Worcester/ Gaza
Worcester and Hamas are twins!
(Well, Worcester and Gaza.)
Labour councillor Alan Amos, who first suggested the twinning, said:
‘Like many I have watched the plight of the people of Gaza, seeing them get bombed and bombed by Israelis with advanced military weapons.”
See! See what you’ve encouraged BBC? Not sure what the purpose of twinning is, but in this case it seems to be a political statement. Has common sense departed?
Allan@Oslo:
This is a Conservative council doing this.
In the same way, re the “put yourself in the mind of the suicide bomber” schools project published by Calderdale Council & withdrawn by the Government.
“this is ridiculous and I want to see it thoroughly investigated,” said Coun Swift (Lab, Town)
Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Olwen Jennings said the question was “a step too far.”
“This is a huge oversight.”
“I am quite furious about the Government withdrawing its support. said Coun Whittaker (Con, Rastrick).
“I am amazed the Government has turned away from it,” said Coun Cooper (Con, Todmorden).
http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/Storm-on-77-Bombs-question.5003713.jp
Sarah Jane
Well I heard Humphrys say that very thing and, it wasn’t anything to do with chaos theory: it was clearly an assertion that 1. global warming is occurring and 2. as a direct consequence Spring is early. There was no equivocation: it was stated as an incontrovertible fact.
Accordingly, it is good evidence that Humphrys worships at the altar of warmism: taken with the hundreds of examples of the same type of knee-jerk attitudinising listed on B-BBC, it is also good evidence of institutional BBC bias.
Umbongo – the chaos theory stuff is a reference to this post from Sue, not DV’s about Humphrys – if you read my comment again you will see I said it seemed a reasonable catch.
ipreferred seems to be the only sane voice on this website at times, that and the gus haynes bloke.
stop looking for bias! cherry picking bias is exactly it; the mentality here; ‘oh lets look for an angle on this particular story, cos i’m angry and i wanna blame someone, ohh the BBC will do…’
Anon: Or is that Gus Haynes. Colin Chase, Hillhunt etc etc etc.
Why don’t you stick to one name? you’re not fooling anyone.
Anon | 26.02.09 – 4:18 pm |
Well, if YOU are looking for sane voices you’d be better off on Al Beeb’s website.
Anyone who claims the MSM is not to blame for corrupting minds is living on fantasy island. They’re still the main news source for a majority of people. Al Beeb are supposed to report the news but they’re not doing it.
“ipreferred seems to be the only sane voice on this website at times, that and the gus haynes bloke.”
They are all in the same class at school
So you think so many people hate the BBC that there can only be one dissented voice???? what the fcuk? are you so naive to believe that only one person thinks most of the stuff posted here is a load of tosh… I’ve got news Martin, I haven’t posted here under another name, and that just shows how ignorant you are about the amount of people who come to this site and realise what a load of rubbish it is you say.
Let’s just say anyone who stands up for Al Beeb qualifies as a loon in my eyes. Case closed.
Them Hamas folks are already certain to be working on ways of making explosives from Worcester Sauce.
There isn’t really a specific topic for this post, so I thought here would do…
As a former serviceman, the thing about the BBC that frustrates me the most is the lack of attention paid to the British soldiers being killed in Afghanistan. Yesterday the 4th, or 5th, item on the news at 10 was the loss of the soldiers in the Helmand province. Are they trying to bury the news? Or is it just difficult for them to talk about the war because it brings up the questions of why they’ve been against it from the offset?
Either way, it’s a disgrace that the nation’s most popular broadcaster attempts to ignore the death of our brave soldiers dying in the war they didn’t chose to fight in.
“I’ve got news Martin, I haven’t posted here under another name,”
You probably did petal,but you were having one of your episodes.
As some American vulgarians are known to say, ‘Plucky little Britain can French kiss my royal ass.’…
knacker | 26.02.09 – 11:50 am
————————————–
I’ve never heard that one before and in fact I would be surprised if it reflected the sentiment of more than a handful of my fellow US’ers.
For the vast majority of Americans, their knowledge of politics in the UK consists of a few hazy impressions, firstly of that ‘nice Mr. Blair’, and perhaps Margaret Thatcher as well if they are over 30. Very little of the sort of political or cultural attitudes discussed on this site have filtered down into the average person’s consciousness, and in fact fewer than 1 in 100 are probably familiar with, or could even name, any British news programs or newspapers.
I’m sure that all of this is a good thing as far as Britain’s image is concerned, because if more Americans were as familiar with Kirsty Wark’s opinions as they are with Kate Winslet’s their rose-tinted view of the relationship might be altered somewhat.
“I’ve got news Martin, I haven’t posted here under another name, and that just shows how ignorant you are about the amount of people who come to this site and realise what a load of rubbish it is you say.”
Gosh, well I’m convinced by that.
Nick B | 26.02.09 – 4:56 pm |
I think that in our modern and very much doomed western democracies soldiers are required to defend us without expecting any thanks. Even required to defend us and expect abuse. Appalling. But, on the other hand, knowingly putting your life on the line defending people who couldn’t really care less is a stupendously noble act.
Anon: Don’t worry the nurse will be along soon. Stop chewing at the buckles.
Whilst the political relationship is of much concern I’m not sure individual Britons do or should care what Joe Public in America think of them any more than the French do. And I’ve never met a Frenchman who cares…
Sarah Jane, I preferred and others,
As soon as you hop over the counter to the other side you risk opprobrium. I’m cool with that.
One of the things that makes this site particularly interesting is that the comments are as important as the main posts. Sometimes a main post just throws in an idea, sometimes it’s long and thoughtful. As a new poster on B-BBC I am not really in a strong position to say this, but from time to time I do speculate on various fundamental questions about this blog.
1. Are we wasting our time.
2. Should we use the scattergun approach and risk discrediting everything else, or be ultra selective, timid, and possibly bore ourselves senseless.
3. Ought we to allow ourselves to wander off into areas like incompetence and bad taste.
These are vexing questions.
If we draw attention to bias by omission, for example, people say that’s not valid. If you mention something that can also be found in other media outlets, critics say it doesn’t hold up.
My reason for getting involved in the first place was not one particular incident, but a massive cumulative build up of anti-Israel, and, I felt, antisemitic bias on the part of the BBC. Several substantive examples have been brought here over the years.
This situation is so longstanding that it has permeated a whole nation’s perception, and has established a consensus, to which I attribute the twinning fiasco and suchlike. Not to mention Sarah Jane’s denial of cause and effect on this subject.
You say I haven’t got 100% proof that this is cause and effect. I say over time we have collectively made a strong case, and if you disagree, well, that’s ‘just your thoughts’ which both you and I are still entitled to express. And as long as we still can, why not make hay while the sun shines; what more could you want?
Sue,
Other than point out bias there are two main prongs of attack.
One is to control the meta content of the discourse so that the question of impartiality by the BBC is commonplace.
Secondly,to take the moral high ground, seized by the liberal left, back.
Political correctness is one weapon that the BBC/liberal left use to keep their opponents on the back foot.Time to use their tactics against them.
Anon: Don’t worry the nurse will be along soon. Stop chewing at the buckles.
martin | 26.02.09 – 5:14 pm |
It’s that silly young Alex Reynolds manifestation again.
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~reynolda/
http://wikitravel.org/en/User:AlexReynolds
Sarah Jane (assorted entries)
I have to hand it to you Sarah Jane.
You do pick your battlefields.
Perhaps some comments on the obvious examples of BBC bias to even it up?
Does this mean they’re going to launch rocket strikes into Gloucestershire?
The BBC in the form of the regional news has now visited Worcester and spoken to Mr Amos; no complaints as the reporter then went on to gather the views of the public and the local Worcester News editor. They all thought there were far more important matters concerning Worcester and it’s own people, especially as the Council had a serious budget problem. Interestingly, all those interviewed were white, which, believe me is unusual for street interviews in this town despite being 95% ethnic British.
One interesting thing that I did learn, as the BBC desperately sought for a link between the cities, is that Worcs and Gaza have something in common, apparently Gaza is famous for wicker furniture!
That’s the first positive news I’ve ever heard about Gaza
…wicker furniture, that is
No doubt they can find a way of turning it against the apes and pigs of Judaea… let’s hope say, ay Beeb?
“He said he had come up with the twinning idea after watching news coverage of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip…”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hereford/worcs/7912305.stm
“..and rejected suggestions that the council would be linking itself with Hamas.”
“He said: “We are linking ourselves with the people of Gaza, not with Hamas.”
That could be awkward. Oh, and they really do anticipate the school trips.
Oh yes, and I forgot to mention the caption under the photo of Gaza.
“Israel launched an assault on Gaza in December”
“Conservatives will not vote to twin with Gaza City
Labour Councillor Alan Amos proposed a motion “That the City of Worcester twin with Gaza City” at a meeting of the City Council. Conservatives amended the motion to refer the debate to the Twinning Association – the correct body to consider such matters.
The Conservative Group will vote against any proposals from the Twinning Association to twin with Gaza City should such a plan be put forward by them.
Conservatives want to concentrate the Council’s efforts on delivering the best possible services to the people of Worcester, unlike the Labour Party who want to distract the public from the real issues facing Worcester under this Labour Government’s disastrous economic policies.”
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2009/02/worcester-torie.html
Is this the same Alan Amos that was MP for Hexham in the nineties and resigned after he was caught on Hampstead Heath messing with children ?
(Honest question because I dont know )
Original Robin | 26.02.09 – 8:28 pm |
Seems so
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Amos
Seems he just wanders the country looking for a safe Labour seat.
And this idiot was the CONSERVATIVE MP for Hexham.
Thankyou Jon.
I guessed it might be by the weasel way he wouldn`t answer a question I put to him then.
This is the sort of biased stuff the BBC puts out on Gaza – Aleem Maqbool in overdrive, full sob-story mode :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7897385.stm
here is a Fisking of Maqbool’s piece. I like the cartoon at the top :
http://www.mererhetoric.com/archives/11275478.html
Meanwhile, what hallucinogenic drug are those loons at MPACUK on????:
http://www.mpacuk.org/content/view/5386/102
‘Insider’ said that worcester is 95% ethnic British, but I’ve heard it has become ‘culturally enriched’. It occurred to me that the councillors were trying to curry (pun intended) favour with a certain ethnic minority.
I don’t see why you are all getting your knickers in such a twist about this. The Palestinians in Gaza have suffered a great deal at the hands of Israel, and it seems to be a rather touching gesture for a British town to show some solidarity with their plight in this way.
Sarah,
The Palestinians have suffered all right, at the hands of HAMAS!
Hamas is a terrorist gang of murderous bullies who have heaped misery and pain on their own people, they torture and murder and steal aid, they lie and they cheat and they force feed their own children with race hatred propaganda glorifying suicide bombing, they would rather steal the billions in aid and buy weapons rather than helping their own people.
So lets be clear about this, Hamas is the cause of Gazan suffering, not Israel, to defend oneself against terrorism is justified, to commit terrorist acts of murder against another country is never justified, the hamas cowards hiding behind women and children, shooting their own people, driving civilians out before the IDF in the hope that they would shoot them down so hamas could claim a war crime!
It saddens me deeply that you swallowed the hamas lies and that you have not taken the time to find out just how evil hamas truly is.
Of course it’s all the BBC’s fault. I mean it just is isn’t?
Sarah Jane | 26.02.09 – 3:14 pm
Famous Israeli cartoonist Uri Fink had a cartoon out during the latest war with a suited Hamas ‘representative’ declaring that the rockets don’t kill people and furious Hamas ‘fighters’ declaring the same thing.
So what is it, Sarah Jane? The BBC does everything it can to push certain hot issues and still stay away from declaring itself a participant yet fails to convince anybody or at least, convinces some people or reinforces their prefudices?
Which is more embarassing for the BBC?
It seems to me that Alan Amos may be more interested in getting on the right side of the Palestinian supporters in his party than in convincing the people of Worcester. His background as a former Conservative must lead to suspicions that he is more an opportunist than an ideologue.
Sarah Jane demands that we restrict ourselves to pointing out examples of the BBC’s incontravertibtle, stand-alone bias. She wants us to wait till John Humphrys openly campaigns for Labour on air, or Jeremy Paxman shouts “Jews in the Ovens”.
They’re not allowed to do that. They might get into trouble. It’s too soon.
No, the consensus is so solid that they may not be fully aware that their view even contains bias. It’s all settled. People who support Israel are beyond the pale. This climate has created a situation whereby it is acceptable to compare Israelis to Nazis, and now this extends to its supporters, and soon perhaps to Jews in general, maybe with the exception of the ubiquitous self-loathers.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3392771/liberal-fascism.thtml
Sara Jane – I’m saying “Look! The patient is ill! He’s infectious -bring on the antidote!” You’re saying, “No, it’s nothing serious, he might be a bit off colour, well it’s just a couple of spots.” and I’m supposed to point out every new spot when it appears so that you can say “it’s probably only a freckle”, and when the patient is dead you will look back and say “oops, I couldn’t see the wood for the trees.”
I won’t be there, but you can carry on part-timing for the BBC.
deegee | 27.02.09 – 7:38 am
he is more an opportunist than an ideologue.
Yes, but he must be a persuasive one. Look at the voting.
I also meant to add: he’s a ‘You create the climate, I’ll jump on the bandwagon’ type of opportunist
Sarh,
What’s all this “solidarity” crap? This revolution sh*t is oh so 60s.
In what way is that idiotic Labour councillor Amos doing anything other than mouthing off platitudes and playing to his left wing gallery?
Most grown ups outside the orbit of the loony Left well understand that socialists like this don’t have any purpose other than to spout off so they can assuage their liberal guilt and feel better about themselves. Seriously – just what is this stupid twinning with Gaza going to achieve? What have the two places got in common? It’s nonsense.
If he really wanted to improve the lot of Gazans, he would get his a*se over to that cesspit right now and negotiate with the Hamas terrorists for a permanent cease fire and start building up their country. For goodness sake, they’ve had enough handouts already from the EU and others over the past God knows how many years in which to do so.
Original Robin 8:28
Yes, Alan Amos was cautioned by the police for “indecency” and deselected by the Tories. Labour were, of course, happy to welcome him and, no doubt, he is very popular with the BBC.
Cassandra,
Sarah’s posting about Gaza suffering at the hands of Israel is unfortunately, the current view of a very significant number of people not only in the UK but also around the world.
You cannot reason with these people because their hatred for Israel is so deeply ingrained. Discussions with these types of people quickly degenerate in to shouting matches simply because anything you say will challenge the very fibre of their being.
And unfortunately, the constant lies, blood libels, myths or even information that isnt published by Al Beeb on a daily basis helps to foster and bolster the beliefs of these kinds of people.
In fact, you could draw a direct line between todays “hamas supporters” and Europes complicity in turning a blind eye to the attrocities of the Nazi’s because its not until the horrors are so obvious that anything will change.
Mailman
Mailman 10:56
Well said, you have summed up the perverted mindset of these people exactly !
This is way OT, so scroll on by, apart from…
Mugwump:
Fewer than one in a hundred can list the amendments in the Bill of Rights either, so I’m not sure what your point is; you surely don’t believe that all opinions are equal.
You seem to overlook the uncounted hundreds of thousands of Americans who pass through the UK each year — not the plaid-clad tourists, but businessmen, academics, military, lawyers, diplomats, troubleshooters and professionals of all kinds in both public and private sectors, namely, the people the demographers categorize as A’s and B’s. I fit some of those categories and mingle with others constantly — quite a few have direct policy input, including one or two at State.
Generally, the better they know today’s Britain the harsher the criticism, simply because the more they see the worse it looks. Many of the denizens on this site wouldn’t disagree, neither would my Brit friends.
But…you should be aware that lots of folks want the US to walk away from nearly all remaining political links with Britain; IMO the number is growing. For different reasons, many Brits welcome that idea, too; IMO the number is shrinking.
Some future historian will write the book about the damage done by Lord Grace-and-Favour Malloch-Brown, but you won’t hear about it on the BBC.
Sorry to wade into your topic, but it cuts both ways. A lot of Brits don’t know much about the real America, and when they go there, they are often shocked by what they see. Many Brits expect a country free of the problems we encounter in our daily lives (crime, bureaucracy, racists, morons) and yet we find the same things. America, like Britain, portrays a sanitized (aritifical) image of itself through television and movies. The reality, is vastly different. Anyone who has spent time in an American city (outside of NY) will know that US urban squalor is far greater a problem than it is here in the UK, to give just one example. Neither is the US a more open or free society, try having an open debate with people about Iraq, or GW, a few years ago. To even dicuss these things was seen by many as an afront to their country – even though it was none of the sort. My point is, yes a lot of Americans don’t know the real Britain, but a lot of Britons don’t know the real America – they think it’s all The OC, NFL games, and MTV. Real life, could not be more different.