385 Responses to MONDAY OPEN THREAD…

  1. George R says:

    “The licence fee is a ‘medieval anachronism’ and those who pay it should have more control over the BBC, MP tells Parliament.
    “Robert Halfon feels viewers should have more say in Corporation.
    “Tory MP will argue the licence fee is ‘coercive system backed by the threat of prison.’
    “New proposals suggest licence fee payers should be able to vote on election of chairman and board.”
    By TAMARA COHEN

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2469731/The-licence-fee-medieval-anachronism-pay-control-BBC-MP-tells-Parliament.html

       49 likes

    • Mark II says:

      I don’t want a vote – I just want the option of not paying the fee.

         53 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Good article though-and lots of funny comments on the “comments” bit…we`re not alone it seems!

           32 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        You already have the option of not paying the ‘fee’. Although there should be an option to receive television without having to pay the television tax.

        Television tax is yet another stealth tax which actually over the years to cost you more than the television did !

           26 likes

        • Mark II says:

          In fact I don’t have to pay the “fee” as I live with my 92 year old father – but we still have to have a licence – it is nominally paid for and refunded.

             15 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      The public being able to have a small say in how the BBC is run, would be a step in the right direction and may allow some reforms to be forced through. But I suspect that the BBC is beyond reform, with almost all of its employees being from the same liberal left mould, there would be massive and continued resistance to any programme of change. Additionally, the liberal left elite outside the BBC, would orchestrate an outcry against any change which may correct the bias of the corporation, because it is so useful to them.So the suggestions are well meaning, but the BBC would swat them away like it would a fly.
      What these proposals do show however, is that there is a growing sense of dissatisfaction with the BBC, that goes well beyond those of us who visit this site. If that dissatisfaction can be channeled and nurtured it could eventually result in the fall of the over mighty BBC.
      My view is that a sensible first step would be to spread the license fee money around several broadcasters so that the British public got more competition and plurality of view. I think that the liberal left would find it hard to come with a sensible argument against this not being a good thing for democracy. Of course, as they usually do, they will find many stupid and contradictory arguments against it, but they will be on the back foot.
      Once that initial crack had been made in the monolithic, monopolistic BBC , its demise would only be a matter of time.

         52 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        DT

        You are so right.

        The BBC is way past reform.

        Sell the bloody thing, close it down, whatever – but get it off the public teat, abolish the licence fee,.

           8 likes

    • +james says:

      “The licence fee is a ‘medieval anachronism’

      Never realised that William the Conqueror instituted the TV Licence.

         11 likes

      • George R says:

        The licence fee is one poll tax which most Beeboids support.

        The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was about an unjust poll tax.

           31 likes

    • lojolondon says:

      Clarkson is the only person I would trust to run the BBC. Or myself, for 500kpa, working a 3 day week, of course!

         9 likes

  2. chrisH says:

    Panorama apparently won`t do a porgramme on their “Comic Relief” investments and methods, having been leaned on by the bigwigs at the Corporation.
    I did wonder why there was no 24/7 palaver about the return of Lenny Henry and a zakat version of Citizen Khan…where they sell wristbands and find no hand to slip it over…and so they raise money for Al-Entwhiste…whose hand is still in the till at Wood Lane ,so Muslim tradition has it

       51 likes

    • Mark II says:

      Comic relief – a classic BBC sponsored luvvie fest.
      Just look how caring we are as we use your money to travel to Africa for a few camera friendly shots of us helping the poor children that you have been killing with you capitalist greed.
      Naturally they don’t want us looking too closely at the financial workings of the operation – it’s all for charidee after all.

         62 likes

    • Geoff says:

      …Well it certainly wasn’t comic, now it seems it was providing relief either, oxymoron’s all round…

         28 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      2 years on since the Newsnight debacle, with the BBC dropping the exposee of Savile as a slimy deviant paedophile, where still MP’s are trying to get to the bottom of just who was responsible for what. Though the BBC assures the public that ‘lessons have been learned’, another exposee has been dropped, this time about Comic Relief.

      Not that the ‘misdoings’ of Comic Relief are anything like that of Savile, and some, including myself, don’t actually think that in today’s world they have actually done anything wrong. But I can understand that to the left-wing mentality that the BBC want to inculcate in their audience, it would be seen as betraying the ethics that they stand for.

      With the BBC anxious to avoid negative scrutiny of itself, this could well be the motivation for axing the broadcast, repeating the same goal for cancelling the Newsnight Savile programme.

      It could well be that this ‘conceal inner failings’ mentality within the BBC is now so prevalent that they will never be able to do it any other way, certainly not while they still collect the licence fee.

      The only lessons that appear to have been learned within the BBC is that none of the executives now want to be involved making any decision about it out of fear of later ramifications.

      So just what are they still collecting their vast salaries for?

      The sooner these self-promoting parasites are cast out into the real world the better for everybody, including themselves.

         16 likes

    • Philip says:

      It may be just a coincidence but Comic Relief was one of the larger contributors to a pet Labour lobby groups that enjoyed considerable Labour tax advantages via ‘stealth’ sponsorship (that we now know with 20/20 certainty) was linked back to the BBC who specifically employed ‘performers’ and ‘journalists’ as ‘gay rights’ activists. The public will have (unknowingly) donated thousands of pounds to ‘Gay’ and ‘Lesbian’ rights campaign groups going back some years e.g. Comic Relied donated consitantly to poltical ‘gay’ lobby groups inc Stonewall: (2005) £36,658, (2006) £30,000 (2007) £45,789, (2008) £30,000 (according to the Charities Commision), which benefits certain BBC staff who are already ’employed’ by the BBC and linked to similar political lobby groups. Comic Relief may have had ‘good intentions’ but it’s not a charity I would trust.

         14 likes

  3. Mark II says:

    A classic Sarah Montague moment on Today this morning.

    Discussing the success or failure of encouraging people to seek counselling rather than going to law in custody cases when Lord McNally questioned the validity of her figures she said (in effect) – “but I read it in the Guardian!”.

       74 likes

    • Framer says:

      She said it was in the Guardian and Lord McNally started to say ‘Well if you rely on the Guardian” and she started to shout over him with another question.
      I have noticed this before especially with Dimbleby. If any one starts to criticises the BBC they immediately override the person by increasing the volume and declaring the matter irrelevant.
      It must be actually editorial policy or do they behave instinctively when it comes to defending their privileges?

         80 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Classic Monty?
        I`d say her day trip to Bradford to sniff around in the wake of Sharon/Shannon? Matthews a few years back?
        Lady Godiva thinks she`s Elizabeth Fry…and it was car crash stuff, as she had a BBC Leeds monkey hold the nosegay around those funky Manningham estates for her?
        Let`s hoe she`ll be going back …five years on or whatever…to update us all…tell her there`s a foodbank riot near George Galloways mobile home and she`d still not go, I bet.
        Still-if you want your face of class privilege(small, private, Montessori)…she`s your horse in bluestockings…the face of media Britain…hence the radio !

           38 likes

      • Buttolph says:

        It’s classic ‘I’ve lost the argument’ mode.
        If it was the internet they’d flip into ad hominem.
        They can’t insult directly because they’re on the telly or the radio so they talk over people loudly. This works because microphones pick up both voices and it’s difficult to make out what people are saying.

           39 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Note too the prevalence of this “tactic” whenever there`s a left-right division as seen by the BBC.
          Owen Jones , John Prescott, Alistair Campbell, Medhi Hasan…all lefties perpared to shout over any dissention…especially when they`re rumbled and having to defend some old hypocrisy of theirs.
          Must be all those years of yelling over women or interns in medai training or union bars…it`s too common for it not to be.
          Note the heads shaking and cameras lingering too-the BBC don`t want uncomfortable truths any more that Jones does.
          Systemic.

             44 likes

        • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

          If interviewees allow themselves to be shouted down, that’s their own stupid fault.
          IMHO.
          Different if the mic is cut off agreed, but they really must not defer to any interviewer.

             22 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            I can see what yo are saying when it comes to professional pols, but if the BBC can arrange any debate on any subject to be dominated by those they invite on who can shout down others, it does not suggest the cause of well-informed balance is being served.
            And even if they do let a seasoned commenter whose views they do not share slip though, there is always the mic volume slide.
            Control the edit suite and you control everything.
            Opinion via selective panel rigging and facilitated haranguing is a BBC specialty across all ‘interviews’ and forums such as QT.

               26 likes

            • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

              Agreed Guest, but I was not referring to the loaded, audience participation shows like QT.

                 2 likes

          • Bodo says:

            When the presenter speaks all other mics are usually automatically faded down.

               9 likes

  4. Dave s says:

    Driving back Sunday i caught a show on R4. Feedback?
    Climate change and the BBC. As far as i could tell the BBCwas defending airtime given to those termed sceptics and this was opposed by an academic ( who kept saying how wonderful the BBC is)
    The whole argument sounded dishonest to me.
    Very few people deny climate change is a reality. It is a constant in our lives on this planet. The argument is over whether we are the cause and whether we can really affect the climate one way or another.
    This is the crux of the matter and there are differing views. It is dishonest of anyone to suggest otherwise. To his credit the BBC guy seemed aware of this but the fully paid up activist was not prepared to accept this point of view. The BBC is clearly under pressure to deny airtime to those who hold contrary views on the causes of climate change.

       44 likes

    • chrisH says:

      The activist was the BBC Trusts go-to guy to whitewash them for their persistently Godwawful science and lies.
      He`s a geneticist, so if you need to know of % moisture on a drosophilas arse in the Hindu Kush last year, he might know…so why he`s to be asked about global boiling is something only the BBC would know(as if!).
      That programme was a disgrace-when the BBC uses phone-ins to clamp down on anything contrary to the BBCs agenda…I find that creepy. Those “listeners” are probably the payshills that used to do their Blue Peter/Radio 6 phone-ins for prizes in 2006/7.
      Sceptics?…deniers?….I call them realists or honest.
      Climate-change realists?…that`ll do pig!
      Anybody else hear Ben Needhams mum on before the 8am news?…or was it ” Zippy” from Rainbow?
      She must have been on message-had she been in favour of leaving the EU, she`d have been cut off after her first sentence?…translation facilities available anybody?

         43 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      For a comprehensive expose of BBC bias on this one just look at this thread on the Bishop Hill site which describes this edition of Feedback as possibly “the worst BBC programme of all time”.

         31 likes

  5. Bob Nelson says:

    Norman Smith was at the site of the proposed new nuclear facility this morning banging on about our energy bills being ‘doubled’ in ten years time. No, Norman. The cost of generation is only part of our bills.
    In any case I don’t recall any mention of our bills being ‘trebled’ by the cost of off-shore turbine-generated power.

       46 likes

    • +james says:

      “Norman Smith was at the site of the proposed new nuclear facility this morning banging on about our energy bills being ‘doubled’ in ten years time”

      If he hadn’t noticed due to inflation the cost of everything doubles every ten years. Go back ten years and look at the price of beer, fags, petrol, houses etc etc.

         0 likes

  6. Milverton says:

    Five Live’s business bod tying himself in knots to describe npower’s price rise alongside the other power companies as acting as an “herd”.

    Next week we travel to Juarez to take a look at the Mexican drug herds.

       24 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘acting as an “herd”.
      Sounds like the 5 live business bod sees this as a bad thing.
      Next inquiry where the BBC’s best and brightest line up to explain the need for parity based on ‘market rates’, I’ll be interested on his take then.
      Guessing this will be an acceptable ‘unique’ exception?

         8 likes

  7. Geoff says:

    I don’t ‘use ‘ the BBC that much these days, most of it is a no go lefty fest. However the little I do use I get p’d off with the constant ‘Tweet us and tell us what you think’ or ‘visit our Facebook page’.

    I don’t wish to pay the licence fee in the first place, yet I have to, but to get the ‘full experience’ I now have to sign up to two capitalist American/NSA information gathering behemoths. The BBC should not be associating themselves with such organisations that are also a danger to our kids.

       26 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘to get the ‘full experience’ I now have to sign up to two capitalist American/NSA information gathering behemoths’
      Which, in addition to the other concerns you suggest, happen to be free, so the BBC is charging most to access a free foreign service to get a voice via the BBC.
      The uniques kind of pile up.
      And for those who like the notion of collective responsibility here, the ‘latest’ from cutting edge Newsnight…
      BBC Newsnight shared a link.
      October 18

      Norwegian suspected of being Kenya mall attacker named – Gabriel Gatehouse’s exclusive report for Newsnight from Norway
      So far garnering precisely ZERO comments.
      And yet more on teenagers and sex, which seems an obsession at the BBC… well, until the spotlight swings.
      They certainly speak TO the nation. As far as ‘for’ it goes, the notion of sad folk talking amongst themselves on a niche blog no one cares about or goes near may be more applicable to theirs?
      By way of balance, their tweets often get RT’d at least twice, or on good days, five.
      You can see why..
      BBC Newsnight ‏@BBCNewsnight 18 Oct
      And just in case you missed the first one, here’s @gavinesler modelling another wonderful winter wardobe: http://youtu.be/SENErdgwv-A

      Going on such numbers, I’d say a refund of market rates was in order surely?
      And speaking of cutting edge, under their site page, there’s this:
      Newsnight’s blogs
      Editor’s blog – last updated March 2010
      From the web team – Closed
      Mark Urban’s blog – Open, but now seemingly ‘This entry is now closed for comments – Be the first to comment’ broadcast-only as he usually gets a handful before having to pull the plu
      Michael Crick’s blog – Long gone
      Paul Mason’s blog – Gone
      Susan Watts’ blog – Closed ‘in this format’, whatever that means
      Peter Marshall’s blog – Gone in…2009
      Cutting, edge stuff.
      Ah well, there’s always ‘The Editors’:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/
      Make that, ‘The Editors’:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs/the_editors/
      Which isn’t either.
      Amazing what £4Bpa doesn’t get you.

         12 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      May not be a bad thing with the BBC ‘news’ feeds frankly, but FaceBook having a bit of an issue at the ‘mo..
      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/21/facebook_status_updates_struck_dumb/#
      Ironically I only found out via twitter. Now if that went down too, Beebworld would cease to function.
      Which may make many more wonder what they are being forced to pay for (see Parliamentary debate link below) anyway.

         3 likes

  8. +james says:

    Bias by omission. Rageh Omaar in his documentary about the Ottoman Turks forgot to mention their contribution to architecture in the form of the Skull Tower of Nis.

    The-Skull-Tower,-Nis.jpg

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

       30 likes

    • Stewart says:

      Serbia and the BBC another can of worms.
      Am I the only person who feels that the BBC were less than impartial in their reporting of the break up of Yugoslavia?
      At the time I was less cynical of the BBC but even then I felt much of what I was being told didn’t add up.
      Now I’m wondering was it all a complete distortion like their reporting of the Arab spring and its subsequent fallout
      That’s the problem with the BBC’s blatant leftist bias ,now I find it hard to believe anything they report on any subject

         38 likes

      • pah says:

        The Serbian thing was more to do with the rising co-operation between Russia and the EU. The US didn’t like that one bit and, I suspect, it was not deemed to be in British interests either.

        So, by aiding the Kosovars, Croatians etc. it put a spike in the rapprochement as the Russians were closely allied to the Serbs.

        Of course the Serbs behaving like demented bastards didn’t help their cause one bit, but the argument still stands. They Balkans were once again pawns in a bigger game.

           3 likes

        • Stewart says:

          Mmm. I’m seem to remember that the Germans effectively recognised Croatia
          unilaterally which I thought ,shall we say, historically insensitive

             1 likes

    • Invicta 1066 says:

      Thanks for this info. I noticed that Omaar repeatedly referred to the conquest or capture of Istanbul. Strange at the time of it being finally overrun I though it was called Constantinople

         34 likes

    • amoorhouse says:

      Sombre but pathetic treatment of the Armenian massacres. Lots of commentators saying its troubling and sad but not proven. Seemed to blame the Armenians for attacking the Kurds/Turks during Russian occupation and somehow justifying the entire removal of a race from that region. Not really a genocide however try finding an Armenian in the whole of the original Armenian territory. Didn’t show the sad ruins of the Vank (Cathedral) at Echmiadzin surrounded by a wasteland. Seems a bit of a bloody giveaway to me. Also forgot to mention that there were lots of Armenians in the Greek coastal cities that the Turkish army took back. Of course the Greeks evacuated and left them to their fate. Again try finding an Armenian there now. Monstrous treatment by Omar.

      Like the little dig where he says that the British area of occupation was in the “modern” states of Iraq, Jordan and Palestine. Nice dissembling.

         8 likes

  9. Doyle says:

    Not BBC bias but I was watching the Sunday Politics yesterday and Andrew Neill was interviewing sour-faced dwarf Nicola Sturgeon on Scottish independence.
    She said, ‘I represent a constituency in the south side of Glasgow, if you wander around my constituency, you’ll speak to many many people who if you said what’s your national identity would say Irish, Pakistani, Indian, Polish … but many of them in the referendum next year will vote yes because they understand the issue at stake.’
    Leaving aside the issue of Irish, Pakistani, Indian and Polish nationals voting for Scottish independence when Scots in England/Wales/NI can’t … did she just say what I thought she did … that the Irish, Pakistani, Indian, Polish UNDERSTAND … thus implying that the native Scots are too thick to get it. Maybe she’s got a point, I don’t know, I’ve never been there but she doesn’t seem to have much faith in her own people … the Nats look like they may be relying on foreign voters to achieve their dream. Anyway, it doesn’t bother me if they go, just so long as they know they’ll get 10% of the national debt and NO MORE handouts.

       43 likes

    • Dinsdale Oblong says:

      “… the Nats look like they may be relying on foreign voters to achieve their dream”

      Give them a postal vote and it’s in the bag. 110% turnout guaranteed from some constituencies.

         42 likes

    • David Brims says:

      The whole point of a nation is to have a frontier and exclude people, them and us. A nation is defined by its people, change the people, you change the country, fill up Scotland with say, Zimbabweans, it will eventually turn into a third world hell hole.

      To make an analogy, if you have a shopping basket with 6 apples in it, take them out and put in 6 oranges, you will still have 6 items, but it’s not the same, is it ?

      The SNP are fake nationalists, it’s all about boasting ” look at me, look at me, look how tolerant I am, I love immigrants.” So they’re willing to throw Scotland under a bus and flood it with Third Worlders to prove how ”nice ” ( Eloi, door mats ) they are.

      The poison dwarf Nicola Sturgeon, this will make you sick.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeqfNN7YfA

         30 likes

      • Bob Nelson says:

        If an independent Scotland were to have a drastically different immigration policy to our own, I presume border controls will have to be put in place. Time to refurbish Hadrian’s Wall?

           19 likes

        • Albaman says:

          “Time to refurbish Hadrian’s Wall? ”

          I am sure the vast areas of Cumbria and Northumberland that lie north of the wall will be pleased.

             7 likes

          • Stewart says:

            Why not the Antonine Wall?

               6 likes

          • mat says:

            Whoosh and in fly’s the Alb [BBC patent pend!]! to beat us down with it’s concise methods! wow Alb [BBC patent pend!] , Bob makes us giggle and in you drop to kill off said humour with your Harriet approved Salmon stamped Broon boxed geographical put down like a lefty S.B.S frog it ! er wow ok lads and lasses let’s all give up and go home the Alb [BBC patent pend!] has got us bang to rights on this one ! funny he missed the millions of charity cash the BBC use to pay it’s self and staff big time but who cares we now we have been found out about a Roman wall ! ??

               17 likes

            • Kyoto says:

              Quisling Albaman has employed that po-faced put down before. So he’s a bit of a cracked record.

              But you never know maybe Quisling Albaman thinks that Bob Nelson considers we should pick up our gladius, pilums, scrotums and then put on our lorica segmenta. Head up north and rebuild the forts, mile castles and watch towers. Yet at the same time allow parts of Cumbria and Northumberland to be predated upon by blue-faced-Albamen.

              Anyway Quisling Albaman only you could in a discussion about nationality and birth place try the po-faced put down that Wellington was not English because he was born in Ireland. Had you never come across Wellington’s retort?

                 16 likes

              • Bob Nelson says:

                I would like to thank Albaman for pointing out the basic error made in my original comment. I would also take this opportunity to apologise to those people, and sheep, living in northern Cumbria and Northumberland who, like Albaman, have no sense of humour and who may have taken offence.

                   22 likes

      • Stewart says:

        Yes Alex wants to make Scotland a ‘beacon of diversity’ However ‘Comments are disabled for this video.’

           16 likes

        • David Brims says:

          Hmm, strange that, comments banned, I wonder why that is ? It’s baffling !!

             13 likes

        • pah says:

          Well, once shot of the English the SNP are going to need someone else to blame when it all inevitably goes tits up aren’t they? So Wee Eck is merely stocking up on his ‘unter menschen’.

             0 likes

    • Mark B says:

      I think the people were saying, “We understand you, but we cannot understand your fellow Glaswegians'”

      Which to honest, is a fair comment.

         10 likes

    • Doyle says:

      The trouble with mainstream politicians like Sturgeon is that they’re conditioned to automatically praise foreigners (often when they don’t deserve it) and to criticise the natives as useless, lazy or stupid … or maybe they don’t UNDERSTAND (i.e. they need to be ‘educated’ or rather, brainwashed), they don’t UNDERSTAND that colonisation is good for them, they don’t UNDERSTAND that multiculturalism is a ‘good’ thing, they don’t UNDERSTAND that they’re being culturally enriched … see, they’re too thick to get it. Maybe they UNDERSTAND only too well and they’re not going for it.

         22 likes

  10. Buttolph says:

    Anyone here see Anne Roninson’s patsy interview of Ed Miliband on watchdog?
    Have you seen the BBC’s response to all the complaints about it?
    Sorry if this has been shown on this site before but I think it’s priceless.
    See below.
    Seem fair to you?
    I really don’t think so. I find it insulting.
    I doubt very much that a loyal Liverpudlian socialist like Anne will be, “maintaining impartiality across the series” as well.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaint/watchdogmiliband091013/

    Complaint

    We received complaints from viewers who felt that Ed Miliband was an inappropriate choice of guest for Watchdog, and that Anne Robinson’s interview style was too soft.
    Response from Watchdog

    Energy pricing has been a running theme from the start of this series ofWatchdog, and Ed Miliband’s appearance on the programme was entirely justified. Mr Miliband’s pledge at the Labour Party Conference to freeze energy prices made it logical to quiz him on the viability of his proposals and to examine their possible impact from a consumer’s perspective. During the course of the interview, Anne Robinson challenged him on a number of key points, drawing an assurance that under his proposals the country would not suffer blackouts, that customers’ bills would be simplified and that he is prepared to return to the programme and be accountable for his actions if he wins power and fails to fulfil his promises.

    Watchdog is about to embark on a series of interviews with the Big Six Energy companies about their plans for the future and as a result we felt it was entirely appropriate to outline an alternative view of how their industry could be run in the years to come. The Government’s position will be reflected in an interview with Energy Secretary Ed Davey in an upcoming programme, so across the series we are maintaining impartiality.

       23 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘The Government’s position will be reflected in an interview with Energy Secretary Ed Davey in an upcoming programme, so across the series we are maintaining impartiality.’
      So there.
      Newsnight nailed him on jumpers, but seemed less keen on going where he and the BBC agree on renewables.
      So, frankly, on maintaining impartiality they are full of the waste from which energy can be derived.

         16 likes

      • lynette says:

        “”Across the series we are maintaining impartiality ” How many times did I hear this or something similar from BBC Complaints as an excuse for BBC bias ! You are listening to one programme at a time and the impression gained from the bias you listen to at the time is what sticks in your mind – the next programme is irrelevent cause the other side of the argument is not included at the time of listening.or watching .

           20 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          ‘The Government’s position will be reflected in an interview with Energy Secretary Ed Davey in an upcoming programme, so across the series we are maintaining impartiality. ‘

          Did they make that clear in the programme in which Miliband featured?

          If not, sounds like they are covering their arses with a hastily-arranged interview with Davey.

             11 likes

          • Lobster says:

            If they are so impartial, why didn’t they invite them to appear together?

               9 likes

            • Rich Tee says:

              Yes, or they could have read out statements from the other parties.

              Even the fact that Miliband was interviewed first in sequence is significant.

                 6 likes

  11. David Brims says:

    Last week, Thursday 6pm news, Shri Lankan George Alagiah presenting, the BBC did a report on poverty in Britain. The image they chose to represent the typical British family was a black man married to a white woman and their mixed race children !!

    Accident or deliberate ? strange since the percentage of mixed raced families is very low, it would have been easier to put a photo of a white couple on screen, after all we still are the majority, unless the BBC wants to convey a not so subtle message.

    As we all know there’s great care and thought in choosing particular images for television, why didn’t the BBC producer put an image of Chinese couple on screen ? ( the Chinese community is invisible to the BBC ) or go the whole hog and have a muslim man with his 3 wives all dressed in burquas to represent the ” typical British ” family ?

       61 likes

    • Alan Larocka says:

      Chinese (asian????) are definately invisible on the BBC – especially the numerous classroom shots that have 2 white kids in a sea of third world black kids.

         23 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      It’s all part of what is known as ‘nudging’ the viewing public to see such things as common-place, the norm. When the BBC thinks of a ‘typical family’ this is what it thinks of in its Common Purpose World of rigid political correctness, where none shall be excluded and all shall have prizes.

      ‘Call Me Dave’ Cameron is a big fan of ‘nudging’, by the way. Another reason to see right through his bullsh*ttery.

         24 likes

    • Seek the Truth says:

      It seems everyone is going down this route, especially advertisers on the other channels. It’s rare to see an all-white advert on any channel nowadays; even the stupid cartoon adverts have special shades in their colouring boxes – I didn’t realise there were so many shades of brown. A typical British family, as we are all fully aware, is a white man with a white wife, and white children, and no one, not even the BBC, can pretend it isn’t. I just wish they would not think they that we are all stupid enough to be fooled by it. (And why use cartoon characters to advertise things like insurance? Surely they don’t expect children to be buying insurance?)

         23 likes

      • Andy S. says:

        To notice this kind of multiculturalist propaganda is to be labelled a racist by the likes of Albaman, Scott, Dez etc. The only time you are allowed to notice and complain about it is when there aren’t ENOUGH ethnic minorities in view.

           26 likes

      • David Brims says:

        Andy S, Seek the Truth

        Have you seen the latest Halifax bank advert ? a brilliant piece of multicultural brainwashing propaganda.

        A black school teacher who also coaches his local junior football team in his spare time, in all weathers ( this guy is Jesus, he’s got a halo above his head ) goes to the bank to get a loan because his white wife is heavily pregnant.

        When I see ”efnics” on Crimewatch, they’re not like that.

        Note the white man in the flat cap shouting at the kids during the football match is portrayed as a useless idiot.

        http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/thework/1189686/Halifax-football-coach-Adam—Eve-DDB/

           19 likes

        • Rich Tee says:

          And the new Nutella one, starts with a white (a bit racist, that) then runs through all the ethnicities in order.

             7 likes

      • Dave666 says:

        My partner just asked me if I’d written that. I’ve noticed a trend for the Family of black male with blonde (died or otherwise) funny when I walk down the street that’s not what I’m seeing in the real world.

           0 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      Chinese people are everywhere compared with orthodox Jews. Not many Sikhs either.

      (As British people supposedly chosen at random, that is.)

         1 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      The secret to good comedy? Timing:
      http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/panorama-probe-comic-relief-investments-2474694
      Trust a right wing rag like the Mirror to bring up another cover up to the fore, today of all days.

         12 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      eta 4.15pm apparently, delayed from 3.30pm (but best dip in)

         1 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      A possible caution has been raised to share.

      If anyone is not a licence fee payer, it may be wise not to log on to BBC Parliament TV to watch it live on any PC, at least. This may be illegal.

      And if so, one more of the many ‘unique’ quirks of the UK’s broadcast monopolistic anachronism in the 21st Century, such that to watch UK democratic process engaged on how the BBC goes about its ‘business’, one is compelled by law to first pay the BBC for the privilege.

      They really do control every aspect of how we are educated and informed. Especially about their little ways.

         13 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      I watched the first 2 hours of this debate with growing dismay. A series of MPs consistently said that they thought the BBC was the best in the world and set the benchmark for all other broadcasters! Of course there was some muted criticism of BBC management and organisation, of its failure to address key issues of pay and severance, but not one MP, even Tories, mentioned its overt liberal left bias that is steadily undermining the very democracy that put them in Westminster.
      Some of the Labour MPs who spoke were ex BBC employees eg Chris Bryant. He managed to argue that the BBC brought diversity to broadcasting! How he managed to convince himself of this is beyond me, but then I am not on the left, and so I don’t see the world upside down like he must. Another Labour contributor, John McDonnell shamelessly took the NUJ line and complained about nasty managers whilst claiming that BBC news was renown for its accuracy and fairness and more money should be spent on it. One conservative, Gareth Johnson, said that he thought that BBC news was always fair and accurate. He must want a job with them surely!
      Only the chair of the Commons Select Committee on Culture media and Sport, John Wittingdale, seemed to think that the BBC needed serious reform, he mused about changing its funding arrangement,s which sounded quite hopeful. John Redwood said he thought that the BBC stifled all its competitors and so reduced innovation in the industry. Again true but who dares to take on the over mighty BBC.
      Perhaps its a House Commons convention that you don’t say anything unpleasant about the BBC , even if its the truth. But the BBC got a much better press from the Tories than I ever thought possible. Perhaps it some subtle political manoeuvre to attack the BBC whilst praising it. But if it isn’t, and if they really believe the tripe they spouted about fairness, accuracy etc, then the BBC can be confident that the Tories will do them no harm.
      The Tories seem scared to death of their arch enemy the BBC and cower before it like whipped dogs. Deep despair.

         13 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        Mr Doublethinker sir, methinks you do misunderstand the Tories.
        Their centre left stance these days means the inbbc actually represents their aims.
        They are not therefore going to support any meaningful criticism of dear auntie.
        The Tories are a lost cause I am afraid, and that clear attitudes that you highlight toward albeeba confirms it for me.

           7 likes

      • Andy S. says:

        One Tory adviser once revealed the reason the Tories don’t attack the BBC’s political bias more is because the leadership fear what our “National Broadcaster” could do to punish them for doing so.

        I think that tells you all you need to know about the Beeb’s power to destroy someone they don’t like.

           5 likes

  12. David Brims says:

    SKY new did a series of reports on immigration last week, yes I know it’s SKY and not the BBC, but it’s all the same NUJ brainwashing propaganda.

    The reporter went to a primary school were it was practically 99 % third worlder, muslim, hindu, sikh, Nigerians, Ghanians, etc etc, only 2 white British in the class room. You got to feel sorry for those 2.

    The children all said mass immigration was great because you can learn all about different cultures !! well, they would say that, wouldn’t they ? ( can they not read a book about different cultures, instead of importing 5 million parasites ? ) and there was no problems what so ever !!!

    Really, no problems ? strange that, when I was at school, the child who had the slightest difference, whether he had ginger hair, wore glasses, fat, thin, short, tall, bad at sports, was picked on and bullied.

    Yet at this multicultural school were 50 languages are spoken, a real Tower of Babel, it’s utopia !!

       36 likes

    • George R says:

      Yes, Sky News was weak on immigration: the NUJ agenda was apparent.

         24 likes

      • Geoff says:

        As in this example…

           16 likes

        • David Brims says:

          And the UK media has the temerity to slag off Putins Russia for their lack of free speech !! I’d rather live in Russia.

             14 likes

        • Mark B says:

          Is that the same silly woman who tried to strangle someone ??

             8 likes

      • Andy S. says:

        The establishment will not allow a serious debate on immigration. I knew when SKY first trailed the programmes on the subject that there wouldn’t be an honest debate. Saw Kay Birley accusing a pub landlord of being a NIMBY because he objected to a mosque which had been built without planning permission to be built across the road from his premises in Blackpool. His reply was priceless: He said that the council had told them at least four times to close the premises and the woman who ran the place continually refused to do so and then said
        “I go abroad on many occasions but I don’t demand to build a church wherever I go!”

           26 likes

  13. Invicta 1066 says:

    I caught the end of part of the BBC4 Sunday religious programme yesterday. It was about some aspect of Judaism in the UK, I think.
    What interested me was one of those present was scathing about a sect of Jews who were he said, ”Ultra Ultra Orthodox and very very Right Wing’ At this point the BBC presenter said ‘ We mustn’t slander people who are not here to defend themselves’ !!!???
    What? The BBC has a new policy of not allowing all & sundry to describe someone whose views they disagree with as Right Wing and by implication a Nazi, I thought this is the de facto stance of the BBC and it’s leftist contributors. As for not ‘slandering’ someone so described and saying they should be present and be able to argue their case. Well BBC, bring it on.

       22 likes

    • Crazy Ivan says:

      The trick is to let the interviewee get the slander in and then to criticise them for it, as mildly as possible.
      That way you can include the slurs and the BBC keeps its sacred reputation for impartiality.
      Of course, you could edit out the naughty bits afterwards in the interests of ‘community cohesion’ but, like racism, that concept only applies to particular groups.

         25 likes

      • arthur penney says:

        Did the BBC actually admit that they slander people? Anyway – for fun, a non-pc sketch – RIP

        [Jimmy is explaining to Reggie what kinds of people his secret army will be against]

        Jimmy Anderson: Wreckers of law and order. Communists, Maoists, Trotskyists, neo-Trotskyists, crypto-Trotskyists, union leaders, Communist union leaders, atheists, agnostics, long-haired weirdos, short-haired weirdos, vandals, hooligans, football supporters, namby-pamby probation officers, rapists, papists, papist rapists, foreign surgeons – headshrinkers, who ought to be locked up, Wedgwood Benn, keg bitter, punk rock, glue-sniffers, “Play For Today”, Clive Jenkins, Roy Jenkins, Up Jenkins, up everybody’s, Chinese restaurants – why do you think Windsor Castle is ringed with Chinese restaurants?

        Reginald Perrin: You realise the sort of people you’re going to attract, don’t you, Jimmy? Thugs, bully-boys, psychopaths, sacked policemen, security guards, sacked security guards, ratialists, Paki-bashers, queer-bashers, Chink-bashers, anybody-bashers, rear Admirals, queer admirals, Vice Admirals, fascists, neo-fascists, crypto-fascists, loyalists, neo-loyalists, crypto-loyalists.

        Jimmy Anderson: Do you think so? I thought recruitment might be difficult.

           13 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          Great scene and clever scripting but the idea was blagged from Blazing Saddles where Hedley Lamarr was deciding who he wanted in his band of outlaws to take Rock Ridge:

          ‘ I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists!’

             7 likes

    • RCE says:

      Also it means that being right wing is inherently pejorative, hence ‘slander’.

      No bias there at all.

         15 likes

  14. John says:

    It’s good when the BBC simply reports facts and doesn’t use code. You know the way that code words like ‘men’ are used for Islamic terrorists, and ‘Asians’ for Pakistani Muslims. So well done the BBC describing the kidnappers of this little girl as ‘Roma’ and not ‘East Europeans’ or even ‘Romanians’. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24605954). Would it have been used on the BBC home desk though if this was a UK story? Yes, not all Roma are kidnappers, but neither are all East Europeans.

       16 likes

    • flexdream says:

      I was premature. This is clearly a lapse on the BBC’s part, and it’s reverting to type, or else editorial control is being reasserted. A piece on Today on R4 about how it would be wrong to stigmatise Roma for this or think that Roma are any more likely to be involved in child abduction than any other group. The usual approach in other words. Funny how nobody thinks the Scots are murderers because of Ian Brady, or the English because of Fred West, yet the BBC thinks while we’re capable of distinguishing good white men from bad white men, we’re incapable of doing it for offenders from any other group.

         6 likes

    • Alan Larocka says:

      Similiar reporting on the elderly ‘muslim’ gentleman murdered by the East European university graduate – clearly reported as ‘muslim’ and not ‘asian’ – why the distinction in this case?

         5 likes

      • Andy S. says:

        Can any of our race warriors please explain to me , if the Roma are no different to other ethnic groups why they are so hated across the whole of Europe – even in their own homeland?

        What gives rise to the suspicions and the opinions about them?

        Why does every country that go to have severe problems with them? Italy, France, even Britain.

        It couldn’t be the Roma have a cultural inclination to criminality, could it?

           2 likes

  15. uncle bup says:

    ‘The BBC asks

    “Should the big supermarkets do more to stop us wasting food?’

    Yes. It should detail a member of staff to follow every customer home, live with them, and scold the customer whenever he throws out a stale piece of bread or a mouldy bit of cheese’.

    Uncle Bup asks

    ‘Should the big BBC, the voice of the patronising, Big State, libby-wibby left just stfu and get the f. out of our lives once and for all’

    No need for a question mark.

    Rhetorical question.

       37 likes

    • chrisH says:

      BBC canteen waste anybody?

         17 likes

    • lynette says:

      Notice the BBC picked on Tesco again !

         16 likes

      • Albaman says:

        The study in question was undertaken by Tesco so hard for the BBC and any others not to mention them. Following your logic it could be said that Tesco “picked” on itself.

        http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=594

           7 likes

        • Mat says:

          Yep have to agree with the Alb [BBC patent pend] Tesco did shoot themselves in the foot over this one !
          But then as Sir Charles Allen [number 22 UK’s most influential gay and lesbian down 7 places pop pickers!] is a Non-executive Director of Tesco and last week his other personality as the chairman of the Red Cross, who had just started a ‘we are all being murdered by the Torys ‘ campaign was being show boated by the BBC who singly failed to highlight his being the Chairman of the Executive Board of the Labour party and who has also has just been booted up to a Labour peer [expenses pend] for his crimes against humanity ?
          dam where is a conspiracy theory centurion when you need one?

             14 likes

  16. chrisH says:

    Hearing Evan Davis cooing about Gordon Browns favourite Master of the Universe, as he interviewed Alan Greenspan was cringing tosh (first bit anyway…he said there`d be more…I baled on hearing the simpering slavverpuss).
    Greenspan was asleep at the wheel just before the economy crashed in 2008…but -like Blair-managed to bale out with Gordon Browns assorted past medals dangled like Saviles “Jim Fixed it for me” medallions.
    Greenspan though seems entitled by the BBC to tell us what`s the problem these days in the economy…so he egst Evan Davis to shine his hush puppies for him.
    The whole cringefest reminded me of “Kung Fu”, where David Carradine(or Glasshopper!) hops on Rizla papers before the guru…the one with ping pong balls for eyes, as I recall.
    Worralaff!…Evan and Alan-Mr Browns Boys, but no-ones mentioning him anymore.

       16 likes

    • Kyoto says:

      Curiously, he said while he agreed with The Tea Party he did not agree with their methods, as Greenspan considered them ‘extremist’. Quisling Davis did not ask Greenspan to cite an example of an ‘extremist’ method employed by The Tea Party.

      It was a pity since I would have been interested in Quisling Davis’ reaction as I’m unaware of The Tea Party acting outside US law or employing violence, especially as the Quisling Broadcasting Corporation considers running around a shopping mall and massacring people in cold blood, and especially those who cannot say ‘Allah’s Snack Bar’ just a bit on the ‘militant’ side.

         24 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Yes-and Evan seemed perturbed that Greenspan might just be off-message.
        “What the Tea Party-guns, religion?”…said Evan.
        Greenhorn assured him that…no, the guns and Bible stuff wasn`t included.
        Well that`s OK then…glad to know that Davis can summarise and precis so admirably and simply.
        Remind me again…why did we pay Billy Whizz` airmiles again?…is there a San Fransisco “significant other”, we may need to know about?
        Do dish the goss girls!

           8 likes

  17. John says:

    This not so good by the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24599485). To read this report you’d think that the only people opposed to commemorating the IRA’s Shankhill bombing with a plaque and ceremony were some loyalists and some relatives of the victims. You’d also think the only political party with anything to say were Sinn Fein. The BBC NI know full well that this commemoration is widely opposed, so why don’t they report that?
    SDLP (http://www.sdlp.ie/index.php/newsroom_media/newsarticle/maginness_commemoration_for_shankill_bomber_insensitive/)
    Alliance Party (http://allianceparty.org/article/2013/008254/long-says-commemoration-of-shankill-bomber-will-cause-unnecessary-distress-for-the-families)
    DUP (http://www.nigeldodds.co.uk/news.aspx?id=100391)

    So why on earth would the BBC only quote the ambiguous words of a Southern Irish politician, and give the impression that there is not widespread opposition to yet another IRA commemoration of a terrorist? I have my theory which might be wrong, but the bias is obvious.

       20 likes

    • Ian Hills says:

      I wonder how many murders the BBC has caused over the years through supporting IRA/Sinn Fein?

         10 likes

      • flexdream says:

        I think that overstates the position but the BBC undermined the Government’s attempt to democratically legislate a publicity ban on Sinn Fein. Also, it pushed a pro-IRA drama ‘Rebel Hearts’ on an unwilling audience. In addition, if you compared the coverage of Bloody Sunday, Birmingham Six, and ‘Shoot to Kill’ with Kingsmills, Darkly and La Mon I think there’d be precious little evidence of bias. Be nice to see Adams and McGuiness pressed by the BBC as they are when they go to the Republic of Ireland. BBC dithered over giving Nick Griffin airtime, but how many murders did he order?

           11 likes

        • flexdream says:

          For ‘precious little evidence of bias’ read ‘precious little evidence of balance’.

             8 likes

        • Mat says:

          The BBC did one play for today in 1985 it was ‘contact’ by A.F.N.Clarke! the play was a neutral portrayal of British troops on operations in bandit country and had no music, no showing terrorists as poor unarmed civilians and deff no showing our troops to be evil thugs and murderers! it is even now is sort after by squadies on the A.R.R.S.E site and world wide !
          After pro IRA activists bitched and moaned the BBC deleted it and refused to make it available to anyone, in fact won’t even admit it was made by them the only place you can see it officially is at the N.F Archive in London and there was a film screening in Australia some years back !
          This is the only source for anyone not in the N.F .Archive , an old video recording poor quality and chopped up but well worth a watch and then you will see why the BBC got rid of the original !!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOQZZ_ULPI&list=PL9BA7C4FFB07B6552&index=26

             7 likes

          • flexdream says:

            I remember seeing that, and reading the book. It was memorable. I didn’t realise it had been suppressed. Sounds like a rerun of the Falkland’s play which was blocked from broadcast. Interesting.

               3 likes

    • Reed says:

      “Nothing to see. Move along”, seemed to be the line from Brussels.

      Disgracefully the BBC seemed to swallow it all hook, line and sinker.

      “Claims about large-scale benefits tourism in the EU are exaggerated,” Huw Edwards informed us on the Ten O’Clock news. The report “rebuffed” claims about benefit tourism, announced the BBC website.

      Really? If the BBC editorial team had read the detail of the report, it is hard to see how they could possibly draw that conclusion.

      Great journalism, isn’t it. Don’t investigate any deeper when the surface propaganda will do nicely, thanks all the same.

      Disgraceful. Imagine what the output of the BBC will be like in the unlikely event that we ever have a referendum. All three main parties, plus the national broadcaster, all campaigning for an ‘IN’ vote, with only UKIP against…and that huge silent majority ignored or disparaged.

      It’s already a stitch up. I hate the BBC, and increasingly the LibLabCon. All part of the same establishment problem.

         29 likes

  18. DYKEVISIONS says:

    Apologies if this has been mentioned before but the BBC had that ‘nice’ Chris Packham on Desert Island Discs last week. This show is hosted by the venerable Kirsty Young who has been embedded within this institution complete her lefty bias and her New Labour credentials.

    Mr Packham came across all cuddly and is been lined up to be ‘heir to Attenborough’.

    His music choices were classic sad agit-prop, especially as he is looks and sounds like a sad little ageing ex-punk rocker. The Poges, Billy Bragg and the Smiths. All the usual suspects with suicide inducing, miserable, chippy, music.

    After being told he is given the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible he came out with the yawn inducing comment ‘well I’m thinking fuel for those two,’ charming from this Neanderthal idiot.

    Low and behold, Packham, surprisingly crops up in one of the ‘Axis of Evil’s newspapers; Murdoch’s The ‘Sunday Times’.

    The piece was written on Packham by a swarthy looking lady called Rosie Kinchen ; she of the article, ‘a test of British tolerance, Rosie Kinchen takes to the streets in a niqab’.

    Apparently, Packham is not allowed to talk about badger culling on the BBC. Really.

    Rosie fawns, ‘Packham is 52 but could pass for a decade younger. He does not look like a man who spends his time digging around hedges: he has an artfully styled quiff and is wearing an immaculate Prada shirt’.

    I started to feel queasy after that.

    ‘‘Within conservation we have entered a field of complacency and this is the worst possible time because the world is on the brink. I don’t see it as controversial: I see it as common sense’’ ‘I think the BBC may have a problem on its hands.’ ends Rosie’s piece.

    No dear, it is exactly the sort of person that they want to head the BBC’s Climate change / Environmental output!

       25 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Agreed-not only did Feedback give 15 minutes as to why global warming realists should not get any chance to unsettle the science…but Roger Bolton said that we all loved Packham.
      Did we?…I thought we was weird…crying over a dead kestrel or what have you…after so many years too!
      But the BBC and their bien pensants Islington boulevardiers love their punky tie dyes choosing Ska, Smiths or Bragg(FFS…Bragg chosen…does BUPA do ear transplants?)
      Packham was Terry Nutkins minime wasn`t he?
      What is it with these Johnny Morris shadow puppets….they`re frankly weird.
      Get them off the telly and try them out on a pet…let`s see if they become normal, after that.

         9 likes

    • flexdream says:

      I appreciate Chris Packham’s enthusiasm and knowledge of the natural world, and he isn’t promoting his world view, which I don’t share, via the BBC. I think he’s ‘mostly harmless.’ At least he has a proper education and aptitude, and didn’t get his job by being eye candy, or related to someone at the BBC.

         4 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Fair point sir…no further questions!
        But Bragg?…surely no-one else has chosen this bellicose quack monkey-not without his retinue of butlers anyway!

           3 likes

  19. Guest Who says:

    No sooner is the Future of the BBC seen to be in the unsafest of hands today (guessing – have to track down the post-match recording), but the world’s highest paid, most uncurious Alzheimers sufferers again get to shuffle back to um, ah and mutually backstab again tomorrow…
    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/front-foot.html

       3 likes

  20. lynette says:

    nobody has mentioned the BBC’s reporting of the killing of christian Cops as they left a wedding in Egypt. Headline news radio 4 blamed them – unbelievable !!

       22 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Indeed. Even for the BBC. Is there a recording?
      After Nairobi I’ll err on believing anything of their ‘news’ management, especially if left in the hands of ‘reporters’ whose qualifications appear to be the ability to stencil BBC on a business card and enjoying direct access to the news broadcast system without any editors getting involved.
      But blaming victims for their own demise seems… odd, given their journalism is under such scrutiny for additional influences at present.

         14 likes

      • lynette says:

        The News was on the today programme and can be heard again -it said the christians were considered to be traitors to the muslim brotherhood- this statement as good as .excused .the murderers .and more than suggested that the christians were responsible especially as it was part of the headline . The attacks on Egyptian Christian cops is quite significant and this is only one incident the BBC has reported Seehttp://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4440155,00.htl

           18 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          I asked; you have answered. Thank you.
          It will hence be on record and doubtless some IT-savvy kind soul may capture the key section (esp; ‘headline’) and share.
          Certainly such ‘analysis’ as you describe of the BBC requires answers.
          Especially as the BBC’s ‘flexible’ levels of mitigation, depending on who they support in violence vs. those they do not, are already being stretched beyond breaking.
          This should be a major issue.

             7 likes

    • Cosmo says:

      Who would be a policeman in the new Egypt ? Could be worse, could be a Jewish cop. Sorry Lynette, couldn’t resist.

         3 likes

  21. Oldbob says:

    Headlines on five o clock news. Some ukrainian guy found guilty of murdering a Muslim. Queue clips of mosques, Muslims praying, interview with muslim’s daughter, interview with local Muslim councillor. “Racist hate crime, lots of fear in the community yada yada yada ”

    So an alien is murdered by another alien…..sad for sure, but am I supposed to fill up with rage and indignation and give away all my worldly possessions and convert to islam or something ….. Or can I move on now, as I really don’t care that much?

    Get real

       40 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Ah, yet another clash of foreign cultures on English soil.

      And these are just the warm-up acts, I fear.

         26 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      Any link? Do they know it was race hate? Could be the Muslim was grooming and got what was coming…

         12 likes

    • Alan Larocka says:

      Similiar reporting on the elderly ‘muslim’ gentleman murdered by the East European university graduate – clearly reported as ‘muslim’ and not ‘asian’ – why the distinction in this case?

         9 likes

      • barlicker says:

        And no acknowledgement from the BBC that their concerted attempts to implicate the EDL in the mosque attacks was without foundation.

           8 likes

  22. Alex says:

    Now what this guy did was atrocious and he should be punished but is it just me or does anyone else sense that when an atrocity is committed against a Muslim we ALL have to know about the fact that the victim was a Muslim? However, when Muslims are the perpetrators (quite often these days) the BBC become very selective in their language and reporting (especially when the victims are Christians!)

       46 likes

      • F***Wit says:

        Waoo! A joint FuckWit award to the most noxious posters today in the blog of despair!

        Yes its you OldBob and Alex, two complete nobs who try and turn every story into a bigoted rant. Yes, lets not care if people are murdered or blown up as long as they are not white and English and preferably middle aged and very sad.

        Arise Sir FuckWits. We don’t salute you as your are clearly blind.

        Funny enough reading the story at the BBC totally contradicts what you’ve said but of course there are none so blind as those that cannot see!

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24614280

           5 likes

        • Andy S. says:

          What a lovely turn of phrase you have Mr. F’Wit. No doubt you’ll have the same IP number as all the other offensive posters to this site. You deliberately miss the point of the posts (as usual) to rant obscenely at the posters.
          I bet your mother is really proud of you.

             24 likes

          • Alex says:

            Don’t even bother replying to this disgusting and offensive vomitous barrel of bum crack seepage, Andy. Complete waste of oxygen. Left-winger for sure.

               21 likes

          • noggin says:

            F***Wit …. hmmm 😀
            The same newscaster that goes overboard about this. with wall to wall Muslim and Islam, mosques Muslims praying ya da ya da ya da.

            For some reason cannot mention that another beardy 80 odd yr old pensioner who trafficked a child, used this 10 yr old to claim benefits, continually raped her, and kept her a slave, in a cellar, with full wife s approval was …
            a Muslim? …

            now why is that? …
            care to use you odious high powered F***Wit-tery to work that one out?

               26 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          Ah, we are graced with the presence of a Community Support Officer from the Those That Hopeth Yet Never Hateth Constabulary.

          A rapier-like wit and intellect you have at your disposal there, sir. I doff my cap to you.

             15 likes

        • Area 51 and UFO Enthusiast says:

          F’Wit…. An egg cup would fit your head like a sombrero! Your only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others!

             10 likes

        • richard D says:

          Apart from the other responses to your complete ad-hom attack on Alex, I’d be obliged if you could back up your concluding statement, which you seem to use as the basis for berating him. You say…

          “Funny enough reading the story at the BBC totally contradicts what you’ve said but of course there are none so blind as those that cannot see!”

          How on earth does the article (cited by both of you) in any way contradict Alex’s view in his very brief post to which you appear to have replied – with not much more than invective, and no evidence to support your conclusion ?

             13 likes

  23. johnnythefish says:

    Ever heard of The Global Warming Petition Project?

    31,487 American scientists have signed this petition,
    including 9,029 with PhDs

    http://www.petitionproject.org/

    Has the BBC?

    If they have, they’re keeping it quiet.

    Makes the IPCC claims about ‘scientific consensus’ look a bit sick, eh, Harrabin? Are you going to continue being a ‘scientist denier’ or are you finally going to fess up, you travesty of a science journalist?

       27 likes

  24. Guest Who says:

    The BBC is now irredeemably if not fatally-entangled with twitter and FaceBook commercially, so it will be interesting in how it rationalises its ethical exposure (as ‘hate sites’ do inspire some to invoke all sorts of things when they choose) given:
    BBC News
    Should people be free to watch videos of beheadings?

    Facebook is allowing footage showing real decapitations to be posted and shared on its site once again: http://bbc.in/17c0eLk

    The social network had placed a temporary ban on the material in May following complaints.

    Could viewing the clips could cause psychological damage?
    Beyond the facile, typo-marred last default ‘question’ near every BBC FaceBook post now seems cursed with, one wonders how the BBC (and its stalwart defenders) will rationalise their coverage of those who host nasty words with them getting into bed with the hosts of actual, mutilating, murdering, physical bb-headers?
    Seems… conflicted… at best.
    Or just another BBC unique piece of immoral relativism?
    ‘The BBC has learned that after reviewing its policies, Facebook decided to let graphic content appear so long it was not celebrated or encouraged by the person who had posted the material.
    Oh, well, that’s OK then. One can see via the BBC has-learning curve how that can easily work in upload, reporting and assessment.

    However, a spokeswoman was unable to provide comment at this time.
    That would be, this time, a FaceBook spokeswoman, the BBC ‘has learned’ from? At least they teased her sex out if naught else.
    Sex BTW, is a bit of a no-go to FB.
    They do have standards. Lots of ’em.
    Just like the media monopoly supporting them.

       6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Maybe any cherry vultures catching the breeze in the vicinity, especially those so affronted by nasty words to be moved to comment in the special ways they can exhibit, may be prevailed upon to comment on the BBC’s role and dilemma?

         3 likes

      • Anders Thomasson says:

        Interesting how the BBC also managed to forget to mention the source of almost all beheading videos. It’s those “men” again…

           14 likes

  25. Will all end in tears says:

    Not necessarily bias but nevertheless…………

    Did anybody hear BBC fave Sandi Toksvig and (5 Live’s) Sam Walker a-chuckling and a-chortling this afternoon over Toksvig’s tale of how she witnessed some chap spit into another man’s eggs?

    Part of Toksvig plugging her new book about etiquette. She explained how, at breakfast once, a German was being impolite to another chap (Taiwanese or such like).

    The German momentarily turned his back at which point the Taiwanese spat right into the middle of the German’s eggs and then winked at Toksvig.

    “It was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen” gushed Toksvig, “it really was” with Walker endorsing the tale by giggling along.

    Now I don’t give a toss how impolite or bolshy one is (even a German!) there is absolutely no justification in spitting – either at them and certainly not in their food.

    Apparently the standards at the BBC at not as rigid………….

       43 likes

  26. Guest Who says:

    In my view the BBC has made a deal with the devil hooking up with FaceBook, so the comments to this one are already… ‘interesting’:

    BBC News

    India is about to launch a spacecraft to #Mars: http://bbc.in/17caZNQ

    Could this encourage an Asian space race? Will China be next?

    Image: Nasa’s Curiosity rover on Mars
    But then, just to crank the irony dial to 11, they pop this one in too:

    BBC World News
    Singapore’s mid-life crisis? How citizens are finding a voice and challenging power http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia/

    The city’s Speakers’ Corner has become the venue for a number of quite lively demonstrations recently, over an issue which has provoked more debate than at any time since the country’s tumultuous birth 48 years ago – immigration.

    Those demonstrations, though, are still subject to regulations. They cannot say or do anything that might stir up racial tension or disturb public order.
    The comments there, too are a rare treat.

       5 likes

  27. George R says:

    Note the politically symbiotic relationship between the National Union of Journalists, and the BBC.

    The NUJ thinks that the BBC is in such a mess that journalists ( NUJ journalists , of course), should be part of the board (how many two, four six?):-
    NUJ:-
    “BBC must put journalists on the board”

    Of course, the licence-payers don’t get a look in on the BBC board on this NUJ model. Except that NUJ would represent licence-payers’ interests, as now? !!

    http://www.nuj.org.uk/news/bbc-must-put-journalists-on-the-board/?

       9 likes

  28. Alex says:

    A typically weak and lilly livered R5 performance from Pienar… He gave El Presidente Salmondo a reall easy ride and his reactions to English members of the public following the debate was typically Left-wing in its anti-English and SNP sympathetic tone:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03dd92v/Pienaars_Politics_20_10_2013/

       17 likes

    • Milverton says:

      The entire show was jaw dropping in its bias. Five Live should just come out in favour of the yes campaign and have done with it.

         14 likes

      • Area 51 and UFO Enthusiast says:

        Salmond always, with the exception of Andrew Neil, gets an easy ride from the BBC. They just love his far-Left, socialist utopian fantasies! But if Scotland chooses to commit financial suicide, the BBC will lose a chunk of their enforced mafia tax. Just doesn’t make sense, to me.

           20 likes

        • Alan Larocka says:

          Salmond was a member of the notorious Britain-hating Marxist 1969 group – therefore it follows that his idea of a modern, diverse, forward-looking Scotland will resemble 1950’s Hungary.

             14 likes

      • Alan Larocka says:

        The BBC & SNP detest anything British or United Kingdom – you just need to look at how over represented the Scots were in the Empire armies and forces during the 18th and 19th centuries to conclude that slime like Salmond is ashamed of our proud Imperial past.

           2 likes

  29. George R says:

    Rihanna and Abu Dhabi mosque.

    Two reports:-

    1.) ‘Atlas Shrugs’:-

    “DESPITE SUBMISSION, RIHANNA KICKED OUT OF MOSQUE IN ‘MODERATE’ ABU DHABI”

    [Excerpt]:-

    “Why any woman would perform in a country that adheres to such misogynist, savage law is beyond me. Why sanction it? It’s not like she needs the dough. And look at her: she’s all covered up, but — it’s not enough. Never enough.”

    http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/10/despite-submission-rihanna-kicked-out-of-mosque-in-moderate-abu-dhabi.html

    1.) INBBC:-

    “Rihanna asked to leave Abu Dhabi mosque over photo shoot”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24607559

       5 likes

    • richard D says:

      In this particular case (and I’m now watching out for imminent lightning strikes), I actually prefer the tone taken by the BBC article, of the two.

      The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is a serious place of worship, attracting visitors from around the world, both to see the incredibly beautiful building itself, and for adherents to their faith, to worship in the largest mosque in the UAE.

      It’s their mosque, their country, and their right, in my view, to set the rules in and around this building – just as much as I would claim for a church in the UK.

      Rihanna knew very well, I think, what she was doing, and tried to avoid the normal entry which would certainly have asked her to wear suitable dress (i.e. a cloak-like garment provided for those women who are deemed not to be dressed appropriately for this place of worship) so as not to offend the people who were visiting the site – or to leave the site.

      Having previously visited the building myself, I saw no distress caused to anyone who was asked to dress modestly and appropriately (and it surely must be the right of the Mosque’s curators to decide what they think is modest and appropriate in their own building). And, as an aside, it is a really beautiful building – funnily though, Rihanna seemed to be more interested in herself and her self-publicity than the building. In other articles, she is reported to have left the area without entering the building…. which sort of highlights exactly why she went there in the first place.

      But, when you’re a publicity hound, I guess anything goes.

         10 likes

  30. richard D says:

    And the Co-operative Bank’s woes just go on and on. Not that long ago, you may remember, this was going to be the bank of the future, taking over copious numbers of the Lloyds TSB banks at a knockdown price….etc., etc. new competition on the High Street, an ‘ethical’ bank…. (well, not really, given the lies it was projecting to its shareholders and Lloyds TSB)

    Apparently, the bank, which bankrolls significant chunks of the Labour party’s costs, will now have to face up to the real world, with its bondholders now controlling 70% of the shares.

    But does the BBC mention any of the political leanings of the Bank…. well, not in this article today….

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24609998

    A link to Mr Peston’s piece bemoans (as does Unite – the staff’s union of choice, and probably co-sponsors of many Labour MPs) the fact that the bond-holders have gained control, and have saved the bank from going under – but, natch, I am sure we’ll hear plenty about these ‘dastardly’ hedge funds again, thwarting the Labour Party as the Bank fights to gain control of it’s finances – which are almost as big a disaster as it’s sponsored political party made of the UK’s finances.

       17 likes

  31. George R says:

    Islamising Turkey.

    “Former Mossad chief slams Turkey for reportedly burning Israeli spies in Iran”
    By DAVID BARNETT.

    http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2013/10/former_mossad_chief_slams_turk.php

    “Turkey: PM gives TV reporter ‘pocket money'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-24609878

    Of course, INBBC journalists don’t need P.M Erdogan’s ‘pocket money’ to report as they do on Islamising Turkey.

       9 likes

  32. DickMart says:

    Trust the BBC to report this view from a Labour politician about their future: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24613224, while ignoring the many views expressed on the right.
    I think Tessa Jowell’s idea would be just about the very worst option. Licence fee stays; Government loses even the minimum influence that it currently has with the periodical review of the licence. I can’t see what safeguards there would be with the BBC becoming a mutual; indeed, there would be virtually no constraint on the constant outpouring of left-wing propaganda.

       12 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      As with many aspects of the BBC’s ‘reporting’, especially as they have become more often the subject they are reporting upon, it is probably safe to say their analysis, choice of commenter, who cited and who quietly omitted, etc, will probably mostly revolve around what serves the BBC best. Not for the first time. Culpable, complicit and now conflicted. What’s not to trust?

         14 likes

  33. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC4 10pm and Auntie takes a pair of scissors to her brightly coloured balaclava, dons a pair of Jo Brand’s red Doc Martens, pulls on her own purple tights and sets off to stick it to the ex-KGB-Man – Man!

    Pussy Riot says Putin Out!

    (funnily enough isn’t Balaclava the name of a place we once faught the bear? All to save our best pal Johnny Turk)

    Old friends, old enemies – eh BBC?

    I say leave the Ruskies alone – they look a bit behind the times culture-wise but they might just be the last bastion of Western Culture by the time you and your fellow travellers have finished with Europe and the US

    As for me my radical knitwear of choice is my trusty woolly cardigan

    Yes I’m talking about Storyville: Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer

    I bet the Soviet dissidents back in the Gulag days wished they’d have got such a sympathetic treatment from the BBC

       16 likes

    • Dave s says:

      No “might “about it. Russia will be the last bastion and possibly the only hope for the West.
      Oddly enough I remember an Israeli telling me many years ago( around 1990) that in or lifetimes Russian troops would be on the frontiers of Europe as our last defence. Not so far fetched as the US retreats into itself and the EU states exhibit little will to survive preferring liberal fantasy worlds to the reality of the 21st century.

         15 likes

      • David Kay says:

        i for one am very grateful to the russian military for protecting the world from drug smuggling greenpeace terrorists and pirates.

           24 likes

        • Dave s says:

          Greenpeace claim a moral imperative that overrides the legitimate interests of a nation state. It is entirely Greenpeace’s fault if the Russians do not subscribe to that odd liberal fantasy.
          I assume you were being sarcastic without addressing the real issue.

             7 likes

          • David Kay says:

            привет товарищу !

            no im grateful to the russian military for dealing with the drug smuggling greenpeace eco terrorists in a manner i wish the west would

               5 likes

            • David Kay says:

              but youre right, when islam takes over western europe, Russia might be the only safe haven we can get to over land.

              Once there was a time when the Red army invading western europe was seen as a bad thing to say the least.

              will the time come when a russian invasion will be seen as liberation from the caliphate?

                 4 likes

    • flexdream says:

      Russia is a corrupt country with huge problems, but it’s clear that the punishment handed out to Pussy Riot was widely supported by the Russian people. Plus, this whole affair has absolutely nothing to do with the UK.

         12 likes

  34. AsISeeIt says:

    And in European News

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24601870

    Napoleon rides again as 1,000s of Europeans are on the march for the Battle of the Nations and – gosh – where on earth is the diversity?

    Come on BBC, you must be slipping – reporters have been hit over the head with rolled up UKIP manifestos for less.

    Oh wait…. as you were…. that was a damned close run thing…. I just spotted Alex Salmond.

    But what the blazes is that Highlander doing at Leipzig in 1813?

       6 likes

    • Doyle says:

      I left a comment on the Mail-Online saying, ‘if Danny Boyle had been in charge, the participants would’ve all been black.’ I thought it was funny … they didn’t print it.

         10 likes

  35. Chris says:

    Not one mention of Muslim or Islam in the article.
    Mentions criticism from a SUICIDE prevention agency, which kind of gives the impression suicidal people would view beheading videos and then behead themselves, because obviously Muslims are not beheading people, they do it to themselves…
    Also checked the first 10 pages of comments out of 41 (got bored at 10) and only found 2 comments that mention the word Muslim and one mentioned Islamist. Comments are pre-moderated.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24608499

       14 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      That it was going to get closed for comments fairly quickly was never in doubt. The wonder is how many came in before the inevitable. Somewhat of a Pandora’s posting really.
      Agreed the attempt at making the whipping of heads off more as part of the human condition was rather grotesque in editorial manipulation, even for a revisionist entity like the BBC.
      Quite interesting what happened towards the end of the comments, that may have hastened the mods’ desire to bring matters to a conclusion.
      Seems some may have seen through the BBC’s attempted steerage (Editor’s Picks can also be revealing, especially as they are by default presented first), and managed to do so without offering an excuse to the BBC to censor comment it doesn’t fancy. Ironic, given the BBC is totally wedded to a foreign, unaccountable, free source of content and exchange whose business model they facilitate no matter what they do. And will, it appears, let anything go. Bar nookie. Got to love unique exemptions, eh, BBC?
      I did wonder last night how any Flokkers exercised by uncensored individual posts (to the point of projecting consequences to forums and their owners as a whole) felt about this, but they either retire early and rise late or… like the BBC, opt for closing of comments when debate doesn’t suit.

         3 likes

  36. Chris says:

    Communist sickle flag on the front page of the BBC and lengthy article on soviet Russia as well…

       7 likes

    • Geoff says:

      The Telegraph reports that health tourism is costing the NHS £2bn a year. BBC Breakfast News would rather go with the smaller £500 million figure that could be claimed back.
      Either way it prefers to lead with Scottish Power’s comparably paultry fine of £8.5 million from Ofgem.

         14 likes

      • George R says:

        Yes, the predictable BBC-NUJ political line on UK provision for the health costs of foreigners.

        1.) ‘Daily Mail’:-

        “The TRUE cost of health tourism: Foreigners using NHS cost Britain up to £2BILLION a year, government report reveals… 100 times more than thought”

        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2470994/TRUE-cost-health-tourism-Foreigners-cost-NHS-2BN-year.html

        2.) BBC-NUJ:-

        “NHS ‘can save £500m’ on foreign care”

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24616801

        NOTE:-
        Beeboids’ concluding question shows their main concern seems to be for health tourists, not health payers-

        “Are you a non-EU national who has received treatment with the NHS? What is your reaction to this news?”

        NOT:-

        “Are you a British national national who has paid for foreign health tourists on the NHS? What is your reaction to this news?”

           23 likes

  37. AsISeeIt says:

    Sometimes BBC news headlines have me scratching my head

    You see the trouble with PC filtering is that there soon comes a point wherer the in-house obfuscation detracts from the clarity and understanding of the story

    This morning I hear from BBC 5 Live that Facebook are allowing the hosting of “beheading videos” – so long as posters don’t “glorify” them.

    Who on earth would want to….? oh wait…. it must be those Terrible Tudors I hear so much about on BBC Horrible Histories

       19 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      The BBC has just handed its critics (perhaps hoping that their selective banning is not far off) another convoluted, facile piece of Editorial Guideline BS to rival ‘Islamic Benediction’.
      Beheading is obviously execution. If in public it has already been glorified by the originator. And host site. Or those who link to it.

         8 likes

  38. Old Goat says:

    I had the pleasure of a lie-in this morning, put on the radio at about ten to eight, and my ears were assaulted by some religious person on “Thought for the day” going on about Margaret Thatcher, global warming, and the usual mantra.

    Is there NO escape? Classic FM rapidly became listening choice of the day…

       20 likes

    • MartinW says:

      It is the second week in succession that Bishop James Jones has included ‘global warming’ in his Thought for the Day. Today’s contribution was a classic of bias and half-truths.
      Bishop Jones was, of course, the chairman of the Hillsborough committee, whose report makes no mention at all of the drunkenness of the fans outside the ground. Even the father of one of those fans admitted on air that his son “had had several pints just before that match, but so what?”.

         15 likes

      • David Kay says:

        being the working class scumbag that i am, i remember that time around hillsborough when football was really a working mans sport, no middle class snobs in the stands then.

        To me its about how bad working class football fans were treated as a whole, regardless of their team, by the police and establishment at that time that culminated in the Hillsborough disaster.

           3 likes

        • Andy S. says:

          David, you have to ask yourself WHY the authorities felt it necessary to treat football fans that way in the 1980s. Why was it felt necessary to cage in fans in the first place? You’ve obviously forgotten all the running battles the Police and ground staff had with drunken, violent so-called “fans” both in and around the grounds on match days. It even lasted well into the evenings when the fights continued in city centres and pubs where fans congregated.

          The deadly actions of Liverpool fans at Heysel Stadium contributed to way fans were treated at that time.

             10 likes

        • RCE says:

          The main victims of working class football hooligans were working class football fans.

          And has it ever occurred to you that the demography of football crowds has changed because the masses have generally become much better off in the last 30 years?

             2 likes

    • richard D says:

      Even worse, the facile prattling of the prelate involved was about as factual about sources of energy as it was about the current (non-) warming trend.

      For instance, when mentioning alternatives to fossil fuel energy, he managed to have a ‘greenie’ kick at nuclear energy by saying words to the effect that ‘…of course, nuclear energy has had it’s own massive problems lately, for instance in Japan…”

      Somebody should tell this know-nothing that the problem was caused by tectonic plate shifts in the Pacific, resulting in an underwater earthquake, which precipitated a tsunami (one of the largest the world has ever known) which sent water rising as high as 40 metres above normal, at the Japanese coastline, and reaching as far inland as 10 kilometres. The earthquake moved the main island of Japan, Honshu 2.4 metres east and shifted the Earth on its axis by possibly 25 centimetres.

      But hey, all power stations and wind farms ought to be capable of withstanding forces of that magnitude, eh ?

      Now, if this twat thinks that we should mitigate every possible catastrophe (just imagine what damage could have occured in the Thames Valley, for instance, with a Tsunami of these dimensions), then he’d probably have to evacuate a huge percentage of the UK, shut down half, or more, our generating capacity, and move us all back to the Dark Ages. Because, of course, there is apparently a distinct risk of a chunk of rock, the size of the Isle of Man, calving from La Palma in the Canary Islands, and setting off an even worse tsunami than the one that hit Japan.

      Sheesh – what am I thinking – sending us back to the Dark Ages seems to be what all these ‘greenies’ are desperate to bring about.

         18 likes

    • Denialist says:

      Yeah I heard that complete tool as well. Somehow I don’t think, in the interests of balance, we’ll be getting the sceptical position put in Thought for the Day tomorrow.
      Presumably he quoted Maggie from the depths of the 1970s in a bid to convert Thatcherites to Global Warmism. It would never occur to him that sceptics might have reasoned positions based on actual knowledge and science, not mindless propaganda. I found myself wondering what Thatch would have said nowadays given the available evidence.
      I also generally find, and today was no exception, the sudden switch in topic where they suddenly start talking about their particular god odd and rather forced. There is never a logical link between whatever guff they start with and the god bit. It’s freaky.

         10 likes

    • DownBoy says:

      As an antidote to the vacuous, deeply irritating pompous lefty Godfest of TFTDay, can I recommend http://www.platitudes.org.uk
      Interesting, isn’t it, that despite various ‘faith traditions’ represented, virtually all the contributors are cut from the same liberal/left cloth.

         4 likes

  39. AsISeeIt says:

    Beeboid Nicky Campbell tells me this morning that ‘the American media can be quite “one-eyed” about their own’

    Sweeping statement there, Nicky

    The context is a chat with Ben Ainslie – Americas Cup winning team member

    Our Nicky seems concerned that the US media should be seen to have given our Ben sufficient credit for his efforts

    Interesting precident you want to set there Nicky

    I guess house rules at the BBC are to give absolute full credit to overseas connections of ‘our’ sports stars

    In fact the BBC are a little unique in this – the rest of the world is so…. ‘one-eyed’ on this issue

    I’ve said it before : Nicky Campbell is useful bell end (do I mean bell weather?) of BBC ‘think’

    I wonder who shot his badger? Do you want to declare an interest other than blind toadying to the Beeb management line Nicky?

    How goes the US version of Long Lost Family franchise?

       14 likes

  40. Thoughtful says:

    http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFQQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parliament.uk%2Fbriefing-papers%2Fsn04153.pdf&ei=pyhmUorkAaGj0QW65IGYAg&usg=AFQjCNFSp320G909zk2l5OCHAkw_ryM_LQ&bvm=bv.55123115,d.d2k

    This surprised me! I guess the facts don’t fit what the left wish to propagandise about. Fuel poverty? well it’s nothing like what it was pre privatisation when energy prices halved !

    Graphs show that from 1964 when they begin through to 1986 households spent around 5% of consumer expenditure on energy. By 2003 it had fallen to 2.3% this coincides with the privatisation of British Gas and the deregulation of the energy market. Since 2003 fuel expenditure has steadily risen up to 3.3% in 2009 still a long way from the kind of prices of the ‘good old days’ when the state ran the energy market.
    According to these figures we are still quite a long way short of the prices as a proportion of expenditure which applied for the 1964 – 1986 period. We have for some decades benefitted from low prices, and we don’t like them going up again!

    This is reality and it’s difficult to argue that we are still paying less for our energy than we did in the two decades from the 1960s to the 1980s.

       17 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Pity government researchers can’t be as adept at digging out these figures.

         4 likes

  41. Framer says:

    Click to access Qualitative_Assessment_of_Visitor___Migrant_use_of_the_NHS_in_England_-_Observations_from_the_front-line_-_FULL_REPORT.pdf

    Link to government report on cost of migrants using the NHS and not paying. It is not especially academic and full of anecdotal descriptions of the near impossibility of dealing with the problem without rigorous processes. Perfectly plain that no Beeboid interviewer this morning had looked at it or would even consider reading such ‘bigoted’ material.

       8 likes

  42. George R says:

    For information-

    This morning:-

    “BBC gives evidence on its annual report.

    “The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is holding an evidence session to consider the BBC’s annual report and accounts for 2012-13 on Tuesday 22 October 2013.

    Parliament TV: watch the evidence session
    Culture, Media and Sport Committee
    Witnesses
    At 10.30am:

    Rt Hon. Lord Patten of Barnes, Chairman, BBC Trust
    Lord Hall of Birkenhead, Director-General, and
    Anne Bulford, Managing Director, Operations and Finance, BBC.”

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/131021-bbc-annual-report-2013/?

       3 likes

    • Dave s says:

      I would rather stand out in the rain all day that listen to that lot.

         6 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Surely he is
      “THE Lord Patron of Barnes”…and THE Lord Anthony Hall of Spandau.
      Important to give our betters their true due!

         2 likes

  43. Will all end in tears says:

    Dame Nicky’s “Your call” on 5 Live and “health tourism” is up for discussion.

    First few calls are promising (from my viewpoint) – yes, health tourism does exist and puts the NHS under additional pressure – one surgeon’s mate explained how 70% of his hospital’s budget was spent on treating “patients” from sub-Saharan Africa.

    Thereafter is your usual Beeb tripe including Daily Mail and UKIP haters, natch.

    Nicky observes how interesting it is that the discussion has ebbed and flowed. First callers agreed health tourism was a problem, next lot were not.

    Now, call me a cynic, but I’m quite certain that the callers did not dial in in that particular order.

    I’d wager that an editorial decision had been taken to get a few tokens on for the first 10 mins and then smash em out of the water in the next 50 with your liberal lefties.

    Dame Nicky being disingenuous? Shurely not

       29 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      There are so many factors, and ways to arrange desired results on top of the blatant fix afforded any who run secret, #foiexcluded from challenge filter systems by employee gatekeepers aware of the needs of the narrative.
      ‘Guests’ can act as a useful foundation for how things are set up, but timing is also key.
      In ‘speaking for the nation’, which is then sampled for evening highlight, who is represented… those at (real) work or those free to phone in at whim?
      Is policy for and by a majority of daytime sofa dwellers, spun as a public service.
      And while there are many, I doubt they represent the actual working majority.

         1 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      I’ve never heard a Campbell phone-in debate without knowing full well which side of the argument he supports.

      The general format is this:

      ok so we let the nation speak in the form of a few pleb-like and inarticulate Joe Publics

      plug in the Leftist campaigners to tell us what it is that we ought to think

      have Nicky play noddy and agree that he has learnt from said campaingers

      send some Leftist supporters straight to air

         14 likes

  44. George R says:

    A wet forecast.

    Is this the sort of ‘analysis’ on climate which appeals to Beeboid high-cost ‘greenies’?:-

    “UN climate chief’s tears over future generations”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24615946

       9 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Good job Babs Plett wasn’t there too.
      Wouldn’t have been an impartially dry eye in the house.

         3 likes

    • Beeboidal says:

      Bali, Copenhagen, Cancun, Doha, Durban, Warsaw this year, Peru next year, Paris the year after – not a drop of jet fuel is spared as a cast of thousands globetrots to save the planet. Still, you’ve got to love the Poles.

      Critics took issue with comments on an official website for the [Warsaw] conference that suggested there were many positives to the unprecedented melting of Arctic ice, including the opportunity to chase “pirates, terrorists and ecologists”.

         7 likes

  45. Invicta 1066 says:

    Is anyone watching BBC News & sport or listening to Today’s 7.30 & 8.30 sports sections aware that at the World Track Cycling Championships over the last week our men & women have won a clutch of medals including several golds by the ladies? No mention on BBC at all.
    Perhaps if they had a black rider who had had a management pep talk at ”half time or some professional Racist Finder General demanded female & black representatives it would have made the headlines!

       17 likes

  46. Geoff says:

    Breakfast New highlighted the problem of stuttering children this morning.

    One in 20 kids (5%) can suffer at one time or another, yet they managed to find one from a minority group that makes up approximately just 5% of the total population…

       14 likes

  47. Guest Who says:

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/22/facebook-beheading-videos-editorial-judgment-breastfeeding
    Watching many scream for boycotts, perhaps not pondering just who is now totally embedded with and hence ‘supportive’ of FaceBook.
    As a reminder…
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/fromthewebteam/2012/03/this_blog_is_now_closed_-_foll.html
    ‘You can continue to comment on Newsnight using the social media websites Facebook and Twitter.’
    How’s that commercially-driven compromise working out for your credibility & integrity now, Aunty?

       4 likes

  48. Will all end in tears says:

    5 Live and Victoria Drearyshire discussing MPs proposed salary rise.

    How much do their European counterparts earn annually one wonders?

    “Hang on, I have the figures here somewhere” declares VD.
    “Hang on, just bear with me a moment” (ruffle of papers, deathly radio silence.

    “Oh….oh….hang on. They’re monthly figures…..I’ve only got the monthly figures……….”

    I shit you not

       29 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      A child of 10 would be better prepared.

         14 likes

      • Raspberry Pi says:

        I’m guessing even a child of 10 would have been able to work out that if you multiply a monthly figure by 12 you get a yearly figure.

           14 likes

        • bob says:

          What are you, a scientist? That would be maths and that just gets in the way of female intuition. Just ask the BBC documentary dept.

             16 likes

        • Will all end in tears says:

          Lord have mercy Raspberry, I do believe you’re right!!!

          And this is the person who’s been given the honour of fronting the Beeb’s “flagship” news programme.

          I would say OMG! (if I weren’t of a certain age)

             15 likes

      • noggin says:

        if she only thought those 12 months, divided
        into weeks, times that by 7 …
        what a lot of air miles 😀

           3 likes

    • The General says:

      She probably was thrown by the fact that their monthly figures equated to her weekly figures.

         1 likes