There’s Poetry in Commotion

Michael Rosen.jpg

 

A couple of days ago Michael Rosen was on the BBC with this:

Journalese

First broadcast:
Tuesday 08 April 2014

Why are thugs always vile, market towns always bustling, blondes bubbly and tirades foul mouthed? With the help of ex Editor Eve Pollard, journalist Robert Hutton and Professor John Mullan, Michael Rosen takes a look at the language and the cliches of news journalism

 

 

Rather ironic considering his ill-considered, cliché ridden left wing rant in the Guardian (another cliché!) causing a minor stir …

 

Craig at ‘Is the BBC biased’ spotted this extraordinary letter from an impartial BBC employee to our new culture secretary:

 

Dear Mr Javid,

We’ve never met, but that’s because I work in “culture” and you have spent most of your adult life so far in banking.

It’s very difficult to see from your Wikipedia entry or from the kind of information put before us by Huffington Post how you are qualified to do this new job as culture minister.

 

You’re an ex-banker who made millions during the fatal bubble of the early 21st century; you were at a bank that has been fined for rate-fixing. You know all about this kind of money. The fact that people like you got up to all sorts of greedy lending and fiddling is why we’re in the crisis.

And yet the party you belong to keeps telling us that the reason we’re in the crisis is because “we” spent too much money on health, education, social services, benefits and – yes – culture. Anything that was paid for out of taxation seems to have caused the crisis, according to your party. Lies, all lies, but that’s the sort of “culture” we have to put up with from your party.

…..you are someone who benefited from the false boom, the very same boom that caused the crash, and to continue the chain, which is what has given your party the excuse to slash public services and cut waged and unwaged people’s standard of living, and further enrich the mega-rich.

 

Oh…bit of a slip there…..’ the false boom, the very same boom that caused the crash‘?

So that’ll be the the false boom, the very same boom that caused the crash under Labour’s regime of light regulation….you know…the ‘golden age’ announced by Gordon Brown.

None so blind as those who will not see….and a BBC journo, of  a sort, to boot.

 

And what of this?……‘the party you belong to keeps telling us that the reason we’re in the crisis is because “we” spent too much money on health, education, social services, benefits and – yes – culture.’

 

No, the party he belongs to tells us the reason we’re in the crisis is because Labour spent too much money that we didn’t have…not that we spent too much on health etc…a subtle difference that I’m sure a sophisticated and intelligent, cultured man like Rosen would appreciate.

 

Rosen continues:

No matter you are of working-class origin and your cultural background is a million miles from the Etonian toffs, you are now part of the class (yes) that runs the ludicrous world of the mega-rich gamblers who have caused millions of people across the world to lose their jobs and welfare.

So I’m not holding out any hopes.

Yours,

Michael Rosen

 

 

Ah…the old them and us class warfare.

Of course Rosen (Oxford Uni educated) can detach himself from the pampered, self indulgent, holier than thou crowd that inhabits the BBC…can’t he?

Rosen wasn’t so ‘Marxist’ when it came to accepting the position as the ‘Children’s Laureate’ from the Establishment…nor numerous other honorary positions and awards.

 

Rosen failed the vetting process at the BBC in the 1970’s and was dumped from its employ.

Shame the BBC doesn’t have such high standards now…impartiality being in its DNA apparently.

 

 

 

A reminder for forgetful little old Michael:

 

Gordon Brown in June 2005 giving the Chancellor’s annual speech to the City at the Mansion House. Addressing the bow-tied ranks of money-changers, he paid lavish homage to ‘your unique innovative skills, your courage and steadfastness’. They had his personal thanks ‘for the outstanding, the invaluable contribution you make to the prosperity of Britain’. 

‘As the world has changed, as industrialisation spread from Britain round the whole world, you have changed too – adapted and innovated, so that you prosper still – indeed as never before. With London today …..host to a greater number of foreign bank branches and subsidiaries than any other city, the City of London continues to lead the world.’

 

Having hosed them with adulation every time he visited the City, Gordon Brown surpassed himself when he returned in 2007 to deliver his final Mansion House speech as Chancellor before he moved into Number 10. ‘A new world order has been created,’ he proclaimed. Britain was ‘a new world leader’ thanks to ‘your efforts, ingenuity and creativity’. He congratulated himself for ‘resisting pressure’ to toughen up regulation of their activities. Everyone needed to follow the City’s ‘great example’, emulate this ‘high value-added, talent-driven industry’. ‘Britain needs more of the vigour, ingenuity and aspiration that you already demonstrate.’ Thanks to their ‘remarkable achievements’, we had the huge privilege to live in ‘an era that history will record as the beginning of a new Golden Age’.

 

or a ‘false boom’ as Michael prefers to call it….whilst blaming the Tories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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26 Responses to There’s Poetry in Commotion

  1. John Standley says:

    “market towns always bustling, blondes bubbly and tirades foul mouthed? With the help of ex Editor Eve Pollard, journalist Robert Hutton and Professor John Mullan, Michael Rosen takes a look at the language and the cliches of news journalism”

    Why, in BBC land, is there an American “Christian right” but no “Christian left”? Presumably it was the latter who voted for Obama. Twice.

       34 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      To follow the left-wing idea that a Republican Southern Baptist Minister is a thick Creationists.

      The hero of the “Christian Left” was a Southern Baptist Minster, whose creationist statement “All Men are Created Equal” has become the first commandment of left-wing ideology, even in this country.

      And I am a UKIPer who regards Evolution and Diversity as a fact and that equality only exists in the genetics of identical twins.

      So, the Emotion and Feelings, that rule the inferior thought processes of lefties, can cause contradictory and random conclusions.

      Its why the Lefties are always wrong about everything.

         23 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Sense you may be wrong here.
        I well remember some black bloke on that Radio 2 Clare Balding “Christian” thing on Sundays a few months back.
        When he was asked his black role models…and him a Christian perhaps?…I rolled my eyes and expected the usual pantheon of black worthies…with MKL at the top.
        No siree…Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X have replaced MLK…he didn`t like Communism and was a bit too biblical and certain of things.
        Besides Stevie did him a song…so what the fuss as they say?
        Mandela Desmond Tutu of course, pro-Gadhaffi, anti Israel and therefore suitable heroes of the Left nowadays.
        The demise of Martin Luther King is a real worry…from cliche to zero without anybody reading his sermons…which were prophetic much as Margaret Thatchers are now.

           13 likes

      • Scott says:

        “that rule the inferior thought processes of lefties,”

        Well aren’t we lucky that you were blessed with telepathy, and not a sense of misplaced superiority born from either ego, insecurity, or both.

           2 likes

    • Flexdream says:

      Obama is a Christian, but the BBC tries to keep that quiet. It just doesn’t compute for the Beeb so is ignored.
      “I am a Christian. So, I have a deep faith. So I draw from the Christian faith.”
      (http://cathleenfalsani.com/obama-on-faith-the-exclusive-interview/)

         3 likes

  2. chrisH says:

    This is the site I got onto to leave my views re Rosen( Oxbridge, privileged toff from Hampstead SWP etc) calling out the working class son of a Pakistani immigrant who`s already made his fortune without the BBC and Arts Council robbing the rest of us.
    I included Libby and Laurie too-and got a lot of abuse for it.
    Eventually the CiF moderator decided to “do something about it”…so took me and my new friends off!
    Incitement to Left and Liberal hatred/speech crimes and thought violations I imagine it`s known as!
    Commentz Macht Frei indeed….and a parable of how the Left respond to anything that tickles their Empires tootsies!
    Fleck, spit, bile and pus…but “I am what I am”..”I will survive”.
    Reckon there`s a support group here for those who were traumatised by Guardians Glee Club of nasty fascists…but who “survived and refused to be victims from there on in”
    Compo class action anybody?

       23 likes

    • Flexdream says:

      The new Culture Secretary sacrificed, I think, £2,940,000 pa income when he won an election became an MP. What has Rosen sacrificed to get a platform for his political views, and who does he speak for?

         8 likes

  3. Guest Who says:

    I got this far before the collapse of logic made what followed laughable:
    ‘We’ve never met, but that’s because I work in “culture” and you have spent most of your adult life so far in banking’.
    If he thinks that shared job titles or work environments is the only mechanism by which people meet, a lot is explained if not excused.
    Love the fact he’s stuck where does place himself in “quotes” too, as if unsure of his communication skills enough to accurately place what he does.
    Certainly it isn’t too clear what he is or does and the value he adds.
    But the Graun & BBC do seem to like him.
    That would include part of the class (yes) that runs the ludicrous world of the mega-rich market rate talents who give each other reward for failure pay hikes and pay-offs and kiss away £100M of other people’s money without a blush.

       23 likes

  4. Phil Ford says:

    Rosen is a funny little man who seems to have several problems understanding his facts from his falsehoods. I noticed his tired, laughable rant got a very sympathetic airing on this morning’s Today programme (but you had to be up bright and early to catch it, since it was squirreled away in the pre-7am slot). Typical BBC ‘impartiality’ at work, then, from both employee and employer.

    When do we get to turf the rotten lot of them out for good?

       39 likes

  5. Rosen’s parents were affirmed communists (fair enough if that’s their bag) but in the true tradition of the hypocritical left sent Rosen junior to a Grammar school.

    Up the workers!

       38 likes

  6. chrisH says:

    Has Rosen-who says he`s worked in culture all his life….actually WRITTEN a decent poem in all these years?
    Or is he just a Tom Paulin type…Yeats on the Rates kind of Lefty shirker?
    How is old Tom anyway?…probably the worst doggerel mangler of the 20th Century-and therefore a shoo-in for The Late Show.
    Thank you Yentob!

       20 likes

  7. Guest Who says:

    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/leader-kim.html?
    ‘…promoted from Commissioner of Science and Natural History programmes.

    With a degree in history from Wadham College, Oxford,
    Blimey, defo best arty buds with Mike at Uni, but I wonder if she ever met a scientist?
    Maybe he could write her an open letter to ask?

    ‘In 2010 she told Broadcast magazine, “I’m constantly accused of saying what I think too often”.
    Hugs better get her into a stall in the top floor Ladies PDQ to explain that BBC staff do not think much less say they do. Especially on twitter (views cleared by legal).

       8 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Love that-got an Oxbridge degree in history.
      So obviously Natural History is …well, a natural extension….bung on the sciency-type thingy…and you`ve got your BBC Science Editor!
      Besides-as long as she “believes in the Great God Climate Change”…there`ll be no need to fuss over the (urgh!) science stuff.
      Michael Man and George Monbiot are the evolutionary end of any possible scientific enquiry…for it is now settled!
      And that`s all you`ll be needing to know about science…as well as the Tories killing the NHS.
      More Tamiflu anyone?…mid-Staffs have some left over.

         10 likes

  8. dave1east says:

    I really have no objection to the bbc’s policy of giving selective access to social political extremists on the left to vent their nastiness, but why isn’t the bbc completely open about this policy?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Rosen

       10 likes

    • Lobster says:

      From that Wikipedia entry it doesn’t look as though he has had a proper job in his entire life.

         12 likes

      • Stewart says:

        What becomes clear from reading it is how preoccupied with children the bourgeois left are.

           10 likes

  9. thoughtful says:

    Oh how I shall laugh when the idiocy of this man leads to his death in the second holocaust which the which his favourite ‘isms’ will conduct. Failing that of course, they will get him in the second wave after they’ve killed off another of his favourite ‘isms’ Or maybe the third wave when they get all the liberals !

       5 likes

  10. phil says:

    Mr Rosen thinks the new culture secretary isn’t qualified for the job as he hasn’t worked in the culture industry and therefore no expert.

    He’s never run a business, let alone an economy, but here he is giving us his views about the economic situation.

    http://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/budget-time-thoughts-economy.html

       23 likes

  11. Stewart says:

    I am reminded of David Brims’ reply to an older post of mine.
    April 2, 2014 at 11:41 pm

    “John McTernan was the labour spin doctor ( professional liar ) he looked like an alcoholic, but then they all do.”

    How true David, how true

       13 likes

  12. zoid says:

    dear mr. rosen, please get a sense of perspective….you’re a feckin poet…..no one gives a flying one what you think.

    why do artists, luvvies, musos etc think that we should have to listen to their ridiculous political/social beliefs? they invariably have little more than a fleeting grasp of how the real world functions.

    rosen was a candidate for respect….what more do you need to know. i bet the beeb wouldn’t have employed him for decades had he been a ukipper, but a scumbag lefty revolutionary is always acceptable, edgy and chic in W1A.

       14 likes

  13. Shabbos goy. says:

    And Rosen you are a Jew that would lead me and my family back to the gas ovens, but this time via irans nuclear bomb, Hamas terror, Islamic fascism. You have sold out to the Jew hating left, and what for ? a couple of shekels. Another useful idiot.

       17 likes

    • Arthur Penney says:

      Obviously a squeeze on wages caused by the Tories – I thought 30 pieces of silver was the going rate.

         6 likes

  14. johnnythefish says:

    ‘And yet the party you belong to keeps telling us that the reason we’re in the crisis is because “we” spent too much money on health, education, social services, benefits and – yes – culture. Anything that was paid for out of taxation seems to have caused the crisis, according to your party. Lies, all lies, but that’s the sort of “culture” we have to put up with from your party.’

    That’s right, ‘paid for out of taxation’. Well, you learn something every day…..

       2 likes

  15. Philip says:

    Following on from Richard Pindars post. I agree and I would add that it’s clearly obvious that none of us here are equal, we are (perhaps) all equally deluded (by the BBC) but we all agree that Darwin taught us that ‘equality’ doesn’t exist in nature. He was a Catholic until he lost his beloved daughter, (he declared ‘nature’ to be cruel and it’s designer heartless). If he had been a Secular type he probably couldn’t care less about ‘creationism’. The suggestion of natural ‘equality’ would have seemed ‘absurd’ (as it is against any ‘natural observations’. ‘Evolution of the Species’ was not a ‘homage’ to ‘equality rights’ but the beauty of natural selection and natural (not false) diversity. That is why the Church immediately adopted his findings despite initial hostility from the ‘Scientific community’ of the period. Darwin did not write ‘EQUALITY of the Species’, if he had he would have seen that it would be perversely ‘unequal’ and lead to more inequality, (or you can apply the strictest communism and wait until society collapses through inefficiency). I can see i’ve gone ‘off-topic’ on Michael Rosen, never much liked his ‘wordplay’ kids poems, nor did my kids.

       3 likes

  16. Guest Who says:

    One suspects fits of the vapours are striking Mr. Rosen and BBC colleagues as we speak…
    http://order-order.com/2014/04/14/hush-luvvies/
    I do recall the BBC News had in the past hung her portrait up in the office, if with other intentions.

       1 likes