107 Responses to Open Thread

  1. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Herman Cain just quit. So it’s four more years of The Obamessiah.

    Mark Mardell said from the start that Cain had no chance, and repeated that assessment a couple more times.  I suppose some would see this as vindication of Mardell’s opinion, but that’s clearly not the case.  Mardell believed he would go nowhere, ever, not that Cain would drop out due to a sex scandal. Contrary to the seasoned political hack’s opinion, Cain rose to the top three, held it there for a while and, however briefly, rose to the top of the pile. He was only derailed by a media storm led by the same “journalists” who refused to report on the John Edwards affair and on the Lewinsky Affair.

    I expect Mardell to gloat, and it will be based on a falsehood.

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    • Louis Robinson says:

      ALSO: we must remember if you are a Republican “unfounded allegations” become the story and are repeated over and over and over again. If you are a Democrat (or a Dempcratic president) not only are “unfounded allegations” buried, they disappear COMPLETELY. 
      http://yesbuthowever.com/obamas-mistress-8138835/

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Mardell stops just shy of gloating in his quick blog post about Cain.  But he does make it clear that he believes Cain never had a chance to win the nomination, while seeming to forget that he said on more than one occasion that Cain would never amount to anything as a candidate.

      Now Mardell promotes him to “overnight sensation”, which is still hardly a fair assessment as Cain steadily rose in the polls over the course of a month.  But I suppose in the context of an 18 month election season, that’s “overnight” to a jaded journo. Mardell also admits that there are enough Cain supporters to give a real boost to another candidate if they swing en masse, which again puts the lie to his original position that he was a non-starter after the very first debate.

      I also have to laugh at Mardell calling Cain an “unvetted candidate”, as his beloved Obamessiah was the most unvetted candidate ever to win an election in US history.

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      • Louis Robinson says:

        David, ‘gloating’ is right. I can see the nudge-nudge-wink-winking triumphalism from here. But herman Cain is not the slimy toad John Edwards was or for that matter the “lion” of the senate Ted Kennedy. 
        Erick Ericson has the right tone: “It is a sad ending for a good man”.
        But isn’t the real lesson that no-one from outside the political elite can ever become President? Politics is now truly a “profession”? And that Romney – a boring, ducking, weaving, Strepford candidate – is likely to win over an “amateur”.
        By the way: I’m not sure we will have to endure your “obamessiah” even if the Republicans nominate a ham sandwich. I see even Tina Brown just turned on him saying he can’t do the job. Meanwhile he’s off on another holiday for 17 days.

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        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Mardell didn’t come out and gloat, but still gave an unfair assessment of Cain’s campaign.  Before all this started, Cain was at the top.  The exact opposite of Mardell’s initial prediction, and the opposite of what he told the BBC CoJ.  If not for the allegations, Cain would probably be second or a close third now, slipping only because of his foreign policy missteps and Gingrich’s recent attacks on the President and hitting back at the debate moderators.  We’re still several months away, and there’s no reason to believe much would have changed between now and then.  
           
          Even though Mardell begrudgingly admits that Cain’s chances are over because of personal scandal and nothing to do with his business and policy qualities, Mardell still sees him as a flash in the pan.  If not for the scandals, Cain would still be near the top, which is the opposite of what Mardell said would happen.  
           
          In short, Mardell’s assessment has been 100% wrong, and even when he gets one bit right at the end, he doesn’t even realize that it proves his prediction wrong.  No, he thinks it only confirms it.  It doesn’t make him look good when his supposedly informed opinions about Hunstman and Cain have been practially 180 degrees apart (he thought the former was a non-starter but the latter had chance), and both have been wrong.  
           
          The only thing Mardell has gotten right so far about the entire campaign is that Romney is probably going to be the nominee.  That was always the safe Beltway bubble bet, which is where his head is.

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      • NotaSheep says:

        Will we ever see Obama’s scholastic reports, essays etc. ?

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        • Louis Robinson says:

          Sorry, Notasheep. They spontaniously combusted with brilliance. 

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        • ian says:

          “With chips on each shoulder – Barack being half black and half moslem – we fear that he may grow up to be a Democrat president. By the way Mrs Obama, isn’t it about time you sent us his birth certificate?”

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    • Span Ows says:

      This will make them breathe a sigh of relief: the ONLY thing Obama has that they can play on is that he isn’t white so a good, black Republican candidate is the very last and most dangerous thing Obama (and BBc etc) would have had to face. 

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  2. Durotrigan says:

    <!–[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser /> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]–>Did you notice how today the BBC’s television coverage of the ‘honour crime’ story ran alongside a picture of a white woman? Given that two thirds of this crime in the UK is estimated to take place within Muslim ‘communities’ and the remainder within other populations of South Asian extraction, why was this so? Deliberate misrepresentation? I should say so: http://durotrigan.blogspot.com/2011/12/shamed-by-honour-crime.html

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    • Cassandra King says:

      Whatever traits belong to islam I can assure you that ‘honour’ is not one of them.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      Yes, this sort of savagery is practised among all sorts of groups in India and surrounding countries, including Sikhs and Hindus as well as Muslims. And it is happening here in England among the same groups. Also in places like Turkey and among the same people when they move here.

      I think it is wrong that we allow immigration from these countries or that we give them aid while this kind of barbarity is going on. The only ones we should allow in are the female (and occasionally male) refugees from this type of cruelty. It is laughable, in a grim kind of way, that the government only sees fit to withhold aid from countries if they punish homosexuals but does not do the same for this systematic violent punishment of (mostly) women for refusing forced marriage and the like.

      Here’s one catalogue of cases showing the barbaric cruelty that goes on under the banner of that anodyne, almost benign-sounding phrase “honour killings”:

      http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion…d-2072201.html<!– google_ad_section_end –>

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    • NotaSheep says:

      NUJ guidelines – ‘Do not sensationalise race relations issues; it harms black people and it could harm you.’

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      • Durotrigan says:

        Thankfully I am not, and never will be, a member of the NUJ. Their code on ‘race reporting’ which they extend to coverage of a certain ‘religion’ is shocking.

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  3. George R says:

    “BBC reveals huge scale of honour attacks in Britain, fails to mention the word ‘Islam'”

    (by Robin Shepherd)

    http://www.thecommentator.com/article/699/bbc_reveals_huge_scale_of_honour_attacks_in_britain_fails_to_mention_the_word_islam_

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    • Louis Robinson says:

      Not one single mention in any report on radio, TV and the web! Not one single mention. It’s as if there’s a panel of censors sitting around putting a red line through the script everytime someone gets near to the words “Muslim” or “Islam”. I though the BBC had decide to ‘explain” stories. It gives the impression the honor killings are caused by some national trait (“Kurds?”) not a religious motive. Surely it gives texture to the story to explain why this is happening. Surely! Something is VERY WRONG.

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      • NotaSheep says:

        There is, see NUJ guidelines

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      • John Anderson says:

        Louis

        You say it is as if there is a censor deleting the M and I words when this ntype of story crops up.

        It is not “AS IF”   I am convinced this censorship is well in place,  permanent,  watching everything the BBC puts out.   And in turn this has a chilling affect on all who work at the BBC.

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    • sue says:

      That is certainly true of the web article, but on the news headlines this morning I did hear the newsreader mention the ‘M’ word. She said “Most of the VICTIMS are Muslim.”  She didn’t mention the perpetrators. *DONT_KNOW*

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      • Louis Robinson says:

        Well spotted, Sue. Good point.

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        • Louis Robinson says:

          Some context: the “wikiislam” page says this: “’Honour’ attacks are punishments usually carried out against Muslim women who have been accused of bringing shame on their family and in the past have included abductions, mutilations, beatings and murder.

          http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Honor_Related_Violence_(United_Kingdom)

          Meanwhile the BBC Asian network has a programme about “A controversial club, which apparently gives Muslim women advice on how to be submissive and keep their husbands happy, is opening a branch in London.

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/news/

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          • Durotrigan says:

            That ‘club’ is truly sinister. I look forward to seeing its leading luminaries being invited onto ‘The Big Questions’ hosted by Nicky Campbell where they will undoubtedly be given a cordial and respectful reception.

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      • RCE says:

        Has anyone ever done a more formal study of the incidence of the M word when discussing a victim compared to when discussing a perpetrator?

        Maybe Dez could do this and post his results to prove us all wrong?

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    • It's all too much says:

      Oddly I find myself partially defending the BBC (not often – but it happens!)  I heard the report this morning and it was abundantly clear that ‘honour crimes’ were committed against muslim women by their families [it is logical to assume that they are muslims too!].  The report told me that the crimes were concentrated in areas with high ethnic populations.  All in all i was stunned that quite such a strong correlation between islam and viloent crime against women made it on the air.  There ids the rub, there was a shocked pause on air at the end of the report and lo the BBC mind control team have created a white washed web report that fails to mention that foreign men and murdering their daughters in Birmingham.

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      • noggin says:

        on the tv news this morning, all i heard was “some families”, not even the euphanism “asians”

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  4. Jeff Waters says:

    Thinking of buying someone a economics book for Christmas?

    Paul Mason helps you find the best of the left:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/02/books-christmas-presents-economics-reviews

    Jeff

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    • George R says:

      So Comrade MASON doesn’t put any of these

      ‘Politically Incorrect Guides’

      on his list:

      http://www.regnery.com/pig.html

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    • As I See It says:

      ‘how do we get out of this mess? It’s a question that has set authors along many roads but they all lead to the same destination: a bigger role for the state and the need for renewed international co-operation’.

      Now that may be your opinion Comrade Mason, but I can assure you there are economists who disagree.

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      • My Site (click to edit) says:

         they all lead to the same destination: a bigger role for the state and the need for renewed international co-operation’.  
         
        Now that may be your opinion Comrade Mason, but I can assure you there are economists who disagree.’

        Possibly some voters, too.

        Just watched the SKY paper review, where it was noted that, just when all would expect the Unison strike and ecomomic mess to be wounding the government of the day, they are in fact points ahead of Labour (in yet another ‘objective’ poll, so yet takes yer money, but one suspecting not ‘commissioned by Aunty’).

        Personally I hope not taken as a huge endorsement of them, but more a realistic impression of how the alternatives are viewed by the electorate. Despite, or maybe because of the BBC wheeling out their best buds out at any opportunity to spout unchallenged.

        I do wonder hwo Labour £4Bpa’s PR agency will spin this, being so trusted and nationally treasured and speaking for (a very small segment of) the country?

        Also noting, in passing, that we don’t appear to get any vote on what they get up to or whether on not to pay for inaccuracy, ediotorial buy ommission and often blatant tribal propoganda.

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        • My Site (click to edit) says:

          ps: Whodathunkit?

          A ‘top’ (in terms of foisted profile) BBC Economics Editor goes to the Graun to push a view in this arena that some might feel suggests a certain echo-chamber insularity of experience.

          In his ‘slew’ of £20-a-pop (some capatalist irony there, given the value of such a big up from a telly tipster?) wisdom, suprised not to see ‘Flying around the world telling taxpayers that I think they should give more money to my favoured parasite constituency, or we’ll break stuff’, by Laurie Penney.

          Maybe it’s free on twitter?

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    • Teddy Bear says:

      Rather than a book, I’d suggest sending them a link to this video of a recent Hardtalk episode where investor Kyle Bass not only reduces Sarah Montague’s attempts to demean him to shreds, he humiliates her with calm precision, and one can actually learn from him about what’s really going wrong with our financial apparatus.

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  5. Demon1001 says:

    I was thinking after reading the Clarkson thread and seeing that Lefty listiing her fellow lefties on the BBC News area, if anyone has bothered to compile a more complete list of all BBC staff who are openly left-wing (the twits on twitter for example), a second list of those who haven’t been quite so open but have shown their left-wing leanings (e.g. David Dimbleby) and a third, very short, list of those apparently of the right or centre (e.g. Clarkson).

    I’m sure that this list alone would scupper any further pronouncement of Helen Boaden about the mythical impartiality gene.  If anyone has put a list together maybe they could send copies to Cameron and the relevant ministers, so that they can see that they have to do something about it.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      It’d be much easier to compile a list of News Beeboids who are not obviously Left-wing.  A very, very short list indeed.

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    • NotaSheep says:

      Cameron would do precisely nothing whatever proof of bBC anti-Conservative bias he was presented with. Don’t forget he was the BBC’s preferred candidate in last Conservative leadership election. After all which would be the easier Tory leader to destroy: Old etonian David Cameron or ex Council flat boy David Davis?

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      • Reed says:

        There is this from ConservativeHome, but it’s rather out of date (Oct 2007). It’s a breakdown of the general political leanings of BBC staff, as stated on their Facebook pages.      
        There are eleven times more ‘liberals’ at the BBC than ‘conservatives’      
             
        BBC employees went Facebook mad earlier this year with 10,580 now having profiles on the social networking site. Many of them chose to specify their political views as either liberal, moderate or conservative (there isn’t a socialist option available to the chagrin of many). An advanced search reveals that more than 11 times the number of BBC employees on Facebook list themselves as liberal than conservative:       
        BBC – 10,580      
        BBC liberals – 1,340      
        BBC moderates – 340      
        BBC conservatives – 120
           
           
        http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/2007/10/there-are-ten-t.html

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  6. john says:

    An “edgy” dilemma ?

    I am in receipt of an unconfirmed report from the world’s top scientists which concludes that Man Made Global Timing (MMGT) is real and we are all going to hell in a handcart.
    The research has been carried out in the lavatories of the University of East Anglia where they certainly know their stuff.
    The findings are compelling, even the most doubting Thomas would’t balk at them.
    The exposure to a rise in bullshit from the left-wing media, the cheerleader being the BBC, has not just stopped time but we are now going backwards and it wont be too long before we revisit the dawn of civilization.
    Professor Richard Blackcaveman is alleged to have said that the report proves what he’s thought all along, give the BBC a scare story and they will run with it. Although he did have reservations with MMGT as the BBC are the main protagonists and they would have to gallop backwards with it anyhow.
    Wannabe comedian Jeremy Hardly blamed the report for being published in the first place, he thought they should have all been out on strike blowing their Unison gold plated whistles in front of Brendan Hairdresser.
    A dinosaur’s spokeswoman said “Oh no, not that bloody lot again”.

    You have been duly “warmed”.

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  7. Phil Ford says:

    “Problems stemming from climate change would make the current financial crisis look “like a tea party”.

    So says the world’s latest self-declared ‘climate expert’ – Lord ‘Two Jags’ Prescott, no less. I kid you not. This incoherent halfwit was given ample time on the BBC to vent his spleen on matters AGW about which he confidently knows nothing at all. It’s even more embarassing when you stop to consider his cronies in NuLabour have appointed him ‘Council of Europe’s rapporteur on climate change’ whatever that might be (although I suspect it pays rather well into the Prescott Pension Fund).

    Comrade Two Jags maintains that ‘rich’ nations are engaged in a “conspiracy against the poor” in Durban (COP-17), instead of recognising the event as nothing less than a massive attempt by poorer nations to enact a ‘wealth transfer’ from richer nations by proxy, using bogus AGW claims as bulletproof cover against accusations of theft.

    Another moron falls out of the woodwork to spout idiocy into the nations’ homes courtesy of that ever-dependable, agenda-led facilitor, the BBC.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16016673

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    • Natsman says:

      Prescott is strongly suspected of global larding, and associated stomach offences…

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      • Buggy says:

        Quite. Prezza has not so much a Global Footprint, as a Global Arseprint.

        Tragically, the lardy twerp is hag-ridden by the delusion that Kyoto was going to provide him with a life of jetting around the world Gore-stylee giving orders to all and sundry (ironically, an inversion of the only job he was ever vaguely qualified for), which he would have LOVED, and it hasn’t happened, much to the confusion of our vomiting hero.

        Merry Durban-mas, Porky !

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    • Richard Pinder says:

      “conspiracy against the poor”
      If making the poor rich works, then that would destroy Socialism. Socialism thrives on poverty.
      I can see why that would worry Prescott.

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    • Alfie Pacino says:

      Wealth transfer by any other name is misguided communism.
      I’d quite like to see Prescott transfer his two jags and stupid mock tudor home to the poor countries, as a gesture.
      When he was transport minister in 99 he promised in the wake of a horrific crash in London that cost cost would not be a factor when making the railways safe. What happened was Labour opted for the cheap option and his words yet again are a farce. The man is a joke.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      If I remember right, Prescott was the Secretary of State for the mega Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions before it was split into DEFRA and Transport. So that’s where he got the idea he was some sort of expert on environment and climate. He may also have had some sort of involvement with it later when he had that Office of the Deputy PM. 

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      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        He laso seems to lack expertise in grasping the credentials of ‘environment journos’…

        johnprescott John Prescott@ @loubgray Why is the @telegraph sending an environment correspondent to #COP17? I thought you flatearthers don’t believe in climate change?
        Gathering he has not checked her body of work?
        Prescott and twitter – the perfect storm of gifts that keep on giving.

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        • My Site (click to edit) says:

          The choices are as vast as they are tempting…

          johnprescott John Prescott Just off to pick up my credentials at the #Durban #COP17
          Hypocritical 5* freeloader – checkScience grasp of a sea cucumber in aspic – checkSycophantic BBC crew in tow – check
          johnprescott John Prescott Just about to go live on @bbcbreakfast from South Africa talking about climate change talks #COP17
          The BBC, Prescott, twitter, ‘reporters’ like Louise Gray… all it needs is a Black special and the carnival of the absurd is compelte.

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          • My Site (click to edit) says:

            On a day that Nick Clegg seems to feel that he can decide private sector salaries to respectful gush in the media, if it turns out any public money was expended in shipping this oaf Prescott and his mates to more clement winter quarters, there should be riots on the streets, because the MSM has totally lost the plot.

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    • Jonathan S says:

      Prescott, an utter cunt

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  8. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Spot the Missing Political Party:


    US House seeks testimony from Jon Corzine on MF Global

    I’ve found that a good rule of thumb is that if the BBC leaves out the label, you can bet it’s Democrat/Labour/Left-wing.

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  9. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Enjoy this bit of collectivist propaganda by Matt Danzico, who recently called for people to support the Occupier Library, paid for by you:


    Sharing economy sparked by internet technology

    Each day, billions of pictures and videos are shared between strangers on websites like Facebook, Google+ and YouTube.

    But individuals are now also sharing physical possessions through the web, as part of a movement called collaborative consumption.

    “It’s all driven by this desire to get more use out of the assets that we already have – to live more efficiently and more connected,” says Micki Krimmel, founder of goods sharing website NeighborGoods.

    The former Obamessiah activist helpfully provides a link to the colectivist website, which I won’t do here.

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    • Buggy says:

      Doesn’t Ebay (other auction sites are available) already provide such a service ? You’ve got something you don’t need anymore, so you put it on the site, and somebody buys it from you ? Plus cashflow is generated, thus helping to keep the economy moving.

      Still, if socialists weren’t busy proclaiming their reinvention of the world, they’d be doing something else, probably unpleasant, that bothers you and me, so let them carry on with their electronic version of the barter system which at least hasn’t killed anybody. Yet.

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  10. Teddy Bear says:

    Excellent artice, as usual, in The Commentator today.
    Life is (almost) glorious on the margins of EU integration, whatever the BBC says

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  11. Jonathan S says:

    the BBC Christmas Promo, ‘Consider yourself one of us’…no, thank you

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    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      But… ‘they’ speak for ‘us’.

      Apparently.

      It must be true, as it is on the most trusted unelected national £4Bpa media monopoly treasure the country’s mandates all have to fund no matter the accuracy or objectivity of what is broadcast.

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  12. Phil Ford says:

    Have any of Richard’s Black’s news stories on the BBC website from COP-17 in Durban permitted users to leave comments? I haven’t seen one yet. What ever can the matter be? The intellectual cowardice on display from the BBC is quite frankly breathtaking. Every time Comrade Black posts up another proAGW propaganda sheet from the superannuated seaside jamboree in Durban I am outraged to find my right to reply has yet again been denied, with comments simply not enabled.

    Who makes that decision and why? It’s an utter disgrace. I can’t think of any other publicly-funded broadcaster who would be allowed to behave quite so dismissively towards the views and opinions of it’s licence-paying viewers and listeners. But I forget: this is the BBC. Of course. The UK’s biggest and most expensive publicly-funded private-members’ club.

    The BBC have not the courage of their own misguided convictions on ‘tricky’ issues like AGW. Okay. We get it now. Let’s call it as it is: Cowardice. Pure and simple.

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    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      What ever can the matter be?

      Watertight oversight.

      If applied, as always, in a rather singular way.

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    • Richard Pinder says:

      It is called Censorship of Scientific Debate to create an illusion of consensus. The word consensus means a collective opinion where everyone agrees. Censoring people with scientific training in Atmospheric Physicists and Solar Astronomy such as myself, while at the same time only allowing Environmentalists with dumbed down degrees in the Arts and Humanities to have an opinion on Climate Science. With the BBC full of Environmentalists with Art degrees you can then understand why they all think that Scientists are the Enemies of Science unless they work for the University of East Anglia. The BBC call it Monitoring. Also a loony is someone who thinks that a consensus where everyone agrees, can have opponents who do not agree.

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  13. George R says:

    “Christians a minority at ‘biased’ BBC where staff are more likely to be atheists or non-believers”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069649/Christians-minority-biased-BBC.html#ixzz1fYPXn42A

    The following statement by INBBC’s Mr Bolton needs amending from:

    “BBC veteran Roger Bolton, who until recently presented BBC Radio 4’s religious current affairs programme, Sunday, said: ‘There is an inbuilt but unconscious bias against religion, fuelled by the fact staff are not representative of the public. It is not a conspiracy but it needs a correction.’”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069649/Christians-minority-biased-BBC.html#ixzz1fYROjI80

    Above statement needs amending to:

    BBC veteran Roger Bolton, who until recently presented BBC Radio 4’s religious current affairs programme, Sunday, said: ‘There is an inbuilt but unconscious bias against religion’, [except Islam, of which INBBC is scared] ‘fuelled by the fact staff are not representative of the public. It is not a conspiracy but it needs a correction.’

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  14. Natsman says:

    Thought you all might like to know how things are going in Durban:



    My God, that’ll “save” the planet…

    …not that it needs saving, but we do – from misguided idiots like that.

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    • Roy Stirred-Oyster says:

      That reminds me of the Notting Hill Carnival – the embarassing spectacle of white people trying to dance like Brazilians……. :-E

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      • London Calling says:

        The last time I went to the Notting Hill Carnival, the most notable spectacle was white middle-aged and definitely middle class women dressed trendy trying to be very hip and dance with younger West Indian men. Probably overexcited by the possiblity of a brown baby some time…

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  15. Jeff Waters says:

    Apparently the One Show asked Jeremy Clarkson to avoid saying anything controversial.

    How can you have a politically neutral programme if certain views are off limits?  Guests should be free to say what they want, not restricted to cosy central ground views.

    I want to hear what people really think, not platitudes!

    Jeff

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  16. George R says:

    Britain and European Union.

    -Not a debate which BBC-EU wants to encourage:

    “It’s time for the UK to leave the E.U.”

    (‘Policy Exchange’ video)

    http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/pages/policyfightclub.cgi

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  17. My Site (click to edit) says:

    The words ‘Gang of black savages’ seems to have been peplaced by ‘group’ here:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16017046

    Presumably we can expect the same levels of hysteria as we’ve seen surrounding a woman having a drunken rant on a tram? . . . . Silly me, it’s nothing like as serious . . . 

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    • Barry says:

      “A teenager has been stabbed to death in east London after being by chased by a group.”

      Who did it then? The drummer? Or was it one of the guitarists?

      No Stephen Lawrence style circus for this poor sod.

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      • RCE says:

        I’ve posted before; the word ‘black’ is a tautology when discussing the perpetrators of street crime.

        Perhaps this is why the beeb omit it?  ‘Of course, every article could include more information, but there are limits to space available…’ etc etc…

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      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        They must have finally realised that people have decoded the meaning of the word ‘youth’, as in “Police have arrested a 38 year old youth and a 14 year old white man”   
         
        Seriously though, this NUJ censorship of essential details means the public are less likely to be able to help the police with identification and inquiries.  

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        • 1327 says:

          Indeed I usually presume the perp is black as if they are white the new reader outer appears to make a big them of them having that ethnic background. 

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        • Barry says:

          This reminds me. Last year I contributed to a DT blog about racial attacks (can’t find a link). I simply added a list of white people who had been murdered in racial attacks since 1993 – no racial abuse, just a list of names and a brief explanation.

          It quickly disappeared – no “removed by a moderator”, it just disappeared. NUJ at work presumably.

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          • My Site (click to edit) says:

            I’m actually amazed that the DM has allowed so much candour in their comments on this story. They at least mention the ‘B’ word in the very last line. The headline clearly states it’s ‘youths’ though.
            They’ve even posted my comment of: “Ah, it’s those pesky ‘youths’ again!”

            I also note that you can rape, and beat a one month old baby to a pulp, then be released on bail, but not if you speak out about your concerns regarding immigration.
            Our entire establishment is no longer fit for purpose! 

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        • My Site (click to edit) says:

          censorship of essential details means the public are less likely to be able to help the police with identification’

          On SKY yesterday the public were asked to look out for a perp who was white, male, and in his 30’s, wearing jeans and a hoodie.

          Not too sure that was much help save ticking a box somewhere, and filling 30 precious seconds of media space.

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          • Daniel Smith says:

            I noticed that Sky made a particular point of telling the viewers that the perp in the car theft murder was white. They also gave this story greater prominence than they did the O’Shea murder, top billing in fact. It seems the media are only able to deal with violent crimes honestly when the perpetrator is a white male. What a sorrt state of affairs.

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            • Richard Pinder says:

              It also shows that if they do not mention the race of the murderer, then you know they are not white, and therefore Black or Asian.

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          • Richard Pinder says:

            Was the perp a perpetrator in metal theft. If so he is probably Romanian. My sister says the few thieves the Police have caught so far in her area where all Romanian.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      I suppose the word gang is forbidden in case it might hurt their feelings. Aww…poor lambs.

         0 likes

  18. RCE says:

    Scottish (natch) Beeboid on News channel just now about the pandas going to Edinburgh.  She spoke about how China is very much “on the up” even during “this recession”.

    I have noticed this quite a few times; “this recession”, “the current recession”, “before the recession” (the latter is less obviously biased, but it’s never “before the last recession”).

    Now I know that economic growth is hardly off the chart, but I thought that ‘recession’ was defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth; this hasn’t happened since the middle of 2009.

    So why is recession placed in the present tense rather than past tense?

    Even when talking about fucking pandas…

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    • Millie Tant says:

      I heard on the Beeboid Corporation someone stating something similar, i.e. that we had had no growth – it may have been on Any Questions? – and it passed without challenge.  Mind you, Jonathan Dimbleby is very quick to pounce and correct people’s statements large or small when it suits his agenda.

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    • david hanson says:

      As a matter of interest, when did the “downturn” become the “recession”?  After the last election, presumably.

         0 likes

    • Barry says:

      “…fucking pandas…”

      They don’t, that’s the problem.

         0 likes

  19. George R says:

    Christopher Booker ‘Telegraph’:

    “The EU dream and Kyoto will expire together”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8933612/The-EU-dream-and-Kyoto-will-expire-together.html

    Meanwhile, greenie BBC-EU uses Prescott to propagandise:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16016673

       0 likes

    • Jeff Waters says:

      Perhaps Two Jags should take Gandhi’s advice to ‘be the change you want to see in the world’…

      Jeff

         0 likes

  20. Craig says:

    Last week was the first time for several weeks that ‘Sunday‘ with Ed Stourton didn’t feature a piece on the child abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Church. They made up for that today by making the latest twist in the story (from the Republic of Ireland) the programme’s lead story. The show’s obsessive coverage continues.

    Another ‘Sunday’ obsession is gay marriage and/or civil partnerships. The closing section was devoted to this subject today, with a reluctant but wishy-washy Bishop of Burnley on the end of a two-pronged attack from a gay right’s campaigner and Ed Stourton. Or should that be a four-pronged attack, as Ed read out two more emails, both attacking the Church of England for not warmly embracing the idea of civil partnership ceremonies in CofE churches?

    The programme, however, gave less attention this week to one of its other obsessions – its beloved #Occupiers. Well almost, as Ed found time to read out two listener emails responding to last week’s programme, both of them attacking the Church of England for not strongly supporting the #Occupiers (one comparing them to priests in South Africa who failed to denounce apartheid). Were those emails really representative? 

    There were some interesting segments on the programme, including a useful explanation of the splits in Iran’s regime, a surprisingly straight report on Jewish immigration into Israel from Yolande Knell and a report on people trafficking, so a better edition than usual. The islamist triumph (both by the oh-so-moderate ‘Brothers’ and those “conservative” Salafi) in Egypt was also discussed, prompting that question again (pace Roger Bolton) about why Radio 4’s only weekly religious affairs programme spends so much time covering the same ground as all the other current affairs programmes on the channel. 

    Talking of which, there’s another segment of the programme described on its webpage, which sounds much more like the sort of thing this kind of show should be discussing:

    The Bishop of Bolton will be bringing in some chocolate to the studio, to help tell the story of the nativity. But a report this week says that 8 out of 10 people think that celebrating the birth of Christ is still an important part of Christmas. So is the real Christmas message alive and well?

    The item was dropped.

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Probably because it might encourage obesity!
      Thanks for listening again Craig…you heroically listen so that others need not do so.
      That list I mentioneed last week was clearly correct in 4/5 cases…next week will probably bring up Pearl Harbour and the associated rise in eating Hershey Bars…or the death of Lennon and his support from beyond the grave for the tented twerps by St Pauls!
      Keep a reporting…I pledge to raise you Thinking Allowed with Laurie Taylor, which would carry a health warning even in North Korea.
      Pray for me 4p.m this Wednesday!

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    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      Were those emails really representative?’

      Who knows, as they were ‘selected’.

      Which compares poorly to such as here, where comments can be freely posted and stand on their merits. Or what the cherry vultures usually provide by way of further entertaining hole digging.

      ‘Send us your views’ has to be one of the more cynical po-faced delusions of representation the Ministry of Spoofs churns out, but have to say ‘Consider yourself one of us (or else)’ is catching on for the season of unique will.

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  21. Daniel Clucas says:

    From BBC’s obituary for Socrates:

    “His heroes included famous libertarians Fidel Castro and Che Guevara”

    Errrrr =-O

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  22. sue says:

    Bonkers comment of the day, on so many levels. (Of the giant Panda Tien Tien as she was being unloaded at Edinburgh airport.)
    Male Beeboid:
    ”I bet she never thought she’d end up here”    

    =-O

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    • As I See It says:

      A communist fluffy animal released into pampered Scottish captivity and greated no doubt by much waving of the saltire. How could the Beeb not celebrate this one?

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  23. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Was watching a History channel programme on soem Nazi rally from the 30s, and my kids asked me why, if this was all abot the Aryan ideal, none of the 6′ blond Nordic gods in the cheap seats did a quick double take between the guys goose-stepping next to ’em, and the physcial specimens on the podium such as Hitler, Goebbels, Goering and Himmler.

    A bit like any green advocate hailing Huhne, Clegg, Cameron, Miliband or… lord help us… Prescott, as the best examples of planet-saving inegrity.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1552685/Prescott-stretches-junket-into-family-holiday.html

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  24. George R says:

    BAHRAIN.

    INBBC news editor to online subeditors:

    Bury the story about a bomb going off near British Embassy in Bahrain.

    Cut out any speculation about Iranian Islamic jihadists involvement.

    1.) ‘Sky News’

    http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16123423

    2.) INBBC:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-16023475

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The Beeboids don’t even see that the attack on the British Embassy in Tehran is worthy of a link in the “Related Stories” section.  Editorial fail.

         0 likes

  25. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Presumably, what Katty Kay described as her darling Occupiers’ “quality of civic duty”, not to mention the love and humanity she found there, doesn’t include noticiing that one of your own is dead before buggering off when it starts raining.   

    Man Found Dead At Occupy Denton Campsite   
       
    Leliaert confirmed the man’s age and said the encampment was otherwise unoccupied because of the rainy weather.

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  26. John Anderson says:

    Mardell and Co have loved giving stick to Palin then Perry then Cain.   But have stayed pretty silent about Newt Gingrich – even though he is running neck and neck with Romney,  has been for a couple of weeks now.   The BBC will have to bring its audiencew up to date very fast if Gingrich wins in Iowa – the primary there is just 4 weeks away.

    The BBC’s effort at “weekend political round-up” in the Marr show is so pathetic,  so predictable, and so biased that it not worth watching,  either for information or for political cut-and-thrust entertainment.

    Compare that for example with the Fox News round-up – here is a snippet for this week,  interesting AND entertaining : 

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/12/04/fox_news_sunday_panel_on_2012_is_the_gop_field_too_weak.html

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      Yes, don’t let MARDELL see this criticism of his Obamessiah:  
       
       
      “Newt Gingrich Says President Barack Obama is ‘Legitimately and Authentically a Saul Alinsky Radical’”  
       
       
      (inc video)  
       
       
      [Excerpt]:-


       

      “Speaking in Iowa, Newt Gingrich says the ‘core argument’ conservatives have with President Barack Obama is that he is ‘legitimately and authentically a Saul Alinsky Radical.’ Gingrich said Obama ‘believes in a world in which the classic America has disappeared. He believes in a world in which the United Nations is more important than the United States Congress. He believes in a world of International Law rather than the United States Constitution.’ ”

       
      http://tundratabloids.com/2011/12/newt-gingrich-obama-is-a-legitimate-saul-alinsky-radical.html

         0 likes

  27. David Preiser (USA) says:

    And the bodies keep piling up:

    Man Found Dead at Texas ‘Occupy’ Camp

    It’s starting to get more dangerous to be at one of those peaceful Occupy encampments than in Tahrir Square.

       0 likes

  28. My Site (click to edit) says:

    For various reasons (and to various different groups, for various reasons), I commend today’s Dlibert.

    http://dilbert.com/strips/

    It even ends with looting, which is a sign of ‘anger’ and the amount of ‘not being listened to’ I seem presented with today by a ton of folk spouting yet more down microphones in yet another irony mismatch.

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