Andrew Zalotocky writes:
What did you think of “The Christmas Invasion”? It didn’t seem overtly political, which makes me wonder why the BBC web site had that story promoting it as such beforehand. I can think of three plausible explanations:
1) The “peace message” story was a heavy-handed attempt to ensure that the audience got the right message
2) It was the loose cannons at BBC Online giving it their own special spin
3) It was a deliberate attempt to generate publicity through controversy
If it was option 3, we have to ask:
a) Does that mean that critics of the BBC were taken in by a PR scam?
b) If so, was it specifically targeted at them?
c) If so, was it also an attempt to undermine their credibility by getting them fulminating at a programme that would turn out to be innocuous?
I’d be interested to hear your take on this.
So far I have only seen twenty minutes of it. A younger member of the household who had not enjoyed “The Empty Child” expressed a definite desire not to see it and not to be alone while not seeing it. Never let it be said that only having seen a third of an episode of Dr Who is enough to stop me talking about it, though. Based on my knowledge of the individuals and organisations concerned my provisional answers to your questions are (1) yes, (2) yes, (3) yes, (a) yes, (b) no, (c) no.
I’d guess that Andrew Rilestone would not usually be politically sympathetic to this blog, but given that I agree with nearly everything he writes about Narnia, I’m willing to trust him when he writes about Dr Who.
Many of the 45 minute episodes have felt rushed: at 60 minutes, “The Christmas Invasion” felt developed and well-balanced. The story made a great deal of sense, although it suffered from a few examples of R.T.Ds trademarked lazy plotting — there seemed to be no story-internal reason for the killer Santa’s or killer Christmas tree — they were in the story simply because they seemed like a good idea at the time. (The idea that the Doctor is literally revived by a cup of tea was amusing, but had no rational justification.) The papers, bless them, fixated on the idea that the story had a strong anti-war message, but compared with the in-your-face satire of “World War III” last year, it was almost imperceptible.
The papers had some reason for their fixation: Russell Davies’s own words. (And I was told that an issue of Radio Times a month or so back had David Tennant saying something about how he was a socialist because of King Lear, possibly quoting Shaw. Anyone got a copy?) So media folk are pinkoes. Important bulletin about sylvanian ursine habits follows. It doesn’t stop (although it may distract) them from producing good TV. The actors and scriptwriters, I mean; let’s leave the poor bears some privacy.
In the first few seconds of his reincarnation at the end of last season I was embarrassed by Tennant’s goofiness. Him working his jaw and mumbling about his teeth looked less like a Time Lord than like an old geezer unhappy with his dentures. Rilestone argues that Tennant’s childish moments are of a piece with the jelly babies, a foil to his moments of omnicompetent world saving skill, and represent a return to the True Path of Who, cleverly placed after Ecclestone’s “off-the-wall re-invention” had blown away the cobwebs.
My two longest previous Who screeds are here, and here. Click the (0)’s to read the comments. Yes, I know. Complain to Haloscan, not me.
The bbc are not reporting any reaction like this….
“Ahmed Jibril, a radical Palestinian leader in Damascus, Syria, called the stroke a gift from God.”
Wonder why….
If WHS want to offer cut price chocolate thats got nothing to do with government. If silly fat bastards want to eat too much of it and die a horrible death then they should be free to do so.
King Chillout,
Most of the homosexuals I know are so “normal”, you would be hard pressed to tell they were gay.
To be gay is normal in precisely the same sense as to be left-handed is normal.
Interesting that the lefties who didn’t like my previous post can’t actually manage any more articulate response than foam-flecked ad hominem screeching about it. Fisk away, guys.
There are left-wingers who object to animal experimentation because they would rather humans died (including potentially themselves) than animals. There are Jewish left-wingers (many working at the BBC) who are quite happy to overlook the left’s hatred of Jews. There are left-wing archbishops who call for tolerance and understanding towards Islam while overlooking Islamic states’ reciprocal persecution of Christians.
It is equally certain that there are gay left-wingers who overlook Muslim homophobia because Muslims are allowed by the left to hate whomever they like, which in practice means Jews, women, gays, and Christians.
Iran has judicially murdered 4,000 men since 1979 for being gay. Where is the BBC outrage about this, to compare with its recent outrage about America having lawfully executed 1,000 convicted brutal murderers since whenever? Or about Zimbabwe’s continuing oppression of gays?
It does not exist. There is no outrage. The left does not expect civilised behaviour of those backward, but rather scary ‘lesser breeds without the law’. The browner you are, the lower the left’s expectations of you.
“Sir” Iqbal Sacranie is a filthy bigot, so is Blair for knighting him, so is Qaradawi, and so is Livingstone for giving a platform to him and his disgusting, mediaeval views.
The four above-mentioned lice should be superglued together and sealed up in their own juices in a plastic bag, then disposed of as nuclear waste is disposed of.
Leftism is a disease of the personality, like sloth.
Sir/ Madam
So its true Europe is a big con, please read below:
THATCHER ‘IN THREAT TO NUKE ARGIES’
Ian Sparks In France
MARGARET Thatcher threatened to use nuclear weapons during the Falk-lands war unless France gave her the launch codes to missiles it sold to Argentina, a book claims.
She was furious that the Royal Navy fleet was being hit and sank by the French-made Exocets.
Lady Thatcher allegedly demanded the secret codes so the weapons could be disabled.
French President Francois Mitterand is quoted as saying: “Happily, I gave in. Otherwise, I assure you, that lady’s iron finger would have pushed the button.”
Psychoanalyst Ali Magoudi, one of Mit-terand’s closest confidants, makes the claim in his new book about the power struggle between him and the Prime Minister 20 years ago.
But Mitterand was determined to get his own back on “those English upstarts” by making Britain forge stronger ties with the rest of Europe.
Advertisement
He told Magoudi, 57: “I will have my revenge.
“I will destroy their beloved island by linking it with Europe.
“Despite their inbred desire for isolation, I will make Britain join Europe by building a tunnel under the Channel.”
The book – RendezVous, Mitterand’s Psychoanalyst – also reveals that Mitterand hid his cancer battle from the French people for 15 years.
He was diagnosed in 1981 but it only became public after his death in January 1996.
Controversial Mitterand was well-known for taking advice from “unconventional” advisers throughout his presidency. Another book was published three years ago claiming he made crucial policy decisions based on his tarot card readings.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16548446&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=thatcher–in-threat-to-nuke-argies—name_page.html
well said Camp_Commandant.
The Camp Commadant
Applause – Well I just wish you worked at the BBC to add a bit of balance.
Front page of the website right now…
Israeli PM critical after stroke
Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in critical condition in hospital after a stroke and hours of surgery, doctors say.
but what a marvellous subheadline, masquerading as a simple statement of fact-
Legacy does not include peace
Think what you like about his track record, and I certainly have my opinions; the guy is still in office , let alone not happening to be dead yet. And history might show that his actions were the foundations of a peaceful solution. Again, I am skeptical, but the truth is that I don’t know. It’s nice to know that someone at al-Beeb has a crystal ball or a time machine. What are next week’s lottery numbers, please?
When he does die (be it today or in twenty years time) I’ll place a bet right now that we won’t be asked for “Send Your Tributes” but it’ll be “Let Us Have Your Comments”
Sorry, forgot to add – kudos to camp_commandant for the best bit of writing I’ve seen for a long while.
It will be interesting to compare the beeb’s coverage of sharon’s illness and possible death with the coverage they gave to Arafat.
I’m sure this site will have a field day.
On the other hand, perhaps the beeb minions will know that all of us will be watching them like hawks and will make an effort to be balanced – who knows.
deepdiver
Though I must say that for a start there are no blubbing beeb reporters outside the hosptial…..
Maybe you’ll have to wait a bit.
“As that evil mass murderer breathed his last breath, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. All the International Community can do now is pray that he receives his deserved punishment.”
Also from the Beeb: how the Israelis are to blame when the Palestinians get to run things for themselves and the result is chaos:-
‘This society has been radicalised and traumatised by its confrontation with the Israelis, who occupied Gaza decades ago and only evacuated their settlers and troops last summer.
‘Thousands of Palestinians have been killed, injured or lost their homes during years of violence.
‘There are numerous armed factions that used to channel their violent energies into attacks on the Israelis – but they now have little on which to focus.’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4581334.stm
More comment on my homepage.
Well spotted Cyrus.
That beeb article is beyond belief. At first I thought that you were writing a parody!
Incredible load of appalling rubbish!
Further to Cyrus’s point
In an act of defiance against the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, armed members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and their supporters brought chaos to the Rafah border crossing …. the gunmen prevented Palestinians from crossing into Egypt for several hours.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/05/wmid05.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/05/ixworld.html
Well! After the BBC etc have castigated Israel for bloodymindedly delaying the passage of Palestinians.
I don’t get it: when the British left Palestine in 1948 the Jews just got on with building their society and country. When the British left India, Burma, and divers parts of Africa and the Far East, the locals just got on with. What is about the Palestinians that when THEY’RE left to themselves they just go on with an orgy of (self) destruction.
The late Abba Eban (erstwhile Israeli foreign minister) was absolutely right when he said that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Cheers.
Ian Barnes,
If you don’t like WHSmiths tempting you with chocolate, just don’t shop there.
It’s really Simple. Just like leaving other people alone.
Cameron is Blair v2.
At least WH Smith doesn’t demand I spend £126 a year at their shops buying chocolate I don’t like. And send me to prison if I don’t.
‘When the British left India, Burma, and divers parts of Africa and the Far East, the locals just got on with.’
Barring the odd few wars, massacres, racial strife, hideous military rulers etc etc etc.
the bbc now stands accused of the worst crime possible for a broadcaster.being a bore. i saw familiar faces mouthing their predictable narrative.
so i stopped watching.
Have we an obesity problem because people eat chocolate,or because people dont exercise?
Cockney,
your point is?
Cockney
I wasn’t forgetting about that, but they didn’t start tearing up their OWN infrastructure and blaming it on their former colonial overlords, while the world’s media looked on, smiling indulgently.
The Palestinians just come across as two year olds, in the irrational grip of an ongoing tantrum.
They also remind me of old-style striking hospital porters, refusing to accept responsibility for any harm their activities are causing, laying the blame squarely on the government: “It’s the government’s fault these people are dying – if they paid us what we wanted…” used to go the refrain.
Cheers.
Re: Doctor Who.
I have yet to see “Christmas Invasion” being a deprived colonial who has to wait until her Who club meetings to see the new eps. But I am relieved to hear it is less overtly political than first reported. Though I am accustomed to a mild liberal slant in Who – and almost all entertainmant.
Fair point mate, there’s plenty of genuine examples of Palestinians wasting aid, international goodwill and other opportunities due to corruption, incompetence and general bloody mindedness.
I didn’t think that particular comparison was appropriate if you’re trying to prove that media is biased every time it suggests Palestinian poverty involves external factors – let’s face it in terms of democratic government and internal pleasantness they’re probably doing better than the Burmese who haven’t been occupied for 30 years.
OT
I didn’t see any mention of this latest manifestation of the religion of peace on any of Al Beeb’s extensive range of broadcasts and web pages
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/05/nshot05.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/05/ixhome.html
Slightly On Topic though, whats the big deal with Dr Who? Puerile crap.
“whats the big deal about Dr Who?”
This is a prime example of the one thing the BBC is good at..Marketing. It’s pure hype, created by the BBC’s MASSIVE marketing budget.
Given that the Beeb cancelled the show a decade ago and only resumed making it because of longstanding fan interest I find the ‘hype’ argument pretty hilarious.
Roxana, Irate Whovian and former Secretary of the Guardians of Gallifrey. 😉
Roxana
If its all down to fan interest why the massive marketing and publicity campaign? We grown ups got a bit fed up with the trailers
Secret codes to disable exocet missiles. Hmmm. Im not sure there ever was such a thing.
There’s a moderately big story in France right now; involving a large gang of “youths” who assaulted lots of people on a train. The Independent covers it:
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article336549.ece
“France accused of covering up train gang attack
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 05 January 2006
Opposition politicians have accused the French government of covering up a sustained attack by a gang of 20 young people on a crowded train near Nice on New Year’s Day.
The group robbed and sexually assaulted passengers at knifepoint, smashed windows and slashed seats. No information on the incident was released by the authorities, who announced that he New Year festivities had passed off without a widely feared resumption of the violence seen in deprived suburbs in November.”
It appears that the gang had misbehaved on the train into Nice, and had been escorted by police onto the train out of Nice, and the police had gone home, which was a bad idea.
The story has been reported as far afield as Scotland, Los Angeles and Australia. But the BBC obvious doesn’t think that it’s news. To be fair, the BBC doesn’t report much news from France anyway; as a socialist paradise, they probably think that the country is perfect except for Le Pen’s national front, which is the root of the current unrest. Etc.
Indeed, Lurker. It would be interesting to know when these ‘codes’ were supposed to have been revealed. After HMS Sheffield ? But how to explain the sinking of Atlantic Conveyor much (relatively) later ? Or the foiled attack on a Royal navy frigate ? Funnily enough, it appears these codes must have been released after the Argies had fired off the five air-launched exocets they had anyway.
Lurker: (are you IN or OUT of your burkha by the way..?)
Most modern missiles have self destruct codes but they are usually set by the owner. I can’t imagine the Argies buying hundreds of missiles that self destruct if the Froggies tell them to….then again they DID invade despite being told not to….will ask around my old missile mechanics
OT
I see the “UK news” (international version) website has a lead story about liver cirrosis, with a link immediately below labelled “I knew I was drinking too much”:
Immediately below that pic of Charles Kennedy, illustrating a story about a speech he is about to make about his future as leader of the Lib Dems.
Given that they did something v similar with a cocaine-related story when Cameron was elected Tory leader (and, erm, the unsubstantiated allegations about links of CK with alcohol and the unsubstantiated allegations about links of DC with cocaine) I spot a trend…
This story of the codes really stinks.
As far as I know the argies had 5 exocets and they had a very high success rate. In “100 Days” admiral Woodward, commander of the battle group, makes no mention of “codes” or other such gibberish. All the navy could do was hope to shoot down the incoming missiles and pop off chaff in the faint hope of deflecting them.
This “codes” stuff sounds like a lot of star wars nonsense to be honest.
Is there any ex-navy chap here who can enlighten us?
Deepdiver
the “have your say” regarding the liver cirrosis story has magically disappeared from the bbc website. i wonder if the charles kennedy story had anything to do with it?
Ashley Pomeroy
Thanks for the link to the “Right-Wing”
(Civitas describes itself as independent; the BBC calls Civitas right-wing – sauce for the goose)
The article describing the disturbances on the SNCF train is word for word, the same report broadcast on R5 midday news.
The use of the word ‘youths’ from ‘deprived areas’.
Even down to blaming Sarkozy, the Police and SNCF personnel.
The one major addition to the story was a half-hearted excuse for the BBC not mentioning the trouble before.
– the french media have been downplaying their coverage to avoid increasing tensions after the riots in November – and of course the Beeb didn’t notice the world-wide reporting (which also included Germany and Belgium)
There was also this cryptic little twist thrown in as an afterthought.
No witnesses have come forward, and there is little evidence to support the stories of a rampage on the train (according to Auntie) so the whole business may be something ‘souped up’ (sic) by certain parts of the (french) media.
(:o)
So the Independent suggests that the story is being suppressed by the French government, while the BBC says that the French media is hyping it up? It’s possible that both points of view are correct. It’s amusing to watch two organisation that subscribe to the same system of belief coming to different conclusions on a single matter. It’s amusing to watch the left wing try to square its contradictions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4580474.stm
Everything you wanted to know about the Hajj but were afraid to ask.
“If its all down to fan interest why the massive marketing and publicity campaign? We grown ups got a bit fed up with the trailers”
Interesting question. Of course on this side of the pond we kill for those trailers! 😉
Possibly the Beeb just wants you to know where to find Who?
“Interesting question. Of course on this side of the pond we kill for those trailers! ”
Yeah….and you kill for dollars, and Tennis Shoes, and oil….and even or fun against un-armed animals…….lol.
I hear Dr Who is really aimed at 12 year olds……:)
dave t
thats a different lurker.
Why not call yourself “Lurqua in a Burqua”? It would be both pleasingly poetic, and avoid confusion with any other lurkers. Just a thought.
Cheers.
Lurqua in a burgua but not a gurkha?
Please let’s not start another haiku theme….
“Please let’s not start another haiku theme….”
“dave, does not like Haiku,
Cries of anguish,
In a wintery darkness”
“Lurquas….
In their Burquas
Keeping warm in the snow”
🙂
Isn’t it time for the BBC to run a HYS ‘Mecca Moan’, similar to its ‘Christmas Whine’?
Susan,
Your post on 04.01 at 10.01 pm really nailed it. The medieval, bloodthirsty attacks by Muslims on gays/women/Christians/Jews/apostates/rape victims is swept under the carpet by leftists, feminists and gays as they jostle for position as the most ‘faithful followers of fashion’. It’s PC cognitive dissonance, not self-hatred.
the_camp_commandant,
Your 05.01. post at 12:06 pm is spot on.
Rob Read,
Thanks for the chuckle: ‘Hide Your Say’ is precisely what the BBC does with it if it doesn’t like it. I’ve seen unpopular topics stay on the main HYS page for a week without additional comments being posted while the BBC presumably waits for comments that suit its bias to come in. And popular topics are whisked off the main page if the comments lean too far towards sanity.
It’s incredible that BBC staff actually get paid to behave in this infantile fashion.
Grimer,
Here’s a ‘Mecca Moan’:
We Muslims are continually being burnt or crushed to death or otherwise martyred during the Haj without having the satisfaction of killing infidels as we die.
I have suggested to the Saudi authorities that they should therefore provide each Muslim pilgrim with an infidel he can kill during the Haj to be assured of his 72 virgins in paradise in case of accidents, but they are taking a long time to respond to my request.
Mecca Moan
Why, when this place is packed with plumbers, is there so little water on tap?
I can’t find any virgins in sarf lundin, but I don’t want to blow meself up.
Any ideas?
Hmmm, I was about to comment that the ‘Hide Your Say’ propagandists had put the topic Has political correctness gone mad? back on the main HYS page. But when I went back to double-check, they’d whipped it off again.
This wildly-popular topic attracted nearly 500 comments in just two days – or at least that’s how many were posted by the ‘moderators’. Almost all of the highly recommended comments were anti-PC. So of course the propagandists had to hide it away and now one has to search for it.
But I wonder why it briefly reappeared. Could be that there are a few sane people working in the HYS section and they get overruled by PC supervisers.