197 Responses to Wednesday Open Thread

  1. pah says:

    The troll ‘ajp’ appears to have lost all of his posts. Was it something he said?

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Oh dear.
      Does that mean all comments in response are now orphaned?
      Well, I was warned.
      Maybe it was the lack of righteous indignation from the usual suspects that sealed the fate?
      Of course, like the BBC slamming an entity for not doing something and then swapping to slamming them for it when they do, one might imagine a few high horseplays may yet emerge untroubled by the BBC having mostly pre-modding, frequent referrals and a banning record to make Lee Kuan Yew seems like the Dutch board of censors.

         4 likes

    • John Paul Jones says:

      And the SOB had me reading about Operation Cast Lead all afternoon.
      Massacre, massacre. That’s all you hear from these idiots. Then you read about what really happened and you think, if only they could nuance their argument and introduce some hard facts, with a listing of the provenance of this information, then you could have a reasonable and rational debate. But alas that is not how their minds work.

         14 likes

  2. Pounce says:

    The bBC plays the “We are victims and the British can only racist card” for Romanians who want to come to the UK.
    Romanian anger at ‘racist’ treatment of eastern Europeans by UK press
    Romania’s Ambassador to Britain has told BBC Radio 5 live’s Breakfast that some parts of the British press are portraying immigrants from Eastern Europe in a ‘xenophobic’ and even ‘racist’ way.

    Here’s what the bBC doesn’t tell you about the light fingered fellows from the Balkans:
    28,000 Romanians are held for crimes in UK over 5 years… and there are only 68,000 of them living here!

    And here’s a little something in which to allow you cross check the above:
    http://fullfact.org/factchecks/romanian_criminals_UK_Britain-28799

       43 likes

    • Dave s says:

      This afternoon my quiet little town has endured an outbrak of pickpocketing. The usual suspects or I am not allowed to say that.
      The locals are distinctly unamused.

         28 likes

      • noggin says:

        give this a listen, “panto” Campbell airs
        J.Portas trying to bring a tear to a glass eye,
        listen for Farage laughing
        (2hs 7 mins).
        oh as usual with panto,its set up with charge of british xenophobic racism. 😀

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01rg1qw/

           13 likes

  3. Pounce says:

    So who has read this lightweight article from the bBC
    Bahrain sickle cell death rise causes concern
    A large rise in the number of sickle cell disease deaths in Bahrain has prompted concern.The Gulf island kingdom has a high incidence of the genetic red blood cell disease, but in 2012 the number of people in Bahrain who died from sickle cell disease (SCD) rose from 32 the previous year to 50.Two experts contacted by the BBC have said that the rise may be linked to the heavy use of teargas by security forces policing unrest in the kingdom.
    So reading the above do you get the impression that breathing in tear gas makes you develop Sickle cell anaemia. Well according to the bBC it does(err it’s an inherited disease found in areas of Malaria) and then they completed off the grid in which to turn the story from one of a medical condition into one of promoting the Iranian backed protesters who want to turn Bahrain from a Sunni led county into a Shia led one.
    The bBC, the traitors in our midst

       21 likes

    • Dez says:

      Pounce,
       
      “So reading the above do you get the impression that breathing in tear gas makes you develop Sickle cell anaemia[?]”
       
      Erm, no.
       
      “Well according to the BBC it does…”
       
      Says no such thing; only a possible cause for the increased number of deaths of people with Sickle cell anaemia.
       

         5 likes

      • Michele says:

        Really Dez – and what research does that claim rely on? How many people participated in the research and what was the length of time taken for it to be completed? Was it peer reviewed and if so, by whom? Which medical publication hosted the papers?

        Or was it just an unsubstantiated claim, and if so why was it treated as if it were fact by the BBC – a trick I have noticed they do quite often. I am afraid I do not have the same conviction of the veracity of the BBC as you. So on this, I will go with Pounce.

           11 likes

        • Dez says:

          Pounce claimed that; “according to the bBC… breathing in tear gas makes you develop Sickle cell anaemia”
           
          There is nothing the BBC report that makes any such claim. Pounce is wrong. Get over it.
           
          Michele, “Or was it just an unsubstantiated claim, and if so why was it treated as if it were fact by the BBC..”
           
          The account is perfectly clear that the link between teargas and increased deaths is speculative:
           
          “the rise may be linked to the heavy use of teargas…There is as yet no proven link… without definitive proof, questions remain… there is a lack of proper research into CS gas use and SCD deaths.”
           
          Nowhere; “treated as if it were fact”.
           

             6 likes

    • ltwf1964 says:

      it’ll be one of those hard n fast “facts” like jew hater Donnison telling everyone that those nasty jooz killed a bbc employee’s child in a missile attack in Hamastan

      then when the real facts emerge,conveniently forgets to recant on his blatant lie

      bbc scum are at least consistent

         17 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Yes, Dez and co still very quiet on that one. Just add it to the list (Balen, 28gate etc…).

           6 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      There is as yet no proven link between sudden sickle cell deaths and the heavy use of teargas in Bahrain. But could the teargas be associated with the jump in deaths?

      But the BBC is going to push the notion anyway, because they have contact info for a couple political activists. There is no evidence, so let’s speculate anyway and put an unsubstantiated thought into the reader’s head. After all, it’s for a just cause – the human rights violation of tear gas – so who cares about accuracy in reporting? It’s a story they want to tell, so they’re telling it.

      Dez ignores this the same way he ignored Mark Mardell saying that there’s racism underlying the Tea Party movement even though he’s seen no evidence of it. Actually, that’s not quite right. Dez denied that’s what Mardell said, and then carefully elided Mardell’s statement to leave out the bit which didn’t support his claim.

         4 likes

  4. Pounce says:

    The bBC’s environmental expert opens a new front:
    Is pigeon racing cruel?

    I see the bBC has declared war on pigeon breeders, but guess who the people behind this claim are. Why its only those nutters at PETA. What next from Rodger the so called expert with the single brain cell.

       23 likes

    • chrisH says:

      If only it were an Olympic Sport eh?
      Maybe if we can find a few disabled pigeons to wheel gloriously in front of Roger Harrabin, he might change his mind and decide that pigeon racing is a sport worthy of West Hams new stadium.
      Anybody else see the prospects for compo re pigeons who are descended from those that carried messages in WW2?
      Strike a medal for Lieutenant Pigeon there somebody!…mouldy old tropes indeed from our BBC!

         18 likes

      • Mark says:

        Where are Dastardly and Muttley when we need them to stop a few pigeons ?

           9 likes

        • Buggy says:

          Ah, but they were useless at catching pigeons, weren’t they ? Which was a shame as Yankee Doodle Pigeon (just looked it up !) was a smug irritant, and Dick Dastardly a shining example of what any well brought up boy would aspire to be.

             7 likes

          • Mark says:

            Maybe if Klunk could speak English, Muttley stop dreaming, and Zilly be a little less yellow, they may have caught Yankee Doodle pigeon, but that would have been the end of the story.

               5 likes

            • chrisH says:

              Who actually won most Wacky Races I wonder?
              There was too much distraction from Dick and his medal bashing, to let me see…was it the Gravel brothers or Pat Pending?….in other words who got pole position in the 68/69 Grand Prix?

                 4 likes

              • NotaSheep says:

                According to analysis of each episode, Anthill Mob, Penelope Pitstop, Luke & Blubber Bear and Peter Perfect all won four races. All the others except Dick Dastardly won only three each. There was a lot more variation in second and third places. Most seconds were achieved by The Slag Brothers with eight, the least (again excepting Dick Dastardly) one achieved by both Sergeant Blast & Private Meekley and Luke & Blubber Bear. The most third place finishes were achived by the Gruesome Twosome with six, the least (again excepting Dick Dastardly) was Sergeant Blast & Private Meekley with 0. Taking the points scoring in place for Grand Prix in the period thatthe Wacky Races ran (9 points for a win, 8 for a second and 4 for a third) the title would have gone to The Slag Brothers with 87 points, followed by Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth with 70 points and The Ant Hill Mob with 74 points.

                This is a fine area for analysis, I feel an Excel model coming on…

                   6 likes

                • Mark says:

                  What if … the Top Gear presenters were Wacky Racers ?

                  Jezza is an obvious for Dick Dastardly, but he’d like to think he was Peter Perfect, and his engineering skills were based or the Slag Brothers.

                  James May could be either Prof Pat Pending, or given his flying licence, Red Max.
                  Richard Hammond is a bit trickier to visualise, apart from one of the Ant Hill Mob !

                     1 likes

                • Big Dick says:

                  Dick Dastardly & Mutley were based on characters created by Terry Thomas & Eric Sykes in” Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines” &” Monte Carlo Or Bust” ,they also appeared in a couple of cigar ads , as those characters too !

                     3 likes

      • Ian Hills says:

        Isn’t it time to honour the black pigeons which were sent on some of the most dangerous missions of WW2? A sub-species, Beharry’s Pigeon, collected 100 VC’s for flying over enemy territory during the Iraq War. Black pigeons built the Empire.

           5 likes

  5. w111tey says:

    Abu Qatada: Government loses deportation appeal.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21955844

    Of course, the BBC lead this as NOT a defeat for the decent folk of the UK, who quite rightly want to deport this hate mongering piece of shit, but a resounding defeat for Theresa May and the Tory led coalition.
    How long are we going to beat ourselves up over what happens to peace loving benefit sponger Abdul, if he gets deported.
    Until the soft twatting liberal left judicial system are given a reality check, how about we introduce dear old Abdul to a few sessions of ‘ counselling ‘ with Freddie Foreman.

       47 likes

    • w111tey says:

      *Abu

         0 likes

    • pah says:

      To be fair to old Abu he does seem to have hit it off with the Cockneys – they’ve even written a song about him;

      ‘Cor Blimey down the apples and pears.
      Abu Qatada’

      IGMC

         10 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Saw Yvette Cooper holding forth about the useless Tories inability to lose this leech!
        We should either get Charles Clarke back for the day, so we can set him free and lose his files for ever..or else we could send Yvette round to see Abu with an offer of SureStart funding or something.
        If he`s not on a plane to Jordan after meeting the Bisto kid, then I`ll be very surprised….

           24 likes

        • lojolondon says:

          Yes, Chris, absolutely. I saw the little pixie-face mouthing off that the Home secretary got it wrong, she was always concerned if the case would pass legal muster etc. She never mentioned and the BBBC never mentioned that Liebour sat on the Abu case for 10 years, doing nothing about it!!
          I think the key is legal aid. If the taxpayers stop paying, he will be gone in weeks. I think that legal aid is probably the most misguided service we offer, and there should definitely be a limit to it!!

             27 likes

    • deegee says:

      How does the BBC manage to avoid reporting on the conditions in Jordan that made the decision possible?

         7 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Just turf the bastard out, like the Franch would do, and sod the consequences.

      The UK-hating leftist judges seem blind to that part of the human rights act which has to consider threats to public safety. Heaven forbid that they should ever get blown up by one of Qatada’s bomb plots.

         8 likes

  6. Guest Who says:

    Still seeing merit in getting ’em while they’re young.
    Admirable commitment.
    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/combining-modern-science-with-ancient.html?
    And I have to say the link of the two multi-hundred k Breakfast sofa squatters reading out a teleprompter about ‘sitting around doing nothing’ piqued my irony meter a smidge.

       4 likes

  7. Ian Rushlow says:

    An article on the BBC website asks the thoughtful question: Global migrants – which are the most wanted professions? (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21938085). But it seems incomplete; what about all those useful jobs they do in Britain: car washers, burger flippers, Beeg Ishyoo sellers, ATM fraudsters, pickpockets, bush meat importers, cannabis farmers, people smugglers, child rapists etc? Oh yes, and cheap nannies and cleaners for BBC managers and their ilk.

       46 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      Interesting.
      Just compared the requirements for a nurse in Denmark to one in England
      Denmark
      In 2008, Denmark adopted a so-called Positive List to facilitate the entrance of professionals in demand. A points-based system can also grant access to a Green Card which allows qualified workers to look for a job in the country. In 2011, a new government announced a reform of the migration policy. The permanent residence permit is now based on four requirements: at least five years’ residence in Denmark, three years’ full-time employment, financial self-support and a language test.

      UK
      Migrating to United Kingdom
      Since 2010, the UK’s migration system has become more demand-driven. In 2010, the government introduced measures to reduce net migration, including that of skilled professionals, with the purpose of protecting the domestic labour force. The measures included caps limiting the number of people admitted in the highly skilled categories (Tier 1 and Tier 2). In 2011, the Shortage Occupation list was reduced. In 2012, some of the conditions for entry were made more flexible in response to requests from businesses and employers.

      Shows how Denmark preserves the integrity of its society, which is why they appear in polls as ‘the happiest country in Europe.
      Shows also why our NHS is in such trouble – among other things.

         16 likes

      • DJ says:

        Ah yes, ‘shortage occupations’ a.k.a. Big Deal Corporation runs into a bit of trouble getting rocket scientists to work for £2 an hour so they ask their mates in Whitehall to redraft the rules for them. Meanwhile, our fiercely independent state broadcaster can’t seem to find anyone who thinks there’s something wrong with the law of the land being bent to allow multinationals to boost their profits with cheap labour.

        Maybe we ought to import some journalists?

           17 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      And handing out parking tickets to residents in their own residential areas where there is no problem of obstruction or congestion.

         4 likes

  8. Alex says:

    Have a wee look at this embarrassing Reporting Scotland package showing IDS being heckled in a racist anti-English manner by an SNP left-wing ignoramus; Reporting Scotland seem to be more interested in the buffoons ignorant protestations on welfare rather than his pathetic racist anti-English comment: ‘… go back to England where you belong’. Could you imagine if he had said this gibberish to a Pakistani i.e. go back to where you belong? He’d have been bundled into the PC SS Squads police van and taken for questioning.

    BBC Reporting Scotland = BBC Supporting An Independent Scotland

    I simply cannot stand the SNP Braveheart wannabes… pathetic joke!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21953895

       34 likes

    • Pounce says:

      For as much as I wish Scotland to remain poart of the union. There is a part of me which wants them to go there own way and then see them fall flat on their face. The only problem then would be all these nationalistic jocks moving down South into England in which to find work.

      What is it with people who demand independence and then after kicking off the shackles of imperialism, move lock stock and barrel to the country they hate the most in the world. (My dead biological parents included)

      FAct check for each and every sweaty sock who dreams of wee eck leading them to independence.
      1) You are at the arse end of Europe, who the hell is going to purchase anything from Scotland when it can be done cheaper (and better) in Middle Europe.
      2) You are going to have adopt the Euro.
      3) You are going to lose the Sheltlands and their oil revenue, who shock horror want to remain with London
      4) As soon as you become independent you will be..bankrupt, in order to balance your books, free schooling, free prescriptions, in fact all your free everything will have to go.
      5) No market in the world for Gaelic speakers, English yes.
      6) Enjoy the future of being poorer than even the Romanians.

         30 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        I hear there’s a sequel to Trainspotting in the works, featuring the original cast and characters 20 years on from the original. So if Scotland does go independent, they’ll have to redo that non sequitur scene where they moan about being conquered by lousy English.

           14 likes

      • Albaman says:

        If those 6 “facts” are the best you can come up with perhaps you should employ a researcher.

        Have a view of this video which the “Better Together” faction have tried to ban on “copyright” grounds:
        http://www.downvids.net/scottish-independence-top-10-unionist-myths-debunked-415826.html

           8 likes

        • Alex says:

          ah, ‘Alba’ – says it all!

             10 likes

          • Albaman says:

            Maybe it does but then again: “Historically, the term refers to Britain as a whole and is ultimately based on the Indo-European root for “white”.

               8 likes

        • Pounce says:

          Albaman,
          I am sorry that I have offended you, but lets look at the facts on the ground:
          1) Scotland if it wins independence will after everybody wakes up with a sore heed find that the books don’t balance. That isn’t something I have made up that is rooted in fact. I quote the right honourable Economist
          http://www.economist.com/node/21552572

          2) If the Euro zone is going to go head to head with the Chinese it has to provide goods which people want at a price they can afford. Anything made in Scotland will have to be transported across Europe by tuck,boat and train. Yes others do so, but the fact remains it is cheaper to simply relocate to Eastern Europe where they have landlocked access to the rest of mainland Europe. Now before somebody mentions Whisky, Scotland will have to sell a lot of the hard stuff in which to fund wee Eck and his current spending plans.
          3) Then there’s the currency issue, Wee Eck wants to continue using the £, yet what he doesn’t mention is he can’t. So its the Euro, So at a time when you can’t afford it, everybody will have to cough up to change the way you use money. Add to that the instant rise in prices with everything when you change currency and I am sure that the little people will love the increase in everything.
          4) If Scotland succeeds that all the best, but it doesn’t look that way does it, in fact I’ll put money on the table that after a while unemployed Scots will gravitate south in which to find work. So much for the old enemy.

             15 likes

          • Albaman says:

            Why can’t he use the £? Any currency is merely a medium of exchange. As sterling is a traded currency any nation could choose to use it as their medium of exchange.

            Unemployed (and employed) Scots will continue to gravitate to where employment is. Much the same as those from England and other countries have moved and settled in Scotland.

            The Economist article has been so discredited it is not even quoted by “Better Together”.

            As part of the UK Scottish goods and services are already exported across the world. Independence would not change this one iota.

               5 likes

            • Pounce says:

              Alba I don’t have a problem with Scottish people, If I did Mrs Pounce (Who is from North of the Border) wouldn’t be Mrs Pounce. (And she’s a red head) Kind of explains the Broons and Oh Willie albums I find sent my way (when on tour), Haggis and Neeps and why I am refereed by her as her dark skinned Sassinack. Hell there’s five Malts in the Kitchen (but I draw the line at her penchant for tablet) So excuse the banter aimed your way. As I said I would love the Jocks to remain in the Union, however if you vote to go then I will respect that. What I can’t be doing with is this bloody victim cult that wee eck and his ilk have built up in which to promote their cause. It just isn’t cricket.

                 16 likes

              • Albaman says:

                We will have to disagree on what we believe is the best way forward for Scotland. However, if the “Better Together” campaign continue with their negative campaigning Salmond will need to do little more than sit back and watch the “yes” vote rise. All positivity is coming from the “Yes” side with little evidence of a “victim cult” agenda.
                Enjoy your malt – it might even be cheaper after 2014!!

                   6 likes

            • deegee says:

              Scotland will not the only state using someone else’s currency. East Timor, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau , Panama &Turks and Caicos Islands use the dollar. Palestine (both sides) use the Jordanian Dinar, the US Dollar but mostly the Israeli Shekel

              The disadvantage is that you have no control over currency rates but isn’t that the case for Euro nations already?

                 5 likes

              • johnnythefish says:

                And therefore still very much under the control of The Treasury.

                Independence my arse. They’d be back when everything goes pear-shaped, just like they did 300 years ago. Wonder how much they owe us in today’s money from that particular bail-out, let alone their share of today’s UK national debt?

                Salmond knows he’ll lose the vote, he’s just using it as a lever for more devolutionary powers. The words ‘eat’, ‘too’, ‘cake’ and ‘have’ come to mind.

                   2 likes

                • Albaman says:

                  Scotland will take a fair share of the national debt but obviously along with that comes a fair share of the national assets. In view of the continued investment in North Sea Oil (another £330m in a sector the Unionists would have us believe is running down) the Treasury would be happy to have sterling linked to Scottish wealth.
                  At least with independence the oil wealth would not be used by a Tory government to decimate industry behind a smokescreen of “destroying trade unionism.

                     3 likes

                  • johnnythefish says:

                    The cost of bailing Scotland out which led to the act of union has been estimated at over £1 trillion in today’s money.

                    Happy independence.

                       1 likes

    • noggin says:

      quite …
      but i do remember that duplicitous shill , going all dewey eyed with his erm “nice guy” stunt, over a struggling single mother and her grim council flat,
      just before he jetted off to the US, to get genned up on their “workfare” system, so like all of them, he has no shame.
      loathesome individual

         7 likes

      • Alex says:

        Yes, that may be, but, in my opinion, the focus of this piece should have been on the racist disgraceful remark hurled at IDS. The anti-English racism in Scotland is an utter disgrace but, true to textbook socialism because the Scots are perceived by the rug-knitting lefties as a minority, they are allowed to get away with it.

           19 likes

    • Albaman says:

      No evidence whatsoever that the first protest was made by ” an SNP left-wing ignoramus”. As for “BBC Supporting An Independent Scotland” that really is a “pathetic joke”.

         7 likes

      • Alex says:

        Are you serious? Are you really telling me that comment did not come from someone who harbours nationalist sentiments and has a bag of Mcains oven chips on each shoulder? Come on, I’ve lived in Scotland for fifteen years and I’ve had to listen to drivel such as this on many occasions; this was a racist comment from an idiot whose political allegiances were obvious to all but the bigot. Anyone who engages in suc a vulgar display of public heckling is no better than the drunken lout propped up at the bar on a Saturday night. Now, I love Scotland and my family and the majority of my close friends are all from north of the Border, but I will never turn a blind eye to racism and have no time for those Scots who blame everything on the English.

           22 likes

        • Albaman says:

          If you understood Scottish politics you would understand that having a preference for independence does not mean you automatically support the SNP. I did not defend his comment – I merely pointed out that your claim that he was ” an SNP left-wing ignoramus” was not based on known facts.

             5 likes

          • Alex says:

            “… not based on known facts.” I would have thought that the moment he opened his mouth was knowledge enough. Incidentally, I understand Scottish politics reasonably well and have one close friend who is Labour and wants independence, not because of any resentment or ill feelings but purely as a desire for self autonomy. I too respect those who are pro-independence so long as they are civil in debate; the person in the above clip epitomized the other end of the spectrum. It was nasty and unfortunately too common in certain political spheres in Scotland. But, of course, you’ll get the same south the Border and I would be just as quick to condemn this.

               15 likes

            • Albaman says:

              You have still not provided evidence that he is “an SNP left-wing ignoramus”.

                 3 likes

              • Alex says:

                His comment and the manner in which he presented it, in my opinion, determines his idiocy; his highly charged protest and unwillingness to debate in a civil manner regards welfare restraint makes it highly likely he is from the Left whether it be Labour or SNP. So, although conclusiveness is difficult to obtain, I’d infer that he is, indeed, a left-wing ignoramus of the highest order.

                   14 likes

                • Alex says:

                  In retrospect, perhaps I give the man too much credit and political insight; he’s probably just an ignoramus!

                     12 likes

  9. uncle bup says:

    Film Night With Uncle Bup:

    Subscribing to Lovefilm as I do I filled up my wish list by giving them a job lot of Sundance and Cannes winners and take the films as they come.

    The most recent arrival was Shadow Dancer with Clive Owen and Andrea Riseborough, which I note was funded in part by the National Lottery, (which usually means ‘straight to video’ if even the video distributors will touch it).

    Funded also I notice by BBC Films. Four BBC droids got a mention in the credits including a ‘Development Editor’. I can only imagine where he fitted in the production process.

    Development Droid: Can we make Andrea’s character a noble heroine.
    Director: But IRA terrorists are usually howling psychopaths.
    Development Droid: Do you want BBC money or not.

    Development Droid: And can we have Andrea’s baby brother shot, probably by the Brits, to give, yer know, context.
    Director: If we must.

    Development Droid And at the IRA funeral can we have British soldiers standing on their Land Rovers aiming weapons at the mourners.
    Director: (Dejected) It’s your money.

    Development Droid. And when Andrea leaves the bomb in the London Underground can we have her deliberately not setting the timer so the bomb won’t go off. Her being a noble heroine an’ all.
    Director: (Despairing) But Warren Point, Coventry, Hyde Park. Canary Wharf, Enniskillen, Belfast x 100.
    Development Droid. Do you want the BBC’s money or not.

    Director: And would you like Andrea’s IRA family to save their dung in a box an burn it to fire their central heating boiler?
    Development Droid: You’re being sarcastic now, aren’t you.
    Director: Yes.

    Entertaining enough film but with holes in the plot you could drift a double decker bus through, and certainly didn’t deserve its minor Sundance gong.

       24 likes

    • DJ says:

      Ah yes, Al-Beebia, where ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s fluffy bunny’ but everyone opposed to open borders is without exception a knuckle-dragging Nazi scumbag ranting about race purity.

         19 likes

  10. pedro says:

    do the bbc prodcers ever vet the question time and any questions radio 4 audience for there politacal beliefs i wonder comrades,,,,it justs gets under my skin whenever you gets the likes of peter hitchens or nigel farage on these shows they get alot of bile and hostility shown toward them when they make a comment on the issues of the day that is being discussed,,,,sometimes i wonder comrades are the question time and any question on radio 4 overepresented with corn beef commies and socalist workers party types….

       18 likes

  11. chrisH says:

    Lots of emoting on the BBC today.
    You and Yours had some couple on who`d lost all their family heirlooms thanks to a bank not securing them.
    Fair enough-but by the time we`d had the family tree and how devastated the couple were…we actually got no idea of what had actually gone wrong. Bank safe deposit boxes are obviously an old notion, but that surely would have made it interesting!
    Not to old Winnie Robinson though-who sought the emoting, the cracking voices…but no news or story.

    Next up-some poor kid who died outside Manchester, due to eating a meat pie in front of some viscious dogs.
    How much of this story sounds frankly weird?…but we`ll not be getting the tragicomedy aspect of this case anytime soon.
    Just the usual “she`d have been anotherNureyova” had she managed another term of after-school dance classes.
    And this emoting, interviews with kids(is this allowed?) etc passes for NEWS?…let`s only hope that the pie did not contain horsemeat-for only then would the BBC see it as a tragedy, with somebody held to account.
    Laugh or cry?…it`s always laugh at the preposterous BBC these days.

       20 likes

    • Albaman says:

      Describing the circumstances surrounding the death of a 14yo girl as “frankly weird” and using the resulting report to score points against the BBC is stooping pretty low.

         16 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Not at all.
        I say it`s tragic, but I am sure we`ll be hearing lots more detail that will show this story up for something that says more about our supine laws, the police wish to contain the story, the absence of parents, the home visit to eat a school dinner….it IS frankly weird.
        As for point scoring against the BBC….I start with the ritual emoting that prevents the true story being told…that is not point scoring, but simply a wish to give us the truth as far as they know it..NOT to gloss it over in THEIR worldview.
        I refer you to a spate of similar stories about killer dogs in early 2007-nothing was done about those senseless deaths either-and I don`t expect any change this time.
        If you listen to the head teacher talking as well about the poor kid, you`ll be able to count the cliches…reflex mode as ever with the BBC.
        so-not point scoring, and not disrespectful to a tragic loss of life..but a comment on how the BBC/rent a quote outside the school gates from kids(you OK with that?)..and police/heads…conspire to give us the usual…and not the truth or the implications of stories like this one.
        Hope that clears it for you sir.

           18 likes

        • Albaman says:

          No clearer at all. Sorry.

             8 likes

          • Andy S. says:

            I understand the owner of the dogs, which have been reported as two bull mastiffs and two Staffordshire Bull Terriers, is a jobless single mother.

            Has anyone other than I wondered how the hell this woman could afford FOUR pedigree dogs whilst living on benefits? I understand there is a fifth dog still alive, but its breed hasn’t been reported.

               15 likes

          • chrisH says:

            OK then.
            It would have got far more coverage if it had happened in Surrey.
            Anti-northern bias then?

               0 likes

  12. It's all too much says:

    I saw Coronation St on Monday. An old lady character (Roy’s mother) exclaimed how much she admired Margaret Thatcher, and how she was stabbed in the back by her cabinet.

    Now that is something I will NEVER hear a BBC character say. Odd isn’t it as I have heard many, many old people say exactly the same thing. Mind you they also say lots of other things that the BBC never acknowledges or include in their ‘gritty’ and ‘realistic’ dramas ………

       30 likes

    • DJ says:

      Never mind the 1980s, to judge by BBC dramas, no one in 2010 voted Conservative either.

      Admittedly, Cast Iron Dave is doing all he can to drive off the last few Tory voters, but it’s noticeable how our ‘diverse’ state broadcaster can never manage to fit in any characters who might plausibly have voted for the biggest party in Parliament right now.

         23 likes

      • Albaman says:

        “Never mind the 1980s, to judge by BBC dramas, no one in 2010 voted Conservative either. ” ………………….. Obviously some did but as yet I have not met anyone who admitted to it.

           9 likes

        • Maturecheese says:

          Maybe they are a little embarrassed that they voted for a wet Liberal in Tory clothing but those who voted for a New Labour Gov three times should seek mental health treatment.

             19 likes

          • Albaman says:

            Pretty clear what they were getting before they voted for him. Much the same as those who voted for New Labour. As many of the latter then voted for the former your assertion that they “should seek mental health treatment” is difficult to argue with.

               8 likes

            • johnnythefish says:

              Ah, yes – like tax, borrow and spend on an unprecedented scale, class war, mass immigration, continuing leftist brainwashing and dumbing down in the education system, massive expansion of the public sector, massive surge in public spending, massive surge in benefits spending etc etc etc. All very Cameronesque, what?

                 0 likes

    • Andrew says:

      The BBC often glosses over injustices in the UK electoral system, if their party wins. When Blair got an over-all majority of >60 seats in 2005, he got a smaller share (<36%) of a smaller turnout (61%) than Cameron managed (36.1% & 65% respectively) before he went into coalition. Blair did do well in 1997 but not so well in '01 or '05. Similarly, Major had a 7 %-point advantage over Kinnock in 1992 … but no landslide, just a majority of ~30 MPs. We were often told Thatcher had no majority of voters but few PMs ever have had.

         11 likes

      • pah says:

        Amazing isn’t it. Blair in 1997 got 2% more than Major did in 1992 but ended up with 80 odd more seats. Blair actually polled less votes in 1997 than Major did in 1992 – by nearly 600k votes.

        How does that work?

           10 likes

        • Despairing of England says:

          Some of it is because of unequal sized constituencies. Something the beneficiaries (Lab and Lib) do not want to do anything to fix.

             11 likes

          • Andrew says:

            Agree! Think of Isle of Wight, which deserves 1.5 or even 2 MPs, instead of just Andrew Turner for the whole lot. Compare with the Scottish Islands, for instance. I know some constituencies of the “Highlands & Islands” type would be too large to get around and can’t be equal.

               0 likes

      • deegee says:

        It seems to me that, at the time, most commenters to this blog rejected the 2011 referendum to reform First Past the Post system. A good part of the reasoning was that if the BBC supported it we should oppose it.

        It’s a bit late now to point out the injustices of the current system.

           3 likes

        • stewart says:

          No I think people rejected the alternatives offered.Most could see that they were designed to secure a permanent bourgeois socialist/liberal (small L and even smaller S) coalition
          True proportional representation might have won support but that was the last thing the bien-pensant patrician class had in mind

             5 likes

  13. wallygreeninker says:

    Time-wasting chucklehead alert.

       10 likes

  14. Maturecheese says:

    No sign of this being reported on the BBC I assume. Now imagine if a person from a non favoured group said this.

    http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3047/palestinian_journalist_calls_obama_uncle_tom

       12 likes

  15. Teddy Bear says:

    Since it is important to know the agenda and tactics of those who want to dominate our society, as well as to judge how the ignorant forces that assist that agenda complies, I recommend this article by Raymond Ibrahim:

    The Threat of Islamic Betrayal

       10 likes

  16. noggin says:

    if anyone wants a recap, on political social engineering
    its affects on the young … catch BBC 3s cosy multculti love in … debate? …
    “free speech” abu quaturda + immigration … needless to say, the ignorance of hard facts, are breathtaking, and
    surprise surprise … bbc mantras thick and fast,
    aboo! … have to be sensitive, and really fair, and watch out for ever present “islamo-faux-bia, because of 9/11?
    immigration – ageing population, do jobs brits won t do, lazy brits, they need their families here too, they deserve more social housing on and on and on, remember their victims too?.
    like listening to panto and the burden in the morning … shocking

       16 likes

    • David Brims says:

      If African / muslim / gypsy immigrants are such a benefit as liberals claim, why aren’t they putting these talents to use to benefit their OWN countries ?

      Or are they just all selfish and don’t care about their native land ?

         27 likes

      • Mark says:

        Ivan Pavlov dog alert lol

           2 likes

        • David Brims says:

          Mark

          Does Cream Pie not realise that squealing ‘waaycist’ is just old and tiresome now. The term is so devalued, it’s meaningless and worthless. It has no effect.

             15 likes

      • David Brims says:

        Cream Pie ‘racist’

        You mean like this

        ”The Romans had the right idea, build a wall to keep them out.”

        ”Then will get rid of a load of Northeners then.”

        ”It’s all the muslims fault.”

        ”Is Obama a proper negro or like the black and white minstrels?”

        You don’t have any self awareness or irony, do you ?

           5 likes

  17. George R says:

    Beeboids seem to be quite preoccupied with the future of their liked-minded Labour export, and yesterday’s man, D. Miliband.

       16 likes

    • David Brims says:

      Shouldn’t you be in your cot ? way past your bedtime and you’ve got to get up early tomorrow for nursery.

         0 likes

    • Mark says:

      No – there are some like Noam Chomsky, who they like very much.

         2 likes

    • chrisH says:

      No doubt we were all discussing the tragic downfall of this jellied banana man, who (as far as I know) never said or did a single noteworthy thing in his life thus far.
      I for one was most bothered about his career prospects-Lord alone how he`s going to get by now.
      As for worrying about those good canny Labour chappies in South Shields who “vurted” for him-well they can doubtless join Thunderbirds and International Rescue…maybe Brains could be their wooden new candidate-they`d certainly vote for him if he had a Labour badge on his lapel.
      Only the media and the BBC give a flying stuff about the careers of Milibands and their ilk…as if we`re supposed to give a damn!

         0 likes

  18. Doyle says:

    The BBC has been forced to apologise ‘unreservedly’ today after an investigation found it failed to support a journalist claiming he was being harrassed at work, who then later killed himself.
    His family claim he was driven to his death by the Corporation as they failed to take seriously allegations that he had been bullied by a female colleague.
    The BBC are a nasty piece of work.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2300001/Russell-Joslin-death-BBC-apologise-unreservedly-family-reporter-killed-himself.html

       19 likes

  19. George R says:

    For Beeboid ‘global warmists’, inc Hampstead Harrabin:-

    “What planet are they living on? As freezing Britain faces a grave energy crisis, ministers unveil more green gimmicks and eco taxes.
    What folly.”

    By CHRISTOPHER BOOKER.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2299607/As-freezing-Britain-faces-grave-energy-crisis-ministers-unveil-green-gimmicks-eco-taxes.html

       14 likes

  20. #88 says:

    Another series of complaints that the BBC failed to deal with properly.

    It’s in their DNA

       11 likes

  21. Jeff Waters says:

    David Miliband a colossus? He’s a greedy failure in a cosmic sulk – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/9957008/David-Miliband-a-colossus-Hes-a-greedy-failure-in-a-cosmic-sulk.html

    ‘It is important to ask what the fuss is all about. Why is the BBC, which would scarcely have noticed if a former Conservative foreign secretary stood down from Parliament, unable to contain itself?’

    ‘When, yesterday, the BBC sent its political editor, Nick Robinson, into Mr Miliband’s home to ask reverentially about the great decision, he did not ask why Mr Miliband was leaving his South Shields constituents in the lurch. Nor did Mr Robinson ask any questions about Mr Miliband’s finances.

    Yet these are extremely pertinent to his decision to resign. The House of Commons register reveals that he has earned an incredible sum – nearly £1 million – from outside interests since losing the party leadership to his brother, including £125,000 for 15 days’ work as a director of Sunderland, a constituency-based football club owned by a super-rich businessman with interests in private equity. Approximately £60,000 has come his way from the UAE, a gulf state with an unappetising human rights record, and another hefty chunk from St James’s Place, a company that advises very rich people how to invest their money. ‘

       18 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      Don’t forget D. Miliband’s tax avoidance, i.e. “The Office Of David Miliband Ltd.” Labour likes to slag off Cameron for reducing the 50% tax rate for those earning over £150,000 – which they also forget to mention was brought in only a month before losing power after 13 years, but their money loving hero only pays 20% in Corporation Tax thanks to this little ploy.

         19 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The new job is the reason Miliband Major is abandoning his constituency, no? The BBC would definitely have noticed – although without the reverence – if the brother of the Conservative leader, who had competed with him for the position, was leaving politics. They’d probably see it as an admission of guilt and failure, rather than as a great loss to Britain.

      Why bother with the petty infighting and ineffectiveness of Labour politics when Miliband can get some hands-on experience controlling people’s lives as top man at a beknighted human rights organization?

      It’s the perfect job: massive salary and perks, international wining and dining, and constant praise for his good works without ever having to worry about being criticized in the media or having to trudge down to a broadcasting studio to defend some ill-begotten policy statement ever again. The thought that any time he visits the BBC in future it will be all gushing enthusiasm for his good deeds and no more challenging questions at 7:30am must be the icing on the cake. He can even hang out more often with Gordon Brown, who similarly enjoys striding the globe like a colossus of human rights these days. Who would want to fight against his own brother again, and then have to deal with the Ed Balls brigade again, just in the hopes of becoming party leader one day? He’s one of those elites who feels he was born to be in top positions, so if he can’t be the Labour leader in the forseeable future, why stay on at all? The decision for him is a no-brainer.

         7 likes

  22. George R says:

    For pro-mass immigration, ‘open-door’ Beeboids:-

    “1-in-5 migrants heads to Britain: 566,000 end up in UK in just a YEAR”

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/387328/1-in-5-migrants-heads-to-Britain-566-000-end-up-in-UK-in-just-a-YEAR

    ‘Mail’-

    “120,000 Romanians and Bulgarians have already moved to Britain: Census shows in some parts of the country one in ten are Eastern European”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2299630/Census-2011-finds-120-000-Romanians-Bulgarians-moved-Britain.html

       14 likes

    • Andrew says:

      Cultural enrichment.

         14 likes

    • Aerfen says:

      Well if the census shows one in ten, you can safely double that. Many eastern Europeans have good reason to want to stay below the radar, and many simply just cannot be bothered filling in a form that they see of no relevance since they are uncommitted to staying or returning home.

         0 likes

  23. #88 says:

    Apparently our upstanding friends at the BBC, leaders of the anti Evil-Murdoch coalition, part of the Hacked Off / Guardian/ BBC axis of evil; they that only do wrong if they get caught, might have a Panorama producer bribing security officials. Tut tut

    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/medianews/article3724873.ece

       11 likes

  24. graphene fedora says:

    A contrarian view, at least to certain beeboids, on Qen Loach’s recent flurry of political activity:
    http://www.hurryupharry.org/2013/03/27/the-spirit-of-45/

       7 likes

    • Wild says:

      For once somebody on the Left who knows about their history – instead of the usual ignorance and lies.

         5 likes

      • stewart says:

        Brilliant article,should be required reading for all bourgeois socialists,thanks for link

           3 likes

  25. Ian Rushlow says:

    The Big Lie. Tell a whopper enough times and – no matter how outrageous it is – people will come to believe it. So said Dr Goebbels and Herr Hitler. The BBC are big fans of this approach, too. On today’s website the old chestnut of polar bears in trouble due to climate change (sic) – see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21941646 – is repeated. The zoological name for polar bear is Ursus Maritimis, or “sea bear” to you and I. It’s called that because it spends most of its life in the sea. Yes, part of it’s life cycle is spent on land, but most of it is not. Some bears are just sea bears, ok? Learn to live with it.

       14 likes

  26. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC 5 Live appear to believe that the proposed line-up for the next Glastonbury festival is big news.

    Well, I suppose BBC employees themselves must be a significant part of the listenership and they will all be keen to know what acts they will be seeing come the summer.

    I’m amused to hear Nicky Campbell float the suggestion, ‘Is Glastonbury becoming too safe?’

    Right on, Man!

    Then we hear a personal bugbear of our Nicky’s. This is when members of the crowd at big rugby matches notice themselves being picked up by a camera and projected onto the big screne – suddenly they stop acting naturally.

    I know what he means. The poor sops caught in their moment of fame, wave, show off and gurn inanely.

    Of course Panto Dame Nicky Campbell fails to see the irony in his complaining of this.

       16 likes

    • stewart says:

      ‘Is Glastonbury becoming too safe?’
      Perhaps 5 lieve should campaign for ‘Burzhum’ or the home grown ‘Screwdriver’ to headline?
      Or what about easy listening and highly popular Heino
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXJT_2sky-k
      how would that work?

         2 likes

      • chrisH says:

        And we had Humphrys drivelling on with St Michael of Eavis at Worthy Farm.
        “Would he like to come to see the Stones then?”…oh, how bold…two cultures collide!
        The self-satisfied, complacent bankables resting on their laurels, playing the same faux-rebellious tunes at vast expense for the little people to adore and gurn along to..and, of course the Stones themselves.
        Monty said that Humph would be looking for a “rider” to ” do the gig, man!”.
        And there we were thinking that Sarah was just a snotty patronising bluestocking on one permanent rider as BBC gobshite…when she was Jack Blacks Headteacher all along…oh how funky…how rock and roll.
        Lord save us-if there`s not a BBC 90 minute show on when Humphrys went to Glasto, well my names not Billy Bragg!

           3 likes

  27. Dave666 says:

    BBc Breakfast presenters have serious faces on Mandela in hospital. (again). Prepare for lowered flags and a month of mourning.
    Plus BBc latest cause 17 years olds should be treated as children. Ok I feel sympathy for the parents but he was old enough to drink drive. this is the 3rd or 4th time I’ve seen this story. Perhaps they should be campaigning that you should be 18 to drive as you are a child under this age.

       13 likes

  28. DJ says:

    File this under ‘desperate’: The Toady program features a segment revisiting Eltham now that it’s *almost* twenty years since St Stephen of Lawrence was killed.

    Apparently, September 11 and July 7 are ancient history, Kris Donald was an Unperson to begin with and there are no wider conclusions to be drawn from the weird number of terrorist incidents involving people called Mo, but it’s never a bad day to drag up an incident nearly two decades ago for a bit of white working class baiting.

       27 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      Yes, there are quite a few “unpersons” who are no longer with us.

         5 likes

      • Andrew says:

        What of P.C. Blakelock? Requiescat in pace. Some victims are clearly more worthy of attention than others.

           13 likes

    • Jeff says:

      Stephen Lawrence has become the weapon of choice for the well heeled liberal elite with which to beat the white working class. I have no idea how many other black youths have been slain in the past two decades, but it must be hundreds; 99% of them by other young blacks.
      I often wonder why the Beeb keep reminding us of young Stephen….

         7 likes

  29. noggin says:

    Spanish PM has a stomach bug … don t know?
    Italy s has a gallstone? … don t know?
    Frances has a broken toe? … don t know?
    Canada s has a bladder issue? … don t know?
    South Africa – Nelson Mandela chest infection
    stop the presses – he s bloody 97!
    Clear BBC bias, are they so quick to report the burgeoning
    black apartheid?, black police issue?, plight of Afrikaan farmers?

       21 likes

  30. noggin says:

    noggin says:

    March 28, 2013 at 9:52 am

    Spanish PM has a stomach bug … don t know?
    Italy s has a gallstone? … don t know?
    Frances has a broken toe? … don t know?
    Canada s has a bladder issue? … don t know?
    South Africa – Nelson Mandela chest infection
    stop the presses – he s bloody 97!
    Clear BBC bias, are they so quick to report the burgeoning
    black apartheid?, black police issue?, plight of Afrikaan farmers?

       3 likes

  31. pah says:

    Cream Pie? Related to ajp by any chance?

    Hmmm ‘Cream Pie’ sounds like the sort of name a non-white racist might chose. Is it False Flag week and no one told me?

       1 likes

  32. Scrappydoo says:

    After a 3 month break, I switched on radio 5 this morning. Angela Eagle was droning on about Hilsborough,why does the BBC only talk to labour? they are clearly just not friends with the conservatives. I will give it an even longer break next time.

       10 likes

  33. Guest Who says:

    Rolling down a corridor you, via twitter, which with BBC employees is truly a gift of generosity & regularity:
    http://order-order.com/2013/03/28/boozed-up-bbc-partygoers-go-out-with-a-bang/
    Personally, I have no problem with a bit of corporate R&R & moral-boosting at any time. Except:
    a) If those getting the benefits are getting them at the expense of those who are not (I presume the free-flow was self-funded by staff and thefts ‘made-up’ not from public resources?)
    b) If it is not from a bunch of social-engineering, nanny state hypocrites (I presume we will not be getting #prasnews finger wags about binge drinking, middle class law breaking or dodgy sex practices any time soon?).
    I do note from the Tel link these are but ‘claims’, if citing BBC staff written testimony.
    Bit of a dilemma there for some, because if what they commit to twitter on this is Horlix, then what can one presume about the rest they issue (that most of us already don’t know)?
    Still, most commenters (so far) seem to feel this is all just one of those uniques that no one should bother with.
    Of course, if just one had uttered an inappropriate word, they’d be demanding the place get nuked.

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Sorry, that should have been ‘morale-boosting’.
      Mind you, given the facts…

         0 likes

  34. hadda says:

    On the ‘wish Thatcher was dead’ theme, this morning on Radio 4 Extra was a repeat of the panel shop The 99p Challenge. One round was a riff on announcements in the births, deaths and marriages column.

    Lovely, cuddly, charming, mums’ favourite Miranda Hart: “I’d like to announce the death of Margaret Thatcher.” [much laughter, such fun!]

    Armando Iannucci: “I can report that she’s senile and suffering from Alzheimers, so her situation is satisfactory.”

    And something later about Jim Davidson being rogered to death by a disabled homosexual West Indian called Chalky.

    I must’ve been laughing too hard to catch similar violent desires expressed with regard to any Labour luvvies.

       26 likes

    • Dave s says:

      Such statements about Mrs Thatcher reflect very badly upon those that make them. They are inexcusable and if the BBC management had guts it would make it clear that such filth will not be tolerated.

         21 likes

    • Andrew says:

      On “Woman’s Hour” this morning, good old Jenni M had that O’Farrell creature on, being anti-male and reliably Left-wing. Perhaps a reward for his regretting that the IRA didn’t kill Mrs Thatcher in 1984?

         17 likes

      • DJ says:

        Lest we forget, loveable John also hoped the Argentine Junta would win the Falklands War. An almost proverbially bad South American dictatorship staying in power was a small price to pay for putting one over on the Tories, apparently.

        Given that no one at the BBC finds this a little strange for a supposed ‘left-winger’, I question the sincerity of their sermonising about Umanrites.

           15 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      This may explain why the more high-horsey Flokkers are noticeable by their absence currently, as they are scribbling furious protests atop their pedestals to BBC CECUTT.
      For not to so do would be as bad as endorsing such things.
      I for one look forward to them sharing what they wrote, how they demanded answers through ECU and what The Trust eventually ‘found’ on the matter.
      If not, their protestations and conflations here might be seen to ring hollow.

         6 likes

    • Mark says:

      I personally would like Stephen Fry to be rogered to death by Jo Brand in a suicide pact.

         11 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      Can’t some smart arse lawyer come up with a reason why people shouldn’t be FORCED to pay for this sort of thing?

         8 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      It’s things like this which make me dismissive of defenders of the indefensible who express their outrage when someone here makes a similar joke. It’s absurd to hold a little blog to a higher standard than the BBC, yet they do it every day.

         8 likes

  35. noggin says:

    give this a listen … at 18 mins 30
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01rgj1v/Moral_Maze_27_03_2013/

    cambridge muslim college?
    a research fellow? and principal of curriculum on cohesion
    just a minute …
    islam and cohesion? with other communities!?
    an oxymoron surely? … as it works out he s a bloody “humanties” teacher, that is something that used to be taught in the c and d band? when i was at school.

    By the way this programme is about the future of history curricula?
    this fellow is a agended political idealogue, and a pretty dim one at that.

       11 likes

    • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

      Cohesion? Another trick made possible by the new vocabulary, by cohesion they mean subservience, to Islam! Either by self imposed dhimitude, or area by area, when numbers permit, by the kind of vigilante patrols we have seen, banishing gays from moslem areas.

         1 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    Once the latest hangover has worn off, and this sinks in across the BBCphere intranet (looks like it was in one their studios), one imagines it will move, as Guido is wont to pen, to ‘developing’…
    http://order-order.com/2013/03/28/watch-obama-a-coward-and-hypocrite-on-falklands/
    #grabspopcorn

       6 likes

  37. Guest Who says:

    ‘Why do Left-wing academics keep on on writing to newspapers posing as disinterested ‘experts’? They’re fooling no one’
    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100209466/why-do-left-wing-academics-keep-on-on-writing-to-newspapers-posing-as-disinterested-experts-theyre-fooling-no-one/#.UVQv1lYXI9U.twitter
    Beats certain broadcasters seeking them out and GIVING them airtime with zero context on their possible bases of opinion.

       16 likes

  38. Aerfen says:

    Well Five Live has started its investigation into whether Romagarians will come to Britain, and as you would expect from the Beeboids it is utterly unbiased!

    They have been out and about in Sofia (at our expense of course enjoying a brief escape from our miserable spring).
    A visit to the univerisity of course ensures they find educated
    and skilled Bulgarians , but since they are keen to find some not so eager to enrich us, they pick one whose patriotic love of her country is indicated by her choice of course Bulgarian studies. this young woman is one of the few who is keen to remain in her homeland and raise her children as bulgarian speakers. One cannot but wonder how long such idealism will last as she sees her classmates leaving like rats froma sinking ship int he coming years.

    In another interview our BBC man employs the trick of the ‘hyperbolic question’. There is apparently a “perception in Britain that every Bulgarian is going to emigrate here once the restrictions are lifted”. Of course such ludicrous exaggeration is met with denial – although not such fierce denial as one might expect to greet such an extreme suggetsion as this.

    Then there is the interview with the Bulgarian ambassador, desperate of course to play down the threat. The BBC didnt attempt to challenge his utterly fallacious claim that because quiet a number of Bulgarians have come here already, some working illegally this means very few more will come
    Er???????

       11 likes

    • David Brims says:

      I think 5 Romanians will come. 10, tops, but that’s all !

      Last time Labour thought 5,000 Poles would come, turned out it was 500,000.

      Shouldn’t the government plan for the worst possible situation and hope for the best, instead of planning for the best possible situation ?

         10 likes

      • Aerfen says:

        Shouldn’t the government plan for the worst possible situation and hope for the best, instead of planning for the best possible situation

        Indeed and that means maintaining current controls, hoping some will be deflected to other rich EU countries.

        Sign the petitions to prevent Romagarians and Croations entering Britain.

        27,000,000 Romanians and Bulgarians+ 4,000,000 Moldovans gain the right to work here in
        January 2014! Stop them now:http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41492
        Stop 4.3 m Croatians http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/47078

           4 likes

      • noggin says:

        the Tory lamebrain has told us … its only highly skilled Romanian IT workers ?!?*?.
        while at the same time urging councils to have a degree of preparation?,
        hmm i mean why should they? appears like they know the score
        give this a listen, especially when the questions get interesting, “panto” Campbell airs J.Portas trying to bring a tear to a glass eye … listen for Farage laughing
        (2hs 7 mins).
        oh as usual with panto,its set up with charge of british xenophobic racism.

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01rg1qw/

           4 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Funny how the BBC never goes to Spain and other basketcase EU countries where 2 million Romanians are not enjoying the best of economic prospects at the moment.

         5 likes

      • Aerfen says:

        We should bribe the wops and say if they take all the bulgars, roma coming to this country they can have gibraltar

        Trouble is theyd have to lock them up to prevent them moving here straight after.

        Couldnt we just ship them out to the Falklands then hand it over to Argentina?

           3 likes

  39. Guest Who says:

    Cripes. Actually responding to a complaint AND setting a dangerous precedent on misreporting, inaccuracy and being PR for ideological partner attack lines?
    http://order-order.com/2013/03/28/bbc-apologise-to-tories-for-using-bedroom-tax/
    Head will roll.

       7 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Nobody tell colditz. I don’t think he’ll apologize for previously defending the BBC over it.

         7 likes

  40. David Brims says:

    Shiela Fogarty to South African journalist

    ”Tell us the reverence that South Africans feel for Nelson Mandela ?”

    3000 white farmers would beg to differ, but they cant answer because they’ve been murdered.

    http://www.southafricaproject.info

       16 likes

    • David Brims says:

      If 3000 black farmers had been murdered, Western governments around the world would be sending in the UN.

      Thousand of white liberals would be attending candle lit processions, ( liberals love candle lit processions )

      And Bob Geldof, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Billy Bragg would be croaking protest dirges.

      But, because it’s white farmers, it’s a so what attitude ? no one cares.

         23 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      By way of mitigation, ALL of the MSM are on it.
      After Phil’s ticker & Madge’s tummy, it seems a way to fill the 24/7 news maw with something ‘a bit different’ (or, given the number of worthies around the place getting on a bit, not). Plus there are 8 to 9 decades’ worth of archive apiece to pad out a twerp in a suit or blonde with a microphone outside a hospital saying…. nothing. Because until the medicos know and the patient agrees to let it be known, there can be nothing. That silly Sky emoter who is usually in a flak jacket is shy a few kick-offs at the moment and had an exchange with the home-based pea-brain that went something like: ‘What is it this time?”… ‘We don’t know, but he’s very old so it could be x, y or z”.
      GeriatroWatch is here to stay, unless viewers switch off if they over-egg things, which they have long passed in many cases.

         6 likes

  41. ember2013 says:

    Regarding the BBC’s coverage of the Cyprus crisis: they are using excruciatingly tweel metaphorical substitutions for the levy. I noticed one gleeful reporter two days ago describing the levy on 100k Euros (or more) as a “haircut.” I gave him benefit of the doubt but then this morning another reporter (Tim Willcox) used the same phrase whilst reporting in Cyprus.

    Why not stick with “levy”? Is it because it now affects the richer? I don’t know about other people but a “hair-cut” or “manicure” or whatever other trimming of body parts is a service I willingly pay for. Not something I am coerced into having by the state.

       10 likes

    • Albaman says:

      A recent post considered that the BBC were biased by using the term “levy” despite the same term being used widely across all media.

      “Haircut” is also a term used widely across financial reporting however I have yet to see any reporter, from the BBC or otherwise, use it in a “gleeful” manner.

         6 likes

      • ember2013 says:

        Haircut is used in the financial sector but has an entirely different meaning. Wiki says:”a haircut is a percentage that is subtracted from the market value of an asset that is being used as collateral”

        Perhaps people’s savings are collateral?

           7 likes

        • Albaman says:

          “Haircut” is regularly used when depositors or investors take a percentage hit as opposed to losing their full investment, shareholding or deposit. Hence a haircut as opposed to being scalped!!
          All RBS and LloydsTSB investors took a “haircut” when the UK Government took a share in the business.

             3 likes

          • johnnythefish says:

            No, Lloyds investors were scalped – share price plummeted from 4 quid to 30p and 8p per share divis suspended indefinitely many thanks to unnecessary takeover of basketcase HBOS (more reckless Scottish lending) engineered by Crash Gordon who couldn’t have given a flying f*** about people who save diligently for their retirement or any other purpose, unless they then spent it in his booming, bustless economy.

               7 likes

            • Albaman says:

              More research required I think!!
              HBOS = Halifax Bank of Scotland. The “reckless” lending in HBOS was a result of the Halifax being the UK’s number one mortgage lender. Bank of Scotland was always a traditional retail bank (with a conservative if not Presbyterian approach to lending) which Halifax bought up to gain a foothold in the retail banking sector.
              More research required I think!!

                 2 likes

              • johnnythefish says:

                ‘Bank of Scotland was always a traditional retail bank (with a conservative if not Presbyterian approach to lending)…..More research required I think!’

                How Scottish pride comes before a Scottish fall:

                Tracey McDermott, the FSA’s acting director of enforcement, said: “The conduct of the Bank of Scotland illustrates how a failure to meet regulatory requirements can end not just in massive costs to a firm, but losses to shareholders, taxpayers and the economy’.

                Now we’ve put that one to bed, back to the definition of a ‘haircut’, which to you seems to mean someone losing 90% plus of their savings and more. Like to continue?

                Poor Albaman, no wonder you defend the BBC – and so unconditionally.

                   1 likes

                • Albaman says:

                  You do realise the events you quote happened after BoS was taken over by the Halifax as evidenced by the first paragraph of the report you cite: “The FSA has confirmed publicly that it has been carrying out an enforcement investigation into HBOS in respect of specific issues relevant to its failure during the wider financial crisis.”

                     0 likes

          • Richard Pinder says:

            On Russia Today, they call it stealing money from the people to save the Euro.

               6 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Great phrase that isn`t it?
        If only the Great Train Robbers had referred to their stolen bullion as a “solidarity levy”, then they`d have been OK.
        I know that the EU won`t be bothered by anything Orwell wrote, but the BBC ought to know what he said about where traducing the language leads us.
        But that`ll be exactly where the BBC want us all to be soon enough. Time to shake the lice off our backs before we get real trouble from these traitors in our midst(with a hat tip to pounce!)

           2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Words, weasels, and weasel words.
      It is interesting when jargon gets called into play, especially when the more common, more accurate terminology (just because it can be used, doesn’t mean it should be if it should not in the circumstances) would serve, if not evidently suit some.
      And our glorious UK MSM can often be united in sheep-like homages when all reading from the same #prasnews hymn sheet.
      From the Telegraph to the BBC I have seen a ‘cold snap’ used to cover a few daffs getting unseasonal freezer burn overnight to an entire geological era ice age.
      What some have yet to see, like a Trust Director’s belief, may be more down to the blinkers they have than any appreciation of reality.

         5 likes

  42. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The BBC has reported that Lord Ahmed has issued an apology for spouting anti-Jew conspiracy theories about his conviction for a driving offense. Actually, the BBC is rehashing a HuffingtonPost piece on it, because they’re the ones who talked to him about it and got the apology. The intrepid journalists at the BBC, so very concerned about Islamophobia and racism, didn’t even bother, and so are relegated to reporting on the efforts of another media outlet. Why didn’t the BBC go after him on this? What was the editorial decision?

    Also, no mention of the growing problem of anti-Semitism in the UK Mohammedan community. It’s as if it doesn’t exist.

       7 likes

  43. Leha says:

    Malala book deal
    Great!
    the family can pay off the nhs bills before they go home

       6 likes

  44. David Lamb says:

    ‘Hero’ shoots two US soldiers… He did it for the Koran. Hankies out, a very sad story of devout young martyr. BBC interviews his family. Come off it BBC… what do you say if a UK or US soldier kills a couple of Afghan soldiers? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21774684

       4 likes

  45. Deborah says:

    Beyond belief (I know I shouldn’t have been surprised but honestly….) a couple of additional unions have joined the latest BBC news strike (we should be so lucky – if it had been yesterday I suppose we wouldn’t have had the news about D Milliband going to the US to earn millions) according to the 6.30 pm Radio 4 news it is OK….. if Nelson Madela’s condition worsens they will return to work. Of course the illness of a man aged 90+ is more important that say people in Cyprus losing their life savings, or young men dying in Syria, Iraq or any other ME country you happen to mention or perhaps a young woman being killed by dogs…no the only thing worth returning to work for is if an old man takes a turn for the worse.

       3 likes

  46. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Learn proper grammar, Moby. Surely there are better sites where you can share your keen wit.

       3 likes

  47. pounce says:

    The bBC, reporting from Turkey and half the story.
    Violence breaks out in Syrian refugee camp in Turkey
    Violence has broken out at a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey, with police using water cannon and tear gas. Protesters were demonstrating against the conditions in the camp, situated near the town of Akcakale on the Syrian border.

    So people seeking asylum riot because they are not happy with what they have been given. But the bBC only reports half the story. The Turks to their credit won’t put up with ungrateful bastards and have deported 600 trouble makers back to Syria. Of course being Turks they have stated that the people left of their own accord, . Imagine the outcry if we in the Uk did likewise.
    http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=20711

       6 likes

  48. deegee says:

    Is there anything Israel could possibly do that the BBC would applaud? Lina Makhoul an Israeli Arab voted best singer in Israel’s The Voice She’s a student at the Technion, Israel’s prestigious M.I.T. equivalent university. She’s won a top prize in a prime-time TV show on the basis of public votes.

    Clearly the BBC can’t let that pass and accusations of racism but no evidence is sprinkled through the article. That it is presumably written by an Israeli Jew doesn’t help.

    One thing is sure. If she had been Jewish the BBC wouldn’t have bothered to report on her victory. Isn’t that BBC racism?

       2 likes

  49. George R says:

    Has Islam Not BBC (INBBC) finally gone native with this utterly empathetic eulogy to Muslim murderer in Afghanistan of his own ‘comrades in arms’- non-Muslim Americans?

    “The Afghan ‘green-on-blue’ attacker seen as a hero”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21774684

    [and INBBC does not attempt to dispel that notion.]

    This INBBC account does not even ask whether this Islamic jihadist’s murderous actions were motivated by his Islamic beliefs.

    How different is the above INBBC account than would have been Allied journalists writing accounts of battles of World War II from a Nazi viewpoint?

       3 likes

  50. Framer says:

    I could not believe the Sky News report which said that if Nelson Mandela’s condition worsened the striking BBC journalists would go back to work.
    Was that a threat or a promise?

       2 likes