. Here, shorn of the odd rude word, is commenter Ritter’s view on this BBC story by Hugh Schofield: Sarkozy’s tough talk misses mark
His analysis is summarized thus: Sarkozy is a right winger. Therefore he is wrong or in Hugh’s words “out of kilter” with public opinion. Chirac & de Villepin are to the left of Sarkozy. Therefore they have got it right.
Hugh’s analysis is contradictory. He asserts that, even if the majority of the French public support Sarkozy’s line on the Paris riots, actually they don’t really because deep down, they are socialists!
“Even if a majority believe hardline measures to be necessary to quell the disturbances, most French also have hot-wired [He means hard-wired. Hot-wired is what criminals do to make stolen cars go. Sounds like a Freudian slip – NS] into them a deep sense of social justice.
They expect a certain tone from their leaders – one that recognises there may be an “issue” at stake, and “underlying causes” to be tackled. They actually quite like the “langue de bois”. “
Really?
Not that Hugh knows what the facts are regading what the public think, as he doesn’t reference any recent polls on French public opinion to support his ‘analysis’. And actual ‘facts’ like that could spoil his story. This isn’t any actual analysis going on here. This is a news ‘event’ being passed through the painfully predictable BBC ‘world-view’ prism [left wing = good, right wing = bad]. Sadly this passes for ‘analysis’ at the BBC.
Hugh ends his analysis on a confident note:
“So for once, Mr Sarkozy finds that his tough-talking is out of kilter with the national mood, which urgently wants a return to quiet and knows that the best way of getting it is if the government makes the right kind of gestures.
That’s it, I’m off down the bookies to put money on Sarkozy being the next French President……
Congratulations to the AEP for tackling this issue so throughly. UK media analysis of US politics is hoplessly naive and ill-informed. It’s like they actually receive Democratic party talking points via RSS and simply pump them on air combined with an obvious lack of knowledge of even the simple structure of the US separation of powers.
OT
Interesting interview with Galloway by Noel Thompson on Northern Ireland TV programme “Hearts & Minds”.
Galloway doesn’t know anything about any oil money received by his wife, but he started off categorical that any money would not be a gift (subject to declaration in the HofC register of intersts), but research funding for her work on depleted uranium. (he seemed to backtrack on this certainty later in interview)
He is also caregorical in his support of the Iraqi resistance against military occupation.
See programme at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/heartsandminds/index.shtml
Spotted via reciews at
http://atangledweb.typepad.com/
From Andrew’s comment “obvious lack of knowledge of even the simple structure of the US separation of powers.
Displayed again on last night’s BBC1 6pm News where lack of action on climate change (for BBC, this means excusively not signing on to Kyoto) is all the fault of Bush. They never mention that the final decision over Kyoto rests with Congress & that the Senate voted 95-0 against Kyoto under Clinton.
Breaking News on the BBC “Muslim Graves Overturned” If only the same attention was paid when the same happens to Christian and Jewish graves all over the country every week. Do they ever interrupt their broadcast with breaking news then? Does it even get reported at all?
Oh and Deepcut, because the soldiers weren’t convicted yesterday they are going for that now full pelt instead.
And has anyone reported about the three shootings in Huddersfield last week, (within half a mile of each other within half an hour, the local police say they aren’t related)? No.
File under “Dhimmis continued breathing annoys Muslims”.
Did anybody catch the full interview on “Today” this morning of a celebrated 80-year old Argentinian artist whose work is a contributory part of the anti-Bush demonstrations in Argentina. After the obligatory anti-Americanisms, the artist explained that other “work” of his is anti-Christian and, if I understand him correctly – the interview was not critical or penetrative in any way (surprise!) – this is because the bible is full of evidence of the nastiness of God. The artist was not asked and gave no indication that the koran and Islam (nor various more earthly regimes) might merit the artist’s attention in the same way.
OT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4406096.stm
Tory Leadership
I thought it was a great event.
I must say however, i found the accusation that Cameron was blairesque a bit rich, given that Davis has been back stabbing, smearing and undermining him for the past month.
Very blairesque himself wouldnt you say?
I think really, what it demonstrates is just how much of a threat Cameron is.
Still think he’ll win.
OT.
“New bird flu outbreaks hit Asia”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4405670.stm
Asia in this context is China/Vietnam.
Quote from “Muslim graves destroyed in city”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4406760.stm
“Last month riots involving Asian and black youths took place in nearby Lozells, sparked by a claim that a 14-year-old black girl had been raped”
So were the Chinese involved! oh my god!
Piss poor reporting. Thats like reporting a riot between Muslim and Italians as “a riot between Muslims and Europeans” which we know from the BBC could also mean Russia.
I wonder if the reporters are trained?
It always makes me laugh when I read of Euro-trash slamming Americans as being “ill-informed”.
You often hear things like, “Well you know that over 80% of Americans don’t even have a passport…”
This is meant to portray them as being hopeless boobs who know nothing. Unlike our own passported population who spend most of their time vomiting over their Spanish hosts as they fornicate (or SHAG) in public.
However, the real clincher is reading our MSM, when it rapidly becomes clear that they are totally ignorant about Americans and US politics.
They don’t even know the role of the US constitution. They think George Bush is a conservative, and that Ted Kennedy is to be taken seriously.
Totally agree Rob. It’s wrong to tar all Asians with the same brush. Asia is a large and diverse continent stretching from the Med to the Pacific
rim.
When the Thai press reported last month’s Birmingham race riots said Asian youths involved were from SOUTH Asia. This gives the reader a better idea of where the people involved came from and is far more honest than the BBC’s reporting
BTW I am appalled that the BBC is cutting its Thai service in favour of broadcasting to the Arabs. So the BBC thinks a Muslim Arab is more important than a Buddhist Thai, do they?
They obviously have to correct the inate bias of the British people who were happy to donate to tsunami stricken Thais but less so when an earthquake struck in terror spawning Kashmir.
There was a comment as to the reason being Kashmir was “not on the tourist map”. It used to be, until of course Kashmiri terrorists started beheading Western tourists.
Jack Bauer
On 80% of us not having passports, I wonder if it’s ever considered that maybe it is because many of us aren’t too keen on flying rather than us being ignorant or uniformed. Because unless we go to Canada or Mexico, we have to fly everywhere else in the world and that’s just too expensive and time consuming for a lot of average working folks. People also assume that just because the USA is the richest country in the world, we all have tons of money coming out our ears. I wish. If that were the case I wouldn’t need my job.
I’ve always assumed that it’s becasue America is just so damn big, you know? There’s such a variety of culture and landscape within the lower 48 that most people simply don’t feel the need to travel abroad. And if they want to experience snooty Frenchness, they just have to visit Quebec. 🙂
That was my impression of things anyway.
We don’t need passports to go to the usual places we visit: Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean.
Archonix
You’re right. That is definitely another reason. And because America is so big, I won’t be surprised if I die before I get a chance to see it all. Pretty sad, huh?
Susan
Are you sure we don’t need a passport to Mexico? A friend of mine at church recently had to have one when traveling there, if I’m not mistaken. But maybe it was because she took a plane.
Wow, what a hate-fest the beeb was having this morning on the Today Programme! They couldn’t get enough of mentioning Bush’s troubles, and then shamefully publicised the new book of a former British ambassador to Washington. (He trots out the notion that terror is all caused by the West’s involvement in Iraq.) Then the beeb gets to the real nitty gritty just to catch the football crowd and cites Maradonna’s calling Bush an assassin. Stay tuned. You’ll hear some indirect slagging off of America from the latest version of the Big Ears and Camilla Show. By the way, anybody know who is paying for the “royal” tour? Is it via some sort of compulsory levy like a certain licence fee I won’t mention?
the bbc in an effort of mutual plagarisation referred to the rioters of paris as “the young people.” this went on for a few days before they became something else.
sorry i meant both the bbc and cnn were at it.
Big Mouth “Maradonna’s calling Bush an assassin”
Well Maradonna knows the way to rehabilitation by the BBC.
I’m sure the Scarfacelike cocaine abuse, the (former) obesity & the hand of god can all be overlooked now he is onside with the Bushbashing agenda.
Denise,
Well it has been a while since I visited Mexico. But I got through with a copy of my birth certificate last time I went. Same for the Caribbean.
As for Canada, when you drive over the border from Washington, the “screening” basically consists of someone asking you: “Are you a nice person? Okay, come right in!”
Do you get Fox News in the UK? For those of you who might not know this, we have a channel here in the states called BBC-AMERICA and it shows all types of news and programs from your country. I like the gardening shows and “are you being served”