Party speech-writer…’
Seasoned members of the BBC audience will know immediately from that introduction – with the political affiliation rammed to the forefront – that the following story will not reflect well on the Conservatives. Even they, though, might be surprised just how insignificant, and how old, the ‘scandal’ it reports is. However, for the trusty BBC team it is, of course, front page news.
It’s an old story but it has become topical in Canada because there is a General Election campaign going on there at present.
By the way, the Canadian Conservative Party bears little resemblance to ours.
The story is front page news in Canada. e.g. here.
And largely ignored in the British press, outside the Independent and Guardian.
Good grief! They all plagiarise each other all the time – how about a headline about Joe Biden plagiarising Neil Kinnock? No of course not. Mind you it shows what poor judgement Biden has that he can’t even plagiarise someone who makes good speeches.
Anon @12.47 – the fact that the Canadian Conservative party bears hardly any resemblance to ours doesn’t matter to the BBC. They increasingly use ‘conservative’ as a perjorative term and try as far as they can to associate it with Britain’s conservative party. I noticed, for example, that all the reports in news bulletins about the triumph of the far right in Austria were placed immediately after cursory one-liners about the conservative party conference. This gambit of smearing by editorial links is a favourite old trick.
Hugh:
“And largely ignored in the British press, outside the Independent and Guardian.”
Also reported by The Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph, ITN and Channel 4.
Maybe this should be a completely new topic.
Did anyone listen to five live 9.00 phone in? Even by the usual standards it was shocking, I swear at least two of the callers where actually supporters, paid to call in, shades of Dolly Draper.
Who would FiveLive put on to talk about Brown (yeah) and Cameron (boo)? The strong Brown supporter Duncan Ballantyne, someone who has actually donated large sums (wouldnt say how much on the show).
Utterly shocking, i recommend people listen, and challenge my suggestion that the caller ‘Chris’ was not part of a rebuttal unit
dear Pedant, to be pedantic are the sources you quote (Also reported by The Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph, ITN and Channel 4 also reporting the item as front page news
What I did notice today, and have done so a couple of times recently on phone-ins, is people calling in and saying “as a Conservative voter” or even “member” today and then spouting pro-Labour rhetoric. Today’s try was so bizarre that even VD asked if the caller was sure he was a member of the Conservative party.
“will:
dear Pedant, to be pedantic are the sources you quote (Also reported by The Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph, ITN and Channel 4 also reporting the item as front page news”
No. But it is not really BBC front page news either.
Pedant: It was the third story on the international version of the website and it’s still pretty prominent on both versions – on the front page.
Also, the ITN story was posted after my comment, and I can’t find the Telegraph story. It’s not showing up on my google news search for some reason.
Notasheep. We are not the only ones to spot this, numerous people on politicalbetting.com rumbled it also. It was so obviously contrived, like that dreadful radio 4 ‘spoof’ of “talk sport style phone ins”.
By the way, the Canadian Conservative Party bears little resemblance to ours.
What does that mean? Does it mean theirs is actually conservative? That it isn’t so desperate to get into power that it’s ready to (apparently) abandon its core values and do whatever is popular? If so, lucky them.
yep, Joe Biden’s plagiarism of a speech, as well as revelations of past plagiarism charges in law school forced him to withdraw from 1988 presidential campaign.
I’m sure the BBC will be all over it
Canoe.ca (Quebecor World) has been spouting an endless bilge against the Canadian Tories. For those who are interested:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/CanadaVotes/home.html
But, at least we are not paying any license fee to fund it.
Gibby Haynes:
“What does that mean? Does it mean theirs is actually conservative? That it isn’t so desperate to get into power that it’s ready to (apparently) abandon its core values and do whatever is popular? If so, lucky them.”
The Conservatives are already in power in Canada.
They really are very different from our Conservatives. For a start, they used to be called the PROGRESSIVE Conservative Party. In 2003 they merged with the Canadian Alliance Party. These days they are closer to the LibDems than to our Conservatives.
Pedant
Where I live this isn’t even making a ripple.
There are federal elections under way in Canada which the BBC haven’t bothered with unless it’s a denigration of the Conservatives.
Of course the stories here which are of interest are the two prospective MP’s one from the Liberals and one from the NDP, both who think that those pesky Joos in the CIA blew up the World Trade Centre.
Not a peep on the BBC about them. Can you imagine the hysteria in the BBC if one of Harper’s MPs had stood up and said all the indians were drunks.
The BBC stirring up shite again.
Ah. There’s the sun glinting on the Albertan Rocky Mountains again.
Anon | 01.10.08 – 3:48 pm
Oh really!
TPO, at present there are 589 current reports of this on Google News.
Try “Canada plagiarism” on Google News. All the Canadian news outlets seem to have it, and many world wide.
I noted with interest a few callers said that they were no party or the other and not realy interested in politics.
They then went on to slate the Conservatives. I could not help but think, why would you even bother phoning a show on politics if you have no interest.
The Bolton wonder did her bit of “unbiased” devil advocacy as usual.
NotaSheep – I’ve noticed this ‘As a Tory’ line too. It was deployed in a literally incredible email read out by the DP after Cameron’s speech to attack it. This is straight out of the Draper/Campbell spin machine. This is a shocking state of affairs – it’s beyond bias, it’s systematic and institutional corruption at the BBC.
Pedant | 01.10.08 – 4:45 pm |
People here don’t give a f**k about it. It’s not important. It’s a non story. So what.
People here are more interested in what is happening in the world markets.
Go google something else about the Canadian elections, especially the two nutters from the left wing who claim that the joos blew up the World Trade Centre.
Why aren’t the BBC running with that.
BBC stirring up shite again.
This is a bit off topic, but does anyone else think that the BBC will a victim of the credit crunch?
Who can justify 17 million for Jonathon Ross in this economic climate?
Richard – London
TPO:
“People here don’t give a f**k about it. It’s not important. It’s a non story. So what.”
How do you know what everyone else thinks about it?
I thought the story was highly amusing.
Here is the link again for anyone who missed it. PLAGIARISM
Anon | 01.10.08 – 6:13 pm |
Cos I live here you prat.
TPO:
“Cos I live here you prat.”
I e-mailed my relatives in Montreal and Toronto and they said almost everyone they knew was talking about it (though, being sane people they accepted that they couldn’t speak for the whole country.)
You must live in Hicksville.
It was prominent in newspapers across the country.
e.g.
Toronto Star: AIDE QUITS AS COPYCAT UPROAR STINGS PM.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said Harper should be expelled from office over the speech.
“Canadians want their country to speak with their own voice on the world stage,” Dion told reporters in Gatineau, Que.
… A chronology of the day shows just how shaken Harper’s campaign was by the accusations that surfaced early yesterday morning.
Conservative spokespeople, strategists and supporters watched it, stunned, on the news, and quickly moved in the first two hours afterward to dampen the story.
Calgary Herald: TORY AIDE RESIGNS AFTER ADMITTING TO PLAGIARISM.
In Ottawa, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said the prime minister cribbed the speech from Down Under because he “doesn’t have the ethics to choose his own words. We have a prime minister who commits plagiarism,” Dion told reporters.
I e-mailed my relatives in Montreal and Toronto and they said almost everyone they knew was talking about it
Yeah, sure you did.
But my wife did say that yesterday it took her an hour to walk a couple of blocks in downtown Calgary. She kept getting accosted by TV camera crews falling over each other to interview everyone about it. Traffic was at a standstill as everyone read the advertising hoardings about it. It was the only word on the street.
People in their droves were ignoring the forthcoming economic crisis as they discussed the ramifications of the alleged plagiarised speech.
If it’s in the Calgary Herald I didn’t see it. Can’t even see it on their website.
This, however is their lead story, black crime gangs (yet again). Has a ring about it that I thought I left behind.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=bd81df11-538d-4a6c-96cc-001fd12a6763
The reality is that there are much more pressing issues that are being discussed.
Funnily enough the wife just rang to say she’d been in meetings all day.
I asked if she or any of her colleagues had heard of it or were discussing it. Come again was the response.
You really must be a BBC geek.
Still waiting however for the much more up-to-date Biden plagiarism issue to hit the BBC, but I won’t be holding my breath.
This reminds me of that Australian Labour politician who lost his job for dancing around in his underpants and the BBC didn’t mention what party he was a member of. But if it’s a “Conservative” politician, then the BBC makes sure that everybody knows.
http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/2008/09/competition-time-again-this-time-its.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7609621.stm
It’s the BBC being selective with the facts again, hiding the facts that don’t fit into its political agenda and making a big thing of the ones that do fit in with it’s agenda.
Breaking News.
Mobs across Canada have stormed Government offices and TV stations demanding that more coverage be given to the Tory plagiarism story.
Here in Calgary vehicles have been overturned and the police attacked by rioters incenced by the fact that the media are still focusing on the impending financial crisis rather than the plagiarism story.
I’m thinking of moving back to the UK.
More bottom of the barrel leftist crap…but the more they throw etc.
TPO,
One of my relatives said that she saw the plagiarism report on CBC television. But I suppose no-one in Calgary ever watches television.
The Bias Must End: And don’t forget the gay labour MP who advertised himself in his underpants as well. The BBC played that down.
http://bp3.blogger.com/_Zy_p7cshBtk/SBNSzpd8lVI/AAAAAAAAAIE/IPOsLvQEgmM/s1600-h/chris-bryant.jpg
Anon | 01.10.08 – 10:48 pm |
CBC is little more than a BBC clone.
During the afternoon they actually give half an hour over to BBC World News. It is notoriously liberal-left in the image of the BBC.
Here in Calgary it is generally reviled and most of the serious US channels snigger at it. My own viewing and that of a lot of people round here is towards the US News broadcasts.
Despite the BBC propaganda, their political coverage tends to be superior to the BBC.
The fact that a Liberal-Left news channel chooses to big up a story doesn’t make it any the more interesting or relevant to the general public here. For most it’s a yawn yawn story.
It may have been reported in Canada but there are far bigger political stories in the news here at the moment.
Funny how the BBC have chosen to ignore all of them but homed in on this one because it involves those hideous tories.
The major political stories here at the moment are the loony left nutters standing for election for the Liberals and for Jack watshisname’s party. It’s all the fault of the jooos that the trade centre went down.
Now I’m only getting it first hand whereas you have the benefit of getting it second or third hand.
Martin | 01.10.08 – 11:13 pm |
Martin I’m surprised that the BBC played down the socialist in his shreddies. After all when they’re not being hideously ethnic they’re being hidiously homosexual. Oh and here on BBC World we have the delights of a news autocue reader called James Dagwell. To say camp wouldn’t even begin to describe it. I’m waiting for the day he/she/it pitches up wearing lipstick and an off the shoulder lttle number in scarlet.
The Sun gives Cameron a glowing thumbs-up, and adds this little gem:
“Is he up to the job? The Labour-leaning BBC was not impressed… always a good sign.”
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/sun_says/article244723.ece
These days they are closer to the LibDems than to our Conservatives.
Anon | 01.10.08 – 3:48 pm |
What bollocks.
No don’t tell me you contacted your third cousin removed who met someone last year who talked to someone who’d watched a Canadian politian from the left wing who was interviewed on BBC/CBC
Anon:
“These days they are closer to the LibDems than to our Conservatives.”
Anon | 01.10.08 – 3:48 pm |
TPO:
“What bollocks.
No don’t tell me you contacted your third cousin removed”
Brother and sister actually, and one of them is a Conservative supporter.
Are the Conservatives there to the left of the opposition?
“These days they are closer to the LibDems than to our Conservatives.”
Anon | 01.10.08 – 3:48 pm |
What bollocks.
Brother and sister actually, and one of them is a Conservative supporter.
Anon | 02.10.08 – 8:19 am |
And the instant I popped up to say I was in Calgary you haven’t been off the phone or internet getting the latest updates.
Oh please.
Ah. Now the reasons for the BBC to cherry-pick this nonentity story from Canada to the exclusion of more serious issues is now clear.
It’s a trail for this:
Man with a plan: Blast from past?
But following his conference speech in Birmingham, a more unlikely parallel is being drawn between the Tory leader and the man that Macmillan defeated in the 1959 election – Hugh Gaitskell.
When Cameron told the Tory faithful that he was a “man with a plan”, he was – deliberately or not – echoing a phrase that Gaitskell employed almost 50 years ago.
Trying to unseat Macmillan in 1959, Gaitskell declared himself the “man with the plan” to make Britain both a more prosperous and a fairer society.
The historical connection may be unsettling for the Tory leader as Gaitskell was soundly beaten in the 1959 election, Macmillan romping home with a 100-seat majority.
Not only Tory plagiarism in the UK, but due to be soundly defeated too.
The BBC: Getting more desperate each day as 6th May 2010 rapidly approaches.
Canada could have had British government, French culture, and American know how.
Instead they got British know how, French government, and American culture.
betyangelo | 02.10.08 – 4:56 pm |
I spent a few weeks at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn in 1969 when I was in the RAF.
I was in a fast food outlet when one of the local retards tried to engage me in conversation. The sum total of his intellectual capacity was to keep repeating “Fuck the Queen”.
In the end I retorted, “Look mate you’re welcome to fuck her if you want to, my tastes are slightly higher”
The quizzical expression on the faces of the assembed moronics was an eye opener to me.
Thankfully the reservists at Floyd Bennett were a cut above the locals.
I’m a Conservative supporter in Canada so I’ll fill you Brits in on some things.
First off, to the Anon poster that said our Conservative Party is closer to the Lib/Dems get your head checked. The Conservative Party is closer to the Republican party. There’s just a lot of liberal inertia in our political system.
PM Harper can’t implement any true Conservative bills unless he gets a majority. Even with a minority though, he’s got more done than most majorities get done. He’s had the smallest and longest serving minority in Canadian history. Quite an achievement in and of itself. Did that mean that Harper sat on his hands? Quite the contrary. He got 43 confidence votes passed in 2 1/2 years, extended the Afghan mission twice, gutted the gun registry, put forward a bill on Senate reform, and brought forward immigration changes when he was at his lowest in the polls.
The “plagarism” scandal isn’t really that big in Canada. The reason why it isn’t is because
a) the speech is 5 years old
b) it wasn’t written by Stephen Harper
c) the guy who said he wrote it said it was his fault and took the blame
d) not a major issue in current election.
It’s not so much that it’s plagiarized but that it groups Harper with Howard and Bush in wanting to into Iraq.
The liberal party who sprang this “scandal” has as the plank of their platform a carbon tax called a “Green Shift” (also dubbed the Green Shaft). The Green Shift is basically a copy of the Suzuki foundation’s policy which they didn’t cite and the name Green Shift infringes on a Canadian company called the Green Shift which of course the Libs didn’t get permission from. So it’s like the pot calling the kettle black.
Also, the Lib MP that came out with this, Bob Rae, was a former one time premier on Ontario and run our province’s economy into the ground.
The economy is the main issue and on that issue Canadians trust Harper more than any other candidate by a landslide. He has a graduate degree in Economics and no he didn’t sell 60% of his nations gold reserve when gold prices hit a 20 year low. But I think I know a current sitting PM who did.
On a side note, the CBC is also hugely biased against the Conservatives but if the Tories get a majority CBC will probably be privatized or shut down all together.
Okay, Anon your post’s are totally ignorant. First off, Toronto and Montreal are Liberal cesspools. They’re the only places in Canada the Liberal’s will do well in this election. That says a lot considering they have a terrible leader who only became leader by accident and their platform for an election where the biggest concern is a struggling economy is to implement a huge and unpopular inflationary carbon tax.
Second, the Toronto Star is NOT a reputable newspaper. They’re like the Guardian or the New York Times. Hugely left wing.
Look, you have TWO Canadians from CANADA that are telling you that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD!!!
I can’t believe how friggin’ much the BBC cares about this story. I’ve been on their website daily to see what kind of coverage they had of the Canadian and New Zealand elections. NOTHING! Until of course now. Come on, we’re commonwealth countries for crying out loud! Do we get coverage in Britain? Nope, but non-stop coverage of the American elections.
Oh btw Anon, before you accuse me like you accuse TPO of being a hick from nowhere, I’m from Toronto. This is a non-story. A one day wonder.
Now that Phil has soundly kicked Anon’s buttocks…
TPO:
What a great story, thanks for the laugh.
There is a huge difference between us culturally with language, at times, I’ve had a difficult time following here, but then I get it and feel like a dunce. The thing is and perhaps I notice more, being a lifelong writer, but the British use the language in way that is almost like music to the American ear, both in voice and written word. In use of the language your level of wit flies above the average American head, as we do not verbally parry the loftier hues of sarcasm.
Example your Brooklyn encounter.
I can’t believe how friggin’ much the BBC cares about this story. I’ve been on their website daily to see what kind of coverage they had of the Canadian and New Zealand elections. NOTHING! Until of course now. Come on, we’re commonwealth countries for crying out loud! Do we get coverage in Britain? Nope, but non-stop coverage of the American elections.
Oh btw Anon, before you accuse me like you accuse TPO of being a hick from nowhere, I’m from Toronto. This is a non-story. A one day wonder.
Phil | 02.10.08 – 6:01 pm |
Thanks Phil. I picked up on it too. Not one word from tyhe BBC until a negative Tory story comes up, then they’re all over it like maggots.
I’m not sure how Canadians in general view Calgarians, but I don’t feel like I’m in Hicksville.
Just so as you know, we moved from the UK last November with no intention of returning. Love it here. Bought our house from a retired Government Minister whose son is our local MP. Great people. When the provincial elections were on, the Liberals pitched up with the theme “Time for a change”. I said “Change to what?” Jaws dropped, mouths opened, but not much came out. Then I said “Perhaps you didn’t notice but I’ve got a Brit accent, I’m not a citizen and can’t vote and by the way you lot come across as corrupt as our last Liberal government and that was nearly a hundred years ago”. I don’t think they’ll be back. And the Conservatives remain in power in Alberta for a record 38 consecutive years. If only in Britain…….
There is a huge difference between us culturally with language, at times
betyangelo | 02.10.08 – 6:35 pm |
I suppose we invented it.
Got to say my time at Floyd Bennett was an eye opener. It was where Naval and Marine reservists did their yearly stint. They weren’t just from New York, but all over the States. They were at great pains to emphasise that we shouldn’t judge the States by New York alone.
It was the first time I was exposed to American hospitality. It was overwhelming, the genuine friendliness and kindness. We got worn out at the end with the number of invitations to stay with families or to go for dinner.
One thing that took most of them by surprise was our supportive attitude about the Vietnam war. Most had the impression that they were universally reviled because of it. Not so we said. Don’t judge Britain or Europe by a bunch of Trot students.
When they found out that I was interested in astonautics a few phone calls were made. Next minute I was told that there was a seat on the weekly US Coastguard Jolly Green Giant between Floyd and Cape Canaveral for me to watch the Apollo 10 launch and then return.
Who let me down? The RAF. We were promised two weeks R & R, but two days later we were shuttled down to Andrews AFB and flown back to the UK.
On that note I have to share this with you.
Six years later I was on the down escalator in the Excelsior Hotel in Hong Kong with my first wife. In front of us were two fairly elderly American tourists with a young Chinese guide called Peter.
“And where are you from Peter?” said one of them. Peter replied in Oxford English “Actually I’m not from Hong Kong, I come from New Zealand”.
“Where’s that Peter”, said the American.
Deadpan Peter says, “Oh it’s four miles down the road to Australia, turn left and then it’s just a couple of minutes drive from there”.
Me and the wife collapse in hysterics.
Amarican turn round and stare at us with the same quizzical look I saw in the fast food outlet in Brooklyn.
Hope you take it in the spirit its meant!!