OPEN THREAD


Well, it’s Friday, and time for a new Open Thread. The Oldham and Saddleworth by election result, the fallout from Arizona, what is bothering YOU about our biased broadcaster? Speak now…

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130 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. John Rattray says:

    What is it with Susanna Reid (who doesn’t half fancy herself) that she is unable to speak to a Tory without making a face at the end of the interview. Anyone else noticed this habit?

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  2. hippiepooter says:

    Gosh, just when one was hoping for a new Open Thread along it comes!

    Anyone seen the front cover of this weeks ‘The Spectator’?  I suppose the BBC would have us believe Sarah Palin is their consultant.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Why would the Beeboids think Palin was behind this?  They hate the LibDems for joining the Tories and keeping beloved Labour out of power.  They’re constantly tyring to find ways to prove that the party is dead for another century.

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  3. Umbongo says:

    I’m not a techie and I know this site is a voluntary effort (for which many and appreciative thanks) but would it not be possible:

    1.  To have the live “open thread” as a a “sticky” at the top of the website (I’ve mentioned this before but there has not been a definitive response by way of refusal or that it is a technical impossibility);

    2.  To have comments made to the most recently replaced open thread in, say, the last 2 hours (or perhaps the most recent 20 or so comments) placed at the top of the new thread.

    Yes I have a couple of comments at the foot of the recently closed thread but (more important because they are well-researched and from a knowledgeable background) a couple of comments from pounce have effectively been lost to current discussion.

    I suspect that very few visitors to this site bother to track down to an old open threads and hence assume (mistakenly) that anything not dealt with by specific postings or on the new thread have not been commented on at all.

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    • Martin says:

      I don’t know if it’spossible to have a sticky thread with the latest posts in it so that if you click on it it will take you to the thread? We sort of have that now on the top left where we see the latest post, but it would be nice if there was a way of putting all the latest posts somewhere so as Umbongo says posts in threads right down thepage don’t get missed.

      Sometimes the latest General thread can end up half way down the page within a few hours as other blog posts come in.

      Or perhaps have on the left hand side of the page a permanent link to the latest general thread.

      Any other thoughts?

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      • Span Ows says:

        Looking at the blog layout it should be fairly easy to have a link via the gunsight image to the open thread at the top of the right-hand column (above the BBC quotes by Andrew Marr etc) leaving the “normal” blog-posts as they are in the centre. The open thread could therefore be never-ending (i.e. no need to keep starting a new one). The only problem would be that the number of pages of comments on the open thread would increase very quickly so having the latest first would be a good solution.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      I rarely comment on an old open thread, or one that’s well down the page as it seems pretty likely that no-one will read it. I suspect others do the same.

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    • Grant says:

      Umbongo,
      Certainly agree with your point 2. We have no way of knowing when a new open thread will be open.  I suspect many people post on the old thread just before a new one is open and it is hardly read.
      One possiblity may be to have new open threads at fixed times.  It may mean some threads would be long and some shorter but, at least there would be some certainty.

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  4. Chuffer says:

    One question about the BBC’s lost ageism case: who is footing the BBC’s legal bill?

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  5. Jim says:

    There’s a ridiculous comment piece on the BBC website at the moment by that most impartial of observers Laura Kuennesberg. Trying to spin this as evidence that Ed Miliband is after all electable and not a turn off for voters. This of course is absolute rubbish.

    a) this is a by election
    b) Labour has increased their share by a reasonable but not spectacular amount in a seat they already held
    c) everyone knows that governing parties rarely win by-elections because they have to make tough decisions when in power. I’d argue that given the coalition is having to make some of the toughest decisions in a generation the extent of the Labour victory here is somewhat underwhelming. I think they ought to be worried if this is the extent of the public’s disagreement iwth the cuts / coalition given that it seems Labour’s positioning for the next few years seems to be ‘we are on the side of the public against / moderating the cuts’.

    Thoughts?

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    • matthew rowe says:

      Have to agree Jim and the figures are interesting Oldham has about 18’600 public sector employees but only 14’718 locals  voted Labour?  not good turn out for red Eddies ‘cuts’ agenda  in my book !.

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    • Demon1001 says:

      Kuunsbag was practically overcome with her delight last night.  She gave Burnham a really easy ride every single time she spoke to him, however the harranguing she gave every Lib and Conservative was totally the opposite.  She even finished her last interviews with the campaign managers from the Coalition parties with “I hope I didn’t give you an easy ride”.  Her delight, probably linked with a bit of tiredness let that one blurt out.

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    • Umbongo says:

      No-one on the BBC has noted that there were more votes for the coalition in aggregate (15,641) than for Labour (14,718).  Of course, such an admission would damage the BBC narrative.

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      • Span Ows says:

        Nor have they noted that the Labour vote has hardly changed at all numbers-wise (14,700 now, 14100 in May 2010) Nor have ‘Others’ changed (4500).

        Lib Dem and Con combined got 10,000 fewer votes and turn-out was 10,000 fewer than May 2010. No big deal at all.

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    • Guest Who says:

      Trying to spin this as evidence that Ed Miliband is after all electable’

      Frankly, on current competence the Tories/coalition can enjoy all they reap as far as I am concerned, though I give some credit for at least trying to grasp the nettle on the economy (though, with zippy in the kitty and a stinking overdraft it’s hard to think what else they can do).

      However, beyond the now Beebwashed, edit-suite-erased missing history that has eradicated any culpability by Labour in this mess, having just seen Mr. Miliband ‘speak’ on this issue, I’d say their hopes and dreams may be optimistic unless every actual income and tax generator gives up and ups sticks in disgust, leaving only him and a parasitic electorate of benefit scroungers and public servants to fight over the scraps.

      I lasted to ‘What I think…’ before switching the charisma bypass zone off.

      That what ‘he thinks’ then gets retyped by Aunty’s finest to be what the peroxide-addled likes of Ms. K trots out as what the public ‘should think’ as well is unsurprising, but a bit too ‘unique’ for me to stomach these days.

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    • hacktwats says:

      Just heard Laura saying “The Torys are pretty gloomy”. How the hell does she know. Basically another opinion based on no facts what so ever to make a headline.

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      • Martin says:

        The Tories never had a chance to win that seat, put a paedophile in a Liebour rosette there and he’d win.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Jim, you forgot to add how this by-election is also proof that Nick Clegg’s leadership is in question and the future of the LibDems as party is dire.

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    • Grant says:

      Jim,
      The question Laura should be asking is whether Red Ed’s personality by-pass operation is reversible.

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      • Gerald says:

        What a shame. All the lines that the BBC had got lined up along the lines of “Lib Dem meltdown” were wasted. The two words that I have yet to hear on the BBC are “tactical voting”. If you were a tory and pretty sure you cannot win who would you vote for in this by-election? Um, Um, perhaps the least worst alternative to Labour. I do it regularly in local elections.

        Tactical voting is why the Liberals do well in %age terms in national elections, but judging from the whingers writing to the local press many tactical voters might think twice next time!

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  6. Jon says:

    Look at the ‘From other news sites’ under this piece on the Oldham election: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12187965 The not left-wing or Labour supporting in any way whatsoever Independent, Guardian, Mirror and Channel 4. Oh, and the Press Association thrown in for ‘balance’ *rolls eyes*

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  7. George R says:

    “Queasy stomachs on the Today programme as the BBC looks into multi-cultural Britain ”

    (by Andrew M. Brown)

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmcfbrown/100072016/queasy-stomachs-on-the-today-programme-as-the-bbc-looks-into-multi-cultural-britain/

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  8. Martin says:

    There were two discussions on the flooding I heard on the BBC this morning.  
     
    On Radio 5 they had some pleb on from Anglia Poly CRU WHO to be fair was VERY CAREFUL not to blame the current flooding on climate change despite the beeboids being confused as to why it wasn’t.  
     
    Then on BBC breakfast we had some mong on from Southampton University who confusingly said that although this wasn’t down to climate change, we could expect more of the same.  
     
    The beeboids again couldn’t understand it, the BBC seem to assume that any and every extreme weather event is down to global warming, when there is not a shred of evidence that any of these events are caused by Range Rovers.  
     
    What amazes me is how brainwashed beeboids are and how they seem not to understand the natural weather cycles of the planet.  
     
    Even plebo from the CRU said when asked about climate change “do you mean the man made part of climate change” which seemed to confuse dopey beeboid as clearly they thought ALL climate change was man made.

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    • Barry says:

      A brief shot of a map of Brisbane and the route of the river suggested to me that the city has been built on a classic flood plane. Is this another case of more houses being built in the wrong place and resulting in more casualties?  
       
      Any experts on Brisbane out there?

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      • hacktwats says:

        Spot on Barry

        The city is built in a tidal estuary a region.  Anyone from the BBC reading, here are the facts you so kindly omit when you talk of global warming, Cow fart or 4×4

        The city of Brisbane is located in a low lying flood plain and so it is vulnerable to severe inundation. The suburban creeks are placed in a zig- zag fashion right across the extent of the city that increases the risk of local floods in the region.
        Within the span from 1893 to 1974 Brisbane has suffered from two major floods and has caused a severe damage to life and property. The 1974 flood conditions were further aggravated by the Cyclone Wanda and this damaged major parts of Coorparoo, Bulimba, Oxley, Rocklea and New Farm. This flood damaged innumerable parts of the city of Brisbane and the City Botanic Gardens were also flooded. This led to the growth of a new colony of mangrove swamps in the City Reach of the River. 

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      • Martin says:

        Yes whilst the level of rain is higher you can bet that the concreting over, chopping down of trees has also had the usual effect of reducing the amount of water that is held up naturally, we see this in the UK all the time where thick beeboids moan about climate change increasing flooding when in fact it’s down to ever more house building, concreting over of the land, lack of investment in new drains and of course poor maintenance of rivers and farm land drainage.

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        • RGH says:

          And the Labour State government (dependent on Greens) succumbed to the enviromental demand ‘No new dams’ despite lengthy and highly expert report (1999) that clearly recognised the problem and presented affordable solutions.

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          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Thanks for the info, hacktwats.  Just more evidence that the BBC is being very careful also not to make this out to be Gillans’ Katrina.  Partisan politics come first at BBC News.

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      • John Horne Tooke says:

        Why didn’t the BBC ask the Australian Government:

        “Australia experiences a range of ‘natural disasters’ including bushfires, floods, severe storms, earthquakes and landslides. These events cause great financial hardship for individuals and communities, and can result in loss of life, which has become part of Australian folklore.

        However, these events are also considered both part of the natural cycle of weather patterns in Australia as well as being affected by human factors such as overstocking, vegetation loss, dams, groundwater and irrigation schemes. These patterns are recognised by terms such as a 100-year drought – a drought of severity that is only seen once in a hundred years. Fire can often follow drought, and drought can be followed by flood. Severe fires followed by drought can also contribute to soil erosion. ”

        http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/naturaldisasters/

        I expect the BBC could not understand this as it is not black and white.

        “All weather disaters are caused by human CO2”, ask Harrabin and his disciple Black.

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        • Martin says:

          Exactly, forest fires are natural and needed, to wipe out the old and allow the new to come through, forests always recover from fires, the issue is building houses too close to forests and woods and not leaving enough of a fire break.

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      • Guest Who says:

        The rains in Brisbane,
        Stray mainly through the flood plain…

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  9. George R says:

    Despite the following report, BBC-NUJ will continue to campaign and propagandise against the EDL, and for UAF, because the BBC-NUJ branch is politically obligated  to NUJ political policy on this.

    “Reading mosque St George’s flag protest case dismissed”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-12185105

    ‘Gates of Vienna’:Religiously Aggravated Nonsense 

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  10. George R says:

    INBBC: pro -EU, pro-Turkey’s membership of EU, pro-Islam, pro-mass immigration

    -has this:

    “EU seeks to unblock Turkey membership talks”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12185904

    Note, typically, INBBC only reports the EU bureaucrats’ political line; there’s no mention of strong political opposition among the people of the EU, no mention of opposition from British people – in fact this is another non-British report by INBBC.

    There is a disconnect between INBBC’s self-serving EU material on Turkey, and what is German opinion (a country where there has been a large influx of Turkish Islamic immigration):

    “Angst about Islamist groups goes mainstream in Germany”

    http://europenews.dk/en/node/38969

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    • RGH says:

      Not even the Turks are in favour of joining the EU.

      “The falling support for EU membership coincides with Turkey’s increasing economic prosperity and its growing role as a regional power-broker.
      “It is not surprising,” Birol Baskan, a visiting professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.
      “The Turkish wish to join the EU was always driven mainly by economic reasons rather than ideological reasons. Turks never cared about being European.”
      Turkey experienced a 150 per cent increase in domestic product per capita since 2003, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
      This has lessened Turkey’s need for European links and emboldened it to pursue a more independent foreign and economic policy.

      Turkey is forging new political and business ties across the Middle East, Africa and eastern Europe – regions traditionally ignored by the EU.
      The government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also making independent foreign-policy decisions.
      Erdogan called for closer economic ties with Iran on Thursday, despite Western pressure for tougher action against the Islamic republic over its nuclear activities.
      “Why can’t we establish a mechanism of unrestricted trade with Iran similar to the one we have with Europe? I personally don’t see any reason why we should not be able to accomplish this,” Erdogan said in a speech at a Turkish-Iranian business forum in Istanbul.”

      Get up to date BBC. It will never happen. Some EU members have constitutional fixed referenda eg Austria where 80% would vote against.

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      • Grant says:

        EU membership would be a disaster for the EU and Turkey. But, it will never happen and was never going to happen.
        But a bigger disaster would be if Turkey , after 80 years, turns its back on the West which is what the Islamo-fascist Erdogan government is doing.
        Western “leaders” seem amazingly ignorant of the realities in Turkey. Cameron doesn’t have a clue and I doubt if the narrow-minded, parochial Obama can even find Turkey on the map.
        A population of 80 million, high economic growth and one of the most powerful militaries in the World . Westerners should be worried.

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        • Demon1001 says:

          “I doubt if the narrow-minded, parochial Obama can even find Turkey on the map.”  
           
          He probably thinks it’s the 58th state where the Thanksgiving Dinners are grown.  😉

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        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Aww, give Him a break.  I’m sure He knows it’s next to that Europe country.

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        • RGH says:

          Agreed. Turkey was a cold war NATO stalwart. Fear of the enemy that knocked down the moribund Ottoman Empire from 1760…Russia….and fear of its communist successor.

          That fear has now gone and ,therefore, Turkey’s need for NATO and the prize to the secularist ‘Attatürk’ military of EU membership are no longer contemporary.

          Erdogan cannot lose face and it is too premature for rupture, so the acession talks will just rumble on.

          Turkey is moving towards being an Islamic force…it is already the regional superpower.

          History has moved on in the last 20 years.

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          • Grant says:

            RGH,
            Quite right, but the BBC and the EU are stuck in the past. They haven’t a clue what is going on in Turkey. The changes there, even since I lived there in the 1990s, have been unbelievable. Some for the better, but some for the worse.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Hilarious.  Bias on display again, and the facts turn out to be the exact opposite of the consensus we were forced to accept on last night’s Question Time.  Agenda?  What agenda?

      Poor Nihal will have been sent to re-education camp by now.

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  11. Nick Heath says:

    Anybody else notice that BBC comentators were claiming that Tories lost 7000 votes? Yes technically they did, but that figure means nothing when the turnout is completely different; the percentage share of the vote is far more indicitive. But it makes the Tories look like they did worse than they actually did so that’s ok…

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  12. Alcuin says:

    Re the murder of Christians on a train in Egypt by a policeman:

    BBC
    …it is unclear whether the attack was sectarian.
    Acutually it was perfectly clear – from Al Masry Alyoum (Egypt)
    Security sources said the assailant had checked passengers for the green cross traditionally tattooed on the wrists of Coptic Christians in Egypt. After identifying several Copts, the culprit killed one of them and injured five others.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Yet when that lunatic shot a bunch of people in Tucson, the BBC was sure it was (politically) sectarian.

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  13. Natsman says:

    Once more, I draw your collective attention to Joe Bastardi.

    Have a good read, then consider what the warmists persist in saying.  Where there is no sense, there’s no reason…

    http://www.accuweather.com/ukie/bastardi-europe-blog.asp?partner=accuweather

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  14. TigerOC says:

    If you carefully examine the speech and the detail, especially about “the edge of the City” it is absolutely apparent that anyone in authority is absolutely terrified to make too many facts known because they really do fear the consequences.
    Given the date and the coverage of the documentary and recent convictions of these men of Pakistan origin we should be asking some very difficult questions of the responsible people. If the Police saw fit to request the pulling of this documentary then why did it take over 6 years to get a conviction for paedophilia. Who was responsible and are they still working and why? Was the responsible Minister aware (of course they were) and why have they not been made accountable. They are not fit to represent their constituents because by failing to act they are complicit in paedophilia.
    In fact the real question is have these communities not already bombed us into submission because it appears we are either too scared or lack the will to fight for fear of reprisals.

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  15. fred bloggs says:

    Just noticed BBC3:  Most Annoying People 2010 – presented by Richard Bacon.  Surely the definition of irony?

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  16. Guest Who says:

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100072049/did-australias-obsession-with-global-warming-contribute-to-the-brisbane-floods/

    I thought initially that this was a BlackHarraShuck-targeted wind-up, but actually is a pretty interesting dissection of how, in their passion to control and tax using (A)GW as an excuse, those in ‘power’ really have either missed the real dangers, or never really cared about actual impacts anyway.

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  17. Guest Who says:

    BBC brainiacs do science they do…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/01/electric_car_challenge.html#comments

    Or, maybe, get it so wrong it’s laughable.


    I think No. 6 about covers it…

    ‘I have to echo all the other comments and just say how disappointed I am in this piece of ‘journalism’. It’s so misleading and unrepresentative it’s unreal.’

    And this is from an ‘editor’. Market rate, no doubt.

    Amazing what £3.6B buys you. Or not.

    Uniquely.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The BBC editor even admits that this is a propaganda excercise, to “raise awareness”.  Your license fee hard at work.

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    • Grant says:

      Guest,
      I switched on BBC breakfast TV by mistake the other day and they had a piece about this electric car going from London to Edinburgh.
      They seemed to treat the whole subject of electric cars seriously.
      I have decided to buy one once all Beeboids buy one, safe in the knowledge that Mark Thompson will never have one as there would be no room for his chauffeur.

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      • Grant says:

        Absolutely no idea why that posted twice and a glass of Irn Bru hasn’t passed my lips today  ( yet ! ).

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  18. Phil says:

    I’ve been in East Yorkshire at my sisters recently and the BBC regional news at 6.30pm is read by one man sat at a little table and there’s another person to do the weather. So, the half hour programme has 2 presenters. While I was there it was the same two each night.

    I live in Manchester. The same half hour programme at 6.30 has two presenters as standard, plus others come on for sport etc. The weather is presented by three different women seemingly on a rota. The programme often ends with 4 or more staff having a cosy chat on two couches.

    Why can’t the BBC run the Manchester programme with two staff? 

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  19. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Check out Kim Ghattas promoting the lie about the murderer in Arizona while interviewing Hillary Clinton the other day.  The Secretary of State plays along with the partisan attack.

    That brings me to another question. It’s always tricky to draw parallels or to come to sweeping conclusions. But with the assassination of Governor Taseer and the shooting of the Arizona congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, it seems as though extremism is on the rise everywhere. Is that the feeling you get?

    This is from Jan. 12, and the facts about the murderer were already well known.  He’s not an extremist – he’s mentally ill.  Yet Ghattas continues to push the partisan Narrative, knowing full well that she can get away with it.  Kim Ghattas is a partisan hack, and should be removed from her position at the BBC.

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    • Craig says:

      Yet another flagrant example for Simon Kisby. If her past form is anything to go by, Kim Ghattas probably curtsied to Hillary before the interview.

      Another go at pushing the Narrative comes from Katie Connolly:
      She could have written:

      Following the events in Arizona, left-wing commentators have demanded more civility from their counterparts on the right. They have accused conservatives of irresponsibly using violent imagery, including gun targets, in their criticism of Democrats. Right-wing commentators have countered that similar imagery has long been used by the Left in their criticism of Republicans.

      She didn’t. She merely wrote:

      Following the events in Arizona, left-wing commentators have demanded more civility from their counterparts on the right. They have accused conservatives of irresponsibly using violent imagery, including gun targets, in their criticism of Democrats.

      The Left, including Katie Connolly – who is on friendly terms with many of those very left-wing commentators – are very reluctant to remember and report the legions of widely-quoted examples of violent imagery used against the Right by the Left. The reason can only be partisanship.

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      • Craig says:

        Here are two examples from the BBC’s beloved Huffington Post of ‘inappropriate’ uses of the term ‘blood libel’ by the Left:

        “It’s unlikely a corporatist country like the USA will jump to an exclusively government-run expansion of MediCare for everyone, but most other countries who have similar systems would not change them for the world. The blood libel of calling those countries socialist or accusing them of rationing care (“death panels” as the feckless Sarah Palin describes a government-run system) has to be countered by exposure of the “mute middle” of America to events like the one this week in LA.”
        Richard Walden, President, Operation USA (Aug 2009)

        ” But if you have any evidence whatsoever that he is involved with terrorism — not “he likes falafel and terrorists like falafel” but credible evidence — I implore you to turn it over to the FBI or US Attorney’s Office. If you don’t, then please stop the character assassinations and blood libel against him.”
        Dean Obeidallah, comedian, defending Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Ground Zero mosque-builder (Aug 2010)

        Interestingly, not one of the comments beneath either of these articles worried about the author’s use of the phrase.

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  20. George R says:

    TUNISIA: will INBBC mention that with ending of Ben Ali rule, the  many Tunisian Muslims who have left there to live in Europe, can now return to Tunisia to build their Islamic country?

    “Tunisia: President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali forced out”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12195025

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  21. George R says:

    ‘Newsnight’ has already lined up next Monday’s edition to be yet another eulogy for anpother of its non-white heroes, not Mandela, nor Obama this time, but a reprise for Martin Luther King and his speech.

    No doubt ‘Newsnight’ Beeboids will concentrate hypocritically on the Christian content of the King speech, given the Beeboid lack of interest in the Christians persecuted around the world at the hands of Muslims.

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    • Demon1001 says:

      I am a fan of the late great Martin Luther King, who let’s face it had good reason to gripe, yet persisted with purely peaceful methods and made great advances for democracy.

      I made this point also about the Obama speech where he apparently quoted from the scriptures which sent Mardell into raptures.  I agree with you that the Beeb will praise his religious content as well, but heavily criticise and attack Palin for doing the same.  BBC double standards as always.

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      • Grant says:

        In the twisted minds of Beeboids, Black Christians are good.  Notice how they focus on them every week on “Songs of Praise”. 
        ( Although an atheist, I watch the programme as I love the Christian musical tradition ).

        It is white Christians who are bad.  

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  22. Martin says:

    How funny can you get? BP now does a deal to dril baby drill in Russia with the potential to earn biions and have a major part in controlling some of the worlds largest deposits of oil and gas.

    Obama can fine BP all he likes, I suspect there will be an awful lot fewer jobs in the USA when BP decides its had enough of being Barry’s whipping boy and clears of to Russia to brill baby drill.

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    • Grant says:

      I wonder if the genious Obama thought about  that possibility when he used BP as a whipping boy.  He really is a prat. Does he not realise that N. America and Europe are stagnating while the Emerging countries are moving forward.
      I think his mind is still in Chicago. He still has to realise there is a big wide world out there and a weak President like him has very little influence on it. He is a little boy in a man’s world.

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  23. Guest Who says:

    I have to confess to not being a big fan, but by being a bit more varied to the majority of the hive Andrew Neil at least can at least, on occasion,  prompt BBC viewpoints for discussion that are less predictably ‘on narrative’.

    A while ago I noticed his blog link was quietly dropped from the Newsnight thread feed list. Now, looking for it, it’s not made easy. Even the BBC Blog roll doesn’t seem to have it listed, at least that I can find, under ‘A’, ‘N’, or ‘Politics’ The latter an odd omission, given his ‘beat’, and the fact it’s called ‘Daily Politics’.  

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/

    He does seem to have been sidelined. And it is getting noticed.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/dailypolitics/andrewneil/2011/01/and_in_foreign_news.html#P105184226

    I wonder if he cares? Or may be seduced back into the fold and then again enjoy exposure on a level of a Robinson or Black. 

    At least, until comments have to be closed again.

    Boy, they must all bask in that professional, impartial pride chez Aunty.

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    • Martin says:

      I suspect he’s having to be a good boy, when he was interviewed on Radio 5 by mongo Bacon last week, Neil happily went into an attack on Fox New and the Tea Party and one on Murdoch.

      I’m guessing that Neil has been read the riot act and to get in line with all other beeboids.

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Last time he got out of line, the killed his Straight Talk show.

           0 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          I am dusting my application to the MET office predictions dept. as we speak: just checked back… and it is indeed now closed. 14 comments in.

          Bless. if a touch unique.

             0 likes

    • Grant says:

      Guest,
      Is it just me but I feel that on “The Daily Politics” over the last 6 months or so, Brillo has been drifting Leftwards  ?

         0 likes

      • Demon1001 says:

        Along with Portillo, they are now hardly distinguishable from the Labour types they bring in.

           0 likes

      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        Grant – Honestly not qualified to comment. Craig, with his patience and ear, probably can assess subjective nuances as they ‘evolve’.

        I doubt the man has changed. But career realities, especially in the cess pool he is surrounded by, from producer ‘input’ to editing techniques, can be a huge influence.

        Just look at the howls and scrambles when he, nearly the sole representative of non-left hive agenda in an outfit of tens of thousands, strays into actually giving one of their sacred cows a proper grilling.

           0 likes

  24. Jim says:

    This article, front page website ‘news’ must be a new low surely. There isn’t a shred of comment or analysis, its simply cut and paste from various Miliband articles and speeches. The least they could do would be to top and tail it with some journalism?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12197955

       0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      The least they could do would be to top and tail it with some journalism? ‘

      Might need to borrow one of the shadow chancellor’s ‘Dummies Guides’ on the subject first.

      I also note from the caption, Miliband E. intends to ‘articulate’ stuff.

      On past form… that will also be a novel experience.

         0 likes

  25. Span Ows says:

    BBC has “Tory” as the first word in the UK politics news front page snippet link and Conservative as the first word in the article…can anyone find news where a labour MP is invloved in somehting bad where the words “Labour MP” are first?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12195973

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      “When the incident first emerged on Thursday, it was reported that Mr Pritchard had refused to stand aside for Mr Bercow and his official entourage, as MPs are obliged by convention to do.”

      Well, that is very much open to dispute according to the Mail Online

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347198/Tory-MP-Mark-Pritchard-foul-mouthed-attack-Speaker-John-Bercow-Commons.html

      The Mail Online reports:-

      An outraged Mr Pritchard, who denies he was blocking the Speaker’s path, was so affronted he replied: ‘Mr Speaker, don’t point at me”.

      No mention of this denial in the BBC report.

      Also, notice the weasel words in the BBC extract above “When the incident first emerged [my emphasis] on Thursday, it was reported”

      So they’re aware the story has moved on since then but wish to cover themselves for reporting it as unfavourably as the can to the Tory MP.

      BBC News & Current Affairs showing their usual disregard for professional integrity.

         0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        Also, in the Mail piece, I feel the Hon Nadine Dorries makes a very good point:-

        Don’t clear the corridor; walk with your head high. Look him in the eye and if he loses his rag, as he did with me the other night, then maybe he will realise that deciding which traditions to honour, or not, is not entirely within his remit.’

           0 likes

        • hippiepooter says:

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_five_live/listenlive  
           
          I’ve just listened to the interview the BBC Online report refers to.  

          In a very congenial interview with the Hon Mark Pritchard MP Eddie Mair brought up the ‘Speaker incident’ (about 26mins in).  Mr Pritchard did mention that the Speaker had already passed him.  Even in reporting on a BBC interview BBC Online fails to mention Mr Pritchard’s side and just gives out of date information against him.  Way to go.

             0 likes

  26. Deborah says:

    In response to Phil on Friday – the two men doing Look North are Peter Levy  – who seems to do most programmes – doesn’t seem to have too many days off and Paul Hudson of leaked e-mails relating to climate change scam – who does seem to have a lot more time off.  But it is usually just the two of them.  Peter Levy used to have Helen Prosperro with him (I think she is now with Sky) but she left very suddenly when her child was a baby because she couldn’t cope with the London to Hull commute.  That was some years ago but since then we ‘manage’ with just Peter.  Cannot think why you would need another presenter.

    However Look North – particularly through its political editor – Tim Iredale is VERY left wing in what it reports.

       0 likes

  27. hippiepooter says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00xb0sp/PM_14_01_2011

    Listening to PM 14.01 (about 7 mins in).  A Tunisian demonstator says to the Correspondent: ‘Jobs are not enough, we want dignity, freedom, liberty’.

    ‘So you’re not prepared to give him a chance?’.

    Only a modern BBC reporter would entertain the idea that a Dictator shoud be ‘given a chance’ instead of ceding to democracy.

       0 likes

  28. Martin says:

    At least Fox News appear now to be asking the questions about the Arizona shooting that the rest of the media don’t.  
     
    The gunmans mother appeared to have some connection to the state, so did the Police go soft on her son because of that with all his previous issues?  
     
    Why didn’t the Police provide any security for the Congresswoman’s meeting? the fact she didn’t ask for it doesn’t mean the Police shouldn’t have at least put someone there  
     
    What did the Police know about the gunman previously? Did they have any knowledge of his past issues with Gifford?  
     
    When he went off on his right wing Sarah Palin rant the Sheriff diverted all attention from HIS departments failings and the media fell for it hook line and sinker.  
     
    I do wonder how long before the press realises they’ve been had and finally starts to investigate the Sheriff and his corrupt department?

       0 likes

  29. Olly boy says:

    Listening to 5 Live yesterday morning and it seemed that most of the programme was dedicated to the result of the Old and Sad by election. Every 5 minutes it was…”just to recap, Labour has won the Oldham and Saddleworth by election….”. Then they had John Pinhead on and asked him whether it was a good result for Labour or a bad result for the Coaliton to wich his response was “both”. Whenever Labour lost a by election it was always reported as being slightly disaappointing for the Tories because they should have done better.

    I didn’t hear once about the fact that the Coalition actually won more votes than Labour. Strange that because after the general election I was always hearing that the left wing vote exceeded the Tory vote.

       0 likes

    • Martin says:

      Yes especially as a lot of Tory voters switched to the Lib Dems showing that Roy voters do think of this as a coalition.

         0 likes

    • Craig says:

      Gavin Esler has just described the result of by-election like this (on Dateline London):

      The Labour Party romped home in a special election in the seat of Oldham and Saddleworth, The Conservative vote fell sharply and the Lib Dems, who were only a hundred on so votes away from victory there last May, fell more than 3,000 behind.

      On no planet could Labour have been said to have “romped home” and the Lib Dem share of the vote rose.

         0 likes

  30. George R says:

    Close down ‘BBC Arabic service’ NOW.


    British taxpayers/licencepayers pay for ‘BBC Arabic service’ which provides the political propaganda which Arabs want.

     INBBC thereby provides the same sort of broadcasting as does the Islamic ‘Al Jazeera’, except that the latter is more popular with Arabs and Muslims.


    “BBC Arabic Service journalists to go on strike next week”

    http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1885

    ‘Daily Mail’ (2008):

    “BBC blunder as bosses forget to build prayer room for new Arabic TV channel”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-511159/BBC-blunder-bosses-forget-build-prayer-room-new-Arabic-TV-channel.html#ixzz1B6kQPpnL

    ‘Sky News’ (2008):

    “Taxpayers To Cough Up For BBC Arabic ”

    http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/20080641307873

    Of course, the Islam Not BBC (INBBC) ARABIC SERVICE  is not only paid for by British taxpayers/licencepayers, but is received FREE OF CHARGE in Arabic countries!

    CLOSE DOWN ‘BBC Arabic Service’ NOW!

       0 likes

  31. Grant says:

    “From Our Own Correspondent ” today had a Beeboid ( can’t remember his name, but they seem to breed like rabbits )  in South Sudan.
    He told us that he was watching a Sudanese collecting dried cattle dung to make fires to ward off mosquitos.
    The Beeboid couldn’t resist an infantile little jibe  ” The George Bush solution, smoke ’em out “.
    A small thing, I suppose, but an insight into the mind of a Beeboid.
    By the way, if anyone here has ever been to Africa and seen poor Africans lighting fires simply to ward off mosquitos, and in daytime, please let me know  !

       0 likes

  32. George R says:

    TUNISIA and beyond.

    Islam Not BBC (INBBC) substitutes ‘Arab’ for ‘Islamic’ in its headline and in article; this avoids analysing role of Islam in current crisis in Maghreb and beyond:

    “Could other Arab countries follow Tunisia’s example?”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12198039






       0 likes

    • dave s says:

      This will not be good for the West. There are no real Islamic majority democracies and I very much doubt Tunisia ia about to become one. Five years and it will be another hardline Islamic state under sharia and spitting venom at the West. I would like to be wrong but as a betting man the odds look way odds on. Egypt next and then ?

         0 likes

  33. Craig says:

    Dateline today and Gavin Esler pushing PDS on the Arizona shootings:

    The person who it appears would like to be the next president of the United States, Sarah Palin, reacted angrily this week to the idea that her incendiary words helped create a climate of anger against politicians. She called it a ‘blood libel’ which, since the shot congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords is Jewish, caused some irritation among Jewish groups for whom that phrase is particularly sensitive. What are we to make of this febrile political atmosphere in the United States now?”
      
    So her words have been ‘incendiary’ in the opinion of Gavin Esler (and he’s rarely afraid to give us an opinion). He went on:

    There are those who say “We saw it before with the Clinton administration, the Oklahoma bombings, Timothy McVeigh”. Not wildly different in many ways.

    When Adam Raphael (former editor of the Observer) said “and Sarah Palin is just plain stupid”, Gavin Esler burst out laughing. The camera showed him still grinning afterwards. He often laughs when his guests mock right-wingers.
     
    At least the range of views on the subject from the panel was broader than usual. Adam Raphael said Loughner was “a nutter” and that the Democrats were exploiting his actions. Amir Taheri said the robustness of American debate was “healthy”.

       0 likes

    • Charlie says:

      I remember a very good friend of mine who is a university lecturer telling me that G W Bush was an uneducated idiot, he supported Al Gore.  After I told him Bush gained more qualifications than Gore, plus he was a capable fast jet pilot in the Air National Guard.

      He was taken aback, totally unaware. If you are institutionalized  you have a herd group think, To be independent of mind you have to have a very strong character. You will not find free thinkers in Unions or particularly in the BBC. Its a massive  group think fest.

      To stand out from the crowd with a different point of view takes courage. Me, I don’t give a damn.

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Well said, Craig.  The only people who have been incited into extreme anger by Sarah Palin’s words are Leftoids like Esler.

           0 likes

        • Craig says:

          Thanks David.

          Esler, Mardell and Frei aren’t going to like the latest opinion poll, which shows that ‘the video that could sink Sarah Palin’s presidential hopes’ has, in fact, resulted in higher attribute ratings for likeability (except among Democrats), believeability (including Democrats) and, above all, sincerity (also including Democrats). So it’s done her no harm whatsoever. Rather the reverse.

          Will Mark Mardell mention this poll, either on his blog or on air? If he doesn’t he’ll be providing yet more proof of his bias. 

             0 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            You just know Mardell and his colleagues will instead try to play it as “Sarah Palin manages to insert herself into the story yet again” or some such.

            Like I said the other day:  If you strike her down now, she’ll become more powerful than the you could ever imagine.

               0 likes

          • hippiepooter says:

            >>yet more proof of his bias.<<    
               
            You’d need at least two multi gb pen drives to store all that proof.

               0 likes

  34. Martin says:

    Essler is a mong, he’s another of those beeboids with a badly screwed up face, like Rat face, Kuntsberg and Harrabin.

    What is it about beeboids?

       0 likes

  35. Millie Tant says:

    La Traviata on Radio 3 right now. Gorgeous music and singing. A real treat, live from the New York Met. Act II just starting.

       0 likes

    • Craig says:

      Missing Mozart yet?

         0 likes

      • Millie Tant says:

        Heh, yes, missing Mozart, although they did repeat one concert today from last week, which was nice. For the twelve days, every radio in the house was tuned to radio 3 and on first thing in the morning and last thing at night. So much music and emotion. Such great musicians to bring the music to life. I am full of admiration for them.
        Next Saturday, Rigoletto. Another goody. Can’t wait.

           0 likes

        • Craig says:

          The last four days are still available to ‘Listen Again’ if you want to relive the experience. I’ve been catching up on things I missed first time round ever since it ended!

             0 likes

          • Millie Tant says:

            Yes, there’s quite a lot still on the iPlayer but it will be gone so soon.  I’m listening again to Vienna Day at the moment. Must try to catch The Magic Flute as well before it disappears.

               0 likes

  36. George R says:

    Although BBC-NUJ proved itself intrinsically anti-Tory (and pro-Labour) at the recent by-election. it couldn’t take this line:

    ‘Cranmer’:
    “How do you solve a problem like Sayeeda?”

    http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-do-you-solve-problem-like-sayeeda.html

       0 likes

  37. David Preiser (USA) says:

    An antidote to BBC propaganda and lies about violent rhetoric in the US:

    Climate of Hate

    I’ve bookmarked it.

    An example:

       0 likes

  38. Paddy says:

    Palindrome is everything a beeboid hates

    1. middle class / bourgeois (you know how trots hate them)
    2. non urban/ rural. (remember the lies they spread about the countryside alliance
    3. American but not from the east coast/california/or black.( all Americans fat and stupid blah blah blah…)
    4. christian (Christianity looked on as mental illness by godless fudge packing atheists at beeb)
    5. female but not lesbian feminist or both (straight female who lives in a reasonably stable household must be Nazi for it is written.)
    6. Owns a gun ( only gun owners should be black panthers or mussies for their own protection of course.)

    I would bet my genitals that none of the beeboid scum have ever listened to one of her speeches the whole way through.

       0 likes

  39. Paddy says:

    Palindrome fxxkin brilliant iPad spellcheck. Genius l 🙂

       0 likes

  40. Paddy says:

    With Tunisia out of bounds where will the beebs fly for their bumboys and hash?

       0 likes

  41. TrueToo says:

    Dunno if anyone has seen this:

    The European Union has sent millions of diaries to schools which list the dates of Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish and Chinese festivals – but omit any mention of Christian celebrations.

    In an extraordinary move, three million 2011 notebooks were printed at a cost of £4.4million to the taxpayer. Around 350,000 of the diaries have already been shipped to schools in the UK alone.

    There is no record for Christmas, Easter or Lent – despite bureaucrats carefully listing the EU’s self-styled ‘Europe Day’ on May 9.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346850/EU-diaries-miss-Christmas-Easter-list-Muslim-Chinese-Hindu-holidays.html#ixzz1B6IoGBY1
    This is deliberate, I guess. They wouldn’t omit a date of such vital historical and religious significance to billions of people by mistake unless they are idiots…oh, hang on.

    If they can rename the English Channel the Anglo-French Pond as if it’s an enclosed body of water in a park then they are capable of boundless stupidity.

    If deliberate, it’s most probably a sly move by radical EU socialists/atheists to wipe Christmas off the map, with Muslims looking on with approval as the Islamification of Europe proceeds apace.
    From the Mail article:

    EU officials have described the diaries as ‘a rather gross error’ but were at a loss to explain how it might have occurred.

    Meaning they don’t have the will to interrogate the compiler, proof-reader and editor and fire those responsible. Meaning, in turn, that they are complicit in this disgraceful snub to Christians.From a brief Google, it doesn’t seem that this story has made much of an impact on leftie journalists. Certainly the EU-loving BBC appears disinterested in it. Can’t expose Brussels bureaucrats – they are everything the BBC itself stands for – corrupt, closed-minded, overpaid, unaccountable to the public and mired in leftie idiocy.

       0 likes

  42. Paddy says:

    I am a printer. If I cocked up I would reprint even with the quantities mentioned. This ia a very large order for any printer and you can be damned sure they would have got the job passed by th client I.e.the eu(ssr).
    Some eu exec passed this not only that they passed it in a multitude of different languages. Each would have been content and spellchecked in each language.

    This is very unlikely to have been a mistake. This was a deliberate act by someone. What is truly sad is no one dared to correct it.

       0 likes

  43. TrueToo says:

    Good points. The client never commits to such a large printing job without being damn sure that it is comprehensively checked before printing. It must have been a deliberate omission, especially if it was in different languages.

       0 likes

  44. Jonathan S says:

    Sorry to be off topic here, but something has been bugging me about the news coverage by the BBC of the General Election 2010. When Labour lost power, was it only me that noticed that BBC news presenters all wore black and wore red ties or roses, like they were mourning the loss of Labour.

       0 likes

    • Grant says:

      Jonathan,
      Worth posting on the most recent thread as many posters won’t come back to this one now !

         0 likes

  45. Jonathan S says:

    Thanks Grant, newbie here. Getting used to this blog. Cheers for your comment.

       0 likes