Open Thread


Back again and wanting to hear from YOU about what is most annoying about BBC coverage today! The floor is yours and the Ministry of Truth awaits….

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130 Responses to Open Thread

  1. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The BBC continues its reporting of White House propaganda on the President’s trip to Latin America.  The latest article is pure talking points, and the only analysis provided is in the inset from Gideon Long.  And Long essentially backs up key talking points from the report and supports the White House Narrative:  The US used to be a nasty neighbor, but now He has brought light to the relationship.  He truly understands their plight and is on the side of the angels, whereas His predecessors supported Pinochet, etc.  However, it’s just Long rephrasing the White House talking points and not providing any actual analysis into what the President’s policies actual are or will achieve.

    Which brings me to what the BBC has covneniently left out.

    The BBC dutifully reports this message from His speech:

    Mr Obama stressed the importance of US trade relations with the region, saying the US bought more Latin American products and invested more in the region than any other country.

    Here’s what the BBC doesn’t want you to know:

    Obama:  Drill, Brazil!  Drill!

    While leaving U.S. oil and jobs in the ground, our itinerant president tells a South American neighbor that we’ll help it develop its offshore resources so we can one day import its oil.

    Hey, He’s still preventing more offshore drilling in our own waters because of concerns for “safety”. What’s the deal?  Let’s hear it from the President Himself:

    Brazil holds recently discovered oil reserves that could be far larger than ours, and as we seek to increase secure-energy supplies, we look forward to developing a strategic energy partnership.

    So it’s okay for Brazil, but not for us?  Even though the next sentence is noise about the green industry, there’s a distinct absence of His concern about the environment and the dangers of offshore drilling.  Why, it’s almost as if He has a total double standard.  Very curious.  No wonder the BBC censored this and isn’t interested in addressing it.

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    • tinks says:

      hipocrita de los cojones.

      An old Spanish friend taught me that, I never thought I’d get to use it!

      So basically, it’s OK to exploit resources of developing countries; but they must be green so must go easy on their own economic development. See also China, India, Africa.

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  2. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Censored from BBC reporting about the President sending the US to wawr against Libya:  His coalition is smaller than Bush’s.

    Coalition for Iraq:

    Albania
    Australia
    Azerbaijan
    Bulgaria
    Colombia
    Czech Republic
    Denmark
    El Salvador
    Eritrea
    Estonia
    Ethiopia
    Georgia
    Hungary
    Italy
    Japan
    South Korea
    Latvia
    Lithuania
    Macedonia
    Netherlands
    Nicaragua
    Philippines
    Poland
    Romania
    Slovakia
    Spain
    Turkey
    United Kingdom
    Uzbekistan

    That’s 29 countries (I left out Afghanistan from the actual list because it can’t possibly have counted as an independent country at the time.) And wasn’t that supposed to be a “rush to war”?

    The Obamessiah’s Coalition…sorry, the Coalition of Equals On A Humanitarian Mission:

    France
    United Kingdom
    Italy
    Canada
    Belgium
    Denmark
    Norway
    Qatar
    Spain
    Greece
    Germany
    Poland
    Jordan
    Morocco
    United Arab Emirates

    Only 15 countries.  And no Turkey, no South Korea (granted, they have their own problems at the moment), nobody from Latin America, even while the President is there right now emphasizing our close ties with them, and only Poland from Eastern Europe.

    Also absent:  US Congressional approval, and a second UN resolution.

    Yeah, the BBC is keen to constantly reinforce the Narrative that this war against Ghaddafi is different from the war against Sadaam, but they sure are coy about telling you why.

    I await the BBC hyping up the next Code Pink rally calling for His arrest for war crimes.

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    • hippiepooter says:

      Excellent points DP, but in this case no second UN Resolution is needed to make this a UN military intervention.  It already is.

      Iraq was not a UN war.  It would have been far better if it had been, but didn’t make the war any less legitimate.  The democracies that supported US/UK military action and provided subsequent transition troops to defend the establishment of Iraqi democracy did so through the due democratic process of their respective nations.

      What made the transition to democracy so hugely difficult in Iraq was the propaganda war so man in the West engaged in on behalf of Al Qa’eda and Saddam Hussein because of their hatred of America.  Despite their worst efforts, democracy is still standing in Iraq.  Let’s hope these idiots and vermin dont wreck the chances in a post-Gaddafi Libya.

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      • hippiepooter says:

        Oh yeah, great point about no vote in the Congress or Senate.  As point of interest, did Clinton have HoR authorisation for the US led intervention in Kosovo?

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        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          hippie, Iraq actually was a UN war because there was already a no-fly zone being enforced and authorized, had been there for a decade.  We had authorization to take out Sadaam in ’91, but Colin Powell and Poppy Bush decided against it because they didn’t want to deal with the consequences, not because they considered “illegal regime change”.

          There were how many pointless resolutions passed before George W. Bush went and got the main one authorizing force (again) and then the second one, which was key to the Chilcott inquiry?  Rembember that the humanitarian angle was laughed away by the bien pensants.  “Not our business if Sadaam butchers his people: Donal Rumsfeld once shook his hand!!!!!!!”  Now we’re hearing that same pathetic message again.  First they want “something done” about the humanitarian crisis in Libya, but when we suggest sanctions, it’s “collective punishment”.  When we use force, it’s wrong, and surely there must be some other way to solve this humanitarian crisis.

          As usual the Left – promoted by the BBC – think it’s best to use the Paddington method:  a very hard stare.

          No, Clinton did not get Congressional approval to bomb the Serbs.  It was a NATO deal, and the President can send out the troops for 60 days without asking permission.  Since we’re part of NATO, and had obligations (don’t get me started on that one), it wasn’t considered out of order.  But he didn’t get any approval from the UN, either.  He has to get Congress to approve before the 60 days are up in order to continue.

          The real issue here is how different the definition of “humanitarian crisis” is, depending on which way the Liberal door is revolving.

          I well remember St. Jon Stewart mocking the “Coalition of the Shilling” (Bush called it the “Coalition of the Willing”), and laughing at the inclusion of small countries like El Salvador.  The BBC played a similar game.  Yet Qatar is a key participant this time?  Please. Now suddenly we need only one UN resolution and only half the countries involved, and the BBC is satisfied?  It is to laugh.

          Like I say, double standards, whether one agrees with the Iraq war or not, or this one or not.  Only a handful of people have maintained their principles in both cases, and even some of them are flip-flopping for only one reason: the current US President says it’s okay now.

          Even though He used to say it wasn’t.  Anyone seen the BBC bring that up?  Hopefully an intrepid defender of the indefensible will spend a couple hours scanning the BBC website for it and prove me wrong.

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  3. deegee says:

    Last Open Thread comment repeated.
    Israel ex-President Moshe Katsav jailed for rape  
     
    Let’s be accurate here. Katsav was sentenced to gaol. He will appeal and it could be months before he enters a gaol to serve his sentence.  
     
    BTW Isn’t it the British Broadcasting Corporation? Why the American spelling?

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    • Phil says:

      Americanisms on the BBC annoy me (“co-worker” rather than “colleague” is particularly irksome), however what really winds me up is the use of “kilometres” all the time in news reports. We use miles in this country, in case the Euro-loving beeboids had forgotten

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    • Andrew says:

      As they’re so keen on drawing parallels when describing Israel’s actions I wonder why they didn’t report how the Israeli justice system didn’t require multiple eye witnesses willing to testify on her behalf and that there was no risk of her being stoned or hung for adultery as there might have been had it happened in some other states in the region.

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  4. George R says:

    INBBC’s narrative to speed up Islamisation  of Britain and E.U.

    Stage 1.) Support all uprisings in Islamic world, even though, like in Egypt, they involve giving power to Muslim Brotherhood with its enforcement of Sharia law; in the consequent upheavals:

    Stage 2.) Support all mass immigration from Islamic countries inc North Africa and Middle East, into E.U (as happening now in Italy) and Britain. Be ‘multiculturally’ resolute in this, and:

    Stage 3.) Denounce as ‘racist’ anyone who opposes such further Islamisation.

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    • jarwill101 says:

      All too true, George R. Many years ago, Auntie was a charming, sometimes irritating, eccentric repository of much that was good about the British nation. She has become a brassy decadent whore, rabid with viral Islam & 21st century Communism, ever ready to drop her knickers, & standards, for anybody hellbent on the destruction of the very country that keeps her in limousines, business class travel, fine wines & Common Purpose courses. Meanwhile, what does the public get for the money the licence fee extorts from it? Apart from a News & Current Affairs department that is corrupt beyond reformation, & the relentless subliminal affirmation of multiculturalism, we get execrable ‘dramas’ like White Girl – surely the nadir of the BBC’s cultural Marxist wish-fulfillment Directorate. The term ‘short changed’ is hopelessly inadequate.
      I have just read Dead Men Risen, a book about the British Army in Afghanistan. A war in which our troops are dying for want of helicopters to ferry them over IED-seeded roads, & dying due to a lack of bomb detectors that can uncover low metal content mines. And then I look at the bloated, over-resourced, anti-British, pro-Islam disgrace that is the BBC & I feel like puking.
      The BBC’s day of reckoning will come; one way, or another. When it does, I’ll wear an expression of quiet satisfaction – thin as a Mullah’s smile.

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  5. Guest Who says:

    Suspecting our political and media classes deserve each other…

    TimReidBBC Ed Balls claims to have a Treasury document about the #budgettomorrow – says there is “nothing worth leaking” to press#BBCBudget

    Not sure the rest of us do.

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  6. Andrew says:

    And we go again:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12822493

    They we’re really quick to get this little story up on the site.

    This time the IDF are quoted because they admitted that they hit civillians which fits nicely with the BBC narrative.

    However as ever there’s something missing.  What’s missing is the fact that the IDF spokesman also said that the Israeli strike was in retaliation for a Kassam rocket launched into Ashkelon  They also missed out the fact that the Israeli attack was directed at the launch site of the attack.

    But no, we get a writing style that likes to give the impression of random shooting of ordnance in the direction of Gaza when in truth that is the approach of the other side.

    At the top of this entry I also mentioned the speed of this story arriving on the website.  But let’s take a quick look at what hasn’t made it up.  Firstly there’s this Kassam attack that won’t get reported on.  There was also no report on the Grad rocket that hit Ashkelon on Sunday. 

    Then we have the ommission of detail on the air strike reported on in the story in the top of this post.  The 17 injuries came in an attack on the weapons storage facilities and the tunnel network under Gaza into Israel which is reportedly being used to smuggle weapons and combatants into Israel.

    Nor have we heard anything of the terrorists being struck setting up an anti tank missile for firing at the Israelis

    Unfortunately for Donnison though he is demonstrating in his report that he knows about these attacks but obviously chooses to leave these details out.  In his report he says:

    The BBC’s Jon Donnison in Gaza City says the exchanges are among the most serious since Israel’s major offensive between December 2008 and January 2009.

    The exchanges refer to a two way process, not that you would really get that from the report apart from describing a single attack from inside Gaza.

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  7. Hugh Chadderton says:

    Thought I’d switch on Chris Evans for some bias-free listening this morning. Tuned-on to hear him start his review of the papers. Mirror, Guardian and indy for the front pages, then inside the Times and Mail for trivia. That’s it. Given he’s an intelligent man who knows his stuff, he either leans to the left or he’s going along with it for the dosh. It’s bad news either way. 

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    • Natsman says:

      Intelligent?  I think not.  Loud-mouthed dickhead.  Can’t stand him.  He’s so left leaning, one might think that that leg is shorter than the other…

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      • Hugh Chadderton says:

        @Natsman. I think both of his biographies support the assertion he’s intelligent, even if you don’t like what he does. And I’m not a big fan. Nor do the biographies give any hint of political leaning one way or the other. I suspect he’s an operator who got the job he wanted, despite having screwed-up all the along the way, and he’ll go along with whatever the Beeb tell him to do, to stay where he is. What I find worrying, is the degree of political control right the way across the radio network.

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        • chelsmee says:

          he is left leaning. i was listening to a show where he flippantly remarked about long reigning leaders like hosni mubarak and how horrible they are, unless you are in cuba where it was all good. he was quite sincere about the cuba bit

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        • hippiepooter says:

          Chris Evans is a humungous talent, though he does lean to the left.

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    • Johnny Norfolk says:

      Hei s a yob lefty that why he got the job. I have never listened to him on radio.Thank goodness

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  8. Terminal says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197  
     
    Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study says  
    ….  
     
     
    A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers… 
     
    The countries are: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.  
     
    Several of the countries listed are experiencing local -ahem – “cultural changes” due to the impact of one particular religion. Strange that this religion – whose numbers in a country, once established, definitely do not diminish –  doesn’t get a mention here.

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  9. Dick the Prick says:

    Sarkozy – Panorama.

     Now I find taking the mickey out of the French as much fun as the next guy but the hatchet job that the BBC did last night was woeful. Emily Maitliss acting like a clothes horse asking inept, offensive and thoroughly weighted questions, levelling accusations even they further acknowledged as unsubstantiated and with talking heads basically stating Sarko’s an oik. FFS – I haven’t seen an in-depth of Chirac. They even had Marie Le-Pen on (can you imagine any other context?) claiming that Sarko nicked her votes.

     There’s 400,000 French voters in Blightystan and this puff piece of tabloid drivel was surprisingly offensive. They even took the piss out of his missus and that’s damn dodgy domestic territory let alone for a foreign network agency to do it. Trash in extremis. As implied, I was quite interested in what Froggy politics is shaping up as considering they’ve had a different recession journey but no, none of that – let’s just smear, slight, slate and almost slander. Outrageous.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I saw it, too.  Totally agree with your assessment.  Did you like her posing montage outside that housing project, with the spinning camera shots?

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      • Dick the Prick says:

        Loved the Marie Antoinette reference – they even said they were both having affairs but denials had been made! Can you bloody well imagine that in any British newspaper about any PM or Monarch? No evidence and just fucking pathetic.

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  10. john says:

    How to combat the BBC’s annoying habit of being interrupted during an interview.

    Lesson Number One.

    Take a leaf out of Carl Bildt’s book.
    The Swedish Foreign Minister has just been “grilled” on BBC News 24 but was having none of it.
    So, and this is very simple but very effective, he paused in silence for 10 seconds after the first interruption, then after the second interruption he paused for 15 seconds.
    This then prompted the BBC “journalist” to sheepishly apologise for his own rudeness whilst the viewers enjoyed a wry smile appearing on Mr. Bildt’s face.

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  11. cjhartnett says:

    Found myself trapped in the car and listening to “Word of Mouth”.
    Childrens poet and comprehensive curriculum teacher Michael Rosen was telling us all about ESOL(English spoken as another language). Very good I thought-prior to the census, it would be good to hear of derivations of language and intermingling of English and immigrant tongues.
    Not a bit of it-I`d forgotten that the BBC were paying Rosens wages-so all we got was the effect of the Tory “coots” in the provision of these ladders of opportunity that are run by our College/F.E chums. My God-here we have a few Poly lecturers and Mulicultural grandees to tell us why this is a Bad Thing. True we had the (surely worn out) Douglas Murray to be the token maverick but his was a lone voice!
    The Tories are preventing all our immigrants from fulfilling their true potential-they will not get full access to legal and health translations and Posh Boy will be to blame…will NOONE please think of the children was the oh-so subtle(NOT!) message that our Michael droned on about amidst much wringing out of beards and lavender nosegays!

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    • London Calling says:

      Down here in South London “Pidgin'” has replaced English as the local dialect. We are now a district of sub-saharan Africa.

      Flying in from France I noticed a “child-mule”bound for Luton. Woman with two children in tow, one with disabled walk, the other in a backpack who she totally ignored, as did the French passport officials. She carried three British passports, but no-one verified that the children in those passports were these. Nor could they.

      They are being ferried in systematically for NHS treatment. My better half whio is clinical regularly sees “aunts” presenting with a baby with multiple health problems, but they seems unclear about the childs date of birth, or medical history.

      Meanwhile the twenty-something egits are pledging for red nose day to help babies in Africa.

      But don’t worry, the real threat to the NHS (say BBC Labour) is privatisation via the back door.They haven’t a clue, not a single clue. And neither has Cameron, playing with his Action Man set.

         1 likes

      • NotaSheep says:

        ThIs NHS tourism has been going on for years but the cult of political correctness and anti-racism has prevnted much of it from being reported and certainly any action being taken. I believe that it may be too late now for the NHS and indeed for Britain; where should I move to?

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    • wild says:

      In 2004 Michael Rosen stood for election as a Candidate for the Respect Party – a coalition between various extreme Left political parties and Muslim advocacy groups.


         1 likes

  12. DizzyRingo says:

    And to top it all off – they are not restructuring their business properly, they are getting funds from the State Department!

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/20/bbc-world-service-us-funding?CMP=twt_fd

    It must be true – it was in the Grauniad!

       1 likes

  13. crabtreecottage says:

    Amusing article about the Beeb, which is painfully true:

    http://tinyurl.com/6fkm99r

       1 likes

    • Marky says:

      Odone got the self-hatred bit right but it’s more the fact they hate everything British. As one astute poster remarked “Oikophobia: the nearly universal adolescent stage of despising one’s parents, generally involving a belief that one is mentally and morally superior to them. A phase which lefties, being perpetual adolescents, never outgrow.” That’s basically the BBC mindset in a nutshell.

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    • ltwf1964 says:

      quote from one of the comments-

      The BBC is rife with these embarrassing clowns pretending to be working class, especially in its comedy and yoof output. Their estuary and Mockney accents are hilarious, especially public school educated cretins like Phil Jupitus. Is he only given regular appearances at Al -Beeb to tick the diversity box due to his disabilities of being both morbidly obese and grossly unfunny ? They would literally shit their pants if abandoned on any run-down working -class council estate.”

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  14. Umbongo says:

    On BBC 1 News at 10:00 London edition tonight, the BBC gave extensive free publicity for the Grand March of the Parasites in London next Sunday.  Bundled in with the “news” was the BBC’s usual “impartial” propaganda: an interview with an ebullient Brendan Barber, happy pics of braindead youth from UKUnCut occupying a bank and – in an incarnation of the Marylou Ogreburg People’s Bread and Marmite Street Dance Theatre Workshop – indignant street artists with their own “art” construction of a trojan horse.  To top it all, so as not to frighten off any deadbeat who could be a potential marcher, an (already) apologetic Met Police commander bleated that policing will be as sensitive and soft as cotton wool and, particularly, no vulnerable kiddies will be kettled etc etc.

    It’s only Tuesday and already the BBC’s in hyperdrive.

       1 likes

  15. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Others in the US have taken notice of endemic bias at the BBC:

    In his address, David P-J remarked that John (Gross) had not been invited to appear on the BBC — had not been invited for 25 years or something like that. John himself mentioned this to David. I’m sure he wasn’t complaining; I’m sure he was just sort of perplexed.

    A good many of Britain’s treasures are not invited on the BBC — treasures who are conservative or conservative-leaning. This is indeed perplexing. The BBC is a goliath with multiple outlets, and chat pretty much 24/7. Paid for by the taxpayers, it is supposed to be politically balanced and neutral. What a crock. Some of the best conservatives are excluded perpetually.

    A network that doesn’t have David Pryce-Jones talking about Libya is a network with its head up its arse.

    Plus this addendum:

    Our reader further writes, “The people who claim to be feminist and pro-gay” — i.e., the crew at the BBC — “oppose the one country in the Middle East that does not subjugate women and persecute gays. What does that tell you?” Plenty.

    This is from a piece by Jay Nordlinger (whose writing style I absolutely cannot stand, so haven’t read in years) in the National Review, the arch-Conservative mag.  Nordlinger and the rest of the crew there need to have their attention drawn more often to what the BBC does, especially how they report on US issues.  They ignore me, but perhaps some British voices will get their attention.

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  16. BoBs says:

    Forgive me if it is just me  ….. I was favour of the war in Afganastan and Iraq …. but Lybia …. wtf.
    Why should we get involved in thier civil war? What are the odds that whatever replaces Gaddafi wont be even worse. And what happens if Gaddafi manages to stay in power and reverts to his old ways, ratchet his support to islamic terrorists,  starts arming the Britains 5 th columinists who follow the religion of peace.
    Screw them, let them work it out for themselves. I see the whole intervention as pissing British taxpayers money up the wall. They’ll never thank us, give us any credit, or create any feeling of goodwill with these people.
    Rant over….. is it just me?

       1 likes

    • NotaSheep says:

      In Libya, as in Egypt, what replaces the current regime will be Islamist and less in step with Europe.

         1 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      It’s not just you.  I came to much the same conclusion in a post a few days ago.

         1 likes

    • deegee says:

      Has anyone in the BBC said what Britain is supposed to be doing taking part in a civil war in Libya?

      Is it regime change? I don’t recall Cameron or Hague saying it is. If it is why are the coalition restricting their activities to a NFZ?
      Is it protecting oil supplies? It is a reasonable bet that whoever wins will keep supplying. Oil is virtually Libya’s only product and only source of foreign exchange.
      Is it ensuring a fair fight? Does that imply that the coalition will accept a Gaddafi victory, a long-drawn out civil war or division of the country into two as a fair result and pull out?
      Is it a quid pro quo? From whom- the Arab League, the rebels? Why hasn’t anyone asked even for a statement from either?
      Is it a warning to tyrants? Gaddafi ended both his quest for nukes and sponsorship for terrorism against the West. Seeing how little it helped him, why should any other tyrant imitate this?
      Is it just protecting civilians? If so, why only in Libya?
      Is it sending a message? To whom? What is the message?

      The BBC, so often known for preaching analysis seems very quiet.

         1 likes

  17. Guest Who says:

    Another day, another market rate talent moved to de-bunker briefly to ‘explain’ how beastly tricky it can be to enhance the narrative…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/03/reporting_libya.html#comments

    Though, so far, I can kind of see why they are ‘improving’ the comments systems currently so editors can select the comments those darned unique funders keep making.

    It will be lots ‘better’ that way, one is sure.

       1 likes

  18. Abandon Ship! says:

    Giles Fraser, chaplain to the Guardian and BBC, mangles the King James Bible, the Christian Gospel and attacks more straw men than I can count in this thinly veiled attack on white Middle England on Thought for The Day this morning.

    How can anybody in his position so misunderstand the Gospels?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/listen_again/default.stm

       1 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      Setting aside Melvyn Bragg’s interesting take on the KJB, Fraser mirrors the usual BBC narrative concerning contributions of England to the world which is “look for the bad and broadcast that”.  Accordingly, the KJB means irredentist English racialism, abolition of the slave trade means centuries of English profiteering from slavery, the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar invites a minimalist coverage by the BBC to celebrate the securing of Britain’s global naval supremacy for 100+ years etc etc.  The BBC can’t help itself: it’s the sickness of self-hatred and, by extension, hatred of England and a United Kingdom.  The only cure for this disease is to kill the host by separating it from the taxpayers’ wallet.

      BTW did I mishear Humphrys (a proud Welshman) commenting after TFTD “that was Giles Fraser – an Englishman”?  I don’t know what he was implying but I took it to mean that, in Humphrys’ opinion, only a 21st century BBC-approved Englishman could have given such a hate-filled sermonette on one of the glories of his own country.

         1 likes

  19. ltwf1964 says:

    this should be a laugh

    Young Voters Question Time on BBC Yoof (Three) tonight at 7PM

    hosted by……

    Richard Bacon

    “although it hasn’t been announced yet who will feature on the panel,we can expect a real humdinger of a debate”

    it says here…….

    ROFL

    I think I could probably make a good guess at 3 of them anyway from the usual pool of moronic lefty dross

       1 likes

  20. RGH says:

    Isn’t the BBC quaint in its reporting of public health matters.

    I draw your attention to this article

    ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12817564  )

    in which the following appears:

    “Men who have sex with men remain the group most at risk of becoming infected with HIV.
    New diagnoses in this group alone have increased by 70% in the past 10 years.
    There are more than 30,000 men who have sex with men living with HIV in the UK and experts estimate nearly a third of these are currently undiagnosed and unaware that they are infected.”

    Recent WHO reports have, encouragingly, indicated that while still a problem, the incidence and spread of HiV in Sub-Saharan Africa is show clear signs of reduction, the rate of increase in the developed world has not shown a similar trend….despite an on-going and highly publicised (and subsidised) policy of education and medical support.

    The WHO uses the term ‘risk-taking behaviours’.

    But what struck me was the complete absence of the the terms so universally prevalent….gay and/or homosexual.

    ‘Men who have sex with men’ sounds so hush hush fifties.

    I’ll be more candid.

    Gay sexual practices are risky and the expense of treating the consequences of the behaviour are borne by the general tax payer (NHS) and are indulged in despite almost a quarter of a century of wall to wall ‘education’.

    Or is it ‘homophobic’ to point this out and to connect HiV with gay behaviours.?

       1 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      The BBC somehow forgot to mention that a large factor in the HIV increase is immigration – legal or illegal – from Africa.   NHS “tourists”.

      Oh – and when did the BBC – Panorama for instance – ever do an investigative piece on the heavy costs of NHS tourism ?   Plus the pressure on NHS resources ?

         1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I agree it looks weak for them to be shy about using a label they’re usually happy to show in big neon letters, but it’s hardly obfuscating in this case. At least the BBC is mentioning it this time as opposed to ignoring it and pretending it’s not a problem like they usually do when they report on this issue.

      Speaking of Panorama, I don’t expect the BBC to be doing a feature about just how prevalent said risky behavior is amongst the homosexuals any time soon.  Unless, of course, one of them has to step down from a Cabinet position for it, in which case Evan Davis will have Iain Dale in the studio to giggle about how the straights just don’t understand.  In cases like that, it’s not at all homophobic to suggest that’s how many of them behave.

         1 likes

      • wild says:

        That is a slur on Iain Dale. I suggest that you confuse “gay Leftists” and “gays. It would be a similar mistake to confuse “working class Leftists ” with “working class” or “middle class Leftists” with middle class. In short it is using the “group thinking” that is so beloved of the Left. Other than that, you are spot on.

           1 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          wild, at no point do I suggest Dale is a Leftist in any way.  My point has nothing at all to do with political persuasions, but is about sexual ones.

             1 likes

          • wild says:

            I was not claiming that you think that Iain Dale is on the Left politically. I was saying that your assumption that because he is homosexual he will justify reckless homosexual behaviour on the grounds that “straights just don’t understand” is almost certainly incorrect. Your main point that the “sexual revolution” had a catastrophic (and entirely predictable) effect on sexually transmitted diseases is however, to my mind, entirely fair. The Left (with its usual lack of interest in the consequences of their own actions) always assume that the homosexual/drug user AIDS epidemic is somebody else’s fault. Not for the first time the Left leaves piles of corpses in their wake.

               1 likes

            • David Preiser (USA) says:

              wild, my wondering about Davis and Dale was based on their behavior regarding the David Laws affair (ahem).  The issue then was whether or not Laws was being forced to step down because heterosexuals were unfairly imposing a definition of a relationship on his homosexual lifestyle.  Both Davis and Dale had a nice wink and nudge about it being a bit of “how’s your father” as a regular hook-up but not a relationship as supposedly defined by mainstream heterosexual society.

              They were openly suggesting that it was unfair because homosexual relationships were different, and that the straights calling for Laws to resign simply didn’t understand that.

              This loose(r) standard they were defending leads to the risky behavior being discussed here, which is why I brought up Davis and Dale’s position on Laws (it’s getting harder…damn…more and more difficult to avoid unsavory puns here) in connection with the larger issue of this risky behavior.

              I hope Dale and/or Davis would condemn risky behavior among homosexuals if called upon, but there’s evidence of a double standard there, so I can’t be sure.

                 1 likes

              • wild says:

                Thank you for clarifying. I was not aware that David Laws had a homosexual “lifestyle”. I was under the impression that he has a partner who, for the purposes of claiming money from the taxpayer, he pretended was only his landlord – a deception which was to his financial benefit.
                As for the point about many (male) homosexuals being more promiscious than some (male) heterosexuals, I am sure that this is correct. I no less sure that many homosexuals are less likely to engage in sexual activity that heterosexuals.
                From what you say Iain Dale was implying that it was more acceptable for male homosexuals to be promiscious – presumably because such a high proportion of homosexual men live in effect as single males – to which my reaction is that if sexual promiscuity increases the risk of sexually transmitted diseases there are public health issues to consider.
                 As far as I am aware the David Laws case is entirely irrelevant to this discussion.
                Although I am confident that Iain Dale would not approve of behaviour (homosexual or otherwise) that endangers public health, I can see more clearly what (at least in your understanding of what he said) provoked your reaction. Since I did not hear the discussion I will shut up now.

                   1 likes

    • A says:

      The “men who have sex with men” label is widely used in public health circles (have you given blood lately, they ask the same thing).  Many people feel that gay or homosexual implies identification with a community, which they choose not to do. It may not even be accurate in the case of bisexuals.  There are a number of men in long term relationships with women who occasionally have a brief encounter.  They would not regard themselves as gay and therefore not appreciate their level of risk.  Equally, someone who regards themselves as gay but does not have intercourse is not at risk.
      The whole point of this is to try and identify HIV early and this label is the best anyone has come up with to test those at risk.

         1 likes

      • London Calling says:

        NHS  “Sexual Health Departments”are like any other organisation, they are dedicated to their own survival, and want growing numbers of patients to grow their departments. The influx to the UK of Africans already infected with AIDS is masked by the way the UK public health data is recorded “infected abroad” – Brits who got it abroad on a club 18-30 holiday? As posted before, the back door, not the back passage, is behind the apparent increase in the number of AIDS cases “doubling”

        Many of the first wave of HIV infections among the gay indigenous community have gone, because they are now dead. The NHS patient numbers are boosted now by “health tourism” from the largest source of AIDS infected population on earth – Africa. Tragically, the figures are futher masked by British women presenting at clinic who have been infected by an overseas partner, which my better half sees every clinic.

        There is a simple way to cut the “growth of AIDS”, but it might be thought “racist” to mention it.

           1 likes

        • Dez says:

          “NHS  “Sexual Health Departments”are like any other organisation, they are dedicated to their own survival, and want growing numbers of patients to grow their departments.”

          Doctors want more sick people. Yeah right.

          “As posted before, the back door, not the back passage, is behind the apparent increase in the number of AIDS cases ‘doubling’.”

          Learn to read. The doubling of HIV (not AIDS) is in “UK-acquired cases” which has risen to 3,800. 

          The total number of people in the uk with HIV peaked at 8000 in 2005 but has been declining since then to about 6,000 in 2010.

          The number of people with AIDS has been around 1000/500 a year since 1998.

             0 likes

  21. Guest Who says:

    Speaking of clarity…

    BBCLauraK Laura Kuenssberg Ed Miliband asking for clarity on whether it’s legal to target Gaddafi – PM does not
    Any notion as to what this, from one of many market rate talents, actually is meant to convey?

       0 likes

    • deegee says:

      Labour: reasonable deliberation before endangering our troops. Conservatives: impulsive warmongering.

      Not sure I disagree even if Miliband was just showboating. 

         0 likes

  22. cjhartnett says:

    Would be intersted in how the Beeb chooses its Giles Frasers, James Jones and Clifford Longleys as well as the other “Christian Trusties” for Thought for the Day.
    At least a Sacks or a Blue actually SOUND Jewish and so can be respected. When I hear the Christian voices I really do wonder if John Robinson was their lecturer!
    Still the safe and cartoon version of Jesus lite(don`t mention the namethough!) that won`t upset the boys upstairs after a good nights clubbing!

       0 likes

  23. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, Its reporting from Israel and half the story.  
     
    Air strikes on Gaza after rockets hit southern Israel  
    Israeli warplanes have launched air strikes east of Gaza City, after Palestinian militants fired two rockets into southern Israel. 
    One rocket hit the region’s biggest city, Beersheba, injuring one person, the Israeli army said. The second landed near the city of Ashdod.The Islamic Jihad militant group said it had carried out the attacks, in reprisal for the killing of eight Palestinians near Gaza City on Tuesday.  

    Reading the above do you get the impression that Israel is being a little heavy handed in its responce to 2 rockets launched against it in reply to attackign Gaza in the first place? And here is what the bBC doesn’t inform you about the above story:
     
    Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al Quds Brigades, vowed Wednesday to fire rockets at cities deep inside Israel as it entered “a new phase” of resistance, a spokesman said.”The Al Quds Brigade has entered a new phase of bombing targets which are further away, where thousands of Israelis live,” Abu Ahmad told AFP.”The stage of targeting Sderot and Ashkelon in southern Israel are behind us,” he said, referring to a small Israeli town which lies very close to the border, and to a port city which lies 18 kilometres (11 miles) to the north.”From now on, there are no more red lines for the resistance as long as the enemy doesn’t respect UN conventions and keeps killing civilians,” he said, vowing that the group would “respond in kind.”His remarks were made after the group fired two longer-range Grad rockets at the southern city of Beersheva, which lies 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Gaza, and much further away than the Israeli cities regularly targeted by Palestinian militants. Overnight, Al Quds militants also fired a Grad at the port city of Ashdod, which lies about 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Gaza.

       0 likes

    • pounce_uk says:

      In a nutshell, the nice peaceful people of Gaza have upped the stakes by replacing their so called homemade firecrackers (read harmless) for Iranian built and supplied Grad rockets which are aimed at cities further away from the border (between 27 -35 miles away)  
       
      At a stroke the number of people who can be terrorised is in the millions, yet the bBC instead of pointing this out still sticks to the line that actually Israel is to blame for all of this.  
       
      But the question to be asked is why is Hamas upping the ante? Well for a start if Israel was to hit back and kill say a couple of children (An event the bBC is more than happy to shed tears over) then the propaganda arm of Islamic terrorism (The BBC) can shrill to the faithful how nasty Israel is. Add the growing number of arm shipments to Syria (funny enough a story not reported by the BBC) being exposed in Turkey and we can see that this summer is going to be very hot in the region.  
       
      Of course I expect Abu Bowen and his crowd o be reporting (with body armour) from the front line of the latest genocide to be committed by Israel. 

      And what do you know, the attempts by Hamas to get Israel to bitchslap them has taken another step forward by blowing up a Bus in Jerusalem.
      I haven’t seen the bbC coverage, but I’ll put my money on the fact that the bBC goes to great lengths in which to highlight how:

      <!–[if !supportLists]–>a)      <!–[endif]–>Jerusalem is occupied

      <!–[if !supportLists]–>b)      <!–[endif]–>That it is Israel’s fault for bombing Gaza.

         0 likes

      • Andrew says:

        This has been gnawing away at for a little while now.  The observation I’ve been making is that the BBC seem to have a strnge absence of curiosity.  They simply don’t seem to be asking “why?”

        Donnison’s articles on the website seem to suggest awareness that they’ve gone in a new direction but don’t appear interested in why.

        Questions that are occuring to me are as you point out that there seems to be increased availability of better quality hardware – where  did that come from?  Also why are they not seemingly trying to preserve it -have they got much more significant stocks of the stuff?  Where did it come from and how did it get there.  Knowing that last time Hamas upped the ante we had Operation Cast Led – so what would they get by provoking a similar reaction?

        There are several things that spring to mind with the major ones centering principally on countries in the region caring little for a peace process  and more concerned with wiping Israel off the map.  Of course if they had to hone in on that story the cout would be out of the bag.  Part of me wonders if the plan is to get Israel to wade in again to meet groups who are beter armed this time around with a view to creating outrage and uprising in the west bank (that Hamas can capitalise on) and for creating something at the Rafah crossing that will draw the Israeli’s into action in Sinai, provoking a major outrage across the rest of the muslim world.

        Whilst I certainly hope it doesn’t pan out that way, the nihilistic tendencies of Hamas, Hezbollah & Iran means they would care little for the consequences.

           0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        But Jeremy Bowen usually tells us that Hamas doesn’t have control over all these factions and that they’re generally innocent here.  Can’t be helped, and Israel should accept it, and lie back and take it.

        The military plan doesn’t seem to be much more than getting Israel to attack more and more, because Hamas and their friends in the Muslim Brotherhood know how easy it is, and know that most of the world will support them in a war if the MB takes over Israel.  The BBC’s reporting is already skewed to that angle.

        I personally don’t think the Egyptian generals are so eager to get their asses kicked, but the death cultists aren’t thinking about that right now.

           0 likes

  24. George R says:

    Updates for INBBC, and its  Muslim Brotherhood:


    “More Global Muslim Brotherhood Updates”

    http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9055/pub_detail.asp

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      Egypt’s women.

      Of course, in this INBBC political veneer of an article by Ms Hosea, there is no mention of:

      1.) Muslim Brotherhood, and the subservient and persecuted place of women under Sharia law;

      2.) the particularly vulnerable role of Christian Copt women in predominantly Islamic Egypt.

      “A woman’s place in the new Egypt”

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12819919

         0 likes

  25. Roger says:

    Just happened to catch Holby City last night (my other half is a fan). Holby has declared war on the nasty coalition for inhumanly cutting ‘frontline services’. The nasty coalition personified by a hardnosed ‘manager’ who was accussed of ‘enjoying this’ (making cuts). The manager wore a metaphorical back cowboy hat and back everyhting (shirt etc.), just so we would know he was a ‘baddie’. He looked intimadating and it was more than implied that his joy of ‘cutting’ was partly motivated by a personal grudge against one ot the two cuddlely and caring consultants who decided that they must finally appose the these un-necessary, inhuman and brutal cuts. Bye the bye one of the cuddlely and caring consultants was dying of cancer but we know he will fight to the emaciated end. I am so glad to live in a country that produces the best TV in the wolrd. Just looking forward to the next dramatisation of Pride and Peke.

       0 likes

    • wild says:

      Most BBC drama about the “Public Services” is propaganda on behalf of the State. When people describe the BBC as Stalinist this is what they are talking about – except that it is heroic Guardian readers not workers in wheat fields and tractor factories. Before each programme there ought to be a warning “This programme has been produced on behalf of the Labour Party, and so needless to add any resemblance to reality is entirely coincidental.

         0 likes

  26. David Preiser (USA) says:

    What a joke I’m witnessing on the BBC News Channel right now.  Nick Robinson and Robert Peston discussing the budget with Ed Balls.

    Robinson by default is defending Boy George’s new budget plan, and Even Redder Ed is spouting his usual line about how Labour was fixing everything and the nasty Tories are destroying everything.  This accomplishes little more than set up Robinson too look like a Tory and discredit him to the viewers.

    Robert Peston is, of course, the biographer and supporter of the economic vision of Balls-up’s old boss and mentor.  All Peston does is ask him leading questions which helpfully let him clarify his statements when he talks too much in platitudes and not enough specifics.  Peston is already discredited in my eyes, but the set-up here makes him look like he’s being genuinely curious and not just defending the nasty Tories.  Very clever indeed.  And the dreadful mannersims seem to have vanished because he’s thinking carefully and not just bitching about bankers’s bonuses off the top of his head.

       0 likes

    • Andrew says:

      I watched him too getting the balls tee’d up for him. No one seemed to pick up the amnesia he is suffering from on how they were happy to have fuel escalators etc.   Dermott gave him a slightly bumpier ride on Sky asking him what he would do if he we chancellor right now.  He tried to dance around it by saying something about theoretical situations. 

      What never ceases to amaze me is where the idea comes about that Brendan Barber is someone fit to comment on managing the economy.  Anyone who saw the Channel 4 documentary saw precisely his grip on the fundamentals of the economy.  Have him on to say how he fears for his members by all means (or really how he thinks union dues will get hammered and therefore his slush fund) but not as a wider commentator on the economy.  ALl he amounts to is another Labour stooge.

         0 likes

  27. deegee says:

    Deadly bombing targets Jerusalem bus stop

    One might argue that cruise missiles independently target but bombs in suitcases require human intervention.

    Wyre Davies in Jerusalem says it is ‘a scene of utter chaos’ at the blast site Strange I have been watching on television for about an hour and I see an organised effort with police, army, ambulance and ZAKA doing their jobs. Utter chaos is the crowd swarm in Gaza, each ‘rescuer’ displaying body parts for the camera.

    attacks have stopped in recent years Would’Apartheid’  walls, checkpoints and the efforts of the PA to ensure their position have something to do with this?

       0 likes

  28. Oliver says:

    The panel for Young Voters’ Question Time is certainly coming together…errrr…nicely – for the BBC at least.

    Currently confirmed are Brian Sewell, Ken Livingston AND George Galloway.

    No, seriously. This is not a joke.

    A communism double whammy…incredible.

    Presumably the other two members of the panel will be y’know MPs or something – or is this too much to ask?

    Impartial chairman Richard Bacon will ensure a balanced debate, of course.

       0 likes

    • ltwf1964 says:

      honestly

      Galloway was one of those I was thinking about

      him and that Mehdi parasite…….

         0 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Is it too much to hope that the Tories and any serious right of centre politicians are having nothing to do with it?

         0 likes

  29. George R says:

    Time for Muslims to hand out candy in Gaza: Woman dies of wounds in Jerusalem jihad bombing

    [Extract]:

    “Will the jihadist savages celebrate this murder, as they did the Fogel family murders, or will their PR handlers instruct them to tone it down this time so as not to wake up the ever-gullible West?”

       0 likes

  30. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Alistair Darling:  “I’ve always been worried if you take that much money out of the economy so quickly….”  As always, the Labour position, and one supported by the BBC whenever they run it up the flagpole.

    Vince Cable (having been de-canonized now that he’s part of the Conservative-led Coalition Government) didn’t notice, and talked about areas of possible growth instead.

    Darling then gave him an open goal by repeating the “take money out of the economy” line and saying, “and I think Vince agrees with me, unless he’s changed his mind”, but Huw Edwards stepped in for the defense and deflected the ball to another topic.

       0 likes

  31. Deborah says:

    I have had a response from the BBC complaints department following my query why the BBC described the 5 people murdered ie the Fogels (or killed as described by the BBC)in Israel as Israelis and not mentioning that there were 3 young children.  Apparently they were too busy with the tsunami.  I am not sure it takes much longer to say ‘2 adults and 3 children were murdered’ rather than ‘5 people were killed’ but what do I know? 

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      So the same very, very young people being paid very, very low wages  to be News Online sub-editors work for all departments?  Good thing the Libya scene and all those news items about Elizabeth Taylor aren’t keeping them too busy to put “children killed” in the headline yesterday when it was Palestinians.

         0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      I think they meant the tsunami of anti-Jewish hate the BBC have been building up over the years.

         0 likes

  32. George R says:

    Mass illegal immigration from Islamic North Africa to Europe: –

    -a small story about  temporary ‘migrants’, for INBBC?

    In the following INBBC report, there is:

    1.)  no context to indicate that this mass immigration is condoned by European Union; no reference to already ongoing Islamising demographic trends in EU and Britain;

    2.) no indication that this influx is not a ‘one-off’;

    3.) no indication that this particular wave of illegal immigrants   intend to bring over to the EU their extended families and so to boost illegal immigration numbers hugely;

    4.) no link to the fact that Britain will be subject to the same EU organised mass immigration as is Italy;

    5.) no reference to the fact that it appears physically and legally impossible to stop this continuing mass immigration ;

    6.) little reference to the interests and concerns of EU citizens, compared with the INBBC narrative written largely from the viewpoint of the illegal immigrants.

    “Italian navy ship San Marco moves Lampedusa migrants”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12827118

    Alternative report:

    “Italy faces threat after military intervention in Libya”http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/7328147.html

       1 likes

  33. deegee says:

    Jerusalem: Middle East’s oldest unresolved conflict
    By Jonathan MarcusBBC diplomatic correspondent
    Er no. I realise you are a BBC Diplomatic correspondent Mr. Marcus and therefore ignorant of the region you are reporting on but Israel/Palestine is not the region’s oldest conflict by far. Even if you regard the conflict as beginning in 1882 with the modern mass immigration to what is now Israel and then was part of the Ottoman Empire (not called Palestine) rather than 1948 it is by far NOT the oldest conflict.

    The oldest conflict began in approximately 661 AD with the assassination of Ali and the Sunni/Shia split. Read a little Mr. Marcus. You might hear about them. 

       1 likes

  34. Jon S says:

    again BBC budget news report, negative, negative, negative…typical left wing crap

       0 likes

  35. Roger C says:

    Why are the BBC creating a non story about children under 10 owning shotguns? Shotgun ownership for anyone is most tightly regulated and transparent, I can see few better ways to show children responsibilty & discipline for a future adulthood than this granting of licences. The BBC just love any stick to beat the responsible gun owner.

       0 likes

  36. George R says:

    That advocate of mass immigration, BBC-NUJ, now notices illegal sham weddings.

    “Inside a big fat sham wedding”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9433000/9433554.stm

       0 likes

  37. Guest Who says:

    The Editors is a rich seam, but also a hole that the market rate talents cannot seem to resist digging ever further down into…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/03/coverage_of_world_changing_eve.html

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/03/bbc_school_report_news_day_201.html#comments

    Meanwhile more junior market rate talents continue to excel, though are suffering as a consequence…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/maggieshiels/2011/03/what_does_twitter_mean_to_you.html#comments

    no disrespect Ms Shiels, but the BBC’s long-held reputation for quality journalism seems to be disappearing at the same rate as BBC journos change their working habits, like you did. coincidence??’

    I can see why they are moving heaven and earth to get back to either broadcast-only or editor-selected comments.

       0 likes

  38. 1327 says:

    Interesting little spat on Twitter at the moment. Basically if you want to know what is happening in the Libyan air war you need to keep an eye on ..

    http://twitter.com/#!/FMCNL

    He is a Dutch guy who is monitoring various open and unencrypted internet radio feeds. He knows his planes and his callsigns and passes on the info via Twitter. He doesn’t disclose anything the Libyans don’t know since they will no doubt be listening to the same radio channels. His information puts the MSN to shame and if they had any brains they would hire him. Instead we get this ..

    http://twitter.com/#!/frasereC4

    A Channel 4 producer moaning that we need professional Defence Reporters to explain what is happening because of course they know everything and that what the Dutch guy is doing is wrong. They really don’t get it do they !!

       0 likes

  39. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, reporting from Libya by their so called defence experts:

    The latest batch of Photos the bBC  airs in which to show the fighting between Gadiffi and the rebels has a photo of a man ready to fire a weapon towards the enemy. Have another look at that weapon, that isn’t an RPG. rather its a SA7 anti-aircraft missile launcher which is upside down and without the firing unit fixed (Trigger and handle) Here is what a SA7 looks like in real life and below is the bBC picture: I’m not saying the weapon wouldn’t be effective used agaisnt a ground target, the simple fact remains without a firing unit fixed its as much use as a base bat bat.

       0 likes

    • pounce_uk says:

      So what I’m trying to say here is, if ever there was a staged photo shoot, this is one.

         0 likes

      • deegee says:

        Plenty of them in their Libya coverage. The give-away is when the crowd does not run for cover.

        Speaking as a photographer here. The picture is far from level. I would guess at about a 45 degree angle. That implies one of two things. A battle is taking place and the photographer doesn’t have time to compose the photgraph or the photographer is a complete amateur.

        If we correct for horizon (and for the building behind him) it looks remarkably as if he is aiming about 30 metres in front. Rebels continue to battle? Perhaps not.

        I have heard from other sources that the ‘fierce’ rebels are all about photo opportunity. Without Western support Gaddafi’s army would destroy them. That doesn’t make Coalition forces leaving Libya without regime change and that means ground troops very likely. 

           0 likes

  40. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The BBC just reported that Assad of Syria is saying he might end the “emergency rule” his family has been using to keep the country under an iron fist for almost 50 years.  They even mentioned the pro-democracy protests and how Assad is even thinkng about allowing actual political parties to be created in Syria.

    He obviously sees what’s been going on in North Africa, and that even the boss of Yemen says he will soon step aside and allow a proper election.  I’m certainly not declaring Syria to suddenly be a land of rainbows and unicorns, of course.  But it was always going to be a case of each dictator trying his own angle on dealing with this.  But the dominoes are beginning to fall, one way or another.

    By the way, did anyone think that Mubarak was going to come out smelling like roses compared to the rest of these leaders?  So far, I think he’s deserving of special commendation for how he acted.  Interesting how none of the astute BBC analysts have discussed that.

    George Bush was right, and the BBC was wrong.  No wonder they spent so much effort rewriting history so that their audience believes that it was “You’re either with us or against us” instead of about giving the Muslim World their own chance to govern themselves.

       0 likes

  41. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Great line from a kiddie journalist the BBC is using to celebrate the maiden voyage of the new Broadcasting Centre in Salford.  When asked what he learned, the boy said:

    “You have to be confident, but you also have to know what you’re talking about.”

    Well, that’s twice as much as what a lot of Beeboids seem to have learned.  I can think of quite a few who have the first part nailed down pat, but not the latter.

    I think his use of the word “confident” is rather revealing of what the BBC has been teaching those students.

       0 likes

  42. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Even though some psychologist used the term, does the BBC have to describe the serial rapist just arrested as having “stolen sex from the elderly”?  What does that add to the reporting?  I know they don’t mean to sanitize this, but come on. 

    Although I realize that the main theme of the BBC’s reporting on the story is bashing the police.  Now here’s Stage Performer Maitlis saying that the police made “some serious mistakes”.

    Can’t wait ’til we learn about how policies put in by Labour and human rights advocates let him out on the streets time and again.  Learn from other news sources, I mean.

       0 likes

  43. pounce_uk says:

    Interesting story from the bBC ref land theft in South America.
    Bolivia’s Morales to take Chile sea dispute to court
    Bolivia has said it will take Chile to international courts to try to recover access to the Pacific Ocean, which it lost in a war 132 years ago. President Evo Morales said Chile had failed to respond to a deadline he had set for progress in negotiations. Bolivia’s loss of the sea was an “open wound” that must be healed, he added.
    The bBC champions the cause of one of its socialist heroes over the loss of land it lost over 100 years ago in a war where with Peru it lost out to Chile. But while the bbC is more than happy to inform you that Bolivian children are taught that they must reclaim the sea. (You know like how Pals are taught that Israel and Spain must be reclaimed) they leave out that in 1904 Chile and Bolivia signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship which settled the border dispute once and for all. But and I quote but allows Bolivia unrestricted traffic to all kinds of Bolivian merchandise through that territory in which to allow it to export via the port of Arica as per the conditions of the treaty. Now that was due to a railway built in 1904 and which ran until 2005 when parts of it was washed away in floods. It is been repaired and has a completion date of around 2012. However since then a new road has been built in which to allow Bolivar to carry its exports to the sea.
    Then there’s this little snippet from the bBC:
    Bolivia broke off diplomatic relations with Chile over the territorial dispute in 1978.
    What the bBC doesn’t say is that in 1975 the Chilean government of Augusto Pinochet made a proposal to Bolivia consisting in a swap of a narrow continuous corridor of Chilean land from the sea to the border between Chile and Bolivia, running parallel to the border between Chile and Peru, in exchange of a piece of the same amount of Bolivian territory.The proposal involved former Peruvian land and according to the treaty of Ancón, Chile could not give former Peruvian territories to other nations without Peru’s agreement. The dictator of Peru Francisco Morales Bermúdez was opposed to these changes but proposed to make Arica a territory governed by the three states. Chile responded that it could not accept this complicated shared sovereignty.

    Then, there’s the extra stuff such as currently. President Evo Morales is having a pretty hard time in the polls at home. He’s ruined the economy, lost the support of his supporters and requires an outlet in which to distract the Plebs before the next elections in 2014. What better than trying to regain land lost in a war over 100 years ago which contains some of the richest copper deposits in the world?

    I wonder why the bBC never mentioned any of the above?

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Good stuff as always, pounce.

         0 likes

      • Span Ows says:

        Agreed. never a surprise that the BBC can’t do the simplest research. I believe in this instance it isn’t bias, just incompetence.

           0 likes

  44. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Does everyone remember when Bush ended a press conference and walked off, only to run into a locked door and look a bit silly?  Remember when the BBC eagerly reported it and showed the video?

    Let’s see if the BBC reports it with the same enthusiasm – or at all – when their beloved Obamessiah does the same thing.

    At least Bush wasn’t locked out of his own White House.

    My bet is that they’ll do the same thing they did with every single other gaffe He’s made:  censor it.  Even if they show it once on air, I doubt they’ll post the video and leave it up for five years.

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  45. pounce_uk says:

    Anybody else wondering why the bBC hasn’t reported the fact that over 10 missiles have been laucned into Israel on Thursady alone. That the new Eygptian foriegn mininster has warned Israel not to attack Hamas.

    It seems to me that the peace followers of Islam are getting ready for war in the Middle-East 

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  46. George R says:

    For INBBC and ‘feminists’ everywhere:

    “Pakistani actress Veena Malik wipes the floor with a ranting mullah. This is what a feminist hero looks like”(by Ed West)

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100080920/pakistani-actress-veena-malik-wipes-the-floor-with-a-ranting-mullah-this-is-what-a-feminist-hero-looks-like/#

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  47. hippiepooter says:

    Jeremy Paxman reminds us once again what an odious piece of garbage he is.

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  48. George R says:

    Diane Coyle ‘preferred candidate’ for vice chairman of the BBC Trust

    – ‘Preferred’ by whom?

       Not by licencepayers.

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  49. Paddy says:

    Butterfly on a wheel……….ffxxckin butterfly on a wheel.

    Some pillow biting weasel gifts all our enemies serious volumes of secrets in some mega hussy fit because they were sending him to the front line. Well sister the forces aren’t just a source of great berets buff guys and uniform chique they serve a purpose namely to protect and keep safe the people of their country and it’s allies. So let me get this right , some annoyingly mincing uphill gardener doesn’t like to be asked to do his job so he betrays hi own nation and how does auntie describe him,

    Deluded……no
    Traitorous…….no
    Petulant………no
    Cowardly…….no
    Thoughtless…no
    Infantile………no

    No how do the self styled arbiters of free speech describe him,

    A butterfly on a wheel

    More like a fag ‘on the rag’

    Kirsty Walk couldn’t have been more one-sided if she tried.
    Reading scripts from Thompsons ministry for truth Walk portrayed the shirt lifting dwarf as some kind of conscientious objecting hero.
    I wouldn’t be surprised if the beeb have a Bradley Manning day where we all have to come to work with a pink and yellow ribbon and our kids are forced to have sponsored silences and bring and buy sales to pay for him to have his iPod with all the kylie hits sent to prison and have vivien westward design his prison overalls. They’ll want him moved to an open prison near San Fran cisco so he can be let out on day release to join the navy cakes for peace parade

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