237 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. Martin says:

    Dame Nikki doing a phone in about the plod and the press, but all we get is rent a queen Chris Bryant on yet again banging on about the Murdoch press.

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  2. Hugh says:

    Interesting to see how former Beeboids perform when they go onto Sky. I’ve seen Rosie Millard and Lynn Faulds Wood reviewing the papers in the morning and evening respectively. Each is hugely critical of popular culture, LFW looks like an 80s throwback with her Bucks Fizz haircut, and there’s often a very uncomfortable silence after they’ve spoken. Almost like a collective WTF ..

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    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      Ms. Millard was on yesterday and couldn’t get her head around another guest a) not having a hive mind viewpoint and b) papers other than the Gaurdian were being quoted.

      Must have been a shock to the system.

      Know what you mean about the rest of the studio in reaction… it’s like a batty Aunty has just piped up at a wedding reception that she slept with Fidel, and there was a man who knew how the media should be run.

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  3. Bupendra Bhakta says:

    The political right in america

    ‘I think it’s true that the republican party is more united now than it’s been, but that’s because the ideas have gotten narrower and more extreme over the years’.

    Has the Republican Party been taken over by radicals?

    ‘the tea party they really manage to move the whole conversation really far to the right in america’

    BBC radio 4 explores what the american primaries have revealed

    ‘I like being able to fire people that provide services to me’

    Analysis – tomorrow night at half past eight.

    —————————————————————

    So folks tune in.  Has the Republican Party been taken over by radicals?  Is the US being run by a clueless socialist?  Has the BBC been utterly corrupted by a claque of wannabe-revolutionary Marxist running dogs and hopey-changey, cosy-wosy, comfy-womfy Guardian readers, and would I pay Ellie Crisell serious wonga to come round my house and read the news to me personally?

    All this and more – tomorrow night, eight-thirty.

    Be there – or be somewhere else.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      You posted whilst I was composing the post below.  And did it far more eloquently.

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    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      And underneath all the pleasing-to-witness mockery lies the fact that the BBC in the guise of asking a question and discussing it are making a statement and ‘proving’ it.

      A tried and tested BBC tactic – and a tedious and tiresome one.

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      • cjhartnett says:

        Someone wiser than me on this site has spotted the 24 Hours spin cycle that runs from tops and tails with Newsnight.
        Might be worth our whiles picking a few stories and chronicling their genesis, plateaus and arc of decline…hell, this is like a cyber uni of Media Studies here isn`t it? 

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    • deegee says:

      Just to be precise. What ever you might think of the Tea Party they are conservatives (small ‘c’) not radicals.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The war to re-elect The Obamessiah has begun. Of course, a more honest broadcaster would be discussing how the Republican Party is actually split, in a fashion, between Tea Party-style fiscal conservatives who took the lead in Nov. 2010, and Bush/Santorum social conservatives trying to take the Party back.

      But that’s not as sexy as telling you the Party has been taken over by “extremists”.  And hang on: isn’t that a verboten “value judgment”?

      Piss off, BBC.

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    • grangebank says:

      Has the Republican Party been taken over by Abu Qatada ?!

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      • Reed says:

        What ever you might think of the Tea Party they are conservatives (small ‘c’) not radicals.  
         
        True, but in an age when the solution to EVERY problem is to throw as much money around as possible, and any excuse is found to increase government involvement in every aspect of our lives…advocating small government and less spending does begin to seem quite radical. Unfortunately, living within your means has become an almost revolutionary concept. Outrageous proposition, isn’t it.

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  4. Roland Deschain says:

    Eye-opening trailer heard on Today this morning.  I forget entirely what programme it was trailing, because I have no intention of listening, but it was basically “Has the Republican Party been taken over by right-wing extremists?”.  Apparently it’s more united than it’s been for years, but only because they’ve united around a right-wing narrative thanks to the Tea Party.  It ended with someone saying “I like the idea of being able to fire someone who is providing me with services”.  I’m sure there will be no agenda there. 

    At the end of the trailer, Justin Webb said “That should be good”.  This may have been too much even for Jim Naughtie, who dissolved into a fit of spluttering coughs.

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    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      The ‘fire’ quote was Mitt Romney.  Loses a lot in the translation, but that’s not going to concern the BBC. 

      I’m right with him.  I fired my gas and electricity providers this year.

      I’d like to fire my TV license provider but unfortunately I can’t.

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    • Natsman says:

      I heard that trailer, too, and Webb’s comment (I think it was Humphrys, rather than Naughtie, who spluttered). That trailer was also played late last week (Friday or Saturday) when Evan Davis made a similar, almost inaudible comment.  No bias there, then.  I think the BBC should make them both stand outside the headmaster’s study in advance of a sound thrashing.  Trouble is, they might enjoy it…

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      • wild says:

        So where’s the democratic mandate (about which the Left love to talk when they think it means politicians getting more power) which the gives the BBC the right to dominate broadcasting in the UK?

        Is anybody surprised that a broadcasting organisation whose dominance is ENTIRELY based on taxation should protray the Tea Party Movement as dangerous radicals?

        Is there any surprise that Webb (the public school educated [same school as Nick Broomfield Robert Lusty Zoe Wanamaker] the illegitimate son [his father saw him once when he was 6 months old] of a Daily Mirror journalist who then worked for the BBC) should be so hostile to conservative family values, never mind Evan Davis – known as “twinkle tits” because of his various piercings.

        I am not a Christian but I do not know why the hell I should be forced to pay the wages of these two sanctimonious twats just because they derive a sense of entitlement from their hostility towards Christianity.

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  5. As I See It says:

    Not a popular view with the British public at large, but a tenet of the political far left and radical feminists – women should not be sent to prison.

    So what does Vikky Derbyshire want to talk about this morning?

    Should women be sent to prison?

    For balance, on tomorrow’s show BBC 5 Live will discuss some crackpot ideas from the far right.

    Just kidding.

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    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      By extension – should women be sent to prison for failing to pay the fines they receive for non-payment of the TV license?

      Perhaps Vicky Goodfaceforradioshire could run with that one tomorrow.

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      • cjhartnett says:

        Would this become “Myra`s Law” then-or the Rose West Campaign to which I`ll be signing up?

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  6. Will says:

    I had the misfortune to be listening to the World Service “in the balance” programme during the night. A discussion on the Euro’s economic ills was chaired by that BBC titan Justin Rowlatt. Whilst notionally about the Euro Zone the undercurrent of the discussion was a criticism of UK government policy. Balls’ “too far & too fast” was itself beyond the stance of the panel drawn from the Stiglitz/Blanchflower camp – spend, spend, spend, borrow, borrow, borrow was their opinion, which was obviously supported by leading questions from Rowlatt.

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    • Craig says:

      “Join Stephen Evans in Berlin and guests: Richard Parker from Harvard, a former advisor to the Greek prime minister; Peter Bofinger, a member of the German Council of Economic Experts; Irwin Collier of the Free University in Berlin and Christos Katsioulis of the think tank the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.”  
      In the Balance webstite

      So, that’s:  

      Richard Parker, co-founder of left-wing magazine Mother Jones, chair of the editorial board of “the flagship of the Left” The Nation, closely involved with Greenpeace, helped launch the “progressive advocacy group” People for the American Way, political consultant to several Democrat politicians and advisor to the Greek Socialist prime minister.  

      Peter Bofinger, the only Keynsian on the German Council of Economic Experts, only member of the Council to advocate the adoption of a minimum wage in Germany, influenced by German Social Democratic economist Karl Schiller   

      Irwin Collier, who has a grant from the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), launched with a $50 million pledge from George Soros to promote changes in economic theory and practice through research grant, advocates spending as the solution to the Euro crisis, opposes what he calls “austerity frenzy”  

      Christos Katsioulis, “oordinator for activities on ESDP and CFSP of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Berlin, the German social democratic political foundation.”  

      Ironic title that, “In the Balance”, given that the programme was so unbalanced towards one side of the political spectrum and one side of the argument.

      More blatant BBC bias through guest selection. 

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      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        ‘More blatant BBC bias through guest selection.’   

        Sort becoming a tautology now.

        I poretty much presume the guest selection of any BBC discussion, from the Breakfast sofa newspaper… well Guardian review, to the Newsnight ‘debate’ will be designed to ensure the correct bias is promoted.

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  7. As I See It says:

    BBC radio 5 Live is an awkward mix of left-wing opinion and sport – oh and Olympic promotion.

    So there is no surprise that the Beeboids there might be on the lookout for the setting of new records.

    But hey….

    A weather report this morning gives us the heads up that a record temperature might be set tomorrow – in Scotland

    Whoop-de-doo

    I think things must be getting a bit desperate on the AGW front.

    Agenda, what agenda?

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  8. As I See It says:

    Do you consume a diet of BBC news, current affairs and history?

    Well then you will know that one of the worst crimes of WW2 was the British bombing of Dresden, that Britain was solely responsible for the Slave Trade and that British Colonialism was an evil scurge.

    Like most British people you will pretty ashamed of your nation’s history, right?

    Getting ready to watch Jeremy Paxman slag us off?

    The BBC trailers promise he will tell us how ‘such a small country got such a big head’.

    Things don’t have to be this way.

    Just across the channel a French radical mayor is looking to set up a Napoleon Theme Park

    http://www.economist.com/node/21542822

    ‘Yves Jégo, a deputy from the Radical Party and mayor of Montereau, site of a Napoleonic victory, plans a new leisure park just 70km (45 miles) from Disneyland, to re-enact the emperor’s life and times.’

    ‘Napoleon is the best-known Frenchman after Charles de Gaulle, and is popular in Russia and China. Mr Jégo argues that the government has not catered to his millions of fans, at home and abroad.’

    ‘Mr Jégo’s team must raise some €200m ($255m) for the park, with construction planned to start in 2014. Russian and Middle Eastern investors are interested’

    ‘The timing could be right, too. Gripped by pessimism and weighed down by debt and austerity, the French badly need a lift. In times like these, says Jean Tulard, a historian, “there is a nationalist reflex to return to the time when France was the strongest nation in Europe.”

    Don’t worry Brits, we’ve got Beeboid Jezza telling us where we went wrong.

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  9. RCE says:

    I wonder how the BBC would report a second Muslim child sex gang trial in the north of England if one were to take place in the near future?

    Just hypothetically, you understand.

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  10. TheGeneral says:

    TheGeneral
    Does anybody know the point of the BBC’s Feedback program?  
    Every week it is filled with complaints about various BBC programs, presenters and guests. The Producer of these programs is then interviewed and they NEVER accept the critsism which has been made and usually express their intentions NOT respond to the critisism in future programs

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      Careful now.  Dez will pull some minor admission of fault from the archives to prove you, and by association your entire complaint, wrong.

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      • RCE says:

        Yes and because we all post on this one site we therefore all think the same about everything and any mistake one of us makes means we are all wrong about everything.

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        • Millie Tant says:

          No, it won’t be a mistake, according to Cottez. They will burst into a thread ranting, “You’re lying”.

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      • matthew rowe says:

        Yep be careful Dezzie is our resident leftbian outrage advisor !

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        • jarwill101 says:

            Dez & Scott: the ‘dynamic’ duo. The Joe Orton & Kenneth Halliwell of the Biased BBC Blog. Well almost. The pedantry, insecurity & neurosis, minus the talent.

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Ah Feedback…how I crave for the searching rigour of Barry Took when I hear old trustie Roger Bolton acting as if he`s a Rottweiller…when all he is , is a poodle in need of some dentures.
      Still eh?…let`s hope the BBC don`t cut anything…ever…because all Feedback bothers its big arse about is if Rogers mates lose a roving reporter in Cirencester.

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      • wild says:

        It is called public service broadcasting. Like other public services they waste money, run the service to suit themselves, and expect users of the service to be grateful.

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    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      The Producer of these programs is then interviewed and they NEVER accept the critsism which has been made and usually express their intentions NOT respond to the critisism in future programs’

      I think you have got that about right. It also seem to be the template for BBC Complaints.

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  11. Derek Buxton says:

    Radio 3 ruined this morning, of all people to have as a guest, not theat they should indulge this sort of thing, was the dreaded EU whore Kinnock.  As if the BBC is not bad enough, thank God for Classic FM.

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Kinnock and family…Prescott…Blair Booth Tag team…which of these combos was the biggest trougher?
      Which still leaches grandest and most shamelessly upon the decaying carcass that is UK PLC?
      And…as I rank them 1-3…is in the inverse square law that says that the bigger the shit…the more grand the larceny…the more BBC coverage and fawning that they get.
      Saw Campbell doing Panorama last night…has he got Vines Equity card then or what?
      One long masochism strategy here from the gormless grasping and greasy BBC!

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    • wild says:

      Kinnock is a good example of how far a politician can progress if bottomess greed is accompanied by a complete absence of moral standards. 
       
      His whole family – it is the only sort of family business of which they approve – earn their money by making a claim on money earned by others. 
       
      They call this claim “social justice”.

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      • cjhartnett says:

        October started well with the election of Kinnock to replace Foot as leader of the Labour Party. Despite the early talk of his “charisma”, I had never rated Kinnock as anything but a windbag whose incoherent speech springs from an incoherent mind and I was sure he would pose the Prime Minister few problems.
        So quoth St Norman of Tebbit (Upwardly Mobile, 1989p266)
        Nearly as good a description of a trougher as jarwill101s below

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  12. deegee says:

    Repeated. Last post of last Open Thread
    Does anyone actually know? Were the Korans at the centre of deadly actions in Afghanistan actually burnt? Afghan airport hit by Taliban ‘revenge’ car bombing  
     
    According to the BBC Timeline 20 Feb: Korans found by labourers on Bagram air base amid piles of rubbish reportedly sent to be burned. Since then 35 Afghanis and 4 non Afghanis have been killed in ‘revenge’.  
     
    I wonder when/if the BBC might treat this reaction as somewhat excessive? I wonder how many Muslim were carrying Korans which were damaged when they were slaughtered? Does Orla Guerlin carry a Koran?

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  13. George R says:

    Reprise:

    “Christianity gets less sensitive treatment than other religions admits BBC chief”   
     
    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106953/Christianity-gets-sensitive-treatment-religions-admits-BBC-chief.html#ixzz1nZT6PAIO

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    • George R says:

      “Mark Thompson: BBC director general admits Christianity gets tougher treatment.”  
       
       
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9107689/Mark-Thompson-BBC-director-general-admits-Christianity-gets-tougher-treatment.html

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      • Millie Tant says:

        Thompson has said this before so that was no surprise to me but when I read the article I was astonished at the way he explained his view. What a revelation as to the thought processes of the head of the Beeboid Corporation. And what a weird mind that man has.

        It’s as if he is steeped in one doctrine and way of thinking to such an extent that not only is he convinced of its rightness but he cannot see any other, or even the possibility of any other, and he is oblivious to the arguments, concerns or misgivings of others. It’s as if they don’t exist.  I don’t see any intellectual engagement there at all.

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        • jarwill101 says:

            He’s never been the brightest button on the blazer. With that dishevelled, unshaven, unfocused look, he seems like a man struggling to reconnect with reality after electric shock-treatment. Perhaps it was a personality by-pass operation. He lives in north Oxford, so users of Paddington station will probably be familiar with the scruffy, shuffling, often barely coherent man, telling Japanese tourists he’s DG of the BBC. They nod politely then the coppers move him on. He’ll probably be tucked away at some Oxford college by Christmas. Another fat job for a loyal leftie Establishment wanker. Another state-suckled deadbeat.

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Thompson is either really intellectually shallow or a gifted liar. How can he claim with a straight face that threats of violence from Mohammedans are really about racism and ethnic minorities feeling isolated by racist Brits?

        If I were forced to pay this man’s bonkers salary, I’d start a petition to have him removed immediately.

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    • Teddy Bear says:

      I believe this topic underlines one of the essential elements underlying most of the bias we have seen and can see perpetrated by the BBC. It raises an important question that each person has to answer to themselves; What is the correct response to threats from a dangerous source – Islam?

      To answer the question wisely, one has to consider the potential ramifications of what certain actions will cause.

      The possibility:-
      1. Should one bow to it and try to appease the source, and hope it will leave one unscathed?
      2. Should one identify properly the true nature of that source and then do what is necessary to protect oneself from attack?

      In the case of Islam, the wise action must take into account what will happen to our own nature and society by following either option. There is no doubt that whatever we decide to do will affect our future touching most facets of our lives.

      So let’s look at option 1 as viable, what are the consequences?
      We allow something that we are afraid of to dominate, twist our view of reality to consider and treat as a friendly ally, and enable it to grow stronger and more powerful. Thus making it more difficult to eradicate in the future, and more likely we will succumb to it.

      We also send out the message to every lowlife scum that no matter what the angle, the more violent you are prepared to be to get your way, the more likely you are to succeed.

      Option 2 means there will probably be initially some attacks and attempts at intimidation that will need to be forcefully met, until completely subdued. Because of the need by every individual to think through the differences, between ‘us and them’, this would help clarify for most what our existing positive qualities are, and which ones do we need to develop further as part of our own human growth and evolution.

      The BBC chose the first option – which has been clear to us already for a long time, but this is the first time they have ever admitted it in this way. This would explain their overt hostility to nations like Israel which chose the second option. It reminds them of how cowardly they really are. It might also explain why they champion the rioters instead of the tax paying public, as well as the many other factions they seem to get behind, despite the lack of real morals exhibited by them.

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  14. Hugh says:

    Piece on the Newsbeat homepage today about UK students going to the US to study. It’s only a line, but it’s typical BBC sniping. And wrong.  
     

    ‘Aptitude emphasis   

    Michael, like Aisling, had turned down a place at Cambridge, England, for Cambridge, Massachussetts. He’d been accepted to read Maths, but was interested in a broader range of subjects. At Harvard, in his first year, he’s taking philosophy, maths, physics, ethics and law.

     

    Of course subjects are not studied in the same depth as at UK universities.

      

    The students said they didn’t mind that – they found the courses challenging, and enjoyed putting their own programme of study together. In the US system, second year students, or sophomores, choose a subject to “major” in, but they will still study others.’

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    • Leha II says:

      Its “math” 😎

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      There’s more open left-wing activism at Harvard as well. No wonder they like it.

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    • paul barnes says:

      Studying in the USA is nothing new, the BBC seem to think this is a recent phenomenon, i studied at the University of Alabama for my Masters in History back in 1990/91 and was one of around 100 British Students at the College. I found it broadened my mind and not just from the course work. I would recommend that any student who has the means (my tuition was paid for in exchange for lecturing at high schools in Roman History). If more students were educated abroad, particularly in the USA then perhaps they me less inclined to believe the lies that the BBC sprout about The United States.

      I consider myself an Americanophile, i spend around 4 or 5 months of the year working in Los Angeles with travel back to Al as well as to visit my many friends on the East Coast and find myself defending the country to my compatriots back in the UK who fail to understand the country and still believe that Obama is a shoo in for a second term and can not understand why anyone would oppose him. They think that he is the great unifier the BBC make him out to be

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      • Hugh says:

        @PB. Me too. I’ve been visiting faculty at two American universities and I did key parts of my doctorate at another. I’ve also done summer schools in the US and have supervised American faculty doing doctorates over here.  

        The message from the BBC that those ‘nice’ American universities will go out of their way to take students from ‘ordinary’ backgrounds is utter rubbish as places are awarded on grades. True, there may be more scholarships available, but only if the grades meet the standard. The suggestion that academic standards in the US are lower than those in the UK is beneath contempt. 

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        • Reed says:

          This is fairly standard Britsh snobbery about the USA and it’s education system. My family returned to the UK when I was about 12 years old and expected me to attend the local state school, which had a very good reputation. I ended up going to a fee-paying school instead because the local one was insistent that my brothers and I repeat at least one year. The only reason given was that having been previously educated in the US state school system we would be far behind our English contemporaries and struggle to keep up. Pure snobbery.

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  15. pounce_uk says:

    How the bBC hates how the Falklands belong to the UK.
    Could Britain still defend the Falklands?
    So anybody read the latest in a long line of pro_Argentine articles about the Falklands. Yes the bBC which not only hates having the British in front of its title, ensues that is self-loathing is distributed to the entire world in which to make amends for the British Empire.
    Read how the bBC ask the question could the UK defend the Falklands. (Yet leave out from every account they post how in 1982 the traitorous bBC not only informed the argentines that their bombs weren’t fusing due to the low height they were being dropped from , but they also informed the argies how we were marching on Goose green.) Which is why they promote this view that: “If the Falklands were invaded again, there would be no way for Britain to take them back.” Get that just like the bBC tried in Iraq, is doing in Afghanistan they want to do in the Falkland’s. You know that leftwing mindset which has changed from attacking our military as baby killers, to one of faux concern about them , thus they promote this view that a soldiers life isn’t worth any form of political agenda which entails defending somebody. Be it Iraq, Afghanistan or in this case the Fallklands.
    Read how the bBC presents scenario after scenario where the falklands have been captured by Argentina (might be a civilian airliner packed with special forces to divert to Mt Pleasant, says Colonel Southby-Tailyour. “It would take a very brave politician to shoot down a civilian airliner in cold blood. The Argentine forces are good. They could jump out and shoot everything up.”) and which in its anti-British stance it just isn’t worth the hassle to recover them.
    Which is why the bBC promotes the argentines as just people who only wish to talk:
     Today Argentina is a democracy. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (left) has requested talks on the islands’ future and accused the UK of “arrogance” for refusing to negotiate.
    See, according to the bBC the Argentines only wish for peace, its the British with their stiff upper lip who are war mongers  I quote from the bBC’s revisionist article. But then what else do you expect from the bBCs so called defence experts I quote:
    “Bombers from Ascension – backed by refuelling planes – could destroy Mt Pleasant air base if it fell into Argentine hands.”
    Excuse me? Why would the British risk aircraft when one sub armed with tomahawk land attack cruise missiles can take out the entire argentine armed forces once they landed. Which funny enough each and every UK sub has the ability to launch. Any half decent military expert would know the British have the capability, seeing as HMS Triumph did just that in Lybia a few months ago.
    But then the bbC settles into its leftwing mantra about how this is all about Oil and that all this could be swept under the carpet if only the nasty british would share their oil with the nice argentines.
    Oil may be what the current dispute is about – according to some sources, a compromise whereby Britain allows the profits to be split 50-50 is likely to be considered.
    Which is funny as in its pro_argentine article the bbC never mentions that the British offered just that a few years ago, but the greedy spics didn’t want to share, no instead they wanted it all. But then here’s a little something from last weeks economist which the bBC has never mentioned. Which if they did would shed a completely new light onto why the spic cunta who runs Argentina wants the Falkland’s.

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    • pounce_uk says:

      How the bBC rewrites History in which to support its anti-British agenda.
      Could Britain still defend the Falklands?
      “Argentine marines were ordered to capture the islands without killing any British soldiers, a feat that they accomplished.”
      And you know what the above is true they didn’t kill any British marines, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. On the night of the invasion the argentines surrounded moody brook barrack and let rip with machine guns and rockets. Only problem for them, the Bootnecks were dug in on the road to the Airport. I quote:
      “At 5.45 am the Argentine commandos reached the Marine barracks and proceeded to attack the buildings with heavy automatic fire and deadly phosphorous grenades. This appears to have been very violent tactics for troops who later claimed that they used blank ammunition in order to save lives. This assault soon stopped when it was realized that the barracks were in fact empty. Major Norman had decided the day before that there was no point in trying to defend the barracks and had moved his HQ to Government house.”

      The Argentine navy was well equipped with Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard strike fighters, which destroyed several British ships with Exocet missiles.
      Several ships bbC?  Exocet missiles hit three British ships,  HMS Sheffield was hit and then sunk, The Atlantic conveyor was hit by two missiles which then burnt out and sank and the last ship HMS Glamorgan when it knew it was under attack, turned its stern towards the missile, which in turn limited the damage the missile strike inflicted , which is why it made its own way back to the UK and sold to the Chilean navy  in 1986 and she finally sank while on route to the scrap year in 2005. So with around 20 exocet missiles in their inventory the Argentines hit 3 ships , sinking 2 (Sheffield sank 4 days after getting hit) Funny enough the Argentine to this day maintain they hit and sank HMS Invincible (As well as a few others) and strangely enough the  promotes their view and not the British view which saw me on her in 2005 and then decommissioned later on tat year. So much for getting sunk then.

      So according to the bBC’s so called defence experts, the Argentines came in peace, that the UK lost lots of ships to exocet missiles and that the British should be fed a diet of argenitne propganda in which to ensure our popualtion hand over the falklands like they have with the UK.

      The bBC the traitors in our midst.

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      • Cassandra King says:

        A tour de force 😀 Post of the week.

        The BBC dont do integrity, dont do accuracy, dont do honesty and they move heaven and earth to come at any story from the enemies perspective.

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        • wild says:

          In the Leftist swamp that is BBC journalism anti-British scum float to the top.

          Never knowingly anything other than pro-Leftist (but do not expect your money back because we did not ask your permission to take it in the first place)

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          • Louis Robinson says:

            Hidden agenda on the Falklands: It was THATChER’S war therfore a bad thing.

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            • Buggy says:

              There’s a conviction held by quite a lot of the delusionali that the Tories would have lost the ’83 (or ’84) election without the Falklands. It even came up in one of Frank Keating’s pieces on rugby, for goodness sake.

              To accept this interesting premise, you’ve got to believe that the country was going to forget the Winter Of Discontent so as to elect the late lamented Don Qui Jacket on the back of “the longest suicide note in history.”

              Frankly, anyone who can believe that is going to be uber-ripe for any old bit of pie in the sky, “if only”, “2+2=750 million” historical rejigging that fits the approved agenda.

              And Auntie does.

                 0 likes

              • Alfie Pacino says:

                If the BBC are given charge of the narrative anything can happen. They’re already airbrushing Labour outof the crisis the current Government must deal with…
                Many of the electorate already think the Tories are to blame for the lack of fluidity in the economy, and that money grws on trees…

                   0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      Some are noting the ever more grotesque picture selection to complement editorial. I am frankly gob-smacked by what is chosen here.

       

      I guess, when it comes to an ability to prevent a sea-borne assault, a picture of the Belgrano sends out the wrong message.

       

      Or they could highlight how much trickier a defence can be with embdded BBC journos providing key intel throughout the course of battle.

         0 likes

  16. fred bloggs says:

    Been seeing the story about Ken livingstone and the tax avoidance company he set up.  Widely reported with the exception of the Guardian and the bBC.   No surprise there then!

       0 likes

    • wild says:

      If on the other hand a leading Conservative politician….

         0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The BBC needs to avoid this story like the plague, as it might open up questions about just how many Beeboids have a similar arrangement.

         0 likes

    • Llew says:

      Why aren’t the Tories shouting from the rooftops about this? Oh yes silly me, they don’t have any access to the media.

         0 likes

      • Craig says:

        The Evening Standard, of course, has it. The Telegraph, Sun and Mail are running with the story. The Independent and even the Guardian aren’t ignoring it either (though they both bury the details inside plug pieces for Livingstone).

        Nothing on the BBC ‘News’ website yet though, not even on their London page. Par for the course. We’ve been here many times before.

           0 likes

        • cjhartnett says:

          Unbelievable isn`t it?
          How many open goals do these useless Tories need?
          Livingston is only following Blair, Miliband, Wark, Naughtie and all the rest of them….exhortations from the Winter Palace ramparts whilst keeping the Merc ready to roll should they need to make an exit…as long as it`s diesel and sustainable.
          That the BBC/Guardian squauk about slave labour whilst sending same flunkies out for the lattes as they squauk is something that ANY Tory surely ought to know and to hammer throughout any media interviews…we all scream it, and these usless Tories insist on playing the Eton Wall game.
          The BBC merely piss up against it and the Tories lick it all up….utterly craven.
          Send for Tebbit…and even Ridleys old bones would provide more inspiration than the current soap on a rope that is the Useless Tory Party.

             0 likes

  17. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC’s so called defence experts talk about Israel
    How Israel might strike at Iran
    “It is this that in large part has guided the development of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) over recent years. The IAF has purchased 125 advanced F-15I and F-16I warplanes, equipped with Israeli avionics and additional fuel tanks – tailor-made for long-range strike missions.”
    Really? The F15I were bought in 1999 hardly recent of which they have 25 and 101 F16I .Still leaves them 58 F15 and 133 F16s of different variants, which funny enough were the aircraft used in hitting Iraq in 1981. You know that long distance raid which knocked out Saddams nuke reactor.

    The main weapon in Israel’s arsenal is the US-supplied GBU-28. This is a 5,000lb (2,268kg) laser-guided weapon with a special penetrating warhead
    Right and if the IDF went in they wouldn’t use their 500Lb (yes 500) bunker buster or even a sea launched land attack missile which would be able to target more sites at longer ranges without flying jets over Iran.

    Christ where do the bBC find their so called defence experts. You know like that twat who fucked up and because of his poor planning saw himself put in a wheel chair and saw his cameraman shot dead. Funny how so called bBC anchor idiots get their support staff killed. (Ain’t that right Bowen)
    The problem is the left love this stuff by the bbC and quote it verbatim in which to make their points. Until they bump into me that is.

    The bBC, who use village idiots as so called experts. 

       0 likes

    • Martin says:

      If I had a pound for every time a so called beeboid military expert spouted utter bollocks I’d be as rich as Tony Blair.

         0 likes

      • grangebank says:

        If I had a pound for every time Tony Blair spouted bollocks Id be as rich as a BBC Director General .

           0 likes

    • pounce_uk says:

      The bBC’s so called defence experts talk about Israel
      And here’s more the bBC doesn’t tell you;
      The main weapon in Israel’s arsenal is the US-supplied GBU-28. This is a 5,000lb (2,268kg) laser-guided weapon with a special penetrating warhead. For an assessment of its capabilities I turned to Robert Hewson, the editor of IHS Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons.
      So Israel has 55 GBU-28s. I wonder if that is the same GBU-28 that GW Bush refused to sell Israel but which Obama did. Funny that. Oh yes bBC the reason why the IDF bought them was to target Hezb-allah bunkers in Lebanon which may explain why they asked to buy them in…2005 and again in 2007

         0 likes

  18. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Prescott playing the victim in front of Leveson now. So does he count as a celebrity or a politician now? Am I supposed to be outraged at the NoW investigating a politician for the public interest, or at their hounding of a happy-go-lucky celebrity?

    He’s acting as if he’s about to break down in tears. Is there really nothing else as newsworthy?

       0 likes

    • Martin says:

      Well he’s got a small cock and likes to shack slappers behind his wife’s back, he f**ked up the M4, M25 and M1 AND the fire control rooms.

         0 likes

    • Ron Todd says:

      Having seen the size of the payouts Cherrie is getting on the bandwagon.

         0 likes

    • Buggy says:

      Jolly John The Vomiter Of Old Hull Town is super desperate to be included on the hacked list, so as to show just how important he is/was, i.e., that he wasn’t just an ignorant, bigoted oaf kept around by Blair as a sort of mascot to keep the Old Labourites sweet and supine.

      Frankly, what WOULD be the point of hacking the great greeting spewing tit? No-one can understand more than one word in three of his baroque approach to the English language. Just as well he wasn’t born earlier (and German): Alan Turing and Co wouldn’t have had any chance of deciphering HIS code.

      So bugger off, Prezza. Couldn’t we appoint him as first Governor of Rockall or something ? I’m sure he’d take the honour “because my wife wants me to.”

         0 likes

  19. Martin says:

    Don’t know if others have listened to Radio 5 today but interesting that ‘Lady Thatcher’ has been called THATCHER all day but ‘Lord Prescott’ has indeed been called LORD PRESCOTT all day.

    Perhaps I’m just imagining it and really Radio 5 is nice and cuddly and not a leftist twat hole.

       0 likes

    • TheGeneral says:

      No you are not imagining it and your post cannot convey in print the venom in the way ‘Thatcher’ is spat out.

         0 likes

  20. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC’s favourite dying terrorist.
    Since being released from Prison the bBC has promoted article after article about how poor Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is an innocent man (Not to be confused with the Tom Selleck film)
    Last December I mentioned how in its latest cry fest the bBC (yet again) promoted the view that this odious (former head of Libyan secret service) had hours to live. I quote from Dec
    Lockerbie bomber protests innocence in ‘last’ interview
    Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has given what he described as his “last interview” and again denied any involvement in the Lockerbie bombing.
    And here we are 2 months later and not only has this man defied the odds yet again (And without those new drugs which were apparently keeping him alive) but he has managed to knock up a book which the bBC is more than happy to promote.
    “The Lockerbie bomber has claimed he was urged to drop an appeal against his conviction to allow him to be released early from prison.Abdelbaset al-Megrahi made the claim in a new biography. He said he was told the suggestion came in a private meeting between a Libyan official, Abdulati al-Obedi, and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.”
    When is the bloody bBC going to realise that this man isn’t on deaths bed and hasn’t been since the day he was born. Maybe the answer to that question lies with this snippet from the same article:
    “Meanwhile, a BBC Scotland Investigation to be screened on Monday evening reveals new evidence about the fragment of timer found in a Roxburghshire forest which was crucial to Megrahi’s conviction.The evidence was never revealed to his lawyers and campaigners claim it could have significantly affected the verdict of the trial judges.”
    Yup to the bBC this man can only be innocent.

       0 likes

  21. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC and the difference in reporting between Black and white racists.

    Race abuse actor sent to hospital
    Wow, reading that headline do you expect to find a victim of abuse admitted to hospital. Poor little man Then when you read the bBC article we find:
    The sentencing of a film actor who racially abused his ex-girlfriend has been adjourned after he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. At a previous hearing the court was told Howson shouted racist abuse and threats at his former girlfriend after their three-year relationship ended.

    Well reading that he only shouted at her after she ditched him, perfectly understandable. And here is what the bBC don’t tell you:
    The actor appeared in court on Thursday, admitting he racially abused his terrified former lover and the mother of his three-month-old daughter during a four-month campaign  of harassment. He had threatened to kill her, bombarded her with vicious text messages and harassed her and her mother at their red-brick terraced home in the Chapeltown area of Leeds, the court heard.On one occasion, when they refused to let him in to see his daughter, he yelled racist abuse at them. ‘I will smash your head against the wall and there will be no baby ... you ****ing P*** bitches,’ he said.   He also sent text messages to his ex-girlfriend which read: ‘You little P*** slut. If I catch you I’m going to kill you.’

    And here is how the bBC reports on the jailing of a white racist:
    Man sentenced over racist tweets about Newcastle United
    A football fan who posted racist comments on Twitter directed at Newcastle United has been given a suspended jail sentence. Sunderland fan Peter Copeland, 29, had admitted two offences under the Malicious Communications Act.The comments, in January, were an attempt “to wind up” a Newcastle fan, magistrates in Sunderland were told. Copeland of Benridge Bank, West Rainton, County Durham, was given a suspended four-month jail term. He was also ordered to complete 150 hours community service.
    So what did the above tweet?
    Copeland tweeted one comment about the Newcastle star striker Demba Ba’s lips exploding.
    “With the number of darkies in your fucking team, you should be called the Coon Army.”
    Ok, I’ll admit the above is offensive, but I’ll tell you what, its a lot less offensive than what the black actor said to his ex asian girlfriend and yet according to the bBC he is only guilty of race abuse. Yup according to the bBC black people can never be racists.

       0 likes

  22. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC and the difference between Islamic minorities and Christian ones.
    Have you ever noticed how the bBC always takes the stance of Islamic minorities when they fight for the right to be free, Be it Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir, Thailand, Philippines, China or even Gaza when the righteous demand the right to be independent the bBC will always promote their cause as righteous and a human right.
    But have you noticed how the bBC reacts when the minority is Christian living in an Islamic majority land, you know like the Serbs living in Northern Kosovo who want nothing to do with their Albanian overlords. The Coptics living in Eygpt or as I am going to point out Ethnic Armenians living in an enclave in Azerbaijan.
     Nagorno-Karabakh: Remembering the victims of Khojaly
    Azeris around the world have been remembering the 20th anniversary of the bloodiest episode in their country’s recent history, when Azerbaijan says more than 600 civilians, including women and children, were killed.
    Wow 600 dead, but hang on Human rights watch (You know that group the bBC loves to quote claim only 100 people died) I quote from HRW:
     the militia of the Azerbaijani National Front actively obstructed and actually prevented the exodus of the local population through the mountain passages specifically left open by Karabakh Armenians to facilitate the flight of the civilian population. On this matter, the September 1992 Helsinki Watch non-governmental organization report quotes an Azerbaijani woman who says that Armenians had notified the Azerbaijani civilian population to leave the town with white flags raised, in fact the Azerbaijani militia shot those who attempted to flee.”

    but then Armenians are a form of Christians and the so called victims..well they belong to the bbCs religion of peace. Read from the bbC how:
    It was a freezing, snowy night when Armenian troops marched into Ramila’s home town of Khojaly. She fled with her family into a nearby forest.
    And
    Azerbaijan’s government says that in one night alone, on 26 February 1992, 613 Azeri civilians died, including 169 women and children.
    And
    According to Azerbaijan, they were either shot dead by Armenian soldiers or froze to death as they tried to flee Khojaly in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
    And
    Today the region is in Armenian hands. And those Azeri civilians who fled during the war have not been allowed back.
    So in the above article does the bbC mention why these two are fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.
    Well you see, the enclave which is inside Azerbaijan is predominantly Armenian and when Russian broke up they voted to go with Christian Armenia rather than Islamic Azerbaijan and in the long war which replaced civilized discourse the military superior country of Azerbaijan lost out to little Armenia , time and time again they attacked and time and time again they lost.  But the bBC doesn’t mention that they just mention how land which has a Christian majority must belong to allah, which is why they leave out how Turkey has closed its borders with Armenia since 1993. (And they bitch about Gaza)
    But hey why should the bBC report the truth. 

       0 likes

  23. George R says:

    BBC-NUJ’s contradictory foreign policy:

    1.) demands cuts to UK defence spending;

    2.) opposes intervention in Iraq;

    3.) opposes intervention in Afghanistan;

    4.) opposes intervention (by UK) in the Falklands;

    5.) supports intervention in Libya;

    6.) supports intervention in Syria, in favour of-
    Syria: Armed mob attacks monastery for first time in anti-Assad revolt

       0 likes

    • RGH says:

      The conflict in Syria is a “terrible dilemma” for the country’s Christians, said Habib Malik, professor of history at the Lebanese American University and author of the 2010 book “Islamism and the Future of the Christians of the Middle East.”

      “Their values and beliefs can’t allow them to condone the brutality of the regime against people. On the other hand, they are genuinely scared of the alternative to the regime — the inevitable slippery slope toward Islamic extremism,” said Malik, whose late father, Charles Malik, was one of the architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

      http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1103997.htm

         0 likes

  24. George R says:

    Much of the political Left (including the predominant political voice at INBBC) is in a global alliance with Islamic interests in opposing the historic freedoms of the Western nations.

       0 likes

  25. Umbongo says:

    The BBC is really biased shite isn’t it?  On Counting Cats in Zanzibar there is a discussion of the BBC radio adaption of that wonderful book “The Cruel Sea”.  Apparently, the BBC adaptation has turned what is basically a celebration of extraordinary bravery by ordinary people into an SWP class-war slimefest.  Are there no depths to which the BBC won’t sink?

       0 likes

    • Martin says:

      They didn’t turn it into an anal rent boy fest then?

         0 likes

      • Reed says:

        My grandfather was a naval advisor on the film ‘The Cruel Sea’. True story.

        I think I’ll stick with that classic 1953 version. Why must the BBC dump on every positive part of our history. Bastards.

           0 likes

  26. George R says:

    INBBC’s Bilal SARWARY: permanent propaganda for Islam in Kabul.

    Over many days, he has repeated this same pro-Islamic MANTRA in his biased ‘reports’ justifying the Islamic jihad mass murdering fanaticism and insanity:

    INBBC’s Mr SARWARY’s MANTRA:

    “Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.”

    A revised script for INBBC’s Mr SARWARY:

    ‘Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence, and feel justified in murdering anyone who thinks otherwise.’

    INBBC’s Mr SARWARY’s latest use of his MANTRA is today as INBBC’s censoring of  the reality of Islamic jihad  mass murdering continues; and there is no  criticism from Islam interests of this Islamic mass murdering:

    “Afghan Taliban set off car bomb at Jalalabad airport”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17175568

       0 likes

  27. As I See It says:

    Bearing in mind the fact that Russia took the opportunity of the Beijing Olympics to crush Georgia (good fortnight to bury bad news).

    I wonder what headlines would really peeve the Beeboids during their London Olympic fest this summer.

    Israeli jets overfly Saudi Arabia to hit Iranian nuclear targets

    Weeklong Twitter blackout

    Germany leads surprise overnight split of the Eurozone into separate Northern and Southern Euros

    England victory in non-Olympic sport

    Strictly dancer braves ridcule by coming out as straight

    Mandela, Castro and Chavez passing leave the international left in mourning

    Muslims turn the other cheek

    (sorry that last one is in the realms of science fiction)

       0 likes

  28. London Calling says:

    How the bBC reproduces itself in its own left-wing image, from the Marxist-Leninist College of bBC so-called “Journalism”:

    Guardian Media Jobs page link helpfully provided, just if you were unclear where your alleigances are expected to lie – not the Jewish Chronicle,  Daily Mail or Spectator Media Jobs section. The Guardian. Hidden subsidy to its pals.
    If Patten wanted to strangle at birth the Leftie echo intake to the bBC he only has to say. But then that would mean shifting his comfortable larde-arse. What a waste of protoplasm Patten is. Another Cameron master stroke..

       0 likes

    • Scott M says:

      “not the Jewish Chronicle,  Daily Mail or Spectator Media Jobs”

      Yes, because those papers have large media jobs sections that all journalists, regardless of their political affiliations, have traditionally scoured.

      I realise I’m going to fight a losing battle here, because common sense is the LAST thing that Biased BBC believes in, but criticising the BBC for linking to a source of general journalism jobs instead of your list of sites which don’t even exist just shows that whoever codes the College of Journalism site is considerably more clued up about the real world than you are.

         0 likes

  29. John Horne Tooke says:

    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/26/weblog-awards-2/

    Not a sign of the corrupt Black or the BBC here

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Unfortunately, the Beeboids will just see this as proof they need to work harder to spread their “influence”.

         0 likes

  30. Deborah says:

    How the BBC hate Murdoch and News International.  Listening to the 6pm News you would believe the fault lay entirely with NI for offering those nice policemen and other public servants money. No fault lay with those accepting the money.  And BBC news uses reporters’ breathless voices to suggest riches beyond anyones wildest dreams except we know that it is riches beyond mere mortals but £80.000 to Huw Edwards, Fiona Bruce, Paxman etc is chickenfeed.

    This was followed by Charlotte Church giving a statement to the Press.  I would be much more sympathetic if she hadn’t over the years had photos in the papers showing her getting in and out of cars, dancing the night away etc.  Maybe the paparazzi knew where she was and which was her best side but I guess there were publicists involved in some of the pictures (although there were also some where the publicist had obvously gone home for an early night).

       0 likes

  31. RCE says:

    Paxman has just referred to ‘the myth of Imperial power’ when talking about the siege of Lucknow.

    So it was a myth, people. There is absolutely no foundation for thinking that the British Empire existed at all.

    That’s your licence fee at work.

    Btw I think this revisionist, historically illiterate drivel merits a liveblog next time.

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      Do BBC-NUJ turn to historians Andrew Roberts* and Niall Ferguson** for their analyses of the British Empire?

      No, that assignment is reserved for the likes of leftist ex-pat Simon Schama, and pro-Islamic ex-pat William Dalrymple.

      * Andrew Roberts:

      e.g

      http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/misplaced-guilt-1289

      ** Niall Ferguson:

      e.g.

      his book, ‘Empire’

      http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Demise-British-Lessons-Global/dp/0465023290#reader_0465023290

         0 likes

      • As I See It says:

        A less jaundiced view of British history was available simultaneously on ITV: Whitechapel.

           0 likes

      • George R says:

        Not forgetting INBBC’s frequent commissioning of Al Jazeera’s Islamic propagandist for the global Islamic Empire, Rageh Omaar, whom INBBC uses for uncritical TV series paid for by we infidels.

           0 likes

    • Alfie Pacino says:

      Having had Paxman walk us through the case that Empire is generally disliked and should be dismantled, and that Britain’s influence on the World stage should be diminished, does anyone at the BBC not see the irony immediately following the programme to advertising 80 years of the BBC World Service? #justsaying

         0 likes

    • RCE says:

      Mostly, BBC bias makes me fume with anger. Paxman’s illogical, partisan, and pig ignorant programme, however, broke my heart.

      If that revisionist Gramscian bunkum doesn’t stop you paying the licence fee, nothing will.

         0 likes

      • Alfie Pacino says:

        Our old friend Richard Bacon tweeted earlier that Andrew Marr was ‘better’ than his Queen Diamond Jubilee programme.
        I wonder what exactly he meant by that aside remark?

           0 likes

        • As I See It says:

          Richard Bacon and his like-minded coterie of TV critics agreed with themselves that Marr’s portrait of the Queen was not republican enough.

          They then agreed with themselves that they love Call the Midwife, can’t abide American Republicans and hate the Tories (although they didn’t say that last one out loud).

             0 likes

  32. George R says:

    The Commentator’:  
     
    “More PC madness as Fireman Sam creator detained at airport for Hijab joke”
     
    [Extract]:  
     
    “If you’re unfamiliar with the story, we’d advise reading one of the various news articles written on the subject – none of which we could find on the BBC or Guardian websites. (As an aside – we’ll never apologise for, nor tire of highlighting, the pusillanimity on such matters of these outlets).”



    http://www.thecommentator.com/article/937/more_pc_madness_as_fireman_sam_creator_detained_at_airport_for_hijab_joke

       0 likes

  33. deegee says:

    Brings a tear …  
     

    Efforts continue to free British journalists held in Libya  

    Efforts are continuing to obtain the release of two British journalists (employed by Iranian-owned, English language television station, Press TV) being held by a group of former rebel fighters in Libya. 

       0 likes

  34. George R says:

    BBC-NUJ follows its confused, politically leftist emotions on Syria.  
     
     
    “The danger of reporters becoming ‘crusaders’.  
    The death of courageous war reporter Marie Colvin in Syria was a tragedy – but not a justification for further Western intervention.”  
     
    http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/12159/
      

       0 likes

  35. Alfie Pacino says:

    David Schuckman has just bumbled through an ifs and buts arctic ice Agw piece that is so inconclusive and somcouched in indecisive language that you could eat your chips off it and they’ve given him about four minutes to do so.

       0 likes

    • As I See It says:

      Be fair, its a tough gig trying to convince us viewers that its colder because its warmer.

         0 likes

  36. Craig says:

    Panorama‘ tonight dealt with the rising cost of childcare. One major reason for this, the programme argued, is government cuts, which have hit lower income families “hard” – especially cuts to working tax credits.

    The presenter made this point then cut to the programme’s main ‘talking head’, Anand Shukla of the Daycare Trust charity, who backed it up. 

    Given the record of ‘Panorama’ and its ‘talking heads’, it was probably worth looking the Daycare Trust up. Its ‘key staff‘ are Mr. Shukla and Kate Groucutt. Googling around, it turns out that Mr. Shukla (pictured below) was a Labour partiamentary candidate in 2005 & Ms. Groucutt is a Labour councillor in Islington. 

    Funny how often these charities have political sides which could add a different perspective to their comments. Not that you’d learn that from the BBC.

    Mr. Shukla & the BBC presenter, Shelley Jofre, pushed the Norwegian model of heavy public funding for child care. People in Norway don’t mind paying higher taxes, apparently. Some Brits who have moved to Norway agree. It’s a great system, it seems. Shelley then did what she admitted was a non-scientific survey at a UK hospital that showed that most of the people canvassed would like “more government spending” for such a wonderful child care system. 

    Well, there you are. Who would have expected a BBC documentary to advance the argument for higher taxes and more public spending as the solution to a major problem? 

    Next week it’s “businessmen and millionaire farmers” up to no good! (“The programme also examines the rest of the subsidy system and hears criticism of large payments to wealthy individuals like the Queen and the Duke of Westminster simply on the basis of owning large amounts of land.”)

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Nice one, Craig. Yet more support for the Golden Rule: If the BBC doesn’t label them…..

         0 likes

      • Craig says:

        There are a few more things about BBC bias that this ‘Panorama’ showed.  

        Firstly, the programme largely looked at the ‘crisis’ through the eyes of public sector workers, namely NHS staff. The exceptions to this rule were…unemployed mothers on benefits and a couple who moved to Norway to enjoy Norway’s publically-funded child care system.  

        Secondly, it only clicked with me this morning that the “unscientific” survey Shelley carried out at the Leicester hospital was with “staff” only. So, her survey showing “strong support” for more public spending on child care was conducted exclusively among public-sector NHS employees – not a representative sample of “working mums” across the country and the whole economy. This, of course, is how many BBC reporters see the world of work – largely through public-sector eyes.  

        Thirdly, there was a sympathetically-treated ‘talking head’ from (Labour-run) Wakefield Council. The poor council official complained about having to make “savings” because of central government “budget cuts” (yes, that really is how the BBC reporter put it). Shelley looked concerned and nodded her head. The government minister (Sarah Teather), however, got very short shrift, was made to look on the defensive and was sharply questioned.   

        Fourthly, there was an alternative proposal – from the Blairite Social Market Foundation. You could tell that it was too right-wing because the BBC reporter introduced it as “controversial” and gave it very short shrift. Shelley must have put to various “mums” beforehand, because it was then immediately rubbished by some “mums” (from the NHS). Then, to rub salt in the wounds, another ‘talking head’ came along to further rubbish the idea.  

        Bias piled upon bias. Typical ‘Panorama’.

           0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      Not that you’d learn that from the BBC.’

      Re-educate and misinform. It’s a Charter obligation.

         0 likes

    • Jeremy Clarke says:

      Yeah, I saw that too, Craig.

      The presenter asks, “Do you think the government should be spending more money to provide like free day-care for your children?” and I am flabbergasted, astounded, when they say yes.

      Agendas all over the place, naturally, although good spot with yer man Anand.

      At the time I rather glibly suggested to my OH that the local council should provide dog-walking services for working parents (i.e. us), too.

      Actually, that works for me: the dogs are more high-maintenance than the kids!

         0 likes

  37. George R says:

    “Should Christians Kill Mark Thompson?”

    (by Nick Cohen)

    http://www.spectator.co.uk/nickcohen/7680573/should-christians-kill-mark-thompson.thtml

       0 likes

  38. Martin says:

    Newsnight banging on about phone hacking again, all Andy Coulson needs to do if he’s ever prosecuted is to just shows endless tapes of BBC Newsnight and claim he can’t get a fair trial.

       0 likes

  39. Martin says:

    Jesus, Prescott on Newsnight AGAIN!!!

       0 likes

    • Alfie Pacino says:

      I wanted to like that comment, Martin but that could be misconstrued.

         0 likes

    • Jon S says:

      i know, i remember when the fat shit was in the audience on SCD and that silly bitch from The One Show sat on his lap…

         0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      It’s only because of his Oscar-worthy performance today in front of Leveson. I could have sworn he was going to break down in tears as an oppressed victim a couple of times. Plus he got to expound on how he suspected it all along, and I think had figured out how the whole scandal worked. If there was anything more newsorthy today, I didn’t hear about from the News Channel for a couple hours.

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    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      I think they felt safe letting him out from his Green Room perch after a series of outings that could have proven awkward had other guests strayed from professional courtesy, or the interviewing staff of Newsnight actially acquired soem integrity… and a pair.

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  40. As I See It says:

    I have a serious question. How long do BBC news on-line reports remain available? Was BBC on-line news up and running in 2001? If so is there a way to access the reports?

    The thing is that BBC London have a report on Boris’s new routemaster bus that contains an awful lot of criticism.

     http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17173625

    On TV Rizla Teeth fronting up BBC London News team managed to tell us it was ‘a vanity project’.

    I am curious about how the BBC greeted Ken Livingstone’s bendy buses back in 2001?

       0 likes

        • Craig says:

          The contrast couldn’t be clearer, could it? Two BBC on-line reports (from 2001 and 2002) saying nothing but good things about Livingstone’s buses and featuring only their supporters, mostly Ken Livingstone himself. Then that 2012 report on Boris’s buses, with lots of criticism and critics and Boris being cast as on the defensive (“But Mr Johnson defended the new bus”). Seems like a text book example of BBC bias to me. 

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          • My Site (click to edit) says:

            Seems like a text book example of BBC bias to me. 

            If you create your news from twitter and a highly restricted PR in-box, all is explained, if not excused.

               0 likes

        • As I See It says:

          Just as I thought. Thanks to Mr Millie for those links.

          It has long been my perception that during the Ken years BBC London took their lead on stories directly from the Mayor’s press office.

          With the advent of Boris BBC London suddenly switched to a tone of holding the Mayor to account and constant voicing of criticism.

          Given that an ex-Soviet spook daily distributes millions of free Ken supporting propaganda sheets to commuters (Leveson anyone?), given BBC London’s news out-flanks Newsnight, Today and The One Show on the left and given an in-built postal vote scam for Labour – what chance Boris?

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    • dave s says:

      This new bus appears to be nearly all British built and probably will set a new standard for buses world wide. If it is anything like the RM it will still be running when most of us are long gone. For once we appear to have built a winning vehicle. Perhaps this is what upsets the BBC. Never an organisation to celebrate if a Tory  has anything to do with it.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Wasn’t the design sort of a response to the public mood that the classic model shouldn’t be thrown away entirely?

         0 likes

    • Llew says:

      Plus the BBC will forget how bad Ken’s bendy buses were in service – fare evasiion was rife plus and them occasionally catching fire didn’t help. But I expect every break-down of the still new Routemaster will be reported in great detail complete with the ‘Boris Bus’ tag, unless Ken wins the next Mayor election then he will immediately and singlehandedly cure all the teethhing problems.

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      • London Calling says:

        A lot of Londoners are exposed daily to the repulsive evil freesheets Metro and Evening Standard, run by the Russian owner of The Independent, dancing to the same tune or worse. Only papers to support Occupy more than the BBC. They provide a daily platform for Ken. Interesting perversion of the market – because they are nominally “free” the market can not punish them with failure, just like the BBC.

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  41. George R says:

    ‘Cranmer’ has:

    “UKIP finally managed to get one of their members, brilliantly disguised as a Greek waiter, within striking pouring distance of the German Chancellor.”

    (30 sec video)

    http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2012/02/angela-merkel-gets-covered-in-beer.html

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  42. Kevin Hughes says:

    BBC pimping socialism to the chattering classes? Was the cruel sea really socialist propaganda? I have just come across this excellent analysis of The Radio 4 version of said novel, over at counting cats blog. Paul Marks thinks it is a load of tosh and I agree with him. They just can’t help themselves, can they? 

       0 likes

    • Kevin Hughes says:

      Paul Marks wasn’t the only one to have noticed, here is another scathing critique from Newgate news blog

         0 likes

      • Barry says:

        It sounds like a story from a bunch of spotty kids who’ve just discovered politics, and would shame a school drama department.
         
        I don’t know which is worse, the lefty agenda or the sheer lack of quality.

           0 likes

        • John Anderson says:

          I listened to part of it live on Sunday afternoon,  the rest last night.

          The real drama of the Montserrat’s famous book was the awful time the Royal Navy and merchant seamen had on the wartime convoys,  the dangers and deaths,  the flashes of bravery and decency,  the sheer strain and sacrifice.    For example,  I believe 800 merchant vessels that sailed out of Liverpool were sunk, just a fraction of the terrible losses in the Battle of the Atlantic – which we almost lost.

          Crowding out the pain and glory is an insult to those men.   Montserrat’s book was NOT a political leftie whine.  Trust the BBC to skew a classic book.  Despicable.

             0 likes

          • Span Ows says:

            Comment from the Cats link:

            I’m willing to bet that next week’s concluding episode of this savagely mutilated classic novel will strongly downplay the book’s savage indictment of the unionised dockers’ idleness, shoddy work and systematic theft of emergency rations from the ships’ lifeboats, if it includes it at all.”

            Can one of you nupdate us…we know the BBC won’t put anything like that but it would be nice to know what they do put in.

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            • D B says:

              Just listened to some of this. The adaptation is by veteran BBC playwright John Fletcher, and is so clunking it actually made me laugh out loud (I certainly don’t want to seek out any of his other work). Here’s the smack-the-listener-round-the-head way the Geordie-sounding character is introduced:

              -Joined up after that bastard Chamberlain signed his scrap of paper in Munich. Soon as he said “peace in our time” I knew there’d be war on. Nothing else a man of progressive views could do. We’ll not get a decent society here in Britain until those nasty scum…

              -Ah, we’ve got a political on board!

              -Born in Jarrow. Not one man in our street had work. I’ve got politics in me bones.

              It really is so bad it’s funny. The “progressive” hero from Jarrow with “politics in me bones” who knew he had to join up after Munich. It’s on a par with the League of Gentleman’s Legs Akimbo theatre group take on heroic poor northerners.

              Here’s an interview with Fletcher from last year in which he recounts his favourite play:

              “I think ‘Russia’ is probably my favourite – though the second best sequence had to be dropped for reasons of time.

              The opening goes on a bit, but I dwell so much on the Edwardian anarcho-syndicalist trade unions and strikes because anarcho-syndicalism is my favourite form of political organization – before marxist-leninism and fascism screwed up working class movements probably for ever.

              From  the same interview:

              “……the Beeb has been so badly managed since Birt – and has been so poor in its moves against private monopolists like Murdoch and privatising politicians like Thatcher and Blair and now Jeremy Hunt – that amongst the people who actually produce programmes, as opposed to the vast corporate class which has moved into and expanded top management positions in the last 20 years (and I’m talking about a class far higher than anyone involved in audio drama), there is less and less money to spend on programmes.”

              Less money to spend on programmes. If this dreadful agitprop is the best they come up with, thank fuck.

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  43. RCE says:

    Today is a real hoot this morning.

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  44. Martin says:

    Don’t know if anyone else was listening to Dame Nikki an hour ago but they had rent a twat Owen Jones on along with Harry Cole from the Guido Fawkes site talking about the Occupy scum.

     

    Cole hardly got a word in, rent a twat kept talking over him and interrupting him, Dame Nikki sided with Jones waffling on about the suffragettes or something.

     

    Typical Radio 5 in action.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The Occupy movement must really be dying. Some Beeboids are doing whatever they can to keep it in the public eye and revive enthusiasm for it.

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  45. noggin says:

    bbc outdoes itself with pandering this morning …

    7.39 am bbc breakfast, on the farce at airport security, over that scarf quip … is there a place for it to be pointed out, when there are such ahem! … sensitivities in the UK????????????????????????

    any thoughts on the reason we have to have such security? … the ideology that has made travelling such a pain in the ar-e? … their murderous intent? … their wilful intent to deceive ?????????????

    On too, a couple of home truths by a russian for dame nikki campo again on syria, your talking nikki as if its a struggle for democracy?
    lets get this straight its a struggle for power … power pure and simple.

    Whoops ….. he then inanely stumbles on into an occupy phone in …
    strewf! … give me strength … off switch ……………………..

       0 likes

  46. Betty Swollocks says:

    I am sure I heard Dame Nikki say we have David Vance on the line…..still have not heard him ???

       0 likes

  47. cjhartnett says:

    I awoke to the news that tax avoidance was going to be discussed on Toady,this morning,
    Ah said I…at last, the BBC were finally “made aware” of Livingston…and who knows…Jim Nightie might get a well-greased bat up it..all we`d need was a Gilligan or Staines..anybody!
    I should have known better-silly me-Barclays wasn`t it and, boy , was Justin cross…Diamonds getting off with it surely...”referee, puh-lease”
    As for Ken, Moira, Jim or Jeremy….what?…

    And Justin wasn`t finished…he was in the position to tell the mum of Maria Colvin what she would have wanted…to see peace…poor woman seemed to think that the BBC could help her get her daughters body back…think MainSt USA seems to think that the BBC is actually “reputable”…a role for you there Mr Preisler!
    Such arrogance, such hypocrisy and such refusal of the oxygen of publicity to colleagues or Ken, Benns and Milibands…an absolute disgust I tells`ya!

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  48. George R says:

    Black armbands day for Beeboids:  
     
     
    1.) ‘Daily Mail’:  
     
     
    “Anti-capitalist protesters are evicted by police officers and bailiffs from outside St Paul’s Cathedral”  
     
    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107467/Bailiffs-begin-evict-anti-capitalist-protesters-outside-St-Pauls-Cathedral.html#ixzz1nfRXe5f8
     
     
     
     
    2.) BBC-NUJ:  
     
     
    Note how at end of report, BBC-NUJ wants the reaction of illegal ‘Occupiers’, NOT the reaction of people opposed to illegal ‘Occupiers’:  
     
    “Are you taking part in the protest? Do you plan on leaving the site? Send us your comments and experiences using the form below.”  
     
     
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17187180

       0 likes

  49. Roland Deschain says:

    I see the eviction of the Occupiers is, according to the BBC News page, the Most Important Thing to be happening today. 

    I have to ask:  does anyone outside the BBC bubble care in the least?

       0 likes

  50. London Calling says:

    Occupy Manifesto courtesy of BBC roving camera “on the front line” of St Pauls _ reads like the manifesto of a certain political party (apart from the anomaly of fingering “religious fundementalism” along side Capitalism as a world problem. (Chink of daylight there?)

       0 likes

    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      I was kept awake by young Mohandas last night – teething – and put the radio on to get it to lull me to sleep.  Tony Schoolboy was on and immediately cut to BREAKING NEWS !!!!!.  It was the crustie spring getting moved on by the bailiffs.  I fell asleep straight away and woke up half an hour later and the programme was still at St Paul’s.

      I understand that at 00.33 precise last night the BBC moved to DEFCON 1 and all staff were immediately taxi’d to their desks.  Salford Hopey-Changey Centre was lit up like a christmas tree, klaxons blaring woot woot woot.

      Meanwhile – out in the real world – the rest of us couldn’t give a flying ****.

      Nice to see that since Shami Chakrabarti was forced to stand down as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police they have discovered a radical new tactic in dealing with the Yoohoo-Everyone-It’s-Me-Me-Me-I’m-On-A-Demo brigade.

      It’s called the Move Or You’ll Be Arrested ploy.

      Who’d a’ thought that would a’ worked.

      Genius.

         0 likes