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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187 Responses to General BBC-related comment thread!

  1. frankos says:

    I don’t suppose that Iraqi journalist would have thrown his shoes at Sadaam –gutless bastard.
    This insult is being potrayed as a bit of a laugh because it’s Bush —let’s see if the press still finds it funny when Obama suffers the same fate!

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  2. Anonymous says:

    “What if… you woke up one morning and found out that the President of the United States was a USURPER… a FRAUD… a PHONY? ” …
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2148103/posts
    .

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  3. ipreferred says:

    What if… you woke up one morning and the bleating internet conspiracy theorists were FRAUDS… just trying to get your TAX DEDUCTIBLE donations?

       0 likes

  4. Anonymous says:

    What if you wake up one morning to find Britain Bankrupt?

    “‘Unemployment landslide’ looms as 40% of small businesses consider closing down”
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1093537/Unemployment-landslide-looms-40-small-businesses-consider-closing-down.html

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  5. Chuffer says:

    What if you woke up one morning and found that the Test match result was a fix? Now that would be worth some CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!

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  6. The Beebinator says:

    i’d love to wake up one morning and hear a Beeboid on telly or radio say we got it wrong on that global warming crap, sorry.

    and pigs might fly, and i aint talking about police officers in a helicopter

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  7. Dick the Prick says:

    As per – The Real Hustle – teaching scum how to more capable scum. Who the hell watches it except twats picking up tips?

    It’s a bloody disgrace.

       0 likes

  8. Sutekh says:

    Dick the Prick:
    As per – The Real Hustle – teaching scum how to more capable scum. Who the hell watches it except twats picking up tips?

    It’s a bloody disgrace.
    Dick the Prick | 16.12.08 – 11:26 am | #
    —————————————-
    How about…… people picking up tips so THEY don’t get scammed? Did that not occur to you?

       0 likes

  9. twats picking up tips says:

    don’t worry, I’ve never watched the programme

       0 likes

  10. Kafka says:

    Something that’s been bugging me lately is the re-writing of the geography of the UK — very insidious. Two examples I’ve heard recently (1) “Croydon, in South London” always beleived to be a town in its own right & (2) “Carlisle, on the Scottish Borders” Really? Could have sworn it’s in England FFS!

    What’s going on here?

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  11. George R says:

    BBC report:

    “‘Aspiration gap’ for white poor”

    [Extract]:

    “More needs to be done to raise the aspirations of young people, especially boys, from isolated white working class communities, a government report says.”

    Surely the Labour government is already attending to this problem by putting into practice its ‘multiculturalist’ plan (BBC-endorsed) in pursuit of its non-election manifesto, stealth policy of mass immigration of the non-white poor to the UK.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7784269.stm

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  12. Biodegradable says:

    “Carlisle, on the Scottish Borders”

    Like Gilad Shalit was kidnapped “near Gaza” instead of “from within Israel”

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  13. George R says:

    Melanie Phillips:

    “The Blood-Libel Broadcasting Corporation”:

    “A fine and biting article by Barry Rubin juxtaposes the utterly unambiguous and unchanging reality of the Palestinian and Islamist intention to wipe out Israel and murder as many Jews as possible with the delusional dream world in which the west is living in which it persists in regarding genocidal lunatics as ‘moderates’. But one sentence in particular leapt out at me:

    “‘Oh, by the way, the program in which Arab viewers were told that Israeli schools teach children to murder Arabs wasn’t aired on the Hizbullah channel but on the BBC’s Arabic service. That’s quite a service. Incitement to terrorism thanks to British taxpayer money.’

    “Isn’t it time Parliament discussed this use of ‘public service’ broadcasting to promulgate blood libels to people who will commit mass murder as a result?”

    http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3090056/the-bloodlibel-broadcasting-corporation.thtml

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  14. Hugh Oxford says:

    Carlisle, on the Scottish Borders

    They probably think the Scottish Borders is the border between England and Scotland.

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  15. George R says:

    A BBC report about PAKISTAN, and a ‘Jihadwatch’ comment on that report:
    (Note the last paragraph of ‘Jihadwatch’ comment.)

    BBC report:

    “Pakistan refuses UK Mumbai appeal”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7784559.stm

    ‘Jihadwatch comment:

    “Fresh from refusing to help India, Pakistan now refuses to help the UK. Does anyone still have any serious doubt that significant elements within the Pakistani government support the ‘tiny minority of extremists,’ or else calculate that the support for them is so strong among the Pakistani people that if they move too strongly against them they will invite insurrection?

    “And note this well: ‘It is our country and our laws will be implemented. We’ll follow our laws.’ Isn’t it funny how so many Pakistanis, when they come to the UK, seem to forget that that simple principle applies to the British also?”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023942.php

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  16. twats picking up tips says:

    nice to hear that financial expert Galloway spouting off about the evils of Capitalism courtesy of the Ponzi scheme debacle. Galloway and his Socialist chums are beneath contempt, but that doesn’t stop the BEEB dragging them up every time there is a financial problem .
    When will the BBC start giving these deluded spongers the same kind of grilling they give the centre right NeoCons?

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  17. DJ says:

    What TPUT said.

    George Galloway on Jeremy Whine to discuss the Ponzi scheme train wreck. Does anyone not know exactly what he’s going to say? It’s like running an item on a new form of AIDS and inviting Stephen Green from Christian Voice on to discuss it.

    The only good bit was when Jegsy said ‘But didn’t your system kill 150 million people in the last century’?

    No, just kidding.

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  18. twats picking up tips says:

    Galloway is a rich man who sponges off our capitalist system to promote his Socialist one. His worst nightmare would be a Soviet style government as a gobshite like him would be straight into a Gulag. Nice thought though –bring back Stalin

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  19. frankos says:

    More needs to be done to raise the aspirations of young people, especially boys, from isolated white working class communities, a government report says.”..

    Surely getting the rest of society paying for all your beer and fags is pretty aspirational??

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  20. Abandon Ship! says:

    World at One

    Does it surprise anyone here that the BBC uses extensive reference to the Iraq war to explain the motives of Bilaln Abdullah et al?

    Any responsible broadcaster would give more limited airtime to the “we did it because of Iraq” school of thought.

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  21. henryflower says:

    A few short months ago the sports world was chattering on smugly about what a breakthrough it was that Paul Ince was the first black manager of a Premiership team. I remember thinking at the time that if his abilities weren’t up to Premiership standards his skin colour would soon be rightly seen as irrelevant.

    He was sacked today. He proved to be a dismal failure, despite the breakthrough pigmentation of his skin.

    Good luck Obama…

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  22. Cheeta says:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/

    Interesting how the torching of Palin’s church is not newsworthy, but a terror suspect being “interviewed twice without a solicitor” is found in sympathetic parlance on the front page (see third bullet point down).

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  23. Biodegradable says:

    Contrast & Compare:

    Militant shot dead in West Bank
    An Islamic Jihad militant has been killed by Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Jenin.

    According to the Israeli military, 20-year-old Jihad Nawhda was shot while trying to escape arrest and died on the way to the hospital.

    Palestinian witnesses said he was ambushed outside a cafe and the Israeli forces fired without warning.

    Islamic Jihad fired a number of rockets into southern Israel from Gaza in retaliation for the killing.

    Israeli forces say Mr Nawhda was suspected of plotting to carry out attacks and had been wanted for a year.

    Eyewitnesses were quoted saying that the Israeli forces surrounded an internet cafe in the village of Yamoun and opened fire when Mr Nawhda came out.

    “A truck came and stopped in front of the coffee place, when the guy came out. Soldiers and special forces were shooting at the coffee place and towards the guy.

    “The whole thing did not last more than 10 seconds. They took him with them, put him in the car and left the place,” the witness added.

    IDF troops kill senior Jihad commander in West Bank raid
    IDF troops killed an Islamic Jihad senior commander the while operating near Jenin overnight Monday.

    According to Palestinian reports, Israeli troops first tried to arrest 23-year-old Jihad Nwada in a café. When Nwada tried to escape from the area, gunfire was exchanged and the Jihad commander was killed.

    The IDF confirmed that Nwada had tried to escape, and said that the troops aimed to shoot him in the lower part of the body. After he was wounded, the troops tried to evacuate him to a nearby hospital, but Nwada died from his wounds on the way.

    The BBC find Palestinian “eyewitnesses” who claim that the IDF opened fire without warning when the suspect exited the cafe.

    The Jerusalem Post quote “Palestinian reports” that state clearly that as the IDF attempted to arrest him inside the cafe he made a run for it and “gunfire was exchanged”, presumably with the suspect.

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  24. George R says:

    BBC report:

    I think you can say the obvious, BBC: that this was a murderous ISLAMIC JIHAD attack on British people, but you don’t:

    “Doctor guilty of car bomb attacks”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7773410.stm

    ‘Mail’ report:

    “Iraqi NHS terrorist guilty of conspiring to murder hundreds of people in attacks on London’s West End and Glasgow Airport”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1095591/Iraqi-NHS-terrorist-guilty-conspiring-murders-hundreds-people-attacks-Londons-West-End-Glasgow-Airport.html

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  25. George R says:

    The BBC doesn’t seem to have this on its website. I wonder why not:

    “Immigrants take 1.4m new jobs”

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2041493.ece

    AND: ‘Migrationwatch’:

    “Impact of Immigration on employment of British born”

    http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/Briefingpapers/employment/3_7.asp

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  26. TheCuckoo says:

    Stories you’ll have trouble finding on the BBC, part 94:

    Blind man’s guide dog barred from restaurant for offending Muslims
    A blind man has been turned away from a fashionable Indian restaurant because his guide dog offended Muslim staff.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3775993/Blind-mans-guide-dog-barred-from-restaurant-for-offending-Muslims.html

       0 likes

  27. George R says:

    Nowhere does the BBC make explicit the role of the E.U. in deciding the future of what has been ‘The Royal Mail’:

    “Mail report ‘to suggest sell-off'”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7785177.stm

    But ‘EU referendum blog’ does make the E.U. link explicit:

    ” Euro Mail ”

    [Extract]:

    “The real objective however • as always • is entirely political. The plan is to destroy national services, those with a unique national identity, replacing them with cross-border entities which owe nothing to any particular country. Then, in the fullness of time, when the ‘service’ is partly or mainly ‘trans-national’, the EU steps in with a proposal to regulate on a cross-border basis and creates an EU authority with full powers to dictate the rules.

    “Thus, we see economic integration followed by political integration in the classic EU mould, happening in front of our very eyes. And there is barely a mention of this process made by the media in its torrent of coverage.”

    http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2008/12/euro-mail.html

       0 likes

  28. Shaz says:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7773410.stm

    No sign of the M word. I also love this part:

    “Abdulla admitted in court that he was “a terrorist” as defined by English law. He went on to say he believed the British government and Army could equally be accused of terrorism for their actions in Iraq.”

    BBC line to take or convicted Islamic terrorist? who can tell?

    “Jim Sturman QC, for Abdulla, said his crimes were motivated by politics, not religion.

    “This is not a case where his intention was driven by religious faith but by his frustration with what he saw as an unjust war,”

    Kind of strange seeing as how all the other news sources are talking about the extensive Islamic extremist literature he possessed.

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  29. Shaz says:

    Compare:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5352199.ece

    “An NHS doctor who waged a terrorist car-bomb campaign intended to kill and maim hundreds”

    “Abdulla had developed an intense loathing of the West because of the wars in the Middle East waged by the United States and England. He was found in possession of extremist Islamic literature.”

    “Abdulla met Ahmed in Cambridge when they were working or studying there during 2004-05. They came together through the Islamic Academy, a charity in the city that rented rooms to young Muslim professional men”

       0 likes

  30. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Time for a little schadenfreude. As predicted, China has blocked BBC Chinese again:

    China ‘bans BBC Chinese website’

    Gotta love the use of attribution right there in the headline. BBC Chinese is blocked again, and they know that the Chinese government unblocked it in July. But now the Chinse government won’t confirm their blocking it again to the BBC. Quite the conundrum.

    Poor BBC. They were so sure they had pandered their way into that huge market. They were so sure they’d had a breakthrough and would be able to keep this going after the Olympics. Many of us here knew this wouldn’t last, and China would shut them down as soon as they felt like it.

    Funny now this is buried deep in the Asia section, and not even worthy of spending a few minutes on the News front page.

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  31. Tom says:

    It’s the one who walked free that I’m worried about.

    When he gave evidence in his own defence, he said that Abdulla ‘destroyed his life’ and ‘betrayed’ him.

    But before leaving the dock, and after Abdulla had been convicted of serious terrorist offences, Asha embraced him.

    Besides, although brought up in a secular family, he has one of those I-am-a-raving-Islamist beards.

    Is there any way he can be put on the next plane to Jordan even though the jury found him not guilty.

    I see the BBC have decided he was not only innocent but ‘bullied’ by those nasty policemen. Poor diddums.

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  32. Pat says:

    Kafka / Hugh Oxford – It is not only the BBC. I recently purchased two mirrors made in Cumbria, in the Borders of Scotland. Maybe they know something we don’t.

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  33. David A says:

    To TheCuckoo
    Re: Stories you’ll have trouble finding on the BBC, part 94:

    “But Shamin Ahmed, a partner in the restaurant, said that he had written to Guide Dogs for the Blind to apologise for the incident. He said that although the owners of the venue are Muslim, he insisted religion was not a factor in the decision to refuse Mr Elder-Brown.”

    Nah! it’s not religion it’s racism. Did you notice that the offending guide dog in the photograph in the Daily Telegraph is black?

    Of course, if the restaurant customers had any spunk at all, they would all have walked straight out of the restaurant, never to return.

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  34. TPO says:

    Pounce where are you —- Is this true?

    Forces stick with Snatch vehicles

    Last month the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, told the BBC that UK forces wanted to continue using Snatch Land Rovers.
    “I speak to commanders all the time and they tell me unequivocally that they need a vehicle that has the size and manoeuvrability of Snatch in order to be able to conduct their mission,” he said.

    I cannot believe that the CDS stated that they wanted to continue using the Snatch Land Rover.

    From the BBC’s quote he actually says ‘….they need a vehicle that has the size and manoeuvrability OF Snatch….’

    That’s hardly saying they want to continue using Snatch Land Rovers. This smacks of the usual BBC trick of taking comments out of context to serve their political masters, in this case John Hutton, who by all accounts likes to play with toy soldiers.

    Labopur/BBC towing the party line again.

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  35. TPO says:

    Sorry, got so incensed that I forgot the link.

    http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7785261.stm

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  36. pounce says:

    George R wrote:
    A BBC report about PAKISTAN, and a ‘Jihadwatch’ comment on that report:

    I felt the need to bitch about how the money grabbing Pakistani government (Whom the bBC fawns over)said no.
    http://eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com/2008/12/lie-likes-cheap-chinese-watch.html#links

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  37. TPO says:

    pounce | 16.12.08 – 5:08 pm |

    Bizarre.
    Haven’t seen you posting for weeks and here you are.

    Is what I posted here true: TPO | 16.12.08 – 4:56 pm |

       0 likes

  38. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Is the BBC ever going to get around to reporting on those who were victimized by Madoff’s scam besides a few banks? Obviously nobody cares about the rich Jews who personally lost so much of their filthy lucre, so I don’t expect the BBC to mention any of that. Funny, they sure got cameras into the home of an elderly Gentile couple who stood to lose everything because of this.

    And I certainly accept that the BBC is right to report the millions lost by Hampshire County Council’s pension fund, as well as banks and other institutions that will affect UK citizens directly.

    However, I naively assumed that the BBC cares about charity organizations. Surely it’s worth mentioning – just to give the full scope of this crime – that the Robert Lappin Foundation shut its doors today because they lost everything through Madoff’s fund. No, that’s just a small Jewish charity who sends students and teachers to evil Israel, so never mind. The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Foundation – which lost at least half its money – supports many, many causes, including medical facilities and college scholarships. They even support many non-Jewish causes and organizations, such as WGBH TV in Boston, a PBS flagship and source of licensing revenue for the BBC. Nah, too Jewish.

    But surely Steven Spielberg’s ethnicity shouldn’t prevent the BBC from showing a little concern about the fact that his charity, Wunderkind, stands to lose about 70% of its capital from this. I guess not.

    I don’t see any hope that the BBC will mention that Yeshiva University lost about $100 million, or that the Chais Family Foundation had to shut down because it lost all of its $175 million. Jews, filthy lucre, etc.

    And poor Elie Wiesel – his Foundation isn’t worth the BBC’s time, either.

    A full list of Madoff victims you won’t hear about from the BBC can be found here:

    Bernie Madoff’s Victims: The List

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  39. Tom says:

    Natalie ain’t gonna believe this.

    The BBC have suddenly discovered the ACTIVE VOICE in an Israeli death report.

    Israel tourism bus crash kills 24

    Yes, the crash did it.

    http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7785889.stm

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  40. D Burbage says:

    First the plumbers, now the doctors

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7773410.stm

       0 likes

  41. John Bosworth says:

    How soon before Iraqi journalist Muntather Zaidi, who threw his shoes at George W Bush, is invited to be a panelist on “Question Time”?

       0 likes

  42. Garden Trash says:

    “More needs to be done to raise the aspirations of young people, especially boys, from isolated white working class communities, a government report says.”

    The government is working hard,out of 1.34 million jobs 1.08 have gone to foreigners.Must be heartwarming if you are young.
    Ethnic cleansing under the Brown Terror?

       0 likes

  43. DB says:

    As one might expect from Dominic Casciani, a very sympathetic and selective profile of Bilal Abdulla:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7784799.stm

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  44. William Carson says:

    “How soon before Iraqi journalist Muntather Zaidi, who threw his shoes at George W Bush, is invited to be a panelist on “Question Time”?

    John Bosworth | 16.12.08 – 5:51 pm”

    I think he’s a shoo in.

       0 likes

  45. Hugh Oxford says:

    On PM today, a little insight into the BBC mentality on terrorism, as well as the appalling ideology that has infected British policing since the accession of New Labour.

    We had Andy Hayman, former head of Anti-Terrorism at the Met, rolled on to talk about the conviction of Bilal Abdullah, the Muslim loon who tried to kill me and my family.

    Mr Hayman couldn’t stop bleating that it was all our fault for going to war to liberate Iraqis from Saddam Hussein and hunt down Al Quada. If we hadn’t gone to war, he opined, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.

    A couple of questions the light entertainer who presents PM, Edward “Eddie” Mair could have asked him, but didn’t, include…

    “September 11th happened long before the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Do you really think that not prosecuting Islamism abroad is going to stop Jihadi’s wanting to kill us?”

    “Doesn’t a country have the right to go to war without the people it has accepted into it as citizens siding with the enemy rather than itself”.

    But he didn’t. Instead, he let this madman former Senior Copper continue his tirade of blaming everyone but nutcase Islamists for the fact they want to wipe western society off the face of the map.

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  46. Dick the Prick says:

    Sutekh

    How about…… people picking up tips so THEY don’t get scammed? Did that not occur to you?

    Yeah, ofcorse it did, but normal people don’t sit around taking fucking notes.

       0 likes

  47. Chuffer says:

    Six O’clock News, about 6.25 tonight (Tuesday).
    The Doctor returns from Bangladesh, where, according to the BBC, her parents

    “had been trying to pressure her into a marriage”!

    That sounds like me and my daughter having our nightly discussion about homework.

    Obviously nothing to do with an Islamic forced marriage, then.

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  48. Martin says:

    What if you woke one working and found that Gordon Brown had blown his fucking brains out with a revolver?

    Smile

    Jump for joy

    Go and get pissed

    Laugh

       0 likes

  49. GCooper says:

    Driving home this evening, listening to the BBC’s R4 news, I heard the following: “Bilal Abdulla blamed the invasion of Iraq and the worldwide oppression of Moslems…”

    That is either the BBC’s usual tenth rate journalism or it is open propaganda.

    What the newsreader should have said was: “Bilal Abdulla blamed the invasion of Iraq and what he claimed was worldwide oppression of Moslems.”

    Whichever reason is true, the BBC is a disgrace.

       0 likes