Monthly Archives: November 2008

BRUTAL YOUTH.

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I see that the BBC has given considerable kudos this morning to the latest nonsense served up by the politically active leftist Barnardo’s organisation. It seems that we Brits fancy hunting down children and shooting them. Or at least so Barnardo’s..ahem… extensive and highly scientific research methodology of examining the comment threads of the web sites of some national newspapers would indicate! The Barnardo’s agenda is clear; British kids are unfairly condemned, British adults are intolerant towards kids, and even those kids who do behave atrociously need to be “understood” and “better supported.” Dripping wet tosh given free passage care of the State Broadcaster. Feral youth rejoice, you have nothing to lose but your asbos.

GET OSBORNE – THE SAGA CONTINUES

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I tuned into Radio 5 live this morning around 6.20am and there was my old pal Nicky Campbell discussing whether William Hague or Ken Clarke would make a good successor to George Osborne. Has the Conservative Shadow Chancellor resigned overnight then? Nope – just some tactical undermining by the BBC. I then tuned into Radio 4 “Today” and there was James Naughtie discussing…whether William Hague of Ken Clarke would make a good successor to George Osborne. Why it’s deja-vu all over again! Mind you, to be fair, the BBC does suggest that whilst Ken Clarke would be popular in some quarters (I.E. Left wing media like itself) he carries echoes off those foul Thatcher years so sorry Ken, even though the Beeb might like you but they still won’t back you against their Labour pimps! After sitting back for MONTHS and watching the Pound plummet in value, the BBC now appears to believe that only Osborne carries the can for such financial devastation. Miraculously, McCavity is absolved from any culpability. Isn’t it swell to have a pro-government broadcasting corporation?

Quote of the Day:

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“Look, we know we keep going on about the pants lefty tax-funded BBC, but we’ve just had enough. On a personal level we are seriously thinking about joing the telly tax rebels who refuse to pay (especially now we know the BBC has backed away from prosecuting). And on a national political level, there have to be consequences for the way they systematically undermine our future well-being by supporting Big Government Labour and bashing any Tory who even hints at believing in smaller government.”

Tyler from Burning our Money takes on the BBC’s coverage of George Osborne. Brilliantly. Hope you enjoy by reading on here.

General BBC-related comment thread

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General BBC-related comment thread! 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.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Get Osborne! (save Brown)

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Looking at the many valuable comments in the latest open thread, it’s amazing how many ways the BBC have found to get at George Osborne in recent days. Speaking from what I have seen, it was noticeable how Marr stacked his progamme this morning with better-then-average lefties like Doug Alexander and Dr John Reid (plus Jarvis Cocker for leftist chic), to foreground a lengthy interview with Osborne which began with the line from Marr: “Do you think your job is on the line this weekend?”

Sums it all up really- not the reality, that is, but the BBC’s preferred narrative. Alexander- the Secretary of State for International Development- was there to demonstrate how (in accordance with the Brown narrative) the crisis is global, first, and we are the victims, second, while John Reid was there to show how he was burying the hatchet and uniting behind Brown and to blame Osborne for not doing the same.

In fact Osborne performed superbly on the Marr programme, so despite Marr’s repeated attempts to bring up the world crisis in defending Brown, Osborne swept past him. Yet is he actually winning this argument? Difficult to say, because the BBC has so relentlessly depicted him as on the defensive, the “George Osborne under attack” meme. This has been partly justified by bringing up a so-called convention regarding commenting on Sterling which, as the commenters at B-BBC have noted, is bogus. Meanwhile David in the comments points to this article as a related note, where Brown “regrets” Osborne’s comments highlighting the risk to the pound. Surely in fact Brown regrets that his economic incompetence is being exposed? It is no good his shaking his head over that unpublic-spirited Osborne- it is Brown who has been frantically trying to look competent in situations he has been instrumental in creating. So far he has done only the most obvious things, like bail out faltering banks, huddle with world leaders and pronounce “routemaps” as he poses for photos.

Earlier I saw an BBC online article where Gordon was shown in a decidedly odd picture (actually used above) at the G20 meeting towering over the Russian President, the Russian’s eyes upraised to meet Gordon’s (ie. where on earth was Gordon standing in relation to Medvedev? [Update: apparently Medvedev is unusually small. This does not explain the particular photo with Gordon facing the camera and Medvedev looking up to his eyes, or indeed the very choice of this photo- why these two men and only them? Generally I think the BBC’s photo-story-telling is abysmal]). In a more sensible world Brown wouldn’t even have been able to take the reins of the Government a year and a half ago because his incompetence over boom and bust would have already been made apparent by a sentient fourth estate (Labour’s favourite bank Northern Rock was melting away as they feted Gordon). Instead, those who have the temerity to question the inevitably compromised economic wisdom of Gordon Brown are put in the media dock by the BBC-led media.

Meanwhile, Guido points to yet another angleof BBC bias in favour of Brown.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

BBC SAYS BBC IS BIASED.

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I note it is reported that the BBC broke impartiality rulesin a Huw Edwards-fronted documentary about Welsh politics that attacked Margaret Thatcher. The broadcaster’s own governing body today found it guilty of being unfair and inaccurate in the programme. The ruling came about after an incensed viewer complained about the unbalanced and misleading programme on Welsh self-government. Edwards, who fronts the Ten O’Clock News, was accused of ‘openly canvassing support’ for the Welsh Assembly and was also found to have broken rules. So, no surprise there then. Has he been sacked yet? Has the producer of the programme been sacked? Is this more pathetic lip-service to the concept of impartiality? The BBC has been running a decades long campaign against Lady Thatcher and this is but one of the more recent examples of its bias.

The BBC has learnt…

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A whistleblower alerted the government to failings around child protection in Haringey six months before Baby P died, according to this BBC report, which swiftly moves on after the opening paragraph to a government press release responding to the claims. Readers are left to guess the details.

It is understood a lawyer acting for a former social worker sent the letter to the then health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, says the BBC.

It might be understood, but it’s all a bit vague, principallly because the BBC seems to be entirely reliant on the government’s press office. Readers anywhere else, be it, the left-leaning Independent or right-wing Telegraph, not only understand; they know exactly what actually happened:

It [the letter] read: “Our client whistle-blew the fact that the sexual abuse had been ongoing for months and the new management brought in post-Climbie had not acted… We write to ask for a public inquiry into these matters.”, records the Independent.

And later in the BBC report we have this:

It is understood the social worker no longer works for Haringey council.

Again, it’s writing that really sounds like it’s coming from the ministerial department rather than a journalist.

At the Telegraph, on the other hand, they not only understand the social worker doesn’t work there, they know that Miss Kemal was later suspended and left her £34,000-a-year job with the council. An employment tribunal found that she had been singled out because she was a whistle-blower.

In fact, overall the BBC report does once again make me wonder: if it doesn’t actually tell you anything about what happened, does it still qualify as journalism?

THE WAR ON JERSEY.

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I see that BBC gives great prominence to the Howard League for Penal report whingeing on about the fact that children in Jersey have allegedly “less protection” than children elsewhere in the UK because the evil Jersey government has NOT signed up to the utterly risible to the UN convention on the rights of the child. This means, for example, they lack a Children’s Commissioner.Well now, I guess the next of kin of Baby P will take solace in the fact that at least the mighty UN Convention applies in England, right? I also note the way in which Howard League spokesman compares Somalia and the USA in the interview. As ever, the BBC is supplicant to this biased left-wing pacifist bleeding-heart organisation and does not provide for an alternate view to its insinuations about Jersey. The BBC must also have been broken–hearted to discover yesterday that the alleged killing fields of Haut de la Garenne are not quite it has coat-trailed for months. Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying Jersey is perfect but I do not quite see why it invokes so much sustained ire from the BBC although I am sure you may suggest a few….

BBC’s currency fading

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An interesting couple of links for you: Iain Dale doesn’t mention the BBC but says
“The value of the Pound is about to become the big story in town. And if not, why not?”


John Redwood meanwhile, names and shames the BBC as the culprit behind the non-story. He says the BBC are misrepresenting the credit-crunch to present the situation in Britain as having nothing to do with domestic factors (aka the lengthy incumbency in Downing Street of one Gordon Brown).