Isn’t it touching to see the PROMINENCE that the BBC is giving to the pretend Conservative tax wars? This is the real dilemma that Cameron faces – the BBC will seek to set up, inflate and plain invent all kinds of stresses within Conservatism in order to deflect the shambles of Labour.
TORY WARS
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Given the economic circumstances and the enormous mess the Government is making of the economy it would seem perfectly sensible for the Tories to be rethinking tax policy.
In comparision the revelation that another government minister has been caught with his snout in the trough has been buried.
Blatant bias of the very worst sort.
Agreed. 1st item on the 10 o’clock news for the anti-Conservative fantasy and the mcnulty potential sleaze item was 1 sentence slipped in near the end.
It was an utter disgrace. As others have pointed out Clarke simply said it wouldn’t be priority No1, which is probably very true.
It is just interesting though that which story will piss the public off more, some Tory tax plan or yet another piece of Liebour excrement cheating on his taxes?
The whole of Nu Liebour from the fat one eyed twat downwards (Ball, Cooper, 5 bellies, Prescott, Mandelson and now McNulty and those are the ones that come to mind) have been caught out, yet the BBC says nothing. If this were the Tories in power you just know the BBC would be all over this.
No doubt Osborne will be on Radio 4 tomorrow getting another grilling whilst that poisoned prat Mandelson will be cranking up the BBC spin machine.
Noted on the 10 O’Clock News and logged on here to see if it had been flagged up.
Surely it’s more a commentary on the state that Gordon Brown will have left the finances than something to bash the Tories on? I suspect that’s how most people will see it – everyone knows the Tories want to raise the Inheritance Tax threshhold.
my thoughts exactly –the BBC really have plumetted to new reporting bias low.
The Conservatives have set tax aspirations which will or won’t be feasible after the next election.
The unparalleled borrowing requirement of this government will probably mean tax rises and a drop in government spending.
The next gvt will inherit the worst economy in our history–well done Labour!!!!!
This has been the main news item on BBC News 24 (or whatever the crap is called) for hours now. They must’ve been praying for something like this so they didn’t have to have the Goody death story as the main headline to hide the McNulty affair!
I hate the BBC with every fibre of my existence!
ho ho ho – mandy spin machine cranks into action. bbc obliges.
front page headline on bbc news
“Mandelson : Tories confused on tax”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
sad thing is – inheritance tax is a drop in the ocean compared to the 600 billion (and rising) annual spend by the Nu Labour state.
Well well well – BBC front page top space devoted to Mandleson about “Confused Tory tax policies”
Orchestrated puppet news from your national tax-funded broadcaster in cahoots with Labour’s doctor of spin. Tummy rubbing in order for BBC-lap-dogs.
What a load of tossers!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7957852.stm
“PM leads tributes to Jade Goody “
Tories in crisis, Gordon praises Jade.
Nothing more to see, move along…
SAVE GORDON
http://www.order-order.com/2009/03/reality-shows/
Jade Goody is gone and the tributes pour in from the same rent-a-quotes who condemned her for her outburts against Shilpa Shetty. Politicians are always desperate to associate themselves with popular culture in any way they can. Sometimes though Guido despairs of the priorities of spin, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition today paid warm tribute to a deceased reality TV star with her own perfume fragance.
At the same time three soldiers, sent to war by them, returned in coffins from Afghanistan unremarked.
Is this not more than simple partisan support for the dying Labour project,but in fact treasonous to the British people,in whose name the evil empire broadcasts.
Labour is now so disastrous and harmful to this country,that any honourable party leader would have resigned.Yet,the BBC supports this ramshackle,ruritanian government of third raters.Why?
archduke | 23.03.09 – 12:15 am | #
At least it’s making a military stampdown on the public after a summer ‘False Flag’ terrorist operation/’Summer of Rage’ (CC Act) seem less likely.
I think the army may decide to shoot McCyclops rather than support him.
Way to go keeping a non story going: top headline on news website.
Mandelson: Tories confused on tax
Lord Mandelson says the Tories are confused over tax after Ken Clarke says cutting inheritance tax is not a priority.
What a pity that the BBC is compliant in Mandy’s refusal to be interviewed with Big Ken.
http://www.order-order.com/2009/03/shock-nigel-griffiths-mp-at-it-with-a-girl/
Labour MP caught having a sex session in the House of Commons.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/230378/Gordon-Browns-pal-Nigel-Griffiths-cheats-on-wife-with-brunette-on-Remembrance-Day-in-House-of-Commons.html
At the same time three soldiers, sent to war by them, returned in coffins from Afghanistan unremarked.
By the same scum who sent them in inadequate vehicles and too few a number.
As other have said, here we are with three major stories reflecting badly on ZaNuLabur (McNulty on the fiddle, Griffiths committing adultery in the POW and Myners dodging taxes and lying his head off about Fred the Shred’s pension),while the BBC leads with the repellent face of Mandelson crowing about Clarke’s (all too predictable) tax gaffe.
And no, trolls, the fact that the Mail leads on the same story isn’t justification for the BBC doing the same. At least the Mail covered the other stories. The BBC just pretended they’d never happened.
GCooper: Spot on. The Mail dumps on the Tories on a regular basis, but they dump on Liebour as well.
The BBC just dumps on the Tories unless a story gets so much traction the BBC has to come to the aid of the Government to spin the story. We get the Michael Prick on Newsnight giving us ‘they’ve done nothing wrong’ line before moving on to Caroline Spelman again.
Note how the BBC played down the fat one eyed one being caught out recently.
So I’m watching News 24 and they lead with the Tories.
Sky leads with the 2 plane crashes
CNN leads with the 2 planes crashes
I then switch over and the bBC is still running with the Tories.
If I didn’t know better I’d say there’s going to be an election in the UK this year and the bBC is making sure everybody knows not to vote for the Tories.
It’s the most blatant bias yet really, I’m actually quite annoyed about it and I’m in no way rampantly tory.
This Smear story against the Tories is just the opening shot, there is much more to come, a shed load of poisonous smear stories just waiting to be aired.
IHT? It doesnt take a genius to realise that the massive black hole in government finances is getting worse by the day and so the Tories simply have to realign thier fiscal priorities almost constantly, bear in mind that the Tories have not yet been given access to the ministries, so they can really only make educated guesses as to what revenues they will need to raise, but hey, when its a chance to smear the hated Tories.
The BBC line of attack is simple and direct, look for any sign of splits whether real or imaginary and exploit any slip of the tongue made by a Tory, the whole point of future interviews by the BBC will be to look for and exploit gaps/mistakes/unknowns/uncertainties and dress them up as splits in the Tory party.
How can the Tories fight against this kind of poisonous propaganda? The BBC became expert at searching for and exploiting the split line when the Tories were last in power and it played a big part in their downfall then, now the BBC have no effective oversight and quality control mechanism like they did in the 90s, the attacks on the Tories are going to be unrestrained,poisonous and constant!
The BBC have been planning and refining their anti Tory offensive for some time now, the collusion between their friends and family in newlabour means a solid and highly effective political axis, the BBC will lead on ‘Tory splits’ and ‘Tory sleaze’ whenever they get the chance and as the election nears the BBC will ramp up the smear campaign to unbelievable levels.
The Tories seem oblivious to the threat they face, both pre and post election, the task of trying to rebuild a shattered economy will be hard enough but with an utterly hostile BBC attacking its flanks it will be impossible, the Tories have been outflanked and outmanouvered by the BBC/NULAB axis.
Newlabour are going to try and steal the next election by any means they can, failing this they are going to sabotage the incoming Tory regime from the start with a combination of union unrest, BBC attacks, allied leftist organisation rent a mob unrest and of course ballot stuffing/block vote buying/ballot rigging/media smear campaigns/fake polls(oh yes).
The axis of evil is without any principle or integrity, like socialists the world over they are willing to use any means to destroy thier enemies, they will happily use any means to gain their objectives.
To be honest the Tories dont stand a chance against the coming storm, its like a king Charles spaniel going up against a hungry rottweiler, the Tories are outgunned, outmatched and in big trouble YET they seem oblivious to the threat they face!
archduke | 23.03.09 – 12:10 am | #
At least Dear Leader… and the BBC… avoided the mistake of calling the poor young lady Mrs. Jane.. er Jade… Tweed.
Great post Cassandra, I have little worth adding to your post – may I quote you?
Notasheep,
Sir I would be honoured!
Blimey, it’s almost a discussion on policy rather than superficial fluff. Who would’ve though it? Every time I see a discussion on this involving respectable intellects like Clarke, Hague and even Boris it makes be more sympathetic to the Tories. Can you see Harman or Tessa Jowell talking intelligently about tax, or Brown and Darling having an exchange of views?
One of the BBC lies they kept repeating was that there was ‘confusion’ about the policy.
This was after CCHQ sent them a clear and unambiguous clarification that the policy “…is there. Is funded. Remains a commitment and will be in the manifesto.”
The only ‘confusion’ is in the heads of the beeboids.
The handling of this story has been an utter disgrace.
John Toughie finally did it. (Chair of the expenses committee – may have mispelt his name)
When Sarah Montague interrupted he said ‘why don’t you answer the questions and i’ll go catch my train’.
What a guy, what a dude, I am deeply humbled.
Cassandra
” . . . oblivious to the threat they face”
All over the civilised world, parties of the right share this obliviousness. They seem clueless. Why on earth, for instance, doesn’t the Tory party openly and aggressively go after media bias and the BBC in particular, make it a political issue and demand it be reformed? Or see to it that an alternative broadcasting service can be set up? There’s no future in simply trying to steal the opponents’ wishy-washy clothes.
Cassandra:
Brilliant. I wish you were in politics. I hope the Tory pary reads your article and takes note.
Listening to Nick Robinson on Today this morning, I got the impression that even he didn’t think there was much to this story other than a commentary of the dire state of finances which the Labour government will leave.
I don’t think it’s as simple for the Tories as going after the BBC, as it is still held in high regard by many on the basis of what it used to represent. Going after it would lose these votes unless done in a more subtle fashion.
My sympathy with the Conservatives. The media has been treating the SNP in Scotland like this for years. Our two national papers must have at least one anti-SNP story headline and BBC Scotland pay them lip service even though they are the actual government (although a minority one).
As Cassandra says it’s only the start, it’ll get much worse believe me.
Lemar,
Thanks for the very kind words, high praise from a top poster, I am blushing now, you made my day!
Roland
‘still held in high regard by many on the basis of what it used to represent’
Exactly right. British sentimentality for what once was, plays a big part in B-BBC strategy. They know that people at some subconcious level want the BBC to represent decency & integrity and are reluctant to let go
even though the facts speak for themselves.
This could play to the Tory advantage if they GENTLY remind the public that the BBC has lost credibility under Nulabour and not to take them at face value. That intelligent people should always examine BBC statements properly.
Tact is important, but so is consistency. The Torys should never let the BBC get away with anything.
‘Slowly, slowly catch ye socialist monkey’
Yesterday’s desperate attempts to engineer a split were laughable. The coverage I heard went along the lines of saying the Tories only got their lead after the inheritance tax proposal (implicating that this is somehow a u-turn and the lead can therefore be reversed).
In addition, there was no coverage of the wider context (which, *if* it really was the most important story, you would expect). Of course, the wider context would show how debt has exploded under Labour leading to problems cutting any taxes or increasing any spending and therefore you can understand why they didn’t want to raise it.
Lineup seems to have changed on News 24 now, Clarke has disappeared and McNulty appears as item 2.
Although, in classic protect the lefties style, its framed in terms of the response and the original offence is an afterthought; ie. talk of new legislation after McNulty, similar to news of Obama making apology after last week’s gaffe (although did that actually get *any* coverage on the BBC?).
Great post Cassandra, I feel the same way and I am no Tory.
It must be agonizingly tempting for Cameron to home in on the BBCs obvious bias, but to me he seems quite astute, especially compared to the clod hopping Brown.
Cameron chooses to keep his mouth shut most of the time or keep his words deliberately mild. Both entities are highly suspicious of each other right now.
He doesn’t want to be seen as trying to censor the media while the BBC continue with their subtle brand of anti-Tory negativity.
He has already written that the BBC is “bloated” with overpaid executives; that the licence fee be reduced; and the argument that it needed to attract large audiences “bogus”.
Equally significantly Cameron has recently sided with Murdoch in arguing that the BBC should stop abusing its position by trying to compete with newspaper websites.
Far more effective in my opinion than ineffectually mouthing off.
I’m sorry, Andy – if I have to slaughter a calf and prod its entrails with a stick in order to determine what the leader of HM’s opposition may or may not do about the BBC, I’m not going to vote for him.
And I’m certainly not going to be swayed by Tory bloggers (not you, specifically, it’s a general thing) who seem to have honed the skills once jealously guarded by Kremlinologists in deciphering which way the boy wonder might (or might not) jump on any given issue.
The mandleson beeboid spin axis at its most blatant – and you only have to read the ST article on the tax payers money mandelson is spending on news manipulation operatives, to see from whence it comes.
Good post Cassandra !
Preposterous.
You and the BBC are wrong.
Rather than Tory wars or a Labour minister with a snout in the trough the British public are far more interested in the long married former Labour minister having tawdry filmed sex sessions with an unnamed brunette in the House of Commons.
Dont believe it? check the readership/viewing figures/hits.
Bad story for Labour. BBC leads with labour’s approved response on the story:
MP Griffiths says he is ‘ashamed’
Labour MP Nigel Griffiths says he is “ashamed” after the News of the World reported that he cheated on his wife inside the House of Commons.
Bad story for Tories. BBC leads with labour’s approved response on the story:
Mandelson: Tories confused on tax
Lord Mandelson says the Tories are confused over tax after Ken Clarke says cutting inheritance tax is not a priority.
Bad story for Labour, BBC leads with labour’s approved response on the story:
McNulty defends expenses claims. Tony McNulty: “I think I’ve complied entirely”. Employment minister Tony McNulty has said he did nothing wrong by claiming second-home expenses on a London house where his parents live.
Guess which one got wall to wall BBC coverage and which two were buried?
well the BBC radio 5 headlines at lunch were about a Tory MP who is launching a complaint against Bruiser McNulty. No editorial from the BBC. If there was bias there, I didn’t see any.
could they have covered it more yesterday? yeah of course, but apparently some woman died of cancer and that was deemed more important. Must play to the lowest common denominator sometimes.
I have a theory that at the weekend the senior editors / management who have a residual interest in quality and balance are away and that the Trots riot.
Gus,
Compare and contrast the BBC coverage of McNulty with any Tory caught with his/her fingers in the till, the difference is real, the bias is glaring.
The BBC narrative is always the same, any labour is innocent untill proven guilty, any Tory is guilty untill proven innocent and even then the BBC will refer to a Tory history of sleaze incuding those who were found to be innocent.
I am no supporter of of Dave and his new social democrats but I do expect balance and non partisan journalistic standards, the playing field should be even or the whole system becomes rotten, the BBC seem unable on a biological level to realise that their partisan and biased habits are actually not only destroying the BBC as an institution they are destroying our whole democracy, bias is like a drug habit, it feels great to do it, so great in fact that common and moral sense is ignored, while in the short term this is great for the addict it always leads to the addicts demise.
The right on comrades have a cosy and insular community setup where group ideas are not challenged and comfort zones are not exposed, comrades together with a common purpose and common ideology, these comrades reinforce their own group ideology on a daily basis, the narrative and agenda become hardwired and group behaviour becomes impossible to change, this is tribal behaviour and as old as human society.
The BBC in effect has become an insular tribal society unable to change its core beliefs and group narrative because the motivation to do so is not there, unless the motivation appears the tribal behaviour will never change.
Anonymous:
“the British public are far more interested in the long married former Labour minister having tawdry filmed sex sessions…”
A “shag and tell” set up if ever I saw one. Who’s the photographer – happened to be passing by was he? On House of Commons business? Or was it a tory MP with his mobile phone camera engaging in a bit of voyeurism. More fool the MP – like all Labour – snout in anywhere if the opportunity presents itself.
I can’t help wondering what the party affiliation of the tart was. Liberal? Respect?
Backwoodsman,
Thanks muchly, your kind words means a lot.
Andy,
I agree that the Tories are in a difficult position, it must be tempting for them to take the road of appeasement and quiet reason, I believe that they should undertake to fight the BBC/newlabour axis openly, to state their position to the BBC and state openly what consequences will follow should the BBC intervene on the side of their socialist allies and attempt to contaminate the democratic proccess.
I could well be wrong of course, it could well be that appeasement may work for the Tories in the short term, the longer term of course is a different ball game.
Gus Haynes – You clearly didn’t watch the 10 o’clock news which was launched by a pale faced Emily Maitliss talking about ‘Tory confusion tonight’ as if some major crisis had descended. As the Coffee House quite rightly put it – this was a storm in a inheritance tea cup – whipped up to cover up the crimes and misdemeanors of naughty Mr McNulty. As for Jade Goody, her death was exploited as yet another opportunity for the Brown Broadcasting Corp to let us know that ‘Gordon led the tributes’ – uttered in duly reverential tones. You have to hand it to the professional spinners at the beeb – this combined anti-Conservative bullshit with Labour sleaze cover-up with lavish support for Gordon’s political opportunism at one fell swoop. The BBC may be crap at giving us the news but they have a near genius for bias.
Monday evening – the BBC seems to have come good, the story is top of the news and reasonably balanced.
Cameron has been ultra-careful in what he says about their future funding, which he may be accountable for some day.
When he says “I am a supporter of the licence fee” he is probably beating the BBC at their own game by omission of crucial facts such as “albeit heavily reduced”!
This present govt has let the BBC became too big for its boots, like many other state-funded things. The Tories WILL accelerate this. Once you have a “freeze” in place, I pretty much think further cuts are inevitable
That the BBC is biased against the Conservatives is clearly beyond reasonable dispute, but the question remains as to why. Cameron’s Cons (that’s French, you know!) are pro-EU, pro-global warming hysteria, anti-Israeli: the main boxes all ticked. So why the anti-Tory bias?
Andy | 23.03.09 – 8:36 pm |
Nice to see you are optomistic – but Cameron is WYSIWYG. and so is his shadow cabinet.
Allan why do you say Cameron is pro EU? This Cabinet is the most Euro sceptic going.