84 Responses to Open Thread

  1. DB says:

    The murder of Dr Tiller was given the full treatment by the BBC:

    US abortion doctor is shot deadMan quizzed over US doctor deathProfile: George TillerAnti-abortion and violence in the USOn yesterday’s Today programme it was the third headline.

    The murder of an army recruiter in Little Rock and the subsequent arrest of a Muslim convert has not been covered at all by the BBC:

    “Little Rock” + BBC.

    Other media.

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  2. DB says:

    I’ll try that again.

    The murder of Dr Tiller was given the full treatment by the BBC:

    US abortion doctor is shot dead.

    Man quizzed over US doctor death.

    Profile: George Tiller.

    Anti-abortion and violence in the US.

    On yesterday’s Today programme it was the third headline.

    The murder of an army recruiter in Little Rock and the subsequent arrest of a Muslim convert has not been covered at all by the BBC:

    “Little Rock” + BBC.

    Other media.

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  3. Screw you jack says:

    “Jack Bauer said…
    Beeboid watchers keep a look out for how they report the news that notorious Infancidal abortionist “Dr” Tiller (the baby killer) was shot dead this morning in Kansas City, Ka.

    For those unfamiliar with Tiller the Baby Killer, this is how he performed “late” term abortions during the birth process…

    Whilst the baby is exiting the womb head first from the mother’s body in the act of birth, he would plunge a steel needle into the baby’s head.

    Nice huh?”

    Utter christian fundamentalist bollocks.

    Check your facts before spewing this crap.

    Lying for jesus is still telling lies.

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  4. George R says:

    EL SALVADOR: the BBC’s Cuba of 2009.

    -Joy for leftist Beeboids in this unalloyed BBC PR-job for:

    EL SALVADOR – CUBA – US DEMOCRAT PARTY axis –

    “Salvador leftist leader sworn in”
    (‘Americas’ page.)

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  5. George R says:

    Just to remind us of the BBC’s political predilection for HEZBOLLAH (like that of Islamic TV channel, Al Jazeera), the BBC trumpets its largely uncritical interview with Hezbollah on, e.g., the need to exterminate Israel:

    “Inside Lebanese Hezbollah militia”

    (‘Middle East’ webpage.)

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  6. adam says:

    it is important to remember that the fees office were telling all mps

    “you dont get paid enough and its our job to help you steal as much as you can”

    all mps must have known this was the situation, and doubtless various embedded journalists too, like Nick Robinson.

    do not believe their lies

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  7. George R says:

    BBC Radio 5 gives preferential treatment to Muslims re-opinions on Michael Savage this morning.

    The political emphasis of BBC’s Ms. Derbyshire approach to this was to give a lion’s share of uninterrupted time to Muslim views on Michael Savage’s opinions.

    Of course, in contrast, the BBC, pursuing Labour’s Smith banning line, treated Mr. Savage, in telephone interview, as a hostile witness, with continual self-righteous interruptions by Ms. Derbyshire.

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  8. DB says:

    Good comment by Freeborn John on Mark Mardell’s blog:

    You are all missing the point of this blog post. Mark Mardell is trying, on the eve of elections, to create a linkage between those who oppose the EU (i.e. the entire center-right in the UK) and the far right. In the last six weeks has mentioned the British National Party (BNP) several times in these pages, something which he has never done before. In his radio broadcast at the weekend he referred twice to UKIP as “the BNP in blazers”. And now he blogs about the Dutch PVV.
    It is a very great pity that Mark Mardell feels that giving hard right parties the oxygen of publicity on the eve of election is a price worth paying to attack by association center-right parties that oppose EU federalism on very different grounds
    .

    On Sunday morning Kate Silverton stood in for Gabby Logan on R5L. “In the best traditions of public service broadcasting” (Silverton’s words) the programme offered a guide to the upcoming EU elections. And in the best traditions of biased BBC broadcasting, the person chosen to “talk us though” it all was an arch-Europhile, Guardian political correspondent Nick Watt. His analysis was exactly what one would expect from a pro-EU Guardian journalist. He concluded with a summary of the EU’s benefits: “You give up sovereignty – there’s no question about that – you give up sovereignty, but that’s a good thing because you get a lot back… I think the British people superficially don’t like the European Union but when you go deep down and you say ‘OK, this is what happens when you pull out. Washington don’t take as much notice of you on trade policy,’ I think the British people, as they showed in the 1975 referendum, would vote ‘yes’ and vote ‘yes’ quite enthusiastically.” [Me – bring it on and we’ll see!]

    Silverton was very impressed with this, replying: “I could hear more from you Nick. Thank you very much.”

    There was no alternative viewpoint, no Eurosceptic voice. Just the Guardian/BBC received wisdom that the EU project is great.

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  9. DB says:

    My post above – should read “talk us through” not “talk us though”.

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  10. deegee says:

    Inside Lebanese Hezbollah militia
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8076820.stm

    George R said… 10:16 AM, June 02, 2009 that it was a largely uncritical interview with Hezbollah.

    It was however highly critical of British Government policy of talking to the politicians while keeping the military wing on the terrorist list.

    But Mahmoud, the fighter, says the UK is fooling itself by making this distinction.
    “We have two arms, but we belong to one body. There is no such things as the military wing or the political wing of Hezbollah – we are all part of one resistance,” he said.

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  11. George R says:

    Yet more BBC political propaganda for the mirage of the ‘real Islam’:

    BBC (‘UK’ webpage):

    “‘Real Islam’ is just a phone call away”

    Simple. After 1,400 years of violent Islamic imperialism, it can be corrected with a phone call to a Muslim. So much for gullibility.

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  12. Umbongo says:

    One good thing came out of Naughtie’s interview with Cameron on Today this morning. Cameron confirmed that whatever happens with the Lisbon Treaty we’ll never get a straightforward “EU – in or out?” referendum from the Conservatives. Well, that’s made it very easy to decide who I’m going to vote for (or, rather, not going to voter for) on Thursday.

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  13. George R says:

    Richard Ingrams on BBC’s expenses’ culture (‘London Evening Standard’. ‘Londoner’s Diary’, 1 June)-

    [Extract]:

    “Ingrams claims that the BBC culture is not so far removed from that of parliament and involves larger sums of money, provided by the taxpayer in the form of licence fees. ‘Any political opponent might feel tempted to investigate Esther’s previous career at the BBC, and in particular the way in which she and her late husband, Desmond Wilcox, managed somehow to bypass the corporation’s rule that husband and wife should not be allowed to work in the same department,’ says Ingrams. He also recalls that she went to America with Wilcox at BBC expense and borrowed a car from Rover.

    “’With a husband who was head of general features, Esther acquired a powerful position and even managed to arrange crèche facilities at TV Centre for her baby and her nanny. Esther and her show were frequently involved in litigation and the BBC footed the bills. Desmond Wilcox, too, had his legal expenses paid when a group of script writers sued him for plagiarism. Esther was more recently featuring in adverts for ambulance-chasing lawyers. Now is that the sort of thing a would-be MP should be doing?’”

    “In a eulogy to Wilcox in December 2000, the BBC’s head of religious broadcasting, Dr Colin Morris, who worked in the next office to him, said he was ‘a virtuoso at putting in expenses.'”

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  14. George R says:

    The BBC’s main concern about the Taliban: how to spell the word?:

    “From ‘Taleban’ to Taliban'”- (‘bbcnews the editors’,
    2 June).

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  15. George R says:

    Sky News (1 June):

    “Recession is ‘all about Gord and Godzilla'”

    [Extract]:

    “The eminent Harvard University acedemic [NIALL FERGUSON] also called for Mr Brown to quit his job.

    “‘I heard Gordon Brown talking about constitutional reform… it sounded pathetic.

    “‘There’s no way he’s going to mollify angry voters with that kind of talk.

    “‘His days must be numbered and I feel the sooner he goes the better.”

    “At the same time Professor Ferguson likened the global economy to the 1962 cult Japanese sci-fi move ‘Godzilla vs King Kong’.

    “‘It’s a very appropriate image of the world economy today with Godzilla as the monetary authorities, the central banks and governments spraying a jet of liquidity in an attempt to win this battle and King Kong as global deflation.”

    “It’s really not clear who’s going to win at this point.” (Prof. Niall Ferguson on Jeff Randall programme).

    BBC report ( ‘Politics’ page, 1 June):
    “I’m staying as PM, says Brown.”

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  16. Anonymous says:

    “MPs across the board should recognize the gravity of the situation, and should address the issues of concern to the public – immigration, multiculturalism, and Islamism in particular. And they must do so now if the country is to be pulled back from the brink.” Britain on the Brink – Brussels Journal

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  17. Cameron says:

    Jaqui Smith sacking is being reported like a funeral by the Rita+Sophie 2 way.

    Hilarious.

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  18. will2001 says:

    The Mail gives this some prominence

    “Three-quarters of people believe their MPs are liars in the wake of the expenses scandal, with almost half also considered corrupt, a devastating new poll reveals.

    The scale of public disillusionment with Parliament is laid bare by the Ipsos Mori survey for the BBC.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190217/Lowest-support-Labour.html

    But the BBC website appears to have buried their own survey, no reference exists on the headline pages

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8078159.stm

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  19. Anonymous says:

    Astonishing reply from pro-Islamic Beeboid when questioned by Nicky Campbell this morning with regard to Islamic phone line supposedly to counter hard line extremists :
    (approximation of conversation):
    Campbell: What about the stoning of women in Arab countries?
    Beeboid reporter:
    Well, Islamic teaching is often open to different interpretations of its law.

    No condemnation whatsoever – according to this reporter – the stoning women just seems to be one of the many options that might be on offer.

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  20. Cameron says:

    vaz on sky shilling for jaqui smith says she was a brilliant home secretary!!!!

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  21. George R says:

    JACQUI SMITH leaving. Good! One up to MICHAEL SAVAGE.

    No doubt this ban is part of her legacy of which Mr. Vaz is so proud.

    BBC audio telephone interview with Michael Savage:

    “US ‘shock jock’s’ anger at UK ban”

    (‘UK’ webpage, 7 mins.)

    Note: after this recorded interview, Ms. Derbyshire gave the predominant response to Muslims, with no right of reply to Mr. Savage, who was not present, and not aware the negative uninterrupted comments made about him on BBC Radio 5 this morning.

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  22. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Okay, I have to take back my comment yesterday at 5:36pm about no Beeboid spelling out Darling’s moral failure of using taxpayer money to avoid paying taxes.

    I just saw Nick Robinson’s interview with him (I could have sworn Robinson had the segment with Mr. Brown posted on his blog yesterday, but it’s Darling now), and he definitely raised the moral question. Darling gave a satisfactory (in my view) answer. If he was telling the truth, he wanted to make sure he paid correctly, and paid at least some tax on the value of the advice, which is according to the rules.

    Robinson did a good job for a change, I think. A more aggressive interviewer might have pressed Darling to drop the “I understand the anger” routine, but it’s better than nothing. The rest of the Beeboids still don’t seem to get it and are simply riding the wave of public anger and titillation. As one does.

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  23. Craig says:

    BBC News 24 this afternoon (on the resignation of Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith) has – so far – called for comment on Simon Hoggart of the 'Guardian', Andy McSmith of the 'Independent', Chris Huhne of the Liberal Democrats & Labour-supporting pollster (and former writer for the 'Independent') Peter Kellner.

    The BBC's 'select/selective' address book is again in view. And (with apologies to Hippiepooter) they are all voices from the Left.

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  24. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Here’s Robert Peston advocating a bit of Socialism in the corporate world:

    Boss’s pay and WPP

    Whether or not anyone agrees or disagrees that executives are paid too much here or there is irrelevant. This is the BBC business editor openly advocating for lower pay for corporate execs. It’s one thing to state the case for or against, but Peston is clearly taking a position here.

    Just part of the drip, drip, drip that wealth – for anyone but the right-on elite – is bad and at least partially undeserved.

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  25. Craig says:

    David P,

    Yes, on watching the whole interview I agree that Nick Robinson did a surprisingly good job, but…

    …Darling's contention that he claimed for accountancy advice at taxpayers' expense so as to pay the correct amount of tax is not too widely believed here. Many think that he really sought that advice to help him avoid paying tax & that he is being 'economical with the truth'.

    And Robinson's dismissal of the allegations as a "fuss" is not out of keeping with his insider reporting of this government's behaviour.

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  26. DB says:

    Screenshot of the second reading of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill this afternoon. I can’t imagine why the BNP is doing so well…

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  27. David Preiser (USA) says:

    DB,

    At least Jacqui Smith is still there to ensure you guys will suffer from her handiwork long after she’s gone.

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  28. George R says:

    Further to comment at: 10:16 am, and 11:31 am, 2 June, above, on:

    BBC and HEZBOLLAH,

    ‘Harry’s Place’ has:

    “We are all part of one resistance”

    [Opening extract]:

    “There’s a very fluffy piece on Hezbollah at the BBC, written by Natalia Antelava.”

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  29. George R says:

    For Labour’s Ms.J. SMITH,
    and BBC’s Ms. V. DERBYSHIRE:

    – MICHAEL SAVAGE website –

    ‘Jacqui Smith to resign’

    (michaelsavage.com).

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  30. TPO says:

    Mullah Mansur who has been behind a number of suicide bombing attacks on British service personnel in Afghanistan has been taken out.
    It looks like it was a targeted strike by an Apache gunship following good intelligence on the ground.

    Here’s how the BBC’s Frank the Wank sees it:
    ‘BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was keen to trumpet a “rare bit of good news”.
    But he added: “The Taliban will glorify [Mansur’s] deeds. He will be eulogised.
    “There will be others who come after him, perhaps not with quite the same operational experience but he will be replaced.”
    I always thought that the British taxpayer funded Frank the Wank and the vermin at the BBC, not the taliban.
    It would be nice to see the BBC supporting and representing the country that funds it rather than find any way to diminish and denigrate.
    But then again Frank the Wank is a mussy.

    http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8079602.stm

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  31. Anonymous says:

    5 Live Drivel tonite a stupid stupid girl reporter had been sent to Redditch and reported back that people in Redditch were generally sorry that Jacqui Smith was standing down.

    This was in complete contrast (she lied) to the mood the reporter had found the previous week when she visited Julie Kirkbride’s constituency when most people had been glad to see the back of Kirkbride.

    In fact in Redditch the reporter had found Mr somebody or other who has been a Labour Party member for 50? years and he has nothing but good to say about Smith.

    Then the stupid moose put him on the air to talk about what problems he’d had that Smith had helped him with, in fact he (rather conveniently) had a couple of letters from her right here.

    At least Peter Allen had the good sense to slap the reporter down…

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  32. David Preiser (USA) says:

    TPO @ 8:54 PM

    Gardner’s nonsense is just proof positive of the naivete and blindness of so many Beeboids (with what, one exception?) and their fellow travelers. Only somebody completely ignorant of technical and military matters would think that a less knowledgeable, less experienced replacement for a terrorist leader is just as good as the leader he’s replacing.

    I’m sure many members of the British military will be pleased that a representative of the official state broadcaster uses sarcasm to dismiss an MoD announcement of a successful operation. No wonder you moved to Canada!

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  33. Deborah says:

    10pm News

    We lose a home secretary (not sure why she was ever found) and how many more Labour mps who ‘won’t be standing at the next election’ (like the BBC I too can use quotes). But Nick Robinson has to use the ‘some people’ without of course saying who, are angry at David Cameron for claiming close to the maximum for his mortgage repayments. Well I am jolly angry at Gordon for claiming £6,000 for cleaning his third home (or is it his fourth – No 10, Chequers and Glasgow?)I make that his fourth home – yet he still gets through £15.00 of light bulbs in one home at our expense. Labour has a disasterous day but Robinson at the BBC still has to use it to smear the ‘Tories’

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  34. Craig says:

    Anonymous 8.54pm,

    The same reporter had been spouting the same rubbish on BBC News 24 throughout the afternoon.
    On her first appearance, she admitted she'd only spoken to a small number of people & went on to quote 3 of them, all saying Jacqui Smith was a good MP.
    By her second appearance, she'd spoken to "lots" of people but it was the same story.
    So, can we expect a 100% share of the vote for Ms Smith at the next election?
    Even Kim Jong-Il would be impressed at that.

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