241 Responses to OPEN THREAD…

  1. Richard Pinder says:

    The Culture, Media and Sport committee chairman John Whittingdale, said the Government and the BBC should discuss an alternative to the licence fee. More than a million households do not pay the £145.50 annual fee.

    John Whittingdale is a fellow Mensa member and was interviewed for a three page article in the April edition of the Mensa magazine.

    It is not yet clear about what future action is due as regards the 28 Gate scandal at the BBC, but I think that the May edition of the Mensa magazine and future Space Special interest group newsletters and emails from Mensa members may shed light at what seems to be an unprecedented attack from Mensa members upon the BBC as regards its censorship of science, scientists and scientific debate about Climate Change. They told me not to expect much before May, but they have not told me that Whittingdale is leading the Mensa attack on the BBC. Last year he said that the BBC had a “failure of management at every level” and that there was “something fundamentally wrong with the BBC management structure”.

    The BBC Trust is being left out of the loop, because it foolishly appointed a candidate with a vested interest in keeping a lid on the cesspit, by appointing Lord Hall who was responsible for setting up the seminar series when he was last employed by the BBC. It looks as if the BBC Trust could be abolished by the end of the year.

    With the carbon dioxide theory proven wrong by understanding the temperatures in the carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus, with the “Unified Theory of Climate” and with “Cosmoclimatology” providing the answers for the causes of Climate Change. Then for the BBC and Lord Hall to continue to censor the science by sticking to the advice of a seminar without a single causational Climate scientist, while the BBC told complaining Mensa members two years ago that the seminar had “the best scientific experts“. The BBC also told them that they have no scientific investigative journalists at the BBC, which seems to be why scientists have started to do their own journalism.

    It looks likely that Lord Hall’s reaction would be to foolishly dig his heals in and pretend that there is not a problem at the BBC, which would get up the backs of the better informed Government Committee. What little I know of what is to come, I think both the BBC and BBC Trust management are likely to be shown up as continually trying and failing to cover up violations of its Charter found by the committee, such as the bogus climate sceptic incident on Newsnight.

    Someone should be telling Blogs such as bishop-hill and wattsupwiththat to submit information to Whittingdale

    Interesting times are to come.

       78 likes

    • stewart says:

      Hope your right

         33 likes

      • john in cheshire says:

        So do I. And come the end of August there will be more than a million plus one not paying the tv tax.

           36 likes

    • chrisH says:

      This is very good, and may well be the way in which the first cracks in the BBCs facade of loveliness and consensus begins to come undone.
      I`ll say a prayer tonight-does Mensa allow for that?

         35 likes

      • stevefb says:

        could also provide the perfect excuse for politicians looking to tax broadband connections

           6 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Thank you for this. A ray of light in an otherwise gloomy sky as regards the dominance of the arrogant and biased BBC. I hope that the Tories use every tool available to them to make fundamental changes to the BBC before the next election.

         29 likes

    • Maturecheese says:

      It will be nice if common sense finally prevails when it comes to green issues. I won’t hold my breath though.

         11 likes

    • Lynette says:

      That someone should be you and other intelligent BBC Bias contributers . The only way to achieve things is not to rely on the idea that others should be doing it.

         5 likes

    • Lynette says:

      Good idea but that someone needs to be you and other contributers to this page. If you want to get things done its no good to rely on others to do it.

         1 likes

    • feargal the cat says:

      Until your comment, I had never heard of John Whittingdale. Following your comment, it will be interesting to see how the bBC deal with his comments. I fully expect to hear that headlines deriding his position/views will become the backbone of a meme running from ‘Newsnight’ through to ‘Today’ with a pinch of Campbell/Vine.

         4 likes

  2. David Brims says:

    When did Clare Balding suddenly become a ‘National Treasure’ ?

       46 likes

  3. George R says:

    INBBC: Don’t mention Islam:-

    “Saudi paralysis sentencing ‘grotesque’ – UK”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22029881

       16 likes

    • The Highland Rebel says:

      Or this –

      http://tundratabloids.com/2013/04/saudi-grand-mufti-declares-all-churches-to-be-destroyed-in-the-region.html

      I remember the ‘outrage’ Al Beeb spouted day after day when some American pastor threatened to burn a few pages of the Koran so why silence over this?

      BTW, I haven’t seen Elmer Fudd Hague or Allah Salmond jumping up and down condemning this like they did with korangate.

         42 likes

    • chrisH says:

      No-“grotesque” is surely a bridge too far!
      Shall we start with “disappointing”?…and them work our way up in a proportionate response up to “inappropriate”?

         20 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        The BBC did mention “Islamic law:”. Although they don’t go as far as Huw Edwards did back when Mohammedans in Afghanistan (or was it Pakistan?) started destroying things and killing people when that pastor in Florida said that he was thinking about burning a Koran. At the time, Huw Edwards asked an MCB mouthpiece what’s up with the “less-nuanced” behavior. The reply was that it was perfectly understandable that people would want to kill after spending the month of Ramadan in deep religious contemplation. Edwards didn’t dare touch that.

        Beeboid Jonathan Marcus says this is “an unusually strong plea” from the British Government, and Britain usually tip-toes around this kind of thing because the Saudis buy weapons from you. Somehow, I don’t think that’s the sole reason any more. One public statement isn’t going to shut down the entire operation. That’s no excuse. But there are other, more domestic reasons to tread lightly here.

        The mealy-mouthed wording of this news brief tells me that the BBC had to run this by the FO or someone. At least they put in good old Amnesty’s criticism.

        Having said all that, do we get to claim that the BBC is racist for suggesting that “Islamic law” would be responsible for this act? Oh, wait, they covered their asses by saying it was merely the judge’s interpretation.

           21 likes

        • Dez says:

          David Preiser
           
          “…back when Mohammedans in Afghanistan (or was it Pakistan?)…”
           
          Well done David. Demonstrates the paucity of your prejudices quite brilliantly.
           
          “I remember back when Britain declared war against France in 1939 (or was it Germany?), no matter; they’re all Christians, what’s the difference…”
           

             5 likes

          • Adi says:

            Actually, Germany declared war on Britain because it was full of Protestants.

            But who knows, maybe Mohammedans in Indonesia killed some Christians because a US pastor burned a Koran. Or was it Nigeria, Sudan, Malaysia or Tunisia?

            “Demonstrates the paucity of your prejudices quite brilliantly.”

            I agree.

               11 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Well done, Dez. Demonstrates the paucity of your debating capabilities. You can’t even address the issue and instead leap to personal insults without substance. Can you explain where the prejudice lies? What difference does it make which country it was? Both are Mohammedan, which is what it was all about, while France was not the Nazis. Your analogy is false, a complete failure of logic on your part, yet you claim superiority. Are you denying the incidents happened? Come on, Dez, tell me there were no riots or violence in response to what Pastor Jones said. Let’s hear it, Dez. Explain yourself or admit you can’t handle the issue.

               15 likes

            • Chop says:

              Don’t expect an answer any time soon David….he never EVER does when he’s caught, bang to rights (by that, i mean always)

                 6 likes

              • johnnythefish says:

                Dez’s appearances on here seem totally random. But then so do his comments.

                   4 likes

            • Andy S. says:

              Dave, you’ll receive no reply from Dez. He only makes hit and run posts. Anyway, if he’s working nights at the Beeb’s front desk, he’ll only be able to use their internet connect from around 4 a.m.

                 4 likes

    • noggin says:

      DON T MENTION ISLAM 2.
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01rqgys/
      9 mins 50
      Radio4 programme Sunday, airing blatant lies, and bbc bias towards it this morning …
      Nose growing Muslim Council of Britain, apologist in chief, er I mean spokesman Ibrahim Mogra is given ample time to squirm their excuses over Rochdale, Derby and Oldham, and Bradford, and Leeds etc etc – abject denial alert – yawn! … of course it has nothing to do with muslims/Islam,
      yes it just so ahem “happens” that SOME of the “men” etc etc

      hilariously then slyly stating it is something for the “community” to discuss … bit vague? one has to ask er which community?

      The teachings of Islam are very clear? … he states,( by which he means quran/hadith) … well yes on this issue they are :-D, but deviously, he leaves out that bit.

      Hmm – The “perfect” example of conduct perhaps? … he who himself raped many, kept sex slaves, and abused small children, and took for himself a child bride, and ordered his sons wife to bed,(rape) then got a convenient revelation excusing it.
      OR maybe the Paedostani guide book perhaps … oops, bit harsh eh!, well no sorry folks ;-D …
      the quran actually devotes more verses to making sure that Muslim men know they can keep women as sex slaves than it does to telling them to pray five times a day, as is usual for a fascist ideology, its warped world view is that they (the non muslim) are property possessions, no more than cattle.

      As expected, for the bbc, the purveyors … of so many tales of erm “men” or of “asians” etc etc, a deeply reverential tone is kept all the way through by the …. hypocritical, duplicitous, agended f-ckin coward … I mean host …
      who incidently started this segment refering actually himself to “asians” … (shakes head … why not speak to a thai, chinese, hindu, jian, buddhist, or indian, or malay chappie/spokesman eh! )…
      who are accused of whats called? … grooming ?!*?!
      i think orchestrated muslim child gang rape is a bit more to the point don t you.

      how much bloody longer, eh! how many more children.
      Straight after, the another segment very loud and very proud, people leaving in droves the CHRISTIAN church, especially CATHOLICs … after all that sex abuse …

      hmmm … where to go for all those droves eh! … is that “sheik” ibrahim still around?

         25 likes

  4. OldBloke says:

    I do not pay the licence fee as I do not have a T.V. and do not watch the BBC output on my computer. So I listen to the radio a lot and all many stations pass through my ears on a day to day basis. I heard on Classic FM that a row had broken out (really?) about George Osborne parking in a disable parking bay on a motorway services area. It turns out he wasn’t even driving but naming the usual suspects, the BBC, this news item got plenty of coverage around the BBC radio stations. It was almost as if they were trying to make a story out of it. Suddenly, the item was dropped, zippo, zilch, nana. Funny I thought, why the sudden dropsie?
    Ah, that would explain it. Ed Balls just announced he was caught speeding and got done for it..now he was actually driving unlike Osborne who was a passenger. Biased BBC?

       66 likes

    • Mice Height says:

      I don’t pay my TV licence and I watch quite a bit of live TV . . . .

         17 likes

  5. matthew says:

    BBC article on class here:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22025328

    A good chance for a nice dose of anti-US sentiment, and a bit of ‘white people are over privileged’ BS, both always good BBC fooder.

    It claims for instance:

    “What was true almost 40 years ago is even more true today. As many as 15% of white students admitted to elite colleges don’t meet admissions standards. They do meet a more important requirement – their parents are alumni or big donors, according to the Boston Globe.”

    The Boston Globe describe the article as an op-ed by

    Peter Schmidt, author of “Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War Over College Affirmative Action.”

    http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/09/28/at_the_elite_colleges___dim_white_kids/?page=full

    So, er not really the Boston Globe, whatever authority that might be in the first place. But some old article pushing a book , that according to Amazon, few people have actually read http://www.amazon.com/Color-Money-Winning-College-Affirmative/dp/1403976015

    You have to wonder whether the BBC would link to an article titled

    “At the elite colleges – dim black kids”

    Actually, no you don’t, because they never would.

    They wouldn’t link to articles like this

    http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/the-painful-truth-about-affirmative-action/263122/

    showing that black students scored at the 52nd percentile, while white students at the same university scored on the 89th.

    And they wouldn’t mention that affirmative action primarily benefits 1st-gen immigrants, suggesting that the opportunities were there all along, it’s just that those minority supposed victims of discrimination had to look to themselves and their communities, not to others.

    (The author, btw, is a former NPR staffer.)

       22 likes

    • matthew says:

      Another day, another swipe at the US right.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22028316

      “When Americans play other Americans in American cities for an American audience, the world championship of whatever sport they are playing is thereby decided.”

      Ok, this is true, and mildly amusing.

      But it is used to ‘prove’ the author’s politics:

      “This irrationality infuses those other, darker domains.

      Americans can’t solve their child-killing problem in part because Americans refuse to believe that other rich countries have gun laws that work. Americans refuse to believe that other rich countries have laws at all. The accumulated wisdom of the world on the question of health insurance is completely unknown to most Americans, and enters the debate only to be scoffed at.

      Not only does everything happen for the best in America – everything happens in America alone.”

      Apparently the US has a ‘child-killing problem’. This is, one presumes, narrowed from a ‘gun crime problem’, because of the inconvenient truth that gun crime is mostly committed by black people in the US, and the white gun crime rate is actually no different from that in Europe.

      As I understand it the per capita rate of school massacres is actually higher in Germany, but again this doesn’t suit the BBC’s brand of left-wing politics, so they don’t mention it.

      The article is about the ‘irrationalities’ of France, Canada, US and the UK. Needless to say the US is the only one where the alleged irrationality results in dead children. Not the UK of course where the if you were to suggest that the welfare state is irrational and results in dead children, you’d be roundly castigated.

         3 likes

  6. George R says:

    EGYPT.

    INBBC still goes politically easy on Morsi-Muslim Brotherhood rule, and misses this protest:-

    (inc video clip)-

    “‘Day of Rage’: Tear gas in Cairo as thousands rally to mark April 6 group anniversary”

    http://rt.com/news/cairo-rally-tear-clashes-447/

    What does INBBC-Arabic TV-Cairo Bureau do all day?

       13 likes

    • Adi says:

      When Egypt will collapse financially and politically (very soon, actually), expect the al-Beeb to prop the narrative of Egyptian enrichers flooding the gates of Britain. And blame Israel.

         27 likes

  7. Mavis Ramsbottom says:

    the BBC should do a ‘documentary’ on homosexuality at the BBC and Hollywood

       7 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      Oh no, it’s too chock full of gayness as it is. What with homosexuality, the nasty Tories and the mythical global warming, I don’t think I can take much more of the awful BBC.

      The BBC – not content with just being “Auntie”, feels it must be parents, boss and government too – after all, we all need “looking after”, our ways “mended”, and our lifestyles subjected to the correct “guidance”…

         23 likes

  8. stuart says:

    can i nominate edwina currie as the most creepiest arselicker ever to appear on 5 radio live,listen to last nights paper review at about 12.50am,it was the most sickest sucking to a presenter i have ever heard,this woman is becoming such a creep just so she can get her bank account filled by the bbc by us tv license payers,the woman is just so cheap,sure norma major would agree on that.

       23 likes

  9. k920 says:

    @stuart,must agree with you,her creeping was a bit sick inducing towards posh lefty boy jonathan vernon smith,notice how currie avoided the question when he brought up john major lol.

       11 likes

  10. Chop says:

    THE BBC’s £900 million move to new northern headquarters has created just THIRTY FOUR jobs for locals.

    Figures obtained by The Sun reveal only 1.5 per cent of the 2,300 employees at the MediaCity centre in Salford, Greater Manchester, come from the borough.

    They shatter the Beeb’s claim it moved entire departments out of London to create new opportunities for people living in the region.

    The director general at the time, Mark Thompson, pledged in 2011 that “BBC North is going to be an anchor around which to build a critical mass of jobs in the North West”.

    Tsk.

       40 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      You just didn’t dig deep enough. The left over food from the BBC staff restaurant is being used to create the largest food bank in Europe and so help to alleviate the devastating effects of government cuts on Salford.
      The leftovers are so good that even the wealthy footballers like Rooney and van Persie are popping over from nearby Old Trafford to fill goody bags to take home.
      A BBC spokesperson said that the staff felt pleased that they were at last able to do something constructive for the north.

         28 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘“BBC North is going to be an anchor around which to build a critical mass of jobs in the North West”.

      – ‘jobs’ should have read ‘jobbies’, so to paraphrase: ‘create a critical steaming pile of shite’.

         3 likes

  11. Guest Who says:

    A BBC ‘correspondent’ responds, with a few gems (presuming the quotes to be accurate, from a poster claiming to be him, which these days who knows?) I have selected a few…
    http://bbcwatch.org/2013/04/07/revisiting-the-bbcs-iron-dome-story/
    “I really do think this is very poor “journalism”
    …. presumably you include his name to excite/incite your readers.
    … a highly respected scientist with a distinguished track record in this field.
    I fear you see plots to do down Israel where they don’t exist. I am told by technical experts that there probably are ways Israel could provide data to prove the success of its system – if indeed it was succesful – without damaging national security.”

    Sometimes their own words are enough.
    I merely note that, on top of a very high horse being mounted on a very shaky pedestal by a BBC ‘reporter’ on calibre of professional integrity, with po-faced accusations on incitement (about a defence system vs. the BBC’s misinformation on riot-stoking from their #pasasnews feeds), an employee of an organisation that deploys redactions and FoI exemptions at the drop of a hat on everything, is getting huffy on what ‘could’, ‘probably’, be supplied on his demand regarding a clearly and sensibly secret missile protection system.
    On the basis of… the BBC worrying about the US not getting value for money.
    This seems a very odd series of tacks to be taking in writing.
    Especially as the BBC is pretty much ensuring the conflict costs the world a small fortune by stirring up whatever it can whenever it can the rest of its ‘reporting’ time.
    Lucky they, at least, are totally unaccountable.
    This post, quoting a BBC CECUTT classic, is hence unsurprisingly, but depressingly familiar:
    ‘After a recent complaint I made to the BBC, I had criticised their last/first reporting policy over missile launches and IDF responses. I received a reply that was highly informative of their attitude

    1. They have NEVER reported the total number of missiles fired from Gaza
    2. They do not see themselves as a reporting service, but a news service

    It would be the easiest thing in the world for them to pick up the phone to the Defence Ministry, but they would rather use sources that seek to defame Israel.
    As McAlpine showed, they wanted to ‘save’ us the 10p it would have taken to check domestically, and that only cost the licence fee payer £184,999.90 more (plus costs). Guessing they really didn’t want to push the boat out on log distance?
    I can only imagine what more their current ‘reporting’ costs us all.
    Yet we are still forced to fund it.
    Unique.

       15 likes

  12. Deborah says:

    Last night I decided to watch the review of the papers on BBC News Channel. The reviewers looked as though they were interns – one from New Statesman and the other from the Times (although politically I would guess the one from the Times to be further to the Left). Naturally (irony) they were picking up on the changes to benefits but it was the BBC woman who said that it was ‘obvious’ that Labour would be opposing the changes and then a few sentences said with incredulity that Labour’s plans as laid out in whichever paper they are in this morning ‘were more draconian even that the present government’s’. My thoughts (and of course I cannot give you the emphasis that she used) were that within Broadcasting House it is so obvious that the changes to welfare are so ‘draconian’ that BBC staff are free to rage on air as much as they are doing.

       20 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Is it dimness, complacency or arrogance, or even dim complacent arrogance that stops them from choosing their words just a bit more carefully?

      Viewer, you decide.

         3 likes

      • stewart says:

        contempt

           3 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Seems like a reflexive rosy view of Labour from the Beeboid. Although she’s probably “accurate” that Labour would oppose whatever the Tories would do, regardless of whether or not they’d take the measures even further. But the clear pre-determined opinion that Labour would be better is there for all to see.

           4 likes

  13. thoughtful says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22044724

    A story this morning highlighting the hierarchy of isms in Muslim culture. It’s a piece about shariah courts in Britain forcing women to continue in violent marriages, but never once does it ask the question why these women are using a court without legal power, nor why these courts are allowed to operate here.

    A disgraceful limp liberal article which does everything possible to avoid any of the real issues, including the one it is supposed to be dealing with.

       36 likes

  14. deegee says:

    The BBC is (in)consistent. They write Frank Gardner was attacked and crippled in a militant attack. Oddly enough he goes off script and calls them terrorists.

       19 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      According to the BBC, their man Alan Johnston was kidnapped by ‘militants’

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7048652.stm

      ‘As he neared the end of a posting in Gaza, the BBC’s Alan Johnston was seized at gunpoint by militants.’

      So Alan, please describe to us these ‘militants’…..

      ‘…my captors – the Army of Islam – would describe me as a prisoner in what they see as the war between Muslims and non-Muslims.’

      ‘They handcuffed me and put the black hood back over my head, and led me slowly out into the cold of the night.

      There was no word of explanation, and as my mind searched for one in that terrifying moment of uncertainty, I feared, as I walked into the darkness, that I might be going to my death.

      That I was being taken somewhere to be shot.’

      You must have been terrified Alan. It sounds as though these militants terrorised you?

      ‘It is hard to strike at Britain from Gaza. There is no British business there, and the British Council library was burned down last year by an angry mob.

      Almost all that Britain had left in Gaza was the BBC. And in the BBC, there was only one British citizen, me. And the Jihadis had me, like a bird in a cage. ‘

      ‘In those first, terrible days – the hardest that I have ever known – I worried very much about the impact my abduction would have on my elderly parents and my sister at home in Scotland.’

      Your family and friends – and indeed your colleagues – must have been terrified for your safety.

      ‘… through the radio I became aware of the extraordinary, worldwide campaign that the BBC was mobilising on my behalf. It was an enormous psychological boost.

      And, most movingly, I realised that the vast majority of Palestinians were condemning the kidnappers. ‘

      Aaah, bless.

      ‘I knew that my kidnappers’ demands were not being met, and I thought that perhaps they had decided to kill me. ‘

      So in what way are these guys ‘militants’ as opposed to ‘terrorists’?

      ‘I was sure that if I was to be put to death, the act would be video-taped in the style of Jihadi executions in Iraq. ‘

      ‘…I chose to rehearse in my mind exactly what might happen, hoping that somehow that would make the lead-up to any execution a little less shocking, a little less terrifying’

      ‘Through all this I gradually came to know my guards.’

      Oh yeah?

      ‘One of them, a man in his mid-20s called Khamees, with a dark, quite handsome face, would be with me almost every day.’

      I wonder what ‘quite handsome’ actor might be cast in the role when the BBC do a drama of your experiences Alan?

      ‘Like many young men who I had met in Gaza, Khamees was the son of a family that had either fled or been driven from their home in what is now Israel.’

      Stockholm syndrome…? or did you already sympathise with these ‘militants’ prior to your kidnapping…? or is this good press for the ‘militants’ perhaps part of the deal struck with which the BBC rescued you?

      ‘He had been raised in the poverty of one of Gaza’s intensely crowded cities, and been drawn to the militant groups that had fought the occupying Israeli army.

      Khamees had matured into a battle-hardened urban guerrilla.’

      But not a terrorist eh?

      ‘He spent countless hours flipping through the Arabic satellite television channels, and often, far into the night, he would sit in a pale blue robe, reading aloud from the Koran.’

      Of course he did – the religion of peace eh?

      ‘And there were moments when Khamees would be friendly, when we would talk a little about Gaza, and about politics or Islam.’

      Sounds just like Dateline London with Gavin Essler.

      ‘Handing me my food, he would just glare at me hard, saying nothing, and a number of times tiny things sent him into frightening rages that I came to dread.

      It was often easy to imagine that he saw me as a great burden, and that he loathed me.

      And when he smashed me in the face in the final moments of the kidnap, I felt that with Khamees, perhaps, all along violence had never been far below the surface. ‘

      I was thinking just the same thing Alan.

      ‘Whatever else it was, my Gazan incarceration was not what Iraqi prisoners had been forced to endure at Abu Ghraib jail. ‘

      Right on Alan! Stop the War! Yankies Go Home!

      ‘Eventually Gaza’s violent politics suddenly shifted against my kidnappers.

      The powerful Hamas and Fatah factions began a fight to the death. Hour after hour, I lay listening to machine gun and rocket fire in the streets around the apartment block where I was being held. ‘

      ‘Eventually though, Hamas managed to seize complete control.

      It immediately set about imposing what it would regard as order on Gaza, and it made ending my high-profile kidnapping a priority. ‘

      What a releif! Hamas to the rescue!

      ‘The kidnappers and the powerful clan that was protecting them, seemed to have buckled under the Hamas pressure. They had agreed to deliver me up, in return for their survival.’

      ‘ I was afraid that this was some new gang to which I had now been passed on.

      But actually these were Hamas men, and as we turned a corner, there, standing in a garden, was my old friend and colleague, Fayed Abu Shamalla of the BBC Arabic service.’

      I think it worth considering carefully this story. I think these events tell us much about BBC reporting from Gaza and why and how it is seriously unbalanced.

         31 likes

      • Pounce says:

        What strikes me about the incident where Frank Gardner in an attempt to garner a story got his cameraman murdered and himself put in a wheelchair, is that he withered on the floor with six holes inside him, he cried out for help to his fellow men not by screaming for help, but by begging for help as he was a muslim.

        Yes,it appears that the very faith which the bBC promotes as: Magnanimous, and peaceful will only help you as you lay on the ground dying if you belong to their band of brothers.

        So much for helping your fellow man no questions asked then.

           24 likes

        • DJ says:

          This.

          Isn’t there something a little bit off about an ideology that teaches that there’s no need to help the injured if they’re not fellow cult members? Something just a little not quite right?

          Clearly, Frank Gardner knew the score but did he ever reference it in his reports? Nada.

          He was lying by omission and now everyone knows it.

             6 likes

      • Rufus McDufus says:

        It almost sounds as if his friend is a Hamas member as well as a BBC employee.

           14 likes

      • pah says:

        Is that the BBC chap who was fatter after he had been kidnapped than before?

        Those pesky militants where obviously trying to feed him to death.

           13 likes

  15. Anders Thomasson says:

    The best part of half an hour on Paolo diCanio on 5 Live this morning and then one of the talking heads, with no trace of irony, says “We believe in free speech in this country”.

       35 likes

    • pah says:

      Oh we have free speech all right. You can say anything you like as long as you appreciate some good neighbour will drop you in it via mobile phone and then its off to the gulag for re-education sunshine.

      It’s freedom of thought we lack!

         19 likes

      • stewart says:

        Fair play now.we are free to say whatever,think whatever or vote for whatever party the liberal Inquisition will allow
        Not sure what that is? don’t worry the BBC is always at hand to guide you on to the path of righteousness

           11 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          And as we speak, Hacked Off are putting the finishing touches to the ‘map’.

             3 likes

  16. JaneTracy says:

    Eddie Mair who is presenting the Marr show on BBC

    To Boris Johnson (Conservative)
    “You are a nasty piece of work”

    To Harriet Harman (Labour)
    “Nice to see you”

       56 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Also Harriet Hypocrit Harman was very clear that Labour policy is to pay child benefit regardless of how many children a woman has. Eddie Mair did gently inquire if this meant that a family with 17 children like Philpot would be supported , he didn’t get anything other a reconfirmation that Labour would support children regardless of how many there were. He didn’t follow up with the obvious questions about such a policy:
      Is it affordable?
      Won’t it mean that some women will have children to get more benefits and bigger houses ?
      Why should the tax payer subsidise women who wnat to have more than two , or at the most three children. Indeed there is a good argument for saying the state shouldn’t pay any child benefit at all.
      But of course the BBC never ask any questions that don’t fit with the liberal left narrative.
      One more question if a women has 15 children and has a 8 bedroom house [provided by the state, with or without a snooker room , is she allowed to live there after they have all left home?

         22 likes

      • Andrew says:

        One of the most frightening things about Left orthodoxy is the intellectual dishonesty of it. I would have been expected to try to see both sides and anticipate objections to any one view even in a Sixth Form politics essay and certainly at university. The refusal to ask obvious questions must be a conspiracy of silence if it is not a lack of brain cells.

           21 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      Why should the tax payer subsidise women who wnat to have more than two , or at the most three children.
      ——————————————————————-

      It shows how ‘corrupted’ we have become by the benefits culchewer when a (presumably) right-wing poster.

      It is beyond me why taxpayers should subsidise *any* children. It’s not like we’re particularly short of them.

      The State is that great fiction whereby everyone tries to live at everyone else’s expense.

         17 likes

      • Andrew says:

        I don’t agree the State is “that great fiction …” but it has certainly got too big. I think we need it for defence (imagine the “Cornish Defence Army – sponsored by Coca-Cola” or a Yorkshire force wearing the Virgin logo) and national currency, and other areas like international negotiations. But of course it can’t meet all the demands put on it without swallowing more and more of our wealth. So we need the debate: will the BBC allow it?

           6 likes

      • uncle bup says:

        imagine the “Cornish Defence Army – sponsored by Coca-Cola’
        ——————————————————————-

        You say that, but regular poster Albaman already contemplates a Scottish Defence Force sponsored by Wee Nappy Wind Inc.

        :-).

           5 likes

    • The PrangWizard of England says:

      The Eddie Mair ‘interview’ with Harriett Harman was a lot like the kind of thing you would see at a Labour Party conference where the interviewer gives the interviewee the opportunity to explain points of view or policy without any interrogation. Very comfortable, very supportive, very friendly, and cosily close. A cynical and blatant abandonment of impartiality by the BBC. Someone should answer for it.

         17 likes

  17. thoughtful says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22056685

    An admission from the Muslim council of Britain that Moslems have not been reporting Paedophile grooming

    “Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra of the council said people were sometimes reluctant to speak out ”

    Of course this is not covered in the piece and never will be by a broadcaster which believes that ‘moslems must never be criticised no matter that they do’.

       26 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Dez needs to read the following quote from that article:

      He said men who were grooming children and “profess to be following the religion of Islam” were really doing “exactly the opposite”.

      Dez claimed recently that this wasn’t the case. Yet here it is in black and white. Or is it now racist to say that, Dez?

         13 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      ‘….reluctant to speak out’. Was he asked why?

         1 likes

  18. noggin says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01rqgys/
    9 mins 50
    Radio4 programme Sunday, airing blatant lies, and bbc bias towards it this morning …
    Nose growing Muslim Council of Britain, apologist in chief, er I mean spokesman Ibrahim Mogra is given ample time to squirm their excuses over Rochdale, Derby and Oldham, and Bradford, and Leeds etc etc – abject denial alert – yawn! … of course it has nothing to do with muslims/Islam,
    yes it just so ahem “happens” that SOME of the “men” etc etc

    hilariously then slyly stating it is something for the “community” to discuss … bit vague? one has to ask er which community?

    The teachings of Islam are very clear? … he states,( by which he means quran/hadith) … well yes on this issue they are , but deviously, he leaves out that bit.

    Hmm – The “perfect” example of conduct perhaps? … he who himself raped many, kept sex slaves, and abused small children, and took for himself a child bride, and ordered his sons wife to bed,(rape) then got a convenient revelation excusing it.
    OR maybe the Paedostani guide book perhaps … oops, bit harsh eh!, well no sorry folks ;-D …
    the quran actually devotes more verses to making sure that Muslim men know they can keep women as sex slaves than it does to telling them to pray five times a day, as is usual for a fascist ideology, its warped world view is that they (the non muslim) are property possessions, no more than cattle.

    As expected, for the bbc, the purveyors … of so many tales of erm “men” or of “asians” etc etc, a deeply reverential tone is kept all the way through by the …. hypocritical, duplicitous, agended f-ckin coward … I mean host …
    who incidently started this segment refering actually himself to “asians” … (shakes head … why not speak to a thai, chinese, hindu, jian, buddhist, or indian, or malay chappie/spokesman eh! )…
    who are accused of whats called? … grooming ?!*?!
    i think orchestrated muslim child gang rape is a bit more to the point don t you.

    how much bloody longer, eh! how many more children.
    Straight after, the another segment very loud and very proud, people leaving in droves the CHRISTIAN church, especially CATHOLICs … after all that sex abuse …

    hmmm … where to go for all those droves eh! … is that “sheik” ibrahim still around?

       12 likes

    • noggin says:

      why everyday muslims, simply protect paedophiles, they know about them, they are of course family members, mosque goers … it is the polar opposite in every normal community non islamic?,
      the blindingly obvious question and not pressed here. it is not that gangs of paedostanis, “misunderstand” islam, but that the rest of their community understand it perfectly, and are following its dictates directly by protecting them.
      i think it is utterly reprehensible that this cult continues
      to invade the few religious programmes left on the bbc.
      it is always the case that no matter the obfuscations, the apologist rhetoric … theres always that “really bad smell from the basement” feeling about its appearances.

         17 likes

  19. George R says:

    Is BBC-NUJ catching up on repressive Islam and Sharia Law?

    “Are Sharia councils failing vulnerable women?”

    (-inc video clip).
    By Jane Corbin,
    BBC Panorama.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22044724

    Of course, if UK’s political class had any real understanding of Islam, it would have opposed, and would now oppose mass immigration from Islamic countries; and these growing problems of Islam in UK would have been left in e.g. Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. and not be a social and cultural cost to British people.

       18 likes

  20. Karl says:

    The BBC is the best broadcaster in the world.
    The licence fee is extremely good value for money.

       1 likes

    • Demon says:

      Your sarcasm is a bit too blatant. You could even have added that the NHS is the envy of the World. 😉

         23 likes

      • thoughtful says:

        Prove it! This lie is often repeated as if it is unchallengeable fact, this is not the case, it is a lie.

        If the NHS was so great why has no other country adopted the concept?

        The fact is that the NHS has reduced the standard of medical care in the UK to third world standards.

        I can say all this because I’ve experienced hospitals in other countries and the developed world & second world have all been better than the NHS.

           16 likes

        • Demon says:

          I agree with you here thoughtful. I was adding my line of sarcasm to the one from Karl.

          Interesting he has adopted a German name, same as the host of other trolls recently.

             11 likes

          • stewart says:

            Something to do with constructing a new volksgemeinschaft perhaps?

               5 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Karl is a reverse Moby, apparently. I don’t know why these people bother going through the trouble of creating a new email just for this.

               7 likes

    • Mark says:

      And Squealer is only spouting Napoelon’s orders.

         3 likes

  21. Another Deborah says:

    Flicked on to The Big Question. Something I usually avoid.

    Subject-“Is it right to take from the poor and give to the rich”?

    Owen Jones et al present. I didn’t last for the whole debate.
    It was predictable.

    Oh the irony. BBC just doesn’t see it.

    Their tax funded gravy train hurts the poor not the rich and most people chased/ harassed by CAPITA or imprisoned for non payment are poor .

    Apart from over 75’s no one, including the poor is exempt.

    Although I didn’t watch the whole section I cant imagine any one putting this fact to the debate.

       30 likes

    • DJ says:

      Note too that ”taking from the poor’ turns out to mean ‘not taking quite as much tax as before from anyone who earns about half what the average BBC employee gets paid’.

      This makes about as much sense as saying that the guy who disturbs a burglar breaking into next door is taking a laptop, DVD player and some jewellery off him.

         2 likes

  22. George R says:

    Labour’s political opportunism, and change of tune on welfare:

    “Harriet Harman: people feel ‘resentful’ of benefit claimants ‘not pulling their weight'”

    By Rowena Mason.

    Expect similar political shift of line by BBC-NUJ.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9977158/Harriet-Harman-people-feel-resentful-of-benefit-claimants-not-pulling-their-weight.html

       14 likes

    • thoughtful says:

      It is true to say that most people vastly overestimate what people receive in benefit, mostly because of the huge amounts paid to single mothers and families with many children. It needs to be pointed out that these claimants will not be touched by the welfare reforms.

      The poor sods who will be touched are the daft ones who have worked and Cameron is going to make damn sure they’re punished for having the temerity for losing their jobs.

      If you don’t have kids and your partner works you’ll get just £71 a week, and nothing extra, if your partner works then this will be reduced to nothing after a mere 6 months. If you are single or your partner is also unemployed the government will steal any hard earned savings you might have been silly enough to bother saving until you have next to nothing, only then will it step in to support you with the extravagant £71pw but you will be required to pay council tax from this so probably it’s more like £60pw.

      Don’t think that you will be allowed to spend your savings as you feel you need them, like having the heating on, you are only allowed to spend them at the rate you would receive benefit, if you fail to do this, the government will apply something called ‘notional capital’ and say it’s your fault and require you to survive on nothing!

      It’s not surprising people don’t want to work with such brainless brutal sanctions like this, the government need to get some idea that saving is a good idea, and that when people do that is not a fund they can help themselves to as & when they feel like it. Until they start to treat working people who are unfortunate enough to find themselves unemployed then work will not be as attractive as it should be.

         10 likes

      • Cosmo says:

        Been there done it. What really pissed me off was when on my first visit to a job centre at age 48 ( I left school at 15 ) the person sat next to me was greeted by a centre employee with the words ” salam alakem”. I got my 6 months JSA, ( I had paid in since 1969.) then because I had paid off my mortgage, had some savings, had no holiday for 17 years and no car, was left to fend for myself. I often wonder how much my salam alaken friend received.

           32 likes

      • pah says:

        ‘notional capital’ eh? That’ll be the £20k that vanished from the savings account just before the claimant was asked to provide ‘proof’ that they had no savings eh?

        The idea that the tax payer should guarantee a claimants savings is nauseating! WTF are savings for exactly? Widescreen TV replacements for when the 60″ plasma dips out every three years? If a claimant is actually saving ‘for a rainy day’ then WTF is unemployment? Sunshine and roses?

        No, the concept ‘notional capital’ is inherently flawed – the claimant has to be stupid enough to believe their local council has access to ALL their bank accounts (or honest enough to declare everything) – but it is there for a good reason. Namely to stop those who have savings from hiding them to make themselves look poorer than they are.

           2 likes

        • thoughtful says:

          Let me give you an example here Pah
          Two men work for the same employer and earn the same amount.
          One is prudent and saves his money, the other is profligate and wastes every penny on cigarettes drugs drink & gambling.
          The firm closes and both are made redundant. The profligate one will receive every benefit the state can throw at him, while the prudent man will find his savings stolen from him by the state.

          Where is the fairness in that? The profligate are rewarded without question, the prudent punished .

          Strange is how people can say that savers in Cyprus are having their savings ‘stolen’ by the state, but in this instance believe that the state should steal those savings!

             0 likes

          • pah says:

            Just like your use of ‘bedroom tax’ this is sophistry! The State takes nothing from the saver and gives to the profligate. Nothing is stolen.

            It is simple to fix. Don’t give the profligate any benefits …

               0 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Ah well…if Harriet says so, then we need to revisit this.
      Problem solved….time to get the Tippex out and do a bit of cutting, pasting and “revisionist” editing.
      New guidelines to follow, people..so stay fluid and await the new ” backdrop”..The Guardian will roll it out in the coming week or so.
      Until then-I haven`t got a clue what to think…which is where the BBC comes into its own….and no Savile jokes please..inappropriate!

         11 likes

      • Andrew says:

        Busy times ahead for poor Winston Smith at the Ministry if Harriet “Big Sister” Har-person really has shifted the orthodox line!

           10 likes

  23. Sinniberg says:

    So, I click on the BBC News website today and I’m met by the usual c*ap.

    “UK urges calm over South Korea crisis”. Do I care or am I interested?. No, so stop inflaming the issue and creating trouble BBC.

    A youth PCC apologises over “violent, racist and anti-gay “remarks”. Wicked child., we’ll get Keith Vaz to sort you out …..

    Violent Muslim marriages…….

    Muslim Council “to tackle” grooming……

    Bank failures……ad nauseum.

    When will this end……..

       15 likes

  24. RGH says:

    Hundreds of Egyptians have taken part in anti-government protests in Cairo, on the fifth anniversary of the creation of the April 6 Youth Movement.

    Protesters were expressing their frustration with Mohammed Morsi, who they say has failed to bring the change he promised.

    In other parts of the country, violence was reported between Muslims and Christians.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22056344

    “In other parts of the country, violence was reported between Muslims and Christians.”

    Is that it, BBC?

    Here’s the Reuters report on an incident which the BBC mentions in passing………..

    http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/07/uk-egypt-clashes-idUKBRE93509720130407

    Available since 9.30pm last night and taken very seriously in Egypt….and far more indicative of the real issues post Mubarak.

    Poor journalism by BBC..under-reporting the real issue…

       11 likes

  25. George R says:

    SPAIN: Beeboids’ political promotion of ‘Flashmob Flamenco’.

    A 30 mins Radio 4 programme, Radio 4 (at 1:30) today) was blatant political propaganda for a group which invades Spanish banks to protest.

    The presenter, Mr Jason Webster, (a kind of ‘Paul Mason’ political type), who lives in Spain, happens to be married to a Flamenco dancer, who was also in the programme.

       9 likes

  26. noggin says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rxfjt

    “women reveal they have suffered domestic violence ignored by these councils as campaigners say it is time to tackle the parallel legal system which can run counter to British law”

    panorama tomorrow … hmmm … one hopes the likes of douglas murray, or melanie phillips, who really know all the deception that goes with this abhorrent travesty, will get an airing …
    BUT! … this is the bbc, so don t hold your breath …
    expect some suited “not this islam/that islam” deceptive clever clogs, to fog up the facts,
    lots of … erm “scholars” to be on their best “taqiya”
    and “happy with sharia” examples.
    really really, hope i m wrong 😀

    sharia has no place in the UK

       16 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      So it’s taken the BBC how many years to wake up to this?*

      Twats.

      *Answer: enough for the problem to be beyond resolution.

         3 likes

  27. Pounce says:

    The bBC and its coverage of two people paid out of the public purse who said the wrong thing: (The former it transpires was set up, while the latter is guilty as sin)
    Andrew Mitchell cannot ignore class
    Remember the witch hunt carried out by the bBC?
    Paris Brown:Tweets were ‘not meant to offend’
    Camera, lights,action, poor little girl crying on TV.

       10 likes

    • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

      Ah but one’s a toff, therefore the bBBC is automatically against him, while the other is a chav, drawing uncritical bBBC support.

         13 likes

  28. Pounce says:

    While the bBC faster than a ‘Allah ackba’ brings you the story from darkest Afghanistan about how an Air strike killed 10 civilians (Anybody want to explain how 8 Taliban terrorists were also killed in the same air-strike. could they be using civilians as a media weapon?, I wonder why the bBC hasn’t mentioned that angle?)

    They don’t mention:
    Muslims murder 4 Christians in Eygpt

    Muslims murder 12 Christians in Nigeria

    International topless Jihad day

       17 likes

    • Pounce says:

      I see the bBC have got round to reporting the funerals of those 4 Christians murdered by Muslims in Eygpt on friday.
      Here is what the bbC has to say on the subject:
      “Police said Saturday’s deaths occurred after Christian youths drew inflammatory symbols on an Islamic institute in Khasus, about 10 miles (15km) north of the capital. The argument escalated into a gun battle between Christian and Muslim residents, while Christian-owned shops were also attacked.
      Follow the link above in which to to see a picture of those offence symbols. and as for that gun battle, a Muslim started firing into the air and just happened to hit one of those children, killing the child.

      Now contrast that bBC cover up with their reporting from Afghanistan.

      The bBC, the mouthpiece for Islam in the Uk

         18 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      The impression anybody will have from reading the BBC article is that it was a mutual fight between the 2 religious factions, which appears to have been initiated by ‘Christian youths drawing inflammatory symbols on an Islamic institute’.

      I’m just trying to imagine an incident where Palestinian ‘youths’ (although for sure the BBC would use the term ‘children’ to describe them) had done something similar on a ‘Jewish institute’ that resulted in 4 Palestinians dying that wouldn’t be reported immediately, and not just one article but several.
      I can’t!

      So consider the ‘facts’ that the BBC has told you and now we’ll see what other sources have added to the narrative.

      There’s Sky News to confirm what Pounce has written about the murder of a child, and the explanation:
      Muslim residents said the drawings had offended them because one looked like a cross.

      “I saw the kids drawing on the wall after afternoon prayers so I grabbed them and told them to remove what they’d just written,” said Mahmoud Mahmoud al Alfi, a Muslim resident.

      Then another man arrived and started beating the children, drawing a large crowd, he said. The situation escalated when someone drew a gun and fired into the air, allegedly killing one boy with a stray bullet.

      Wonder why the BBC omitted to tell us this.

      From AP we get more details:

      A mob threw rocks and fired birdshot Sunday at several hundred Christians marching in a protest against Egypt’s Islamist government after the funeral of four Christians killed in sectarian clashes over the weekend.

      The Christians were chanting slogans against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, just as several thousand did earlier during the funeral service nearby in the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo.

      The attacking mob, described by witnesses as residents of the area, forced the marchers to take shelter inside the sprawling cathedral complex. They also showered the protesters with rocks from the roofs of nearby buildings, according to witness Ibrahim el-Shareef.

      Mohammed Sultan, director of Egypt’s national ambulance services, said at least 17 people were wounded in the clashes.

      Riot police later arrived, firing tear gas at the Christians and the mob. Several tear gas canisters landed inside the cathedral’s grounds, causing a panic among women and children who attended the funeral.

      Video footage aired live on the private ONTV network showed young men on the roof of a building adjacent to the cathedral firing handguns in toward the compound.

      Is this the understanding you had from the BBC article?
      Thought not.
      Why not?

         10 likes

      • Pounce says:

        Following on from what Teddy Bear has to add to the subject here is how the bBC’s man on the ground reports all of this:
        Aleem Maqbool
        BBC News, Cairo
        Hundreds of mourners packed into Egypt’s biggest cathedral. There were tears and angry chants as the crowd carried in the coffins.

        It all started with graffiti on the wall of an Islamic centre in Khosous, a suburb of Cairo – a red swastika with boys’ names underneath it.
        But some Muslims in the area interpreted the symbol as a cross, and Christians were blamed.
        Buildings belonging to Christians were set on fire, then the shooting started. A Muslim and four Christians were killed.
        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22058570

        See according to the bBC, one Islamic life is worth more than 4 Christian ones. Currently the top story on the bBC is:
        Afghan children ‘killed by Nato’
        Yet for some strange reason the bBC omits that the first person killed in Eygpt was a child shot dead by a gun waving Muslim.

        The bBC, the traitors within our midst.

           12 likes

        • Teddy Bear says:

          A few other curious entries in the BBC article
          Egypt’s state news agency said the streets around the Cathedral had seen “on-and-off” clashes between Christians and “unidentified persons”.

          Looks like the Egypt state news agency can match the BBC for their way of avoiding stating the obvious.

          Then this from Maqbool:
          It all started with graffiti on the wall of an Islamic centre in Khosous, a suburb of Cairo – a red swastika with boys’ names underneath it.

          When does a boy’s name change into a man’s?
          🙄

             2 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          To be fair, the ten o’ clock news made it pretty clear who started the violence and made it easy to conclude it was the usual Muslim total overreaction. It also said that the graffiti was probably done by kids and made it clear who started the shooting. Don’t get me wrong, this was the first report about Christians being persecuted in the Middle East I can recall on the main news and is long, long overdue – one can only hope it’s a start towards more balanced reporting rather than a one-off token gesture.

             6 likes

  29. Joshaw says:

    Someone gave my better half a DVD a couple of months ago. It was called “Ill Manors”, and looked like the usual “gritty” British stuff, so we weren’t in too much of a hurry to watch it.

    In the absence of anything better, we decided to give it a go last week (after putting knives, razor blades, ropes, pills and other potential suicide methods out of reach).

    Opening credits – “funded by the National Lottery”. Uh oh – that means nobody would pay to watch it. Not a good start.

    Followed by – “A BBC Film”. Now our expectations were rock bottom.

    After several minutes of rap, we decided we simply weren’t up to it. Pressed the eject button and binned it.

    WHY do I have to support this predictable, depressing down-market crap time and time again? And why does the f***ing BBC assume that it will be of interest to people in Northumberland, Shropshire, Wales, Cornwall etc?

    Now where did I put those pills?

       19 likes

    • chrisH says:

      That`ll be Plan B then won`t it?
      The BBC loved his rap about threatening posh rich boys, and the title comes from his soundtrack to the riots of 2011.
      That he has done rather well out of it ( film remakes of the Sweeney etc…straight to DVD/Channel 4 anyone?) seems to have escaped this gritty wannebe gangsta, but one who sucks up to the liberal Guardianistas. He`s white and went to school in Hackney or suchlike.
      The weekend rebel so beloved of the BBC…and if a few posh rich boys find themselves murdered, then that`ll be collateral damage.
      Until then-lets hope Camerons/Osbornes ears burn like a Croydon family-run furniture store eh?
      If only there were a Plan A to counter this fatuous liberal stuffed sock eh?…ehre`s Flanders when you need her eh to tell us of the need for Plan A?..eh?

         7 likes

      • Joshaw says:

        Strange, but somehow I’ve managed to survive without this genius – whose existence I was unaware of ’til now.

           6 likes

  30. George R says:

    Beeboids’ non-existent AUSTRALIA.

    To suit its political purposes, BBC-NUJ has redrawn it News website world map to exclude Australasia ( a Commonwealth area).

    So, not surprisingly, BBC-NUJ avoids reporting this:-

    “Australia: Non-Muslims and women ‘not welcome’ at mosque funeral for former policeman”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/04/australia-non-muslims-and-women-not-welcome-at-mosque-funeral-for-former-policeman.html

       6 likes

  31. Dave666 says:

    Ok remember a week ago I complained about North West tonights report of “bed room” tax protests in Runcorn. Here is first contact (well after the acknowledgment)…to be continued no doubt…
    Your Reference CAS-2017330-QYVK13

    Thanks for recently contacting the BBC. We aim to reply to complaints within 10 working days (around 2 weeks) and do for most of them but cannot for all. The time taken depends on the nature of the complaint, how many others we are dealing with and can also be affected by practical issues, such as whether a production team is available or away on location.

    This is to let you know that we think it may take us longer but that we will respond as soon as we can. We would therefore ask you not to contact us further in the meantime. This is an automatic email sent from an account which is not monitored so you cannot reply to this address. If it does prove necessary however, please use our webform quoting any case number we provided.

    We issue public responses to issues which have prompted large numbers of significant complaints on our website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints along with full details of our complaints procedure and how we consider the issues raised in complaints.

    In the meantime we’d like to thank you for contacting us with your concerns. We appreciate your patience in awaiting a response.

    Kind regards

    BBC Complaints

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

       9 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Odd.
      Usually there’s an insincere apology for the tardiness of their own required turnaround deadlines too.
      This one pretty much tells you they’re busy, may get around to responding and don’t bother chasing even though they’ve blown their own promised response time.
      Charmers.
      ps: you may not care, but they do monitor this site and reserve special grudges for any who show them up by sharing their responses in detail, so adding the case number (or a person’s name, as some have) is worth dropping as it adds little but makes their petty vengeance job (usually an expediting) a lot easier.
      Without such detail it is much harder for them to track the actual person complaining to them and make any links with a person posting here (who of course may be another). Especially as their responses are so cookie cutter they probably would have zero clue which specific complainant the were blowing off, on what.
      Interesting this notion that if they really foul up and get a load of complaints, their default is to go generic and make all look for their waffle as opposed to actually answering.
      Only an outfit as unique as the BBC can do this. For now.

         8 likes

      • Dave666 says:

        The BBc know exactly who I am and my address following an editorial review (I was wrong) of a previous complaint. Do I look bothered?
        If they don’t reply in another 5 working days I will complain again. On previous complaints I have found they scrap your complaint number which you had to put onto their website, not sure if that is still current. After all I am paying for this service. Perhaps Watchdog could run a story on how long it takes the BBc to reply to complaints…or perhaps not.

           5 likes

  32. George R says:

    “Can the BBC survive in the iPlayer age?
    The new director general, Lord (Tony) Hall, may be sucked back into the BBC’s institutional egomania.”

    By Janet Daley.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8901289/Can-the-BBC-survive-in-the-iPlayer-age.html

       6 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Looks like she’s been reading my comments again. But she’s wrong to think that the iPlayer will be the undoing of the license fee. It’s the easiest thing in the world to require subscription for it for those who don’t have a license number to type in on entry. The BBC is already trying that elsewhere in the world. Indeed, I recall Mark Thompson telling Andrew Marr that this in the works over a year ago.

      Unfortunately for the BBC, Time Warner and Comcast (both internet and the biggest content providers in the US) blocked it so far in the US. The two biggest players in the country have already forced many cable channels (especially the ones they own, of course) to block users from watching episodes on the channels’ websites without proving they already pay for cable TV. Of course the BBC wasn’t going to get away with drawing viewers and cash away from them, and I’m not sure why Thompson thought he could pull it off.

      But there is no such obstacle in the UK. As far as I’m aware, the internet providers do not produce or own the content, so there’s no commercial or competitive objection to making people pay directly to the BBC to watch BBC content online. Except for Sky, I guess. That might be a problem, but I doubt they can stop the BBC doing anything.

      No license fee? Pay the subscription. If people stop paying the former in favor of the latter, it’s no revenue loss, and I doubt too many people will give it up altogether. And the BBC won’t have to jump through any legal hoops or have to lobby Parliament to get the license fee extended to computers, which would be a major hassle. The added bonus would be that people outside the UK will no longer hog all the bandwidth during F1 or Olympics broadcasts.

         4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      It will be interesting to see how they try and address the (legal) online programming route.
      It’s one thing for a national institution to keep on sucking the public dry as they have done for decades via existing, traditional means, but moving to a new fee imposition on new categories of signal delivery. But do it with a brand new and world-wide means of interaction that is free everywhere else might cause a few to awaken to the the imposition being attempted, and the potential for those charmers from TVL/Capita to really make an impression in their ‘service delivery’ in all sorts of new and unwelcome places.
      “Is that an iPod in your jeans sonny, or you just pleased to see me?. Cough up a licence now or I’ll be frog-marching you off this bus to the local nick before you can say abuse of powers”.

         8 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Seems DavidP has sussed out how they can do it without missing a beat.
        Humbug.

           1 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Only if they’re brave enough to make it voluntary and don’t try to go the totalitarian route. Depends on the ideology of those at the top. Technically, a license fee is required to watch live broadcasts via the iPlayer already, and they don’t require log-in for that, do they? I’m surprised they don’t. Maybe that would block out the elderly who get their license fee free, so they don’t bother? That’s easily solved as well, although creates other headaches.

             1 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          On second thought, maybe they’ve already considered and rejected the idea, for fear that allowing the concept of “voluntary payment to the BBC” into the public conversation might lead to unapproved thoughts about the license fee itself.

             4 likes

  33. AsISeeIt says:

    ‘A second look at the big stories of the week, exploring the truth behind the headlines and putting key players in the news to the test. With Anita Anand and Sam Walker.’

    After a short debate on the pink lego bricks story (look it up if you are interested) our valiant BBC duo come off the fence and tell the feminista pushing for a ban on the rose hue for plastic construction toys that they are convinced by his argument – stuff the nay sayers!

    Then a feminist angle on the Philpott case. Turns out women are never guilty of anything – it is always, but didn’t you know always, men who control their every move.

    Fling open the gates of Holloway ladies – free Royal Pardons all round.

    Gosh we’ve fast-forwarded to 2015. Harriet Harman is Deputy PM and oh look the new BBC Licence Fee has been guarenteed for a decade with inflation busting increases.

    Whodathunkit?

       15 likes

  34. Alex says:

    It’s funny how the BBC’s love for diversity and multiculturalism doesn’t extend to other TV channels and avenues for media outlets… So long as you pay them, diversity is fine. Choose to go elsewhere and freedom to choose is like voting for the BNP!

       8 likes

  35. Bob Nelson says:

    Mandela’s Pneumonia.

    Last night on BBC news: ‘All those years he spent in prison almost certainly had a detrimental effect on his lungs’

    He’s ninety-four, for heaven’s sake. Cut down in his prime.

       28 likes

  36. Teddy Bear says:

    This article can save you many £1000’s of pounds and endless frustration.
    It also explains why the EU is so anxious for us to buy these vehicles. Don’t expect to hear any of this from the BBC however, serving their paying public is not their priority.

    Beware the wrong kind of Leafs on the road
    While David Cameron and the BBC promote battery-charged electric cars, do they realise how dotty and ineffective they are?

       6 likes

    • thoughtful says:

      “While David Cameron and the BBC promote battery-charged electric cars, do they realise how dotty and ineffective they are? ”

      Even if they don’t the rest of us know just how dotty & ineffective the pair of them are !

         8 likes

      • pah says:

        Getting cars to run on something other than petrol is inevitable, whether we like it or not.

        Electric cars may be the answer and the motor companies have to start somewhere, so a bit of slack should be awarded? The technology is improving every year after all.

        Where I object to the eco-nutters electro mania is the claim that these cars are more environmentally friendly. They aren’t and, more than likely, never will be.

           2 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      The bit that caught my attention: “Considering that their lithium batteries need replacing every few years at a further cost of up to £20,000”.

      Would this car survive Dragons’ Den?

      Getting the car built in the UK is hardly an achievement when the Government is subsidising the damn thing. And nobody ever talks about the materials used – like the origin of the neodymium used in wind turbines.

         9 likes

      • pah says:

        Far be it from me to cut in in place of our favourite cherry pickers but …

        Don’t get fooled into thinking electric cars are a bad thing just because the eco-loons think they are peachy. They aren’t but neither are they shit.

        Estimates for MTBF for modern batteries are around 250k miles; so something more expensive is likely to fail before the battery, unless its a Toyota. Last time I enquired about this I was told around £2k (new) for the battery and 3 hours to fit. However the dealership said that that they had never replaced one in the 6-8 years they had been selling the Pius. Toyota claim they last as long as the car. Mind you, how many have they sold?

        So, sorry but £20k replacement is simply not true. Maybe an extra 0 got into the price?

        There are many things to criticise where electric cars are concerned but the replacement cost of the batteries is really not one of them.

           0 likes

        • stewart says:

          A prius is hybrid and has a smaller battery pack than a full electric car (4.4kw against 24kw ).
          I think the 20,000 may be dollars rather than pounds.
          No electric car advocates ever mention
          the the environmental damage caused by manufacturing exotic batteries
          One thing I’m not clear on,why is using
          a hydrogen fuel cell to power a car better than simply burning the hydrogen in an internal combustion engine I’m genuinely interest if any one knows .

             0 likes

          • pah says:

            You are right about the Pius but in the case of a full electric the price has to be compared against the full petrol engine. How much does it cost take to replace the burning parts of a petrol engine?

            I think it’s pretty much comparable.

            I read somewhere recently some guff about how batteries aren’t that bad after all. It was the usual cods that eco-whacks like to troll – again based on hybrids and mpg. The comparison made against that villain CO2. Personally I’d make the comparison between the battery pollutants and the exhaust solids, rather than gases. But what do I know eh?

            As to hydrogen I believe the problem is with the cost of its production. The argument is that it is too expensive to separate hydrogen in sufficient quantities.

            My favourite is the sewer cell. Using household sewage it is possible to produce small amounts of hydrogen through a minimal process. I’d love to see this given more funding. Just imagine never having to stop at a motorway service station again … 😉

               0 likes

            • stewart says:

              Yes I understand the sticky molecule
              business (Though wind turbines might better employed electrolysing and compressing hydrogen rather than messing up the national grid)
              But why are hydrogen fuel cells better for the environment than simply burning hydrogen instead of petrol?
              P.S. Brand new 2lt car engine is around £3000 (unfitted)

                 0 likes

              • pah says:

                Well if the eco-loons are right and the sea levels are set to rise we could use sea water as basis as much of the hydrogen will be free H+ ions already. Add in your idea about wind farms (many are in the sea after all) and we have solved the fuel crisis between us.

                Or not.

                   1 likes

        • Joshaw says:

          I think I know where Christopher Booker got it from (http://www.caradvice.com.au):

          “In a recent Auto Express report, Nissan UK’s vice president said the LEAF’s powertrain system consists of 48 separate lithium-ion modules, and each one would cost an owner £404 ($634) to replace – totalling £19,392 (AU$30,436) for all of them ………. Nissan has also said the battery range of the current Nissan LEAF will drop by at least a fifth in around five years ………. Our tests suggest that the battery will be at 80 per cent capacity after five years, depending on charging and usage ……… It’s unlikely all 48 modules would need to be replaced.”

          I don’t think I’d want to be an early adopter.

             1 likes

          • thoughtful says:

            I don’t trust the Japanese when it comes to specifications, they have a long history of lying (although it might be better described disinformation).
            So we have watches with 100 – 400M on them, and people assume they are waterproof to 100 – 400 metres, they are in fact water resistant to Japanese 100 – 400M specification!

            The fact that they are quoting 20% loss of capacity over 5 years rings alarm bells, because that goes against everything currently known:

            “A Standard (Cobalt) Li-ion cell that is full most of the time at 25 °C (77 °F) irreversibly loses approximately 20% capacity per year.”
            “Loss rates vary by temperature: 6% loss at 0 °C (32 °F), 20% at 25 °C (77 °F), and 35% at 40 °C (104 °F). ”
            “When stored at 40%–60% charge level, the capacity loss is reduced to 2%, 4%, and 15%, respectively”

            So you can bet that the Japs have derived their 20% over 5 years if the batteries are stored in ideal conditions at 0 °C with a 40 – 60% charge.

            In reality though this is never going to happen in the UK as temperatures are much higher.

            The temptation to steal these cars for their scrap value is going to be overwhelming!

               1 likes

  37. UAFmember says:

    You people are all Fascists.

       0 likes

  38. Pounce says:

    Just to inform you guys (before the next Israel breaks truce and bombs Gaza article) 3 Missiles were fired from Gaza into Israel today.

       21 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      The BBC’s cash-strapped resources evidently having a serious, if selective, impact on their ‘reporting’ of certain conflicts all around.
      http://bbcwatch.org/2013/04/07/syrian-fire-into-israel-again-goes-unreported-by-the-bbc/
      Those poor sods on that S Korean island better hope that the MSM doesn’t adopt a similar approach if Kim Wrong Un decides to test the defences of a few shanty town roofs again with some howitzer rounds.
      Sky is ‘reporting’ the last one as a ‘clash’, which is novel given the S Koreans were targeted but did not respond.
      Maybe Israel is expected to adopt a similar cheek-turning response to garner the approval of the world media?

         6 likes

  39. johnnythefish says:

    Did anyone spot the missing question from the Harman interview today?

    Flashback to 2010:

    ‘Harriet Harman has been criticised for praising ‘heroic’ immigrants on benefits who send welfare money home to family members’.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8198016/Harriet-Harman-criticised-for-heroic-immigrants-comment.html

    ‘At a meeting over the weekend Miss Harman, who is also the shadow development secretary, discussed how to increase “remittances” — the money sent by families in Britain to relatives overseas.

    One of the audience members told a Sunday newspaper: “Harriet led a discussion on how to back up what she called ‘the hidden heroes of development’ through developing new policies on remittances.”

    Miss Harman said many people in her Peckham constituency were regularly sending money overseas.

    She told the meeting that she was “amazed” by how many people did it.

    An audience member said Miss Harman wanted to start an international survey to devise ways to make it easier for countries to receive remittances from Britain’.

       13 likes

  40. thoughtful says:

    Anyone else finding difficulty accessing the site ? Twice now yesterday & today that the site was ‘not responding’

       5 likes

  41. thoughtful says:

    Start the week:
    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, about the notion of ‘home’ in today’s globalised world. It’s a theme taken up on stage in ‘Paper Dolls’ directed by Indhu Rubasingham, which follows a Filipino drag act working in Tel Aviv.

    You just couldn’t make it up! For a DG to suggest that there is no left wing bias in the bBC is risible.

       3 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Sounded like a plug for like pure, unadulterated internationalism. Heard a preview for the programme and decided to give it a very wide berth.

         1 likes

  42. Guest Who says:

    Speaking of SKY, the twerp who initiated the (now shown as wildly inaccurate, but who cares if there’s a ratings gold Minsiter-bash opportunity) £53 petition was on earlier, with a wheelchair bound complementing victim of the changes.
    Under the most gentle of questioning, neither had a single view on what to actually do by way of any alternative. Zero. I was frankly amazed how poorly prepared they were. Mr. Petition in particular, as a professional activist, went beyond ineptitude and simply dug a deeper hole by harping on about how he had not had his feet washed personally by IDS in atonement, which seemed his main mission in all this.
    I imagine these two will be ‘doing the rounds’ of the studios, so it will be interesting what the questioning was from the BBC’s finest market rates, and what answers were offered.

       6 likes

    • Framer says:

      Sky News last night had an ‘historian’ and a Times journalist in unison condemning the disability cutz and the fact that the government’s statistics were all wrong. Interviewer agreed, nodding sagely throughout.
      I suppose at least we don’t pay for it though I nipped off sharpish to Al Jazeera to avoid seeing the ads and helping to pay for it.
      Murdoch backs this loss making enterprise to curry favour in Whitehall.
      Fat lot of good it did him. Can’t see it surviving longer than the Times.

         4 likes

      • uncle bup says:

        Hey, that wasn’t just any historian that was the hubbalicious kate williams. Yeah, sure, she’s a drippy leftie but you can just look at her with the sound down like me.

        http://tinyurl.com/c4gwqk9

           0 likes

      • Daniel O'Flaherty says:

        Sky News, as it currently exists, is merely a re-enforcer of the BBC narrative. I don’t understand it. If it ‘moved to the right'(in other words became properly impartial) it would massively increase its viewership.
        If Murdoch thinks this will gain him brownie points, he’s a fool.

           0 likes

  43. Guest Who says:

    And finally… Mr. Milibandwagon’s latest grab for what really matters to us all.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22058777
    Interestingly they do not appear to have focussed as much as SKY on the (boo-hiss) payday loan shop aspect. Hillary Benn was interviewed and seemed caught out when the interviewer ventured beyond the Labour soundbite to how the party was as complicit as any other in how these planning laws were drawn up or policed… when actually in power and not just opportunistic whingers as now.
    Again, how the BBC treats any Labour #prasnews punt will be interesting. Cut ‘n paste, or probing challenge?
    Actually I though SKY was pretty brave to weigh in on a party screaming about capitalising on the economic situation with payday loan… shops… sprouting up in vacated Jessops premises, as their ad model seems based mainly on QuikQuid or Wonga TVCs.
    If Labour decides these too need a banning, it may only be the uniquely funded BBC soon running the press releases.
    Frankly our TV ‘news’ has ceased to have any objective value at all now.

       3 likes

  44. Old Goat says:

    Interesting item on “Toady” this morning, about recovering fat and other nasty substances from the sewers, and burning it to make energy. This, after almost a lifetime of being told NOT to put such things down the drains in the first place. They seem to want it both ways (if you’ll pardon the expression).

    They enthused that there would be no danger from emissions or smell from their, er, chimneys, which begs the question : why do they need chimneys at all, then?

    Another desperate non-runner to extract funding from the poor, hammered public.

       4 likes

  45. thoughtful says:

    Radio 4 Schedule for Monday Morning:

    Today program – enough said
    Start the week – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, about the notion of ‘home’ in today’s globalised world. It’s a theme taken up on stage in ‘Paper Dolls’ directed by Indhu Rubasingham, which follows a Filipino drag act working in Tel Aviv.

    Book Of the Week “The first decade of the twentieth century was not a great time to be born black and poor and female in St Louis,”

    Womans Hour: Perpetually far left output ; Sharia Councils; Isy Suttie joins Samira Ahmed;

    Journeys Down my Street: The Polish Community in Bradford.

    The Rita Rudner Show: She’s come to the UK with her husband Martin (Martin Trenaman) and, from the start, things go awry!

    So a complete mornings output covering little other than Race or immigration! How can anyone suggest that the bBC isn’t obsessed let alone biased?

       18 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      I’m a political refugee who was forced to flee Radio 4 after persistent and concentrated persecution.

      I claimed asylum at BBC 5 Live where I hoped to make a better life for myself.

      I tried to integrate by learning the local language: I found it confusing and contradictory but did master some of the most popular phrases:

      Black Footballer’s Association = anti-racism
      Bump Club = pregnant
      Richard Bacon = expert commentator on US politics
      Nicky Campbell = journalist
      Mum-bye = a city in India
      New-cassel = a city in England
      The worst I have ever seen/the worst on record = any type of slightly unusual weather
      Twitter = a source of news
      Thatcher = some kind of Devil Woman from the late 1970s and 1980s (not the Cliff Richard one)
      Jimmy Savile = Radio One DJ and major BBC TV star rumours about whom no one currently at the BBC ever heard.
      Salford = a fantastic xanadu of a place that no one really wanted to relocate to
      The Killing = grey Scandinavian cop drama which is compulsory viewing
      Horse Racing = a dangerous bloodsport
      The British Army = a training organisation for producing PTS suffers
      Daily Mail = an expletive
      Looking at the week’s news from a different angle = looking at the week’s news from exactly the same Left-wing angle
      Keith Vaz = a great statesman
      Bankers = the very worst expletive (except, of course, the one that rhymes with Burdoch)
      Wales = the greatest, most cultured nation the world has seen since the fall of ancient Athens
      England = some kind of a vacuum that requires filling with diversity.

      Sadly as a recent arrival and one of Radio 5 society’s most vulnerable I have not be welcomed. I have continued to suffer hurtful attacks for no other reason than my politics are not socialist.

         22 likes

      • uncle bup says:

        good post, fella, keep it up you’ll be as funny as Uncle Bup 🙂

        PS nothing wrong with The Killing – taught me a lot of Danish

        forbrydelsen = the crime
        tak = yes
        nej = no
        gut wiken? = good weekend?

           2 likes

        • will says:

          BBC4 also broadened my knowledge of French expletives by showing Spiral (which, due to its dirtiness, I prefer to the Scandinavian dramas)

             4 likes

          • AsISeeIt says:

            Completely agree about the superiority of Spiral. It has taught me to refer to the Police as ‘Les Flics’

               2 likes

        • pah says:

          Best Danish word ever – appelsin

          A sinful apple – otherwise known as an orange.

             2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Do we detect Will Self’s fingerprints?

         1 likes

  46. Guest Who says:

    Always interesting…
    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/aujourdhui.html?
    …and often more for the snippets buried within. But this one does raise a fair question:
    ‘”some experience of successfully managing change”. What can this mean ?
    The notion being floated seems that twitter is the answer. DavidP has kindly added a category at the top to show just how well that has served the BBC’s ‘professional’, ‘trusted’ reputation in this regard.
    Stuart Hughes not in the frame?

       0 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The new look for the Today “live page” with all those links to other news outlets and vox pops and white noise is a mess. I doubt they’re looking to change that already. Maybe they feel the show isn’t youthful and hip enough? Has Will Self told them to be more “inclusive”?

         0 likes

  47. Fred Bloggs says:

    5live breakfast 1h14m in i.e. 7:14 am. Polly Toynbee gets tagged by con MP as a champagne socialist with a jibe about her Tuscan home. She demands an apology, not letting on that she USED to own a Tuscan house but sold it last year. Is this to keep her bBC credentials ‘pure lefty’.

       15 likes

    • #88 says:

      I thought that the Tory MPs attack was disgraceful; just plain wrong in fact.

      The house was in Umbria !!!!!

         13 likes

  48. AsISeeIt says:

    The BBC getting rather excited about this non-event

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22062317

    ‘Wikileaks has published more than 1.7 million US diplomatic and intelligence reports from the 1970s.’

    Wow!

    ‘The documents have not been leaked and are available to view at the US national archives.’

    Oh. What a let down.

    Still there’s hope yet…..

    ‘Have you spotted anything interesting from documents that have been published? You can send us your tips using the form below.’

    Unique BBC journalism eh? A few dry droppings from the deck of the Julian Assange budgie cage and a shout out to the geeky kids with a PC, time on their hands, a grudge against the home of Macy D’s and nascent aspergers….

       3 likes

    • LeftyLoather says:

      Too right! lol Excellent stuff! Can’t wait ’til we’re finally shot of law-unto-himself anarchist Arseange. What a big brave man. lol

         3 likes

  49. Joseph says:

    With the half day strike taking place today by members of the PCS union I thought I would take a look at their FAQ for shop stewards, the following response amazed me:

    “”we are confident that branch reps will know their members and that pickets will be able to tell from the way in which members approach the line whether they have supported the action or not.
    You may also want to encourage teams, or members with the same start times to either travel to work or enter the building together – that way they will be more likely to all support the action together.
    The important thing to remember is that a picket line is an enormous deterrent against members coming to work on a strike day and knowing that you will be there and will be talking to members as they arrive at work will deter many members from coming into work until they have observed the full half day strike. ”

    So basically it seems that if anyone does not wish to join the strike the option is removed due to union intimidation.

    I cannot believe that is legal, is it?

    p.s there is also a section advising strikers that they should still go to the canteen for their scheduled lunchbreaks!

       2 likes

  50. Lynette says:

    Did anyone hear the Today programme about a group from Berlin who are trying to save birds that are entrapped in trees in Cyprus and left to die.. I didnot expect the BBC to mention that these birds had wintered in Israel but I did expect the obvious question as to why Cyprus would want to entrap the birds. Any ideas why the question wasnot asked?

       2 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      Yes, I wondered about that, too.

      Either they make a tasty meal, or their feathers are used to stuff mattresses (along with Russian owned Euros).

         0 likes