Monthly Archives: July 2009

QUESTION TIME LIVEBLOG

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Well, we’re back this evening with the Student Grant produced Question Time. I will be helped by David Mosque as guest co-moderator and am looking forward to it. Please make sure you turn up, if only for the laughs!

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OPERATION – GET COULSON!

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Anyone catch the Toady programme this morning? From 8am onwards, the ENTIRE prime time period was devoted the story concerning whether the News of the World had used private investigators to hack into the mobile phones of celebs and politicos. It was amazing to have this entire 8.10 -8.28am time slot allocated to attacking News International and repeatedly demanding the resignation of David Cameron’s Communication’s Director, Andy Coulson. Total bias – out of all proportion to the merits of this story.

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"we don’t often talk directly about demographics…in the UK"

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Evan Davis was being a bit economical with the actualite the other day when he said that ‘we don’t often talk directly about demographics‘. The BBC is quite happy to discuss them – not only that, but to discuss them in a context of conflict or civil disorder – as long as they’re a long way away.

Here’s Jim Muir’s famous ‘I saw it coming all along‘ Iraq piece.

Iraq is a patchwork country, an ethnic and confessional cocktail, of Arabs and Kurds, Turkomans and Chaldaeans, Sunnis and Shiites.

Such countries are usually held together by a strong centralised dictatorship, which could be benign or tyrannical.

I don’t understand. Why isn’t he celebrating the diversity ?

Same with the troubles in Urumchi – about as far away at the back of Central Asia as one can get.

The violence in Xinjiang has not occurred completely out of the blue.

Its root cause is ethnic tension between the Turkic Muslim Uighurs and the Han Chinese. It can be traced back for decades …

Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims
They make up about 45% of the region’s population. 40% are Han Chinese
China re-established control in 1949 after crushing short-lived state of East Turkestan
Since then, large-scale immigration of Han Chinese
Uighurs fear erosion of traditional culture

Large scale immigration into the capital, ethnic tension, fears of erosion of culture ? These Uighurs sound like terrible racists, ill at ease, failing to come to terms with their new multicultural capital and harking back to some Golden Age that never was. I’m surprised the BBC are publicising their scare-mongering and myths when they should be refuting them. Certainly not the kind of thing you’d find the BBC reporting, about, say, London.

UPDATE – it’s also interesting to compare the Chinese state media coverage of the rioting in Urumchi (admittedly far more destructive of human life than anything here) with the British state media coverage of rioting in the UK.

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THE RETURN OF QUESTION TIME…

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Hi all! Just to let you know that I have decided to liveblog Question Time tomorrow night. You will be aware I stopped this when my esteemed colleague on the QT liveblog Geoff was taken seriously unwell and I was very concerned for his very survival. His condition continues to show small improvements although he is still hospitalised and the road to recovery will be long and arduous.

However I reckon that Geoff would not want me to stop – so it is for him that I am returning to the fray on this. Plus, it livens up a very dull programme when we get to comment on it! And what a gem tomorrow night brings. It’s the “Student Grant” edition and features the return of Universal Shami! Yes, doe-eyed Ms Chakrabrti is back! She is joined by Andy Burham, the human guinea pig Sarah Teather and Jeremy Hunt. So, this is just a heads-up for you and hope you can make an effort to come along.

As a point, if there is someone out there who would like to help me moderate the event – drop me a mail via the contact on A Tangled Web.

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THE BROWN BROADCASTING CORPORATION…

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Co-conpirator over on The All Seeing Eye, G.OT. picked up on this little gem from last week’s Question Time. Have a look at the interplay between La Harperson and Dimblebore. Then please click here to read G.O.T’s take on this instance of BBC bias – well worth your time. The good thing is that there are more than enough of US spotting THEIR bias.

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LOVELY SARAH..

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No, I’m not talking about Sarah Palin – though she is lovely! I’m talking about the generosity the BBC extends here to McDoom’s wife, Sarah and her new blog on the risible G8 conference. I recall the BBC desperately spinning the tall tale that ’twas the intrepid Sarah that came to save her husband at the last Labour conference, as she added humanity to her husband’s profile. Looks like Sarah is back on the BBC narrative…

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NOT ANOTHER WEDDING PARTY?

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Oh no – looks like those bad Americans have “killed dozens” in north-west Pakistan. Any bets it is another wedding party? Love the way the BBC leaves the nature of the “dozens” allegedly killed vague in the headline. I suppose “killed dozens of our enemies” would be too judgemental?
God forbid the US has taken out dozens of Jihadi vermin before they could try and kill our soldiers…

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THE RECESSION IS OVER!

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One of the reasons I like to tune into the BBC is to hear the mad delusions from leftworld as it tries to spin for McDoom when we ALL know that it’s over bar the shouting until he is prised out of Number 10 next June with a crowbar. This morning on Today the BBC was pushing the idea that the recession is over. Or so says the Chamber of Commerce. No room for dissent, alas. Mind you, unemployment may rise to 3.2m so not all exactly green shoots but at least they are trying to give poor Gordon some hope.

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7/7 – FOUR YEARS ON

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So, on this day four years ago, around this time, four Islamic Jihadists travelled from the north of England and then detonated themselves on the London transport system, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds of others. This was an act of war by militant Islam against the British people and since that time our security forces have averted many other attempted acts by other Islamic killers.

And yet, when I review the coverage of the event on the BBC today, I note that the word “Islam” is missing from the story. These were just “bombings”, apparently. And the reason for this coyness is that the REALITY of Islam in Britain is wildly divergent from the narrative put forward by Al Beeb. If you want an insight into that, why not read Konnie Huq’s drivel here. Financed by the government, (natch) lovely Konnie wants you to know that Muslims are just like us. Well, some are. But then there are some – like those who struck on 7/7 – who are not in any way like us and yet they are protected and given succour from their own community. Maybe there are harder questions that need asked? Rather than going to Bangladesh, perhaps Konnie should try Leeds?

The BBC, just like the government and the rest of the political hard left, are trying to erase the Islamic component to what happened in London those years ago. Reading the Guardian this morning I see a Police Commander – addressing a group of Muslims, naturally – suggests that the main terror threat comes from the “extreme right”. In this way, the focus of the war against militant Islam becomes diffused and we are no longer clear on who the enemy actually is. Like it or not – and the BBC does not – this date marks a fundamental challenge to our way of life by a dark ages pathology and cotton-wool obfuscation from the State Broadcaster is a poor substitute for facing into the issue. In my view.

Hat-tip to Philip and George R.

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