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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189 Responses to General BBC-related comment thread!

  1. George R says:

    For Labour and BBC: talking about one law for all –

    “Smith and Straw defend MP’s arrest”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7758755.stm

    So, it’s going to be one law for all?:

    “Launch of One Law for All – Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain”

    http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/2008/12/launch-of-one-law-for-all-campaign.html

    (I don’t see Shami Chakrabarti’s ‘Liberty’ in this list. Merely an oversight?)

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  2. George R says:

    NIGERIA.

    BBC report:

    “Riots ‘kill hundreds in Nigeria'”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7756695.stm

    ‘New English Review’ report:

    “The Jihad in Nigeria” (Hugh Fitzgerald):

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/18238

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  3. backwoodsman says:

    Regulars may remember that in the immediate aftermath of the Green outrage, I predicted that the current beeboid attempt to downplay the incident would fail and they would be forced into an increasingly desperate scramble to present the zanulabour view of events convincingly.
    I’m delighted to say I was right ! Even the most skillful beeboid ‘news managers’, strugle when faced with the unmatched incompetence of zanulabour politicians, their partners in socialism and totalitarianism !!!

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  4. Mailman says:

    George,

    That one law for all thing has about as much chance of succeeding as a fat chick has of scoring on a saturday night without alcohol.

    Besides, you must be racist for raising such a thing in the first place! 🙂

    Mailman

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  5. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The BBC shows a little sympathy for Jewish victims, for a change:

    Tense times for Mumbai’s Jews

    Too bad the BBC isn’t quite sympathetic enough to mention that the Israeli victims were tortured the most. That would make them appear just a little too sympathetic for the BBC News Online editor’s comfort.

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  6. Robert S. McNamara says:

    (I don’t see Shami Chakrabarti’s ‘Liberty’ in this list. Merely an oversight?)

    Speaking of which, she was on BBC News 24 today complaining about those ‘mosquito’ anti-loitering devices which some greedy counter-revolutionary capitalist runningdogs allege they’re using to protect their private property from poor, misunderstood and totally innocent youths, but in actual fact they’re doing it purely to inject misery into the lives of aforementioned youths.

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  7. Mailman says:

    On an unconnected note…I see there is a story from a chap called Nick Hayward, who being a typical pom, opened a bottle of champaign at the Taj Hotel only to have the head waiter run over demanding that he cant do that. To which Nick said, in typical English fashion, tough, Im going to open it. The waiter insisted that he could…because he had the wrong kinds of glasses! So he got champaign flutes 🙂

    Maybe internet myth, but still…its good to see the English need to binge drink still there in the middle of a crisis 😉

    Regards

    Mailman

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  8. RR says:

    I’d say it was the waiter who showed the sang froid. One can imagine his line of thinking:
    “If you’re going to have a drink at the Taj, you’re just going to have to have it in the correct glasses, chummy. We may be under terrorist attack, but this place has still got standards”.
    He’d never make a Beeboid. Did anybody see that piece on News24 at about 19:35 last night. Eco-shill doing piece to camera against a backdrop of a 6-lane motorway. Only problem was that the film was reversed and all the traffic was doing 70mph. In reverse.
    Frankly, I’d trust that Taj waiter to make a better job of things.

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  9. Fulton says:

    So the Mets acting head has decided to bring in the head of the British Transport Police to investigate the entire Green debacle, and of course this person will be impartial……..

    However, Mr Johnston took over as head of the British Transport Police (BTP) in 2001 after retiring from the Met, where he had been an Assistant Commissioner.

    Impartial? my arse.

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  10. George R says:

    “The Shameful Silence of the BBC”

    (Melanie Phillips):

    http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3059096/the-shameful-silence-of-the-bbc.thtml

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  11. George R says:

    “New round of cuts hit news media”

    -but note, at BBC-associated BBC Arabic service:

    [Extract]:

    “At the BBC’s Arabic service in London, an 80% Yes vote for strike action was enough to secure ‘dramatically’ improved terms, including the creation of four new jobs, higher pay, and improved working conditions.”

    http://libcom.org/news/new-round-cuts-hit-news-media-02122008

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  12. kersal flyer says:

    Wow! I don’t believe it:
    Robert Spencer on the BBC: Must Muslims now accept that Islam has a problem with terrorism?
    http://worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/on-air-must-muslims-now-accept-that-islam-has-a-problem-with-terrorism/#more-3322

    Maybe, just maybe, some folks at the BBC are starting to ‘get it’.

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  13. Garden Trash says:

    Anybody seen this man together with this woman?

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  14. Anonymous says:

    I’ve never had a job…

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7746174.stm

    BBC doesn’t seem to be able to articulate the outrage felt by the productive part of our economy. I for one am disgusted that a fit and health woman has never bothered to get a job. Doesn’t the BBC feel that we deserve some credit for funding her for 28 years? The son is a squaddie who had been to Iraq and the ‘Stan but his mother has never stirred her arse in her entire life.

    BBC please let me

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  15. Jack Bauer says:

    George — “Launch of One Law for All – Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain”

    Ho ho. Well played sir.

    I assume the BBC will never again be using information leaked to them by a third source.

    Until the conservatives form the government.

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  16. deegee says:

    The BBC shows a little sympathy for Jewish victims, for a change:

    Tense times for Mumbai’s Jews

    David Preiser (USA) | Homepage | 02.12.08 – 4:47 pm

    The Mumbai Jewish community must have known who they were dealing with. I tried to get in touch with a prominent Jewish community centre and vocational training institute in the city, but they would not even reveal their locations, let alone allow me to speak to the people who run them.

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  17. Anonymous says:

    theres been a lot of outstanding fuck ups by Al beeb recently

    fantastic

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  18. Eric says:

    ITV news just now – the Met claim that that they only started investigating Damien Green after getting a letter from the Cabinet Office itself, suggesting that they start investigating a threat to national security.

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  19. Peter says:

    I wonder if there is link between those who are after handouts to help fund their ‘output’, and the quality of the ‘output’ they manage when so bestowed?:

    Memo to Jon Snow: the Mumbai ‘practitioners’ were Islamic terrorists

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2008/12/02/memo_to_jon_snow_the_mumbai_practitioners_were_islamic_terrorists

    ps: Aunty does get a dishonourable mention, too, so it’s not O/T.

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  20. Original Robin says:

    In Re the BBC and the EU
    Now the BBC plays down anything that anyone says about the EU, probably because it`s gone so far and is proceeding stealthily,and the BEeeboids dont want to antagonise us.But do you remember a time when they played up anything that anyone said about the EU, to give us the feeling it was all enevitable ?
    Minoe minister at a trade function and want to say it`s inconcievable we wont be in the EU– Main news.
    Minor manager at a General Motors division saying Britain shoould be in the EU —headline news
    CBI report that`s rigged to show members in favour of single currency –headline news.
    International car company whose main shareholder is a French state owned manufacturer saying suppliers should invoice in Euros –headline news.
    Now these stories would be buried.

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  21. Anonymous says:

    The BBC reported that ‘6 people died at the jewish centre’.

    Died? Almost makes it sound like an accident. They were murdered you bunch of effing idiots!

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  22. The Beebinator says:

    only problem is that al beebs views them as freedom fighters

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  23. AndrewSouthLondon says:

    More non-jobs. Ever wondered where you taxes go? Schools ‘n’ ‘ospitals? Try £40k of your taxes pissed away here –

    http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/job/781558/senior-press-officer/

    The management of perception not the actualite.

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  24. Sue says:

    Further to the last few comments on the previous general thread,
    doesn’t it seem strange how blatant the BBC’s bias has become? Almost everyone has noticed it now, and the more overt the case in point, the more the BBC contorts to omit and emote.

    Skimming through Robin Lustig’s blog about ‘news’ in which he explains, in a patronising but accepting way, that “If it bleeds it leads,” and, in a mustn’t-jump-the-gun kind of way, coyly and bashfully wonders who was behind the Mumbai attacks – I noticed some of the comments were unusually outspoken in a slipped-through-the-net kind of way. Was the moderator having forty winks or was this some sort of double bluff ?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldtonight/2008/11/images_of_terror.html

    Zillions of comments about BBC bias are pouring in from media here there and everywhere. All over the blogosphere and in the MSM. People are beginning to talk, BBC. Surely by now you must be aware of this onslaught. There is still a hard core of brainwashed devotees out there too. But just how long can you keep up this farcical charade before the sky falls in?

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  25. Jonathan Boyd Hunt says:

    George R | 02.12.08 – 3:11 pm:

    Nice post. Searing juxtaposition.

    Sue | 02.12.08 – 8:19 pm:

    Zillions of comments about BBC bias are pouring in from media here there and everywhere. All over the blogosphere and in the MSM. People are beginning to talk, BBC. … But just how long can you keep up this farcical charade before the sky falls in?

    Answer: Not long now – the build-up continues inexorably to its inevitable Berlin-Wall-collapse-style conclusion…

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  26. John Bosworth says:

    John Boyd Hunt: “Not long now”

    But it’ll take a popular uprising (the licence fee boycott), a politician with guts (???) or another major self-inflicted wound (like interviewing Airey Neave’s murderer in 1979) making it inevitable. Me? I’m betting on the latter.

    By the way, I looked up the Airey Neave murder to check the date and found the BBC’s “On This Day” website resists the word “murder” to describe it, even after nearly 30 years referring to it as a “killing”.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/30/newsid_2783000/2783877.stm

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  27. archduke says:

    airey neave’s wiki entry makes for some seriously interesting reading

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airey_Neave

    he knew about Soviet penetration of the UK security services.

    doesnt take a genius to figure out why the ultra Marxist INLA murdered him.

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  28. archduke says:

    John Bosworth | 02.12.08 – 8:49 pm

    in the case of Airey Neave , it was indeed a murder. whether by the INLA egged on by the KGB, or , as Enoch Powell thought – it was the work of the CIA – either way, it was a murder. i simply cannot understand why the BBC avoid that term.

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  29. George R says:

    Jihadists plotters arrested in Italy: not rated as newsworthy by BBC apparently-

    ‘Jihadwatch’

    “Italy arrests two jihadists planning attacks on Italian civilians”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023750.php

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  30. archduke says:

    Died? Almost makes it sound like an accident. They were murdered you bunch of effing idiots!
    Anonymous | 02.12.08 – 7:18 pm

    they were also tortured during the 3 days of siege. Indian doctors are reportedly “shocked” at the state of the bodies they had to examine.

    God rest their souls.

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  31. archduke says:

    Peter | Homepage | 02.12.08 – 6:53 pm

    to be honest, we all KNOW that Jon Snow is a leftie. i dont recall that he has ever said that he has tried to be impartial.

    but C4 get off the hook in my view – as they balance that out with the excellent Dispatches series.

    i think thats fair enough – lefty C4 news, versus sometimes right wing Dispatches viewpoints.

    which is fine by me – i get both sides on C4. and so, i have no complaints against them.

    the bbc on the other hand is just left left left all the friggin time.. with the one lone exception of Top Gear.

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  32. George R says:

    Presumably one reason why the BBC refuses to give space to the analyses of ‘Jihadwatch’ staffers is because they are not qualified, e.g.:

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023749.php

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  33. George R says:

    MUMBAI: simply gunmen, BBC?

    Even your chums at the ‘Guardian’ have this:

    “India names two most-wanted fugitives after Mumbai attacks”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/02/mumbai-most-wanted

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  34. archduke says:

    i see that Nick Robinson is reporting on how MPs are all oh so worried about the Damian Green affair…

    well yeah – they should be. they passed the fucking laws in the first place that allowed it to happen.

    i’m actually quite enjoying this to be honest – watching them squirm in outrage because of the very laws they voted in…

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  35. Gerald Brown says:

    A couple of quick points.

    Seems as though the “Sunday” programme at 8 a.m. on Radio 4 is somehow off-message as the presenter consistently called the perpetrators of the carnage in Bombay “terrorists”.

    Listening to the football on Five Live from Burnley. I bet no-one will ever guess which Burnley fan they talked to. Yes, your right, good old AC. Did they talk about football, no, just gave him an open mike to praise the party and our leader on a bloody football programme! Come to think of it whenever Burnley get prominence he seems to get invited on. It does all seem more than a little incestuous.

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  36. archduke says:

    George R | 02.12.08 – 10:17 pm

    the word “mumbai” is actually from an ultra-hindu sectarian local government. as i found out the other day.

    most folks over there still call the city Bombay as thats actually less sectarian… as in it – its more polite to just say “bombay” to your Sikh or Muslim friends.

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  37. archduke says:

    AC’s biography only just confirms what i think of the left – that they are deeply mentally ill, if not psychotic…

    “Campbell was admitted to hospital in 1986 when he travelled to Scotland as a journalist to cover Neil Kinnock’s visit to Glasgow. He had been drinking alcohol heavily up to that day, although he had consumed little alcohol while travelling and when in Scotland. He rapidly developed a psychosis with thoughts that he was being subject to a continuous test, and misinterpreting events and interactions as being part of this test. He also began to hear voices (auditory hallucinations). When Campbell was held in a police cell following a misdemeanour, his wife in London received a telephone call with the bad news at about 2:00 am”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Campbell

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  38. archduke says:

    and theres more
    “After his resignation of 2003 he suffered a recurrence of depression, and he has required medication from time to time since.”

    yes folks – this is Zanu Lab. the folks that control you right now.

    by contrast, john major went off and watched cricket.

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  39. George R says:

    ‘New York Post’:

    “MUMBAI: Deadly Media Euphemisms”

    “But how does the especially bloodthirsty attack on Mumbai’s Nariman-Chabad House fit into this puzzle palace?

    “The New York Times theorized that Chabad House may have been an ‘accidental hostage scene.’ The BBC initially chose to hide the Jewish character of the target by describing it as just ‘an office building.’ Al Jazeera refused to show Chabad House as the site of the carnage. Some Western media outlets unsympathetically labeled victims there as ‘ultra-Orthodox’ or ‘missionaries.’

    “Contrary to these fantasies, the all-too-obvious truth is now being confirmed:

    “* The Times of India reported that some of the terrorists, claiming to be Malaysian students, rented nearby space in order to scout out Chabad.

    “* The Indian doctor who conducted the post-mortems related in a shaken voice that: ‘;Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th [the first day of the attacks] itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed.’

    “* The only captured terrorist, Ajmal Kamal, confessed under interrogation that his fellow murderers were specifically ordered to target the Jews killed at Chabad. ”

    http://www.nypost.com/seven/12022008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/mumbai__deadly_media_euphemisms_141763.htm

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  40. archduke says:

    for those who arent aware – “Chabad” is an orthodox strand of Judaism, that is involved in missionary work. unlike other strands of the Jewish religion, these guys are fully signed up to converting non-jews to the judaism.

    there are lots of “chabad” houses throughout the world.

    are you beginning to see the bigger picture yet?

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  41. nelson says:

    “I NEVA HAD A JOB”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7746174.stm

    What a sob story. Where’s the ‘good hard kick up the ass’ retort? nowhere to be found, of course. That would not be PC, or CP.

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  42. Hugh Oxford says:

    Just thought I’d swing by to say that I’ve just endured a couple of hours of world service Barack Obama wankathon.

    First an anti-Gitmo documentary – “Barack Obama wants to close it!!”, and then something about the Klan, equally tenuously linked to Barry, who grew up hundreds of miles from the nearest black community, and then something equally tenuously linked to Barry, about people of African descent getting together to solve Africa’s problems (apparently they can do it – they just need even more of whitey’s money. Doh – why has nobody thought of this before!).

    What is it with Beeb and blacks/Africa? Africa has 1/8th of the world’s population yet consumes seemingly half of its output.

    And of course with the World Service – guess who has to pay – the British taxpayer. No opt out. Nada.

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  43. archduke says:

    nelson | 02.12.08 – 10:37 pm

    quote:
    “Elizabeth Malcolm, 43, has never had a job. She lives in a two-bedroom council flat in Glasgow with her three children, one grandchild, two cats and a hamster. ”

    “But she concedes that she doesn’t really know why she didn’t get a job, and that there was an element of just “not getting round” to it. ”

    well, to be honest – she did have three kids.. since the age of 17… so thats pretty much a full time job in itself. i dont want to bash single mums… have a read of Mark Steyn and Muslim demographics, and you’ll understand where i am coming from.

    but whats interesting is this bit:

    “As no one in the house is actively seeking work, they don’t count as “unemployed” and none claims Jobseeker’s Allowance. ”

    god only knows what the REAL unemployment level is in this country.

    these folks are simply forgotten about. rather than being angry at these folks, i think your anger should be directed at the socialists that allowed this to happen.

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  44. Martin says:

    I see turd stealer Ken Livingdead is on Newsnight AGAIN. I’m expecting Vince Cabl eand Stephen Pound to appear next.

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  45. AZ67 says:

    From a non-UK perspective, I would also like to put my two pennies worth of analysis forward in relation to the BBC, Labour and the License fee.

    From repeated viewing of the BBC, I would say that the BBC has some serious credibility problems, a good example of this is the distorted reporting of the current economical downturn (recession is the word we use in Holland), never have I heard a public broadcaster defend the incompetence of a political party in the breathless and incestuous manner that the BBC seem to use when defending the Labour party, and by extension Mr Browns handling of the UK economy.

    The UK Labour party reputation in Europe has steadily declined ever since Mr Brown/ Mr Blair decided to invade Iraq, since Mr Brown became the Prime Minister it seems from watching/listening to Dutch, French, German and Belgium news outlets that the UK is lurching from one crisis to the next, listening to the BBC World Service, I would have imagined that everything is okay, and that the economic downturn is the fault of Mrs Thatcher !!( I heard this excuse three weeks ago on the lunchtime news on the WS).

    After reading many of the posts on this site, I must admit that the negative attitude towards paying a license fee surprised me. could someone clarify if you want the BBC to be consigned to the history books, or do you resent paying for a service that you may not wish to view?. I understand the reluctance to pay for a service which seems to have a left of centre bias, however, most countries have a license fee, in the BeNeLuX region all households have to pay a form of license fee.

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  46. archduke says:

    does michael howard realise that the ENTIRE reason he is invited onto newsnight is to remind voters that the Conservative party is populated by vampires from romania that want to suck your blood…??? lets be honest here – that is what lefties think when they see Howard.

    yes – its all ok for his ego.. but by god does it damage the conservative party. i do wish the Tories would get a fucking clue…
    obviously they dont have one.

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  47. archduke says:

    “could someone clarify if you want the BBC to be consigned to the history books,”

    i want the BBC consigned to the rubbish tip of history, along with the Soviet Union… they are one and the same.

    we have a Marxist organisation being funded by the taxpayer. and that is wrong.

    and i will break open a bottle of champagne when they are gotten rid of.

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  48. AZ67 says:

    Thank you archduke for the unambiguous response to my question!!.

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  49. archduke says:

    nelson | 02.12.08 – 10:37 pm

    but to be honest with you – it is a load of bollocks.

    mrs archduke, due a baby next month, is working as a cook in an old peoples home locally.

    why? because she WANTS to work. even if the pay is crap, it gives her self worth. and i’m totally ok with that. thats a good thing. i sometimes wish that more british would have the attitude of mrs archduke.
    its badly needed.

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