Monthly Archives: September 2012

A new survey of social attitudes  towards government spending has shown that in 1991 58% of people believed we should spend more on benefits, whilst by 2011 it had fallen to 28%.

Since 1998 support for more spending on benefits has consistently fallen.

Conclusion….in the greedy, selfish Thatcher years people were more caring and thoughtful about their fellow citizens.

It was only in the Blair years when Labour didn’t mind if people were ‘filthy rich’ that people stopped caring so much.

Mark Easton on ‘Today’ believes otherwise of course….his take is that it is government, that is the Coalition government’s, propaganda and right wing newspapers who are turning the Public against welfare recipients by labelling them scroungers, cheats and frauds….apparently we all think anyone who receives unemployment benefit if fiddling the dole…..because that’s what government policies tell us.

Never mind that our every day experience readily shows many people do ‘fiddle’ the dole or benefits system….or that the system is vastly more generous than Easton cares to admit….heard about the unemployed family which keeps 5 horses?

Easton of course takes up the ‘disabled’ lobby’s mantra that they are all looked upon as faking their disability and suffer a rising tide of hate crimes as a result…and it’s all the government’s fault….regardless of the fact that there very definitely are a number of fakers out there who need to be removed from the system is it really the government’s fault that people take the views that they do?

A close look at the survey reveals that in 1999 74% of people wanted more spending on disabled benefits. In 2006 that figure had fallen to 64%.

Now I know the BBC have forgotten we had a Labour government in charge for 13 years but wouldn’t those figures suggest that a little bit of management of people’s perceptions is going on in Easton’s report….as he forgets to mention them?

It isn’t only Easton who takes up the cudgel on behalf of the disabled lobby…it has been a regular refrain on the BBC that government has labelled all disabled people ‘scroungers’ and the BBC reports all seem slanted towards sympathy for the disabled lobby’s viewpoint.

Stories like this which are packed full of emotive phrasing and ideas but lack any real analysis only serve to further a certain view of this government as ‘nasty’ or ‘uncaring’, something the BBC seems keen to foster.

Today ‘Iran resurrects Salman Rushdie threat’.

‘Iran has seized on widespread Muslim outrage over a film insulting the Prophet Mohammad to revive the death threat against Salman Rushdie, raising the reward for killing him by US$500,000 (£320,000).’

Ironically yesterday the BBC finally found its backbone and spoke up in favour of defending civilised values of free speech and free thought….having Salman Rushdie on to speak along with others:

We were told that ‘respect’ for Islam was a codeword for fear….something we need to overcome….what we need is open discourse as part of the culture of this country..

We must defend the right of people to say things we don’t like, it’s not freedom of speech otherwise, we need to stand up for that freedom of speech more clearly.

Freedom of speech underpins the whole of society…democracy means nothing without freedom of speech, everybody otherwise lives in fear….all it requires is for good men to remain silent.

There is a lot of fear, especially around Islam, there is a phoney culture where no one admits the truth…that they are afraid of Islam….which results in a silencing of the necessary critical voices and debate and the continuation of identity politics.

How long this bravery lasts at the BBC remains to be seen….will they act on these words or are they merely mouthing platitudes, grandstanding whilst there are outrages across the Muslim world in protest against a film that is no more than a complete piece of rubbish…'”an idiotic video… A piece of garbage”‘, only to slip back into the old formula of quietly silencing all criticism of Islam and going along with anything any Muslim says about ‘respecting’ the religion, i.e. not allowing anyone to say anything Muslims disagree with.

Perhaps the BBC socialists will have a hard time coming to terms with allowing freedom of speech, at least for things they disagree about for as Hayek tells us Socialists and Islamists have a lot in common:

‘The French writers who laid the foundations of modern socialism had no doubt that their ideas could be put into practise only by a strong dictatorial government.  To them socialism meant an attempt to “terminate the revolution” by a deliberate reorganisation of society on hierarchical lines, and the imposition of a coercive “spiritual power”.  Where freedom was concerned, the founders of socialism made no bones about their intentions.  Freedom of thought they regarded as the root-evil of nineteenth-century society, and the first of modern planners, Saint-Simon, even predicted that those who did not obey his proposed planning boards would be “treated as cattle”.

Cattle eh?  Reminds one of Mehdi Hasan telling us we non-Muslims were all cattle. 

Socialists and Muslims…..wonder how that turned out in Iran?

An American takes a close look at the World  as Justin Webb would like it:

‘In yet another From Our Own Correspondent entry, Justin Webb reveals just how deep is his obsession with religion and religious Americans. How deep? Well, it seems that being a Bush supporter and – even worse, one imagines – a sunday school teacher is enough to set Webb to secretly questioning one’s children to make sure one is mentally suitable to qualify for Webb’s friendship.

I’m not making this up. As a lead in to his tediously typical portrayal of the American right as religiously ensconced ignoramuses, Webb relates a personal anecdote about going to dinner at the house of the parents of one of his own child’s classmates. He felt compelled to test the classmate, Meade, on the origins of the dinosaurs in order to satsify himself that the parents are not religious loons. As Webb himself tells us, the answer to his question will tell him “something about Meade’s parents which will affect our relationship.” Happily, after a pause which Webb finds to be “agonising”, Meade manages to provide a satisfactory answer, much to Webb’s immense relief….

“I could have hugged him and his parents; we are, after all, inhabiting the same mental planet.”

Sharing Webb’s “mental planet”? Poor Meade.

Webb continues:

“But many modern members of the Republican party, including some in positions of great power, do not seem to be living on that planet.

As the nation recovers this weekend from the worldly pleasures of the wonderfully inclusive festival of Thanksgiving, a festival which can appeal equally to atheist and Bible-basher, it seems to me that the central political question facing everyone here, far more important than any to do with Iraq or the deficit or Guantanamo Bay, is whether or not the Republican party, after decades of flirting, has finally got into bed with an irrational sect.”  ‘

ATTICUS in the Sunday Times (no link £) reveals the mindset of the BBC staff:

‘Which moment of the Olympics do you think was greeted with the biggest cheer by BBC staff?  Was it Mo Farrah’s win?  Or the gold for Jessica Ennis?

  Neither, according to the veteran sports reporter Harry Gration:  it was the moment when Team GB’s male footballers were knocked out of the tournament on penalties.

  He told  a literary lunch in Harrogate, North Yorkshire:  “There was just this feeling that the football wasn’t in the spirit of the Olympics.” ‘

Funnily enough Justin Webb confirms that attitude in another Sunday Times  piece (no link £) when he reveals in ‘MY HAVEN’ that: ‘To me rugby is the finest game ever invented.  I hope it supplants football as the national sport one day, because not only is it more complex and interesting, it involves a great degree of bravery too.  There’s a feel of good honest endeavour about rugby – players aren’t going to fake injuries, as they so often are in modern football.’

Good to hear that a presenter from a major news programme hasn’t heard of ‘Blood Gate’ or stories like this ‘Rugby World Cup: Ireland faked injuries to beat us, says ex-Australia star.’

Must assume he also thinks football fans are too thick to watch a ‘complex game’, the players being too cowardly, unskilled and somehow dishonest in football.

Martin Bright tells us  what we know to be true already….‘Supporters of Israel are losing the battle of ideas in the UK. This has probably been true for some time, if only they would admit it.’

A major part of this failure to get across the truth  can be laid at the BBC’s door who continually concentrate on the negative about Israel.  Israeli military  operations are always violent, aggressive, out of proportion whilst palestinian attacks are ‘in response’ to Israeli aggression.

Once the BBC ventures into Israel itself and casts its eye over Israeli society again all they look to highlight are the negatives….we have had a programme on the Orthodox Jews who are pretty fundamentalist…and now we have Panorama looking at Israeli ‘Price Taggers’ (Monday night..tomorrow) settlers who refuse to give up settlement land…..

‘Their weapons are firebombs and spray cans, and they have been branded Jewish terrorists; Panorama has exclusive access to the so-called Price Taggers, the Israeli teenagers who have sworn never to give up the land God gave them. They believe every Palestinian attack and every attempt by the Israeli government to hand back land should be met with an act of revenge – a Price Tag. Israel says it is determined to tackle what has been described as this enemy within, but do the authorities have the ability or the will to stop them?’

No problem mentioning the ‘terrorist’ word here…nor ‘Jewish’ in conjunction with that.

Who needs the Elders Of Zion when you have the good folk at the BBC damning Israel’s every move?  What next?  Israeli dog bites Arab…was it trained  to do this as part of an ethnic cleansing operation to force Palestinians out of israel?

The BBC have produced a nice piece of propaganda  for the government putting the case for High Speed Trains….attempting to both use the romance of rail travel and some ‘hard facts’ that suggest large government HST can save us from disaster.

It is in fact a rather curious piece for the BBC in that it not only enthuses about private investment in the railways, it has a wonderfully ‘Monty Python’ moment with a union man berating British Rail boss Peter Parker, and it also gives an almost glowing testimony to Mrs Thatcher…saying she improved the rail service more than it had been in the previous 20 years (and states Privatisation came after her term in office).

Or rather talking heads were allowed to say such things….such as Prue Leith (once on the Board of BR) saying she was always annoyed by people always clamouring about the Japanese Bullet Train without saying how much it cost and how long it took to develop and how much further improvement it has had since….how unsocialist actually looking at the cost of some great project!

Still you can’t help thinking this was a programme with a message at a time when the government are nearing making a final decision on giving the latest High Speed train development the go ahead.  Note the weighted references to lack of government investment and industrial, economic and political troubles…..is that meant to resonate now? 

Are they suggesting a massive investment in a single rail line will ‘save’ the country?

You make your own mind up, here are some quotes from various interested parties on the programme:

‘This is the story of how we rediscovered our love affair with high speed rail travel.

During a period of industrial gloom and political upheaval how did the unexpected triumph of the Intercity 125 help save British Rail and give us the Age of the Train?

With inadequate government investment, criticised as overstaffed, out of date and a waste of public money, Parker didn’t have much to smile about as he attempted to modernise the railway at a time of cutbacks.

Their was too much short termism…when you build something like the High speed Train you’ve got something with a life of maybe 30 years.

Parker knew he had to change the way we thought about the railways and he had to take on the doubters.

His legacy lives on. This is still the age of the High speed Train…we owe it to the 125 for rescuing British Rail from destruction, from near collapse in the 70’s. If it hadn’t been for the 125 we’d have been in real trouble.

I think the HST is a train whose time is still coming.’

Believe it or not the following tweets are not by a 14-year-old schoolboy with a vague interest in US politics but an adult male BBC journalist:

Whatever his faults or criticisms – #Obama is the coolest president there is youtube.com/watch?v=Zip9l2…

— Tom (@TomDonkin1) April 25, 2012

‘dont boo vote’…its not as snappy as ‘Yes we can’ Mr #Obama but hope it works #USElection

— Tom (@TomDonkin1) September 4, 2012

#Obama should really do stand-up, he killed. Great foreign policy bit. ”My opponent and his running mate are…….new to foreign policy”

— Tom (@TomDonkin1) September 7, 2012

Who’da thought @snoopdogg could be one of #Obama‘s most articulate supporters. Great endorsement youtube.com/watch?v=sOfHer…

— Tom (@TomDonkin1) September 12, 2012

The BBC trumpets Obama’s Stimulus for growth:

Global stock markets rise on US Fed stimulus plan

Global stock markets have risen after the US Federal Reserve moved to kick-start recovery by pumping more money into the economy.

They missed this:

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Egan-Jones Ratings Co. said Friday it downgraded its U.S. sovereign rating to AA- from AA on concerns that the Fed’s new round of quantitative easing, or QE3, will hurt the U.S. economy. The ratings agency said the Fed’s plan of buying $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities a month and keeping interest rates near zero does little to raise GDP, reduces the value of the dollar, and raises the price of commodities. “From 2006 to present, the US’s debt to GDP rose from 66% to 104% and will probably rise to 110% a year from today under current circumstances; the annual budget deficit is 8%,” Egan-Jones said in a note. “In comparison, Spain has a debt to GDP of 68.5% and an annual budget deficit of 8.5%.”

The US credit rating being downgraded…might not that merit a mention?

Not familiar with Egan-Jones? You may recall they were the firm that downgraded the U.S. last July before the S&P did.

“Regardless of who does the downgrade, you have to pay attention—maybe they’re not as well known, but Egan Jones has been ahead of the pack for a while,” Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading told CNBC.

Amused to hear a report on the UBS ‘rogue trader’ Kweku Adoboli  labelling him as the product of a private school background by the BBC today….is that relevant?  The BBC didn’t feel it was necessary to tell us of his immigrant background….all immigrants are ‘good’ for Britain of course.

The BBC  has nothing but great praise for Private Schools, honest (odd really as so many of them went to such schools)…..so much so that they like to showcase them every chance they get as here in ‘New tricks’ where the episode ‘Old School Ties’ reveals that the murderously criminal Headteacher is a descendant of a family that indulged in slavery, had connections to the KKK (created by Democrats) and supported Blackshirted Fascist Oswald Moseley…who was of course a Socialist from  the Labour Party….ahem….and the school only accepts white, English boys as pupils.

Not forgetting the obligatory rant about ‘privilege’ and the lack of opportunity for the poor…which drives them to crime.

New Tricks is usually good if you can filter out the lefty politics….but it is the BBC up to its old tricks as usual.