Midweek Thread 27 January 2021

Holocaust Memorial Day … …………………………………………………………..

And then this –

Below is a sentence in a BBC online report

“Police have begun an investigation into potential breaches of Covid-19 regulations at the funeral of an IRA veteran in Londonderry.”

Over to you

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528 Responses to Midweek Thread 27 January 2021

  1. Guest Who says:

    BBC Relentless News

    Free anthology of black authors to be given to all primary schools in England

    The initiative is part of a drive to increase the diversity of voices in children’s literature.

    ***
    Guess AME authors will need to get in line. Maybe ready by June?

       20 likes

  2. JimS says:

    Why, I wondered, had that daft bat, LibDem, parachuted in, German-lady MP, Wera Hobhouse, representing the jerrymandered constituency of Bath, where the university students get to vote twice, concerned herself with ‘short lists’ for ‘minority’ parliamentary candidates and special Covid attention for ‘blacks’?

    Bath isn’t exactly a ‘black spot’ for ethnics compared to many places in this fair green land of open borders and benefits.

    Then it came to me, she needs to ‘go to Specsavers’, she thinks she is MP for BAMEs, not BANES, Bath and North East Somerset. Alles ist klar!

       37 likes

  3. Dover Sentry says:

    America: you drive for 4 hours and you’re still in the same part of the country.
    UK: you drive an hour out of London and the accent has changed twice and a Bread Roll has a new name.

    Inhabitants of Islington and the BBC unaware.

       61 likes

  4. Guest Who says:

    He and Marianna should hook up and have lovely kids who get endless swirlies.

       9 likes

  5. Up2snuff says:

    BBC FRAMING TODAY Watch #1 – trying to frame Bojo – again

    Wot? On Farming Today? Bad enough yesterday when much of the MSM, the Labour Party and the BBC were trying to frame the PM, Boris ‘I accept full responsibility’ Johnson, for the dodgy deaths numbers (probably inaccurate) in the UK during the Pandemic.

    The BBC were at it again at the end of Farming Today. I think it was Kaz Graham who was interviewing a Scots lass, a vet, who knew her stuff and wasn’t going to be harried or bullied by the BBC. “How many did the Government kill last year?” asks the BBC. “The figures haven’t been published.” accuses the BBC.

    In case you are getting worried that we are talking humans here, don’t worry (unless you are Brian May) it is badgers with TB and the numbers are the ones selectively culled as sources of TB infection for farm cattle.

    The vetenary had the numbers to hand – 38,000 – and they had been published. So there!

       20 likes

    • Garry Lavin says:

      No badgers on IoM. No bovine TB.

         14 likes

      • AWOL says:

        Don’t say that Garry or one of our green nuts will raise a campaign to introduce them, as they did with foxes.
        Fortunately for the chickens they didn’t succeed.

           13 likes

        • Garry Lavin says:

          Yes, our chickens roost in the trees at night.
          However, the place is overrun with rabbits and rats. We need foxes.

             7 likes

          • Scroblene says:

            Seriously, Garry, are there any snakes on IoM?

            (The nasty W1A sort aren’t included, just the slithery ones)!

               1 likes

            • Garry Lavin says:

              No snakes. Lots of big polecats though. They get the chicks. Rats everywhere. Our dog and cat work in tandem to kill rats and mice.

                 1 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Hope it stays that way, being free of TB.

        Do your chickens lay eggs (the female ones) in the trees, too, in the little hollows that often exist where a branch meets the trunk?

        Do some get fertilised?

        And do you have some little surprises falling out of the trees and running around?

           4 likes

        • Garry Lavin says:

          They only roost at night in the trees. They hop and flap up each branch to the top. It’s incredible in the regular high winds!

          We’ve got too many cockerels. So there will be lots of chicks again this year…..on the ground.

             0 likes

    • Garry Lavin says:

      No badgers on IoM. No bovine TB.

         0 likes

  6. Guest Who says:

    See if Sopel can acquire a better Nick name than Toenails?

    Be tricky to do more than he has to date.

       11 likes

  7. AsISeeIt says:

    Wellness Programs & Premium Revitalisation devolving culturally down to the Dawn of the Bottom Inspectors

    When money is no object, then what’s left for the super rich to spend their money on? Once they’ve covered the basics: the mansions; the limousines; the holiday islands; the yachts; the private jets… What’s the ultimate, as yet still unfulfilled, desire of our elites? And does that unfulfilled desire of our elite give us a clue as to the present cultural leanings of our society at large?

    Let’s check the frontpage advertisement in the Financial Times today: ‘Clinique la Prairie’ – a health spa in Switzerland: ’90 years helping people live longer and better’

    Ah, immortality.

    Put politely – live longer – that’s the last elusive dream purchase for the mega wealthy. That, by the way, was the dream of the first emperor of ancient China. The chap that buried his terracotta army. You see no expense is too great to buy immortality.

    Do we think a society that has pretty much satisfied the basic material needs of its citizenry might begin to dream of immortality? Or more to the point, to fret that it can’t achieve immortality.

    I’m told BBC TV news last night spent a full first 20 minutes on the covid deaths story.

    What can Clinique la Prairie offer? The ad in the FT promises one may: ‘Unlock the secret of living. Discover our Longevity, Immunity, Detox and Wellness Programs

    Reviews reckon a week-long Premium Revitalisation will set you back £31,475. For that you’re getting DNA tests for red flags and a secret formula to boost your immune system. The average net worth of visitors is allegedly £10 million and the repeat-visit rate is 70 per cent.

    The menu is cordon bleu but tends to be vegan, of course.

    Apparently, there’s a perennial staff shortage in our NHS. 50 doctors are on hand at Clinique la Prairie. There’s a staff of specialists in every branch of medicine and cosmetic surgery imaginable, three operating theatres and 20 hospital-grade recovery suites. Back in the 1930s, Dr Paul Niehans, an early pioneer in the field, started administering ‘rejuvenating’ foetal lamb-liver injections and pulling in famous guests such as Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant and, later, a rumoured Margaret Thatcher.

    Stem cells are where the focus of our research is now. And the future is stem cells.

    Not sinister at all, then.

    Also, in the FT today: EU demands UK Covid vaccines from AstraZeneca to fill shortage’ – goes without saying that Brussels bureaucrats are their own worst enemy.

    The FT further reports: ‘Brexit delays and glut of German meat leave farms with 100,000 pigs’ – just another everyday story of governmental interference in the market with their trade restrictions, taxes and subsidies, causing inefficiencies
    and wastage.

    The market would decide and deliver the better outcomes if left alone: ‘Tesco finest British Cumberland Pork Sausages… £3.59 Clubcard Price’ – as advertised on frontpage of the Daily Mirror and the Sun.

    The ‘i’ has ‘We’ve got women shoplifting food to feed their children’ (in quotes, mind you). I do hope they are wearing masks, otherwise the police should get involved.

    In further rich news: ‘Rita’s £5k bunger bunger party’ (Sun) – not quite as exciting as it sounds: ‘Rita Ora’s team offered a restaurant a £5,000 bung to break covid rules
    for her 30th birthday bash

    Sheffield steal. Blades put United’s title hopes to the sword’ (‘i’) – this is the race for the Premier League title.

    Did someone mention race? Enter the Guardian: ‘The pioneer who told the story of black women in Britain

    And finally,
    Squeaky bum time’- in the Daily Star. This is the story that anal swabs are the preferred Chinese test for Covid: ‘If you thought mouth swabs were nasty, look away now’ The Star speculates whether the test might catch on here.

    Considering we’ve not only caught the covid from China but also their preferred control method – lockdowns – I wouldn’t rule it out. I’m reminded of the student favourite bawdy comic Viz back the 1980s and their comic strip series: “Dawn of the Bottom Inspectors

    We’re living 1984, Brave New World, Logan’s Run etc. Possibly it’s the last and final crazy dystopian take on the future we haven’t as yet accepted as reality.

       34 likes

  8. StewGreen says:

    11am Radio4 Fooc
    Protest violence worse than the Capitol event happens all the time
    as this episode shows
    ” – In Delhi, Republic Day marred by violence –
    escalation of months of peaceful protests against proposed agricultural reforms. Rajini Vaidyanathan

    – Netherlands is seeing its worst violence in 40 years with scenes of looting and rioting across the country. Anna Holligan
    (government had collapsed, is that a result of them conspiring to keep Wilders out ?)

    The Democratic Republic of Congo
    where thousands of children toil in mines.
    Olivia Acland

    – Portugal hardest hit by the second wave
    Audrey Gillan visited Armona, an island off the coast of the Algarve

    – Cuba’s Fidel Castro photo.

       16 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      She mentioned one death at the Delhi protests
      but didn’t specify.
      Checking I find claims
      “Protesting farmers claimed that the farmer was killed after being shot at by the Delhi Police.The police, on the other hand, released CCTV footage from the location and have said that the death occurred due to the accident and no shots were fired

      It shows tractor heading at high speed into barriers
      but if the driver had already been shot that might happen.
      Farmers claim 100+ protesters had already died in the last 2 months.

      The other items weren’t clear
      mostly blah blah blah.

         5 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Castro photo item : was a woke word soup : Canadian lesbian, LBGTQ hero, Castro hero etc

      Rwanda item ‘Oh this country is poor , so kids pick through the mine waste for £1.80/day .. they are careful cos of the risks’

         2 likes

  9. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – interesting and interestinger but no stinger question asked.

    Mishal is dominant, isn’t she? Possibly presenting for the fourth day in a row. No-one else among the TOADY presenters can get a look in. Sir Jeremy Farrar was a contributor for a very interesting pre-7 a.m. News bulletin interview. Mishal isn’t very knowledgeable, is she? You would think that ten months into the UK lockdown that a BBC presenter on its flagship radio News programme would know all about viruses and vaccination.

    Jeremy Farrar mentioned new variants of Covid virus emerging but Mishal did not ask specific questions. Jeremy Farrar mentioned new variants emerging as a result of vaccinations. Again, Mishal still did not take the hint and ask questions about vaccination and the spread of Covid.

    Sir Jeremy has obviously seen the photos of people being inocculated incorrectly and knows what will happen therefrom but no questions at all from Mishal. Time for her to go?

       21 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Up2
      I’m thinking of starting to listen again ….. mishal is not the brightest in the box and is only there as a tick box . I’ve listened to her to know she can just about remember what the subject briefing sheet she read says – and to use the suggested questions without listening to an interesting answer and following up with a coherent intelligent question .

      In so many ways it’s a waste and signals the effect on accountability when interviewees know they are not going to get a hard time other than feeble attempts to put them on the naughty step .

      I reckon if there wasn’t a pandemic number 10 would just not bother sending anyone on – bit like they do with c4 news ….

         20 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Fed, you wonder what the Editors think and actually what they do to brief her in advance.

           12 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          Up2
          I’m sure the editors know her capacity to grasp issues – I’ve tried briefing people in a past life and know the type where you can see it going in one ear and coming out of the other .

          Therefore editors must keep it very slow and simple for her – which must be tricky when it is a complex or sensitive or fast moving news story ….

          …. she d do better on some recorded thing rather than live – but there again – anyone who damages the BBC can’t be all bad – and an asset for us .

             18 likes

          • Up2snuff says:

            You mean like a Labour Party Deputy Leader?

            Think the votes for the Conservatives may have firmed up a couple of points this morning.

               11 likes

  10. StewGreen says:

    2:15pm Drama :The story of Orson Welles’ groundbreaking all- Black production of MACBETH in Harlem in 1936

    Federal Theatre Project’s Negro Unit (part of the New Deal)
    with its 20 year old director, Orson Welles.

    radically, it played to integrated audiences.

       8 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Friday’s drama : British QAnon
      ” alarming phenomenon in British society .. conspiracy theories such as QAnon.
      proponents like David Icke come from a reassuringly loony fringe
      now .. hitherto rational people from very ordinary backgrounds.
      5G played a role in the pandemic,
      concerns that organised child sex abuse is coordinated by a cabal of global elites,
      fears that vaccines are a form of insidious government control. .

      Michael and Louise try to make sense of Jen’s transformation. “

      Well you cause that BBC.
      Cos BBC & MSM continually give their false blue-pill picture of the world, it is no surprise that there is a void and people end up in the turquoise-pill false picture of the world.

      People were right to have conspiracy theories about Jimmy Savile, cos you did conspire to cover it up.

         18 likes

  11. Fedup2 says:

    ‘Vaccine Nationalism ‘ seems to be the new ‘hot’ subject ….and the BBC has difficultly deciding how to run the narrative . It can’t say bad things ( ie the truth ) about its bestist friend – the EU – over the EU failure to get enough vax for its ‘citizens ‘ –

    So what can the BBC do ? It is on very thin ice because this directly affects the health an wellbeing of real people – the elderly and those most susceptible to the Chinese virus . And blimey – it even affects other bestist friend like the 1.7 million working for the NHS .

    The news editors must be having hard discussions about how to treat this – and just to add more fuel – there’s another vaccine close to being approved – it’s made in Scotland by a french company and HMG has ordered a shed load of it ….

       29 likes

    • Tabs says:

      Imagine if it was the other way around, the EU had loads of vaccines and the UK didn’t. We would never hear the end of “well done you knuckle dragging Brexiters”.

         49 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        The other feature being omitted by the BBC is that America is keeping its vaccines for …. America …. whether it is Trump or Biden .
        To me this is just ‘reality ‘ and the liberals bleating on about ‘poor countries ‘ and ‘fairness ‘ can afford to look on when it is about the survival chances of people – taxpayers – in the countries where the stuff is financed , invented and made …..

           37 likes

      • JohnC says:

        Absolutely : note how Brexit is not mentioned in any of the reports on the BBC. Just imagine how it would have been woven into the narrative if it were the other way round.
        Shameless hypocrites. I know I keep saying the same thing, but they really are.

           42 likes

  12. StewGreen says:

    8pm Looks like BBC campaigning
    “Northern Ireland has stayed in the EU’s single market and customs union post-Brexit. Has this brought Irish reunification any closer?”

       17 likes

  13. digg says:

    I read that the BBC has decided to remove the word “veteran” from the the description of IRA terrorist’s funeral story after getting a load of flack.

    The still couldn’t bring themselves to change it to “terrorist” though so used the term “IRA Man”

    So using the same technique they use in ethnic knife attacks and rapes “A Man”…..

    I just can’t work out why the BBC hate the UK so much that they are eager to work against it whenever they can.

    Weasels!

       41 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      We ll see what ‘Blackwell ‘ thinks or says about this ….. won’t we Blackwell…. ?

      BBC news

      Nice piece of bias by omission by a bbc droid ….

      Vaccine wars
      When AZ first started delivering vaccine there were problems in the UK plant . There was a shortfall which was met be the Belgium plant . The BBC then ‘explains ‘ that the EU wants their shortfall to be met from UK plants ( still with me ?) …..

      … but the omission – and why the situation is different – is that back then the EU hadn’t authorised the AZ vaccine but the UK had .

      And even now – until -probably Friday 29th – the AZ vaccine has not been approved in the EU …..

         22 likes

      • JimS says:

        If Boris’s Britain and Trump’s America are the worst hit places by the virus, as the BBC has told us, shouldn’t they be the highest priority to receive vaccines?

        But then maybe the BBC wants to see the elderly, i.e. ‘domestic terrorists’, Brexit and Trump voters, killed off and the vaccine sent to all those non-resident, but on their way, UK and US ‘citizens’ currently abroad.

           23 likes

  14. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    Has the time limit of 28 days death with covid now been extended to 60 days.
    I’ve read a few comments saying this but nothing official.
    If it has been extended then it’s not surprising death rates are high.

       11 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @EG there are 2 different stats
      #1 The 28 limit is a world standard that helps show trends.
      Many Covid dead don’t get included. others included didn’t die primarily of Covid.

      #2 The 60 day stat is produced later by ONS
      It is based on death certificates so is supposed to be 100% accurate.
      However it’s certain due to the relaxation in certification rules ONE doctor appointed to a care home may well remotely decide to sign a whole bunch of death certificates, without visiting or seeing the patients.
      However this list shouldn’t have anyone on who got run over by a bus or suicided etc.

      Raw deaths is a rubbish stat
      You really should use QALYs made by working out how many life years each patient has lost.

         13 likes

  15. Doublethinker says:

    Vaccines Wars.

    Provided that people don’t rely on the anti British BBC for their news , I think that if there was a poll taken on whether or not Brits wanted to rejoin the EU, there would be a massive NO.
    The behaviour of the EU in firstly being so grossly inept in sourcing vaccines and secondly in then so obviously looking for scapegoats to cover their tracks, has been hugely beneficial in safe guarding the long term future of Brexit. Even as late as Cristmas I felt that within ten years we would be taken back into the EU by a coalition of the left. Now I think the EU’s vaccine wars has torpedoed SS Rejoin amidships and even ardent Remainers are taking to the lifeboats realising that their long term plan is in tatters.
    It’s just a pity that the incredibly dense Remainers had to see so many deaths caused by Brussels before they understood why we uneducated knuckle draggers voted Leave.
    The long term damage done by this scandal to the EU will be significant. Already many countries the usually compliant europhile MSM are having a go at Brussels. The ‘UK’ strain is already increasing in the EU so deaths will mount rapidly in the coming weeks and months and there simply won’t be anywhere near enough vaccine to support a UK type vaccinate the vulnerable programme. So hostility to the EU is going to get much stronger , all to the benefit of Le Pen, AfD , Salvini etc . The Brussels dream of a united Europe run by ever such good and clever unelected bureaucrats is going to take one hell of a beating. It might even be terminal.

       31 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Double – rejoining in 10 years …. with a bit of luck the Eastern states of the ReichEU will get fed up and do a version of brexit – or even worse – align with Russia ….
      I wonder how the vaccine war will pan out – I’m looking at France24 as a guide …. and also how bad shortages of vaccine will become . I read that Spain is reducing its vaccination programme and might even run out …. if it is shown that the likes of Germany and France keep their vaccine supply there will be serious discord amongst the member states .

      The EU is vindictive so will do its’ best to blame the UK -but when the facts are laid out this might get EU citizens seeing the suffering and consequences even more angry about EU mismanagement.

         23 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      Has anyone asked Mrs Krankie how an “independent” Scotland would have coped?

      She wants Scotland back in the EU, where they would by now have had approximately no vaccinations.

      How many Scots lives is she prepared to sacrifice for her vainglorious dream of “independence”?

      As the BBC never asks.

         17 likes

  16. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #2 – a small conflict or two for the BBC to reconcile in their heads

    Not a good day for the BBC today. For enthusiastic Brexiteers and for those who don’t believe or have serious doubts about the AGW/CC thing, the needles on their personal Schadenfreude Dials have been in danger of injecting ‘the red zone’ but not with a vaccine.

    First off, the EU is starting to show itself in its true colours. The BBC and TOADY presenters are forced into a moment of honesty by the German newspapers reporting that the EU’s management of Covid vaccines has been delayed because of the bureaucracy required in acting together across 27 States. Then they have to read out the UK tabloids take on the issue. Eeeeek! The EU is a bully! Who knew? And we all say, “We told you so!”

    Then there is the business news from the car industry. Of course the car industry has been wrecked by Theresa May’s insistence as PM in banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035 or 2040. Now her successor has brought forward that ‘deaded by deadline’ to 2030 but the BBC – as big enthusiasts for Global Warming and Climate Change – dare not mention the true reason why car sales have withered in the last year. The BBC have to say that it is due to uncertainties over Covid and Brexit when it is anything but. Oh ho ho.

       28 likes

  17. StewGreen says:

    Avi’s full arrest video
    Does look like he’s got Victoria Police banged to rights for unlawful arrest.
    They just dragged him out of reporting, put him in a van, drove around for 30 mins, and released him in a Jewish suburb which was far enough away to prevent him getting back to the protest before it finished.

    It’s not a win when a journo becomes the story.
    Avi had gone to the anti-Australia Day Protest to get footage of wokivists making fools of themselves.
    He was doing that.
    Then some police boss decided Avi needed to be removed at all costs.
    So officers physically removed him
    They wouldn’t say anything
    except “You are being detained for breach of the peace”
    “What breach of the peace ?”
    no answer
    “Am I being arrested ?”
    “No”
    “OK I’ll go then”
    “No you can’t”
    “See I am resisting as they drag me into the van”
    Avi says that in Australian law there is no such thing as detention without arrest.. therefore it was an arrest, an illegal arrest.
    He was dumped in the Jewish suburb of Caulfield
    presumably cos the police knew it’s the least likely place where he’d get beaten up, he doesn’t live there, but is Jewish.

       21 likes

  18. taffman says:

    “Post-Brexit trading ‘difficult’ for my business – Samantha Cameron”
    “Mrs Cameron said she discusses the problems with her husband, ex-Prime Minister David Cameron, who called the EU referendum and campaigned to remain.”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55839256
    Follow the money ?

       18 likes

    • Tabs says:

      She says, “…if you’re bringing goods into the country from outside the UK, and then trying to sell them back into Europe, that currently is challenging and difficult.”

      Why is she doing that?!? Not very enviromentally friendly and more to do with dodging tax I reckon.

         25 likes

    • Kaiser says:

      easily translated as

      the PM tried to keep the country in the EU so his wife could import slave labour goods from pakistan and china and resell them into the europe at a vast profit

      these people have no shame

         18 likes

  19. taffman says:

    I cant see much about the EU and the Covid vaccine under Al Beeb’s website “Brexit” Heading ?
    I wonder why.

       16 likes

  20. StewGreen says:

    BBC local radio keeps bragging about them getting secondhand laptop to poor kids houses.
    … Will some of those kids end up getting sexually abused via those laptops ?

       14 likes

  21. Kaiser says:

    the bbc has covered this little story

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55817918

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55837519

    but the internet does a much better more entertaining job which is why the BBC are doomed

       9 likes

    • richard D says:

      I think it’s absolutely hilarious that hedge fund a$$holes are being wiped out by rank amateurs (hmmm – maybe they aren’t as ‘amateur’ as the MSM would like us to think – they seem to have done a very professional job here) who are crippling them using the market to confound these pr!ck$ who drive businesses into the deck (by short-selling) to satisfy their greed.

      Power to them !

         9 likes

  22. JohnC says:

    The BBC have finally got a far-right extremist murder to report. Unfortunately they had to go to East Germany for the story:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55824282
    And what a meal they make of it !. ‘Far-right’ appears in the article no less than 14 times. Contrast this with the word ‘Muslim’ appearing in any of their terrorist attacks precisely zero times in the last 5 years to my knowledge.
    And of course we get lots of insight and background – including being told directly he did it was ‘motivated by “racism and xenophobia”‘. Again, contrast this with no motivating reasons ever being given for Muslim terrorist attacks. We get a clinical report of what happened from the BBC. That’s it.
    More of their usual disgusting Left-Wing double standards.

       39 likes

  23. Fedup2 says:

    JohnC
    They still haven’t got a ‘whiter than white ‘ coloured victim of police brutality – whitee nastiness – to go into full ‘we want justice ‘ mode …..

    I’ve noticed that the dead stabbed coloured boys in London aren’t referred to as promising footballer cum architect cum law student any more …. the absence suggests ‘gang member ‘…

       24 likes

    • JohnC says:

      Cynically and deliberately holding back certain information in order to sway the opinion of the reader in a certain direction is no different at all to outright lies. Yet you can’t be accused of lying because you didn’t. In some ways it’s even worse because you are hiding your lie behind a veil of truth.
      The BBC are experts at it.

         30 likes

  24. StewGreen says:

    The blank Twitter search page
    is like a brainwashing tool

    Yesterday at the top of the page
    “Top Science Stories for you”
    #1 tweet from Biden about his climate plan

    Today
    #1 video tweet from Greta marked “World Economic Forum, Davos Agenda”
    Science
    @GretaThunberg 5h
    the longer we pretend we can solve the climate- and ecological emergency – without treating it like a crisis
    – the more precious time we will lose.
    And this is time we do not have. #FaceTheClimateEmergency

    #5 @thehill 14h
    JUST IN: Pentagon declares climate change a “national security issue” http://hill.cm/r2aNpCW

    Below that
    “Top Lewis Hamilton Stories for you”
    Him and his black power salutes etc.

    WTF I never asked for that

       24 likes

  25. StewGreen says:

    Don’t worry BBC as long a you tick box every arts prog by having an item on a black author
    that will inoculate you against claims of “racism”
    .. Oh except disproportionate tickboxing is racism.

       15 likes

    • JimS says:

      In passing, it used to be that the ‘double-barrel’ name was an indicator of aristocracy, probably some condition for having the family estate passed on to you.

      Now it a pretty good marker of darker skin colour.

      On the one hand they ape (whoops!) the master and on the other they want the badge of slavery. (No biscuits for you Ainsley Harriott and Moira Stewart!).

         16 likes

    • JohnC says:

      What a riveting prospect a discussion of ‘untangling the idea of identity’ with Elle Osili-Wood and Hafsa Zayyan, author of We Are All Birds Of Uganda sounds.
      I wonder how many people will be tuning in. I’m sure we won’t find out.
      What a cushy job the BBC have : guaranteed income whilst not accountable to anyone and no angry shareholders or advertisers if nobody listens.

         24 likes

  26. taffman says:

    “Scottish independence: Will there be a second referendum?”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-50813510
    Why do I get the feeling that Al Beeb is almost willing them on to break up the United Kingdom?
    Are they hoping that the break up will get us back into the European Empire?
    IMHO, I think that their ultimate ambition was to be ‘The European Broadcasting Union’. A dream that went up in smoke following the the result of the Brexit referendum in 2016.
    Like a dog with a bone they just can’t let it go.

       28 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      The BBC’s reluctance to report on the increasing whiff of ordure around Wee Nippy is in marked contrast to their reporting of SNP whinging and complaining.

         12 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Seems they have reported the UK PM to the police for entering their fiefdom.

        Nuts does not come close.

           20 likes

        • G says:

          GW,
          Same I suppose for the Queen visiting Balmoral. “Not our Queen” I would hear the Garden Gnome say.

             15 likes

  27. Doobster78 says:

    Spot on Julia .

       35 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      I’ve come to the conclusion that lying is one of the BBC guidelines. Just not the official ones we get to see.

         27 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        It’s not lying.

        It is simply reporting, and checking facts in a unique way, with any outside oversight exempted because ‘purposes of journalism, butt coverage and arrogance’.

        Apparently.

           13 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Equally the BBC does not leak, it merely arranges for anonymous staff to make things available ‘by accident’ (#BBcquotes) to reliable sources, which it denies, but insincerely apologises for, and moves on from. Again, thanks to the unique way in which the BBC gets away with anything. And promotes those responsible soon thereafter.

             12 likes

      • JohnC says:

        They never lie. They just don’t you the bits of the truth which don’t fit their agenda.
        ‘Capitol riots leaves 4 dead’ is a good example – it makes you think the rioters killed people just like BLM do. The headline could also have been ‘Capitol police shoot dead unarmed woman protester’ which changes the inference completely. It’s no different from a lie but will pass a fact checker.
        They are experts at it and do it without any conscience or shame. For the Left, the ends justify the means. As Pol Pot also said. And Hitler.

           26 likes

        • Beltane says:

          And Alastair Campbell, although he was depressed at the time, or was it pissed? He forgets.

             6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Not going away either.

      Unless the BBC mobilise all their alumni in the HoL like they do Ofcom to make it go away any way possible, fair, foul or BBC.

         15 likes

      • richard D says:

        The BBC spins a lie, then sits and waits until it is repeated back to them by enough of their sycophants, and pretty soon you have a ‘groundswell of opinion’.

        Beeboids been doing this for quite a long time, but are now refining the process to specifically target government ministers, (only Conservatives get this treatment) and are blatant about it, demanding to know why these ministers haven’t resigned because of this groundswell…. and no-one in the MSM is calling them out on it.

           6 likes

  28. digg says:

    I think the attempt by the EU to bully the vaccine makers to deliver to them first rather than the UK even though the UK had a solid contract in place 3 months before them should be a warning shot to the UK Government.

    I think the Government should now offer HUGE grants to any UK involved company to assist them in moving their operations entirely into the UK otherwise they will always be at the mercy of this bullying totalitarian bloc.

    The EU is “investigating” AstraZeneca to check they are not “penalising” the EU, what this means is that the all-powerful EU commission will simply be able to draw up new laws and then crack down on the companies at will to force them to treat the EU more favourably.

    This may then extend to such things are car parts, hospital equipment, foodstuffs, even our power supply bought from France.

    This is an abuse of power over private companies and needs to be resisted. It really show what the EU is all about.

       37 likes

    • G says:

      digg,
      There was a hint dropped that the Belgium plant of AZ entered the contract with the EU on the basis of, ‘Best Endeavours’. If the case, the EU can go and whistle.

         12 likes

      • Doublethinker says:

        Under WTO rules and international law that is correct but given that the EU is in an existentialist battle they will do anything they think is necessary to survive. International law , something that they and the Remainer lobby endlessly lectured us all about, will be used when it suits and totally ignored when it doesn’t, with the BBc patiently explaining to us thick Brexiteers why the EU is in the right and fully justified and the UK is entirely in the wrong.

           11 likes

      • richard D says:

        I am pretty damned sure that there was more than a ‘hint’ of this, G, it was reported that a senior member of AZ said exactly this to the press a day or more ago. Of course, if the EU believed that was not true, they would have published the contract before now….. but AZ can’t of course, since they would probably be penalised to the hilt by the EU for breaking secrecy obligations….. hence all the ‘weasel words’ being used by the EU to try to make it appear that AZ has a contractual commitment to deliver certain quantities sof the anti-virus by certain dates.

        The claims, including those broadcast and re-broadcast by the BBC, are that AZ is going to fail to deliver the antivirus quantities they are contracted to do ….. the truth is that AZ is going to deliver the antivirus quantities it is contracted to do – but since their contract with the EU is on a ‘best endeavours’ basis, it won’t be by the dates the EU ‘hoped’ it would be. And this is primarily because they EU were three months late into the game and got no guarantee, therefore, of delivery dates.

        The pro-EU media are determined to confuse this issue, so that they can try to ‘shame’ the UK into killing more of its population than EU member states populations – states who were all adamant that the UK was stupid to proceed at the pace they were doing just a month or so ago.

        And if anyone thinks that the German ‘Bild’ story that the AZ vaccine was less than 8% effective in the over-65’s, and that the German government has banned the administering of the AZ vaccine to over-65’s, are just pure coincidence at this time….. then I have a bridge on offer at a very good price !

        The EU has cocked this up so badly, and it is now becoming so obvious they will not be able to deny it for much longer (although the BBC and other pro-EU media will try their best to obfuscate and bury the truth).

           6 likes

  29. StewGreen says:

    The Archers : Shula is now a trainee vicar
    Now almost there she has doubts as to whether she believes in God after all.

    What a surprising agenda from the BBC …. not.

       19 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      What a stupid storyline. It has not been necessary for a Church of England vicar to believe in God for decades. However, it is mandatory to believe in social justice, wealth redistribution, foreign aid, high taxes, socialism in general, and that islam is a religion of peace.

      If Shula can manage to believe in that credo, she will end up a bishop in no time. God does not come into it any more.

         21 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      A much better story would be that Shula ( I’m amazed she is still alive not having listened to the tripe for thirty years plus) has had a sex change , grown a beard and is training to be an Imam. The BBC has no imagination.

         16 likes

  30. KafirHarbi says:

    Sorry off-topic, but Google continues to amaze in its preference for Woke news brands. Having just had my interest in US retailer GameStop piqued, here is Google’s page 1 results for this topic:

    ‘Top (news) Stories’
    BBC/CNN/The Guardian

    Other results:

    1. BBC
    2. CNN
    3. Wikipedia
    4. The Guardian
    5. The Guardian
    6. GameStop
    7. Twitter
    8. Facebook

    Google’s fixing of their own algorithm to give these leftist brands a leg-up is so blatant its laughable. I have to say that as a result it is also useless. I have absolutely no interest in what these sources may have to say about the subject.

    This is Bing’s results for the same term:

    1. GameStop
    2. Twitter
    3. Theverge.com
    4. Gamesindustry.biz
    5. Techradar
    6. GameStop Ireland
    7. Wikipedia
    8. Time

    Neither BBC nor Guardian results figure in the top ten PAGES of Bing results. Given the basic technology is the same, there is no way Google’s results could be what they are without being fixed.

    Please boycott Google!

       25 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Not OT at all.

      Especially when you consider… via DDG…

      https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3109414/what-it-wont-say-if-you-google-peter-barron-hate-speech-defender/

      What is not said a shared trait between the BBC and where staff go.

         7 likes

    • JohnC says:

      It’s even deeper than that. My phone has just started giving me notifications like ‘New episode of Question Time on TV tonight’.
      Totally unsolicited and the only one of it’s kind. I never watch it and have never expressed any interest in it online.
      I don’t believe for one minute that google just decided to do it on their own.

         19 likes

    • digg says:

      I have already booted Google KafirHarbi as I have grown increasingly angry by their lefty political twiddling and manipulation.

      Facebook and Twitter have also been ditched…

      I now use the search engine duckduckgo.com as my default on all my devices which is far superior, more accurate and balanced and has no tracking….

      What I find particularly puzzling about the mantra of these Companies is that they are controlled by some of the richest people on the planet, what could they possibly have been promised to follow this virtually Marxist route and by whom?

         14 likes

      • KafirHarbi says:

        Someone has actually tried to answer this Digg. And its not a bad read: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Google-Archipelago-Digital-Simulation-Freedom/dp/1943003262 From what I remember the answer is essntailly protection. Being such massive capitalists and often near monopolies, they fear two things: 1. Being on the wrong side of and therefore targeted by the woke and 2. Being broken up – more likely from a Trump-style legislature and of course even less likely with the left if you are seen as supporting the cause.

           7 likes

    • digg says:

      Kafir – our last encounter re google results led me to try an experiment. I set up two windows side-by-side on two of my macs.

      On one I opened the google search page and on the other the duckduckgo.com search page.

      Then I entered the single word “brexit” into each and ran the two searches.

      THE TOP 10 GOOGLE RESULTS

      1. gov.uk
      2. BBC
      3. Guardian
      4. Wiki
      5. BBC
      6. Politico.co
      7. FT
      8. Independent
      9. government.nl (Netherlands)
      10. government.nl (Netherlands)

      THE DuckDuckGo RESULTS

      1. gov.uk
      2. Express
      3. BBC
      4. Wiki
      5. Independent
      6. Guardian
      7. Daily Mail
      8. NewsNow
      9. BBC
      10.gov.uk

      A crude test but I find it revealing that both the 2 “popular” red-top news titles the Express and Daily Mail don’t feature at all in the Google results while the two EU Netherlands government links ONLY appear in the Google results.

      Make of it what you will!

         5 likes

      • KafirHarbi says:

        Hi Digg, while Google technologies do some clever things, the algorithms behind their page ranking for search terms is essentially quite simple. They keep it secret as they claim people would game it (which indeed they do quite successfully by trying to deduce the algorithm. This the ‘art’ of search engine optimisation). This of course is a great cover for manually distorting the results.

        While the other criteria they use are objective – like page visits, authoritative incoming links, quantity and freshness of original content etc. (Biased BBC should score very highly! – Unless of course it figures on Google’s ‘list’) They are also automated. That is to say that they need no human intervention to run. Every few months they tweak the algorithms to keep on top of changes in the pattern of digital content. However, I am absolutely certain that there is one manual element to their algorithm. Their ‘List’.

        They must have quite a long list of news titles as I assume it works this way everywhere. Using their algorithm, every page in the Internet is given a number out of 100 which represents its page authority using the factors above. Then they will have a manual list which they create based on their political view of the title in question – e.g. ‘BBC, Guardian, NYP – add 20.’ ‘Daily Mail – subtract 30, Brietbart – subtract 40’. Presumably they maintain and adjust this list according to a kind of Richter scale of woke to anti-wokeness.

           1 likes

  31. G says:

    I don’t know what this is all about. Police trying to desperately etch themselves on the public’s mind needless to say.

    He’s got a mask on I see. Can’t be theft because the police wouldn’t be interested.

    https://www.bitchute.com/video/atsce7mqERYq/

       7 likes

  32. StewGreen says:

    More on Swayne
    because of his wrongthink of daring to speak to new media anti-Lockdown groups : The Hatey no Hopers have been summoned to throw some HATE & smear at him
    Their thread
    Of course Ritchie Allen is no anti-Semite
    and the accusation is weird coming from the Labour Party front group.
    I guess Allen airs lot of QAnon folks and that to be is good instead of banning them and sending them to underground networks where they don’t get to be scrutinized.

       5 likes

  33. Beltane says:

    Big news from our brothers across the sea is that giant pharma group Merck have pulled out of vaccine development – and it is this, nothing significantly more relevant, that has triggered the Astra-Zeneca mud slinging.
    Merck were initially approached last March and, it might be alleged, huffed and puffed in a predictably Germanic way about world leading science and research and the ability to jab their way to a covid-free Europe in a matter of hours.
    When things started to go pear-shaped while AZ and Pfizer blossomed nothing was said, no doubt due to the well-known confrontational catalyst of ‘loss of face’. Add in the well-established EU stance of needing to rule the roost via home-grown products, and the fact that all current French efforts to make an effective vaccine have also failed – Sanofi pulled out amid what was described as ‘humiliation’ although to be fair others continue to try – and the recipe for the spite and commercial dishonesty we now enjoy gained Cordon Bleu status.
    Oddly enough, the BBC seem disinterested in these aspects of the situation – but perhaps they are simply waiting for matters to clarify?

       19 likes

  34. Guest Who says:

    Was expecting Marianna but, well, you know…

    Maybe she’s, oh… no… not there either.

       5 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      I note that she can’t breath. Is it possible that thechap the BLM rioted about ( forgotten his name , sic transit Gloria) was an early Covid sufferer?

         7 likes

  35. Kaiser says:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55844367

    _116708422_govad.jpg

    the easily offended wanting it all ways
    its sterotyping women

    yet

    A report last November by the Fawcett Society, a charity campaigning for equal rights, found the pandemic was having a “devastating” effect on gender equality in the workplace, with women more likely than men to lose their jobs or be left dealing with childcare.

    so it appears to be accurate

       7 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    Now… THIS is OT, but… ????

       4 likes

  37. Fedup2 says:

    The autocue reader on BBC News interviewed a professor of stats . He said that there are two UKs – the hospital and care home one and then the general population .

    Essentially infection rates in the general population are falling but hospitals and care homes are getting people infected with COVID – which is not being addressed .

    Poor Ms Hill didn’t grasp or want to grasp the implication of this .

    By the way – the prof said the teachers could be vaccinated in 2 days if they are needed to go back to schools… I get the impression teachers are looking for any reason not to teach the little darlings ….

       21 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Fed, the NHS is being a super-spreader of Covid. A representative for the Association of Care Home Providers (or something similar) was on the bit of TWatO that I caught today. Or was it EwanYores? Whatever.

      This woman spokesperson had several examples of the NHS discharging elderly patients into Care Homes with a negative Covid test pinned to their chests. Then, suddenly that person feels unwell, the Care Home staff do a Covid test and find their client does have Covid after all.

         7 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Up2
        Yes I heard that too – there will be no accountability for the failure of hospitals and staff to minimise spread – nor actively send those with COVID out to make room .

        And even better – they die elsewhere so don’t show up on the hospital stats ….

           2 likes

  38. digg says:

    BBC and Pact agree new terms of trade deal for Children’s programming

    https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2020/childrens-terms-of-trade

    From the Pact website…

    https://www.pact.co.uk/about-us.html

    “Pact is socially responsible and seeks to influence the wider industry to commit to diversity on and off the screen.”

    There won’t be much for them to do at the BBC then!

       9 likes

  39. Guest Who says:

    Quick, pop down W1A with all the Gaffa of color you can find to flog to the BBC staff all in the forecourt protesting fellow journalist Andy Ngo having to leave The Biden USA after death threats from Antifa.

    No refunds in case of no takers.

    Marianna might.

    She has been there.

       8 likes

  40. digg says:

    Women’s Hour interview with Samatha Cameron, wife of anti-brexit ex Conservative leader who has a fashion business apparently getting hit by Brexit.

    “In a her first solo interview with the BBC, Cameron said her fashion brand, Cefinn, had been hit by “teething issues” and the extra costs involved in selling products to Europe under the government’s trade deal with EU.”

    “Speaking to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, she said: “If you’re bringing goods into the country from outside the UK and then trying to sell them back into Europe, that currently is challenging and difficult.”

    So in a nutshell this lady wants to have clothes manufactured in sweat shops in the Far East then sell them on at no doubt a huge profit in Europe and weeping that it’s now costing her more to do so.

    https://www.cefinn.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/skyla-long-sleeve-shirt-cornflower-blue-circle-geo?variant=37801805676740

    £270 for a shirt!

    My heart bleeds!

       23 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Was she the go between for that £200 coat a ‘London worker of peroxide’ got in touch with bbc about last week?

         6 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Digg – I won’t here a word against Sam cam or mr cam – he is responsible for kickstarting our exit from the EU with his clever negotiating technique of getting the EU to laugh at him ….

      … and with a bit of luck being responsible for the beginning of the end of the EU – with a nod to mr farage of course .

         11 likes

  41. StewGreen says:

    Lammyverse

       22 likes

  42. Beltane says:

    How odd that while Germany trumpets the fact that they will restrict the Astra-Zeneca jab to under 65s – without, of course, any suggestion of deliberately undermining confidence – it transpires that the EU has not yet given final approval for use of the vaccine anyway.
    Anyone might think that a degree of petulance and toy-pram- launch syndrome have started to play a part.
    Perhaps Katya will explain?

       18 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Beltane – the EU is due to meet to approve the AZ vaccine on Friday 29th …. perhaps they need a few more months of ‘data ‘ – meaning we – the UK – can have a few million more vaccines from AZ in the meanwhile – keep digging that hole EU – it would be good to see it buried …

         8 likes

  43. Guest Who says:

    Isn’t acting like Black Lives Matter in mostly peaceful riots what sees folk nicked?

    Well, not if you are ‘of color’, obvs.

       11 likes

    • JohnC says:

      Someone should tell the illiterate tw*t that black should have a lower-case ‘b’ – unless you are a racist that is. Imagine the outrage of this worthless hypocrite if we decided to use a capital for White and not for black.
      And ‘Tuli’s twitter feed is worth a look. 100% standard Leftie. Full of hate and spite.

         13 likes

    • Non Snowflake says:

      They’re locked up because they’re guilty, not because they’re BAME.

         8 likes

  44. Guest Who says:

    Bbc on this story yet?

    The finance bit, not the other one (unconfirmed), as the BBC fact checkers tend to be elsewhere on such things from BBC ‘friends’ when they occur.

       8 likes

  45. Guest Who says:

    NYT. Once home to the ex DG of the BBC.

    Still RT source of choice for BBC American BS.

    Just saying’.

       5 likes

  46. StewGreen says:

    Police carting someone off cos he wouldn’t give them his name
    Obviously co-operate with police.
    But if you think you have been specially selected out, you don’t need to give them your name, and they don’t have a right to insult you.

    https://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2021/01/28/west-midlands-police-investigating-after-viral-video-of-man-challenged-on-way-to-work/

       7 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Sorry stew – just seen your post – mine is similar …. horrifying removal of civil Liberty by a plod acting like a nazi – yes a nazi .

         4 likes

  47. Guest Who says:

    And now…. BS and the rest of the girls, including the women, can at last give Cathy an award.

       6 likes

  48. StewGreen says:

    Peter Jukes and that Felton young offender
    re EU vaccine plan

       6 likes

  49. StewGreen says:

    7:30pm ITV big PRtrickery show
    telling you ‘buy more GREEN STUFF, you are getting something for nothing’
    Bottomline someone is funding the subsidies so over all it’s costing us more
    There are 12+ promotional tweets for this show.
    Shop yourself green is bad.. simplify instead

       3 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Wow 6:12pm they are promoting it for 4 minutes on local ITV news.
      They are laying it on thick
      Really thick
      “If temperatures keep rising at the current rate it will be more than 3C warmer by 2100”
      “but if we just do these little things it will make a huge difference !”
      =======

      On Twitter typically men say to her
      “you are fit, I’ll be watching”

         2 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Reporter asking Kwasi
      .. The “does it go far enough ?” question
      #Pathetic #Jornalism

      Leo Hickman from the Green PR outfit CarbonPants keeps popping up,

      “With Biden winning and reinstating Paris Accord
      today for the first time it looks like we can slow down our warming enough”
      pure PR BS

      They kept making remarkable claims that won’t withstand proper scrutiny.
      This woman has saved £11K in a year
      Most individuals don’t even spend £11K in a year, you muppet

      This coup spent £40K on remodeling their house and already paid it back by saving £2K a year on energy bills plus their solar panel income
      FFS saving £2K/year means they must have had astounding bills before

      These two women (lesbian couple ?) have saved £2K just by turning the heating down, meatfree days , and using their car less

      Laura just tweeted

      How cute is Troy?
      I want to save the planet for him ????
      His ‘mummy and daddy meet to stop using plastic’ so that ‘no creatures will die’

      ..barf !

         12 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        End “With Biden winning and reinstating Paris Accord
        today for the first time it looks like we can slow down our warming enough”

        pure PR BS

           10 likes

  50. JohnC says:

    There’s an excellent example of how rigged the BBC HYS comment votes are up today on the story about Germany complaining about the Oxford vaccine.
    The third most popular comment is ‘Thank God we left the EU’. It gets 1031 upvotes and 249 downvotes. That ratio is probably about right from what I’ve seen over time.
    But if it was a key Brexit story, I guarantee the downvotes would be 2 or 3 times the upvotes.
    I don’t know how it’s rigged : maybe they have a way of pushing it to students when they need to or maybe they directly cheat – but it’s definitely tampered with in some way.

       17 likes

    • taffman says:

      JohnC
      They have been at it for years. More so since Brexit.

         7 likes

      • JohnC says:

        I am sure you are right.
        The biggest gift of Brexit and Trump for me have been to make me aware of the scale of the corruption of the Left. I never really bothered about it until then.
        Now the genie is out of the bottle, I can’t forget it. These people who have preached at us about equality and being good to each other have turned out to be the most corrupt, shameless hypocrites I have ever known.

           9 likes