271 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. As I See It says:

    We now return to somewhere near Salford for the BBC’s popular comedy My New Family.
    The teenagers are preparing to go out for the evening. Owen Jones is in the bathroom. ‘Oh no….where’s my exfoliation cream? And who’s used all my moisturiser and all my hair gel? It’s not fair! Why must I have a metro sexual for a Dad? It makes me so angry’
    The Dad (Richard Bacon) ‘Remember property is theft Owen! Now quieten down, I’m trying to concentrate on my Twitter!’
    The Mum (Clare Balding) ‘Shush, I’m watching a DVD. It’s the Olympics again and here comes the brilliant NHS, Mo Farah and loads of ever so scrumptious ponies!’
    (Michael Portillo) ‘Look at this in the Guardian!’
    ‘What’s that our Granddad?’
    ‘Gay Marriage! Gay…. Marriage! At last…. something from the Tories that everyone in the family can agree on…..apart from increasing the foreign aid budget…. taxing the poor through their energy bills to pay for windmills…… blindly obeying every diktat from Europe….’
    Meanwhile Laurie Penny is busy rummaging through the cupboard under the stairs. ‘Mum, can I borrow your Doc Martens? I’m going on another demo. I don’t know what yet, could be fox hunting, anti-capitalism, Tory cuts, Traveller site, Palestinians….I’m waiting for Uncle Paul Mason to text me what’s trending. BBC news will update me exactly when and where to go’
    Richard Bacon, mutters to himself: ‘Kids eh! I don’t know, who’d have ‘em? You work hard, you won’t grow up, you get a job with the BBC, you work less hard, you still don’t grow up, you play hard, the tabloids catch you falling out of a club with a load of coke up your nose, the Blue Peter annual has to be pulped, you cause a pile of cost and loss of credibility to your employer. You get the sack. Then you find that somehow or other you’ve gained a load of cred – so the BBC takes you back on the payroll (well, not for PAYE – obviously), you have all the right views, you still don’t grow up, you have kids of your own, you hope for the best and cross your fingers that at least one of them will grow up gay….’
    ‘Owen, you’re so unfair. I have to OCCUPY that bathroom NOW! If you’re not out when I count to five I’ll stamp my foot and call a gay vicar on you – so there! Just see what you’re going to say when Giles Fraser hears about this OUTRAGE.
    (The audience applaud in recognition of one of their most favourite minor characters. How very grateful we all are to the BBC for bringing these lovable and typical British characters into our lives)

       71 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      Dear “As I See It”,

      We in the BBC Light Entertainment Dept. have read your script and find it to be too funny to accept fro transmission.

      Comedy projects have to be either
      a) offensive
      b) left wing
      c) a vehicle for Stephen Fry or Jeremy Hardy

      Besides, we already have a similar project in development. Let me be clear: we have NOT ripped off your idea. It’s just that coincidences do happen. (lol)

      Keep trying and perhaps one day your work will achieve the low standards we have set ourselves. And please remember, these days “comedy” does not necessarily mean “funny”.

      Yours etc

         48 likes

  2. Guest Who says:

    Brilliant! And free.
    ‘I’m waiting for Uncle Paul Mason to text me what’s trending’
    Whatever it is, there’ll be anger… lots… just how much… over to the vox popper dolly on the spot…
    I’m hearing the poor woman’s family are now being asked by a caring media estate just how angry they are.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20662352
    ‘Mr Christian said there was “no malice” in the prank call and “no harm intended” to the nurses, to the duchess or to Prince William.’
    That’s #Rightroyalplank ‘Mr. Christian’.
    And, of course, the BBC want to hear (some of) your views..
    What is your reaction to the comments by the Australian radio hosts?
    To help the grieving process, of course.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20661961
    Headline: ‘sought permission’
    Subhead: ‘says it tried to contact the nurses involved to seek permission to broadcast the taped conversation’
    (er… what… does ‘tried to contact’ mean? 5 attempts suggest they failed… and then what… pressed on regardless? The BBC seems not to know, or have asked)

       30 likes

  3. ltwf1964 says:

    BBC NI have finally found something to beat the flag protesters over the head with

    apparently one of the speakers at a protest was once a fundraiser for the BNP

    now i’m no fan of the BNP,but can someone from the bbc tell us how many people have been killed by them in shootings and bombings over the last number of years?

    as opposed to the political mouthpieces for the IRA who now sit in government in NI?

    bit ironic,isn’t it?

       80 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      As alike as chalk and cheese I’d say mate!

      Oh the irony of it.

         19 likes

    • noggin says:

      interesting to note, that who the bbc “trumpet” the most, have just a penchant for threat/murder, rampant hatred of religions/ethnicities/sexual minorites, insidious infiltration in the public sphere, mafia like tactics to force their agenda, continuous attempts at mass murder, herd like victim mentality aligned with hair trigger sensitivity that is only sated by immediate violence

      but … don t forget folks the real issue is
      BNP – far right, boo hiss, wacist, far right.

         48 likes

      • Chop says:

        I was of the assumption, that the BNP, being socialist, were actually far Left…silly me.

           16 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      “….can someone from the bbc tell us how many people have been killed by them in shootings and bombings over the last number of years?”

      David Copeland killed three with nail bombs. Lus lots of bnp links with Loyalist terror groups in the past.

      The links are there.

         3 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        One thing to scrimp on the oof-reading again, but telling folk to go and prove themselves wrong is just lazy.

           7 likes

      • prole says:

        The NF and BNP have always wanted Loyalist links but in fact never get them. I’ve seen the NF booted off the Shankill and the more clued up members of the PUP are definately to the left.

        The BNP tried to field candidates but got even even fewer votes than Vance’s old party. Ireland, North and South, hasn’t swung hard right like Greece.

           4 likes

      • ltwf1964 says:

        so that’s 3 against approx 2500

        evens it right up

           29 likes

        • ltwf1964 says:

          if the murders were sanctioned by the BNP,why haven’t they been outlawed?

          oh and by the way

          the BNP aren’t “far right”

          they are actually a bunch of leftists

          those national socialists……..

             39 likes

      • Stewart S says:

        You see I remember reading at the time of the Brixton bombing(17 April 1999) that Copeland ,a classic alienated loner with serious mental health issues ,was a member of some unheard of neo-nazi group so I looked it up on line took all of 20 seconds.
        ” He joined the far-right British National Party in May 1997″ then says “He left the BNP in 1998, regarding it as not hardline enough because it was not willing to engage in paramilitary action”
        And then he joined “National Socialist Movement, becoming its regional leader for Hampshire just weeks before the start of his bombing campaign”
        A fortune in time and effort has been spent trying to denigrate the BNP not least by the BBC who have employed agent provocateurs and spies,have aligned themselves with violent criminals and drug dealers to do so And so far have failed to prove anything except their own bias
        So here’s my question to you JD
        Is it legitimate for the white working class to have a voice particular to themselves if they so choose?

           36 likes

      • Ian Hills says:

        The vast majority of atrocities have been carried out by IRA/Sinn Fein, not by loyalists, who more often than not act in self defence or in revenge for IRA attacks. Not that they get much “loyalty” from the state or its broadcaster.

           22 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      “now i’m no fan of the BNP”

      Did you really have to say that?

      I should imagine that many people have voted for them out of fear rather than hatred.

         14 likes

  4. Gunn says:

    BBC opinion piece downplays secession petitions in the US.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20633042

    We’re told that its only a ‘miniscule’ number of people that are signing these petitions, so I wonder why the BBC feels the need for a whole article about it.

    It turns out though its because those nice helpful people at the BBC want to warn us about a few things:

    Firstly, while all 50 states have petitions up, only 11(!) have actually achieved the 25,000 signatures necessary. And even if we’re worried thats over 20% of the states, 25,000 people is a meaningless number (as is 118,000 in the case of Texas)

    These tiny numbers are then belittled by comparison to countries/regions like Scotland and Catalonia, nevermind that the secession petitions are purely an online thing rather than representative polls of the entire population.

    We’re then told the real reason that these petty petitions is happening is that some pesky (presumably raciss) people are peeved that Obama was elected.

    In case thats not sufficient to make the case, we’re reminded that secession is linked to the civil war which as everyone knows was because the nice people in the north wanted to end the scourge of slavery (real history behind the war be damned of course)

    And to round out the argument, we’re reminded that the US has ‘an exceptionally strong sense of civic nationalism’ which is bolstered by the waves of immigrants that come into the country. Presumably that includes the ‘undocumented’ ones, but we’re told that they ‘intermix sufficiently to prevent any linguistic or cultural equivalents of Quebec emerging’. So I guess having spanish translaters available when those nice undocumented chaps who’ve hit hard times go in for welfare isn’t strictly necessary, its just so that the US bureaucrats can get some practice at speaking spanish for when they go on holiday.

    And finally, just to go the extra mile, the article can’t help but name drop Ron Paul and Sarah Palin’s husband as supporters of the principle of these petitions, and as we all know Paul is a kook whilst Sarah Palin’s husband is married to one.

    I expect the US media is reporting on this in the same way (most of them are heavily left wing), but the BBC felt they needed to help their transatlantic cousins further ram home this point by validating that its also what ‘impartial’ observers from the rest of the world think too I guess.

       33 likes

    • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

      Contrast with the bBBC’s treatment of the endless series of petitions whipped up by whingeing Scousers wanting revenge for Hillsborough, also signed by a ‘miniscule’ number of people but running campaigns supported by the bBBC.

      They used a ‘news’ item to advertise this one and to encourage more signatures (… The online petition has been signed by more than 4,000 people less than 24 hours after it was set up. If it attracts 100,000 signatures, it would trigger a debate in the House of Commons.)
      The difference, of course, is that the bBBC hopes to use ‘Hillsborough’ as another excuse to smear Mrs Thatcher.

         39 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The secession noise is about the looming catastrophe of ObamaCare, plus the President’s desire to ramp up spending and taxes. It’s just noise, but the BBC always likes to report things they can use to portray the President’s opponents in a less than flattering light. It’s not a national discussion, not on the front pages of every major paper or the hottest topic on the cable news shows, yet the BBC managed to do a special article on it. So much for the “the BBC are merely reporting what is major news / they don’t need to report it because it’s not a major story” line of defense.

         22 likes

      • Louis Robinson says:

        I agree. David. The BBC’s agenda is all about painting opponents of the blessed Lord Obama as crazy loonies. Reagan in a cowboy hat. Bush in a cowboy hat. I’m waiting for Rubio in a cowboy hat.
        The only Republicans the BBC likes are the ones who lose. Soon, Mardell will write a profile of Romney.

           18 likes

      • RCE says:

        The white states WILL secede.

           2 likes

    • Ian Hills says:

      Only the injuns are real Americans, as the article hints –

      “Native American culture, meanwhile, is if anything more “American” than that of the immigrant groups. ”

      How come they never say anything like that about the indigenous people of the UK? Instead they go back to stirring up race hate between these groups, in the very next sentence –

      “By contrast, Scots are liable to feel less “British” and Catalans and Basques less “Spanish” than other parts of the population in their countries.”

      As for secession, in large areas of the deep south you won’t see a union flag in people’s front gardens.

         13 likes

  5. uncle bup says:

    After last week’s cluster-bombing by the BBC you should now all have FOOD BANKS either tattooed to the inside of your eyelids or laser-inscribed on your brain because

    1. We now have FOOD BANKS all over the UK because of
    2. Extreme poverty caused by
    3. Evil Tories and their coots, only to be ended by
    4. Voting Labour for
    5. Broad sunlit uplands and free money for all from the magic money tree.

       65 likes

    • Cosmo says:

      Can they get an app’ for their smartphones to find the nearest foodbank, oh and do they deliver or does one use a mini cab ?

         41 likes

    • Bodo says:

      I sometimes wonder just how genuine these ‘food banks’ are.

      They’re not run by an offshoot of the local Labor Party or trade union? They seem to be very good at self publicity, especially getting themselves on BBC news. A very effective underhand operation to sabotage the Tories. A few hundred quid on some nice grub, a few leaflets, a word in a BBC producers ear and it can all be filmed and shown in a few hours.

      Too cynical?

         46 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:

        In the Labour heartlands, if you are not obese, then you must be starving.

           39 likes

      • 1327 says:

        “To cynical” not at all ! The food banks meme seems to be the one the Beeb have settled on after they found the public at large didn’t seem that sympathetic to moaning students. I suspect it hasn’t got a lot of traction since they seem to run an item on food banks attempt to big it up then try again the following month.

        You get items on them on “Look North” every month or so but it all seems rather contrived. The recipients seem very articulate yet never quite explain why they aren’t receiving benefits or why they can’t be spent on food. Most odd though is that at the end of the item there is never a caption or voice over to explain how anyone in need can get in touch with a food bank or how you can donate to one.

           27 likes

    • Deborah says:

      Switched on Radio 4 Monday afternoon, the Food Programme with Sheila Dillon and guess what….yes .. featuring Food Banks. Does anyone know how long they have been in existence because the were never mentioned prior to the Coalition? Who funds them? Are they a charity that isn’t a charity ie funded by government? And do any of them teach people to cook cheaply? In Waitrose I can buy 2 chickens for £8.00 (at least 12 meals); bread whose sell by date is tomorrow for 87p (Warburtons at that) and 2 large boxes of porridge oats for £3.00 (at least 20 portions I guess). Go down to Morrisons and buy 12 pints of milk for £3.00 and I could be set up for the week.

         32 likes

      • And what is it about the types of people now using these ‘food banks’ that wasn’t also there under Labour? What has changed?

        Don’t ask the world’s greatest investigative journalists to ask these obvious questions, though, as it might just get in the way of the narrative.

           31 likes

    • Ian Hills says:

      The growth of food banks could be down to the evil LibDems jacking energy prices up, but that can’t be mentioned because it’s a good thing really as it saves the (ugh) planet.

         16 likes

  6. Guest Who says:

    Explicable I am sure, but I seem to be having trouble accessing BBC blogs.
    Have to say the line one gets is perhaps unintentionally apposite:
    [an error occurred while processing this directive]

       5 likes

  7. Invicta 1066 says:

    On Sunday morning, just caught the end of the 9am News and the first few minutes of Broadcasting House before rushing out ..First subject Cameron & Gay marriage.
    First interview was with a gay Tory Nick Herbert who supported gay marriage. BBC interviewer got it exactly right when he said ‘’Double dip recession, resignation of Italian Prime Minister, riots in N Ireland, are there not more pressing matters for Mr Cameron and Parliament to be spending time on?’’
    He could have gone on and added the rise of TB and other diseases, the state of the NHS & education, immigration & unemployment. the list goes on.
    So the BBC guy Paddy O’Connell was spot on; except the irony, or is it the double standards of making gay marriage the FIRST item on this BBC programme will be lost on a BBC that promotes this agenda at every opportunity; as evidenced here. Evening News, and this subject is about the fourth item!

       40 likes

  8. It's all too much says:

    Any reason why Keith Vaz Has oozed onto the air to discuss the death of the prank call Nurse.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20663572

    I particularly like his tone of deep regret and concern throughout. Glad to see they label is party affiliation….

    “Labour MP Keith Vaz has said the family of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse at the centre of the royal hospital hoax, are “grief stricken”.

    Speaking to the BBC’s Martine Croxall, Mr Vaz, who visited Mrs Saldanha’s husband Benedict Barboza and family at their home in Bristol [Why? Vaz is MP for Leicester East], said: “They simply cannot understand or cope with what is happening.

    Is it just me or is this sickening opportunism?

       76 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Not just you.
      ‘“Labour MP Keith Vaz has said the family of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse at the centre of the royal hospital hoax, are “grief stricken”.
      I can see why he gets the big bucks. Who would imagine they might be less than chipper… well, other than the BBC’s lobotomised echo chamber.
      Still, he seems to be joining a long line of ‘mileage plus’ non health-professionals (Ecuadorian Ferrero Rocher tray carriers for instance) who the BBC relies on for ‘insight’ on states of body or mind.

         31 likes

      • Stewart S says:

        No its not just you. I couldn’t work out what it had to do with postalvote Vaz either and waited in vain for some explanation.

           37 likes

        • Cosmo says:

          Catholic Asian is the common link. Plus blatant opportunism.

             19 likes

          • Frederick says:

            I cannot really understand why the nurse took her own life over this. She must have been mentally very fragile. It’s like giving someone a gentle shove. Her reaction is totally out of proportion to the action. I guess some people have an excessively brittle psyche.

               13 likes

            • Wild says:

              “I cannot really understand why the nurse took her own life over this.”

              It reminds me of the reply given by Dirac when somebody got up in one of his lectures and said he did not understand how Dirac had derived a particular equation. There was a long silence. Eventually the chairman asked Dirac if he was going to answer Dr X’s question. Dirac replied “That was a statement not a question”.

                 9 likes

      • Dazed & Confused says:

        Who was a nurse?…Jacintha Saldanha, was a hospital switchboard operator who only transferred a hoax telephone call through to the ward housing Kate Middleton.

           6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      And why is the BBC now pushing more on the ‘support’ to the family, or not, vs. the DJ’s?
      At least Mr. Vaz did not grab the bone to worry that Martine Croxhall was obsessing around…. as, for now, NO ONE KNOWS.
      Risible woman. Perfect place to be employed.

         7 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      The death of Mrs Saldanha is tragic beyond tragic of course. However, what crime did the family commit to suffer a visit by “Labour MP Keith Vaz on Sunday”? To be fair I’d note that Vaz’s parents hail from Goa so there is some teeny justification for his opportunism in waddling his way to the front of the comfort queue. Doubtless, getting a bit of the backsplash from the outpouring of public sympathy won’t do him any harm in his Leicester constituency although I’m sure this possible benefit never entered his thoughts as he sped to Bristol.
      Even so, don’t let’s forget the real victims here. Today this morning broadcast an excerpt from a nauseating interview with the Australian DJs who, as the BBC informs us, “have been receiving counselling”. Manifestly, this whole episode is genuine news and, as such, the BBC is right to cover it. However, there is no need for the BBC – a “serious” broadcaster apparently – to follow down the road of the rest of the media in a mawkish display of overripe sentimentality mixed with the implication (now being sold by the DJs and their employers) that the hoax was “harmless” and its consequences were unforeseeable.
      Maybe the “lesson to be learned” here is that actions have consequences. Whatever the motivations of the hoaxers, one predictable consequence of a successful hoax would have been the utter humiliation of the hospital staff involved. For the BBC, of course, there was a bonus in the original story in that the ripples of humiliation lapped at the feet of both the royal family and, God be praised, a private hospital.

         34 likes

      • SouthEastVoter says:

        I notice the BBC have changed from the “prank call” to the “hoax call”. However the call ceased to be a prank or a hoax as soon as personal information was discussed. This should actually be termed a “blagging call” and illegal in the UK. What was the point of Leverson? Can you imagine if the DJ’s were Sun Reporters, I doubt any reports trying to make us feel sorry for the perpetrators.

           30 likes

    • Demon says:

      I don’t think it’s necessarily Political opportunism on Vaz’s part (although with him it could well be) as he is their MP. But I’m certain it is on the BBC’s part as they needn’t have interviewed him, but could and should have just said that “The local MP, Keith Vaz visited the nurse’s family and expressed his support for the family at this difficult time”. Any more than that and the BBC are exploiting his Labourliness.

         4 likes

      • Demon says:

        I misread it, sorry. He is NOT the local MP. Political opportunism is clear. Ignore my previous, almost defence, of Vaz – the MP for Slime Central.

           44 likes

      • Ian Rushlow says:

        Personally I welcome the presence of Mr Vaz in British politics – he fulfills the role that Edward Heath used to have. There are many complicated issues in the World and it is sometimes difficult to know what to believe. But as soon as Vaz speaks I know automatically to believe the exact opposite.

           5 likes

    • The General says:

      Well we all know why. She is of Pakistani origin and Vaz although purporting to be a British MP for the Leicester constituency , in reality sees himself as the leader and representative of the Pakistani community in this country. This therefore is a perfect band wagon for him to jump upon just incase there might be further ‘Vaz profile raising developments’ in the future.

         18 likes

  9. Invicta 1066 says:

    BBC R4 used to have an excellent programme called the Impressionists. John Colshaw, or one of the others would ring up an unsuspecting target and imitating the voices of Tom Baker (Dr Who) or a recognisable politician or TV personality, the ultra posh Brian Sewell was a favourite, engage the ’victim’’ in an increasingly ridiculous scenario.
    I recall one call to an American taxi firm by Tom Baker ended with him enquiring about a taxi trip to Mars..one day!
    ‘’Brian Sewell’ rang a Newcastle museum, I think it was, and took the mickey out of any culture north of Mayfair. The wonderful lady on the receiving end must have twigged it was a spoof and went along with it, ending when BS made an ignorant comment (broad Geordie accent) ’’Noor–that’s Sunderland!

    We have no idea how many victims were contacted and agreed to have the items aired, but I bet if the BBC had spoofed Princes Phillip or Charles they wouldn’t have bothered and just run it.

    What are the chances of it coming back?

       12 likes

    • Glenn says:

      It was called Dead Ringers. Same as the TV spin off.
      The best one was when, doing his Tom Baker, he rang Sylvester McCoy. It ended with Sylvester inquiring, “Tom, have you been drinking?”

         4 likes

  10. George R says:

    BBC and Children.

    A revealing interview in ‘Guardian’ with CBBC Political Commissar:

    “Cheryl Taylor interview: CBBC ‘is where we want the BBC journey to begin.’
    “The channel’s new controller has a hard task – encouraging her young viewers to make the leap from digital channels to being fully fledged licence-fee payers.”

    By Tara Conlan

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/dec/09/cheryl-taylor-interview-cbbc?

    A couple of points about the above interview:-

    1.) CBBC intends to culturally manipulate British children so that they become BBC licence payers later;

    2.) CBBC Commissar intends to put out more political propaganda in form of ‘Horrible Histories’ claiming:

    “Shows such as Horrible Histories are of such high quality, and give such opportunities for shared viewing – they will always have a place.”

    ‘Biased-BBC’ has taken CBBC to task on this propaganda several times.

       47 likes

    • George R says:

      Without irony, ‘Today’ (08:50) was discussing the parlous state of education in history this morning; guests included a lecturer in history who, without apology, admitted he knew next to nothing about British history of the eighteenth century.

         38 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:

        For me, it is the fifth century.

           8 likes

      • therealguyfaux says:

        Sadly, many don’t know the history of the 20th C. either, and it was only a dozen years or so ago we were still living in it.

        18th Century = Act of Union, three Germans named George, Stuart pretenders, Indian trade, America does a runner, some little Corsican crops up to cause trouble that will carry over into the next century. UK of GB&I 18th C. in a nutshell.

           14 likes

    • The Beebinator says:

      this is what the CBBC propaganda command drone also said:-

      “If they do not catch the BBC habit early, they may not pay the licence fee when they grow up.” – so shes trying to addict our kids the the BBC.

      Judging by the ammount of sexual offences committed by BBC employees against children, the last thing in the world we want is the BBC having anything to do with our kids

         43 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘encouraging her young viewers to make the leap from digital channels to being fully fledged licence-fee payers’
      That comment gets the play it deserves, and I sense another side-stepping (on full pay) in The Farce.

         23 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Get ’em while they’re young. With any other organization, such a clear admission would cause concern. But not for this national treasure.

         16 likes

    • Ian Hills says:

      Teaching them to denounce politically-incorrect parents to the Party will be the next step.

         18 likes

      • Stewart S says:

        Too late Ms Taylor’s proteges Jack ‘Pavlik Morozov’ Whitehall has already denounced his grand parents for the ultimate sin (racism) on HIGNFY (Perhaps CBeebies will build a statue of him in the blue peter garden and bring groups of toddlers to see it on pilgrimage)
        And that other posh boy socialist Russell Howard regularly mocks his parents conservative (small c) views for the approbation of the liberal Inquisition he so faithfully serves

           12 likes

    • Jagman 84 says:

      I do not let my young son watch any BBC output (save F1). That way he can develop his own outlook on life. Even Cbeebies , in his earlier years, was at it with a pro – greenie / veggie agenda. Probably still is!

         6 likes

  11. The General says:

    In relation to the Hoax affair. Where do you think the unfortunate nurse was most likely to have heard her unfortunate mistake being trumpeted? On the Australian radio channel or on the BBC ?
    I know it was covered by the Media generally but that little pratt Richard Baconwho initially thought it was hilarious and was convulsed in childish guffawing as he replayed it. She must have felt humiliated.
    If you remember, some time ago, a giggling Bacon pressed his listeners to go to a site to listen to an American ‘comedian’ ( that is comedian in the BBC sense i.e leftwing nasty little s**t ) make vile comments about Sarah Palin’s disabled son. If the BBC had any Tory supporting Presenters and that Presenter made similar recommendations regarding a comic’s nasty references to the disabled child of a Democrat or Labour Party member, what do you suppose would have been the consequences ?
    ( Please note this is purely fictional as in the unlikely event that any Tory becomes a BBC Presenter, he/she is required to smile benignly as his colleagues rip apart his former political associates.)

       54 likes

  12. Guest Who says:

    http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/nick-cohen/2012/12/tyrannys-fellow-travel-writers-part-3/
    Remind me, but who invested in one of these titles on our behalves?
    Educationally and informationally?

       7 likes

    • Stewart S says:

      OK in the comments to Cohen.s piece,the first thing I hit on is
      “GaryEssex•9 hours ago −
      Lonely Planet is, of course, owned by the BBC (not quote sure why our state broadcaster should own such a company), so what do you expect except lefty anti-capitalism writing. I’m sure the right-on staff can switch seemlessly between the organisations.”
      Pardon my ignorance but is thet right (the owend by the BBC bit)?

         3 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        Yes, BBC Worldwide bought Lonely Planet for £90 million.

        Money gained by BBC Worldwide for on-selling BBC programming that we the licence-payers paid for originally. Money that should be ploughed back into programme-making to improve the abysmal state of current BBC output.

           15 likes

  13. uncle bup says:

    …and on tonight’s Panorama

    The Secret Droneswhichkillinnocentpeople War.

    To be followed by next week with

    The Palestinian Rocketswhichlandharmlesslyinfields. Unwar

       39 likes

    • The General says:

      Its not quite the same as the benign Palestinian rockets are purchased at the Gaza City branch of Ikia in flat pack form and are reassembled at home by peace loving Palestinian families.

         34 likes

    • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

      Surely these aren’t the murdering drones used by the bBBC’s favourite Nobel Peace Prize Winner, the blessed President Obama?
      It could almost be worth watching Panorama to see how they spin that one.

         38 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      The football blog fraternity have got the BBC sussed if this comment is anything to go by….

      ‘Actually I applaud anybody who brings these fatuous, shallow, sensationalist, self-important hacks down to size. If they don’t do the homework before broadcasting spurious statements, they deserve everything they get, in my opinion. That’s what comes of having a tinpot news radio station run by children.’

         39 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘a tinpot news radio station run by children.’
        But, still, no matter what, uniquely-funded still by you and I.

           23 likes

      • noggin says:

        sparkling … 😀 you d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh …. did i hear the sound of wet fish floundering 😀
        ps
        don t think he ll be on the bbc xmas card list for much longer

           17 likes

    • Chop says:

      Paddy is a legend to us united fans, he takes no shyte from anyone, let alone the BBC.

         18 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Oh, that has made my day.
      What an awesome set-up… only they set themselves up.
      Patronising, sanctimonious, ill-informed, feet of clay in response and ultimately getting all high horsey that he’s not dancing to their vapid tune as others invited to share a bask in the sun with the BBC Eloi who know their place have done.
      And totally… I mean totally pwnd on made up stats and made up readers’ texts/emails.
      That’ll be a new pair of brown chords on ex’s for him, and a slow hand clap for her at the wine bar tonight.
      A ‘his ‘n hers’ piece of radio history from this side of the Equator that really is true comedy in audio form.

         18 likes

      • Chop says:

        Paddy: Did you watch the game?

        Silly bint…..”I listened to it….”

        I am sure I actually heard Paddy Crerand’s eyes rolling!

           13 likes

    • ltwf1964 says:

      “what planet are you people on at all”

      LOLZ

      rip the tossers a new one Paddy

      takes a scotsman or an irishman to tear them a new one-it’s the accent I think

         11 likes

    • Reed says:

      “I’m not taking it from you, you tell me”.

      Loved this! Someone who’s not putting up with their incessant pandering. Cheers for the link.

         12 likes

  14. chrisH says:

    God Bless You Paddy Crerand.
    Great player who used to go to our church most Saturdays after the game. Good Catholic lad, and pal of Busbys back then.
    None of that tinted window/velvet rope crap-a true man of the people back then.
    About time that people blew back the BBCs set ups.
    Today
    1. Prisoner votes.
    2. Gay marriage.
    3. Calls to legalise drugs.
    BBC heaven-now let`s ask Paddy Crerand a PROPER question about the above!
    Maybe the revolution could start behind the Old Reds Party…Crerand as midfield maestro hacking Beeb fops from behind for fun( and no jokes please about the BBC liking that!)

       16 likes

  15. chrisH says:

    Discovered my inner Xena and listened to nearly 40 minutes of Womans Hour this morning.
    1. Two broadsheet wimmin arguing about whether the Winterval ads from M&S/Asda etc wwe sexist…one said yes, one said no; but both had seem them all…no doubt, hubby doesn`t get to see them very often what with work an all.
    2. World Human Rights Day doncha know?..you didn`t?…poor you!
    Following the kerfuffle over M&S/Waitrose etc, Jane garvey gets all cross about Indian girls getting sent to Kolkatta/Mumbai( Calcutta, Bombay…but the Beeb go both ways in these…if an Indian calls them by the old names, then we too can do so)…these twelve year olds are NOT going onto X-Factor, which surprises the village elders…no sirree…but a life of sex slavery/forced marriage instead.
    Didn`t quite get the faith of these naifs…sure as hell the BBC wouldn`t be telling me. Anyway-if bloody M&S weren`t so sexist, then we`d have more time to deal with it…all you need to know for now is that it`s bloody men…again!
    3. Next up is gossip columnists from 1971 gassing on with gossip Internet trawlers from New York…men agin!
    4. And how to picke and preserve fruit for Yule for those chi-chi parties to die for in the coming season…clipped posh totty accents best kept for these sanctuaries of privilege…oh, but did she say preserve it in vodka?…good Lord…middle aged binge drinking alert…which will be tomorrows issue I expect!
    40 minutes of that…and women complain about PMT?
    Good Lord…dreadful crap-and if that doesn`t get `em off the dole then what will?

       20 likes

    • Maturecheese says:

      I too have occasionally tuned in to R4 at that time just to escape R5 but alas there is no sanctuary to be found there. I usually give up and tune to Planet Rock.

         10 likes

    • graphene fedora says:

      ChrisH, if you’d persevered for a few more minutes, you would have heard, ‘Lee Jasper & The Honeyglazers’ giving us some ‘Carols from Qings X’.

         9 likes

    • Ian Hills says:

      Chris, if you listened to that crap for a full 40 minutes you have now been brainwashed – and as you are a schoolteacher, you will soon be instructing the cheeldren to watch CBBC and, as it preaches, to pay their TV licenses if they grow up.

         9 likes

  16. Guest Who says:

    Always interesting…
    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/in-air.html?
    ‘As well as staff already based in the States, 94 BBC employees were shipped there for coverage of the Presidential election.
    The results of that investment speak for themselves.

       11 likes

  17. George R says:

    BBC-NUJ reporting FRANCE:
    Hollande (leftist and rather good), Depardieu (rightist and rather bad):

    “French wealthy ‘feel victimised by tax'”

    (inc 2 min video)

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20666559

       5 likes

    • noggin says:

      is this the same Hollande as this chap, proving he couldn t run a bath

      “French President Francois Hollande said Monday in Oslo that the eurozone crisis was “behind us,” as he lauded work the European Union has done to “resolve the problems.”
      AFP.

         16 likes

  18. gordon-bennett says:

    Can anyone please explain this?

    I Googled “What is the difference between marriage and civil partnerships”. Plenty of replies but all (even the grauniad) said there is no difference.

       2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      I think the sex may be more frequent.
      But as civil partnerships haven’t been around that long maybe there’s not enough data to support that.

         3 likes

    • The General says:

      “What is the difference between marriage and civil partnerships ?”.

      Answer:
      Nothing. It’s just another opportunity to go against the Christian values upon which British society is founded in order to cause division and controversy.

         32 likes

  19. Alex says:

    I see the BBC (primarily, Reporting – Supporting – Scotland) are trying their best to play down the EU’s devastating blow today to that windbag Salmond’s claim that an independent Scotland would automatically stay within the EU. Jose Barroso stated what most of us (not caught up in some infantile Scottish Nationalist utopia) have known all along: that the SNP hsve been caught yet again making it up as they go along with deception and downright obfuscation. BBC Reporting Scotland unsurprisingly distorted it with utter drivel from SNP worshiper, Brian Taylor. This should have been a main story on the UK BBC news, but no mention… I wonder why?

       19 likes

    • Cassandra King says:

      Mr mcFrog rides the waves of nationalist sentiment as all slimy flimflam con artists do, there is always a greasy spiv ready to exploit and lie and cheat like Salmond and his sorry ass crew.

      Sadly for him the EU has been forced to confront the reality of regions wanting to break away from member states that have no intention of letting the regions go without a fight. The EU knows that making it possible for Scotland to break away and remain in the EU makes it possible for other regions to do likewise, my guess is that Spain and others of influence have decided to crush McBravehearts dreams.

         11 likes

      • Ian Hills says:

        The EU regionalisation plan (Scotland, SE England, Catalonia, Flanders etc) was intended to destroy nationalism with a view to abolishing the nation states completely one day – the regions becoming just the county councils, as it were, of a superstate (with nothing “federal” about it!).

        Just as SE England was never intended to have much power, neither was Scotland, and Salmond will have a fight on his hands to get Scots to yield powers to Brussels, as the nation states have been doing since they joined.

        Just to make sure all traditional loyalties were destroyed, it was planned to then merge the regions across former national boundaries. Secession would then be unlikely – and difficult too with police and armed forces under Brussels control.

        The price of the BBC’s EU receipts has been banging the Brussels drum – eg helping to break the UK up into regions through provoking hatred..

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

           9 likes

        • Stewart S says:

          Will they also come under the same financial and political pressure that the newer eastern european members have,to take their ‘fair’ share of non-european migrants?

             6 likes

        • Aerfen says:

          You left out the bit about first encouraging large scale migration to ensure the indigenous would be an ethnic minority in the homelands anyway!
          But why is Britain so disproprtionately targetted for this?

             8 likes

          • Ian Hills says:

            Actually the rest of western Europe is pretty bad too – TPTB are nothing if not greedy for cheap labour, and the trades unions’ EU “cohesion” grants plus jobs on the ESC keep their traps shut about it. Other opinion-formers in receipt of Brussels’ bribes include churches and broadcasters.

               4 likes

  20. George R says:

    SYRIAN Civil War.

    Why does Islam Not BBC (INBBC) appear to have a soft political spot for the Islamic jihad killers of Syrian opposition forces?

    The following extreme Islamic jihad violence on video may have needed to be censored; but it is no good INBBC pretending such extreme violence doesn’t go on.

    “Syrian jihadist rebels make child behead prisoner”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/12/syrian-jihadist-rebels-make-child-behead-prisoner.html#comments

       10 likes

  21. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC : ‘The Government is to publish plans for gay marriage tomorrow’

    I hope not.

    I simply haven’t a thing to wear, luvs. Not for tomorrow. My wardrobe is looking so shabby….so last year. I say wardrobe, that’s an exaggeration…..a few sorry scraps of schumutter. Not so much a wardrobe malfunction, more of a wardrobe disaster, luvs. Oh I couldn’t be seen dead in the half of it. Now I’m in a complete panic because I simply haven’t the time to get to the shops……

       13 likes

  22. Teddy Bear says:

    More evidence emerges concerning how the BBC tried to conceal their real reasons for cancelling the original Newsnight Savile report. The very fact of their insidious and unethical behaviour, the mealy mouthed excuses that will follow, a few shifts in job positions, and back to business as usual, makes this extremely frustrating for the few licence fee payers that don’t rely on BBC output to decide what really should happen to them.

    Ex- Sky News boss to investigate why it took three weeks to correct mistakes on blog that tried to justify cancellation of Newsnight Savile probe

    *Claims emerge that Peter Rippon was told his blog post was misleading the day after he wrote it
    *But BBC bosses took three weeks to publish a correction
    *Allegations to be investigated by Nick Pollard as part of broad investigation

       10 likes

  23. JaneTracy says:

    I was just watching BBC4’s Great Steam Railways for some hopefully harmless and apparently informative TV.

    What did I get told? Those who started the first steam railway as a type of co-operative in the 1950s were REACTIONARIES who were of the sort who would have been against WOMEN GETTING THE VOTE!

    No evidence was given for this waffle and surmise presented as fact! Indeed the possibility that they may simply have liked steam railways and enjoyed it was ignored.

    Oh and we saw a “workers-cooperative” here which usually the BBC loves but this one was MIDDLE-CLASS and apparently shameful.

    Quite what any of this had to do with steam railways I do not know so I turned it off…

       31 likes

    • Dave s says:

      I thought this too. In fact I am surprised the BBC made this program. It does not exactly tick the PC boxes the BBC so loves. Visit any of these lines and especially the gala days and what do you find ?
      An almost 100 % monocultural and ethnically indigenous crowd attending.
      Diverse and inclusive it is not.
      Also an almost complete lack of police and authority as the crowd, as one would expect, is self policing and simply does not need controlling.
      I enjoy it. Courtesy and politeness and good humour rule. And for those liberals who worship at the shrine of Metroplitan ” edgy ” events I would add there are an increasing number of young families who appreciate what is so often lacking at the public events the BBC so love.

         28 likes

  24. Cosmo says:

    Eastenders tonight, white male called ” little man” “sad little man” to the amusement of two females, one black one asian, he could have come back with some very good retorts but, you know the rest. Goes to show the brainwashing and drip drip of the bbc pc policys.

       20 likes

    • Chilli says:

      I shudder to think of the bias that must go unnoticed in programmes for the plebs like EastEnders. Not that anyone with more than two braincells would watch that bilge – but those that do will have their two braincells well and truely washed by a load of lefty propaganda.

         21 likes

    • Jim Dandy says:

      So the fact he didn’t come back with a racist retort shows bias?

      PC gone mad

         5 likes

      • Mat says:

        “I was in hospital once and I watched a whole episode of Eastenders. I suppose it’s true to life. But so is diarrhoea – and I don’t want to see that on television.”
        Sir Patrick Moore R.I.P

           20 likes

      • Cosmo says:

        Where did racist come from ? I was thinking fat and ugly. The white working class hetro’ can be abused with impunity.

           12 likes

  25. chrisH says:

    Funny how the BBC get Barossa to say some pretty explicit things about Scotland having to join the Euro/reapply to join the EU if they vote for independence(Hardtalk, I believe)…but seem awful shy about saying TOO much about it.
    They give Nicola Sturgeon plenty time to concoct “her interpretation” in response-on the one hand, on the other hand…perceptions and clarifications.
    Who`s to know who to believe?…would this be the SNP scottie dog pooper scooper…or the ex Maoist, unelected Nobel peace Prize winner ?
    In Beebland, just follow the horse and cart with Fat Salmond in it, and you`ll always be on message.
    Paddy Crerand for leader of the Scots…NOW!

       11 likes

  26. chrisH says:

    Any news about that Nobel Peace Prize then?
    Seems awful quiet on the News Site of the BBC.
    Still-I believe that black, Guardian leftie hack and grievance warrior , Gary Younge…was in the USA wondering about whether affirmative action in favour of black people was “a good thing “or not…and does opposing it make you a Tea Party loser type…or not?
    I hope someone heard it…I can`t imagine what Gary and the BBC might have to say by way of answer!

       11 likes

    • +james says:

      LOL, I believe it was in the news earlier, I heard the BBC saying that there where celebrations in Oslo.

      This is a bigger joke than Obuma receiving the prize.

         9 likes

  27. Mavis Ramsbottom says:

    why is the BBC corporate colour for BBC News red?

       5 likes

    • Mat says:

      I believe the BBC spin master a certain Mr A .Campbell Labour warlord and part time pornographer and drunk so willed it as penance for employing Gilligan !
      Gota brand the hog as he would put it !

         5 likes

  28. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Newsnight is in Gaza:
    up to now we have a girl who needs to fish, and a lad who works in the “smuggling tunnels”.
    The lad cant work AND study.
    The girl is unable to dress sensibly(hijabbed) because the men and boys cause problems. She fishes within the boundaries but the fish are depleted, the boundary moves, but also gets depleted. ( reminds me of the EU really).
    The smuggling tunnels are taxed by Hamas it is said.
    Tramadol keeps Muhammad going at his smuggling work. After a collapse he quit the job. He’d love to be an airline pilot. So would I.
    The girl would love to marry, but she and her DAD have refused them all (as you do).They do not deserve her says dad.

       13 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      He’d love to be an airline pilot.

      Now why does that give me a nasty feeling?

         14 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        LOL (in a sensitive way).
        On a related, more serious note, after years I am pondering canceling my National Geographic sub.
        I truly adore the photography and, usually, most of the stories.
        But this latest issue had one on Gaza that bore no relation to any facts I have been made aware of, and then a few pages further on covered fracking with a picture of a tap on fire.
        I am inviting the Editor to explain why I should support them further if they are moving into advocacy over reportage.

           10 likes

  29. George R says:

    Not a petition BBC will support or publicise:
    ‘Telegraph’ –
    “Ministers accused of ‘sham’ consultation over gay marriage.
    “The Coalition has been accused of running a ‘sham’ consultation on same-sex marriage by discounting the views of more than half a million opponents.”

    By John Bingham.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9735738/Ministers-accused-of-sham-consultation-over-gay-marriage.html

       11 likes

    • George R says:

      ‘MATT’ –

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/

         8 likes

    • Dave s says:

      Cameron never had any intention of consultation. His whole style is authoritarian. A disaster for this country is his tenure. I would rather, and said it at the time, have had Gordon.
      It will be the same with the EU.

         7 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        ” Cameron never had any intention of consultation.”
        Nope, and nor will he consult on whether admitting 80 Million Islamic Turks into a borderless EU. He thinks it’s a wonderful idea.
        What a knob!
        No apologies for banging on about this, have you SEEN the census figures…Holy S*&t!

           9 likes

        • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

          ” Islamic Turks into a borderless EU” is actually a good idea.

          Dooohhhhhh…..

             4 likes

    • Closet Christian says:

      Our Dave has been ignoring this not insignificant amount of people:- http://c4m.org.uk/

         4 likes

  30. wallygreeninker says:

    Wonder if there is any substance in this?

    “Channel 4 News Political Editor Gary Gibbon has learned that the British prime minister is planning a speech that will set out plans for a repatriation of powers from Europe back to Westminster and an in/out referendum on Europe for the next election.”

    http://www.channel4.com/news/eu-awarded-nobel-prize-but-cameron-stays-away

       6 likes

  31. Life as an observer at The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – aka 21st century Britain – day 4725…..

    It is difficult to see how our cuddly and ‘engaging’ host on Today, Evan Davis, was able to deliver this one with a straight face this morning.

    The government is considering giving ‘cultural lessons’ to foreign football players who come to ply their trade in our wonderful, tolerant multicultural land. This, apparently, is their response to the handful of on-field incidents of ‘racism’, notably in the Premier League, that have been reported ad nauseam by the BBC over the past few months.

    The example quoted of where such ‘cultural lessons’ could be of benefit was that of Suarez and Evra, where Suarez used the term negrito (to help Evra identify his own skin colour, presumably), a word he considered to be non-racist when used in his native Uruguay.

    Now call me picky if you like, but if I was temporarily resident in a country which professed to be unreservedly ‘multicultural’ I’d feel pretty well at liberty to express my own culture in any damned way I wanted, and in accordance with the diktat New Labour/BBC relentlessly spat at us for the best part of 13 years.

    But the truly surreal bit of this item which had me choking on my Honey Nut Shreddies was this: apparently the plan is for these ‘foreign players’ to be given lessons in – ahem – the British culture.

    Next up – Time Team carry out emergency government-funded archaelogical excavations in an attempt to unearth The British Culture, believed to be buried deep under the foundations of the former headquarters of an ancient state broadcaster, somewhere in West London.

       21 likes

    • Brief update on this…. also given coverage on North West News where we had an additional observation from our trusty BBC correspondent: the aim of the proposed initiative is to help them integrate.

      Given the next item was about local Muslim ‘communities’ fighting Lancashire council for the right to have halal slaughtered meat supplied to schools, it wasn’t a good day for the BBC to bury ironic news.

         6 likes

  32. AsISeeIt says:

    Naturally the Guardian takes a rather poe faced attitude to the Paddy Crerand versus BBC 5 Live all-in catch-weight contest.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/10/ashley-young-manchester-derby

    They do provide a transcript. But don’t listen with the Guardian link. Listen here.

    http://audioboo.fm/boos/1105134-paddy-crerard-taking-no-nonsense-from-bbc-radio-5-live-breakfast

    (who would want to help fund the Guardian?)

    Adverts on links from the Guardian web-site eh? Well I suppose it is a case as Philip (Don Warrington) the black character from rising Damp once said in his wonderful sauve manor: ‘Everything is commercialised these days Rigsby’

    I love the way Paddy refuses to to be confined by the BBC rules of debate. There are politicians supposedly on the right who would do well to take a leaf out of the Crerand play book.

    All joking aside this clip serves to bring into sharp focus the BBC technique.

    1)Pick on a small issue within a wider area of interest.
    2)Exaggerate and play up the issue as a matter of concern.
    This will attract the interest of any number of single issue pressure groups and politicians, particularly those of the left-leaning persuasion.
    3)Whip up a debate on this supposedly burning issue. Back up the call for the something must be done argument by over emphasising the importance and quantity of ‘texts’ received.
    4)Demand that Parliament take action. That’s if Europe allows it.

       15 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Nice try, Graun.
      I actually listened 2 it (see what I did there?).
      He pwnd 2 pompous, ill-informed, agenda-promoting, right-on, prissy PC BBC asses (excuse tautology) and took apart one of the fundamental facades of modern ‘news’ reporting/interviewing, namely the ‘people are saying’ claim that has no actual basis beyond the programme team’s own spin.
      I just hope their fragile mental states don’t see them as yet more from the media in need of crisis counselling.

         15 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      It’s actually like ‘Hodge the Dodge’ presuming to be on oversight of… well… anyone really.
      Why don’t folk dragged in front of these Below Par Chambers simply say… ‘look, there are questions to answer, and I am happy to answer them. Just, not to a hypocritical oaf like you’.
      May even perk up the ratings of such events.

         5 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      I love this bit:

      RB: …and the point was about Rio Ferdinand going down to an area where home fans were and celebrating in front of them.
      PC: Let me say something to you. Did you watch the game yesterday?
      RB: I listened to it.

      Yes, “I listened to it”. Which makes me an expert in where Mr Ferdinand was on the pitch.

      I wish more interviewees would realise that presenters frequently know very little about what they are asking, having been primed to ask the question, or having decided what the “correct” viewpoint is without checking the detail. And can therefore be tripped up and shown to be ignorant by a simple retort such as “How many texted in?”.

         15 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        It’s the digging that keeps on giving.
        With luck the guys at BBC JCB Central will get so steamed they’ll run a hatchet job on Paddy and then reap even more deserved mocking for abusing positions (as opposed to getting their mates at the Graun to try, and fail, so hilariously to keep their idiocy from being highlighted further and longer) on top of being plonkers as well.
        The ‘how many’ will obviously be FoI protected for ‘journalistic reasons’ (ie: the actual two they got, one of which was a mate at the Graun, being admitted would show there is no reason for them to be called ‘journalists’).
        “Helen… unleash the lawyers!”

           8 likes

      • AsISeeIt says:

        For me it was all about one very revealing line from the Beeboid : ‘We talked to Danny Mills earlier and he make a resonable comment’ ie You question the BBC’s premises of the BBC’s debate and you are considered to be unresonable. There’s where we are in Britain in 2012.

        oh and for amusement value its all about the parting shot Crerand to defeated Beeboid ‘I thought you’d run away there, pal’.

           18 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      Every year the BBC PR bunnies meet up with Sony PR bunnies and decide whose turn it is to win the various and utterly pointless Sony Radio Academy Awards. The ‘winners’ then get to plume themselves for the next twelve months that theirs is a, ‘Sony Award Winning Show’ and that somehow there was any ‘merit’ involved in the winning of it.

      Of course there are so many award categories that virtually every single person and programme in radio wins one (apart from Nikki ‘Yerve Only Gorragoogle Thatcher and Paedophile’ Campbell.

      For me Paddy Crerand should win every Sony Award going this year.

      Apart from the Sony Award for Pumped Up Hapless Halfwits Making An Absolute Arse Of Themselves On Radio Award which should of course go to

      TARRA !!!!

      Rachel Burden and Chris Warburton

         10 likes

  33. Kyoto says:

    I tend not to watch the BBC soaps, but after seeing thhttp://www.channel4.com/news/rival-gangs-convicted-of-organised-rioting-and-lootingis on Channel 4 about the 2011 Enrichment and Vibrancy Festival I did watch the BBC 10pm news to see if it was covered.

    However, I have to confess I did go for a toilet break during the section on the Arab Spring and how Morsi is going to bring in gay marriage since he has the full backing of the liberal Muslim Brotherhood.

    If anyone did watch all the BBC news could they let me know if the sentencing of this particularly vile group of people. Obviously, I don’t want to engage in any false speculation as to why the BBC would not cover such an item.

       13 likes

  34. Guest Who says:

    http://order-order.com/2012/12/11/90000-question-for-maria-miller/
    This is who dances around with Lords Hall-Hall and Patten on what is good value and proper service for licence fee payers, right?

       5 likes

  35. chrisH says:

    Paddy Crerand used to be our enforcer at United, and most of his job was settling up with opponents that would try to foul George Best.
    Great practice for fending off the lying hounds and PC poodles there at 5Live.
    Hope that Rupert will give him a proper job…Minister for Culture, Media ,Sport likely to be out of the question.
    More`s the pity…and does anyone REALLY believed that Burden “listened” to it?
    Lying Beeb hounds rumbled…could we swap our 5Live turds with those Aussie scum currently crying their way into a panto in Dunstable next year?

       7 likes

  36. chrisH says:

    Oh dear-yesterday Alabama black women were getting raped in jails over there and our BBC lady was most partial and concerned…fair enough…as if there are no problems in British jails worthy of the BBCs efforts.
    Now today, the bloody Yanks are allowing those nasty Taliban to trash the Cherie Booth nail bar in Kabul…according to poor Jane Garvey on Womans Hour.
    Any chance of the USA developing a drone that kills only bare-faced men?…that would satisfy the Womans Hour ladies.
    If only the rest of us were as concerned and compassionate as WH…”then the world would live as one”.
    Imagine…if only the USA didn`t hate black and Afghan women so..racist!
    OK to hate Sarah Palin though…the wrong kind of woman clearly!

       13 likes

  37. Guest Who says:

    Post-Leveson, as distinctions seem to get made, ‘the press’ appears in the clear on this one (so far)…
    http://order-order.com/2012/12/11/tom-watsons-prank-call-nurse-press-smears-unravel/
    Given Mr. Watson is the BBC’s go-to guy on such things, maybe he and they have a view on who in the media estate may have had quite a hand in piling on the pressure and spooking her at the time?
    For instance, Royal reporters… joke-appreciating radio hosts here…

       7 likes

  38. George R says:

    BBC-NUJ’s Casciani describes mass colonisation of Britain as
    ‘super-diversive’.

    Bland BBC-NUJ headline:
    “2011 Census: Rise in foreign-born residents”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20677515

    ‘Daily Mail’:-

    “Population of immigrants in England and Wales jumps by THREE MILLION in 10 years as census shows more than one in eight people are foreign”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246288/Census-data-Immigrant-population-England-Wales-jumps-THREE-MILLION-10-years.html

       18 likes

  39. Guest Who says:

    Totally OT, but maybe Tom Watson and Michael Crick could team up and get a show back (well, for the actual media guy) at the BBC?
    One could be a source of tribal rubbish and the other could quote him like it was gospel. Who needs anything else?
    It could be called ‘It’s In their DNA!’

       10 likes

  40. Guest Who says:

    Totally OT, but in course of watching some paint dry on a render I decided to click a few side links on the BBC’s famous blog estate.
    Beyond leaving Michael Crick & Richard Black up there to improve the aroma at the city gate until what’s left falls in the moat, there were these…
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/haveyoursay/
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/overtoyou/
    Now I can see value in archive but, like Newsnight’s sorry spiral into dumb-down oblivion – http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/ – it’s all looking a bit sad on the faster, easier, better front, interaction-wise.

       4 likes

  41. Guest Who says:

    The BBC Trust works, as many know, in mysterious and not often swift ways.
    Just a simple question, but why would its deliberations from September get published today, after those from October?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/complaints_and_appeals/editorial.html
    ps: Look up ‘inarguable’ (you’ll need a while of reading to see why) – it actually exists, and forms the main basis for every BBC belief and defence.

       3 likes

  42. George R says:

    “BBC begins to see that the Arab Spring has not sprung”
    By Rod Liddle.
    http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/rod-liddle/2012/12/bbc-begins-to-see-that-the-arab-spring-has-not-sprung/

       14 likes

    • Good old Rod, ex-Today editor and an avowed Tory-hater, he despises the blatant bias at the BBC for the same reason the majority on here do i.e. not because he wants to see it lean in another political direction, but because he believes they should be impartial.

         14 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      After all the damage done to real democracy, not to mention the persecution, deaths, upheavals and suffering inflicted on so many affected by the BBC continued promotion of Arab Spring, they are finally coming round to the realisation that all is not as they were projecting it.

      One has to wonder on how many other subjects will events prove just how blinkard and disingenuous the BBC are in the view they present of the world. My guess is all of them! This does not excuse the British public from clinging to their own ignorance in light of clear bias by not demanding changes to the way the BBC is funded.

         11 likes

      • Maturecheese says:

        This does not excuse the British public from clinging to their own ignorance in light of clear bias by not demanding changes to the way the BBC is funded.

        Try getting anyone to listen or even care, I have and I am pretty much wasting my time. As far as our country and the BBC is concerned, I think they are too far down the road to ruin to rescue and nobody seems to be angry so a job well done there by whoever is responsible.

           4 likes

  43. George R says:

    EGYPT.

    For INBBC Cairo Bureau:-

    “Obama responds to turmoil in Egypt by giving Muslim Brotherhood government $213 million in taxpayer-funded F-16s”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/12/obama-responds-to-turmoil-in-egypt-by-giving-them-213-million-in-taxpayer-funded-f-16s.html

       5 likes

  44. Jim Dandy says:

    Anyone see last night’s Panorama (drones)? I saw the last fiveminutes, which I must say had the whiff of one sidedness about it

       3 likes

  45. Wokingham blue says:

    Hooray for diversity!

       8 likes

  46. Teddy Bear says:

    On Newsnight last night, Jeremy Paxman began the third segment with the clear intent to show the poor plight of Gazans. The link to the programme available for the next 6 days is here, and the related segment starts at 30 minutes into the programme.

    Clearly in a voice intended to make the viewer feel pity and shame for the ‘poor Palestinian’:

    “… Human needs, emotional as much as material. Nowhere on earth perhaps matches Gaza, the sliver of land on the Mediterranean coast left to the Palestinians when Israel was created. Nowhere matches it for density of despair. The Palestinians have now achieved a degree of recognition by the UN, much to Israel’s fury, and Gazans have just emerged from a very one-sided conflict with their neighbour”

    So his spin is that because of Israel’s fury with the Palestinian recognition by the UN, they took out on the poor ‘sliver of land’ Palestinians. No explanation why the supposed ‘fury’ by Israel, or attempt to give a clearer and real picture of events. He clearly feels his narrative is worth the distortion and deceit.

    Perhaps he should try being a Christian in any of the ‘Arab Spring’ nations to understand what might be despair.

    Merry Christmas.

    (hat-tip – fidoo)

       18 likes

    • chrisH says:

      The first half of the programme stank as well!
      Jeremy Paxman with his empathy hat on…truly nauseating.
      He managed to set up so many lobs of the ladies surrounding him , in discussing how crap the UK is at “providing child care”.
      It used to be good-SureStart got a mention, and Labour were commended for their “family-centred loveliness…ah, but those wicked Tories undid it all…simple!
      Cue a French mum who couldn`t get childcare whilst here, so couldn`t go to Uni…what a waste!
      Still, got a place on Paxos settee…so every cloud eh?
      Oh, there was a Guardian journo(guess what she thought of it all…go on!), there was some academic old lady who`d written about the scandalously low % of childcare…and some Think Tank mummy ,with some Big Employer that`s so good and caring for its staff…but would be even better if the State subsidised them further-and would be even better if only there was …yes folks…legislation to force employers to be good!
      Paxo felt their pain alright, and consensus reigned…half an hours worth.
      Think I preferred their Savile stuff…at least there was some prospect of a row…whereas the BBC, women, Labour, legislation, poverty apartheid, campaigns…well it`s such a furball of liberal wishes, that it`s not news as we know it…is it now?

         14 likes

  47. George R says:

    For INBBC and its propaganda against drones:-
    ‘Jihadwatch’:-
    “Code Pink in Pakistan to protest drone strikes, jihadis show their gratitude by threatening to hit them with suicide bombings”

    [Excerpt]:-
    “The myopia of these Leftists is stunning. They think they can prance into Waziristan in some fantasy of solidarity with ‘the oppressed,’ and that ‘the oppressed’ will greet them as saviors. In reality, ‘the oppressed’ are planning to wake them up to reality by means of a few jihad/martyrdom suicide attacks, demonstrating the deep gratitude that Islamic supremacists have for their Leftist allies.” (Oct 2012.)

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/10/code-pink-in-pakistan-to-protest-drone-strikes-jihadis-show-their-gratitude-threaten-to-hit-them-wit.html

       13 likes

    • George R says:

      “On drones and their ability to defeat al Qaeda”
      By BILL ROGGIO (June, 2012).

      http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/06/on_drones_and_their_ability_to.php

         1 likes

    • prole says:

      And the BBC bias is…?

         4 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        …everywhere.

           26 likes

        • prole says:

          Must be more specific. Reporting events isn’t bias, just reporting.

             3 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            As you didn’t ask nicely, no.. he doesn’t.
            Reporting events is reporting.
            What the BBC does isn’t.
            And if it’s enhanced or interpreted the way they feel it needs to go, that’s bias.
            Go to the bottom of the… oh, OK, stay where you are.

               21 likes

            • prole says:

              So you say with very little evidence.

              Is the bias that you views are no reflected in Society as a whole, the multi-cultural Britain that was clear at the Olympics and in the census. A Britain you are not a part of?

              I suppose this blog is the last refuge !

                 2 likes

              • Guest Who says:

                Is the bias that you views are no reflected in Society as a whole
                Trying to engage rationally with the online equivalent of a Glaswegian alky bag lady is a step too far.
                The link is no longer missing, it has snapped. Goodbye.

                   8 likes

                • prole says:

                  “Trying to engage rationally with the online equivalent of a Glaswegian alky bag lady is a step too far.”

                  And that’s rational debate?

                  The BBC has a bias, but it reflects the Society it works in. So the point which you won’t consider is that the bias you see is actually due to the fact that mainstream Britain has moved on.

                  The census is fascinating. As someone who has always described himself as an Ulsterman, I’m not alone. And the DUP were right:: the demand for a United Ireland is fading. So the current ‘fleg’ debate is utterly irrelevant.

                  Multiculturalism isn’t a fad but a fact of life. The danger is in NOT making the kids of immigrants welcome and feeling British. Mo Farah is the way forward.

                  It would enlightening to see London Paris and NY compared, as true global cities. Is the UK unique or is this pattern repeated? What other capitals are changing? Berlin? Amsterdam?

                  Change, like it or not is happening. it doesn’t go backwards.

                     2 likes

                  • Guest Who says:

                    ‘And that’s rational debate?’
                    Actually, it’s a dismissal to conclude my attempt at one, as it is all your contrarian trolling contributions deserve.
                    Ironically the notions articulated after your introduction are the most lucidity I have seen you manage so far, hence this reply.
                    However, aware of the attrition/distraction strategy that usually kicks in at such a juncture, I’ll leave you to yourself on this one at least.
                    Like it or not, try changing that.

                       1 likes

              • Dave s says:

                Sense is often found in asking the right questions. I am willing to lay odds that nobody from the attack wing of the liberal tendency is even able to grasp this.
                The Census raises such qustions. Think about it.
                If you feel like pursuing this I will be happy to oblige.

                   3 likes

              • graphene fedora says:

                The Olympics were a tightly-orchestrated showpiece for ‘multiculturalism’. An enforced policy that is the diametric opposite of integration – we are anything but one big happy, inclusive family. Behind this facade lies a seething quagmire of socially-engineered monocultural silos, oozing resentment, criminality & an overbearing sense of entitlement. Such stuff of which nightmares are made on. A reality which is just too hot, too disturbing, for the liberal-left BBC to ever get to grips with.

                   7 likes

                • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

                  And the crowds attending the Olympics – and the celebratory parade afterwards – were noticeably ‘hideously white’ because the majority (non-white) population of our now-foreign capital city don’t want to join in with normal British activities.

                     6 likes

                • Jim Dandy says:

                  No they weren’t.

                  Lots of bloody foreigners I grant you. But that’s rather in the nature of the thing.

                     0 likes

                  • Oh yes they were. I watched the Olympics till my eyes bled and the hideous whiteness of the crowd was startling. Bit like if you’ve ever watched Leicester City or Bradford – amazingly white crowd, given the ‘plurality’ of their populations.

                    Good on Mo Farah for embracing our culture (mentored by a white English PE teacher at quite an elitist school, didn’t you know) – but he’s the exception and not the rule you lefties (who foisted mass immigration on us without so much as a glance at the ballot box) would try to have us believe.

                       6 likes

                    • Jim Dandy says:

                      I meant they were not a “tightly-orchestrated showpiece for ‘multiculturalism”

                      Can I though take this opportunity to apologise personally for foisting mass immigration on you.

                      I am truly sorry.

                         0 likes

                    • Jim – so when was multiculturalism and mass immigration offered up for the vote, or do you not consider them important enough?

                         1 likes

    • George R says:

      INBBC-Panorama takes its moral lead from Imran Khan.

      “The lies and triangulations of Imran Khan”
      By Saroop Ijaz, March 2012.

      For INBBC, the crime is not Islamic Jihad violence, but the West’s response to it.

         6 likes

  48. Teddy Bear says:

    BBC reality goes like this:

    A guy in London saw a pit bull attacking a toddler.

    He killed the pit bull and saved the child’s life.

    Reporters from the BBC swarmed the fellow.

    “Tell us! What’s your name? All London will love you! Tomorrow’s headline will be: “London Hero Saves Girl from Vicious Dog!”

    The guy says, “But I’m not from London.

    “Reporters: “That’s OK. Then the whole of England will love you and tomorrow’s headline will read: ‘English Hero Saves Girl from Vicious Dog!'”

    The guy says, “I’m not from England, either.”

    Reporters: “That’s OK also. All Europe will love you. Tomorrow’s headlines will shout: ‘European Hero Saves Girl from Vicious Dog!'”

    The guy says, “I’m not from Europe, either.

    “Reporters: “So, where ARE you from?

    The guy says, “I’m from Israel.

    “Reporters: “OK. Then tomorrow’s headlines will proclaim to the world: ‘Israeli Kills Girl’s Dog!'”

       68 likes

  49. AsISeeIt says:

    Richard Bacon is banging on about Twitter again.

    Meanwhile fellow Beeboid Nicky Campbell is slugging it out in the Twitter trenches in a tough war of attrition against non-smug non-leftie non-BBC barabarians who have the nerve to speak up.

    Nicky Campbell ‏@NickyAACampbell

    Now on a plane heading for NewMexico sitting beside a disgusting individual boasting about exploits huntingbig game in Zambia. #sorryimtired

    6 Dec Garmon Ceiro Garmon Ceiro ‏@GarmonCeiro

    @NickyAACampbell he’s probably tweeting “sat by a full of himself unionist scot who hasn’t the balls to tell me himself”

    6 Dec Nicky Campbell Nicky Campbell ‏@NickyAACampbell

    @GarmonCeiro yer presuming son! Haha

    7:07 PM – 6 Dec 12 · Details
    6 Dec Garmon Ceiro Garmon Ceiro ‏@GarmonCeiro

    @NickyAACampbell “full-of-yourself” or “unionist”?? 😉 have a good trip next to the hunting fatty!Who’s winding me up on my radio tomorrow?

    6 Dec Nicky Campbell Nicky Campbell ‏@NickyAACampbell

    @GarmonCeiro Dinna ken

       8 likes