Monthly Archives: February 2008

General BBC-related comment thread:

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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. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would also be appreciated!

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E-day fixe.

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Dunno if you noticed, but “E-Day” was the day when the great British public was asked to turn off the lights to tackle climate change. Perhaps this was a good proposal, perhaps not – the British public appeared to hold the latter view – but it was certainly a political proposal.

Bishop Hill asks why the man behind the campaign (who was also the guiding spirit for the cancelled Planet Relief) had quite so much support from the BBC.

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STIRLING BIAS!

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I couldn’t let last evening’s Question Time Scottish extravaganza go without comment! What a leftist love-in from the caledonian socialist republic with a panel groaning with those on the political left! Did you see it? Naturally George Galloway – that doyen of the communist-loving dhimmified left – was given a rapturous welcome and his every utterance throughout the programme was warmly applauded. His praise of Castro in particular was revolting – but his sentiments were generally echoed by the other panellists to varying degrees. Might Castro become the patron saint of the Scottish Parliament? Every cliche about Cuba’s “World class” health service was repeated with no one offering a dissenting view. The poisonous SNP member Nicola Sturgeon was given free rein to spew forth her strident socialism, meanwhile we had Labour’s Cathy Jamieson and the Lib-Dem’s Nicol Stephen to provide even more …erm…left wing balance.The mild mannered and somewhat wet lettuce conservative Annabel Goldie was there as the token Tory. This edition of the programme was one of the worst I have seen in a while – with the rabble in the audience cheering on that on the panel. Do you think the BBC recruit in their audiences for this programme from the local socialist workers collective – or maybe that would be too mild for them?

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Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic Part 328

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(follow-up to this post and this post)

At Harry’s Place (and in the BBBC comments – apologies – Ritter was there first !) they’ve been taking a look at the BBC editorial guidelines.

The Terrorism Act 2000

We have a legal obligation under the Terrorism Act 2000 to disclose to the police, as soon as reasonably practicable, any information which we know or believe might be of material assistance in:

preventing the commission of an act of terrorism anywhere in the world.

securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of a person in the UK, for an offence involving the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

It is a criminal offence not to disclose such information, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Any situation where BBC staff may be in potential breach of the Terrorism Act must be referred to Controller Editorial Policy and Programme Legal Advice.

I’m not sure how that squares with this:

Nasreen Suleaman, a researcher on the programme, told the court that Mr Hamid, 50, contacted her after the July 2005 attack and told her of his association with the bombers. But she said that she felt no obligation to contact the police with this information. Ms Suleaman said that she informed senior BBC managers but was not told to contact the police.

This prima facie looks very bad for someone – but if Ms Suleaman reported to the “Controller Editorial Policy and Programme Legal Advice” I’d say she was in the clear as far as following the Beeb guidelines was concerned. Who did she report to ? And did the BBC tell the police ?

(From the HP comments – producer Phil Rees, who now works for Al-Jazeera, gave a C4 news interview claiming that the conviction of “Osama bin London” meant that it was now illegal to criticise British foreign policy. And the video of “Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic” appears to have vanished from the BBC site)

More on Phil Rees, who doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as a terrorist. You can see why the BBC commission so much stuff from him.

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The war on motorists.

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I was watching the main BBC1 morning news programme and up came an item about motorists who still hold their mobile phones whilst driving. Obviously this is not a good idea since it can lead to serious accidents. To discuss the topic the BBC had invited in two guest; a lady whose daughter had been tragically killed by a motorist who had been driving recklessly and a journalist from the Motoring press. The conversation followed the line that to even have a mobile phone switched on in the car was dangerous (even hands-free!, that the use of a SatNav was dangerous, and that taking your hands of the wheel whilst driving was verging on the reckless, if not criminal. There was a general consenus around these points with both BBC presenters cooing along with the awful dangers that us drivers present. Where was the voice of someone saying that our cars are private property and what we do in them is our business so long as it is not illegal? Where was the voice to challenge the intrusion of the State into how we drive our cars? You see I believe that the BBC is a primary advocate for the Nanny State and that even on relatively minor issues like this it is careful to put out the view that we need to be legislated for – since you just can’t trust the British public.

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Don’t Panic, it’s the BBC.

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I’m sure our more discerning readers will have had a wry chuckle at the news that Mohammed Hamid (Great name, eh?) – one of the most senior terrorist recruiters in Britain – a man who called himself “Osama bin London” – was himself the subject of a BBC documentary called “Don’t Panic I’m Islamic” broadcast in June 2005.

Hamid was recruited, by the BBC, from his stall on Oxford Street to represent ..ahem…the acceptable face of modern Islam. He was filmed, along with co-accused Mohammed al-Figari and 14 other men at a paintball centre in Tonbridge, Kent where they were seen ducking behind oil barrels and shooting at cut out figures before lining up to pray at the end of the day. The documentary was shot in February 2005 at the Delta Force centre because it was convenient for the TV crew but Hamid’s group returned four days before the July 7 attacks, this time bringing with them Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman, who went on to launch failed attacks on July 21. The producer returned to talk to Hamid as the July 21 gang were on the run and said he admitted knowing them and was “agitated, concerned, and worried”, but the producer claimed her bosses took the decision not to notify the police.

The BBC – literally terrorist enablers?

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General BBC-related comment thread:

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253 Comments

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. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would also be appreciated!

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Playgrounds for killers:

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The BBC carries a report here on thousands of Palestinians having formed a “human chain” in Gaza in protest at Israel’s blockade of the territory. Gaza schools were closed for the day, and thousands of pupils were taken in buses to participate. Many could be seen with banners stating: “The siege of Gaza will only strengthen us” and “The world has condemned Gaza to death”. I was wondering if these children attend the same schools for suicide bombers in Gaza on which the BBC reported here back in 2001? I also wonder if the many “militants” and “fighters” that infest Gaza in 2008 may be frustrated graduates from these same schools for self-exploders from the class of 2001 – schools for which the people of Gaza have such a pride? BBC Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi appears to believe that this demonstration was a spontaneous display by “ordinary Palestinians” rather than a cynical (and failed) stunt by Hamas! How can we take such bizarre commentary from Abdelhadi seriously?

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