144 Responses to OPEN THREAD…

  1. Backwoodsman says:

    Visit Guido’s – his latest piece is a follow up on the hapless smith, who reports that the inhouse gauliters not appreciating him being caught expressing bbc policy in public !
    Great opportunity for folks to post links for Guido’s peeps to come here !!

       5 likes

    • Fred Bloggs says:

      badge of honour “thats not how the bbc see it” Smith has reputedly said. Does that translate to ‘you are showing our bias which is part of an ongoing secret plan’ bBC Institutionally biassed.

         11 likes

  2. RCE says:

    Just put on last OT, but did anyone catch the Today presenters’ slavering over Paul Krugman (complete with dig at Romney at the very end)?

    How can anyone listen to that and deny there is bias?

       13 likes

  3. Roland Deschain says:

    Looking at Guido’s reminded me that Michael Gove telling Leveson what he thought about Murdoch, free speech and being offended was, in fairness, covered on PM yesterday.

    But did I fall asleep, or had the story vanished entirely by the News at Ten?

       6 likes

    • geyza says:

      The BBC do not like covering what Gove gets up to, because, (if you’ll excuse the pun), he’s a class act.

         18 likes

      • Reed says:

        I’ve just been catching up on the excellent Mr. Gove standing up to Leveson, who really is a pompous, self-important old fart. “I don’t need to be told about the importance of free speech”, he retorted, like a headmaster scolding a naughty schoolboy. Silly old twit. Gove has been the first person not to cower, with the deference to which his Lordship clearly feels entitled, thus the curtness.

        …and the BBC, having witnessed Gove’s defiance and noting the praise from many different sources, just couldn’t resist putting in an entirely unnecessary dig, to knock him down a little.

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18257958

        With smatterings of Latin and a full range of historical and literary references, this was a confident and articulate display, although his detractors feel Mr Gove often verges on the smug.

        That’s a value judgement, BBC. So is this….bastards.

           19 likes

        • Roland Deschain says:

          And from the same article:

          The long, tense exchange that followed between the two men got to the very heart of the argument that Leveson is wrestling with – whether new laws and regulation will be needed to rein in the press.

          Surely the problem is that Leveson is not wrestling with the argument. His pompous attempted put down of Gove for saying that confirms to me what I’ve thought all along. Leveson is wrestling with nothing. He made up his mind long ago.

             18 likes

          • As I See It says:

            Gove is right to highlight the ‘chilling effect’ of Leveson. It is my understanding that the press is now sitting on many stories concerning the rich and famous – hiding from the public that which our celebrity elite would rather us plebs did not know.

               9 likes

            • johnnythefish says:

              One can only hope the right-wing press whose vilification has been the main objective of Leveson, is keeping its powder dry.

                 9 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Michael Gove is one of the very few Tories who smacks the rubbish straight back into the faces of the lefties.

      And Leveson really revealed himself as a prig – who does not care for press freedom. He had no cause to interrogate Gove – Counsel to the enquiry is paid to do that. Yes, Leveson can follow-up Counsel’s questions. But did he take the same combative approach with Blair ???

      The more I see, the more dangerous Leveson appears

         8 likes

  4. As I See It says:

    Newsnight was, inevitably, agonising over Syria. Now the basis of the BBC line on past international disputes, indeed many overseas internal troubles, from the Falklands to the Balkans to Iraq (and lately Iran) has been to leave everything to the sainted UN. Whenever the west has acted as world policeman the BBC has criticized. So for all the present wailing and nashing of teeth the BBC has simply got what it always said that it wanted.

       15 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      As I write (10:05), the praesidium at Broadcasting House is still considering how to spin this item about Mugabe’s appointment by a UN body as a “world tourism leader”. My guess is that it will either be ignored by the BBC or it will be implied that the body concerned – the UN World Tourism Organisation – is not one of the main organs of the UN and is not really representative of the UN as a whole. Another matter apparently ignored at the BBC is the plea by the head of the UN Human Rights bureaucracy that sanctions on Zimbabwe should be suspended.
      Is there a pattern here? Is the BBC in the least interested? Is the BBC “line” not to report any Zimbabwe news until Patroc Trelawny is allowed out of Zimbabwe? Can we expect Trelawny to turn “native” re Mugabe (as did Alan Johnston re Hamas)? Actually I doubt that because, after all, this was a brief visit and it would be a stretch, even for the BBC, to cast the Jews as the villains in this case.

         13 likes

      • As I See It says:

        I have (almost) complete sympathy for this man and his colleagues, friends and family who must be very concerned for his safety. Having said that it should be these little brushes with reality that really ought to inform our outlook on the world. The BBC just doesn’t seem to work that way.

           6 likes

  5. Umbongo says:

    Alan Milburn was “interviewed” about his report concerning social mobility and the professions. Although the word “education” was used I failed to hear the words “grammar schools” mentioned – maybe because they weren’t. In the “news” at 8:00 am, this report was an item along with an extended rant (from the Today interview) about the “social engineering” which sees the tops of the professions dominated by the privately educated). The issuing of the report may be news but Milburn’s rant wasn’t and isn’t.
    Apropos of “education” Today devoted about 10 minutes of its valuable airspace to “a group of MPs . . . suggesting that there should be self-esteem lessons in school as they believe kids as young as five worry about their size and appearance. ” Puh-lease!! Again there was no suggestion from the interviewer that perhaps school is there to teach the three “Rs” (which the state sector increasingly fails to do) rather than stop hurtful remarks made to the obese.
    I’m boring myself on this theme but, again, the Chomskyan process of ignoring the “real” issues in education in the UK (ie the non-teaching of the basics and the woeful record of state education generally since the mid 60s) was observed both in this item and the Milburn one.

       22 likes

    • ROBERT BROWN says:

      I heard this too, and i shouted, ‘Grammar schools ‘ at the radio. This idiot thinks we do not remember the utter spite towards grammars shown by the Labour party in the sixties, and that those schools did more for social mobility than anything else. This moron Milburn should go and spend some more ‘time with his family’ again.

         19 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Secondary modern schools were condemned by gthe lefties – but they often gave good grounding in technical or vocational skills. Rather than keeping non-academic kids at school for many years with no interest and no achievements.

      Milburn or the BBC would never mention grammar schools as the MAIN engine of post-war social mobility. By the 1960’s 1970s 1980s, a lot of each Cabinet were grammar school, for example. Now no longer.

      (And I speak from experience. I went from an orphanage post-war to the local grammar school and then to Uni. I doubt if I would have had that chance in today’s comprehensives)

         7 likes

  6. noggin says:

    BBC, Luton Today‎, Yahoo news – no M word alert
    ex.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-18260017

    for a little more truthful journalism
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9299139/Luton-local-Sikh-community-protesting-over-sex-attack-police-failures.html

    as an adage apparently police have not revealed the ahem … nationality of this “man”, and at least they re not bandying the term “asian” around either.

    el beeb first for doctored news bias

       12 likes

    • Demon says:

      I commented on the previous Open Thread that the BBC would play it as “Asian woman attacked and raped by Asian Man. Asians protest outside Police station.”. It would be giving no useful information but would allow the BBC to avoid using the “problem” words that are vital to the completeness of the story.

         9 likes

      • Reed says:

        This might be worth a listen. Notice that the focus is on ‘the care system’ and not the system of organised muslim rape gangs. Of course, if there is a failure of social services to protect young people in care from abuse, it’s an important topic to examine in it’s own right. I’m waiting for a similar open and honest examination of the perpetrators of these crimes, not just those that failed to prevent them. The reluctance remains.

        Thu 31 May 2012 – 20:00 – BBC Radio 4
        Grooming: Who Cares?
        http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01j6t1t

           11 likes

  7. The General says:

    The web page for the Leveson Inquiry has a section asking or contributions towards the Inquiry. I have sent this email :-

    Sir

    As you have widened the scope of you Inquiry to cover Media ethics and accountability, it follows you should look into the left wing bias of the BBC who command a hugely greater audience than News International.
    May I remind you that at every Election the Conservative Party receive roughly and equal number of votes to those received by the Labour Party and these individuals are not represented in the reporting and staffing of the BBC. There are numerous examples of the bias within the BBC so please do not ignore it. Your Inquiry seems to be focused on Murdoc. If he is guilty of phone hacking he must be dealt with, however so must all other despite their political allegence.

    Yours sincerely

    Perhaps others could do the same as I do not hold any great prospect of a reply let alone cognisance.

       31 likes

  8. #88 says:

    A ‘Guest’ posted this on the DT, Ben Brogan story agreeing that the BBC does have a problem of bias.

    ‘ “We need to foster peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, stubborn-mindedness, left-of-centre thinking.”Ben Stephenson BBC Drama Commissioning Controller Guardian, July 16th 2009.’

    And right on cue up pops ‘Silk’. Last night’s episode dramatised evil doing by a bunch of upper class twits attending Oxford. Spookily, as members of a posh boys’ ‘club’ they smash up restaurants but pay for the damage (because they and their families can) and worse. They are of course representeted by elitist posh barristers who are smugly part of the establishment, as it seems are their parents.

    Our hero (prosecuting) who enjoyed all of those privileges, seems wracked with the guilt that his background has given him and want’s to see justice done.

    Threaded through and juxtaposed with this privilege this is a baseball bat wielding thug from the wrong side of the tracks, who has had none. Nor is the the Judge inclined to take into account his abused upbringing (and the pleas of his working class brief) when he gets 8 yrs. The Judge obviously one of those 80% of public school educated who Milburn tells us sit on the bench (see above).

    Not just in News and Current Affairs, the BBC take every opportunity to plant their message in the minds of the viewer. Elitist students? Smashing up restaurants? Paying for the damage? Have I heard that somewhere before.

    The Tele Tax is begining to feel more like a political levy.

       28 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      I wouldn’t mind – well, I do mind – but the whole thing (the plot, the writing, the acting) was so clunky: there was no “drama” since the interwoven storylines were predictable and all round crapola. Creaky plot devices included the posh hero withholding evidence (provided by a Murdoch-type journalist) in order to introduce a further “tense” storyline for the rest of the series. BTW neither the heroine nor anybody else noted that, in the real world, the 8 year sentence is in fact 4 years.
      Meanwhile, to burnish its right-on credentials “Silk” administered another drive-by kicking to tax-paying, whitey businessmen when the restaurateur was revealed as taking money twice over for the damage done to his restaurant (once from the fathers of the faux-Bullingdons and again from the insurance company): not that such an event would be unprecedented but, in my experience of insurance company claims, highly unlikely. Even more unlikely is that this double dipping would not have been known to the 3 defending silks.
      Even so “Silk” is not real life. It is, however, yet another drop in the endless stream of bien pensant propaganda; this time masquerading as “entertainment” by the state broadcaster.

         15 likes

      • Umbongo says:

        Oh I forgot to mention the ultimate cloying detail of this leftathon, namely the gratuitous introduction of an Obama look-alike American intellectual who had been close friends with the hero when they were undergraduates at Brasenose. “Obama” gifted the hero vital evidence (source unexplained) which provoked a guilty plea from the “toffs” in the dock: appalling, juvenile and desperately unconvincing.

           12 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Was there a Choom Gang at Oxford as well?

          Brogan also said that top Beeboids have admitted in private that there’s a Left-wing bias at BBC News. Would dez or Scott or Dr. Gregory or Geoff Watts or anyone else like to tell me that Brogan is a liar? Come on, let’s hear from you.

             13 likes

          • dez says:

            If Brogan had any proof he’d say so. But he doesn’t, and so resorts to; “Even BBC figures admit it privately”.

            What “BBC figures”? Was it more than one? Who did they “admit” it to? Several people? It obviously wasn’t him.

            So it’s something said by some people unknown – to some other people unknown – who then (perhaps) told Benedict Brogan.

            And at the end of all that; you’re left with the possibility that some people who work for the BBC think it has a left-wing bias.

            I wonder what you reaction would be if it was reported that some people at the BBC thought it had a right-wing bias?

            Be honest David – you’d re-work your argument; but your conclusion would be exactly the same.

               1 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          The B-BBC’s self-righteous socialist preaching will be its own undoing – these plotlines are fast gaining all the credibility of Soviet tractor-production bulletins.

             8 likes

  9. Henry Wood says:

    More Mardell Brown Nosing
    Mark Mardell: [about Romney] “He has, so far, failed to inspire. He is a good debater but only a patchy speaker. He doesn’t have “it” – he is not a candidate bathed in charisma.”

    So, talking of “patchy speakers”, when will we see Mr. Mardell’s report on Pres. Obama’s latest faux pas:
    [From Fox News]
    “The White House said President Barack Obama misspoke on Tuesday when he referred to a “Polish death camp” while honoring a Polish war hero.” […]

    “Sikorski [Polish Foreign Minister] tweeted that the White House would apologize for “this outrageous error” and that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk would address the matter on Wednesday. “It’s a pity that such a dignified ceremony was overshadowed by ignorance and incompetence.”

    Ignorance? Incompetence? But … but … sheesh! That’s Mr. Mardells’ hero they’re talking about!

    No wonder the BBC wants absolutely no competition from Murdoch.

       15 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      Obama has a problem with his history. Remember him boasting he had an uncle who “had helped liberate holocaust survivors from Auschwitz.”?

      It seems he was totally ignorant of the fact it was the RED ARMY who were the liberators. The nearest American units were around three to four hundred miles away at the time of the camp’s liberation.

         12 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Just like it is for many Beeboids, the past is just a plaything for the President, to be used and transmuted at a whim when it suits. This latest idiocy is just more evidence that He and His speechwriters are not the smartest kids in class, yet the BBC’s US President editor has never, ever called Him on any of it.

           8 likes

      • Henry Wood says:

        He has problems with history alright, even the most recent history. Remember when he signed the Visitors’ Book in Westminster Abbey on 24 May 2011 as 2008. Probably wishful thinking as in 2008 his star was shooting high in the ascendency whereas three years later many unblinkered people had seen him crash and burn.

           9 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      No, the BBC is so far censoring all news of the President’s faux pas. They must never report anything that makes Him look bad. That’s two hits on Poland in one week, if we add Panorama’s insult to them. No wonder they’re a bit touchy.

      Mardell’s appearance on Today and the accompanying print version showed him to be the partisan hack we all know he is. While trying to explain to his readers that Romney doesn’t have a coherent message yet, he casually lays out all the White House talking points. Yes, he openly states the attacks on Bain, etc., are White House attack points, but nowhere does he tell us the number one issue: people don’t so much care about a master plan from Romney as they do that he’s not the Community-Organizer-in-Chief.

      Mardell has spent the last year or so condescendingly telling us all that the Republican race was all about voters looking for the latest “Not Mitt” (as if he had clairvoyance and knew all along that Herman Cain had a sex scandal accusation lurking in his past that would bring him down), but now fails to understand that voters will now be looking for the “Not Obama”. Yet all the US President editor can do is glumly allow that His supporters are disappointed that He hasn’t fulfilled all that Hope & Change promise. In other words, not that He’s screwed everything up and is incompetent, but that He hasn’t completely transformed the country into a Left-wing dream state like they had hoped. That’s what disappoints Mardell as well. He simply cannot see incompetence or malpractice. While he did admit a while back that he thought maybe the President wasn’t very good at the political wrangling needed to work Washington to His advantage, that’s not the same thing as saying His policies are wrong or that He’s made real mistakes.

      And Mardell also shows just how deluded he is, just how inside the Left-wing Beltway bubble he is when he refers to Ezra Klein as the “most level-headed pundit”. That’s the same Ezra Klein who founded the JournoList (and continues to work whatever has replaced it), and worries about the economy moving money around “in ways that are unfair”. Worst of all, this is the same Klein who said the following:

      “The issue of the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than 100 years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs depending on what they want to get done.”

      This is someone Mardell respects. He should quit the BBC and go work as a spin doctor for some politician. His talents are much better suited for it.

         10 likes

  10. Guest Who says:

    Just back after a dawn meeting to a screaming BBC email special…
    Andy Coulson held in perjury case
    Prime Minister David Cameron’s ex-director of communications Andy Coulson has been detained by Strathclyde police investigating allegations of perjury at the trial of former MSP Tommy Sheridan.

    They are slipping. Should that not be ‘TORY Prime Minister ‘Under Even More Scrutiny’ David Cameron’s ex-director of communications Andy Coulson…’ for full effect?

    Even so, is Norman Smith on subbing now he’s shunted to ‘below parapet’ duties for a while?

       8 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Don’t worry, they more than made up for it on the 10 o’ clock news.
      Looking on the bright side, could be proof they read this website.

         3 likes

  11. jarwill101 says:

    We’ve had elitist students swinging off Cenotaph flags, but to one-eyed beeboids that was excusable. Student revolution time. Paul Mason probably gave him a leg-up & one of Che’s speeches. The lad had had a headful of whisky & LSD, & he was a Pink Floyd aristo. We don’t need no edukayshun. We don’t need no thought control. We certainly don’t need the seeping poison that emanates from every beeboid pore: from just about every programme. We get far too much of that. A corporation sick beyond cure. Riddled with cultural Marxism. Terminate; with extreme prejudice.

       19 likes

  12. As I See It says:

    Today I heard a Beeboid radio report on Julian Assange losing his extradition case but his lawyer popping up to obtain a further delay in his extradition. The credulous Beeboid expressed surprise at this supposedly unusual turn of events. Who is he kidding?

       8 likes

  13. Guest Who says:

    This ‘diminishing the power of the media (note term)’, as advocated by Ken Clarke and enthusiastically endorsed by Lord Justice Levenson… that does include public broadcasters too, I hope?
    Because if the outcome of this Kangaroo courtroom soap opera is that all others get shackled and Aunty is set uniquely free to peddle her already tainted wares, I’ll be vexed.

       9 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Of course, that is not to say that in speaking for the nation, the BBC does not serve, as this reflection of the current talk of the nation’s boardrooms shows..
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18258538
      Lord Chris Smith, Ben Bradshaw, Chris Bryant, Evan Davies, etc, will doubtless also approve this rare example of minority plight in getting promoted to high places, getting a brief airing.

         4 likes

  14. zemplar says:

    I can’t wait for Jeremy Bowen to report this one breathlessly. MB candidate Morsi, published in El Bashayer in Egypt two days ago:

    “They (the copts) need to know that conquest is coming, that Egypt will be Islamic, and that they must convert, pay jizya, or emigrate,”

    Jeremy? Jeremy? Oh…he seems to have gone….

       19 likes

  15. Guest Who says:

    Had to laugh at this in my PM ‘surf’…
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/correspondents/nickrobinson/
    Nick added analysis to:
    U-turn on pasty tax ‘a shambles’

    Clicking this lead to…
    Pasty tax: U-turn ‘a shambles’ says Labour
    So…what… he dropped the ‘says Labour’… like that makes any difference at all.
    Bless.
    I’d have dropped him a line on this, but well, you know… ‘closed for comments’.

       7 likes

  16. David Preiser (USA) says:

    In his piece about Mormons and Romney, Paul Adams brings up talk of a “Mormon moment”, where Mormon politicians get a moment in the sun. He mentions two other Mormon politicians who have had their moments in the past: John Huntsman (who was thought a viable Republican candidate by Mark Mardell and a handful of other Beltway insiders, but nobody else) and Romney’s own father.

    Adams leaves out the most powerful Mormon politician in the country: Senate Majority leader Harry Reid. Come to think of it, the BBC always fails to mention him when discussing Mormons. When Mardell said a while back that it was right to be concerned about a Mormon holding high public office because of their weird beliefs, and said that in the UK a Mormon pol would be questioned, he, too, failed to mention Reid. The only time Reid gets a mention that I can find is in the sidebar list of “Famous Mormons” accompanying Tom Goeghegan’s article worrying about whether or not the country would accept a Mormon President and would Romney use his religious beliefs for government policy decisions.

       7 likes

    • deegee says:

      America accepted a Catholic. It accepted a black (OK 50% Black). I would give good odds on a majority of Americans and a majority of states voting for a Mormon.

         7 likes

  17. Guest Who says:

    Meanwhile over at One Ed Flounders what, other than 12 hours, separates these?:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/correspondents/stephanieflanders/
    8 hours ago
    Is the Bank doing enough?
    97
    Nearly everyone with a vote on UK monetary policy thinks it’s doing enough to support the economy: The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted 8 to 1 against injecting more money into the economy last month.
    But the International Monetary Fund and a number of other respected economists – including that lone voice on the MPC – think the Bank should be doing more. Who is right?
    Read full article


    20 hours ago
    Is the Bank of England doing enough?
    Nearly everyone with a vote on UK monetary policy thinks they are doing enough to support the economy: the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 8-1 against injecting more money into the economy last month.
    But the International Monetary Fund and a number of other respected economists – including that lone voice on the MPC – think the BoE should be doing more. Who is right?
    Read full article

       4 likes

  18. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Wow, the BBC has actually just put up a report about the President’s “Polish death camps” gaffe. I now withdraw the charge of censorship. I guess they felt they had to give the Poles some support after taking heat over the Panorama special.

    Congratulations, BBC, you’ve taken one tiny step back from being pathetic lapdogs. Now what about all those other things you’ve been censoring?

       6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Now what about all those other things you’ve been censoring?’
      Of course, a few of their more extreme views-pushers could do with a bit of editing at least…
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/correspondents/markmardell/
      The Obama White House is ready for Mitt Romney. That he is not seen as a man of the people is one vulnerability Mr Obama’s team will exploit. So is the way Mr Romney made his millions.
      The Obama team also wants to promote the image of its Republican rival as very right wing. Not simply conservative but old-fashioned. The out-of-touch old guy who would bring back the past.

      Click on the link and it changes a bit..
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18255192
      ‘Mitt Romney has secured his place as the Republican challenger to Barack Obama in November’s US presidential election, following a primary in Texas.

      Results show he easily cleared the benchmark of 1,144 delegates to secure the nomination.
      Why two versions of intro?
      First Two Eds with two versions of the same story, and now Tub of Mardell’s changes in linking through. What’s going on?

         5 likes

    • will says:

      Funny how these false accusations keep coming from the luvvies & the left. Even “brain the size of a planet” Stephen Fry can be pig ignorant on this subject
      http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100014082/stephen-fry-apologises-for-auschwitz-remark-and-feels-sorry-for-jan-moir/

         6 likes

  19. As I See It says:

    BBC news are excited about another bit of anti-Government ‘anger’. Gosh the BBC do love that word. This time some of our doctors are up in arms about an increase in the amount they will have to contribute towards their generous pensions.
    It is an odd mindset that assumes the NHS is the best thing since sliced bread (perhaps I should say the best thing since skinny latte) and yet portrays its employees pushing for more pay and benefits not as a challenge to the healthcare budget but as a direct attack on the Government. I suppose when you believe, as the BBC does, that public spending should be increased infinitly so as to meet any and every demand…..

       13 likes

    • Andrew Johnson says:

      Given that the average GP’s salary is £105,000 per anum + they can claim all kinds of expenses, this surely puts them in the “Banker” category.
      Looking forward to the BBC bringing us shed loads of commentators to criticise the doctors greed in expecting the tax payers to fund their gold plated pensions of £60,000 per year. But that’s not going to happen is it? The BBC – biased to its core.

         16 likes

      • Reed says:

        Some of them get it…

        Keir Shiels – SHO in paediatrics

        I would strike over nurses being sacked. I would strike over reduction in services being dangerous for patients. I can’t strike for the idea that some of the best paid people in the public sector are going to have to economise. Sorry if that idea offends.

        http://order-order.com/2012/05/30/unionised-greedy-doctors-upsetting-medical-colleagues/

        Another one…

        This is a strike purely about money – how well off we feel we deserve to be. Not about patients. That upsets me.

           10 likes

    • JAG says:

      I heard the BBC say that there was a 50% turnout for the vote by Doctors (during the Eddie Mair hour long Labour Party Political Broadcast). What I didn’t hear was what was the size of the majority. But then if only 50% voted, it couldn’t be described as a majority of doctors could it? Best not mentioned eh?

         9 likes

      • I believe it depended on the “group” . It was 90% of Junior doctors and I think 70% of GPs. So over all less than 50% actually voted for a strike.
        The doctors now join the long line of professions that have now just become “jobs”.

           5 likes

  20. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Daniel Nasaw tweets his bias again:

       5 likes

  21. Reed says:

    More of the insidious nanny state/big brother nexus coming our way…

    ———————————————
    All school children should take part in compulsory body image and self-esteem lessons, MPs have recommended.

    Among other recommendations was a review into whether the Equality Act 2010 should be amended to include appearance-related discrimination, which would be put on the same legal basis as race and sexual discrimination.
    Jo Swinson MP says 1.6m people in Britain are suffering from eating disorders
    Under the current act, people can be prosecuted for verbal abuse if it is considered to be serious enough.
    If this was amended it would be a offence to harass someone because of their appearance, for example by drawing attention to their weight.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18260133
    ——————————————

    Very soon, you simply won’t be able to say anything that anyone might deem even slightly offensive to any group they choose to speak for. The po-faced, humourless, PC left are intent on stripping all the colour from our lives, leaving us with a gray, gloomy, morose existence. It will soon be illegal to smile. We’ll all have to spend our days with thunder-faces a la Toynbee – who hasn’t cracked a grin since she was in nappies – lest anyone assume that we might be amused at someone else’s expense.

    I see the awful Jo Swinson is behind this latest piece of authoritarian tolerance. “Do as you’re told, naughty children…or else”.
    I find the LibDems offensive – can I make a citizen’s arrest on this one?

    Freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend, f*ckface.

       10 likes

    • Harry says:

      I saw it on BBC News channel this morning. They got an opinion from a woman who said making fun of people for being fat is just the same as racism. No doubt the BBC will run with the story in their typical impartial manner.

      These neurotic meddlers won’t be happy until we all walk around with shaved heads, wearing the same grey overalls that prevent ones sex or figure being perceived, and, after centuries of forced inter-marriage, we are all the same race. Names will have been taken away, so that we are all called “comrade” followed by a number, and pronouns like ‘he’ or ‘she’ would have been destroyed, to remove all sexism.

      I joke, but for God’s sake, it has gone too far. There is something altogether dehumanizing about this equality proposal. If we cannot make fun or comment on something as trivial as someone’s appearance then what the hell next?. These bloomin’ narcissistic control freaks have made the typical lefty error in confusing legislation for manners, and fear of punishment for morality. Immanuel Kant would have have a brain aneurysm for the sheer stupidity of these people. It seems like social policy is constantly being pushed forward by a bunch of faux-intellectual half-wits, who lack even the simplest understanding of humanity and have been taught that new-left ideology=critical thinking. The BBC relishes in this nonsense. Give it 10 years and you’ll have the first person jailed for calling someone a “fat, pie-eating, lazy, lard-assed plonker”.

         14 likes

      • Reed says:

        “These bloomin’ narcissistic control freaks have made the typical lefty error in confusing legislation for manners”

        Exactly. As P.J. O’Rourke says, they fail to understand the difference between can’t and shouldn’t.

        …and this is being promoted by an individual who is a member of a political party that has the word ‘Liberal’ in it’s name. The PC left are the absolute antithesis of liberalism.

           13 likes

        • chrisH says:

          I too heard this pish.
          That school curriculum is already full of tripe and leftlib good intentions leading us to hell-and the kids to a welcoming dole queue. Where murders are a bit harsh…but racism brings the death penalty.
          The school day is already filled with crap that no private school would ever let in the door…liberal slops that require social engineering and buying off dangerous independent thought. Fine for our kids-the plebs-but never good enough for their ones…indeed, private school education buys their way out of Geldof and Olivers lardarsed bull and bling..
          No surprise then that some lightweight called Swinson wants being “fattist” to be yet another hate crime-and schools to do role play.
          So much more fun that learning to read or to write….Swinson won`t be having any kids soon, so not her problem…with a chance of a footnote under Harmans Directorate of Nice Things as her legacy.
          Still-it`s intended to anger any teacher who knows the truth-hence the item going in before 8am, so you want to give up on it all.
          Hope to see Davis hacked silly by some vulnerable young person with esteem issues before I do give up though.

             6 likes

  22. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The Romney campaign has released an iPhone app with a major idiotic error. The app is meant to let you put the Romney slogan “A Better America” with the tagline “I’m with Mitt” over any photo or image. The idea was to let people show their support, get the slogan out there, etc.

    Except the idiot app developer misspelled it as “Amercia”.

    Howls of derisive laughter from Beeboids and a news brief published on the website any minute now.

       5 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Right on cue, the BBC has whipped up a news brief about the error. They didn’t report anything about the new book featuring the President as a lazy, dope-smoking, mooching teenager, they didn’t report about the President referring to the Malvinas as the Maldives (or that it was a betrayal of Britain), they didn’t report about the President saying that Hawaii is in Asia, they didn’t report about the backlash over Michelle Obama’s lavish vacations, they didn’t report about the Cory Booker criticism, and even though they watch the Twitter and Facebook feeds like the hungriest of hawks, they failed to report on all those campaign hashtag fails. I’d bet that the only reason they reported on His “Polish death camp” gaffe was because Poland’s sensitivity over being associated with Nazi stuff is in the news this week already, thanks to that Panorama special, and they kind of have to make up for it.

      Yet they rush to tell you about this, including a separate mention in the piece about the President calling Romney to congratulate him on hitting the delegate target.

      Well done, BBC. You’re still in the running for being the foreign bureau of the White House press office.

         9 likes

      • Craig says:

        Though the BBC article doesn’t mention this, the ‘Amercia’ error was spotted by a member of Obama’s digital team, Chris Choi. “One mocking tweet from Choi later caused #Amercia to trend on Twitter.”
        http://www.joe.ie/news-politics/world-affairs/mitt-romney-wants-to-be-president-of-amercia-0025322-1

        Not too long after, Pia Gadkari (“BBC journalist based in Washington DC. All views expressed here are my own”) tweeted him:

        “pia gadkari ‏@piagadkari
        @thischoi Hi Chris, I’m from BBC News, can we use your pic of ‘A Better Amercia’ in a news story for http://bbc.com/news? Thanks, Pia”
        https://twitter.com/#!/piagadkari

        I presume she’s also the writer of that article, which uses the pic in question.

        All very helpful to the White House.

           6 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Jesus Christ, the BBC really is sourcing stuff directly from them now. I notice there’s no credit given for the image on the BBC website.

          I see Pia is the Beeboid responsible for that story about the Sioux trying to sue beer distributors, but leaving out the part where the problem exists because other Sioux are buying beer and selling it illegally on the reservation and nothing is being done about them.

             7 likes

  23. George R says:

    Despite BBC-NUJ’s special pleading for Julian ASSANGE, he should not be above British law, any more that Abu QATADA; they should both be extradited.

    BBC-NUJ’s Casciani speaks up for Assange:

    “Julian Assange loses extradition appeal at Supreme Court”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18260914

       5 likes

  24. George R says:

    “The judgment of Leveson”

    by Melanie Phillips.

    http://melaniephillips.com/the-judgment-of-leveson

    No doubt, BBC-NUJ will keep up its political tirade against Michael Gove.

       7 likes

  25. chrisH says:

    In the “Fauxtography ” thread, I go over only half an hour in my car on the way home tonight.
    The first piece was a piece of “social research” that showed that the out-group( the other race) can be included by the in-group(white chavs with pit bull terriers on strings) as long as they “observe” others of their kind “being friendly to” neighbours who are in the out group.
    Code for enhanced desegregration. like it or not.
    The BBC sees it as its sole purpose to bring us all together-whether we want that or not.
    And as for the cod-sociological restricted code…absolutely chilling really-that it serves as nothing like science as I knew it presumably makes it “accessible and on-message” for the BBC compilers of compliance.
    Dreadful tosh.

       10 likes

  26. chrisH says:

    Noticing one little trend.
    With Charles Taylor getting convicted today, the BBCs 8am news gave the credit for this to one Tony Blair, who instigated all this back then, by BBC reckoning.
    With a recent figure on the economy that was not as bad as the BBC were hoping for, again it turns out that things had been getting better in this data under Labour in 2009/10…so let`s not give this lot even a sniff of acknowledgement.
    Noticed this twice in the last three days-be worth looking out for at the moment.
    Someone back in 2010 must not have shared the BBCs regard for Labour-surely SOMEONE voted for the Tories did they not?
    Why then do I get the impression that nobody did-and that Labour were robbed?

       9 likes

  27. Mice Height says:

    “Raceless rape exposes BBC deceit” by Paul Weston:

    http://britishfreedom.org/raceless-rape-exposes-bbc-deceit/

       7 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      ITV and the local Luton News also censored the religion and ethnicity of the alleged rapist, therefore the BBC got it about right. No problem at all with letting the audience think it was a white man raping a Sikh woman, because they’re just quoting the police directly.

      According to one local Sikh elder, apparently a couple of Mohammedan lads came to taunt the crowd (starting at 1:13). I’m sure that has nothing to do with the situation, right, BBC?

         11 likes

  28. jonuk says:

    John Cooper Clarke, what a twat…a typical BBC ‘documentary’ celebrating a left wing twat

       6 likes

    • jonuk says:

      of course Plan B (twat) and Billy Bragg (twat) are included this ‘documentary’

         7 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Sounds like you might have coined a new collective noun there.

           2 likes

    • Buggy says:

      Strangely, twat No1 (John C C ) appeared as an answer on “Eggheads” this evening.

      (I, ignorant RWDB that I am, had never heard of him before).

      The question involved a couple of lines of which anybody would be justly proud: “If you like your coffee hot, let me be your coffee pot.”

      Fabulous ! I have made immediate plans to completely ignore the rest of the outpourings of this poetical goats arse and would highly recommend such a course to all.

         5 likes

  29. George R says:

    INBBC’s apartheid radio station, ‘Asian Network’, uses its Islamic political propaganda to push its invented notion: ‘racist Islamophobia’. [See first paragraph of article below.]

    “Daily torment of racism in the classroom”

    By Divya Talwar

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18150650

    There is no mention of ‘racist Caucasophobia’ against white children.

    The is no investigation of any Muslims bullying white children.

    INBBC’s outgoing Director General, Mark THOMPSON announced the closure of ‘Asian Network’, but under pressure reneged.

    Alternative analysis, banned from INBBC:-

    “Caucasophobia — the Accepted Racism”

    (2006)

    http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/caucasophobia-accepted-racism.html

       6 likes

    • noggin says:

      as i ve been posting George for quite a while now
      the bbc are insistent, on calling any erm “perceived” … negative criticism,(as it is almost always truth!) of islam or muslims … racism??
      It is so blatant, i recall D Murray pulling them up on it, and recently even J Barnes, laughing and having to repeat this fact, to an oblivious beebot at least twice.

      Then we have the strange “phenom” of how the word muslim can be ahem! … “forgotten” 😀 soooo! many times, so easily in news network supposed reporting then isn t it?

         8 likes

      • noggin says:

        as an adage islamofauxbia … everytime this word is used it pollutes the english language.
        It is nothing more than a entirely false construct, (to which i can t even be be bothered to explain again) …. add to that “racism” ? to describe followers of an ideology? …. only at the BBC, (or maybe the OIC, or the MCB, hmmm! DO,? we see a pattern emerging) 😀

           6 likes

  30. George R says:

    BBC high-cost greenies will not be deterred from their campaign to cover Britain with massive wind farm turbines.

    Two reports:

    1.) ‘Daily Mail’

    “The wind farm rebellion blows across Britain as campaigners take heart from village’s victory”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152460/The-wind-farm-rebellion-blows-Britain-campaigners-heart-villages-victory.html#ixzz1wQTz1J6d

    2.) BBC high-cost greenies:

    [Note how they give last word to their political chums, bent on imposing these expensive, useless wind farm monstrosities on us.]

    “Hemsby wind turbine High Court ruling ‘highly significant’ says CPRE.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-18263811

       4 likes

  31. George R says:

    MATT: ‘Doctors’ Strike’

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/

       2 likes

  32. Pounce_uk says:

    How the bBC pushes its anti-Semitism as NEWS.
    Israel returns the remains of Palestinian bodies
    Israel has handed over to the Palestinian Authority the remains of more than 90 Palestinians who died carrying out attacks against Israel. The remains include suicide bombers and militants who died in operations as far back as 1975. The repatriation of the bodies forms part of a deal to end a mass hunger strike by hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails .Israeli officials say the transfer is a confidence-building gesture.
    The above is actually the second iteration of a story where they took out a number of snippets which openly omitted a number of facts for the grater Islamic good. But even then the bBC in its haste to castigate Israel as a racist, xenophobic society still reveals its acute anti-Semitism it the above apology of a news article:
    Which is why the bBC story kind of omits that actually the body parts been returned have actually been buried and in this case dug up in which to hand over to the Palestinians.
    That the Palestinians are going to afford the body parts a military funeral
    That instead of this this been a ‘”humanitarian gesture” as the bBC’s claims the actual quote used was: “This is a goodwill gesture on our behalf. Semantics yes, but the former implies something totally different from the latter. Which combined with the rest of the article where Israel is parted as the problem detracts totally from the story which is:
    “Israel hands over the bodies of Terrorists to Pals as goodwill gesture.”
    The bBC, the mouth piece of Islamic Jihad in the UK

       7 likes

    • Pounce_uk says:

      And within minutes the bBC pushes out a third iteration , now compare that coverage with that of the murders fogel family. You know that story didn’t cover as it was a busy news day. But hand back the remains of Islamic terrorists who died doing their bit for Allah (that so called God dog of peace) and the bBC has them rewriting the article three times in under an hour.

      The bBC, the traitors in our Midst

         8 likes

    • Biodegradable says:

      You missed this snippet in Al Beeb’s “reporting”:

      The dead are considered martyrs by Palestinians, but terrorists by Israelis, and their remains are used as bargaining chips, he (the BBC’s Jon Donnison in Ramallah) says.

      Used as “bargaining chips” by who, the Israelis? We’d need to see who gets most out of the “bargain”.

      Doesn’t he know that sometimes years have gone by before the remains of dead Israeli soldiers have been returned by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_prisoner_exchanges

      On December 8, 1954, a five-man Israel Defense Forces (IDF) patrol operating on the Syrian border was abducted by the Syrian Army. One of the soldiers, Uri Ilan, committed suicide while in captivity. The four surviving POWs and Ilan’s body were returned on March 29, 1956, in exchange for 40 Syrian soldiers captured during various Israeli military operations.

      On February 21, 1962, Syria exchanged the body of an Israeli soldier it was holding for a Syrian soldier in Israeli captivity.

      During the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel took 4,338 Egyptian soldiers and 899 civilians, 553 Jordanian soldiers and 366 civilians, and 367 Syrian soldiers and 205 civilians captive, while 15 Israeli soldiers and the bodies of two more fell into Arab captivity. All of them were released following the war. Israeli spies imprisoned in Egypt since the 1950s, two Israeli naval commanders captured shortly after the war, and the body of an Israeli soldier who was abducted a year before the war and subsequently died in prison were also released.

      April 2, 1968, 12 Jordanian soldiers taken prisoner during the Battle of Karameh were released in exchange for the body of a missing Israeli soldier. The Jordanians were supposed to have returned two more bodies, but the coffins were found to contain only dirt, and the soldiers are still considered missing.

      On June 3, 1973, 3 Israeli Air Force pilots in Syrian captivity for three years were exchanged for 46 Syrian prisoners.

      April 4, 1975, Egypt returned the bodies of 39 IDF soldiers killed during the Yom Kippur War in exchange for 92 terrorists and security prisoners held in Israel.

      In June 1975, Israel released 20 prisoners from the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. In exchange, Egypt gave Israel the bodies of Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet-Zuri, two Jewish fighters of the pre-state underground militia Lehi who had been hanged in 1945 for having assassinated British politician Lord Moyne in Cairo in November 1944.

      During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon (the Litani Operation) IDF soldier Avraham Amram was captured in a clash April 5, 1978, with Palestinian PLO forces at Rashidieh camp in South Lebanon. Four other Israeli soldiers were killed while two others managed to escape to Israeli held territory. He was exchanged March 14, 1979 for 76 convicted Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

      Two Israeli soldiers, Yosef Fink and Rachmim Alsheich, were killed in a Hezbollah attack on an IDF roadblock at Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon on July 17, 1986. Their bodies were retained by the Lebanese and only released on July 21, 1996 in exchange for the bodies of 123 Lebanese fighters held by Israel.[1] Hizbollah released 17 soldiers from the South Lebanon Army (SLA) while SLA released 45 detainees Khiam prison.

      On May 25, 1998 the remains of IDF soldier Itamar Ilyah was exchanged for 65 Lebanese prisoners and the bodies of 40 Hezbollah fighters and Lebanese soldiers captured by Israel.[5] Among those returned to Lebanon, were the remains of Hadi Nasrallah, the son of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a clash with IDF the year before. Ilyah was killed in a devastating Hezbollah ambush at Ansariyeh, where 12 soldiers from the elite naval commando unit Shayetet 13 were killed in Sept 5, 1997.

      Over 400 Palestinian and 30 Lebanese prisoners, including Hezbollah leaders ash-Sheikh Abdal-Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, as well as the remains of 59 Lebanese killed by Israel, were exchanged in 2004 for the bodies of three IDF soldiers (Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Souad) captured in the Sheba Farms area in 2000 and Elhanan Tannenbaum, an Israeli colonel in the reserves, kidnapped by Hezbollah in Dubai in October 2000.

      Who gets the better bargain?

         5 likes

  33. Fred Bloggs says:

    Just remembered the History programme about Britain presented by Woods. Did he write the script or the bBC thought police. Two of many things struct me; he said that those manning Hadrians wall were British and then said they were from Europe and ME. Then said that the England was invaded by the Angles and Saxons, giving the impression that ALL English are Anglo-saxons, with the implication that the English are immigrants. Then later on to say that they only represented 10% of the English.

    The strong feeling I got was that there was a deliberate attempt to layout a story of immigration and multiculturalism, had taken place in the past.

       9 likes

    • Dave s says:

      The thought police wrote the script. So ignore it.
      We are a nation of immigrants. This is the perceived wisdom of the elites so we cannot object to any new wave of immigrants. Complete rubbish of course.
      i thought we all knew 1984 is the BBC instruction manual.

         7 likes

  34. Fred Bloggs says:

    SILK story was an illusion to the Bullingdon boys, again the bBC thought police at work. So here is the suggestion for their next script. Local Asian councillor from a Northern town is accused of colluding with Chief constable from perusing the investigating of kebab shop owner of assaulting white females.

    I wonder what chance of success that story line would have in getting past the bBC diversity vetting committee. And YES all story lines are vetted inside the bBC for their cultural content.

       10 likes

  35. Pounce_uk says:

    The bBC and how it covers up for Islamic paedophiles in the UK.
    Rochdale: Child safety ‘not guaranteed’ in care homes
    The leader of Rochdale Council says children should no longer be sent to care homes in the borough because their safety “is not being guaranteed”. There are 41 children’s homes in Rochdale, which house vulnerable children from all over England. Colin Lambert says the council has no say in what happens to children in homes who come from outside Rochdale.Nine men were recently convicted of abusing young girls in Rochdale, one of whom lived in a care home.
    Reading the above story it soon becomes apparent that the leader of Rochdale council is concerned about how young girls are been targeted by gangs of men for alcohol and drug parties and ultimately SEX. So you’d think the bBC would point out which section of the population like to kiddy fiddle as their attempts in which to integrate with the wider British society. I mean if this was gangs of Catholic priests the bBC would have no problem informing you about the common dominator. But when that CD is Islam then the bBC goes all coy . You’d think they would be exposing this scam about pious Islam, which sees account after account of Alcohol drinking, Bacon eating,drug taking, dog owning, women beating Allah loving Muslims going against the tenets of their faith which the bBC continue to tell me is against all of the above and we should respect Muslims for been such pious followers of a paedophilic warlord.
    The bBC, the traitors in our midst.

       11 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      This is just the continuation of that shifting blame, blame the victims, blame everyone else but the perps meme they started in that vile Question Time episode. This is clearly a deliberate angle the BBC has taken here.

         2 likes

  36. Roland Deschain says:

    Of all the stupid f*cking suggestions, surely
    this
    one takes the biscuit. Trust the BBC to report it as if it was sane.

    David Nutt suggests alcohol sensors ‘in every car’

    One for Esther’s “suitable names for the job” section, I think.

       5 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Try that link again.

         2 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      It’s being taken apart in the comments. However, at the moment the Editor’s Picks are:

      84.
      Ralphonzo Dinner-Jacket
      3 Minutes ago

      Fantastic idea. Should reduce accidents/fatalities and stop people from criminalising themselves, and free up police resources. Everyone wins.

      But for some reason I just can’t see it happening. Seems almost too logical…

      Comment number 72.
      just_twisted
      6 Minutes ago

      I see the “it can’t happen to me” mob is out in force already 🙁
      No one seems to give a monkey’s for the hidden face of the statistics. Perhaps you might play a different tune if you were sat typing slowly, as I am, because of the missing arm and the unending pain from the spinal injuries that being hit by a drunk driver can cause.
      How about some positive suggestions on how to make it work, please

      Comment number 68.
      Diana_France
      8 Minutes ago

      This isn’t as silly as it sounds: this summer in France all cars must carry breathalysers, which we are buying for around 2.50€ per pair in the supermarkets (disposable rather than electronic). Now drivers will have no excuse because they can easily check fitness to drive.

      Are these available in the UK?

         2 likes

  37. Guest Who says:

    As one alert to the subtleties of bias, I tend to perk up when I hear Mumsnet mentioned. This is the outfit fronted by just yet average baby-rearing, dishwashing, domestic goddess, who happens also to be part of Guardian royalty. Yet, oddly, on BBC outings, is pitched a spokesperson for hard-pressed mothers everywhere.
    So this exchange on a PR Forum was noteworthy..

    ‘Mumsnet has carried articles/information about a new client I have in the past. Never having used Mumsnet to promote clients as it has never been appropriate before I contacted the editor. I asked who I needed to talk to about my client being featured on the site as clearly my client is of interest to its readers – otherwise why would the editor have featured stuff before?

    The response was to ask how much budget I had to spend as there was no such thing as editorial on the site and the only way to be featured was to pay for it. If this is the way all blogging sites work then I am now far more educated and will remember to consider building in an advertising budget to support future PR.

    ‘Which now makes me wonder a lot more about the value of ‘Mumsnet’ as an objective resource quoted throughout the MSM on various, topical, and often controversial ‘issues’.

    As this would seem to suggest they are simply paid advocacy over impartial opinion, and highest bidder driven on top.

    Which I certainly was not aware of, and recall few if any MSM editorials/debates/expert commentaries making clear.’

       6 likes

    • 1327 says:

      As far as I can see Mumsnet is unique in that it is the only forum/web site the Beeb ever run quotes from or indeed even mention. For instance there is never any mention of ARRSE or any posts on it when something has happened involving the army or god forbid of this site when something media related occurs.

      Enquiring minds like to know why this is but suspect they know already 🙂

         5 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Ah, more ‘questions being asked..’ but you are of course also being rhetorical.
        ‘As far as I can see Mumsnet is unique..
        Only in Beebworld could there be more than one ‘unique’, but they have managed to find each other somehow, doubtless over the kind of cosy dinner party Levenson in no way sees as his remit to expose.

           3 likes

  38. will says:

    Sometimes the BBC consider the wisdom of the EU to be ignored. I can see no trace of this story on the BBC website
    Britain’s poor educational standards pose one of the biggest threats to the long-term success of the economy, a key report from the European Commission has warned.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9299973/EU-warns-UK-school-standards-threaten-economy.html

    The Beeboid journalists have not yet got a line on how this problem has only arisen since May 2010.

       4 likes

  39. Marsh says:

    Did anyone hear the Paul Mason interview on BBC R2 just after midday. I’m honestly struggling to get over the blatant bias and pro-Labour position from a Newsnight editor.

       5 likes

    • George R says:

      Comrade MASON presumes his political power base as NUJ Father of the Chapel at ‘Newsnight’ makes him politically immune to criticism of his daily overt bias for Marxism, UKUncut, etc and against all things Tory.

         7 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘politically immune to criticism of … daily overt bias for Marxism, UKUncut, etc and against all things Tory.’
        Meanwhile, in other news, of all that is vital, this just into my in-box as a ‘hold the front page special…’:
        Government u-turn on charity tax cap plan
        Government drops plans for charity tax cap

        Chancellor George Osborne drops plans to limit tax relief on charitable donations after protests from charities – the latest in a series of u-turns.
        In other words, something unpopular not now happening. Huge.
        Cue coordinated ‘shambles’ queue of Labour bobble heads only required to intone the mantra like good puppets…

           0 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Of course, they are all at it.
          Having decided to stand in a street to discuss Levenson/Hunt (and getting poor sound bite fare from two out of the three gobs du jour – the other one being as nasty a little man as could be imagined. A lawyer surprisingly) the SKY News lunchtime blimp had a phone-in with some Arts Director credited with the ‘good ‘ lobbying that secured the charity tax U-turn.

          Sadly for Mr. Boulton, having geared up for a nice boot-boy session, the guy at the other end failed to deliver and sensibly, and graciously gave credit for there being a mea culpa and that was it.
          Left the great man rather gasping for where next, like a Walrus who’d just seen his entire harem scooped away by an Orca.
          I imagine the BBC’s ‘guests’ will be much better trained on what is expected to be spouted, to fill a full week of dead from the neck up air.

             4 likes

    • Craig says:

      Paul Mason was the warm-up act to Paul Krugman on the Jeremy Vine/Lunchtime Loather Show, laughing at the Tea Party in the process.

      Here are a few representative quotes from Jezza:

      “And we are about to speak to one of the world’s foremost economists…”

      “We’ll talk about economics to one of the world’s greatest economists in just a moment.”

      “In a moment I’ll be speaking to one of the world’s leading economists”

      “Sitting opposite me now is Paul Krugman, who was being described in glowing terms there by Paul Mason, one of the world’s leading economists…”

      “We’re giving you the big build-up because we assume you’re going to give us ALL the answers.”
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01hzkkx

         5 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Krugman doing the rounds, then? He must have a book out or something.

           2 likes

      • Craig says:

        Though Jeremy Vine did ask a couple of half-decent questions, he quoted (without sarcasm!) another great sage at him – one Alastair Darling. Krugman agreed with Darling’s prognosis.

        Then Jez quoted Krugman’s “saving the world” comment about Gordon Brown and added a possibly sarcastic but just-as-possibly pro-Labour comment asking if a statue should be built in Brown’s honour. Krugman praised Brown.

        “Fascinating”, said Vine.

           1 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        So, just to be clear, the BBC and its minions pretty much reckon this geezer is the dog’s cojones, economics-wise, globally?
        Guess it must be nice to get a guest slot on your PR agency’s own show.

           1 likes

  40. George R says:

    More on Peston’s favourite European politician, Lagarde-

    “IMF boss condemns the Greek for avoiding tax. But Christine Lagarde pays NOTHING on earnings of £350,000”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151681/IMF-chief-Christine-Lagarde-pays-NO-TAX-300-000-salary-despite-attacking-Greece-dodging-payment.html#ixzz1wSDGBkle

       3 likes

  41. Guest Who says:

    Remember Shanene Thorpe?
    Seems she has friends in h..interesting places.
    GeorgeMonbiot ‏@GeorgeMonbiot

    Brilliant response by Shanene Thorpe to alleged shoddy treatment by @BBCNewsnight. Apology due? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/31/shanene-thorpe-judged-victimised-newsnight Excellent writer, btw
    Blimmin’ right wing rags… slagging off… oh, gosh.
    I wonder how Allegra and da Newsnight crew will shrug this one off when the fart was released from within the bubble?
    At least all at CECUTT are already dusting off their ‘we have had a look and are cool with what we saw’ templates, but may need to give pause before scrawling ‘BAN THEM’ in red crayon across any questions being asked from the CiF quarter.
    One thing to trash the singlemuvva community , but to compound that with dissing the sisterhood, and the women of the Graun too… that would be darn near professional suicide in some sections of NW London.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      When I first heard about this, and again when reading your comment here, I was surprised that the BBC would take a nominally Right-wing view on this, seeing as how the general consensus here is that the BBC supports the benefits culture and attacks evil rich Tories who want to cut them.

      Having now seen the segment on YouTube, I can see that it was a deliberate charade by Newsnight done specifically to generate sympathy for the young woman, and for people in her situation in general. She of course is not the classic benefits scrounger that people here complain about, and the tone of voice from Stratton asking the questions was an obvious act, an attempt at parody. The questions seemed drawn from caricature whinges. This was meant to evoke outrage at anyone wanting to cut this poor woman’s benefits. Nobody working for the Guardian, as Stratton has, would seriously take the position she was espousing with those questions.

      Very clever, Allegra. Very clever, Newsnight. You’ve made the appearance of doing your job properly: asking challenging questions, providing the opposing view from the one we normally accuse you of taking. And the consequential outrage means that you’ve done your job: getting a reaction from the public. Very, very clever indeed.

         2 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘This was meant to evoke outrage at anyone wanting to cut this poor woman’s benefits.’
        Tend to agree, though if this was a basis for a ‘see, we are useless in every direction, so we must be balanced’ strategy, I could imagine a few ways better that would still not get Allegra shunned by the Thursday night apres work, pre theatre crowd in the Ivy tonight.
        Having read the comments, what is a worry is the prevailing mindset that somehow it is for private landlords to compensate for the costs of wishing to live where few can, plus still enjoying the rights of being a singlemuvva.
        Plus I love the logic of somehow avoiding where she is living when looking at where the money goes. A bit like me going 5* in the L’Ermitage Beverley Hills on the taxpayers’ tab vs. a weekend in Margate, but justifying it on the basis the money for the penthouse went to the hotelier.

           0 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          I seriously doubt that La Allegra will face a single frown from her colleagues. They’ll all know exactly what she was up to.

          As for all those comments taking the young woman’s side, it’s just more stupidity demanding price caps on a commodity, something else the BBC supports. Stratton did her job very well indeed.

             1 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            OK, I guess she may have ‘taken one for the team’. Guessing she and Ms. Flanders will be comparing war stories over a nicely chilled Chablis tonight.

               0 likes

    • Reed says:

      Perhaps this kind of distortion of people’s situations and personal testimonies ought to be included in Leveson.

      One of the comments at the Guardian article is priceless. It blames the dishonesty of this BBC report on….yep, you’ve guessed it – Mr. Murdoch.

      ——————————
      tonkatsu
      They just give people what they want to hear – heavily influenced by the Murdoch press – in order to get their outrage rocks off
      If it hadn’t have been you it would have been immigrants or gypsies or the disabled or die Juden…
      Sorry to hear – but kind of heartening to hear the reaction… maybe they went too far and broke the spell?

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/31/shanene-thorpe-judged-victimised-newsnight?commentpage=1#comment-16396229
      ———————————

      That old Murdoch bloke has his fingers in quite a few pies, doesn’t he? He’s managed to get one of his evil spawn into the Newsnight edit suite. Evil genuis.
      http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQQlPxeQtkgp8Cq6tPKrJ_38dPpr_zmIb6B_taoQ6asl3zzqDZDD04WF14aEw

         2 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Careful with that picture Reed, Mr. Murdoch may not just laugh it off, and get Prof. Myles Allen’s legal team to brief the BBC on the new phenomenon of unacceptable counter-mockery which, as most BBC-commissioned comedians know, is not on at all.

           1 likes

  42. David Preiser (USA) says:

    On the News Channel just now, the BBC is laying the groundwork for their angle on the Irish vote on the EU fiscal treaty. Low voter turnout is, the Beeboid says, due to the boring pamphlet the government sent to everyone. Even a government minister, he informs us, fell asleep half way through reading it. People don’t understand the issues, he says.

    So it’s the same Lisbon song, the same AV song, the same song the BBC always sings when the people vote the wrong way. If the vote does end up going the BBC-approved way, I wonder if that will change?

       4 likes

    • Reed says:

      So low voter turnout is a reason for a possible incorrect outcome in this instance, but not when unions vote to go on strike with a minority of participation.
      They’ve really honed their spinning skills, haven’t they! Not that it would EVER occur to them, but they’re talented enough at this game that they could even put their talents to work for a political organisation.

         4 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Next you will be telling me that lobbying government minsters is like cats and dogs marrying when private companies do it, but if a public sector, NGO or charity outfit has a revolving door of suits pressing their dodgy cases, it’s all tickedy-boo.
        The BBC is now so bent, it can see how just about right it was in something before it even does it.

           3 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        A number of them do go on to use their talents for politicians or political organizations. Craig Oliver and Katie Connolly, for example.

           1 likes

        • Reed says:

          but it’s the ones who are engaged in the dark arts while still employed at the BBC and who maintain the pretence of impartiality….

             2 likes

          • Millie Tant says:

            They don’t even try to hide it. Last night, Paxman, in full sneer mode, (mis)informed us that the requirement for a referendum in Ireland on the EU treaties is a “quirk” in the constitution.
            Continuing in this stupid manner, he went on to refer to “the Prime Minister’s former head of propaganda” (see at 45mins 40 secs in http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jhlsz/Newsnight_30_05_2012/) This cheap jibe I suppose we were meant to take as a sort of arch comment, witticism or joke although it became a rather laboured one when he then asked Allegra Stratton what the proper title was.
            I guess he couldn’t let the opportunity pass to express his glee at the delicious news of the arrest of Coulson and seeing the PM embarrassed yet again by his former employee. Too bad he forgot about professionalism and impartiality.

               3 likes

            • Reed says:

              I wonder if he ever referred to Alistair Campbell in that manner – a man who really deserved such a title.

                 1 likes

  43. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Money flies out of Spain, regions pressured

    Spaniards alarmed by the dire state of their banks are squirreling money abroad at the fastest rate since records began, figures showed on Thursday, and the credit ratings of eight regions were cut.

    66.2 billion euros removed from Spanish banks.

    BBC: ZZzzzzzzz

       5 likes

    • Dave s says:

      A figure like that means that the Spanish banks cannot survive. It is a matter of time. The natural human urge to panic is taking over. The BBC and the elites that run Europe just have no idea what to do. or say. Reality is coming down the track.

         3 likes

  44. Guest Who says:

    First the Graun tasks Newsnight, and now this…
    http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=682:the-houla-massacre&catid=25:alerts-2012&Itemid=69
    Maybe the best plan is to point everywhere else and say ‘see, others are at it too’. That always works at CECUTT central. Well, until control passes outside of the hive.
    Nice to see questions are being asked of the askers still, if some looking a bit ‘blue on blue’ (or is that more ‘red on red’?)

       1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      When there’s so much evidence that the BBC definitely doesn’t report certain big stories that everyone else is running, it’s difficult to accept that excuse.

      But I like the article just below that one about Jonny Dymond alternately saying Russian had been convinced that Assad was behind some military attacks and saying, “Who knows?” It appears he’s doing what Beeboids do so often: discuss it among their fellow media travelers and then go with the consensus inside the bubble, based on little more than their feelings about the matter.

      Best of all was the email for Helen Boaden at complaints listed at the bottom. I’m pretty sure you posted a quote from her a while back saying all emails sent to that address go directly to the trash.

         1 likes

  45. johnyork says:

    There are a lot more rats running around and it’s all due to global warming.
    How do I know this you may wonder.
    Well I haven’t been listening to Black or Horrorbin, no – a far more reliable source :
    This evening’s episode of the ARCHERS.

    The BBC – unique indeed !

       6 likes

  46. Burt says:

    I say! Has anyone noticed? A new movie running in USA theatres starring our very own legend of cinematic glory Peter O’Toole?..oops BBC luvvies seem to be not aware? …..shhhh…It’s a film about …catholics…and it’s on their side!…oh dear oh dear..we better ignore that one then.

       3 likes

  47. chrisH says:

    For any of you nature lovers out there…a rare spotting of the lesser crested Huhne(Speedwankus trouserpressus) last evening.
    The great man was on Nick Robinsons soiree of a show where the great and good simulate what action they would once have taken, had they known then what they know now.
    As it is they never did anything-but boy, if they could….
    So little Huhne gets his ankle bracelet deactivated for the night and gives the nation the benefit of his political savvy…we went to bed, reassured then.
    And this morning-on the Today show-who else but his former wife Vicky Pryce…talking of a Plan C I think.
    Did the Beeb put these two lovebirds up together in a double room then last night.?..oh, do tell dahling!
    Who cares about Coulson or Hunt when the BBCs favourite power couple may well have crossed croissants in the Holiday Inn Breakfast buffet this morning….oh, what a jape!

       4 likes

  48. Deborah says:

    Radio 4 thursday 8pm ‘The Report – Grooming, who cares?’

    It was reported on the programme that one of the children in the recent grooming case was in care (they didn’t tell me out of how many). The programme explained that of course not as much money can now be spent on ‘Care Homes’ as was because of the dreadful Tory cuts, ergo it is this evil government’s case that the grooming by the men of Pakistani origin (at least they did let us know that but said very very quickly) happened.

       3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      And the Narrative spreads across the spectrum of BBC broadcasting. But of course, the BBC is too large and disorganized for their to be institutional bias, yeah.

         3 likes

  49. RCE says:

    In the latest Spectator the following caught my eye. First, a letter from James Hill of Swindon:

    ‘Sir: When John Simpson (‘Bias, Boris and the Beeb, 19 May) can point me to examples of BBC journalists asking politicians why they are taxing and spending so much of the public’s money, and passing so many new laws, instead of constantly berating them for not ‘doing something’ or not spending more money on the issue of the day, then I will believe that the BBC is not institutionally biased towards big government and the left.’

    Second, from James Delingpole’s Television review (‘Failing Britain’):

    ‘Talking of weaselly betrayal, I doubt there is another organisation anywhere in the world – not the KGB, nor the IRA, nor Al-Qa’eda – which has worked quite so hard, so consistently to undermine Britain’s interests during the past few decades as the BBC.’

    The JD piece is worth reading in full; not least his proposals to the BBC directors of programming.

       6 likes

  50. jonuk says:

    what’s happened to the BBC’s favorite bum boy, John Barrowman? He hasn’t been on The One Show lately, or Loose Women

       1 likes