Monthly Archives: May 2009

BBC TRADITIONS

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Hey Soap opera fans – good news!

“EastEnders is to tackle one of the last taboos left in soap, with a storyline featuring a Muslim character embarking on a gay love affair. MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal that the plot, which will hit screens in mid-June, will see Syed Masood, a Muslim property developer with a girlfriend who arrived in Albert Square six weeks ago, fall for openly gay Christian Clarke. The pair will share an on-screen kiss.

The BBC has billed the storyline as a “traditional love affair, albeit with a modern multicultural twist”. The BBC1 soap’s production team researched the plot, which is bound to prove controversial with some viewers, contacting academics, gay Muslim support groups and members of the Muslim Council of Great Britain.

So, in BBC world, gay love affairs are “traditional” – and any effort to give the multiculti Muslim twist has been handled sensitively as the dialogue with the MCB indicates. I am sure Britain’s Muslims will take the gay Islam kiss in the spirit the BBC intends, or at least I hope so.

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THE GENTLE TOUCH?

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So, Conservative Julie Kirkbride has fallen on her sword and will not seek re-election. On the One News the BBC has been covering this from the feminist angle on of just how difficult it is for “working mums” to get the work/life balance and also from the angle of how few female MP’s that Cameron will be left with. (Nice dig at the unrepresentative Tories, natch!) In addition, did you notice the way that Labour trougher Margaret Moran has been thrown to the media wolves just as Kirkbride hits the buffs. A good day to bury bad Labour news?

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QUESTION TIME LIVEBLOG!

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Normal time tonight – just wanting to get organised in good time. Geoff shall we with us this evening, the panel seems interesting, so make sure you don’t miss our take on things late this evening!

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INSTITUTIONAL JEW HATRED

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You have to hand it to the BBC, if there is ONE subject which brings out their innate bias, it is that of Israel. Did anyone else catch THIS item from earlier today? Not once is the tricky issue of Palestinian terrorism brought up during the entire interview even though it is central to Israel’s need to ensure effective security. I also was interested in the way in which Obama’s one-sided kow-towing to Palestinian interests in treated as the right course of action by the BBC. Couldn’t help but wonder if Humphyrs had his Keffiyeh on when conducting this interview? (Also, can anyone tell me where the “West Bank” is? Could this refer to Judea and Samaria? Just wondering….) The Fatah representative was allowed to get away with murder, plus ca change.

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ST JULIE THE MARTYR

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Let us praise Julie Kirkbride, she who is now a martyr to the cause of troughing MP’s! Don’t get me wrong – I think that she is a first class disgrace and should follow in her husband’s footsteps and not seek re-election. Her refusal to do so is allowing the BBC to run this story as IF she were the focus of the expenses sleaze and thus provide Labour with some cover, and of course thee BBC treats the Lib-Dem’s as paragons of virtue. It’s interesting to watch the return of Tory Sleaze as the headline grabber on the BBC just one week before the Euro-election and local Council polls. Entirely coincidental, no doubt.

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QUESTION TIME LIVE!

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Just to remind everyone that Question Time liveblog will be on tomorrow night at the USUAL time of 10.35PM. There are 25 places for those who want to comment at will (that’s the max coveritlive provides) so come EARLY if you want registered! The panel looks like a good laugh We have Dan Hannan (Hurray!) and Nigel Farage, the creature from the Green Lagoon Caroline Lucas, Minister for Fitness Caroline Flint, Liberal Jo Swinson and finally, former Dome head Pierre-Yves Gerbeau

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THOSE GREEN SHOOTS OF RECOVERY SPOTTED AGAIN..

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Glad to read that “the pound has risen above $1.60 for the first time since November, reflecting reduced fears over the outlook for the UK economy”. The BBC further trills that “Signs that the UK economy could be over the worst of the downturn have prompted investors to shift away from dollars, which are deemed a safer investment. Currency markets reflected a more optimistic tone from business organisation the CBI. ” I suppose one could suggest that the weakness of the dollar is more of a feature of Obama’s hapless handling of the American economy but that would be to criticise he who must be fawned over so better to present this as proof positive that Prudence has solved our economic woes.

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UNRELIABLE SCIENCE

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I happened to catch around 10 minutes of the Clive Anderson hosted “Unreliable Evidence” this evening which considered the following…

“Are our environmental laws robust enough to save the planet for humankind? The Climate Change Act 2008 commits the UK to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, but can this be legally enforced? What law and penalties are available to force industry, individuals and even the government to reduce their carbon footprint?”

The bit I heard was a disgraceful exercise in Internationalist leftism and Gaia worship and one can see why Mr Anderson is so beloved by Auntie.

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BBC Blankety-Blank a.k.a. Name That Party. Part Big High Number.

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Compare two stories about allegations of political corruption from today’s BBC front page.

First, one from the States:

Illinois Senator Roland Burris has denied that he attempted to “buy his seat” from the state’s disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich.

What party do any of these people represent? One might make a guess from the fact that Blagojevich was arrested for corruption and transcripts were released of his discussion of what he could get for selling then-Senator Obama’s seat after he became President. Or from the fact that there’s a story headed “Senate Democrats endorse Burris” in the “See Also” column. But the BBC does not feel the need to explicitly mention it in any of the approximately 450 words of the story.

Contrast that with:

Tory MP Julie Kirkbride has admitted “it might appear strange” that her sister Karen worked as her secretary 140 miles from her constituency.”

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