158 Responses to WEDNESDAY OPEN THREAD

  1. PhilO'TheWisp says:

    A big challenge for BBC today. They have to neutralise Cameron’s speech on the EU and therefore once again stand opposite the vast majority of Britins who support renegotiation of terms and a referendum. They’ve had Mandelson (arch Euro far cat) and Cleggy (EU commission hopeful) on already. Speed dial on overtime!

       34 likes

    • Bob Nelson says:

      Very fair article on the Beeb’s political news website today with a round-up of commentators’ views of Cameron’s speech. It starts off with three very positive comments and then follows these with seventeen negative opinions.

      3:17. Balance about right, then.

         5 likes

  2. Cosmo says:

    The beeb made a bad mistake for their anti Israel agenda yesterday. Whilst reporting from outside a polling station from somewhere in Israel on the free and democratic election, a fully hijabed lady came out of the polling station having just voted. Never seen a Jewish guy wearing a sculcap doing the same in Saudi.

       41 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘lady came out of the polling station having just voted’
      Even here, the notion of having a regular opportunity to pass judgement on the calibre of public service being provided can be oddly unique, and FoI-exclusively unaccountable.
      And if that appears to present an opportunity for a Flokker to stir from the bunker, no, the provision of EastEnders or skewed ‘news’ is not something to equate with Health, Education or Defence, especially as most other democracies seem to manage without such a £4Bpa annual ‘investment’ in propaganda backed by censorship.

         10 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Also not sure too many women in hijabs get to do it in the UK.
      In person, that is.

         20 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        So the BBC films hijabbed woman coming out of a polling booth in the oppressive state of Israel but manage to ignore this on their doorstep:

        http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100152708/tower-hamlets-dead-and-incarcerated-people-vote/

        The BBC – beyond parody.

           27 likes

        • Cosmo says:

          I only saw the clip once, they were filming their presenter and the hijabed lady was in the background, I reckon once the powers at be saw their mistake it was pulled P.D.Q.

             14 likes

        • dez says:

          johnnythefish; “but manage to ignore this on their doorstep”
           
          Yeah, here’s the BBC ignoring it:
           
          http://bbc.in/10Syurl
           
          Duh

             0 likes

          • johnnythefish says:

            BBC News London website eh, Dez? Now what readership would that have compared to the 6.5 million who listen to Today or the millions who watch BBC TV news?

            Report back when you’ve got examples of some serious coverage of this issue on radio or TV. Until you can, bias case proven.

            PS You keep trying this trick and it’s starting to become a bit of a ballsache. You need to up your game.

               15 likes

            • dez says:

              It was part of a Newsnight investigation. Are you hard of reading or something?

                 0 likes

              • dez says:

                Ooh, just found this:
                 
                “Liverpool elected mayor candidate Mike Whitby arrested”
                 
                http://bbc.in/YoBI4u
                 
                BBC News Liverpool website eh, johnny? No mention that he’s BNP in the headline. No murmurs of bias from you or anyone else on this blog.
                 
                Obviously yet another leftist plot.
                 
                Duh

                   1 likes

                • johnnythefish says:

                  Nice to see you’ve come back bright and perky Dez after so many drubbings in 2012. Good bonus from the Beeb this Christmas was it? Oh, and any views yet on your lying BBC’s secret meeting with climate activists?

                     6 likes

                • johnnythefish says:

                  PS ‘A BBC Newsnight reporter said an investigation by the programme found electoral register information to be inaccurate’.

                  When was it broadcast, and who was interviewed?

                     4 likes

                • stewart says:

                  Er. first paragraph in bold print.
                  The BNP candidate standing for elected mayor of Liverpool has been arrested by Merseyside Police.
                  Why would anyone talk of bias when facts are reported in news?
                  Is there something more to this story than you are letting on?

                     0 likes

                • RCE says:

                  ‘No mention that he’s BNP in the headline.’

                  First three words of article:

                  ‘The BNP candidate…’

                     1 likes

                  • Guest Who says:

                    Maybe it was stealth edited in afterwards? Which would make the spectacle of the mind in question trying to cope with which explanation to go with rather funny.

                       1 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Several days after it was covered in other mainstream media outlets. As usual with this kind of issue, reality eventually forced the BBC to report it. One of the main complaints of this blog, which you love to defend against by saying that the BBC doesn’t have to report something if nobody else does. Yet the converse doesn’t hold?

            Unless you’ve got several earlier mentions, dez, this is evidence of the BBC not making an effort on red flag issues.

               5 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      Compare and contrast:

      There are hundreds of mosques in Israel
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mosques_in_Israel

      However, Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim leader recently issued a religious decree calling for all Christian churches on the Arabian peninsula to be demolished.
      http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/04/12/churches-in-saudi-arabia/

      Now that’s a Thought For The Day, in’it?

         30 likes

    • Reed says:

      “a fully hijabed lady came out of the polling station having just voted”

      So much for that ‘Israeli apartheid’ thing.

         3 likes

  3. Edited Highlights says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21158815

    You might have thought a story about falling unemployment would be headline news, but the BBC tucked it away below some stories about the weather and ‘A’ level reforms. Sure it would be a higher priority if the numbers were going the other way!

    Put a nice negative spin on it too. It’s such a ‘puzzle’ apparently how this happening, and we’re assured unemployment will be rising again by the Summer! No doubt independent, thoroughly impartial, economic editor Steph will be along soon to tell us all about it!

       40 likes

    • dez says:

      Edited Highlights; “You might have thought a story about falling unemployment would be headline news…”
       
      Yeah, how dare the BBC bury this headline underneath Tory Cameron’s Speech and Tory Gove’s education reforms.
       
      Obviously a leftist plot.
       
      Duh

         0 likes

  4. George R says:

    Beeboids = Mandy.

    Why does BBC-NUJ give such deferential political prominence to MANDELSON on E.U?

    One is inclined to conclude that this unelected ex- E.U bureaucrat represents the BBC-NUJ’s own political position.

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

       23 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      The BBC’s strategy on Europe:

      – we are heading for economic disaster, the implication being no further trade with Europe (ignoring the £55 billion annual trading surplus they have with us)
      – get the CEOs of big globalised companies to back this line
      – steer clear of small businesses which are hamstrung by EU regulation
      – don’t mention the Euro crisis, except as the occasional footnote on the business news
      – don’t mention the creeping political harmonisation, especially the open borders policy, which the British people have had no say on
      – don’t mention that the only vote the British people have ever had was on the ‘Common Market’, effectively just a trading bloc
      – portray the referendum as the culmination of Tory party in-fighting
      – don’t mention the opinion polls
      – never discuss the 2-tier EU which will inevitably happen as Eurozone countries opt for closer political and fiscal union
      – don’t challenge Labour’s position (because they don’t have one)
      – never question the lack of democracy in the EU

         28 likes

  5. johnnythefish says:

    Evan Davis having another of those lovely cosy chats with Labour this morning – one of their favourites, too, the oleaginous Chukkabutty.

    Brief challenge on Labour’s position regarding a referendum on the EU but allowed him to slither and slime his way out of it before he moved swiftly on to the usual Labour monologue slagging off the Tories with the predictable mantras, scaremongering and half-truths.

    Similar story on the BBC News channel yesterday on the monthly borrowing figures – aggressive questioning of the coalition spokesman then full rein given to Labour for the usual slagging off with the briefest of interruptions where she was half-heartedly challenged on the absence of any economic strategy from Labour.

    Biased Biased Cads*.

    * or a word of your choice beginning with ‘c’.

       32 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘allowed him to slither and slime his way out of it before he moved swiftly on to the usual Labour monologue ‘
      Interestingly, if one doesn’t stay on topic with the BBC on their ‘open’ forums in such a way, they will mod you out and threaten to ban you.
      One law for them…

         13 likes

    • chrisH says:

      I too heard this fatuous Umma-the Obama -lite breeze block who did rather well out of the bankers crisis…but seems not to be too proud of that.
      Note that Miliband technique so beloved of Labour pigmies, where they ask their own questions
      “Now why do I say that?”..Well Jim,It`s because…
      It`s as if they`ve all had Mandys chips placed where a brain might once have been expected…all on message, thick as f***…and all hoping that the BBC will help us all to forget what Labour did to this country. Common Purpose must merely be phoning it all in to these phonies.
      Which the BBC was born to do.

         10 likes

  6. George R says:

    NIGERIA: INBBC and ‘militants’ massacre.

    INBBC tones down Islamic jihadists’ massacre of 23 people for selling the ‘wrong sort’ of meat.

    The Islamic motivation of this massacre is clear to all except INBBC, apparently.

    “Boko Haram militants suspected of deadly attacks in Nigeria”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21152122

       9 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      In other words, ‘If you eat the wrong kind of meat we’ll kill you’.

      But don’t expect the BBC to revise its ‘religion of peace’ epithet anytime soon.

         8 likes

  7. Fred Bloggs says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21156370

    No mention that the reform of A levels is being done, because Labour with its reform of A levels destroyed their credibility.

       16 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Actually, this was another when I had trouble with the headline, subhead, copy consistency.
      I got from ‘rejected’ to ‘unenthusiastic’ in 2 paras, rendering the rest suspect..
      H/L: Shake-up of A-levels rejected by heads
      S/H: Education Secretary Michael Gove has confirmed major changes to A-levels in England but head teachers have given them an unenthusiastic reception.
      In the copy, though some quoted (all, as in ‘Independent school head teachers attacked the proposals as “incoherent”?) seemed unhappy, the only time the word rejected, attributed to the heads, appeared, was here:
      Copy: “Stephen Twigg, Labour’s shadow education secretary, rejected the argument behind the changes.”
      Is Mr. Twigg a Head? Or is the BBC conflating what Labour says onto our academic community in toto?

         10 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Ah, but didn`t Cambridge say that they weren`t happy with this change of Goves.
        Funny when Cambridge come in handy to the liberal eejits at the BBC?…rest of the time, isn`t it a bastion of privilege, and “elitist maan”?
        Still-the march through the instiutions continues, and I`d guess that somebody in Cambridges` Admissions sees Les Ebdon in the rear view mirror waving a load of wristbands and some of Milibands stolen gold from the next five generations , as yet unborn.
        What barbarians at the Gate…what storming the citadels?…Blunt, Burgess, MacLean, Philby…the spirit of the BBC and lefty traitors is alive and rotting the body politic from the head down.

           11 likes

  8. Dave666 says:

    It’s 13:00 it’s BBc news and once again I’ve joined a parallel universe. Over 10 minutes of hot air over something that will probably never happen. Yes the EU referendum I think that we will never be given a vote. In fact I’ve spent over 5 years in conversation on and off with my local Mps on the matter.
    Then more people in work- really I haven’t seen any (increase) in vacancies around here. Oh look a snippet about how someone has qualified to work in the security sector. Ok I have a door supervisor and a CCTV operator qualification, let’s just say it’s not the most difficult thing that I’ve ever had to do to pass. There are many reasons why the number of JSA claiments can fall i.e. despite paying massive amounts of tax and n.i. all your life all you will get is 6 months JSA after that it’s income based and if your partner works more than 16 hours a week that’s it.

       8 likes

    • Herbert says:

      There was a 90’s series called ‘sliders’ that was about parallel universes.
      The BBC must be big fans of it.

         6 likes

      • Dave666 says:

        I remember it was on BBc2 I have Season 1 & 2 DVD boxset as it was another one of those series that you started to watch only for it to dissapear.

           4 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      A Parallel universe where it would be an economic disaster if Greece leaves the Euro and has its own currency like Britain, and where it would be an economic disaster if Britain leaves the EU and has its own economy like Norway. A Parallel universe of reversed reality.

         5 likes

  9. Dave666 says:

    Addendum
    Oh yes it’s aid time with a representative of Save the Children. How much of what you collect do you pay as salary guys?

       13 likes

    • Hadda says:

      Try the Charities Commission web site

      I’m more interested in knowing how much of those charitable activities are in fact lobbying.

         13 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      They will collect FA from me!

         9 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      Charities have a dirty little secret. Because there is so much Government, EU and UN funding which is ringfenced for particular projects, the ordinary old fashioned donations from the general public are like gold dust – they pay the admin and the salaries.

         12 likes

  10. Doublethinker says:

    Anyone notice that there is a move to stop Sky charging the BBC a fee for carrying the BBC channels on the Sky service. Surely the most appropriate and fair solution would be for the BBC to charge a subscription fee for watching their channels via Sky but to exempt those who had Sky from paying the License fee. So if you didn’t watch the BBC you didn’t pay them anything.

       20 likes

  11. David Brims says:

    A couple of weeks ago, the loathesome, mutton dressed as lamb, Kirsty Squawk interviewed ” comedian” Billy Connolly.

    Is there two more detestable people on the planet ?

       15 likes

  12. David Brims says:

    Saw a 30 second trailer for the BBC 2 Star gazing event, last week, with Brian Cox ( he really should get a haircut, he looks like a girl ) and Irish ‘comedian’ Dara O’Brian who bares a striking resemblance to Shrek.

    The highly irritating trailer was a group of people ( they looked like a bunch of vegetarians / liberals ) ” looking up, opened mouthed, in awe and wonder at the Heavens.”

    That was the BBC intention, but it was more like a group of simpletons, looking empty headed and gormless.

       13 likes

    • Lynette says:

      Be careful with the word “trailer” when you complain to the BBC. The correct word apparently is “trail” and the BBC totally dismissed a complaint about the trail of a documentary that stated that “the Jews were the first Modern terrorists” because the word trailer was used.

         13 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘the BBC totally dismissed a complaint about the trail of a documentary that stated that “the Jews were the first Modern terrorists” because the word trailer was used.’
        Really? I knew they were semantic weasels rigging everything by their own bent guidelines to suit, but they blew out a valid complaint because the jargon was not correct?
        Is this in writing, better yet in archive anywhere?
        If so, my ‘Beware of the Leopard’ file gains a new, sordid chapter.
        As it happens I was researching their rare public shares on their market rate thinking, and stumbled across this…

        Click to access oct.pdf

        Try this gem from an Expediting Rejection (p42-44)
        What other organisation could credibly get away with banning a compelled funder from any further feedback on the basis that that same organisation had rejected their complaints successfully (internally and in camera) on several occasions before?
        ‘The Committee noted that the complainant had brought seven appeals to the BBC Trust in the past four years and that five of these were either not upheld or not accepted for consideration on appeal’
        Especially as it seems pretty clear that, from the off, they were messing the complainant about anyway.
        And another had been upheld, partially.
        Imagine the precedent with all powers the BBC considers it can hold to account if failures in other areas were deemed reason to pull the plug?
        ‘Seeeeeeww Prime Minsiter, while I have got you here, about this…’
        ‘Sorry Jeremy, as you are up to your neck in Savile, McAlpine, 28gate, etc, you are banned from asking me any more questions..’
        Read the whole thing. It is littered by procedural cock-ups by the BBC too, but they get to blow a licence fee payer off just because… they can?
        To any sane person, this must be a concern given the power the BBC wields without coherent accountability measures.

           13 likes

        • Lynette says:

          For Guest Who. The BBC do indeed dismiss perfectly valid and important complaints when it suits them because of the use of an incorrectly used word ( also have other eg’s of this ) See BBC Governors report at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/appeals/govs/apps_julsept2005.txt
          It’s too much to plough through and badly formatted (I feel that’s on purpose) but to summarise – The documentary about the bombing of the king David Hotel was advertised for days before the programme in the following way “Watch this documentary which shows how the Jews were the first modern terrorists of the 20th century” The BBC not only ignored detailed evidence to say that this statement was totally without foundation but they dismissed that the statement had been made as it was not stated within the programme.

             10 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            Tx Lynette.
            Rendering vast screeds indecipherable and then using internal rules to refuse to engage is as prevalent as it is venal.
            A fact that appears to have again escaped some as ever operating on multiples of standards in debate as it suits.
            I would be interested in any sensible counter-argument, but luckily, while paying for such contributions may be by compulsion we are not yet forced to read, especially when nothing is included to specify what.

               0 likes

      • dez says:

        Lynette; “…because the word trailer was used.”
         
        That’s complete bullshit. The link you yourself posted below (have you actually bothered to read it?) totally demolishes your claim.
         
        Duh

           3 likes

  13. Guest Who says:

    Misleading statements…
    http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/misleading-statements-joanna-haigh-attempts-to-fool-telegraph-readers-about-boris-johnsons-climate-views/#more-10777
    This cherry-picking lark keeps you on your toes. Lucky we have the internet on top of MSM.
    Unluckily many still seem content to be educated and informed by those who ‘analyse’ in an often unique manner on what goes in and what doesn’t get mentioned.
    Propaganda & censorship. Hard to trust anything on that basis.

       8 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Good spot and yet another example of the alarmists cherry-picking data to suit their agenda. Saw her letter in the Telegraph this morning. Sadly, given the paper’s record on global warming coverage, I don’t expect to see anything printed tomorrow which contradicts her view.

         6 likes

  14. Roland Deschain says:

    From the It’s Worse Than We Thought files:

    Massive melting of Andes glaciers

    Does anyone bother reading these any more? Except the vested interests.

       14 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Well, some do. But the comments, especially those ‘picked’ by the variably-enabled Editor option, are likewise rather tribal.

         7 likes

  15. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Only on the BBC. Netanyahu scraped through a victory in the Israeli election, and an Israeli at (I think) the campaign hall said that the opponents shouldn’t celebrate too much because he’ll still be forming the next government. Kevin “Teabagger” Connolloy replied, in a sort of asking fashion, that this was a humiliation for Netanyahu. Anything but overwhelming, super-majority is a humiliating defeat for politicians the BBC doesn’t like, but The Obamessiah wins re-election with less votes than in 2008, and less of a victory than Bush’s re-election, and the BBC sees it as a huge win, giving Him an absolute moral mandate to do whatever He wants, and complete humiliation and near destruction of the opposing party.

    It reminded me of previous BBC reports of some election wins as narrow while others are clear victories, even though the percentages are the same or even less.

    Fortunately, nobody at the BBC mentioned that the Palestinians don’t really want a two-state solution.

       21 likes

    • Cosmo says:

      That reminds me the present junta in the Gaza strip must be up for democratic election soon, NOT !

         4 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      If they did the same to Blazing Saddles it would reduce its running time to about 3 minutes.

      Do we have mature, grown up, responsible people running the BBC or a bunch of student activists? Rhetorical question.

         16 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Blazing Saddles?…Bucks Fizz?…Johnny Logan etc?
        Such is the level of mature grown up debate that the Scooby Doo monsters of the BBCs imagination bring up for us by way of “isolation” “little Englander” and “terrors for investment” that a mere referendum would bring.
        With stock stills like this being brought up by the vomitarium, it`s probably safe to say that the liberal elite are screwed….all those years of unthinking lefty worship at the feet of Blair and Clinton etc have left them ill-equipped to think of any reason why we should not shake the liberal fleas off the British bulldog, and relocate the BBC to Pyonyang…their spiritual home!

           7 likes

  16. George R says:

    “Sharp rise in number of BBC chiefs on top salaries.
    The number of BBC chiefs paid more than £100,000 has risen sharply despite a pledge by the organisation to reduce “sky high” salaries.”

    By Victoria Ward.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/big-brother/9821966/Sharp-rise-in-number-of-BBC-chiefs-on-top-salaries.html

       11 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Not an uncommon corporate scenario. They need to keep the officers’ ranks happy in order to prevent the kind of revolt you see in come countries when the colonels can no longer tolerate the generals driving the country into the ground. We saw murmurs of it when the rank and file turned on the top brass regarding Newsnight. Only some quick, adroit scapegoating and an order to shut the hell up on Twitter and Facebook did they manage to nip it in the bud.

      With all the alleged management reforms in the offing, the BBC bosses must placate senior executives to keep them on side later on.

         9 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      The contempt the BBC has for the public who are forced to pay for it can only increase the longer we are forced to have to pay for it.

      On the same day we have this:
      Number of BBC chiefs earning £100,000 or more rises despite pledge to cut salaries
      In which
      Lord Patten of Barnes, chairman of the BBC Trust, told The Telegraph in July that he would cut the number of senior managers from around 530 to 200 by 2015, to put an end to the “toxic” issue of executive pay.
      “Licence fee payers don’t expect the BBC to pay sky-high commercial rewards to people that work for a public service,” he said at the time.
      But a freedom of information request showed today that the BBC now pay 360 staff £100,000 or more. Only 310 employees were in the top tier salary bracket in January 2011.

      We also have this:

      Licence fee ‘may need to rise’ says former chairman Gavyn Davies

      The BBC licence fee may have to go up so that it can compete against subscription services such as Sky, a former chairman of the corporation has reportedly said.

      Gavyn Davies, made the remarks in Oxford at a speech given at the invitation of the BBC Trust, according to a newspaper.

      It was his first speech on the corporation’s future since he resigned as chairman in 2004 after it was criticised in the Hutton report.

      The comments are expected to prompt fresh debate about the future of the licence fee when it comes up for renegotiation in 2016.

      Mr Davies suggested that the fee, which was frozen for six years in 2010 at £145.50, should be lifted once people’s incomes had recovered from the economic downturn.

      He argued that it would allow the BBC to avoid a long-term decline compared to private broadcasters able to charge subscriptions.

      Bear in mind this is not the opinion of somebody who has no interest in the outcome. This is somebody who was invited by the head of BBC Trust precisely to make this pronouncement. The same head of BBC Trust, Chris Patten, that vowed to reduce the the number of top salaries, but didn’t.

      If the BBC wants to ‘avoid a long-term decline compared to private broadcasters able to charge subscriptions’, cut them off from the licence fee and let them charge subscriptions.

      Problem solved! Then they can pay themselves whatever they like.

         10 likes

      • Dave s says:

        It never occurs to them that there is no automatic right to dip into the public’s pocket given to the BBC.
        It also never occurs to them that subscription is a viable alternative.
        All the BBC has become is yet another bloated quango run for the benefit of it’s employees.
        Time to call it a day.

           12 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        ‘He argued that it would allow the BBC to avoid a long-term decline compared to private broadcasters able to charge subscriptions’.

        …..and nothing to do with private broadcasters running a tight ship, of course.

           5 likes

  17. bodo says:

    A new BBC series on immigration was advertised this afternoon. Next Monday on Radio 4; “In Search of the British Dream”.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q8lhy
    Foreigners are settling in the UK in record numbers. Lost in the immigration debate are the surprising stories of the migrants themselves and what they say about how Britain works.
    =======================================

    With a title like that it’s fairly clear the angle the BBC is approaching the topic from. Don’t expect any evenhanded analysis. All will get is a few carefully selected cases to show immigration and immigrants in the best possible light. Gangs of Romanian pickpockets and Nigerian fraudsters will be notable by their absence.

    Other stories “lost in the immigration debate” that the BBC might like to address are, for example, its impact on crime, on housing shortages, public health, on overcrowded transport, overcrowded hospitals, damage to social cohesion. But don’t hold your breath.
    Even though the BBC has admitted their coverage of immigration has been very poor, they still refuse to do anything about it.

       20 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Will there be any “surprising stories” about “migrants” taking responsibility for what happens?

         7 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘the surprising stories of the migrants themselves and what they say about how Britain works…..’

      Hopefully their observations won’t fit into the ‘biting the hand that feeds you’ category.

         5 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Let`s hope that the Poles , Latvians etc begin to send over thousands of news presenters and liberally inclined journalists who will work for the nationalised BBC for far less money-and with more transparent tax arrangements-than the current bunch of bedwetters in bad wigs that populate much of BBC output at present.
      Be great to see home stills and scrap metal theft, converted to internet local stations threatening the monopoly of Beeboid slurry that we`re getting day in, day out.

         13 likes

  18. Dave666 says:

    Rejoice we are saved Ronald McDonald is creating jobs so the BBc tell me. Do you wan’t fries with that?

       8 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      I’ll bet you a 1000 quid they didn’t say without having a ‘jobs lost’ story before or more likely after.

         7 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        You were right – Lloyds Banking Group. Like banks shedding jobs has been any kind of news for 25 years or so now – hardly an indicator of the economic times. Useless, clueless, desperate BBC.

           8 likes

    • Number 7 says:

      No, I’ll have a pound each way.

      Sorry about that:-)

         0 likes

  19. DJ says:

    Yes, it’s true: the BBC has now descend into full-blown self-parody:

    http://www.laughspin.com/2013/01/22/bbc-seek-comedy-scripts-for-sitcoms-and-sketch-shows-that-support-positive-transgender-roles/

    …but don’t call that guy who shoots hostages a ‘terrorist’, that would be ‘judgemental’.

       10 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      …..1 portray it in a transforming role”…..

      unbloodybelievable !

      The BBC is sick to its core.

         10 likes

  20. John wood says:

    Listened to a drama on radio 4 about Mosely – as far as I could see it was all about those nasty bankers and how nationalisation could save everyone.

       6 likes

    • John wood says:

      Here’s the blurb

      “It is 1931 and Britain is straining under an ongoing financial crisis, austerity measures and a Coalition government. Frustrated by the failure of the political class to take on the might of the banks, maverick Labour MP Oswald Mosley attempts to take things into his own hands by forming a New Party. But with the financial crisis deepening, co-founder and fellow Birmingham MP, John Strachey, quickly comes to question the motives of his larger-than-life friend. “

         5 likes

    • Colonel Blimp says:

      If we examine the Mosley Memorandum (written while Mosley was a Labour MP, signed by a number of others including Nye Bevan and approved of by Keynes) we find:

      An all out attack on unemployment
      National state pensions plan
      “Investment” in government construction projects
      Opposition to globalisation through protectionism
      Increased school leaving age
      Unemployment grants

      Sounds like a pretty solid Labour policy list to me.

         5 likes

  21. Dave666 says:

    So it’s 22: it’s BBc news The thrust is now “Gamble” Camerons Gamble. In fact I heard that word more times on the news article than I did watching a cable TV ad break, well almost.
    Yes it’s the big gamble of letting the British public have the vote on leaving the EU. Of course we have the old chestnut the British public last had a vote in was in 1975. Aaah yes I was 14 and as far as I was aware was based on the membership of a “common market” akin to the EFTA. Looking through the search engines the phrase common market appears to have been sent to the gulag. Certainly I don’t think the public were voting on the basis of legislation for how bent their bannanas could be. And off to see the compant that MAKES Something with the spokesman describing how EU legislation has effected his business. Then onto the company that DOESN’T MAKE anything. That is as far as I can see ship things in and then distribute the. And how leaving the EU would be a bad thing.
    “Do you want fries with that ?”

       7 likes

  22. Dave666 says:

    So it’s 22:00 it’s BBc news The thrust is now “Gamble” Camerons Gamble. In fact I heard that word more times on the news article than I did watching a cable TV ad break, well almost.
    Yes it’s the big gamble of letting the British public have the vote on leaving the EU. Of course we have the old chestnut the British public last had a vote in was in 1975. Aaah yes I was 14 and as far as I was aware was based on the membership of a “common market” akin to the EFTA. Looking through the search engines the phrase common market appears to have been sent to the gulag. Certainly I don’t think the public were voting on the basis of legislation for how bent their bannanas could be. And off to see the compant that MAKES Something with the spokesman describing how EU legislation has effected his business. Then onto the company that DOESN’T MAKE anything. That is as far as I can see ship things in and then distribute the. And how leaving the EU would be a bad thing.
    “Do you want fries with that ?”

       2 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      It was the Common Market and that is exactly what we were voting for or against. It then became the European Economic Community and then the European Union as political power slowly ebbed away from Westminster to the unelected Brussels bureaucrats without the slightest sniff of a vote.

      A referendum is long overdue but there are a lot of people out there who seem very scared at the prospect, especially the BBC and all their Europhile buddies on the political Left.

      It seems to boil down to this: they don’t trust the British people to come up with the right answer – they know best and stuff democracy.

         10 likes

  23. Chilli says:

    Weds 23rd Newsnight EU debate. Appalling pro-EU bias. Nigel Farage was the only pro-UK voice and was resticted to 3 short comments. The Europe minister, BP chairman, Czech ambassador were all given vastly more time to scaremonger about leaving the EU and wax lyrical about the alleged benefits of membership – and the VT featured 4 ‘ordinary members of the public’ – all 4 staunchly pro-EU. Followed by a VT from portsmouth where the BBC had found the nost telegenic, hardworking Romanian family imaginable to sooth concerns about benefit migrants. We were told how they all expected very few Romanians to immigrate. The only anti-EU comment shown was by a rather slow cockney old man who said we ‘didn’t have room for any more’ – the BBC skillfully subliminally suggesting anyone against unlimited open door immigration would have to be a silly old bugger like the gentleman they chose to show.

    My question is this: How can we ever win our democracy and our sovereignty back with the BBC pumping out pro-EU propaganda 24/7?

    Nigel is brilliant but he can’t win a battle single handed against a £3.2 Bn propaganda outfit and the combined efforts of the LibLabCon and pro-EU big business.

    I despair.

       27 likes

    • aerfen says:

      It is desperate, earlier on Five Drive Peter Allan interviewed a Polish woman who has lived here seven years – well of course she’d be in favour of the EU! She even admitted that Polish people support it because of the job opportunities that are now available to them!
      However the opinion of a Pole in Britain shouldnt even be relevant. She should have NO say in whether Britain remains in or out.

         12 likes

      • aerfen says:

        HE also found a British muppet who claimed that he ha dno problem with immigrants because they are not taking our jobs! 😮
        Absolutley unbelievable! Does this goon think they are *restricted* to doing ‘hard and dirty jobs that Brits are too lazy to do’ (as the BBC used to claim they were doing)? Has he not noticed A8s taking jobs in building societies, shops, offices? He went on to say that the EU was a *good thing* because we can go over there and take jobs too – an exchange which is largely theoretical only in the case of the A8 he has clealry failed to work out, and even with the older EU states far from balanced – there is limited scope for foreigners without skills in any other EU country.

           11 likes

      • AsISeeIt says:

        The Peter Allen BBC ‘EU debate’ was a joke. Six guests: One UKIP; one sceptical-ish Tory; FOUR pro-EU (self-interested) British-based Europeans or business people/EU advocates – or what we used to call the payroll vote.

        The only interesting revelation was when the Polish woman was asked what did EU membership mean to Poles? The answer: ‘The Polish newspapers talked of 20 million jobs for Polish people in Western Europe’.

           8 likes

        • Marsh says:

          Heard it, and couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. I actually think Peter Allen was a bit embarrassed.

             4 likes

          • Aerfen says:

            He did move on quite quickly from the Polish woman who’s accent was so thick it was barely intelligible.

            It always amazes me the cheeky self confidence of immigrants who don’t hesitate to give radio interviews, or phone in, despite their frequently dreadful English!

               5 likes

            • Marsh says:

              or the fact that they have no democratic say in the issue being discussed

                 4 likes

              • aerfen says:

                Should have no say, but if they are either Commonwealth citizens or EU they do – outrageous as that is!

                   4 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          Britain is helping to solve Eastern Europe’s unemployment problem whilst maintaining its own. Simple as that.

             4 likes

  24. pedro says:

    my objection to one sided this debate on immigration is the way the bbc only concentrate on the europeans coming over here,they are on safe ground here because they are white,but according to migration watch european immigration only makes up 10% off the overall figures for immigration when tony blair opened the borders in a free for all in 1997 when they was elected as a goverment,,the fact that 90% of immigration to the uk from 1997 was from south east asia and africa is a fact that the bbc and politicians will never discuss for fear of being accussed of being racist,,,where i live you rarely see a eastern european immigrant,but there is a very large population of pakistanis,,iraqs,,afghans and somalians here,,why is this type of immigration never debated at the bbc or media in general…baffles me.

       14 likes

  25. imaynotalwaysloveyou says:

    My guess is that the white migration from E Europe takes office admin and service/hospitality jobs, while the Asian migrants end up as cleaners or on welfare, with some using the ICT thing for technical jobs or for the NHS maybe.
    Whatever, I can’t see the point in it while we have more than enough lazy bastards of our own.

       9 likes

    • Aerfen says:

      We actually don’t have large numbers of ‘lazy bastards’ of our own. Ethnic British people have LOWER rates of unemployment, and many of those who are unemployed are not there through choice and are desperately looking for work, sometimes doing unpaid work experience to help their chances.

      Its wrong however that for some people , especially large families, benefits can sometimes be so high that there is no incentive to work.

         4 likes

      • pah says:

        What ever happened to the old mantra of ethnic minorities being more unemployed that the indigenous folk?

        Have we got to a stage now where there are so many ethnic minority employers that the situation is reversed?

        Or is it just the usual BS that the left use for divide and conquer?

           4 likes

  26. Marsh says:

    Netball would appear to be the new BBC R5L PC, social engineering project. Ticks all of the BBC boxes of course and, as always, the BBC are safe in the knowledge that they have no customers, only taxpayers forced by law to pay for them. What a joke.

       8 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      BBC pioneering Women’s Netball. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

      As the BBC become bolder and more blatant in their advocacy for certain minorities and their interests (always left-leaning) so the Corporation becomes less unifying.

         9 likes

  27. DYKEVISIONS says:

    The acid tongue of lefty Steph Flanders was at it again on the news on the ‘Today’ programme.

    ‘Reporting’ on the Davos Forum after an interview with IMF chief economist, Oliver Blanchard she barked out a lazy and obvious personal opinion in her report…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q02mm
    at 1h 3m

    Fragile economic recovery not ‘feeble’, the brainwashing continues!!

       9 likes

  28. George R says:

    BBC-Democrats: censoring for Clinton and jihad.

    Two reports of same event:

    1.) ‘Jihadwatch’:-

    “Hillary Lets the Jihadist Cat Out of the Bag”

    By Robert Spencer.

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/01/robert-spencer-hillary-lets-the-jihadist-cat-out-of-bag.html

    2.) BBC-Democrat:-

    “Hillary Clinton defends handling of Benghazi attack”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/21161346

       4 likes

    • George R says:

      [Excerpt from Robert Spencer’s article:-

      “After four years of pretending there is no jihad against the free world, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blurted out the truth during her testimony on the Benghazi jihad massacre Wednesday: ‘We now face a spreading jihadist threat,” she said, adding: “We have to recognize this is a global movement.’
      “We do? Yet the Obama administration has for years steadfastly and repeatedly denied both that there was a jihadist threat at all and that it was a global movement.”

         9 likes

    • Justin Casey says:

      Did anyone else take note of the lack of any actual emotion or even an attempt to wipe away non existent tears as Shillary said ….
      “I put my arms around the mothers and fathers, the sisters and brothers, the sons and daughters, and the wives left alone to raise their children,”
      Then it was followed immediatly by an upbeat description of how proud she was to be head of the State Department and how much of an honor it was to mismanage the 70,000 staff in Washington and also how mush she admired the work ethic of consulate officials who had not yet been murdered by intolerant and murderous Islamic savages who follow `The Religion Of Peace`…. Unbelievable…. If i had been a relative at the airport I would have smacked them both in the mouth…

         8 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        No raised eyebrows or even remote interest from Beeboids about how the Sec. of State cried, “Who cares why they attacked” while out of the other side of her mouth claimed that they were still investigating how and why the attack happened so they could prevent it from ever happening again. Utter carelessness, and you won’t see a single negative remark from anyone at the BBC.

        Nor will any Beeboid speak ill of how Hillary said she took responsibility for the whole thing, while out of the other side of her mouth blaming underlings for not showing her the relevant intelligence info.

           7 likes

        • Justin Casey says:

          When the BBC state that she is taking responsiblity for the Benghazi debacle they are once again publishing an `opinion` piece…. The fact is that she went before the inquiry and stated that the relevent information was not made available to her at the time… Then when pressed by members of the inquiry about details etc…. Shillary says that a full report cannot be given as it is still the subject of another `enquiry` by her own staff…….. She will now `retire`… and so will the inquiry…. Will Obama have to appear?? I`m not very savvy about the U.S. system…..

             5 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            The BBC is quoting Sec. Clinton, though. She did say she took responsibility. I think it was right before she blamed her underlings for not giving her the key info, and that it didn’t matter why the attack happened even though the “why” is very much worth investigating so they can prevent this kind of thing from happening again. You won’t see any Beeboids tweeting their derision, like they did for Sarah Palin.

               4 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Sorry, wrong quote. She actually said, “What difference does it make?” regarding the question about why they kept saying it was caused by that video. My apologies for the error.

             4 likes

  29. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    More of the usual bBBC rewriting of history, trying to make people forget the failings of the last Labour government.
    Their headline UKBA backlogs: Inspectors find thousands of new cases actually refers to a report about a backlog of immigration cases going back to 2003. The only new thing is that Labour didn’t bother to investigate during their ‘open borders’ campaign.

       16 likes

  30. Maturecheese says:

    Hells teeth!, It seems most serial killers are white males according to whatever muppet is being interviewed on Bacon at just before 3.50pm. I am not listening acutely as it’s just on in the background so maybe I’ve taken it out of context but I doubt it.

       5 likes

    • Maturecheese says:

      Seems the guy is a lefty lovey type film maker as slagging off guns in America is also mentioned, all in keeping with the BBC mindset then.

         5 likes

      • Maturecheese says:

        I wish there was an edit facility, The Lefty in question is James Purefoy who it seems sold the ‘Socialist Worker’ in his younger days

           5 likes

    • joshaw says:

      “It seems most serial killers are white males”

      I’m not an expert but I thought that was true?

      Surely the issue is that it’s OK to discuss “white crimes” but not others?

      (Apologies if you were being ironic.)

         1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      In places where the population is majority white, yes. In places like Mexico, not so much. Causation is tricksy.

         3 likes

  31. noggin says:

    just via al bbc radio … reports urgent message, to ahem “westerners” in banghazi to leave? … as there is a “concerted threat” to them? … the plot sickens …
    is this the ambiguous erm “militants” the al bbc refer to so
    often.
    what a mystery eh! … is there no clearer description?
    could it possibly be islamic facists? driven by the muslim penchant for jihad? … at all … eh!
    like their erm “brothers” in mali … anyone?

       12 likes

  32. chrisH says:

    You can tell just how bankrupt and useless the BBC are, when they have to go to Davos to seek out their “voices of the vulnerable, at risk if we have a referendum”.
    If its the Muslim Brotherhood, they send their girls to Tahrir Square for the BBC take on things…if its acting on crime, they go to Norris Green or Kidbrooke Estate…if its for legalising drugs, well they go to Will Selfs house or Russell Brands.
    Yet-when it comes to the E.U Referendum-no voices from a Portsmouth pub, no vox pox from a Worcester rush hour.
    Only the voices of BP. Lords Mandelson,Brittain, Prescott, Heseltine, Blair and Belgian trough surfers getting giddy on the free slalom down the butter mountains…all with hoods up, looking pinched and oh-so-sad , what with Cameron “isolating “us, “putting investment at risk”…and “at this time “too.
    Was there ever a good time to have a referendum them according to this lot?…when the economy was er…booming under Blair perhaps?..nah, sure as hell we didn`t get one then either!
    Stoopid Flanders gets her chance to rub noses with Big Pharma, the hated tax dodging multinationals, and those Occupy villains…but funnily enough omits to storm the walls of cosy Swiss privilege as long as the BBC are paying and Soros lights up her good side with his helicopter lights.
    What catalysts eh?….and seemingly unable to find anyone who thinks Cameron is right…not only in Davos, but Portsmouth, Worcester…anywhere..
    Biased useless scum…our BBC!

       16 likes

  33. johnnythefish says:

    Two comical pieces of Newspeak on the BBC during this week which I’d not previously heard:

    ‘Undocumented migrant’ (illegal immigrant)

    ‘Informally employed’ (working on the black market)

    George has almost burrowed his way to the earth’s core by now…

       14 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      In that case, how about:

      ‘Undocumented purchase’ (theft)?

         5 likes

      • chrisH says:

        And Obamas administration refers to “terrorism” as “man-caused disasters” apparently too.
        Thank God that Orwell told us what this all means.

           1 likes

  34. johnnythefish says:

    Couple of doses of harsh reality for the BBC this morning delivered in quick succession by an energy expert being interviewed during the Today business news:

    1. Germany’s ban on nuclear power and dash for alternative energy is actually going to result in a massive hike in their carbon emissions due to the giant new back-up coal-fired power stations they are having to build for when the wind isn’t blowing.

    2. The gradual economic recovery of the US is all due to the cheap energy they are getting from fracking.

    Poor old Roger Harrabin, still trying to work a spin on the bad news from the Met Office on the 20-year lack of warming – now this! Poor lad, perhaps his CMEP friends will help him out.

       14 likes

  35. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    Oh dear: now a Health Minister has said the uncomfortable truth that poor kids are more likely to be fat than richer kids because their parents feed them junk food.
    A hated Tory minister ‘stigmatising’ poor people. Must be manna from heaven for the bBBC; except that the figures support her statement: 12.3% of the poorest reception kids were obese, compared to 6.8% from the wealthiest backgrounds, and among year six pupils 24.3% of the most deprived children were obese, compared to 13.7% of the least deprived.
    So, how can the bBBC spin that to speak up for fat chavs? I know, let’s obscure the picture by adding in ‘overweight’ children as well as the obese. Now it’s only 40% of the poorest kids and 30% of the richest, which the bBBC Health Correspondent says is ‘not categorical’.
    Still not the story the bBBC wants to tell, so we’d better get a couple of rent-a-quote nobodies to say that it’s not helpful to point out the truth, and instead let’s blame the food industry for forcing poor people to buy junk food.
    Ah, finally, an article that manages to blame a Tory minister and ‘industry’ because there are too many fat slobs.
    Owen Jones must be shouting with joy at the bBBC bias!

       11 likes

    • stewart says:

      It must be all those ‘soup kitchens’, shoving high calorie
      gruel down the throats of the dickensian poor the BBC have been telling us so much about.
      Good thing really because, according to crime stats.,inspite of tory cuts the poor urchins are to fat to shin up a drain pipe.

         3 likes

  36. johnnythefish says:

    And whilst we’re on renewables, and particularly wind turbines, I don’t think I’ve ever heard ANY suggestion by Harrabin – EVER – that they will need power stations ticking over on standby, emitting all that poisonous CO2 and costing the country a fortune, for when the wind isn’t blowing.

    But I’m sure Dez – working like a beaver since his BBC boss gave him his new 2013 performance improvement targets after an abysmal showing in 2012 – will be able to unearth something (has to be TV or radio Dez, don’t forget! – away you go now).

       7 likes

  37. chrisH says:

    Croissants and a mustard bath for Ms Montague please….poor lady will have been distraught at her defenestration this morning on Today( just before 8a.m).
    An Army woman was duly offered to the rest of us to tell us why women should be as able to sacrifice their lives pointlessly for the likes of Blair and Cameron, just like the men.
    Yet the woman said no-mere gesture politics, endangering operations and a bad idea.
    Sarah asked if she had changed her mind-for this is clearly what the sisterhood would NOT be wanting to hear.
    Indeed one of Obamas GI Janes had been played at the start, wanting to have her cake and eat it,. This, the Army woman pointed out-to an icy blast from Monty (no relation)…ooh that body language would have said it all!
    I can only imagine Montys highlighter pen of an intern/researcher would NOT have been offered Nutella in the green room after-this was NOT…repeat NOT what the BBCs position was meant to be.
    Typical BBC…happy enough to squauk about a lack of women on the frontline of the British Army…but not even willing to wander down their own corridor to tell Steve Howlett why no women get positions at the BBC like the Toady show…and why no women get asked on as expert voices.(Listren to the latest “Media Show” of his)
    Unlike Sky and ITV, which do so much better-but the BBC won`t sign up to any of this “equal rights nonsense”…not in the Gramscian frontline of the Revolution where only men like Humph, Nutt and Davis are welcomed-or man enough for the fight.
    Still- a ladys prerogative to be able to change her mind isn`t it?…and one day, Sarah will understand that-but this Army woman won`t be back again anytime soon…we salute and thank you Madame!
    Couldn`t the BBC kindly learn from Uncle Rupert in regard of hiring and employing women then?..surely Harriet will be onto them if they don`t buck their ideas up

       6 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Again the BBC looks to the leader of a foreign country for leadership in Britain. Is there no end to their obsession?

         6 likes

  38. johnnythefish says:

    Div 2 football manager soundalike Andy Burnham given yet more airtime – this time on the news – to tell us all what the Tories should be doing to reform care for the elderly.

    Still waiting to hear it, BBC: ‘But you had 13 years in government. Instead of criticising the Tories, why didn’t you sort it out then?’

    Over to the overworked Dez for a rejoinder – and I’ve only ever heard this on Radio 4, by the way, so a sound clip of someone like Naughtie or Mair asking that very question will do nicely, thanks, Dezzie boy. (Don’t stay up too late, now.)

       10 likes

  39. George R says:

    Labour Party, welfare and death tax:-

    It seems BBC-NUJ hasn’t got round to framing this report in a pro-Labour fashion yet:-

    “Andy Burnham revives spectre of ‘death tax’ to pay for care”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/9691413/Andy-Burnham-revives-spectre-of-death-tax-to-pay-for-care.html

       5 likes

  40. John Anderson says:

    I have not seen or heard anything on the BBC about some of any of the disgraceful and inflammatory statements by Egypt’s President Morsi about Israel and about Jews.

    Nor does the BBC ever tell us that Jew-hatred is a staple part of Arab education from infant-age onwards, and of the Arab media.

    Ayaan Hirsi Ali brings these two threads together :

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/opinion/global/ayaan-hirsi-ali-morsis-comments-on-jews.html?_r=1&

    How come a leftie rag like the NYT will publish thewse truths in a comment article – whereas the BBC with a duty to educate and inform deliberately runs continual a cover-up ?

    (Oh – and I don;t want any reference to obscure pieces on the BBC website – I am talking about the general BBC news and current affairs coverage. Morsi’;s nasty statements received a lot of coverage in the US – why not on BBC radio and TV ?)

       8 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The BBC mentioned it once, even going so far as to say that the US condemned the statement and asked for clarification. They didn’t try to sanitize it too much. But for some reason say at the bottom that they redacted the bit about settlers, even though quote of Morsi calling them occupiers and “warmongers” is still there. News Sniffer doesn’t show anything different, so I’m not sure what they mean.

      In any case, the BBC has definitely censored all news of how their beloved Obamessiah said that Israel doesn’t know what’s in their own best interests, and then went ahead and gave a bunch of fighter jets to Egypt. The Administration may have given an official statement condemning Morsi’s words, but seem to be supporting him in his efforts anyway. I’m sure this is proof that the Jewish Lobby controls US foreign policy, but defenders of the indefensible will have to explain it to me.

         3 likes

  41. John Anderson says:

    In the forthcoming BBC radio series about how immigranbts feel about coming to the UK = I hope they have this lassie on. Theme – how to bleed the Brits dry and then laugh about us :

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4753651/lithuanian-immigrant-youre-a-soft-touch.html

       5 likes

  42. Louis Robinson says:

    The BBC posts the UN drone investigation story:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-21176279

    Ben Emmerson QC, a UN special ‘rapporteur’, we read on the BBC website, told journalists in London that the increasing use of drones “represents a real challenge to the framework of international law”.

    But who is responsible for this drone policy? If it was Bush, we would have been told in the first paragraph. Now, will the word “Obama” ever appear in any future BBC drone story? Yet this is Obama’s policy. Here is an excerpt from Victor David Hanson writing in the National Review Online:

    “From 2005 to 2008 the U.S. may have killed between 200 and 700 enemy combatants or suspected terrorists through some 50 or so strikes by pilotless drones. Originally, the program was either used in close support of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan — drones being more or less equivalent to manned bombing missions or missile or mortar strikes — or employed against suspected al-Qaeda terrorists on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Such strikes were, nonetheless, often criticized by the Left as leaving the theater of war and entering the realm of contract assassination….Yet in the first four years of the Obama administration, the program was vastly expanded, as the kill tally soared to between 2,500 and 3,000 from some 300 or so strikes”.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/337578/our-sort-war-terror-victor-davis-hanson#

    I am willing to bet that the words “US Government” and “CIA” be used to identify the inquiry, thus adding anonymity cover to the BBC’s favorite President?

    Unbiased reporting? Nope.

       6 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      “CIA drone attacks”. LOFL. Pathetic Beeboids.

         6 likes

      • uncle bup says:

        Hmm drones.

        1. They slaughter terrorists.
        2. They really really annoy (pretrendy) lefties.
        3. They vaporise your TV licence.

        What’s not to like.

           7 likes

        • Span Ows says:

          4. Energy efficient, low carbon footprint (maintains asthma figures low)
          5. gender neutral
          6. minor noise pollution (silent but deadly)

             5 likes

      • Louis Robinson says:

        Someone – I think it was Stuart Varney – said Obama has redefined the word “velco”. Too right.

           2 likes

  43. Dave666 says:

    Just picked up my partner from work their 19:00 news lead was police step up patrols in London after muslim gangs are harrasing. They want a man subject to homophobic taunts to come forward. Was this on Al beeb? I didn’t hear it on radio 4 news.

       5 likes

  44. Royboy says:

    The rise in drug resistant infections is comparable to the threat of global warming, according to the chief medical officer for England, Prof Dame Sally Davie

    Whew! For a minute there, I was worried.

       13 likes

  45. noggin says:

    3pm today
    “just via al bbc radio … reports urgent message, to ahem “westerners” in banghazi to leave? … as there is a “concerted threat” to them? … the plot sickens …
    is this the ambiguous erm “militants” the al bbc refer to so
    often.
    what a mystery eh! … is there no clearer description?
    could it possibly be islamic facists? driven by the muslim penchant for jihad? … at all … eh!
    like their erm “brothers” in mali … anyone? ”

    i ve just re-checked bbc news again hmmm … a clear and present, “terrorist threat” to any “westerners” from a ahem! ‘Common ideology’?
    what? … who could this be? 😀 , as still ambiguity reigns?
    ahh! … this IS the al bbc ..
    ISLAM AGAIN … yep! feel the love

       9 likes

  46. George R says:

    For discussion by Beeboid ‘Keynesian’ economics/business staff:-

    ” You can’t spend your way out of debt with borrowed money”

    -Mitch Feierstein, author of book ‘Planet Ponzi’.

       4 likes

    • Reed says:

      Ha!

      “Her pro-EU point, thinly disguised as a question – demanding to know how he could sell Britain to big business now he’s going to re-negotiate the terms of our membership – caused Sky News’s Colin Brazier to note drily: ‘That was the economics editor of our state broadcaster.’

      Bitchy! Like it!

         7 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      As far as I can see, some business leaders welcome Cameron’s statement, some don’t. But the BBC remorselessly pushes the Labour line that ALL business loves the EU.

      (That Ephraim Hardcastle column is a sheer delight ! As well as the dig against Flanders the Flounderer, he mentions the bizarre interview with John Humphrys asking Diane Abbott why parents shouldn’t take the blame for obesity among children !

         8 likes

    • DYKEVISIONS says:

      Here we go…

      Keep the Red Flag waving Flounders.

      I almost felt sorry for our Dave when he realised who was frantically waving her expensive BBC IPAD courtesy of us!

         5 likes

      • AsISeeIt says:

        ‘….lady at the back waving her I-pad in the air….’
        ‘Stephanie Flanders, BBC’
        Classic.
        I Noticed that Dave was tempted to make a further comment….sadly he wimped out.

           4 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        She did actually manage ‘I think a few people here might feel’, which surely by now all know is ‘Ed & Ed would be thrilled if I use the BBC notion of speaking for all to act as a Tory critic’.

           2 likes

  47. Dave666 says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21190108
    Breakfast has been banging on about this since I turned the TV on.

       1 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Comments, as ever, interesting, inc. ‘Editors’ Picks’ as always.
      I now find the ones that garner the highest dislikes telling too.
      I wonder if the BBC ever researches who it is has the time to comment during working hours, and who does not, especially when they are prone with closings to only serve the former.

         2 likes

  48. AsISeeIt says:

    I switch on BBC News 24 this morning.

    I’m comfronted with a graph on my TV screen. It is held there for what seems like minutes.

    Is this the Open University circa 1975? Will a long-haired beared science prof in a graph paper design shirt and leather elbow patched tweed jacket sidle on to tell me about deviations – but not the sort that first sprang to mind?

    No, of course not. Ed Lilliput and his Labour Party have had a bad week politically. So Labour moving pictures (the BBC) are attacking on the economic front.

    Note: If the British public look to be stepping out of line on the political front then we get sent to the economic front!

    The economy shrank shrieks the Beeb.

    Were there some positive employment numbers this week? – No matter.

    On comes an ecomonist. The only good thing in recent memory was the Olympics. (Cost £8.921bn(?)) Gosh, pity we don’t spend that every quarter?

    Another BBC selected economist comes on. Government policy mistakes since 2010 is his considered diagnosis.

    Predictable anti-Tory agit prop. Bias. Mis reporting.

       8 likes