An anonymous reader emailed me this link and added simply, “Read the question at the bottom.”
Huh? I mean huh? Where did that come from?
UPDATE: The question at the bottom has now disappeared. (Hat tip: Nick Reynolds of the BBC. Even he thought it was “remarkably silly”.)
If you have come late to this party and want to know what the question was, Bishop Hill recorded it for posterity:
Should City bankers donate a proportion of their fortunes to causes like the Royal Festival Hall? Let us know what you think using the form below.
The earlier article was and still is simply about the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall, without any mention of City bankers. The question came out of the blue and has now disappeared back into the blue – without, as Bryan comments, “explanation, apology or updating of the article.” The Last Updated field still says 9 June.
Utterly astonishing. Well spotted Anonymous.
This is truly indicative of the BBC’s collective Leftist mindset. What it says isn’t so much that the writer is a leftist nutcase. It says that the writer is a leftist nutcase who feels so comfortable among his or her colleagues that he or she thinks it perfectly okay to espouse such Leftist nutcase ideas. Someone get a screen grab quick!
I’ve tried to send the following email in response but I’m not getting any joy.
“”Should City bankers donate a proportion of their fortunes to causes like the Royal Festival Hall?”
What an odd question. Is there any particular reason why ‘City bankers’ have been singled out for attack? Are they the predominant users of the Royal Festival Hall ?
Perhaps we could get rid of the dead wood at the BBC and use some of the money extorted through the BBC tax to support the RFH.
Sacking Ross, Norton, Humphreys, Wogan , Billy Bragg, the bunch of left-wing buffoons who pose as comedians on R4 and the idiot who posed the question to name but a few would be a good start.”
My email has been acknowledged.
“Your comment will shortly be read by the Have Your Say team. If it is selected for publication it would normally appear on the site within the next few hours.
Please remember that your name will be published alongside your comment unless there are reasons to protect your identity or we have undertaken to do so.
All our pages are permanently searchable by most standard search engines. Your comments may be published on any BBC media.
Due to the high volume of emails received by the BBC we cannot guarantee that your comments will be published.
If you are sending an idea for a story, we will read all the suggestions we receive and pick a selection to follow up online and on other BBC outlets.”
I will wait with bated breath.
Bate it, but don’t hold it for god’s sake.
archonix
I don’t for one moment expect to see my comment.
NM
Screen grab (I Hope)
http://thumbsnap.com/v/YMBcTxEm.png
Got it right in the end!
🙂
Neomancunian | 11.06.07 – 12:09 am,
Nice of the BBC to tell you this
Please remember that your name will be published alongside your comment unless there are reasons to protect your identity or we have undertaken to do so.
after you’ve sent your comment with your name attached to it.
I was down on the South Bank at the weekend and the stuff going on was absolutely f**king brilliant, from highbrow to lowbrow and back again. Meanwhile there was the usual dirge on TV. Perhaps the Beeb should donate a proportion of its ‘fortune’ to someone who can be arsed to do publicly funded cultural advancement properly??
Not sure it’s as big a deal as you think. Since Peter Hain came out with this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6350997.stm
The idea of city bonuses beeing used for the public benefit has been bouncing around various debates.
Still, since so much of B-BBC consists of confusing debate with dogma, that idea is unlikely to stem the tide of condemnation. Is it?
The problem, hunt, is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the texdt of the story. Nothing. As in, they didn’t mention it. If they had even briefly mentioned the debate over ‘city bankers’ and their money they there wouldn’t be as much of a complaint.
I’m with cockney. Why don’t a few of the high fliers at the BBC donate their salaries. They’re so quick to talk about other people putting up money for things… oh, but I suppose they’re used to that idea already.
Hillhunt,
You don’t need to be a hardcore libertarian to realise that this is some pretty controversial stuff that Hain is flinging around though? A call for punitative tax rates on extremely high earners is one thing but direct government intervention into private companies’ remuneration policies??? Surely the logical first step around reporting such radical proposals by ministers is to critically analyse the potential pitfalls and alternatives, not start gleeful flinging around ways to apply them.
Hain doesn’t believe it of course, it was just a spot of that old-style religion for the party faithful during the deputy leadership elction. Whereas the Beeboid who wrote it clearly thought it was a serious point. Might have been more serious if the question of tax rtelief on donations had been raised.
Perhaps the BBC should use it in a generic sense at the bottom of every article:
“Should City bankers donate a proportion of their fortunes to causes like the XXXXX? Let us know what you think using the form below”
Examples could include:
Mariam appeal
International Solidarity Movement
Stop the War
BBC slush fund
Global warming
Poverty in Africa
Boycott Israel
The Iona Community
Apparently the original version was as follows:
“Should Fat Cat City bankers donate all their ill-gotten gains to worthy causes like Liberty? Let us know how much you want their pips to squeak using the form below”
How about “Should the poor fund the greatest broadcasting organisation in the world…or should they go to jail?
Do not feed the troll
Red herrings and straw men are his speciality.
Abandon ship! | 11.06.07 – 11:23 + 11:32 am
Hilarious stuff.
My peeve for literally years has been the lack of good information on the bad people in our communities.
So I did something about it.
I created the website http://www.religiousfreedomwatch.org
It has been out there for some time but given the sorry state of the world and the ever growing number of terrorists on every corner I thought I would let you know about it.
Hardly a day goes by that it is not voted either the most useful or the most ethical site on the internet.
If you wonder if the new girl at your office is a Jihad cell extremist, this site will tell you.
You know that guy, you always seem to see at the market? Is it possible he is a child molestor? Well, this site will tell you. Why not look him up just to be sure?
Don’t be surprised if I tell you this site is the one used by the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security as well as media to check things. Major airlines express thanks daily that we are there to keep the next group of 9-11 suicide Muslims off their flights. Even though I think religious freedom is important this whole business of Extreme Jihadist Islam is one of the major issues we are facing in the 21st century. I am trying to do something about it!
Now this site is free and it always will be. My company is American Coast Title and it is very profitable. We pay all of the fees for this site and keep it up to date. Not long ago we helped a special task force capture wanted terrorist and fugitive bomb maker and grave robber Keith Henson!
We’re starting a new project on Robert Clark. This guy has threatened to bomb not only churches but also weather stations! What could his objective be? When we find out, the answer will be on the site!
But I have a problem. A bunch of Indonesians are attacking me. I am offering a substantial reward, paid once again by the company, for your help in finding and stopping these zealots.
You can see the details on the reward section of the site. You can also email me at jphillips@actfortitle.com or also mlundgren@actfortitle.com or also dhatchett@actfortitle.com or also fberriz@actfortitle.com or also ccelaya@actfortitle.com or also cbryant@actfortitle.com or also the actual reward email itself reward5000@earthlink.net
Help us stop these guys and put some clean cash in your pocket!
Joel Phillips
publisher of http://www.religiousfreedomwatch.org and owner of American Coast Title
by the way professionals in my industry are free to contact me if they do not believe that I am the one who put up this site as a free public community resource!!
City bankers shouldn`t donate the money to this, they should keep their money to themselves. The taxpayers can make up the shortfall.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6722699.stm
Some types of story never seem to have a HYS tag on them.
I too have complained.
Still, since so much of B-BBC consists of confusing debate with dogma, that idea is unlikely to stem the tide of condemnation. Is it?
hillhunt | 11.06.07 – 10:31 am |
Still, pointing out biased coverage by the BBC is unlikely to stem the tide of Hillhunt’s craven apologetics. Is it?
Hillhunt. The BBC’s lickspittle. All the time.
I don’t know what would be sicker: that Hillhunt gets paid to troll this blog or that he does it for free.
I think he cane here trying to get us to express some un-pc views say he could discredit us in the eyes of others. But he failed.
Oh well. Lets give him so pity.
1. Tinky Winky was homosexualist propaganda.
2. Women and the working class should not be allowed to vote (to keep out the labour party)
3. Accent and intelligence are related. Thick brain = inpenetrable accent.
i had to rub my eyes twice. please tell me this is a joke. it is, isn’t it?
rightofcentre | 11.06.07 – 7:45 am:
Excellent screen grab. How do you do that? I get either the bottom of the page clipped or the top. How come you manage to get the lot?
JBH
If you are using Firefox 2.0 or later, this extension is quite handy for screen grabs.
that is an excellent screen grab. the whole nine yards…excellent stuff.
“”Should City bankers donate a proportion of their fortunes to causes like the Royal Festival Hall?”
Be interesting to hear their responce to should YOU donate a portion of your income to causes like that and do you?
“The idea of city bonuses being used for the public benefit has been bouncing around various debates,” says Hillhunt in absurd justification for an equally absurd piece of BBC journalism. Come down my local on a Friday night and there are some fairly odd ideas ‘bouncing around various debates’; but I would expect a multi-billion pound news organisation to tell at once which ones were worthy of further debate, and which ones were class-war headline-grabbing soundbites.
Hillhunt: in bed with a bad back after scraping too many barrels.
Chuffer:
Come down my local on a Friday night and there are some fairly odd ideas ‘bouncing around various debates’; but I would expect a multi-billion pound news organisation to tell at once which ones were worthy of further debate, and which ones were class-war headline-grabbing soundbites.
Worthy of future debate?
If your pub is stuffed with potential future deputy PMs, who take responsibility for Government in Wales and Northern Ireland, I suspect the odd news organisation might take an interest, yes.
PRESS RELEASE – 11TH JUNE
STOP ISLAMISATION OF EUROPE (SIOE) DEMONSTRATION 11th SEPTEMBER OUTSIDE THE EU PARLIAMENT
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! -NO SHARIA HERE!- DEMOCRACY NOT THEOCRACY!
These are the rallying cries that people all over Europe are shouting far and wide to Islamists both within Europe and in other countries who seek to impose Sharia law upon European citizens.
It is not only to Muslims, who seek to expand Islam across the whole of Europe, that Europeans are saying “Enough” it is also to our politicians who connive with Islamists to establish Sharia law by stealth. From building regulations to burial rights, the majority of Europe’s population is increasingly expected to adhere to Sharia law.
“Hate” laws now make it a crime to speak out against Islam even though it is just another totalitarian political system. Our free speech, which has been gained over many centuries by defeating tyrannical regimes through many bloody wars, is now being removed solely to protect Muslims from being offended. Nobody has the right to not be offended.
SIOE is a Pan-European movement determined to not merely stopping the surreptitious Islamisation of Europe, but reversing it.
The first step in this reversal is a march comprising people, from many European countries, all demanding that all non-Islamic European nations remain non-Islamic and a halt to encroachment of Sharia law.
Anders Gravers (Founder of SIOE Denmark and leader of the political party SIAD) said: “We do not believe in the concept of ‘moderate Muslims’. The evidence points to Islam being the opposite of moderate. The heart of Sunni Islam is Saudi Arabia and the centre of Shia Islam is Iran. No rational person can describe these two countries as ‘moderate’; at least not when compared to European values. We now have children in Danish schools being forced to eat Halal meat so that Muslim pupils are not offended. What next? Are Danish women to be stoned to death for being raped as they are in Iran? Or are people to be beheaded for leaving Islam as they are in Saudi Arabia? No! We will not allow Europe to become a huge Saudi Arabia or Iran”
Dr. Udo Ulfkotte (Founder and president of the non-profit charity “Pax Europa”) said: “We clearly feel the pressure of Islamisation in Germany. German police and courts are more tolerant to Muslims than to non-Muslims. One of the highest German courts (Bundesgerichtshof) has just downgraded the punishment for Islamists who publicly declare and ask for violent Jihad in Europe. Unacceptably, some judges have quoted the Quran and not German law in court cases. Polygamy, once illegal in Germany, is now permitted only for Muslim men, who may even claim state benefits for their wives. German life is changing to appease Muslims. For example, Christian crosses in our public institutions are being removed and there are separate swimming times for Muslims in supposedly public pools (which non-Muslims’ taxes pay for).
German Muslims demand a quota for “positive reports” from the German media, but they kick out the religious group Bahai from an inter-religious conference because they refuse to accept them within the “dialogue”.
All this was once described as hypocrisy, but is now actually promoted by our feeble politicians.
Stephen Gash (Founder of SIOE England) said: “Appeasement of Islamists has become ridiculous. Non-Muslims are expected to be buried facing Mecca and to sit on toilets facing away from Mecca because cemeteries and new homes have to conform to Muslim sensitivities. Toy pigs are banned from offices and Christmas lights must now be called ‘Winter Festival lights’ so as not to offend Muslims. None of these oppressive measures were even contemplated when Jews were the only ones who could possibly be offended by pigs and ‘Merry Christmas’.
Absurdly, to criticise Islam results in accusations of ‘racism’. Well, I’ve always considered racism as being the lowest form of human stupidity, but Islamophobia to be the height of common sense.”
Charlotte Westergaard (SIAD board member) said: “The biggest danger comes from our own politicians who promote Islamic values at the expense of our own values. The way things are going all European non-Muslim citizens will be paying the Jizzya tax to Muslims as they did during the days of the Ottoman Empire. Of course the politicians believe they will be exempt • until the local Imam knocks on their door.”
Anti-totalitarian stance of SIOE – http://sioe.wordpress.com/brussels-demo-2007
http://sioe.wordpress.com/ New website under construction
http://siad.wordpress.com/
http://siad.dk/ 15,500 hits per day average
http://akte-islam.de/1.html
Contacts
Anders Gravers
SIAD and SIOE Denmark
Denmark
Tel 0045 9677 1784
00456191 6026
E-mail sioe@siad.dk
Dr. Udo Ulfkotte
Pax Europa e.V.
Germany
Phone 0049 173 329 1840
Fax 0049 721 15151 2200
E-mail udo@ulfkotte.de
Stephen Gash
SIOE England
Tel 0044 1228 547317
E-mail sioe.nsh@btinternet.com
Joel Phillips 11.06.07 – 2:21 pm
Are you a front for the Cult of Scientology?
If not, why are you going after John Sweeney under the banner of ‘religious freedom’?
http://www.vigilantfreedom.org/index.html
phoebe:
I wish you all the best of luck. In fact, I wish ‘all of us’ the best of luck.
It’s about time
Phoebe,
Personally think that at least three quarters of your press release is sensationalist b*llocks.
However sadly the replacement of all intelligent thought on this issue with half arsed PC bullsh*t amongst the media and pretty much all politicians leads me to hope that enough people get on your bandwagon to at least ensure that that this issue is debated sensibly and the endless self loathing streams of abysmal rhetoric and haemorrhaging of public cash from the imbecile left are swamped with a bit of common sense.
“phoebe | Homepage | 12.06.07 – 10:13 am ”
sadly phoebe the ONLY way to beat rising Islamism is to have an increased non-Muslim European birth rate.
otherwise, we are all pissing against the wind.
for example, 40 per cent of German female graduates haven’t had a child.
if we take the entire population, its about 30 per cent of the whole German female population that are not having children:
http://www.spaceship-earth.org/Letters/Editor/German_women_told_we_need_more_babies.html
Hillhunt – yup, I phrased that rather badly. What I meant waaaaaaas (as I’m sure you know, really) is that when Peter Hain starts on about City bonuses, the BBC should know that it’s just a sound-bite class-war line, rather than a concept that the BBC feels it should return to – especially in the context of the article we’re talking about on this posting. In this case, it’s a pure and simple non-sequitor. It’s like an article on popular colours being followed with “Blue is the traditional colour for the Tories. Do you agree that the Tories are heartless bastards?”
Mind you, my local is chock full of future PM’s and policy wonks – as we all are after a few pints.
I’d choose Chuffer’s pissheads over that repulsive jobsworth lickspittle with the bad teeth Peter Hain (motto: say anything for a job”) any day
Jonathan Boyd Hunt | Homepage | 11.06.07 – 7:36 pm |
I use the screengrab add on to firefox as posted by JohnOfBorg | 11.06.07 – 10:20 pm |
you just right click, and you can select to save either visible portion, whole page, or a section of your choice.
JohnOfBorg:
RightofCentre:
Thanks for that. I installed Firefox but then the full-screen viewing option didn’t work on the 18 Doughty St site, even when using the MS IE browser that had worked okay up to its installation. So I junked it and then the 18DS site started behaving itself again.
Computers!
Jonathan Boyd Hunt | Homepage | 12.06.07 – 3:35 pm |
I`ve just been to 18 Doughty St and the full screen is ok on my pc, I suppose it depends on your connection speed, also some of the clips use flash player, which doesn`t have a full screen option.
rightofcentre | 12.06.07 – 5:59 pm:
Thanks for that. Hmm… I’m tempted to install FF again now…
Off-topic: BBC-busting Firefox enhancements.
If you ever encounter compatibility problems while using Firefox, this is the plugin for you.
It adds a button to the status bar that allows you to switch instantly to the IE rendering engine without leaving Firefox.
If you have thousands of heretical bookmarks saved and have trouble ever finding them again, I strongly recommend Google Bookmarks.
Notable features:
– organise your bookmarks with tags, instead of a tree hierarchy. Don’t know whether to file a story under ‘BBC bias’ or ‘social engineering’? No problem: add both tags.
– auto-completion of tag names.
– add comments to your bookmarks.
– restrict Google searches to your bookmarks, search on tags, etc.
– effortlessly import your current bookmark collection.
– immediately see whether or not you have already bookmarked a page: the ‘add bookmark’ button indicates this.
– view your bookmarks in the order you added them. Sometimes handy.
I’ve been using Google Bookmarks for a few months now and have never looked back. I still tend to bookmark stuff instead of reading it though 🙂
thanks for the tip JofB 🙂
Looks like the last line has now been removed. Good, as it was a remarkably silly thing to do.
Not just the last line, Mr. Reynolds, but the entire HYS questionnaire – and removed, you’ll notice, without explanation, apology or updating of the article.
If it were not for a few wide awake people on the internet nobody would know that it had existed.
And as far as “silly” goes, was it silly because the BBC should not be revealing its affiliation to the lunatic left, but should rather be deceiving people that it is impartial?
I don’t see it as “silly.” I see it as the BBC pushing its narrow lunatic left agenda for the nth time onto an unsuspecting public.