173 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The unions and neo-Marxists are threatening to destroy your country on the BBC right now.  Good luck with that.  The BBC has already taken sides.

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    • Grant says:

      David P,
      Perversely, I rather hope we do have big general strikes and disruption. I think most Brits haven’t really been shaken out of their complacency yet and are unaware of the seriousness of the country’s situation. They need to suffer a lot more before they wake up, if they ever do. So, let the Unions backed by the BBC, as usual , do their worst.

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      • Cassandra King says:

        Hear hear!

        People really need a right royal kick up the arse, its wakey wakey time.

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        That’s a big “if”, Grant.  We might be waking up a bit in the US, but I’m not sure it’s going to cross the pond.

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      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        Mr. Robinson’s blog is addressing this now.

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/13873240

        Get in while it lasts.

        Which, given the input thus far, won’t be too long on past evidence.

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    • Barry says:

      I’m not sure the impact will be that great. People receiving welfare may suffer, paradoxically, but does it really matter whether thousands of pen-pushers turn up for work? As far as I can tell, they’re not getting a lot of sympathy from people in the private sector.

      The votes were taken on a low turn out and I suspect that the union bosses will climb down, at least partially, provided David Cameron holds his nerve. That, of course, is the big question.

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  2. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC and how it barks up the wrong tree when it comes to Israel.
    Jerusalem court denies dog condemned to stoning
    Reports that a Jewish rabbinical court in Israel condemned a stray dog to death by stoning have been strongly denied. The source of the report, Israel’s Maariv newspaper, apologised for its headline and for any offence caused.The head of the court, Yehoshua Levin, was quoted by Maariv as saying: “There is no basis for abuse of animals from the side of Jewish Halacha [law].”In a statement, the court denied that a dog had been condemned.

    The above article is how the bBC responded when it found out that the story of a dog condemned to death by stoning for walking inside a Jewish temple was false. Instead of a retraction the bBC convolutes the story in which to place more emphasis on the Jews denying the article than the bBC getting it wrong. Now I wonder why the anti Semitics at the bBC have decided to report on a non-story as a denial by the Jews?

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    • Samfromgib says:

      The BBC headline writer must have enjoyed writing the headline for the latest variation: ” ‘Death sentence’ for Israeli dog. ”
      But how do they know it was an Israeli dog? It might have been a Palestinian dog… no, wait – it didn’t have a bomb strapped to it!

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  3. George R says:

    ISLAM: battlelines drawn?:

    On the one side – INBBC, with its endless Islamic propaganda such as:

    Muslim Rageh Omaar (of Islamic Al Jazeera) and his latest Islamic propaganda 3-part TV series for INBBC, financed by us, his trips to Mecca included:

    http://bbcmediaaccess.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/06_june/20/muhammad.shtml

    (Made by ‘Crecent Films’ -get it? -for INBBC, all propaganda PAID FOR BY US.)

    Not this version of Muhammad’s life:

    “The Truth about Muhammad – founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion” by Robert Spencer:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596980281/102-9197660-0482563?ie=UTF8&tag=robertspencer-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1596980281#reader_1596980281

    On the other side:

    United We Stand: First Transatlantic Anti-Islamization Conference Coming to France July 2


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    • jarwill101 says:

      The number is few, but there are some media faces that are utterly unwatchable. Rageh Omaar’s is one of them. He has the smirk of a psychopath who thinks he knows better than everyone else, even though he is handcuffed in police custody & due for lengthy incarceration. Pretty Rageh, the Beeboid’s pin-up boy, an emigre from the wondrous culture that is Somalia. Any one of whose inhabitants could start a clan war in an empty room. A culture that has enriched my own north London ‘hood with a string of appalling murders. So I won’t be watching Rag’s 3 steps to heaven, which in one way is a pity. Because we all know that that naughty BBC likes to break taboos, so I’m going to miss the bit where he tells us that the Koran was merely the Da Vinci code of its day, cobbled together to while away the cold desert nights, & that the whole twisted, medieval edifice of Islam is built on a 7th century mirage. And, to be honest, it’s high time it had its age of enlightenment, & its followers simmered down, for good.
      Now that would be a taboo-buster.

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    • reformation70 says:

      Funny how diversity cut’s only one way when it comes to the BBC. Rageh Omaar hosted several documentarys on Christianity for the BBC, such as The Miracles of Jesus and the Shroud of Turin Material Evidence.

      So in the interest of diversity shouldn’t the BBC have chosen someone like David Icke or maybe the Rev Ian Pailsey to do this Muhammad documentary?

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  4. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Poor Tim Willcox has been sent to greece to cover the trouble, and did an interview with what I guess were two ordinary Greek citizens.  They were claiming that they didn’t want the bailout and would tell the politicians to refuse the “loan”, if you can believe that.

    Apparently, these people believe that the whole bailout thing is really a conspiracy between the Greek Government and the EU mandarins to force the poor oppressed Greeks to take on severe austerity.  We don’t need the money, says the Greek man, and we don’t want the loan because interest rates are too high.

    By the way, the man Willcox spoke to has been unemployed for four years.

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    • Grant says:

      I have heard Greeks saying they think it is all an EU plot. Greeks, stupid as ever. Let them eat cake !

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      • Barry says:

        I suppose, in a sense, the Euro IS an EU plot.    
           
        Do they really think that loafing around for 30 years and then retiring early builds a healthy economy? Yes, because we have people like that too. They’re about to go on strike – or so they say.

        One of the dangers of withdrawing your labour is that it reveals how important you really are.

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        • Grant says:

          Barry,
          Well, yes. The whole EU is a plot. I wonder if it will unravel as quickly as the Soviet Union ? Maybe I am dreaming !

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          • Roland Deschain says:

            I suspect it will unravel as suddenly.  But not necessarily soon.

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          • Barry says:

            Grant,
            It’s not looking good is it? German tolerance is under strain. Once self interest really takes hold it could happen. And suddenly, as Roland D points out.

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            • Grant says:

              Barry,
              Oh dear. We all know what happens when the Germans think they are getting a bad deal   😉

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  5. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC and a tale of two faiths:  
    BBC to dramatise Life Of Brian controversy in new film  
     
    A BBC comedy drama that explores the controversy surrounding the release of Monty Python’s 1979 film, Life of Brian, has been commissioned.The comedy movie revolved around a man called Brian Cohen, who was mistaken for the Messiah.   At the time, church leaders protested over the production claiming it mocked Christ and it was subsequently banned in several countries.  
    Holy Flying Circus will be broadcast in the autumn on BBC Four. So the bBC which has no problem offending Christians does so again by making a program about the uproar caused when the monty Python team had a argument with Church officials over the film ‘The life of Brian.’  
     
    Now contrast how the bBC has no problem offending any faith bar one with this story.  
    The BBC is to trace the journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad for a new series which is claimed to be a first for British television.   Al Jazeera reporter Rageh Omaar will present the three-part programme for BBC2, following in the prophet’s footsteps from Mecca and along the journeys he took during his life.   To ensure the programmes are in line with Islamic tradition, they will not depict the face of Muhammad or feature dramatic reconstructions of his life.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      That’s not Muhammed, it’s a very naughty boy!

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    • Grant says:

      Will it be a comedy ?  ” The Life of Mustafa “, maybe ?

      ( NB “Mustafa” as a name is often used in muslim societies as a name for a common or stupid person . Apologies to all Mustafas and Brians  😀 ).

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      • Barry says:

        Mustafa – didn’t know that. Wonderful.

        A hefty dose of ridicule would do them good.

        Fat chance.

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        • Grant says:

          Barry,
          Some years ago there was a comedy cartoon character in a Turkish newspaper called “Mustafa”, based on James Bond, except the baddies always won and he never got the girl !

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          • Grant says:

            Grant,
            The cartoon character was “Mustafa”, not the newspaper !
            Grant (talking to myself , now ).

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    • Mailman says:

      What? How the f8ck can you have a story about Mo and NOT show him or what he did? Whats the f8cking point of the series then???

      Mailman

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  6. David Preiser (USA) says:

    I want to repost a link the My Site (C2E) mentioned at the end of the last open thread.  I think it’s worth continuing to look at it because it concerns Justin Webb using his BBC-labeled Twitter account to publicly belittle someone.

    It was about Graham Linehan’s latest post about getting ambushed by the Today programme, and calling them out for it.  Links are to the relevant Webb tweets.

     So anyway, the show went how it went, the presenters had some fun at my expense after I left the studio and later that day Justin Webb started tweeting about me, calling me ‘Father Ted’ every time in an attempt to belittle me (not a big fan of the show, I guess).
    Here, he accuses me of being evasive. The next day, he’s still annoyed at me for having the temerity to answer back. The next day again, he obviously reads my blog post but doesn’t try to speak to me directly (very easy on Twitter, Justin)… and finally, he runs afoul of BBC’s rules regarding social media (rules which were pointed out to him by some of my followers, I should add) and takes a final swing.
    It’s frustrating that I have to bother y’all with this silliness. But I need to write this down so I can forget about it, because as you can imagine, this stuff is sort of annoying to have to carry around. I would possibly have even let it all slide but their statement really rankles. “There was certainly no intention to ‘ambush’ Mr Linehan and we are sorry if he took it that way, but our producers felt they had clearly explained in advance how the discussion would play out”.
     As the above email proves, I was deliberately mis-briefed by The Today Programme and in their statement afterwards, they flat-out lied about it. It’s a show with a proud history, but at the present time, their default mode of bunfight journalism is lazy, poisonous to the national conversation and leading them down some ethical dark alleys. They should stop apologising for how I “took it” and start apologising for what they did.

    We’ve all seen ol’ Justin be abusive on air when he feels like it, and the BBC top bosses enjoyed it so much they dumped Ed “Other Projects” Stourton and elevated him to a chair on Today.  The arrogance and sneering here is appalling, but not at all surprising to anyone who saw him go after Sarah Palin and people who didn’t want to vote for his beloved Obamessiah.  After all, we know with ol’ Justin it’s genetic.  It’s in his DNA.  As he says in his last tweet regarding Linehan, “It’s a BBC thing….”

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    • Grant says:

      Bullying is also a BBC thing. How pathetic that spineless little BBC creeps like Webb hound one of the few people who have the nerve to stand up to them. 

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    • Millie Tant says:

      That writer was one of the more interesting guests to appear on the Beeboid programme and is obviously an intelligent man with plenty to talk about, who had the misfortune to get a sneering dud for an interviewer.

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  7. My Site (click to edit) says:

    First I lost my nickname, and now I have become an acronym. Quite like it, mind.
    My Site(cte) 😉

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  8. My Site (click to edit) says:
    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Thanks for this link.  Very interesting about Linux users being unable to exercise their rights as license fee-payers and being ignored by the BBC.  I expect that’s not the reason you posted this (more likely it was regarding the DRM power grab), but it got me wondering, considering the debate occasionally brought up here about the BBC catering to tiny minorities, i.e. Welsh language programming and all that.  
       
      How many Mac or Linux users are shut out by the BBC compared to the number of enabled users of a given minority language content?  Is the BBC favoring special minorities over members of the general public?

      The Beeboids seem unsure if it’s 600 or 97,600.  Even ex-Beeboid and maven who oversaw the iPlayer’s development, Martin Belam, knows that it could be as much as 60,000. Althouh he says that the BBC’s remit is really to provide the best service as possible for the “majority” of license fee users, and has to gauge the cost of making yet another version for a “very small drop in a very big ocean”

      Another site says there are over 97,000 Linux users in the UK.  That’s about the same as the number of Scots Gaelic speakers.  So how much money is invested in them, versus how much is deemed not worth spending on Linux users?

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      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        I shared because I knew there would be those better qualified to analyse the detail. Which is why this site represents better value than the vastly resourced  BBC, which will only apply one agenda-parroting makeweight and render any insight worthless.

        After the nth 9-5 Robinson blog outing, essentially excluding the entire UK population not in a media studio or party activist office with access to interactive sites permitted, I am also VERY interested in the selective exclusion of licence fee payers.

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      • Barry says:

        I see a hell of a lot of MacBooks on BBC TV. And they all look brand new, for some reason.

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      • Anonymous says:

        An open source version of iPlayer was made available to Linux users around 2009. I only use Linux and certainly been able to watch BBC programs for a couple of years.
        BBC actually use Linux extensivley as an operating system.
        Cannot watch ITV or Sky stuff because they use Silverlight and the equivalent, Moonlight is not very good.

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        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Thanks for the info.  I guess open source is the only way to enable as many Linux users as possible anyway, so good for them.

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  9. Backwoodsman says:

    Beeboid meme for the day ( or is it the month ?) Coalition U -turns . They even have a seguay of all the news reports on all the U – turns , which the woman on R4 took great delight in playing.
    So, labour ‘listen’ ( not that they did of course), tories U turn.

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    • Llew says:

      Wasn’t that way first thing this morning (as I commented over on the old open thread) Early this morning the instruction from Labour HQ hadn’t yet been sent over to the BBC so they were avoiding using the word “u turn” because this was a popular u turn the that country really wanted so best not to big it up.

      But once they’d lined up Ed Balls and others to bang on about the Tories rushing into things, getting things wrong etc then it was all hands on the BBC decks to scream u turn and confusion etc.  🙂

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  10. cjhartnett says:

    Unions, global warming, cuts, Greece….wonder which of the BBCs worries will we be getting tonight?
    Terrorism, worries about not enough immigration or crime, Christians?…so many rocks to chuck stones at !
    I`ll be looking for DLT at the time…he fuelled the Burmese revolution you know!

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  11. D B says:

    There was a new Marcus Brigstocke interview  in the Independent at the weekend (a reminder of the last one). In this one he admits he’s a hypocrite over his eco campaigning (“You just feel awful about it and add it to the list of things to wring your hands over”) and defends ending both of his kids to private school: “It’s an interesting one, that, because I have ethical problems with it, but it comes down to – and I’m not saying this is an excuse for poor ethical decisions – but it comes down to a really basic instinct, that Darwin described, of ‘I will make the best environment for my children’. And I think this is the best environment for them.”

    Next time you hear him on the Now Show ranting about working class plebs who oppose immigration, just remember he refuses to send his kids to the local inner city state schools.  

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Typical.  Admitting feeling conflicted is the new Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card.

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    • Grant says:

      So he admits he is a bloody hypocrite and doesn’t give a damn. Typical socialist.
      Did he mention his “solar-powered ”  camper van ?
      What a prat.

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    • Buggy says:

      I’ll repeat: Prickstocke. Meat suit. Lead boots. Wolves.

      That is all.

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    • magiclantern1 says:

      Has anyone here ever encountered a Beeboid socialist who was NOT a stinking hypocrite?

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  12. D B says:

    There was a new Marcus Brigstocke interview  in the Independent at the weekend (a reminder of the last one). In this one he admits he’s a hypocrite over his eco campaigning (“You just feel awful about it and add it to the list of things to wring your hands over”) and defends sending both of his kids to private school: “It’s an interesting one, that, because I have ethical problems with it, but it comes down to – and I’m not saying this is an excuse for poor ethical decisions – but it comes down to a really basic instinct, that Darwin described, of ‘I will make the best environment for my children’. And I think this is the best environment for them.” 
     
    Next time you hear him on the Now Show ranting about working class plebs who oppose immigration, just remember he refuses to send his kids to the local inner city state schools.

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    • D B says:

      Must remember to quote Brigstocke’s Darwin Defence next time some chugger demands money to help some poor unfortunate souls overseas who are suffering from the effects of climate change. “Sorry mate, it’s like Marcus Brigstocke says – it’s my Darwinian impulse to provide the best environment for MY kids so no, you can’t have any money.”

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      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        That’ll work just fine as long as you remember to wring your hands over it as you walk away.

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      • Grant says:

        What is the excuse if you don’t have any children ?  “I want the best for my dogs ”  ?

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        • Buggy says:

          I’d take any dog in the world over some poor kid with Prickstocke’s DNA as half its make-up.

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  13. cjhartnett says:

    Do carry an onion(cut) as well. The Marcus Defence is a good `un!
    Mabe a spot of tea treee oil on the corner of a big hankie to wipe away a manly tear but a waft of caring into the bargain!

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    • John Horne Tooke says:

      More here.
      http://www.climate-resistance.org/2011/06/a-deep-sea-mystery.html

      Would a real journalist not be curious on who is feeding him the stories he repeats daily on his BBC News website.

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      • Craig says:

        Extraordinary.

        So Richard Black’s vague “expert panel of scientists” includes a Labour MP, some enviromental campaigners and a film maker. The academic profile for lead scientist Alex Rogers, the “professor of conservation biology” quoted in Black’s article, says he has worked for Greenpeace, as indeed does that of another of the “experts” he quotes, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.

        Again much better investigative reporting from the blogosphere than from the BBC.

        Black is beyond a joke. That’s two very similar sorts of pieces from him in the matter of a couple of weeks that have been absolutely shredded by the blogosphere. There would have been no need for such shreddings if he’d done his job properly in the first place.

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        • Natsman says:

          It won’t make much difference, he’ll don his blinkers (not that he ever removes them) and carry on spreading “The Word” regardless.  Black and Green – funny combination, it reminds me a). of a brand of tea, and b). a brand of chocolate.  I’ll make a concerted effort to avoid them both.

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  14. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Here’s an excerpt from an Obamessiah speech the BBC won’t be telling you about.  At a DNC event, no less:


    Over the last 15 months we’ve created over 2.1 million private sector jobs. (Laughter.)

    Yes, that’s Democrat big-wigs laughing at Him, from the official White House transcript.

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    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      UPDATE:  Has the White House taken stealth-edit lessons from the BBC?

      Here’s a screen shot of the original (I suspected this would happen once word got out on Drudge), so click on the link in my above comment to see how they’ve replaced the word “Laughter” with “Applause”.  Take your pick of which autocratic Communist regime it reminds you of.

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  15. Dorian Smith says:

    Radio 2 have a treat in a few minutes time, “The Radio Ballads – Ballad of the Miners’ Strike. A musical exploration of how lives were changed by the year-long miners’ strike.”

    I’m sure it will be an impartial programme, course it will. Perhaps worth thinking who might be on it, I’m guessing Billy Bragg.

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    • Roland Deschain says:

      No, it says musical.  That excludes St William of Bragg.

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      • cjhartnett says:

        Inspires me to offer them a song in praise of Ian Mc Gregor-thinking Local Hero here…local boy makes good and returns home to free the miners from the Reign Of Bad King Arthur.
        The miners all get cleaner lungs to sing their charming songs ,and can march without wheezing!
        But Bad Arthur refuses to accept the clean rivers and the nice wind turbines that will save the planet-the bugger even refuses to leave the Unions castle, and stays in his counting house…one miner…two miners…
        Might preview it at Tolpuddle in a few weeks time!

           0 likes

        • david hanson says:

          It never fails to amuse me that these lefty Beeboids who are always harping on in support of the miners, are inavariably Greenies who think we sholdn’t be using fossil fuels!

             0 likes

  16. George R says:

    ‘Telegraph’:

    “Pakistan arrests senior army officer over Islamist links”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8589274/Pakistan-arrests-senior-army-officer-over-Islamist-links.html

    Does he work for INBBC?

    “BBC appeal for release of detained Tajikistan reporter”

    http://www.frontlineclub.com/blogs/RyanGallagher/2011/06/bbc-appeal-for-release-of-reporter-held-in-tajikistan.html

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  17. reformation70 says:

    I just saw a documenatry by the BBC having a go about the Catholic Church about paedophiles. However the BBC is very slient about their own paedophile problem such as Chris Denning, Jonathan King, Chris Langham and Kenneth Williams. I await ITV to make a program about the BBC Paedoes with intercuts from Play School, Jackanory, and the  Teletubbies. Maybe they will show clips of Gary Glitter on Pop Quiz.

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    • cjhartnett says:

      Well said sir!
      I too tire of the BBC popping at the Catholics.

      I get tired of these hacks with an axe ,hopping over to Ireland or Belgium to hound them.
      Yet they never look into the EUs record in this field,even      though that might make a good programme. 

      I personally would be looking at the CRBs of anyone who gets to meet, film kids and especially for the nasty little “Squidge the Adult” shows that are all over CBeebies or whatever it`s called.

      I would also go back to the countless “Children in Need/Red Nose” events and trawl the personnel involved at all stages-then I`d sell my half arsed insinuations to Sky.
      Maybe it could be part of a PhD in becoming a priest or something like that!
      Can`t imagine the Religious Affairs bunch being interested though…they`d rather slip notes to their colleagues to dish the dirt and hope they`ll still get an invite to Thompsons soirees!

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    • George R says:

      “Trevor Phillips on those militant, extremist, homicidal Christians”

      http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/06/trevor-phillips-on-those-militant.html

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  18. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Check out Andrew Neil standing up to George Galloway.  Galloway was his usual slippery self, trying to twist every question to his own ends.  Any time Neil asked him a seriously challenging question – especially about what he said to Ahmadimjihadi – Galloway’s only defense was “You used to work for Fox News and Rupert Murdoch”, and any attempt by Neil to press him for an answer was met with more of the same.

    Most amusing of all was when, at the end, after realizing he had to really dig into his bag of tricks to get out of lying, Galloway did a Graham Linehan and accused Neil of ambushing him.  George reads the papers, that’s for sure.  It will surprise no one here that Neil on his blog is far more generous and diplomatic about it than Justin Webb was.  Makes ol’ Justin look extremely unprofessional and childish in comparison.

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    • Grant says:

      George Galloway is barking mad. But why is a has-been extremist like him on the “Daily Politics” in the first place ?  Only on the BBC ? 

         0 likes

  19. George R says:

    INBBC report:

    “Saudi Arabia in Indonesian maid beheading row”

    Question to INBBC:

     -do you want us to think that this has nothing to do with Islam and Sharia law, because you don’t mention them?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13860097

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  20. Grant says:

    I have just caught up with the Chris Evans racism row. Apparently, last friday on the “One Show” he said to a black scientist “I can barely see you “.
    I wonder if she will get the Mcwhirter treatment or will he get the Carol Thatcher treatment ?
    Nice one for the BBC !

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    • Buggy says:

      Isn’t that pretty much the same thing that got Sarah Kennedy the old heave-ho ?

      Oh dear. What a dilemma for Auntie !
      Break out the popcorn, this should be good.  😀

         0 likes

    • Barry says:

      Groan. I went to the Sun website to catch up on this story and one of the comments near the top says “There is absolutely no difference between the ability to see white and black people at night whatsoever”.  
       
      Why do people delude themselves over race? Black people have darker skin – fact. Black skin reflects less light – fact. Nothing racist or, in my opinion, particularly offensive about this unless you subscribe to the “you haven’t been victimised for 400 years” school of thought.  
       
      Last night, I saw about ten minutes of a TV programme in which a black man, an A & E doctor I think, was saying that black youth must stop stabbing and killing and blaming everyone else for their misfortune. Don’t know what the prog was – caught it by accident. However, this was strong stuff by TV standards but the doctor was black, so that’s OK. Chris Evans is white, so it isn’t.  
       
      As usual – racial issues surrounded by humbug, hypocrisy and cant.

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  21. John Anderson says:

    Last week’s Radio 4 Media show had a couple of eye-openers.  The newsbite unit that provides 2-minute news bulletins to Radio 1 and Radio 2 employs 52 people !!!  That is more than any of the commercial radio stations employs all up – presenters,  researchers, producers,  marketers,  management,  the whole staff !

    And Mark Damazer admits generally metropolitan liberal genes among BBC staff – but then argues that the BBC gene of impartiality somehow balances everything.  What a lie ! – he admits as much in relation to the immigration issue,  so how many more examples are there of liberal groupthink ?

    Plus – the commercial radio executive commissioned to have a poke around Radio2 1 and 2 found a total financial fog – and implied that very large economies could be made.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011vg97/The_Media_Show_15_06_2011/

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  22. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Whilst most office walls carry poster’s with such witty slogans as ‘You don’t have to be mad to work her but it helps!’
    I’ve been assured that this one adorns the walls of every BBC studio:

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  23. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Talking of creepy…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13874209

    …if without irony.

    Sadly, ‘broadcast only’, so one is rather restricted to the bubble created within the BBC edit suite.

    Interesting the choice of topic searched for.

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    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      Corre…er.. not very stealthy (by me) page update:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13873028

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Google has been doing this for years, and so have lots of subscription sites.  This is old news, just an excuse to moan about corporate control.

        It’s kind of dishonest, though, for Cellan-Jones to say that search engines can filter out one’s prejudices.  How can that be possible?  Unless it’s a site where the viewer rates things which then don’t show up in “Recommendations” or whatever.

        Oh, wait, the whole premise is false.  It turns out search results don’t bear out his theory, and it’s really about more personalized advertising.  BFD.  Again, nothing new here.  And the whole thing about filtering out prejudices is clearly BS.

        I wonder what Rory’s really concerend about?  Kiddie-fiddling manuals not turning up in his search results anymore?

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  24. George R says:

    More British people’s money for INBBC’s BBC Arabic TV service, based at Mecca-facing East-wing of Broadcasting House, London.


    “BBC World Service receives £2.2m funding boost.The Government bowed to pressure over cuts to the BBC World Service today by providing an extra £2.2 million of funding.”

    [Extract from ‘Telegraph’ report]:

    “Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that the money was being allocated to shore up the corporation’s Arabic Service.
    In a written statement to MPs, he said: ‘It is right that we should look at ways in which we can assist the BBC Arabic Service to continue their valuable work in the region.
    ”’So I have agreed that we will provide additional funding of £2.2 million per annum to enable the World Service to maintain the current level of investment in the BBC Arabic Service.”’

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8591312/BBC-World-Service-receives-2.2m-funding-boost.html

    What ‘valuable work in the region’? The Islamic propagandists of Broadcasting House provides the Muslims of the Middle East and beyond with the propaganda they want to hear, something on the lines of the message from Islamic chums of INBBC  Arabic TV service: Al Jazeera.

    Close down INBBC’s propagandist World Service broadcasting empire.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      It’s all part of the BBC’s and the Government’s fight against Israeli propaganda.

         0 likes

    • cjhartnett says:

      George R!
      A bad week to demand the end of the World Service.
      How about we sack the lot of them but bring back DLT to do the current affairs for them!
      Maybe the Arab Spring lot might see more sense if we send the Hairy Cornflakes flecked ramblings to them-if they don`t just calm down, and “search for the hero inside themselves”…Michelle Obamas philosophy!

         0 likes

  25. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Pat Condell tells us what the BBC never will:

       0 likes

  26. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Awww, poor “Gas ’em” Galliano had apparently been “suffering for some time” before he went off on that uppity Jew and got in trouble for it.  Thanks for clearing that up, BBC.

    It’s one thing to read out the lawyers’ defense – standard procedure in news, I know that – but it’s quite another for the reporter to do a sympathetic portrait and then read out the lawyer statement that he’s a poor addict who needs TLC.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      But David, are you seriously trying to suggest that the BBC treated Mel Gibson any differently? :-E

         0 likes

  27. dave s says:

    I have nearly given up on Newsnight and last night is why.
    Paxman was aggressively demanding from a Coalition minister to be told why we were not attacking Syria or words to that effect.
    He seems unable to understand simple politics. Nothing can be done without UN sanction for which we are pushing. It was patiently explained to him but to no avail Paxman just went on and on like he is wont to.
    This is not interviewing it is pure rubbish and just not informative.
    World class? third class more like.

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  28. My Site (click to edit) says:

    ..et, le gaffe du jour est…

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8591524/Foreign-Office-gaffe-as-massive-u-turn-on-BBC-funding-is-announced.html

    Interesting the number of folk there who don’t see the licence fee as any kind of option-free imposition.

    Probably the same folk who are on 24/7 standby, but especially any time during the normal working day to try and intercept any BBC-hegemony questioning on any and all blogs.

       0 likes

    • Grant says:

      And there was silly old me thinking the FCO is politically impartial.
      But how funny that they put a BBC-style headline on their own website. You couldn’t make it up. Useless !

         0 likes

  29. Louis Robinson says:

    Re: the Monty Python drama about “The Life of Brian”. There has been an interesting trend of late to make “dramas” out of BBC history. I guess it’s one way of controlling the message. However an independent version of past events would be nice. So far we’ve had films about Tony Hancock, Morecambe and Wise, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and many docudramas. In all these programs the BBC itself is curiously unexamined and its management absent from the main stage, though members of upper management have always played important roles in the real life decision making. I wonder why they are so illusive in dramas?
    Me? I’m waiting for the juiciest episode of recent BBC history: the early months of the John Birt era. Somehow, I think I’ll be waiting a long, long time for that one.

       0 likes

  30. ltwf1964 says:

    i’d love to see paxman getting emptied live on screen

       0 likes

  31. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Just saw this…

    ‘I’ve just heard that Laura Kuenssberg is off to ITV as Buissiness Editor. She’d have made a great Political Editor on BBC’

    If true, I’d have to agree with the sentiment, though perhaps for different reasons.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Business editor?  Her?  First Matt Frei, now Laura K.  ITV seems to be trying to lower its credibility.

         0 likes

      • Grant says:

        I was about to ask “what does Laura know about business ? ”  Then I realised, what does it matter, she’s a journalist.

           0 likes

        • Roland Deschain says:

          About as much as Stephanie Flanders knows about economics.  Or Richard Black knows about science.

             0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2011/jun/22/laura-kuenssberg-twitter-account?

      The BBC’s loss is the licence fee payers’ gain.

      Until the next clone is hatched.

      Actually, when not being partial (which she is welcome to be on others; dime), he main twitter contribution seemed to be a running commentary on who entered or exited doors, which I am pretty sure a Turing machine could manage, including the ‘god like’ appellation for a Brown or ‘Pede, or ‘snarling’ for any Tory.

      With the media business that incestuous, no wonder the gene pool is as messed up as it is.

         0 likes

  32. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Here’s Mark Mardell watering down the US goal for Afghanistan, in order to prepare the reader to support tonight’s speech from his beloved Obamessiah.  Mardell makes it clear that we haven’t won and the President needs to make sure His “draw-down” doesn’t look like a retreat in defeat.

    It’s easy to get soldiers to say that they think they should stay and fight. After all, it’s what they do, and Mardell gives us plenty of vox pops to that effect, just so we know to dismiss their opinion as biased.  There’s also a bit of fretting that some people think we’ll be there forever, all the more reason to press for getting out now.

    Since the President is apparently going to announce (again) a withdrawal plan, the White House spin machine has gone into action to make sure it doesn’t come across too much as quitting too early. Kim Ghattas in on the News Channel right now explaining the same thing in loftier terms. So how does Mardell describe it?


    The president may suggest tonight that the mission in Afghanistan, to degrade al-Qaeda, has been achieved or is within sight.

    “Degrade”.  Not push al-Qaeda out, not build a new government which can eventually keep al-Qaeda from taking over the whole country again, but merely to “degrade” them.  Talk about lowering the bar.

    The only thing that’s degraded here is the BBC North America editor.

       0 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Obama authorised the surge in Afghanistan – right or wrong – as a political move,  when he was under lots of criticism for being an utter wimp.  But he undermined the surge by simultaneously announcing an early pull-out.

      Today he will turn back to his leftie base.  For political reasons,  sod the military arguments.

      In the meanwhile his original cynical decision has lost much American blood and treasure.

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Five times as much blood as before, in fact.  And that’s due in large part to the fact that the darling of the Nobel Peace Prize not only ramped up the war in Afghanistan (The Surge™), but expanded it into a third country: Pakistan.

        The reason why He took the war into another country?  Because the supposed Bush-led quagmire (remember when we were losing and it was hopeless?) pushed the Al Qaeda boys into Pakistan ages ago.  That’s a kind of degradation, I guess.

           0 likes

    • Craig says:

      Mark Mardell is now giving Obama two thumbs up over the announcement. Clearly it’s the right decision at the right time.

      Obama’s case is faithfully put by Mardell and the Republican hawks (McCain, Romney and Pawlenty) are loyally criticised as being “stranded” by the decision. Also “the seas do not change so much that Republicans would bathe the president in love.” (Why should they though? That’s Mark Mardell’s job!).

      Inevitably, he quotes from Jon Huntsman – the Obama-friendly Republican the Demobeebs are latching onto with a fervour – who puts the dovish case. No snideness from Mardell about him, naturally.

      Mark Mardell is a complete and utter twit (or words to that effect).

         0 likes

      • Grant says:

        Obama and his lickspittles, like Mardell, will portray any retreat from Afghanistan as a victory.
        They are utterly shameless and unprincipled.

           0 likes

  33. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Salonika Holocaust memorial desecrated

    A Holocaust memorial in the Greek city of Salonika was vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans.

    In the June 17 incident, the word “Lies” was written on the bronze plaque dedicated to the 50,000 Jews of Salonika who perished during the Holocaust.

    BBC:  ZZZZzzzzzzz

       0 likes

  34. cjhartnett says:

    Greece-old folk getting pie eyed in their care homes so it won`t hurt-so many things to worry about at the BBC isn`t there?
    Luckily Claudia Hammond(Raj Persauds copy and paster!) has our answer on “All in the Mind…glad to hear it!
    Yes folks-Buddhism, meditation, Natural Law, Yogis Flying, “today I am a tree”, Neil from the Young Ones. …Cludai says “meditation deals with the problems”…none of that scientific stuff here folks…heres some whale music and pan pipes!
    So there you have it-global warming, Greece and the Euro, Syrian and Northern Ireland…off licences assiting the old to die(didn`t the BBC want that the other day?)…not a problem now we can meditate!
    Why not silence instead of Toady?-three hours of the Dalai Lama ringing a budgie bell could only be better-and chaper too!
    Om shanti…better that Allah Akbhar at least!

       0 likes

  35. My Site (click to edit) says:

    To mis-quote max Bygraves… ‘I don’t wanna tell you a storee…’

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/06/story_removal.html

    We based our article on sources we have used in the past’

    And who have served so well, so often. Not.

    What is that £4Bpa buying again, ‘cos it ain’t professional competence or actual journalistic integrity.

    Can’t all be shoring up the badly invested pensions now, surely?

       0 likes

  36. cjhartnett says:

    “But hey who cares about the listeners?…we are the BBC! We can change things”
    The words of Mr David Lee Travis ladies and gentlemen in todays Daily Mail.
    The Hairy Cornflake is now the voice of our era…one show from him clearly worth 10,000 Annie Lennox tributes!…Aung San Syu Chi should know!

       0 likes

    • Buggy says:

      Since he’s using “we” there, are we to infer that DLT is still gainfully employed by al-Beeb ? Surely he perished along with Bates, Gary Permatan (whose name I forget), Bruno Brookes etc etc during Bannister’s “Night Of The Long Knives” about 20 years ago.

      What on earth is he doing ? Does he haunt the basement of Broadcasting House, combing his beard and cursing Little Noel ? Is the famous beard now of incredible length, such as might shelter a family of pygmies or perhaps David “Diddie” Hamilton within its luxuriant foliage ? And what does the forthcoming move to Salford mean for the future of DLT ? Is his touching loyalty to be repaid by the demolition of his BBC home ?

      It’s all too much.

         0 likes

      • Grant says:

        You chaps have forgotten about Alan Freeman and Tony Blackburn. Those were the days when DJs were DJs, so to speak. But, I am not sure I want to prolong this.

           0 likes

  37. cjhartnett says:

    Buggy!
    No!…DLT was just quoting what the BBC say…he has long been cut adrift.
    Apparently he phones in his show from Berkshire to Magic Radio up north. Certainly in Manchester I`ve heard him.
    Pretty sure I heard Tommy Vance at one stage…as if that breed of DJs won`t stop “rockin”!
    I need only mention David Jacobs and Brian Matthew!
    No further questions your Honour!

       0 likes

  38. George R says:

    Is ‘poached’ the word?

    “ITN poaches BBC News’ Laura Kuenssberg”

    http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=47345&c=1

       0 likes

    • david hanson says:

      If only it were “poached” in boiling water.

         0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      bet the iTV cameramen aren’t looking forward to having to keep ‘Big Bird’ in frame while she’s reporting.

         0 likes

    • matthew rowe says:

      Well Kuenssbergs are really easy to poach as when scared they just keep spinning  hard left till they disapear up their own fundament !  not sure how much ivory you get off a full sprouted Kuenssberg?

         0 likes

  39. George R says:

    INBBC and HIZB UT-TAHRIR (HuT).

    HuT, which both Labour and Tories promised to ban, but never did, has decided to hold a conference in London, two days after 7/7 remembrance, on developing a global Caliphate for the implementation of Sharia law.

    This is from Glenn Beck’s blogsite:

    “Are You Ready For a World Governed by Islamic Law?”

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/are-you-ready-for-a-world-governed-by-islamic-law/

    ‘Jihadwatch’:

    Despite Labour, Conservative promises, Britain opts not to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir

    And that is why this is important:

    “BBC reporter detained for membership of ‘extreme Islamic group’ ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tajikistan/8578550/BBC-reporter-detained-for-membership-of-extreme-Islamic-group.html

       0 likes

  40. George R says:

    Faux-naive conclusion from BBC-EU man Hewitt:

    “The question is this – as it often is in the European Union – in pushing for closer integration will Europe’s citizens get to vote or will it be done incrementally, by stealth?”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13875407

       0 likes

    • cjhartnett says:

      I often wonder about how long a musician has left when Rick Rubin offers to produce him!
      If Orla comes to town, you know that there`ll be trouble…there always is!
      So I`m guessing that James Naughtie getting a freebie to Brussels is either to enjoy the “new moules” or to bring healing to the Euro Project. I`m gusssing that he does it via the Opera House box circuit-or the antiquarian book fairs.
      Our Jim has all the goss I can assure you girls..Closer/Heat only with bigger words and more pretensions.
      Think he was trying to say-like all the BBCs “movers and shakers” are doing-that Greece is in the trouble its in because they are not integrated enough into the Eurozone! The rest of us know that the opposite is true…but to a Beeboid it`s because the retsina wretches haven`t sold enough of their sovreignty yet! All that democracy etc…eugh, messy!
      Do they have any history of democracy then these Greeks?…well anyway they ned Cathy Ashton and Paddy Ashdown to go there and bang a few heads! That is the Beebs solution I`m guessing>
      “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”…best saved for the folk clubs, bvut not to be learned from apparently…not when Scargill and pill can be rhymed for the “Miners Tribute 84”.

         0 likes

  41. Grant says:

    BBC website article on Libya ” Could NATO campaign unravel ? “.  A very negative report from Johnathan Marcus, obviously prompted by the recent civilian casualties. It seems that NATO’s “smart” weapons are not so smart.
    The whole tenor of the article gave me the feeling Marcus hopes it all goes wrong for NATO. But why ?

       0 likes

  42. George R says:


    GEERT WILDERS.

    The far-Islamic broadcaster, Islam Not BBC (INBBC) reluctantly and unenthusistically reports re- Geert Wilders (compare its reports on Binyam Mohamed)

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13883331

       0 likes

  43. My Site (click to edit) says:

    BBCBreakfast BBC Breakfast Have you complained to your university about the quality of your course? Tweet us if you’re happy to be filmed #journorequest

    Nice to see they have the parameter priorities nicely sorted.

    Hope they do the ‘right checks’, as opposed to ‘fits our agenda, whoever you are’, so your vox pop’s in.

       0 likes

  44. pounce_uk says:

    I see the bBC is reporting the cleaning out of AL Q supporters in the Pakistani army as a witch hunt.  
    Witch-hunt?

    Brigadier Ali Khan, the Pakistani officer detained for his alleged links with the banned extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, had been highly critical of the Pakistani army’s high command over its relationship with the US, reports BBC Urdu’s Asif Farooqi.  

    Funny enough when the bBC reports on one of its own getting arrested for having links to Hizb-ut-Tahir they leave out theextremist angle.:  

     

    BBC journalists have held a vigil in London to demand the release of one of their colleagues, who was imprisoned in Tajikistan last week.The authorities have charged Urunboy Usmonov with association with the banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.  

       0 likes

  45. cjhartnett says:

    Had the sound turned down last night as per when the One Show was on.
    Was that Pauline Prescott I saw in a maternity ward looking all concerned and caring?
    If so, I demand that Carol Thatcher get re-instated.
    For  the Prescott Clan seems to have had a few gigs at Al Beebie…and I really resent him coining it in off us after what he did to dear Tracey!
    He`s been doing the same to our wallets ever since as well!

       0 likes

  46. David Preiser (USA) says:

    When does the BBC report on the persecution of Jews in Britain and Europe?  When it happened over 800 years ago.

    Jewish bodies found in medieval well in Norwich

    I might even check out tonight’s installment of “History Cold Case”.  To their credit, the BBC includes a brief history of Jewish settlement and persecution in England during the Middle Ages in an inset on the page.

    Unfortunately, the usual BBC ignorance when it comes to Judaism is manifested in such a way that it continues to allow anti-Jewish prejudice to flourish.  It’s a very minor thing, but historically important and very, very relevant to mainstream anti-Jewish sentiment about Jews and money today.

    From the inset:

    1066: The Norman Conquest opens the way to Jewish immigration. The monarchy needs to borrow money and Christians are forbidden to lend money at interest. London, Lincoln and York become centres for substantial Jewish populations.

    What the BBC leaves out – due to simple ignorance, I suspect, not anti-Semitism or anything – is that Jews are also forbidden to lend money at interest: to other Jews.  The two relevant passages:

    “If you lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shalt thou lay upon him interest” (Exodus 22:24).

    “Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything that is lent upon interest. Unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon interest; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thy hand into, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it” (Deuteronomy 23:20-21).

    So the Jews still look like money-sucking vampires with religious instruction to bleed the Gentiles dry, no?  No, it’s not that simple.

    Christians did lend money at interest, but it was uncommon and there wasn’t much law set up to deal with it.  It was mostly done via pawnbrokers and such, so not as complex as what the Normans needed to do.  Of course, the Normans weren’t the first rulers who needed to finance things.  The actual problem was that Anglo-Norman law forbade nobles from using their land as collateral.  In the feudal system, the whole network of lords and fiefs meant that they couldn’t impose a new owner of land to which their vassals were bound.  If they used land as collateral, they would effectively be making the loaner the owner for the duration of the payment period, and would also mean that they’d be making some other lord the knight’s new boss.  Obviously this would be a technical violation of the deal between lord and knight.

    In other words, while usury was frowned upon by Christians of the era, that’s not why Jews were brought in to help.  The Jews were not brought in simply because Christians were pure and Jews were money-grubbers.  In fact, because Jews were forbidden from owning land at all in Europe, they had to get involve in trades and industry instead.  Because of the centuries-old Jewish tradition of legal scholarship and an ever-expanding set of rules and explanations, the Jews brought with them a fairly sophisticated commercial set-up.  The Normans’ hands were tied due to feudal rules, and so they had to find a work-around.  Hence the Jewish moneylenders.

    The new rulers appropriated quite a bit of it into English law.  Fascinating stuff on the subject, of which the BBC is obviously ignorant, can be read here.

       0 likes

    • As I See It says:

      I was about to watch this show. I should have guessed it would turn out to concern some English perpetrated atrocity. I suppose its meant to balance all the anti-Israel slanted archaeology that the BBC have promoted recently. And its a win-win because the English are to blame. Never mind, BBC2 pulled it late in the day to stay with Wimbledon. Well, its the only sport they have. That and unofficially promoting the Olympics at every opportunity.

         0 likes