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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Inadequate BBC report on ASYLUM:
“Asylum seeker analysis ruled out”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7778132.stm
A corrective by Leo McKinstry:
“Any amnesty for illegal immigrants is simply surrender”
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/75252
Hi can someone advise me on how to complain about HYS censorship. I’ve had comments censored in the past and can almost understand why, but I’ve had the most innocent and appropriate comments censored recently and really ought to bring it to someone’s attention.
“13 things you need to know about the TV licence (or maybe 130)”
http://jonathanmiller.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-tv-licence/#comment-544
John Kimble | 11.12.08 – 10:27 pm |
Complaining is futile – I have complained about bias and errors on a number of occasions and the BBC have not even had the decency to reply.
Truly awful News at 10 tonight (Thurs). Opening piece about the Irish being invited to vote again on the Lisbon Treaty, at the end of which we switch to Mark Marldell who inexplicably spouts incomprehensible bollocks for about a minute without any reference to the whole Irish Referendum issue.
Then we have a piece about the Sterling/Euro rate, during which a name capion flashes up completely at random. The owner of that name appears some time later.
Then Huw Edwards starts to develop a nasty wheeze, probably brought on by his inability to see a fullstop IN his script, and then his stressing OF the wrong word gets out OF contol….
Too much to bear; it’s hello to Mr Paracetamol from me and it’s bedtime.
ok thansk Jon that’s sort of what I feared. I just wondered if I could maybe email someone to complain rather than taking the traditional route of filling in the form on the website.
i don’t think the HYS moderators are all bad and they do have a tricky job sometimes – clearly there’s at least one rouge one there though
What a sick, expensive useless Labour joke –
BBC report:
“Census to ask about citizenship”
[Extract]:
“People are to be asked questions about their citizenship, national identity and mastery of English for the first time as part of the national census…
“For the first time, people will be asked to state their citizenship, national identity and the date when they first entered the UK.
“Respondents will also be asked what their “main” language is and whether they speak English very well, well, not well or not at all.”
(One can imagine the deceitful answers.)
The BBC report does touch on the many criticisms of the 2001 Census, but should go further:
“The last census?”
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=5743
Apparently, the 2001 Census of England and Wales cost £254 million,
but as Treasury Committee reported:
” we found no cost-benefit analysis had been undertaken to justify the £254 million expenditure involved in carrying out the 2001 Census.
“We believe that any future Census should be justified in cost-benefit terms, and that before any decision is taken, all the alternatives to a full Census, including doing without one altogether, should be evaluated.”
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/trepnt17.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7778314.stm
John Kimble | 11.12.08 – 10:34 pm |
I think you have to go through the BBC complaints form online – You give your email address and then tick the box to say you want a reply – but the replies never come. You could write to your MP (although, there is no political party with MPs in parliament who do not support the BBC)
Don’t forget the BBC does not like criticism.
George R | 11.12.08 – 10:41 pm |
The next census will probably have all kinds of personal questions on it – in preparation for the ID card.
Justin Webb fibbing for both the UAW and President-elect Obamessiah today:
Republicans vs. unions
Contrary to what ol’ Justin thinks, the Republicans are not out to destroy the union. “Hara-kiri” is a nice euphemism he can use to pretend he’s just exaggerating and not lying, but it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Why not mention the massive, industry-strangling cost burdens of the UAW, Justin? Here’s a little something from Fortune magazine, almost two years ago, to show just how dishonest Webb is here:
The Tragedy of General Motors
The Detroit giant is a weird, scarred combination: a carmaker doing poorly, and an insurance company engulfed by its obligations. It’s heading for a wreck — which is why CEO Rick Wagoner has the toughest job in business.
Anyone honest (or who was paying attention) will remember that people were talking about GM going bankrupt over two years ago, long before Gordon Brown or Robert Peston ever heard of the “credit crunch”. Union costs are so insane that GM spends millions of dollars on “job banks” for union workers. These are otherwise known as “ghost jobs”, because it’s just a salary on the books for someone who doesn’t actually work. The union gets their dues, keeps the slaves fed, and it adds up to $1300 extra that every poor bastard has to pay if they want to own a GM car. Even worse, GM has to support a $119 billion fund for employee and retiree benefits. The company itself was valued two years ago at….er…$13 billion.
The other two auto giants aren’t far behind.
Instead, Justin Webb takes the usual Leftoid/BBC position: any criticism of unions is actually a call for their total destruction, and the deliberate starvation of the workers and their families. That’s probably what Webb believes himself.
His lie in defense of President-elect Obamessiah demonstrates just how much he believes in the Leftoid blogs and newspapers he follows slavishly. Contrary to what Justin says, the real story is not just about dealing or not dealing with Blagojevich about The Obamessiah’s choice to replace him in the Senate. This distracts from the much larger problem of the fact that The Obamessiah was Blagojevich’s adviser during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign. Another top adviser was Rahm Emannuel, now The Obamessiah’s chief of staff. Plus, Tony Rezko was a crooked fundraiser and adviser to both of them.
The Blagojevich-Obamessiah connection runs much deeper than this. But Justin Webb doesn’t want you to know about that.
For his fortnightly gesture to prove that he’s not biased, ol’ Justin admits to being fascinated, yet disappointed by censorship on The Obamessiah Transition Team blog. Of course, anyone reading Biased BBC will know that The Obamessiah and his minions have engaged in thuggish suppression of opponents for the last year. This comes as no surprise to us. Ol’ Justin, on the other hand, is fascinated.
Gently pointing out one negative doesn’t balance out two lies.
The gabbling Ms. K.Wark was at her biased interrupting worst on BBC-2 ‘Newsnight’; but, of course’ on the issue of the E.U. pressuring Ireland to have another referendum, only ONE of her two interviewees got the interrupting treatment. Was it the E.U. Minister OR the Irish Libertas’s Declan Ganley, critic of the E.U.- imposed referendum, who got the Wark blocking treatment? Of course, Libertas got it in the neck – with at least ten blocking interruptions by Wark. And none for the E.U. Minister.
For things which Mr. Ganley might have said if he had not been so biasedly, and rudely interrupted by Wark, suggest see:
http://www.libertas.eu/
Not once during the Blagojevich slot on BBC News at 10 was the word “Democrat” uttered. Is that word, when an item on political corruption in the US is broadcast, morphing into BBC unspeak in the same way that “Moslem” is never used when Islamic-inspired terrorism (sorry, militancy) is reported?
An update for the BBC on Belgium al-Qaeda arrests – as the BBC is reluctant to provide full weight to this news, given inherent BBC dhimmitude;
‘Jihadwatch’-
“Belgium: ‘Internet jihadist’ nabbed in raids on al-Qaeda suspects”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023882.php
Knife crime. Compare and contrast.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1093784/Jacqui-Smith-boasts-knife-crime-crackdown–figures-prove-it.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/
In which case, why did Sheena make such a fuss over this story on the BBC news?
I think the BBC should watch this. It is proof that they have been misrepresenting George W Bush, in more than one way.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fTa-En4f504&eurl=http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/weblog.php
Spin collision?
BBC: “Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has warned the cabinet of a possible mass influx of Zimbabweans to the UK amid the country’s cholera outbreak.
But Foreign Office sources have dismissed her words as alarmist, BBC political editor Nick Robinson said.”
One is softening us up for yet more Africans pouring into the UK, the other being briefed to say its not a problem really.
Who is running the country, the Home Office or the Foreign Office, or Nick Robinson? Or no-one?
Just as various members of the Labour Cabinet ineffectually and weakly ‘warn’ against e.g. violence in Darfur, or ‘warn’ against forced marriages in certain immigrant communities, or ‘warn’ the energy companies about their high electricity and gas prices, so too we now have:
BBC report:
“Smith warns of Zimbabwe ‘influx'”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7778688.stm
Decoded, that headline seems to mean something like:
‘The Labour Cabinet cannot/will not do any thing to stop the mass immigration of Zimbabweans to the UK, whether they have cholera or not; and the Cabinet is divided on how lax to be about mass immigration in general, anyway. Vote Labour.’
Umbongo | 11.12.08 – 11:58 pm
Yes, it is interesting that the BBC wish to downplay (or even cover up) the fact that Blago is a Democrat.
And his party affiliation is undeniably a significant fact – he’s the first Democrat to be elected governor of Illinois since the 70s.
GeorgeR,
I thought all the White Zimbabweans were already here?
Mailman
Actually, what will be interesting is seeing whether the Light Worker ™ will have the same backbone when it comes to dealing with an uncooperative congress/senate.
Will he veto bills in order to force the Senate to pass laws he wants passed as Bush did with the Democratic Senate and war funding for Iraq?
Mailman
A rare, informative BBC report on E.U., avoiding subservience to E.U. Ministers’ diktats:
“Irish E.U. vote plan ‘undemocratic'”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7777713.stm
ALSO:
‘Mail’:
“Analysis: Imperial Brussels risks a rebellion” (Mary Ellen Synon)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1094031/ANALYSIS-Imperial-Brussels-risks-rebellion.html
Mailman/ GeorgeR,
“I thought all the White Zimbabweans were already here?”
They may well be, to judge by the accents on the London tube, but its there’s still 13m of their non-white fellow countrymen still there.
So how many here now and to come Jacqui? (Dunno, search me. Err, no, not search me, search Damien)
Random:
Thanks for the excellent link showing the interviewer trying to make G Bush appear extreme, but ending up making him look normal, and a very likeable and decent man.
They would never ask those types of questions to Obama.
Like you say, that is the kind of footage not shown by the BBC
Shockingly biased anti grammar school article at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7778608.stm
Noel C – yes, terrible article. Most parents of children at grammar school that I know are not as wealthy or privileged as BBC employees. Many are taxi drivers.