201 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. Anonymous says:

    BBC Alba – a Scottish Gaelic tv channel, that makes Scottish Gaelic programmes, at a cost of (estimate) 16 million quid, as there are only (estimated) 50,000 gaelic speakers in Scotland, thats 320 quid each, what a bargain !

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Re. the not-very-funny comedy science fiction series set in Wales; Torchwood: The series was originally set in London, but when BBC commissioning editors saw the first few minutes of the original series they moved the whole awfulness to Wales, as then any criticism could be classed as racism against the Welsh.

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  3. piggy kosher says:

    LOL I really must watch one if its so bad. Merely for research purposes.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8010537.stm

    "One was an unrepentant woman hater whose racist and anti-Semitic views were too hard-line even for the British National Party. "

    OK, so the word "even" indicates that the writer knows the BNP to be racist and anti-semitic. Except the BNP publically claims that it is neither of these things. Nothing wrong with a journalist taking a firm opinion that the BNP is in fact racist and anti-semitic and then writing from that perspective… except this is the BBC, the organisation that reports the triumphs of the Taliban with equal respect as those of the British Army on the basis that they are brutally even-handed. Hmmm, brutally even-handed to the Taliban, brutally biased to the BNP. You can't have it both ways."

    Anonymous, 4:31 PM, July 10, 2009

    The article you mentioned also gratuitously concludes with the statement:

    "The irony of two racists attempting to exploit the immigration and asylum system was lost on no-one who followed the case."

    This conclusion only makes sense if criticizing the exploitation of the immigration and asylum system is a racist act.

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  5. John Stephens says:

    BBC Alba – a Scottish Gaelic tv channel, that makes Scottish Gaelic programmes, at a cost of (estimate) 16 million quid, as there are only (estimated) 50,000 gaelic speakers in Scotland, thats 320 quid each, what a bargain !

    If you go on iplayer, probably a fifth of the programmes are in Gaelic from BBC Alba, obviously because the broadband connection is so fantastic on a couple of tiny rainswept islands in the outer hebrides. For example, in the following 'factual' category, 4 of the 12 programmes listed are in Scottish Gaelic.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/categories/factual/other/tv

    I suppose we should be grateful that the BBC provides subtitles for the ignorant 99.9% of the population for whom this is a foreign language spoken by a handful of diehards.

    Look out for the Manx and Cornish BBC minority outreach channels coming up soon. All part of the Marxist plan to disintegrate the United Kingdom.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Good article on the utter pointlessness of the BBC's obsession with Gaelic broadcasting:

    BBC Alba demonstrates power of tiny Gaelic lobby

    I say language but Gaelic isn’t one, not really. Its vocabulary is tiny, with no form of saying yes or no and attuned to a distant, pre-technological world. It’s essentially a kind of rural patois, a bonsai idiolect; a way of specifying concepts central to a particular, highly codified way of life…

    'The Gaelic lobby is powerful in Scotland because there are a lot of fairy tales about the suppression of the culture and how terribly fascist it all was,” says historian and author Michael Fry. “The culture died out because the Gaels themselves did not want to maintain it. They all decided to emigrate and go where the weather was better. So, all this is kept going by a small circle of Gaelic-speaking intellectuals who want to create jobs for themselves.'

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  7. Anonymous says:

    What's an audience to think? All the news that's 'fit' for purpose:

    Sunday, 12th July.

    Guardian – Brown set to reinforce troops in Afghanistan
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/12/afghanistan-taliban-troops-emergency-review-ministry-of-defence
    Two thousand troops could be sent to Helmand following a review after the bloodiest day

    Indy – Revealed: Brown's secret plan to cut Afghanistan force by 1,500
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-browns-secret-plan-to-cut-afghanistan-force-by-1500-1742747.html

    I wonder which Aunty will go with? The truth, one hopes.

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  8. Battersea says:

    Al-BBC just now has got that nutter and shill for the Iranian regime Yvonne Ridley on Breakfast now.

    And she looks like an utter loon, swathed in rags.

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  9. Ron Todd says:

    Peter Sissons in the Mail on Sunday

    '[BBC] can't see the difference between reporters' opinion and the facts'

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Prepare for a new statistic about to become fact.

    Whilst air travel only accounts for 2% of global CO2 emissions, the government (aided by some Ginger twat on BBC News yesterday) state that the figure in UK is 13%.

    Yet more taxes anyone??

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  11. Gary says:

    report on Bolshevik tv this morning about some scarf wearing raggy in Germany being stabbed in court,and the rabid dog mozzie reaction out in nowheresville

    all an example of rising "islamophobia"…..notice the subtlety…..if you reject the nutcase religion,you're mentally ill acording the the Bolsheviks(much as if you object to the dykes,homos and "don't know what they are-s" which seem to pervade everything like a plague in nutcase media land)on the grounds that they are disgusting,you are also "mentally ill"(homophobic)

    no I'm not, on both counts-I'm not irrationally scared of either-I am scared of Islam for obvious and perfectly rational reasons ie I don't want to be blown up by some headcase,but weirdos just disgust me

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  12. Roger C says:

    Well done BBC (I never thought I would say this) Marr had Griffin on! he wasent very good, But credit where credit is due.

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  13. Gary says:

    see Irreverend Millipede on now with today's missive from the worldwide church of AGW with a message for the faithful

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Got to give the BBC full marks for sycophancy of 'on message' support for their favoured son, but perhaps less for good taste:

    Deaths not halting success – PM

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8146327.stm

    I can't help but think the sacrifice of those who are dying fighting under the orders of, and with the limited 'support' his cosy government might have seen this phrased a tad better.

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  15. JohnA says:

    Ron Todd

    Peter Sisson's attack on the BBC is sizzling ! Among other things, he says that it is effectively BBC policy to stifle critics of the consensus view of global warming. ………"The Corpration's most famous interrogators invariably begin by accepting that "the science is settled" when there are countless reputable scientists and climatologists producing work that says it isn't".

    dailymail.co.uk

    or

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1199104/Peter-Sissons-BBC-standards-falling–bosses-scared-it.html

    I suggest his article is worth a thread at this site – some super quotes.

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  16. Craig says:

    JohnA,

    Yes, the bit about AGW is a real punch in the face to the BBC and its defenders.

    Besides the bits you quote, Peter Sissons also says, "But it is effectively BBC policy… that those views" (ie. skeptical ones) "should not be heard". Which, of course, is exactly what posters here have been saying for ages.

    To add to your request for a thread, maybe David could consider using some quotes from Sissons to accompany Jay, Marr and Paxman at the bottom of the blog!

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  17. Craig says:

    And as proof of Sissons's point that 'the Corporation's most famous interrogators invariably begin by accepting that "the science is settled"', Andrew Marr asked Nick Griffin what should be done about African migrants as more and more will be coming to Europe "because of climate change"!!!

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  18. Gary says:

    if I ever have a day go by without some prat on the BBC ramming this crap down our throats,I'll faint

    George Orwell-where are you when we need you???

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  19. Martin says:

    Why can't the BBC put these scummy little toe rag politicians on the spot? Continually when asked about how many more helicopters are going ot Afghanistan the answer comes back "We've increased the number of flying hours by 84%"

    A helicopter can't be in 2 places at once, when undergoing maintenance it can't fly. All it means is the helicopters are flying more to evacuate the dead and injured. If a taxi does a few short trips a day it can service many people, but if it has to do a round trip of say 300 miles for one person the number of hours it operates for might have gone up, but in reality it's less effective.

    The fact that this bunch of corrupt twats is allowed to spin this rubbish just shows how useless the media is at holding the Government to account.

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  20. George R says:

    France: Muslim Barbarian trial, and BBC –

    'new english review. org':

    "French Justice Goes Easy on the Gang of Barbarians"

    [Extract]:

    "The verdict in the trial of the Gang of Barbarians, accused of the atrocious anti-Semitic murder of 23 year-old Ilan Halimi, held hostage and tortured for 24 days, was pronounced after 10 PM on Friday, at the start of the July 14,the holiday weekend. Youssouf Fofana, self-named 'Brain of the Barbarians,' sentenced to what the French call life in prison, will be eligible for parole in 22 years. Sentences for his accomplices ranged from 6 months suspended to 18 years. Yalda, the young lady who lured Ilan Halimi into the well-prepared death trap, received a lenient nine years; she could be released for good behavior two years from now.

    "The victim’s mother and sisters, who are observant Jews, were not present to hear the verdict pronounced after the beginning of the Sabbath. Their counsel, Maître Francis Szpiner, adamantly urged the Ministry of Justice to appeal the sentences, which fell short of the already modest recommendations of the Avocat Général.
    "Was the timing accidental? Three years of investigation, two months of hearings, and a verdict that falls when the media are glued to the Tour de France and holiday goers stuck in traffic jams? State-owned France 3 TV unashamedly admitted that the verdict was announced during Shabbat in order to avoid incidents.
    "Meanwhile, in the small town of Firminy, enraged Muslims rioted for three nights, torching cars and buildings after a 22 year-old arrested for extortion hung himself while in police custody."
    (New English Review'.)

    -And the BBC report follows the dhimmi route by avoiding the words "Islam" and "Muslim" in this report:

    "French 'Barbarian' killer jailed" ('Europe' page.)

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  21. Gary says:

    just came across this interesting article on the REAL agenda behind the church of global warming

    from climatedepot.com

    Former Vice President Al Gore declared that the Congressional climate bill will help bring about “global governance.”
    “I bring you good news from the U.S., “Gore said on July 7, 2009 in Oxford at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, sponsored by UK Times.
    “Just two weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey climate bill,” Gore said, noting it was “very much a step in the right direction.” President Obama has pushed for the passage of the bill in the Senate and attended a G8 summit this week where he agreed to attempt to keep the Earth's temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees C.
    Gore touted the Congressional climate bill, claiming it “will dramatically increase the prospects for success” in combating what he sees as the “crisis” of man-made global warming.
    “But it is the awareness itself that will drive the change and one of the ways it will drive the change is through global governance and global agreements.”

    Gore's call for “global governance” echoes former French President Jacques Chirac's call in 2000.
    On November 20, 2000, then French President Chirac said during a speech at The Hague that the UN's Kyoto Protocol represented "the first component of an authentic global governance."
    “For the first time, humanity is instituting a genuine instrument of global governance,” Chirac explained. “From the very earliest age, we should make environmental awareness a major theme of education and a major theme of political debate, until respect for the environment comes to be as fundamental as safeguarding our rights and freedoms. By acting together, by building this unprecedented instrument, the first component of an authentic global governance, we are working for dialogue and peace,” Chirac added.

    this is the crap the Bolsheviks are rammng down our throats day and daily

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  22. GCooper says:

    Interestingly, the full Sissons article is unavailable on the Mail's website. The news story trailer is there but the Mail's link is either broken, or they have pulled the original piece.

    On another Mail related story, I see the BBC has chosen not to report the attempt by 13 doctors to force a proper coroner's inquest into the alleged suicide of Dr David Kelly. The original inquest having been prevented by Tony Bliar's former flatmate 'Lord' Falconer.

    A little to sensitive for the White City Wonders, is it?

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  23. JohnA says:

    GCooper

    Yes, the full Peter Sissons article is missing when you try to use the link at the Mail.

    Maybe the BBC has sicked their lawyers on him ?

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  24. GCooper says:

    'too' not 'to'….

    Must proofread, must proofread, must proofread…

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  25. Robert S. McNamara says:

    I always mistook Sissons' disillusionment and cynicism – which you can detect in his teleprompter reading – for typical BBC arrogance.

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  26. George R says:

    More BBC pro-Islamic reporting:

    (Extract from 'donalblaney.com'):

    "Last month, the police officer behind the Night Jack blog, DC Richard Horton, was disciplined by Lancashire Police for simply writing a blog about his experiences as a police officer. Fair enough, you might think.

    "And yet yesterday – in a story the BBC has chosen (surprise, surprise) to ignore in favour of more Bush/Cheney bashing – we learned that Azad Ali, the civil servant who is the President of the Civil Service Islamic Society and who delighted in publishing jihadist views, is being allowed back to work without even a slap on the wrist."

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  27. iain says:

    Martin said…
    Continually when asked about how many more helicopters are going ot Afghanistan the answer comes back "We've increased the number of flying hours by 84%"
    **********************************

    Yes – just a shame the number of troops has doubled over the same time.

    I detest these sc*mbag politicians lying thru their teeth while our brave lads are out there getting slaughtered because of inadequate kit.

    Time we had a National Snatch-Landrover Day to commemorate those that have died in them.

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  28. John Horne Tooke says:

    Not BBC.

    "Muslim who justified killing British troops back at Treasury"
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5810703/Muslim-who-justified-killing-British-troops-back-at-Treasury.html

    This does not suprise me one bit, but what does is this:

    "Sir Gus O'Donnell, Britain's most senior civil servant and patron of the Civil Service Islamic Society.."

    It seems that Islamification is now well on its way.

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  29. John Horne Tooke says:

    This is the first I have heard of this "non-political" civil service group. Who seem to be anything but political, for instance:

    "There are a number of demonstrations and petitions we can take part in to raise awareness and demand for an immediate ceasefire. Following the UN resolution which calls for an immediate ceasefire we should all be writing to our MP’s and our Government to push this agenda forward. The links below provide a means to carrying this out, it’s very simple and very quick! There is also some information on the demonstrations taken place so far."
    http://csislamicsociety.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/special-bulletin-from-csis-council-of-management/

    Will these people also be covered in this:

    "Civil servants who are members of extremist groups such as the BNP will face the sack if they “bring their politics to work” and refuse to promote ethnic diversity under a revised code of conduct, The Times has learnt. "
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6488106.ece

    Now try and find a "Civil Service Christian Society" or a "Civil Service Jewish Society"

    No – didn't think they would exist.

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  30. JPT says:

    I quote from the BBC today the story of an Olympic athlete in New Zealand who, to fund his Olympic bid has opened a brothel!
    The BBC totally unbiased as ever: 'Prostitutes in New Zealand are not forced to walk the streets'.
    No bias there.

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  31. George R says:

    In 2007, the BBC gave plenty of licencepayers' money to Muslim Rageh Omaar (since moved to Al Jazeera English) to produce a propaganda TV series, 'An Islamic history of Europe'.

    Where is a BBC-produced counter propaganda version, giving an 'Anti-Islamic history of Europe'? Nowhere.

    The BBC ignores evidence like the following and goes on building 'Eurabia'.:

    "Did Islam Destroy the Classical Civilization? "

    by John J. O’Neill

    " While Islam is viewed as the savior and nurturer of the Classical Greek Civilization, there is an alternative story to this near-universal widsom of our time. Islam may well have had initiated the death of the Classical Civilization. Find out why.

    [..]

    "Who or what had produced this situation?

    "As early as the 1920s Belgian medievalist Henri Pirenne located the proverbial smoking gun. But it was not in the hands of the Goths or Vandals, or the Christian Church: it was in the hands of those people whom it had, even then, become fashionable to credit with saving Western Civilization: the Arabs. The evidence, as Pirenne was at pains to show in his posthumously published Mohammed and Charlemagne (1938) was incontrovertible. From the mid-seventh century the Mediterranean had been blockaded by the Arabs. Trade with the great centers of population and culture in the Levant, a trade which had been the mainstay of Western Europe’s prosperity, was terminated. The flow of all the luxury items which Pirenne found in the records of the Spanish Visigoths and the Merovingians of Gaul, came to an abrupt end, as Arab pirates scoured the seas. The flow of gold to the West dried up. Gold coinage disappeared, and the great cities of Italy, Gaul and Spain, especially the ports, which owed their wealth to the Mediterranean trade, became mere ghost towns. Worst of all, perhaps, from the perspective of culture and learning, the importation of papyrus from Egypt ceased. This material, which had been shipped into Western Europe in vast quantities since the time of the Roman Republic, was absolutely essential for a thousand purposes in a literate and mercantile civilization; and the ending of the supply had an immediate and catastrophic effect on levels of literacy. These dropped, almost overnight, to levels perhaps equivalent to those in pre-Roman times.

    "Pirenne stressed that the arrival of Islam effectively isolated Europe both intellectually and economically. And with this economic paralysis came war: the Muslim conquests were to unleash a torrent of violence against Europe. As a direct result of the Arab advance, by the seventh and eighth centuries, Christendom, the area within which Christianity was the dominant religion, diminished almost to vanishing-point. This catastrophic loss of territory – everything from northern Syria to the Pyrenees – took place in a space of two or three generations."

    (John J. O’Neill’s is the author of upcoming book, "Holy Warriors: Islam and the Demise of Classical Civilization" (Felibri, August 2009).

    -from 'Islam-watch.org'.

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  32. nrg says:

    Just heard really weird and hastily cobbled together extended hatchet job on Andy Coulson / David Cameron on R4, dressed up to sound like a shoddily made profile / documentary. Lots of accusations, suggestions and insinuations, but very few facts. The bias reeked.

    And you had to pay for it!

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  33. George R says:

    Get ready for BBC's big propaganda push on Wednesday to support Labour's costly climate panic:

    'Mail'

    "Air travel and driving costs to soar under Labour plan to curb global warming"

    By Tim Shipman.

    [Extract]:

    "The cost of air travel and driving is set to soar to pay for the government’s plans to curb global warming due to be unveiled this week.
    "Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband warned of rising fuel prices as he outlined Labour’s bid to move Britain on to a low carbon economy.
    He said people will have to enact ‘big changes’ in their lifestyle.
    "Labour is also planning to turn the screws on those who refuse to cooperate with the green push. "

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  34. John Horne Tooke says:

    "Labour is also planning to turn the screws on those who refuse to cooperate with the green push. "

    I wonder if this will be be another infringement on free speech. Is refusal to agree with the AGW theory going to become a crime?

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  35. CeannP says:

    Oh dear, one of their favoured 'comedians' has done wrong:-

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8146527.stm

    Never fear though…he'll be back in a few months just like Ross, Brand, Thatcher…er scrub that last one.

    Very odd that someone immediately comes out with the comment – "Nobody has accused me of sexual harassment".

    Did anyone actually mention it to him or did he just proffer it?

    Out of interest…when they said Thatcher's ban applied only to the 'One show' has anyone seen her on any other BBC programmes since? Or is she strictly persona non grata?

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  36. Anonymous says:

    John Horne Tooke
    "Sir Gus O'Donnell, Britain's most senior civil servant and patron of the Civil Service Islamic Society.."
    5:10 PM, July 12, 2009

    Saw him on the Politics Show, introduced by a clearly lovestruck Mr. Sopel.

    What I thought was going to be an interview seemed a several minute long corporate video cramming in about every cliche possible, from how diverse the Civil Service is to how much fun it is to work there… YOUR COUNTRY'S TAX PAYERS NEED YOUR INDEX LINKED PENSION BURDEN NOW!

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  37. DB says:

    BBC: Obama engages the world
    By Michael Zubrow
    Michael Zubrow is a foreign policy expert at the Center for a New American Security, a non-partisan, independent, national security think tank in Washington, DC
    .

    Wall St Journal, November 2008:
    The Center for a New American Security, a small think tank here with generally middle-of-the-road policy views, is rapidly emerging as a top farm team for the incoming Obama administration.
    When President-elect Barack Obama released a roster of his transition advisers last week, many of the national-security appointments came from the ranks of the center, which was founded by a pair of former Clinton administration officials in February 2007
    .

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  38. Mailman says:

    Over at Hotair is a funny video of a CNN reporter getting owned by a field reporter in Africa around Barry's visit there this week.

    What was funny, as you really do have to watch it, was his reaction when he tried to big up Barry, only to be told that no, GW was greated in the same manner too (watch him jump)!

    http://www.hotair.com

    Mailman

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  39. George R says:

    Who wrote this good sense?

    "Challenging gang culture"

    [Extract]:

    "The values of black gang culture are as warped and vile as anything preached in al-Qaeda's terror camps. The death and suffering which follow from its violent, misogynistic dogma are no less devastating. "

    [..]

    "These are the features of a parallel morality, a distorted interpretation of the creed of capitalism where bling is king, where tolerance is weakness, where women are whores, where a criminal record is a badge of honour, where lack of 'respect' justifies bullying, torture and even murder.

    "It is a form of imported fundamentalism as alien to democratic society as the views of the most hard-line Islamists.

    "When fighting al-Qaeda-inspired terror, the focus is not on the weapons but the ideology. When fighting murderous gang-culture, it seems to me, the focus is not on the ideology but the weapons.

    "Politicians obsess about knives and guns but do far less to counteract the values which inspire the behaviour.

    "British gang culture models itself on the criminal underworld of black ghettoes in America. There are, of course, white and Asian youths involved in gang violence and crime here in the UK. But look at its victims. Look at the mug-shots. Overwhelmingly they are black – tragic black youths corrupted by a culture which should have no place here.

    "So why do we tolerate the preachers of black gang culture?"

    Wow! The author is the BBC's MARK EASTON.

    I have three quibbles:

    1.) What took him so long to get here?

    2.) Where's the vital link to mass immigration policy?

    3.) Surely what holds for Obama holds for Brown?:

    .."President Obama's strategy, you may recall, when asked on MTV last year to comment about a municipal ban on 'saggy-pants', the low-slung trousers designed to echo the beltless clothes of prisoners.

    "Brothers should pull up their pants", he said. 'There are some issues that we face, that you don't have to pass a law, but that doesn't mean folks can't have some sense and some respect for other people and, you know, some people might not want to see your underwear – I'm one of them.'

    "Gordon Brown couldn't get away with saying something like that, of course. But black British writers, commentators, artists, musicians, designers might."

    ( BBC Mark Easton blog.)

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  40. Ralph says:

    Here' s a fun game for all the family. I posted the below on Justin Webb's blog:

    '170: 'The state of Illinois is largely a Democratic state. Which is why it is so corrupt.'

    No, the corruption comes from being a one party state, and the media ignoring it.

    Obama chose to become part of the most corrupt political machine in the US, he chose to join a church where the pastor made racist sermons (which oddly Obama failed to hear), and chose to launch his political career at the house of a terrorist. Justin Webb and much of the media chose to ignore all of that.'

    What in it fits the excuse to remove it:

    'Comments posted to BBC blogs will be removed if they are considered likely to provoke, attack or offend others; are racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit, abusive or otherwise objectionable; are considered to have been posted with an intention to disrupt; contain swear words (including abbreviations or alternative spellings) or other language likely to offend.'

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  41. Anonymous says:

    The BBC does do some things well – like a certain light entertainment programme Strictly Come Dancing. But they have sacked Arlene Phillips from the judging panel & appointed the pop singer Alesha Dixon to replace her. Phillips has decades of dance experience as both a dancer & choreographer but is in her sixties. Dixon's only dance experience is as a competitor & winner of SCD 2 years ago. all she knows are the set routines she learned by rote. This is a clear case of ageism & sexism by the BBC. They have not sacked either Len Goodman or Bruce Forsyth who are both older than Arlene. This has really put me off watching the next series of SCD which previously differed from other reality shows in that the competitors were actually learning a skill & were being judged by those with a competence in that skill.

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  42. james says:

    Headlines from google news this morning about the HBOS/RBS bailouts. See if you can spot the odd one out!

    http://img13.imageshack.us/i/googlenews.jpg/

    BBC bias at its best.

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  43. nrg says:

    The BBC has teamed up with the Guardian to commission an opinion poll regarding public opinion on the Afghan war. Is it appropriate to be working with such a politicised newspaper on such a sensitive subject? When was the last time there was a BBC / Telegraph or Mail co-production. It is hard to see the join between The Guardian and the BBC these days.

    The Afghan war poses a problem for Beeboids, who are generally sympathetic towards the ethnic minority Islamic fundamentalist Taliban and hostile towards British military. However as the government is on the ropes over its handling of the war Labour has mounted a PR operation to get the public back onside so the BBC / Guardian obligingly report: “The mounting number of casualties in Afghanistan has not led to increased public hostility to the war, according to a new ICM poll for the Guardian and the BBC's Newsnight.”

    Which broadly translates as “Save Gordon”

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  44. Millie Tant says:

    ANON: 10:25 AM, July 13, 2009
    ==============================
    There are a few more aspects to this Strictly farrago. One is that Alesha Dixon, a failed group/solo singer, has a Jamaican mother. She is therefore, in the BBC's eyes black, even though she is in fact half white, half black, or to you and me, mixed race.

    The BBC threw the full weight of the machine behind her, relentlessly promoting her on the show and its related spin-off show to make her the winner of Strictly.

    Since then, they have continued featuring her and promoting her and her singing career (newly revived on the back of her Strictly promotion and success) at every opportunity on BBC shows.

    Now this obseesive promotion culminates in the ludicrous action of sacking an accomplished professional and expert in favour of appointing a favoured amateur who brought nothing to the dance but a pretty face, a flashy smile, a vulgar cackle, a crude raunch, displayed in monotonous routines to hideous "music", in place of the sensuous sway and sizzle of the Latin dances, and a passable imitation of ballroom dance style and accomplishment when decked out by the BBC to look like the belle of the ball and extravagantly overpraised by the complicit judges.

    It will be noted that on the judging panel, they already had three male judges and one female judge, so the egregious Jay Hunt, controller of BBC One (ridiculed for her pompous and idiotic comments at the time of the Carole Thatcher Naughty Word affair), pops up with the foot-in-mouth comment that Arlene (the lone female judge, don't forget), was the obvious one to go.

    Yes, folks, it is not obvious to the viewers but it is somehow obvious to Jay Hunt… and the BBC. And another thing I nearly forgot to mention is that two of the three male judges are homosexual. I suppose it is obvious too to Jay Hunt and the biased BBC that it wouldn't do to sack one of THEM.

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  45. Ady says:

    Might interest one or two people in here…

    UK ends Israel weapons contracts

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8147377.stm

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  46. JohnA says:

    Millie Tant

    You could not make it up if you tried !! BBC nonsenses like this are just a parody.

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  47. Philip says:

    Only in the Middle East section for now, but surely on the al-Beeb front page in 3…2…1…

    Of course, I have a little bit to say on the matter too 😉

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  48. Anonymous says:

    Re: Afghanistan & Helicopter debate.

    The BBC has just posted this report – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8147679.stm – on the ongoing political spat about military resources in Afghanistan. There are a number of problems with the BBC report – which surprise, surprise – help reinforce the GVN’s position in the debate.

    1. The report quotes the PM’s official spokesman, who this morning claimed that helicopter capacity had ‘almost doubled’. The actual figure which the BBC do not quote (although it is in the public domain) is 83% – some way short of 100%. The BBC also fails to mention that this uplift in flying capacity is almost meaningless, because it has not been offset against ever-increasing troop numbers i.e. our helicopter may be flying for longer, but we also have more troops to ferry around. So this figure would only be meaningful if the GVN provided a ratio of helicopter hrs per solider or platoon etc…but they haven’t and the BBC haven’t asked why not – I wonder why?
    2. The BBC report also fails to note the disparity between American helicopters and British helicopters. Both countries have around 8,000 soldiers in Helmand, but whereas the U.S has 120 helicopters, it is believed that the British have around 15 serviceable Chinooks and a handful of other choppers. [Figures that a minister in the MOD did not dispute on the Daily Politics]. Surely this disparity is pertinent to the debate? Especially since U.S casualty rates from IED’s [road-side bombs] are LOWER than the British – because of course, they have more helicopters and therefore drive around the countryside less!!!
    3. The BBC also quote Lord Ashdown as saying – “no helicopter could have saved the casualties of the last few days”. A helpful quote for Labour and yes, Lord Ashdown did make this statement. However, having watched his interview in full – I also know that he agreed with the Tories central point that we do have too few helicopters in the field, and that this deficiency will cost a number of British servicemen’s lives. The BBC does not mention this – why?
    4. The BBC report also fails to mention that Gordon recently refused a request from the Generals for an extra 2,000 troops; again I’d have thought that this fact was extremely important in the context of this debate. Likewise the critical comments of Sir Richard Dannatt – serving head of the British Army – have been expunged in this report from the debate. Again helpful to Labour.

    So please Beeboids – could you explain these deficiencies?

    BTW I posted on another thread about the BBC’s obituary to Robert S McNamara. For once the BBC has accepted that their piece was flawed, and the offending article has been corrected. Although quite how a broadcaster with £3.5 billion annual budget can make such mistakes is beyond me. Still a small victory…

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  49. North Northwester says:

    John Horne Tooke said…
    "This is the first I have heard of this "non-political" civil service group. Who seem to be anything but political, for instance:"

    You astute comment and research shamelessly copied and reposted over at my place..

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  50. Anonymous says:

    BBC gives nutter headline because it fits their own conspiracy loon agenda.

    http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/07/13/embarrassing-misprint-on-bbc-news/#comments

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