182 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. Nick says:

    Interesting radio 4 bit this morning on abortion.

    Inteviewee got the better of Humphries by making his case in a measured and reasonable way.

       13 likes

    • Wayne X says:

      Can I guess which side Humph was on?
      Left a bit, left a bit?
      FIRE!

         15 likes

    • AJEC says:

      The ‘interview’ by that odious Humph is here:
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9716000/9716844.stm

         4 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Jesus, the first two and a half minutes were more or less a list of negatives about the anti-abortion movement, ending with a condemnation of anti-abortion people showing graphic photos. Nice set up, BBC.

        And when was the last time Humphrys or any Today Beeboid told a guest they weren’t allowed to criticize a statement by their political opponent because they weren’t there to defend themselves. What a joke.

        Humphrys made a generalization about public opinion without substantiation. Then high school level reductio ad absurdum about a rape victim. Weak. Then he has the gall to tell the man he’s not engaging in rational debate.

        This is the BBC taking sides, beyond giving a challenging interview.

           25 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Old Gregg must have done a good job then!
          Why else would Ann Furedi be given time to try to rebut what he said?
          How did the BBC get her at such short notice, and who did they bump off the show to get this important message from one of their chief pet causes-abortion on demand, and none of that checking up stuff either eh?
          You wouldn`t want to see what abortion looks like-but nasty Gregg insists on showing you all, so that`s emoting and desperate…but I thought we needed to see things to believe them Ann!
          Desperate Beeb narrative shape shifting. Think we know where Today stand on child killing, unless its Millie Dowler and Rupert can be implicated.
          Have the BBC cleared their pro-abortion stance with Tariq, Abu, Ingla or Anjem I wonder…and until they have, should they not be careful here?
          Just because it shafts the Pope, doesn`t mean it`s going to please Allah, you know!

             10 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            I got the impression that it was a pre-recorded setup the producers created to introduce the piece beforehand.

               3 likes

            • chrisH says:

              You could well be right David.
              I heard Gregg live, and Furedi on iPlayer, so I might have wrongly assumed that Gregg was first, and Furedi got a phone call…may well be wrong!

                 2 likes

              • David Preiser (USA) says:

                I’m only saying the impression I got from the archived version posted on the “running order” page. Her segment wasn’t listed there, so I assumed this wasn’t part of the full show. Maybe she was in the studio earlier, and that’s where the clip came from? I have no idea. If so, did Humphrys stop her cold when she criticized something her opponent said like he did to the anti-abortion guy?

                   1 likes

        • Teddy Bear says:

          Christine Odone has an article about it in the Telegraph
          The BBC attempts to discredit the abortion limit campaign

             1 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            So I was right. It was a pre-recorded message the BBC used to set up their attack…sorry…challenging interview. In the interests of balance and fairness, I fully expect that defenders of the indefensible have plenty of examples of the Today programme doing the same thing for interviews with advocates of Left-wing issues.

               4 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Yes, Humphrys was trying to paint him as some sort of monster for opposing late-term abortions. The guy kept his cool, stopped Humphrys interrupting him – and sounded entirely reasonable.

      Leaving Humphrys sounding more like the callous monster !

         16 likes

    • GotItAboutRight says:

      On the subject of abortion there was an excellent small piece in Charles moore’s column in The spectator a couple of weeks ago about how the Today programme treated the story that Andrew Lansley had ordered checks on abortion clinics, when all the questions from the BBC concerned how much resources and money that had cost. As Moore says, if Lansley had ordered the checks to detect racism would the BBC’s questions be about whether the cost could be justified?

         19 likes

    • RCE says:

      I posted about this in the death throes of the last OT. It was an argument, not an interview; outright bias.

      Irony being that Humph ended up looking the arrogant fool that he undoubtedly is, whereas Cunningham presented a clear, logical and rational case.

         9 likes

    • Pacific Rising says:

      Poor old Humphries. Totally outclassed.

         5 likes

  2. George R says:

    “Mac on… BBC staff at the Olympics”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135874/BBC-staff-Olympics-Macs-view.html

       13 likes

  3. Ontablets says:

    Can i justs ay thanks to fellow readers for helping thorugh QT last night, i was right to pre load as much as i did.

    Polly toynbee and Abbot?

    and good thing you got twitter login 🙂

       11 likes

    • AJEC says:

      Dimblebore’s performance was painfully biased last night on QT.

      I might be mistaken but was Chris Grayling not even allowed to take a view on the Newham housing issue?

      It must be election time!

         11 likes

  4. George R says:

    Re: ex-Labour MP, Ms MORAN-

    1.) ‘Guido Fawkes’ –

    “Margaret Moran’s £80,000 Sick Note ”

    http://order-order.com/2012/04/27/margaret-morans-80000-sick-note/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+guidofawkes+%28Guy+Fawkes%27+blog+of+parliamentary+plots%2C+rumours+and+conspiracy%29

    2.) BBC-NUJ-Labour Party:

    “Ex-Luton MP Margaret Moran ‘not fit for trial’, a court is told”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-17866333

       15 likes

  5. Leodian says:

    Watchdog last night were demonising a major supermarket for selling a packet of breakfast cereal for 30 pence more than advertised. This from an organisation that exhorts £150 a year from every houshold, ” or else”. Not even Tony Soprano would dare such a racket. Consumer protection and BBC just do not go together. Don’t do as I do, do as I say. And by the way shame on you Tesco.

       26 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      ‘Annie’ is so vile she straightaway has me on the side of the roofer charging a pensioner five grand to replace a slate he broke when the householder wasn’t looking.

      Top talent. 🙁

         11 likes

  6. uncle bup says:

    The talk about it every day of their lives, tweet about it, and defriend it on facebook, but droid vewsreaders still can’t pronounce ‘Newscore’ properly.

    Just to help, because I know they come on here to see if they’re being name-checked, here’s how I remember it.

    Newscorp is short for News Corporation not News Corps. Thank me later. (Nb my pet, Ellie Crisell, always gets it right.)

    And as for the vewsreader droidess the other evening who came out with,

    ‘Shadow Chancellor George Osborne today attacked the government’.

    Give me strength. I know love you were getting your hat and coat on at the time and thinking about picking the kids up from the childminder and what to get hubby for tea, but for £3.2 billion a year I think we should expect a modicum of professionalism

       22 likes

    • TigerOC says:

      Happens all the time; BBC STILL believe Labour is in power. They just cannot bear the thought that the nasty Torys are doing what they’re doing without their prior approval and sanction. It’s just not right you know.

         27 likes

    • During all the fuss last week about Simon Cowell and Danni Minogue, Cowell’s revelations were apparently contained in his “unauthorised autobiography” according to one R2 news reporter. How does that work then?

         3 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘How does that work then?’
        All covered by the new MSM ‘get out of professional integrity free’ card that is ‘sources say’.
        In this case the views may still be their own, but the BBC does still speak for them.

           1 likes

  7. Guest Who says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17860736
    ‘taint’ is an interesting word.
    Many who use it often, and incautiously, seem to forget that what they (mis)handle can stick to them too.

       7 likes

    • Reed - tainted every time he watches BBC says:

      BBC tainted by Panorama faked footage
      BBC tainted by dishonest Queen/Annie Leibowitz promo
      BBC tainted by multiple ‘faked’ phone-in scandals
      BBC tainted by ‘unwinnable’ Radio 2 contests
      BBC tainted by suppression of publicly funded Balen report
      BBC tainted by hateful QT episode just days after 9-11
      BBC tainted by ignoring Fogel family massacre
      BBC tainted by Falklands reports that aided enemy
      BBC tainted by Ross/Brand smutty phone ‘prank’

      BBC…tainted.

         37 likes

  8. Guest Who says:

    Speaking of dogs (which seem to come into, and out of fashion at the BBC on a very oddly predictable basis), this is an interestingly ‘colourful’ piece, analogy-wise, via Tub of Mardell, in full objectivity mode:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17862648
    One presumes that if his hero were a hound, it would be, what..?
    http://files.dogster.com/recom/prod_images/Chis_sniffing.jpg

       2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Still waiting for Mardell to sneer at a Democrat. The last line was typical of him:

      I said once that if Newt got the nomination there was a 20% chance his outlandish maverick ego would make him a truly great president, but there was an 80% chance he would embarrass his country dreadfully.

      Yet the only time his beloved Obamessiah hasn’t embarrassed us is when we elected Him even though (cos, actually) He is black. Has the President made a single mistake in Mardell’s eyes? Other than, you know, not shifting the country far enough to the Left?

         18 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        A question: if the BBC were truly impartial, wouldn’t they describe Obama as ‘mixed race’?

           13 likes

        • Old Goat says:

          No, he’s a Kenyan, and tinted accordingly!

             4 likes

        • Louis Robinson says:

          President Obama is indeed mixed race – as, it appears now, is George Zimmerman, the shooter of Travyon Martin. Zimmerman has been described as a “white Hispanic”. It now appears he has some black ancestry. Which leads one to speculate, if Mr Obama had a son he would look a lot like – George Zimmerman.

             14 likes

          • jarwill101 says:

            Or Robert Zimmerman? Getting very confusing. So, was Zim/Martin a black-on-black? So why are black thugs beating up whites in retribution when Zim is now a black & white, possibly Korean, Hispanic Hawaiian who doesn’t eat dogs? And just can’t find his goddam birth certificate. Going to be a lot of race-hustlers needing counselling. And poor old whitey doesn’t seem to have much to do with it all. Take the rap though.

               9 likes

  9. Guest Who says:

    A BBC editor tries to make sense of the world, in that unique way they can, mentioning some things… leaving other stuff out. Looking all reasonable, and then dropping a few nasty, one-sided insinuations. As you do…
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldtonight/2012/04/does_murdoch_matter.html

       12 likes

  10. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The BBC has done another of their “bespoke” video magazine pieces on how the white man has ravaged a poor Sioux tribe by callously selling them alcohol. The report is ostensibly about a new lawsuit by the Oglala tribe against local beer distributors for doing something perfectly legal.

    But what this is really about is another list of the horrors of an entire town subverted by alcoholism. It’s wrong for the nearby stores to sell these people beer, because the nearest stores otherwise are at least 20 miles away, which is why they’re suing the distributors for selling it so close to them.

    So, with all the statements and tragic casualty figures the BBC gives, one is led to assume that if these stores are barred from selling alcohol, it would go a long way toward solving the problem. Alcohol, we are told, has been illegal in the entire reservation for 100 years (with a brief exception). But then we learn this:

    Nevertheless, bootlegging on the reservation is said to be rampant.

    What’s the lawsuit really about, then?

    The quantities of alcohol being sold in White Clay are so vast, there is no reasonable way it could all be consumed legally, the complaint says.

    In other words, the BBC wants us to believe that if the people of Pine Ridge can’t buy booze close by, the people making the money selling it illegally won’t possibly bother to drive 20 miles away instead. But the BBC earnestly reports that it would stop the madness anyway.

    Hey, BBC: Since you obviously care so much about the plight of these poor people oppressed by the white man, how about, instead of this second report – which is basically a rehash of the first – you investigate the bootleggers doing the real damage? Or would that not get approved by the higher ups because that might make other Sioux look bad instead of the white man?

       13 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Patronising prats at the BBC. Are you sure this wasn’t Rockridge? The Beeb wouldn’t look at all out of place in Blazing Saddles, methinks.

         10 likes

  11. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Anyone following this blog will know that the Environmental Protection Agency is filled with Warmists who, with the approval of the President, want to shut down every fuel industry except the green kind. I’ve said before how these policies harm the economy, just as Warmist energy policies in Britain cause higher fuel prices and hurt the poorest and most vulnerable over there. But it will come as a surprise to those who rely on the BBC for their information on US issues that the following has happened:

    EPA official apologizes for call to ‘crucify’ oil companies, senator investigating

    A top EPA official has apologized for comparing his agency’s enforcement strategy to Roman crucifixion — as Republican Sen. James Inhofe launched an investigation and told Fox News the comments are part of a campaign of “threats” and “intimidation.”

    Al Armendariz, the EPA administrator in the Region 6 Dallas office, made the remarks at a local Texas government meeting in 2010. He relayed to the audience what he described as a “crude” analogy he once told his staff about his “philosophy of enforcement.”

    “It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean,” he said. “They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw, and they’d crucify them.

    “And then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years,” he said.

    Video at the link.

    Oh, hang on, BBC viewers won’t be surprised by this at all: because the BBC hasn’t even reported it. So you’d never know if the BBC was your only source of information.

       9 likes

  12. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Did everyone here know that there have been massive, violent student protests in Montreal over rising tuition fees for the past eleven weeks? Canada has made another rare appearance on the BBC’s US & Canada page over the latest round of violence.

    Maybe the fact that it’s been so violent is the reason why the BBC hasn’t been making a series of breathless reports on this on a regular basis. No Laura Trevelyan marching with them, no “bespoke” video magazine pieces explaining what they stand for. And certainly no visit from the BBC North America editor, thus proving once again that his job description is false.

    Don’t want to remind you too much of the violent “student” protests over tuition fees in Britain, right? Might not help the cause.

       10 likes

  13. George R says:

    INBBC censors non-Muslim inquiries into Islam.

    One might think that an ostensibly secular/atheistic broadcaster would welcome a discussion of Robert SPENCER’s new book: ‘ Did Muhammad Exist? An inquiry into Islam’s Obscure Origins;”but no.

    “Islam: A Will-o’-the-Wisp of Political Faith”

    (by Edward CLINE )

    Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/islam-a-will-o-the-wisp-of-political-faith#ixzz1tFzEKFEH
    Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

    “Robert Spencer on Michael Coren Show discussing ‘Did Muhammad Exist’?” (Video clip.)

    -INBBC will only critically explore Christianity, not Islam.
    So, INBBC’s Muslim Head of Religious Broadcasting, Aaqil AHMED commissioned Al Jazeera’s Muslim Rageh OMAAR to present the reverential INBBC 2 series on Muhammad.

       11 likes

  14. chrisH says:

    The BBC News web page has an “education” section that ought really to have stories connected with…well education I suppose.
    Politeia have just put out a report saying that history teaching is about the worst in the western world…with more stuff about the likes of Mary Seacole and Nye Bevin/Arthur Scargill than , say Alfred the Great or the Act of Settelement.
    Anybody else but the cultural Marxist quislings at the BBC would regard this as a story with some educational relevance…but , since it would only back Starkey and hold back the necessary rise of Jamie Oliver: this story is not worth mentioning…so negative, yah?
    Still-the BBC do tell me about Jordans ex-hubby “doing a Brand “and telling it to the man in Whitehall…he wants banks and Tesco to stump up for free school dinnas for the kids…yeah?
    Just the kind of left-lib agitprop with slebs that the BBC loves…we don`t need no education yeah?
    Except for Beeboids falling out of Oxbridge, “mais naturellement”!

       13 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      And you won’t get the BBC reporting a recent survey which found less than 40% of teachers in the state sector are willing to encourage their brightest pupils to apply to Oxbridge which they consider to be – yawn! – elitist i.e. only for the privately educated. But hang on, Oxford and Cambridge keep getting battered because they don’t accept enough students from the state sector. So how do they do this if they’re not applying? Wasn’t it some anniversary of Heller’s brilliant ‘Catch 22’ recently?

         15 likes

  15. Cassandra King says:

    The BBC toady show reports on abortion protests and as usual it fails to present the middle ground, we see fanatics from both sides getting their say, one side wants no abortions and the other a no limits killing ground of viable babies. Did we hear of the need to reduce the time limit to three months so preventing a foetus becoming so developed and advanced it is essentially a fully functioning human being being ripped to pieces or left to die in a sink?

    All we got was all or nothing and no middle ground, of course there will be occasions when termination is the right thing to do but the slide to casual mass murder is occurring right now, babies killed for being the wrong sex, no better the Chinese and Egyptians leaving girl babies on a rubbish tip for the rats and dogs to eat. Where is the rational middle ground? Why do they not get a chance to air their views? It is tragic that while the BBC encourages the fanatics the middle ground is ignored.

       11 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Classic Beeb eh Cassie?
      Humphrys managed to imply that abortions are there for the sole purpose of preventing raped girls from having to carry their babies to term.
      All housing benefit cuts seem to hit decent hard working people on the wrong side of some thoughtless Tory diktat.
      All disability cuts seem to hit the Remploy PhD who works for CERN, does the care homes shopping and manages all this with one stump.
      All victims of asylum policy are wondrous Christian Poles or Kenyans who are about to get their degree or new premises scotched right at the time the Beeboid pops round.
      Not a thug, white trash waster with a pit bull; not a Romanian slave gang, not a jahadi terror merchant or a Big Issue scammer in sight…when funnily enough, these are by far the majority of those that I meet.
      The Bipolar Beeb are either at your feet( Islam, Greenpeace, BPAS, UNITE, Miliband, Dawkins etc)…or at your throat(English, white, male, family, conservative, religious).

         17 likes

  16. Bob Spence says:

    Look at the right hand side section of the BBC report into the New Labour expense fiddler:

    “Margaret Moran was a good MP – she championed local causes, the role of women in politics and she worked hard to reduce racial tensions in Luton.”

    Utter drive, She was a man-hating feminist, elected because she was a woman instead of on merit and she treated her staff like dirt.

    On top of the alleges expenses fraud (a bigger sum than every single other MP jailed and bigger than any repayment too) she had all sort of other dodgy arrangements via various companies. She then got caught out by Channel 4 as well, and was up to no good at her holiday home.

    She didn’t apologise for the things she did either so shows no remorse.

    If there was an award for worst MP ever than Moran would have to be the favourite, but in BBC land she’s a “good MP”. Why the hell is this Andrew Sinclair fool? Either he’s stupid or needs investigating for his bias.

       30 likes

    • Reed says:

      I’ve no doubt she played up to the ‘strong, independent woman’ thing – Now she’s in trouble…revert to the helpless victim role, Tessa Jowell style.

         27 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘…..she worked hard to reduce racial tensions in Luton’. Result there, then.
      She’s just another leftie gorging on public money – no wonder she gets plaudits from the BBC.

         23 likes

      • Reed - steering clear of Luton says:

        Another example of intentions trumping outcomes. As long as you ‘meant well’ it matters not that you are a corrupted incompetent.

           17 likes

      • Pah says:

        So racial tensions in Luton decreased when she was an MP and increased after she left then? I hope the BBC provided a suitable graph in a hockey stick stylee.
        Muppets.

           11 likes

    • johnyork says:

      Championed local causes.
      Yes she most certainly did (her’s) furthermore she was also a woman (female) and less we forget how she sorted out the racial inadequacy on behalf of the (sisters) in Luton’s multi-cultural pasradise.

      As for the BBC :

      Was she an ex-labour MP by any chance ?
      Was she very bad at sums by any chance ?
      Was she just (BBC) misunderstood ?
      Was she just simply another lefty-prat on the make ?

         26 likes

    • Leodian says:

      Not to be prosecuted but certainly up for an Oscar.

         5 likes

  17. Wayne X says:

    Let’s lighten the mood a little. Now, I have never been much of a food buff but some new and exciting recipes, full of protein, have come into my hands from across the Atlantic pond and I would like to share them with you all.

    They have been fully tried and have received wonderful reports in a new cook book called ‘Dreams from my Fido’. The only problem is you need to undertake a little subterfuge before you can try out the recipe.

    First off you need some pieces of raw steak and a 2 ft length of two by four. Then drive a couple of miles into the next neighbourhood and use the steak to entice main ingredient to you. Then, carefully using the two by four prepared earlier, put the tasty constituent into a deep slumber.

    From here on in prepare the meal as you would a plump chicken. There are many different recipe ideas but one that a great man that I know has tried is called Roasted Retriever. Another is called ‘Fetch my Stick’, which as well as including many wonderful herbs it includes the most valuable item of all and they are; Dachshund Drum Sticks, there isn’t much to them but the taste is out of this world. Any left overs may then be turned into German Shepard’s Pie, a real favourite if served with well-seasoned gravy.

       6 likes

  18. Teddy Bear says:

    Raymond Ibrahim gives his monthly account of
    Muslim Persecution of Christians: March, 2012

    Don’t be surprised if most of the incidents described have not been covered by the ‘Arab Spring’ BBC.

       11 likes

  19. DavidLamb says:

    I wonder when the BBC are going to cover the latest contribution to sexual liberation from ther Arab Spring in Egypt?
    http://rt.com/news/egypt-sex-dead-wife-054/

       8 likes

    • Wayne X says:

      We have to deal with the arch enemy Lucifer Murdoch first. Until he has been destroyed all other matters are on the back burner, particularly anything concerning people of a certain peaceful persuasion.

      This is the end of the announcement, no further discussion will be allowed, now pay your TV tax or Go to Jail.

         18 likes

  20. Reed says:

    Now THIS is how you deal with them – drown them out with even greater, but deliberately comical, absurdity…

    Some Muslims showed up at the 2012 Atheist Convention in Australia. This is what happened

    Hat-tip – http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.co.uk/

    Nice one, Aussie Athiests 8)

       9 likes

    • Reed - occasional mis-spellor says:

      or atheists even.

         3 likes

    • Pah says:

      Australians eh?
      The Rooneys of the Commonwealth.
      You spend years thinking less and less of them and then they do something so mind-numbingly superb you end up loving them again.

         8 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      I don’t normally care much for militant atheist movements but I have to congratulate these ones on their tactics – and humour – there. That was a hoot. Clever and admirable too.

         1 likes

  21. Jeff Waters says:

    Christopher Tappin: Why was a retired Briton extradited to US? – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17865761

    A rather one-sided view of this case and the Anglo-American extradition treaty of 2003. I happen to agree with the BBC on this one, but it is not appropriate for them to take sides in this matter…

    Jeff

       1 likes

  22. Merlin says:

    Did anyone see that liberal fascist in the audience on QT last night heckling and spitting left wing venom at Nigel Farage over his mentioning of immigrants getting ahead in the social housing queue? A wonderful but highly worrying example of the intolerant left wing aggression that has indoctrinated many in this country. Snooty left wing Pollyanna Toynbee, sanctimonious public toilet frequenter Simon Hughes and that repugnant racist Dianne Fatty-Bum Abbott amounted to one of the foulest and most loathsome all-star teams of left wing zealots I think I have seen on Question (but no real answers) Time. The audience was simply horrific!

       26 likes

  23. Jeff Waters says:

    ‘Margaret Moran was a good MP – she championed local causes, the role of women in politics and she worked hard to reduce racial tensions in Luton.’
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-17866333

    Not the words of a Labour Party spokesperson, but of a BBC journalist…

    Jeff

       14 likes

  24. will says:

    Charles Moore on the power of the BBC to ensure politicians dance to their tune more than to Murdoch’s

    The Murdoch bid for control of BSkyB absolutely terrified and enraged the BBC. The failure of that bid last year, caused by the phone-hacking scandal, was a triumph for the BBC’s monopoly. People are understandably excited about whether Jeremy Hunt unfairly favoured the bid because the Tories wanted Mr Murdoch on side. They ought also to worry that both political parties are so scared of the BBC that they always renew its Charter and increase its licence fee. In my own conversations with Mr Hunt and other leading Conservatives about the iniquity of this tax on every television, it has always been made clear to me that they dare not touch the subject, lest the BBC trash them.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9231807/I-see-a-familiar-look-of-fear-on-the-faces-of-David-Camerons-ministers.html

       16 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      “…lest the BBC trash them”!!! Too late you blind fools

         9 likes

    • Demon says:

      “it has always been made clear to me that they dare not touch the subject, lest the BBC trash them. ”

      Considering that is what the BBC are doing to the Cameronains already, it would be right for Cameron to warn them to make their news and other programmes politically neutral, or at least balanced, or action (up to, and maybe including the complete sell-off to private bidders like Murdoch) will be taken. Two months to sack anybody

         6 likes

      • Demon says:

        “it has always been made clear to me that they dare not touch the subject, lest the BBC trash them. ”

        Considering that is what the BBC are doing to the Cameronains already, it would be right for Cameron to warn them to make their news and other programmes politically neutral, or at least balanced, or action (up to, and maybe including the complete sell-off to private bidders like Murdoch) will be taken. Two months to sack anybody and sort out all problems of imbalance. But Comical Dave does not have the balls to do it.

        Something went wrong with my first attempt to post this.

           6 likes

    • Pah says:

      It’ll never happen. Like Murdoch the BBC know where enough bodies are buried to keep sufficient MPs on side.

      What it needs is an investigation into links between Labour and the BBC with evidence of money passing hands. Anyone feel like hiring a detective?

         5 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      If it’s true that the government is so scared of what the BBC may do to them if it tries to abolish the licence fee, then it shows how sinister and dangerous the organisation has become. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense to clip its wings?

      Murdoch’s influence in politics has obviously been exaggerated by the left wing who want to keep control of the news output in this country. I’ve seen somewhere that the BBC is responsible for over 70% of broadcast news output. Now that it’s going worldwide they can try to influence politics in other countries ( I’m thinking America and France in recent weeks).

      That ordinary folk in this country of who, according to a recent poll , only around 43% show any interest in politics, have to fund this propaganda organisation via threats of criminal proceedings being brought against them, is disgusting and really shouldn’t be tolerated in a decent, fair-minded society.

         6 likes

  25. johnyork says:

    Here’s one to dwell on.
    The London 2012 Olympic Branded Games

    The BBC has fallen over itself with coverage, interesting considering the bloody torch hasn’t negotiated it’s way through the wind farms of Kent as of yet.
    However.
    Coming from a generation where Aunty saved me from the devil: NO ADVERTISING (I still don’t know what sticky-back plastic is) how come all I can see now on the BBC are the logo’s of companies I couldn’t care less about.
    I’m sure they will jusify their coverage, I’m sure they will justify they got it about right, but don’t kid a kidder, the BBC aren’t street wise enough to see that Big Business has pulled the wool over their eyes again.
    The BBC will think that showing people of different colours running, jumping, falling over is great :
    Please ignore the giant hording in the background (BERLIN 1936) and don’t look at the British women who came in 17th being interviewed wearing her GREGGS OF GOSFORTH 2O% SUPER TAX midrift hot pasty ensamble.
    It’s not true that she prefers it cold !
    So, bring in about 60 or 70 BBC “journalists” to interview our Star Diver who didn’t manage to end up in the water, yet still had his Speedo goggles on as he was taken to hospital having hit his PR minder on the floor.
    A bit like late on in 1941.

    Meanwhile back in the real corporate world, GOD DAMN THOSE BBC LIMEY’S, ARE THEY FOR REAL ?

    Yes the BBC doesn’t do advertising, wink-wink !
    But it will still cost all of you plebs £145.50 whether your brand concience or not

    Next question :
    Where the bloody hell is Salford ?

       14 likes

  26. George R says:

    E.U. order free NHS for all immigrants.

    BBC-NUJ-Labour must be politically approving of this further preferentrial treratment of immigrants to UK, to be paid for by British people, as ordered by E.U; but Beeboids seem coy of putting up this item on its ‘Health’ news page.

    ‘Express’:-

    “EU MIGRANTS TO GET FREE HEALTHCARE HERE”

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/316740/EU-migrants-to-get-free-healthcare-here

       11 likes

  27. Reed - broken clock syndrome says:

    Actually, a rather good article at The Guardian! Keith Vaz – media whore…

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2012/apr/26/russell-brand-keith-vaz-select-committee

       2 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Yes sirree.
      Marian Hyde gets some good points in every so often…like Nick Cohen, I do respect them on occassion.
      That the likes of Vaz and Brand, Jordans ex(Alex Reid) are allowed to do their psychic dirty protest s round Parliament says all you need to know about just how debauched political life has now become…and Marina says it well!

         2 likes

      • johnyork says:

        Marina can, on occasions, be rather astute.
        She noticed (before the England manager did) that our players in South Africa were more interested in the local bars, local girls and local casino’s than doing what they were there for.
        If I’m going to have to listen to a “lefty” she would be my choice over all of them at the BBC.
        And that would mean every last jack of them !

           2 likes

  28. John Anderson says:

    Woke up early this morning, first thing I heard was a BBC World Service idiot called Mike Williams interviewing – no HECTORING – a Canadian Minister about Canada’s absolutely disgraceful policy of ditching Kyoto. The Canadian kept his cool – but should have slapped Williams down harder, cheeky brat. How the BBC hates democracy when it cuts across their sacred cows.

    Dozed off.

    Started listening again at about 7am – and away we go again on the Today programme with the bloody Jeremy Hunt stuff. Who gives a monkey’s – the Levison stuff is front page on only 2 UK newspapers this morning, all the others lead with NEW stories.

    It is now 7.15am – and they are still yammering on about Murdoch’s evidence to Levison. At 7.16am “We will be bringing you much more on this during the course of the programme”

    All the BBC ever does is grind liberal/leftie axes. Groupthink in their genes. Pathetic – can’t they do journalism any more ?

       14 likes

    • Deborah says:

      missed your early morning stuff but dozed from 7.00 am and everytime I came too all I could hear was yet another anti-Conservative rant under the guise of Hunt and NI. Gasp gasp – Cameron met Murdoch 4 times (without telling us of course of the numerous meetings between with Blair and Brown); how wonderful these Pakistani (Muslim never passed the presenter’s lips) students were arranging a conference in Oxford (I am pleased if some in the Muslim community are looking at their own to examine if improvements can be made from the inside but I don’t know if the interviewee was an Oxford student but she really could hardly string a comprehensible sentence together) and don’t forget that delightful Keith Vaz telling us what is wrong with the Immigration Service at Heathrow. Except he (or the Today presenters) didn’t – these waits to pass through Immigration have apparently been long for the last couple of days – so I presume they were OK during the Easter Holidays – so why are they bad now? I don’t know and no explanation was offered. By this time I had had enough and before throwing the radio across the room I got up.
      Sorry – rant over!

         6 likes

      • Deborah says:

        I have just googled the Pakistani interviewee – she is Suriyah Bi – yes she is an Oxford student but appears to be popular with the BBC as when I typed her name into Google it immediately offered ‘BBC’ to the search term. Appears to be at Magadalene College – but still she couldn’t speak in a logical and comprehensible way during the interview.

           5 likes

  29. Guest Who says:

    Leo Hickman ‏ @leohickman
    RT @SimonChapman6: Sandi Keane compares the ABC and BBC’s coverage of climate science http://bit.ly/IFjeBp >> good summary

       1 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      I resist much comment, but a few of the author’s, which I think are meant to endorse the BBC’s approach, do not seem to quite help any of the cases being supported, especially in areas of free speech or impartiality.

         1 likes

  30. Guest Who says:

    The first para is a treat, too..
    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/timworstall/100016746/the-self-appointed-tax-expert-richard-murphy-doesnt-understand-economics-is-about-facts-not-ideology/
    Where is Mrs. ‘What first attracted you to..’ Merton when you need her?

       2 likes

  31. George R says:

    INBBC, its Mr AZAMI and its ‘peaceful’ TALIBAN propaganda:

    “Cricket, schools, Facebook: the Taliban’s new PR drive”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17852902

    Then there’s the reality – ‘Jihadwatch’:

    “Taliban commander: ‘There is no more or less in Sharia. If people are not happy with Sharia law, there is no other law for happiness’.”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/br0nc0s/managed-mt/mt-search.cgi?search=Taliban&IncludeBlogs=1&limit=20

       3 likes

  32. Guest Who says:

    Jeremy Vine @theJeremyVine
    “@TrendsGlasgow: Jeremy Vine is trending http://trendsmap.com/gb/glasgow” |~~~~ Eh? But all I’ve done today so far is eaten a bowl of porridge

    Much explained; little excused. And the concern is the power of Murdoch over the brain dead?

       1 likes

  33. noggin says:

    hi all,
    back from the wide blue yonder, to listen to another drivelfest this morning, on 5live.
    1st, a literally excrutiating drone about … 😀
    1st cousin marriages, and i kid you not the … ahem!
    many benefits? …
    somebody pulled the bunting down momentarily … by
    broaching upon deformed/disabled children … only to
    be smacked down by, “well we are taught its just the will of god” ?? and the NHS needs to invest in new and advanced screening methods ????
    whoops! … el beeb given the game away eh! 😀
    just when they thought no “M” word indicators ;-D, therefore lots of flannel ensued about “cultural differences”, and ahem … “listeners not understanding”.

    Astoundingly this excusery tosh, came from a muslim school teacher?.

    To be closely followed, by the “go to guy”, for el beeb
    on muslim child rape gangs, M Shafiq, with his “wider issues” – “all society to blame”, excuse book, he kept strictly to the ahem “criminals” line … an odd Pakistani
    mention … but alas … no muslims/Islam,
    el beeb must be so relieved 😀

       23 likes

  34. Guest Who says:

    ‘Just a journalist asking questions’
    http://www.wakeup2thelies.com/2012/04/28/james-delingpoles-fantastic-interview-with-abc-774-radios-jon-faine/
    Richard Black take note… and look out. This guy may well steal the crown and get the slot.
    Can’t say Mr. Delingpole is always my cup of tea, and often his arguments and style seem every bit on par with those he is pitted against (he missed some valid counter-factuals in favour of bluster), but the sanctimony and po-faced belief in ‘holding to account’ impartiality as advocacy of this ‘professional interviewer’ was a hoot.
    It’s nice to control the edit suite when you can’t resist the urge to ‘take a final shot’. Indeed.

       5 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Pleasing to hear Delingpole-and, to be honest: he was rather too gentle with this “faux-professional” who was “only asking questions”.
      And, to be fair to Salmond, to Galloway…and others…these people who cite the BBC and personalise as they go along in their interviews , with the paragons of disinterested rhetoric that the Beeb set themselves up to be. These have my respect at least for not ignoring the slurry in the spring that the BBC have now turned out to be.
      As James says…no sense of humour, greenies and their crib sheet highlighted gobbets of junk science…they are easy meat to anyone who puts the work in and has principles.
      Which excludes 99% of the political mosque-itos that infect the media.
      If we could train up the Hannans, Raabs, Carswells and Davis with Redwood, then the “Right” could do a Delingpole, Murray or Coulter and put the Left to sleep….no courage, convictions(well?) or principles…which leaves Salmond and Galloway atop their perches…

         6 likes

  35. George R says:

    BBC-NUJ-Labour and ‘Mirror’-NUJ-Labour.

    MAGUIRE, Beeboids’ favourite political chum, again-

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17868445

       1 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      MAGUIRE, Beeboids’ favourite political chum, again
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17868445
      This seems a good place to add this:
      Wired ‏ @wired
      Journalists beware? Can an Algorithm Write a Better News Story Than a Human Reporter? http://bit.ly/Kj714k

      Possibly… depending on what is meant by ‘better’, who defines it, and then hires the reporter, with all due genetic impartiality, eh, Helen?

         3 likes

  36. noggin says:

    thankfully … R4 Today always include links to the ahem! important ? 😀 spots on its show like this one

    “A two-day conference in Oxford this weekend is designed to promote discussion of issues often taboo for Britain’s Pakistani community. Suriyah Bi, a British Pakistani student organising the conference, and Iftikhar Malik, professor of international history at Bath Spa University who is speaking at the conference, discuss how to encourage the community to engage with policy makers. ”

    any guesses what might, or might NOT get covered 😀

       8 likes

    • As I See It says:

      I think this links to an interview between a….what shall we say….?….British Asian (Trade Mark BBC) on BBC 5 Live this morning. A whole two minutes tip-toeing around the subject of Muslim Loverboys. Our Beeboid says this has been a taboo subject in the community. Not the only place it has been taboo is it?

         14 likes

    • Mice Height says:

      (It’s the pictures, not the text, that are relevant to the reporting of this case)

         2 likes

  37. Wayne X says:

    As we all know the BBC is doing its damnedest to bring down the Murdoch Empire. It revels in every twist and turn of the Leveson Inquiry pulling out all the stops to ensure that every boring detail is rammed down our throats. The unspeakable horrors of competition with the Evil Empire must be stopped. The Murdoch monopoly is the worst thing that has happened since Pol Pot, Genghis Khan and Stalin stalked the earth.

    OK, so be it, one guy owning such a lot of media influence is not good. We have known that for years, it’s not new but what has opened up this can of worms at this precise time to the extent that it is now absolutely inescapable on British TV. Is it just because of mobile answerphone interception (hacking) or is there another answer? In my view there is a number of factors; firstly its left wing cool (used to be called political correctness); then there is of course the usual tribal loyalty between the faux elite of the media and the Labour Party but most importantly it’s the best opportunity they have had for a serious kill since the Thatcher elimination.

    So where will it end? Well, in this writer’s humble opinion it will backfire beautifully. Mr Murdoch is not the only Evil Empire and it is not a big secret what the other one is. Do we really think David Cameron was that stupid by instigating the Leveson Inquiry? Did he not know there would be a few casualties along the way? A few bent coppers with brown envelopes, the downfall of one or two feeble ministers and of course the main aim, the crippling of monopoly media power, Murdoch in particular. Come on now just think about it, an Eton boy being told what to do by a get rich quick outback Aussie, that was never going to last for long now was it? Something had to be done.

    So it’s not a great step now to the next juicy rabbit in the headlights, albeit a bloody big one. Leveson may think otherwise but he is just a mere tool of his master and if he doesn’t get the job done there will be Son of Leveson.

    The BBC in its infinite arrogance just cannot see the train crash coming.

    It’s all good fun isn’t it darlings?

       9 likes

    • George R says:

      Charles Moore, ‘Telegraph’:-

      [Opening excerpt]:

      “How do the public know what they know about Rupert Murdoch? Through the media. Which means that pretty much everything they know about him comes from his opponents or his friends. There is no middle ground. The media are either against him or they belong to him, in which case (though for how much longer?) they are for him.

      “This rule applies, obviously, to all newspapers – The Daily Telegraph, for instance, is a rival to the Murdoch papers at the higher end of the market. Rather less obvious, but even more important, is the role of the BBC. Mr Murdoch is generally presented as a monopolist. In the case of newspapers, this is near the truth. But in the case of television, he is the opposite.

      “The Murdoch bid for control of BSkyB absolutely terrified and enraged the BBC. The failure of that bid last year, caused by the phone-hacking scandal, was a triumph for the BBC’s monopoly. People are understandably excited about whether Jeremy Hunt unfairly favoured the bid because the Tories wanted Mr Murdoch on side. They ought also to worry that both political parties are so scared of the BBC that they always renew its Charter and increase its licence fee. In my own conversations with Mr Hunt and other leading Conservatives about the iniquity of this tax on every television, it has always been made clear to me that they dare not touch the subject, lest the BBC trash them. ”

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9231807/I-see-a-familiar-look-of-fear-on-the-faces-of-David-Camerons-ministers.html

         9 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Murdoch is successful because he takes huge risks, employs mostly good people, is usually ahead of the curve, insists on high efficiency, keeps the unions in their place. He is a giant compared to the pygmies snapping around his heels.

      Murdoch has done a power of good to the media in the UK. Without his risks the Times and Sunday Times would have folded. Most of the UK press would be dead except for Murdoch’s long, bitter and expensive fight with the print unions that were strangling Fleet Street.

      Before Murdoch, UK TV was the BBC monopoly of the licence fee, and ITV’s monopoly of regional TV advertising. Sky brought multi-channel satellite TV, including the sport and films that people really want the money spent on. (Where would the Premier League be without Sky’s money ?)

      I think it will all blow over. Touch wood, Murdoch still looks pretty sharp, and his wife keeps him reasonably fit. In the end he will gain 100% control of BSkyB because there is no proper reason to block it. And in the end, the bloated and biased BBC ill be cut down to size – it is an anachronism based on a highly regressive tax.

         7 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Well Wayne I’d love to think you were correct but Cameron isn’t that bright IMHO.
      The Beeb will see him crash and burn at the next GE.
      Anyone who can appoint Patten can’t really be that bright.

         8 likes

  38. Guest Who says:

    Many moons ago, I encouraged my musician missus to have a go at ‘The Voice’, partly on the basis that there is no such thing as bad publicity, but also seduced by the claims this was about actual talent.
    She, clever girl, knew better, and wanted nothing to do with it.
    Hence I have scored major marital points by sharing with her how right she was..
    http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/248342/THE-VOICE-SECRETS-EXPOSED/
    Now this is of course tabloid trash talk, and hence suspect, but in all likelihood is from the BBC PR machine anyway.
    But it got me to thinking about all the other spurious ‘reflections on reality’ that our most trusted national ratings addict serves up, from The Apprentice to Dragon’s Den.
    None of these are in fact an accurate reflection of anything bar the producer’s cynical attempts to drum up the numbers from the sofa drones, as part of the British Bread & Circus world class broadcasting offering.

       3 likes

  39. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    This may be offtopic, not sure:
    Switched on Radio Wales this morning around 7:48 am.
    fascinating discussion between presenter and woman reviewing the papers/news from yesterday. Both of them in fits of giggles discussing the issue of people attempting to replicate how that deceased MI6 spy managed to (or not as the case may be) lock himself into that hold-all. Humour? FFS this is probably a murder case of someone who was doing a vital job protecting the freedoms of the arseholes making jokes on tha Radio courtesy of our bloody License fee.
    There are close family of this guy in wales; have these media people no feelings whatsoever?
    I was appalled to hear them joking about something so serious.
    Sorry I dont know how to link to it.

       16 likes

  40. Millie Tant says:

    MUSIC ON RADIO 3
    FOR DAVID P:
    Just spotted this prog devoted to the cello, while looking for details of today’s opera.
    Starts imminently, at 2 pm!

    A personal view of classical music from a range of presenters continues with a diverse selection of music by actress and cellist Brigit Forsyth, illustrating her love of the cello. The programme includes works by Bach, Fauré, Shostakovich, Vivaldi, Moeran and Philip Glass, and features performances from some of Brigit’s favourite cellists, including Jacqueline du Pré, Pablo Casals, Mstislav Rostropovich and Beatrice Harrison.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvqsg

       1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Thanks for the heads-up, Millie. No time to listen today, but will check it out via Listen Again. Moeran is a rare choice, but I like the two cello pieces I know of. Good recording of the concerto on Chandos.

         1 likes

  41. Millie Tant says:

    TODAY’S OPERA FROM THE MET ON RADIO 3:
    4 00 – 9 30 PM: DIE WALKURE
    Part two of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, in which Siegmund and his sister Sieglinde fall in love with each other, and Brunnhilde is banished to a fire-surrounded rock by her father, Wotan, for disobeying him. Only a hero will be able to break through the flames to rescue her – could Sieglinde’s unborn baby Siegfried be man Brunnhilde is waiting for? The Met’s production of Die Walkure has a stellar cast including Eva-Maria Westbroek, Katarina Dalayman, Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvqsj

       1 likes

  42. George R says:

    This is not INBBC’s lionised Al Qaeda trainee, Binyam Mohamed, but a British soldier, so INBBC censors out this report:

    “Fury of a hero betrayed: Para prosecuted for punching a Taliban suspect who was trying to escape speaks out for the first time.
    “This much decorated Para watched six friends die in action. How did the Army repay him? By spending two years – and £300,000 – chasing him through the courts for punching a fleeing Taliban suspect.””

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136395/Fury-hero-betrayed-Para-prosecuted-punching-Taliban-suspect-trying-escape-speaks-time.html#ixzz1tLWWUBzY

       6 likes

  43. MD says:

    I had to copy transcribe what Polly Toynbee said on Question Time this week because it gives so much away on why the BBC, Guardian, etc were so vehement on chasing down Murdoch. If they hadn’t succeeded they would have lost their monopoly on telling people what to think.

    It starts 20 mins 57 secs into the programme and Dimbleby gives her one and half minutes of uninterrupted talking time.

    Dimbleby – “Polly Toynbee, do you think Hunt should go?”
    Polly Toynbee – “Yes, absolutely, I think there is no about it. He was about to hand the whole of Sky over to Rupert Murdoch. Ofcom had suggested, said, advised him that he should give it to the Competition Commission. The reason he didn’t give it to the Competition Commission was plainly because he had decided that he wanted to make sure that he favoured Rupert Murdoch and gave him what would have gifted him a monumental monopoly of British media.
    I don’t think anybody quite understands what he would have done. He would have bundled together all of his newspapers, all of the online, all of the newspapers, all of the television, all of his sports rights, movie rights into a package that would have been irresistible, at a very low price, because he would have done it as a loss leader to start with. He would have driven out of business all of the other news providers, every single one of them. He would have been the single monopoly voice. The second thing he was going to do was to press, and he was already beginning to do this, was to press to change the impartiality laws that keep our broadcasting decent and safe and make sure there is balance in programmes like this and he would then have turned his news room operation into a Fox News operation and we’ve seen what that has done to American politics. We’ve seen how appalling American political discussion has become and we were within days of doing that and if Nick Davis of the Guardian hadn’t just discovered and unearthed and exposed at that point the brutality of the hacking of Millie Dowler’s phone, within days the game would have been up. Rupert Murdoch would have had the whole thing and that would have been the end of the story.”

    Of course what she really means is that the BBC would have lost its monopoly on news and comment in the UK. God forbid that people might actually hear something other than a liberal / left-wing view on the world.

    AND THE IRONY OF THE LINE “that keep our broadcasting decent and safe and make sure there is balance in programmes like this”

       20 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      Toynbee still spinning the lie that Millie Dowler’s phone was hacked when it’s been shown that the messages were automatically deleted after 72 hours.

      By the way, have the Dowler family shown any inclination to return Murdoch’s 2,000,000 quid they were given on the back of this lie spread by the Guardian?

         7 likes

      • Pah says:

        I think you are mixing up two different ‘crimes’. I have yet to see any evidence that the ‘hacker’ did actually hack Millie Dowler’s phone. He had her number and had admitted to hacking other phones. Has he admitted to hacking this one? If he did then it was sickening act all in the aid of selling more rags for that grubby parasite Murdoch.

        The Guardian’s outrageous lie that the hacker deleted messages and thus prompted the Dowlers to believe their daughter was still alive is a different issue. Has the Guardian been so much as censured for this lie? When will they stump up some cash for the Dowlers I wonder. Never.

        Not withstanding that all of this info was known well before it was released to coincide with the conviction of Minnie Dowler’s killer. Such a cynical use of a dead girl that it makes me want to puke with rage. Can anyone remember his name at the BBC I wonder?

        Blair and Brown knew about phone hacking long before the Tories came to power. When will they face the public for this?

        Will the BBC ever publish the truth on this? No, it won’t.

           2 likes

  44. Guest Who says:

    ‘AND THE IRONY OF THE LINE “that keep our broadcasting decent and safe…
    Could have been worse, she could have added..
    ‘..for ordinary working folk like you, me, Kirsty, Emily, Stuart Hughes, Jeremy, Jeremy, Ed & Ed, Harriet, Ken and Bob Cow and that poor Moran woman, scraping by on Tuscan villas, £100k salaries and expenses. Plus those floodlit tennis courts do not light themselves just on the pool boy peddling a dynamo on OT to score a carbon credit, oh no.’
    That this politico-media ‘class’ is on air still and not in the stocks is somewhat of a testimony to either the UK public’s tolerance for hypocrisy or simple gullibility.

       13 likes

    • George R says:

      ‘Telegraph’:-

      “BBC launches inquiry into payments to MPs .
      The BBC has launched an inquiry which could lead to a ban on MPs being paid to appear as guests on programmes.”

      [Opening excerpt]:-

      “The move would affect dozens of politicians who are regularly rewarded for their broadcasts, earning up to £200 plus expenses for a turn on Radio 4’s Any Questions or more than £500 for BBC One’s This Week.

      “The BBC Trust, which represents licence payers, will rule this week on a dispute over payments to one MP. It is being seen as a test case which, if it goes against the parliamentarian, would result in a tightening of the rules to prevent similar payments in future.

      “The current dispute centres on payments of almost £6,000 made to Diane Abbott, the Labour MP, for seven appearances as a pundit on This Week alongside Michael Portillo, the former Conservative MP, and Andrew Neil, the show’s presenter.

      “The shows were all filmed since October 2010, when Miss Abbott was promoted to a place on Labour’s front bench as a shadow health minister.

      “Mark Thompson, the Director-General, and the BBC Editorial Complaints Unit received complaints from Lord Laird of Artigarvan, a cross-bench peer, who said the payments to Miss Abbott breached the BBC’s own editorial guidelines. ”

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9233705/BBC-launches-inquiry-into-payments-to-MPs.html

         13 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        I imagine the words ‘unique’ and ‘context’ and ‘what do you seriously think we’re going to do about it, suckers!?’ may feature highly.
        ps: link does not work on my browser

           2 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          The BBC Trust, which represents licence payers
          Looks good in print, anyway, like ‘we are genetically impartial’, etc.

             2 likes

  45. Guest Who says:

    http://order-order.com/2012/04/28/campaign-dare-not-speak-candidates-name/

    There is something very rum indeed that in politics we get folk like an Abbott or Livingstone whose contradictory behaviours are not only left unchallenged by the BBC but are deemed worthy of near universal promotion in the face of rather unusual examples of words and deeds seldom tallying. And this, in turn, sees quite the most unsuitable candidates actually prevailing in elections anyway.
    The two circumstances cannot be unrelated, and I can only deduce that the BBC serves as one of the most pervasive and powerful filters of reasoned political messaging in this country.
    And considering the calibre of person who is being promoted by them, not in a way that inspires much faith in democratic process under the BBC’s pervasive and less than benign influence.

       7 likes

    • #88 says:

      For example, the Newsnight challenge for mayoral candidates to produce details of their earnings and tax has still not been met by Livingstone… and has gone unchallenged. Worse it has been ignored. Newsnight (Stratton) though followed up by concentrating on the amount of Boris’ earnings with the unecessary dig that no wonder he wanted to see the back of the 50p rate.

      A couple of days later one of BBC News autocue jockeys actually reported that Livingstone had produced his figures – but he still hasn’t to this day.

      I can’t help think that the BBC would not have let this go if Johnson had reneged on his promise.

      So come on Newsnight -are you going to pursue Ken on this?

         2 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘BBC News autocue jockeys actually reported that Livingstone had produced his figures – but he still hasn’t to this day’
        So… from ‘education’ via editorial by omission to misinformation.
        Neat precedent.

           0 likes

  46. George R says:

    In contradistinction to BBC-E.U-greenies, Christopher BOOKER, in
    ‘Sunday Telegraph’ on:

    1.) E.U and end of national sovereignty;

    2.) Renewable energy sham.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/9233096/Europe-alienates-us-all-as-foretold-40-years-ago.html

       4 likes

  47. Reed says:

    This is quite sinister…you can take the boy out of chicago, but…

    —————————————
    Try this thought experiment: You decide to donate money to Mitt Romney. You want change in the Oval Office, so you engage in your democratic right to send a check.

    Several days later, President Barack Obama, the most powerful man on the planet, singles you out by name. His campaign brands you a Romney donor, shames you for “betting against America,” and accuses you of having a “less-than-reputable” record. The message from the man who controls the Justice Department (which can indict you), the SEC (which can fine you), and the IRS (which can audit you), is clear: You made a mistake donating that money.

    Are you worried?
    —————————————

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304723304577368280604524916.html?fb_ref=wsj_share_FB&fb_source=home_multiline

    Hat-tip – http://weaselzippers.us/

    More ‘nuance of his finely tuned brain’, or the bullying of a petulant thug. Over to you, Mr. Mardell : what’s your take on this?

    It’s clear that this U.S. election is going to be pretty nasty. Here’s a rather good clip of the excellent Mr. Krauthammer, and his take on negative ads…

       4 likes

  48. George R says:

    ‘Sky News’ (top item in video clip below) reports on British defence deploying surface-to-air-missiles on block of flats in Tower Hamlets area of London to forestall any Islamic jihad attack on London Olympics.

    http://news.sky.com/home/video

    INBBC appears not to have this item: perhaps to hang on to its Utopian view of the Olympics whereby we licencepayers will enable 700+ Beeboids to indulge themselves at the Olympic village.

    Of course, the following security measures for the Olympics (among many others) were announced some time ago:

    (video clip)

    http://news.sky.com/home/london-olympics/article/16109787

       5 likes

    • George R says:

      Update on ‘SKY NEWS’ –

      “‘Missiles On East End Flats During Olympics'”

      http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16218246

         4 likes

      • George R says:

        From a non BBC-NUJ broadcaster on the immigrant build up to the London Olympics:

        “‘Unprecedented’ Numbers of Migrants Flood London Ahead of Olympics.”

        [Extract]:

        “Officials say migrants from Romania are arriving in London in ‘unprecedented’ numbers – flooding the capital with beggars, pickpockets and prostitutes ahead of the Olympics.

        “Westminster Council say many are being dumped at Marble Arch, which is turning into an impromptu campsite just 95 days before the Games.

        “Authories say up to 60 people with make shift homes close to the landmark are being found each night.

        “Westminster councillor Nicky Aiken, spokeswoman for children, young people and community protection, said: ‘The reality is that coach transport into London represents an immigration sieve.

        “‘There are no effective border controls on those coming into the UK and making their way to Victoria coach station and we are paying the price of that with a sudden influx of eastern European rough sleepers – especially Romanians – around Marble Arch’.”

        http://www.lbc.co.uk/unprecedented-numbers-of-migrants-flood-london-ahead-of-olympics-54029

           4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Going to have to go with the BBC on this, at least given the way it has been covered by SKY so far.
      Just had two very dozy ‘journalists’ resident at said SAM site interviewed live on this very slow news day horror, and they did not… how to say this.. work up quite the level of outrage I think the ratings crews either end of the feed were hoping.
      As only such folk can, they were up in arms and campaigning, badly, on the basis of personal snit.
      Personally, I am wondering what the difference is between an AirBus brought down on purpose on the Olympic stadium or brought down (sort of on purpose) by a SAM.
      Maybe the BBC is cooler on this given the ‘protection’ seems to be erring more on their privileged positions?

         0 likes

    • George R says:

      If the 1948 London Olympics were the ‘austerity games’, the 2012 Olympics are the ‘security games’, except for BBC-NUJ for whom they are simply another ‘junket games’.

      http://avaxnews.com/educative/1948_Olympic_Games.html

         0 likes

  49. Reed says:

    A couple of tweets from a BBC business producer…

    ————————————
    Tension in the BBC Business office today, half the team waiting on GDP, the other team poised for Murdoch round two. Such excitement.
    https://twitter.com/#!/minnie_r/status/195066989193084928

    Murdoch Jr, Murdoch Sr and Bobby Diamond. You’ve taken up too much of my time this year and definitely this week. Pls hush for a while…..
    https://twitter.com/#!/minnie_r/status/195962892863021056
    ————————————

    Perhaps you could relate your frustration to your bosses, and the rest of your team, who apparently continue to find this all so ‘exciting’. If only you realised just how bored the viewing public are of the media’s obsession with Murdoch. Incestuous little Clique.

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘ a BBC business producer”
      I was going to ask if that was an oxymoron, but on reflection it’s more than a contradiction… they exist solely to stop any.

         2 likes