Monthly Archives: September 2008

PEOPLE FROM ABROAD.

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How interesting. The BBC reports that London’s population has soared by more than half a million in a decade. This is down to “people moving from abroad”- apparently. Mmmm – wonder if there is any more detail on who these people might be and where exactly they might have come from? Do you think there is any chance that ten years of Labour having abandoned any pretence of national borders might just possibly have had an impact on London’s booming population?

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BBC CLAIMS GOP HEAD.

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I see that the BBC have managed to claim the political scalp of a senior republican in New Mexico. Fernando de Baca, the chairman of the Republican Party in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, also said Hispanics “won’t vote for a black president”. Mr de Baca had been approached by the BBC’s Jon Kelly for comments on the presidential election campaign at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque, part of Bernalillo County. He was explaining why he thought John McCain would do well in the state, which has large population of Hispanics. “The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors. African-Americans came here as slaves.”Naturally this allowed the MSM thought police to hound de Baca from his position. One little victory for our non-partisan State Broadcaster.

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THE “M” WORD

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So, two men of Somali origin are arrested by police in Germany on a plane preparing to take off from Cologne-Bonn airport. They were said to be “possibly planning attacks” and had left suicide notes at their flats expressing their wish to die in a “holy war.” Mmmm, something missing though, isn’t there? Is it possible, do you think, that these two guys were followers of the Religion of peace and love? Might it just be conceivable they are Muslims? If we follow the BBC, we will never know!

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A FRIDAY JOY.

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I accidentally caught the first ten minutes of the News Quiz on Radio 4 this evening. Hosted by dwarf lesbian Sandi Toksvig, her guests included hard left Jeremy Hardy, and the ubiquitous lesbian comedienne Sue Perkins. I see Mark Steel will grace the programme in the near future.
Within 60 seconds, the usual spleen was being directed towards John McCain and Sarah Palin. Naturally the Chosen One was left alone. These BBC alleged “comedy” programmes are nothing of the sort. They are a contrived platform afforded to left wing trolls like Hardy and Steel to spew out their venom. And while I’m at it, I see that Marcus Brigstocke now has his own programme on Radio 4 entitled “I’ve never seen Star Wars” – in which he invites guests to experience something they have never done before. In his case, that would involve being funny.

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“Rather caddish”

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Contributors to the BBC’s Climate Wars have complained to Offcom that the documentary misrepresented them, say the Telegraph and Independent. “The BBC very gravely misrepresented me and several others, as well as the science behind our argument,” Lord Monckton told the Indie. “It is a breach of its code of conduct.” Nothing new there, then. Still, I look forward to the Richard Black report to match this piece, should Offcom find against it.

Thanks to Peter in the comments.

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Kos of the unique way it’s funded…

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Sorry, another quick one on the Beeb’s US coverage: apart from the branding and one quote from McCain would this really be out of place on the Daily Kos? Here’s the summary of the day: The candidates take part in emergency economic talks at the White House with President Bush… Material from Sarah Palin’s interview with CBS news is aired, in which the Alaska governor explains why her state’s proximity to Russia had given her foreign policy experience.

It then picks up on the Palin dig again with its key quotes:“It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska.” Sarah Palin demonstrates her foreign policy experience.

I suppose it’s possible to read that last line neutrally, but it’s a bit of a struggle, isn’t it? Quite apart from the bias, the BBC’s tone in its coverage of the US election is making it increasingly hard to take it seriously. But that’s probably a good thing.

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Webb

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It’s probably worth just having a permanent link to Justin Webb’s blog on this site, but even so I found his latest effort surprising:

Credit to the House Republicans: they fight for what they believe in. But John McCain – what does he stand for? Does he back the party rebels or the president – he won’t say. As things stand, he stands for not debating.
I stand to be corrected (as usual) but I cannot believe the American people are sitting back and saying, “Good show, John.”

Apparently what’s upset Webb is the “mind boggling contempt” that’s been shown to George Bush. Really.

A quick reminder of those editorial guidelines: Our audiences should not be able to tell from BBC programmes or other BBC output the personal views of our journalists and presenters on [controversial] matters.

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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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HAIL SARAH

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Did you see this piece of NuLabour PR disguised as news on the BBC portal concerning Sarah Brown? Look – there she is with that piece of Alaskan red-neck moose hunting trash Sarah Palin! Look – there she is with Rupert Murdoch’s wife and Queen Rania. Look – save Gordon now means pushing Sarah. It’s propaganda – not news. The BBC are doing everything possible to secure Brown’s tenure as our Great Leader. Makes you proud to pay the license tax, right?

 

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“Rejoice ! Rejoice !”

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Even if we no longer expect the BBC to have any role in – or indeed concept of – supporting the British national interest, you’d think they might take a more … er, neutral tone in reporting the sale of a major UK strategic asset to a foreign government.

“EDF agrees to buy British Energy”

Gosh. Decent of them, taking it off our hands like that.

Of course the BBC could have used a headline like “Control of Britain’s nuclear industry passes to French government”, but that, while true, would have overtones of xenophobia, wouldn’t it ? Isn’t the French state just as valid as the British one ? And besides, as current BE boss Adrian Montague said in a Today interview (Ed Stourton, I think it was, well out of his depth – Montague often ignored his questions and answered ones he hadn’t asked), “historically the UK has been extremely open to foreign investment“.

“Historically” as in “crime is historically low” – i.e the last twenty-odd years. Prior to that, UK energy generation was UK-controlled and for 50-odd years it was a state utility. No matter.

Economics editor Robert Peston, whose BBC blog has some of the best and most insightful credit-crunch coverage, toed the party line as well.

“EDF’s acquisition of our nuclear power industry can be seen as a powerful message of hope … it’s a spectacular vote of confidence from La Republique no less that the United Kingdom is anything but bust.”

Bust ? I thought tractor production was going up every year !

UPDATE – commenter NotASheep points out that the UK director of communications at EDF, one Andrew Brown, is by strange chance a former BBC reporter and Newsnight editor. He’s also, by an even stranger chance, the brother of the Prime Minister.

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