Well, we are almost at the end of this year. Hope you all enjoyed Lenny Henry’s sustained whinge on BBC Today this morning. It seems selecting presenters purely on the basis of their ethnicity is fine by the BBC and Saint Lenny. Open Thread for you …NOW!
END OF 2014 OPEN THREAD
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The Petrie Hosken show on LBC Radio yesterday discussed the fact that more than 100,000 women were criminalised last year for failing to pay their BBC TV licence.
We’ve summarised some of the best quotes from the discussion in our article: Read more.
This looks like a BBC war on women. Where are all the outraged feminists? Criminalising women for what? Not wanting to fund Lenny Henry’s lavish lifestyle?
bbc currently reporting on the chaos on the roads around many local Northern shopping centres, such as the Trafford Centre, Cheshire Oaks and Liverpool One, with record numbers of cars on roads and shoppers with money ready to spend and spend again during the sales…it seems the war on ‘povurteh and the desperation of ‘families in crisis’ has been temporarily suspended.
Firstly, I hope everyone enjoys their New Years celebrations this week.
Anyway, was watching some early episodes of Only Fools and Horses yesterday and was gobsmacked at how un-PC it was. Brilliant stuff, but what is a naturally funny comedy simply couldn’t exist in today’s pathetic environment of PC censorship, where we’ve become servile to the ever vociferous minorities.
I’m genuinely surprised that the BBC’s Ministry of Truth team haven’t retrospectively censored every episode in existence!
You may think they’re uncut, but you will not see or buy episodes in full anymore, most pre 1996 episodes have been cut for one reason or another. For one the first series had a different theme tune, never heard since.
Thankfully I have a complete collection of original broadcast episodes transferred from VCR to DVD which I watch regularly in their full uncut un-PC glory.
Part one of a list of cuts
http://www.ofah.net/blog/only-fools-and-horses-cuts-part-1/
edit: The bBC have been ripping off fans of the series for years with collection after collection of boxed ‘sets’ which in reality are cut to ribbons (see link above)
Cheers, mate. Will check out the link.
Although I didn’t see last years broadcast of this episode I’m told the Jimmy Savile reference was cut. It wouldn’t surprise me.
Sad to think 2/3 of those involved are no longer with us.
Hey Geoff,
I don’t suppose you could be as kind to upload the originals somewhere could you….I have paid my tv tax for years, so I do not think I should have to pay for the DVD’s (don’t own a dvd player either, I use a WD Live box)
If you don’t want to upload them, I can suggest many a way for you to get them to me if you are willing.
Mrs Chop, being a Southern lass is a big fan.
Enjoy them while you can; the retiring head of Ofcom? has said there are many programmes from the period which are unfit to broadcast because of their racist and non-PC content. That’s just the kind of endorsement of their views the BBC wants to hear so they can extend their censorship, so don’t be surprised if they do disappear. Some may be carefully edited before they are broadcast, watch out for mysterious loss of sound.
Down the “memory hole” with them then.
I have been reading Orwell’s 1984 again. It’s great book anyway. But my word so much of it is relevant to Britain in the 21st century. Thought crimes, dumbing language down to meaningless noise, constant war, heightened hysteria, pervading polticised television, crushing of independent thought, fascism that masquerades as benevolent socialism, “brother” leaders who live in opulance and despise party members…
Apart from that…everyone have a great new year. And yes to Scott as well. More may he argue.
…Oh and thanks to David Vance and contributors that help me realise that “it’s not just me” who constantly questions BBC ethics and lack of impartiality that borders then oversteps in to propaganda for its own political agenda and self serving purposes… Paid for by my dime and yours.
Ray Bradbury’s story “Farenheit 451” ( also filmed with Cyril Cusack I think) is the end game for our elite.
Nothing they would like better than to control our reading and then our thoughts.
Possession of an original version of “Fools and Horses” will be a crime.
They are bringing lies into our world. Every day ,every time they speak out come the distortions and the lies.
From now on give them nothing. Neither time nor courtesy.
Of course Orwell worked for the BBC so had a wealth of material to base his book on.
1984 is a fantastic book – and uncannily good at predicting the future! Orwell absolutely loathed the BBC, even in 1945 he saw what a propaganda machine it was, which is why you never hear about him or his works on the Biased BBC.
I saw a Blacked up Scotsman in a kilt, assaulting a woman, to the tune of “Stop that Tickling Jock” on the telly the other day. That slipped through the net.
Richard Pinder,
“I saw a Blacked up Scotsman in a kilt, assaulting a woman, to the tune of “Stop that Tickling Jock” on the telly the other day.”
Richard, perhaps you should keep the contents of your Betamax porno collection to yourself in future – toomuchinformation.
It was in a documentary about politically incorrect 1970’s TV, Black and White Minstrel Show, I think. Probably not on the BBC because I took the opportunity to record it one hour later on the +1 Channel using my DVD-RAM system for the compact precision editing I use for the collection of interesting items and snippets that pop up on the Telly.
I have recently recorded some snippets that are very dangerous to the survival of the establishment, from BBC Parliament of all places, one of Donna Laframboise and a few other of people speaking factual truths at the UKIP Conference.
If you think about it, most comedy relies upon misfortune befalling a subject or person[s]……so no wonder non-PC comedy is so wonderful, and anything other than that is dire. Look at the Left, with Thatcher, the Tories, bankers, the ‘Rich’ being the butt of their humour……but woe betide any jokes about blacks, muslims, Islam, etc…..i want to hear jokes at the expense of Islam, good grief, their antics provide a wealth of material. I did print one here on landmines…and got away with it…..
What a leftist rag and provocative toilet paper the independent is! I suppose the following is less of an inconvenience than blowing planes up or flying them into buildings!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/groups-of-ultraorthodox-jewish-men-keep-delaying-flights-by-refusing-to-sit-next-to-women-9949866.html?cmpid=facebook-post
How much Diversity and Multiculturalism is there in Muslim countries?
Is the Head of their State Media religious and ethics affairs department a Christian? Our head here is a Muslim.
No? But Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance? The BBC and Cameron keep telling us this.
Why do ‘racist’ Christian states have to comply?
It really doesn’t make sense.
Imagine say Pakistan’s state media employing entirely non-natives for its equivalent of the Today show.
No doubt the streets of Islamabad and beyond would be thronging with grateful pakistanis celebrating the progressiveness and inclusiveness of it all.
Indeed, not to mention tarring and feathering anyone who raised a dissenting voice to this progressiveness and inclusiveness. #thoughtcrime
I have watched, with interest, the case of the nurse in Scotland infected with the ebola virus. I wish her a speedy recovery, and peace of mind for any of the hundreds of people who may have come into contact with her either directly or indirectly over the past few days.
However, the media, and the BBC seems to be no exception here, has focused quite a bit on one of the doctors, a Dr Martin Deahl, who was accompanying this nurse, at least as far as London. Especially, they have focused on his claim that the border health screening and services as being ‘chaotic’, that there weren’t enough testing kits immediately to hand when they arrived in London, and that the rooms in which the medical staff were tested were too small !
Far be it from me to ask any questions about this whole affair, but no investigation seems to have been done to ascertain much of the following…
1. So, this nurse travels for a great many hours from Sierra Leone, via a couple of other locations, and is apparently more than well enough, on her own recognition, to make her way home alone, from Glasgow airport late on Sunday night, but by break of day the next morning is being whisked off to London as a confirmed ebola sufferer. Hmmm…..I know the onset of ebola is pretty fast, but the coincidence that she felt no symptoms whatsoever, even whilst being screened the night before in London…very strange.
2. This Doctor Deahl, a consultant psychiatrist (????), unless he knows the local language very well, must have been a bit like a spare whatsit at a wedding, since it must be almost impossible to work in this field with locals through an interpreter. Or, are we sending out consultant psychiatrists to treat our own nationals who, presumably, must have been vetted for their ability to withstand the pressures and conditions in the field….really ?
3. Who is paying for all this?, and can the UK, in what has been claimed for months (not least of all by the BBC) to be in the grip of a ‘crisis’ situation regarding staffing levels in psychiatric, A&E and nursing staff everywhere across the UK, really afford to send staff, free of charge, I presume, to other countries ?
4. As regards the ‘chaotic’ state of Heathrow’s medical screening services when this group of people arrived at the airport – from Casablanca, remember, and not directly from a known ebola hot-spot – did the senior consultant, or any others in the group, bother to advise Heathrow that there were thirty of them coming back from Sierra Leone by an indirect route, all of whom had been in contact with ebola victims ?
5. And as for the facilities offered to them when they arrived at Heathrow…. just how big does an examination room have to be ?
6. I didn’t here any grouse from the doctor about screening ‘chaos’ whilst leaving the ebola region, nor in Casablanca – and if that was so effective, what’s his beef ? Or does the UK pick up all the risk cost of people arriving from ebola regions as well ?
7. And finally, it would appear that the doctor’s biggest gripe was that some other returnee medical staff on Christmas Eve (obviously a really easy time to connect with public transport) were given taxis to get home, whilst he wasn’t. He doesn’t say whether he tested negative for ebola or not before he was released from Heathrow, but he seems to think the public should pay for private travel to his home (never mind the potential cost of a private transport to Glasgow for his colleague) because he might have been a risk. And, of course, he must have arranged private isolation facilities for himself if he was at all concerned about using public transport at that time…..but perhaps not. And why doesn’t the charity he’s supposedly working for, plan for, and pick up the tab for private transport home if he feels so strongly about it ?
And don’t even begin to ask whether these people should go through an isolation period in the area where they can obviously be tested, monitored, diagnosed, and treated promptly for any ebola symptoms, in custom-built (often fully British-funded) facilities, before they begin the journey home to the UK. Obviously we clearly don’t have such full facilities in UK regions, if we have to send patients to London.
There may be very good answers to all of these questions…. but why aren’t we being informed by our £4bn-a-year information system ?
Doesn’t the BBC ask questions any more… or are they just into getting interviewees to ’emote with a megaphone’ ? I guess the latter is just so much easier.
Richard D,
Excellent post. This country, for fear of upsetting every minority interest and pressure group imaginable, is incapable of being pragmatic any more. Anybody working with Ebola victims should be kept in isolation in W Africa for at least 3 weeks before travelling back to the UK. Anyone arriving in the UK who is suspected of not being entirely truthful about whether they have just travelled through or from W Africa should be turned back unless they can prove otherwise.
Human rights I hear the leftie rabble rousers say. Spot on, the human rights of the 60-70 million people (the Govt no longer knows the size of the population) in this country who have no desire to contract this disease.
Some idiot or idiots seem determined to import this disease.
Heard Sally Davies-Chief NHS nanny of the moment on Radio 4 News today at 9am rather “Scotching” the idea that Ebola was anything to worry about.This, of course, now they`ve made a “Hamish” out of managing this Scottish nurses “condition”( you getting all these Albie?)
Sally of the Alley told us the virus was fragile, slowish and will struggle in isolation in the nippy north etc. “Divvan fuss yissen” in effect to our Celtic fringe-via Tyneside and Ilkley Moor maybe?
Makes you wonder what SaBob Geldof was fussin` his tartan trews over…when our “CMO” tells us that Ebola now turns out to be nothing to worry over( as opposed to Geldof, the BBC, Bono etc)…then our nurse merely needs a Irn Bru poultics and a pint of Dryboroughs!
Bone can now “reach out and touch them all again tonight”…if his shoulder is up to that.
And not in the Savile way as the BBC seemed happy enough to allow when they could sell an annual or a campervan permit.
Ebola-can we have our money back ans stop wasting it on paper suits?…Katy Hopkins for next CMO then after Panicky Sally has gone grey in Stafford.
I read somewhere the Scottish ebola-carrier was funded or working with or for “Save The Children”. African I suppose not ours. They are not saving anyone by all accounts, they are helping infect our health-care adventurers to spread the disease. Ebola would be self-limiting if left to die out naturally – thirty days seems to be the survival time, then its gone.
The misnamed Public Health wallahs (Public Endangerment, more like) keep repeating that the infection risk is “low” but no-one asks what qualifies as “low”. Winning the lottery is one in 17 million. Is that “low”? Or one in a hundred? Thats fairly low. And what if you were the person after the Sottish nurse to use the airplane toilet, or she sneezed on you, would still count as low? How low is “low”. If they can’t quantify it, then they don’t know anyrthing about the degree of risk, and are talking b*lls.
Katie Hopkins got it right. Its Scotland’s health service obligation to treat the Scottish population, with the funding they have . Its devolved. They decide not to have prescription charges, England pays. Suddenly the Scottish ebola nurse is shipped – to London.
The UK government’s Ebola strategy is for any infected person to be treated in London. The Scottish Government had no choice but to comply.
As the systems and processes in place to collect prescription fees cost more than the sums collected the Scottish Goverment decision to abolish them actually saved money. In times of austerity perhaps Westminster should do the same.
From a Dept. of Health reply to a FOI request:
‘The total cost associated with the collection of prescription charges is
not separately identifiable and therefore no estimate of the net income to
the NHS can be made.’
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/income_from_prescription_charges
Do stop your tickling, Jock.
jtf,
That told him! Amazing how many people come on this forum and just spout stuff they made up.
Well I’m speechless….This is beyond the pale….Honestly – flick through this bullshit!
http://www.captaineuro.eu/
This what Captain Euro looked like back in 1939
Well you gotta brainwash the kids. Captain Euro will be a flop because it’s contrived garbage.
Desperate stuff. Absolutely desperate. But it frankly reassures me that they are scared and that they know the end game is coming very soon. All over Europe people are realizing and once a significant country has a referendum and dumps the EU the whole rotten corrupt project will collapse. Our day is coming where we will reclaim our country and the abolition of the BBC will be a by-product of the assertion of our new independence. Happy 2015.
‘Captain Euro is the superhero persona of Adam Andros. Adam took over the giant SUSTANIA Corporation following the murder of his father, and has dedicated his life to keeping Europe united, and moving towards global sustainability in all areas of human society.’
Sounds like Orwell meets Agenda 21.
Well , This Capt Haddock or Euro Crap is very chilling , it makes out England to be some sort of sub Jewish State, & Reichmarschall Euro & his gang to be the fucking Waffen SS . I think ,we should all tell our MP`s & the Daily Mail right away .
Wonder if the BBC have already commissioned a cartoon version of “CaptainEuro” for CBeebees?
I bet Nigel is a super villain in it, with a big purple cape, wonky teeth…possibly a just a dehydrated brain in a jar of beer like liquid….
Ohhhh, the possibilities.
lol
Check the top comment in relation to the BBC’s non-story about Margaret Thatcher.
1.Surfboy33
30th December 2014 – 9:09.
“Wow! Shock news! I’m sure she explored plans about a lot of other things as well. She was the Prime Minister you know.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30625941
And in shocked, shocked I tell you news, it appears this opened just after folk went to work and closed just as they were clocking off. Again.
Bit blatant making it 9 to 5, even for the BBC, surely?
I love it when the comments don’t go the way the BBC wants. Nearly all of the top comments are pro-Thatcher with the critical ones consigned to the least popular end.
And by 3-30 it’s standing with minus comments, do you expect anything else ? Reading through the comments is a depressing experience, all the usual lefty concerns, and angst against the Tories for any perceived crimes during the last 100 years, I gave up when I got to the usual horseshit about the bloody Belgrano………..
Happy 2015 to all.
I got through about 5 of the loony left comments on there before giving up, including a moan about Gove’s ‘prescriptive grammar’ policy. Surreal. What next, complaints that maths is being taught with too much emphasis on accuracy, or science over-using the scientific method (irony alert – I think they’ve already taken care of that one)?
Contrast the handling of the release of the ‘Thirty Year Rule’ papers by our major broadcasters today.
ITV – ran with Margaret Thatcher’s discomfort with the introduction of GCSEs and that this might dumb down and have a detrimental effect on education in Britain. They also touched on her battles with the teaching unions.
SKY – ran with the important of defection of spy, Oleg Gordievsky to the UK and Thatcher’s attempts to get his family out of the Soviet Union. They went on to show footage of letters sent by Thatcher to Gordievsky empathising her concern for him, ‘showing a human side’ at odds with the popular characterisation of Thatcher.
The BBC on Five Live, this afternoon – went with the poll tax, telling us of the advice she had received from Letwin and that we would have all had to face it had she not been removed from office. They also decided to tell us how little she liked football, had little knowledge of the game and of proposals to deal with football hooligans.
All of the BBC’s ‘disclosures’ were ‘on message’ and not really about Thatcher herself but of her advisers and some of the barm-pot suggestions that were made to her. If you can’t get the Lady…rubbish her by association. Rubbish her in any way you can.
It’s the BBC – why expect anything else?
You should have watched “The Papers” at 10:30 pm on BBC 24 on (I think) Monday night when the Telegraph story on Mrs T’s concerns about the introduction of GCSEs was discussed. Some overweight lefty gob-shite – Dreda Mitchell (an “author” apparently) – laid into “Thatcher” and added that the introduction of course work (one of Mrs T’s major worries since cheating was thus enabled) made learning “interesting” and the “research” necessary to carry out course work was, apparently, the holy grail of education.
Both the BBC commentator chairing this discussion and the other “independent” lefty mouthpiece (a journalist from the FT – the Guardian on pink paper) couldn’t agree with Dreda enough. There was no mention, naturally, of the decline in educational outturn which went hand-in-hand with both the introduction of GCSEs and the subsequent grade inflation of GCESs and all the other “objective” measures of educational attainment.
This was another eye-opening episode illustrating the BBC’s unabashed hatred of Mrs T and the enthusiasm of its carefully selected mouthpieces to deny, among other things, the tragic wrecking of the state educational system. As a matter of interest, although the review of the papers on BBC 24 has the occasional “right-wing” commentator, I’ve never seen an edition where both independent commentators are sceptical of the BBC/political class line. Mind you, apart from an AFAIAA single contribution by Roger Scruton, the contributors to “A Point of View” have all been from the lefty end of the chatterati spectrum: not, I think, a coincidence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreda_Say_Mitchell
Who? Apparently she has written on matters including Phil Mitchells drug addiction in Eastenders. So right…yea..ok.
Dreada Say (no idea either ) Mitchell, another smart person with a dark skin who realises that using that fact can give her a fantastic leg up in life. Not for her (or they ) the slow upward climb that is all we poor plebs can manage but by using the race card can get boosted up the ladder to appearances on the beeb, talked about and printed in the usual left wing press and make a nice little nest with little work. Another Lenny, another Diane, and nameless others. What enrichment, we are truly blessed to have such people held up as examples to we stupid proles.
”It seems selecting presenters purely on the basis of their ethnicity is fine by the BBC and Saint Lenny.”
Isn’t that racist ? shouldn’t the person with the best qualifications get the job not the fact that he’s a dusky skinned gentleman ?
I would have thought deliberate making a program using a selected ethnic group is everything that the lefties were diametrically opposed to. I would assume if the BBc announced they were going to make a program deliberately only using English people I would be deafened by the cries of outrage. The stink of hypocrisy is overpowering.
English people are not necessarily white are they?
So why do the BBC have an obsession with skin colour? Could it be because most don’t see themselves as English in our blessed multicultural society?
Yes the English as a race are white.
The English are a nation not a race though they are mainly Caucasian as are most of the other nations of the British Isles.
The English are most probably a mixture of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vikings and all on a Celtic base population.
I very much doubt the Celts were driven to the margins as say the romances. This all took place between the fall of Rome and the 10th/11th centuries. Since then and up to the 19th century this remained a constant but particularly since 1945 the ethnic mix has radically been changed.
So the English are not historically a nation of endless immigration but remarkably static. As this nation assumed a leading role in international trade the inevitable small scale mixing of peoples from all over accured but it was always limited and mostly by marriage. When challenged on this just ask the killer questions.
Where did the immigrants come from between 1100 and 1850 say and who were they?
Do not allow the Hugenots to be used as a serious reply.. Their munbers were relatively small and the immigration was finite.
Thus we, the Engllsh were once a homogenous people of European origin. And yes however much it hurts the liberal mind the English are Caucasian and white.
There has been nothing remotely like the immigrant waves of the last 50 and especially the last 20 years. The liberals know this and will lie and dissemble rather than admit the truth.
A vast experiment has been undertaken without consent and without thought. Our grandchildren will have to live with the result of liberal naivitie and the refusal to understand the basis of a nation and a settled society.
The entire liberal elite has been complicit and in the van is the BBC and the liberal media. Those charged with influencing and directing the nation have failed in their prime duty and their legitimacy is therefore forfeited. Always the true conservative is mindful of the compact that sustains a nation. This compact is as nothing to the liberal mind.
Great post, Dave s, and a counter to the whole ‘nation of immigrants’ narrative that dominates the BBC ‘debate’ on the subject.
It has been the prime duty of every government of these islands since time immemorial to defend this country from invasion. We have been let down, millions have landed here without the consent of the majority of the people of Britain – we have been invaded.
Super. I tend to fall into the camp that says the Celts as a separate discrete group didn’t exist. The DNA evidence certainly suggests that populations were static; there was no migration to the margins. Saying that I feel that the Celtic identity as espoused by the likes of Celtic League has a validity. I just wish there was similar for the “Anglo-Saxon”; I fear though that as the dominant culture it is the one that politicians especially from the Left want to control. To be honest we have been in culture war since 68.
But do you need blue eyes and blond hair to be truly English?
Both my parents were white English, but say I had been adopted at birth by a Chinese couple and brought up in China. Presumably I wouldn’t have “a racial memory” that allowed me to speak English or spontaneously “act English”. My being white would have no effect, one way or another, on my being Chinese.
But you find that social services propagate the same racist idea when a white couple adopt a non-white child. They are told that the child must not lose contact with the culture his skin colour suggests he should have. As if culture were in the blood. Of course, a non-white child in this situation cannot claim to be white English, but neverthess must be English as far as anyone brought up by English parents in England is English.
English people being white you ask ? Well, up to the 19c I would say yes apart from a few seamen in Cardiff, Liverpool and London. In the 20c, well we are all people who have just passed from there and know the answer to that. In the 21c, well, would you like to have a guess for say 2150? And the 22c ? Probably a few in places such as Penzance, Cromer, and Alnwick. Apart from them, a very forgotten race.
You can have a British passport/citizenship and not be white. But as England, nor any of the constituent countries, can issue passports or have separate citizenships you can’t be English and not white. It all depends whether you see the English as separate ethnicity to the other peoples of these isles. Say for example you are either English or Celtic. Or whether you see English and Celts as Britons who are apart of a wider North European ethnic group (the Scandinavians, the Germans, the Dutch, etc.) If I moved to Pakistan tomorrow, gained a Pakistani passport and citizenship, and moved to a village in say the Punjab I would still be ethnically North European or English, whichever you choose. I wouldn’t be a Pakistani. Actually ethnically you can’t be a Pakistani, so it would be better to say I wouldn’t be Punjabi. I remember a quote for an essay I wrote on Partition about concerns lumping all the Indian Muslims into one state just because they were Muslim. “Punjabis and Bengalis and as different as FInns and Greeks.” Of course we all know what eventually happened there don’t we? Do non-natives really identify themselves as English? Saying I live in England isn’t the same as being English surely? Do the subtle differences cultural between the English and say the Scots really have enough power to sway a Pakistani’s behaviour over his own cultural? And surely the over arching culture is more Western liberal, a culture that extends from Greece to California to Australasia and it is that not being English to which they refer?
English “people” are not white is questionable at best on both political and ethnic grounds, pernicious arrogant double think at its very worst. The “English people” are most definitely white. You would dare not say that other peoples would you? No you bloody wouldn’t.
Talking of brainwashing, this is a video targeting Irish school children. It’s objective is to indoctrinate them into accepting their displacement and the erosion of their culture. From Christmas to a Festival of Lights encompassing all religions, races and creeds.
Can a comedy of manners be appreciated by a society that has no manners?
Don’t we have manners these days, you ask?
Have you observed a queue at a bus stop lately, I reply?
But, but, you reposte, surely our metropolitan bourgeoisie still display a host of peculiar social conventions and mores that are ripe for the satirical picking?
Apparently not, because – for subject matter – our BBC reaches back into the depths of the dusty dramatic cupboard for….
Mapp & Lucia
Could this really be what our Danny Cohen meant when he claimed to offer us ‘left of field’ drama?
Despite all the due respect for the individual talents involved, the sudden and frankly uncalled for relaunch of the E F Benson franchise smacked of the vanity project and of the re-feathering of a few already over-plump nests at the public expense.
I’m afraid the BBC are themselves now the pretentious set putting on airs, stumbling and making the best prat falls. And it is beginning to show. Satirise themselves? – No chance. They feel more comfortable punking their skewed vision of the lower orders through East Enders. Last Tango in Halifax, anyone? PC pearls placed in the mouths of swine.
How about W1A? That was the BBC self-deprecating. In fact no. Russell Brand’s embarrassing Park Life reposte has now followed where W1A led. Now we know. You recognise the dangerous jokes coming at you and so you throw out a dry bone or two.
Ab Fab, luvs – now that was a sort of Mapp & Lucia for the 90s.
Well, at least in a bus queue you can spot the indigenous population because they are the ones actually queuing rather than hovering on the periphery waiting to barge in when the bus arrives.
Talking of buses, a couple of years ago St Bob Geldolf did a documentary on the Congo or Zimbabwe, I cant remember which, he arrived at the local bus station and got on a bus, he asked the driver ” When does the bus leave ? ” The driver responded ” When the bus is full up.” Geldolf thought this was charming and delightful. To sane people we’d say, what a way to run a country.
Question: how often does Sir Bob Geldof EVER go anywhere by bus? I mean, outside of publicity stunts …
He’s not a Sir. As an Irish citizen his Knighthood is honorary only.
I thought he was a saint
“. . . indigenous population because they are the ones actually queuing . .”
Not any more unfortunately – well not in North London anyway. I discovered some years ago that if I held back from the scrum (like a
good little dhimmihitherto civilised indigene) I risked, at worst, not getting on the bus or, at best, not getting a seat while the children of the benefiterati sprawled in luxury on the seating provided by the bus company, eating their Big Macs as their minders yelled into their mobile phones and/or loudly complained about the Tory cutz.All true, myself back yesterday from a few days staying with relatives of the wife who live in a Paris suburb. Well where to start ? Probably not the place to start commenting on modern day France apart from the fact that the RER trains seem to be about 90 % ethnics as was Nord Station, talk about being a White Man in Hammersmith Pallas…….lots of Assault Rifle armed troops walking the streets after the latest ‘events’ ( a sign of our future ? ), the relatives seem to live in a little white, therefore pleasant and trouble and drugs free bubble with ‘others’ dominating nearby suburbs. Apparently people like them, like people like us have put up for years with the way things have gone on but the last year or so has brought about significant thoughts and conversations of much needed change. Expect political change soon.
To get back to your point about queues, the trains both ways seemed to be full of either ethnic French who work here and visit home there, or vast numbers of Chinese, either tourists or somehow people who have the right to live and work in both countries (is China in the EU ?) and to whom the concept of an orderly queue is totally foreign. The train down to London was rammed and seemed in our coach to be 10% Poles, 20% Chinese, 20% the famous beeb description ‘ South Asians ‘ and the rest ethnic British. Very little queuing involved in getting on or off, devil take the hindmost.
As a totally off the wall comment, I do find Inter-city trains and Eurostar a good view of our present population. When I first went up to London 45 years ago the ‘others’ were few and far between, and then only on the Tube, today, well today I feel like a Red Squirrel on his last legs.
I witnessed such a scene on the 65 bus from Brentford to Ealing, this very afternoon. First at the bus stop but last to get on. It was like downtown Mogadishu on there.
Where I live, local folk thank the driver when they get off a bus.
Recently in Winchester I heard an elderly lady say to the bus driver: ‘Thank you, can you put me down here’. It was said with charm, don’t ever knock it.
They do here. In Polish. 🙂
Enjoy it (Mapp and Lucia) while you can. By all accounts, Comrade Cohen has decreed that period drama is henceforth off the menu .
Expect instead, gritty updates of the 1950s kitchen sink drama but this time featuring the required minimum number of effniks to satisfy Cohen’s liberal self-loathing.
By all accounts, Comrade Cohen has decreed that period drama is henceforth off the menu .
Where “by all accounts”, you actually mean “by accounts of hacks who want to engender exactly the sort of knee-jerk response that can only be achieved by distorting what was actually said, so as best to appeal to people who have difficulty reading anything other than misleading headlines”.
What Danny Cohen actually said was that the BBC couldn’t, and shouldn’t, rely on safe period drama as an indicator of drama quality. At no point did he ever say that period drama was off the menu. Indeed, 2015 will see Wolf Hall and War and Peace as two of the BBC’s most expensive productions.
“You can get a very big audience by catering for a particular audience, and that audience is important, but if every drama caters for that one audience you’re suddenly going to find a huge part of the British population who pay for the BBC totally disenfranchised by drama.
“Sometimes that will be period but the period drama we now do may be slightly more surprising; whether it’s a piece like Wolf Hall or a modern take on period like Peaky Blinders. The stand-out shows really have been big BBC One and Two modern shows that take massive risks with tone.
“If you look at Happy Valley and The Missing and Line of Duty, none of them are cosy mainstream television. All of them take risks, all of them push the boundaries; not for the sake of it but to tell the stories.”
Care to explain how that equates to period drama being banned?
“… you’re suddenly going to find a huge part of the British population who pay for the BBC totally disenfranchised by drama.”
Try that same phrase, but this time, instead of “by drama”, put “… by news and current affairs coverage” or, indeed, many other areas where the BBC has ignored public opinion for years.
Troll alert ! Do not feed the troll!
Biased BBC-speak for “Bugger. Facts that I can’t ignore, so I’m just going to try and discredit the person who wrote them. That’s far easier than behaving like an adult.”
Breaking my own troll alert, oh well, it’s Xmas.
Peaky Blinders, a make believe story that attempts to show street scum who spent there time in pubs assaulting the weak and those unable to protect themselves as worthy of being made into beeb loveable rogues who loved their mums and were nice really. Pathetic rubbish, having lived and worked in the midst of modern versions on these types in the same area I would doubt they are the type of person who would be welcomed at the Xmas party in Salford Quays by the inclusive beeboids and this time I would not blame them. Shitty nasty scum who feed off the locals, only the beeb ivory towers could find good characters here.
Wolf Hall, a piece written by the same woman who thought it would be a good idea to write about the murder of a freely elected British Prime Minister. Bugger me, she could have written some drivel about the public toilet love life of ‘Biased Bbc ‘ trolls and they would make a series about it after giving birth to the lefties wet dream of murder of their hate figure No 1
Wolf Hall is a very good read and an interesting take on the Cromwell/Henry VIII story. If the BBC do a faithful serialisation then it should be good; fingers crossed.
It is always a good idea to separate the author from the work, if possible. In this case I suspect that she did the ‘Thatch’ assassination piece to curry favour with the BBC in order to get them to serialise her book(s).
Mind you she is very much the Islingtonite so I doubt she had to do much persuading.
They would not like Foyles War would they , too many `Hideously White People` in it .The creator Anthony Horowitz, Jewish & no lefty, so thank goodness ITV shows it .
Scott writes: “Care to explain how that equates to period drama being banned? ”
Oh, I grant you, Cohen may allow us the odd searching dranatisation of the life of Marx, or perhaps yet more soft agitprop NHS worship with The Midwives,. We may even get another poke at grave-robbing in which Upstairs Downstairs returns as a vehicle for some young twerp’s junior common room socialism.
But if you read Cohen’s words with the scepticism they deserve, rather than the wide eyed, BBC sycophancy which you usually exhibit, a different picture emerges.
Time will tell. But you won’t be back to apologise when it does, will you?
if you read Cohen’s words with the scepticism they deserve
In other words, “I believe that Danny Cohen has said one thing, even when presented with a quote that says exactly the opposite.”
You know how the other day you said that being called an imbecile was a compliment? You’re really fishing for them tonight, aren’t you?
It’s a real pity that such inanity is so typical of Biased BBC. Why, with such levels of intellectual dishonesty it’s a wonder that David Vance and Alan haven’t asked you to write full posts – your complete inability to write anything approaching common sense would fit in well with their own writing style.
Meeting Mr. Cohen’s Quotas, I forsee more a reality-style series following the daily adventures of some Capita scamps who don’t really care about law or ethics in selling TV licences via threat and misrepresentation.
And by happy accident, when they do their best work, many more adult ladies do get featured by simply being at home during the day.
By all accounts, sources close to the BBBC claim there was also another Panorama on the abuses of the legal system that see more jailed proportionately for licence evasion by en bloc-clearing magistrates than actual serious crimes. But it has been shelved indefinitely following adv… an off-record corridor whisper from a forgetful top floor market-rate who in no way will interfere with editorial integrity. Unless they do.
For the absence of doubt, I should acknowledge the possible use of satirical enhancement, as often used by BBC employees, if uniquely deemed by some humour-void drones to only be theirs to deploy.
But most of the above is based on fact.
“Meeting Mr. Cohen’s Quotas” sounds like the title of a BBC2 drama from the 70s or early 80s.
Already saw one of Cohen’s new productions at Xmas. A member of the Black Police Officers Association on a bike, was forced of the road into the village pond, in a racist incident, in what seemed to be a 1950’s based comic science fiction drama, which also included a Black woman as a left-wing council official, persecuting Harry Hill with anti racist officialdom, and all because he could not find his permit.
Disagree with that. W1A was genuinely funny IMO, and also quietly subversive, showing for instance how original comedy ideas have the life squeezed out of them by committee. I think 90% of the BBC’s output is crud as well as being biased but let’s take a critical rather than a blanket condemnatory approach. Happy New Year, anyway.
I liked W1A.
High production standards and tight script with good casting/acting.
Any ‘see…balance!’ outweighed by a)99.999% of all other programming and b) regular value of using it in analogy to those who may struggle with a ‘who reads the DM?’ counter being it’s in-house.
BBC Reply to my complaint (also copied below):
Dear Mr **********
Reference CAS-3074488-NJV88W
Thanks for contacting us regarding the BBC News website.
I understand you believe a report titled ‘Charles Napier jailed for 13 years for child sex abuse’ mentioned a Conservative MP to shed the Conservative Party in a negative light and didn’t associate him to the Labour Party’s Harriet Harman.
This article was not intending to associate Charles Napier to all political parties and was not intending to shed the Conservative Party in a negative light. This was to offer some quick information on Charles Napier being the half-brother of John Whittingdale who is a senior Conservative MP.
Nevertheless, we value your feedback about this issue. All complaints are sent to senior management and news teams every morning and I included your points in this overnight report.
These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensures that your complaint has been seen by the right people quickly. This helps inform their decisions about current and future programmes.
Once again, thank you for contacting us.
Kind regards
Philip Young
BBC Complaints
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
ALSO COPIED COMPLAINT TO HARMAN, DROMEY plus:
Dear Culture and Media & Sport Committee Members,
I feel you should be made aware of the BBC complaint that has just been filed which the BBC mentions the leader of your committee in a very politically biased way:
Yours sincerely,
Name address withheld for privacy
BBC Complaints – Case number CAS-3074488-NJV88W
Incorrect political connection.
Complaint description:
Re; Charles Napier jailed for 13 years for child sex abuse: You mention in the article that this criminal is the half brother of Conservative MP John Whittingdale, for some reason making a CONSERVATIVE MP connection. You also mention NAPIER being a past Treasurer of Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), but totally omit the real political connection of interest to the public, of the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman, used to be the Legal Officer of NCCL, working for and affiliated with PIE, plus Labour shadow minister Dromey, her husband, was also an officer of NCCL and former LABOUR Cabinet minister Patricia Hewitt was also senior officer of NCCL. Why have you highlighted a CONSERVATIVE connection in this Paedophile story when there is not one , but fail to make a LABOUR connection of which there are three high profile front bench connections? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2575505/Letter-paedophile-group-links-Harriet-Harman-Patricia-Hewitt-AFTER-said-marginalised.html
I am copying this to the MPs concerned, since I feel they need to know that this sort of political bias is happening within a public funded body and people like me do not wish to pay for such blatant bias on serious issues from my taxes.
I think this went missing if it is else where that’s why. It’s a bit odd that most of the complaints I make to the BBc are concerning a lack of information, or to put into my perspective missing out some information to suit their agenda. The response to the complaint is that they normally don’t have the time to give all points of view etc. , just the time to tell you what they want to tell you.. So here we have them giving out superfluous information wouldn’t be because it fits their agenda then.
‘This was to offer some quick information on Charles Napier being the half-brother of John Whittingdale who is a senior Conservative MP.’
Quick, also meaningless, but oh so convenient.
Well done for trying.
And why is this horrifying story NOT top on the BBC’s website and across the media? I think we all know the answer. This is a major concern – mass grooming – but because of political correctness the authorities are too afraid to say or do anything. Spot the missing words in the following report:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30638168
In my opinion, apart from the BNP and Ukip, all the other parties have just hoped that this would go away, they are complicit…
The One Party With Three Names cares nothing for these children getting gang-raped; they only care about their multicultural utopia.
“Child grooming occurs ‘in every town’, charity says”
Kind of blows all of the “tiny minority”, BBC/No10/Media
religion of paed s propaganda … right out of the water.
Remember “grooming”, (shamefully used, instead of orchestrated, religion mandated, racist child gang rape)
“is now the norm”.
Every town? … hmm do these communities not have a mosque?
a Imam, for their erm … so called “religion”.
Anyone put 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 together yet?
UK: Neighbour says people at house raided by counter-terror police “go to the mosque every Friday”
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/local/neighbour-says-she-had-suspicions-following-anti-terrorism-raids-1-6496626
“go to the mosque every Friday.” … What?
But D Cameron has told the UK’s Muslims that jihad terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. ”
R Spencer
BBC of course omit such information
BBC – Two men held in Bedfordshire over terror offences
Better make that 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 together
Just what? … are the Police … our authorities doing?
Sharia UK: 19-year-old arrested for video showing him burning Qur’an
http://www.yorkshirestandard.co.uk/news/19-year-old-released-on-bail-after-alleged-koran-burning-video-9133/
“Superintendent … MABS HUSSAIN – Leeds District Police, said:
“Due to the nature of this offence, any decision to charge must be taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions”
Sheesh! better make that …
Put, 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 together
The BBC of course glories in such … “religious” offence.
US pastor Terry Jones held after threats to burn Korans – BBC
Girl, 15, arrested over ‘Facebook Koran burning video’ – BBC
Nato apologises for Afghan Koran ‘burning’ – BBC
Fan fined for ripping up Koran pages at football match – BBC
Hilariously … even going as far as analysing, “the threat”
BBC News – In quotes: the Koran-burning threat
“Would this teenager have been arrested for burning the Bible? … Of course not.
But the Cameron government is desperate to appease Islamic supremacists — apparently even to the point of adopting Sharia laws governing the treatment of the Qur’an”
R Spencer
An end of year thought on the rop in the uk.
There is much evidence to suggest strict mslms in this country are contemptuous of native people, culture and practices (kaffirs etc). Yet remain here they do, availing themselves of public services, and often adding extended family.
Thus on some level they must like/admire those societies conceived without the world’s most peaceful religion having any influence whatsoever.
In turn they must suffer much internal angst: on one hand they know non mslms are unclean and ignorant, but on the other they have affection for, and are drawn to the societies the foregoing have created.
We too are contemptuous of what now passes for media, for law, for education, for politics-and , like Muslims, we despise the banishment of God to a Brand(sic) or a granny up in the attic who may knit us a prayer shawl if we`re nice to everybody.
Except Israel, the USA, UKIP and those who call out Islam when and where they know it`s the evil it can so easily be.
Therefore I have much in common with the angriest of Muslims…but my God had one word for HIm that Islam can never have…that is LOVE(or charity if you like the KJV/AV)…and Jesus personnifies that(note the PRESENT tense).
Islam today is an angry Gods( note-he`s God, and never has been Allah) instrument to torture the liberals and the Christ-haters or compromisers…the Red Flags and the pastel copies will burn before the Islamic Green ad the Black…but the Purple one won`t.
It`s all there in the not-so-secret Scriptures..keep a Koran to hand, get studying on the web…and you`ll find a lot of the BBC grouches will go…Stevie claimed the Higher Ground…and when you`re up there you can see the liberal carnage below.
The BBC will be gone in five, Islam will improve or be removed…and “This Little Light Of Ours” will catch fire…no burning Bush this year, but very soon, my Children!
Gen 26.22
So the government’s going to become extra stringent in its border security checks and screening… expect another couple of questions in the Equal Opportunities section of the airport questionnaire!
I have kept my eye on the reporting of the cargo ship with 700 Migrants on board . The latest news report had me falling off my chair laughing “Clandestine Migrants ” how twee not “BLOODY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THEN” next stop Calais etc etc etc. get ready for the reports of how they’re all been hard done by, abandoned by crew of ship (smugglers), women and children starving, how we must welcome them. Enough I need to lie down, I didn’t see this coming and there’s a flock of pigs overhead.
See link re Clandestine Migrants:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30639794
You cannot blame the poor migrants wanting to escape to better their lives. It is the EU policy that is wrong and it should be changed to help these unfortunate people in their own lands, with trade and practical economic activity training for example.
The answer to the problem of the Biased Broadcasting Corporation engaging in its left-wing and politically correct policy is to boycott all its programmes, until the poor viewing figures force the programme managers to change their current policy. This might even result in a cut to the licence fee. In the long term, the licence fee needs to be abolished and replaced by a system of voluntary contributions by those members of the public who still wish to subscribe to its propoganda. Best wishes to you all for a happy and prosperous New Year.
And therin lyes the problem. THEY DONT CARE!!!!!!.
boycott what you like, they still get the money.
David
Just picked on the Lenny Henry affair. Seems you’ve opened the hornets’ nest! Do wonder if Huff Post is now the PR wing of the BBC.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/12/30/lenny-henry-today_n_6394740.html
Hope you can cope with the flack on twitter. Will the BBC use this as an excuse to silence you in 2015? Trust not.
Lenny Henry? Isn’t he the black bloke who calls himself a “comedian”, whinges about racism, yet milked it for all it was worth in most of the second-rate shows he appeared in? That Lenny Henry? He needs a slap.
I remember his character called something like Theopholus P Wildebeest, or some-such, who spoke with an extremely broad West Indian accent. I have forgotten what Lenny Henry’s point was.
You know, “K’tanga K’tanga, my friend!” That Lenny Henry.
He also did an air traffic controller at Kingston, Jamaica.
The ultimate stereotype of the feckless, drug-laden loafer…and no white bloke would ever get away with the caricature.
Lenny playing the race card…but it paid.
Only whites can be racist, first rule of PC World as exemplified by the BBC.
I am not a member of any minority (apart from being indigenous caucasian in a small corner of Essex) but I do wonder whether black and other minorities don’t feel patronised by others purporting to speak up for them. I don’t recall any of this political shit from Trevor McDonald, for example; he was just supremely good at his job and to my mind was a far more valid role model.
Charlie Williams was always joking about his colour, well loved and very funny, I would love to know his opinion today somehow don’t think he would have turned all Lenny. Remember he was presenting the biggest gameshow on TV in the early 70’s (The Golden Shot). Both Kenny Lynch and Derek Griffiths appeared on the Channel Four show ‘It Was OK in the 70’s, neither could see problems with the programs they appeared in.
It was the ‘right on’ 20 something lefty talking heads that had the problem….
I am glad I know many real people from the so called ethnic minorities who are genuinely embarrassed by the antics of the likes of Diane Abbot etc. If you formed your opinions based on the militant lefties, of all colours, you could get completely the wrong opinion of people. I look forward to the shock coming for the divisive left in the next election. What the left doesn’t realise is that many immigrants who have made a success of themselves in this country are more aligned with the views of UKIP than they think.
I remember Charlie Williams playing for Donny Rovers in the (I think) late sixties. A black player was a rare sight in those days so unfortunately the monkey chants were pervasive every time he got the ball and someone even threw an egg which exploded on his head.
His determination to carry on with his life and succeeed despite the abuse he received is an example the BBC should use.
Ander`s you must live near me ,have I spoken to you in the pub before?
The Huffington Post is a silly, vacuous, vanity publication of no intellectual worth whatsoever.
So yes, it indeed cheers the BBC to the rafters.
HuffPo of ‘Needs of the Mehdi outweigh all else’?
The one Gudio teases constantly for getting outraged by skimpy ratings bait elsewhere yet does the same or more revealing on its own pages?
That HuffoPo? Seriously (as in taken)?
Henry says ‘I’m not saying your programme is going to get broke or Downton Abbey is going to change because you have people of colour or people with disabilities or people with different genders or sexualities are behind the camera.
“I’m just saying give everybody a chance to make that programme.’
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is your quick guide to ‘inclusivity’ – except, of course, in the case of Today where only ethnic minorities are to be ‘included’, as dictated by Henry himself.
Orwell still drilling his way to Australia, I hear.
Just after 7 this morning one Jeremy Al-Bowen had the temerity to say that the so-called “Palestinians” are not now relying on violence to progress their issues!
So what about running people over, stabbings, hatchet invasions of synagogues, and oh yes, the matter of lobbing rockets. They have used violence for more than a hundred years now and have got what from it? That’s right — nothing.
Sing on mighty Al-Beeb!
The BBC ends the year as it intends to continue. Above is a screen grab from the BBC News homepage (International edition). Surely this fails every test for neutrality? The ‘brave’ child with the Palestinian flag ‘confronts’ armed Israeli soldiers. Tugs at your heartstrings.
Some might call that child abuse but in reality the child was in no danger unless, of course, someone off camera decides to up the ante. I would call it blatant propaganda.
UN Security Council rejects Palestinian resolution Perhaps it is quibbling but this wasn’t a Palestinian resolution. It was a Jordanian resolution about forcing a Palestinian State yet to be formed.
The BBC is supposed to be British but look how far down before the abstain vote by the United Kingdom is mentioned. Surely that vote (non-vote?) was of interest to the audience whose license fee maintains the BBC?
The video which introduces the article is not much better. It starts with the funeral of a teenager without mentioning that he was engaged in an assault on Israeli troops when shot nor does it mention the Hamas/Fatah flags. Hamas BTW is against any resolution less than everything and specifically rejects and solution from international organisations. The message is clear Israel guns down children.
Inevitably the BBC the Jordanian ambassador gets a chance to state her full npost facto case but Israel is voiceless.
Also inevitably the Israeli media quoted is the Guardian clone Haaretz who share of the Israeli newspaper market is less than 5%.
Would the fate of an Israeli child waving a flag in front of armed Palestinians have been news? Probably, but for different reasons.
Thank you for this post. The outrageous BBC propaganda against Israel continues and incites normally sensible people to hatred because the message is repeated again and again. It needs to be protested against at every opportunity by individuals directly to the BBC and to MP’s and this can make a difference. There is no doubt anti Semitic incidents are the result of the unjust representation of actions by the only Jewish State. The positive newsletter from Israel at verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com gives an alternative view of Israel that the BBC does not promote.
Not only on the BBC, catch CH4 lately, or that shameless charade in Westminster
Yet again there is the usual disgusting New Years (dis) honours announced, when those who deserve something are given the lowest possible honour, to dignify the snouts in the trough Politicos and public sector workers who receive these ornaments simply for doing their jobs.
The local ones to me are chock full of public sector workers and the odd smattering of “ethinc’s” to prove some cultural marxist point.
Perhaps we could have a separate thread for those working for the BBC who have been given gongs?
Robert Joseph McLoughlin. For services to Broadcasting in the North West. A man so pre eminent in his field that it’s almost impossible to find anything about him at all !
Pointless baubles for luvvies and stooges.
Useful to the extent they illuminate who’s on-message.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/in-your-area/trafford-residents-clean-up-new-8365049
Robert (Joseph McLoughlin), a familiar face* on Granada Reports, said: “It’s strange because I have interviewed so many recipients of honours during my career and they always said how surprised they were.
“Now it’s happened to me, I know exactly how they feel. I too am surprised and delighted and it really is thanks to the journalistic teams I have worked with.”
* no, me neither
Not again…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-30641686
More lies from the BBC., this time contained in the headline: “Rising sea to claim 7,000 properties ”
Anyone who lives anywhere near the coast, or who has troubled to tear himself away from the delights of Islington to visit it, will know that coastal erosion has been happening to this country since the beginning of recorded time. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with ‘rising’ seas.
Once again, the BBC cranks up the empty AGW propaganda in the service of its political agenda.
Eventually, the Former UK will be eroded away, in its entirety.
Another skyfalling comic, maybe the Graun or Indy, had it as these abodes being ‘sacrificed’, so it could have been more hyperbolic.
I would be interested on the due diligence behind this 7,000 claim, especially any recent vs. historical searches made at time of purchase. They are often cheap for a reason. As with certain West London properties astounded to find they are near an airport.
Where i do get empathetic is with man-made, down-road, can-kicking consequences.
Our property is near a river but has not seen flood since records began. These being the 1500’s type, not BBC toddler lifespans.
The concern is that thanks to building on flood plains upstream, and then ‘investing’ in flood de…flections, what used to get soaked up adds to the fun by the time it gets here, and I am betting the council will be whining ‘Act of God’ before you can whisper ‘unprecedented’.
Be very afraid….
My parents similarly aged property flooded in February due to a combination of preservation of water vole burrowa, complacency regarding maintenance of the river, a new weir system “to maintain flow”, and Health ‘n Safety declaring it too dangerous to undertake emergency work.
The house has not flooded in the previous 125yrs to our certain knowledge. They are hoping to get back in next summer.
And what they don’t bother to tell you:
1. That sea levels have been rising since the end of the last ice age, though the rate has shown signs of slowing.
2. How much of this land was, in recent times, reclaimed from the sea through human intervention.
Inconvenient truths – real ones.
Dave Whelan: Wigan owner given six-week ban and fine by the FA
This story contains language which you may find offensive.
-BBC News website.
Says it all really.
Anyone out for a Chinky tonight?
Meanwhile, in UK, as Beeboids know, but relegate:-
“UK Muslima arrested at airport upon her return from the Islamic State”
[Excerpt, by Robert Spencer]-
“And so the appalling absurdity that is contemporary Britain continues. A Muslim woman from London goes to Syria to join the Islamic State. Upon her return, she is arrested ‘on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism’ — preparing for those acts, mind you, in an entity that calls itself ‘the Islamic State.’ Yet the British government, as it gallops toward national ruin, insists that this entity has nothing to do with Islam, and thus does nothing — nothing! — to cut off recruitment for this entity among Muslims in Britain. And so as Britain inches inexorably closer to chaos and blood in the streets, its intelligentsia and governing authorities congratulate themselves on not being ‘racist.’ It could be their epitaph: they were conquered, they were subjugated, they were mass murdered, in an utterly preventable case of national suicide, but they were never, ever ‘racist’.”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/12/uk-muslima-arrested-at-airport-upon-her-return-from-the-islamic-state
‘It could be their epitaph: they were conquered, they were subjugated, they were mass murdered, in an utterly preventable case of national suicide, but they were never, ever ‘racist’.
Or ‘The beguiling new religion of Environmentalism began to dominate the social and political landscape and attracted a surprising mix of Left and Centre-Right alike, though old-fashioned Conservatives, too experienced and wise to accept UN model-based ‘scientific evidence’ at face value, tried to fight it. Alas, it was too late, and the worship of ‘zero carbon emissions’ led to chronic energy shortages and ultimately the collapse of the country’s economy. Now the wasteland and the few survivors that remain on these once prosperous islands serve only as a stark lesson to be learned by the developing world.’
By ‘eck, it’ll be close-run thing. Either way, there’s only one way the fickle finger of blame will point – Leftwards.
Thanks to the bloke above who tells me that Thatcher did her bit to help out the Gordievsky family.
She was a true Friend of Israel as well as an implacable opponent of the Soviet Union…not the Russian people mind, as her reception in the USSR showed in 1988 etc.
No wonder the BBC won`t mention this in any headline…for the BBC served the Soviets wonderfully well, and won`t forgive the likes of Mrs T, Ronnie and JP2 for their parts in bringing the whole rotten edifice of Communism down in 1989.
Mrs T was 100% about the educational blob as well…thirty years on, and her prophetic role is assured.
Makes Joseph and Letwin look the sock puppets and dupes that they sadly turned out to be.
Only the BBC will think that Thatchers role in 1984/5 was a tainted one-we`d all be speaking Scargill Libyan if she`d not dealt with this other BBC pet of theirs.
Final point…Mrs T left a whole hospital wing to be paid for and named after herself and husband…Chelsea Royal I think.
is there ANY lefty?-Benn, Miliband(R), Mortimore, etac…who had even left an engraved bedpan to the rest of us?
Imagine a Benn,a Blair, a Cherie Booth even THINKING of leaving something to the nation apart from spiritual scabies with no cure!
Mrs T was 100% correct about the BBC too-if ONLY she`d finished them off for us. She mucked up there-a rare failure.
Just thought: has any commentator ever made a favourable comment on the BBC about any of Margaret Thatcher’s policies?
Sir Keith Joseph was no sock puppet.
Letwin, however, was, and remains, a fool.
By no means a personal comment on a great thinker and thoroughly decent man.
But he WAS wrong on education-once he bottled it on vouchers, he went down the TVEI route and didn`t have the claws to take on the unions…not his fault, as I say-he was sdecent honest man without the guile or nastiness to deal with the Blob.
He was also badly wrong on amalgamating Government Departments in Heaths Regime in 1970-again, the intentions were good, but we got Local Government supershambles, removal of the likes of Rutland and Westmoreland -and(again) he was taken to the cleaners by venal civil servants, unions and the likes of Slater-Walker and T-Dan Smith in the end.
May I repeat-I owe Sir Keith plenty, I know of his graciousness in Leeds when he was an MP, and his brain puts the likes of Willetts into the dustbin by comparison.
But he was not up to the likes of Wilson, Heath, MacAvoy or all those quangos he instigated…the results over 40 years have been disastrous…he`s our Garrett Fitzgerald I would argue.
Letwin is about the greatest brain I have encountered in politics…but his “You Live and Learn” riposte to being rumbled over his part in the poll tax will surely cost him his marginal to UKIP in May…not that he knows this yet…but it`ll pass.
A sad loss to a great and original thinker-but like Keith, of little earthly use in a dirty war like May 2015 is going to be.
Left Wing extremist and BBC favourite John Culshaw is on Radio 4 attacking everyone who he doesn’t like, such as William Hague, Jeremy Clarkson, Andrew Mitchell, The Police, Boris Johnson.
The list goes on.
Makes me wonder if the BBC realise it isn’t funny when someone is so extremely biased. The Manipulation is just too blatant.
I see our useless ‘leaders’ in London , in concert with our equally useless P olice ‘Service’ , have decreed that parts of London will tonight only be accessible to those who have paid money to observe their (p***-poor) Fireworks display.
What bloody right do they have to close down our city for their convenience? Just because Plod becomes ‘uncomfortable’ when confronted with crowds of indigenous English people appearing to enjoy themselves?
They have been telling us for weeks now not to come into London to celebrate New Year ,but to stay at home and watch it on the BBC!!
Entertainments only for the benefit of the nomenklatura ,their friends ,and those stoopid enough to pay for it.
Before long ,we’ll need travel passes to leave our districts .Thought Control from the BBC allied to physical travel control in the name of ‘Public Safety’…..You could not make it up.
News for INBBC?:-
“Has Imran Khan secretly married BBC weather girl?
“Rumours rife in Pakistan where his family are ‘against’ the ‘wedding’ to divorced mother of three.
“Imran Khan is believed to have married news anchor Reham Khan, 41.
“Rumours have been around for several months that the pair were an item.
.The cricketer-turned politician divorced Jemima Goldsmith 10 years ago ”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2891756/SEBASTIAN-SHAKESPEARE-Imran-Khan-secretly-married-BBC-weather-girl.html#ixzz3NV9LiuEb
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2892629/Israel-omitted-HarperCollins-atlas-including-country-unacceptable-customers.html
There’s a big principle involved here. How on earth can the west seriously deal with an entire people of a certain religion who wilfully turn their backs on reality? When they aren’t already causing wars, genocide and mayhem that is..
Denying reality is characteristic of the thinking of a small child. We can’t let them win. And Harper Collins should be ashamed of themselves.
imaynotalwaysloveyou
“How on earth can the west seriously deal with an entire people of a certain religion who wilfully turn their backs on reality?
You think HarperCollins represents; “an entire people of a certain religion”?
“The map in the Collins Bartholomew atlas, sold to English-speaking schools in the majority-Muslim Gulf, omits Israel”.
So not actually designed for Muslim Arabic speaking schools then (it’s written in English not Arabic, duh).
“But HarperCollins has put the omission down to a genuine error. A spokesman said: ‘HarperCollins regrets the omission of the name Israel from their Collins Middle East Atlas. ‘This product has now been removed from sale in all territories and all remaining stock will be pulped. HarperCollins sincerely apologises for this omission and for any offence caused.’”
So it was a printing error. But rather than simply point out HarperCollins’ careless proof reading, lets just blame “The Muslims” [applause].
I do wonder sometimes; does the Daily Mail turn its readers into gullible fools or were they just born that way?
Unless I am mistaken the article in the Mail is not exactly as you say.
Harper Collins stand by a genuine error but Collins Bartholemew- presumably the map publishers told
“the Tablet that including Israel would have been “unacceptable to their customers in the Gulf’
So rather than the ritual sneer at the Daily Mail reader I think there is at least a case for ascertaining the real truth of the matter. Not that truth and reality is of much importance these days to the liberal media.
I’ve re-read the article. There’s a source that says ‘including Israel would have been unacceptable’ and then another that says it was ‘a genuine error’.
I think the fact it’s sold to English speaking schools is neither here nor there. Maybe Murdoch heard about it, stepped in and then ordered the atlas to be withdrawn.
Gaza and West Bank are shown on the map, as is every other state in the Mid East (as far as I’m aware).
I still think that on the balance of probabilities Collins Bartholomew pandered to ‘local preferences’ for the client. The Palestinian Authority has issued maps similarly ignoring any mention of Israel.
As well as the Mail, the Telegraph, Independent and Mirror have all run this story. Try as I might I can’t find it anywhere on the BBC website.
Just substitute ‘BBC’ for ‘Daily Mail’ and ‘listeners’ for ‘readers’ and you have something far more insidious and subversive.
And they control 70% of news output funded by a draconian poll tax, all on the pretext of being ‘impartial’.
Come on dezzzz, let’s see something better in 2015 than the half-assed contributions we’ve had from you so far. Or is it that, as I keep asking, you don’t find much on here you can argue with?
My Top twelve moments of 2014?
1. Somerset Floods-role of Lord Chris Smith and the Godawful misanthropes at the “Environment Agency”…the decency of Owen Patterson as BBC crews clogged up local resources and village halls, dishing the dirt-and blaming the Tories for it all.
2. Ukraine/Russia-when is a democratically elected Government able to be removed by EU/US diktat?…and when people power goes belly up?..well, blame about the only European leader who`s prepared to stick up for his Christian country as leader(yes, he`s badly flawed-but after him, we`ll get the deluge of Nazis and Muslim separatists that he`s staunching at present.
3. One out-all out. Deaths of Crow and Benn-the suck ups and whitewashing of tax dodging Bollinger Boshevisms from squatted-in council houses or country seats. Compare and contrast with how the evil Left and the BBC treated the death of Mrs Thatcher but a year before.
4. Bring Back Our Girls-gestures and hashtagged impotence in the face of Islam…and the story being happily binned once the attentions of the feminists, the liberal fop houses and the meeja had been exhausted.
5. The Conchita Wurst European Song Contest-the Russians rightly mock this parody who is reverentially called “she” as he likes to be. Muslims must quail…and, no Dana International efforts from Israel way back counts a jot nowadays.
6. UKIP triumph in Euro and national elections-and the BBCs response to the will of those who voted for them.
7. Birmingham Trojan Horse Scandal and the role of Labour and the BBC in creating this Islamic hydra-headed monster in Britains second city.
8. Murder of three Israeli lads in Gaza by Hamas, that led to Israel defending its nation-and the BBCs role in slanting, skewing and cheating the British people as to who the REAL eneny of freedom are in that benighted area of the world.
9.Scottish referendum and the Cybernats Fascist tactics to hound the likes of Murphy, Rowling and farage off their streets and SMS…and the BBCs equivocating of same, when it`s clear who the Nazis now were going to be.
10. IS beheadings after coming to power in parts that the BBC used to think were Desert Springs…and their ongoing refusal to use words like Muslim, Islamist, Koran or treasonous traitors in any bulletins…from Nairobi to Sydney via Brussels, NYC and Beijing…Islam nowhere to be cited.
11. “This is what feminist looks like” t-shirt ;clap trap, hypocrisies and lack of any effort to right the record about this piece of Fawcett Society bull.
12. North Korea film crap-and how come it`s an issue now, where the Muhammad YouTube bollox was stamped upon for offending a foreign government or two.
But THE event of the Year was Rotherham…last years was mid-Staffs in terms of people/kids debauched or dead…and, safe to say Rotherham will NOT be getting mentioned in any reviews of the year.
Not when Eltons marriage can be linked to some UKIP councillors tweeting anyway.
I`ll add a few more.
Benefits Street in January-death of Lord MacAlpine and the BBC getting away with that.
Death of Anne Maguire and the role of LEAs, OFSTED and Leeds Councils etc in creating a climate where the murderer probably thought he`d not even do a detention if he killed somebodys wife,granny andmother who happened to teach.
Death of Stephen Sutton, and the evil SMS campaign that would once have gone to Marti Caine…same scum who bought “The Witch is dead” when Mrs T died.
Jihadi John, and the BBCs role in seeming to think him “British Youth”..as opposed to an Islamic State assasin and traitor who needs ritual disembowelling when we catch it.
The Band Aid 30 crapola and (thankfully) the public backlash…thank you Adele!
Cliff Richards house search c/o the BBC helicopter…utter scum that prejudice a trail-it leads to MacAlpines door as far as I can see.
Peshawar as seemingly “not being related to Islam”…these extremist have no Koranic authority etc…as if Pakistani Deobaandi and Taliban don`t know Mo`s imperative like Bojo or Cam, Baz or Brand…fuckwits that cost lives…and maybe nearer that AfPak next time if we don`t prevent the BBC from speaking as if we`re similarly lily-livered and gulled as they are.
There`ll be more-been a good year for media guts on show…but there`s enough here for us all. God Bless Israel-and let`s hope Nigel clears the barn out in May for us.
Mr Miliband has in recent times committed his party to freezing energy prices, reinstating the 50p top rate of income tax and introducing a levy on properties worth more than £2m dubbed the “mansion tax”.
In his traditional end-of-year message released on Wednesday, the Labour leader said his party would reveal further plans to raise wages, establish “fair rules for immigration” and “rescue our NHS” in the run-up to the 7 May poll.
Although warning that change would not be “easy or instant”, he said a future Labour government could “build a country that works for everyday people”.
“This isn’t about idle dreams or empty promises,” he said. “It’s about a real, concrete plan: a plan for a recovery which reaches your kitchen table.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30640264
A party political broadcast for the Labour Party, brought to you by the BBC
All that’s missing is Land of Hope and Glory as background music.
‘….reinstating the 50p top rate of income tax….’
Ah, that would be the 50p rate that Labour took 13 years to introduce – a month before the 2010 General Election, in fact.
Not that you’d be aware of that little-known fact if you relied on the BBC for your current affairs coverage.
BBC salivating no doubt that the ‘liberal political blogger’ (Huff. Post) Lamar White Jr. states that he’s uncovered potential evidence that Republican Steve Scalise might have had connections with neo-Nazis… How the lefty media are jumping up and down with puerile joy…. however they seem to frequently ignore many left-wingers dealings with extremist Muslims.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-30638811
Let alone several in the UK who were paid KGB agents!
Katie Hopkins’ tweets on ‘Ebola bombs’ examined by police – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-30641705
It’s a sad, sad day for democracy and free speech when the police investigate friendly banter between the English and the Scots.
Unfortunately, hell will freeze over before the BBC will look at this issue critically, and ask whether thought crimes should really be a matter for the police.
Do police seriously have nothing better to do than investigate these tweets?
I’ve seen a lot worse said about the English by Scottish celebrities, especially during the referendum!
This demonstrates the appalling quality of Chief Constables throughout the land…all of them Common Purposed, most graduates, sociology mostly, all made to tow the establishment line with knighthoods at the zenith of their pointless careers, all of them allowing no-go zones in the cities, all of them allowing muslims to do as they please and crack down on the rest of us,…..the oppression list goes on……
Apparently some Scottish dimwits believe a couple of tweets which might be seen as stirring or bad taste are in fact ‘waysist’ and have took it on them selves to have a moan to the law. The easily offended ( scottish branch) have also taken to do their usual thing and start a petition on change….
https://www.change.org/p/police-scotland-to-charge-katie-hopkins-over-her-vile-racist-tweets-regarding-scotland
One does wonder how many coppers are kept off the streets having to deal with all this empty headed froth. In my most barking drunken loony mode I fail to see anything which can be remotely seen as ‘waysist’ here.
The curse of social media strikes again, empty headed buffoons seeking outrage everywhere they look. In the old days they used to see UFO’s or Loch Ness monsters, anything to bring a little excitement to their aimless boring lives, now they can look around and tweet ‘ Witch ! Witch! Hang the Witch ‘ and find others of a like mind to follow them.
The bbc of course promotes these foot solders of the multi-kulti cause.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-30641705
The easily affronted might be seen by most of us as just modern day village idiots, but to the ministry of lies they have a useful function, point them in the required direction and stand back.
As Diawl (December 31, 2014 at 4:32 pm)points out that the English are not a race, so the ‘jocks’, sweaty or otherwise, and likewise Glaswegians cannot be a race, ergo there can be no racism involved.
A storm in a tea cup whipped up by chronically offended.
First of all there’s no such thing as ‘Racism’!
This is a word without a definition, and a meaningless word has no power.
One thing I have been told by the Fascists is that ‘Racism’ has nothing to do with race, and when the panel on question time, two Fascists, (From Liebour and the Fib Dems) agreed that it was a matter of attitude in other words it’s a thought crime.
If you think you can define this word then go ahead, I’m sure there would be a lot of injured Fascists if they were ever asked to do so given their predilection to violence and readiness to never agree with anyone even their mates !
I misread it as “chemically offended”.
Which might be nearer the truth.
Maybe trolls and grievance hustlers need a brethalyser before taking issue with the lovely Katie H…one of the few who still speaks her mind, and has an original point of view…and, yes, being younger than us, she get`s it wrong…so what`s the Lefts excuse for Yasmin,Shirl, Polly and Harriet?
Katie H has been right in a few days more than these lefty bluestockings have been over four turgid, fetid lifetimes.
more mass rape news from the guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/dec/31/sexual-violence-soars-uk-hospitals
anyone else think that something may be misssing.
Bit of a Sci fi fan , just been watching ,`Back to the Future III` on ITV2 , Lenny Henry , Scott , & the Evil Bbc would hate this.The whole cast , & extra`s ,all Hideously White , no effnick`s anywhere ,& hetrosexual . I thought `Bloody Amazing ` & Happy New Year to the site readers .
Essex Man,
“Yesup we dunt want none of dem dirty nigro queers in our picture box”
What’s a picture box ?
So you completely missed the 100 Native American’s who appear en mass at the start of the film? Wrong sort of Indian to trigger your little racist itch?
I’m sorry about this it not really being BBC bias at all, but there are time when you need a good laugh, and there’s none to be had in BBC ‘comedy’.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18494_15-unintentionally-perverted-toys-children.html
Some of these really need you to watch the video to realise just how bad they are.
At least you can see in 2015 with a smile on your face !
Another Bin lorry fatality, this time in Inverness:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/inverness-bin-lorry-crash-man-4898885
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/inverness-bin-lorry-crash-man-4897396
“It is the fourth fatal crash involving a bin lorry in Scotland in the last six weeks.”
Seems far too many to just be co-incidence, and rumour control says the Glasgow driver was a Muslim immigrant.
To paraphrase 1st Earl Beatty, maybe there’s just something wrong with their bloody lorries?
One is sure the UK media would advise if it was anything else.
“thoughtfull” by name but not by comment!!
Anyone taking the time to read the articles cited would note that the incidents mentioned are all very different.
As for the “Muslim” assertion – a Google search using the key words (Glasgow, bin lorry, Muslim) produces links to sites that contain even less facts and objectivity than this site.
Valid reasons for the driver not yet being named are:
# At this time the incident is still subject to a police investigation.
# At this time it is unclear whether or not the driver is in any condition to be interviewed.
# When interviewed and following the conclusion of the investigation criminal proceedings may follow.
# Naming the driver now may lead to reporting and/or speculation detrimental to any future proceedings.
Albaman you make a cheap derisive joke …“thoughtfull” by name but not by comment!! and yet you demonstrate your own lack of thought by producing a one sided version of events without any reference to the real world where religion, politics and the police state collide, and collude.
Disengenuous of you Albaman to not admit that the Authorities do all they can to stop any connection being made by the Public between Islam, Muslims and actions by them. If the driver is Muslim, and there is no evidence he is, then such speculation would be reasonable given events in Israel, France, Canada and in the UK where Lee Rigby was run before being hacked to death. So a ‘valid reason’ for not naming the driver would be, in the eyes of the Authorities, that he is Muslim in order to preserve the illusion of ‘community cohesion’.
In fact the main reason why this shouldn’t be seen as an attack by a Muslim is that there were two other employees in the cab with him….they would surely mention the fact that the driver was deliberately mowing down people if that was the case, putting their lives at risk as well.
They could themselves be Muslim of course, but unlikely, and they could just as much be under pressure from the Authorities not to say anything as the coucil might be. But how long could that silence be sustained?
Having said that the 5 people arrested for the fire at the Darool Uloom school have never been named…it was widely blamed, without evidence, on the EDL…to the satisfaction of many no doubt…and a conclusion the police etc are quite probably very happy to let people believe. The likelihood is that it was pupils from the school that set the fire in order to make it look like an islamophobic attack…but we’ll never know the truth because it has been suppressed.
Albaman you make a cheap derisive joke
Yes, Albaman, how dare you. That’s Alan’s job! At least make your cheap derisive joke over multiple rambling paragraphs.
Oh, and make sure it’s not funny, but instead comes across as the ramblings of a paranoid madman, there’s a good chap.
The ever thoughtful Scott bringing us his wit and wisdom whether we want it or not…intelligent analysis, coherent arguments, informed insights, and all based on a breadth of knowledge and expertise that no one else on this site could hope to emulate.
You are wonderful Scott and definitely not prone to producing endless ramblings of a paranoid madman. A treasure…bless.
Alan, I note that you do not dispute any of the reasons given for the driver not yet being named. Not very “thoughtful” of you is it?
I don’t dispute them because they may well be true….but then again they may not…but that isn’t the point is it? The point being you deliberately avoid and exclude all other explanations…not because you have any evidence but because you just want to…so deliberately avoiding the need for any thought as those thoughts wouldn’t suit the agenda.
Alan, it is not a case of “may well be true” – all the reasons I give are true!!
Anything else at this time is meaningless speculation as opposed to “other explanations” for which there is no evidence whatsoever – but I guess that this does not suit your own “agenda”.
No not ‘true’…just ‘valid’. You have no idea what the reason is for keeping the name of the driver secret….your ‘true’ reasons are just as much speculation as any other suggested reason…..and if you’d actually read and understood my reply to your initial comment you would have seen I think such speculation about a Muslim driver is likely to be just that…..but you can’t dismiss it out of hand as you do….the driver may well be Muslim…perfectly possible in Glasgow…so the Authorities would almost certainly seek to stop such speculation as they did with the Glasgow airport attack when the police and council rushed out statements saying this had nothing to do with Islam.
As Na’eem Raza, a member of the Scottish Interfaith Council and founder of Scotland’s Muslims Consultancy said….‘Not again… not in Scotland… not in Glasgow… not the airport… please. Not Asians… Oh God, please, not Muslim. Oh God, please not Asians and Muslims from Glasgow… no!’
Simple challenge Alan.
Which of the statements below is not true:
# At this time the incident is still subject to a police investigation.
# At this time it is unclear whether or not the driver is in any condition to be interviewed.
# When interviewed and following the conclusion of the investigation criminal proceedings may follow.
# Naming the driver now may lead to reporting and/or speculation detrimental to any future proceedings.
You claim that they are the ‘true’ reason, the only reasons, for hiding the driver’ identity, it’s certainly possible that that is so, but there is also a possibility that they may not be the actual reason for hidng his identity…just the ones the Authorities want you to hear. It is just as valid to raise other reasons considering that the SNP was in close cahoots with Islamists:
Salmond response to airport attack ‘boost for radical Islam’ says academic
Salmond having close ties with this gentleman whom Salmond wanted as an SMP:
‘Osama Saeed, an articulate young Muslim and unapologetic advocate of a hard Islam. He has enthusiastically defended the idea of a global Islamic state and in the past urged Muslims not to co-operate with police. These views reflect the traditionalist position of the Muslim Association of Britain, into which Saeed has flung his energy. TV journalists who report police appeals for vigilance have not confronted him about his radical track record.’
…and the official response to the Glasgow attack was to rush out statements denying any link to Islam:
From the Scotsman:
The questions Salmond should have asked Muslim community
SCOTLAND’S 80,000 Muslims must surely be the least alienated and marginalised in Europe. One week after terrorist slaughter was so narrowly averted at Glasgow Airport, the cream of Scotland’s establishment gathered in George Square to heap praise on them.
‘From the police, the Church of Scotland, the trades union movement, the Scottish National Party, and not leaving out the vocal anti-war movement, the community was offered protection and reassurance. Nobody wondered aloud whether the violent ideology spurring a succession of would-be outrages might have a religious source. Indeed, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s health minister, stated baldly that “Islam is a religion of peace”.’
With all that in mind suggestions that the Authorities would cover up any Muslim association, however slight and irrelevant, would have some traction.
But as I said in a previous comment, one that you have studiously ignored, the possibility of this being a ‘terrorist’ attack is negligible….but you can’t dismiss the slight possibility. The fact that the driver’s identity is hidden just adds to people’s suspicions…ones you discount out of hand…without any evidence yourself that it isn’t true.
Your bias and prejudice are shining through bright and clear.
Now, which of the following statements is not true:
# At this time the incident is still subject to a police investigation.
# At this time it is unclear whether or not the driver is in any condition to be interviewed.
# When interviewed and following the conclusion of the investigation criminal proceedings may follow.
# Naming the driver now may lead to reporting and/or speculation detrimental to any future proceedings.
‘Bias and prejudice’…..????
Please expand or deal with the argument instead of resorting to insult.
No good ploughing on repeating the same old thing ignoring the clear answer that disproves your claim.
Interesting that you use a quote from 2007 – no really sure of the link.
I guess this quote from the actual day of the event fails to suit your agenda:
“Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson of Police Scotland said: “Investigations continue into the circumstances of the tragic incident in George Square today. While those investigations are continuing, we can however confirm that this is not a terrorism-related incident.”
Irrelevant whether it is a terrorism related event…the point is would the Authorities hide the identity of the driver if he was Muslim…the anwer to that is yes they might considering similar such incidents which were Islamic terrorism related from around the world just now….they wish to protect the Muslim community from any link to such events and the ‘backlash’ Muslims suffer as a result….a valid, ‘true’, statement that you refuse to admit for some reason.
Alan, irrespective of the nationality, race, religion, colour. sexual preference, political allegiance, marital status, musical taste, viewing preferences etc. etc., which of the following statements are not true:
# At this time the incident is still subject to a police investigation.
# At this time it is unclear whether or not the driver is in any condition to be interviewed.
# When interviewed and following the conclusion of the investigation criminal proceedings may follow.
# Naming the driver now may lead to reporting and/or speculation detrimental to any future proceedings.
You have changed from ‘valid’ to ‘true’….valid and true are not the same….at first you claimed they were valid reasons for hidng the driver’s identity now you merely claim they are ‘true’ statements…..they may well be true statements in themselves, such as the driver is under investigation, but just by virtue of them being ‘true’ does not indicate the actual reason for hiding his identity, there may be others.
Alan
January 1, 2015 at 2:51 pm
“I don’t dispute them because they may well be true….but then again they may not…”
So Alan, you raised the issue that they may not be true.
Which of the statements is not true? For a man of intellect the question for some strange reason seems to be very difficult for you to answer!!
You have no evidence for your claim that these are the ‘true’ reasons for hiding the driver’s identity…they may be ‘valid’ but you have yet to show these are ‘true’.
Strange you dodge the point made by Thoughful that the reason could be that the driver may have been Muslim. It’s as ‘valid’ a reason as any of them until proven otherwise….not necessarily true though….’valid’ and ‘true’ are not the same…a point I made before and one you have yet again studiously ignored.
So still no answer to a simple question. I guess your intellect only stretches as far as “cutting and pasting” (some would call it plagiarism) from elsewhere and when presented with a situation that requires you to formulate your own response, such as now, you fail miserably.
Albaman….You have had the answer several times and been asked the question where is the proof that what you claim are ‘true’ statements are the real reason for hiding the driver’s identity…a question you continually dodge…because you have no proof. They are valid reasons but not necessarily the true reason for hiding the identity of the driver.
As for ‘plagiarism’….is that what you call presenting inconvenient facts that derail your narrative and form a coherent argument against you?
Resorting to insults is always a sign you know have lost the argument Albaman.
No Alan, as any impartial reader will see, you have failed to answer the question posed.
If, as you say, that resorting to insults means the argument has been lost, then your precious blog lost its argument a long time ago. Now, that is a really inconvenient fact!!!
Good to see the return of tag-team wrestling above lads.
Scott and albaman…very much the McManus and Pallo I`d have thought.
Yet Alan and David V?…the Royall Brothers possibly.
Me?…I`m just Johnny Quango and in need of jumping on a bonfire…but climate change rules prevent this….ah well.
Given the spate of similar ‘accidents’ in France which have also been blamed on Muslims (rightly or wrongly IHDK) I can see why it might be tempting to blame them for the Scottish Bin Lorry incidents but there are a number of reasons why this is unlikely;
1. The bins are a closed shop. It’s unlikely you’d get a Muslim employed unless there’s some positive discrimination or Muslims run Scotland’s bins, which is unlikely.
2. Given the time of year and the location alcohol is a much more likely culprit.
3. The Glasgow one, as you pointed out, was not a lone driver situation and an number of witnesses (FWTW) have stated the driver was slumped over the wheel. Heart attack?
4. There are, AFAIAA, no stats given for what the propensity for Scotland’s bin lorries to crash generally so it is difficult to know if this is something that is been given more prominence because of the Glasgow crash or whether this is part of a pattern.
5. Glasgow’s Islamo-fascists have so far been spectacularly crap at the old terror game only managing so far to set themselves on fire, after crashing their car.
All in all a Muslim link seems unlikely.
I wish that before putting fingers to keys, people would carry out a little more research.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/glasgow-bin-lorry-crash-driver-identity-protected-1-3645006
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council, which owns the bin lorry involved in the George Square tragedy, said it would “never release the names” of the driver or other two individuals who were in the cabin when it crashed.
The driver was out of hospital within two days, making it highly unlikely that he suffered either a heart attack or a stroke.
The authorities must realise that such a cover up is going to attract all kinds of speculation and seeing as they have done nothing to deflect that we might assume that the worst case scenario is in fact what happened.
If this was an innocent case of a man falling ill then I think the authorities would have announced that. It is their actions, both now and in the past which have caused this speculation.
“I wish that before putting fingers to keys, people would carry out a little more research.”
“The driver was out of hospital within two days, making it highly unlikely that he suffered either a heart attack or a stroke.”
30 December 2014 Last updated at 11:30
“NHS Greater Glasgow Clyde said three people were still in hospital following the crash, including the 57-year-old driver of the bin lorry.
He is in a stable condition, along with a 14-year-old girl and a 64-year-old woman.
The driver is being treated at the Western Infirmary, while the 14-year-old and the 64-year-old are in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30632813
Glasgow City Council, like any other employer, is under no obligation to release the name of the employees involved.
This does not mean that they will not be released, subsequent to the conclusion of the police investigation, by some other body.
The report that the driver of the bin lorry had been discharged from hospital was made by the BBC and Sky News. I heard the Sky report on a number of occasions throughout the day in question. It was only later that he was reported to be “making progress” in hospital. Somebody put out that original story to the media. The story was reported as fact and not the usual ” has been told”, “has learned”, “understands” that the media uses for speculation or uncorroborated reports.
As for the authorities covering up terrorist incidents, it’s not so long ago that a Muslim U.S. Army Major shot and killed thirteen soldiers at Fort Hood in the name of Islam. The authorities refused to call it terrorism related and it was officially recorded as ” Workplace Violence”.
It’s the Scottish authorities themselves which is responsible for the speculation due to their seeming reluctance to identify the driver. The authorities dealing with fatal road deaths in other parts of Britain usually supply the media with some details of the driver causing the fatalities.
What’s that phrase involving hoists and petards?
all of these facts could be true at inquest, but he can be named then.
have you ever thought of the damage to liberal establishment values done by this kind of cover-up [if it is one]?
Is this article racist?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/31/lenny-henry-diversity-radio-4-editing-today-programme-minority-news
There’s no such thing as ‘Racism’ it’s a meaningless left wing construct we should pay it no attention.
thoughtful,
“There’s no such thing as ‘Racism’ it’s a meaningless left wing construct we should pay it no attention.”
Do you also think there is no such thing as ‘Anti-Semitism’, thoughtful?
What happens if pasta comes into contact with ante-pasta?
Serious risk of Radiatori burns and a big cleaning bill.
I believe that anti Semitism is a wholly different concept dezz. The hatred to the point of genocide has been seen throughout the ages and despite a lull through the latter half of the last century is making a resurgence.
Racism on the other hand was invented by the left early in the last century and from the very start it was a meaningless artificial construct.
Very true. The concept of racism was invented by Trotsky to describe his loating of Slavs. Racism is a fashion, anti-semitism seems to be eternal.
“Racism” is a word invented by the left. The actual word is “racialism” but it was contracted to make it look and sound like “Fascism” .
The definition of anti-Semitism, “Hating Jew’s, more than is necessary “. I’m Jewish I can say this. If we weren’t here you would have to invent us.
Left , Right, especially liberal (lib -dem) all hate us. The BBC, don’t even go there. Always held to standards no one else has to.
I thought that the liberal/left indulged in anti Zionism to assuage their consciences?
Happy New Year in advance to all on here. I only started reading Biased BBC about 3 months ago, always good to read so many opinions that coincide with your own.
The other sites/blogs I read along with this one are: Daniel Greenfield, Gatesof Vienna, Mark Steyn, Diana West, Alexander Boot, Leo McKinstry, Vlad Tepes Blog and VDare.com, oh and Breitbart London of course.
Back to the BBC – what an absolutely appalling Christmas schedule this year; really bad, even by their standards.
New Year Questions For The BBC:
1. Did Lady Thatcher do anything right?
2. Did Nelson Mandela do anything wrong?
3. What’s your favourite episode of Top Gear?
Happy New Year All!
.
1. Yes – she died.
2. No – he was a saint.
3. The one that makes the most money for BBC Worldwide Enterprises.
1. yes everything she did.
2.yes. a nasty piece of work
3. any that are non PC and gets up the nose of the BBC
well,2015 has just rolled in,and i wish my all my brothers and sisters who post comments in this blog a fine and happy new year,but on the negative side,i have a funny feeling that this blog is going to be more than busy exposing the biased bbc in this most dirty and vicious pre election year and bias and no doubt total smears and bbc bias against ukip.i need say no more.
BBC-NUJ keeps up its selective political campaign into 2015 for pro-Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Al Jazeera’s three journalists in jail in Egypt.
BBC-NUJ members ‘downed tools’ and had demo (on licencepayers’ time?) in 2014 over this. No doubt the BBC politbureau, including T. HALL, will quietly give his political support to such propaganda and demos by BBC-NUJ staff: he will not prevent such activity on BBC property, nor stop BBC-NUJ publicity stunts, on licencepayers’ money, in 2015. And BBC-NUJ staff will not have pay deducted for demos, which we licencepayers have to finance!
‘Guardian’ report with photo of demo in April, 2014-
“Campaign to free Al-Jazeera journalists imprisoned in Egypt reaches 100th day”
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/apr/08/campaign-al-jazeera-journalists-imprisoned-egypt-tape-mouths-100
This is BBC-NUJ politics at the BBC. It is not about freedom of speech, because BBC-NUJ does not support the freedom of the anti-Islamic jihadist campaigners, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer who remain banned from entry to U.K.
“Spencer and Geller Banned from Britain for Supporting Israel”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/robert-spencer/banned-from-britain-for-supporting-israel/
In contrast, big political push today by BBC-NUJ and leftists for ‘Al Jazeera 3’-
“Retrial in Egypt al-Jazeera Greste, Fahmy and Mohamed case”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-30647732
This is what Islam Not BBC (INBBC) supports:-
“Al Jazeera publishes article praising stabbings, vehicular jihad attacks against Israeli civilians”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/01/al-jazeera-publishes-article-praising-stabbings-vehicular-jihad-attacks-against-israeli-civilians
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30311816
Well , the BBC claim of the warmest year on record has been shot down , as it got cold in December . [ Surprise surprise ] .
Although the RSS satellite data showed that it was nowhere near the warmest anyway .
But this is a new year , & it is mild today , so this must be proof that 2015 will set new records for high temperatures [ Sarc]
Or as George Orwell might have said: 2 degrees plus 2 degrees equals 5 degrees.
Erm, that’s rubbish.
UK Met Office confirms 2014 is the UK’s warmest year. NOAA says global surface temperatures show 2014 is warmest on record. Satellite data shows 2014 is in top three warmest years for global temp.
Ref : 456,
Some do not agree with your drift,
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/12/18/new-study-two-thousand-years-of-northern-european-summer-temperatures-show-a-downward-trend/
Hilariously you genuinely can’t see the wood for the trees can you?
Ref :456 . Spare us your warmist propaganda .
RSS satellite date shows 2014 as only the 7th warmist year since 1998.
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/rss-ytd-temps-only-7th-highest-since-1998/
Nice try. The stats will not have been analysed (adjusted) yet. Stop making stuff up.
There’s plenty of chatter before results are published. Here’s a nicely written and accessible article. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/12/18/satellite-data-indicate-2014-will-not-be-warmest-year-on-record-but-among-top-several/
There’s even a nice clear graph which neatly knocks down ITRW’s claims about 2014.
People should challenge the BBC if they just say 2014 is the warmest on record as it is more complex than that. But what the BBC is saying is more truthful than anything I’ve seen from Mr Real World.
Your own posting shows charts which prove that 2014 will not be the warmest year on record .
The NOAA is an organisation which is paid by politicians to produce [ & adjust ] figures which show what the IPCC want , & even they are now saying that 2014 will not be the warmest .
So my original point has now been vindicated by your own arguments .
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/01/01/has-noaa-once-again-tried-to-adjust-data-to-match-climate-models/
Go check out the far-Left extremist Independent’s comments and facebook page if you want a true insight into the Left’s mentality:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/nigel-farage-says-katie-hopkins-twitter-probe-is-a-terrible-waste-of-police-time-9952621.html?cmpid=facebook-post
Even though this piece is reserved the fact they’ve bothered to post it comes across as PURE anti-Ukip propaganda aimed at promoting a negative portrayal; the paper is a source of Islamo-Marxist anti-West hatred. The Left are SO intolerant of anyone who hold’s different political views.
Isn’t the owner of the Independent an ex-KGB operative? I wonder if he misses the old Pravda/Isvestia days?
Wonder if the BBC will be reporting this story?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2893366/Muslim-faith-schools-causing-divisions-society-lack-diversity-warns-equality-campaigner.html
A sympathy piece?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30586539
Not BBC, but its sister propaganda machine. We should remind ourselves that a journalist is not a professional (though some may act professionally). A journalist is simply someone who is paid to write.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/31/katie-hopkins-tweets-ebola-investigated-police
The criminalisation of thought and speech in England. What is our nation becoming? This Guardian piece demonstrates the nazification of the left in all its shame. Katy Hopkins thoughts and comments may be offensive to some. They may me blunt. They may be insulting to some. So what. This is England.
But now our police ‘service’ are empowered to investigate ‘speech’ and ‘comments’ when directed?? by…… erm…. whom? This when 10’s of thousands of children are at risk from sexual exploitation in English Towns?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30638168
The police have more important work to do with my tax money.
As a nation, we have, for some 70 years now, been slipping towards the totalitarian conclusion which F A Hayek, one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th Century predicted (The Road to Serfdom), and which others such as Orwell warned us about.
There was a time when journalists would baulk at the concept of criminalising an individual for simply expressing themselves. Now journalists seem to clamour for state instituted punishments, bullying and criminal investigations / proceedings against individuals whose freely chosen words are not to their taste. Instead of impassioned questioning of the actions of our legislators in eroding the freedoms which are our birthright, these journalists are merely the foot-soldiers of the fascist onslaught on our nation which continues virtually unnoticed.
They could just call Katy Hopkins ‘a silly cow’. or…..’.. a thick bitch’ and have done with it – you know – free speech ‘n all. But no. Not in England today. Send the police round, bully her, threaten her, take her to court? Fine her? imprison her?
I know the state is my enemy. Do you?
Happy new year to all. Including my Scottish friends. And Katy.
Scrap the telly tax. Vote UKIP before its too late.
Well said, mate. And Happy New Year to you too 🙂
We should remind ourselves that a journalist is not a professional
What utter rubbish. You should remind yourself that you’re spouting utter twaddle.
But still, thanks for reminding us that someone who doesn’t get paid for writing cobblers on the internet is both an amateur, and amateurish.
http://www.flpno.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Trolls.jpg
Ok. I’ll taste your bait.
Could you clarify how ‘We should remind ourselves that a journalist is not a professional’ is ‘utter rubbish’?
A structural engineer is a professional. An oncologist is a professional. A heart surgeon is a professional. An aeronautical engineer is a professional. A lawyer (this pains me) is a professional. These are occupations that require specific skill sets to ensure that individuals undertaking tasks in society are appropriately educated, qualified, and examined/tested by their peers to ensure that they are suited to undertake the tasks they are socially charged with (which in the case of a structural/civil engineers, a heart surgeon, an aeronautical engineer are a matter of life and death – or is Scott happy with any random chap performing an operation on him, or designing the building in which he works?).
Its a matter of education, knowledge and responsibility.
A journalist is paid to write. No qualifications needed. Get over it Scott. Folk might think you are a journo.
Its a matter of education, knowledge and responsibility.
Whine, whine, whine. “I don’t like journalists, therefore I’m going to ignore all the undergraduate and postgraduate journalism courses, and all other forms of professional vocational training that people go through as part of their training to join the job.”
You poor man. Just because you decide that you don’t like journalists, you detach yourself from reality. Well done you.
I’m sure you’re proud of yourself for placing yourself judge and jury over what constitutes a profession. Tell me, does “making shit up on the internet” count as a profession, or do you just do it as hobby?
Scott, please stop. You are making an utter fool of yourself. There is a technical definition of what constitutes a profession. Journalism doesn’t meet it.
Many, journalists among them, consider this to be ‘a Good Thing’ ( pace Sellar & Yeatman)
Bless.
You are making an utter fool of yourself
As you know, I do appreciate your intimate personal knowledge of making a fool of yourself on the internet.
Twisted any quotes to mean the exact opposite of what they say lately? Or was that the 2014 GCooper?
I’ll accept that as recognition that you are wrong and are trying to change the subject to divert the inevitable embarrassment at having made a fool of yourself.
As for Cohen, I always apply scepticism to the words of a BBC executive. They lie. Frequently., You, clearly, believe what they say, which explains a lot.
Wel, I can find several dictionary definitions which don’t match yours. But I’m not a right wing nutjob who disbelieves anything that disagrees with his own opinions. So I guess you win – in your head.
Bless. Hope 2015 finds a way for your delusional fantasies to find a useful, productive outlet, instead of shoring up a fragile ego that clearly needs all the help it can get.
Scott – people are trying to have a reasonable debate with you (personally, I gave up long ago). Your ad hominem-led diatribes demean no-one but yourself.
Go ahead then, Scott. Try signing someone’s passport application form, or another legal document as a referee requiring coutersigning by a member of what the law regards as a recognised profession, and wait for it to be rejected.
I know what I am talking about. You do not.
Try signing someone’s passport application form, or another legal document as a referee requiring coutersigning by a member of what the law regards as a recognised profession, and wait for it to be rejected.
Funny, when you go to GOV.UK and look at their list of recognised professions for countersignatories, what do you see in their list, between insurance agent and Justice of the Peace?
Journalist.
But of course, you know what you’re talking about, so I’m sure there’s a reason why we shouldn’t take the official website’s word for it over yours. Isn’t there?
Im an HGV driver . I’m no more a professional than a journalist .
Scott must be having one of his periodic “emotionally disturbed episodes”. You can tell by the increasing number of his abuse laden posts when he’s having one of his wobblies. No doubt he’ll reply to me with more abuse and patronising condescension. I’ve been insulted by better people than him in my time. But then I’m old fashioned – I don’t get all “offended” and want people clapping in jail for slagging me off. Water off a duck’s back so to speak. Just ignore him so he’ll become one “crying in the wilderness” . May be then he’ll piss off back to the tumbleweeds of his own website.
By his or her very nature a journalist is rarely an expert in any one subject. For instance I doubt if any journalist is an expert on the habits of the cuckoo. But a good journalist will seek out the person who is and try to extract and interpret that person’s expertise, That expert is often an amateur in the usually understood sense of the word,
Just a small thought of mine in the New year.
What many here dislike is the journalist who, maybe very good at the job, but shows his or hers agenda.
The prevailing habits of the modern media are liberal. That seems undeniable. I am not liberal( in the modern sense) and find it tiresome.
Here is a haven for those who dislike liberalism and it’s unreal attitude to humanity and to the world.
We have had 50 or so years of it and as normal in human affairs it is time for a change.
So this time is a time of cultural shift and struggle. May the best man or woman win.
For some reason there is no ‘reply’ option to Scott’s post of 8.52 pm, so here it is. Albeit in the wrong place.
Then you have my apology as the Governmennt has clearly changed what had been the rule for decades. I didn’t just make that comment up, I have been in a situation where it mattered.
It does not change the definition of ‘professional’ however, even if the government has relaxed its standards. No doubt they’ll be letting hairdressers sign legal documents next.
A profession is a trade which self-regulates to the extent that it can ban a member who fails to meet its standards. This applies to doctors, lawyers, engineers and some others. It does not apply to journalists.
Ahhh – the tried and trusted I am wrong but still right defence so favoured by this site’s contributors.
I suggest you, and Scott, read this NUJ consultation paper on training which addresses the question of whether journalism is a trade or a profession.
Click to access Regulating-Journalism.pdf
You might learn something.
Or not, of course. There’s always that option with you two.
I should add, of course, that letting that bunch of third rate Marxists control who can and cannot write for a living would be like putting Herod in charge of a day nursery.
Though I’m sure many in the BBC would love the prospect of the Left being able to censor the Press even more than it does already.
This ‘Strictly Pinhead’ excercise in label semantics and pigeonhole pride has been an interesting diversion, as of course intended by some.
Maybe it would be better for the purposes of the forum to consider result over process qualification?
I really am not fussed if a Cohen or Katz has a Mistresses in Enhancing the Narrative, Hugs or Tulip a Ba Humbug in Astounding Incuriosity or a Humpf or Brand are Disorderly Professors of Interpreting Events.
As I am unimpressed with the integrity of a Glaswegian Arrivals Hall doctor, banking skills of a Goodwin or Flowers, and objectivity of a UN Climate Rapporteur like Prescott, I need only look at a Newsnight McAlpine, Donnison Photo Editorial or Jasmine tweet to see the value of their professional reputations, qualified or not.
We have “professional” footballers – so-called because they earn money at the game. But no-one would describe soccer-playing as a profession.
Football? Probably not a good example to cite here in dubious support of the even more dubious claim that journalism cannot be a ‘profession’ as training is mandatory for footballers whether amateur or professional and for coaching or management even more so.
Whereas it is not mandatory for journalists. Nor are ‘professional standards’ in any way monitored or controlled.
That’s utter tosh. Lots of jobs require training. That does not make them professions.
Prostitutes are in the Oldest Proffession
New ones are professional Hit Man , soldier and sundry others .
Does it base itself on whether you have clients or customers ?
No Scott, he is quite right. Journalism is not a profession. You need to consult a dictionary. There are no mandatory qualifications required, nor any governing body. Generally,, a profession is regarded as a trade which is self-regulatory, controlling the behaviour of its members.
That said, considering how the professions often conduct themselves (lawyers and doctors in particular) this may be no bad thing.
I am afraid and think you are on sinking ground …
Trades & professions move on. It was possible to profess the Hippocratic Oath and perform without formal training and take money from doing so at various times and in some countries – as a medical doctor by profession or trade – without a body to supervise or regulate. That, in many cases, came much later. The same is true of other professions, dentistry or banking, for example.
You are welcome to debate whether journalism is a profession until the cows come home but in the UK it has a Chartered Institute, providing regulation and a Chair (many, apparently) providing formal education and training available for those that wish to be part of those bodies.
An example would be the (at times) associated journalistic profession of photography. Photography as trade or profession and the difference between amateur & professional is another debate that rages but it doesn’t change the facts. There are professional bodies for the training & regulation of the profession (membership is not yet mandatory for practice) and that doesn’t stop a capable person doing the job informally in the same way and being paid for it. They can call themselves a professional photo-journalist and, whether holding a formal educational qualification or not, or being a member of a professionally recognised body, such as the Royal Photographic Society or the British Institute of Professional Photography (and possibly granted a qualification on grounds of proven ability) or not, the honest professional photographer would both call himself a professional photographer and say “I am only as good as my last job.”
They, like the wordsmith or the doctor, will not be in the least bit bothered whether you consider them a professional or a member of a profession. They live by keeping their clients satisfied in the same way a doctor lives for and by successfully treating patients.
(There is also a Chair of Photography by the way, albeit to the best of my knowledge only one and an academic one at that, in the UK.)
There have been calls from time to time to make professional photography an entry by qualification only profession in the UK (as it is in large measure, for example, in Germany) but this has been resisted for various impracticalities that it would present plus any attempt at restraint would likely be disallowed by the European Court of Human Rights.
You arcane debate may well in time be formally terminated within the UK. Who knows, some distant ripple from Leveson? Parliament may at some point insist on the equivalent of the GMC for journalists. That will not change the facts; for over a century the requirements for a profession have been in place. If you wish to persist in your argument, I suggest you take a look at the history of the dental profession in the UK. I give up at this point! Before it gets too old – happy New Year.
Scott, are you going to address the main thrust of the argument, that there is continued and growing pressure to police and criminalise ‘unacceptable’ thoughts, or are you just going to troll, badly?
Do you even believe in free speech?
I have an IQ of only 67 but can write a better journalistic piece than you .
In the spirit of ‘not news’, which can creep beyond the environs of Glasgee on occasion in wider circulation, vide Ms. Hopkins, there is this:
http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/palace-v-palace.html?
Steve “I’ve never heard of 28gate but the BBC got it about right anyway” Hewlett’s magnum opus stuck in the Palace. At least lawyers on all sides are kicking off the new year lucratively.
Hint: At least it is nothing to do with the BBC having a less than stellar track record with claims of sources who may not have been been verified. Apparently.
His Chasness just needs to crank up the greenery a notch and one is sure a quiet word from those who never meddle with editorial integrity will see the Royal blockage flushed away.
‘Steve, often active on Twitter, is strangely silent on the matter thus far.’
Thus avoiding the saying of anything stupid. Clever boy. More of this and gold stars all round…
Steve Hewlett@steve_hewlett · Dec 10
#R4Mediashow meant BBC Director of TV @DannyCohen is on the show discussing BBC3 decision 16.30 Earcandy Galore @bbcradio4 (as usual!)
ps: Talking of blockages needing clearing: apologies for citing items of actual BBC relevance, clearly something anathema to the ‘professional’ holiday shift.
But now our police ‘service’ are empowered to investigate ‘speech’ and ‘comments’ when directed?? by…… erm…. whom?
One aspect of totalitarianism is that it is not necessary for anyone to be specifically directing the police: it becomes ingrained and institutionalised in the system. Senior management are political appointees, whilst even very experienced officers have spent their entire careers in an environment of political correctness. A major objective of the Blair regime was to politicise the police – controlling thought and dissent has become a far higher priority than enforcing the law. It’s also jolly convenient to be sitting in front of a computer screen reading people’s Twitter and Facebook comments than doing something dangerous like, say, looking for robbers, rapists and murderers.
I’m sure no police officer would individually want to get involved. But when ‘offence’ is alleged and reported, the clockwork bureaucratic wheels turn…
As mentioned, everything started with Blair and his urge to control all institutions. It’s a legacy that will take years to undo.
years to undo? Lao Tzu said that every journey begins with a single step, but under leftie Dave instead of making a single step, we have carried on down the road towards socialism.
This is a very astute summing up of the position, IMO. The key to the problem was the entryism of university ‘educated’ (sic) graduates, fast tracked to the top and further indoctrinated by Common Purpose (an influence that makes the freemasons look like bungling amateurs).
Once the Left had control of the upper echelons of the police force, the work could be carried out with ease. A few ‘training courses’ here and there and plod, instinctively obedient to authority and not selected for imagination, will do the rest.