Monthly Archives: July 2009

Worlds Apart

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For many years the BBC has been engaging in a two pronged campaign, on one front familiarising the British public with The Islamic World, and on the other steadily demonising Israel.

This is, after all, the British Broadcasting Corporation, so this flying in the face of Judeo-Christian tradition defies logic. The current BBC has been able to pull off a mass suspension of disbelief by taking liberties with the ‘old’ BBC’s reputation for virtue and impartiality acquired long ago.

It’s true that the instant we get a whiff of an unpalatable viewpoint we’re apt to shut down, so many people will have decided that what I’ve said already is not for them.
If anyone is still here, a spat, perhaps a cyberspat, has arisen which has brought another aspect of this sorry tale to the fore.

Vivian Wineman and Robin Shepherd both have slightly unisex names, so for your information they are both gents. Their disagreement is over the recent Community Service Trust report which concluded that antisemitism in Britain has risen alarmingly. Chris Huhne and several other MPs are aware of this and think it is intolerable.
Mr. Wineman, though, says it’s nothing to worry about, it’s not really happening, while Mr. Shepherd says it certainly is, and it’s very concerning.
Strange to tell, Mr. Wineman is a Jew, and Mr. Shepherd is not.

Mr. Wineman is the newly elected President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and he has expressed his controversial views in the Jerusalem Post in a ‘debut’ article. It was written in response to Robin Shepherd’s earlier article on the topic, also in the JPost, which took a different view, and which I mentioned here.

Mr. Wineman’s ‘nothing to worry about’ article has attracted many responses from a wide range of people who are appalled at his complacency, and who agree with Mr. Shepherd. who has in turn written about it all on his own blog.

The blame for this outbreak of racist hostility which is (or is not) increasing alarmingly, had initially been laid firmly at the door of Operation Cast Lead. However, on further examination all roads lead straight past this red herring and on to the real culprit. The BBC.
What has come to the fore, and something that clearly emerges from all this, is the way Britain and our state broadcaster are currently perceived around the world.

Alongside the increase in racially motivated incidents and covert hostility towards Jews, there is a growing worldwide perception that British Jews should watch their backs. The BBC is seen as antisemitic, Britain is seen as ‘no place for Jews’, and the BBC is seen as having played the most significant role in the fiasco that has led to this disastrous state of affairs.

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Sunhats off

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Yes, sunhats off to Tyler at Burning our Money who draws something to my attention: the reason the BBC are biased on the “climate change” issue is because they decided to be two years ago. This decision may be rather more controversial now than then, as sceptics are more organised and data more negative for the AGW hypothesis. DV mentioned a related study last week.

I can’t have been reading the excellent Mr Tyler’s blog back then, or if I did I missed it; certainly Jeremy Paxman seemed to have missed it when he said that “People who know a lot more than I do may be right when they claim that [global warming] is the consequence of our own behaviour. I assume that this is why the BBC’s coverage of the issue abandoned the pretence of impartiality long ago” (as chronicled in our sidebar). He assumed correctly (in a sense), but he needn’t have assumed. [in fact I think Paxman may have been having a dig here: a long time ago being well before it became official BBC policy]

Tyler reported in ’07 (and I missed) that the BBC in their report called, ahem, “safeguarding impartiality”, said that “The BBC has held a high-level seminar with some of the best scientific experts, and has come to the view that the weight of evidence no longer justifies equal space being given to the opponents of the consensus.”

So that was that: by fiat the BBC decided the narrative had changed; what numerous people from scientific and non-scientific backgrounds either refused to be convinced by or actively disbelieved had actually to be promulgated.

This is excellent evidence that the “impartiality” meme on which the BBC base their public service justification is unworkable, at least if they are also to “educate and inform”. To do these they need to know “the truth” about newsworthy issues, which is oxymoronic really- they wouldn’t be news if they were as predicable as “truth” (for want of a better word) needs to be. Apple falls from tree- shock, disbelief!

Anyway, yesterday Roger Harrabin started criticising the Met Officefor failed forecasts- the same Met Office which has been teaching the Beeb all about global warming. Is this preparatory for what could be known as the BBC’s Great Climate Trackback?

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DIVERSIFY OR DIE!

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Wonder what you make of the comments by one of the BBC’s top black executives who reckons that senior TV bosses should be sacked if they fail to meet diversity targets? Pat Younge, set to take over as head of the BBC’s in-house programme-making, claimed there was not enough ‘internal pressure’ for change. He has said that diversity targets should be treated like financial aims, suggesting that if people fail to hit them they should pay the consequences.

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NO ISLAM…

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I was interested in this report on what a group of Islamic thugs known as Nigeria’s “Taliban”. The bit that caught my eye was the assertion by BBC correspodent Caroline Duffy that “The idea of radical Islamist militants gaining a serious foothold in Nigeria is usually dismissed, because of the strength of local identities and traditions.” Oh really? Dismissed by whom, exactly?

“More importantly, religious uprising occurs because Northern Nigeria has a
tradition of jihadist Islam – that is a kind of Islam that is practiced or
promoted through fighting and violence. Islam came to Northern Nigeria around
11th century But the 1804 Jihad of Sheikh Uttman dan Fodio radicalized Islam. It
foisted on Northern Nigeria a militant form of Islamic faith. It enthroned a
kind of Islam that is promoted and defended with bows and arrows, swords and
cudgels. Jihadist Islam sanctifies violence as an act of faith, as a
demonstration of piety and as a virtuous way of living and of relating with
infidels and with non Islamic faiths or institutions. Jihadist Isalm regard non
believers as ‘enemies’ who should be conquered, converted or subdued by force.
As long as the jihadist Islamic mentality persists in Northern Nigeria,
religious conflict will not cease.Related to the above point is the imposition
of Sharia law. Sharia is the weapon of political and radical Islam. The
imposition of Sharia on most states in Northern Nigeria was marked by widespread
violence, riots and clashes. “

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A QUESTION OF BBC PRIORITIES

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My colleague over on A Tangled Web, Mike Cunningham, posted this earlier and I thought I might share it with you.

This is the BBC at six o’clock.

News item Number Three,
The return journey of four dead British soldiers, all killed in Afghanistan, with the town of Wooton Basset at standstill showing homage to the fallen. Total time on air some forty-five / fifty seconds.

News item number Seven,
The search for, and election of, a new resident Witch for the tourist spot of Wookey Hole from three hundred cackling prospective witch candidates. Total time on air…. Four minutes.

As ever, the BBC follows the lead of our Government in both priorities, taste and political neutrality!

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An inconvenient vote

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Graham Dines of East Anglia Times weighs in on on the BBC’s (lack of) coverage of UKIP in the Norwich North by-election.

Out of fairness to the BBC, I can see how they are straining to accommodate the unpalatable rise of the Conservative opposition. They need some solace and we can’t expect them to reflect the full range of sentiment opposed to theirs, can we? Can we?


“Just why the BBC decided that the Greens were more meritworthy than UKIP is not difficult to discern. It’s all down to the unpalatable policy of quitting the EU. UKIP goes against the authorised version of Britain’s relationship with Europe and therefore should be ridiculed.”

UKIP are still pressing the BBC over their denial of UKIP’s evident electoral appeal (which many commenters here noted independently, as well). It seems to me utterly unsurprising that the Beeb would violate due impartiality during an election- the very time when they ought to be able to hold themselves together. They fail in every other so-called ideal which farcically underpins their public remit.

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THOSE BAD BANKERS

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The agenda is pretty clear.

Our caring sharing Chancellor Alistair Darling is calling in the Banks later today to find out why they are not lending to the degree he expects.

On Today, BBC favourite John McFall was brought in to reiterate the main talking points with Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association.

The interview was set up with the story of a small businessman who owns a successful coffee-shop and who seeks to take over another one and can’t get a loan from the local bank. The punchline was that there is a lot of “red-tape” involved in the small business loan area and banks are unfairly refusing to loan.

I thought Knight did rather well in explaining the position of ANY sensible lender. Naturally some sectors, such as Catering, are very vulnerable in a recession, and I would not blame any Bank which is cautious. Let us remember that this recession was brought about by reckless lending. Yet that is exactly what the Government via Darling and McFall are insisting the Banks continue with.

Madness.

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THOSE PEACE TALKS

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As Obama shows his pro-Arabist credentials by pushing Israel to give up its own territory, the BBC has an interesting take on these matters. This morning BBC correspondent Katja Alder referred to East Jerusalem as “occupied” territory as is “the rest of the West Bank” – under “International law”. Her point was that unless Israel can accept East Jerusalem as a future capital of a Palestinian State there may not be the sort of progress Obama wants. The meme is always the same – Israel is the barrier to achieving “peace”.

Well, for the benefit of Ms Alder, East Jerusalem is NOT “occupied” territory. Nor, for that matter, is there any such place as “the West Bank”. I think she may be referring to Judea and Samaria. In which case she is right, it is indeed “occupied” by Palestinians. Shouldn’t they leave now?

We all know that when it comes to portraying the Palestinians as poor oppressed unfortunates, the BBC truly excels. As Obama brings US political power to bear on Israel, I trust that Netanyahu shows some steel and does not accept the outrageous demands being thrust upon Israel this week.

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