General BBC-related comment thread:

Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.

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109 Responses to General BBC-related comment thread:

  1. Abandon Ship! says:

    Read and weep.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/white/

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  2. Martin says:

    How come the BBC don’t seem to be making much of this story about some gay Iranian that wants asylum as if he goes back to Iran he’ll be hung?

    Funny that the BBC found time to plug barebacking last night on Newsnight.

    Perhaps the fact the BBC loves Iran or that it’s a barbaric Moozlum Country?

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  3. George R says:

    Here’s a novelty: Nick Griffin of BNP is scheduled to appear on BBC ‘Newsnight’ tonight. ( To counter past appearances of Hiz ut Tahrir supporters on the BBC? )

    And the BBC will plug its ‘WHITE’ multicultural/social anthropology venture there, and discuss its self-described: “Fascinating” poll.

    There’s also an item on Gaza: I think we know what to expect there.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/

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  4. Ritter says:

    George R | 06.03.08 – 5:13 pm | #
    Here’s a novelty: Nick Griffin of BNP is scheduled to appear on BBC ‘Newsnight’ tonight. ( To counter past appearances of Hiz ut Tahrir supporters on the BBC? )

    From the Newsnight website

    “We have interviews with Culture Minister and MP for Barking Margaret Hodge, and Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP. We’ll also have a wider discussion about the issue with some strong guests.

    Other than Griffin?

    It’s unlikley Griffin will get out of the Newsnight studio without several others being given the opportunity to ‘reply’. Maybe Hiz ut Tahrir and Shami Charkrabarti will be in the audience to give their views as a ‘counterbalance’?

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  5. WoAD says:

    “Here’s a novelty: Nick Griffin of BNP is scheduled to appear on BBC ‘Newsnight’ tonight. ( To counter past appearances of Hiz ut Tahrir supporters on the BBC? )”

    Oh FFS. With a due sense of dread and exhaustion. Here we go.

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  6. Ritter says:

    Tonights BBC Question Time panel:

    ED MILIBAND MP
    DAVID DAVIS MP
    BARONESS WILLIAMS
    NIGEL FARAGE

    So, two from the left of centre(Miliband, Williams) and two from the right of centre (Davis, Farage). A reasonably balanced panel you might say.

    That just leaves the fifth panel member, the ‘wildcard’. You know the author, comedian, artist, broadcaster type. Now, who could they pick to provide further famed QT ‘balance’ to the above panel?……..

    Answer?..

    MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE

    Marcus Brigstoke is an employee of the BBC, regularly appearing in Radio 4 so-called ‘comedy’ slots. Oh, and we are helpfully told that he “is an active member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and a committed campaigner on green issues.”

    and

    “Last autumn he travelled to the Arctic to make a film about the effects of climate change, and he recently reported on the £100,000 “eco-makeover” of his London home in a feature for The Independent.”

    I wonder what his politics are like?

    Can you guess?

    BBC. Impartiality. NOT what we do.

       0 likes

  7. David Vance says:

    Question Time is always good for a laugh, though the Newsnight heads-up will be worth a viewing to see more of that famed balance!!

       0 likes

  8. pounce says:

    The BBC, and how it makes a non story into a human rights issue.

    Nude poster star ‘felt exploited’
    An actor whose naked image was used on posters to publicise an opera has said he feels “exploited” about his picture being used without permission. Juan Pablo Di Pace, 28, was cast in the crowd scenes of Verdi’s mid-19th Century opera Rigoletto in 2001. Earlier reports said the actor had complained about the Royal Opera House airbrushing out his manhood.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7281000.stm

    and here is what the BBC had to say about this man the day before;
    “Argentinian-born Mr Di Pace, now a TV and film actor, complained the image has been distorted, and that his penis had been airbrushed out.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7278684.stm

    So here we have a story of a man who did or didn’t complain about having his dick airbrushed out from this;
    http://bp3.blogger.com/_0w7jLs-_m5A/R892tKwS70I/AAAAAAAAAv4/HK-CQ39fA7M/s1600/verdi1_900x561.jpg

    to this;
    http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44469000/jpg/_44469434_rogoletto300.jpg

    What the BBC doesn’t mention is he did the initial photo for free and that the Opera house offered to pay him 6 months ago but he refused.
    http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1308070,00.html

    So why is this a story that warrants some tosser at the BBC writing up 2 articles on this man.

    The BBC, and how it makes a non story into a human rights issue.

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  9. Zevilyn says:

    The fact is, the CBI support immigration even more rabidly than the Left. We all know that the business community will not allow a halt or slowing of immigration.

    The Liberal establishment and the CBI are an unholy alliance who share a common aim; the obliteration of the white working class.

    Brown supports immigration, Bush supports it, McCain supports it, Obama supports it, Hilary supports it, Cameron supports it, Clegg supports it. They are all the same.

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  10. Zevilyn says:

    Marcus Brigstocke is sometimes funny but he does not seem to understand that the satirist is meant to show that all the emperors have no clothes, not just the ones who don’t share his politics.

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  11. Paul Huxley says:

    Agreed on Brigstocke. Watch some episodes of the Late Edition (on the oh-so-wonderful iplayer) and you’ll see what Zevilyn said in action. On one recent show he interviewed a greeny and let him talk for ages unchallenged, only slipping in one weak anti-American joke and one slightly funnier Jeremy Clarkson joke. Oh, and it was all pro-tax, anti-democracy but what’s the point of mentioning that?

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  12. Martin says:

    Gobshite Jon Gaunt is no Newsnight as well.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    al-Beeb complicit in anti-whaling protest at Japanese Embassy.

    They clearly had advance knowledge of the impending crime (criminal trespass) and the protestor was mic’d up:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7280000/newsid_7281600/7281652.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&ms3=4&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2

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  14. Jim T. says:

    sorry, left out the http, have a look anyway.

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  15. Allan@Oslo says:

    I just checked out the BNP’s website to see if Nick Griffin is appearing on the BBC and it is apparently so. I read there that there is no evidence of arson in the incident involving the deaths of 9 Turks who burned to death in Germany – the possibility of arson by the ‘far-right’ was hyped up by the MSM. Also reported there was the murder in Germany by muslims of three Georgian Christians. Is there anything on either of these matters in the BBC’s website?

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  16. Benny says:

    Tonights episode of Newsnight: I would have hoped that they would have had ID cards as the second story on Newsnight tonight, but sadly not. Instead they are doing a report on accusing pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline of being evil. The reason why the GlaxoSmithKline story got priority over ID cards is because accusing pharmaceutical companies of being evil fits in with the BBC’s biased agenda.

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  17. meggoman says:

    Abandon Ship:

    I have read the press releases for all the programmes. I will watch Newsnight tonight and I intend watching all the programmes.

    I do not believe these programmes are designed to alleviate or promote the white man’s feeling of not belonging, not being heard, having no voice or being forgotten or abandoned by politicians.

    I believe from the subject matter to be covered that they have been commissioned and desgined to demonstrate and provide evidence to the politicians, the media and the civil rights activists how we, the white working class haven’t and will not embrace multiculturalism.

    I have no doubt that we’ll have the MCB, Liberty and the rest of the ‘we’re all persecuted’ brigade hogging the airwaves and newspaper columns and screaming what drunken, lazy, layabout, criminal, racist bigots we the white working class are. And who is going to defend us no-one. Because we’re invisible and unheard.

    I hope I’m wrong and if I am I will take it all back but I am not hopeful. Nothing will change and the white working class will fade away into the background again after the last programme.

       0 likes

  18. Dr F L Kotkin says:

    BBC internet site has just called the Jerusalem shooting deaths of eight students an accident!

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  19. meggoman says:

    BBC says gunmen
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7282269.stm

    Sky say terrorists

    http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1308334,00.html

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  20. Grimly Squeamish says:

    Please don’t talk to me about Question Time. If there’s one programme that regularly makes my piles bleed, it’s that.

    Just imagine if the programme, week after week after week had been stuffed full of tory supporters, tory panelists, and right wing commentators.

    How long before New Lab would have been going ballistic?

    But it’s fine to pack it full of limp liberals, and to chose to “balance” it with the most left-leaning “right wingers” they can find.

    Yes I am sure they can come up with statistics to show that the audience and panel represents a true balance of opinion yeah yeah yeah sure just like the Queen really did “storm out” of that photography session….

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  21. Dr R says:

    Regarding the terror attack in Jerusalem, this is how the BBC regards it:

    Are you in the area? Have you been affected by this accident, or have you seen or heard anything? Send your comments or pictures using the form below.

    Accident??!! ACCIDENT?????!!!!! Of course, Islamists are incapable of moral choice.

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  22. Dr F L Kotkin says:

    meggopman: In asking for personal comments, BBC states “Are you in the area, have you been affected by this ACCIDENT?’

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  23. Anonymous says:

    For those who don’t get a screengrab, here is the “accident” reference on newssniffer…

    http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/104425/diff/0/1

       0 likes

  24. DB says:

    “accident” screenshot –

    http://i26.tinypic.com/2n08qav.jpg

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  25. Anonymous says:

    Nice one DB – “accident” is now “incident”.

       0 likes

  26. simon says:

    Both CNN.com and MSNBC.com refer to the attackers, without quotes or attribution, as terrorists. “At least six people were slain today by terrorists…” front page, CNN.com, and at MSNBC.com it says “Terrorists infiltrated a rabbinical seminary…” on the front page.

    Even the Guardian refers to some Palestinians in Gaza firing celebratory bullets into the air, a fact the BBC ignores entirely. The BBC report also fails to mention ANYTHING about who might have committed the attack. It only refers to “gunmen”, not even hinting at where they might be from.

       0 likes

  27. simon says:

    David Preiser,

    It strikes me that if you collected enough examples of “innocent” mistakes by the BBC, like “accident” instead of “incident” and “activist” instead of “militant”, mistakes which the BBC changes and/or apologizes for, and which always seem to tilt in one direction only, you’d have a pretty convincing empirical claim for a pattern of bias, without having to resort to more vague accusations of “editorial bias” which can always be “refuted” by silver-tongued defenders like John Reith, et al. What do you think?

       0 likes

  28. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Somewhere in the dark recesses of the 4th floor, Helen Boaden is cringing, and then shrugging it off with the usual excuse.

    As long as the BBC maintains its current hiring standards and practices, this kind of thing will continue unabated. All the more reason to continue to report “accidents” like this to them. These things would go unnoticed (or tolerated) by the Beeboids themselves if nobody complained.

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  29. bob says:

    Simon:
    this site has been recording such ‘accidents’ (which are all directed in one, Guardian-leaning direction) for some years now

       0 likes

  30. David Preiser (USA) says:

    simon | 06.03.08 – 8:50 pm |

    I agree completely. That’s the main point of this whole thing anyways, as far as I’m concerned.

       0 likes

  31. Disinterested Bystander says:

    Out of the mouths of babes (and bimbos). Only I don’t know if the particular BBC bimbo could be classed as a babe.
    Reporting on BBC World about the Pope hosting a summit with muslims she said, “The Pope’s blunder at Regensburg….”
    Oh really, so some BBC bimbo has decided that the Pope has blundered.
    As I understand it the Pope quoted a 14th Century figure who pointed out the obvious that islam was spread by violence.

    However the word is not used here:

    Pope to host summit with Muslims

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7279412.stm

    I don’t think anyone in the BBC actually sees the irony of the violent muslim demonstrations that took place following the Pope’s quotation, or if they are then they are keeping their gobs tightly shut.
    Can’t (or is that cant) upset the plans for the new Arabic broadcasting can we.

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  32. AndrewSouthLondon says:

    Welcome to the FIFTH Estate: The Internet

    Go back to the French Revolution: the 1st Estate the Clergy, 2nd Estate the Nobility, 3rd Estate the General Populus. Good Guys.

    Then arose the lauded 4th Estate: “The Press” to fight for the general populous. How little we knew: the good guys become the bad guys. The BBC.

    So we see before our eyes, new media create the next Counterforce, the FIFTH Estate. The fourth estate in eclipse, discovers it it has lost the crown.

    Great work David, history is with us.

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  33. Martin says:

    Again – the BBC always see Moozlums as victims no matter what crimes they commit in the name of their stupid religion.

    I think it’s a bit like the Stockholm syndrome. The BBC seem to want to get all warm and cuddly with people that would if given a chance hang most of them (I assume there is a significant gay lobby at the BBC?) for being homosexual or lesbian.

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  34. Disinterested Bystander says:

    Some apologists for the BBC like to paint a picture of North American parochial insularity when it comes to world affairs.
    Only last week I heard sniggering on Dateline London (more commonly known as ‘The Barry At One Show’) about the XX% of US childen who did not know where Europe was.
    Golly me. So the UK now stands out as a beacon of educational achievement does it with 20% leaving the education ‘system’ virtually illiterate and inumerate. One of the reasons we left the UK was to ensure that our daughter did not have to endure this socialist mess.
    So today we stopped off at Burger King (they have the best indoor play areas and slides) and whilst she was playing I picked up a copy of the Calgary Sun which was lying about. It’s similar to the Daily Mirror, but without the stupidity.
    What was the story on page 7? Why this:

    Women fight honour killing
    JERUSALEM — An Israeli Arab man was sentenced yesterday to 16 years in prison in the “honour killing” of his sister. But it needed female relatives to take the rare step of testifying against him.
    Hamda Abu Ghanem was the ninth woman killed in recent years by male family members. She was shot in January 2007 as she slept at her parents’ home in a Muslim neighbourhood of Ramla, a Jewish-Arab town of 65,000 in central Israel.

    http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/World/2008/03/06/4924616-sun.html

    Wow, I thought. I bet the best news gathering service in the world (I jest) has got this story.
    Well, as it turns out, so they have.
    It made Wimmin’s Hour back in October 2007 and since then, zilch.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2007_43_tue.shtml

    So a backward, hicksville rag with a readership of 10 has the story and the B B C has not.
    Quelle surprise.

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  35. King Charles 1st says:

    Good God Question Time is a left wing love affair. The audience is stacked to the left, and the comedian is so far to the left it is untrue. More bias on the BBC to the left. Disgraceful.

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  36. dave fordwych says:

    Has anyone ever seen a younger audience on QT?

    Can it be that that’s the only way they could stack it so pro-EU?

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  37. WoAD says:

    Newsnight: Oh dear.

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  38. Jack Hughes says:

    Part 1 of 2

    This week’s “fluffy muslim” story is right here – on the news front page for 3 hours yesterday…

    Apparently there is a new movement in France:

    French Muslims promote ‘cool Islam’

    We get to meet “Medine” the rapper, whose CDs and live performances send the message of:

    “full participation in a secular society, and of a readiness to compete for success in a free market and liberal democracy.”

    Wow – must be kinda intellectual lyrics. No “pimps” and “ho’s” instead it’s “invisible hands” and “maximising utility”.

    Wonder what language he raps in ? We are not told – instead we read about

    concrete staircase … concrete slabs … yellow tiles

    Moving on we learn that

    Medine … is also part of a generational shift.

    Not really sure how the “also” got in there. We have not read about Medine being part of something else. Neither have we read about someone else being part of a “generational shift”. Do they have editors or sub-editors nowadays ?

    Not to worry – we have a sociologist on hand to help us:

    Amel Boubekeur, of the School of Social Studies in Paris, has named the movement “cool Islam”.

    Ah – so there is a movement. “The” movement, in fact.

    She says it combines business and performance to promote Islam, but on French society’s terms.

    Making money is now an important mark of success to a generation whose parents were suspicious of wealth.

    But their businesses and performances, whether rap, song, theatre, television or comedy, also promote Islamic ethics.

    Right. So they want to be rich – but islamic. Then we share the insight that

    “They use products in order to make a positive contribution to society.”

    Zut alors ! Does this sentence have any meaning at all ? Has something important been lost in translation. I know she does sociology, but its not even a platitude or a tautology. Its … its … nothing!

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  39. Jack Hughes says:

    Part 2 of 2

    Next its 3 guys named Mo selling T-shirts.

    The clothes – T-shirts, shorts, baseball caps – bear Islamic symbols, …

    But more importantly, the messages they bear emphasise the need for values – not so much Muslim values, but any values in an increasingly godless society.

    Do these guys know the rapper ? Do they listen to his economics lectures ? We don’t pause to find out – its off shopping with

    Zahya, a young Muslim woman trying on wedding dresses, among the profusion of dress shops in the streets around the Gare du Nord in Paris.

    Just hope she is in one of the shops – not just among them.

    “Everyone wears white dresses for their marriage. Just like all other women, I want to wear a white dress.”

    We never get to find out if she listens to the rapper – or wears the T-shirts, because we move on to read:

    Imams such as Tariq Oubrou are thinking the unthinkable – and suggesting that only by becoming a Western religion can Islam allow its followers to thrive in European culture.

    He presides over a conventional-looking mosque, rows of men, mostly Arab in origin, listening silently as he preaches, and moving to pray in unison.

    But in an upstairs office dominated by books heavily embossed in classic Arabic, what he says is revolutionary.

    OK – so its Business As Usual in the mosque, but upstairs he tells the journo what he wants to hear:

    “We’re living in an evolving geopolitical climate, therefore we have to have a dynamic approach …”, says Imam Oubrou.

    Yikes – its like a powerpoint preso at the sales conference…

    Does this imam listen to the rapper ? Wear the T-shirts ? Know the bride-to-be ?

    Which bits of islam is he going to change ? Which bits will stay the same ? So many questions hanging.

    In fact what are the core bits of islam, the basics, the bits that can never be compromised ? We get saturation coverage of this religion – yet we know so little about it.

    But we end on a happy note:

    They say European societies need to let it flourish if they are to win the bigger prize of a renewed, reinterpreted Islam no longer at odds with a secular West.

    So lets look at the thesis again. The rapper, the T-shirt sellers, the bride, and the imam. They do not know each other. They are all doing different things. Does this constitute a movement ? Does the sociology woman know them all ?

    Of course the biggest question of all about this puff-piece is why was it written at all ? Why do we need these endless promos for the muslim religion ? We can easily go from one month to the next without any mention of Judaism, Sikhism, Bhuddism, Ba-Haism.

    And why did Robert Pigott (Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News) need to go to France ? You can meet muslim rappers in the UK – in fact Frances Harrison (pooper-scooper at large) wrote a promo for one just 3 weeks ago.

    Next week: muslim has cup of tea.

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  40. pounce says:

    The BBC, sleeping with the enemy and half a story.

    Anybody seen this video of a freed terrorist who left the UK in which to live his wet dream of killing Non-Muslims:
    1) Watch his body language when asked about how he was tortured.
    2) Does that woman (Carole Barnes?) interviewing him want his kids or what?
    3) According to the BBC he had his eye gouged out. He says he had an old injury into which pepper spray got into.
    4) 5 minutes for a terrorist wannabe to preach his stuff. Thanks BBC

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/regions/south_east/video/157000/bb/157345_16x9_bb.asx

    The BBC, sleeping with the enemy and half a story.

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  41. Reimer says:

    Well, the big ‘Newsnight’ debate appeared designed to invalidate the show’s premise (“even if there IS a WWC, it’s too hard to define without straying into areas we’ve all been selected for our readiness to denigrate anyway…and Race is an invalid category, unless it’s that of a minority group blah blah”) , a nice bit of discursive jujitsu.

    I wonder how much Billy ‘I sold my house not my principles’ Bragg is being paid for his voice-overs and music-licensing on the ‘White’ season trailers.

    BTW Jack Hughes – loved the ‘cool Islam’ post

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  42. Disinterested Bystander says:

    What’s in the wording.

    The BBC:
    Some 97% of 27,000 GPs polled said they did not have faith in the government.

    The Truth:
    A poll by the British Medical Association (BMA) showed that 97 per cent of GPs no longer trust ministers to run the health service, amid widespread anger over their handling of the row.

    Now why did the BBC leave out the bit about the NHS?

    http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7280995.stm
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/06/ngp206.xml

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  43. George R says:

    To learn what Jamil el-Banna and Omar Deghayes were really suspected of, do you read:

    EITHER 1.) BBC Report:-

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7281948.stm

    OR 2.) the ‘Daily Mail’ Report:-

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=527831&in_page_id=1770

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  44. Martin says:

    Question time is a joke. They always have to load up the panel with 3 lefties (4 if you include Dimbleby)

    What a patronising twat that so called “comedian” from the BBC was.

    We shouldn’t have a referendum because most of us haven’t read the Lisbon Treaty.

    Well BBC arsewipe the reason I haven’t read it is because fatso McBean won’t give us a vote on it!!!!

    Why should I waste my time reading through it if I’m not going to get a vote?

    How many of us read party manifestos at election time? Perhaps the BBC would like to ban those as well?

    What about banning trial by jury as “we” are too thick to understand the law (oh hang on Bliar tried that didn’t he?)

    We had a referendum on the Treaty of Rome, no one read that either. The idea was the politicians would put the case for both sides of the argument.

    Comment of the night came from David Davis though. 1984 was menat to be a warning not a template!! Classic.

    That BBC backside wipe is a typical Socialist. They think they know better than we do. He had one of those punchable faces (what I call a Niki Campbell face).

    I’d loved to have been in the audience when he said he got stuck after 3 pages. Perhaps the Dandy is more his limit?

    Typical left wing Guardian reader. As an engineer I’ve had to read stuff far more complicated than some crappy treaty.

    Patronising twat. F**k off back to the BBC.

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  45. WoAD says:

    “We shouldn’t have a referendum because most of us haven’t read the Lisbon Treaty.”

    The Soviet Union used the same logic with regards to law.

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  46. HSLD says:

    RAF airmen in Peterborough are advised not to leave their base in uniform :-
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7282348.stm

    Apparently they may suffer abuse from ” civilians ”

    The BBC doesn’t seem very interested in finding out who these ” civilians ” are, or what their motivation is.

    I wonder why ?

    Anyone care to hazard a guess, because I’m stumped.

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  47. banjo says:

    marcus bridgestock,wearing ben eltons old underpants

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  48. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Next week: muslim has cup of tea.
    Jack Hughes | 06.03.08 – 11:20 pm |

    They use products in order to make a positive contribution to society.”

    Zut alors ! Does this sentence have any meaning at all ? Has something important been lost in translation. I know she does sociology, but its not even a platitude or a tautology. Its … its … nothing!

    A formal revision of the Hadith – the sayings of Muhammad – is well advanced in Turkey, and Muslim women in the West have been pushing for equal status with men.

    Thanks, I got a good laugh out of this.

    While I’m sure everyone here supports the dream that Muslims brought up with the caveman version of their religion will happily secularize themselves, this does raise a couple of eyebrows.

    First let’s remember that this article was “edited” before going online, which means that the “they use products” line actually made the cut. They surely didn’t print every single word that was said, so this line was left in by choice. So basically, anything that even sounds positive – whether gibberish or not – gets through, in order to get “the story” across to the hapless reader. I think I’m going to use variations on that phrase myself next time I want to mess with somebody’s head.

    As for the Hadith, pounce has already told us what that’s about. But the formal revision is hardly “well-advanced” in Turkey. According to somebody just down the hall from the hack what wrote this article, Turkey is only preparing to publish a document that is a “radical revision of Islam”. It’s actually still going on, and won’t be done until the end of the year.

    The Turkish Daily News is giving the project a positive spin, and well they should.

    I did notice, though, that the deputy director of the project was definitely backpedaling from the idea of “reforming” or “revising” the Hadith when he spoke with ISlam Online. We all know why.

    Although, I wonder if this modernizing, moderating reformation will get a mention in the installment of the upcoming White Series in which the white girl goes Muslim. And how well will this reformation go down in the mosques of Finsbury Park or Bradford?

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  49. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The next time a BBC talking head, Leftoid, idiotic troll, or just anyone talking out their ass (I’m looking at you, Matt Frei. Stop slouching), says that America’s reputation is bad only since George Bush took office, and it’s his Administration and policies that have caused so much anti-Americanism in the world, smack them in the face with this:

    Jamaleldine doesn’t even crack a smile when he talks about how, in 1991, he joined in anti-American protests on Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm boulevard during Operation Desert Storm. “That was the way it was back then,” he says. He was 15 and “America was simply the enemy.”

    This is from a recent article in Der Spiegel, about a Persian/German-born American soldier, and how he came to fight for the US in Iraq. Worth a read, and a concept worth remembering.

    Irony alert: Jamaleldine went to Martin Buber High School in Berlin.

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