OPEN THREAD

The previous open thread has agreed to stand down in favour of a new open thread, ushering in a fresh era of open threadness.

For those of you not up to speed on recent BBC output, here’s a brief summary of the main points:

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198 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. Demon1001 says:

    Like the pics.

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  2. Phil says:

    So happy to see my tele-tax being spent wisely on a BBC advert for HD with tens of its “stars” in it.  Yes, we know you do HD – you don’t have to spend our money to tell us.  And here was I thinking the BBC wasn’t into advertising anyway……

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  3. Carruthers says:

    I know it’s big-headed, but will repeat my post at the very tail of the last open thread as it fits the kittens pic!

    Did anyone hear Naughtie’s round up of correspondent opinion re the Middle East and Egypt this morning on Today?  Beeboids from Yemen, Jordan and Jerusalem giving their verdict.  
     
    Not a single word about the Islamist threat, that the opposition  in Egypt is named not, say, the Democrats but the Muslim Brotherhood, or what the alternative to the current regimes would actually want or be able to do. The breathless coverage of the whole affair positions this to be Eastern Europe 1989, rather than a throw of the dice by desperate, repressed people that could very, very easily end with radical Islamists or the army in charge, or simmering civil war.

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    • Biodegradable says:

      I’m going to repeat my comment from the Smirky Bowen thread:

      Jon Donnison covers for the Muslim Brotherhood and accuses Israel of hyping things up:  
       
      Egypt protests: Israel watches anxiously  
       
       
      “We are already facing Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the prospect of, God forbid, an autocratic, fundamentalist, Islamic organisation taking over in Egypt is obviously not something we can ignore.”  
       
       
      Mr Gillerman is talking about the Egyptian Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood.  
       
       
      Many analysts would disagree with his description, seeing the Brotherhood as a conservative, but more moderate, Islamic organisation.  
       
       
      But Israel is talking up the threat.  
       
      Meanwhile back at the HardTalk madhouse Stephen Sackur backs the MB asking leading questions of a Jew and refusing to listen to his answers:  
       
      Mortimer Zuckerman: Muslim Brotherhood would be a disaster for Egypt  
       
       
      Just so you know who this Zuckerman person is the BBC helps us out with the first line of the synopsis:  
       
       
      Mortimer Zuckerman is a US billionaire and influential member of the American Jewish community.  
       
      Ohmygod… it’s the Powerful Jewish Lobby!!!  
       
      Just to make things clear, and in the name of “balance” we have a spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood who is allowed to lie through his teeth without interruption.  
       
      Contrast & Compare:  
       
      Sharia law in Egypt if a majority ‘allows it’

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      • Grant says:

        It is incredible that thick Beeboids think they know more about the MB than the Israeli government.  I mean do Beeboids have access to Israeli intelligence information ?

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        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          They don’t think they know more, they think they know better than the biased Israeli warmongers.  We know they trust Israel even less than we trust the BBC.

          Hey, maybe we should start referring to BBC reporting as “the BBC claims, although this hasn’t been confirmed”.

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        • hippiepooter says:

          The BBC aren’t trying to inform, they’re trying to propagandise.

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  4. hippiepooter says:

    I’ve heard a report or two of John Muir’s on 5Live.  Doesn’t suprise me that he’s reporting what is happening rather than speculating about what he’d like to be true and not reporting what is happening.

    So Bowen doesn’t think the Egyptian army should give pro-government supporters the right to demonstrate?

    Could well be true what he said that the pro-Government demonstrators are paid, they all seem to be male of military age (the police are not out today?  Possibly in plainclothes doing Mubarak’s bidding?).  However, Bowen is indulging in idle speculation according to his prejudices in favour of a ‘kill jews’ Islamist takeover.

    Must be breaking his heart to see what’s happening now, the anti-Semitic slug.

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    • Grant says:

      The simple fact is that Bowen has no more idea than I do what is happening in Egypt. The difference is that he is paid an obscene amount of money to pretend he does know  and slavishly follow the political propaganda of his BBC masters.

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        They know what’s going on, they just don’t know what the Narrative is supposed to be.  It’s hard to be a storyteller if you haven’t worked out your theme, and who the good guys and bad guys are.

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  5. Grant says:

    Funny moment in the Daily Politics today.

    Brillo asks a highly excited, but thick as two short planks, Yvette Cooper,

    “What direct taxes would the opposition cut ? ”

    Answers Yvette ,   ” VAT ”   !

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  6. Grant says:

    What has happened to B-BBCs’ very own Ant and Dec, namely  Dezzie and Scottie  ?

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    • ltwf1964 says:

      well Scotty probably has a ringpiece like a well-chewed Terry’s chocolate orange by now if he’s met up with any of those handsome terrorists he fantasises about online  
       
      and Dezzie was holding the video camera for the bBC documentary about it

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  7. Dino64 says:

    All the fighting has kind of got in the way of the “carnival atmosphere” hasn’t it Jeremy?
    I blame Israel.  Oh, and Bush, and Palin. And Fox News. Jon Voight. Kelsey Grammer etc etc. Hate-mongering conservative bastards every one. /sarc

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  8. pounce_uk says:

    So at lunch I put the telly on and on bBC news there was Prime Ministers questions, so I flicked over to Sky News. They on the other hand are reporting from Egypt about a running battle which is curently raging between the pro and anti government camps. Their film coverage showed people fighting/throwing stones. After about 20 minutes I flicked over to the BBC and they are reporting that a few people are protesting in favour of the government. That tempers are rising from the anti government camp but no fighting. Meanwhile on screen they are showing…mass fighting. Hang on what’s this. J Bowen /J Simpson are allowed to report stating that these are paid thugs, that the army has sided with the Government and that they think thew government is behind all this(Simpson refers his claims as a supposition) But still they claim nothing is happening. Cut into an earlier report from Alexandria (J Muir??) who reports that there is a huge ground swell movement of people are saying enough is enough and let’s get back to normal arguing with the anti government crowds. He says that these people are even poorer than the people protesting against the government and haven’t been paid. Back to Bowen who is now claiming to be in the heart of the fighting (Heaven 17 anyone??) where again he says the army are allowing the pro government crowd to sneak in. then he rabbits on about how he feels that this is the governments answer and that he feels that these people have been paid to protest.. They now interview somebody off the street who claims to be anti mubarac who opines that enough is enough is enough and that the country should allow him to run for the next 3-4 months in which to allow the country to move on.. The bBC hack then injects “But should he go now?” The man says no somebody has to run the country and if he has apologised and stated he will leave then who better to run the country. This is how the reminder of the interview goes with the Eygptian speaking sence about how his country should move on, but the bBC hack pushing the revolution line. Time and time again.
    Back to Bowen He has moved for safety behind a line of army tanks while continuing the ‘We can be only victims line’  and the army are on their side.
     

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    • pounce_uk says:

      My take on all of this was that the bBC was reluctant to report on the violence even as their tV coverage was showing it happening live on screen. Even with reports that have had enough, the bBC anchors can only play the government is behind all this. (they may be) but their reports are filled with. I think, I feel, it, It may be in otherwords suppositions instead of facts.. very heavily lined with their own political views rather than the views of the people on the ground. Baised…Gone beyond that on my reckoning. 

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    • ltwf1964 says:

      oh for Bowen to be right at the very heart of any fighting……..

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    • Sres says:

      Sounds a bit like chemical ali

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    • Grant says:

      Let’s face it , the BBC haven’t a clue what is going on !

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  9. matthew rowe says:

    I don’t blame the army if it subverts and damages the protesters in any way they can! as we have seen in other country’s that have fallen to Islamic control that the army is usually the first to be purged with any western thinking or trained  men sacked  or killed ! sadly for Bowen this also means any western weapons systems quickly fall into disrepair and if they are used the tactics are usually more like ww1 as any training and tactical thinking has gone  !

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  10. La Cumparsita says:

    Great pics at the top of this thread! Can’t listen anymore to bbc re Egypt. Anyone seen this on the bbc?

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  11. Abandon Ship! says:

    She’s had a sex change!

    Wimminsour today, an interview with

    “Actor Fenella Fielding”

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  12. David Preiser (USA) says:

    You left out this one:

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  13. David Preiser (USA) says:

    What a joke listening to Nick Robinson declare that Beeboids don’t sit around discussing their political views.  We don’t talk about it, says Nick, because we need to remain “independent”.  Yeah, right.  They don’t sit around and talk about it because they all think everyone has same approved thoughts.  It’s only when someone raises their head above the parapet that trouble starts.  It seems that Craig Oliver had wisely kept his head down this hold time.

    I guess also the BBC doesn’t take seriously anyone’s charges that Robinson is pro-Tory, because it would seem really disingenuous for him to defend Oliver to those who think he’s biased.

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    • D B says:

      I’ve been following Craig Oliver on Twitter. Couldn’t guess his politics, unlike many BBC lefties.

      (Got logged in to comment – hooray! Having all sortsof problems lately.)

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Interesting.  Perhaps any Beeboid who doesn’t reveal his or her bias on a constant basis is, in fact, not a Leftoid.  They do seem to be very, very rare.

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    • John Horne Tooke says:

      No they don’t sit around discussing politics – they twitter each other all day. This is where their “facts” come from. Journalists? Not at the BBC

      Journalism.: “The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation.”

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  14. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Note to BBC: Stop it with the endless stream of opinions saying the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t leading the revolution in Egypt.  We know that, and it’s not the actual problem everyone is worried about.  The danger of the MB will be in any eventual election.  Which the BBC was admitting a couple days ago.

    It’s dishonest to continue trying to reassure us that the revolution is not led by them, because nobody thinks that any more.  Instead, this is about playing down people’s concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood.  It’s especially bad considering how many times a BBC reporter or “expert” has told us that the MB is moderate and nothing to worry about.

    Shut up about what you want us to think, Beeboids, and just report what’s happening.

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  15. darren botterill says:

    Did anyone else enjoy Paxo getting stuffed last night ?
    It was the best example of Paxo getting bested by his interviewee – the chap from the English Defence League.
    I hold no brief for them but this chap, who plainly had not had the benefit of an expensive education, got the better of Jeremy by refusing to be bullied or cowed.
     By the end JP was so fed up that he could not prove that rapes, grooming, drug dealing etc, were not happening in the way the EDL had said, he couldn’t face reviewing the papers – Brilliant !

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    • james1070 says:

      Considering the guy is not particularly articulate, he held his ground and did rather well. And Paxman was fuming.

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      • Grant says:

        Paxman seems to have gone into shock. I guess it is the first time in his life he has met anyone from the “working class “.
        I loved the bit , and I paraphrase, :-

        Paxo  :  ” You say the Koran is evil “.

        EDL boy :  ” Well I didn’t , but I will agree with you “.

        Great sport  !

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      • hippiepooter says:

        Well done Paxman.  You’ve just won a lot of support and sympathy for the BNP riven EDL by pushing the BBC Marxian agenda that Islam isn’t a problem instead of being neutral on this and exposing the BNP background and motivation of much of the EDL leadership instead.  
         
        Mr Robinson had clearly been invited on to provide a bit of sport for Mr Paxman to get lots of backslaps from his equally ghastly colleagues for making a fool of Mr Robinson but it didn’t quite work out like that.  
         
        Instead Mr Robinson said a lot of things that the vast majority know now are true and Paxman gave credit to the EDL as a defender of England against Islam.  Despite clearly not being a ‘natural’ for this sort of thing, Robinson won himself a lot of credibility by forebearing Paxman’s rudeness and superciliousness which at the end of the interview contrasted very disfavourably with Paxman who didn’t have the common courtesy to thank Mr Robinson for coming in.  One was left with the impression that Paxman didn’t think a pleb upstart deserved such courtesy when he has the audacity not to think how his social betters like Paxman tell him to.
         
        I think the EDL might make Paxman an honourary President for the good his smartass idiocy does them.


        Thanks for posting James.

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        • Grant says:

          Hippie,
          Yes, it was so funny.  Paxman’s rude, arrogant, supercilious, upper class snobbery shone right the the way through. Something he obviously wasn’t taught at school was good manners and how to lose graciously.
          If only Tory politicians  had the balls of Tommy Robinson when dealing with the loathesome Paxman.

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      • Chairman of Selectors says:

        Paxman’s indignant classic liberal reaction to this white working class bloke tells us all we need to know about the bloody BBC and this arrogant, self loathing preening buffoon Paxman. His sneering interview is exatly the narrative pushed by the BBC who will do EVERYTHING they can to present EDL as racist extremists and dismiss legitimate concerns about islam. They do exactly the same with UKIP – present them as crazies, with the sneering Paxman as absuer in chief. It really is the last refuge of the liberal to come out with the “so there are no white rapists as well”, just as the tired old “what about the Christian crusades?” when talking about muslim terrorism. Paxman refused to address the key point this guy was making – the illegal spread of sharia in the UK, the abusing of white girls by muslim gangs, te spread of militant islam. Instead he claims it is not happening. I hate Paxman with a passion that is frankly unhealthy. I hate everything he, and his employer, stands for. I wish to god a mosque is built next door to his country mansion (paid for by me), or gypsies take over one of his neighboring fields. I also wish worse things but I had best not put these down on paper. Needless to say, I hope he is impacted by the spread of the various issues he is determined to sweep under the carpet and pretend do not exist.

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        • hippiepooter says:

          Cheer up, your boys won an historic one dayer against we English today! 🙂

          (Actually, shouldn’t the official title of the England cricket team now be ‘England and Wales & South Africa?).

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          • Grant says:

            Hippie,
            Are you suggesting England and Wales might end up like South Africa one day ?

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            • hippiepooter says:

              I think South Africa might worry more about ending up like us!

              On my last count, England has got 3 SA born cricketers, its best batsmen and the Captain.  Still, I guess its reliving the WWII battle of Britain spirit, with pilots from all over the Commonwealth coming to England’s aid!

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        • dave s says:

          He’s not worth bothering with. His day is over. The liberals’ days of playing with the people of this ancient nation are ending. Change is coming and like all such change, when it comes, it will be fast and unexpected.

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        • Grant says:

          Chairman,
          Excellent post !

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      • Cassandra King says:

        An ordinary guy, one of us stood up to Paxman and came out on top. No Oxbridge education, no studies in debating skills and oratory in the hallowesd halls of the eltites, just an ordinary guy from an ordinary city and he bested a man who destroys the elite politicians on a regular basis.

        Everything he said came from direct experience, an experience that the upper middle class have not yet tasted, when they do they will act. Until the likes of Paxman comes face to face with the problems that affect the poor working class there will be no action.

        There is a problem a real problem and it is not coming from Judaism or Christianity or Budhists, the spread of a political religion that directly contradicts our 1st world shared values. An ordinary guy speaks out.

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  16. Guest Who says:

    In the spirit of oddly selective BBC schizophrenic tendencies, I offer this in addition:

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/neilobrien1/100074386/why-the-deficit-deniers-are-deliberately-missing-the-point/

    So… denial on deficit by complicit, lying Labour scumbags who know they won’t be corrected by toadying BBC ‘interviewers’… GOOD, but to be ignored at all costs even if the convenient omission is as plain as day to anyone with a functioning brain.

    100% anthropogenic climate change scepticism… BAD, and to be countered at any oppportunity by cherrypicking and rigging ‘reports’ and ‘documentaries’.

    That genetic impartiality is looking more than a tad ragged, Helen, love.

    Hugsxx

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  17. D B says:

    Did anybody else hear Jonny Dymond’s report on the Today programme about the leftie peacenik restaurant in Pittsburgh? I can’t decide if it’s meant to be taken serioulsy or it’s a piece of self-parody mocking the typical Guardian-friendly items for which Today is famous. Either way, I’m sure Guardian readers got moist listening to it.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      How pathetic that these people – and Dymond, obviously – equate Cuba and Venezuela with Afghanistan.  Who is in conflict with the government of Afghanistan?  No surprise about the politics of the other two.

      Leftoid propaganda.

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  18. hippiepooter says:

    It wouldn’t suprise me if someone has already drawn attention to this, but earlier today I noticed the front page of BBC Online were carrying this (warning, this video contains explicit scenes of political pornography.  Viewers may find the sight of the BBC performing verbal fellatio on the Moslem Brotherhood offensive):-  
     
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9384094.stm
     
     
    The Telegraph gives us some indication of the true nature of the MB guest that Zeina Badawi mounted this promotional video with:-  
     
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/4209135/BBC-criticised-over-broadcast-by-19-million-Arabic-TV-station.html  
     
    One feels Mr El Halbawy’s relationship with the truth is somewhat revealed by what he would have us believe about maths lessons in Israeli schools.  The BBC, aiding and abetting the path to the second Holocaust, and wilfully so.  The time to start collecting the evidence for the next Nuremburg is now.

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  19. Grant says:

    BBC 2 documentary tonight “Who gets the best jobs “.
    Trailers suggest it is all about wealth, connections, old boys’ club , Public Schools, Oxbridge etc. blah.. blah…  The same old predictable boring BBC stuff.
    What I want to know is how do people get the best jobs at the BBC ?

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  20. Paddy says:

    Take away the gays, public school boys, oxbridge graduates, middle classes (Euphemism for lower upper class used in the home counties to excuse ponsy plummy accents when you want to be right-on), and a couple of tokens and all you’ve got left is the test card and that unfunny bloke from bristol from mock the week.

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  21. Robert says:

    Verbal gymnastics to avoid headlining a male, Muslim, Bangladeshi national…as a male, Muslim, Bangladeshi national: http://bbc.in/hCxjL1.

    Which might be more understandable if consistency were applied across the board. For instance, 60 years after their ancestors’ arrival in the country, surely this “immigrant” offspring could by now be denoted similarly as, say, “Aberdeenshire mammals”?: http://bbc.in/hXKyHE.

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    • Guest Who says:

      LoL. One awaits ‘Newcastle BA Employee’ making it as a catgeory on the next census form.

      ‘There’s a lot of it about, little ‘Ern.’

      Today the BBC seems to be excelling at tying itself in knots.

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    • Larry Dart says:

      Add Trained Butcher  to plumber and Newcastle BA Employee.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      Just your average everyday Geordie, then? Eh, Beeboids?
      Is that what we are meant to believe? Sorry, that won’t do. Someone arrives in the UK in 2006 and happens to live in Newcastle, presumably having been born and lived somewhere else for 20-odd years. Not much of a link with Newcastle, is it? Not what you would call umbilical. Doesn’t really merit mention of Newcastle, especially if the individual’s real origin and links are not deemed worthy of mention. A strange double standard there, Beeboids.

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  22. Guest Who says:

    Telegraph seems impressed, along with a significant body of Newsnight’s regulars…

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100074533/jeremy-paxman-vents-spleen-over-crap-newsnight-email/

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    • Jane Tracy says:

      Actually the BBC’s economics editor Stephanie “Floundering” Flanders was quick to join in the deficit denying on her blog. To this was added a soupcon of toadying to Ed.Balls and Larry Summers. Yes the same Larry Summers who lost Harvard one billion dollars.

      Is the BBC economics blog supposed to support Labour’s policies?

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      • Guest Who says:

        Is the BBC economics blog supposed to support Labour’s policies?

        No, and no BBC employee is in their outpourings ‘supposed’ to be doing any more than reporting objectively.

        However, default Labour support seems synonymous with ‘analysis’ chez Aunty.

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  23. NotaSheep says:

    DO the BBC literally not know what day it is? – http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.com/2011/02/do-bbc-literally-not-know-what-day-it.html

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    • Natsman says:

      NotaSheep, what’s happened to your star voting system – it no longer seems to be available…

         0 likes

  24. fred bloggs says:

    Connecting the dots, or to be more accurate the fir trees.  5Live broadcasts PMQ and one question is about the white paper on forrestry  and selling the land.  Scabby mentions it between 12.30 and 1.00.  After 1.00 it is soley about the white paper.  Scabby shows she is not a good presenter as she has clearly not boned up on the contents of the white paper, not very professional.  Then in the afternoon I took a quick peek at the Parliament channel and all is explained.  It is an oppostition (Liebour) debate day and guess what is the item they have chosen,  well you guessed it the white paper.  So the bBC have made a deliberate attempt to do a downer on the white paper right from the start, they are still their masters voice.

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  25. Idiotboy says:

    The news channels in the US are playing down the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, focussing on the desire of the majority of Egyptians to move away from totalitarianism of any description into democracy.

    Fox even had the odious Anjem Choudary on last night spouting his intent and firm expectation to introduce sharia to the UK – not something the BBC would let him do for fear that people would discover the truth.

    It was wonderful to see him taken apart surgically by Bill O’Reilly.

    Why can’t we have that sort of journalist at the BBC ?

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  26. Cassandra King says:

    Oooops!

    The BBC have learned a hard lesson in the last few days it seems.

    Egypt? As per f*cking usual they rushed in like over excited children..revolution revolution…peoples uprising…demcoracy….er…uhm..

    Heady days basking in the revolutionary fevour of their limited fantasies of people power uprisings, juneville dreams of storming the winter palace of the establishment, will they ever learn? Responsibility and caution mature wisdom are not in the beeboid vocabulary, its all guns blazing and to hell with the consequences not stopping for a second to think that maybe whipping up a frenzied mob mentality might just hurt ordinary people and cause hardships and even trip a chain of events with diasterous comsequences.

    The BBC is a worldwide platform, do the BBC f*cktards not realise the influence they wield? Whipping up a mob to fever pitch by inflamatory reporting kills real people, its not time for a spewdent fantasy, its real and people can die because of it. Time to evict these retarded kiddies out and bring in adults with an adult grasp of the great responsibility that a worldwide media platform demands.

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    • Grant says:

      Cassie,
      You are right, but Beeboids will never grow up. They are stuck in a mental age of 13 3/4 .  An illness for which there is no cure.

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  27. pounce_uk says:

    How the bBC defends the indefensible when it comes to the religion of peace.  
    Four arrested after Bangladesh girl ‘lashed to death’  
    Four people including a Muslim cleric have been arrested in Bangladesh in connection with the death of 14-year-old girl who was publicly lashed.  The teenager was accused of having an affair with a married man, police say, and the punishment was given under Islamic Sharia law.She was alleged to have had the affair with her cousin and received 80 lashes.   
    Punishment receivedThe family members of the married man also allegedly beat the girl up a day before the village court passed the sentence in the district of Shariatpur.  
    Bangladesh Version  
    Raped girl whipped to death  
    Four arrestees were remanded yesterday for links with a fatwa (religious edict) that led to whipping of a rape victim to death in Shariatpur. Fourteen-year-old Hena, daughter of farmer Darbesh Kha of Chamta village in Naria upazila, was raped by her cousin Mahbub, 40, Sunday night.On Sunday night, when Hena went out of her house to respond to nature’s call, Mahbub forcibly took her to an abandoned house nearby and raped. Hearing her screaming, Mahbub’s wife Shilpi Begum and brother came there. But surprisingly they beat up the rape victim. At one stage, Hena’s father and some relatives reached the spot and rescued her.As the news spread, some locals including Idris Fakir, Saiful, a teacher of Chamta Abul Bashar Madrasa; Mofiz Uddin, Latif Meer Malot, Akkas, Yasin and Joynal Meer Malot, Alabux Korati arranged for arbitration. They sentenced the rapist to 200 lashes with Tk 50,000 fine and 100 lashes to the victim. The punishment for the rapist, Mahbub, was reduced from 200 to 100 lashes. But Hena could not escape punishment and lost her consciousness after 60 to 70 whippings. Her relatives took her to Naria Upazila Health Complex where she finally lost her battle for life Monday night.  

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  28. David Preiser (USA) says:

    “Who Gets the Best Jobs”:  A summary  
     
    Internship is slavery, the elite exploit the workers  
     
    Profit is theft  
     
    The gap between the rich and poor became wider than ever under Mrs. Thatcher, and please assume that when someone else increases their wealth you automatically become poorer, and we must view this gap in that context.  
     
    Once you pass a certain income level you must not be allowed to help your children succeed.  Only the working classes are permitted to work hard to give their children every advantage.  Middle Class?  You’re just as bad, you don’t deserve to help your children while there are still people out there who don’t have that opportunity.  
     
    Student loans are simply wrong, as this makes higher education into a gamble.  
     
    It’s the elite who make the working classes think that some jobs simply aren’t for the likes of them, and just don’t inform them about anything outside of working class jobs, nothing to do with peer pressure or the limiting mindset of class war.  The so-called psychological barriers are placed there by the rich, the prejudiced bastards think only in stereotypes.  
     
    Class bigotry by the elite has as much to do with preventing working class young people from getting good jobs as qualifications.  Inarticulate speech and a bad attitude aren’t really part of it, it’s just that elistists can’t understand how the other half live.  
     
    It’s shocking and bad that businesses don’t keep track of social background like they do with gender and ethnicity.  
     
    Educational standards and grading at many schools have slipped too low, but never mind why.  Don’t ask.  Just repeat to yourself that people who go to better schools are the evil rich, move along, nothing to see here.  
     
    Never mind that working class children in other countries are often taught how to speak properly and be polite and work hard.  Being working class means being damaged goods, but don’t say it like that out loud.  
     
    Fairer countries prosper, and it’s only the evil rich who block others from getting a fair chance. No other influences or issues involved. 

    Did I miss anything?

       0 likes

    • graham duck says:

      You can combine this with the michel roux service prog just before it. Same message, a bunch of overprivileged wankers dining in posh caffs demanding the best of service, just attempting to make you think that all toffs are scum. (the ones on there were!)..so just generalise now………..and the Beeb has won!

         0 likes

  29. hippiepooter says:

    The Mail Online has this to say about what’s going on in Egypt:-  
     
    The various protesters have little in common beyond the demand that Mubarak go.  
     
    Perhaps the most significant tensions among them is between young secular activists and the Muslim Brotherhood, which wants to form an Islamist state in the Arab world’s largest nation.

       0 likes

  30. graham duck says:

    Did they tell you  where the muslim brotherhood stands on stoning to death for adultery?……..equal rights for women?…..hanging gays?….
    no I didnt think so!
    fuck ’em

       0 likes

  31. Daniel Smith says:

    BBC parallel universe broadcasting continues tonight with Newsnight devoting virtually its entire programme to”rich night”. Its not as if anything important is happening elsewhere.
    The programme began with Paxman saying “if you want to adopt a skunk, adopt a banker” and cue vt of various fat cats. Damien Hirst appears and for a moment I thought there might be a chance of an intelligent angle, ie why do talentless artists get paid so much for producing rubbish. But no. He’s merely there to show how ‘artist’ comes to the beck and call of the wealthy, no doubt a code for how the state should patronise the arts.
    That was enough for me. Sorry to say I do not have a strong enough stomach to watch the whole thing,

       0 likes

  32. Stanley Ukridge says:

    I just wanted you to compare what Jeremy Bowen himself has to say about the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt:

    “The country’s only properly organised mass political movement outside the ruling party is the Muslim Brotherhood, and it would do very well in any free election.
    Unlike the jihadis, it does not believe it is at war with the West. It is conservative and non-violent. But it is highly critical of Western policy in the Middle East.”
    with what they are actually saying on their own Arabic site (via Google translate). This site is of course contradicts the content of their English site meant for consumption by the West.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Stealth edit alert!  Bowen has obviously been busted and forced to change it.

      I caught his original on Sunday (my comment mentioning it is about half way down), when it read as follows:

      Unlike the jihadis, it does not believe it is at war with the West. It is conservative, moderate and non-violent.

      NewsSniffer doesn’t even list the article at all, and I didn’t take a screenshot at the time.  But it was there, and I copied the line directly from the page in my post on the last open thread.

      A tiny little victory against the BBC’s sanitizing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

         0 likes

    • Marky says:

      For some reason or other the Arabic site will not load. Would have been interesting to read.

         0 likes

      • Grant says:

        Marky,
        Yes, I couldn’t get it to load either.
        But, Bowen has been caught out. However, I guess his reaction will be “Damn, I must be more careful next time but, thank
        goodness ,most of the British public won’t find out about it “.
        Nothing , of course , will alter his pathological anti-semitism.

           0 likes

  33. hippiepooter says:

    This report by Newsnight on the EDL not so bad.

    This report however absolutely oozing with typical BBC arrogance.

    It’s entitled ‘Under the Skin of the English Defence League’, and you could see that Newsnights smartypants reporter was trying to do that, get under their skin.

    Nowhere can I find a Newsnight report focussing on the BNP/football hooligan antecedents of the EDL.  It’s simply ‘the EDL is bad because they say Islam is bad’.

    You can see why the EDL is happy to get coverage from the left-wing bozos at Newsnight.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      Oh yeah, one comment from Tommy Robinson I did like was:-

      “Why is it that uneducated working class people like us have to educate people about Islam?”

         0 likes

      • dave s says:

        This was his most telling comment and also the one that the educated left leaning intelligentsia just will never understand. For that would mean confronting reality and that the massed ranks of the middle class media and political elite can never do. The project to re engineer England to fit a longed for ideal world will break upon the stubbornness of those of us who have no where to go but our land and wish to preserve our culture and our people. I know you have reservations about the EDL, as I do,  but for the sake of my children and grandchildren I cannot speak against them.

           0 likes

        • hippiepooter says:

          I dont have reservations about the EDL, I completely reject them.  At the end of the day they’re a neo-Nazi front organisation.  I dont buy their rhetoric to the contrary one bit.

             0 likes

  34. George R says:

    “BBC veteran Paxman in withering email rant”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/03/3128515.htm?section=justin

       0 likes

  35. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC Asian network asks the question:  
     “Are Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims too divided to unite against the EDL?”  
    Listen to the first minute and then fast forward to the 11 minute mark. Listen to the first 3 callers. (2 Hindu and 1 Muslim) Guess which one gets cut off for playing the victim line? Why can’t the bBC ask the same question to white people?  
    If you have the time zot forward to 31 mins: (Which you have to in which to understand the next caller at 35 mins who is the Sikhs bloke from the EDL)  
    Oh by the way I personally think that the EDL are just a bunch of thugs.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      That’s pretty lame considering even the EDL guy on Newsnight went out of his way to point out that Sikhs and Hindus are no problem.

         0 likes

      • Grant says:

        David P. is right. The BBC Asian Network either didn’t watch the Newsnight broadcast or, more likely, are mis-representing it.
        Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jews etc. are no threat to the British way of life. The only threat comes from Islam.
        The British people who don’t like the BNP or EDL need to find a way to combat this threat. We can be sure that none of the major parties, including the Tories will do anything about it.

           0 likes

        • Roland Deschain says:

          It’s not just the Asian Network that didn’t listen to the Newsnight interview.  Jeremy Paxman clearly didn’t either, as his line of questioning was based on what he thought the answers would be, not what they actually were.

             0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        It depends how willing you are to buy this line.

        From BNP to supporter of multi-culturalism, without in anyway repudiating what the BNP stands for and repenting of his football hooligan past?

        Mr Robinson and the EDL are playing us as much for suckers as the ‘moderate’ Muslims of the MB are.

           0 likes

        • Roland Deschain says:

          Aren’t you falling into the trap here of playing the man rather than the ball?  I confess I know little about the EDL, but strongly suspect that you are correct in seeing them as a neo-Nazi front.  Nevertheless I couldn’t find much in Mr Robinson’s interview to disagree with. 

          The point surely is that the BBC shows its bias in ignoring the points raised in that interview, pretending they don’t exist.  Whether it had been Mr Robinson making them or some Tory MP, the reaction of the BBC would have been the same:  feign horror that anyone could suggest that all is not well in the Muslim community and suggest they are racist.

          Mr Paxman knows damn well that there aren’t groups of white rapists specifically targeting girls on the basis of their colour yet he tried to equate white rapists with the Muslim gangs who have been targeting white girls.  It’s this head-in-the-sand attitude that is the problem, wonderfully demonstrated in the interview and I don’t think you have to like to EDL to appreciate that.

             0 likes

          • Millie Tant says:

            That’s right: I have yet to hear of a problem with gangs of English men deliberately hanging outside schools to target suitable “Asian”  – or indeed any other category of victims – for grooming for rape and abuse. If there is such a problem, I want to know about it and I want to know what is being done about it.

               0 likes

            • Grant says:

              That is quite right. I was astonished when Paxman said there were gangs of white youths doing the same thing.  If that is true, why do we never hear of it ?  Why don’t the BBC report it  ?
              I am not generally an ageist, but I think Paxman is getting too senile for Newsnight.  Time for the BBC to get rid of him and save some money.

                 0 likes

          • hippiepooter says:

            Hi RD, I suggest you re-read my previous posts on Paxman/Robinson in this thread.  My points were basically exactly the same as yours!  🙂

               0 likes

            • Roland Deschain says:

              HP – apologies that I misconstrued where you were going with that.  There’s just too many posts to consider here these days!

                 0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      @ Pounce.  Fascinating listening.  As soon as the Muslim guy started acting up about Gurmit Singh’s criticisms of Islam the presenter censored him.  The only reason for this is fear of violence. We all know as soon as a Muslim gets angry about his religion being criticised violence is not far behind.

         0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      @ Pounce.  Fascinating listening.  As soon as the Muslim guy started acting up about Gurmit Singh’s criticisms of Islam the presenter censored him.  The only reason for this is fear of violence. We all know as soon as a Muslim gets angry about his religion being criticised violence is not far behind.

         0 likes

  36. Adam says:

    Does the BBC ever stop producing class consciousness, anti-middle class, anti profit documentaries. There have been two this week, alone.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00yb5kv/Who_Gets_the_Best_Jobs/

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y37gk

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Surely it’s nothing to do with the fact that there’s a Conservative-led Coalition Government.

         0 likes

    • Andrew says:

      I decided not to watch when I saw the ad for it on News 24.  There was this lovely diagram showing how people who go o private school get the best grades and therefore get into good univerisities where they meet influential people and make the best connections, in turn getting the best jobs and then completing the circle by sending their children to private schools.

      The obvious analysis should have been that social mobility is improved by modelling what private schools are doing.  But oh no, this is the BBC who decided to pitch it in the advert as some kind of downward toxic spiral like drug addiction that needs breaking. 

      I decided that there had been enough stitch up documentaries and I wasn’t joining this one.

         0 likes

  37. hippiepooter says:

    I’ve just sent this complaint to 5Live Breakfast:

    Dear Breakfast, RE: 08:00 news bulletin. “.. The second highest figure in anti-Semitic attacks in 30 years … it came in 2009 after Israel’s attack on Gaza”. It sounds like you’re trying to blame the Jews for this spike in anti-Semitic attacks. You wouldn’t implicitly attribute any spike in attacks on Muslims because of Islamist terrorism.  In fact after 9/11 and 7/7 if there was a rise in anti-Muslim attacks it was negligible. The reason for the rise in anti-Semitic attacks is anti-Semitism.  Full stop.  You bring yourselves into disrepute implying otherwise. The reason for Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israel Jews was anti-Semitism and the violence against British Jews was a continuation of this anti-Semitism.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      ‘Is anti-Semitism alive and kicking’? is Nicky Campbell’s call-in this morning.

      I’ve every confidence in him conducting it fairly and from the standpoint of complete rejection of anti-Semitism or any form of bigotry.

      I have noticed that the impartiality of R5L news bulletins and the conduct of presenters like NC are often very different things.

         0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        I’m glad to say the 09:30 R5L bulletin did not tag on the bit about Gaza in reporting the spike in anti-Semitic attacks.

        NC is conducting an excellent phone-in as expected.  He had Stephen Pollard on, and basically excepted a caller’s point that he should have questioned the MB guy he had on two days ago more closely.

        A Jewish lady mentioned about not too infrequent abuse she suffers on the way to Synagogue and he tried to lead her more and more explicitly to describe what the abusers look like, but unfortunately she wouldn’t ‘I don’t want to profile’ (ah that counter-productive liberal Jewish conscience!).  To my mind NC was clearly trying to find out if they were ‘asian’ (sic) youths as we all suspect they would have been.

        Top man NC.

           0 likes

        • NotaSheep says:

          NC tried to excuse his not questionning of the MB representative; time issues or some such excuse. That leading of the Jewish lady did sound odd, I felt her discomfort. What was noticeable (although I only heard form 9 to 9:30) was that Jews tend not to whine about anti-Semitism and indeed one caller said they didn’t even bother reporting the attacks to the Police. The impression I get is that Muslims are encouraged to report attacks on them and do so.

             0 likes

          • RCE says:

            There’s an old ‘joke’ about two Jews who get captured by the Nazis. Just as they are facing a firing squad one of them shouts “Why are you doing this? I’ve done you no harm!” “Be quiet, Moshe”, says the other Jew “You’re only making it worse!”

               0 likes

          • hippiepooter says:

            As a huge fan of NC I’ve no trouble accepting his explanation of falling short of the rigour he should have applied to the MB guy.  I think its very much to his credit that on the whole he accepted the criticism of him.

            The way he tried to get out of the Jewish lady whether its Mozzies she gets stick from is exactly the tack you or I or anyone on this site would have taken (apart from Martin, he’d’ve been straight at it!).

            I know NC gets stick for the Saturday morning TV debates he conducts with the clearly loaded questions each week, but on his 5Live morning show and phone-in I think you see its very much him who calls the shots on the subject matter and I defy anyone to go back over the recordings of his l call-ins this week and say he has a left-wing bias.  For me, he’s a guy whose generally a bit of a leftie (yeah, to me it comes through), but he’s got a clear democratic bias which everyone at the BBC should have to be impartial.

            Here’s a starter if anyone would like to form a view one way or the other whether NC deserves the stick he gets on this site, or whether, as I believe, he’s a national treasure!  For those who take a special interest in the rise in anti-Semitism, today’s call-in was crucial listening, IMHO.

            http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_five_live/20110203

               0 likes

  38. TigerOC says:

    On to something completely different; Breakfast covered the removal of “safety” cameras this morning. The expert on why we need to kepp them was a spokesperson from Friends of the Earth!

       0 likes

  39. Andrew says:

    If you’re on get onto 5 live – Dame Nicki is getting his arse handed to him on reporting on Israel

       0 likes

  40. Span Ows says:

    Probably late but yesterday we had the classic Beeb “Mp expenses fraud” where no headline or byline or link mentions the political party of Jim Devine, admittedly it’s there in the 2nd or 3rd paragraph in the stroy but as we have said many times, when it’s a Conservative the party is in the headline and the links…and stays up longer.

       0 likes

  41. ltwf1964 says:

    look out for an anti semitic hatchet job on al beeb 2 at 9PM tonight starring Louis Theroux

    the clue’s in the title-

    “the ultra zionists”

    looking forward to the follow up Louis……

    “the mad suicidal muslims”

       0 likes

    • Biodegradable says:

      Here’s a linkto that:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12347050

      More nonsense about settlements being “illegal under international law” without actually quoting the law or explaining it… because they are not in fact “illegal”.

      He says, “one of the settler security guards in East Jerusalem shot and killed a Palestinian man” but doesn’t explain why…

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        BBC editorial guidelines:

        Under Cover Mosque = Islamophobic, promoting fear for no reason

        The Ultra Zionists = Perfectly legimate

           0 likes

  42. George R says:

    “MPs have asked ministers to explain why £1.85m ($3m) from the international development budget was spent on the Pope’s UK visit in September” (rather than on INBBC Arabic Service).

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12351583

       0 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      I look forward to their close questioning of every £1.85m from the huge overseas aid budget. I do want to know in some detail what sort of people and purposes it is dispensed to. I am sure they are all worthy and proper recipients and the MPs would be on the case if it were not so.   /sarcasm

         0 likes

  43. Andrew says:

    I wondered when it was coming.  Just had Nicky Campbell on in the background.  All going relatively well until we had one of the two Johns on.

    Cue the confusion when one of the Johns  (shall we call him John 1) thought it was his turn to speak and Nicky decided he didn’t want that John at this point but the other one (John 2).  I wondered why because it would have been just as easy to let him (John 1) have his say at that point.  But no we had to bring John 2 in.

    It soon became clear why we had to have John 1 at the very end of the show.  We had to finish on the Anti semetism will go on because of all the atrocoties and slaughtering of innocent Palestinans by the Israelis.  It was them Joos again.

    Taaadaaah – curtain closes – cue news!

    And so the circle starts again.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      I missed the last 20 mins, a sudden flurry of work to do, but I think you’re being very – totally – unfair to NC if your saying he had an anti-Semitic/anti-Israel bias in the phone-in.

         0 likes

      • Andrew says:

        No I’m not really saying that.  In fact for the most part I thought it was good.  Having never listened to it before I didn’t recognise much of the bias his show gets criticised for on here.  For the most part I thought it highlighted the problem very well.

        I did enjoy the fact that someone got through to challenge the BBC reporting on Israel and it’s role in being a driver.  I did appreciate his pointing to a double standard in the Islamic callers rhetoric that seemed to suggest because of the way  Israel acts criticism of Jews is permissable but couldn’t take it with Islamic militants.

        I just found the ending rather suspect and closed on something that really went against the whole flow of the remainder of the show.  It was just odd yet enough to sound like a contrived ending and undid so much of the good work that had gone before. 

        Why I thought it odd was that with the two Johns were on in the same segment.  When NC decided to go to ‘John’, the one with the most controversial opinion piped up and Nicky said no, we’ll go to the other one first.  I couldn’t see why they needed to go to the other one rather than saying, “well seeing as you’re on we’ll go to you and the other one can be next”

        Then we got this rather odd story of a guy who sounded like he said he had been going out with a girl in Peshawar.  A girl he later found out had a father who was in the Mossad.  Then he threw something in about conversations with people who said something about all the atrocoties of Israel killing slaughtering innocent people.

        I suspect that the researcher knew this was the angle the caller would take and that this was a nice bit of controversy to finish on, hence the odd rejiggle of callers.

        For me however in trying to examine the root causes of this problem and identifying that unbalanced media presentation of Israel as one of those contributing factors, finishing on this and not challenging it simply perpetuates the problem.

           0 likes

        • hippiepooter says:

          I caught just over half the show.  What I listened to callers concerned about the problem predominated.  Anyone calling in who isn’t concerned (or pretends to be “but ..”) is a crypto anti-Semite.  Nevertheless, if they’re just ‘cryptos’ a balance does have to be provided.

          Did you catch the part where NC did get a crypto on and played back to him a caller from a show the previous week who was overt in his anti-Semitism (and was treated like the sad, bigoted nutter he was by NC) to try to draw the crypto out on?

          I’m going to try and give a listen to the last 20 mins which I missed due to work (sometimes at work I actually have to!), but I anticipate it’ll be as I’ve suggested, providing a balance, which as much as you or I know exactly where these cryptos are coming from, while they’re anti-Semitism retains what passes for ‘plausible deniability’ in the current climate, they have to be on for that balance.  As above, NC did a good job in my view in trying to lift the veil on one of the crypto’s who called in.

             0 likes

  44. Dr A says:

    <!–StartFragment–>

    Did anyone catch the two pompous and irrelevant pieces that James Naughtie produced for yesterday and this morning’s Today? I thought they provided an insight into the egotism and profligacy that characterises our malodorous “national broadcaster” (sic).

    What we had was James Naughtie (and no doubt his 9279264 researchers, producers, drivers, fixers, catamites etc) swanning around Beirut to report on the implications of the Egypt revolution for Lebanon and Israel. Israel? Well, predictably, the only way Israel featured was when Hizbollah members expressed their desire to destroy it. Not one Israeli was spoken to. But more of that later.

    In fact it was the usual, tedious Naughtie. His long, pompous, grammatically tortured questions – sounding rather like a comedy pastiche of Lawrence Durrel – eliciting the usual and unchallenged Arabist spite and aggression. But without any editorial coherence. Honestly, I have no idea as to the purpose of these reports. I know he was trying to stir up and reflect the usual Israel-hatred and Jew-envy – and even Naughtie can’t cock that up in Shia Beirut! – but its relevance to what was going in Egypt, or the wider Arab work, or Israel was zero. Utterly mystifying.

    Now of course there are questions he COULD have asked. For example, are the Iranians shitting themselves at this expression of people power or will they just murder and brutalise their way out of it like last time? Or, should Hizbollah be more democratic, rather than simply murder people they don’t like (Hariri)? Or, do you think thius might happen in Syria? Or, do you feel you have something to learn from the democratic example of Israel? Or, do you support Islamist groups and do you think democracy is possible in such a febrile environment? Or a million other things that any reasonably savvy journalist who takes pride in his craft could think of in about a minute.

    But no. Not the totemic Naughtie. We got the usual senile, fatuous, meandering drivel that typifies the giant EGO That Is Naughtie. And of course the usual trenchant Israel hatred (listen to today’s episode – it really is extraordinary).

    This little jolly must have cost thousands. So how was it commissioned? One can just picture the scene – big event, big egos competing for their “John Simpson – I liberated Kuwait!” slice of the action…. and hey ho, of courase, James, its off to Beirut you go.

    Profligate, vain, idiotic, anti-semitic, shallow, pretentious rubbish. And, dutifully,  we pay for this shite!
    <!–EndFragment–>

       0 likes

  45. Barry says:

    Did anyone hear Bill Turnbull’s unnecessary comment just before 7am on BBC’s Breakfast this morning? They’d been promoting Louis Theroux’s programme on Jewish settlers in the West Bank and he said (mumbled):

    “One of those programmes where you ????? shaking your head a lot”.

    I don’t think he was commenting on Louis Theroux’s presentational skills.

    Just the usual drip drip drip of bias and indoctrination.

       0 likes

    • Grant says:

      Well if that isn’t anti-semitic, I don’t know what is. No doubt the BBC will give Turnbull a pay rise.

         0 likes

  46. George R says:

    Antidote to BBC-NUJ and INBBC on:

     E.U.

    &

     Islam.

    -from ‘Daily Express’:

    “EU SILENT AS MUSLIMS PERSECUTE CHRISTIANS”

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/226806/EU-silent-as-Muslims-persecute-Christians

       0 likes

  47. George R says:

    Not for INBBC to report?

    ‘Daily Mail’:-

    “Fury after two Muslim councillors refuse to take part in standing ovation for Marine who won George Cross”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353197/Muslim-councillors-refuse-standing-ovation-Marine-won-George-Cross.html#ixzz1Cu0HsGIn

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      “Respect councillors refuse to join standing ovation for George Cross hero”

      Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2011/02/03/respect-councillors-refuse-to-join-standing-ovation-for-george-cross-hero-65233-28109768/#ixzz1CubvTFpJ

      – This means that Ms Yaqoob will be on INBBC ‘QT’ again soon.

         0 likes

      • david hanson says:

        I live in the Birmingham area and there has not been one solitary word about this on the local radio station (BBC WM) – quelle surprise! However for about half of the Breakfast programme we were treated to the plight of some Albanian “asylum seeker” who has failed FOUR appeals against deportation. After about half an hour I simply had to turn it off as I could feel the will to live beginning to ebb.
        They really are beyond belief.

           0 likes

        • david hanson says:

          A quick update. I have just watched the BBC TV local news programme and STILL no mention . We did however have the first of a series of filmed reports of how some village in Pakistan is coping after the floods. Nice!

             0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      >>Conservative Cllr John Lines said: ‘They should be ashamed of themselves.
      ‘This was not the time or place to stage an anti-war protest – this man risked his life for his comrades<<

      It wasn’t an anti-war protest, it was a pro-enemy protest.  Two pro-Taliban Respect Muslim councillors elected by decisive majorities in their wards by members of Britain’s ‘overwhelmingly’ moderate Muslim community.

      How I yearn for a political realignment to have a mainstream democratic party that would seek a mandate to send the enemy within to internment camps.

         0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        There are 120 B’ham City Councillors in all.  Of these, excluding the Taliban/Respect members, 14 appear to have Muslim names.

        It would be interesting to know how many of these if any were present, and if so, what are there views on the snub given by the Respect cllrs.

           0 likes

      • MarkE says:

        I would argue it wasn’t even a pro enemy protest; it was puerile showing off.

        At the risk of upsetting some here, I oppose Britain’s involment in a war that is not ours, but I have huge respect for our armed forces who are doing the best job possible in very difficult circumstances and showing levels of professionalism that puts most of the rest of the country to shame.  I am also well aware that it is the armed forces, not the politicians who fly into Lyneham and Brize in coffins.  My oppostion to the war is something I discuss with my MP, because it is up to parliament to end it, not the men in uniform.  The latter merely pay the price of the formers’ egos.

           0 likes

  48. Jane Tracy says:

    There was an example of independence being in the BBC’s genes last night on Match of the Day. The subject was Liverpool’s transfer policy. The “experts” Alan Hansen (former Liverpool player and close friend of the current Liverpool manager) and Mark Lawrenson (former Liverpool player) decided that Liverpool had done extremely well.

    Impartiality it is in their genes!

       0 likes

  49. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Still waiting for the BBC to make one, single, solitary mention of the gender segregation of the protests in Egypt.  With the rare exception when they get a couple people to stand together in front of a camera for a quick vox pops, has anyone here seen even one shot of a mixed crowd, men and women together?  I haven’t.

    In fact, the BBC rarely even shows a group of women.  I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the vast majority of them wear the hijab, plus a healthy smattering of full veils, which might lead the Islamophobic viewer to think that the Egyptians are more fundamentalist than we’re being led to believe.

    But why haven’t any of the Beeboids said anything about the segregation?  Are there so many mixed-gender crowds that just don’t appear on camera?  On any network?  It’s an important characterstic of the protesters, considering all the issues involved.  Yet the BBC is silent.

       0 likes

    • dave s says:

      DP. Somewhere on the web there are a series of photographs showing female Cairo Ubiversity graduates from the 1950s onwards. I can’t remember where but I was looking at them last night. Mid 1950s no veils or anything . Just a group of ordinary looking girls. This went on to the 1970s and then the Islamic garb starts appearing. The latest one (21st Century) showed all of them in headscarfs or hijabs etc. There has been a change and I think this may be why the mixed demonstrators are absent. It also tells me a great deal about the Egyptian mindset now, particularly amongst the educated class. I think we can draw our own conclusions as to what type of regime the democratic system will bring to Egypt.

         0 likes

  50. George R says:

    INBBC’s Mr Casciani follows INBBC’s Islamophilic rules and censors reference to ‘Islamic jihad’ and ‘Muslim countries’ in this context:

    “Terror watchdog says UK is ‘safe haven’ for suspects”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12356563

       0 likes