103 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. Louis Robinson says:
    July 20, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    Interesting. At long last the BBC mentions a number of allegations being made in the USA about the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in high places.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18918597
    But the angle taken by Al beeb is the “crazy right-winger makes paranoid claims” line. Cover to this angle is given by Senator John McCain and his buddy Senator Lindsay Graham telling Michelle Bachmann to shut up. Also quoted in the BBC piece is “Mrs. Bachmann’s former campaign manager Ed Rollins” who says she “sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level”. Mr Rollins strained relationship with bachmann goes back to her Presidential bud. She fired him. I guess this is payback
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/ed-rollins-michele-bachmann-iowa_n_1068671.html
    By the way, McCarthy was right about most of the people he skewered…shame he went overboard allowing the lefties to find shelter for their guilt behind his paranoia.
    But this “news” is not “news”. It’s old material. However, the BBC has ignored it till this moment. Why now? Well, it’s safe. The allegations that were published months ago on YOUTUBE: (watch from 8’11”)

    I’ve also linked to an earlier Glenn Beck interview with Michelle Bachmann from April this year.

    So I ask once again, why is now safe to air this, BBC?
    I ask this simple question: is any discussion of a possible link between an aggressive ideology and the levers of power not to be tolerated? If the Soviet Union and East Germany could infiltrate government at the highest level, is it nuts to think the MB can’t do the same? Anyone want to talk about it? ( I hear crickets…the wind blows…a tumbleweed floats down the deserted street…)
    Meanwhile, once again Sen. John McCain proves that though he was once a fine soldier and a great war hero, he is a God awful politician.

       13 likes

    • chrisH says:
      July 20, 2012 at 8:27 pm

      No…nor did I.
      Nor did I see it up on the BBCs freeview menu….must have been a floater in the eye.
      Wonder if Channel 4 will show it?…or is it all lockdown for good news only from now on?
      The BBC DOES tell us that the Olympic posters that are up in London turn out to be gibberish…to the Arabic speakers it was aimed at.
      Back to front?…not joined up?…unreadable rubbish…but the BBC quote the writers as having done it “in good faith”.
      Think we all know what “good faith” the BBC is referring to…it is peaceful, slow to anger and oh-so moderate…you got that infidel?

         10 likes

    • wallygreeninker says:
      July 20, 2012 at 9:10 pm

      They do report that a ‘youth’ (‘teenager’ in the picture caption) tried to grab the torch but no doubt were afraid of being in contempt of court if they provided any details – anyway, would mentioning that he yelled ‘allahu akbar’ really add anything to the story?

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18902961

         9 likes

      • Earls Court says:
        July 20, 2012 at 9:13 pm

        Just think one day that youth maybe shouting ‘allahu akbar’. When he is hanging the people at the BBC who wrote that story from a crane.

           11 likes

      • Ian Hills says:
        July 20, 2012 at 9:59 pm

        They should have added –

        The culprit might have been a wifebeating heterosexual banker who was in the zionist section of the EDL.

        He may have grabbed at the torch after buying a gun license from a Tory global warming sceptic.

        And then tried to discredit islam by shouting allahu akbar on his way to church.

           19 likes

      • Buggy says:
        July 20, 2012 at 10:03 pm

        “They do report that a ‘youth’ (‘teenager’ in the picture caption) tried to grab the torch…”

        “Youth” is used as a codeword meaning “Islamic” in the same way that “Urban” indicates somebody or something is black.

        It’s nearly August , so no doubt the Y-word will be deployed over pictures of burning cars in banlieus all over France.

           13 likes

  3. chrisH says:
    July 20, 2012 at 9:24 pm

    Hope springs eternal that “Any Questions” may yet prove to be better than it is…so I tuned in for three awful minutes.
    Kelvin McKenzie was trying to say something about upcoming strikes and the Olympics…and then I heard him!
    Shouting across Kelvin, trying to crawl around a n audience craving the fresh voice of youth-no, make that the voice of Tariq Ali had he beena rolodex Letts set of cards for “Rentaleftie” studies.
    He quotes Mossadeq as if he`d known the man…he has every leftie reflex of Paul Weller at his most stupid way back…a one man Red Wedgie shouting and interrupting everyone.
    Yes folks-f***in Owen Jones…and Helena Keenedy there to be matron should reality dawn that he`s a f***wit!
    But no-if Owen Jones and Laurie Penney don`t yet become John and Yoko, Sonny and Cher for the awol lotus eaters at the BBC, I`ll be very surprised!
    Oh what a circus!

       17 likes

    • Earls Court says:
      July 20, 2012 at 9:40 pm

      Owen Jones and Laurie Penney?
      Owen Jones is gay and laurie penny is bi, she could turn owen jones straight. But if she did Owen Jones would still be mentally challenged. Owen Jones who loves Islam so much, that he doesn’t realise or admit to himself according to the Koran and Sharia law all Homosexuals should be put to death. The ways things are going in this country that could be very soon for owen jones.

         11 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
        July 20, 2012 at 9:56 pm

        Dont be silly Earls court, that is only for ordinary plebs inthe street. He’s totally above such reality! dooooooohhhhh.

        Now wheres that wynns crane?

           8 likes

        • Earls Court says:
          July 20, 2012 at 10:01 pm

          I do apologise my friend. Owen Jones is down with Muslims they won’t kill him. I am sure it is against Sharia law to execute the mentally Challenged anyway.

             7 likes

          • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
            July 20, 2012 at 10:20 pm

            I dont recall any exemptions from execution in any of Robert spencers books.
            However it’s a nice thought isn’t it, sufficiently accomadating for apostates who are a sandwich short of a picnic .

               5 likes

            • Earls Court says:
              July 20, 2012 at 10:26 pm

              When Owen Jones meets his end at the hands of his Muslim friends, what will he be thinking? Not that he was wrong, but he was Islamaphobic.

                 10 likes

            • Pah says:
              July 21, 2012 at 2:15 pm

              Virgins?

              I seem to remember tales of forced marriage (rape) of female prisoners before execution.

              There’s aways a way around if you look for it. 🙁

                 4 likes

              • Earls Court says:
                July 21, 2012 at 2:27 pm

                I never can understand how anyone can take Islam seriously. Especially if they actually read the Korah and other Muslims holy books. Also study its history and theology. Halfwit losers like Owen Jones live in a dream world anyway, that is nothing like reality.

                   4 likes

          • wallygreeninker says:
            July 20, 2012 at 10:51 pm

            Aurora Mardiganian, in her memoir accunt of te Armenian massacres, ‘Auction of souls’ mentioned that any of the prisoners who went mad were allowed to wander out into the desert to die as pious Muslims do not like to execute the insane.

               5 likes

    • Deborah says:
      July 21, 2012 at 10:53 am

      I knew not to listen to this edition when the trailers descibed Owen as a ‘soft leftie’ – spent several minutes afterwards thinking I must have the wrong man – ‘who the hell is this Owen Jones?’ -sounds as if I was correct all along.

         6 likes

      • Earls Court says:
        July 21, 2012 at 11:43 am

        Soft Leftie? Soft in the head more like

           8 likes

      • johnnythefish says:
        July 21, 2012 at 6:56 pm

        Can anybody name a ‘soft rightie’ who appears on the BBC with the same monotonous frequency as Shoutie?

           3 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:
          July 21, 2012 at 7:43 pm

          Even if we can name one or two, they are always vigorously challenged by the Beeboid host/presenter, whereas only Andrew Neil has ever challenged Jones – once – as far as I’m aware.

             4 likes

  4. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
    July 20, 2012 at 10:16 pm

    In the words of Abu ben Bowen, News at 10:
    assessing the Syrian situation from the safety of the studios, ” the rebels are on the up, the regime is not”.
    So there, dont expect President assad to last.

       3 likes

  5. jonsuk says:
    July 20, 2012 at 11:28 pm

    Mark Knopfler……is he a lefty twat?

       3 likes

    • Reed says:
      July 21, 2012 at 2:00 pm

      Don’t think so – all round decent chap and superb guitar player. Also – he has a fascination for all things American (nation and people), which puts him outside the usual suspects, who either loathe or have a complete disdain for the place and it’s inhabitants.

         3 likes

  6. jonsuk says:
    July 20, 2012 at 11:40 pm

    i think half the staff staff, at least, are watching http://www.cam4.com/bbc4you1

       1 likes

  7. Hugh says:
    July 21, 2012 at 9:11 am

    Call me cynical if you like, but if the Sky Team win the TDF today, let’s see how the BBC try to overshadow their achievements. I’m betting on the ‘ … changing face of the TDF narrative’ which suggests they only won by doing things differently. Or in some way cheating.

       5 likes

    • Andy says:
      July 21, 2012 at 11:36 am

      They are going with the arrogant route, quoting Wiggins as saying that “you could put your house on me” in a manner that suggests he is boasting, when the quote is out of context. Fiona Bruce quoting it with raised eyebrows.

         8 likes

      • Hugh says:
        July 21, 2012 at 5:44 pm

        This their top comment a few minutes ago.

        ‘A great result for Britain. All started with Boardman all those years ago.

        Just a shame that we have to put up with Sky being plastered all over the team. Once again they hijack British success. It was BOA and National lottery funding that put British cycling on the map, not Sky.

        How long before live coverage of Le Tour goes to Sky?’

           1 likes

        • Earls Court says:
          July 21, 2012 at 5:59 pm

          Probably written a bbc employee or one of their useful idiots.

             6 likes

        • Buggy says:
          July 21, 2012 at 9:26 pm

          “Just a shame that we have to put up with Sky being plastered all over the team.”

          Ho hum. Maybe the reason that “Sky” is plastered all over the team is because (ta-da-da-da-deee-dah !) the team IS “Team Sky”, in much the same way that FDJ have the French Lottery logo “plastered all over them”, Rabo and Saxo-Tinkoff have the Dutch, German and Russian banks “plastered all over them” etc etc . Because that’s who pay the bills.

          No matter how much National Lottery and BOA assistance was forthcoming, had it not been for Sky taking the decision to set up a road team, what’s occurred over the last three weeks would not have stood an earthly chance of becoming reality. There’s no way, for instance, that Camelot would have agreed to sponsor a professional team in the way that e.g. the French and Belgian lotteries have.

          Still, if you’re so almightily offended by the sight of James Murdoch’s brainchild so blatantly flaunting the logo of the corporation paying for the whole thing, maybe you could pray very hard that Wiggo and Froome have a Tour-ending double crash somewhere outside Gay Paree tomorrow, thus leaving Nibali to carry off the spoils (and provide lasting retinal damage for all by combining lime-green shorts and a yellow jersey).

          Unless you have some sort of high-principalled objection to bottled gas, of course…….

             3 likes

          • Buggy says:
            July 21, 2012 at 9:51 pm

            Still, if you’re so almightily offended….”, “Maybe you could pray very hard….”

            Just to make it clear that these aren’t aimed at you, Hugh. Could do with an edit function to repair my clumsy grammar there. Hint hint.

               0 likes

            • Buggy says:
              July 21, 2012 at 9:58 pm

              And while I’m replying to myself, congratualtions to ITV4 on providing a model of good coverage once more.

              Wonder if they’ll be showing the Vuelta again this year ?

                 1 likes

  8. Fred Bloggs says:
    July 21, 2012 at 11:02 am

    News24 sat 10,50am: A news report about the waters off British Columbia and acidity. There was no real accusation of what was causing the problem. The mild hint was the pumping of CO2 through the sea water.

    Personally I am prepared to be convinced about man made pollution given hard evidence. The bBC position is well known, but now on the back foot they do not have the guts to pursue their agenda. They have never had the integrity to give a balanced view. So now they use innuendo; what a spineless heap of dung the bBC.

       4 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:
      July 22, 2012 at 2:06 am

      Most of the increase in the CO2 was caused by the Medieval warm period which peaked about 800 years ago, 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.
      The BBC repeatedly misleads the audience by not mentioning that Ice Core data shows a 800 year lag in CO2 levels rising after a warm period, which is caused by deep ocean thermal inertia.

         2 likes

  9. RCE says:
    July 21, 2012 at 11:26 am

    Guido’s comment of the day apropos The Guardian’s financial woes:

    “Why doesn’t the Guardian ditch that monstrous, vanity building and just move into the BBC newsroom.

    Cheaper and easier for all concerned.”

       16 likes

  10. johnnythefish says:
    July 21, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    Can anybody guess why this was covered on BBC North West News yesterday?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-18918646

    Introducing this virtually unchallenged piece of left-wing revisionism the correspondent told us how, amazingly, ‘the narrative on the riots has changed since the government told us it was about sheer criminality’ and how this new study echoed the findings of an earlier one undertaken on behalf of The Guardian. Well I never!

    The cause, as we all suspected at the time, was deprivation and lack of investment, and the answer lay in family, education and jobs (not the sort these Eastern Europeans do though, obviously).

    The Gurdian and the BBC, slowly helping to wreck a country near you.

       9 likes

    • johnnythefish says:
      July 21, 2012 at 12:33 pm

      Sorry, ‘The cause, as we all suspected at the time’ should have read …’as we all suspected it would be fashioned by The Left over time’.

         3 likes

      • Andy S. says:
        July 21, 2012 at 5:57 pm

        Is the BBC trying to encourage further riots this summer? They’ve had a number of programmes on recently about last year’s riots which just seem to be an excuse to push the “deprived, disenfranchised youth” and “racist police” agenda so beloved of Beeboid ideology. They also intend to broadcast the programme that was injuncted giving the rioters an uncritical platform (albeit through the mouths of “actors”).

        Now it seems they’ve recruited hospital soap “Casualty” into the struggle with a storyline about staff being caught up in riots after a local youth dies after being tasered by police.

        Any bets on who the villains will be in this story?

           4 likes

        • Earls Court says:
          July 21, 2012 at 6:03 pm

          the youth will be black and the police white. He will have been killed by the evil white racists. If Doctor Gobbels was alive today he would work for the BBC.

             3 likes

  11. uncle bup says:
    July 21, 2012 at 1:28 pm

    PC Simon Harwood found not guilty in Tomlinson case.

    Said thug took ‘early retirement due to ill-health’ from the Met as he was being investigated for an assualt and rejoined about three years later. Early retirement on ‘full pension’ according to the paper, at the ripe old age of 35.

    Last figure I saw showed that slightly less than 50% of those retiring from the Met retired (early and on full pension of course) due to ill-health. Proof according to The Brothers of how arduous the job is, and how underpaid the coppers are.

    Crying out, absolutely crying out we are for a Panorama special on

    *Spanish Practices In The Public Sector*.

    We we get of course is *howl* sport drinks companies *shriek* put sugar *gasp* in your energy drink *wail*.

    Utter utter embarrassment.

       7 likes

  12. uncle bup says:
    July 21, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    …and while I’m on, just happened to unfortunately pass through a room where Any Answers (I guess) was on. Owen Shoutie was doing his usual, shrieking left wing slogans (so much easier than actual debate) at a whooping and hollering audience of public sector teat-suckers.

    So BBC.

    So same old same old.

    So crap.

       12 likes

    • chrisH says:
      July 21, 2012 at 4:05 pm

      As a dog returns to its vomit-so I turned in briefly to listen to a few minutes of the awful Any Questions that I listened to last night.
      The bit I got was Owen Jones getting personal with Kelvin Mc Kenzie over Hillsborough, when the question was about the Harwood acquital.
      He was also shouting about being “patronised”
      by Norman Lamont regarding the rail privitisation…this was somehow linked to Olympic workers going on strike.
      Non-sequiters, personal abuse and shouting over other people trying to give answers… and all as if he`d actually been there at the time.
      As it is , all he knows is what the SWP leave out for him by his Redskins lyric sheet.
      Desperate stuff alright-but, in truth: if Lamont and McKenzie can`t bury this yapping little shitzu of barked gobbets of commie crap…then they don`t deserve any more respect than Jones does.
      Didn`t get the sense that there`s a Tebbit or a Thatcher bone or soul there with `em anymore…so it`ll be Owen Jones and Andrew Lansley hoovering up toenail clippings as the country gets very nasty to live in.
      Nobody`s faults but our own…Owen Jones is just a Beeb wet dream, and there`s no intellectual courage or knowledge allowed on the BBC.
      No Scruton, Murray, Hannen, Hitchens -unless it`s the bear garden or freak show tent!
      Wake up Tories!

         10 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:
        July 21, 2012 at 5:14 pm

        They cant wake up they are slumbering towards oblivion. Dopy dave even thought his obufscation over the EU referendum was going to fool us all.

           3 likes

  13. uncle bup says:
    July 21, 2012 at 3:03 pm

    … and finally with Chris Moyles being sacked from Radio 1 with two years (and £1.3 million) of his three year contract still outstanding BBC bosses are looking to shunt him off tho their usual elephant graveyards of 5 ‘Live’ and / or Radio 2. Senior figures at both stations have expressed reluctance to have Moyles as this would be a ‘dumbing down’ of the stations.

    So let’s see…

    Gameshow Nikki
    Vanessa Phelps
    Phil ‘New University’ Williams
    Richard ‘Boom’ Bacon
    Dermot ‘No R, No T’ O’ Leary
    Cwissie Wissie Evans
    Claudia Winkleman
    Chris Tarrant
    Steve ‘Wrighty’ Wright
    Graham Norton
    Andy ‘Wake Up To Manny’ Verrity

    I mean, come on, you couldn’t dumb down that lot if you drafted in a zooful of chimps.

    And as for the three year £1.9 million contract. Who agreed that? Any penalty to them for wasting our money?

    No reason whatsoever why Moyles couldn’t have been on a three month notice contract.

    No reason whatsoever other than it makes it easier for Mark Thompson to award himself and his buddies three year-fixed multi-million pound contracts.

       10 likes

  14. Doyle says:
    July 21, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    Newsnight, Friday night and Esler was interviewing an American author/academic (?) about the latest gun massacre in the States. As Switzerland has similar levels of gun ownership, why were there fewer such massacres by the gnomes of Zurich? His answer – the US was a less ‘homogenous’ society. Oops! This guy wasn’t reading the script. Quick, move on!

       5 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 21, 2012 at 3:32 pm

      The hand-wringing over US gun laws, using this tragedy as an excuse to focus on a BBC pet peeve, is spreading across the spectrum of BBC broadcasting.

      Agenda? What agenda?

         4 likes

      • dez says:
        July 22, 2012 at 7:33 am

        “The hand-wringing over US gun laws, using this tragedy as an excuse to focus on a BBC pet peeve, is spreading across the spectrum of BBC broadcasting.”
         
        Doyle’s recollection of the Newsnight interview is entirely false. Esler’s contribution was a word perfect example of “begging the question”.
         
        But apparently this is the BBC “hand-wringing over US gun laws”
         
        Have you always been so gullible David, or has it taken years of practice? ;p

           5 likes

    • dez says:
      July 22, 2012 at 7:04 am

      “Esler was interviewing…As Switzerland has similar levels of gun ownership, why were there fewer such massacres by the gnomes of Zurich?”
       
      Completely Untrue.
       
      What Esler actually asked was:
      “One final thought. I know there are going to be lots of arguers in Europe who will say this is mostly an American disease. It’s got to do with gun control and all that type of stuff. I just wonder what your thoughts are on that when obviously in Norway we had a pretty horrific crime last year?”

         5 likes

      • wallygreeninker says:
        July 22, 2012 at 8:35 am

        Esler merely brought up Europe and the example of Norway, while Dietz introduced Switzerland and its comparative homogeneity. ‘Completely untrue’ is a ridiculously over the top description of Doyle’s summary. Esler did say before hand that they were running out of time – so luckily he did no have to confront on air the fact that people in less homogeneous (i.e. multi-culti?) societies are more likely to murder each other. This does not fit the BBC narrative about vibrancy, diversity etc etc and the fact that the discussion ended virtually as soon as the point was made could easily have given a viewer (whose beady eyes were not glued forensically to a playback) the impression that the abrupt termination had something to do with this.
        Esler and his interviewees may a have been well aware that Europe has nutters too and that if Americans didn’t have guns they would stab, club and throttle each other to death in stead but he clearly felt the question had to be raised on behalf of the bien pensant population of the UK, including the BBC.

           1 likes

        • dez says:
          July 22, 2012 at 9:36 am

          “(i.e. multi-culti?)”
           
          You think he was arguing that white Americans killing other white Americans is all the fault of multiculturalism?!

             5 likes

          • wallygreeninker says:
            July 22, 2012 at 10:05 am

            Apparently Norwegians, Germans, Italians, Poles etc etc more often than not marry endogamously for generation after generation so it’s not just a question of the anti-wacist obsession with skin colour: Alistair Cooke, in one of his Letters from America once said that the comments members of such groups, when together, behind closed doors, about members of other such groups, could plumb abysses of paranoia, however civil and friendly they were on an everyday basis.

               5 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:
          July 22, 2012 at 4:49 pm

          How many guns did Timothy McVeigh need to murder 150 people in Oklahoma City? How many guns did the 9/11 Mohammedan murderers need? How many did the 7/7 Mohammedan murderers need? How many guns did the Weather Underground need? How many guns did the Mohammedans who blew up that disco in Germany need?

          I could go on.

             3 likes

  15. Louis Robinson says:
    July 21, 2012 at 4:40 pm

    After reading your strand “A Photograph Never Lies” on the depiction of Israel on the BBC webpage (compiled by BBC Monitoring” at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm) I decided to investigate other country profiles.
    Heroic Egypt – the photo is of cheering crowds with the caption: “A popular uprising in January-February 2011 helped to force President Mubarak from power.” – and of course a tourist snap of a sphinx.
    Scotland the Brave – yup, the pipe and drums and the words “Edinburgh Castle hosts the annual Military Tattoo”
    The BBC’s favorite country Pakistan – pictured is a game of cricket being played in front of what looks like a mosque with the caption – “Cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan, which won the 1992 World Cup”
    And the USA? A photo of a replica sailing ship in front of the statue of liberty and – a picture of a rundown area of some inner city with the caption; “The wealth gap remains a big issue, with millions of Americans living in poverty.”
    Someone should be monitoring “BBC monitoring”

       10 likes

  16. Fred Bloggs says:
    July 21, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    Just read the synopsis of Casualty (Holby Riot 1/2), I can say with pride I have never seen an episode of Casualty and have no reason to break this record. I will not be surprised if the plot is just a smidgen close to what happened in Tottenham.

       10 likes

    • Buggy says:
      July 21, 2012 at 9:46 pm

      Don’t know how you’ve avoided it, Fred , as the bloody show has clogged up Saturday nights for more than 25 (!) years. When the current season finishes, it gets repeated in the same slot and then Hey presto ! the next season is ready to go.

      (The spin-off “Holby City” performs similar, sterling value for the licence-fee on Wednesdays).

      Back in the dim-and-distant, it was possible to play the fun game of “Guess This Week’s Victim”, weighing the evidence, piecing together clues etc, but that was crudely put to rest one Christmas when we were early presented with a pleasant young fellow on his way to the hospital to visit his newborn baby for the first time: you could almost picture his halo.

      Frankly, and though they inexplicably failed to have him wear a shirt blazoned with a giant target and the words “It’s My Turn This Week”, this was the writers lazinly taking the piss out of our fun little diversion from the ropy scripts,and he was duly totalled by a drunk driver in the first five minutes.

      Why anyone would watch it since the demise of “Guess The Victim”, I really can’t imagine.

         5 likes

      • Reed says:
        July 21, 2012 at 10:02 pm

        “Guess The Victim”

        …an idea copied from the original Star Trek series. Guess which unknown extra will get beamed back up in a body bag. 🙂

           3 likes

        • william mcconnel says:
          July 21, 2012 at 11:40 pm

          Sadly, we were rudely awakened by the untimely death of Star Fleet’s foxiest security officer Tasha Yar. It took me pints to recover!

             5 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:
            July 22, 2012 at 4:43 pm

            She wanted to be a movie star, didn’t want to be stuck with the stupid sci-fans. How’d that work out for her?

               1 likes

          • Buggy says:
            July 22, 2012 at 9:27 pm

            “…an idea copied from the original Star Trek series. Guess which unknown extra will get beamed back up in a body bag. :)”

            The Star Trek version was hardly a game of skill though, was it ?

            Clue: We have three star characters here, and one anonymous bod never seen before, and who has no lines. Which one is up for the chop ?

            Not the same at all, oh no, no, no.

            “Sadly, we were rudely awakened by the untimely death of Star Fleet’s foxiest security officer Tasha Yar. It took me pints to recover!”

            I remember that ! Done in by a malevolent pool of tar, wasn’t she ?

            It could happen to any of us: Keep ’em peeled.

               1 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:
          July 22, 2012 at 4:45 pm

          Also: Redshirts

             1 likes

  17. wallygreeninker says:
    July 21, 2012 at 11:01 pm

    Anybody catch prayer for the day on radio 4 this morning, given by Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra from the MCB – I half expected to be told to get out of bed and stick my bum in the air. In stead we got something more like thought for the day – on the first day of Ramadan. You will be glad to know that for the next 30 days Muslim bus, train and railway drivers and those in charge of heavy machinery will be going without food and drink for up to 18 hours a day. Still we got the words of the “messenger Mohammed, peace be upon him” justifying the whole business and it must be quite a while since anybody called on God to deliver Radio 4 listeners from Hellfire. Of course, Ramadan is a favoured season for conducting jihad and I notice the various statistics freaks have already started compiling a body count – but not I suspect, Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra or the religious department of the BBC.

       9 likes

    • wallygreeninker says:
      July 21, 2012 at 11:05 pm

      sorry, list in the third sentence should have read ‘Muslim bus, train and taxi drivers’ – it’s just that I’m feeling a bit peckish at the moment and half my mind is on food.

         5 likes

    • John Anderson says:
      July 22, 2012 at 10:34 am

      and he got far more time than the usual Thought for The Day slot

         2 likes

    • chrisH says:
      July 22, 2012 at 10:42 am

      Any research been done on the effects of deliberately starving yourself from dawn to dusk then?
      Will the Olympians being conveyed across London be safer with fed and watered Muslims at the wheel, not starved and parched angry men thinking only of that late night meal?
      Where` s the research then BBC?….and does “Islam have an anorexic issue with food?” type programme for Panorama perhaps?
      Nah…course not!

         4 likes

  18. Earls Court says:
    July 21, 2012 at 11:09 pm

    Its Ramadan who idea was it to have Ramadan during the longest daytime part of the year? Was it the false moon god Allah or his prophet?

       4 likes

    • wallygreeninker says:
      July 22, 2012 at 12:30 am

      It moves about the year depending on the lunar calender:
      “Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year and contains no intercalation, Ramadan migrates throughout the seasons” wiki.
      It wreaks havoc when it coincides with the school exam season (in fact it has a deleterious effect on schools whenever it occurs.)

         4 likes

      • jonsuk says:
        July 22, 2012 at 12:36 am

        yeah, it’s a load of bollocks, innit?

           6 likes

        • Nicked emus says:
          July 22, 2012 at 12:19 pm

          It is — as is the related way in which Easter is calculated. All religions are bollocks. Arguments over who has the better make-believe friend.

             3 likes

    • deegee says:
      July 22, 2012 at 7:40 am

      If the worse thing about Islam was a lunar calendar we would have very little to write about.

         3 likes

  19. jonsuk says:
    July 21, 2012 at 11:34 pm

    why don’t the BBC do a ‘documentary’ on why islamic countries are such shit holes

       10 likes

    • Earls Court says:
      July 21, 2012 at 11:45 pm

      When the oil runs out they will be alot worser and probably long before with all the more efficent types of energy coming online.

         3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 22, 2012 at 4:34 pm

      Unfortunately, one can glean the BBC answer to that question from their broadcasting: white colonialism caused it.

         0 likes

  20. Guest Who says:
    July 22, 2012 at 2:20 am

    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-quick-mention.html
    Seems a furrowed brow is the best that can be managed in the market rate pool, where apparently Charter obligations are more seen as ‘suggestions’, like a ‘please don’t’ Boaden email.
    No surprise but no excuse as Twitter evolves as the de facto BBC input and output carrier system.
    Hence we get the ‘value’ of paying £145.50pa for a £400k executive to hire ‘talent’ such as our Fearne on her crack to provide quality info & education a la Jubilee flotilla ((c) George E, DG) whilst also flogging chav tat to the peroxide classes.
    World class.

       2 likes

  21. Guest Who says:
    July 22, 2012 at 3:56 am

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100171899/time-to-stop-moaning-enjoy-the-olympics-and-give-visitors-a-big-british-welcome/
    Merely noting the most liked comment thus far…
    Speaking for the people, eh, Aunty… if not, as such, subject to much else of the life experiences those outside of the bubble get to ‘enjoy’?

       2 likes

  22. Guest Who says:
    July 22, 2012 at 4:47 am

    Just catching up on the contributions from a few other BBC Editors.
    Sadly I missed the 2-day window of this post before it closed for comments…
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18911906
    Given the headline, ironic really.

       1 likes

  23. As I See It says:
    July 22, 2012 at 9:38 am

    Just checking my (I say it’s mine because I pay for it – quite why I don’t know) BBC Interfaith Calendar

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/tools/calendar/faith.shtml?muslim

    I note that November 15th will be Al-Hijira Islamic New Year.

    (That word of course should be pronouced – Isss-larm)

    Oddly the Beeb don’t tell us here that Muslims will then be living in the year 1434.

    http://islam.about.com/od/calendar/f/2012newyear.htm

    1434. Sounds about right.

    ‘A radical Islamist politician in Egypt has been convicted in absentia of violating public decency after police found him fondling a woman in a car.

    Ali Wanis was sentenced to a year in prison for the incident and six months for abusing the policemen. The woman involved got a six month jail term.’

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/middle_east/

       3 likes

  24. As I See It says:
    July 22, 2012 at 9:50 am

    Oh by the way, the top story for BBC World news is not so much a news event as a reminder.

    ‘Norway marks Killings Anniversary.’

    Beeb quotes Mr Bekkedal

    “But of course the Islamophobia is still there. These people still have these beliefs, but to a greater extent people get angry, people respond.”

    A little non-BBC research and we find this on Mr Bekkedal

    ‘My main hobby and passion is politics, and I am an active democratic socialist in the Workers’ Youth League (Norway), and hold the post of local ward leader in Frogne’

    Good to see the BBC are doing their bit. Balance, in their genes?

       5 likes

    • noggin says:
      July 22, 2012 at 10:31 am

      socialist workers youth league, (shudder)
      “But of course the Islamophobia is still there”
      … hmmmmmmmmmmm.

         2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 22, 2012 at 4:36 pm

      Hate to say it, but didn’t this guy just confirm Breivik’s worst fears?

         1 likes

      • johnnythefish says:
        July 22, 2012 at 11:06 pm

        Exactly. Only time will prove whose view on mass Muslim immigration is correct, I suppose. Funny how Al-Beeb are quick to provide explanations for foreign Islamic atrocities, but not for one carried out by a native from the ‘far right’.

        (And ‘Workers youth League’ does sound a bit 1984-ish, doesn’t it?)

           0 likes

  25. John Anderson says:
    July 22, 2012 at 10:54 am

    Re. the perfectly legitimate questions raised by Michelle Bachmann and several colleagues about the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on US policy, and access to security material, the BBC naturally took the side of McCain who was screaming “witchhunt”.

    But McCain himself was totally anti MB a short while ago.

    The BBC will never give us the lowdown on the MB – it certainly failed to report the new Egyptian PM’s demand for the release of the Blind Sheikh who masterminded the original World Trade Centre bombing and had plans for other tunnel and train bombings.

    The Brotherhood is virulently anti-US, anti-West. It has been the root for umpteen Ismaist organisations – all the way through to Al Queda.

    Of course we should be concerned when any people with links to the MB get to influence policy – including foreign policy. It is like asking Ribbentrop’s people to advise our Foreign Office.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/310198/questions-about-huma-abedin-andrew-c-mccarthy?pg=1

       3 likes

  26. Jeff Waters says:
    July 22, 2012 at 11:43 am

    Tax ‘hidden’ by global super-rich worth $21tn – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18944097

    It is clear from this article what the BBC thinks of legal tax avoidance schemes (except, presumably, when they are used to shelter its own top paid staff from the Inland Revenue)….

    Jeff

       4 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:
      July 22, 2012 at 9:17 pm

      Even the term “hidden”, scare quotes or no, betrays the attitude from which this was conceived: It’s not really their money to keep and do with as they please but rather belongs to the government(s). Why not money ‘saved’ by global super-rich? If it’s legal, it’s their right to do so.

         0 likes

  27. David Preiser (USA) says:
    July 22, 2012 at 9:12 pm

    Here’s one for you:

    A Point of View: What would Keynes do?

    What would John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists of the 20th Century, have made of the current economic situation, ponders philosopher John Gray.

    Keynes would be appalled, as he never intended to have permanent, infinite debt, and never would have expected to be able to borrow and spend his way out of it, which shows how little most Beeboids actualy understand about it. So they hired a Marxist to tell you about it instead.

    Yeah, it’s the Magazine. No prizes for guessing that it’s written by a left-wing ideologue whom the BBC doesn’t label. It’s by philosopher John Gray, with PPE degree who used to teach at….wait for it….the LSE. He contributes regularly to….do I even need to tell you?….and is the author of False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism (probably required reading for new BBC hires).

    His Wikipedia bio lists a film appearance: “Marx Reloaded”.

    According to the film’s website, “Marx Reloaded … examines the relevance of German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx’s ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis of 2008–09.” The film also considers, in the context of an alleged revival of Marxist thinking, whether “communism might provide the solution to the growing economic and environmental challenges facing the planet”.

    What a shock, eh?

    I have a screen shot of the bottom of the piece, in case a sneaky editor stealth-edits in a bio line which even hints at Gray’s extremism.

    Next up for the BBC Online Magazine: an opinion piece on how Christianity is failing the world, by Ayatollah Khamenei, who will similarly be introduced as a non-partisan philosopher.

    Still waiting for a single opinion piece in the BBC Online Magazine by someone even one tiny step to the right of center, never mind a far-right ideologue. Editorial bias? What editorial bias?

       4 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      July 24, 2012 at 5:41 am

      ‘in case a sneaky editor stealth-edits in a bio line which even hints at Gray’s extremism.’
      No need, what with context like this..
      ‘The influential Cambridge economist ..
      Extreme is the new Bl.. Gray.
      At least, for some impartial informers and educators.

         0 likes