Monthly Archives: June 2009

Quotables

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Cameron to Hugh Edwards: “Even the BBC… will have to say these are good results” (smirk)

Nick Robinson (on a day when Labour failed to retain a single county council): “Gordon Brown is stronger than he was, but not by much.”

Gordon: “I will not waver… I will get on with the job”

The job being what, exactly? Add your faves below.

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FLINT SHOWS SOME SPARKS

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You couldn’t make it up! Even as Gordon Brown is wading deeper into the mire of hypcritical cant during his press conference , Caroline Flint times the release of her resignation from Government. That’s TWO resignations in one day!!!! Unbelievable. If you’ve been watching the Prime Ministerial press conference, what did you think of it? It’s like watching a car wreck. Even John Major looks good compared to this….

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Not Shy

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John Humphrys’s reticence about his pay packet wasn’t down to personal shyness after all. They’re restrained by a BBC gagging order.
Harriet Harman’s equality bill has its uses, says Andrew Gimson of the Telegraph. It seems that will un-gag them.
“How brilliant of Miss Harman to turn this modish argument against the BBC, that home of modish causes.”

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A GOOD DAY FOR LABOUR?

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Been watching the BBC coverage of the local council elections. Quite remarkable. It seems that the angle the BBC has decided to push is best to admit that Labour is doing badly – but remember, they performed similarly in 2004 and then won in 2005! However the Conservatives have not really made a break through. (As they win everywhere) Meanwhile the Lib-Dems are on the up (Yes, even as they lose Somerset and Devon!). It’s all through the looking glass stuff but fun to watch. Meanwhile Brown’s reshuffle has been talked up even as most faces stay in situ! When John Major was in this weakened position, the BBC were all over his political corpse. But when it’s Labour, and Gordoom, the subtle ploy is to somehow suggest that all the main parties are suffering and that we have been before with Labour and yet they came through to win! If one were to swallow this guff, one would be forgiven for thinking that David Cameron is the man in trouble.

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IN MEMORIAM – NULABOUR OPEN THREAD

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Well then, today sees all sorts of political drama and/or farce. Gordon has reshuffled Darling, erm, back into the role he occupies as Chancellor – strong stuff my friends. Here’s a thread for you to comment on what you observe. For what it’s worth, I detect the BBC, UNBELIEVABLY, are still doing their level best for Gordon but we all know it’s over, as Roy Orbison would have said. So….now it’s over to you!

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Impartial BBC Reflects Changed World.

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I am so acclimatised to the air-brushing from the original I/P peace plan of any requirements from the Arabs that I can’t tell if one report is any more biased than another.

Reports and analyses of Obama’s speech conclude that this ‘reaching out to the Muslim World’ malarky that everyone is so delighted with, must mean Israeli settlements are now officially the only obstacle to peace.

Although President Obama didn’t exactly say that, his speech was sufficiently imprecise for the press to take away whatever interpretation they wanted.

I don’t know if the BBC has been any more biased on this subject than any other organ of news, but no-one can accuse President Obama of not honouring one of his pre-election pledges. From a starting point of evasiveness over his Muslim origins, to full-blown ‘call me Hussein’ identification with them, he’s certainly found a neat way to fulfill his promise of ‘Change.’

Now Obama is officially a Muslim, and The World is known as The Mussslim World.
(In other words it has simply caught up with the BBC. They knew that all along.) Relax BBC. You’re not biased any longer. Salaam alaikum !

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QUESTION TIME LIVEBLOG!

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Sun is shining outside, a beautiful June evening here, and Question time on in a few hours time. Trust you may be able to come along as we catch up with the BBC’s idea of debate!

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I knew I would be writing this post.

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Via Samizdata I found this post by Timothy Sandefur: They’re fanatics; we just have isolated incidents. Mr Sandefur writes:

This week a religious fanatic, driven by his ideological fixations, shot and killed a man that, for political and religious reasons, he considered a murderer. The fanatic drove off and was later caught by police. Of course, the killer himself harbored a idiosyncratic mix of toxic religious and political ideology that led him into violent hatred of the institutions of freedom and those who live in freedom. But was he also not encouraged by a background of more “mainstream” partisanship in which political spokesmen—television and radio talk show hosts, bloggers, and political leaders—speak in increasingly angry, bitter, and violent terms of their political opposition? The political atmosphere has seen more and more spokesmen speaking in anger, hostility, and disrespect about those they view as their enemies, and this breakdown in civility must have had some impact on this gunman.

By the way, I’m not speaking of the murder of George Tiller in Kansas.

Mr Sandefur was not writing about the BBC particularly. But I am, and the BBC provided at least four stories on the Tiller murder:

Man charged in US doctor killing

Man quizzed over US doctor death

Profile: George Tiller

US abortion doctor is shot dead.

This level of coverage is reasonable in that it was not just a random killing or a murder motivated by gain or personal animosity. Rather, it was the first targeted assassination of an abortion provider for over ten years. (In fact, if I may digress, the length of time since the last such murder might surprise many, since the media usually give the impression that such killings are common in the US.) It is reasonable to fear that the murder of George Tiller might be followed by others. It might be part of a terrorist movement. But the same, surely, is true of the killing of William Long?

“William Long,” you say. “I haven’t heard about the killing of William Long.” No, you haven’t, not on the BBC at any rate. Nor have you heard about Quinton Ezeagwula who was wounded in the same crime. Nor have you heard from the BBC about the killer, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad.

UPDATE: Commenter DB points out that he mentioned this in the comments on June 2nd.

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