35 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. As I See It says:
    March 19, 2012 at 10:38 am

    BBC 5 Live mentions the shootings in France. It is a risky game for journalists to speculate over the motives for such acts of terrorism.

    But let’s just put on record what the Beeb commentator said – 

    1. It may be a an ex-serviceman ‘who has lost his marbles’.
    2. It may be a ‘right-winger’.

    I’m afraid that I didn’t catch the name of the guy who provided this insight for the Vic Derbyshire show.

    I will bear his comments in mind for when the facts are known.

       1 likes

    • Biodegradable says:
      March 19, 2012 at 10:50 am

      When I heard about the previous shootings of soldiers I immediately thought of Islamist terrorists. Now that apparently the same shooter has targeted Jews, and small children at that, I’m even more convinced.

      The BBC however will entertain any other possibility to avoid coming to the logical conclusion.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17426313

      ”
      They had been looking for a gunman who was targeting soldiers, the BBC’s Christian Fraser in Paris says.
      But if the latest attack does prove to be linked, then it suggests the pattern has changed and, if so, police are looking for a dangerous serial killer, our correspondent adds.”

         0 likes

      • As I See It says:
        March 19, 2012 at 11:01 am

        The truth will emerge in the fullness of time. Meanwhile BBC reporters seem determined to put the jigsaw pieces together in their own inimitable way – even when the pieces don’t seem to fit and when most outside observers know all too well the real picture on the box lid.

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    • George R says:
      March 19, 2012 at 1:13 pm

      A Beeboid speculates:  
       
       
      Gavin Hewitt-

      “French police say same calibre of gun was used at Jewish school and on troops last week. Is there a terror cell operating around Toulouse?”  
       
       
      http://twitter.com/#!/BBCGavinHewitt        

         0 likes

  2. Biodegradable says:
    March 19, 2012 at 11:58 am

    http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2012/03/gunman-kills-4-at-jewish-school-in.html

    JPost adds:

    Gil Taieb, a vice president of the CRIF, France’s Jewish umbrella group, told The Jerusalem Post he had no doubt the attack was a hate crime.

    “For someone to locate this school in a place like Toulouse means he knew what he was doing,” Taieb said. “He went there to kill Jews.”

    Taieb said the community was in a state of shock.

    “There are occasional anti-Semitic attacks but they are small, nothing like this,” he said. “We haven’t had something like this in at least ten years.”

    The attack on the Jewish school may be linked to two other mysterious shootings that have taken place in southern France over the past week .

    Last week an off duty French soldier was shot dead by a motorcyclist in Toulouse.

    On Thursday three French soldiers were shot by an unknown man at a shopping mall in Montauban, 50 kilometers north of Toulouse. Two of them later died of their wounds.

    French police said similar ammunition was used in both shootings.

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  3. George R says:
    March 19, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    The untrustworthy Director General, Mark THOMPSON (he, the preferential treater of Islam, and the reneger of closure of Asian Network, etc) now says:  
     
     
    “…Mark Thompson said in his speech, this is not a second licence-fee by stealth or any reduction in the current public service offering from the BBC.”  
     
     
    “BBC viewers ‘comfortable’ with pay concept, says Keating. ” 
     
    http://www.digitaltveurope.net/22148/bbc-viewers-%e2%80%9ccomfortable%e2%80%9d-with-pay-concept-says-keating/

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      March 19, 2012 at 1:32 pm

      I hope the Socialists at the BBC aren’t too upset about this bit of greedy Capitalism.

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  4. As I See It says:
    March 19, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    Mark Thompson to step down as DG

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17433580

    That’s the Arch-Bishop gone and now Thompson. Any more Labour placemen care to step forward for an early pension?

    ‘His tenure has seen the BBC suffer scandals including the Sachsgate affair, and a series of budget cuts and staff redundancies.
    But he has also presided over successes including Strictly Come Dancing and The Frozen Planet.’

    Have BBC Online gone all satirical on us?

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  5. David Preiser (USA) says:
    March 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    Here it comes: the French Breivik Narrative.  
     
    Shootings in Toulouse and Montauban: What we know  
     
    What the victims have in common is that they belong to, or are associated with, ethnic minorities – North African, Caribbean and Jewish.  
     
    The first victim was a soldier, but was not in uniform when he was murdered. as he had unwittingly arranged to meet the murderer on the pretext of selling his motorcycle via an online ad. Clearly the murderer could tell he was a beur from the online ad, right BBC?

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    • Biodegradable says:
      March 19, 2012 at 5:02 pm

      The reports of the previous killings did actually state that the soldiers were from a base that houses troops that had been in Afghanistan.

      That would be enough reason for an Islamist to target them.

         0 likes

  6. Louis Robinson says:
    March 19, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    I agree, David. Boden has all the boxes ticked. Especially “news”

    I heard Torin Douglas a few minutes ago admitting that the BBC of 2012 is not the same organisation as recentl;y as it was 30 years ago. Expansion of hours, multple channels and the internet have changed the nature of the job. I don’t think the question should be “Who can manage this giant mess?” it should be “How can we reorganise this giant mess so it becomes more managable?”

    Reform. Please. Now. Lord Patten are you listening?

       0 likes

  7. As I See It says:
    March 19, 2012 at 3:12 pm

    BBC lose Grand National TV rights to Channel 4

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116895/BBC-lose-Grand-National-TV-rights-Next-months-race-racing-coverage.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

    New Labour Died in 2007, Labour Died, Slowly, in 2011

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/labour-party-worker/budget-2012-labour_b_1361807.html

    A certain symmetry, don’t you think?

    .
    <img src=”http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/18/article-0-0B8673D700000578-41_233x423.jpg” alt=”No more: The famous race meet at Aintree in Merseyside has become synonymous with BBC and presenters like Claire Balding “/>
    Last night Sir Peter O’Sullevan, the iconic voice of BBC racing, condemned the move

    ‘I have spent my lifetime lamenting the BBC’s lack of interest in a sport that is woven into the fabric of the nation,’ he said. ‘There are people in their ivory towers at the BBC who have made a serious miscalculation over this decision.’

    A senior Labour Party worker at Westminster,

    ‘However, it is the irresponsible reaction of our Labour opposition, of which I am a member, both to the economic crisis we face and to the strong economic legacy of our party they have shredded that will cause the most damage to this country in the long run.’

       0 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:
      March 19, 2012 at 3:35 pm

      As I see it. “I refer the gentleman to the answer I gave earlier” to David Preisser (USA)

      I just heard some chap on 5Live predicting glumly that there will be no sport on the BBC by 2025. So I ask: should there be sport on the BBC at all when there are other choices to host “it”? Has the BBC shown real committment in financial terms to keeping sport?  And I’m sorry but there seems to be a view (which I do not share) that the Grand National (a horse race) is like Trooping The Colour and has to be the property of our “national broadcaster.”

      Now I’m going to sound like a broken record but: what exactly is it the BBC does NOT want to do? Do its ambitions know no bounds. Can the organisation kindly define its role? And please don’t answer: “to reflect the cultural diversity of the nation” What? By producing news, current affairs, comedy, drama, quiz shows, claissical music, pop music, rap music, local radio, magazines, education, websites, libaray facilities etc etc

      We know that the new Director General will rise Brezhnev-like from a secret meeting of some elite politburo and we, the people, and the BBC staff will like it or lump it. All the above should not be the job of one monolithic organisation whose governance is mysterious, whose top jobs handed out by diktat as a result of deals behind closed doors. 

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:
        March 19, 2012 at 4:03 pm

        For a start, they believe that upping the ante on their US coverage is worth more money, while the Grand National isn’t.  Far better to send James Naughtie over here to report on the Republican primaries, and you can bet they’ll spend a fortune in November. But which does the public prefer, I wonder?

           0 likes

        • GotItAboutRight says:
          March 19, 2012 at 4:13 pm

          Personally any horse racing bores me stiff, but I was amused that on the Today programme they were pushing every BS button going on this – the viewers will “naturally be disappointed” [why? it’ll still be on terrestrial TV on a channel which wants it] and then of course they were making the point that the BBC couldn’t – yawn – bid the amount that Channel 4 did. Which is of course crap – when they want to pour money in a direction which they want to (and particularly when they don’t want to tell us quite how much it is) they are always happy to roll out the “We need to pay the going rate” line. It’s only when there’s something that they can’t really be that bothered about that they play up how they cannot compete with others. 

             0 likes

  8. As I See It says:
    March 19, 2012 at 4:27 pm

    Channel 4 deal for the Grand National ‘believed to be worth 15m and 20m.’

    Cost of BBC relocation to Salford ‘Those costs in full:
    Building, design and fit-out: £40.8m
    People, relocation, recruitment, training and redundancy: £86.5m
    Tech/facilities, studios and infrastructure: £74.8m
    Migration, move to MediaCity and dual running: £19.9m
    Project North, central management team: £11.3m
    Off-set through projected capital spend in pre-migration location (ie, cost of staying in London): (£44m)Total: £189.3m

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  9. George R says:
    March 19, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    Another political ‘reason’ for INBBC to support Livingstone as its mayor for London:

    “Ken Livingstone: I will make London a beacon of Islam”

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100144946/ken-livingstone-i-will-make-london-a-beacon-of-islam/

    Perhaps when Director General Mark Thompson, (he of the preferential treatment for Islam on INBBC), retires this summer, he will support Livingstone full time, campaigning for preferential treatment for Islam in London, and in the rest of Britain.

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  10. Louis Robinson says:
    March 19, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    Ken Livingston (a Beeb’s favorite) speaks out promising that London will become a beacon for islam.  From BBC so far silence:

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100144946/ken-livingstone-i-will-make-london-a-beacon-of-islam/

     

    And for the unfamiliar, here’s a little background on Red Ken and Islam:



       0 likes

  11. Teddy Bear says:
    March 19, 2012 at 10:05 pm

    Raymond Ibrahim continues his monthly series
    Muslim Persecution of Christians: February 2012

    My guess is most reading this will be familiar to some extent with the goings on of this nature within the Muslim world. I’m sure you didn’t get most of what you know from the mainstream media, and certainly not from the BBC.

    Considering the society that pays for them, and that they are supposed to represent, how do you explain their lack of wanting to report these matters?

    To highlight this point, just consider an article today by the BBC following the death of the Coptic leader in Egypt. It would be a perfect opportunity for the BBC to recount what has been happening in Egypt to the Copts since the beginning of Arab Spring. Yet all the BBC can come up with is
    After attacks on Coptic Christians by Islamist militants in recent years, Pope Shenouda had urged officials to do more to address the community’s concerns.

    World Class Service? In their dreams!

       1 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:
      March 19, 2012 at 11:26 pm

      The ‘Islamist militants’ the BBC refer to actually include the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, but I’ve yet to see the BBC refer to them as such, but it’s as close to reality there as the BBC will get.

         1 likes

  12. George R says:
    March 20, 2012 at 12:25 am

    Two reports on a court case in England:  
     
     
    1.) ‘Daily Mail’:  
     
    “‘God told me to do it’: Immigrant waiter jailed indefinitely after cutting off his manager’s head with a cheese knife.”  
     
    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117279/The-Oxfordshire-golf-club-Jonathan-Limani-jailed-cutting-manager-Chris-Varians-head.html#ixzz1pbzxpqmo      
     
    2.)BBC-NUJ:  
     
    “Golf club beheading man Jonathan Limani jailed for life”  
     
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-17435047

       1 likes

    • As I See It says:
      March 20, 2012 at 9:22 am

      BBC radio reports of this case omitted all reference to this man’s ethnicity or asylum status. If I remember rightly they even left out the name of the killer. Why do they bother to carry news which they feel they have to half-censor?

      Applying for asylum in Sweden and yet living and working in the UK: Chalk up another victory for the EU

         1 likes

  13. George R says:
    March 20, 2012 at 9:33 am

    “TV licence cheats make up a TENTH of all magistrate court cases.”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117389/TV-licence-cheats-make-TENTH-magistrate-court-cases.html#ixzz1peEBALnM

       1 likes