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More on the Nigel Wrench rape trial. I’ve phoned in a complaint about the BBC silence on the matter, and I’ve been told I’ll get a written reply within 10 days.
Michael Calwell 17.09.07 – 4:58 pm
the Nigel Wrench rape trial.
What trial?
When did it start?
Has it concluded?
A google news search yields …zip..nix…nada.
Have I missed something?
John:
Errr, yes. It is mentioned on his Wikipedia page and I have documented it here.
http://powercut.blogspot.com/2007/08/nigel-wrench-rape-and-deafening-silence.html
Evidence of links between the BBC and support for repressive Iranian media outlet Press TV from Harry’s Place:
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/
Another pertinent question is why has a BBC employee been “training” Press TV staff?
Mohammad Sarafraz, head of the new channel, said most of Press TV’s 30 journalists were non-Iranians, and included many Britons as well as Americans. The channel will have correspondents in London, New York, Washington, Beirut, Damascus, Moscow and several other European capitals, as well as three correspondents covering the Israel-Palestine conflict from Gaza, Ramallah and Jerusalem. Mr Sarafraz said training had been provided by a BBC employee.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2117128,00.html
John Reith:
Michael Calwell 17.09.07 – 4:58 pm
the Nigel Wrench rape trial.
What trial?
When did it start?
Has it concluded?
A google news search yields …zip..nix…nada.
Have I missed something?
John Reith | 17.09.07 – 5:
No trial that I’m aware of yet – but his arrest and charge regarding an alleged offence of rape has been in the national press – try a Google search on: nigel wrench rape.
Given the other links this search throws up – Wrench reporting on other people’s rapes – it is odd that the Beeb hasn’t seen the news significance of his arrest and charge. The Beeb seems, indeed, to have had no problems in reporting when Michael Barrymore, Chris Langham and two BTP officers (see an earlier joust with JR) were arrested and charged with various sexual offenes.
Regarding the 1950’s article, I just got a reply back to my complaint e-mail. The important part reads:
“We decided however to amend points five and ten to make absolutely clearwhat was being said. We have changed the entry about Suez to read thatBritain was “coming to terms with being humiliated” at Suez to make itclear that the humiliation was not in itself for these purposes good orbad, but that the experience of going through it was not a pleasant onefor the country.
Item ten has been amended to remove the second sentence concerninghomosexuality and abortion, since there was the risk that it could beread as implying the author thought the changes in the law were goodthings. This was not actually the intention – it was more about sayingthat the resulting stigma was unpleasant, but nevertheless we haveremoved the latter part of that entry to avoid the confusion. You saythat “sexual self-expression” is code for permissiveness, but I’m afraiddon’t agree. I think that would be reading too much into it. I dohowever acknowledge that the article could have been more carefullyphrased, and apologise for any offence this might have caused.”
This is useless. Apart from the fact that the letter didn’t address my general complaints or my complaints about the recent dinner party drama and BBC policy toward such dramas, they have made the Suez point more left wing, which is justifiable in a way but hardly addresses my concerns about consistent and repeated attacks on Tory values; and they have changed point 10 to read:
“10. Sexual expression was frowned upon and even criminalised.”
Which shows that by “sexual expression” they do indeed mean “sexual permissiveness”, with some special reference to homosexuality. The point remains biased and their claim in their reply that “it was clear from the outset of this piece that it should be an attemptto add more context to the notion that the 50s were idyllic, rather thanvalue judgements about what was good and bad about the decade” is hardly substantiated by this point. I note the word “even”. Some “sexual expression” is still criminalised – for example, sexual activity in the middle of a High Street. But the BBC implies that all attempts to prevent people from behaving like animals by means of law must be bad. Regardless of one’s stance, this is clearly an opinionated point.
“Your points are taken” indeed.
Michael Calwell | Homepage | 17.09.07 – 5:50 pm
As I thought, no trial yet.
Nothing to report.
Not proper to comment on matters awaiting trial.
Law of Contempt and all that.
But then, you probably know all that.
The BBC has, in fact, issued a statement:
A BBC spokeswoman said: “The BBC and Nigel Wrench are of the view that while Mr Wrench deals with these very serious allegations, which he strenuously denies, it is inappropriate for him to continue reporting and presenting.”
http://www.lifestyleextra.com/ShowStory.asp?story=JH2737938B&news_headline=bbc_radio_presenter_faces_rape_trial_
But then, your google search probably found that too.
So why exactly are you raising the issue now?
Oh, “Lifestyle Extra” magazine! Yes of course! No, my point was not that it has not been reported in any media at all, but that the BBC, the state broadcaster with a duty of impartiality, has completely neglected to mention it.
Plenty of people awaiting trial for sexual offences get mentioned on the BBC. Gary Glitter, Chris Langham, Phil Specter to name but a few. The details of the accusations are spelled out, details of witnesses, the charge, etc. It’s public knowledge, considered in the public interest, and made public by the BBC.
Nigel Wrench is in fact a PM presenter,and has hosted the programme on a number of occasions. Such a person is clearly of more interest to a BBC audience than some faded glam musician. Yet HIS rape charge and trial is wholly, completely absent from ALL BBC news outlets.
But, as you say, “Lifestyle Extra” picked up on it, so what possible gripe could I have?
The only other thing I could possibly conclude is that the BBC is so snared up in “diversity” and “multiculturalism” that because Mr Wrench is one of the protected species on the minority list, there’s a climate of fear and terror in reporting the alleged incident, which is why nobody has had the courage to do it.
watching dispatches right now
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/dispatches/unholy+war/802852
“Dispatches investigates the violence and intimidation facing Muslims who convert to Christianity in Britain.”
disturbing…
( watch how the bbc never follows this one up – like “undercover mosque”)
Archduke: If the BBC ever do follow it up I think you’ll find that the Muslims making the threats will have morphed into ‘animal rights extremists’.
If the BBC ever do follow it up I think you’ll find that the Muslims making the threats will have morphed into ‘animal rights extremists’.
Or white Christian nutters with Jewish friends in an episode of Spooks or Dr Who.
JR
Foxgoose
did anyone mention his dad is a labour peer?
….the iniquities of the fathers shall be visited upon the sons unto …..etc……..
I think we’ve touched on this subject before.
In any other organisation I would agree with your implication that family and friendships shouldn’t be dragged into people’s professional lives.
The problem is that the close ties between a large number of key BBC news and current affairs people with the labour party and the left wing press is not balanced by similar links to the other end of the political spectrum – making the organisation’s impartiality obligation look dubious.
(Don’t bother to remind us all again that Nick Robinson was a Tory at uni and Norman Tebbit once guest edited “Today” – it’s the other 99% of the output that worries us.)
Unusually, for our straw sucking west country neck of the woods, I had contact with some folk who work for the beeb the other day.
Surprisingly, the conversation didn’t turn to revolutionary marxism, the plight of the world’s oppressed or the misdeeds of bushitlerchimpmoron.
No – the main topic was BBC employment benefits.
My eyes were opened – apparently absolutely everybody on the payroll, in any capacity, gets the keys to an Aladdin’s cave of goodies, including:-
The car of your choice delivered to your door without any cash up front or credit check – at a greatly discounted price, deducted painlessly from your monthly salary.
BUPA medical care ( no wonder they don’t care how grim it’s got in the old NHS).
Membership of a couple of exclusive home counties golf clubs (never realised marxists were really into golf).
Choice of plush BBC clubs in the central and greater London area (with heavily subsidised food, booze & entertainment).
Yacht club with a couple of big yachts you can borrow when you feel like it.
Not to mention subsidised flying, waterskiing, riding and lots of other very expensive sports.
AND -Your weight in diamonds every Xmas and free access to the corporate harem twice a week .
( OK I made the last bit up but the rest is mind boggling enough).
These sound like the sort of perks that, according to BBC folk lore, despised fat cat businessmen used to help themselves to in the dark days of the Thatcher terror.
Do those finely tuned beeboid consciences twang a bit at the thought of undernourished single mums in Toxteth being slung into chokey by Capita heavies to keep the gravy flowing?
Please JR et al – tell us it aint so.
Who is the senior BBC person who doesn’t want neutrality on multiculturalism? How much do we pay him?
‘He goes over to his files to find a print-out of an email he received from a “very senior BBC person” while he was an employee there. Carefully obscuring the name of the sender, he shows it to me: “The BBC internally is not neutral about multiculturalism. It believes in it and promotes diversity, let’s face up to that.”‘
http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2170494,00.html
Foxgoose | 17.09.07 – 9:37 pm |
It sounds just like the perks you get in the armed forces…. except the private medical care, now that they have closed down the military hospitals.
The BBC, its hatred of Israel, its defence of Hamas and half a story.
Teenager shot dead in West Bank
A Palestinian teenager has been shot dead by Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Ramallah, officials have said. Local residents said Mohammed Jabbarin, 16, had not been armed and had been shot after he threw rocks at a patrol.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6999099.stm
The BBC so quick in which to blame the jews still hasn’t reported this story about Hamas which transpired nearly 3 weeks ago;
Teenager killed in Hamas protest at Rafah crossing
Hamas gunmen opened fire at pro-Hamas protesters at a rally on the Gaza-Egypt border Saturday, killing a teenager, hospital officials said.
Tens of thousands of flag-waving Hamas supporters gathered at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to demand it be reopened. The border, Gaza’s only gateway to Egypt, has been shut since Hamas’ bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip in June. Hamas charges that the government of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas does not want the crossing opened because that would help the Islamic group hold on to power in Gaza. Hamas gunmen fired in the air as hundreds of protesters tried to rush the border terminal and attempted to infiltrate into Egypt. Mohammed Qdaih, 17, was hit by a bullet, pronounced brain dead by doctors and died soon thereafter.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/899609.html
The BBC, its hatred of Israel, its defence of Hamas and half a story.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6998191.stm
[b]’Police pursuit before M4 deaths’
Five people have died after a car which had earlier been pursued by a police crashed head-on with another vehicle on the M4[/b]
As ever, the [i]implication[/i] of stories like these is that the police are somehow always at fault if they try and uphold the law.
As the article later (as always) states “The police vehicle did not follow it”, but paragraph one is the teaser. And teasers are important in newcasting – it’s all most people bother with.
@ Ritter:
BBC and the M word…..
Student guilty of terror offences
Last Updated: Monday, 17 September 2007, 11:43 GMT 12:43 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotl…ral/ 6997830.stm
“A student has been found guilty of three terrorism offences at the High Court in Glasgow”
———————————-
(I’ll need to find out how to format quoted text here);
You should read his profile on Al-Beeb!
If you though Osama was being praised for his fullsome, manly, handsome fizzog…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6992732.stm
“Siddique had visited several hardline Islamist websites, some of which preached anti-Semitism and encouraged young Muslims to martyr themselves as suicide bombers.
However, officers discovered that Siddique had also surfed pornography sites. He had played online poker and registered a team in an internet football manager game.
He had, according to his brother Asif, a love of Tom and Jerry cartoons despite the elder sibling’s good natured ribbing that he was too old to be watching them.”
So he can’t be a terrorist really, because they are committed to their cause and would have no truck with pornography, football or Jewish inspired cartoons. (Osama is still an Arsenal fan, right?)
Th-th-th-that’s all folks!
The BBC internally is not neutral about multiculturalism. It believes in it and promotes diversity, let’s face up to that.
So ironic that beeboids are working so hard on behalf of Muslims in the UK but British Muslims still believe the BBC is a zionist conspiracy run by ‘neo cons’.
Is the BBC Trust Dominated by Neocons?
http://ummahpulse.com/index.php?…id=204&
John Reith:
Michael Calwell | Homepage | 17.09.07 – 5:50 pm
As I thought, no trial yet.
Nothing to report.
Not proper to comment on matters awaiting trial.
JR has consistently avoided answering specific questions about other cases of charges of rape and similarly serious offences where people interviewed and charged have been identified by BBC News despite a trial not having yet happened. And these were not people who had taken high profile positions on the issues, like Mr W.
The BBC has, in fact, issued a statement:
Yeah – but it hasn’t published it on its own website because, unlike others, it hasn’t published the underlying story to which it relates!
AS can be seen from the URL JR has to cite:
A BBC spokeswoman said: “The BBC and Nigel Wrench are of the view that
while Mr Wrench deals with these very serious allegations, which he strenuously denies, it is inappropriate for him to continue reporting and presenting.”
http://www.lifestyleextra.com/ Sh…ces_rape_trial_
I don’t know who JR is. I originally welcomed a voice from the BBC taking part in BiassedBBC discussion. But I’ve found that he consistently slithers away from awkward questions, is ready to misrepresent prior discussions and generally is more interested in playing games (intermingled with personal insults).
I really can’t say more than that he brings discredit on the memory of the distinguished public servant, founder of true public service broadcasting, whose name he impudently adopts.
But then, your google search probably found that too.
So why exactly are you raising the issue now?
John Reith | 17.09.07 – 7:16 pm | #
ShugNiggurath:
Replace “[ ]” with “< >” and try using Preview.
😀
More than 1,000,000 Iraqis dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6998788.stm
From the article about Blackwater losing it’s licence after a ‘shootout’ caused the deaths of 8 civilians, the final section goes on to state:
“Civilian toll
Sunday’s violence followed the publication of a survey of Iraqis which suggested that up to 1.2m people might have died because of the conflict in Iraq.
A UK-based polling agency, Opinion Research Business (ORB), said it had extrapolated the figure by asking a random sample of 1,461 Iraqi adults how many people living in their household had died as a result of the violence rather than from natural causes.
The results lend weight to a 2006 survey of Iraqi households published by the Lancet, which suggested that about 655,000 Iraqi deaths were “a consequence of the war”.
However, these estimates are both far higher than the running total of reported civilian deaths maintained by the campaign group Iraq Body Count which puts the figure at between 71,000 and 78,000.”
Why they don’t state the ORB is a Beeb pollster I’m not sure.
http://www.opinion.co.uk/our-clients.aspx
Or why they choose to use the phrase ‘Died as a result of the conflict’ when the ORB uses the more colourful ‘murdered’
http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=78
Oh and what’s worse than the murder rate?
Bread’s pretty expensive apparently!
towcestarian:
Foxgoose | 17.09.07 – 9:37 pm |
It sounds just like the perks you get in the armed forces…. except the private medical care, now that they have closed down the military hospitals.
towcestarian | 17.09.07 – 9:48 pm | #
Yes – but unlike the beeb they perform a vital function for the whole of the populace.
Maybe when we get the BBC privatised we can spend some of the loot on proper armoured patrol vehicles & living accommodation for the military.
I would not be surprised to find that John Reith is in fact a group of people posting under the same pseudonym. His attitudes and style certainly vary quite dramatically, from the constructive to the dismissive.
‘John Reith’ is irrelevant. If the corporation he so avidly supports could sustain itself without the help of millions who are forced to pay for TV they wouldn’t voluntarily subscribe to, it’d do it.
‘John Reith’ knows this. He dislikes this fact, and he doesn’t really like the people who the corporation professes to educate, inform and entertain.
John Reith:
. . . .
But then, your google search probably found that too.
If JR means that A google search would bring up the URL he quotes he might be right – but I haven’t time to check through the 59,000 hits. But certainly there were BBC quotes on some of the news reports at the time but – and this was the point I was making AND the point JR avoids – surprise , surprise, is that while others might have quoted it the BBC never did – because the BBC never told the story. So back to the repeatedly unanswered question (are you reading this JR?): why did the BBC report about and name Barrymore and many others but not NW? Simple question, answer please.
And . .
So why exactly are you raising the issue now?
John Reith
. . . because JR has repeatedly failed to address, let alone answer it.
Foxgoose: Ahahahahhhahhahahahahha. *wipes tears from eyes*
Right: “The car of your choice delivered to your door without any cash up front or credit check – at a greatly discounted price, deducted painlessly from your monthly salary.” I’m currently considering buying a new car, the BBC’s deal is one common to many big corporations. It’s a lease deal. The money is deducted “painlessly” from my salary… in much the same way that tax is deducted “painlessly”. If cars were available at a “greatly discounted price” I’d sign up in a second, but they’re not.
It might amuse you to know that I’m pretty sure there is a BBC deal to help staff buy bicycles which ran for about two weeks and was then closed when it proved too popular.
“BUPA medical care ( no wonder they don’t care how grim it’s got in the old NHS)” Well I’ve always used the NHS. I’ll try and find out exactly what situation is, but I can’t recall any colleagues ending up in a Bupa hospital rather than an NHS one.
“Membership of a couple of exclusive home counties golf clubs (never realised marxists were really into golf).” I’ll find out about this one. It may be golf clubs offer membership/discounts off their own back. Never been offered anything myself.
“Choice of plush BBC clubs in the central and greater London area (with heavily subsidised food, booze & entertainment).”
Now this one is really funny. There are BBC “clubs” (although the Birmingham one was closed down as have been others). The BBC doesn’t see it’s role to use the licence fee to subsidise this sort of stuff so there is a membership fee. I don’t remember prices being much different to any other pub. “Plush” is great though. They really aren’t
Yacht club with a couple of big yachts you can borrow when you feel like it.
Hmmm.. there was a yacht club, I even remember a canal boat. Not sure if they still exist and you’d have to pay to hire them of course. Will check.
Not to mention subsidised flying, waterskiing, riding and lots of other very expensive sports.
Hmmm, not subsidised by the BBC. But companies do offer discounts to all sorts of big companies including the BBC. I’ve never been offered discounted riding or anything else though.
AND -Your weight in diamonds every Xmas and free access to the corporate harem twice a week .
Ho ho ho. I love my job, and am proud of working for the BBC. But I’m not sunning myself on the BBC yacht going to the BBC villa in Ibiza and driving round the island in my cut price BBC Jag. Sorry. Maybe I should talk to your friends?!
ShugNiggurath:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales…les/ 6998191.stm
[b]’Police pursuit before M4 deaths’
Five people have died after a car which had earlier been pursued by a police crashed head-on with another vehicle on the M4[/b]
As ever, the [i]implication[/i] of stories like these is that the police are somehow always at fault if they try and uphold the law…
Or could the implication be these people were trying to get away from the police and had therefor done something bad and were likely to behave recklessly?
David Gregory (BBC) | 18.09.07 – 1:22 am |
I’m with Shug on this one. A typical BBC report of these things goes along the lines “x people died after a car being chased by the police at high speed crashed in a residential area. An independent investiagation is being carried out by the police complaints authority.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1521183.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/4144171.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4640676.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6602905.stm
etc etc etc
In every case the report reads like it was written in the tut-tutting style of an aged aunt who can’t quite understand why it is necessary for the police to drive so fast. Those naughty boys in blue are probably breaking the speed limit as well.
The police are always “chasing”, with a strong hint that this is not what the BBC thinks they should do in such circumstances. Its safer for all of us just to let the criminals get on with their activities unchallenged, surely?. And if the dead were teenagers then we get the faint, almost inaudible background whining of “…but they were only kids! Why couldn’t the police just let them have their bit of fun.”
And of course, there is the obligatory comment that the independent PCA is carrying out an investigation (said in a stern voice with an emphasis on “independent”). Which is just the BBC’s way of letting us know that, even if the fascist bully-boy bastards seem to be out of control, the liberal establishment has its own way of keeping them in line.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/thechoice/pip/gopau/
Michael Buerk interviews the blessed Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, also defender of human rights, political meddler, Bush hater, Israel critic, and general do-gooder in other countries at the British tax-payer’s expense.
Wonder if Buerk will ask him about writing this sort of article:
http://www.counterpunch.org/murray08172006.html
Probably not. It is not in the BBC’s interests to let us know that Murray is a “truther”.
Or will Buerk bring this statement by Murray up for discussion?:
http://mancsagainsttanks.org/
“Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan now ‘a thorn in Blair side’
Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, is to speak at public meetings across the City in the run up to the ‘Time To Go’ protest march when Blair comes to Manchester for his party’s spring conference in September. Murray speaks for the growing tide of opinion in Britain who believe that for Tony Blair, and our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan it is indeed ‘Time to go!’.
Speaking recently to thousands of protesters who marched to demand an immediate cease fire in Israel’s Lebanon war he said that he was, “deeply ashamed of the country he used to serve”. By sending, “bombs and missiles to Israel Tony Blair has directly caused the deaths of thousands of women and children,” he said. Save the Children Fund, whose patron is HRH Princess Anne, vindicates the claim made by Murray that the majority of the Lebanese people killed by Israel were children, women and civilians.
For this, he said, “Tony Blair should be in a cell at the War Crimes Tribunal in the Haig.”
The fact that Murray shares the same political outlook as George Galloway seems unworthy of discussion on a 30-minute programme about, well, Craig Murray. Context? What’s that?
The BBC: telling you just the bits you need to know.
Radio 4’s “The Choice” seems to be mainly about people making a choice between doing “the right thing” according to the BBC/Guardian-reading world view, or doing the “wrong thing” by obeying their (insert as necessary) capitalist/neoconservative/zionist/fascist/colonialist/racist/homophobic masters. Whether it’s Craig Murray, Bishop Gene Robinson or Abu Ghraib’s Joe Darby, the relief in Buerk’s voice reassures us that the liberal consciences of these tortured individuals have made the correct decision.
Nick Robinson says he can’t find anyone to blame what’s happening to Northern Rock on the Government.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2007/09/on_the_line.html
Of course not.
towcestarian | 18.09.07 – 8:52 am |
You are absolutely correct. There was a case in Bristol some years ago which was instrumental in the formation of the current attitude that puts the onus on the police to back off if the perps are likely to hurt themselves or others if chased.
This case was reported in exactly the same way. They even got a couple of local Labour MPs (the Tories were impower IIRC) to bang on unchallenged about how the police had caused these two poor mites to die by chasing them. There was even some local civil unrest too.
Of course when it turned out that the two dead thieves had stolen a police bike and crashed it because they couldn’t handle it the local unrest faded away and people started to mutter that the perps got what they deserved or at least were authors of their own destruction.
By that time though the damage was done and the local politicians stopped the police chasing car thieves pushing Bristol to the top slot in the ‘best place to get your car nicked’ league for a while.
Of course if the BBC had acted factually instead of politically there would have been little publicity for the case, there would have been no unrest (outside agitators were blamed at the time) and Bristol would have been a less lawless place. But the politically motivated care nothing for the consequences of their actions.
The Fascist thugs are out of control and the BBC in its last Panarama program explains how and why very well indeed.
They are not catching criminals they are harrassing YOU and YOUR children. In a way that if it were happening to you 30 years ago YOU would go most likely insane or simply deadly paranoid or simply far more anti-social then YOU turned out to be.
It is us the police are arresting not the criminal classes, that are the basis of the police and court systems gravy train. These characters are simply used to justify the vast expense of a police state and the Fascist control that the state always craves.
In this government revolving door ‘justice’ scam only good for making us prisoners of our own making and lawyers as rich as possible, we are all victims.
Our best police officers are leaving Briton almost as quickly and for similar reasons as our nurses and doctors are.
Beware British people for what you ask when it comes to law enforcement especially.
Ask not for who the bell tolls, because it tolls for thee and your innocent children.
Ralph | Homepage | 18.09.07 – 9:55 am |
Why do you think the government is to blame? I’d love to blame them for this but can’t get an angle …
AFAICS the blame lies squarely with Northern Rock for taking such an exposed position in the international money markets.
If you wanted to be mean to the BBC you could say they were fanning the flames but no more than usual. Which is bad enough.
Of course the real problems will start to surface when more than one bank starts to get exposed and the Nation suddenly realises that much of the gold reserves that Britain once had, and would use to underwrite a bail out, have been sadly sold off at the lowest possible price by Gibbo Brown, ‘The Best Chancellor Ever’ (copywrite BBC).
The Fat Contractor | 18.09.07 – 10:04 am
There is considerable debate in law enforcement about the efficiency of high speed pursuit. Third parties may be involved (pedestrians, other motorists, residents sitting in their homes watching Sky). The potential costs of traffic accidents may be much greater than the amount of the offense.
I don’t have a solution and the BBC doesn’t seem to have taken a consistent stand. see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast/3279295.stm
let’s not oversimplify.
MattLondon | 18.09.07 – 12:38 am
Michael Calwell | Homepage | 17.09.07 – 7:45 pm
why did the BBC report about and name Barrymore and many others but not NW? Simple question, answer please.
Because he isn’t famous enough. Because he’s on the radio and not the telly. Take your pick.
As you say, the arrests, magistrate court hearings and trials of plenty of other BBC ‘talent’ have been extensively covered by the news. There’s clearly no BBC policy of covering-up for insiders.
I think something like 3000 people are charged with rape each year. The BBC cannot and does not report all of them. I’d guess being Eddie Mair’s occasional stand-in just doesn’t hack it in the celebrity stakes.
The other thing is • nothing much has happened yet. NW’s been charged and referred for trial. I’d guess the trial will be reported, when it starts.
The only other thing I could possibly conclude is that the BBC is so snared up in “diversity” and “multiculturalism” that because Mr Wrench is one of the protected species on the minority list, there’s a climate of fear and terror in reporting the alleged incident, which is why nobody has had the courage to do it.
If you seriously think the BBC doesn’t report crimes committed by ethnic minorities or homosexuals, you clearly haven’t been watching the news very carefully!
[Deleted – too long and too far off topic. I deleted this (or something very similar) the other day. Please don’t repost it here. Thank you. The Moderator.]
Foxgoose | 17.09.07 – 9:19 pm
In any other organization I would agree with your implication that family and friendships shouldn’t be dragged into people’s professional lives.
The problem is that the close ties between a large number of key BBC news and current affairs people with the labour party and the left wing press is not balanced by similar links to the other end of the political spectrum – making the organisation’s impartiality obligation look dubious.
A ‘large number of key BBC news and current affairs people’? You’ve mentioned one. I doubt if you could get to 5.
Meanwhile, here are a few ties you claim don’t exist.
Ed Stourton’s father, Lord Mowbray, was a Conservative hereditary peer.
Jane Corbin (Panorama reporter) is married to John Maples, a Conservative MP.
Robbie Gibb, Deputy Editor of Newsnight, is the brother of Nick Gibb, another Conservative MP.
deegee | 18.09.07 – 10:36 am |
let’s not oversimplify.
There may be considerable debate but the stark truth is that there is a direct relationship between TWOCing/’joy’ riding and reluctance to chase. If the lil’ moppets don’t get chased they are more likely to increase their activity as it is only a small minority who want to be chased. Most chases, by far, involve evasion.
IIRC there is also a correlation between incidents involving the public and TWOCing/’joy’ riding. Just because the buggers aren’t being chased doesn’t mean they aren’t killing people.
It’s not a simple problem true and the BBC does have the occational (and often po-faced) camera in the police car programme. But the way it is often presented on the news gives the impression that the BBC would like the thieves to get away – that way they can have ago at the police for that too.
[Deleted. Sorry, but this not a public noticeboard for long lists of links unrelated (except in the most abstract of ways) to the BBC. The Moderator]
deegee | 18.09.07 – 10:36 am |
And another thing 🙂
I notice from your linked article that the stats are for police kills rather than bad guy kills – to be simplistic. So yet again they fail to avoid the temptation to take a pop at the Peelers.
[The comments referred to have been deleted. The Moderator].
The Fat Contractor,
The Government is responsible for setting up a regulatory system for banks and making sure it works. For that regulator to allow one of the top five mortgage lenders in the United Kingdom to fall apart like the Northern Rock has shows that it is not fit for purpose.
The Government has failed to put in place a regulator who has the capacity to do its job properly.
Ho ho ho. I love my job, and am proud of working for the BBC. But I’m not sunning myself on the BBC yacht going to the BBC villa in Ibiza and driving round the island in my cut price BBC Jag. Sorry. Maybe I should talk to your friends?!
David Gregory (BBC) | 18.09.07 – 1:17 am | #
David
You may well weep – I fear you may be missing out, stuck up there in Brum.
BBC Mydrive – no deposit, no credit check – risk underwritten by the licence payer:-
The national Employee Benefits Awards recognised the BBC’s pioneering approach to offering car benefits to its entire staff, with the title “Most Effective Company Car Strategy 2004.” The BBC offers all of its 22,000 employees attractive, straightforward and affordable deals on new cars through the ‘myDrive’ scheme, which has been hailed as a great success…….The awards panel also said: “What the scheme demonstrates is that even if an employer does not offer company cars, it can still give staff cheap access to cars. The panel felt that the BBC was leading the way for others to follow.” ……..Each myDrive agreement covers all the employee’s motoring costs (including maintenance and insurance) apart from fuel in a single, fixed monthly payment made by payroll deduction. No deposit is required and there are no individual credit checks, ensuring that all employees can access the scheme.
BBC clubs in the London area -choice of seven – sound pretty comfy to me, eg:-
Club White City
Club White City is a great little hidey-hole at one end of the White City building. Friendly staff will serve you food and drinks all day and try to cater for your every whim
Daytime chilling out -This is a place where you can escape from your desk for a while, have a quiet meeting or catch up on the gossip over coffee. Now the coffee is definitely noteworthy – it comes from a small company that sources directly from individual coffee bean farms, so it’s all Fairtrade produce that tastes wonderful. The company has developed a special blend just for the BBC Club Do you know? As well as being happy to organise parties and leaving do’s during normal hours, the team can also assist you in hiring Club White City outside of normal opening hours for private events and functions.Gym
Club White City has a gym complete with personal trainers, classes and therapists.
Alternatively:-
Club Bush House
The Club at Bush House is reminiscent of a past era. With its wood panelled walls, tropical fish and comfy sofas you could be in another time, or indeed another country as the number of languages heard there increases as the day goes on.Coffee is served throughout the day and a full menu is available from 11.30am to 10pm.
Special events and catering. The afternoons are calm and relaxed until around 5pm when after work drinks begin. If you have a special event, club manager Harry will be pleased to reserve a section of the bar for you. Club staff will be pleased to cater for your meetings or events in any part of the building. You can choose from the ordinary menu or a special hospitality menu.
or even:-
Club TV
Centre
The day starts early at TVC with breakfast from 7.30am. And it’s no mean spread – cereals, fruit salad, muesli, croissants, and cooked options ranging from poached eggs on toast to a full English plate, all cooked to order.Busy times vary from day to day as production schedules in the building dictate the ebbs and flows of meal breaks, but informal meetings go on all the time in the comfortable lounge and, weather permitting, outside on the roof terrace. Great food -The seasonal menu is available Monday to Friday from 12 to 2.30pm alongside a canteen style service with four main dishes to choose from – one vegetarian, one fish and two meat plus jacket potatoes, a salad bar and soup. An evening menu is available between 5 and 9pm. Remember Club TVC is also now serving their signature dishes from 11.30am to 2.30pm every Saturday as well!The bar gets busy between 6 and 7pm, and on Friday evenings there is a DJ, who carefully adjusts the music to fit the mood of the evening.Parties and Events
If you want to hold a party at Club TVC the staff will be happy to set up a bar tab for you and can organise a small buffet, but you will need to come in early to bag your table.
I’m afraid you’re missing out with your old BBC canal cruiser up there too:-
Would you like to learn to sail? Fast and exhilarating racing or a leisurely cruise? The BBC Yacht Club welcomes all from beginner to experienced ocean sailor. So if you fancy yourself as the next Ellen McArthur or would prefer a leisurely cruise to the Isle of Wight, why not join us? Activities-We sail regularly – every weekend in the summer, usually from Bursledon near Southampton, to fairly local destinations, e.g. Isle of Wight. Bank Holiday weekends – we may sail to France. Our summer cruise goes further afield, e.g. Spain. We also have an annual Regatta or Rally. Not all events are in the summer or on water – our year-round events include parties, courses and talks. Facilities -We have two yachts – ‘Ariel of Hamble’ & ‘Prospero of Hamble’. The current ‘Ariel’, a Dufor 40, is well equipped for extended cruising and ‘Prospero’, a Sigma 33, offers the opportunity to race.
Now, boating’s my hobby and I’ve been in a few yacht clubs – but normally you have to bring your own yacht. A Dufour 40 costs £ 120 – £150,000 depending on fit out. Who underwrites the cost?
I’m not a golfer myself, but friends tell me it costs a packet to get membership of clubs like these:-
Wyke Green is a private members club that was built in 1926 on three former hay fields owned by the Earl of Jersey, the freehold of the land was purchased by its members from the Jersey Estates in 1996. A beautiful, tree lined, parkland course with generous fairways and manicured putting surfaces the club sits like an oasis of green less than half a mile from the busy A4 Gillette Corner midway between the City of London and Heathrow Airport.
Or
With its unique parkland / downland character and Grade II Listed clubhouse. Tyrrells Wood has long been recognised as one of the finest golfing venues in Surrey.
Our course, set among a myriad of specimen trees framing magnificent views of the surrounding countryside, was originally designed by five times Open Champion James Braid to provide a tough but rewarding challenge.
– all available on the cheap to beeboids.
I could go on to include riding, skiing, flying and about 50 odd other subsidised leisure activities listed here:-
https://www.bbcclub.com/sections.php
You may be weeping with mirth at this banter – but there is a serious point here. Once upon a time lots of big companies offered these sort of benefits to their employees – but global competition and cost pressures have pretty well eliminated them in the private sector. Other public sector workers in the vital areas of health, education, police etc don’t get anything like them.
Why should people who spend their lives dreaming up fanciful neo-marxist drama plots, tacky “reality” shows and 1960’s student union politics be rewarded at this level by a compulsory levy on the much less fortunate.
I’m off now to drag my zimmer frame down the the local Northern Rock and see if I can get enough out to pay my licence fee….
More pro-Castro bullshit from the BBC’s new Havana correspondent Michael Dross. “Castro hats all the rage in Cuba”. Why not “Labour MP pays homage to brutal dictator, buys memorabilia”? You can bet your last peso that’s the way the story would be framed if the BBC filmed a Tory MP buying Nazi clothing from a market stall. But of course communism is the acceptable face of totalitarian oppression, and therefore the BBC gives it the upbeat treatment.
How does the BBC headline the M4 incident when 2 innocent people were kill?
“Homocidal Idiot drives the wrong way up M4”
or
“Needless risks’ in police chases”
you guessed it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7000318.stm
Ok so here I am driving down the motorway at lunchtime and for once I have Radio 2 on. The major story is the one about Northern Rock. The BBC have their reporter outside the branch in Golders Green.Where they inform us that people here have been queuing all day and night. (One such couple who wanted to withdraw 200K had the doors shut in their faces.) Anyway could one of the BBC clones please explain why the Reporter mentioned that Northern Bank branches up North were not experiencing the same rate of withdrawals that the Golders Green branch was getting.
Just to let you know that was the Golders green branch which the BBC news report mentioned every chance it got. Even getting some head honcho at the bank to comment on air on why the folks at the Golders Green branch just weren’t as trust worthy as the folks up north.
So anybody wish to inform me of the majority faith in Golders Green.
3) Similarly, the Biased BBC crew have more recently been whipping up “outrage” (what else?) over a Newsround page that apparently laid the blame squarely on America for 9/11. Except, as Gavin points out, their wording is very close to the 9/11 Commission report itself.
……………
The likes of Iain Dale, Guido Fawkes and Biased BBC are merely following a strategy pioneered by the American loony-right blogs. It’s time the liberal left fought back.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sunny_hundal/2007/09/liberals_abandon_the_bbc.html