107 Responses to Open Thread

  1. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Idiot Beeboid just now asking Liam Fox if it was bad news that McChrystal has been sacked, as he was the author of the counter-insurgent strategy.  Actually, Gen. Petraeus wrote the book on it (NB: pdf file), not McChrystal.  Do they know anything over there?

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  2. Will says:

    Is this what the IFS say?
    “The UK faces the “longest, deepest, sustained period of cuts to public services spending at least since World War II”, said an economic think tank.
    It is the first time that six years of consecutive spending cuts will have been endured, the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said.”

     Why then does the BBC online report get headlined as “worst cuts” and why have the day’s broadcast reports told us that this was a “warning” from the IFS?
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10393585.stm

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    • Grant says:

      The IFS certainly is “respected” and genuinely independent. I was a member some years ago, so it must be true !

      However, it was not so respected by the BBC when it exposed the last Labour government’s lies about tax and the economy.

      “Respected” is usually a BBC code word for “left-wing” which the IFS certainly is not.  I guess from now on , it will be used of any body or individual who criticises this government.

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  3. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Beeboids loving the display of strength from their beloved Obamessiah today.  The emphasis on “sacked” is so amusing.  No coy phrasing such as “the President has accepted McChrystal’s resignation”  (whcih was how the President Himself put it), or “McChrystal resigns”.  Not powerful enough, which is what they’re going for here.

    The faithful have been reassured.  He’s in charge!  Really!  We swear!

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  4. thespecialone says:

    Just come back from a 2 week holiday to Egypt.  They had BBC World News as the only UK channel available.  What an utterly rubbish and waste of money that programme is.  Thank god we didnt need to spend much time in our room watching it.

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  5. Martin says:

    Newsnight sticking up for benefit scum, with enough kids to form a football team.

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  6. Julio says:

    Britain’s Economy: Cameron and Clegg Face the Audience

    11pm BBC 2 tonight

    “A day after the Budget, Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg face questions from a range of voters, including businessmen, single mothers, jobseekers and public sector workers, in a programme chaired by BBC political editor Nick Robinson”

    Looks like a loaded audience in typical bbc style 😀

    review from tvguide.co.uk

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  7. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Had a good laugh at a family on benfits who knowingly had their seventh (!) child that they couldn’t afford complaining about other people taking advantage of the benefit system.  And this is the sob story example the BBC finds to show you how nasty the Tory cuts are.  It’s the same twisted perspective I saw earlier in an entirely different report.

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    • Martin says:

      It’s pathetic, the BBC really are beyond a joke now. Any idea that putting scum like that on TV is good for Liebour is not going to work beeboids.

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  8. Martin says:

    Jesus, now Ed Balls is on Newsnight spouting shit again. His deformed mong wife was all over the BBC today with her silly haircut. Piss off Balls you Nazi scum.

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  9. Martin says:

    Jesus who is this mong on Newsnight going on about yet another African shithole?

    Let me see, Liebour were GREAT because they saved Sierra Leone, but now those evil Tories won’t save it from poverty (hint hint, you proles must re-elect Liebour)

    Has anyone see ANY Tory on Newsnight tonight?

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Sure, they’ve already done Scotland, and Wales is nearly there, so why not put another entire country on benefits while you can’t afford it?

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    • John Horne Tooke says:

      Liebour were GREAT because they saved Sierra Leone”

      I think you will find that the commander of the UK forces disobeyed his orders and went it alone. If he had failed Labour would not have  taken the stick.

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      • Grant says:

        John,

        Quite right .  Blair sent the troops in to secure Freetown and protect Brits. there.

        The “West Side Boys ” kidnapped some British soldiers up country and the British Military carried out an amazing operation to rescue them without Blair’s knowledge. A large number of the enemy were killed.

        Blair was happy to take the credit.  I can’t remember how the BBC reported it at the time.

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  10. Martin says:

    Yay Tony Blair, oh bring back Bliar is the BBC cry. Too late beeboids that twat is long gone.

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  11. David Preiser (USA) says:

    One other totally misleading bit on Newsnight tonight was that Japanese economist explaining why these nasty Tory cuts were going to lead to disaster.  I admit he had me going there for a minute, until I noticed the key bit of context he conveniently left out:  the guy was talking about 20 years ago, when the world economy was in an entirely different state.  Not only that, but Japan always had that farmers’ savings cushion, which doesn’t exist in the UK, and the Japanese guy forgot to mention.  It’s kind of important (only the entire f@#$ing reason Japan could pull it off), especially since there’s a relevant bit about postal savings.

    It’s all very well to laugh at the idea of Britain developing a net export economy in 3 years (as if that’s what the Tories are actually saying), but it’s a total joke to compare Japan in the economic climate of 20 years ago with Britain today.

    The Japanese economist’s point about bond yields and prices is nearly valid, except for the part where he forgot to tell you that businesses have already been in a savings mode for a couple of years at least.  I guess the Newsnight producers weren’t paying attention earlier today when every single small business owner their BBC News colleagues spoke too expressed their relief that, thanks to this Budget, they can at last plan and invest in business growth.  In case any Beeboids are reading, I’ll translate this into language you can understand:  JOBZ, innit.

    What’s that, BBC?  You have on yet another Labour figure to explain how the public sector equals growth and not the private sector?  Get bent.

    Poor Paxman.  He gamely tried to keep up, but the Japanese guy went way beyond what Paxman had in his notes.  There’s a reason they didn’t cut back to him a couple times during the exchange:  the look of utter confusion wouldn’t have gone over too well.

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    • Grant says:

      I would have thought a Japanese economist is the last person we should listen to !

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  12. Cassandra King says:

    BBC toady at it again!

    Rudds popularity plummeted BECAUSE he failed to force through an ETS(emissions trading scheme) according to the BBC. Twisting the facts to suit its agenda? The inference is that the public wanted the ETS when in fact they hated it.

    In fact Rudd tried to force through the ETS and failed, the ETS was deeply unpopular with the public and the leader of the opposition was sacked for his support of it.
    The BBC unable to face reality and face the fact that Rudd was booted because of his insane ecofascist policies just lie through their teeth.
    The BBC pimped Rudd at every turn because he was one of their own, they grossly exaggerated his popularity and hid the decline and the reasons for the decline. So Rudd is history and though I hate to blow my own trumpet I stated at the time that he would last two years before he was outed and canned, in fact he lasted a little longer.

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    • Martin says:

      Brown got the chop, now Rudd and Barry will be next. Happy days!

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      • Cassandra King says:

        Yaaaay!

        I really will push the boat out when the one term turkey Obama gets the heave ho and see ya around treatment.

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    • deegee says:

      I have to repeat something I wrote on another thread. The Australian public did not oust Kevin Rudd, nor did the Australian Parliament. He was sacked by his own party which by unwritten convention meant he was sacked as Prime Minister. Unless he resigns his seat he remains a local member of Parliament and while it is unlikely he could still be appointed a minister.

      Obama can not be sacked either. He can only be impeached which requires an accusation of unlawful activity. Incompetence and failure don’t count.

      As someone requiring election, the best that can be hoped for is that next time he is not reelected.

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  13. Tony_E says:

    Rarely have I been so angry listening to the Today programme this morning. The interview with Clegg was aggressive and hectoring, and the line of questioning was totally misleading and contained so little truth as to be almost a work of fiction.

    In trying to present the budget as ‘regressive’, the interviewer attempted to set this budget as if the actions of the previous budget could be totally disassociated from it.

    The Labour party line is to chop away at the liberals to break the coalition by the time of the next budget so that once a financial bill has failed to pass the house the government falls. It seems that the BBC are following the same policy with the usual lack of balance or evidence.

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    • Cassandra King says:

      I heard that interview and it really was beyond the pail, it turned into an interrogation with the beeboid using the exact same line as a labour supporter would use.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      Heh.  Cleggy had better get used to that treatment now he’s seen as being in bed with the Tories.  Fortunately for him, Humphrys used a scattergun approach, veering from subject to subject and back again, so wasn’t able to pin him down on anything.

      I wonder what Craig’s “interruption coefficient” would have been.  Pretty high is my guess.

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      • Craig says:

        You’re not wrong. There were 28 interruptions in 14 minutes, so the interruption coefficient was 2.0 – the average being 0.8.

        I just couldn’t resist calculating this one. Just as John Humprhys couldn’t resist ramming his left-wing opinions down Nick Clegg’s throat!

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    • Umbongo says:

       . . and Cleggie just sat there and took it.  Humphrys, Today and the BBC generally will keep getting away with murder until somebody from the coalition comes on and gives as good as he gets.  Osborne yesterday and Cleggie today were hauled over the coals on Today and did, precisely, nothing in response.  Obviously the PR rubbish at CCHQ and LibDem HQ advise the interviewees not to frighten the horses by arguing with – let alone rubbishing – the BBC presenters.

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      • Grant says:

        I think that Michael Gove and Eric Pickles are about the only two who fight back.  Any others ?

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      • fred bloggs says:

        Humph accused Clegg of being centre-right.  I thought, go on tell Humph what you think of him.  As usual did not happen.  

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  14. Grant says:

    Meant to post this a few weeks ago. Up here in Bonnie Scotland, my elderly mother and I sat down to watch the highlights of the ” Trooping of the Colour “, an event we both enjoy each year.

    Guess what ?  It wasn’t broadcast on BBC Scotland.  My mother especially upset but at last she realised there may something in my complaints about the BBC.

    Funnily, whenever I start complaining, she says ” Have you been on that wretched website again ? “.  Whatever could she mean ?  She blames B-BBC for turning me into an anti-BBC obsessive.  Well done B-BBC  !

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    • Martin says:

      I’m sure the BBC would have rather she enjoyed a nice Scottish Liebour party speech Grant.

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      • Grant says:

        Martin,

        Yes, exactly.  No doubt it would be a decision of BBC Scotland. Spiteful, petty and parochial.  Whatever they put in its place, we switched off after 2 minutes and thanked God no-one outside Scotland was watching.

        The BBC is meant to be a “National ” Broadcaster. Trooping the colour is a National Event.  Why should we be deprived ?

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      Grant, your mother will have to get cable.  It has all the BBC regions.  That way you can avoid Newsnicht Scotland as well!

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      • Grant says:

        Roland,

        Please try and persuade my mother to get cable or a satellite dish.  It is like drawing teeth !

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  15. Grant says:

    On the last open thread, Pounce , I think it was, linked to Nick Robinson’s “Newslog”.  There is a survey.  All the questions are personal details , then the last one is “How often do you visit this website ? ”  I assume meaning Nick’s rather than the BBC’s.

    What is all that about ?

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  16. Martin says:

    Anyone catch a bit of BBC Breakfast? Some story about allegies in kids. So how hard did the BBC have to look to find a full on Muzzie woman in all the garb with a kid with an allergy?

    So not whitey’s have kids with allergies?

    You just know the BBC wanted a muzzie woman on and in full clobber as well.

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    • Llew says:

      Soon afterwards, if not even the next story, they had Julie Nicholson on, a mother who’s daughter was murdered in the 7/7 bombings in London, to plug her book about the bombing, her loss and the effect on her that day and onwards.

      A little piece was done on Edgware Road tube station and then Julie Nicholson was interviewed on the sofa. At no point was the “M” or “Terrorist” words mentioned. It was just a “bombing” that “happened” on 7/7.

      Odd, because the BBC normally like to add in a little background history to any other story they are pushing, from the slavery trade upwards throughout history.

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      • Martin says:

        The ‘M’ word has been banished by the BBC unless it involves Tea Partiers, whities somewhere in the world and so on.

        The BBC are simply following Barry’s stance in the USA.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      Not having seen it, I take it hay fever wasn’t her allergy.  I’d have thought the burqa made a pretty good pollen filter.

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    • Grant says:

      Allergic to not being able to see his mother’s face , maybe ?

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  17. Guest Who says:

    Why do I feel a one week bonding session to regroup post-Glasto in Cornwall to feel each other’s pain (cuts, what cuts, dear tax & licence fee payers?)

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/neilmidgley/100006659/harry-potter-and-the-unbelievable-radio-station/

    Only fair, JK’ does need the money to bestow on favoured political parties.

    *That’s Rowling, not he of hat & car fame.

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  18. Martin says:

    “…Most of the rise, 55%, was caused by “natural change” – more births than deaths. Migration made up the remaining 45%….”

    Most? Or just over half? I’d say most if the figure was perhaps 65% or more?

    The BBC playing down immigration agian in my view.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10401629.stm

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  19. Martin says:

    So despite all the effort of the BBC the people seem to be with the Tories.

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/money/3027480/Britons-back-tough-George-Osborne.html

    I’m betting that this opinion poll won’t be mentioned by the BBC. Oh and I notice that Radio 5 seemed ONLY interested in George Osborne’s expenses today. I wonder why

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    • NotaSheep says:

      There was speculation over call of over an hour made to an 0870  telephone number by George Osborne. I presume the BBC wanted to imply that there might be something dodgy when 0870 is just a non-geographic UK number.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      But that poll can’t be true, Martin.  Everyone the BBC asked on the street in yesterday’s 10 O’Clock News said how awful it was.

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  20. Martin says:

    Jesus now Ed Millipede is on News 24. Is the BBC going to interview EVERYONE in the Liebour party?

    Dear beeboids, put down your 8 year old rent boy and listen in.

    YOU LOST THE ELECTION YOU MONGS!!!!!

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  21. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Why is the BBC playing the overture to The Marriage of Figaro in its promotional advertisement for Glastonbury?  Lame attitude towards the arts.

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  22. David Preiser (USA) says:

    BBC Narrative about raising the pension age:  It’s unfair because it affects only the working class, and raising the age to 66 means that people will have to work longer and harder.  Why would they have to suddenly work harder?  Is there something in the small print which says that anyone over 65 will be forced into more difficult work for that last year?  What a lie.  The BBC spoke to several people on one side of the argument who read out the exact same lines.

    The Government rep (an MP, minister for pensions or something?) on the News Channel just now finally had a good answer to the argument that it’s unfair and physically cruel to force those in manual labor to work an extra year:  loads of people already drop out of work long before they turn 65 anyway and go on disability for years before taking their pension.  If somebody can’t do heavy lifting at age 65 (and we all know that there are millions of oldies working the docks and carrying loads of bricks around, right?), they can go on disability for a year, or – even better – get reposted to different work that they’re physically able to do.

    The Beeboid in the studio (who is far from being the worst partisan hack, really) had no reply to that, as the BBC Narrative hasn’t been developed past that initial Labour talking point.  He tried to just repeat it a couple times, but it didn’t work. It was funny.

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  23. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The heart-wrenching segment on the News Channel just now about working-class recent graduates unable to find jobs was full of the usual class war ignorance.  They’re looking for jobs and can’t find any, and the wealthy white-collar world is out of reach for them because of their background.

    Key factor left unexamined:  With what qualifications are these young people graduating, exactly?  Anything useful?  Or is it just a nebulous liberal arts degree of some kind?  All we were told is that they had the wrong accent and didn’t have rich parents to teach them the right body language and communication skills required to break the glass ceiling.

    I’m pretty sure jobs like computer programming or corporate accounting don’t require a cut-glass accent or a special favor from daddy’s rich friends.  BBC only ever able to see things through class war filters.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      Accents and background haven’t been a barrier since oh, about the 1960s. Neither has an arts degree. There have been millions of jobs in the burgeoning public sector in all its variants for just such people for the last forty years.
      True, there are more degrees of every kind around these days.

      You have to have something about you to get a job, though – a bit of spark, “get up and go”, willingness to work, ability to communicate well, get on with people, a modicum of intelligence, literacy, numeracy etc. Not too much to ask of a graduate, is it?

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Obviously the BBC doesn’t think those qualifications are important, and are fixated on class war ideology.  Judging these young graduates by such elitist standards as an ability to communicate well, literacy, and numeracy, is discriminatory and will hurt their self esteem because those standards were unfairly set by rich white people.  So it must be someone else’s fault.

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  24. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Obamessiah Administration still hurting the oil spill clean-up effort, and the BBC still won’t report any of it:

    Federal Gov’t Halts Sand Berm Dredging


    The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done.

    Yet another example of how lousy executive management can allow a slerotic bureaucracy do more damage than good.  The Obamessiah didn’t have the wherewithal to get around the Jones Act, even though Bush was capable of it.  Then we had those clean-up barges kept out of action because of another bureacratic fiasco.

    Now, The Obamessiah can’t get anything expedited except for suumoning people to appear before Him.  Lousy Administration, poor management skills, terrible behavior in a crisis.  He has lousy advisors around Him as well, if they can’t at least rise to the level of George Bush’s crew.  And to think that all those Beeboids and defenders of the indefensible were so concerned about Sarah Palin’s supposed lack of experience.  The Obamessiah was supposed to be the competent one, according to them.

    Yet the BBC has been totally silent on all His leadership failures.  It’s as if none of this exists.  But they sure have had plenty of footage of oil slicks and soiled pelicans.

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  25. Dick says:

    Martin

    Your 13:46: “The BBC playing down immigration agian in my view.”

    Indeed.  No doubt they are quoting net migration figures, which will give a misleading impression of gross immigration.
     

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  26. David Preiser (USA) says:

    More class war BS about raising retirement age.  Now they have on some talking head saying it was unfair because people in different regions have different life expectancies.  He said that people in Glasgow don’t live as long as in Kensington, so it’s not fair to make men in Glasgow work longer.

    Except for the fact that more than 35% of people that age in Glasgow don’t work anyway and are on benefits.  In 2008 only 66.4% were even working at all.  So it’s yet another false premise.  I’m still waiting for a good reason to have sympathy for those unfairly treated by this scheme, but the BBC keeps screwing it up.

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  27. Martin says:

    BBC 6PM news spouting on and on again about pensions and the public sector this time. Why doesn’t the BBC ever talk about the rape of the private pension system by their beloved one eyed mong?

    Those of us in the private sector know our pensions are worth far less than they should be, it was wrong of Brown to steal from them but hey the beeboids didn’t care.

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    • Craig says:

      ITV’s News at 6.30 led with the four latest military deaths in Afghanistan, a ceremony of commemoration and the prime minister’s comments on the war.  

      First words on the BBC 6PM news: “Anger from the unions over plans to raise the state pension”.

      Then, after the theme tune, came this drivel:
      ‘”A return to the age of Dickens”. That’s how one union leader reacted to the government’s plans to raise the state pension age for men to 66″‘ 

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      • Grant says:

        I didn’t realise there was a State Pension in the age of Dickens. In any case what was life expectancy in those days ?

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  28. Martin says:

    Yes andITV’s report on pensions dealth with those of us in the private sector, something the beeboids have forgotten.

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  29. Deborah says:

    Today programme this morning before the Clegg interview – well just before 7

    an interview with Ken the Lizard and Oona K regarding them standing for Mayor of London – allowed both of them to attack old BoJo and the Conservatives in general

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  30. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Well, well, well.  The BBC’s John Simpson has dared to suggest that some people might perceive a slight lack of new clothes on the emperor.

    McChrystal row reflects Washington nerves

    And the manner of President Obama’s reaction to a few remarks quoted in Rolling Stone magazine is already being interpreted as showing the president’s weakness, rather than his strength.

    A stronger, more self-confident president would have given Gen McChrystal a public roasting, then told him in as many words to get on with the job and keep his mouth shut in future.

    Oh, dear, a Beeboid has noticed weakness in The Obamessiah.  The faithful needn’t worry too much, though.  Simpson is very careful to attribute this perception of weakness to anonymous others.  Further, while Simpson spends a good amount of space showing a lack of direction and in-fighting, he studiously avoids placing blame on Him, and blames McChrystal for it instead.

    All the evidence is there, the Beeboids can see as plain as day that there’s a severe management problem here, but they just cannot bring themselves to actually say that their beloved Obamessiah has poor leadership skills.  The best Simpson can do here is admit that the President is “nervous” about public perception.  Which one can say about any politician, really, without it meaning actual weakness or fault.

    I wonder what the Beeboids think of this latest poll result:


    NBC/WSJ poll:  Americans losing faith in Obama

    His approval’s at 42/50 on the spill and, for the first time, below 50 percent overall at 45/48

    Any thoughts, BBC?  Don’t make me drag out that Corinthians quote again.

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  31. Daniel Smith says:

    Welfare cuts put added health strain on populationhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10403797.stm

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  32. David Preiser (USA) says:

    More things about BP, the oil spill, and the President somehow not included in BBC reporting:


    Energy Secretary Chu Looked to BP to Help ‘Save the World’ in 2007 Video


    Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who was working at UC Berkeley at the time, says in the 2007 video, “There’s been a lot of excitement that’s been growing over the last several years and now with partnering with BP we will have the resources to actually carry out some of the things we want to do in order to help save the world.”


    In Gulf oil spill ‘war’, cleanup foot soldiers threaten mutiny


    But if the framing of the Deepwater Horizon accident and its aftermath has morphed from disaster rhetoric to war imagery, local officials say the shared BP and Washington response has suffered from a lack of situational awareness, racking up a long list of battlefield mistakes that is hampering efforts to keep tens of millions of gallons of gooey crude from coming ashore in the kind of “tarball attack” that hit Pensacola Beach Wednesday.

    How an Alabama fire chief risked jail to save town from Gulf oil spill

    If all goes according to plan, these rusted steel behemoths will form an impenetrable barrier, defending the estuary’s 19 federally-protected species and the vital marshland which serves as a nursery for shrimp and other seafood so crucial to the Gulf Coast region.

    They will also preserve an unspoiled way of life.

    The blockade is being led by Jamie Hinton, the local volunteer fire chief who, at one point, was faced with the possibility of being jailed for violating the federal and state chain of command.

    In sum:  The Obamessiah’s leadership and response to the oil spill has been worse than Bush and Katrina.  Yet the BBC has been totally silent on anything that might make Him look bad, and have made every effort to shift focus and blame away.

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  33. davejanfitz says:

    just watched the ‘record’ programme on the parliament channel ,what a vile piece of bias and shit stirring towards the government by the national broadcaster….please send an email to this address and help to change peoples mind about the BEEB……

    jeremy@localconservatives.org

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  34. Guest Who says:

    Here’s a thing… Aunty has decided to get all balanced on one of its fave topics, again…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2010/06/whats_up_with_the_weather.html#comments

    And it’s by a bunch called ‘The Editors’, so they will be well aware how much can be shaped in the edit suite, or before simply by whom they decide to feature. Or not.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      They’re not interested in debate.  My comment was removed for “breaking the house rules”.

      It said:
      Over recent years, opinions about global warming have become increasingly polarised.

      Not as far as the BBC is concerned.  There’s only one side.

      What house rule did that break?  The rule that the BBC is never biased when it comes to climate change?

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  35. Martin says:

    Wasn’t it nice to see fatty Abbott getting skewered by Brillo last night. I thought she was going to explode like Mr Creosote from the Meaning of Life.

    Come on Diane we all know you are a racist at heart, why not admit it?

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    • Cassandra King says:

      Real racists hate to be outed, they prefer the one sided mud slinging and advantages that go with their victim status which they guard jealously.
      No wonder the racism narrative has always included the ‘only white people can be racist’ proviso.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      That was astonishing. I suppose, on thinking about it further, they might have decided to challenge her hard to show that they weren’t favouring her over the other candidates just because she is a regular on the programme. And they might also have done it to give her a platform to retract or put a different spin on her selective racism.  She stubbornly refused to answer the question, though. What a brass neck.  I couldn’t believe it.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I also enjoyed watching the unctious Portillo desperately trying to keep from laughing.  He was clearly biting his lip at the end of the exchange.

      Grant – Neil busted Abbott for one of her racialist statements, and she just sat there and told him she wouldn’t answer.  Summary and video can be found here.

      She’ll get away with it, though, because nobody would dare call out a black woman during the day time.  Neil can get away with it on his late-night drinks party, but that’s about it.

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      • Grant says:

        Thanks all.

        I just watched the clip.  The lovely Diane continually looking to heaven for help from God as she tries to defend the indefensible.

        She has a history of anti-white racism.  Many years ago she made racist comments about white Finnish nurses working in the UK which prompted a poem in the Daily Telegraph including the lines

        ” Diana Abbott,

        with her rabbit, rabbit, rabbit “.

        So far as I know , she has never been prosecuted for racism.

        Pricktillos face was a picture. I guess he and Diane deserve each other.

        Well done to Brillo for grilling her.

        But, the question still remains. Why is Diane Abbott thick as two short planks ?

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      • Philip says:

        One thing you can say about Portillo – he does take public transport around London. I used to spot him regularly on the Tube when he was in govt.

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  36. Guest Who says:

    Opinion, er, formers, BBC preferred styly:

    r4today   Coming up – 0810, Former home secretary David Blunkett and former Met police commissioner Sir Ian Blair on the future of the police

    Frankly, some current folk might make for a better balance in opinion, perhaps?

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    • Grant says:

      Let’s hope the new government kick out all the PC lefty police chiefs and let’s have elected police chiefs !

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  37. Will says:

    Humphrys yesterday sneered that “centre right” Clegg was just scaremongering by claiming that the UK needed to address its debt burden because of the Euro experience. “Problem solved before the election” said Humphrys.

    But fellow lefty, the Independent today reports “Fears that the Greek government may soon have to tap its €110bn eurozone/IMF rescue package sent the cost of insuring Greek government bonds against default soaring to record highs yesterday – and hit UK banks shares in London badly, thanks to the “contagion” factor.”
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/greece-shakes-the-markets-again-as-bank-warns-of-eurozone-shocks-2009942.html

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  38. David Jones says:

    Carswell is not impressed with Newsnight or Newslight as he calls it – http://www.talkcarswell.com/show.aspx?id=1468

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  39. George R says:

    Massive business ‘news’ item for Glastonbury festival fanatical BBC:

    “Cash to be axed from UK festivals”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10362721.stm

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    • deegee says:

      This piece of news makes the festival even more profitable by guaranteeing that only those enterprises who pay the license fee can work there.See Glastonbury Festival Information for Traders.

      Forget about flogging from scones from a basket or some handiwork from home. Not only will you stick out like a sore thumb without the equipment to take wristband payment but few festival goers will be carrying around money, anyway.

      The question still remains to be answered. Why is the BBC so strongly promoting this particular piece of capitalism do the disadvantage of competitors?

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  40. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Check out how the BBC uses your license fee to use advocay as a means of criticizing the Government and spreading falsehoods about policy.


    Blame it on Disability Bitch

    Yes, it’s an “opinion” piece, but does anyone see another opinion – or even something in the “Fact” section – which gives a does of reality?  The BBC had people on all day yesterday pretending that all disabled people would lose benefits, instead of the truth that it was going to be means-tested to get rid of lying scroungers.  This piece just reinforces that Narrative.

    But no, advocating for feel-good causes, regardless of the veracity, is part of how a good liberal self-identifies, so they have to play games with the facts instead.  Even Jeremy Paxman seemed surprised the other night that until now disability benefits were not means-tested.  And the one time a Government rep said that too many people were on benefits who didn’t deserve it, the Beeboid in the studio stepped on it and quickly changed the subject.

    I’ll leave it to others to debate whether or not the name “Ouch!” is in good taste, or yet more evidence that the Beeboids are so up themselves because they have all the right thoughts that they just think it’s cute and irreverent and empowering.  I suppose since a few disabled people on the site (who take the BBC’s shilling) don’t mind, it’s not my place to say.

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  41. David Preiser (USA) says:

    I’m sick of listening to the World Service lauding The Obamessiah’s “significant victory” regarding the House passing a ridiculously diastrous finance reform bill.  Beeboid Paul Adams says that “most of it is common sense”, and the rest of BBC reporting is more or less reading out White House talking points, only occassionally qualifying it with “which Mr. Obama says…”

    Adams did the obligatory “critics are critical” bit, bringing up one concern about this scaring away investment, but it was quickly dismissed because it comes from people who don’t agree with Him.

    The BBC still hasn’t reported that Europe thinks The Obamessiah is heading down the wrong path, and now they’re promoting His latest “victory”.

    For an alternative viewpoint, which intelligently spells out what’s going on – contrary to the BBC’s parroting of White House press releases – see this article in the Telegraph.

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    • Grant says:

      David P,

      Slightly OT but Obama seems good at bullying people like Tony Hayward and Gen. Mcchrystal  , but not Iran , N. Korea or Russia.

      Who are his friends ?  Putin will eat Obama for breakfast.

      The American people deserve better than this.

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        The President was unprepared and is unable to really deal with international diplomacy.  As you’ve probably noticed, all He’s good at in that area is showing up and giving a speech, expecting that His ideas are good enough to convince everyone.

        But seriously, the international stuff doesn’t interest Him.  It’s not why he ran for public office, and it doesn’t suit Him.  His life has been focused on domestic political transformation since he was at Harvard.  All this diplomacy stuff is a nuisance, ditto the wars and national security.  And will no one rid Him of this meddlesome oil spill?

        His behavior on domestic policy is that of a top-down authoritarian – the same kind of totalitarian dreamers at whose knees he learned about Community Organizing, Marxism, and social justice.  These kind of people always think they know best, and everyone should just shut up and follow along and know their place.  Bullying and attacking is the only way they operate, as evinced by every far-Left leader in history.

        Dialogue is an illusion with them.  It sounds good, as if they have open minds and want everyone involved, but it’s merely a court dance before having their way with you.

        That’s The Obamessiah’s leadership style, no different from any other narrowly-focused authoritarian.

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        • Grant says:

          David P,

          Yes, sadly , I think you are right.

          A tragedy for those of us who believe in the American Dream .

          If the US goes down , we are all in the toilet.

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          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Grant, let’s just hope that the folks at G-20 do not listen to Him, contrary to the hopes of Mark Mardell.  Funny how His spend-until-you-drop plan matches that of Labour exactly.

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            • Grant says:

              David P,

              Looks like David Cameron and Angela Merkel have already spoken out against Obama’s policies, but without actually mentioning him by name. The person Obama seems to get on best with is Medvedev !

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              • David Preiser (USA) says:

                Speaking of Cameron, it’s getting to the point that the Beeboids are acting as if the US President is their elected leader and not the PM.  Which one can do no wrong, and which one can do nothing right?

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  42. Abolish the BBC says:

    The Brillo Grillo again.

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  43. Philip says:

    It appears that the Beeb have been taking flak from an industry body for giving undue prominence to the Harry Potter franchise.

    Naturally, we retain the utmost confidence in the fact that this bears no relation whatsoever to the gazillions donated to LieBore by La Rowling.

    No, not at all.

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  44. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Apparently, the complaints people here have about Newsnight are true.  Douglas Carswell reveals the bias and pre-determined Narratives are quite real:

    Newsnight becomes Newslight

     Is Kirsty really suggesting that Europe continuing to live beyond her means and rack up more debt is just what the world needs?  It’s all about demand management, apparently.  Not even a hint of a non-Keynesian analysis.     

    It got worse, when Newslight then moved on to its pre-determined script about splits in the Lib-Con Coalition.

    I say pre-determined because earlier that afternoon, I was contacted by Newsnight, and invited to go on air to take issue with the budget against a Lib Dem.

    When I refused to play the role of “angry Tory right-winger”, and made it clear I was broadly okay with the budget, they tried to goad me into appearing.

    ………….

    Unable, presumably, to find any Tory and a Lib Dem wanting to take part in a Newsnight sponsored cock fight over the budget, they ploughed ahead with their Lib-Con splits story all the same.  And despite the fact that the Lib Dem former policy adviser they did manage to get on the show expressed surprise at the lack of dissent over the budget.

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    • Guest Who says:

      Douglas Carswell reveals the bias and pre-determined Narratives are quite real: ‘

      Even before the edit suite works its magic, the instances of pre-determination through guest invitation to suit agenda seem to becoming more blatant and frequent.

      I guess a degree of personal preference cannot be avoided, if not excused, but if you have an organisation that only hires from and promotes internally according to one view, what else is inevitable?

      However, the image of a cabal of ex-student uni activists concocting in theory objective reporting and balanced debate by sending their minions to find, or create what they would like to see… is risible.

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        As Jeff Randall said (see quote on the sidebar), it’s not a conspiracy:  it’s visceral.  In my view, Groupthink need not be the result of a deliberate conspiracy, and can just as easily be the product of an emotionally homogenous environment.  They don’t actually realize what they’re doing. Kind of like mass hallucination, which is a real phenomenon.  Too much reliance on emotion and not enough on reason is the real problem.

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  45. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Janet Daley has also noticed that the BBC has had on an endless stream of Labour figures to attack the Budget.


    BBC appoints itself as the Opposition – again

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  46. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Compare and contrast this BBC report about the disagreement between the US President’s desire to print more money to prop up the economy and the UK and Europe’s desire to cut spending and get out of debt with this report from Der Spiegel.

    The BBC reports from the point of view that The Obamessiah is the leader, and both Merkel and Cameron are on their back foot because they disagreed with Him, and now must show that they aren’t against Him.

    Der Spiegel, on the other hand, doesn’t see the obligation to be on His side.  Even the New York Times – one of the top two Obamessiah cheerleading papers in the country – seems to be reporting from a different reality than the BBC.

    A senior official in the Obama administration said on Friday that the leaders of the Group of 8  countries had expressed a “broad consensus” on the need to balance deficit and debt reduction with continued support for economies still suffering from high unemployment. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has been the strongest proponent of austerity measures, echoed that description of the talks.

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