Weekend open thread

 

Pillage and rape across Europe…the Guardian thinks this is ‘Christmas come early for xenophobes’ as if the crimes do not matter, whilst Peter Allen on the BBC wondered if it wasn’t just a case of bored young men full of energy….no doubt an energy that they have been prevented from using productively and positively by discrimination and racism.

Oh, and it’s all the police’s fault not the criminals themselves.

Any bias out there?  List away…..

 

 

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426 Responses to Weekend open thread

  1. taffman says:

    Surprise! Surprise !………
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35254574
    What is France and the totally useless EU Parliament doing about this ?

       11 likes

  2. Angrymanupnorth says:

    11.1.16. The BBC bias against the truth and the English language continues:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35254574

    In this piece, the BBC compare the views of (i) a professional counter terrorist expert and (ii) a charity ‘professional’ (Clare Moseley Care4Calais), giving weight to each of their views as to the potential for Calais to be a stopping point for returning jihadis.

    The article also continues to obfuscate the status of the occupants of the so called ‘Calais Jungle’, quoting Ms Moseley …..”You would have to be the world’s stupidest terrorist to try and enter Britain as a refugee, because when you come as a refugee you are subject to detailed background checks.” Ms Moseley may be a genuine human being, believing she is doing good deeds. The BBC (should) understand the legal situation and make it clear that there are no refugees in Calais. Knowing that there are no ‘refugees’ that are of UK concern in Calais, this clear ongoing bias against the truth appears to be deliberate BBC policy. France is deemed a safe country. If the non-European occupants of the Calais Jungle have not applied for asylum with the French authorities, they are, by definition, illegal immigrants. Or more pertinently, illegal immigrants that the French state has neither the capacity, or/nor the will to deal with in accordance with the law.

    Ms Moseley displays the typical leftist linguistic tactic of insulting the expert’s opinion as ‘ridiculous’ and dismissing it out of hand – and the BBC are only too happy to oblige in including this in their article.

    And for those who still don’t understand the futility of, and therefore the immorality of, unlimited and uncontrolled immigration, especially into a nation with the constraints of the UK, here’s an explanation from a guy who understands numbers and human demographics, using Gumballs. Get your self-righteous emotional knee-jerk responses out of serious politics! I’m talking to you Cumberbatch, Thompson, Geldof, BBC!

    Another must watch – for children and adults!

    We need competent people in government. And truthful people in our media. We need a sustainable immigration policy and full control of immigration and our borders.

    Vote UKIP. Scrap the Licence Fee.

       36 likes

    • Oaknash says:

      But what we need most of all is a national broadcaster who actually wants to tell the truth !

      We have a situation where large numbers of would be trainee gynacologists are running around European cities (practicing for their practical exams I suppose). And you just know our national broadcaster is in a hurry to move the story swiftly on and breakdown the debate by blurring the issue and focussing on anything other than what is actually happening – Interesting bearing in mind BBC core values are trust, being independant, impartial and honest.

      Also interesting – is that on this site all the usual BBC Imps and familiars have been very silent on this current story. Could this possibly be that the usual BBC smoke and mirrors debating style may not be very effective on this rather difficult to defend subject. Surely not!

      Amazing to think that seventy years ago our forebears fought a war to defend truth and freedom and yet we are now letting the invaders in by the front door and the main cheerleader being Aunty! Aunty is obviosly a bit of an old maid and understanably fancies a bit of enriching before she gets too old to enjoy it – god how depressing! Maybe Ms Mosely could take her down to the jungle camp for a bit of twin girl action – God how depressing this has all become!

      Call it decadence or call it apathy I dont know but at this time our future looks very very bleak – Never mind BBC can we have some more Strictly and some more footie please I dont want to know about the real world -thanks!

      Oh and is there honey still for tea?

         30 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Excellent clip of that lecture.

      What was most stunning to me was that he is talking about US immigration which is running at some 1 million per annum. One million for half the North American continent, which has a population of some 350 million ?

      Whereas under Labour and now rthe Tories we have been seeing some 600,000 immigrants a year. Crazy – of course this is overwhelming our social services and infrastructure, and making proper integration impossible – while damaging the employment and wage prospects of our indigenous people. Folly on a monstrous scale.

         22 likes

  3. BBC delenda est says:

    Partisan Government policies will slash Labour Party funds, reports IslamicAl-Beeb.

    Trade union members will be able to opt out of contributing to The Treason Party.

    New Government legislaton will stop the automatic “opt in” under which, for generations, cash has been extorted from unwilling members and transferred to our enemies.

    Cash milked and manipulated by generations of Soviet sympathisers and some Soviet agents, in their efforts to create “the future” in the UK.

    Naturally most of the funds, and most of the complaints, are from that ever resourceful, ever industrious, ever efficient, ever effective, ever creative, ever parsimonious, ever even-handed impartial neutral and unbiased, Public Sector. The natural home of the Marxist treason.

    No doubt there will be some strikes, not that we usually notice.

    Treason Party and treacherous Unions very unhappy.

    I welcome this.

       21 likes

  4. BBC delenda est says:

    John McDonnell has today claimed that Jeremy Corbyn is an ‘Arsène Wenger of politics’

    OrderOrder comment :-
    “Guido is sure Corbyn is over the moon to be compared to his team’s long-standing manager. In fairness, there are some striking similarities between the pair. Both play in red, both are getting on a bit, and neither stands a chance of winning anything any time soon.
    One thing’s for sure, he is not the special one…”

    Wenger never concedes that his team has committed a foul, he states that the rules do not apply to Arse(ene/al).
    Wenger cannot select, or tie, a tie. He usually looks as though his mother dressed him for school, using clothes designed centuries ago for someone of a different size.
    Wenger imports blacks into the UK in huge numbers.
    Wenger is an insufferable moaner, the world is against him and his team.
    Wenger’s utterances are delivered in unintelligible, proto-simian, grunts.
    Wenger is a hard-to-like unpleasant, miserable, dildo.

    Perhaps Corbyn and Wenger are the same person, I have never seen them together.

       20 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      One of the Wiltshire Newengers by chance?

         4 likes

    • embolden says:

      Perhaps he meant that he expected Jeremys team of reds, like Arsene Wengers team of reds, will fail to take the big prize for 15 years (and counting), will fall apart over Europe and be triumphalist about FA cup and community shield wins (the equivalent of winning by elections in Oldham).

         8 likes

    • Matt says:

      Hmm not sure that Mc Donald has the right guy surely he means Arseing W%nker the infamous KGB drains expert and Slurry machinist ? that deff sounds more Corby

         7 likes

  5. Dave666 says:

    It’s Monday and Breakfast starts the week with a projectile vomit of bias as usual. Well up until the breaking news news that David Bowie has passed away then everything gets dropped. Strange how they can in mid morning change the entire running order of the program but are unable to add a 10 second sentence on to a story because of time constraints. I’m still waiting for a reply to that by the way. Still let’s start where I turned on digital reception seems to have returned. Weather drone stood in London Wetlands I assume to show it’s raining backed by the “wetlands” angle. It’s going to get cold, I assume this is a product of global warming. Children in Hebden Bridge read their poems well two of them which seem to be remarkably similar. Fear ! Terror! Was it a flood, or a tsunami?Drone tells us “experts” say extreme weather events will get more common. Luce is reporting on the leaf eating rebels in Syria, and also comments on the snow capped mountains (snow so that’ll be cold, Right?) and shows us some film which of course they can’t verify but they’ll show us anyway. We re returned to misery vulture somewhere that has flooded and he informs us Experts say we can expect more rainin the future. Those “experts” certainly get around.Teaching recruitment crisis apparently their wages are so low no one else want to be a teacher, probably not enough holidays either. Standards may fall! LOL I asked our 17 year old nephew a few questions a few weeks ago. Did he know who Thatcher was? “An important Lady”, was the reply. Ever heard of John Major, Jim Callahan, Harold Wilson or Edward Heath. The answer is no. But I bet you know who Martin Luther King Jr was. Yes of course he does.

       29 likes

    • Al Shubtill says:

      I wonder if your nephew was told that Martin Luther King’s real name was Michael King who privately declared himself to be a Marxist and whose extensive involvement with Communism is ignored by the MSM. A committee at Boston University concluded that 45% of the first part and 21% of the second part of his doctoral theses were plagiarized, this usually would mean the revocation of his degree in divinity.

      “King” frequently used white and black prostitutes, paid for by church funds, and would often beat them; the night prior to his murder he spent with white prostitutes whom he beat. During this he was recorded by the F.B.I. saying –
      “I’m f*****g for God!” And “I’m not a negro tonight!” The FBI recordings and files on him were sealed for 50 years they were deemed so unfavourable to the civil rights hero.

         15 likes

      • Dave666 says:

        I didn’t ask but I could make an assumption.

           5 likes

      • wronged says:

        I would love to know your sources Al S as I so want this to be true. I do know that he got shot when he went outside for a smoke on the balcony which proves that the dictum SMOKING KILLS is indeed true.

        I wonder if the lefties will now try and pull down his statues and rename their streets and universities.

        I HAVE A DREAM that somehow they won’t.

           10 likes

        • Al Shubtill says:

          wronged:

          “The FBI & Martin Luther King” David Garrow
          “And The Walls Came Tumbling Down” R. Abernathy
          “Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65” Taylor Branch

             6 likes

          • wronged says:

            Many thanks. I appreciate that.

               1 likes

            • G.W.F. says:

              The speech about having a dream that one day people would be judged by their character, not by the colour of their skin, would not be accepted by the multicultists, who insist that people are to be judged by their ethnicity. Different rules for different communities. See the MacPherson Report where it clearly identifies support for a colour blind approach to the law as a form of institutional racism.

                 10 likes

      • Ian Rushlow says:

        “I have a dream… When little boys and girls are judged not on the colour of their skin… But on how much money their co-religionists from the Middle East contribute to the British government and its ministers…”

           14 likes

  6. Dave666 says:

    Oh yea I almost forgot Wolf Hall custumey novel drama bollox (didn’t watch it) won some award, which gave some one sorry didn’t notice who a license to plead with Cameroon not to take away the licence. Yea right.

       16 likes

  7. AsISeeIt says:

    News where you are BBC London-style and our Asad Ahmad taps into our shared David Bowie collective memory – he used to live in Brixton, you know (Bowie, not Asad- as far as we know).

    As Radio One DJs vie with one another to tell us how small and intimate a venue they last saw cultural icon Bowie, one ponders about our Asad’s cherrished recollections… does our Asad prefer the Ziggy Stardust period or is he a Let’s Dance man?

    Suddenly we realise multicultural Britain will never again have such shared cultural experiences.

    But lest we forget – BBC London morning news is 30% a plug for tonight’s Inside London show. Now this is interesting, an ex-cop is visiting the Jungle Calais and worrying about the do-gooders encouraging what to him looks like a serious terror security risk.

    Fear not do-gooders, our Asad gives a quick counter argument in favour of the migrants.

    Funny that, I don’t recall such quick rejoinders supplied by the BBC following their acres and acres of pro-migrant coverage. There’s a little bit of bias there.

       21 likes

    • Geoff says:

      I suppose I’d be a Let’s Dance man, but have to admit I never really got him and found his early stuff a little eerie.

      Is this another case of the emperors new clothes? I guess Radio 2 will be a no go zone today…

         17 likes

      • Dave666 says:

        Already it appears laughing gnome is being erased from history.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDJmRQ6LbZA

           6 likes

        • embolden says:

          I sometimes wondered if “laughing gnome” was a reference to the “gnomes (bankers and speculators) of Zurich” whose supposed role in the decline of Britain were viewed with deep suspicion in the 70s.

          “ha ha ha, hee hee hee, I`m a laughing gnome and you can`t catch me”,

          or whether it was to do with substance consumption.

             6 likes

      • Essexman says:

        Jerermy Wine, couldn’t ride his bike today because of the “shock” of Bowies death.I am Rod, Faces. Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, fan myself, more down to earth, Rock n Roll excess, rather than the artistic Rock star, which most of the BBC Gompertz mob from Islington worship.

           8 likes

      • neilw says:

        Emperors new clothes? Absolutely! He happened to emerge from art college at the right time and mixed with the ‘right’ people who put him on a pedestal. No different to Oscar Wilde in many respects, which Monty Python so accurately picked up on.

        I’m not saying he was talentless, but his talent appealed to the arty metropolitan types. He ticked all the BBC boxes, so was never going to be far from the limelight. On a personal note, I couldn’t abide his ‘music’ which was no doubt ‘inspired’ by illicit substances.

           10 likes

        • GCooper says:

          To be perfectly fair, these are criticisms that could be levelled against any popular media, not just the BBC. Fleet Street and all the broadcasters are running with this story as a major lead. Some may not like it, but it’s an accurate reflection of the media as a whole, not just the BBC.

             7 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            The BBC is supposedly uniquely funded not to be a sorry reflection of other media as a whole, but that is a boat long since sailed, sunk and lying at the bottom of the Marinas Trench.

               9 likes

            • GCooper says:

              It’s an arguable case but, as you say, the BBC hasn’t been anything apart from the rest of the media for decades.

              In any case, I’m not personally sure that cultural icons aren’t important. Bowie and his music meant nothing to me but I suspect I am in a minority.

                 3 likes

  8. Sluff says:

    Ref. the many comments on Cologne.
    It’s just occurred to me that Al Beeb have hired David Blaine and/or David Copperfield as consultants.

    Because it is a truly astonishing act of magic that, based solely on Al-Beeb coverage, women, children, and baby asylum seekers arriving by boat in Greece miraculously disappear on arrival in Germany and transform into young adult males.

    The magic is so good that no-one in the Al-Beeb newsroom seems to have noticed.

       31 likes

  9. embolden says:

    Good to hear man of the people and of principles Jeremy Corbyn paying tribute to David Bowie on Today this morning…”a great guy”.
    Strange that Jez`s brand of retro 70`s politics has such a blind spot….
    from the Guardian…http://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.race

    “David Bowie, who three months earlier had been photographed apparently giving a Nazi salute in Victoria Station, told Cameron Crowe in the September 1976 edition of Playboy ‘… yes I believe very strongly in fascism. The only way we can speed up the sort of liberalism that’s hanging foul in the air… is a right-wing totally dictatorial tyranny…’ In that same interview Bowie claimed that ‘Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars.'”

    Presumably Davids “experimental lifestyle” now outweighs his contribution to stimulating the development of ” Rock against Racism”.

       14 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Bowie was also an avid collector of Nazi memorobilia at one time. Afraid of flying, he once took the Siberian Express train across the then Soviet Union, on his way to Japan. During a border check, a large number of Nazi items were confiscated by Soviet Customs officers, who did not take kindly to such things. But I suspect his politics were as variable as his music and various personae – his widow is Somalian and your average fascist does not tend to marry a negress.

         18 likes

      • Al Shubtill says:

        I wonder if al beebus will mention that as they did about Lemme’s similar hobby?

           8 likes

      • embolden says:

        I expect you are right that David Bowies self proclaimed Fascist sympathies were perhaps a phase or a part of the show and I agree about “your average fascist” but Prince Luigi the Duke di Abruzzi managed it!

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Luigi_Amedeo,_Duke_of_the_Abruzzi

        He was a leading colonist in Italian Somaliland, before and during the Fascist period. Mussolini spoke highly of him at his funeral in 1933 which was before the ban on inter racial marriage in Italys African colonies enacted in 1938.

        Fascism and Islam appear to have this oddly affectionate relationship, Franco used Moroccan troops to secure military victory in the Spanish Falangist victory over the left in their civil war.

           7 likes

        • GCooper says:

          And compare with Leni Rienfenstahl, who spent a great deal of time among the Nubians.

          On balance, I’d say there was quite a history there.

             2 likes

  10. GCooper says:

    Just as was speculated here, I see this week’s Chief of Police in Cologne has admitted that the despicable attacks on NYE were ‘planned’.

    Now all we need is someone brave enough to join the dots and work out that they were also co-ordinated across Europe. Then, just maybe, someone will be bold enough to ask ‘by whom?’.

       23 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      The hypocrisy of the BBC is sometimes breathtaking. This article by Gavin Hewitt informs us, without the slightest hint of irony, that “The German public-service broadcaster ZDF did not mention the incidents in Cologne in its broadcast until last Tuesday, four days after the attacks.”. As opposed to, say, the British public-service broadcaster – which happens to have an office in Cologne – and which did not mention the incidents in its broadcast until, er, last Tuesday, four days after the attacks.
      See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35261988

         34 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Ah… but…. the BBC did it in a vital and unique way.

        Therein lies the difference.

        Apparently.

        Tell it often enough, Gav.

           9 likes

  11. Sluff says:

    Just linking Bowie’s death with the continual revisionist commentary by the bBBC on the 70s and 80s, as well documented by others above.
    Here’s how ‘knowledgeable’ the children in the bBBC newsroom are.
    The coverage of Bowie’s death features many mentions of his Ziggy Stardust period.
    Errrrrr, except that the ‘thunderbolt across the face’ image is from Aladdin Sane !! Which is not referenced at all in the story.
    The flaw in the bBBC’s revisionist strategy is that some of us were actually there, and can report the facts, or in this case the album covers, without the bias.
    The fact they can’t even do a simple google image search tells you all you need to know about the ‘professionalism’ of the ‘Far Left’ in the bBBC newsroom.

       20 likes

    • deegee says:

      Clearly a last minute thing. Given that Bowie had been battling cancer for 18 month the BBC was probably caught unawares.

         12 likes

  12. deegee says:

    And now for a change of pace.
    Snake thief caught on camera putting python in his pants As May West may have said, “Are you happy to see me or is that a snake in your pants”?

    I was tempted to comment on the level of inanity in BBC America and Canada coverage but at least this is mildly funny.

       5 likes

  13. Thoughtful says:

    As a heavy smoker and cocaine addict Bowies early death comes as little surprise, nor that he died of cancer, yet the media, so quick to warn of the dangers of alcohol seem remarkably reticent to use the death of a 60s/70s icon to highlight the dangers of smoking and drug abuse, at a time when it might be most effective.

    Perhaps it comes from the BBC being a hotbed of drug abusers themselves ?

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/9797475/David-Bowie-is-healthy-and-may-even-sing-in-public-again-says-Tony-Visconti.html

       17 likes

    • Soapbox says:

      I’m sorry but already I am sick of this wall-to-wall coverage of Bowie. Am I the only one thinking it is OTT?

         22 likes

      • Anders Thomasson says:

        Yes it’s almost like Saint Nelson Mandela isn’t it… clear the schedules. I wouldn’t mind being a BBC journalist (save that I am “Far-right” by their lights), I’m sure I could harvest quotes from Twitter and Facebook and get paid for it. Some little gems though, such as 5Live interviewing Steve Harley about David Bowie and he spent most of the interview talking about… er, Steve Harley.

           14 likes

      • Steve Jones says:

        Whilst sad, Bowie’s demise should at most merit a mention in the lower half of the front page. The front page of the entertainment section is the place for full page mawkishness.
        That is how a serious news organisation covering such important issues as mass rape by immigrants or turmoil in world financial markets etc would treat it.

           14 likes

      • Deborah says:

        Sick to death (perhaps that isn’t the right choice of words in the circumstances) but ‘elderly gentleman who drank,did drugs and smoked has died’ isn’t a major news story.

           19 likes

        • wronged says:

          Deborah.
          That is exactly what I said to my wife this morning over our cornflakes.

             10 likes

        • Al Shubtill says:

          Deborah – you could add to that list “had a sexual predilection for group sex with both men and women.”

             2 likes

      • DickMart says:

        By no means! The huge banner headlines describing a popular entertainer as a “legend” by an organisation that cannot bring itself to recognise the reality of Islamic terrorism is illustrative of the headlong decline of the BBC, once renowned for the quality of its news coverage. Why should we put up with this garbage?

           15 likes

  14. Oldspeaker says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35280386

    Shock news from Germany,

    Cologne attackers were ‘of migrant origin’, say German police.

    And after a little search online this Ralf Jaeger character blaming the police for “serious mistakes”, is revealed to be exactly the kind of right on twat wholly responsible in the first place.

       16 likes

  15. Steve Jones says:

    ‘Cologne attackers were of migrant origin – minister’
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35280386
    Dear BBC,
    Please tell us something we didn’t already know.

       17 likes

    • Lakeman says:

      Once again the al-Beeb is being disingenuous – quelle surprise! What the feck is of “migrant origin”???

      They are either migrants or they are not; they are not second or third generation Germans.

         3 likes

  16. G.W.F. says:

    Beeb acknowledges that Cologne was a bummer for their open borders policy

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35261988

    But the BBC is in there batting for the Migrants. Inserted in the report.

    ‘It is also true that large public events like Oktoberfest have been marked by incidents of sexual assault without any migrants being present’.
    ‘Although the figures are not up to date, it does not appear so far that the crime rate among asylum seekers is higher than among similar groups in the native population’.

    Keep it up BBC. No figures, no source cited. No facts to back up the party line.

       20 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      “…it does not appear so far that the crime rate among asylum seekers is higher than among similar groups in the native population

      That’s not really surprising if we assume the authorities have been just as busy shovelling the misdemeanours of other “asylum seekers” under the carpet.

         6 likes

  17. Geoff says:

    As I predicted above Radio 2 is wall to wall Bowie, just had to switch off when Vine started with the accolade ‘often copied never equalled’ followed by ‘we want to hear your memories’ and ‘how do we grieve for someone we’ve never met?’ FFS!

    This is followed later on by Simon Mayo’s Bowie Drivetime Request, a concert, a documentary, in fact all evening is Bowie. No disrespect to the guy and sad to hear of his death, but really is all this necessary?

    Thankfully Ken Bruce did find 5 minutes to pay tribute to ex colleague Ed Stewart, who’s death has now been quickly forgotten.

    A good day for the BBC to bury bad news?

    edit: apparently Vine was moved to tears.

       27 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Mixed feelings.

      Clearly not young, or with a great lifestyle history, but still ‘early’ in ‘person of interest’ terms.

      I was not aware he was ill, which goes more to the class factor I have accorded him.

      Certainly news, of note, and worthy of some homages.

      The usual wailing and rending of clothes stuff from the BBC and others is simply dire of course. Cynically it’s cheap in coverage and scheduling terms. Amazing what they do have time for if the mood takes.

      At least we are spared half the BBC ‘reporting’ squad parked outside a hospital issuing ‘not dead yet’ notices as they seem apt to do when a sick octo or nonagenarian they like feels a bit iffy.

         12 likes

  18. Thoughtful says:

    Finally Lin Homer a train wreck of a woman, who has caused more public sector chaos than almost anyone else is announced to be ‘stepping down’.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35281978

    Although the BBC outline the disasters she has caused at HMRC, they don’t go into the history of her previous ineptitude at other departments she has headed, including the Borders agency, nor do they question why it is that someone with such a hopeless record should have been allowed to be in charge of anything sharp. let alone essential government departments.
    This is of course the major issue with the public sector. It might be said that people are promoted to their own incompetence, but in Homers case she was as effective as a cruise missile at destroying working offices !

       23 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      One of a string of humourless left-wing bats of a certain age, who seem to find themselves at the head of departments that don’t seem to benefit too much, from their appointment.

         15 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Perhaps we should have a sweepstake as to which department she’ll pop up in next. Because they always do.

         9 likes

  19. Old Goat says:

    So David Bowie has died.
    Very sad.

    Now, leave it alone, already

       16 likes

  20. EnglandExpects says:

    A few years ago Lin Homer was working for Suffolk County Council. It’s unclear that anything she did there or elsewhere ever qualified her to run something as complex and increasingly under performing as HMRC. One really wonders at times whether there is some conspiratorial clique of public sector senior managers who exist purely to feather their own nests and to rip off the taxpayer. In Lin Homer’s case we were also treated to mismanagement of Birmingham’s electoral process and major cock ups on immigration and border controls. She will not be missed but of course we will be paying for her gargantuan pension for years to come.

       20 likes

    • GCooper says:

      And once again we have a really important story here which the BBC should be investigating. How does someone like Homer get to the top and what is wrong with a system that allows her to?

      Given the billions wasted by government this is arguably one of the most important stories possible and yet we barely hear a word about it on the BBC.

         15 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Homer was the one in charge of the voting which “would disgrace a banana republic”.
      Homer was in charge of the Borders agency “In 2013, Homer’s tenure at UKBA was criticised for its “catastrophic leadership failure” ”
      Keith Vaz said her performance was “more like the scene of a Whitehall farce than a government agency operating in the 21st century”
      She moved to head the department of transport where they screwed up the bidding process for the West Coast line (possibly deliberately), personally criticised by Richard Branson, she incurred costs of somewhere in the region of £100 Million
      She then moved to head the HMRC which screwed up so badly that she has now been forced to resign.

      She was backed for the appointment by David Gauke (Tory MP & professional hypocrite), the Exchequer Secretary to the UK Treasury, whose judgement must now regarded as so compromised that he should also be considering his position.

         11 likes

  21. Sluff says:

    Picture the scene.
    bBBC news editorial meeting , 6.50 a.m. Monday

    “That’s torn it. The German investigator has revealed that the 1000 attackers in Cologne were all asylum-seeking young adults from North Africa”
    “Yeah, if we publish that, it will totally wreck our agenda that all the migrants are Syrian refugee women and children”
    “Well, we have to publish something”
    (Knock on door. Excitable junior dashes in)
    ” Excuse me. Just heard. David Bowie has died”
    Editor – ” Phew, that was a close shave. Back to normal. Relax everyone”

       22 likes

  22. worrywort says:

    I had the Accountant hopping up and down on My doorstep as I always leave the books until the last second.
    Anyway, I pull all the receipts and bills off the spike and sort through them.
    I discover a TV licence for 2014 which I paid. Trouble is it’s for the House I left in 2012.

    Oh well at least I don’t have to worry about the Tax man now, I’m off to throw my guts in the River Thames.

       9 likes

  23. BRISSLES says:

    As someone who was a teenager in the 60’s, it was only the “off the wall” types in London who understood what Bowie’s music was all about at the time. The rest of us couldn’t understand a bloody word of it ! and still cant. And I won’t repeat what the fellas thought about his make-up and dressing up as a woman on stage ! All this talk of ‘legend’ is getting a bit repetitive – first it was Lemmy, now Bowie; of course its sad, and even more so when figures of your own generation are falling off the perch, but the amount of news coverage given over to it is more than OTT. I wonder on Bowie’s 100th birthday (or Lennon’s come to that) it will be celebrated like Sinatra’s was in December – I doubt it.

       22 likes

    • GCooper says:

      Why shouldn’t they be? Both Bowie and Lennon were songwriters and even if you hate their music (I’m in that camp with Lennon and I’m indifferent to Bowie whose music I have barely heard) their music clearly had some significant influence. All Sinatra ever wrote was a cheque. Arguably his arrangers and songwriters deserved at least equal praise.

      I’m really surprised to see so much displeasure at news coverage when significant cultural figures die. It seems curmudgeonly to me and almost as if people are grasping any stick to beat the BBC with. God knows, there is no shortage of perfectly valid ones.

         8 likes

      • Geoff says:

        Each to their own, but I’m guessing Phil Collins (unlike O’Grady carried out his threat to leave the country when Labour got in) won’t be receiving the same treatment by the BBC when he unfortunately meets his maker. OK it could be argued that he wasn’t as influential as Bowie but to me its more about what Bowie was, bisexual, crosdresser etc that interests the BBC.

        Is it really necessary that he gets a full evening on Radio 2, I’m guessing the majority of listeners are not all fans why not use 6Music?

           14 likes

        • Englands Dreaming says:

          “it could be argued that he wasn’t as influential as Bowie”

          No argument there! Phil a descent enough bloke, cultural/musical icon not.

             6 likes

      • BRISSLES says:

        “Arguably his arrangers and songwriters deserved at least equal praise.”

        Watch any Sinatra concert and he never fails to mention the songwriter and arranger, and gives thanks to the orchestra.

           4 likes

        • GCooper says:

          I didn’t suggest otherwise. I was simply pointing out that he was a singer. No doubt he sung some important popular songs. The other two wrote them as well so are, surely, at least equally deserving of credit?

             1 likes

  24. Geoff says:

    Should we expect the same from Vine should a member of Squeeze die before their time, as he makes no secret of his like for them, they have on a number of occasions played live on his program.

    One last thought, remember BBC luvvie and musical aficionado Jools Holland was once a member of Squeeze, I’m guessing he didn’t quit the band over political differences…

       11 likes

  25. chrisH says:

    I suppose it all started with the death of Elvis-but I gather there was much emoting over the death of Mario Lanza too.
    “In My Life”-it`d be Elvis,Lennon,Freddie,Kurt, Lady Di and Jacko…could add Amy but that was no surprise was it?
    The BBC are a bit OTT on it all, but I`m sure they`re-in this case-only following what people are sending into them.
    And I don`t mind-the music`s great, and we can all get little personal anecdotes from the great (as well as the civilians like us).
    My impressions are just how helpful he was to the likes of Mott, Lulu,Mr Ostenburg along the way…and I particularly remember the story of his giving up some Live Aid time so that video with The Cars could be shown.
    Only man ever to say the Lords Prayer live on telly too (during Freddies tribute concert in 92)
    Confused Brain May-but that`s bot too difficult!
    RIP Mr Bowie…maybe pop stars from Britain shouldn`t move to New York. God Bless Him and his family.

       6 likes

  26. chrisH says:

    My only grouse with the BBCs coverage is-of course-their emphasis on his gender bending era…and this has come to pass.
    But they really ought to look at his Thin White Duke phase-and the extraordinarily great “Station To Station” to look at what may well come if the Liberal Brahmin caste don`t deal with things like Cologne or Occupy types.
    Bowie did a good impression of Oswald Mosley…and if they persecute the likes of Tommy Robinson or Tony Martin, then they`ll get a lot worse that ex-Labour toff Oswald before too long.
    Would recommend that LP to anybody-title track and Wild Is the Wind , Golden Years my favourites.

       9 likes

  27. Jack in the Green says:

    I never cease to be amazed at the effectiveness of the irony bypass chip that the metropolitan elite obviously get as part of their membership pack. The Cologne incident and its attendant reporting was so depressingly predictable, I wonder who are the greater danger – the misogynist scum or the Euromedia/unreal politik gauleiters. These people will cause the death of Western Europe and plunge us into an age of darkness. The signs have been there across Europe and the UK for many years. I can only assume that people who travel around these places have been doing so with their eyes closed.

       7 likes

  28. GCooper says:

    Here is another story the BBC could be spending some of our money looking into.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/08/uk_alcohol_guidelines_are_junk_but_why/

    So, much as we were saying on here last week, Bonkers Sally Davies’ latest quack remedy is based on non-science which was funded by a fanatical bunch of abolitionists.

    Isn’t that worthy of a little journalism, BBC? Aren’t you the ones who believe in the importance of holding government to account?

       2 likes