Monthly Archives: March 2008

QUESTION TIME WATCH.

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Yes, the weekly farce that is the BBC flagship political debating programme “Question Time” graced our screens last evening and true to form it had the usual massive weighted majority to prop up the political left. There was smug SNP leader Alex Salmond who increasingly resembles a fat toad; then we had Charlie “Hic” Kennedy, the former Liberal leader; then there was John Denham the Labour MP who “courageously” resigned from his ministerial position when the UK government voted to remove Saddam, (And instantly became a BBC hero) ; there was business-woman Nicola Horlicks who looked completely out of her depth and was wishy-washy on all subjects and then..yes, the token conservative in the shape of wee Georgie Osbourne, the wetter than a wet lettuce Shadow Chancellor. It was banality incarnate, but the bit that gets me that there is ALWAYS someone in every QT audience who suddenly launches into an onslaught on the whole “Iraq was an illegal immoral war” mantra, to a resounding cheer. Where DO the BBC get these loons from?

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THE IRANIAN MAKE-OVER.

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When one considers the Islamofascist character of the Iranian government, backed up by deranged Mullahs and their puppet president Ahmadinejad who has an imaginary 13th Imam as a dining pal, only the BBC would conclude that this is a conservative regime and yet that is exactly how it is what repeatedly described on an item on the “Today” programme just after the 6.30am news. Discussing elections taking place in Iran today, the BBC reporter stated that “moderates” might struggle to produce a breakthrough because of the essentially conservative nature of the regime. So just to reprise – hanging gays, enforcing shar’ia, backing terrorism, profound anti-semitism – these are all the hallmarks of a conservative administration, if one listens to the BBC. Is it any wonder that the BBC’s leftwing bias is a target for many of us when we witness this kind of tripe served up as impartial news reporting? Curiously enough, 25 minutes later, the BBC followed up with a story suggesting that the British Conservative party was not showing enough a lead over Labour to win at the next election. Conservatives = bad in BBC worldview, and they sure know how to subtly poison the well, don’t they?

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“1968”

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Blogger Dumb Jon :

Thinking further on the BBC’s already notorious ‘White Girl’ drama, it occurs to me that the very social pathologies which the BBC was bagging the natives for are all things which the left, and the BBC in particular, has assiduously promoted for forty years …
The bottom line is that the BBC not only endorses the underlying attitudes that lead to these social pathologies, but just about every other BBC drama before ‘White Girls’ depicted being hung up about rampant shagging and drug abuse as the mark of an uptight, loser square.

As you can see. They just can’t help feeling proud of themselves. Ladies and gentlemen, “1968”.

A season of programmes on Radio 4 to mark the 40th anniversary of a momentous year – 1968. It was the year of student protests across the globe, riots in the streets of Paris, assassinations rocked America and Soviet Tanks crushed the Prague Spring. Sexual liberation, civil rights, drugs and music were said to shape the thinking of a generation. The pulse for the season will be provided by 1968 – Day by Day.

Yes, it’ll be dope, rock’n’roll, and f***ing in the streets for the next few weeks on Radio Four. Not available on the Asian Network.

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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 also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely!

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MOVE OVER DARLING.

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Today was Budget Day. Seeing as how government has been leaking the contents of the Budget to the media for the past several weeks, no real big surprises. But I happened to catch the BBC Radio 5 “Drivetime” programme this evening allegedly analysing this latest onslaught on the middle-classes, those cash cows beloved of the Nulabour redistribution of wealth machine. In essence the programme was just one extended sneer with the two presenters believing that surely those who can afford 4×4 cars can afford to pay Darlings’ extra 2k showroom tax. They failed to grasp WHY should they! They also enthusiastically advanced the faux “Green taxes are righteous taxes” argument so beloved of this government, and clapped their little hands in delight at the news that “key-workers” (ie Gordon Brown’s state sector army) would be the beneficiaries of even more largesse care of its masters in power. It is obvious to anyone with half a brain that Labour is in serious financial straits as befalls all good leftist administrations and that its profligacy in growing the State during the Brown era is the core problem, but perhaps expecting the State broadcaster to deal with that is a hope too far?

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TERRORIST GODFATHER KNOWS THE WAY TO SESAME STREET

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One of the areas of BBC activity that causes me most concern is its active role in sanitising terrorism. Take this charming photocall of IRA terrorist godfather Martin McGuinness sitting between Potto and Hilda. Who are Potto and Hilda? Well, they aren’t members of Sinn Fein (Then again..) but they the stars of the new BBC children’s programme, Sesame Tree, This local version of Sesame Street was launched in Belfast yesterday. The new series swaps the original New York street setting for the titular tree, and aims to showcase ..ugh…”diversity and promote respect and understanding”through the characters’ adventures with local schoolchildren. The programme is linked to the revised Northern Ireland statutory curriculum, and will encourage children to explore and appreciate the world around them.

Chuckle Brother McGuinness recently explained how he had wished to kill every British soldier in Londonderry back in 1972, and remains vague as to how many the IRA unit under his command actually DID kill. The way in which the BBC uses something as innocuous as a Sesame Street spin-off to help improve the image of a self-confessed IRA terrorist McGuinness is an absolute disgrace and it is a role that the local BBC here in Northern Ireland have turned into an art form. Our license-fee is funding aPR make-over for monsters such as McGuinnness.

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“White Girl”

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The Pub Philosopher reviews “White Girl”, Abi Morgan’s gritty urban drama about typical Yorkshire folk.

Readers will not be too astonished to discover that Ms Morgan is the daughter of a director and an actor, nor that she reads the Guardian and does her research on Google. Nothing wrong in that, of course. But I’m pretty sure that she didn’t go to school in Buttershaw or Holme Wood, to name two of the more challenging places to teach in the fair city of Bradford. I’d be interested to know how much time she spent living in Bradford before producing this rounded portrait of the city.

Killer quote :

The film finished with the mother refusing to return to their old house with her abusive husband and saying “I divorce thee” three times, as her neighbour had said that was all you needed to do to get a divorce under Islamic law. The script writer forgot to point out that only men can initiate this form of divorce under Muslim law but what the hell – it’s only a film isn’t it?

Andrew Billen in the Times sums it up :

“the telling was so good I almost forgot what propagandist tosh White Girl actually was”

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When the Government …

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… desperately trying to think of ways to promote social cohesion, comes up with the (IMHO idiotic) idea of a loyalty oath, what broad cross-section of Brits do the BBC canvass for their views ?

A union leader, a republican pressure group (which I’ve never previously heard of), and a left-wing Labour peer.

(Oh, and something called “the Scottish Government” – Alex Salmond’s rebranding of the legal entity called the Scottish Executive. There is still only one government in the United Kingdom, but there’s an iron BBC law. When an organisation of which you approve rebrands itself, accept its self-redefinition uncritically, repeating and reinforcing it. I’m thinking of the “crime reduction charity” formerly known as the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders).

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MISSING WORDS.

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I was listening to an item on the BBC “Today” programme this morning concerning the missing children of Bradford. Essentially this relates to the disappearance of mostly teenage girls who it seems have been forced into marriages with Pakistan featuring heavily in the story as the destination for these unfortunates. However at no point did the BBC see fit to point out that this problem is one that is inextricably linked with British Muslims and instead it postures that “many minorities”could be involved. Yes, they could be, but they are not. The smug Keith Vaz was then interviewed and he was quick to point out that this should not be looked upon as a Muslim problem but a broader societal one. Rubbish. Could the BBC not find anybody who was prepared to come on-air and explain that forced marriages, like “honour” killings, are all part of the rich cultural tapestry that Islam has brought into the UK? Why does it shy away from stating the obvious? It KNOWS that many of these children are sent back to Pakistan and it KNOWS that this is part of Muslim family arrangements. Why can it not just state that?

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EXONERATING JUDAS.

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How interesting to read that the BBC is to screen a new drama about the final week in the life of Jesus Christ which appears to exonerate Judas and Pontius Pilate. Producers of The Passion have portrayed the men in a sympathetic light because they believe they have been “very harshly judged” by history. A BBC spokesman said:”We are not seeking to subvert or rewrite the Gospel narrative – we are just retelling it to bring it alive for a contemporary audience.” Right, so you KNOW that that this is exactly what they are looking to do. However I’m looking forward to these bravehearts in the BBC pitching a drama about the life of Mohammad which implicates him in a paedophile and mass murdering scandal. I mean, it’s not JUST Christianity that the BBC wishes to “take a fresh look at” – is it?

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