The BBC has been anxious to make us aware how put out the ppor Spanish are over the alleged firing by the Royal Navy on a Spanish flag on a buoy in the straits of Gibraltar. Jeremy Paxman’s brother, Giles, who is British Ambassador to Spain (natch) has apologised for any misunderstandings (shamefully, in my view but this is not enough and the Spanish opposition is now calling for a “tougher line” on Gibraltar. The BBC allows a Spanish analyst to offer his insight on the issue which is fair enough but where is the effort to allow a Gibraltarian perspective? I suggest the BBC should contact B-BBC contributor the All Seeing Eye if they want to try and introduce a little balance here.
ON THAT SPANISH FLAG INCIDENT
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I’m not sure what to make of this. The Spanish analyst just did his job, and quite well, explaining how the Spanish right are making hay and exploiting any opportunity to have a dig at the British. The original BBC report on the incident did say that the buoy was in NATO recognised colours for use as a target in weapons testing. What’s missing is not perhaps a Gibraltarian perspective but a Naval or NATO person explaining that fact.
The BBC are always happy to give a voice to critics of Israel, America, and of course Great Britain, the very same GB that pays the licence fee and expects the BBC to represent it at home and abroad.
I live in Spain and can vouch for the fact that no media has pointed out that it was a buoy which follows NATO protocols that was being fired at, and not the Spanish flag per se.
The British ambassador, instead of bending at the knee and apologising should instead have pointed out that somebody in the Spanish Ministry of Defence, or the Spanish Navy, should have known what the buoy was and that the Spanish complaint was completely without foundation.
I wonder what the Spanish Navy fires at when it tests its guns.
Maybe the BBC would like to discuss the Spanish imperial possesions of Melilla, Ceuta, Islas Chafarinas, the Peñón de Alhucemas and the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera when they report the rightful Spanish claim to Gibraltar from the British imperialists.
Maybe the BBC could cover the the Melilla border fence built by the Spanish to protect their enclave in North Africa from people entering from Morocco when formenting hatred of the Israelis for building their security fence.
Of course, there’s a historical context to all this, which it may be deemed politically incorrect to mention, in relation to the modern age:
‘The Battle of Trafalgar, 1805’
A BBC/OU series presented by the half-English, half-Spanish, Michael Portillo (2008)- (audio)
http://www.open2.net/thingsweforgot/trafalgar_programme.html
of course the bbc hate us owning gibraltar – the gibraltans are proud to be british and theres little the bbc hates more than proud brits ; remember, in bbc speak patriotism=zenophobia. hence all this shilling for spanish nonsense.