You have to almost admire the brass neck of the BBC. This morning, we were treated to the thoughts of Ed Balls, interviewed by Sarak Montague. on Today @ 7.34am. He was allowed to spout his usual playbook mantra which reduces down to attacking Cameron over and over again for a “lack of leadership” and now condemning Germany for it daring to insist that Greece honours its debts. Just ten minutes later, we had the excremental Thought for the Day with Canon Dr Alan Billings, an Anglican priest. His big idea was…yes, you’ve guessed it, that forgiving Debt is a rather good idea and that if this is true of individuals than it must surely by true of Government. How charming. Listening to these two leftists arguing for the dishonouring of Debt, one can understand why lending dries up – who on Earth would lend to those whose primary motivation lies in finding ways not to repay that which they borrow???? The BBC continues to push the Obama-Hollande line and is keen to give Labour the opportunity to ride on the back of it. It appears that rampant spending by central Government, leading to more borrowing and higher taxes, is the exciting new way forward and the BBC seem to think it is refreshing and worthy of serial advocacy.
I cringe every time I hear the idiot “Blinky” Balls open his mouth about what’s best for “Bwitain”, and avoid answers to any questions, and fail to present a viable alternative whilst prattling on about, well, nothing really. He always sounds so excited, doesn’t he? As if he’s talking to kiddies (which is probably why he was something to do with “education” in the last fiasco).
He is so full of puerile (but patronising) fluff and utter bullshit, I don’t know why they bother.
One truly wonders what the antidote to thirteen years of labour profligacy and country-ruination could possibly be, but it certainly aint what it has been replaced with…
I’m afraid blinky isn’t brought on to give in-depth analysis. He’s there to parrot the phrase:
“too far too fast” about the dreadful cuts. The inbbc knows its target audience. The phrase is directed at those with whom it will stick given enough repetition. Sound bites work on enough of the people enough of the time to make a difference. They bring in all kinds of people with the brief to build the catchphrase into their speil.
Spot on. Labour’s ability to parrot spin and mantras and make them stick is vastly underestimated by the Tories. They need to get down and dirty and start doing the same.
Andrew Neil usually gives him a genial thumping.
I had switched off the Today programme just before the 7.30 news, thank God. The BBC give Balls airtime at every available opportunity i.e. at least once a day (he was on BBC Radio 2 news yesterday) simply because he is their mouthpiece for opposing ‘austerity’, as well as being a comrade, of course. The really depressing thing about Balls is that so many of the electorate actually believe him, as the opinion polls clearly show, probably because they swallowed the Crash Gordon/BBC line that it was all the banks’ fault. No doubt as and when Labour do get re-elected and finally take us over the precipice, the BBC will be at hand to give Balls and his fellow country-wreckers plenty of airtime to explain how it was all the Tories’ fault.
I agree. Another few years of this and Labour will sweep back into power. That’s the real menace of the BBC – it makes the impossible possible for their favoured comrades.
At present the enemy of the Tories is not only the inbbc, tho’ that’s bad enough. It’s UKIP wot’s the problem!
DC hasn’t the brains to adopt a UKIP position and has no answer to them. For years they have tried scare tactics of saying a UKIP vote lets in Labour. It has stopped working any more as a frightener for people who are horrifed at the thought of a Tory supported Turkish accession to the EU. The ex Tories are sleepwalking to oblivion.
I agree to some extent, though I think the main reason the Tories won’t get in next time is because a) the majority of the country don’t have the stomach for ‘austerity’ and doing their bit to get us out of this mess (they are led to believe by Millibean and Bollocks there’s an easy way out) b) there is now too big a ‘client’ vote for Labour, including a large immigrant population, a public sector intent on protecting their pay, pensions and working conditions, and an underclass dependent on generous Brownite benefits c) we now have probably two generations that have been schooled by a left wing education system – Labour is their natural party of choice.
Add into this mix a general culture of entitlement created by Brown and Co., which Labour will do nothing to dismantle, and it’s easy to see why they’ll be odds-on favourites in the next election.
As John Kennedy said ‘think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’. Fat chance.
Yes and you’re correct. The reasons you outline will be why DC didn’t get a landslide at the last GE when it was obvious that 13 years of that shower had landed us right in the shit. However, it was somewhat limited victory, needing his convenient coalition of course. He may have done better if he had stuck with his core voters principles instead of the so called centre ground. Big mistake. Yes they will lose next time, UKIP are bleeding them to death too.
To be fair, Montague more or less admitted that she was just as confused at Balls’ criticisms of Cameron as the rest of us. Indeed, she said that Balls could be accused of mischief making and asked him to explain exactly what he was proposing – and why. Balls didn’t and couldn’t. Montague resisited the temptation (not difficult – in the end Balls and Montague are on the same side in all this) to pin Balls to the wall for talking opportunistic crapola. An impartial interviewer – certainly a knowledgeable and motivated one – would have crucified Balls for his show of wilful ignorance and mendacity. But no, we have to make do with a BBC “journalist”.
It’s a shame she didn’t pin his balls to the wall!
She would but he ain’t got none. Stephanie might know what he did with them?
How can a c*** be called Balls? Defies logic.
No he’s not one of those, they are useful!
I’ll play that episode of Thought For The Day to any Capita representatives that may call.
Balls is, of course, a massive cock who is quite rightly loathed by most people, especially within in his own party.
He was incompetent as a minister and was commander-in-chief of the scorched-earth policy in the dying days of the Brown administration.
Personally, I think he should be barred from public office for life – ideally, he should be deported to the Galapagos islands.
But I thought our Sarah handled him quite well and a little sniffily, too. It’s odd because when I heard her interview Osborne a few months back, it was a lively, good-natured exchange, yet I sensed a degree of hostility towards Balls. Okay, so it was trying to nail jelly to the wall but did a halfway decent job.
Sarah M has at least done something in business – she was a trader before switching to journalism – so I doubt she is a knee-jerk statist. Yes, she has probably been institutionalised by the BBC but she still appears to retain an independence of brain.
I like her. I find her far easier on the ear that the serial butter-in Humphrys, narcissistic show-pony Davis and the unspeakably pompous Naughtie.
As I said in an earlier post, I missed it, so sorry I didn’t hear her at least starting to hold Balls to account. I recall when the Tories were in opposition criticising Labour policy on Today and PM, the interviewer would nearly always ask ‘Well, what would YOU do?’ or ‘What exactly is the Tory policy on this?’ Of course, this would just be the preamble to giving the Tory in question a hard and challenging time. We need more than Montague doing the same with Labour now they are in opposition before the b-BBC can start to claim they are not biased.
I have tasked my MP with answering how his favourite national treasure either represents or serves the interest of the nation whose name it bears, when engaged in coordinated advocacy of this nature via a 24/7, £4Bpa media monopoly.
Not too hopeful, as he seems more keen on pix of him on the DP sofa being chummy with Diane and ‘defending’ a village post office from closure.
Maybe, as his chances or re-election (at least in power; our county’s Labour candidate usually loses their deposit, and I doubt the LibDem will be a challenge once they find one) sink in, he may gain a spine and desire to act rather than shuffle letters about.
Priests consistently show how utterly illiterate their comments on politics and the economy are. Why not have it his way?
1) Tell the rest of the world they will have to forgive our 1 trillion debt, watch our annual public spending decrease by 140bn overnight as people refuse to lend money.
2) Watch a complete breakdown in the financial markets causing apocalyptic social unrest, as not only are sovereign nations forgiven of their debt, the banks are forgiven of the debt they owe to the average citizen in the street.
3) Watch western civilization collapse.
The BBC should not bother airing these opinions.
How come Robin Gibbs death only got Mike Reid out of bed.
The BBC employ Gambaccini solely for this purpose , or so I thought.
Rock Royalty demand that final LP with Rick Rubins production…and then the transient eulogy from Gambo.
It`s not as if the death was not expected…Gambaccini had surely had plenty time to case the coffin in metaphorical terms.
As for Billings…presume his name is a joke with God…all is free at the Cof E, university tenure and-but of course-our cherished BBC.
No wonder then that the cry is for the oiks to keep that sedan chair steady as they throw out wristbands to those that line their routes to posterity and nice things.
Oh yes…Balls…well, Kate Williams left a turd in his punchbowl at 8.15 or so.
As Jim hoped for a pop at Fred the Shred and Rupert…Kate cited Brown as a disaster, who did more damage to the economy that poor Fred ever did.
Good for you Kate-Naughtie and Balls no doubt rather sad at that!
Can I introduce the good Canon Dr Alan Billings to his own bible : 2 Thessalonians 3:10 – “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”
Canon Dr Billings is a BBC approved cleric – so the Bible doesn’t come into – indeed I very much doubt whether belief in Almighty God does either.
” As our Lord says in the gospels, and I have to say with some degree of justification……”
The father of one of my daughter’s friends was at university with Balls. He said he was an arsehole whom everyone hated, and always had to be in complete control of everything he got involved with. Like a proper Marxist, then…
Johnnythefish
” How can a c*** be called Balls? Defies logic.”
I cried when I read this, because I know I will probably never read anything as funny again. Second only to Derek and Clive’s ‘non-stop dancer’ joke.