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Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:
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Thanks Archduke.
I’m really interested in the “military stuff’always good to have extra links.:)
Brownstuff and Ballsup may be spinning furiously but I say again, this is NOT news.
It was openly done in 1997 (even though its clear many did not appreciate the implacations).
It WAS warned about at the time.
Anyone with any nous should have been speaking up about it then, but they did not.
I was working in the financial services sector in stockbroking at the time and we all knew of the issue.
If it had not been done there would have been a different need for tax income to the tune of around 6 billion a year.
You (and I) may not agree with what they did, but if you are wanting it undone you must propose how else you intend to raise the tax monies, thats what those that want to be in government need to do.
At the moment the only alternative would appear the new dave and george conservatives.
George’s proposal is – cue the tumbleweed breezing past and the crickets chirping…
” IiD | 02.04.07 – 4:15 pm”
eureferendum is *SUPERB* at analysing British military strategy (or lack of it) and weaponry (or rather , lack of weaponry…). very long posts usually with great analysis.
oops. sorry the above was me.
Oops – I can genuinely say I did not see John Hutton’s comments on Sunday.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton told ITV’s Sunday Edition: “If they think it’s such a bad policy, maybe we’ll hear a pledge from them to reverse these tax changes – and so far there’s been a deafening silence.”
Despite the fact he is a Labour politician he is in fact correct!
Liberal Democrat claims are similar to the new dave and george conservatives.
However in their case they won’t actually get into power so they can make any promises they like knowing they won’t have to keep them and are free to be as irresponsible as they inevitably always are.
BJ
The news is that information has just entered the public domain to the effect that Brown was warned by his own officials of the damage the removal of the dividend tax credit could do to pensions. Of course, the news of the damage itself is not “news” – anybody with any knowledge of finance and pensions knew what the effects would be.
Tell me – I’m genuinely interested – why you object to Brown being discomfited by this revelation. Surely, the fact that he ignored his own (presumably knowledgeable) officials and proceeded to damage private UK pension provision reflects on his fitness to be PM. That this is genuine “news” is confirmed by the way it was released at such a good time to bury bad news.
This place gets more action than the BBC Forums…… 🙂
Great to see so many people waking up to the BBCs nasty bias and prejudice.
I have no problem with brownstuff being in the brownstuff!
Thing is when politicians make noises, demand debates and such but have nothing to back their argument up all they do is give him a great get out.
It will be lost on Joe Public that the argument is about advice not taken, for most of them it will be as though they had never heard of the issue and Brown will point out that in fact they had.
The officials argument does not work either, in fact they advise all the time, they can be right or wrong.
There must be many times when you have disagreed with the advice of officials.
We do not want government by unelected officals that would make us just as bad as the EU being governed by Brussels and Strasbourg officials.
In fact if the advice is poor it is the government’s duty to ignore it (I am sure it is an argument familiar to those that opposed the Iraq war).
They will undoubtedly use the same argument they did about fuel tax and say if not from there then where is the money coming from.
In fact I would not be surpised to GB coming out of it smelling of roses.
Incompetant attacks are worse than none at all, more reminiscent of Michael Foot’s Labour party.
It will be yet another example of the opposition totally failing to do its job.
Brownstuff and Ballsup may be spinning furiously but I say again, this is NOT news.
BaggieJonathan | 02.04.07 – 4:38 pm |
Baggie.
Are you saying that the CBI in effect calling Balls & Brown liars is NOT news? I would beg to differ.
BTW I chose a different career path to you. Needless to say I was naive on the pension issue, I even had endowments and look what happened there. Had I realised in 1997 what was going to happen I could have saved myself a lot of money.
Anonymous | 02.04.07 – 5:42 pm | is me
I think you will find they have already called them liars (hardly a ringing endorsement I know) and this was a long time ago, so it is not stictly speaking new, i.e.
‘Lord Turner told the BBC: “OVER THE YEARS there has been a claim by Ed Balls and Gordon that one member at the CBI Presidents’ Committee said he thought it was a good idea… I have no record of this.’
and
‘Lord Turner also said the CBI had been given an assurance by the Treasury TWO YEARS AGO that it would not repeat the claim the business group had wanted the tax relief to be scrapped.’
My emphasis added.
It has become the thing for the IBC to pass off the ‘olds’ as the ‘news’.
“muslims in europe” is undoubtedly the best example.
They love to cut down on reporting time and effort by shamelessly cutting and pasting directly from older articles and presenting them as new ones, this is as I and others have pointed out on this blog before.
This pensions story presents a real opportunity for them to use that ‘technique’ again.
Frank field has now joined the fray on Gordon is a liar
Such a peaceful religion.
Barbarism in action.
“Schoolgirls massacred, Shiites executed in Iraq”
BAGHDAD (AFP) – A truck bomber carrying food supplies killed eight Iraqi schoolgirls and a baby in the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Monday as suspected Sunni militants executed 21 Shiite workers north of Baghdad.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/iraq;_ylt=AryoR.C1XH_54Agf_xqG17Gs0NUE
BREAKING NEWS
Our next protest will be:
6.45pm, Wednesday 4th April
Location: opposite the Iranian Embassy, 16, Prince’s Gate, South Kensington, SW7 1PT
Map here
Nearest Tube Stations: Knightsbridge or South Kensington
All welcome, please invite as many friends, workmates and family along as possible. We’ll be informing the media, too.
(from http://freethenavy15.blogspot.com/)
“TPO:
Frank field has now joined the fray on Gordon is a liar
TPO | 02.04.07 – 7:08 pm”
Dark (stalking) Horse?
“So we live today in a world of one-way sovereignty: American, British and Iraqi forces in Iraq respect the Syrian and Iranian borders; the Syrians and Iranians do not respect the Iraqi border. Patrolling the Shatt al-Arab at a time of war, the Royal Navy operates under rules of engagement designed by distant fainthearts with an eye to the polite fictions of “international law”: If you’re in a “warship,” you can’t wage war. If you’re in a “destroyer,” don’t destroy anything. If you’re in a “frigate,” you’re frigging done for.
On September 11th, a New York skyscraper was brought down by the Egyptian leader of a German cell of an Afghan terror group led by a Saudi. Islamism is only the first of many globalized ideological viruses that will seep undetected across national frontiers in the years ahead. Meanwhile, we put our faith in meetings of foreign ministers.
“It is better to be making the news than taking it,” wrote Winston Churchill in 1898. But his successors have gotten used to taking it, and the men who make the news well understand that”.
Is the U.N. Necessary?
http://www.nysun.com/article/51628
Marshall – your link does not work for me. Is it correct?
completely offtopic here’s something that will cheer you all up
Knut , the polar bear cub thats completely bowled over Germany. (they’ve gone nuts over him apparently)
The BBC, defending terrorists and half a story;
New hope for UK Guantanamo family
The family of British resident Omar Deghayes have long campaigned for him to be freed from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The release of Bisher al-Rawi, also a resident of the UK, has given them fresh hope. Omar Deghayes was arrested by Pakistani authorities in Lahore as he fled Afghanistan at the outbreak of war in 2002 to return to the UK. Libyan-born refugee Mr Deghayes, 37, from Brighton, had been touring various Muslim countries after finishing his law degree in the UK and was with his Afghan wife and newborn son when he was arrested.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6519941.stm
Ah bless the BBC take to lying (As per the Islamic mantra) in which to cry crocodile tears for one of its masters. Ref Omar Deghayes BBC here are a few corrections to your sob story;
1) He wasn’t touring Muslim countries after finishing his law degree. He left it half way in which to go and live in a Muslim country.
2) He wasn’t a resident of the Uk, he left the UK after becoming radicalized at Uni. (which may explain why he ditched his course)
3) His brother is a radical Mullah at the Al quads mosque in Brighton
4) Omar Deghayes had a habit of paying lots of money to radical Muslims to visit training camps in Afghanistan before 9/11
5) You also forgot to mention BBC about a certain handless terrorist supporter who stayed at the above mosque
6) If Omar was only travelling (like a gap year Student) through Muslim countries how come he had time to not only get married but have a rug-rat in Afghanistan. (Last I heard it takes 9 months for a human to gestate)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article675998.ece
Omar Deghayes is anything bar innocent he is a wannabe terrorist who left the Uk to go and live in a Muslim country. So much so he left his citizenship papers which only needed signing collecting dust. Funny how now he has been made to pay for the crimes against humanity.(He’s a Muslim) He’s now a British subject in waiting to the merchant bankers at the BBC.
The BBC its love of Islamic terrorists and half a story.
“It’s a long way from Port Stanley to the Shatt-al-Arab waterway”. In it he argues that the current crisis in Iran has exposed the decline of Britain as a serious power. He goes on to list ten key factors that have contributed to Britain’s vulnerability in 2007. They are…
1. An overstretched and under-resourced military
2. The Iraq war
3. Appeasement of Iran
4. Appeasement of internal threats
5. The weakness of the transatlantic relationship
6. Decline of NATO
7. Unfounded faith in the United Nations
8. The BBC
9. Lack of strategic thinking
10. A distracted opposition”
http://www.iaindale.blogspot.com/
” Izzie | 02.04.07 – 8:47 pm”
works for me.
http://freethenavy15.blogspot.com/
Compare and Contrast:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6513643.stm
No 9 The Iranian way
No 10 The British Way.
“Hundreds of journalists and media personalities have signed an open letter in a UK newspaper urging that the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, be freed quickly and unharmed.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/6518185.stm
Will these “journalists and media personalities ” also support the realise of the 15 Navel personel?
No – I thought not.
Sorry – read “15 Naval personnel”
Interestingly, on tonight’s World Have Your Say programme
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/2007/04/post_6.html
(Click on Monday on Listen Again)
that exact point about the 15 sailors was raised by an American guest on the show.
You could almost hear the BBC host, Ros Atkins, do a double take and then recover rapidly. It’s wall to wall Alan Johnston on the World Service and the website and the forums like HYS but I’m quite certain it has never crossed the little mind of any BBC hack that the 15 are also in an awful predicament and need people to support them and agitate for their release. It’s quite revealing of the BBC mindset. Johnston is one of their own – a cherished member of the team – and so objectivity and professional distance are sacrificed without a second thought as the BBC devotes a considerable amount of time and effort to try to secure his release.
The British sailors, on the other hand, might as well be Eskimos for all the impact their plight has on the BBC. The BBC is no longer British and it is absolutely obscene that the British taxpayer is forced to subsidise its global egalitarian social engineering experiment.
Contd…
The topic of tonight’s WHYS show is kidnapping. I note also that Ros Atkins made a point of lumping Gitmo in with Alan Johnston’s and other kidnappings. That typically idiotic BBC equivalence was also challenged by his American guest.
It will be interesting to see how fast the BBC petition for Johnston’s release grows. It currently stands at 300.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6518185.stm
In common with the HYS,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6518185.stm
which the BBC has been plugging like crazy and which has nevertheless only attracted 320 comments in a week, it’ll probably flop. That would be a good lesson in impartiality and proportion for the BBC – if only it were capable of learning it.
UK Daily Pundit:
(and brother of Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief of staff). God help us!
———————————————————
Chief of Staff!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t they just luv their fancy titles. Time was you had to be a four star general before you could be a Chief of Staff – now it seems any old suck-up PR shyster can get the gig.
I meant to add that Atkins was completely silent on the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers.
Writing about Gordon Brown’s annual raid on the pension funds, one blogger above states that “if it had not been done there would have been a different need for tax income to the tune of around £6 billion per year.”
Need ?
This government spends billions of pounds per year on employing unnecessary people in the public sector, who are conditioned to vote Labour in order to maintain their income. The same applies to the BBC.
More parasites. Is that what we need ?
Marshall – your link does not work for me. Is it correct?
Sorry, I’ll try again;
from
freethenavy15blogspot
“which the BBC has been plugging like crazy and which has nevertheless only attracted 320 comments in a week, it’ll probably flop.
Bryan | 02.04.07 – 10:31 pm |”
15 kidnapped sailors – 4,943 comments (and that doesnt include the ones that didnt make it past the censors)
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5882&&edition=1&ttl=20070402232151
on a sidenote , bbc 2 are now showing a documentary on
“looking for middle england”
the bbc dont seem to know where it is.
no surprise there so.
interesting – on that “middle documentary”. the presenter of the docu goes onto BBC radio Derby, asking for people who think of themselves as being “middle england” to call in.
nobody calls.
perhaps “middle england” doesnt listen to bbc local radio?
pounce | 02.04.07 – 9:01 pm |
i’d like to suggest to the blog owners/editors that this entry, along with a few others, be considered for highlighting in a comments roundup or perhaps for a blog entry in its own right.
archduke: says “interesting – on that “middle documentary”. the presenter of the docu goes onto BBC radio Derby, asking for people who think of themselves as being “middle england” to call in.”
Maybe the BBC think that “Middle England” is synonymous with the Midlands.
“Argentina has renewed its claim over the Falkland Islands on the 25th anniversary of invading them – and losing a subsequent war with Britain.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6517705.stm
Of course they do – John Sipmson and the rest of the BBC who are “celebrating” with the Argentinians have been to Buenos Aires to stir it up.
fruit loop Craig Murray gives his expert view on the Iranian kidnapping to a rapt, attentive & respectful Paxman.
Its all blair’s fault for ratcheting up the rhetoric by stating that the sailors were categotically in Iraqi waters.
Murray points out that Commodore Lambert had initially accepted that there was doubt over where the border lay.
Lambert did indeed accept that the Iranians may claim that the sailors were in Iranian waters, as the border was subject to dispute.
But the Iranians in their protestations have not used a different border to that used by HMG. The Iranians have just moved the location of the incident.
Paxman did not challenge any of the malcontent’s assertions, instead concluding the interview by muttering something on the lines of “Typical of Blair”.
“Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has attended a private ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands invasion.”
“Lady Thatcher stood with her head bowed as Canon Lucy Winkett offered prayers, and did not speak for the duration of the ceremony”
While Tony Blair glitters in the spotlight.
“Mr Blair presented the ex-servicemen – from the Scots Guards and Royal Navy – with veterans’ badges and certificates ”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6519837.stm
” Jon | 03.04.07 – 12:11 am ”
that was just the start. its still on , and he’s travelled around a fair bit by now.
but its quite curious this program when you think about it.lets think about it for a while – you have a BBC that is unsure exactly what “middle england” is.
its like having an American broadcaster not really sure what Middle America is (an impossibility…).
its as if the BBC are doing an sociological documentary on THEIR OWN COUNTRY. oh wait no.. thats Iran. ah – its all clearer now.
Interesting that no one from the BBC describes themselves as being from “Middle England” – if there was one they would not have to search for it – maybe they should get David Attenborough to find it.
Here is a clue for the BBC in their quest.
“The term is used by journalists to refer to the presumed views of mainstream English people as opposed to minorities of all types (the rich or the poor, ethnic minorities, gays and lesbians, the politically active, the intelligentsia, etc.) In particular it is increasingly used to denote the more right-wing views of those who are not in such minorities; Daily Mail readers, for example, are often characterised as being from Middle England as are members of the Countryside Alliance. Residents of Middle England are also sometimes referred to as the “silent” or “moral majority” in the media.”
In short all the people who would shy away from the BBCs attentions.
I can’t agree with a great many of the comments criticising the BBC for coverage of Middle East and Arab affairs, and alleging, concocting or imagining pro-Arab bias or pro-Muslim bias, the fact that quite the opposite is very often the case is equally apparent to a greater number of people belies such fevered constructs.
Overt and covert racists, failing to come to terms with their failure as their gut animal instincts eclipse higher human faculties, are attacking a surrogate, the BBC when they really would like to pull on some brown shirts and openly unleash their bile.
Racists exist too amongst the Arabs and most definitely Jewishness or at least Zionism are deeply tainted with the same insular traits.
Get over yourselves you daft fuckers if you can’t find a cause honourable enough or sufficiently worthy to stand for or devote attention to along with the hypocritical, selfish hedonism, that crowds most other things from your limited minds, don’t expend your ineffectual puffs of wind in attacking mere messengers carrying back and forth for both sides reconciliatory dialogue along with the belligerent rhetoric and posture.
Now let’s get on to pro-Israeli bias at the BBC and what do about our own broken democracy now that Labour party policy is hawked to all-comers as the Tories have always done. Does the UK become balkanized, if we are to become more of a U.S. puppet, can we at least get to choose the puppet? Which of Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy would be best or would a ‘strongman’ like Animal be required to keep the disparate elements together.
To be covered in a later post: No Oil, abolishing the EU and a viable Palestine consisting of the entire West bank, linked to Gaza and a port city on the Lebanese border.
TAM | 03.04.07 – 3:49 am | #
Thanks for the comment, Mohammed. You can now go and play with your bombs again. Who are you going to blow up next?
P.S.: What does TAM stand for? Trans Arabian Moron?
The Worst Government in Living Memory:
Blair faces final eclipse with loss of 600 town hall seats .
Tony Blair faces a haemorrhaging of votes in the South as Labour heads for its worst local election results for 30 years on May 3, shortly before he resigns.
On “Super Duper Thursday”, more than 10,450 town hall seats will be contested in England and a further 1,212 in Scotland, the biggest set of council elections for four years
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1605130.ece
Monthly Jihad Report
(March, 2007)
Jihad Attacks: 288
Dead Bodies: 1974
Critically Injured: 2823
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
.
Good Morning
TAM
Tell me-
*What are your views on the influence of Sayyd Qutbs “Milestones” on current Islamic thinking.
*Which is more important-Qom or Najaf?
*Tell me about the pratice of Takfir.
I look forwaed to your post with baited breath….
Thank you Marshall – it works now. Wish I could be there, but am 300 miles away. Any chance of one the following Saturday as I will be in London then?
Re: Middle England, I was always led to believe, it was the triangle of land between, London, Oxford & Cambridge.
It certainly doesn`t include us oop `tnorth in Yorkshire, we`re eskimos don`t you know.(in the Beebs eyes)
Craig Murray’s mistaken argument about the navy captives appears stuck in the Beeboids’ heads.
On the Breakfast Show a former ambassador to Iran is interviewed. He correctly points out that the positioning of the Iraq/Iran boundary is not relevant to this case, as the Iranians have not disputed the boundary line, but instead the position of the sailors.
Nevertheless the whole of the questioning realtes to a boundary dispute. The ambassador should really have spelt it out in simple words, he probably didn’t realise how pig-headed is the BBC mindset.
P.S.: What does TAM stand for? Trans Arabian Moron?
disillusioned_german | 03.04.07 – 4:17 am
Thanks for the chuckle.
This guy – TAM | 03.04.07 – 3:49 am – is too funny for words:
…don’t expend your ineffectual puffs of wind in attacking mere messengers carrying back and forth for both sides reconciliatory dialogue along with the belligerent rhetoric and posture.
I’m trying to imagine
Barbara Plett
Nick Thorpe
Katya Adler
Jim Muir
Hugh Sykes
Matthew Price
Orla Guering
Alan Johnston
Allan Little
and Jeremy Bowen
meekly moving to and fro between Israelis and Palestinians while taking great care that the messages they are carrying don’t become tainted along the way by BBC bias.
That image is enough to have anyone who knows the BBC rolling on the floor in helpless mirth.
TAM | 03.04.07 – 3:49 am |
was he pissed?