WEDNESDAY OPEN THREAD

This is where you can discuss any BBC-related issue that concerns you. Please use it sensibly, no abuse and no trolls!

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93 Responses to WEDNESDAY OPEN THREAD

  1. pounce_uk says:

    It seems the bBC coverage of a certain Labour Peer and her claim for £100000 has been hidden as fast as possible in which to not to offend those who go from 0 to angry in 2 heartbeats.

    Anybody know why the bBC is keeping this story as low key as possible?

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Is there any way of opening the comments box to full screen size on this website ?

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  3. Jack Bauer says:

    pounce: “Anybody know why the bBC is keeping this story as low key as possible?”

    I’m sure it’s all an above board BBC editorial decision that has absolutley no bias to any particular political party or religious faith.

    And besides, at a mere 38 pence per day, the wonderful BBC tax offers unbeatable value for money. Never mind the quality, feel the width.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    What is the relationship between this and Biased-BBC Forum as shown on the menu? I have been away for a while, and came back to find this site VERY different and quite confusing. In fact, I am still not convinced I came back to the right place.
    Thanks for clarification.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Good post on http://www.rightnotracist.org about the pathetic new petition to bring back the Rise festival.

    The petition is headed with a link to the BBC website, where it states

    “Mayor cancels free music festival
    …London’s mayor has announced he is cancelling the popular Rise Festival due to budget cutbacks.”

    The festival is so ‘popular’ that the petition has so far gained 640 signatures.

    In a month.

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  6. Twain says:

    When I click on an “http” link in the comments section, nothing happens. Am I doing someting wrong ?

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Has anyone seen the new bbc web site for radio4? It’s bloody awaful. There is no infomation whatsoever about any radio prorammes on any of the pages. It’s all white space – the only link being to iplayer. Content zero!

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  8. Grant says:

    Report in today’s Telegraph about a man stoned to death in Iran for adultery ( can’t do link ).
    Can’t seem to find it on BBC website, but maybe that is because it is so commonplace the BBC doesn’t consider it news.

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  9. Swiss Bob says:

    Morning all,

    Live Chat the Daily Politcs and PMQ’s from 11:30am here: The Daily PoliticsGo to Guido’s for the full on version.

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  10. GCooper says:

    Anonymous 10:42 – yes, indeed I have!

    I used to rapidly scan the week’s R4 drama and, picking carefully between the storylines (“Umjit is a single mother assylum seeker torn between two cultures on a housing estate in….”) occasionally found the odd play worth listening to.

    Now, it is next to impossible to do something as simple as quickly go to a single page which tells you what plays the station is broadcasting, when and roughly what they are about.

    The relevance? Well, leaving aside the fact that it signifies yet more Beeb incompetence, one can’t help but wonder how much some Mac-wielding artistic genius was paid for this act of monstrous cluelessness.

    And it was our money.

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  11. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, how it attacks the US, defends the Taliban and half the story.
    US Afghan strikes ‘killed dozens’The Red Cross says air strikes by US forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday are now thought to have killed dozens of civilians including women and children. It says civilians were sheltering from fighting in the western province of Farah when their houses were struck.As the fighting continued, US airstrikes targeted militants thought to be sheltering in nearby houses. At least 25 Taleban fighters were reported to have died. But a growing number of reports from the area now suggest civilians were also seeking refuge in the buildings.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8035204.stm

    Yup the bBC not only redefines the terrorist scum who are the taliban as gallant by referring to them as fighters. They omit this little snippet which the leftwing Guardian has in its report;

    Watandar said Taliban guerrillas had herded civilians into houses in the villages of Geraani and Ganj Abad, that were then struck by warplanes.”The fighting was going on in another village, but the Taliban escaped to these two villages, where they used people as human shields. The air strikes killed about 120 civilians and destroyed 17 houses,” he said, adding that the death toll was imprecise.

    I wonder why the bBC left out that snippet?

    The bBC, how it attacks the US, defends the Taliban and half the story.

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  12. Jack Bauer says:

    “Umjit is a single mother assylum seeker torn between two cultures on a housing estate in….”

    Dear Mr GCooper

    We at the BBC love your pitch and see UMJIT as a one-hour epsidodic drama series.

    Please contact me immediately to discuss progressing this searing indicment of modern Britain’s racist working-classes.

    Yours, etc

    Mark Thompson

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  13. Anonymous says:

    My Mozilla browser will open the comments box to full screen.

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  14. Chris says:

    While in South Africa, to get a bit of news about the UK, I foolishly tuned in the BBC World service. The first thing I heard was about the tribulations of a sub- Saharan family who were suffering due to climate change. Ten minutes later I switched off having realised that the BBC considers its main remit is to draw attention to social deprivation in the third world. South Africans I spoke said that nobody who wanted to know what was going on in the world or even in the UK would bother to listen to the BBC.

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  15. Martin says:

    BBC Radio 5 in full defence of McSnot at PMQ’s.

    Simon Mayo reading out emails attacking Cameron from er ‘Cameron supporters’

    So why hasn’t he read mine out slagging off the one eyed snot eater?

    The BBC are pathetic.

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  16. Millie Tant says:

    Anonymous said…
    What is the relationship between this and Biased-BBC Forum as shown on the menu?

    10:14 AM
    ===================================I wish I knew that as well. At first I thought that was going to be the new forum for discussion of BBC bias – given its capacity to organise the material by themes which can be added to as new instances of the same type of bias come to light – and that we were all migrating over there, but it seems that it is business as usual with the old linear blog format plus comments…same old, same old…

    What is worse is that I cannot register with the forum, for some strange reason(although I have today had an e-mail from the moderator, wishing to help). Oh, and it demands your date of birth to register – Lord knows why. Who are THEY anyhow, who are asking this? I am a member of several forum sites that don’t demand this.

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  17. Umbongo says:

    It may hurt but give credit to Today on its coverage of Jacqui Smith’s ID card trial in Manchester. They dragged on the Conservative spokesman Chris Grayling and gave him full opportunity to put his point of view. Of course they did since Grayling had nothing to say except that ID cards are too expensive and there was danger of “mission creep”.

    He didn’t state what IMHO should be a staple of Conservative thought that ID cards are in principle offensive in our democracy: neither he nor the ex-ACPO stooge said that ID cards are ineffective for combatting terrorism. Grayling certainly failed to mention that had ID cards been up and running in 2005 the murderers (sorry militants – we are talking BBC after all) would have been entitled to hold valid ID cards. He also failed to attack the government for its general failure to accede to the judgement of past trials/referenda eg on regional government. He failed to say why we should have to “prove” who we are to all and sundry although he did say alternative existing methods of proof are available.

    I could go on but – for once – the problem is not the BBC. It’s that, given an open goal, the Conservatives throw their hands up in horror and demand that play stops until a goal-keeper is found: they never go for the jugular against Labour or, when appropriate, the BBC. Labour spokesmen and their BBC outriders always have a crack (usually unjustified) at Mrs T or hark back to the 80s whatever subject or specific current government failure is being discussed. The Conservatives have become too nice (read “weak, cowardly and unprincipled”) to risk upsetting any voters except their traditional supporters

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  18. Anonymous says:

    I’ve registered with them without any probs at all. Some protected sites do ask for a date of birth, the first one I gave made me under sixteen, so I had to make my self older…

    No one gives out their real date of birth, and like using a moniker they’ll simply put a date in there without any probs.

    Its mainly to keep out the trolls, which appear to be multiplying here at a fast rate. It’s a good site, and I had a look at the members list. Since being linked here, it looks as though they’ve had around six pages of new members.

    JohnTrenchard has put up another (or recycled) another blog, and I think sooner or later someone is going to come up with something more appealing than this blog with its disgraceful comment area, that allows you one minute to log in under name and url and doesn’t allow you to the next.

    People are searching for an alternative, imho it’s only a matter of time. until something more successful comes along.

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  19. Martin says:

    Again on BBC News 24 we hav emembers of the public in total support for the Snotmeisters ID card scheme.

    Not a single voice of opposition.

    I wonder how happy they will be to find themselves arrested for not carrying their ID card.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    USA Talk-show presenter Mike Savage branded Jacqui Smith a ‘lunatic’ after being named alongside hate preachers and a member of Hamas.

    Hear Michael Savage respond to his ban by the U.K. Michaels Savage

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Anonymous 4.23

    Was watching Sky around 2.45 and a lawyer was being interviewed on the fact that Savage is likely to take libel action against Jacqui Smith.

    The interviewer was trying desperately to give the impression that Smith is not answerable in court but failed miserably. The lawyer reckoned that £200k damages and £500k court costs would be a minimum and she would not have a leg to stand on.

    Roll on that court case!!

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  22. hatethebias says:

    There have been other comments apart from mine concerning the lack of the “unread posts” in Blogger. Is there no clever computer literate bBBC contributer that knows of any way of producing this facility?

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  23. Jack Bauer says:

    £200k damages and £500k court costs would be a minimum and she would not have a leg to stand on.
    That’s kind of ironic because I’m sure I read a while back that Savage himself is virtually one-legged.

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  24. Millie Tant says:

    Anonymous said…
    I’ve registered with them without any probs at all.

    ===================================
    It’s strange that I can’t register and get my account activated.

    I registered with a completely different site only this morning and received the e-mail from them immediately without any problem at all.

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  25. Anonymous says:

    Thanks, Millie Tant.
    It seems to be a classic case of crazy over-engineering by people with no grasp of the concept of “fit for its function” or indeed “user-friendly” ;-(

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  26. Martin says:

    What a shock. toenails Robinson on the BBC 6PM news claimed that “Gordon gave as good as he got” in PMQ’s.

    What planet is this slaphead 4 eyed Liebour loving prat on?

    McMental looked even more deranged than normal.

    No mention of the phone throwing tantrums. Why not?

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  27. jeffD says:

    Have a listen to John Gaunt rip the shreds out of the presenter (and the bbc in general) on the Media show today. Absolute brilliance!
    PS It’s 14 minutes in on ‘Listen again’.

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  28. Martin says:

    ITV just ripped into the McMental twat.

    Why can’t the state broadcaster say wha tis totally obvious?

    McTwat got a right kicking in the Commons today.

    Yet Prick Robinson claims McTwat gave as good as he got.

    He looked like a broken man.

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  29. Martin says:

    jeffD: Actually it pains me to say it but I felt a bit sorry for the beeboid. Gaunt is just so obnoxious.

    The beeboid seemed to ask decent questions, but Gaunt was a bit of a tool.

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  30. DB says:

    Re Michael Savage. On her show this morning Victoria Derbyshire interviewed a Savage-hating San Franciscan journalist and then spoke to Lord Monckton, who defended shock jock. Derbyshire then read out an email from someone defending Savage which included this line (my empahasis): “I was inspired to read one of his books, ‘Liberalism is a Mental Disorder’ – I recommend it to you.” Nice one.

    I’ve uploaded it all if anybody is interested.

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  31. Martin says:

    I was totally gobsmacked at how soft the BBC were on Obama and ‘his war’ regarding the killing of yet more Afghan civilians.

    Hillary says sorry. Ok. But I don’t remember the BBC beig so gentle on Bush or Rice?

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  32. Anonymous says:

    For those who have asked how to post a live link scroll down the page to
    third paragraph: An HTML Link HTML Linksthe URL goes in the first space between the comma's "http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html&quot; and the link text goes between the other space >DailyMail<

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  33. Anonymous says:

    Sorry the above Link was incorrect try this one
    HTML Links

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  34. Jason says:

    Does the BBC recognize the delicious irony of this story in their title, or did they intend not a trace of irony? I can’t decide. The body of the article doesn’t elaborate. Think of the fun they could have had if they didn’t have eco-rods up their asses.

    Eco-sailors rescued by oil tanker

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  35. AndrewSouthLondon says:

    Oh dear. GB has done the unforgivable – he has found himself pitched against probably the most loved actress of our day -the fragrant Patsy Stone/ Joanna Lumley. And she’s photograpphed hugging BOTH Clegg and Call me Dave!!!

    Aaaaagh!!. Quick – media consultants firing on all four cylinders…

    BBC Yesterday: “No 10 denies Lumley ‘Gurkha snub'”

    BBC Today: “Lumley ‘trusts’ Brown on Gurkhas”

    You see Joanna TRUSTS Gordon, why can’t YOU?

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  36. jeffD says:

    Martin…
    Old Gaunty may be a bit obnoxious ,but he did tell the interviewer that the bbc was full of lefties and that we are all robbed via the licence fee.

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  37. libertus says:

    test

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  38. dave s says:

    Everybody is laughing at Brown. But the BBC will never report this. It will have to maintain a facade of seriousness whilst the rest of us enjoy laughing at his descent into confusion and despair.
    Our laughter is the English way of dealing with wannabe tyrants.

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  39. Martin says:

    jeffD: No problem with that jeff, but the beeboid wasn’t really spouting on about the BBC or making anti Sun comments.

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  40. George R says:

    ABU IZZADEEN released.

    Apart from the headline, I think that this BBC report on the ‘UK’ webpage:

    “Radical preacher released early”

    -is informative, and includes a relevant quote from Douglas Murray:

    “Douglas Murray, director the Centre for Social Cohesion, a think tank, said Izzadeen and the other men were a danger to society.

    “‘Abu Izzadeen and his organisation publicly call for attacks against those whom they see as enemies of Islam.

    “‘The early release of a hate preacher like Abu Izzadeen demonstrates that the British courts are still far away from understanding the very clear and present danger that this country is facing from militant Islamists.'”

    ‘Jihadwatch’ (today) adds a broader point:

    ‘UK: Jihadist who called for beheading of any Muslim in the British Army freed from jail early’

    [Extract]:

    “They won’t let Geert Wilders or Michael Savage into the country, but this jihadist, who wants to destroy the British state, is free.

    “Absurd Britannia Alert: ‘Radical preacher Abu Izzadeen freed from jail early,’ from the Telegraph, May 6.”

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  41. JohnA says:

    heffD / Martin

    I don’t know Gaunt, but he went in with all guns blazing. Getting his revenge in first ?

    I wish Tory spokesmen would have 10% of that vim and vigour – bully the interviewers a bit instead of the interviewers doing the bullying.

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  42. deegee says:

    If any of the occasional Israeli contributors are intending to attend the Jacob’s Ladder Festival this weekend and would like to have a beer with me, let me know.

    Email: enl5kj633e0t@sneakemail.com

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  43. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, sucking up to Irish terrorists and half the story.

    Duffy ‘won’t stand in Euro poll’ Dissident republican prisoner Colin Duffy will not be standing in the forthcoming European elections, a meeting in Lurgan has tonight heard. His brother Paul cited lack of resources and time available to mount an effective campaign as the reasons behind the decision. Earlier this year, the 41-year-old was charged with the murders of two soldiers at Massereene Barracks. He was also charged with five counts of attempted murder.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8037023.stm

    And what the bBC forgot to mention is that Colin Duffy is currently plastering the walls of his cell with shite. In otherwords he’s locked up.
    The bBC, sucking up to Irish terrorists and half the story.

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  44. David Vance says:

    Pounce,

    Yes, poor Mr Duffy.

    Did I ever tell you about the brutal murder of two RUC constables, in my nearby town of Lurgan, back in 1999They were shot in the back of the head by some IRA hitman whose identity we may never know.

    Poor Mr Duffy.

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  45. Anonymous says:

    South Africans I spoke said that nobody who wanted to know what was going on in the world or even in the UK would bother to listen to the BBC.

    This is incorrect. This South African chappy of yours, clearly does not understand what the BBC is all about.

    The BBC is an excellent way of discovering what is going on in the world, and also to some extent why.

    This is because the BBC is the most wide spread and well funded promoter of vile lies and destructive disinformation, thus known to mankind.

    If one proceeds in the full and safe knowledge, that the whole purpose of the BBC is to sustain those which it claims to despise. While cruelly keeping in the dark, those which the BBC professes to illuminate. While also hiding far more vitally important information from the over-trusting public, then it would ever possibly dare to reveal. Then the BBC can be a useful, if not an essential tool to understanding of the 3rd 2nd and 1st worlds.

    If the old ticker can handle it, that is. Because as we we all SHOULD know,

    WATCHING OR LISTENING TO ANY BBC, CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH.

    Atlas shrugged

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  46. David Preiser says:

    pounce @11:40/1am

    RE: Taliban herding civilians into the line of fire

    You beat me to it. But it’s even worse than you think. It seems the BBC has a double duty to hide the truth here.

    Tribal elders called the Red Cross during the fighting to report civilian casualties and ask for help, said Reto Stocker, the agency’s head in Afghanistan.

    “We know that those killed included an Afghan Red Crescent volunteer and 13 members of his family who had been sheltering from fighting in a house that was bombed in an airstrike,” Stocker said.

    A Western official said Marine special operations forces called in the airstrikes. The U.S. troops responded to a call for help from Afghan security forces who had been attacked by Taliban militants Monday afternoon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.

    “Because of the overwhelming firepower coming in by the enemy, they called in airstrikes,” said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. military spokeswoman.

    In this case, the BBC has to protect both the Taliban against charges of Hamas-style human shielding, and President Obamessiah. After all, He’s the one who ordered the recent troop increase – campaigned on it, in fact – and said we must get tough with the Taliban. If this had happened in Gaza, the Beeboids would have called it “targeting civilians”.

    The BBC also forgot to mention that

    Mohammad Nieem Qadderdan, a former district chief of Bala Buluk who visited the site of this week’s battle, said 100 to 120 people were killed. If 100 civilians died in the fight, it would be deadliest case of civilian casualties since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

    (from the AP report  from which the Guardian got most of their story)

    That nasty cowboy warmonger US President and his surge tactics, eh?

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  47. pounce_uk says:

    David.

    I spent 3 wonderful years in Omagh.

    So I understand only too well how the Northern Irish have had to endure the bastards who prefer the bullet and the bomb to the ballot box.

    Makes me sick when I see the likes of the bBC defending those who have no problem killing those who won’t support them.

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  48. Dazed and Confused says:

    I see that the BBC in conjuncture with New Labour are about to give us a NEW NATIONAL ANTHEM

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  49. Martin says:

    Good article about the BBC and BOZO in the Daily Mail today. here’s a snippet.

    It seems poor old Auntie hasn’t noticed that U2 don’t exactly set the hearts racing like they used to. As well as this, it appears that you can’t criticise Bono or his rather cushy and self-serving arrangements on the BBC without being censored.

    “…Journalist Marina Hyde recently referred to Bono’s use of tax loopholes on Radio 4’s Start The Week, only for presenter Andrew Marr to immediately start harrumphing and casting doubt on the perfectly verifiable facts. And when the programme was repeated, Hyde’s remarks were cut entirely…”

    “http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1178165/CHRISTOPHER-HART-Why-BBC-love-Bono-hes-dreadful-old-hypocrite.html”

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