Monthly Archives: October 2008

“FLEXIBLE WORKING”?

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Caught the truly appalling Patricia Hewitt being interviewed by Eddie Mair on PM. This was concerning Peter Mandelson’s suggestion that the legislation bringing about a mandatory requirement for employers to accommodate flexible working hours for all employees with children under 16 be knocked on the head, for a while. The BBC was keen to offer Hewitt this soap-box from which she could witter on about how essential for small business that this provision be activated! Now I can understand that Hewitt is supremely ignorant when it comes to the stress on small business but I thought Eddie Mair should have made the point that any business can operate such flexible hours without draconian legislation making them do so. In the past day we have seen the Labour and Conservative Party offer up ideas as to how business can be given some help in these tough times. I personally think that the Conservative Party’s ideas have been quite good, but seem to have gained little media traction within the BBC, whilst Labour’s whimsies are discussed ad infinitum.

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MARXISM IS BACK.

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I see the BBC reports that Marxism is resurgent in Germany. (I suppose that makes a change from certain other toxic ideologies that Germans have also been attracted in the past…) You can sense Beeb hearts swelling with pride when they repeat that “Globalisation, which is implicit in capitalism, not only destroys the heritage and tradition but it is incredibly unstable, it operates through a series of crises, and I think this has been recognised to be the end of this particular era.” Cue the Red Flag? I also love the way the BBC editorialises that “Marxist economic philosophy – and in particular its Russian Leninist version – fell out of favour with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. “Oh really? I was just wondering where in the world it has EVER been successful?

Brought to book

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To be honest, I don’t think the the BBC should be publishing opinion pieces, but since it does, do they all have to be so crashingly predictable? Here’s the review they’ve decided to run on the Jewel of Medina, the fictional account of Muhammad’s child bride that’s caused a stir. Based on your knowledge of the BBC see if you can guess whether it’s supportive before clicking through.

If the BBC did want a piece on this that would fulfill its charter obligations, was this blogger really the obvious choice? Apart from the naked partisanship, here’s a sample of the level of intellectual honesty on show: ...parts of the media who wanted to stir things up said Muslims wanted it banned. So, in order to find out what the (manufactured) fuss was about, I found myself spending 12 dreary hours reading this cringe-worthy melodramatic prose.

The fuss hasn’t been entirely “manufactured”, though, has it?

And here she is on the thorny subject of Aisha’s age (nine): I lost count of the references to “child bride”. Even till relatively modern times, marriage for women in their early teens was completely natural and common in parts of the world, including Europe.

If the Beeb is so sure of the knuckle-dragging tendencies of its audience that the only way it thinks it can safely cover issues like this is to quite so comprehensively patronise its Muslim and non-Muslim audience it really shouldn’t bother. I wish it hadn’t.

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EVERYBODY LOVES OBAMA

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I see the BBC lead story is that hip hop and rap fan Colin Powell has endorsed The One. Quelle surprise! Now whilst I accept this is news to those who do not follow these matters closely, I wonder why Justin Webb gets the opportunity in the same item to eulogise as to how “re-assuring” this endorsement will be for “many” American voters. Webb also uses it to further attack Sarah Palin, citing “rumbles of discontent” within republican ranks at her selection by McCain.The BBC chooses to use RINO Colin Powell’s quote about Obama being a “transformational” President without ever quite defining exactly what will be transformed. I guess that will wait until AFTER they get their man in power and the socialisation of America can then proceed apace.

If you check out the sidebar of linked stories also note the care of language being selected “Bitter Blow” to McCain, “Calm Obama” and “more bad news for McCain”. The BBC, like so much of the liberal media, has abandoned ALL pretence of impartiality as concerns the US election and is blatantly cheering on Obama. The difference is, we are forced to pay for the BBC’s obamania and THAT is what is most objectionable. We need “transformational” politics her in the UK as well, starting with the abolition of the license tax.

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JOE THE PLUMBER

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Fascinating to read this example of character assassination the BBC runs on Joe Wurzelbacher aka “Joe the Plumber”. The way this US election has turned out, the BBC has become a partisan propagandist for Democrat talking points. At every point away, it has chosen to run the Democrat perspective on every issue and when an unscheduled item such as Joe the Plumber breaks through the MSM filter – and challenges Obama – the knives are out. I’m sure B-BBC well read readers will know that criticisms repeated here of Mr Wurzelbacher are spurious but they are part of a well co-ordinated attack dog strategy by the Democrats and the BBC obliges by parroting them.

Added by Natalie Solent: I trust David won’t mind if I add to this post, as the same BBC story had also attracted my attention. The BBC’s title (Doubts raised on US ‘plumber Joe’) came close to being libellous in my opinion. Its use of quotes around “plumber Joe” implied that Mr Wurzelbacher was a fake – either that he was not really a plumber at all, or at the very least that he was not really an ordinary member of the public but some sort of Republican plant.

Yet the worst the tireless investigators of the BBC, who as we all know were pulled away from their feverish round-the-clock investigations of the financial affairs of the front-runner for President of the United States to attend to this vital matter, could uncover was that he was not a licensed plumber and that he owed back taxes. Oh, and he prefers the name “Joe” to that of “Samuel”. That these facts are trivial is covered well in this comment by DB. My point is not so much their triviality, but their irrelevance to the BBC’s claim that

Doubt has been cast over the story of “Joe the plumber”, the man who unexpectedly became the star of this week’s US presidential debate.

What story was this, BBC? What words did Mr Wurzelbacher say that constituted a “story” that, it now emerges, is dubious? Alternatively, what part his “story” as told by the world’s press – that of an ordinary citizen who simply answered frankly when Senator Obama approached him – is subject to the BBC’s ever-passive “doubt has been cast”? If the BBC had offered some evidence that Mr Wurzelbacher was a Republican operative with a pre-arranged plan to trap Senator Obama, then it would be justified to refer to doubts being cast over his story in that sense. (In fact such tactics are commonplace in US politics, and have been exposed repeatedly – but since the plants were Democrats pretending to be undecided or to be “lifelong Republicans” the story was of no interest to the BBC.)

As things stand, both of the two possible readings of the BBC’s first paragraph are unfair to an ordinary man whose crime was not to know his place.

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Toa Kitu Kidogo + Icon Management ( BBC PrObamaganda roundup)

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For those non-Swahilli speakers who visit this site (there must be at least a few), the first part of the title above means “give a little something”- and is a common expression in Kenya, used in particular when a policeman wants a little bribe. Well, I should imagine the inhabitants of Kisumu, West Kenya, could be using the expression once the One has won as is clearly the wont of the BBC. We’re had the centenarian nun, voting messiah; now comes the airport request. Oh, and meanwhile, while the Obama-Kenya story is filed in Africa (as though the BBC normally concern themselves with regional African airport proposals), back in their “election coverage” we find out the effects a One victory would have on dancers in Harlem.

The incessant drip, drip, drip of PrObamaganda continues with the BBC showcasingthe One to illustrate his (purportedly) self-deprecating humour, as he refuted suggestions that he was born in a manger by saying he was actually born on Krypton. It was excerpted from a slightly stilted, acceptably witty speech Obama gave to a charity dinner audience on Thursday, which McCain also addressed- only McCain actually got the lion’s share of the laughs (he was frankly quite unleashed and hilarious- recommended viewing). Yet the BBC offered us a three minute segment of Obama’s speech which loads automatically when the frontpage-featured link is clicked. McCain’s very funny speech was freighted with uproarious stuff, yet is reduced by the BBC to two very short segments. In total, Obama gets 5 minutes plus direct frontpage access. McCain gets 2 minutes, split into two parts, hidden below the One’s contribution. The ratio 5:2 with frontpage versus fourth-page treatment seems about right as a summary of the BBC’s partiality for Obama over McCain.

You can see the whole McCain speech here. Obama’s is here.

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HANGING AROUND

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I see that the BBC are hailing the news that Iran has decided to stop executing juveniles. Amnesty have also been welcoming of the Mullahs alleged decision. I suppose with all the hanging of homosexuals and stoning to death of adulterers the Iranian judiciary may be too busy to hang the kids. Not that you’d know the latter from the BBC report. Great to see the enthusiasm to give Iran a pat on the back. Just wait until Israel does the inevitable to see the BBC’s love-in with the Mullahs shine through.

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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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“TRUCE OVER”?

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Do you like the way in which the BBC portrays David Cameron’s decision to “break” his “truce” with the Dear Leader? Once again, the Conservatives are being portrayed as the bad guys because they dare dissent from Gordon’s world-view. Cameron is absolutely right to point out that Brown has his grubby-fingerprints all over many of the economic woes that afflict us but the Brown narrative is that our problems all originate in the USA and the BBC then uses this to suggest that a dissenting Cameron is being unreasonable.

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