘Lawrence’s killers ‘will be caught’Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe’

    ‘Twenty years after Stephen Lawrence’s murder, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe says the Met has not given up the hunt for the rest his attackers. ‘

    [A report follows recapping the case and much Met Police breast beating about what they did wrong]

    Feature & anlysis has this …. ‘Stephen Lawrence Legacy, there is more to do writes Kurt Barling’

    ‘Stephen Lawrence anniversary: Racism fight goes on’

    [A rather long report recapping the case again and lots of editorial opinion from the BBC journalist]

    And then we come to the small matter of ‘Teenagers stabbed in London’

    This is the BBC report in its entirety…

    ‘Two teenagers have been injured, one of them critically, in a stabbing in Tottenham, north London.
    The boys, aged 15 and 16, were found just after 02:00 BST when police were called to a fight at the junction of Selby Road and Creighton Road.
    The younger boy is in a critical condition while the 16-year-old is serious but stable, the Metropolitan Police said.
    No arrests have been made and police are unsure about the motive.’

       11 likes

  25. noggin says:

    as an adage, from post above, on bbc panorama the dangers of sharia councils programme tonight

    The sharia code mandates the complete authority of men over women, including the control of their movement, education, marital options, clothing, bodies, place of residence and all other aspects of their existence.
    Further, it calls for the beating, punishment, and murder of women who don’t comply with sharia requirements. Baroness Cox, whose Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill is currently in the House of Lords,
    She warned against a system which,
    “in its gender discrimination causing women such suffering, and is utterly incompatible with our country’s values”
    The European Court of Human Rights, set up under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is just one of the institutions worldwide which has deemed sharia and its councils/courts to be not just at odds with, but actively ‘incompatible’ with human rights.
    Baroness Cox, who has a Bill in Parliament aimed at tackling Sharia councils, warned:
    “It is time to draw a line in the sand on sharia and say ‘enough is enough’.”

    hmm quite so, note actually i think it was murray who said somewhere that siddiqui s sharia hub in leics, are training up a BA in sharia law, yep here in the UK?
    one asks why? … there is no need here … muslims are under our law? … well aren t they?
    unless …… of course there is an agenda? at hand?
    what could that be?

       10 likes

    • Andrew says:

      Did not our own former Abp of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, say that Sharia Law could apply in parts of Britain?
      It starts off as a joke: over two decades ago, at the time of the Rushdie/Satanic Verses affair, the satirist Peter Simple had his trendy Bishop (Spacely-Treliss, I think) saying that he was sure that any fatwa would be a moderate one “in a very real sense” (!!!)
      It ends up as reality: “Dr” Williams not defending his religion. Yet more Xenophilia and cultural relativism.

         9 likes

      • thoughtful says:

        Rowan Williams has a religion? That’s news ! When asked to describe himself his reply was “first & foremost I’m a bearded leftie” !

           4 likes

  26. AngusPangus says:

    Just WOW, BBC!

    A politician is today arrested over a freakin’ BOMBING campaign. You’d think that might make some headline news, right? Not for the BBC. On the BBC website front page, as of now, it is tucked away at the bottom under the “Wales” heading:

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

    And yet, what do have on the same page under “Other top stories” much nearer the top?

    This story, which is obviously much bigger news for the BBC:

    “Ethnic remarks row councillor quits”

    In La-La BBC land, politically incorrect speech is much more important than setting off bombs.

    The difference? The un-PC person is a Tory councillor. The alleged bomber – who has been refused bail – is a Lib Dem.

    F**K OFF BBC.

       28 likes

    • stewart says:

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2312625/Lib-Dem-councillor-held-mystery-bomb-campaign-market-town-blamed-Ali-G-style-yobs.html
      This has been going on for 8 weeks I would thought the BBC would have been all over it.Here,at last,is their ‘domestic’ terrorist

         7 likes

        • Mat says:

          Erm great link but as had already been said above the story is hidden in the ‘Wales’ section !

             8 likes

          • Gibberish Buster says:

            You are correct Mat. I apologise. Still, it doesn’t appear in many other news sites (in any section) outside of blogs and print media. I did miss the link and the broader point.
            See how easy that is to do when an oversight is brought to ones attention? (not specifically aimed at you, merely a general criticism of this blog)

            It didn’t hurt me one bit, either

               10 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              Nifty defensive ramble.
              Any apologies already having only just joined in.
              Ironic, though. And funny.
              Especially the bit about missing links.
              Yours, cryptically
              GW

                 5 likes

              • Gibberish Buster says:

                *Sigh* Ok, GW.

                   8 likes

                • Guest Who says:

                  See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?
                  And gracious as ever.
                  I haven’t seen a *sigh* like that since, well, the last one.
                  And two likes already.
                  I can see we’re going to get on famously if you decide to hang on to that name given it rather highlights what inspired it every time you post.

                     6 likes

                  • Gibberish Buster says:

                    Indeed. I have been vanquished by your erudition. I genuinely think your comments make no sense.

                    Let’s pick out : “Any apologies already having only just joined in.”

                    Care to talk me through that one?

                       8 likes

                    • Guest Who says:

                      ‘Care to talk me through’
                      Of course. I would hate to find you feel anything in an ungenuine way.
                      It was a typo.
                      I meant to write ‘And’ (though ‘any’ could have served your having weighed in on the basis of being an eloquent troll able to cite niche BBC tuckaways as a ‘gotcha’ for BBBC posters, and being shown as lucid and accurate as most within a few drive-bys. I actually first thought your subsequent post was an apology to me as a consequence).
                      Now if you think you are going to dig out of your introducing yourself here by stalking other posters on the basis of grammar nazism, good luck.
                      It will only impress your default glee club ‘likers’ around the watercooler.
                      So far you have managed nothing bar a few snipes, with one howler you are huffing and puffing over like a trooper.
                      The dark side of the Farce feeds off anger, and it’s easy to see how being embarrassed so soon can make you angry.
                      But it does lead to mistakes. Which brings us to your efforts so far.
                      And on current performance, what is yet to come can only be eagerly anticipated.

                         8 likes

        • +james says:

          At least the Beeb admitted he was a Lib Dem.

          Does that make him a centre left extremist?

             7 likes

        • stewart says:

          Got that from AngusPangus link above
          thanks.
          It’s bottom of page, 4 strories in
          take a look for yourself .
          Hardly all over it is it,and a bit short on facts dont you think?

             2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘ “Other top stories” much nearer the top?”
      Speaking of which, there was/is this too:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22152700
      They do know who and what needs to go on top, and who and what goes at the bottom, don’t they?
      Guessing sex and the single bomber may fall foul of possible ‘what could have led them to it’ affiliations, so best to focus on those less likely to bear a grudge.

         4 likes

      • AngusPangus says:

        Ha! Ha! Ha! Let’s all laugh at the stupid Jews!!! What a bunch of losers!!!!!!!!

        What with this and the fact that it is absolutely VERBOTEN to criticise a certain murderous ideology and we might as well be in 1930s Germany.

           5 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          It is a real problem in the more closed, hardcore communities, and always worth a giggle for the metropolitan elite. Here’s hoping that the ultra-orthodox communities get modern and will soon be just as sexually free as Beeboids: serial extra-marital affairs, scattering bastard offspring around the country, drug-fueled encounters, bending a young Talmud scholar over the desk while others are partying in the halls during major holidays, turning the Mitzvah Mobile into a Jimmy Savile crib, etc.

          That’ll fix ’em, eh, BBC?

             7 likes

      • pah says:

        What a load of cock!.

        I image they’ll soon pick it up with or without a book to show them how. After all it’s not like they haven’t being doing it for millennia is it?

        This whole sex education malarkey is a bit of a laugh really isn’t it? I like many others of my generation received very little sex education and we learned through some very interesting trial and error sessions. Were we disadvantaged? Were we the generation with 1000s of under age pregnancies. Did we have easy access to contraceptives? No.

        Did we manage without? Oh yes.

           8 likes

  27. ember2013 says:

    Regarding that BBC poll.

    They are spinning the results with the headline: “Few planning to migrate to UK.”

    They’ve used the small percentages as a faux indicator. 1% Romanians and 4.2% Bulgarians. This was “looking for work” – clearly a phrase the BBC focussed on once the results were in. “Not actually coming here, just planning.”

    The Telegraph mapped these %s to numbers: 350,000 are looking to work in the UK.

       9 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Polls, damned polls, and ‘BBC-analysed’ poll results?

         6 likes

    • Andrew says:

      The maths is not too hard. Dealing in rough figures:

      25,000,000 Romanian-speakers x 1% = 250,000.

      Sunteti bineveniti.

         2 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Mathsemantics being a BBC speciality, of course.
        Like when they decided 100:1 Graun readers slaughtering the Graun and 10:10 was best described as ‘opinions being split’.
        Technically accurate, but deliberately chosen to shape the narrative.
        You are welcome.

           6 likes

    • David Brims says:

      To get the true figure, always triple the number.

      There is 10 million illegal aliens in America, the true number is probably 30 million.

         5 likes

  28. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    ‘controversial’.
    The bBBC says that government plans for nurses to show some interest and aptitude in caring for patients are ‘controversial’.
    Meanwhile, no such word is used, for instance, for a vigilante scheme against alleged paedophiles or a bBBC poll showing that hundreds of thousands of foreigners want to come here.

       5 likes

  29. David Brims says:

    A very clever take on mass immigration and multiculturalism.

    The second coming of Hitler, reborn as a modern progressive, anti racist, Liberal, promoting a Rainbow Coalition for the good of all Mankind !!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKDeyuM0-Og&list=HL1366634910&feature=mh_lolz

       7 likes

  30. billy whizz says:

    Can we open a book on when we think the BBC will change its name to The Ministry of Truth?

       4 likes

    • 45543 says:

      I can’t remember who/what to hat tip for this. But seems appropriate to dig it out, from International Business Times in February this year :

      “A controversial plan to install a statue of George Orwell outside BBC headquarters has been given the go-ahead, despite being rejected by former BBC Director-General Mark Thompson on the grounds the author was “too left-wing”.
      ……
      “The case for commemorating Orwell is very strong,” said Thompson. “However, quite what he would have made of the prospect of spending an eternity in the shadow of the Ministry of Truth is another matter.”

         0 likes

  31. SouthEastVoter says:

    Do BBC reporters get paid extra if they use the word “controversial” ? It appears to be used every time they report on Government policy, strangely not about Labour policy.

       8 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      ….and how many times did the BBC use the word “divisive” after Margaret Thatcher’s death.

      It is brainwashing, pure brainwashing.

      At the end of the Dateline piece the execrable Gavin Esler said “The funeral ended with what few would have expected – applause”

      What colour is the sky in Esler’s world ?

         14 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘“The funeral ended with what few would have expected – applause”
        To be fair, if you look (rather carefully it must be said) beyond today’s BBC headlines, ‘few’ can kick off at 350,000.
        You just need to bust through the BBC’s gibberish.

           5 likes

      • Albaman says:

        If the BBC had chosen to describe her as a “cohesive” Prime Minister that would be an example of undisputed bias.
        That Thatcher was identified as being “divisive” by individuals from across the political is evidence of objectivity and not bias.

           4 likes

        • Andrew says:

          OK, so Lady Thatcher WAS more divisive than most … because she at least tried to do something about the ever- expanding state sector and the financial ruin that faced Britain.
          When you are aboard a Ship of Fools which is about to hit the rocks, is it “divisive” to grab the wheel and try to avert a disaster?
          You yourself wanted context from the BBC over Boston, and not a simple “Newsround” [sic] approach; what we got from the BBC was (biased) speculation.
          How about more “context” for Mrs T ? The IMF bailout in 1976; politically inspired strikes to bring down Tory governments in 1972-4 and 1984-85; all the strikes that sealed Callaghan’s fate in 1978-79; years of fudging and dodging by others.

             12 likes

          • David Brims says:

            Never have a fight with a chimney sweep, you’ll get your clothes dirty and this Albaman creature is most certainly covered in muck.

               8 likes

            • Albaman says:

              Thanks for those kind words. Is this another example of “rightist” tolerance.

                 4 likes

              • David Brims says:

                You’re welcome.

                   3 likes

              • Guest Who says:

                Funny how we were chatting on this very topic not long ago. Remember?
                What is noticeable is who often garners likes, and who doesn’t (I returned your compliment, BTW).
                There may even be a generic, collective ‘ism/’ist/’zi/’inger projection that could be spun, but we’re all above that, of course.

                   2 likes

              • Andy S. says:

                The fact that your missives are printed shows that the administrators of this site are tolerant of other views. Would that right wingers received the same consideration on “Have Your Say” or “Comment Is Free” without being “modded”.

                   6 likes

          • Albaman says:

            “You yourself wanted context from the BBC over Boston, and not a simple “Newsround” [sic] approach; what we got from the BBC was (biased) speculation.”
            Your evidence for this statement is exactly what?

               4 likes

            • Andy S. says:

              Don’t feed the troll. This could go on ad infinitum with the troll currently known as Albaman coming up with reasons to divert attention from the main thread.
              Unless he makes any relevant points, it’s better to just ignore him.

                 5 likes

              • Albaman says:

                By “relevant points” do you mean those that concur with the BiasedBBC view?

                   2 likes

          • John Anderson says:

            From what I saw in the 1970s – it was the far=left trades union leaders who were the divisive ones.

            By the end of Thatcher’s premiership there were just 10% of the strikes of the 70s. That is – she enacted laws to curb the violent divisiveness of the like of Scargill.

            She truly wanted a Common Market. Because it chimed with liberal economics. She did NOT want an enforced financial union, and she correctly warned of the divisiveness that would result across Europe.

            She wanted the end of Communist dictatorships which had divided the world for 40 years.

            And she stood firm against the murderous divisiveness of the IRA. Yet the BBC has the gall to invite Gerry Adams to attack her a day after her death. How’s about that for deliberate divisiveness by the “national” broadcaster ?

               15 likes

      • Donald says:

        Applause would seem a strange way to end any funeral.

           2 likes

  32. David Lamb says:

    A rather subdued account of the St George’s day march in Brighton.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-22244933
    The march was authorised by the police but attacked by the anti fascist fascists of the UAF and the street thugs now associated with comrade Loach’s Left Unity, with a little encouragement from Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton and Gaza. I think it is time the BBC re-thought their adoration for Loach, his Left Unity Movement is openly gloating over their record of their fists against fascists heads in Brighton yesterday (see their FB page). Fascists, of course, are those who Loach’s street thugs define as fascists.

       18 likes

    • Dave s says:

      Brighton is a pathetic place. London by the sea with a stony beach. I know it well and it’s rootless inhabitants. No more representative of England than London . It’s MP is of a piece with the town. Disregard it.

         14 likes

      • Daniel O'Flaherty says:

        Pehaps Lucas’s next election campaign should be “Vote Green, get Brownshirts.”

           6 likes

  33. Louis Robinson says:

    Well, was she or wasn’t she?

    Today, the BBC news website declares that Reece Witherspoon, a high profile Hollywood actress, was “arrested” in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The subsequent article doesn’t make the point any clearer.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22244536

    So was she arrested or not?

    The Atlanta Journal Constitution says this: “Reese Witherspoon, who has been in Atlanta for weeks filming a movie called “The Good Lie,” WAS ARRESTED along with her husband James Toth in the wee hours of Friday morning following a traffic stop in Atlanta. The Georgia State Patrol handled the incident.”

    And from Police Officer J. Pyland’s arrest report:

    “I told Mrs. Witherspoon that Mr. Toth was under arrest. I told Mrs. Witherspoon to get back into the car. Mrs. Witherspoon stated that she was a ‘U.S. Citizen’ and that she was allowed to ‘stand on American ground.’ I put my hands on Mrs. Witherspoon’s arms to arrest her. Mrs. Witherspoon was resistant but I was able to put handcuffs on her without incident due to Mr. Toth calming her down.”

    The arresting officers official report is here:

    http://www.ajc.com/documents/2013/apr/21/reese-witherspoon-husband-arrested/

    So was she really was arrested? Why is the BBC so skittish about saying this? Why the quotation marks? For legal safety? I am increasingly puzzled by the BBC news’ use of quotation marks.

       8 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘I am increasingly puzzled by the BBC news’ use of quotation marks.’
      Best I can gather they were meant to encapsulate what people have actually said (preferably enough for context and/or accuracy), but now appear deployed by subs so headlines can infer anything they want, especially with special added ‘tonality’ (see what I did there?).

         6 likes

    • Albaman says:

      How much clearer would you like it to be. The first sentence of the article you quote states: “Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested for disorderly conduct after police stopped her husband on suspicion of drink driving, US media report.”
      So not only do we know that she was arrested but what she was arrested for.

         6 likes

      • Louis Robinson says:

        Thanks for the correction Albaman.

        (Note to self: always read the full BBC report not just the headline which, by the way, reads “Actress Reese Witherspoon ‘arrested'”).

        Still puzzled: why not the simple “Actress Reese Witherspoon arrested”?

        Hmm. And I thought “….”s were only used for “terrorist” or “Boston Bomber”. Quotation marks can cover a multitude of arses.

           12 likes

        • Daniel O'Flaherty says:

          I noticed that strange headline too, and there’s a new one: Boston Marathon suspect ‘charged’. The widespread and inaccurate use of these quotation marks speaks a lot about the culture of intellectual cowardice and dishonesty at the BBC.

             3 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Just got my breaking news email:
          Boston bomb suspect ‘charged’
          Boston Marathon bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is charged in hospital – but the indictment remains sealed, US media reports say.

          More details…
          It links here:
          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22257451
          Boston marathon bombing: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged
          Seems those “quotes” can come and go at whim, rather raising the question on how coherent the BBC internal systems are on simple continuity in complement.

             4 likes

  34. ember2013 says:

    Oh look – it’s 3:40pm and that poll story has disappeared from the front page of the BBC website.

    You can bet that had it really shown only thousands of Bulgarians/Romanians intending to mirate here it would be top news (after Stephen Lawrence of course.)

       9 likes

  35. AngusPangus says:

    Update on the contrasting Tory/Lib Dem councillor stories running today on the BBC website.

    The un-PC Tory who had to resign has been disappeared from the front page of the website.

    ………..but so has the Lib Dem alleged bomber! In fact, while the alleged bomber still appears on the “Wales” page, there are FIVE Welsh stories which are deemed more important and which get their own headline and sub-blurb. “Bomber” Larsen, erstwhile mayor of Denbigh, only warrants a side link. On the Welsh page.

    With Boston still at the forefront of everyone’s mind, I wonder where this story would have been on the BBC website had the “perp” (quotation marks signifying “alleged”, natch) been a Tory or UKIP councillor, or even party members? Not too difficult to figure out.

       15 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    Some of the best comedy is still unintentional.
    Pondering, as you do, the dilemmas and issues consuming the BBC’s Editors on a daily basis, I dropped by the site dedicated to capturing their thoughts as so much rages around.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/
    I was greeted by: ‘This page hasn’t been updated for a while’.
    Well, true as far as it goes. Actually, it hasn’t been updated much at all, certainly since the heyday of Hugs penning a ‘we’ve never been so trusted’ effort and her minions having to shut it down before things get too embarrassing.
    Certainly the whole Savile/McAlpine/Pollard thing was deemed a good time to engage in some selective side-stepping, and it was loosely scattered with. well, sod all bar a few fillers, and even those were yanked when things got iffy after barely making double digits.
    Anyway, good news, there is now a new, shiny location:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs/the_editors/
    You can see it has been rebranded with a space.
    Apt in many ways as, to kick off with a bang, since its inception it has had by way of input in the last five days… days encompassing Boston for example… zippy bar the intro.
    Start as you mean to go on, guys.
    I am a little intrigued at what the edit to the current introductory post was at 16.07 to hone it from the original 13.06 effort.
    Gripping stuff.

       5 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      And as metaphors go for the BBC on most stuff, especially claimed interactivity, this is a peach:
      ‘To join in, add a comment on a story’
      Or… for now… wait until they’re ready.
      The Beware of the Leopard room has not gone, but simply moved location.

         2 likes

  37. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Reality has forced Robert Peston to disavow, in a way, Gordon Brown’s economic policies. I nearly found it quite refreshing.

    Economic recoveries led by private-sector investment are few and far between.

    Companies, for understandable reasons, tend to wait till they see a consistent pattern of rising demand from customers before they embark on ambitious plans to expand capacity and hire lots of new people.

    Which is why the weakness of the UK’s disproportionately large consumer economy and the eurozone – Britain’s largest export market, if regarded as a homogeneous whole – has meant growth in business investment has been significantly lower since the crash of 2008 than the government hoped (or, more precisely, than its Office for Budget Responsibility forecast).

    Who was responsible for making the economy disproportionately tilted towards the consumer economy? And who ran the government from 2008-2010? Your biography subject, perhaps? Dependency on the eurozone as the largest export market isn’t anyone’s fault (except for the gods of geography), of course, so we can’t blame Mr. Brown for that.

    But what’s this about something other than George Osbourne’s cutting too far, too fast being responsible for the poor economic performance? Heresy at the BBC until now.

    The UK may have become too dependent in the boom years on retail expenditure that was in part fuelled by an unsustainable housing boom.

    And who was responsible for that unsustainable housing boom, Robert? Your biography subject, perhaps?

    Yes, I know Peston’s point here is to criticize Osbourne’s overall approach while applauding yet another easy credit scheme, but it’s nice to see Peston admitting that Cameron’s government inherited a mess. Again, this is generally heresy at the BBC.

    Of course, Gordon Brown doesn’t get a mention because, as Peston wrote in his recent book, it was all the fault of greedy bankers. So the flaws Peston now sees in the UK economy got there how? Thatcher?

       12 likes

  38. AsISeeIt says:

    All across the BBC today we have the rehash of the Stephen Lawrence story.

    Well if BBC journalists bothered to go out looking for news – instead of simply sitting on their over-paid backsides and turning the page in their PC diary to find which out which idol of the Left has a birthday today – they might have found out about this news event…

    http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/philip-lawrences-widow-attacks-perverse-justice-as-killer–learco-chindamo-is-set-for-freedom-8582615.html

    ‘Philip Lawrence’s widow attacks ‘perverse’ justice as killer Learco Chindamo is set for freedom’

    ‘She spoke out after it emerged that convicted killer Learco Chindamo was spotted at a college in Birmingham where he is taking a construction course alongside unsuspecting students, during day release from jail. It is believed 33-year-old Chindamo could soon be resettled back in the community.’

    ‘He stabbed Mr Lawrence, 48, to death in 1995 as the headmaster tried to protect one of his pupils, who was being attacked at the gates of St George’s RC School in Maida Vale. ‘

    But I guess BBC journalists see it as their priority to highlight ‘institutional racism’ over and above the soft touch which is our justice system.

    ‘Chindamo was first freed on parole in 2012 after serving 14 years for murdering Mr Lawrence.’

    ‘But Chindamo, who was 15 at the time of the killing, was back behind bars four months later for breaking the conditions of his release.’

    Oh and this Lawrence case also highlights this….

    ‘Chindamo, who was born in Italy, avoided being deported back there on human rights grounds after being freed last year.’

    Google BBC Stephen Lawrence…. hit hit hit… 3 hours 5 hours ago 1 day ago

    Google BBC Philip Lawrence…. zzzzzzzzz… 25th Novemebr 2010

    Oh, and this…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/3d2ee04c-c21d-424d-91da-afd66258438e

    Philip Lawrence
    BBC Music
    urban songwriter/producer, of The Smeezingtons
    Biography
    We currently have no biography for this artist. You can contribute biographical information for Philip Lawrence to Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. If you know that a biography for Philip Lawrence already exists in Wikipedia, you can add a link to Philip Lawrence’s entry in MusicBrainz.’

       16 likes

  39. Guest Who says:

    The principle of getting your jabs in first is now well established.
    http://order-order.com/2013/04/22/hectoring-hodge-dodges-parliament/
    Now, where would any self-respecting rampant hypocrite pol find a welcome, uncritical berth for their latest #prasnews foray, if not in person but at least as a topic?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22251306
    It will be interesting if any of this extra context makes it to the BBC’s headlines as much as the money quote or the harpie interrupting the party rep. she dislikes most.
    Guessing the point made about Ms. Hodges’ committee sitting dates will be put to her and aired… when?

       5 likes

  40. noggin says:

    bbc 5live drive – special extended segment on … wait for it.
    anti muslim violence in burma? … and yet no mention of continuing anti christian violence, or anti jew violence
    by muslims in syria, egypt in any middle east country, or in europe, no not today or yesterday or the day before that.

    buddhist violence against an increasingly militant and radical muslim community … hmm
    The same Islamic problems we see in other parts of the world, is prevalent in the Buddhist majority Sri Lanka, or in Burma Islamic aggression, intolerance and effort to rapidly expand and create Islamic zones and force the religion on the people, persecute Buddhists, rape the women and be a source of violence and tension has created a similar situation in Sri Lanka that currently exist in Burma/Myanmar.
    It has been repeated time and again, once an Islamic population is allowed to enter a country and grow, they refuse to become a positive addition to society.
    This latest trouble, actually started, when a muslim shop owner deceived a buddhist shoppers, and refused to
    re-imburse them

       17 likes

    • noggin says:

      i am not condoning violence on muslims or anyone else.
      but those issues outlined above, are all often repeated facts.

         3 likes

    • George R says:

      Exactly.

      INBBC is only explicit about violence when it wants to politically portray Muslims in the role they want to be portrayed in: as victims.

      INBBC does NOT portray Christians in e.g. Egypt, Nigeria, etc as victims of Islamic jihad violence, not of course, the victims of e.g. 9/11, Madrid, London, Boston, etc., etc.

      INBBC: the ‘one-eyed jack’ propagandist:
      -but we sure did see the other side of your face.

         12 likes

  41. chrisH says:

    There was a story about some Tory councillor being “racist” in musing about his area becoming a dumping ground for inner city schoolkids( sorry, a residential facility to celebrate their achievement in getting sprung from classroom and blagging free holidays in lively Sussex).
    This pup of a non-story first popped up on BBC South over the weekend…we yawned even here in the South.
    Imagine my surprise to hear it heading the 8am news today with a follow up excuse to examine the “racist Tories, who`ll never be anything but”.
    Be interesting how this local non-story becomes a favourite for national prime time news “analysis” within 48 hours.
    Oh, to know the editing priorities of the Toady bosses-as if we don`t know already.
    By the way-no analysis given to the truth of what the hapless Tory actually said-don`t Today bemoan this chronic.well-documented underachievement in other stories all the time?
    Well yes, but only when it`s to bash racist schools…the BBC decide when and how to play their joker a la !It`s a Knockout”.
    Despicable….are they ever anything but?

       10 likes

    • Dave s says:

      In fact this is quite a story on many levels.
      The proposed school will cost millions. Who pays and what budgets will be cut to pay for it?
      It sounds like an act of desperation. Is the level of inner city violence now beyond control by the police?
      Do the children actually want to go?
      Do the teachers want to go?
      I have little time for Gove or the Tory establishment.
      They are panicked by the falling standards in the country.
      In less than a generation we will be behind East Asia and India let alone China. They know the answer. Bring back selective schools .Taking the best irrespective of race or class and educating them properly. it will not happen until we can put an end to this unreal approach to education. This proposed school is just tinkering with the problem.

         7 likes

  42. onlyne says:

    10 Minutes ago I went on the BBC website, a new comment thread opened on the EU’s relaxing it’s sanctions on Burma. There were only 9 comments; I disagreed with comment no. 2, my comment being No. 10. Within 2 minutes both myself and poster no.2 had been removed. Fair and open debate or censorship?

       14 likes

  43. chrisH says:

    Tried hard to listen to Today after 8am , but gave up twenty minutes after starting.
    1.The RCN tell us that mid-Staffs is one thing, but they`re damned if their members will be wiping bottoms…Florence Nightingale would expect nothing less. The BBC let the shop steward(president of the congress) get away with this. Tory cuts it is…that agreed?…motion carried!
    2. Justin raises the “controversy and debate” about that Chechen murderer(alleged)…who-should be able to “remain silent”, having shot himself in the throat..and giving him a pen and paper might infringe this, in due course.
    What controversy-other than that another Islamic jihadist seems to be described as anything but precisely THOSE two words (more than a lifestyle choice, dare we say?)
    3. A mock up of Elizabeth Truss` comment about nursey education…designed to make her seem stupid-she never said that “toddlers need a sense of purpose”, but the fact that I had to check her speech shows the BBC has won.
    Lies and smears. She`s a Tory after all.
    The BBC make me sick.
    Oh God-PM now discussing (in all seriousness, mark you!) the role for anger management to help Luis Suarez, with lots of padding from supportive scousers who say it`s racist, or elitist to mention what he did…rugby does far worse after all.
    I give up-no more BBC until further notice…

       13 likes

  44. George R says:

    Compared with Lawrence, who, among the political class, (inc INBBC) remembers or cares about the fate of this white English girl,
    Charlene Downes, in Lancashire?

    “Police rapped for blunders in murder case of girl ‘turned into kebab meat.'”
    By GRAHAM SMITH (2009).

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1220815/Police-disciplined-blunders-murder-case-girl-turned-kebabs.html#ixzz2RD8FTbmQ
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    Only English Defence League interested apparently:-

    “Blackpool EDL Demo: Justice for Charlene Downes” (2011.)

    http://durotrigan.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/blackpool-edl-demo-justice-for-charlene.html

    [Video there no longer available.]

       16 likes

  45. Reed says:

    UKIP not happy with BBC Newsnight…

    BBC Newsnight no longer reporting the news but becoming part of the debate.

    “It looks to me that the BBC is engaging, with its headlining of this story, not in reporting the facts, but in influencing the debate.”

    “Together, the total considering moving to the UK in 2013 and 2014 was therefore over a million”.

    “More startlingly, though, the BBC has then concocted their astonishing ‘nothing to see here’ headlines out of a series of follow up questions. If you convert their stated percentages into real figures, the story is a good deal more shocking than the BBC’s headlines suggest.

       14 likes

    • Reed says:

      …one of the comments…

      Neil M Fletcher
      Question time was in Aldershot last week… The 4 people who I knew that attended had to submit the questions they would like to ask early… All had a call back saying the could not ask questions about immigration as it was not a topic in news that week….

      Not a topic on BBC news any week, therefore never to be discussed, I guess. As Guest Who so often says, “He who controls the edit suite etc”…

         22 likes

  46. John wood says:

    Glad to see that Pointless isn’t.

    Question on Mussolini “Name of newspaper he edited”

    Answer “Avanti!”

    Comment from host. “Newspaper with an exclamation mark in it. THE GUARDIAN”

       4 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      But didn’t you also notice in the question asked that Mussolini was the editor of Italy’s first socialist, newspaper? I nearly spilled my cup of tea upon reading that.

      Oh. Would that be the same Mussolini that the BBC always like to portray as a ‘right wing’ fascist?

      Now, about Hitler and the National Socialists…

         9 likes

  47. The PrangWizard of England says:

    End of the 6 o’clock news. ‘The headlines again, charges have been brought against the Boston bomber IN HIS HOSPITAL BED’. These last words were used with emphasis by the newsreader. Another attempt to evoke feelings of sympathy towards this killer, because he’s a muslim no doubt, as they are all victims in the eyes of the BBC.

       21 likes

    • George R says:

      -And some of this Muslim’s victims were in pain in beds in nearby wards in the same hospital.

         15 likes

    • AngusPangus says:

      I heard that and commented on it at the time to Mrs. AP; those final words really were emphasised in highly disapproving tone: “isn’t that shameful, everyone! America, eh? Poor teenager!”

      Never mind the dead 8 year old kid, the dead steak house manageress, the dead Chinese lady, the guy with both of his legs blown off, the dead cop and the countless other affected. The bastards charged the refugee immigrant kid IN HIS HOSPITAL BED. The horror.

         17 likes

  48. Jeff says:

    Oh dear. Twenty years since the “racist” murder of Stephen Lawrence. He is the only murdered black teenager that I know the name of, and in two decades there have been many. Of course the reason for that is all the others were killed by other blacks. I’m expecting the Beeb to really go to town, just in case we’re in danger of forgetting…

       33 likes