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8:44 pm was me.
Two days of rioting outside parliament in Athens by Muslim illegal immigrants (over accusations that a policeman desecrated the Koran during a raid on a Syrian-owned coffee shop) was reported on the BBC World Service (today’s ‘Newshour’). The interviewer discussed the matter with an opposition Socialist member of the European parliament, who criticised her government’s lack of an “integration policy” towards the 200,000 Muslims now living in Athens. Her sympathy for the revolting Muslims and her advocacy of a “multi-cultural” society must have been music to her interviewer’s ear. Which was presumably why she was invited.
Go to the BBC World Service website and you can hear a discussion between an 18-year old Tamil student (from London, home of exiled terrorists from every corner of the globe) who wants to go to fight for the Tamil Tigers and a former IRA hunger striker. Sounds irresistable, doesn’t it?
The Big Picture http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/africa_enl_1242978026/html/1.stm
Palestinian youths climb on a wall next to Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City as ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks by. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)So what? Were the youths running away, playing, planning an ambush? Why was the ultra Orthodox man walking by?
Craig 8:58 pm
Yes; a consequence of the Islamization of Europe, of which the BBC approves. A key issue for 4th June E.U. elections, with all three main UK political parties advocating entry of Turkey and 75 million Muslims into E.U.
‘Jihadwatch’:
“14 hurt in Muslim riots over alleged Qur’an desecration in Greece”
[Extract]:
“An update on this story. ‘Muslim migrants riot in Athens’ ” (-detailed link at ‘Jihadwatch’.)
Too True,
Clare Short’s quiet voice, the conspiratorial one she uses when saddened, is more like Alan Johnston’s. On this clip – antisemitic? moi? – she lapses into that voice from time to time.
(This is a bit off topic – I’ve set up an email if you or anyone wants to discuss off-topic topics or give me kindly advice or anything click on profile Sue top LH corner)
Listen to the whole clip if you can. My attention wandered but I think she completely omits any criticism of Hamas and shows no awareness at all of their proposal to dispose of Israel and the Jews therein.
BTW The manager would probably say “Poor You! Here, have a refund.”
In an earlier thread I made the point that the BBC loves dead (ie safely buried, historical) Jews, while barely hiding its dislike of present-day Israel.
By way of proof, I offer these two items – compare and contrast, as they say:
The Essay, BBC R3,
25th May, 23:00 on BBC Radio 3
Michael Goldfarb travels across Europe to learn about forgotten figures who were a critical part of Jewish emancipation.
He visits Amsterdam to discover more about the philosopher Benedict de Spinoza, whose views on tolerance and democracy made him an important part of Jewish history.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kl1mb
—————–
Wall: An Essay by David Hare
25th May, 20:00 on BBC R4
David Hare, one of Britain’s foremost playwrights, provides a personal view of the physical, political and psychological impact of the combination of trenches, ditches, watchtowers, checkpoints, concrete and razor coil that may one day form a border between Israel and Palestine.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kjb73
——————
On the other hand, I urge all Biased-BBCers to listen to Clive James’s most recent Point of View
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kfvgx
He not only castigates feminists for their sickening silence in the face of the gross mistreatment of Islamic women (multi-culturalism trumps gender issues?), but also roundly gives his support for the toppling of Saddam Hussein and our actions in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Perhaps he’s just not expecting to be invited back on the BBC?
‘Sunday Times’ (25 May)-
A modest proposal for the BBC:
“One TV channel and three radio stations, that’s all the BBC needs” (by Minette Marrin)
[Extract]:
“Antony Jay, creator with Jonathan Lynn of ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘Yes Prime Minister’, and author of ‘Corporation Man’, one of the best management books I’ve read, has thought so for some time. Last year he wrote a pamphlet for the Centre for Policy Studies, suggesting the BBC should reduce itself to one national television channel and one speech radio channel: judging by the cost, then, of BBC1 and Radio 4 combined, this would reduce its annual budget by about 65%, a saving of around £2.7 billion a year of our money, or 80% of our licence fee.”
sue,
I listened to a few minutes of it – that’s all I can take right now – and can see the similarity to Johnston.
Thanks for the e-mail tip, I’ll connect.
Miv Tucker,
That reminds me of a Jackie Mason joke. Speaking as if he was an anti-Semite, he said:
“I don’t hate all Jews, only those who are still living.”
10:32 pm above:
Article on pruning BBC (by Minette Marrin) is in ‘Sunday Times’, 24 May.
BBC coverage of this expenses story has been some the worst i have ever seen.
Watching Daily Politiks and The Record has been like watching MPs in house broadcasting.
They even brought some marketing people on to give MPs advice on how to rebrand themselves
Anita Annand demolished the Tory over the EPP issue on Friday, its lucky they keep her on a leash or she’d have wrestled him to the ground.
It must be Dave’s orders that they just sit their simpering and never defend themselves
One TV channel and three radio stations, that’s all the BBC needs: The Sunday Times
I notice the BBC main headline this sunday morning is “Don’t Vote BNP”.
The Archdhimmi of Canterbury telling us how to vote, so this needs as much oxygen of publicity!
According to the BBC, it seems that only the Tories are embroiled in this expenses stuff nowadays. The BBC have turned the spotlight completely off Labour now.
The nearest you get to mentioning a Labour MP on the BBC now is “they are all at it”.
Marr’s got David Cameron on today. I wonder if David will be allowed to remind the viewers that Labour are in this mess just as much.
Qoooze,
Ayatollah Williams, al-Beeb and all the other advocates of selective democracy seem not to understand that an angry public WILL vote for the BNP if the self-same Political Class keeps telling them NOT to.
I’ve heard a few people at work (usually Labour voters) saying (openly) they will vote BNP this time.
As the Beeb and its friends in parliament have never stopped banging on about the BNP and giving them more of the oxygen of publicity than they could possibly have hoped for, this is not surprising.
They might have been better trying reverse psychology. Maybe Andrew Marr or Gordon Brown could have come out and said, “Vote BNP if you want. It’s your democratic right.”
Llew,
Your are not wrong.
The BBC is nothing if not forgiving towards Labour MPs caught up in the expenses scandal.
The BBC News Website reports the Ian McCartney story in a way all of its own:
“Senior Labour MP is to stand down ”(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8065113.stm).
The article begins “Labour MP Ian McCartney has announced he is to stand down at the next general election due to poor health.”
It takes his stated reason for standing down at face value, and most of it is devoted to McCartney’s health and to glowing tributes to the MP. Only in the penultimate paragraph (14/15) does another issue emerge and this issue is handled (shall we say) very tenderly: “In the recent expense claim revelations reported in the Telegraph, Ian McCartney was alleged to have claimed £16,000 to cover the cost of furnishing and decorating his second home, but paid the money back two years later – in August 2008.He said he had “done everything humanly possible to do the right thing”.”
The Sunday Times has a completely different emphasis and a different tone: “Ian McCartney, the former Labour party chairman, also announced his retirement in the wake of the scandal. McCartney, the MP for Makerfield, has paid back £15,000 of expenses after buying at the taxpayers’ expense an 18-piece dinner set, champagne flutes and wine glasses, a £700 dining table and chairs and sofas worth £1,328. McCartney, who has had heart surgery, said he was going because of health problems. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6350604.ece)
The Telegraph is less trusting too: “Labour MP Ian McCartney to stand down. Former Labour party chairman Ian McCartney has announced he will be standing down at the next general election because of “health problems”.(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5373428/Labour-MP-Ian-McCartney-to-stand-down.html)
Note the quotations marks around health problems and the contrast with the lack of quotation marks around “poor health” in the Beeb’s headline.
The Telegraph’s article begins: “The senior Labour MP announced his decision in a statement on Saturday, but made no reference to the expenses scandal that has prompted a number of MPs to retire.
His move comes within days of his disclosure that he paid back almost £15,000 worth of his own expenses claims last year, saying that the system had put his reputation at risk.”
Sue and DB – OK OK I knew I’d get Waitrose jibes. At least I’m not an MP putting the bill on expenses…
Is this the ultimate in Labour/BBC approved multicultural ‘migration’ policy?:
British people to be urged to go abroad –
BBC report (‘Education’ webpage):
“Graduates ‘should try leaving UK'”
[Extract]:
“The government is urging graduates to consider a spell working abroad, whether in internships or volunteering, to avoid the worst of the recession.”
MEANWHILE:
– jihadists make their base in UK, with multiculturalists’ connivance:
‘Jihadwatch’:
“Bangladesh emerges as a safe haven for jihadists from Britain”
[Extract]:
“Rising numbers of British-born fundamentalists are travelling to Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) for jihadist training, prompting the Bangladeshi government to launch a database to monitor the movements of suspected terrorists.”
“Bangladesh is ‘safe haven for British Islamic terrorists’,” by Rachel Shields for ‘The Independent’, May 24.”
Andrew Marr started with ducks and moats.
And to review the papers he has two left whingers.
Charlie Kennedy the alkie and an ex-BBC presenter.
“Still looking for the western feminists”
(-Clive James’ excellent broadcast article at BBC ‘Magazine’ web section.)
No, you won’t find many really democratic anti-Shariah feminists at the BBC.
[Extract]:
“Last year the excellent Australian feminist journalist Pamela Bone finally died of cancer, but while she was still fighting it she published, in 2005, in response to what she regarded as the thunderous silence that had greeted the stand taken by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an article called ‘Where are the western feminists?’ What Pamela Bone meant was, that she was amazed why so many of her colleagues couldn’t see, or didn’t want to see, that democracy was the best hope for women.”
(Clive James.)
The ‘Andrew Marr Show’ is going to be a gem today.
Already in his introduction Marr’s pro-Labour spinning is well underway. It was “duckponds” and
A poem by Carol Ann Duffy
Who writes ’bout shit ‘n stuffy
mentioning the “moat”.
Cameron is the only politico to get the full interview treatment today. So it’s going to be “Tory sleaze, Tory sleaze, Tory sleaze” all the way for Marr.
“Protect the Emperor!”, as Mao’s Red Guards used to cry.
Oh, and Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) is going to be on. I can’t wait.
“Allah akbah!”
Even tho they kept Cameron waiting until after Jackie Stewart and Yusuf (will they do that to McTwat next week?) Marr’s moats ‘n duck houses got nowhere. Very solid performance from Cameron that Marr could not dent despite his best efforts.
what was the point of that dodgy looking scruffy geeza aka cat stevens being on al beeb?
And BTW I thoguht the Poet Laureate was supposed to offer politically neutral verse. If this offering is a sign of things to come, then she’s abusing her role, with party political point scoring.
I’ve noticed over the last day that the BBC is running MP expenses stories highlighting the Tories only, as if they were the only ones who have made dodgy claims.
Duck ponds and moat, plus Cameron’s ex aide and his wife (forget their names for the mo) and nothing about Balls and Cooper or many other Labour MP’s.
I used to think the BBC was down the middle of politics and gave fair hearing to all, but this is simply an illusion to the left wing Labour supporting organisation that it really is.
I do hope that the magnifying glass of scrutiny that MP’s expenses are now being examined is switched to the BBC and just how much of our money is wasted in supporting Labour?
Roll on the examination of the BBC!
Here are some stats on Andrew Marr’s interview with David Cameron. (It may be sunny, but I’ve got my anorak on).
Duration of interview: 22 minutes
Breakdown of topics covered (in chronological order):
Tory sleaze: 16 minutes (73%)
Europe: 5 minutes (23%)
Tory spending cuts: 1 minute (4%)
Number of significant interruptions: 27
(This, for those who remember the ‘Interruption Coefficient’, is an IC of 1.2).
Next week Marr will be interviewing Gordon Brown. A comparison will be made and conclusions drawn.
Marr could not even introduce the weather forecast without mentioning ducks.
Craig, well done and I await your results…
moorlandhunter,
Yes, the bias is becoming chronic.
Further to my point (7.58am) showing how the BBC is protecting Labour's Ian McCartney (standing down, they say, for health reasons, not – repeat not – for dodgy expense claims), even the nice-as-pie Scottish paper 'The Sunday Post' (which normally hasn't a cynical bone in its sentimental body) is much, much more skeptical that the BBC:
Former Labour chairman quits
for 'health reasons'
Ian McCartney blamed "health
problems" for his early
retirement but was himself
revealed last week to have
claimed thousands of pounds for
furniture for his second home.
The scale of bias has now become an avalanche on this issue & its aim is to bury one party in particular.
Save Gordon!
Thanks Not a sheep.
I’m betting on a much wider range of topics, a far lower % of time spent on sleaze (and most of that on “sleaze in general” rather than “Labour sleaze”) and an Interruption Coefficient of well under 1 !!
Watch this space.
The politics show started with a quack
On the BBC News prior to Marr they were interviewing 2 persons about MPs. One was Yasmin Alibaba-Brown (sic). Beeboids and Yas just did not mention anything about Labour crooks. The other chap (cant remember his name) to be fair did not discriminate between parties, but Beeboids and Yas definitely were desparate not to bring Labour into it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/minette_marrin/article6350279.ece
Minette Mirrin comment on BBC. You will be pleased
BBC on Family Expenses:
Leads with Conway (picture on front page). Article: Mentions a number of Labour and Tory fiddles but all four pictures are Tories.
Subliminal or what? Got no pictures of Labour toffs have we?
AndrewSouthlondon,
Well spotted there!
The BBC must be working very closely with newlabour to push the Tory wrongdoers to the front, it can only be a concerted effort across the whole BBC with editors ordered to place only pictures of Tories and run as many stories as possible with Tory crooks.
Its noticable that the newlabour crooks have faded from view, pushed as far as possible into the background, the BBC are in fact trying to blame the Tories for the expensesgate scandal.
It looks to me like class warfare dog whistle dirty tricks as they bleat on and on about moat/gardens etc.
Cassandra,
Quite right. Look in the newspapers and Labour crooks are still in the foreground (Andy Burnham in the 'Sunday Times', for example, & Ian McCartney everywhere but at the BBC) but they are not even in the background at the BBC. They are invisible.
Everyone posting here has got the measure of the BBC’s line on the expense fraud.
Interesting how they’ve played their hand, even introducing that convicted fraudster, who served a term of imprisonment, Stephen Fry, to say that ‘Expense fiddling was no big deal”.
Now I and 99.5% of the population have absolutely no interest in what Fry has to say on anything. Why did the BBC think it fit to share this former criminal’s tosh with the BBC tax funders is beyond me.
Predictably the BBC have now arrived at their “closing down the debate” mode. Unfortunately for them more reputable news channels are not going to oblige.
And of course when the story first broke, the Telegraph rightly focused on the fraudulent activities of the party in power of government, which happened to be labour.
How were Labour/BBC billing it? Why like this, “Claims in the Tory supporting Daily Telegraph …..”
Yeah right on BBC scum.
time4change: 11:30 AM, May 24, 2009
Hardly a suprise coming from the Murdoch stable is it? How many channels full of pap does Sky run?
Personally I’d let the BBC sink or swim on a subscription based income then they can have as many channels/websites as they please.
George R @ 8:50 AM, May 24, 2009
British people to be urged to go abroad –
BBC report (‘Education’ webpage):
“Graduates ‘should try leaving UK'”
[Extract]:
“The government is urging graduates to consider a spell working abroad, whether in internships or volunteering, to avoid the worst of the recession.”
What happened to “British jobs for British workers”? I didn’t realize Gordon Brown meant that he’d find people work abroad. He’s always talking about apprenticeships and jobs training, too.
Those with high blood pressure should look away now. This story encapsulates the decadence, arrogance and hypocrisy of the Beeboid empire:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/the-biggest-show-home-in-the-country-14312993.html
The island hideaway that BBC radio star Stephen Nolan is planning to build. The motormouth DJ refused to discuss his “pad” or give away any details of the salary or expenses he is paid out of the television licence fee while he was grilling politicians on their expenses last week. …he £1m-plus pile that Nolan is building in Strangford Lough.
When it’s complete, Nolan’s Mahee Island pad will have:
l an outdoor swimming pool;
l a garden hot tub;
l a private jetty and boathouse;
l a games room with full size snooker table; and
l a huge “Media Room”.
…On top of the £600K, he’ll have to fork out extra to cover the cost of building the plush new home, pushing the overall price towards the £1m mark.
….Nolan, who has a clause in his contact with the BBC that they do not disclose his earnings, steadfastly refused to answer the same questions he was asking of the Sports and Culture Minister.
“I am not in any way shape or form going to tell you how much I earn,” said Nolan on his show last week.
nrg
I think the salaries at the BBC will – in due course – be flushed out through the Freedom of Information Act.
And the public outrage will then make it much easier politically to cut the BBC down to size, eg a much-reduced licence fee to support “essential” public broadcasting plus a steer/shove towards subscription for anything else the BBC wants to do – including its hugely bloated website.
The Freedom of Information Act has been grinding forward very slowly – eg in the MPs’ expenses case – but it grinds exceeding small. I’d not be surprised to see some BBC footsoldier or IT guy leaking lots of details about BBC salaries and expenses.
A constant refrain from the BBC is that George Bush was intellectually dim.
Whereas Obama is a gebius, of course.
But this forensic study of “Obama’s” writings about himself suggest that he is a total fraud. If it is true that socialist terrorist Bill wrote the stuff, that shows Obama to be a liar from Square One.
http://tinyurl.com/pyroup
“Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, attempted to claim for two Remembrance Sunday poppy wreaths. The claim was rejected by the fees office.” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5379843/MPs-expenses-Alistair-Darlings-claim-for-help-with-his-tax-return.html)
What a tosser!
Let’s see if the lying, biased BBC takes this one up and runs with it.
As symbols for this whole hideous expenses scandal the “Remembrance Sunday poppy wreaths” certainly beat the ducks and the moat (also both rejected by the fees office) – though what’s the betting our Beeboids don’t see it that way.
TPO,
The BBC will doubtless keep on trying to close down the debate on expenses, but they aren’t going to succeed.
They can trot our Fry, Richards, Weirdy Beardy, Parris et al, but this story is far too big for them to move it on.
They’ll only make themselves look like complete idiots if they keep at it.
Today is going to be really tough for our Beeboid spiders.
How are they going to spin today’s ’Telegraph’ revelations, given that they are all about Labour cabinet ministers – especially their use of “more than £11,000 on accountants…to complete their personal tax returns”?.
And Alistair Darling is very much in the frame.
Darling is key to the BBC’s “Gordon, saviour of the world economy” narrative. They are surely going to have to fight hard to save his reputation after this humiliating, scandalous revelation.
I don’t doubt that they’ll try.
The BBC socialist comrades have a problem, how to help their searchlight/ANL/UAF axis(more about them later)allies and friends?
The ever dishonest toady show had the bright idea of inviting a leftist agitator on to talk about “reclaiming Englishness” and how we should all celebrate being English!
After all these leftist scum have done to diminish, attack and demean the English peoples on this island listening to his verbal squitters made me queezy to say the least but the real aim of the piece was to attack the BNP, thinly veiled as it was.
The anl/auf/searchlight axis consists of hard left marxists/islamists/anarchists/anti democrats/maoists and assisted by the union barons have very close links to the beeboid comrades and they share the same aims and many beeboids are members, they are a very nasty bunch with the absolute desire to destroy their political enemies, they use any means and care nothing for democracy.
The tragic thing is that all the main parties have signed upto helping these ‘people’ destroy our democracy, the Tories entered into a pact with them, bear in mind that this axis hate the Tories like poison and view them as mortal enemies and if the axis got their way and destroyed the BNP then the very next target would be the Tories themselves.
The axis are so frightened of a BNP victory that they are sabotaging the BNP website with a DOS attack, they cannot win the democratic argument so they resort to sabotage and dirty tricks.
Expect to see more thinly veiled political attacks on the BNP by the BBC, it would be a disaster for the BNP to make big gains and it would cut them to the quick!
I hope the BNP do really well if only to see the BBC squirm.
Here’s the priority placed on this morning’s main stories by the 7.00 News on ‘Toady’:
First, the North Korean nuclear test. (Fair enough)
Second, a story about some stolen RAF files, which turns out to be nothing more than a plug for a BBC2 documentary tonight. (Outrageous!)
Third, NHS data breaches. (Important, but…)
Then, fourthly (after 5 minutes of other news), ‘Toady’ listeners finally get to hear about the Cabinet’s accountancy-expenses scandal.
It’s another blatant, totally shameless attempt to play down the significance of embarrassing news for the Liebour party.
How unlike the BBC’s priorities over the last few days, when Tories were in the firing line and led news bulletin after news bulletin.
BBC Bastards!
Craig, in response to your 6:37 AM, May 25, 2009 comment.
This is how they will spin the 9 cabinet members claiming on expenses their personal accountancy costs:
They will barely mention it and quickly turn it onto the Tories…
News headlines BBC1 7am:
One minute is given to headline that story. It includes a beeboid quoting a Labour spokesman stating that it’s all in accordance with the rules. An on screen graphic repeats that quote to really emphasis that point that it’s all allowable. (Did the Tories get extra help to emphasis that they hadn’t broken the rules when it was their turn?)
The beeboid helpfully chipped in by saying these revelations are now becoming a daily occurrence, with a sigh and heaps of disdain. (Wasn’t so mundane when it was Tory revelations though, the beeb was really excited).
They added that the news comes as David Cameron is reopening his candidate list. (Absolutely nothing to do with the story but it does let them drop “Tories” and “David Cameron” into the same report)
The one minute headline also managed to remind us, in case we hadn’t noticed or had forgotten from the last 3 days, that Tory MP Andrew Macay is standing down. (Incidentally, that story is still lead story on the local area page 160 of ceefax after what, 4 days since that news broke)
Later on they did add a further minute or so to the story. On comes some kind of Labour mouthpiece (not sure if he was an actual Labour person or just one of the thousands of BBC Labour supporting talking heads they employ) to tell us again that it’s all within the rules etc. He then helpfully told us that the Daily Telegraph is milking it and maybe some more juicy revelations are to come in the next couple of days as it’s good for their circulation! (The BBC no doubt desperately hoping for some more Tory mistakes to be in them)
It was a case of “better report it but keep it brief and get the Tories in there somehow”. Tick box, job done.
Llew,
Good points. And the James Landale report (about who more shortly!) ended with pictures of a petition being signed to get rid of pretty Tory Julie Kirkbride.
Further to previous points…
Where to begin! The bias contained in Brownite-spin-doctor-pretending-to-be-a-BBC-political-correspondent James Landale’s report on the Cabinet expenses scandal (Radio 4 News this morning) was overwhelming.
I’ve transcribed exactly what Landale said. This way the bias can be exposed, and recorded for posterity!. That, though, will make this a very long post.- so SORRY!!!!
(I’ve used upper case to reflect HIS emphases):
“Day 18 and yet more allegations. Today the ‘Telegraph’ returns to the Cabinet, specifically nine ministers IT says have used public funds, £11,000 in all, to pay for private accountancy advice. The ministers include the foreign secretary David Miliband, the communities secretary Hazel Blears and even the chancellor Alistair Darling. He admitted that he had employed an accountant, but said it was to ensure he paid the right tax in respect of his office costs. And THAT, say Labour sources, is the point. Mps HAVE to account for much of their office costs on their personal tax returns, hence the need for accountants. They also point out that the Commons rules specifically state that professional advice IS an allowable expense. Others in the government noted the irony that while last week ministers were being attacked for avoiding tax, today they are getting it in the neck for making sure they paid it!”
Note, firstly, that of the nine Cabinet ministers, Landale only mentions the two most disliked by Gordon Brown – the over-eager-to-replace-Gordon Miliband and, of course, “YouTube-if-you-want-to” Hazel Blears. This, as Millie pointed out yesterday, is now standard Beeboid pro-Brown bias (“Get Blears! She‘s dispensible.”). The only other minister mentioned is Darling, whose justification is then immediately quoted. Where’s Jacqui Smith and James Purnell? Where’s Hoon , the biggest claimer?
Secondly, most of Landale’s report (as you can see more clearly when it’s written down) concentrates on what the Liebour Party says & its justifications are presented in some detail.
Thirdly, no critical voices (Vince? Tax-Payers’ Alliance?) are introduced to counter these Liebour justifications.
Fourthly, Landale does not counter the Liebour justifications either. (If it was another party’s justifications, or Hazel Blears’s alone for that matter, he would have countered them in some way for sure).
Fifthly, Landale actually SUPPORTS their justifications. “Others in the government noted the irony”, of course, implies that it IS an irony (and one Landale himself sees). It isn’t an irony. Cabinet ministers HAVE been avoiding tax.
Sixthly, and a little nit-pickingly maybe!, the ‘Telegraph’ alleges that the ministers took “more than £11,000” in expenses, NOT “£11,000 in all” as Landale says. There is a difference.
Seventhly, when Landale states as a fact that “last week ministers were being attacked for avoiding tax”, I think it fair to say that I didn’t hear much attacking from Landale and co.
Eighthly, Landale’s report also demonstrates plenty of “bias by omission“. Where are…?
– Harriet Harperson’s £10,000 for media-training consultants?
– Ed Balls’s Remembrance Sunday poppy wreaths?
– Yvette Cooper’s digital cameras and camcorders?
These are all important revelations contained in the ‘Telegraph’ today. Too embarrassing to the Brownite cause to mention, eh James?
The whole report could have been penned by “a Labour source”. Sickening, isn’t it?