Here’s a Bradford West approved Open Thread to see you off into the weekend! Enjoy.
OPEN THREAD
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- JohnC Nov 15, 03:05
Midweek 13th November 2024
This sums up the Left perfectly. They are constantly watching GB News just looking for any chance to complain or… - StewGreen Nov 15, 00:27
Midweek 13th November 2024
Quick bit of info from GBnews.. “Musk has retweeted GBnews twice in the last 24 hours” One tweet was about… - StewGreen Nov 15, 00:20
Midweek 13th November 2024
The Alison Pearson case The police are now saying she was wrong to say it was a non-crime hate incident… - StewGreen Nov 15, 00:17
Midweek 13th November 2024
Police breaking the law again. They cleared someone 2 months ago But only decided to tell her tonight Yes #TheProcessIsThePunishment… - JohnC Nov 14, 23:48
Midweek 13th November 2024
University cash crisis to get worse despite tuition fee rise, BBC told https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14lv7e61d3o [img]https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/c006/live/66b8a290-a27e-11ef-9881-317cd05de9c4.jpg.webp[/img] By one of the BBC’s own… - Guest Who Nov 14, 22:28
Midweek 13th November 2024
https://order-order.com/2024/11/14/guardians-self-deplatforming-post-420-times-more-popular-than-average-tweet/? - non-licence payer Nov 14, 22:01
Midweek 13th November 2024
Zephir, how times are changed. This was the sort of advice that was printed in the Socialist Worker. It is… - vlad Nov 14, 21:58
Midweek 13th November 2024
After woke Welby, next woke Francis maybe? (Any non-Catholics, take it from me: he’s just as bad.) - Nibor Nov 14, 21:56
Midweek 13th November 2024
Taffy, Make friends. I’m a moaner and complainer and haven’t paid the telly tax for 20 years, and other taxes. - vlad Nov 14, 21:55
Midweek 13th November 2024
I’ll be a Socialist for 1 night. Nah, too high a price.
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It’s little wonder that Shrien Dewani is so mentally distraught about his trial in South Africa.
Details of a “trial” held where his wife was murdered in the Western Cape are shown here (WARNING; CONTAINS SCENES OF GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE THAT MAY UPSET PEOPLE WITH SENSITIVES MINDS);
http://westcapenews.com/?p=3929
The freedoms brought by the ANC and Nelson Mandela and Winnie of course.
Yet the BBC and the Guardian think the most important vigilante case is with Zimmerman in America. What would Al Sharpton say about this. Move along nothing to see here. BTW thanks for the warning
Am I the only one who didn`t even know there was a by-election until a chance look at Guido Fawkes the other night?
Don`t the BBC usually flood areas where a “sensational result” might be in the offing?
Noted Evan Davis desperate to get Warsi to give us all what swing there was away from the Tories…and , funnily enough; her answer was cobbled together for a soundbite on the news bulletin that followed ten minutes later.
Subtle and clever….and James Landale gets cut off when he threatens to go into the Labour collapse too.
Not paranoia…just the impression that the Beeb wanted to imply that the Tories were as bruised by this result as were Labour…desperate rubbish as ever!
Guido has a caption contest going over a his place and I have to say that the name of the photo should win a prize of it’s own.
http://order-order.com/2012/03/30/friday-caption-contest-bus-to-nowhere-edition/#comment-1253731
what proportion of george’s win was due to postal votes.
If Its high now is the time for DC to ask Lab and Libs to reform the way postal voting works as it shows what idiots you get when the postal votes are subject to misuse. All voting should include identity checks.
How can people in other countries vote for people in our country when they dont live here……..
The real question, is how much money did Mr Galloway receive from PRESS TV and his IRGC pals in Tehran?
As the clock ticks towards the showdown with Iran, having a significant “fifth column” inside the enemy camp is an advantage that cannot be ignored.
The fact that neither the BBC, Guardian nor Channel 4 are prepared to look at the struggle within the Labour movement by the politics of entryism should set alarm bells ringing.
Where is the investigation from the BBC of the activities of Living Marxism, Socialist Appeal, STWC and other dangerous Far Left groups with their Islamist fellow traveller?
Why are figures like Oliver Camm, Nick Cohen, Harry’s Place on the fringe?
Why, when even George Monbiot warns about the former members of the Militant Tendency pursing entryist tactics amongst scientific and media organisations in the UK, since the late 1990s, has not been subject to closer attention? Or the PCS relationship with the Respect Party?
The worst mistake by the Major Government was to abolish F Branch (subversion) to study radical left and right wing groups. Trusting the various regional Special Branches to do the job, when they are subject to the same political correctness that is eating away at most other institutions.
Watching News24 this afternoon I noticed the other non fuel/strike/Cameron news scroll along the bottom part of the screen while the fat-arsed blond waffled on about the fuel crisis. First up we had news that two men have been convicted of a bomb plot to cause ‘serious injury’to Celtic manager Neil Lennon, secondly we had news that Aston Villa midfielder Petrov has leukeamia and thirdly we had the news that two IRA men have been found guilty of the murder of policeman Stephen Carroll. It says something about da beeb’s set of priorites that they choose to place a story about the non-bombing of Stephen Lennon ahead of the actual murder of a copper by Republicans. It says even more that they place a story about a footballer that people in Birmingham have probably never heard of ahead of an IRA assassination. I suppose the only surprise was that Muambas ‘continued improvement’ didn’t come head of this heinous murder.
From the “Ain’t It Cozy?” Dept.:
Mark Mardell Catch up with me on NPR’s Diane Rehm show
Guess who is the regular guest host on the show, trading on her status as a high-profile Beeboid in the US to earn more money and push her political views.
Lead story on bBC 6pm news woman burns herself decanting petrol in her kitchen, I blame the government.
cor blimey
It’s the government’s fault she decants it whilst the GAS HOB IS ALIGHT!!!!
Just came across this on the BBC website “The Falklands War: Key dates” I only managed to read as far as the mention of The Belgrano and had to stop before I put my fist through the screen.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17444526
Spot the “but”
27 May 1982
Fury over BBC report
A microphone used for radio broadcasting
British forces are furious when the BBC World Service broadcasts that the men of 2 Para are advancing on Goose Green and Darwin, but the Argentine commander is convinced the report is deliberate misinformation.
If it were the same today the Argentine commander would know the BBC were telling the truth.
He would know who’s side they were on.
Watching BBC news at 6pm tonight. Deplorably they are linking the poor unfortunate woman who set herself on fire, with Maude’s ‘ keep a jerry can of fuel in your garage ‘ quote. Sad as it is, surely only a fool would transfer inflammable liquids next to a lighted cooker.Apparently not, according to the Beeb, the tragic accident was a direct consequence of Maude’s suggestion to stockpile fuel.
Can’t speak for the BBC, but SKY were in full ‘who do you blame?’ mode all day.
They even had a bozo with a mic on a garage queue and that was his only question.
Can’t say the Government has covered itself in glory, but this ‘anyone is responsible but me’ thing is hard to credit when half the clowns had no idea why they were there but once directed it was all the Government’s fault anyway.
As to this poor woman, one has sympathy for her and the family, but it is rather what the Darwin Awards were created for.
During the day the MSM carried out the seamless sea change they have managed on Treyvon and Mr. Mehra as the facts crossed their already established narratives.
When it turned out that Mr. Maude could not really be directly nailed for this Tibet protest gone wrong, the SKY bimbo simply flipped to how it was all down to ‘panic’ over fuel and hence there needs to be mass resignations.
B…freakin’…zarre.
SKY does it purely because blame and a Minster resigning is great to fill 20 of the 24 hrs. Plus..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/30/sherlock-producer-television-ratings?CMP=twt_fd
(loved this bit.. ‘blames newspapers for focus on numbers, saying Daily Mail has ‘lost the plot” – no love, Danny Cohen gets his public sector bonus based on market rates, so dross is what we are served if it will score a point)
As to the BBC’s motivations… well, they had Blinky out a lot and this time he was not having to excuse another bit of political news whose name need not be spoken.
DT are reporting that the family were thought to have kept fuel in a can for their lawnmower. I do hope she recovers, though.
Not the BBC however – Five Lives news bulletins today repeatedly misquoted Maudes ‘advice’ and failed to point out that the Government had quickly withdrawn or qualified this. Anyone listening would still believe that the Govt were continuing to advise listeners to ‘fill’ a jerry can – putting people at risk for their own political ends.
Yes, the woman discovered the hard way that petrol can be a long way from a naked flame and the vapour explode.
Safety advice is that when you empty a jerry can you should fill it with water to get rid of the vapour.
Thank me later.
He lit a match/
To check gas tank/
That’s why/
They call him/
Skinless Frank.
Burma-Shave.
What is interesting is why fuel prices are so high , and why the West is experiencing a energy crisis in the first place?
Could it be that Oil climbed over $110 a barrel for the first time since May after an Iranian state-run news channel reported an explosion on a pipeline in Saudi Arabia?
Could it be that within 20 minutes of the US draw down in Iraq, that its business as usual and Saudi backed Sunni’s and Iranian backed Shia extremists are fighting it out for those oil production area’s?
Could it be that Russia and China just might be making preparations to secure fuel stocks, and that the EU’s “strong message” to Iran and boycotting Iranian oil has somewhat backfired?
Could it be, that UNITE, as part of the Far Left, just might be trying to disrupt oil supply, along with a Government that hasn’t the foresight to think that the unions might just engaging in disruption, just like the “good old days” of the 1970’s and 1980’s?
Seeing UNITE has called off the strike, suggests that its political manipulation of the type led by Derek Robinson and Arthur Scargill, for their pay-masters in the Soviet Union.
Or have I got it all wrong? I mean wasn’t it “no blood for oil”, and its Muddling Maude’s fault anyway???
I look forward to Comrade Mason’s Marxist insights….
I can offer the “insights” of BBC Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders in her reasons to be cheerful for 2012.
” I don’t expect to see another big rise in the price of petrol. In fact, I think the OBR is underestimating the possibility that oil prices will fall sharply in 2012 and 2013, but that’s a reason to be cheerful for another day; I don’t want to run out. ”
Yes you did read that right floundering Flanders thinks FALLING oil and petrol prices are a reason to be cheerful….
My posts seem to be disappearing. Is this a glitch in the comments system or something a little more sinister ?
I am fairly confident that no one is out to get you Dandy, or rather, out to get your comments. Seeing as they put up with the witterings of troll boy and call me doctor, I am sure that the blog powers that be will happily cope with yours.
Jim, nothing interesting or sinister is happening.
As the site tech, Email me at eye at allseeingeye.net and I will sort out whatever is going wrong for you.
Thanks. A glitch I guess. It’s been rather sporadic recently as to which of my posts appear.
Jim Dandy,
I, for one, welcome your comments.
LR
I’ve made a similar comment recently. Jim Dandy the reasonable voice of the defence of the indefensible.
‘Jim Dandy says:
March 30, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Is this a glitch in the comments system or something a little more sinister ?’
Looks like you got your answer. And on this thread rather than the one below dedicated to reporting and discussing glitches.
Now, let us consider the BBC’s threads, which a) are being closed down left, left and left of centre, and if you do manage to post (they also have mystery outages before such as early closing and stealth edits), b) can ensure you are ‘referred’ by an internal drone before a post appears, or a tame kapo afterwards (in which case it stays that way until the issue is passed), or can go straight to a House Ruled-out. Ironically, this is almost always on the basis of being off topic, or posting something they deem not relevant to that thread.
I am fighting currently with the Appeals branch on a series of purgings on a post about their new mobile service, where I queried the rush to this given the number of headlines being squeezed to fit twitter & mobile screens that lose accuracy in the process.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2012/03/bbc_news_mobile_site_refresh.html
(looks like they think they are doing incredibly well based on answering only the one question that doesn’t flay them alive)
They are fighting a nasty battle based on the always entertaining ‘we don’t think you are right because we think we are but can’t explain how’ defence, so again I am escalating up the greasy pole to ECU or the Trust, where they will decide that they can’t see merit in anything that uses facts when they have belief.
Now, in matters of democratic free speech, that is sinister, coming from a public funded ‘news’ body that is rushing into social media, yet is committed to propaganda protected by censorship.
Yet you get to post freely, see it register, stay up and even have an offer of help.
Now, which blog owners do you feel have the concept of free exchange of thought pretty well figured out and committed to, and which are in a downward spiral to a very dubious authoritarian place historically?
To quote one of the flock, ‘I am genuinely interested’.
‘Jim Dandy says:
March 30, 2012 at 8:10 pm’
Note you are out and about elsewhere. Actually, everywhere.
Any reason not to have any feedback here? For balance.
‘Jim Dandy says:
March 30, 2012 at 8:10 pm’
In true BBC style, looks like a case of Mr. Dandy declined to comment (for once), which viewers can take as they will.
Sorry, don’t reallyunderstand. Us your point a criticism about BBC moderating policy? If so I have no cogent view to offer.
I just stumbled across this article, following a biased BBC search on Google. These people actually believe that the BBC is prejudiced against them. The comments are amazing – http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/03/27/comment-biased-bbc-skews-the-debate-on-lgbt-issues/
Does anyone know if Mark Mardell, officially the BBC “North America editor”, has ever been to Canada? Can one tell from his reporting if the country exists?
Aside from Mardell, I think I can count the number of stories which have appeared in the last six months on the US & Canada page of the BBC website that are actually about Canada on one hand, and still have a couple fingers free to give a certain salute.
Of a more interesting observation is that Canadian Mark Steyn knows more about US politics than the entire output of the BBC,CNN, ABC, New York Times, LA Times and Washington Post?
Typical BBC looking down its nose at us parochial, tiny-minded United Statesians:
Aardman’s Pirates! risks choppy waters in the US
The plot of the latest Aardman film The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists is, perhaps, a uniquely British storyline so how well is the movie likely to fare with the tricky American audiences?
Oh, please. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Chicken Run have, perhaps, a uniquely British storyline? How well did that do in the US, BBC? Grossing $106,793,915 is what – chicken feed? You can’t give all the credit to Mel Gibson, like the BBC does. Isn’t it fair to say the the whole gestalt of Wallace and Gromit is uniquely British, or more precisely, uniquely English? I don’t even need to cite hard figures that their DVDs sell in the millions over here, because all I have to do to prove its popularity, and the lameness of this BBC hand-wringing, is tell you that, thanks to the Wallace and Gromit film, “Curse of the Were-Rabbit”, a single large retailer alone in the US probably does £1 million a year in Wensleydale cheese, never mind the rest of the market.
And the superior Beeboids are worried if it’s too British for us?
This from the BBC – who edited out the Simpsons clips from the Tracey Ullman Show when they broadcast the series here in the UK – because they thought it ‘wouldn’t translate’. It was the only watchable part of an otherwise deadful show.
They are our betters, after all.
Yes Mark Mardell……..the over paid, under employed “journalist” that UK taxpayers are forced to pay for, so we can have his “insights” on America.
Its so easy to work out his “work load”
Most of the time he is entertained by the Beltway/Washington establishment and the DNC party hacks who more or less write his blog. His dreadful, unreadable dross is no different from the type of dreadful, unreadable dross found in the New York Times or Washington Post.
He might venture out to Nanny Michael Bloomberg’s home of the broke in New York, which in his eyes is the nearest he gets to opposition, at other times he gets to go to bankrupt California to see how the real Democrat Jerry Brown ruins an economy, continuing the great tradition established by pretend Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Sometimes he is allowed to go and see “ordinary American’s”, in much the same way as people go and see wild animals on a game reserve, if only to remind us of how backward, insular and paranoid “middle America” actually is.
Heaven forbid to interview, Paul Ryan, Allen West, Michelle Bachmann, Marco Rubio or public figures like Victor Davis Hanson, Thomas Sowell, Mark Steyn or Michael Barone.
That might give us British some dangerous idea’s regarding liberty and freedom……….
Sorry should of filed under the Mark Mardell thread
Galloway on Newsnight rejecting the concept of the Muslim Vote, whilst talking earlier about a ‘Bradford Spring’.
Thoroughly obnoxious individual.
Good point……
The last time I looked, the Arab Spring wasn’t going so well………
Perhaps the objective of Mr Galloway is inter-community violence, economic chaos and a cult of personality?
You’d think that an MP requiring police protection after receiving death threats would merit some sort of mention by the BBC.
So let’s see what factors might have led to them ignoring it.
1. He’s a Conservative MP – he took over Henley after Boris Johnson became mayor.
2. He stuck up for Israel when during the recent Gaza/Israel conflict a pro-Palestinian campaigner, Harry Fear, asked him what he was doing “to see that Israel halts the military actions that are taking place in defiance of international law and basic human decency”.
In response, The MP, Mr Howell, asked Mr Fear what his position was on the 100 rockets that had landed in Israel that weekend.
Can’t believe if would have been a pro-Palestinian MP, like George Galloway for example, who had received death threats from pro-Israelis, that the story wouldn’t have made headline news.
As it is, it’s just ignored
MP needs police protection after threats from anti-Israel activists
(h/t – Burt)
It occurs to me how ironic it is that not only does the BBC avoid plays that highlight the Islamic threat to freedom of speech in our society, they also avoid the reality.
Indeed, the irony as always escapes the “clever people” in our fantastic State media.
However what is more interesting is how this will play out in Bradford, which if memory recalls, had racial riots back in 2001, just before 9/11.
I will be interested to see how many pubs and nightclubs will remain open?
How long before the Tristram and Isoude stained glass panels will be removed, or the illustrated textiles in the phulkari style and items of contemporary Sikh art be burnt?
When will the next Gay Pride event will be taking place at City Park?
Or the National Media Museum becoming the National Museum of Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab to promote “peace, understanding and dhimmitude in modern British culture”
You never know, Bradford might be the first alcohol free city and a model that David Cameroon could introduce in the 2015 manifesto…..
“Can’t believe if would have been a pro-Palestinian MP, like George Galloway for example, who had received death threats from pro-Israelis, that the story wouldn’t have made headline news.”…
Can’t find any reference at all to this story by the BBC.
Oops, can’t get to grips with these html tags.
“Police to probe Facebook death threat to Galloway”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/police-to-probe-facebook-death-threat-to-galloway.14539656
Thank you Dez for proving my point – EXACTLY.
It’s a wonder you don’t understand it, as I believe you thought you were proving me wrong.. Try reading my post again.
How about this one?
Galloway told to avoid his home
AND this one ‘Islamists’ hit Galloway meeting
There’s also a video posted about it.
The Beauty of Postal Voting and the BBC.
Simple – it could work in your favour !
Gone are the election days when from nowhere Pakistani females appear all over the place with voting cards in hand and shoved into the voting booths by their wise male handlers with an an offer they can’t refuse should they not vote appropriately.
They will never be seen again, well until the next election that is.
The Beauty of Postal Voting in Bradford ?
Well it’s pretty similar to anywhere else nowadays, the female muslims can stay in the basement, negating the harrowing agony of marking their voting card “outside” and in the real world.
I know this is a new site, but frankly I could have posted this a 1,000 years ago and still been cutting edge !
Upon reflection, Muslims take the piss with arranged Postal Voting, I was going to even it up and finnish off with a tirade against the Super Piss Wet Cameron, but I lost the will to live when I thought about him, so forgive me and just vote on-line for your favourite X-Factor imbecile, or in Sam’s case – her husband !
I see that the story on Ed Miliband’s dinner companions has been conveniently buried on the politics page. Best for the Beeb to put it out of harms way where it won’t be seen.
It’s amazing how much focus they put onto the Conservatives on this story without any Inquisition into Labour.
The Saturday Morning Quiz.
Janet and John attend school whilst proudly sporting matching “ankle-tags”.
Are they pretending to be :
1) The teachers
2) The social workers
3) George Galloway and his pet Gerbil
4) Alan Hanson and £40,000
5) Mark Thompson and a stuffed Polly Toynbee
6) Polly Toynbee and a stuffed Mark Thompson
7) Ed Milliband and accompanying new nose
8) A pair of Pakistani out-reach facilitators
9) A couple of sausage rolls
10) Pregnant and looking forward to being 12
I’ll hand over to Flouncing Richard Bacon and ask him if he can pull himself away from his busy schedule and announce the winner, which, incidentally, happens to be himself and that £300 scarf of his.
Or if you like, nearly TWICE the cost of the nasty BBC licence fee around his neck.
Next Saturday Morning Quiz :
How tight should BBC drones wear their scarf’s ?
R5live: The news now saying that Maude instructed people to store petrol in their home. Any danger of the bBC starts to report truthfully.
‘R5live: The news now saying that Maude instructed people to store petrol in their home. Any danger of the bBC starts to report truthfully.’
A recording of that would be useful.
Seems the whole ‘truth won’t fit’ meme is spreading beyond twitter & mobile screens.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/fuel/9177425/Mother-suffers-severe-burns-as-petrol-ignites-in-kitchen.html
I imagine the comments in the Graun will err on a more emotional, less scientific basis, and hence form the basis of a BBC guest expert’s opinion that becomes headline fact.
i player for ‘Weekend Breakfast’ 10mins 30sec into the program.
Woman unfortunately burned, and has my sympathy and best wishes for speedy recovery.
However Cause and effect:
Silly woman: 100 %
Francis Maude’s fault 0%
‘Questions are being asked’ this morning again about the institutional ‘ism of a very large institution on the basis of a single event.
Whilst there are worthy aspects to investigate on a subsequent cover-up basis (imagine, abuse being investigated internally seriously being expected to be taken as credible), I am intrigued by the precedent being set by our media estate that the actions of one person can get conflated, conveniently, with the entire outfit.
Now, what if that were applied evenly, hmnn?
ps: Just watching Michael White on SKY, and he has very stoutly accused the media of fanning the flames (apols for insensitivity) of the fuel crisis every bit as much as the government. What’s more, he slapped down the wittering woman anchor who was seriously trying to make out they were ‘just reporting’. Worth being up early for. Next getting a ‘clearly very angry’ young man feted for being very angry… not so much. As the anchor said… ‘we need to be careful we are only getting one side’. Uh, huh.
Is that Michael White of the Guardian? If so, he’s moderated somewhat to what hw used to be like.
The same. Don’t know about moderate, but I will give him credit for honesty on tribal motivations, which the broadcast numpties seem incapable of even acknowledging. The female anchor really seemed to feel that they merely convey facts in an objective and unsensational way. SKY winds everything up for ratings, and the BBC adds a nasty topping of one-sided agenda. I know his prejudices, but at least he explains them politely. Wheeling out a Hasan, Hundal, Penny or Maguire is simply dire tribal stoking, and they know it.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100148411/lying-lefties-gruesome-polyester-chasubles-and-daves-bedtime-belgian-buns/
It even has ‘balance’, of sorts…
‘Right-wingers do it too, of course, but they don’t have liberal allies high up in the BBC..’
BBC News Paper review, with of course a commenter from the grauniad (where else) this morning declaring that Gorgeous George is in some ways equivalent to Peter Tatchell, who is now regarded as something of a national treasure. National Treasure? Peter Tatchell in Bradford? what planet do these idiots inhabit? God help us.( Item was around 7:40am.)
OH dear shoutie has just appeared on BBC news 24:
Guess he must have known brillo pad wasn’t interviewing him!
you cannot purchase common sense.
Anyone who owns a petrol mower or strimmer will(or should) know how to transfer petrol from the can to the machine. If not then get a grown up to help you. This is worrying, How dumbed down are we?
Very, very, very dumbed down and getting dumber every day. e.g. Notice oin packet of nuts – Warning:- This packet contains nuts
On a lighter note, seen on a Reliance prisoner transport van, written in the dirt on the rear:
“may contain nuts”
I remember a housemate I used to have who intended to get some petrol from the local filling station with a bucket.
Fortunately the station insisted he buy a jerry can.
During the last fuel crisis wasn’t there a man who tried to store it in a dustbin? Unfortunately the fuel melted the plastic, if I recall correctly.
Has anyone access to statistics on the size of the postal vote in Bradford? BBC have a detailed breakdown of the total poll by candidate with percentages but ignore the possibly crucial aspect. It must be a matter of public record yet a quick google fails to give me the answer.
I feel it must have relevance since Labour List in their election commentary highlight postal voting as an important factor “We need to bear in mind that Respect do well on postal votes. Those votes are likely to have been some of those counted first. And counting just started at 11pm, so we shouldn’t get too carried away yet. People should bear this in mind before they worry.” (Ah, Bless. Don’t worry, loves….).
But seriously, of course Labour List are not keen to say why it is that Respect do well on postal votes. Are the BBC likewise not keen to tell us what percentage of Bradfordians were on their hols this Thursday or otherwise engaged so that they couldn’t vote in person?
And then there is all this talk of betting on the result. Bookies paying out £100,000s on the Galloway victory. Just me or have we reached the stage where election gambling ought to be outlawed? But then what would be the point since this betting scam business is all based in the sub-continent – of which we are now an off-shoot.
In the interests of balance in my own posts, even I was taken aback by the rather one eyed view by Roger Galpin (?) on Today this morning (at about). The item was about the EDL led protest in Aarhus. Now the EDL are a grim bunch of thugs and proto-facists in my view. But the report was a little too emotional and partisan imv.
That said, the report about Bradford aired some rather Trenchant views that the result was not a one off and signalled a deeper malaise in the labour vote (they interviewed the political betting chap). So a bit of counterfactual to some if the views expressed here.
It’s always interesting to note how the EDL is covered.
As I suggested before, I am not really interested in Labour’s dismal failings, I am more interested in the context on what is happening today.
For most of the Left since 1968, the working class is no longer the concern Left, except when it comes to political manipulation for its own ends. Since the advent of the New Left, “identity politics” and “affirmative action” has replaced workers welfare and rights.
You only have to see the TUC site, and how much time is devoted to industrial relations than to “equality issues”. With a few brave exceptions (Frank Field, Guisla Stewart and Kate Hoey spring to mind) most on the Left have gone on to pastures new. Now they worship at the altar of the multicultural faith.
So it’s perfectly normal for a Labour leader to call an Old Labour supporter a bigot because she expressed a concern about immigration. It’s OK for the current Shadow Minister to talk about the “whites” policy of “divide and rule” It’s perfectly normal to endlessly investigate C18 or print the lists of the BNP and not investigate Islam4UK. It’s entirely understandable to show sympathy to Islamic “militants” and to urge more outreach, while at the same time describe alienated whites as “a grim bunch of thugs and proto-fascists”.
I have no truck with the EDL or the BNP, but as we plunge further down the spiral, more and more people will turn to unattractive groups to try and reverse the trend. Of course this will only lead to further balkanization and civil breakdown, but rest be assured, the New Left, via its mouthpiece of the BBC and Guardian has certainly played it part in demonizing these people, while applying an altogether different standard to Islamic “militants”.
I just listened to Galpin’s hit piece. He said that Breivik was “inspired by groups like the EDL”, but then later went on to fret that Breivik’s act of mass murder hadn’t stopped people from supporting the EDL. He expressed his fear that the EDL and their growing group of friends in Europe would “tear at the fabric of multicultural society”.
Did Breivik harm a single Muslim? Did the BBC send someone to do a special report, complete with scary background music, to worry about how Muslims killing Jews, attacking Jews in the street, and vandalizing Jewish property would “tear at the fabric of multicultural society”?
Oh, and it seems that Evangelical Christians from the US are supporting the EDL now. How very handy for the BBC with an election coming up.
This begs the question, though: are the allegedly disappointed Labour voters who elected Galloway against the EDL and in favor of multiculturalism? What are the local issues in Bradford which concern the white working classes, who are usually thought of by the BBC as racists? Narratives not adding up here.
Yes, you’ve jogged in my mind what was bad about this: the Breivik link. Very spurious and debate chilling. Mr Vance should have got up earlier and done a post on this rather than a lame piece in smoking tabs.
Speaking of selective jogging in a very selective entity, any insights on what lame pieces the BBC should not be churning out on spurious grounds in its capacity as the £4Bpa objective national broadcaster uniquely funded in compulsion by licence fee payers, vs. the free choices of the owner and a valued contributor to a free and independent blog people come to through free will?
Preferably without the snarks.
And the OT nazi attempt, which [whispers] doesn’t work here.
No?
Carry on.
Jim D., you always seem to prefix your references to the English Defence League with the word “thuggish”. Can you confirm who starts the violent confrontations when the U.A.F. appear upon the scene of a demo?
Those who attend EDL demos may appear loud and boorish in television reports but I’ve never seen any of their members and hangers actually break ranks and violently attack anyone. We often hear of police arresting people on these demos for public order offences but, strangely enough, we are never told which side they belong to. I’m sure if it was only EDL members arrested for causing trouble we see screaming headlines from the BBC and other left wing media outlets, but we don’t do we? This makes me suspect that those arrested belong to the U.A.F, who have a terrible reputation for promoting violent action against with whom they disagree. THEY are the real thuggish fascists , I.M.O.
First post on new site.
I’m hoping it will grow on me
Gorgeous Georges results in Bradford is due to The Beeb playing the race card every day
If you pump the airwaves full of US an UK army transgressions and play down any Islamic terrorism you get a warped world view where stone age attitudes are preferred over western liberal teaching
Ps how do I add my avatar on our new homesite
Paddy – go to wordpress.com – click ‘sign up’ at the top of the page to create a profile.
Humphrys on Today this morning read out headlines from every single major paper saying that Galloway’s election was a one-off but should concern all three major parties, especially Labour. Over and over again I heard about how the parties are out of touch with ordinary voters. Yet I still haven’t heard specifics about Galloway’s platform which swung the white working class over to join the Muslims. If it wasn’t the anti-war issue which won him the seat, then all these fears about the EDL and anti-Muslim sentiment tearing at the fabric of multicultural society is a load of BS.
If the white working class of Bradford voted to join their Muslim neighbors and support Galloway, the BBC’s beloved multicultural society is in no danger. So what the hell is actually going on here?
“Over and over again I heard about how the parties are out of touch with ordinary voters.”
“tearing at the fabric of multicultural society”
A very insightful piece of writing, which goes to the heart of the problem.
When I was canvassing a year ago (for the Tory Party-I’ve now left them), I knocked on a middle class lady. Her car had all the usual hallmarks of a typical middle class woman in a well to do part of the country (Lewes-Sussex).
Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, and CND-I think you get the picture.
When I spoke to her, I expected her to go full on into saving polar bears and wind farms.
You can imagine my surprise when this pillar of the liberal establishment whispered to me in hushed tones her current political concern.
“…well dear, I am a little worried about immigration. Of course I am not a racist, but I am worried that young people are not getting jobs and that too many immigrants are coming here, although we should help the poor people of Africa”.
She explained (at length) that while we should be creating “green jobs” and that “young people should be working in nature and caring for animals” but that she found it odd that in the Starbucks in Eastbourne that the “very nice young lady didn’t speak English very well”, and she was worried that “immigrants might not understand the English Countryside”
No doubt those with “sophisticated” and “nuanced” world views who will dismiss her as a crank and a bigot, just like Sixty-five-year-old Gillian Duffy.
But this is a woman who probably marched against the Invasion of Iraq, who attends peace meetings and talks about turning car parks into farmland.
But when the “knuckle-dragging” members of the EDL, and the most squishy liberal are saying almost the same thing, then there is little wonder that parties are out of touch with ordinary voters, as they continue to worship on the altar of multiculturalism.
Today’s Thought for the Day: The Garden of Eden story at the beginning of Genesis is really a parable about man failing to connect properly with and be good stewards of the environment.
There is no escape.
Man tells of being racially abused by police officers – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17572925
‘A man arrested during the London riots has described how he was subjected to racial abuse, which he says he recorded on his mobile phone.’
Surely ‘described how’ should be replaced by ‘claimed’, given that these are unproven allegations…
Jeff
Like the fuel ‘panic’, the agenda is being set as opposed to news reported.
This was emailed to me by Channel 4:
Officer suspended in Met racism row
Simon Israel has just come back to the newsroom with an amazing interview with the young man who recorded police officers racially abusing him and calling him other disgusting names.
The Guardian today revealed how despite the recording the Crown Prosecution Service had not brought charges against the officers. That is now under review. The recording itself reveals exactly what a lot of people know to be true from experience – that some police are verbally abusive and some are still racially abusive, despite everything we have learned in the years since Stephen Lawrence’s murder led to the Macpherson Report and the phrase “institutional racism”.
But it is nonetheless shocking to hear a recording of an actual incident. Tonight we hear how it felt to be on the receiving end of those words – why racial abuse between a police officer and a member of the public is fundamentally different to playground name calling.
So… some rozzers out of a fair old few got pushed beyond their limits (and a few do seem to set a low bar), and one was nailed in flagrante, such that his career is over. OK, so far, so justice system at play… or not, which is the real story, as there does appear to have been a cover up. But the whole thing appears not so much about the prosecution of an illegal act, but folk using ‘disgusting language’. Talk about warped priorities.
So… I am struggling to see the leap to the now inevitable race ‘row’ being spun up, again, pretty much only by the media to sit back like Eliot Carvers as their puppets react in full HD to the prompting.
It’s like blowing away a set of kids was fine in Nutterstan, but accidentally burning a book got the collective liberal knicker elastic all soggy, from daft PC generals to high-horse commentators.
Are Ch4, or any media, going to accept the precedent that the actions of a few (out of tens of thousands in the case of the BBC) gets spun up to equate to all in the eyes of the viewing public by default?
This does not bode well for the future of responsible journalism.
Yes the shriekocracy in full howl because someone was referred to by the * word.
I wonder what chummy was doing up to the time of his arrest. Let me guess, helping an old lady across the street. In the good old days he would have ‘fell down the stairs, guvnor’.
* the letter between ‘m’ and ‘o’.
“Tonight we hear how it felt to be on the receiving end of those words”
This is where we are increasingly heading – laws to stop people being offended, rather than being offended against.
We’ve only just disposed of the ludicrous blasphemy laws, only to be replacing them with a much broader criminalisation of language that might offend. The liberal elite are very busy creating a distinctly illiberal culture. Of course, these ‘offenders’ being police officers does make the situation far less acceptable, but any member of the public would be in similar trouble if overheard using similar language.
This control of language is likely to increase in the future. As someone commented on the live QT blog, young people have become very illiberal. Of course they have, they have little choice if they’re be accepted rather than ostracised. The PC language monitors have drummed their agenda into the youger generations in the schools, universities, TV, Radio and on and on – “Here’s what you can say, and here’s what will cause you to be excommunicated”.The point was made several time on QT that the sentence for the young man who tweeted racist comments was appropriate, as it sent a message that we won’t tolerate this kind of language. Surely the response to this ought to be, if we are to remain a nation that values free speech and true tolerance, that we MUST tolerate unpleasant language.
The best response to bad ideas is to propose better ones.
Good point. I also noticed that despite the QT panel unanimously backing the idea that the Twitter offender should have his sentence shortened on appeal several youngsters in the audience were for hanging and flogging their fellow youngster – as a warning to others. Of course the judge agreed with our young stormtroopers and the lad lost his appeal.
Highly recommended broadcast on Radio 3 coming up at 17:30 UK time. The last “Performance on 3” of the BBC’s Schubert week will have a combination of performances of his best late works.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f5h6w
Paul Lewis doing the three late pieces, D946
(I’m not a big fan, but Lewis is everyone’s darling these days, so it could be just me.)
The engrossing “Schwanegesang” song cycle, sung by baritone Christian Gerhaher with Gerold Huber on piano.
(Not familiar with Gerhaher, but Huber is one of the top accompanists around, especially with this music, so that’s good enough for me.)
String Quintet in C, one of the greatest chamber works of the era, the one with the second cello, performed by the Takacs Quartet with Jan Vogler playing the lead of the two cello parts.
(Takacs is a very good group; they’ve been featured a couple times this week already, I think. Vogler is a fine cellist, and a very nice guy.)
Last but not least, the legendary Alfred Brendel with the last Piano Sonata. If you want to hear crystal clear musical vision and the depth of a master, this is your man.
(It doesn’t say, but I bet this will be from one of his last public performances ever, at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2008. I heard it at the time on Radio 3, and it was great. He retired that year, but still does lecture series and readings of his poetry.)
The Brendel Schubert performance was an even better one: a 1997 broadcast from the Royal Festival Hall. Well worth checking out on Listen Again.
Tip for my fellow bloggers using WordPress for the first time – upload your images with the single option and import them full size (not “medium” etc). You can then click on the image and resize to 90%, 80% etc and use the preview option to figure out the best fit. Takes a bit longer than Blogger but works out better.
This has been a public information comment from someone figuring out how to use WordPress for the first time.
Also to all visitors – under the “Meta” sidebar on the right there’s an RSS feed for recent comments. Just in case anybody hadn’t seen it and that.
Thanks for that DB. I see there’s an add-on to Chrome for viewing them easier too. makes keeping track of posts much easier.
🙂
test
A zinger of a piece:-
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/03/30/trayvon-martin-circus-reveals-race-card-bankruptcy/2/
I dont this guy will be a guest on the BBC any time soon.
http://www.ihatethemedia.com/mark-levin-who-the-hell-died-and-made-al-sharpton-boss-king-or-attorney-general?
Damian Thompson does some necessary ‘Fisking’, and INBBC gets appropriate mention-
“Lying Lefties, gruesome polyester chasubles and Dave’s bedtime Belgian buns ”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100148411/lying-lefties-gruesome-polyester-chasubles-and-daves-bedtime-belgian-buns/
makes me laugh that the BBC is so sympathetic towards Islam, when the BBC is full of bummers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9178116/Argentinas-Falklands-oil-threats-the-letter-to-banks-in-full.html
Having trouble locating this on the BBC site.
Could the day shift fire up the internal Cray 4 search and lend a hand?
Tried all the options I could think of, but mainly it seems the search for the lotto winners is what really matters in that neck of the woods.
As opposed to another Wag the Dog nutter trying to ratchet the rhetoric.
This educate and inform thing… does it extend beyond trash and trivia?
Do referees favour big football teams? – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17562451
I was reading this article, and thinking ‘Wow! A BBC article with no left-wing bias! How refreshing!’.
But it turned out that the BBC cannot resist inserting a bit of left-wing propaganda into even an article on football penalties! They wrote:
‘Orchestras famously introduced blind auditions where musicians played behind screens. When they did, the number of women hired rose sharply. ‘
I’m not sure what that has to do with the issue of whether referees are biased towards Man U at Old Trafford! LOL!
Jeff
Looking forward to some good, funny April Fools. NOT the facile variety that takes a sensitive, febrile subject and notches up tensions based on often credible excesses.
Oh larks, good one Aunty.
Andrew Marr just announced that, to show the BBC’s commitment to accuracy and impartiality, to ‘analyse’ George Galloway’s claim that the Labour Party is out of touch he has on a panel of one: Yvette Cooper.
Her objective insights will be fascinating.
A splendid view of Gorgeous George by Ian McMillan aka the Bard of Barnsley after GG’s appearance on Big Brother:
GALLOWAY THE MYSTERY CAT
George Galloway’s a Mystery cat; an enigmatic puss
Who slinks around the BB house and kicks up quite a fuss.
When his fellow housemates diss his thesis based on Alienation
Of the lumpenproletariat George fears for his reputation
As Galloway, George Galloway, there’s no-one quite like Galloway
He sees the world in black and white and scorns the very thought of grey
But in the BB house he’s just another famous face
And we’re watching and we’re waiting for each famous fall from grace;
George Galloway’s a smooth old cat; his voice is pure shot silk
And his tache is dripping sexily where Rula spilt her milk
And folks like George go in the house to show the watching youth
That politicians aren’t just crooks who like to bend the truth…
But Galloway, George Galloway, be careful you don’t throwaway
Any respect you might have gained; rejection’s just a text away
Cos in the BB house you’re just another Z-list mug
To be laughed at then ignored and then discarded with a shrug;
George Galloway’s an MP, but the voters stand in line
At his vacant MP’s surgery, while he sits quaffing wine
With a basketball sensation with the manners of a bear
And when constituents bring their complaints, Well Galloway ‘s not there!
Oh Galloway, George Galloway, you thought that you were well away,
Until an ancient DJ wandered in the house the other day
And Rula Lenska flicked her tail at Jimmy Savile’s hair
Cos when it comes to true star quality
Well…
Galloway ‘s not there…
I reluctantly post this link to the bbb:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/gallery/gallery_catpoem.shtml
…sadly this would be the same Ian Mcmillan who managed to place in part at least on City bankers the blame for the fatal shooting of young Liverpool lad, Rhys Jones.
I blame the Croxteth Crew myself, but then I am nasty Tory not a cuddly hard leftie.
BBC’s Andrew Marr this morning – I know I’m quoting him (slightly) out of context but I had to laugh – ‘A terrible week for the Government, but the work goes on’.
Yes Sir, the BBC’s work goes on. Andrew’s hefty licence payer funded cheque is (and you can rely on this) in the post.
Noticed, and laughed at that too.
I think Mr. Marr had a competition with Ms. Cooper to see who could intone ‘out of touch’ more often.
I think she edged it, but not by much.
Haven’t watched Marshmallow in a while, but his PR role for Labour seems pretty embedded.
So… Mr. Marr is simply Ms. Cooper’s feed man?
And that… is all the BBC has time for.
Unique.
‘Sunday’ with Ed Stourton began with a discussion of the alleged threat from far-Right groups like the EDL. Can anyone guess who the interviewee was? Dr Matthew Goodwin of course – No.1 on the BBC’s speed dial for all such issues. He must have trotted off to see Nicky Campbell soon after.
There was also an interview with a Florida-based writer, Mark Pinsky, on “why white clergy have been seemingly reluctant to get involved in the case of Trayvon Martin”. Mr Pinsky was critical of the white clergy for not getting involved in the anti-racism protests, comparing events today with the Civil Rights marches.
There was an obvious April Fools’ Day story (which should have fooled no-one who wasn’t half asleep) about donkey rustling in advance of Palm Sunday church services. The spoof report contained liberal Anglican George Pitcher pretending to be offended about the use of South American llamas instead of good old British donkeys, and mimicking (for satirical purposes) those silly old traditionalist Anglican, conservative, xenophobic, ‘Daily Mail’-reading types the BBC doesn’t seem particularly fond of. All good fun of course.
I though the next item might be an April Fools’ Day spoof too. It concerned a passion play being performed in Preston, which will feature a 12-year old girl as Christ, and cast her as a carer. The story of Pilate will be set in the context of a 19th century industrial dispute between wicked mill owners and downtrodden workers. That certainly sounded like an April Fools spoof to me; however, googling it afterwards showed that there really is a ‘Preston Passion’ and that the BBC is co-producing it! It will be shown on BBC1 on Easter Sunday:
h
“Tom Ellis (Preston Mayor, Samuel Horrocks) leads the cast of Pilate and will take viewers back to Preston in 1842, when the town is on the verge of a bloody riot. Confronted by mill workers striking against wage cuts, mayor Samuel Horrocks is torn between self-interest, political pressures and doubt. At the heart of his dilemma is what to do with principled and stubborn strike leader, George Cleasby – should he show leniency or make an example of him? His dilemma echoes the one faced by Pontius Pilate. ”
“Set in present-day Preston, Jesus tells the story Bella – a 12-year-old carer of her drunken mother and her vulnerable younger siblings. Bella’s sacrifices symbolise Christ’s final journey – carrying the burden of his cross to the moment of crucifixion. Paul Barber stars as Simon, who looks kindly on Bella as she struggles with her daily burden. ”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/preston-passion.html
“Aaqil Ahmed, BBC head of Religion and Ethics ,said: “The Preston Passion will be the centre piece of our religion programming this Easter”.
http://www.hipreston.com/preston-passion-hotels.html
How many shows fretting about the far right is that now, all of a sudden? Then there was last night’s installment of God Made the English with the fatuous aegis that perhaps the English aren’t white because they’re less infused with German DNA than people think.
Agenda? What agenda? The ex-Question Time producer James Mcintyre tweeted not long ago that the BBC couldn’t be biased as a whole because it’s too large and disorganized. Well, this seems to be yet more proof that an agenda certainly can be manifested when they want.
Unless we’re supposed to believe that various BBC producers and programming bosses who decide what topics get done just magically get in the same cycle on these issues, like when several women live or work closely together and their menstrual cycles get in synch.
Yet another piss-take on the Christian Churches. And they say that they will never do the same to Islam. This is the complete proof that the BBC is a racist organisation from top to bottom!
Blimey, this Big Question thing.
An entire studio packed with people to attack one man.
All coordinated by the host, it appears in advance.
And he cannot seem to resist feeding his friends and interrupting his… well, the one person set up this kangaroo court.
Makes QT seem pretty balanced.
Not sure stacking to this extent will quite work in the way expected.
http://www.historyonthenet.com/Lessons/sources/images/whendidyoulastsee.jpg
BBC’s Hugh Schofield could be a guy to watch. Fascinating listening to him on Friday’s WHYS programme. He appears to be struggling out of the lefty media’s iron, PeeCee grip, pointing out that it’s absurd for Muslims to be talking about being targeted in France when its Jewish children who were so barbarically murdered.
Haven’t heard anything like that from the BBC ever. I wonder how long he’ll last.
French Islamists arrests 30/03. Downloadable for another five days or so:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whys
‘TrueToo says:
April 1, 2012 at 11:00 am
BBC’s Hugh Schofield could be a guy to watch.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whys‘
The contrast with the Nikki Campbell ‘debate’ just now is striking.
The host basically ensured absurdity prevailed, by combination of leading set-up with those he had previously coordinated and empathised with, and suppression of those raining on his parade.
Loved the slap down of Mr. Robinson: ‘you have had a lot of time to speak’.
Er, Dude, you basically set up a 100 to 1 deal. If he didn’t get to answer it would have been an echo chamber
Shame Mr. Schofield had not been in the Big Question audience to make it two (well, three, as there was a lady lawyer who seemed rightly more concerned at the selective ”Are we not shutting down folk we don’t agree with enough?’ on one side, vs. the host and his lynch mob).
BBC News 24 have a report on some by-elections in Burma. I thought the BBC had taught us to call that country by another name – Myanmar? But change with the times, as they say.
Now it seems the Beeb are pretty keen on the idea of a democratic future for Burma. The female reporter (sorry I didn’t catch her name) says the people ‘frankly deserve it’. Well since you say so – oh great Beeboid – it must be true.
We next hear that the EU may consider lifting sanctions. Did you get that? No democratically elected UK Parliament foreign policy considerations here – now our policy is set by the EU.
Then we meet a couple of 80 year-old sisters who are voting. The Beeb tells me they have lived through military dictatorship and British colonialism.
And what, may I ask, about Japanese invasion and liberation by British colonial forces? And the 1948-62 democratic period following British withdrawal?
Well I suppose we are not listening in for a full history of Burma – just the nasty side swipes equating dictatorship with British colonialism.
You have been watching the BBC.
Is Dr Who Welsh enough? BBC wastes £20k asking if ‘planets’ look like Cardiff
One can only wonder what must be in the mind of a BBC executive to authorise this absurd expense. Was it in response to a complaint? In which case it shows the sort of complaints the BBC will entertain, and make themselves feel like they’re fulfilling their responsibility. We know full well here that they discard the more serious ones.
Hmm. The executive summary of this report has been publicly available since it was published in 2010. From that, it’s clear that the audience survey is looking at broader issues of whether the BBC’s policy of moving more and more drama production out of London is achieving one of the move’s stated goals, of ensuring that the rest of the UK is more frequently (and more accurately) displayed.
The answers to such questions are useful to know. After all, if moving dramas from London to the nations and regions has no discernible effect on screen and in audience perception, it then becomes something of a futile exercise. At the time the report was written, Doctor Who and Torchwood were the two big networked shows to be produced by BBC Wales. If the same questions were asked now, then shows such as Sherlock, Upstairs Downstairs and Casualty – all of which are made in Wales, but set in London or the fictional city of Holby – would be included too.
But matters like that don’t really concern the Mail, who find a line in a story that they think they can bash the BBC with, and discard anything that might muddy the waters. I’ve seen Mail journalists in action at press conferences that I’ve also attended: finding the anti-BBC line is a clear goal, even when interviewing somebody about a Channel 5 documentary on amateur dramatics…
Let’s see from this extract:
The Corporation has been criticised for spending money on asking special focus groups whether it is obvious enough that the programme and Torchwood spin-off are filmed in and around Cardiff.
A wide range of people were asked for their views – including members of the gay, lesbian and transgender communities, Somali men living in Wales, pensioners, schoolchildren and the shows’ fans.
The eight groups were shown clips from the two shows and asked for their comments.
Most were aware the two shows were filmed in Cardiff, but Doctor Who, starring Matt Smith as the Time Lord, was criticised for playing down its links to Wales.
Torchwood, whose team of alien hunters is based in the Welsh capital, was praised for its positive portrayal of the city.
One fan said: ‘Doctor Who tends to hide the fact it is in Cardiff, which is different from Torchwood where they say they are in Cardiff. In Doctor Who, they try to make it look like London.’
Other fans bemoaned Doctor Who’s failure to include the Welsh language, or even a convincing local accent.
But one Torchwood fan said the show made ‘Cardiff cooler than it really is’. Several gay and lesbian viewers were impressed by the show’s portrayal of gay characters, including bisexual Captain Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman.
Details of the consultation, carried out by the University of Glamorgan, are provided in a 113-page report called Screening The Nation: Wales And Landmark Television.
The Mail on Sunday obtained the documents from Cardiff Council after a 14-month Freedom of Information Act battle.
You write The executive summary of this report has been publicly available since it was published in 2010 The Mail says it obtained the documents from Cardiff Council after a 14-month Freedom of Information Act battle.
Perhaps you should sue them.
Now to the rest of your comment about ‘the need to know if these dramas properly portray the cities they are supposed to, and the justification to spend £20k on doing it’
Are you kidding me?
I don;t watch either of them so I’ve no idea how pertinent it is to the storyline of these dramas to emphasise they take place in Cardiff and not London. But in all the films and dramas I’ve seen over the years somehow directors have been able to do it without having to spend £20k to find out if they succeeded.
DAH!
“You write The executive summary of this report has been publicly available since it was published in 2010 The Mail says it obtained the documents from Cardiff Council after a 14-month Freedom of Information Act battle.”
The executive summary has been publicly available. Presumably the Mail spent 14 months trying to get the full report.
And maybe that’s because the executive summary is full of common sense. And common sense, as the Mail knows full well, doesn’t sell newspapers to the sort of people who trust the Mail’s reporting.
It’s really immaterial to the story how easy or difficult it was for the Mail to get the information. I neither know nor care.
You’re only focussing on it to avoid the real meat of the story which I believe I made clear.
What exactly is your point? That an extensive piece of market research didn’t come cheap? That it included (but was not limited to) questions about two of the BBC’s biggest drama series at the time, both of which were produced in Cardiff and therefore of interest? That part of the market research involved asking licence payers who fall into groups that the Mail – and, apparently, you – don’t like?
Or just that you’re a bit cheesed off that not everyone swallows the Mail’s selective, incomplete coverage quite so easily as you did?
I’m not going to keep repeating my point because you are either too obtuse or unwilling to reply to it.
Just had a look at the report available online. had a hard job getting past this point without puking (We really need a puke icon)
The report was produced in the context of the Audience Council Priority for 2009/10, adopted by the BBC Trust in January 2009:
That the Trust should investigate ways in which the BBC might better portray the full diversity of the UK’s nations and communities in the regions of England, across its Network services, significantly enhancing the cultural representation of the English regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The study is mindful of the BBC’s six stated ‘public purposes’ and in particular the fourth of these:
1. Sustaining citizenship and civil society;
2. Promoting education and learning;
3. Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;
4. Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities;
5. Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK;
6. In promoting its other purposes, helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/how we govern/agreement.pdf
However, whilst the fourth was of paramount importance to the research, it also became clear how fundamental representation is to the fulfilment of a number of the other stated aims of the BBC. If people feel excluded from the ‘national conversation’ it is a clear barrier to active and fulfilled citizenship and the BBC has a significant role in preventing this from happening.
I forced myself to scan further through
it and I would say the Mail article has it just about right. No doubt if the BBC legal team felt any part of it was untrue they would sue the Mail.
Didn’t Dr Who used to be filmed mostly in a quarry outside Swanage in the old days ? I can’t remember for the life of me whether the local residents were asked whether having Tom Baker kicking the crap out of Cybermen in a sand pit down the road projected a positive image of their area.
Obviously they were lacking exciting Somali chums back then, the poor unfortunates.
‘Teddy Bear says:
April 1, 2012 at 9:09 pm
I’m not going to keep repeating my point because you are either too obtuse or unwilling to reply to it.
I think rule #1 in the manual is to keep asking questions whilst refusing to answer any, or claiming incomprehension, in hope of grinding folk down.
There’s a lot of it about, for all the good it serves them.
I’m not going to keep repeating my point because you are either too obtuse or unwilling to reply to it.
Try making it more clearly, without talking about how reading something makes you want to puke, and people might take you more seriously. As it is, you just come across as someone who doesn’t want to debate the issues, he just wants people to massage his ego by telling them that he’s right regardless of the truth of the matter.
So to summarise BBC policy – the idea of shifting the production of drama is not to increase value for licence payers, nor to bring employment to the regions – but to employ these drama shows as propaganda tools to portray the BBC as pro-regionalist. And the expensive market research is to find out just how subtle that propaganda needs to be. Phooey!
Bless you As I See It.
You prove the maxim about Scott – ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see’.
So to summarise BBC policy…
If by “summarise” you mean “grossly misrepresent one part of policy, and in doing so suggest that it’s the only part of BBC policy”, then the answer might just be yes.
If you mean summarise in the sense that everybody else means, though, the n the answer has to be no.
Scott.
So you have this to say…..’f by “summarise” you mean “grossly misrepresent one part of policy, and in doing so suggest that it’s the only part of BBC policy”, then the answer might just be yes.
If you mean summarise in the sense that everybody else means, though, the the answer has to be no.’
In other words you are correct -because you say so.
How typically BBC
“In other words you are correct -because you say so. Now typically BBC.”
You wilfully ignore any points in refutation of your own flawed argument. How typically Biased BBC.
Nolan on the How Are Ye Naw Show moved to DefCon 1 on ******gate yesterday. You can always tell when he thinks he has The Killer Recording because he plays it about six times prefacing it with, ‘Naw I must warn ye…’
I’m not going to defend the potty-mouthed copper but if fatty Nolan or anyone on the BBC could at least pay lip-service to the fact that there were two villains in that car/van, and likely the bigger one was the chap in handcuffs with the strangle-marks on his neck.
Racial prejudice is a terrible thing, Yossarian. It really is. It’s a terrible thing to treat a decent, loyal Indian like a nigger, kike, wop, or spic.
I’ll make a prediction that when Rowan Williams steps down as Archbishop of Canterbury he will be joining Richard Cole as a comedian for the BBC. He’s already refining his routine
Archtraitor of Canterbury: “Wearing a Veil Helps Give Muslim Women Strength”
THE Archbishop of Canterbury believes that British Muslim women can “help assert themselves” by wearing a veil.
I have long considered the current Archbishop to be an idiot savant.
Savant?
You’re being very generous.
He exhibits the same kind of spineless spiritless behaviour as the BBC, and like them, couches it in words and deeds that are supposed to make them appear wise and caring.
You had him about right at idiot 😉
I can’t comment on all of McMillan’s works, indeed, this is the only one I’m familiar with, purely because it sums up GG perfectly.
The plethora of BBC agenda-driven history is one of several bug bears of mine.
So I feel I must acknowledge the Max Hastings documentary on the Falklands this evening. Honest, sensible, thought provoking and fair to both Thatcher and Blair. An exceptional BBC history show that proves the rule that most of their stuff is PC obsessed crap?
Meanwhile for a flash of historical lefty stupidilty I caught a moment of Channel 4 Time Team where the twelth century civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda was discussed. A female obviously making a bid for a future BBC gig adds the corker ‘….and it’s the peasants who always suffer….’
Yeah love, that’s what I always say ‘Bloody Normans and Angevins, what did they ever do for the workers?’
Hastings knows his stuff.
Jon simpson’s piece on Today just linked Argentina’s sabre rattling with its economic difficulties. But added it did not have the wherewithal to invade.