Monthly Archives: May 2012

Excellent stuff from Boris Johnson here, little wonder the BBC went into mourning when he beat Red Ken the other week! Can anyone imagine Cameron being as forthright?

“The BBC is unlike any other media organisation in the free world, in that it levies billions from British households whether they want to watch it or not. No wonder its employees have an innocent belief that everything in life should be “free”. No wonder – and I speak as one who has just fought a campaign in which I sometimes felt that my chief opponent was the local BBC news – the prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and, above all, overwhelmingly biased to the Left.”

Did you read this profile of that other very modern BBC journalist Evan Davis. It’s the The Guardian, naturally…

‘Beneath the serious exterior of a BBC economics guru, Evan Davis reveals a fun, charming, exuberant side – and, perhaps, some interesting piercings Really, life is full of little surprises. Twelve hours before trotting off to TV centre to meet Evan Davis, I just thought of him as the bloke off the Ten O’Clock News …..And yet, there I am, half a day later, wondering if there’s a polite way to ask him if he has a pierced penis.

His in-house nickname at the BBC is Tinsel Tits on account of his – alleged – nipple rings, he never rolls up his sleeves on account of his – alleged – tattoo. And finally, and most rivetingly, according to various gay chatsites on the internet, and my friend in the BBC newsroom, he – allegedly – has a ‘Prince Albert’, so-called because ‘the Prince Consort is said to have had a ring attached to his penis which was then strapped to his thigh in order to maintain the smooth line of the tight trousers that were in fashion at the time’.

and Evan won’t have a word said against ‘the great Peter Jay’. He frequently quotes him – ‘his insight was that economics journalism is not about reporting the facts, there are too many facts’ .'”

The BBC certainly follows that particular thought process….

Here is a description of a BBC journalist……

‘What would Lord justice Leveson make of this journalist?

The most influential journalist in Britain, a man of boundless energy and conviction who breaks almost every rule imaginable. He has twisted the truth, invented quotations and doctored pictures….all he said in the name of the greater good. He fancies himself as Britain’s moral guardian who wants God to give him a big whip so that he can “go around the world and whip the wicked out of it.”

He sees himself, as well as having a fierce sense of his own importance, as the voice of the people, his job, he claims, is to interpret the aspirations of the lower, inarticulate classes to those in power. His team are a band of similarly minded people on a mission….visionaries and charlatans….he sometimes claims a fellowship with Jesus or Ghandi…a spiritual link that drives and inspires his journalism and zealous reforming fervour.

He seamlessly blends sensationalism with great indignation whilst being a curious mixture of conviction, opportunism and sheer humbug……”he twists facts, invents stories, lies and betrays confidences….but always with a genuine desire to reform the world!” ‘

Well OK, alright…. that was an adaption of a description of Victorian journalist William Stead by Dominic Sandbrook in the Sunday Times book review….it wasn’t Jim Naughtie, nor Richard Bacon, nor Jeremy Bowen or Richard Black, nor even Victoria Derbyshire. Assuredly….

However…..I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of those names or possibly many others hadn’t flickered across your mind as you read the piece.

I picked up on this very odd BBC article yesterday as did B-BBC contributor Alan. It’s all about making the grotesque events in Rochdale seem more “universal” and less linked to …., ahem, Islam. As Alan puts it ” The BBC rapid rebuttal service for Muslims goes into operation.”

What happened in Rochdale is apparently happening in Northern Ireland too…..

Rochdale-type abuse cases ‘occur in Northern Ireland’
Vulnerable young girls in Northern Ireland are being sexually exploited in the same way as those in a recent case in Rochdale, says Jacqui Montgomery-Devlin, the manager of Barnardo’s Safe Choices service which aims to protect children at risk.

Except that’s not true exactly is it? There are no Catholics combing the streets for vulnerable young Protestant girls to abuse because they are of a different religion….or vice versa. Yes, abuse does go on, but it is not ‘Rochdale-type’ abuse because in Rochdale a very particular section of the community was targeted….non-Muslims, especially white ones. The BBC seem to be trying to muddy the waters and defend the Rochdale abusers and deny the relevance of their religion in how they chose their victims.

Barnardos may be making an opportunistic appeal to keep the subject in the headlines and help it raise awareness and funds but the BBC are using Barnardos for their own political purposes, twisting the story to have an altogether different outcome. And this is not a new story after all…..in 2004 Barnardos were in the BBC news for exactly the same reason….

Children’s charity Barnardos is launching a new service in Northern Ireland aimed at protecting children from sexual exploitation.
Beyond the Shadows, launched on Friday, is aimed at children between the ages of 12 and 18. “It is important that Northern Ireland now has its own service as we are not exempt from this problem.”
　
So you have to ask why have the BBC made this the headline story on the NI page?

Is it possible they are working to lie to us and hide the truth?…..if it was BNP members doing the same to Muslims because they were ‘worthless and could be abused without a second thought’ due to their different culture or race you could guarantee that the BBC would be demanding the banning of the BNP and having endless exposes of their ‘culture’, lifestyles and beliefs.

And Trevor Phillips of the EHRC doesn’t take the BBC line……..

‘The racial ethnicity of the men involved in the sexual exploitation of children in Greater Manchester cannot be ignored, the chair of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has said. Trevor Phillips said it was “fatuous” to deny racial and cultural factors. Mr Phillips said he was worried about “closed communities” where people were afraid to speak out. “I worry that, in those communities there were people who knew what was going on and didn’t say anything, either because they’re frightened or they’re so separated from the rest of the communities that they think, ‘oh, that’s just how white people let their children carry on, we don’t need to do anything’,” he said.’

Well yesterday was a busy day for me and I thought I would share my experience with you. You see I was in the BBC studio and also on the BBC phoneline. The experiences contrasted vividly.

Firstly, I was on BBC NI “Sunday Sequence” discussing the local economy. My opponent was a hard left Marxist called Eamonn McCann and I thought the host was very even handed in how he treated us. You can listen to it here at 54mins in or so. I was happy enough with my treatment and doff the hat to the team concerned. The BBC can be fair when it chooses.

I was then on BBC5Live last night around 10.30pm. The topic for discussion was William Hague’s “Work harder” article here in the Telegraph. My opponent was a socialist of some hue who I have never heard of.  I got about 45seconds before the host, Stephen Nolan, interrupted me. From there on in it was obvious that Nolan was playing to the gallery about the “nasty” Hague making hard working people work even harder. I was talked over, I was interrupted and the only bit of satisfaction I got was when Nolan mentioned the “British work ethic” and I gently enquired why it was that if this was as intact as he suggested we needed to import hundreds of thousands of foreign workers to do the jobs Brits just won’t do. There was a bit of a silence to that. I got bored with the bias and told Nolan that he was misrepresenting what Hague had said. Nolan then read out his selected quotes, and turned the conversation to the Socialist who was advocating..yes, banks needing to lent more money and the State needing to provide economic growth through the public sector. That was the meme Nolan was pushing and I reckon that this was just a little ritual Tory bashing with me brought on as a bit player to try and defend Hague but not given the chance. As it happened, I disagree with much of what Hague said but never got the chance to clarify that either. (I believe in tax cuts, corporation  cuts for SMALL business and real Welfare cuts) Not a satisfying experience but I suppose one out of two ain’t bad, to update Meatloaf’s maths.