I managed to get through last night’s lamentable BBC2 How Euro Are You? programme, but only just, and what a dreadful waste of time it was, except as fodder for this blog.
As usual for the BBC, the term ‘Europe’ was used throughout instead of ‘EU’, nicely conflating two quite separate concepts – one a continent, the other a political organisation. The show was presented by Andrew Marr, a serious reporter, and Dara O’Briain, apparently a comedian.
It’s a pity that Marr and No’Brain got their roles mixed up – Marr clearly ended up as a comedian for getting involved with such tosh, whereas No’Brain was seriously unfunny throughout – especially with his numerous smart-alecky slots supposedly debunking ‘tabloid myths’ about Europe. He did however serve as a useful reminder about, though it wasn’t mentioned in the show, just how well Ireland has done out of the EU – even though comparatively rich these days, the Irish got the most per capita out of the EU15 in 2004.
Near the beginning of the show Marr proudly announced:
Marr: “We’ve got a panel who hold very different views on this subject, now, quite deliberately, because you hear politicians banging out about all of this all the time it is going to be a politician free zone”
…and then went on to introduce various contributors, including one Julia Gash, introduced in the following exchange:
Marr: “Julia Gash, you’ve got a lingerie company, and you trade, er, or you used to trade a great deal inside the rest of the EU. What do you feel about the Euro? Is it something that really helps you, does Europe help you as a businesswoman?”
Gash: “Absolutely, if I’m going to be buying collections in say, from Paris, I want to know what that’s going to cost when they actually go on sale in my shop, and I want to know it’s gonna be the same price throughout seasons. With the fluctuations in the exchange rate you can’t do that, except all the countries within the European Union who have the Euro can, which is why they don’t come to Britain to buy any more. So, having run an export led business, recognising how harmful it was for us not to have the Euro, I now recognise how good it would be for business, it’s just making it easy, making trade simpler, and trade at the end of the day is what made Britain great”.
Marr then introduced Bridget Rosewell, who does know about business and economics, and asked her:
Marr: “Isn’t what Julia said, about the practical business case for the Euro almost unanswerable?”
Rosewell: “The business case for the Euro, ‘would we all like to trade in one currency?’ is fine, but it might as well be the Dollar or the Chinese currency and so on. We’re an international completely global city and a global country, so I don’t think it’s about the Euro, and I think the big issue, I used to be very pro-Euro, pro-EU, and all the rest of it, I think Europe’s great, but the EU stinks”.
Marr: “Julia?”
Gash: “No, over 50 percent of our exports goes to Europe, so it makes sense, if you are going to have an international currency, we are working in a global marketplace, so we need these big currencies to actually trade effectively, it makes sense for it to be the Euro, we’re more aligned with the economies than any other country, I mean, I live in Sheffield, and the Yorkshire economy will be very different say to that in Kent or Cornwall, but actually, as a whole, we’re more similar say to Italy or France, despite the differences that do exist”
Marr: “Okay, well a big range of opinion, we’re going to hear a lot more from all of you later on…”.
As you can see, Gash had a lot to say about Europe and the EU, and Marr gave her plenty of time say it, unlike Rosewell, who barely got started laying in to the EU before Marr was back to Julia for a nonsensical John Prescott style rebuttal from her. It’s a pity he didn’t follow up Rosewell’s point quite so assiduously – e.g. “So Bridget, why does the EU stink?”!
What we weren’t told, though the BBC are very well aware of it, having had Gash on before, is that she’s a big-time Liberal Democrat activist and wannabe-MEP! So much for Marr’s “politician free zone”! The other thing we weren’t told is that Gash’s lingerie business, that which qualifies her to speak as the voice of business, amounts to a supposedly upmarket sex shop and an accompanying website (beware dodgy pictures)! One of the times I recall seeing Gash on the BBC before was on BBC LDN (as their London regional programme pretentiously styled itself then), at a second Gash store, in a puff-piece on London’s “first permanent Eurozone” in Kingly Court, near Carnaby Street – which was also featured on BBC News Online, where Gash gushed:
Now that 10 more countries will be joining Europe on 1 May, there’ll be lots more tourists who will be coming to London with Euros in their pockets.
Strangely though, the London store is no longer listed in the phone book, nor does it appear on Gash’s website or in the Carnaby.co.uk map of the area (Kingly Court, 2.3). Perhaps London’s ‘first permanent eurozone’ wasn’t quite the success it was supposed to be for Gash.
Unlike the BBC though, Gash’s profile on her own web site is honest about her background:
Julia Gash, 41, is the founder and designer of Gash lifestyle brand. Originally from Nottingham, she studied in London and Brighton before moving to Sheffield in 1990 where she still lives. She is also involved in British and European politics and is well known for her pro European and liberal views. She represented the Liberal Democrats in the European Elections in June 2004.
Julia writes a monthly column in Exposed Magazine (see Advice from the Gash Girls) and has a weekly phone-in radio show called Sunday Night Sex on Hallam FM.
Eve Magazine has rated her as one of the world’s top sex and relationship experts and Cosmopolitan (May 2004) gave Julia a “sex salute” in recognition of “her services to womankind”
– even if the photo looks more like “Julia Gash, 27”, rather than 41!
There’s so much more that could be written here about the BBC’s EUseless How Euro are you?, but life’s too short, both for reader and writer! For more on the programme see EU Referendum’s In the gutter.
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Watch How EUseless Are You? online here: Low-res./Hi-res.
Update: The excellent EU Referendum has followed up on this again.
is it government by the people and for the people?
well the eu certainly does not think so.the great majority of the eu population is against the entry of turkey.bugger them say the elected leaders.
what on earth is jack straw doing pushing turkish entry when he knows that the electors are not on-side?
The Today Programme.
Was it just me, or did I hear twice on the programme this morning a presenter clearly stating that “Ken Clarke was right on Iraq”? I see this is now accepted wisdom at the BBC. Still, if you listen to Caroline Hawley’s reports you just couldn’t come to any other conclusion could you? Your average Guardian reader and Question Time audience member may want Ken Clarke for leader, but I will not vote for a party led by Clarke, and I predict that if he becomes leader he will tear the Conservative party asunder.
Elsewhere we had Humphreys interviewing John Reid. As ever, Humphreys immediately got bogged down in trying to catch out Reid on troop numbers going to South Afghanistan – is it 6,000, 5,000, 4,000, 3,000, 3,500, 3,643, 3, 643.9 recurring etc etc. Reid stated that this was to be decided but wouldn’t be as high as stated in the media. Tiresomely, Humphreys returned to the numbers game, and eventually Reid put a stop to the nonsense by asking himself a question that he thought people might like answered. I kid you not – cutting out the middle man worked very well. Still at the end, the frankly useless Humphreys returned to the attack with the “it’s all gone wrong in Afghanistan since we still have to send troops there” line. Why does Humphreys and his ilk simply assume/accept that what we are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq is wrong, MUST be wrong?
A minute ago, we have Humphreys asking a question of Hilary Benn that just about sums up the Today programme – “Wouldn’t the money spent on Iraq have been better spent on debt relief in Africa?”. The telling point is that Humphreys and his ilk would never ask the reverse question.
Finally over to the Conservative Party conference, to interview a couple of people. Which Tory experts will we have joining St James of Smug? Why, Rory Bremner and Steve Bell of course, those stalwarts of the centre right, who then go on to rubbish the leadership candidates in a way that will have your average Guardian/Indy reader rolling in the aisles. How I laughed!
emma jane kirby of the bbc seems to think that the idea of turkish entry into the eu is a cause for joy.
hey emma the electors who pay your license fee do not bloody want turkey to be invited in.
the bbc insists over and over again that “more then 50% of europe’s population do not want turkey.”
ok here are the figures:
germany 80% against
france 80% against
austria 90% against
britain 60% against
i do not have the figures for the rest of europe but maybe somebody else has?
clearly the “more then 50%.” is misleading.
ok ireland is also against but that is because they do not want to share all those freebies with anyone else.
they may be 100% against.
of course turkey will never make it.they have been told to wait 15 years and use the back entrance the next time they call.
so why all this waste of time?and all the preening?
well the elite in europe will do everything to escape the charge of racism.
as far as austria is concerned they do not forget that the turks camped outside the gates of vienna for something like 50 years.
the last attack by turkey on vienna was in 1683.i hope that the beautiful and tall austrian foreign mimister does not forget.
thanks to andrew for the piece on marr etc.the fact is that the bbc supports the eu and will do anything to push its vile views down our throats.
Anybody see ‘Europe’s Lost Civilisation’ last night? Basically a puff piece by Raggi Omar on the ‘tolerance’ of the Moors of Al Andalus. As a muslim, after 500 years of conquest, he was ‘sad’ that the native Spanish had reclaimed their country, but ‘proud’ of what the Moors had done. No mention anywhere of the dhimmi status of christians and jews, which made his gushing praise either misinformed and incomplete or simply dishonest.
see
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/004296.php
for a debunking of a further example of the type.
Dan writes:
“As a muslim, after 500 years of conquest, he was ‘sad’ that the native Spanish had reclaimed their country, but ‘proud’ of what the Moors had done.”
No doubt this programme was the first in a series, in which white South Africans, Rhodesians, Kenyans etc will be grieving at the loss of empire?
No? I thought not…
The tragedy is that the BBC mindset doesn’t disagree with this inversion – it simply doesn’t recognise the existence of an opposing point of view.
All i know is that they tried to soften people up by crossing comedy with politics…which i suppose is true because half the time its a joke..
But more interestingly was the newsnight show on Monday night 3 Oct.
When they had a panel of the public and asked them who they would vote for as leader of the Conservatives.
At first they were all divided, but after they had heard all of the candidates speak.
David Cameron won hands down, everyone voted for him..
He will be the next Prime Minister.
I rest my case, Cameron is on the way…
Change is coming, forget Clarke and Davis. Cameron will win the leadership battle and he will go on to be the PM.
I also watched the awful Euro programme. I also noticed how the pro-Euro Gash got to put her case and rebut the sceptic. Not the other way round, naturally.
They made a great play about how we could play along at home. However, despite having all the statistics of who voted for what where, they decided not to give us the results of the British views. I wonder why?
The only person on there who talked any sense was Hitchens, although Blair’s ex-Downing St guy was pretty solid. Hitchens correctly pointed out that the category “Little Islanders” was rather defamatory. “World Citizens” would maybe be more appropriate?!
I liked it when (another BBC favorite) Armando Ianucci went off message and started saying he was having second thoughts about the EU, as well as the Asian chap whose name I can’t remember. He got back on message before the end of the programme though!
The worst part was, as Andrew says, the confusion of Europe and EU. There was one question as to whether we considered Poland and Slovakia part of Europe! Errr, they are in Europe!! They were in Europe before Marr was born, they will be in Europe after Marr is dead and buried….. all that was missing was the question “Why isn’t Switzerland part of Europe?”
Actually, I think the average Guardian reader wants the Tories to lose, and considering Ken Clark would be the person most likely to lead the Tories to an general election victory I think all those lefties would be delighted to see Davis or Fox become leader.
Actually, I think the average Guardian reader wants the Tories to lose, and considering Davis or Fox would be the person most likely to lead the Tories to an general election victory I think all those lefties would be delighted to see Clarke become leader.
Still Cameron will be victorious, i;m not even saying this out of personal preference.
Facts speak louder than anything.
New Labour fear him most, no matter what they do to try and smear him or supress him, he will win.
Clarke would be a waste of space, Davis likewise.
Anyhow, what also makes me laugh is tonight apparently there is some documentary of sorts on BBC about the Blairs, and how they are “different”
give me a break, do they really think people are going to fall for that one?
“We’re different, honest”
She wears the trousers and he blurts out her spiel, nothing new there, just wish they stopped trying to pretend otherwise..
OT
i do find it rather amusing or not that this whole topic has taken up half of this page, thereby pushing everything important out?
Funny that..
All Labour has to do is say the words `Davis` and `right-wing` and and they’re already halfway to another election victory. Ditto with Fox.
When will the Tories learn that the British public will always go for what they perceive to be the most moderate option, with a few exceptions (1945 especially), whether or not that option leans to the left or the right.
Heard this on the radio yesterday.
Climate to increase British flies
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4304934.stm
Ever been to France or Spain or any other country generally hotter than Britain? Do they cope with their fly population? Of course they do. What a pathetic report.
Anonymous (posting from a well-known Europhile newspaper): “i do find it rather amusing or not that this whole topic has taken up half of this page, thereby pushing everything important out?”
Not quite. If you were paying attention you’d have noticed that B-BBC is set up to always display the 16 most recent posts. Furthermore, most folks around here seem to reckon the EU and the BBC’s misrepresentation of it are quite important, if the comments are anything to go by.
Hank
“When will the Tories learn that the British public will always go for what they perceive to be the most moderate option”
So moderate milk-stealing hectoring free market zealot Margaret Thatcher was a “most moderate” success compared to “sunny” Jim Callaghan?
The fact that the BBC can still find supporters of the Euro, shows how hard they try to back the cause.
No-one remotely sentient could possibly still believe the Euro is a good idea. Even Ken Clarke has back tracked.
David Cameron was excellent, a great speech, but you had to feel sorry for him in a way, all that muted applause for his ideas of “social justice”, total anathema to the old fogies in the audience (how desperate were the BBC cameramen to find a young face in that ancient crowd!)
If the Tories show the good sense to pick Cameron as leader I’d even contemplate voting Tory myself.
No, I shouldn’t go too far.
Great work Andrew.
If you dont mind I will use that information for another official complaint.
Did you notice how Marr gave second “last word” to Stephen Wall (I think) because Hitchens was smart enough to say it was optimistic to become an independent country again and rubbished the “small island” myth?
Gosh Miss Gash! Is this the birth of a star? Nice bit of eye candy, your website. Not to be linked I presume to anything at the bbc. Want some career advice? Deny you had anything to do with the beeb. Then deny it another 25 times. Most tabloidy programme in years. What does this say about the beeb view of the licence payers? Duh, but before further comment I need to see it a few hundred more times. Some of the deep stuff from the big comedian guy was just a bit beyond me. Talk to you later.
Julia Gash! What a name for the proprieter of a lingerie business.
Flashing the Gash on your blog could get you listed as a porno site. Surely your hit rate doesn’t require a boost? Her name must be a soubriquet surely? A naughtie knickers vendor called Gash? Business woman? I’ll bet she is!
Sorry person of choler – you beat me to it. I was typing as you posted!
Cameron,Cameron,Cameron!
See the results of “How Thick Are You” here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/how_euro_are_you/4283580.stm
I think the reason why they didn’t show the results was because they had overdone the fix and got ludicrous, patently false results.
57% were in the most pro-European category? Round objects!
The only possible explanation was that the questions were designed to give such an answer and that answer could then be presented as pro-European = Europhile. Round objects, I say again.
I gave up after 5 minutes of the moronic rubbish being spouted. A “Bliar” luvvy and an irish “comedian?”, says it all really! But why do we have to pay on penalty of criminal sanction. I did wonder how much EU money ( ie ours) had been given to the BBC for their advert.
Andrew
Good work. The BBC has long (deliberately) conflated ‘Europe’ and the ‘EU’. They’re not alone in that. To oppose the Communist Party was to be dubbed unpatriotic. Well screw the, I’ll continue to be a ‘Little Islander’ while taking frequent visits to the various nations of the continent of Europe. The only person to emerge with any real credit from that idiotic programme was Peter Hitchens. As usual he was forethright and hit the nail on the head. I wished he’d walked off at one point.
Hank Scorpio
You are a liberal, hence no-one gives a toss what you think of the Tory leadership. By stating that the British always go for the moderate option and that you felt sorry for Cameron because of muted applause for his ideas on ‘social justice’ shows you do not know the British. You sound like the recent product of an ex-polytechnic. ‘Social justice’ is an alien, a nonsensical and anti-British bucket of tosh. It means theft by the state of individual property under the guise of ‘redistribution’ and an usurpation of the British values of justice, honour and fair play with a corrupted and politicised judiciary. If I were in the hall when Cameron mentioned ‘social justice’ I’d have given him the five knuckle shuffle before walking out. The Conservative Party is the natural party of government in Great Britain. It has been in office for some 75 out of the last 100 years. It did not achieve that record by elucidating such drivelling, vapid, empty-headed, anti-British nonsense as ‘social justice’. It did so by being a Conservative Party. When it decides to be a Conservative Party again it will begin to win elections, whoever is leader.
There is going to be an independent investigation into the BBC’s reporting of the Israel/Palestine conflict.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4300000/newsid_4305400/4305482.stm
Apparantly, they will be taking account of letters of complaint, submitted by viewers.
57% were in the most pro-European category? Round objects!
What they don’t tell you (like any honest corporation would) is how on earth the scores are weighted so that the well-known displeasure at the EU (is it 40%+ want to leave right away?) becomes a majority for ‘all things European’ …… at the end Marr was keen to say it was ‘not scientific, just a bit of fun’ but why did they get ICM to do the questions if they weren’t serious?
sorry to be a cereal poster but
“Now that 10 more countries will be joining Europe on 1 May, there’ll be lots more tourists who will be coming to London with Euros in their pockets. ”
None of the 10 new countries actually use the Euro (yet). Maybe this fundamental misunderstanding cost Gash thousands? Who can tell.
At one point in the programme she said “supernatural” when she meant “supranational”. A Freudian “slip” maybe?
Pete_London
I’m with you.
Justice is the application of laws. What are the “Social Laws” which are to be applied by “Social Justice”.
It is an empty phrase which gives many people who hear it a warm feeling and is just a con trick.
D. Burbage:
“sorry to be a cereal poster but”
It’s OK as long as you are not corny or flakey.
Julia Gash! What a name for the proprieter of a lingerie business.
My thoughts exactly as well! Almost as good as the late Roman Catholic prelate of Manilla, Cardinal Sin.
so we are agreed that it was
rather rash
of julia gash
to give lingerie a bash.
It should be borne in mind that Gramscian theory requires the undermining of the great institutions of a country as a precondition to its collapse and takeover by neo-marxism. One of the great institutions of the UK is HM’s Opposition and all one hears is Gramscian clap-trap from David Cameron, Francis Maude and the likes of John Bercow with their demands for ‘modernisation’.
THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT CONSERVATIVES but they do get a lot of air-time from the BBC.
I think that the BBC may have ditched Ken Clark for David Cameron. After all, would that Newsnight recording showing a group of voters favouring Cameron have been broadcast if Liam Fox or David Davis had won.
Was anyone able to stomach BBC1’s “The Lost Civilization” last night? More “we love terrorists” tripe, banging on about how Islam brought civilization, toothpaste, sewage systems to Europe in the middle ages! Oh yes, didn’t you know that “while London was still a bunch of mud huts overlooking the Thames”, those wonderful peaceful Muslims brought Spain out of the Neolithic Era! What utter garbage.
Yes, well said, Pete_London.
Personally I think that the group of 25 Conservative MP’s calling themselves “The Cornerstone Group” (http://cornerstone.blogs.com/)
are heading in the right direction.
After “How Euro Are You” and the diabolical piece of garbage that was “Europe’s Lost Civilisation” last night, I realised that every time I watch the BBC I develop the sudden urge to vomit profusely. I’m going to have to get rid of my telly; this cannot continue.
I thought the Romans brought sewage systems to Europe.
OT
The Daily Ablution is back.
http://dailyablution.blogs.com/the_daily_ablution/2005/10/fewer_flags_mor.html
BBC license-payers will be ecstatic upon learning of their commissioning of the opus – “thought to have been partly inspired by Pinter’s reaction to events in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay” – as part of a Radio 3 celebration of the playwright’s birthday. The piece, which is being billed as “the language of torturers and the tortured … set to a haunting radiophonic score” is, judging by the Independent’s account, most notable for the inclusion of “repeated uses of the term ‘motherf*cker'”.
Soon to come on BBC: how Islam destroyed the Byzantine civilisation of Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and North Africa; the Persian civilisation of Iran; brought the sword to India, Afghanistan and Mongolia. Oh yes – and Raggi Omar on the Lost Civilisation of Visigothic Spain -shattered by: Who was it again? Or not, as the case may be. Anyone would think the BBC was anti-European…
Time to step up campaigning.
Time to cause financial damage to the BBC to the tune of the License fee every year.
Persuade a relative/friend not to pay.
If you have friends in flats/ premises where the TV is out of prying eyes tell them how to avoid paying. Make sure they know you don’t pay rip up the TVLA letter in front of them!
Indeed, the Byzantine Empire would more authentically qualify as Europe’s Lost Civilization rather than al-Andalus.
Miss Gash isn’t married to Bibal Patel that well known serial ‘Muslim expert’ appearee and Have Your Say poster by any chance?
The EU needs us more than we need them. Miss Gash with her 50% trade etc. Round objects – all our exports that go in ships which happen to touch in Rotterdam to pick up more containers for example are classed as EU exports even though they are bound for far away places of the old Empire! If we really dug I’m sure we’d find that the vast majority of our trade is actually with the New World and Old Empire rather than the EU!
Not sure if anyone has commented on this yet:
British mull discarding flag to avoid offending Muslims
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/008420.php
Joerg,
It’s being discussed currently at Samizdata along with the Piglet Jihad. Why not go over there and discuss it and leave the comments section here for BBC matters? (although I’m quite sure that the BBC thoroughly approves of replacing the Cross of St. George with a nice Crescent of Embrace.)
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/008108.html
Susan, I didn’t want to discuss it here… it’s also being discussed on the jihadwatch.org forum. I just wasn’t sure if anyone on here had already read about this. You probably won’t read about it on the BBC website (which is more proof of their bias).