90 Responses to OPEN THREAD

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  1. Ady says:
    June 17, 2009 at 12:45 am

    ITV 'to gain licence fee share'
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8103321.stm

    hahahahahahahahahahahaha

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  2. disillusioned_german says:
    June 17, 2009 at 12:53 am

    US senator admits having affair

    Can you guess which party he belongs to? Well, neither could I but I already knew.

    But Al Beeb made it clear in the linked "piece":

    "US senator John Ensign, considered a rising star in the Republican Party, has admitted to an extra-marital affair with a member of his campaign staff."

    In order not to leave any doubts they make it clear in the fifth paragraph:

    "The Washington Post described Mr Ensign as a rising star in the Republican Party who may be considering a 2012 presidential bid."

    Neat.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8104332.stm

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  3. AndrewSouthLondon says:
    June 17, 2009 at 6:32 am

    BBC reinventing the English language: "Obama refuses to 'meddle' in Iran"

    Yeah, like I got up this morning and decided not to piss in my neighbours goldfish pond. Then I thought I wouldn't interfere with the running of the local library. With the whole day ahead, I began to think of what other things I would resist doing.

    How to make doing nothing – indeed REFUSING to "meddle" – look as though it is a real act of leadership. To meddle or not to meddle, that is not the question…

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  4. chuffer says:
    June 17, 2009 at 6:36 am

    Oh Atlas, how I've missed your vast tracts of utter bollocks!!!

    David, I'm surprised you haven't spotted this one:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8104287.stm

    Eeeeeeevil loyalists perpetuating racist attacks.

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  5. Andy says:
    June 17, 2009 at 7:17 am

    Chuffer,

    Sadly, Atlas is not that far off the mark; once you realize it things start to make an awful lot more sense….

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  6. chuffer says:
    June 17, 2009 at 7:44 am

    Andy,
    Really? You mean the ESTABLISHMENT really can change the WEATHER for its own purposes? Ooooh, scary.

    I wish Atlas would just get on and pots some PROOF of his comedy claims. CAPITAL LETTERS aren't enough to convince me.

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  7. Anonymous says:
    June 17, 2009 at 8:20 am

    In a world revolving round the internet (which is catching on, and some now see merit in enhancing with lots more of other folks' money), with folk getting their time-poor news fixes from such as Google, Twitter, etc, I notice one often tends to get sample summaries, with URL, headlines and, crucially, possibly first lines of copy.

    Upon which you form an first impression, and then decide whether to pursue further.

    Hence I am a tad concerned about journalistic and editorial trends that employ the following technique, especially with the latter:

    Headline (often also of dubious summary value, depending on agenda of the guys writing it)

    Copy: [Rampant opinion/untruth/dodgy/claim], followed by an attribution to a [person, generic, unspecified 'them', latest daft research by quango/charity/thinktank with pension pot to top up], often with the added spice of being set in the future ['will say']. As in:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2009/06/the_return_of_p.html#comments

    The country cannot afford it. It is no longer militarily necessary.

    Tonight, Nick Clegg uses those arguments to become…

    At best, that doesn't strike me as totally competent, or indeed kosher reporting.

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  8. George R says:
    June 17, 2009 at 8:35 am

    BBC report:

    "Romanians flee homes after attack"

    (BBC 'Northern Ireland' page).

    BBC has several reference to:

    'racism' of some Belfast people;

    and it reports Martin McGuinness simply thus:

    "Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said it was a 'totally shameful episode' in the city.

    "'We need a collective effort to face down this criminals in society who are quite clearly intent on preying on vulnerable women and children,' he said."

    Whatever the depressing responsibility for this serious incident, it is noticeable that the BBC makes NO reference to:

    1.) impact of Labour's policies of mass immigration;

    2.) continuing E.U. policies of enlargement of E.U. and consequent free movement and residence of millions more people in e.g., Britain.

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  9. Anonymous says:
    June 17, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Or George, the irony of Martin McGuiness denouncing violent attacks on women and children!

    I mean the Republican movement wasn't exactly above a spot of ethnic (sectarian) cleansing itself.

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  10. George R says:
    June 17, 2009 at 9:27 am

    BBC doesn't highlight this report this about 'Gitmo' David Miliband. Why not?:

    'Mail':

    "Government 'would use torture intelligence' if it prevented a terror attack says David Miliband."

    [Extract]:

    "David Miliband admitted yesterday that the Government would use intelligence obtained under torture if it might prevent a terror attack.
    "The Foreign Secretary told MPs that the Government could not ‘ignore’ evidence passed on by another country even if it was suspected the information was extracted through torture."

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  11. archduke says:
    June 17, 2009 at 10:08 am

    a comment left on an irish forum – re those romanian "racist" attacks:

    "in fairness that area of belfast ( Lisburn Road ) is one of the nicest areas in town,

    the question becons that how did 100 romanian's get social housing in a area that 90% of the population could not afford to live in."

    indeed. that is the question.

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  12. pounce_uk says:
    June 17, 2009 at 10:08 am

    Wed 17th June 2009.

    and the biggest story in bBC land is:
    1) Rise of unemployment
    2) Iran
    3) Romanian immigrants in NI getting bricks through the window by loyalist elements. (Well so the bBC tells me)

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  13. pounce_uk says:
    June 17, 2009 at 10:10 am

    Sorry the above should have read;

    Guess which story the bBC presumes is the biggest story in the land.

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  14. DB says:
    June 17, 2009 at 10:37 am

    Cash Peters, Up All Night's camp US TV correspondent, was on typical form last night as he gave his take on the Letterman/Palin spat. He expressed a hope that Palin will run against Obama in 2012 "so we can all have another laugh", dismissed the uproar over Letterman's jokes about Palin's 14 year old daughter as "something of nothing" and said that Palin "just exploits everything now to get in the media."

    On the rare occasions I hear Peters' inane observations they always include attacks on the American right (Fox News, white conservative Christians, Republicans etc) and he's being doing this same ideologically-driven shtick on R5L for years now. Of course, the BBC has a North America editor who dislikes the same targets and is happy to admit that he was rude about Sarah Palin during the election campaign because he opposed her candidacy so it's little wonder that the bitchy leftie witterings of a flamingly queer New Ager like Cash Peters are acceptable to the Beeb; he's what you get when you put Justin Webb through the mincer. Would a right-leaning commentator be allowed to take the piss out of America's po-faced left every week for years on end? Not a chance.

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  15. Ed T says:
    June 17, 2009 at 10:41 am

    Andrew South London- great point about the Obama headline.

    Pounce, George et al. Good points about the Belfast story. I hope I've addressed it ok in a post above.

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  16. GCooper says:
    June 17, 2009 at 10:57 am

    And the award for this year's 'Most sycophantic headline' goes to the BBC for the drooling: "Obama swats fly mid-interview".

    This is beyond parody.

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  17. Not a sheep says:
    June 17, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    Simon Mayo on 5Live is pushing Ms Usher on "cuts". He is asking for an "intellectually honest" debate. "Will there be… any real cuts in departmental spending?"

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  18. pounce_uk says:
    June 17, 2009 at 12:37 pm

    The bBC reports on thieving Martin and his last address to Parliament.
    The bBC version of Mr MArtin is about what a nice man he is, how he is a victim and how if Parliament had done as he asked he wouldn't be standing down.

    Strange how the bBC which has no problem listing past indiscretions of any Tory MP left out Mr Martins;
    1) Using taxpayers to fund his wife using taxis to go shopping
    2) Using taxpayers to fund his penchant for limousines to visit his local football ground.
    3) letting his family use the very substantial airmiles from his taxpayer funded trips home
    4) Letting the police arrest an MP without a warrent
    5) fighting tooth and nail in which to keep MPs expense's private.

    I could go on, but i need to go out for lunch.

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  19. George R says:
    June 17, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    Disenchantment about to set in amongst Beeboids, as their erstwhile pacific and dhimmi hero, Obama, disproves their belief in him –

    "WATCH: No fly zone – Barack Obama kills insect on live TV"

    ('Evening Standard', video clip.)

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  20. George R says:
    June 17, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    Why does the BBC report ex-Dem. Pres. Carter so sympathetically when he's with Hamas? Because he spouts the same political line as the BBC and Bowen:

    BBC report-

    "Carter 'distressed' by Gaza visit"

    (BBC 'Middle East page).

    But, as 'foxnews.com' pointed out yesterday:

    "Carter to Obama: Remove Hamas from Terror"

    [Extract]:

    "Former President Jimmy Carter will urge the Obama administration to remove Hamas from the terrorist list, FOX News has learned.

    "Carter, a chief defender of the U.S.-designated terror group, said Tuesday he will meet with officials in the Obama administration in two days to discuss his latest trip to the Middle East." (Fox News.)

    This BBC pro-Hamas line will continue.

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  21. DB says:
    June 17, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Obama and Iran – two perspectives.

    Charles Krauthammer: "I find the president's reaction bordering on the bizarre."

    Matt Frei: "So far, Mr Obama has played a blinder."

    What a surprise, Matt.

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  22. DB says:
    June 17, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    @GCooper 11:57 AM, June 17, 2009
    "Obama swats fly mid-interview"

    The impressive bit was where he added a couple of breadcrumbs and turned it into a substantial meal for five thousand adoring journalists.

    @George R 3:21 PM, June 17, 2009

    Here's something else for the BBC to ignore:
    Palestinian Hamas members are helping the Iranian authorities crush street protests in support of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, two protesters told The Jerusalem Post On Tuesday.

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  23. George R says:
    June 17, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    One would have thought that some people at the BBC might have found this report of interest:

    'Jihadwatch':

    "Saudi cops arrest 71 'homosexuals' at party"

    [Extract]:

    "Irony of ironies: if you don't have just the right position on gay marriage, or have been seen to stand in the same room on occasion with those who don't have just the right position on gay marriage, gay activists are liable to stab you in the back — even those who appear to have some inkling of the magnitude of the jihad threat. They would rather destroy allies on false pretenses and flimsy guilt-by-association smears rather than stand with them against the real threat, which should be obvious from stories like this one."

    (Incidentally, in Labour's democratic Britain last week, scrutinised by Britain's forthright media, Gordon Brown met King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, but no one has mentioned it.)

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  24. DB says:
    June 17, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    Re Obama swats fly. This was the discussion on R5L Drive a short while ago (verbatim):

    Peter Allen: It is impressive because the fly buzzes around the studio, lands on the president's arm and that's the end of the fly.
    Anita "Obama hat" Anand: And he kind of did it mid-air. It's even more impressive than that.
    Peter Allen: Smack!
    Anita Anand: Yeah.
    Peter Allen: He's a superman.

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  25. chuffer says:
    June 17, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    Obama? Killing animals? EEeeeeevil….

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  27. David Preiser (USA) says:
    June 17, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    Here's another humorous video clip for the BBC's archive of items showing the President's bumbling and slip-ups, waiting to bring out at a moment's notice for a bit of light-hearted relief from the news day. He so stooooopid. But it's all in good fun, fodder for the legion of BBC-benighted comedians.

    Oh, wait. That was the previous President. You'll never see this on the BBC, or any of the usual suspects making fun of Him for these gaffes.

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  28. Ed says:
    June 17, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    Anyone notice how the BBC is giving great prominence to a story of an Israeli minister allegedly using a pejorative term for Arabs?

    Of course "racism" is the cardinal sin for the BBC and their ilk (provided of course the alleged victim is of a darker skin shade and/or from a non-Western/non-Christian background).

    Suicide bombing, beheading etc is all fine to the "we're all Hezbollah now" crowd, but heaven forbid a racial slur!

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  29. Anonymous says:
    June 17, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    The BBC is in classic form today.

    Romanian Racist Attacks.

    Have you noticed that the BBC has already headlined this violence as racist before it could possibly be sure that it is anything of the sort?

    Are we to conclude that racism must always be the real driving force behind violence between ethic individuals or groups?????????

    The BBC shows a young Irish skin head with blood all over his face, contrasting with pictures of Romanian women and children. Not a Romanian young man in site.

    Surly The BBC is not trying to tell us that the poor Irish chap has been hand-bagged by a few six year olds.

    So what exactly is the BBC trying to mind control us into thinking?????????

    I contend that the BBC far from discouraging racism is DELIBERATELY doing the exact opposite AS USUAL.

    The BBC is not the enemy of The BNP or racism, The BBC is The BNP's and racism greatest friend and advocate. Without which we would not have a BNP or indeed any racism worth noting.

    I repeat; The BBC is not bad, or just very sad, The BBC is EVIL beyond belief.

    Which is precisely why we the British especially, have so much difficulty in understanding quite how profoundly EVIL the BBC really is.

    Atlas shrugged

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  30. Jeff says:
    June 17, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    It's almost beyond parody that the main politcal spokesman for the "racist" attacks on the Romanians is one Mr Martin McGuinness. This revolting, terrorist thug shouldn't be in a position to pronounce on anything, let alone be given a sympathetic, uncritical ear. Was it beyond any Beeb journo' to make mention of this man's "colourful" past?
    What next… Robert Mugabe telling us the Iranian elections aren't democratic?

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  31. David Preiser (USA) says:
    June 17, 2009 at 8:54 pm

    Here's the latest press release from the OBBC, about His banking reform plans.

    Once again, it's basically parroting the White House talking points, with one sentence in the middle from an opposing viewpoint. The BBC piece even sets up and knocks down the correct straw men, all according to their Obamessiah's viewpoint.

    The only real alternate viewpoints are offered in the "US Media Reactions" posted below the article itself. The first one, from – where else? – the HuffingtonPost, comes to His defense. It's quite revealing that only one of these quotes comes from a business or economics-oriented source. Apart from a Reuters blog post, the others are from Leftoid partisan outlets.

    Aside from all that, there's one major thing the BBC left out of this little propaganda piece. The Obamessiah's plans aren't limited to just the nasty bankers whose greed is entirely at fault. He wants the power to take over any business, as long as He thinks it's worth it.

    Obama proposed giving the Federal Reserve broad new powers to oversee large firms, such as insurance companies, that it does not regulate directly. Those companies would be required to keep more capital on hand to resist economic shocks.

    "If you can pose a great risk, that means you have a great responsibility," Obama said.

    The Fed would have the authority to seize and dismantle these companies if they are in danger of failing to avoid a repeat of the chaotic government response last fall when insurance giant American International Group Inc. teetered near bankruptcy and required a federal bailout.

    In addition, the administration wants to create a Financial Services Oversight Council, headed by the Treasury secretary, that would try to fill regulatory gaps, coordinate policy and identify emerging risks to the economy.

    Yes, it'll be an unelected panel – answerable only to Him – which will decide how business will work in this country in the future.

    But the BBC doesn't want you to know any of that, because it might make those nasty doubting Thomases look like they were right.

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  32. George R says:
    June 17, 2009 at 10:32 pm

    Discriminatory stop-and-searches against white people -to appease certain non-white people, and BBC multiculturalist types:

    'Mail'

    "Police 'illegally' stopping white people to racially balance stop-and-search figures, watchdog claims."
    By James Slack.

    [Extract]:

    "Police are making unjustified and 'almost certainly' illegal searches of white people to provide 'racial balance' to Government figures.

    "Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of terror laws, said he knew of cases where suspects were stopped by officers even though there was no evidence against them.

    "He warned that police were wasting time and money by carrying out these 'self-evidently unmerited searches' which were an invasion of civil liberties and 'almost certainly unlawful'."

    -Not the sort of race story which the BBC wants to report.

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  33. pounce_uk says:
    June 18, 2009 at 12:08 am

    The bBC we don’t check any facts before we publish them.

    The bBC opines:
    “One 19-year old student, from Oxfordshire, told the BBC he was "incensed" after being stopped and searched by four officers at London's Paddington Station earlier this month. He was given no reason for the search, which caused him to miss his train and delayed his journey from London to Oxford by two hours.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8105655.stm

    Trains to Oxford from London run every few minutes during a weekday. On a weekend they run at 20 minute intervals. Even the gap between the last two trains on a Sunday is only 33 minutes. So how this man was delayed for 2 hours I just do not know. Hang on he admits he was angry and had to sit down, now having used Paddington lots of time would that have being in the Bar? Seeing as there isn’t really that much free space to sit down freely.

    The bBC we don’t check any facts before we publish them.

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  34. David Preiser (USA) says:
    June 18, 2009 at 1:40 am

    I'm still waiting for the BBC to report that The Obamessiah has thrown the gays under the bus. Those of us in the real world knew He was not a supporter of gay marriage, but the BBC hid that fact from you.

    Not only that, but He got the most senior openly gay Congressman and Chairman of the House Financial Services Commission Barney Frank (co-author of the infamous Stimulus Bill) to throw his fellow gays under the bus in order to obey His wishes on the Defense of Marriage Act.

    It's getting so bad now that major gay activists are dropping out of a DNC fundraiser hosted by the Vice President.

    Why is the BBC silent on the anti-gay policies of the current US President? They were never shy about reporting negatively about His predecessor on the issue.

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  35. Anonymous says:
    June 18, 2009 at 5:36 am

    Peter Glover gives the BBC and its so called science and environmental journalists a good kicking here:

    That of course, should be "science" and "environamental".

    And "journalists".

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/lies_damned_lies_and_bbc_clima.html

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  36. Craig says:
    June 18, 2009 at 5:55 am

    Compare and contrast.

    According to the BBC website, “Treasury minister Kitty Ussher has quit the government after further questions were raised about her expenses. Ms Ussher took the step amid reports she "flipped" the designation of her Burnley home shortly before selling it in 2007, avoiding capital gains tax.
    Ms Ussher denied she did anything wrong and said she was stepping aside to prevent embarrassing the government.”

    A very different slant on the story appears in the ‘Guardian’ under the headline ‘Gordon Brown sacks Kitty Ussher for flipping homes to avoid tax’.
    “Gordon Brown received a blow on the eve of the publication of MPs' expenses when he was forced last night to sack Kitty Ussher as a junior Treasury minister in the face of evidence that she "flipped" her homes for a month to avoid paying ­thousands of pounds in capital gains tax.
    As demoralised MPs brace themselves for another blow to their battered ­reputation today, the prime minister told Ussher she would have to stand down as exchequer secretary after the Daily ­Telegraph revealed an accountant had advised her how to avoid paying the tax.”

    Was Kitty sacked, or did she quit?
    Is it a blow for Brown, or not? Is there 'evidence' that she 'flipped' her home, or merely 'reports'?

    Someone's spinning for Brown.

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  37. Roland Deschain says:
    June 18, 2009 at 7:56 am

    Ho hum.

    Another day, another climate change report which is, lo and behold,
    worse than the government had feared    .

    Discussed on Today this morning with Hilary Benn in a "please tell us your thoughts, minister" style. Still, from the BBC point of view, how can you have an in-depth debate on a subject which has only one point of view?

    P.S. Can someone with more knowledge than myself tell me why my links always appear on the next line?

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  38. JohnA says:
    June 18, 2009 at 8:47 am

    Anonymous 6.36am

    Yes, super article attacking the BBC on "warm-mongering".

    (Go to :

    americanthinker.com

    – the Peter Glover article is in the current list

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  39. Political Noob says:
    June 20, 2009 at 11:56 am

    Pity they could not pay some of the licence fee to get the rights to the British Lions tour, today's match at least is only on Sky Sports, which I do not want to subscribe to. Why should I pay extra to these ripoff merchants to watch our national team play? Thanks for nothing BBC.

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  40. As I Please says:
    June 25, 2009 at 10:56 am

    I hadn't been on Biased BBC for a while, but watching the BBC coverage of the 'Romanians' in Belfast made me come here because I knew I wasn't getting the full story. The BBCs coverage was just so utterly agenda driven it was almost comical. Their take is:

    'Innocent foreigners driven out by cruel Loyalist racists'.

    But it seems to me there are a number of important issues being addressed eg:

    1. They are clearly Roma gypsies, not just 'Romanians' so if it is a racial issue, why is this not mentioned? If a group of black British people were attacked in France, say, the BBC would not pretend they were being attacked simply for being British.

    2. What exactly are they in Belfast for? Are they working? Are they seeking asylum?

    3. What is the motivation behind the attacks? Has there even been any speculation on what might have upset the indigenous community? We all know that gypsies are involved in begging etc. If this is a reason why local people are disgruntled (which doesn't, of course, excuse illegal acts) we should be told.

    4. Belfast has a history of sectarian violence and gang warfare, is there any connection? Again, this isn't mentioned – the province is just made out to be a land of milk and honey where the former terrorist lies down with the lamb.

    The BBC just churns out this PC-template press release stuff with no attempt at seeing both sides of the story.

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