Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may be moderated.
George R:
I wonder how the BBC will report your “Eastern Europeans ‘targeted by angry Asians'” story?
In the article, the M word is used …’One Asian scholar at a Bradford mosque, who did not want to be named, said: “A lot of Polish people are coming into Bradford at the moment and unfortunately we’re seeing Muslim boys breaking their windows.’
Will the BBC use the M word (if they even pick the story up)?
Interesting that the headlines identifies ‘Angry Asians’, my Indian pals will be, once again, mightily peed off being lumped with the usual criminal suspects, who are invariably Pak/Banglas, invariably Muslim brothers, but very very rarely Indians.
LogicalSC | 11.01.08 – 4:30 pm | “Israeli’s don’t measure up as humans.”
You’re right, Israelis arn’t human, because there should be no tolerance for the intolerant.
David Preiser (USA) | 11.01.08 – 7:07 pm,
Reith can obfuscate, distort and omit facts as much as he likes but the truth is that the EU monitors are powerless and currently Israel can’t do much more than protest if Egypt wants to give the Palestinians uncontrolled access through Rafah.
This could come back to bite Mubarak because the Muslim Brotherhood has been steadily gaining strength in Egypt and could threaten his government in time. Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood on the Gaza side and by allowing weapons and other smuggling to continue unabated to feed Hamas’ lust for Jewish blood Mubarak may appease the Brotherhood, but probably only in the short term.
So Egypt’s border concerns have little to do with Israel or agreements with the UE and everything to do with its tricky relations with its own home grown terrorists. Anwar Sadat was assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood for the crime of making peace with Israel.
“In that case I stand corrected. I wasn’t aware that Israel had a backhanded way to close the border crossing.”
It does not matter if the EU Bampots are there or not – they flee every other week when a few rocks go into their windows anyway. If Egypt wants the border open from Gaza to Sinai they are able to open it. If people want to come from the West Bank that is obviously another matter altogether and given the two different governing bodies/terrorist gangs in charge in each place free travel between the two would be a SECURITY problem for any country not just Israel.
Part of the problem also stems from the fact that we have THREE infantry Battalions in the MFO including one from Fiji which covers the border from Rafah and the coast down to about halfway along the border when the Colombians take over, covering down to Eliat where there is a US Battalion and an Italian naval unit at Sharm El Sheik. They are NOT allowed to stop people, they can only fire in self defence if directly attacked and are basically sat on top of mountains in their OPs or patrolling around to spot Egyptian or Israeli Armed Forces that shouldn’t be there in Zone C as laid down in the Camp David agreement. So we do have the forces available and in situ if there was the political will to use them to stop Hamas smuggling weapons etc.
If Hamas really wanted to they could cross at any of a dozen points between Sinai and Gaza and they regularly shift weapons and suchlike by these points.
They do however realise the PR value of the BBC and others showing the “cruel injustice of people trapped behind a wire fence etc etc” and often will claim that people cannot move freely when in fact they do.
Hi first time poster.
I’m a low level techie at al-beeb with access to the internal posting board; I think some here have been a little harsh on David Gregory in recent weeks.
JeffD | 11.01.08 – 2:42 pm wrote:
‘How much longer do we have to put up with the twisted bile being spewed out by Reith and Gregory.They are robots.They are incapable of seeing reason or the truth.The people who post on this site put up valid point after valid point,only to see them blasted away sarcastically by the Haw-Haw twins.Just ban them!’
Like myself, David has put some of your points on the internal posting board, so banning him would be counter productive.
I think the commentators are at their best when they are debating with DG, rather than getting personal with him, especially that DG does seem to come away from here with the odd point or two.
Kind regards
Mark Seaborne
“I think some here have been a little harsh on David Gregory in recent weeks.”
Mark:
I for one appreciate the likes of David and Co debating here. Sometimes things get heated but in the main most here do try and debate the issues.
However there is often a feeling that even when we do bring up points that should be at least taken on board by the BBC, we are ignored. We also get a bit fed up with some people who take a tiny tree-like point and ignore the stonking great big wood that surrounds it!
And given the ridiculous boiler plate/send them a cut and paste email reply system to complaints that you guys run which treats us, the people who pay your wages, as irritants to be ignored or teated with disdain….
PS: Can YOU confirm how many entities make up the being known as John Reith???????? 😎
‘as irritants to be ignored or teated with disdain….’
couldn’t have put it better myself.
The BBC and how it defends Islamic racists in the UK.
Asian men jailed for race attack
Three Asian men who were convicted of attacking a group of friends and trying to kill one of them have each been given an 18-year jail sentence. Sodrul Islam, 23, Delwar Hussain, 21, Mamoon Hussain, 20, were sentenced at the Old Bailey. John Payne, 33, was left partially paralysed by the attack on an east London estate nearly two years ago. The court heard that as many as 30 men attacked the group of five white people, shouting racial abuse.
……………
The three men convicted of attacking him were all found guilty of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and violent disorder. But there was no evidence that any of the three shouted racial abuse or used a weapon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7184166.stm
Why does the BBC go out of its way in which to defend Islamic racists in the Uk.
Note while it isn’t that big an issue the BBC refrains from using the racist word. No it uses race and racial while pointing in the right direction they aren’t as condemning as the word ‘Racist’ is. So is the BBC against the use of the ‘racist’ word. Is it bollocks as a simple search on their web site brings out these results;
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?tab=ns&q=Racist+attack&edition=d&scope=all
The thing is every one of the racist attacks on that first web page is of white people attacking coloureds. But it gets better why does the BBC have to report that the three men convicted of the attack did not use racist language or even use a weapon. Don’t get me wrong but isn’t body language a form of abuse and the ultimate form of abusive body language has to be a good kicking. (not that getting beaten up is good)
Instead of trying to say “well somebody may have did it” the BBC could have explained that Sodrul Islam was caught at the scene with his hands covered in blood.
And that the victim was struck down by a machete or for that matter that the attackers were all drunk. (So much for the BBC claim that Muslims find Alcohol abhorrent)
Instead the BBC Brownwash department is brought out in which to cover up as much as possible the stain these Muslims have brought onto the faith.
Here is where I got my info from BBC
http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/online_archive/?name=John+Payne&page=2
Try using it in future instead of from the mouth of your local mullah.
The BBC and how it defends Islamic racists in the UK.
pounce | 11.01.08 – 10:31 pm |
laban tall’s got a good piece on this
as well.
http://ukcommentators.blogspot.com/2008/01/remember-wroughton-hammer-attack-when.html
I shall put the question on our internal posting board, then post the answer back here. Please note that I am a low level techie and that no one is obliged to answer me.
Kind regards
Never to be undersold in the stupidity stakes The BBC have sent Newsnight presenter Gavin Essler (Saints Preserve us) to talk to some scousers about Liverpool being The Capital of Culture. He speaks to;
-an utter moron teenager who didn`t think it would effect him.
-a teenage “rapper” who thought that it wasn`t really for him.
-a couple of old guys who talked about “access”, “regeneration and (wait for it!) renaissance”
Sadly but without surprise, Esslers main thrust was “will everyone beneft” or will some be “excluded”?
What does that mean?
What more can civic leaders do than provide a forum for what passes for Culture these days.
Why can the BBC not be more robust in thier cultural coverage instead of patronizing the plebs while they themselves bash off to Tuscany & Venice to see the real thing?
Culture will emerge whence The BBC is purged from the Earth.
The BBC reporting on the honours legal advice bill:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7181979.stm
It’s all factual reporting until the last paragraph:
Some Labour MPs have criticised the police decision to put so much time and effort into the inquiry, prompted by a complaint from an SNP MP, which they saw as a “political vendetta”.
Why the extra “weasel words” here? Either the journalist saw the article as anti-Labour and sought to “balance” it with this view, or was fed a line to spin the news.
I notice the writer didn’t bother to look for a response from the SNP or police.
The BBC, health tourism in the Uk and half the story.
Has anybody been following the story of Ama Sumani the Ghanaian lady who was kicked out of the UK the otherday. Well the BBC has been publishing a rash of stories of this poor lady who if she doesn’t get access to the British National Health she will die.
Cancer patient loses visa battle
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7178416.stm
Removed patient in care struggle
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7182467.stm
Plea for Ghanaian woman’s return
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7184359.stm
While I truly do feel for this lady and in no way wish to disparage her I have to ask the question why the BBC is at the front of a campaign in which to keep this lady in the news even going to the extent of getting Ghana’s High Commissioner in London to appeal to Britain to reverse its decision to fly a terminally ill woman back to the African country on Radio 4.
Not once does the BBC mention the term ‘Health tourist’ or for that matter doe they link into any of these old news stories;
‘Health tourism’ rules unveiled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3355751.stm
Fresh crackdown on NHS ‘tourists’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3711751.stm
Treating tourists ‘crippling’ NHS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3064099.stm
In which to explain why this lady has been removed from the UK.
Instead the BBC is promoting this picture of an uncaring, ugly semi racist Great Britain in which lead the campaign so as to facilitate the return of somebody who shouldn’t really be here. Here’s a thought did anybody at Radio 4 think about asking the Ghanaian High Commissioner whom they interviewed, into funding his fellow countryman of her medical treatment? Nah thought not.
But hey any chance the BBC can get to disparage the Brits.
The BBC, health tourism in the Uk and half the story
The BBC loves Islam despite its barbaric practices.
Lurker in a Burqua: Never to be undersold in the stupidity stakes The BBC have sent Newsnight presenter Gavin Essler (Saints Preserve us) to talk to some scousers about Liverpool being The Capital of Culture. He speaks to;
-an utter moron teenager who didn`t think it would effect him.
-a teenage “rapper” who thought that it wasn`t really for him.
-a couple of old guys who talked about “access”, “regeneration and (wait for it!) renaissance”
Sadly but without surprise, Esslers main thrust was “will everyone beneft” or will some be “excluded”?
Just like the lunchtime news item which conducted its interview with a priest who was critical of the year against a background of derelict houses. We can expect lots of “but how will this affect the real Liverpool of drug gangs/car thieves/knife crime, etc., etc.” reports over the next year. A good news story from Liverpool on the Beeb? You’ve got to be joking.
The BBC actively aid Islamic Terror. What happened regarding the Ms Suleaman and Mr Hamid love in?
“The BBC have sent Newsnight presenter Gavin Essler (Saints Preserve us) to talk to some scousers about Liverpool being The Capital of Culture”
So he won’t be driving back?
The BBC its love for Muslims, its hatred of America and half the story
Asian voters in US ‘got raw deal’
Many Asian American voters faced discrimination from voting officials during 2006 mid-term elections in the US, a civil rights group has alleged. The report is based on a multilingual exit poll conducted among 4,700 Asian American voters in 25 US cities.
It documents alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act and Help America Vote Act and cases of “anti-Asian attitude”. According to a 2000 census, the US has more than 10 million Asian Americans, comprising 3.6% of its population.
…………………..
The survey found 40% of Pakistani-origin, 38% of Bangladeshi-origin and 17% of Indian origin-voters could not speak English well. One-third of Urdu speakers and the same number of Bengali speakers said they needed the assistance of interpreters in order to vote.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7182758.stm
Anybody read the tripe the BBC publishes on its ongoing quest in which to disparage America for Allah. Well BBC I actually read the report not from the link on your website. (That takes you to a pornsite,) But this one;
https://www.aaldef.org/
Here is what I found differs from the BBC report and the actual one.
1) The BBC presents this image that all Asian Americans are Islamic wrong. In the US the term Asian American refers predominately to East Asians ie.. Chinese,Korean,Japanese. This is substantiated by the report in its breakdown of those 4600 people they interviewed, here are a couple of JPGs taken from that report (page 6) of that Breakdown
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/60/image6yk6.jpg
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4820/image12in8.jpg
Anybody else find it strange how the BBC only reports on the Islamic section of that report an Islamic section which only represents 27% of the people polled, yet the BBC has no problem promoting the impression that only Islamic type people are getting targeted.
2)The AALDEF and the BBC have no problem paying the racist card over how some people were treated here are a few examples from that report the BBC didn’t air;
Page 15 Racist and Poorly Trained Poll Workers
In Brooklyn, NY, an Arab American voter in Kensington complained that poll workers continuously stared at his traditional clothing and beard, making him feel uncomfortable.
In Michigan, one Hamtramck voter was turned away and refused a provisional ballot. He complained of hostile, rude poll workers who misdirected him to the wrong poll site.
A Dearborn voter reported that poll workers failed to direct people standing in one long line to the appropriate precinct lines. This caused needlessly longer lines to develop.
In New Jersey, voters in Palisades Park complained that poll workers lacked knowledge of the voting process, were unable to direct voters to their assigned election districts, and did not actively help voters.
One voter even corrected a poll worker who instructed him to sign the voter roll book next to another voter’s name.
In Dorchester, MA, poll workers informed a Vietnamese voter that her vote did not go through and did not offer any explanation as to why or if there was any remedy.
In Jersey City, NJ, voters complained that poll workers did not know proper election
procedures, acted discourteously, and were generally disorganized.
One voter was frustrated that poll workers were unresponsive to her repeated requests for instructions. She had to call out to one poll worker several times before she was helped.
How many of the above seem racist to you? Shame the BBC left out the poorly trained Poll workers in their condemnation.
2) The BBC starts off its report with this paragraph;
Many Asian American voters faced discrimination from voting officials during 2006 mid-term elections in the US, a civil rights group has alleged. The report is based on a multilingual exit poll conducted among 4,700 Asian American voters in 25 US cities.
Of which it later on reports this figure;
It said 59 Asian American voters had complained.
First of all 59 people out of 4700 doesn’t classify as many and here is a JPG of how those complaints were registered (page 7)
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/1300/image1lg4.jpg
Out of the above complaints only 30 people complained of rude or hostile workers and that 59 figure issued by the BBC, well that figure corresponds to Poll workers poorly trained. Hardly the subject on which to base a discrimination story on.
Strange how the BBC rewrote it into a racist towards Muslims one.
The BBC its love for Muslims, its hatred of America and half the story
John Reith,
You keep posting btselem quotes as if it were some sort of a reliable source.
They are an EU funded self-proclaimed human rights organization, filled with people determined to see their goals archived by any means.
any means being the operational word.
Even though I agree with most of their goals, for example ending the occupation of the West Bank, their means are very questionable.
John Reith,
You appear to be doubly checkmated by Dave T.’s comment on 11.01.08 at 9:51 pm and by David Prieser’s at 7:07 pm. What say you?
WoAD (UK):
You’re right, Israelis arn’t human, because there should be no tolerance for the intolerant.
Do you also work for the BBC?
pounce | 12.01.08 – 1:31 am |
The BBC its love for Muslims, its hatred of America and half the story
Nice one. Sounds like typical election volunteer trouble to me. I’ve seen or been on the wrong end of most of those examples myself. More in Arizona than New York, though.
When it comes to nasty Americans, they see bias everywhere, don’t they?
Sorry for coming in so late in the debate.
John Reith | 11.01.08 – 12:44 pm | #
Another BBC journalist is fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Hamas (his words during a Hamas rally).
Untrue. This has been investigated and found to be false.
Given the BBC response “Fayad’s remarks were made in a private capacity. His reports have always matched the best standards of balance required by the BBC.” it would seem that the BBC accepted that Abu Shamala had made the remark Therefore TRUE.
Note the importance of labelling in the Hain story. Normally BBC headlines are awash with quotation marks :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7181929.stm
US doubts over Iran boat ‘threat’
as a marker of doubt or scepticism about what one of the participants is claiming.
But not here :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7184528.stm
Hain under fire over think tank
Think tank is obviously what Hain backers want to label the Progressive Policy Forum, but in fact it is clearly not a think tank at all but a front for raising money for Mr Hain. How long before quotation marks envelop “think tank” ? Note that if and when they do, the whole flavour of the headline will change • now the headline supports the Hainist view that there’s a real think tank involved. If it changes it will directly challenge that view, and suggest that the “think tank” is just a front.
Just as in the Iran boat story above, the quotation marks round “threat” directly challenge the US side of the story.
Perhaps in time the Hain “think tank” will become the “so called think tank” a la “so called war on terror” ?
On the comments/tributes thing and Sir Edmund Hillary, I think Ben may have a point. I don’t think I’ve seen any requests for “tributes” recently – maybe they have had a change of policy and now just ask for comments, whoever it is.
If so, I suspect they realised that it had got a bit embarrassing asking for tributes for lefty hacks like Peter Jennings.
John Reith | 11.01.08 – 1:39 pm | #
You claim the BBC reports on IDF actions more than Palestinian because the IDF kills more people (ignoring which people) than the Palestinians. It is an interesting claim.
Why doesn’t that policy apply to other conflicts, mostly with higher casualties, than the low intensity Israel/Palestinian conflict? How often does a World Service report lead on a handful of casualties from any other conflict? India/Pakistan over Kashmir, Thailand/Philippines with Muslim separatists, for example.
In Iraq and Afghanistan (places where the BBC is well represented) the coalition armed forces (inc. British) kill far more ‘militants’, ‘insurgents’, etc AKA ‘the enemy’ than the enemy kill on our side. Why does the BBC pay far more attention to casualties caused by the enemy than military successes by our forces? On your casualty rate criteria it should be the other way around.
Please don’t refer me to the Internet. Perhaps, the BBC does report other conflicts in the day-by-day, victim-by-victim way they report IDF response to Palestinian terrorism. Personally, I doubt it. However as a regular listener to BBC World Service I can categorically state the BBC doesn’t lead with these stories or chosse them for the headlines.
knacker:
“Well, if we’re laying down what’s permissible, the better question from my American POV “should be”: Why don’t you all do something about it?
But many of us already know the answer, and you probably do too. It’s wholly un-American to flog a dead horse, which is why so many of us now simply shake our heads and ignore Britain — very easy to do these days.
You can thank the BBC for a lot of that, but you won’t do anything. (And no, don’t ask — that’s your responsibility.)”
The answer to that question knacker – which was so predictably ignored by this forum – is that “doing something about it” is somebody else’s job. I.E: the BBC.
A distinct part of being British is to moan, moan, moan. And if that doesn’t work moan some more. DOING something about it doesn’t even enter into it. Armchair and Keyboard Warring is as far as it gets.
America is far more pro-active because it is made up of go-getters. Your ancestory is mostly people who weren’t satisfied with the life they were getting and went seeking for improvement. The people you left behind are the people who are allowing Britain to be hammered into the ground today.
Personally, I don’t see how anyone here thinks they are going to discourage the BBC one jot. All their bitching and moaning over the years hasn’t changed the BBCs agenda in the slightest and never will.
If you could actually reverse a country’s demise by sitting at a keyboard tapping about it, then we’d all be living in a perfect world.
So knacker, expect such pro-active suggestions to go ignored by the keyboard warriors of B-BBC. You can’t expect them to abandon their comfortable little worlds and do something about it. “With THESE feet?” Never!
Lee Moore: Yes, the BBC have managed to make the story almost dull. In fact, I think they’ve added a little on the dodgy appearance of the think tank and more opposition criticism of Hain since their first draft, but it still largley leads with Hain’s defence. Compare it to Sky’s: “The Progressive Policies Forum (PPF), through which the Works and Pensions Secretary received tens of thousands of pounds from six different people, employs no staff.
It also does not appear to have published any work since its inception in December 2006.”
Seems to be a bit more enthusiasm for the story there.
My favourite part of the BBC one, though, is the quote from Labour MP Dan Norris: “…if it was a crime to report things late, beyond deadlines, then millions of taxpayers every year would probably be in trouble too”…
Last time I checked, taxpayers who put their accounts in after the deadline are in trouble – they get fined £100.
BBC SHOWING NEWS FOOTAGE BACKWARDS.
If anyone has the time please look at the friday evening BBC News report on the murder of the Asian girl ‘Saphilia’ at approx 10:05 PM.Whilst showing the girl’s parents in a silent panning shot on their sofa.I’m positive it was shown backwards.It gives the subjects a startled expression and is unsettling for the viewer.Watch the mother’s eyes.
Hain under fire over think tank
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7184528.stm
No BBC he is not, he is under fire for dishonesty in respect of his financial affairs.
To say, as you have “Hain under Fire over Think Tank” is the wrong headline.
………………rather like saying “Fred West under Fire over the state of his back garden”
If you need a headline writer, I will do it but I`m not cheap.
BBC, not to be trusted with politics.
The people’s Front of Judea,
I agree with what you say re the American can-do attitude.
You are right about the British tendency to passively moan but not actively complain.
Biased BBCers: This blog is great, but don’t suck yourselves dry with too many (possibly futile) intellectual games with Reith et al. Keep on complaining, phoning, writing letters, being a nuisance, etc just do something.
” The People’s Front of Judea”
You mistake the problem.Because of the “Unique way the BBC is funded” it is impervious to market forces.The BBC has its license tax guaranteed by law since it is the ownership of a television receiving device for which the license is required.Watching other channels,satellite or cable the tax must still be paid.
There are two choices,go without a television or decline to pay the tax.The latter can bring a fine,prison if you do not pay and a criminal record.
Politicians rely on the BBC as a platform for their wares,as such are most unlikely to tackle the BBC head on.The BBC also provides a home for clapped out pols,a nice little retirement job.The BBC brown noses the government enough to ensure the status quo.
It also has to be remembered that the BBC resembles the other feudal barons,the trade unions,they have the clout to cause endless grief for government,and government is the only institution with the power to curtail the power of the BBC.
So you can see,if it comes to who gets screwed the license tax payers are going to be the sacrificial sheep.
Lastly,let us have your suggestions for change.what would you do?
The People’s Front of Judea | 12.01.08 – 2:12 pm
Personally, I don’t see how anyone here thinks they are going to discourage the BBC one jot. All their bitching and moaning over the years hasn’t changed the BBCs agenda in the slightest and never will.
This is untrue. Here and there the BBC tones down its bias a fraction through what BBC people read here. A concrete example is the BBC’s Nick Reynolds adding a note to the weepy Barbara Plett’s article on Arafat to indicate that it had been the subject of an upheld complaint. He did so in response to a challenge by Biodegradable on this site. Quite often we see the BBC doing a stealth edit to improve a website article, making the same changes we have discussed here. These changes may not result from what they read here but it certainly seems like it at times.
We also do our bit to spread the news about BBC bias far and wide. I’m sure that has an effect, even if subconscious, on the BBC. No journalist likes to think that he or she is pumping out biased garbage, even it it’s true. So I believe that we have a controlling effect to some extent on the biased output.
A BBC with no critics would be even worse than the current bunch of PC hacks.
Bryan
Yet again….WELL SAID THAT MAN!
Peoples’ Front of Judea – I’d accept criticism from you if it wasn’t for the fact that yours is the only set of freedom fighters ever to kill themselves before the war of liberation thus ensuring they lost before they started. At least the British versions start fighting and hold the ground from breakfast onwards until the US arrives in time for tea!
All together now…’Always look on the bright side of life…*do do dee do do* ‘
Thanks, dave t. Re Always look on the bright side of life, I’ll drink to that…. er…I would except I don’t have any alcohol in the place right now.
Looks like the moderators are having a good long Christmas/New Year break.
The BBC, how it covers up Honour killings in the Uk and half a story.
Hidden angst of ‘trapped’ teenager
It was teachers at the school of Cheshire teenager Shafilea Ahmed who first reported her missing in September 2003.
…………..
Her parents, Iftikhar and Farzana, were arrested on suspicion of their daughter’s kidnap and later bailed.
They both vehemently denied any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance.
………..
In their first televised interview, on BBC Two’s Newsnight in the same month, Mr and Mrs Ahmed parents said they had not tried to organise an arranged marriage for her and their daughter had drunk the bleach by accident. Asked whether he had tried to force his daughter to marry someone against her wishes, Mr Ahmed said: “No, never.
………….
In February 2005 Shafilea’s parents urged the police to admit they had made no progress in catching her killer and said they were “angry” that officers had “kept them out of the picture”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7182781.stm
Read the above write-up by the BBC on the untimely death of a young Muslim girl. Yes the BBC reports the story but as friendly to the parents as possible. Instead of reporting the facts, they instead centre on trying to portray them as loving parents concerned about the welfare of their child. Here are a few snippets the BBC doesn’t inform you;
October 3, 2002 Teachers learn that Shafilea is being held against her will at home and prevented from attending school. They speak to her father, and she is allowed to return to school November Shafilea runs away from home for the first time. Her parents report her missing. She is found with her bags in a local park and has a meeting with her parents at school. She spends the night with a friend before returning home
………….
On the penultimate day of the inquest, Shafilea’s mother claimed the friends and teachers were lying almost to the point of conspiracy. She denied beating her daughter or being involved in the disappearance or her death.The coroner said: “I do not think there was any such conspiracy. These were genuine witnesses throughout and had her best interests at heart.”
Shafilea’s mother claimed her daughter had accidentally swallowed bleach mistaking it for mouthwash during a power cut. But Smith disagreed and said he believed it was “a desperate measure to get herself out of a situation she didn’t want to be in”.
…………
The south and east Cumbria coroner, Ian Smith, said: “Shafilea was the victim of a very vile murder and there’s no evidence before the court as to who did it. There are things people know that have not been told to this court.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2239552,00.html
January 31, 2003 Shafilea runs away from home
February 5 Shafilea registers as homeless, citing fears she will be forced into an arranged marriage in Pakistan
February 10 Shafilea returns home
February 18 Shafilea flies to Pakistan with her father and two siblings for a family holiday. While there she swallows bleach and is admitted to hospital Late May Shafilea returns to the UK
September The teenager starts at Priestly College and begins a part-time call centre job
September 11 Shafilea goes missing from the family home in Warrington. Her disappearance is not reported by the family
September 18 Shafilea is reported missing by her former teacher Joanne Code after school friends raise concerns
December 18 Cheshire police arrest Shafilea’s parents, Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed, on suspicion of kidnap. Five other relatives – members of the extended family – are arrested for perverting the course of justice. Everyone was later released without charge
February 4, 2004 Three workmen find a body on the banks of the River Kent in Sedgwick, Cumbria
February 23 Body is identified as that of Shafilea
February 24 Cheshire police launch a murder investigation
January 11 2008 Four-day inquest into Shafilea’s death concludes with a verdict of unlawful killing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2239284,00.html
The guardian report informs the reader of the events that transpired which lead up to this young girls death. While pointing no fingers it does paint an ugly picture of fear and the abuser this young girl had to endure the last few years of her short life. The BBC version is so neutral and bland you wonder if a member of the MCB had written it. I mean the last time the BBC mentions ‘honour killing’ on this story is in 2004. Yup nothing like the Brownwash department of the BBC in which to defend the faithful.
The BBC, how it covers up Honour killings in the Uk and half a story.
The BBC, official mouthpiece for Greenpeace?
Can any lurking BBC staff tell me why the BBC is actively supporting the Greenpeace summer (southern hemisphere) campaign, and providing free air time to a protest group? I am anti-whaling myself (as is most of the planet) but I think that embedding a BBC ‘views’ correspondent and camera crew to relay the Greenpeace message is just too much. (as is the bill I have to pick up via my television tax)
If we were to apply prevailing BBC approved rules of cultural relativism, shouldn’t they be celebrating apparent cultural diversity and announcing how the Japanese habit of eating marine mammals enriches the planet? I suspect that in this case they have decided (with a degree of justification) that whaling is a “bad” thing and therefore balance flies out of the window – just as it does in every case where facts, opinions or theories conflict in any way with the BBC “narrative”. What is the Japanese view of this? couldn’t they say, again with justification, that European intensive farming creates incalculable suffering in sentient creatures. Perhaps we should have a BBC crew visiting Japanese vegetarians and getting a few VP’s to condemn the barbarians who torture veal calves in Holland
pounce:
Are you watching the same Beeb as MPACUK who have begun another ‘Action Alert’?
Action Alert ! BBC News Aggravating Islamophobia:
Whilst I acknowledge that the circumstances of the teenager’s death were indeed tragic and that if it was related to an arranged marriage that is even more abhorable, I do not understand why the BBC newsreader Neil Sleat saw fit to point out the religion of the deceased.”
Coming at a time when Muslims are already being persecuted and vilified in the media by xenophobic and Islamophobic elements that have been let loose, to hear such incitement from the BBC, who are funded by license payers, is just inexcusable.
If we do not let the BBC how strongly Muslims feel about such discrimination then it will continue unabated.
I would urge license payers to write in and make a, stern but polite, complaint to the BBC about its irresponsible reporting and to demand an apology, asking them to be more careful in the future.
So, although it’s a shame about the murder, it’s more important to take action against some offence that is perceived by the description of the dead girl as ‘muslim’?
Pounce
Well done on the Shafelia post.
The poor girl was killed by the cult of PC, pure and simple.
What a waste of an enlightenment.
“A BBC with no critics would be even worse than the current bunch of PC hacks.”
Are you sure? Maybe Beeboids are using B-BBC to train on how to better hide their bias?
I’m not sure how can an organization of tens of thousands of people that obviously think most Americans are morons, change their thought patterns because of a few substantiated accusations of bias.
The facts are all there – you can show them charts pointing to US scientific output per capita being larger than any country in the world by a factor of 2. Still, because most of them (DG excluded) obviously don’t know what science is, they don’t have any means to appreciate those facts.
I’ve read that the largest Israeli cable provided has switched to carry Al-Jazeera English instead of BBC World couple of months ago – At least they are getting the information on how the Arab world sees things, even though a lot of it is propaganda.
So I am not sure I understand, why does the British taxpayer want to go through a mediator, like Jeremy Bowen?
We live in an age of globalization, and your information should come from as many sources possible.
I cannot really comment on British mentality these days, since I have never spent more than 2 weeks there, but I can tell you that
continental Europe’s mentality is incredibly passive.
In fact it took me a long time to comprehend and fully appreciate the North American can-do attitude.
Until now, given Britain’s history and accomplishments, I was under the impression that Brits are much closer to Americans in this, than to Europeans.
That is why Simon Wilson is wrong if he thinks that the whiny voice-over of BBC’s reportages is going to do well with most Americans (except, maybe for “American Intelligentsia”). Most Americans hate whiners the most. They like winners. Mere association with looser/whiners makes a lot of them sick.
I thought British were like Americans, and French and Russians, with their obstructive foreign policies, etc. are the whiners.
Yeah, “Peoples’ Front of Judea”, what kind of a nick is that?
Your nick name seems to imply that the Isrealis should commit a mass suicide like the Maccabees?
Alan
the Maccabees led a sucessful revolt against the Antochist regime that was determined to eradiate the Jewish religion – you may be confusing them with the zelots who comitted mass suicide rather than surrender to the Romans at massada
geoffrey sturdy,
you are right, massada – sorry – my bad.
Lurker in a Burqua: thank you for the comment.
I know only too well how that poor child was made to feel.
I was beaten by my father for wishing to be more like my English schoolmates.
I was beaten by the Mullahs and the parents of the children of the mosque I was supposed to attend.
I was openly declared as a bad apple and brought great shame on my father.
My fathers favourite two pastimes were dragging me out of bed (I slept downstairs on the sofa) by the hair at 6am on a morning and beating me. Afterwards I would run away and hide in the churchyard across the road until he went to sleep.
Then my brother would come and find me
And the other was tying me up naked in the cellar, suspending me from the ceiling and whipping me until I passed out.
(Gosh and how the white neighbours didn’t complain)
I has a paper-round which entailed me paying him £1 a week board. (1971)
And when the council finally found out about the beatings and assigned a female social worker the physical abuse became mental abuse) So much so that when she visited me the last time at home I told her I had to leave or else I would be dead by morning. I was taken away with only the clothes on my back and never set foot at home again. I knew my cards were marked and was ready to forsake everything in which to continue to live. I feel sorry for these poor children who live in the futile hope that their family will change and allow them to live the way they wish to.
The Muslim community ostracised my sister and I. (she was taken into care also)
To this day I am classed as Persona non grata by the faithful. Not that I care as I have plenty of white people who are more than happy to know me.
Ironically a few years ago I undertook my EFP2 for promotion and during the course
I was tasked by a very young Rupert (female) to talk about the relationship between east and west. I summed it up, that in the near future there will be a state of war between the two. Her condescending retort was that I was wrong, that she had met plenty of Muslims at Uni and not one wanted us dead. Oh how I would love to make her eat her words now.
The BBC still kowtows to the view that Muslims are not capable of violence that anybody who speaks out against the unsavoury aspects of the faith are racist and that they know best for what we should be told.
My only fear is that Muslims will detonate a Nuke in the west killing hundreds of thousands. Then the blood letting will really happen. No matter what the BBC,MCB and church of England leaders say. People will take to the streets and people will die. Unfortunately my skin colour is a bummer of a birthmark and I expect to get a good kicking at the least. The rot has started and the public have gravitated to the right. I don’t wish the BBC to ape the BNP, but a little more factual and honest reporting will expose radical Islam for what it is and inform the faithful that Islamopobia . victim status and playing the race card will no longer be their get out of jail card. Until they understand that they do have to answer for the ugliness in their midst only then will tackle it and hopefully clear out the radicals that stain their name. The problem here is the BBC and its warped concept of equality.
Are you sure? Maybe Beeboids are using B-BBC to train on how to better hide their bias?
Well, if they hide their bias more that can only be a good thing because it will restrict the scope of their negative propaganda. I have an idea that people in senior positions at the BBC are starting to kick butt a bit. All this antagonism towards the BBC from not only the blogosphere but also the British press must be having some effect.
Dunno if you saw this comment:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/2655299103329493632/#379867
That’s the first I’ve heard of an “internal posting board” at the BBC or that David Gregory posts feedback from here on it. It really is incredible how the internet has changed things. In time, it might even change the BBC.
pounce,
I am very sorry to hear about your childhood. It seems you have grown and overcame it yourself, with not too much help from the society that was supposed to protect you.
About a large scale attack (tens of thousands) and what it might cause.
If it occurs in continental Europe, given European past “capabilities”, and the simmering discontent, it will boil over and there will be lynch mobs on the streets if not worse.
French and Germans are not Americans, where in response to 3000 dead, they want to bring democracy to their enemies.
I don’t know why and how the Left and the BBC their line of white-washing Islamist agenda is helping. If Islamists, a minority are stopped now a much worse bloodshed to both “sides” can be prevented.
Don’t they see various nationalist parties, and neo-Nazis gaining power as a result of a large scale terror attack?
I don’t know if anyone here was following the recent decrying of Vlaams Belang and European fascist by the prominent anti-Islamist blogs in the US.
As soon as the American bloggers realized these were fascists, they exposed them.
Anti-Islamists in America are true liberals, in Europe a lot of them are fascists and real xenophobes.
Maybe EU Left/BBC is projecting their own experience onto the Americans. They see the likes of LGF http://littlegreenfootballs.com/, and Jihad Watch http://jihadwatch.org/
and the rest through a narrow prism of their own experience.
But Americans are very different in this. Exposing Islamist threat does not equate to Fascism as it does in Europe.
EVERY European Leftist should read how American Anti-Jihadis treat European fascist scum, by exposing them fully:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/…_of_Fascism& onl
And here is how LGF treats BNP:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/…=27710&only& rss
I think that this concept of anti-Islamists being liberals is totally alien to Euro-Leftists and Beeboids.
This only tells you how much more healthy American society is than European.
If only real European liberals would open their eyes…
There’s a Newswatch programme from yesterday on BBC coverage of the elections:
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&edition=i&q=Newswatch+&go.x=25&go.y=9
Dunno if they are going to have a look at the incredible bias of the pro-Democrat coverage and can’t find out because the thing keeps on buffering on me. Baffling, this buffering. I suppose a lot of people are watching at the same time.
On the same note.
I think Nick Cohen, http://www.nickcohen.net/, does a wonderful job in exposing how European Left is not liberal any more in his book “What’s Left”:
This book gives an insight into Beeboid/Leftoid mind-frame more than any other I have read.
Has the European Left ever been liberal? From the French Revolution,the Russian Revolution through all kinds of National and International Socialists the left have been most illiberal.