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
General BBC-related comment thread!
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This one, along with the obesity ‘epidemic’, has been building steadily for the past few years.
It’s another part of the burgeoning neo-puritanism of the Left, backed by the same sort of bogus science they learned to use from the ‘passive smoking’ lobby days.
Gary O’ Donoghue on 5 Lite this a.m. commenting on the ‘toff’ campaign by NuLab at Crewe & Nantwich, while not being impressed with the worst of the mudslinging nevertheless considers it a very legitimate debate as to whether someone who attended English public school could get to grips with the ‘real issues’ of the country.
FM gently.
This clown might more usefully have spent his time considering whether a cabal of lawyers, ex trade-unionists, ex polyversity lecturers, and ex holders of sundry other non-jobs in the PR, Diversity, Wimmin, and 5-A-Day-Fruit industries were capable of running a country.
Truly a third-rate broadcaster stuffed with fourth-rate people.
my god, did anyone see paxman, he should be fired.
What an arrogant, condescending cock.
apologies if this is already covered –
‘Crossing Continents’ R4 17/5/08 included an item on Hispanic immigration into the US, overwhelmingly illegal, helmed by a member of said constituency who reports that all is basically well and the resulting dilution of citizenship is a matter for shrugging of shoulders. He also found time to talk to someone from La Raza, but IIRC didn’t allude to some of that org’s more hate-filled pronouncements. The blatant bias and utter shiteness of this item moved me to use the online complaint form for the first time ever.
R
Someone at the BBC has a sense of humour:
This week brought news that archaeologists in the battleground state of Oregon had discovered the remains of cave-dwellers thought to be 14,300 years old – which would mean they died just in time to miss the start of the battle for the 2008 Democratic nomination.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7409591.stm
This is also an extremely unusual article from the BBC on American politics – well-researched, in depth and unbiased.
Maybe someone at the BBC has been listening to complaints about the slick propaganda pumped out by Justin Webb, Matt Frei and others?
How to get even more immigrants into the UK: re-brand ‘asylum-seekers’ as ‘sanctuary-seekers’, demands the lobby group, Independent Asylum Commission, co-chaired by John Waite and Ifath Nawaz:
“‘Asylum’ a negative word – report”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7409652.stm
And the BBC report, emphasisies the Muslim lobbyists’ interest in this in the final paragraph:-
“Meanwhile, Ifath Nawaz, president of the Association of Muslim Lawyers and co-chair of the Independent Asylum Commission, urged the public to ‘understand and support sanctuary and the system that provides it for those fleeing persecution’. ”
The following is a recent ‘Migrationwatch’ response to that IAC body; of course, the BBC does not take up such non-multiculturalist criticism:-
“Migrationwatch response to report by Independent Asylum Commission”
http://news.migrationwatch.org.uk/2008/03/migrationwatch.html
Picking up on George R’s comment, I heard the Today programme version of the asylum seeker rebranding story (about 7:15am on Listen Again.) It was full of sideswipes against the Daily Mail, and, predicably, missed the point entirely. “Asylum” attracts negative thoughts because most asylum seekers are bogus. If we called them sanctuary seekers, then after a brief moment of confusion while the public got used to the new term, “sanctuary” would develop negative connotations for exactly the same reasons. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. And conversely, poo by any other name would still smell like poo.
Here we are – a perfect example of the way the BBC’s biases operate, taken from the ‘News’ (sic) website this lunchtime:
“‘Games consoles ‘not green enough’
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are not producing ‘green’ enough consoles, says Greenpeace.”
This is the lead story in the Technology section and it is flagged on the front page. But why? It isn’t news, by any stretch of the imagination. It’s the entirely predictable message from a campaign group. If they hadn’t sent a press release to the hapless hacks at White City telling them this is what Greenpeace thinks, they could have made it up for themselves. As could we.
The BBC mindset accords a wholly undue weight to the pronouncements of certain organisations of the Left – Greenpeace, Liberty, Amnesty International, WWF, FoE – the usual suspects.
Instead of spiking them, it runs their press releases as if they were news and disseminates their opinions as if the word of God. By doing so, it drives the daily news and political agenda in the direction the Left dictates.
That’s bias. That’s how it works.
I just found the letter below in Mark Steyn’s mailbox ( reading other people’s letters, what is the world coming to….). Interesting I thought.
WIFE-BURNING
Being unable to sleep after reading your book, I remembered that when I was a “Boy Producer” with the BBC in the 1980s and spent a year or so in BBC Birmingham, I was first introduced to LDS: “Liberal Denial Syndrome”.
A small unit had been set up in the BBC to investigate the large number of Muslim women who had died in “accidental” kitchen fires. The suspicion was that their husbands, tiring of their spouses, had murdered them and torched their bodies. The grieving widowers would then scoot off to Pakistan and Bangla Desh and get themselves a fresh woman – but more importantly – a large dowry as well. Suddenly the unit was shut down and the project canceled. No one could explain it – but the rumor suggested that they had struck paydirt – too “sensitive” to expose. It’s no accident that Pebble Mill (the BBC’s old Birmingham HQ) was also the home of the “Asian Unit”.
Some years later, one woman lived to tell the tale of her husband’s abuse and took him to court. She admitted that this was quite common in the Muslim community. I can’t prove any of this after all this time. But it was the first step to understanding the pressures within the BBC that leads folk like me to end up living in Atlanta!
Best wishes and continue your fine work.
Louis Robinson
(Cleansed and conservative)
Well, someone escaped.
John Reith’s (not the original, the one who used to appear on this blog) beloved – ‘social cohesion’ sounds like an unequivocally Good Thing on the face of it – but it does all depend on what one is being socially cohered to.
If you want the facts behind the abortion vote later today, I suggest that you don’t rely on the BBC.
Their explanation on the law contained in their Q&A’s is simply wrong.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4350259.stm
In reasons against changing the law they say this:
“Studies, including one published in the British Medical Journal this month, show that while survival rates have increased significantly for babies born at 24 and 25 weeks, they have not risen for babies born 23 weeks or less. Very few terminations take place at this stage of pregnancy, but those in favour of keeping the limit as it is say that it is often the 20 week scan which reveals severe abnormalities.”
The last reason “the 20 week scan” is simply plain wrong. The 24 week limit (for which the vote to reduce is to be taken) does not relate to abortions on grounds of foetal abnormality, as such whether the scan is at 20weeks, 24 weeks or later is simply irrelevant. If severe foetal abnormality is detected then abortion upto 40 weeks will still be permitted.
You can make your own mind up whose side the BBC is on by putting forward these bogus arguments for keeping the status quo. Look out for a stealth edit in due course.
Scare quote shortage at al-Beeb:
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/05/20/pro-mugabe-bias-at-the-bbc-fantasy
Posted by al-Beeb 11:13BST and still not fixed…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7410083.stm
Nintendo is surely good for the environment; Wii Fit is making people fitter and healthier and reducing obesity.
Was it not the Green lobby which was urging us to switch to Biofuels? The same biofuels which are now causing starvation?
On the subject of Pakistan and abuse, EastEnders deserves some credit for showing that some Muslims are not nice at all.
Anonymous | 20.05.08 – 3:55 pm |
So this headline doesn’t require inverted commas…
Zimbabwe scoffs at plot fantasy
but this one does…
‘Bush apology’ for Koran shooting
http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=8337594
This is a highly significant story.
Particularly as this is a blog and by definition covered.
OK this sort of request is asking for it, but I cannot find it highlighted by the BBC, or even mentioned.
Perhaps MSN should get the 3.2 billion instead.
How the BBC uses inverted commas to editorialize:
http://i25.tinypic.com/w8qarn.jpg
White House Denies Bush Quran Apology
I’m not religious and, having spent a considerable period of time in Muslim countries in the Middle East (including Saudi) and Far East, I really don’t give a toss about a micky mouse religion such as Islam or their idiotic book.
What does concern me is the hysteria that is sweeping over the BBC because a US soldier seems to share my viewpoint of islam.
Seeing the prominence that the BBC is giving to something that really isn’t newsworthy I can only assume that there is a agenda to ‘stir the shit’.
When you recall the events of April 2002 in Bethlehem then the hypocrisy is evident.
What Happened at the Church of the Nativity in April 2002?
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_church_nativity_2002.php
THE BELEAGUERED CHRISTIANS OF THE PALESTINIAN-CONTROLLED AREAS
http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp490.htm
Islam — typical…
The BBC finally finds a religion it can revere, and it’s the one that oppresses women, hangs homosexuals, and wants to turn the clock back 1000 years.
The BBC covering a story. Well sort of.
Record number take UK citizenship
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7410046.stm
Not covered is this.
Two million Britons emigrate in 10 years
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1990807/Two-million-Britons-emigrate-in-10-years.html
Amazing what the BBC finds newsworthy and what it doesn’t.
Thankfully the wife, our daughter and me are amongst those two million.
GERMAN GOVERNMENT ‘PROMOTES’ PEDO…
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07073008.html
“Booklets from a subsidiary of the German government’s Ministry for Family Affairs encourage parents to sexually massage their children as young as 1 to 3 years of age. Two 40-page booklets entitled “Love, Body and Playing Doctor” by the German Federal Health Education Center (Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung – BZgA) are aimed at parents – the first addressing children from 1-3 and the other children from 4-6 years of age.
Martin | 18.05.08 – 1:03 am |
Can I just say as someone who spent 12 years looking underneath his car every day for bombs planted by IRA scum funded by fat thick Irish Americans I really hope Ted Kennedy dies a painful death. This piece if human excrement has been responsible for keeping terrorism in the UK going for years.
As someone who has (unknowingly at the time) patronized a fairly prominent Irish establishment in New York which was apparently a well known IRA money trough, I have to ashamedly admit you are right about this. And apologize for my unwitting contribution to the bombs which fortunately seemed to have missed you out.
Except for one thing: the owner of the bar is tall and thin, not fat, and really a very nice man (if one didn’t know about the associated ugliness). Although there was a time when only certain people were allowed in the back room, which is rented out to innocent dinner parties and receptions these days. It has always been a nice place, and one wouldn’t suspect a thing from the semi-upscale décor. I did not return once I learned the deal. At first I thought the IRA support thing was kind of jokey, but soon realized it was serious.
The place is still Republican through and through, but the owner gave up supporting the violence quite some time ago, at which point I decided I would go back in if I was ever in the neighborhood. They want legitimate government action now. The place is under happier management these days (still in the family in some way), and none of the money I spend on a shot of Tyrconnell goes towards violence.
Palestinians admit they left their homes on their own to facilitate destruction of Israel.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021103.php#comments
Not on al-beeb soon!
TPO on the news tonight the BBC ran with a 30 second spot that immigration from Eastern euorpe is slowing down. Thus painting this image that Immigration in total is slowing down. What the BBc doesn’t tell you is 164,635 immigrants became British last year. (I wonder if that is how Labour are bringing the numbers down) Another figure the BBc kind of leaves out is the total number of santuary seekers who were deported from the UK. I quote from ITN.
The number of failed asylum-seekers deported from January to March was down 13 per cent to 2,805.
http://itn.co.uk/news/366d68c9d1082f2f0ff00d63c6d38a96.html
BBC News channel, covering the Commons abortion debate, has a studio guest from the Pregnancy Advisory Service – an Orwellian title as it would be better called the Abortion Advocacy Organisation.
Oriana Fallaci Square in place of the mosque.
VERONA — Goodbye mosque. In its place, Oriana Fallaci Square.
This decision was taken by the committee of Oppeano (Verona), where yesterday morning a building used by Muslims for prayer was bulldozed. In its place, the Municipality will create a public square named after the writer of The Rage and the Pride, which promoted a bitter campaign against Islam.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2008/05/oriana-fallaci-square.html#readfurther
BBC Newsnight. Paxman says that the audience is not “representative” of Crewe, but does contain Labour, Libs and Tories.
All I’ve heard are members of the audience slagging the Tories off.
Must be a Questiontime audience.
All I’ve heard are members of the audience slagging the Tories off.
Must be a Questiontime audience.
Martin | 20.05.08 – 11:02 pm | #
Yup.
I heard three or four obvious local labour politicos, a couple of “disillusioned” labour supporters sitting with them to make it look realistic, and a token businessman who couldn’t make his mind up.
I expect they sent a researcher down to the local Labour Club to round them up.
Maybe Paxo’s missus found the audience, she produces Question Time – in the good old tradition of BBC nepotism.
Last night the House of Commons voted not to reduce the upper limit for abortions from 24 weeks. I thought it slightly odd to hear Nadine Dorries being interviewed this morning on the Toady programme in the prime just after the 8 o’clock news spot. Then it all started to make sense, the interview was angled to get the “admission” from Nadine Dorries that Labour MPs were generally more in favour of the right to an abortion than the Conservatives. One of the last points made was that if the Conservatives won the next election then restrictions on abortion would be more possible.
Very nicely done BBC, a bit of “dog-whistle” politics on behalf of the Labour party disguised as news analysis, your friends in the Labour party will be pleased.
Last night the House of Commons voted not to reduce the upper limit for abortions from 24 weeks. I thought it slightly odd to hear Nadine Dorries being interviewed this morning in the Toady programme’s prime just after the 8 o’clock news spot. Then it all started to make sense, the interview was angled to get the “admission” from Nadine Dorries that Labour MPs were generally more in favour of the right to an abortion than the Conservatives. One of the last points made was that if the Conservatives won the next election then restrictions on abortion would be more possible.
Very nicely done BBC, a bit of “dog-whistle” politics on behalf of the Labour party disguised as news analysis, your friends in the Labour party will be pleased.
“I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.” – Barack Obama
Obama’s gaffes have been frequent, numerous and alarming:
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/21/barack-obama-gaffe-machine/
Where are the BBC’s reports on this serious and worrying matter?
Prior to W becoming president the BBC took every opportunity to report his every misstep. I distinctly remember Jane Garvey and Peter Allen taking the piss over this foreign policy pop quiz:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/506298.stm
By mid-2000 the BBC had spewed so much biased nonsense about Bush that the vitriol in the comments pages were flying about a man who wasn’t yet president:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/864880.stm
Now in 2008 the BBC again have the opportunity to point out and ridicule the mistakes made by the candidate for the opposition.
The silence is most telling.
A typical BBC storyline with a typical BBC villain (ex-soldier) but this time they fucked up big style:
The BBC has apologised on air and agreed to pay legal costs over an allegedly defamatory episode of BBC1 forensic drama Waking the Dead.
A recent storyline in the hit show featured a villain who had a similar name and background to a former Guards officer, now security boss, Jonathan Garratt.
The episode of Waking the Dead, Duty and Honour, broadcast three weeks ago on BBC1, revolved around a corrupt former Guards officer called John Garret who helped set up security firm Apx Solutions • a company which specialised in working in Iraq.
As well as the Waking the Dead character having a similar sounding name and background to him, Garratt’s firm Erinys is one of a just a few British security companies working out in Iraq.
In addition, the fictional John Garret was played by Rupert Graves, who is said to have a similar appearance and voice to Garratt. Jonathan Garratt’s name is also often shortened to John.
However, unlike Garratt, the Waking the Dead character enters into a corrupt arrangement with a local Iraqi criminal, commits a murder and authorises another killing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/21/bbc.television3?gusrc=rss&feed=media
Al Beeb’s reporter, Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad reports on the Pakistan government doing a deal with Taleban ‘militants’.
Does Mr. Hasan mean this PAKISTAN?:
“Pakistan moves towards Sharia in seven districts”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/021074.php
That Pakistan doing a deal with these Taleban Islamic JIHADISTS/Al Beeb ‘militants’?:-
“The [Taleban] commander issued his death sentence in the name of Islam”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015730.php
Al Beeb’s report on Pakistan deal with ‘militants’:
“Pakistan in deal with militants”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7413150.stm
I didn’t notice this article until today, but Kevin Connolly of the BBC has lied to you all.
Spotlight on Kentucky and Oregon
The whole thing is mostly giddy rambling about how wet this election campaign has made him, and the Obama love just keeps flowing. He’s smitten, Kevin is. But the lie is near the bottom:
You might have thought the state of Oregon had come up with just about the least exciting form of election possible (it is done entirely by postal ballot), but when Mr Obama went there at the weekend, he found himself addressing a crowd of perhaps 75,000 in a riverside park, with as many as 15,000 more people locked out.
After reading the article up to this point – and considering the enthusiasm so many BBC reporters have shown for Obama’s chances for the last several weeks (the context in which the average reader will absorb the information of this particular article) – one might very well be expected to think, “Well, this Obama fellow must really be something to draw such a crowd.”
But that would be a lie:
Free Concert by Popular Band Preceded Obama’s Big Rally
CNN and the New York Times played along with the lie as well, which is typical of them. But that’s no excuse for you lot at the BBC, as you like to claim a special position among broadcasting organizations. And most especially when you, the official state broadcaster of a foreign country, attempt to make a news broadcast “targeted” at United Statesians, telling us how to interpret important issues in our country.
Censored Al Beeb report refuses to explain why homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran. Apparently Al Beeb cannot link Islam with death:
“Gay Iranian granted Asylum in UK”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7411706.stm
(Without being churlish, how many homosexuals from Islamic countries does the UK have to take in? As many as the pro-Iranian regime UK Leftists want?)
“An Iranian Exile Warns The West About Islam”
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/14458
George R | 21.05.08 – 5:42 pm |
I hope the UK doesn’t take in all of the homosexuals of Iran. If that happens, then Ahmadimjihadi will be able to tell us with a clear conscience that they “don’t have that problem” in Iran.
While Al Beeb is compliant with the Islamisation of Al Beeb, the UK and the European Union, it is not keen to report any reverses:-
“Islamization in Reverse!”
http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/010644.html
It’s a long way down here isn’t it? Anyway, credit where it’s due, I thought this was a decent piece of public service journalism:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7411966.stm
The BBC has this:
“Row over Denmark court veil ban”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7409072.stm
-but the BBC does NOT have this:-
“International support for Danish headscarf ban”
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/14934
The Sky News website is reporting the planned fuel protest in London next Tuesday. I can’t seem to find anything on the BBC website.
I wonder why?
NotaSheep | Homepage | 21.05.08 – 9:25 am |
I noticed that too. But the thing is – they were gambling on listeners being ‘horrified’ at the thought of lowering the limit on abortions and I just don’t think that’s the case. They might want to blow their dog whistle – but it’s now sounding the wrong note. I think this is yet another example of the BBC and friends in NuLab being totally out of touch with the nation. The Toady show increasingly sounds like the ‘in denial’ show – the BBC with their Labour friends in the bunker pretending the deluge outside just isn’t happening.
The vigil for a BBC update on the Karsenty appeals court victory continues. In Karsenty’s own words:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/french-court-vindicates-al-dura-hoax-critic/
It was a big enough deal last year when the first libel trial – which Karsenty lost and had to pay one Euro as a symbolic penance, as well as reimburse court costs – and the BBC sure seemed to think it was important enough to report on regularly at the time.
This is why it’s important to some of us.
Now that Karsenty has been vindicated, what will the BBC have to say about it? If this part of their last report on the subject is anything to go by, I’m not optimistic. France 2’s Jerusalem correspondent was still in denial last November, just before he was forced to show all the raw footage to the court:
He concedes the actual moment of Muhammad’s death may not have been caught on film, but he is convinced that the boy was killed on that day.
The camera magically stopped momentarily and somehow did not catch the exact moment the boy died? Apparently the French court wasn’t buying that either.
But the BBC’s real concern is this (emphasis mine):
Mr Enderlin insists he is the victim of a “campaign of intimidation” that has already had a chilling effect in some French newsrooms, where he says coverage of Israel’s treatment in Palestinians in the occupied territories is being toned down.
“I can’t imagine that a court can vindicate people who say that Muhammad al-Durrah’s death was staged. That would mean that you can cast doubt on any report,” he adds.
Sound familiar to anyone?
This is all from last November’s curiously titled BBC article: Gaza media battle in French court
The vigil awaiting an update from the BBC on Karsenty’s vindication continues. I know why the BBC wants to hide this story from the British Public. Charles Enderlin of France 2 gave the game away, and the BBC quoted him in their last report on the subject:
Mr Enderlin insists he is the victim of a “campaign of intimidation” that has already had a chilling effect in some French newsrooms, where he says coverage of Israel’s treatment in Palestinians in the occupied territories is being toned down.
“I can’t imagine that a court can vindicate people who say that Muhammad al-Durrah’s death was staged. That would mean that you can cast doubt on any report,” he adds.
There’s another related story on which the BBC has been notoriously silent. This has been going on for some time, and the BBC has completely ignored it. In a month’s time, it will come to a head, and I expect the BBC to continue to sweep it under the rug.
Mark Steyn vs. the Sock Puppets
Considering all the “social cohesion” noise the BBC makes, it’s no surprise that the BBC wasn’t to keep the British Public ignorant of things like this. Or the similar case of Ezra Levant.
While Al Beeb reports Hezbollah and Lebanon like this:-
“Lebanon deal holds prospect of peace”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7413371.stm
In contrast, the ‘Counter Terrorism Blog’ has:-
“Hezbollah Wins in Lebanon – Is this the ‘Grand Bargain’ in Action?”
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/05/the_terrorists_win_in_lebanon.php
It will be interesting to see how much coverage this gets:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/722516/a-milestone-victory.thtml
“…the appeal court has today thrown out the libel action against Philippe Karsenty brought by the France 2 TV station for claiming that the ‘killing’ by the Israelis of the Palestinian child Mohammed al Dura… was a staged and fabricated event…”
BBC web headline gives totally inaccurate meaning to article which follows:-
“Churches unhappy over father figures”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7413874.stm
In fact, what these churches are concerned about is the immorality of a FATHER having no legal imfluence whatsoever in a child’s life.
On the vote on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, the BBC’s own reports say, in contradistinction to its headline:-
“This vote sends a signal that fathers don’t matter,” it [C of E]said.
“The Church holds that a child’s right not to be deliberately deprived of having a father is greater than any ‘right’ to a child through IVF.
“We are extremely disappointed that the important role of fathers was not recognised in the bill, and that we now have a situation where the perceived ‘right’ to have a child trumps the right for a child to be given the best possible start in life.”
Karsenty Wins Dura Libel Court Decision!!
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2008/05/22/something-for-everyone-in-al-dura-judgement/
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1214711593
Any hope we will see the lie the BBC spread around the world so eagerly, corrected anytime soon?
Sorry. Didn’t see Hugh’s post, two up.
The situation in Burma underlines just how superficial the Beeb’s coverage of the world is. Burma has been under the most brutal military rule since 1962.The displacement of population,forced labour, persecution of minorities -its all there on an immense scale.I believe the BBC’s coverage has been woefully inadequate over the years.
Another part of the world to suffer the same BBC indifference is the Congo. According to a recent Guardian article five million people have been killed in the Congo in the last decade. Some 45,000 a month are dying as a result of the war or its consequences. Where is the BBC in all this? It is bad enough having to pay for the ‘Guardian of the Air’ -but this threadbare and inadequate Guardian – no thanks! Both Burma and the Congo are mineral rich and are likely to become increasingly significant in a resource starved world.