197 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. AsISeeIt says:

    There has been chaos at Newsnight and there are clearly further impending revelations about Savile, BBC management and employee involvement with child abuse. Meanwhile the BBC has muddied the waters with a confusion of evasive reports and inconclusive investigations. Conscious of the evaporation of public trust in the BBC, Lord Patten chairman of the Trust has commissioned yet another overarching internal inquiry led by an another independent former BBC man and respected broadcaster who can both understand the internal BBC structure and interpret the management speak. This new report will finally clear things up.
    ‘The Professor’ Stanley Unwin presents his report:
    [Here’s one for the teenagers]
    Are you all sitty comftybold two-square on your botty? Then I’ll begin.
    Now, like all real life experience stories, this also begins once a polly tito, and happiness Jimmy Savile, whose life evolved the ephemeral dreamy most, and his deep joy in this being Top of the Pops. Oh yes. His home a Savile’s Travelsbold, the four-wheel folloped ft-ft-ft van out the BBC TVCentre in the carparkinghold.
    Now, as eve on his deep approach, his eye on the kiddies. Alltime sometime deept joy of a full poke scantyladen dangly joyous in his heavenly bode. Oh my brothers. A quick slip into the ClockworkOrangey and the ultraviolence.
    Barsty horribold!
    But now only half! So, no one but the hoi poli noticing all behind him in the hintermost, the Beeboids still shouting oneandall ‘He left as I joinedy’ alongside ‘I never nothingknewfullwell’.
    That was then and this is now. The 1970s when a couple of birdies on the arm was well worth one moreover in the bush sotospeak. At zero percent growth rate.
    Funrun. Newsnight investigation well snuffed out for reasons of corporate indemifold. Whereby the party of the firstpart having toddled along to join the choir invisibul. Respect due, as per the modern par-lance.
    Unique uniqueness, manifold, we plead your Honourfic! Watertight oversight.
    Let’s just move on and turn a blind eye to what can’t speak can’t harp on or verywelly bleed over.
    DG Entwistle ploddy-ploddy eyeswideshut forward into the deep complicadent fundermold of the Beeb to sort this one out perchance.
    Newsnight meanwhile, if you’ve done an overstuffy in the bumloader, finish the job with a wellgood backintheday Toryscoop of Scouse makeyuppy, then pukeit all the way to the tellybox.

    Auntie BBC completely falolloped over and grazed her kneeclabbers. Oh the Tittersphere. Lawyered.
    Deep joy.
    (Lord Patten presents this latest report to the press outside New Broadcasting House: Well I think that answers everything the BBC has to answer for. No further comments or questions)

       63 likes

    • Glen Slagg says:

      I always found Stanley Unwin to be about as funny as toothache but I just narrowly avoided a yoghurt / laptop / spraying incident whilst reading the above from AsISeeIt.
      Superb as ever!

         21 likes

    • Buggy says:

      Barsty horribold !
      Wasn’t he one of Wogan’s “old actor-manager johnnies” ?

      Seriously, if this post hasn’t been produced with some sort of Unwin-generator doohickey, then it’s a fabulous effort on your part, AISI: have an extra ‘Like’ on me. 🙂

         20 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Brilliant – and loved the temporary lapse into Nadsat, oh my droog.

         14 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Deep joy in the fundamold here.

         15 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘There has been chaos at Newsnight and there are clearly further impending revelations’
      Be interesting when.
      They seemed to shut up shop mid-December and have yet to dust off, well anything really, since. Twitter, Facebook.
      Not to mention almost all the major Editors appear still to be on an ‘anywhere but the studio’ beat.
      I think Paul Mason is trying to start a small war in New Zealand to put some distance between him and Aunty’s homebase.
      It will be interesting to see if anyone might stagger back to try and ‘analyse’ some ‘news’ tonight at long last (last tweet I recall was about Mao’s Long March… as it happened, and they left up a FaceBook of the interim DG making an ass of himself and the whole sorry bunch that has merely served to gather graffiti since), but really it will only highlight how easy it is to do without them.
      In fact I may head over later to poke it with a stick.

         13 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Genius….and I loved Stanley Unwin!

         7 likes

    • Reed says:

      Genius! 🙂 🙂

      “overstuffy in the bumloader” !!!

      You forgot “Snortyupping the powder whitey”

         11 likes

  2. chrisH says:

    A joy to hear a bit of Andrew Marrs “Start the Week”.
    The little bit I got was about “Who do you think you are?”
    The maker of the show has been criticised for only showing “celebrities”, as opposed to “ordinary people” like us.
    Surely a bit “elitist” went the charge…especially, if we once moaned about dead white males taking up history as presented to us, by the “establishment”…privileged, plummy predictable old fools who pimped off the ordinary civilian beige types like ourselves?
    Cue a collective stroking of beards…hypocrisy is about the only sin left at the BBC, so a route around this “uncomfortable and challenging truth” needed to be found.
    Luckily some American cultural commentator was on hand…and cited celebrities as being the exemplars of “rapid social mobility” -and that was all that was needed…nobody else could demonstrate better the end of deferential history that the likes of Bill Oddie and Helen Lederer…surely!
    Brilliant….not privileged, plummy and predictable nonentities getting greased up by the BBC and we pay for their vanity home movies…and if that`s Australia or Cape Town, then fine by the crew and Expenses!
    Wonder why on earth the likes of Rothermere, Devonshire or
    Bourbon never thought of this one?….they personify “aspirational achievement”, so must stay in power!
    Meet the new privileged,plummy, pointless,predictable parasites on the backs of the poor….rather the same as the old ones, but this time it`s due to “virtues” and “worthy meritocracy” as bestowed by that F***in Sun King of Self-Righteousness that is the BBC!
    Think I preferred Saviles way of getting on…at least he had no qualms about how HIS legacy would soon be looking, after his death…

       18 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      ChrisH, you were lucky. “Who do you think you are?” is not a question usually asked by the “privileged, plummy, pointless, predictable parasites” of the media. (Love that bit – I shall steal it and pretend it’s mine)

      No. The usual statement within the chattering classes is: “Don’t you know who I am?” Like we should!

      Over the years I’ve had fun pretending I don’t know who a celebrity” is when I met them. The rule is: the smaller the fry the bigger the ego. Tell a TV weather person or a regional news presenter you have no idea who they are and they get really pissed. But the most fun I ever had with this game was once looking blankly at a minor member of the Antiques Roadshow team and shaking my head. “Antiques what?” I said. Steam came out of his ears with disbelief that he was unrecognized for the prat he was. It was such fun.

         31 likes

      • Reed says:

        “Don’t you know who I am?”

        Yes, Harriet, but leaving the scene of an accident is illegal, even for a Grande Dame of parliament.

           13 likes

    • Framer says:

      “Who do you think you are?” is relentlessly pc not just in the choice of characters to investigate but in the angling and the appallingly grim leftist twaddle especially when dealing with a person of colour.
      They throw in the odd person with an aristocratic forebear like Boris Johnson to lighten (slightly) the weight of propaganda about poverty, slavery, exploitation and, in the case of the precious David Tennent, an Orange grandfather. Poor wee Davey was dutifully horrified.

         28 likes

      • stewart says:

        That episode is my all time favourite.

           13 likes

        • Buggy says:

          Yup, even better than John “Begorrah and begob! Oh nuts: What do you mean I haven’t any Irish ancestors ?” Hurt.

             11 likes

          • stewart says:

            Thanks I’d fogoten about him.check this out,” you would need a heart of stone ” Ect.

               11 likes

            • chrisH says:

              This is great!
              Poor David Tennant an Orangeman as well!
              Thought this lot were supposed to be actors.
              Well John, you can have my “Irish identity”-as long as you let me be an effete, pretentious fop in an old toga mincing gaily around Noo Yawk!
              Lord ChrisH of Leinster….booting people off my estates, selling them Smash at rip-off prices….today I think we can all be what we want to be(to quote Johns fellow countryman now-Father Ted!)
              Careful now!

                 15 likes

              • harryurz says:

                Didn’t the BBC make a “Who Do You Think You Are?” on Michael Parkinson and never screened it, as all his traceable ancestors were Yorkshire miners?

                   13 likes

                • pah says:

                  Yes. It was deemed too boring to be just Englishmen.

                  Sometimes I have an ‘Alan’ moment and I see BBC bias in the slightest things. Sometimes I wonder about the number of programmes where a Jewish ancestry is found – far out of proportion for the general public. I wonder if we are being told something. Something unpleasant they wouldn’t dare say outright. Too many Jews in the media are we meant to think?

                  Then I see programmes like the Baddiel one where all he seems interested in is getting his family’s money back. In fact it is hard to remember a programme where money is not the prime motivator behind memories of WW2. Are we supposed to think Money Grubbing Jews?

                  I’m just waiting for the sacrificing of Gentile babies programme. Oh maybe some Jewish doctor (there’s way too many of them eh folks? Nudge, nudge) fails to save the lives of a few plumb and pink bairns during a FOTW maternity hospital programme. Dr Khan will save the day no doubt. Huzzah!

                  Sometimes I think I spend too much time reading stuff on this site and everythings OK really. The BBC don’t hate Jews that much surely?

                  Other times I think Alan is spot on.

                     11 likes

                  • Phlegm says:

                    Is it not you putting these anti-semitic views on to what you see, rather than the BBC? You do have a brain, a human mind, after all.

                       3 likes

                    • pah says:

                      No.

                      You see, when everytime you meet someone and they kick you you tend to be careful next time you meet.

                      Is it then foolish to avoid them or to wear shin pads? Or is it just paranoia? Is that lifting of a leg a blow in the waiting or merely an innocent movement.

                      I’m sure the tactics of the kicker can be subtle. Kicking you hard when no ones watching, making you flinch or get your retaliation in first when there’s an audience. One could be made to look a fool or even the aggressor in front of those who have never been kicked.

                      That’s the upside of having a brain – it allows you think beyond the act and into the motive.

                         7 likes

                • Reed says:

                  I think they intended to make one for Parky, but after some preliminary research into his ancestry, they decided his family history was just too uninteresting to stretch to a full programme.

                     6 likes

  3. Fred Bloggs says:

    Laid up with a cold, could not hit the off button with my slipper, I had the misfortune to listen to VD. She was following lib/con achievements since coming to office. So to be picky on a minor point she brought up the omnishambles (her words) of the pasty tax. leaving the listener with the distinct impression that it was never resolved and a shambles. Typical bBC, this is not correct, after changing the wording so the tax could be sensibly implemented, it came into force.

    If VD could only find that to slag off the coalition, then it must have left her a very frustrated woman.

       23 likes

    • chrisH says:

      This lot of serial incompetents are dreadful-don`t get me wrong about that.
      That said, they have yet to lose the nations tax discs, are yet to shamble on about 10p tax rates( quickly reversed), they don`t bring 50% tax rates in for a month before getting the boot….and have no equivalents of hypocrisy, sexual weirdness or money-grubbing fakes like Mandelson,Prescott, Blunkett, MacShane or Moran, etc etc.
      Suppose no-one at the BBC sees anything that Toynbee hasn`t seen through her rose-tinted Umrian glass slipper-the poverty of the BBCs bias is pathetic, and let`s hope we banish the likes of Balls and Miliband to the cat littler box of history….they are as low and as venal a crop of sadsacks as I have ever seen…and all entangled with BBC luvvies as well.
      Pass the sick bag Alice-as the great John Junor would have said.

         18 likes

  4. Richard Pinder says:

    This may appear on Newsnight in about 50 years time, when Professor Brian Cox is dead.

    Update on the studies of Planetary Atmospheres.

    GREENHOUSE EFFECT
    The increase in atmospheric pressure reduces the speed of transfer of heat, the increase in heat maintains the equilibrium with the input of heat from the Sun, as more heat is transferred but at a slower rate, maintaining the equilibrium.

    The paper (Unified Theory of Climate, Ned Nikolov & Karl Zeller, 2011) shows that the average surface temperature divided by the grey body temperature gives you the magnitude of the Thermal inertia which resembles the response of the temperature/potential temperature ratio to the altitudinal changes of pressure described by the Poisson formula, with predictions matching evidence for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Europa, Titan, Triton and the Moon, to prove that the physical nature of the so-called Greenhouse Effect is in fact a Pressure-induced Thermal Enhancement or Thermal Inertia which is independent of the atmospheric chemical composition.

    Therefore using this to calibrate the addition of 100ppm or 0.1 millibars of carbon dioxide to warming on the Earths surface adds a temperature of around 0.007 Kelvin.
    Therefore this gives a result for the 20th century warming of.

    (1) 0.007 Kelvin for Carbon Dioxide warming
    (2) 0.1 Kelvin for Solar irradiance
    (3) 0.66 Kelvin for changes in grey body temperature or in other words Cloud Albedo, pointing to the Cosmoclimatology Theory of Henrik Svensmark.

       17 likes

    • Corran Horn says:

      So in layman’s terms its all to do with that big bright round thing in the sky and less to do with how many cows are farting at once or how much I drive my car?

         18 likes

  5. noggin says:

    bbc – hagel – obama
    bleats resident f-ckwit “lard” Mardell
    the importance of choosing Hagel! ..
    eh! … (shakes head)
    lets get this right … bonafide anti israel , pro pallywood, in hot water for anti gay comments, pro muslim,(who close to Knobama isn t these days), actually an Iran placator, should go well with Knobama s islamic spokeman … i mean CIA head wannabe J Brennan …

    i mean ….. ( Ben cough ghazi),
    what could possibly go wrong 😀

       12 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The President has been consulting with Hagel on Iran and Israel since He took office. I like how the BBC calls him a “maverick”, which has positive connotations, a value judgment by the BBC editor. There’s more to the problem than the BBC will admit, though.

      He believes that US support for Israel is not for any strategic reasons at all but is only due to “intimidation” from the Jewish Lobby (which is what most at the BBC believe), and that when Israel was going after Hezbollah a few years back, it was they who were harming a friend of the US, not that Hezbollah was the problem. He also opposes singling out Hamas for criticism as a terrorist group. This is much, much more than merely being critical of Israel and standing up to the all-powerful Jewish Lobby.

      Not only is Hagel anti-Israel, but he’s been against sanctions on Iraq and Iran and Syria. His position is beyond dialogue and into the realm of appeasement. After voting initially for Bush’s invasion of Iraq to remove Sadaam, Hagel turned against the whole thing, declaring it to be the most dangerous foreign policy mistake since the US entered the Vietnam War. The BBC mentions that Hagel was “decorated” in that war, but doesn’t mention it was two purple hearts, not the kind of bravery/heroism decorations which usually merit the term.

      The Left-leaning National Journal has a more sober analysis, that the Republican opposition to Hagel is really about him opposing party leadership on Iraq and Afghanistan, not so much because they’re puppets of the Elders of Zion. The BBC, naturally, has a laser-like focus on the Jewish question.

      He’s another anti-war Vietnam vet, just like the President’s choice for Sec. of State, John Kerry, another appeaser of enemies. What a shock.

      Hagel is much more than a “maverick”: he’s anti-war, pro-appeasement. Just like the President. He views Israel as more of a danger than Iran, just like the President. He was for the war and the surge before he was against it, just like Kerry. He was against homosexual marriage, but his position has, apparently, “evolved”, just like the President.

      In other words, from the non-Left, non-Neville Chamberlain point of view, Hagel has generally been seen as a supporter of our enemies, or at least serially opposed to Republican foreign policy positions. Which means the BBC sees him as being correct on pretty much all of it. He’ll fit right in with this Administration, which is why his nomination is going to be opposed. It’s much more than the Jewish angle, but you won’t hear much about that, since the Jewish problem is all the BBC ever really cares about.

         14 likes

    • noggin says:

      and, you there were people who said
      obama was a muslim 😀

      well … ask yourself, would he do anything different if he was?

         9 likes

  6. Pounce says:

    The bBC, oh those poor Palestinians and those nasty jews who rob them blind.
    ‘Palestine’ to be used in West Bank public documents
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told West Bank officials to prepare to put the words “State of Palestine” on public documents, official media say….Israel opposed the UN status change, and in response halted the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.The PA, headed by Mr Abbas, governs the West Bank. It is heavily dependent on tax revenues that Israel collects on its behalf.
    So the bBC while writing about how the all the official paperwork is going to have “The State of Palestine” Embossed from now on. The bBC finds another angle in which to say “Jewish robbing bastard” But hang on the bBC informs me that the PA depends heavily on that Tax revenue Here is what the bBC don’t want you to know:
    Over 100 senior PLO and Fatah officials hold Israeli-issued VIP cards that grant them various privileges denied to most Palestinians. Among these privileges is the freedom to enter Israel and travel abroad at any time they wish. This privileging has existed since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO in 1993.

    – Out of the 600 Christians from the Gaza Strip who arrived in the West Bank in the past two weeks to celebrate Christmas, dozens have asked to move to Israel because they no longer feel comfortable living under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

    – Dozens of Christian families from east Jerusalem have moved to Jewish neighborhoods in the the city because they too no longer feel comfortable living among Muslims.

    – Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank continue to summon and arrest political opponents, journalists and bloggers who dare to criticize the Palestinian leadership.

    – The Palestinian Authority government, which has been complaining about a severe financial crisis for the past few months, just cancelled outstanding electricity debts for Palestinians in the West Bank. Palestinians pay their bills to the Arab Jerusalem Electric Company, which buys electricity from the Israeli Electric Company; the Palestinians have not been paying their electricity bills and many have been stealing electricity from their Arab company.

    – Tens of thousands of Palestinian Authority civil servants in the Gaza Strip receive salaries to stay at home and not work. The practice has been in effect since Hamas seized control over the Gaza Strip in 2007. According to Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf, the Palestinian Authority, which is funded mostly by American and European taxpayer money, spends around $120 million each month on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

    – Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction has allocated more than one million dollars for celebrations marking the 48th anniversary of the “launching of the revolution” — a reference to the first armed attack carried out by Fatah against Israel.

    – Despite the calls for an economic boycott of Israel, more than 40,000 Palestinians have received permits to work in Israel. Moreover, another 15,000 Palestinians continue to work in Jewish settlements in spite of an official ban.

    – Top PLO and Fatah officials continue to do their shopping in Israeli-owned businesses both in the West Bank and Israel. Last week, for example, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and his family were spotted shopping in Jerusalem’s Malha mall. Of course, the PLO official did not forget to bring along his private driver and maid.

    – The wife of a senior PLO official recently spent $20,000 for dental treatment in Tel Aviv at a time when there is no shortage of renowned Palestinian dentists in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Nablus.
    But the best part
    As of May 2011, the PA spent NIS 18 million ($4.5 million) per month on compensating Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons and a further NIS 26 million ($6.5 million) on payments to families of suicide bombers. In all, such payments cost the PA some 6 percent of its overall budget, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported on Monday night, citing documentation signed by Fayyad. The PA also makes payments to Israeli Arabs jailed for security offenses against Israel, the report said. Starting in 2003, Palestinian law mandated the dispensation of a monthly salary of NIS 1,000 ($250) to security detainees sentenced to up to five years in prison. The longer the sentence, the higher the pay. An inmate serving a life sentence was paid NIS 4,000 ($1,000) per month.An amendment of the law in January 2011 enacted by Fayyad increased the salaries by up to 300%, Channel 2 reported.A prisoner sentenced up to three years in prison now receives a base salary of NIS 1,400 per month, and for 3-5 years that rate increases to NIS 2,000, the report said. A NIS 300 bonus is added for a wife, and NIS 50 per child. According to the Channel 2 report, the PA-funded salaries are an equal opportunity benefit; members of Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad all receive them. Prisoners’ salaries also increase based on how many years they have served. Abdullah Barghouti, a Hamas bomb-maker who was sentenced in 2004 to 67 life terms for orchestrating the killings of 67 Israelis, receives a monthly stipend of NIS 4,000. In less than a year that figure will rise to NIS 6,000 ($1,500). Another major Hamas terrorist figure, Abbas al-Sayyeed, convicted of planning the 2002 Park Hotel massacre, in which 30 Israeli civilians were killed as they sat down for a Passover meal, is paid NIS 12,000 ($3,000) per month. Prisoners who have sat more than 30 years in Israeli prison receive NIS 12,000 per month.

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/cash-strapped-pa-spends-4-5-million-per-month-compensating-security-detainees/

       19 likes

  7. George R says:

    “BBC spends £6million in six months on Broadcasting House.
    The BBC spent almost £6million in just six months last year on putting the ‘finishing touches’ to its new £1billion headquarters including furnishings, decorations and graphics.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9785889/BBC-spends-6million-in-six-months-on-Broadcasting-House.html

       12 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘The corporation declined to disclose’
      Well, there’s a thing, and a precedent.
      Rather puts Humphrys or Paxo out of a job, mind.
      Or are folk uniquely meant to disclose only TO the BBC?
      Love the fact the DT has its own pet Flokker on standby to swoop in at first sign of danger, with about the same circus numbers in support.
      And credibility.

         10 likes

  8. Edited Highlights says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20935092

    Not even the faintest hint of impartiality, or even an atomic modicum of balance. Pure, visceral, anti Tory narrative from the BBC. Without any mention or link to the New Labour inspired economic meltdown that led to the current situation. It’s as if 13 years of New Labour just never happened.

    “a simple economic stock-take of the first two-and-a-half years in office would not look very impressive at all. No-one knows what would have happened under alternative management. But we can say that – on borrowing, growth, and the rebalancing of the economy – the coalition has fallen far short of its hopes.”

       24 likes

    • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

      She does actually say ‘the books were in a worse state in 2010 than the coalition realised at the time’ but doesn’t point out that that was because Brown had been borrowing for 13 years.

         17 likes

  9. Bigt says:

    You have to read this bilge to believe it…

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/07/violent-crime-lead-poisoning-british-export

    George Monbiot … Lead is the reason for all violence… and it’s still the current governments fault…..:)

       8 likes

    • pah says:

      Makes sense IYJTAI!

      After all if you play Led Zeppelin LPs backwards you can hear Satans voice …

      IGMC 🙂

         9 likes

    • Buggy says:

      I knew it !

      And where do you find lots of lead ? Church roofs ! That explains the Crusades and all sorts of other nastiness ! If they’d only install solar panels instead then we’d have women bishops, openly gay bishops, openly gay women bishops: ohhhhh ! the chances missed !

      We’re through the looking glass here, comrades……

         15 likes

  10. graphene fedora says:

    An all too brief glimmer in the BBC TV winter. Have just watched James Holland’s, The Battle for Malta, on BBC2. The stoicism & courage of the islanders, & their defenders, conveyed in a factual, informative manner, bolstered by the moving testimonies of some of those involved. Somebody at the BBC still knows how to make, or commission, a good, unadorned, straightforward programme. A sober antidote to the sloppy idiocy of the ‘Horrible Histories’ tendency. It was a programme that seemed to have come from a different time.

       17 likes

    • Buggy says:

      I’ve taped it, and I’m glad it sounds more factual than last night’s 5 RTR offering, which offered the tired old (editorial) cliché of the Eighth Army being basically useless until Monty turned up, at which point it became brilliant and duffed up Rommel.

      The analysis of ‘Crusader’ (presented as Rommel more or less winning by default, and with no mention of The Dash To The Wire) absolutely defied belief, and don’t get me started on the idea that a mistake was made in not extending the Gazala minefield south of Bir Hacheim as far south as the Sahara: the programme map made it look right next door to B H, rather than the hundreds of miles distant it actually is. Still, clever Rommel just went round the open flank, didn’t he ? Didn’t get himself stuck in the minefields with no line of retreat and no supply route so as to come within (by his own admission) a few hours of having to surrender ?

      As for Alamein: 6 hours of bombardment, then by and by 5 RTR and the other ‘cruiser’ brigades went in and it became quickly apparent Rommel was on the retreat ! Lord knows what any survivors of 23rd Armoured Bde and their infantry colleagues who’d been slogging through the minefields and strongpoints for more than a week by then to open the gaps must have thought about that little theory !

      (Please note: I’m not having a go at the 5 RTR veterans who feature on the programme, for whom no amount af gratitude can be adequate, but rather the writers, producers and director).

      There’s lots more , but this is enough for illustration (and more than enough for those of you who aren’t Western Desert obsessives). What worries me, as I’ve mentioned before, is that if I can pick holes like this in the treatment of a subject on which I have some knowledge, just what ‘facts’ am I blithely accepting on subjects where I don’t have that capability, simply because I don’t have the time to check up on every single item ?

         16 likes

      • Doyle says:

        A pointless (or maybe there was a point to it) reference to brothels too, implying that all our soldiers were pervs. Next week, our boys in France can-can across the Siegfried Line wearing their mum’s frilly knickers.

           12 likes

      • Corran Horn says:

        I Have a great book on Alamein by Jon Latimer, 2002. It give’s a good account of the build up to the battle and how Monty came to be in charge

        The history of the fighting in the Western Desert and Alamein in particular have a personal aspect as my grandad fought there but would never talk about it apart from the funny things that happened and all ways wanting to know more turned into a life long learning experience for me.

           4 likes

        • Mat says:

          I heartily recommend the ‘Battlefields’ series, no not the crappy Snow and his ‘got the job because of daddy’ brat ! but the DVD ‘s! years ago the BBC actually ran a few but only once and binned it off as per anything good ,much better then this programme of tired old clichés and stripped out half truths!
          I have nothing but respect for the men involved but many were conscripts who hated the war and that is all ways the focus in this sort of ‘world at war’ lite histrorama that we get now all dramatic reinactments and angst more like a episode of crime watch then anything real !

             5 likes

          • Corran Horn says:

            Yeah, but I don’t think there will be a better documentary TV series on the second world war than ‘The World At War’, Indecently made by Thames Television and ITN, so that’s one to use against those that say we need the bBC for there Documentary’s

               8 likes

            • mat says:

              Sorry if that seemed like is was saying anything bad about the world at war I mean the BBC are trying to make a poor stripped out not to taxing version! the TWAW is still the benchmark

                 3 likes

              • Reed says:

                Agree – we were shown various relevant episodes in history class when I was at school in the 80s. I always imagined it was a BBC programme rather than ITV, such was the tendency to assume that ‘quality’ and ‘BBC’ were synonymous.

                No more!

                   10 likes

              • Corran Horn says:

                No I know you weren’t, all is good :0)

                   1 likes

      • Doublethinker says:

        Agree with your comments. I have tried complaining to the BBC about awful inaccuracies in some of their history programmes but got nowhere , after the computer generated acknowledgement they just ignore you.
        They are steadily re-writing history to a version that they feel comfortable with and to hell with the facts. Usually their view minimises any achievements that the British made , maximises the degree of oppression imposed by the British, ignores comparison with the values of the time, makes any British officer or official either stupid or nasty or both, whilst usually praising the contribution of the ‘ordinary’ Briton ie the Lions led by Donkeys syndrome, and always finds a way to show how some non white person from the Empire played a significant role which is usually massively over egged to conform with their multicultural drive to make the British appreciate their non white neighbours.
        It is best to just not bother watching or listening to any history from the BBC.

           14 likes

        • pah says:

          My FiL was in France during WW2 and has first hand experience of Nazi oppression. He takes a very dim view of the BBC WW2 history.

          He used to complain to them but gave up for the same reason as you – they don’t care what the audience think or know.

          He did once get a response from BBC History magazine about a photograph that was printed that did not show what it was said to. The response was not, ‘whoops we used the wrong photo’, but ‘yes we know it was the wrong photo but it illustrated the story so we thought we’d use it.’ [paraphrased]

          This chimes with pictures I’ve seen that have been edited to show something more than was originally there. For example the addition of swastikas to National Front flags or that famous photo of a miner being whalloped by a copper on horse back (the truncheon was added later & the miners weapon removed). Neither of these edits were done by the BBC but by left wing activists. Yet the BBC show them without comment as true accounts.

          The same argument applies. They more accurately represent the story being told than the originals.

          It’s their old friend Subjective Truth again.

             13 likes

          • stewart says:

            I know Ive said this before but it stands repeating
            Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
            Maybe Orwell did base the minisrty of truth on the BBC

               6 likes

        • Doyle says:

          Doublethinker – my grandad joined the RAF in about 1938 (they had to give him special rations to bulk him up) and he carried on until after the war had ended. He loaded the bombs onto our bombers (he did that on the Maastricht raid) and after the war he was on bomb disposal. If you asked him he’d tell you about it and the one thing that came across even many years later was how much he hated the officers – he thought they were all useless like Captain Mainwaring. Mind you, when the war started in May 1940 his squadron packed up and left him behind! He’d been on guard duty and awoke to the popping sound of the ammo dump. There were six of them left including an officer, they commandeered a tractor and trailer and they also found a motorbike. The officer took the motorbike and said he’d sent someone back for them – when he’d gone they all said he wouldn’t be back and he wasn’t. He eventually made it to St Nazaire where he was about to board the Lancastria when he was told it was full. It left and the Luftwaffe sunk it. He didn’t suffer fools gladly, he refused to salute women officers saying that when they did his job then he’d salute them. When he was on bomb disposal an officer told them to remove US bombs from a train carriage after a crash. He refused saying that US bombs would explode if dropped from three foot, something the officer didn’t know and couldn’t seem to comprehend. Typical officer. He ended the war as a corporal.

             4 likes

          • Doublethinker says:

            I’m sure that your FiL did a great job throughout the war and that he had his reasons to be less than impressed by his officers. The point I was trying to make , perhaps not very well, is that the BBC have for years and years depicted any and all British figures in authority as being grossly incompetent, which is rubbish. Of course there were such figures who weren’t very good but by and large my view is that the average British officer and official were as good as those from other countries given the circumstances of their training etc.
            The constant barrage of BBC misinformation decade after decade has left the majority of the people in the country believing that all these folk were useless twerps.
            Of course I exclude the BBC management from this as they seem to have plumbed untouched depths of incompetence of late.

               7 likes

            • Doyle says:

              I know what you’re saying, I’m just making the point that my grandad had a poor opinion of the officers he met. That doesn’t mean that all officers are bad.

                 1 likes

  11. AsISeeIt says:

    How fitting that sneery Welshman Huw Edwards is on hand to read the BBC1 10 o’clock News tonight. Who better to tell us about the ‘Cardiff woman’ who beat her son to death for failing to memorise something called the Koran. There’s tidy, isn’t it. I do hope this doesn’t affect the price of leeks.

       26 likes

    • chrisH says:

      She`ll be Welsh for this one then…and she only wanted a higher standard of education for her boy, so he could match the toffs at Eton who have run her por country into the dust, what with their cuts, and their Lord Snooty accents.
      Religion of Peace hmm?….

         22 likes

    • TigerOC says:

      And she also burned the body to destroy the evidence.

      You note that there is no sudden demand for investigations into social services or how this could have happened in 21st century Britain.

      Nope just a woman beats her son to death for not reading a book, could happen anywhere to any British boy.

      Unbelievable, but then they do say they don’t make value judgments. Yeah right.

         25 likes

      • noggin says:

        yep her advisors …
        ezthe, the MUSLIM council of wales , ezzit!
        good job we have these, arrogant , intellectually bereft, turds lording it about eh!
        … you know, quite a few years ago, the self styled muslim parliament of britain, should have been stamped on … HARD! and kicked into touch, back then … but sadly it wasn t, by those who can see no further than their nose, and well folks, this … is the fruit it bears, 😀
        blinkered minds, cult mentality, and the threat/violence option always open.

        aren t you glad stephen lennon got 10months,
        eh!

           9 likes

  12. deegee says:

    An election in Israel in 15 days. I wonder when normally Israel obsessed BBC will notice.

       11 likes

    • chrisH says:

      And normally obsessed with ANY election that promises a Holiday Inn and a minibar tab…the more leftie the better.
      Think the police commissioners one was the first one in Beeboid history that didn`t get them running off to accounts/creative…indeed the same thing if you`re self-employed or Paxman etc.
      Ah but-they`ll not be able to visit their Arab Spring buddies if they get that visa stamp….so looks like that Hamas boy that they had there a few weeks back will just have to stay on.
      Muslim Brotherhood not standing?…until they`re in the count, the BBC won`t bother…not edgy, funky and urban enough…

         12 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      According to BBC Watch, they’re running with the theme that
      Atwan’s crystal ball revealed to him that Israelis going to the polls in two weeks’ time will elect “a very, very right-wing government”

      I know the BBC intend it to be a negative inference, but I’m quite reassured.

         3 likes

  13. Mavis Ramsbottom says:

    Newsnight …..waffle, waffle, waffle ….load of bollocks

       12 likes

  14. George R says:

    Rich Beeboids demand Child Benefit.

    So they put out this propaganda, which is really for themselves:-

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20915213

       10 likes

  15. Guest Who says:

    Interesting who BBC breakfast retweets to all their followers. But it’s OK, as he’s a guest who they just happened to invite on, who happens to have views & has told all his followers about them, plus BBC breakfast, who clearly feel his objective insights are just the education and information needing ‘discussing’ this fine morn. Guessing fellow rapporteur Prescott doesn’t do early slots, or is covering other programmes?

    @Kevin_Maguire: Morning. Discussing the politics of lower living standards incl cuts to value of benefits for people in & out of work 0740 @BBCBreakfast

       2 likes

    • #88 says:

      Mmm.

      There seems to be an absolute tidal wave of carping, misinformation and omission across all of the BBCs platforms over the past few days.

      I have always said that I don’t expect the BBC to be cheer-leaders for the Government, but I do expect balance and I do expect them to hold true to their charter obligations.
      That means not only treating interviewees in the same way, challenging equally, but getting to the facts (the BBC has a duty to inform). A couple of things that they have allowed to become obscured is the fact that benefits for those genuinely not able to work will not be subject to the 1% cap (an answer that a caller to Gameshow could have been challenged on – does Gameshow not do any research?). Another is that most working people subject to the 1% benefit cap will be compensated by the increase in the personal tax allowance. Something that BBC experts, presenters and analysts have assiduously failed to mention, preferring the Miliband dishonest, disingenuous claims.

      And then there is context. On every occasion a minister attempts to talk about the needs for savings – the huge hole in our finances – interviewers interrupt and invariably do not allow them to make that argument. It seems that the BBC have decided to ride shotgun on behalf of the previous Government, making light of our enormous deficit, or worse allowing it to be airbrushed from the consciousness of the masses.

      Broadcasters or activists, what is it BBC?

         22 likes

      • Span Ows says:

        Good post. It is so obvious yet nothing is done.

           10 likes

      • Phobic-ist says:

        Pretty much the same tactic used by that a..sh..e Kevin Maguire on the press review on Sky News last night. As soon as Andrew Pierce attempted to make the point that the deficit had to be reduced he was (extremely rudely IMHO) loudly interrupted and shouted down as ‘Tory Boy’ etc and the usual Maguire tactic of tutting and sniggering employed. I do believe they like the ignorant git on the Beeb

           20 likes

        • Reed says:

          That class obsessed twit Maguire can’t get through a paper review without using the phrase ‘Tory boy’ or saying the word ‘toffs’ every few seconds. He’s a class bore extraordinaire who rivals Piers Morgan when it comes to talking in terrible tabloidesque terminology. I hate to think what his articles read like.

             14 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            ‘class obsessed twit’
            And yet, and yet… the BBC cannot seem to get enough of the lad.
            As to his broken record mantras… well… you’d almost think they only invited him on to say what they don’t, quite, yet think they can get away with directly.
            Give it time.

               11 likes

      • uncle bup says:

        does Gameshow not do any research?
        ………………………………………………………………..

        well not beyond reading his twitter feed and the daily briefing notes that all BBC ‘journalists’ receive from the Labour Party.

           8 likes

  16. whitey says:

    watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nwBXo6ioQHo
    The two faced creep “There’s no money left, good luck”!? Liam Byrne talking about welfare fairness and given an easy ride on BBC Breakfast this morning. How many more times are the BBC going to abet and allow, unchallenged, the myth that all Labour MP’s continually regurgitate ” Tax cuts for millionaires ”
    The fact is that for all but the last few months of 13 years of Labour mis government, the top tax rate was 40% and under the present government is 50% and then 45% in April. The BBC never challenges with ” So which of those governments is actually giving more tax cuts for millionaires?”

       13 likes

    • #88 says:

      Last few months?

      The 50% tax rate came into effect on 6th April 2010. Labour lost the election 25 days later.

      Given that the 50% rate has resulted in less tax than planned being collected, it needs to be said that because of Gordon Brown and Ed Balls’ incompetence, ordinary working people will have to cough up for the shortfall.

      Of course the terminally obtuse in the BBC (I’m thinking particularly about David Dimbleby’s) do not seem to understand that ‘less is more.’

         13 likes

      • Reed says:

        The truth about tax rates – Labour vs coalition…

        Those on lower incomes are paying less, those on higher incomes are paying more than when Labour were in power – and yet this ‘Tory toffs only look out for their millionaire friends’ theme persists, promoted enthusiastically by the BBC, with their constant and insidious attempts to define an ‘us and them’ narrative.

        A_cmQ7ECAAAuQ9F.png:large

           19 likes

        • Span Ows says:

          Good find. I always rage when the BBC (and other media it must be admitted) allow blatant lies (no other word is applicable) from lefty commentators (Owen Jones, Unions, Labour, you name it).

          It is the same as when honest attempts at making the benefit system fair and honest are pounced upon as proof the Conservatives are killing poor and kicking disabled out of their wheelchairs (as well as bayoneting babies and raping nuns)

             13 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘the myth that all Labour MP’s continually regurgitate ” Tax cuts for millionaires ”
      As the BBC’s finest creep out of their snowy dens in Verbier and back to ‘work’, we again get treated to only the finest ‘analysis’ and ‘reporting’. Newsnight really made up for all we’ve been missing, with ‘astonishing’ insights:

      BBC Newsnight @BBCNewsnight
      Shadow Treasury Minister @cathyjamieson: astonished government think its fair to give millionaires tax cuts when families are struggling.

      If one didn’t know they were uniquely impartial, it would almost seem like they are about as overt a PR front for one political party as possible…. but for those OFCOM and Charter rules that ensure broadcasters cannot be as bent as their paper cousions.

         12 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      The day the BBC challenge Liam Byrne about his ‘there’s no money left’ note to his Treasury successor will be the day I begin – only begin, mind – to believe the BBC is beginning – only beginning, mind – to lose its bias.

         16 likes

      • Reed says:

        They could print this out large scale, and do a ‘Schofield’ by passing it across the table in an obvious fashion. Not. Gonna. Happen.

        SNN1906GX1-682_1045976a.jpg

           15 likes

  17. pounce says:

    With the sad news that another soldier has been murdered by another Afghan soldier the bBC, promotes the view that it was a Taliban mission , which in turn implies that we shouldn’t be there and that we should leave all Islamic lands. But hang on what’s this they are telling me on both TV and Web:
    “The gunman fired at Afghan troops and then British soldiers before being killed.”
    So the packy twat like all muslims the world over decided to take his anger out on people he had no truck with but who just happened to be nearby. Yet the bbC just cannot stop itself from promoting the cause of its second favourite Islamic terrorists (Hamas are the first).

    The bBC, the arsepiece of Islamic terrorism

    BTW, If the leftwing (Read bBC) mantra is we have no right to be in Islamic lands, then doesn’t the same apply to each and every Mohammed in the West?. Hang on I have darkskin, an Islamic name and no foreskin. I’d best start packing then.

       10 likes

  18. chrisH says:

    How can any BBC journalist or Guardian twerp DARE to berate the likes of IDS as he tries to reform the welfare system?
    Haven`t they droned on for yerars about “fairness”…the unequal burden placed on “the poor” as opposed to “the rich”?
    Don`t these clowns realise that we all KNOW them to be rich in comparison to the vast bulk of working people in this country?…and that our great grandkids won`t thank us for letting the likes of Liam Byrne or Kevin Maguire get away with saddling those as yet unborn with the leeching of public funds to the likes of BBC hacks and “opinion-formers”.
    These quasi-public mouthpieces of Gramsci and Marx need to be savagely cut-so that the poor may escape from poverty as they have often said is their whole raison d`etre.
    There is absolutely NO argument for the rich to get tax credits, child benefit or free TV licenses…ask Liam Byrne why not! Labour pissed it away-and will do so as long as they`re given houseroom to peddle their lies and excuses.
    I know very few people on anything like £50,000 p.a-those that are work for themselves and deserve their money…the doctors and heads etc are probably worth it if they`re any good…but f***in BBC hacks and Labour creeps like Byrne and Prescott?….f*** off!…parasites all!
    Burn `em off before they infect you terminally…

       19 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      And it was the likes of Byrne who borrowed money so they could give a £200 ‘trust fund’ to every new-born, a £200 ‘fruit and veg’ allowance to every pregnant woman – and oh, 30 quid a week to kids to encourage them to do A-levels. All borrowed, all as yet to be paid back by future generations – not that you’d ever know that listening to the BBC.

         11 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Has this failed Brummie Lord Mayor ever been taken up by the BBC in regard of his “good luck, there`s no money left; we`ve spent it” post-it note that he left at the Treasury?
        It may have been mentioned way back in 2010…have the BBC mentioned it in any current passing comments or interviews with this most creeping of creeps?
        Doubtful.

           8 likes

  19. pounce says:

    The bBC, and how it whitewashes Pakistani crimes
    Birmingham taxi stabbing: Man admits murdering partner
    A man has admitted murdering his partner as she tried to escape from a Birmingham taxi. Natasha Trevis, 22, of Weoley Castle, died at the scene in Northfield on 7 August after being stabbed 26 times during a row over an abortion. Junior Saleem Oakes, 28, of Dimsdale Road, Northfield, was jailed for life by a Birmingham Crown Court judge and must serve at least 22 years.
    One of three murder cases which hit the news yesterday in Birmingham. At first reading yopu don’t notice anythign special about the murderer Junior-Saleem-Oakes? But that isn’t his real name, he just goes round calling himself that, his real name is…Mohammed Saleem
    But the bBC, can’t allow an Islamic murderer to classed as a murderer can they. I mean Islam is a religion of peace. Oh and those other two murderers concerning Muslims in Birmingham :
    The family of the woman who starved her daughter to death are suing the council (But arn’t Muslims renowned for their family ethic?)
    An Iranian man has been locked up for stabbing his wife to death.

       13 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      Here’s an example of many where the BBC is complicit in murder.
      Any woman who follows the real events going on around the world would be especially wary of getting involved with a Muslim. Unless in the courting stages they (Muslim men) could really demonstrate that they had a mindset that could see more positive values beyond complete control over their partner, women should be giving them a wide berth.

      Because most of us here are aware of the Islamic mentality we would be unlikely to be involved in a close relationship with them. Since the BBC prefers to present a distorted and twisted view of this mindset, the ignorant followers of their propaganda in our society don’t satisfy themselves with the concerns they would otherwise have before becoming involved.

         8 likes

  20. pounce says:

    The bBC, the problems in Ireland, its leftwing anti-british agenda and another story.

    Jeremy Vine seems to find only people who profess to be Prods but have no problem getting rid of the Union Flag.
    I mean come on only Union flags flown around the province. Damn those tri-colours I saw here,there and everywhere , i suppose those don’t count.

    The bBC, the traitors within our midst.

       11 likes

    • pounce says:

      Oh and now Jeremy Vine has just laughed that the majority of Union Flags found on lamp posts in the province are upside down. Typical leftwing wanker, who has no problem bitching and laughing at everything about the British, but would he dare look funny at a republican terrorist? nah he’d shit himself like the wanker he is. I won’t even mention his lovefest with Islamic terrorism.

         23 likes

  21. #88 says:

    Crikey.

    A record three posts in a day from me, but the DP’s eulogising Chakrabati as a ‘national treasure’ is just too much to bear.

    I think it’s time to emigrate.

       15 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Interestingly, my MP (Con), who last time I wrote regarding the BBC actually used the term ‘national treasure’ in his reply telling me not to spoil his DP sofa chances (rather missing the fact that when the BBC gets them kicked out he’ll be dropped liked last night’s chip paper), is drumming up support for her swing-by to his ‘hood as if she is the second coming too. Sounds like he knows where is bread buttering comes from.
      Quite why I would want to listen to the selective pearls of wisdom from a despot enabler (if only only an astoundingly uncurious basis) I have no idea.

         8 likes

    • Doyle says:

      I turned on the Daily Politics. Watched 10 seconds of it. Saw a small boy. Realised it was Crappybatty. Click. Off.

         11 likes

      • #88 says:

        Yes. And the self important sainted one. Holier than the rest of us put together, still managed to dissemble when asked to comment on the benefits ‘cuts’.

        It’s not fair to point the finger at the jobless, she suggested, after all only 3% of benefits are spend on unemployment she claimed. That may be true of JSA, but most also go on to receive family allowance, tax credits, housing allowance, council tax benefit, income support and so on. DP were too dozy to challenge her on that.
        I hope she trips over the effin’ Olympic flag if she’s ever asked to carry it again.

           11 likes

        • John Anderson says:

          Don’t all the children born and not yet born have some sort of “right” not to be throttled by an increasing mountain of national debt ?

             10 likes

  22. pounce says:

    bBC radio news reporting that the taliban were behind the murder of a British Soldier.

    But as I have posted above, it had nothing to do with the taliban and the bBC even say as much on their website. But that doesn’t prevent them promoting the cause that the Taliban are just peaceful muslims defending their own landers and that we shouldn’t be in Islamic lands.

    As I say above, if so lets kick each and every Muslim out of the UK.

       9 likes

  23. pounce says:

    The bBC, its so called defence experts and their cutting edge news reporting.
    Rheinmetall demos laser that can shoot down drones
    A laser weapons system that can shoot down two drones at a distance of over a mile has been demonstrated by Rheinmetall Defence.

    Wow, what great news, a machine that can shoot down drones, Put the bBC down for two so they can gift it to the Taliban, anything to save Terrorists from meeting their maker. But hang on what’s this from the 21st of Dec 2012 from Endgadget:
    Rheinmetall 50kW laser weapon aces latest test, pew-pews a 3-inch ballistic target
    During the Swiss trials, the German-made HEL cannon managed to cut through a 15mm steel girder from over 3,200 feet away and knock down several drones diving at over 110 mph. Most impressively, the laser succeeded in dipatching an 82mm steel projectile in flight, showing the viability of beam-based weapons against potential mortar attacks.

    So the bBC highlights how a German laser can zap drones from the sky (Which no doubt it is promoting to its terrorist friends as the way to go) but leaves out the much more important fact that it knocked a 82mm Mortar shell out of the sky. (But that would hints towards helping the jews)

    The bBC, the world famous news agency which brings you news news almost 3 weeks old.

       10 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      please please give them their proper title. It is…

      droneswhichkillinnocentpeople.

      I think they’re a thing of beauty myself.

         5 likes

  24. George R says:

    For Beeboids: political chums of Al Gore and Al Jazeera.

    “Al Gore’s Oil-Fueled Al-Jazeera Deal Follows A String Of Green Energy Fiascos”

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/01/08/al-gores-oil-fueled-al-jazeera-deal-follows-a-string-of-green-energy-fiascos/?

       7 likes

  25. chrisH says:

    I suppose that there`s no chance of replacing Joan Bakewell with somebody who knows something about faith or religious belief is there?
    Her series (Belief-radio 3 last week) has been ludicrous, cliche-ridden fatuous and all the worse for her plummy presumptions( she saw Communism as a kind of Christianity in one episode).
    As for her thinking that Bonnie Greer was some Michelle Obama sent on the wings of angels to grace this nation…it`s hard to see this battling balck feminst warrior with her endless media appearances, her shoo-in plays and even-get this-her place on the English “Blue Plaques” Committee.
    What a rebel eh?

       13 likes

    • graphene fedora says:

      And we’re still waiting, with almost unbearable anticipation, for Bonnie’s ‘opera’, ‘Night of The Griffin’, inspired by the BNP leader’s appearance on QT. Is there no limit to this bigoted, white-baiting polymath’s brilliance? What next, ‘Imammy: The Musical’? Only an old champagne socialist like Bakewell, ‘Pinter’s babe’, could see Greer as anything but an outmoded race-hustler who sees the world thru’ the prism of ethnicity, earning her crust stirring up resentment, & perpetuating division. I’d like to see Bonnie stepping out of the BBC bubble, & telling the drinkers in a West Midlands Labour club that there are no indigenous British.

         14 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Spot on sir!
        Indeed, Joan mentioned her “takedown” of Griffin in that …well “legendary” Question Time, where wee Bonnie sent Griffin into orbit with her wit and repartee.
        Surely you remember…I do not, but clearly the BBC couldn`t possibly be rewriting history again…could it?
        Savile on the cutting room floor, Bonnie Greer now able to talk about her role in the defeat of Griffin and the BNP…pretty much the same way as how Limahl caused the breakup of the Beatles.
        Blue plaque-or at least a Joan has Fixed It medal…for Michelle Obamas muse, for James Baldwins go-to girl. for Chicagos very own Mother Theresa-yet compassion enough to dwell here in Blighty, and therefore raise us all into MLKs very embodiment of ” The Dream”…for this is Bonnie Greer.
        Has ANYONE ever seen or read any damn thing she`s ever done?…or, is she Tom Paulin?

           13 likes

        • stewart says:

          I remember her telling us that BNP
          members should be afraid of black people.Isnt that racial stereotyping ?

             7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ’somebody who knows something’
      Were her terms of service not negotiated in what is now referred to as… ‘a different time’?
      If so, that takes the answer to your question from an always unique no, to an ‘in your dreams’ on the new BBC buried skeleton career security chart.

         3 likes

  26. Doyle says:

    I was up late last week and I came across a programme called Romes Lost Empire with Dan Snow. Ostensibly a programme about the search for Portus (under a scrap heap and airport apparently), the ancient port of Rome, the programme opened out to include Dacia (present day Romania) and the frontier in north Africa. From a wall in Tunisia, Snow waxed lyrical about the Roman Empire.
    ‘These aren’t just physical barriers, they’re psychological barriers, they dominate the landscape like no other empire has done before and I think that everybody who crossed those walls, whether you go through one of the gates or you managed to sneak over at night, everybody who crossed those walls would know they were now in Roman territory. It’s also been interesting just how clever the Romans were aswell, they didn’t just try to seal off the border and block everybody out, they were happy to to let traffic through as long as it suited them, they even encouraged it, people were allowed to come through the wall, trade was allowed to happen but ONLY if it suited Rome.’
    He hadn’t finished though -‘ Rome was a military power but she realised that wars were expensive and they created a backlash, they also inflame opposition, so Rome was a psychological empire, Rome overawed people, Rome impressed people, Rome won respect by creating prosperity and security.’
    Lots of cod psychology in all that. Anyway, it got me thinking (a dangerous thing I know) that since all empires operate in a similar fashion, that Rome wasn’t much different than say, the British Empire. All of what Snow had said could apply to the BE and all without the vast killing machine that the Roman’s operated. Time seems to have been kind to the Roman Empire that often went out to annihilate whole tribes or groups of people but because it was two thousand years ago it is somehow alright. I understand the importance of the RE but it seems odd that historians who would be agaist the B

       8 likes

  27. Doyle says:

    against the British Empire (like Mary Beard) should be all for the Roman equivalent. Who knows in 2,000 years the BBC might have something good to say about the British Empire.

       9 likes

  28. Number 7 says:

    It’s a bad day for Mr Harrabin et al.

    Following on from the Met office admitting, this morning on Toady, that Global Warming has stopped some dastardly sceptic has got hold of the AR5 report (IPCC) due to be released in September.

    Tagged as the Secret Santa:-

    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/08/more-ipcc-ar5-the-secret-santa-leak/

    There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the corridors of Planet Beeboid.

       10 likes

  29. Guest Who says:

    If not a spoof (something ‘odd’ about it, and not in a Conservative/BBC anti-UKIP way), this has an Assangistesque irony to it..

    Guessing Paul and Laurie et al would not be ask keen on this one?

       6 likes

  30. jimbola says:

    “Climate model forecast is revised”
    By David Shukman

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20947224

    “The UK Met Office has revised one of its forecasts for how much the world may warm in the next few years.

    It says that the average temperature is likely to rise by 0.43 C by 2017 – as opposed to an earlier forecast that suggested a warming of 0.54C.

    The explanation is that a new kind of computer model using different parameters has been used. ”

    “If the forecast is accurate, the result would be that the global average temperature would have remained relatively static for about two decades.
    Blog suspicions

    An apparent standstill in global temperatures is used by critics of efforts to tackle climate change as evidence that the threat has been exaggerated. ”

    If that’s not a biased framing of the skepticism and arguments against AGW I don’t know what is. Those crazy bloggers, always sticklers for the facts.

       8 likes

  31. Phil Ford says:

    THE BBC ADMITS THE UNTHINKABLE

    Climate model forecast is revised

    Citing a new report (which some might describe as an admission of serious error) from the UK Met Office, Comrade Shukman, one of the BBC’s senior CAGW cheerleaders, is finally forced to admit the following:

    If the forecast is accurate, the result would be that the global average temperature would have remained relatively static for about two decades.

    In other words, even the doctrinaire minds at the BBC can longer dodge the same, unavoidable truth slowly dawning on warmist zealots everywhere: that the IPCC’s much-vaunted models were all wrong, wrong, wrong…and that the Earth’s climate has indeed shown no significant warming for at least the last 16 years, if not longer.

    Infact, the same thing the sceptical science has been suggesting all along. Will climate ‘heretics’ now get to be heard on the BBC’s publicly-funded ‘impartial’ channels..?

    No, I didn’t think so, either.

       16 likes

    • jimbola says:

      BBC admits the unthinkable, well sort of. They really tried not to. He wasn’t happy was he?

      They don’t like it up em’.

         12 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The BBC is no more likely to address this honestly than the Catholic Church is to issue a statement declaring that God doesn’t exist. Imagine the confusion and self-doubt it would cause in the halls of New Broadcasting House. It’s hard to think of a more crushing blow.

         11 likes

  32. Pounce says:

    The bBC, the case of the poisoned gambling Muslim and half the story.
    Cyanide ‘killed Chicago lottery winner’ Urooj Khan
    The death of a Chicago lottery winner has led to a murder investigation after a post-mortem examination found he died of cyanide poisoning. Urooj Khan, 46, died suddenly as he was about to collect almost $425,000 (£264,000), but his death was initially attributed to natural causes.

    The bBC relates the sad story of man who died the day after winning the lottery. Which has now been revealed as cyanide poisoning. in the story the bBC ensure you know that this man was a pious muslim:
    Urooj Khan said he had sworn off gambling after making a trip to Saudi Arabia for the Muslim hajj pilgrimage, local store employee Ashur Oshana told the Associated Press.
    As always the bBC while informing the world that Muslims can only be pious leave out salient snippets of information.Which this other bBC article will kindly highlight for me;
    School refuses free fruit
    A school in Leicestershire is withdrawing from a programme giving free fruit to youngsters because the scheme is paid for by the National Lottery. The scheme aims to improve the diets of youngsters, and ensure they develop healthy eating habits. But children at Charnwood Primary School will not be able to have the free fruit as the head teacher decided it would be more respectful to pull out of the scheme. Head teacher Judy O’Connor is taking the action because many of the youngsters are Muslim and Islamic law strictly forbids any form of gambling.

    So what the bbC doesn’t inform you in the death of pious Muslim ‘Urooj Khan’ is that actually, gambling is against the tenets of Islam.

    Can you imagine how the bBC would have reported a story about a pious Christian who was caught doing something against his faith. But when the story is about a Muslim, then its out with the white-wash brush. As Muslims just cant be seen in a negative light at the bBC.

       12 likes

    • Dave s says:

      The BBC report does state that the school is 96% Muslim so one can assume it is mono cultural and has little to do with the majority culture of the country.
      I thought the tone of the BBC report was a bit sad that this state of affairs has come to pass. Not really bias.
      Maybe reality is beginning to seep into the Beeboids’ minds at last.

         3 likes

  33. Pounce says:

    How the bBC whitewashes the crimes of Pakistani Muslims
    Indian troops shot dead near Kashmir’s Line of Control
    Two Indian soldiers have been shot dead in the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan, officials say.
    Shot dead you say bBC?
    India accuses Pakistani troops of killing two soldiers
    NEW DELHI, India — Indian army officials said Tuesday that two of their soldiers were slain by Pakistani troops who attacked an Indian military post in Kashmir, the second fatal clash in the divided region in two days…Maj. Gen. S.L. Narasimhan, a spokesman for the Indian army, told reporters that one of the slain soldiers’ bodies was badly mutilated. News reports, citing army sources, said at least one of the bodies was beheaded, while A.K. Sahu, area deputy police commissioner, said Pakistani troops “slit the throats of two [Indian] army soldiers.”

    Gee I wonder why the bBC doesn’t want you to know that its favourite band of peaceful Muslims slit the throats and beheaded their victims.

    The bBC, the apologists for blood thirsty packy bastards

       12 likes

  34. George R says:

    ITV News to go more Islamic too.
    “Ex-BBC reporter Rageh Omaar to join ITV News as special correspondent”

    http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/01/08/ex-bbc-reporter-rageh-omaar-join-itv-news-special-correspondent?

       4 likes

    • noggin says:

      oh they and i note ch 4 news, getting worse by the day,
      actually, i have it on good authority, that V Drearybyshire, Aasmah Mir, even S Foglegity turning up
      on itv mornings with M “kaffirs animals” Hasan etc etc,
      hhmmm it appears there is no escape ….
      maybe its to secure Drearybyshires flight budget or air miles for the future, its all becoming indistinguishable eh! 😀

         4 likes

      • noggin says:

        i suppose Ragead (squeeze a tear), will be rushing over to Afghanistan, clenching his fist,
        closing his eyes in anguish, pleading if only … just like he did on islamic history, ……
        as we speak
        over the latest scumbags to murder our troops as we try to help train them

           6 likes

  35. JaneTracy says:

    Like many on here I had a lot of sympathy for Robert Peston when he lost his wife. However I began to lose it when he was supposedly too ill to work for the BBC but well enough to promote his book.

    I notice more and more at the BBC promoting this sort of thing. Take a look at this from Steph who is on BBC Breakfast.

    Steph McGovern‏@stephbreakfast

    Ooo look who has been watching over my biz broadcasts in Totnes this morning from the bookshop opposite. @peston pic.twitter.com/d3j1VgUb

    How much free publicity can the BBC charter take?

       11 likes

  36. Pounce says:

    In the latest BBC article from Nigeria, about handing poor farmers mobile phones. Want to guess what the majority faith of the complaining party is?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20947686
    Nice to see the bBC promoting the religion of peace yet again.

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      In light of other news, it may be interesting to see what would happen if a bunch of giveaways were switched from ‘government’, ‘NGO’ and ‘charity’ sources to any linked to a lottery-largesse model.
      Heck of a way to at least put the graspers on the horns of a dilemma for a while and cause a few heads to explode in the BBC/Graun axis of weevils as they try to figure out not only how to spin poor Western folk giving rich 3rd world types more freebies, but also in ‘the correct way’.

         5 likes

  37. George R says:

    ‘Telegraph’:-

    “BBC more ‘deferential’ to Europhiles than Eurosceptics, says senior Tory.
    “The BBC treats supporters of the European Union with more ‘deference’ than Eurosceptics, a senior Tory MP has said in a dispute on live radio.”

    By Rowena Mason.

    [Opening excerpt]:-

    “Bernard Jenkin, chairman of the Public Administration Committee, appeared to accuse the broadcaster of bias as he was asked about splits within the Conservative Party on Europe.
    “He predicted that James Naughtie, his interviewer on BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme, would be more deferential to the next guest, Lord Brittan, a former member of the European Commission and ex-Home Secretary.
    ‘I appreciate the BBC wants to talk about the the Conservative Party but let’s talk about the issue,’ he said.
    “Told he was being ‘silly’, Mr Jenkin hit back: ‘I bet you’re going to treat Leon Brittan with a lot more deference than you treat me because the BBC is not exactly a haven for Eurosceptics as we know’.
    “Mr Naughtie responded to the jibe by saying: ‘Oh for goodness sake, let’s try to be serious about this’.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9789912/BBC-more-deferential-to-Europhiles-than-Eurosceptics-says-senior-Tory.html

       11 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘“Mr Naughtie responded to the jibe by saying: ‘Oh for goodness sake, let’s try to be serious about this’.”
      So bluster only then? Interesting.

         6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Also that poll is, as far as such things can be, noteworthy on numbers and result.
      At 10:1 on a 2800 base not exactly a ‘split’, really, other than a BBC idea of one… when it suits.

         2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      While Jenkin did act a bit hostile right from the start, it was obviously necessary for him to stand up to Naughtie’s attempt to make it all about Tory Splitz, ultimately forcing the Beeboid to ask an actual straight-to-the-point question. It was only then that the whole interview discussing the issue itself could be possible.

      Naughtie was not pleased, “Usurping my role….”

      I guess Jenkin’s charge that Naughtie would show more deference to the Europhile can’t be really proven since his fight with the interviewer pretty much created a calmer approach from both Brittan and Naughtie. But he was right about Naughtie wanting to shift focus from the issue he wanted to talk about. Moreover, it seemed to me that Naughtie asking the question about opinion changing over the last year or so after letting Brittan going on about the relevant issues was the right approach, something he should have done – but didn’t – with Jenkin.

         4 likes

    • George R says:

      Pro-EU stance of BBC-NUJ.

      BBC-NUJ devotes a long report to its Obamessiah’s political pressure for U.K government to support E.U.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20961651

      This morning the BBC lined up politically with 10 pro-E.U UK bosses:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20956130

      And this morning on ‘Today’ Naughtie brushed aside Tory criticism of BBC-NUJ pro-E.U political bias!

         6 likes

  38. pounce says:

    The bBC, promoting that leftwing agenda of theirs and half the story.
    Tesco effect: How big firms quietly own little brands
    There’s been negative coverage over a new “family” coffee chain that is actually backed by Tesco. Why do people become vexed? With its exposed brickwork, muted lighting and expensive decor, Harris and Hoole is the epitome of a modern, upmarket coffee shop of the kind that has colonised the UK’s High Streets in recent years. The one sound you won’t hear amid the tinkle of ceramic cups and relaxed chat, is a tannoy announcement saying “clean-up in aisle seven”. Yet Harris and Hoole would not be expanding quite as rapidly as it is without the financial backing of supermarket giant Tesco. The multinational retailer owns a 49% stake of the firm. Not that you would know this from a visit to one of its 10 outlets or the company’s website, where Tesco barely merits a mention.

    Faux outrage from the luvies at the beeb over a 49% share that Tesco has in a trendy coffee shop. According to the liberal Mafioso nothing is worse than selling out to big business. Anyway while the beeb arsehole drown their sorrows with their ethical lattes , i wonder how many of these champions of the little man will purchase a lonely Planet travel guide in which to find the next big thing to earn a spot on the bBC’s ‘Dragons Den.

    The bBC, the biggest hypocrites since time began.

       12 likes

  39. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Will Self has another “Point of View” essay in the BBC’s online Magazine. It’s all about what he says is the messed-up British view of the US. As usual, he scatters 10-dollar words around like a magpie lining its nest with shiny objects. It can all be summed as yet another minor anti-American sneer, with a bonus helping of British self-loathing. Did you know it was actually the fault of the US that Britain is still playing at geopolitics? If you lot would only stop trying to be like the ugly Americans, you’d retire to your corner, enabling better economic policies and Will Self’s contentment.

    PS: I’d love to hear Stephanie Flanders comment on Self’s declaration that your government has blindly adopted “neo-liberal” economic policies from the US.

       7 likes

  40. Umbongo says:

    Not strictly BBC bias, but it’s interesting to see that Stuart Lawrence – Stephen Lawrence’s brother – has decided to go into the family business.

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Not strictly BBC bias’
      Oh, I don’t know; often these stories actually start with a phone call from a ‘journalist’ saying ‘how angry are you…?’.
      Then sit back & stir.
      Unleash… the Mason!
      ‘The Met said the complaint was “a very serious matter” which would be investigated “thoroughly and speedily”.’
      Guessing Stuart, and the BBC, will be unimpressed if the BBC means and handles this the same way BBC complaints does?

         7 likes

      • Umbongo says:

        Handling of complaints at the IPCC and the BBC is in direct correlation to your membership of an Entitlement Group ™ (“EG”) recognised by an influential part of the media and/or the political class. Certainly Lawrence the Younger’s family EG is recognised by the Mail (normally anathema to the BBC and points left) and the rest of the MSM as worthy of a plethora of column inches.
        Accordingly Lawrence’s complaint has been “escalated” beyond the usual “we got it about right, now f*** off” response. An example of an EG at the BBC is more or less any Moslem self-styled representative outfit. Such groups require (and receive) extreme solicitude and kid-glove handling by the BBC: frequently passing of taxpayers’ money is involved (eg this little episode)

           3 likes

  41. Chris says:

    BBC running a story on a South African gang-rape. Less publicity than in India, apparently. No mention of the ethnicity involved, however. Just like the story they did on SA rape last year.

       7 likes

  42. Teddy Bear says:

    Backlash over Radio 2 Sunday hymns programme being switched to 6am slot

    I’m not a listener to the programme either way, but I can sense the resentment of those who do, and not without good reason.

    The BBC so easily discard the concerns of those whose values first set up the corporation. With the usual BBC bullshit, they claim:

    A Radio 2 spokesman said: “We understand how well loved Sunday Half Hour is for many regular Radio 2 listeners so the decision to move the programme has not been taken lightly.

    One can imagine the discussion by programmers when considering how their listeners would take the news:

    “Screw ’em”.

       14 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      so how many people are even awake at 6am on Sunday morning ?

      Yet another reason to despise the BBC apparatchiks

         8 likes

  43. Dave666 says:

    Where did every one go? Welcome back
    BBc breakfast field latest non story NO SPARE WHEEL IN NEW CARS. actually they did this a while back on watchdog.
    Yes new cars don’t have spare wheels so drivers can’t follow simple instructions with tyre repair solution.
    See motoring representative gaze skward in despair before he comprehensivly destroyed the non story. Now what ever happened to that Savile story?

       3 likes

  44. David Hanson says:

    I have just heard that Andrew Marr is in hospital after suffering a stroke. Whatever our differences, I am sure that everyone on this site wishes him well and hopes that he makes a full recovery.
    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/bbc-broadcaster-andrew-marr-suffers-stroke-193057385.html#mPMmCKD

       13 likes

    • Reed says:

      Absolutely.

         6 likes

    • will says:

      Without any ill wish to Marr, I wonder whether Polly’s potted epitaph for the man would have had a extra word but for the limits of Twitter.
      “Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee tweeted: “Andrew Marr, renaissance man, polymath, wise commentator, painter, runner, brilliant cook – and ace editor. Get well soon. Needed in public life.”

      Omitted “lefty”

         9 likes

      • DYKEVISIONS says:

        Despite his obvious political bias, I wish him a speedy recovery. I confess I listen to his ‘Start the Week’ and very occasionally M Bragg who actually does try to inform, educate, and entertain with various degrees of success.

        However, rent a quote Polly ‘six haciendas’ Toynbee appears to have no other function but to rant uncontrollably and does not ‘do’ any of the above three skills!

           8 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      Agreed, I certainly wish him a full recovery.

      Let’s leave real personal spite, dancing on graves comments etc, to the left.

         9 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Spite is the sole prerogative of the Left as far as I`v e known it.
        He`s a hired gun, well paid but at times like this; who would want anything other than him annoying us…he`s not a self-righteous creep on a par with Toynbee or Owen Jones..nor as sanctimonious as Laurie Taylor or Michael Rosen etc.
        Hope he`s OK!…

           10 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      I know it’s supposed to give the impression that I’m a caring concerned individual by ‘wishing him well despite our differences’, which I’ve come to recognize is very much how the left-wing mindset likes to portray themselves, despite the hypocrisy.

      However, I think self honesty is far more important. I believe the BBC agenda and purposeful failure to fulfil their chartered mandate is responsible for a lot of people to die or suffer as a result, besides generally bringing down the genuine values of our society . I’m more concerned about this, and I don’t give a shit about Marr.

         4 likes

      • David Lamb says:

        I have not been able to discover whether he is being treated by the NHS or privately. We can assume that few details are given in case there is a repeat of the hoax call as in the case of Mrs Middleton. Anyhow, here is hoping for a speedy recovery.

           3 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          ‘We can assume that few details are given in case there is a repeat of the hoax call as in the case of Mrs Middleton’
          Possibly, but one thing this public would like to know are the ‘arrangements’.
          I’m sure it will be the public sector at its rallying round best, with a tribute not long down the line.
          If so, possibly a bad time to be a pensioner on a gurney in the corridor as the time management is divvied up with the producers and directors on 24/7 call.

             3 likes

  45. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Inbbc leads with the USA warning that referenda csn turn countries inwards. Is this obama’s policy? Less democracy s good for us? Well balls to that, WE will decide one day when we get rid of dopey dave.

       10 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      It’s amazing just how much the BBC looks to the leader of a foreign country for guidance on so many issues.

         3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      That statement from that woman from the Atlantic Council l was a joke. She didn’t even understand Naughtie’s prefect softball setup question.

      Naughtie posited that, since the EU is basically taking over everything, Britain needs to get involved even more. The dopey woman replied that she didn’t agree with that, but then went ahead and said the exact same thing Naughtie did only using slightly different words (she said the EU was taking over more and more “competence”, and then quickly corrected herself to “governance”, which was pretty funny).

      The Today geniuses clearly weren’t happy with yesterday’s result and had to try again to get the Narrative out there properly.

      As for the further discussion with the two politicians, Naughtie was acting more than Devil’s Advocate here: he was acting as an advocate for the policy of a foreign country. Again.

      It’s too bad George Bush never told you guys to let yourself be absorbed into the EU. If he had, the BBC would have spared no effort to get the word out against it and you’d have had a referendum by now.

         3 likes

  46. Ron Todd says:

    Did Newsnight last night (Thursday 9 Jan) do a segment on the ‘housing crisis’ without one mention of the 250000 people that are coming into the country each year and then producing numerous tax payer funded sprogs?

       11 likes

  47. noggin says:

    anyone catch the telegraph
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9786921/British-soldier-killed-by-imam-in-Afghanistan-insider-attack.html … hmm following the hate manual to the letter … so, next time ones on “thought for the day” news the bbc forgot?

    anyway, bbc news ………………….. yep! same”old news” now on the also rans on this.
    lots more of the india rape/murder though!, and yep! nothing on pakistan ones, t
    he rapes the bbc forgot eh!

       5 likes

  48. AsISeeIt says:

    I’m not sure how I should react to the revelation that the BBC want to charge me to see where heaps of my licence money has been spent.

    BBC Broadcasting House Tour

    This brand new BBC Tour launches in April 2013 and is available to book now!

    The Broadcasting House Tour is available seven days a week.

    Visit the BBC Tours Website.

    Booking information
    1. Pre-booking is essential
    2. Regular tours seven days a week
    3. Open to anyone aged 9 years and over when accompanied by an adult

    Prices
    1. Adults £13.50
    2. Concessions £11.25
    3. Students £10.00
    4. Children (between 9 and 15 years) £9.00.
    5. Family ticket (2 adults and 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children) £39.00
    6. Group rates available
    7. Prices are valid until 31 March 2014.

    Perhaps I ought to be happy that the BBC are attempting to recoup some cash?

       6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      2. Regular tours seven days a week
      No discount during school hols, bank holidays, all major festivals (religious or happenin’ ones)?
      If not, a bit of a swizz, as there will be nothing to see except empty desks and the odd blinking light on the Dad’s Army re-run machine.
      And the odd banana jammed in the revolving door.
      3a. Open to anyone aged 9 years or under when accompanied by a market rate talented adult.. at different times.

         6 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Hey, come on, the BBC needs to show off the value for money of the billion pounds they spent on the place. More importantly, they need more revenue thanks to nasty Tory Cutz so they can get the poor BBC staff the high quality coffee they’ve been missing.

         2 likes

      • Maturecheese says:

        My heart bleeds for the poor blighter’s, I mean it’s so unfair. Such harsh working conditions.

           2 likes

  49. Guest Who says:

    At risk of getting lost in the Open Thread roll-over…
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20960500

    The BBC… informing and..edukating…

    ‘Academies are independent school which are funded by the state.’

    Well it is now a pluralist society.

    I actually came here via the twitter feed, as this set off my #couldfiles & #prasnews triggers*, where what is sold as ‘news’ is in fact a punt the medium likes from a friendly source, but needs a bit of caveat work on account of it possibly being total Horlix… and show up the lack of actual reporting carried out before running with it anyway.

    I also got interested in the outfit in question, which sounds very grand; ‘a report by the Academies Commission.’

    These are they: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/jan/10/academy-schools-covert-selection-skew-intake

    At least the Graun fronts up a bit more context: ‘The report comes from the self-styled Academies Commission’

    The BBC has some ongoing form on matters academy.

    Readers may recall these objective pieces:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/9674889.stm
    (Funny that the image freeze now is different to the one I have captured)

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16587907

    Especially where ‘educational experts’ turn out to be no more than activists, and 3 guesses from which camp?

    Could the BBC really get any more bent in its avowed educational mission?

    ‘Do you agree or disagree with the findings of the Academies Commission? Send us your experiences using the form below.

    Wild guesses as to which ‘experiences’ get selected, uniquely.

    *For bad measure: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20968076 ‘a UK-based report has claimed.’ Comments a hoot BTW.

       3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Remember Rule #1 about unlabeled voices presented as independent by the BBC.

         1 likes

  50. Maturecheese says:

    Just before 11 on VD this morning there was a short piece on the demographic makeup of a few selected places. I didn’t hear it all clearly as there was a lot of background noise in my house at the time. There, it seems, has been a large influx of foreigners since 2004 and a breakdown of this in various areas was mentioned. This is the bit that peed me off, apparently we (White Britons) are far more relaxed about all this diversity than we ever were. Well I’m not so am I out of step with my fellow countryman or is the BBC talking bull?

       15 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      if the BBC say ‘we’re all more relaxed about diversity’ often enough it will be so. Bit like global warming, really.

      As for the large influx since 2004, choose any graphic you like from here and you’ll see she’s lying through her teeth:

      https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=uk+immigration+1997+to+2010&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=0rbuUPvcKefZ0QXBtIHACA&sqi=2&ved=0CEkQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=755

      In other words there was a massive jump the year after Labour came to power.

         10 likes

      • Maturecheese says:

        I think VD was concentrating on the spike in mass immigration from 2004 on due to the additional Eastern European influx although I believe I heard other races mentioned in the statistics so it’s a bit obscure as to what she as getting at.. Clearly It matters not how many come here or what damage it does, the BBC will always support mass immigration and the incompatable cultures that come with it.

           4 likes

        • It's all too much says:

          The overpowering ( in the sense of 18 day dead herrings) BBC meme is that the joyous mass influx of ‘older, wiser’ cultures has enriched Britain beyond measure and brought unbounded delight and economic prosperity everywhere; and that the never mentioned gross immigration rate of 12,000 new britons per week (1.2 per minute) is entirely good and sustainable.

          Pity the population of Britain is so pig s**t stupid that it cannot see this.

          Beeboids know that parts of the ‘British’ population (the majority) are just too stupid and reactionary to really understand what they actually want and believe and it is up to the BBC to ensure that the correct views are assimilated.

             6 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          She is pushing Miliband’s propaganda, which is to admit ‘Labour got it wrong’ over mass immigration from Eastern Europe circa 2006, serving as a smokescreen for people from less compatible cultures from the Indian sub-continent and Africa which have been encouraged to come to Britain in their hundreds of thousands since Labour were elected.

             5 likes

    • Dave666 says:

      No one I know is “more relaxed” about immigration that’s a damn lie. I would take it that people answering the survey will answer in a certain way so they are not percieved to be “RACIST”. They would however answer in a different way if they talk to me knowing I’m not ANTI WHITE or ANTI ENGLISH.

         6 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      “Is the bbc talking bull”
      Well, yes and they know it. However they couldn’t give a toss. They see us mere ordinary plebs as insignificant. As is said above, the repetition, in time , of a lie will transform it into the truth in their minds.

         5 likes