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“privatisation is the only answer. its gone on for far too long.”
I agree – but who has the courage to take them on – its a massive propaganda machine – if they could not do it in the 1950s what chance now?
“I am absolutely appalled.
Jon | 01.04.07 – 12:16 am ”
words fail me. 26,000 Beeboids for the 15 hostages seems a fair deal to me.
“Jon | 01.04.07 – 12:53 am”
times have changed. internet, satellite tv, cable tv… in the 1950s there wasnt the variety of choice we have now.
i think the time is right to actually do it -but NO politician (even UKIP) is going to call for it before an election.
that would be political suicide.
it’ll happen – and it wont be on any manifesto.
I have also heard on radio 4 (of all places) “British Prime minister Blair” – do they think this proves that they are detached? or that they are reporting objectivly?
It is a British Public Service, which is paid for by the British public, to inform them – the British.
can you imagine RTE saying “the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern”?
here’s an example:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0322/ahernb.html
“The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern…”
“Mr Ahern indicated..”
“Responding to the Taoiseach’s comments,”
Same way the US media report on the U.S. President. you never , ever , get “the American President, George Bush”
i think you’ve flagged up something there Jon. very interesting isnt it?
to be honest jon, i think the person who will privatise the bbc wont be the conservatives – it’ll be gordon brown.
why? cos its a vote winner.
middle england, the military, the police, white working class, normal secular muslims (sick and tired of the exposure of islamonutters) , evangelical christians-the list is endless…
he’ll do it. and that’ll completely knock the tories off balance. a privatising “socialist”…
Jon wonders:
“I have also heard on radio 4 (of all places) “British Prime minister Blair” – do they think this proves that they are detached? or that they are reporting objectivly?”
I’m afraid that’s exactly what it is. They believe this sort of construction demonstrates impartiality.
Equally stupidly, the ‘moral equivalence’ brigade at the BBC also believe that giving the Iranian fascist theocracy an ‘equal hearing’ demonstrates high-minded impartiality.
Of course, what it really demonstrates is a boneheaded unwillingness to face the hateful reality of what has been unleashed in that country – and what Iran would like to see unleashed here.
There is no moral equivalence when a knife is at your throat. I hope none of these Guardianstas ever has to find that out the hard way.
GCooper writes: “Equally stupidly, the ‘moral equivalence’ brigade at the BBC also believe that giving the Iranian fascist theocracy an ‘equal hearing’ demonstrates high-minded impartiality.”
Alas it is not even ‘moral equivalence’
JR quoted his interpretation of the guidlines on impartiallity thus:
“impartiality is described in the Agreement as “due impartiality”. It requires us to be fair and open minded when examining the evidence and weighing all the material facts, as well as being objective and even handed in our approach to a subject. It does not require the representation of every argument or facet of every argument on every occasion or an equal division of time for each view.”
The BBc are actually living up to the letter of their guidlines if not the spirit.
surreal momement on bbc news 24 – short 5 second clip on palestinians kicking a fence. with big pallywood flags. then onto another story…
i’ve transcribed the marc brigstock piece that stuck-record pointed out @ 5.12pm
here’s part one
“stuck-record | 31.03.07 – 5:12 pm ”
transcript:
hello, yes ammm, a couple of weeks ago i did a bit about the possibility that global warming is happening and we might be able to change it if we’re willing to moderate our behaviour. And it turns out that not everybody agrees with me. Which seems rather stupid – i mean, i am on the radio, so i think i’m probably right.
i mean this is the bbc. so. heh.
anyway.
there have been some emails which people very kindly have been sending to me – which included this one
“why oh why oh why don’t you go and live in cave?”
i would go live in a cave but there are none available in the area i live in – and if i move out to a larger cave i go up a council tax band and my cave bins only get emptied every two weeks.
for those of you who emailed to say that you’re sick of my high horse lecturing on things like man made climate change the reason i was not here last week after my bit about global warming is because i took
a flight
part 2:
to neighbouring france in order to go snowboarding
yep. i spent a week in Valdezair or slippery fulham as i like to call it , strapped to plank, sliding sideways, down a mountain.
i do believe that global warming is happening , i believe its our fault and i believe we should be moderating our behaviour in order to stop it – but a foot of fresh powder and the opportunity to eat melted cheese at over a 1000 metres above sea level was too much to resist.
i caved in. i’m sorry. i’m posh. i like courdroy, ponies , and sliding.
cant help myself.
still i do drive an LPG car so i’m probably technically better than you are – and i offset the flights, so morally i’m well in the clear.
anyway, my point is – i dont want to upset anyone this week and get more angry emails from Now Show listeners.
so let me start by saying that i hope, sincerely, that the 15 soldiers who are being detained by Iran get home safely as soon as possible and in the meantime are treated with as much dignity as they deserve.
but.
part 3:
look i know i shouldnt say this , but everything our troops do overseas and at home is morally above reproach, and every single one of them is like a cross between Michael Palin and Mother Theresa but with guns.
So let me re-iterate – i hope the soldiers are ok and they get home and no one gets hurt , but before we make too much fuss, may i remind everyone of Guantanamo Bay. which is still open and still running and still has worse conditions than a weekend at Centre Parcs. Which lets not forget, is just Butlins with a lid.
I know, I know its just the worst time to bring up Guantanamo Bay, but whats it got to do with the sailors in Iran? Nothing. nothing at all.
Other than illegal,conventionally ambigous detainment of foreign nationals without due process. Other than that , not a darn thing. they’re as different as a peach and a nectarine.
look thats ones all fuzzy and like a peach. and that ones all smooth, like a peach.
they couldnt be more different.
the point is , you know, i know our Prime Minister has said that Guantanomo Bay is an “anomaly” – by which he meant an illegal , unjustifiable , black hole in which the U.S. and complicit British government agencies have acted with impunity – but its no good all the British papers printing front pages about these sailors being held in Iran that say
part 4:
“Outrage!” – the Daily Mirror
“Sailor captives paraded on Tv” – the telegraph
“a british mother paraded on tv forced to wear the hijab” – the daily mail
“huge water bill rises for millions” – the daily express
“who do you think you are kidding Mr Ahmahdinnajad?” – the Sun, going for the Dads army market there.
Is there anything the Home Guard couldnt sort out? Yes.
Turns out Warmington on sea is in Iranian waters.
(dads army sketch follows… )
then goes on about jeremy clarkson…
my answer to Marcus Brigstock:
Adolf Eichmann: detained without due process, and executed
Polish Jews :detained without due proces and executed.
these Now Show guys are towers of intellectual acheivement arent they?
Anyone read this yet: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/holysmoke/march07/christians.htm ?
Just found it on LGF… I’m lost for words. What chance of those stories appearing on the IBC’s website?
archduke | 31.03.07 – 10:19 pm | #
Sorry Archduke… overlooked your entry.
archduke: This is absolutely disgusting – it seems the BBC think this is comedy.
Maybe instead of complaining to the BBC (which seems pointless) – why not send it to an MP – there has to be one who can get this stuff raised in the Commons.
Alan Johnston: Your messages
Dear Alan,
You live abroad to suffer for the truth.You help the Palestinians and take great daily pains for them too.I have my doubts if the abductors are human beings. Don’t fret Alam.Our hearts are with you.At last you’ll get freedom . It is for sure gangs of terrorism should vanish.
Adli, Nablus
Recommended by 1 person
Added: Saturday, 31 March, 2007, 11:50 GMT 12:50 UK
He might be being held by a powerful family in Gaza, and maybe most people in the area are aware of his location. Maybe various Palestinian groups are working behind the scenes to persuade the family to release him, as it was a stupid move to ‘kidnap’ him in the first place. I’m sure wherever Alan is, he’s being treated well as befits a reporter for the Palestinian cause and he will be released unharmed eventually.
E Mily, NYC, United States
Recommended by 0 people
Added: Saturday, 31 March, 2007, 08:53 GMT 09:53 UK
Dear Alan,
We were always valued your understanding of the true situation in Gaza. We are grateful for your understanding of the terrible privations suffered by the Palestinian people, which in comparison with many other “western journalists”. We hope that those who have you care for you.
Mofeed, Gaza
Recommended by 0 people
I don’t think I’ve seen one comment from an Israeli that hints at Johnston’s work for their cause, or his understanding of their suffering.
So BBC, tell us again how fair and balanced your reporting from the region is.
archduke | 01.04.07 – 12:32 am
american high school student discredits the Goracle
When those schoolkids in NZ found out that Ribena contains no vitamin C it was headline news on the beeb (despite the fact that it happened faraway and their Ribena is made to a different formula from the UK Ribena).
Will this logically similar but much more important story get a mention on the beeb? No chance.
” Jon | 01.04.07 – 2:52 am |”
and its a literal transcript – word by word. not making it up.
“BBC approves ‘dunbing down’ at expense of current affairs”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
(go to ‘News’):
“Lord Reith said its mission was to ‘inform, educate and entertain’. Those who have succeeded the BBC’s founding father, however, appear intent on concentrating solely on entertainment, in a shameful pursuit of ratings success.”
Relevant to Al Beeb’s dhimmitude.
“Iran targeted the Security Council’s weakest link: us.”
(by Professor of History, Niall Ferguson).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
First sentence:
“Even before Britain’s politicians and churchmen had finished saying sorry for slaves last Sunday, 15 Britons found themselves temporarily enslaved by the Iranian government. When will our masters ever learn that, in international relations, nice guys finish last?”
.
At last, expressions of real concern by a HMG minister on the Iran 15 –
The only wry smile to be derived from the humiliating circumstances in which our 15 sailors and Royal Marines were captured by just six Iranians came from the comment by Patricia Hewitt. “It was deplorable,” pronounced our tight-lipped Health Secretary, “that the woman hostage should be shown smoking. This sends completely the wrong message to our young people.”
Source – Christopher Booker’s notebook
By Christopher Booker, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:25pm BST 31/03/2007
Just what is this woman on, has she been raiding one of her hospital pharmacies?
“wry smile” – more like makes you want to put your foot through something
.
Gill Hicks recalls the moment she said farewell to the legs she had amputated after the London 7/7 bombings…her story will give inspiration to anyone who wonders how they would survive a terror bomb blast..
“Hello, my legs and my dear, dear feet. I’m so sorry. I miss you so much”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=445862&in_page_id=1879
Another report on the BBC considering force funding appropriate for commercial fare.
BBC executives believe many programmes are too serious and that they should produce more populist shows, according to research by the corporation.
Initial reports from a large-scale survey of programme policies by the BBC’s marketing, communications and audiences unit (MCA) reveal many staff believe their current affairs programmes, including Panorama, are too serious.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article1597654.ece
For the past couple of weeks I have been mulling over the problems of these black youngsters stabbing and shooting each other.
One of the main causes seems to be their lack of educational qualifications and consequent inability to get a job.
I am therefore proposing a knife and gun amnesty where for every weapon you give up you get a GCSE. You can have a GCSE in french for a straightforward, small knife but you would have to give up a working gun for a Maths GCSE.
If the scheme goes well I have a Swiss Army knife which I would hope to exchange for a double first at Oxford. People have said to me why bother when you’ve already got one but I feel you cannot have too many qualifications.
pounce | 31.03.07 – 10:49 pm,
From your link:
When asked whether the BBC had overstepped the mark with their coverage of the England team, a spokesman said: “We strongly refute the claim that we are in any way leading a campaign against the England team.
“We have great pride in the England team but we have a responsibility to be objective and call events as we see them, knowing that our audience is very knowledgeable about football.”
That is one of the bigger whoppers I’ve heard from the BBC. At the risk of being repetetive, I’ll point out to any BBC-ite who may be lurking that the BBC’s coverage of the England side during last year’s World Cup was a bloody subversive disgrace. BBC hacks poured praise and even adulation on England’s opponents while reserving withering scorn for the home side. Well, I guess that fits in with the BBC’s overall attitude that it is as British as a Mongolian.
So this is really good news:
….ITV and Setanta had pulled off a major coup in landing the rights to show live FA Cup and England matches for four years from August 2008.
May the BBC go from weakness to weakness.
Should be repetitive.
bbc approves of dumbing down
direct link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/01/ndumb01.xml
“Please BBC , no more effing rubbish”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/04/01/do0102.xml
quote:
As my colleague Chris Hastings reports today, controllers of the BBC’s various television stations see their channels as having only one task: to entertain viewers.
Not all viewers, mind you: the emphasis is on younger ones, especially those under 30 and in the 16-24 age group. That’s the group whose members don’t cough up the licence fee: their parents do. The licence fee goes up to £133.50 today. The Beeb has decided to make programmes whose primary appeal is not to those who actually pay for the BBC, but to those who don’t.
If the BBC is just doing what an ordinary, advertising-funded TV channel would do, it is hard to see what the point of it is, still less why we should all be forced to pay for it.
The BBC re-writes the rules on ‘citizenship’:
UK man released from Guantanamo
Except he’s not a ‘UK man’ at all.
A British resident is back in the UK after being held in Guantanamo Bay for almost five years.
Does being a resident make you a citizen? In that case after nearly 20 years in Spain I should be ‘Spain man’, which I most certainly am not.
Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi national, was held at the US detention camp in Cuba on suspicion of links to terrorism while on a trip to Gambia in 2002.
So, he’s an Iraqi national, previously resident in the UK.
In a statement Mr al-Rawi, a businessman from south-west London, said: “I am delighted to be back home in England, with my family.”
South-west London is in Iraq now?
I feel like a stateless person. :-/
Jon and other concerned B-BBC bloggers.
“Maybe instead of complaining to the BBC (which seems pointless) – why not send it to an MP – there has to be one who can get this stuff raised in the Commons.”
As of first thing this morning I have contacted a senior MP and are in the process of contacting others. Due to the sensitive nature of my e-mail, please allow me to refrain from reporting its content for the moment.
I’ll report more as and when I get feedback.
Speak to you tomorrow.
IiD
interesting comment in my previous telegraph link:
“The Beeb is missing the goal posts~ No teenagers watch telly. Its too boring & uncool. ”
very true. its mostly internet nowadays – all that myspace stuff, youtubing, xbox gaming, and instant messaging…
following on from the F.A. decision, has anyone noticed the woeful lack of general sports coverage on the BBC, and yet Sky has managed to fill 4 entire channels full of sport.
and yet, the BBC cant put two and two together (i.e. the market LIKES sports) and come up with a BBC Sports digital channel.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/01/ndumb101.xml
The BBC is now an irrelevance and rapidly becoming an increasingly embarrassing one! Get rid of it and the licence fee.
The loss of the BBC would be no loss at all. If the licence fee is the cost of a public service broadcaster, then the BBC is already a corporate confidence trick and a vast scam on the tax-payer. There is no longer any discernable public service element in the output of the BBC.
another day, same shit from the beeb,this really shouldn’t suprise anyone..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/01/neaster01.xml
Bishop Wright criticised the BBC for allowing such a prominent slot to be given to such a provocative argument. “I’m fed up with the BBC for choosing to give privilege to these unfortunate views in Holy Week,” he said.
pounce | 31.03.07 – 11:10 pm,
From your link:
For this I am thankful. I believe that for our countries to move forward, we need to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq, and leave the people of Iraq to start rebuilding their lives.
From the wording, I don’t think either Faye Turner or the Iranians wrote that letter.
I think it was written by the BBC.
Turney. I need to get out more.
good god – look at the main headline today…
“Bush attacks Iran over captives”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
so Bush is the aggressor now, eh?
“UK man released from Gitmo”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6515701.stm
UK man? he’s an Iraqi. they say so themselves in the second paragraph
“Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi national”
” IiD-Supporting the troops | 01.04.07 – 1:10 pm | ”
i hope channel4 has a rethink and just postpone that “drama” until after our 15 soldiers are released.
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features_opinion/iraq.html
ttp://www.middleeastinfo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=11985
Iraqi atrocities that the BBC never reports on.
typo: corrected link:
http://www.middleeastinfo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=11985
How the BBC is the ISLAMIC IRANIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION:
BBB News 24 tv took the final step in its DHIMMI capitulation to the ISLAMIC REPUBLIC at 1:05pm today.
Al Beeb no longer bothers to discuss the hostage crisis with any British representative in the studio, it just has a 4 minutes, uninterrupted piece of propaganda from a single Iranian apologist for the Islamic Regime.Among other things, this Iranian accuser said: ‘These 15 British sailors do not mean anything to Bush.”
The ‘news presenter’ (sick joke), Ms. McIllwenie, or whatever, did not question ANYTHING he said, and at the end of this propaganda, she didn’t just say ‘thank you’. She didn’t just say ‘thank you very much’. She said:
“THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED”.
Suprisingly, she wasn’t wearing a hijab or a niqab to complete the dhimmi picture. Perhaps she forgot.
” Alan | 01.04.07 – 1:41 pm | ”
whats even more tragic about that is that its tarring all the Persians with the same islamonutter brush..
http://www.freerepublic.com/~doctorzin/
“Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East. In fact they were one of the first countries to have spontaneous candlelight vigils after the 911 tragedy”
Jon | 01.04.07 – 12:16 am,
I think Paul Reynolds was saying here that the Iranians, and not the hostages, are calling for withdrawal from Iraq:
It has also used the willingness of some at least of the captives to talk to call for the US and UK to withdraw from Iraq and to stop its “intervening policies”, as one of the letters from Faye Turney put it.
It’s been stealth edited, probably to make that clearer:
It has also got captives to call for the US and UK to withdraw from Iraq and to stop its “intervening policies”, as one of the letters from Faye Turney put it.
There’s a suggestion of compulsion here.
Paul Reynolds is one of the better BBC eggs. Pops in here sometimes though I haven’t seen him around in quite a while.
Let no-one tell me it’s counter-productive to have demonstrations outside the Islamic Republic of Iran Embassy in London and elsewhere, while Al Beeb is currently reporting the ‘Death to England, Death to America, Death to Israel’ violent demonstrations now taking place in Tehran, outside British Embassy.
Any reader wishing to avoid a lengthy wait in A&E for their ensuing cardiac problem is strongly advised not to visit (D)HYS.
If the opinions being expressed there are not actually emanating from Ali in Tehran (or Ahmed from Luton, for that matter) then we in this country have a far bigger problem than we possibly imagine.
As Trident is nearing it`s sell by date. I think we should let off a couple over Terhan.
Just to show the taxpayers that our money has been well spent, and we haven`t been sailing around with duds for 30 odd years.