I assume you’re referring to Zadie Smith’s diatribe against alleged library closures on the Today Proigramme this morning? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing such segments used to be called a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party. She even used the hackneyed line that the current Conservative cabinet all went to Harrow or Eton and wouldn’t understand the value of sommunity libraries, totally ignoring the educational backgrounds of the previous administration. If this was some of the famous BBC impartiality then count me out.
Trying to divorce passion from agenda from self-interest does muddy already opaque waters.
Especially when ratings addictions, which fuel market rate salaries, are thrown into the mix.
And a celeb with a cause makes good broadcast in all ways.
Just watched a bunch of ’em on SKY ‘oop North bewailing arts cuts whilst wandering around various pretty venues. One even trotted out a pure Labour PPB segment.
The question of where the money might come from (and where its lack currently might be traced back, especially for the benefit of the money fairy beneficiary above), if not their multi-millions, was not asked.
Smith of course loved Libraries – they were a source for the theft by her mother of feminist tracts & were her adolescent dating location. Disgraceful that she be given uninterrupted access to the airwaves for her anti-government rant.
The programme finally aired some sort of counter opinion in the dead zone after 8:45, but that person was subjected to the cross-examination that is the usual BBC fare for those who have views different from the likes of Smith.
Zadie Smith didn’t of course address the question of why the “cuts” – in reality a lower rate of increase in public spending – are necessary. Nor did she address the fact that, since over a fifth of children leave school illiterate, the service provided by libraries is in somewhat lower demand, and likely to fall further. Nor did she declare her financial interest – libraries are the mechanism which collects her Public Lending Right money for her.
She used the example of her mother’s social mobility in favour of libraries, and describing how she read feminist sociology to become a social worker, presumably living off the State. I don’t quite see how this can be an argument in favour of libraries.
I wouldn’t expect the Toady Beeboid to have rised any of these points, simply because they don’t readily fit into the Beeboid belief sysytem (which is partly why Toady is so dull and predictable). However, to have her heard in reverential silence, entirely unchallenged really was something out of Prague c1951.
I too simply could not believe my ears, even from the BBC it was wildly partisan prejudice run riot. The BBC toady show must think themselves to be untouchable.
“I dont know how the government can sleep at night” she spat after acknowledging that her family stole library books as a matter of course AND yes failing to return library books is theft.
So its morally OK for her mother to steal books from a public library is it? I suppose the elastic morals of the whining whinging class is well known.
Times move on and most people have access to computers and second hand bookshops/stalls so less and less people are using the facilities but then again the facts dont matter to bigots do they? Not when when ignoring the facts can assist in in letting loose a stream of poionous political smears at their enemies.
It doesn’t surprise me. They like running stories about closing libraries. Somehow it’s one of those stories that’s got a real image of picking on the vulnerable. When the tories first came into power in the county council here, the national news came to show how the nasty tory cutbacks were decimating a village library.
There was the library, on a nice patch of grass in the “village” giving a nice picture that these poor souls were cut off from society and were really going to pay a heavy price by lsoing another facility.
As ever, all wasn’t as it seems. Had they simply turned the camera 180 degrees we would have seen that this wasn’t a village in the cute Cotswold image being conjured up. The village is only a village by definition of it’s population and it’s boundary. In reality it’s a well served suburb with one of the main routes to a motorway junction running through it. It has at least 3 pubs within 1 mile, a retail park with a B&Q, ToysRus, Next, Boots etc all 5 mins drive away. It also butts up to a siginificant housing development with at least two pubs and a shopping precinct as well as two major national healthclubs and two brand new secondary schools, one Cof E and one Roman Catholic school which has excellent grades. In addition it joins (5-10 minutes drive max depending on traffic) one of the major and most middle class suburbs in the county with a central precinct that has a library that is about to be rebuilt and developed into a community hub where you can go between visits to the 5 bar / restaurants, the Pizza Express restaurant, the Caffe Nero and where the only thing missing is Starbucks but that’s only because there’s no more premises for them to shoehorn it in to.
Not that you would have thought it given the story auntie Beeb was telling.
OTish, but just heard Sir Richard Dalton (ex Libyan Ambassador, in London) interviewed by SKY bloke in Libya (for some reason).
Just interested in the way he took the talking head apart on using a few days of war fog to build up expectations and then a few days later trying to trash everything simply because not enough new has happened to satisfy the 24/7 news maw.
BBC London News last night. Now not everyone is interested in football, particularly a fixture between Ghana and what amounts to the England ‘B’ side, but…
It is BBC London News so we focus on the hopes and expectations of the Ghana supporters. Well, it is a ‘friendly’ match and in the spirit of hospitality…our reporter informs us that there are 100,000 Ghanaians in Britain.
You see the BBC is not afraid to shine a light on mass immigration.
We won’t trouble ourselves about the legal status of that 100,000.
That wouldn’t be appropriate here. Perhaps we will come back to that when we discuss unemployment figures or the cost of the welfare state. Or perhaps not.
No word on the sheer coincidence with the ever more fragile-looking Sian being possibly ‘replaced’, coincidentally. Just hope we won’t be seeing any ageism claims being settled out of court soon.
Not sure there is great sympathy for the ‘but we can’t be expected to go to where the work is like common people’ wail.
Thanks to Norman Tebbit, I ended up getting on my 747 and lobbed up in Asia for 20 years. Seemed to work out.
Anyway, here’s a tasty morsel from the Graun for those prepared to move more than the CC zone and with a whiff of Bowen in the air to inspire:
The news Sky News Arabic channel seems to have slipped under everybody’s radar. My prediction is that if Sky News is neutral now it won’t be in the future as the made to sell to the Arabs product will be rebroadcast in English on Sky.
Our favourite defender of the market rate is in fine, if consistent hole-digging voice again.
I wonder how long until this latest poorly-constructed navel gazing exercise gets closed due to poor support (if not in the volume sense)?
Have to say (see what I did there?) that on top of the ‘but I’m telling you I’m right‘ stance, the ‘everyone thinks what we do is pants’ approach is hardly the firmest defensive position.
We also tried to set in context the relatively small scale of the violent demonstration and to put across the views of the vast number of peaceful marchers.
Don’t worry, Helen, that Narrative came through loud and clear. In fact, you did so well that it’s one of the reasons for your next sentence.
Despite all this the BBC finds itself criticised by one prominent MP and several newspaper columnists for being biased towards the protestors – at exactly the same time as fielding complaints from people who thought that we were too hard on the demonstrators and their cause.
“Challenging” the supporters amounted to asking them if they realized the violence didn’t make the majority of protesters or their cause look good, and then sitting back quietly while Brendan Barber or similar spoke about how their protest was entire peaceful, a family-friendly environment, and that the masked youths were completely isolated. Every single BBC correspondent covering the riots….sorry….protests reported the exact same Narrative. Over and over again, all day long. One might even say they did it “robustly”.
Other than the occasional “they’re cutting too fast too soon, we wouldn’t”, there was precious little discussion with anyone of an alternative plan.
Francis Maude may have been a “regular” throughout the day, but people on the side of the protesters far outnumbered those trying to explain the Government’s position. Justine Greening and the guy from the Taxpayers’ Alliance were on once and then shelved, while the protesters’ proxy voices at the BBC read out their line every time they made a report. The TUC and protesters didn’t need to have a large number of supporters in the studio to make their case, because the BBC correspondents were doing it for them.
The only real improvement from the BBC’s coverage of the first round of protests was that this time they didn’t advocate so openly as to keep asking critics if they “at least understood the anger” behind the violence. Maybe one of those vaunted online staff training courses had an effect after all.
I believe Helen Boaden doesn’t actually realize what’s happened. Her priorities are that messed up.
BBC-EU: Mass, uncontrollable immigration from Africa to European Union and Britain, via Italy.
Apparently, according to this BBC-EU report, this is a matter exclusively between the mass of immigrants and the E.U. bureaucracy. The views of people of Europe on the issue are apparently irrelevant. This is Eurabia in action: the
Islamisation of the E.U., including Britain.
“Italy migrant influx intensifies on Lampedusa island”
1. “Two more oil firms join Norway’s Statoil in considering shelving North Sea investments following the Treasury’s tax hike. ” why the derogatory word “hike” when increase would have done?
2. The Co-op’s 50% increase in profits, resulting from increased margins, produces a report, exceptional for the BBC, without any suggestion that its supermarkets are ripping off the consumer. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12903898
The bBCs take on the recent surge of home made rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. Their verdict..Israel to blame. Fears of escalating Gaza-Israel conflict In the above video article while the bBC starts with clips of mortar attacks, they then claim that they only occasionally cause damage. However when Israel strikes back the Pals come off worse. In other words, the person who starts the fight (and lets be serious here with full support of the locals) is allowed to bitch, when he gets slapped. But according to the bBC actually they are the victims here. The article then gravitates to a bombed out building which was struck in the dead of night, not only that but the bBC claims it had been abandoned. (When Israel is struck from Gaza, Hamas ensures its buildings are lightly manned or even emptied in which to limit losses) However the bbC spins the line that the Jews are bad because they bombed an already destroyed building in the middle of the night (which they claim caused no injuries, err what part of destroyed and abandoned don’t you think i understand bBC?) which happens to be situated next door to a school. They then parrot the line that thankfully nobody was hurt at the school. But have a look again at the building which was supposed to be hit, if a bomb hits a building you get debris and yet there is no debris to be seen. So either the Hamas has a much better work crew system than the Japs (repaired a road in 6 days after the quake)so as to clear all the debris from an airstrike overnight or somebody isn’t telling us the truth. (For the so called most densely populated region in the world there is an amazing lack of people in that picture)
Now look at that school wall, why is all the damage only in the bottom part of the wall? At 1.37 (I’ve included a happy snap) yet according to the bBC while the blast next door can damage the school, it only damages the bottom half of a wall which stands in the way. (In fact you really do need to look again at the righthand side of the wall and the shape of damages to realise that the wall is actually the back plate for a shooting gallery of sorts?) Now lets go back to that classroom which is covered in glass, Where are the posters, the signs that it is a child’s classroom, there is nothing. It is a sterile environment Of course the bBC drop the line that thankfully nobody was hurt in that bombing (Err bBC what don’t you think I understand about the building next door getting bombed during the middle of the night don’t you think I understand?) So let me get this straight, the cold callous IDF which the whole world knows for sure doesn’t give a jot about civilian casualties, bombs abandoned buildings at the dead of night and is at fault for blowing in the windows of the school next door. Thankfully (according to the bBC) causing no child injuries. Anybody else bothered by how while there is no debris from the bomb outside (cleared away?) yet a school classroom is still littered with glass which can be swept up in minutes?)
Then is a twist of the facts on the ground the bBC claims that the reason for the upsurge in violence is because somebody believes that both sides don’t wish for peace, hence the current bout in fighting. Nothing at all from the bBC on the recent clampdown by Hamas on people protesting in Gaza and how Hamas feels that distracting those people by attacking Israel (and the subsequent backlash) they can have everybody singing “we are all Hamas now” Thankfully, the bBC isn’t my sole news provider and I can glean far more informative news from countries which are supposed to be third world.
Good spot on the wall as well. Watch the film again or look at the right hand side of the shot. The marks look like that made by quite a tight grouping of rounds hitting the spot repeatedly.
Yes, the BBC has been strangely silent on the Gazans wanting to “join the ‘Arab spring’” since Jon Donnison’s piece from a couple weeks back. One would think that’s rather important to follow, all things considered. I wonder if Bowen had a word with and told him to stifle.
By BBC standards the report was almost an improvement. They mention the rockets first and even show footage. They show damage to an Israeli house.
I am occassionally asked about disproportion and I use this analogy. If I was to meet one of the Klitscho brothers and without warning throw a punch I could possibly land one. Given the difference in size, fitness and ability I could sting him, I expect, but with the best will in the world neither knock him or cause real damage. As both the brothers are gentlemen they would probably warn me never to do that again but if I persisted eventually would respond with a ‘tap’ that would leave me seeing double for a week. Who is the victim? Do I have the right to complain?
Even allowing for inflated figures due to ‘children’ on the list who died other than through the action of the IDF (there is a strong financial and social advantage in being the parent of a shahid and blaming the Israelis is a good defence to murder of a family member) and through listing as ‘innocent’ children youth who die as soldiers in armed clashes, there is no doubt there are many more Palestinian casualties than Israeli. The question is why.
The Palestinian answer is that Israelis/Jews are homicidal maniacs. I would say there are more practical reasons, some instrumental, some ideological and some strategic for the difference.
1) Israel has invested heavily in defensive measures such as bomb shelters and early warning. The residents of Sderot have a crucial 15 seconds notice to run for cover that the residents of Gaza apparently don’t have.
2) Most Palestinian artillery is a one time random strike at large soft target, like towns and villages. They know they may be killed before launch or if they remain too long after. In addition they have no way of knowing where the rocket or mortar has landed and correct aim. This is the reason why 50 mortars in one day does so little damage. Israel generally hits what it aims at, although even that has its limits.
3) Israel keeps its military activity away from civilian areas. Palestinian both as tactics and strategy keeps it close, hoping that the use of voluntary or involuntary human shields will stop attack and if it doesn’t expecting to use the casualties for propaganda purposes. In addition there are many documented cases of Palestinians using their homes, mosques, hospitals, etc to store and manufacture munitions, as command posts, etc. turning them into military targets.
4) Palestine encourages its children to take part in military activities. Israel forbids it.
5) Palestinians have built up a death cult where death in battle is honoured. Israeli military tactics are designed to reduce Israeli casualties. Death of its soldiers is avoided where possible even at the cost of more death of the enemy. No Israeli child would look forward to martyrdom.
Under these conditions is it any wonder there is such a difference in the casualty rate?
Just watched the report. What I also found intriguing is the red brick warehouse looking building on the left hand side. No wall to protect any of it, yet no sign whatsoever of any debris or signs that any blast wave reached it.
There is also some lovely framing. At first the the upper left side of the screen looks like the biggest section of concrete miraculously hanging off our bomb damaged building. I couldn’t work out how it was holding itself up. It really adds to the building looking like it had some serious poundage dropped on it.
After three watches I worked it out. It’s not part of the building at all. It’s part of the wall that the cameraman is filming from behind. The clue is in the peeling paint on both the section in the upper right and the wall along the bottom of the screen as the shot starts. Suddenly that building looks more like a demolition than it does a bomb blast.
What helps it look more like a controlled demolition are the multiple catperpillar tracks in the sand in the compound.
Not to detract from yet another peerless forensic dissection to make the paid ‘experts’ look the overpaid, under-performing hacks they are, but one comment resonated with an earlier view I had about the 24/7 news maw leading to a silly build-up of expectation and then a counter-trash at nothing happening the next. With no glimmer of realities inbetween.
‘In other words, the person who starts the fight (and lets be serious here with full support of the locals) is allowed to bitch, when he gets slapped. But according to the bBC actually they are the victims here.’
I am seeing this in the Libya on Libya semi-finals, which is being treated by the media like a Williams sisters tennis match as far as I can make out.
West blows the cr@p out of Col’s armour, and the rag-tags rush in. Something bigger than a 20mm fires back and they scamper back out again. In, out, and shake it to the camera all about.
And the cretinous reporters lap up the cretinous insights of some bloke who was changing types on a Toyota last week.
As history has shown, it is no huge surprise that air trumps armour and armour trumps infantry. So all you are ‘reporting’ is one of the most bizarre games of chicken I have ever seen.
Of course the White House took weeks to come up with the speech. That’s obviously the “deliberation” and deep thinking Mardell kept telling you was the reason his beloved Obamessiah was doing all this time, despite the unfair criticisms.
channel4newsC4 Newsroom bloggerSubmit a spending cut in your area to our map – tweet a link & use the hashtag #c4cuts. It will appear here:http://bit.ly/eTMjDl
It’s going to be matched by a BBC one where you can submit a troughing council CEO or hemp diversity officer. Really.
Has anybody spotted the latest update from Stephanie “Floundering” Flanders? For those who do not follow her she is supposed to be the BBC’s economics editor but in reality she mostly writes pro-Labour politics.
The latest entry suggests that the Chancellor of the Exchequer needs another Plan A. However the srticle itself seems to be a rather transparent request for someone to think up a policy for her ex-boyfriend Ed. Balls…
When I saw the headline “Doctors in Danger in the BBC website, for one dizzy moment I thought they might be reporting on this story: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=214236
How stupid of me! The story was in fact about an Arab Government being nasty to doctors in Bahrein.
The fact that the Israeli Government has set up a hospital in the radiation-endangered area of Japan is of course of no interest to the BBC, and a search of the website yielded not a mention of this notable humanitarian effort, which as far as I can tell has not been matched by any other country….. Oh, and the doctors manning this hospital are Israeli Army doctors. Definitely a no-no for the biased broadcaster – we can’t show the Israeli army in a favourable light, can we?
@commentisfreeJessica ReedAre you feeling the squeeze? I’m looking for readers who would want to write about (their) falling wages. Details:http://gu.com/p/2z54a/tw
Meanwhile, the BBC is seeking income-generating private sector taxpayers who are keen to share just how well their pensions are doing, how often they were thrilled to relocate to keep in work, and how chuffed they are to be funding this:
@MrHarryColeHarry ColeGood to see the Beeb are advertising for a Diversity Work Experience Coordinator.
wwfcDec 22, 19:28 Weekend 21st December 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCMlEHGHtjQ&ab_channel=LondonNPC
atlas_shruggedDec 22, 19:19 Weekend 21st December 2024 Dis is zer German vetter station Alles ist normal und wunderbar. Heute ist vetter. Morgen ist jest vetter. Nexter vochen…
Guest WhoDec 22, 19:09 Weekend 21st December 2024 https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/AWBnLoYN_tg/olivia-rudgard Livvy is so sweet.
atlas_shruggedDec 22, 19:08 Weekend 21st December 2024 A nation in grief as the rotating helicopter blade came a bit closer.
tomoDec 22, 17:53 Weekend 21st December 2024 [img]https://i.ibb.co/DMrTDjx/chrome-y-OIa6k-JNIt.png[/img]
atlas_shruggedDec 22, 17:26 Weekend 21st December 2024 This guy is actually quite funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaPbUvPOkD8 Apologies if this has been posted before.
Fedup2Dec 22, 17:19 Weekend 21st December 2024 Excellent – the Marxists legislating to ban unapproved donations to other political parties – just a step to banning other…
atlas_shruggedDec 22, 17:18 Weekend 21st December 2024 The wonders of bBC output. Where would we be without Planet Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2A07ToxkTI This is a 100% genuine episode bBC…
edwestonline Ed West Funny, dont remember Radio4 allowing anyone to have a 10-minute, primetime denouncation of gvnt policy between 1997-2010
Maybe that’s what makes them unique?
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I assume you’re referring to Zadie Smith’s diatribe against alleged library closures on the Today Proigramme this morning? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing such segments used to be called a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party. She even used the hackneyed line that the current Conservative cabinet all went to Harrow or Eton and wouldn’t understand the value of sommunity libraries, totally ignoring the educational backgrounds of the previous administration. If this was some of the famous BBC impartiality then count me out.
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Trying to divorce passion from agenda from self-interest does muddy already opaque waters.
Especially when ratings addictions, which fuel market rate salaries, are thrown into the mix.
And a celeb with a cause makes good broadcast in all ways.
Just watched a bunch of ’em on SKY ‘oop North bewailing arts cuts whilst wandering around various pretty venues. One even trotted out a pure Labour PPB segment.
The question of where the money might come from (and where its lack currently might be traced back, especially for the benefit of the money fairy beneficiary above), if not their multi-millions, was not asked.
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Smith of course loved Libraries – they were a source for the theft by her mother of feminist tracts & were her adolescent dating location. Disgraceful that she be given uninterrupted access to the airwaves for her anti-government rant.
The programme finally aired some sort of counter opinion in the dead zone after 8:45, but that person was subjected to the cross-examination that is the usual BBC fare for those who have views different from the likes of Smith.
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Zadie Smith didn’t of course address the question of why the “cuts” – in reality a lower rate of increase in public spending – are necessary. Nor did she address the fact that, since over a fifth of children leave school illiterate, the service provided by libraries is in somewhat lower demand, and likely to fall further. Nor did she declare her financial interest – libraries are the mechanism which collects her Public Lending Right money for her.
She used the example of her mother’s social mobility in favour of libraries, and describing how she read feminist sociology to become a social worker, presumably living off the State. I don’t quite see how this can be an argument in favour of libraries.
I wouldn’t expect the Toady Beeboid to have rised any of these points, simply because they don’t readily fit into the Beeboid belief sysytem (which is partly why Toady is so dull and predictable). However, to have her heard in reverential silence, entirely unchallenged really was something out of Prague c1951.
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I too simply could not believe my ears, even from the BBC it was wildly partisan prejudice run riot. The BBC toady show must think themselves to be untouchable.
“I dont know how the government can sleep at night” she spat after acknowledging that her family stole library books as a matter of course AND yes failing to return library books is theft.
So its morally OK for her mother to steal books from a public library is it? I suppose the elastic morals of the whining whinging class is well known.
Times move on and most people have access to computers and second hand bookshops/stalls so less and less people are using the facilities but then again the facts dont matter to bigots do they? Not when when ignoring the facts can assist in in letting loose a stream of poionous political smears at their enemies.
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It doesn’t surprise me. They like running stories about closing libraries. Somehow it’s one of those stories that’s got a real image of picking on the vulnerable. When the tories first came into power in the county council here, the national news came to show how the nasty tory cutbacks were decimating a village library.
There was the library, on a nice patch of grass in the “village” giving a nice picture that these poor souls were cut off from society and were really going to pay a heavy price by lsoing another facility.
As ever, all wasn’t as it seems. Had they simply turned the camera 180 degrees we would have seen that this wasn’t a village in the cute Cotswold image being conjured up. The village is only a village by definition of it’s population and it’s boundary. In reality it’s a well served suburb with one of the main routes to a motorway junction running through it. It has at least 3 pubs within 1 mile, a retail park with a B&Q, ToysRus, Next, Boots etc all 5 mins drive away. It also butts up to a siginificant housing development with at least two pubs and a shopping precinct as well as two major national healthclubs and two brand new secondary schools, one Cof E and one Roman Catholic school which has excellent grades. In addition it joins (5-10 minutes drive max depending on traffic) one of the major and most middle class suburbs in the county with a central precinct that has a library that is about to be rebuilt and developed into a community hub where you can go between visits to the 5 bar / restaurants, the Pizza Express restaurant, the Caffe Nero and where the only thing missing is Starbucks but that’s only because there’s no more premises for them to shoehorn it in to.
Not that you would have thought it given the story auntie Beeb was telling.
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http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardpreston/100081830/zadie-smith-and-the-great-tory-library-conspiracy/
cuts… Cuts… er… CUT the bit that doesn’t suit the narrative!!!!!
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OTish, but just heard Sir Richard Dalton (ex Libyan Ambassador, in London) interviewed by SKY bloke in Libya (for some reason).
Just interested in the way he took the talking head apart on using a few days of war fog to build up expectations and then a few days later trying to trash everything simply because not enough new has happened to satisfy the 24/7 news maw.
I don’t see him on BBC anytime soon.
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BBC London News last night. Now not everyone is interested in football, particularly a fixture between Ghana and what amounts to the England ‘B’ side, but…
It is BBC London News so we focus on the hopes and expectations of the Ghana supporters. Well, it is a ‘friendly’ match and in the spirit of hospitality…our reporter informs us that there are 100,000 Ghanaians in Britain.
You see the BBC is not afraid to shine a light on mass immigration.
We won’t trouble ourselves about the legal status of that 100,000.
That wouldn’t be appropriate here. Perhaps we will come back to that when we discuss unemployment figures or the cost of the welfare state. Or perhaps not.
Normal service has been resumed.
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Oo’eck. A crisis. And these must not be let go to waste, surely..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8414422/BBC-Breakfast-move-to-Salford-in-crisis.html
No word on the sheer coincidence with the ever more fragile-looking Sian being possibly ‘replaced’, coincidentally. Just hope we won’t be seeing any ageism claims being settled out of court soon.
Not sure there is great sympathy for the ‘but we can’t be expected to go to where the work is like common people’ wail.
Thanks to Norman Tebbit, I ended up getting on my 747 and lobbed up in Asia for 20 years. Seemed to work out.
Anyway, here’s a tasty morsel from the Graun for those prepared to move more than the CC zone and with a whiff of Bowen in the air to inspire:
Sky – Director of Newsgathering
Middle East/permanent/full time
This might be a problem, mind:
You will need brilliant news judgement
Oh, and this…
You will need to speak fluent Arabic,
It’s amazing what £4Bpa can’t get you.
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I guess Jeremy Bowen won’t be moving over to Sky?
The news Sky News Arabic channel seems to have slipped under everybody’s radar. My prediction is that if Sky News is neutral now it won’t be in the future as the made to sell to the Arabs product will be rebroadcast in English on Sky.
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Speaking of digging for ‘victory’…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/03/coverage_of_the_tuc_rally.html
She’s baaaaaack!
Our favourite defender of the market rate is in fine, if consistent hole-digging voice again.
I wonder how long until this latest poorly-constructed navel gazing exercise gets closed due to poor support (if not in the volume sense)?
Have to say (see what I did there?) that on top of the ‘but I’m telling you I’m right‘ stance, the ‘everyone thinks what we do is pants’ approach is hardly the firmest defensive position.
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Not sure even the faithful are that convinced BBC/Newnight’s go-to gals are the best to go to… aaaaaall the time:
http://heresycorner.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-for-penny.html
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What a disconnect from reality.
We also tried to set in context the relatively small scale of the violent demonstration and to put across the views of the vast number of peaceful marchers.
Don’t worry, Helen, that Narrative came through loud and clear. In fact, you did so well that it’s one of the reasons for your next sentence.
Despite all this the BBC finds itself criticised by one prominent MP and several newspaper columnists for being biased towards the protestors – at exactly the same time as fielding complaints from people who thought that we were too hard on the demonstrators and their cause.
“Challenging” the supporters amounted to asking them if they realized the violence didn’t make the majority of protesters or their cause look good, and then sitting back quietly while Brendan Barber or similar spoke about how their protest was entire peaceful, a family-friendly environment, and that the masked youths were completely isolated. Every single BBC correspondent covering the riots….sorry….protests reported the exact same Narrative. Over and over again, all day long. One might even say they did it “robustly”.
Other than the occasional “they’re cutting too fast too soon, we wouldn’t”, there was precious little discussion with anyone of an alternative plan.
Francis Maude may have been a “regular” throughout the day, but people on the side of the protesters far outnumbered those trying to explain the Government’s position. Justine Greening and the guy from the Taxpayers’ Alliance were on once and then shelved, while the protesters’ proxy voices at the BBC read out their line every time they made a report. The TUC and protesters didn’t need to have a large number of supporters in the studio to make their case, because the BBC correspondents were doing it for them.
The only real improvement from the BBC’s coverage of the first round of protests was that this time they didn’t advocate so openly as to keep asking critics if they “at least understood the anger” behind the violence. Maybe one of those vaunted online staff training courses had an effect after all.
I believe Helen Boaden doesn’t actually realize what’s happened. Her priorities are that messed up.
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But, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln,blah blah blah
*************************************************
Helen’s now Abe Lincoln, but only in that strange parallel universe where Ed Miliband is Martin Luther King (and I’m Brad Pitt)
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BBC-EU: Mass, uncontrollable immigration from Africa to European Union and Britain, via Italy.
Apparently, according to this BBC-EU report, this is a matter exclusively between the mass of immigrants and the E.U. bureaucracy. The views of people of Europe on the issue are apparently irrelevant. This is Eurabia in action: the
Islamisation of the E.U., including Britain.
“Italy migrant influx intensifies on Lampedusa island”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12879229
Yahoo:
“Tense mood as Libyan migrants land on Italian isle”
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20110329/twl-tense-mood-as-libyan-migrants-land-o-4bdc673_1.html
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Will BBC-EU be supporting an EU-wide:
‘No Cuts in Mass Immigration’ demo,
-with Beeboid blogs on the importance of ‘direct action’ to achieve one’s ends?
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For BBC-EU: the impact of mass illegal immigration from Africa on European people:
“Italy migrant crisis a ‘ticking time-bomb'”
( 1 min video)
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BBC impartiality from today’s business pages
1. “Two more oil firms join Norway’s Statoil in considering shelving North Sea investments following the Treasury’s tax hike. ” why the derogatory word “hike” when increase would have done?
2. The Co-op’s 50% increase in profits, resulting from increased margins, produces a report, exceptional for the BBC, without any suggestion that its supermarkets are ripping off the consumer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12903898
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The bBCs take on the recent surge of home made rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. Their verdict..Israel to blame.
Fears of escalating Gaza-Israel conflict
In the above video article while the bBC starts with clips of mortar attacks, they then claim that they only occasionally cause damage. However when Israel strikes back the Pals come off worse. In other words, the person who starts the fight (and lets be serious here with full support of the locals) is allowed to bitch, when he gets slapped. But according to the bBC actually they are the victims here. The article then gravitates to a bombed out building which was struck in the dead of night, not only that but the bBC claims it had been abandoned. (When Israel is struck from Gaza, Hamas ensures its buildings are lightly manned or even emptied in which to limit losses) However the bbC spins the line that the Jews are bad because they bombed an already destroyed building in the middle of the night (which they claim caused no injuries, err what part of destroyed and abandoned don’t you think i understand bBC?) which happens to be situated next door to a school. They then parrot the line that thankfully nobody was hurt at the school. But have a look again at the building which was supposed to be hit, if a bomb hits a building you get debris and yet there is no debris to be seen. So either the Hamas has a much better work crew system than the Japs (repaired a road in 6 days after the quake) so as to clear all the debris from an airstrike overnight or somebody isn’t telling us the truth. (For the so called most densely populated region in the world there is an amazing lack of people in that picture)
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Now look at that school wall, why is all the damage only in the bottom part of the wall? At 1.37 (I’ve included a happy snap) yet according to the bBC while the blast next door can damage the school, it only damages the bottom half of a wall which stands in the way. (In fact you really do need to look again at the righthand side of the wall and the shape of damages to realise that the wall is actually the back plate for a shooting gallery of sorts?) Now lets go back to that classroom which is covered in glass, Where are the posters, the signs that it is a child’s classroom, there is nothing. It is a sterile environment Of course the bBC drop the line that thankfully nobody was hurt in that bombing (Err bBC what don’t you think I understand about the building next door getting bombed during the middle of the night don’t you think I understand?)
So let me get this straight, the cold callous IDF which the whole world knows for sure doesn’t give a jot about civilian casualties, bombs abandoned buildings at the dead of night and is at fault for blowing in the windows of the school next door. Thankfully (according to the bBC) causing no child injuries. Anybody else bothered by how while there is no debris from the bomb outside (cleared away?) yet a school classroom is still littered with glass which can be swept up in minutes?)
Then is a twist of the facts on the ground the bBC claims that the reason for the upsurge in violence is because somebody believes that both sides don’t wish for peace, hence the current bout in fighting. Nothing at all from the bBC on the recent clampdown by Hamas on people protesting in Gaza and how Hamas feels that distracting those people by attacking Israel (and the subsequent backlash) they can have everybody singing “we are all Hamas now”
Thankfully, the bBC isn’t my sole news provider and I can glean far more informative news from countries which are supposed to be third world.
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Here is that picture of the dividing wall, have a look where all the damage is.
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Good spot on the wall as well. Watch the film again or look at the right hand side of the shot. The marks look like that made by quite a tight grouping of rounds hitting the spot repeatedly.
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Yes, the BBC has been strangely silent on the Gazans wanting to “join the ‘Arab spring’” since Jon Donnison’s piece from a couple weeks back. One would think that’s rather important to follow, all things considered. I wonder if Bowen had a word with and told him to stifle.
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By BBC standards the report was almost an improvement. They mention the rockets first and even show footage. They show damage to an Israeli house.
I am occassionally asked about disproportion and I use this analogy. If I was to meet one of the Klitscho brothers and without warning throw a punch I could possibly land one. Given the difference in size, fitness and ability I could sting him, I expect, but with the best will in the world neither knock him or cause real damage. As both the brothers are gentlemen they would probably warn me never to do that again but if I persisted eventually would respond with a ‘tap’ that would leave me seeing double for a week. Who is the victim? Do I have the right to complain?
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Even allowing for inflated figures due to ‘children’ on the list who died other than through the action of the IDF (there is a strong financial and social advantage in being the parent of a shahid and blaming the Israelis is a good defence to murder of a family member) and through listing as ‘innocent’ children youth who die as soldiers in armed clashes, there is no doubt there are many more Palestinian casualties than Israeli. The question is why.
The Palestinian answer is that Israelis/Jews are homicidal maniacs. I would say there are more practical reasons, some instrumental, some ideological and some strategic for the difference.
1) Israel has invested heavily in defensive measures such as bomb shelters and early warning. The residents of Sderot have a crucial 15 seconds notice to run for cover that the residents of Gaza apparently don’t have.
2) Most Palestinian artillery is a one time random strike at large soft target, like towns and villages. They know they may be killed before launch or if they remain too long after. In addition they have no way of knowing where the rocket or mortar has landed and correct aim. This is the reason why 50 mortars in one day does so little damage. Israel generally hits what it aims at, although even that has its limits.
3) Israel keeps its military activity away from civilian areas. Palestinian both as tactics and strategy keeps it close, hoping that the use of voluntary or involuntary human shields will stop attack and if it doesn’t expecting to use the casualties for propaganda purposes. In addition there are many documented cases of Palestinians using their homes, mosques, hospitals, etc to store and manufacture munitions, as command posts, etc. turning them into military targets.
4) Palestine encourages its children to take part in military activities. Israel forbids it.
5) Palestinians have built up a death cult where death in battle is honoured. Israeli military tactics are designed to reduce Israeli casualties. Death of its soldiers is avoided where possible even at the cost of more death of the enemy. No Israeli child would look forward to martyrdom.
Under these conditions is it any wonder there is such a difference in the casualty rate?
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Just watched the report. What I also found intriguing is the red brick warehouse looking building on the left hand side. No wall to protect any of it, yet no sign whatsoever of any debris or signs that any blast wave reached it.
There is also some lovely framing. At first the the upper left side of the screen looks like the biggest section of concrete miraculously hanging off our bomb damaged building. I couldn’t work out how it was holding itself up. It really adds to the building looking like it had some serious poundage dropped on it.
After three watches I worked it out. It’s not part of the building at all. It’s part of the wall that the cameraman is filming from behind. The clue is in the peeling paint on both the section in the upper right and the wall along the bottom of the screen as the shot starts. Suddenly that building looks more like a demolition than it does a bomb blast.
What helps it look more like a controlled demolition are the multiple catperpillar tracks in the sand in the compound.
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Not to detract from yet another peerless forensic dissection to make the paid ‘experts’ look the overpaid, under-performing hacks they are, but one comment resonated with an earlier view I had about the 24/7 news maw leading to a silly build-up of expectation and then a counter-trash at nothing happening the next. With no glimmer of realities inbetween.
‘In other words, the person who starts the fight (and lets be serious here with full support of the locals) is allowed to bitch, when he gets slapped. But according to the bBC actually they are the victims here.’
I am seeing this in the Libya on Libya semi-finals, which is being treated by the media like a Williams sisters tennis match as far as I can make out.
West blows the cr@p out of Col’s armour, and the rag-tags rush in. Something bigger than a 20mm fires back and they scamper back out again. In, out, and shake it to the camera all about.
And the cretinous reporters lap up the cretinous insights of some bloke who was changing types on a Toyota last week.
As history has shown, it is no huge surprise that air trumps armour and armour trumps infantry. So all you are ‘reporting’ is one of the most bizarre games of chicken I have ever seen.
Meanwhile….
http://www.ihatethemedia.com/libyan-war-is-six-days-old-but-obama-spokesman-says-speech-was-in-development-for-weeks?
I am sure Mr. Mardell will explain.
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Of course the White House took weeks to come up with the speech. That’s obviously the “deliberation” and deep thinking Mardell kept telling you was the reason his beloved Obamessiah was doing all this time, despite the unfair criticisms.
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For balance…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/03/bbc_online_outage_on_tuesday_2.html
I was OK with their explanation on this, but the Graun seems concerned that it fell short.
Anyone know why?
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Speaking of the hunt for embarrassments…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12904585?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Is it really the national broadcaster’s job to go framing such things in this way?
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http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/bbc-defends-coverage-of-anti-cuts-march-after-accusations-of-bias/s2/a543466/
And the support floods in for Helen.
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Ms Boaden has spoken again from on high, with another variation of “we aren’t biased because I say so”.
I’m sure you’d all like to convince her otherwise.
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Just noticed that My Site has linked to this already.
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I seem to have had a name change imposed, and no matter what I ‘click to edit’ (still the ex-moniker greets one there) that seems to be that.
Welcome to the new me:)
No matter, I rather prefer the words on topic to be judged than the avatar or even the history. Were that the BBC so minded.
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channel4news C4 Newsroom blogger Submit a spending cut in your area to our map – tweet a link & use the hashtag #c4cuts. It will appear here: http://bit.ly/eTMjDl
It’s going to be matched by a BBC one where you can submit a troughing council CEO or hemp diversity officer. Really.
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Has anybody spotted the latest update from Stephanie “Floundering” Flanders? For those who do not follow her she is supposed to be the BBC’s economics editor but in reality she mostly writes pro-Labour politics.
The latest entry suggests that the Chancellor of the Exchequer needs another Plan A. However the srticle itself seems to be a rather transparent request for someone to think up a policy for her ex-boyfriend Ed. Balls…
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Apologies by srticle I meant article
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Speaking of messed up irony that may test Aunty’s loyaities…
TechCrunch TechCrunch
Tesla Sues BBC For Libel Claiming Top Gear Rigged Tests, BBC “will be vigorously defending” http://tcrn.ch/hmmxZn
Using all unique funding at their disposal, no doubt. Again.
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When I saw the headline “Doctors in Danger in the BBC website, for one dizzy moment I thought they might be reporting on this story:
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=214236
How stupid of me! The story was in fact about an Arab Government being nasty to doctors in Bahrein.
The fact that the Israeli Government has set up a hospital in the radiation-endangered area of Japan is of course of no interest to the BBC, and a search of the website yielded not a mention of this notable humanitarian effort, which as far as I can tell has not been matched by any other country….. Oh, and the doctors manning this hospital are Israeli Army doctors. Definitely a no-no for the biased broadcaster – we can’t show the Israeli army in a favourable light, can we?
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And in other news…
@commentisfree Jessica Reed Are you feeling the squeeze? I’m looking for readers who would want to write about (their) falling wages. Details:http://gu.com/p/2z54a/tw
Meanwhile, the BBC is seeking income-generating private sector taxpayers who are keen to share just how well their pensions are doing, how often they were thrilled to relocate to keep in work, and how chuffed they are to be funding this:
@MrHarryCole Harry Cole Good to see the Beeb are advertising for a Diversity Work Experience Coordinator.
No, really. if true, I am simply thrilled.
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