Midweek Thread 22 January 2020

With Anthony Hall (director general)leaving the Biased BBC earlier than expected it increases the hope that the new government really is going to take on the bloated broadcaster. Maybe it will kill off the licence tax – or at least give notice that it will be ending soon . We can but hope .

Bookmark the permalink.

457 Responses to Midweek Thread 22 January 2020

  1. fakenewswatcher says:

    I have just signed a petition on Change.org to stop Bercow from getting a peerage. I suppose with 30+ signatories only, that won’t get far.
    Anything to stop that vile man lording it over us from ….well…how appropriate!

       28 likes

  2. Dover Sentry says:

    The Victoria Derbyshire’s only viewer is the camera-woman.

    The programme had to be slain anyway.

       36 likes

  3. Ed Hitter says:

    Lots of twitter outrage today about the BBC’s Orla Guerin who has managed to twist her Holocaust Day report to express her anti-Israel view. Many commentators disgusted that a special day in memory of millions of murdered Jews has been used for political commentary. Bias seeps through every pore of the BBC….

       40 likes

    • StewGreen says:

         40 likes

      • LynetteO says:

        It is shocking that the BBC allowed Ora Guerin to incite hatred against Jews once again and at this time .. There were many complaints about her in 2002 when she was BBC news correspondent in Israel Her news was filled with outrageous libels against Israeli’s eg she said -“the Israeli’s have shot a deaf and mute Palestinian just for looking”

        You would often hear in her tone her barely disguised hatred and disdain for Jews. For example in her report for Radio 4’s “From our own Correspondent”. Here the sneer in her voice was filled with disgust for the ” rich” Jewish women in the hairdresser in Jerusalem and was clearly audible and the listener could palpably feel her hatred. ..( She was against these women for doing their hair while not far away she said the Palestinians were suffering from poverty)

           30 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          I’m not Jewish but I’ve voiced here before that there is an anti Semitic and indeed anti Christian tint to the BBC when compared to the uncritical Muslim fan club it presents .

          I actually would prefer it to be wholly anti god than give preference to the false allah version and the dodgy ‘ prophet ‘ .

             32 likes

          • Woolwich says:

            Western society is often dubbed Judeo-Christian, we’ve built our civilisations on the foundations of the rules and morals that came from both the Jewish and Christian religions. Probably more similarities than differences between the two. I’d be happy to stand by my Jewish cousins against Corbyn anyway, the fact we have a shared moral compass is just the cherry on the cake.

               31 likes

          • Banania says:

            I bet God agrees with you.

               11 likes

    • Banania says:

      Where did Orla Guerin acquire her grotesque accent? Is she Irish or something more exotic?

         12 likes

      • Foscari says:

        Why did the BBC’S South American correspondent get
        sent to Israel for the 75th Holocaust Memorial ? Did some
        executive say”lets send the most virulent hater of Israel to
        cover the Memorial. To be honest I thought she was
        banned from Israel. I know Israel is a democracy where
        there are many Israeli’s are vehemently opposed to
        the government, and are of course free to say so, and do.
        BUT Orla Guerin at a Holocaust Memorial? I even think
        that Jeremy Corbyn would show more sympathy than this
        women from a foreign country who works for the BBC and
        abhors the state of Israel,

           24 likes

  4. Guest Who says:

    Lewis, the Diane Abbott of the BBC. Top hire.

       26 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Millions of people of lives can be lost when environmentalists go over the top
      Rachael Carson got DDT banned and millions of Africans died of malaria as a result.

         43 likes

  5. Dover Sentry says:

    The BBC drool over the appointment of Bercow to the House of Lords.

    I see it as good news. He will accelerate by his own presence the demise of that rotten establishment.

       33 likes

  6. digg says:

    A word in the ear of the Guardian Correspondent Lauren Aratani who writes about “frozen” Iguanas falling out of trees in Florida due to the unseasonably cold weather they are getting (as an aside “what about Global Warming?” …another matter…)

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/21/florida-frozen-iguanas-weather-report

    She writes…

    The not-so-small creatures were seen motionless in the middle of sidewalks and backyards. While they looked dead, they were actually just too cold to move. Iguanas start becoming sluggish when temperatures drop below 50F (10C) and are susceptible to freezing once temperatures drop to around 40F (4.5C). When frozen, they easily fall out of the trees they call home, appearing lifeless even though they aren’t dead.

    Lauren, nothing, no NOTHING freezes at 4.5 centigrade, it’s called physics! Things freeze at 0 centigrade and below.

    They may be a tad cold, but they sure as hell are NOT freezing.

    AND “While” they look dead is just plain incorrect grammar, “Whilst” they looked dead would work, “while” they looked dead literally means “for as long as they looked dead!”

    If correspondent can’t get the grammar right on something so simple how can we believe anything else they write?

       39 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      I think that in this day and age, many of the BBC audience are at such a low level of intellect, that they wouldn’t notice…

         27 likes

    • Banania says:

      Very interesting about “while” and “whilst”. “Whilst” is thought to be pretentious by many American publishers, so the style book rules in out, and yet another useful (but presumably too subtle) distinction is lost.

         7 likes

  7. StewGreen says:

    GreenDream “Mum, what happens when the wind isn’t blowing ?”

       27 likes

  8. Celtic_Mist says:

    BBC Magazine
    Viewpoint: 10 big myths about World War One debunked

    Not convinced that the two Polish women look(ed) happy –

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25776836

       13 likes

  9. andyjsnape says:

    my HYS comment on the bBC website was removed, as likely to cause offence

    All i said was “its sad that V.D. is going, and well as lord haw haw” – very touchy these lefties 🙂

       32 likes

  10. StewGreen says:

    R4 now “Is a vegan diet really healthy ?”
    “Most people doing it , choose it for health not for climate”

    Expert says ‘I’d eat more plant based fruit, veg, grains but wouldn’t give up meat completely’
    “All vegans should be taking vitamin supplements like B12
    and making sure diet has enough calcium”

       17 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Having a vegetarian to dinner once, I attempted to make a nut roast. The texture I can only describe, was like having a mouthful of bird seed combined with rabbit food. And I only like salads when decorating cold meats. 🙂

         2 likes

  11. Terminal Moraine says:

    More revisionism and destruction of culture — this from BBC Global News: “Is it time the all-white period drama was made extinct?”

    —”It is great to see a canonical text like Copperfield being freshened up in such a way (by contrast, the latest all-white adaptations of Little Women and Emma have been criticised for maintaining the status quo) […] period drama is a genre in which racial diversity can be both reflected and celebrated, rather than any group being excluded because of outdated and inaccurate perceptions of our collective history.”

       29 likes

    • JimS says:

      Was there a ‘great extinction event’ that we haven’t been taught about?

      Clearly there must have been because I went through the whole of my primary education and most of my secondary education without there being a single black face to be seen, I even have the photographs to prove it. Where are all the black faces on the Pathe Pictorial newsreels? Perhaps they directed the street scenes and didn’t give the BAME citizens walk-on parts?

      I expect that when Queen Victoria died all those characters that Dickens ignored were either deported or exterminated. The BBC said so, so it must be true.

      Good grief, these people are seriously deranged!

      Oh wait! Breaking news! New historical research has found that 10% of the Sioux tribe was white and that Elizabeth Warren’s great-grandmother was their chief. Also in: Turns out that 25% of the Zulu warriors at Rorke’s Drift were white and 30% of the soldiers were Welsh-African.

         32 likes

    • digg says:

      The groups being “excluded” just happen to be the groups that have produced little if anything that comes anywhere near Dickens at. al. So I guess if you have nothing to show then appropriate it is the next best thing, why waste all that time learning how to be creative under your own steam?

      Dickens wrote about life as he lived and knew it in Victorian England and he thus populated it with English characters he knew about. If he had know that a couple of hundred years later some folks might turn up who weren’t there at the time and complain maybe he would have referenced them but then again he might just as well have included some outer space aliens in case they turned up and had a go at him.

      This approach has been adopted in virtually every TV drama now and the end result is often like finger nails dragging on a blackboard.

      If every piece of historic literature has to be inclusive and rewritten then why not throw in some of the other groups who never appeared in his work, trans, disabled, climate warriors etc. etc. etc. bloody etc. like casting the school play!

         18 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @Terminal Moraine
      #1 As it sits on the BBC website that article with that title is merely trolling
      #2 Why use BBC licence money to pay for such an OPINION piece
      .. we know they they wouldn’t pay Rod Liddell or Katie Hopkins for their opinion
      So such a piece would have better situated in a specialist publication like The Voice, or the Stage.
      #3 To me it’s a complex topic, some productions require authenticity, some don’t
      eg a MAN like Benny Hill might play QUEEN Victoria in a skit and that’s OK likewise if Benny was a black male or female comedian
      #4 It’s kind of not new, it has always grated when American or Australian actors have played British fictional characters, but had awful accents.

      As befits trolling the BBC/writer put out a few tweets using both the bbc.co.uk & bbc.com address for the story

         3 likes

  12. Terminal Moraine says:

    Half-baked commentary by the Guardian on the rape scandal by a journo at the Manchester Evening News, calling for feminists to care as much about the assault of British schoolgirls as they do Hollywood actresses.

    Which is right, but it then frames the whole thing in terms of abuse of power and class exploitation. Nothing on why Pakistani Muslim men target white girls, no mention of the stifling culture of fear that stopped criminal investigations in their tracks. (A culture that champions of ‘equality’ like the Guardian have been forcing on the country for decades.)

    Nope — now back to the usual pussyfooting around minority groups and the terrible, looming spectre of Donald Yaxley-Brexit.

       51 likes

    • digg says:

      Spot on!

         18 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      Assuming the excuses given are correct and they were more frightened of being called racist than they were of dereliction of their duty to uphold the law, the least they could have done was to try to ensure those children who managed to escape the clutches of these evil muslims, were taken to a safe place. The minimum the police could have done would have been to warn the known muslim child rapers to stop doing it.

      From what I’ve read, in all the reported cases up and down our country, not one police force, not one social services department not one judicial officer even tried to curtail these muslim animals. That’s the most disgusting aspect, for me.

         45 likes

    • Banania says:

      A good Guardian article, as far as it went, but no comments were allowed, I notice!

         6 likes

  13. digg says:

    BBC news reporting on the CCC report about cutting meat eating by one fifth by 2020. Of course they give the reporting job to Roger Harribin their own Climate nutter. He brings in the Guardian’s George Monbiot who’s real ambition is to get rid of ALL animals on farms, make everyone wear grass sandals and eat twigs etc. Totally barking in my opinion.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51210622

    They also trumpet Greggs for the success of their Vegan nonsense without looking into whether the increase in sales is down to attracting extra gullible customers who are Vegans in addition to the usual existing customers who will still go for the meat products.

    This smells entirely of the the usual “we are hear to tell you what do do and think” mentality that we have all grown so weary of from the BBC.

    It finishes with the warning that if we don’t all go off-grid they will bloody well tax the hell out of meat and dairy to force us to do so.

    I do get the impression that our George Monbiot must have been chased by cows or trodden in a cow-pat earlier in his life.

       32 likes

    • G says:

      I’ll buy another Rump Steak this weekend: sod them all!

         31 likes

    • Woolwich says:

      A couple of weeks ago I heard a “newsreader” on the Tyne Tees local news say “Greggs profits soar by X% because of the introduction of their vegan sausage roll”.
      Seriously, “because of”.

         27 likes

  14. Fedup2 says:

    Bless Victoria derbyshires defiant challenge to continue her vital ££££££ work broadcasting to we lower orders and righting wrongs
    Will her comrades go on strike ? Will Vine Lineker and the NUJ down expense claims to fight for …. er … taxpayers licence cash .? Time to increase the TV Iicence- make it a round £200 – so even the most docile will sit up .

       26 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Even if they increased it to £2000 the greedy barstewards would claim it wasn’t enough!

      They are a joke amongst other broadcasters for turning up mob handed when the others are there with camera guy & presenter the BBC will have camera sound lighting presenter and many others.

      When they make the necessary efficiency saving we will know they genuinely are feeling the pinch.

         23 likes

  15. Not Gwent says:

    This tickled me on one of State Broadcaster’s web pages..

    “When Victoria Derbyshire proposed a TV version of her Radio 5 Live Show to former BBC News boss James Harding, he gave her the green light within days.

    BBC News has a big problem in connecting with some licence fee payers away from big cities and from poorer backgrounds – or, in the jargon, “underserved audiences”.”

    A failure then as never watched? Then again this show was admittedly targeted at only “some”.

    The way to solve the problem is subscription. There’d be no guilt at missing “some licence fee payers”.

       30 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      #CCBGB

      On on the site points out the odd claim that the show was designed to meet the ‘needs’ of working class audiences who, by definition, are mostly at work when it is aired.

      Sacks of lard on their tenth fag having mobility scooted to the food bank, maybe.

         32 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        And… the notes to Tony are in!

        Maybe he can issue a DG pardon.

        Amol will wet himself.

           16 likes

        • G.W.F. says:

          Victoria Derbyshire axed?

          Isn’t she the woman who perfected the response to hard luck stories with ‘Ooooh, aaahh,, mmmmm’?
          Perhaps she could interview herself.

             22 likes

        • Thoughtful says:

          I might be old fashion and a little formal, but handwriting someones name – and a shortened first name at that does give the impression she has printed several copies of this to send and it is not an individual & personal letter

          The fact she chooses to use his first name and not a more formal stance indicates she is either clueless – and as a Labour MP that is not unusual, or so familiar with him that she feels formality is not necessary.

             9 likes

    • Beltane says:

      By inference, might all those who used to enjoy their cricket – to name but one major sport – for free be termed, in the jargon, ‘undeserved audiences’?

         12 likes

  16. digg says:

    Victoria Derbyshire BBC show to be axed….

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51225087

    The woke now eating itself along with the left….

    And of course our Fran Unsworth thought it was the right thing to give the news to the Times before Derbyshire… , eating each other and gutless as well!

       28 likes

  17. Beltane says:

    Prince Charles’ latest warning at the Auschwitz memorial, of the ‘hatred and intolerance still lurking in the human heart’ might like to include climate change, feminism, racism, veganism, sexism, anti-Semitism, Antifa, XR, islam and a great many other ancient and modern ‘isms which conspire to create and foster so much of that hatred and intolerance.

       41 likes

  18. Deborah says:

    I have never seen the Victoria Derbyshire show, sounds as though I have been lucky. Have noticed some of its praise has been because not only Victoria but also most (all?) of her production staff have been women and many non-white. Then I read that the viewing figures are around 250,000. It isn’t many from the total population is it? Perhaps it wasn’t a very good programme. This is evidence that if you chose people for a job because of their gender or their colour you may not end up with a very good product.

       33 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Exactly Deborah ! All this wailing and whining about the show being axed, but did those people actually watch it ! If you weren’t depressed at the beginning of the show, you were at the wrist cutting stage by the time the credits rolled at the end.

      It was reduced by an hour, as viewing figures slumped. I suppose they could have aired it opposite Kay Burley, who has been humiliatingly relegated to early mornings because nobody wanted to listen to her in the afternoons. (I also see her show is being promoted in the evenings press review on Sky – so clearly desperate to up her viewing figures)

         2 likes

  19. Guest Who says:

    Nick has got a quote to edit in.

    #CCBGB

    Nick and Nicky might see a need for the BBC, especially in its corrupted form. Few others do.

       28 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      Again who’s this ‘ we’ the likes of him always use to support their freakish opinions.

         12 likes

  20. Guest Who says:

    I am now going to need to take 5’ cleaning tea off my pc screen.

    Next: Sir Nick returns to Newsnight to find out why the public don’t trust the bbc with politics of any form.

       31 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      Is Mr Cooper-Balls going to report via the medium of dance? Does he have a sequinned onesie ready?

         15 likes

      • vlad says:

        Something like this perhaps?

        gallowayImage3.jpg

           16 likes

        • john in cheshire says:

          I think Mr Galloway was auditioning for Cats.
          I’m not sure if he got the part.

          But to use his favourite compliment, I admire his indefatigability. But I’d beware of using it too often, the last time he used it, the man was hanged shortly afterwards.

             12 likes

    • Oldspeaker says:

      Incredible, a more interesting question might be what does Ed see when he looks in the mirror? A bit of straight talking could save him the trip to the continent but lets face it, he knows the answer already. Just in it for the laughs now it would appear.

         15 likes

  21. G.W.F. says:

    Hard times for the BBC who need the licence fee and have threatened the owner of this house with a visit to check if they are watching an unlicenced TV

    82119584_2752500638129590_4441975818859577344_o.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ohc=RAfjxAY2T80AX8hsrgo&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-1.fna&_nc_tp=1002&oh=cbdfdb8a57914a45b822dcef0aa6159f&oe=5ED109A8

       24 likes

  22. vlad says:

    Once again our institutionally racist, islamophobic police arrest a muslim black man simply for attacking them with a machete.

    The enricher, who had previous convictions for rape and two other machete attacks, was convicted of wounding with intent but found not guilty of attempted murder (!) and was cleared by the jury of possessing an offensive weapon (a 2ft long blade!!).

    No doubt he will receive a firm slap on the wrist when sentence is passed.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-51205548

    _110606154_mediaitem110606153.jpg

    _110622418_hi059376368.jpg

       40 likes

    • Oldspeaker says:

      Beat me to it, was going to highlight this but got distracted by a load of Ed Balls above. We probably shouldn’t be surprised when a triple murder gets sidelined by royal tittle tattle. So what exactly does qualify as attempted murder these days?

         34 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Must be time for one of those BBC documentaries about ‘why are there so many black men in prison ?” Mark Easton or some ‘Ex con’ journalist usually gets that gig .

      I’m guessing the sentencing judge will deliver the 8 years ( 3and a half in real life ) with a straight bat . Let me be wrong .

         25 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        C4 news priority running order –

        Mr Bercow denies more bullying allegations – thereby accusing Lord Lisvane of telling lies –
        Not good for an aspiring peer …

        Then –

        Bishop Jon Snow reports that the law taking the UK out of the EU gained Royal Assent .

        Now the weather ….

           18 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      I don’t have much time for the cops these days after what they have done to the likes of Tim Burton, Base Amy, Kevin Creagh, Tommy Robinson and many more but if this is how the judicial system treats these violent ethnics, I wouldn’t blame the cops if they refused to confront and try to arrest them.

      But then I’d like to see the statutes that prevent us owning firearms repealed and the Bill of Rights supported, together with Common Law. Then at least we’d be close to having the same rights of self defence that Americans have.

         27 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      So having served a prison sentence once for wounding two people with a machete
      ..in a kind of weaponised rent collector job
      he got caught carrying a machete in his van
      .. and the jury believed his claim that he carries it in his van for gardening jobs

         31 likes

  23. StewGreen says:

    Local news item was like a cutNpaste
    Beeboid reporter ‘In this time of climate change there are mega polluting ships bring goods from all over the globe
    If shipping were a country it would be #6 in the list of most CO2 producing between Germany and Japan
    … blah, blah
    … oh but look here I am on the roof of the ABP Associated British Port building where they are installing solar panels’
    ABP man ‘yes we are doing our bit 30% of our ports’ energy will be coming from renewables’

    The sky in the shots is very cloudy/misty so it’s obvious the panels generating stuff all.
    Basically the item was a PR cutNpaste of ABP material.
    Her tweet

       13 likes

    • Woolwich says:

      Right.
      So we’re not going to be allowed to fly.
      We’re not going to be allowed to drive (with the exception of highly polluting electric vehicles costing 50% more than new fossil fuelled ones)
      And now we can’t go anywhere on a ship.
      How exactly are we going to be able to go anywhere?
      Especially after St Greta’s Thought Police check our shoes to see if the soles are made from petrochemical derived materials (plastic) or vegan offending animal products (leather)

         30 likes

      • Lefty Wright says:

        Woolwich
        If only Greta would tell us where she acquired her solar powered broomstick we could ALL fly around without polluting the environment.

           18 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Here’s ABP’s own promo tweet from a few days ago
      .. we’ll all be paying a subsidy for their solar panels.

         12 likes

  24. Guest Who says:

    The BBC.

       12 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      Two thoughts:

      1. Why was water vapour not selected as the wicked culprit of causing the nebulous climate crisis? After all, in the scheme of things, I understand it’s orders of magnitude worse than CO2. Is it because they’d have been ridiculed from here to eternity if they had done so? But our Western education curriculum is so debased that no one knows what CO2 is?

      2. My understanding of the Bible, limited as it is, tells me that the earth will be destroyed by fire, this time. Could it be that the reason there is so much effort to cool the earth is not fear of this global warming scam but that Satan and his multitude of followers are trying to put off the day of reckoning?

         11 likes

      • Northern Voter says:

        1. Why was water vapour not selected as the wicked culprit?
        Ans. You can’t tax clouds, simples!

           15 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:

        (1) The new theory which works for all known Planetary Atmospheres says that Nitrogen is the main Greenhouse gas at 100.6 Kelvin and Oxygen imparts 30.3 Kelvin. Argon is third accounting for 1.7 Kelvin, and Water vapour is fourth accounting for 0.3 Kelvin. So although Carbon Dioxide is the main Greenhouse gas on Mars and Venus. On the Earth Carbon Dioxide only produces 0.0532 Kelvin. So water vapour is 5.64 times the magnitude of carbon dioxide. But then isotopic evidence says that only a maximum of four percent of CO2 in the Atmosphere could be man-made, so therefore in two hundred years, man-made CO2 has contributed only 0.002128 Kelvin to Global Warming. But then, water vapour produces Clouds, changing the Bond Albedo, which is what really causes Climate Change, see below.
        https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENdl-QJUcAA17rO.jpg

        (2) According to science. The Earth will be destroyed by fire in the year 5,000,000,000 AD.

           13 likes

    • Dystopian says:

      Time is nearly up for the BBBC

         13 likes

  25. Thoughtful says:

    I don’t think any one here has noticed the significance of a small sentence issued by the BBC over the cancellation of the Victoria Derbyshire show.

    “the cost of running the news and current affairs programme on a linear channel “when savings are needed” had been “deemed too high”.”

    A linear channel (I assume) means BBC1 & 2 which broadcast to a schedule and as oppose to a Netflix format which allows viewers to watch what they want on demand.

    If I am right & I think I am, this is a massive admission by the BBC that their current ‘linear’ format is unsustainable in a modern broadcast environment.

    The implication is that no programming with high costs will be undertaken on the BBC1 and 2 platform, and that the BBC can only justify this on aa streaming platform.

    Again if this is the case then there is no Earthly reason why the licence fee cannot be scrapped, completely.

       35 likes

    • fakenewswatcher says:

      I recall something a day or two ago about beeb’s “sclerotic and bureaucratic management” on – I think R4 itself, or possibly in an online paper.
      This reinforces the view I have come to hold over many years that we will not ever get value for money from this monstrosity. I have come to believe that much of licence fee payers’ money goes to support a vast, inefficient structure, which feeds on the enforced income. It thus appears beyond reform: layers of corrupt (?) management, much of it unnecessary, thrive on mutual support. Why bother with quality and impartiality if the money flows in, regardless? (There is still the rare quality programme, but ever-diminishing.)

      It is not only the obscene mega sums paid to ‘stars’ like Lineker, that represent cash down the drain!

      As long as the money flow continues, these many layers of “sclerotic and bureaucratic” management will also continue. Since government ENFORCES this state of affairs, by allowing any non-payer to become a criminal, using up much police time and financial resources, government must take much of the blame. Huge levels of real crime will presumably go unpunished as police and inspectors from TV Licencing ‘cash in’ from the chase after ‘criminals’ who haven’t paid the licence fee.

      One wonders: “what’s in it for government? Lack of courage? Secret satisfaction with our re-education in a PC direction? Inertia? Seems to make no sense to not address this shambles.

      Any ideas?

         16 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Fake

        I think the reason the conservative government hasn’t taken on the BBC is because it just hasn’t had the majority it needed to push change through .

        The timescale of change is also problematic because to impose legislative change takes an inquiry , findings , recommendations , options , white paper , draft legislation , commons time to debate , resistance from friends of the MSM and the regulator and in the press and interested parties making it a tough fight .

        But bojo has all he needs right now to take on the BBC – if he can’t change the licence he should structure it so that every year the BBC gets less money – eg by having to assign more and more to pension liabilities – as well as starting the push back against constant expansion of its presence online and in killing off local media . I hate it .

           23 likes

        • fakenewswatcher says:

          Fed – You approach this issue in a very practical fashion; I tend to begin from principle. The principle is that one shouldn’t be forced to pay for something you don’t necessarily consume, (or approve of). Nor should government support this state of affairs.
          If the bbc has a product of quality, it will find people who will pay to view its programmes. If not, or if it presents what is to some, a biased message, one shouldn’t be forced to ‘purchase’ it. That would force it to become more balanced and improve on quality.
          As it stands, the income is guaranteed, so it will continue on its chosen path.
          Having said that, I accept your practical points. At the end of the day, having a ‘national broadcaster’ seems a paradigm from which no government wants to shift, so the next question will always be: ‘Who pays?’
          The status quo appears convenient.

             16 likes

          • Fedup2 says:

            Fake
            By training I look for the practical . But in belief I’m a free marketeer . So if people are more willing to pay for Netflix of prime or Apple or Disney then let the money go there as opposed to a tedious propaganda BBC product which people will know instinctively isn’t even third rate any more —— Top Gear ugh – dr who ugh – and so many formats which have been flogged to death and become thar dreaded ‘institution’ .

            If it sells on BBC America – great – but you don’t need a huge 4 billion pound empire founded on the compulsory payments to do that – or make the over 75s pay for a damn licence .

            Fortunately the emotional attachment people once had to the BBC is rapidly dying . And ‘on demand good box set stuff easily replaces the routine safe stuff the BBC comes up with . It explains why their few and far between successes like fleas bag , killing eve and line of duty are flogged to death ….

               11 likes

  26. vlad says:

    The religion of peace, torture, rape, persecution and oppression strikes again, in Iran. Remind us, beeb, how it promotes women’s rights like these two?

       20 likes

  27. Beltane says:

    Much is being made of production costs in the decision to axe Ms Derbyshire’s show but our most trusted seems a bit reticent on viewer figures….
    Not that this would compromise the immense value of any such up-to-the-minute news source – Newsnight has to confirm that, surely.
    Best not to go there perhaps?

       25 likes

  28. Guest Who says:

    It’s ok; Paul is on it.

       25 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      To save itself, the BBC needs to radically change.

      The BBC must “tell the truth”

      The truth is that Global warming was caused by Cloud Albedo, not Carbon Dioxide. See below for the truth.

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENdl-QJUcAA17rO.jpg

         9 likes

      • taffman says:

        Richard Pinder
        It is a dead duck. It has betrayed the people of this great nation and does not deserve to survive.
        As with our NHS? it thinks its duty is to serve the world and discard its own people.
        Let it begone !

           12 likes

  29. davylars says:

    A follow up from my last nights rant on GB Electricity National Grid Demand and Output

       13 likes

  30. Guest Who says:

    Not taking it well, safe to say.

    Maybe… if she sued?

       18 likes

  31. Deborah says:

    Thursday evening 10pm BBC1 news and Orla was at Yad Vashem. I thought she must have realised she had overstepped the mark last night and had instruction not to mention the Palestinians. Next item was about the Burmese Muslims and how they should be protected. Was this by chance?

       25 likes

  32. SkeptikEye says:

    What I found interesting about last weeks QT was the deafening roar of silence from Ms Shami Chakrabarti regarding the Pakistani rape gangs. maybe the BBC will apologies to Tommy Robinson about their sustained vilifying of him?

    This is worth watching

    Tommy Robinson in Denmark. Awards. Robinson received the Danish Free Press Society’s 2019 Sappho award for his long-standing opposition to the British media’s biased coverage of social and political issues.

       43 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Skep

      Thank you for posting this . I’m surprised it’s not been ‘taken down ‘..

      Guessing this didn’t make the media show ….

      TR ain’t perfect – who is – but he is right – which is really all that matters .

      They ll be looking to banging up to kill him .

         15 likes

    • Charlie Farley says:

      SkepticEye
      Very very good , like many I have always thought of Tommy as Far Right……how wrong , Its almost unbelievable the total manipulation by the media and BBC to destroy him …..being condemned for speaking the truth ….thankfully the world are finally realising what’s really going on ……BBC in its present form must go

         2 likes

  33. vlad says:

    Probably this has already been commented on and I’m the last to know, but who does BBC’s Fleabag masturbate watching on her laptop? Why Obama of course. Even their soft porn has to be PC.

       15 likes

  34. SkeptikEye says:

    Police Call Operator: So you would like to place a report about some ‘South Asian’ men raping and abusing white vulnerable girls?

    Caller: Err, yes. It’s been going on for quite some time now.

    Police Call Operator: Can I have your name and address?

    Police Call Operator: Thank you Caller. We will be sending a patrol car and four Officers round to ‘Check your thinking.’

       38 likes

  35. fakenewswatcher says:

    Watching the beginning of QT, it was noticeable how quickly Fiona Bruce turned the general question of violent crime into an issue with a name. The Conservative Party. She seemed at pains to mention this more than once.
    Q.E.D.
    Get the feeling she’s not particularly a CP supporter….

       25 likes

    • Oaknash says:

      I think she would be if her inflated salary depended on it.
      Like so many of these overpaid BBC progressive fluffers their morality and beliefs extend no further than their bank balances and the accepted BBC line.
      The only exception appears to be Brillo who generally is allowed to be his own man, he is a bit like a token black actor parachuted into a historical drama appearing as Richard the Lionheart. Deliberately incongruous and only put there to make a lame political point.

         17 likes

  36. fakenewswatcher says:

    And, talking about crime, the Telegraph reports that theft has been ‘decriminalised’.
    If that’s true, you have to wonder about our direction of travel…
    (Not to even think about the eventual destination.)

       20 likes

    • Woolwich says:

      If true then watching the television without paying the licence fee could technically be called theft.
      And if theft is decriminalised then the BBC has no right to send the goon squad round to investigate.

         17 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        The commitment of police resources to the perceived ‘crime’ scene has always intrigued, along with officers’ grasp of the law, on par with many a senior plod ‘explaining’ their response to a bunch of naked men of voting age in Northern towns, around a lone white child.

           11 likes

  37. taffman says:

    \\George Soros: Trump is ‘a conman and a narcissist’//
    Its not only Al Beeb that is upset .
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51230994

       13 likes

    • Nibor says:

      George Soros would be shocked if your statement there said
      Trump is a common man and an anarchist .

      Plebs in their place please .

         10 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      He’s just donated a billion to ‘education’. Apparently.

      The Graun is in love.

      What could go wrong?

         12 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      In its report, the BBC dutifully reports the narrative that “Much of the criticism aimed at him has been criticised as having anti-Semitic undertones.” No, it does not. Soros is not observant. He is on public record, declaring his atheism. His money has backed Palestinian causes. In 2017, supporting words by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said “(Soros) continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments” and funds organizations “that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself.”

      The reasons Soros are criticised are contained with the BBC report itself: he uses his money to support illiberal causes; he pumps millions into the increasingly deranged US Democratic Party; some of that money has been obtained by what many think of as ethically dubious means (Black Wednesday currency speculation); he interferes in countries, without any accountability. And now he’s putting a further billion into tackling ‘intolerance’ (sic) and promoting the global warming scam, plus being abusive towards the leaders of India, China and the USA.

      He is criticised because of what he does or enables, not because of what he is or was. Big, big difference.

         20 likes

  38. Guest Who says:

    Jon seems excited.

    Then it seems thought about it.

       13 likes

  39. Guest Who says:

    Another week, another…. QT…

    https://twitter.com/toadmeister/status/1220490237140512769?s=21

       19 likes

  40. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC man Mark Lowen produces a report showing how the BBC doesn’t like the rise of what he and his ilk term the “Far Right”.

    Italy’s Matteo Salvini, is hoping to cause a political shock by winning Sunday’s regional election in Emilia Romagna, a stronghold of the left and… boy, is our Mark unhappy about it.

    As so often the BBC reporter questions, presents counter arguments and challenges interviewees on the right, but when speaking to leftists he simply smiles encouragingly, nods, accommodates and supports their views.

    For example at a political meeting of Salvini supporters we get this from Lowen: “Not absolutely everybody on this square supports Salvini. He’s a very devisive figure. There are a few opponents of him over here. Let’s just go and talk to them.”

    It’s almost comedy gold. For goodness sake couldn’t he let the rightists speak, make his challenges, let the viewers decide. You know, as though the BBC were politically balanced and unbiased.

    No, because the BBC has a very didactic style – they want to hammer home their dark allusions to Hitler and Mussolini and scare us away from conservative politics.

    The simple statement ‘let’s put Italians before foreigners’ sticks in Lowen’s craw and represents the opposite of everything the BBC stands for. Foreigners prioritised over Italians, Europeans, and indeed and by clear implication Britons.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-51227884/how-italy-s-far-right-is-hoping-to-cause-a-political-earthquake

    We may or may not have a People’s Parliament (maybe we can trust Boris) one thing is for sure – it ain’t my BBC

       24 likes

  41. tapwatertory says:

    Been bbc free for 13 days, one day at a time.

    But this morning I had a relapse and I perused their world class website.

    They asked the question ‘why is Italy turning towards the far right’

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-51227884/how-italy-s-far-right-is-hoping-to-cause-a-political-earthquake

    Now I’m not bothered about the term ‘far right’ anymore, it’s meaningless to me.

    Do they not know the answer?

    Watched the video and it’s something about Hitler, Mussolini and WW2.

    If I ever see one of those naughty nazi’s I’ll give them a clip ’round the ear.

       17 likes

    • tapwatertory says:

      If I learn to take my jack boots off quicker and learn to type faster I would have beat Aslseelt to this story.

      Fascist.

         16 likes

      • Mrs Kitty says:

        Living in France we no longer have access to the Beeb and rely heavily on the wonderful people who suffer on our behalf by watching and listening, then reporting about it on here. Occasionally we dip our toes into the fetid water of Beeb life by going on the website as we need to remind ourselves of how biased they are. I’m not surprised at the far right label constantly used by them but now it’s become a non word, along with racist and islamaphobe. I suppose they’ll still ignore the riots in Paris and in other major towns and cities because people are protesting against their poster boy Macron but I expect they’re going to go into meltdown as Marine La Pen has stated her intention of running for President in 2022 , if they already haven’t done so. So from a knuckle draggeing, thick Brexiteer in France.thank you to Asiseeit and tapwatertory and all the othe posters on here.

           22 likes

        • Old Goat says:

          I concur with your views, being another Leaver in France (there don’t appear to many of us about, or Trump supporters, either…). I don’t watch the BBC, although I could via my Freesat box.

          I look forward to 2022, and hope that Macron remains as unpopular as he is now.

             9 likes

          • Frustrated says:

            Ditto !!
            After finding myself spending all my time shouting at the radio/TV, I’ve stopped all BBBC contact – and now get most of my “news” from this website (very occasionally listening in to Classic FM or LBC News, e.g. Maajid Nawaz – thanks to a tip I read here a while ago!)
            So, many thanks for everyone’s input
            From a staunch Leaver in Germany!!

               2 likes

          • Expat John says:

            Au contraire!
            There are more of us Brexiteers and Trumpists in France than you might think.
            We live in a small hamlet, c. 50 French citizens and us 2 Brits. No-one – yes, no-one – supports Macron.
            The morning after the referendum result in 2016, two locals (separately) stopped me in the street outside our house and, looking around to make sure no-one else was around, slapped me on the back and said “bien fait, apres vous, nous” or words to the effect: “Well done – we’re next”.
            Three years on, I am still quietly amused that Frexit supporters are now a majority in the hamlet – but they don’t know they are.

            Keep the faith through all the battles to come; unless it’s rigged, come 2022 Macron is French toast.

               5 likes

  42. Dover Sentry says:

    The BBC directly connects the ‘far-right’ in Italy with the Nazis.

    BBC Online News (Video):

    “How Italy’s far right is hoping to cause a political earthquake”

    “Italy’s far right leader, Matteo Salvini, is hoping to cause a political shock by winning Sunday’s regional election in Emilia Romagna, a stronghold of the left since the Second World War. That could topple the government and sweep him to national power. So what is driving support for his populist far right League party?”

    0.7 mins “History weighs heavily in Ferrara. Take a look at this”.
    Points at a memorial where in 1943 eleven partisans were shot by the Nazis for ‘opposing fascism’. “This isn’t just a battle between left and right” An anti-fascist veteran is then spoken to at length who saw the bodies when he was a boy. Parallels are drawn.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-51227884/how-italy-s-far-right-is-hoping-to-cause-a-political-earthquake

    The reporter Mark Lowen has a Portugese husband and his grand parents were Jewish and fled the Nazis to Britain. He was educated at Oxford and has a non-science degree. Many boxes ticked for the BBC.

    The whole slant of the video was how racist the once left wing bastion of a town had become. It wasn’t the fault of the drug dealing, destructive and violent immigrants. It was the fault of course of the far right for highlighting these issues. And these issues were very real to the voters.

    Standard BBC tactic: Send a left wing reporter backed by the left wing BBC to destroy facts that they don’t like. 🙁

    (Just noticed that me, tapwatertory and asIseeit have posted on the same video at the same time. Shows exactly how blatant the BBC have become!).

       28 likes

  43. Guest Who says:

    Opportunity for comments knocks.

       12 likes

    • taffman says:

      Interestingly, a chappie down the pub told me that switching off Al Beeb was like flushing the toilet after doing a ‘Bid Job’.

         13 likes

    • Jeff says:

      Jesus H Christ, we can’t even have a crap now without some git lecturing us. They’re obsessed with our…motions…
      On Gardeners’ Question Time last week the first item was all about “compost toilets”. Some smug, sanctimonious greeny told us he regularly used one and wanted to know how many of the panel did the same… and if not, why not.
      Personally speaking I don’t want to know how Pippa takes a poop. And I don’t want to think about what Bob Flowerdew puts on his manure heap. I just want advice on how to get blackfly off my roses…
      Is that too much to ask?

         21 likes

    • NameNotNumber says:

      Thanks BBC, I’m off to dig a hole in the garden now but I have to say that I’m astonished by your choice of image here! Where are the ethnic and gender diverse representatives of ‘wrong toilet going’? Britain is not inhabited by white males alone. You should be sat on immediately.

         11 likes

  44. Guest Who says:

    Soph seems nice.

    Bets on which producer gets her in first… Rob or the QT ones?

       18 likes

  45. Guest Who says:

    Just a leetle bit of popcorn…

       11 likes

  46. The WestWyvern says:

    I don’t post so much these days as I don’t watch and hardly listen to Al Beeb anymore. As a straight white male working English 40 something tax paying, diesel car driving, climate change denier who gave Boris and the Tories a chance to deliver Brexit, I don’t fit their desired demographic and therefore I feel unqualified and unable to post on the subject. However…

    Couldn’t sleep this morning and turned on Radio 5 ‘Dead’ where they had a female ‘live down the line’ from Brisbane covering the Aussie open tennis. The fawning and bias over Williams (playing a Chinese lady) was little short of disgraceful.

    I found out yet AGAIN that Williams was a MOTHER – who knew? and when she won the second set tie break, oh dear, I believe the commentator gushed so much there are no longer any bush fires in Australia… The young Chinese opponent barely got a mention. It was wall to wall Williams, and how she wasn’t moving well, that something was wrong, etc….. Nowt to do with the opposition playing better.

    Off button hit, hard.

    Oh but the joy at 05.45. Breaking News. Williams LOSES in Three sets.

       28 likes

  47. taffman says:

    \\Baroness Morgan warns BBC over licence fee ‘concern’//
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51224726
    Was she a Remainer?
    Has anyone found any evidence yet , of a Pro Brexit story appearing on Al Beeb?
    No, I thought not .
    Get rid of the Telly Tax …………………………….
    https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/end-the-bbc-licence-fee

       15 likes

  48. digg says:

    For anyone in the UK saying that asylum and immigration are a good thing this is worth a read.

    Sweden is rapidly falling apart and is now a basket case…

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15414/sweden-welfare-crisis

    If this report is true then Sweden probably has only 5 years left as a viable Western Country. This report even claims that some native Swedish children can no longer speak Swedish for god’s sake!

    I hope our own politicians are reading this and pondering the dire consequences. There are many in this Country who would take us in the same direction as Sweden.

       20 likes

  49. Old Goat says:

    Stefan is very good with his Youtube videos – always worth a watch, each day…

       12 likes