Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:

Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.

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

  1. Izzie says:

    I haven’t read all the comments, but something on the news yesterday really annoyed me – and I hadn’t noticed it before. They were talking about that idiot Archbishop when the reporter mentioned the “so-called security barrier”.

    Why “so-called”? It is a bloody security barrier you fools. I suppose another example of the subtle (and not so subtle) brainwashing that the lefty BBC thrives on.

    I normally notice this sort of thing, I wonder how long that particular phrase has been used? How many people who just watch the news each night without really researching anything in detail for themselves, find themselves talking about the so-called” security barrier when discussing the Middle East?

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  2. Bryan says:

    Yeah, well that’s the propagandist aim, after all. Many people trust the BBC and don’t have the time or inclination to do their own research. So they’ll accept that it’s a so-called security barrier.

    However, happily more and more people are becoming clued up about the so-called journalism of the subversive BBC.

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  3. Jonathan Boyd Hunt says:

    Bryan | 24.12.06 – 9:21 am:
    You say:
    “..though John Reith and I declared a momentary truce in this season of goodwill to all men, he remains a bitter adversary as long as he defends the indefensible BBC.”

    When you get going again in the New Year I’ll try and provide you with the sort of ammunition that he will not like at all. Here’s some Christmas reading for you • I hope it fires your enthusiasm to use it:

    From The Sunday Times, 26 Oct. 1986:
    “MY BATTLE WITH THE BEEB”
    Panorama branded me a virulent racist but the programme was transparently false. I had been tried and found guilty but I was determined to fight back. It was the start of a three-year battle to clear my name costing half a million pounds”

    http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9859/2542ng7.jpg

    Continued:
    “At last we attacked the enemy and put our case”
    http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4898/9585fp2.jpg

    NOTE THE EFFECT THAT THE FOREGOING HAD ON THE SUPPOSEDLY “IMPARTIAL” BBC. Read this from The Guardian of 21 Oct. 1994 (i.e. the day following the publication of the paper’s original CFQ story):
    “The corporation [BBC] eventually stumped up £20,000 in a libel settlement in 1987 … but the lengthy process made Mr Hamilton a confirmed enemy of the BBC and investigative journalists generally.
    http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/8409/19941021guardianp03accocm7.jpg

    I guess they both got their revenge eventually. Anyway must go now so I’ll bid everyone a very merry Christmas! Best wishes to you all.

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  4. moonbat nibbler says:

    So what does BBC1 (a channel costing £1bn) put on the Saturday night before Christmas? Only two days to go, post-pub and post-motd means a good amount of potential viewers. They put on a film that has a ranking of 3.4 on imdb, 3.4!

    But it gets better. The film portrays a USAF pilot who was going to shoot down a civilian plane over Iraq! We are treated to the USAF shown as hideously incompetent by allowing the pilot back onto an airbase to create havok and eventually kill four other fighter pilots. Ugh.

    (Homepage links to the imdb page for the film)

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  5. pounce says:

    The BBC, selective editing and half a story
    Ethiopia admits Somalia offensive

    Ethiopia has for the time said its troops are fighting Islamic militiamen that control much of Somalia. Ethiopia’s information minister said his country’s forces had launched “self-defensive measures” against the Islamic Courts Union (UIC).
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6207427.stm

    and what the Ethiopian information actually said;
    Ethiopia launches counter attack in Somalia
    Ethiopia launched a counter-attack in Somalia on Sunday against rival Somali Islamists, hitting several areas, the Ethiopian Information Minister said.
    “After too much patience, the Ethiopian government has taken self-defensive measures and started counter-attacking the aggressive extremist forces of the Islamic Courts and foreign terrorist groups,” Information Minister Berhan Hailu told Reuters
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3343869,00.html

    Now which one of the above two stories paints the picture of Christian aggression and Islamic victim hood.

    The BBC, selective editing and half a story

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  6. Steve_Mac says:

    Is America ripe for a Mormon president?
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6203179.stm
    By Justin Webb
    BBC News, Washington

    A man named Mitt Romney who is a Mormon and who will declare next month that he is running for president.

    A man who will present the Republican Party – his party – with a dilemma next year. Put simply: Are the Mormons too strange for prime time?

    Or, put another way: Is the Republican party too bigoted to select a Mormon as its presidential candidate?

    Mitt Romney has just finished a fairly successful run as the Republican Governor of Massachusetts. To the best of my knowledge Mormons are not elected to office in any other country but the US. Why doesn’t Mr. Webb mention this in his article? Or, put another way, is Justin Webb too bigoted to report on US politics?

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  7. Steve_Mac says:

    Was the US right to defy the UN and launch an illegal war in Iraq? No!

    Is Israel right to defy the UN resolution requiring it return to it’s 1967 borders and end the illegal occupation of Palestine? No!

    Is Iran right to defy UN sanctions?
    http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5069&start=0&&&edition=2&ttl=20061224111722

    How should the world respond to Iran’s flouting of UN sanctions?
    Iran says it will immediately resume uranium enrichment activities, one day after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Tehran.
    The UN sanctions, passed unanimously, ban the supply of nuclear materials to Iran and freeze some assets overseas but US officials have already called for tougher measures.
    Is Iran justified to defy the UN sanctions? Should Iran be allowed to develop nuclear technology? What action should be taken by the UN? Send us your views.

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  8. pounce says:

    The BBC and half the picture.

    The BBC reports on Iran and its somewhat innocent nuclear program. To tie in with the BBC views that Iran is a victim it publishes a picture of the Natanz nuclear site in Iran.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/middle_east_enl_1137522423/img/1.jpg

    and here is the same picture taken from the same web site the BBC did but with the highlights it kind of left out put back in.
    http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9063/iranxm5.jpg

    The BBC and half the picture.

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  9. G.R. Cooper says:

    Steve_Mac writes: “… is Justin Webb too bigoted to report on US politics? ”

    And the answer is, yes, he damned well is. This as a particularly egregious example, but it isn’t the first.

    Quite what Webb and his fellow BBC hacks think is so superior about the corrupt cesspit that is British politics, with both our Prime Minister and his second in command sunk in major scandals, is hard to see.

    That said, Mormons are a deeply strange sect and the Republicans baulking at electing one would be no odder than, say, the Labour Party or Conservatives having qualms about appointing a Jehovah’s Witness or a member of the Plymouth Bretheren as their leader.

    That isn’t bigotry, it is due diligence.

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  10. Alan says:

    Channel 4 has plans to give a
    niqabed Muslim propaganda-time tomorrow, although the Muslim appointed to do this originally has dropped out. Channel 4 should be boycotted by all non-Muslims, and by any Muslims who want to integrate into British society.

    Is al Beeb in favour of veiled news readers or not?

    On security grounds alone, the case against allowing the wearing of the veil in public is overwhelming:

    ” Muslims forced to lift veils at airports”
    http://news.scotsman.com (24 Dec.).

    ” The Niqab and Burqa as Security
    Threats”
    http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/685

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  11. Tim says:

    A Very merry Crimbo from here in Al Mansur, Red Zone, Baghdad.

    This evening I’ll be doing mulled wine if anyone is in the area.

    (Execpt terrorist or BBC)

    Anyone got suggestions for the receipe – I’ve got red wine, splash of brandy, cinammon, honey and the odd tea bag. Clearly stocks are limited, but any idea of what else to throw in, maybe a splash of my favourite aftershave?

    Have a good one, Tim

       0 likes

  12. knacker says:

    Couple of cloves maybe, and any available sliced citrus and/or apple. Keep adding brandy until it works just right. I know you know that. Sometimes there’s a tendency to…er…forget. Merry Christmas!

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  13. pounce says:

    Tim wrote;Anyone got suggestions for the receipe – I’ve got red wine, splash of brandy, cinammon, honey and the odd tea bag. Clearly stocks are limited,

    Nutmeg,Cardamon Pods and ginger.
    All three can be bought in town

       0 likes

  14. pounce says:

    P.S
    Forgot to say don’t eat the pods. They are vile. (I hated them as a child)

       0 likes

  15. Alan says:

    Tim.

    Marks and Spencer Mulled Red Wine,
    has this list of ingredients:

    Red wine (94%), sugar, cinnamon, cloves, lemon, blueberry, cardamon,
    coriander, fennel, nutmeg, orange,
    pimento.

    Serve: warm, with a slice of orange; add sugar to taste. Do not allow to boil.

       0 likes

  16. Anonymous says:

    re both Pounce and Umbongo,
    giving Irving the inverted commas for Historian, is, IMHO
    rather futile, just take one of his books, his history of Adolf Hitler’s atomic bomb and nuclear research program,
    “The Virus House”, Werner Heisenberg gave a positive review of Irving’s book! You mean Heisenberg, he of the indeterminacy theory, yes.
    Clearly Heisenberg must have been confused. As John Humphreys discovered on the Today programme the other morning, demonizing him doesn’t work, he is too intelligent, he even exposed Hitler’s diaries as forgeries after they were authenticated by historian Trevor-Roper and published in the Sunday Times! Ok, a maverick, a bull in a china shop, vain, yes, and this is connected with him standing outside of academia, his truck with Prof. Evans is good old fashioned academic competition, but saying he is not an historian is silly. Irving reminds me sometimes of Gore Vidal a lot of the time. A lot of people are in denial that he is an historian, for those in doubt just read his intro to ‘Hitler’s War’ where he actually uses the word Holocaust and refers to Hitler as mad! And to balance things out (if you need to) go and then visit the Holocaust museum at the Imperial War museum.

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  17. Tim says:

    Great thanks folks!

    Appel and Oranges I have and maybe just one clove.

    I’ll let you know how it tastes later.

    Cheers everyone!

       0 likes

  18. amimissingsomething says:

    pounce | 24.12.06 – 12:38 pm | #

    pounce, are you saying there were 2 pictures, or that there was only one and the bbc deliberately altered it?

       0 likes

  19. Anat says:

    MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL !
    Even the Beeb, though I may change my mind on Boxing Day.

       0 likes

  20. Alan says:

    Despite al Beeb’s slant, Ethiopa’s intervention to support the Somalia government against the
    Islamist jihadists is morally laudable.

    If only the West had intervened in Spain in 1936 to support the democratic government, and to defeat Franco and his Moroccan
    anti-infidel troops, the German bombing of Guernica could have been prevented, and perhaps World War 2 also.

       0 likes

  21. Umbongo says:

    Anonymous

    1. Name me another historian condemned in as unequivocal terms as Mr Justice Gray did of Irving in Irving -v- Penguin Books which is referred to here. Irving researches diligently on historical subjects but his use of that research leaves, according to Mr Justice Gray, something to be desired. Writing books on historical subjects does not make him a historian.

    2. May I suggest you get a nickname which maintains your anonymity (as does mine) but makes it easier to reference your comments.

    3. No more please on Irving (unless the BBC gives him another uncritical platform) – he’s not worth it.

       0 likes

  22. Allan@Aberdeen says:

    This is superb. Stay with it – the lyrics are straight to the point. Wonderful stuff.

       0 likes

  23. Anonymous says:

    Umbongo:

    Im reminded of that scene in Curb Your Enthusiasm, where Larry David has to decide between “Pharmacist or Doctor”. If you want me to choose between “Werner Heisenberg and Mr Justice Gray” on Irving’s ability to document the history of the German atomic bomb….
    I’ll go with Heisenberg.

    And this doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that Mr Justice Gray went on a German course a few months before he took up the case, so he could understand it better! Good for him shows he’s conscientious.

       0 likes

  24. Alan says:

    Should the West give up on Somalia?
    This is what Hugh Fitzgerald seems to be suggesting, dryly:

    ” Somalia will be wonderful ”
    http://www.jihadwatch.org/articles/hughfitzgerald.php (Dec.18)

    But war has intensified today between Ethiopia and Jihadists based in Somalia ( some native, some foreign al Qaeda trained ).

    Al Beeb shows its colours in the
    bias of its headline to this news
    development today:
    ” Ethiopia admits Somalia offensive ”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk (24 Dec.).

    Contrast this headline and more
    explanatory story:
    ” Ethiopia says it has launched an offensive against Somalia’s powerful
    Islamic movement ”
    http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/ (24 Dec.).

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  25. pounce says:

    The BBC and Not the Nine O/Clock news.

    Man attacked over wife’s Muslim veil comment
    LONDON (Reuters) – A man,whose wife made a passing comment about a Muslim woman’s full face veil, suffered a broken nose and lost his front teeth after being attacked and headbutted by the woman’s partner, police said on Sunday.

    The victim, a 46-year-old white man, was walking through Regent’s Park with his wife, son and daughter when they passed another family, a Muslim man and his wife who was pushing a baby in a pushchair.

    “The victim’s wife made a comment directed to her husband that she thought it must be difficult for the woman wearing the veil to see out of it as it covered her face,” a police spokesman said.

    “The suspect began shouting and returned approximately 10 minutes later on his own and repeatedly punched and headbutted the victim.”

    The man was taken to hospital, suffering from facial injuries including a broken nose and a black eye, but was discharged later in the day.

    The police spokesman said the suspect was about 35-years-old and of Middle Eastern appearance and that they were treating the incident as a racially-motivated assault.
    http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?storyid=2006-12-24T120414Z_01_L24179459_RTRUKOC_0_UK-RELIGION-BRITAIN-VEIL.xml&type=domesticNews&WTmodLoc=UK-C3-More-2

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  26. amimissingsomething says:

    pounce | 24.12.06 – 6:03 pm | #

    so you mean if i were to wonder out loud, as i often have silently, whether or not some of muslim’s women’s garb is hot or not in stifling climes, could earn me such an attack from RoPers? Oh, dear!

    pounce, did u not see my earlier question about the iran pic(s)?

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  27. Alan Man says:

    “But you understate the need for all of us to watch and take on board this woman’s passionate, demonstrably truthful account of the experience of the Christians in Lebanon over the last few decades.”

    Mr Boyd Hunt, I’m glad that you have woken up to the plight of Middle Eastern Christians. This would never have happened if you relied on the BBC to provide you with the news.

    I also urge you to look at statements made by Walid Shoebat, who is a former PLO terrorist who has converted to Christianity. His statements provide you with a view from the other side and the arab muslim mentality.

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  28. TPO says:

    Merry Christmas to all.
    And to Tim: Keep safe. 36 years ago I spent my first Christmas in Salalah. Crap surroundings but the cameraderie made it one of the best Christmases I ever had.

       0 likes

  29. Gavin says:

    Agreed, I’ve also been to Belfast as a British Soldier and then a few years later with the BBC as a security consultant, whilst it was kicking off around the Holy Cross School, Ardoyne.

    After the riots, myself and the camera crew went to both sides of the divide to hear the usual claim and counter claim.

    With my own eyes I saw one section of the community (Guess which one was best at playing the media/propganda game?)put an old couple (Who did not live in the petrol bombed house) in front of the cameras – For affect a childs bycicle was also put in shot, against a burned out garden shed.

    BBC propaganda – I’ve first hand experience of it – Many times!

    In 1996 after the Drumcree riots in Portdawn, Northern Ireland I saw an army heli tele video of a BBC news crew getting local Nationalist youths to push a car out onto the Garvaghy road and set it alight to get the footage, the BBC at its best

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  30. Bryan says:

    A Swedish friend of mine made the same comment to a Muslim woman whose child was wearing a veil so thick she could barely see to walk properly. The woman started screaming hysterically, drawing a crowd of mostly Muslims and slapping my friend – who promptly slapped her back.

    I’m sure you’ll guess the rest of the story before I tell it. While the Muslim went free, my friend was the one who ended up being shoved into a Malmo police cell. She was held for hours and treated like sh*t.

    There are areas in Malmo where the police will not venture and rape by Muslims of Swedish women is endemic. The Swedes, over-generous champions of human rights, have had their generosity trampled on by Muslims and are in real trouble in their own country.

    We look forward to an in depth investigation by the BBC into the way in which Muslims treat their Swedish hosts.

    We also look forward to pigs flying past our window.

       0 likes

  31. dave t says:

    Anyway for a few brief hours (until the BBC starts slagging off the Christians again…)season’s greetings to one and all delivered in a secular non discriminatory fashion that might cause offence etc etc.

    And if you ARE offended by the spirit of Christmas – do to yourself what I’ve just done to my turkey!

       0 likes

  32. amimissingsomething says:

    dave t | Homepage | 24.12.06 – 11:16 pm | #

    might i suggest that only a turkey (featherless biped variety?) could be offended by christmas?

       0 likes

  33. MisterMinit says:

    Heron | 21.12.06 – 3:42 pm

    “In which case, how can you explain the lack of this

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061…m/ iraq_qaeda_dc

    on the BBC. It couldn’t be because it is good news, could it?

    It couldn’t be because the BBC institutionally wants the British and the U.S. to “lose” the war, could it?”

    Now, I’ve had Googled the websites of a selection of major British media organisations – namely The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times and The Daily Mail – and I couldn’t find any reference to this story at all.

    So Heron, could you either show me where these publications have covered this story or explain why haven’t covered the story.

    Is it because they “institutionally [want] the British and the U.S. to “lose” the war?” From your logic, this seems to be the only possible explanation.

       0 likes

  34. MisterMinit says:

    GCooper: “Then MisterMinit pops up, picking a nit so small it must have required a microscope to find.”

    So you agree with me then? I can’t believe that you are criticising me for stating something that you yourself believe is true?

    And to be fair, stating that the BBC only advertise their job openings in the Guardian is an incredibly easy fallacy to spot. Are you saying that when you first read that statement you didn’t instantly think that it was false?

       0 likes

  35. MisterMinit says:

    Oh, and Merry Christmas all.

    “And if you ARE offended by the spirit of Christmas – do to yourself what I’ve just done to my turkey!”

    I concur.

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  36. Voyager says:

    Some very good Christmas fayre on German TV – good to see a TV station using its licence-fee money to uphold majority traditions in Germany in marked contrast to the BBC which sees itself as a geostationary satellite cra@pping on Earthlings below.

    ARD, ZDF, MDR have served up far better programming than the BBC manages even if it is below last year’s standard

       0 likes

  37. dave t says:

    Don’t the Germans always show an ancient black and white comedy thing about a mad butler etc every year as well?

    On a par with the Beeb showing “The Great Escape” for years on end until some PC johnny decided we didn’t want to mention the war….

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  38. cassis says:

    dave t

    Yes, they do, however at the New Year.

    It’s called Dinner for One with Freddy Frinton.

    Austrian and (I think) Swiss TV show it too… or did.

       0 likes

  39. Umbongo says:

    Anonymous

    Is this the Heisenberg – a brilliant physicist BTW – who (given the alternative of emigration) worked for Hitler, who was complicit in the exclusion of Jews from German scientific life and who tried to inveigle Bohrs (a half-Jew, Heisenberg’s mentor and close friend) into working for Hitler? Oh yes, your choice of disinterested support for Irving’s claim to be a historian speaks volumes.

    That’s my lot – if you want to continue being an apologist for antisemitic faux history please go ahead.

    And a Merry Christmas to you all.

       0 likes

  40. Tim says:

    date t, mate

    I think the black and white mad butler thing is Norwegian.

    Well British, but the Norgies watch it religously every crimbo.

       0 likes

  41. Anonymous says:

    Umbongo
    Thank you for classifying me as an “apologist for antisemtic faux history “- and a Merry Xmas to you too! You do know the same has been said about the New Testament? Thank goodness that Europe has progressed beyond the Inquisition, of Vatican indices, Nazi book burning and Stalinist and Stasi ire towards andersdenkenden- or has it?
    Just imagine if I had published my name here and University. I wonder what would have happened if ‘named’ was seen to be defending the historical value of Irving’s “The Virus House” because he agreed with Heisenberg’s review in Naturwissenschaften. The thought police are sharpening their knives for him too.

    An “Apologist for Irving”! Academic defends Anti-semetic history! Oh dear. Ignominy- and from the same voices that never bother to read the stuff , very similar to the fanatical reaction by Islamists towards Rushdie’s SVs, the cartoons or the Pope’s academic lecture.

    Clearly the European Enlightenment has a very long history and has some way to go yet before we have genuine freedom of expression.
    God bless you all here and may the BBC burn in hell!

       0 likes

  42. GCooper says:

    MisterMinit writes:

    “Are you saying that when you first read that statement you didn’t instantly think that it was false?”

    Actually, my first thought was, ‘Oh grief – here we go again!’. knowing some twit was quite likely to try to defend the BBC’s love affair with the Guardian, based on what was, clearly, a sweeping generalisation.

    Had the commenter written, ‘the overwhelming majority of the BBC’s advertising…’ he would have been quite right and spared you the opportunity of exposing yourself even further as a BBC shill.

    That there is an unholy relationship between the Guardian and the BBC is beyond doubt. That is, unless you can find some convincing way of explaining the hugely disproportionate number of Guardian staff appearing on the BBC, twittering aout this and that – far out of proportion to the numbers recruited from other titles and quite beyond anything that could be justified by its (lamentable) sales.

    Trying to defend the amount of subsidy poured into the Left’s house magazine on the grounds that it is the only game in town is utterly disingenuous. The BBC could advertise its editorial positions in countless other ways and chooses not to.

       0 likes

  43. GCooper says:

    Wishing everyone here a truly Happy (or Merry, for the Americans) Christmas.

    Likewise, celebrants of the other, countless, midwinter celebrations on offer!

       0 likes

  44. Allan@Aberdeen says:

    It was recently posted, and with credible links, that The Guardian is a recipient of a disproportionate amount of the BBC’s advertising budget. If someone could dig out that post and allow MisterMinit to peruse.
    There is a closeness between the BBC and The Guardian resembling two sides of a coin – they’re that close! Astonishing that someone here is willing to dispute it.

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  45. imli says:

    davet, you’re being really silly here with your comparison, ‘Dinner for One’ was the creation of a British comedian for the NDR, and it is absolutely wonderful, there is nothing ‘political’ about it, it is just an old upperclass lady dining with all her friends on her own, with her butler as a stand-in for her deceased friends. You can enjoy it here:
    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8908622153579785434

       0 likes

  46. Anat says:

    Please don’t feed the troll.
    Merry Christmas.

       0 likes

  47. imli says:

    Aww Anat, it is called ‘Dinner for One’ and not ‘Dinner for Troll’.

    Then again, trollness has been known to be cured by fits of laughter.

    🙂 🙂 🙂

       0 likes

  48. Deepdiver says:

    A very merry Christmas to all writers, commenters and lurkers at Biased BBC.

    Deepdiver

       0 likes

  49. dave t says:

    imli:

    Still trying to work out how you can add political to my comment about “Dindins fur Ein” – The Great Escape on the other hand IS in fact back on the box cunningly disguised as ‘Chicken Run’….!

       0 likes

  50. Biodegradable says:

    An “Apologist for Irving”! Academic defends Anti-semetic history!

    Dear Prof. Anonymous,

    It’s spelled antisemitic.

    Happy holiday wishes to all!

       0 likes