Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:


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315 Responses to Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:

  1. Anonymous says:

    Drug dealing barrister jailed:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6174962.stm

    Hassan Modjiri, 27, was secretly filmed in his south-west London flat discussing a drugs sale with arms dealer Paul Murdoch, 36, a court heard.

    Judge John Hillen, sitting at Blackfriars Crown Court, told them: “You are an odd couple indeed.”

    A Muslim and an arms dealer? Who would have thunk it?

    On another topic, it looks like Modjiri’s defense lawyer, Benjamin Squirrell, enjoys sucking at the taxpayer’s tit:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/115489.stm

       0 likes

  2. amimissingsomething says:

    will | 22.11.06 – 8:08 pm | #

    and just think, 9/11 has been referred to as a “disaster” but when as “appalling slaughter?”

       0 likes

  3. archduke says:

    ” amimissingsomething | 23.11.06 – 12:21 am |”

    the bbc referred to it as a mere “tragedy”.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5277732.stm

    moving on, LGF as pointed out a great example of BBC doublethinkthoughtcrimetiedupinknotsmoonbattery

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6167458.stm

    “As well as highlighting the issue of cluster bombs, Amnesty found that Hezbollah hid Katyusha rockets among civilians and often fired them into Israel from the cover of civilian villages.

    But researchers found no evidence that Hezbollah actually used civilians as human shields during the fighting. ”

    WTF???

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  4. archduke says:

    a bit OT , but this just shows the popularity of blogs.

    mentions something techie , and the lurkers come out of the closet.

    thats what LGF just did here:
    ttp://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=23429_LGF_Technical_Update#comments

    over 1000 comments (!!!!)

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  5. Socialism is Necrotizing says:

    The BBC tell you about AIDS in Britain today

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6172230.stm

    and The Daily Mail tell you about AIDS in Britain today

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=418006&in_page_id=1770

    The BBC—Dangerous and bad for your health.

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  6. TPO says:

    Good morning everyone and happy Thanksgiving to Diana and family.

    SiN

    Thanks for this:
    Three in four of all new heterosexual cases of HIV in Britain last year were among African immigrants, according to official figures.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=418006&in_page_id=1770

    Goodness me. If I had to rely on the bbc then I’d never have known about this. Ho hum

    Off to mums & toddlers singing group now … bye

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  7. Abandon ship! says:

    Today programme

    2 + 2 = 5

    There have now been 5 assasinations of anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon. Still the BBC maintains that these might not have been carried out by Syria, newest member of the BBC’s axis of reason.

    Kim Ghattas provides more despicable reporting from Lebanon. Gemayel is now referred to as a former leader of the “right wing” falange party. I wondered how long it would be in her report before other suspects were fingered. Sure enough, towards the end of her report she interviews a Lebanese man who blames Israel, co-head of the BBC’s axis of evil. For that matter, why not get the President of Iran’s view also, and David Irving, to see who they think was to blame?

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  8. Pete_London says:

    When it comes to your health, AIDS can’t hold a candle to liberals. It must be a couple of days since we saw that liberalism kills, and here’s yet another:

    Man’s tribute to ‘fantastic wife’
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6173390.stm

    The husband of the cleaner stabbed to death while she worked in Cornwall speaks of his family’s devastation.
    Gary Chester-Nash, 28, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for murdering 59-year-old Jean Bowditch.
    He stabbed her nine times as she cleaned a bungalow in Carbis Bay in October 2005.

    I think A Tangled Web sums it up well:

    http://atangledweb.squarespace.com/display/ShowJournal?moduleId=795152&categoryId=80082

    Gary Chester-Nash, 28, was known to be a “predatory and dangerous” person who fantasised about committing violent acts and was under the supervision of probation officers. He was obsessed with knives and wrote a chilling account of how he planned to rape a woman. And yesterday there was outrage that despite his history, Chester-Nash was not kept behind bars. Instead, the Judiciary allowed him to walk free – and he fulfiled his wish by brutally killing a 59 year old woman.

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  9. will says:

    Gemayel is now referred to as a former leader of the “right wing” falange party

    Reminds me of the late, great Marty Feldman’s spoof football commentary, where, as the game goes against England, the referee who starts as Swiss, becomes German speaking Swiss & ends as a Nazi goose-stepping his way back to the centre circle.

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  10. Abandon ship! says:

    This has really got my goat.

    BBC fantasy about “axis of reason” member Syria:

    “The assumption in the anti-Syrian camp is that Damascus was behind the killing. There is no proof of that and Syria has been showing signs that it wants to engage with the West. If so, it is hard to see where its interest would be in killing Mr Gemayel.”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6171024.stm

    Non-BBC reality about “axis of evil” member Syria:

    “Mr Gemayel’s allies quickly accused Syria or its allies of the crime, and it’s difficult to disagree. With the late minister dead and six pro-Syrian ministers having just resigned, Lebanon’s Government is near the stage where it will be constitutionally forced to resign.
    This is a priority for Syria as it would undermine Lebanon’s formal endorsement of the court being established by the UN to try suspects in the Hariri case. Syrian officials fear being fingered by the UN investigation.”

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2466572,00.html

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  11. Abandon ship! says:

    Gemayel:

    Notable that the BBC apes the views of the Independent and Guardian.

    http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2007485.ece

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1954670,00.html

    Wonder why? Don’t they read anything else at the BBC? Oh yes, the Morning Star.

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  12. will says:

    The woes of being old media, without the benefit of tax funding.

    The stock market has risen over 30% in the last 2 years, but the value of The Mirror appears to have fallen by 25%

    Marcus Evans, the multimillionaire conference organiser, is ready to bid for the Daily Mirror, but only if its current owners accept £200 million less than he offered two years ago, The Times has learnt.
    The low-profile Mr Evans, who made an unsuccessful attempt to buy the tabloid in 2004, is willing to offer about £550 million to £600 million — far less than the £700 million to £800 million last time.

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-2466959,00.html

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  13. T says:

    The AIDS story is interesting. IF you read the BBC version you are left asking, “Well why are there so many more AIDS cases” the story doesn’t explain it at all despite the cause being patently obvious.

    And the cost ofdealing with the thousands of AIDS cases? Unmentioned.

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  14. TPO says:

    T:
    “And the cost of dealing with the thousands of AIDS cases? Unmentioned.”
    Precisely.
    Which goes to show if you want real news and analysis you cannot rely on the bbc because they will filter it through their multi-culti divi processes to spin it as they think we should be reading it and not as it really is.

       0 likes

  15. Cockney says:

    Has anyone spotted any reporting on the Beeb re: the highly amusing love-in between their dreadful ex-employee Polly Toynbee and the Conservatives? I’d have thought they’d be all over it like a rash but haven’t seen anything on the news and traumatically my PC locks up when I try to go on the website for some reason…

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  16. TPO says:

    Is this what you’re after Cockney?

    Polly Toynbee ………………. By Boris Johnson

    “For Telegraph readers unfamiliar with her work, Polly used to be the BBC’s health and social affairs correspondent, and now writes a weekly column in the Guardian.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=KFN4VY2YMLTHZQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/opinion/2006/11/23/do2301.xml

    “In an ideal Polly Toynbee world, private sector broadcasting would be banned, Rupert Murdoch would be nationalised, and the BBC would hire thousands more taxpayer-funded social affairs correspondents to psalm the benefits of social” democracy.

    I do so like this bit:

    “And the private-school-using, villa-owning Polly Toynbee”

    But there’s plenty more in the article.

    Typical bbc mentality stuff. Incapable of telling the truth and believing in a divine right to preach to the rest of us how we should conduct our lives whilst doing the opposite.

       0 likes

  17. Cockney says:

    …or indeed the call from the CBI and Institute of Directors for a new political party to fill the increasingly gaping business friendly hole.

       0 likes

  18. TPO says:

    Here’s more:

    Anger at Cameron’s endorsement of Toynbee

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/23/npolitics23.xml

    Blue Labour at work. UKIP here I come

       0 likes

  19. TPO says:

    The only reference so far on bbc that I can find.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6171692.stm

       0 likes

  20. TPO says:

    Now why is the bbc not reporting this:

    Allah blessed me, tells killer of British tourist

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/23/wjordan23.xml

    Ho hum again!

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  21. archduke says:

    jeremy vine “we lost the war , we lost the war! we’re getting out of iraq”

    err.. no. we’re leaving it to the Americans actually. they’re going to increase troop levels in Iraq because our boys are badly needed in Afghanistan.

    http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/21/news/policy.php

    “WASHINGTON: Pentagon officials conducting a review of Iraq strategy are considering a substantial but temporary increase in American troop levels and the addition of several thousand more trainers to work with Iraqi forces, a senior Defense Department official said.”

       0 likes

  22. Pete_London says:

    TPO

    Blue Labour at work. UKIP here I come

    Funny that. I spoke with my (Conservative) MP just this morning to tell him that I won’t vote for him and that I’ll be urging as many people as possible not to vote for him. In truth, he’s exasperated at the Tories and he’s a front bencher! But as I said to him, if you ain’t doing anything about it then you son’t have my sympathy.

    Five minutes later I joined UKIP.

       0 likes

  23. DumbJon says:

    Indeed, Archduke.

    Good balance on the Jeremy Whine Show as well. Snivelling Liberal with a Lawrence of Arabia complex Matthew Parris arguing for the surrender now! point vs screaming Liberal John Kerry er…. Nichol, arguing for surrender now! (but it’s all the politicians fault). Not a working pair of genitals amongst all three of them.

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  24. Umbongo says:

    “Has anyone spotted any reporting on the Beeb . . ?”

    Polly was interviewed at length on yesterday’s “Today” programme – the BBC couldn’t wait to endorse the “Conservative” Party position on this one.

       0 likes

  25. Steve E. says:

    Abandon Ship!

    I don’t suppose the Beeb will be reporting this anytime in the near future…

    ‘A group calling themselves “Fighters for the Unity of Al-Sham [Greater Syria] and its Liberty” took responsibility for the assassination in a communiqué that read: “Allah granted us success today as well, in the assassination of the agent Pierre Gemayel, one of those who unceasingly spouted their venom against Syria and against the Resistance [i.e. Hizbullah], shamelessly and without any trepidation. This is the fate of the traitors, agents, and hired hands who do no hesitate to belittle Lebanon’s unity, liberty, integrity, and future for the sake of the enemy’s interests. All of those who harm those people who have paid the steep price for the Arabs and for Lebanon – may their voices be silent and may their mouths be mute. We crossed out this agent [Pierre Gemayel] from the list of our targets, and sooner or later we will pay the rest of the agents their due…”

    http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA30206

    (hat tip counterterrorismblog)

       0 likes

  26. Umbongo says:

    And guess who’s on Question Time tonight?

       0 likes

  27. Steve E. says:

    Abandon Ship!

    No word from the Beeb on this, either…

    “Lebanese Christians tore down and burned portraits of Hezbollah’s tactical Christian ally Michel Aoun in Sassine Square (Achrafieh, Beirut) and elsewhere in the city.

    When I first moved to Beirut, Bashir Gemayel’s portrait hovered over that square like a deity, around the corner from a shopping mall and across the street from a Starbucks. Bashir was assassinated shortly after being elected president of Lebanon in 1982, most likely for his anti-Syrian, anti-Palestinian, and pro-Israeli position. Pierre Gemayel, murdered just yesterday, was his nephew.

    I’m not sure when, exactly, but at some point Michel Aoun’s portrait went up in Sassine. It looks like the ghost of Bashir owns the square again now.”

    UPDATE: Mustapha at Beirut Spring says “today will herald a new age of Hezbollah Isolation,” since Aoun’s group is attending Gemayel’s funeral. He may well be right. Hezbollah, properly cowed by the Lebanese majority, cancelled their scheduled riot today.”

    http://michaeltotten.com/

       0 likes

  28. gordon-bennett says:

    I’ve just phoned in a complaint about the daily politics coverage of the BA jewellery “scandal”.

    The BA position is that jewellery must not be worn with uniforms and a cross is an item of jewellery. To put it another way, the cross was banned on jewellery grounds and not on religious grounds.

    This didn’t stop the beeb using the bogus religious argument to stir the pot against BA and to suggest that christians are disadvantaged compared to Sikhs, etc.

    The lady could always wear the cross under her uniform so why doesn’t she just do that? After all if god exists and is omniscient he will know that she is wearing the cross and she will get her brownie points anyway.

    If the beeb reporters really are so intelligent then they surely understand the logic of the affair therefore they must be stirring things up deliberately.

       0 likes

  29. Steve E. says:

    Yet more from Lebanon…

    “When in need, call up your fake, pseudo-jihadist terrorist group.

    It turns out that a group has claimed responsibility for Gemayel’s assassination. A statement was sent to Lebanese media, and published by An-Nahar, signed by none other than “the Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of the Levant.”

    The group, a fake one, was the same (hitherto unknown) group that claimed responsibility for the murder of Gebran Tueni a year ago. Also, it’s the same fake group that threatened to kill the successor of then-UN prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. On a side note, Mehlis told a German paper that he thinks it’s obvious that Syria or its proxies were behind Gemayel’s killing.

    Part of the fake group’s statement read: “God has helped us today also in the liquidation of the agent Pierre Gemayel, one of those who never ceased spreading their poison against Syria and the resistance [Hezbollah], without shame.”

    But I have a better one for you. Here’s a prediction: some genius in Syria (or one of its Lebanese pitbulls) will soon make a “brilliant” forensic connection, tying the use of silencers in the murder of Gemayel with a “report” that appeared days ago (before the murder) in the pro-Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah paper Al-Akhbar (as well as a spectacularly hilarious “open letter” published in another pro-Syrian rag, Ad-Diyar, one day before the Al-Akhbar report, by sheer coincidence of course), which was all too innocently picked up by the Bashar internet tool Cham Press, which “reported” that the US embassy has smuggled (you guessed it) silencers!

    However, the prize must go to Ad-Diyar’s open letter. A constant target of these rags is US Amb. Jeffrey Feltman, and it’s no coincidence that Hezbollah has been bashing him at every turn, and that Nasrallah labeled the Seniora government the “Feltman government.” Sure enough, he was targeted in these “reports.” But Ad-Diyar’s creativity went one notch above the rest, when it “confirmed” as “common knowledge” that David Satterfield was “busy training the cadres and leaders of Lebanese militias.”

    I’ll give you a moment to wipe your tears. Mark my words, some luminary is bound to make the suggestion, or should I call it “analysis.”

    http://beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/2006/11/guess-whos-back.html

    Why is the BBC not reporting ANY of this?

       0 likes

  30. gordon-bennett says:

    On the toynbee matter, my habit is to make a daily visit to the unmissable FactCheckingPollyanna blog where pt is frequently demolished by careful, impartial fact checking.

    http://factcheckingpollyanna.blogspot.com/

    Bookmark it!

       0 likes

  31. Biodegradable says:

    The lady could always wear the cross under her uniform so why doesn’t she just do that? After all if god exists and is omniscient he will know that she is wearing the cross and she will get her brownie points anyway.

    gordon-bennett | 23.11.06 – 1:05 pm

    To be fair the lady does say that she specifically wants others to see her cross:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6165368.stm
    “I am fairly disappointed but I’m looking forward to the next stage because the cross is important and the truth will be revealed.

    “It is important to wear it to express my faith so that other people will know that Jesus loves them.”

    Ms Eweida said people of other faiths were allowed to wear visible religious symbols such as headscarves and she wanted to be allowed to do the same.

       0 likes

  32. TPO says:

    gb
    “Bookmark it!”
    Done

    Now here’s a story in the Telegraph: Nearly 100 MPs join protest over BA cross ban

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/23/umps123.xml

    And the same story in the Mail: Almost 100 MPs sign motion condemning BA as backlash grows

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=418030&in_page_id=1770

    Ho hum! Can’t find this anywhere on the bbc website. Perhaps they’re covering it here:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/pashto/index.shtml

       0 likes

  33. TPO says:

    Bio

    Where’s your bauble today?

       0 likes

  34. Biodegradable says:

    TPO:

    Shhh… don’t talk of the devil, or he may appear.

       0 likes

  35. TPO says:

    “Lawrence Barnes:
    From a puzzled Yank: what is a “D-Notice”, and have the British news media told you about those Iranians living in the Moscow airport? Google “kamalfar moscow airport” for details. Just how much news are you allowed to have??
    Lawrence Barnes | 22.11.06 – 5:16 am | ”

    Laurence I can’t see any response to your query, this might help:
    http://www.dnotice.org.uk/
    And this
    http://www.fas.org/irp/world/uk/d.htm

    Can’t find your link to the Iranians in Moscow airport, can you provide further info?

    “Just how much news are you allowed to have??”
    Well whatever the censorious bbc sees fit to tell us, providing it fits in with their multi-culti take on life and it is suitably anti Israeli and anti US.

       0 likes

  36. TPO says:

    Found it here Lawrence:

    http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/11/iranian_dissident_trapped_in_m.php

    http://michellemalkin.com/archives/006398.htm

    Predictably, another story the bbc chooses to hide from us.

    It’s a grotesque parody on that Tom Hanks film where he’s stuck in the arrivals lounge for weeks on end.

       0 likes

  37. TPO says:

    The reason why this is being withheld from us is:
    1. UN incompetence
    2. Iran in a bad light.

       0 likes

  38. Steve E. says:

    Apropos nothing in particular, Steyn is in good form here…

    “I think Britain is a real tragedy. Britain has been the single greatest force for good in the modern era, exporting its language, its legal system and its broader culture to every corner of the planet. I cannot understand it why the people who most disdain the Britannic inheritance is the mother country itself, the metropolis. It’s absurd.”

    http://newcultureforum.blogspot.com/2006/11/mark-steyn-talks-to-new-culture-forum.html

       0 likes

  39. TPO says:

    The more I look at this the more unpleasant it becomes.

    http://politicscentral.com/2006/11/18/ledeen_on_the_kamalfar_video.php

    If she is returned to Iran this woman will most probably be executed after some islamic kangaroo court has dispensed its ‘justice’
    Is there no one in the bbc prepared to run with this story? I despise the lot of you.

       0 likes

  40. TPO says:

    EU COURT ORDERS RUSSIA TO HALT KAMALFAR ‘EXTRADITION’:

    http://pajamasmedia.com/

    So the European Court of Human Rights is now wading in and still no word from the bbc.

       0 likes

  41. Socialism is Necrotizing says:

    TPO please keep up with the plight of Kamalfar and her children.

       0 likes

  42. Socialism is Necrotizing says:

    here we are at the very great EU Ref

    http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/11/its-way-they-tell-em.html

       0 likes

  43. Abandon ship! says:
  44. Biodegradable says:

    How the BBC always gives the benefit of the doubt to the “Palestinians”:

    The Jerusalem Post:
    57 year-old female bomber detonates herself near troops
    Eight IDF soldiers were wounded on Thursday as the army intensified its efforts to stop the ongoing Kassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

    A 57 year old female suicide bomber detonated near soldiers in the Jebalya refugee camp Thursday evening, the IDF said. Three soldiers were lightly wounded by the blast.

    Reports said that soldiers had received an intelligence tip that a female suicide bomber was about to strike. The IDF said soldiers spotted the bomber and threw a stun grenade at her, causing her to set off the explosives she was carrying.

    Hamas later claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the woman as Fatma Omar An-Najar.

    The BBC:
    Palestinians die in Israeli raid
    A man who may have been a civilian or a militant was also shot dead.

    A 57-year-old female suicide bomber attacked Israeli troops in Jabaliya. It was not clear if she detonated her bomb or was killed by an Israeli grenade.

    Two soldiers were lightly wounded in the blast, Israeli army radio said. Governing Palestinian party Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack by the bomber, named as Fatma Najar.

    There are conflicting reports as to whether one of Thursday’s casualties, 20-year-old Muhammad Jarjawi, had been fighting Israeli troops or was a bystander.

       0 likes

  45. Biodegradable says:

    The story above about the female suicide bomber first appeared on the news.bbc.co.uk “latest” news ticker as something like “Female suicide bomber injures Israeli troops… more soon”, but that has since been removed and the only link to the story, buried among the feature about “Palestinian” dead is in the news ticker as “At least five Palestinians die in Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip.”

    Make lots of noise about “Palestinian” terrorists getting what they deserve, keep quite about their attempts to commit mass murder on Jews and subsequent Jewish casualties – it’s what we (The BBC) do.

       0 likes

  46. TPO says:

    SiN
    I’ve emailed Melanie Phillips in the hopes that she might be able to give it some publicity, if not in her column, then through her blog.
    Seems that CNN are now running with it. Will try and look later.

       0 likes

  47. pounce says:

    When is foreign occupation not foreign occupation according to the BBC?

    When it’s “military and political rule over its smaller neighbour”

    “In 2005, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon following 29 years of military and political rule over its smaller neighbour, after massive international pressure following the assassination of Mr Hariri.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6175508.stm

    Mustn’t go and upset the master race should we BBC…

       0 likes

  48. will says:

    With More4 attracting vanishingly small audiences by devoting every night to a left wing/anti-US agenda one wonders why the BBC feels the need to follow suit.

    BBC’s “Robin Hood” has now shed more that 30% of its first night audience. Meanwhile “The State Within”, which attracted 5.21m for its first episode, dropped out of the BBC1 top 30 for the second – to what? At least 1.25m fewer viewers.

    http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/weekreports.cfm?report=weeklyterrestrial&RequestTimeout=500

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  49. Peregrine says:

    As the BBC is filled with metropolitan types who love to tax us poor little citizens who fail to make the “informed” choices in our lifestyles, it is hardly a surprise what responses to the decision of the ECJ to disallow internet shopping, without having to pay duty twice, the BBC decide to publish.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6175656.stm (Sorry haven’t got the knack of posting links)

    So eight different views all supporting the decision. Do the BBC really believe that this reflects the views of any smokers and many drinkers?

    As the BBC tax hurts the poorest, so do the ridiculously high duties on tobacco and alcohol. The clearest case of BBC bias I think I have ever seen.

       0 likes