A whole article on the transformation of New York from 1970s bankrupt Democrat hell-on-earth to naughties Republican safe place to be, and only one, oblique, reference to Giuliani:
“Maybe some of the credit is courtesy of Mike Bloomberg, the coolly pragmatic tycoon and philanthropist, recently re-elected mayor after spending $60m (£34.3m) of his own money on his campaign.
Unlike his feisty predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, this mayor has a soothing style and is more willing to listen to opponents.”
Bloomberg is a crypto-Democrat, so he is only a little bit evil, it seems, unlike the wicked Giuliani, who locked up criminals (the horror!).
Strange how David “What I did was fail to comply with the law” Dinkins isn’t mentioned in the Beeb piece.
Presumably because he was a Democrat and inept and helped contribute to the city’s problems alluded to by Barron.
They`re starting early. Its going to be a Guiliani/Rice ticket in 2008 and the BBC will never come out on the side of small government and low taxes believing as they do in citizens as dependants of a Nanny Knows Best Government.
Remember, you pay for this.
NYC now (Tuesday) has a transit strike.
Back to hell-on-earth for a while…
OT, but the BBC’s “This day in history” section has a feature on council tenants being given the right to buy their homes back in December 1979:
http://tinyurl.com/8k93l
The format of these features is to have the story on the left (written as if it had just happened) and a boxout on the right which tells us what happened next, historically and objectively.
I am too young to remember this particular legislation, although I mentally associate it with the Thatcher administration. The boxout gives a thoroughly and uniformly negative spin on the story, with words such as “struggling”, “controversial”, “abused” and so forth. The impression I get is that the scheme was a total disaster of epic proportions; was this the case?
It was a brilliant success. Beeboids hated it, as it empowered the working classes and meant they were not dependent on middle class career bueaucrats to make decisions for them.
OT – did anyone watch the ITV News at 10:30 last night? I mention it because if it had been the BBC’s News, this page would have been lit up like a Christmas tree.
Firstly they started with a long report from Kashmir, focusing on the children who are facing freezing to death because of the harsh approaching winter, with the earthquake having demolished their homes. Lots of coverage of how Western countries aren’t helping enough. This was then followed by an interview with a chap from – eek! – the UN, who said that donors were dragging their heels and the result was people would die. None of this was contested. (I support their view, but I’m looking at this from your perspective).
Then they had an astonishingly critical report of George Bush and his “evesdropping on ordinary Americans” (their words). They selected some marvellous quotes that made Bush look rather stupid, uncaring and (especially) arrogant, used the links to openly question his opinions, and then had an uncontested interview with a Democrat Senator (who again I agreed with, but etc etc and so forth. Actually I’m just assuming most of the people on here agree with Bush, I don’t actually know).
But they saved the best for last. To cover the gay weddings in Belfast, they sent an openly gay reporter “who married his own boyfriend in Canada earlier this year” to give a “personal perspective” on the events. NO PRETENSE AT NEUTRALITY AT ALL. The only bit – and this is true – where they mentioned an opposing viewpoint is when the reporter asked one question to the leader of the SODOMY IS SIN-wielding protestors, and this was his question: “So, you think I’m a sinner, just like a rapist or a murderer?” I’d argue that’s a rather loaded question.
The reason I mention all this, I alluded to at the top. Imagine if just one of the things above (especially the third) had occurred on a BBC News bulletin, and not ITV. There would be apoplectic rage all over this blog. I would argue that in comparison to all three of these items appearing in the same broadcast, a debate over the BBC’s over-use of the word “plumber” seems rather moot.
Any thoughts? (I may be a student liberal mootbat, but I come in peace – it is Christmas after all).
Thom, it’s quite easy really. You’re not forced to pay on pain of imprisonment or a fine for the services of ITN while at the same time having a public mandate for impartial news coverage, on which the BBC pretty much fails.
Thom
The gist of this blog is not so much that its against media outlets taking sides – Its just that the BBC is publicly funded and is supposed to be politically neutral. At least ITN subjecs itself to the rigour of the market and i dont bhave to watch it or pay for it. We have to pay for the BBC whether we watch it or not but w ehave no say over its political bias.
Thom,
Oh and another thing – The preachy, holier-than-thou, patronising, we-are-on-the-side-of-the-angels, self righteousness of AL-Beeb is nauseating.
Nice spot. Guiliani’s uncompromising stance on law and order is a big piece of the puzzle. Then again, why force the public to cough up for a $2bn soapbox if you’re not going to use it to bash opposing povs.
OT — You’re a rabid Pakistani-born imam. You’ve seen Blair talk tough about terrorism, then you’ve seen the Briitsh govt. climb down from each and every one of its proposals. What are your conclusions about the UK, its lawmakers and its ripeness for conversion to Koranic law?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1943887,00.html
OT
‘Do you have a Christmas whine’ was meant to be one of the topics on a recent ‘World Have Your Say’, along with Iraq and a few other topics, but they didn’t get around to it for some reason.
But meanwhile it has been attracting a good deal of interest on the regular HYS. But they’ve taken it off the main HYS page so one has to search for it.
Point is, the top recommended comment was one complaining that the BBC had a friendly topic on Ramadan, but invited Chritmas ‘whines’.
The BBC must be gnashing its teeth.
Mrs Clinton for Pressie, a Christmas thought to gladden the heart of any leftie socialist loving liberal. Remember The Guardian letter campaign, write to the voters of the USA to tell them where they are going wrong. Wheel out the Democrat guns now. T
The BBC keeps repeating it so it must be true. Bush is in trouble, and more trouble, increasingly beleaguered and losing touch.
Expect to see more of cheesy Clinton smiles (Mr & Mrs) in all the the usual places for the next few years.
Guiliani might have done well for New York, but don’t forget Hilary was there as well, and Bush was responsible for the racsist response to Hurricane Katrina, at least that’s the sub text I get when I watch BBC TV.
As Thom says “noone noticed”! Proving the point that the market mechanism is self-correcting. ITN should notice their lack of viewers and correct before they run out of viewers and thus advertisers and thus money.
However the BBC can ignore public CHOICE as they are in the extortion funded sector.
The correct term for the Bloomberg is RINO.
Thom,
Yep, as the above have said – we don’t have to pay for ITV – and you are right,if it was the BBC we would have lit up like a christmas tree.
I find the ITV view is all over the place. (and that’s probably a good thing)
For instance they did a short report on the Bush speech on GMTV, I think yesterday, and I was surprised at how even handed it was. On the other hand Julian Manion’s moronic sanctimony often annoys me something awful. But at least I don’t have to pay for him, so it is easier to handle.
When Dinkins was Mayor, New York had a homicide rate of 2200 murders per year. More than twice the annual murder rate of the entire UK.
Rudi dropped that total to around 500 per year. Still not that great, but nowhere near as hideous as the years of the Dinkins slaughterhouse of lawlessness.
Not to mention his allowing his preferred ethnic group to rampage at will. Crown Heights anyone?
I wasn’t there but it sounds as if New York was like New Orleans foe a while, until Hurricane Guilina struck.
mrgriff,
If Rudi’s running for Pres in 2008, he’s definitely got my vote.