331 Responses to THURSDAY OPEN THREAD…

  1. AsISeeIt says:

    I’ve no particular view on this but am intrigued by the BBC modus operandi…

    BBC 5 Live bring a report of a Court ruling on the sterilisation of a man with learning difficulties.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23721893

    Our presenter tells that we will be hearing – after the news and sport – from a ‘Leading Mental Health Charity’ to tell us what to think.

    I made up that last phrase.

    Interesting though. Get the story, call the bien-pensants to give the line we must take. Then the BBC will feel safe to run with that few questions asked.

    Post-democratic society in action folks.

       13 likes

    • Colonel Blimp says:

      Well, let’s not forget that eugenics was a keen favourite of the Fabian Society, espoused by the likes of HG Wells

         6 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        And Margaret Sanger.

           4 likes

        • The Beebinator says:

          and the nazi’s

             3 likes

          • dez says:

            And Winston Churchill.
             
            Oh, sorry, did I ruin the lovely romantic atmosphere?
             

               3 likes

            • Banquosghost says:

              Dez, there you are, I was worried you know. You have ignored hundreds of examples of BBC Bias on the site, I was a fearing something may have happened to you but phew, here you are at last popping up on an insignificant throwaway nest of comments.

              Thank goodness your safe, I feared something had happened to you, I mean, you surely weren’t ignoring the examples of bias purely to pop up on something irrelevant where you?

                 5 likes

            • Mat says:

              Hahaha yes so you say dezzie but he also fought the Nazis where the others look at them in love !

                 3 likes

        • Stewart says:

          That would be the same proto feminist, and long time paramour of wells Margret Sanger who gave sexual health lectures to the ,hard line democrat ,KKK?
          complicated stuff, left wing politics

             4 likes

  2. Mike says:

    BBC have article on new “crash for crash” scam. No analysis on who is doing it?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23717575

       13 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Can we have 3 guesses ?

         9 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        It’s that opera bloke’s latest desperate ploy… or, oh no, the dog… or those Meerkats of no obvious national origin lest stereotypes be propagated.
        Simples.
        While the code is clear, be interesting to see what happens as no one budges from a side road into busy traffic if a kind soul offers.
        Personally I’d prefer our national broadcaster to perhaps look into why this is now happening and role of the police and insurers in apparently opting for a pay up and shut up approach vs. looking into the details and sending a few messages about any ‘men’ engaged in this.
        ‘often coming down to the innocent driver’s word against the criminal’s that they flashed their lights to let them out.’
        I’d be interested in the jury’s thoughts if presented like that.

           13 likes

      • Charlatans says:

        Looks like mainly identified as ‘Asian’ gangs – see industry report:

        http://news.mi-witness.co.uk/tag/uk-hotspots/

        What are the features of an induced collision?
        • The criminals will use two cars to target their victim. These cars will get ahead of the Company vehicle in steady moving traffic, the first will then brake hard or make an unexpected manoeuvre, this will cause the second car to brake hard (often using the handbrake to avoid alerting the intended victim) and result in a collision.

        • The first car will make off while the second, now damaged car will stop. The occupants of this second car will make a point of blaming the car that has made off and appear to sympathise with their victim – you.
        • The criminals are most frequently from the Asian community – Afghan, Bangladesh or Pakistani. (Not exclusively but a common feature in London)
        • There will often be at least three occupants in the car.
        • Driver details are often already written down and insurance and registration documents are carried in their car.
        • The driver will speak English while the other occupants do not.

        The top twenty crash for cash hotspots are listed by post area:

        Birmingham (B)
        Sheffield (S)
        Manchester (M)
        Nottingham (NG)
        Cardiff (CF)
        Liverpool (L)
        Newcastle-upon-Tyne (NE)
        Leicester (LE)
        Bristol (BS)
        London South-East (SE)
        London East (E)
        Coventry (CV)
        Glasgow (G)
        London North (N)
        Peterborough (PE)
        Leeds (LS)
        Brighton (BN)
        Reading (RG)
        Guildford (GU)
        Portsmouth (PO)

           12 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Look forward to that little snippet making it to our screens thanks to the well-funded, and trusted, national broadcaster, whose main concern on FaceBook to this was….
          Do you think you’ve been a victim? How will it change your behaviour on the road?
          So really, it’s all the victims’ fault and we all need to change to suit these tinkers’ cheeky ways.

             13 likes

  3. John Anderson says:

    A top story on Today and the BBC website is the protest camp at Balcombe in Sussex. As usual – the BBC can be relied on to trail and advertise any such protests by environmental extremists.

    What you can also rely on is that the BBC will lie about the issues. There is NO fracking happening or planned at Balcombe – it is oil exploration. Any fracking if ever deemed useful would require entirely separate planning approvals.

    But the BBC headline is “Fracking firm scaling back operation at Balcombe” – nicely setting its own context, as it assiduously promotes the idea that fracking is a BAD THING for the environment.

    Its website report gives lots of space to the extremists – isn’t it odd the camp is near hippiedom of Brighton, not at some colder Northern site ? It says the Parish Council has asked the protestors not to break the law. But the letter from the Parish Council chairman specifically said – STAY AWAY – or rather – Frack Off. Why is that not reported.

    All the claimed environmental risks of fracking are urban myths, which the BBC should realise – the BBC should be disabusing people of all the extremist nonsense, not tacitly playing along with it. But the root point is – there is NO fracking at Balcombe, the camp is a bunch of idle troublemakers with no proper cause to protest. Huge expense of policing, disruption of a fully-legal operation by the oil company – and the BBC continues to peddle all the lies.

    When will the BBC start covering properly the damage to the environment and the miniscule usefulness of windfarms – and the huge burden they are imposing on poor users of energy ?

    http://www.thegwpf.org/matt-ridley-shatter-myths-fracking/

    http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2013/8/13/an-epistle-from-balcombe-josh-234.html

       15 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Environmental damage by windfarms compared with fracking :

      http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2013/8/9/fracking-concerns-josh-233.html

         5 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        Here is the Balcombe Parish Council letter which the BBC tries to play down :

        http://balcombeparishcouncil.com/2013/08/12/letter-from-the-chairman-of-balcombe-parish-council/

           9 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Yes, John, it’s the kind of law-breaking most Beeboids dearly love. The BBC is currently giving the impression that the protests are working even before they’ve really begun, and the fracking company is scaling back operations “on police advice”.

          The only word we’re allowed to hear form the energy company is that the engineers and on-site workers are just regular people who are caught up in this outcry. Nothing to actually balance out the negative viewpoint of the protesters. The only non-negative voice allowed through is David Cameron, who says merely that drilling is important, which is meaningless.

          Buried near the bottom of the piece is an admission that fracking would actually require another round of permissions. Beeboid Sima Kotacha is reporting about the protesters camp, giving the full power of the BBC platform to the anti-fracking activists. She didn’t mention that there was no fracking going on, and instead got an activist to rebut Cameron’s statement that fracking is important.

          The opposition voice comes from the villagers, who oppose the commotion, and nothing to do with the issue itself. So anti-fracking gets to express its opinion over and over, while nobody is allowed to debunk it.

          Takeaway message: Fracking is dangerous, but the government and Big Oil are going about it anyway due to the need for money. Job done, BBC.

             13 likes

          • Rufus McDufus says:

            That well-known geologist and utter imbecile Vivenne Westwood is there now. When she’s on your side it’s fair to say your cause is lost.

               11 likes

  4. Reed says:

    They could just have a feed to any BBC comedy programme – lefty comedians whoring themselves for Labour…

    What’s the only thing worse than an email from the Labour Party? Well one that opens with “Your invitation to join Eddie Izzard and Jo Brand” must be pretty high up the list. Labour are organising “Stand Up For Labour”

    http://order-order.com/2013/08/16/labour-charging-members-for-laughter/

       9 likes

  5. Bodo says:

    News that there will be no police investigation into extravagant BBC payoff deals. Very disappointing, but hardly surprising. It looks like they have decided that there is no evidence of wrongdoing before they have done any investigation whatsoever.

    The police and the BBC seem a little bit too cosy since labour stuffed the senior positions of our public institutions with labour sympathisers.

    I remember when details of Jonathan Ross £18 million deal were leaked. The Metropolitan police offered, unprompted, to launch a criminal investigation into who leaked the details. The police seemed very upset that the BBC’s reputation had been tarnished.

       12 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Shocked, I tell you… shocked!
      Shame the word ‘pleb’ hadn’t been uttered at some point about the thin blue box-ticking biro boys, eh?

         6 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      ‘We remain out of the criminal courts by the skin of our teeth and some helpful coppers’.

      ‘This is the standard we set for ourselves’.

      ‘Aren’t we getting it just about right’.

         8 likes

  6. Teddy Bear says:

    A Panorama journalist in Belfast sends a colleague at BBC Salford a miniature spy camera. He places it in a drinks bottle, which looked exactly like a bomb when X-rayed, and sends it by normal mail. When it arrived it raised suspicions that it might be a bomb, and the bomb squad and police were alerted.

    However, shortly before bomb squad officers were due to carry out a controlled explosion, Greater Manchester Police said a senior employee phoned them and claimed it was part of a ‘security test’ being carried out by Panorama journalists.

    But in a later call, the employee claimed the package was a ‘bug’ that should have been sent in the BBC’s internal post.

    Later, a BBC spokesman denied the package was sent as a ‘security test’ and said:’The package contained filming equipment and had been sent from BBC Northern Ireland by Royal Mail because it was needed in Salford the following day.

    Clearly the police commissioner knows what he believes, as he is infuriated, and intends to pass the bill on to the BBC.

    Mr Lloyd said: ‘Whatever has happened here, whether a deliberate hoax or a stupid mistake, it caused severe disruption to the emergency services and the local community in Salford.

    ‘The cost of this operation to the police alone is likely to be around about £5,000 and I will be sending the bill to the BBC’s Director General.

    ‘It’s not right that the people of Greater Manchester should have to pick up the tab for Panorama’s stupidity.

    Common sense prevailing.
    But it shows how the BBC lie, twist and squirm out of every embarrassing action on their part, and try to present themselves as innocent.

    Lying, twisting and squirming is so natural for them.

    Quote:
    BBC journalist posts spy camera that looks like a BOMB to Salford HQ – and sparks £14,000 terror alert over suspicious package

       12 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Interesting when the police do get interested, vs. when they don’t.
      ‘It shows how the BBC lie, twist and squirm out of every embarrassing action on their part, and try to present themselves as innocent.’
      Maybe they could get Nick Pollard back in on another few mill’s worth to say they got it about right. At first.
      But when the cheque clears he can later mutter that the entire market rate top floor did have an episode of Alzheimers that lasted, amazingly, almost the exact same period, which is why no evidence came to light.

         8 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I blame budget cuts due to the Tory-led freeze on the license fee. Fortunately, Lord Hall’s management reshuffle will fix this sort of thing.

         7 likes

  7. Maturecheese says:

    This morning on the breakfast show on R5 we had a copper talking about the changes in the law for motorway driving and one thing struck me, boy don’t the Police whinge a lot. He banged on about hard hard done by they are due to the nasty cuts and how they won’t be able to police it. Having read Inspector Gadgets blog quite a lot before it was taken down, I get the impression that most of the Police these days are Lefties that do nothing but moan and whinge. Being nearly 50 I am old enough to remember when the Police actually Policed and weren’t politicised.

       13 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘changes in the law for motorway driving’
      Vague law is bad law, especially with ‘guilty until try proving otherwise’ powers in the hands of those on bonusses who, if faced with a taxed, insured late saloon or a chop shop special en route to a flash and bang job, will opt for the easy score.
      I’m buying a fore and aft dash cam as the authorities no longer enforce the law and the justice system is a joke.

         7 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      Most coppers these days are recruited from Universities and they bring their student politics into the job. It’s become the perfect job for naive student lefties with its emphasis on Social Works and Diversity. These useless tools then see their two year probationary period as a necessary evil before being eligible for sitting the promotion examination. Pass that, which being students, are used to sitting examinations, and a quick promotion is almost guaranteed, more so if the candidate is one of society’s “victimised minorities” who will then receive all the available help to pass the exam AND any promotion board – if you know what I mean.

      Oh, yes, the victim culture and student politics is alive and well and encouraged in today’s modern Police Service.

         13 likes

      • Banquosghost says:

        That is certainly true in some cases but the majority of police do their job with gritted teeth at the absurdities which come down from on high.

        The recent example of police not being allowed to go onto a roof to detain a criminal because of health and safety is a good measure of how decisions are being taken away from the cops on the beat. IN the past the officer would have ‘risk assessed’ the situation himself and then gone up there and grabbed the sod but now he is under orders not to. The cop on the scene looks an utter tool while somebody behind a desk ticks a box about health and safety.

        The police do a thankless job and more often than not have one hand tied around their balls by box tickers and fools in ranks above them.

        I know of an officer who arrested a woman for assault and she subsequently complained (after being charged) that the officer had made her cry because he wouldn’t let her finish watching Eastenders before arresting her, the officer was forced to apologise to the offender for any distress he had caused her. I shit you not.

           3 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          The police do a thankless job and more often than not have one hand tied around their balls by box tickers and fools in ranks above them.
          I agree on the first completely and suspect you are right on the latter.
          It’s just a pity that the law-abiding public does often seem to end up ‘facing’ those who have decided to err on the daft side of the Farce to score a bonus or to climb the greasy pole.
          And that when grass-roots members are featured in the media , it seems they are represented more by those bitching and moaning about cuts than failures in management structure that seem much greater impositions on their ability to do the job they love and have opted to embrace.
          A bit like some other public-funded outfits.
          In my line, telling customers the service is pants because my bosses are numpties would seldom be greeted with sympathy. Or another invitation to work.

             1 likes

  8. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Coming soon on CBBC?

       4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/charlescrawford/100231418/obamas-lofty-detached-dithering-approach-to-foreign-policy-is-coming-back-to-bite-him-in-egypt/
      Luckily, his ‘approach’ is going gangbusters in every other area of Presidential leadership, right?
      Lucky USA.

         8 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        And before a hall monitor issues me a red sticker for ‘wozisgottadowivbbcbias?’, for balance in complement:
        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23721422
        Seems they may have a new BFF.

           5 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Mardell will be pleased that McCain came out and said this, anyway. So what happens if the money is cut off? Not what the BBC wants you to believe, I expect. I wonder how many Beeboids are salivating at the possibility of Egypt going to war against Israel now that the Jews can’t keep the money flowing.

          Egypt needs hard cash and fast because it has almost no functioning national economy. The Army has to figure out a way to establish some semblance of rule of law before anything can start again. Then there’s the food problem. If the Gulf States can help keep Egyptians fed, it won’t be a disaster.

          None of this involves the US, nor can the US have any input or diplomacy. So McCain is right to say that we’re bystanders now. We’ve screwed this up from start to finish, and this is the result. I’m amused at how the same Beeboids who openly hated US interference when Bush was in charge are whining about the lack of it now.

          In any case, has the BBC made much noise about the fact that, even if the US cash stops coming (which it won’t), the Saudis and Qataris and the rest of the Gulf States are giving Egypt $12 billion of their own, eight times what the US gives. They even congratulated the generals on removing Morsi, and according to BBC-approved identity trumps, their opinion as fellow Arabs and Mohammedans is far more valid than any number of hideously white Christian or atheist BBC journalists.

             11 likes

  9. Guest Who says:

    OT in the direct sense, but I hope you’ll see why posted:
    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100231389/we-dont-have-enough-information-to-say-that-sites-like-ask-fm-are-driving-teenagers-to-suicide/
    I actually rarely agree with Mr. Chivers, but here he seems to have found common ground with others too.
    But, perhaps inadvertently, he has raised the spectre of a new phenomenon in ‘news’… ‘reporting’. Well, beyond what some here have been highlighting for years with the BBC
    And that’s blasting out, at 11, the most dubious wild guesses on a story before anything is known, purely because certian speculation suits ideology, and if there’s enough power to the amp, you can make what may be into what is anyway.
    Until… it turns out it isn’t.
    And in such a case, it doesn’t matter, as all that happens is it’s dropped. No harm, no foul. Well, some reputations, maybe. The odd business. No biggie.
    Look at the top comment.
    ‘Ask.fm have stated that the poor girl who committed suicide was self-trolling. They turned over the IP addresses to the police and it turns out 98% of the abuse came from herself. ‘
    Now I don’t know if this is any more true at the moment, but I’d bet that the BBC is unlikely to mention, or if it has to, put much weight behind it as an option if it rather undercuts any initial banwagoneering. So what I, or most, will likely get is the initial deluge et, apres, rien. Especially if things go the shape of the poire for the narrative.
    And it’s now nearly every single thing.
    I still await the UK MSM telling me how they know, in ‘accuracy won’t fit’ headlines, that government snipers were, as policy, picking off women hurrying towards Egyptian squares. With sourced, substantiated proof. Not a ‘quote’ with no attribution that may have been what a bloke told a bloke what he saw.
    On such ‘reports’ lives depend.
    And the BBC seems to be high on the list of those who have forgotten this.
    Or no longer care.

       7 likes

  10. noggin says:

    after growing unrest in Egypt again and various reports of
    groups of ordinary folks, putting up blockades to keep the brotherhoods islamists out? all along the road junctions?
    the bbc now correctly terms the brotherhoods actions as “a day of rage” whereas earlier there was only talk of unrest and some anger …
    so now a question, why the rage against this church
    then?, could it have to do with the brotherhood calling the army the Christian oppressors? knowing full well what the reaction of its pig ignorant adherrents would be?

       10 likes

  11. Reed says:

    The kind of professionalism that only a guaranteed £4bn of funding can deliver… (hattip Nigel Farage via Facebook)

    800611693.png?1376666618

       16 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Typical BBC pro-EU bias, behaving as if the EU is the government of Europe and there is no national sovereignty. 😉

         12 likes

  12. George R says:

    VENICE Biennale:

    INBBC’s not-so-subtle propaganda for Islam (although words ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslims’ are censored out), – word ‘Arab’is misused instead, throughout.

    One might think this that this Venice exhibition was about Arabs-Islam-Muslims and their very doubtful penchant for ‘art’. It is NOT, although INBBC’s Ms Sylvia SMITH makes it appear so, in this superficial, misleading, propaganda article:

    “Venice Biennale hosts largest ever presence of Arab art”

    By Sylvia Smith.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23664730

    For Ms Smith:

    “Islamic Apartheid: Mecca and Medina”

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2829125/posts

       9 likes

  13. Guest Who says:

    It may be worse than that, Jim…
    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/jims.html
    ‘Tony Hall’s chosen strategist… comes out fairly strongly for the licence-fee funding model..’
    Well, knock me down wiv a fevva.
    Actually Jim, ‘BBC content’ is probably owned by a whole other ‘our’ to the one you seem to have programmed internally.
    ‘only catch-up or on-demand services are used at the address. This last exemption applies to a tiny minority of people,’
    But, possibly, growing with each abuse of trust with funding, accuracy or impartiality. An issue for the next charter review… indeed. And it will become a bigger one if you decide to start grabbing even there too, Jim. The ‘logic’ of a household levy that ‘must’ be imposed appeals to the committee chair, evidently. Ex-Labour pol wisely says the pols need to be asked about ‘least bad fee funding’ mechanisms. Guessing not having to at all not an option then with pensions, pay-offs, hush-ups, etc, to cover?
    Interesting also to hear the BBC go all coy on answering anything on the basis of ‘commercial confidentiality’.
    Ironic watching a perfectly good video on my PC screen via the internet. Whilst not paying the BBC any more.

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      If you have a spare 40′ it’s worth watching all the way through the Q&As.
      The 3 to 1 (about fair) BBC squad, including chair, get a bit tetchy at the commercial rep., who does remind them there is a global world of TV out there and the BBC is not the only one, much less the fulcrum, and the rest do not operate under its bestowed largesse to exist like serfs. That’s just the public’s job.
      It’s an entertainment industry, yes. Only in the BBC version of it, are you forced to pay to access what entertains you.
      The BBC is but a part, and a small one. But it effectively is the gatekeeper of all access for any in the UK.
      An anachronism in a global village in 2013.

         5 likes

  14. johnnythefish says:

    Anyone hear the trailer for tonight’s ‘comedy’ show? – what it Means to be British’ or something like that, can’t be arsed to look it up to be honest.

    Clip 1 (paraphrased): ‘And the British are aspirational, constantly trying to get to the top of the ladder. The trouble is, when they get there they pull it up’.

    Ha ha ha.

    Clip 2 (also paraphrased): ‘Then there’s the British Museum, so-called because it’s full of stuff we’ve stolen from the rest of the world, now being viewed mainly by people from the rest of the world.’

    Ha-ha. Oh, please stop, my aching sides. Hooo-ha ha ha.

    The nation’s history and character assassinated by the British Broadcasting Corporation, not for the first time, and it won’t be the last.

    Next up: expanding on his theme of ‘how Britain killed off the fledgling democracy in Egypt 50 years ago’, Jeremy Bowen revisits the scene where the democratic Muslim Brotherhood bravely fought and defeated the British occupiers of Palestine in 400 BC.

       19 likes

  15. johnnythefish says:

    If you were ever in doubt that ‘climate change’ is an ecosocialist agenda, looky here:

    http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/07/03/us-heatwave/

    No wonder the BBC sit their fat, over-renumerated arses in the alarmist camp.

       9 likes

  16. Guest Who says:

    From, of all things, the BBC World News Facebook page:

    ‘His interview was interrupted by bystanders, asking if he was part of the coalition group which called for the ousting of former President Morsi.’
    Beyond not having Jezza’s translator to hand, Mishal seems to have problem grasping there’s a middle group caught between the exciting newsy ones.
    ‘”rejected the binaries”
    I like that. Perfectly describes the black and white world the MSM can only envisage.
    Interesting stuff.

       9 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Not too many Egyptians speaking favorably towards The Obamessiah in the comments. How’s that hopey-changey stuff workin’ out for ya now, BBC?

      And why isn’t this woman wearing a proper head covering like her hideously white BBC female colleagues do when ‘in country’?

         11 likes

  17. ember2013 says:

    Isn’t it about time our law enforcement system stood up for the rights of ordinary British people and intervened with the the fracking protestors?

    Peaceful protests are one thing but disrupting other people/businesses should be frowned upon. The protestors do not speak for me and certainly should not be allowed to hinder the everyday processes followed (legally) by companies such as Cuadrilla.

       12 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘time our law enforcement system stood up for the rights of ordinary British people’
      Not looking like this is how things pan out any more.
      If the response to a new breed of tinker flash-banging their way to a few grand’s compo is any guide, the residents of this bucolic idyll will be told not to antagonise anyone whilst being asked for the funds to make sure they don’t get near those imposing on their own community.
      The BBC’s response will be to direct yet more protesters to the site, whilst posting articles with invitations to share how one copes with living in another zone of contention they have helped create.
      One can see why why plod may prefer dealing with a biddy in middle lane of the M4 over a untaxed microbus full of professional eco-warriors en-route from a flash-mob to Balcombe to show ‘solidarity’, but it doesn’t excuse and does again rather highlight who the authorities and media see in need of support and who they see needs ‘protection’. In the Mob sense.
      I suspect the costs of this operation, and where the kicking off (down Mason; there may be pillaging & raping too) its designed to prevent will originate from, is not going to be subject of much analysis this time from the world’s most selectively forgetful (FoI exempted for the purposes of not be shown up as utterly bent) media monopoly.

         5 likes

  18. RCE says:

    Desert Island Discs featuring Daniel Kahneman this morning briefly discussed the interesting subject of Prospect Theory.

    And what real world context did Kirsty Young decide to apply it to? Yup. Toricutz.

    They really just cannot help themselves.

       10 likes

    • dez says:

      RCE,
       
      “And what real world context did Kirsty Young decide to apply it to? Yup. Toricutz.”
       
      You mean when she suggested we where hearing too much about the cuts and; “not enough about the benefits to society at large”.
       
      Gosh, such outrageous left-wing bias! You really cannot help yourself can you RCE.
       

         3 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Wherever it is you do your night shift, Dez, it would seem your employers are very sympathetic towards your BBC-supporting activities.

           4 likes

  19. ember2013 says:

    Re: “Britain has asked the EU to “urgently” send a team to Gibraltar “to gather evidence” on extra border checks at the centre of a growing row with Spain.”

    So what happens if the great EU discovers malpracrice on the side of the Spanish?

    1. Send a taskforce in to sort out the Spaniards? Impossible.
    2. Fine the Spanish? What, given how much they’re currently in debt?

       6 likes

  20. CCE says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23723385

    Average consumption of gas and electricity fell by 24.7% between 2005 and 2011. [six years]

    Customers have faced steep increases in bills over the period, and may be economising as a result.

    The regulator, Ofgem, said that bills have risen by 28% in the last three years.

    28% price increase in THREE YEARS.

    Cripes, this green agenda is ****ing expensive

    “The ONS said another reason for the fall in consumption might be the introduction of energy ratings for properties and for household appliances, allowing customers to make informed choices.

    But it also noted the price rises.”

    Sometimes the BBC really does comes up with comedy gold. Just what % of the population would have had to buy new appliances and boilers etc (they take energy to manufacture and distribute) to effect a 25% fall in consumption over six years?

    Energy is plentiful and cheap and practically inexhaustible, three facts that Watermelons won’t allow to appear in print – it is the tax burden and margins that makes it expensive

       8 likes

    • CCE says:

      Just looked at the data – the price of electricity increased by 66% 2005 – 2011

      66%

      IT Took me 5 mins to find that out, so why didn’t that make it into the BBC report – either it was deliberately omitted or pure incompetence.

      The sheer quality of bbc journalism takes my breath away…………

      http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/regional-trends/area-based-analysis/household-energy-consumption-in-england-and-wales–2005-11/art-household-energy-consumption-in-england-and-wales–2005-11.html

         9 likes

      • Rufus McDufus says:

        What’s so sad is that the BBC only feel compelled to show the bad figures (28% rise) from 2010 to 2013 yet the story is about energy use from 2005 to 2011, so why not include the price rise figures from 2005 to 2010 in addition to 2010-2013? Could it be (as CCE infers about electricity prices) that the increases from 2005-2010 were actually even higher but the BBC don’t mention that because their favourite party was in power?

        I know this is what you’re getting at CCE but it really is just staggering how 2010 is now year zero to them.

           5 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      There’s certainly a disconnect on the consequences of trying to drive ECOnomy whilst also driving ECOlogical ambitions.
      I drive an LPG car. Its fuel enjoys less tax because it is more eco-friendly. As does/will hybrids/leccy/hydrogen on purchase through operation. Lovely.
      Thing is, as all move to these, the nice fat revenues from fossils will go down. And will need to be made up elsewhere if ‘growth’ is the only way forward.
      Equally such as energy. If demand drops, for all those things the pols and media nag about… infrastructure, employment, etc… to be maintained, the same amount of money will need to be derived from a lower sales base.
      I can only think of one way to do that, unless the idea is it will all be compensated for by vastly more customers via affordable cultural enrichment. That rather presupposes they will be funding their energy bills from the fruits of their own labours elsewhere.

         2 likes

  21. George R says:

    Muslim Brotherhood and genocide.

    A non-‘Panorama’, non-‘Today’, non-‘Newsnight presentation.

    A Robert Spencer-Michael Coren discussion- 6 min video-

    “Robert Spencer and Michael Coren on the crisis and church burnings in Egypt”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/08/robert-spencer-and-michael-coren-on-the-crisis-and-church-burnings-in-egypt.html

       9 likes

  22. uncle bup says:

    Good old DroidNews™.

    An article on the excess of household formation (212,000) over newbuilds last year (101,000 or so) due, George Alagadroid told us, to ‘demographics’.

    Followed immediately by a piece on the 60% increase over the year in the arrival of demographers from Romania and Bulgaria.

    Two dots there.

    D’yer think the droids joined em?

    Oh no.

       16 likes

  23. Teddy Bear says:

    The review into the Newsnight/Savile scandal is a scandal in itself.

    Lets put the background into perspective.
    The BBC knowingly allowed a sexual pervert to molest children on their property for years. They even promoted him to the extent that because of his subsequent fame he was able to abuse children at other establishments.

    Then years later, after he died, the Newsnight team decided to air the story about those victims who had complained of his abuse. But the story was ‘pulled’ before it could air. Not only that, they actually ran a tribute to Savile within a month.

    When the truth later came out about Savile’s abuse as a result of an ITV documentary, and it was found that the BBC had purposefully avoided revealing these facts, they first tried to pretend that it was because of ‘editorial reasons’.

    While they tried their best to portray themselves as nothing but innocent, and it had all been a vague misunderstanding about who said what and when, the government started to apply pressure, and forced the BBC to hold a review, albeit headed by somebody that they chose themselves – Nick Pollard.

    £2.4MILLION later this is what he has to say about what he found.

    Quote:
    BBC bosses ‘not credible’ on Savile: Author claims executives may have deliberately misled his inquiry

    Former Sky News chief Nick Pollard ‘failed to get to the bottom of the affair’
    He said some claimed they had forgotten the key events
    Among those questioned was former director general George Entwistle

    By Alasdair Glennie

    BBC executives may have deliberately misled the official inquiry into the Jimmy Savile scandal, its author has claimed.

    Speaking publicly for the first time since his £2.4million report was published, Nick Pollard admitted he failed to get to the bottom of the affair because those involved repeatedly claimed they were unable to remember key events.

    The former Sky News chief told Radio 4’s Media Show he thought the excuses were ‘not completely [credible]’.

    The Pollard review was set up last year to investigate allegations that Newsnight scrapped an investigation into Savile’s paedophile activities in November 2011 to avoid clashing with a Christmas tribute programme following his death.

    Among those questioned was former director general George Entwistle, who repeatedly said he was unable to remember important exchanges.

    Former deputy news director Steve Mitchell was castigated in the report for being ‘exceptionally vague’.

    The Pollard review was set up last year to investigate allegations that Newsnight scrapped an investigation into Savile’s paedophile activities in November 2011 to avoid clashing with a Christmas tribute programme following his death

    The Pollard review was set up last year to investigate allegations that Newsnight scrapped an investigation into Savile’s paedophile activities in November 2011 to avoid clashing with a Christmas tribute programme following his death

    In all, the document contained 45 references to BBC executives claiming they were unable to recall important episodes.

    Mr Pollard admitted: ‘We didn’t, I think, get absolutely to the point where we could say with 100 per cent assurance, “This is precisely what happened, and why”. [That was] partly because of conflicting recollections by people, or no recollections offered to us.’

    A BBC spokesman said the report’s findings had been accepted and there was nothing further to add.

    Basically they are putting two fingers up to everybody, treating the public with complete scorn and derision. They can do what they like and everybody is powerless to do anything about it.

    Can anybody imagine for a moment that a matter like this, and who said what and to whom, and what happened as a result has slipped from their memory?

    These are people who award themselves astronomical salaries and perks because of the inflated worth they believe themselves to have.

    If the public fail to demand action now from our hitherto spineless government over this, or to take direct action themselves, then they deserve what is going to happen now to this country.

    How much more shit has to happen?

       12 likes

    • The Beebinator says:

      i dont know how al beeb can say they didnt know he was a paedo, he used to wear a t-shirt saying he was one

      speedo_zps759a7de6.jpg

         13 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘A BBC spokesman said the report’s findings had been accepted and there was nothing further to add.’
      Maybe there was, but he/she simply forgot. Curiously. Unastoundingly so.

         2 likes

  24. Alex says:

    Anyone else sick to the back teeth of hearing about Muslims blowing up Muslims in Egypt on the BBC? Muslims don’t do democracy or tolerance but the BBC will always portray them as the victims and innocent. Personally, I’m more concerned about the Christian minorities who are hung from lampposts and burnt. Oh that’s right, the BBC doesn’t care about Christians as this religion is associated with the west and the Empire.

       20 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘hearing about Muslims blowing up Muslims in Egypt on the BBC’
      Or other countries? One possible reason some of the less deranged veterans of the Flokk Staffel seem currently otherwise engaged, is that they are in protracted exchanges with the BBC complaining how the focus and level of coverage across the BBC estate on matters of ME/Islamic internecine strife is driving away right-thinking moderates like themselves.
      Maybe they are even pointing out to a supposedly impartial reporting entity that pushing sides in blatant propaganda is not really how to secure a reputation for trust and fairness, and in fact may only be serving to make things worse for the vast majority of innocents caught up in such conflicts. The ones without a direct PR line to the local translator standing next to the clueless airflown Ed on the spot.
      We can only look forward to seeing the results shared in due course.

         4 likes

  25. Emerson v says:

    Fracking

    seems the BBC are lining up to give a voice to all the protestors, even advertising all manner of Websites.

    where is the balance BBC.

       14 likes

    • George R says:

      There is no doubt that this is what Beeboids are deliberately doing.
      They are very confident that they can get away with this profound political bias under the compliant Director General HALL, appointer of Labour Party’s PURNELL.

         15 likes

    • Dave s says:

      If the anti fracking droid on Newsnight is anything to go by the company has no worries.
      Unable to speak English properly. Rising inflexions at the end of sentences. Dropped consonants particularly the T.
      Maitless and her made a good pair.
      Listening to the two of them boring on was sleep inducing.
      The protestors are the usual. Give them a few weeks and they will have to go back to school or need to sign on.
      Just why the BBC entertains them is beyond comprehension. If they made out a real anti fracking case then maybe, just maybe there would be a point. But they don’t. They just whine on and on and on and on.

         13 likes

      • George R says:

        It does seem to be all whining, complaining, victimhood, threats of illegality, and violence.

        A bit like a mini-Cairo MB demo.

        (And Beeboids support them both.)

           12 likes

  26. AsISeeIt says:

    A snippet from the somewhat amusingly titled BBC News From Elsewhere

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-23725477

    Romania: Thieves ‘strip $4m steam loco of value’

    A World War II-era steam engine – worth an estimated $4m (£2.6m) and designated a Romanian national monument – has apparently been stripped to a skeleton and left on a siding.

    I predict some light at the end of the tunnel – Romania may well see their problems with metal thieves ease a little in the coming months….

       8 likes

  27. barlicker says:

    This morning, BBC News24 informs us that the current anti-fracking protest-with its camp of huge marquees and ‘civil disobedience workshops’-has become ‘much more sophisticated’. It didn’t bother to inform us, however, that it is being organised by ‘Reclaim the Power’, better known as ‘The Campaign for Climate Change’: a pressure group fronted by George Monbiot, Michael Meacher and Caroline Lucas, and backed up by an array of other Labs, Libs, Greenies and Trade Unionists.

       12 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      The RSPB are wading in too – their lisping spokesman on Radio 4 “Today” says we shouldn’t frack, it’s very naughty indeed, and we might upset the birds. The burgeoning windfarms, I suspect, have decimated more birds already than fracking ever will, but that’s OK says the RSPB.

      The C of E also jumping on the pro-fracking bandwagon, having just done a whopping U turn. There could be quite a bit of dosh in it for them, we learn.

      In the meantime, every body wails about CO2, carbon footprints and climate change, all of which are really irrelevant to anything or anyone – if anything, CO2 is of more benefit to life in general, and climate change continues to occur as it always has, and always will.

      The anti-everything brigade have it in for fracking – it would take a leader with some guts, sense, and purpose to tell them all to fuck off, and lock ’em up if they don’t. The country’s being held to ransom, once more, for no good reason.

      And the Former UK continues to stagger blindly and ever more quickly towards a dearth of energy Armageddon, as the powers that be continue, in their blinkered way, with their pointless and dangerous energy policy.

      What will it take to wake everyone up?

         15 likes

      • Maturecheese says:

        ” it would take a leader with some guts, sense, and purpose to tell them all to fuck off, and lock ‘em up if they don’t.”

        LOL I would love to see this happen.

           6 likes

    • #88 says:

      For Greenies, I think that you need to think ‘Communist’, the party to which a couple of ‘Greenies’ of my acquaintance belong and of course the former home of Lucas herself, possibly realising that she would be more likely to be elected waving a green flag than a red one adorned with a hammer and sickle.

      It’s interesting that while the BBC are bigging up the demonstration, we are getting nothing from them in the way of science. Much too inconvenient for them

      Twice in the last week – people who actually know something about franking have made appearances on the BBC – a scientist from (I think) the Royal Society of Engineering, but he was quickly sidestepped when he started making reassuring noises and he made the important point that this isn’t about electricity generation, fracking is about supplying the heat that the country needs for its industry and homes. This was simply ignored.

      And someone from Keele University, yesterday who reminded us that fracking has been taking place on these islands for 22 years. But again he was diverted away from his point, the science and exposing some of the lies being told by the environmentalists. He was asked instead to comment on the vox pops from Sussex (or should that be vox mob).

         11 likes

  28. Guest Who says:

    As ‘Asian Men’ is the BBC Editorial Guidelines’ apparent favoured description for anyone whose origins lie East of Calais, I found this interesting (not least the absence of any from the Indian sub-continent, given the byline author’s evident interest and knowledge).
    http://techblogbiz.blogspot.co.uk/2006/11/top-ten-asians-actors-and-actresses-in.html
    Mind you, should any of the lads pull a Savile and stray Arbucklwards, it might be that their actual demographic details suddenly get very specific… in BBC reports at least.

       1 likes

    • Gunn says:

      Bear in mind though that Bollywood is a huge industry, which is the main focus for Indian actors.

      Hollywood tends to pigeonhole non-white actors – oriental actors are usually depicted as martial arts experts and are rarely the lead actors in a given film – which further disincentivises bollywood actors from acting in US films.

         1 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Ok. I will bear this in mind. Thank you.
        It’s worth searching the BBC site for some of these top actors from various parts of ‘Asia’.
        I was intrigued by who, despite great success globally (not just their narrow national niche), the BBC (or its system at least) was not aware of.

           1 likes

  29. Youstink says:

    So many comments on the open thread, and hardly any by comparison on specific subjects! Try to contact “editorial”, and comments are closed.
    What does this numerical imbalance say about your site? Most people just want to pontificate and do not give a toss about bias. Over time you have had no effect whatsoever! But that is probably your wish because if the bbc took any notice you would achieve your purpose and mothball the site, which you should do, or think hard about changing your useless approach!

       9 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Way-hay!
      Weekend work experience on the 10am morning shift.
      This ‘you’ you speak of. Who is this?
      But fair point on the editorial contact.
      Looks like Mr. Vance has learned a thing or two from Helen Boaden.

         11 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      Oh, bugger off, do.

         12 likes

    • OldBloke says:

      Youstink, how wrong you are about this site having *no affect* whatsoever. I will point out to you that reading various newspapers on a daily basis, you will find commentators who visited this site, use, (in their own words) extracts of comments made on here, which have included my own. Now with the vast readership that newspapers carry, the messages from the posts within this site are getting out there, are being read and I’m sure people think and thereby making *an effect*. Very much like what the BBC does, day in day out with their *perceived* bias reporting of the news.

         10 likes

  30. Thoughtful says:

    Anyone else listen to the disgracefully Saturday Live?
    It used to be quite good when John Peel presented it, but todays episode with ‘sing if you’re glad to be gay’ singer Tom Robinson was nothing but a far left wing love in, with how left wing songs and comedy can influence the hard of thinking.

       13 likes

    • Geoff says:

      …But he has a new record to plug, and being a BBC employee its quite easy for him, he’s also been on Radio 2 all week playing his ‘fave’ tracks, including Smalltown Boy, a somewhat gay anthem.

         9 likes

    • MartinW says:

      The wireless was switched off, and stayed off. Yes, its predecessor ‘Home Truths’ was quite entertaining under the baton of John Peel, who was rather laid back and amusing. I mourn the passing of the travel show (even when hosted by Toxvig), which was consigned to the dusbin when the Controller R4 thought we should all prefer to have an extended exposure to the ‘Rev’ Richard Coles (ugh!).

         10 likes

      • Geoff says:

        Yes Richard Coles, ex Communard and bandmate of Jimmy Somerville (see Smalltown Boy) and sits nicely with the BBC as an openly gay Church of England parish priest.

           7 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          And self-confessed anti-Thatcherite (admitted, with pride, when he was a guest on a R3 morning programme a year or so ago).

             2 likes

  31. Colonel Blimp says:

    oh look, former Labour election coordinator and expenses maximiser Tom “Pies” Watson has attacked Ed Miliband and the story is all over the BBC.

    Oh no, don’t be silly, of course it isn’t, despite being one of the Guardian’s leads

       11 likes

  32. Span Ows says:

    In my few a very pro MB video reporting via this link.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23735960

    At the end they do mention the fire spreading to the blood bank in same building but fail to mention people trapped and the MB shooting at the firefighters and burning a fire engine.

       10 likes

  33. John Anderson says:

    On Balcombe, when will the BBC have a proper discussion about the illegal occupation of farming land, the threats of violence and mob action, the failure of the police to apply the law in the way most people of Britain want – and the way the local community want, the ability of a lot of dossers to sponge of the rest of us while playing their childish games ?

    Remember Grunwick ?

    Even simpler – when will the BBC drum in the message that there is NO FRACKING planned for Balcombe.

    Simpler yet – when will the BBC drum home the message that there has been no increase in global temperatures for 17 years, the whole global warming scam is based on faulty models that have failed to be matched by real climate data.

       9 likes

    • OldBloke says:

      …In the words of Albaman, “Dream on”

         7 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        Maybe the BBC’s sogginess and lies on global warming are getting even more undermined in the fracking debate. Joe Public really does not know if there is warming going on. But he DOES know that fracking can reduce fuel costs – and he probably does recognise that the BBC has an overt bias against fracking – but an overt bias in favour of windfarms.

        That is the debate there ought to be – windfarms which despoil the landscape, kill birds and have already increased the cost of power to the consumer, versus fracking which can reduce costs and does no actual environmental damage. A fairly black-and-white comparison where the BBC is on the wrong side of the argument.

        Maybe throw in the question – why don’t the protest rabble object to eyesore useless windfarms ?

           4 likes

  34. Youstink says:

    Your site may be able to redeem itself if you would push for a referendum on how the state broadcaster is funded.

       2 likes

    • zoo keeper says:

      yeah the beeb wouldnt have one because it knows people would vote no to the telly tax. remember the last time its charter was reviewed. according to the bbc, most people wouldnt pay for it if it was pay per view

         7 likes

    • Mat says:

      But then we would become to the pro multi billion £ corporation BBC fondler’s a ‘right of us ‘ think tank and just blocked from their admittedly small minds !

         2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Your site may be able to redeem itself’
      Hate to break it to you, but yours too, now.
      The weekend may not be the smartest time for those who are tethered to computers all through the leisure day to be chipping in. All gets a bit left hand, lefter hand.
      I see your first effort garnered healthy support from the other cubicle dwellers.
      Including those on here posting how no one comes on here or cares enough to come. Or post. Or ‘like’.
      But it all adds to that counter up there top right, so maybe ponder the irony of that when on break later.

         4 likes