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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and may i add , if south korea are over there too, how long before the japanese follow? or taiwanese? or the singaporese?
before you can say “peoples liberation army” you’ll see an African gold rush mark 2.
Thomas P.M Barnett, American geopolitical strategist, interviewed by Hugh Hewitt recently (and never interviewed by the BBC)
[audio src="http://ht.salemweb.net/townhall/audio/mp3/d29c0b81-fa9f-488b-ab7c-9f83ab502d58.mp3" /]
he talks about China & Africa during the interview and the implications for Sino-American relations.
( he thinks it’ll be symbiotic – America will do the heavy security military stuff, they go after the resources and make stuff in their factories for export to the U.S.)
archduke: The BBC are shit at reporting any breaking news. With 20,000 left wing twats in their employment you’d think they could manage to get one story on the air before Sky.
Then again most of them are probably in the bogs shooting up.
Martin | 30.03.09 – 9:34 pm | #
The BBC News Teams are always at least 15 minutes behind all other news sources because the politically correct Commissars have to censor and approve all stories, feeds and words to fit into the official BBC Newspeak.
This takes time.
As in the Soviet Union, the journo grunts are too afraid to use their own initiative and everything gets held up until it receives Official Approval.
‘Jihadwatch’ makes a connection which the BBC is incapable of making:
BBC report:
“Woman sentenced for jihad leaflet”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7972580.stm
‘Jihadwatch’ comment:
[Opening extract]:
‘Now, when will Anjem Choudary also be arrested and tried for inciting jihad?’
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/025453.php
‘Jihadwatch’, unlike the BBC, does not relegate Gaddafi’s bahaviour.
“Qatar: Gadhafi throws a fit, storms out of Arab summit”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/025454.php
BBC report:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7971624.stm
The reason why the BBC isn’t highlighting Gaddafi’s behaviour isn’t this,, is it?:
‘Times’
“Gordon Brown to invite Gaddafi to London”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4712488.ece
BBC and mainstream political parties promote multicultural separateness:
“Muslim ‘unsung heroes’ honoured”
-a ‘graffiti artist’ – a hero? I don’t think so.
But there are elections coming up.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7972892.stm
BBC News usually can’t resist a neat segue, but tonight they resisted the temptation to follow Dame John Simpson’s report on the drug trade in Juarez with a snippet on Biden’s daughter’s drug taking (personally I don’t care what her lifesyle is, but sauce for goose & all, after Cheney’s & Palin’s daughters being dragged into the media spotlight)
More Tory bashing on the beeb from Stewart Lee calling all Tories racist. While never making a mention of the Lib Dems who campaigned against gay parliamentary candidates with the slogan “vote for the straight choice” or how Labour produced photos of Michael Howard, a Jew, as a pig and as a Fagan character.
security breach in the house of commons (via a contact on twitter..) not confirmed yet.
doug -> saw that. and anyone who objects to political correctness was charactured as being Hitler. complete with grainy black and white film…
You guys should be listening to Richard Bacon on Radio 5. He’s in full defence of five bellies.
As i predicted, the BBC are now spining the story that the ‘leaks are the real issue’
Why? Is this not in the public interest?
Anyone want to bet the BBC really go for this over the next few days?
I notice that Newsnight go with some shite about the G20.
So as far as the BBC are concerned, nothing happening here move along.
‘Crimewatch’ tonight: when running items to warm up very nasty cold cases from 1983 and 84 a bit of contextualisation is deemed necessary by the producers. Thus the savage murder of a prostitute in Edinburgh in 1983 is located in time & place by showing Maggie Thatcher being re-elected whilst a string of horrible rapes in Rotherham the following year takes place against the backdrop of clashes during the Miners’ Strike.
if the idea was an additional jolt to the memory of possible hitherto-unwitting informants above and beyond the ghastly details presented of the respective cases, well, good luck Beeb.
R
PS Martin – thanks for making me chuckle about the “speccy four-eyed twat”, an expression I didn’t know they used darn sarf and which always evokes that awful curly-haired kid off the Rice Krispies ads and the arse-clenchingly-bad kids’ drama ‘Seaview’
Sometimes I love the BBC, they classed this as entertainment:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7869090.stm
Classic Richard Bacon bollocks defending fatty spliff.
“She needs to claim for her digital TV package as she needs to watch BBC News 24 and Sky News”
This thick prat can’t even work out that both those channels are FREE TO AIR.
What a moron.
Martin: Did they say if she claims a for a tv license?
looks like theres been some sort of punch up at the Eric Pickles party in the commons.
cops sprayed cs gas.
also noticed another headline : “Home Sec attending Muslim News awards”
WTF? so now we have news just for Muslims?
Qoooze: No, but I’m betting she does. I think McSnot got found out claiming his didn’t he?
What is funny is everytime one of these Labour sleaze stories breaks the BBC goes into pro Liebour spin overdrive.
As for this (Labour leak to the BBC) story about the claims being hawked around the media, why not just release all the expenses now? After all they are going to at some point under the FoI act?
Of course they were going to release them in the summer when no MPs are around in the hope that by the time the scum get back to Westminster the fuss will have died down.
How can that idiot from the Liebour party say it’s a breach of the OSA when the information is to be relased anyway?
TheBBC spouting pro McSnot spin. But take alook at this link and see how the fat one eyed one actually voted (or didn’t bother) when he had the chance a while back.
http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2008-07-03&number=253&mpn=Gordon_Brown&mpc=Kirkcaldy_%26amp%3B_Cowdenbeath
And for the beeboids.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7973075.stm
Tom,
I downloaded Newswipe from here:
http://www.thebox.bz (it is a great torrent site, where people upload UK TV. It’s far superior to iPlayer)
I’m not sure why they’ve pulled the programme, but it could be due to a reference to ‘Fred the Shred’ that cut to a clip of Linda Bellingham on ‘Loose Women’ calling for a revolution to otherthrow Gordon Brown. Given the attack on Sir Fred’s home, the BBC might be getting cold feet about its role in vilifying him. You never know, maybe the government is actually shitting itself about the possibility of a revolution – any mention of revolutions banned from MSM?
dear god – you cant get away from Vince Cable.
he just popped up on CBS News!
Ricky Martin
Since you’ve again raised the issue of ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’, I’d like to point out that I agreed with you that it sounded like a politically correct and distorted version of the book. Why, then, did you accuse me of disagreeing with you? (I asked this on the previous thread, but you didn’t reply.)
the police have for the first time used tear gas parliament, against a journalist, see http://anon126.blogspot.com/2009/03/police-gas-journalist-in-parliament.html
it appears that the Tory Chairman held a reception for journo’s which needed the use of tear gas. Now that is what I call a reception!!!!!
the journalist is in a cell now, though the police don’t seem concerned with MPs fraud, an oversight no doubt 🙂
What a shock. The BBC are spinning this story about the MP expenses being offered around for 300k. This Labour MP has no evidence yet the BBC seem to think this is a big story.
Of course it does exactly what the BBC wants, takes the heat of their friends in Downing Street,
What I can’t figure out is WHY the accusation by the Labour MP of expenses being offered for sale has been made so public.
If they were really interested in catching the culprit, wouldn’t they be better to go along with it in secret and catch him when he hands over the info?
Red Lepond: Check out what a Q ship was.
Martin | 30.03.09 – 2:00 pm
Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The basic ethos of every Q-ship was to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
In other words, the German submarine attacked what it thought to be an unarmed merchant ship and was destroyed.
In these days, the attempted WWI blockade against Britain would probably be described as an humanitarian crisis, aimed at innocent British civilians. Yvonne Riddley or a German equivalent would be riding shotgun on blockade busting small boats. OR NOT 🙂
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7973000/7973539.stm
“Muslim ‘unsung heroes’ honoured”…
But there are elections coming up.
George R | 30.03.09 – 10:28 pm
One of the ‘Muslim’ ‘unsung heroes’ is Reverend Gilleasbuig MacMillan, minister at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, (also Dean of the Thistle and a Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth). His conversion to Islam is duly noted. 🙂
But it is this piece of BBC cut-and-paste that sticks out. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, facing a row over expenses claims that included two adult films, presented an award.
GOING ONCE …, GOING TWICE…, GONE!
How sad: BBC empathises with immigrants in Britain who cannot afford to send as much money to India, etc., as before:
“Downturn hits money transfers”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7971948.stm
This piece may have slipped under the radar – hiding out as World service – science – One Planet, as it was.
Dawood Azam looks at the effects of the depleted uranium used in Afghanistan to weight shells so that they can pierce armour. (BTW Who is Dawood Azam?)
DA is determined to show that use of depleted uranium in Afghanistan has lead to increased birth defects and nothing will deter him.
The classic is the badgering of US forces spokesman Chris Belcher (about 18:30). He unambiguously states that depleted uranium ammunition is not used in Afghanistan and he has no knowledge of it being used in the past. The indefatigable DA tries to interpret this as an admission that it was ‘possibly’ used in the past.
Towards the end of the piece (about 23) WHO representative Dr. Janet Carr admits that they are not investigating because local health authorities haven’t requested it.
At no point did even one reputable scientist say that they measured radiation levels in areas where deformities were found.
Listen to it.
1.) BBC on Afghanistan:
“World urged to help Afghanistan”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7973378.stm
2.) ‘Telegraph’ on Afghanistan:
“Hamid Karzai signs law ‘legalising rape in marriage'”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/5080797/Hamid-Karzai-signs-law-legalising-rape-in-marriage.html
Great stuff today – especially from Archduke – and thanks for getting up early!
Would the BBC like to broadcast such a ‘politically incorrect’ history?:
“History has been ‘feminised’ says David Starkey as he launches Henry VIII series” (on Channel 4).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5077505/History-has-been-feminised-says-David-Starkey-as-he-launches-Henry-VIII-series.html
‘He also stressed his comments were not a “value statement” about how he thought the world should be, but argued: “It is a great impertinence to impose our values on the past. It instantly reduces the people of the past from real people to mere straw men and women in our struggles.” ‘
Quote from Starkey – i wish someone would tell that to the BBC drama dept.
What a great, clear mind he has – thus showing that being one from the race/feminism/muslim/gay axis – doesnt mean he has to be a wooly minded half-wit – he abhors untruths and revisionism – and its to Channel 4s credit that they keep him out there – with shows that are by no means quickly or easily digested.
deegee
“BTW Who is Dawood Azam?”
Good point. A brief search of the BBC wedsites yields . . nothing! Except repeated referrals to this unapologetic exercise in anti-American propaganda.
I suspect (in total ignorance admittedly but I’d be happy – and amazed – to be corrected) that Azam’s scientific and medical qualifications concerning depleted uranium are as germane to the issue as Harrabin’s qualifications concerning science in general and climate change in particular (ie nil). In other words, they both have an agenda, they are both supported by the BBC in pursuing that agenda (in violation of the BBC’s statutory duty of “impartiality”), and they would both claim (from a standpoint of biased ignorance) a scientific “consensus” concerning, as the case may be, the effects of depleted uranium or human responsibility for global warming.
You know – all we really want is a Commons select committee to interview all senior figures at the BBC – with direct questions about bias and agenda that have to be answered – and recorded…
Philippino ‘militants’ hold 3 hostages.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7973558.stm
The bbc doesn’t say but I expect they are Buddhists militants, oh hang on… http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aRfastVtzlV8&refer=india
this needs reading..
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjBlNjQyNzYzNzk2YjBhNjg4NDM2Y2I5MjJkMDYzNjQ=&w=MA==
xlr
–unbelievable censorship!
–free speech now!
In twenty years – when Muslims are running the country – do the senior bods at the BBC think that their kids will somehow be better off in the new society – or even immune to the muslim extremists at large?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/31/bbc-centre-for-policy-studies
..jump on this – remember you’ll be paying a license fee for 20 years for something that has absolutely no relevance to you…
Roland Deschain,
Aaaaah, glad you asked, if I may field this one?
The BBC was looking for a deflection/cover story to weaken the impact of the expenses fiddles story because of the damage to its newlabour allies, firstly with ‘it was a Tory mole’ and then they tried to lower the motivation for the leak from ‘gallant whistle blower bravely exposing crooked thievery’ to ‘grubby scammer on the make for cash’.
See how it works? Ooooh yes this is straight from the big book of Soviet dirty tricks’N’propaganda!
Cant win the argument or defende the indefensible? simple… smear,lie,defame,deflect,counter accustaion,character assassination,muddy the waters and that old much used favourite bury bad news with something else, all the evil tricks learned by the worlds nastiest regimes in the modern era are used and improved by the BBC, look out for the obvious signs and its almost constant.
Liquid P Gasse
Well worth listening to Today’s response to this article (posted above at 8.55 am ) we as licencepayers are apparently delighted to pay for the BBC!!
frankos —
the apparatchik talks about audiences flocking to BBC radio 2 to hear specialist music – and lists them – including ‘Americana’ – omitting to mention that this has replaced New Country music – as i have said here before – country music = working class right wing angst/fun – americana = urban folky/country/rock with all the usual left-wing suspects –
-so theyve cast a section of specialist fans adrift – just like that! – and they sneaked it in under disguise..
Cassandra writes: “Cant win the argument or defende the indefensible? simple… smear,lie,defame,deflect,counter accustaion,character assassination,muddy the waters and that old much used favourite bury bad news with something else, all the evil tricks learned by the worlds nastiest regimes in the modern era are used and improved by the BBC, look out for the obvious signs and its almost constant.”
In other words, the technique perfected by that loathsome, evil, piece of work, Alistair Campbell.
Today’s most pressing example is the attempt to shore-up Jacqui Smith’s apology for a career – a shameless exercise in Soviet-style propaganda, designed to save the neck of a woman who openly extorts money from the public and expects us to be grateful.
Lovely little encounter on R5Live Breakfast this morning between Nicky Campbell and Guido Fawkes.
Campbell introduced Guido as “a right wing blogger”
Guido countered by saying “nice to be invited onto left wing BBC”
I think that Campbell then called Guido a “fascist”. Guido demanded an apology and Campbell meekly obliged.
Riveting stuff, great to see the smug Campbell get his come uppance.
Can’t find it on iplayer yet. I’d love to hear it again. It was funny!
Have been away for a week- so apologies if this has been highlighted before. Anyone noticed how Nick Clegg is making almost as many appearances as unchallenged sage as colleague Vince C? Lookout for items on tactical voting between now and election!
What the hell are the tories doing allowing freebie journalists at their do to get pissed up and go on the rampage in the commons?
With all the kicking off about MPs being sleazy.
Bang goes the Tories being clean.
Talk about allowing the BBC to change fire from the odious Ms Smith.
Utter incompetence.
Here are sections of Gordon’s speech ahead of the G20 London summit as reported on the BBC website:
Markets need ‘family values’ – PM
Gordon Brown invokes Martin Luther King’s “fierce urgency of now” speech,
Gordon Brown has called for banks and financial markets to adopt “family values” as world leaders gather in London for Thursday’s G20 summit.
US President Barack Obama arrives later for what has been billed as a potential turning point in tackling recession.
…..Mr Brown has stressed that the main aim of the summit, in London’s Docklands, must be to “clean up” the global banking system, but doubts have been raised about what the leaders will agree on.
…..Police search drains and a harbour area at the G20 summit venue
In an address to religious leaders gathered at St Paul’s Cathedral about the aims of the G20, Mr Brown said that “markets need morals”.
During his passage about families’ values he said people did not encourage their children “to seek short-term gratification at the expense of long-term success”.
“And our task today is to bring financial markets into proper alignment with the values held by families and business people across the country.”
Just replace the words “banking” and “markets” with “Labour MPs” and “Parliament” and Gordon, the “One Eyed Stiff One” (or Mr D**K Head) will just about have got it right, for once.
PS Just love the way the Beeboid manages to invoke Luther King and Obama in the same para as the One Eyed Stiff One. Strange that.
for the best laugh in ages listen to fatty Prescott and his workshy friend on the “Vine” show.
The Beeb really are outdoing themselves in sheer stupidity + naivety.
–had to get off that – what is that wart doing still in the public domain….