Interesting to see how BBC Radio 4 covered the Damian McBride resignation this morning. The line being peddled was that this sort of political “gossip” handles all the time and that the blogosphere which broke the story (Congrats to Guido, of course) is dominated by right wing blogs! There was also a total acceptance of the fabrication that no one else in No. 10 knew anything about McBride’s scheming. Even when Brown’s cabal has caught out, as in this instance, the BBC can be relied upon to do what it can to preserve those in the bunker.
GOSSIP AND RIGHT WING.
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On the subject of Islamic terrorism, theres a good article on the telegraphs site. Douglas Murray is often accused of being anti-muslim, and he may or may not be, I don’t know. But it’s a decent article, worth reading, and shows how our government have their collective heads in the sand.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5141728/Lets-not-die-for-timid-and-misguided-political-correctness.html
Sorry, didn’t mean to publish at that point…
Key bit is the forth paragraph.
Last summer. the Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC), in conjunction with the polling company YouGov, released a survey of Muslim student opinion in the UK. Forty per cent of Muslim students polled supported the introduction of sharia into British law for Muslims; a third supported the introduction of a worldwide caliphate instituted in accordance with sharia; and a third believed that killing in the name of their religion could be justified. This is the sea in which Muslim students who go on to carry out acts of terror are able to swim. But instead of engaging with the problem, Bill Rammell, the Minister for Higher Education, attacked the poll for finding out these things and declared that the problem of radicalism on campus was in fact “serious, but not widespread”. It is just one example of a government that cannot make the moral distinction between firefighter and fire.
More about blogs, from Daniel Hannan
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/daniel_hannan/blog/2009/04/12/blogs_have_changed_politics_forever_good_news_for_libertarians_bad_news_for_lefties
Follow his link to a channel 4 report if you care to see, halfway through, the first shot of Derek Draper as Harry Enfield being sheepish yet smarmy.
The BBC needs to change or be ‘left behind.’ Geddit.
BBC have published two new (Don’t) Have Your Say entries today.
And the top stories today are………
Has Easter lost its religious meaning?
Published: Sunday, 12 April, 2009, 08:29 GMT 09:29 UK
How can peace be restored in Thailand?
Published: Sunday, 12 April, 2009, 14:56 GMT 15:56 UK
OK both are topical but top stories?
Come on.
The Prime Minsiter’s top aide, a civil servant, has been found making up disgraceful stories and planning a “false flag” campaign with previously disgraced Labour spin doctors to destablise political support for the lead opposition party?
FFS
cheers oscar that was funny
So Guido isn’t a journalist, he’s only a blogger, and he’s possibly involved in illegal activity. The only reason he released the emails is because he has a personal grudge against McBride and Draper. “A bit of revenge”.
But Draper comes out exactly as Guido said he was – to his face – on the Daily Politics last week. And the Beeboid tries to deny it. The BBC is now lying, simply to take a position against a blogger. Your license fee hard at work, indeed.
Unreal. Hats off to Guido – and Martin.
Sky been breaking the pirates dead story for about 25 minutes. The BBC zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
sky news: U.S. official – 3 pirates dead, 1 captured. Captain Philips freed after “swift firefight”
( sounds to me like a U.S Navy SEALs op..)
Oscar.
Great link, thank you. It would be marvellous if it was someone moonlighting using BBC equipment to make them!
Martin.
I hope you aren’t showing your age in expecting the “left” intelligentsia to go in for marriage which is why I chose the word co-habit and, of course, doesn’t exclude same sex relationships as well. Some posters here do allude to the latter being somewhat more prevalent at the BBC than in the country generally.
The BBC is pathologically incapable of reporting the news correctly when it involves socialist skullduggery (and buggery).
If I want to know the truth I would rather go to a Murdock news outlet. See Here:
Vicious and vile
Revealed: Shocking emails behind the secret No10 smear plot targeting Tories
12/04/2009
THE shocking extent of planned smears against the Tories which led to the resignation of Gordon Brown’s most trusted aide last night are revealed today by the News of the World.
The Prime Minister’s personal spin doctor Damian McBride quit after it emerged he and Derek Draper, Labour’s internet campaign chief, conspired to spread false and sinister stories of a highly personal nature.
McBride boasted that the sleaze campaign “will put the fear of God” into the Tories.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/261804/Revealed-Shocking-emails-behind-the-secret-No10-smear-plot-by-spin-doctor-Damian-McBride-targeting-Tories.html
There is no prospect of the Tories being able to “use the BBC for propaganda”, nor would the BBC change with “the dominant political opinion in the UK” if the Tories won the next election, as has been suggested above.
As long as the BBC receives the TV licence fee, it has a vested interest in promoting leftist, high public-spending policies, and is immune either to the market or to changes in political opinion.
Mrs Thatcher tried to cure the most blatant BBC bias by appointing Duke Hussey as Chairman of the Board of Governors, and by bringing in John Birt to introduce at least some financial discipline. This was moderately successful, but did not deal with fundamental problem.
It remains to be seen whether Cameron’s Tories can do what has to be done. But they would be well-advised to keep their specific plans confidential, until they have won the election. A general manifesto commitment to “review and reform the overall field of broadcasting” should cover it.
Oscar | 12.04.09 – 3:36 pm
one of the better “Downfalls” – thanks for the link Oscar. hilarious stuff.
I was wondering when the Navy SEALS were going to appear from the watery depths.
BBC have published two new (Don’t) Have Your Say entries today.
LurkingBlackHat | 12.04.09 – 5:02 pm | #
I should have of course specified, ‘on this non-newsworthy topic’. But still, do I get a coconut?
I am not betting on a BBC HYS any time soon
Peter | Homepage | 12.04.09 – 10:30 am | #
Any defence of the labour smear tactics is abhorrent. First you smear then you fabricate evidence and then where can that lead?
Destroyed lives and if carried further and by using the power of the state imprisoning and silencing any of us.
This nulabour debacle shows there are no lengths they would not go to stay in power. It is no longer a government.
What it is I do not know but it should worry us all.
Millie Tant | 12.04.09 – 7:28 pm | #
As I am on a roll, any bets on a graduate of the School Of Bowen (sorry if that ever results in a dodgy acronym) reporting elite being less concerned about the previous dead and until recently terrified hostage, and more in whether the AK-47/RPG-toting, ‘edgy’ little tinkers’ motivations were fully understood, or that they were read their Pirate rights first?
sawtooth: Some good points. The difference with Cameron and Thatcher is that now there is a technological solution.
Most people are now used to some form of pay TV, the only ones that don’t want to pay are the leftist scum that tend to vote Liebour, you know the ones that ring in on BBC phone-ins claiming the BBC offers great value for money, oh and the classic “I’d pay double for the BBC” crap.
Good, let them pay double, I don’t want to pay anything. Like I say most people probably pay their TV tax monthly so in effect it is already a subscription.
There is an argument for ‘some’ public money to be made available for some educational programmes, although commercial organisations like Discovery and National Geographic provide a far higher standard of science and natural history programming than the BBC does.
But there could be a small tax on new TV sets and some lottery money that would be available. Any public funded programme would have to be free to air on allowed to go out on all networks.
3 more towel heads sent to meet their virgins. A good day all round.
The BBC is still trying to help Derek Draper. Their latest effort: Cameron ‘furious’ at e-mail slurs
Nobody besides McBride knew about this, supposedly, until that nasty Guido released the hounds. Draper, on the other hand, is calling on all bloggers to stop with the personal attacks.
Which is what Gordon Brown’s personal pit bull was doing to even a Conservative backbencher, and what the BBC is doing to Guido.
And the BBC keeps trying to rehabilitate and protect Draper. Plus, they sought out Blair’s pit bull (ironically, their source is his blog) to say how it would never have been effective anyway, so that supports the BBC’s Narrative that it was just “gossipy”. Sad.
BTW, what’s with Nadine Dorries? Somebody commented about her here not so long ago, but I can’t remember what the deal was. She must have done something terribly wrong for it to get mentioned here and in a high-level Labour smear campaign.
Does anybody remember what it was?
Gerald Brown: Nice one. But women in the Liebour party don’t generally seem to take their husbands name (like 5 bellies and Harman) so it’s very difficult to know who is actually married to whom.
I’d like to see a good breakdown of the people who are shall we say ‘romantically linked’ between the BBC and Liebour.
Peter:
Millie Tant | 12.04.09 – 7:28 pm | #
As I am on a roll, any bets on a graduate of the School Of Bowen (sorry if that ever results in a dodgy acronym) reporting elite being less concerned about the previous dead and until recently terrified hostage, and more in whether the AK-47/RPG-toting, ‘edgy’ little tinkers’ motivations were fully understood, or that they were read their Pirate rights first?
Peter | Homepage | 12.04.09 – 7:45 pm | #
————————————-
On a roll…Heh heh, I like it!
Seeing your comment about “being less concerned about the previous dead” triggered a memory on that theme from yesterday’s Any Questions.
Ken Livingston was expounding on Islamic terrorism in the UK, (arising from a question about the recent arrests of Pakistani “students”), when he made a statement that seemed clear to me that he was less concerned about the mass murder they would perpetrate and the people who would be dead, than about a backlash to such an atrocity that would lead to attacks on Muslims.
Did anyone else hear it?
David Preiser (USA): The truth is the BBC in particular has been embarassed and caught out. People will want to know why the BBC hasn’t been investigating this story (Guido was on the BBC the other week with Dolly talking about this)
The truth is the BBC knew what was going on and simply turned the other way. Had it been Tories the BBC would have been all over this. You only have to look at how Prick Robinson ignored the Mandelson/Russian yacht story yet went after Osborne even though he’d done nothing wrong. Then the BBC ignored the sleaze involving Red Kens’ henchmen whilst going after Boris Johnson’s people from day 1.
The reality is the MSM is far too close to politicians to really do the job. I’d love to know how many ‘invites’ journalists get to parties, meetings, lunch in the ‘Strangers Bar’ and so on.
I doubt Guido Fawkes gets many invites.
David Preiser,
The attacks on Dorries are odd, seeing as she is just a backbencher. But I used to work with some senior(ish) Conservatives, and I got the impression that she is one for the future. She has the looks, she’s a woman (let’s be blunt, they need some token women somewhere) and she’s articulate.
Why go after her now? Well, she’s making a name for herself as the leading anti-abortion politician, and I guess Labour are persuing American-style culture wars. In the same way that some Dems in the US go after pro-Life Republicans. Maybe that’s McBride’s plan. If that isn’t it, maybe they just wanted to attack a backbencher to make it seem like your average Tory MP was also involved in dodgy business.
I used to live in Nadine’s constituency, and while I couldn’t care less about her abortion obsession, she has got that look of someone who could go far. Futher than Bedford anyway….
The bbc needs to ask ‘why aren’t there any leftwing blogs’? Because with the state broadcaster around, they are not needed.
US Navy press briefing on the rescue on Fox News in 20 minutes.
Don’t bother watching trash bbc.
I turned on the BBC this morning to see how Andrew Marr would cover his party’s spin problems, only to find no programme as it was on an Easter break – how convenient…
Hague is demanding that mcBride nor Draper ever work for labour again, see http://anon126.blogspot.com/2009/04/hague-goes-on-attack.html and other posts.
Things are getting out of labour control. The Beeb are either going to play catch up or try to ignore it. If they ignore it this could blow up in the Beeb’s face. It will be interesting to see how the BBC wriggle out of things.
anon126
The BBC call it “Closing down the debate”. Something they always do when it isn’t convenient for them.
David Preiser – Your posting at our 7:57pm:-
Sorry that no one has answered your question about Nadine Dorries. I’m not best informed, but a few months ago ND inadvertantly used funds intended for “A” for purpose “B”. The amount was very small and the mix-up understandable – so it should just have been a question of an admin correction. Inevitably someone on “the other side” looking for mischief made a mountain out of a molehill, while his colleagues were running riot with tens of thousands. I didn’t know it had been on BBC, but it wouldn’t surprise me as it’s the lefties propaganda arm, and it’s what they love to do.
Fortunately ND isn’t so soft and can stand firm when required, as now.
ady
I know your comments were made some time ago now but I hope the nurse turned up with your medication.
Life’s so much sweeter with the medciation.
BBC 10Pm News. Gordon Brown didn’t know anything stated female beeboid.
Considering Brown hasn’t shown his fat one eyed face in public yet or answered any questions, who does she know?
David Preiser
Nadine Dorries – Does anybody remember what it was?
She’s very anti-abortion.
Not something you want to believe and get any sort of good copy from AljaBeeba.
Thanks all for the info on Nadine Dorries. I don’t know about abortion, but I remember why I saw her name here:
ed thomas had a post last month which included a mention of one of her blog posts.
It was about this:
Anjem Choudhary (bad anchor, scroll down to relevant post)
His name on Newsnight was followed by • London School of Shariah. That’s all. He is the same man who said that the Shariah flag should fly above No10.
He stated that all homecoming parades will be targeted.
Hello. Hello? Anyone in Government? Did you hear him?
She’s dangerous, isn’t she?
“BBC 10Pm News. Gordon Brown didn’t know anything stated female beeboid.”
Blimey, Martin, I was just storming into my office to point out the same bit of ‘news’. “….so while it’s clear that Gordon Brown knew nothing about these emails…” were her words, I thnnk.
Mind you, she – Laura Kuenssberg (?) – is classic beeboid. Hard-eyed, bitter, right-hating Scottish woman. I’m sure I found her postings on a Socialist Worker website a couple of years ago.
How does the beeboid “know” that Brown knew nothing ?
That is pure Labour spin – which we are taxed to pay for.
Chuffer: Exactly. How does she or anyone else know what Brown did or didn’t know?
Only when these questions are put to him personally will be know and even then….
This is typical BBC bias. Put the ‘seed’ out there that Brown didn’t know in the hope the proles will just suck it up like the TV tax paying idiots they are.
Mind you, she – Laura Kuenssberg (?) – is classic beeboid.
Chuffer | 12.04.09 – 10:45 pm | #
————————————-
Graduate of the Daily Politics where she used to swan about wearing pedal pushers, like some teenager on holiday…I kid you not…which the BBC evidently considers suitable attire for presenting a political programme on national television.
Only a f*ckwit would think that Brown didn’t know.
Oh sorry, I forgot that the BBC only employs f*ckwits.
The bbc needs to ask ‘why aren’t there any leftwing blogs’?
Because with the state broadcaster around, they are not needed.
Robert | 12.04.09 – 8:28 pm
Nail. Head.
contrast to the United States, where left wing blogs are thriving.
and right wing ones too. but overall the level of democratic debate is extremely healthy over there.
says a lot doesnt it?
Whether Brown knew or not is irrelevant in my view. Brown appointed McBride, and he was his boss. Even if McBride came up with these things on his own, it tells you something about GBs judgement for appointing him in the first place.
Good article I read somewhere today, Telegraph or Times, about how Brown wouldn’t have known because he apparently loves plausible deniability. Which is effectively choosing not to notice certain tricky things. Personally, I doubt he knew. He still should apologise though. It would just be the decent thing to do. And it might even get the story off the front pages.
Fat Face Penguin Seal | Homepage | 12.04.09 – 8:06 pm
you are spot on with your observations – Dorries has something that the vast majority of current politicians and their friends in the BBC lack.
its something called a backbone.
Her anti-abortion stance is coming from that. It would be so easy for her to bend to the wind of public opinion.
My hat goes off to her – thats such a rarity nowadays.
“When told a couple of facts and shown a couple of blogs, they were astonished, and altered their views in a trice.”
Quite
Few Labour voters make it past a few days of Guido. If they make it that long, they end up wanting to vote for any party but Labour, and may require a new monitor.
zzzzzzz
This obvious point has been made before. However it is such an salient one, it can not be made enough times.
There is no gap in the market for an authoritarian, racist, corporate fascist, divisive, dictatorial, socialist, habitually dishonest, establishment controlled, alternative to Guido Fawkes.
Simply because our establishment, which very much likes these types of things, has the BBC/MSM already on the job.
The internet is not, not right wing simply because the term is dangerously meaningless. Same as left-wing, these terms serve confusion and division more them wisdom and clarity.
The internet is the forever more marginalized voice of the ordinary people. Who may have their differences, however as a whole have absolutely no important problem with there fellow man, but hate virtually everything that this current bunch of crooks has done for almost a whole 12 years.
Betrayal has a most bitter taste.
Dorries is probably seen as a ‘Sarah palin’ type, someone to be ridiculed by the left.
I see the usual Brown bottom sniffers are out in force, both Maguire and Michael White are spinning for the fat one eyed snot eater.
Maguire, that favourite of the BBC, is getting a right kicking on his blog. Here’s just one comment.
No wonder they call you “Make it up” McGuire Kevin!
I see you so often masquerading as a serious political commentator on the BBC, the mouthpiece of New Labour, but all I ever see is a scruffy, uncouth individual spouting rubbish.
We all know that the drinkers at the Steamboat, Alum and Riverside in South Shields will never ever vote Conservative. You can’t educate pork. For years and years they would have voted without question for a donkey with a red rosette, just like you! However, in future they might just vote for the BNP and that’s what you need to be really worried about.
Your scurrilous and innuendo laden article above in support of McBride and Draper (and the Great Leader Gordon) proves what sort of maggot you really are.
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/maguire/2009/04/spare-us-the-hypocrisy.html
TPO: Maguire isn’t the only one. Michael White is at it as well.
They are a total joke.
Even if Brown knew or not is not the issue here – This bloke was his senior aide and the buck stops with him.
“Two councillors resigned from senior roles yesterday, three senior social workers were suspended and three were removed from working with children as a result of the two-week inquiry. Child protection services were condemned as inadequate and in need of “urgent and sustained attention”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5270436.ece
Is there any difference (in principle) with this – 2 councillors resigned (“forced to?”). They were not directly involved in the case – but they were in overall control.
“Downing Street tried to limit the damage caused by the emails smearing leading Tories by dismissing them as ‘juvenile’.
It is a tactic that the perpetrator Damian McBride • a man steeped in New Labour’s toxic culture of spin • probably suggested himself before he was forced to resign.
But it won’t work. Gordon Brown stands starkly implicated by this affair. ”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169332/MAIL-ON-SUNDAY-COMMENT-Juvenile-buck-stops-Brown.html
I bet the headlines at the BBC will soon become “Brown says he will’listen and learn'”
archduke | 13.04.09 – 12:12 am |
contrast to the United States, where left wing blogs are thriving.
and right wing ones too. but overall the level of democratic debate is extremely healthy over there.
says a lot doesnt it?
Thankfully, we don’t have an official state broadcaster. Partisan, yes. Special set-up, tax-funded, official state broadcaster with a legacy of generations of trust, no. Makes a big difference.
Michael White and McGuire are only talking to their own kind – the “ordinary” Brit won’t be fooled by these Labour luvvies.
The ordinary brit is fooled – although i do hear govt politicians described as slimeballs more recently…