160 Responses to OPEN THREAD…

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  1. George R says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:04 am

    Exposing crimes of HSBC in supporting illegal Islamic interests.

    How much prominence will INBBC give to deceitful and illegal activities of the global bankers at HSBC in advancing the interests of Islamic supremacists of Iran, Saudi Arabia, al Qaeda, etc?

    “HSBC maintained ties with one of bin Laden’s chief jihad bankrollers”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/07/hsbc-maintained-ties-with-one-of-bin-ladens-chief-jihad-bankrollers.html

       7 likes

  2. Span Ows says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:06 am

    I knew it…seconds after I posted on the distant old Open Thread! 🙂

    reposted:

    Road deaths: UK news story…

    “Government criticised as deaths on UK roads go up”
    “The government has been criticised for a lack of leadership after the first increase in road deaths for nearly a decade.”
    6 more paragraphs…
    “Our correspondent says the coalition ditched national targets when it came to power…”
    ‘Shocking’ (subheading)
    …then you have to scroll down of course to get part of the truth:
    “Road deaths might have gone up but – with the exception of last year – the number of people killed or seriously hurt on our roads still remains the lowest since national records began.”

    and the “shocking” is in fact “It is shocking that road accidents are the main cause of death among young adults aged 16-24 …”

    Then one minute research by Ows reveals that the rise is only due to the fact that there was a massive fall in 2010 (over 15% down [were the Coalition praised for 7 months of that?] and traffic levels 2% down that year)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reported_Road_Casualties_Great_Britain

    Also, the image clearly reveals that during the first 2 New Labour terms roads deaths down-trend almost flat-lined

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Killed_on_British_Roads.png

       17 likes

    • It's all too much says:
      July 18, 2012 at 9:48 am

      Traditional labour manipulation of the statistics, cheer led by the BBC. By far and away the biggest influence on the data is the recording of minor accidents. These have lept up in response to ambulance chasing claims advertising (as has the incredible level of fraud – a favourite practice of some of our communities)

      On another note, I have not seen any sign of the enormous deathtoll predicted by the BBC when they had a field day at the govt’s plans to revise the ‘safety’ (Revenue) camera partnership rules.

      (Warning, pub-bore rant coming….)

      Camera based traffic safety and “ENFORCEMENT” systems have a lot to do with targetting the low hanging middle-class fruit. It has a great totalitarian ring to it doesn’t it ENFORCEMENT camera. A brilliant plan to enhance road safety and co-incidentally generate shed loads of cash – by creating a draconian system with no possible routes of appeal that targets people with money but ignores the criminal classes who frolic across the nation at will. It is brilliantly efficient as well I am astonished that a local authority can blag 60 quid from me – out of the 75 million who live in these festering over crowded islands – for having my bumper 2cm over a double yellow line at 4AM yet the entire might of the police and every other state entity cannot find any of the million (?) or so illeagal immigrants, or stop tarmac purveyors stealing war memorials and rail signalling cables, or stop internicine murders of 15 year olds on a platform at Victoria station during rush hour, or parents sticking their daughters head in plastic bags because hey went out with someone gthey disapproved of……….

      Rant over, BBC reviewer scanning this site, please can you think about something that interests the ‘hard working middle for a change’ can we have an alanysis of the enforcement related income generated by these technical means as
      a) a proportion of each local authority’s income
      b) a demographic (income class/nationality/gender/race etc) analysis of who is paying
      c) a demographic analysis of who is not paying

      Top this off with a review and analysis of the parking and revenue camera policies of each local and police authority (all public domain stuff)

      I think we could get that with 2 or 3 days work from an organisation with ÂŁ3.5bn to spend and 9t would be a real story with a genuine level of public interest. However, drivers are over-rich climate criminals and the research would certainly come up with off narrative wrong answers so lets forget it then and bang on about how the tories are killing the youth of today. (By the way what is the effect of “Trident” deaths in London in the same age range…)

         23 likes

      • johnnythefish says:
        July 18, 2012 at 4:44 pm

        ‘Tarmac purveyors’ – are they the same as ‘carnival people’?

           5 likes

    • chrisH says:
      July 18, 2012 at 4:34 pm

      And not a word about how many of those “young drivers” killed were
      a)uninsured
      b) speeding from the police when they died
      c) had no right to be on the road-no license, banned etc
      d) were on drugs or boozed up at the time.
      Far easier to blame the Tories, the nasty insurance industry….anybody but the “troubled and vulnerable young people” who recklessly ruined other peoples lives in the destruction of their own.
      The BBC simply can`t bear the facts-and no statistics will ever be allowed to pour cold water on the BBCs background noises of tomorrows brilliant brain surgeons being wiped out because the Tories set no targets-unlike that lovely Labour lot of old.

         10 likes

      • Nibor says:
        July 18, 2012 at 10:17 pm

        Is it any surprise that 18-24 year old males biggest cause of death would be road accidents ? There has to be a biggest cause of death by some means , even if its actually quite low in actual figures .
        We`re not in a world war , so that wouldn`t cause it , and there isn`t a pandemic . We are still in a (relatively) time of peace and prosperity , so what other cause could be the Biggest in this young and healthy sector of the population ? Tuberculosis , childbirth , old age , malnutrition .?
        Perhaps radiation from the TV ?

           2 likes

  3. Big Ben says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:22 am

    Just over a week before the start of the Olympics and the negativity of the coverage continues unabated.

    In the absence of any enthusiasm brought about by the 1st Class travel, accommodation and copious overseas expenses they are accustomed to every four years the Brother and Sisters have fallen back on their institutionalised anti English bias (extended to anything our country is currently associated with).

    Anyway enough of that, time for a News round-up headed of course by G4S.

       14 likes

  4. As I See It says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:27 am

    5 Live is in a quandary today. It can be an awkward mix juggling an interest in both sport and left-wing issues.

    On one hand the BBC enjoy flattering the ego of Keith Vaz. It is always fun having a pop at the Government trying to manage the Olympics (The Blair/Livingstone vanity project).

    But the Olympics are so dear to the heart of the Beeb that they worry that they are going too far in knocking it.

    So we have from Nicky Campbell and Rachel Burden repeated balancing references to large numbers of texts and tweets saying (the listener has to trust them on this) don’t be so negative! Leave the Olympics alone!

    Now I’m just guessing here (they don’t tell us about all the texts and tweets they receive do they?) but I reckon they get such messages asking them to be less negative when they are banging on about a lot of their favourite topics.

    I suggest they shut up about texts and tweets unless they are going to release full details.

    It is such a convenient BBC alibi. It weren’t me Guv, it was the tweets.

    Another example came up this week. An echo of this old story.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2110683/Tara-Palmer-Tomkinson-says-Im-drunk-Im-eccentric-rambling-radio-interview.html

    ‘And yesterday, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson sparked fresh fears for her health during a radio interview where listeners accused her of sounding ‘drunk’ and ‘wasted’.’

    Tara has now moaned that Bacon had bombarded her with questions on such left-field issues as Leveson, the Royal family and Ed Ball’s plan B. (sounds about par for the course). Richard Bacon was, she said, an arsehole for accusing her of being drunk.

    Our favourite bombastic trendy school boy naturally defended himself with the formula: I have no opinion, there is no editorial line – it’s all about the texters and tweeters!

       12 likes

  5. Alex says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:28 am

    Has anyone else noticed of late, the huge increase in ethnic minorities being planted onto the BBC and MSM? Every advert, Olympic interview and program is laden with ethnic minorities; talk about subliminal and surreptitious brainwashing. Anyone visiting the UK must be so ‘envious’ of the rich and wonderful diversity that we are ‘blessed’ with!
    The BBC’s Olympic coverage has been odious to date with it being purely an advert for political correctness and multiculturalism; I was watching an abhorrent but thankfully short feature on News 24 yesterday with three PC do-gooders who were obviously brainwashed into speaking about diversity and how these games ‘are a chance for ethnic minorities to ‘reach for the stars’ and all that crap; they were like robots, I swear; they were given a line and told to stick to it.
    Why can’t the Left just leave it alone for goodness sake. I don’t mind a few different cultures but I am sick and tired of these PC brainwashed robots talking about crap which was imposed on the British people; I am English/British and this is England/Britain AND not some part of the Middle East. It’s OK for the bed-wetting. flower-picking lefties to praise diversity because they all live in the west end where they don’t have to worry about it.

       38 likes

    • Umbongo says:
      July 18, 2012 at 10:10 am

      “Why can’t the Left just leave it alone for goodness sake”

      Because that’s the way they work – on and on and on and on . . . until the subliminal reaction to any piece of news is of a piece with the lefty narrative:-
      hot weather ==> climate change;
      wet weather ==> climate change;
      athletic excellence ==> ethnic athlete;
      racism ==> whitey;
      child grooming ==> “man”;
      terrorism-trained in Pakistan = => Briton;
      victim = => migrant.
      You’d almost think there was a concerted plan.

         31 likes

      • Scrappydoo says:
        July 18, 2012 at 12:43 pm

        I remember going to France in the 1970s and enjoying the complete difference. Apart from the Architecture, most noticeable were the French cars which were totaly different. You go to France today and the cars are the same as here. The lefties dream is that people will be the same the world over. It seems that multiculturism is good for the U.K. but why is it not good for Africa or Japan ? What a dull world it will be when we visit Japan in the future and are not met by Japanese faces.

           18 likes

        • Reed says:
          July 18, 2012 at 2:44 pm

          Homogeneity through diversity.

          Like so much of leftist ideology, it’s tied up with contradiction and hypocrisy.

             11 likes

      • Alex says:
        July 18, 2012 at 2:13 pm

        I whole heartedly agree!

           7 likes

    • Mat says:
      July 18, 2012 at 11:03 am

      The BBC are true racists they only see skin and race they define everyone by those and repeatedly point it out only Nazis and the KKK are even close to the beeb on this and the same goes for sexual persuasion and religion you know all those things we the public are told don’t matter and we shouldn’t care about !

         11 likes

    • ReefKnot says:
      July 18, 2012 at 11:03 am

      They agonised over the sea of White faces during the Queen’s Jubilee, so now is their chance to get their own back. Pathetic of course, but
      that’s the BBC for you.

         29 likes

      • London Calling says:
        July 18, 2012 at 11:32 pm

        I was trying to count the number of hijabs celebrating the Jubilee – in a sea of 100,000 I couldnt see one.

           4 likes

        • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
          July 19, 2012 at 2:02 pm

          No, they were all at home having not been given permission by their male guardian to go out that day!

             4 likes

    • Phobic-ist says:
      July 18, 2012 at 11:40 am

      It’s not just of late, Alex, but you’ve pretty much nailed it as far as I’m concerned. You’ll also notice that in ANY local or national news item (and not just the BBC), where the cameras are out and about in the streets, that a heavy emphasis is placed on the ethnicity of those 1) In shot, or 2) asked about a particular issue. It’s to convince the plebs that they live in a multicultural nirvana. Complete crap, of course but it’s been going on for years. Take a look at any ad on commercial telly and it’s unusual not to see a brown-skinned individual taking part. I don’t give a flying fork what colour someone is but I do when it involves massive overrrepesentation and skews reality.

         21 likes

    • Dave666 says:
      July 18, 2012 at 6:22 pm

      I’ve noted it for sometime and point it out to every one I can. See also the previous comments on Newsround presenters.

         5 likes

    • Deborah says:
      July 18, 2012 at 8:17 pm

      I know it was an item on Channel 4 News but they were showing a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare that somebody locked up with Nelson Mandele had been given and is now on public view – so we just had to have a woman in a headscarf looking at the displayed object.

         7 likes

    • ian says:
      July 19, 2012 at 1:11 pm

      Alex, my experience from my school days in the sixties was that my female teachers were far superior to their male counterparts. This was probably due to the fact that in those days teaching was one of the few jobs open to intelligent women. Feminism has changed things so much that these women can now take a whole range of intellectually challenging jobs previous only open to men. I am a research scientist and have come across many women who have achieved great science outcomes and others who manage complex research and engineering programmes.

      There are some dreadful women in parliament like Harriet Harman (not Harmen) but there are several men just as bad.

      I note you are a fan of real ale, but going by your patronising tone I suspect you had one too many sherbets!

         2 likes

  6. noggin says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:29 am

    “dame” nikki campo 5 live phone in.
    a wonderful line up, of erm “deep guys”
    to add excusery pap! … to the
    ahem! “issue” of … “troubled” families.

    must be a slow news day, if you ignore the epidemic
    of muslim paedostani gangs eh!

    i think the trouble means, a root drug/alcohol abuse, uncared for children issue and the criminality that follows.
    the real “trouble” is for the VICTIMS surely of those families.

       15 likes

  7. Wayne X says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:32 am

    The BBC claims the moral high ground. So why are so many of its stars tax avoiders?

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2175046/The-BBC-claims-moral-high-ground-So-stars-tax-avoiders.html#ixzz20xaGtD46

    I don’t usually post links but this is BBC hypocrisy at its most sublime.

    So, who can we ask to aggressively interview and interrupt and talk over these overpaid, arrogant, self-opinionated, muggers of the British taxpayer.

    Let their own words hang them and ask the question back at them; “how many nurses or police officers would this tax avoidance pay for”?

    If only we had a government, of any colour, race or creed that would rid us of this turbulent corporation.

       18 likes

  9. noggin says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:44 am

    George posted a great Obama link yesterday
    Obama’a insult to British people and to Winston Churchill-

    http://web.gbtv.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=22985443&source=GBTV

    suffice to say … not on al bbc anytime soon.

    I think it is more than that, it was Churchill, more than anyone around, who had Islams number in those days, and by that i mean more than just its a supremacist, violent ideology,(which it was and is) … but, also the inner workings of why Islamic societies were such an abject failure,
    and that hasn t changed, as the 20th century progressed, it became more obvious than ever that Islam had failed, Islamic civilisations could not compete with non-Muslim civilisations, in fact, if the Saudis could not dig money out of the ground now, they would be stone age, (they are not far off intellectually), …

    But … imagine you are a religious Muslim, if you look at that; and if you believe that you were mean t to rule the world, that your way is best, that your way is right; you are supreme, then how? can the infidels have all this?
    How can their culture be superior?. and that is where the hatred of the west comes from … their own retarded ideology

    This is Churchill on Islam … prescient

    “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”

    oldie but goody and yup!
    I do wish he would stop sitting on the fence
    thinking about it, if i was a muslim President i might send it back too, who wants to be reminded of that.

    oh but hes not muslim? … ok … but ask yourself, would he do anything different?, cosying up to the MB, aiding that nightmare of the “arab spring”, preventing his own security even naming the growing islamic issue, pandering to the muslim erm “world”? in Cairo, overtly protecting islam in the media etc etc.

       22 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 18, 2012 at 1:05 pm

      In this case, I’m thinking more of the old adage of don’t ascribe maliciousness to that which can be explained by incompetence (or words to that effect). There’s been plenty of maliciousness from the President on many issues, but even more incompetence, especially when it comes to foreign policy.

         9 likes

  10. Umbongo says:
    July 18, 2012 at 10:26 am

    Delightful confirmation this morning that the coalition is no different from its predecessor. Today brought in “Louise Casey, head of Troubled Families Policy, [to] share her thoughts on what the government can do to solve the problem of abuse and violence which is passed on “from generation to generation””
    Yes the same Louise Casey who was doing the same thing under Labour.
    OK, I can (just about) forgive her demotics (“sat” for “sitting” and dropping off the final “T” where appropriate). But here is a classic case of putting the liberal in to “solve” a problem caused by liberals. “Troubled” families indeed – scrotes more like. As if splurging on one-to-one social worker/scrote families arrangements will solve anything (except provide work for the social worker).
    One thing which hasn’t been tried since the 50s is applying the full severity of the criminal law to criminal behaviour. That plus stopping all benefits to the 120,000 “troubled” scrote-families who continue with their “troubled” behaviour might work – it’s certainly cheaper. Was this solution mooted in the interview? Of course not – this is the BBC – this is the political class – this is taxpayer-funded largesse – this is portraying scrotes as “victims” – this is crapola.

       18 likes

    • Alex says:
      July 18, 2012 at 10:40 am

      Please women (I do love you dearly, especially after a few real ales!) look away now because this is really going to offend you!

      I am a former teacher and I can tell you that, in my experience, education and social services have seen a massive decline because of the rise of feminisation and wishy-washy women in the work place- the decline is almost in direct ration with the influx of young females in the classroom and local authorities. Feminists think they know best, can’t discipline young men or women and prefer multi-tasking i.e. paperwork and administration. Many also cannot handle men in the work place now, especially if men are in a position of seniority. Equality and women’s rights have destroyed societal discipline and it’s going to get a whole lot worse! Harriet Harmen is all the evidence you need to support my point.

      These layabouts, rioters and unruly teenagers need HARD discipline and this ain’t gonna come from the likes of Harriet Harmen! It’s gonna come from ex-forces personnel and middle age males with a strict presence.
      Right, just waiting for all of the hate-male from my many, many female admirers!

         29 likes

    • ReefKnot says:
      July 18, 2012 at 11:16 am

      Umbongo – Agreed. They will try anything that will not work except the obvious solution which will. I remain bewildered by the staggering incompetence of our Governments.

         3 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:
      July 18, 2012 at 1:36 pm

      What struck me in that interview was that here we had a person who advised the last government on troubled families and yet only when this government asks her to do the same does she notice that trouble tends to run in families for generations.

      It reminded me of nothing more than Anne Elk coming to the considered conclusion that “all brontosauruses are thin at one end, much, much thicker in the middle and then thin again at the other”.

      To be fair to Humphrys, he did point out that most of us could have told her that 20 years ago. But this is the type of cretin whom I as a taxpayer continually have to pay as she wanders from one government job to another, stating the bleeding obvious.

         10 likes

      • Lloyd Reith says:
        July 18, 2012 at 5:22 pm

        She’s got close on ÂŁ500m to spend on the ego trip. And do you think when it’s all gone society will be perfect ?

           6 likes

    • johnnythefish says:
      July 18, 2012 at 4:36 pm

      ‘Troubled’ replaced ‘dysfunctional’, which was obviously far too judgemental.

         6 likes

      • chrisH says:
        July 18, 2012 at 4:50 pm

        Troubled families eh?…as opposed to troubling or troublesome families?
        As ever, the focus is always with the perps and never those who have to put up with these ranting, drugged-up sociopaths with an agenda, and oblivious to any reason or common sense….very much like the BBC itself of course!
        This 8.10 piece on Today seemed very co-ordinated and prepackaged…and Humphrys said that Radio 4 will be following up on the “progress made”.
        I bet they will-and we can all write it for them already can`t we?
        Maybe if the Gadhaffis, the Husseins and Bin Ladens were seen as “troubled families”..then they too could get off scot-free with all that they did…genetic, inter-generational maan!
        Personally, the Dimblebys the Kinnocks , Milibands and Benns of this world have been troubling families for way too long…and cost us far more than the occassional turd through the letter box!

           8 likes

        • It's all too much says:
          July 18, 2012 at 5:48 pm

          Troubled is a good new term. I love the way that the word “vulnerable” has been perverted by the new PC puritans and it is now used universally to mean exactly the opposite of its traditional meaning. Quick test which of these two individuals is officially ‘vulnerable’ to crime?
          1) a frail 79 year old lady with cataracts and a hearing problem walking home through a rough estate at 8pm on a dark slushy November evening with four tins of cat food, a half loaf and a tin of spam in her shopping bag and the ÂŁ3.74 left from her pension that she is saving for her electricity bill in her purse.

          or

          2) The 19 year old illiterate watching her. He is an aggresive and actively predatory scrote who started his career as a disruptive bully at schoool and now has a long list of convictions, a chaotic personal life with three kids by three different girls, an expensive drug habit, ‘anger management issues’, a limited or non-existant sense of empathy and an over inflated sense of entitlement.

          Yes it is 2, as in BBC land and in the public sector “vulnerable” is the official euphemism for ‘will almost certainly re-offend as he doesn’t give a s**t’

             15 likes

  11. PhilO'TheWisp says:
    July 18, 2012 at 11:26 am

    A tough week for the BBBC so far then and its only Wednesday. Inflation down, unemployment down, ÂŁ9bn investment for the railways, ÂŁ40bn Government underwriting guarantee for construction, so much good news for the country. On the other hand BBBC implicated in dodgy tax deals for its “talent LOL”. PANIC! They had to burn the phone lines this morning to get enough negative Jeremiahs to neutralise the positive. Every silver lining has a cloud, eh?

       19 likes

    • Beeboidal says:
      July 18, 2012 at 11:46 am

      ÂŁ40bn Government underwriting guarantee for construction

      Live took a pop at this – “Is it right to put taxpayers on the hook for this?”. Since when did the BBC worry about taxpayers? This falls into the ‘if it’s a Tory policy, oppose it’ category.

         18 likes

      • johnnythefish says:
        July 18, 2012 at 4:30 pm

        Never questioned putting taxpayers on the hook for child trust funds, fruit and veg handouts for pregnant women etc etc.

        Oh, and what about the ÂŁ12.5 billion squandered on a non-existent NHS computer system? – Move along there, nothing to see!

           9 likes

    • It's all too much says:
      July 18, 2012 at 2:39 pm

      Here is a question that the BBC hasn’t asked – what is a better use of borrowed money, ÂŁ10bn on a two week soviet style state celebration of ‘sport’ (including the all important VIPs, Zil lanes and death penalties for wearing any shoes manufactured by non-sponsors) or an upgrade to the national rail infrastructure that will last for 40 – 50 years?

      The BBC had a fit on Monday saying ‘who will pay for the rail upgrade’ – FFS at least we get something for the increased rail bill, all we get from the Olympics is a gigantic pain in the arse in travel disruption and some useless White Elephant infrastructure in the form of over sized facilities that a) no one will use, b) no one can afford to run and maintain. Anyone remember the last time there was a major event using the Olympic facilities in Munich (’72) Montreal (’76) Moscow (’80) LA (’84) Seoul (’88) Barcelona (’92), Atlanta (’96) Sydney (’00) Athens (’04 – do you think they have even looked at the credit card bill for that one yet!!) and Peking ’08. In cost benefit terms any additional events must cost hunderds of millions of pouns per hour (total maint and running costs divided by time utilised)

      What sort of an idiot would agree to such a thing? What sorts of idiots would think that it was a good idea? (Hint the BBC and the Labour party megalomaniacs are fond of Zils and useless public ‘investment’)

      BBC Trolls, here is another suggested investigative programme for you (I am full of good ideas and am giving these to you for free) Lets get a journo to swan off on a freebee to all the old olympic venues, see their state and review their post games usage and maintainence costs. Lots of 1st class travel, hotels, exotic nigh-life and a jumbo exes bill are available, plus it might just demonstrate just how insane expensive, pointless and totalitarian the whole olympic farrago is.

         10 likes

      • Nicked emus says:
        July 18, 2012 at 2:56 pm

        Anyone remember the last time there was a major event using the Olympic facilities

        Picking one at random …
        Twenty years on, Barcelona Olympic venues defy crisis

        The Olympic venues host over 150 events per year, said Ignasi Armengol, the director of Barcelona Municipal Services, the municipal company charged with managing the installations.

        http://www.france24.com/en/20120618-twenty-years-barcelona-olympic-venues-defy-crisis

        However, digging a bit deeper it appears that Barcelona did better than Sydney or Athens

        The best Olympics regenerate neglected districts, inspire children to take up sport and leave a city furnished with world-class venues and rolling in Olympic dollars – Barcelona is a good example of this. The worst are poisoned chalices that leave a nation in debt and a city overrun by white elephants – look no further than Athens.

        http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/after-the-party-what-happens-when-the-olympics-leave-town-901629.html

           5 likes

        • It's all too much says:
          July 18, 2012 at 3:51 pm

          Thanks I stand corrected re Barcelona – what of the other nine games?

          before I concede that I am completely wrong about Barcelona here are some very crude sums for you – the France 24 article said that the Barcelona Olympics cost 9.8bn Euros in 1992. Excluding the costs of ongoing upkeep, the cost of servicing E9.8bn and opportunity costs of E9.8bn over 20 years (both huge figures), staffing, heating administration etc for 20 and assuming that they really have had 150 events a year every year (and these not the under 12 Seville netball semi-finals) then…….

          150 events * 20 years = 3000
          E9,800,000,000/3000=E3.267 million per event to date. Assume that all the venues are still running at 150 events per year (including thinks like canoe white water courses and all the obscure stuff) and has no costs (I am discounting income from events assuming that this balances operating costs -and this is insanely optomistic thing to do) and the entire complex runs at full capacity for another 40 years with absolutely no need for refurbishment or major upgrades, then you get the modest cost of E1.089 million per event. Say that I am still being wildly pessimistic and that I have forgotten about income generation from other sources and other economic benefits of the games whatever thay may have been – say these were 50% of the cost of the games in the first place then every one of 9,000 post olympic events over 60 years would still have a fixed cost of E544,444 just for the initial build and running costs of the 1992 games.

          This does not seem like a good return on investment to me

             9 likes

            • It's all too much says:
              July 18, 2012 at 5:20 pm

              Thanks very much really interesting
              and kudos for finding it so quickly, I did say that I conceded the point and my sums were crude. Nevertheless, the Barcelona benefits case is still based upon broader economic benefits rather than cash. I still hold that cash costs – cash income is negative. Cash is the only measure worth considering as it is the money that has to borrow and then re-paid (as we are completely skint). In economic terms I would have a big, notional benefit from a much higher standard of living, shorter commute, access to cultural facilities, access to tip top hospitals etc if I borrowed money to rent a house with an underground pool in Belgravia. It wouldnt be sensible, even if I sub let some rooms for a bit of income.

              I am still to be convinced that the London games will be anything other than a vast hole in the ground stuffed with ÂŁ10,000,000,000 borrowed from China and that thsi would have been better spent if it had to be spent, with better economic return on a rail upgrade or indeed virtually anything else.

                 7 likes

              • Nicked emus says:
                July 18, 2012 at 6:19 pm

                I guess that in the coming years we will find out if we have done a Barcelona, or an Athens. I like to think the former; I fear the latter.

                That being said I love big sporting events so am delighted we won the bid — and managed to poke the French in the eye at the same time.

                Our medal tally in Beijing put us 4th in the world. We have a reasonable expectation at beating that tally. It would be great if we did.

                   2 likes

                • Reed says:
                  July 18, 2012 at 6:36 pm

                  I kind of agree. I know there are great concerns about the cost, but perhaps we ought to try and be a bit more positive about these things. We’re often too quick as a nation to resort to cynicism and see only the downsides. I suppose, with memories of the Millenium Dome in mind, we naturally expect a disaster of embarassing proportions. I’m hoping the games will be a success.

                     0 likes

                • Span Ows says:
                  July 19, 2012 at 5:28 pm

                  Many (most) of those events would be footy , up to only two years ago the old Olympic stadium was home to Espanyol (Barcelona’s football team if you ignore the jumped up pretentious prima-donas at FCB 😉 )

                     0 likes

    • johnnythefish says:
      July 18, 2012 at 4:32 pm

      Yep, unemployment dropped DESPITE continuing mass immigration. Can we hear you say that, please, at the BBC?

         5 likes

      • Dave666 says:
        July 18, 2012 at 6:31 pm

        There are many reasons why “unemployed” figures can rise and fall. If your partner works you will only get JSA for the 6 Months of your JSA (Contributions). Of course 16-17 who are not estranged do not count, nor are other cases such as being on training. Then there are the cases claiming as sick and finally manipulation of statistical data.

           2 likes

  12. Beeboidal says:
    July 18, 2012 at 11:35 am

    Very disappointed listening to the news this morning. Occupy has not yet occupied Broadcasting House. Such a target -rich tax avoiding environment must be high on their list of priorities. Or perhaps they know where their lefty bread is buttered?

    While I wait for news, I play ‘Which Beeboid Would You Most Like To Be An Odious Tax Avoiding Lefty Hypocrite’.
    Is it too much to wish for Comrade Mason? Top lefty credentials never stopped Ken Livingstone, did they?

       16 likes

    • johnnythefish says:
      July 18, 2012 at 4:23 pm

      Apparently 148 presenters are involved. But will we ever see the names given the BBC are holding their own ‘internal inquiry’?

         10 likes

  13. DavidLamb says:
    July 18, 2012 at 11:49 am

    Some people might be aware that the BBC has it in for dogs. They withdrew from Crufts – an established British institution- ran two biased programmes on Pedigree dogs, with the intention of seeking more nanny state legislation on breeding. Now they have crossed the line with an irresponsible, ill informed, piece on dangerous dogs, which does nothing to add to Parliament’s concern with responsible dog ownership and repeal of breed specific legislation . Here is a petition demanding an apology from the BBC.
    “As a uk law demands it..we have to pay for the BBC..if it does not report fairly or legally then we need apologies or a change in the law to abolish the fee….to broadcast such an appalling one sided gutter of journalism added to the crass and insulting and in sensitive comment by the presenter Alex Jones shows how far this once mighty institution has sunk….”

    http://www.change.org/petitions/bbc-issue-an-immediate-public-apology?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_action_box&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=24100670

       8 likes

    • Earls Court says:
      July 18, 2012 at 1:35 pm

      Muslims don’t like dogs, might that have something to do with it. The spineless lefty cowards at the IBBC don’t want upset Islam.

         16 likes

      • DavidLamb says:
        July 18, 2012 at 4:37 pm

        Yes, as I understand the Haddith, angels won’t go into a house if there is a dog there, or even a picture of a dog. Black dogs are devils. But thanks to the arrival of democracy in Egypt, the most recent contribution from the Brotherhood is a Fatwa against killing frogs. Apparently they croak praise to Allah. Next year the Frog of the Year Show will replace BBC coverage of Crufts

           8 likes

      • Zemplar says:
        July 18, 2012 at 5:06 pm

        I was queueing at my local post office the other day. A couple of people back was a bloke with a golden Labrador, sitting on the ground. Then there was a gap of about ten feet in the queue, then a woman in a niqab and a bloke in a dress with a beard. No ‘tache. They stared constantly at the dog.

           12 likes

        • London Calling says:
          July 18, 2012 at 11:39 pm

          A Dog a Day keeps the Muslims at bay.
          Sounds like the dog is a good investment

             5 likes

          • wallygreeninker says:
            July 19, 2012 at 9:32 pm

            Don’t get me going on Islam and dogs: a dog may be a man’s best friend but a Muslim is definitely not a dog’s best friend.

               0 likes

    • Dave666 says:
      July 18, 2012 at 6:35 pm

      Oh yes I kicked off big style at the BBC when they ran thoses programs, about pedigree dogs. I used to have a Rhodesian Ridgeback my brother still does. I was not at all in the slightest amused by thoses programs.

         3 likes

  14. Biodegradable says:
    July 18, 2012 at 11:50 am

    According to the BBC, Israel has no capital city

    Taxpayer’s money once again funds the delegitimisation of Israel – this time via the Olympics

       10 likes

    • deegee says:
      July 18, 2012 at 12:56 pm

      But as the article points out Palestine has a capital and it’s East Jerusalem!

         6 likes

      • Biodegradable says:
        July 18, 2012 at 2:49 pm

        Remember the BBC actually apologised to Muslims for stating that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel. They’re being extra careful this time.

           4 likes

      • George R says:
        July 18, 2012 at 6:35 pm

        “Israel and the Olympics”
        [Excerpt]:-
        “As reported in ‘the Commentator’, whereas the BBC website lists the capital of Palestine as East Jerusalem, it remains undecided about Israel’s capital, (unlike the Guardian, who think it’s Tel Aviv.) It is the only country whose capital is not named.

        “It is of course 40 years since 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by terrorists at the Munich Olympic Games. If you live in the UK you might like to ask your MP to sign EDM 100”:

        http://hurryupharry.org/2012/07/18/israel-and-the-olympics/

           2 likes

    • deegee says:
      July 18, 2012 at 2:09 pm

      Screengrab of how the BBC sees Israel and Palestine.
      cpyd365

         0 likes

    • Dave s says:
      July 18, 2012 at 3:00 pm

      Denying Israel a capital city is effectively denying it exists as a state. But then I realised this is the BBC viewpoint anyway. For the life of me I cannot understand why Israel just does not expel all the BBC reporters.

         9 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 19, 2012 at 2:45 pm

      The anti-Israel bias at the BBC is such that Israel is negatively affected by their output at every opportunity, although the BBC disputes this.

         0 likes

  15. Brother DuQuette says:
    July 18, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    the BBC presenting a one-sided, anti-Tory, Alex Salmond response to the news of Scotland going back into recession:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-18882137

    When the economy in Scotland is going well Mr Salmond is happy to take all credit… however when it all goes pear shaped the insufferable man blames Westminster!

       11 likes

  16. Richard Pinder says:
    July 18, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    I was surprised to find that the BBC invited the author of The Hockey Stick Illusion, Andrew Montford to have a say on the Jeremy Vine Show, but no mention of Piers Corbyn’s approach with the Hale magnetic cycle or the predictions of Weatheraction. There was the mention of the fact that a few months ago the consensus was that we would get hotter drier summers making the current drought worse. The consensus today is that we will get cooler wetter summers due to retreating Arctic Ice, which I believe has been advancing since 2007.

       8 likes

    • johnnythefish says:
      July 18, 2012 at 4:19 pm

      The AGW lobby are getting desperate now people can see their alarmist predictions have failed to materialise so their new tactic is to try and make a connection between AGW and ‘extreme’ weather events – and the b-BBC duly oblige.

      The time allocated by judicious and unbiased chairing of the debate by Vine I reckoned roughly was 4 to 1 in favour of the warmists – a warmist scientist, who first gave ‘evidence’ (note: no contra view from a ’sceptical’ scientist) and ever-present BBC favourite, The Moonbat. The non-alarmist view was represented by Andrew Montford, author of ‘The Hockey Stick Illusion’.

      The Moonbat’s tactic was to talk as long as he could, which Vine pretty much allowed with barely an interruption whilst providing unbiased feeds such as ‘and this is extreme weather is due to the warming caused by what – the CO2 that man has been pumping into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution’ (statement not question). The Moonbat was allowed, of course, to parrot the new, improved propaganda that whilst there is no proven connection between single extreme weather events and AGW (but the theory is, of course, almost beyond doubt the way he argued it), what is agreed is that global warming is man-made. He was even allowed to spout the crap behind the discredited hockey stick (temperatures had been steady for hundreds of years until the industrial revolution then they just took off).

      In contrast, the short time Montford had to put his view across Vine was into challenging mode and, of course, adopted the usual Humphrys-style tone reserved for people who don’t go along with the BBC world view. Admittedly, though, Montford’s performance was poor given so many open goals at his mercy.

      So no challenge from Vine to The Moonbat on why he is now embracing cold wet summers as a sign of AGW when they told us summers would be hot and dry (get out the vines and tropical plants), and that winters would be warm and wet (some children already born will not see snow in their lifetime), why temperatures have remained flat for 15 years (remember the Climategate e-mail from Kevin Trenberth ‘We can’t account for the lack of warming and it’s a travesty’?)

      In summary, instead of challenging the warmists on their failed predictions and deliberate manipulation of data to aid their desperate cause, he followed the BBC line.

      Pure, undiluted, brainwashing bias.

      The BBC: slowly leading you to a UN socialist, enviro-fascist world state. UN Agenda 21 – you should be scared, very scared.

         14 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:
        July 18, 2012 at 6:13 pm

        The BBC Guardianista World of wishful thinking.

        (1) March 2012: The Consensus is that we will have hot dry summers.

        (2) July 2012: The Consensus is we will have cool wet summers.

        (3) An assumption that man-made warming was 0.76 Kelvin is better than a calibration of Man-made warming of 0.01 Kelvin using the Chemical method.

        (4) An assumption that a 100 millibar increase in atmospheric CO2 was totally man made is better than the fact that most of the increase in the CO2 was caused by the Medieval warm period which peaked about 800 years ago, caused by deep ocean thermal inertia as proved by both ice core data and oceanic data, this is proved by Carbon-14 levels that show that only 4 percent of the CO2 in the Atmosphere is from Volcanic or Man-made sources, which means a maximum of 15 percent of the 100 millibar increase in CO2 was from man-made sources.

           6 likes

        • johnnythefish says:
          July 18, 2012 at 8:23 pm

          Well, who’s going to argue with that?

          Plus the assumption of positive feedback inherent in the IPCC models which has failed to materialise – in fact, the opposite is happening…

          http://climatedepot.com/a/16681/Greenpeace-cofounder-Dr-Patrick-Moore-Thank-goodness-we-came-along–reversed-150-millionyear-trend-of-reduced-CO2-levels-in-global-atmosphere-Long-live-the-humans

          …in other words, negative feedback, which is typically what happens in physics when natural imbalances occur (according to my rudimentary understanding – you will explain it better).

          But, as many of us know, this is nothing to do with climate and everything to do with the long term socialist agenda.

             4 likes

          • Richard Pinder says:
            July 18, 2012 at 10:27 pm

            You won’t find a formula for feedback, because it is just a piece of religious filler, put into the assumptions to fill gaps between facts. Look on Google scholar for the (Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics, Gerhard Gerlich, 2009). and the paper (Unified Theory of Climate, Ned Nikolov & Karl Zeller, 2011) for real simple explanation of the Climates of Planetary Atmospheres.

               2 likes

      • NotaSheep says:
        July 20, 2012 at 8:55 am

        If you think that interview was bad, try and find Richard Bacon’s interview of / rant at James Delingpole.

           0 likes

  17. Alex says:
    July 18, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    Mark ‘Left-wing’ Thompson is delighted that the BBC has been chosen to exclusively host the Olympics to 2020… Well there ain’t exactly a hell of a lot of competition out there, is there?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18885424

       5 likes

  18. Fred Bloggs says:
    July 18, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    Not certain which of the two is the most repugnant; Ken or the bBC. http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=49671&c=1 Nice to see one being found out beyond any doubt.

       3 likes

  19. George R says:
    July 18, 2012 at 4:30 pm

    Not an IMMIGRATION story for BBC-NUJ:

    “Romanian beggars wire West End proceeds home – hours after police taskforce is announced”

    http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/romanian-beggars-wire-west-end-proceeds-home–hours-after-police-taskforce-is-announced-7956149.html

       6 likes

  20. George R says:
    July 18, 2012 at 4:49 pm

    “Revenue ‘turning a blind eye’ to BBC tax avoiders: MPs demand crackdown on ‘immoral’ financial arrangements.
    “List of 148 stars who are paid ‘off the books’ thought to include Fiona Bruce and Jeremy Paxman.
    “Arrangement potentially saves BBC millions in national insurance contributions.”
    By JASON GROVES

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175113/Revenue-turning-blind-eye-BBC-tax-avoiders-MPs-demand-crackdown-immoral-financial-arrangements.html#ixzz20zPxFh2H

       2 likes

  21. Beeboidal says:
    July 18, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    5Live have been lamenting the drop in unemployment last month. They started with ‘yes, but the number of long term unemployed is up’. Then they moved onto ‘yes, but the number of people receiving Job Seekers Allowance is up’.
    They are now onto ‘yes, but overall trend hides regional upward increases in places such as Yorkshire & Humberside.’

    To illustrate the latter, they talked to an unemployed man in
    man in Humberside, Matt Whale. What the listener wasn’t told is that Matt Whale is a little bit more than just an unemployed man.

    It’s not the first time I’ve flagged up similar deception by 5Live, and I dare say it won’t be the last.

       12 likes

  22. Fred Bloggs says:
    July 18, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    Spotted this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18888241, so Parliament scrutiny committee must see all changes to immigration. Wonder if they saw anything from the last Labour gov, when they gave the country open borders.

       8 likes

  23. George R says:
    July 18, 2012 at 5:28 pm

    Of course, within its massive global broadcasting empire, INBBC propagandises for specific Islamic organisations in specific parts of the world, be they Hamas, Hezbollah, Muslim Brotherhood, etc.

    For SYRIA, can we expect INBBC to increasingly plug the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), as it does MB in Egypt?

    “Syrian Muslim Brotherhood: 30 years after failed uprising, victory could be ours”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/07/syrian-muslim-brotherhood-30-years-after-failed-uprising-victory-could-be-ours.html

    At this rate, and with its ongoing programme to Islamise E.U and UK, the INBBC is a leading exponent of global Islamisation.

       7 likes

  24. will says:
    July 18, 2012 at 8:17 pm

    lest anyone get the impression that the nature of today’s atrocity in Syria means our government is supporting, and the boy Assad is opposing, Al-Qaeda, the BBC tells us that it never happened

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18894681

       3 likes

  25. George R says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:44 pm

    A word from BBC-NUJ’s chum, Mr Livingstone:

    “Ken Livingstone: an apology”

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100171491/ken-livingstone-an-apology/

       2 likes

  26. Barry says:
    July 18, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    An appeal.

    Can anyone direct me to any current affairs sites/blogs/whatever which are not infested with the depressing, negative, whining, cynical, sneering, nihilistic jerks that this country seems to specialise in? I’m not asking for Walt Disney but this “everything is crap and we’re all doomed” routine is becoming extremely tedious. This is NOT a thinly veiled criticism of Biased BBC.

    I know it’s off topic, even though the BBC is playing its part.

       1 likes

    • johnnythefish says:
      July 18, 2012 at 10:59 pm

      Well, if you could explain why everything isn’t crap and we’re not all doomed, that would be a start.

      Otherwise, sorry – Eurostar to Paris looks your best short-term bet.

      (Written partially tongue in cheek.)

         3 likes

  27. Andrew Webb says:
    July 18, 2012 at 10:41 pm

    Not sure which of the “house rules” my recent posting had broken, but methinks the folks at thye beeb are being a touch sensitive concerning all things Marcus Agius…

    Your post was considered to have broken the following House Rule:

    “We reserve the right to fail comments which…

    Break the law or condone or encourage unlawful activity. This includes breach of copyright, defamation and contempt of court.”

    For more information about the House Rule your comment broke, please visit –
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/faq/house_rules_info.shtml#defamatory

    You can read the House Rules in full here –
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/faq/house_rules.shtml

    Please do not reply to this email. If you wish to appeal against a moderation decision, please visit –
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/faq/checking_messages.shtml#decision

    Please note that anyone who seriously or repeatedly breaks the House Rules may have action taken against their account without further warning.

    Regards,
    BBC Moderation Team.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards

    URL of content (now removed):

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbpointsofview/F1951574?thread=8368176&post=113098234#p113098234

    Subject:

    Marcus Agius

    Posting:

    I did not learn about this until quite recently. The BBC have been employing Marcus Agius, a known manipulator of financial markets, with all the misery-making this entails, for ÂŁ47,000 for 28 days work to advise the BBC trust.

    I would like to ask the BBC why they are paying this person so much money , when so many licence payers are struggling? Ask most people in the street their opinion of such a person who has presided over fiddling of interest rates, and they would probably (and not unreasonably) say that it has been of a criminal nature. Barclays has been defrauding the public out of countless millions of pounds, yet this gentleman has been their chairperson. How much he knew we probably won’t know, but he has had the ultimate responsibility.

    How can the BBC think that he is the right kind of person to advise the BBC? Something is quite wrong here but it gets worse. When we listen to the news reports, we have seen like likes of Robert Peston reporting quite forcefully on this topic about Barclays, and rightly so, but nobody is pointing out the blindngly obvious conflict of interest here – that the BBC pay this Barclays person substantial sums of money, while taking advice fom him, all the while talking about whats wrong with Barclays. This is strange.

    How can they be commenting about what Barclays / Agius has been doing, which is clearly criminal activity by persons who think they’re above the law, when at the same time they are paying them this money? The BBC should be exposing much more than what they are currently doing.

    Can anyone at the BBC please provide a little feedback?

       3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 19, 2012 at 2:57 pm

      They didn’t like it when you called out Agius for manipulating markets. To the BBC, that is defamation. Probably due to the pathetic libel laws in the UK. Even if it’s true, you can’t say it if it makes the subject feel bad.

         0 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      July 20, 2012 at 7:36 am

      The BBC reserve the right to do what they like, when they like, how they like.
      If you, as a licence fee extortee, have a problem with that, see above.
      Propaganda backed by censorship: a winning combo.

         0 likes

  28. Brian says:
    July 19, 2012 at 12:04 am

    So let me get this straight, there was only a 20% turnout for a vote for a strike during the Olympics by home office staff (which, crucially, will include border agency staff), and because 57.2% of that 20% voted for the strike it can now go ahead? I wonder whether the Today programme will give Mark Serwotka a harsh grilling on the “ethics” of this attempt to hold the country to ransom and spoil the enjoyment for so many in this once-in-many-people’s lifetime opportunity to enjoy the event. And I wonder how many Labour party shadow ministers will they be pressing for a comment on yet another union holding the country to ransom? And will they ask the Labour party spokesperson whether we can expect this sort of thing to happen if they ever return to power or will the unions always get their way without the need for a strike under Labour? I guess I won’t hold my breath. The BBC “Toaday” programme will invite the usual guests on for a delightful chat, allow them to spout all the usual propaganda and then harangue the likes of Damion Green (if he agrees to participate) because of course it’s all this government’s fault. Then I guess we will get the usual balanced participation in discussions throughout the day from the other BBC broadcasters to push the legitimacy of the strike and the PCS’s views. On the other hand…………..I could be misjudging them …………… and they’ll not report it at all – just in case the horrible truth emerges.

       6 likes

    • johnnythefish says:
      July 19, 2012 at 9:11 am

      We need legislation which says a majority of those balloted must vote in favour for a strike to take place. Simple democratic principle, I’d have thought.

      Trouble is, Cameron would need the balls of Thatcher to do it (and he hasn’t).

         1 likes

      • Umbongo says:
        July 19, 2012 at 11:19 am

        Nothing to do with the BBC but IMHO the way to deal with this is to let them strike and, if they do, sack them. I was in the US when Reagan sacked air traffic controllers who went on strike. Because the technical ability of ATCers is in another dimension to that required, for instance, to slide a passport through a reader, the US MSM and the Democrats claimed there’d be chaos. What happened?
        For a few weeks there were delays in the ATC system but, in the end, the system reverted to normal. AFAIAA, there hasn’t been a similar strike since. To do the same here you would need a government/minister with guts and the overt backing of Cameron. Even given appropriate legislation, can you imagine this government (and the minister concerned) actually doing a Reagan? No – nor can I.

           6 likes

        • Roland Deschain says:
          July 19, 2012 at 1:20 pm

          Said government/minister with guts would have to be prepared to stand up not only to the unions and Labour Party, but crucially the BBC. So it ain’t gonna happen.

             2 likes

        • NotaSheep says:
          July 20, 2012 at 9:00 am

          A government minister with guts? Apart from Michael Gove are there any? Certainly not David ‘Heath Mk II’ Cameron.

             1 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
        July 19, 2012 at 1:36 pm

        Would you like our parliament electd the same way? It won’t work at all.
        That assumed consent/dissent can not be applied i’m afraid.

           0 likes

        • johnnythefish says:
          July 19, 2012 at 4:28 pm

          Parliament is a multi-party system and invites the whole electorate to vote. We have no say in union strikes even though we will be directly hit e.g. in our travel plans or indirectly hit e.g. through its impact on the economy. With that at stake, it is only fair a majority is achieved in what is a straight yes or no vote to give the leaders their mandate. The alternative is the potential for nation and government to be slowly crippled by small groups of politically-motivated activists.

             2 likes

          • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
            July 21, 2012 at 10:29 am

            None of which justifies assuming that a vote not cast is either positive or negative I’m afraid.

               0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 19, 2012 at 3:18 pm

      Funny how the BBC isn’t advocating Alternative Voting in this case as the best to way to ensure a majority choice.

         2 likes

  29. ukridg says:
    July 19, 2012 at 8:42 am

    You know by now from the BBC, that the ‘biggest obtacles to peace in the Middle East are the settlements in the West Bank’ .
    If you’ve ever wondered where does it come from, here is the answer:
    Ross was inheriting a policy that he considered politically unfeasible. He believed the haggling over the freeze was wasting Obama’s political capital in a region that once had high hopes for his presidency.

    “We had adopted a hard and firm position on this by then,” Ross said in an interview, echoing what he told the president. “The problem was that it put the emphasis on one issue when it wasn’t the only, or even most important, issue and, in any case, needed to be put in context.”

    Ross arrived in the West Wing in July 2009, the same month Obama held his first meeting with Jewish leaders.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-searches-for-middle-east-peace/2012/07/14/gJQAQQiKlW_print.html

    So from the kitchen where they cook the policies for Obama someone baked that settlements are the single issue here. And it flew to the BBC without any merit, any factcheck. They echo this even nowadays, 3 years later. What was it about the wachdog role of the media?

       3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 19, 2012 at 3:06 pm

      The President said early on that He needed to openly criticize Israel and take a strong hand to them in order to re-establish US credibility in the Muslim World. He believed that was the only way to get past the whole “Jews control US foreign policy” thing.

      Naturally, I’m sure the fact that He attended a church for 20 years where He heard that sentiment, and carried around speeches for inspiration as a young man by that same Rev. Wright, has nothing do with His criticism of Israel. It’s all totally pragmatic, I’m sure. 😉

         3 likes

  30. will says:
    July 19, 2012 at 10:33 am

    It’s that catastrophic man made global warming again

    The Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland has calved an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan, scientists say.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18896770

    We’ve seen nothing like it since records began, long, long ago

    “We have data for 150 years and we see changes that we have not seen before,”

    Are we in a “Day After Tomorrow” scenario?

    However, the calving is not expected have an impact on sea levels as the ice was already floating.

    Phew! And how much higher would global sea level be if it had not been floating ice?

       4 likes

    • johnnythefish says:
      July 19, 2012 at 1:38 pm

      I’m glad there’ll be no impact on sea levels as I’m only just able to keep my head above water, as they predicted 20 or so years ago.

      Hang on, my feet seem to be dry….

         3 likes

  31. DJ says:
    July 19, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    Classic set up on Jeremy Whine right now: there’s a report on starving kids abroad and a report on starving kids at home – who are your sympathies with?

    Really, BBC? So if you oppose air dropping sacks of ÂŁ5 notes into poor areas, it’s because you lack sympathy for the poor, and not because you think there’s more to it than mere ‘poverty’?

       3 likes

  32. Beeboidal says:
    July 19, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    The BBC is currently running a news blackout on the Ken the liar story. There was nothing about this on 5Live yesterday. You can bet that if this had been about a prominent Conservative figure, the story would have been inserted into 5Live’s half hourly bulletins all day long.

    There was nothing on BBC 1’s 10 O’clock News. As the story centres around Gilligan’s allegations of corruption during Ken’s time as Mayor, surely the following London local news programme would be interested. Nope – nothing. Could the BBC’s spare a few lines for this on their huge website then? Apparently not.

    You are, BBC, a disgrace.

       9 likes

  33. It's all too much says:
    July 19, 2012 at 12:20 pm

    So crime rates have fallen to pre labour ‘boom’ levels despite the 7.5% increase in population and the grevious and savage ‘kutz’ boosted by the hideous depression that the tories have deliberately inflicted on the population. But the BBC rushes past this and airs the leader of the opposition saying that the failure of some useless workshy halfwits to turn up for work with G4S meand that police ‘privitisation’ must be stopped. Only a couple of days ago we had the police unions on the BBC shroud waving about the threat of criminality if they have to work to 55….

    The BBC really are wretched – when one narrative collapses (Tory cuts and ideological and unecessary and combined with the collapse of social society that they are engineering there will be more criminality…) they simply ignore it and move on. Come on BBC, lets have some more of vinegar faced Mrs Balls sprewing unmitigated hypocricy.

       6 likes

  34. Earls Court says:
    July 19, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    The BBC lives in LA LA Land. Anything that might shatter their dream world is ignored. Typical Lefty thinking.

       4 likes

  35. johnnythefish says:
    July 19, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    Labour party political broadcast in full swing on the 1 o’ clock news.

    Ed ‘the miracle’ Miliband given an unopposed opportunity to slag off G4S and warn us that this is what happens when we try to privatise police work (we all know the public sector do it so much better, don’t we?).

    A few minutes later the brave BBC reported the planned ASLEF strikes. Quick, back to Ed for his views on that – you know, union paymasters, does he agree with the strikes etc. Nope, didn’t happen.

    Then we had the item on the Co-Op, banking arm of the Labour party, (cue soundtrack stirring strings) taking on 600 Lloyds TSB branches at an absolute snip. According to b-BBC Lloyds merged with HBOS into one massive bank when the banking crisis hit but since then the (good old!) EU (cue background music ‘Ode to Joy’) has deemed it in breach of competition laws, so they’re having to do a bit of breaking up again. No mention of ‘Brown’, ‘Brown’s friend ‘Blank’, ‘HBOS in danger of closing its doors at the time’ or ‘shotgun marriage’.

    The Ministry of Truth at the BBC, working to keep you brainwashed.

       11 likes

  36. David Preiser (USA) says:
    July 19, 2012 at 3:32 pm

    Robert Peston gave credit to his biography subject for getting Lloyds to absorb HBOS….until later when it became clear that the latter was an absolute disaster to the former’s balance sheet because certain information was kinda sorta withheld. After that, Peston shifted blame. No surprise that the BBC won’t connect the two now.

    If I could access the old Blogspot version of this site to provide links with full proof of this, I’d post them here. Unfortunately, I keep getting redirected back here because of the evil dictator-enablers at Google.

       5 likes

    • Span Ows says:
      July 19, 2012 at 5:48 pm

      if you can remember the date you can go straight there using the RHS links on this blog-page, if you remember the approximate date you could trawl the archives…otherwise you seem to be right re Google!

         1 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:
        July 19, 2012 at 6:01 pm

        Thanks for the tip, Span. Unfortunately, though, some of what I want was from comments in an open thread. Those are gone from the imported main posts in the archives.

           0 likes

      • Umbongo says:
        July 19, 2012 at 6:11 pm

        Until recently you could access the original post but not the comment thread – hence DP’s difficulty. I emailed DV about this in early May but it seems (from his silence since acknowledging my original email) that those archives are lost or, at least, inaccessible which is much the same thing.

           0 likes

    • Span Ows says:
      July 19, 2012 at 6:02 pm

      …and a search of Biased-BBC ‘Robert Peston ‘ gives 3 pages of posts, could be one of those.

         0 likes

  37. George R says:
    July 19, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    BBC-NUJ’s Eurozone has no ISLAM!:

    “The eurozone’s religious faultline”.

    By Chris Bowlby
    BBC Radio 4

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18789154

       2 likes

    • George R says:
      July 19, 2012 at 6:08 pm

      Is BBC-NUJ attempting to encourage enmity between Christians in Europe, by excluding reference to Islam role in confronting Christian Europe?

         2 likes

  38. George R says:
    July 19, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    1.) Another INBBC Islam-lite ‘report’:

    “Four remanded on terror charges”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18903862

    2.) Alternative (‘Telegraph’) report:

    “Muslim convert ‘discussed targeting Wootton Bassett’.
    A white Muslim convert accused of a terrorism offence discussed targeting Royal Wootton Bassett and officers from MI5 and MI6, a court heard today.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/9412462/Muslim-convert-discussed-targeting-Wootton-Bassett.html

       5 likes

  39. Biodegradable says:
    July 19, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    The BBC’s tainted spectacles

    It’s of little wonder the BBC has spent eight years and over ÂŁ270,000 in taxpayers’ money on legal fees to prevent the public from seeing an internal “Balen” report

       2 likes

  41. Reed says:
    July 19, 2012 at 7:28 pm

    So, it turns out that the Bulgarian bus bomber was once a Guantanamo Bay detainee. I wonder how the BBC will report this, if at all. On the one hand he was released while the evil Dubya was in office, on the other Gitmo is a stain on humanity. I’m sure the reluctance to give any credence to those who support it’s continuation will be vastly outweighed by the urge to jeer at the Texan, and bringing the issue of Guantanamo back to the public’s attention might cause trouble for the Great One by reminding everyone of his failed promise to close it down…and what might have occurred if he had.

    I also notice he’s yet another Jihadi who appears to have been radicalised, at least in part, here in the UK. It’s a national disgrace that we’re exporting Islamic terrorists to other countries, let alone the ones we have to deal with ourselves. The days of John Major and ‘Tory Sleaze’ seem like such innocent times now, don’t they.

    ——————————————
    He had been held at the US’s Guantanamo Bay detainment camp on Cuba from 2002 to 2004, having previously studied at a Muslim religious school and mosque in Britain, and traveled to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, it says. He was taken into custody on suspicion of being an al-Qaeda agent, having been arrested along with a number of other al-Qaeda operatives.
    ——————————————

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/bulgarian-press-names-suicide-bomber-who-killed-israelis-as-mehdi-ghezali/

    http://weaselzippers.us/2012/07/19/oh-my-suicide-bomber-who-blew-up-bus-full-of-israelis-in-bulgaria-was-a-former-gitmo-detainee/

       6 likes

    • Reed says:
      July 19, 2012 at 7:37 pm

      …sorry
      ” will be vastly outweighed by”
      should read
      “will vastly outweigh”. 🙁

         0 likes

      • Buggy says:
        July 19, 2012 at 11:20 pm

        “I wonder how the BBC will report this, if at all.”

        How’s about :

        “Innocent peace lover turned into killer (of those who admittedly are asking for it) by Chimpy McBush-Hitler’s Sunshine Torture Camp.”

        Wonder if I can get a job at the Death Star while the present “voluntary tax arrangements” are still in place ?

           3 likes

  42. Span Ows says:
    July 19, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18900384

    “Crime data: Homicide at 30-year England and Wales low”

    damn…what to say, Danny Shaw
    Home affairs correspondent ponders: got it!

    “Statisticians say the figures broadly mirror reductions elsewhere in the developed world, so it would be unfair of politicians, police or doctors here to claim the credit for a phenomenon that appears to be driven by something more fundamental.”

       3 likes

    • Reed says:
      July 19, 2012 at 9:13 pm

      …wouldn’t want anyone getting the idea that public services can still perform regardless of ‘Torycutz’.

      Had there been a rise, you can bet what the narrative would have been.

         3 likes

  44. David Preiser (USA) says:
    July 19, 2012 at 8:57 pm

    So the policeman who pushed Ian Tomlinson, the man who later collapsed and died, has been cleared of the manslaughter charge. What, no riots? No “Justice for Ian” protests? Any thoughts why not, BBC?

    The News Online Beeboids who put this together must not be pleased with the verdict, as the last section of the article is full of negatives, concerns about how wrong it is. It also seems that PC Harwood still faces further scrutiny. Not a single line from anyone who might possibly agree with, or at least be relieved by the verdict. How curious. Could they find no one to balance this out, or did they not think it was possible for anyone to accept the verdict and just didn’t bother? Another thought is that the editor felt that any voice in support of the verdict would be biased and therefore not worth reporting, while all the negative opinions were somehow justified.

       6 likes

    • Earls Court says:
      July 19, 2012 at 9:12 pm

      The one good thing about this it looks like the police are being let off their PC leash. When or if there is riots like last years again looks like the police will teach the rioters a very harsh lesson. Hopefully as well if people take the law into their own hands against the rioters they will not get in trouble.

         1 likes

  45. David Preiser (USA) says:
    July 19, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    The BBC sanitizing Islam and Mohammedan behavior again, this time making Muslim circumcision the exact equal of Jewish circumcision. The latest News Online report about German MPs voting to protect religious circumcision against the ban ends with this:

    Thousands of Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised in Germany every year.

    As if it’s all the same. Of course, what the BBC doesn’t want to tell you here, because it makes Mohammedans look more barbaric than the nasty Jews, is the significant difference in the ages at which boys are circumcised in each religion.

    To eliminate any possible bias from me on this issue, let’s just quote the BBC. For Jews, circumcision is done on the eighth day after birth. For Mohammedans, there is no fixed age. In fact, according to the BBC’s own information, The preferred age is often seven although some Muslims are circumcised as early as the seventh day after birth and as late as puberty.

    So, if we’re going to talk about this being traumatic or barbaric or whatever, there is a massive difference between the results in the two religions. Yet the BBC hides this from their current article about the German scene. A more accurate description for the last line of the BBC article would be: “Thousands of Jewish infants and Muslim boys are circumcised in Germany every year.” I say an editorial decision was taken to sanitize this because they don’t want to make the Mohammedans look bad in comparison to Jews.

       4 likes

  46. James says:
    July 19, 2012 at 10:15 pm

    I don’t know if this programme has ever been mentioned on here in the past as it was listed as a repeat, but tonight’s ‘Pompeii: Life and Death in a Roman Town’ on BBC Two was absolutely awful.

    The programme consisted of some supposedly renowned lecturer of classics at Cambridge University (a left wing looney who recently appeared on Question Time) walking around Pompeii waffling on about rubbish. This ranged from the blatantly obvious to her own opinions (for example apparently all the tour guides are wrong about Pompeii’s brothel, and we should believe her own vastly different opinion on life in the brothel). Very little of show the was fact and was mostly based on her own opinions with nothing to back them up.

    I complained about the show on twitter and a friend of mine replied with the following, I think it sums up the programme perfectly: ‘She’s jumping to her own conclusions based on her utter mentalness, not fact! Also, she’s a bit scary.’

       3 likes

  47. Paddytoplad says:
    July 19, 2012 at 10:18 pm

    When jihadis blow up innocent people the beeb are quick with the excuses , it’s coz of the Jews, or it’s coz of George bush or western policy.poor little suicide bombers it’s not their fault

    When dirty little scrots riot and steel it’s coz of the cuttttzz or the unfairness of society.

    When trustafarian scum carry snooker balls to assault police at hippy riots and when they use acid in lightbulbs it’s because of the capitalist system.

    Always excuses , never their fault,

    However when a hard working over stressed copper lashes out at an unruly drunk then mr plod must be guilty. He should be stripped of his job.

    If I was a policeman and got an emergency call from anyone working for the beeb I would ignore it and let the r solesgetrobbedmugged knifed or raped. The scum at the beeb don’t deserve police protection. Let them pay for their own security. They don’t deserve any help from any of the forces whether the armed forces or the police force.

       8 likes

    • Earls Court says:
      July 19, 2012 at 11:58 pm

      Its about time the BBC and all their lefty comrades got a taste of the society they are responsible for.

         4 likes

  48. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
    July 19, 2012 at 10:22 pm

    News at 10 : just had description of how Lloyds TSB swallowed up HBOS, and of course it went tits up!
    Any Mention of a certain G Brown?………….nahhhhh….zzzzz

       11 likes

  49. jonsuk says:
    July 19, 2012 at 10:57 pm

    so there’s not going to be a BBC ‘documentary’ about gay olympic athletes….disappointed of Andover

       4 likes

  50. will says:
    July 19, 2012 at 11:03 pm

    The BBC’s grandest Poobah, Dame John Simpson, reporting from China (BBC1 News) displays the usual lefty contempt for the lot of the ordinary citizen. He tells us that Chinese factories are staffed by people performing “mindless tasks”.

       6 likes

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