237 Responses to START THE WEEK OPEN THREAD…

  1. nofanofpoliticians says:

    I have been watching a fair bit of the Commonwealth Games. One thing that has struck me is the reluctance to show any medal tables. In the Olympics, these were shown morning noon and night in totality, for the sport (swimming, cycling, athletics or whatever) and sliced and diced into any number of different criteria.

    In the 4-5 days since this one started, I have only seen one medal table (for swimming) since the start. Could it be that the Scottish participants, whilst doing fine, are not doing quite as well as the commentary suggests or could there be some other reason?

       36 likes

    • The Prangwizard says:

      I have been thinking the same thing. It did occur to me that the BBC is bigging up Scottish successes.

         18 likes

    • flexdream says:

      Scotland is having an oustanding Games and it’s fair to report that. But you’ll just have to guess which of the Home Nations is doing even better. Here’s a clue, begins with ‘Eng’ and ends with ‘land’.

         17 likes

  2. Mark says:

    Probably because England are well above Scotland – lol

       32 likes

    • Mark says:

      If it were a two-nation competition, we’d get the headline “Scotland were second, and England next to last.”

         49 likes

    • The Beebinator says:

      England are in second place just behind the Aussies. Scotland in third with less than half the medal England have.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/commonwealth-games/2014/medals/countries

      I wondered by the Scottish National Socialist leader Alex Salmond had been very quiet. He must feel like Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

         43 likes

      • Aerfen says:

        The message should surely be ‘Better together’?
        As team GB our athletes could come out winners.

           15 likes

        • Merched Becca says:

          You are absolutely right! , Arfen

             11 likes

        • Span Ows says:

          Exactly right Aefen. Scotland are doing well and have already broken their medal tally record BUT this must be seen in the context of IMMENSE benefit of training as GB (as all the athletes readily admit). This can be seen in the comparison with the likes of Canada and South Africa rather than the likes of Mauritius and Isle of Man. This also goes for Wales getting their first golds for 40 years etc.

             7 likes

  3. John Andersn says:

    Let’s see how the BBC plays this. There has been a large explosion at the main Shifa hospital in Gaza. The IDF is claiming that it was caused by a Hamas mortar or misfired rocket – there is no IDF action happening there.

    Camera crews have been barred from the site.

    Shifa is known to be a gathering / hiding place for Hamas leaders. But the BBC never tells us this.

    The explosion was reported around 2pm UK time. 2 hours later – nothing on the BBC website.

       52 likes

    • Demon says:

      “nothing on the BBC website. “

      Must be some panic meetings going on to decide on the appropriate “line” to use to still blame Israel and excuse Hamas. Scott, are you involved in any of these meetings? – If so give us the low-down please.

         45 likes

    • Deborah says:

      Just seen this report of the explosion at the main Shifa hospital in ‘The Telegraph’ thus – so I cannot see the BBC report being any different. Notice we have to get down to paragraph 3 before there is any suggestion that it is a Hamas ‘misfire’. But I have just read that Hamas are sending 13 and 14 year olds with guns and body belts of explosives down the tunnels to attack the Israelis. Would they sacrifice a whole hospital for the bad publicity for Israel?

      An Israeli missile has hit the compound housing the biggest hospital in Gaza, it has been reported.
      Palestinian officials said the strike on Shifa Hospital had caused casualties though there was no immediate word of how many.
      The attack hit a building close to the main gate of the hospital in Gaza City, medics said.
      An AFP correspondent at the scene said a wall of a building inside the compound was damaged by a missile apparently fired by a drone.
      An Israeli military spokesman suggested the explosion might have been caused by a rocket misfired by militants. He told The Telegraph: “We are looking into it but there’s a chance that there was a mislaunched rocket by Hamas. I cannot confirm 100 per cent but I know that we are looking into it in order to understand if Hamas launched a rocket that fired on itself.”

         32 likes

  4. johnnythefish says:

    If, as Hamas claim, Israel are deliberately targeting civilians then you can only conclude, what with all that sophisticated hardware at their disposal and the number of air and missile strikes they’ve made so far, not to mention ground operations, they have the worst-organised forces and the worst shots in the history of warfare.

    Strange how the BBC, with all that Oxbridge graduate brainpower at their disposal, have been unable to work that one out.

    Or perhaps they have, and choose not to admit it.

       52 likes

    • Demon says:

      We also keep hearing how Israel is committing genoicde against the “Palestinians”. They really are rubbish at that too, 800,000 in 1948 has become 5 or 6 million just in the Gaza Strip now. Genocide reduces numbers not multiplies by a multiple of seven.

      Again we hear the BBC letting this lie (and an extremely very anti-semitic one) remain unchallenged.

         42 likes

      • London Calling says:

        The BBC is just another “tunnel” out of Palestine, but one staffed by ex-public school boys with Oxbridge degrees, that turned out to be an entry pass to a better life from their privileged upbringing. Russbridger, you have a lot to answer for, BBC, more so. Champions of the working class, don’t make me laugh.

           5 likes

  5. johnnythefish says:

    Here’s another nail in the coffin for the new Warmist hypothesis, deep ocean warming (it only took them 5 years to come up with it – so much for ‘settled science’), that supposedly explains why their long-suffering CO2/warming hypothesis isn’t such a bag of shite after all:

    ‘One of the more comical spectacles of recent years has been the sight of scientific cheerleaders for man-made global warming rushing round, trying to find some explanation for the increasingly embarrassing fact that, for 17 years now, global temperatures have been failing to rise as their computer models predicted. The favourite theory they’ve settled on, led by Kevin Trenberth, one of the UN’s top climate alarmists, is that the world has continued to warm up since 1997, but that all that extra heat has somehow been hiding away deep in the oceans, where we can’t see it.

    Now magisterial cold water has been poured on this theory by none other than Prof Carl Wunsch, probably the world’s most respected oceanographer. He has produced a paper suggesting not only that the warmists have no real evidence to support their claim other than computer modelling, but that the deeper levels of the oceans have, if anything, not been warming but cooling recently, thanks to climate changes dating back centuries.’

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10991246/Could-Barack-Obama-have-prevented-the-MH17-disaster.html

    (See third article.)

    For the boffins amongst us, more detail here:

    http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/why-ipcc-exaggerates-greenhouse-forcing.html

       35 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      Thanks, Johnny. I don’t expect to see this on the BBC any time – ever. If it doesn’t fit the narrative = doesn’t get reported. Must be that (in)famous BBC ‘world-class journalism’ at work again!

         32 likes

    • Chop says:

      So, all the global warming has been hiding, deep in the oceans….

      Global warming, is therefore….

      GODZILLA!

      Yikes.

         30 likes

      • Squid says:

        It never made any sense.
        If the heat is hiding in the oceans now (and for the last 15 years) then why wasn’t it doing that before (from 1970 to 2000)?
        Why does no one even bother to ask that stunningly obvious question?

           8 likes

        • lojolondon says:

          Doh! – This is so obvious – the additional heat stayed on top of the ocean until 1990. When Margaret Thatcher resigned as PM, the heat decided to hide itself. So you can clearly see that Margaret Thatcher caused global warming to not hide until she resigned – hence the Conservatives are to blame. Simples.

             13 likes

          • Squid says:

            Yes I see.
            Timing’s a bit off though.
            1997 would be closer to the mark.
            Obviously Tony Blair rewrote the laws of thermodynamics when he came to power in order to save the world from global warming.
            It’s all so clear to me now. Why didn’t I think of this before?

               6 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      I read a paper about the 800 year deep Ocean thermal Inertia, done by Chilean and American scientists as I recall, it must have been produced at least ten years ago, the Ocean cooling would represent that mini-ice age, 200 years ago. While 800 years ago we had the peak of the medieval warm period that produced at least 84 percent of the recent increase in carbon dioxide levels, as is proven by isotope analysis and ice core correlations.

         22 likes

    • +james says:

      Didn’t even need a scientist to explain this fallacy. Doesn’t warm water rise?

         18 likes

      • Number 7 says:

        What on earth has physics to do with the Alarmists’ religion?
        Shamelessly filched from WUWT:-
        A Parable for our Times

        And I went unto the Warmists and said Fear Not! For the CO2 is logarithmic and the T varies with the 4th root of P and that is the Physics.
        And They mocked me and said Have you not seen the Tree Rings?
        What hath Tree Rings to do with the Physics I asked of them. And they said if I did not know I was a fool.
        And so I came to look upon the Tree Rings and they were false. For they did not foretell the instrumental record for near half its course, and this the Warmists tried to Hide. And when it came to pass that only a Single Tree spoke of what they said, I said again, Fear Not, for CO2 is logarithmic and T varies with the 4th root of P and that is the Physics.
        And they mocked me and said that the seas would rise up with increasing fury.
        What hath Sea Level Rise to do with the Physics I asked of them. And they said if I did not know I was a fool.
        And so I came to look upon the Sea Level Rise and lo it was steady over the course of the data. Why has one among you purchased at much cost a monstrous house next to the Sea you say will rise up I asked. Have you, like me, understood that CO2 is logarithmic and T varies with the 4th root of P and that is the Physics?
        And they mocked me and said that the ice was melting and this was a harbinger of doom.
        What hath ice melting at one tiny part of the world to do with the Physics I asked of them. And they said if I did not know I was a fool.
        And so I came to look upon the Sea Ice and lo, while that of the North was Melting, that of the South was Growing. And as I said this unto Them, lo, the North began to grow also. You, who have proclaimed the far reaches of the earth the only safe haven from the coming Heat, have not emigrated to those lands, nor procured property there, do you, as I, Fear Not for CO2 is logarithmic and T varies with the 4th root of P and that is the Physics?
        Thunderbolts and Lightning! Very Very Frightening! The droughts and the hurricanes shall smite us!
        What hath droughts and hurricanes to do with the Physics as asked of them, hopeless now because I already knew it was I who was the fool.
        And so I came to look upon the droughts and found them unchanged. And I looked upon the hurricanes and found them to be in decline. And I said again Fear Not for the CO2 is logarithmic and they interrupted me and mocked me.
        You are a fool they said, for you are not a climate scientist, and so you do not understand. And I said unto them, Other than the collecting of the Data from Trees and Satellites and other such complex tasks, what skills beyond first year physics and statistics are required to analyse Them? And they Refused to Answer and the Anthony did Ban them until such time as they should Answer and then they became Abusive and the Anthony banned them forever.
        But still others took up the Cause and said Lo, the Heat is hiding in places where we cannot see it, and it shall someday spring forth upon us and smite us.
        And I could not look upon those places where none could see and so I asked how this springing forth could happen, by what mechanism of Physics could this occur?
        And for this They have no Answer.
        Fear Not I said, for Co2 is logarithmic and T varies with the 4th root of P and that is the Physics.
        And they spoke among themselves and said we must find a new means by which to prophecy doom. We shall search and search for such a means, but under no circumstance will we discuss the Physics.

           30 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:

        Doesn’t warm water rise?

        Ice floats on water because the density of water is at its maximum at 4C, so cold water can rise if it is between freezing point and 4C.

        If the missing heat is real, then the increase in CO2 levels would slow. But then this would also cause ice core correlations to deviate due to god changing the laws of thermodynamics by eliminating thermal inertia.

        But such things are possible with computer models, which can produce ‘Frazer Steel’ facts, such as the assumed fact that only man-made emissions increase CO2 levels.

           16 likes

  6. John Andersn says:

    It now looks as though Gaza terrorists (maybe Islamic Jihad) caused the explosion at Shifa hospital and also at a nearby playground where the rockets were being fired. The Shifa rocket had a 100kg warhead.

    3 hours on – and still no report on the BBC website. Sky has been carrying the story in some detail for nearly 2 hours now :

    http://news.sky.com/story/1308990/israel-blames-hamas-for-gaza-hospital-strike

       32 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      OT. No apology.
      Snowmail just in:

      Is Gaza ceasefire in tatters?

      We’ll be leading on Gaza tonight – Paul Mason is there and has been to the al-Shifa hospital, the biggest and the best equipped in the Gaza Strip. It was actually built in happier times by the Israelis. As I write, the latest is that the hospital has been attacked, it appears no-one has been killed, but people have been injured. A nearby refugee camp has also been shelled and at least four children have been killed together with some adults, but those reports are still coming in. Meanwhile, across the border, a mortar strike from Palestine has claimed the lives of four Israelis and wounded a number of others. The ceasefire, urged by both Mr Obama and Ban Ki-moon, would seem not to be taking hold, if these reports prove to be true.

      Read Paul Mason’s blog: Reports of fresh attacks – latest from Gaza

      I have unfollowed a few ‘friends’ on FaceBook today as they keep sending me Gaza grief without engaing their brains. The straw that broke was the Jon Snow special where he basically broke every journalistic objectivity rule in the book. Some deemed it ’emotional’. It was simply unprofessional.
      Look at the weasel wording as the facts seem less to Jon, Paul, George and Dingo’s quaint tunnel visions:
      “hospital has been attacked” Who by? Usually they are screaming accusations with the best of ’em.
      I really hope their already tarnished reputations suffer for such dissembling efforts.

         38 likes

      • Chop says:

        So….

        The hospital itself was built by the Israelis…

        It was given to the, ahem, “Palestinians” by Israel…

        It was then used by Hamas as a base of operation to launch rocket attacks at…Israel…

        That’s fucking gratitude for you, right on a big shit covered plate, eh BBC,C4, The Guardian…ect.

           61 likes

  7. Llareggub says:

    Only relevant to BBC bias insofar it is John Prescott mouthing off typical BBC propaganda in the Mirror. See the vote at the bottom of the article. It seems that only 16% of Mirror readers agree with him that Israel is committing war crimes, and that the world would not tolerate 1000 killings anywhere else. Hey fatso Prescott, ever heard of Isis, Boko Haram, etc.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/john-prescott-israels-bombardment-gaza-3918413

       44 likes

    • chrisH says:

      85% of the people disagree with the fat letch Prescott.
      There`s only one Temple Mount that HE is fit to talk about flattening!
      Future generations will see that this lardy mangler was our Deputy Prime Minister….and will judge the Egyptians were more civilised in worshipping their cats….or indeed Neros Horse being appointed a Consul/Senator made much more sense.
      Prescott is the bottom scraper of political life…he really is.

         51 likes

      • Mark says:

        Nero was a terrible athlete and entertainer, a bit like our ‘national treasure’ Stephen Fry. His cruelties are notorious, but it was Caligula who made his horse a consul.

        Caligula also claimed he ‘was being reborn as a God’ when a fever he was suffering from broke, but his maddest military escapade was a ‘war’ against the sea-god Neptune. Caligula commanded his army to throw spears into the water at random, and to plunder tons of seashells as a ‘spoil of victory’.

           18 likes

        • Lobster says:

          “Caligula commanded his army to throw spears into the water at random”. I suppose the modern equivalent is throwing Nokias at the wall. I don’t know if Gordon had a horse to promote though.

             20 likes

        • Andy S. says:

          There is some thought among a number of modern historians that Caligula made his horse a Consul as a calculated insult to the Roman Senate. Sort of ” You lot are so crap my horse could do a better job!”

          While Caligula became vicious, barbaric and tyrannical, he is reported to have had a wicked sense of humour so the above rationalisation of the horse being made Consul incident is compelling.

             6 likes

      • lojolondon says:

        To be fair, there was once a report of John Prescott worshipping the pussy.

           6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Interesting that even the BBC is wary of unleashing the Prescott without a degree of circumspection.
      He was already damaged goods credibility-wise, and his stock appears to be plummeting even further if the Daily Mirror crowd are not buying his bandwagoneering (15% now. The propaganda teams better get on that poll pronto).
      Hope the oaf takes a moment to reflect on how far he has descended, further.
      Also the UN, or various offshoots, which is throwing around ‘war crime’ maybes like confetti.
      It may help their standing if, before they rush to pontificate, they actually check with objective experts first?
      I shake my head at the calibre of politician we are now cursed with.
      John Prescott is about as dire an example as can be imagined.

         31 likes

      • Damaged goods in an understatement. He was deputy when Blair took this country in to an illegal war. He knows more than he makes out but seem to get a free ride from the media when it comes to responsibility. The psychopath Blair and the despicable c**t Campbell rightly get it. So why doesn’t he? If a Tory government was responsible (and let’s not forget how easily Cameron’s ego/Hagues’s stupidity nearly got us sucked in to Syria) the media and the left would say “look what the Tories did. How can you vote for them?” They call Tories the “nasty party” but
        what is it half a million now for Iraq? That was on the Labour party’s watch.

        I’m an ex Labour party member. I utterly despise my old party and feel ashamed I voted in ’97 for a warmonger and his vile party. Why are we still waiting for the Chilcot Stitch-Up (sorry) Inquiry? Before the election would be good so we can get a taste for the sleaze these people were and are up to their necks in and vote accordingly. And what has this got to do with the BBC you may ask? I get angry when I’m being f*cked over and have to pay for it (taxes and license fees) and as I live in Essex and pay my community charges..erh…Lord Hanningfield’s done nicely from me and the hard working people of this county and erh no the council don’t want to prosecute him. It will cost apparently. I must remember and smile when I get one of their threats for being late paying my poll tax.
        Rant over. And so to bed. Ahhhhhhhh

           26 likes

        • Doyle says:

          I’m ex-Labour too, from a big Labour supporting family. Voted for them in 92 (my first election), 97, 01, 05 and all the locals in between … came back home during Uni to vote in my marginal constituency … can’t believe how stupid I was. The first few you could put down to youthful exuberance, there’s no excuses for the latter ones.
          Funnily, there was a big Tory at Uni who we used to take the piss out of. We loved it when Labour won and we wound him up as much as we could. He said, ‘the Tories will end up picking up the mess left by Labour’. Quite prophetic really although history would suggest that this has always happened.
          I too despise Labour (to the extent I’d have all their MP’s machine-gunned, thrown into a pit and covered with lime). They can offer me nothing that I want. As a white Englishman they can offer me nothing except prejudice and discrimination against my own people. If I wanted to vote for my own extinction in my own country I’d vote Labour.

             28 likes

          • Simon says:

            he was clapped and cheered on that Through the Keyhole show on ITV so people have forgotten all about him it seems

               4 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Would that be John “punch-someone-if-you-don’t-agree-with-them” Prescott or another John Prescott altogether (see http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article8515278.ece/alternates/w620/rexfeatures_337089g.jpg)?

         17 likes

  8. Pounce says:

    Ladies, Gentlemen and Twinkle toes.
    Please be upstanding for the latest Ramadan death count

    The figures will be finalized tomorrow

       31 likes

  9. Leha says:

    Yet more dusty arrogance from the bBC, who just don’t see out of the hive, and don’t deserve our money. Totalbiscuit sums up their opening remark (But perhaps that tonally-iffy opening question upset TotalBiscuit – who has since judged the report to be comprised of “fairly ridiculous stereotypes, misinformation, misrepresentation and frankly a fairly condescending attitude from a reporter that didn’t really seem to have done his research”) Absolutely – write off an industry that turns over more than world cinema, as usual the bBC just don’t get it. ps Im a pc gamer for some 20 years and im 60years old. here is the article. http://www.pcgamesn.com/dota-2/heres-what-bbc-newsnight-made-twitch

       11 likes

    • Chop says:

      The BBC (and governments for that matter) have always written off the games industry (specifically, the UK games industry, that has always been a high performer), even though it makes more money than the film & music industries combined…(Although the money made does not necessarily hit the pockets of the developers)

      I should know this, being a professional games artist for some 23 years.

         20 likes

    • Pounce says:

      Im a pc gamer for some 20 years and im 60years old.

      Good for you.

         12 likes

      • Leha says:

        not all spotty herberts, hehe 😉

           4 likes

        • Chop says:

          Lol, far from it…most game developers are in their 40’s…the 1st generation of “Whizz-Kids”

          I’m 43, my 2 best mates (also game artists) are older 🙂

             8 likes

  10. David Brims says:

    Commonwealth Games News update.

    2 athletes from Cameroon have absconded. what a surprise !! The Sri Lankan cycling team broke the law by practicing on the M74 motorway and the tropical disease Ebola has broken out in the African training camp.

    5 minutes in the country and they’re wrecking the place.

       24 likes

    • Mark says:

      I hope the Ebola comment was a joke. This virus is not in the least bit funny in terms of contagiousness or death rate.

         9 likes

      • Techno says:

        It only spreads in primitive communities where people traditionally rub their hands over dead bodies.

        We don’t do that in Britain. Well, not yet anyway, there’s still time I suppose.

           10 likes

        • Mat says:

          Dunno though according to some of the media, certain ex BBC types went in for that kinda thing a lot when hiding behind aunties skirt !

             9 likes

        • Aerfen says:

          The real threat is that the virus mutates and becomes airborne

             2 likes

  11. David Brims says:

    Holding a sporting competition in Glasgowgrad, is this some sort of perverse joke ? the inhabitants don’t eat fruit and vegetables for God’s sake. Glasgow hosting an Alcoholics Anonymous Convention would be more appropriate.

       21 likes

  12. chrisH says:

    Reckon we need a Jon Snow thread on its own.
    The man is a blessing to Israel-everytime he opens his gob, Hamas take a stuffing-despite what he says.
    Would urge anyone to watch his closing piece with two writers at the end of his news show earlier.
    The two seemed to be set from Channel 4 casting…cue self-loathing Jew wishing to burn his passport, and arch-lefty writer scorning Israel.
    Not a bit of it-both blokes were excellent, and Snows gob quickly got zipped a al Zippy!
    Bet Bungle from bookings and research will be getting a pasting later…poor Snow was gulping and squelching like a floundering guppy!
    As for his interview with Paul Mason in a bike helmet somewhere at Al Mid-Staffi in Gaza…Paul knew as much about A&E as he does about economics.
    Digital Media, my helmet!
    Comedy Gold!

       32 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      Yes, Channel 4 news in many ways, is worse than the BBC, and Jon Snow particularly bad. A side-blog would be fun…

         14 likes

      • ^T^ says:

        Gotta fill those long empty hours somehow eh? Go on, open that first bottle of the day. Santé!

           7 likes

        • Old Goat says:

          Bonjour, triste, jaloux troll.
          Ayez-vous n’importe quoi d’utile de contribuer, aujourd’hui ?
          Ou est cela plus de votre merde ordinaire ?

             3 likes

  13. Dazed & Confused says:

    The Dhimmi Prime minister speaks…

       16 likes

  14. David Brims says:

    David Cameron ” Too many white Christian faces in Britain.” The ruling elites don’t seem to like us very much.

       26 likes

    • noggin says:

      but then again …
      “This Ramadan, British Muslims have shown what Islam is all about. We’ve seen an inspiring amount of charity with Muslims across the country giving what they can and giving up their own time for those less fortunate. We’ve seen a commitment to contemplation and Muslims have been putting themselves second as they pray, abstain and fast during the holy month”
      PM D “cabbage patch” Camoron

      “In the United States, Eid also reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.
      This last month has been a time of fasting, reflection, spiritual renewal, and service to the less fortunate. While Eid marks the completion of Ramadan, it also celebrates the common values that unite us in our humanity and reinforces the obligations … ya da ya da ya da!
      That is why we stand, to protect and advance their rights to prosper, and we welcome their commitment”
      Pres. Buraq Hussein Obama

      PS. and a whole lotta bombs, rapes, murders, and rabid anti-Semitism ,
      “non are so blind as those who refuse to see”
      … enough already

         30 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      I think it means that Cameron is saying that he is not really a Christian, and if you have a white Christian face, then just like Hitler with Jews, he wants to reduce the numbers.

      Therefore, for the sake of survival, if you have a white Christian face, vote UKIP, even if you are a catholic from eastern Europe.

      But then it may be just a subliminally racist rant by Cameron against eastern European immigration, as the ratio of white Christian faces amongst these immigrants is higher than that of the indigenous population.

         16 likes

      • Thatcher Revolutionary says:

        You add Cameron’s idiotic words to an incendiary Muslim and he might take literal instruction that there are ‘too many white Christian faces’

           12 likes

      • Aerfen says:

        Lets get the facts right.What Cameron said was BAD, but he did not say there were too many white Christians in Britain, what he said was we need more Muslims in ‘top positions’. Isn’t that already bad enough, without misquoting him?

           2 likes

  15. Philip says:

    Here’s a novel ‘Price Comparison’ (from FT business news) between two major public utilities. One is a privately run ‘public utility’ the other is publicly funded Quango. I shall compare London’s newly planned ‘Super Sewer’ (that costs a mere 4.1 Billion pounds) with that of the already ‘monstrous’ BBC ‘public utility’ of total unaccountability that demands 4.8+ Billion pounds per year to stay put. I think you’ll agree that a London Super Sewer (at 4.8 Billion UK Pounds) (as Lord Hall would say of the the BBC) ‘good value for money’ compared to the public maintenance of the BBC pomposity, gratuitous pay awards, dishonesty, liberal morality (which costs MORE per year) without showing of public benefit, with no financial accountability that despises the very public who are requested to pay for it). Go compare Lord Hall, go compare.
    And why do we (the public) have to pay for the BBC whilst a Sewer is actually far more important to ‘Public Health’ and ‘well being’ than any BBC game of charades.
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e0b7cae-6194-11e2-82cd-00144feab49a.html#axzz38nKteTPd

       19 likes

  16. thoughtful says:

    Take a look at the second video down, rather worrying if you are visiting Manchester in the near future, and of course nowhere to be seen on the BBC.

    http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/watch-northern-quarter-armed-arrest-7521484

       10 likes

  17. Geoff says:

    So Moeen Ali has broken rule 19F of the ICC rule book by wearing pro Palestine wristbands. Both the BBC and the England team seem to condone it, but would the reverse be condoned?

       29 likes

  18. noggin says:

    BBC – K Squawk,
    “180 Hamas …… militants?, (terrorists?) ….. have died”

    “Douglas Murray – Israel in Gaza”

       7 likes

  19. Dave666 says:

    I’ve been listening to Radio 4 today They have been running the OFFCOM top gear story. So two people complained and OFFCOM jumped on it shame they don’t do that when BBc are being economical with the facts, being biased or just out right lying. Love the way it’s “another embarrassment for Top gear and Jeremy Clarkson” nothing to do with the BBc then? Meanwhile the pro Gaza anti Russian bandwagon plays on. UK troops to go on exercise in Poland the report started off as 1,350 but later morphed into over a thousand as the day went on. Whilst the CIS forces aren’t what they were in the days of the Warsaw Pact and when I was part of BOAR I somehow doubt Putin will be losing any sleep.

       16 likes

    • The Beebinator says:

      you were part of a wild pig? (BOAR)? 😉

      I was in Berlin from 1988-1990, we had 9 tanks in Berlin, the russians had 900 surrounding it, we wouldnt have stood a chance against them.

      The worst thing was travelling to west germany on the Britsh Military Train and seeing the thousands and thousands of tanks the russians had in reserve. Not a nice sight for an infantry soldier

         20 likes

      • Big Dick says:

        Went to West Berlin In May 1988 , saw the Wall , little did we know, 18 months later it would come down. It looked fantastic with all the graffiti on our side , Checkpoint Charlie & all that .Didn`t know we had only a handful of tanks there though. Lot of sigint went on there,however,(Military & GCHQ ,ease dropping )

           8 likes

      • Dave666 says:

        When I was in the British Berlin Armoured Brigade we had one squadron with 4 Chieftains. The grunts had a couple of FV432 with a Fox turret on top. I also saw that marshalling yard on the train trip. Sorry yes typo although I did get chased by some Wild boar on guard once .

           2 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      If ‘slope’ is such a an offensive term, why wasn’t it edited out?

      I’d never heard of it before and I’d guess most present at the filming and in the editing team hadn’t either, which could be the reason they chose to leave it in.

      I wonder how much offensiveness gets edited out of The News Quiz, or The Now Show? Judging by what they leave in, the mind boggles….

         5 likes

  20. George R says:

    LIBYA.

    No INBBC mention of Islam until final sentence of report:-

    “Huge blaze spreads at fuel storage depot in Tripoli”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28521551

       12 likes

    • Bonzo says:

      Last paragraph is bad. ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islam’ is usually slipped in, obliquely, about three-quarters of the way through any ‘report’.

         7 likes

  21. George R says:

    Scotland.

    Has INBBC reported this?:-

    “Muslims outraged, demand apology for Scottish terrier dogs appearing in the Scottish Commonwealth Games opening ceremony”

    [Excerpt]:-

    “Muslims demand that we submit to their repugnant laws and like it.

    “Millions of Muslims come to Western countries with a ready-made model of society and government, and establish parallel societies based on Islamic law — parallel sharia police, parallel sharia governments with parallel sharia laws.

    “The Scots have been very accommodating to Islamic demands. Mirroring the dhimmitude of British authorities, the Scots have feared that the break-up of Muslim sex trafficking gangs of infidel girls would ‘increase community tensions.’ So don’t be surprised if they apologize for the Scottish terriers.

    “The more accommodating you are, the bigger the demands.

    “’Commonwealth Games Scottie dogs ‘disrespectful to Muslims’, The Telegraph, July 28.
    “Use of Scottish terrier dogs during Commonwealth Games opening ceremony ‘shameful’ and ‘offensive’, Malaysian politicians claim.”

    – See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2014/07/muslims-outaged-demand-apology-scottish-terrier-dogs-appearing-scottish-commonwealth-games-opening-ceremony.html/#sthash.IQhxhAKn.dpuf

    – See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2014/07/muslims-outaged-demand-apology-scottish-terrier-dogs-appearing-scottish-commonwealth-games-opening-ceremony.html/#sthash.IQhxhAKn.dpuf

       24 likes

    • Mark says:

      Muslims get outraged too much IMO. The Malaysians should be more bothered about why their planes keep falling out of the sky.

         15 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        I was in a Malaysian restaurant once when somebody rang to book a table. The owner (Chinese Malaysian) was belittled and insulted by the caller (Muslim Malaysian) when he admitted to not using Halal meat in his dishes. He told us this after the call when we asked him what was wrong as he looked pretty shaken. He said it was typical of the treatment non-Muslims receive in Malaysia, and it was his reason for leaving.

           7 likes

        • John Anderson says:

          I have seen this sort of stuff in the Borneo parts of Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) and also in cities on the Malaysian mainland.

          It was nearly ALWAYS friendlier in Chinese locations and establishments rather than Malay.

             6 likes

        • Rob says:

          that and the fact non-Muslims are not permitted top jobs or rarely get promoted at work and Muslims get discounted mortgages and the first choice of University places

             4 likes

  22. John Andersn says:

    It was 2pm on Monday when there were explosions at the Gaza Shifa hospital and ij a nearby camp. In the camp many children were killed. Sky reported these explosions quickly – including that Israel was saying that it was not operating in that area and that the explosions would have been misfired rockets from the terrorists. Over vthe course of the day the IDF has been more and more explicit about this, including the fact that some 200 rockets have fallen inside Gaza so far – as is reflected in the Sky TV headline :

    http://news.sky.com/story/1308990/israel-blames-hamas-for-gaza-childrens-deaths

    The BBC did not report these tragic incidents for some hours – and is still very waffl;y about where the blame lies. If this was clearly caused by the IDF the BBC would be screaming with headlines solely about these incidents. Instead, the BBC seems to be wrapping it up with other stories – because they don’t want to put the terrorists in the dock ?

    The incidents may be highly significant – not just the immediate deaths. The IDF thinks it was Islamic Juhad in Gaza that fired the rockets – but Hamas assumed it was the IDF and they stepped up their rocket and mortar fire. Some IDF soldiers have been killed by mortar fire just outside Gaza, there was another attempted breakout near a kibbutz from a terror tunnel, and Hamas started lobbing many more rockets at Israel.

    This effectively blew apart any chance of further ceasefire, Eid or no Eid. Israel is going much deeper into Gaza now, aiming for the HQ zones of the Hamas cowardly “leadership”. Public opinion in Israel remains very strongly united – most unusual – and people want the IDF to get on with the job of really hammering Hamas. Probably no chance of the conflice ceasing until every single tunnel has been found and destroyed, with far more damage and death to come. Obama and John Kerry have been protesting that their ceasefire proposals were not misguided (bordering on treacherous because they aligned with Turkey and Qatar rather than Egypt). Egypt is happy to let Israel get on with the job.

    So, inadvertently, Islamic Jihad’s misfired rockets or mortars have provoked Hamas into stupid escalation and abandoning any pretence of ceasefire. Israel is going in even harder.

    Sorry about the length of this – but maybe people would like to hear the real news rather than the BBC’s crap.

       34 likes

  23. TPO says:

    I’ve not been able to find this on the BBC website, if anyone else has, could they provide the link please:

    “Pakistani mob kills two children including a baby and their grandmother after ‘blasphemous’ Facebook post”
    “A seven-year-old and her baby sister were killed alongside their grandmother, police said, after another member of the Ahmadi sect was accused of blasphemy ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10994971/Pakistani-mob-kills-two-children-including-a-baby-and-their-grandmother-after-blasphemous-Facebook-post.html

    Time all western governments started to vet all arrivals from Pakistan to ensure that this sort of islamic infestation is nipped in the bud.

       27 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      The Independent reported this incident. (Don’t worry, I read the report in a link from The Drudge Report website!) The comments under the report have to be seen to be believed. Apart from the occasional rant against Israel, nearly all the comments are virulently anti-Muslim. They make this site’s comments re the R.O.P. look positively benign. Totally surprised the Independent editorial staff allowed them without moderation.

         6 likes

  24. George R says:

    Beeboids’ permanently ‘open door.’

    After decades of BBC-NUJ supported, Labour Party open-door ‘policy’ on mass immigration into Britain, Beeboids have this hypocritical, unquestioned sentence:-

    “But Labour has called for more action on the issue, and criticised government efforts to tackle immigration as a ‘failure’ so far.”

    -from Beeboids’-

    “Migrant benefits to be tightened further – Cameron”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28537663

       14 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      “Migrant benefits to be tightened further – Cameron”

      This headline is of course a lie, and I’m sure the BBC know it is.
      To have been true it should have read that ‘European Migrants’ because it doesn’t apply to migrants coming from anywhere else in the world.

         14 likes

      • Merched Becca says:

        Remember the shout of “British jobs for British workers!”, after someone left the doors open.

           13 likes

      • Aerfen says:

        It doesnt apply to European immigrants either – a short spell selling The Big Issue ensures they gain the status of ‘workers’ and opens up the right to JSA.

           10 likes

        • johnnythefish says:


          Firuta Vasile, 27, was told by Bristol City Council that she was not entitled to housing benefit as European nationals are only entitled to claim it if they are in work.

          The mother-of-four took the council to court, arguing that selling the magazine for the homeless is a form of self–employment.

          The judge’s ruling means EU nationals selling the Big Issue across the UK are now entitled to claim housing benefit.

          Ms Vasile, who has four children, one of whom is severely disabled, says the benefit will help her pay her rent and look after her family.’

          http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9020377/Romanian-Big-Issue-seller-wins-right-to-housing-benefit.html

          Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can….

          Oops! Silly of me – it’s not her effing country is it?

             10 likes

      • Mark says:

        Like Somalia, for example ?

           8 likes

        • Mark says:

          Of all the immigrant groups, Somalis have the smallest percentage in work or actively seeking work.

          Not racist, just quoting a fact.

             17 likes

          • Andy S. says:

            Last set of statistics I saw showed an 80% unemployment rate among Somalian immigrants in this country.

               8 likes

      • Rob says:

        It goes something like this:

        1 election looming
        2 talk tough
        3 put in new rules to restrict migrants
        4. Rules challenged in court
        5 Election takes place
        6 Court find in favour of immigrants
        7 Government disappointed
        8 Back to normal move along nothing to see here

           29 likes

      • FROM BBC ONLINE
        “Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government had failed to take “firm action” to address the issue.

        “Behind the rhetoric the true picture of this government on immigration is one of failure, with net migration going up, despite David Cameron’s promise to get it down to the tens of thousands,” she said.

        “The government should get a grip and finally implement Labour’s proposals to stop the undercutting of wages and jobs for local workers by the exploitation of low-skilled migrant labour, including banning recruitment agencies that only hire foreign workers and pressing for stronger controls in Europe.”

        And that’s a firm line is it Yvettte? and Labour did what exactly when in power? Expect more open door immigration if this lot get in. How obvious does it have to be to the electorate before we become like the former Yugoslavia and all the horrors that entails?

           21 likes

        • Merched Becca says:

          ‘Kettle’ and ‘pot’ comes to mind.

             10 likes

        • #88 says:

          So, to paraphrase what Mrs Balls is saying; the Tories are not doing a good enough job of clearing up the mess Labour left.

          I’m sure the BBC pointed this out to her.

             9 likes

    • I saw it too. Sickening hypocrisy.

         15 likes

  25. Thoughtful says:

    Radio 4 ‘Today’

    Shoplifting and a huge rise, is it due to hunger? Desperation?

    Half way through the piece we learn that half of the offences at the Magistrates were for the theft of alcohol, and the store manager they interviewed was running a jewellers !

    So, nothing to do with hunger or desperation then, why in that case do they say it, when the piece is already recorded prior to broadcast?

    Yet more evidence of bias.

       33 likes

    • richard D says:

      Wasn’t that precisely the same view the BBC tried to hand us as being the reason for the London riots following Mark Duggan’s argument with a bullet ? (3rd anniversary soon, so watch out for the BBC promoting protests again). You know…… austerity, hunger, poverty and all that crap ?

      And, of course, when it turned out that all the thugs completely by-passed (or just fire-bombed) grocery stores and headed off to loot footwear, fashion, electronics and booze shops, the silence from the BBC became deafening.

         15 likes

  26. AsISeeIt says:

    I watch BBC TV news and am forced to conclude that we live in strange times.

    In the PR battle in the first war zone, one side is desperately anxious to emphasise how bad they are at protecting their own civilians.

    Another war zone, and a non-participant civilian plane is shot down by mistake and it’s a ‘warcrime’ but this wasn’t supposed to be a ‘warzone’ so it should have been okay for the plane to be there so this was just a ‘crime’ or indeed a ‘mistake’ (hey! no blame, no claim) but anyway the plane shouldn’t have been there – unless this was really a ‘warzone’ in which case this ought to have been reported as being a ‘warzone’ but it’s not like when the Syrian government bombard their rebels – that’s bad and think of the kiddies. And Syrian EU memebership is years ahead and not yet a factor. I thought Ukraine was badly in debt? Are EU tax payers funding their artillery? I think we should be told.

    For a moment BBC man Norman Smith sounds as though he has joined UKIP when he can hardly contain himself reporting from Westminster and bawls out that immigration is ‘GOING ABSOLUTELY….’ then checks himself with ‘….in the other direction’ Of course he is coalition bashing and seems to be able to reassure us that migrants don’t claim benefits so it’s all alright then. School places? Housing? Health? Transport? Green Belt?

    Hobby Sports reports from Scotland – just me, or do others feel just a little sick of being force-fed huge quantities of Auntie’s stale shortbread.

       26 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      It’s not just you, believe me.

         17 likes

    • David Brims says:

      ”and am forced to conclude that we live in strange times.”

      Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund giving a very strange speech…

         4 likes

      • David Brims says:

        This speech was given in January 2014, yet Christine Lagarde refers to the G7 and not the G8, Russia was expelled in March 2014.

           4 likes

  27. Aerfen says:

    Rachel Boredom has the 5Live slot to herself this morning and is discussing the issue of grown up children being unable to afford to leave home and consequently remain with their parents.

    No mention of course of the cause of rising house prices and rentals, the big elephant in the room, mass immigration.

       31 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Or the hedonistic, feckless lifestyles of aforementioned ‘grown up’ children for whom saving is far too boring to be bothered with.

         3 likes

  28. noggin says:

    Fair and impartial BBC, reporting facts about Gaza situation this morning,
    Concerns over rising anti Semitic violence, here in the UK
    along with rising Muslim population, equating reports from Germany and France? …… er, no … don t be silly
    BBC – Israel steps up bombardment of Gaza
    BBC – Gaza heaviest night of bombardment, .
    BBC – The ‘Relentless night’
    a line about Jews being targeted?
    BBC – Children pay heavy price
    BBC – Numbers behind the conflict
    BBC – US-Israel relations strained
    that ll be a no then?
    BBC – Ian Pannell: “Children in Gaza have paid heavily”
    BBC – Children in conflict
    BBC – Hamas hopes ??? 😀
    BBC – Comparing tolls
    BBC – Painful Day
    BBC – Buried under rubble
    oh and …
    … How are you affected by the situation? Email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject ‘Israel Gaza’
    (note – but if your Jewish don t bother 😀 )

       25 likes

    • Deborah says:

      My cousin in Israel wrote to me the following:

      The BBC is intentionally covering up the true asymmetry of what is going on …… A local woman (he gives her name) tried to get a BBC crew to record her telling what it is like to live in Ashkelon under bombardment, but when they found out what she wanted to say, they packed up their equipment, they didn’t want to record that position.

         27 likes

      • noggin says:

        which is exactly my point, … send my heartfelt best wishes to your cousin

           19 likes

    • +james says:

      If Gaza is so dangerous how come there are so many journalists there? How many BBC journalists are in Mosul?

         12 likes

  29. Umbongo says:

    So Labour comes up with another bogus claim about the NHS being “privatised” ie using private sector persons or companies to supply services to NHS claimants or institutions. In other words, the NHS is using some of its suppliers in the same way it uses doctors in general practice who are in self-employment and have been since the NHS’s year zero. Consequently there’s no issue here or, rather, only one that Labour and various interested – and IIRC invariably left-wing – parties wish to shout about. Of course, it’s a Labour-composed theme (rather like the cost of living “crisis”) that the BBC won’t leave alone and thus – because the BBC because of its ubiquity in broadcasting and opinion-forming – becomes a “fact” which is the background on every aspect of current discussion concerning the NHS until Labour’s next “big idea” hoves into view..
    Now we are told that Labour will, through the rest of the summer, be announcing “initiatives” which will form part of its 2015 election manifesto. If past form is any indicator of future behaviour, these “initiatives” will, not uncoincidentally, be headlined in the BBC’s main news bulletins and be pored over and analysed (ie given completely unwarranted publicity) in magazine programmes like Today and Woman’s Hour. In this way the BBC allows Labour to set the agenda or, rather, the BBC sets the agenda in Labour’s interest. A cod national debate is started off with yet another non-issue bigged up by constant repetition on the BBC and, accordingly, requiring that “something must be done” (preferably by a Labour government).
    Other facts created by the BBC in the interest of its clients though constant repetition include the ubiquitous statement and universal descriptor that fracking is “controversial”. On the BBC, however, egregious public subsidy of windfarms, solar arrays and other expensive, inefficient “alternative” energy sources is rarely if ever mentioned either because it’s not worthy of comment or the gross waste of taxpayers’ money is so worthwhile and the expenditure so beneficial (you know, rather like the NHS) as not to require the BBC’s audience to worry its little collective head about it.

       18 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      The entire shambles of the NHS sacred cow should be privatised.

      Ever hear of this on the BBC?

      ‘Yet the expert panel awarded it the coveted first prize ahead of such leading NHS foundation trusts as Guy’s and St Thomas’ and Chelsea and Westminster.

      But Hinchingbrooke is unique: it is the only NHS district general hospital to have been put under the control of a private company — the Circle Partnership, which is co-owned and run by doctors and nurses.

      In 2011, Hinchingbrooke was failing, having had three notices served because of ‘inadequate’ results in accident and emergency, colorectal and breast cancer treatment.

      But when the Conservative-led Government approved Circle’s bid to take over its running, there were dire warnings and howls of fury from the unions and the Labour Party.

      Unison declared: ‘This is a disgrace, an accident waiting to happen, putting patients at risk.’ Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, protested: ‘This is not what patients, public or NHS staff want.’

      Yeh, right Andy. Better re-phrase that and knock out the public and patients bits.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2632275/DOMINIC-LAWSON-The-Tories-silence-success-privately-run-NHS-hospital-shameful.html

         5 likes

      • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

        Compare and contrast:
        BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28522286
        Halt NHS privatisation, says Labour’s Burnham
        Labour has called for the NHS in England to stop privatising services until after the general election.

        In a speech, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said “privatisation is being forced through at pace and scale”.

        He said voters needed a “proper debate” about the future of the NHS.
        ITV News http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-07-29/tories-burnham-posturing-over-nhs-privatisation/
        A Conservative Party spokesman accused Labour of posturing:

        This speech is all about politics – it’s not a serious plan for the future of the NHS.

        Use of the private sector by the NHS doubled in the last four years of Labour, a far bigger increase than under this Government.

        Andy Burnham himself signed off the privatisation of Hinchingbrooke Hospital during Labour’s final year so it is pure political posturing to try to interfere with doctors making the best clinical judgments for patients.

        The most important thing with NHS care is that it is high quality and free at the point of delivery.

           5 likes

  30. Mat says:

    Another day another report of the BBC’s addiction to employing top rate staff !
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10997056/BBC-staff-keeping-jobs-after-being-disciplined.html
    Theft /fraud /incompetence /bulling /sexual harassment !

       13 likes

  31. Rob says:

    Channel 4 are showing a programme about children learning to use guns. Where Gazza, Iraq, Libya, Iran? No USA of course.

       20 likes

    • Mark says:

      And I thought they were going to expose the true nature of Hamas’ pro-violence education system.

      About as likely as a halal pork chop.

         20 likes

    • Rob says:

      At least they aren’t looking too closely at the Cadet Forces. No doubt they will be next.

         10 likes

  32. Simon says:

    If you think the BBC are bad with the Gaza story then watch Channel 4 News! It’s even worse

       17 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Still-Snow got his liberal rump smacked by two writers at the end of last nights Palfest.
      The two writers were surely booked to shaft Israel, and Snow begged for this-but both blokes were excellent(especially Jake Wallis Simons, who pretty much spoke for the nation!).
      One ex Channel 4 Researcher is now available for hire with a keffiyah wrapped round its neck…Snow was not pleased!

         19 likes

  33. Geoff says:

    I see the BBC are heavily advertising their latest wild life program ‘Operation Wild’ and yes you’ve guessed it, its presented by …….. Claire Balding.

    A presenter of all forms of sport, a religious DJ, quiz shows and now wildlife, this woman must be so talented, or is there another reason ?

       31 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      A few “favours” being called in?

         16 likes

    • ChrisL says:

      Are you suggesting she only got this job because she is a lesbian? If so, I’d like to see your evidence for that claim.

         5 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘I’d like to see your evidence for that claim.’
        So far, you are the only one who has appeared to make it. What you are saying is Very Today.
        As a matter of interest, have you ever tasked the £4Bpa state media news monopoly in such a way?
        If successful, I’d like to see that too.
        But for most, exclusions are blanket granted for the ‘purposes of’, or under a ‘views my own’ corporate twitweasel, so the BBC appears capable of inferring or doing, or not doing pretty much anything it likes free of accounting… apparently, as one of their favoured sons may add.
        Seems a pity a public service is uniquely excluded from standards and practices others get held to much more rigidly, and often.

           10 likes

      • flexdream says:

        Her ubiquity suggests nepotism to me. I don’t know if there’s a pink mafia at work, but what is she doing fronting a wildlife programme? There is plenty of available talent who have paid their dues on Springwatch to pick from. I’d prefer Chris Packham to Clare Balding, even if he has already had more than his share.

           9 likes

        • ChrisL says:

          My guess would be, given how much her profile has been raised enormously in the past 2 years following the Olympics, that the BBC picked her knowing that more people will watch it because she’s presenting it. I don’t think this kind of populism (if it is the case) is the right way to go, but I certainly don’t see this as her being given the job because of her sexuality.

             2 likes

          • Down South says:

            You say it as if she has some sort of “self-raising” profile. Her profile has risen because the BBC have raised it. Geoff’s original question is “why”?
            After all, is she really a wildlife presenter? A religious presenter? I thought her forte was horse racing?
            Or do the BBC get thousands of emails a day requesting “more Balding”?

               16 likes

            • ChrisL says:

              Not just the BBC – BT Sport and Channel 4 have both hired her.

              Her main passion is horse racing, and that’s where she started in broadcasting. She established herself as one of the better sports broadcasters around, reporting on Olympics, Winter Olympics, being one of the last presenters of Grandstand, fronting Rugby League coverage etc. There seems nothing unusual to me in branching out from one sport into covering others if you can show you are a good broadcaster. She hasn’t just done sports either, presenting coverage of The Trooping of the Colour, as well as having her own walking programme called Ramblings on Radio 4.

              You say the BBC has raised her profile. I would describe it simply as the BBC recognising that she is a very good broadcaster and seeking to use her as much as possible.

                 4 likes

              • David Brims says:

                ”She established herself as one of the better sports broadcasters around.”

                You mean like when Balding insulted a jockey Liam Tredwell,” Now that you’ve won the race you’ll have some money to fix your teeth.”

                   11 likes

                • ChrisL says:

                  Are you discounting her entire career because she made 1 mistake?

                     2 likes

                  • Mat says:

                    Pmsl !! OK when you can explain Carol Thatchers firing for her ‘1 mistake ‘ I may take you seriously !!

                       10 likes

                    • ChrisL says:

                      I didn’t agree with her sacking. I can half-understand why the BBC did it, but I think it was wrong to sack someone for one remark.

                      Back to the original issue – do you have any evidence Balding got this job because she is a lesbian?

                         1 likes

          • Simon says:

            Agree with ChrisL – people at work always bang on about her and will watch anything she is on. Sad really but is just a sign of the times with the X-Factor Generation

               0 likes

        • imaynotalwaysloveyou says:

          I expect the BBC’s policy in selecting presenters is like this :
          A) Can we find an ethnic? If not
          B) Can we find a gay? If not
          C) Any left winger will do.

             19 likes

      • Rob says:

        No I’m saying she only got that part because she is foreign. Is that better?

           0 likes

    • Geoff says:

      “Back to the original issue – do you have any evidence Balding got this job because she is a lesbian?”

      And ChrisL do you have any evidence to the contrary?

         9 likes

      • ChrisL says:

        You made the claim, you have to prove it.

           1 likes

        • Geoff says:

          I made no such claim.

             6 likes

          • ChrisL says:

            “A presenter of all forms of sport, a religious DJ, quiz shows and now wildlife, this woman must be so talented, or is there another reason ?”

            That was your original post. I assumed it meant you believe she got the job because she is a lesbian. Apologies if that was not the case. Why, then, did you post about this?

               1 likes

            • GCooper says:

              Let’s be slightly more nuanced about this, shall we?

              Does the team think (and that will sort the old ‘uns from the young ‘uns) that Ms Balding’s relative omnipresence in recent years would on balance have been A/ helped or B/hindered by her sexual preference?

              ‘Neither’ is not an answer and this is the BBC we’re talking about, after all!

                 10 likes

              • ChrisL says:

                I don’t think it’s had any impact.

                Were she heterosexual, she would still have had the broadcasting career she has had.

                   1 likes

                • GCooper says:

                  I am surprised that you have chosen to make this single exception to the blindingly obvious truth – that nothing the BBC does is without a political agenda being involved.

                  And that’s ‘political’ in the widest sense.

                     12 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          ‘You made the claim, you have to prove it.’
          On the actual site issue of (often multiple standard) BBC activities, as your attempt at forcing a gotcha moment any way you can (including a claim of your own, it turns out now based on an assumption) has foundered, care to explain why the BBC can make decisions and/or claims that if challenged suddenly vanish behind FOI exclusions ‘for the purposes of’?
          That is, they don’t ‘have to’ prove anything because they are the BBC and say so.
          Apparently.
          Does this not trouble you more?

             8 likes

          • ChrisL says:

            I agree that the BBC should be more open about complaints it receives. I am worried about its attempts to suppress publication of the Balen Report. But why change the subject?

            My claim is that Balding got this job because she is a good broadcaster with plenty of experience, which I backed up (so it hasn’t ‘foundered’), plus a guess that populism had something to do with it. I thought Geoff had claimed she got the job because of her homosexuality, but it turns out he didn’t make that claim (although the subsequent comments suggest that others at least thought that was what he meant).

               2 likes

            • John Anderson says:

              The BBC has lots of talking heads. Trouble is – most of them are absolute rubbish, as we saw during the Jubilee celebrations. So Balding is often chosen by default.

                 8 likes

  34. John Andersn says:

    Strong criticism of Channel 4 and BBC reporting on Gaza :

    http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/07/29/Jon-Snow-Gaza

    http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/07/29/BBCs-Gaza-Reporting-is-Biased-and-Naive

    The second article asks if reporters are “wilfully naive” in not reporting properly about all the Hamas lies. Being naive suggests a sort of childish innocence/ignorance. That may apply in the case of total newcomers, but Jon Snow and most of the BBC crew are steeped in anti-Israel bile. They know exactly what is going on, they know damn well that they are feeding out Hamas propaganda.

       22 likes

  35. George R says:

    “Moeen Ali supported over pro Gaza wristbands according to BBC Sport”

    [Excerpt]:-

    “The institutionally anti Israel BBC of course support England cricketer Moeen Ali. As do the English cricket board. However according to Rule 19F of the ICC Clothing and Equipment Rules and Regulations, players should not convey messages with their clothing unless approved in advance by the player’s official board, but approval would not be granted for political messages.”

    http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/moeen-ali-supported-over-pro-gaza.html

       23 likes

    • Geoff says:

      I pointed out similar above, bizarrely the Huffington Post (home of Medi Hassan) is attempting to condone it by comparing it to others in the England Team wearing Help for Hero’s wrist bands.

      As far as I’m concerned he ain’t English anyway, it seems whenever such players are picked they always court controversy (so much for diversity eh?) Being a big cricket fan I’m sorry to say that I struggle to raise any interest when such players are playing, hardly in the mold of Botham, Wally Hammond or Jim Laker.

      Its not just England, for ‘faith reasons’ ‘Australian’ Fawad Ahmed was allowed not to wear a Victoria Bitter sponsors logo on his strip during the last Ashes series.

         21 likes

      • noggin says:

        “Medi Hassan, is attempting to condone” …
        if you ever hear that, you know, whatever it is,
        is deceitful, and only to propagate, or cover up for Islam … odious creature.

           13 likes

  36. George R says:

    Criticising Islam!

    I think we know which political side INBBC-BBC NUJ is on in this:-

    “Apology demanded from German newspaper for criticizing Islam”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/07/apology-demanded-from-german-newspaper-for-criticizing-islam

       14 likes

  37. AsISeeIt says:

    Scott or Dez or whoever are welcome to highlight my error – but I’ll wager the BBC won’t be quick to cover this story…

    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/commonwealth-games/article4160868.ece

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2709197/Bosses-spot-nursery-worker-dressed-giant-Tunnocks-tea-cake-Games-opening-ceremony-signed-sick-work-tonsillitis.html

    http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/nursery-worker-danced-with-teacake-at-commonwealth-opening-show-while-off-sick-9635413.html

    ‘Games dancer appeared as teacake while signed off sick from work’

    BBC : If it goes against the agenda – it ain’t news

       16 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Wonder if there’s more to this than meets the eye? You’d have to be pretty damned stupid to sign off sick from work to take part in something televised prominently all over the world and then plaster it over Facebook.

         6 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Not disagreeing, but bear in mind ‘have to be pretty damned stupid’ these days is not as rare as once it was, and may not be discounted easily as option 1.

           12 likes

  38. Edna says:

    I see Orla Guerin is back as reporter on the Israel/Gaza news. Watch out for some “honest” reporting!!!!!!!!!!!
    Someone must have thought the coast was clear to put her back. But some of us don’t have such short memories. Remember her report stating the total destruction of that village?
    Unless I’ve just not seen her reports. She seemed to have disappeared from the ME reporting for quite a while after that fiasco.

    Unfortunately, she’s got the job back, it seems.

       21 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘she’s got the job back, it seems’
      Seems a few vets are being returned to the hunting grounds of glorious yore.
      With any unfortunate fiasco histories that may taint a professional reputation for objectivity neatly tidied away.
      Or, perhaps, what is needed to get visas into places of interest to the BBC’s body count obsession (context not so crucial).
      Either that or younger, wiser heads are being invited to leap where others rationally may fear to commit career or body, and proving less than team players by risking taking one from the guides if an errant drone is spotted during the latest ‘understanding how angry they are’ Pultizer punt.
      Hence the Bygone Bias Corps getting called in to ma.. person the breach.

         7 likes

      • DownBoy says:

        Orla is a former member of the Irish Labour party and was one of their euro candidates a few years ago.

           10 likes

  39. pah says:

    Yesterday on one of those property shows the BBC love the presenter said that Cornish was the only indigenous language in England!

    I wonder where English comes from then?

       17 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Well seeing as Cornish is a variety of Celtic, and had effectively died out as a language it does qualify.

      English on the other hand is a living language (as opposed to a dead one like French). It develops on its own and it absorbs words from all over the world, and others which are spontaneously invented.

      We can have a video recorder – or simply a video, but the French have to have a government commission to invent a word and then laws to enforce its use, otherwise they end up with Le Video other than Le magnétoscope.

      Because of the empire we can have words like Bungalow from Hindi and even ‘Blighty’ as a word for England comes from Hindi meaning ‘foreign’.

      This list of words appropriated from foreign languages are a wonderful testament to the strength & vitality of a language which all the world has contributed to and which continues to grow & develop.

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

         12 likes

      • pah says:

        The pertinent word there is ‘only’. Cornish is not the only indigenous language still in use in England as English also qualifies, just ever so slightly though …

        Cornish is also a living language – it’s just had the last rites said a few times, that’s all.

        As to your comments on French, bof!

           5 likes

    • David Brims says:

      ”Yesterday on one of those property shows the BBC love.”

      Programmes like Escape to the Country and Channel 4’s Location Location Location should be called ” White Flight.” I like when the people give their feeble reasons for moving ” It’s the pollution, the traffic,” it’s never ” my neighbourhood has turned into a multicultural dystopian hellhole !! ”

         28 likes

      • Joshaw says:

        I’ve met middle class people like this. Pain in the neck.

        “It’s so nice for the children to be able to grow up in the country.”

        It’s also nice if they can grow up speaking something approximating to English, and not get mugged for their smartphones every couple of weeks.

           22 likes

        • David Brims says:

          ”I’ve met middle class people like this. Pain in the neck.”

          The sad thing is that white middle class liberals have the money to do white flight, they think multiculturalism is drinking a cappuccino, eating French bread and listening to Vivaldi on Radio 3.

          While poor families don’t have the money to move and have to endure living next to a mosque or in a ghetto.

             12 likes

      • pah says:

        Well I moved my family out of the city to the country for many reasons, none of which was because I was so small minded as to care what colour my neighbours were.

        Here the schools are better, the air is cleaner, the roads are safer and there is no police chopper passing overhead every night shining its spotlight into my garden.

        It’s so much nicer here than where we moved from.

           6 likes

        • David Brims says:

          ”Here the schools are better.”

          Are you telling me Pah that there isn’t one single good school in the city that you could send your children to ? Hmm….

             4 likes

          • pah says:

            The choice was stark. Pay or accept that our kids would be ‘educated’ in a, frankly shit, state comprehensive school. We couldn’t afford to pay so goods schools here were a factor.

            Remember that 30 years ago there was no ‘choice’ in which school your kids went to. It was the local comp or nothing. Unless you had influence in the local labour party or were employed in the LEA in which case choice was inexplicably available.

            The schools were BTW only one factor in our decision to move. The main one was that a more central location meant I had better access to my customers sites.

               0 likes

      • jeff says:

        My old neighbourhood very quckly turned into a rundown, rancid Somali ghetto. Nothing “small minded” about it at all. I’m an Englishman and wanted familiar things around me. South London is now an over crowded, dystopian and dangerous, multicultural hell hole. I felt like a stranger walking along my own streets.

           22 likes

        • pah says:

          I entirely agree. The area that I grew up on is now like a war zone. But then it was slipping down hill 50 years ago when they started to break up communities and dump them in high rise blocks, when they addicted them to benefits, when they removed any notion of responsibility from them and, worse of all, they condemned them to an educational system that prevented many from having any chance of escaping to a better life.

          Labour has a lot to answer for. The ‘mistakes’ they made destroying working class communities and removing the pride and self worth of the people have had incredibly damaging effects on the very people Labour claims to help.

          But what you describe is down to the culture(s) of the immigrants not their race. Somalis make bad neighbours because they come from a backwards culture anchored in the Middle Ages and not because they are, mostly, black.

             0 likes

      • dave s says:

        It is the real reason. Thanks for highlighting the hypocrisy of these shows. I live in a 99% ethnic English town . Houses here sell immediately and to white flighters.
        Not that they will admit it if of liberal views. Hypocrites the lot of them. I have always lived here and in the last ten years the incomers are nearly all from the cities. The critical decision is usually made when the children get to the end of the junior school years. .
        White flight is the thing no politician or media liberal wants to talk about. It is a prelude to balkanisation and the inevitable splitting up of this country into smaller seperate states.
        A tragedy for us alll and a sad day for England.
        There is no way of stopping it .
        Who to blame.? We know who they are and never has England been so betrayed by so selfish and ignorant people.

           14 likes

        • David Brims says:

          Plus white middle class liberals are pushing up prices of houses in the country thus the locals can’t afford them, where are they going to live ?

             6 likes

          • Number 7 says:

            Having spent 30 years in the West Country (1 hr by train from London), the problem with “white flight” is all the d*ckhead Islingtonians moving West.
            If I have to move much farther West to avoid them, I will be in Cardigan Bay!!!

               8 likes

    • Mark says:

      After the Romans left Britain in about AD 410, Celtic languages were still spoken among the locals. Then, the Angles invaded about 40 years later, hence East Anglia, the “north folk” (Norfolk) and “south folk” (Suffolk).
      England is thus Angle-land.

      A century on, the Saxons arrived in a second wave, giving us the “West Saxon” kingdom of Wessex. The Middle, East and South Saxons created Middlesex, Essex and Sussex.

      The Saxons did not bother that much with Cornwall due to its isolation, so it kept a Celtic identity for much longer.

         8 likes

      • pah says:

        The Saxons did not bother that much with Cornwall due to its isolation

        I’m so sure that is true. Wessex tried to invade Dumnonia a number of times and only succeeded in the early 8th Century. It was probably a client kingdom for a hundred years before that depending on who you believe.

           0 likes

        • Mark says:

          The name Dumnonia was eventually “smoothed” to Devonia – hence Devon.

             0 likes

  40. joeb says:

    And the results are now in…this year’s Ramadan was a record breaker (since records began), with 2,429 dead bodies across 27 different countries.

    A hearty ‘Well Done!’, Islam!

    I knew it had to be with Iraq and Syria in play, and they didn’t disappoint this year! Will the BBC report this? Or will there be tumbleweed with crickets chirping instead? I’m betting on the latter…

       27 likes

  41. Guest Who says:

    And in other news…
    First a teaser:
    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/pesto-di-notte.html
    ‘For aficionados of car-crash TV, tomorrow’s @BBCNewsnight may be unmissable’
    S’Ok, Bob… by now the Newsnight viewer is probably used to it; aren’t you Mrs. Katz?
    But now meatier fare:
    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/coe-opts-out.html
    Blimey. Where are all those “Tory stitch up” theorists going to vent next?
    Meanwhile could it be Diane Coyle is dusting off the Danny Cohen Acceptable Diversity Rules to throw an entire Milliners into the ring again?

       4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Meanwhile, over at FaceBook, the BBC gets its teeth into what’s really important in the news… themselves!

      The Today Programme

      What traits do John Humphrys and Justin Webb’s face dimensions suggest about their personality?
      Psychologist Tom Hartley looks at their “dominance, approachability and youthful-attractiveness”.

      Ignoring that last suck-up para as possibly governed by who has invited who on for what reason, one might ponder that on radio faces really don’t matter much (guessing Evan needs a boost pre-Newsnight?).
      But the personalities exposed by the words and how spoken, speak volumes.

         5 likes

  42. Thoughtful says:

    Lots of finger pointing by the BBC at the Tories over their total failure to control immigration.
    Yes it’s more bias because we expect the BBC to constantly criticise the Tories, but this is a disgrace.
    The BBC is using the usual disingenuous ‘net figure’ which is around 200 – 250,000, but the real figure is around 550 000, a far cry from the tens of thousands he promised at the election.

    Immigration has a short term boost for the economy, after that it’s a negative effect, which is the reason why Cameron is allow it to happen, but who ever takes over next will have to continue allowing them in ad infinitum until we are absolutely full (standing room only) or bankrupt.

       17 likes

    • Aerfen says:

      A bankrupt Britain – more easilly brought under the EU jackboot! It wont be the PIIGS then buy the PIIGUKS

         0 likes

  43. George R says:

    China violence.

    INBBC does allow the word ‘Muslim’ to appear once-

    “China Xinjiang: Attack ‘kills or injures dozens'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-28539762

       8 likes

  44. George R says:

    Belgium:
    More INBBC political euphemisms on Islamic jihad massacre:-

    “”Suspected Jewish Museum gunman extradited to Belgium”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28547375

    The odd word ‘Islamist,’ misleadingly appears once, in connection with ‘Islamic State’

    Re-write headline:-

    ‘Islamic jihadist suspected of murdering four Jews, extradited to Belgium.’

       7 likes

  45. John Anderson says:

    Gaza Underground Map

    A useful map to show what the Hamas terror-tunnels are about. So the BBC won’t show this – or anything like it. Has anyone seen a single map by the BBC showing how the tunnels run ? And how seldom have the BBC shown the interior of the tunnels ?

    Gaza Underground Map

       13 likes

    • Mark says:

      The dilemma is whether to destroy termini such as Kiryat Malakhi (“Seven Sisters”) or more centralised interchanges like Gaza (“Kings Cross St.Pancras”) or Netivot (“Oxford Circus”).

      The termini are thinly populated, but the interchanges are in high population density areas.

         4 likes

  46. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    A BBC editor who worked for the World Service has been sacked after an investigation into bullying.

    Mark Sandell, 53, who edited World Have Your Say and is married to the BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire, was also investigated over allegations involving sexual harassment and expenses but was cleared. He has worked for the corporation for 25 years, and is appealing against the decision. A BBC spokesman declined to comment.

    In a separate development, the BBC disclosed that its Respect at Work Review into sexual harassment and bullying had cost £382,000.

    The corporation had refused to say how much the exercise had cost when it published the report in May last year, but subsequently inserted the figure into an existing BBC web page without making an announcement.

    Margaret Hodge, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said that she was “surprised that the BBC appears to have learnt no lessons from past mistakes about lack of transparency”.
    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/medianews/article4159279.ece
    But you have to feel a bit sorry for the poor chap … imagine getting a dose of VD every day.

       15 likes

  47. Rob says:

    Just found out the Labour Leader of Preston City Council ordered the Palestinian Flag to fly from the Town Hall.

    Later he claimed it was an error. Rumour has it, it should have been the black flag of Al Qaeda

       11 likes

  48. Dave666 says:

    Eno may have been informed of this site. She has been using the word cloud a lot in her broadcasts today. Ref North West “Weather reporter”.

       2 likes

    • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

      Funny you should mention that: I was just this minute mentioning to to my wife that I think Ms Eruotor has been having elocution lessons. She certainly emphasised the word ‘cloud’ a couple of times, then spoiled it by saying there was some rain yet to ‘com’.

         4 likes

  49. Framer says:

    Has anybody noticed how the BBC is responding to Cameron’s immigration announcement – apart from having Jonathan Portes on immediately to dispute all of the PM’s assertions?
    Yes only immigration gets the particular treatment suggesting there is no problem to start with.
    Where Labour goes quiet on the facts, BBC news and views departments as one become the official opposition.
    Immigration is intrinsically good. Don’t suggest otherwise.

       8 likes