30 YEARS AGO…

Have to say how sickened I feel by the BBC this evening.

30 years ago, I was still at University. On this day, one of my best friend’s at Uni received the awful news his brother had been murdered. The IRA booby-trapped his car. He stood no chance. He was a police officer, a young RUC man. The IRA boasted they had killed him. He was 23.

Today, other Irish terrorists, most likely know to the IRA leadership (if not actually containing former IRA men) killed a police officer in Omagh. I note the BBC gives Gerry Adams response coverage very high priority in this report.

Adams organisation killed my friend’s brother. 30 years on – the BBC eulogise him. Nauseating – no wonder I loath them.

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14 Responses to 30 YEARS AGO…

  1. deegee says:

    The BBC have changed the report DV linked to. There is no mention of Adams. Stealth editing, perhaps?

    The Omagh bombing condemned across Northern Ireland report gives Sinn Fein 7 paragraphs way down the page, after Matt Baggott, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Police Federation for Northern Ireland, UK Prime Minister David Cameron  Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Church of Ireland, Irish President Mary McAleese, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, Irish Police, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats.

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    • hippiepooter says:

      This comment might not bear too much meaning, as the same applies of other condemnations in the BBC Northern Ireland piece you linked too, but the statement by Martin McGuiness did not call for people to come forward to give information to lead to these people’s arrests and conviction.  I dont think anyone else who condemned this murder would have any trouble in doing so.  It remains to be seen whether Sinn Fein/IRA will or not.

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  2. Demon1001 says:

    It does rather prove that these scum were never really making a political point.  They were/are just using politics as an excuse to cover their blood-lust.

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  3. David vance says:

    Deegee – yip, they changed it. Naughty BBC 

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    • hippiepooter says:

      Well done DV, highly possible they caught your piece and were afraid of you raising awkward questions on the campaign trail.  You’ll note the change according to them was 09:10 this morning.  Plenty of time for movement after your piece published around midnight.

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  4. My Site (click to edit) says:

    The BBC have changed the report DV linked to. There is no mention of Adams. Stealth editing, perhaps?  ‘

    They do rather have form in this regard. Cue weasel ‘explanation’ soon on Newswatch  ‘The Editors’ saying stealth editting is normal practice and, in this case ‘they think they got it about right’.

    Trouble is, there a fair few of ‘them’, so how long before some over embedded analyst pops up to try and excuse things as being the result of a passionate nature and some ill-determined reasons for ‘anger’, with yet more apologists on the producer creche’s iPhones called up to ‘put things in context’. Context usually not being the Beeb’s strong point.

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  5. The Cattle Prod of Destiny says:

    It’s a bit like New Labours trailing of policy to see what reaction it gets.  I’d bet that they put out what they want to stay and only edit if they get flack.  The more flack the swifter the edit.

    It has got nothing to do with lazy/poor editting or journalists over stepping the mark.  They say as much as they think they can get away with.

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    • Demon1001 says:

      Slightly off topic I realise, but did you notice with New Labour’s trailing of policy that they always had one cabinet mamber speak out in favour of the policy and one against.  They could then see that public reaction, follow the most popular and claim that they had argued the case all the time, while dropping the fact they also argued against it.  Typical Campbellian or Mandelsonian strategy, probably the latter due to its Machieavelian feel.

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  6. james1070 says:

    Saw this on youtube, reminds me of Gerry Adams.

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  7. David Preiser (USA) says:

    They may have edited Adams’s comment out of that article, but there’s a whole BBC News video clip of him giving a statement.

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  8. hippiepooter says:

    I still haven’t heard Adams or McGuiness or anyone from Sinn Fein/IRA urge anyone with information that may lead to the arrest and prosecution of those behind Constable Kerr’s murder to get in touch with the Police.

    I’ve just sent this to Jon Inverdale covering for Gabby Logan on 5live

    Has anyone yet heard Mr Adams or McGuiness urge anyone who has information that may lead to the arrest and prosecution of those behind Constable Kerr’s murder to get in touch with the Police? I haven’t.  I never have done.  Maybe we need to deal with this problem if we’re going to deal with continuing Republican terrorism.

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  9. George R says:

    Gaddafi’s Libya and the IRA.


    INBBC’s ‘Newsnight’ has an item on this, tonight.

    Its political line will NOT include this:

    “Gaddafi is a loathsome monster, who has throughout his sordid career been feted by the witless liberal-left of Ireland for his support for the IRA, with whom of course he has so much in common. UN resolution 1973 against Libya condemns “the gross and systematic violation of human rights, including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture and summary executions”: ah yes, just like the IRA’s disappeared.
    “He created casus belli with the US and the UK from the 1970s on, through his support of terrorism. This became an outright act of war with the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. NATO should then have broken his regime by force of arms, regardless of the opinions of the UN. But an abject weakness towards Gaddafi was one of many Western policies that convinced the Arab/Muslim world that Western Christian secularists were noisy cowards who need not be taken seriously.”

    (from:
    Kevin Myers: Overthrowing Gaddafi will ensure jihadists find sanctuary in Europe

    http://www.eutimes.net/2011/03/kevin-myers-overthrowing-gaddafi-will-ensure-jihadists-find-sanctuary-in-europe/

    INBBC on this, as preview for tonight’s ‘Newsnight’:

    “Tim Whewell in Libya has a report on connections between the city of Benghazi and IRA attacks during The Troubles.”

    INBBC’s ‘Newsnight’ tonight is presented by Ms MISHAL HUSAIN, ‘one of the most influential Muslim women in Britain’ (Times).         

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/fromthewebteam/2011/04/monday_4_april_2011_1.html




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  10. TooTrue says:

    The BBC – never met a terrorist it didn’t like.

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  11. James says:

    So if the BBC give airtime to someone *you* don’t like, they’re eulogising them? Hyperbole, surely? As for whether he should have been on the news in the first place, all I can say is: “Former terrorist denounces terrorism after giving up terrorism for politics” is a big story, whichever way you look at it. ITV used Adams’ “seething with anger” quote – and I’d be surprised if Sky didn’t.

    This is another example of you paranoid lunatic-fringers jumping at shadows and seeing bias in everything the BBC does. It makes you look like loonies, to be perfectly honest. That’s why we leftist commies (actually, pretty ordinary, representative-of-the-UK people) come here – to point, pity and laugh.

    PS – I love that when you search for David Vance on Google, the top link is for a very risque photographer of young men. What on earth does TUV think of that?

    PPS – Oh yeah, before you launch into your usual ad hominem attacks, do try to answer my point: why aren’t you criticising ITV for featuring Gerry Adams? 

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