718 Responses to Midweek Open Thread 12 June 2019

  1. Beltane says:

    Now that Chukka has joined his natural bed-mates – no sexual preferences implied or intended – it only remains for Anna Soubry to assume the mantle of Lord Sutch and take his under-regarded party to new heights of political success.

       30 likes

  2. StewGreen says:

    Radio2 There are very few Twitter replies to Vine’s 4 prog items today
    ..that indicates few people are listening
    The first item was Grenfell

       26 likes

  3. Guest Who says:

    OT, but the media feeling it is above any criticism, to the point of girl gangs rallying with an inferred ‘or else’, is actually hilarious.

       21 likes

  4. Doobster78 says:

       18 likes

  5. Doobster78 says:

    Chuka really does think a awful lot of himself doesn’t he !!! Just another gravy trainer. Nothing more, nothing less. Irrelevant man who seems to get a fair bit of airtime from the BBC.

       30 likes

  6. digg says:

    What is it about the bitchy, whining, sneering, point-scoring of the trendy metro left like Jo Brand that always seems to end up in achieving the exact opposite of what they aim for? Could it be that they are completely out-of-touch or just totally stupid?

    JB has probably just propelled far more new voters to The Brexit party than most of it’s own officials have been able to do.

    If I were you Nigel I would consider appointing her as your PR agent.

       25 likes

  7. thirstypak says:

    Someone mentioned earlier about sign language and subtitles
    – I’m not deaf (fortunately) but sit through the bbc news channel’s subtitles in the canteen and gym whilst working away each week.
    There have been some notable howlers carried out by the ‘bot’ or Pidgin English stenographer responsible for the subtitles that gets lost in translation/hearing. I can forgive live feeds but those pieces on an hourly loop have no excuse.
    Notable examples are……
    ‘ live from red roof’ (Redruth)
    ‘ the Irish T-shirt’ (Taoiseach)
    ‘night Haitians…’ (Negotiations)
    ‘two needles’ (tornados)
    But my absolute favourite was last year on a report from London about new litter bins being introduced came out as ‘ Nubians have appeared on the streets…..’
    Imagine eating your breakfast to reports of a group of Africans indigenous to present day Sudan/Egypt are on the streets of London?….oh wait !!
    Apologies to anyone deaf on here but who says the beeb don’t do comedy anymore? The spirits of the Two Ronnies may still be present?

       31 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Amazing how many times I use the fork handles gag and get an unfunny look ….

         14 likes

      • chancygardner says:

        As I have mentioned before on here, I write and perform for a comedy sketch team (not professional). The fork handles is a classic example of sketch structuring and extremely funny at that. Anyone who gives you an unfunny look regarding that gag is possibly a mutant. Be careful.

           22 likes

  8. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    Boris wants to raise the higher income tax threshold from £50,000 to £80,000

    Remind me, how much is a politician paid.

    It appears a lot of Tory politicians have changed from ‘anyone but Boris’ to a seeming landslide for supporting him.

    I wonder why.

       21 likes

  9. Fedup2 says:

    I think as the weekend approaches we should feel the pain of those poor snowflakes at Channel 4 who are having to relocate from Londonistan to Leedsistan in order to be less ‘metro’ .

    The guardian is recording their woes . But they should be reassured that they speak punjabi, Pashto and Urdu there just as much as in our great capital ….

       21 likes

    • Lobster says:

      But who will serve them in “Pret”?

         15 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Lobster – we must act – act to save our coffee servers’; they must not be embarristered – and boatloads of Spanish language teachers being forcibly removed from Blighty in reprisal for the Armada – or Amanda – which the spell chick likes ….

        Is that Soubry sista?

           15 likes

  10. StewGreen says:

    4:10pm R4 obituary show
    what top 5 British people died this week ?
    R4 decide to reach back to May 29
    \\ Sylvia Denman, the Barbados-born lawyer who campaigned for better race relations in the UK and fought to improve educational outcomes for young black people. //
    \\ Author of the 2001 report into racial discrimination in the Crown Prosecution Service. //
    Other subjects
    – BBC WS presenter John Tidmarsh OBE,
    – actor Paul Darrow … Avon in Blake’s 7
    – Sheila Turner the thyroid disorder campaiger
    – American : Leon Redbone, who specialised in music from the Tin Pan Alley era of the 20s and 30s

       7 likes

    • fakenewswatcher says:

      Stew – As with so many other R4 programmes, its actual PURPOSE becomes secondary to virtue-signalling…

         10 likes

  11. StewGreen says:

    4:30pm bbcr4feedback avoids the two main stories of the week
    being a libmob PR show it gets all chummy about the News Quiz etc.

       15 likes

  12. StewGreen says:

    5,000 Likes on this tweet

       52 likes

    • theleftwilleatitself says:

      Well said that man ???? I haven’t watched a minute in nearly two months now ✔️

         11 likes

  13. Beltane says:

    Apparently the Jo Brand edition of ‘Heresy’ was recorded on May 21 – so the politically sensitive and mature BBC editorial team had 22 days in which to cut any potentially unwise or actionable comments. The fact that they didn’t speaks volumes.
    You could almost say that their humour is based on sniggers – though I’m sure they would cut that word in case it gave offence.

       30 likes

  14. StewGreen says:

    Worrying survey 8% think BBC Question Time is impartial

       11 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      And on ‘only’ a sample size of…. oo… more than a BBC report of a sky poll.

         5 likes

  15. fakenewswatcher says:

    Stew – I think the M Yardley comment shows that the real people of Britain, the BBc poll tax payers who fund i.a. Yentob’s 6.3 million quid pension, are starting to get restless. Interesting article in the Independent (of all places!!!) on the latest YouGov poll results. By ‘Ashley Cowburn’?
    Could it soon be guillotine time?
    I should mention that I am a comedian, and my comment about the guillotine is -of course- a joke, which should not be taken seriously at all! Nope, my humour is quite harmless, and should not be seen as inciting anyone or anything! If Marie Antoinette comes into your mind, perish that thought immediately.
    Eat your cake!

       17 likes

  16. StewGreen says:

    \\ Why did #JoBrand cross the road?

    … To throw an acid milkshake at someone
    to injure, maim or possibly kill them
    cos she did not approve of their speech.//

    #FakeLiberals

       22 likes

  17. Guest Who says:

    Crikey, Justin barely settling in as Rog is off jetting around and now there is serious competition who is a lady person. Awks.

       8 likes

  18. StewGreen says:

    Worrying survey
    700 people think Jo Brand is still funny
    … Out of 10,000 sample size (self selected)

       8 likes

    • thehoiman says:

      That’s an unfair question… Answering ‘no’ would imply that at some point in the past you *did* find her funny. Which is simply not true in my (and I suspect many others’) case!

         10 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        ahoy hoiman, I did find Jo Brand funny, especially when she first started out and then in her – do I recall this right? – slimmed down, Church organist period or am I mixing her up with someone else on that?

        Then, I think the further away she got from her time in nursing, she started to get mean and nasty. For any LeftLibby comic, nine years of the country with a partially successful Conservative Party-led Government, must be a bit of a strain after thirteen years of Blair & Brown-led disaster.

           7 likes

    • theleftwilleatitself says:

      Jo Brand’s face, as my uncle would say, could frighten a police horse ????

         10 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Comediennes; what are they like?

           8 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Perhaps Question Time should run a ‘ special ‘ with Jo brand , that Scots bloke who makes a living being offensive , the channel four chap who uses tax havens and the David Brent one . So that’s 4 remainers which makes it a fair balance in past editions ….

        And a Right Wing comedien … er ….

           6 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Stew a she has a big family – like the girl footy players …

         3 likes

  19. Dover Sentry says:

    A good BBC feature (For once)

    Centenary. June 15th 1919. The First Crossing of the Atlantic by an Aircraft.

    A British achievement of huge impact, but seldom mentioned.

    “”Into the Unknown””
    “”The daredevils who flew across an ocean””

    By Dan Box

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/bM5diyl48K/alcock

       8 likes

    • G says:

      DS,
      But, but, but surely the plane was flown by a muslim or perhaps black? If not, why not?

         2 likes

  20. theisland says:

    All together now …

    https://twitter.com/Lulu11th/status/1139574921678524416

       29 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Theisland
      If true – happy birthday the Donald – why not fire off a few cruise jobs to upset the Iranians …
      ( except it will push diesel up to 1.40 again ..)

         5 likes

  21. Up2snuff says:

    Strange thing, but earlier today on the BBC Home Page (it has gone now) I found myself looking at what seemed to be a photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez working in a restaurant (think she did, some years ago) illustrating an item/article in US/Canada News ‘Is it wrong to pay tipped staff less than others?’.

       5 likes

  22. fakenewswatcher says:

    Breitbart London reports that there are no fewer than 5 sep police investigations into the Peterborough by-election….
    Someone bragging more than 1000 votes for the Brexit party were burned?!

       27 likes

    • LastChanceSaloon says:

      fnw
      https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/06/14/police-investigate-postal-vote-fraud-at-peterborough-by-election/
      “Peterborough By-Election: Police Investigate Five Fraud Allegations”
      “by JAMES DELINGPOLE 14 Jun 2019”

      “Cambridgeshire Police have confirmed that one allegation relates to bribery and corruption, three to postal vote fraud, and one breach of privacy of votes.”

      Breaking news – Cambridge Police have ceased all investigations stating that “they believe they have got it about right.”

         20 likes

      • fakenewswatcher says:

        LCS – “Believe”….”About right?”
        Very comforting.
        Diego Maradona probably also got it “about right” against England; after all, he got the ball into the net.
        In 1945, Hitler “believed” he had brigades here there and everywhere; got quite upset when someone finally told him they didn’t exist. Weasel word: treat with caution.
        Where is that news breaking, please?

           5 likes

    • G says:

      Fnw,
      I’m confident the police will, ‘put their all’ into a thorough investigation – Rotherham style…………..
      However, we might all be surprised if they investigate in a Tommy Robinson (aka…..) style.

         1 likes

  23. Celtic_Mist says:

    This is the reply folks are getting from BBC complaints –
    /
    Thank you for contacting us about comments made by Jo Brand in Radio 4’s Heresy transmitted on 11 June. As you may know there has been much debate and reaction in response to this programme and so we are sending this reply to everyone to explain the BBC’s position.

    BBC Radio 4 has now issued this response to the issues raised:
    “Heresy is a long-running comedy programme where, as the title implies and as our listeners know, panellists often say things which are deliberately provocative and go against societal norms but are not intended to be taken seriously. We carefully considered the programme before broadcast. It was never intended to encourage or condone violence, and it does not do so, but we have noted the strong reaction to it. Comedy will always push boundaries and will continue to do so, but on this occasion we have decided to edit the programme. We regret any offence we have caused.”
    We trust this explains the position and thank you again for contacting us.
    Kind Regards
    BBC Complaints Team
    /
    The National is the Middle East’s leading English-language news service – Opinion

    “Violent jokes can create an environment for violence and eventually hurt innocent people, writes Shelina Zahra.”

    Regardless of how the BBC try to spin the ‘joke’ it can’t be viewed as just “just a bit of fun”

    https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/that-joke-about-violence-isn-t-funny-1.257582

       11 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Celtic

      You know I love it when the BBCs dirty and gets off on “ societal norms “ . I had to put up with Yankee language like that when I studied the sticky social science end of criminology with all that leftie nonsense.
      How can the State Broadcaster – so sensitive it sacks people for putting up a photograph – justify the Jo Brand ?

      I think they’ll be praying for a bigger story to come along to kill the attention off .

         11 likes

  24. theisland says:

    Up to now https://www.politicalite.com has been the only news outlet covering the Peterborough fiasco – with several articles having been published.
    AMW has also called for a public inquiry.
    No-one else, media or politicians, seems interested.
    Why? Fear?

       21 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Stew
      I fell out with Lee Hurst over his view that the jo brand thing was just a bit of free speech fun .

      He’d be the right wing nomination for the QT special I’ve outlined – or its the great Jim Davison

         4 likes

    • StewGreen says:

         13 likes

  25. StewGreen says:

    How a libmobber does an apology for getting the party and wrong leaders name.
    libmob don’t debate their opponents the dehumanise them instead.

       17 likes

  26. Smokeyjays says:

    BBC get balls busted by Mark Reckless from the brexit party on Question Time

       15 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Smokey
      It seems that the C4 hustings job on Sunday night is going to leave a space for Alex Boris in case he decides to turn up . Meanwhile he has said he ll turn up for the Emily miss whiplash maitless show on al beeb on Tuesday night .

      I can’t see the point in doing either . It just gives intel to Brussels on how to deal with any further attempt by HMG to restart sensible negotiations without the use of a white flag at the outset .

         13 likes

  27. StewGreen says:

    libmobber Jess Phillips
    – Isn’t bright enough to know you shouldn’t say BJ, you should say Boris
    – She says we should fear Boris cos Muslim women do
    – And that if you think shes ” being harsh on BJ you don’t have any Muslim women friends”
    – Doesn’t realise she is stereotyping Muslim women by mixing up burqa wearers and those who don’t.

       14 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Who else stereotypes Muslim women by creating the false and misogynist narrative that to be a Muslim a woman must wear a head covering ?
      Yes, BBCnews for kids in its 2017 Newsround article & Youtuve vid
      which shows no Muslim women not wearing one
      Thankfully very few people have read or watched
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/40324678
      D9C2_SBWwAA4P8f.jpg:small

         11 likes

      • pertelote says:

        what’s the largest religion in UK?..
        Love Island, Bake Off, Strictly?

           10 likes

        • Roland Deschain says:

          Remain.

             7 likes

          • pertelote says:

            sadly!

               2 likes

            • Up2snuff says:

              RD, Anthropogenic Global Warming, Climate Change and Climate Emergencies also appears to be quite a popular religion along with ‘Remain’ in the Houses of Parliament, judging by one event this last week.

                 2 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        BTW I make Islam fourth
        There are more Anglicans, Catholics , non-believers than Muslims in the UK
        “a survey carried out in the end of 2008 by Ipsos MORI and based on a scientifically robust sample, found the population of England and Wales to be 47.0% Anglican, 9.6% Catholic and 8.7% other Christians; 4.8% were Muslim, 3.4% were members of other religions.”

           9 likes

    • vesnadog says:

      Stew,

      “frightened for their country”

      Their country?

      Oh, so its a Muslim country now?

         4 likes

  28. TrueToo says:

    Fedup2,

    I agree with your comment on the previous page on the dilemma of what to do about comments that link to swear words. I think you made the right call to leave that Jeremy ‘Hunt’ link up because it shows BBC bias in a powerful way.

    In general though, I think people shouldn’t post links that appear directly here (as happens with Twitter links) if they contain swear words. A way around that is just to post a few key words to search for the link. Then people can decide whether they want to go there.

    Tabs, who put up the ‘Hunt’ videos, warned about the language. I think that’s a fair way to do it.

       7 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      True
      Thanks for that . I don’t like to run through posts every day in order to moderate them . Some see it as a ‘power trip ‘ for me – but since it’s only the internet -Which Is Not Real Life – I just see it as a chore for the greater good . In my career I’ve has all the ‘power ‘ I d ever need . …

         6 likes

      • TrueToo says:

        Fedup2,

        Yes, it’s a bind and it takes time. But I’m encouraged that most people here understand that it’s best to keep it relatively civil and that we aren’t on a power trip here but just volunteered after an appeal by David Vance more than a year ago.

        A year? Time flies when you’re having fun.

           4 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      I think we are all adults so we can handle swearing .
      However this site used to be banned on some council wifi networks
      and filling it with bad language like swearing, p-word, n-word etc.. risks giving them an excuse to ban it again.

      Now should we censor embedded tweets ?
      I think they are okay, cos a council isn’t going to ban Twitter and our libmob friends swear all the time in their tweets.
      If you want to just link to a tweet, instead of embedding it in full here
      (which is what happens if you just write the tweet’s URL in your post)

      .. then you can type this format
      (a href=”https://twitter.com/BiasMonitor/status/1139614116795027456″)
      link to tweet (/a)
      … using “less than” “more than” symbols as brackets ..don’t forget the quotation marks before/after the URL

         2 likes

      • TrueToo says:

        Thanks for that, StewGreen.

        Also I had no idea this site was banned on some council WIFI networks.

        Perhaps our reputation precedes us.

           6 likes

  29. TrueToo says:

    I should add that it’s possible to make a point passionately without swearing. It’s a bit of a challenge, but it can be done!

       1 likes

  30. chancygardner says:

    I think of all the creep-arsed things the bbbc does it is the ‘balanced’ view for certain news reports that shouldn’t require it. An example of this is the report on the mines planted on the US vessels in the gulf. It gives equal weighting to the claims made by the Iranian govt. and the US govt. (an ally for heaven’s sake!) regarding the incident. The worst of these is an attempt to anesthetize the video showing ‘some people’ removing an unexploded mine from the side of one of the US vessels. It is described by the bbbc as ‘being of the type used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’.

    Can you imagine this in a WW2 scenario?

    “Well sarge some blokes attacked us with machine guns”

    “What were they wearing?”

    “Huh? Well, German uniforms and they were shouting Achtung Englander schweinhunds!”

    “Could be imposters private. Probably some angry French farmers in fact. Just turn the other cheek next time”

    Edited to question whether creep-arsed is allowable on the site? I just made it up actually so it won’t be in any banned list but it’s only a coincidence that my post sits immediately below the subject of profanities. I was still typing the word creep-arsed at the same time. Please can I keep creep-arsed? 🙂

    Double edited to concede that creep-arse has indeed been used before. Google destroyed my claim.:(

       9 likes

    • TrueToo says:

      chancygardner,

      It’s my considered opinion that ‘creep-arsed’ is fine, especially since it accurately depicts the BBC, which is full of creeps who can’t be arsed to even try to be impartial, while claiming that they are.

      It’s also only mildly offensive.

         8 likes

  31. fakenewswatcher says:

    Daniel Capurro will give you a good laugh, if you’re feeling glum.
    In the lead story for the Telegraph, he wonders whether Rory Stewart could give the Tories their ‘Macron moment’.
    He’s even found a photograph in which Stewart vaguely resembles a cadaverous version of Clint Eastwood, hair all ruffled to look tough, to go with the article. A LibDum like Remainer heading up the Tories?
    Is this desperate stuff to fabricate a story or are we to believe that this narcissistic little pipsqueak may actually be about to give Boris a hard time?
    If the Tories should be foolish enough to go for Stewart, Nigel should be in No 10 even quicker than anyone imagined.

       11 likes

    • TrueToo says:

      fakenewswatcher,

      I just can’t picture Uriah Heep as PM. It’s almost as disturbing as seeing Corbyn as PM.

         9 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      fnw, “Daniel Capurro will give you a good laugh, if you’re feeling glum.”

      So will this site. It should be ‘Available on prescription from a GP near you’, that is should the reader be able to find a GP, become registered on their panel, and then actually get an appointment to see their GP. {Status (state!) of NHS according to BBC information.]

         1 likes

  32. StewGreen says:

    On our country becoming Orwellian state ruled by the metro-liberal class

       10 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      IngSoc – English Socialists ? It always was about the metro liberal Hampstead / Islington elites even back then he saw the damage these people were intent upon doing. Alas we failed to stand up to them.

         7 likes

  33. StewGreen says:

    Did licence payers pay to make this slick Greenpeace PR ?
    I have this weird idea that celebrity-activists, political-lobbying-orgs like Greenpeace, BBC5Live, BBCschoolYoungReporters and schools should have some degree of separation
    .. not just be one homogeneous #Greenblob
    BBC Young Reporters account retweeted this

       2 likes

  34. Fedup2 says:

    I’m about to put up the weekend thread – with the news that the snowflake police have decided no further action is to be taken against the leftie comedienne suggesting milkshakes be replaced with acid ….
    I’m just watching the fireworks display over the south London tower block ….

       7 likes

  35. Cassandra says:

    I’m listening to the SJW presenters on all BBC News channels asking what the causes of knife crime and murders in the black community (not much of a community if they are committing such violent crimes against each other) are?
    Now they’ve let Jo Brand off the hook, I’m feeling quite cocky.

    33ivhh.jpg

    Years ago, the BBC broadcast a documentary called ‘Jamaican Family Courts’. It was broadcast once and never seen again (it’s not even on YouTube). Anyone know where I can view it? it’s harder to find than that film clip from the 1950s featuring David and Jonathan Dimbleby as boys driving around in a dinkey little car and speaking with high pitched RP voices.

       1 likes