152 Responses to OPEN THREAD.

  1. GCooper says:

    Curious by its omission from the BBC's current crop of 'news' stories is anything about petrol prices – currently gaining altitude at a rate NASA could only envy.

    This is an issue that has a very direct bearing on the lives of the Corporation's listeners and viewers – far more so than the misfortunes of gypsies living in Belfast, or the fly-swatting activities of the Obamessiah.

    So why doesn't the BBC investigate and report? Why isn't this the lead story? Who is ripping us off (apart from the BBC's boss in Downing St, of course)?

    Still, if you live in North London and cycle to work at White City, or catch the tube (when it's working) petrol prices aren't really much of an issue, are they?

    Particularly if discussing them makes your friends in government, or Greenpeace, uncomfortable.

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  2. George R says:

    The BBC's propaganda for homosexual 'rights' is well known; as a corollary, the BBC is much less interested in campaigning against family breakdown:

    'Telegraph' (today)-

    "Family breakdown is now a national tragedy"

    (by Sir Paul Coleridge, High Court Judge):

    [Extract]:

    "Recently, I was approached by the BBC, with a view to making a documentary about family breakdown. I suggested the researcher start by spending the day with me in court, to watch a run-of-the-mill High Court case. She was stunned into silence and remained speechless when I told her that within the Royal Courts of Justice, there were 20 or so other judges engaged in similar cases.

    "Across inner London, well over 100 family courts were dealing with family breakdown that day, in one guise or another. Multiply that across the rest of the country, and you get some feel for the scale of the epidemic.

    "Unfortunately, the BBC, the most important opinion-former in the land, wishes to avoid engaging in a debate on this vital issue. The two programmes that resulted, presented by the respected journalist John Ware, have been moved from a 9pm slot to 11.20pm. Those in charge considered them to be "'too dark'. That, however, may be a symptom of a wider problem. Yes, what goes on within broken families is dark – very dark. But we won't throw any light on it if we refuse to acknowledge it and open it up to debate.

    "There is a tendency, especially among the chattering classes, to assume that we have attained a social utopia, in which we are entirely and happily free from taboos, stigmas and other constraints on behaviour. It sounds so beguiling: let us all do what we want, when we want and sort out any mess as we go along.

    "But surely the test of any social change is whether it enhances people's lives or makes them more miserable. And this is where I take issue with the modern view of the family. If it is so successful, why are the statistics for separation so large? More significantly, why are the family courts overwhelmed with cases involving damaged, miserable or disturbed children? How do other children, caught up in less serious separations, really feel? Do they relish the endless changes of partner, or adapting to a new step-parent and step-siblings?"

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  3. The Beebinator says:

    climate change in 80 years is going to kill us all errrrrr why doesnt the met office / Al Beeb give us yearly predictions of climate change? cos theyre fuckin shite at predictiong it and they have a 50% chance of getting it right.

    and another thing, Beeboid scumbags using the phrases extreme right and radical left,

    i thought radical was groovy

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  4. Anonymous says:

    GCooper,
    Yes I too am puzzled. Two days after the sudden rise I caught, by accident, honest, the Wark on Newsnight saying that the "Footsi" had closed down as oil dropped in price.
    I did see that oil futures were up for 3 and 6 months, perhaps Shell were bidding high to give them an excuse. They seem to be trying it on at regular intervals to see if they can get away with it.

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  5. George R says:

    It's not BNP: So is BBC interested in condemning this Islamic practice?:

    'Evening Standard' –

    "Clashes as Muslim extremists attempt to segregate women"

    ( by Rashid Razaq).

    [Extract]:

    "A public debate organised by a banned Islamist group sparked scuffles and angry confrontations over segregated seating for women.

    "Police were called after members of Al Muhajiroun physically prevented men and women from sitting next to each other leading to claims of assault and intimidation.

    "The event titled Sharia law versus British law was meant to see radical preacher Anjem Choudary debate Douglas Murray, director of the right-wing thinktank the Centre for Social Cohesion at Conway Hall in central London last night.

    "However the venue's owners cancelled the meeting before it even got under way because of 'fundamentalist thugs' who clashed with Mr Murray's supporters at the entrance.

    "It led to a noisy stand-off outside the building in Red Lion Square for more than an hour as police intervened to keep the two sides apart.

    "Mr Choudary planned to use the event to publicly relaunch Al Muhajiroun five years after it was supposedly disbanded. It was led by Omar Bakri until his deportation for glorifying terrorism after praising the 9/11 hijackers as 'the Magnificent 19'".

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  6. John Bosworth says:

    Matt Frei! Matt Frei! Matt Frei!

    In his latest column, “The Obama Effect” our hero describes the Obamessiah (blessed be his name) can sell more books than Oprah, expecting to find the obligatory paragraph that bashes Bush. And lo! There it was:

    “Product placement does not work with every president. George W Bush was an avid reader with a rather eclectic and surprising taste in books. When I interviewed him in early 2008, he told me he was reading Alastair Horne's excellent account of the Algerian civil war called a Savage War of Peace. The book did not pounce onto the best seller list.”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8080327.stm

    Matt is so boringly predictable.

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  7. Martin says:

    I see the BBC are attacking Cameron on expenses. "Listen to the BBC to find out about Cameron's expenses, you might not get it elsewhere" or words to that effect claimed the rather gay looking male beeboid just now. "The Tories have gotten off lightly"

    So now we know the position of the BBC. The BBC even have to admit that most of what Cameron has to pay back was from weeks ago.

    Funny that the BBC have ignored the resignation of YET ANOTHER government Minister and the stuff over McSnot claiming for Sky TV.

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  8. Martin says:

    BBC News 24 with camp boy and slapper Maitlis leading about Cameron's expenses.

    Sky News leading over the criticism of the investigation into the Iraq war.

    Which do you think is the more important story?

    Funny the BBC haven't led with the resignation of a Liebour Minister. Why not?

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  9. jon dee says:

    The BBC's decision to allow Sir Alan Sugar to retain the "Apprentice", while promoting the Labour government from the Lords, is disgraceful.

    Impartiality goes out the window as the BBC gives two fingers to licence payers et al.

    Can we imagine a Tory peer being granted the same facility ?

    Of course not.

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  10. The Filthy Smoker says:

    I think this one can be filed under BBC bias:

    http://devilskitchen.me.uk/2009/06/its-way-she-tells-em.html

    The whole 'let's ban smoking in cars' debate was entirely engineered by the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation, who not only invited some authoritarian quack to hold forth on the issue but gave the bugger his own webpage and then invited two fake charities – ASH and Brake – to support it. They then ran the "story" under the headline:

    Call to ban child-in-car smoking

    Nice lobbying, Auntie. Within hours, thanks to heavy coverage across radios 2, 4 and 5, the Beeb had turned an issue about which no normal person had ever given a moment's thought into something that the type of pitchfork-wielding mouth-breather who calls up Jeremy Vine thinks requires drastic action.

    And just in case the 'debate' wasn't unbalanced enough, the Beeb then cancelled an interview with the Forest spokesman – the only person invited to provide a counter-argument.

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  11. nrg says:

    Just turned on R4 book programme. First I had to tolerate some harpy whining on about cultural solidarity with Palestinians. She had just come back from the Venice Biennale. Then we got some dumbo shrilling about climate change and the sky falling down.

    Do the Beeboids ever take a break from the leftist propaganda? Does everything have to be infected with their biased world view?

    Funny how climate change is such a big worry until it comes to flying out to Venice for a pretentious arts show?

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  12. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The Filthy Smoker @ 4:33 PM

    Your comment puts the lie to the BBC's denials of an internal agenda. They always pretend there's nothing of the kind, and that no memos go out, no editorial slants pushed, etc.

    Yet, here is yet another issue on which the BBC promotes a specific angle across the spectrum of their programming. That doesn't happen by accident.

    I wonder if Sarah Jane (part-time BBC, occasional visitor here) might have something to say about this next time she checks in here.

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  13. Martin says:

    This is nothing new. Climate change, speeding, immigration and so on. The BBC will try to 'seize' the agenda by making up a story then running it big time either to divert attention from bad news for Liebour or to promote a particular agenda for the BBC's own interest.

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  14. George R says:

    BBC ('News Front Page') statement:

    "Government role no reason to fire Sir Alan, BBC decides."

    Not stated by BBC:

    "We, at the BBC, will always give our Labour government all the political assistance we can."

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  15. Millie Tant says:

    Call to ban child-in-car smoking

    I hadn't realised children were smoking in cars. Tut, tut! The youth of today…Wouldn't have happened in my day.
    (We went behind the laurels!)

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  16. Jack Bauer says:

    John Bosworth said…
    Matt Frei! Matt Frei! Matt Frei!

    In his latest column, “The Obama Effect” our hero describes the Obamessiah (blessed be his name) can sell more books than Oprah, expecting to find the obligatory paragraph that bashes Bush. And lo! There it was:

    Did the Obama Door Matt mention the political book that has topped the New York Times best selling non-fiction list for 11 out of the past 12 weeks?

    Selling an amazing 800,000 hard back copies? And the roll continues.

    That would be Liberty & Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin…

    Despite a deliberate effort by America's State Controlled Media to marginalize and ignore the book, it has ignited a wild-fire of enthusiasm among conservative and libertarian supporters who want a nourishing exposition on conservative principles encompassing Locke, Smith, Paine, Mill, de Tocqueville, Madison, et al.

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  17. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Nick Robinson gives Margaret Beckett his endorsement for Speaker.

    Yes, he repeats the same Lobby gossip as everybody else: the Tories loathe Bercow and everybody will like Beckett. But the BBC's political editor shouldn't be giving his opinion on anyone's qualifications for the job.

    That's the whole problem with these BBC blogs.

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  18. JohnA says:

    nrg

    Yes, it is despicable when somewthing supposedly as literate as the Book Prog goes totally PC.

    Both the PC items you mentioned were utterly boring as well.

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  19. Martin says:

    I've put in a complaint about the BBC using Toll Bar flooding as an example of climate change when in fact the flooding had nothing to do with climate change at all. I expect I will get the usual bollocks in reply.

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  20. Doug says:

    Jon Dee is absolutely right about the Alan Sugar scandal. The BBC has unequivocally and shamelessly nailed its colours to the mast. And those colours are red. This is the first time I've really thought that the only solution remaining is the abolition of the BBC.

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  21. Anonymous says:

    BBC NI News tonight. Up rocks the politial editor, born on the Falls Road she is and wearing the green, just so you know it. MP's expenses? Well now lets see waht those nasty Unionists have been up to…

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  22. John Bosworth says:

    Jack Bauer:

    I don't think (and I may be wrong) that Mark Levin – "the great one" – has ever appeared on the BBC or that any Beeb viewer or listener even knows who he is.

    Looking back, I am amazed how it was only after moving to the USA, I discovered how very narrow the BBC repetory company really is. The old joke, "our Labour Party is like your Democratic party and our Conservative Party is a bit like your Democratic Party" is true. I told a Beeboid friend recently I'd been to see Newt Gingrich speak and I thought he was going to call a priest to exorcise me.

    Michael Savage (not my favorite talk show host) has only surfaced as a personality because the UK lefties need a "hate-mongering right-wing nut" type punching bag. I guess after Anne Coulter's mauling of Paxman, producers steer clear of anyone who can punch back.

    I love Paxman's slow intake of breath and the word…"now…" at the start of the clip.

    PS "Liberty & Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto" by Mark Levin…excellent book! So is "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg and "America Alone" by Mark Stein. Are these available in the UK or have they been banned by the Thinking Classes?

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  23. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Jack Bauer @5:39 PM,

    Did the Obama Door Matt mention the political book that has topped the New York Times best selling non-fiction list for 11 out of the past 12 weeks?

    Selling an amazing 800,000 hard back copies? And the roll continues.

    Levin hasn't been on CNN or MSNBC, or been praised in the publications and blogs which inspire Frei's view of the US. It's not touted on the HuffingtonPost or in The New Republic, so Frei knows it's not important.

    There's zero chance that this will make it into one of his "Americana" propaganda broadcasts. Instead, it will yet another view from the Left on whatever issues he brings up.

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  24. Jack Bauer says:

    David P — as ML has observed in his inimitable and unique style, they're scared of the book.

    It's a philosophical and political treatise that cannot be dismissed as some pop pamphlet dumbed down for the unwashed.

    So they HAVE to ignore Levin and the book, because it exposes their worldview as the farrago of reactionary statist failures they actually are.

    David Cameron should read it. It might turn him into a conservative. Or not.

    Hey Dave (Cameron)… Get off the statist line, ya big dope,

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  25. George R says:

    Still no BBC reports on:

    1.)

    "Scuffles as extremist Muslim group orders men and woman to be segregated at public meeting." [London.]

    [Extract]:

    "A public debate organised by banned Islamic sect Al Muhajiroun was cancelled today after an angry confrontation broke out over the segregation of men and women.
    Management at the meeting's venue said 'fundamentalist thugs' forced the event to be called off after they physically prevented men and women sitting together." ('Daily Mail.)

    2.)
    "The pensioners battered to a pulp by four men for clipping another car's wing mirror" [Bradford.]

    [Extract]:

    "Mrs Bell was left in a pool of blood, with two black eyes after the wing-mirror of the couple's car clipped another vehicle.
    After being tail-gated through town, Beryl's husband Christopher, who takes 12 tablets a day for a heart condition, pulled over to speak to the driver of the pursuing car.
    "But as the 65-year-old approached the car four Asian men aged in their 20s got out and launched an unprovoked attack, repeatedly punching him in the head.
    "When brave Mrs Bell, 66, screamed at the gang to leave her husband alone the attackers turned on her, punching her to the ground and leaving her bleeding heavily and with painful, swollen eyes .
    The retired shop owners were taken to hospital where Mrs Bell was unable to open her eyes for over an hour." ('Daily Mail'.)

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  26. JohnA says:

    John Bosworth

    There are other right-side broadcasters/writers who would not get a mention from the likes of Frei and Webb – Hugh Hewitt, for example, dear old Bill Bennett, the comedian fellow (Dennis ???) etc.

    I often prefer tuning in to some of those guys on the Internet to listening to rubbish BBC radio – left wing unfunny "comedy", left0wing undramatic plays, left-wing PC consumer progs, plus of course the endless left-wing news.

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  27. John Horne Tooke says:

    This person would never appear on the BBC either.

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  28. Ady says:

    First UK trial without a jury approved.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8106590.stm

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  29. David Preiser (USA) says:

    I'm still waiting for the BBC to say even a single word about The Obamessiah's latest problem:

    Gay activists not impressed with Obama's move

    That's putting it mildly.

    President Obama's first official overture to the gay and lesbian community, granting a handful of benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees Wednesday, did little to quiet gay rights activists who want him to push for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.

    Obama reiterated at a White House ceremony his "long-standing commitment" to try to overturn the law, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

    But the memorandum he signed Wednesday was a far cry from the frontal assault on the 1996 marriage law, which denies federal benefits to same-sex partners, or the 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays in the military that Obama the candidate talked about.

    The memorandum aims at the fringes of anti-gay discrimination by the federal government, leaving open the question of if or when the White House will move against the underlying federal laws.

    This isn't surprising to people who get their information from sources outside of the BBC. They will know all about how the President has already shown his true position on gay rights.

    See, the BBC believed Him when He said in April of last year:

    I don’t think it’s fair to say "silence" on gay issues. The gay press may feel like I’m not giving them enough love. But basically, all press feels that way at all times. Obviously, when you’ve got a limited amount of time, you’ve got so many outlets. We tend not to do a whole bunch of specialized press. We try to do general press for a general readership.

    But I haven’t been silent on gay issues. What’s happened is, I speak oftentimes to gay issues to a public general audience. When I spoke at Ebenezer Church for King Day, I talked about the need to get over the homophobia in the African-American community; when I deliver my stump speeches routinely I talk about the way that antigay sentiment is used to divide the country and distract us from issues that we need to be working on, and I include gay constituencies as people that should be treated with full honor and respect as part of the American family.

    So I actually have been much more vocal on gay issues to general audiences than any other presidential candidate probably in history. What I probably haven’t done as much as the press would like is to put out as many specialized interviews. But that has more to do with our focus on general press than it does on… I promise you, the African-American press says the same thing.

    Yeah, He was totally on their side the whole time. He said so. Funny how they believed that, but berated people like me for heresy when when we said we believed Him about "spreading that wealth around". Guess which promise he's kept.

    Anyways, the BBC has been totally silent on their beloved Obamessiah's betrayal of His promises on gay rights and getting rid of the Defense of Marriage Act. Of course, the BBC probably doesn't want you to know about that at all, because it was happily signed by Bill Clinton, another BBC favorite.

    So, while they fill your minds with tales of health care rainbows and fluffy bunnies going green and unicorns running the auto industry, they hide the truth about the President and gay rights. I'm sure more than one editorial meeting has been brought to a halt by cognitive dissonance.

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  30. Not a sheep says:

    Evan Davis on the Today programme actually questions Jack Straw rather than swallowing the spin and Jack Straw does not like it at all.

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  31. George R says:

    'Guardian' follows 'Telegraph' re-BBC's relegation of 'family breakdown' programmes ((mentioned on this thread – 12:23 pm, 18 June, above.)-

    "Senior judge attacks BBC for putting 'dark' documentary in late-night slot"

    [Extract]:

    "Sir Paul Coleridge, interviewed in documentary on family breakdown, accuses BBC of stepping away from vital issues.
    "The BBC's decision to relegate a documentary about family breakdown and the fragmented society to a late-night slot just before midnight because it is allegedly "too dark" has been condemned by a senior family court judge.

    "Sir Paul Coleridge, a judge in the high court's family division, who appears in the two-part documentary The Death of Respect, criticised the decision to screen it at 11.20pm next month.

    "The documentary's producer, the veteran journalist John Ware, joined the criticism, telling MediaGuardian.co.uk that the decision was "letting down" licence-fee payers.

    Sir Paul Coleridge, who features prominently in the programme, which will air on BBC2 after Newsnight on consecutive weeks next month, accused the BBC of avoiding vitally important social debates.

    In a speech given this week to a charity, the Family Holiday Association, Sir Paul said that the programmes would screen at the 'extraordinary time of 11.20 pm.

    "'What is the explanation for this change of heart about these important programmes? I have sought to make enquiries with the producer and Mr Ware. The only response I have had is that those in charge think that they are 'too dark'. What, I inquired, "does 'too dark' mean? The response was that they are not regarded as sufficiently positive or life affirming or the kind of programmes which the BBC like to make nowadays.

    "'So we have a situation, it would seem, where the biggest and most highly regarded, publicly funded opinion former in the land regards these vitally important issues as 'too dark' to make a contribution to. Instead they avoid engaging in the debate. That, I suggest, is worrying. But it may be a symptom of the wider problem.'

    "Ware, who has been making BBC documentary programmes since the 1980s, finished the documentary in March. He told MediaGuardian.co.uk: 'We are all very disappointed about the delay and the late slot but more importantly I think it's the wrong call for licence fee payers. I think it's wrongheaded – vast numbers of licence fee payers are interested in the subject and it has enormous relevance for them.

    "'To be quite honest it was quite a coup getting a judge like Mr Justice Coleridge on air, particularly given how hard it is to have people in his position speaking openly, and we all think he is quite right about the scheduling decision and feel cross about it.'

    "Ware, a BBC staffer who won the 2001 Royal Television Society broadcast journalist of the year award and the prestigious James Cameron prize in 2004, added: 'The extent to which we have a fragmented society is a huge talking point today and not one just confined to the metropolitan elite.'

    "Coleridge added that there was 'a deep and abiding concern about the current state of health of the family in this country and a real wish to engage in debate about where we are and what needs to be done' adding that 'we shall not throw any light on it if we refuse to acknowledge it and open it up to debate'.

    "A BBC spokeswoman declined to address the scheduling concerns and issued a statement which read: 'The Death of Respect examines the issue of respect in Britain today and, as part of this, looks at the role that family breakdowns have to play. This is an important subject that BBC2 will be thoroughly examining in two hour-long documentaries. It has been scheduled to transmit after Newsnight and will benefit from inheriting a current affairs audience'." ('Guardian.)

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  32. George R says:

    BBC is disinterested in more stealth transfer of British economic controls to European Union.

    'Telegraph' and 'Times' make some scrutiny, as 'eureferendum' points out:

    "Brown Thursday"

    [Opening extract]:

    "'Regulation of City may be handed to Brussels' writes Bruno Waterfield.

    "Hopes that Gordon Brown would make a stand against the European Commission's financial regulatory proposals, which could see control over the City transfer from London to Brussels, appear to be fading, he tells us." ('eu referendum'.)

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  33. Anonymous says:

    Car maunfacturing ouput fell by 43%in the year to May 2009.

    Now is the Good or Bad economic news?

    Accoding to today's 1 o'clock BBC News it is a sign of green shoots in the economy…!

    The BBC will be spin literally anything to try and make Gordon look good.

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  34. David Preiser (USA) says:

    First the US lost the top polluter ranking to China, and now you guys have taken over the top spot as most evil enemy of the Islamic Republic.

    There must be a lot of confusion in BBC editorial meetings today. I bet they consider this proof positive of the supreme balance, insight, and honesty of their coverage of the election and its aftermath. Well, BBC, that's what happens when you let your reporters openly hope for a certain election outcome. Eventually people start to take notice.

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  35. Robert S. McNamara says:

    Yep. Feels good to be judged the prime enemy of the most backward, oppressive shithole on this rock by a bearded old dictator with what appears to be a head injury. Very good indeed.

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  36. David Preiser (USA) says:

    I just heard a report on the World Service saying that "far right" groups were elected to the EU parliament due to grievances about poor rules for foreign contract workers. I'm sure that's why the Poles elected people from that nasty homophobic party: they were sick of foreign workers coming in and taking Polish jobs.

    It was all about jobs, you see. As usual, nobody voted for the BNP or Geert Wilders for the reasons the voters said they did.

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  37. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Just now there's a Beeboid talking about a city in China that is now enforcing a "one dog per family" rule. There's a big problem with strays and rabies, apparently, so the government is dealing with it in that inimitable Chi-Com way.

    The Beeboid says that each family has to pick which dog it wants to keep, and the rest "will be slaughtered".

    No emotional language there, then.

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  38. zaNu Labour and McBroon bad, Dave & Os good says:

    Its all labour sleaze.

    The conservatives are a shining beacon that would sweep clean politics.

    OK there were some bad apples but they were swiftly dealt with.

    They really are different.

    Especially the higher up ones in the shadow cabinet, they represent the high integrity cream of the crop.

    The majority of posters that post here are so right.

    We don't need shameful propaganda like that lefty rag the Telegaph spoiling it all.

    Thankfully nothing like this from the true blue BBC…

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5572537/MPs-expenses-officials-black-pen-failed-to-spare-Tory-red-faces.html

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  39. zaNu Labour and McBroon bad, Dave & Os good says:

    Its all labour sleaze.

    The conservatives are a shining beacon that would sweep clean politics.

    OK there were some bad apples but they were swiftly dealt with.

    They really are different.

    Especially the higher up ones in the shadow cabinet, they represent the high integrity cream of the crop.

    The majority of posters that post here are so right.

    We don't need shameful propaganda like that lefty rag the Telegaph spoiling it all.

    Thankfully nothing like this from the true blue BBC…

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5572537/MPs-expenses-officials-black-pen-failed-to-spare-Tory-red-faces.html

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  40. zaNu Labour and McBroon bad, Dave & Os good says:

    Its all labour sleaze.

    The conservatives are a shining beacon that would sweep clean politics.

    OK there were some bad apples but they were swiftly dealt with.

    They really are different.

    Especially the higher up ones in the shadow cabinet, they represent the high integrity cream of the crop.

    The majority of posters that post here are so right.

    We don't need shameful propaganda like that lefty rag the Telegaph spoiling it all.

    Thankfully nothing like this from the true blue BBC…

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5572537/MPs-expenses-officials-black-pen-failed-to-spare-Tory-red-faces.html

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  41. will2001 says:

    Robert S. McNamara said…
    Yep. Feels good to be judged the prime enemy of the most backward, oppressive shithole on this rock

    But you have to read to para 92 of the BBC report to find reference to the UK's promotion to the Satanic superleague.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8108661.stm

    That's the way that the BBC retain a presence in Teheran, whilst Sky have been kicked out & therefore lead their bulletins with the ayatolah's words about the UK.

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  42. Craig says:

    On last night's the 'World Tonight' (Radio 4), BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said he had done some research (looking at the 'redacted' information) into what MPs had been claiming on 'sundry expenses':

    "We've been going through the first 200, started at A, the beginning of the alphabet, into the list…", he said.

    As W comes near the end of the alphabet (after V & before X), that was jolly lucky for Ben's father, Tony Wright MP!

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  43. Jack Bauer says:

    A tangential topic…

    PREMIER LEAGUE END SETANTA DEAL
    The Premier League have terminated their contract with Setanta with immediate effect after the Irish broadcaster failed to make a scheduled payment before this evening's deadline.

    I wonder how the BBC will report on this?

    Will it mention the following disagreeable facts about an out of control Nanny state "government" housing the biggest set of know-it-all incompetents ever. People who couldn't run a lemonade stand yet deign to run our lives like some Stalinist kommisariat

    Oh yes, it was the Labour government which decided it didn't like SKY having a legally binding contract with the Prem League.

    Nah — SOCIALISTS cannot stand the fact that two fantastically successful private enterprises come to a mutually beneficial arrangement, that actually benefits the customer.

    Nah — they have to stick their big fat nose it to cause this fiasco.

    It was the government which INSISTED that, despite Sky outbidding its rivals for the main rights, and for the "premium" matches sold seperately to the viewer, these matches must be sold to a lower bidder.

    So what happens with this fake competition. Well Setanta charged MORE than Sky charged. So for a worse deal that Sky offered at a lower price, the customer ended up paying MORE.

    And now that company looks like it is going bust.

    What a bunch of tossers they are.

    Socialists, that is.

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  44. Hero from the future says:

    How ironic that the BBC is banned from Iran, when they were the ones who broadcast all the messages of the Ayatollah Khomeni (in exile in France) in the first place to help put the current lot in power. How ungrateful.

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  45. George R says:

    "I could walk away from this tomorrow – Gordon Brown."

    If only…

    -Headline in Saturday's 'Guardian'.

    (Come on, BBC, I dare you to give him a push.)

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  46. Craig says:

    Michael Prick can always be relied on for a spot of shameless bias.

    Today's 'Telegraph' is reporting on MPs who've made inflated council tax claims:

    " Dozens of MPs have made "phantom" claims for council tax on their parliamentary expenses – receiving thousands of pounds more than they actually paid their local authorities.

    Senior MPs and ministers, including Beverley Hughes, David Blunkett and Mark Tami, are accused of over-claiming for council tax on their designated second home over the past four years.

    Eric Illsley, the Labour MP, is thought to have made the highest phantom claim – recouping more than £6,000 over and above his council tax bills since 2004. David Willetts and Jeremy Hunt, both shadow ministers, admitted last night that they had over-claimed on their council tax by at least £500 each.

    In total, more than 50 MPs are thought to have profited from the dubious claims."

    On last night's 'Newsnight' Crick reports the story like this:

    "They're focusing on what they call 'phantom council tax' claims – claims by dozens of MPs, they say, for council tax bills that either were never paid at all or the MPs claimed more than they actually paid the council in tax on their second homes, including David Willetts and David Hunt, two members of the shadow cabinet, who have admitted to the paper tonight they've claimed at least £500 too much."

    No mention of Blunkett, Bev Hughes, Tami or Illsley (all Labour), only Willetts and Hunt.

    What a crick.

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  47. Umbongo says:

    Imagine you're the editor of Today. One of the items is the controversy over the Greek demand for return of the Elgin Marbles. You want an impartial commentator to sum up the position after the BBC reporters have had their say. Who do you select?

    I'll tell you who: Christopher Hitchens who has campaigned for years for the return of the Marbles to Greece. This is bias so blatant it makes BBC coverage of the Middle East – particularly the contributions of Jeremy Bowen – positively Zionist.

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  48. George R says:

    Will the BBC get around to reporting this, despite its dhimmitude?:

    "France to consider banning the burka" ('Telegraph'.)

    [Extract]:

    "President Nicolas Sarkozy's government is to consider banning the burka and other Islamic clothing which French MPs claim is degrading to women.

    "In a move that sparked fierce debate, a group of parliamentarians called for an inquiry into the wearing of the head-to-toe Islamic veil in France and whether Muslim women who cover themselves completely in public constitute an assault on French secularism and women's rights.

    "In a call that won support from senior figures in Mr Sarkozy's government, they demanded that a parliamentary commission consider the fate in France of the burka, where the eyes are covered by a fabric mesh, and the niqab, which has an eye slit."

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  49. Paul says:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8110516.stm

    Look at the quotes on the right hand side. David Willetts is a Conservative MP, but Eric Illsley is… well, it doesn't say… (in the quote).

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  50. DB says:

    Tonight at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose – Naughtie on Obama:

    Jim Naughtie understands America better than almost every other British journalist. He covered the Democratic primaries, the election and the inauguration, and has seen Obama close-up several times.
    In what promises to be a riveting talk, Jim will tell us what he knows about the most unexpected US president of modern times
    .

    "Jim Naughtie understands America better than almost every other British journalist." Hilarious. There's a phrase I intend to use again and again.

    Wish I'd noticed this sooner. Are there any Biased BBC readers near Melrose? A report/recording of this lecture would be most appreciated.

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