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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btw wwl – i’m an irish republican nationalist. david vance , who posts a lot of stuff on this blog, is a unionist.
and there are loads of other people with vastly different political beliefs on here…
sometimes it does get out of hand , when personal insults start flying.. but over the course the past few years, this blog has been one of the better ones.
stick around for a while and you’ll see that its not a mouthpiece for the tories.. its just normal folks
and thats it.
martin -> i am amazed at the newsnight discussion going on right now.
no mention of the democrats allowing subprime loans.
and will hutton is supposed to be an “expert” is this?
well, there is only two conclusions – will hutton is either lying, or he is as thick as pigshit…
my guess is that hutton is lying – he KNOWS about the freddie mac stuff in the U.S.
whitewineliberal: The EU is a joke. It was simply a political organisation to stop the Germans and French from fighting each other again. There was NEVER a need to expand it.
People say that the Eurocrats want to create a United States of Europe. However, if that was the case I’d have no problems if it was modelled on the US States system as for the most part they regulate themselves and can often tell the federal Government to get lost.
If only we could tell Brussels to get lost.
NATO is what held europe together since the end of WW2.
archduke: I’m waiting to see how they get Nu liebour off the hook
UNREAL..
peston is blaming republicans for not wanting regulation!!!!
i give up…
i really do…
Archduke 11:07
Wrong. Will Hutton is a liar AND he is a piece of pig shit.
Martin | 13.10.08 – 11:07 pm
i agree martin.
if i had the U.S. system in front of me and wanted to vote for it – well, you’d have a EU federal state tommorow.
wouldnt mind a federal europe along those lines… otherwise – get lost. its just a dictatorship.
geff robinson is on newsnight right now.. oh right – that geff robinson that bunged millions to labour.. and is now complaining about the City…
what a wanker..
to be a successful businessman , and to fall in love with socialism means that you really ARE a wanker.
it means that you dont give to charity – you just give your money to the government to fix your moral guilt.
fuck him.. i think he needs to go to a church…
will hutton is having a go at robinson now.. interesting…
will hutton still wont admit that PC loans caused the crunch
I thought Robinson got an easy ride. I notice they did the bit about Bliar saying the FSA was shit, but they didn’t bother to inform us it was the snot eater that created the FSA in the first place.
ha – good point!
it was the snot eater that created the FSA…
the FSA that didnt know what a CDO was.
(fact.. had to be explained on a whiteboard)
Martin | 13.10.08 – 11:03 pm |
When you say ACORN ‘bullied’ the banks into sub-prime loans how was this done?
Straight forward question. I’ve heard this argument before but never seen the evidence. I take it you have some?
archduke | 13.10.08 – 11:16 pm |
to be a successful businessman , and to fall in love with socialism means that you really ARE a wanker.
Or at the very least a hypocrite. In my experience when the rich claim to be left-wing they know someone who agrees and can make them richer is listening …
cpod..
has a watch of this
archduke,
Well its a bit like religion isnt it? If enough people believe a lie (that the financial problems were created by the Republicans) then that makes it the truth!
Mailman
CPOD:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aJpnNVe2d_8
CPOD:
You might want to read what this document from the Fanniemae foundation in 2000 says about these community groups.
“…Merger-related CRA scrutiny also prompted the case study institutions to increase affordable lending. PNC Bank became a much more active DVMP participant at the time of its merger with the Bank of Delaware and attendant protests by the activist group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now);NationsBank’s partnership with the NAACP coincided with its national expansion;and BofA expanded its Native American and Hispanic mortgage outreach efforts with its acquisition of First Interstate of Arizona…”
Click to access rep_newmortmkts_background.pdf
‘Ministers shelve 42-day detention’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7668477.stm
Headline gives the impression of a government bowing to popular demand to do the right thing. Instead, the government had the shit kicked out of them by the House of Lords and have no choice but to shelve this or use the Parliament Act to what would be great public disapproval. Idiot Smith is also said to have given a ‘forceful’ speech, whereas all she actually did was play politics with terrorism. Does somebody want to tell her that about 100 Labour Peers just didn’t turn up to vote?
David:
“…Does somebody want to tell her that about 100 Labour Peers just didn’t turn up to vote?…”
Can you blame them? Mandelson was there.
in neither instance did the interviewers follow up, and nor were the issues raised discussed with other commentators or on other bulletins.
Monday, October 13, 2008
A failure of regulation?
Snippets from two BBC interviews today
BBC Radio 4 Today Programme
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2008/10/failure-of-regulation.html
“..wouldnt mind a federal europe along those lines… otherwise – get lost. its just a dictatorship.”
Well all for their own point of view – me, I see no need to be part of anything – Britain has a good past record of ruling themselves – I see no need for any distant foreign power having a say on anything we do.
No doubt I’ll be accused of xenophobia – but since when has democracy been seen to be evil. Nobody accused the Irish, Scots or Welsh of being xenophbic. The BBC and New Labour see nothing wrong with Iraqi nationalism or Zimbabwe, on the contary. The Millibands of this world shout for democracies – but only in other countries not here.
re newsnight
heard some mention the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 which deregulated the derivatives market with which the evil americans destroyed the world econemy
wiki tells me it was passed in dec 2000 by one william jeffeson clinton
The UK economy is $2.772 Trillion in Size which is 4% of the worlds economy of $68Trillion
The UK ranks 2nd in total external debt. Its $10.45 Trillion in external debt is over 20% of the world wide total of $51.78 Trillion
Its Debt to GDP Ratio is 490%, not 330% as pesto says it is. The US which is the worlds largest debtor has a Debt to GDP ratio of 99%.
On a per capita basis, Irelands external Debt is $130,000. Icelands is $2,269. The UK is at $189,855.
we need to stop the spending.
who will buy the junk treasury bonds mcboogie wants to sell us ?
Just been watching an incredibly biased bbc24 report on the us election.
Its so annoying
ACORN in trouble again, this time for thousands of fake Democrat voter registrations in Indiana:
http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2008/10/voter-fraud-you-can-believe-in-every.html
It’s a criminal act, one which this group has done several times now, and not just lately. Newsnight already told you they’ve been busted for it in the past. But they don’t affect elections, according to the BBC.
It no longer matters. Repeated, proven criminal activity by this group, yet the Obamessiah knowingly associates with them, has worked for them and with them. Worse, he sucked up to them earlier in this election campaign, promising that they and their friends would help shape his policies when President:
Obama and Acorn’s role in his agenda
Even back in December, Acorn’s illegal activity was known, and members had been busted for this very thing. Yet The Obamessiah associated with them then, sucked up to them even. And he still associates with what is essentially a criminal organization.
But according to some, he’ll make a fine President, and there’s nothing to see here. And if I don’t vote for him, it’s ‘cos he is black.
Yet people think Sarah Palin shouldn’t hold public office. Don’t trust the BBC on this.
i watched the start of newsnight. Did not stay up to watch it all past my bedtime.
Did they decide that Brown as chancellor for the last 11 years had any reposability for our economy?
Or was it all the Americans and worl events.
A tale of two protests. Several hundred people (by some reports a couple of thousand) arrived outside the Bank Of England on Friday to complain about the bank bailout. Total coverage from BBC – zero.
A few *dozen* protestors arrived at the Houses of Parliament yesterday to protest about Heathrow expansion. BBC coverage – website front page for about twelve hours.
It does seem that only protests that fit in with the Beeb’s “Gordon must be saved, but we’re all doomed anyway” narrative will be reported.
Watching the abysmal Breakfast show: Sian Williams smirking like she’s just won the lottery. Bill Turnbull majing sure that Gordon Brown is mentioned as the one who is single handedly saving the world. It was left to the hackette from the US to remind him that Pres. Bush ALSO had a very good day. No response from Turnbull and back to the studio.
Sickening.
Hilarious clip from the Howard Stern show…a guy who works on the show went around Harlem and asked people who they supported, Obama or McCain. Of course as this is Harlem, everyone is going to say “Obama.”
But he attributes McCain’s policy positions to Obama and asks them things like “so do you agree with Obama that we should keep troops in Iraq and finish the job?”, or even “if Obama wins do you have a problem with Palin being Vice President?”
Answers: “Yes,” and “No, I have no problem.”
You don’t think that *shock horror* all they care about is his skin color, do you?
“Several hundred people (by some reports a couple of thousand) arrived outside the Bank Of England on Friday to complain about the bank bailout. Total coverage from BBC – zero.”
It was Socialist Worker bless ’em. Apparantly the crime of enjoying a glass of vino (not even champers) outside a City bar after a long working week is now punishable by a torrent of abuse from clowns with dreadlocks. Ho hum.
Some coverage should have been given though. Now the Beeb is all witty and wry and down with the kids where were the snide comments on the irony of a “workers” protest starting at 4pm on a working day?
if the bbc gave coverage to all swp protests, there’d be room for little else. not. news.
Two reports on Labour’s unelected ‘Baron’ MANDELSON:
1.) BBC report –
“Baron Mandelson joins the Lords”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7666482.stm
2.) Littlejohn report –
“The day the House of Lords died of shame”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1077335/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-They-day-House-Lords-died-shame.html
The BBCs breathless and glowing promotion of Gordon Brown, world saviour and Churchillian hero of the century, is no surprise is it? All Browns disasterous mistakes and stupid policies as chancellor have been ‘forgotten’, its only great news from now on and Brown saves the world!
Now lets compare the BBC coverage of Brown with the coverage that a Tory government would recieve from the state broadcaster shall we?
The markets managed to claw back a tiny fraction of their record losses on news of the Tory PMs reckless and desperate gamble to help bail out his banking friends many of whom give large donations to the Tory party, although many experts are saying that the slight rise is due to profit taking.
The Tory gamble has been condemned by unions and the opposition and the Tory party is riven with splits as it lurches to the right, the BBC managed to track down a Tory who tried to defend the reckless kneejerk bail out of the Tories banking friends, he said “er I think this deal will help ordinary people”, the BBC understands that because this Tory said “er” it means the party is split and riven with doubts.
The BBC has invited dozens of critics from the church,unions,opposition and civil society who are condemning this desperate gamble because the money would be better spent on hospitals and pensions, everyone is united in opposition to the Tory bailout of their banking friends, the BBC tried to find some Tory to defend their helping hand to the greedy bankers but they were probably out celebrating with their rich banking friends and buying expensive cars, the BBC panarama undercover report reveals that the Tory PM once spoke to a group of bankers and made some jokes this proves beyond doubt that the Tory PM is working hand in glove with the greedy banks and that the Tories care nothing for the working class an opposition MP said.
I know this is a little over the top BUT you get the idea of the total difference in BBC coverage, perhaps it would make a good comedy special?
A typical BBC ‘multicultural’ political line on how Belgium is failing IMMIGRANTS:
“Belgian ethnic rift baffles immigrants”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7666514.stm
very good er… parody cassandra.
i wonder if peston is on tv enough small children will start to er… copy his er… speech patterns and then (huge pause) er… where would we er… be.
Charming, the BBC are beside themselves with glee about St. Broon’s rescue package. They’re really pressing the message that he’s busy saving the civilised world, the US is taking up his plan, yadda yadda, but of course they don’t mention that he got us into this mess.
Bastards, the lot of ’em
Jimbob,
Er high praise indeed from a top poster! Thankyou,goodnight and er good luck!
The TOADIES are joking and laughing about an “unprecedented” second day rise in the FTSE and how they should “break out the Champagne”! Talk about counting their chickens or er what!
Perhaps Peston would be more at home working for ‘New’ Labour’s unelected Baron Mandelson:
“Just how can we see this Cabinet twice-reject, this Brussels blow-in, this greased porker made a lord and not, ourselves, squeal with disgust?”
(Quentin Letts).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1077352/QUENTIN-LETTS-Peter-Mandelsons-moment-glory-House-Lords-How-greased-porker-lord.html
George R,
Mandelson the crooked lying common thief smirking and giggling, twice shamed and unelected and protected by the BBC now returns to a high position with powers over a democracy(whats left of it)that he helped to besmirch with his devious,self serving and dishonest antics!
He is a perfect poster child for the NuLabour bastards, I pray they get their just desserts and if I could play even a small part in their well deserved and hopefully pain filled ‘downfall’ I would consider my life well spent!
In its crytic 3 minute news bulletin at 9 am, BBC Radio 4 made sure that the main political item was a comment from its US political chum, Robert Reich, (ex-Secretary of Labor under Clinton), saying that Bush’s administration was going socialist.
Above ‘cryptic’.
BBC’s Paul Wood reproduces, in this totally uncritical interview, the propaganda of a Gazan female Islamic Jihad suicide bomber to be:
“Just married and determined to die”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7667031.stm
if the bbc gave coverage to all swp protests, there’d be room for little else. not. news.
whitewineliberal | 14.10.08 – 7:49 am | #
Assuming I am reading this correctly, I’d still suggest that in amongst all it does deem fit to cover, some objective fact sharing and balanced news reporting would still be nice.
How would BBC have reported this invasion of Parliament if it had been a non-‘green’ protest over e.g., mass immigration into Britain?:
“Parliament hit by green protest”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7668288.stm
http://londonersdiary.standard.co.uk/2008/10/outrage-as-bbc.html
THE BBC may be blaming City bonuses for the credit crunch, but it is not just the banking top brass who are well-renumerated in these dark times. BBC Executive directors are being rewarded with some gravity defying bonuses – all paid for by the taxpayer.
This year the publicly-funded Beeb lavished £318,000 on bonuses to its executive directors – on top of the £3,860,000 in salaries it paid them, £145,000 in expenses and £637,000 towards their pension pots. Although BBC bosses waived their right to bonuses last year, they clearly felt the economic climate was right this year to give themselves an extra payday.
More sterling stuff from Michael Yon…
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/
I have to ask, Archduke, but is there anything wrong with recycling? It’s not a left-liberal conspiracy, it’s just practical! Also, I don’t know how old mini is, but I certainly think WW2 and the associated personalities and events is quite an advanced and in-depth study for most children, something I wouldn’t expect to learn until secondary school.
The BBC has difficulty in reporting CANADA, (unlike France).
For example, it can only provide limited reports on today’s Canadian election because the BBC’s bus loads of ‘reporters’ have been based, (at UK licencepayers’ expense of course), in the United Staes for many weeks, for their Obama Election; but politically, the BBC wants to lessen the historically strong mutual links of British and Canadian people, and seems intent, instead, on over-reporting a particular image of e.g. Islamic societies like Pakistan on its news website.
Perhaps this is why ther BBC gives no priority at all to reporting this story from Canada about MARK STEYN, who has British connections. This story also has significant Islamic connections; but perhaps not presenting the kind of image which the BBC likes to propagandise of the ‘religion of peace’:
“Free Speech 3, Canadian Islamic Congress 0”
http://europenews.dk/en/node/14935
Predictably de Sautoy’s severely dumbed-down survey of the history of mathmatics gave undue weight to the contribution of Islamic mathematicians. However, there is no point in denying that there was a contribution from that source. What sticks in my craw is the not so subtle message which seeks to devalue the later contributions of Western mathematicians because Chinese and Indian (and Islamic) mathematicians either addressed or went part-way to solving some of mathematics’ more intractable problems. Whatever de Sautoy says about the primacy in time of Eastern mathematical discoveries, it was, for instance, Leibnitz and Newton who (independently) “discovered” calculus and placed it in a coherent mathematical system.
Although techniques of attacking problems were developed and used in the East before L and N, the admittedly brilliant solutions tended to be one-offs. Generally they had little discernable impact on the empires in which these solutions were expounded beyond the practical applications which the mathematical solutions were designed to solve. This is not to deny, for instance, that the simplification of the notation system and the introduction of the zero were not huge steps. The debt the West owes to Islamic civilisation as transmitters of oriental wisdom and as saviours of ancient Western wisdom may be immense but the contribution is essentially passive. Unlike the BBC, the Islamic sages rarely sought to put their own spin on (and thus pervert) the knowledge for which they were the conduit. It was apparently enough to preserve and perhaps comment on the wisdom they were privileged to transmit. It is idle to deny the Islamic contributions to the advance of mathematics but it is misleading (and insulting to both Western and Islamic mathematicians) to overestimate it.
Just before 9am the Today prog interviewed 2 US journalists. As usual, without identifying their political leanings.
They both hammered McCain/Palin, and said how wonderful it will be when Obama wins, the US can repent all its previous ways and find a new direction etc etc.
Just after 9am we had some obscure and pretty juvenile US “cartoonists”. Vehemently pro-Dem.
So, tomorrow morning, can we look forward to the Radio 4 9am news being sandwiched between interviews with 2 Repub-supporting journalists and 2 Repub-supporting cartoonists ? Like some serious cartoonists, Cox and Forkum for example ?
I am not holding my breath.
The pro-Obama stuff is truly relentless. A frened of mine phoned me after the Panorama programme, I said I had missed it. He mentioned that they had “delved” into Obama’s Chicago roots. I asked “did they mention the terrorist guy, Bill Ayers (or his terrorist wife ?) No. Did they mention ACORN ? No.
My friend had genuinely assumed that a Panorama profile on Obama woud be objective, thorough. It is the BBC’s flagship “investigative” programme.
Other than John Ware, it seems the whole ethos of Panorama, going back decades – remember Richard Dimbleby ? – has been ditched.