A B-BBC reader writes;
“Simon Kelner, editor
in chief of the Independent, is not in the BBC but is of the BBC, someone with
a mindest firmly in line with the BBC….and it seems quite happy to defend the BBC against accusations that it might be abit on the Liberal side…..(and the
BBC were still calling the rioters and looters ‘protesters’ on Wednesday’ he
should note)….
Letter from Simon Kelner
Thursday, 11 August 2011
‘So now we know it’s serious.
Not only has Parliament been recalled from its summer recess, but BBC1 will
tonight broadcast a special edition of Question Time on the riots, the first
time the programme has had its own holiday break interrupted. What a relief!
Just when you were worried that an insufficient number of people had offered an
opinion on the disturbances, along come David Dimbleby and co to tell us what
they think.
……And add to that the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph castigating the
BBC (didn’t you just know it would be its fault!) for their general liberalism
and, in particular – on the first night of disorder – referring to rioters as
protesters. Each to their view and we can but wonder at how opinion splits on
party lines! I will offer only this thought on an aspect that seems to have
been forgotten, amid the rush to judgement. If the police hadn’t gunned down
someone who, it is now believed, did not shoot at them, none of this would have
happened and we could have gone on in blissful ignorance of the social and
economic divisions that blight Britain.’
I wonder what he’d have to say if someone asked him about having to fire Jody McIntyre for inciting violence on Twitter?
Not much reason to respect his opinion until he explains why he thought it was appropriate to hire a rioter in the first place. Oh, wait, McIntyre was an innocent protester then……
Heresy at the Guardian – an opinion pieceby Shaun Bailey, a black man, that contradicts everything La Toynbee and the rest of the Gramscians stand for :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/10/riots-without-responsibility
And the readers’ comments mostly agree.
The BBC usually slavishly folows the Grauniad line. I bet they don’t follow this one – its point about people demanding rights withpout responsibilities is exactly what Cameron was saying in the Commons today.
We have allowed our welfare system to prop up immoral lifestyles. We have not taught all our young people that an entitlement culture is morally wrong.
Wow. A stunning rebuke to the BBC if there ever was one.
Shaun Bailey is so damn right. The patronising attitude to people who happen to be black; the refusal to allow them to be moral actors in their own right; to institutionalise a culture of dependence and victimhood is morally corrupt. Insulting to the many solid and talented black people who are and have made something of their lives. And there are many.
Is he Simon of “Trevor and Simon” fame ? Certainly looks like him.
So now let’s all swing our pants and celebrate our multi-culti paradise !
Is this man really the editor in chief?
Self serving drivel’ Referring to the police “gunning down ” is about as loaded as you can get. Mind you probably plays well with the BBC .
I detect panic in the liberal ranks. It’s over lads and lasses.
Nobody is listening to you any more.
Jody McIntyre?…Johann Hari…this man clearly knows his onions when it comes to staff selection doesn`t he?
Just the man to drive the Independent to the Guardians level of relevance…talking to their own until the web wipes them out!
Until then-the BBC and the broadsheets are manacled together in a suicide pact. Thought their union mates warned about “the race to the bottom”…yet there they go in a fenced pair of “organically sourced trainers” fresh of the feet of the poor!
My impression when I read that is that he is a very sick man. He really needs to take some time off, say 30 years, to recover from this insanity.
If that gang leader had raised his gun (which he did have on him) then the police were right to shoot him.
So… in Kelner’s mind, the police “gunned down” a fluffy bunny. Albeit one armed with a loaded gun, and under surveillance for persistant gang and gun crime.
Kelner’s rag detests labels and stereotyping. Unless you buy the Mail/Telegraph.
And in this imbecile’s mind, there can be no criminality, only socially/economically blighted citizens?
It is my sincerest wish that people like Kelner have the crap that many of us have to live with visited upon them in their leafy enclaves.
No wonder his rag is a continual money pit – destined to collapse any day now.
“If the police hadn’t gunned down someone…”
Yes, and if said someone hadn’t been carrying a gun… See, we can all play that game. Now, we don’t yet know for sure, as far as I’m aware, that Mr Duggan was definitely carrying a gun but given there was a non-police issue gun present we can make an educated guess. Mr Duggan was undoubtedly well known to the police.
Browsing Ms Hockaday’s latest version of the standard “We think we got it about right, impartiality is in our genes”, I am struck by this comment:
“…slagging off the police for not doing enough whilst in almost the same sentence condemning them for their actions against Duggan, (a known gangster and murderer incidentally.)” (My emphasis.)
I hadn’t heard that. But if it’s not true I’m mighty sure the moderators would have sent it to the naughty step.
Any prospect of the few uncompromised journalists that still cling to the broadsheet masts to get out and set up a paper that we could trust again?
They will have no papers to work for at this rate…except anything Rupert deigns to offer them all.
Nick Cohen, Nick Davies and…oh hell, they`re stuffed aren`t they?..