OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE DOWN’S SYNDROME ASSOCIATION

Further to yesterday’s blog post, the Down’s Syndrome Association has issued the following statement:

DSA make official complaint following Richard Bacon’s Radio 5 Live Show

The Down’s Syndrome Association is shocked that a BBC employee has publicised the work of a comedian which is nothing more than a vile offensive rant and conflicts with BBC guidelines which state a responsibility to ‘protect the vulnerable and avoid unjustifiable offence’. During Richard Bacon’s BBC 5 show yesterday afternoon he directed listeners to a video of Doug Stanhope discussing the son of Sarah Palin on YouTube. The child was born with Down’s syndrome and Mr Stanhope’s comments about him were abhorrent.

As a public body the BBC should not be promoting the work of such an individual. Therefore the Down’s Syndrome Association has logged an official complaint with the BBC. We encourage everyone to do to the same using the link below –

https://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/

On Twitter yesterday Bacon stated:

I don’t like what he said in that clip. And I don’t endorse it. I meant only for people to see his STYLE.

Make up your own minds.

Richard Bacon (mp3)

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80 Responses to OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE DOWN’S SYNDROME ASSOCIATION

  1. Vir Cantium says:

    You’re forgetting the BBC guideline that fell off the bottom of the list. Being partial – nay vicious – is OK if it’s Sarah Palin.

    Or Rupert Murdoch.

       0 likes

  2. ltwf1964 says:

    as someone mentioned in another post-where are the beeboid sockpuppets?

    awful quiet round here…….and I see the tumbleweed blowing down the street   😉

       0 likes

  3. wild says:

    If he had a shred of decency he would resign, but he hasn’t, so he won’t. 

       0 likes

    • Asuka Langley Soryu says:

      And if the BBC had a shred or decency, they fire his stinkin’ ass. But they don’t, so they won’t.

         1 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      I’ve made a complaint to them. Probably a waste of time, but at least it’s on the record.

         0 likes

  4. BBCwaste says:

    As I said in the last thread… email adrain.vanklaveren@bbc.co.uk and the head of editorial policy, david.jordan@bbc.co.uk with your complaints … the normal limp apology won’t cut it. He has form and is a repeat offender.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      BBCwaste, I know that the BBC are a drain on our resources, but I guess people’s emails didn’t get through to Mr Adrian Van Klaveren when you last posted his email because you spelt his first name ‘adrain‘.  
       
      Freudian slip? 🙂

         0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        Here is Mr van Klaveren’s correct email below, and the complaint I’ve just sent:-

        To: adrian.van-klaveren@bbc.co.uk
        CC: info@downs-syndrome.org.uk

        RE:
        RICHARD BACON’S ON AIR PALIN DERANGEMENT SYNDROMEFriday, 5 August, 2011 21:36

        Dear Mr van Klaveren, I am writing to complain about Richard Bacon recommending on his show 04.08.11 that his listeners find this excerpt by typing ‘Doug Stanhope Sara Palin’ in youtube. You’ll see Doug Stanhope assuming the right to savage Mrs Palin’s Downs Syndrome child because of who is mother is.  To anyone with a shred of human decency regardless of their politics, this example of Mr Stanhope’s humour is repugnant and should result in Richard Bacon’s dismissal for publicising it.  You will note in his interview with Mr Stanhope that having sent listeners to view Mr Stanhope’s depraved hatred masquerading as ‘humour’, Mr Bacon did not ask him one question about whether he thought he went too far or regretted the piece.  Quite the opposite.  Mr Bacon enthused about Mr Stanhope’s humour before and after directing his audience to this unmitigated filth. I listened to this live at work but didn’t follow Mr Bacon’s advice.  I only became aware of how appalling it was via this blog post at Biased BBC.  I often defend R5L there (I post as ‘hippiepooter’) as I came to it 10 years ago as a political refugee from Radio 4.  Richard Bacon however does not belong on R5L.  Not if it wishes to maintain its high standards of decency, good humour and impartiality throughout.  I will forward an email I recently sent Mr Bacon on how he uses his position on R5L to serve the interests of the Left and the Labour Party.  The BBC has a democratic duty of bias against extremists and this bias should be shown against Mr Bacon. Mr Bacon has claimed on Twitter that he was not endorsing this appalling Doug Stanhope skit on Sarah Palin’s Downs Syndrome baby, but, as indicated, one just has to listen to his interview with Doug Stanhope to know this is a lie.  Sincere apologies are not accompanied by brazen lies.  Evidently Mr Bacon wants us to wallow in the same gutter of political hate as himself and Mr Stanhope.  The following extracts from Mr Bacon’s 04.08.11 programme clearly give the lie to Mr Bacon’s claims on Twitter that he wasn’t recommending the piece:-  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012wgq4/Richard_Baco n_Chris_Tarrant_and_Edwina_Currie/    
           
        00:57:12 [To Stanhope] “I’m genuinely a really big fan of what you do”.    
           
        00:59:43 “If you want a flavour of what he’s like go to youtube now and type doug stanhope sarah palin”    
           
        01:04:50 “A remarkable standup comic, one of my favourte (uninteligible)”    
           
        01:18:25 “i can’t recommend it enough, you go and see Doug Stanhope at Leicester Square Theatre”. Biased BBC has also covered the official complaint made by the Downs Syndrome Association here.  In addition I provide you with four examples from Biased BBC of Mr Bacon’s public aversion to Sarah Palin here, here, here and here since he began his 3 year contract with you in 2009. I suggest that contract ends forthwith.

           0 likes

        • John Horne Tooke says:

          With respect, I predict that this email and the official complaint by the Downs Syndrome Association will make no difference at all. To the BBC this is known as “edgy humour” and if you don’t like it don’t watch/listen to it.

          This is the kind of reply I get off all those who defend the right to take money out of my pocket for their own amusement

             0 likes

          • hippiepooter says:

            I understand your pessimism but I think this is such a clear cut issue it does stand a chance of acheiving something, even thought the odds are never good when complainging to the BBC.  Let’s see how much traction it gets, that’s what counts.

               0 likes

            • John Horne Tooke says:

              Sorry for my pessimism, but past experience is all I can go by. Good luck

                 0 likes

            • David Preiser (USA) says:

              I’m afraid the best anyone can hope for is that someone in R5 management tells him that his giving in to his PDS caused this, made him overlook the offensive bits, and he should watch himself next time, don’t want to give the right-wing whiners any easy fodder.

                 0 likes

          • Henry Wood says:

            I’ve often heard the “edgy humour”, “cutting edge” crap used as a defence for the likes of the output from Toxic Toksvig, Hardie & co., plus the Brigstockes and others of that ilk. As I have often told these defenders, the day Toksvig, Hardie, Brigstocke and the rest of them include Islam in their “jokes” alongside their never ending put downs of Popes, Catholics, Christians, (Fundamental and others) Jews, Zionists, Israelis, American Republicans, Tories and their other easy targets, *then* they might be able to claim they are at the cutting edge. Perhaps the cutting edge of a beheader’s knife does not appeal to them?

               0 likes

            • NotaSheep says:

              To be fair to Marcus Brigstocke (and I can hardly believe that I am writing this) he has attacked Islam before and I remember the noise of the shocked radio 4 audience… However one swallow does not a summer make.

                 0 likes

          • NotaSheep says:

            I received a comment along those lines to my piece about Richard Bacon and Doug Stanhope – http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.com/2011/08/whats-offensive.html

            ‘I think Stanhope is hilarious, and even more so for provoking outrage in you, which is precisely the point of the routine.

            What’s also hilarious is your suggestion that the BBC ia “endorsing” poking fun at children with Downs. Of course they’re not, you moron.’

               0 likes

        • hippiepooter says:

          FWD’D TO HIS BOSS JUST NOW .. 

          29.07.11 
           
          richard.bacon@bbc.co.uk
          (and copies to colleagues and Roy Greenslade)   
             
          Dear Richard,   
             
          RE:  JON RONSON – THE PSYCHOPATH TEST    
             
          Congratulations on only scoring 7 points on Jon Ronson’s ‘The Psychopath Test’ and proving ‘I am not a psychopath’.    
             
          Do you ever listen to the interviews you conduct with the likes of Roy Greenslade over Piers Morgan and phone hacking?  Strange how you get very plaintiff and ad hominem on behalf of key Labour supporting figures.  You acted the same with Lance Price over his revelations about Gordon Brown before the last election.  Piers Morgan did of course conduct a famously friendly interview with Gordon Brown before the last election.    
              
          I came to R5L as a political refugee from Radio 4.  So refreshing to listen to presenters who care about values of decency and impartiality.  Unfortunately there are exceptions.    
              
          Saludos,

             0 likes

        • Demon1001 says:

          I have now re-sent my morning’s email to Mr Van Klaveren’s correct address.  This time I got an auto-reply saying he’s out until the 18 August.  How much do we pay these people to suddenly disappear for days or weeks as soon as they have genuine complaints to respond to.  The other clown was out until 8 Aug I think.

          They are a bunch of cowards!   They should all be sacked for dereliction of duty. 

             0 likes

          • Demon1001 says:

            Actually Van Clamper is out until 16 Aug.

               0 likes

          • hippiepooter says:

            Demon, in fairness, in the month of August a lot of people do go on holiday.  His stand-in’s email is above.

               0 likes

            • Demon1001 says:

              You may have a point hippie, but both of the email recipients happening to be away smacks of convenient to me.  However, t’other is back on Monday so we’ll see what he has to offer then. Of course, the immediate impact of Bacon’s actions will have lessened by then so he will have got away without a sacking just due to these convenient absences.

                 0 likes

  5. Doug says:

    Anyone with half a brain would realise that you shouldn’t sdvertise the type of content this ‘comedian’ is delivering. Bacon is an idiot cos either he really didn’t reallise the sketch was disgusting or he knew how offensive it was and simply wanted to cause outrage and inflict pain on all those who have experience with Down’s.

       1 likes

    • Buggy says:

      Bacon most likely didn’t find the sketch disgusting at all: it’s not the fact of the child having Down’s which makes it soooo funny, it’s the fact that the child’s surname is “Palin” which makes all this such a bloody hoot to him and his fellow PDS sufferers.

      Still, at least Stanhope seems to be that rare lefty who didn’t think the kid was Bristol’s.

         1 likes

  6. pounce_uk says:

    Typical leftwing apology , It was a joke . Yeah the same f-ing idiots who take offence at anything aimed at black/Muslims and gays have no problem when the target is white/christian and straight. Maybe somebody should visit Bacon and put him (brain damaged) in a chair for the rest of his natural. Maybe then he would understand the uglyness found in his support of a leftwing comic. Tosser.

       1 likes

  7. hippiepooter says:

    That audio evidence you’ve posted is stand alone as far as I’m concerned.  But for anyone who has any doubts, I repost from the previous thread on Richard Bacon’s ‘Hate Radio’:-

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012wgq4/Richard_Bacon_Chris_Tarrant_and_Edwina_Currie/  
     
    00:57:12 [To Stanhope] “I’m genuinely a really big fan of what you do”.  
     
    00:59:43 “If you want a flavour of what he’s like go to youtube now and type doug stanhope sarah palin”  
     
    01:04:50 “A remarkable standup comic, one of my favourte (uninteligible)”  
     
    01:18:25 “i can’t recommend it enough, you go and see Doug Stanhope at Leicester Square Theatre”  
     
    Richard Bacon on Twitter viz the Doug Stanhope Sarah Palin clip he urged people to hear:  “That wasn’t a recommendation, I actually dont like what he says in that clip”.

       1 likes

    • NotaSheep says:

      Are you saying that you think Richard Bacon lied to us?  I am shocked that anyone would make that sort of accusation.

         0 likes

  8. Cassandra King says:

    Just another spiteful leftist bigot in an organisation famous for its leftist bigotry. Just goes to show that just beneath that carefully constructed aura there is a bubbling seething hatred and intolerance.

       1 likes

  9. Jeremy Clarke says:

    Shoot me for saying this, but I genuinely don’t believe Richard Bacon intended to cause anyone offence. He and his producers are guilty of showing a lack of judgment, yes, and probably let their contempt for Sarah Palin blind them to the sheer nastiness of the rant against Trig Palin and his mother.

    I think Doug Stanhope is often very funny but he overstepped the mark here.

    If I were recommending Stanhope to someone unfamiliar with his work, I’d probably not advise them to listen to this – unless I knew the person very well. To recommend this clip to a mainstream radio audience in the middle of the day is, er, ill-advised. Well, downright fugging stupid.

    Maybe the producers assumed that Sarah Palin was fair game because she is, you know, a redneck and an object of derision? Or maybe they thought that, as a foreign politician, she was fairer game than someone in British public life? They certainly wouldn’t have highlighted this clip had Gordon Brown’s or David Cameron’s children been targeted.

    I wonder if Richard and his producers thought of the Frankie Boyle-Harvey ‘Price-Andre’ episode?

       1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Exactly.  The bias made Bacon overlook the jokes about a disabled child.  Simple as that.  The BBC is full of far-Left haters like this, all with the same sense of invincibility, which is the problem.

         1 likes

    • Jeremy Clarke says:

      “Maybe the producers assumed that Sarah Palin was fair game because she is, you know, a redneck and an object of derision?”

      Just to clarify – this isn’t my view. This is my understanding of how many in our media – Richard Bacon included, judging from his Tweets – view Sarah Palin. I happen to think she is a very smart, very sharp political operator who should be treated as such.

         0 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Jeremy, even if you had the same opinion of Palin as Bacon does, I’d think you would realize that the parts about her child might cause offense and maybe you should direct your audience to a different clip.  Bacon didn’t, because of his PDS.

           1 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        Not to say she did a fantastic job in Alaska, crossing party lines in sorting problems out.  Noone watching the BBC would know about this.

           0 likes

      • Paddy says:

        Frankie Boyle said some pretty bad things about jordans little boy but he didn’t suggest shooting him.

        Imagine if the kid was being ridiculed because, say he was black and say he was obamas kid and therefore the secret service should shoot him out of his mothers c***.

        You see wheN you put it that way it’s unacceptable, so why is racism worse than some nazi style hatred of downs kids,

        The mab is a ice bastard.

        I enjoy grotesque humour but this is targeted personal and very offensive. It isn’t an attack on a politician but on a defenceless disabled boy.

        No excuses for bacon.

        He’s overstepped the Mark.

        He should resign his job.

           0 likes

    • ltwf1964 says:

      Shoot me for saying this, but I genuinely don’t believe Richard Bacon intended to cause anyone offence.

      BANG!

      there

      🙂

         0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      I think he thought that everyone hates Palin and being an arrested adolescent thought they’d find it funny.  Anyone who doesn’t hate Palin doesn’t count in his overgrown teenager world.

      I think he needs to be helped to grow up.

         1 likes

      • Gerald says:

        Jeremy.

        How was your and many others opinion formed of Sarah Palin. I would like to suggest to you in great part because of the impartial coverage she recived from the BBCs editor in the USA at the time? Do you believe she is a creationist, many do, but the mighty BBC were unable to uphold the use of that word by JW, but of course, the damage is already done.

           0 likes

        • Gerald says:

          I have now found the wording used by JW that caused my complaint, which the BBC upheld.

          “Mrs Palin is a creationist. She thinks that children should be taught in schools that evolution is only a theory, that the earth might be only a few thousand years old and dinosaurs and people may have coexisted. This thrills some Republicans and …”

          BBC IMPARTIAL, IF EVER I SAW IT!

             0 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Gerald, the link would help, please.  Also, don’t forget that ol’ Justin also suggested to Carly Fiorina on air that Sarah Palin should be considered unfit for public office because he felt that her religious belief “denies science”.

            There’s also a devastating comment directed at Webb’s bias right at the top, which was definitely not there last time I looked at this a few months ago.  A tiny rebellion from the IT staff?

               0 likes

            • Gerald says:

              DP.

              Unable to link but it was broadcast on The World This Weekend on Radio 4 on Sunday 31.08.08. The final sentence of the quote was “This thrills some of the Republicans and they are the ones who MIGHT (my capitals) have caused the trouble this week in St. Paul.”!

                 0 likes

            • hippiepooter says:

              Great clip.  That lady rightly started getting very short with Webb.

                 0 likes

            • Demon1001 says:

              Webb was way off the impartiality register there.  He should have been severely, and publicly, censured by his bosses at the time he made those extremist partisan (and dishonest) attacks.

                 0 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      I think he did intend it. He wanted himself and his audience to revel in it. That was the point.  He is obviously a stupid oaf who has got above himself. You take a not very bright, probably failed-at-everything-else type who gets a slot on a national broadcaster. They don’t become any more intelligent or discerning  – because they don’t have to. They are lionised anyway because they are on the radio or TV, are given a lot of latitude and there are few restraints or sanctions on them for broadcasting their stupidity. The more I see of the Beeboids’ outpourings on Twitter, the more their mediocrity (and downright stupidity in some cases) becomes apparent. It seems to be full of immature and silly people who are old enough to know better.

         0 likes

      • John Horne Tooke says:

        Yes – The BBc and Twitter also opened my eyes. I could not believe how  shallow these people were. It reminded me of that awful American (sorry David) “comedy” show Friends, grown-ups acting like 5 year olds.

           0 likes

    • Paul Weston says:

      Jeremy Clarke, you think Stanhope “overstepped” the mark, and it was ill-advisable to draw attention to him at that time of day and to a mainstream audience. You “probably” would not direct people to Stanhope via that particular link, especially if you did not know them well.

      Do you really not understand how awful Stanhope is? Have you no human decency, morality or feeling? Are you unaware of the depth of feeling that civilised people feel when they hear something so genuinely evil, so beyond the realms of human normality, that it exhibits a pathological sickness?

      And then Bacon sort of apologises and lies at the same time. I am not a 90 year old Colonel from Tonbridge-Wells, but I am so genuinely enraged by this pyschopathic cruelty that if I were a non law-abiding man I would happily visit extreme violence upon Richard Bacon. As I am law-abiding this is impossible, but were he to suffer assaults from others I would be very happy.

      And I am a gentle and kind man. You see where you are driving people with your vile written words and rhetoric? I thought perhaps after the Breivik atrocity you might, but clearly not.

         0 likes

      • ROBERT BROWN says:

        Well said, let disabling injury be visited on Bacon and Stanhope, then laugh at their pain, worthless scum.

           0 likes

      • Jeremy Clarke says:

        “And I am a gentle and kind man. You see where you are driving people with your vile written words and rhetoric? I thought perhaps after the Breivik atrocity you might, but clearly not.”

        My “vile words and rhetoric”? What on earth are you on about? What the hell has this got to do with Breivik?

        I am with DB and the majority view on this one. Just calm down, will you?

        Let me re-summarise my views in simple terms: in my opinion, Stanhope overstepped the mark; his rant is beyond the pale and deeply offensive; Stanhope’s ‘sketch’ was astonishingly cruel and I do think Bacon thought it was safe to recommend it because the victim was Sarah Palin; the BBC and Richard Bacon showed poor judgment in pointing listeners to it.

        So what do you want me to do? Scream and shout and throw things at the wireless?

        People express their disapproval in different ways and if you are offended by my inability to express myself with suitable hysteria, then I apologise unreservedly.

        I am a kind and gentle man, too, and I, like you, believe that an expletive-ridden rant at a Downs Syndrome baby is wrong but I do not wish to inflict violence on Richard Bacon or anyone, for that matter. Is that unreasonable? Or am I an amoral, unthinking bastard because I don’t want Bacon to be physically attacked?

        Oh, and by the way, you seem outraged by (amongst other things) my suggestion that I would ‘probably’ not forward this link to someone I didn’t know very well. I did send the link to a few friends and family to point out the toe-curling awfulness of it  (they were, overwhelmingly appalled) but I wouldn’t send it to a customer or my bank manager or the parent of a disabled child. What is so terrible about that?

           0 likes

  10. ltwf1964 says:

    and as we all know

    there’s nothing as intolerant as a “liberal”

       1 likes

  11. Biodegradable says:

    When is a recommendation not a recommendation?

    richardpbacon richard bacon @


    @4d2b that recommendation was purely to give people a flavour of what he is like

    richardpbacon richard bacon @DavidJonesMP that was not a recommendation. I actually don’t like what he says in that clip. But it’s very illustrative of his STYLE.
    Snivelling, wriggling, cowardly git!

       1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I don’t like what he says in that clip, but I was giggling at it all the same as I introduced it.

      It was funny because it was about Sarah Palin, and that’s the end of Bacon’s thought process.

         0 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      He just demonstrates his stupidity all over again. It would require a little  intelligence to recognise that he should acknowledge and apologise for recommending it.

         0 likes

      • hippiepooter says:

        He has the intelligence to realise that, he’s just a scumbag who doesn’t care and thinks we’re all stupid.

           0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      if you don’t believe me that’s up to you’

      Actually, one suspects it’s rather ‘up to’ a few more, and counting.

      But as far as BBC management is concerned, he is probably right that when you (well, certain, more blessed ‘you’s’) say one thing, and then the exact reverse, in writing, that is ‘unique’.

         0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      At my friend’s villa in Ibiza.’

      As you (well, if a champagne socialist cum part-time planet saver) do.

      ‘Anyone know how to wire an English plug?’

      The BBc needs to fly a bunch of union sparks out to make sure he doesn’t have a nasty accident… stat. On the licence fee payer, natch.

         0 likes

  12. matthew rowe says:

    There is only one defence and that is for Bacon and his pet jester to put up their private lives for the amusement of us and others so we can point and laugh at their  troubles ! no! well then they are cowards and should be treated as such attack her for her politics not her family !!

       0 likes

  13. Martin says:

    Hang on the BBC are more than ‘happy’ to reprimand Top Gear for calling Mexicans lazy and flatulent but again Bacon escapes scott free.

    This is not the first time Bacon has allowed his lefty views to come through on air, in the digital spy forums he’s as popular as a fart in a lift as well.

    You just know that the BBC had researched THAT particular piece they highlighted for the very reason it was about Sarah Palin.

    There was some other yank bitch on the other week who was on Bacon’s show, she also was allowed to spout crap about Sarah Palin, can’t remember her name but she just poured out a bucketful with Bacon sniggering like a 12 year old behind the bike shed.

    Radio 5 really has turned into a lefty hell hole, whilst Simon Mayo is a hard core lefty he does at least have a brain, Dame Nicky, Derbyshire and Bacon really are the scum at the bottom of the barrel.

    I just wonder if it had been Bernard Manning making jokes about Muslims having deformed kids if Bacon would have thought it funny.

       0 likes

  14. John Horne Tooke says:

    I don’t care either way about Sarah Palins politics (that is for the US people, its their country and their democracy), but Bacon must have known exactly what would happen if you “google stanhope and palin”

    http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=887&q=stanhope+and+palin&btnG=Google+Search

    And if Bacon did not, then he is just as stupid as he looks.

       0 likes

  15. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Martin, your bringing up DigitalSpy led me to find this. Seems Bacon isn’t the only thing about 5 Live people are complaining about.


    Radio 5 Live criticised over news output

    BBC Radio 5 Live has today been accused of an “almost wilful reluctance to define what it regards as news” by Robin Britten, one of the station’s founding editors.

    Britten, a former news editor at 5 Live and now a visiting lecturer at the University of Staffordshire, was asked by TalkSport to study a week of the station’s output.

    His report, which formed part of TalkSport owner UTV Media’s submission to a BBC Trust review of 5 Live, highlighted the “growing confusion between topicality and news” at 5 Live. Britten also noted the station’s “blurring of distinction between informed discussion or debate, and chat”, reports The Guardian.

    Relevant bit:

    The commercial station complained to the Trust that only 45-56% of 5 Live’s output was news, with many items falling outside of the remit, such as “entertainment-based interviews” and listener-generated features.

    Of course, the Trust rejected the complaint, allowing only that it raised “some significant and valid questions” ahead of their planned review of the station.

    If Bacon’s faux pas makes the news, does that then count towards the station’s requirement that 75% of their output is news? *DONT_KNOW*

       0 likes

  16. Martin says:

    Radio 5 has turned into the audio version of a cross between Heat magazine and the Guardian.

    Derbyshire and Bacon’s shows seem to be nothing more than the output of the latest chav story or whatever the Guaridan is pounding on about.

    I know the last time they had the contoller of 5 live on they got a right pounding about Bacon and Derbyshire in particular for their dumbed down output.

    Simon Mayo whilst being a lefty did used to interview quite a few good intellectual guests as well as Jeremy Clarkson from time to time, but Mayo managed to generally hide his leftie bias (although he once got upset with Clakson who pointed out Top gear makes enough money for the BBC to fund 5 live, that didn’t go down well)

       0 likes

    • NotaSheep says:

      I grew to quite like Simon Mayo, for despite his left wing preferences he was reasonable intelligent and coherent. Compared to him Richrd Bacon is a very very poor replacement: less intelligent, less coherent and all but incapable of hiding his petty prejudices.

         0 likes

  17. John Horne Tooke says:

    Did Michel Parkinson research his guests before interviewing them?

    “Michael Parkinson always sought guests who, besides being well known, had some sort of story to relate. He then saw his job as allowing them to tell it and did so by being open, relaxed and attentive. (He learnt very early on that in order to be an adept interviewer, he had to be a good listener.) He researched his subjects thoroughly, and, in the early shows, always had his list of questions to hand.”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson_%28TV_series%29

    So he knew what to expect.

    But Bacon is just a nice chap isn’t he?

    http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a278110/prince-charles-saw-bacon-laugh-at-funeral.html

       0 likes

  18. Foxgoose says:

    I include this at the end of my complaint:-

    This is by far the most offensive and corrupt behaviour I have encountered by the BBC and I have today cancelled my direct debit instructions for TV licences on two properties. I will not pay for these licences until Richard Bacon has been dismissed from our public broadcaster and I will defend any action against me on the basis that the BBC is no longer a fit and proper organisation to perform its public broadcasting duties.

    Hit ’em in the wallet.

       0 likes

    • Deborah says:

      My complaint just suggested that Bacon apologised to the great British public and Sarah Palin on air.  Somehow I don’t think it will happen but I would love to hear him squirm.

         0 likes

  19. Mr Natural says:

    Much of what passes for humour on the BBC is at best puerile and lavatorial, at worst completely degenerate.

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  20. dave s says:

    This incident shows the limits of the liberal mind. Quite unable to make any judgement that might involve being ,in one of their weasel words, judgemental
    They are adrift in a world where  inherited standards of behaviour and morality have been replaced by new standards of their own devising which they try to enforce on us all under the misnomer Political correctness
    Based on what? God only knows because I don’t.
    Once in a while, and this case illustrates this all to well, their world collides with the real world where most of us try to live our lives and Bacon and the rest of his ilk seem genuinely unable to understand why their behaviour is so abhorrent to a civilised man .
    He is not worth wasting time on. Shun him and his programme.

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    • Millie Tant says:

      I have no difficulty in shunning him and his programme.

      The only snag is that we have to pay for him and other idiots like him.

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  21. Louis Robinson says:

    “5 o’clock and still no Dick!” as the old Dick Whittingham panto joke goes.

    Well, still no reply to my email from yesterday to Richard Bacon complaining about his edict to me to check out his pal on YOUTUBE. And he asked me (us) to “get back to him” remember?

    I’ll keep you posted on a possible response but I don’t hold out much hope. 

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  22. Martin says:

    Yep formally complained about Bacon as well. Expect standard Cocaine snorting work experience Liebore voting student reply in about 6 months.

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  23. Beness says:

    no point complaining to the BBC, they investigate their own. Maybe a complaint to the Murdoch press might be appropriate.
     The BBC have been pummelling them for the last 3 weeks, they might welcome a chance to get back at em.

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  24. BBCwaste says:

    I think the very least we should expect is a full on-air apology and an half-hour interview with the Down Syndrome group, it would certainly be more worthy than the tabloid trash he normally has on his programme.

    Btw… has the BBC apologised yet?

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