, many of the nation’s younger telly-taxpayers have been bemused this morning (and will be again tomorrow morning), because the usual fare of children’s holiday entertainment has been pulled from BBC2, to be replaced with continuous coverage of the World Athletics Championships 2005. Whoopee, not! If the BBC’s tedious sports coverage matters so much, why not drop the endlessly repeated CelebrityHomeCookingAuctionMakeover Show from BBC1 for a change and give us all a break from the irritating tunes, tired clichés and faux-drama therein? Still, going by the BBC’s past performance, it could have been a lot worse.
Turning away briefly from the issue of BBC bias
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Wonder which high level PA officials will get the nice ex Israeli houes with pools…..when I was in Gaza the slums were side by side with huge white houses belonging to the officials – paid for by the EU/USA by the way. Can we get Orla to go visit; ‘So Mrs Ararfart, only four bedrooms and three bathrooms? A small microwave? They did not leave the curtains? Damm those Israelis!’
If theres an endgame in all of this, what do the BBC want?
Why would they want lunatic muslim clerics to remain in UK?
Can anyone tell me just what a BBC inspired Britain would look like?
Like Iran? With only one broadcaster?
OT: Al-Guardian publishes yet another terror-lnked Islamonutter’s “op-ed” without bothering to tell anyone about the guy’s background:
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2005/08/11/al_qaeda_and_the_guardian.php
Why do they even bother to call themselves by a secular English name anymore? They should rename themselves The Jihad Times or The Shahid Tribute or something far more descriptive of what they really are.
OT
Check out this headline and first paragraph from the BBC.
“US demand pushes oil still higher
The US thirst for gasoline has helped push the oil market further into uncharted territory, as US prices soar above $66 a barrel. ”
Ooooh! Those evil Americans!
More America bashing from the BBC.
Here is the real story (with links to the BBC article and CNN)
http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/2005/08/britain-bbc-high-gas-prices-us-fault.html
Simon said
“Do I detect a teensy weensy bit of disappointment on the BBC that the space shuttle has come home safely? ”
I also detected the same sentiment. Typically,BBC people don’t like American hegemony and it unconsciously colours all their thinking.
The first major slavery business to affect the south coasts of Britain and Ireland (as well as other countries) was the Algerian search for Christian slaves.
The Today Programme on Radio 4 this morning (8.10am) had John Humphrys interviewing John Reid on (yawn) Iraq. As my hi-fi is having problems picking up FM stations I was listening via my TV and Freeview box (and I still ain’t paying, TVLA.)
The BBC screen caption was “8.10am interview with Dr John Reid on Iraq Constitution”
For some reason Humphrys launched into an attack on US forces for the ‘thousands’ of Iraqi civilians killed by them. This was followed by the the-war-made-London-a-target-theme.
I don’t make a habit of agreeing with government ministers, least of all ex-commie Defence Ministers but Reid was spot on when he described what Humphrys was doing as “a disgrace.”
The Today programme this morning:-
Stourton interviews a representative of Gourmet Gate. He was already guilty since he represents the employer, and must by BBC definition be wrong. But, what a bonus! The man is American, and with this to add on Stourton goes to town on Gourmet gate, who of course are solely to blame for what has happened.
The Today programme this morning:-
Humphreys interviews John Reid about the new Iraq constitution, or at least that was what it was supposed to be about. Instead Humphreys interrups Reid constantly with points lifted straight from the web pages of Stop the War/Respect. So, there was no constructive discussion in this prime-time slot on Today, just after 8am. It was thoroughly bad radio, and Humphreys should be reprimanded for (yet again) reducing an important discussion to the level of farce. Humphresys even tried to score cheap points by mentioning Robin Cook, whose funeral takes place today.
I note, yet again, that such an interview has never taken place with opponents of the war, such as Cook, Short, Kennedy etc.
The Humphreys piece with John Reid this morning was totally over-the-top. Especially his accusation that the Americans were killing thousnds nd thousnds of Iraaqis. John Reid ws hardly able to complete any of his sentences – Humphreys was in a full-on rant. As others have said, there was nil discussion of the Iraq Constitution – which is the real news right now.
Reid is one of the few ministers who have little problem taking on the likes of Humphries or Naughtie at Socialist Worker FM. It was indeed a measure of how low Humphries is willing to stoop by throwing the opinions of Robin Cook at Reid – it is Cook’s funeral today for goodness sake, this is not the time to be saying that “Robin Cook would have said blah blah whatever..”
It is quite a treat when there is a so called ‘business’ story thrown at one of the presenters of Today. This morning Stourton tackled the CEO of gourmet foods (supplier to British Airways)
Stourton doesn’t have a clue about the concept of a ‘business’. You know some of the basics. Of course the CEO of Gourmet Foods would love to be in the position of the BBC where he could force every airline to pay him an annual ‘meal licence’ that was guaranteed by Royal Charter for the next 10 years. Then he could welcome back his 600+ workforce with open arms and a pay rise.
Stourton seemed shocked that a loss making company would have to get themselves sorted out or go under (with the loss of everyones job). Rover cars a few years ago is a classic case in point. BBC supports the ‘promise’ of jobs for all utopia car production, and positively smears Phoenix who had a decent business plan but slick, cut back operation, less jobs. We’ve seen the result of backing the wrong horse there. Infact the left have back the wrong horse overall, communism/socialism, but they still bleat on with their daft ideas day in day out on Al-BBC
Infact the BBC is a relic of the past. We need at least a discussion of what the BBC is for and what it should do. The answer is something between what it does now and nothing. How come the Americans can get BBC on subscription ie by choice but I am forced to pay whether I watch or not?
Yes John-in-London, in the Today editorial room the Iraq quagmire grows, things are spiralling out of control, civil war threatens, infrastructure crumbles (funny they were saying that yesterday, last week, month and year and the years before).
Clive Davis mentions BBC bias in his latest article
http://www.techcentralstation.com/081205B.html
JiL “Especially his accusation that the Americans were killing thousnds nd thousnds of Iraaqis”
It is unfortunate that Reid did not have figures to refute Humphrys’ claim.
Reid really cannot have expected to be only questioned on the Iraqi political process.
Does anyone know what figures Humphrys was using?
Humphrys is a really stupid man if he thinks that his personal (& BBC) viewpoint does not shine through all his work.
Piss-poor BBC last again…
RADICAL PREACHER BANNED
http://www.sky.com/skynews/home
Last Updated: 10:33 UK, Friday August 12, 2005
BBC News…..?
Oh the joys of the cotton-wool wrapped public sector!
Here`s an interesting layout for a media watch type website
http://mediamatters.org/items/200508110002
Pity it failed to mention Sheenan’s family have all reputed her claims and called for her to stop in a press release the day before yesterday and she changed her story. In June last year she praised the prez; now having fallen in with Code Pink and the Crawford peace House (all really nutty nutters)she is savaging him.
Gate Gourmet viewpoint. You may say it is lies, tyical management etc but what if ti is true…why did the BBC not mention this?
“The workers took industrial action in response to the arrival of 130 seasonal workers • who we employ every summer to meet high demand during peak season • as an excuse to incite strike action. The full extent of the union’s role is being investigated
A second enhanced deal was tabled by Gate Gourmet but the union refused to allow the company to communicate the deal to their staff
Outdated and inefficient work practices are a key factor in Gate Gourmet’s current financial problems. These 1970s work practices include:
Staff are often paid a full day’s pay for half a day’s work
During peak production staff refuse to help colleagues on other work lines even when they are doing nothing themselves. Management are then forced to employ extra staff at over-time rates to complete orders
Outdated overtime rules allow staff to work their normal 8-hour shift but be paid for 12.5, paid for hours they do not do
Above market pay rates for below market productivity
Such working practices have no standing in today’s highly competitive industry. The recent loss of the major Virgin Atlantic contract was due to workforce inflexibility and therefore an inability to deliver a cost-competitive product. ”
Well done the TGWU – have you put another load of your members out of work?
Delete ‘reputed’ insert ‘repudiated’ in Sheenan post. Sorry
On today’s BBC1 6.00 news (11/8/05) the outside broadcast reporter repeatedly referred to this agreement as a ‘piece of paper’, as in (paraphrased) ‘will this [sneer] piece of paper be able to stop mistreatment’. He must have used the phrase ‘piece of paper’ 5 or 6 times in a couple of minutes. It was obvious he had decided to use this description before the broadcast
I’d say that the BBC are being racist here. They are inferring that those “dirty arabs” won’t keep their promises. Will they be as criticle of any future deals signed by the Palestinian Authority?
No (D)HYS on BBC yet. Sky have one up though..some comments
BA should sack all those who went on unofficial strike immediately to send a strong signal to the TGWU that they can’t arbitrarily effect the lives of over 70,000 passengers just on a whim. This might mean short term disruption but the long term effects would be beneficial.
Anon, Bournemouth, Dorset.
I work at Terminal 2 and deal with a lot of BA workers on a daily basis. I spoke to several BAA staff in the terminal pub last night who didn’t give a monkeys about the GG staff, they were happy to strike to get more hours in at the pub. If you ask me the whole thing is a farce.
Anon
Why should your national carrier be held to ransom by these industrial ‘terrorists’ who clearly have nothing but contempt for the passengers who pay their salaries?
Paul Walker, Australia
I think the TGWU should be held financially responsible for the losses incurred by BA and pay compensation to the disrupted travellers. It is disgraceful that they have taken this action and crippled BA who did nothing wrong. Once again, under a Labour government we are going back to the days of Unions do what they like regardless of common sense or law.
Richard Bang
Link to Sky have your say above
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30400-13409039,00.html
Sorry, BBC do have a DHYS up, some good comments there too….
I am stuck in Seattle. The Gate Gourmet staff who struck unofficially has only themselves to blame for losing their jobs and if the BA employees who struck in sympathy suffer a similar fate, they will only have themselves to blame. There is no justification for unofficial strikes by unionized workers. This is not the 1970s and it’s not France.
Anonymous, Seattle, WA
Over 1000 foreign journalists arrive for pullout
The organization with the most correspondents covering the disengagement is BBC, who received approximately 50 permits for journalists.
Our taxes our paying for 50 journalists to have a holiday. A holiday where they’ll be celebrating with the Islamic hordes that Gaza is about to become Judenrein. I imagine some of them are positively drooling at the prospect.
Barbara Plett, dry them tears!
Re Gate Gourmet – TGWU boss Tony Woodley was put under no pressure yesterday to explain the illegal strike action by his members at GG & BA.
Instead he was seen addressing a mass meeting of ex-GG staff, saying that they had done nothing wrong, but were the victims of American style union bashing.
When TGWU had been negotiating with GG & agreed a voluntary redundancy package, plus approaching mediation, how can Woodley tell the ex-staff that they are in the right? The BBC doesn’t ask.
Rob ” They are inferring that those “dirty arabs” won’t keep their promises”
Funny that this same human rights crowd are quite prepared to allow the “dirty arabs” & other totalitarian regimes, as members of the UN, to determine the foreign policy of the Coalition nations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4144792.stm
“Cleric Bakri barred from Britain”
The self-styled “sheikh”
He was given the title sheikh in last night’s bulletins (I think by Gardner).
We will have to see if a BBC edit has been sent out stripping him of his self-awarded title.
dan
The BBC keeps letting the TGWU spokesman put all the blame for its own members strike at BA on the owners/managers at Gate Gourmet. The union has failed to discipline the wildcat actions by Gate Gourmet staff, and is now putting nil public pressure on its BA baggage-handling members (also grossly overmanned.)
The TGWU does not need to exert pressure if the BBC puts nil pressure on the TGWU on behalf of the public who pay for the BBC to exist. John Humphreys shold hve been playing attack-dog on the TGWU this morning.
“Americans bad, unionists good” are the operative words at the BBC. They don’t care about the huge damage to BA or the disruption of the passengers. All thst pales into insignificnce when there are oppressed workers” to worry about.
2 entries found for sheikh.
sheik also sheikh ( P ) Pronunciation Key (shk, shk)
n.
Islam.
A religious official.
A leader of an Arab family or village.
Used as a form of address for such an official or leader.
sheik Slang. A romantically alluring man.
——————————————————————————–
[Arabic ay, old man, chief, from a, to grow old. See y in Semitic Roots.]
[Download Now or Buy the Book]
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
sheikh
n : the leader of an Arab village or family [syn: sheik, tribal sheik, tribal sheikh, Arab chief]
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
Explanation of action by BA staff
Some of the BA ground staff would also inevitably know Gate Gourmet workers personally, as Heathrow pulls in most of its core personnel from the surrounding London suburbs, and the airport’s workers are a close-knit community.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4144712.stm
A “close-knit community” that has experienced many years when they cannot be wrong or denied?
Ironically, by it’s lack of ‘attack dog’ treatment of union reps, the BBC will help them into an early redundancy. Unlike the BBC who have a guaranteed existence, many current & potential BA customers will be thinking twice before booking with BA again. I know I will. This will lead to less growth of the business, less jobs created and potentially future job losses. The BBC would never understand these links because they don’t exist in their world. Virgin, Easyjet etc will be delighted at picking up the ex-BA business. Good luck to em. That’s business.
Loyalty to country is trumped by loyalty to some wider tribe, and even basic loyalty to an employer and decency to the travelling public goes instantly out of the window when loyalty the local “community” is concerned.
After this week, a lot of people will avoid Heathrow like the plague.
Shouldn’t the BBC be reflecting the general public view rather than acting simply as an amplifier for the TGWU and some of the “local community”.
Just heard from my mate Richard. He’s stranded in Uganda because of the BA strike. Poor git. Not many places in the world I’d rather not be…
‘No tears shed’ on Bakri UK ban
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4145964.stm
?
What a biased report. Where’s Shami, our goddess of liberty? This man has rights!
🙂
lest we forget…..
On This Day – 12 August 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/12/newsid_3919000/3919515.stm
??????
Police in ‘Muslim’ ribbon gesture
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/4144368.stm
‘Muslim’ gangs target vulnerable
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4145198.stm
Never mind, when the police come to see me (an hour) after I have been beaten up, I’ll be glad that they’re wearing their green ribbons.
As predicted by Radio 4 Today prog last week…..it’s EU the Superpower!!!
French economy grinds to a halt
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4144680.stm
Eurozone growth near standstill
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4141122.stm
Er….what went wrong?
RE: On this day.
Apart from the departure of that hideously white dude and a liar, nothing has really changed.
Come on BBC, get real over TV licence
http://business.scotsman.com/media.cfm?id=1770022005
overall a pretty weak article but I like the penultimate para..
“Surely in an age of digital, multi-channel and satellite TV, the TV licence – sorry, the BBC licence – is an anachronism that’s clinging on by the fingers of tradition.”
Yes, indeed.
Grotesque increases in data levels
http://www.techworld.com/storage/features/index.cfm?featureid=1674
Interesting new technology, but what the hell is the BBC doing spending my hard earned cash developing video recorders????
Ritter,
The BBC forgot to mention the quite relevant fact that the EUs Lisbon accord thingy whereby bEurocrats would regulate the Eurowreck economy into “the most dynamic economy in the world”, looks like it will be a Euro style success.
Remember “one size fits all” made the USSR the success it is today.
Rob
Yep, we need our own UK version of FOX News to tell it like it is. Come on Sky News, we don’t need another BBC clone!
Talks Are One Thing
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165467,00.html
Rob,
The USSR ceased to exıst some years ago. It was the excessively swift and all encompassing liberalisation imposed following the USSR’s collapse by blinkered market ideologists that has made Russia such a success that half the population pines for Communism.
Ritter, there’s nothing stopping a UK Fox news except the British people’s aversion to being fed unmitigated sh*te.
rb “Ritter, there’s nothing stopping a UK Fox news except the British people’s aversion to being fed unmitigated sh*te.”
Except the distortion to the market caused by the force funded, highest staffed news operation in the free world.
the force funded hıghest staffed blah de blah provides sport and entertainment too. hasn’t stopped the success of Sky. İsn’t the issue that us Brits are a little too sophisticated for the crap churned out by fox? İf we want comic style ranting and ‘analysis’ we already have the worlds most amusing tabloid press.
And the legal requirement for broadcast channels to be ‘balanced’ – as judged by Lefty quangocrats – and don’t think the Beeb hasn’t used these regulations in the past to nobble FOX:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3805691.stm
Whilst reviewing The Daily Ablution, I came across a wonderful term applied to the BBC’s recent output: Islamocoddling. And just watching the 6 o’clock on the BBC and the report on the funeral of Robin Cook, there was inserted a mention of how RC worked with the “Muslim community ….”. This is getting a bit much. Why did the BBC not mention Cook’s work (if any) with the Hindu community, or the Sikh community? Is it because these latter groups are not hell-bent on killing anyone who disagrees with them?