The sophistication that lies (and lies) behind the BBC bias is exemplified in this story which highlights the alleged failure of maternity units in England to deliver first class quality care. If you read the story, it appears that Maternity services are being starved of much needed cash and those plucky trusts in the North of England are magically outperforming those in the South.
A rising birthrate is mentioned in dispatches as a reason for the NHS needing much more taxpayers money.
So far, so good. Just one problem. The British birthrate has been falling, and has been doing so for years now. On that basis, we should need fewer maternity units, less public sector investment. The indigenous British birth rate of 1.8 has been below the necessary replacement level of 2.1. But ever since Labour decided that our national borders were un-necessary, the tsunami of immigrantion, has helped boost the birth rate. And a lot of those immigrants make the south of England their prime destination. Wonder if that might put a little pressure on southern trusts to provide all that immigrants require?
The Muslim birth rate has also rocketed and is estimated at circa 3.5. But the BBC sees no reason to explain the precise demographics behind the rising figure since it is concerned to promote the need for more expenditure on the stalinist NHS. I suggest that the BBC oozes sympathy for the NHS because like the NHS it also seeks endless public funding.
Read the same story on Sky News and you’d think they were reporting on a different story!!!!
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91251-1302333,00.html
The five lite interview this morning used the word “Migrants”, suggesting people leaving the country as well as those coming in might be to blame for the increased demands on midwives. Oh wait, no… Migrant is newspeak for immigrants!
Yes, a small concession was made that so many midwives have to spend more time with the non-English speakers and the ones with “Difficulties” though there was a denial that English women are left alone while overworked midwives to attend to the Migration problems.
Needs more investigating beeb…
A small ancillary point.People in the North of England cannot afford to move to the South,how come immigrants can?
Mothercare,what BBC bias and half a story
As much as I despise the bias shown by the BBC, I do believe that we stick to the facts. The said article was about the standard of care in NHS maternity hospitals. Not about how many rug rats Muslim women have. Yes I admit that they breed like rabbits but the fact remains so do our teenagers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4584175.stm
So do the eastern Europeans of whom supplied 5% of new births as opposed to the 3.9% of Muslims of Pakistani and Bangladeshi decent. As for the falling birth rate. Five years ago it was 1.63, today it is 1.83 in my book that is a rise. Trying to say it has fallen from 2.1% is telling half a story. Sorry can’t stand with you on this one.
Mothercare,what BBC bias and half a story
“So do the eastern Europeans of whom supplied 5% of new births”
F-fa-fa-fa-fuccckk. Well they are Catholic it has to be said.
But, fuuck.
Bluebirds Over:
The five lite interview this morning used the word “Migrants”, suggesting people leaving the country as well as those coming in might be to blame for the increased demands on midwives. Oh wait, no… Migrant is newspeak for immigrants!
Bluebirds Over | 25.01.08 – 11:53 pm | #
‘Immigrants’, as happened with ‘terrorists’, has become a non-word at the BBC now.
Peter | Homepage | 26.01.08 – 12:01 am |
perhaps for the same reason that many can afford to live in 3-bedroom apartments and have several children,(and possibly not have to work) while others feel that, given their current wages, they can only afford a bedsitter and no children at all
Radio 5 lite yesterday morning.
Covering this BBC was saying that 20% of London births were from women not born in the UK.
They later interviewed someone from the Royal College of Midwives who corrected that stat.
True figure is apparantly 53% of ALL births in London are from women who were not born in the UK.
Details here
% of births to mothers outside born the UK – 2006
England and Wales 22%
London 53%
Inner London 59%
Click to access FM1_No35.PDF
page 49
The BBC is unlike the NHS in one very important way. The NHS doesn’t pay people £6 million per year of public cash to do absolutely nothing essential whatsoever. How much does a brain surgeon earn? £100,000 per year for an average NHS doctor seems ludicrously cheap when you consider the wages that the BBC hands out to soap stars and presenters.
If I didn’t have to pay £135 to the government for the BBC I’d be more prepared to pay £10 or £20 each time I visited a GP. If the government can afford £3.5 billion a year of public cash for trashy TV then I’m not inclined to believe it is short of cash for the NHS or anything else.
The numbers of births in the UK has increased 12.6% from 2001 to 2006. That increase is much more pronounced in London 16%.
This increase is directly driven by immigration. This is all from publically available government stats.
Births in London to foreign born mothers increased 2001 to 2006
43,0580 to 63,522
Births in London to UK born mothers
decreased 2001 to 2006
59,104 to 57,376
Whoa. London Maternity Units are experiencing overload.
BBC why did you not explain the underlying causes?
No racist undertones intended. Just the facts of immigration. If we have it at this level we need to provide more facilities and this is going to cost the taxpayer.
2001 stats
Click to access FM1no30_2001_Revised.pdf
correction…
The numbers of births in the UK has increased 12.6% from 2001 to 2006. That increase is much more pronounced in London 16%.
This increase is directly driven by immigration. This is all from publically available government stats.
Births in London to foreign born mothers increased 2001 to 2006
43,058 to 63,522
Births in London to UK born mothers
decreased 2001 to 2006
59,104 to 57,376
Whoa. London Maternity Units are experiencing overload.
BBC why did you not explain the underlying causes?
No racist undertones intended. Just the facts of immigration. If we have it at this level we need to provide more facilities and this is going to cost the taxpayer.
2001 stats
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ dow…001_Revised.pdf
Pounce,
Bias comes in subtle forms, it is not always about what is said, it is about what is unsaid. The BBC are masters of the unspoken word.
David, you say
‘Bias comes in subtle forms, it is not always about what is said, it is about what is unsaid. The BBC are masters of the unspoken word’.
I see what you mean but I disagree. The BBC is like every person or organisation. It is biased, and even when it strives to be unbiased, which I believe it does, others can detect that bias. The amazing thing about the BBC is that it thinks it is immune from this fact of life and actually is unbiased despite what others might think. Such behaviour is the height of pompous arrogance. I wouldn’t care if I wasn’t forced to pay for it though.
As mentioned upthread, the word “immigrant” has become another un-word at the Beeb.
Winstone Smith has been busy going through years of archived stories erasing all references to “immigrants”
ACTION DOUBLEFAST ERASE MALQUOTE IMMIGRANT REPLACE MIGRANT DOUBLEPLUS GOODQUOTE
Perhaps we need a new glossary of BBC newspeak, and what it means, so that those of us who can still speak English can fully understand the Orwellian drivel pumped out by the Ministry of Truth.
Pete,
Fair points. I guess I would simply add that one major difference between Al-Beeb and most other organisations is that the BBC alone gets to put its hand in our wallets and relieves off the cash you rightly point out.
I also believe as you say we are all biased but it is necessary to provide balance if one seeks to pose as a “National broadcaster”.
BBC why did you not explain the underlying causes?
If you’re reporting on a report surely you report the report. Speculating on ‘underlying causes’ without in depth research isn’t reporting – not that they shouldn’t get cracking on doing just that.
It seems pretty evident that immigration pressure is a major factor, but most NHS workers would tell you that a decade of Thatcher pretty much f**ked the NHS as well, or you could speculate on the ‘Stalinist’ system vs compulsary insurance or scrapping the whole thing. If you’re gonna contextualise you have to do it properly not just wave a few personal bugbears around.
Cockney,
Ever hear of context? No? Neither do the rabble in the BBC. Droning on about what Thatcher did is surreal. This is about the BBC clearly choosing to ignore WHY maternity services are so allegedly poor.
Now, away and do the Lambeth Walk and get back to me when you’re thinking straight.
David Vance: Well yes, you could put the context you’d put on this story. Or you could put this variation down to Labour’s NHS reforms. Or the difference in leadership between Trusts. Or Conservative under-investment in training which Labour hasn’t corrected etc etc. The BBC report is a straight down the line number minus the heart string tugging stuff from Sky.
Not to say I don’t hope somebody isn’t looking into this in much more depth but in the end this post, like so many others recently, says more about your bias than the BBC’s
If you talk to any person who holds a senior position in the NHS they will tell you that there are certain taboo subjects.
You’re not allowed to mention that TB rates are increasing because of infected people coming into this country. Screening is certainly not allowed, after all, that might stigmatise immigrants. No, far better to let them infect other people, and to pretend that TB is increasing because we go on holidays, get infected, and bring it back into the UK. It’s our fault, you see.
You are not allowed to mention that many Aids treatment centres are clogged full of foreign nationals who have come to the UK while infected, just for treatment. That treatment costs the NHS millions of pounds – the money has to come from somewhere so other services get neglected.
You are not supposed to mention other forms of health tourism; pregnant women from all over the world turning up to have their babies here – free of charge of course – and even if they are billed, there is little hope of getting the money back.
You are not allowed to mention any of this, because, just like at the Beeb, it is un-PC to do so, and the truth might shatter a few of the well spun lies told to us by the Government, and peddled as truth by their PR dept the BBC.
Hi David,
With respect, that’s nonsense. Here’s why. The pressure on the maternity trusts is coming from an increasing birth-rate, geddit? So the question is WHY is the birth-rate increasing when the UK indigenous rate has been declining. And we know the reason for that, don’t we? So if you want to play it down the middle – just provide the relevant facts which in this case have nothing to do with the extraneous reasons you posit. The fact is that none of them lead to an increased BIRTH RATE, and that is they issue here.
Martin | 25.01.08 – 11:22 pm | #
“Read the same story on Sky News and you’d think they were reporting on a different story!!!!”
How so?
Again, BBC bias by omission. The least the BBC could do in this story is present the basic facts behind the increasing birth rate.
Crippled by PC, day in , day out. It’s what we do.
With respect, that’s nonsense.
David Vance | Homepage | 26.01.08 – 11:32 am
That reminds me of the comedian Jackie Mason flinging a few barbs at those responsible for the travesty of justice that was the OJ Simpson murder trial:
The judge is an idiot. And I say that with the greatest respect.
This moronic Labour government and its BBC lackeys remind me of the demise of apartheid. In the over-sensitive PC atmosphere of the time it became an unwritten law that you couldn’t say anything negative about black people. So, for example, if you witnessed four blacks hijacking a car and shooting the driver you couldn’t report the colour of the perpetrators. Or you could, but the press wouldn’t dare publish that vital bit of information. So a basic identifying factor that would help the police find criminals became unmentionable. Funny thing is, if whites were responsible for a crime, their race was plastered all over the papers and TV, especially if the victim was black.
I see the same pattern with this Labour “government” and the BBC. They will do anything, including lie by omission, to avoid pointing fingers at a particular group, with the exception of the “hideously-white” Christian “indigenous” community – which has become fair game.
If people like the esteemed David Gregory can’t see that, they are wearing blinkers big enough to be a loose fit on a horse.
“Ever hear of context? No? Neither do the rabble in the BBC. Droning on about what Thatcher did is surreal. This is about the BBC clearly choosing to ignore WHY maternity services are so allegedly poor.”
If you’re looking at WHY maternity services are so allegedy poor then you need to look at the WHOLE context. If you’re not gonna do that then you’d just report THAT maternity services ARE allegedly poor.
Do you genuinely think that the entire context of poor quality maternity is immigration? You infer that the Beeb suggests that it’s all about insufficient funding but in fact all it does is report that the government are splurging more cash on it.
Immigration is pretty obviously a factor, so might be bungled government policy, poor quality training, poor internal management, knackered staff, previous finance costs….
GrimlySqueamish: But here in the Midlands we have done stories about immigrant populations and an increase in TB. There’s no ban on these sort of stories.
I’m sorry I think Pounce has a point on this one. If there are more immigrants in the south “swamping” Maternity Units then surely surveys like this are important to work out where resources should be allocated. And surely immigrants pay tax on their incomes too?
David V it sounds like you’re portraying a picture of Muslims coming over here and having sickly little brown babies which use up resources while contributing nothing to the national economy. Which may be true. More investigation needed.
But you can’t leap to that conclusion from what this report says. Just report the facts as the B-BBC mantra goes.
Bryan
The problem for the BBC is that if it avoids mentioning ethnicity and opts for a neutral description (eg “plumber”) the default assumption is that the alleged perps are black, Muslim or any other of the BBC’s “communities” of choice. The problem is partially solved by trumpeting very loudly any “racial crimes” by ethnic whites and/or reporting “racial crimes” by members of the BBC’s communities of choice on local rather than national pages of the BBC website (that’s if such crimes by members of communities of choice are reported at all – we mustn’t upset community cohesion must we!)
Umbongo | 26.01.08 – 12:56 pm,
Yes, we have to read between the lines of what the BBC reports in order to get some idea of the truth.
David G, you may have mentioned TB and immigration on Midlands today – but you know as well as I do that this is a subject which is treated with extreme caution by the BBC. Especially on the national news. Time and time again I have seen stories which mention the rise in TB, and then give reasons using euphemisms and half-truths.
Nice story about recycling plastic, by the way, but I think we should have been told how much energy that “secret” process actually uses to create plastic fenceposts.
And the piece to cam was a bit pedestrian.
David Gregory,
Sorry but you misrepresent me. I’m not saying that Muslims are coming here to have sickly babies. It is a matter of fact that they are coming here and having healthy babies, consuming vast public resource, and that is why the Maternity wards struggle. The BBC should stick to the facts, but when these are shall we say inconvenient, it mutes them.
That said, thank you for participating in this discussion and I would encourage others in the BBC to follow in your footsteps.
Cockney | 26.01.08 – 10:53 am |
It takes 3-4 years to train a midwife. Labour have been in power for nearly 11 years. If they’d wanted to they could have reversed all the Tory changes to the NHS by now. But they haven’t. No matter how much you my wish it to be so the Tories are not responsible for the current state of the country – that’s now down to no-one else but New Labour.
David Gregory (BBC) | 26.01.08 – 12:52 pm |
Only legal immigrants pay tax. Even legal migrants may not pay tax depending of their arrangement with HMRC.
Illegal immigrants don’t pay tax unless they work under false papers and are forced by circumstances to.
I sort of agree with you and Pounce that blaming ‘muslims’ is the usual response of various green inkers/Jihadwatch subscribers on this blog. The rise in births is not solely down to muslims but also to those pesky ‘furriners’. In this case though it would seem that the BBC neatly side-stepped asking the obvious questions, as usual, in order not to offend and, as usual, where only the BBC lefties would be offended.
If there is a massive immigration the government should take necessary steps:
1. To integrate the immigrants so they become proud patriots of their adoptive country
2. To provide them with opportunities so they don’t turn bitter
3. To provide assurances to the indigenous population that their culture and security (economic and physical) will not be compromised
I don’t know about Britain, but continental Europe is extremely bad at these three (I am a EU citizen as well, and I am talking from personal experience)
To focus on the BBC – they seem to be doing everything contrary to the above three principles.
The article that opened this thread falls into category 3. Indigenous people know that they have 1 or 2 children, so they will assume something odd is going on in maternity wards. So playing it down is going to make the indigenous population bitter, especially if other news outlets say that Mohammad is now the 2nd most popular name in Britain for newborns.
Now, this is very different in America – as you have much less of a a nanny state and everyone fends for themselves. If someone is working hard and has health insurance, people assume he has earned it and there is less bitterness. That is how the system self regulates.
The bitterness in the US system is going to occur towards the overly selfish baby-boomers, but that is another story…
BTW, here is a quiz.
There is one country that is much more of a nanny state, that does extremely well in terms of integrating massive immigration, according to the 3 items I’ve mentioned above.
Care to guess?
GrimlySqueamish: Well actually it was rather clever, there’s a lot of heat used to melt the plastic but that’s recycled in a couple of ways. In the end if it was using lots of energy then it wouldn’t create an end result with a price point that makes it attractive to farmers. Supermarkets and Councils on the other hand would probably pay over the odds just to prove their green credentials.
Plastic recycling really gets our viewers going and it’s nice to see a Black Country company spotting a gap in the market and moving in.
“Pedestrian” though? Am I getting notes on my performance now too!
David Gregory (BBC):
GrimlySqueamish: But here in the Midlands we have done stories about immigrant populations and an increase in TB. There’s no ban on these sort of stories.
David Gregory (BBC) | 26.01.08 – 12:52 pm | #
I am sorry David, you have used the banned ‘im’ prefix. Kindly report yourself to the BBC Diversity Dept.
But seriously, like me you are a scientist, and have been trained in how to use language in an accurate and precise way. Could you explain to me why ‘immigrant’ has been replaced with ‘migrant’ at the BBC these days? While I will concede that in some cases it is the correct word to use, in many, including stories relating to the current discussion, it is inaccurate and imprecise. Can you give me any other reason than the usual BBC PC world-view why it is being used across the network? Has an edict gone round, and if so what did it say?
David Gregory: ‘”Pedestrian” though? Am I getting notes on my performance now too!’
‘fraid so. But I appreciate that’s the BBC house style. But why not buck the system a bit and liven things up by walking and talking at the same time.
To any BBC folk who might be around today –
Do BBC employees receive private health coverage, through BUPA or other private providers? I ask as after that guy from Top Gear crashed the dragster, he was whisked away to a private hospital for treatment. The news at the time, including BBC coverage, clearly showed the hospital where he was taken in the background – the big BUPA logo was in clear view. If private health coverage is one of the perks some (all?) members of the BBC enjoy, perhaps this explains why the BBC seems none too concerned about the causes of falling standards in public health care practice in the UK?
Alan | 26.01.08 – 2:46 pm | #
Re: Quiz
I hereby claim those latka’s — it’s Israel, ain’t it?
it’s Israel, ain’t it?
onanthebarbarian | 26.01.08 – 6:13 pm
I was going to say the same thing.
In Regards to the reporting of TB.
See BBC article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6479537.stm
Then read the HPA report (PDF at bottom of page)
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4090417
I draw people’s attention to the comments on pages 8 & 9
“…This level of control was lost from the early 1990s onwards when TB reemerged in this
country as a public health problem. Cases began to rise mainly as a result of increased migration of people from areas of the world where TB is more prevalent than it is in England…”
“…The main focus of action should recognise the increasing proportion of TB cases in ethnic minority groups. People from the Indian Subcontinent and SubSaharan Africa
have very high rates of TB. These rates are highest in the few years after they first come to this country. But the risk of their developing TB remains higher than average throughout their lives, and extends to their children born in this country…”
The pathetic BBC report makes no link as to WHY TB is on the rise in England. Why not?
JG: Nope. No edict as far as I’m aware.
GrimlySqueamish: Walking and talking, harder than you might think.
Martin: Well the report you link to comes from 2004 and that article comes from 2007 so the news article isn’t based on that particular report.
But there’s a nice big link on the RHS of the story you mention to another;
“Migrants carry disease burden”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6150610.stm
Which is pretty much your point.
DG – “Walking and talking, harder than you might think.”
It’s easy. Watch ITV News at Ten. They’ve been using a steadycam. The reporters seem to cope. Standing still with a brick wall in the background is so 1990s.
David Gregory (BBC):
JG: Nope. No edict as far as I’m aware.
Must be just group think than.
Must be just group think then.
David Gregory:
I quote
“..But now one such disease – tuberculosis – is on the march again. The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has rightly identified it as a new threat which needs concerted action to deal with it…”
Not my words but those of the HPA.
I notice your link does not mention those words. Why not?
TB is on the march, it’s on the rise and the cause is immigrants. Pure and simple. Something your mates at the BBC ignored. Don’t distort the facts by linking your own comments to the the BBC.
GrimlySqueamish: I’ll get our stedicam out next week then, just for you.
Martin: From the story I linked to. “Migrants make up about 70% of TB, HIV and malaria cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a report has found.”
I mean, it could be much clearer could it? That’s the opening paragraph. Right there at the top. Put it another way, “TB is on the march, it’s on the rise and the cause is immigrants.”
Grimly Squeamish:
I doubt very much ITN are walking around with a steadicam. The kit is more expensive than the cameras they shoot on, as well as cumbersome, awkward and highly restrictive. More than likely if you’ve seen something it’s just a camera brace.
If anyone was going to urinate money up the wall on needless Steadicams it would be Al Beeb. After all, they’ve got bags of the stuff just looking for somewhere to be spent.
The People’s Front of Judea: ITN use a stedicam. So do we.