Monthly Archives: June 2012

Some of you must have seen this from 2010 but I somehow missed it….however it is so good on so many levels that it is worth refreshing the memory…especially at a time when the BBC is ‘on the stump’ with Labour attacking Coalition ‘cuts’ and job losses in the Public Sector in the name of efficiency and productivity.

Ken Loach is so far Left that he makes Ken Livingstone look Thatcherite…which is why it is all the more enjoyable to see that when his own interests are threatened by waste and ineffective workers he demands they are sacked…so much for ‘solidarity of the workers’!

The BBC is bloated with “time-serving” middle managers who are killing creativity in television, according to the veteran director Ken Loach.

He wished “good riddance” to executives recently made redundant and said more should follow.

However, the BBC is now a very different place, stuffed with executives who rule by committee and stifle all original ideas, according to the director. He welcomed this week’s announcement of job losses for Sharon Baylay, the £281,000-a-year marketing chief, and deputy director Mark Byford, who leaves his £475,000-a-year post with a £3.7 million pension pot and a pay-off of almost £1 million.

“I’m pleased to see – we all are – that people are going to lose their jobs, albeit that they need a £1 million handshake to get out the door. Great, good riddance, maybe a few more will join them. But let’s start cutting further down,” Loach said.

“To think that our television is in the hands of these time-servers who should be got rid of is nothing less than a tragedy, because television began with such high hopes. It was going to be the National Theatre of the air, a place where society could have a national discourse. They have reduced it to a grotesque reality game and I think we have to fight that with all the strength we have.”

There is a religious war going on in Nigeria right now…long denied by the BBC who preferred to categorize Christians killed by Muslims or churches burnt down and congregations slaughtered or Muslims killed by Christians as ‘tribal’ or ‘ethnic’ conflicts or disputes over land.

The BBC has been forced to admit that perhaps this is a ‘religious’ conflict driven by Muslims intending to impose Islam across the whole of Nigeria.

‘Nigerians – both Muslims and Christians – take their religions very seriously

Pastor Oritsejafor said his members would do “whatever it takes” to defend themselves from the pattern of killings which suggested “systematic ethnic and religious cleansing”.’

This is what Boko Haram said….“The Nigerian state and Christians are our enemies and we will be launching attacks on the Nigerian state and its security apparatus as well as churches until we achieve our goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of the secular state”

But old habits die hard and the sting in the tail is that of course the Muslim ‘insurgents’ are not representative of the majority of Muslims….and in fact the Muslims are the real victims here….targeted by Boko Haram and the Christians….says the BBC’s (presumably Muslim?) Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar ……but its all really wonderful as Muslims and Christians are, as well as kicking the hell out of each other,  simultaneously living in harmonious peace….

‘Christians and Muslims, northerners and southerners, are marching side by side in the ongoing national strike against the removal of a fuel subsidy.

During the protests in some cities this week, Christians have formed human shields while Muslim prayed – and Muslims have responded in kind.

Professor Kyari Mohammed of Modibbo Adama University in Yola admits that the current situation represents a “very dangerous trend”

However, he says, the key difference is that Boko Haram is a fringe group fighting both the government and mainstream Muslims in northern Nigeria.

“The major problem is that there is a huge deficit in the understanding of the situation, particularly by the government, leading to its inability to address the problem,” he notes.

“For an average northerner it is a double jeopardy. He is targeted [in the north] by the Boko Haram that does not believe in his version of Islam, and in the south by the people who feel that the attack by Boko Haram is an attack by Muslims.”

Boko Haram are opposed to all things Western, especially Western education and are just as likely to attack Muslims who oppose them as they will attack Christians.  However much like the IRA or indeed the Nazis there is always a large ‘unspoken’ support for groups such as these and the more successful they become the more that support will openly show itself…..as one Muslim said ‘I’m not against Sharia because I’m a Muslim, but why must they force people to embrace their view.’….if Boko Haram take power does it sound like this man would really oppose them?  

Just as Hitler had the support of German industrialists who believed his ideology could bring stability and prosperity back to Germany there are well funded, influential people who are arming and providng finance to Boko Haram…..’The sect  is now terrorizing the people of the state and is believed to be sponsored by highly placed politicians in the country.’

Their agenda is presumably to impose Sharia upon Nigeria.

Power can come very quickly especially if you are clever and ruthless….

‘In 1928, the Nazis had only 12 seats in the Reichstag; by July 1932 they had 230 seats and were the largest party.’

The BBC needs to wake up to the dangers these ‘fringe’ groups pose to any country they try to impose themselves upon.  A fanatic with a gun, which he is prepared to use, will defeat or subdue any number of people who are not prepared to defend their own lives or lifestyles.

And it should stop pretending that when push comes to shove Muslims will not support ‘radical’ Islamists….just look at Egypt where the conventional wisdom of the BBC and its ilk was that the Islamists had very little support….guess they have had to rethink that one.

Question Time tonight comes from West Bromwich – and specifically from the new £77 million Sandwell College.

On the panel are Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, general secretary of the Unite trade union Len McCluskey, economist Ruth Lea and Midlands Business Woman of the year Julie White.

Although by ‘Business Woman of the Year’ we mean in 2011, limited to the Midlands, a title made up by something called Vitalise, she “bought the company from her father” and “is a champion for women“. Not sounding promising but it would be great to be pleasantly surprised.

This Week will follow, and we have the standard lineup of Andrew Neil with Michael Portillo, plus the failed postman Alan Johnson

You are very welcome to join us. Please play nicely though.

Jimmy Carr earns £3million before tax, and earns nearly £3 million after tax.

 Jimmy Carr has been caught red handed and is now very red faced …because he was caught.

Remarkable how the Celebrity World rallies round and gives voice in his support. How strange when not so very long ago they were baying for, not just Banker’s blood, but that of highly successful businessmen who received bonuses.

5Live today began the Carr’s damage limitation with Victoria Derbyshire raising the question ‘Is it now open season for celebrities’….she then slipped in …’and politicians?’

The BBC seemed entirely unconcerned about Carr ‘avoiding’ tax and seem solely intent on diverting attention onto Cameron and his statement that Carr was ‘morally wrong’….and the prospect of delving into politician’s tax affairs…because of course we all know those rich Tory Toffs have all sorts of highly questionable financial arrangements designed to keep the poor people poor.

Apparently Cameron had ‘shamed’ Carr….Carr’s name dragged through the mud and unfairly targeted.

Richard Bacon also raised that question today on his show…the question isn’t now about Carr’s tax dodge but about Cameron questioning his morality….is it fair or right that a politician should talk of morality?

The emphasis has change completely to suit the usual BBC narrative and desired outcome…that of pillorying the Tories.

Funny how they take the same line as the Labour leader Ed Miliband who claimed…”I’m not in favour of tax avoidance obviously, but I don’t think it is for politicians to lecture people about morality.”

The BBC were quite happy to allow Miliband his moment of basking in his lack of morality but made an effort to drag out something Cameron had said a few weeks ago which was barely relevant but was held to be significant by the BBC allegedly proving Cameron’s untrustworthiness. (unfortunately I can’t remember what that was).

However the BBC were not so diligent in asking just how true was Miliband’s statement….after all he was the man who said

‘it was “clearly wrong” for former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Fred Goodwin to be knighted.’

“It’s right that it should be revoked.”

The same Miliband who launched a ‘witch hunt’ against bankers…..”I think the whole culture has got to change,” he told Sky News. “We need restraint right across the board in our banking industry and I think business and Government should lead that change.”

‘The boss of Royal Bank of Scotland should not get a bonus this year, Ed Miliband has said, as his party seeks to intensify pressure on the issue.  The Labour leader told the BBC that, “if responsibility means anything”, Stephen Hester should not get a payout.’

or the man who called for a ‘new morality’ in business and public life.

The BBC are attacking Cameron from another angle…he condemned Carr but has refused to comment specifically about Gary Barlow.

I wonder why the BBC take this approach…maybe they get their cue from the Labour Party as usual:

‘The Labour MP said: “The prime minister rushed to the TV studios to condemn the tax avoidance scheme used by Jimmy Carr but he did not take the opportunity to condemn as morally repugnant the tax avoidance scheme used by Conservative supporter Gary Barlow, who’s given a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘Take That’. ‘

Was it just me or was there definitely an impression given by the BBC (certainly on 5Live) that the unemployment figures going down by 52,000 was possibly a bad thing……as one reporter suggested…it was only a good thing ‘on the face of it….you have to ask how is it possible (to have falling unemployment) when we are mired in a double dip recession’. ….and the figures only give ‘mixed messages’.

Perhaps, as one analyst opined…the GDP figures were underestimating the strength of the economy? 

Perhaps the reporter was more persuaded by Labour’s interpretation…..

‘Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne said that while the latest figures were “a ray of good news…but when you take a step back and you look at those trends there are some real worrying signs about the long-term damage that is being done to the British economy from the government’s failure to get people back to work fast enough.”‘

Long term damaging trends? Hmmm…hasn’t unemployment fallen consistently….the private sector more than taking up the slack caused by job losses in the Public Sector?

And how’s that private/public sector ding dong doing? Those hard done by public sector workers need your sympathy….or do they?

Average public sector pay  now stands at £477 per week, higher than private sector earnings at £459.
Bonus pay fell sharply in the private sector in the three months to February, falling 5.4 per cent compared with last year, although it rose 2.9 per cent in the public sector.

The BBC…never knowingly upbeat about anything ‘Tory’.

Here is a slightly deeper look at ‘38 Degrees’ mentioned in a previous post. It is the campaigning group that seems to embody every value that the BBC itself likes to promote….and is attempting to influence who gets the BBC Director General’s job when Mark Thompson goes, as well as trying to influence the outcome of the BSkyB bid.

Its campaign’s page looks as if it is the schedule for any number of Victoria Derbyshire shows….NHS, Climate Change, tax dodging, the disabled, human rights, poverty and more.

Not surprising really when you look at the CVs of its Board members…from Obama’s campaign team, Greens, charity bigwigs and assorted political activists.

It does have though some surprising ideas on the meaning of ‘independence’ and ‘diversity’ or ‘plurality’ of media ownership.

Here  is one of its boasts about its influence over the BBC whilst at the same time demanding independence for the BBC…..

‘Over the next few days, the BBC Board of Trustees could be deciding who to appoint as the next Director General – one of broadcasting’s most important jobs.

38 Degrees members have said that one of the most valuable things about the BBC is its independence.

It’s vital the right person ends up in the job – and that means someone who understands that the BBC’s independence must never be compromised.

We know that 38 Degrees members can influence the BBC’s decisions. Two years ago we helped save 6Music by convincing bosses to drop their plans to close the station.’

As mentioned in the previous post  this is what it thinks of media plurality….

’38 Degrees members have been defending the BBC ever since James Murdoch’s attack on it in August 2009. The reports that the government was pushing the BBC to accept “a license fee raid” triggered adiscussion about what we should do on our facebook page, and thousands of 38 Degrees members quickly contacted their MPs speaking out against these deep cuts being forced through behind closed doors.

Many members believed that this decision to raid the BBC was influenced by Rupert Murdoch.

We will also need to keep up the pressure on Vince Cable to call a review of Rupert Murdoch’s plans to seize full control of BSkyB.

Rupert Murdoch has his sights set on gaining complete control of BSkyB* and increasing his stranglehold on a free and independent media in the UK. He currently owns 40% of the company but wants to increase his stake to 100%.

This would be a disaster. It would give Murdoch even more political influence and it could open the door to biased, right-wing news like Fox News in the US.

A free and diverse media is a huge part of what makes democracy work.’

Clearly their idea of a healthy and diverse media environment does not actually include those sources of information or entertainment that do not meet their own critical or ethical standards…because of course they have the uncanny ability, being endowed with a superior intelligence and moral sense, to divine what is ‘fit and proper’ media for the Public to consume.

The, what you can safely call a pressure group, 38 Degrees organisation, has a membership of 750,000 lost souls apparently…..

‘There are currently over 750,000 38 Degrees members working for change throughout the UK, and we’re still growing fast.

It’s 38 Degrees members that provide the leadership of the organisation, by suggesting campaigns, taking the team to task, and, most importantly, taking action in their thousands. It’s thanks to them that we’ve become a such a powerful progressive voice in the UK.’

I don’t know about you but I find that somewhat disturbing…..the group boasts of having great influence and that would seem open to abuse, manipulation and corruption if somebody were so inclined.

The BBC is always on the look out for ‘right leaning’ pressure groups whilst more often than not failing to similarly identify ‘left leaning’ ones.

At a time when there is a huge hue and cry about the ‘undue’ influence of Murdoch isn’t it odd that groups like 38 Degrees slip under the radar whilst having the potential to be as destabilising and corrupting of Democracy as any Newspaper Baron?

‘Reed’ in the ‘Open Thread’ brings to our attention the welcome news that the BBC is to be included in formal reviews of media ownership by OFCOM:

Google, the BBC and Facebook should be included in reviews of media ownership, regulator Ofcom has ruled.

The BBC has an internet news audience of 57% of the total number of people who go online for news in the UK.

The regulator said it did not want to formally limit ownership, but if there were concerns that an individual or company had amassed too great a market share of newspapers, television and online, then Parliament could set further guidelines.

It said: ‘Ofcom does not believe a prohibition on market share is currently advisable. Instead, in the interests of flexibility, plurality concerns brought about by high-market share should be addressed through a periodic plurality review.’

Ofcom added that the BBC needed to be included in future reviews and highlighted that the corporation’s news content was consumed by 81 per cent of Britons each week.

Research compiled for Ofcom found that Britons use at least two different media to get information, with television cited as the most important source. Some 30 per cent of adults access their daily news from newspapers, 29 per cent from the internet, while 41 per cent cite radio and 88 per cent from television.

BBC1 and Radio 4 were named the most used news services in broadcasting, while BBC News Online, Facebook and Google were voted the most used news sources on the internet.

 
All these viewing/listening figures are well known and demonstrate the significant dominance of the BBC as a news provider which makes it all the more surprising that the BBC was not considered in the remit of the Leveson Inquiry.

It does look more and more likely that Leveson was nothing more than a kangaroo court that was manouveured into lynching Murdoch….to the benefit of the BBC both commercially and from a political ideological standpoint.

Consider this from ’38 Degrees’, ‘friends’ of the BBC, who seem to have a powerful and influential campaigning ability…note that whilst they notionally applaud ‘plurality‘ in the media that doesn‘t extend to allowing ‘rightwing‘ broadcasters onto the airwaves or into print:

38 Degrees members have been defending the BBC ever since James Murdoch’s attack on it in August 2009. The reports that the government was pushing the BBC to accept “a license fee raid” triggered adiscussion about what we should do on our facebook page, and thousands of 38 Degrees members quickly contacted their MPs speaking out against these deep cuts being forced through behind closed doors.

Many members believed that this decision to raid the BBC was influenced by Rupert Murdoch.

We will also need to keep up the pressure on Vince Cable to call a review of Rupert Murdoch’s plans to seize full control of BSkyB.

Rupert Murdoch has his sights set on gaining complete control of BSkyB* and increasing his stranglehold on a free and independent media in the UK. He currently owns 40% of the company but wants to increase his stake to 100%.

This would be a disaster. It would give Murdoch even more political influence and it could open the door to biased, right-wing news like Fox News in the US.

A free and diverse media is a huge part of what makes democracy work.

Can’t have those troublesome rightwingers passing off their unwholesome ideas and views to the vulnerable British Public…..that’s the job of the BBC!

If you’ve spotted some BBC ‘Bull’ let the world know on Wednesday’s Open Thread!