42 Responses to Open Thread

  1. David Preiser (USA) says:
    November 18, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    There’s a segment on poverty in Nepal on the World Service right now. It’s nothing less than an anti-poverty advocacy campaign.  Not news, not informative.  Is this the BBC’s job?

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  2. Biodegradable says:
    November 18, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    Well here’s a turn up for the books – a sympathetic program about the Jewish community in Berlin.

    Heart And Soul – NEW JEWISH LIFE IN BERLIN 18/11/2009

       1 likes

    • deegee says:
      November 18, 2009 at 6:51 pm

      Programmes like this are a dream for the BBC.

      See! not all Jews support Zionism. These Jews had a choice and preferred Germany to Israel (rather than steal even more from the Palestinians).

      See! we are not antisemitic. So long as Jews live somewhere other than Israel we are prepared to be sympathetic.

      See! Good Jews leave Israel. 

         1 likes

  3. Grant says:
    November 18, 2009 at 6:13 pm

    Bio  17:00

    Difficult one for the Beeboids.  Anti-Nazi, but pro-Germany and the EU, but anti-semitic.   And , of course, wouldn’t it be great if all the Jews left Israel and lived somewhere else  ?

       1 likes

  4. Simon Fay says:
    November 18, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    ‘Toady’ was running a thread through this morning’s edition giving details on each of the candidates for the EU Presidency. One of the conniving non-entities in question (a Dutchman IIRC) was described as “a convinced FEDERAST”.

    That’s a new word on me, but sounds similar to one concerning horrible matters that the EU seems well placed HQ location-wise to deal in (and is rumoured to have as part of its bonding process)

       1 likes

  5. woodentop says:
    November 18, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    I don’t know if it’s just us lucky BBC Scotland viewers but this week we’ve been treated to extra special climate change b0ll0cks on the evening news, presumably as part of the pre-Copenhagen media hype.

    Last night and today rising sea levels have been the bogeyman du jour. We were treated to some footage of a Thai village, Khun Samut Chin, which is disappearing beneath the remorselessly rising seas.

    I decided to google the village name, and on my first trawl found that the problem is actually land subsidence due to over-extraction of fresh ground water*.

    Not a word of this in the Beeb piece of course, it was all down to “climate change”. They must think we fcuking zip up the back.

    * see eg “Land subsidence in Bangkok, Thailand”
    <!– articleText –> <!– ppvMSG –>

    References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.

    <!– refMsg –>

    N. Phien-wej, P.H. Giao and P. Nutalaya

       1 likes

    • John Horne Tooke says:
      November 18, 2009 at 8:33 pm

      “..Scotland is rising in some places at an estimated 3mm a year. The evidence for this is that the geography of Scotland is characterised by what are known as “raised beaches”. There are two levels, the 10 metre and 30 metre raised beach, both marked by a line of ancient cliffs now some distance inland, and these show how the land has risen in the past. Conversely the south of England is sinking at 2 mm a year, which, over a century, adds up to 20 cm, close to the prediction for global warming sea level rise.”
      http://www.john-daly.com/refugees/index.htm

         1 likes

      • woodentop says:
        November 19, 2009 at 6:55 pm

        Isostatic rebound from the weight of the glaciers that covered Northern Britain 20,000 years ago…

        Tonight’s climate change nugget from BBC Scotland News was the impact on farmers. Cue female beeboid standing beside a tractor, pointing to the tread on its tyres and remarking they were so big because climate change made the fields muddy.

           1 likes

        • Guest says:
          November 21, 2009 at 5:54 pm

          This the same one who points at a G-Wiz and says ‘look… no emissions’ and is then patted on the head by Peter Mandelson for being oblivious to the fact that the exhaust pipe is merely located elsewhere?

             1 likes

  6. Fat Face Penguin Seal says:
    November 18, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    anyone else see paxo ripping ben bradshaw to shreds on newsnight tonight? he went much easier on george young (he’s the tory, for those of you who don’t know).

       1 likes

    • dave s says:
      November 18, 2009 at 11:32 pm

      I rather thought Paxman was absolutely bored by all of them and couldn’t help showing it. He even seemed to have had enough of Vince. It was terminally dull so I have some sympathy

         1 likes

  7. George R says:
    November 19, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    BBC: campaigning for Muslim schools.


    The BBC, via its radio channel for a segregated Britain, ‘BBC Asian Network’ – “The Sound of Asian Britain”, has this special pleading on behalf of Muslim schools; of course, there is no reference to the many criticisms of the standards of ‘education’ that have been made of Muslim schools.

    “Muslim schools’ ‘risk of closure'”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8364756.stm

       1 likes

  8. Roger C says:
    November 19, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    There is an unbiassed item about moderate & even heavy doses of alcohol bieng good for the heart. The BBC has wheeled out at every news session so called experts who universally state drink is totally bad for you. There is no room for a supportive pro drink voice on the BBC! Aunti knows best. 

       1 likes

    • woodentop says:
      November 19, 2009 at 6:09 pm

      They also uncritically repeat the “safe” no. of units per week mantra at every opportunity when it’s well known the numbers were plucked out of thin air.

         1 likes

  9. George R says:
    November 19, 2009 at 10:32 pm

    Not only Channel 4, but also the Guardian and the BBC –

    Robin Shepherd:

    “Another vast Jewish Conspiracy”

    [Extract]:

    “In the media, the Guardian newspaper has stepped up its already obsessive campaign against the Jewish state to the extent that the paper’s flagship Comment is Free Web site frequently features two anti-Israeli polemics on one and the same day. The BBC continues to use its enormous influence over British public opinion to whitewash anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Middle East. Its Web site, for example, features a profile of Hamas that makes no mention of the group’s virulent hatred of Jews or its adherence to a ‘Protocols of Zion’-style belief in world-wide Jewish conspiracies.”

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704204304574543671980025770.html

    also:

    http://www.robinshepherdonline.com/my-op-ed-in-the-wall-street-journal-on-the-newly-revealed-jewish-conspiracy-in-great-britain/

       1 likes

  10. cassandra king says:
    November 20, 2009 at 11:33 am

    Eric Gandini directs an anti Berlusconi film called vieocracy that attacks Berlesconi calling him among other things a monster, it is a partisan attack film and the BBC just loves it, the BBC gives his film full coverage and promotion where most others just see a hate film based on smears but the BBC is in like flint.

    The BBC forgets to mention that Gandini is a hard left socialist, funny that they forget to mention that the attack/smear film could simply be a vehicle to smear a political enemy UNLESS of course the BBC knew full that the film was a smear attack because the BBC have been engaged in a long term concerted smear campaign since the Italian elections that elected Berlesconi, you will remember how broken hearted the BBC were when the socialists were destroyed at the polls, you will recall how the BBC launched the most partisan coverage helping the socialists as much as possible. It was such a close race according to the BBC right upto the point that the leftist alliance was destroyed, who can forget the beeboids waiting at the socialists victory party when they heard the defeat I have never seen such distraught looks as if they themselves had suffered defeat.

       1 likes

  11. Guest says:
    November 21, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Been watching (and enjoying) the documentary series “The world’s strictest parents”.

    The format is this: two dysfunctional teenagers, usually from permissive families, go abroad to experience tough love, boundaries and discipline, They come back transformed.

    It’s pretty good, but one thing struck me: all the kids, so far, have been white and British. But if you look at social dysfunction, violence, etc, it’s more prevalent amongst the non-white community.

    So why is the “diversity” fixated BBC suddenly so monoracially orientated?

       1 likes

    • Bob says:
      November 21, 2009 at 2:26 pm

      Most BBC documentaries I’ve seen do focus on white families, if it’s not to do with gangs, race, religion or the inner city that is

      I think it’s because it’s more appealing to the majority white population, particularly from a language and culture perspective (ie middle classes) – such figures, which I am an unware of, are surely only proportionate and cannot reflect the majority of teenagers, they’re supposed to be tyically ‘unruly’, not likely to stab you, as well as have decent parents

         1 likes

  12. Martin says:
    November 21, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    Nice to see the BBC with double standards on climate change again

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229695/BBC-dispatches-35-staff-climate-talks–creating-carbon-African-village-does-year.html

    Of course liberal CO2 is GOOD CO2

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  13. George R says:
    November 21, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    BBC gets around to reporting the ‘beyond football’ violence and conflict between Egyptian Muslims and Algerian Muslims, BUT the BBC avoids reporting this Muslim on Christian violence:

    “Egypt: Muslims burn Christian shops in south”

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3808467,00.html

       1 likes

  14. deegee says:
    November 21, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    Missing ‘T’ word.
    If the BBC can’t describe Carlos the Jackal as a terrorist who can be so described?
    Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez defends ‘Carlos the Jackal’

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defended jailed killer “Carlos the Jackal” and several world leaders he says are wrongly considered “bad guys”.

    He is serving a life sentence in France for murders committed in 1975.

    That his actions were a product of Communist teaching and were entirely aimed at civilian targets is ignored.

    Significantly the one mention of the word ‘terrorist’ is by Hugo Chavez who claims he was not a terrorist but a key “revolutionary fighter”.

       1 likes

  15. deegee says:
    November 21, 2009 at 10:19 pm

    French hand-wringing over dubious win

    I’m not much of a Francophile but I can’t see how this editorialising is acceptable.

    Leading paragraph:  
     For a nation not particularly known for its moral qualms – it once hailed a head-butting footballer as a hero – the French feel surprisingly chastened about their questionable qualification for next year’s World Cup.

    I’d love to know which nations Henri Astier includes in his ‘Good Guys’ list. 

       1 likes

    • Millie Tant says:
      November 22, 2009 at 1:29 am

      What a smear. Fair takes your breath away that the State broadcaster can be so utterly crass – and oblivious to the offence in such comment.

      Just how thick and lacking in judgement is the BBC? Who is it who stoops to such bilge?  I think we should be told. Name and shame the idiot, please. (And the idiot who passed it for publication.)

         1 likes

  16. deegee says:
    November 21, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    Tough lessons for Obama on Mid East Peace

    Criticising Jeremy Bowen’s Israel coverage is a little like shooting fish in a barrel but:

    Describing Jewish settlements as little fortresses is more than a little exaggerated and contradicted by the accompanying photograph. Most of the settlements are little more than caravans with a wire fence at most.

    That (the Oslo Agreement) was the saddest too, because it might have worked. Two years later, Mr Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist. The implication is that the assassination of Rabin ended the process. It could easily be said peace agreement had already failed by the time of Rabin’s death and it was far from certain he would have been re-elected.

    Another false dawn was a trip by Bill Clinton to Gaza in 1998. Arafat played with Clinton regarding the Palestinian Covenant. By this stage few people saw it as more than a photo opportunity for a president already in trouble over both Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky.

    Mr Netanyahu used to drive her husband mad.
    After he had lectured the president about the Middle East, Mr Clinton famously asked his aides: “Who the (bleep) does he think he is? Who’s the (bleeping) superpower here?” Only he did not say bleep. At no point in this article is there any suggestion that Arafat or the Palestinians may have annoyed Clinton (or any president) or played any part in the failure of the peace process.

       1 likes

  17. deegee says:
    November 21, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    CONTINUED
    Mr Netanyahu, who has refused to freeze settlement activity.
    It is called that by the way because it is not just houses and flats, it is all the infrastructure and security that goes with them, which swallows up more of the land the Palestinians want for a state. Gilo, the current cause of dispute, has a population of 40,000, making it one of Jerusalem’s largest suburbs. The infrastructure and security is already in place. Israel maintains that it has the right to expand freely in Gilo because it is part of the municipality of Jerusalem, and a separate issue from West Bank settlements. Bowens mentions and dismisses Israel’s claims, much later.

    He asked Saudi Arabia for some symbolic concessions for Israel, and got another refusal. The implication is that this was a response to Netanyahu and not an implacable hatred for the Jews by the Saudis.

    The acclaimed Palestinian writer, Raja Shehadeh. He’s a little more than than that. Shehadeh was a founder of Al Haq. That organisation is a leader in the anti-Israel “lawfare” movement .  Its case against the British government to end export licenses to Israel was dismissed by the UK Court of Appeal on November 25, 2008.  Al Haq originally brought the case in November 2006 to “secure the implementation of the July 2004 [ICJ] Advisory Opinion on Israel’s Wall.” Once again, important information that Bowens ignores.

    Israel cannot expect peace with the Palestinians while it builds on the territory they want for a state. Do they really? Those Palestinians supporting Hamas have been clear, unambiguous and consistent is proclaiming they want everything and will not accept less. Arafat proclaimed a “phased strategy” of taking what he could get but never forgetting the aim to conquer everything. At no point does Bowens ever even consider the settlement objections may not even be an end but a means.

    President Mahmoud Abbas, America’s current Palestinian partner, is so fed up with the lack of progress towards independence that he has threatened to leave his job. How serious is that threat remains to be seen but Abbas’ period as president has expired. He would be resigning from a position he no longer legally holds.

    Not unlimited time. Raja Shehadeh also told me that the atmosphere at the moment reminded him of the time before the first Palestinian uprising in 1987.
    Some economic progress perhaps, but a deepening rage that just needs a spark to explode. The Palestinians threaten violence if they don’t get their way. So what else is new?

       1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      November 22, 2009 at 5:35 pm

      It’s funny how no Beeboid would ever dare say that if the Palestinians didn’t try to kill any Jew in their midst the Jewish settlements wouldn’t have to have fences and weapons.  If Mohameddans actually permitted Jews to live there, side by side with them, there wouldn’t be a need for any of it.

      Yet that’s the unspoken rule, the one that the BBC and Israel Worsters will never admit:  only Jews are restricted as to where they can live.  Muslims will kill them if they want to live – not rule, not “occupy”, not control, but simply live – anywhere outside the pre-1967 borders, including parts of Jerusalem.  And the BBC and Israel Worsters sympathize with that view.

         1 likes

  18. Martin says:
    November 22, 2009 at 12:08 am

    What a shock!!! The BBC is BIGGING UP a poll in the Guardian (Observer) that shows the one eyed idiots lot only 6 points behind the Tories.

    Funny that the last few polls showed the Tories lead increasing, yet on Radio 5 the female beeboid was excited that “The Tory lead has been SLASHED”

    One poll doesn’t make an election victory which is what camp beeboids have been telling us for months now.

    So what happened to BBC Poll Watch?

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  19. Enzo says:
    November 22, 2009 at 12:42 am

    al beeba fear a tory win as they know the tories might cut their pay and expenses down. oh yeah, and they won’t get all the fawning lovie dovie interviews like they get from the camp labour MPs

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  20. deegee says:
    November 22, 2009 at 7:48 am

    Israel WON: The BBC can’t bring itself to admit it.
    Hamas and Gaza militants ‘to end Israel rocket attacks’

    Hamas says it has agreed with other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza to stop firing rockets into Israel.
    Fathi Hammad, who acts as Hamas interior minister, said the ceasefire aimed to prevent retaliatory attacks by Israel and build stability.

    Forget the ambiguity – who attacks with rockets, Israel or Hamas?
    Forget the ubiquitous ‘militants’.
    Forget the attempts to downplay the rocket attacks. If the rockets usually cause limited damage and few if any casualties why bother firing them?

    Israel went to war to stop them and slow learners as the Islamists may be – it has.

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  21. Heads on poles says:
    November 22, 2009 at 10:27 am

    I’ve been purposely keeping away from all things BBC (apart from QT which is funny if only for its hideous bias) however after 5 minutes watching the BBC breakfast time this morning, I feel compelled to head towards BBBC!

    News paper review, can’t remember her name but reading out the headlines, lots of noise about the Labour surge in the polls blah, blah then move to the Sunday Telegraph. She said that she wouldn’t read the headline out but moved on to a dull story about the NHS (sacred cow alert!).
    The headline that was purposely missed as I assume, was off message was the investigative journalism leading to evidence that the UK was woefullyprepared for our foreign escapades with the military – real, hard evidence such as sending a container full of skis to the desert – I got that from Sky that is actually bothering to cover this.

    OK, now move on to the non-story of some church hack that complained about photographs being taken before and after the remembrance ceremony.
    All ove rthe BBC, you’ll find “Cameron and Brown” and “Cameron and PM”.
    Answers as to why it is in that order to:
    The bleeding obvious
    Broadcasting House
    Leningrad.

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  22. Llew says:
    November 22, 2009 at 12:25 pm

    Can the BBC make their love of Labour any more obvious? Politics show, Sopey says Cameron will have an emergency budget within 50 days of taking power. He goes on to ask Yvette Cooper what would Labour do? She promptly replies by attacking Cameron and his policies and makes no attempt to answer the question. Sopey just accepts her non-answer and doesn’t repeat his question or press her. What she replies with seems perfectly acceptable to him. What a complete waste of space he is. He is clearly not an interviewer and he should stick to reading the news off an autocue – interviewing is beyond his capabilities.

    Now he’s got Teresa May and and Cooper together.  He is letting Cooper talk all over Terasa’s comments / replies, yet he is shutting up Teresa from interupting Cooper. Bias in one interview.

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    • Craig says:
      November 22, 2009 at 2:02 pm

      Very true. Yvette Cooper got a full seven minutes longer to talk on the show than Theresa May as well, which is hardly fair either.

      On the ‘Marr Show’ this morning, that Observer opinion poll showing Labour narrowing the gap on the Conservatives was brought up 5 times by Andrew Marr (at the start of the show, during the paper review, in the interview with Nick Clegg, at the start of the interview with David Cameron & in the middle of the interview with David Cameron.) Sopel also brought it up to. 

      Funny how the BBC are spotlighting this poll – unlike so many of the others that have shown Labour trailing badly.

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  23. Craig says:
    November 22, 2009 at 2:03 pm

    “brought it up too“. Whoops.

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  24. Heads on poles says:
    November 22, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    A pointless item on the BBC breakfast programme today.
    Konnie Huq – she who the BBC do not know what to do with – reported from an Indian slum about the poor conditions. Somehow, this was linked in with an item about the spread of Polio.
    The story was billed as India being a place where Polio is on the increase – except that in the film, it was announced that it isn’t and that the incidence of Polio is falling.
    One part was how a rumour spread among the Muslim pupulation that the Polio vaccine was a Western ‘trick’ to sterilise the Muslim population – somebody mis-interpreted the word “sterile” on the vaccines.
    A complete non-story where even Konnie Huq looked embarrassed and not quite sure what to say.

    The BBC really is unique.

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  25. Will says:
    November 22, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    A safety review of all 1,800 bridges in Cumbria is being carried out after severe flooding caused extensive damage to homes and roads in the county.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8372775.stm

    According to BBC radio this AM the survey had been ordered by Actionman Brown, without the BBC considering that the responsibility lays with the local authorities. The online report doesn’ t refer to Brown – perhaps he realised that if he ordered it, he would have to pay for it.

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  26. Llew says:
    November 23, 2009 at 8:02 am

    Just half-caught a line on BBC’s Breakfast … about a senior MP from the expenses standards committee being investigated over his own, alleged claims (Andrew Dismore). No mention of a party in that headline.

    Partyless perhaps? Went onto t’ internet to check out and yes, he’s a Labour MP. There’s a surprise – not mentioned in the BBC breakfast’s headline of course.

    Unlike last week when David Curry’s party was clearly mentioned in all headlines on air.

    Even their website proves, beyond any doubt, pro Labour bias….

    Last week: “Tory MP David Curry quits standards job over expenses”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8369610.stm

    This week: “Standards committee MP faces expenses questions”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8373562.stm

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  27. magiclantern1 says:
    November 23, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    Can anyone explaibn this story to me.

    I know the Religion of Peace is responsible for these killings but the stupid BBC is refusing to point out why. Were they killed for being kaffirs? Or women? Or joos? Or is there some other Quranic-based reason? Who knows? In true Dhimmi style, the BBC is, as ever, covering up.

    See if you can make sense of this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8373770.stm

    PS Imagine if joos or mericans rounded up a bunch of journos and women and murdered them (with the usual Islamist torture refinements)? Think it would make such a downpage item? Go figure…. 

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      November 23, 2009 at 6:27 pm

      Beeboid on site Vaudine England says – just like Mark Mardell did about the Fort Hood killings – that is probably isn’t about Mohammedism at all.  She offers that it’s most likely about local control issues.  Er, yes, sweetheart, that’s probably true.  But exactly who wants that control and why?

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  28. George R says:
    November 23, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    Gavin Hewitt, typically puts the BBC’s pro-EU political position in a conclusion unsubstantiated by democratic evidence:

    “But in choosing relative unknowns the EU has signalled it does not want new centres of power to challenge the nation states. ”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/gavinhewitt/

    An alternative, non-BBC view of the EU, by Leo McKinstry:

    “The death knell for British democracy has sounded.
    The Governance has been taken over by an unelected regime in Brussels bent on destroying the last remnants of our nationhood. ”

    -from:

    “Our new ruling class: unknown and unelected”

    http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/141935

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  29. George R says:
    November 23, 2009 at 8:51 pm

    BBC: the unmentioned JIHAD in the PHILIPPINES –

    The word ‘JIHAD’ does not appear here, and the word ‘Muslim’ appears only once near the very end of this  impersonal piece:

    “Philippines political violence leaves 21 dead”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8373770.stm

    Alternative report, with comment:

    “Women, lawyers and journalists beheaded and otherwise murdered in Philippines”

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/24341

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