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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97 Responses to General BBC-related comment thread!

  1. Martin says:

    Great news!!! Another beeboid has resigned over the Toss and Bland affair. Great way to start the weekend.

       1 likes

  2. ipreferred the old impartial B says:

    Another BBC exec falls on their sword.

    STILL WAITING FOR THE DG

       1 likes

  3. Martin says:

    I don’t think we’re finished yet. I’m not sure Toss will return to the BBC. Could you imagine any BBC management wanting to take the can if he screws up again?

       1 likes

  4. NotaSheep says:

    BBC Radio 4 News are in full Gordon Brown is the saviour of the UK mode. “The narrative” rolls on.

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  5. NotaSheep says:

    and another piece of pro-Labour by-election analysis.

       1 likes

  6. Robert S. McNamara says:

    I’m glad Labour managed to retain their ‘safe’ seat by the skin of their teeth. I mean, they may be a bunch of bottom-feeding commie pricks (but I repeat myself), but they’re not as much a bunch of bottom-feeding commie pricks as the SNP.

    Also, buoyed by his not total disaster (hey, that’s about the best this weird bastard can hope for) in Glenrothes, McShitforbrains there will stay at the helm of his hole-ridden, rudderless ship, ensuring that it finally sinks in 2 years.

       1 likes

  7. Verity says:

    The Telegraph has taken leave of its senses and is running NINE fanzine- style pieces on Obama on its formerly conservative editorial pages – one of them written by our favourite BBC reporter, the petulant Matt Frei. Would it surprise you to learn that he is happy, happy, happy?

       1 likes

  8. David Vance says:

    There is only one thing in the world worse than a Labour victory, and that is an SNP one. Great to see Mr Toad with the smile wiped off his face even though Mr Broon is now, officially, the saviour of the universe. Obama owes all he has to our Gordon.

       1 likes

  9. dick says:

    Just a minute was an absolute treat. News quiz shite.

       1 likes

  10. David Vance says:

    Just to say that I am currently unable to log in and post. Sorry about this, don’t know what has happened.

       1 likes

  11. Martin says:

    Tom FD: California not so liberal after all 🙂

    I guess that not many beeboids will be heading out there to retire then?

       1 likes

  12. dick says:

    Gadd zooks – the Portillo thing on Gaz’s suicide was a bit strong. Bravo beeb – where’s the tissues? Ah, QI. Seriously, awesome.

       1 likes

  13. Martin says:

    On sky News Michelle Clifford described Obama as ‘squirming’ over the Iran question, which of course we could clearly see (no autocue there)

    But switch to BBC 1 and the BBC don’t even show that clip. Justin Webb of course can’t see Obama squirm as he has his head up Obama’s backside.

    Instead the BBC decide to show a clip of him talking about a fucking dog.

       1 likes

  14. George R says:

    BBC chutzpah in action:

    -For those with access, there’s a very brief, pathetic response to thousands of complaints from viewers of BBC coverage of the US election here:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7710000/newsid_7716800/7716833.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&bbcws=1

    The deep complaints from many viewers were totally dismissed by the worried and weak-looking ‘Head of BBC Newsroom’, PETER HORROCKS. (Wow! that must be a massive room – there were ‘about’ 200 such Beeboids in America this week.)

    The complaints were simply refuted in a brazen way, with no substantiation of argument. So, HORROCKS:

    1.) no, there was no BBC political bias in favour of Obama;

    2.) no, there was no over-reference by the BBC to his ‘blackness’;

    3.) no, the BBC did not send too many reporters to America;

    4.) no,the BBC did not cover the US election for too long nor too often;

    5.) no, there was no BBC extravagance of licencepayers’ funds involved in the US coverage;

    6.)no, the BBC has no intention of changing its ways, despite the volume and strength of the complaints.

       1 likes

  15. d says:

    “There is only one thing in the world worse than a Labour victory, and that is an SNP one”

    David Vance – If the SNP had already gained independance for Scotland then we would not now have a labour government. The Scottish voters tend to vote labour in large numbers. So what is wrong with the SNP if their success means Labour would be finished in England ?

       1 likes

  16. Martin says:

    Jesus Christ. BBC Newsnight Review has a piece on some shit book written by Alistair Campbell. For a man that detested the BBC (and I believe the feeling was mutual at the time) there is a lot of arse licking going on by the BBC.

    I reckon the BBC have been told to swallow his cum in return for the licence fee being renewed if Labour win the next election.

       1 likes

  17. frankos says:

    I believe the Scots voted Labour because of the bank collapse –they realised that the Scottish economy would have been wiped out by the bailing out of the scottish financial institutions –They needed our money. I think they will vote for the Labour partys insipid and infuriating version of the Union until the good times return and then they will vote SNP

       1 likes

  18. David Vance says:

    d,

    I know what you mean, and I can sympathise with your position. However I am one of those people who want to see a United Kingdom maintained, albeit without the Celtic fringe parasiting off the English.

       1 likes

  19. George R says:

    Inevitable: a BBC lobby for the idea of a future British ‘black’ or ‘Asian’ or ‘Muslim’ Prime Minister:

    “Could Britain have a Black PM?”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7714056.stm

    Perhaps the appointment of such a person as British PM should be made compulsory by the Labour government under future Harman ‘positive discrimination’ legislation FOR non-whites and Muslims and ‘negative discrimination’ against whites and Christians.

    The current Labour policy of mass immigration will speed up the process.

    Next week, BBC Magazine may raise another step which British society will have to take before the BBC/Labour government ‘multiculturalist’ project
    is fulfilled:

    ‘Could Britain have Shariah law’?

    Future BBC Magazine political dream aspirations may include:

    -‘Should Britain become a mixed race society, inspired by Barack Obama’?

    -‘Should the BBC have its Newsroom transferred to 10 Downing Street’?

       1 likes

  20. Anonymous says:

    “Glenrothes (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Rathais) is a former new town situated in the heart of Fife, in east central Scotland. It was established in 1948 under the New Towns (Scotland) Act 1946. The town was primarily built to accommodate the families of coal miners who were to work at a new super coal mine; the Rothes Colliery, which opened in 1957. The colliery closed abruptly five years later due to un-stemmable flooding and geological problems.”

    Of course Brown the fifer won in Fife,the poor buggers have been on the dole since 1957,living on a Labour sink estate with their money coming from England.
    The SNP couldn’t give them any more.

       0 likes

  21. Mailman says:

    George,

    If you think about it, a Black PM here in England should be a hell of a lot easier to do than having a black guy elected as President…simply because the PM doesnt actually get elected in to office here in Blighty.

    Mailman

       0 likes

  22. Lurker in a Burqua says:

    Heffer in the Telegraph

    Left at a loss for a laugh

    I don’t make a habit of listening to those, for the most part, unfunny “comedy” programmes one encounters on Radio 4 when channel-hopping in a traffic jam, or at 11pm when one wants a sleeping draught.

    I have, sadly, heard enough to know they consist mainly of well-educated, foghorn-voiced Leftists braying about George W Bush.

    What will they do now? What will be the staple joke of BBC-approved “comedians” after years of only having to utter the word “Bush” to get a laugh?

    Who is the planet’s new Right-wing bugbear to be? Berlusconi? Not significant enough. Sarko? As I have noted, a new, soi-disant Leftist.

    And all those repressive regimes in the Middle and Far East, where women, homosexuals and other minorities are oppressed, are safe, since they are Muslim.

    I suppose it will have to be the leader of Surrey County Council, who is manifestly asking for it.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/11/08/do0801.xml&page=3

       0 likes

  23. Lurker in a Burqua says:

    Charles Moore in the Spectator

    Pursuing the BBC’s belief that one must ‘push the boundaries’, I have decided to refuse to renew my television licence fee so long as Jonathan Ross continues to be employed by the Corporation. I shall go on watching television at our house in Sussex, pay the equivalent of the fee to Help the Aged (since the BBC likes persecuting the old) and wait to see what happens. When I disclosed this plan to readers of the Daily Telegraph last week, several emailed to say that they already do this. It was interesting to hear that none of them has been prosecuted. This confirms something I have noticed from my earlier (and continuing) dispute with the BBC about my London flat, where I do not have a television, but constantly receive threatening letters from TV Licensing telling me that I shall go to court unless I get a licence. The threats are never fulfilled. The BBC are in a quandary. If they do not get their licence money, they cannot survive, but if they take action against protestors, they will make martyrs. It is a bluff. I am beginning to think that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

    http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/the-week/2576976/part_2/the-spectators-notes.thtml

       0 likes

  24. adam says:

    Frankos, someone has to pay their benefits.

    Its so predictably pathetic.

    If they go independent there will be rioting within a few months and theyll jump right into the eu.

    So the union will be destroyed either way.

    No bbc reporting on the eu yet, it may as well not exist.

       0 likes

  25. Lurker in a Burqua says:

    Rod Liddle (former Today Program Editor of the BBC) in The Spectator

    The BBC News was never happier than when showing black voters energised by the prospect of giving whitey a good whupping. When the issue of race rears its head, weird things start to happen to logic.

    http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/2577126/is-barack-obama-really-black-actually-im-not-so-sure.thtml

       0 likes

  26. Lurker in a Burqua says:

    More Charles Moore

    Up till now, we have been uncomfortably conscious that the BBC puts out amazingly revolting things, but we have simply tried to avoid them. Rather like residents who dare not venture out on to the streets at night because of yobs, we have despaired. But the Brand/Ross scandal has reminded us that we do, in fact, ‘have ownership’ of the BBC, and we are being denied owners’ rights.

    http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/the-week/2576976/part_3/the-spectators-notes.thtml

       0 likes

  27. Jason says:

    A comment on the BBC’s Have Your Say on Obama’s first news conference. I alerted a moderator about this some time ago but of course they’re not taking it down….

    “Obama must not be swayed by his chief of staff’s influence over Palestine, as he is a staunch zionist jew and an anti-Muslim and Islam and a sworn ENEMY of Palestinian ARAB neighbours!!!
    I am sure the Pr.el. is a man of higher calibre than his c-o-s and an ardent and adept lawyer and justice seeker.That is why he liked all over the world.A president;s actions speak louder than words,(ref.outgoing USA president).Bush has done immeasurable harm, damage and injustices to the Muslims and their righ”

    http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=1&forumID=5616&start=90&tstart=0&edition=2&ttl=20081108023447#paginator

       0 likes

  28. Jason says:

    Another comment on HYS which has been left on the page despite being racially offensive (though towards whites, which is I suppose why the Beeb aren’t too bothered about removing it):

    ” Added: Friday, 7 November, 2008, 21:10 GMT 21:10 UK

    The man is simply awesome…a true black beacon in a white wilderness ! Change is coming and black and coloured people can be proud ! We have great expectations for CHANGE in the world order. The old WASP and catholic grip is broken and a new world order is in the making ! Yes, we can !
    Just as long as he doesn’t surround himself with sycophants and become an Uncle Tom !

    Asif Khan, London, United Kingdom

       0 likes

  29. Jon says:

    Lurker in a Burqua | 08.11.08 – 12:21 am |

    The only one who is a token “right winger” is Cameron – so expect the BBCs “comedy” writers to have a go at him (after all it will just be in time for the general election – and so will fit in nicely with all the other BBC output).

       0 likes

  30. Verity says:

    Let’s hope the BBC writers do have a sustained go at Cameron and get rid of him for us.

    Then we can vote Conservative again.

    No real Conservative would have sought photo opportunities with such energy for a disabled child. All those photos of this child going in and out of ambulances – “See? We use the NHS! We’re just like you!”

    No, Bullingdon Boy, you’re not.

    Those endless photo ops of this child plus David Cameron dressed in a parka on an ice floe in Sweden with two truly fine-looking Huskies who at least looked as though they knew what they were doing on an ice floe, for absolutely no reason other than lefty “global warming” propaganda gave me my cue. The Beeb loved the photo ops of Dave pretending to clean grafitti off walls that had no grafitti on them and being congenial with hoodies, signalled to me, a conservative, that Dave was in the pocket of the BBC.

    No. Thanks.

       0 likes

  31. AndrewSouthLondon says:

    BBC headline “Obama to tackle economy ‘head-on'”

    Ah that’s where we have all been going wrong. It needed “tackling”, and “head on”. He’s so smart that Obama. Don’t know why we couldn’t see it: obvious really. All we needed to do was tackle it, from the “head on” position. Job done.

    Get used to this. Language of the public sector and spin-merchant. Appearance without substance.

       0 likes

  32. Peter says:

    George R | 07.11.08 – 10:36 pm | #

    Just watching BBC Breakfast and am told to await an interview with political heavyweight Beyonce’s thoughts on… oh, I don’t know… whaddyareckon?

    Well, we’ve had Dizzee Rascal so I guess they must be struggling after the A-team.

    Who next I do wonder? Lenny Henry must have a thought to share.

       0 likes

  33. Peter says:

    OMG… (as they say in teeniedom). I no sooner pen the above than… there she is!

    And guess what! She has a song to plug… which is ‘speaking to a lot of people’.

    And, miraculously, someone’s people has told someone else’s people who got in touch with my national broadcaster’s people to trot out this absolutely not about the colour of skin effort and coincidental snippets that the President-elect went jogging with her songs on his iPod.

    Look, Aunty, I have the agenda loud and clear, but this Captain Renault act is erring on smug arrogance, without the saving grace of some wit and humour.

    It’s not like there is not a long line of other people of showbusiness ready and willing to gush on cue in return for a free ad.

    Peter ‘We take things very seriously’ Horrocks and Newswatch (just watched – does anyone talk to poor Ray in the canteen?). Dead air would be a more productive public service. Cheaper and more Co2 efficient, too.

    ‘Thanks for watching…. you can be treated with distain again… next week! You only pay our salaries, after all!’

       0 likes

  34. Sutekh says:

    Come on now, hands off Beyonce. As long a she doesn’t sing or give out her views on …errmm… whatever, she’s fine by me.
    I definitely would out her on my “things to do” list, but then again I’m a sad 51 year old widower…

       0 likes

  35. Roger C says:

    I see that the BBC news is foaming on about the English councils fears about the shortfall in social housing and how the problem will increase in the Brown led reccession. The programme manages to put the blame on (of course) Margret Thatcher but tiptoes round the elephant in the room ie immigration!

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  36. Kill the Beeb says:

    George R:-
    “Inevitable: a BBC lobby for the idea of a future British ‘black’ or ‘Asian’ or ‘Muslim’ Prime Minister:

    “Could Britain have a Black PM?”

    This is exactly the article I predicted the BBC would write on the Obma elected thread.

    This proves conclusively that the BBC news room is run like a first year english class in an inner city comprehensive school.

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  37. Anonymous says:

    Current Topics on Have Your Say, 4 out of 5 of them are about some bloke in America.
    -Is racism ‘blocking British Obama’?
    -What is Barack Obama’s greatest challenge now?
    -Are your savings or mortgage affected by the interest ra…
    -Is racism ‘blocking British Obama’?
    -Obama conference: Your views

    Remind me, in which country does the BBC reside?

       0 likes

  38. Peter says:

    I have two new heroes in the BBC.

    First up is some bloke called Paul from Money Box who reminded the brunette that ‘they’ in politics and the media with mortgages can be skipping down the Ivy with the new dosh the interest rates have delivered, whilst those who rely on savings and without mortgages have taken another hit… for being thrifty.

    Meanwhile, there are the person(s) in research/archiving who seed surrounding stories with pictures of council houses bedecked with satellite dishes (EastEnders on HD on a 50″ LCD is a human right, I believe) and interviews of lovely blonde girls and their broods (partner out at work, doubtless) whose major gripe is that ‘they’ haven’t found the poor darlings a decent home yet to watch said entertainment in the manner their MP/councillor had promised to get their vote.

    Meanwhile, Mr. Phillips has a valuable contribution to make on how all this will be rectified by installing leaders on just about any basis save competence.

    To paraphrase a guy I am sure is an inspiration in many halls throughout Westminster and West London: ‘Broadcast what people should think often enough, and soon it will become policy without argument’.

       0 likes

  39. Peter says:

    http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Calvin-Klein-Secret-Obsession-Calvin-Klein-Perfume-Range/62927

    ‘Between love… and madness… lies… OB-session’

    ‘course, in some cases, it’s not sop secret, really.

       0 likes

  40. DB says:

    Jeremy Hardy on this week’s News Quiz: “If we could be allowed to drop our tone of cynicism, it’s bloody marvellous that Obama has been elected.” [Followed by applause and cheers from the group-thinking leftie dullards who make up the News Quiz audience.]

    This must be the BBC’s hard-hitting, edgy comedy we’ve heard so much about recently.

       0 likes

  41. Blobby says:

    The BBC – “Why Obama Won”:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7704360.stm

    There’s a notable omission (clue: ‘the m….’; rhymes with ‘seedier’). No reference to ANY media bias in favour of The One, let alone the BBC’s own. The utterly shameless dishonesty of the BBC is staggering.

       0 likes

  42. GCooper says:

    I see the BBC’s ‘News’ website is trying for the ’emetic of the month’ award again.

    This time it’s entering the drooling, sycophantic headline: ‘Changing america dares to dream’.

    I’d say it was in with every chance of a victory, wouldn’t you?

       0 likes

  43. Wilhelm says:

    A poll today in the Torygraph shows that the Conservatives have extended their lead to 13 points.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/3405999/Reality-check-for-Gordon-Brown-as-poll-gives-Tories-a-13-point-lead-over-Labour.html
    Brown bounce? Dead cat bounce more like. Suck on that, Cyclops!!

       0 likes

  44. Anonymous says:

    A binge-drinkin’ MSM twat from Birmingham admits to supporting Obama and cut and pasting from al-Beeb:

    Check out the supportive comment from “Bumbleclark”:

    Well Adam you’re certainly brightening up a dull night post-Obama night shift here at the BBC! Your video is doing the rounds and we LOVE it. Hope you’ve still got a job…!

    Beeboids supporting one of their own! And surfing Youtube on Corporation time.

       1 likes

  45. Verity says:

    AndrewsouthLondon – Funny!

    Killthebeeb – Agreed the Beeb should be put down with extreme prejudice.

    I’ve already wiped the floor with the “could Britain have a black PM” meme elsewhere.

       1 likes

  46. Ron Todd says:

    OK this might be trivial but it has been annoing me.

    Hole in the wall claims that the pool is full of ‘very cold water’

    I think they are lying to us. The reaction is not that of people in a warm studio being suddenly plunged into cols water. Even if the silver suits are well insulated.

    The BBC would never risk giving somebody rich and famous-ish a heart attack.

       1 likes

  47. NotaSheep says:

    Ron Todd: Why are you watching that tripe? I watched 2 minutes of it tonight and I could almost feel my brain cells screaming in pain.

       1 likes

  48. The Bias Must End says:

    BBC rules for going easy on Labour: Don’t call Labour racist

    Trevor Philips Accuses Labour of racism, as reported in the Times:
    The Times: Labour ‘racism’ would block British Obama, says Trevor Phillips
    Barack Obama would never have been elected prime minister in this country because of “institutional racism” in the Labour Party, the head of Britain’s equality watchdog has told The Times.

    Meanwhile, the BBC avoids mentioning the ‘R’ word in the headline or any mention of Labour in the first part of the story (the bit which gets broadcast on Ceefax). Instead the BBC spin it as being “the political machine” or “the system being biased against change”, rather than reporting it as Labour = racist.

    BBC: Bias ‘would hamper British Obama’
    Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, told the Times the problem would not be voters but the political “machine”. He claimed even someone of Mr Obama’s talent would struggle because the system was biased against change.

    So according to the BBC, when Labour are racist, it is merely “bias against change” and not racism at all. If Trevor Phillips had said this about the Conservatives, we all know the BBC headline would have been Tories = Racist and the BBC would have had it as the top story all day long.

    The BBC: going easy on Labour, it’s what we do.

       1 likes