167 Responses to OPEN THREAD….

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  1. As I See It says:
    May 6, 2012 at 10:35 am

    BBC Radio 5 begins a report and mention the misogynist and violet abuse on Twitter received by Louise Mensch due to her ‘support’ for the Murdochs. (I would have added that this abuse came from the left who happen to be rabidly anti-Murdoch).

    It may have been an interesting report but within seconds we are listening to archive tape of David Cameron’s ‘calm down dear’. Then we go off on a long and detailed discussion about childless, atheist Australian left-winger Julia Gillard.

    Biased or what?

       4 likes

  2. Millie Tant says:
    May 6, 2012 at 11:46 am

    I see our esteemed editor, DV, has been quoted in the Mail in an article about Jeremy Clarkson’s remarks about cutting the queues at Heathrow:
    “Meanwhile, some Twitter users took to the social networking site to express their views.
    David Vance, editor of A Tangled Web, said: ‘Jeremy Clarkson does not “risk outrage”. He courts it.’ While others called for the presenter to finally be sacked from the BBC.”
    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140004/Jeremy-Clarkson-claims-delays-Heathrow-solved-bit-racism.html#ixzz1u5JJCeNC
    Heh. Fame beyond even the Beeb, David!

       0 likes

  3. George R says:
    May 6, 2012 at 11:55 am

    Islam Not BBC (INBBC) continues its anti-Geert WILDERS polemic, via INBBC’s Ms Holligan.

    Apparently in her attempt to clinch her political opposition to Mr Wilders she resorts to elevate the predictable views of a ‘Muslim blogger’, one Umar Mirza.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17940404

    Alternative:

    “Geert Wilders, Marked For Death”

    http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/4932

       3 likes

    • noggin says:
      May 6, 2012 at 2:15 pm

      Strange that i was talking in Beijing, only 2 weeks ago, to 2 Dutch Drs, who still say he s the best thing to happen in Holland for a generation,

      Then again i could have listened to a Pakistani/Dutch blogger, or an opponent with an axe to grind, (& a nice swing towards Pally style scarves), or … the el bbc :-D.

         4 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      May 6, 2012 at 2:21 pm

      Who blames Muslims for everything that’s wrong with society? Nobody blames them for failing Socialist policies or bank bailouts or a bloated public sector. Once again the BBC pushes the “Europe : Muslims today as Europe : Jews 1933” Narrative.

      It’s an offensive lie, but seems to be believed by so many at the BBC.

         3 likes

    • Span Ows says:
      May 6, 2012 at 3:42 pm

      “Falling in the polls, the party’s anti-immigration policies are being abandoned by the Dutch, and with the collapse of the coalition government which he propped up, Mr Wilders has been stripped of his powerful kingmaker card. So is this the beginning of the end of the Freedom Party?”

      Does the stupid bitch know WHY the coalition collapsed? Geert Wilders caused its collapse by not agreeing to the budget forced on them by Brussels: Wilders’ party had “effectively guaranteed the government’s majority for the last 18 months by agreeing to support it in parliament.”
      Even Al Jazeera tell more truth than the BBC:
      http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/04/2012423142544306723.html

      All that ended “when talks about a new package of austerity measures foundered and Wilders walked out.”

      “We don’t want our pensioners to suffer for the sake of the dictators in Brussels,”

      How did the BBC report those words? “Mr Wilders, who was said to have stormed out of talks at the last minute, said the coalition’s proposals would harm economic growth and affect many people’s spending power.”

      Cunts.

         6 likes

    • Span Ows says:
      May 6, 2012 at 3:46 pm

      Added top the above it seems the BBC approve of tough austerity measures are OK in the Netherlands but not in the UK. Bit like their Obama/Cameron hypocrisy too (Bush’s fault but not Blair/Brown’s fault)

         0 likes

  4. Hugh says:
    May 6, 2012 at 12:34 pm

    BBC News on-line has a link to Desert Island Discs with the song-writer and comedian Tim Minchin as castaway. In the audio Kirsty Young lends a sympathetic ear to him attempting to justify a song he wrote about a journalist who gave him a bad review. On the one hand, I’m pleased to see anyone who writes for Guardian getting a hard time, on the other I wonder how Tim Minchin has stayed out of court for this piece of malicious, threatening, bile.

    Apologies if this topic has been covered in a previous thread, or if it’s old news to you.

       2 likes

    • Millie Tant says:
      May 6, 2012 at 12:51 pm

      Ah, he’s a “comedian”. Another one of the twisted hating fraternity. What a surprise! Trust the Beeboid Corporation to give him a promotion slot.

         5 likes

      • chrisH says:
        May 6, 2012 at 4:30 pm

        Not many people get an invite to Desert Island Discs, who have achieved as little as this Minchin bloke.
        Must be a fast-track now for edgy arses who may not be around this time next year…so we`ll be due Penney and Owen Jones before too long.
        As long as they strike the BBCs poses and “speek 4Da yoof innit”….or have learned the lingo from drama classes back at prep school.

           5 likes

        • Scott says:
          May 6, 2012 at 5:19 pm

          Not achieved much? Really?

          He’s incredibly successful in his chosen career, and has co-written one of the most acclaimed musical theatrical productions of recent years – one which only a few weeks ago won several Olivier awards, after being one of the only productions in the awards’ history to be shortlisted for every category for which it was eligible.

          But I suppose he doesn’t spend all day sitting on his backside sniping at others on the internet, so in Biased BBC commenters’ eyes he’ll always be inferior…

             1 likes

          • Guest Who says:
            May 6, 2012 at 5:36 pm

            ‘he doesn’t spend all day sitting on his backside sniping at others on the internet’
            Not big on irony, are you?

               7 likes

          • johnyork says:
            May 6, 2012 at 5:40 pm

            Scott
            I’d never heard of the moron before.
            But thanks to your glowing observations – acclaimed – Olivier – shortlisted –
            I’m glad I haven’t.
            Or put another way so even you can understand :
            Not the sort of chap you would want with you on the Terraces.

               5 likes

            • Scott says:
              May 6, 2012 at 7:03 pm

              You’d never heard of him before, but you know he’s a moron. And achieving success in a field that you have no interest in apparently warrants a value judgement on your part.

              Hmm. I doubt he or anyone else will be losing much sleep about not sharing a terrace with you…

                 1 likes

              • David Preiser (USA) says:
                May 6, 2012 at 7:25 pm

                Well done, Scott, another success in proving the BBC is not biased. A real feather in your cap this time.

                   2 likes

          • Hugh says:
            May 6, 2012 at 10:23 pm

            @Scott. The issue is not whether he was shortlisted for an award, but the foul rant he composed about a journalist who gave him a bad review, and the BBC condoning the rant. This has echoes of Richard Bacon recommending Doug Stanhope’s equally foul rant about Sarah Palin and her disabled child.

               4 likes

            • Scott says:
              May 6, 2012 at 11:21 pm

              Bless. I realise that in Biased BBC world, “not throwing your toys out of the pram” is equivalent to “condoning”, but here in the real world you DO realise that every time you over-react people realise that you’re just a group of sad individuals who are incapable of engaging with the real world on any practical level, don’t you?

                 1 likes

              • Hugh says:
                May 7, 2012 at 10:42 am

                @Scott

                Try checking the facts before opening your mouth.

                Letter from Richard Bacon to the Down’s Syndrome Association

                I am writing to apologise for any offence caused by my live interview with the American comedian, Doug Stanhope, on the 5 live radio show on Thursday 4 August.

                In order to illustrate the comedic style of Stanhope’s stand-up performances, I referenced available You Tube clips. This was a poor recommendation and I whole heartedly accept that this reference was inappropriate because of the subject matter.

                I full well understand my responsibilities as a broadcaster and such a reference fell below the standards I set myself personally in my broadcasting.

                I am sorry if the reference has caused offence to anyone in anyway. I shouldn’t have done it.

                Yours sincerely,
                Richard Bacon

                   1 likes

    • Reed says:
      May 7, 2012 at 5:10 am

      Just endured about 60 seconds of that ‘comedy’ song. Good God, what a dullard!

      Another novelty weirdo, Russell Brand style.

         1 likes

  5. Millie Tant says:
    May 6, 2012 at 1:54 pm

    It’s amusing when the intended beneficiary of the earnest multcult bites back. Here’s a woman who is incensed because the school wrote her a letter in an Asian language simply because she has an Asian name, something that she finds raaaacist and insulting. “It is insulting to send me a letter in another language,” said Mrs Ahmed, who moved to Britain 15 years ago.
    “They’ve just assumed because of my surname that I speak one of those languages.
    “You’re trying to be racist to me – this is how I felt when I got the letter.”
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9245852/Mother-sent-school-letter-in-Hindi-despite-not-speaking-language.html

    I wonder if she could give us her opinion of the Beeboid radio station dedicated to certain people in the UK purely on the basis that it deems them “Asian”.
    Surely she must be grossly insulted. Perhaps she could start a campaign against the raaaacist Beeboid Corporation.

       5 likes

  6. JaneTracy says:
    May 6, 2012 at 4:14 pm

    Here is how the Guardian covered Stephanie Flanders inability to tell Wednesday from Thursday.

    “She is the BBC’s economics editor, widely respected for being on top of her brief. But this week Stephanie Flanders made a political boob – and it played out for all to see in cyberspace, reports the Sun. Flanders fired off an angry tweet on Wednesday, saying: “Just tried to vote. My polling station had closed two hours early. Has anyone else had the same problem?” The red-faced economics hack was soon inundated with tweets pointing out that the polls did not open until Thursday. “All stations closed because, er, today isn’t Thursday,” she later noted.”

    Strangely they do not tell us who she is “widely respected” by!

    Also in a paper “where comment is free” none are allowed in a familiar tactic of stopping people challenging such tripe…

       4 likes

    • Umbongo says:
      May 6, 2012 at 6:32 pm

      The Guardian had a choice. Since Stephanie is spiritually one of its own, the Guardian could either have written (which it did) that she is “widely respected” or, it could have copied the BBC habit by which the BBC inserts its own opinion in the spurious guise of quoting a pretend independent opinion by writing “some say she is widely respected”. Either way she’s “respected” by the coterie of lefty opinion-formers who infest and largely constitute the political class and its symbiotic enablers in the media. However some (everyone else) think she’s rubbish.

         3 likes

      • Scott says:
        May 6, 2012 at 11:12 pm

        Of course the other option is that she IS actuall respected and that a Biased BBC commenter’s opinion isn’t automatically what the rest of the world thinks. But hey. Maybe I’m not as opinionated and unworthily full of myself as to assume that my own personal opinion is automatically the right one.

           1 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:
          May 6, 2012 at 11:39 pm

          No, you’re right, Scott. She is respected within the bubble. She’s well-credentialed, after all. Another score for you, proving the BBC isn’t biased, eh?

             1 likes

          • Scott says:
            May 7, 2012 at 12:06 am

            Biased BBC is its own little bubble. That why you like it: if it got any larger there’s a risk someone who actually follows US politics from all angles might start pointing out just how unbalanced your own coverage is.

               0 likes

            • David Preiser (USA) says:
              May 7, 2012 at 12:18 am

              Another brilliant fisking, Scott. Total proof that I had factual errors and didn’t provide balance to the BBC’s reporting. Which is, you know, the point. Thanks for listening, though.

                 0 likes

              • Andy S. says:
                May 7, 2012 at 1:40 am

                Dave, ad hominem attacks by Scottie should be worn as a badge of honour. Scottie is so convinced of his own self rightousness that he completely fails to see he suffers from the same narrow minded vindictiveness he accuses other contributors of.
                Anyway, if his icon is a photograph of himself, how can you take seriously someone who looks like Carlos the Jackal?

                   1 likes

              • Umbongo says:
                May 7, 2012 at 9:53 am

                DP

                This particular BBC employee/apologist never (and the other BBC apologists rarely) address the major (or even minor) issues you (and other commenters here) raise. In your case, the issue is the unfailing bias and gross incompetence of the BBC’s North American reportage.
                Such behaviour by the apologists is the classic IPPR/BBC response. In other words, the BBC and its catspaws never address the issue, never enter into a debate. Rather, they accord the BBC-approved version (fact and opinion) of any topic the status of holy writ: unchanging, indisputable and uncriticisable.

                   0 likes

  7. John Anderson says:
    May 6, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    The BBC is giving headlines (why ?) to the trial of Khalid Sheik Muhammed and the other terrorists at Gitmo. They are not being allowed to grandstand and pose big security threats at a public trial in New York, which is what stupid Obama and Holder wanted. But they are still grandstanding, and the BBC seems to be lapping it up.

    No doubt we will hear lots about how those cruel Americans waterboarded KSM, lead plotter of 9/11 and the beheasder of journalist Daniel Pearl – without mention of the fact that the waterboarding extracted crucial information from an otherwise silent KSM. And NEVER does anyone at the BBC suggest how else the information might have been extracted. No – in effect the BBC does not care if other Americans had died from further KSM plots.

    As a palate-cleanser – here is how one American sees the media bleating about harsh interrogation of terrorists – a justified and sustained rant against the self-righteous prats whose sympathies seem to lie more with terrorists than with their innocent victims. The rant is aimed at CBS’ 60 Minutes – but it applies equally to the wretched BBC :

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/05/04/carolla_rips_60_minutes_the_left_over_ridiculous_standard_on_torture.html

    No-one ever died from waterboarding, BBC. Get over it, you appeasing wimps! Waterboarding is NOT torture – it is nothing like the torture methods used in dictatorships.

       4 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      May 6, 2012 at 7:22 pm

      They have to be very careful about how they mention waterboarding here, because they found Bin Laden using info extracted by this technique. The President’s ultimate triumph, proving His superiority over Bush, was possible only because of waterboarding, so the media will have to tread very lightly here.

         3 likes

      • John Anderson says:
        May 6, 2012 at 8:51 pm

        David

        Here the BBC did not underline the fact that Bin Laden was found through waterboarding info from years earlier. So they can play the Gitmo sob story without many people saying “Hey …. didn’t waterboarding help track Bin Laden down ?”

           1 likes

    • George R says:
      May 6, 2012 at 10:01 pm

      “They’re engaging in jihad in a courtroom”

      http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/05/theyre-engaging-in-jihad-in-a-courtroom.html

         0 likes

  8. George R says:
    May 6, 2012 at 6:55 pm

    ‘Telegraph’ as source for coverage of French election:-

    “French Presidential election: live”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9249109/French-Presidential-election-live.html

       0 likes

  9. George R says:
    May 6, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    French election: BBC-NUJ redundant, but they make use of weekend trips to Paris.

       1 likes

  10. Jeff Waters says:
    May 6, 2012 at 9:44 pm

    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#ixzz1u7mOzSUZ

       2 likes

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