John Redwood writes an open letter to the new DG, George Entwhistle.
Unfortunately he falls into the usual Tory trap of being too polite and seems unwilling to really point the finger in an accusatory manner…Dan Hodges expresses thoughts I have long held about the Tories and why they so often do not get the good headlines…they lack the will to win and the ability to land a killer blow….most importantly they lack the will to tell the ‘grand lie’ that Labour so often does…..remember the one about the Tories ‘cutting’ £35 billion off the NHS budget…when in fact the truth was that Labour had promised to increase spending by £35 bn and the Tories refused to match that…but to maintain the spending on the NHS then current.
Labour gets away with it of course because they have a tame BBC who doesn’t ask too many awkward questions….it was ITV’s Nick Robinson who revealed Labour’s ‘trick’ not the BBC.
Are Tories too polite?…Well look at Redwood’s first conclusion…’I do not believe that BBC broadcasters overall have a systematic bias pro Labour or anti Conservative. ‘
That is clearly totally wrong….and just means that the BBC can carry on on its merry way….Redwood goes on to say near the end…‘There is above all at the BBC an assumption that state spending is good and more state spending is better. Rarely does the BBC give proper airtime to the case for greater freedom and lower taxes. So many interviews are arranged to regret “the cuts” and to find governmental answers to social and family problems.’ which shows he thinks the BBC are in fact pro Labour’s policies…so why not say so instead of allowing the BBC to hide behind his timid and irresolute criticisms that fail to point the finger and hold them to account?
If the Tories are unwilling to stand up to the BBC then they are doomed to always struggle handicapped by a bad ‘press’ from Britain’s most powerful news source.
Seems like the statement about the BBC not having an overall political party bias and the statement about them advocating profligate state spending contradict each other. Maybe Redwood doesn’t get it, or doesn’t want to say it out loud, but if the Beeboids in their overall broadcasting favor specific policies or ideological positions, it’s the same result as favoring the party which holds those policies and positions.
I guess Redwood doesn’t pay attention to the BBC coverage of US issues, either.
Yes…you might have seen this from Mardell commenting on crime rise in Stockton Cal….curious how he picks on one of the most crime ridden cities in US:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18699445
Data up to 2010
http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Stockton-California.html
A fuller report from the Huff Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/18/stockton-poor-poverty-crime-california_n_1346096.html?view=print&comm_ref=false
Yeah, I saw that bit of White House propaganda from Mardell last week. He dishonestly spun Stockton’s bankruptcy as being a symptom of the current financial crisis starting in 2008.
This is, of course, a lie, as I have previously shown. Stockton is bankrupt because of a decade of Democrat and public sector union-driven policies, nothing whatsoever to do with the credit crisis and all that. Other people’s money ran out sooner rather than later because of the Great Recession, but the cause of the unsustainable city debt is the same: Democrat and union policies. Mardell refuses to admit this – it’s possible he doesn’t know or believe it himself, which shows what a failure he is as a journalist. I don’t know whether or not he’s a blind ideologue or just a liar. Either way, once again we see that we simply cannot trust the BBC on US issues.
“I don’t know whether or not he’s a blind ideologue or just a liar.”
He could be both of course. Either (or neither) way, as you write “what a failure he is as a journalist”.
John Redwood and the rest of his neo-liberalist City prigs don’t care about this country Alan, or the BBC or anything else for that matter because of the massive wealth they have accrued which places them above the realities of everyday life, economic strife and the effects of Left-wing political chicanery; their type ceased to care about day-to-day politics a long time ago – their prime motive now is money not social conscience. Haven’t you ever wondered why the Tories are so far removed from public life and incompetent? It’s money… the upper echelons of the Tory party are driven by pure capitalist greed and the accompanying power and social status whilst Liebour (minus Blair & Mandelson) , although greedy and just as slippery, are driven by ideological power. Even after 13 years of Left-wing corruption, lies, sleaze, ineptitude and financial profligacy this shower of upper class Eton boys still can’t perform…. because their wealth and background obviates the need for being aware of what’s happening. The BBC and the rest of the Left-wing are rubbing their corrupt, lying and traitorous hands in glee over this useless bunch of upper class fops. That’s why many are defecting to UKIP, myself included; Nigel Farage, although a capitalist has a social conscience that can see through the BBC’s thin veil of political impartiality.
John Redwood started life with parents who lived on a Council Estate so if that makes him an Upper Class Toff then there are millions of them throughout Britain. Redwood got where he is through his own efforts, something which the class war warriors find inconvenient and therefore decide to overlook as it does not suit their propaganda.
OK, I’ll stand corrected on John Redwood but your points simply won’t wash with the majority of the Tories WHO are where they are as a result of privilege … period. And there are millions of upper class toffs in Britain; that’s the problem. I’m not a socialist by any means BUT I have no time for privilege either.
I have even less time for career politicans who have made themselves millionaires courtesy of the public purse.
Wow, you’re right… it’s amazing what you can find out on Wikipedia isn’t it?
Yes that may well be but being rich and greedy is more a state of mind than upbringing; he might have been born in a barn in somerset for all we know but money, in the end, will make a sinner of a man. The new rich, as it were, are some of the worst offenders in terms of self-interest and social aloofness.
I wonder if John Redwoods letter is subtly referring to the convulsions within British Mensa. I do not think John is either a scientist nor a Mensa member but the BBC’s censorship of the roll of Astronomy and Atmospheric Physics in Climate Change is causing a great deal of criticism and mockery of the BBC within British Mensa. The problem is no Members of Parliament are aware of why the AGW Theory violates the Scientific Method, other than Labour MP Graham Stringer, this is a problem with our members attempts to get a Parliamentary Committee to look into the BBC on this issue. An assumption (not a fact) is at the core of this theory, and this assumption has been proven wrong. Apart from reports of Mensa members complaining to the BBC Trust and Members of Parliament we in Mensa can not do much more. The Guardianistas at the BBC are unlikely to be intelligent enough to have any Mensa members amongst them, they do not send anyone to our science meetings at Oxford, or the Mensa Cambridge meetings. We can only advise people to read Report 5 of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, called, THE BBC AND CLIMATE CHANGE: A TRIPLE BETRAYAL. The GWPF is not a scientific body but it is independent from the government, so it is one of the few organisations that have not been corrupted by the repression of the political consensus. I also know that the fellows of the Royal Society are up to something after struggling to obtain the addresses of fellow fellows. The BBC will eventually get its comeuppance over its active support for this scientific fraud, but one thing is certain. You will never see a documentary on the BBC about the calibration of carbon dioxide warming on the surface of the Earth, presented by an Atmospheric Physicist.
So Mensa are taking the brave step of contradicting CAGW and therefore the BBC?
That explains the rash of anti-Mensa jokes recently on the BBC ‘comedy’ shows.
Unbelievable.
I had just finished reading Richard’s post and was about to write something along the lines of ‘Will be listening out for smearing of Mensa on Radio 4 then’ when I scrolled down to your post.
Their agenda is ruthless and relentless, and something really, really needs to be done.
Would that be Marcus Brigstocke?
Not sure, although Marcus ‘Frankensteins Monster’ Brigstoke would qualify for an organisation that was the opposite of Mensa. He’s thick enough.
“Marcus ‘Frankensteins Monster’ Brigstoke ”
Ha! The re-animated corpse of comedy.
There was one on QI recently based around the name ‘Mensa’ (table) and the original name for the organisation (Mens?) which was thought inappropriate. They then went off on one about IQ tests.
I’ve been trying to find the clip and will post it if I do.
Morgan Freeman — an elderly actor of color — has claimed the Obama is “”not the first black president”” … he means that the latter had a non black mother … you won’t find the BBC reporting that …
I always thought there was more potential to unify the nation by Obama claiming to be of ‘mixed race’. Claiming to be black, whilst appealing to white liberals and many other ethnic groups, must have alienated many whites by its deliberate airbrushing of his 50% white origins.
Comedian Chris Rock appeared on NBC’s “Today” show to promote his role in “Madagascar 3.”
“Today Show” host Ann Curry asked Rock what animal he could be if he could choose anything. After considering the lion (“king of the jungle and all that”) and the snake (“scare people, sssssss!”), Rock decided he’d stick with “Marty the Zebra”, joking that it was “in honor of our zebra president, black and white, white and black.” Rock added “I love our president, you know, but he’s black and white, he appeals to all,” Rock said. “That’s what I’m going for….We ignore the President’s whiteness, but it’s there, it’s there,” Rock smiled and said.
http://nation.foxnews.com/chris-rock/2012/06/07/chris-rock-we-ignore-presidents-whiteness-its-there
The more Hollywood and the media get people talking about race, the less people will be able to focus on the real issues at hand. It’s a clever tactic.
Smears, spin, mantras (note I didn’t say ‘lies’). They were the cornerstone of Labour’s rise to power and the tactics they successfully employed to ensure they stayed in power for so long. It stinks, but I’m afraid the Tories have got to fight hard and dirty, though without having to stoop as low as Blair, Brown and Co. (let’s face it, after 13 years there’s plenty of ammo) – if they are serious about governing with their own majority.
In an age of soundbites and goldfish-level attention spans, repeat loud and often ‘No more boom and bust’, ‘A new golden age for the City of London’, ‘Sorry, there’s no money left’ etc etc etc
Dear me, you forgot that old flame “Prudence” wasn’t she a humdinger?
Forgot about her! The split personality that is Brown courted Prudence when he was following Tory budget plans. The question is, who was his bird when he flipped and let rip on his tax/borrow/spend binge?
Many Tories have developed something akin to Stockholm Syndrome vis-a-vis the BBC. They have been maligned so systematically and for so long that they almost start to side with their captors