167 Responses to OPEN THREAD….

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  1. Reed says:
    May 4, 2012 at 11:23 pm

    Allegra Stratton on Newsnight – “This is a cost of living parliament and a cost of living election, and the coalition are paying the price for not dealing with that”.

    I’m sorry? Is this not a government struggling hard (not very successfully) against all the vested interests of the civil service and the public sector unions to force the state into living within it’s means? These people have no concept of the idea that realising the limits of your budget applies to government aswell as individuals, and failing to do so eventually results in economic ruin, higher taxation and an even greater squeeze on the budgets of those struggling to deal with that ‘cost of living’.

       32 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      May 4, 2012 at 11:57 pm

      I guess this explains the low turnout.

         8 likes

      • Wayne X says:
        May 5, 2012 at 12:00 am

        The BBC presenters have never been so happy and full of joy, this is a wonderful day.
        The voters have had enough of this austerity nonsense and want to have the good times back.
        Like they had with that nice, shock and awe we love war, Tony Blair and the other chap, get your gold for nothing, Grim Dim Gordon.
        Let’s go back to La La Land where the fairies live and money grows on the quantitative easing trees.
        All the girls can have nice new flats in exchange for three or four lovely New Baby Labour voters.
        And the boys can have lots of free love and set fire to the streets every summer.
        We must return to the land of plenty where the world and his six wives can come and live for nothing and scream at Tommy Atkinson for doing his duty.
        Yes, the BBC folks have worked hard for this day and they deserve those great big sickly grins.

           53 likes

    • Wild says:
      May 5, 2012 at 12:52 am

      How about the BBC cutting some of their costs and getting rid of the useless and partisan Allegra Stratton?

         21 likes

      • As I See It says:
        May 5, 2012 at 10:09 am

        How dare you suggest getting rid of La Stratton – She is Newsnight’s new pin up girl, fresh from page three of the Guardian. Be fair too them, there is a desperate bid for ratings going on and there is a very limited pool of right on progressive crumpet.

           11 likes

    • JaneTracy says:
      May 6, 2012 at 1:08 pm

      How can the BBC ‘s Allegra Stratton tell us this is a cost of living issue when the BBC’s Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders keeps telling us “there are no signs of inflation”…?

         1 likes

  4. Reed says:
    May 5, 2012 at 1:14 am

    When ridiculous leftists scrap over the rotting corpse of Communism, people on the right should grab a seat and enjoy the entertainment…

    http://meandmyrevolution.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/owen-jones-the-voice-of-the-labour-left/

    I find teenagers this immersed in and involved with political ideologies to be strange creatures. I guess this is why so many politicians and political activists seem like a different species to me. Unless they grow out of it, as many appear to do.

       13 likes

    • Reed says:
      May 5, 2012 at 1:51 am

      Owen is straight in there with some defensive comments, but others are having fun at his expense, bless him…

      SevenOfGrime says:
      Why is it a low blow for someone to bring up an e-mail you wrote as a teenager but perfectly fine for you to wage constant class warfare on the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London by dragging up something they did at Unversity?

      Mark Gullick says:
      Once there were Christopher Hitchens and George Orwell. Now the Left has Owen Jones and Laurie Penny. Sometimes I think evolution is just something that happened to other people.

         21 likes

      • Frank Words says:
        May 5, 2012 at 9:11 am

        Jones wretched performance when interviewed by Andrew Neill, confusing taxation ofincome and wealth showed him to be a useless lightweight.

           18 likes

  5. Reed says:
    May 5, 2012 at 1:17 am

    I saw this a couple of nights ago, and it seems to be doing the rounds. No commentary is neccessary, the entitlement mentality speaks for itself.

    Why can’t everything be for free?!?! It’s not fair…

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/hannity-destroys-occupy-wall-st-organizer-in-fiery-segment-about-movements-violence/

       9 likes

  6. jarwill101 says:
    May 5, 2012 at 7:36 am

    One year on. It is night in the BBC mosque. A surly, hunched old ex-kuffar, is doing a bit of sweeping & polishing. His robes are tatty, horribly stained by excess bile, covered in political badges that many his age would be ashamed to wear. He has a Cultural Marxist Cross, Beeboid First Class (with soya bean cluster). He wears a moth-eaten West Ham United bobble hat, to show his man-of-the-people credentials. It’s all too obvious he’s elephant’s trunk, but the imams let it go.
    Every so often, he pulls out a crumpled photo of Lee Jasper, & starts to wail about the good old days when they had all that money for their ‘projects. That London Development Agency that the auditors found so interesting. ‘Oh! Diversity, inclusion, where are you now?’ he screams. For a minute he quietens down. Then he bursts into the Argentinian national anthem, followed by a couple of IRA battle songs. He’s on a roll. He belts out ‘I Can’t Let Gramsci Go’ for the benefit of the shadows gathering about him. Then some palestinian rap, before returning to the Potemkin village in his head, where he lives in Trotskyist bliss with Paul Mason, & his looter saints.
    But the white coats are moving in. Now he sees them. Hurling his broom away, his right arm flies up into the air. ‘Heil Hitler!’ he bellows, before collapsing to the ground, muttering about ‘rich fucking Jews’, & his part in single-handedly ending in slavery.
    A kindly young doctor moves forward. ‘Come on Q’en. We’ve got a lovely room for you down at the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital. The Beria-NKVD ward has had a lot of success with senile megalomania. It’s not that far from Tower Hamlets’

       34 likes

    • Reed says:
      May 5, 2012 at 8:14 am

      I shouldn’t worry about him too much, I’m sure the BBC already have a comprehensive rehabilitation program ready and waiting.

         9 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:
        May 5, 2012 at 6:13 pm

        Yes, I too was wondering if Ken would get put on the BBC’s Jacqui Smith rehabilitation broadcasting track.

           6 likes

        • JAG says:
          May 5, 2012 at 9:31 pm

          He is on it already. Today gave him a generous chunk of airtime to reflect on his campaign, by contrast all Boris got was a short quizzing as to whether he was going to stand for Westminster.

          PM (ok, I know it is little more than a Labour Party Political Broadcast) gave him a long retrospective – oh what might have been.

          Note to the BBC – BORIS WON!

             6 likes

  7. Reed says:
    May 5, 2012 at 7:41 am

    Not really the kind of campaign they wanted…
    ̶c̶i̶t̶i̶z̶e̶n̶s̶ Criminals for Obama…

    http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/03/catch-me-if-yes-we-can-obama-supporters-mugshots-slideshow/cm-capture-13/

       4 likes

  8. Reed - says:
    May 5, 2012 at 8:00 am

    I can’t stand Bob Dylan, but good God no………

    I’m surprised Lord Bragg of Dorset didn’t force his way onto this album, but then this seems to be an American affair. I’m sure there’ll be a UK version coming our way soon. Just stay tuned to the BBC and you won’t miss out.

       3 likes

    • jarwill101 says:
      May 5, 2012 at 4:56 pm

      Now that’s talent. Moore makes Bragg sound like Frank Sinatra. Perhaps the American police can crank up the volume & use this ‘music’ to clear future Occupy sites. Get the ‘rebels’ running back to their boutique hotels & Apple stores.

         3 likes

    • deegee says:
      May 6, 2012 at 3:05 pm

      I’ve heard worse versions.

      The real irony is that Michael Moore has an estimated worth of $US50 million. That should put him well into the 1%.

         2 likes

  9. Guest Who says:
    May 5, 2012 at 8:04 am

    One for the ‘we don’t do irony we don’t’ files’:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/05/china_censorship_and_world_pre.html
    BBC Editor wails about powerful authoritarians imposing propaganda backed by censorship and even, with some courage, raises the ethical acceptability of extending their reach over any who are not in agreement by bringing heavy-handed harassment to the family home.

       6 likes

  10. Craig says:
    May 5, 2012 at 8:09 am

    Going back to that provocative Argentinian ad which shows one of their Olympic athletes doing step exercises on a British war memorial on the Falklands, the contrast in reporting between ITV and the BBC on their main evening news bulletins could hardly have been more different.

    ITV made it their second story and devoted a whole report to it (just under two and a half minutes). Their angle was to focus on the disrespect shown by Argentina and the anger of British war veterans and Falkland islanders. Their opening headline was “Fury over the Argentinian TV ad that disrespects Falklands war dead.” Their tone was one of deep seriousness and they did justice to the story.

    The BBC spent less than 50 seconds on the story – with Fiona Bruce reading from the autocue and no report. I know this may be hard to believe unless you actually saw the bulletin (and my blood is still boiling about it) but Fiona Bruce sounded and looked almost jaunty about it, smiling away like the cat that got the cream throughout. The BBC played down the disrespect and seemed almost to revel in the ad – playing the last ten seconds of its closing propaganda without talking over them. I know that perception of tone is easily dismissed as subjective but when Fiona Bruce read out the criticism of William Hague she both looked and sounded derisive – as if she couldn’t believe Hague was saying such a stupid thing. The BBC’s opening headline, with the stirring music of the Argentine ad behind it, said “Argentina’s highly provocative take on 2012 filmed undercover on the Falklands.”

    I’ll transcribe the two takes so you can compare them and see what the BBC missed out – on its widely-watched main bulletin:

    BBC:
    And staying with the Olympics, Argentina has produced a highly provocative advertisement showing one of its athletes training for the London games on the Falkland islands. In the government ad Argentina’s hockey captain runs around Port Stanley stopping to exercise at obviously British locations and on the island’s war memorial. The ad ends with a captain saying. ‘To compete on English soil we train on Argentine soil’. Well, the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has condemned the ad as “tasteless and provocative” and the Foreign Secretary William Hague has called it “a stunt to salvage Argentina’s national pride”.

    ITV:
    Britain is demanding an apology from Argentina tonight over a provocative TV advertisement involving the Falklands. It depicts an Argentinian Olympic hopeful training on a British war memorial in Port Stanley. The Defence Secretary Philip Hammond called it “tasteless and insulting to British soldiers who gave their lives”. Tonight the boss of the agency which made the advert said they were “appalled and embarrassed” by it. Paul Davies has more.

    Paul Davies: The advert, set to stirring music, is deliberately provocative. Argentinian hockey player Fernando Zylberberg is filmed supposedly preparing for the Olympic Games in Port Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands. His work-out takes him past symbols of the islands’ Britishness. He even uses a memorial to British sailors for his step exercise. The advert, aired in Argentina last night, ends with the slogan, ‘To complete on English soil, we train on Argentine soil’.

    Simon Weston (Falklands veteran): Desecrating a war memorial and using it as a cheap prop in a very tawdry little advert, I think that just says so much about the way that Fernandez de Kirchner is conducting her business.

    Paul Davies: The advert was commissioned by the Argentine government of President Cristina Kirchner, who’s attempting to rally international opinion behind Argentina’s claim to the islands. It’s appalling taste, according to these survivors of HMS Sheffield, getting together in Portsmouth today to remember lost comrades.

    Chief Petty Officer John Strange (HMS Sheffield): To do something like this is despicable and especially on this day, the day the Sheffield got hit, the day the Sheffield lost twenty members of its crew.

    Paul Davies: The island’s sport council will now be making a complaint to the International Olympic Committee.

    Mike Summers (Falkland Islands Sports Council): It’s caused a lot of reaction here because of the athlete doing step-ups on the war memorial and that’s pretty disrespectful and in an anniversary year when people are already feeling a little bit cynical about some of these things, to do that is pretty disgraceful really.

    Paul Davies: The New York-based agency that made this advert has now condemned the way it’s been used by the Argentine government and asked them to withdraw it. Paul Davies, ITV News.

    Comparing the BBC’s perfunctory ‘report’ with ITV’s serious and informative one doesn’t reflect well on the BBC, does it?

       31 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      May 5, 2012 at 8:33 am

      Interestingly I am in an ongoing discussion with a ‘I think we got it about right’ ECU director still on the Gavin Esler Dateline London when the entire panel discussing The Falklands (inc. the Indy Brit) were pretty much agreed the UK was in the wrong and our sabre-rattling was the problem.
      He is so determined that I allow him to close this out without going up the hierarchy pole he has even sent me a DVD, though grumpy at my jibe about watching ‘Rising Sun’ afterwards.
      Sadly my argument is on subjective areas as he has placed the composition of the panel outside of his remit, and still won’t tell me whose then it is so I can pursue that aspect with them.
      Stacking a panel with a collection of like-minded folk whose only balance is the spread from left of centre to extreme being somewhat of a BBC delusion on impartiality these days.
      Though the irony of Argentina still being a national socialist thugocracy being a bit beyond their ken.
      This latest little stunt by their Haw-haw client base will make for uncomfortable reading as the stout defence of the UK’s national broadcaster in supporting a hostile foe seems ongoing. Especially as the BBC’s main thrust of late in contrast has been the less than ‘speaking for the nation’ advocacy over the Belgrano sinking.

         19 likes

    • TigerOC says:
      May 5, 2012 at 8:56 am

      We must also compare the British media response to the desecration of WW2 war graves in Bengazi Libya.

      They took over a week to report the destruction of headstones of British and Commonwealth War dead. When they did, they did it on Sunday which is low, slow news day.

      I wrote to the Prime Minister, as these men were comrades of my late father, to ask why the Government had not demanded an apology from Libya. He sympathised but referred the matter to the Foreign Office for a reply. I am still waiting for an explanation.

      Strange how one act that displays disrespect for our War dead gets a spontaneous response from our leaders but the other that vandalises the graves of our war dead gets a low key response. This response when our forces have been deployed recently to put them in power.

      Our leaders and our media are a disgrace to our nation and our history. Without the sacrifice of these men they wouldn’t be spouting their treachery to our nation.

         22 likes

      • Reed says:
        May 5, 2012 at 11:44 pm

        Well said TigerOC!

           4 likes

      • Framer says:
        May 6, 2012 at 4:17 pm

        Absolutely – the BBC gave it no publicity only the Daily Mail, until the YouTube video emerged.
        The FO, as per usual, decided not to publicly condemn the first attack on the Benghazi war cemetery, relying instead on assurances from the Tripoli FO and Benghazi chief of police.
        Result – a second attack on another cemetery the next day.
        And they are supposed to know best how to deal with hostile foreigners!?!

           0 likes

    • Mice Height says:
      May 5, 2012 at 11:50 am

      Perhaps those missile launchers will come in handy after all.
      What hotel are the Argies staying at?

         7 likes

    • Frank Words says:
      May 5, 2012 at 6:51 pm

      I am sure many of us will recall the BBBC coverage of the Falklands War. There was a fair amount of outrage at their refering to our troops as “British troops”, as the Corporation wished to distance themselves from what their country, and their paymasters were doing. The only time they like to appear “ational” is when the charter is being reviewed and then its “you BBC”.

         5 likes

      • Span Ows says:
        May 6, 2012 at 10:31 am

        I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the most famous Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) was hanged for a lot less than the BBC has done: on more than one occasion they can be held directly responsible for the deaths of British servicemen.

           3 likes

    • Reed says:
      May 5, 2012 at 11:42 pm

      Craig – I saw the ITV report, which did indeed treat the issue with the seriousness it required, but missed the BBC one. As your breakdown of the ITV coverage was 100% accurate, I have no reason to doubt your summary of the BBC’s attempt. Unfortunately, it doesn’t surprise me (nor anyone else here, I expect), and Mrs. Bruce does have that annoying habit of affecting facial expressions to convey her judgement of a story. This was most evident in her “tut tut…shameful…what has he done” look as she reported Cameron’s EU veto, which we all gathered was a disaster for the nation and it’s international reputation.

      It is noticeable that ITV gave a voice to Simon Weston, the most well known Falklands veteran, but the BBC decided not to allow anyone from the forces to give their opinion. Was this because they knew what would be said, but had already decided for us that this is really a non-issue?

      I’m wondering if the BBC will have the mute buttons at the ready for the Olympics, in case the naughty British spectators decide to make their feelings known as the Argentine team takes to the stadium. Imagine the look on Mrs. Bruce’s face if she has to report that!

         8 likes

  11. Colonel Blimp says:
    May 5, 2012 at 8:11 am

    it’s coming to something when arch-liberal Jon Snow tweets unpalatable truth the Beeb won’t mention:

    “Jon Snow ‏ @jonsnowC4
    Awkward Local election stats: WHaigue 38% before 2001 election defeat: Michael Howard 38% before 2005 defeat: Labour 2012 38% and Milliband?”

       16 likes

    • As I See It says:
      May 5, 2012 at 10:33 am

      The difference here would seem to be that Jon Snow is a concerned Labour supporting fellow traveller, whilst the BBC are fully paid up self-interested propagandists.

      Their coverage of the recent London elections smacked of the Labour calls to their supporters to ‘hold your nose but vote for Ken’.

         11 likes

  12. Guest Who says:
    May 5, 2012 at 8:53 am

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100156376/ken-livingstone-blames-it-all-on-the-media/
    As endorsements for genetic objectivity, Helen, I am unsure this is helpful to the next ‘We are, we are, we are… we really are..’ The Editors’ post no doubt being penned now.
    ‘I think how different the result might have been if the BBC hadn’t ….”
    Add your postscript to the future of broadcast tribal media-skewed democratic process now, lest it become an epitaph.

       3 likes

  13. Guest Who says:
    May 5, 2012 at 9:16 am

    But they are, of course, ‘getting it about right’…
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2012/05/bbc_online_briefing_spring_201_1.html?postId=112437677#comment_112437677
    ‘already it would seem there’s no use really in users/posters providing feedback to the BBC if it’s summarily ignored?’
    No word yet from our Holly despite the fact that one of the defining characteristics of digital media is interaction.
    Another ‘unique’ difference?

       2 likes

  14. George R says:
    May 5, 2012 at 9:22 am

    INBBC censors on Muslims, handwashing and hospitals.

    1.) INBBC:

    “Hand hygiene campaign ‘cut superbug infections'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17942182

    2.)’Islam Watch’:-

    “Islamic Superstition Endangers Healthcare System in the West”
    by Susan MacAllen (2007).

    http://islam-watch.org/Mac/Islam_Superstition_Health_issues.htm

       8 likes

  15. Billy Nomates says:
    May 5, 2012 at 9:35 am

    I have found a wonderful tool that I want to share with you.
    Its word clouds and its free you can take various BBC articles and see where the tone is going. Take the article “Johnson re-elected as mayor”
    and the resulting word cloud
    http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5246921/BBC_-_Boris_Johnson_wins_second_term_by_tight_margin_
    ….. interesting !!!!

       10 likes

  16. George R says:
    May 5, 2012 at 10:04 am

    “BBC One faces sitcom drought”

    [Excerpt]:

    “BBC One has only one new mainstream sitcom planned for this year: Citizen Khan, , about a self-appointed Muslim community leader in Birmingham.”

    Read more: http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/05/05/15326/bbc_one_faces_sitcom_drought?=#ixzz1tz5UFeTx

       6 likes

    • Edward says:
      May 5, 2012 at 10:35 am

      I seem to remember seeing that character on that Rhys Thomas/Charlie Higson programme Bellamy’s Britain.

      The impression I got was that it was lampooning conservative Islam. In a particular sketch he talks about his idea for a new TV programme: “Strictly No Dancing”

         6 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      May 5, 2012 at 10:50 am

      I am trying to get my head around ‘the issue’ being that ego-driven, ratings-rewarded creative types are put off the problem of big audiences.
      As opposed to the crushing hand of a PC-obsessed monolithic jobsworthocracy where no talent dross gets the top slot by ticking internal boxes and the hell with the end product or audience.
      As excuses go, do the BBC market rates moonlight writing whinges for Ken?

         5 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
      May 5, 2012 at 6:36 pm

      I’d love to see Alf Garnett’s character included in that one! lmfao

         3 likes

    • Frank Words says:
      May 5, 2012 at 6:58 pm

      That is beyond parody.

         1 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:
      May 5, 2012 at 11:31 pm

      This clip featuring ‘Citizen Khan’ is just about what I imagined it was going to be.

      BBC One controller Danny Cohen has repeatedly complained about the lack of mainstream comedies being pitched to his station, because writing to make five million viewers laugh is ‘one of the hardest things in all of entertainment’.
      Only last month he told staff: ‘Comedy, of all genres on BBC One, is the one we are most undersupplied with. I can’t fill the slots almost because we don’t get enough high quality scripts or comedy.’

      Humour is taking something topical that everybody can relate to, and finding the funny edge to it. After George Bush the BBC ran out of material, which is why Cohen makes the comment above.

      I think we can all identify a mindset that’s just begging for humour to be made out of it. But the chicken-shit BBC hasn’t got the guts for that, so they let THEM make fun out of us.
      Now Danny Cohen, Controller BBC One, said: “Citizen Khan will bring wonderful new comic talent and a fresh flavour to the heart of BBC One.
      “Peter Salmon, Director BBC North, said: “The audience were rolling in the aisles at the Salford Sitcom Showcase and I am sure that Citizen Khan will have them roaring with laughter on BBC One.”

      Rolling in the aisles?
      The left wing mindset will see this kind of ‘humour’ as a way of showing just how ‘tolerant’ they are.

      I think there’s a lot of humour available to portray this left-wing mindset – one day somebody like Sacha Baron will – but not on the BBC.

         5 likes

      • George R says:
        May 5, 2012 at 11:49 pm

        Yes;

        ‘Oh that Muslim in Brum, Mr Khan, is quite a card isn’t he? – on what we must ban.’

        Devious INBBC political message:

        ‘Islam isn’t really repressive.’

           4 likes

  17. DB says:
    May 5, 2012 at 10:44 am

    Katty Kay appearing on Chicago’s WGN Morning News show this week:

    “I swung by the Obama campaign the other day – being in Chicago you can’t miss that, it’s the big tourist destination for political reporters.”

    Visiting the mother ship for instruction and inspiration.

       16 likes

    • DB says:
      May 5, 2012 at 11:09 am

      I notice BBC journalists have yet again gone into Twitter blackout mode over the latest outbreaks of piss-taking at Obama’s expense. As with #ObamaEatsDog, BBC hacks have had nothing to say about #ObamaCompositeGirlfriendNames or #Julia. I think it must be in the BBC’s Twitter guidelines – do not acknowledge that mockery of Obama ever occurs.

      (Iowahawk’s parody of the Obama campaign’s cradle-to-grave government-reliant Julia creation is, as ever, spot on.)

         12 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:
        May 5, 2012 at 6:24 pm

        Every single one of their most recent attempts at creating a meme has backfired on Him. The allegedly brilliant campaign manager of 2008 is a disaster this time around, but strangely no concern expressed by Mardell. He hasn’t even mentioned it. The most he did was make a blog post telling his readers to ignore the dog thing.

           6 likes

  18. Ron Todd says:
    May 5, 2012 at 10:49 am

    The BBC coverage of Boris victory did mention the disparity between his 6 to 12 point lead in the pols and his very narrow win in the actual voting, but did not offer any speculation or discussion about the reasons.

       12 likes

  19. hippiepooter says:
    May 5, 2012 at 11:12 am

    5Live News bulletin 11:00 am. Acres of space given to Ken Livingstone to rubbish the *victor* in the London election Boris Johnson, and no airtime at all for BoJo.

    Gramsci Central has a safe pair of hands editing 5Live News today.

       18 likes

    • Umbongo says:
      May 5, 2012 at 11:52 am

      Remember the BBC – especially the BBC London local news “services” – has transmitted a continuous drone of anti-Boris news (or rather, news slanted to make Boris look bad) since his election in 2008. As I’ve commented (100 times!) before, AFAIAA on the BBC London News (“news where you are”) shown immediately after the BBC1 flagship 10:00pm national news, there has never been an item concerning Boris giving him favourable – or even neutral – publicity. OTOH Ken (or, in his absence, Jenny Jones or some Labour apparatchik) has been brought on at every opportunity to rubbish the Conservatives in London generally and Boris in particular. Even so Boris won. Can you imagine his majority had the BBC been truly “impartial”? Can you imagine the scale of the Labour “victory” nationally had the BBC been truly unbiased?

         17 likes

      • Umbongo says:
        May 5, 2012 at 11:54 am

        I meant to add that no wonder the BBC’s upset: all that sustained effort and still Boris won.

           11 likes

  20. As I See It says:
    May 5, 2012 at 11:12 am

    Radio 5 late last night. The London election vote counting brings us ever closer to third world standards but the Boris Johnson win is obviously sticking in the craw. No matter, the BBC’s favourite nephew Owen Jones is allowed to stay up late to give some comfort to the left. Ken sounds ever more tired and emotional. Meanwhile – newsflash – Stephen Nolan falls head over heels for Green candidate Jenny Jones. Ah, it must be spring. Love is in the CO2 polluted air. The ever gallant Nolan won’t hear a word of criticism levelled against dear Jenny or for that matter her sensible, thoughtful and wise Green manifesto studying voters. Who says we live in an age of chiselry and that the age of chivalry is dead? Perish the thought that fat wallet Nolan might just be concerned about his windmill invested pension?

       19 likes

    • Umbongo says:
      May 5, 2012 at 11:38 am

      OK I’m “lookist” here but what is the BBC’s fascination with hags like Jenny Jones, Harriet Harman, the Scottish Labour MSP leader and Tessa Jowell? For instance, Sopel couldn’t wait to get Mrs Mills in front of the camera last night during the long delay waiting for the London mayoral results. I suppose this is proof that politics is indeed (generally) showbiz for the uglies. Moreover, on this evidence, it’s an indication that the uglier you are the more ugly (ie greenie/lefty/authoritarian) your politics.

         8 likes

      • As I See It says:
        May 5, 2012 at 5:32 pm

        ‘OK I’m “lookist”’
        Be fair, Jenny is ok on radio. Just try not to listen to all the Green-Marxist nonsense she is ranting on about.

           2 likes

    • Leha says:
      May 5, 2012 at 4:05 pm

      Nolan is a touchy-feely creep.

      his show makes my skin crawl.

         3 likes

  21. Umbongo says:
    May 5, 2012 at 11:25 am

    About 15 minutes ago on BBC News 24, correspondent Ben Ando was asked by the newsreader why Boris was successful in a bad day for the Conservatives. Ben waffled and in an exercise of dismissive chutzpah noted that Boris had “only” won by a 3% majority of those who voted (true) but Ben emphasised there was only a 30% turnout so Boris was reelected by less than 15% of London voters.
    This bit of reality was more or less completely absent from the BBC general take on the elections. The BBC did not completely ignore the low turnout but I didn’t hear, see, read that Labour was thereby supported by only about 12% of the electorate voting nationwide. The BBC – in its ineffable “impartiality” – only implied a possible lack of legitimacy due to low turnouts when a Conservative – and the most high-profile Conservative of all – was reelected: Labour non-legitimacy? ZZZZZZZZzzzzzz

       25 likes

    • Craig says:
      May 5, 2012 at 2:49 pm

      In all the BBC’s coverage of the elections there’s something that struck me which no-one has yet mentioned – until John Fisher Burns of ‘The New York Times’ said it to Gavin Esler on ‘Dateline’ a couple of hours ago.

      The Condem government which supposedly got thrashed by Labour won 47% of the vote (i.e. nearly half), beating Labour by 9%. Why does that make Labour more popular than the government?

      Gavin Esler listened to John Fisher Burns and as soon as he’d finished saying this immediately raised the issue of a low turnout!

         13 likes

      • Guest Who says:
        May 5, 2012 at 3:40 pm

        Gosh darn it, wrong kind of stats on the line again.
        This actually makes things tricky for me as the guy I am ‘discussing’ Dateline London with is already making cross-platform leaps on the balance front, and if he gets hold of this one then I am facing one NYT journo on UK local elections doing maths BBC market rates can’t, or won’t, easily counterbalancing four on how the UK is the one ratcheting up the Falklands tensions.
        It’s some bizarre form of equivalence that sees totally different stories in different places at different times with different folk somehow getting amalgamated into a weird genetically impartial soup where no one example can err, if the overall average of erring is somewhere arbitrary they decide that is, on average… balanced.

           1 likes

  22. Craig says:
    May 5, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    The BBC News website has granted space for a dejected Livingstone supporter to give his long and wistful take on why Ken lost – and to have lots of pops at Boris along the way:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17967462

    The dejected Livingstone supporter does what you’d expect a dejected Livingstone supporter to do – contrast Boris on a skiing holiday with Ken on the chilly streets of London, place Ken as being on the side of the poor, mock Boris’s campaign, talk about Boris having a “mask” that slips from time to time, accuse the Boris team of “constant attacks” on Ken (while ignoring Ken’s constant attacks on Boris), blame the media – especially the ‘London Evening Standard’ – for being “relentless” in their opposition to poor Ken, skirt over Ken’s tax avoidance issues, completely ignore Ken’s problems with Jewish voters, say officials appreciate Ken’s competence and decision skills, call another Conservative “controversial” and then claim that “people” are starting to raise concerns about Boris second term before starting raise concerns himself, quote “some” other people worrying about something…

    Oh, hang on, looking at the by-line it turns out that it’s not by a dejected Livingstone supporter after all! No, it’s by the BBC’s oh-so-impartial London political editor, Tim Donovan.

       25 likes

    • DB says:
      May 5, 2012 at 1:18 pm

      Donovan moaning about the hostile media his chum Ken faced – priceless.

         11 likes

    • George R says:
      May 5, 2012 at 1:43 pm

      Yes, it’s a mutual and political admiration society: ‘Beacon for Islam’ Livingstone singled out INBBC-London for its support in his political address late last night.

         12 likes

    • Reed says:
      May 6, 2012 at 12:13 am

      Very fair of them to raise concerns about a second term for Boris before it’s even begun. Gits.

         3 likes

  23. beness says:
    May 5, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Don’t forget that local Council Elections attract a few thousand in each ward.
    My local ward was awarded to Labour by about 80 votes. And total votes cast came in at under 6000.
    Come a general election it wont just be die hards like me who vote.

       7 likes

  24. George R says:
    May 5, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    NHS.

    BBC-NUJ censors out important report on preferential free treatment for illegal immigrants in UK.

    BBC-NUJ web ‘Health’ page avoids this:-

    “You must treat illegal immigrants or face legal action, GPs are warned.
    “Foreign nationals, including migrants and tourists, have received £40m of free NHS treatment in last three years, figures show.”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138657/You-treat-illegal-immigrants-face-legal-action-GPs-warned.html#ixzz1tzr82Yfe

       10 likes

    • George R says:
      May 5, 2012 at 1:17 pm

      Presumably these are just the sort of increases in public expenditure which Labour and BBC-NUJ support.

         8 likes

  25. As I See It says:
    May 5, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    The dust will soon settle on this ‘grim set of local election results’ (according to Beeboid James Lansdale). Greens and Labourites will realise that in the cold light of day (so where is this global warming?) they are not soon to be storming the Winter Palace.

    Watch the BBC shift ground from ramping Labour success to bemoaning low turnout, disengagement and apathy.

    When the Leftist spinners have had time to consider their next move listen carefully for BBC calls for ballot booths in Tesco and for sixteen-year-olds to vote. On-line voting and ballot by text. (Afterall X Factor can do it and who cares if there is a bit of fraud?).

       10 likes

  26. Millie Tant says:
    May 5, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    Saturday evening music on Radio 3

    Jazz Record Requests 4 30 pm. (Alyn Shipton (Jazz Library presenter) takes over from Geoffrey Smith who has presented the prog since Peter Clayton died. Smith will be starting a new midnight prog later this year.)

    Opera Live from the Met 5 30 – 8 30 pm (Last of the season): Janacek’s The Makropoulos case
    Not an opera I know. Details of the convoluted plot here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h5xyt

    More opera at 8 30 – 10 30 pm:
    Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream
    Jonathan Harvey’s fantasy opera, based on sketches left by Wagner.
    I don’t know this one, either.

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      May 5, 2012 at 6:38 pm

      I think it’s Janacek’s best. I actually saw this at the Met when they brought it back with Catherine Malfitano. Really good stuff, fun music, plot not as dopey as his other ones, and I’m sure Karita Mattila will be great.

      The brass will probably be in better shape today than when I saw it, because it was an evening show and they were all coming off a matinée performance of Der Meistersinger.

         1 likes

    • Millie Tant says:
      May 5, 2012 at 9:58 pm

      For any jazz listeners. Earlier, I mentioned Geoffrey Smith’s new midnight programme but I hadn’t read the schedule properly and thought it didn’t start until later in the year.
      I was wrong. It is on tonight!
      00:00 – 01:00
      Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz
      06/05/2012
      Geoffrey Smith celebrates the pleasures of jazz, surveying the art of ‘bending notes’.

      Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz, a personal journey taking in great musicians and great music.
      In this first programme in the series, Geoffrey celebrates the myriad pleasures of jazz with a survey of the unique art of “bending notes”, from Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong to Iain Ballamy and Sonny Rollins.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h5z9b
      This looks interesting.

         0 likes

  27. George R says:
    May 5, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    “Turkish court hearing in Duchess of York secret filming case”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17956643

    Will INBBC support ‘royal’ Duchess of York, or does INBBC reserve that sort of political campaigning only for the likes of Al Qaeda trainee, Binyam Mohamed?

    And, of course, INBBC poilitically campaigns for 80 million Turkish Muslims to join E.U.

    “Turkish-American CNN columnist: Kemalist secularism is dead.”
    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/05/turkish-american-cnn-columnist-kemalist-secularism-is-dead.html

       3 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
      May 5, 2012 at 7:48 pm

      Don’t ever forget that Dave thinks Turkey’s accession will be a good thing. I’m sure it will for them with euroland’s non-existent borders so they can fllod in here. What bloody planet are these morons living on ffs! I despair.

         4 likes

  28. Guest Who says:
    May 5, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    That old but ever apt saying ‘two wrongs do not make a right’ often get an airing. I certainly quote it a fair bit, if to accept that what I am engaging in may err on the former by way of a mea culpa.
    So it is is a breath of fresh air to be witnessing a positive counter, at least with two (and maybe more) rights showing me that there are still folk with integrity, courage and a belief in what is right… and are prepared to walk their talk.
    http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/05/05/why-i-wont-be-speaking-at-the-heartland-conference/
    Way. To. Go. Girl.
    Not just for the action but the message sent, to every oily Graun 10:10 blog thread apologist (I recall the CiF eds pulling a thread as they were slaughtered by their own, yet the BBC persisting in saying ‘views were split’… by about 100:1) to Richard Black’s air miles upgrade assistant at the BBC, that when you or yours stuff up, it really works to admit it and explain why and what is going to happen next.
    Luckily for any who are combatting the box-tick, PC-in-name-only, hypocrite classes, they are usually genetically incapable of ever saying anything other than ‘they got it about right’.
    BBC Complaints take note… please do not ever change. Because your bovine idiocy in being incapable of admitting error, almost ever, is going to crash that uniquely unaccountable house of cards one day, and the Director-level market rates at the top of the whole rotten edifice will fall the hardest.

       7 likes

  29. The Technical Team says:
    May 5, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    Early evening news tonight…….A report on Khalid Sheikh Mohammeds trial in Guantanamo bay. Our beeb boy at the desk mentioned that he (no, not the news reader) had been waterboarded 183 times. Just in case you missed that folks and for the benefit of the deaf I suppose, it was repeated on a thread running at the bottom of the screen.

       6 likes

  30. Sidleybird says:
    May 5, 2012 at 7:38 pm

    BBC Radio 2 news at 9am this morning led with Boris’s election, followed by a comment by Diane Abbott. I was puzzled; what was the news value of her comment? Why her comment rather than any other? I can understand its being included in a wider discussion, in say another politics type program, but in a 2 minute news report? In what sense is her comment newsworthy? I shall complain of course, but (of course) I fully expected to be ignored/fobbed off.

       12 likes

  31. Dave s says:
    May 5, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    I have a different view perhaps on the London election for mayor. It would have been interesting if Livingstone had won as it would have probably hastened the inevitable split between London and the shires.
    Increasingly London is a city state with little in common, ethnically and culturally, with the greater part of England let alone Wales and Scotland.
    Change the population change the country . In this case London which is well on the way to ethnic English minority status.
    The advocates of unrestricted immigration and multcult do not care.The liberal view is that this is a positive benefit to us all. On no evidence and in defiance of the reality of historical precedent anywhere in thev world. Why should we in the shires care about London in a generation’s time if not sooner?

       9 likes

    • Millie Tant says:
      May 5, 2012 at 10:09 pm

      “Increasingly London is a city state with little in common, ethnically and culturally, with the greater part of England let alone Wales and Scotland.”

      That’s what the multcultists and certain so-called “ethnics” (such as black militant race haters) and newcomer foreigners who don’t like England and English people like to put about. It serves their purpose to say that London isn’t an English city or connected to the English majority.

         7 likes

      • George R says:
        May 5, 2012 at 10:22 pm

        Unfortunately, demographic trends in London are a portent of the continuing colonisation, and Islamisation of more and more areas of England too.
        The BBC-NUJ does its active political part in contributing to this national suicide, but individual Beeboids are less enthusiastic about actually wanting to live in certain parts of e.g. Tower Hamlets.

           7 likes

        • George R says:
          May 5, 2012 at 10:38 pm

          Many of the BBC-NUJ propagandists for this self-inflicted colonisation are sufficiently well-paid (from public funds) as to be able to avoid being forced to live in the centres of such colonisation; in fact many such Beeboids seem to live well away from such places.

             7 likes

      • Dave s says:
        May 5, 2012 at 11:16 pm

        Point taken but as they say demographics is destiny. % of ethnic English births in Inner London is ?

           2 likes

  32. TrueToo says:
    May 5, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    Posted the following on another thread, but it’s more appropriate here:

    Reminds me of the BBC News Website’s Home page when Boris beat Livingstone to become mayor in 2008. At the same time there was some minor development involving Morgan whatshisname and Robert Mugabe. The BBC splashed a big picture of Mugabe’s mug on the page along with the blurb about him and Morgan and relegated Boris’ win to the small print underneath, giving it the same importance as the death in a plane crash of a Sudanese minister.

    That’s the British Broadcasting Corporation for you. If Livingstone had won, the champagne would of course have been flowing off the BBC corridors and his mug would certainly have trumped that of Mugabe.

       7 likes

  33. jonuk says:
    May 5, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    BBC News24….a Labour Party Political Broadcast on the hour , every hour

       10 likes

  34. Beeboidal says:
    May 5, 2012 at 11:18 pm

    Also arising from the CBS 60 Minutes programme is that matter of Nancy Pelosi’s knowledge of the use of waterboarding. The Wapo has

    Ex-CIA counterterror chief says Pelosi ‘reinventing the truth’ about waterboarding

    The BBC has nothing, though they were happy to write up her vehement denials when the matter first surfaced three years ago.

       2 likes

  35. Jeff Waters says:
    May 5, 2012 at 11:19 pm

    Jeremy Clarkson claims airport delays could be solved with ‘a bit of racism’ – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9247835/Jeremy-Clarkson-claims-airport-delays-could-be-solved-with-a-bit-of-racism.html

    There’s no mention of this on the BBC news website, but I have a feeling that if a leading ITV or Sky presenter had advocated racial profiling, the good old Beeb would have made sure we all knew about it…

    Jeff

       5 likes

    • Reed says:
      May 6, 2012 at 12:28 am

      He really knows how to stir the lefty melting pot, doesn’t he. Good on him.

         3 likes

      • Span Ows says:
        May 6, 2012 at 11:16 am

        Yes. White, middle class, middle age, English, right-wing, petrol guzzling xenophobe.

        …and usually correct, certainly in this case.

           3 likes

  36. jonuk says:
    May 5, 2012 at 11:52 pm

    i’d like to know how many Labour politicians send their kids to private school. I’d like them to send their their kids to The Harroway School in Andover, Hampshire

       6 likes

  38. Reed - hates double standards says:
    May 6, 2012 at 3:10 am

    Ritual slaughter (in the millions) legal – for cultural reasons

    Fox hunting (small numbers) illegal – culturally unacceptable

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17966327

    The shocking statistic…

    –Halal meat now accounted for 25% of the entire UK meat market, Prof Reilly added. Anecdotal evidence suggested that almost half of lambs destined for slaughter were killed without prior stunning.

    Unless the population of muslims in this country has reached 25% (or they eat a hell of a lot of meat!), that means that many of us are eating halal meat without realising.

    Strange, isn’t it, how some cultural practises are forced upon the unwilling or unwitting, while others are simply not tolerated even when they involve only those who practise them.

       11 likes

    • Span Ows says:
      May 6, 2012 at 11:29 am

      Why is that the violent animal rights activists don’t seem to know this?…or for some strange reason don’t attack/occupy/demonstrate at mosques?

         7 likes

      • Pah says:
        May 6, 2012 at 12:28 pm

        Is it because the ‘Big-Pharma’ that run such groups are not yet threatened enough by Islam so their foot soldiers in the Animal Rights Movement have not been pointed in that direction?

           0 likes

    • Span Ows says:
      May 6, 2012 at 11:33 am

      Classic: from that report:

      “Dr A Majid Katme, from the Islamic Medical Association, said it was a “myth” that proper religious slaughter without stunning was painful and cruel and that scientists had not agreed on its effect.”

      He went on to say, when we slit their throats they thank us…oh hang on, he didn’t say that but his words could be paraphrased to read “it was a “myth” that cutting an animal’s throat without stunning was painful and cruel and that scientists had not agreed on its effect.”

         1 likes

  39. Reed says:
    May 6, 2012 at 3:20 am

    “President Obama strolled on stage to cheers and chanting from thousands of supporters already warmed up by glitzy campaign videos and an introduction from First Lady Michelle Obama, the BBC’s Jane O’Brien reports.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17972452

    Sometimes I think the BBC’s coverage of Obama ought to be read only on a plane, where a sick bag is always at hand.

       7 likes

  40. Craig says:
    May 6, 2012 at 8:26 am

    ‘Sunday’ with Samira Ahmed was a classic this morning.

    There was a look at the Greek elections. As far as I’m aware there looks to be the danger of several extremist parties winning a lot of votes there – three parties from the far-Left and one from the far-Right. This being the BBC, the prospect of three far-Left parties gaining significant influence is nothing to worry about. No, only the prospect of the far-Right party gaining a toehold in parliament is considered a “threat” (Samira’s word).

    ‘Sunday’ may have ignored St. George’s Day here in England but it sent a reporter to do a piece about celebrations of St. George’s Day (which happens a couple of weeks later) in…you’ll never guess!…the Palestinian territories.

    Next, it was the issue of halal wine and whether observant Muslims should drink it.

    The programme then looked at forced marriage and, fair dos, it concentrated on the problem among “some muslim communities”. We heard a short clip of a young man saying it’s culture, not Islam, “Islam is my friend”, he said. Then Samira talked to an imam in Scotland who also said “this is a cultural problem not an Islamic thing”. So, it’s a cultural problem not an Islamic thing then, apparently.

    It wasn’t all agenda-pushing. There was an enjoyable appreciation of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, but the programme – as is its way – devoted a full third of the programme to discussing the latest “shocking” twist in the Catholic Child Abuse Scandal in Ireland. It’s understandable that ‘Sunday’ devoted some time this week to such a dramatic development (in the foreign country to our west), but the programme is truly obsessed with the story (featuring even the most minor twists) and why it needed to take up a full third of the entire programme is anyone’s guess. Organised paedophile activity within a particular non-Catholic religious community much closer to home has been ignored – except for one report from Bradford that spent most of its time discussing the issue in general terms before, just near the end of the report, someone popped up to attack the popular press for saying it’s a Muslim problem.

    So many agendas, so short a programme.

       13 likes

    • Sue says:
      May 6, 2012 at 9:12 am

      I didn’t listen to Sunday this morning, but you make such a valid point. The contrast between minimising the racism and paedophilia within Islam, and maximising them elsewhere might be explained by a kind of hindsight self-kicking . “Why didn’t we see it?”
      The Catholic church was such an overwhelmingly authoritarian presence in Éire until the scale of this scandal was recognised. Once the enormity of the hypocrisy amongst the Catholic hierarchy, the conspiracy of silence, the unmentionable nature of the crimes were exposed, everyone was appalled by it and by the fact that they hadn’t ‘seen‘ it.

      Similarly, perhaps antisemitism was suppressed, ignored and dismissed before Hitler’s activities were acknowledged. Why hadn’t people ‘seen’ it?

      Maybe the time will come when everyone ‘sees’ what is happening in the here-and-now?
      What was the conclusion, should observant Muslims drink halal booze?

         4 likes

    • Pah says:
      May 6, 2012 at 12:24 pm

      Thing is most of the ‘cultural’ aspects of those societies you mention are actually cultural not religeous mandates. IIRC it does not say in the Koran that muslims must not drink alcohol.

      To claim all these things are simply cultural though is disengenuous. Although they are mandates from an islamic culture and not from islam itself, its difficult to see how the two can be separated from each other. How you separate them is one of those miraculous things that only religeous people can do – like the conflation of belief with truth.

         0 likes

  41. Guest Who says:
    May 6, 2012 at 8:51 am

    The Media Blog ‏ @TheMediaTweets

    Observer has a handy list of the same old ‘celeb tweeters’ mainly nominating the same old ‘celeb tweeters’ to follow: http://gu.com/p/3797p/tw
    A few other tweets from that source on this topic that are equally explanatory of much, if unsure as being meant to confirm all we suspected.

       0 likes

  42. Guest Who says:
    May 6, 2012 at 8:59 am

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/colombia/9248446/Colombian-prostitute-thought-Obama-bodyguards-were-fools.html
    Maybe the BBC and twitternewsmedia could demand a Levenson-style inquiry whilst objectively reporting on it all?

       0 likes

  43. George R says:
    May 6, 2012 at 9:17 am

    “BBC’s ‘£70k bill’ to put up Salford staff in London to cover Wimbledon”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140230/BBCs-70k-Salford-staff-London-cover-Wimbledon.html#ixzz1u4k0M4ag

       1 likes

  44. George R says:
    May 6, 2012 at 9:27 am

    “We’ve got too many Oxbridge staff at the BBC, says Corporation boss – from Oxford”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140215/Weve-got-Oxbridge-staff-BBC-says-Corporation-boss–Oxford.html#ixzz1u4mQUY86

       3 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:
      May 6, 2012 at 5:16 pm

      I can’t imagine what he thinks this does for himself or the BBC by announcing this. He’s been there for 8 years and was in the position to have done something about it, if indeed he really thinks so.
      I wonder if this is going to be the beginning of a lot of other ‘regrets’ about what he allowed to continue at the BBC.

      I don’t wish him well in the future, and I couldn’t give a shit how much money he makes. The country is in worse shape for his tenure at the BBC.

      Rot in Hell Thompson!

         1 likes

  45. Guest Who says:
    May 6, 2012 at 9:46 am

    I love the faint whiff of irony in the morning..
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17956863
    To the question ‘What were people saying?’ on the main political editor’s blog the highest rated was, before the blog itself was pulled (at 179 out of 25,00,000 – they ‘speak for us’ remember), I kid you not…
    14. Darren Stephens
    4TH MAY 2012 – 17:20
    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
    Well, they won’t explain, because they know they don’t and will never have to.
    The BBC – propaganda propped up by censorship, and all funded by force. Welcome to the ‘Unique Kingdom’.

       4 likes

  46. As I See It says:
    May 6, 2012 at 9:51 am

    Broadcasting House is the Beeb’s Sunday Guardian-flavoured radio glossy suppliment. Paddy O’Connell is our left-leaning presenter.

    BBC left-wing political hopes have switched to France and Radio 4’s Beeb correspondent (sorry I didn’t catch his name – but there are so very many Beeboids out there).

    According to the BBC Paris reporter it is ‘shocking’ that our PM Mr Cameron has never met Francois Hollande.

    According to the BBC Paris reporter M Hollande has promised a more ‘humane’ economic policy.

    So the BBC has nailed its socialist tricolour to the mast. I thought that they were not supposed to do that. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, the BBC is less scrupulous in the appearance of balance when it comes to overseas reporting – presumably because they are less likely to be brought to book. BBC corporate self-interest would quite obviously be for an increase in the telly tax which would improve their own career and and pay prospects. So ‘growth’ not ‘austerity’ cry the Beeboids.

    No bias there then?

       7 likes

  47. As I See It says:
    May 6, 2012 at 10:15 am

    Paddy O’Connell’s BH show on Radio 4 is a conservative-free zone.

    So I am a little surprised when his newspaper reviewers talk about the idea of the word ‘Empire’ going out of fashion these days and I am confused when they unanimously agree it should be expunged from the language – because of the offence it causes.
    Angophobic, anti-British and achingly liberal guilt-ridden. Paddy’s friends condescend to the ‘world’ with a nauseating self-loathing relativism.

    Why am I surprised that they don’t like the word ‘Empire’?

    Well in the last couple of weeks the only occasions on which I have actually heard the word ‘Empire’ on the BBC are in discussions about Murdoch media interests and on good old Prof Beard’s documentary on ancient Rome.

       4 likes

  48. As I See It says:
    May 6, 2012 at 10:23 am

    BBC Radio 5 have a long and speculative discussion on the death of the spy in the hold all bag.

    The BBC favoured explanation seems to be that it was the security services ‘what did it’ and what covered it up.

    Is it not a more logical explantion that this was some exotic sexual experiment gone wrong – with or with out the involvement of another person.

    But our national broadcaster is so fearful of causing offence in certain directions and so keen to attack our institutions that it goes off down the conspiracy track.

       0 likes

  49. Guest Who says:
    May 6, 2012 at 10:25 am

    I do love the tweets of ex-Graun editors now hired for their ‘talent’ by the BBC…
    Allegra Stratton ‏ @BBCAllegra

    Keane drummer Richard Hughes complained in 2010 when the Tories used their ‘everybody’s changing’. #marr jolly green room today?
    Allegra, luv… do you think there is the chance of a slight link behind that complaint and the invitation by the production staff at your fellow Labourphile’s show?

       3 likes

    • Millie Tant says:
      May 6, 2012 at 12:01 pm

      Allegra Stratton was an ex-Beeboid before she was ever an ex-Guardian editor. She was a producer on Newsnight before going to the Guardian.

         0 likes

  50. noggin says:
    May 6, 2012 at 10:28 am

    big ?s this morning … is religion good for children?.

    maybe if it doesn t, threaten to physically kill you, instilled from a small child.
    or stultify/(physically), prohibit any GENIUNE enquiry,
    or use brainwashing/self hypnosis techniiques.
    or teach hatred of other faiths communities, and their
    culture, food, freedom etc.
    or teach a totalitarian/political genuinely fascist ideology,
    or encourage genital mutilation,(esp FGM)
    or mandated child marriage
    or … or … or … or … hey panto! … oh well, maybe not

    lets have lots of chat on catholics, christians of all denominations hindus, oh and one muslim who thank …GOD,(obviously .. to the joy of el beeb 😀 ),
    had turned from a (boo hiss), catholic upbringing …

    ooohhhh! brother (shakes head).

       4 likes

    • Pah says:
      May 6, 2012 at 12:09 pm

      Are you sure the question wasn’t ‘is socialism good for children’?

         0 likes

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