WEEKEND OPEN THREAD….

I can see the last open thread is overflowing so time for a new one for your completion. I should warn you that I am on the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live so it will be a laugh to see just how my views are isolated!

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229 Responses to WEEKEND OPEN THREAD….

  1. AsISeeIt says:

    Ombuds-shambles!
    Says Paul Lewis of BBC Radio 4 Money Box Live
    “Aha!” thrills Rachel Burden of BBC TV Breakfast (her tribute to Alan Partridge, we wonder)
    The consumer issue here is paltry – considering the real headline news today is forming around the multi-billion worldwide consumer rip-offs of FIFA and VW
    But those are the big chunks, fellow floaters in the EU-flavoured alphabet soup, so Trust the BBC to choke on those and instead to bite into, if not swallow whole, the little guy and call for him to be tied him up in reams of lovely bureaucratic red tape – then when it comes to the Euro mega bucks? Not so much.
    The overriding narrative: BBC staff really do seem to love a sideways hit at our Government – so long as it’s the Tories in power.
    Omni-shambles… did you all get it? Nostalgic joke for the last time Labour was leading in the polls – without having to contract out to an independent firm to rig those polls c/f J. Dimbleby: “Yes, we could/would/should get a balanced audience, but bugger me, it would cost us a quarter of my fee” (or some such whispered commiserating aside)
    The irony here – that I – as a consumer of continuing BBC rip-offs and bad practice have to suffer with no recourse in sight – that is always going to be lost on the sofa dwellers and indeed on the Money Box Live chap.
    I happen to like his radio voice but do stay off TV, Paul – he looks like an over-groomed pimped primped left-over from 50 years ago, dressed in something Lord Reith might have had tailored for the weekend but on second thought found too racy and left behind in a cupboard, then Biddy Baxter took it out and dusted it down so as to look rather quaint in Soho. When will they learn: when you see the Punch and Judy man having a smoke behind his booth the magic is lost. Don’t get me started on Carol Kirkwood now prancing on Strictly. Too many contractual appearance fees and egos at play, I guess.
    Now as for Rachel Burden… I’ve conscientiously boycotted Radio 5 Live for a couple of years now having had my culture and way of life persecuted and belittled by her and the whole sorry gang – and now one by one the bastards are colonising TV. First the unpalatable empathy-on-a-stick stage-struck PC warrior Vicky Derbyshire, now Rachel I’ll-move-North-but-keep-my-London-property-because-prices-will-rise-faster-there but I’m still woman-of-the-people Burden.
    Is there no escape?
    It’s an Omni-Salford!

       45 likes

    • Banania says:

      “…when you see the Punch and Judy man having a smoke behind his booth the magic is lost.”
      Brilliant! Thank you.

         6 likes

  2. David Brims says:

    How Russia treats illegal immigrants / invaders, they arrest them. Gosh, they don’t seem to have any puppies, kittens or carrying teddy bears, as they do in the western media.

       45 likes

  3. The General says:

    BBC reported this morning a soldier injured in training and sent to hospital was made first to move to a side corridor and then to a different hospital as his presence could cause disturbance among other patients and others in the hospital.
    BBC reported it but made no reference to those who would be ‘offended’ by his presence. Only in Britain could this happen and only on the BBC would a proper explanation be omitted.

       130 likes

    • The General says:

      Seems he was RAF and in uniform.

         53 likes

      • Old Timer says:

        This is all down to the Politically Correct idiots, those that call everybody a racist for just daring to mention any problem at all with our third world invaders.

        It comes from this unbelievably destructive and suicidal belief that everyone is equal and those that have a different colour skin, or have come from some other country, or pray to different version of god, are more equal that everybody else, i.e. More equal than us the folk whose ancestors are from this country, have built this country and whose forebears fought and died to keep this country free from slavery and dictators.

        We are just supposed to accept this injustice and cringe in a corner whilst the angry idiots of the left trample all over us. There has been no justice for the 7th July 2005 victims. There has been no justice for Lee Rigby. There has been no justice for the thousands of white girls that were and are still being raped by the marauders in our land.

        Let me be clear anyone who perpetrates such crimes as terrorism and bombing or helps them, or kills a member of Her Majesties Forces, whether on duty or not and anyone that thinks it’s OK to rape children should be done away with. Not locked up with a prayer mat and cosseted for a few years.

        We have been criminally let down and we still are being let down by our politicians, our police, the media headed up by the BBC and all the other vile idiots who have brought this country to the disgusting position that a hospital can treat a wounded member of our brave armed services in this way. A man who would lay down his life for us.

        We should be ashamed, utterly ashamed.

           122 likes

        • JimS says:

          I wonder whether Malala Yousafazi, the girl the BBC made a Taliban target, was offended when the military doctors at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital patched her up?

             47 likes

    • Geoff says:

      Some types of immigrant dress deeply offends me (and thats putting it mildly) could I demand such individuals removal if I were in a similar position?

      The answer I guess is not without being arrested.

      The saddest thing about this is that the RAF chap in question has and is contributing to the NHS, whereas those that are likely to be ‘offended’ odds on have contributed zilch.

         146 likes

      • BRISSLES says:

        I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE Mr G. No-one worries whether my senses are being offended in being treated by a doctor in a turban, or a Radiologist in a headscarf – and it does actually. I’m just supposed to accept it . Reminds me of an early scene in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The character played by Maggie Smith lays on a trolley waiting to be seen, but she only wants a British doctor – “Oh you want a British doctor, why didn’t you say” says the nurse, and then returns with a clearly Asian medic.

        This whole ‘offending’ business and political correctness never existed while our population was unpolluted. But now the genie is out of the bottle.

        I had to chuckle at a snippet in the Mail today. Apparently when the UKIP delegates arrived at Doncaster station there was a severe shortage of taxis, this was due to it being Eid and most of the drivers had taken the day off. Interestingly, I’m told by a relative in Rotherham that there is a taxi firm who advertises “white drivers on request” – and he’s getting away with it.

           60 likes

        • Cranmer says:

          The race relations people got in a tizzy a few years back about a dating agency in the UK that only had Japanese women. They got round the problem by changing it to ‘Japanese speaking women’!

             12 likes

      • lewisduckworth says:

        Usually NHS hospitals are full of warnings to people not to misbehave, be aggressive, or rude – I presume they should add but if you’re a muslim upset at the sight of a British soldier’s uniform, we’ll bend over backwards to accomodate you, especially if you threaten to lose your rag …

           95 likes

        • G.W.F. says:

          I can assume that our multiculty media will not be calling for sackings. Now imagine if a member of the NHS was a UKIP supporter who complained about the cultural dress of a moslem.

             57 likes

        • Stu says:

          No Muslime ever loses their rag, it’s part of what keeps the scum bags different from us.

             4 likes

          • Jagman84 says:

            Indeed. They have a never-ending supply of leftist dhimmis to take offence on their behalf.

               4 likes

  4. Thoughtful says:

    Off topic but amusing.
    Sat in the pub for the quiz a couple of nights ago, there was a conversation about the ‘stampede’, and the deaths in Mecca.

    One of older team members who had worked in Saudi and as close to Mecca as it was possible to get came out with an accidental funny.

    Bloody Muslims – couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery !

       56 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      Actually there may be a grain of truth there. Mecca is the one place the Saudis can’t rely on western contractors to do all the work for them, and it’s the one place where pilgrims are regularly killed in crushes and other accidents. Is it possible that the Saudis really are that incompetent, or is it just the Will of God?

         43 likes

  5. nofanofpoliticians says:

    Why the Tories get a hard time on the beeb… an interesting article in the Spectator.

    http://life.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/why-tories-get-a-hard-time-on-the-beeb/

    Not sure it gets to the bottom of the question, but it does make some salient observations.

       31 likes

  6. Deborah says:

    Do you remember the last few weeks? Whenever there has been news (reported by the BBC) of paedophile activities supposedly by high ranking politicians (usually Conservative) or pop stars, the Beeb’s preferred politician of choice to comment on news programmes has been Tom Watson. He has certainly been prominent supposedly because he has done so much to raise interest in these cases. He was Gordon’s henchman and now vice chairman or whatever of the Labour party. I suspect he is playing the long game, or at least the middle length game. I am sure that when Corbyn is ousted, then Watson will be in the front to pick up the pieces. His raised profile, thanks to the Beeb, will have helped. BBC trying to change the politics of this country? Just another example.

       46 likes

    • nofanofpoliticians says:

      Tom Watson is a truly reprehensible character. I agree with Deborah, he is playing the game but he is just as unelectable as Corbyn and with every bit as many skeletons in his cupboard.

         53 likes

      • chrisH says:

        I well remember him in 2006 trying to get Blair out before the party conference.
        And-when rumbled-he tried to pass off his visit to Browns lair as being something to do with leaving some kiddies toys/DVDs with Browns kids.
        Tells you all you need to know about the Labour scum we`re dealing with…happy to use kids as cover for their own political in-fighting….indeed Watson is still doing the same isn`t he?
        Savile-at least-was open in his creepiness…

           27 likes

    • ObiWan says:

      Deborah, I agree with your opinion of Watson. He’s a political oaf who no doubt considers himself a shoe-in for Leadership, but I suspect there is a cabal of disinherited Blairites (not the least of which is Chuka Umunna) who have many scores to settle and they, too, are playing the long game. When the putsch comes (and it will) Watson will be cast aside – New Labour will not want his type polluting the upper echelons of the successor Leadership Team.

         27 likes

      • Deborah says:

        I do hope you are right, Obi but the two things that Watson doesn’t lack are confidence in his own ability and his ability to scheme. He also appears to be a BBC darling.

           14 likes

        • Rob in Cheshire says:

          Watson is indeed a vile huffing and puffing toad. It is just possible that the whole Dolphin Square/Conservative paedos thing will blow up in his face, as it is all based on the flaky evidence of a convicted criminal with his weird fantasies about child rape and murder. Sir Edward Heath may well have been gay, he was certainly a traitor, but not a paedophile murderer. When the final reckoning comes, the Met Police are going to have a lot of questions to answer, but I do hope that Watson is not allowed to slime his way out of it.

             11 likes

  7. David Brims says:

    From Turkey to Sweden: Syrian migrant’s perilous journey by James Reynolds

    “I don’t want to be Syrian anymore,” says 20-year-old Nour Ammar. “Everything is hard for Syrian people. That’s why I decided I needed to go. I’m supposed to go. I don’t have any choice.”

    She and her mother eventually moved to exile in Turkey.

    For two years in Istanbul, she enjoyed a comfortable life. Nour found work in a hair transplant salon, and later with Turkish state TV. She learnt Turkish, went horse-riding and dyed her hair blonde for the summer.

    But she wanted to start a new life away from the region. She aimed to make it to the Swedish city of Gothenburg where her brother lives with his young family. There, she would apply for political asylum. ” Yes, she’s a refugee, Istanbul night life must be terrible. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34118978

       59 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      I’m trying to get my head around the bit about “hair transplant salon”, – in Turkey ? – (all sort of images that include beards are being conjured up)

         28 likes

    • Nibor says:

      If she wants to be Swedish she should change her name and religion

         12 likes

  8. Beness says:

    Emily Thornberry on Any Questions. Still mad but measuring her voice (talking low and slow) even more disturbing than the usual.

    She does manage to loose it a bit later though.

    Horrible Woman, hence part of the Corbyn gang.

       52 likes

    • ObiWan says:

      Personally, I thought Thornberry was going for the BAFTA on Any Questions. Christ, that woman gives the word ‘disingenuous’ a bad name.

         40 likes

      • chrisH says:

        And no mention either of her scorn for white van man…so much for “The Peoples Party”.
        High-paid lawyer who despises Rochester UKIP supporters enough to lose her job…at that time.
        And isn`t she doing rather well out of the Inner London landlord scams re social housing?
        Very Tessa Jowell-and the BBC( and even valiant types like John Hayes) seem not to go all personal on the fat privileged lefty lawyers like Thornberry, Abbott, Harman and Jowell.
        Only wish Tories had some “black book” of these vermin-I hate them far more that they hate me!
        The Tories need to wake up.

           38 likes

    • Peter Sausages says:

      Yes Beness I find Thornberry an absolutely putrid PIG.

         10 likes

  9. Coastliner says:

    Meanwhile – this is not the picture that our friends at the BBC are trying to paint eh? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U36fCE_vCE&feature=youtu.be

       36 likes

    • Geoff says:

      Thanks for posting. Absolutely nothing of surprise or shock to any of us posting here, we all know and can see what these peoples intentions are.

      The bloody frustration is that both the MSM (mainly the bBC) and our governments refuse to accept or portray the real truth and who along with all the bleeding heart 5th columnists (eg the Question Time audience) are compliant in the demise of the white European race.

         69 likes

    • Al Shubtill says:

      That film should be made available to all, it tells it straight from the horse’s mouth.
      Future generations, in Britain and the rest of Western Europe, will curse us and our leaders for letting this scum get within a thousand miles of our countries – never mind allowing them to start taking over.

         40 likes

  10. Beness says:

    If anyone caught Abigail Clay on any Answers like i did, I was struggling to understand what she was getting at.

    https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=abigail+clay&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=rJsGVtq8HcGSa8XtlNAJ

    I’m still non the wiser.

       10 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      “Quick, more Qurans…”

         42 likes

    • Anne63 says:

      No prizes for guessing where this is heading.

         42 likes

      • nogginator says:

        Merton Council leader Stephen Alambritis described the mosque as a “beautiful building” and a “major landmark in the area”
        “Lord Ahmad, a high-profile member of Ahmadiyya community and junior government minister, landmark” in the area. tweeted: “This is a beautiful mosque complex which has transcended barriers and been a beacon of peace – thoughts & prayers.”
        Hmmm.
        Can t they pin it on the far right? … cause an outcry … so a council fund can rebuild it for them?

        I note that … “Muslims and non-Muslims have already expressed their dismay at the damage likely to be left behind by the fire. But the hatred received by Muslims is also evident as online a small minority others have also expressed joy at the fire”.
        Insurance job? … Possibly an act of arson against the Ahmadi s by one of the other Islamic sects that considers them heretics?.

        Anyway, haven t heard much about the “apartheid state” of Saudi Arabia this week on the BBC have you?
        I have heard, several po faced, and shocked … SHOCKED! I tell you BBC reports filled with reverence, of folks being killed, crushed on a “pilgrimage” …
        The truth, crushed in an Islamic stampede in the rabid fervour to get … to a stoning!, yep! in the state that beheaded more than ISIS in one period.
        Most of these beheadings are carried out as public executions at the notorious ‘Chop-Chop Square’ in Riyadh for crimes such as blasphemy, drug smuggling, sedition and ‘sorcery’, although for certain crimes such as adultery, the authorities may order death by you guessed it … stoning.

        Feel the love eh! … enough to make you think
        … what would Jesus do?

           45 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Won`t be surprised if this story doesn`t peter out very soon.
          The Ahmadiyya are a good bunch of moderate Muslims on the Sufi end of things.
          So if Wahabbists, Salafists and/or Sunni are NOT behind this fire-unless it`s a genuine accident-then I`ll be astonished.
          I know that it will suit the BBC to imply it was the EDL or such-so if you don`t hear of a dawn raid on Tommy Robinsons old house in the next 24 hours…work on the assumption that it was Saudi-backed nutters.
          File under Lee Rigby backlash…Muslims set fire to the buildings, but the BBC prefer you to think it was a reaction by white racists…it`s what the BBC do.
          Lying kuffar….for once I agree with…well anyone who has the buggers runbled…UKIPs Lord Dartmouth yesterday in Doncaster for one…

             27 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Won`t be surprised if this story doesn`t peter out very soon.
          The Ahmadiyya are a good bunch of moderate Muslims on the Sufi end of things.
          So if Wahabbists, Salafists and/or Sunni are NOT behind this fire-unless it`s a genuine accident-then I`ll be astonished.
          I know that it will suit the BBC to imply it was the EDL or such-so if you don`t hear of a dawn raid on Tommy Robinsons old house in the next 24 hours…work on the assumption that it was Saudi-backed nutters.
          File under Lee Rigby backlash…Muslims set fire to the buildings, but the BBC prefer you to think it was a reaction by white racists…it`s what the BBC do.
          Lying kuffar….for once I agree with…well anyone who has the buggers rumbled…UKIPs Lord Dartmouth yesterday in Doncaster for one…

             10 likes

          • Pollystuscanyvilla says:

            Agreed. This is a genuinely moderate Muslim religious group with an emphasis on “understanding” outlawed in Pakistan hence, possibly, a large Mosque here disliked by Shias and Sunnis. I’ll be interested how the BBC spins this. As the BBC has to “spin” things these days rather than reporting.

               20 likes

            • Geoff says:

              Just a reminder, we’re NOT a Muslim country. It covers 5 acres, that’s a lot of much needed housing. Moderate or not, its building is inviting previously unseen conflict into the UK.

              How the hell did it get planning permission and how was it funded?

                 51 likes

            • chrisH says:

              Someone below tells us that it was teenagers.
              How convenient-for “legal reasons” we`ll not be needing to know their names then.
              Abu, Anjem or Muhammad likely to be possibilities-Mormons you see,
              Remember the BBC doing the same one when some community centre got a tickilng after Lee Rigbys murder…couple of lads, high spirits, nothing more to see…and certainly unconnected with Islam, no sirree…
              Do wondet hough if they`re the usual 38 years olds who tend to put on short trousers when it comes to getting into the country, into childrens homes and seemingly unable to be deported…Jimmy Savile Annual in hand, and cBBC presenters holding their wands…

                 12 likes

        • Doublethinker says:

          Guy Fawkes night has been with us a long time. Perhaps we need something new?

             10 likes

    • The General says:

      Well when the Insurance Company fork out they will have a much bigger better Mosque. This strategy has worked well over the years for those wishing to improve or enlarge their restaurants.

         49 likes

      • RJ says:

        You have to be careful when storing explosives. Even without detonators they will burn well.

           33 likes

        • Lobster says:

          Just gone to the Daily Express, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail websites and guess what – comments are disabled. What a shock! If one were cynical, one might say that someone in the background is pulling the media’s strings.
          Comments going very well on Breitbart though.

             49 likes

          • Old Goat says:

            Breitbart is the antidote to all the rest.

               37 likes

          • Lobster says:

            Further to my previous post, Yahoo News has now deleted all 900 posts! Well, well,well!
            Looks like someone is trying to keep the lid on.

               34 likes

            • G.W.F. says:

              It was and is an eyesore, and will be when it is rebuilt. I sincerely hope that none of the camels and goats were injured.

                 26 likes

          • Anne63 says:

            “Just gone to the Daily Express, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail websites and guess what – comments are disabled. What a shock!”

            Freedom of speech is alive and well effectively dead. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people, in so many so-called professions, have given up on freedom of speech and decided, apparently voluntarily, to kow tow to a primitive, intolerant, degenerate death cult. Fortunately the public, totally independently of the MSM, our various layers of government, and lost causes like the teaching racket (I can’t bring myself to call it a profession), seem to be waking up and demonstrating a stubborn refusal to be told what to think.

            It’s all going to end in tears. Hopefully not ours.

               38 likes

  11. CCE says:

    A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, they would both drown. Considering this, the frog agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asks the scorpion why, the scorpion replies that it was in its nature to do so

       52 likes

  12. NISA says:

    You have survived Fergal Keane, but at long last Orla has reached the Croatian/Serbian border. Her report is all playing on the audience’s emotions, OK when she is not in shot, so many past reports feature her icy gaze

       26 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      ……… and her monotone delivery. She actually scares me to death !! I wonder if she ever laughs.

         25 likes

      • David Brims says:

        Lyse Doucet’s voice does it for me, along with Kirsty Squawk, finger nails scratching a a pane of glass

           23 likes

    • hadda says:

      I hope she’s brought a supply of teddy bears.

         22 likes

    • Pat..original says:

      Yes she was truly funereal tonight, despite having found a ‘genuine’ engineer who aimed to come to ENGLAND! Had he known it would be so cold on the border he would have come better prepared. Not exactly fleeing for his life then.

         29 likes

  13. Pollystuscanyvilla says:

    “BBC’s Sarah Teale harassed during report about harassment”

    shouts BBC headline on BBC website.

    Its not nice. Agreed.

    Anyone remember the torture and murder of Kriss Donald by Glaswegian ROP-ists which struggled even to get a mention by the BBC in Scotland let alone nationaly?

    But BBC reporter shouted at? My word. Raise the flag!

       59 likes

    • Al Shubtill says:

      The description of how that poor, young lad met his end is one of the most abhorrent things I’ve read; it was an absolute disgrace the lack of coverage that the case received in the MSM, especially when compared with that which Saint Stephen of Lawrence got.

         67 likes

      • David Brims says:

        ”Kriss Donald aged 15, was driven around for several hours whilst he was held down and tortured in the back of the car. He was eventually taken to an area of waste ground where he was finished off. Before he died, he was castrated, burned with cigarettes; his eyes were gouged out and he was stabbed repeatedly. Once on the waste ground he was doused with gasoline and set alight whilst still alive. He crawled a few metres and then, mercifully, died. A walker who discovered his body the following morning was unaware that it was even human, remarking, that at first, he thought it was the carcass of an animal.”

           52 likes

        • David Brims says:

          ”The BBC again faced criticisms for its failure to cover the second trial in its main bulletins, waiting until day 18 to mention the issue and Peter Horrocks of the BBC apologised for the organisation’s further failings.” ( Hmm, that happens a lot )

          ”However, Peter Fahy, spokesman of race issues for the Association of Chief Police Officers, noted that the media as a whole tended to under-report the racist murders of white people, stating “it was a fact that it was harder to get the media interested where murder victims were young white men”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kriss_Donald

             48 likes

          • Aerfen says:

            Very surprising comment that from Fahy, a Common Purpose placeman, who wants to see younger BaMEs promoted before the normal age, in order to leg up BaMEs into senior roles in the polcie. This would be direct discrimination against older and more deserving ethnic British police officers.

               30 likes

          • ray_f says:

            In 2009 Glasvegas wrote a song about him. It’s an incredibly powerful song, but so is the whole album. I didn’t know it was about him. In fact, until now I’d never heard of him. Because BBC never reported on him outside of their Scotland news, and even then mainly local Glasgow and West news. It was clearly hushed up as far as possible. Stephen Lawrence death was said to be a game changer. Well this is one of the worst UK murders I have ever heard of, and cannot believe it is not discussed or commented on in the press ever. definitely would have seen a huge change in sentiment to mass immigration, if it was covered, not covered up.

            The comments here are worth reading at the time the BBC was accused of a cover up.
            http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/10/newswatch_6.html

            These are the lyrics to the song
            “Flowers And Football Tops”

            Baby
            Why you not home yet
            Baby its getting late
            I wish you would be home by now.
            Door bell rings
            Who could it be at this time
            Police on my left and right
            My son’s not coming home tonight

            Baby, they don’t need to show
            Its over, I know
            Baby, they don’t need to show
            Flowers and football tops, I know
            Baby why you?

            No sweeping exits
            No hollywood endings
            Flowers and football tops
            Don’t mean a thing.

            My baby is six feet under
            Just another number
            My daughter without her brother

            Baby, they don’t need to show
            Its over, I know, I know
            Baby, they don’t need to show
            Flowers and football tops, I know

            My baby is gone…

            You are my sunshine
            My only sunshine
            You make me happy
            When skies are grey
            I hope you noticed
            How much I loved you
            How could they take my sunshine away

            A fitting tribute.

               32 likes

            • Angrymanupnorth says:

              Extract from Wiki on the murder of Kriss Donald:

              “One of the most notable impacts of the murder was to force some people to examine their views of racism and its victims. Commentators such as Mark Easton cite the racist murders of Donald and also Ross Parker as demonstrating how society has been forced to redefine racism and discard the erroneous definition of “prejudice plus power” – a definition which only allowed ethnic minorities to be victims of hate crime.[8] Yasmin Alibhai-Brown also cited the Donald case when highlighting the lack of concern for white victims of racist murders. She drew comparisons with high profile ethnic minority victims, asking whether Donald’s murderers were “less evil than those who killed Stephen Lawrence”. Alibhai-Brown came to the conclusion that treating “some victims as more worthy of condemnation than others is unforgivable – and a betrayal of anti-racism itself”.[6]……”

              History and word meaning as written by wikiactivists. I’m so glad I’ve got Mark Easton and the professional grievance junkie race-baiter Yasmin Alibha-Brown standing up for the rights of my honkey ass. Here she is typical form.

              Utterly shameless woman.

                 39 likes

        • Anne63 says:

          Far far worse, in my opinion, than that Lawrence kid.

             49 likes

        • Lobster says:

          My God David. That is the first time that I have heard what happened to Kriss Donald, and reading it made my blood run cold. How in the name of sanity was that not reported at the time?
          May God rest his soul.

             65 likes

        • Al Shubtill says:

          The dreadful circumstances in which Kriss (who as I understand, was only slightly built and looked younger than his 15 years) was tortured to death by the three orcs, are as DB describes; although the BBC reporting of the case is worth examining. There is an excellent article by Paul Weston about this, but I can’t find the link.
          Basically: the Muslim filth fled to Pakistan to avoid arrest, where (despite the billions of pounds of the British taxpayers’ money being given to that country by our government) there exists no extradition treaty with the U.K. The case was taken up by a Muslim Pakistani, Glasgow MP (who was the first Muslim to be an MP, I believe) he tried to get them returned to the U.K.

          At this point, he began to receive death threats etc which (I think) led to his resignation as an MP – Al Beebus get involved, assuming it is some “far right” group which is responsible for this. It later transpired that it was his fellow adherents to the RoP who were doing it (due to him siding with kaffirs against fellow Muslims) – then the BBC lost all interest and dropped the story. The monsters were eventually brought back to Scotland – tried, convicted and jailed. I may have misremembered some of the facts; if anyone can link the (very good) Weston article, please do, he relates the whole sickening story.
          I remember C4 reporting about the case on the day they were sentenced – it was the second story, after one about a new bridge being opened in Newcastle, I recalled that and being appalled that it wasn’t the lead and also I remember his mother speaking outside the court.
          I read in the last year or so, that the leader of the gang was seriously injured after being attacked in the prison gym – though unfortunately not fatally.
          RIP Kriss Donald.

             55 likes

        • john in cheshire says:

          Poor Kris is reported to have said to the murdering muslim bastards as they dragged him into the car,’ I’m only 15′. But these f**ing murdering bastards tortured and killed him in a way that can only be described as satanic. If you think that was an aberration then you don’t know what the muslim invaders have planned for us. Steven Lawrence’s mother is elevated to the House of Lords. What did Kris’s family get? Not even a proper investigation by the effing bbc. And they wonder why we hate them; the muslims and their communist running dogs.

             20 likes

      • john in cheshire says:

        Well remember this, it had everything to do with islam.

           13 likes

  14. Guest Who says:

    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.sg/2015/09/tax-or-not.html?

    Often intrigued how these ‘rows’ unfold.

    Unelected public teet luvvie stamps foot with elected representative of the people about still getting what he and his BFFs want. Is rebuffed. Heads to Independent to share with its audience of fourteen.

    Seems an odd way to reward the guy giving them the kitchen sink as well.

       19 likes

  15. Thoughtful says:

    Andrew Marr has stated that which we already know, and as such he must have known himself, that politicians are totally out of touch with reality.

    His solution though shows he is himself as out of touch as they are – they should apparently read more poetry !

    MPs do not have enough cultural hinterland he claims

    But then he does have a new book of poetry he wants to push !

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3249637/MP-s-forced-read-poetry-says-Andrew-Marr-laments-politicians-lack-life-experience.html

       19 likes

    • David Brims says:

      ”But then he does have a new book of poetry he wants to push ! ” More like Limericks.

         15 likes

      • Angrymanupnorth says:

        Which gives me an excuse to offer some lyrics from my (cough) ‘friend’ UKIP Haiku, relating to an MP who is categorically not out of touch with reality:

        Carswell #1 – On Freedom

        Freedom, liberty.
        Essential ingredients
        For prosperity.

        Carswell #2 – Love Europe, Hate EU

        Release our shackles!
        An independent future.
        New exciting times.

        Carswell #3 – Jaw-Jaw

        Douglas Carswell’s Jaw,
        Masticating Red Herrings.
        Magic mandible.

        Carswell #4 – Discourse

        Convince with reason,
        Patience, logic and rationale,
        To achieve your ends.

        Carswell #5 – Speaker

        Simple sage sermons,
        Sassy sharp Stoicism,
        Stout Sterling Standard.

        Carswell #6 – Crystal

        Conveys clear meaning,
        Distilled, distinct ideas,
        Encouraging thought.

        Carswell #7 – Just the Beginning

        Upon green leather,
        Opposite birthright sellers.
        Carswell’s new era.

           12 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Farage Phoenix Fly!
          Faux foreigners flee the Fleidh
          Funster floats still free.

          With fond memories of UKIP Haiku, who gave us this( well, as I recall it) back in May!

             6 likes

          • Angrymanupnorth says:

            Farage Flying Free.
            Fastidious forager,
            Fabulous Fellow.

            🙂

               4 likes

            • Angrymanupnorth says:

              And a couple more, why not:

              Hero

              Farage – a hero.
              Look at Cameron and Corbyn,
              Broken weathervains.

              Farage’s Back

              So Farage is back.
              The BBC aren’t happy.
              His spine, his backbone!

                 7 likes

            • chrisH says:

              Wow…just read the post again.
              Sort of feel I`ve been duped by Clark Kent!
              Superb stuff sir…

                 5 likes

              • Angrymanupnorth says:

                One more then.

                Onwards!

                Field marshal Farage.
                Facing forward, fronting up!
                Fighting for freedom!

                   4 likes

                • Jagman84 says:

                  Formidable Farage.
                  Flying the flag.
                  Fearlessly frustrating the Fabians.

                     4 likes

                  • Angrymanupnorth says:

                    Nice try Jagman. Watch the syllables though.

                    haiku [ hahy-koo] NOUN [PLURAL HAI·KU]
                    1. a major form of Japanese verse, written in 17 syllables divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, and employing highly evocative allusions and comparisons, often on the subject of nature or one of the seasons or UKIP.
                    2. a poem written in this form.

                       3 likes

                    • chrisH says:

                      Yet UKIP Haiku-san!
                      Jagman84 reads very well-and maybe the Japanese are just a little anal about this.
                      The alliteration reads well, and contextually it`s a good `un.
                      Maybe we English could be flexible in allowing some leeway, seeing as there`s no EU Purity Laws yet on these-is there?
                      Do I dare to question the Master Glasshoppa?
                      Where`s mi ricepaper to dance on?

                         2 likes

                    • Demon says:

                      UKIP Sonnetman’s poor attempts going back to May:

                      Shall we compare them to a Summer’s Day?
                      Though Douglas was the only one to stay.
                      The system helped the Racist SNP
                      But not Labour or their allied BBC.
                      No fair referendum now would make us weep
                      But Cameron made a promise he must keep.
                      The EU is a prison for us all
                      If we now leave then surely it would fall.
                      The pris’ners number half a billion
                      Though we now have a wise four million.
                      Nigel went but he then came back again
                      He must still lead to take us from this pain.
                      Scotland and Wales will do just what they like
                      So for freedom English heroes, we must strike!

                      We hope you left-wing fascists understand
                      Farage will lead us to the Promised Land.
                      We will hold no truck with your bigotries
                      And the Guardian’s hate is a waste of trees.
                      The red BBC will have to alter
                      It will be made to follow its charter.
                      The racist anti-Semites on the Left
                      Of BBC support will be bereft.
                      Though you want to make all of England poor
                      And make us live like 1984
                      We hope you left-wing fascists understand
                      We will bring back decency to this land.
                      Despite your vile violence and your hate
                      Forever losing; that will be your fate.

                      Delilah must be banned for offences it caused
                      Professors making sexist jokes must be outlawed.
                      ISIS, sweet ISIS as Kenneth Connor once said
                      Must have its name changed – but Daesh won’t lose its street cred.
                      Some Israelis are banned from speaking at Unis,
                      But only Jews; all others welcomed by loonies.
                      The Beeb backs the hate merchants so ugly and red
                      But they lie about UKIP and truths that they’ve said.
                      BBC’s campaign to outlaw decency, truth,
                      Honesty and Endeavour is so lacking ruth.
                      We know what they’re doing but they don’t care at all,
                      They control the whole story, brainwashing the fools.
                      But now is the time; – let the fightback begin
                      For the sake of our future we must fight and win.

                      Ban Delilah now
                      Like Bouncing Bomb Gibson’s dog
                      And all history!

                         3 likes

  16. gb123 says:

    Watching the media coverage of Labour and UKIP over the last few days shows the hypocrisy well. The limited UKIP coverage is one thing. However, what I found illuminating was the Carswell inciden,t described as being a major party splitting row and division. Contrast that with the Corbyn coverage along the lines of dissent is good and not a problem.

       42 likes

  17. Helena Hand-Basket says:

    Have you heard we may get a new series of the BBC’s 1980s sitcom Blackadder? Having enjoyed this historical farce in my youth, I feel…. appalled. I mean, BBC comedy scripting talent is deader than a Norwegian Blue (but they’re claiming their ex-parrot is just shagged out after a long squawk, so we can’t claim a licence fee refund). Most stock in Monty Python Pet Shop BBC has joined the choir invisible – but customer complaints yield nothing but verbose and self-congratulatory denials written by a computer in Salford. ‘It was healthy enough when it left the studio,’ they sanctimoniously assert. So it must be your fault if it reached your home stinking worse than Jeremy Corbyn’s beard after a bowl of vegan garlic soup.

    If only they’d called in expert help when the first symptoms of the deadly political correctness virus – Crypto-marxist Recto-cranial Advanced Pyrexia (CRAP) – appeared! It’s all too late now. The healthy and engaging little creatures who trotted home with us a generation ago live on only in fond memory, or on DVD: Yes, Minister; Fawlty Towers; Dad’s Army; Porridge; Only Fools and Horses; the Likely Lads; ‘Allo, Allo’; Up Pompeii; Steptoe and Son…

    Tragically, most BBC drama is now also infected by CRAP. Tales of Medieval England seem to have been cast in Eritrea and scripted by the Young Socialists Writing Workshop of South Islington, with historical advice from Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Gerry Adams. However, many would consider that the worst affects of the virus are seen in their documentaries and news. ‘it was full of CRAP, so I switched ever,’ is more and more on the lips of a British public who will take to crack cocaine if they see one more endangered polar bear or migrant’s forlorn teddy bear.

    Don’t grieve merely for the defrauded customers – think of diseased and bewildered livestock at the BBC. In the final stage of CRAP, when all higher mental function and touch with reality has been lost, these tragic human husks sit sipping organic lattes on their ethnically-made yak-skin sofas and gibbering, ‘Islam is a Religion of Peace’. And then it really is the end of the line.

    But let’s return to Blackadder. (Sorry, I got a bit carried away when the Python idea suddenly struck me.) It’s fun using the BBC’s own comedies to ridicule them, so I’m writing a mini-episode/extended sketch of this sitcom – and it puts a very un-PC slant on history. If you’ve ever suspected that some Cunning Plan by the gormless Baldrick might have been the origin of the multiculturalism/Islamification agenda, I can confirm it. He was the dope who put the ‘dim’ in Dhimmitude. If anyone thinks they might like to see it, I’ll post up details of era, plot, length etc. sometime. (I’ll probably change the names to Blackviper and Bald Dick or something, to avert legal problems.)

    If Blackadder BBC-style does return, my prediction is: The new Blackadder (Jo Brand) and Baldrick (Lenny Henry) will tackle a dastardly Victorian industrialist who’s setting off global warming (he’s also stealing the inventions of the brilliant Syrian and Somali engineers who truly put the ‘Great’ in nineteenth-century Britain). Russell Brand – playing a wacky, wisecracking Karl Marx – will organise the workers in taking over t’ mill as a wind-powered co-operative with full commitment to equal opportunities, diversity and an Islamic prayer room. Stephen Fry (returning to his film role as Oscar Wilde) will secretly marry Bosie, with Lenny as a transgendered bridesmaid and Jo as ‘best man’. And we’ll all head for the pub.

       44 likes

    • RJ says:

      Helena,

      You’ll need to extend the time frame slightly so that you can feature Jo driving her Russian tank.

         8 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      Just a reminder, Downton Abbey was produced by ITV. The sodding bbc haven’t produced anything worth watching for at least 2 decades. Communist propaganda is all they’re fit for. They’re not even worth selling because no one needs to buy them. It is not just possible to live without the bbc, it’s easy. And just like Alan Yentob and Kids Company, they’re a corrupt, empty shell.

         12 likes

      • Flexdream says:

        The BBC would never be interested in Downton Abbey as its creator, Julian Fellowes, is an Oscar winning Conservative and not a convicted IRA murderer.

           8 likes

  18. nogginator says:

    “Artwork showing Sylvanian Families terrorised by Isis …. banned from free speech exhibition
    You will have looked in vain for one work detailed in the catalogue by an artist known only as Mimsy, there is something
    of startling clarity beyond there sum in these few toys. both in the exhibition … and the reaction
    … The Biased Broad Cresent? it has it tucked away, in the news from other outlets … how brave.

    “Isis Threaten Sylvania is a series of seven satirical light box tableaux featuring the children’s toys Sylvanian Families.
    It was removed from the “Passion for Freedom” exhibition ( 😀 ) at the Mall galleries after police raised concerns about the “potentially inflammatory content” of the work, informing the organisers that, if they went ahead with their plans to display it, they would have to pay £36,000 for security for the six-day show.”

    http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/26/sylvanian-families-isis-freedom-of-expression-exhibition
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/artwork-featuring-sylvanian-families-toys-6524213
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/sylvanian-families-isis-banned-freedom-expression/

    Aw never mind … As the news continues to unfold about the tragic Hajj deaths in Saudi Arabia,
    Sian speaks to “experts” ? to ask if it could have been prevented, on Sunday Morn Live!
    The truth, crushed in an Islamic stampede in the rabid fervour to get … to a stoning!, yep! in the apartheid state that beheaded more than ISIS in one period.

       31 likes

    • nogginator says:

      For all of the normal population, the non Islamic infected Brit viewer …
      This Rabid fervour, stampede, crushings, stonings, in the beheading capital … anyone at the BBC going to ask that in 2015 how is this madness has any connection to spirituality?
      At the end of Hajj, Muslims slaughter animals to celebrate Eid Al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice. It was estimated that at least 770,000 sheep were slaughtered last year, and … more Islamic blood lust.
      Oh and as all the droning 1000s circle the Ka ba, in the apartheid state will anyone ask who s supposed to have built it, and why the non Islamic are barred?
      I m sure the BBC, will be …. right on it

         34 likes

      • Lobster says:

        I don’t know if I speak for anyone else on here, but I am utterly, totally, and completely Islamed out.
        If ever I win the lottery I am going to buy myself a deserted island, but I suppose even then a boatload of the fuckers would turn up and claim asylum.

           62 likes

        • Al Shubtill says:

          Lobster – if white Europeans, who chose to, could ever move to an uninhabited island and build a new nation and society: how long would it be do you think (after all the hard work had been done of course) before those in the Third World wished to move there?

             41 likes

          • BRISSLES says:

            Are there any on Shetland on in the Hebrides ??

               10 likes

          • David Brims says:

            AS. White Europeans behaviour shouldn’t be determined by what immigrants do, the invaders should all be deported.

               9 likes

            • Al Shubtill says:

              DB – they should never be in the position which requires deportation in the first place.

              ‘Why would any Western country willingly accept people from the Third World? They come with no thought of what they can contribute – only what they can obtain from others for free.’

                 9 likes

        • marcmarc says:

          As they move out of their self inflicted crap holes either us or the Israelis should move in,we’ll show the lazy asses how to build a nation .

             14 likes

        • Jeff says:

          “but I suppose even then a boatload of the fuckers would turn up and claim asylum.”
          Brilliant. That made me chuckle!

             10 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      Experts. What on earth does that term even mean? As Alice, or was it the Queen of Hearts, said, it means whatever the sodding bbc want it to mean. Where’s the Balen report and why hasn’t 28gate been investigated and why can Alan Yentob call journalists, who exposed Jimmy Savile et al, traitors and still be employed by the disgusting thing that is the bbc?

         10 likes

  19. AsISeeIt says:

    The Magic Money Tree

    Another sighting of this rare and fabled bit of herbage on BBC Breakfast this morning

    Campaigner Malcolm Clark (Co-ordinator of Children’s Food Campaign) is very keen on the policy of ‘free’ school meals for youngsters. Needless to say, his justifications are not particularly closely questioned by the sofa-dwellers. This is a generally good thing, right?

    Well, there may well be an argument for public health and well-being. But our Malcolm should really not have got away with his bold statement that this will put £400 out of nowhere into the pockets of lower paid families ‘to spend on what they want’. If, for example, people should happen to chose to spend this happy windfall on beer and fags, then that would tend to negate somewhat the health benefits he previously mentioned.

    But my real point of issue is about something more important and it is an issue too often recurring on the BBC.
    That £400 plucked from the magic money tree which Malcolm suggests has been suddenly injected into the local economy. Someone, somewhere has to pay £400 more in tax to cover that, no? The very same money that they themselves might have spent on the very same ‘local goods and services’ that Malcolm is so keen on.

    I guess we could borrow the £400. The children in question might possibly sometime in the future perhaps thank us for that?

    Think of the children by all means, but kid us not, we weren’t born yesterday.

       42 likes

  20. Geoff says:

    Marr asking the important questions again when interviewing Farage, not about the EU referendum no, he wants to know about Farage’s relationship with Carswell, is he (Farage) too decisive a character to lead the out campaign and has Corbyn stolen his (Farage’s) thunder WTF?

    All completely irrelevant to the extremely important question of the future of the country and of a personal nature. Farage, as ever batted the questions politely away with a knowing smile, just as if he were being interviewed by a clown from Blue Peter.

    And if this tablet persists in changing Farage to Garage its going through the window!

       55 likes

    • taffman says:

      Let me get this right?
      Marr and AlBeeb are trying to highlight some kind of a ‘split’ in UKIP and the other up and coming parties that want the UK to get out of the corrupt oligarchy that is the European Union.

      Unless I have lost the plot, it doesn’t matter how many ‘get out of the EU’ parties there are,
      the vote will simply be, ‘in’ or ‘out’ – or has AlBeeb ‘Lost the Plot’?

         42 likes

    • 7Clubs says:

      Wise up.Farage has become an egomaniac whose megalomania is risking UKIP`s future.In opinion polls they have fallen to 7% .I am not in UKIP but as floating voter I noticed the ridiculous U-turn after the election on his resigning his leadership,the bullying of Suzanne Evans and now stopping her being UKIP`s London Major candidate,the stigmatision of Carswell despite the fact he is a man of obvious integrity and interesting ideas .Despite endless fallouts over the years with other UKIP people Farage has not learnt anything and is getting worse.Ask your self why Farage failed to become an MP in 2015 despite trying to cherry pick for himself UKIP`s 2nd most winnable seat and having as many UKIP`s boots on the ground as possible to help him whereas other very diversive politicians such as Enoch Powell George Galloway,Tony Benn etc have won seats despite character assignation in the media.

         6 likes

      • The Lord says:

        You sir are an idiot.

           28 likes

      • dontblamemeivotedukip says:

        There would be no UKIP without Farage and there will be none once he is gone- that’s why both the hard left and the liberal fauxcialists campaigned desperately to get labour voters to vote tactically in Thanet ( ie voting tory ) and still only just denied Farage the seat. A fact evidenced but the local election results.
        Ultimately it doesn’t matter what you think because I believe it clear that you, like essexman , will never vote UKIP all the time you have the proverbial hole for reasons of old fashioned snobbery
        People who do vote UKIP (like me and most of my ex labour voting friends) wonder why the Hell Carswell joined UKIP in the first place -(say hallo to essexman up the golf club for me)

           26 likes

        • Angrymanupnorth says:

          DBMIVUKIP. “..there will be none once he is gone…”. Don’t take this the wrong way. You are wrong. You appear to be falling for the media line, the propaganda pushed by the MSM. UKIP will become whatever the membership shape it into over the coming years. Had you attended their conference you would have discovered exactly how much diverse, coherent, constructive, open, common sense discourse on a range of political issues and policy areas, in the main hall and around the fringe meetings. To put it bluntly, Carswell is a natural Kipper because he believes in self determination, democracy, the United Kingdom and restricted government subservient to the people. Where else in UK politics is there a home for him? He is also one of the reasons many have and are joining UKIP. UKIP will go from strength to strength with the thousands of active members led by brave stoic patriots like Farage, Carswell, Nuttal, James, Evans, Wolffe, Arnott, Finch, Agnew, Reckless, Collins, Hookem, Coburn, Gill, Helmer, Carver,… I could go on. What is more, there is nothing but unity on the most important political issue facing the nation, our membership of the EU.

          What does it say about our democracy that neither Labour or Conservative have a principled view (either way) on the matter of our membership of the EU? It says to me that Labour and Conservative parties see the people as working cattle, not as the masters, and not as free men and women of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

          Vote UKIP. Common Sense. Don’t fall for the media spin. Get involved and join us in working towards a ‘Leave’ vote and all the prosperity that will result as a consequence.

             25 likes

          • dontblamemeivotedukip says:

            Just so you know I haven’t taken it the wrong way, here’s something to brighten your day

            timse yougov poll

            It’s on…

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            September 28, 2015 at 10:16 am
            Comments (9)

            Corbyn’s Woman-Beating Economics Adviser

            24 hours after Harriet Harman admonished Jeremy Corbyn for his poor record on women, the Labour leader appointed woman-beating economist Thomas Piketty (above left) as his new star adviser. Piketty was charged with domestic violence for assaulting his ex-girlfriend on March 17 2009. According to a member of the French Socialist Party: “The details of what Thomas did to Aurélie are quite shocking – they drove her to contemplate suicide”. Despite Jezza’s new adviser admitting “the facts of violence” and apologising, the charges were dropped at the request of the victim. Corbyn and McDonnell say they are “delighted” Piketty is joining their team…

            Labour now have:
            •a Hamas-apologist leader
            •an IRA-sympathising Shadow Chancellor
            •an arsonist education spokesman
            •a rioting political adviser
            •a death-threatening aide
            •and a woman-beating economics adviser

            Corbynistas will cry that these are smears, but they are all true…

            September 28, 2015 at 9:38 am
            Comments (70)

            Rich’s Monday Morning View

            September 28, 2015 at 8:49 am
            Comments (124)

            Read Guido’s Sun on Sunday Column Online

            Guido reveals the hottest job in Westminster in today’s Sun on Sunday column, which is free to read online here. Don’t miss out on:

            •Who’s the #PigGate squealer? Find out why this Tory MP is Downing Street’s prime suspect

            •Tories deny plot to sabotage Labour conference

            DEFECT
            •Tories offer potential Labour defectors safe seats and ministerial jobs “within six months”

            MI5
            •MI5 ‘complained to Labour’ over Jeremy Corbyn

            HUHNE
            •Chris Huhne’s train tantrum
            •Ed Miliband needed a map to find the polling station in his Doncaster constituency on election day
            •115 stressed-out MPs have taken up the offer of free “mindfulness courses” in Parliament

            You can read it all today, for free, only on SunNation…

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            September 27, 2015 at 9:56 am
            Comments (929)

            Saturday Seven Up

            SATURDAY-SEVEN-UP-2

            This week 172,598 visitors visited 505,173 times viewing 804,874 pages. The top stories in order of popularity were:
            •Corbyn Weighs In to #PigGate
            •Who Squealed?
            •Cameron Allegations: Toby Young vs Isabel Oakeshott
            •Three Tory Activists Banned From Conference Amid Suicide Bullying Claims
            •Hypocrite of the Day: Labour Councillor’s Right to Buy Humiliation
            •Labour Purge Begins: Danczuk Targeted in Lefty ‘Smear’ Plot
            •Corbyn: Labour Purge “Absolutely” Could Happen

            You’re either in front of Guido, or behind…

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            September 26, 2015 at 7:05 am
            Comments (1284)

            Energy Minister Totty Watch: All Star Edition

            kristi

            This weeks addition to our increasingly popular parade of environmentally conscious lovelies is the scintillating U.S. Representative for South Dakota Kristi Noem. Kristi is an ardent advocate of ending US dependence on foreign oil and has used her position on The House Committee on Natural Resources to back offshore oil drilling, subsidies for oil companies and the Keystone XL Pipeline. A country girl at heart, Kristi continues to look after her ranch when she gets the time.

            kristi-noem-sd-horseback

            What a gal…

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            September 25, 2015 at 5:01 pm
            Comments (613)

            Labour’s Diesel Hypocrisy Enough to Make You Fume

            Corbyn’s new Shadow Transport Secretary Lilian Greenwood has put out a punchy statement on the VW emissions scandal, blaming the Tories for “dangerously high levels of nitrogen oxide emissions” and insisting: “Poor air quality is a growing problem in our towns and cities but the Government is in chaos on this issue”. What Lilian fails to mention is that someone has already taken full responsibility for the UK’s high levels of nitrogen oxide emissions:

            “Hands up, can I say there’s absolutely no question that the decision we took was the wrong decision? … Certainly the impact of that decision has been a massive problem for public health in this country.”

            The words of Barry Gardiner, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change, speaking earlier this year…

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            September 25, 2015 at 4:10 pm
            Comments (119)

            ‘We’ve Had Enough of This Crap’: Cabbies Storm City Hall

            The long-running conflict between Boris and London’s cabbie trade unionists has flared up again, with irate drivers storming City Hall to protest after being denied access to a public meeting. Numerous security staff, including young women, were injured, and one person was knocked unconscious. The latest issue of Taxi, the LTDA’s propaganda rag, was keen to stress that the injuries were simply because ‘the sheer weight of numbers outside led to a crush at the entrance doors’, omitting any mention of their own thuggery. The clip of the taxi drivers protesting is reminiscent of a Guy Ritchie cockney crime caper…

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            September 25, 2015 at 3:13 pm
            Comments (109)

            Big Gas and Coal go to War over Carbon

            eni

            A group of European gas giants are attempting to kneecap their coal rivals by lobbying for higher carbon emission taxes. Six energy companies with small coal investments have launched a massive lobbying operation in Brussels, led by the CEO of […]

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            September 25, 2015 at 2:18 pm
            Comments (93)

            Friday Caption Contest: The Fightback Starts Now Edition

            lib dems kid

            Entries in the comments please…[…]

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            September 25, 2015 at 1:09 pm
            Comments (140)

            Nige Weighs In To #Piggate

            Nigel Farage has been entertaining the attendees at the UKIP conference in Doncaster this afternoon by poking fun at the PM.

            Talk about hamming it up…[…]

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            September 25, 2015 at 12:58 pm
            Comments (60)

            Historic Tory Corbyn Files Rescued from Bodleian Library

            http://order-order.com/2015/09/28/yougov-poll-puts-brexit-in-the-lead/

               4 likes

        • taffman says:

          7Clubs
          Whatever names his opponents call him, Nigel Farage ‘says it as it is’. All of his predictions on the EU and immigration have come to fruition despite the mockery and scepticism dished out by other political parties, AlBeeb and the rest of the MSM.

          He did resign on loosing in his attempt to gain a seat but he returned to the UKIP by popular demand. Without Farage, we would not have the benefit of another referendum. While on the other hand, Cameron was very reluctant to keep his promise on the same until his arm was twisted – even then he went to Merkel ‘cap in hand’, trying to renegotiate new terms with the EU with his opening gambit that ‘he wants to remain in’. That’s the very same Cameron who has already broken his election promise of cutting immigration.
          https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-pledges-to-control-and-reduce-immigration

          Cameron has done little about AlBeeb’s bias, which over the last three months, has run the ‘wall to wall’ coverage of the Labour leadership contest and is now morphing into a promoter of ‘Corbynism’. Cameron has done little to curb this bias as he needs their help to promote his cause to stay in Europe. Perhaps there is a top job in the EU waiting for him when he retires?

             24 likes

      • Geoff says:

        @Mr 7Clubs, whatever you may think of Farage let’s get one thing clear, without him we would not be having a referendum during this parliament.

        Farage did not lose Thanet the media and establishment did and in your naivety you’re buying it.

           28 likes

  21. The Lord says:

    Our ‘leader’ is on the telly. (now BBC1) In case there’s anyone here that he hasn’t told. 😉

       13 likes

  22. BRISSLES says:

    Just watched Bonnie Greer on Sky (again). Surely we have enough ‘author/broadcaster/journalists’ in this country without having to listen to Ugandan born Alibaba Brown, and Chicago born Ms Greer pontificate on how our country should be run on countless news programmes. I’m all for movement of peoples working in different countries, but they should look to how their own countries are being governed first before offering their advice to us here. Do we know of any British commentators who – on a regular basis – give their views to the population of Uganda ?

    I wonder too when Andrew Pierce and Kevin McGuire (both bigwigs in their respective newspapers) ever get any work done ! they seem to pitch up as a comic duo several times a week on Sky – they are so predictable in their ‘banter’ that I could almost recite their script with them.

       46 likes

    • David Brims says:

      Andrew Pierce’s Kenneth Williams impression schtick is amusing at first but after, oh 5 or 10 seconds it becomes very trying. Kevin ‘ its the tory toffs’ McGuire is a professional Geordie, their knock about Left Right false paradigm ”banter” is mind numbingly tedious. This Abbott and Costello of ‘journalism’ perfectly illustrates the disconnect between the London metropolitan dinner party set and the rest of Britain.

         29 likes

  23. Peter Sausages says:

    BBC are going overkill on Corbyn Corbyn Corbyn or as my Nan says that pratt who looks like Wurzel Gummage.

       35 likes

  24. Jeff says:

    Thursday night’s Question Time was a real hoot. The star turn was the former Greek finance minister, sorry I can’t recall the bloke’s name, but that’s of little consequence. Suffice to say he’s a Marxist who believes in open borders and he lectured us to be more compassionate towards the ever increasing swarm of third worlders.He told us that from outer space, looking down on the earth, there were no borders. Eh? It beggars belief that this self regarding twerp should receive air time at all. The QT audience, as usual, were made up of ultra radical lefties, who whooped and stomped at every half witted platitude this arrogant oaf inflicted on us. Greece is clearly a shining example of what happens to a society when the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum. BBC audiences love anyone, however incompetent, so long as they say that limitless numbers pouring into tiny Blighty is a good thing.
    Coming soon to QT, the chief engineer at Volkswagen, to educate us about the benefits of the diesel engine, and, of course, to implore us to celebrate diversity.
    Sadly the captain of the Titanic is no longer available…

       43 likes

  25. Deborahanother says:

    Every time I see Bonnie Greer its my cue to switch off. I have nothing whatsoever in common with her and her views and ask myself who is she and what has she ever done to allow her so much comment over events that affect my life . Many of these commentators irritate but at least some of them have achievements of some sort. Not that they influence me in the slightest,but I hate being preached at.

       43 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      I recall some BBC4 book programme which, rather unusually, featured James Delingpole. Bonnie Greer was also on the panel. One of the questions was about who won some black womens’ fiction award of some type. Delingpole groaned and said something like ‘Oh it’s got to be either Toni Morrison or Maya Angelou, hasn’t it?’ Greer looked at him in shock, but of course, the answer was ‘Maya Angelou’.

         31 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Her cv states she has an OBE, and is President of the Bronte Society !! (?) – Um is there a Brit who is Chair of the George Washington Society (if there is one) in the States ? As my old Mum used to say………. “she gets where castor oil can’t” – finger in all pies.

         24 likes

  26. manchesterlad says:

    [re: UKIP and Farage] You sir are an idiot.

    Sadly, I think everything he says is essentially correct. UKIP is largely a cult of Farage. Ask yourself how many well known personalities there are near the top of UKIP? There is only really Farage and anyone who looks as though they may eclipse him is sidelined to obscurity (eg Suzanne Evans).

    I voted UKIP, not because of Farage but despite him. Despite being probably in the most powerful position of all groups (with 4 million votes) to promote the ‘out’ campaign, UKIP has done nothing in years. Instead of reasoned argument about how to win the referendum on the UKIP website, all we get are a bundle of chaotic news articles. It looks like more like the website for a local allotment group than the third/fourth largest party in the UK.

    I doubt UKIP will get their act together in time. They are probably helping to throw away the only chance we will have for a generation for the UK to have a sensible discussion about our role in the world.

    It is true; Farage has learnt nothing; I’m not really convinced he wants to learn either – a cosy MEP salary and pension and not forgetting those lovely expenses must be quite compelling, especially to someone seemingly driven entirely by their ego.

       7 likes

    • Mr A says:

      I agree to a point. I have been a UKIP member for many years, mainly brought to them by their stance on the smoking ban (although obviously the withdrawal from Europe and their stance on immigration were icing on the cake).

      Farage has been an undeniable force for good in this country – the only reason we have a Referendum next year is because of him and the amount of work he has put into representing our side of the political fence in an increasingly leftist climate and the sheer amount of personal vitriol he has borne as a result of that, is staggering.

      I do however have concerns about him going forward. Yes, the #1 priority for UKIP in the short term is playing an active role in getting us out of the EU. However, I suspect once this has been achieved, Nigel will be happy to withdraw from politics and live an easy life. And who can blame him?!

      However, I believe UKIP is a necessary political force BEYOND the referendum, necessary to represent libertarian values of pro-individual/small State principles in what, as I say, is an increasingly leftist political sphere. Unfortunately, while the UKIP manifesto was clear, logical, funded and just pure common sense, the party itself has become very much a one-man band, a cult of personality around Nigel. What I would like to see going forward is the grooming of a top tier of potential UKIP MPs, a Shadow Cabinet if you will, of principled, intelligent spokespeople who wholeheartedly advocate the principles and policies outlined in the manifesto and who are unafraid to take on BBC bias and smearing – Suzanne Evans was superb at this during the election (and was, I believe, also responsible for the manifesto). I’d also like to see them establish links with like-minded think-tanks (perhaps the Freedom Association – anyone who has read Christopher Snowdon’s (a major contributor to the Freedom Association) excellent “Velvet Glove, Iron Fist” blog will see the value of evidence-based skewering of biased studies and propaganda, much of which is used by the quangos and fake charities to promote Cultural Marxist/Common Purpose policy-making. In short a mainstream political party that has a definite ideology. Going forward, I would like to see UKIP establish itself as more than just a single-issue party and more than just a Farage-dominated collective of disgruntled ex-Colonels, formerly Thatcherite Tories and people who disagree with every one of their policies except getting out of the UK and restricting immigration.

      Farage has been a true hero for the last few years, but his domination of the Party and holding back of other talented people is becoming something of a negative now, I’m afraid.

         16 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        I’m afraid that it seems to be a pattern that Nigel falls out with everybody eventually.

           2 likes

      • Banania says:

        “I do however have concerns about him going forward.”
        Do you mean you are worried about him? But no need; surely what direction he goes in is entirely his own business.

           5 likes

    • Mr A says:

      Sorry – I couldn’t find a “Quote” button – if someone could enlighten me on how to quote here, I’d be grateful.

      “I voted UKIP, not because of Farage but despite him. Despite being probably in the most powerful position of all groups (with 4 million votes) to promote the ‘out’ campaign, UKIP has done nothing in years. Instead of reasoned argument about how to win the referendum on the UKIP website, all we get are a bundle of chaotic news articles. It looks like more like the website for a local allotment group than the third/fourth largest party in the UK.”

      Sadly, this is true. There are many people who do think like that. While Kippers need to be wary of thinking, “Nigel is a turn-off for many voters” (because much of that comes from relentless left-wing smearing, including of course the BBC, and any future leader would of course face the same thing), there is a lot of truth in what you say. UKIP, a new party, got almost half as many votes as Labour. They are now the third largest party in the UK. And given the shambles that is the Labour party, they are in the prime position of being THE true Opposition party. Yet while the grassroots fervour behind UKIP is a great thing, they still do not come across as a major, legitimate political force. As you say, they come across at best as a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs and at worst, well, what Cameron said – a bunch of kooks, oddballs and weirdos. And I say this as a UKIP member – some of the missives I get from my local UKIP branch are frankly embarrassing – ill-informed, amateurish, littered with typos…..

      “I doubt UKIP will get their act together in time. They are probably helping to throw away the only chance we will have for a generation for the UK to have a sensible discussion about our role in the world.”

      Again I tend to agree. Given the major role UKIP played in securing the Referendum, their seeming lack of activity at present is baffling.

      “It is true; Farage has learnt nothing; I’m not really convinced he wants to learn either – a cosy MEP salary and pension and not forgetting those lovely expenses must be quite compelling, especially to someone seemingly driven entirely by their ego.”

      I disagree here. I’ve met Farage a few times and he is, to coin a cliche, “a genuinely nice bloke.” There are two problems with him, though. Firstly, while he is definitely a man of principle he has only has one overwhelming concern, and that is to get the UK out of the EU. Everything else, immigration, Political Correctness, the quangos and fake charities etc etc, are all secondary. While he does have good opinions on these issues, they are all secondary to that one concern. The second problem is his almost total control of the party. The party reflects that obsession with leaving the EU (which is of course probably the MAJOR issue we face today). Unfortunately that means there are a Hell of a lot of people “supporting” UKIP who do not actually agree with any of the other policies or principles the Party stands for which in turn is why, I suspect, the Party turns into such a shambles if he doesn’t exert constant top-down control. And of course people recognise this on some level which is why they don’t see them as a legitimate party despite the number of votes they get.

      They need to place themselves as a Party with a stance on a number of issues, so that people know what they actually stand for besides leaving the EU. Once there is a consensus within the Party on what they stand for they will have a far more secure and influential future. And as I said before, whatever the result of the Referendum, British politics NEEDS UKIP in there somewhere.

         10 likes

    • Angrymanupnorth says:

      Manc Lad. Its a real shame that you think this way. You appear to be projecting the Groupthink propaganda encouraged by those that hate UKIP, including the BBC. I would suggest that had you attended the national conference (you would have been welcome and welcomed) you would understand how wrong you are about UKIP, Farage and other uKIP MEP’s.

      “Ask yourself, how many well known personalities there are near the top of UKIP?” You are kidding right? Ask yourself why the hundreds of coherent, articulate and enthusiastic UKIPers are not given any platform by the main stream media, yet failed Greek financial theorists and German MEPs are on BBC speed-dial?

      On the matter of Suzanne Evans, she is and will be a fantastic and influencial member in UKIP. Peter Whittle, a born and bred Londoner is a fantastic mayoral candidate for London. He is intellegent, articulate, approachable and a gentleman. But you wouldn’t know that with the MSM “don’t give Kippers a platform unless you are undermining them…” policy.

      Watching Lansdale and Brant of the BBC go about their business of ‘political reportage’ in Doncaster was both educational and interesting. Also, watching and listening to them (in-cognto) go about their work, the most striking realisation is how thick and juvenile they are. They really are cerebrally limited, and act like excited sugar charged children going about a task. Lansdale’s limited brief appeared to be:

      “James – Get up to Doncaster. We need quotes from….. well, anybody with a UKIP badge, to back up the narrative that the ‘out’ or ‘leave’ campaign is split and in turmoil. Get to it James, we have the UK political process to guide.”

      Brant seemed to have a different brief:

      “Robin – Get up to Doncaster. We need a wedge to drive between Carswell and Farage. Find some disagreement, any disagreement and big it up! You know what to do Robin, your usual thing. Oh, and Robin, don’t start listening to any matters relating to policy. We don’t want you to start reporting on anything as irrelevant as that.”

         35 likes

      • Cranmer says:

        I agree – Peter Whittle seems to be an extremely intelligent, civilized, erudite and pleasant man, I have met him once or twice professionally – and I suspect that is WHY the BBC don’t want him on air. He doesn’t fit the UKIP stereotype.

           26 likes

      • manchesterlad says:

        Thank you, I sincerely hope you are right. I’ve voted UKIP in two general elections now hoping that they would start to form an effective party, rather than just a publicity seeking dead-end.

        I have never met Farage, and agree he seems like a nice chap, but I’m not sure that is enough to carry the movement forward. I agree he has done a grand job of getting the show on the road. But if he cannot ‘let go’ and allow the party to evolve, I fear that it will whither and collapse.

        As Richard North says (who I must say, is overly negative towards UKIP), Farage doesn’t do detail. That is fine for getting sound-bites and getting the media interested, but it will not persuade the voting public that leaving the EU is a credible policy. It is now the detail we need.

        Of course, it is clear that the BBC has played it’s part in denying UKIP publicity whenever it can. Sadly, this isn’t going to change in the next two years so UKIP has to be able to rise above this and generate a cohesive case for leaving. IMO, it should be concentrating on it’s web site as that is the only form of media that cannot be corrupted by the BBC and general media, and it is very cheap to produce.

        Then every time Farage is interviewed he could plug the website as a source of ideas and information. At present there’s not a lot of point in plugging it.

           7 likes

  27. BRISSLES says:

    Like him or loathe him Nigel has had the personality (and this is the key, Miliband didn’t have one) to ensure UKIP has come from obscurity to where it is today. Try asking half a dozen people on the street who the leader of the Lib Dems is today.

       40 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      Mr Farage has already achieved more than any other politician in modern times has been able to – which is to remove the taboo of discussing EU membership and immigration in the public sphere. The left would love to have kept that particular Pandora’s box firmly closed.

         40 likes

      • 7Clubs says:

        What about all the things Farage has not done in recent years :
        Oppose political correctness and stand up for freedom of speech- instead he has thrown people out of UKIP for off-the cuff offensive comments .Oppose the global warming brigade.Most people will have no idea where UKIP stand on climate change.Defend the 2010 Libertarian UKIP manifesto.Instead he has called it rubbish.Be sensitive to Bulgarians and Romanians.Oppose Trident.Refuse to talk to media outlets who have abused him and UKIP in unacceptable ways instead he will talk to anyone CH4 news,Newsnight,LBC etc – of course it is `professional politics` but also maybe he is too thickskinned .As wrote earlier I am a floating voter and not in UKIP however if I did join UKIP I wonder how long would I last?Read 10% of UKIP members have left the party since the last election and that is Farages responsibility.Note Labour have clearly had lots of new members since May and the Lib Dems claim the same too

           5 likes

        • BRISSLES says:

          If offensive comments are made, then any party leader couldn’t afford the media thrashing it would have if those responsible weren’t thrown out of the party. Global warming ? climate change? not exactly top of my priorities, nor anyone else I suspect only sandal wearers and politicians. Not convinced ? ask the lady buying her milk in the Co-op or the bloke buying his paper, they’ll just shrug their shoulders. Trident? same thing, who cares? only the media, as most people haven’t a clue what its all about anyway. Get them talking about how long to see a GP, or whether they can safely go into a Care Home without fear of abuse, THEN see the interest change.

             13 likes

        • Steve Jones says:

          7Clubs,
          This took me, literally, 10 seconds to find:
          http://www.ukip.org/ukip_manifesto_summary
          Probably worth a read before you post again.

             16 likes

          • RJ says:

            I’m not a member of UKIP and my view of the party is largely formed by the reporting of it by the BBC.

            The BBC tell me that UKIP is a one-man band with Nigel Farage as the only personality. Therefore, it must have a very talented team running it.

            The BBC tells me that UKIP has only one policy – to get us out of the EU. Therefore, UKIP must have a detailed manifesto position on most issues of any importance.

            The BBC tells me that members of UKIP are lunatics, fruitcakes and closet racists. Therefore, the party must be composed of a representative cross-section of the UK population – normal to a boring degree.

            The default position of any intelligent person has to be that the truth is always the opposite of whatever propaganda line the BBC is pushing. Once that fact has been properly understood the world makes sense again.

               31 likes

            • Twizzle says:

              RJ, you’ve got it…in the end.

              Psychology. This is phycological warfare….and it bends people’s minds. Came to me about 10 years ago under the last traitor’s administration. Blair that is if I wasn’t making myself clear. Here we had a government that completely and utterly destroyed any meaning on immigration numbers and allowed any chancer into the country who felt like giving it a try. Cultural suicide.

              And yet we were told from every orifice of the political and mainstream media elite that Blair held ‘the centre ground’. Elections could only be won by holding ‘the centre ground’. And I thought to myself that there has never been an instance in recorded history where a sovereign nation decided to commit suicide in such a manner…and yet that was now ‘the centre ground’.

              Of course it wasn’t…and still isn’t ‘the centre ground’. It’s radical beyond words. But the average Brit wants to be part of the herd and therefore, if you tell a lie often enough, however big, it becomes the truth. And anyone who disagrees with ‘the centre ground’ must, obviously, be either far left or, more commonly, ‘far right. Or, of course, ‘a conspiracy theorist’…or ‘tin foil hat wearer’.

              So now, in effect, only ‘nutters could possibly disagree with the consensus view….’the centre ground’.

              This is happening everywhere. Blair was a ‘liberal’…or so we are told. Do liberals make up stories and tell lies to Parliament to ensure the country goes to war in Iraq? And kill not only hundreds of their own servicemen and women but probably millions of innocent Iraqi’s. Do ‘liberals’ bomb a country back into the stone age with absolutely no authority from any international organisation, arm IS in Libya and say ‘we did the right thing’?

              They are not liberals. They are fascists. But ‘they’re representing the centre ground’.

                 12 likes

          • Geoff says:

            The guy/gal is a troll, the type that never fails to turn up in the comments on any Dan Hogdes bile filled anti UKIP Telegraph rant.

            The only parties his/her type float between are the Labour party and the Green party or possibly even the SWP….

               7 likes

          • 7Clubs says:

            It is a pleasant surprise to read UKIP`s 2015 Energy Policy – but why am I unaware of it? I get most of my politics from the Spectator ,Political Betting website,The Daily Politics and What the papers say on BBC news and Sky News.Is it the media or Farage `s fault? The establishment`s Green policies = loss of jobs and fuel poverty with the risk of regular power cuts.There have to be a lot of votes out there if one can get that message through combined with the simple idea that if global warming exists it is utopian to believe one can stop it without a huge fall in the worlds population and as such the pain low income people will get from establishment green policies is pointless.And if Suzanne Evans was responsible for UKIP`s manifesto which I assume you admire then why is Farage trying to bully her like it seems every other potential UKIP rival to Farage over the years.Farage is a quick thinking driven and resilient individual but he is also a megomaniac as witness a photo i saw of this years conference with a group wearing tie-shirts with the slogan `Nigel says No` – the sort of stuff one expects from North Korea

               3 likes

            • Angrymanupnorth says:

              Lots of ‘pleasant surprises’ the more you hear and read from UKIP. You are unaware of it because the media are good at what they do – obfuscate, on behalf of LibLabCon, especially Labour. As soon as the UKIP manifesto was published earlier in the year, the BBC closed down discussion on policy (save Andrew Neil’s contributions). Should you wish to understand the nature of the propaganda, and its effect on your awareness, review some open threads on this website from January to May 7th this year, read the UKIP manifesto and consider whether you think the BBC succeeded in providing the public an impartial understanding of UKIP’s policies and candidates.

                 16 likes

  28. Thoughtful says:

    Two teenage boys have been arrested in connection with a fire at a mosque complex in south London.

    The youths, aged 16 and 14, were arrested earlier on Sunday on suspicion of arson at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden.

    How convenient, now they won’t have to name them and there’ll certainly be no descriptions either. I’ll be very surprised if they’re not Muslim though, and possibly the agents of older other adults who would have been named.

       32 likes

  29. Thoughtful says:

    I wonder if when the BBC produced the Doctor Who episode “the unquiet dead” that it would be a very close parallel to the migrant crisis today.

    The story concerns a life form called the Gelth living in the Gas pipe and taking the dead as host bodies for a short time.

    “The blue vapors fill the room and reveal that they are the remains of the Gelth, a once-corporeal alien race until they were devastated by the Time War. They plead with the Doctor to open the rift that exists in the basement of the parlour and allow them to cross over. The Doctor offers the Gelth temporary use of the corpses until he can transport them to a place where they can build new bodies, using Gwyneth as a bridge to cross the Rift.”

    Being a true looney liberal the Doctor agrees to them coming to the Earth despite opposition from Rose.

    “Gwyneth stands in the middle of an arch and opens the rift, allowing the Gelth to cross over. The number of Gelth is much greater than anticipated, and their true motive is revealed: they intend to kill the living to give themselves more hosts and take over the planet. One of the animated bodies strangles Sneed to death, allowing another Gelth to possess his body. Dickens flees the parlour, and Rose and the Doctor are trapped in a part of the basement.”

    The Doctor recues the situation by returning all the migrants whence they came and everyone lives happily ever after !

    I doubt that had the writer Mark Gatiss proposed this scrip today it would not have been produced.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unquiet_Dead

    Apparently there was criticism along similar lines:

    ” Doctor Who novelist and Faction Paradox creator Lawrence Miles posted a scathing review of “The Unquiet Dead” on the Internet within an hour of its broadcast, focusing on a perceived political subtext suggesting that asylum seekers (the Gelth) are really all evil and out to exploit liberal generosity (the Doctor). He criticised the script for promoting xenophobia and “claiming that all foreigners were invaders”, especially as the top stories in the news were about immigration into Britain. The review produced considerable backlash on the Internet, mainly over his comments about writer Mark Gatiss. Miles was personally contacted and ran into trouble with his publishers. Miles deleted the review and posted a revision, though the original is still available on another of his websites.”

       16 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      Hmmm. As I recall, almost every single episode of the Jon Pertwee Dr Who era was about aliens trying to take over the earth. There was me thinking it was just a perennial theme of science fiction. But perhaps it was all meant to be a subtle critique of Kenyan Asians fleeing from Idi Amin? Heads should roll for this racism!

         18 likes

      • Arthurp says:

        Obviously not an aficionado then. If you do research you will find that the second doctor was exiled to earth and forced to use up one of his regenerations.

        Thus Jon Pertwee was stuck on earth – which rather limited potentials for stories. He was pardoned at the end of ‘The 3 Doctors’ (and the Tardis’s dematerialisation circuit restored) for having saved the Timelords.

        (This was my first ‘Doctor’. Best Story ‘Pyramids of Mars’ (even if you see a technician’s hand putting back a cushion when Sutekh stands up))

        Best story of 4th Doctor (and probably the best ever of the old series) “Genesis of the Daleks” – enter Davros – and The Doctor moralising if he has the right to destroy the daleks.

           2 likes

        • Cranmer says:

          Arthurp, I wouldn’t call myself an aficionado but I was aware of the Doctor’s exile on earth. However, alien invasion stories are a common theme in sci-fi, and also featured in a few of the earlier Patrick Troughton episodes. I seem to recall one Dr Who writer saying that alien invasion of earth stories were popular with the BBC because it meant they didn’ t have to spend lots of money on sets, they could just use Ealing Broadway as a location!

          Propaganda in Dr Who is fairly common though. Remember all the feminist stuff with Sarah Jane Smith? Then in the ‘new’ Dr Who we had an entire story which was a thinly disguised critique of Blair and the Iraq invasion (from a left wing perspective, of course!)

             3 likes

    • Peter Sausages says:

      DR Who is now shite…ah the glory days of Jon Pertwee

         9 likes

  30. Lobster says:

    Cranmer, why do I keep thinking of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown?

       12 likes

  31. CCE says:

    Here is a fable worthy of the 21st century.

    A farmer picked up a viper that was half-dead from the cold. When the farmer had warmed the viper, the viper uncoiled and grabbed hold of the man’s hand and with a fatal bite, he killed the man who had wanted to save him. As he was dying, the man spoke some words that are well worth remembering: ‘Well, I got what I deserve for having shown kindness to a scoundrel!’

       25 likes

  32. Angrymanupnorth says:

    BBC Bias, pro-EU, obfuscation extending over a period 40+ years shock! The truth must be shared, so please feel free to share this!

    Yes, the BBC has been complicit in the enslavement of the good people of the UK for many years, through the perpetuation of ignorance. The BBC gets well paid by the EU to undertake this task. But do you know.eu whether we should leave.eu ?

    Sometimes Tony Benn was right. Whatever your political affiliations, Tony Benn was honest, he respected our democracy* and the people. He held dear the birth rights of our children, had an understanding of our history and saw our land, our ‘sceptred isle’ as a common treasury, for everyone to share. He served in World War II and lost a brother to it, as countless others lost brothers and sisters. He also regarded Gordon Brown as a liar, a thief (of the people’s sovereignty), anti-democratic and an architect of a return to a ‘medieval’ enslaving form of government. But don’t take my word for it. From the lips of the man himself:

    Tony Benn also met Oswald Mosely (Labour MP) when he (Benn) was 3. He knew fascism was born of the authoritarian far left ‘central planning’ ideology, to which Hitler provided a corporatist twist. Orwell knew this too. What is it about the left and their love of Big Government that produces murderous dictators? Well, I could suggest that Hayek did explain it in his classic book ‘The Road to Serfdom’, but it contains too many inconvenient truths for the dogmatists and careerists of the Left, who perenially ignore man’s desire for freedom in favour of manipulating his fears.

    Benn explains the Establishment’s contempt for democracy and for the people, and expresses his contempt for them in his usual matter of fact style in relation to the treachery of Heath and Wilson, facilitated by the most powerful influencer of the people – the BBC. Unfortunately, too many Brits don’t understand the mechanism of the EU establishment and have, up to now blindly supported their own enslavement (through voting LibLabCon). I hope Jeremy Corbyn and his followers seek recourse to the wise words of Tony Benn, Michael Foot and the more considerate of their fellow political comrades, and vote to leave the EU.

    Would Benn have been able to see the obvious benefits that British people would enjoy on ‘Brexit’? More freedom, more security, sustainability, increased world trade, increased productivity, increased business confidence, no TTIP, better environmental protection, energy security, food security, agriculture boom, fisheries boom, democratic representation resulting in improved public engagement, etc, the list goes on. The positive message of these natural consequences, which clearly are not obvious to all, will need to be shared. [NHS workers and users should note that in the recent vote on the ‘secret’ text of TTIP in the European Parliament, all Labour MEP’s voted For, Conservatives all abstained, and only UKIP represented the interests of the people and their NHS by voting against. Do the Labour membership even know this? Does Len McCluskey?].

    You won’t get the positive message from the BBC, whether from the unpredictable Jeremy Corbyn, (who the BBC have got in their sight’s, in case Corbyn goes all ‘ Leave.eu ’ on them), John Redwood, Philip Davies, Nigel Farage, Kate Hoey, Douglas Carswell, David Nuttal, or A.N.Other in the disperate assortment of patriotic and honorable MP’s.

    The BBC will give a platform to Europhile MPs , the CBI and other corporatists, (whose salaries / funding depend on the existence of the EU/ the state) and their tactics will be the spread of fear and lies, founded in their own greed, ignorance, arrogance and self-engrandisement. This in the face of announcements by the likes of Vauxhall and Nissan, that a potential Leave vote does not trouble them, nor effect their business plans. Please name these paid EU Lobbyists (+job title and who pays them) as they appear, and log instances of their bias on the Biased BBC website. Ken Clarke, for one, must have a bedroom in BBC Towers!

    (*his views appear inconsistant on the issue of democracy for the population of Northern Ireland )

       12 likes

    • RJ says:

      The Janet Daley article in today’s Telegraph makes it clear that if you want the UK to be a democracy you need to support us getting out of the EU.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/11893594/If-the-era-of-democracy-is-over-in-Europe-its-time-for-Britain-to-get-out.html

         22 likes

      • Dover Sentry says:

        Thanks to RJ for posting. The Telegraph article makes it clear that the EU bosses are not elected. Yet they are more powerful that the democratically elected heads of European countries.

        Ironically, the EU was supposedly created to prevent Democracy creating a tyrant European state, such as Germany in the 1930’s when Hitler was Democratically elected.

        What do we have now? Germany telling east European members that if they don’t comply with the Immigration Directive, that they will forfeit monetary funding.

        That’s not right in my view.

        ..

           24 likes

        • RJ says:

          When I first realised how dangerous the EU was/is I was worried about Britain being governed from Brussels. Now I’m more worried about it being governed from Berlin.

             10 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Funny you should have posted this because that’s exactly what the BBC did on the Today program at 07:35 with Labour being attacked, quite aggressively over their position on the EU, and even though who ever it was being interviewed kept saying Corbyn wanted to stay in, it wasn’t good enough, and accusations were made that he had changed his mind before, and could do so again.

         4 likes

  33. Thoughtful says:

    “The Janet Daley article in today’s Telegraph makes it clear that if you want the UK to be a democracy you need to support us getting out of the EU.”

    I’ll be very surprised if Cameron allows the UK referendum at all given the antics of Mad Merkel and the hoards of bogus asylum seekers.
    Cameron wants an in vote, pure & simple, it would in his eyes destroy UKIP and those supporters would come back to the Tory fold. An out vote might strengthen & vindicate UKIP drawing even more support away from the Tories.

    I’ll limit immigration – didn’t
    I’ll give you an EU referendum ?? wouldn’t the first whopper he’s told.

       14 likes

  34. Steve Jones says:

    Here’s hoping the Labour Party implodes very publicly this week. I shall enjoy watching the BBC contort itself over Comrade Corbyn’s pronouncements as it tries its best to spin them into good news for the nation stories.

       13 likes

  35. Thoughtful says:

    https://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/german-authorities-use-morally-dubious-measures-to-evict-its-own-citizens-from-their-homes-to-fill-them-with-refugees/

    The Muslim issue telling us the stories the BBC doesn’t want to tell us.

    Hot on the heels of Sweden evicting people from their homes so they can give them to foreign invaders, Germany is doing the same.

    Hamburg city officials say that owners of vacant real estate have refused to make their property available to the city on a voluntary basis, and thus the city should be given the right to take it by force.

    “The proposed confiscation of private land and buildings is a massive attack on the property rights of the citizens of Hamburg. It amounts to an expropriation by the state [and a] “law of intimidation.” — André Trepoll, Christian Democratic Union.

    “If a property is confiscated… a lawsuit to determine the legality of the confiscation can only be resolved after the fact. But the accommodation would succeed in any event.” — Tübingen Mayor Boris Palmer.

    Officials in North Rhine-Westphalia seized a private resort in the town of Olpe to provide housing for up to 400 migrants
    “I find it impossible to understand how the city can treat me like this. I have struggled through life with grief and sorrow and now I get an eviction notice. It is a like a kick in the stomach.” — Bettina Halbey, 51-year-old nurse, after being notified that she must vacate her apartment so that migrants can move in.

    The landlord is being paid 552 euros ($617) for each migrant he takes in. By cramming as many migrants into his property as possible, he stands to receive payments of more than 2 million euros a year from government.

    “Considering that migrants cannot afford to rent new properties… moves must be initiated in which higher income households purchase or build more expensive accommodations for themselves in order to free up the less expensive housing for migrants.” — The Berlin Institute for Urban Development, the Housing Industry and Loan Associations

    “I saw an unbelievable situation: the elderly volunteer lifted the table halfway, looked at the migrant and moved his head asking the migrant to lend a hand. The migrant paused for a moment and then just walked away.” — Firsthand account, refugee shelter.

    An awful situation, and one which is set to be repeated here when the Tories bring the 20000 migrants into the UK.

       41 likes

  36. Angrymanupnorth says:

    The BBC is inhabited by fools.

    The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10-2.

    Douglas Murray concurs and gives Kirsty Wark a name-check:

    http://life.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/why-tories-get-a-hard-time-on-the-beeb/

    What is left and right? Could it be: Left = Unthinking and Right = Thinking?

    One thing is for sure. The BBC’s left wing bias is undeniable, unless you are unthinking that is.

       21 likes

    • RJ says:

      “What is left and right? Could it be: Left = Unthinking and Right = Thinking?”

      If you listen to how BBC staff structure their interviews their standard question is “What do you feel about……?”. I wish they’d occasionally ask “What do you think about…..?”. These days they want emotion not thought.

         20 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      You should have also included the 3rd verse:

      2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
      but the heart of the fool to the left.

      3 Even as fools walk along the road,
      they lack sense
      and show everyone how stupid they are

         4 likes

  37. Thoughtful says:

    A sick joke but more evidence of what billions of petro dollars will buy you:

    Saudi Arabia Elected Chair of UN Human Rights Council Panel

    The country which executes more of its citizens per head than any other – twice as many executions than the USA. Where being Gay carries the death penalty and the practice of other religions is a criminal offence.

    “It is scandalous that the UN chose a country that has beheaded more people this year than ISIS to be head of a key human rights panel,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. “Petro-dollars and politics have trumped human rights.”

    “Saudi Arabia has arguably the worst record in the world when it comes to religious freedom and women’s rights, and continues to imprison the innocent blogger Raif Badawi,” Neuer added.

    http://blog.unwatch.org/index.php/2015/09/20/saudi-arabia-wins-bid-to-behead-of-un-human-rights-council-panel/

    How much more evidence will it take to convince some of you that Western leaders have been bought by the Sunni Muslim oil rich states ?

       28 likes

    • GCooper says:

      “How much more evidence will it take to convince some of you that Western leaders have been bought by the Sunni Muslim oil rich states ? ”

      Something better than this, for a start.

      The Saudis weren’t put on this council by ‘Western leaders’ but by the usual bunch of psychopaths, kleptocrats, fascists, communists, tribal lunatics and all the rest of that satanic tapestry that makes up the UN – and which is why it is an abhorrent, worthless organisation.

      I don’t suppose any even half-aware observer doubts that the Saudis buy influence, but seeing them in every shadow is too simplistic. There are other bad guys in the world, too.

         15 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        “Something better than this, for a start.”

        There is more prima Facie evidence for the Political Bribing than there was for the bribing of FIFA by the Qatari’s. These are not stupid people and they don’t advertise what they’re doing! They’re not going to ever let you see “Something better than this, for a start.”

        The attitude that you need “Something better than this, for a start.” means that there’ll never be an investigation, and it will continue unchecked.

        It isn’t this one isolated event, but a series of them which all have the finger pointed towards corruption.

        I don’t see them in every shadow, but when policy towards Muslims appears to be so incredibly counter intuitive and in direct opposition to their countries interests, then there has to be a reason.

           8 likes

        • GCooper says:

          But the syndrome doesn’t solely apply to Muslims. It is the liberal’s knee-jerk response to any ‘other’. Thus blacks are favoured over whites, Irish over English, the disabled over the able and on and on and on. It is a Gramscian idea designed to subvert ‘bourgeois’ society.

          Janet Daley once described it as an auto-immune disease in which the self-styled ‘progressive’ attacks and destroys itself. I am sure she was quite right.

             15 likes

          • Thoughtful says:

            That might be true, but thankfully most of the Wests leaders are not the people who you describe. Merkel for one certainly isn’t a leftie liberal, and her party is regarded as right of centre, and yet she has had a complete U turn on Islam. One month she declares it ‘incompatible with Western values’ the following month, everyone who says Islam is incompatible with Western values is an unacceptable right winger – re Pegida. Why the complete reversal of belief? Then of course there is the opening of Germanys borders to Muslim invaders. Once a politician is compromised it’s fairly easy to force them to do the most incredible, unacceptable things.

               7 likes

          • Cranmer says:

            Mrs Daley makes an excellent point, then. It’s a very good conceit. We can already see the left beginning to destroy itself with ‘doublethink’ – ie, that everything should be ‘progressive’ except radical Islam, which is allowed full exemption. If such exemption continues to grow, however, eventually radical Islam will start to destroy progressive leftism.

               6 likes

  38. nogginator says:

    BBC 3-
    ” A TEAM of undercover journalists are hoping to prove ( 😀 )that the nation is still prejudiced towards ethnic minorities as part of BBC Three’s race season. Is Britain Racist? will see the group staging a string of situations with people of different races to examine how the general public reacts.
    Producers believe the programme will illustrate how race still impacts major decisions in people’s lives, “from those we do business with to those we end up marrying”. The documentary is expected to air this month as part of BBC Three’s race season. The programme claims to reveal how race still impacts major decisions in people’s lives, “from those we do business with to those we end up marrying”. It will be funded out of BBC Three’s £30million budget to make shows once it is shut down as a TV channel and re-launched as an online only service from January”
    Obviously BBC default position … we are racist

       22 likes

    • GCooper says:

      And yet never the obvious question. Is racism inescapable? Are we hard-wired for it?

         11 likes

    • David Brims says:

      ” Is Britain Racist? ” Yes, the BBC is very anti white.

         29 likes

      • nogginator says:

        With that vary narrative in mind, Dave the BBC this morning has a prolonged piece on the … Far Right Far Right, on the Victoria Derbyshire Show.
        Yep! … in typical nauseating BBC fashion, this prolonged piece, starts with their usual UAF narrative as a a voice of reason?, first from … Hope Not Soap, on to a string of Islamic voices, all bleating Islamofauxbia.
        Shamefully on to Rotherham, to hear more Islamic voices and surprise surprise … nothing to do with Islam.
        There is, interspersed clips from Britain First demo s, usually with a detrimental voiceover.
        Their are small selected clips from Britain First organisers, and then goes onto an Imam who blames any anti Islamic feeling on …… the media!, he preaches in Luton, (yep … that haven of peace), and was trained in Yemen and Syria.
        Later, there is to be more BBC shock and horror, as apparently Britain First choose to use “social media” ?
        … yes its appalling, why don t they just choose to use the BBC eh! …. no wait! 😀

           11 likes

        • nogginator says:

          Like them or not, agree with them or not they should be allowed to protest
          They are a political party, failure to address the very pertinent, glaringly obvious, deeply problematic issues, that they raise, has given them such an enormous mail list.
          Issues ignored by a spineless, supine Government more interested in vilifying the poorest/most vulnerable, lining their own pockets with Saudi lucre, and selling out our nation.
          These issues are growing . .. they are not going away, “shooting the messenger” in fact any messenger
          will not cut it.
          IE You re ‘radical’ for drawing a picture of Mohamhead?
          If the bloody BBC would have done their job and ran the cartoons instead of cowering, stop equating our required freedom of expression, with an intolerant cult that only wants to destroy it, then this brave woman, and the few like her wouldn’t have to.

             5 likes

    • IsItMe says:

      Could be “interesting” if a BBC journalist went undercover in the Muslim community to find out what they really think of “us”. I’m not sure it would fit their narrative, though.

         20 likes

    • 60022Mallard says:

      “… prejudiced towards …” is an interesting choice of words.

      It certainly seems to describe the BBC approach!

         8 likes

  39. Al Shubtill says:

    “It is inherent in all of us at birth, to favour those who are most like ourselves.”

       16 likes

    • Geoff says:

      And the instinct to protect what what is yours.

      If we took Varoufakis’ notion that borders are absurd one stage further, does this mean that we should rip down all the fences, walls and doors that protect us and our property and say to all ‘come on in take our beds, take our food?’

         22 likes

      • manchesterlad says:

        I’m pretty sure you can’t see rapes from space. Does he think, therefore, that rape is not a crime, perhaps it shouldn’t be prosecuted?

           17 likes

  40. The Active Citizen says:

    As usual I’ve enjoyed reading many of the thoughtful contributions on this site in the last few days. However let’s stand back for a moment…

    Whilst the vast majority of people reading this post will share a conviction that the BBC and almost all mainstream media outlets are now inherently and demonstrably biased to a wholly unacceptable degree, we’ve conspicuously failed to effect change. I include myself in this implied criticism.

    It is not, of course, a real criticism at all, so please don’t immediately get defensive! I realise many of you will have done things to try to tackle the problem in a variety of ways. Even by coming to this site and reading the articles and posts, you’re in the minority of people who care about this country having a broadly fair and unbiased media and who are sufficiently engaged to read and post about it.

    It’s clear from opinion polls that the General Public often disagrees with the pulp we’re fed daily, but most people have other priorities in their daily lives. They might care, but they don’t have time to man the barricades or to take the fight to the opposition.

    If we ask ourselves “Have the BBC and other media organisations become more or less biased in the last ten, twenty years?”, we all know the answer. On that basis we’ve failed.

    The real question should perhaps be “How can we re-establish a fair and unbiased media in the UK, starting with the BBC News & Current Affairs Department?”

    I wondered if perhaps the site owners would allow a permanent thread to be set up, allowing those with practical suggestions to start putting forward ideas. This would not be a general comments thread; it would be limited to posts containing practical suggestions to effect real change, and comments thereon.

    I must stress that the purpose of the thread would be to post pragmatic ideas for the dismantling of the inherent, systematic, and deeply-embedded bias in contained in the majority of the BBC’s News & Current Affairs output. The spin-off benefit of any change would be the eventual effect on all other broadcasters and print organisations.

    My personal opinion is that the Beeb is now beyond help. I fear we need to dismantle it in a radical fashion and start over. However that doesn’t get us anywhere.

    A more pragmatic approach might be (for example) to seek parliamentary action to embody a statutory duty of impartial reporting for all staff working within BBC News & Current Affairs. Yes, I realise that this is fraught with difficulties. Who would judge this and on what criteria, etc, etc. However surely it could be looked at?

    We could invite guest articles by people like Sir Bill Cash and like-minded colleagues. They might even be interested in offering suggestions for strategies which had a decent chance of turning into practical measures.

    I’m probably whistling in the wind. This has doubtless been proposed before.

    However I don’t want to find myself in another ten years’ time, bemoaning an even greater level of bias in the UK’s news output, and finding ourselves like certain EU countries who seem to be well on the way to censoring all opposing views to those of the establishment.

       29 likes

    • Steve Jones says:

      The best way to police the BBC would be to make it a subscription service. When people start voting with their feet the BBC would have to take notice or go out of business. The current model, whereby the BBC is guaranteed a huge income, has turned it into the bloated, arrogant and inefficient organisation you would expect given they don’t have to compete in the open market.

         33 likes

      • ObiWan says:

        Said it before; I’ll say it again – a paid-for digital subscription model is the only sensible route for the BBC. The license fee today is an indefensible insult and a tax-by-any-other-name. It simply has to go.

        The BBC are entirely unrepresentative of the general population, they are biased towards their (un)progressive agenda, they fail (consistently and wilfully) to honour in any meaningful sense their remit for ‘impartiality’ on a host of major issues from climate change, the EU to immigration, etc. They are unaccountable, way too powerful as a result of their public funding and see themselves as ‘setting the news agenda’ for the UK and beyond.

        This is not a healthy situation for any of us, assuming we really do live in a free democracy.

        Once the BBC becomes a paid-for subscription service it can adopt any political stance, pump out all the (un)progressive (il)liberalism it wants, and I wouldn’t give a rats. People who want that kind of toxic propaganda are welcome to pay for it.

        The rest of us can spend our TV bucks elsewhere. I don’t always agree with Sky (their immigration coverage has been obscene, for instance), but at least I know I can cancel their service and stop paying for them at any time without fear of being sent to jail for having done so.

           14 likes

        • Doublethinker says:

          I agree 100% that the only practical way to sort out the BBC is to make a subscription service with the subscription set at the current level of the LF and to rise ( fall ?) with inflation. There is no possible valid ‘moral’ argument against this. The BBC try to convince people that somehow what they term ‘universality’ is vital and therefore everyone should pay for the corporation regardless of whether they take the service or not. This is a spurious argument and a desperate attempt to shore up the defence against subscription.
          I have heard Mr Whittingdale say that it would many years and cost too much to install the necessary equipment in the nation’s homes to allow the BBC to become a subscription service. Personally, because I loath the BBC so much, I would be prepared to pay for the ‘necessary equipment’ myself provided that I no longer had to pay the LF as a result, ie I would pay to opt out. ( I assume that one year of the LF would pay for this and of course the BBC would get none of this money). If you chose to keep the BBC service then you would just keep on paying the LF. I realise that ‘paying to opt out’ is morally indefensible and giving people an incentive to keep on subscribing to the BBC , but it is one way to overcome the timid objections that Mr Whittingdale raises.

             6 likes

      • Beltane says:

        When you realise that the BBC is as institutionally biased by and as fully dependent on a newspaper with less than 3% of overall UK circulation for its research, thought processes, staffing loyalties and ‘expert’ opinions, closing down the Guardian would be an effective start.

           13 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        It is a total cop-out for Whittingdale and others to say that going to a subscription-based model is too complicated and expensive and would take too long. That is playing the old Whitehall game of The Principle of Unripe Time – “It is a very good idea, Minister – but not yet”

        The present licence fee is harshly regressive and morally indefensible.

        All that is needed is to set a timeframe for the introduction of subscription – say 4 or 5 years – which gives the BBC ample time to sort out the readily-available technology. Heck – Sky have been locking their services by encryption for 25 years !

        In the meantime the licence fee should be cut significantly – forcing the BBC to concentrate on core services, say 2 TV channels (they can hardly fill even one channel with OK content !) and 2 or 3 radio channels, a greatly-reduced website and all sorts of other dross cut out.

        There may be a case for having a very basic licence fee – say £20 a year – after 5 years, to be divided between all the TV stations for anything that is purely “public service” and that would not otherwise be provided. £20 max. per annum – or just fund it out of general taxation. Such programming would be unencrypted.

        End-result – we preserve true “public service broadcasting”, and the market rules the rest. Drastic reduction in prosecutions of the poor, the BBC is forced to pay attention to what its audiences want – and don’t want. A fairer playing field for local news, and the BBC no longer having huge domination of news provision.

        What Whittingdale should be looking for is a solution FOR THE PEOPLE. Not a cowardly solution FOR THE BBC.

        But so far – Whittingdale looks chicken.

           10 likes

        • Geoff says:

          I agree, but the problem is who funds the purchase of new equipment, millions of TV’s, set top boxes and PVRs become redundant almost overnight, are the public yet again expected to fork out to update their technology? The public outcry is what Whittingdale fears.

          It must be remembered that Greg Dyke on the inception of Freeview circa 2001 blocked the facility of encoding the signal, he knew full well what he was doing.

          If operating on the Sky model and supplying free viewing equipment to subscribers, no way could the yearly licence be as cheap as £20.

          How would you encrypt radio stations? Think of the millions of radios in cars.

             8 likes

          • John Anderson says:

            Geoff – you are right that the BBC acted deliberately to try to avoid encryption. So the problems you list were caused by the BBC – bloody well let them fix them, find solutions.

            My argument is – give 5 years notice of the change. Time enough for the BBC to be able to source cheap boxes and sort out all the technical issues. Their “new” box could and should include all the Freeview services ?

            When they start selling their subscription service – the box comes free from the BBC. Just like Sky will give you a free box if you sign on.

            True “public service” broadcasting would be unencrypted – so available to ALL current users.

            Of course – one political benefit of a switch to subscription is that there would be a reduction in the compulsory “BBC taxation”. Isn’t lower taxes a Tory mantra ? When I put forward proposals for privatising BT back in 1982, the main case was aimed at getting more competition and more efficiency, but there was also the argument that selling BT would reduce the income tax.

            My ideas above are a compromise. The ideal would be to phase out the licence tax but also to privatise the BBC. All the Royal Charter stuff is a load of garbage these days, just an excuse for feather-bedding umpteen thousand BBC staff and managers and preserving a de facto news monopoly that is totally biased.

               5 likes

          • ObiWan says:

            “…I agree, but the problem is who funds the purchase of new equipment, millions of TV’s, set top boxes and PVRs become redundant almost overnight, are the public yet again expected to fork out to update their technology? The public outcry is what Whittingdale fears.”

            This is where I struggle to understand the problem (if one exists at all). I have a Sky box. If I don’t subscribe to a channel it isn’t available on my Sky box. Surely the BBC can just make their transmissions unavailable to those who haven’t chosen to subscribe to them?

            Where is this ‘problem’? Why would anyone have to update their technology – it all exists at the moment.

               5 likes

            • Geoff says:

              You need the Sky box to get that channel, the problem being that you’ll need a ‘BBC Box’ to get BBC channels, who funds that box? You paid for the Sky box at sometime through your Sky subscription.
              Yes the Sky platform could be used, but not everybody can or even want a dish stuck on the side of their property.

              Don’t get me wrong, I want subscription bBC, but Dykes actions early on have not made it not a simple or cheap one to bring about.

                 6 likes

              • John Anderson says:

                Geoff

                The BBC must wrap the cost of the new box into their subscription charge. Just as Sky does.

                A lot of people are on cable so would not need boxes – they could pay the subscription for BBC channels to the cable operator Virgin Media, who would organise the subscription control and charge a fee for this to the BBC. Just like what happens to other channels delivered over cable.

                   4 likes

                • Geoff says:

                  Yes but Sky are charging anywhere between £30 to £100 ppm more for clubs and pubs and also have a revenue from advertising, that’s easy to absorb the cost of a PVR, but £8 a month cannot fund a PVR and programming.

                  Cable users are minimal.

                     3 likes

                  • John Anderson says:

                    Cable users are NOT minimal ! There are millions of them in the UK. Many cable users would be happy to add the BBC subscription-service to their cable tariff, they would not need an extra box – Virgin Media would simply allocate some of their spare channels to the BBC feed.

                    Sourcing a mass supply of basic “BBC-only BOXES” for off-air reception should not be expensive – £20 to £50 ? The BBC should be told to sort this out – it is their future. And they can then include the moderate cost in their subscription charge – or cover some of it from the licence fees that would continue for 5 years.

                    If Sky and Virgin Media can source their “boxes” and include them in even their lowest-cost services, so can the BBC. That’s what all those overpaid managers are there for.

                    Whittingdale is exaggerating the difficulties – an an excuse for chickening out of changing the BBC in a radical manner.

                       5 likes

                • John Anderson says:

                  If the BBC were forced to go the subscription route – they could then move into the pay-per-view market. This could be a big opportunity for the BBC – it could let them start to get back into sports and movies, for example.

                     1 likes

                  • Geoff says:

                    I totally agree, but it ain’t going to happen.

                    Whittingdale should initially be looking at severve cost cutting, to ‘de-bloat’ the BBC of its superfluous channels and stations, not bend every time a closure is announced to the Twitterati, remove overlapping and seriously reform and curtail its news operation, namely just to report the FACTs and cull all unecessary management and controllers.

                    IMO the BBC’s MO needs to change and a brave government can do that without the complexities of subscription.

                       5 likes

                    • John Anderson says:

                      Geoff – I think subscription is the only way to get rid of the immoral BBC licence tax. But that is an add-on to forcing the BBC to de-bloat, as you say.

                      How much de-bloating ? Let the BBC decide – just cut the present licence fee in half and allow the BBC to decide its priorities ?

                      But Whittingdale doesn’t have the guts to go that far either ?

                         4 likes

          • John Anderson says:

            Geoff – if there was a continuing licence tax at say £20 per annum, that would help cover the cost of one or two BBC radio channels that could stay on open transmission, no need to change any home or car radios. If the BBC wants to run other radio stations – let them use advertising as the revenue source to avoid subscription and therefore encryption.

            For TV reception – there are 3 routes. Millions of people use cable, Virgin Media can carry the BBC channels and collect the subscriptions – charging a cost to the BBC. Likewise Sky might carry the BBC channels. Fort these users – no new “boxes” would be needed.

            Or the BBC could have its own boxes – and include the cost of the boxes in the subscription charge.

               4 likes

            • Geoff says:

              Only 294k households use only cable and 2.68 million Sky.

              75% of households use Freeview in one way or another, not to include the fact that most households have more than one TV set, thats a lot of ‘free’ TV boxes!

              Not feasible.

                 1 likes

              • John Anderson says:

                Geoff. I simply disagree.

                Virgin has some 4 million cable users. Nearly one-fifth of the total TV households.

                Sky has over 11 million users.

                In other words – the majority of UK TV households already have a “box” that could carry the BBC channels on a subscription basis.

                Problems are there to be solved. Stick the problem where it belongs – in the BBC’s lap.

                   5 likes

                • Geoff says:

                  Appols I read the figures incorrectly, they were for households that use Sky or Cable as their only viewing platform. But the fact remains that 75% use Freeview in one way or another, yes revenue could be gathered from Sky/Virgin, but who in their right mind is going to sign up for a Sky/Virgin package of £30 plus per month (minimum) just to watch TV? I wouldn’t.

                  Sky can also be a nightmare company to deal with over the phone.

                  In this household alone we have TV’s in the kitchen, and two bedrooms reliant on Freeview (not that we watch them) but technically they would need all need decoders.

                  We can argue all we want about bBC going subscription and as much as we want it, it ain’t going to happen under this government or the next!

                     0 likes

  41. AsISeeIt says:

    The so-called migrant crisis produced some of the worst publicity for the EU since the recent height of the Greek crisis

    Whilst BBC and other liberal media were slow to cotton on to this bad PR the opinion polls soon became clear – the BBC showed itself to be a devisive force in Britain – though as usual it was supported by its devotees on the Left, the bulk of ordinary people have been angered or at best unmoved by the BBC on the migrant issue. As I say, the BBC has been a divisive force in Britain.

    The BBC didn’t help its own cherished pro-EU cause.

    I assume the migrant crisis is on-going? You wouldn’t know it from BBC news reports today. Last night the Beeb battalions were out in force leering at the moon.

       24 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      News at ten yesterday only seemed to have a piece about gearing up for war in Syria, and that how Eurasia has always been at war with Ocea…er, I mean, Assad is now not quite our friend but also not so much of an enemy as he was before. Cut to image of hundreds of young men pouring across a border point and some Hungarians gassing them with commentary that (paraphrasing) ‘the war in Syria is causing the refugee crisis.’ No mention of the surveys claiming that only about half of the migrants going through Europe are Syrian.

         12 likes

  42. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC London this morning is where newsreader Asad Ahmad seems to think that the number one headline concern for our city is ‘… fears that the return of Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer may be delayed’

    Asad, between you and me, mate… the longer the better.

       35 likes

    • chrisH says:

      All well and good for us AsISee it?
      But the British BakeOff have used a months supply of fresh cream by way of his “Welcome Home” fondant in that big cake of theirs…and it won`t last forever….
      And what will happen to all that “vulnerable” ricin agent that Anjem told them to put in the recipe?
      Little joke for The Now Show-I`m sure they`ll be using it…

         12 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Then we have that other ‘Political Editor’ with a good old English name – Faisal Islam (hellooooo) Bad appointment by Sky, he has as much gravitas as my puppy’s tail. Far too lightweight for the job.

         5 likes

  43. Anders Thomasson says:

    BBC news web site magazine piece: “The Britons persecuted for being atheist”. Atheist myself and had the occasional run-in with religious types who don’t allow free will so I thought I’d have a read. You don’t need me to tell you that the piece was actually about muslims.

       15 likes

  44. 60022Mallard says:

    Anyone else listen to the 40 year old edition of the News Huddlines broadcast on Radio 4 extra at 8.30 a.m. (and problbly other times) yesterday?

    The BBC actually used to employ script writers that took the “michael” out of Harold, Jim and Co., and not just passing references!

       14 likes

  45. Sluff says:

    After last week’s ill-judged, ill-informed car crash interview with the lady Architect last week (who is apparently not everyone’s favourite but that’s neither here nor there) I briefly listened to Sarah Montague this morning interviewing John McDonnell. Was she sitting on a chair or sitting at his feet?
    Sounded like one of those reverential subservient interviews of MPs that used to happen in the 1950s.
    No follow up interrogative questions of course.
    I wonder if the Tories will get the same cushy ride next week? I doubt it. Not that I want them to, I just want them all to get the same treatment.

       22 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Carry on Hoping, there is no chance of equal treatment from the BBC. The further rightward the BBC label a party , and this is mainly determined by their stance of immigration, the more smears and inquisitorial questioning the party receives from the BBC.

         12 likes

  46. Cranmer says:

    Radio Four today has a play about the damage done by oil companies to some sort of Eskimo tribe in Alaska. The chief Eskimo is played by…wait for it….Jemma Redgrave!

       13 likes

    • DownBoy says:

      ‘Eskimo’ may well be deemed a derogatory term these days. Hard to keep up with the language police, I know, but these people may be termed ‘Inuit’ or ‘Native American’ or the latest I heard was ‘First Nation’.

         2 likes

      • Cranmer says:

        Downboy, it’s not as simple as that! The Wikipedia entry on how to refer to people north of the 49th parallel is very confusing – Eskimo isn’t necessarily a pejorative term. I tend to find this with most terms that the PC police insist you ‘can’t say anymore’. Another example are the older placenames of India – Bombay, Madras etc – which I believe are preferred by some Indians, as they consider the new ones to be Hindu-nationalist.

           4 likes

        • RJ says:

          I pronounce it esquimaux. If I don’t sound like I’m using an English word no one ever picks me up on it. The mind set seems to be that I can only be a racist if I’m using English words.

             3 likes

  47. Sluff says:

    Nice example of bias mentioned on the BBC HYS today. Paraphrasing Peston’s Corbyn article, post no 18 from Corbieres.
    They never really do any HYS on a Sunday, yet at 1800 yesterday they suddenly put up one on Corbynomics and within 1 minute there are several pro-Corbyn posts.
    Funny that.

       9 likes

  48. GCooper says:

    BBC R4 continues its heroic bid to outshine Radio Pyongyang as a beacon for socialist propaganda broadcasting. Hurrah!

    After lunch, in what should have been an entertaining programme about Sir Hans Sloane, the presenter simply couldn’t restrain himself from worming ‘global warming’ into his essay. What? No editor had the guts to tell him to stick to his subject? Don’t be silly…

    In the news that followed, 14 year old Labour MP, Anna Turley, took a break from her homework to breathlessly condemn the loss of jobs in Redcar, where the steel plant is being mothballed due to the ‘climate change’ legislation which, you can bet, the moron voted for. Was she questioned about her profound stupidity? Nope!

    All followed by the first of a week long series of plays preaching to us about why we should stop using oil and head back to the Stone Age when, of course, life was so much better.

    Just close it down.

       7 likes