START THE WEEK OPEN THREAD

Here you go, a new Open Thread. BBC in a bit of a spot – they are delighted a hard left bunch of communists and other assorted leftists have won power in Greece but then concerned this could lead to the unravelling of the EU! Anyway, the floor is yours…

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290 Responses to START THE WEEK OPEN THREAD

  1. richard D says:

    My timing being awful again, re posting on the current ‘Open Thread’, I have re-posted this here because I think the issue deserves to be aired.

    http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/71-mirror-group-stories-and-45-journalists-linked-phone-hacking-high-court-told

    Given that the Mirror Group has admitted this, I shall look forward to the imminent, incessant, screaming demand from the BBC, aided and abetted by such worthies as Tom Watson, MP (Labour), that Trinity Mirror should act as as News Corp was forced to, and just shut down the Mirror Group newspapers involved…i.e. The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror, and The People.

    Ah, sorry, I forgot, Rupert Murdoch doesn’t own the left wing media complex that is the Mirror Group.

    Nothing to see here, folks….. let’s just move on, shall we….

       83 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Never mind, Richard D., Hacked Off will soon be on their case and there’ll be nowhere for the Mirror to hide, not even the BBC.

      Whoooosh!

      It’s that pesky flock of pigs again.

         58 likes

    • #88 says:

      Thank you for reposting this.

      It’s not just the BBC and Tom Watson that we should be demanding answers from, one has to ask, with some justification, whether our prosecutor, the CPS, and current and previous Directors of Public Prosecutions have behaved honestly and impartially with phone hacking? Or have the scales and the justice system been biased against News International and the right?

      Consider the outrageous lengths to which the police and the CPS have pursued NI journalists. Only last week, after case after case collapsed, the prosecutor decided to have another go, calling for the retrial of some journalist after millions were spent and the prosecutor couldn’t make the cases stick.

      And consider also, not only the article above from the Press Gazette, but the Motorman Files which found that Mirror Group was responsible for blagging and invasion of privacy on a massive scale, far outweighing NI wrongdoing. Leveson though seemed uninterested.

      And when the Guardian was caught hacking and obtaining information from public officials, guess what? No prosecution – the prosecutor found that their actions were in the public interest. Quelle surprise.

      So (tick-tock, tick-tock) while we wait for the prosecutor to go after the Mirror, their executives and their Editors, the DPP’s track record, though suggests it will never happen. I feel a growing sense of injustice that there is one rule for one and another for NI.

      What must Andy Coulson be thinking?

         29 likes

  2. Will all end in tears says:

    Gameshow on top form this morning – your call loaded with right on lefties. Jocularity galore with the SNP supporter and more than the fair share of airtime given to the Green voter, natch.

    Campbell even managed a sideswipe at Nick Griffin (re his QT appearance).

    No time to mention that it was Griffin who brought the Muslim rape gangs to public knowledge a decade ago – heartily rewarded with a Panorama hatchet job – waycist, waycist, waycist.

    Also amazed that so much time has been dedicated to the consecration of the fragrant Libby Lane.

    I mean, ordinarily anything remotely Christian and you’re a laughing stock. Ah but hang on – this is a glorious day for the feminazis and that trumps any of your religious crap every time.

    One woman interviewed said: “A good day for the church………and a great day for Wimmin”

    And that’s the most important thing.

       66 likes

    • D1004 says:

      How long do you think before we get our first female British Imam, you know it’s all boys at the moment, but with a bit of work by the girls in burka’s and full support from the leftie media it ought to be possible, yes ? Why ever not? All religions have to adapt to modern times etc…………………………

         67 likes

  3. johnnythefish says:

    ‘Puzzled by those “2014 hottest ever” claims, which were led by the most quoted of all the five official global temperature records – Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss) – Homewood examined a place in the world where Giss was showing temperatures to have risen faster than almost anywhere else: a large chunk of South America stretching from Brazil to Paraguay.

    Noting that weather stations there were thin on the ground, he decided to focus on three rural stations covering a huge area of Paraguay. Giss showed it as having recorded, between 1950 and 2014, a particularly steep temperature rise of more than 1.5C: twice the accepted global increase for the whole of the 20th century.

    But when Homewood was then able to check Giss’s figures against the original data from which they were derived, he found that they had been altered. Far from the new graph showing any rise, it showed temperatures in fact having declined over those 65 years by a full degree. When he did the same for the other two stations, he found the same. In each case, the original data showed not a rise but a decline.’

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11367272/Climategate-the-sequel-How-we-are-STILL-being-tricked-with-flawed-data-on-global-warming.html

    Read the full article an despair at how Governments continue to take the word of these charlatans posing as scientists, despite the stinking iffiness of their data, graphs and forecasts being widely exposed across the internet and beyond since Steve McIntyre first took a hacksaw to Mann’s hockey stick over 10 years ago.

    You’d even think an impartial national broadcaster, with several thousand journalists at its disposal, might have its tastebuds tickled by the prospect of a global denouement of the emperor’s new clothes (aka ‘climate change’) and send a full battallion of scientific journalists to investigate – that is, properly investigate so it can come to some conclusion other than one fashioned through the usual proxy of tame speed-dial environmentalists.

    Wouldn’t you? Well, yes you would – unless you thought you were living in the 21st century equivalent of East Germany, or playing a bit part in the film of ‘1984’.

    ‘Everything faded into mist. The past was erased. The erasure was forgotten. The lie became the truth.’ (Diary of Winston Smith, 1984)

       53 likes

    • starfish says:

      WUWT has done a real investigation into the way measuring station data has been manipulated

      In summary isolated stations are closed or ignored and many of the remaining ones are within urban hat islands or otherwise affected by buildings, transport etc – data is homogenised/interpolated in unrealistic and unjustifiable manners and the ‘corrections’ are always in favour of temperature increases

         13 likes

  4. Laska says:

    The BBC has demonstrated its interests, values and even a touch of nostalgia. The latter was demonstrated in giving coverage to a demonstration of old CND. I had thought that they had been thrown into history’s bin given their dubious history and clear modern irrelevance. But not at the BBC that strained to count a 1,000 – looked more like hundreds. Interestingly, the BBC shared the same editorialising as RT of the demo. The other was the rally of 200 multi faith poor souls in Birmingham rejecting the “no go” areas argument that Fox and many others had flagged up. Now that is a small number. My concern is that if it is a numbers game regarding BBC coverage then there are many demonstrations that have I discovered of much greater numbers and which they ignore. If it isn’t numbers then the BBC should be quite explicit what their politics are in determining what gets coverage or not.

       37 likes

  5. Angrymanupnorth says:

    Go!

    Go johnny go-go-go!

    Nice Orwell quote.

    I’m with the fish. Scrap the Telly Tax. Educate yourselves (wuwt) if you haven’t already. And vote wisely.

       30 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Isn’t it odd that minority pressure groups such as Hacked Off, Hope not Hate, the UAF etc can wield such massive political influence and get so much prime coverage with our national broadcaster yet a serious, science-based site such Watts Up with That (and there are others), or the magnificent Donna LaFramboise’s No Frakking Consensus with its dismantling of the IPCC and its Green agenda does not even register at fart-in-a-thunderstorm strength with any of them, in fact it doesn’t get even the briefest of mentions?

      Makes you think, eh?

         81 likes

      • Angrymanupnorth says:

        I hadn’t come across Donna before. Thanks for that. I’ll check her website more thoroughly.

        Its not that odd though, the business with the celeb-eco-lobbyists. Not when one’s own education, investigations and inherent scientific scepticism has fueled one’s cynicism tank to full. Common Purpose is an army at work and in full flow. Facts? They’re just whatever supports the ‘right’ narrative. Truth? A matter of opinion. Morals? A cultural variable. What chance our young, when they aren’t even encouraged to be sceptical, or to think for themselves. What chance our children, when they aren’t taught fact from fiction or how to seek it, let alone taught that there are truths, there is right and wrong.

        There’s my words. Like a fart in a hurricane.

           22 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          I strongly recommend her book ‘The Delinquent Teenager’. An object lesson for the BBC in investigative journalism and a right royal kippering of the IPCC to boot.

          I used to believe the whole global warming thing, I even accepted the 180 deg about-turn from the previous scare from the same scientists about an imminent man-made Ice Age.

          Then I read Lawson’s ‘Appeal to Reason’ and have never looked back.

             24 likes

      • Thatcher Revolutionary says:

        Because they won’t smack you in the mouth if you disagree.

           4 likes

  6. CCE says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30980022

    NHS ‘most important issue’ suggests BBC/Populus poll

    Hmmm here’s an interesting factoid in the story… “The findings of the poll, which was carried out between between 14 and 18 January 2015,”

    So, the BBC commissions a poll which supports the main – sorry only – Labour area of ‘strength’ immediately after a prolonged campaign of NHS scare stories in which A&E waiting times featured on every single BBC news report for six weeks and lo, the population feel that the NHS is important. With that level of free coverage they could make sewage processing a top priority too

    F**k me,

    The BBC really is a campaigning arm of the Labour party – secret meetings on election strategy between Miliband and BBC top brass (that story was never explored or explained was it) followed by Miliband ‘weaponising the NHS’ (again a story not explored by the BBC) culminating in a co-ordinated news campaign about the horrific 2% fall in A&E target compliance. No mention pf course that this happens every single year (so much so that every NHS entity has a ‘winter pressures’ plan)

    BTW I hope that you appreciate my liberal use of the famous BBC ‘scare quote’.

       70 likes

    • Ophelia Gently says:

      I though broadcasters had to announce Party Political Broadcasts as such?

      In which case every BBC news transmission (TV or radio) should surely be prefixed with “This is a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party…..”

         47 likes

  7. Leon says:

    Regarding Syriza’s victory I guess we will have to watch the coverage over the coming months to see whether Tsipras is this year’s Hugo Chavez. There tends to be a rather predictable pattern regarding these people. Remember the fanfare that greeted Hollande ‘rejecting austerity’ or the belief of a few years ago that socialism had turned Venezuela into Shangri-la: once the problems start the cheerleaders tend to move on to a new hero or go into denial. It is often more significant when they stop reporting on a once favoured persona or party-the facts having become a little bit too ‘inconvenient’ to their uphold their beliefs.

       52 likes

    • Laska says:

      Hugo Chavez, a hero for the BBC and also Christian Aid from my experience as they wheeled their roadshows round schools, colleges and universities. NGOs, BBC, etc – same mindset.

         10 likes

  8. Deborah says:

    Why did last night’s reporting from Greece remind me of the Arab spring? The 10pm News on BBC1 reported with glee at least 5 times in the first five minutes that it was a victory for the Left and at least three times that it was on an anti austerity ticket.

       58 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Good point-the hoopla also reminded me of that much vaunted Arab Spring.
      As for the anti-austerity dam busting…there was me thinking that Francois Hollande was once that great red hope of the liberal left.
      Wonder how THAT turned out?
      Need I add 5-Star in Italy as well, as that antidote to “correct thinking”…you know, bloody Tories…not allowed to mention Golden Dawn type, Le Pen and others that are the wrong kind of “radical”.
      So the BBCs wet dream of a lefty green red mush of Russell Brands and Owen Jones` will go the way of all the other Red Dawns.

         45 likes

  9. Cassandra says:

    I can’t see any report on the BBC news about the Moslem gang of youths who have admitted the racially aggravated common assault of an orthodox Jew in Gateshead. While we’re at it, could the BBC accurately report which sector of the ‘community’ are responsible for the majority of antisemitic attacks in the UK?

       102 likes

    • Pounce says:

      Yet, when a Pakistani is looked at funny it’s a fucking hate crime.
      the bBC , the cock sucking apologists for Islam

         11 likes

  10. Leha says:

    It’s not just ANY Polar Vortex

    It’s a BBC Polar Vortex.

       26 likes

  11. Dover Sentry says:

    The BBC speaks of the Radical Left in Greece. But not of the Radical Right. To the BBC, the Radical Right could never exist.

    Why?

    ‘Radical’ sounds intellectual and thoughtful. Slightly edgy and non-conformist.

    Only the Left in BBC eyes can be Radical. But never the Right.

    .

       64 likes

    • Will all end in tears says:

      Absolutely spot on Dover.

      It’s always the “extreme” Right wing or the Right wing “extremists” with all the negative connotations that brings.

      They seriously think we’re as thick as they are biased.

         62 likes

  12. Cassandra says:

    Apologies for yet another post but have just read a report in The Telegraph and other newspapers that the head of BBC Arabic channel, Tarik Kafala, state that the Charlie Hebdo killers should not be described as ‘killers’ because it is a ‘loaded term’!

       40 likes

    • Chop says:

      “Loaded”….not really the word I would have chosen to speak about “men” with “loaded” AK-47’s

         17 likes

  13. D1004 says:

    Bbc darling Benidict Cumberbatch has dropped a boo-boo and in a discussion on a US PBS talk show said that British “Coloured actors ” have to go to Hollywood to get work. Oops.
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/benedict-cumberbatch-criticised-for-using-term-coloured-to-describe-black-actors-in-conversation-about-industry-diversity-10003113.html
    Beeboids obviously in a dilemma here, he’s their golden boy, Sherlock etc, major young luvvee, but he’s said a naughty word, so far unable to find any mention of the story on beeboid website. Probably crisis meeting going on as we speak, expect a smacked hand and a period of self criticism whilst sat on the naughty step.
    Meanwhile his idea of people of colour having to travel to work inspires Lenny to pack his bags and go West ! Who said a sad story never has a silver lining….

    In other news, bbc announces that their depiction of the first day of The Battle of The Somme will include 20% actors of “colour”

       47 likes

    • Angrymanupnorth says:

      Benelux Cucumberban? Best stay in Holywood.

      He can come back when we’re out of the EU. 🙂

         15 likes

      • Dover Sentry says:

        Obama uses the phrase ‘people of colour’, so it must be ok.

           18 likes

        • pah says:

          Ah but no. The words are different and that is what matters. They change perennially so that if you do not keep up it is easy to use ‘outmoded’ speech and thus create offence which can be decried in the media to keep the issue alive requiring re-education and, if you are known to be of the wrong type, exclusion from your chosen profession.

          No one doing this actually gives a shit about black people, but shush, keep that to yourself; it is not, obviously, the point.

             13 likes

    • JimS says:

      I think he should follow the example of Fox’s reporter and donate his ‘Sherlock’ fees to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

         16 likes

    • Chilli says:

      Until I read this story I had no idea that the term ‘coloured’ was verbotten. IMHO it sounds alot more soft, friendly and indeed accurate than ‘black’. But it’s funny to watch cumbers getting batched when he was just trying to kiss black arse – but fell foul of the PC thought police and their constant redefinition of common words as “offensive”. The whole story could have come straight from Orwell’s 1984.

         28 likes

      • pah says:

        Bit ungrateful wasn’t it? There’s old Benny trying to be helpful and he gets it thrown back in his face.

        Stand in the corner and say nowt Benny. There’s a good boy.

        Bugger done it myself now.

           9 likes

      • A Teddy called Moh says:

        I always thought coloured was the correct term. I’m going to stick with the N word from now on so I wont offend anyone

           8 likes

      • London Calling says:

        Isn’t “brown” more accurate than “black”? Anyway Obama is only half-black. Are we allowed shades of black? But it was never about accuracy, just about being offended, faux-victimhood, race-baiting, and identity politics.

        Anyone for the National Association for the Advancement of Lightly-Tanned People? . It is permitted speech only for “people of a specific colour”.

           5 likes

  14. stuart says:

    the election of this extreme far left marxist stalinist goverment in greece seems to have got alot of bbc and radio 5 live presenters cock a hoop with joy judging by the coverage today,i would suggest that if this was a right goverment elected in greece today there would be alot of glum faces in the media,the rise of the far left in europe who have taken advantage of peoples fears and worrys about the economy should worry us all as we face the prospect of having a far left marxist goverment being elected next may in the uk led by ed milliband,what has happened in greece today will end up being as disaster,i think the good people of greece are going to learn very shortly that they have made a massive mistake in electing this quiet dangerous far left goverment and there stalinist policies that will follow, a greek tradegy is about to unfold before are very eyes.lets hope we dont have to go through the same if ed millband and his marxist goverment gets elected next year.

       27 likes

    • D1004 says:

      It’s more fun that you imagine, either they;
      1, do as they say and the Greeks want, renege on their debts to Europe and demand better terms for the rest of the debt. Rest of Southern Europe, also in hock swiftly follow their example, German people refuse to pay up, Euro dies, EU implodes.
      2, not get what they want, leave the euro, devalue the new drachma and restart their dead economy. Rest of Southern Europe follows suit, Euro dies, EU implodes.
      3, don’t do as they promised, chuck the Greek left in the dustbin for the next 30 years, resign, go back to Herr Merkel and plead forgiveness. Greeks commit mass suicide. Rest of Southern Europe learns lesson and battens down the populace whilst awaiting the inevitable revolution. Europe explodes in a new 1848.
      Whilst obviously the future might not follow any of the above, I’d fancy a variation of any or all of them might well happen.
      We as the Chinese saying goes ” live in interesting times”

         27 likes

      • Angrymanupnorth says:

        Freemen of England must stand firm. Interesting and worrying times. If dipstick Miliband goes Marxist, he might buy more votes. The sheeple ain’t that bright. Its a real danger.

        Steadfastness required. Vote wisely.

           18 likes

    • Laska says:

      I think the Greek new government will make no difference. Could not find much beyond rhetoric what they actually would do regarding debt. Okay, they will increase spending and play “Bluff the Germans” but on the actual debt repayment they have said that they will cough up – there goes their bargaining position. So, a deal involving smoke and mirrors will emerge that will push the debt slightly into the future. The only danger is that stern Merkel’s authoritarian streak is in full mode and that could get ugly as she does not like the sign of dissent, let alone the reality. At least the Greeks have some backbone unlike the supine, obsequious Irish..

         3 likes

  15. David Brims says:

    Andrew ‘jug ears’ Marr interviewing Nigel Farage yesterday,

    Jug ears ” What about the crisis in the NHS ? ”

    Farage ” Well, it’s mass immigration, when you have a huge influx of people the system can’t cope.”

    Jug ears chips in ” plus people are getting a lot older !!! ”

    Eh ? people have always got older in the 1950s, 60s,70s yet there was no crisis in the NHS, it’s an erroneous argument. I read in my local newspaper that the local maternity ward was full of African immigrants popping out babies like biscuits in a biscuit factory, the indigenous British had to go to another maternity hospital 20 miles away.

       72 likes

    • David Brims says:

      The last time I was at the doctors, the waiting room reminded me of Calcutta railway station, I was the only white guy there.

         61 likes

    • Merched Becca says:

      Too many people have entered Britain in the last ten years.
      The Health Service just can’t cope – Simples!
      Unless they have reinvented mathematics ?

         47 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Is there not some way we could reduce the number of these old people? Perhaps a special European Union Tackling Health initiative (EUTH)? Maybe we could call it EUTHanasia?

         14 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Yet if all these immigrants are net contributors to the economy, as the constant propaganda from the likes of the BBC would have it, surely we would have seen a proportionate number of new hospitals, schools, roads etc built from the taxes they pay?

        In fact, that’s yet another example of a question from a right wing point of view you’ll never hear asked by a Beeboid.

           27 likes

        • Lynette says:

          Don’t give them ideas like that!!!

             4 likes

        • Ian Rushlow says:

          There is actually a huge school’s building programme underway and has been for several years, especially inside the M25 where it has been a veritable gold rush for builders and educational suppliers. However, it is purely to cope with the offspring of recently arrived immigrants.

             14 likes

        • Seek the Truth says:

          And, of course, these immigrants who so benefit the services in the UK through their hard work and taxes, never ever need those services, do they?

             9 likes

      • Bob Nelson says:

        Ian, we have already found a way. It’s called The Climate Change Act.

           9 likes

        • A Teddy called Moh says:

          that’s what it is. All an act. These climate scientists should be nominated for the Oscars never mind acting luvvies

             7 likes

      • Lynette says:

        Don’t give them ideas !!!

           6 likes

    • pah says:

      To be fair people are living longer these days, unless they don’t pay enough tax. In which case they are placed on a ‘pathway’ as fast as possible.

         5 likes

  16. Billy says:

    And why is it the far Left are seen as acceptable by the BBC and yet the far-Right are seen as nasty? Who the hell do they think they are making such judgments. Along with their Muslim masters, the far left are by far the most violent thugs across the Marxist EU.

       61 likes

    • GCooper says:

      You are quite correct. Since turn of the 20th century Socialism has inflicted more misery on the earth’s population than any other political philosophy, even including Germany’s Nazi party – itself, arguably a child of the Left.

      And yet the BBC continues to pretend that the Left is inherently ‘good’ and the Right inherently ‘bad’ quite regardless of the overwhelming historical evidence that most often what it brings with it is misery, poverty, death, repression and corruption.

         53 likes

  17. Steve Jones says:

    BBC still pumping out the global warming bullsh*t here:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30985039
    Interesting to see the term ‘global warming’ being used again, I thought that was so yesterday.
    This paragraph is very telling,
    ‘The latest data – based on detailed climate modelling work – suggests extreme La Nina events in the Pacific Ocean will almost double with global warming, from one in 23 years to one in 13 years.’
    For readers not of a scientific bent it should be noted that the output of computer models is not data. Data is the raw information collected by conducting experiments and observations of the real world. Very often computer output is wrong and the programmes are either scrapped or re-written; except in the strange world of climate ‘science’.

       41 likes

  18. noggin says:

    BBC: “Paris attacks prompt fresh concerns about online Islamophobia
    http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30938849

    The criticism of Al BBC gets more eyebrow raising, more exasperated, on the net … particularly concerning the crock,
    the constructed lie of “Islamofauxbia” … nobody with an ounce of integrity, or intellectual inquiry is “buying it” …

    The Biased Broad Cresents Islamophile pandering is getting the smackdown.
    “The BBC doesn’t bother to point out, however, that it was non-Muslims who were killed by Muslims in Paris, not the other way around.
    How many Muslims have been killed in “Islamophobic” hate attacks? … None! — and that is as it should be.
    How many non-Muslims have been killed in jihad attacks? …
    Tens of thousands!
    But the BBC isn’t concerned about them, and doesn’t want you to be, either.”
    R Spencer

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/01/bbc-paris-attacks-prompt-fresh-concerns-about-online-islamophobia

    “Meanwhile, the BBC is deeply concerned about “online Islamophobia.” And so dhimmi Britain staggers another step in its descent into madness.”
    R Spencer

    UK Muslim texted, “I’m going to go Jew bashing,” then beat up a Jew

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2926724/I-m-going-Jew-bashing-teenage-thug-texted-friend-thugs-beat-Orthodox-Jewish-man-protest-against-conflict-Palestine.html

       40 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      The notion of the conflict commencing only when stealth-targetted victims react in counter is not a new one.

      But certainly one being well honed by the BBC, and its affiliates abroad, and closer to home.

         15 likes

  19. lojolondon says:

    I just wondered, when do you think we will see this news on the B-BBC – or perhaps it din’t fit the message?

    http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/latest-news/news.aspx?id=2407

       21 likes

  20. Angrymanupnorth says:

    Excellent BBC Program shocker.

    BBC 2 2100 – 2200hrs.

    ‘David Starkey’s Magna Carta’.

    Indicates the fragility of what we may too often take for granted. Recommended by Angryman to all for a watch on i-player (especially to younger people, and especially to BBC staffers.)

       27 likes

  21. Angrymanupnorth says:

    BBC News…….

    ….have given a lot of coverage to the ordination of the first female Bishop in York today. I have been struck by the footage, which indicates that the shepherds be many, but their flock is sparse…

    Not as sparse as the follow up stories on new Conservative MEP Amjad Bashir! Come on BBC. More on Amjad please. We need to know. In depth please, as to why he finds the Conservative Party so much more representative of his politics than UKIP?

       26 likes

    • GCooper says:

      As I commented yesterday, UKIP is owed a serious apology from the MSM – the BBC and the Daily Mail in particular – for the relish with which they pumped the ‘UKIP catastrophe’ when they ejected a man who has subsequently been proven to be a serial liar.

      Needless to say, the ‘get UKIP’ policy means that all the luegenpresse (which is most of the UK’s media) is refusing to reveal the truth about Bashir

         37 likes

      • Tony E says:

        The problem here that you have to acknowledge is that UKIP didn’t take any action against the MEP while he was a party member. He was only suspended after he left.

        So either they were incompetent in that they never fished this guy out before making him an MEP, or they were dishonest in covering up his issues because he was their MEP.

        Worse still, it’s possible that his ethnicity was his main strength as a candidate, because he was being used to defeat a degree of stereotyping.

           11 likes

        • Andy S. says:

          Tony E., after all the revelations about Bashir over the last couple of days I’m shocked that you’d believe Grant Shapps’ spin (lies) about the timing of Bashir’s suspension. If you look at “The Commentator” site they heard a rumour that a senior UKIP politician had been suspended by the party on the 19th January. They e-mailed UKIP asking if the rumour was true. UKIP confirmed the suspension but said they couldn’t say any more as they’d passed a file to the Police for investigation. This was a good FIVE days before Bashir’s defection. As Bashir is an enricher, can you imagine the meal our MSM would have made of any action against Bashir if UKIP didn’t use due process and just threw him out of the party? The reason it’s taken time to take action against Bashir is that UKIP made sure they diligently followed all the correct procedures to avoid cries of “WAYCISM”.

             34 likes

          • Ken says:

            I can vouch for that, I saw the Commentator asking UKIP & Nigel farage LOTS of awkward questions on Twitter a week before Bashir was kicked out of UKIP.

            I am amazed at how amatuerish, pathetic and desperate the tories were to accept him.

            BIG mistake from the tories.

               17 likes

            • ROBERT BROWN says:

              Indeed, Camerons atrocious judgement is once again plain to see……a poster on Guido made me laugh when he likened the dropping by UKIP of the Paki cheat as like an old medieval siege tactic….UKIP just catapaulted a plague infested cow carcass, Bashir, into the castle, [ Tories ]. Lol.

                 12 likes

    • JoShaw says:

      Pity the CofE’s belief in diversity wasn’t strong enough to keep Michael Nazir-Ali as Bishop of Rochester.

      And, in this case, I’m referring to diversity of opinion, not race or gender – something the CofE doesn’t really like very much. A bit like the BBC.

         15 likes

  22. Glen says:

    What a strange to do EU politics has become..the far left socialist Greek party joins with a minority far right party who are against immigration.

    The leader of the right party, who sits with the tories in Brussels, has sworn that the Greeks will stick together as one and get the reforms they want…via a socialist party.

    Meanwhile the tories can get no joy on reform and are happy to take thousands of immigrants despite the fact that it is bringing the country to its knees and we could end up skint like Greece, all the while the main parties, and the bbc of course, all slated UKIP for setting up a similar ‘deal of convenience’ in Brussels?

    Confused? You will be!

       27 likes

  23. Skint plus Kids says:

    BBC News 24 yesterday indicated that Labour were thinking about reducing tuition fees. Has anybody else heard about this? The Labour Party would get my vote if they scrapped tuition fees altogether.

       4 likes

    • Chop says:

      They introduced them in the first place….and yes, they did say it, however, they did not say how they would fund it…..”shakey, shakey…..damn, the money tree is bare.”

         23 likes

    • I Can See Clearly Now says:

      Someone was angry that the BBC were ‘flying a kite’ – testing how such a move might be received – on behalf of the Labour Party. Could be right; the story was indeed ‘thinking about‘. They’ll probably announce something later if it is well received, but they’ll do nothing – and get no negative headlines – if it isn’t.

         22 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Wonder if they’ll scrap their target of sending 50% of kids to uni – especially that plastic variety they created to run all those meeja and ‘event management’* courses?

      On the other hand, now we can get all the plumbers, brickies and electricians we need from Eastern Europe – who obviously pay their way here judging by all the extra schools, hospitals and roads that have been built in the last 10 years as well as paying for our youngsters on the piss, I mean to go to university – why not up the target to 75%?

      *Now includes specialisms such as techniques in voluntary audience segregation for those more enriching campus experiences, usually involving a visiting speaker singing** the praises of the more ‘edgy’ religious traditions on our planet.

      **Not literally, of course, them none being too keen on music an’ all.

         27 likes

    • London Calling says:

      Err, remind me, why should I pay for your children’s University education?

         4 likes

  24. Angrymanupnorth says:

    Evan Davies about to start on Newsnight BBC 2.

    El Greko Leftard wankfest? We’re about to find out.

       18 likes

  25. Scotty says:

       1 likes

  26. Dave666 says:

    Day after day the North west tonight campaign against fracking continues. Biased, bloody right it is.

       39 likes

    • CUll the Badgers says:

      Down in the south it’s against HS2, or extra runways, our local ITV(Meridian) and others are just as bad, they regularly run critical stories supporting the objectors. It’s more than what some call post industrial era propaganda it’s pure anti-industrial dogma.

      We must fight against these reactionaries. They might not like that word being used against them, as many on the Left regard it as one of ‘their’ words which they use against their enemies. We should take it from them.

         11 likes

    • Thatcher Revolutionary says:

      Saw Vivienne Westwood complaining about the amount of CO2 caused by the contractor’s vehicles during fracking operations. Needless to say she doesn’t object to the CO2 emissions of the lorries and vans that distribute her tasteless shit clothing through out the land.

         26 likes

      • Pounce says:

        Mrs Pounce likes her stuff, we walked into her showroom in Cardiff, I’ve seen better quality in pound land.

           8 likes

  27. Chop says:

    Todays “Enrichment” news…

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2927258/Kidnappers-held-man-hostage-cut-little-finger-family-not-pay-60-000-ransom-jailed-total-152-years.html

    Thanks for those past 50 years of progressive liberalism…can’t wait for the next 50.

       39 likes

  28. Glen says:

    Had to love the BBC’s ‘special voting poll’ in Gloucester on today’s news. They asked a number of people (didn’t say how many) what they thought would be the most important topic in the upcoming election. All done with complete impartiality of course.

    They did a countdown and after a build up came to the most important issue…tadaa… it was the NHS!! And we all know who is the only party who can save the NHS don’t we?

    They even managed to find two ‘local’ pakistanis to give their opinion on the NHS, I had to laugh when one said that people should be allowed to go private if they want, as he would given the choice, even the free NHS isn’t good enough for them anymore!

    The bbc reporter nearly choked, once people see through the socialist shit and liebour lies they prefer the climb to the top rather than the race to the bottom.

       36 likes

    • Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

      Good old ‘Glarster’ – again! Does anyone think the BBC might conceivably be concentrating on NHS scare stories in seats where Labour have hopes of winning? This is pure speculation on my part, I may well be wrong. But remember that Gloucester was Labour from 1997 to 2010, when it went Tory (majority < 2,500).

         21 likes

  29. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    bBBC NorthWest Inside Out tonight (7.30-8.00) continued the Labour Party instructions to keep publicising NHS problems, but in a novel way. They had campaigning Doctor Phil Hammond go into the streets of various northern towns, telling people how much their local hospital had cost, and inviting them to guess how much was the total that NHS would eventually have to pay for it under the Private Finance Initiative. All of the hospitals were built with PFI contracts under the 1997-2010 Labour government, but the word ‘Labour’ was never mentioned, just ‘private’ and ‘the government’.
    They did end by trying to get interviews or statements by previous health ministers, but didn’t say when they were in office or which party they were from. They all refused apart from Frank Dobson who boasted of having built some nice new hospitals, but didn’t ask him why he tihought our grandchildren should pay for them. He was allowed to say that ‘the government’ should renegotiate the contracts (which he had signed) to reduce the costs!
    The whole item thus nicely reinforced the subliminal message from the Labour liars … ‘government’ wants to privatise the NHS, and it’s going to cost you.

       34 likes

  30. johnnythefish says:

    Evan Davis just gave us a little preview of Newsnight.

    Could the rejection of austerity and the election of a ‘radical’ left party in Greece happen elsewhere in Europe, even here?

    The boner in his trousers told us what he was thinking….

       31 likes

    • I Can See Clearly Now says:

      Total orgy of far-leftyism tonight. The Greece thing really has them excited; their love of the EU seems secondary.

      Five years down the line, when the Euro is no more and all the new shiny lefty governments are replaced with the far right, it will be all doom and gloom.

         30 likes

      • D1004 says:

        Right old wank fest on newsnight, digging up the corpse of Marxism with Michael Rosen flying the flag, trip to highgate to worship the dear departed, then studio talk with gorgeous Dianne, smiling Lucas, and for another POV, old Ken from Coronation St. Nah I’m joking it was not a dirty old man still looking for some skirt to replace his dear departed wife, dreary Deirdre but old Ken Clarke, the ghost of Tories past, looking for all the world like a old and jaded Stephen Fry. What do you mean he is Stephen Fry in drag ?, anyway as bad as a wet Sunday in the back of your local passing motions to change the world. Dreadful….

           29 likes

    • Lobster says:

      Evan, your Albert is showing………

         11 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Evan Davis just gave us a little preview of Newsnight’

      http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/hit-trail.html?

      Went well, then.

         1 likes

  31. I Can See Clearly Now says:

    Another story the BBC don’t tell:

    Bradford’s Electorate Falls By 20,000 After Electoral Fraud Clamp Down

       42 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘The news of the fall in the population was attacked by the Green Party who claimed this would “disenfranchise” voters.’

      How do you ‘disenfranchise’ a fictional voter?

      The Green Party – a rich seam of satire for The Now show, The News Quiz and HIGNFY.

      Can’t wait…..

      Can’t wait……………

      Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

         43 likes

      • Steve Jones says:

        Andrew Neil’s grilling of that whacko leader of the Green Party was a joy to watch. As idiotic as that woman was, the Greens will still get votes.
        Every time she spoke I could hear a cuckoo clock in the background.
        Please, please, please let the Greens take part in the televised debates.

           43 likes

        • stewart says:

          “the Greens will still get votes”
          Yes from Labour

             19 likes

        • Ian Rushlow says:

          What the Greens are rambling on about may seem like a mixture of 6th form student politics meets UN Agenda 21, but much of it will be mainstream Labour party policy in 10 years time and Conservative party policy shortly thereafter.

             23 likes

    • JoShaw says:

      Will these 20,000 “lost” people be investigated?

      I know, silly question.

         18 likes

      • Ian Rushlow says:

        No, the imaginary 20,000 will not be investigated because it would be waycist.

           26 likes

  32. Merched Becca says:

    Great blizzard forecast for New York on Al Beeb tonight and severe cold weather predicted here. Where are the usual weather doom and gloom merchants explaining its that “global warming again” ?

       25 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Tsk! Haven’t you seen The Day After Tomorrow?

         14 likes

      • Merched Becca says:

        Al Beeb now reporting that the predicted great winter snow storm is not as bad as forecast – well there we have it, global warming!

           12 likes

        • Old Goat says:

          “…our children just won’t know what snow is…”

          As that famous, and eminent ‘climeate sceantist’ proclaimed in 2000. We won’t let him forget that, will we?

             13 likes

  33. dave s says:

    Newsnight was embarrasing . Student excitement at what they seem to think is poor old Marx being dug up and put to work again.
    They all seem to forget Europe and those poor Mediterranean lands in particular have to earn a living in a world where the real competition is coming from east Asia and India. The Greeks like all of us have no natural right to a high living standard. It will have to be earned. The countries of East Asia are going to take us apart economically and good luck to them. We refuse to face reality. The new government in Greece is wedded to fantasy and this will not end well. Not that the Newsnight team will ever grasp this.
    The Euro has had it . Just a matter of time.

       45 likes

    • Merched Becca says:

      Well folks, it looks as if the Greeks are heading to leave the Euro and probably the EU?
      The great European dream is starting to unravel and come to an end and UKIP may see their wish come true.
      Let’s put the Great back in to Britain again. Free trade with the Commonwealth, US ,India, China and the rest of the world. Back where we belong.

         45 likes

    • Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

      “The Greeks like all of us have no natural right to a high living standard. It will have to be earned.”

      Some of the truest words ever spoken – but beyond the comprehension of most in the BBC.

         31 likes

  34. Angrymanupnorth says:

    BBC Newsnight 27 Jan 2015. Very long post warning.

    To be clear. I don’t think government should be big. I don’t think governments solve problems. I think people solve problems, people working hard. So that is my bias. Now for a taste of the BBC’s bias fronted by comrade Evan Davis (The Voice of Truth?).

    The Introduction.

    1. BBC disassociates socialism and the left from Nazism (New PM visits war memorial).
    2. Association of Nazism with Germany in the context of the contemporary Greece / Germany relationship.
    3. ‘Far right’ party (yesterday’s description) in coalition with Syriza are now rebranded by the BBC as ‘centre right’.
    4. Visit to a (champagne?) Socialist Bookshop, in London (the irony, a small business enterprise selling T-shirts and mugs of Karl Marx. And books.).
    5. Sound bite from Spanish ‘radical’, don’t they love him, PODEMO, ‘not left v right’ …. Its austerity v democracy [face palm]
    6. Reinforcement that the problems are ‘austerity’. (This meme theme runs through the program). Austerity is now no longer a word with meaning. It has been redefined loosely as “..the policies of continuing to spend more than you earn, or, doing what you were doing before but pretending not to..” and (lo and behold) it isn’t working!

    Interview with [Costas Lapavitsis?]. A new Syriza MP, London resident and Professor of Economics. Seemed a decent Greek chap. Associated Left as anti-Nazi, and associated communism as anti-Nazi. Didn’t agree with his party’s policy of remaining in the Euro. Appeared to favour Grexit. But he’ll be looking at applying his ‘theoretical’ knowledge in practice. Oh dear. But to be fair to Evan (said with a dispassionate ‘gravy train’ inference) he asked whether Costas would be selling his London pad and sticking his money in a Greek bank. Costas isn’t that much of a dummy, or a politician – he said he wouldn’t be. Also, Syriza evidently want the EU ‘rulebook rewritten’ but doesn’t say how or to what.

    Duncan Wheldon. “Political poker” with a bit of ‘it all adds up as recoverable if we ignore this big bit over here and don’t follow the logic through’. But presented a particularly interesting graph of UK / Greece GDP from pre 2007 to today. If he had stuck on that, he could have simply explained to BBC viewers in Britain how not having a Labour Gov, not being in the Eurozone has averted real poverty, real misery in this country (for the moment). But no, because we need to talk to…

    …Mario Monti. Euroc&%t. Ponzi management Guru. + money printing is good for you bollox….

    Followed by:

    …..Adair Turner. Ex chair FSA. UK Bureauc&%t. QE is sooooooo good. Ponzi management dude….

    And, Artur Fischer. Chief Exec, German Stock Exchange. (At last! A human being who has contact with reality and a functioning brain!) Confirmed that the CEB QE announced last week [2 trillion euros! Ffs!] will resolve the immediate Bond rate problems in Portugal, Italy, Ireland,,,, to which Mr Turner takes to mean Artur thinks QE is good. [logic bypass Mr Turner, but good for the troughers – I’ll give him that.] Credit to Artur for actually saying ‘you’ve got to balance your books’ (but Artur doesn’t appear to understand that those he is talking to, don’t understand the reality of what that means, nor why it is important.)

    Surely, we’ll get a balanced panel to discuss this further in the studio, from a political perspective? Well, after a saunter down to Highgate to make a quick pilgrimage to the grave of Karl Marx, whose ideas and writings are evidently being revisited (now that we’ve forgotten how they don’t work and result in hatred, war, death, famine and general human misery)…. Back to the studio. Balance is provided by:

    Europhile [‘S&M in schools bondage strength’ Europhilia] Caroline Lucas MP.
    Europhile [‘is it a vote winner?’ Europhilia] Dianne Abbott MP

    And for the Eurosceptic balance……

    Europhile [Haven’t left London this century Europhilia] Kenneth Clark MP

    Caroline Lucas confirmed that UKIP are nasty, young people matter, fracking is bad, Syriza is positive, austerity is crippling us and…. UKIP are nasty, very nasty.
    Dianne Abbott talked. Vote buying talk. But said nothing.
    Ken. He told them they were talking populist tripe, but these ladies aren’t for turning. Retire please Ken. Put your feet up. Read the papers. Write a book, about Westminster architecture or something non-political.

    Yep. Leftard wankfest all the way. The only thing missing was Owen ‘MIA since Hebdo’ Jones.

    And Demis Roussos has had enough.

    Thank you and goodnight. Vote wisely.

       35 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      Excellent take down, sir. Sadly it is all too easily recognised as true – even without the leg work of having to watch Evan.

      I am beginning to rank Newnight as another No-Go Zone.

      I note the way the show was trailed during the 10 O’clock News – Quick flash of the peculiar Evan in raptures over the Greek Leftists “Radical left…. could this be the way for Europe” he said, hopefully – and without much of a question mark.

      Newsnight : Late night porn for leftists only. Go on luv, you look pretty green – show us your big tax rates.

      Like most of Radio 4, then Question Time, then the entire Radio 5 – another BBC No-Go Zone for anyone to the right of Che Guevara. Don’t tell Fox News.

         27 likes

    • D1004 says:

      AngryMan, well done sir, ruddy well done ! Far more eloquent than I , head of nail was well and truly hit.
      Of course the trouble with all the front of house beeboids and all those they interview is their overwhelming sense of entitlement. They DESERVE the glittering prizes because they were able to get to the right Uni’s, kiss the right arses, it is their DUE. They see all this economic trouble as mere day to day problems which, with their huge intellects they KNOW the correct course of action to take to return this country, Europa, the world to its correct course. The plebs working in subservience and happy, themselves in control and enjoying the fruit of their abilities. The African happy to listen to B’wana, the Muslim able to see reasonableness is the right way, the Asian happy to work, all under the gentle guidance of the liberal mind sitting in his office in Europe. No other world view is understandable, the fall of Rome was history not a warning of future events, there is none so blind as those who will not see.

         15 likes

  35. Small contribution to this open thread:
    BBC News bias through Google stats numbers: http://www.forumpoliticum.com/2015/01/27/bbc-news-bias-through-google-stats-numbers/

       17 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    Noting a return of some old names elsewhere, with their unique blend of off-topicality, affront-dealing and faux-claims of civility, BBC Watch again delivers its daily dose of substantiated BBC activity that does not seem to attract their input.

    http://bbcwatch.org/2015/01/27/bbc-amends-icc-qa-following-reader-complaint/

    Seems to ‘news’ and ‘not news’, the world’s most trusted broadcaster still very much has ‘skewed news that only gets corrected if caught bang to rights, and even then only gets quietly changed to suit nothing but the archive’.

       15 likes

  37. AsISeeIt says:

    Now we go over to the BBC weather forecast for this evening…

    Overnight we are expecting extreme outbreaks of darkness – right across the UK.

    The Met Office are issuing a BLACK ALERT Weather Warning for all areas.

    Millions of homes can expect darkness to hit at around about 5 to 6pm and the authorities are advising communities to use electric lighting to alleviate dark conditions.

    Intense darkness may continue for up to ten hours in some parts.

    Rural districts will be particularly dark over night and those venturing out should take special precautions.

    The North, Scotland, the Highlands and Islands will be hardest hit – with their spell of darkness lasting several minutes longer than will be the case in Southern areas.

       28 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      That’s an enlightening post!

      I’m afraid that every time I see “black” mentioned (in just about any context), my mind immediately springs to the fast Show, and this:

         9 likes

  38. TheTruth says:

    One of commonest complaints against the BBC is that it forgets to mention things. So isn’t it a bit surprising that this site is guilty of the same? at the same time?

    Just where are the stories about Leon Brittan which the BBC have also forgot to mention? You know the one. Accused of being filmed as a boy was murdered. Of having young boys on his knees?

    So why the oversight? If Leon was non-white, or a muslim or a leftie or gay or even worse worked for the BBC one could imagine the torrent of abuse.

    But hush, not a word!

    Could it be that being a Tory and a Jew makes you immune from insult. Of course not!

    The real reason is that if Brittan was a paedo, his boss would have known. And covered it up.

    Step forward Saint Margaret. Protector of perverts? Now there’s a story that will really decimate the right.

    Roll on the enquiry..

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “Just where are the stories… the BBC have also forgot to mention? You know the one.”

      Nope. Stories… The one? This ‘you’ being?

      Sounds like one more for the duty Flokkers, assuming they are going through one of their assertion, claim and legally-iffy forgiving phases. Especially as, post McAlpine, the BBC, and anyone linking even remotely to such things, are treading carefully, with good reason.

      Lads… you’re up.

      Be interested also in any thoughts on how bosses know about staff straying, especially if it’s in the office carpark.

      As to inquiries, the internal, redacted, forgetful Pollard variety established by the BBC seems well set in precedent.

         13 likes

    • Dover Sentry says:

      There’s more than enough evidenced crimes by thousands of muslims worldwide including in the UK. Rotherham ??

      One dead Tory politician from forty years ago isn’t going change that, despite the suspicions.

         20 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      The real reason is that if Brittan was a paedo, his boss would have known.

      Wow. That’s quite a leap of faith.

      On the other hand, one should always be wary of anyone who posts using a name such as “TheTruth”. It tends to mean quite the opposite. Like “German Democratic Republic”.

         26 likes

      • Demon says:

        On the other hand, one should always be wary of anyone who posts using a name such as “TheTruth”. It tends to mean quite the opposite. Like “German Democratic Republic”.

        Or the use of the term “Liberal”.

           8 likes

    • stewart says:

      No the real reason is all these ‘evil illuminati/free mason / satanic ritual (remember Bee Campbell?) stories coalesce into one tin foil coated Ickeist blob from which the truth ,if there is any , is hardly likely to emerge .

         5 likes

    • I Can See Clearly Now says:

      One of commonest complaints against the BBC is that it forgets to mention things. So isn’t it a bit surprising that this site is guilty of the same? at the same time?

      Er.. I don’t think anyone here complains that the BBC should broadcast unsubstantiated rumours and smears; we usually link to facts and data that the BBC are studiously avoiding.

      As for the Leon Brittan rumours, Dan Hodges has it right:

      Leon Brittan’s accusers must now show us their evidence

         14 likes

      • Albaman says:

        “we usually link to facts and data that the BBC are studiously avoiding. ”

        Links such as this as posted by commentators on this site as “evidence” that the Glasgow incident was a terrorist attack!!!

        http://romancatholicimperialist.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/muslim-immigrant-was-bin-lorry-driver.html

           4 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Nice one, Albaman, thanks for answering the call; if with the old cherrypicking inaccurately and then generalising ploy/whinge/counter/distraction/”quotes”* (*delete as appropriate).

          Meanwhile, back on this topic on this thread, on matters of the BBC, any thoughts on this?:

          ‘his boss would have known. And covered it up.’

          Especially in the context of other historical public sector authority responsibilities and accountabilities.

             14 likes

          • Albaman says:

            Thanks.

            It is always a delight when the self-appointed “hall monitor” posts in “defense of the indefensible”.

               5 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘The Truth’ in Defending BBC Whilst holding Extreme Left Wing Views Shocker’:

      ‘Could it be that being a Tory and a Jew makes you immune from insult. Of course not!

      The real reason is that if Brittan was a paedo, his boss would have known. And covered it up.

      Step forward Saint Margaret. Protector of perverts? Now there’s a story that will really decimate the right.

      Roll on the enquiry.. ‘

      Must remember that for the next time you try to put up a case for the BBC’s defence.

      Subtle as a bag of Tom Watson’s snot droppings.

         10 likes

  39. Leamas says:

    “What does the Holocaust mean today?” was the topic of the phone-in on Five Left this morning. So then, what do you think we started off with? Yes, that’s right, a Holocaust denier. “Accidently” of course.

    An elderly Jewish man in London was up next talking about his experiences even today, and how he is still abused, by people. Nicky silent, reverent almost, until the old guy mentioned he gets it from Muslims, when the Dame leapt in to try to shut it down, accusing the caller of essentially being the same as the Nazis.

       46 likes

    • Aerfen says:

      Oh come on Leamas its wall to wall holocaust on the BBC today!
      Seventy years ago and there have been other holocausts before and since – why is it only the Jewish one gets special treatment?
      As for featuring the ‘holocaust denier’ well Adrian Chiles was falling over himself to apologise afterwards.
      This attempt to paint the BBC as anti Jewish is ridiculous! There is only one ethnic group the BBC are ‘anti’ and that is the native British.

         9 likes

      • Leamas says:

        My apologies Aerfengruppenfuhrer, but my post was about the denial, not its place in your personal league table of historical importance. I get the sense it might rank below a particularly nice cream tea you once had, but that’s your opinion, and you are very welcome to it.

        Campbell said there would be a chance to discuss Holocaust denial at some point, so hopefully that will placate you.

           12 likes

        • I Can See Clearly Now says:

          The Jews are not feeling the luuvv of the lefties:

          Guido Fawkes – EU Fan Boys: Euroscepticism = Anti-Semitism

             5 likes

        • Aerfen says:

          Why should the Holocaust be treated as more importnat than other genocides?
          And dont call me a Nazi just because I disagree with you (and a few others on here)who make the theridiculous claim that the BBC is anti Jewish!
          Radio 5 are off to Auschwitz right now!

             2 likes

          • Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

            The BBC is anti-Israel rather than anti-Semitic, in my opinion.

               9 likes

            • Ian Rushlow says:

              I suspect that is probably true. The BBC is ideologically opposed to nation states, of which Israel is a shining example. The difficulty is that the sets of anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist and pro-Palestine often overlap and can sometimes just be euphemisms for anti-Semitism.

                 8 likes

          • dave s says:

            The Holocaust is more important to Europe because it is an European event. It was carried out by a nation that has always been at the centre of European culture and thought.
            There have been many other holocausts but this one has all but done for Western civilisation and it is very possible to argue that the excesses of liberalism in modern times are a reaction to it.
            We will have to leave it to the historians of the future but that it will be of real significance I do not doubt.

               15 likes

            • GCooper says:

              I tend to think that the Left has co-opted the Nazi atrocities as an excuse for its mind-bending Gramscian activities.

                 5 likes

          • Andy S. says:

            The only other actual genocides I recall in the 20th Century are the Armenian Genocide committed by the Turks in the First World War ( which Turkey still denies ever happened) and the Rwandan genocide. Both were deliberate attempts to exterminate actual populations. I accept there have been killings on a huge scale sanctioned by governments where millions of people were deliberately killed – Lenin and Stalin’s collectivist policies being responsible for the deaths of millions of Kulaks , Mao’s deliberate starving of millions of Chinese people after he took power which both Communist regimes accepted as the price of creating socialist utopias – but there’s been nothing on the scale of the deliberate attempt to exterminate every Jew in Europe by the Nazis. Aerfen, are you suggesting we should forget what happened only 70 years ago, or is this another case of dubious moral relativism?

               4 likes

  40. Geoff says:

    Androud copy and paste problem will try again later!

       3 likes

  41. Geoff says:

    Infernal Android tablets and predictive text!

    Question Time: Diane Abbott
    This Week: Diane Abbott
    Sunday/Daily Politics: Diane Abbott
    Newsnight: Diane Abbott

    We pay for that!

       29 likes

    • Barry says:

      Geoff, I heard the other day that she (Diane Abbot) will also be appearing on Page 3 of the Sun……..Now that IS a subject for discussion…..looool

         15 likes

      • JoShaw says:

        Look, Barry, we have to maintain some standards.

        I do not appreciate you putting that image into my head.

        Do not do it again please.

           11 likes

      • ROBERT BROWN says:

        And she will also be appearing on Page 4 and 5…..the useless, racist, bloated object of repulsion.

           4 likes

    • I Can See Clearly Now says:

      We do indeed… lots:

      Diane Abbott MP received over £110,000 from the BBC …

      But then you need to balance the cost against how she adds significantly to the gaiety of the nation!

         20 likes

      • D1004 says:

        Reading the story, of I have it right every time the fragrant Diane graces us with her presence it’s Kerching! £700, so Newsnight Kerching! £700, Politics Show, Kerching! £700, QT, Kerching! £700, Sunday Show, Kerching! £700. Oh to alive when the mighty minds are amongst us, we are truly blessed ! Money well spent.

           21 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Question Time: Diane Abbott
      This Week: Diane Abbott
      Sunday/Daily Politics: Diane Abbott
      Newsnight: Diane Abbott

      Owen Jones must be getting well pissed off.

         10 likes

    • pah says:

      Never mind and chin up old chap. Remember the positives.

      Every time that stupid woman opens her mouth she reveals how vacuous and moronic Labour are. Put her on more is what I say!

         14 likes

  42. jackde says:

    I realise that this will be very difficult for the BBC (and our political and religious leaders…Did I actually say leaders!!) to take on board but will it please note the following written by a Muslim
    at http://tinyurl.com/l5tvtor
    “Only Muslims can change the world’s view of Islam”
    Terrorism today stems primarily from Muslims in the name of Islam, and we cannot brush off accusations about our faith just by saying that the terrorists do not act in our name.

       24 likes

  43. Odo Saunders says:

    Today is when we observe Holocaust Day, and two references made to it on Radio Five “gets much worse” Live are worthy of note.
    Just before eight o’ clock Nicky “Gameshow” Campbell was interviewing Ed Milliband about the Labour Party’s election campaign. Milliband talked almost exlusively about the health service as if that would be the only topic of debate during the campaign. Normally when eight o’ clock is approaching, speakers are always abruptly cut off in order for the “news” headlines to be read. This morning Milliband was allowed to continue until three minutes past eight, and it was this period of time that proved most interesting. Milliband was asked about Holocaust Day, and he did speak movingly of the fact that he had only recently discovered that he had a grandfather who died in a Nazi labour camp. Why had not father Ralph informed his sons of this fact? However, will the contents of these minutes stir up a hornet’s nest? Many people in the Labour Party hate the idea of a Jewish State, and must be uncomfortable with Milliband’s ancestry. To what extent will certain unscrupulous elements in the Liberal Party try to exploit this fact with Moslem voters in order to win back votes? It will be interesting to see whether the current level of anti-semitism will prove a factor in certain marginal seats during the forthcoming election.
    At nineo’clock Nicky chaired a discussuion on Holocaust Day. One of the callers, who had lost both parents in the Blitz, told Nicky that posters put up to announce Holocaust Day had been defaced, not only by extreme right-wing groups, bur also by members of the Moslem community. At this “Gameshow” literally exploded and said to the caller, “You can’t say that Moslems were defacing the notices1” I am sorry Nicky, but many adherents in that community do not believe in the Holocaust, even among its so-called educated members. I used to teach at a university in the West Midlands which had a large Moslem intake. Many of those students had entered the university on the basis of business qualifications, and therefore did not have a broad education. Their views had been conditioned bu the home and the mosque. Very few had a background in history, geography, science or modern languages (apart from Urdu). I was once approached by any Asian student and seriously asked whether the Netherlands was another name for Australia! These students graduated, often with a limited educational background, and because they were not encouraged to think for themselves, they were more likely to accept the views of their parents and imans without question. This is a far cry from the era when Moslems were some of the leading thinkers in the fields of mathematics, astronomy and medicine. As some Moslem thinkers argue today, many in their community have lost the habit of reading widely and thinking for themselves. Therefore, even the so-called educated members of that community are largely influenced by traditional prejudices, which is something Nicky must recognise, but is unfortunately not prepared to acknowledge.

       38 likes

  44. Ian Rushlow says:

    UK economy grows by 2.6% in a year – utter disaster says BBC ‘Insider’ Robert Peston (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31000413).

    It’s a pretty good economic performance by any standards, particularly when compared to the rest of the BBC’s Beloved Europe. But not to Peston, to whom it represents “a slower recovery”. Also, according to the LSE it’s been paid for by the poorer part of society: “they say that whatever savings were made from this rebalancing of benefits and tax allowances were wiped out by cuts in income tax for the better off.” and “they do say that poverty probably increased after 2012-13 and may get worse”.

    So there it is – it’s all a bogus illusion. But never mind – the Great Man knows the one thing that really delivers growth: immigration of course. See his article from November – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29906592.

       22 likes

    • Albaman says:

      “……………….. utter disaster says BBC ‘Insider’ Robert Peston ”

      First few paragraphs seem to be contrary to your analysis:

      “There has been a slowdown in the British economy, driven by weaker construction, manufacturing and energy production – although it would be premature to see this as an end to the recovery.
      GDP, or national income, grew 0.5% in the fourth quarter of the year, compared with 0.7% in the third and a recent peak of 0.8% in the second. That looks like a trend.
      That said, annual growth in the last three months of the year was still a healthy 2.7%. In 2014 as a whole the economy expanded 2.6%.
      The recovery is real. And it still has momentum, if less than before.
      The deceleration is not surprising, in view of the flatlining of the UK’s main trading partner, the eurozone. ”

      No doubt you will get plenty of likes from your fellow sycophants despite the fact that your analysis of the article is flawed!!

         7 likes

      • I Can See Clearly Now says:

        That’s a misleading selective quotation. What you’ve quoted is merely an introductory palaver, from which point Peston continues: ‘That said,…

        From that point, as Ian rightly said, the tone is negative.

           17 likes

        • Albaman says:

          Hardly selective as it includes what immediately follows “that said..” and the next two paragraphs.

          In Ian’s original post he said:
          “It’s a pretty good economic performance by any standards, particularly when compared to the rest of the BBC’s Beloved Europe.”

          Does Peston not agree when he says:
          “The deceleration is not surprising, in view of the flatlining of the UK’s main trading partner, the eurozone. ”

             4 likes

          • I Can See Clearly Now says:

            There are two ‘that said’s.

            No one here claims that the BBC is as clumsy as the North Korean propagandists. That’s just the point; the Beeb are the best in the business. They are subtle enough to pose as independent providers of ‘news’. Most stories start with a ‘On the one hand…; on the other hand…’ palaver that gives an impression of balance. But the intrigued viewer continues to wait for the ‘analysis’ and that’s where the bien-pensant message is delivered.

               22 likes

  45. Will all end in tears says:

    Adrian “face like a toby mug full of warm piss” Chiles on Five Live today.

    Interviewing that awful woman Heather Rabbatts he brings up Cumberbatch’s “faux pas” in using the term “coloured” (I know, shocking).

    The morally high and mighty Chiles states that poor old Ben has been vilified on twitter for this…..”and rightly so” he opines.

    What a total and utter wanker he is.

    On the day we commemorate the horrifying reality of the holocaust it’s good to see Chilesy retains some perspective.

       43 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      This article gives a comprehensive insight into Adrian Chiles’ worldview:
      https://englandcalling.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/the-chiles-test-for-white-liberal-racial-hypocrisy/

         10 likes

      • JimS says:

        A nice quote from the link:

        “the language of whiteness has been appropriated by the far Right”

        No, the language has been actively abandoned by the extreme left and by any one else that they can manage to terrorise.

           8 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Correct me if I’m wrong, but back in the seventies wasn’t use of the word ‘black’ considered offensive so we all had to say ‘coloured’?

         28 likes

      • Demon says:

        Yes, you remember well. This constant changing of which words are acceptable and which are verboten is a deliberate ploy to set traps to catch the ordinary people, and is intended to cower them and make them frightened to speak the truth for fear of being publicly pilloried or even taken to court.

        However it sometimes catches out even the most PC amongst us: On the Griffin Question Time; Jack the Racist Straw used the term “Afro-Caribbean” which caused an elderly black woman (very dark complexioned person of the female gender and advancing years) in the audience to almost have apoplexy and she told Straw, in no uncertain terms, that the acceptable expression is “African-Caribbean”. Straw looked mighty sheepish and weakly smiled at her. He obviously hadn’t received the update from Common Purpose Central. It made me laugh at the way he was caught out in the traps set by his own side.

           37 likes

        • pah says:

          Most people do not set out to offend and if asked not to use certain words will not. This leads to the inevitable position that it becomes next to impossible to scream ‘wayciiiist’ and take offence as nobody, well except a few nutters, are using the words.

          So they have to keep changing the words or otherwise they can’t keep the cause in the public mind and claim all those grants.

          In the meantime people start to get resentful and actually become racist or believe that their failure to make a decent living is down to people using the wrong words. This never ends and keeps people at each others throats requiring more grants to re-educate those nasty waycists. After all if the pot isn’t kept bubbling how the fuck would the likes of Abbot and Choudry make a living?

             25 likes

      • Ian Rushlow says:

        I remember a TV programme about the US Civil Rights movement (sorry, really can’t remember what it was called) and a character is berated by an activist for describing herself as ‘coloured’. In frustration she replies: “First we were negroes, then we became coloured. When did we suddenly become black?”

           21 likes

        • Demon says:

          That was probably a film with the then-lefty Jon Voight. It was a good film actually. Although it may have been used elsewhereas well I remember a scene where it was said to him.

             11 likes

      • Yes it changes. But by who and why and when I have no idea. Get it wrong and you are for it. Like “Newspeak” in 1984 it constantly changes…It’s room 101 for Cumberbatch.

        Only himself to blame though, as someone else said, for being a “suck-up” or if you prefer “well intentioned.”

           8 likes

    • richard D says:

      Response to ‘will all end in tears’ – quite a few posts earlier.

      I assume that Adrian Chiles will be so horrified at Mr Cumberbatch’s comment (in public), and even a subsequent apology, that he will rally a group, including the comedy-free zone called Jo Brand, to pontificate forever and a day as to the ‘intent’ of the comment – just as he did regarding the comment, and subsequent apology, of Carol Thatcher (in private).

      And, of course, he’ll strongly support an immediate campaign to prevent Mr Cumberbatch from ever being employed again on the BBC.

      Ah – so that’s what la-la land feels like !

         14 likes

      • Andy S. says:

        Chiles will be going all Beeboid and trying to please his BBC paymasters now he’s been sacked by ITV.

           4 likes

  46. Roland Deschain says:

    This isn’t really about bias, but more of a philosophical musing brought about by this article on the BBC. (Egypt FGM trial ‘convicts doctor of manslaughter’)

    This paragraph in particular:
    “Campaigners say that ending the mutilation of young girls is also dependent on persuading families to abandon a long-held tradition, which many believe – wrongly – is a religious duty.”

    Isn’t religion about belief? Surely if enough believe it, it becomes part of the religion? Or does it become a new religion? And who are the BBC to say a religiously-held belief is wrong?

       20 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      The philosophical position is this: a religious belief is only valid if it has been approved as such by people with authority who know best, such as the BBC or Western politicians. For instance, a devout Muslim kills an infidel because he has read passages in the Qur’an and Hadith that exhort him to do so and so he believes it to be part of his religion. However, a BBC spokesman is able to quote the phrase “Islam is a religion of peace” which he learnt on a diversity course, thereby showing that the religious belief is actually wrong.

         21 likes

      • JoShaw says:

        A bit like politics really.

        It’s a well known fact that the majority of Nazis were peaceful Volk who believed in decent roads, good music, and the fair distribution of wealth. They should not be confused with the Nazist lone Wölfe in the SS who went a bit too far from time to time. In any case, everyone knows that the Treaty of Versailles and those Joos who refused to share were to blame.

        It was just a cry for help. that’s all.

           7 likes

      • pah says:

        If your religion says you must do A, B and C and must not do X,Y and Z then, surely, as an adherent you must do A,B and C and not do X,Y and Z. That is religion.

        However many may like to do X,Y and Z and not be so keen on A,B and C. Some may like A but not B whilst others may be certain that D is far more important than the first three. That is belief.

        In the end most people do WTF they like and use whatever is expedient to justify it. So if you want to kill Jews, somewhere you will be able to find a justification for it just as others will be able to condemn it from the same sources. That is reality.

        So it is quite legitimate to say that Muslims killing Jews are simply following Mo whilst other Muslims may condemn them for doing so using the same book.

        Somehow, however there has to be a case for saying that killing people simply because you don’t like them or because a 1300 year old text tells you to is no excuse for being a twat.

           5 likes

  47. Vector Curl says:

    I was watching BBC World yesterday, and witnessed the barely-concealed joy of the presenter at the election of a far-left government in Greece. Of course these Greek Marxists, like all the far-left, loathe Israel, and no doubt the Israeli ambassador will be on his way home soon. I predict that Greece will join Dhimmi Sweden in recognizing Hamas, I mean Palestine. A Greek tragedy with a predictable ending.

       25 likes

  48. I Can See Clearly Now says:

    Once again, no need to post rumour, conjecture or smears… just the fact that, while the BBC actively covered hacking claims against Murdoch newspapers, they are remarkably disinterested in a massive set of claims against Trinity Mirror. Why would that be?

    New Mirror hacking claims: Phil Tufnell, Neil Morrissey, Natasha Kaplinsky and others bring legal actions total to 50

       22 likes

    • Albaman says:

      Maybe because they reported it some months ago:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29933698
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29339756

      And more recently 5 days ago:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30933790

         4 likes

      • I Can See Clearly Now says:

        I could have sworn they used to spend 10 minutes a time on it, day after day. Seems pretty low-key coverage when it’s a leftie rag? Don’t you think?

        Edit: johnnythefish’s memory is remarkably close to my own – maybe I’m not senile after all.

           29 likes

      • MartinW says:

        Yes, but there has been scant coverage on the broadcast media – in fact I had not heard of Cilla Black et al. receiving damages from the Mirror Group. The BBC has kept it as quiet as possible. And some high-profile arrests and reporting would be equitable. Still, as we all knew, it was the Leveson Inquiry into Murdoch Group hacking, and not hacking by all newspapers, Guardian and Mirror included.

           25 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        To coin a phrase, it’s very “brave” of Albaman to come on and try to pretend the BBC coverage of the Mirror’s transgressions is in any way comparable to the hysterical coverage of Murdoch’s.

           30 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      When it was Murdoch, the BBC were all over it like a rash, day in day out on ‘Today’, ‘PM’, news bulletins and the rest, sometimes covering it 3 times in the course of one programme.

      Not seen or heard a dickie bird about the Mirror.

      Dawn raids, anyone?

         34 likes

  49. johnnythefish says:

    Want a good laugh?

    Bear these two articles in mind when you next hear the BBC wetting its pants over another ‘extreme weather event’ involving snow. Oh, probably happening as we speak….

    ‘Britain’s winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives.

    Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of waking to find that the stuff has settled outside are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain’s culture, as warmer winters – which scientists are attributing to global climate change – produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries.’

    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html

    ‘Climate change is not only making the planet warmer, it is also making snowstorms stronger and more frequent, US scientists said on Tuesday.’

    http://phys.org/news/2011-03-global-snowstorms-scientists.html

    Got that? What a difference 11 years makes, eh, in the world of ‘settled science’.

    Worth a bit of ‘world leading investigative journalism’, BBC?

       30 likes

  50. George R says:

    LIBYA: INBBC Arabic’s “gunmen.”

    The political hand of INBBC Arabic appears to rule this report, censoring Islamic Jihad-

    “Libya gunmen attack Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31001094

    Alternatively,

    ‘Jihadwatch’-

    “Libya: Islamic State jihadists storm hotel, kill three, take hostages”

    [Opening excerpt, by Robert Spencer]

    “Back in November, there were reports that the Islamic State was in control of the Libyan city of Derna. A couple of weeks ago, the Islamic State of Tripoli announced that it had kidnapped twenty-one Christian ‘Crusaders.’ And now this. Libya has descended into jihadist chaos, courtesy Barack Obama.”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/01/libya-islamic-state-jihadists-storm-hotel-kill-three-take-hostages

       16 likes

    • George R says:

      “BBC branded ‘mad’ by critics after refusing to call Paris killers ‘terrorists’: Peers and MPs launch chorus of criticism over ‘outrageous’ decision to not use term.

      “Head of BBC Arabic Tarik Kafala says term ‘terrorist’ is too ‘loaded’ to use.
      “Corporation’s own guidance also states the word is considered ‘a barrier.’
      “Said and Cherif Kouachi and accomplice Amedy Coulibaly murdered 17.
      “The brothers killed 12 people in a massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
      “Coulibaly murdered a policewoman and then four others in a Kosher deli.
      “Peers and MPs have branded BBC ‘mad’ and claimed it has ‘lost its sense.'”

      By SAM GREENHILL

      FOR THE DAILY MAIL

      Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2926375/Paris-Charlie-Hebdo-extremists-murdered-17-people-not-called-terrorists-says-BBC-executive.html#ixzz3Q24zkqAn

         24 likes