Monthly Archives: November 2010

BROADCAST CONTORTIONS…

By | |
19 Comments

For a truly chilling account of the dissembling, back somersaulting, contortionism and duplicity the broadcasting establishment is prepared to engage in to defend its alarmist approach to climate change, I recommend you have a good look at this masterly piece of forensic journalism by Tony Newton at Harmless Sky. Ofcom, Channel 4 and a spaghetti soup of useless, scheming, economical-with-the-truth “regulators” have decided that Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is not a factual documentary, and is not a piece of outrageous, lying political propaganda, despite a high court judgment that it had to be treated with extreme caution. They make Pontius Pilate and his hand-washing look innocent. OK, Tony’s post is not about the BBC, but of course those who control Channel 4 (almost all its chief executives have been ex-BBC) and Ofcom are drawn from the same smug, elite lefty-liberal cadre. What Tony has discovered is simply jaw-dropping. How do these people live with themselves?

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

LEADING WITH THE NEGATIVE!

By | |
5 Comments

How about the BBC leading coverage of the Labour Party conference with the headline “Labour not Communists”? No? How about the BBC leading their coverage of Sinn Fein’s annual conference with the headline “Sinn Fein not terrorists”? No? Well, yesterday, MY party had its annual conference and the BBC headline? “TUV “not vote splitters”. Marvellous. We made speech after speech saying what we ARE, and the BBC pick up on a line saying what we are not. It’s in their genes.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST…

By | |
19 Comments

So, I’m back from the BBC. I was invited on to the William Crawley hosted “Sunday Sequence” show to discuss the issue of water-boarding. My opponent was the local Shamnesty International Supremo. Patrick Corrigan. I am on at 1hr 25mins. I took issue with how the debate was set up by the host and objected to the “so-called war on terror” as William put it. To my mind, that very introduction belies bias. The discussion was very short and came to a quick end as I sought to discuss Amnesty’s support for the Taliban, as revealed by an Amnesty employee here (Now an ex-Amnesty employee). I find these discussion perplexing – the BBC agenda seems clear; Provide a forum for hard leftists like Amnesty to smear the US President and call for his arrest, then try to paint anyone who supports the battler against the Jihadi as an extremist, and then sit back and bathe in smug liberal contentment. It’s in their genes.  

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

THE IMPARTIAL GENE GENIE

By | |
44 Comments
Here is a guest post by Clameur de Haro.
“With all the protestations coming from Our Beloved Bastion of Collectivism about how impartiality is in their genes, I thought I’d occasionally delve a little deeper into the genes of some of its more prominent luminaries to try and establish just how much impartiality there is to be found there. 

Stephanie Flanders (above) seemed as good a place as any to start – and topical too, for she’s been much in evidence in recent days, pronouncing Thursday on the G20 in Seoul (but contradicted very convincingly at 1:54:25 by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs Asset Management) and a couple of days earlier on the US’ latest round of quantitative easing (but contradicted persuasively even by Larry Elliott in the Guardian!).

It turns out that Flanders’ maternal grandfather was none other than that gifted writer but also long-time communist sympathiser and probable Soviet agent of influence, the journalist Claud Cockburn. 

Cockburn it was who, when covering the Spanish Civil War, was accused by George Orwell of slanting his reports to discredit non-Stalinist elements fighting against Franco, and of being Stalin’s confidant, mouthpiece and direct agent in Spain: Cockburn it was too who recanted his previous opposition to the 1930s’ appeasement of Hitler immediately on the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 which conceded to Stalin the subjugation of Eastern Poland. It’s sometimes alleged that, curiously, despite his professed sympathies for Stalinism and antipathy to capitalism, Cockburn never visited the Soviet Union but visited the US on many occasions – well, I guess you have to experience a free society many times to remind yourself how bad it is………

Flanders also has as one of her half-uncles the US-based journalist Alexander Cockburn, equally a very fine writer, but one who – apart from his scepticism about the AGW scam – is predominantly left-wing. Among the most consistent themes of his writing are: criticism of the Democrats for not being sufficiently “progressive”: criticism of US foreign policy generally and of support for Israel in particular: and criticism of those already on the left who attack political positions further to the left than their own.

Flanders is an alumna of the same St Paul’s Girls’ School which counts Harriet Harman and Shirley Williams as former students, and is noted for her close networking links with current pillars of the Labour establishment. (Two Eds…..DV)

None of this is to decry Flanders’ formidable intelligence, commitment, or achievements – we’re not talking ability here, after all, we’re talking genes, and it’s not us, it’s the Beeb, who brought the subject up. But, with that kind of pedigree, surely we mere mortals of ignorant licence-payers could be forgiven for wondering whether, whatever it is that’s actually in Our Steffie’s genes, impartiality between statist collectivism and free-market libertarianism it quite probably ain’t.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Curb Your Tonge

By | | , ,
4 Comments

Nick Clegg seemed television-friendly and attractive before the general election, but after gaining all that popularity during the first election debate he threw most of it away, almost snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Neither the Lib Dems’ underwhelming performance in the election nor Nick’s astonishing indecision when the balance of power lay in his hands have curtailed the public’s enthusiasm for the deputy PM. Well, maybe a tiny bit.

The current Lib Dems are not known for their support of Israel. Nick Clegg was all for disarming them, which the BBC probably found rather endearing. Then he tried to distance himself from Jenny Tonge’s unfortunate remarks about organ harvesting, but he wouldn’t ditch her; no doubt the BBC felt not ditching her was the right thing not to do.

Fancy making a rash promise in your election mani-fiasco, then having to admit that you didn’t realise what you were saying at the time? Nick got away with it though, credibility intacto. Didn’t realise how bad the deficit was then, but we do now? Sorry.

Robin Shepherd has pointed out a strange thing. Nick Clegg has spoken at a Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel lunch. (lol) ‘We got it wrong on Israel.’ Whaddya think of that, BBC?
He said he recognised there had “not always been an equal voice for Israel within his party”. That’s certainly one way of putting it.
He didn’t mention Jenny Tonge, nor Lib Dem Peer Lord Phillips who spoke at a PSC meeting about America being in the grip of the Israel Lobby.

But Jenny Tonge is at it again. She has spoken in a debate on the strategic defence review in the House of Lords. 3:33 pm.
In her muddled view the Israel lobby is forcing us to be nice to Israel. Then we can use Israel as a launching pad to attack Iran, and dispense with the Ark Royal etc. Cuts, you see. Moving on from this illogical supposition, she says Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians has alienated the Muslim world, which she thinks is at the root of terrorism worldwide. If Israel stopped persecuting the Palestinians there would be world order and peace. Just like that. She does look a bit like Tommy Cooper, without the fun.

Didn’t realise how badly he got things wrong then, but he does now? Is that it? Or does he endorse all this nonsense? Plenty of otherwise sensible people apparently do, thanks to the BBC’s relentlessly partial reporting of the Israel/Palestine conflict, despite the best efforts of Jewish tentacles, the Israel lobby, the holocaust industry and Zionist control of the universe.

Thanks to Jonathan Hoffman for the H/T.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Matt Frei’s Musings Are A Riot.

By | | , , , , ,
8 Comments

Matt Frei mused during the violent student riots on Wednesday about what he saw as a relevant problem with higher education costs in the US.

Could UK students’ rage find echo in US?

Frei realizes there’s a disparity between the amount of money over which at least one student attempted manslaughter, and the amount required to attend a top US school. However, he doesn’t seem to understand the situation in the US, even though he actually states the problem himself.

Until now, Americans have tolerated this tuition-for-debt pact because they could expect to earn healthy salaries once they entered the job market. But graduates are standing in ever-longer lines for jobs that no longer exist.

The first sentence is more or less accurate. It’s not entirely true that absolutely everyone ends up in debt, as there are a variety of forms of means-tested grants for state schools, and all universities have various scholarship opportunities, not to mention the myriad other private and non-profit organizations which give out annual awards. All of that obviously exists to make up for the lack of a universal free ride in the US, which is one point any US student angry about tuition fees would not have in their favor. At least the UK students have that claim of unfairness. But that gets right to the heart of the problem, and why Frei misses it completely.

Frei is right that there’s a problem with jobs available for new graduates. In fact, as I’ve said before, there’s a looming higher education bubble in the US. But he seems to think that now students ought to be paying less for degrees for jobs that don’t exist, as opposed to the idea that maybe there’s no reason to get certain degrees in the first place.

Liberal Arts colleges will find that they have to shift their programs to more practical, career-path degrees, rather than the current, more abstract degrees. In addition, many schools are poorly run, and seem to exist primarily to enroll as many students as possible and milk them for all they’re worth, and don’t seem to care if they ever graduate. Does that sound familiar? Then there are the for-profit institutions which entice people to go into debt for their useless degrees. The US Government is already going after them, and the free market will take care of the rest.

The BBC covered the riots from a position of sympathy with the cause. That was evident from the way everyone who condemned the riots was asked if they at least understood the anger behind them, as if the BBC took the position that the cause itself was just, and the person condemning violence still needed to acknowledge this. Violence over free education for the next generation of (insert joke about useless bureaucrat coordinator here)? Is the public sector supposed to provide more jobs for these people? Will violence be justified if not?

So what about the next generation of doctors and lawyers those students were warning would disappear without free education? I don’t know about doctors, but there are a whole lot of law students in the US who were led down the garden path. There’s definitely a shortage of jobs for law graduates, and many law schools are in trouble. In fact, there’s some talk of the current law school system – in which students take on astronomical debt in the hopes of landing that high-paying associate position – as being unsustainable.

And there’s that BBC shibboleth again. If the cause of free education – or, in the US, lower priced – is worthy of violence, who is going to pay for all of it? If all those graduates can’t get jobs, what’s the point? How will they then pay taxes to cover the next generation? Matt Frei and the BBC aren’t interested. They’re stuck in juvenile divine right mode. As ever, the realities of sustainability escape them. This is a huge US story which has direct relevance to current events in the UK, yet the BBC doesn’t see it.

So Matt Frei, too, muses about violence for the wrong reason. He thinks that higher education prices should be lower so that students can continue to get useless degrees for which there is no work.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

FINGERS IN EARS…

By | |
8 Comments


What can I say? Mr Harrabin is definitely back with a vengeance. His scare today – after the energy alarmism earlier in the week – is water shortages. Climate change, he faithfully recycles from a resident econut, will crucify us, either through drought or floods, or both; the solution, as always is more laws, more government, more regulation – oh, and on this one, make sure that the BBC’s beloved EU is also involved to save the day.

Shame that our Roger doesn’t read more widely and convey to his readers some actual sense about the AGW lies. There’s been a lot of it about this week, but of course, it hasn’t been reported by the BBC. This for example, a group of glacier experts rubbishing the IPCC claims that populations are going to suffer water shortages. Or this, showing that billions are being wasted on solar power. Or try this, putting into perspective the facts about ocean alkaline levels (I refuse to use the greenie word for this non-problem). Or what about this, from the Guardian, no less, that the rainforests can adapt to climate change? And this, suggesting that there is no cause for concern for about sea level rises at the current rates? He might have reported, too, on this, that so-called green jobs are being ruthlessly axed in California, despite half a billion dollars spent on subsidies. But no, our Roger is as determined as ever to find his alarmist hogwash, and then to present it as if it is the only game in town. Fingers in ears time indeed.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Question Time LiveBlog 11th November 2010

By | | ,
15 Comments


Armistice Day Question Time tonight comes from London.

On the panel tonight we have Theresa May MP, Caroline Flint MP, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles (the Special Ambassador to Afghanistan and Pakistan), Clive James and Douglas Murray.

For those playing the Buzzword Bingo we’ll be using the Rioting Student Rules, meaning that tuition fees,  LibDem betrayal, manifesto pledges, fire extinguisher and attempted murder are all in play.  For this game Scottish players can be bussed in to take part in the event though the results don’t affect them. References connecting the riots to Thatcher and the Community Charge Disturbances are worth bonus points tonight.

The LiveBlog will also cover the awful This Week, with Andrew Neil, Michael Portillo and the next one off the current conveyor belt of balancing socialist windbags.

David Vance, TheEye and David Mosque will be manning the barricades here from 10:30pm.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

No Change at the BBC.

By | |
9 Comments

Jon Donnison has a scoop. “Stop Press! No Change!”
He’s bursting to tell us that the UN says there has been ‘no material change for people in Gaza since Israel was “easing” its economic blockade of the Palestinian territory’.

As if that wasn’t enough of a sensation, John Ging, head of UN operations in Gaza has more astounding revelations.
“There’s been no material change for the people on the ground here in terms of their status, the aid dependency, the absence of any recovery or reconstruction, no economy,”

Jon Donnison must have been keen to get that off his chest. Not quite so keen to tell us about John Ging’s little problem with his personal protection, however, which is slightly more interesting than the ‘no change’ story, by anybody’s standards.
There are quite a few things that Jon Donnison finds too dull to pass on. For example the revelation that Hamas had admitted that 600-700 of its men were killed during Operation Cast Lead.

No change at the BBC, though. At every opportunity since Operation Cast Lead the BBC website has given fluctuating figures (ranging from 1409 to 1166) for what they call ‘Palestinian deaths’ but are always careful to mention that three of the 13 Israelis who died were civilians.
Here, they’ve got three sets of figures, the highest is from the Pali Human Rights Centre.
(total=1409)
Of those, 326 are supposedly children under 17, and 916 are “civilians”. An NB says 250 “Hamas Police Officers” are excluded from the figure.

This doesn’t appear to add up, but never mind, because now Hamas admit that they lied about the civilians; so Israel’s claims about that were correct after all, despite what the UN and Richard Goldstone would have us believe.

Anyone who cites the UN as a worthy judge of Israel’s conduct, take a peak at the countries whose reps spoke at a meeting this month.
“Egypt, Qatar, Tunisia, Malaysia, Morocco, Sudan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Libya, UAE, Algeria, Lebanon, Yemen, Nigeria, Tanzania, the PA – and Israel.”

Impartiality in their genes? I think not. And to the BBC none of this is news. So no change.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.