It’s rare for a week to go past without the BBC running an item somewhere suggesting that Britain should top locking criminals up. It’s all part of the narrative and so it is no big surprise to hear an item on Today earlier this morning suggesting that we should follow the example of Finland and cease “incarcerating” young people (anyone under 21) in our prisons. The debate was between Professor Rod Morgan who supports the Finnish model, and Michael Howard who does not. An exchange of opinions – which is fair enough. But the bit that got me was the way in which BBC reporter Mark Easton set the whole item up in prejudicial language that was clearly very sympathetic to the line then taken by Morgan. In this way, Howard was basically outnumbered two to one, before on then throws in John Humphrys! Bias – it’s just a way of life for them.
CRIMINAL IRRESPONSIBILITY
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You have to read a long way through this report to discover that ‘British resident’ Binyam Mohamed is in fact an Ethiopian national:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7870049.stm
Calling him a ‘British resident’ creates the impression that he is a citizen of this country. But he is not British. He *was a ‘resident of Britain’. May he be speedily renditioned!
libertus | 04.02.09 – 9:10 pm
i do love the headline though
” Ministers face torture pressure”
yes please.
make a queue at the back , in you dont mind. i have the baseball bat.
jeffD | 04.02.09 – 8:33 pm
I think it’s worth defending. One of the most important institutions in the country in my view. My life would be a little poorer without it, radio in particular.
And it’s good sport on here.
Why is the biased bbc featuring this story?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7869317.stm
mikewineliberal | 04.02.09 – 9:30 pm
because it matters not a jot compared to the bigger issue of the American army actually winning the war in Iraq.
your link refers to a discredited Lancet report. which the BBC still holds onto as gospel.
meanwhile , iraq has moved on. and done stuff like liberate Basra with the U.S. marines, and without the pathetic New Labour “health and safety” British army.
boy is britain going to be in for rude awakening with Obama…
“which the BBC still holds onto as gospel.”
Well what the hell is it doing reporting this then?
“pathetic New Labour “health and safety” British army.”
I am proud to support our army in Iraq and Afghanistan. You should be ashamed of yourself.
“boy is britain going to be in for rude awakening with Obama”
And anti-Americanism too. For shame.
mikewineliberal | 04.02.09 – 9:44 pm |
The New Labour government surrendered to the “militants” in Basra
“The “peaceful elections,” Salmon says, “met the latest of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s goals for removing Britain’s 4,000 troops from Iraq by the end of July.”
Gen Salmon should perhaps be reminded that Mr Brown’s “goals” are of supreme irrelevance. Whether the goals were met, or not, the British are ceasing operations by 31 May and will have to be out of the country by the end of July. That is the case because they have been kicked out.
For Brown, or Salmon, to pretend otherwise, is frankly bizarre. It makes you wonder whether they are truly on this planet. The more worrying thing is that, while Mr Brown is in charge of the country, Gen Salmon is in charge of lots of men with guns. Scary!”
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/
I too support British troops anywhere, they have done a tremendous job on our behalf – The trouble is that their leaders are becoming like Chief Constables – riddled with New Labour spin.
archduke is right – the armed forces are going the same way as the police and its no thanks to the BBC, who have reported any alleged minor misdeed by soldiers – even one Newspaper editor who is often welcomed onto the BBC deliberately made up allegations of torture by British soldiers.
The left have tried to undermine the effectiveness of the army for years. They want them to be more like the salvation army than a fighting force.
mikewine
You can always find the odd BBC story or guest, like Michael Howard ( I notice you ignored my earlier post) which people like you will use as evidence of “balance”, but it doesn’t change the fact that the BBC is relentlessly and overwhelmmingly biased in favour of a political agenda which is remarkably similar to that of the liberal left.
And that is why you try and defend the BBC on this website. Broadly, the political views of the BBC are very similar to your own.
“overwhelmingly” !
to be fair to mikewine at least he brings forward evidence, and not just fruitless abuse like some of the pro BBC airheads.
And it’s good sport on here.
mikewineliberal | 04.02.09 – 9:20 pm |
So you come on here because in your smug and smartarse way, you think it is sport to make snide comments to wind people up.
I find your attitude and manner very annoying.
And it is no good trotting out that the BBC is a great institution and you would be poorer without it: you have to make out those claims. I can think of plenty of reasons why the BBC is rather a corrupt institution which is harmful in many ways and without which we would be richer and happier.
WhiteWineLiberal
Howard was put on because he is a Tory hate figure – one of the ‘Nasty Party’ of old.
He was there to signal which views were not to be held and which views were to be believed.
It’s an old trick the BBC love to play.
On PM today they did a little agitprop on the word ‘depression’ after Our Glorious Leader ‘mispoke’ it at PM QT today.
Eddie ‘What A’ Mair, in discussion with some non-entity, managed to slip up at one point and agreed that the PM had misdpoken the word and meant to say ‘recession’. He hurriedly tacked on ‘according to Number 10’ …
Incidently the upshot of the discussion was that it doesn’t matter what we call our current economic climate as long as we are not negative about it! Well that’s alright then.
Grant – sorry for not responding to your question
“In fact your post demonstrates that you agree that the BBC is biased towards the left, does it not ?”
No.
The Cattle Prod of Destiny | 04.02.09 – 10:49 pm
He was there because he is an ex home secretary and the most proponent of the idea that “prison works”.
Millie Tant | 04.02.09 – 10:36 pm
I’m sorry I have that impact on you. But this site is just sport, for all of us; like mouthing off in a bar. It’s unlikely to change anything, so just enjoy the debate and discourse.
Are you really that unaware of the people around you and the purpose of this site?
PS: You don’t speak for “all of us”.
I would very much like the BBC to come on here and answer or clarify their position re various serious issues raised. I believe that highlighting issues here, as elsewhere online, does result in some cases of the BBC having to acknowledge and explain or on occasion, correct errors.
Millie Tant | 04.02.09 – 11:38 pm-
Do you really believe that divergent views are welcome on this site? Most people who don’t conform to the hive view are insulted, deemed to be bbc employees, or accused of being trolls. In fact, Not a Sheep’s stock response to a divergent view is to bleat “don’t feed the troll”. I’ve even been accused of cheering when israelis get killed.
The idea that the BBC would come here and defend themselves is risible.
The greatest deterrent to crime is not the severity of punishment but the certainty of apprehension and punishment.
By all means avoid sending young offenders to gaol if possible – gaols are crime universities. Increase the size of the police force; pay them decent wages and give them real powers of arrest and detention particularly for the ‘small’- ‘broken window’ crimes; treat assault on a police officer as a serious crime; introduce neighbourhood patrols.
Unfortunately I think the BBC is as opposed to this alternative as it is to incarcerating crims.
BTW Britain should top locking criminals up. While many would be in favour of topping those criminals we catch, stopping would have a better chance of public approval. 🙂
Yet another pity the poor criminal item on the Toady programme today just before 7 a.m.
Apparently the answer is to “foster” the young recidivists and results have been encouraging using a system of “rewards” for good behaviour. The youth in question apparently started smoking cannabis at twelve and committed burglaries (note the plural) to feed his habit. His mother was honest enough to say that when he came home at the weekend he was good at home but as soon as he went out that was a different matter!
I believe there is a major shortage of foster carers who tick all the PC boxes for children without criminal records. Doubtlessly there will be a few near saints who would offer themselves for this scheme but there just may be one regular poster on this site would might just be prepared to put his “liberal” views to the ultimate test by offering his services for the foster a criminal scheme.
Mikewhineliberal is at least honest about his attitude to this site as sport.
And I regret to agree with him that this site won’t change a damn thing. Not ever.
Ugh! Agreeing with mikewhiney. I feel unwashed.
referring to MWL: Broadly, the political views of the BBC are very similar to your own.
Grant | 04.02.09 – 10:15 pm
Exactly. He actually stimulates the debate by sort of representing the BBC and is the start of many good threads. Therefore, he is actually helping the blog. For a debate, you need two sides.
MWL – I, personally am not saying the BBC is 100% bias on all issues, only some issues such as global warming. People like Michael Howard get on air to keep the meter reading off the 100% mark, although I wish they would use Norman Tebbit from time to time, although perhaps that would have too much impact on the needle, as he can get quite a lot of powerful comments into a few sentences. The BBC probably cringe every time Michael Howard says that when he locked up more criminals crime went down.
“Ugh! Agreeing with mikewhiney. I feel unwashed.”
Don’t get him excited.
A police report noted that when a very specific group of young criminals was apprehended,crime in the area declined drastically.
Generally,it is the same recidivists offending over and over again.
mikewineliberal | 05.02.09 – 7:29 am |
The idea that the BBC would come here and defend themselves is risible.
Then why is it worth your time?
The sport, David. The sport.
mikewineliberal | 05.02.09 – 4:51 pm |
But if everybody is so abusive, blind, bigoted, and useless, where’s the real sport in debating? You can’t take too much pride in shooting fish in a barrel, can you?
But most aren’t, including you. I am coming to love and respect you in equal measure.
mikewineliberal, please explain how you justify yourviews when it now look like that knife crime is out of control, and that Labour have been found cooking the books again?.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2009/02/knife_crime.html#commentsanchor
mikewineliberal | 05.02.09 – 5:44 pm |
No more feeding the troll for me.
Colin W
It is good to see that Sir Michael Scholar is spelling it out that No 10 was leaning on the statisticians, cooking the books. He is helping to blow the lid on what MPs should treat as a political scandal.
I knew Michael many years ago – one of the good guys. He retired a few years ago – one of his jobs was Private Sec to Maggie in the early 1980s.
JohnA, it is refreshing when a senior Civil Servant breaks ranks to highlight Government misinformation.
I doubt that this will turn into a huge story, but it should at least force the BBC to adopt the same cynical approach to Labour stats as it does to other political parties announcements.
Colin W
Michael Scholar is retired – now head of St John’s in Oxford. His statistics job is part-time – and he was specifically brought in to ensure that there was no political interference with the statisticians.
Plays Chopin beautifully, can appear very effete – but a bit of a rebel at heart. Very clear thinker, no BS.
He worked in Maggie’s office for several years, in the heyday early 1980s.
Colin W | 05.02.09 – 6:48 pm
What views? I don’t think I’ve expressed them on this issue have I?