A Biased BBC reader spots the delights offered on RADIO 4 in just one day..
“Beyond Belief: Santuary”
A look at Britain’s history of offering sanctuary to those fearing persecution.
“The Mossad”
The BBC’s Security Correspondent talks to the world’s most feared and fabledsecurity services.
“Face The Facts”
Is the legal aid system failing asylum lawyers and their clients?
“Alan Johnson: Failed Rock Star”
Alan Johnson meets people who have tasted the fame he craved in the 1960s
“Women’s future in Afghanistan”
How will women’s rights be affected oncecoalition troops leave?
Tuesday 03/08/2010
You don’t need to look at a whole day’s output, in just SIX MINUTES on Radio 4’s ‘Saturday Live” (first item on the programme, have a listen on iplayer) there was the following exchange between guest Gary Younge and presenter Fi Glover. Every box ticked here, beyond belief:
1. Multiculturalsm is great – he walked down Brick Lane and saw Halal meat shops and “a gay couple holding hands”
2. The nasty EDL threaten people and “people want to rip burquas off womens’ faces”
3. Climate change. The question of “if you are burned to a cinder in the end or if you are underwater in the end” overrides “local differences”
4. Religion includes “Martin Luther King, Catholic worker priests, Bishop Trevor Huddleston” (good) or “from all faiths, people who say we are better than you” (bad)
5. In the UK he has stopped assuming that white people speak English – UK has changed from being “postcolonial” to “global” – “I love it frankly..fantastic”
6. Fi Glover: Stereotype of Americans “not being able to embrace wider thought”, Younge: Students he teaches in USA make him hopeful. “Much more hopeful time” in USA now – election of Obama “a major signal..about what might be possible”.
the now show was up to its usual self. They had an invited american comedian. Now america has a very rich and diverse range of comedy. A lot of the younger edgier comedy is actually from a right wing perspective rather then the expected liberal.
But, surprise surprise this particular stand up comedian seemed to hold standard BBC position on pretty much everything.
Within a few minutes, he mentioned Bush, Afghanistan, global warming, thick stupid americans, thick stupid fat americans, BP and how it was ending the world as we know it.
That “comedy” show makes me sick. Quite possibly the most left-biased BBC radio programe going. Along with the likes of “The News Quiz”. Yuk!
True Jerry, but there are other candidates, aren’t there?
Far-left Mark Thomas has his own shows, so does old Socialist Worker Mark Steel (with his unconvincingly working class voice). Jeremy Hardy gets his own programmes too. So many.
Since the passing of Alan Coren, have there been any regular right-of-centre comedians on Radio 4? Gyles Brandeth is the nearest I can think off (and that calls for plenty of !!!!!!!!!!s)
‘Socialist Worker’. That phrase never fails to make me smile. Fortunately, I don’t know many socialists, but the ones I do know, one thing they have in common – apart from being extremely naive, misguided and ill-informed – is that not one of them is gainfully employed.
A colleague of mine has a Father who is a SWP’ie and who hasn’t done a days a work since the early 80’s (for which he of course blams “Thatch”). He sells their paper and uses his dole money to travel the country to take part in picket lines and demos. Needless to say my colleagues parents divorced in the mid 80’s his Mother now only refers to his Father as the “workshy b**tard” 🙂
Craig – Mark Steel is no longer a SWP’ie suffering a crisis of faith after realising the end result of all his left wing campaigning was the election of Blair plus I’m guessing some internal feuding in the SWP (of which there is plenty). Its hard to say if he is just looking for some other minority left wing party to join or if he has just started the long journey to the right.
Don’t forget Greenie Mitch Benn, who got all cross with us when somebody noticed that, even though they were hosts of a BBC show about the election, he and Marcus Brigstocke were doing party political events for the Greens.
No.
Was the US comedian actually funny ? I find the Now Show is laugh-an-hour at best, not laugh a minute.
Which doubles the insult. All “comedy” on Radio 4 these days is totally biased, and totally unfunny.
Thanks for the recommendation – (the first few minutes of) today’s Saturday Live was the funniest thing that I’ve heard on the BBC for the past year.
Earnest, bokkers leftie luvvie stuff. Far better than the over-the-top Spartist comedy that BBC:R4 occasionally attempts…
I listen to ManxRadio a lot. There is at least 3 hours of programming a week on Manx culture. Only 50% of the island’s population is actually Manx. Here in lovely England 88% are white. Yet our culture is ignored week in, week out. Unless it is a programme that portrays it as ecenctric, quaint or achronistic.