FRIDAY OPEN THREAD…

My goodness how the weeks fly in. And so we reach another Friday and so it is time for a new one of these to see us off into the weekend. Detail the BIAS here please.

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185 Responses to FRIDAY OPEN THREAD…

  1. Rueful Red says:

    Nice Commons Early Day Motion by Robert Halfon MP (Harlow, Conservative), tabled yesterday:

    That this House notes that a new Director-General is being recruited by the BBC; believes that this is a perfect opportunity to bring real democratic accountability and give licence fee payers the chance to elect the new head of the BBC; considers that the BBC cannot continue in the way of a 1970s kleptocracy, and that the undemocratic licence fee has become an anachronism in the days of multi-channel satellite television, as the BBC Licence Fee Payers (Voting Rights) Bill points out; and calls on the Government and the BBC Trust to give licence fee payers a genuine say on who will run the BBC in the future.

       50 likes

  2. Number 7 says:

    Apologies if this has already been covered.

    It looks as if the beeboid pension fund has a problem with all its “renewable” investments.

    Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

    http://thegwpf.org/uk-news/5499-bbc-pension-fund-big-climate-investors-concerned-about-misinvestment.html

       14 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘However, in one of the most significant interventions to date the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), a coalition representing around 80 investment firms and pension funds that combined boast €7.5tr in assets under management, yesterday issued an open letter to ministers calling on them to reform the ETS and force up the price of carbon.’ And stuff whatever impact this has on business. If you didn’t know better, you’d think they were trying to destroy the capitalist system. You do know better, don’t you? DON’T you…..?

         10 likes

  3. Mice Height says:

    I caught the Newsnight feature on Tibet the other evening.
    Those Tibetans are nothing but a bunch of narrow-minded racist nazi fascists! Instead of celebrating their rich vibrant diverse society, the attention-seeking bigots are setting fire to themselves. Disgraceful!

       20 likes

  4. Deborah says:

    I listened with interest and sympathy to the young couple whose baby died of rickets on Today this morning. Was this a story of sufficient importance for the time spent on it by the Today programme?

    Of course the parents are angry that the hospital didn’t diagnose it while the baby was alive – but how did a 4 month old baby come to have rickets? My science is not good enough – I know that it can be manufactured by the body in sunlight but I assume otherwise for a 4 month old baby it would either be in the milk formulae or the mother’s milk. Maybe the parents felt guilty that the baby died and want to blame someone else.

    This may not be a bias story but no explanation was offered by the BBC why it had happened and I just feel we are not being told.

       11 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      I heard this article and had the same reaction as yourself. It was an awful thing to happen but we never heard from the other side – namely why do the doctors concerned still feel they were correct not to diagnose rickets? Possibly covering their backsides, but this was never raised, and I did not hear it said that they had been asked to put their side of the story but had refused. There seemed to be lots of unanswered questions.

      Am I looking for agendas where there are none? Perhaps, but I have learned to take nothing I hear from the BBC at face value.

         8 likes

      • Wayne X says:

        It was mentioned that in Afro/Caribbean people, who are of course used to hotter sunnier climes, it is a problem because their bodies do not produce sufficient vitamin D here in our clouded skies. They went on to say that vitamin D supplements can be given for breast feeding mothers. I would not want to blame the parents for this but if it is a nationwide problem GP’s and hospital doctors need to get with the issue quickly and make sure they AND parents in this category are aware.

        On the other hand just wait for Global Warming/Climate Change and it should sort the problem out. The “science” is proved you know, the BBC says so ALL of the time and on every bloody programme!

           14 likes

        • wally greeninler says:

          Dress codes which force women to cover up, in the name of modesty, exacerbate the problem. The ignorance about rickets among the medics reminds me of a story about a Scottish student who went to the UC Hospital complaining that his hair and teeth were falling out. The doctors were baffled until they learned that he had been living exclusively on beer and pies bought over he bar for a whole term. They had their first case of scurvy in living memory.

             13 likes

          • The General says:

            Wally
            Did you go to University ?

               0 likes

            • wally greeninler says:

              I did mis-spend three years of my youth at one.

                 0 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              It was doner kebabs at mine.
              We actually ascertained over time and using suitable controls that if you had the chilli sauce you didn’t get the trots as bad as when opting out, so were on the cusp of great medical discovery before, sadly, graduating and developing a cure for most sub-tropical diseases.

                 0 likes

        • Richard Pinder says:

          This is how the African ancestors of Europeans are supposed to have evolved white skin after leaving Africa about 40,000 years ago. Rickets in children giving a statistical tendency in a population, favouring whiter skins in more northerly latitudes. Race being part of this issue would explain the attitude of the BBC.

             5 likes

        • London Calling says:

          ….Afro/Caribbean people, who are of course used to hotter sunnier climes,…

          A quarter of the 3m population of Jamaica now live in England. You might think if there was some causal relationship between “coming from hotter climes” and this unfortunate child’s condition cases would be legion, not a statistical six-sigma outlier.
          In other words, the speculation is pure bullshit. There was something seriously wrong with the childs nutritional intake – poor parenting resulting in effective infanticide. No wonder they are looking for someone else to blame.
          A sense of entitlement and a dab hand at playing the victim-card seems to be more associated with coming from hotter climes than shortage of vitamin D.

             7 likes

    • Leha says:

      sounds like a feature on the Victoria Drearyshire programe…. “It’ll be the Tories wot dun it”

         8 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Another of Thatcher’s legacies, no doubt, along with the Black Death and the Great Flood.

           6 likes

    • DJ says:

      Personally, I think this is the kind of story the BBC should be covering. Reporting on agents of the state going off the rails is exactly what the a free press should do.

      The only issue was that the BBC – as ever when covering these Liberals Gone Wild stories – had the blinkers firmly on. There were absolutely no wider conclusions to be drawn from this story, there was nothing wrong with the system, and it was just that the parents had the bad luck to keep encountering baddies motivated by absolutely no common ideology whatsoever.

         5 likes

    • dez says:

      “Of course the parents are angry… Maybe the parents felt guilty that the baby died and want to blame someone else.”

      Or maybe it was because they were accused of murder / and had their second child taken off them shortly after birth / and had to endure a legal battle to prove their innocence / and had to wait 18 months to have their second child returned to them. Duh.

      With a quick google I learnt that rickets in newborns can be caused by a genetic defect, premature birth or, if breast fed, a vitamin D deficiency in the mother (she would have no way of knowing).

      The day after the parents were cleared of any responsibility in court; I would suggest that you could of spent five minutes of research before rather crassly suggesting that they are trying to blame other people for their own guilt.

         1 likes

      • RCE says:

        “I would suggest that you could of spent five minutes of research before rather crassly suggesting that they are trying to blame other people for their own guilt.”

        Of course, there is always the potential to expand upon themes touched upon in any report, but having read the thread in question I think on this occasion we got it about right.

           9 likes

      • uncle bup says:

        Dezzie,
        I’m still not clear on this.

        What is the diff between a salute given by a gangsta and a gangsta salute?

        Been keepin’ me wake nights.

           1 likes

      • LondonCalling says:

        Dez, or Jim Dandy’s alter ego, the point of “blaming the NHS for failing to diagnose rickets” is the prospect of mouthwatering compensation, which for a child’s death you might reasonably expect millions if you can prove fault. The NHS generally caves in even when it is not to blame since its cheaper to pay than fight, and the cost can be passed on to professional insurance or the taxpayer.
        Try harder.

           1 likes

  5. John Anderson says:

    Definitely not worth all the time it was given. Nowadays there is heavy pressure on medics, police and social workers to intervene where they suspect parents have injured their children.

    What WOULD be worth some time is why rickets is re-emerging as a disease in Britain – along with others such as TB.

       15 likes

    • Phobic-ist says:

      Agreed. Just need an outbreak of bubonic plague. Mind you, it’ll all be down to Tory cuts…

         10 likes

  6. Some two and a half months after I was told by the ECU that my complaint about Jeremy Vine’s use of Twitter would be referred to BBC Audio & Music, I received the following email today…

    On reviewing the correspondence between you and the Editorial Complaints Unit from earlier this year, it has been pointed out to me that your complaint about Jeremy Vine’s use of Twitter should have reached me. However, I have now read all the correspondence, and your concerns, and I have nothing more to add to what has already been said.

    I note that the expedited complaints process has been applied, and the programme/audience services will only respond to you in future if there is a serious or substantial matter which should be taken further.

    I wanted to make you aware that if you wish to take your complaint about Jeremy Vine blocking you on twitter further, or if you wish to appeal against the application of the expedited complaints procedure you can ask the BBC Trust (who act as Stage 3 in the complaints process) to consider an appeal within 20 working days of receipt of my letter.

    Paul Smith
    Head Editorial Standards, BBC Audio & Music

    My response:

    Dear Mr Smith,

    Many thanks for your email. I have already been in contact with the BBC Trust and I am currently awaiting their second response.

    Just to be clear in my own mind, and in case I have completely misunderstood something, would you be good enough to explain to me how a Twitter account that is described as “personal” by the BBC itself (and so completely uncontrolled by the BBC) can be so described when that same account forms such a major part of a radio programme that relies on audience participation for a large proportion of its content? It is this issue and the double-standards involved, or my complete misunderstanding, that is at the crux of my complaint.

    I won’t hold my breath…

       28 likes

    • GotItAboutRight says:

      I think it was Orwell who gave the BBC the idea of naming a procedure for systematically ignoring a person’s complaints “the expedited complaints process”

         11 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      LL, do I understand this correctly, that Jeremy Vine’s “views my own” get-out-of-bias-free twitter account is the same one used for official communication to his BBC show?

         6 likes

      • Yes David, that is absolutely and exactly correct.

        I could not give a flying about his tweets concerning football, cycling or any of the other tosh he tweets about, but I would like to comment on his programme. “You can follow me on Twitter” and “You can contact the programme via Twitter” are common phrases uttered before and during the programme, but the simple fact is that he alone has control over who can take up those invitations. The BBC just say “personal account, nothing to do with us”.

        My argument to the BBC Trust is that this is unacceptable and amounts to censorship for those people who do not agree with his personal views.

        I can’t stand Vanessa Feltz, but at least she has had the good grace and common sense to have two Twitter accounts: one for personal stuff, and one for her on-air BBC work. This would seem to be an ideal solution for Vine too, but I just need to find somebody at the BBC who agrees with me! Pigs preparing for take-off?

           4 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Thanks, LL. That’s blurring the line between personal and professional, and no mistake. That kills the get-out-of-bias-free card right there.

          Vine is now added to the list.

             1 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘Jeremy Vine’s “views my own” get-out-of-bias-free twitter account is the same one used for official communication to his BBC show?’
        Just the normal Beeboid twitter account then?
        All this (tx for the share LTL) is great grist to the mill in my dealings with those sweethearts at Complaints > ECU > Trust > Helen’s Trashcan ‘system’, as they struggle to explain how closing down already over-selectively modded blogs was getting ‘better, quicker & easier’ in the move to FaceBook and Twitter (those two great UK- companies) for mobile, hence my raft of so far unanswered complaints about headlines that are… well, inaccurate, but do at least ‘fit’.
        Somewhere in a leafy suburb of West London, a Director-level market rate talent’s ears just tingled.

           1 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          If they’re using Twitter as a replacement for those editors’ blogs, that’s all the more reason for it to fall under official BBC rules. This is beyond a joke now.

             4 likes

  7. Wayne X says:

    On another matter, I was watching Fox News this morning, which I find more fun that our gloomy TV stations who always headline on the Radical Cleric terrorist chap we can’t deport (funny how quick we can deport an old white guy for selling batteries), or who has now been arrested for allegedly intercepting a celebrities mobile ten years ago (yawn). Anyway the subject was whether or not Barry Obama had had a silver spoon or not, seeing as he had only ever got ‘C’ grades throughout his early education in Hawaii, that’s until he got to Harvard somehow, when, not to put too finer a point on it, they said on Fox, that he seemed to have got promoted a tad above his pay grade.

    Now forgive me but I do not think he had a Silver Spoon but he certainly had one which is of a much more valuable colour nowadays. I will leave you to guess the particular hue.

       15 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The President made a class war attack on Romney, and it’s not working. It may work in Britain, but it won’t go over well here. Just like that attack on Romney for strapping the dog kennel to the roof of his car has backfired because the Community Organizer in Chief was raised by people who actually eat dogs. He used that anecdote in His auto-Gospel to show His worldly, post-American bona fides, and now it’s become a big, albeit ultimately harmless, joke.

      He can’t run on His record, and His people know it. So we’re in desperation mode already and it’s not even summer yet.

         6 likes

  8. Ben says:

    Do you think they are “getting it just about right” with this headline on the newsround website:

    ‘Fracking’ for gas to carry on, leaving people angry

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/17744487

       20 likes

    • George R says:

      Yes; this is the intrinsic political bias of BBC-greenies again. They are determined that there will be no shale gas development in Britain.

         20 likes

      • uncle bup says:

        quite right too… fracking a nasty, nasty right-wing drilling technique for getting a nasty, nasty right-wing greenhouse gas out of the earth.

           12 likes

      • The General says:

        Probably the truth is they want no shale gas development in Britain during the tenure of anything but a Labour government, after all they can’t endorse anything which might improve the Economy while we have a Conservative Prime Minister.

           10 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      And in the body of the article is this: A company had been testing fracking in Lancashire but stopped last year after causing two small earthquakes in Blackpool.

      Not actually incorrect, but surely designed to cause alarm and opposition by failing to point out how small the said “earthquakes” were.

         19 likes

      • Leha says:

        thats the spirit, indoctrinate them when they are still young.

           8 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘how small the said “earthquakes” were.’
        As Will Beeboid once said, ‘I never met a semantic definition I couldn’t misuse’.
        As I understand it, ‘earthquakes’ at this level are equivalent to a bus going past.
        On this basis, my house has experienced about 20 in the last hour.
        Just came back from a Design Seminar in Cheltenham where an eco-architect selling straw construction (actually very good) decided to go a bit off reservation and scare all the BMX M5ers (the street was littered with folk so concerned about the planet they need a 3 litre SUV for the school run) with the coming gas crisis. We are about to be stuffed, apparently, due to denial of supply, which according to him was only from a) Putin, b) ME and c) Scandinavia. And that was it. Shale was not even in the frame as option. Either he is a BBC-only viewer, or one of their experts advisers.

           3 likes

    • London Calling says:

      The Greenies are scared shitless of Shale Gas. It totally pulls the rug out from under their nasty policies promoting energy security and “renewables”. Cheap abundant energy from shale means they have no where to go, and an end to their flying around the world on planet-saving business. Any lies will do, earthquakes and burning tap water. They are terrified.

         22 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      Yes, they’re not mentioning it elsewhere either, especially our Argentine friends: Repsol believe that shale gas is the main reason for the nationalisation (pillage) earlier this week.

         5 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Brainwashing, pure and simple, just like the school curriculum. The bias is so obvious, and the BBC are so obviously brazen about it.

         10 likes

  9. bup says:

    In this week’s BBC Dog Licking Its Own BBC Arse slot we have Gameshow Nikk and…

    ‘Your Call: should 5 Live be covering the Bahrain GP?’

    To which the answer of course is… ‘who gives a toss’.

    Your Call could have asked, ‘Should the Bahrain GP be called off?’. But then the story would have been about Bahrain and the Grand Prix rather than about 5 Live.

    Your Call should have asked, ‘Should 5 Live be closed down and the money saved rebated to license-payers?’

    To which the answer of course is, ‘Well, it’s a start’.

       32 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Wasn`t John Humphrys berating the Bahraini head of F1 for holding the race?(Today-20/4/12)
      Apparently, if “well-respected charities” like Amnesty are against it, then Humph reckons that a “strong signal”could be sent to the Bahrain Royal Family by F1 refusing to put the race on.
      The Bahrain F1 bloke put Humph back in the garage, by saying that -come Monday-the Government will not have changed….and all this is gesture stuff.
      This man didn`t know that the BBC only care ABOUT signals and postures…and the BBCs cameras would be there alright…but they wanted a little blowhard exhaust emissions with unleaded, to “show willing”. Bearing witness as ever…in the pitstop of history as ever too.
      The BBC-utterly awful and venal incompetent hypocrites with as many angles on the truth as you like-for our laws and principles are those of the little people-and therefore do not apply to them.
      The signal is the thing-as long as they can get a good view from the moral high ground that they always seem to inhabit.

         10 likes

      • RCE says:

        I had to check that Bernie hadn’t sold F1 to Rupert Murdoch given the Beeb’s coverage of the Bahrain GP.

           6 likes

      • Deborah says:

        Listening to Humphries berate the Bahrani Head of F1 made me think if someone threatened demonstrations during the Olympics what would the BBC angle be? Would it mean the Olympics be cancelled (in spite of the huge support given to it by the BBC?) Humphries went on about human rights in Bahrain – but thinking about the way the Today programme goes on about the rights denied certain clerics perhaps it would be justifiable (in the BBC eyes) that the Olympics was cancelled.
        I was not happy that London was ever awarded them but that is another story.

           4 likes

  10. George R says:

    “Pupil, 12, takes BBC to task over ‘dumbed down’ current affairs. ”

    http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/education/pupil-12-takes-bbc-to-task-over-dumbed-down-current-affairs-1-2246042

       12 likes

  11. Louis Robinson says:

    “I’ve just been given a tour of Barack Obama’s wonderful, perfectly decorated, super clean election headquarters in his beautiful home town of Chicago. Housed on the impressive 6th floor of one of the city’s many amazing skyscrapers, it is an odd mix of nerd-cool and control freakery – a combination that suits President Obama’s sleek polished look. The operation is as impressive as the man.
    The huge cluttered room feels like an open plan call centre staffed by the sort of people you’d expect to see working at an IT start up: just about everyone is under 30, handsome, smart, with that air of magic that working for a God-like being like President Obama rubs off on those who merely breath in the same air as the One. Everyone has a laptop in front of them and many are wearing outsized headphones. They look sooo cute. I love the crease of their pants.”
    DAMN! No matter how hard I try I can’t improve on Mardell’s sycophantic article on-line
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17765220

       20 likes

    • jarwill101 says:

      Bloody good try though, Louis. You took us deep into Barryland: The Maldives of our Minds.

         17 likes

      • Louis Robinson says:

        “Barryland – The Maldives of our Minds” – excellent! I shall use it as my own.

           7 likes

    • For the first time ever I feel I can say this is a vaguely interesting piece from Mardell, although I suspect that is more a case of accidental rather than by design.

      I say that because Mardell has pointed to a couple of things that have run counter to his other brown nosing posts on the Obama throughout El Pres’ term of office.

      Firstly we have an inescapable acknowledgment that the hopey changey bit went right off the rails and he’s got a much tougher sell on his hands to the American people.

      But there’s also something else. The story that the Obama campaign – you know, that man of the people who is about nothing but fairness for all, is outgunning the Republican rich kid on the money front. That runs a bit counter to the narrative doesn’t it.

      In addition there’s something else. Mardell has put Obama’s advantage down to time, organisation and lack of internal opponents to fight, unlike Romney. Of course to do that you woul have had to have focussed on that and spent a great deal of time on it. Strange, because although the independent blogsphere has been regularly suggesting that the Prez has seemingly spent his time in office doing nothing more that working on his swing and his reelection, the sycophantic press corps has taken the “nothing to see here” view on that one. But now here’s Mardell indirectly showing that this is precisely what has been going on.

      Good one Mark.

         6 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Except, according to everything else from Mardell, none of that is His fault.

           3 likes

      • Louis Robinson says:

        I concede some of our points, “Restoring Britain”, but the target is too big (sorry Mark) to ignore. (That’s what lefty comedy writers say when accused of being mean spirited). However methinks even though Mardell may see there may be the writing on the wall for Obama, he won’t backpedal too much.
        1) He must be angling for an interview (sorry an audience) with The One – and you don’t get to kiss the ring by being too critical.
        2) It is beyond the capacity of a big government liberal to concede that the Obama policies are not working.
        However, I still maintain the “what’s happening inside the democratic party?” is the story of the moment.

           5 likes

        • Louis Robinson says:

          PS: isn’t referring to Obama’s “war machine” really “ramping up the rhetoric” like “targeting Giffords”?

             3 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          What’s happening inside the Democratic Party? Here are two big indicators:

          ‘Dinner with Barack’ now includes George Clooney

          The President Himself just isn’t a big enough selling point. Neither is the Party itself. Click the link below to see what I mean:
          Show you’re proud to be a Democrat—claim your free bumper sticker!

             2 likes

          • Louis Robinson says:

            I’m hearing the fund raising is not going well. Dinner tickets worth $1800 being sold for $200. The reason for appearing at universities? Students gain credits for showing up – hence the crowds. None of this being reported.

               4 likes

            • David Preiser (USA) says:

              The President doesn’t really need as much money as His opponent. He has Hollywood, the press and influential media sites like HuffPo and Politico on His side. They will be ramping up the war machine even more come July. No amount of money can buy celebrity power like Tom Hanks and talk shows stars.

                 6 likes

        • I think we’re probably both agreeing. My point being that the oaf has let the cat out of the bag by inadvertently shooting holes in all his previous suck up pieces. For me it lays bare that at a time when America was crying out for leadership, all it got was a team looking to a second term from day 1.

             3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Mardell failed to point out that the staff is so hideously white that they’ve been called out on it and now have to make a public effort to recruit a few black people. He knew all about it, but decided it wasn’t worth mentioning.

         12 likes

      • Span Ows says:

        Like we said on the other thread…imagine a Republican group being as white…think it just might get a mention?

           5 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Which highlights the prejudice and unfairness of Mardell’s and the rest of the BBC’s assuming sinister intent simply due to skin color.

             4 likes

      • Louis Robinson says:

        Perhaps, like Zimmerman was called a “white” Hispanic and Bill Clinton was the “first black president”, the Obama re-election team are really “white African-Americans”.
        When I first moved to the US someone said to me, “In England everything is about class, here everything is about race”. I am beginning to see what they mean.

           8 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Louis, I had the exact mirror image of that experience on my first business trip to England many years ago. Funny how in both countries, the people making everything about one or the other are coming from the same side of the political spectrum.

             8 likes

          • London Calling says:

            “Class” leads you to the “we are the 99%” argument, “Race” leads you to ad-hom about racism and the far right. Two straw men, fighting each other.
            Its more about white liberal guilt and a systemic failure to stand up for Capitalism that puts food on your table and batteries in your ipod.

               6 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      LOL, very good. Sycophantic twaddle just oozes out of him, OK he doesn’t mention the décor but the whole piece is dire, unnecessary and totally partisan (unless he gives us similarly mellifluous epistle about any Rep candidate…or even Sarah Palin.)

         4 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘Even those who are pretty happy with the president hardly feel the same sense of exuberant excitement that they displayed in 2008.’ Perhaps they just picked up that he’s half-white.

         4 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        They’re not unhappy with His policies at all. They, like Mardell, are disappointed that He hasn’t done enough to move the country to the Left. As Mardell said on the News Channel last year, the evil Republicans have forced Him off course a bit.

           2 likes

  12. George R says:

    INBBC-Labour Party-QATADA and Islamic jihad threat.

    INBBC appears to be giving its political priority in all this to supporting Labour, opposing the Government and relegating the very real threat of another Islamic jihad terror attack on the British people.

    The ‘Daily Telegraph’ has this ( INBBC doesn’t):

    “Al Qaeda militants warn of terror attack in Britain if Abu Qatada is deported .

    “Militant group al Shabaab has warned that Britain will face a terror attack if it deports Islamic cleric Abu Qatada. ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/9216180/Al-Qaeda-militants-warn-of-terror-attack-in-Britain-if-Abu-Qatada-is-deported.html

    The Islamic jihadists are in a global war against non-Muslims, especially we in the West. Western governments have allowed such people to become the ‘Trojan horse’ inside the Western nations, including Britain as a result of open-door, mass immigration. In this case there are Muslims of Somalia origin who use Britain as their base but who return spasmodically to Somalia as jihadist murderers.

    “Jihadists in Africa could pose terror threat to UK, warns thinktank.

    “Al-Qaida affiliates in north and east Africa could radicalise new subset of British youths, says report.”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/04/jihadists-africa-terror-threat-thinktank

       12 likes

  13. chrisH says:

    Oh we`re really scared!
    There`s more of us than there are those little shits, who can be spotted a mile off.
    Their chemistry is crap, their choice of boxer shorts deserve blowing up if only they knew how to do it…and only the BBC and the lily livers would give a hoot about these perennial grumps.
    Would recommend Four Lions to anyone worried about these gumps…and let`s hope Shami and the like don`t let them hide in the BBC studios or mosques as they practice their videos.

       8 likes

    • ROBERT BROWN says:

      In some ways you’re right Chris H, but it would be wrong to dismiss them as useless. Right now, they are putting efforts to plan an atrocity here in all probability. And, as usual, it will be the poor bloody public who suffer, not our useless leaders, safe behind their security set-up. The IRA attack that nearly killed Mrs T concentrated the minds of our ‘leaders’, and from then on, they were determined to come to some agreement with the terrorists. The slaughtered police,soldiers and civilians were ‘expendable’, but their skins? No way. The only way that will force the removal of islamic idiots and stop mass immigration is for lots of politicians to be blown to pieces or maimed, sad but true.

         9 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Didn`t mean to be flippant really Robert.
        I only think that if we took the gloves off the security services, deprived the likes of Anjem Choudhury the “oxygen of publicity” with their endless trails on the BBC; and got smart-then the media could not puff up these psychopaths and sadsacks as a credible threat to us.
        The media would rather we crawl up and let them terrify us all , rather than give the police what they need to flush these creeps out and back to Pakistan or Somalia.
        We know enough-and this lot are implacable, continual grievance mongers and nowhere near as disciplined as the IRA etc.
        We ought to have dealt with them by now…the likes of Shami and Gareth ought to be matrons in their bail hostels by Heathrow, and not alowing these boogiemen to bother us for one second longer.

           5 likes

  14. DB says:

    More evidence emerges to support Zimmerman’s version of events, and the prosecuting attorney seems to be an incompetent jackass (not least because the case appears to grow weaker by the day). Looking bad for that “racist” narrative the MSM was pushing.

       7 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      All this evidence piling up will be worth a full post soon if the BBC continues to censor it. Their latest article about Zimmerman getting released on bail states that he “shot and killed” Martin “in a gated community”, but censors the facts about the altercation which led to the shooting.

      In fact the whole thing is sickeningly biased and continues to push now-debunked Narratives about racial profiling. Unreal.

         11 likes

      • DB says:

        “he was ‘profiled’ by Mr Zimmerman” – ain’t gonna fly in court (unless they’ve got an OJ jury). The race hustlers and their fellow travellers in the lib media are going to be disappointed. There will be riots.

           4 likes

        • DB says:

          Thinking about it, the riots that would follow a Zimmerman acquittal will probably make the lib media feel it was all worth it after all..

             12 likes

  15. Mice Height says:

    BBC Green with envy over UKIP’s rise:
    http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1125/bbc_green_with_envy_over_ukip_s_rise

       4 likes

  16. Mice Height says:

    The Commentator’s excellent weekly looney-left roundup, featuring BBC favourite ‘angry’ Owen Jones.
    I recall Martin often picked up on his habit of throwing statistics around. He did the Press Preview on Sky the other night, and although he managed to get wound-up then insult both Emma Boon and the presenter, he didn’t throw statistics around as he usually does. Perhaps he’s realised that 99.9% of them were absolute bollocks!
    http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1127/loony_left_is_owen_jones_an_elitist_/page/1#article_content_top

       5 likes

    • DB says:

      Of course, he has his fans:

         6 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        The problem is that Jones can continue to get facts wrong week after week, and the BBC will still have full respect for him and portray him as a worthy voice.

           12 likes

        • Fred Bloggs says:

          ‘Getting the facts wrong’, I have always called that lying. It seems Mr Jones is probably the illegitimate offspring of Ken, as he uses all the same deceitful tactics.

             6 likes

      • Mice Height says:

        Why would anyone need to mock his appearance when the way he behaves, and almost everything he says, can be so easily ridiculed.

           9 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Because the BBC presents him as a viable authority and trusted voice.

             7 likes

  17. DB says:

    A reminder of a couple of things that never happened this week if you get your news from the BBC – Obama called the Falklands “the Maldives”, and the Democrats lost the dog wars.

       11 likes

  18. DB says:

    A shout-out to All Seeing Eye – I’ve just used embeds for Twitter and YouTube in the comments for the first time and they both worked without any hassle. Nice one.

       1 likes

  19. Nick says:

    Owen Jones is moaning that his critics always mention how young he looks. Well stop referring to it yourself all the time, you nauseating adolescent. Jelly and ice-cream, anyone?

       9 likes

  20. George R says:

    INBBC indicates this on its preferred London mayoral candidate:

    “London mayor candidates quit debate over BNP”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17790972

    BUT, omits this:

    -Livingstone and Qaradawi

    http://markhumphrys.com/islam.uk.html#livingstone

       9 likes

  21. George R says:

    This report can’t be important to INBBC because it has it on its
    ‘West Midlands’ news page:

    “Three arrested in Heathrow Airport police terror swoop”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17782026

    ‘Jihadwatch’ has:
    “UK: ‘Three men from Birmingham’ arrested with ‘terror documents'”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/04/uk-three-men-from-birmingham-arrested-with-terror-documents.html

       6 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Brush it under some convenient carpet. That’s it INBBC, as per usual.

         0 likes

  22. jonuk says:

    i see that the BBC has yet to comment on Jessie J’s minge eating and Simon Cowell’s straightactingness

       2 likes

  23. Reed says:

    An interesting interview here with a man from the EDL on BBC Radio. It’s interesting not so much for what the interviewee says, but for the line of questioning taken by the BBC presenter. She opens by asking him if the EDL protest scheduled for Luton is going to cost the local community financially in order to deal with the policing, and even suggests that their gathering will block access to areas of the town for other people. I don’t seem to remember anyone at the BBC worrying about the ‘occupy’ movement doing the very thing their group was designed to do : to occupy public spaces and cause a disruption. Nor have I EVER heard a BBC interviewer take the side of the taxpayer and question anyone responsible for the multitude of Left-wing protests over the years about the expense to the public.

    She also plays the ‘extremist minority’ card and more or less asks why they don’t just go away and stop spoiling the celebration of diversity for everyone else. I wonder if any of the Muslim groups she claims to have talked to received the same line of questioning? The rancid UAF are also mentioned. I wonder if they have been interviewed and asked why they feel the need to cause trouble wherever they go, rather than letting people get on with their own business unharassed.

    She even asks why they don’t just hold their protest away from everyone else. Shame I never heard the BBC ask the UK-Uncut rabble the same.

    The EDL guy does a fairly good job of rebutting her.

    To be fair, they do follow up with a fairly good set of questions for the local councillor who is opposed to the protest. My main problem here is the very different way that left-wing and right-wing protest groups are treated in interviews. If you are from a right of centre group you are asked all the kinds of questions a protest organiser SHOULD be asked, but are very rarely put to leftist protest organisers. One side is required to justify their actions, to other’s actions are assumed to be justified.

    Audio here…
    http://vladtepesblog.com/?p=47193

       15 likes

    • Mice Height says:

      She obviously hasn’t researched the violent rabble that make up the hilarious UAF organisation. If the EDL moved their demo date then UAF would move theirs. They simply shadow the EDL to cause trouble and create tension.
      In recent weeks, UAF have been protesting in support of Abu Qatada, the IRA and Muslim peadophile gangs. When the BBC get a UAF or Hate Not Hope/Searchlight spokesman on and challenge them about this, as well as their leader’s string of criminal convictions, then I’ll feel that they ‘got it about right’!

         15 likes

    • Harry says:

      To be honest I have never seen a BBC-EDL interview where the BBC haven’t come off worse.

         5 likes

  24. RCE says:

    A couple of weeks ago I posted on here that Muslims often use their religion as a reason/excuse for raping young girls but the MSM never reported it, so this headline is a first in my experience:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132985/Muslim-gang-jailed-kidnapping-raping-girls-Eid-celebrations.html

    Can’t help but wonder how the Beeb will address this, as the vague and misleading ‘Asian’ monicker won’t sit nicely alongside a specific Muslim festival. At time of writing it appears to be the tried and tested method of just not reporting it at all!

       13 likes

    • Mice Height says:

      These cases are becoming too numerous for the MSM to hide any longer.

         8 likes

      • RCE says:

        They are trying their best, though.

           7 likes

      • bodo says:

        They can and are ignoring it. No mention at all on the BBC. Maybe its because of the specific muslim angle – they think that to report it would be Islamophobic.

           7 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        you have it wrong, they WILL continue to hide it by whatever means they are able to use. The spread of information on this here interweb is nowhere near as effective as we really need it to be.

           9 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘His supporters in the public gallery hurled abuse at the judge as he passed sentence later’.

      Didn’t see anything about them being charged with contempt of court. Or perhaps it’s a cultural thing, in which case – look the other way, judge.

         12 likes

      • bodo says:

        Supporters?? WTF??
        What sort of gang rapists have supporters?

           13 likes

        • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

          The one’s whose religion tells them it’s an OK thing! that’s who!

             9 likes

        • Mice Height says:

          If they have brown skin, then they can count on UAF support. The more disgusting the crime – the better!

             8 likes

        • RCE says:

          An excellent point; I am often told that ‘these people are despised in their community’ blah blah; seemingly not universally!

             10 likes

        • Harry says:

          They obviously don’t think it’s a crime if it’s against our community.

             8 likes

    • Harry says:

      I cannot find it anywhere on BBC site. Ignorance it is.

         7 likes

    • 1327 says:

      The problem of Eid is becoming so large an elephant in the room that the normally very politicly correct local paper is only barely hiding it now. Up here (northern town) the Eid problem is that “Asian Youths” (always lads) head to the cinema and its attached shopping centre at night during the celebrations. They proceed to drink until they are p*ssed out of their tiny little minds or take drugs then fight each other , cinema and shopping centre staff before proceeding home in their cars and having having various drink/drug related driving accidents. Its got so bad the cinema now closes during this period but still the “youths” gather and drink. As expected the local Police steer well clear of dealing with this career ending mess. The Police don’t even put out any warnings about this behaviour before the event it is almost as though it never happens.

      I was commenting on this to a colleague who worked in the Arab world several years ago who said this behaviour was widespread there but just as here no one could ever mention it.

         8 likes

  25. George R says:

    ‘The Commentator’:-

    “BBC Green with envy over UKIP’s rise?”

    [Opening excerpt]:-

    “Perhaps I’m just a troubled, paranoid young man. But if the Green Party were outpolling the Liberal Democrats nationally, I think that the BBC would be absolutely all over the story. What do you think?”

    http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1125/bbc_green_with_envy_over_ukip_s_rise_

       6 likes

  26. Millie Tant says:

    Saturday’s opera on Radio 3 starts early today at 4 pm and runs for a leisurely 6 hours!
    Wagner’s Siegfried Live from The Met
    When Siegfried eventually finds the sleeping Brünnhilde, he is overwhelmed by her beauty and finally realizes the meaning of fear. Awakened by his kiss, Brünnhilde tries to resist his declarations of passion, but finally gives in and joins Siegfried in praise of love.
    Siegfried ….. Jay Hunter Morris (tenor)
    Brünnhilde ….. Deborah Voigt (soprano)
    Erda ….. Patricia Bardon (contralto)
    Mime ….. Gerhard Siegel (tenor)
    Wanderer ….. Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)
    Alberich ….. Eric Owens (baritone)
    Fafner ….. Hans-Peter Konig (bass)
    Waldvogel ….. Erin Morley (soprano)
    Metropolitan Opera Chorus
    Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
    Fabio Luisi (conductor).
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gd6qm

       2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Thanks Millie! I totally forgot about this. Just put it on in time to hear the Wanderer’s visit to Mime.

         1 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      JD will find you a link to an obscure regional page soon . It’s what usually happens so they can say they DO report it. All bollocks of course.

         5 likes

    • Harry says:

      Oh shoot, looks like you just beat me too it. I couldn’t find ANY link either.

         1 likes

  27. Harry says:

    Have not seen the BBC report this in any way:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132985/Muslim-gang-jailed-kidnapping-raping-girls-Eid-celebrations.html

    Not on their website as far as I can see. No doubt if it was the other way blah blah…. you know where I’m going

       4 likes

  28. LondonCalling says:

    Its like when the BBC describe someone as “British Resident” you can guarantee they are either Ethiopian or Somali and were given right of indefinite stay by a Blair open door policy of “easier to grant leave than to fight it”

       8 likes

  29. Teddy Bear says:

    Test 🙁

       0 likes

  30. Teddy Bear says:

    For the fifth time of trying to post this point
    I notice when one searches for something on the BBC site related to the Muslim Gang that kidnapped and raped these girls, the only thing one can find is on the sidebar under ‘Elsewhere on the web’, they link to an article by The Times of India.
    Their headline is
    UK men who abducted, raped 2 minor girls laughed while being sentenced

    Spot the difference between that and the Mail?

       4 likes

  31. George R says:

    We know that Pres Obama mistakenly called the Falklands ‘the Maldives’ recently.

    Now it seems that Obama has been taking more sinister political action towards the real Maldives recently (unreported by INBBC):-

    “Ousted Maldives President claims Obama approved Islamic supremacist pro-Sharia coup”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/04/ousted-maldives-president-claims-obama-approved-islamic-supremacist-pro-sharia-coup.html

       0 likes

  32. Reed says:

    The ‘war on dogs’ jumps the shark…

    http://weaselzippers.us/2012/04/20/if-i-had-a-dog/

    Anyone know how to post images?

       0 likes

  33. jonuk says:

    BBC News24 now, the BBC really want Sarkozy to lose the French election

       2 likes

  34. jonuk says:

    i wonder if the BBC will do feature on the lack of British Olympic athletes that don’t wear a berka

       1 likes

  35. Guest Who says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7SGWH3kirzg&vq=medium
    Obama Makes Free Speech A Felony
    Must say, it has indeed had little media attention here too.
    I’d have thought some would be more than keen.

       2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      I note the Secret Service gets to ‘decide’.
      How’s that work?
      I guess asking would lead to a FoI exclusion here.
      And these secret service guys, is this before or after a wee spell with the in-house hookers?
      Hey, from JFK to Clinton, if it’s good enough for the guy on top….

         4 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Napolitano is exaggerating a bit here. It’s not making a new law, but rather amending one already on the books to give the secret service more discretion. Recent developments showed that they weren’t the best examples of discretion, but never mind.

      Not cool either way, really, but not really the new oppression he’s making it out to be, either. Still, with the current President’s oppressive tendencies, it is something to be concerned about. He didn’t write the bill, just signed it, but it will be interesting to see if He suddenly starts enforcing it with relish. The Left was freaking out back when Bush was creating those “free speech zones” to restrict protesters to certain areas, for example back when the Republican convention was in NYC. I bet they’ll be silent when The Obamessiah does it even more.

         0 likes

  36. Span Ows says:

    Dutch government failure: even the FT tell the real story:

    FT, 3rd and 4th paragraph:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/889f4108-8c2e-11e1-9a1c-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1skeJV0Gl

    “Highlighting widespread voter anger over EU-imposed budget cuts, Mr Wilders said he could not allow Dutch citizens to “pay out of their pockets for the senseless demands of Brussels”.
    “We don’t want to follow Brussels’ orders. We don’t want to make our retirees bleed for Brussels’ diktats,” Mr Wilders said.

    BBC: 10th paragraph:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17803042
    “He said Brussels wanted to “take away the economy built up by the elderly”, although the Netherlands itself has been one of the strongest proponents of tough fiscal regulations in Europe.”

       6 likes

  37. Span Ows says:

    How will the BBC play this one:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/murdoch-arrives-tilting-at-windmills-and-david-cameron-7668405.html

    “Murdoch senior took to Twitter to pour scorn on ministers’ plans to lend more money to the International Monetary Fund. The 81-year-old tweeted: “Govt sending IMF another £10bn to the euro. Must be mad. Not even US or China chipping in. Same time taxing hot food.”

       3 likes

  38. Span Ows says:

    prostitution scandal foe Secret Service (in Colombia last week)…they decide the photo and quote should come about Sarah Palin…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17794267

       4 likes

  39. George R says:

    Abu QATADA and INBBC.

    Nothing from INBBC on this:

    “European court ‘tipped off Abu Qatada over deadline to help him make last-ditch appeal to stay'”

    By Brendan Carlin

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133343/Euro-court-tipped-Abu-Qatada-make-ditch-bid-stay.html#ixzz1skogZiBD

       3 likes

  40. George R says:

    “THE THEFT-PRONE BBC LOSES MORE THAN VIEWERS…”

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/315870/

       2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Arf..
      “Last night a BBC spokesman said: “The BBC takes [ ] very seriously and has implemented a number of measures to [ ].”
      At least they are recycling their ‘lessons have been learned’ patronisation spiel.
      It’s the cuts, Cuts, CUTSSSS!

         1 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Maybe, like Stuart Hughes, they think that once they get to hold an iPad, they get to keep it?

           3 likes

    • Pah says:

      Well, it’s not their property so why should they care?

      I’ve always found it funny that many socialists trot 🙂 out the ‘all property is theft’ or are anti-materialism until it comes to their own personal property.

         4 likes

  41. Guest Who says:

    If I were a professional, objective ‘reporter’, I might be a wee bit concerned that, now the entertainment value has gone and only a few attempt to engage with the dross pumped out (leaving the field clear for the glee club to massage each other), this was joint highest rated comment:
    ’18. cwrwda
    20TH APRIL 2012 – 19:59
    Ah what a surprise, the usual sweet tasting denier is once again the least rated – will he ever get the message ?

    Climate Change is happening, it is caused by humans and hats off to Mexico for shaming its ‘wealthy’ neighbour.
    I don’t visit Mr. Black’s crowd-pleasing dross output much now, however I may have chipped in on this (a bit like a Stuart Hughes tweet, mocking followership is dangerous when you have access to a 20k+ intranet but can still only wangle a crowd of 5 in support) but, surprise, it has quite quickly ‘closed for comments’.
    Has he hired the US Secret Service on modding duty as a bit of freelance?
    The BBC rigging of decks and corruption of free speech continues…

       5 likes

  42. George R says:

    A report for BBC-Democrat to censor:

    “Two blacks knock white man to ground and hit him numerous times in the head in revenge for Trayvon Martin ”

    http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/022247.html

       3 likes

  43. Span Ows says:

    Credit where credit is due…are the BBC changing?

    In the following they actually reported the following:

    The suspect in Friday’s mugging is a black man, thought to be aged between 25 and 35, who was wearing a dark, hooded top and dark glasses. He is about 5ft 10in tall.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17803108

    Unfortunately the real problem is me being surprised by ‘normal’ reporting.

       4 likes

  44. George R says:

    For BBC-NUJ and French elections:

    Sarkozy, Hollande and the Islamisation of France.

    “‘Diversity’: They Drive Us Out, We Invite Them In.”

    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3015/islam-diversity-france

       3 likes

  45. Pah says:

    Just watched an episode of Dr Who and, do you know what? I’m going to have to stop reading this blog because I found myself analysing the programme instead of vegetating in front of it.

    Sure enough the BBC left-wing bias shines through. In this episode there are 2 universes. In one Torchwood is run by someone who has really cocked things up and the Cybermen are on the rampage because of what she did. Just before she, inevitably, dies (as is the only way a non-socialist can atone for their sins) she says she ‘did her duty for Queen and Country’. Which is obviously a bad thing.

    In the other Universe the UK is going through a ‘Golden Age’ and of course the UK is a Peoples’ Republic. That a ‘Peoples’ Republic’ not just a ‘Republic’ naturally. What are the people there like I hear you ask with baited breath? Well, you guessed it, they are full of the best intentions, naturally. Not like those useless nasty royalists giving up their lives for others. Oh No.

    The ‘new’ Dr Who is of course the perfect Dear Leader. Strong and compassionate, intelligent and wise beyond anyone else. He is a strong proponent of equality and cultural relativism and, of course, the pacifist everyone in the West should be; well how else are the left to take over if we know how to fight back? Being a pacifist of course does not apply when faced with his enemies as Dr Who is really Shiva the ‘Destroyer of Worlds’; he commits genocide at the drop of a hat. Faced with an implacable enemy he doesn’t let them win and have their own way, therefore saving lives. Or find a compromise or just bug out. No. He sends them all to hell and obliterates their planet.

    So a true socialist hero then – a genocidal pacifist.

    Oh and a little gem. At the end Rose’s commentary mentions they jump into her dad’s ‘old Jeep’ but on screen the vehicle is a Land Rover. So blooper or simply refusing to advertise a British made vehicle? Or are they pandering to the American market as the Yanks are too stooooopid to know what a Land Rover is but will recognise the name ‘Jeep’ – if not the actual vehicle itself?

    And this is a kids show …

       6 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      That kind of partisan drivel was sadly all too common during RT Davies’ stewardship with Tennatn’s nostrils as the Doctor.

         0 likes

  46. Mice Height says:

    How the media whitewashes Muslim persecution of Christians:
    http://britishfreedom.org/how-the-media-whitewashes-muslim-persecution-of-christians/

       3 likes

  47. George R says:

    INBBC relegates its Labour chums’ complicity with GADDAFI regime.

    In contrast:

    ‘Daily Mail’:-

    Secret documents reveal MI5 agents betrayed Libyan dissidents to Gaddafi spies in London rendezvous just 700 yards from Harrods

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133276/MI5-betrayed-Libya-dissidents-Gaddafi-spies-London-sting-Secret-documents-exposed-MoS-trigger-political-storm.html#ixzz1slcRREiV

    ‘Telegraph’:

    “Western allies of MI6 ‘kept in dark’ over mosque sting plan.
    “MI6 and Col Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan intelligence service set up a radical mosque in a Western European city in order to lure in al-Qaeda terrorists, it can be revealed. ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/9218655/Western-allies-of-MI6-kept-in-dark-over-mosque-sting-plan.html

       0 likes