PEOPLE FROM ABROAD.

How interesting. The BBC reports that London’s population has soared by more than half a million in a decade. This is down to “people moving from abroad”- apparently. Mmmm – wonder if there is any more detail on who these people might be and where exactly they might have come from? Do you think there is any chance that ten years of Labour having abandoned any pretence of national borders might just possibly have had an impact on London’s booming population?

Do We See A Pattern ?

When politicians or pressure groups come up with proposals to gladden the heart of a right-thinking Guardian reader, accentuate the positive. Think the ongoing pro-euthanasia campaign (aka “helping people die“).

When they come up with proposals to horrify same, look around for negative quotes – and make the negative reaction the headline.

The recent formation of a cross-party group calling for a cap on immigration illustrates this neatly.

The papers report this development pretty straight – even the leftish Indie and Mirror. Only one national paper leads on negative reaction. I’m sure you would never guess which one.

The BBC follow their lead (or does the Guardian follow the BBC ?) with this – opening headline and introduction focused on negative reaction rather then the proposals of the newly-formed group.

(The BBC do have a bit of previous on this topic)

UPDATE – here’s another example – also immigration-related – of the BBC reporting the negative reaction as the headline. I wrote at the time :

There’s a pattern here. When a proposal fits the agenda the Beeb present it straight. When it offends liberal sensibilities the (negative) reaction – rather than the proposal – becomes the headline.

PLAYING THE MAN, NOT THE BALL

. The headline is quite innocuous, isn’t it? “Man remanded on ATM theft charges” It’s on the BBC Northern Ireland news portal. Interestingly though” the man” concerned is a Romanian immigrant also accused of attempted theft and having a class C drug. He is also wanted by the gardai in Dublin with the grand total of 14 outstanding warrants for his arrest. ATM theft in Dublin appears to be overwhelmingly carried out by Romanian criminals and clearly in this new era of no borders, these entrepreneurs have moved North of the border to share their skills with us and enhance our economy. I think the BBC headline on this story plays down this important aspect to the news and I am sure that with its multi-culti uber alles agenda the BBC would not seek to overly stress the crime wave that the EU has brought us.

NAMING AND SHAMING.

I was interested to read this report on the BBC which states that companies that employ illegal immigrants are to be named and shamed in a further attempt to crack down on people smuggling. The move by the Home Office comes four months after officials launched a concerted effort to identify and prosecute companies breaking the law. More than 200 companies have already been fined for hiring illegal labour. The Home Office says names of companies and directors are to be published on the UK Border Agency website. The agency will publish how many illegal immigrants the company was employing and how much it was fined. Now I am in in favour of punishing those who break the law and employ illegals however the BBC article is unclear as to how this will affect the likes of The Home Office, and the NHS – which are as guilty as any private sector company when it comes to employing these illegal immigrants. I also wondered how all these illegal immigrants got into the country in the first place – will the UK Border Agency website be providing us with analysis of that?

POLE DANCING.

Yes, I know I’ve come to this one a bit late today and I know you’ve been discussing it elsewhere but I wanted to single out the BBC’s denial that its coverage of immigration has led to an increase in attacks on Poles living in the UK. Daniel Kawczynski said the BBC “liberal elite” was using “white Christian” Poles as a proxy to avoid covering “more controversial” immigrants. Kawczynski has done us all a favour by pricking the BBC bubble on this issue. The fact of the matter is that when it comes to groups like Somalis, for instance, the BBC provides a very sympathetic picture. However white Christian Poles are entirely another matter and I think the BBC protests of innocence on this ring very hollow. All immigrants may be equal in multicultiland, but some are more equal to others.

AN ARRESTING HEADLINE.

Did you spot that the BBC “has learned” that there has been
a dramatic increase in the number of employers being prosecuted for hiring illegal immigrants? Now then, I’m all in favour of ensuring that those who are illegally residing in the UK be booted out pronto so I am naturally delighted to hear this news. However I was wondering if the BBC’s sudden enthusiasm for this new “get tough” prosecution of employers who flout the law and employ illegals extends as far as the Home Office which itself cleared 5,000 illegal immigrants for employment? I wonder will Al-Beeb’s highly trained and highly paid investigators be checking to see to which officials and Ministers are prosecuted, if not sacked, for their flagrant contempt for the law? Or is it just the private sector that gets the prosecutions?

It was serious for Isiah Young-Sam.

Via Instapundit, I found this article on race relations. In general I think it strives to be fair, even sounding a note of regret over the way that until recently any politician raising the issue was labelled a racist. However given that I am more pro-immigration than many on this site, perhaps commenters will disagree. Be that as it may there was one paragraph in the article that showed how even a well-intentioned BBC writer tends to leave out stories that don’t fit the preferred narrative:

Britain’s last serious race riots – when violent clashes erupted between white and Asian youths in northern England – happened seven years ago.

Bad as they were, I don’t recall the riots between whites and Asians of 2001 resulting in any deaths. In contrast the riots between blacks and Asians in the Lozells area of Birmingham in 2006 resulted in the unprovoked murder of Isiah Young-Sam, a black IT worker.

I would have described the riots in 2006, not those of 2001, as the “Britain’s last serious race riots”. They were more serious and more recent. I suspect that, probably unconsciously, the writer of this article did not consider them because whites were not involved.

THE NATIONAL DISGRACE.

No, I don’t mean the UK’s treatment of asylum seekers but rather the State Broadcaster which seems never happier than when impugning the reputation of our country. The BBC has been leading its news channels today with the allegation that the UK’s treatment of asylum seekers falls “seriously below” the standards of a civilised society.

Who says so? Well, it’s a group called The Independent Asylum Commission. This group is described as being “a body of legal and professional experts on refugees”. Well now, therein lies the rub, because it’s nothing of the sort. Yes it has a co-chair in the form of Ifath Nawaz who is the President of the Association of Muslim lawyers (Do Muslims need their own association? Is there an association of Evangelical lawyers?) Maybe they do since Nawaz and her colleagues have campaigned for UK laws to be changed to become compatible with the Sharia – arguing that failure to do so will breach the human rights of Muslims. In addition, the group’s members have said that they also wish for Sharia to become the dominant law-code in the UK. So, Nawaz is clearly a woman whose opinion is magisterially impartial, a shill for sharia. The IAS also has Nicholas Sagovsky as a self-appointed Commissioner. He has a long record of opposing efforts by the British government to impose controls over immigration. Last but not least is the frontman for the group, former Chief Inspector of Prisons Lord Ramsbotham. Now Lord Ramsbotham is a busy chap. When he’s not advocating greater support for the families of convicts, he’s the kinda guy that urges the release from prison for killers such as those who murdered young Jamie Bulger, in other words he is a sopping wet liberal. This is a professional whinge-fest and not the group of sober balanced intellects the BBC pretends

I do believe the UK has an issue on asylum but it is the opposite to which this group suggests. We are far too open to asylum seekers and our traditional British hospitality has been outrageously abused by numerous bogus “asylum seekers.” We also fail to promply deport those who have no right to be here, and of course the fundamental lure of coming to Britain in the first place – the Welfare bonanza – is also in need of drastic reform. None of these points are discussed by the BBC because it empathises with the IAS loathing of the United Kingdom that unites all on the left. Just some of the balance you won’t be hearing today.

Whoops – I see Laban has also blogged this at the same time as me! So, two for the price of one today!

Take a trip with me.

Let’s take a morning trip through some of the propaganda pumped out by the BBC this morning as I think it is offers some fine pickings. First we read that our wise and knowing government is promising 5 hours of “high culture” to schoolchildren each week. Children will be given the chance to attend “top quality theatre and dance performances, world class exhibitions, galleries, museums and heritage sites”Pupils will also be encouraged to take part themselves. (That should make Covent Garden Opera more interesting) More will have the chance to learn a musical instrument, play and sing in groups and choirs, perform drama or make films. This is particularly aimed at those children from “poorer” families, apparently. It’s my view that our left wing government views schools as laboratories in which they can conduct their peverse social engineering and this latest distraction from providing a decent education is to be expected – a headline generating diversion. Listening to John Humphry’s take apart Culture Commissar Andy Burnham just after 8am on “Today” was, however, quite excellent and credit where it is due. We need all BBC coverage to follow this example by rigorously challenging whoever is putting forward the viewpoint.

Next up, we discover that we need MORE immigration into the UK because….Britain’s curry houses can’t get the “cultural sensitivity” from the hordes of eastern Europeans now resident in this country! You cannot be serious! Why was no one interviewed who might have felt that Britain does not exist to provide Bangladeshis with employment?

And finally, as they say, let’s finish with an apology. No, not from me to our resident Beeboids – but from Australian PM Kevin Rudd to the Aborigines. Naturally the BBC are delighted at this liberal guilt trip. There’s nothing like a pointless apology to a minority group, be it from Bill Clinton, from Tony Blair and now from Mr Rudd, for real or imagined historical wrongs, to create a warm glow in leftist land. The fact that many Australian’s DON’T see the need to apologise to the Aborigines is swept aside in the BBC reports. And so it goes folks, drip drip drip!

Compare And Contrast – Again

The BBC are at it again. Yesterday I noted how the nationality and immigration status of a police killer is newsworthy if the killer’s American but not if he’s Somali.

Here’s the conviction of a bigamist and con-man.

“American William Jordan, 41, who has at least 10 children, wove a web of lies to con his victims, a court heard.”

Mr Jordan is a naturalised British citizen. But apparently he’ll never be British enough for the BBC.

Here’s the conviction of some killers.

“South Londoners Diamond Babamuboni, 17, his brother Timy, 15, and Jude Odigie, 16, were convicted of manslaughter. The four will be sentenced in February.”

The “South Londoners” are Nigerian nationals and illegal immigrants, but that doesn’t get a mention in the BBC report.

Probably just not relevant or newsworthy. After all, it’s not as if foreign criminals are a big news story.