Monthly Archives: October 2005

AL, of the blog Sir Humphrey’s, writes:

Hi there,

Two days ago I did a post on a series of photographs seemingly shown AP/Reuters photographer Bilal Hussein colluding with insurgents: link

It has already featured on LGF, Instapundit etc.

Now it turns out the BBC is broadcasting video featuring exactly the same “insurgent” actors and locations as part of an item claiming
insurgents have ‘taken control’ over several western Iraqi towns:
link

I will add Sir Humphrey’s to the blogroll. I assume the blog name is a reference to the character in the TV series Yes, Minister.

Sonnets on the subject of “Spring” may be submitted via the comments. I want proper rhyme, none of yer bleeding assonance.

Alternatively, you may just have time to follow the CBBC website lesson plan “Fair trade, fairer world poetry”

Students write a poem about a fairer future for Africa and enter them into a competition judged by Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson.

The competition that this BBC lesson plan promotes is sponsored by Divine Chocolate and Christian Aid. Some political and commercial sponsorship in the classroom is OK, then. And it’s good to see them dropping all that overdone paranoia about sweets and junk food. Anyway, you’ll be wanting to get started:

Read out the following explanation of fair trade to the class:

It is part of the Newsround guide to trade. Click on the link in the blue box for the full guide.

What is fair trade?

Fair trade is about making sure farmers get the best price for their crops in the poorer parts of the world.

Many organisations that do this are allowed to print the FAIRTRADE Mark on their products.

Sometimes the sense of dèjá vu I get from writing these posts is spooky. Blue box … Guide to trade … I have been … here … before. I have wondered what on earth the BBC was doing providing lesson plans before. I have wondered at the way the external links all push the same agenda before. In some past life, just as I did today, I have run a search of the CBBC website for the word “trade” and found an overwhelming assumption that buying and selling was something akin to injecting yourself with dangerous drugs, a basically harmful activity only to be done in dire need and with six carers and two policemen standing by.

Well, at least something has changed since my last visit. The “Guide to trade” now contains a new article: What are ‘sweatshop’ goods?

A sweatshop is a factory where the workers do long hours for low pay, they may have to work in uncomfortable or dangerous conditions.

In richer countries like the UK there are rules that protect workers from being treated badly or paid too little, but this is not the case in many of the countries we trade with.

Never mind that applicants queue up for prized factory jobs in Third World countries, because the people there rightly see them as a route out of poverty and vastly preferable to the quaint but miserable life of a subsistence farmer. Never mind that the economist Paul Krugman, scarcely a right-winger, has said that forcing Third World economies to pay Western wages and operate to Western environmental standards is a policy for good jobs in theory and no jobs in practice. The passage finishes with a statement that in its innocent ignorance would amaze me, only I am living my life in a BBC-induced time loop and don’t do amazement any more.

Lots of cheap clothing that’s sold in the UK is a good deal for the customers here, because making it was a bad deal for workers in the third world.

No, sweetie, not because. Every economist for the last three centuries might as well never have been born.

, this response by the editor of Panorama to complaints by the Muslim Council of Britain was correctly described by Melanie Phillips as “detailed and utterly robust.”

The Panorama programme concerned was A Question of Leadership shown on 21 August. I was away at that time so I didn’t see it. I wish I had.

, I was looking forward to enjoying And it’s Goodnight from Him – a Tribute to Ronnie Barker when on came the BBC London regional news, with the local weather forecast. Near the end of the forecast, the presenter, Peter Cockroft, came trotting out with:

“…and if you’re observing Ramadan, sunrise is at… and sundown is at…”

Good grief Peter! What about those of us who’re observing encroaching dhimmitude in the UK?

I’m quite sure that Muslims, still very much a minority (even in London, 8.5%, nationally 2.7%), are quite capable of following Ramadan’s strictures without you shoving it down our throats on the weather forecast!

Tell us Peter, what’s the forecast for Britain as we know and love it with people like you busy proselytising (however well intended on your part) on behalf of a minority religion? Stick to the weather, there’s a good chap.

I suspect, sadly, that Mark Steyn’s forecast, Making a pig’s ear of defending democracy, will prove accurate unless more people take a stand against this sort of nonsense.

found in this edition of (D)HYS: “Should Turkey join the EU?”

Here’s the original comment:

Of course Turkey should be allowed to join if they have met the conditions of membership. Why Turkey want to join is a mystery though, the EU is a non-democratic dinosaur created to satisfy France and Germany’s dreams of power.

Chris, UK

An edited version of this comment was one of those chosen to appear in a grey box as a featured quote. Here’s what it said:

Of course Turkey should be allowed to join if they have met the conditions of membership.

Chris, UK

(For what it’s worth, my own opinion on this issue matches that of a Turkish commenter called Arda: “Do you really believe that EU will last that long? I am doubtful.”)

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.

Biased BBC Satire: Which of the above screenshots doesn’t tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Watch How EUseless Are You? online here: Low-res./Hi-res.

Update: The excellent EU Referendum has followed up on this again.

, hero of British comedy from the BBC’s better days.

, they’ve introduced a new innovation from the world of focus groups – a so-called Perceptions Panel, whereby viewers dial a freephone number and use their telephone keypads to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction throughout each of the speeches by the various leadership contenders.

I can’t help but wonder why this interesting innovation has been held back until now though – wouldn’t it have been just as interesting to use it for Kennedy, Blair and others over the last fortnight too?

While we’re on the subject, take a look at the picture montage of the three party leaders on The Daily Politics page – looks like Howard’s been a victim of that special BBC picture selection treatment, again.

– since early on Saturday afternoon until at least lunchtime on Sunday the lead story under Wales on BBC News Online’s home page has been Luxury homes ‘killing’ community.

The story itself is mostly about comparing relative deprivation between different areas, and does not justify such a hyped up headline – no where in the story, for instance, does the word ‘killing’ appear, even though it’s used in the headline as if it’s a quote.

Whilst googling some background on this story I found a similar BBC story, dated Friday, headlined Poorest areas revealed by study – which is the sort of headline that I thought would be suitable for the alleged Luxury homes ‘killing’ community story. Imagine then my surprise when I clicked on the link from Google and found that they were actually one and the same story – albeit with a large dollop of Beeboid spinning in between to spin Friday’s original story about relative deprivation into Saturday’s spun story about ‘luxury’ homes killing a community!

You can compare Friday’s unspun version of the story, Poorest areas revealed by study, with Saturday’s Beeboid leftie spun version, Luxury homes ‘killing’ community, until Google’s cache is next updated.

Update: Now that Google’s cache contains a post-spin version of the story, here are before and after screen-shots showing how a leftie Beeboid gave this story a nasty spin (click pictures to see full-size):

Before: the original story

After: BBC spin applied