Monthly Archives: January 2010

B-BBC ELECTIONWATCH

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Yes, this IS going to be a long series but with the General Election campaign now well and truly underway, I think we should take the time to dissect exactly how the BBC covers it. Today started in fine fettle this morning by contrasting on the one hand Conservative “confusion” over tax policy for married people with Labour vision to help our farmers. Nice, especially when one considers how Labour has screwed up farming over the past 12 years. I hope any farmers reading this will share just how wonderful Labour has been for their industry but in the BBC worldview, Labour offers hope whereas those bad evil Conservatives will return us to the wilderness of the Thatcher years. Vote Labour, you know it makes sense….

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TORY ATTACK!

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I’ve received several email from B-BBC readers today picking up on the way in which the BBC has been putting the boot into Cameron’s first bout of electioneering. This is what one reader had to say earlier…

“Radio 5 presents Yougov’s Peter Kellner as a neutral”

Radio Five just interviewed YouGov’s Peter Kellner on the election – specifically his opinion on Cameron and the Tories. Q. Why were Tories not doing better in the polls considering Labour’s unpopularity? Obviously the real answer is Cameron’s position on European Union and Global Warming. Kellner’s ‘analysis’ was that the Tories were still suffering from Major era, while Cameron remained very popular. A few sentences later he smeared Cameron. BBC did not mention that Peter Kellner is married to a Labour Minister. How can BBC interview someone so biased on the election and keep the bias from the listener?
Well the answer to that is very simple – the BBC has no shame. I heard Nick Robinson earlier doing a similar assassination job on the Conservatives. The election is ON and between now and polling day the BBC will do everything possible to ameliorate any Conservative advantage. I am no fan of David Cameron but I can see how unfairly he and his party will be treated by the State Broadcaster. It amazes me that he is so meek and mild as to how he will treat the BBC when he gets into power. I know what I would do, wouldn’t you?

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SWINGING WITH OBAMA

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Obama’s another guy the BBC will need to work hard for in 2010, and true to form we have the news that The One has been hung in Plains. Georgia. Most be those white supremacists, I guess. Or just a stupid puerile prank unworthy of international news? Or a useful way to ensure that critics of Obama are categorised in the right way? Good to hear the secret service is looking into this, it’s not as if they have anything else to distract them these days….

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DEBT – WHAT DEBT?

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Had to smile at this little pro-Labour economic ramble from our dear friends at the BBC entitled “Is UK Government debt really that high?”. The answer is YES. What next “Is Gordon Brown really that unpopular?” It’s Election Year so we can expect more of this pathetic nonsense from the BBC as they try to prop up Brown.

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Ski Reports

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With ski resorts from Scotland to Scandinavia and down to Italy once again reporting great snow conditions this winter I thought it might be worth taking a little look back at some predictions for the ski industry, as reported by the BBC.

5 November 1998:

As warm weather threatens to close some 200 Swiss ski resorts, British and Swiss scientists have begun a joint study to examine the impact of global warming on the Alps.
Their inquiry follows some unusually warm winter weather that has left many skiing resorts without fresh snow for weeks.

14 November 1998:

Some popular Italian ski resorts could be without snow by 2008 if winter temperatures continue to rise at their present rate, according to European scientists.

(From latest Ski Club of GB snow report, 31 December 2009: “Italy has some of the best conditions in the Alps this week. Lots of fresh snow has fallen in many places and impressive snow bases mean even where the snow hasn’t fallen there is still good skiing”)

17 November 2001:

Global warming may hit skiing
By the BBC’s James Cove, in the Swiss Alps.

Scientists are warning that global warming is melting Alpine glaciers at an unprecedented rate.
They claim that in 15 years time, many low level ski resorts could have no snow at all.

28 November 2003:

The closure of Glencoe ski resort has come as a blow to the winter tourism industry in Scotland…
The theory that global warming could be to blame for the difficulties at Glencoe is favoured by Professor Adam Watson from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Banchory, Aberdeenshire.
He said: “With temperatures rising at the speed they are, within 20 years, skiing in Scotland could be finished.”

(Ski Club of GB snow report 31 December 2009 – “Glencoe (30/50cm) is in superb shape thanks to the recent wintry weather that has brought fresh snow to all of our featured Scottish resorts.”)

Oddly enough, no mention of “global warming” or “climate change” in this report from 24 January 2005:

Alpine resorts hit by snow chaos
By James Cove

Huge snowstorms have hit the Alps over the past week, causing massive disruption and a number of deaths.

But even fresh snowfall couldn’t prevent the inevitable references cropping up again the following winter. 17 December 2005:

Relief as snow hits ski resorts
By James Cove

With a week to go until Christmas, ski resorts are breathing a collective sigh of relief as snow finally falls across many parts of the Alps.

However, low level resorts face a bleak future with scientists increasingly concerned about global warming.

And the winter after that. 11 November 2006:

James Cove, BBC News

Climate change has had a significant impact on the multi-million pound ski industry, and it is now becoming increasingly reliant on man-made snow pumped out on to the slops by snow cannons

13 December 2006:

Global warming could make some Alpine ski resorts unviable within decades, a study has warned.

17 December 2006:

James Cove reports from the Alps

Ski resorts across the European Alps are becoming increasingly worried as current bad snow conditions threaten the all important Christmas holiday period…

Many believe global warming is to blame for the lack of snow.

Two months later Mr Cove appeared to suffer a sudden bout of amnesia. 18 February 2007:

Fresh snow boosts Alpine ski industry
By James Cove

Some ski resorts in the Alps have had up to a metre of fresh snow which they now hope will signal an end to one of the poorest winters in recent years…

The snow has come at an ideal time with half-term holidays across Europe. The European ski industry hopes it will help salvage its tarnished image – some people are beginning to think of the Alps as having a problem with snow. [Where could they be getting that idea from? DB.]

Bad press, bad for business

“All the stories in the press earlier this winter about the poor snowfalls did damage to the ski industry as there is now a widespread perception there is no snow,” said Toby Mallock, the commercial director of the Verbier ski school, European Snowsport.

“Of course the conditions were bad in many resorts at the beginning of the season, but they are not now.”

There are many myths and misconceptions prompted by concerns about global warming and the effect it may have on the ski industry.

“It’s a little reported fact that last winter in the Alps, it was actually the coldest for over two decades. Everyone thinks the Alps are just getting warmer and warmer,” said Olivier Roduit, a Swiss mountain guide.

This Christmas, wide sections of the media reported on the poor snow conditions in the Alps, blaming it on high temperatures [Once again, who could that have been? DB]. Not true.

It was well below zero in many resorts but it simply did not snow. The temperature had little to do with it.

But a few months later it was business as usual for the BBC’s man in the Alps. 12 August 2007:

Ski resorts seek new summer image
By James Cove

Alpine ski resorts are making a special effort to attract tourists this summer, amid fears about climate change and the impact of warmer temperatures on winter snow.

And he was at it again a year ago, dutifully trotting out the alarmist line. 3 January 2009:

A lack of snow caused by global warming could be threatening the future of many ski resorts, according to scientists.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned of the eventual disappearance of some low-lying mountain resorts.
James Cove reports from the Swiss Alps.

(Swiss resorts had a bumper 2008/9 season, as did those across Europe: “Conditions in the Alps and Pyrenees are as good as they have been for 25 years, according to the Ski Club of Great Britain.”)

So, if you’re going skiing this year at one of the resorts which “scientists” told us should have closed by now, spare a thought for James Cove and his BBC colleagues; the poor sods must be wondering where their next “Ski industry doomed by global warming” articles are going to come from.

Update 18.20pm. James Cove appears to have taken some time off from his BBC employment to set up his own website, PlanetSKI. From his base in Verbier, Switzerland, he blogged the following on the 3 December, 2009:

As we approach 2010 it seems worth asking how the noughties have been for snowfall?

An analysis of the facts shows that in Verbier the snow level has been pretty similar on average throughout the last decade.  I have looked through the details of every year and every month and quite frankly there isn’t much difference. There was more snow on average at the beginning of the decade, but not that much more. At 73-years old Hubert Cretton is the resort’s oldest working mountain guide, and has been a high mountain guide for almost 50 years.  “Sometimes we get good winters and sometimes we can get bad ones,” he observes. “Overall things really haven’t changed that much. The winter of 1962/63 saw huge levels of snowfall and then 1 year later we had a very poor winter and many resorts had to close early due to a lack of snow.”

I get the impression that James is a decent Cove who just wants to ski, and as such has spent a decade giving BBC editors what they wanted to hear so he can carry on with his favourite pastime. I might have done the same thing given the chance. Anyway, I wish him well with his new venture.

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BBC Spins Cherrapunji Myth

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This is a long post, for which, apologies. Ever heard of Cherrapunji, in the remote north-east of India? No? Well neither had I. But it does have a place in the Guinness Book of Records because it is the wettest place on earth, with up to 1,000 inches of rain falling in a year, though the average is nearer 350 inches.

What’s the relevance? You may recall from previous postings that BBC environment editor Peter Thomson is part of the Society of Environmental Journalists which pushes a Columbia University guide on brainwashing techniques to persuade people of ‘climate change’ alarmism. So I have been digging further to see if there is any hard evidence on the BBC website that Mr Thomson has been evangelising among his colleagues, and if so, whether it has had an impact.

It’s here that Cherrapunji becomes interesting. Apparently, it’s been a little drier of late and this has attracted the interest of BBC Calcutta correspondent Subir Bhaumik at least three times. Back in 2003, he filed a story explaining that water holes were drying up out of the monsoon season and that locals were worried about the impact on tourism. Mr Bhaumik is quite clear about the causes. Quoting SC Sahu, deputy director of the Central Meteorological Department of the local India region, he says:

Mr Sahu blames it (the drop in rainfall) on the deforestation in the area and environmentalists agree. “Ever since Meghalaya became a separate state, there has been a rise in deforestation,” says Ba Mark West, convenor of the Cherrapunji Soil Research Society. “Tree felling is rampant and the loss of forest cover around Cherrapunji is more serious than ever before,” he says. In 1960, Cherrapunji was still a town of just 7,000 people. Now, there are 15 times that number and a cement plant at Mamlukcherra, a few kilometres away, was built 20 years ago. The cement plant polluted the environment and added to the population pressure in the area. And if there are more people, the pressure on the forests will increase.

I’ve quoted that at some length, because it could not be more specific. No mention of global warming at all, and none, of course of ‘climate change’ in its current loaded sense, because it had not yet been invented. According to Mr Bhaumik, Cherrapunji’s woes are the result of mushrooming population (from 7,000 to 105,000 in fifty years), industrialisation and reckless tree-felling. Of that, the local met office is sure.

Spool forward to August 2007, Mr Bhaumik, seemingly with total amnesia about his previous report, said:

Khasi tribes people in the Indian state of Meghalaya have decided to honour former US Vice President Al Gore for promoting awareness on climate change. They say changes in the weather are devastating the picturesque hill state. The tribes people say that they also want to honour him for his award-winning 2006 documentary…which….dramatically highlights changes to the environment because of global warming. The award will be handed over at the second Dorbar Ri (People’s Parliament) on 6 October near a sacred forest at the village of Mawphlang, which has been preserved untouched for more than 700 years.

Astonishing! Then shortly before Christmas just gone, Mr Bhaumik revisited Cherrapunji again and now, the propaganda message is complete. Hey presto!

Residents say their heavenly abode in the clouds is hotter and drier than ever before – and they blame it on global warming.

He then quotes Millergrace Symlieh, no less, a senior member of Sohra Science Society, who seemingly either doesn’t know the area or has had a remarkable loss of memory. He states:

“We never cut a branch in these sacred forests. So you cannot say this adverse weather change is our creation. We are affected by what’s happening all over the world. This hot weather and less rain here is not due to huge deforestation or massive industrialisation,” says Mr Symlieh. “We only have a cement plant near here.”

Over the next three pages, Mr Bhaumik gradually embroiders –without providing a scrap of hard evidence – this alarmist picture and readers are left in no doubt: the locals need more money to be compensated for the terrible injustice they have suffered. It’s the terrible West and its ‘climate change’ pollution that’s to blame, and Cherrapunji is on the edge of the abyss. The role of the locals in this alleged catastrophe has been totally airbrushed out.

So what has happened between 2003 and 2009 to account for this? I can only assume that Mr Bhaumik has read very carefully and ingested fully the Thomson/Columbia University diatribe, or perhaps been on a BBC brainwashing weekend.

The evidence of his writing elsewhere is that Mr Bhaumik is a typical BBC lefty. For example, on his rather polemical and partisan blog, he spouts vitriolic anti-UK anti-US sentiment and lauds the EU as the model to answer India’s prayers:

We cannot trust…the US because (it )…would not hesitate to use military force and other forms of power against us. As they say, if US is your friend, you really don’t need an enemy. The European Union is our long term ally of choice. But India has this huge problem of looking at Europe through Britain and Britain is in the European Union but not quite in it. It has still not accepted the Euro and it wants to retain its national identity and it is behaving like a surrogate of the US. India will not only have to look closely at the European model to create a new kind of union, so that we can handle the separatist tendencies and other internal conflicts – India will have to befriend the European Union as its ally of choice in the global arena in years to come.

So perhaps Mr Thomson didn’t have a very difficult task in converting Mr Bhaumik. I think that all adds up to a bit of a smoking gun. We know that between 2003 and 2009 the BBC news top brass all became fanatical ‘climate change’ acolytes; and we know that people like Peter Thomson took up positions in AGW organisations, who in turn proselytise that reporters should find local examples of their creed. Here, from the north-eastern frontier of India, is firm evidence that there’s been a concerted effort to make sure that when it comes to lying to the world about ‘climate change’, facts should never get in the way of the BBC mission to deceive. And Mr Bhaumik, it seems, is happy to do his masters’ bidding because it ties in nicely with his anti-US venom.

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TOO TOLERANT…

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Nicky Campbell’s “Big Question” returned to BBC1 this morning and the first question asked was “Are we too tolerant of Muslim extremism”. It was an interesting programme with one Muslim in the audience being given a lot of time to inform us that we are not overly tolerant and that Islamophobia is the major concern. (And guess what, UK Foreign policy was blamed by several audience members for Muslim anger.) However the panel was robust on this with Kevin MacKenzie and Rabbi Schochet making some strong points not normally aired on the BBC. However the third panelist, Christine Rees, blamed UK citizens for creating feelings of anger within Muslim hearts. Nicky Campbell did ask the non-Muslim audience if they could understand “the anger” of the Muslims. Naturally some liberals did. In fairness, this was an unusual tone for a BBC programme and Islam was given a rougher time than I have normally heard.

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BE AFRAID….

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Have you noticed how eerily silent the BBC has become on the topic of ‘climate change’ since the Copenhagen fiasco? Newspapers and the blogsphere are chronicling that we are in the midst of one of the coldest winters in decades, but on the BBC, there’s nothing – not even their usual counter-assertions that in our torrid era, temperature graphs only go upwards, so this is only a temporary respite before we all fry.

Be afraid, be very afraid. Harrabin, Black, Peter Thomson and whole cohorts of senior editors are probably meeting in darkened White City rooms to plan their new alarmist onslaught.

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