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Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:
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“Why would Muslim children be upset by Christmas?
Biodegradable | 29.11.06 – 8:07 pm | ”
beats me. Jesus is recognised as a prophet in the Koran. Not the “son of god” per se – but still sent from God.
sounds like a load of P.C. types who havent a clue.
Mr Boyd Hunt,
I read Trial by Conspiracy, and you make a compelling case. No-one reading it would ever trust the Guardian again (even if they did before!).
archduke:
“Why would Muslim children be upset by Christmas?
Biodegradable | 29.11.06 – 8:07 pm | ”
beats me. Jesus is recognised as a prophet in the Koran. Not the “son of god” per se – but still sent from God.
I thought I saw a placard in Turkey protesting the Pope’s visit saying something like “Jesus wasn’t the son of God, he was Allah’s prophet”.
Anyhow, maybe it’s the beard that scares Muslim kids, according to this article:
St. Nick Ban Causes Stir in Vienna
VIENNA, Austria (AP — St. Nick, nein! A ban on St. Nicholas at Vienna’s kindergartens is taking some of the ho-ho-ho out of the holidays for tens of thousands of tots this year. And it’s creating a political ruckus, with opposition parties accusing City Hall of kowtowing to a growing Muslim population by showing Europe’s Santa the kindergarten door.
Municipal officials insist their decision is prompted more by psychology than political correctness. Instead of joy, the sight of a strange bearded figure at the door evokes fear in most kids, they argue.
And of course if you disagree you’re “far-right”.
Heinz-Christian Strache, whose far-right anti-foreign Freedom Party showed strongly in Oct. 1 elections, called the assertion that St. Nick frightens kids a “cover … bordering on absurdity.”
“Whoever comes to Austria must realize it’s a Christian country. Christian traditions are part of the equation,” said Strache aide Hans-Joerg Jenewein.
‘Exactly what is the purpose of NATO other than to allow the likes of France and Germany to hamstring the military capability of the US?’
The question that everyone taking a rational, pragmatic and sensible approach to modern defence in the 21st century in Europe is taking. Well done for putting it so sensibly.
Jon,
I submitted a comment this afternoon to this page:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6157111.stm
I’m guessing that the BBC are still waiting for an ‘on message’ comment to be submitted.
Biodegradable-> “I thought I saw a placard in Turkey protesting the Pope’s visit saying something like “Jesus wasn’t the son of God, he was Allah’s prophet”.”
well yes . exactly. thats Koranic teaching. Doesnt mean that Christ isnt respected by Muslims , or that Christmas is “offensive” – far from it. of course , their interpretation of who Christ was is different, but they still believe that he was sent from God. THEY view the Popes interpretation to be wrong and to be insulting to their version of who christ was.
but its all fucking angels on hairpins rubbish. cant believe i’m typing this in 2006 – we badly need another age of enlightenment, rather than this awful drift to another religious dark age.
archduke | 30.11.06 – 1:17 am
Amen :+:
Here we go again…I see that they are,YET again, running a thread on (D) HYS on “Should the veil be banned?”
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Talk about flogging a dead horse. Can’t the Beeb find something else for people to discuss.
btw. The late Alan Freeman only rates a “comment”, not a “tribute”
Allan the Hat | 30.11.06 – 12:02 am:
Thank you. From my utterances on this blog you might imagine that I have a passionate disdain for The Guardian and the BBC.
It never used to be so. But having learned how The Guardian used its sway over the BBC to brainwash a democratic state into believing a demostrable lie, and how the BBC then deliberately failed in its duty under its Royal Charter to air the truth when it learnt the truth, did rather change my views.
@Steve jones in re NATO.
What is needed is a some sort of Free World Volunteer force, made up solely of countires that are willing to put boots on the ground with respect to a certain set of conditions and purposes.
Trouble is that these sorts of things mean its the US/UK/CAN/AU fighting so that Guardian readers can sip their organic tea with free range crumpets in peace. Hardly something worth fighting for.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6190964.stm
” Gaza relishes moment of peace”
Last Updated: Tuesday, 28 November 2006, 11:56 GMT
By Alan Johnston
===
“After five months of sustained assaults on Gaza by the Israeli army, nowhere is the sudden ceasefire more welcome than in the town of Beit Hanoun.”
What was the pretext for the “military assult”?
“Our children are scared and their children are scared. War is dangerous for us and for them. To live in peace is better.”
What a perfect quote for the BBC. It hits all the bases.
“Groups like Islamic Jihad said that their crudely-made missiles were a response to Israeli raids and air strikes.”
Is there another group firing rockets? One that starts with an “H”?
“And elements in both Islamic Jihad and Hamas threatened the truce within hours of its start. They launched fresh volleys of rockets into Israel.”
Was Hamas not involved before, but only became in volved once the truce started?
Any thoughts about the absurdity of the Hamas government promulgating the truce, when they have started the whole mess by kidnapping an IDF soldier and firing rockets across the border?
“With the truce less than 24 hours old Israeli troops raided the West Bank town of Qabatiya. They killed a militant from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), and a woman in her 50s.”
You mean a self detonating woman? The Suicide bomber who’s belt was set off by an israeli stun grenade? Who was this woman, how was she killed?
“Its declared objectives were to work to secure the release of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit,”
Should have mentioned this sooner. Context first, detail later.
“But in the days before the truce the militant missile attacks were still coming in the usual numbers. And when the troops withdrew, they left Cpl Shalit here in Gaza.”
Sweet Jesu! They didn’t manage to find him. Alan Johnson implies that the IDF purposfuly decided to leave him behind.
There is no worse slander for a soldier than to imply that he would leave a fellow soldier behind.
No wonder Mr Johnson sticks to palestinian areas. In some circles, saying things like that could get his teeth knocked in.
“For years Israel’s generals have failed to find an answer to the rocket fire, and now their political masters may be quite keen to see just how much mileage there is in the ceasefire option.”
Highly biased construction. The IDF is always under civilian control, in the past, and in the present.
“It has been shunned by the West and crippled by American and Israeli sanctions on account of its refusal to renounce violence and accept Israel’s right to exist.”
The EU isn’t giving them money either. Can’t show the EU being hardhearted, can we?
—
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/6158009.stm
Campaign over for Harriet the cow
===
“On Wednesday the case was heard by the House of Lords but peers refused to overrule the EU law, which means the animal has to be put down.”
What a pathetic legal system, in which a court can’t enjoin a consent decree that will ensure that the pet cow never enters the food supply.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6158195.stm
Iran issues fatwa on Azeri writer
Last Updated: Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 23:45 GMT
====
“One of Iran’s most senior clergymen has issued a fatwa on an Azeri writer said to have insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
The call on Muslims to murder Rafiq Tagi, who writes for Azerbaijan’s Senet newspaper, echoes the Iranian fatwa against Indian writer Salman Rushdie.
It was issued by the conservative Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Fazel Lankarani.”
Murder?? Muslims? Quick, someone call the BBC plumbers to fix this.
“An Azerbaijani court sentenced the writer Rafiq and his publisher to two months in jail for an article which was illustrated by the same cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad originally published in Denmark that caused outcry in the Muslim world.”
No chime in from a “human rights group”? Are they all so busy in lebanon, that there are none for Iran?
Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6195830.stm
Beeboids investigating the UN and finding that things aren’t tickety-boo? Whatever next? That the Religion of Peace has a disproportionate number of terrorists amongst its adherents?
UN is back in favour this morning; Beeboids are wetting themselves of its latest ‘report’ claiming that meat production is killing the world.
I look forward to seeing this report, and checking if it is really just a piece of pro-veggie bollocks.
Wherever you look with the party of vermin, the stench of corruption is always there.
Charity watchdog to check Brown think-tank
‘Mr Myners, the former chairman of Marks & Spencer and now chairman of Guardian Media Group, defended the institute.” The Smith Institute has made an invaluable contribution to important discussions around social and economic policy,” he said. “Ed Balls did some extremely good work.”Wilf Stevenson, the institute’s director, said he had no regrets about hiring Mr Balls. “We benefited enormously from him.”’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/30/ncharity30.xml
I await with interest to see if the Guardian controlled bbc reports this.
Bodo
“Jesus Christ BBC, Next you’ll be getting a permanent “Gordon Brown correspondent” ”
The support for Gordon at the BBC is staggering even by their standards, especially on the Today programme. For some straight comparison – when have they ever got in an expert to discuss the condition of David Cameron’s son who has a much worse disability? As for the exceptional puff for Gordon on his Iraq visit, complete with headline photo on the website, just compare it with Cameron’s visit. That only got covered as being a “snub” to the CBI. No coverage of Cameron in Iraq and no coverage of George Osborne’s very well received speech at the CBI conference. Just some negative spin for the Tories. No bias there then.
Mark Steyn: ” Madrid and London –
along with other events such as the murder of Theo van Gogh – were the
opening shots in that European civil war.You can laugh if you wish…”
ok. hahahahahahaha. imbecile.
“With the truce less than 24 hours old Israeli troops raided the West Bank town of Qabatiya….”
The ‘truce’ only applies to Gaza!
RB, don’t be so hard on yourself.
RB has to laugh it is the only think stopping the shrieks of terror because Steyn is more right that most understand and the left has little concept at all.
“Wherever you look with the party of vermin, the stench of corruption is always there.”
TPO – this is a case of transparent corruption that hardly needs ‘investigating’ it’s so effing obvious. Wilf Stevenson was a childhood friend of Gordo back in Scotland. He was about the worst ever Director of the British Film Institute – leading directly to it being sidelined when he left and the creation of the NuLab tax guzzling Film Council which gets public money to make commercial films (altho’ they aren’t so hot at judging what actually sells without the discipline of the private sector….) Stevenson is just a Brownite vehicle whose ‘special relationship’ gets him a shedload of funding to promote his mate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6158897.stm
Last sentence. Why did they bother adding that I wonder? Oh wait, silly me.
Hang on, isn’t it the dollar that’s weak rather than the pound that’s strong? That article is totally redundant to anyone who actually has any interest in the business section.
the BBC are pleased to announce the thoughts of Dr Myers (who?) on the “special relationship”
Bush ‘routinely ignoring Blair’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6158435.stm
The BBC have to read The Times to get this report but ignore the apparent hearsay of this evidence
Privately, US officials are furious about the comments made by a man not even involved in the policymaking process, which can only rock relations at a time of high-wire tension in international diplomacy. Dr Myers himself was said to be considering early retirement.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-2478925,00.html
or the traditional State Department view of pushing the UK into the EU, or more particularly States’ opposition to Bush.
If the State Department is the least hawkish part of the US Government, then Dr Myers’s bureau is the least hawkish part of the State Department. Under General Colin Powell, it was at loggerheads with the Pentagon and the White House during the build-up to the Iraq war
Myers also comes over as an American version of Sir Humphry, solidarity between civil servants & contempt for their “masters”, the politicians.
Although Dr Myers said that the institutional relationship — not least between the Foreign Office and his own department — would survive, he predicted that Britain would have to reconsider its role as a bridge between America and Europe after the ructions of Iraq.
“Tony Blair could sound European on a good day, he could occasionally pronounce French well, and wear blue jeans with the best Americans.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-2478592,00.html
Why is this Myers guy telling me, a Brit, what I want? He’s also fallen for the old mistake (made by Londoners) that London is Britain.
The “special relationship” has leaned in favour of the US since 1943 or so and that’s not new information. They are bigger than us and we would do it back if we were still bigger than them, so I really don’t care.
The next PM probably won’t follow the next President into a war but they wouldn’t be a good leader of our country if they let good links fall apart just because of some grudge.
Also, I really don’t agree with the opinion the “Yo Blair” thing is entirely bad. Personally I would greet a close friend like that but not anyone else and maybe Bush is the same. The BBC had a linguistic person on the day after the event that basically told them their conclusion was wrong, but they’ve stuck to it for months now.
Archduke:
“we badly need another age of enlightenment, rather than this awful drift to another religious dark age.”
But in the age of stupidity we get opinions disguised as news, as if people were not allowed think for themselves, because they might stray from the true path of PC multiculturalism.
BBC – the beacon of stupidity
“Hang on, isn’t it the dollar that’s weak rather than the pound that’s strong? That article is totally redundant to anyone who actually has any interest in the business section.”
Seems it’s actually just another gratuitous piece of promotion for Gordon Brown (the putdown to the Conservative government at the end is a dead giveaway).
So, as usual, this “For now, we’ve decided not to use the term civi war…” is a load of codswallop.
What do we find on the current front page? This: “Empty streets Baghdad residents keep off the streets as fears of civil war grow”
Huh?
Editors Blog:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/11/what_is_a_civil_war.html
Living in the shadow of ‘civil war’:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6158847.stm
BBC = Scum Liars Nazis……
Next
Compare and contrast¬
Iran issues fatwa on Azeri writer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6158195.stm
“The call on Muslims to murder Rafiq Tagi, who writes for Azerbaijan’s Senet newspaper, echoes the Iranian fatwa against Indian writer Salman Rushdie.”
Indian? Frances Harrison obviously has difficulties recognising that her adopted country has tried to murder British citizens…
Meanwhile,
Ahmadinejad’s letter to Americans
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/29/ahmadinejad.letter/index.html?section=cnn_latest
“Both our nations are God-fearing, truth-loving and justice-seeking, and both seek dignity, respect and perfection.
Both greatly value and readily embrace the promotion of human ideals such as compassion, empathy, respect for the rights of human beings, securing justice and equity, and defending the innocent and the weak against oppressors and bullies.”
I’d like to see Frances Harrison’s comments on that load of hypocritical bullshit…
2000-year-old Greek device is ‘first computer
‘The 2,000-year-old bronze device was able to track the path of the sun and the moon, and perhaps even the planets.
Capable of performing complex astronomical calculations, it acted as a calendar and could predict eclipses.
So advanced was the technology, that astronomers describe it of being greater historical value than great works of art such as the Mona Lisa.
Discovered in pieces in a shipwreck by sponge divers off Greek island of Antikythera more than 100 years ago, the secrets of the ancient device have only now been unlocked by an international team of scientists.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=419495&in_page_id=1770
I’ve always been hard pushed to swallow the bbc line that every wonder of the modern world can be traced back to some tent dweller in the middle of Arabia.
Babar Ahmad and his pal are on their way to face justice at last. But just look at the bbc spin.
You would be forgiven thinking that Donald Rumsfeld was waiting with a pair of pliers to rip their toe nails out. Anyone who has followed the terrorist supporting career of Gareth Peirce will not be surprised to see her prominence in this issue
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6159183.stm
Nicley cutting piece from Harry’s Place on al beeb’s Eurabian version of Robin Hood
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/
Re: the extradition verdict, this is purely a factual outlining of the arguments. Can’t see any bias there?
The pound is now at its highest level since so-called Black Wednesday in September 1992, when it crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) under John Major’s Conservative government.
This wouldn’t, of course, be gratuitous if the BBC had told more of the story: that it’s a good thing for currencies to float; that Sterling shouldn’t have been in the ERM; that our strong-ish economic performance in the years since is partly down to our exit from the ERM; that our experience with the ERM was a warning of what could happen, (without the option of leaving) if we ever scrapped Sterling for the Euro, and; that Black Wednesday happened because the billionaire Democrat and socialist George Soros filled his boots by selling Sterling and screwing millions of Britons, poor as well as rich.
And I’d be very very wary of the value of awesome historical exclusives in the Daily Mail. Filler for the rare week when they can’t come up with some Princess Di related drivel.
Concern over dumbing down, or contempt for the citizen muscling in onto the journalist’s turf?
JEREMY Paxman last night accused his boss on air of turning Newsnight into “the BBC’s version of Animals Do The Funniest Things”.
He blasted editor Peter Barron for asking viewers to send in home video clips for a feature on the show called “Oh My Newsnight”.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006550696,00.html
TPO
Anyone who has followed the terrorist supporting career of Gareth Peirce will not be surprised to see her prominence in this issue
I know of Gareth Pierce and her work very well, but confidences cannot allow me to say how. You are right, she is a terrorist supporter. She is also an uppser middle class girl who attended Cheltenham Ladies College and an out and out Trotskyite. She hates this country with a passion and works day and night to bring it down. When you see her stand in front of a tv camera talking of ‘justice’, ‘rights’ and ‘due process’ you can be sure that she means no such thing and is only doing so to subvert our 1000 year history and tradition of justice in favour of a Trotskyite tyranny.
Cockney
Filler for the rare week when they can’t come up with some Princess Di related drivel.
Isn’t that the Daily Express?
The Daily Express NEVER has a week where they can’t come up with some Princess Di related drivel.
will
In this case I’m willing to give Paxman the benefit of the doubt. Famously, he was pissed off at Newsnight’s round up of financial markets being replaced by a summary of the weather report. In Paxman’s view it was dumbing down and needless as the BBC broadcasts weather reports around the clock anyway:
Cockney
I’m sure you have this wrong. I thought the agreement was that the Daily Express has Lady Di and house prices, whilst the Daily Express does illegal immigrants, crime and higher taxes.
I htink his comments are fair enough. Newsnight is supposed to be the premier news programme on the BBC so it doesn’t sya much for its professional journalists if you allow amateur reports to sit alongside the professional ones.
Keith Allan (who plays the Sherrif of Nottingham) on the BBCs ‘contemproary’ take on Robin Hood:
He enjoys the comments the show makes on life in the 21st century, particularly the conflict in Iraq, and thinks it’s important the viewers pick up on them.
“I think the morality of each story has a very contemporary resonance about it.
“We can’t ignore Iraq and the war, it’s as simple as that. I think the writers have been incredibly brave to have taken it on and included it in the script.
“They haven’t run away from it, and I think they’ve struck absolutely the right balance.”
Do read the thread on HP it’s well worth it
Cockney:
Pete_London:
Something for you to mull over (have sick bucket to hand):
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=56869775&cdi=0
.
Oscar:
Nicley cutting piece from Harry’s Place on al beeb’s Eurabian version of Robin Hood
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/
I don’t want to comment in the thread there because it might get missed. But is the show seriously like that?
I gave up on Dr Who because it just wasn’t cutting it and the blatant left wing crap was making it worse. I stayed away from Robin Hood because I expected more of the same, but is the show seriously that bad?
and its off to Gitmo for these two
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6159183.stm
or maybe not – its being appealed to the House of Lords… be interesting to see how this turns out.
FTP – I have to admit I stopped watching Robin Hood after one episode because it was so bad. But judging from the description and comments on HP it really is as bad as that. (and then some…)
I know of Gareth Pierce and her work very well, but confidences cannot allow me to say how.
Pete_London | 30.11.06 – 1:53 pm
Snap.
I’d be inside, quick as a wink, if I spilled the beans (Something to do with the RIPA).
By chance you’re not ex-SB are you?