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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I was just thinking about the BBC’s suspicion and hatred of the wealth-producing sector of the economy, a hatred born of its socialism or is greenism, or maybe both. I wonder if the attitude of Beeboids to the tax-paying sector might be changed were the licence fee to be linked to GDP growth or decline rather than inflation (though obviously it would be much fairer all round to get rid of the licence fee altogether). That way the BBC would have an interest in encouraging economic growth, rather than holding itself to be above what happens in the real world.
see the bbc and their great er well leader have been protected from helping ch4 which they should be forced to do as ch4 is state funded but no ![what a shock] also love the reporting of the “slum dog ” film not one mention it was channel 4’s film not one !!
feckers
Are we all ready for the big Obamafest we will no doubt be sujected to in the next few days?I expect there will be a mass exodus of beeboids over the pond to worship their hero.
No need to go that far Katherine – take a look at the BBC Have Your Say Homepage (right hand side). ‘Can You Help – Obamarama’. The Beeb want to ‘gather the views of children and young people on the presidency of Barak Obama in every part of the world’ There is no escape!
There is an illuminating interview with the BBC’s environment correspondent, Roger Harrabin, in the current issue of CAM (= “Cambridge Alumni Magazine”).
Roger read English Literature at Catz, so he’s a non-scientist in a position where you’d have thought some scientific training might be handy.
He bemoans the student politics of his day at Cambridge, and wishes that the JCR (of which he was President) at St Catherine’s had been “Less partisan and more technocratic”. Now isn’t that instructive? What I think Roger means by that is that a self-appointed coterie – or perhaps “soviet” – of “experts” should have decided everything, and anyone who disagreed with them should have been sidelined, dismissed as “partisans” and had their views belittled and ignored so that the top-down prescriptions could be imposed on the kulaks for their own good.
He then goes on to relate the tale of some studenty inequity or other, which the college newsletter was able to correct. Roger sagely observes that this taught him much about the power of the printed word.
Now we start to understand why Roger might make quite a good BBC climate change correspondent after all!
Could it possibly be that Roger sees the role of the BBC as identifying the appropriate elites in various areas, reporting their opinions without question as facts (Roger is entirely inequipped to challenge any scientist, pseudo- or otherwise, coherently on anything), vilifying anyone who disagrees with the bien pensant perspective and telling them they can all jolly well shut up (but still pay for it) if they don’t like it?
Surely no trace of any such attitude can be discerned in the BBC’s output on climate?
I wonder if anyone else was watching “Born Survivors” on BB3 last night. This episode was the story of an underage girl (Kizzy) who became pregnant at 13 and is bravely struggling (with the support of her loving family) to raise Kaylib(?). The father (who was also 13 at the time) has “moved away”. After a reprise of Kizzy’s pregnancy and pre-epidural pain of delivery we were treated to the reassuring story of her now happy but intermittently problematical life. After 20 minutes of this dross I gave up. The scene of Kizzy being decked out in a ball-gown for her school “prom” created too much saccharine for my digestion to tolerate and I “red-buttoned” to the snooker before I vomited.
Other programmes in the “Born Survivors” series generally portray admirable young people struggling against problems not of their own making. However, this one is a prime example of the BBC’s liberal/Guardianista “non-judgemental” agenda. Here is a girl who was involved in an illegal act of underage sex: the “father” (despite his age) is probably liable to prosecution. Kizzy’s parents although, on the face of it, “shocked” to realise that their daughter was “sexually active” at 13 soon got used to the idea of their child being a mother. I learned from the blurb accompanying the programme that Kizzy was contemplating setting up home with her new (16 year old?) boyfriend in a simulacrum of “independence” at, I guess, the taxpayers’ expense.
The BBC’s position – as evidenced by the warm tones and words of the commentary – is whole-hearted approval for the “bravery” of Kizzy, the acceptance of the situation by her parents, the understanding of her school and the affection of her schoolmates. There is not a hint of condemnation from anyone regarding Kizzy’s sheer stupidity and irresponsibility or that of Kaylib’s father although her parents clearly wish it hadn’t happened. The failure – of which Kizzy’s situation is exemplary – of the “sex education” agenda of bien pensant policy makers for the last 50 years naturally goes unmentioned.
xjboy550 – try a little punctuation. It might make your posts a bit easier to understand (which, I assume, is what you want).
Here’s an interesting one: The headline:
Generals in Scrap Tident Call
Now the headline would make you possibly think that the retired military officers were against trident because of an objection to nuclear weapons. Not so.
Only in the 10th paragraph do we learn that what was actually said was:
“Rather than perpetuating Trident, the case is much stronger for funding our armed forces with what they need to meet the commitments actually laid upon them.”
So the generals are not talking about a reduction in defence spending, or a moral objection to trident. They are talking about spending the £20bn savings on conventional forces.
I may be reading too much into this but I definitely thought the headline was misleading. Perhaps a better headline would have been:
“Generals want to replace trident” or “Scrap trident to boost land forces, say generals”. “Scrap Trident” makes it sound like a CND slogan.
Umbongo | 16.01.09 – 11:54 am
The failure – of which Kizzy’s situation is exemplary – of the “sex education” agenda
It seems to have succeeded all too well. Kizzy clearly knew exactly which orifice to use etc.
It’s interesting how the BBC’s studied neutrality so often comes over as unspoken endorsement.
But why are they so neutral anyway?
While I don’t want them taking sides between Labour and Conservative, Palestine and Israel, Republicans and Democrats … I really wouldn’t mind if they were a teensy bit biased in favour of good and against evil.
Not certain about bias, but do the BBC ever actually read the headlines they write?
This made me laugh…
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7833063.stm
If you think that the London based BBC is bad you should see and hear the BBC Scotland output. The subject of their phone in on Radio Scotland this morning was ”What is George Bush’s legacy”. Cue the predictable Trot morons egged on by the presenter.However mid way through the programme they take a call from George Galloway who was of course totally predictable. Now I’m willing to bet that Galloway was in England where his constituancy is and Parliament is sitting so how did he know the programme was on in Scotland. It couldn’t possibly be could it that the BBC called him to get his verdict on Bush?
Not BBC bias.. but just progressive bien-pensantism in general.
Was watching some talking head interviewed on news about John Mortimer’s death.
Newsreader saying, JM was greatly interested in free speech, and talking head says (i paraphrase) ‘but he wasnt just left-wing… he had some right-wing views aswell, like support for fox-hunting blah,blah…’
oh yeah,.. left-wing and free-speech,.. that great double act.
/rolls eyes
In tomorrow’s FT Magazine
Ken Livingstone: out of office, desperate to return and obsessed with Boris Johnson
Perhaps they go on to say, “who would be condemned to obscurity were it not for the BBC putting a microphone in front of him at every opportunity”.
encouraging economic growth, rather than holding itself to be above what happens in the real world.
RR | 16.01.09 – 10:48 am | #
Great idea, I’d also like all BBC Editorial meetings televised on a dedicated channel where you could see which guests/talking heads were chosen and why.
If we must have this odious BBC, lets make life as uncomfortable for them as they make it for normal people.
Let`s not just make the wages and jobs at the BBC dependent on economic conditions, lets make the senior mandarins at Whitehall subject to that too.
For example their maladministration has destroyed the International road haulage industry. Job and wage cuts should be made at the Department against Transport.
This Week with Andrew Neil, BBC 2
Alistair McGowan : “…..we need to get serious about climate change”
………and so the BBC bring on a comedian to pass on this gem.
Now just remind me BBC, who is it that needs to get serious about climate change?
http://antigreen.blogspot.com/
(notice nobody says global warming anymore because the globe isn’t……..er………warming.
Israeli media reports that Hamas took over the first floor of the building that the BBC offices in Gaza last night and fired rockets from there, trapping the journalists above. Despite the fact that their reporters have now escaped the building, the BBC has so far not said anything about this.
BBC Silent about being Terrorized in Gaza: Discretion or Cowardice?:
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2009/01/16/bbc-silent-about-being-terrorized-in-gaza-discretion-or-cowardice/
I saw a piece on the BBC website the other day about Japan where the author made a joke about the Japanese accent. The line was as follows:
“Lola – or Rora – to give her a slightly more Japanese pronunciation – is a beauty and she knows it.”
Lola is a cat, but as I said on my own blog this isn’t the point. This is the same BBC that went out of its way to find racist white people who wouldn’t vote for Obama because he was black making a racist joke about Japanese pronunciation.
No doubt Labour’s dhimmi Brown and D.Miliband will re-double their efforts to get the 75 million Muslim Turks into the E.U. (with 1 million plus of them into the UK), in response to the BBC’s enthusiastic partial reporting by S. Montague, of the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, pro-Islamic jihad Hamas actions in Turkey, indicated by this BBC headline and uncritical ‘report’:
“Turkey rallies to Gaza’s plight”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7831496.stm
What about questioning BBC about this:
“Israeli media reports that Hamas took over the first floor of the building that the BBC offices in Gaza last night and fired rockets from there, trapping the journalists above. Despite the fact that their reporters have now escaped the building, the BBC has so far not said anything about this.”
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2009/01/16/bbc-silent-about-being-terrorized-in-gaza-discretion-or-cowardice/
max:
The BBC will not report Hamas as bad guys.
But how clever is that Hamas move! How well they know the Beeb. Here’s the plan: occupy the BBC offices, get shelled and then allow the BBC to claim: “Israel targets BBC”
luckylucky
Yes, I particularly like this sentence in the article:
“But here’s the BBC, used as human shields by Hamas, and they won’t let the public know.”
From:
“BBC Silent about being Terrorized in Gaza: Discretion of Cowardice”
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2009/01/16/bbc-silent-about-being-terrorized-in-gaza-discretion-or-cowardice/
Global Warming Cartoons
http://ifglobalwarmingisrealthenwhyisitcold.blogspot.com/
Anonymous | 16.01.09 – 1:05 pm
Your funny headline reminded me of 2 classics from the printed press.
One from wartime:
“British Push Botttles Up Germans”
and
“Sir Vivian Fuchs Off To The South Pole”
@ anonymous
If you think BBC Scotland is bad you really should check out the provincial output fro the vile BBC. I live in Birmingham where we get nothing of value – a crap evening “news” with arse-clenchingly embarrassing presenters and reporters (some of whom who can barely read but get the overpaid job nonetheless presumably because of their cute ethnic smiles). There is absolutely ZERO editorial initiative or ambition, which – naturally – can only come from West London. Five million people are forced to pay the disgusting BBC tax here and all we get in cultural disenfranchisement.
Not just that – the BBC vacated its HQ at Pebble Mill (which in the 60s produced ground-breaking drama) and now occupied a ludicrously overpriced section of the Mailbox – a sort of vulgar Footballer’s wives haunt.
Every time I see the crap on local TV I wish I had the gumption to throw a rock through their windows.
The BBC retards the cultural development in this country.
BBC offices used to fire actual rockets at Israelis. The symbolism is just too perfect.
Dr Michael Jones | 16.01.09 – 3:43 pm
If you think BBC Scotland is bad you really should check out the provincial output fro the vile BBC. I live in Birmingham where we get nothing of value – a crap evening “news” with arse-clenchingly embarrassing presenters and reporters (some of whom who can barely read but get the overpaid job nonetheless presumably because of their cute ethnic smiles).
Ditto in the South East Region – including our (un)fair share of underperforming “effniks”.
Re the BBC not reporting that its offices were taken over by Hamas, this from Kevin Myers in today’s Belfast Telegraph is apposite:
Every measure the Israelis take to minimise casualties is intellectually put aside in the extraordinary Weltenschauung — world-view — which governs the Middle East conflict. This Weltenschauung involves a self-censoring, intelligent stupidity that is so all-pervasive across the media that one is obliged to ask, why?
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/supporting-hamas-makes-us-nazi-sympathisers-of-our-age-14143296.html
chuffer why should it mean my posts are of less value ? or just that you think you are just so clever you can pass on you,r wisdom without being asked ?.
I shall not bother again as the elite on here have way too much of a old school mentality to preaching !.
That enemy of Israel, the BBC’s Humphrys, may retire:
“Humphrys is in the money”
http://londonersdiary.standard.co.uk/2009/01/humphrys-is-in.html
Interesting that the BBC have been up in arms all day about the possible 100 million deal for a footballer.
Thing is the BBC can’t see the irony that they pay arseholes like Ross 6 million a year out of money take from the public under menaces.
My comment at the Belfast Telegraph;
“Unfortunately the reality is that until the MSM wakes up and stops spreading Arab lies and propoganda and starts an honest and open exploration of the conflicts in the Middle East, we wont be seeing any peace any time soon.
And it doesnt have to be major changes in direction. Simple things like offering context around who the players are would be a good start.
For example, on ITV news here earlier in the week Egyptian conflict with Hamas was explained away with the simple line that Hamas are allies of the political opposition in Egypt. Absolutely no effort was made to offer up the context that the opposition are the radicals in the Muslim Brotherhood, thus leaving viewers with the impression that Hamas is in cahoots with a political party like the Torries!
This doesnt require a major mindset change from our leftist media, all it requires is honesty and integrity from the MSM to start reporting news and facts instead of their opinions.”
Mailman
London Kulak | 16.01.09 – 11:54 am
Good stuff. Do you have a link or scan for that CAM article?
fawning, cringe-worthy piece of nonsense on the BBC website
xjboy550:
chuffer why should it mean my posts are of less value ? or just that you think you are just so clever you can pass on you,r wisdom without being asked ?.
I shall not bother again as the elite on here have way too much of a old school mentality to preaching !.
xjboy550 | 16.01.09 – 4:18 pm | #
I say, steady on, old chap. Who said anything about ‘less value’? Not me. I just suggested that, in order for us better to understand your no doubt utterly valid views, a little punctuation would be useful! My apologies if offense has been taken.
BBC is advertising for a Director BBC World Service, Global News Division.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/jobs
Reference is 3419008
Any suitable candidates?
Applications by 25 January.
I think we should all apply for the job, listing the required credentials (ie pro gay, strongly pro ethnics except in senior BBC jobs, anti-joo, pro Hamas and islamists of any flavour, anti royalty, socialist, anti-American but pro the Obamaessiah etc etc
Must stop. Blood pressure rising.
God I hate the BBC.
I have been puzzled/horrified by a couple of snippets on CBBC’s Newsround this week. As one of the offspring is off sick at the moment, I have caught a couple of instances and it seems scarcely a day goes by without a lovely little puff story about that nice new President Obama who’s coming in, gosh isn’t he a nice man and he’s going to have a big party and he’s really kind to animals and everyone really really likes him.
It seems the Young Pioneer indoctrination starts early…
BBC report:
“UK an ‘unequal place to grow up”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7823372.stm
The BBC could have noted: we don’t hear much from Labour ‘Equality’ Minister, Harman on this:
‘Telegraph’:
“Harriet Harman is no class warrior” (Andrew Pierce)
[Extract]:
“You just knew that the Cabinet minister championing a state-legislated end to class war would be one with the most privileged background.
“Harriet Harman, the queen of misjudged social engineering initiatives, is an old girl of St Paul’s, one of Britain’s most elite schools. She’s also the niece of the Countess of Longford.
“Her hypocrisy rather sticks in the craw. As the MP for Peckham, which has more than its share of needy youngsters, Harman knows all about rescuing children from failed local state education. Well, she does when it comes to her kids.
“Not for them the local bog-standard comprehensive monolith so beloved by old lefties in the Labour Party. Instead, she sent her eldest to that bastion of working class solidarity, The Oratory, the selective Roman Catholic school where the Fettes-educated Tony Blair sent his sons.
“Another of her offspring went to a selective grammar in Kent, far from the mean streets of Peckham which she toured in a stab-proof jacket. ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/andrewpierce/4248794/Harriet-Harman-is-no-class-war-warrior.html
All BBC journalists are on the lookout for “Obama angles”. Here’s one none of them have picked up on yet: Obama “Gun Salesman of the Year”.
Dr Michael Jones
don’t exaggerate things, you strange man.
re BBC Scotland, about a year ago Radio Scotland had a phone – in programme hosted by the appalling harpie Lesley Riddoch where the question for debate ”has Scotland recovered from Thatcherism?”. This is of course classic ”have you stopped beating your wife” style.Their idea of balance was to have 2 unreconstructed class warriors (the names escape me)in the studio with jounalist Bruce Anderson on a phone link. Every time Anderson opened his mouth he was regaled with sniggers and laughter from the Trots. all very entertaing for Riddoch of course. I don’t know why Anderson bothered for his measly fee. I complained to BBC Scotland and I still await an acknowledgement. BBC Scotland, keeping Scotland a Tory free zone
Bill ‘the one and only’ Buchan | 16.01.09 – 5:52 pm
‘the one and only’
Thank god for that.
Although the dhimmi BBC has no criticism of D. Miliband’s ‘Guardian’ article, the ‘Telegraph’ has:
“David Miliband is wrong on the war on terror”
[Extract]:
“He claims that Islamist terrorists are ‘disparate, every bit as diverse in their views as the IRA, Baader-Meinhof and Eta were in 1970s Europe. This is the purest casuistry. Islamist fundamentalists may not be organised or unified in a conventional sense, but they have a unifying creed, jihadism: they are waging a holy war and they must be resisted.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4249466/David-Miliband-is-wrong-on-the-war-on-terror.html
I see global warming strikes again.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7833311.stm
Or not……….
James wrote earlier:
“Scrap Trident” makes it sound like a CND slogan.
That’s because (in mi opinion – of course )there is a very high probability that every member of the senior editorial and reporting staff were at one time members of CND, and remain committed to that particular lost liberal cause.
on another note I am getting very sick of the BBC reporting what is going to happen (e.g. ministers are likely to approve 3rd runway)rather than what has happened. One could suspect if one was of a suspicious mind, that they were colluding with a political agenda.
Final point – BBC 6 pm news, we were treated to some f***wit reporter playing a flight-sim game to show how the Hudson rive plane ditched. This is the quality of the reportage we get for the TV tax.
And the arch-masturbator Ross is on his way back.
gibve me strength
apps to Chuffer for the typos -I hope that I was comprehensible.
The BBC, which is politically anti-Israel, and pro-Islamic jihad suupporting Hamas, has received approval from Westminster Council to build ‘fortress’ Broadcasting House, London to protect Beeboids from Islamic jihadists.
Broadcasting House, London includes BBC Arabic TV Service ( but not, of course, the non-existent BBC Israeli TV Service ), and this too will be defended from attacks by Islamic Jihadists.
Apparently, the BBC Arabic Service is proving popular with Arabs in the Middle East. Does the UK taxpayer-financed BBC Arabic Service concentrate on providing an even more Islamic jihad Hamas friendly broadcasting to the Middle East in Arabic, than BBC UK licencepayer-financed anti-Israeli broadcaster does?
More UK taxpayer money spent on a BBC service to the Arabs, touting the D.Miliband line:
“BBC Arabic to begin 24 hour broadcasts”
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a143105/bbc-arabic-to-begin-24-hour-broadcasts.html?rss
News Quiz at their worst tonight, Shriti Vadera’s slip of the tongue was an excuse for an attack on Norman Lamont, David Cameron, George Osborne, Prince Harry and Prince Charles – well fair is fair. Now “racism is generic” question in Royal Family, complete with anti-Ginger joke. Had enough, turning off…. God I hate the BBC.
It’s all too much:
apps to Chuffer for the typos -I hope that I was comprehensible.
It’s all too much | 16.01.09 – 6:41 pm | #
Hmmm. Passable, I suppose. Could try a bit harder next time. See me afterwards.