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.

Bookmark the permalink.

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

  1. Epi-Me says:

    The Guardian, not the BBC but non the less the feedback is quite entertaining:
    http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/soumaya_ghannoushi_/2007/04/europes_islamic_self.html

    All about Islam and Europe

       0 likes

  2. Anonymous says:

    Monthly Jihad Report

    (April, 2007)

    Jihad Attacks: 276

    Dead Bodies: 2081

    Critically Injured: 2396

    Via
    http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

       0 likes

  3. Laban says:

    Has anyone got a copy of Mark Steyn’s “Tales From Inside the Beeb” piece in the Wall Street Journal ? For academic, non-commercial research of the sort this blog specialises in 🙂 ?

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117831545601592701.html?mod=weekend_leisure_books_hs_coll_left

       0 likes

  4. Block 813 says:

    Hi Laban…

    Thats not flipping fair mate…I’d love to read it…… 🙁 Any chance of a summary?

       0 likes

  5. Joe says:

    I thought some of you might like this story:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6628929.stm

       0 likes

  6. riddler says:

    i wonder how the bbc will approach this.

    try to bury it, or greet it as another victory in our progress to becoming good europeans?

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/06/ngordon06.xml

       0 likes

  7. Fiona says:

    Epi-Me

    Reading that has been a salve. I had stopped reading commentisfree because it was just making me more and more angry. But today, it appears that many people are coming out of hiding and speaking against such nonsense. It’s heartening, now perhaps the newsforums on BBC will attract many of the commenters?

    What a racist, ignorant piece of twaddle that woman wrote. If I as non-muslim (how I hate that term) wrote something like this denigrating islam….I’d probably be arrested!

       0 likes

  8. Bryan says:

    Coupla things, Joe:

    *Liberal Norway, paralysed by an overdose of PC, would have men and women in the same soccer team.
    *The imams were probably terrified of being outplayed by the women.
    *Where is the BBC angle in this story?

       0 likes

  9. Oscar says:

    Joe | Homepage | 06.05.07 – 8:28 am

    Joe – is this a case of Stockholm syndrome? (or should that be Oslo syndrome…)

       0 likes

  10. chevalier de st george says:

    has anyone picked up on this yet?

    The BBC internal complaints department today apologised for describing Iran as having “abducted” the 15 British sailors and marines in a news report on the 25th March. It also apologised for repeatedly referring to the British service personnel as “hostages” in news reports
    Using the word “abducted” instead of “captured” and the word “hostages” instead of “detainees” is a clear example of linguistic manipulation of the facts and there are no excuses for it.
    We demand a full and unqualified apology from the BBC and an open investigation as to how these reports were allowed to be broadcast”.

    Has anyone outside Iran received as apology and retraction from the Beeb
    in recent years?

    http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/2066

       0 likes

  11. Rob says:

    I thought that apology was because the BBC has used the word “abducted” instead of “kidnapped”, which is precisely what the Iranians did.

    To learn that the BBC is apologising to a terrorist state (sorry, activist) is unbelievable. They are a bunch of cowardly, islamofacist-supporting appeasing scum.

       0 likes

  12. Rob says:

    Strange how the phrase “raving misogynists” didn’t appear in that article about the women-suppressors vs Christians football match. The BBC did some nice pro-Islam spin with the soft soap that “it went against their beliefs about close physical contact with the opposite sex.”

    More proof that the BBC will approve or disapprove of something not by the act itself but by the colour of the skin of the perpetrator. Clearly in the BBC world equal rights for women only means equal rights for white women.

       0 likes

  13. Anonymous says:

    Revealed: deadly links of UK’s Islamic terror network:

    “A former Islamic militant has disclosed for the first time the extent of the Al-Qaeda terror network in Britain.
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1752290.ece

       0 likes

  14. mick in the uk says:

    Anyone remember Martin Gilbertson?

    These introductions were my first step into a murky world, in which I came to know two of those who bombed London on July 7th last year, and those around them, those behind them – people for whom I worked, people who needed my skills with computers, compiling their presentations and propaganda, and protecting their systems from outside; part of what I call the bedrock for what happened in London. We – myself and those who helped me – were as inside as anyone outside can get. And my warnings to the authorities about what was happening – long before 7/7 – were ignored.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,,1804930,00.html

    I wasa surprised taht the Beeb didn’t pursue this man for a story.

       0 likes

  15. Biodegradable says:

    Clearly in the BBC world equal rights for women only means equal rights for white women.
    Rob | 06.05.07 – 10:53 am

    One wonders if a Saudi, or any Muslim woman, would have got the same treatment as this BBC reporter:
    Making a public splash in Saudi

       0 likes

  16. Kulibar Tree says:

    Not an especially biased report, just another all too typical example of the sloppy journalism that passes for reporting at the BBC:

    ‘I’m ready to take on Mike Tyson’ – Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s latest round-the-world voyage
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6626895.stm

    Did Knox-Johnston win? If not, who did? How long did he take? Was it a close finish? When was the race? What exactly was the race? And so on, and so on.

    If they can’t get an easily checkable thing like this right, what hope for more serious reporting?

    Cheers –

       0 likes

  17. Gordon says:

    While we wait for the results of the French presidential election here is the best summary(warning five pages) of the French political scene that I have seen.
    http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.aip?id=10869&page=1
    Sorry, you will have to copy and paste the link!
    Impossible to find on the BBC anything approaching the depth of this analysis.

       0 likes

  18. Maida says:

    For an totally “unbiased” view of the French elections, try this BBC offering:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6630053.stm

       0 likes

  19. Biodegradable says:

    Israel accused of prisoner abuse

    The report lists a number of techniques the two groups, B’Tselem and the HaMoked Centre for the Defence of the Individual, say are deployed by the Israeli Security Agency.

    http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/b_tselem
    B’Tselem
    Prolific producer of reports from the West Bank and Gaza Strip that are regularly used by international NGOs such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch as well as a number of Palestinian NGOs.

    Despite its self-declared political aims to change policy, it receives considerable international funding, mainly from European governments.

    Recipient of Ford Foundation funding.

    For NGO Monitor’s latest report including B’tselem, click here

    http://www.hamoked.org.il/index_en.asp
    HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual is an Israeli human rights organization whose main objective is to assist Palestinians of the Occupied Territories whose rights are violated due to Israel’s policies.

       0 likes

  20. Septimus Lupo says:

    Have a look at this piece of “news” from the BBC’s England section http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6630313.stm

    This is a classic BBC non-story. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that this Robert Lee is either a sixth former or undergraduate student and that “Enlightened England” is the result of some silly little “project”. He probably has a friend who works in some BBC regional office who thought he/she would score a few brownie points by bringing it to the attention of the right people.

    The real purpose of this article is all too obvious; to portray Cornwall as some unsophisticated, culturally impoverished little backwater inhabited by “xenophobes” and bigots whose lives would be improved immeasurably if only they’d “get with the programme”.

    Is there no end to this Marxist drivel?

       0 likes

  21. Ultraviolets says:

    You’re right Septimus, that seems like a horrible film.

    Besides Cornwall has tons of Portugese, you just don’t see them (for obvious reasons). Those PC creeps make me sick.

       0 likes

  22. archonix says:

    Isn’t cornwall where the barbary pirates used to kidnap thousands of slaves in the bad old days?

       0 likes

  23. bob says:

    Epi-me:
    Thanks for that ray of hope – even (some) Guardian readers at least seem to realise when Mohamedan bullshit is that strong-smelling… on the other hand, the original article was so bad that I ended up feeling a bit sorry for the poor little SOAS student

       0 likes

  24. Kulibar Treee says:

    Gordon –
    re the Commentary piece on the French elections –

    Well done for bringing the article (and magazine) to a deservedly wider audience, but to be fair, Commentary is one of the leading journals of political analysis (mainly Mid-East) which has very few peers, so even if the BBC were the very acme, the very bastion, of moderation and impartiality that it unfailingly claims to be, I don’t think it would even begin to achieve anything like Commentary’s depth of analysis.

    Cheers.

       0 likes

  25. Ted S. says:

    Maida:

    Regarding the French election, I was horrified by the BBCWS’s coverage of it on “News Hour” this morning (1200 UTC, 8AM local time).

    (Actually, I was first horrified that before they went to any reports after the top of the hour bulletin, they first advertised their Alan Johnston peition.)

    Their coverage was a reporter (I forget which one) in Paris’ 3d arrondissement, which she admitted was a Socialist stronghold.

    Cut to a reporter in Toulouse, another Socialist bastion.

    Then, on to Marseilles, where nasty right-wing extremist Jean-Marie le Pen did well, but which would go overwhelmingly Socialist if those wicked right wingers didn’t bar non-citizens from voting.

    Back to the original reporter in Paris, who spoke with a political scientist who argued that Sarkozy is a divider whose election will foment violence, Royal is the only one who can prevent the rioting, and if you get any post-election rioting, it’s your own damn fault for voting for Sarkozy.

       0 likes

  26. deegee says:

    I’m somewhat amazed that Rachel Reid’s article: Making a public splash in Saudi (sic Arabia) created so much attention: pages of references in Google.

    One Arab woman says, apparently without irony, that “I’ve been visiting Saudi for years, and we often stay at the Diwan Suites in Al-Khobar. For as long as we’ve been staying there (maybe 10 years), the pool has been reserved for women on Thursday mornings.” So there! 😉

    So who is this Rachel Reid? Apart from this colour piece has she ever written anything?

       0 likes

  27. Gordon says:

    Thank you Kulibar Treee!
    Actually the article is very much in line with what many intelligent French people think over here(in France). But trying to change things is like trying to stop a tanker which is heading straight for the rocks.
    Everybody here has a husband/wife/brother/cousin… who has a snout in the public trough.

       0 likes

  28. Fiona says:

    Archonix,
    “Isn’t cornwall where the barbary pirates used to kidnap thousands of slaves in the bad old days?”

    Absolutely. There’s a brillant book called “White Gold” all about the Barbary pirates and the taking of a young Cornish lad from Falmouth.

       0 likes

  29. bodo says:

    Re; Alan Johnston, missing BBC reporter.

    I was looking for the Beebs take on the armed attack on a mixed-sex school sports day in the Gaza strip.

    Entering ‘Gaza’ into the search box gets 3 pages [at least] of nothing but Alan Johnston stories.

    There are thousands of missing people in the world, but the BBC shows its contempt for actual news and the licence paying public by forcing its selfish priorities on us.

       0 likes

  30. Scott says:

    Thought you might appreciate this:

    http://towncommons.blogspot.com/2007/05/france-bbcs-lament.html

       0 likes

  31. Biodegradable says:

    I was looking for the Beebs take on the armed attack on a mixed-sex school sports day in the Gaza strip.

    And you found nothing, right?

    One dead as gunmen open fire at sports day at UN school in Gaza

    The BBC are only interested in anything that shows Israel in a bad light.

    Palestinain lunatics shooting at a school and they put their fingers in their ears and sing “la-la-la-la-la, I can’t hear you”.

       0 likes

  32. bodo says:

    Bio – yes, you are correct. No mention of it on the Beeb.

    Of the first 50 returns when searching for ‘Gaza’, 39 are about Johnston.

       0 likes

  33. Tim says:

    Great news from France:

    The BBC have been defeated here and Sarkozy is in…

    Tim Toulon, France

       0 likes

  34. pounce says:

    Oh dear the BBC caught out supporting terrorists yet again;

    Lord’s fury at BBC’s invite

    Saturday, May 05, 2007

    By Sam Lister

    Lord Tebbit has refused to take part in a radio show with the ‘Brighton Bomber’, branding it “sickening” that people were being encouraged to accept him as a “respectable human being”.

    The former trade and industry secretary said it was distasteful that Patrick Magee had built a “celebrity career” on the strength of his ” murderous inclinations”.

    Twenty-three years on from the attack that left his wife paralysed, he said Magee’s refusal to give evidence against the “godfathers” of the IRA meant he could not forgive him.

    Lord Tebbit’s anger was sparked by an invitation from the BBC to take part in a radio programme with Magee. He refused.

    Magee bombed the Grand Hotel in 1984 during the Conservative party conference in an attempt to murder Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet colleagues.

    Mrs Thatcher and her Cabinet escaped, but five others died and 34 were injured.
    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2514775.ece

    On that note did anybody watch the Yusuf Islam show on BBC1 at 9am this morning? And there we were thinking we were going to watch the Sunday AM show.

       0 likes

  35. Anonymous says:

    Lord Tebbit : I’ll never forgive the IRA bomber

    “I wrote telling them (BBC)the only reunion I’d be happy to attend was the one where Magee was reunited with a bomb,” he says. “People do expect you to mellow, but that is not easy when you wake every morning to be reminded about the fact that your wife can’t get out of bed,” he admits.

    For nearly 23 years now, Lord Tebbit has been unable to forgive the IRA for what they did to him, his wife, his government and his country.

    He’s aware that his arguments – this far down the peace process – seem dated.

    He accepts that he is regarded as one of the last old dinosaurs clinging to the belief that terrorists should not be welcomed to the political table, no matter how many weapons they claim to have laid down.

    Over in Ulster, even Ian Paisley has capitulated and is now prepared to sit down with those he regards as one-time murderers.

    So why not Tebbit?

    More
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=452812&in_page_id=1879

       0 likes

  36. Block 813 says:

    Indeed Tim….great news for France and Europe, and maybe the world….

    And another kick in the teeth for the obsolete BBC, whose “message” is increasingly ignored.

    The BBC just keeps backing losers…including themselves….lol.

       0 likes

  37. Geoff Sturdy says:

    “People do expect you to mellow, but that is not easy when you wake every morning to be reminded about the fact that your wife can’t get out of bed,”
    That’s the reason IDIOT
    Paisley never had anyone close to him maimed or injured

       0 likes

  38. Stowboi says:

    Take a look at the picture the BBC uses with its report on the French presidential elections. THIS is what they consider to be ‘French’ people. Wonder who they were rooting for?
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6629077.stm

       0 likes

  39. Jon says:

    Can he see that its the end of an era – and the beginning of the end of New Labour? Maybe he does not beleive the BBC when they remind “their party” that it was not all “doom and gloom” for Labour in the elections.

    “Home Secretary John Reid says he will leave the Cabinet in June when “Tony Blair goes”. ”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6629877.stm

       0 likes

  40. Bryan says:

    Stowboi,

    That’s what the BBC wants France to look like.

       0 likes

  41. Jon says:

    “That’s what the BBC wants France to look like.”

    and dare I say England.

       0 likes

  42. Bryan says:

    Yes, England too.

       0 likes

  43. disillusioned_german says:

    The French Election (D)HYS isn’t going according to plan either: http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=6266&edition=1&ttl=20070506222048&#paginator

       0 likes

  44. Jon says:

    “The results should help see off some – but not all – of the criticism from the Tory right over his [David Cameron] leadership, as he demonstrates how focusing on the centre-right ground can lead to electoral gains.”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6623043.stm

    Can this be the only reason? Has it not occured to the BBc that the electorate could be sick of New Labour? And that it is not so much a vote for the “centre ground” but a vote against the totalitarian policies of a socialist party?

       0 likes

  45. deegee says:

    HYS Should Ehud Olmert resign?

    ❓ Can anyone recall a similar HYS for a democratically elected politician?
    ❓ Can anyone recall a similar HYS for a dictator?
    ❓ Can anyone recall a similar HYS for a British politician?

    One rule for Israelis. One for everybody else.

       0 likes

  46. Jon says:

    “Hopefully this will signify the death knell of Europe wide champagne socialism.

    Paul Day, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

    Recommended by 26 people”

    http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=6266&edition=1&ttl=20070506222048&#paginator

    Amen to that.

       0 likes

  47. Bryan says:

    The moderators who have been jealously guarding the Johnston topic

    http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=1&threadID=5911&start=0&tstart=0&edition=2&ttl=20070506223220&#paginator

    and only posting those comments that elevate him close to sainthood must have taken a break because comments like this one are getting through:

    Added: Saturday, 5 May, 2007, 23:18 GMT 00:18 UK
    Perhaps the BBC and its readers now know what it’s like to be at the receiving end of Palestinian Arab terrorism.
    “Kidnapping/blowing up buses is wrong, BUT these are poor people…”
    I hope his fate is better than the countless others killed by these barbarians.
    Hamilton or Burr?, Washington
    Recommended by 13 people

    And then there’s this one:

    Added: Saturday, 5 May, 2007, 17:32 GMT 18:32 UK
    “Al Qaeda-Palestine demands for BBC’s Alan Johnston $5 m cash, 10 Muslim terror conspirators jailed in Britain, an al Qaeda woman bomber.”
    DEBKAfile Exclusive: May 4, 2007, 7:30 PM (GMT+02:00)
    What’s the BBC view on this?
    Chris Evans
    Recommended by 9 people

    And I can’t leave this one out:

    Added: Sunday, 6 May, 2007, 03:34 GMT 04:34 UK
    We citizens of Israel hope for the safe and speedy release of the BBC brave correspondent, Alan Johnston, from the hands of the Gaza bandits.Perhaps this unfortunate situation will remind the British people, in particular, as well as member states of the European Union that Palestinians are terrorists and that they recognize only force. Britain should boycott all relations with the so-called Palestinian Authority pending Mr. Johnston’s safe and immediate release. We pray for his safety.
    Dr. Esor Ben-Sorek, Israel

    Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Has it become open season on the Palestinians now that they are holding a BBC man?

       0 likes