with this sympathetic story of Christians in Iran. Commerce and security matters are newsworthy, but what about those who suffer? Why the silence?
The Guardian surprises
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with this sympathetic story of Christians in Iran. Commerce and security matters are newsworthy, but what about those who suffer? Why the silence?
Blunkett interviews Humphrys on R4 “Today”.
The Telegraph reports Humphrys’ answer to why he interviewed BBC journalists in a different manner than politicians.
Humphrys said journalists (actually BBC journalists) were “not trying to sell us something”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/30/utoday.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/12/30/ixportaltop.html
Humphrys went on to say that BBC people were independent experts.
Whole interview at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/
(It includes Humphrys again stating that the reaction to his exchange with Gilligan (the minor matter of accusing the government of putting deliberate untruths in the WMD dossier) was opverdone.)
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Even Murdoch’s Times falls into the trap of regarding BBC programming as free viewing.
Channel 4 is the only free-to-air broadcaster to maintain its audience share, at 9.7 per cent, during a year in which its rivals lost viewers to multichannel television. BBC Two was the worst affected, with its share of viewing falling from 10 per cent to 9.4 per cent. It is only the third time in 23 years that Channel 4 has surpassed BBC Two, which has been suffering as the corporation spreads its programming across new digital channels. New comedy, once a staple of the BBC Two schedule, is often aired first on BBC Three.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1962738,00.html
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Gaza-Egypt border crossing brought under control
30/12/2005 – 10:10:49
The tense situation at the Gaza-Egypt border was brought under control today after it was stormed by a group of rebel policemen furious over a colleague’s killing, the Palestinian police chief said.
What has Egypt done to annoy the Palestinians?
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=204743298&p=zx4744y6y&n=204744241
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Racist Aussies at it again
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,17696588-23212,00.html
Hey hey it was a joke
By Jon Pierik
December 31, 2005
AUSTRALIA captain Ricky Ponting was yesterday forced to have a heated clear-the-air discussion with a disgusted Graeme Smith in a bid to short-circuit a potential race row involving Shane Warne.
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Allan,
Just because the Chinese get rich doesn’t mean we get poor. Leave the fixed quantity fallacies for the socialists.
> “And how do macjobs, media studies graduates and a ballooning balance of trade deficit enrich us?”
MacJobs enrich us as we employ people who would be unemployed if costs were higher (say because of tarrifs protecting expensive corporates from consumer choice).
“Media Studies” That great oxymoron. I can’t see any real benefit from this, except to mask the real level of unemployment for politicians.
A “ballooning balance of trade deficit enrich us?” Says that our interest rates are much too low. I’ve been saying this for ages.
“The country is up to its neck in debt as a trading nation, a state and as individuals” Well cut taxes and pay off the debt. As a one off I would let people declare ALL their debt, and get income tax releif on the rise in interest payments from a rational (balance M4) interest rate policy.
China is the next Japan, more hype than threat. As a capitalist you should want to trade with a richer partner, not keep them poor!
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Rob White,
Perhaps he is saying it’s a shame no innovations seem to come from the Eurowreck or Blairistan? It could be that it’s just badly written!
Or perhaps I’m being too charitable this xmas?
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Rob & Rob
heres the guys website
http://www.andfinally.com/
you decide
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………..and I think we can see where he is coming from with this
http://bill.verity-networks.com/rambler/essay/00000004.html
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………and hes not too fond of bloggers
http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/00000006DDA4.htm
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…………hee we get hs true colours
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/09/damn_the_constitution_europe_must/
love his quote “I’ve had enough of US hegemony. It’s time for change -and a closed European network”
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Bet he hates Google too, it exposes authoritarian Socialists in 0.19 seonds flat
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=bill+thompson+technology&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
Ha ha ha ha ha ha …………
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Moral of th story, if hes writing for the BBC, BEWARE!
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SiN – Well done for doing what I should (but was too lazy!) to do.
The last link – EU closed network – what an jumped up idiot. And what was that about having more free speech in the EU than the states?
BTW – El Reg does tend to be EU loving. Its news on the internet governance last month proved that.
Of to the pub most annoyed.
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O/T – Yee canna mak it up!
“An Asian officer has complained that using the name “Black Museum” for the Metropolitan Police’s famous archive of crime artefacts is racist”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4569006.stm
“The phrase “Black Museum” has traditionally referred to its funereal and evil nature, and has nothing to do with the ethnic origin of its exhibits. ”
The PC in question is PC Zahid Malik who also appears to be Community Policeman of the Year 1999/2000 With an attitude like that one wonders just how he won the damm contest….. Now get back on the beat and protect the public from real crime!
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On the BBC’s “Newswatch” page is an interview with Mark Byford in which the Deputy DG “responds to some of the concerns raised over the past year by NewsWatch viewers.”
It contains this hilarious question and answer:
Question:’And Doug Robinson commented: “No matter which of the presenters or programme directors you get on, they always seem to have an excuse. None of them will accept that they do wrong.”‘
Byford’s answer: ‘If that’s the case then that is a serious problem – and I don’t believe it is.’
LOL at the irony of that response!!
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Good work with the links SiN. That Register article is the most deranged thing I’ve read in a while.
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Denise says
‘As for the silence from the BBC, ah, you know they can’t allow Islam to look bad. That would just be too offensive to their target audience.’
The audience does not matter to the BBC. They broadcast what they themselves consider correct and proper. The whole organisation is a vast exercise in vanity publishing, its purpose to boost the self-importance of those employed there.
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Who would actually pay to connect to the EUs version of the Internet (apart from taxpayers forced to) that Bill “open but closed” Thompson wants?
No wonder he got the gig with the bBC.
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I agree with Allan@aberdeen Biased BBC should advertise in The Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. I should launch T-Shirts e.t.c. to help get the Biased BBC message across to people not on the Internet, showing how left wing and Labour supporting it is. People on the left wouldn’t want to be BBC to be like the Fox News Channel, so why should we have to stick up with this left wing bias.
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The BBC are to stop broadcasting non-English news to Eastern Europe because those countries are now free and democratic. Why then do the British themselves still need to be forced to pay for BBC news?
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BBC World is available worldwide free of charge from Spain to Barazil. Anyone in these countries can watch except the UK audience who pay for BBC World but don’t get to see it.
http://www.bbcworld.com/content/template_home.asp?pageid=1
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Thanks Gary. This site should set up a paypal account for donations from us and advertise itself. There are millions out there who know that the BBC is biased and would do something about it if they knew that there were others willing to act. I would be prepared to donate at least the value of a TV licence.
I’m fed up looking on this site and just agreeing with the views of the contributors: I want something done and I’m prepared to pay for it!!
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The Rafah crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has been reopened hours after a protest by Palestinian police officers forced it to close.
Oh the violence
There has been a spate of kidnappings, armed takeovers of government buildings, and gun battles in Gaza since Israel withdrew in September after 37 years of military occupation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4568450.stm
So its Israel’s fault for withdrawing from Gaza?? Can you trust them? Well yes
The European observers … fled to an IDF base near the Gaza-Israel border
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1135696363875&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
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I would agree with mrdgriff, I would rather was an advertiser funded BBC World rather than the rubbish on BBC News 24 which I don’t like its agenda which is different compared to Sky News which to me does not look loaded in anything it covers as the blog has shown over time.
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HonestReporting.com has nominated the as most biased reporter.
http://honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/The_Dishonest_Reporter_Award_2005.asp
Hardly surprising given the BBC’s bias against Israel although others are in HR’s line of fire. The BBC’s charter is up for renewal at the end of 2006. Can we get something done about it?
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OT and probably already noted but…
Congrats on the mention in the Times today
Every little helps
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-1962523,00.html
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O/T
Iraq-American kid goes to Iraq, as reported by the Beeb:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4569712.stm
Compare with US news coverage:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051230/ap_on_re_mi_ea/journey_to_iraq;_ylt=Ak4aTOWDo2c7gJKMtC2NTvCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ–
The kid is a member of a Republican Youth club and strongly supports democratization of Iraq. Strangely, this information is left out of the BBC account. I wonder why. . .
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A great idea about “advertising” B-BBC.
Is there such a thing as a Biased-BBC T-shirt ?
If there is…I’ll buy one.
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The BBC are to stop broadcasting non-English news to Eastern Europe because those countries are now free and democratic. Why then do the British themselves still need to be forced to pay for BBC news?
john | 30.12.05 – 5:48 pm |
and are they admitting (unintentially?) that the recent marketing focus on the middle east/greater arabia is in response to a lack of freedom there?
The audience does not matter to the BBC. They broadcast what they themselves consider correct and proper. The whole organisation is a vast exercise in vanity publishing, its purpose to boost the self-importance of those employed there.
simon | 30.12.05 – 5:45 pm |
but didn’t the bbc admit a few months back that one of their reasons they avoided the word “terrorist” was so as not to cause offence (and as has been mentioned before, we know who would be offended, primarily – and i’m not referring to terrorists, altough i wonder if i shoud be…)
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And to be fair most of the B-BBC contributors are right – Islam is a bad religion and Christianity has no extremists. Oh maybe apart from this lot:
http://www.kkk.com/
Maybe, just maybe, there are some Christian extremists out there not disimilar to the Islamic extremists
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She spoke of her sadness that her parents had had such a “desperate experience” during their visit to Gaza, but said she hoped to continue her human rights work there.
She also told Fayed Abu Shamalla of the BBC Arabic service that she and her parents had been held in Rafah, in southern Gaza, but she could not say a bad word about her captors, who always asked whether they needed anything.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4570590.stm
So she never bothered asking for her freedom or that of her very elderly parents….? And her Mum turns out to be heavily involved in itner faith work and known to Sir Iccie Sqaubbal. Truely some of these idiots know no shame and show no commonsense at all.
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A lurker,
The KKK is a spent force in the US. The last time it had a big following was in the 1920s, and then a spike occurred in the 1960s as a reaction to the civil rights movement. It was infiltrated by the FBI in the 70s, many of its leaders were prosecuted, and it is still monitored by them.
FYI, most people have no use for moral equivalence on this blog. It’s one of the things I personally hate so much about the Beeb’s world view. Very few American Christians want anything to do with the KKK. I’m not so sure that can be said about most Muslims and organizations like Hizbut, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Arab European League, and too many others to name.
If you want to debate here, try to argue without using moral equivalence, if you can. Of course that may be too difficult for a lefty because most can’t seem to debate without using what they consider their most effective debating tool.
I for one follow the advice of Nancy Reagan. When it comes to weak moral equivalency “arguments” put forth by lefties, I JUST SAY NO.
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I don’t know what I find more depressing – that someone has the necessary time to devote to this blog, or the fact that it has supposedly received more than a million hits.
The posts on the homepage alone include many that claim to see a bias that just isn’t there – merely human error. The posts also, ironically if unexpectedly, contain flagrantly biased asides.
The anonymous blogmaster may claim somewhat justifiably that he isn’t receiving public money for this blog (I wonder whose time and money he IS wasting, and why the huge grudge). Nevertheless, it pretty neatly undercuts the complaints.
What do you really want? A BBC that is in fact biased in favour of the right-wing, like the overhwelming majority of the privately-owned media? IF I believed in the left-wing bias, I reckon I could make a pretty good argument that the BBC is providing a vital counterweight public service simply by reporting from that viewpoint.
I won’t state that there is no bias at the BBC, because there is bias everywhere, even from the cuddly Murdoch-owned organs you are fond of quoting from in comparison to the BBC.
Got a problem with the licence fee? Then don’t watch, listen, or click, and start a campaign to persaude others to join you in this boycott. If you are successful, you can bring this supposedly corrupt institution to heel quite quickly, through the joy of market forces.
Somehow, I doubt you will refrain, because you seem to get enjoyment from your obsession with it. I also suspect you probably enjoy some of the BBC’s cultural output. Not all of that money goes on News, you know.
Yours,
Times-reading, heterosexual, white male supporter of the Iraq War.
P.S. I am not now nor have I ever been an employee of the BBC.
P.P.S. Nice legal b.s. – “By clicking Publish you indemnify B-BBC and accept full legal responsibility for your comments”
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Al-beeb had to get it up front about how well the kidnap victims were treated during their captivity. So well in fact that poor Hugh Burton was dumped on a road and discovered wandering in a confused state. Can’t the beeboids bring it upon themselves to tell the truth about murderous terrorists? I wonder what they would have said if the Burtons had been snatched by an Irish gang.
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H-N-N
What right wing bias in privattely owned meda?
Mirror – Supports Labour
Sun – Supports Labour
Times – New Labour house magazine
FT – Supports Labour
Indie – Supports labour/Lib Dem
Grauniad – Supports labour
Express – wavers between labour and Tory
Channel 4 – Pretty left
ITN – More left than BBC on occasions
Leaving Mail and Torygraph supporting conservatives.
Right wing bias in privately owned media? I don’t think so
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In addition to the above you can add the overwhelming liberal bias of US mainstream media such as NBC, CBS, NYT, Washington Post – All privately owned.
Thank God for the blogosphere.
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And finally, a campaign to withold T license – I’m up for it but I can’t afford, and nor can my family, the consequences of witholding the telly poll tax.
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Hey-nonny-mouse, your complaint about the ‘anonymous blogmaster’ has a powerful irony to it, don’t you think, in the light of your own unrevealed status.
You must be really desperate to bolster your complaint against this blog if you have to cast doubt on a site meter!
You seem to have devoted a ‘depressing’ amount of time formulating and expressing your misguided thoughts about this blog.
The BBC is not simply biased. It’s like a 3rd-world propaganda outfit, distorting and withholding facts that challenge its bias. And it relies on an enforced license fee to do so.
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Nobody minds the left wing bias – Its the fact its from a publicly funded organization that is inappropriate.
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On weekend 24, they just had a 10 minute long slot on “climate change”. It presented as a fait accompli the fact that (a) we are having an impact, and (b) we are all going to die. It did not even mention climate change skeptics, they just presented it as objective fact. It presented as an almost desirable scenario a ban on flying, and effectively a ban on importing food.
The wife and I were seething.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4552124.stm has a vote, with the following options:
— What would you do for a greener world?
— Continue as before and rely on future scientific breakthroughs
Be willing to sacrifice some consumer choices to slow climate change
Note that even these options present anthropogenic global warming as objective fact.
Apparently, within the next half-hour, we are going to be treated to an environmental activist being interviewed on weekend 24.
Balance? People accuse Fox News of being biased, but at least when they have a panel discussion it tends to be fairly evenly balanced, with a few people for something a few people against it. They even usually tell you who was for and who is against. The BBC just invites an activist.
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Honey mouse
Others care as well
http://www.marmalade.net/lime/
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A Nonny mouse, its an industry YOU pay for, do you like being misled?
http://www.criminal-courts-review.org.uk/ccr-09.htm
Relevant extract:
The licence fee is a standard hypothecated tax on access to television in its entirety (not just on BBC channels). The Government decides what proportion of the licence fee income should go to the BBC, and currently the BBC receives it all. The BBC collects the fees on behalf of the Government and decides on enforcement and prosecution policies. These policies are based on the Code for Crown Prosecutors issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions and, therefore, take into account public interest considerations such as whether alleged offenders are in genuine financial hardship or otherwise vulnerable. The BBC devolves responsibility for prosecution to a contractor (currently Consignia Customer Management Ltd). The level of over-all collection is high, currently approaching 95% of television users in known households.
11 Using a television without a licence is an offence of strict liability, carrying a maximum penalty of a level 3 fine (£1,000). There is no custodial penalty in the first instance; imprisonment is only possible (ultimately) as a response to non-payment of the fine. Liability is rarely disputed. During the financial year 2000/2001, around 160,000 prosecutions were undertaken. All cases are listed for a hearing, although the vast majority are then be dealt with as written pleas of guilty. It is the perception of many that this is an inappropriate use for criminal proceedings and a great waste of magistrates’ courts’ time. An unsatisfactory feature is the inconsistency in magistrates’ sentencing throughout the country; fines are generally well below the permitted maximum, but the normal amount imposed (in the absence of any information about means) can vary from £30 to £300 according to locality
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A nanny mouse, you may not care but others do
Legal action against the Licence see:
http://www.spiderbomb.com/tv/lawlicence.html
In June 2002, Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, indicated that the BBC will continue to be funded by the licence fee for at least 14 more years. She said that privatisation, favoured by some politicians, was not an option when the BBC’s royal charter came up for renewal in 2006. Her comments suggested that Labour, if still in power, would try to renew the charter largely unchanged for 10 years after that.
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Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmcumeds/539/539ap81.htm
APPENDIX 67
Memorandum submitted by Mr Andy Carey
If you only ever watch Coronation Street you have to pay it. If you object to 62 per cent of the BBC’s money being spent in South East England you probably have to pay it. If you don’t want or can’t afford digital television and disagree with paying for channels you can’t get, you still have to pay it in full.
It is of course the TV licence and approximately two million households do not have one. Around 300,000 so-called “evaders” are caught every year, and over 100,000 are prosecuted. :Sixty-eight per cent of those prosecuted are women, almost all those prosecuted are earning less than the average wage if they are wage-earners at all. All of them were at home during the day or early evening and opened the door to an Enquiry Officer from the Television Licensing Authority (the TVLA), the private company appointed by the BBC to collect the licence.
I have met a deaf woman and a single mother who was fined for not having a licence.
” Many are single mums, who naively invite the nice enforcer into the dwelling. I believe they ahve no right of entry but a polite, ” May I come in” is consent and then the right questions lead to self incrimination. The fine is paid out of the single Mums benefits. Her bonus prize is a CRO No. for life (Criminal Record Number)
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OTHER VESTED INTERESTS AND CORRUPTION
http://www.freewebs.com/tygfer/endthetellytax.htm
DID YOU KNOW THAT THE BBC AND BSKYB HAVE A VERY COSY ‘ARRANGEMENT’ FOR THE TRANSPONDING OF THE BBC STATIONS VIA BSKYB’S SATELLITES??
THAT CONSIGNIA (EX-P.OFFICE) DO VERY WELL OUT OF SELLING THE LICENCES ON THIS QUANGOS BEHALF??
THAT IT COSTS £140m A YEAR TO COLLECT (ABOUT £7 FOR EACH LICENCE SOLD)??
THAT IN SCOTLAND IT’S ONLY A CIVIL MATTER (LICENCE EVASION) AS OPPOSED TO CRIMINAL ELSEWHERE IN THE U.K.??
THAT NEARLY 70% OF COURT CASES INVOLVE WOMEN (AS THEY SEEM TO BE IN WHEN TV GESTAPO VISIT)??
THAT THE POOREST PEOPLE WITH LEAST ACCESS TO CREDIT (ESPECIALLY SINGLE MUMS) WHO CAN’T USE THE D.DEBIT SYSTEM, MUST PAY, WHEN PROSECUTED, THE WHOLE AMOUNT WITH NO INSTALMENT FACILITY??
THAT YOU HAVE A 1 IN 11 CHANCE OF BEING PROSECUTED IF CAUGHT WITHOUT ONE, AND THAT THE AVERAGE FINE IS £140?? (LICENCE £109) – FIGURE THE ODDS OUT FOR YOURSELF!! 😉
THAT YOU CANNOT GET ANY FIGURES FOR PEOPLE ACTUALLY IMPRISONED ANNUALY FOR NON-PAYMENT??
THAT OVER 100,000 PEOPLE GO TO CRIMINAL COURT EACH YEAR??
THAT IF YOU GENUINELY DON’T OWN A TV DUE TO PERSONAL CHOICE, YOU FACE A VERY LONG AND ANNOYING PROCESS OF ‘PROVING YOURSELF INNOCENT’ TO THE TVL??
THAT UNLIKE CAR TAX, WHEREBY REFUNDS ARE PAID ON COMPLETE MONTHS LEFT, YOU MUST HAVE AT LEAST 3 MONTHS!! LEFT ON A LICENCE, (IF YOU GO ABROAD FOR EXAMPLE) TO GET ANY REFUND??
THAT MILLIONS WATCH THE BBC AROUND NORTHERN EUROPE FOR FREE, THUS EFFECTIVELY DISCRIMINATING AGAINST BRIITISH-BASED E.U. CITIZENS FOR WATCHING IT?? (SIMPLY SEE THE CEEFAX LETTERS PAGES FOR PROOF OF THIS!)
THAT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE DO GET AWAY WITH NOT PAYING, DESPITE THE EXPENSIVE ‘BIG BROTHER’ TYPE ADS THEY RUN ON ITV??
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Justin Webb – victim of alien bodysnatchers?
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THAT IF YOU GENUINELY DON’T OWN A TV DUE TO PERSONAL CHOICE, YOU FACE A VERY LONG AND ANNOYING PROCESS OF ‘PROVING YOURSELF INNOCENT’ TO THE TVL??
On this point I must say that – yes – their letters are annoying and offensive- but – and despite what they say and threaten to do – in my experience, and that of several friends who also do not have a TV, after you have told them you do not have a TV they DO in fact leave you alone. You have to be firm with them, that’s true – and thus the vulnerable or merely meek are at greater risk of harassment – as I’ve pointed out to TVL – but in fact their bark is a lot worse than their bite.
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The Religion of Peace is at it again:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4570912.stm
The BBC continues its cowardly campaign and refers to the murderers as “militants”. So, for the moral vacuum which is the BBC, “militancy” is blowing up civilians at a market stall, using a nail bomb, simply because they were buying pork.
A quick lesson for the BBC: “Militants” are people like “Fathers for Justice” or Green extremists – people who hold very strong opinions and sometimes disrupt public life to demonstrate them. When “Militants” blow arms and legs off people to further political aims, they are “Terrorists”.
It really is a very simple concept to understand, but to do so you must have even the most basic morality, common sense and courage to see reality as it is. Attributes which seem thin on the ground at the BBC.
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this is intresting. http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/2005/01/bbc-is-turn-off-its-official.html
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Hey-nonny-mouse “I also suspect you probably enjoy some of the BBC’s cultural output. Not all of that money goes on News, you know.”
Perhaps I would be prepared to pay a subscription to watch it.
You want your viewing pleasure subsidised by all TV owners, whether they share your cultural tastes or not.
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