OPEN THREAD


The old Open Thread has fled to Sharm el Shiekh. A new Open Thread has been installed. Let the protests against the reporting bias of the BBC continue!

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196 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. Span Ows says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12428491

    “Pro-AV Tory accuses party of ‘stifling debate’


    A Conservative activist has accused his party of stifling debate about the case for change to the UK electoral system.”

    Yet they didn’t seem to concerned about Labour peers that were so obstructive…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12208766

    you need to get to the 5th paragraph before the real “who” is mentioned.

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  2. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Slavishly obedient, the BBC News Channel just cut off their correspondent in Egypt to go back to a live shot of the President speaking “again”.  
     
    He was telling an anecdote about – get this – the tie He wore at that national convention where then-junior Senator Obamessiah gave that speech which launched the run for President.  Apparenlty it was His spokesman and then-campaign organizer Robert Gibbs’ tie, and He made the lackey give it over for the speech, so He’d look good.  
     
    After eventually realizing this was egotistical drivel (imagine using this pretty damn amazing event in human history as an opportunity to draw attention to oneself, FFS), an astute producer got them to switch back to the actually important events in Egypt.  
     
    Basically, whichever Beeboid is at the White House press conference was shouting down the phone to the News producers that He was back at the mic!  Switch back, He’s speaking to us again!  
     
    The ridiculous part about this is that, by the time they actually cut over to the President, it was clear that He was well into a personal anecdote and not about to say anything interesting – to anyone other than His worshipers, that is.  So even though the President was just basking in His own glow, the BBC’s White House correspondent was still pushing the BBC News producers to go live with it.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Update:  I just learned from a proper news channel that this was actually Gibbs’ final press conference as the official White House mouthpiece.  The Obamessiah was apparently returning the tie He borrowed on that fateful day, and presented it to Gibbs in a nice frame.

      Did the BBC know what was going on?  I heard Lyse Doucet shouting “Obama?  Obama?” while the other Beeboid was talking on air, indicating that there was something going on they needed to see.  She cut him off and said that the President was “speaking again”, and the shot went back to the press conference.  They cut in only after the tie had been presented to Gibbs (which I’ve only seen in full just now on another channel), when the President was finishing the anecdote about His old speech.

      Now, while this is the kind of thing that’s important to those who live inside the media bubble, as well as those who want to hear everything He says the moment He says it, regardless of content, I would suggest that this is the kind of cutesy thing best left to showing later on in the evening.  There’s zero journalistic value in this while the action in Egypt is going on.

      Instead of continuing their coverage of an historic event, the Beeboids decided it was more important to show you this irrelevent personal moment.

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  3. TrueToo says:

    Reminds me, in contrast, of the World Service totally, utterly and completely ignoring George W. Bush’s visit to Israel, the “editors” acting like sulky adolescents refusing to acknowledge someone they don’t like.

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  4. NotaSheep says:

    The 7pm BBC Radio 4 news is a short bulletin, under two minutes to bridge the gap between 6:30pm comedy and The Archers. So this evenings bulletin was very oddly structured indeed. The lead item was the Mubarek resignation and the BBC started by reporting David Cameron’s statement in brief, this was followed by a much longer piece of Ed Miliband reaction in person. The rest of the news bulletin then followed.

    So why would the BBC choose to let us hear their master’s voice rather than the Prime Minister’s? Can you imagine the BBC two years ago playing David Cameron rather than Gordon Brown?

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    • john says:

      Thank-you for spotting that NaS.
      I have got it down to a fine art of watching the Sky News at 7.00pm for precisely two minutes before repairing to R4 for the latest episode of the Archers, then back to Sky News at exactly 7.15pm before those Idiots on Front Row start with their Marxist take on culture.
      Well done NaS for taking one for the benefit of other B-BBC soldiers.

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  5. Henry Wood says:

    I tuned in to BBC R4 “P.M.” programme Friday night and listened to the hallowed tones of Eddie Mair commentating on something historic going on in the Middle East. From the reverence with which he spoke, I doubt if this momentous occasion will ever appear in the CBBC’s “Horrible Histories”, unless they can maybe get an angle on how the Egyptian revolutionaries managed to evict the evil Mubarek regime which had controlled them since they kicked out the British and their lackey Farouk in 1952. (Nasser was the first head of the regime which now seems to have ended with Mubarek. Maybe.)

    Eddie took us live to some BBC hack in Cairo who spoke with more reverence of “the people” have spoken, erupting celebrations, momentous times, crowds cheering themselves hoarse, and everything is totally lovely in la-la land. Eddie then spoke to some Egyptian opposition chap who has been trying to bring this “solution” to fruition over the past twenty years. As the Eygptian came to the end of his spiel he seemed to have a catch in his voice. “Are you alright?” Mr. Mair tenderly solicited, while passing over a cyber hankie. (BTW, it doesn’t say much for those brutal secret police we’ve recently heard so much about if this bloke ran his campaign for 20 years?)

    Eventually, I had to check that this was not a podcast from Iran, January 1979, when the Shah was kicked out. Same script, different cast.

    It will all end in tears.

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    • Grant says:

      Henry,
      Excellent and spot on !   For Beeboids it is just another playground before they move on to the next one.  They are eternal teenagers.

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  6. fred bloggs says:

    The Liebour propoganda machine was in full swing regarding the court ruling of the school contracts.  An honest headline would be ‘Gove tripped up by  legal technicalities’.

    What he got from the bBC was :
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12432114
    Note: that part of the headline was spouted by a rabid Liebour, Tom Watson.  

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    • Span Ows says:

      I posted a couple of Gove articles at the end of teh other open thread. BBC headlines “government defeated” blah blah…actual judge gave most of the judgements to gove, said he had the final word etc…i.e. BBC selective reporting and selective quotes. Your link here proves they are still pushing on 10% of this story.

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    • hippiepooter says:

      No Fred, your suggestion would have been a Daily Mail headline.  The BBC Online headline is of course outrageous.  If you just read the headline, you would automatically assume it’s what the Court told Minister Gove, not what a Labour MP has said.  A very dishones headline grinding a political axe.

      ‘Court rules Gove must Consult’ would have been the neutral headline.  The BBC headline shows how far from neutrality it should be.

      Would that HMG took action to prompt a headline ‘COURT RULES BBC IN SERIOUS VIOLATION OF DUTY TO IMPARTIALITY’.

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    • Grant says:

      Fred,
      Yes, the scumbag Watson was on the Daily Politics yesterday spouting his hatred of Gove.  Rather to my surprise, gorgeous pouting Jo Coburn was fairly even-handed.
      Guess she finds Watson even more repulsive than Gove.
      Everyone talks about children being taught in sub-standard buildings but not about the billions wasted by Labour on buildings which fall down after a year.
      How is it that children in poor countries are so much better educated than British pampered brats  ?

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  7. George R says:

    INBBC ‘Newsnight’ on Egypt had:

    1.) soft questions to Muslim Brotherhood rep, whose replies in poor English could mean anything. No follow-up question about imposing sharia law.

    2.) friendly question to two similar Egyptians, one male one female, each described as:  ‘author and protestor’ both middle class authors who had identical opinions. (Middle class vox pop.)

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    • Grant says:

      I haven’t noticed the Beeboids going out into the villages and asking the peasants for their opinions. I guess they don’t count and the hotels and restaurants are not quite up to Beeboid standards.

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  8. George R says:

    Is this headline not anti-American reporting by INBBC in Pakistan?:

    “US man Raymond Davis shot Pakistan pair ‘in cold blood'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12427518

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  9. George R says:

    One for INBBC not to report?:

    “Sarkozy declares multiculturalism ‘a failure’ ”

    http://www.france24.com/en/20110210-multiculturalism-failed-immigration-sarkozy-live-broadcast-tf1-france-public-questions

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  10. Grant says:

    Poor old Open Thread, it might bump into Tony Blair or a bunch of Beeboids on holiday from Egypt.
    I have just had my TV Tax renewal notice or as it says  “You new TV licence”  as if I should be grateful.
    Then, amazingly  ” Switch on, sit back, tune in, wind down, curl up and enjoy a year’s worth of TV “.
    Obviously one of the happiest days of my life and all for a mere £150.50.
    Am I the only person here who continues to pay this extortion money because he doesn’t want the hassle of arguing with these b******s and getting a criminal record  ?  On top of that I have so many other problems coping with the bureaucratic socialist hell that the UK has become.

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    • john says:

      Grant, you may well be in a minority of people on here who pay the delicious TV tax, but as someone in a previous OPEN THREAD pointed out, 99% of households in the UK don’t even notice the BBC’s left-wing bias (or like the Tories, choose not to) and there-fore do pay.
      One thing to remember Grant, the school children at the TV licensing do not have the right to gain access to your property, that is unless they go to the bother of applying to Court for a Search Warrant.
      Well after 15 years of being extemely naughty, they haven’t got around getting one for me yet.
      So if you like Grant – Ignore them and they will go away !
      Switch on, sit back, tune in, wind down, curl up and enjoy thinking about what £150 will be better spent on.

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        I’m currently in the process of dropping cable TV entirely to save costs, and can’t imagine having to fork out $240 a year for essentially two channels and little else.

        Nearly everything I care to watch can be seen online via various free or much cheaper subscription services, and I don’t need to say anything the minute it comes on air except news and basketball. The rest I can view at my leisure via NetFlix or Hulu or any number of places, and pay about half what I pay annually for cable TV.

        With all the new sets being internet-ready, even if I stopped all of it, I’d still have to pay that license fee just to watch online content on the TV.  I’d end up paying about the same for the two BBC channels I would ever bother watching that I’m going to be paying for a huge amount of content that I actually will watch.

        Mark Thompson mentioned to Andrew Marr a couple months back that they were working on some kind of subscription model for foreigners.  I suppose I would pay a small fee for the News and BBC2, if it meant I got I-Player access to them as well.  But no way would it be more than $96 per year (the cost of NetFlix or Hulu+).  I’m not sure I’d pay more than half that anyway.

        The reason I’m babbling about this is to make the point that the very poorest people must be absolutely screwed, and forced to watch only the BBC and ITV.  And that doesn’t even count the sattelite or cable subscription to bring the damn signal into the house.  Then there’s the internet subscription cost on top of it. Any competing network has to either be available free over the airwaves or hope they’re good enough that people will be willing to pay extra.

        It’s unfair business competition.  Not quite a monopoly, but certainly the BBC has an unfair market advantage, while simultaneously depriving the poorest of freedom of choice.  These things always do hit the poorest hardest, eh?

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    • Demon1001 says:

      You’re not the only one on here.  I couldn’t afford the battle if the BBC decided to make me their example and take me to court so I continue paying by Direct Debit, and it really infuriates me that I don’t have the courage to do what is right and cancel it.

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      • hippiepooter says:

        I’d recommend that everyone pay their TV License.  I always did when I was in the UK.  There’s no point making empty gestures and suffering for it for nothing.

        I floated the idea of a national petition calling upon HMG to institute a Public Inquiry into BBC Bias a while ago.  If a 100,000 signatures could be gathered that would be very compelling.  Obviously, you’d need to have high-profile people on board to acheive that.

        If it happened and HMG did not respond, the fallback option would be a campaign of civil disobedience in not paying the license fee till the Government does respond and holds the BBC to account.

        A hugely tough order to get off the ground, and let’s face it there’s no point in even trying unless there’s a reasonable prospect of achieving at least something – greater awareness and publicity at the minimum.  Towards the middle of the year I expect to be exploring this idea with someone with whom there would be as good a chance as any of taking this idea further.

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      • Henry Wood says:

        Same here, Demon1001. Mine was due end of last October and I actually wrote telling them I would not be renewing as I no longer watch TV. However, come the actual time I chickened out and renewed. I have 3 TVs in the house though they are very rarely on. For example, the last time any set was switched on was to watch a drama about the “Laconia Incident” a few weeks ago. I need not have bothered. The subject of U-boat warfare in WWII is something I have studied for over 50 years. The drama was labelled “Alan Bleasdale sets the record straight”. Well he did and he didn’t.
        While mainly sticking to the correct story of what happened following the torpedo attack, two of the main female characters in the drama bore no recognition to the actual persons in real life. One was portrayed as a German lady with a dubious history and the other played by Lindsay Duncan was made out to be a rather dissolute aristocrat, boozed up and begging for it.
        Neither of these could have been further from the truth. The “German” was in real life a British nurse returning home on the ship caring for a 14 month old child who was lost in the sinking. The “dissolute” one was actually the wife of a Padre to the British Forces. Their true, brave stories are freely available in many books and online sources.
        I suppose a brave British Nurse and a dignified Padre’s wife did not suit the Bleadale – or the BBC – agenda.

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        • NotaSheep says:

          The BBC always have an agenda, news, documentaries, drama – all are there to further ‘the narrative’.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      No, you are not the only one: that is precisely why it is paid for in this household and I am sure, many another. I would think that relatively few people can endure that sort of hassle.

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  11. Derek Buxton says:

    The BBC Trust mouthpiece got his letter in thoday’s Daily Failygraph about how wonderful Radio 4 is, how it is factual and honest and suchlike.  What a jerk, a complete load of B/S.

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  12. John Anderson says:

    I have heard several BBC “reporters” saying that Mubarak took over 30 years ago “after Sadat was assassinated”.

    Shouldn’t that be “after Sadat was assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood ?

    Bias by omission, as ever ?

    ………………..

    The BBC also keeps quoting Obama.  But never tells us that the Obama administration cut off the funding to pro-democracy groups in Egypt that the Bush admin. had been providing :

    http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/02/taking-a-clear-eyed-look-at-the-obama-administrations-full-two-year-record-on-reform-in-egypt.html

    The plain fact is that Obama and his team have been totally at sea over Egypt.  An inept performance,  following not leading,  playing down the concerns about Islamists.  But much of the leftie media including the BBC is trying to suggest that he really had his finger on the pulse – or even that he helped precipitate change in Egypt.  But his grovelling Cairo speech said hardly a word about freeing up the Arab world from ruling autocracies,  nothing about the human rights problems in the Arab world.

    Hague has not been any better.  A clueless and rudderless (other than animosity towards Israel) Western world is a frightening prospect.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Hague’s….speech patterns are….nearly….as….annoying….as Robert Peston’s.  And that’s saying something.

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    • hippiepooter says:

      John, I think you’ll find you are incorrect that the Sadat assasination was carried out by the MB.  My readings on Wiki show it was carried out by Egyptian Islamic Jihad and The Islamic Group, albeit its leader, ‘The blind Sheik’ Rahman, was greatly influenced by leading MB ideologue Sayyed Qutb, from whom AQ draws inspiration (that said, this particular wikilink attributes the group name as Tanzim Al Jihad)

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  13. Henry Wood says:

    p.s. The only very, very slight satisfaction I had paying for the licence was that I used my Tesco credit card and got some points for it. 😛

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  14. Dabble says:

    Bishop Hill’s site reports Michael Buerk’s comments on last night’s Moral Maze: “not long ago, to question multiculturalism…risked being branded racist and pushed into the loathesome corner with paedophiles and climate change deniers“. To think that a  part of my compulsory telly tax funds the lifestyle of BUERKshire hunts like him.

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  15. hippiepooter says:

    Excellent coverage in the Mail Online about what’s going on in Egypt – movers and players etc.  I wondered how BBC Online might compare.

    A decent report in so far as it goes here (although sidebarred with the usual trite, pedestrian analysis from Jeremy Al Bowen).  When searching for supplementary more in-depth analysis as provided by the Daily Mail, I came upon this ‘viewpoint’ piece by Shashank Joshi, associate fellow Royal United Service Institute.

    One can see why he was chosen: “The ill-informed alarmism about the Muslim Brotherhood that has accompanied these protests does not bode well.”

    Mr Joshi’s blog tells us in 2009 he taught on a course on modern war run by Stephen M Walt.  Mr Walt, of course, being co-author with John Mearsheimer of ‘The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy‘, inviting readers to view as sinister and illegitimate that an Israel Lobby should exist.  For reasons best known to themselves they seemed to believe that Jewish and pro-Israel groups in the US should be excluded from trying to influence US Middle-East policy.

    No mystery there as to why the BBC should choose Mr Joshi.

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  16. Natsman says:

    Just listening to the News on Radio 2 – the newsreader started to refer to the “Justice Secretary”, and stopped himself halfway through “Jack Str…”, corrected himself and said “Ken Clark”.

    Their brains have been well and truly hard-wired, haven’t they?  God forbid…

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  17. cjhartnett says:

    !. At least we now know why prisoners votes matters so much to the Labour Party-because they will still want their OWN votes to count when they get banged up for fraud as they are now.
    Maybe their planting of Labour MPs is a ruse to get the prisoners votes in the (mail) bag by holding surgeries within the ..er..”Prisoner Community”

    2. Does bloody Polly Toynbee EVER go home-apart to her villa in Tuscany?
    She got her traditional free ride on the useless Any Questions?(yes-why the hell is this gobfest still allowed on the radio?)-no mention of her SDP splitting,her support for Iraq wars etc-her hubbies quango collection(so no wonder she worries about “The Cuts maan!). In short -one of the BBC speed dial lotus eaters who owe it all to daddys name and that nice Mr Blair for their sinecures at Bush House.

    3. Funny that the Beeb have no problem getting vox pops from “the kids” in the playgrounds if “The Cuts” are reported on. Yesterday Gove lost some aspect of a court ruling-and straight away the Beeb had its favoured “educayshun profeshunuls” on the Blower(a pun!) and the cameras were in to film the rats and the leaky ceilings that “nooLaybor” were just about to fix  before we ingrates voted `em out!
    The Beeb got some “vulnerable kids” of the right ethnic profile-but with scripts from Prescott or Campbell possibly-to say how the cuts were a tragedy and would keep them in gangs and doing drugs…well not quite but you get the drift.
    Do the Beeb have CRB checks to be in schools for such showing of childrens faces on the main news etc?…did they have the parents permission and what of “young person confidentiality” then?…thought that the BBC wanted yet stronger CRB checks if their latest ongoing handwringing is to be believed. It being the BBC it won`t be though!

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  18. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Has anyone checked out the BBC’s Church of Warmism page lately?  It’s non-stop advocacy, not a skeptic in sight.

    While on the surface they’ve been forced to acknowledge that there are still some unbelievers and we have to talk to them through gritted teeth, behind the smokescreen is 100% Warmism, treated as fact.

    It’s full of advocacy stuff.  This is the real agenda of the BBC, the official editorial position, in spite of the recent protestations of wanting a real debate.  Your license fee hard at work.

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    • hippiepooter says:

      I followed to this link.  Strewth.  The Met Office actually has a ‘Head of Climate Change’.  No vested interest there then in perpetuating AGW as fact.  I wonder how many people work under her?  I thought John Humphrys was actually quite searching in his interview with her, to my suprise.  
       
      I remember that in the late 80’s and early 90’s the Summers we had in England were absolute scorchers.  When I hauled butt out of Blighty to Southern Spain in 2002 I thought the Summer heat there was like an oven, but the Spanish told me it was quite mild compared to normal.  I moved north to Barcelona in 2003 and the last few summers we’ve had have been disappointing.  
       
      When I first came I was told it had only snowed once in 50 years.  It snowed three years since, last March for a couple of days we looked like Scotland.  
       
      And AGW fanatics wonder why people dont believe them!


      Dr Vicky Pope, Met Office ‘Head of Climate Change’ says we’re going to have the hottest summer on record.  If I visit the mother country this summer I’ll be sure to bring a coat and umbrella!

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  19. david hanson says:

    More bias by omission. On all the travel reports today on BBC WM it has been reported that many London Midland trains have been cancelled due to a shortage of staff, with no expalantion why. Puzzled by why my travel plans should be disrupted I checked the London Midland website only to find that the reason is action by the ASLEF union. Obviously we mustn’t portray the unions in a bad light must we?

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  20. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The sycophancy of Mark Mardell knows no bounds:


    Obama adopts Egypt’s revolution

    Barack Obama looked supremely happy making his speech on the exit of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak. It was not just that he could complete the one he had started prematurely yesterday. It was not just that, despite all the brickbats that have been thrown at the White House for clumsy handling of this crisis, the administration has got exactly what it has wanted for a couple of weeks: the exit of Mr Mubarak, the entry of the military as caretakers, the promise of democracy, and the absence of violence.

    I thought His speech in Egypt in 2009 – the one the BBC celebrated as the dawning of a new era – was about the US not trying to get its way and instigate military coups?  Never mind, I guess.


    It is more personal, and more political than that. Maybe it is the old community organiser in him, maybe it is the admiring, almost envious, student of the great civil rights leaders, but something tells me few things light him up more than seeing ordinary people overcoming obstacles to seize their own future.

    Isn’t He wonderful?  To be able to peer into His heart like this, well….how worshipful can you get?


    This triumph allowed Mr Obama to revert to the visionary candidate of the campaign, as he did in Tucson after a tragedy.

    A triumph.  You knew Mardell and the BBC were going to call it this way, no matter what happened.  Funny how the entire rest of the world sees it differently.  And now for the laugh-out-loud moment:

    When he talks about the “moral arc of the universe” you know he is in his element. This is what he is best at. Weaving a selection of facts into a simple story that builds into a grand moral narrative that speaks to his greater vision. He instantly cast the Egyptian revolution as part of a pattern.

    Actually, I think Mardell just described his entire oeuvre of reporting.

    The Gospel of Mark Mardell is a joke.

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    • Craig says:

      David, in that spirit I’ve just posted this comment on Mardell’s blog:

      When Mark Mardell talks about the president talking about the “moral arc of the universe” you know he is in his element. This is what he is best at. Weaving a selection of facts into a simple story that builds into a grand moral narrative that speaks to his greater vision. He instantly cast President Obama’s speech as part of a pattern. 

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    • Millie Tant says:

      That is funny 😀     He’s another one, like Frei Boy, who could take to fantasy fiction writing without much change from what he is doing now under the name of journalism.

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    • Buggy says:

      I’m sure this is the exact tone of reverential dingbattery that the residents of Jonestown were blathering before the bodies started piling up.
      :-[              

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    • hippiepooter says:

      Mark Mardell is truly creepy.

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  21. George R says:

    INBBC marches in step with Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)* on EGYPT:

    “Egypt rally held in London’s Trafalgar Square”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12439689

    * MCB was one of sponsors of that event.

    INBBC furthers the ‘left’-MB political alliance.

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  22. Millie Tant says:

    Opera on 3

    18:00
    From New York’s Metropolitan Opera, John Adams conducts his 1987 opera Nixon in China.

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  23. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Twisted BBC reporting about Cuba continued:

    Cuban political prisoner is missing

    Cuban political prisoner Ernesto Borges Pérez has gone missing, a week after starting a hunger strike to demand the release of 10 prisoners of conscience and of American political prisoner Alan Gross, according to a statement from his father.

    Raúl Borges Alvarez implored the international community to intervene with the Castro dictatorship to determine his current whereabouts and health conditions.

    BBC reporting:

    Cuba releases political prisoner Eduardo Diaz

    The Cuban government has freed a political prisoner, Eduardo Diaz, who had refused to go into exile in Spain.

    The Roman Catholic Church said another dissident, Hector Maseda, was also to be released.

    The two prisoners were among 52 dissidents the Communist authorities agreed to free in July last year in a deal brokered by the church.

    Fine, report about these releases all you want, BBC, but there is no excuse for censoring the news about Pérez’s disappearance.

    It’s simply impossible these days to get fully honest reporting about Cuba from the BBC.

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  24. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Somewhere, a Beeboid’s head just exploded:

    Liberal in Bed, Conservative in the Head

    Sophie B. Hawkins, Andrew Breitbart, Michael Steele, at the Big Gay Party

    Has the conservative movement become a champion of gay rights? Is gun-owning, lesbian singer Sophie B. Hawkins of “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover” fame a liberal in bed and conservative in the head?

    Last night, Reason’s Michael Moynihan dropped by the Big Gay Party, a celebration of the role of the conservative movement in advocating for gay rights, which was hosted by conservative gay group GOProud and new media mogul Andrew Breitbart. The party was part of the festivities surrounding the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which was boycotted by some conservatives because of GOProud’s participation.

    The BBC claims to want to “create a rapport” with the US for you, to help you understand the country which has so much affect on the rest of the world.  Yet they refuse to cover things like this, refuse to inform you of anything that might harm their Narrative that Tea Party = Extreme Conservative Haters.  Instead of reporting about Elizabeth Taylor’s latest trip to the hospital, or that some murderer was convicted of a long-forgotten killing, or some other special interest story, they should be covering things like this:

    You want to know what’s really going on in political issues in the US?  Don’t bother with the BBC.

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    • hippiepooter says:

      Fascinating viewing, but normalisation of the perversion of homosexuality is not conservative.

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        There’s a distinct separation between fiscal and social conservativism.  The BBC and the Left will conflate the two at every opportunity.  The point here is that there is a separation, especially concerning the Tea Party movement, yet the BBC lied about it before and is censoring any information that might reveal their dishonesty now.

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      • deegee says:

        Ann Coulter raised some eyebrows at CPAC Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington when she made comments such as “The left is trying to co-op gays and I don’t think we should let them. They should be on our side. We’re for low taxes, we’re for low crime, we’re against the terrorists that want to kill gays. Gays are natural conservatives,” and “Like many of you, I was always a friend of the gays”. She was not booed from the platform.

        It’s seems to me that the expectations of what a Conservative (US) is and will do are dramatically changing and with that what a homosexual person is and will do. 

         

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  25. OWEN MORGAN says:

    A very important new thread at Pajamas Media (apologies, if this has already been raised):

    http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/bbc-persia-mouthpiece-of-the-mullahs/#comment-889795

    I know that there is no point in raising this bias with the BBC people, since they have not even the shadow of a conscience, but we have to try.   To make a complaint about this World Service propaganda, where should I go, please?

       0 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

         A few possible avenues: 1) The BBC’s formal complaints procedure

      2) The BBC Trust which is supposed to be the champion of licence fee payers’ interests

      3) Ofcom has a role in policing the Broadcasting Code.

      From Ofcom’s website:
      What is suitable for radio broadcast?
      Ofcom understands that people may have concerns about programmes on TV or radio.
      The Broadcasting Code sets standards for television and radio shows and broadcasters have to follow these rules.
      These rules not only cover harm and offence, but also other areas like impartiality and accuracy, sponsorship and commercial references as well as fairness and privacy.
      If we find a programme has broken these rules, then it will be found in breach of the Code and Ofcom will publish this decision. In very serious cases, we will consider further action (e.g. fining a broadcaster).
      We do not watch or listen to programmes before they are broadcast.
      If you would like to complain about a programme that has yet to be broadcast, you should contact the broadcaster directly.
      If the programme has been broadcast and you have concerns about it then you may make a complaint.

      (Sorry but I can’t get rid of the bold formatting imported with the text cut and pasted from Ofcom’s website)

         0 likes

      • NotaSheep says:

        Try pasteing into Notepad first.

           0 likes

        • Millie Tant says:

          Thanks for the tip. The first two lines of my post appeared in headline large bold font which I tried several times to get rid of. 
          I thought I hadn’t managed it but when the post actually appeared, the headline font with bold had disappeared!

             0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      Great link.  Why aren’t questions raised in Parliament?

         0 likes

  26. Clameur de Haro says:

    Here’s a new one.

     

    I woke up in astonishment this morning to hear some Beeboid on the Today prog giving a very sympathetic interview to a member of a neo-Nazi group in Germany. And no, you didn’t read that wrong.  

     

    Now as most B-BBC-ers will know, the Beeb usually describes the EDL (which although it contains some nasty-looking types, insists, not without some credibility, that what it seeks is an end to the kowtowing to militant Islamofascism and the Islamification of whole swathes of British cities) as “far-right”: while the neo-Nazis in Germany, who are violently anti-semitic, glorify the Third Reich and deny the Holocaust, were referred to in this broadcast piece merely as “right-wing”.

     

    The reason soon became clear. The neo-Nazis are currently combining with some fellow-German left-wing groups to have the WW2 bombing of Dresden officially declared a war crime and Air Marshal Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris officially declared a war criminal.

     
    So that’s all right then. Half a chance of promoting an outrageous slur on this country, and the Beeb finds common cause with the ideological heirs of Adolf Hitler.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      Wow, an authentic neo-Nazi allowed to declaim on the microphone unchallenged.  The BBC’s rampant anti-Semitism really is opening up whole new vistas for it.

         0 likes

  27. George R says:

    Unlike INBBC, even Russian TV gives media prominence to the growing criticism of multiculturalism and Islamisation of Europe (includes short video clip):

    “European backlash over multiculturalism”

    http://rt.com/news/europe-integration-multiculturalism-failure/

       0 likes

  28. George R says:

    “Paxman broke BBC impartiality rules”

    Who didn’t?

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/paxman-broke-bbc-impartiality-rules-2213121.html#

       0 likes

  29. Philip says:

    When the BBC features a photography exhibition about Gaza, you can bet that it’s completely one-sided.

       0 likes

    • Craig says:

      Philip, Sue linked to an powerful fisking of this very report by Robin Shepherd BBC highlights exhibition of Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza by German photographer who uses Nazi analogies with Israel.

         0 likes

  30. Philip says:

    Thanks Craig.. I saw after I posted!  =-O

       0 likes

  31. George R says:

    “BBC Airs Documentary ‘Normal Israelis'”

    http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s3i90959

       0 likes

  32. George R says:

    INBBC combines with ‘Observer-Guardian’ (who else? 🙂  to produce their political propaganda series on Suez.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/feb/13/drama-theobserver

       0 likes

  33. Guest Who says:

    Bless…

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8320549/Rastamouse-provokes-complaints-of-racism-and-teaching-bad-language.html

    One can’t help but feel that this has fallen foul of a ‘careful what you wish for’/Pastor Neimoller level of karmic irony.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Awesome.  George Bush once spoke of “the soft racism of lowered expectations”, and we see that form of racism revealed here.  Once again the former President is lightyears ahead of the Beeboids on human dignity.

         0 likes

  34. Guest Who says:

    Made the mistake of popping on my PC’s PiP TV to be treated to Marrshamallow ‘interviewing’ Dr. John Sentanu.

    I say interviewing, but it seemed to consist of Marrshmallow telling the good doctor what to say, and the good docotor being a faithful parrot and repeating it.

    Now we have Jezza Bowen live from Egypt. I think the off switch beckons if this is the calibre of ‘news’ one can expect.

       0 likes

    • Craig says:

      Ah, well you missed the paper review where Gordon Brown’s foreign office minister Lord Malloch-Brown and actress Imogen Stubbs, who famously cheered when New Labour were elected and used to dine with the Blairs, both had a go at the government over the Big Society:

      Lord M-B: “At its core, the difficulty is, you know, Cameron is moving towards dependence on volunteerism at a time that he is slashing the kind of public services that voluntary organisations depend on.”
      “Hmm,” said Imogen, agreeing.
      Lord M-B then read out more criticism of the government from Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer, at the end of which Andrew Marr chipped in “That’s a familiar criticism at the moment.”
      Imogen Stubb: “Like many people I certainly find the notion very hard to take on….It’s so vague.”
      Lord M-B: “It’s fine, except when it seems to be a slightly cynical substitute for public sector cuts.”
      “Yes,” said Imogen,
      “So great idea, bad timing is what you’re both saying?” asked Marr.
      Imogen then attacked the cuts to theatres and libraries because people would meet there to volunteer.

      Marr then changed the subject slightly and read from an article in the Mail on Sunday about ‘cash for internships’ for the children of wealthy Tory backers. These internships might be in places like hedge-funds or banks. “This money is going to be used by the Conservative Party”, said Marr, quipping impartially “presumably to tell us we’re all in it together!”
      Imogen laughed and Lord M-B ponitificated about how that “we’ve all in it together” phrase is a big danger for the Tories. Imogen added “it’s so divisive” and added some more comments along the same lines.

      It bet this sort of conversation goes on all the time in the Hampstead Labour club.

         0 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Ah, may explain this then…

        TheHonLady The Honourable Lady I really don’t pay my licence fee for the #bbc to turn every political programme into a lefty group wank. There’s no balance here. #marr

           0 likes

        • Craig says:

          Guest Who, I’ve just heard the Marr interview with Archbishop Sentamu and I see exactly what you mean.

          Questions like, “Are you concerned about the level of cuts that had to be imposed or are being imposed, and the speed of it, and its effect on voluntary organisations and the third sector, whatever you call it?”

          He was.

          “And yet it doesn’t feel that we’re all in it together to a lot of people. We read all these bonuses out next week”, Marr continued, before prompting the archbishop: “Vince Cable said they were inappropriately large. Will you go further than that?”

          John Sentamu did go further, calling them “obscene” and saying that “for heaven’s sake the government ought to do something more…tougher about it…”

          “Do you think they just lack guts a bit?”, prompted Marr.

          “Well, I think they need more guts”, replied the Archishop.

             0 likes

          • NotaSheep says:

            Lefties is group hug; business as usual on the BBC

               0 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            It was rather overt, even by the shameless standards of the BBC. I almost felt sorry for the old duffer, who was evidently not reading the teleprompter correctly and needed Marrshmallow to get him on message. Nice to have what I heard now preserved as a transcript, tx.

               0 likes

  35. Craig says:

    Interesting piece by Peter Hitchens on the sacking of government drugs advisor Dr Hans-Christian Raabe for holding ‘controversial’ views on homosexuality. Mr Hitchens’s attack is on the government itself, but towards the end of the article he writes:

    I will reserve for another time an examination of the fascinating role of a senior figure in the supposedly impartial BBC in what happened next. He deserves a lot of time to himself, and I shall get round to that.
    But let us say that a campaign to remove Dr Raabe, boosted by anonymous misty threats of resignations from the ACMD, roared rapidly into action.

    That senior BBC journalist is Mark Easton and Melanie Phillips pointed the finger directly at him a couple of weeks ago:

    It was the BBC’s Home Editor Mark ­Easton who led the charge…How reprehensible of the BBC to lend itself to such a partisan attack. 
    Easton’s remarks provoked more advocates of drug ­liberalisation to join in the blood-sport of baiting Dr Raabe. 
     
    I read Easton’s post at the time and thought it was mean-spirited and agenda-driven. As George R. has pointed out before, Easton uses his blog on a regular basis to promote his views on drugs (or the views of those who share his views on drugs) and frequently comes close to seeming to be a campaigner for drugs liberalisation rather than an impartial reporter. Here he seems to have set out to help bring down someone who doesn’t share his views on drugs – by any means. I hope Peter Hitchens really goes to town on him over this.

       0 likes

    • sue says:

      I was going to blog this at the time, but it got too convoluted.
      Here’s what I didn’t say. (I had the links too, but not anymore.)

      “Melanie Phillips strirred up a hornet’s nest the other day with some comments about gays. According to ‘philosemite’ Chas Newky Burden of Oy Va Goy she has discredited herself in the eyes of people who might otherwise (but not now) have been swayed by her pro-Israel advocacy.

      Mel has made enemies at Harry’s Place, and now, has had hate mail and calls for her death, presumably from Daily Mail readers. How to lose friends and alienate folks everywhere.

      The actual remarks she made in her piece in the Mail weren’t properly ‘homophobic’ though. However, she did criticise “the grossly inappropriate flooding of school subjects such as maths or science with irrelevant gay references.”
      Gays do have genuine grievances about homophobic bullying in schools, but all bullying is foul, and in some schools any vulnerable minority or weakling can unfortunately be subjected to it. Passing laws that sanctify homosexuality is a step too far.
      For me, there’s still an element of hilarity about two men parodying the domestic arrangements of man and wifey. Please forgive.

      Melanie accuses Mark Easton of besmirching the reputation of an appointee of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs named Dr. Hans-Christian Raabe, because he’s anti-gay as well as anti-drug.

      “It was  the  BBC’s  Home  Editor Mark  Easton  who led the charge.  On his BBC news blog,  he announced that Dr.  Raabe’s  views on 
      homosexuality were   causing such fury  among (anonymous)  members of the Advisory Council that at least one member  was threatening to step down”

      Not sure about “led the charge,” but impartiality doesn’t exactly seem to be in Easton’s genes here. ”

      That’s what I was going to say, but never finished it.

         0 likes

      • Craig says:

        I was wondering about that “led the charge” phrase too Sue, but Melanie seems to have it right. Easton posted his piece on 20th January. Two days later the Guardian takes it up. followed by Pink News. The sacking of Dr Raabe follows soon after. 1-0 to Mark Easton.

           0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      I also perceive Mr Easton is homosexual and as Dr Raab is a co-author of a report 6 years ago that drew together 6 separate pieces of research showing that proportionately there was significantly more paedophilia among homosexuals than heterosexuals.  Maybe this stirred Mr Easton’s animus somewhat?

      No doubt, with the BBC’s ardent concern for the welfare of the nation’s children, they will be conducting in-depth investigation into the study and let the cards fall where they will [ahem, cough, splutter, choke].

         0 likes

  36. Shay says:

    This morning on his R5 sport programme the creepy Gary Richardson displays the usual BBC disregard for the tax burden in this country. He is enthusiastic over the “West Ham” bid (really taxpayer funded via government grants to Newham Council) for the olympic stadium. But is keen to support the suggestion of further expense, proposed when an athletics body official suggests in a “let them eat cake” way that retractable seating should be installed if the football supporters (ie the only significant, regular paying customers at the venue) insist on being close to the action.
    Richardson & his journalist guest have a similar condescending attitude to the lumpen paying football supporter, stating that the view across the track at the old Wembley stadium wasn’t really a problem, an opinion formed from sitting in the best free seats in the place rather from way back behind the goals.
    Richardson seeks to press the Sports Minister on this retractable seating idea before going on to insist that another £40 million of taxpayer cash should be spent on subsidising the staging of the world athletics event in 2017.

       0 likes

  37. Maturecheese says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12442375   This is the BBC’s sickening coverage of the Governments decision to ‘allow’ Gay marriages in Church

    The following line in  particular give some insight into their mindset.

    The legislation would also cover synagogues and mosques although homosexuality is forbidden under Islam.

    So Christianity is all for homosexuality, is it?

    How long before coercion is employed regarding the CoE.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      The BBC is prepping us up for Moslem exemption out of ‘respect for diversity’.

      I just heard some, ahem, ‘disingenous’ individual who assured there would be no coercion on Churches to conduct homosexual weddings.

      We know that what will soon follow after this legislation is Stonewall will send a couple of homosexual lovebuds around to a scripturally sound vicar to produce a ‘test case’ that outlaws the Church abiding by its teachings.

      Wont happen with a Mosque.  The chances of ‘the engaged couple’ being invited to a backroom to participate in a snuff movie beheading will be too high.

         0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Producer Stephen McCrum, who also brought Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps to the BBC, said: “It is refreshing for the BBC to find something that is so blue collar. BBC1 controller Danny Cohen has been talking about the non-middle class sitcom and the need to find them.

      Say no more.  Your license fee hard at work.

         0 likes

  38. Guest Who says:

    There’s ‘reporting’, and there’s deciding what to share. Why should twitter be any different?

    bbc5live BBC Radio 5 Live RT @mrchrisaddison: Tories have 50% of their funds provided by The City. This has not gone down well. How else should they fund their party?

    One is sure there will be many an RT of tweets pointing our Labour shortfalls in equal measure to the national audience compelled to fund such efforts?

       0 likes

  39. hippiepooter says:

    Ermm, finished listening to Kate Silverton (another B-BBC pet hate that I personally find a very good listen) and then up cropped something called ‘7 Day Sunday’ which I believe is some sort of ‘comedy’ programme.

    It began by the lead-presenter I believe it was mentioning how they had all just come across Tony Blair in an adjoining room.  Among the hilarious rapier wit was ‘I still keep checking my wallet’.  I do not have Craig’s fortitude: <‘CLICK’>

       0 likes

  40. George R says:

    What is true for American left, is true for British left (inc INBBC):

    “Leftist Dupes: From the Communist Brotherhood to the Muslim Brotherhood”

    http://frontpagemag.com/2011/02/11/leftist-dupes-from-the-communist-brotherhood-to-the-muslim-brotherhood/

       0 likes

  41. D B says:

    Not on the BBC: “Shame of Britain’s Muslim Schools” (Dispatches: Lessons In Hatred And Violence, Channel 4 tomorrow at 8pm)

    (Apologies if this has already been mentioned.)

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      This is what the Islamisation of Britain means.

      And what INBBC censors.

      A comment from ‘Jihadwatch’:

      Child abuse in Britain’s Islamic schools

      [Extract]:

      Political correctness is enabling child abuse in the U.K. If Britain truly takes pride in being inclusive and non-discriminatory, authorities will do whatever is necessary to eliminate the abuse shown below, and thus “include” Islamic schools on the same standard of behavior expected of everyone else.”

         0 likes

  42. PDC says:

    Stories the BBC won’t tell you about:
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41553425
    Thousands flee the newly free Tunisia to Berlusconi’s Italy. Wonder why?

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      INBBC has got mass immigration from Tunisia story up now, but on latest Radio 5 News, only mentioned the Berlusconi story on Italy.

         0 likes

  43. Millie Tant says:

    Peter Hitchens writes about the dismissal of a Christian anti-drugs GP from the Home Office’s advisory committee on drugs because of his views about homosexuality and paedophilia.

    However, what caught my eye was the Beeboid connection:

    …”His dismissal is a great loss to those who care about the lives and minds of the young.
    I will reserve for another time an examination of the fascinating role of a senior figure in the supposedly impartial BBC in what happened next. He deserves a lot of time to himself, and I shall get round to that.
    But let us say that a campaign to remove Dr Raabe, boosted by anonymous misty threats of resignations from the ACMD, roared rapidly into action.
    And that, preferring political correctness to an honest, decent doctor worth dozens of any of them, this Government swiftly bowed to that campaign. …”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1356425/PETER-HITCHENS-Why-Mr-Broken-Reed-controversial-sacking-offence.html#ixzz1Dqfe39Qs

       0 likes

  44. Millie Tant says:

    The Beeboid Corporation’s right-on mouse:

    “He is an animated reggae-singing mouse who has become a hit for the BBC, entertaining children with his attempts to fight crime and spread love and respect.
    Yet dreadlocked Rastamouse has provoked more than a hundred complaints to the corporation with parents expressing fears the show is racist and encouraging the use of slang.
    Mothers on online parenting forums have even raised fears that the programme could result in playground fights if children try to copy the mouse.

    The Rastafarian mouse, who leads a band called the Easy Crew and speaks in Jamaican Patois, uses phrases such as “me wan go” (“I want to go”), “irie” (“happy”), “wagwan” (“what’s going on?”). His mission is to “make a bad ting good”.

    Yes, very educational, I’m sure.

    You couldn’t make it up.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8320549/Rastamouse-provokes-complaints-of-racism-and-teaching-bad-language.html#

       0 likes

  45. Guest Who says:

    Blimmin’ right wing, Murdoch papers….

    http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/02/13/jeremy-paxman-inappropriate-sneering-partial/

    No wonder they have to pay the poor love baxzillions to keep him market rating elsewhere.

    I shall treasure lies “may or may not have been told”’ as a critique… of others, by the ever on the ball. irony free Ms. B.

       0 likes

  46. Millie Tant says:

    What is it with Andrew Marr and the Egyptian dictator? Is he going out on his own against the agreed Beeboid line on the people’s revolution? Twice during the programme he seemed to be exercised about the dictator coming to live here. At the beginning, over the papers review he asked about where he is going to live but framed in terms of whether he is going to come here, adding …or to Paris

    Then towards the end he asked the same thing i.e. if he is going to come here, of the ambassador.

    Why should he come here, Marr? Why are you so anxious to put this question which begins to look like a suggestion or planting of an idea that it would be the expected or right thing or even your personal wish that he should? I can’t see why you didn’t ask if he is going to live in oh, a hundred and one other countries. Why this one? I am not aware that he has any particular connection with this country over and above many others.

       0 likes

  47. Paddy says:

    Kate Silverton, you know the one. She could look quite bonny but something makes you think of Ruby Wax or that she has been sucking a lemon.

    She has that annoying, only at the bbc, home counties accent that is all ponies and gymkahna and yet she is full of that pitiful liberal angst that infects all that auntie touches.

    This morning she excelled herself.

    Firstly she gave some carpet munching italian the chance to plug her anti Belusconi rally. The beeb is now used as some sought of bulletin board for lefty causes. Organising a rally call auntie. She let her give out assembly times, location and route. Somehow I cant see auntie extending this facility to the EDL can you?

    Next she spouted about the news that the coalition may allow civil ceremonies in relligious buildings. This may have the effect that gays could force religious institutions to open their doors  and allow gay marriage on their premises even though their religion may object.

    Who did they say would be worried?

    The anglicans and the catholics.

    True,both religions wont want ‘uphill gardeners’ tieing the knot in their churches but why no mention of our muzzie friends?

    Can you imagine elton and David having their nuptuals at finsbury park mosque?

    Why not bring this up? Surely the religion of peace is as open to criticism as the vicar of dibbleys crowd and the left footers?

    Or could it be another example of the BBCs sin of omission.

    They omit to show the vile protests by muslims against crusaders when big ben came for a visit.

    They omit to mention when the r.o.p. calls for the hanging of gays.

    They omit to mention the uneasy alliance between the far left and muslim extremists when the leader of the NUS Aaron Porter was abused as a ‘tory jew’

    Sad biased islington revolutionary scum

       0 likes

  48. Ron Todd says:

    Every time news 24 reports on Egypt , which is a lot, they start with ‘Obama said…’

    If their party was still in power would they down play the views of our leaders or would they start with ‘Brown said…’

       0 likes

  49. Guest Who says:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/chile/8321454/Chilean-miners-rescue-was-manipulated-for-the-media.html

    Don’t recall this. Maybe some ‘media’ may have been suckered more than others?

    Or simply not enough of ’em there to investigate vs. hold a mic and ‘report’?

    Or just complicit?

       0 likes