Monthly Archives: December 2011

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM….

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Interesting bit of analysis here from the fiercely neutral BBC; It concerns the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and a fight that broke out between the Priest in charge of it. Luckily (sic0 the Palestinian police were on hand to save the day but it was this that caught my eye…

The 1,700-year-old church, one of the holiest sites in Christianity, is in a bad state of repair, largely because the priests cannot agree on who should pay for its upkeep. Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, has also seen similar incidents.

Not quite the full picture. For starters, ever since Palestinians gained control of Bethlehem they have relentlessly cleansed it of the Christian community and made access much more difficult. From 60% in 1990 to a mere 15% in 2011, but not worth a mention for the BBC. Try this for the perspective that the BBC carefully avoids giving you.

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BBC PENSION FUND HIRES GREEN ADVISERS

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The greening of the BBC accelerates unchecked. I hope the 18,000 BBC staff who are in the pension fund are happy how their £9bn of funds are being managed; during the course of the past year, the trustees – who incude eco-nut head of news Helen Boaden – decided to entrust a major strand of the fund management to an outfit called Hermes EOS. This is what the fund annual report says (p15):

Hermes EOS is expected to develop policies on socially,ethically and environmentally responsible investing and to encourage these practices in the course of engagementswhere these will enhance or protect companies’ long-term prospects.

Now I do not claim to be an expert on pension funds, but that strikes me as a declaration that henceforward, management of the trust will be dominated by green principles. The impression is reinforced by the fact that Hermes EOS is listed as a member affiliate of an outfit called Eurosif, which desrcribes itself as ‘a pan-European network and think-tank whose mission is to Develop Sustainability through European Financial Markets’. In my book, that’s corporate speak for EU-related eco-loonery. The boss in the UK is Will Oulton:

Will joined Mercer in May 2010 as Head of Responsible Investment for Investment Consulting across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Previous to Mercer, Will was the Director of Responsible Investment at FTSE Group where he led the development of FTSE’s global sustainability indices and services including the FTSE4Good, Environmental Markets and Carbon Strategy indices. In June 2009, he edited the book “Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World” and in February 2010 was appointed as Vice President of the European Sustainable Investment Forum – EUROSIF.

And there we have it. The BBC has placed its pension fund into the grasping hands of a load of green zealots. Hermes EOS campaigners will be there are every relevant board meeting trying to force companies to adopt green policies, come what may.

The latest balance sheet shows that over the past five years, the fund has grown by just 3.7% against an industry average of 5%.

I’ve reported before that the pension fund has become – like everything else at the corporation – a greenie enterprise. What’s beyond belief is that the whole of the BBC has slowly but surely also morphed into an integrated campaigning machine for the eco cause, and Hermes EOS is now another arm of that effort. If I were a BBC pensioner, I would be afraid, very afraid.

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INFANTALIZED…

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Michael Buerk, for years one of the main BBC newsreaders, and now presenter of the R4’s Moral Maze, has long been a trenchant critic of the BBC’s climate reporting. Almost a year ago, he took a direct kick here at the rampant eco-loonery when Peter Sissons savaged the corporation’s espousal of climate alarmism in his memoirs. This week, he’s renewed his attack on the BBC Trustees – along with Harrabin, Black and their crusader colleagues – in a new blog called The Fifth Column. He points out that although he himself does believe in anthropogenic warming, the BBC’s reporting of the issue is a pile of odure. He says:

What gets up my nose is being infantilized by governments, by the BBC, by the Guardian that there is no argument, that all scientists who aren’t cranks and charlatans are agreed on all this, that the consequences are uniformly negative, the issues beyond doubt and the steps to be taken beyond dispute.

There’s much more in his short, punchy essay (hinged on the BBC’s reporting of the Durban summit), all of it brilliantly crafted to say that the corporation’s stance on this topic is indefensible.

The only question now is whether Mr Buerk will be ignored (as usually happens), fired, or someone is paid to ridicule him. My guess is that it will probably be Fiona Fox. She’s got form.

PS: I missed this pre-Christmas piece of naked agitprop from Richard Black attacking those who dare to challenge that nice EU’s punitive new tax on air travel. Jaw-dropping, even by his standards.

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ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE…

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Another festive slice from Biased BBC’s Alan…
The BBC has woken up to its one sided reporting from foreign climes…and it has done something about it…it has sent the fearless Evan Davis all the way to Africa for 3 days to check that they’re not all corrupt warlords, machete wielding rapists and famine victims……he checks out some ‘startling’ revelations…

‘I found myself sent there on a three-day mission to investigate a startling story: That sub-Saharan Africa is not just a region of starving children and warring dictators.

The assignment was at the behest of guest editor Mo Ibrahim who strongly feels that the Western media portrays Africa in a monotonously negative light. Could that really be true?

“Now I don’t want to paint a ludicrously one-dimensionally optimistic view of the country. It is no paradise….We wouldn’t want reporters to act as cheer leaders for a continent and we don’t want them to always be seeing glasses as half full. That would perhaps stop us trying fill them to the top.
But if we only ever see half empty glasses, that can be demotivating too. It can nurture a dull fatalism that assumes doing anything is a waste of effort.’

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9668000/9668347.stm

Perhaps on the flight back he could have stopped off in Israel and found out if the Israelis are really all warmongering terrorists stealing Arab land? Shame to have them painted in a relentlessly negative light.

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DRAWING BLOOD

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Biased BBC’s Alan observes;

“Not content with inflaming Muslim anger towards Jews the BBC is set on creating antagonism between Christians and Jews with its creative use of the truth in Bethlehem….as noted in a previous post. The reporter, Jon Donnison, had a template to write his story around and mangled the facts to fit that narrative….the Jews killed Christ and now they are destroying the Christian communities in the West Bank….and a university graduate doesn’t want to be a shepherd because of those damned Jews….sorry ‘Israelis’. Whatever the Balen Report said its message has clearly been forgotten…or ignored. What was that message? Probably that BBC News kills Jews. No wonder They don’t want you to see it.

Naturally of course the BBC don’t bother reporting much at all from Pakistan….a nation created in a similar way to Israel (and with less legitimacy) and one which supports terrorism in India and the Taliban…and of course is a Muslim state. One reason the BBC might not want to report from there……

‘For the second year in a row, Reporters Without Borders has named Pakistan the most deadly country in the world for journalists. The biggest threat is not terrorists, but the intelligence service, a prominent talk show moderator alleges. The same man just received an ominous warning via text message. ‘

 You haven’t heard much about that on the BBC. Perhaps if Jews promised to vote Labour they might get a better Press from the BBC? No matter what Labour does the BBC draws a veil over it…13 years of corruption and incompetence goes unreported. 

Recently the BBC presented us with ‘Drawing Blood’, a programme revealing the dangerous art of political cartooning.

As all political time begins with Thatcher the BBC of course went straight to her, then continued with the Tories and onto the Coalition….remarkably it seems the cartoonists had found nothing funny or satirical about Labour’s 13 years of misrule…..the BBC had their very own cultural Great Leap Forward and decided not to show us any anti-Labour cartoons.

What they did give us was Martin Rowson, of the Guardian (natch) who lectured us on the hateful nastiness of the Coalition….destroying Labour’s legacy of fine economic management and destituting the poor to pay for the Tory Toff’s mates in the Cities bonus’s….. ‘

“This government in particular makes me angry….it doesn’t know what it is doing….I get angrier when I think of the effect they’re having on the most vulnerable in society and economic mismanagement’.

Nice that the BBC doesn’t let an opportunity go to damn it’s political enemies.

Even John Simpson has lowered himself to puerile, student level abuse when reporting on the death of Vaclav Havel…he told us how intellectual Havel was….unlike other leaders….cue film of George Bush with Havel and Simpson’s narration….‘In terms of intellect he was way ahead of other political leaders.’ 

Ho Ho Ho.
(HIGN4Y 6 mins 30 secs in….)  No doubt the editors were all laughing at that one…..and at the picture of Bush as Hitler in the BBC news room.

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SANTA MAYBE….

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Easing my way back into this post-Christmas blogging and I am sure you will have read about the horrific mass murder in Texas carried out by a “gunman who shot dead six relatives before killing himself at a family Christmas celebration in Texas was dressed as Santa Claus.” The curious thing is that the killer was also a devout Muslim and it looks like it was an honour killing with extras. Naturally the BBC choses not to update the story with this detail – after all it’s not relevant…right?

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Fings Aint Wot They Used To Be

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The BBC is fond of the familiar. It favours the tried and tested, nay, the formulaic, all year round. But tradition and ritual are an extra special feature at Christmas. It’s what the audience wants, is it not? , “Give them more of what they liked last time round!” those innovative creative commissioning editors must have squealed as they sat round the table in the BBC’s department of inspiration and left of centre thinking.
“Eureka!” They might have cried, “Here’s what we’ll do for Christmas!” “Morecambe and Wise!” “Shrek!” “And don’t forget to go up to the attic and see if you can find the one about the shepherds. I know we put it somewhere. They love that one. What we need is another good old ‘fings aint wot they used to be’ special.”
Israel-bashers unite, far and wide, and the BBC is not averse to a bit of sentimentality at Christmas time, even if it means following the herd. Literally.
“Ring up Carlos Sarras, our go-to Palestinian shepherd, and if he’s available again get Jon Donnison on the case. Yolande Knell can find another old geezer wistfully reminiscing about his goat, his olive tree and his donkey and she can finish with an interview with George Saadah, deputy mayor of Bethlehem, whose message of peace and goodwill to all men we’ll put under the heading “The Wise Man.” Jon Donnison gave him a lengthy spot on BBC News 24 the other day, so the audience will be liking him already.”
“Bring the story up to date with some fresh 2011 references to the apartheid wall, and round it up thus: “Forty years ago, there were just a few thousand settlers living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory Israel captured and occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.“
(That would be the1967 war of intended annihilation against Israel instigated by her surrounding neighbours, I think you’ll find, Mr D., a simple fact that might have significant bearing on the situation.)

“Put it in context,” they’ll be reminding each other.“Now there are around 500,000 settlers.”
“and finish, as ever, with the perennial: “Settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.” and Bob’s yer uncle!”

Same old addendum each time, but hardly innovative. Here’s an idea for the creatives at the BBC Left Field Think Tank. Think outside the box! Why stick to that tired old taint as your sole contribution to what you scurrilously call ‘context?’
For a change, why not put some different context, for example: “Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip receive one of the highest levels of aid in the world.” That’s context, is it not? How about a straightforward: “Palestinians receive more aid per capita than any other people on the planet.” Or why not inform the public thusly: “Hamas, who rule Gaza have Israel’s destruction immutably written within their charter!” Or, from the charter itself: “[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”
Well, why not? It’s context. It would make a change. Make progress. You love complaining that fings aint wot they used to be, but it’s no use complaining. Fings just aint.

Or, why not go for refreshing honesty? Come out! No more closet. Why not just put “The BBC pledges everlasting allegiance with the Palestinians, and will continue to act as their mouthpiece while promising never to waste an opportunity to denigrate Israel.”

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