160 Responses to WEDNESDAY OPEN THREAD

  1. As I See It says:

    An opinion poll out today shows two-thirds of us believe taxpayers have paid too much for the Olympics.

    See this BBC report celebrating 100 days to go – you will find the actual news item telling you about the poll result buried somewhere below the pro-Olympics headline and blurb…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17741213

    Enter Salford Local Radio. Gameshow Nicky and his glamorous (sic) assistant are doing all they can to big up the Olympics. The naysayers get hardly a look in. Two pro-Olympics (both on the payroll) versus none. (No one available BBC?)

    How different from the Beeb attitude to the Jubilee. I’m betting BBC coverage of the build up to the Royal event will be the occasion on which I get to hear from republicans.

    100 days to go. Let’s not forget this is a Blair-Livingstone vanity/PC project.. No wonder the Beeb are complicit in flushing our hard earned cash down this drain.

    100 days to go until our own Team GB athletes come over from their homes in Australia.

    100 days to go before millions from across the world come to London to join in the wonderful multicultural party. Half of them may go home afterwards.

    100 days to go before Beeboids rejig their expenses claims for that trek back to London.

    Let’s not forget the legacy! At least one box will be ticked. Lord Coe and other leading lights will have become millionaires.

       25 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      Olympics. Don’t get me started.

      Every possible effort to erase any trace of that expensive, pointless crapfest will be embarked upon in this house, though I suspect it will be no easy task.

      Wake me up when it’s all over, will you – preferably with some bonus news, something like “The wind turbines are all being demolished”, or “Ed Miliband has eaten his brother, the whole of the tory/liberal and labour front benches and has now turned to cannibalism” or even “UKIP invited to form a new government”…

      Ah, one can dream…

         26 likes

      • Leha says:

        Lord Snooty and his pals will be on the bBC non-stop till its over

        Whats so freaking great about sports people anyway?

           5 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Surely that 2012 comedy balances out all pro-Olympic stuff everywhere else on the BBC. It pokes fun at some people working on the preparation, which is close enough in Beebland.

        They even had one episode making fun of Muslims (Algeria) for threatening to boycott the Olympics if Lord Coe didn’t have a building completely rebuilt to suit Muslim sensibilities. Actually, it was making fun of the incompetent management team and their PC genuflecting. Still, it’s the bravest thing ever to be broadcast on the BBC simply because it made a Muslim request look even the tiniest bit unreasonable. Total vindication of the BBC, then, absolute proof that they aren’t biased, right, defenders of the indefensible?

           4 likes

        • LondonCalling says:

          2012 is the first genuinely funny programme from the BBC I have seen in a long time. The writing and observations on vacuous communications consultancies is of the “In the thick of it” standard. “Jubilympics” hilarious.
          “Sustainability Audit” the booby prize task. If only the rest of their output was to this standard I might have to rethink my opinion of BBC Comedy.
          Oh oh, here comes Jeremy Hardy again…

             6 likes

          • DavidH says:

            Yes, undoubtedly one of the funniest shows around at the moment. My favourite was the comment about the up and coming yet incompetent civil servant at the Foreign Office of whom his boss said `He’s on the fast track, but going at his own speed!’

               0 likes

  2. Daphne Anson says:

    I caught the second half of Professor Mary Beard’s programme on the Romans last evening. I’m glad to see that the BBC is at last allowing an older woman to present an historical documentary series (an not just some upstart youthful pretty or handsome face), even if I was (meow, meow) distracted somewhat by the presenter’s long and straggly witch-like grey hair, which I just longed to roll into a chic chignon more suited to Rome’s elegance. But I couldn’t help but wonder whether it was my imgination when I detected a narrative running through the programme, just as I detected one running through the recent series on God and the English. Both programmes seemed to me to be deliberately pushing the theme of how grand multiculturalism is, using history as a propaganda tool for the present. Of course, I could be wrong, but I note from her Wiki entry that Mary seems to have some sound leftwing credentials – contributing not infrequently to the Guardian and making some eyebrow-raising comments in the leftist London Review of Books floowing 9/11.

       34 likes

    • Daphne Anson says:

      A rap over the knuckles to myself for the typos! Sorry.

         0 likes

      • Sue says:

        Hello Daphne,
        Good to see you here.
        Mary Beard is another of our old friends. Stick her name into the old B-BBC website ‘search’ box and quite a few refs pop out. I did, and here’s one I prepared earlier.

           12 likes

        • Daphne Anson says:

          How has she escaped my purview hitherto, I wonder! Seems I’ve been a bit too preoccupied with Jezza and his apprentices!

             5 likes

        • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

          That explains a lot for me. After 10 minutes of being told that Rome’s success was due to their inclusive multi-culti approach i was so pissed off I switched off. Please tell me it improved?

             6 likes

    • As I See It says:

      The avoidance of the hairdresser’s salon, a trait rare to TV these days and the mark of a true academic?

      Seriously though, I’m convinced that it would have been the lefty credentials and multicultural themes that landed Prof Beard this Beeb commission.

      But followed closely her thesis seemed to be the very opposite of a multicultural one. She had some evidence for the co-existence of various ethnicities. Although Latin references to ‘Asia’ and to ‘Africanus’ are not quite what they mean in modern terms. Then she pointed out that there was never a China Town nor a Little Italy in ancient Rome. All comers adopted Roman ways. So the kicker in the first episode was that she convincingly proved that the great success story of Rome was that it was in fact a powerful all conquering mono-culture. Take that BBC.

         24 likes

      • geyza says:

        “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is the opposite of multiculturalism and it is a time tested philosophy which works. It protects global multiculturalism whilst protecting the individual unique cultures and identities found all over the world.

        Multiculturalism destroys unique cultures and merges them all together, eradicating the original culture which once existed. Making a false patchwork of homogenised, watered-down, formerly unique cultures which exist in segregated, cut off, ghettos in place of the original culture.

        Integration of new incoming cultures into the existing culture, with the existing culture having protection in law and a requirement for those people coming into the new culture having to adapt and fit in with the new culture, creates much less stress, conflict and problems than the failed, metrosexual establishment’s multicultural experiment where the host culture has to be the one to make sacrifices to adapt and bend over backwards to accommodate an alien culture behaving the same way as they did in their home country.

        It is bad enough that the BBC, and her acolytes, still have not realised this basic fact. Worse still is the irreparable damage done to the traditional English culture, customs, heritage and traditions which have had to be stopped to make way for other cultures, in case these “cause offence”.

           30 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          The BBC know full well what they are doing. They rub their hands with glee at the ‘irreperable damage’ that has been done to the English culture by all forces Left.

             10 likes

      • Daphne Anson says:

        Yes, I noticed this apparent deviation from the usual Al Beeb orthodoxy, and didn’t know quite what to make of it.

           2 likes

    • jarwill101 says:

      I look forward to Professor Beard’s explanation of how the theoretical wonders of multiculturalism (past or present) never quite materialise. In England we seem to have statelets within the state, brazenly exercising totalitarian monoculturalism. We seem to have ranting intolerance. Repression of women. Terrorist cells. Homophobia. Wilful ignorance & the suppression of inconvenient knowledge. Thought control. Hello, we’ve got fascism in loose-fitting clothing. Where did the dream go awry, Oh, great learned one? What looks lovely from a Cambridge college, looks like nothing less than criminal insanity on the Roman Road, Tower Hamlets. Diversity? Enrichment? I mean, you wouldn’t want to actually live next door to it all would you? No, I’d rather be floating down the Cam on the Cultural Marxist Dreamboat, thinking about Adrian’s Wall, that new restaurant near Grantchester. Social reality’s for the poor little white mice. The ones that can’t get out of the leftoid laboratory. Let them eat cultural relativism. ‘They had it coming.’ Probably all racist, anyway.

         26 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      You’re not alone, Daphne. I , too, noticed that little theme running through this programme. Of course, describing Roman society as “multicultural” is totally wrong, and only a left-wing/liberal type would describe it thus.

      Of course, the Roman Empire did make citizens of many of the people they conquered. They did it because the Romans DEMANDED assimilation into their culture, using both the carrot and stick approach. Those refusing to do so became enemies of the state. The truth is that Roman culture was dominant in that society which is the very opposite of multicuturalism.

         17 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Like your blog Daphne!
      Having heard Beard on a variety of Beeb outlets requiring a cut glass accent, privileged feminism with a dash of Labour feminism, I knew what she`d be saying-so didn`t bother.
      Her “A Point of View” showcases for fey feminism and supporting whatever liberal cause was in the forefront of her mind were useless, but Mary is their kind of gal at the BBC.
      Boris was far better a few years back…and there was a good one on the mediaeval mindset the other night, so there ARE decent ones that slip through.

         8 likes

      • Daphne Anson says:

        Yes, I saw that one on the medieval mind. I suppose the BBC is such a Leviathan-like organisation that there are nooks and crannies into which the Beeb’s received wisdom does not penetrate. Long may that remain so!

           3 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      Nice points, Daphne. History programs tell us more about the makers than the subjects. Lefties don’t seek to understand but to interpret the past. After all something might turn up that derails their confirmed view of the world. Their viewpoint is a narrow one. For example: I remember a time when “how does this affect women?” was a standard question in almost every BBC interview.
      Scientist: “And so we see the universe is always expanding?
      Interviewer: “And how does this affect women?”
      A joke? Only just.
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/family_and_children/
      To most liberals, history is a justification of their bigotry. Space, time and facts cease to exist. I look forward to more “history” shows where it will be proved that Mrs. Thatcher’s anti-Europe policies were responsible for the French Revolution and George W Bush’s environmental ignorance led to the formation of the iceberg that sank the Titanic. To quote Pontius Pilate, the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judea in AD 26–36, “What is truth?”
      Judea? Just a moment – Judea never existed, did it?

         1 likes

  3. geyza says:

    I guess that the BBC will be bitterly disappointed again with the unemployment figures. They pay much less attention to them when unemployment falls than when it rises.

    The local BBC news this morning was full of projections and predictions of unemployment continuing to rise and had interviews with long term unemployed people who cannot find work. Everything to present evidence that the current recession (which we are not even in) is getting deeper. The phrase “this recession” was used more than once.

    I’ll bet that there will be much less coverage of the unemployment figures this afternoon, now that they have fallen, instead of risen as the BBC had been hoping for.

       25 likes

    • Wayne X says:

      Ah yes but… The BBC have trumped those falling figures by finding some chap from the Statistics Office who stated with aggressive glee that, ‘year on year the figures of unemployment are up by 170,00’. So there you are, the ABC (Anti British Corp.) wins after all.

         12 likes

      • geyza says:

        Ahh the old cherry picking of dates to fit in with the promotion of a specific agenda ploy eh? The same way Climate Alarmists only use dates between which the temperature has climbed.

        The same technique used by labour to claim that the private sector cannot replace jobs lost in the public sector by only selecting dates when unemployment went up instead of the full record since the election, where hundreds of thousands more jobs have been created in the private sector than those lost in the public sector.

        I do not remember Labour, or the BBC being so concerned about jobs during 2008-2009 when over a million private sector jobs were lost in the private sector alone.

           16 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          The BBC did frown a bit at the withering of the construction industry during the twilight of Gordon Brown’s tenure. Of course, they blamed the US economic crisis and not the fact that the industry had long been propped up by a series of Mr. Brown’s PFI smoke and mirrors and the whole buy-to-let fiasco, which was egged on by various BBC programmes.

             6 likes

    • Craig says:

      The BBC News website’s main story on this has a few characteristic slants.
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17752753

      After briefly giving the headline figures, it’s onto Nick Palmer of the ONS, whose gloomiest take on the figures is the one chosen to be quoted by the BBC writer.

      Then, instead of going straight to the employment minister, the article goes to Brendan Barber of the TUC, who makes the sort of dismissive point you’d expect him to make.

      Conservative Chris Grayling finally follows and he is followed, at equal length, by Barber’s Labour colleague Liam Byrne.

      The imbalance against the government here is made wider by giving the crucial last say (and at the same length as Grayling) to Mike Fetters of Totaljobs.com who is very negative about the figures, thus tipping the balance of comments strongly towards a negative take on the figures.

      The selected quote from Chris Grayling to accompany the video isn’t “it’s clearly a step in the right direction” or “we’ve seen an increase in the number of people in work” or “we’ve seen a drop in youth unemployment as well”. No, they’ve gone (as of midday) with:
      “Far, far, far too many people still unemployed”.

      As so often with BBC articles, the sub-headlines are a source of concern. These are wholly negative here:
      Part-time concerns
      ‘Underemployment’

      You might have though, given the BBC’s extensive pushing of the issue of rising youth unemployment that the fall in youth unemployment would be near the top of their article. You have to wait till paragraph 15 to get a mention of it though – and it’s a very short paragraph followed by another that tells us that it “remains high”.

      I would say that this article clearly puts a negative gloss on these figures.

         19 likes

      • JaneTracy says:

        We can tell that the unemployment figures were good because the BBC’s Economics Editor has not mentioned them. Stephanie “floundering” Flanders seems to be so often on holiday but she would take a break from them to discuss rising unemployment!

        Stephanie Flanders will steer clear of the inflation numbers though after predicting heavy petrol price falls in 2012! In Steph’s BBC index linked pension worlld there is never any inflation….

           3 likes

    • DJ says:

      The winner of ‘Best in Show’ was surely Steve Wright, who interrupted his show’s usual turgid flow of celebudrivel to run with the news that the ‘respected’ (but not ‘leftist’) think tank, the IPPR, was reporting that if current trends continued as at present, by the end of 2012 quite a few people will have been unemployed for quite a long time.

      At which point he’ll no doubt be covering the start of the 2013-14 football season.

         1 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Though amazingly on the lunchtime news there was acknowledgement by the BBC political correspondent at Westminster that employers prefer experienced Eastern Europeans with a stronger work ethic over disinterested hoody-wearing British youths (I paraphrase but that’s very close to what he said).
      Gym instructor had to help me back onto me exercise bike.

         3 likes

  4. geyza says:

    I still cannot find any reference to this on the BBC website at all:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131109/Ken-Livingstone-says-appalling-killing-Osama-bin-Laden-happened.html

    Why would the BBC not report Ken Livingstone’s horror at hearing Osama Bin Laden had been shot?

    What would the BBC have done if it had been Boris making that outrageous admission?

       31 likes

    • Wayne X says:

      Ah yes but… Ken says that Osama Bin Bag was a family loving man and who wouldn’t be with five wives and a large quantity of offspring who are, as we speak, being trained in the cause of love and peace?

         8 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Ken has bagged himself at least fifty postal votes from Abbottabad South then I take it.
        Boy is he desperate…when Breivik sniffs at his own films, he`s a heartless vanity bag…yet when Ken does it…oh, not time to discuss that now old boy!
        Ken for next Director General-Iranian Freeview and Saudi Points of View shouldn`t be a problem!

           10 likes

    • George R says:

      And there was Muslim, Ms Alibhai Brown (‘QT’ INBBC, 2011):-

      “I’m no friend of Bin Laden, but…”

      http://www.thecommentator.com/article/136/_i_m_no_friend_of_bin_laden_but_

         7 likes

  5. Guest Who says:

    @bbcnickrobinson via Twitter
    Heading to Hostile Environment Course – training to handle bombs, bullets & mines but oddly not spin doctors, MPs or abusive tweeters.
    Give it time, Nick, give it time. The licence fee bottomless pit is there for just such travails.

       6 likes

  6. Mice Height says:

    Not BBC related I’m afraid, but readers of this blog may be interested to hear that Labour and Lib Dem Councillors have been backing accused Muslim Peadophiles in the Liverpool court case.
    Councillor Aftab Hussain (Labour, Smallbridge and Firgrove ward)
    Coun Zulfiqar Ali (Liberal Democrat, Central Rochdale ward)

    http://menmedia.co.uk/asiannews/news/s/1491495_councillors-back-family-man-in-grooming-case

       14 likes

  7. Fred Bloggs says:

    24news 10:45 am Interview with Liam Byrne, he said that youth unemployment has gone up by 200% in the past year. Not the slightest challenge from the bBC presenter. More lies let through by the bBC.

       17 likes

  8. Guest Who says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17731774
    Closed at… 5, in less than a day.
    Spectacular!

       4 likes

  9. DB says:

    Earlier this year BBC Storyville broadcast If A Tree Falls, a documentary about the Earth Liberation Front which offered a sympathetic account of one former member who had been convicted of terrorism. The Telegraph’s environment correspondent Louise Gray and “poxy liberal, bleeding-hearted, muesli-munching Guardian columnist” (her words) Lucy Mangan were both predictably impressed.

    Yesterday an arson attack on a communications mast took BBC Bristol off the air. The group behind the attack – which also disrupted emergency services – is celebrating its achievement. Who are they? None other than the Earth Liberation Front. The BBC’s report on the incident fails to mention this.

       15 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Sorry, DB, I hadn’t seen this before I posted that BBC4 link on your main post about this incident.

         0 likes

  10. Guest Who says:

    They seem to come in convoys… like busses. Well, as I count ’em in, they can count ’em back (the preceding exchanges were shared here, so this is just the latest in an ongoing ‘make the nasty man go away’ effort by the complaints kapos..
    —–
    Dear Mr. XX (ECU),

    I am sorry if this is not meant to be directed at you, but if not please advise then who.

    I have to ask because, as you will gather, despite the BBC complaints system making rigid procedural demands of those writing in, what comes back appears to be permitted to be as vague and inconsistent as ever on whim. No logging code or, as you’ll gather, any sensible advice on appropriate progression. Despite a specific request. Hence I have had to guess.

    All there is is a huge sigh and effectively saying ‘waste your time further if you dare, or can figure out our system’.

    As to being unable to resist this – ‘in your view, the BBC appears to be always wrong’ – that would be laughable did it not put into clear focus the games being played and the calibre of person instructed to play them at the BBC end of these exchanges. Hardly professional. Almost childishly petulant.

    Let me make this clear: I complain when I think the BBC is wrong, and only then. I then expect a sensible reply. If the BBC views this as a problem to be dismissed out of hand, and get signed off, then much is explained if not excused. So tough if I don’t accept such poor faith, incompetent customer service procedures or handling.

    I here attach what has gone before, though, by the look of it, the exchanges seem poorly formatted (there’s a surprise) by those replying, making tracking tricky. I am not going to do your job for you, so you may wish to see if there is any more that needs oversight before deciding it was all handled correctly again.

    As that seems on past evidence unlikely to be any more possible than before, I have copied in the Trust to save time. They are aware of my concerns on ‘truth/accuracy won’t fit’ elsewhere, and also the efforts by BBC Editors across the remaining interactive blogs to shut down or dismiss any critique or indeed search for answers in this regard. Or using selective citing of other poor media practices as some kind of shared defence. It is not. That the BBC, Guardian and Ch4, etc shared the slant taken is a silly one to take, when the Telegraph managed a proper report. That discrepancy in groupings does suggest other issues for another time.

    The BBC bunker mentality seems to be serving few sensible aims in improving standards or service well.

    I look forward to a sensible reply.

    From: NewsOnline Complaints
    Date: 17 April 2012 16:49:37 BST

    Mr xx (What, no ‘Dear’? They really are in a snit),

    It is clear from previous correspondence that we will not agree on this particular issue – in your view, the BBC appears to be always wrong. If you wish to pursue your complaint, the Editorial Complaints Unit will look into it for you.

    Best wishes,

    News website

       7 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Not so sure about the ‘usual high standards’ bit, but this resonates:
        ‘Inaccurate information published with the authority of the BBC is just as damaging whether the inaccuracy is discovered straight away or much later, particularly as BBC news coverage tends to be quoted as authoritative.
        And this..
        ‘The BBC would be clearly on the wrong side a broad consensus if it went down this route, certainly in respect of the accuracy complaints which concern us. ‘
        Just… being ‘unique’ and all, when has the BBc given a flying stuff about anything outside its well-appointed bubble?
        But the snottiness and trite handling of late becomes even more explicable if even less savoury.

           2 likes

  11. George R says:

    INBBC still seems to have a political soft spot for Islamic jihadists and their supporters.

    Take the current political support and prominence which INBBC is giving to this Libyan, HAKIM BELHADJ.

    In its propaganda for him, INBBC describers him as a “military commander” NOT as an ‘Islamic jihadist.

    Compare these two contrasting reports about him:

    1.) ‘Jihadwatch’

    “We tried to tell you: Report for policymakers on Capitol Hill details spread of “Islamist Winter” following Arab Spring”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/01/we-tried-to-tell-you-report-for-policymakers-on-capitol-hill-details-spread-of-islamist-winter-follo.html

    2.)INBBC:

    “Jack Straw faces legal action over ‘rendition'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17746561

       4 likes

  12. Harry says:

    BBC using a terrorist sympathising 9/11 denier to discuss proposed mayorship system:

    http://happypropagandist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/bbc-invites-terrorist-sympathising.html

       3 likes

  13. Demon says:

    This is off topic, but I was watching Sky this morning and it was showing Breivik giving a weird clenched-fist salute reminiscent of Wolfie Smith and other wannabe Trotskyist revolutionaries. Sky kept calling it a right-wing salute – as far as I was aware the so-called “right-wing” fascists and Nazis used an open-hand gesture. Will someone enlighten me as to how this closed fist gesture could even be called right-wing.

       6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Here you go… the BBC explains…
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17739105
      ‘Breivik’s straight arm calls to mind the “Roman salute” displayed by Benito Mussolini’s fascists. ‘

      That would be this one:
      http://iranpoliticsclub.net/history/nazis1/images/Nazi%20and%20Roman%20Fascist%20Salute.jpg
      Thing is, it all seems to go pear shaped, along with their argument, after the wrist.
      ‘That is a conflation that few in Norway and elsewhere are likely to accept.’

         4 likes

      • Demon says:

        Thanks very much for that Guest Who, the pictures and article only confirm my suspicion that it is not a “right-wing” political salute but a left-wing one. However Breivik meant it there is no way it can be likened to the fascist salute except in its ridiculousness.

        Yet again Sky are stooping to the BBC level of blaming anyone or anything bad on the right. I know we don’t have to pay for Sky but it would be nice to get a bit of balance in our broadcast media’s output.

           6 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Notice that Beeboid Jon Kelly wrote that the families of the victims were offended that a right-wing nutjob used a left-wing gesture. All the Leftoid Beeboids obviously got upset by it, and so they had to whip up this little lecture to reassure everyone that the Norwegian Nutbag was indeed not Left-wing.

             5 likes

          • dez says:

            “Notice that Beeboid Jon Kelly wrote that the families of the victims were offended that a right-wing nutjob used a left-wing gesture.”

            Where does he say that?

               0 likes

        • dez says:

          “…the pictures and article only confirm my suspicion that it is not a ‘right-wing’ political salute but a left-wing one.”

          Breivik describes the salute in his manifesto as symbolising “the Right Opposition… against the Marxist tyrants”

          So he considers it to be a ‘right-wing’ salute. But obviously you know better – and it *must* be ‘left-wing’ because it reminds you of “Wolfie Smith”.

          Unbelievably pathetic.

          “there is no way it can be likened to the fascist salute”

          Sky didn’t liken it to a ‘fascist salute’; they called it a ‘right-wing salute’ – which is exactly the same way Breivik described it.

          “Yet again Sky are stooping to the BBC level of blaming anyone or anything bad on the right.”

          Actually, unlike most of the MSM, the BBC have consistently referred to the gesture as a “closed-fist salute”.

          So you are completely wrong on that point as well.

             1 likes

          • Span Ows says:

            You seem not to have read the article, or looked at the pictures or read Demon’s comment making your comment possibly the worst ‘fisking’ ever.

            It is clear Demon means it is MORE OF a left-wing salute than a right-wing one: reading the article makes this clear. He is drawing attention to the false comparison with Mussolini’s fascists. This is clear to me…but obviously you know better –

            Unbelievably pathetic.

            It has meant left-wing, right-wing, black power, white power, female power. Similar info in the NYT Lede blog:

            http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/raised-fist-salute-has-varied-meanings/?ref=europe

               3 likes

          • Demon says:

            Dezzie, so in addition to you admitting that you believe all the BBC tells you, you now discover that you cannot actually read what’s in front of you.

            Epic fail – try again silly boy.

               2 likes

          • Pah says:

            Dezzie dear, just ‘cos some deluded nut-job says he’s right-wing doesn’t make him so. He’s a deluded nit-job anything he says must be taken with a truck of salt.

            If he is a fascist then he is a left-winger of a particualrly nasty stamp.

               1 likes

            • dez says:

              “If he is a fascist then he is a left-winger of a particualrly nasty stamp.”

              He hasn’t claimed to be a Fascist, he describes him self as right-wing. But obviously in B-BBC world that means he’s actually left-wing.

                 0 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Dez, Kelly says this about the victims’ families being offended:

            If Breivik’s performance was widely seen as a further insult to the memories of his victims and their families, it is because he adopted the iconography of political struggle.

            Which word is giving you trouble?

            In any case, Breivik considers it to be a protest symbol, full stop. He happens to espouse some Right-wing views, so in this case he associates the gesture with that. But he obviously knows it’s a protest gesture and appropriated it. Simple as that.

            If the gesture wasn’t generally associated with the Left, and Left-wing people aren’t upset that Breivik associated it with his own views, why would the BBC have gone to this effort?

               2 likes

            • dez says:

              ” [Jon Kelly wrote] ‘If Breivik’s performance was widely seen as a further insult to the memories of his victims and their families, it is because he adopted the iconography of political struggle.’

              Which word is giving you trouble?”

              “Jon Kelly wrote that the families of the victims were offended that a right-wing nutjob used a left-wing gesture.”

              Spot the difference?

                 0 likes

        • George R says:

          Melanie Phillips:-

          “Europe’s auto-immune disease.”

          http://melaniephillips.com/europes-auto-immune-disease

             3 likes

      • Doggywoggy says:

        Only contrary to the popular myth, Hitler was not a far right winger either. Heading the National socialist workers party his speeches were littered with condemnation of “the millionaire classes” and references to socialism. Lefties falsely claim that Hitler was right wing because he executed Trade Unionists… Well under a totalitarian socialist system, trade unions got in the way of the government dictating what was best for the workers.

        Fascism, socialism, communism are all variations on a far left wing theme.

        Typical that the modern left wingers would disassociate themselves from the evils of their political forebears, but it will not wash.

           12 likes

        • Pah says:

          Damn right (no left) !

          It never fails to annoy me when the BBC refer to fascist nut jobs as ‘right wing’ when anyone with the slightest political nouse knows that they are leftists through and through.

          That’s why they all hate each other so much. Splitters!

          I believe it was Stalin who first ordered the ‘right wing’ moniker used. How typical of the BBC to be still following suit 70 years later.

             12 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            Well, SKY is still running with ‘right wing’ even though ‘clenched’ or ‘closed’ fist ‘salute’ now seems to have entered the evolutionary lexicon elsewhere. Don’t recall it before, so something is going on.. or rather off. Even our nihilistic nut job has been prevailed upon to stop using it, whatever it is, as folk are getting upset. Well, there is still that killing spree thing to be a smidge miffed about too, but never let the core issue of what get in the way of making the media narrative shaping of ‘understanding why’ go to semantic plan.
            Mind you, for balance, I just heard the Irish bloke give a rather testing time to a charity CEO moppet who has research that other people need to work harder to pay more to keep new mothers in jogging prams and nappies to support their child-bearing careers.
            Even the ‘we need these kids… for the future’ claim was not quite getting the credulous hearing usually provided, contribution vs. further drain-wise.
            I suspect she will be heading to a BBC studio pronto to regroup with the sofa sisters, and the women there too.

               2 likes

    • jarwill101 says:

      There was similar confusion amongst the mourners at Mark Duggan’s funeral. As the earthly remains of the ‘fallen soldier’ sailed by, some gangbangers went for the full ‘My Alsatian jumps this high’ right-arm no-messing salute, while others held their left arms out horizontal in the ‘But my skunk plant’s only this high, officer’ gesture. But for a select few, restraint was the order of the day, & a simple, dignified, unambiguous gesture with the middle finger of the right hand conveyed the appropriate emotion.

         11 likes

      • dez says:

        Congrats for linking Breivik’s right-wing salute to the funeral of Mark Duggan. I’m sure he’d be very proud of you.

        It was the Daily Mail that claimed that mourners at Duggan’s funeral made ‘gang-style’ salutes.

        That was completely untrue.

        The Mail posted a “clarification” a few months later:

        “An earlier version of this article suggested that mourners lining the streets as Mark Duggan’s body was carried to his funeral made ‘gang-style’ salutes. We have been informed that the salute pictured above referred to a call by Bishop Kwaku Frimpong-Manson at an earlier service for mourners to ‘stretch [their] hands towards the casket and thank God for Mark’s life as he begins his heavenly journey’. We are happy to clarify this and regret any confusion or distress caused.”

        http://www.imediaethics.org/index.php?option=com_news&task=detail&id=2427

           1 likes

        • Demon says:

          Oh what’s that? Oh, it’s a cherry. Best pick that quickly.

          Dezzie in a quoting-the-Mail shocker.

             2 likes

        • Demon says:

          And why should anyone, obviously except you, Dezzie care if they upset Breivik’s pride?

          If you care so much for Breivik’s pride then you are even sicker than I previously believed.

             1 likes

          • Andy S. says:

            Dez is usually good for a laugh with his cherry-picked posts. He’s this site’s Beeboid stalker.

            I seem to recall black athletes at a 1970’s Olympic Games making black gloved clenched fist salutes on the podium. I’ve also seen numerous newsreels over the past forty years of left-wing demonstrators making the same salute. Can’t recall seeing film of Nazi officials and stormtroopers making the same clenched fist salute Hitler, though. Funny that!

               3 likes

        • uncle bup says:

          dopey dez the dimwit droid dancing on the head of a pin.

          ‘gangstas’ making a salute and ‘gangstas’ making a gangsta salute.

          The huge difference between the two proves, you see, that the BBC isn’t biased.

             3 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Well, that’s the problem with such late “clarifications”, isn’t it? They appear long after the damage is done, and hardly anybody notices. If they had run a new full article retracting the original claim, it might have made the necessary impression.

             3 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            ‘Well, that’s the problem with such late “clarifications”, isn’t it?’
            I think the BBC call it ‘evolving the story’. Sort of a kapo tidy up lest posterity not reflect kindly.
            I just had an advice that a Newsnight post I made in November of last year has now been modded out, so it’s good they have the priorities as well ordered as their principles are flexible. And here was me thinking all the thread closings were because they were understaffed.

               2 likes

            • David Preiser (USA) says:

              Deleting the original and replacing it is slightly better sometimes because at least then the offending bit isn’t still around forever for people to keep reading and being misled. I grant you that it does cover up the fact that they make loads of errors and makes it harder to prove anything.

                 2 likes

        • jarwill101 says:

          I didn’t mention anything about ‘gang-style’ salutes.I merely mentioned the confused responses, of which there is ample photographic evidence, of the mourners/gangbangers: left arms, right arms, different elevations, open palms, hands flat, shake it all about. Some, with that flutter of the fingers, seemed to be indicating that the hearse had scored 4 runs.
          You leapt out of your box of tangents then flew into a diatribe against the Mail. I simply wanted to point out that public gestures can be the Devil to interpret. You gave me the ‘closed-mind’ salute. Apparently, the only response available in your intellectually bankrupt arsenal. Have a good night, loveheart.

             2 likes

  14. Mr L says:

    Only a couple of days ago the BBC News website gave some prominence to a remark by Lord Heseltine that the UK would (of course) join the euro.

    Is this news?

    It is noteworthy how often Hezza gets trundled out by the BBC whenever the euro is mentioned. (or even, on this occasion, when nobody else has mentioned it).

       7 likes

    • jarwill101 says:

      Tarzan’s only just woken up from a 20 year slumber. He thinks it’s 1992. Nobody’s bothered to change the calendar in his cryogenic sleep cabinet.

         9 likes

  15. Fred Bloggs says:

    Norman Smith chief political wa**er getting on my t*ts, going along with the ECHR and Abu over deportation. Why doesn’t the bBC just set up joint offices with Al Queda and declare their colours.

       14 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Huw Edwards told a Tory MP that lots of people were worried that it would hurt Britain’s international reputation if Qatada got deported and the Jordanians didn’t treat him according to the highest European human rights standards.

         5 likes

      • Fred Bloggs says:

        Did the MP have the nouse to ask Edwards for a copy of the names of this large list of people. A list of the usual suspects maybe, general public I expect not.

           7 likes

    • Fred Bloggs says:

      19th 24news 1.00pm Mr Smith not as strident as before, does not mention the two ECHR time precedents as they are not applicable, because they were about country courts to the ECHR. maybe he is beginning to realise that his bluster is falling apart (hope so!).

         0 likes

  16. Teddy Bear says:

    On the 26th March the BBC ran this story

    San Diego murder victim Shaima Alawadi to return to Iraq
    An Iraqi-American woman who was beaten to death at her home in San Diego is to be flown to Iraq for burial, a Muslim leader who knows the family has said. Imam Husham al-Husainy told the Detroit Free-Press that the Iraqi government was paying to repatriate her.

    Shaima Alawadi, 32, was found unconscious last Wednesday by her 17-year-old daughter on the floor of their dining room in El Cajon.

    A note was left next to her saying: “Go back to your country, you terrorist.”
    Hate crime?
    Investigators are looking into the possibility that the attack was racially motivated.

    Ms Alawadi’s daughter, Fatima al-Himidi, told US news network CNN that an earlier note had been left at the house saying: “This is our country, not yours, you terrorists.”
    Her mother apparently dismissed the note as a child’s prank and did not report it to the authorities.
    Ms Alawadi reportedly came from a Shia Muslim background and wore a headscarf.

    Besides the BBC telling us for a change that a Muslim is involved, even wearing a headscarf, (when they’re a victim), notice this line;
    Hate crime?
    Investigators are looking into the possibility that the attack was racially motivated.

    Well investigators did look into it and found the crime was not racially motivated, except the element that for so many Muslims ‘Honour Killing’ seems to be an accepted practice. They’ve now discovered she was killed by a member of her own family who was using the ‘hate crime’ element to throw police off.

    So why hasn’t the BBC updated this story?
    Isn’t it relevant to our society to know that Muslims are pretending that hate crimes have occurred to cover their own acts, besides the story itself?

    I notice on the same page as this BBC article, their ‘Related Stories’ are these: ‘Muslim Victim’ stories-

    Related Stories
    American mosques abandon minarets
    Akbar Ahmed on what it means to be a Muslim in the US
    The struggle to stop the alienation of US Muslims

    It has already been covered numerous times elsewhere on this site where nearly every serious crime committed by Muslims, somewhere in the article the BBC will focus on other Muslims who feel there will be a backlash against them. One could almost think the crime was done against them, and that they are the victims, instead of the real victims.

    Jihad Watch covers the story about the murdered woman, and how quiet the left-wing media have become since it’s been discovered it was committed by someone in her own family, and not a hate crime.

    In a related article they also cover how the actual incidents of hate crimes against Muslims in the States is much lower than that of against Jews.

    In reality, hate crimes against Muslims are infrequent:
    Anti-Jewish attacks 70% of hate crimes, anti-Muslim attacks 9% of hate crimes — Senate to hold hearings on “anti-Muslim bigotry”

    Just-released New York 2009 report: Hate crimes against Jews: 251. Hate crimes against Muslims: 11.

    Backlash! Anti-Muslim hate crimes only eight percent of hate crimes, far less than those against Jews

       11 likes

  17. Teddy Bear says:

    An example of the BBC avoiding showing the true face of the Palestinian people where it highlights how barbaric and ugly this face is.

    Jihad Watch has this article, and I knew there would be nothing on it by the BBC, even before I searched for it:

    “Palestinian” Muslim sentenced to death for selling home to Jews

       3 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      Yes, and it is Jewish leaders trying to help him… the guy was tortured too; mind you it also says that he was “a former intelligence agent for the Palestinian Authority” so there may be more to this story yet. Doesn’t excuse the BBC non interest though; imagine the rolls reversed with something, anything bad they could report about those beastly Joos.

         6 likes

  18. pounce_uk says:

    The world renowned bBC brings you the news:
    Clock change could leave teenagers more sleepy
    Teenagers can suffer severe sleep deprivation when the clocks change, say researchers at the University of Surrey. The amount they sleep decreases to less than six hours a night on average the week following the move to British Summer Time. During this period their concentration may be lower and mood affected. Scientists also found that even before the change, teenagers were getting less than the recommended hours of sleep. The activity of some sixth-form students from Claremont Fan Court School in Surrey was studied using wristwatches.

    Wow, do you think this could be an attack on changing the clock? here is what the bBC write right down at the bottom of the article:
    As this study was small, nine students in total,

    And the bBC tries to push this out as news?

       6 likes

  19. worker drone 22 says:

    Dr David Starkey made Richard Bacon look like a right twat this afternoon. Well worth a listen on the iplayer. About twenty minutes in.

       3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I can’t believe Starkey didn’t object to Bacon’s ignorance of his upcoming exhibition – the whole reason he was in the studio today. Bacon didn’t understand what the exhibition was really about, and didn’t even know that it won’t open until next week. A fool and his useless producer.

         2 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      Worker drone 22, thanks for pointing me in the direction of the Richard Bacon interview with Richard Starkey. Here in the USA, I list Richard Bacon slightly below trimming my toenails. However the broadcast was a joy! It was like a cat (Starkey) playing with a mouse (Bacon). Bacon needs to go back to interviewing elephants while bouncing on a trampoline. Starkey should have set him an essay for homework.

         3 likes

      • Louis Robinson says:

        OK, ok, ok. Richard Starkey??? WRONG!
        I’m a Beatles and David Starkey fan. Sorry. Multi-tasking is for the young.
        By the way, does anyone believe Bacon actually got “lots of texts”?

           1 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          I’m sure Bacon did get lots of texts about Starkey’s past comments. Why was he invited on the show in the first place? Surely not to discuss an exhibition about which the host clearly knew nothing. That was a pretext to get him in to attack him about his unapproved thoughts.

             1 likes

  20. George R says:

    For INBBC:

    Abu Qatada, and Islamic jihadists-

    ” People should not be citizens of the country they wage war against: Revoke terrorists’ citizenship.”

    [Excerpt]:

    “People should not be citizens of the country they wage war against. Nor should those who preach or teach terror. After having served their sentence, they should not enjoy membership in the society they tried to destroy, but should be expelled without the possibility to return.”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/04/nicolai-sennels-people-should-not-be-citizens-of-the-country-they-wage-war-against-revoke-terrorists.html

       3 likes

    • Leha says:

      Al-beeb constantly supplying a drip-drip against the governments attempts to get rid of quatada, even had a friendly chat on the phone with one of his zilllion relatives in Jordan, also giving prominence to Ball’s tart even when liebor were responsible for importing all these scumbags in the first place (we have enough of our own, thanks) btw guess who is picking up the tab for qatada’s legal bill? yes my friends, you and me

      you couldn’t make it up.

         2 likes

  21. pounce_uk says:

    So how many people saw the bbC sneak this news worthy story into its news web site:
    Scotland’s imams oppose gay marriage
    Muslim leaders from Scotland’s biggest city have voiced their opposition to gay marriage.The Scottish government has been consulting on whether to bring in a law which would allow churches to hold same-sex wedding ceremonies.The Council of Glasgow Imams said such a legal move would be an “attack” on their faith and fundamental beliefs.

    and not a contrasting viewpoint in the entire article whatsoever. In the six articles listed below the Imams against gay marriage article, 5 have a contrasting viewpoint, yet in the pro Islamic the bBC don’t even mention stonewall or the rainbow crowd.
    Good to see the bBC bending over backwards for a bunch of religious bigots.

    The bBC, the traitors in our midst

       10 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      where will they be when folk from the religion of love and peace begin hanging the gays?
      I wonder…..

         3 likes

  22. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Paul Mason is on Newsnight now, just said to Hazel Blears about the rendition of the suspected al quaeda guy to libya that ” a lot of this happened under Labour”
    A lot?…try all of it matey!

       10 likes

    • Reed says:

      Got to reserve some blame for the nasty Tories, even if there’s none to be had. If he suggests that it didn’t ALL happen under New Labour, someone else must also be guilty. Just leave the thought hanging…

         3 likes

  23. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    PaulMason:
    everything else is going swimmingly for the government…..NOT!
    Allegra agrees…now underpants bryant is on……what no pics of him?…oy vay

       4 likes

  24. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Here you go……chris bryant …agrees with the ECHR, yes he agrees, it has given people rights: rights to plot, scheme, murder, terrorize, sponge off our benefits, generally attack the place and people where they live.
    What a wanker.

       9 likes

  25. David Preiser (USA) says:

    I read Cranmer’s post about George Gallowy swearing in at Parliament without using the “G” or “A” word, and took a secular oath instead. The BBC showed the video, but curiously no remark that a man who professed his Catholic faith and that he was a better Muslim than his Muslim opponent invoked no deity. I guess since they showed the video we can’t accuse them of shying away from the topic, but it’s odd that nobody thought it was worthy mentioning in their news brief.

       7 likes

    • Reed says:

      Quite – especially as being ‘Godly’ was a key to his success in a devoutly religious area.

         4 likes

  26. deegee says:

    What is the significant difference between Sudan and South Sudan?

    Oh.
    Sudan president seeks to ‘liberate’ South Sudan

       2 likes

  27. #88 says:

    Stratton / Mason / Bryant having a great time with this. The Tory though wasn’t being very helpful on Newsnight, concerned more about the Supremacy of our own courts. He makes a good point, but did not address the specific issue that the BBC were making hay with. i.e May’s alleged incompetence.

    In response to Underpants’ charge that the Govt should have ‘picked up the phone’ to the ECHR to check the appeal dates, he could have repeated this (below) from May, and told Underpants to STFU:

    ‘As you would expect, we have been in touch with the European court over the last three months to check our understanding. They were absolutely clear that we were operating on the basis that it was midnight on April 16.’

    Also the ECHR are now back-tracking on their view that the Appeal was in time – something that Straton failed to mention.

    And did Stratton say something along the lines that although an appeal was being made, unbeknown to May, the media were aware? So too, presumably, were Bryant and Yvette Cooper, ready to make political capital.

       3 likes

  28. Reed says:

    So, it might be that it’s not only those ‘Tea Party racists’ that have voiced some suspicion in regard to Obama’s eligibility.

    Mr. and Mrs. Clinton – the original ‘birthers’ ?
    ——————–
    http://www.wnd.com/2012/04/hollywood-producer-heard-bill-clinton-say-obama-ineligible/

    Bettina Viviano – who started her own film production company in 1990 after serving as vice president of production for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment – told WND that it was common knowledge among delegates committed to Hillary that the Clintons believed Obama was constitutionally ineligible and that Bill Clinton would eventually disclose his belief to the public.

    In the course of the phone conversation with Hillary delegates, she recalled, Bill Clinton spoke of Obama as “the non-citizen.”
    ———————-

    The media has been rather keen to report the story of the so-called birthers, with the sole intention of furthering the ‘right-wingers are racists’ stereotype. I’m sure they’ll eventually get to this revelation aswell, to examine it’s plausibility. I’m sure…just wait…a Newsnight segment is in the works…soon…

       5 likes

  29. Fred Bloggs says:

    Bits are in some are out. R4 news 5:30am clip aired of MP Chris Bryant saying ‘May had got it all wrong’. Yet only 20 secs before the news intro had said the situation with Qatarda was in a state of confusion.

    Listen to R4 Today 6:00am, still no mention of the tanker strike, why, because yesterday the union reps rejected the pay conditions. Hello, this strike was not about pay but elf and safty. Seems it was about pay all along, ( I understand UNITE want to companies to go into industry wide collective barganing, but no one is reporting this).

       2 likes

  30. Reed says:

    Question Time panel (Leeds)…

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gspqn

    Yvette Cooper – Shadow Home Sec harridan
    Sayeeda Warsi – Baroness…pass
    George Galloway – Piss Be Upon Him (God willing)
    Tim Farron – LibDem President, and…whatever
    David Aaronovitch – Lefty Times columnist, often reasonable

    I make that 4 lefties and one terrible rightie. Just about balanced, then. It comes to something when the left-wing journalist is the one who will probably provide the only balanced views on the panel. This one will be tough to get through!

       4 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      And before anyone claims that there is a Lib Dem so it’s 3 – 2 let’s be clear that this is most definitely 4 anti-Coalition (not including Dumblefuck) ‘against’ the seemingly omnipresent (on QT) Sayeeda…is she on a very short list of those that accept the invite.are sent?

         5 likes

      • Demon says:

        I can only assume they got the noble baroness because, although sometimes she can make good points, she is often easy to beat down. 5 left and 1 right – standard QT panel breakdown with the audience selection in a similar ratio.

           5 likes

    • Dave s says:

      It’s in Leeds. What do you expect?

         3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      That must be a new speed record for getting on a newly sworn MP. So who’s the better Muslim, then?

         3 likes

  31. George R says:

    Islam Not BBC (INBBC) and ABU QATADA.

    -Note how INBBC’s Mr Chris MASON deviously attempts to detract both from Qatada’s crimes, and to give the erronous impression that INBBC is somehow above the political fray on Qatada:-
    INBBC-
    “Government’s Abu Qatada woes increase.”

    [Excerpt]:-

    “The deportation of Abu Qatada is an intensely emotive issue. Red meat for newspapers, with big political ramifications.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17763775

       1 likes

  32. GotItAboutRight says:

    From Jeremy Vine on twitter:

    Congrats to @ChrisBryantMP for first recorded use of the word “clustershambles” on #Newsnight.

       1 likes

  33. As I See It says:

    There’s a hoary old saying that reminds us that ‘you can’t please all the people, all the time….’. I guess that could be a good motto for the BBC.

    The trouble these days is that our dear old liberal Auntie – who has so often in the past caused us to blush when she has insisted on flashing her pink bloomers in public – has now it seems in her late dotage lapsed into some form of more serious mental disorder.

    We may previously have been a tad concerned when she kept nagging us about everyday things that we thought trivial and yet seemed to be so important to her. When she carelessly misplaced or gave away the hard earned money we gave her and when she kept repeating herself. Sometimes she got so confused she hid important things away (Balen Report). We excused her becuse we loved her and put her eccentricity down to old age. We knew she was very comfortably off, thank you, and thought her care for all the shabby strays (that might be on the make) was a harmless and endearing trait. We assumed her bumbling about was becasue of those embarrassing rose-tinted glasses she insisted on wearing.

    Things are becoming more serious. I think it is time we made sure that Auntie got a stern talking to. This would be for her own good and it is long overdue.

    ‘…can’t please all the people…?’ There appears to one set of people that Auntie is going out of her way to please.

    Melvin Bragg hosts ‘In Our Time’ Radio 4. He has done this job for donkey’s years. I’m sure it is pretty sound stuff. I was interested to hear that through BBC On line you can access past episodes.

    If you don’t know it here’s a quick precis: Melvin takes a subject from within the broad remit of the ‘history of ideas’ including culture, philosophy, science, religion etc and his guest academics expound on that guided by their host.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/in-our-time/

    So, don’t look yet! Have a guess what picture is at the top of the home page? It’s a piece of architecture. The dreaming spires of Oxford? A sunset silhouette of the Acropolis in Athens? No. I’ll give you a clue….it’s got minarets.

    I wonder why?

       6 likes

    • johnyork says:

      I can’t be sure about this, but are there 17 Stealth Bombers flying overhead ?

         2 likes

    • Demon says:

      If I’m not mistaken I believe that to be the mosque in Istanbul that was once a church dedicated to St. Sofia. Built by Christians in a Christian City, until the day when a large group of murdering peace-lovers peacefully ransacked the city, peacefully murdering all that wouldn’t convert at the point of a sword of peace. Then they changed the beautiful church into a beautiful mosque and added a load of minarets. All done in the name of the religion of peace. How peacefully done.

         5 likes

    • wally greeninler says:

      Even worse -until 1453 it had been a Christian cathedral for over a thousand years – the minarets were added later.

         2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Oh, larks, please, let it be so.
      In one fell swoop they can delight their critics and those who give a monkeys about either institution, whilst kicking offside the few left who tolerate them for archaic ‘Aunty’ reasons.
      Talk about a perfect brainstorm.

         6 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I take it none of those threatening to strike are freelancers paid through their own company or taking that nice wad of home payment cash for moving up north?

         4 likes

  34. On the R2 news at 08:00 this morning there were two stories that included either the words “Labour says…” (Qatada deportation) or “Labour wants…” (British Pregnancy Advisory Service hacking). I am puzzled as to why “Labour” does not seem to have a name any more, and why no individual from Labour is named in their comments or demands.

    In a similar situation, the BBC is at pains to state “David Cameron says…” or “George Osbourne says…” and rarely uses “Tories say…” or even “the government says…”.

    The reference in the Qatada story was an obvious attack on the handling of this case, but it is the BPAS story that intrigued me. Moira Stewart said, “Labour wants everybody involved to be prosecuted” (or words to that affect) which, to me, implies that the government does not. With one arrest already, somehow I think this is not the case!

    So, what next? Today’s weather will be wet and windy … Labour says “The British people deserve better than this and we call upon the Tory-led coalition government to invest in our weather systems”.

       9 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      That “Labour says…” is a favourite ploy of the Beeboids’ news on Radio 4 too. Instead of telling us that the government has done or said such and so, the Beeboid Corporation prefers to highlight Labour and get in a dig at the government, so it will tell us first what Labour thinks or says about a government policy or statement rather than begin with “The government has announced …”

         5 likes

  35. Guest Who says:

    Amazed I almost missed this, what with the vast promo efforts going into seeking feedback on improving the… ‘ahem’ … service, but last orders on this:
    http://consultations.external.bbc.co.uk/bbc/complaints_framework
    Amazingly, it appears to be a convoluted, contradictory, self-serving pile of waffle designed to look like responding when in fact ensuring nothing changes or, if it does, to get back to the happier ‘broadcast only’ times.
    Committing a fair wadge of time I have contributed, and know it will either get ignored or dismissed, like the epic ‘we think we have got it about right’ essays I share here.
    However, to put them on notice that not only are questions being asked, but conclusions are getting drawn outside their rarified bubble, I have offered a few thoughts based on the BBC output of late, and especially how the current system ‘addresses’ the considered input of any who dare to find their performance sub-par across a variety of basic journalistic criteria.
    And all, uniquely, yours for just £145pa, no refunds possible.

       2 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    Far be it from me to interfere with any attempt to mitigate the compulsory tax imposed for stuff I don’t like, want or use, but this amused:
    http://www.licensemag.com/licensemag/Entertainment/BBC-Signs-Dancing-Deal-with-Avon/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/769804
    Having supported my fragrant missus at a few dance-related efforts, I have to say Eau de Post Dance is not an aroma I’d honestly seek out, but there you go.
    Nice to see the BBC with its commercial brain working overtime.

       0 likes

  37. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Tim Weber (he of “Spinning for Obama” fame) is an idiot. He’s just tweeted this about a BBC News Online article on India’s successful test of a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead:

    So when N.Korea does it, it’s awful. When India tests a long-range ballistic missile, it’s an achievement?

    Which country is enabling terrorist attacks in the other, Tim? Where did the Norks get their nuke Tech, Tim? These fools really don’t see the difference, do they? No wonder the Beeboids think Israel is more dangerous than Iran.

       5 likes

    • Reed says:

      Moral relativism at work. Who are we to say that North Korea is a rogue state, Imperialist bastards.

      This guy looks like one to watch.

         1 likes

  38. Guest Who says:

    http://order-order.com/2012/04/19/pro-paddick-ad-fakes-riot-footage/
    Between what our politico types get up to, and away with, and our MSM ‘estate’ decides to report on, not mention or lie about, I rather suspect the best bet is to assume that if it’s a) From a political party, b) about a political party or c) on any MSM broadcast or online or in print, it’s probably either tribal tosh or an outright lie, and best filed under fiction.
    These days I tend to trust my news more from those not charging for the privilege of serving up shameless propaganda or equally shameless editorial (often by omission).
    High on that list being…

       3 likes

  39. Jeff Waters says:

    The BBC makes the case for better facilities for cyclists on London’s roads: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8066461.stm

    Jeff

       0 likes

  40. chrisH says:

    Now we all know that Kenneth Clarke is well past his sell by date, and that Theresa May is pretty low-grade even compared to the pigmies surrounding her in a useless Cabinet…all this we know.
    Still though-if Clarke is on the Today show to drone on about how useless the European Court is…then I don`t quite see how ten minutes trying to drop May into the 9am soundbite by Humphrys helps any of us .
    Just aimless politicking, point scoring and gossip from the bubble….maybe meat and drink to Humphrys and Clarke, but a fatuous waste of time to the rest of us.
    Both the political class and their camp followers in the BBC need to realise how irrelevant and dangerously disconnected they actually are from the rest of us.
    Neither BBC nor Clarke mentioned why France and Italy can fly tip their scum and dross back to their countries of origin as it suits them…so why not us?
    Finally, Clarke sneered at Belarus and its legal clodhopping and its refusal to suck up to Euro lawyers with a jazz cigarette as Ken might-and yet it is us that have the scum and dross to hose down….like Qartada….whereas Belarus doesn`t.
    Seems we`re the mugs on this one Ken…not that you`d ever know it, poor fool!

       9 likes

  41. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The BBC’s US President editor has just taken a tour of the Chicago headquarters for the 2012 Obamessiah campaign. He noticed how young the activists were, how tech/gadget-oriented they were, and how determined they were.

    But for some strange reason, Mardell failed to mention how white they all were. I posted a picture of the hideously white group a couple weeks ago (can’t find it now, new search function not seeing open threads). But don’t take my word for how bad it is. Even the JournoList-infested Politico has taken notice.

    President Obama’s camp tries to diversify

    President Barack Obama’s team is looking to hire more African-Americans, a search that has stirred a debate among black Democrats about Obama’s record on diversity and its implications for his reelection.

    Mardell noted that, among other groups, the campaign has a project to target African-Americans. Yet he fails to mention this:

    Stefanie Brown, director of the campaign’s African American Vote program, wrote in an “urgent” March 21 email to contacts in the black community that “The Obama for America campaign is in the process of really staffing up in states around the country, and I need your help to find qualified, African American candidates for some of these positions.” The email, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, notes that “this is a fast moving process and your (quick) support is greatly appreciated.”

    If Mardell was truly not biased, he’d have mentioned this little problem. Surely it wouldn’t be biased against the campaign or the President to report, without judgment, a fact which others are reporting.

       2 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      Imagine MM walking round ANY Republican/Tea party/non Democrat party headquarters and seeing ALL white faces…I don’t think anyone would offer long odds that he wouldn’t mention it – in fact no-one would even offer it a as bet!

         3 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      And your post from the other day…Open Thread, 9th April:

      David Preiser (USA) says:
      April 9, 2012 at 5:27 pm
      The Obamessiah 2012 campaign HQ is as hideously white as the BBC. Yet you won’t see Mardell or any other Beeboid demonizing this group based simply on the the collective color of their skin.

      Link to: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/328259.php

         3 likes

  42. Leodian says:

    I see Alan ( Lord ) Sugar is saying no-one should vote for Livingstone. But you won’t see that on the BBC.

       5 likes

  43. Guest Who says:

    Found this of interest…
    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidhughes/100152088/theresa-may-was-dropped-in-it-by-her-officials-and-heres-the-evidence/
    Along with what makes the headlines, and is actually the news.
    ‘…isn’t translating such mumbo-jumbo what government lawyers are paid handsome salaries for?’
    Maybe they are ‘unique’ too?

       3 likes

  44. George R says:

    Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) finds many useful idiots for all this at INBBC:

    “OIC to launch channel to counter ‘Islamophobia'”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/04/oic-to-launch-channel-to-counter-islamophobia.html

    Alternative: which is beyond INBBC’s political vision –

    -Fitzgerald: “Islamophobia”

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/32147

       1 likes

  45. Teddy Bear says:

    Most readers here will already know how the BBC obfuscates the news when it comes to showing openly how aggressive are the fundamentalist and militant Muslims throughout the world.

    Raymond Ibrahim identifies several of the tactics used by the MSM to achieve this purpose, including:
    False Moral Equivalency
    Blurring the Line Between Persecutor and Victim
    Dissembling the Perpetrators’ Motivation

    Muslim Persecution of Christians Whitewashed by Media

       4 likes

  46. George R says:

    ‘Daily Mail’:-

    “How can they tell us how to run our country?
    “Seven of eleven sitting at Europe’s human rights court deciding fate of hate preacher Qatada have never been judges.
    “Many ECHR judges are academics who have been parachuted into the role .
    “Youngest judge was given job when she was just 33 and has no experience as a senior judge.”

    By Richard Hartley-parkinson

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131955/Abu-Qatada-deportation-case-ECHR-judges-making-judgment-appeal-little-experience.html#ixzz1sWqfJRKX

       3 likes

  47. George R says:

    INBBC’s Ms KNELL in Cairo doesn’t seem to realise it, but she is describing the repressive Islamic ‘Arab Spring’ which INBBC is so enthusiastic about:-

    “Appeal of Egypt’s Salafist, Hazem Abu Ismail”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17735162

       2 likes

  48. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Katty Kay is using her officially sanctioned BBC twitter account to promote her personal side business again.

    Womenomics in action! “@WSJ: Women now top men in valuing high-paying career. They also want marriage and kids. http://on.wsj.com/Jj5Hhe VIDEO”

    Womenomics is the book Katty wrote with Claire Shipman, wife of White House Chief Press Officer, Jay Carney. There used to be a website and side business to get them speaking engagements with the meme, but that’s over now. Of course, Katty still trades on her BBC credential to get highly-paid speaking jobs, as well as guest-hosting for Diane Riehm on the left-wing NPR network.

    I say Katty’s twitter account is officially sanctioned by the BBC because it has the BBC World News America branding and there’s no “views my own” get-out-of-bias-free disclaimer. Not sure promoting her non-BBC work was part of the social media training program.

    Still, Katty’s tweets also reveal her dutiful obedience to the White House talking points. Today, she finally mentioned the story that’s been trending elsewhere on Twitter and on the web: the President was fed dog as a young child. (Yeah, it’s from His book, old news. But it’s a big joke this week for some reason.) The Leftoid media has been trying to squash it, and now today somebody asked Jay Carney about it at the White House press briefing. As if operating under hypnotic suggestion, Katty suddenly tweeted a link to a Politico article frowning at the Right for making a big deal out of it. Her bias on full display there when she sets it up with “They are right!”

    And she’s the most influential Beeboid working the US airwaves, anchor of BBC World News America.

       2 likes

  49. Reed says:

    “THE BBC has blown £277million on shedding staff in the last seven years, with one employee receiving a £949,000 severance package.”

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/315078/Bonanza-time-at-the-BBC

       1 likes