OPEN THREAD…

Monday morning arrives and so it is time for a shiny new Francois Hollande approved Open Thread. Let’s focus on the “growth” of bias…shall we? The floor is yours…

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160 Responses to OPEN THREAD…

  1. will says:

    Depressingly familiar BBC position taking on the 8:10 – 8:30 “Today” slot. First we have Humphys “interviewing” two Greeks. One from the SYRIZA is allowed to put his position forward, but then the unfortunate woman, who thinks that the Greeks need to discuss how they will reform their economy to become competitive within the Eurozone, is shouted down by Humphrys after every few words. Apart from the obvious bias being shown by Humphrys it is surely rank bad manners to treat a foreigner being good enough to address us in English in such a way.

    We then go on to “paranoid” Yank who is warning about the civilisation ending consequenses of an electromagnetic pulse resulting from a nuclear warhead exploding above the atmosphere, he claims that the generators could protect against this threat at reasonable cost. Justin is keen to poo-poo this crazy man. The BBC accepts totally that we should bear whatever cost necessary to possibly offset possible climate change, but when a terrorist group just need to purchase a warhead from N Korea etc then the threat must be dismissed as fanciful.

       23 likes

    • Number 7 says:

      They also had a problem with the difference between EMP and MEP – several times referring to the latter.

      Mind you, they could be right about MEPs being a threat to this country!

         11 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      As well as Humphrys’ bad manners (probably stemming from anxiety concerning his real estate investment in Greece), I note that for comment on the Greek crisis and the elections and what happens next, representatives of 2 left wing parties/blocs were brought on. Guess which party won a plurality of the votes? Right first time – New Democracy – the main party of the right which, apparently as far as the BBC is concerned, has no opinions on the euro worth broadcasting.

         28 likes

    • chrisH says:

      I imagine that they`d have been treated like his gardener and the cook over there by his holiday villas.
      Did he declare any personal potential conflict of interest?…or just wade through the vines with a pith helmet and telling the Greeks how to pimp off the state as he`s done for fifty years or more?

         7 likes

  2. GotItAboutRight says:

    Yesterday on Radio 4 at 9.30am there was a perfect example of how the BBC uses the Leveson enquiry often in a “light hearted” way to send out their usual political signals. In what I understand is part of a series of Shakespeare features, Jeremy Hunt was talking about his favourite Shakespeare sonnet, which was then read out by Don Warrington. At the end the presenter said “We feel we should point out that was recorded before the latest ‘hey nonny nonny’ at the Leveson enquiry”.

    Why did they say that when it was completely irrelevant to what he was talking about? So they could send out a message that Jeremy Hunt was in the wrong and the subject of such controversy that he really should not have been on? And why did they need to hide behind the ‘hey nonny nonny’ line? Because it was a sly way of avoiding having to commit themselves to being specific about why he might be treated as a persona non grata while still stirring the pot and insinuating that he was up to no good?

       22 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      I’ve just listened to that to see which sonnet it is and oh my goodness, how to murder a sonnet! That is such a poor reading. It is halting, laboured, stilted and on occasion with emphasis in the wrong place, breaking its natural rhythm and flow and robbing it of mood, meaning and feeling.

         4 likes

  3. Mice Height says:

    Damaged institutions:
    http://britishfreedom.org/damaged-institutions/

       8 likes

  4. Daphne Anson says:

    I stumbled across old Beeb hack Michael Cockerell’s TV programme last evening focusing on four icons of the 1970s. The first two were General Sir Walter Walker, Lord Longford, and I felt that the tone – especially regarding Walker and his fears of Communism – was one of typical leftist poke-funnery. The treatment of Longford’s concerns re pornography was along the same lines, the underlying assumption being that like Walker he was slightly off his rocker to be concerned about such issues. There was nothing in the programme about the deeply offensive, insulting, misogynistic content of much of the in-your-face porn that was everywhere in those days, whether you wanted to see it or not, and caused many women deep distress.
    I suppose that 40-years down the track the BBC will be making lofty poke-fun digs at those who expressed concern in the 2000s about the danger posed by radical Islam, the disturbingly misogynistic attitudes to females harboured by certain groups from the Third World, and the acceptance of Turkey into the EU.
    Oh, come to think of it, Al Beeb already does…

       22 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      I remember the seventies, particularly the febrile atmosphere during the Wilson administration. I’m not sure how seriously people then took the prospect of a military coup. Contrary to what one of Walker’s colleagues claimed (all you need is/was to take over the airports and the BBC) at the time it was clearly understood that, to run the UK, you’d certainly have to control the power stations, the mines and the docks as well: all quite beyond the power of the then military (what, 180,000 strong) if unionised labour went on strike, to run as well as control them. So Walker’s activities, although venting a serious concern at the time, was, if not risible then not very serious (as the Telegraph so informed).
      What got to me about the programme was the frankness and, yes, honesty of the protagonists. The four individuals were not afraid, either to declare their beliefs – at the risk of looking foolish – but avoided all the PR and PC jargon we all know and love. Compare, for instance, Robert Mark and Ian Blair (or the present dildos in post up and down the country): no wonder we still preserved then a respect for and faith in the police despite the evident corruption in parts of the Met.
      I agree with Daphne Anson’s implication that this programme was probably an exercise in jeering at our past beliefs and habits but, if so, it was an own-goal by the BBC. As Cockerell said, people like the four portrayed don’t exist in public life today. I would disagree in only one case: the Longford tendency to impose beliefs through political lobbying rather than reasoned and open debate is alive and well (and enabled by the BBC in more fields than I care to mention but CAGW will do for starters).

         13 likes

  5. Deborah says:

    It is Monday morning, the sun is shining, I have just read Boris’ article in the Telegraph (re the BBC) and I thought as this is near the top of an Open Thread I would just like to say thank you again to all concerned for the new website.

       26 likes

  6. George R says:

    Boris JOHNSON sort of gets it on BBC-political bias, but he should read THIS website, ‘http://biasedbbc.tv’ daily for detailed, updated analysis.

    ‘Telegraph:-

    “The statist, defeatest and biased BBC is on the wrong wavelength.
    “What is needed is a Tory at the top to help Britain rediscover its spirit of enterprise, writes Boris Johnson. ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/borisjohnson/9263772/The-statist-defeatest-and-biased-BBC-is-on-the-wrong-wavelength.html

    ‘Telegraph’:

    “Next head of BBC must be a Tory says Boris Johnson.
    “The next director-general of the BBC must be a Tory who ‘understands the depths of the problems this country faces’, Boris Johnson has said. ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9263603/Next-head-of-BBC-must-be-a-Tory-says-Boris-Johnson.html

       8 likes

    • JAG says:

      And not a whisper so far on the BBC!

      Now imagine the running order on Today if there was an Op Ed piece in the Guardian, by a left wing politician, lets say Tom Watson, suggesting that Sky has a bias in favour of the Tory Party!

         19 likes

      • will says:

        suggesting that Sky has a bias in favour of the Tory Party!

        Fat chance! Sadly both they and Channel 4 News take their lead from the BBC.

           15 likes

        • The General says:

          I am afraid the Media generally and in particular television has been taken over by the Left. Presenters and producers move between broadcasting companies their left wing views readily accepted if not required.

             12 likes

          • johnnythefish says:

            It is little wonder they’ve been taken over by the Left when every new intake for the last 30 years has come from a leftist state education system.

               3 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      There is a separate thread below on the Boris comments.

         1 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        Boris’s remarks seem to have attracted huge numbers of comments. An increasing groundswell of opinion against the BBC ?

           2 likes

  7. Harry says:

    Just turned on the BBC News channel. First topic: the effect of cuts on hospital care. Second topic: the cuts to disability benefit. Both topics had interviews with individuals condemning the cuts.

    The current modus operandi of the BBC seems to be this:

    1) Do not report excessive public spending in an honest way.
    2) Do not report the desperate state of the economy in an honest way,
    3) Report any Tory attempt at reducing public spending.
    4) Get somebody in to criticize every Tory attempt at cutting public spending, preferably someone who can make these attempts seem insensitive and nasty.

       48 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      The NHS schtick began yesterday with the (very selective chosen) results of a survey conducted by the Royal College of Nursing. They led with the allegation that patients are being treated in corridors because of a lack of beds. What they didn’t tell you (but Sky did) was that this referred to by only 21% of those surveyed, but it didn’t stop the BeeB headlining the claim and interviewing Burnham who blamed Lansley and the evil CUTS!

      Now they are continuing this thread with scaremongering about the quality of care due to the evil CUTS! Of course they interviewed a shadow cabinet shill who was allowed to criticise and vilify the government uninterrupted.

      This stinks of a co-ordinated campaign to create headlines involving The Beeb, the RCN and Labour.

         19 likes

      • #88 says:

        Once again the BBC behave as activists, masquerading as journalists

           14 likes

      • London Calling says:

        NHS beds continue to be blocked by patients who should no longer be in hospital – to avoid care home charges and because of slow or missing local authority social support; A&E is full of drunks because the police stopped using their own cells to save money and send them instead to A&E. Corridor care is a symptom of system failure elsewhere, and at least better than no care at all until a bed becomes free.
        The RCN is mendaciously just up to its usual Trade Union games. Meanwhile the Tories play the “blame the NHS managers” card to divert attention from their own general uselessness. The BBC won’t address any of the reasons but give the RCN a free pass to blame the Government and demand more resources for err…nurses, suprise suprise.

           8 likes

      • Pah says:

        When the RCN start nursing their patients then I’ll pay attention to them. Until then any organisation that is quiet about 20k deaths due to their own neglect can be safely ignored.

           0 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Hope you don’t mind me adding a point 5) Continually promote ‘growth’ as an alternative to austerity.

         4 likes

  8. Pounce_Uk says:

    The bBC, and how pathetic it gets in promoting its leftwing stance:

    Is Buckingham Palace ugly?
    Buckingham Palace will be a focal point in the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, 250 years after work started to make it into a royal residence. But is this famous landmark an attractive building or a carbuncle, asks Sophie Robehmed.

    The question the bBC doesn’t ask is does it fit in with the rest of the buildings in the area. That would be a yes. Unlike the Hundreds of ugly yes ugly Mosques the bBC has no problem promoting as beautiful…really?
    But what really caught my eye was this little snippet from the anti-traffic bBC:
    “Although we get frustrated when the traffic slows for the changing of the guard,”
    Yeah, as somebody who uses the tube rather than drive through London, I understand only too well the message the bBC is promoting here.

    The bBC the traitors in our Midst.

       18 likes

  9. Pounce_Uk says:

    The bBC fights for the right of Abu Qatada to remain in the Uk
    No systematic torture in Jordan
    The radical cleric Abu Qatada has been fighting deportation to Jordan for six years on the grounds that he could face possible torture.

    But Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said Abu Qatada would get a fair trial. He told HARDtalk’s Sarah Montague that torture was banned under the Jordanian Constitution and there was no systematic torture in his country.

    The bBC, the Traitors within our Midst

       19 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Very amusing. Montague and her producers obviously don’t know the difference between rough treatment by the police (wrong as it may be) and using torture to extract information. What an absolute joke, unless this is supposed to be anecdotal evidence proving that the Jordanians must have used the same tactics to get intelligence information. If Montague doesn’t say that out loud, then I say it’s a weak extrapolation, not worth my time.

      Judah almost had a great point there about how it was not unlike how the police in England handled the more violent protesters. Too bad he didn’t say he could just as easily make the same BS extrapolation proving the UK tortured people as well.

         2 likes

      • Pah says:

        I wouldn’t want to be ‘interviewed’ by the Jordanian police.
        I am, though, quite happy for Abu Qatada to ‘fall down the stairs’ a few times. Maybe he’ll learn to appreciate his time in Britain then?

           1 likes

  10. Guest Who says:

    I am often intrigued by the speed a complaint can get replied to. Sometimes, in haste, certain things get left out that leave them open to accusations of poor systems control, or things go in where I feel they might have paused a while to spare more ‘questions being asked’ ..

    Dear Sirs,

    Again I am intrigued by the various places a single source inbound goes within the complaints process, vs. what comes back or, as so often is the case, does not. And when.

    On 14 May 2012, at 12:00, NewsOnline Complaints wrote:

    Dear JM,

    Thank you for your email.

    You are welcome. And great to see the pleasantries engaged again. Thank you.

    Twitter is a forum known for robust exchanges of views,

    Indeed it is. But now we get to precedent, so thank you for raising this.

    Do I therefore take it that the BBC feels the ‘robust nature’ of twitter exchange is appropriate on this, its latest new outlet for broadcast? Are there limits? If so, what are they? Where laid out?

    There already seem some rather unwelcome instances where the corporation’s stance, and indeed rules on partiality of acceptable behaviour, have been called into question on this platform. However this has more been by individuals, using the rather novel ‘what we say here is nothing to do with the employer listed at the top, with URLs listed left, right and centre (much like their views, of course)’.

    Do I assume this now extends to programmes, and without the ‘personal exclusion’ excuse?

    ..much like Newsnight, often delivered with humour.

    Ah, humour. My kids have funny senses of that too. And the number of times they come out with ‘just joking’ to try and make it all go away when cornered on something unfunny is an interesting comparison to make between children and one of two remaining areas of legitimate interaction offered by a flagship public sector national news magazine programme.

    Which brings me back to precedent.

    Are you now saying that ‘robust’ exchange, in actual or even claimed humour, is off limits to call into question?

    On a holding the powerful to account, not to mention double standards basis, I’d suggest you and hence the BBC need to be a bit careful here bearing in mind archive and future activities.

    Especially when it goes beyond individuals to single persons and mighty corporations, especially those who are justifiably concerned at any hint that they are stepping outside the bounds of acceptable behaviour, in areas such as, say bullying. Or even to provide a sense that, despite or maybe because of compelled public funding, the prevailing staff/customer service view at any level is that if someone is not happy, or critical, they can simply pay up but go elsewhere. With an implied ‘or what are you going to do about it?’ on top.

    Imagine if a politician, of private sector CEO, under the spotlight of a Paxman or Walk, trotted out such a statement?

    Now I know the entire BBC estate, including Twitter, would be entirely calm, laugh it off and move in without any further attention. Correct?

    The tweet you refer to was published entirely in that vein, something the tweeter it was directed at appears to have recognised, judging by their response: https://twitter.com/#!/Iram_Ramzan/status/201067941180080129

    For now, as always, I note two words, applying to your perceptions again: ‘appears’ and ‘judging’.

    So again, in matters of precedent, can one assume that if a vast corporate entity decides to bear down… ‘robustly’ on an individual taking them (perhaps unskilfully, unjustifiably but certainly unwisely) to task, the BBC and its marshalled twitterati squads will again adopt a chilled, ‘live and let live’ approach, and has done in similar cases up to now? And in no way using RT’s inspired by and/or gleaned from ‘supporters’, selectively, who do seem rather predictable, all things considered. Again, this aspect remains rather skirted past.

    As we ponder these questions from our respective positions, and again seeing no codes or means to pursue this, I have taken the liberty of copying ECU already.

    {Complaint title:} Unprofessional debating style and bullying

    {Complaint:} BBC Newsnight has now closed its blog.
    It directs viewers to FaceBook or twitter where ‘You can continue to comment on Newsnight using the social media websites Facebook and Twitter…’ where they ‘…encourage viewers to join in with the lively Twitter discussion using the #newsnight tag.’
    Please therefore explain this, last, latest of all exchanges possible on topic or between posters: @BBCNewsnight @NeilJIrving24 @Iram_Ramzan Neil is right! Feel free to switch over!
    I presume, in absence of the usual ‘views our own’ disclaimer, this is an official BBC stance?
    This being, by either Mr. Paxman and/or a selected proxy, that having invited comment, if it is not to taste then the full force of the edit suite gets deployed back to tell a person to go elsewhere (presumably still leaving £145.50 at the door anyway)?
    Also, is it BBC policy to take what is between a tweeting poster and them, and rally the troops in defence, to the extent of ‘selected’ hostile RTs in this way?
    That smacks of a major abuse of power on top of mis-use of the medium.

    Further communication will signify your consent to this. Nope, it still doesn’t

    I must confess to looking forward where this one goes.

       10 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      This just highlights the inherent dangers of their “personal” use of Twitter to both source and drive new stories, and that even the smartest people there really don’t get it. It’s a shame, really.

         3 likes

  11. Louis Robinson says:

    The BBC’s reporting in the USA on the affair of Mr. Jon Corzine has been sketchy at best. “Who is he?” a BBC viewer/listener/reader may ask. Judging from the stories on the BBC he’s “The former head of bankrupt firm MF Global”, just another fat cat capitalist worthy of being spat on Wednesday last in the street.
    “Jon Corzine steps down from troubled broker MF Global”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15594296
    “US House seeks testimony from Jon Corzine on MF Global”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16009074

    The simple facts are these: he is a former Senator and the former Governor of New Jersey till 2010 when he was defeated by the current incumbent Chris Christie.
    Now read these articles and see there’s more to this than meets the eye.
    “Corzine, Amid Scandal, Is Among Obama’s Top Bundlers”
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/04/21/corzine_amid_scandal_is_among_obamas_top_bundlers.html
    “MF’s Corzine Ordered Funds Moved to JP Morgan, Memo Says”
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-23/mf-global-s-corzine-ordered-funds-moved-to-jpmorgan-memo-says.html
    “JPMorgan senior executives ‘to resign’”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18055942
    So the JPMorgan execs will pay the price of their bad management with the BBC in gleeful pursuit. Why no investigation on Mr. Corzine? Could it be because he is a big time Democrat and very pally with the President?

       9 likes

  12. chrisH says:

    The BBC seems to bathe in asses milk on our taxes, but throw gripe water into our faces perpetually…well I think its gripe water, but looks like piss I grant you.

    Random Meldrew moments from You and Yours/World at One.
    1. Kid sends pictures of meagre school dinners into the Beeb.
    An outrage says our Jamie…can we have more blogs like this?asks the BBC and its cheridee trougher who has plenty time on his hands to wander into the BBC to commend this snitch. Kiddie confidentiality a very moveable feast here-on a plastic tray too in this case!

    Trouble is-this is not Lansley or Pickles, Gove or whatever…this is Scottish Labour…so an affronted Scotlands Top Dinner Lady comes on to pop back at the BBC…poor toff Julian Warwicker could do without taking on the Celts…the BBC craves Green Celtic Braveheart approval! Not a fried Mars bar joke in sight here.

    2. Martha told clearly by a Scottish doctor that pricing up booze in Scotland will do no good-even harm the poor , for heavens sake…where`s the “equality” in that?…send for Occupy!
    He scotches Martha plaintive squauk that Labour south of Berwick actually want booze pricing…”no they don`t “he says…only Dianne Abbott tweets this tosh, so hardly Labour policy is it? Martha winded, but up she pops.

    Doesn`t stop her letting Sturgeon say that Abbott speaks for Labour two minutes later, but with no correction or evidence that Kearney had even listened to the Labour bloke up north.
    It will have been pre-recorded of course-as are all public service announcements of Alex or Ed , if that would be of use.

    3. Some crap on the Co-op rightfully treating Israel as good old Labour did with South Africa in the 70s.

    4. Not enough rural firefighters apparently volunteering-nasty bosses won`t let them go-scandal!

    Yet not a peep from the BBCs own staff trawling the shires looking for angry cows or wheelchair users with no tinsel on their ramps…because of the Tory cuts of course.

    I for one would let all these useless Beeboid gripers get a years training doing something useful-AfPak, Firefighting, kettling ANYTHING…as long as we could board up their useless sounding boards of studios, once they`ve scooted off!
    Come on Boris-give us a lead and we will follow in this case!

       11 likes

  13. Sue says:

    It seems that the PaliFest I wrote about here has been interrupted by a security officer from Hamas!
    “The Hamas chief of police apologized saying it was an “individual error.” But the fear that even the foreign participants have to speak about what happened says volumes about how the Gaza leadership is pretty much the same as any other Arab dictatorship.” says EoZ.
    I do wonder if Mrs Ethical Man will have anything to say about it when she returns.

       4 likes

  14. james says:

    Hey this site is on the news. It has been censored by a mobile network.

    Mobile networks block church and ‘BBC bias’ websites

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/9264734/Mobile-networks-block-church-and-BBC-bias-websites.html

       4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/9264734/Mobile-networks-block-church-and-BBC-bias-websites.html
      Something rotten in the state of D… andy’s most trusted national broadcaster?
      ‘“It can simply see people unable to get directions to a bar. It may stop a prominent political organisation from reaching concerned citizens.”
      And this being research from the LSE, one can’t imagine it being sidelined by an outfit that would ban its own Granny for having the temerity to critique Aunty’s finery, now would it?
      He asked, rhetorically.

         3 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Actually BBBC was on a filter on our T-mobile dongle, until I had to call ’em and take it off.
        Is this the same thing or more ‘selectively proactive’?

           3 likes

        • Andy S. says:

          I had the same problem with Vodafone blocking access to B-BBC. I had to tell them to deactivate the block to allow me access.

          Is this coincidence or something more sinister?

             3 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            If it’s ‘sweariness’, then Newsnight’s new FB page is for the chop… unless they get a ‘uniquely different’ waiver.
            This propaganda and censorship lark seems oddly familiar.
            I must read up on my history lest my kids are doomed to repeat it.

               2 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        This blog is the first one Williams links to (with the old URL, dammit!) in his article. Defenders of the indefensible might want to rethink their position that this is a mere impotent, extremist echo chamber.

           2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The link in the article to this blog is wrong!!! It’s the old blogspot one. I just emailed Williams, and please others do so as well so he gets the message.

         1 likes

    • Craig says:

      This is very worrying, as the full L.S.E. report shows why B-BBC has been blocked:

      “8. Biased-BBC (www.biased-bbc.blogspot.co.uk) is a site that challenges the BBC’s impartiality. We established it was blocked on O2 and T-Mobile on 5th March. It is classified as a ‘hate site’ by O2’s URL checker”

      Click to access MobileCensorship-webwl.pdf

      I can’t work out how this blocking process works. Can anyone explain it to me?

      It looks, as far as I can tell, as if some automatic filter finds dodgy words and then human beings at the mobile company decide whether that means that a site should be blocked or not as being inappropriate to under 18-year olds. So, people at O-2, T-Mobile and (?) Vodophone checked our site and decided it is a ‘hate site’ and blocked it?!?

         3 likes

  15. Pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, and the bias it expresses towards Pals when it comes to refugee status.

    South Sudanese refugees flown home from Khartoum
    the first planeload of refugees stranded for months in a camp in Sudan has arrived in South Sudan. The 164 people have arrived in Juba after flying from Khartoum, where they had been taken by bus from their camp. They are among up to 500,000 southerners who lost their Sudanese nationality when South Sudan gained independence last year.

    In 1948 after Israel was born the Arab nations in that neck of the woods decided to teach the jew a lesson and wipe them out. 5 Arab armies invaded Israel in which to do just that. They informed the local Muslims to get out of the way and 500,000 did so. Only to be refused a right of return by the Jews who (let’s be honest here) didn’t trust anybody who wants them dead.
    Year in year the bBC has banged their political drum about these poor people, who having acted like rabbits have seen their numbers explode. (Yet all are deemed refugees) Despotic Islamic regimes point to Israel as a means to cover up their own heavy handiness and the so called human rights groups of this world myopically do so as well.
    The above story is about how when Christian South Sudan broke away from the rest of the Islamic Sudan, the Mullahs in Khartoum declared anybody from the south as Persona non grata. Reading the above they are kicking out over 500,000 Christians from their homes simply due to their religion and yet the bBC (and the left) remain quiet
    Instead of referring to this as for what it really is Ethnic cleasning based on the religion of the victims the bBC , refers to them with the less honest ‘Refugee’ tag so as to keep the lid on the intolerance shown by Muslims the world over to those who don’t follow the mores of a pedophillic warlord who the bBC reveres as a so called man of peace.
    The bBC the traitors in our Midst.

       16 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The BBC never bothers dealing with ethnic cleansing or violence against Christians in Africa because, obviously, Christianity is a Colonial religion forced on them by a foreign group of people, whereas Islam is….oh, wait……

         5 likes

  16. Pounce_uk says:

    The apathy promoted by the bBC comes home to roost.
    Takeaway brothel boss hounded girls for sex
    A Carlisle takeaway boss has been convicted of attempting to recruit four girls aged between 12 and 16 into prostitution. Azad Miah, 44, was also found guilty at Carlisle Crown Court of running a brothel from his business and paying for the sexual services of teenagers.
    The jury heard that one girl complained to police about him persistently harassing her in 2008, three years before he was arrested, but gave up when no action was taken.
    Years of promoting the line that Muslims can only be victims, pays dividends when it is revealed that the police rather than arrest a Pedophillic Muslim simply looked the otherway. Thank you bBC for pushing so many people towards the f-ing far-right.
    Tomorrow, the bBC will air a program about how this has nothing to do with Race or Islam. But not until after Morning prayers
    The bBC, the traitors in our Midst

       27 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      It seems there has been systematic neglect of duty by the Police “Services” (how I hate that description!) of this country over the sexual molestation and exploitation of young girls by males of the Islamic faith in towns and cities nationwide.

      This is a huge scandal in the making and should be properly investigated. It’s quite evident the law enforcement authorities have been turning a blind eye to this disgusting and RACIST practice for at least twenty years. I can remember in the early 90s the police officers in Sheffield being told by their bosses to ignore any crime short of murder committed by Somalian asylum seekers because of their “cultural background”. This was at a time when a growing number of Somalian youths were carrying knives and often using them when arguing with local youths.

      Part of the oath a police officer takes upon recruitment is to execute his duty “without fear or favour” but it seems the current PC fixated, Common Purpose management only apply it to the indigenous population.

         20 likes

      • TigerOC says:

        Write to your MP and ask for a thorough and complete investigation of the Police, Social Services and the relevant Ministers in the vein of a Leveson inquiry.
        The more people that pressure their MP’s, the more likely it is to happen. This is particularly so if your MP is Tory as it gives them the great opportunity to show just how Labour failed the people it claims to represent.

           5 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Once you’ve been declared ‘insitutionally racist’ (I know, that was only the Met but the muck has been spread far wider by the likes of the BBC) you are going to go all out to prove that you’re not. Add in the ‘community cohesion’ initiatives and it’s not difficult to see why the police act as they do, though I’m not excusing it. Like all other aspects of public life, the well-organised left have got a firm grip and it’s difficult to see who or what is going to change that.

           6 likes

  17. The Highland Rebel says:

    Views from b-bbc fans.

    http://www.is-a-cunt.org/search/label/BBC

    Pardon the French.

       2 likes

  18. Pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, pushes Libyans to stab the people who freed them in the back
    Nato hits back at Libya’s civilian deaths report
    Nato has hit back at a report urging the alliance to investigate fully the deaths of civilians in air strikes in Libya last year. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said at least 72 civilians had been killed in the strikes and the bloc needed to bear responsibility where appropriate… The point of the Nato air campaign in Libya last year was to protect civilians, so how many innocent people died is still a sensitive issue, BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall reports.
    For those who only receive their news from the bBC, last year during the Libyan uprising against dictator for life Gaddiffi, the West kept out of the argument until the Libyan army lay on the outskirts of Benghazi (March 19th 2011) instead of allowing those troops to wipe the city from the map, French jets, followed by the US and the Uk took out the heavy armour and troops of the government. Now as much as I find even one death, one too many,. I have to admit that actually if the West hadn’t of intervened much more than 72 civilians would have lost their lives. Something the leaders of Libya but not the left have acknowledged. Which brings me to this:
    “I think it will lead to unnecessary civilian deaths in the future if Nato refuses to look at what went wrong and make corrections.”
    In every other conflict up to Libya, innocent people have died, the left keep on banging on about the west using far too much force in which to take out the bad guys (Who usually park up next to schools, hospitals ,baby milk factories etc..) Yet they refuse to accept that the West has taken huge steps in which to limit civilian casualties for example one of the success stories of that campaign was the use of the British dual-mode Brimstone, which had a success rate of 98.3%. So good is this weapon the French have bought it, the Americans are buying it. Why? Because of the low risk of collateral damage something the left will keep on banging on even when no civilians get killed, but a terrorist who left 25 kids does.
    The bBC, the traitors in our midst.
    P.S. when was the last time you saw the bBC pushing a story out about somebody complaining about Islamic terrorists.

       7 likes

  19. Pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, Islamic hunger strikers and half the story
    Palestinian inmates in Israel ‘to end hunger strike’
    Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have agreed to end their mass hunger strike, reports say. The Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, said the deal was agreed after talks with Israel, without giving details, according to the Associated Press news agency. Israeli officials have so far made no public comments on the reported deal. More than 1,500 Palestinians have been on hunger strike since mid-April, demanding better conditions. Some of the strikers are now said to be seriously ill.

    The bBC report in breaking news what I have known about since yesterday. (Hamas broke with the story)
    Anyway, the bBC loves to promote the view that these hunger strikers (Never see a skinny Pal prisoner from an Israeli jail do you?) are champions for freedom against the jew. However has anybody heard the news of these Islamic prisoners who are also on hunger strike. Well not from the bBC you haven’t:
    160 Afghan Asylum Seekers Launch Hunger Strike in Indonesian Detention Center’
    Tanjungpinang. As many as 160 Afghan asylum seekers detained in the Indonesian city of Tanjungpinang have been holding a hunger strike for over two weeks in protest of their prolonged detention. The detainees are demanding they be released to Australia. M. Yunus Junaid, the head of Tanjungpinang immigration detention center, said on Friday that some of the detainees had to be hospitalized as a result of their hunger strike.

    Strange how the bBC remain silent when the prisoners are on hunger strike in an Islamic prison.

    The bBC, Islamic hunger strikers and half the story

       6 likes

    • Harry says:

      The BBC also fails to mention that the prisoners in Gaza (held By Hamas) are also participating in this hunger strike against Hamas’s crackdown on Fatah:

      Fatah prisoners held in Hamas jails in the Gaza Strip began a separate hunger strike to protest against their incarceration, Palestinian sources reported Sunday. The hunger strike is also in solidarity with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have been refusing food for the past few weeks, the sources said.

      The Fatah-affiliated Palestine Press News Agency published a letter from the striking prisoners in Gaza in which they hold Hamas responsible for their continued imprisonment, and appeal to Palestinians to exert pressure on Hamas to stop arresting Fatah supporters.

      http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=269805

         4 likes

  20. George R says:

    BBC-NUJ, in line with ‘Occupy’, propagandises against
    banks and capitalism.

    Will BBC-NUJ report this on HSBC Bank and jihad?-

    “HSBC: Leading Western Enabler of Financial Jihad?”

    http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2012/05/04/hsbc-leading-western-enabler-of-financial-jihad/

       0 likes

  21. chrisH says:

    Anybody able to tell me what the hell Alistair Campbells take on whether young Cameron will be able to take on Murdoch and his inexorable climb towards world domination…what the hell this has to do with news?
    You`d have thought that Bagpuss would have twelve years of flying round in Ruperts slipstream with his Tony to explain away…not whether Cameron can grow a pair, like Blair and Brown so obviously managed to do.
    The BBC won`t be asking him about that though…course not.
    Anybody from Leveson bothering their arses about Blair and Campbells time when David Kelly died and Hutton put lube on the water slide by way of tribute?
    Nah…course not!
    As Pounce says-the traitors in our midst…that`s our Auntie!

       18 likes

  22. George R says:

    Another antagonistic exchange between Beeboids Robert PESTON and Eddie MAIR today on Radio 4. ‘PM programme today. [Check iPlayer when available, between approx 5:10-5:15 pm]

    Labour supporter, Preston, goes further in his critique of E.U and Euro than previously; at the end of his piece, Peston even implicitly criticises the BBC for its reporting on EU and Euro!
    Mair signs off with some suggestion that Peston is more than full of himself.

       5 likes

  23. George R says:

    No interest from BBC-NUJ, nor from Chakrabarti’s ‘Liberty’ on persecution of blogger ‘Cranmer’ re-his article advocating man-woman marriage.

    ‘Cranmer’s counter-argument:-

    “ASA – His Grace responds”

    http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.co.uk/

       5 likes

  24. jonuk says:

    anyone watching the crap being spouted on the The 70s ‘documentary’ on BBC2? What a load of bollocks.

       4 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      That’s a classic definition of an oxymoron:
      bbc documentary.
      A bit like “religion of peace”
      or “australian culture”
      or “English rugby” lololololol
      had to get that in retaliation for the sheep jokes!

         4 likes

  25. Merlin says:

    Breaking news: yet more disgusting grooming. This time in Cumbria. Another ‘enricher’ from the ‘Religion of Peace’ has been found guilty for hideous crimes against our vulnerable young children.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-18056504

       8 likes

  26. jimbola says:

    The weather girl on South Today this was quite mesmerising in her blue dress. The crafty BBC are trying to appeal to my weakness.

    I’ve no idea what the weather is going to be like as a consequence, she was probably lying anyway.

       4 likes

  27. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Austin allegro is now talking through her arse on newsnight:
    growth cannot come from manufacturing says a report by 2 academics.
    Who they?….she dont say.
    I just think about poor old robinson crusoe, stuck on his desert island, sitting there thinking. ” hmm he thinks…now then what do i need?……better clothes?…another shelter…more food?…shit no I’ll go get some tertiary induistries in to make me lots of bank notes…they’ll be very useful to me..at least i can f*****ing burn them!

       9 likes

  28. Reed - badub tss says:

    Joke over on G.O.V.

    A black guy,
    An illegal alien,
    A Muslim,
    And a Communist
    Walk into a bar.

    The bartender asks,

    “What can I get you, Mr. President?”

    http://instantrimshot.com/classic/?sound=rimshot

       8 likes

  29. jonuk says:

    is there a list of Labour supporting ‘celebrities’ or Democrat supporting ‘celebrities’. I would expect most of Hollywood actors (some straight, but mostly gay) are Democrat supporter hypocrites

       3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      jonuk, I’ve got the list right here:

      All of them, except Tracy Emin in Britain and Jon Voight and Tom Selleck in the US.

      Jeremy Clarkson doesn’t count: he’s a licensed buffoon who would actually strenuously object to charges that he supports Cameron or Republicans.

         2 likes

      • Cassis says:

        and Gary Sinese – who has a picture of Reagan in his office on CIS New York.

           1 likes

        • Andy S. says:

          Gary Sinise spends a lot of his time and his own money helping wounded and disabled military veterans, which he doesn’t normally publicise.

          Some of the Hollywood lefties disagree with his actions and his politics and have tried, currently unsuccessfully, to have him dropped from the C.S.I. TV show.

          Perhaps Sinise is too well known for the lefties to intimidate, but it has been known for some years that the left wing/liberal movers and shakers in Hollywood have operated a blacklist against any entertainer/actor who are politically conservative.

             5 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Good call, I forgot about Sinese.

             1 likes

  30. George R says:

    An insight one never sees from BBC-NUJ:-

    “Greece and Europe fall victim to the socialist cargo cult”

    By Norman Tebbit.

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/normantebbit/100157824/greece-and-europe-fall-victim-to-the-socialist-cargo-cult/

       4 likes

  31. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Can’t wait to see how the BBC spins this one:

    Al Qaida bomber was actually a British spy

    It should be a fun editorial meeting trying to figure out how to report this, considering all the Narratives they need to support.

       0 likes

  32. David Preiser (USA) says:

    There’s going to be some NATO conference in Chicago this weekend, and the protesting has already begun. But there’s been an amusing first act. A bunch of people from the Catholic Workers movement (no prizes for guessing they support the Occupiers) decided to storm the building where the President’s campaign HQ is located.

    Protesters rush into building housing Obama campaign headquarters

    Dozens of demonstrators dashed into the Loop building housing President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters this morning, slipping past security guards and running up escalators as they kicked off what they called a “Week Without Capitalism.”

    No, this wasn’t about a protest against some other nefarious organization which just happened to be in the same building as the re-election HQ.

    After about 30 minutes marching and singing outside the building, the group tried to enter the building and reach Obama’s campaign offices around 8:30 a.m.

    Something tells me the BBC is going to love these particular Catholics and find Christian morality quite useful.

       5 likes

  33. David Preiser (USA) says:

    In my audio report on Sunday, I mentioned that a co-founder of Facebook was giving up his US citizenship in order to avoid paying massive taxes on the huge amount of cash he’s going to make off the upcoming IPO. I pointed it out to highlight the fallacy of the notion – often promoted by the BBC – that soaking the rich won’t make them leave the country. I wondered why the BBC hadn’t reported this story.

    So today (Monday), the BBC reported it. And they even mentioned that he’s avoiding that huge tax bill. Thanks for listening, Beeboids. 😉

       6 likes

  34. David Preiser (USA) says:

    John Simpson has admitted….something, I’m not sure exactly what, in his piece about China and Bo Xilai in last week’s Spectator:

    I first met Bo in 2000, when he was the top man in the port city of Dalian — known in the bad old days of warlordism and foreign intervention as Port Arthur. He was 49, a princeling who liked having everything his own way. Still, there was something pleasant and even innocent about him. On a console table on the balcony outside his enormous office he had installed switches that could change the colour of the jets of water throughout the city centre. It was like a municipal train-set created for his personal enjoyment.

    Another group of switches enabled him to choose which of half a dozen available tunes would be played over the city’s loudspeakers. The tunes were all Scottish. Bo Xilai’s affection for things British, which later featured in his choice of tailors and in his decision to send his son to Harrow and Oxford, was there at an early stage in his career. Perhaps that’s why I liked him too.

    I was in Dalian for Newsnight, and we made a film about him. I remember asking him to change the fountains several times, and switch Scottish songs again and again. When I met him five years later, he was nice enough to say that it was our film which had persuaded the Party bosses that he could deal with the western media. He become minister of trade as a result.

    I can’t tell if Simpson realizes what a naive tool he was, and how foolish his BBC colleagues have been regarding China, or if he’s simply relating this anecdote because he’s proud at having a hand in elevating Xilai to higher rank.

       5 likes

    • chrisH says:

      And signed his death warrant, just as sure as Obamas blabbing of an Al Queda mole therein has signed HIS!
      Still…all adds a line (or even a paragraph) to the BBCs traitorous output-and if it helps Obama or Miliband, then the BBCs legacy is assured with the likes of Simpson.
      Might even be worth a mention in the Radio Times , it`s really THAT good for John!

         3 likes

  35. George R says:

    EGYPT.

    For INBBC-LEYNE-KNELL’s Muslim Brotherhood bureau in Cairo:-

    “Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood organizing mobile medical convoys offering female genital mutilation.”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/05/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-organizing-mobile-medical-convoys-offering-female-genital-mutilation.html

       4 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Ah bless.
      That famous “community nursing” that keeps the waiting lists low for the Cairo NHS Trust.

         2 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        I cant wait for the RCN to do a survey across the membership there. I wonder if 89% agree that care in the community is not good?

           1 likes

  36. George R says:

    Quentin Letts:

    “At the end of one session in yesterday’s evidence, members of Lord Leveson’s inquiry panel walked past Mr Campbell. They stopped for a gay little chat. Could have been racegoers at Ascot, they looked that matey.”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2144458/Campbell-used-stern-jaw-clenching-scowly-arsenal.html#ixzz1uv3iA61L

       2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Oh, cripes, now he’s done it.
      Use a word like ‘chat’ when you mean ‘impartial in-depth exchange of views for the sole purpose of advancing understanding’, and the collective twitterelastic will snap and the ankles of Beebworld will be tripping over panties all week. Some of the women, too.

         4 likes

    • As I See It says:

      Distinct lack of BBC interest in Alastair at Leveson. Small wonder when you consider that it would all have been about Blair/Murdoch.

      Dear licence payer, we have redrawn history.
      You see it goes like this….
      There was World War Two that was fought against nobody in particular and during that the Battle of Britain was won by the Poles, West Indians, Women and (possibly) Mr Churchill who really wanted to have Britain absorbed into the EU. Then there was the wonderful Welfare State which brings us to the Beatles and all those lovely drugs and sexual licence. But 60s psychedelia didn’t make Britain quite colouful enough so we had to have the 1970s and mass immigration. Which makes sense because we always need to import lots of jolly foreigners just when we are about to have mass unemployment. Then there was a Dark Age. A terrible Tory blip in our otherwise happy decline. Funnily enough, Labour got us back on the right road to the final break up of the Union (BBC note to self: don’t refer to Britain as a nation anymore) and subservience to Europe. And of couse near bankruptcy – but that’s awfully hush-hush. Damn this Cameron coalition trying to turn things around! Now what advice is there if you have a villa in Greece and the gardener is insisting on you paying him in some hard currency?

         4 likes

  37. George R says:

    Top headline for BBC-NUJ:-

    Hollande (socialist, big spender of France) sworn in!

    Sacrebleu!

       1 likes

  38. As I See It says:

    Top of the BBC agenda for today: Be in awe of Hollande – ‘the first “Socialist” President of France for….’ insert some number of years. Of course our very own Dame/Knight Commander of the Kingdom of Fife, Nicky Campbell, is just loving all the pomp and ceremony (phew, look at those glittery chandeliers and all that male kissing on the cheeks). Meanwhile Gameshow is empathising like mad with the likes of the Mum’s Net crowd who won’t rest until they have us all labeled as ADD or dyslexic. Sharp elbows anyone? Ah, here come the Toricutz!

    Wait, stop the show – we have the latest news from the Revenge of Gordon Brown/Leveson.

    And like a good Euro-Beebo Campbell sees nothing sinister in the fact that the new Vichy Gauleiter is being summoned so rapidly to Berlin for the photo ops. Ah, he must be Germany’s little Dachshund? Do these people not have telephones or video conferencing?

       7 likes

  39. Guest Who says:

    In other ‘news’, I am not best reassured by all in the EU/ro zone.
    If these guys reap what they have sown, then fine.
    But if one penny of my private heard-earned and saved gets diverted to prop up any of them, Bob Crow’s perma-tan, a diversity-adviser’s stress therapy or Kirsty Walk’s index linked Majorcan tennis court floodlight back-up generator, there will be consequences.
    Investments can go down as well as up. It is not up to the private sector to protect the pols from the guaranteed hand-out classes they created to garner votes.
    As Capt’n Jack might advise.. ‘Savvy?’

       5 likes

  40. Roland Deschain says:

    And so the show trials begin.

    Prepare for a BBC wankfest while the European economies disintegrate behind our backs. Bread and circuses.

       5 likes

    • As I See It says:

      The BBC – quick off the mark, when we approve.

         2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Indeed. This just in, rushed to me by special email..
      Phone-hacking police charge Brooks

      Former News International boss Rebekah Brooks and husband are charged with perverting course of justice during phone-hacking scandal.

         2 likes

    • JAG says:

      To get a fair trial, aren’t there some protocols about the way that the media report the evidence (especially before the trial), or does that not apply if the newspaper which you used to edit supported the Tories in the last election?

         1 likes

  41. Pounce_uk says:

    The bBC,state executions and not even half the story.
    Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
    A man convicted of killing an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran two years ago has been hanged, Iran’s state media report. Majid Jamali Fashi, 24, was convicted of killing Professor Massoud Ali Mohammadi by detonating a bomb outside his home in January 2010. Fashi was also accused of being a spy for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and receiving $120,000 (£72,000) for the killing.

    So the bBC reports on how Iran has strung the neck of a man they accuse of murder and according to the bBC the Iranians did nothing wrong.

    Yet what I can’t understand is when the US, Japan carry out a state execution the bBC not only openly condemns the act, but they will find somebody who claims that the evidence against that person was flawed, they will find numerous human rights orgs to complain and of course they will trot out the line that the US executes more people than anybody else and of late they have been banging their drum about how expensive it is to execute somebody in the States.. I quote:
    Volumes of research have suggested the death penalty is significantly more expensive to taxpayers than the punishment of life in prison, due largely to the lengthy legal processes involved.

    Maybe there lies the reason the Iranians hang their victims by use of a crane. Tie a rope around the persons next and then hoist them up. To the bBC, there is nothing barbaric in that method , yet putting somebody to sleep is.

    The bBC, The traitors in our Midst.

       8 likes

  42. Fred Bloggs says:

    Also on the 24h news 12:20pm as well as http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18071681 . The news interview saying how un transparent this gov is. Saw this episode in Parliament and yes they did refuse to publish it. But so did the last gov refuse to publish the NHS risk register. In fact it has never been published by any gov. Don’t expect the bBC to tell you the whole truth, just smear the current coalition.

       3 likes

  43. George R says:

    SOMALIA.

    Is INBBC’s Mr Gardner aware of the existence of Islamic jihadists (who are unmentioned) as the perpetrators of this war against the West?

    “From Barbary Wars to Somali Piracy.
    The ‘Water’ Jihad has a Long Lineage.”

    (by Raymond Ibrahim, 2009)

    http://www.raymondibrahim.com/7356/barbary-wars-somali-piracy-water-jihad

    INBBC:

    “Somali piracy: EU forces in first mainland raid.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18069685

       1 likes

  44. Louis Robinson says:

    Alastair Leithead purrs with approval over Governor Jerry Brown’s financial plans. “People rarely vote to raise taxes, but California Governor Jerry Brown is asking them to do just that by tapping into a sentiment from the Occupy Wall Street movement – and picking on the 1%.” Super! Occupy Wall Street economics are in play. “And it seems to be popular. A recent poll carried out by the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California suggests two thirds of voters would vote in favour of the proposal.”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18067046
    However with tax revenue in California actually going down, in more prosperous states with lower tax rates where revenues are increasing, people are shaking their heads and watching a once great state become an economic basket case. Brown’s policies don’t make sense and thousands of residents know this and are simply voting with their feet, leaving for states with lower taxes – like Texas.
    http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2012/03/companies-leaving-california-in-record.html
    This also applies to college students
    http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/05/06/2827901/more-students-than-ever-leave.html
    The entire economy of California, once the economic driving force of the US, is broken
    http://www.cnbc.com/id/31923599
    Soon, with the middle classes leaving in droves, only the very rich will be left to support the very poor.
    So why is the BBC not reflecting this? The financial model under which Britain’s national broadcaster operates is one of central control, a guaranteed annual income from a tax and no accountability on the spending of these resources. The prefect California model. Vote Jerry Brown for DG!

       1 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      Perhaps the BBC don’t want to know that Brown’s $9 billion dollar black hole in the state’s finances has ballooned to $16 billion under “Governor Moonbeam” It seems that overtaxed businesses in the state have moved elsewhere since Brown took charge.

      Brown has previous for almost bankrupting California but the residents vote him back in. Someone compared it to a battered spouse moving away from her abusive husband until her injuries heal only for her to invite him back into her life only for him to continue beating her and eventually killing her. A bit like Britain re-electing Labour in 1997 after they bankrupted this country in the late ’70s only for them to destroy the economy a second time.

         2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Excellent point. I was thinking the same thing myself. Funny how the BBC decided not to report about Canada doing the opposite with success.

      Once again the BBC just follows the lead of the Washington Post.

      The entire BBC staff in the US could easily be replaced by a news aggregator plus a trained orangutan for the occasional video report.

         2 likes

      • DB says:

        “a trained orangutan for the occasional video report”

        The BBC Washington bureau staff like the finger painting apps best:

           0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I just re-read Alastair Braindead’s inset “analysis”. He hasn’t noticed that Gov. Brown needs not only to raise taxes enough to cover the deficit, but to pay for the additional spending he’s just promised. Yeah, that’ll work. I’m sure the Occupy shout out from Brown got the Beeboids all excited.

         1 likes

  45. George R says:

    SPAIN.

    BBC-NUJ’s ‘Indignant’ Mr BURRIDGE has good time (at our expense), embedded with Occupiers in Madrid.

    He concludes: Everything has to change, except BBC.

    “Spain’s Indignados protest here to stay”
    (-if BBC-NUJ’s Mr Burridge has anything to do with it).

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18070246

       1 likes

  46. ukridg says:

    ‘The Dictator: Why do autocrats do strange things?’ is the title of this lovely piece of infotainment:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17990615
    Oh, but where are all those lovingly left-wing dictators from Latin-America? Of those lovely leftie desposts from Africa? Or just Stalin, Hruschev, Honecker, Ceaucescu (he certainly had exotic habits) and the rest of the mob?

       1 likes

    • George R says:

      What does BBC-NUJ make of the strange things this dictator does, who:

      1.) as a Catholic, gives special preferential treatment to Islam;

      2.) decides to close down an ‘Asian’ radio station, then reneges;

      3.) says his £900,000 salary is fair;

      4.) moves half of the organisation to Salford.

      5.) wants his political clone to succeed him.

         2 likes

  47. Guest Who says:

    I think we need a laugh, courtesy of ‘Aunty’s Complaints Department says the funniest things’:

    Thank you for contacting the BBC about our ‘Newsnight’ item, on the mayoral contest in London on 5 April.

    We understand you are concerned about an exchange between the presenter and the programme’s Political Editor, Allegra Stratton, about Boris Johnson’s campaign to reduce the 50p tax rate.

    Allegra’s comments about Mr Johnson’s campaign were off-the-cuff remarks, not intended to be taken literally or too seriously. We acknowledge your concern and have raised your complaint with a senior output Editor on the programme, who says that no slur on Mr Johnson was intended.

    We are sorry if you feel we got the tone wrong on this occasion.

    We are guided by the feedback we receive and I want to assure you that your comments are being included on our Audience Log. This is an internal report of audience feedback that we compile each day and it’s made available to Editors and their teams, as well as to programme commissioners, channel executives and senior management.

    The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

    Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

    They do like their templates, so let us just have a quick reprise of the ‘meat’…
    ‘comments about Mr Johnson’s campaign were off-the-cuff remarks, not intended to be taken literally or too seriously…. no slur on Mr Johnson was intended.’
    Sooo… wild guess… despite bang to rights, no log, no record no pack drill (just between us. nudge, nudge) and it was all a laugh, eh, me old mukka… nudge, nudge.
    Er, no.
    And, for reasons that will become apparent.. no with knobs on. Some folk do know things need to be taken seriously, even if the BBC tries, when it suits, to pretend otherwise.

       4 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      We are sorry if you feel we got the tone wrong on this occasion.

      ——————————————–

      Note the non-apology apology.

      Ooh aren’t they clever.

         3 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Read Helen Boadens reply to the Boris article in yesterdays Telegraph.
        1. Boris says the BBC is biased, statist and anti-business…well we`re none of these things, so there!
        2. Indeed we have a duty to be impartial…and therefore we are…simple enough for you lot?
        3. That said, we do take this duty VERY seriously(earnest face to camera, deeper voice).
        4. And our opinion polling(oh do tell Helen…who?) tells us that we are impartial…so there!
        Oh to be so right and all the time like Helen and the Harpies running the Beeb…

           3 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          ‘Indeed we have a duty to be impartial…and therefore we are…simple enough for you lot?
          She doth protesteth a lot, and in a stuck record way.. hence too much, and now with zero cred.
          As with a BBC complaint ‘rejection’, one feels that few are very impressed with ‘saying it often enough’ technique to regain any traction.
          Much as I don’t have too much faith in Boris in many areas either, if he can’t rip her a new one if that’s the basis she is trotting out for the nth time, I’d be surprised.
          Off to hunt this doubtless epic of market rate hole digging next.

             0 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            Oo, looked what just came across my screen:

            http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/boaden-v-bojo.html?
            This chap is worth following for a few reasons, esp. DG navel-gazing.

               0 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              Wish that reply was somewhere interactive, as I might ask ‘Hugs’ about a few things, such as her ‘Email address to nowhere’ for the complaints she’s supposed to be in charge of, folk getting banned for asking questions, or getting accused of ‘bad faith’ in the face of much worse by her staff, and ‘jokes’ that are OK sometimes but not others.
              For a future DG, I’d say failing such questions when others are simply trying to hold others to account (recall saying that, Helen, luv?) would be pretty much a career killer outside in the real world, but in the BBC it seems a CV booster… uniquely.

                 0 likes

              • Andy S. says:

                Boaden’s replies remind of a scene in the 1960s film ” A Guide For The Married Man” in which a wife returns home unexpectedly and finds her husband (Joey Bishop) in bed with his secretary. She demands to know who the woman is and he coolly gets out of bed, saying “What woman?” while calmly dressing. The wife points and say “That woman!” who’s also calmly dressing. The husband just keeps saying ” There’s no woman there.” and (paraphrasing) ” There’s no one else in this room, just you and me.” He keeps telling her she’s seeing things and must be stressed, overworked and must need a holiday. Eventually the wife is convinced she is seeing things and must be mistaken, even while the “girlfriend” is taking her leave.

                You get the picture. I think Boaden is using the same technique,constantly telling us the BBC is impartial and is not biased, even though all the evidence is before our eyes and ears.

                   2 likes

                • Guest Who says:

                  ‘even though all the evidence is before our eyes’
                  All we need to do… is… look…

                  🙂

                     0 likes

    • Craig says:

      Hmm, casting potentially damaging aspersions on the motives of a political candidate in an election is OK, if it’s off-the-cuff?

      That exchange ran as follows:

      Allegra Stratton: So this morning Boris has published what he earns, which is over £400,000, which is a lot of money. But he’s also published what he pays in tax, over £200,000, which is also a huge amount of money. We’ve also heard from Brian…

      Kirsty Wark (interrupting): and of course he did campaign to reduce the 50p tax rate.

      Allegra: Indeed, indeed, we now know, we now know fully why.

      It’s the way she tells ’em!

         7 likes

      • #88 says:

        And of course Livingstone never produced his numbers.

        Can you imagine Newsnight not pursuing Boris?

           3 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          ‘And of course Livingstone never produced his numbers.
          Can you imagine Newsnight not pursuing Boris?

          Very good point.
          They can be very forgiving and forgetful little tinkers when the mood suits, can’t they?
          I might just ask about that, too.

             2 likes

      • Millie Tant says:

        Thanks for that, Craig. I was wondering what she said.
        So, it’s not just tone, is it? It’s content and the imputation of something: they don’t actually *know*. They can speculate and presume but they can’t know. Any more than Robinson can *know* G Osborne was lying, by looking into his eyes. Yes, that’s what the Complaints Beeboids tried to claim as part of his professional expertise!

           1 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Carol Thatcher’s comments about black tennis players were off-the-cuff remarks, not intended to be taken literally or too seriously.

      We acknowledge your concern and have raised your complaint with Ms Thatcher, who says that no slur on black tennis players was intended.

      She is sorry if you feel she got the tone wrong on this occasion.

         4 likes

    • Guest Who says:


      uncle bup
      Craig
      RD

      I think we are coming to appreciate all that falls under that wonderful ‘unique’ turn of phrase.
      It seems to be a licence for hypocrisy and rampant institutional multiples of standard.
      Thing is, if they abuse such things one way too often, then if they in turn get nailed the other, then they really can’t…ahem… complain:)
      (watch this space, or one like it, Friday)
      ps: Ta for the critical fisking/input on their excuses. It all helps the cause.

         2 likes

  48. As I See It says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18069127

    Byline:
    John Barnes, BBC Scotland

    ‘Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland have formally declared an interest in hosting Euro 2020.

    Ahead of a midnight deadline, they have told Uefa that they would be interested in bidding to host the European Championships on a three-way basis. ‘

    My comment (as an Englishman) – it is always nice to know who your friends are.

       1 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      It’s all very well for you. You can qualify based on standard of play. We have to look at other avenues. :mrgreen:

         0 likes

      • As I See It says:

        Yes, of course ‘host’ teams would qualify by right. I hadn’t thought of that. I’m afraid I now suffer from a degree of BBC enduced paranoia. Then again it may well be paranoia but that doesn’t mean that led by the nose by the BBC they are not all out to get us.

           0 likes

  49. DB says:

    Katty Kay, surrounded as she is by like-minded members of the liberal media sisterhood, assumes most women must want Obama to win.
    This was her response to last week’s Washington Post attack on Romney over a high school bullying incident:


    One of her favourite themes – on Twitter and various TV appearances I’ve seen her on recently – is the “gender gap” (or “canyon” as she likes to call it) ie the received wisdom that women favour Obama over Romney in large numbers. She’s at it again today, but a poll yesterday confounded that opinion:


    Recent history shows that women tend to favour the Democrat candidate so this must be doubly exasperating for poor Katty.

       4 likes

    • George R says:

      Has KK ‘twittered’ her two line application for be D.G of BBC, on the grounds that she is the wrong side of some canyon mirage?

         1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      “Chicago team”? She’s just RTing campaign talking points, FFS. And she’s the face of the BBC in the US. If there are any lurking Beeboids, I hope you’re proud.

         1 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      It seems the Washington Post bullying story was erroneous. However, at least Romney hasn’t sealed his college record, unlike the Obamassiah.

      One can’t expect the Botoxed Beeboid to acknowledge the fact that the story was ridiculed and criticised in some parts of the U.S. media and blogosphere.

         2 likes

    • DB says:

      The poll showing Romney up by 2 among women also showed that 66% of respondents were unconvinced by Obama’s explanation for his gay-for-pay flip-flop. The New York Times buried the story on page 17 even though it commissioned the poll. (Check out how the NYT’s reporters claim that the breakdown of white and black Democrat views on gay marriage were “roughly similar” when in fact they were nothing of the sort. Pure propaganda.)

         0 likes

  50. George R says:

    The REAL London now.

    Despite all the propaganda for the London Olympics, and all the security, reporting and analysing the new real London is relegated:-

    “Fifty Romanian beggars set up camp in the central reservation in London’s exclusive Park Lane just yards from where they were last evicted.
    “Moved into central reservation after eviction from Marble Arch last month.
    “Urinating in street in view of capital’s highest-end restaurants and hotels.
    “British homeless: Too dangerous to sleep rough with knife-wielding migrants.

    “Coachloads of foreign pickpockets and prostitutes flood streets each day.
    “Tourist: ‘It’s disgusting. It’s like something from the Third World’.
    “Locals say the group were sleeping in subway under central reservation.”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2144640/Fifty-Romanian-beggars-set-camp-central-reservation-Londons-exclusive-Park-Lane.html#ixzz1uxUVC2En

       3 likes

    • George R says:

      Will Beeboids adopt the Romanian beggar site at Marble Arch as one of their preferred ‘Occupy’ sites, as they fly down to London for the Olympics from Salford, staying at some 5-star hotels themselves?

         1 likes