Monthly Archives: June 2009

STAND DOWN JEREMY…

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Read this gem by Jeremy Vine on ’80’s pop music called, yip, “Stand down Margaret.” Given that Lady Thatcher is still detained in hospital, I find the whole Student Grant tone of his drivel irritating. Now Vine seems to share some of my own musical taste, and in particular on Elvis Costello. But the difference is that I realise that whilst Elvis can write a great lyric he has the political maturity of a slug. On a vine. But then again when Costello calls Thatcher “a war criminal”, you just know BBC hearts beat a little faster.

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IRANIAN FERMENT

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Well, the BBC may be giving us lots of coverage on the situation in Iran but it’s interesting to see how they spin it! Reading this report, it seems the main points to consider are that this might be bad for Obama whilst playing into the hands of Israel. What a curious way of looking at it!

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BIBI BAD….

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Been away all day so quick catch up! Wonder what you make of the BBC’s coverage of Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to Obama re “The Two State” solution? I don’t think much of Jeremy Al Bowen’s commentary here, written from the usual pro-Palestinian perspective. Seems to me that the very idea that Palestinians might have to recognise the right of Israel to exist and stop trying to kill them is a step too far for Bowen and the usual culprits to take on board. Your take?

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Stability Monkeys

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The BBC is a firmly ideological organisation. One way you can see that is that the messages they purvey rarely change, even though they may evolve somewhat.

Take the Iranian election this week. The BBC’s John Simpson said when Ahmedinejad was elected in 2005 that Iranian politics was “complex and sophisticated”. The invitation to consider his election as an expression of an intelligent electoral system was clear.

Now, following the latest election in which Mahmood strengthened his position with suspicious symbolic perfection outlined by Amir Taheri here, Simpson describes Iran as “a relatively sophisticated country”. Relative to what he does not say. As I did before, in 2005, I invite you to discover some examples of this “sophistication”, all of which documented by Amnesty International (for which I hold no uncritical admiration) since Mr Simpson voiced his view of Iranian “sophistication” in 2005.

Simpson, now apparently ensconced in Iran as he used to ensconce himself in Iraq when he befriended Saddam’s ministers, makes the case for stability:


“it certainly is not in the outside world’s interest to have a long period of disorder in Iran. Political chaos in a leading oil-producing country would do more economic damage to Western countries.”

In so doing he makes the case for Ahmadinejad’s continuing in office, and breaches the code for impartiality. But that is more or less a stable state with the BBC, isn’t it?

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SAINT VINCE

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Listening to Saint Vince Cable on the Politics Show being allowed to get away with murder claiming that his Party did well in the local Council elections. The interviewer gently pointed out the loss of Devon and Somerset but Vince simply mentioned Bristol and all was then well. There is no doubt in my mind that the BBC itself is comfortably at ease with the extreme leftism that permeates Lib-Dem policies and this explains why Cable is afforded near God-like status and given such an easy ride.

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PAYING THE PRICE FOR STATIST BROADCASTING…

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Wonder what you makes of the news that BBC will be forced to give up some of its £3.6 billion public funding in a massive shake-up of the licence fee, it was claimed today.

Technology minister Lord Carter is to propose “top slicing” the BBC’s budget by up to £130 million to help under-pressure ITV and other programme makers, the Sunday Telegraph said. His White Paper – to be presented to Cabinet on Tuesday – could also call for Channel 4 to receive financial support through a partnership with BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s lucrative commercial arm.

My thoughts are that this news is designed to give the appearance of doing something about the obscene license tax but in reality it perpetuates it. It’s not the top-slicing of it that matters much to me, it is the very existence of it.

Meanwhile, isn’t it nice to know that some of our favourite BBC star broadcasters are able to rake in a few extra pounds?

Sarah Montague, a presenter on Radio 4’s Today programme, Radio 5 Live political reporter John Pienaar and Newsnight anchor Gavin Esler have received up to £5,000 to appear at the events for politicians, civil servants and NHS bosses

Ah yes – the NHS, the envy of the world (The third world, that is) .

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SHOULD THE MONARCHY END?

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BBC’s “Big Question” – presented by B-BBC favourite Nicky Campbell now taking on the all important issue of whether the Monarchy needs to end with Her Majesty. I’m looking forward to the same programme fearlessly debating whether the bloated parasitic BBC needs to end. The BBC never misses a chance to bash the Monarchy and the panel is stacked with anti-monarchists.

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THOSE IRANIAN ELECTIONS…

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I notice the BBC is getting very excited about the election taking place in Iran between what it describes as the “ultra-conservative” Ahmadinejad and the “moderate” Mousavi. Let’s leave the attachment of the word “conservative” to Holocaust denying Jew hating Ahmadinejad aside for one moment and consider Mousavi’s “moderation” – shall we? He is in favour of Iran’s nuclear programme (Objective; Wipe Israel off the map and gain regional supremacy); he has been an adviser to Khamenei; he has been described as a “firm radical” -and of course he has a track record of anti-Americanism. None of this is touched on by the BBC in their fluffy endorsement of the moderate Mousavi. Moderation and Iranian leaders under the jackboot of the Mullahs are mutually exclusive but you would never know that from BBC coverage.

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FANTASY POLITICS

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I know that fantasy football is quite popular but there was a remarkable demonstration of fantasy politics on the BBC this morning. Yvette Cooper, she who is is as close as a female politician can get to McDoom, was allowed to waffle for five minutes about something which does not exist in the UK – I refer to “child poverty.” She got a free ride as she blustered about Labour’s latest initiative to impose legal obligations on government, local authorities and other organisations to help to end “child poverty” across the UK. At no point did the interviewer challenge the fundamental premise on which all this nonsense is based – namely the leftist political construct of relative poverty. Cooper kept referring to “fairness” – a Labour euphemism for stealing from the industrious and giving to the workshy. When there is so much genuine poverty affecting children in other parts of the world – like Zimbabwe for instance – it’s sickening to hear Labour using the BBC to advocate their own left wing fantasy politics. When we will get to hear someone challenge the poverty industry advocates on the BBC?

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