Open Thread

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101 Responses to Open Thread

  1. Mike Litorus says:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/parties_and_issues/default.stm
    Check the links to the manifesto pdfs, all link to the respective party sites – except ZaNu LieBore which is being hosted by the Brown Bullshit Cabal
    Why is our tax dollars being used by the BBC to bail out the bankrupt Commies by contributing to their bandwidth bill…

       1 likes

  2. George R says:

    Will Hutton, that big chum and political lobbyist for the BBC (and possible future BBC DG?), is campaigning for a Labour-Lib Dem alliance to keep the Tories out:

    “If Labour is wise, it will usher Nick Clegg into Downing Street”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/02/nick-clegg-prime-minister-hutton

    Expect the BBC to follow this political line.

       1 likes

    • NRG says:

      I heard Toady this morning, Beeboids were already on the job, spiining the merits ot tactical voting to keep out the Tories.

      I would have thought that the ruling party third in the poles and resorting to such negative and desperate campaigning might have been a more significant journalistic line to run.

         1 likes

    • Scrappydoo says:

      Radio 5 have been trying to encourage listeners to vote tactically all day long!

         1 likes

  3. Dazed-and-Confused says:

    New Labour attempting to rig the election. BBC silent about their beloved masters antics.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1271457/General-Election-2010-Postal-vote-fraud-amid-fears-bogus-voters-swing-election.html

       1 likes

  4. The Beebinator says:

    this morning on Al Beebs breakfast telly show, Al beeb-1, it at times appeared to be a political briefing on behalf of the labour party, telling their supporters how to vote in order to keep tories out of power 
     
    nice try by Ed Bollox, sorry Balls, and Peter Hain, but the british ppl will be saying bollox to you both very soon 
     
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8658694.stm

       1 likes

    • Lloyd says:

      The same theme continued on VD’s radio show. Callers phoning in explaining how people should go about tactical voting.

         1 likes

  5. Tolly says:

    Two days to go and R4 Today gives Jack Straw lots of free hits against the Tories in the premier 8:10 slot. Although ostensibly about tactical voting the interview allowed Jack Straw to keep repeating that the Tories were planning Savage Cuts. This was totally unchallenged by Jim Naughtie – must be true then.

       1 likes

    • ap-w says:

      It sounds very similar to the incident on Newsnight 2 weeks or so ago, where there was another discussion on tactical voting (quite a preoccupation at the BBC) between Peter Hain and (if I recall correctly) Lord Rennard, with Jeremy Paxman interviewing. No Tory, and Hain was delivering all sorts of throwaway comments and accusations against the Conservatives without being challenged at all. I mentioned it on here at the time.

      I didn’t hear the Jack Straw interview, but I heard a discussion about tactical voting at around 8.50 where, before going to (of course) Lord (“please just call me Paddy”) Ashdown, Naughtie gave quite a naked plug for the BBC website as a tactical voting aid, prefacing it by saying that in the seat he lived in there was a ferocious battle between the Tories and the Lib Dems, and saying that the BBC’s website had very detailed (and “unbiased”)information on all seats, including details of boundary changes since the last election. The message couldn’t have been clearer.

         1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Labour’s claims of savage cuts and a nasty Tory government emergency budget which will put thousands of teachers out of jobs and shut down hospitals haven’t ever been challenged or even lightly questioned by the BBC.

         1 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      When James Naughtie doesn’t directly agree with what his Labour guest is saying, that’s impartiality as far as the BBC is concerned.

         1 likes

  6. Will says:

    The breakfast Radio 5 “business” correspondent when interviewing business folk in  the past 3 weeks has been anxious to get them to rubbish the idea of an NI increase being bad for business (impartiality is ensured by not mentioning the word Tory).

    Today, interviewing a representative of Aberdeen Asset Management, the Beeboid hack changed tack. Today he wanted to ensure that we all knew how splendid was the gilt market (we would then realise that Tory claims that the government could have difficulty funding the deficit were just scaremongering). Even though the hack must have thought he was on firm ground (perhaps from previous discussion with Mr Aberdeen or from glancing at  Aberdeen’s annual report) Mr Aberdeen failed to comply, instead telling us that he saw Shares being the better market going forward.

       1 likes

  7. George R says:

    Update for BBC, re-New York Islamic bomb threat:

    “New York Times Square bomb: three passengers removed from Dubai flight”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7676377/New-York-Times-Square-bomb-three-passengers-removed-from-Dubai-flight.html

       1 likes

    • Idiotboy says:

      The BBC have been pushing the line since the bomb scare that the FBI were looking for a “white skinned man” seen acting furtively in the area at the time the bomb weas planted.

      I believe they were hoping that the deed would be attributed to an extremist white supremacy group or someone (preferably from the white community) trying to foment unrest between the various New York cultural groups.

      I imagine that like me, many observers put two and two together and arrived at a ready made set of “usual suspects”, which the BBC seemed determined not to point the finger at.

      Their collective glee was almost tangible this morning when the arrest was reported of a “US citizen” in connection with the crime.

      However they could not hide or disguise his name, which immediately pointed me back toward those “usual suspects”.

      Get a tablecloth on that elephant quickly and nobody will notice it is there.

         1 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Actually I saw FOX News say the same thing early yesterday about the police looking for a “white-skinned man” seen in that video tape.  But that’s because the PC mavens in Mayor Bloomberg’s office had the police tell the press that’s what they were looking for.  We had to listen to all the usual “there’s no proof that this is Islamic” nonsense, even though it was basically across the street from the Viacom offices (owners of Comedy Central, home of South Park), and the exact same kind of bomb that failed outside that night club in London a couple years ago.

        The BBC is showing a double standard now, though, when they report that a “US citizen of Pakistani origin” has been caught.  If it was an equivalent UK incident, they’d be talking about a “Briton” being arrested or some such  (the most recent example of that being the “Irish plot” to kill that cartoonist).  The BBC doesn’t have an editorial policy like that for the US, so they’re more open.

           1 likes

        • Lloyd says:

          Any news as to the skin colour of the man arrested on suspicion of this incident?

             1 likes

  8. George R says:

    ‘Multicultural’ BBC’s message: British should learn from Zimbabwe in Election!:

    “African echoes in the UK’s election”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8655100.stm

       1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      That’s a pretty ghastly comparison.  Who is supposed to be in the Mugabe role in the UK?  Cameron?  There’s a huge difference between the reasons for power-sharing in Zimbabwe and in the UK.  Anything to promote that “hung parliament” narrative, I guess.

         1 likes

  9. Biodegradable says:

    The Beeb’s Legal OpinionThe settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

    What happened to the guideline that states the BBC must not be “judgemental”?

    Settlements may be legal in international law, but the BBC disputes this.

       1 likes

    • All Seeing Eye says:

      International law is a myth of the lazy, liberal and left, but the BBC disputes this.

         1 likes

  10. dong dong says:

    All day today the BBC is instructing voters to vote tactically to keep the Tories out; this is only thinly disguised by a pretence of discussing, apparently, some Mirror’s  headlines or suggestions by Labourt politicians. Jim ‘we’ve won it’ Naughtie was particularly enthusiastic.

       1 likes

  11. JohnofEnfield says:

    Is IT just my impression, or has todays WatO been full of Labour politicians since it started today. Betty Boothroyd, Sad Sood from Norfolk and now Jack Straw. It was the same yesterday.

    Cameron got a sound-bite.

    I know that New Labour’s death throes ARE the news but the BBC is supposed to be BALANCED between the parties. And why is a new way of voting being discussed incessantly just because the result from FPTP doesn’t suit the BBC?

       1 likes

  12. Terminal says:

    Prickstocke alert:
    First Time Voters’ Question Time

    BBC3 8pm Wednesday 5th May

       1 likes

  13. Millie Tant says:

    What does sue’s post mean? Is this thread different from any other? If so, how?

       1 likes

    • deegee says:

      I think she was humourously saying the previous Open Thread was too long.

         1 likes

      • Millie Tant says:

        Oh dear. I thought someone had done some work to improve functionality.

           0 likes

  14. Martin says:

    Richard Bacon (a man you wouldn’t want behind you if you dropped the soap) on Radio 5 spouting more crap.

    Interviewing some bloke about some new Sky TV show the bloke mentions that the character of Obama appears in one episode. “Really!” spouts Bacon “That’s so fantastic”.

    I nearly threw up.

    Then Bacon interviews some other tools who try to get digs in about Cameron. Bacon announces that HE will be broadcasting from Liebour HQ on Thursday night (I think he means the BBC).

    What an utter twat this skinny turd really is.

       0 likes

  15. Martin says:

    I notice the BBC were happy to refer to a “white man” when they New York Police first announced who they were looking for.

    But now they’ve collared yet another Muslim terrorist he’s called “An American”

       0 likes

  16. fred bloggs says:

    Radio 4 – Naughtie was talking to Hain.  Hain told a whole string of lies about the cons, not a single word or challenge from Naughtie.

       0 likes

  17. deegee says:

    Two widely divergent articles on life in Gaza from the BBC.
    One a PR piece dedicated to show the Gazans are regular guys- they surf , they play football. “We want to show that Gazans enjoy life like every other people,” says Tamir Qamoud from the United Nations Development Programme, which is organising the event.And the BBC is here to help them do just that. Gaza football ‘World Cup’ opens
    Once again the inhuman Israelis are persecuting the Gazans. Apparently by stopping them playing for Real Madrid and Man U. Not a word about why Israel may do this. They’re just meanies.

    Even if boosting the Palestinian case wasn’t a pet BBC issue this fluff piece has no place in a serious report. Pick up teams of players, somehow representing their countries held a tournement – big deal.

    I’m not sure if this isn’t a ray of light. Both territories have been occupied by Israel since 1967, although Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and now maintains control of the border, airspace and coast.From reading BBC reports one could be excused for thinking armed fighters were everywhere in Gaza. They are but Hamas not Israeli.

    The Second article is actually serious (and comes from Tim Franks, mostly known for fluff PR) Details of Gaza blockade revealed in court case As far as I can see it tries to be factual.

    It does set the context for the blockade: in what Israel considers to be its existential conflict with Hamas.and vice versa.

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  18. Martin says:

    Richard Bacon on Radio 5 is DESPERATE to keep the Tories out. He’s not even hiding it talking about tactical voting.

       0 likes

  19. Guest Who says:

    Twitter just now:

    bbcpolitics   How to do it and what impact might it have http://bit.ly/c4lvMc

    A smidge intrigued by what ‘it’ might be (such things being beneath national news broadcasters), I find out these are instructions on how to save Labour.. er.. ‘vote tactically’, as this option is clearly an even option across all parties at this stage.

    I might just have to consider the BBC and its munchkins have gone beyond a joke now.

       0 likes

    • NRG says:

      Compare the order, tone, lenght and content of the sections under the three parties.

         0 likes

  20. George R says:

    BBC licencepayers pay for BBC ‘Asian Network’ to propagandise for the BURQA.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s6m4f/Nihal_30_04_2010/

    BBC ‘Asian Network’ is the BBC’s aparthied radio station designed for cater for the interests, including political interest, of various people of Asian origin. (Such people are inclined to describe themselves not as ‘British’, but  as ‘Muslim British’ or some such, – only a partial British designation.)

    BBC ‘Asian Network’ was supposed to be closing down, but given the BBC’s ‘multicultural’ apartheid politics, this is uncertain.

    At a time when several key EU countries such as France, Belgium and Italy are banning the burqa, the BBC uses licencepayers money to pay for  ‘Asian’ political views on this , notably Muslim ones.

    This is a totally unacceptable use of BBC licencepayers’ money. Close down BBC’s apartheid un-British ‘Asian Network’ as announced. 

       0 likes

  21. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Good for Andrew Neil for telling Dougie Alexander straight out that he’s lying when he denies that Hain and Balls have come out and told people to vote for LibDems if it keeps the Tories out.  Sopel tried to press Alexander on the same thing afterwards.

    But everywhere else, the Beeboids sure are curious to see if it would work.  Lauran Kuenssberg kept trying to get the BBC political research editor if it would work, and he ended up giving a qualified “yes”.

       0 likes

    • Grant says:

      Yes, I saw it on the Daily Politics yesterday. Andrew Neil ripped Alexander to shreds, excellent.

         0 likes

  22. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The Obamessiah just lied about why the bomb in Times Square failed, and the BBC’s Adam Brooks just backed Him up on it.  The President said that it was alert citizens and law enforcement and His security team that stopped the bomb from being successful.  This is false, yet Brooks made a special effort to highlight the President’s claims, presenting them as the truth.

    Contrary to what He and the sycophantic BBC would have you believe, the bomb failed because it was crap. This was just as much of a lucky break as the failed underpants bomber on Christmas Day. The alert citizen saw the smoke coming out, and it was only after he called the cops that they came and took it apart.  The police and The Obamessiah Administration did not prevent this bomb from being successful.

    Unfortunately, the President told a lie, and the BBC backed Him up.  I know three people who were about a block away from the spot that evening.  They weren’t close enough to have been in danger if the bomb had gone off, but close enough that it’s disturbing to hear the President lie about it and the BBC backing Him up.

       0 likes

  23. Martin says:

    Notice how the BBC have gone along with the Nu Liebour message all the way through the election.

    Early on the BBC were bigging up the one eyed twat as the great leader. Then when Clegg and the Lib Dems got movement the Liebour party tried to spin it that “They agree with Nick” and the BBC bigged up the possibility of Clegg and Brown sharing anal in the front office of Downing Street. THEN, when Clegg made it clear the price of doing a deal with McMental would be his head the Liebour party tried to spin the idea of tactical voting to keep the Tories out and the BBC have been bigging up this one now.

    Pathetic and desperate.

       0 likes

  24. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Who is George Rankin, and why do the Beeboids running the election live text thing feel he’s not only worth quoting, but directing readers to his Twatter feed?

    BBC quotes this @1624:  OK, so Labour haven’t done a great job, but how do we know that the Tories would have done better?

    A pointless question, but apparently the BBC feels worth asking.

    Previous George Rankin tweet on his page:  if the torys get it, leaving the country will be high on my todo list

    Who is he and why do Beeboids think this is worth your time?

       0 likes

  25. George R says:

    In all its political advice on tactical voting to keep the Tories out, the BBC will not want to discuss this:

    “Why Cameron doesn’t need a majority – or Nick Clegg – to govern”

    (by Paul Waugh)

    http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2010/05/why-cameron-doesnt-need-a-majority-or-nick-clegg-to-govern.html

       0 likes

  26. Will says:

    Crick blogs “Yet interestingly, because she is a Danish citizen, double-councillor Lockington isn’t just disqualified from standing as a candidate in the coming general election, she can’t even vote in it.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2010/05/barred_from_the_big_league.html

    Maybe she has a postal vote.

       0 likes

  27. Martin says:

    Re David Presiser’s comments about Barry lying. BBC 1 news just ran the same lie again, but interesting that fatty Mardell stated that “it will be difficult to keep America safe”

    Sure, George Bush managed it after 9/11, yet Barry has had quite a few near misses so far. something must be going wrong, America’s security is looking rather weak.

    Perhaps refusing to target Muslim men at airports, refusing to talk about Islamic terrorism isn’t helping Barry.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The BBC told me that everyone would love us again because The Obamessiah reached out to the Muslim World, and had a better view of the US’s destiny than nasty old George Bush.

      News Beeboid just now said it again:  the bomb didn’t go off because it was spotted and disarmed just in time.  Wrong.  I wonder if the BBC will do another feature about how politicians use fear of terrorism to increase their power and control over us?


      The Power of Nightmares

      The Power of Nightmares examines how politicians have used our fears to increase their power and control over society. It looks at the American neo-conservative movement and its depiction of the threat first from the Soviet Union and then from radical Islamists.

         0 likes

  28. Martin says:

    Saw a clip of the one eyed fool and his vile wife on GMTV. Boy does he look a beaten man.

       0 likes

  29. Martin says:

    Nice of the BBC to inform us that Nick Clegg was the winners choice on Facebook.

    That would be a website mostly used by spotty kids and drunk students.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Don’t forget the thousands of Beeboids, trained at your expense to use it.

         0 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      I got into a Nick Clegg election meeting in  Richmond on Thames last night.

      Vince Cable’s introduction was solid,  actually impressive.  Clegg was impressive in the wrong way – a vacuous speech but well-delivered,  lots of charm,  all motherhood and apple-pie,  and pretty evasive answers to questions afterwards.

      His answer on immigration was a classic.  When challenged on the 80% figure – he said it was OK because it had been supported by Mark Easton on the BBC !!!    Grrrrr.   The idea of the BBC giving the truth on PC topics like immigration is one big joke.

      ……………..

      (The email invite ticket stated entirely the wrong venue for the meeting – luckily I saw a follow-up email with the correct one,  but I imagine some people went astray.   Lots of sweet young people among the meeting organisers – I doubt if any of them have ever had a proper job.)

         0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        Did you catch Clegg in the first leaders’ debate saying the only referendum he’d call on the EU was ‘in or out’ but in the third leaders’ debate he said we wouldn’t enter the Euro without a referendum first?

           0 likes

  30. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Andrew Martin just lied about Cameron’s campaign speech.  Laura Kuenssberg asked him about the statement she had heard about Cameron saying “read my lips” that he won’t cut benefits.

    I saw the whole speech, and Cameron was really saying “Don’t believe the lies” being told by the Labour Party.  Mr. Brown and the rest of his cronies have been saying for weeks that the Tories will cut this, that, and the other thing, claiming that the Tories have an emergency budget prepared that will slash and burn everyone’s benefits.  Cameron stated very clearly which benefits he will guarantee, and that’s what his “read my lips” was about: countering Labour lies.

    Instead, the BBC showed a clip of him giving promises to look after pensioners, and censored the whole part about benefit cuts and Labour lies.

    BBC still carrying Labour’s water.

       0 likes

  31. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Female Beeboid on scene at Clegg’s speech in Glasgow is criticizing his speech while he’s giving it in the background.  We don’t hear Clegg’s speech, but we do hear the Beeboid’s interpretation of his message, along with her criticism.

    Can’t recall any BBC reporter criticizing Gordon Brown’s speeches, never mind doing it from the scene and talking over him in the middle of it.

       0 likes

  32. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Beeboid Jane Hill was counting the list of Labour achievements Gordon Brown read out in his speech in Manchester, and helpfully gave the total – 56 – just now.  She goes on and on describing his passion, and – something not done for either Clegg or Cameron – giving yet another (lengthy) synopsis of his promises and policies as laid out in the speech.

       1 likes

    • Martin says:

      The BBC have been going on about the one eyed twats speech from the other day. Why? It was just more hot air from a jock windbag.

         1 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Live text coverage helpfully mentions the number of Labour achievements and hopes listed by Gordon Brown in his speech to die-hard Labour supporters in Manchester  (@2002):

        I’m told by a very on-the-ball colleague that there were 55 achievements in Mr Brown’s list. He went on to add another 16 would-be achievements – things he’d like to do in the future given the chance by you and I – like introduce a cancer test guarantee.

        Jane Hill was counting – she said so on air – and read these numbers out right after the speech.  BBC pimping for Labour to the last.

           1 likes

        • John Horne Tooke says:

          Did our Jane list these as acheivments:

          Selling our gold reserves at a knock bottom price.
          £17,000 raid on every pension
          Unlimited immigration
          Signing over our soverignty to Brussels
          The most corrupt parliament since the end of the “Rotten Boroughs”
          Britain’s international competitiveness has fallen from 9th in the world (1997) down to 22nd in 2004
          Since 1997 Britain’s trade deficit has grown from virtually nil trade deficit in 1997 to £40 billion a year in 2004
          Since 1997 every new job has effectively gone to a foreigner.
          A CCTV for every person

          I suspect not.

             1 likes

  33. Martin says:

    Thankfully Shep Smith on Fox News just pointed out that the bomb plot in New york was not ‘thwared’ as Barry claims but failed.

       1 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Just like the Christmas bomber – the failure was in the execution,  it could have been disastrous.

      Plus – in spite of the manhunt afterwards,  the guy very nearly got away to Dubai.  With a big hunt on – he was allowed to buy a ticket for cash at the last minute.  Crazy – and looks bad for Obama,  whatever weasel words the White House comes out with.

         1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The BBC is dutifully repeating His claim as fact. And Mark Mardell continues to support Him.  He can’t always protect you, says Mardell, thus helping to minimize any blame.

         1 likes

  34. dave s says:

    Looks like we are being prepared for a sudden nulabour surge in the votes. How else to explain the postal vote scam to a sceptical public?
    This has been looking a possibility all the time .This means a Liblab coalition and the libleft to retain power.
    I have always beleived this election was too important for them to lose. The end will justify the means even if the end is chaos and national bankruptcy.

       1 likes

  35. George R says:

    No doubt this would suit the BBC:

    “Nick Clegg would be a disaster for Britain on the world stage”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7676556/General-Election-2010-Nick-Clegg-would-be-a-disaster-for-Britain-on-the-world-stage.html

       1 likes

  36. Martin says:

    It’s a frigging joke. Remember how the BBC twats went crazy over the so called ‘stolen’ US election?

    Funny that YET AGAIN we have potentially hundreds of thousands of suspect postal votes but the BBC says nothing. Where is Greg Palast?

       1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Only Republicans steal elections.  Newsnight said so.

         1 likes

  37. Martin says:

    Wow, even the Whitehouse press lot have FINALLY picked up on Barry’s lie about thwarting the bomber.

    Also, they are asking how it was that AFTER the underpants bomber this guy was able to get on a plane which was then able to taxi out for take off.

    Gibb’s flailing around like a tosser, will the BBC pick up on this failure?

    Also a question asked about WHY there appears to be more attacks under Obama, I thought the one was the friend of the Moozlum now?

       1 likes

  38. George R says:

    Guardian-BBC’s politically devious line on New York City bomb attempt:

    ‘Jihadwatch’ sees through the wishful thinking of the political left in USA and UK on this:

    “Robert Dreyfuss’ piece also ran in The Guardian and elsewhere. And that stands to reason, since Dreyfuss summed up the common line of thinking held by the likes of Mayor Bloomberg of New York City and MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer: Muslims are non-white, non-Western, and non-Christian, and hence are always victims. Reality seldom fits this narrative, but that seems to lead those who hold it only to cling to it all the more tenaciously, and to do their best to tailor the facts to fit that narrative. ”

    The Nation, May 3: Times Square bomber probably not a jihadist, but ‘more likely…a member of some squirrely branch of the Tea Party, anti-government far right’

       1 likes

  39. 1327 says:

    Did anyone else catch the Today show from 8am this (Wednesday) morning ? They interviewed a panel of voters and asked if there voting intentions had changed during the campaign and what their big concerns were. Well I’m sure none of you will be surprised to hear there were no Tory voters on the panel and I don’t think the Tories were mentioned. Amazingly many of the panel were Labour supporters but now like Nick Clegg a lot. All of their big concerns were Beeb approved ones and immigration was never mentioned. Everyone really enjoyed the debates on TV and thought they were exciting (!) but best of all they said they took the power away from nasty newspapers who told people how to vote.

    Where do they get these people ? Are they real ?

       1 likes

    • NRG says:

      It has been noticable the whenever Beeboids go vox-popping that they only ever seem to find lefty voters and admireres of the great leader. Every other news organisation finds a mix as well as general sentiment against the one eyed Scottish idiot. 

      Funny that!

         1 likes

  40. Bupendra Bhakta says:

    Toady Programme again.

    Sarah Montague opened a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Sorry New Labour Party (masquerading as an interview with Postie Johnson) by reading out the first lines of today’s Peter Mandelson Memo… ‘In the event of a hung Parliament Gordon Brown will have the right, indeed, duty to continue as Prime Minister’.

    Words fail me.

    Moving onto the Libby Purves programme – may or may not be called ‘Womans Hour’.  In an interview with aan American blackjack card-counter… in his book the code-name for his group of card-counters was Mossad.  He told Libby that he just made up that name for the book to protect the members.

    ‘The real name’ said Libby, ‘… was presumably something even worse.’

    Yes, dear, perhaps something like ‘Fatah’, or ‘Hama’ or ‘al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade’.

       1 likes

    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      And neither did I hear, today, any Tory or LibDem politicians being given the opportunity to give a three minute plug for their parties on the Toady Show. 

      Dave – you won’t forget this will you. 

      Think what leaving that £3.6 billion a year in the pockets of citizens would do for the economy.

         1 likes

  41. deegee says:

    Add this to the list of BBC camapaigns or is this just Alpa Shah, embedded with the Maoist insurgents: Global Warming, EU, Palestine, Obama … ?
    Inside the Maoist insurgency in India’s Jharkand state

    I may get some time to fisk this article, later but on e paragraph particularly struck me.
    I had a rare face-to-face interview with a member of the movement’s leadership, a man I call Rameshji. I questioned him on their violent tactics.

    Why is the BBC assisting a leader of an insurgency against an elected government by disguising his identity?

       1 likes

  42. dave s says:

    I must admit I was taken aback this morning watching the TV news channel on the BBC. An interview with a city elder, that is somebody with experience and sense.
    He spelled it out for once. Greece will never repay it’s debts. Germany must leave the Euro ,restore the mark and let the Euro end up wherever it will. Sovereign debt ( we have a lot of that ) is the gravest of threats to the financial system and so on. A bracing breath of reality. Needless to say the BBC interviewer seemed bored.
    They just don’t get it. Reality is on it’s way .
    But then if you pay your boss nearly 1 Million a year reality is not your strong suit.
    I doubt the interview will be repeated.

       1 likes

    • 1327 says:

      Nice post Dave S. I used to think they saw debt as the elephant in the room and just didn’t want to mention it. Now I fear you are right they just don’t get it. The bigger problem though is that I really don’t think the politicians get it either.

      Watching the various debates recently with all the candidates promising free this and that to the electorate I must admit I have been reduced to yelling at the TV. Don’t they understand that ..

      1) Nothing the Govt provides is free someone is paying for it

      2) We can’t f**king afford it anymore !

      Honestly I despair and wonder how long it will be before they even realise there is an elephant in the room.

         1 likes

  43. Lloyd says:

    An absolute deluge of pro-labour posts on the Live Blog, this one will take some beating…..

    1215: The BBC’s Katie Townsend says: Somewhat of a missed opportunity here in Bradford with Gordon Brown. He delivered a powerful and heartfelt speech about the risks the country faces under a Conservative government. But his lecturn seemed to be facing the wrong way and not towards the hundreds of people who had excitedly gathered to see him. It seems Labour were only expecting around 60 people. As he finished the PM emerged to give them a wave but he really could have whipped up this crowd very easily.

       1 likes

    • Jack Bauer says:

      but he really could have whipped up this crowd very easily.

      Sure, into a frenzy of apathy.

      Brown couldn’t whip up a round of paid sexual intercourse in a brothel.

         1 likes

  44. prpw says:

    If this were the final days of the Major government and with 3 days to go a conservative candidate had said the encumbent was the worst PM ever, it would have been the lead item on every broadcast across the BBC’s range every day until the election, with every soft-headed kommentator on the BBC’s speed-dial wheeled in to talk about division and in-fighting

       1 likes

  45. George R says:

    Pro-EU BBC.

    BBC reluctant to feature:

    “Angela Merkel: EU future at stake in Greek crisis”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/7680974/Angela-Merkel-EU-future-at-stake-in-Greek-crisis.html

    Janet Daley comments:

    “Angela Merkel thinks the unthinkable: the EU future is in danger”

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/janetdaley/100038030/angela-merkel-thinks-the-unthinkable-the-eu-future-is-in-danger/

       1 likes

    • Jack Bauer says:

      George —

      3 people die in bank firebombed by filthy Greek lefty lunatics who want the rest of to pay the lazy bastards.

      Let Greece rot.

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        And where are the Beeboids reporting ominously about violence from Left-wing protesters?  They constantly hint at violence from the right, but never from the Left, yet these Leftoid protests are always violent.

           0 likes

  46. Lloyd says:

    I think we might need to keep an eye on the BBC’s coverage of the greek riots. I’ve already heard a couple of mentions that the riots were down to “spending cuts in the public sector” *nudge nudge*

       0 likes

    • Trifecta says:

      5Lite moron Gabby Roslin was trying to put words into some poor Greek guys mouth. The three people who died deserved it because they were in a bank etc and the unwashed scum only murdered them because the nasty Greek filth were hitting them with batons. The interviewee sounded bewildered at what he had heard her say and claimed that the sirens were too loud for him to comprehend her. He got the drift alright.

         0 likes

      • Trifecta says:

        Replying to myself is bad form but I meant Gabby Logan not Gabby Roslin who is somebody else completely. And probably not a moron. 

           0 likes

  47. Pierre says:

    Radio 4’s ‘Thinking Aloud’ is discussing how capitalism doesn’t work. Apparently things in Russia were far worse after the fall of communism. And apparently the imminent collapse of Greece is down to capitalism rather than socialism.

    This on the day before a general election. Utterly disgraceful.

       0 likes

    • Pierre says:

      I switched to Radio 4 after enduring Richard Bacon and David Quantick launching a series of thinly veiled attacks on the tories. Quantick bemoaned ‘media barons’ who tell people how to think and vote. He didn’t mention that this ‘media baron’ had instructed people to vote labour 1997-2005.

      The beeb really don’t like it that the majority of the press have backed the tories, and only the risible Daily Mirror backs labour. Their irritation is showing.

         0 likes

      • Trifecta says:

        I have a feeling that the Mirror may now be the rag du jour of the Lib.Dems.

           0 likes

  48. George R says:

    Greece.

    BBC report seems to avoid the fact of the three people murdered by left-wing petrol bombing protestors.

    The BBC reporter seems to be concerned with emphasising that he hasn’t seen the protestors (the usual suspects?) as an angry as this since …2008.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8662479.stm

       0 likes