This couple of interviews illustrates the problem with the BBC and the Left’s worldview…that the solution to poverty is not creating a sound economy, a good education, hard work, innovation, entrepreneurship, adapting, improvising and overcoming …the Left’s answer is an ever increasing government spending spree….it is sitting in your state sponsored home waiting for government handouts that keep the recipients in a thought free comfort zone where they no longer have to strive or think for themselves.
The Daily Mail‘s Stephen Glover sums up what is wrong with the BBC and its reporting of the economy and government policies:
Let me say it again. State spending is not being cut. And it’s iniquitous of the BBC to claim otherwise.
But now the BBC is in a bit of a panic…the Government is taking a big stick to the welfare system and it looks like Labour has caved in and joined it. Who is going to oppose these vicious cuts to the most vulnerable in society? I guess it will have to be the BBC which sees itself as the ’Official Opposition’ on occasions like these when ‘consensus’ politics breaks out…funny how, in the BBC’s eyes, political clashes in the US are a failure of democracy that block progress whilst in the UK an outbreak of agreement is to be regretted…if it doesn’t reflect BBC opinion.
In these two interviews Webb and Davis decide that no one should vote for either party if you care about the poorest in society…Labour because it is not sticking to its core values…the Tories because they are sticking to their core values…which tells you where the BBC sees its own core values:
Justin Webb interviews Ed Balls.
Webb opens with: Labour’s supporters say bang the drum for welfare…..You [Balls] say government reforms might be sensible despite what the charities say…’
Balls says the welfare bill has been rising and the government measures to control it are ineffective. He says that we’ve had a whole series of announcements from government that claim to save money and they’ve ended up not working and being ineffective and welfare and social security bill has been rising.
[So Balls wants to actually make more cuts, and more effective cuts, to welfare?]
Webb: ‘The Unions say that it is an attack on the most vulnerable in society. It’s really striking this morning that you are not willing to join the General Secretary of the TUC and other people in the charity sector who are saying this is damaging…the whole point they make is that it isn’t fair, and it’s obviously unfair, [tone of voice is all there..sounds more like Webb’s own opinion] is what they say, and if you are labour you will know that in your core.’
Balls: ‘The reality is that for all the government’s nasty, divisive rhetoric on welfare and social security they’ve actually been very bad at controlling the bills. I think we’d have a tougher approach but also a fairer approach.’
[Yet again Balls says he will make more cuts]
Webb: ‘You’re saying you’re tougher than the coalition…that’s your boast this morning?…..What is Labour for, what is the point of voting Labour if , what looks very tough on the most vulnerable, if Labour doesn’t say stop, we’re not going to do that?’
Davis opens with the comment that Osborne is cutting by £11.5 bn but needs to cut a further £23 bn to get deficit where the government wants it.
He says: What is it that you plan for the public services in the long term? But before we get to the really big picture let’s look at welfare. [Welfare seemingly the real concern of the BBC this morning]
Osborne tells us that he is introducing a welfare package to help people into work and to make sure work always pays….Davis disagrees and thinks it is all an evil plot to impoverish the already poorest in society.
ED: ‘One might interpret it all if you are concerned about the incomes of people at the very bottom and you are not someone who is worried about undeserving and deserving poor and you don’t believe there are lots of scroungers out there, you are just going to be concerned about the incomes of people at the bottom…you should probably vote Labour shouldn’t you…that would be your advise…vote Labour if you want to help the poorest people and vote Conservative if you’re concerned with hard working families and those not on benefits.
You would conclude if you want to help the poorest and you want to put money in their pockets you would vote Labour…otherwise don’t vote Tory.’
Osborne: I don’t accept that.
ED: ‘Why not? That seems to be the point of everything you’ve been saying.’
[Really…Osborne has been saying vote Labour?]
Osborne explains: We want to put more money in the pockets of those with lowest incomes, improve their education, better career opportunities, help dysfunctional families and create a sound economic base.
Davis jumps in..…‘Well other parties would say they want to do that too.’
Davis goes onto question Osborne about the £23 bn shortfall, or ‘Blackhole’ in the public finances that will turn up after the election…for all parties….but Balls didn’t get asked to spell out how he will deal with that.
Davis sums up, as usual deciding he doesn’t really want or need an answer from Osborne…..Davis’ questions so often being rhetorical:
‘You put the taxes up in the first week of parliament and I’m assuming you would repeat that trick…..you will need to take away from the poorest or the middle income.’
Davis just making up policy and telling the listener this is what the Tories will do…the use of the word ‘trick’ is pejorative, designed to make Osborne appear underhand and deceitful.
Then we get onto the important stuff and Davis turns into Ali G asking:
‘Can you confirm this was a posh burger?’
Clearly Osborne, a man who won’t eat a McDonald’s burger, isn’t a man of the people and can’t be trusted to do what is in the ‘People’s’ interest…preferring instead to line the pockets of his Banker friends with the ill gotten gains torn from the grubby outstretched hands of the most vulnerable in society.
I just wonder how many McDonald’s Davis has eaten? No jokes.
If you are poor, do not pay the licence fee, and if you are rich, then instead of paying the licence fee, give the money towards an anti-BBC campaign against the immoral compulsory subscription fee for the upkeep of the left-wing BBC. Let the BBC be supported by a voluntary subscription, just like Sky.
The new left-wing buzz word “vulnerable” does seem to contradict the other left-wing buzz word “equality”, as vulnerable means that you have an inferior resistance to emotional and physical problems and an inferior ability to resist temptation and understand when you are being mislead on issues such as climate change etc. The very people that lefties like to patronise and exploit.
Well said Richard
Problem is very few people actually care about making the BBC subscription based – what was the number who signed the e-petition 4,700?
I think you’l find the panic is actually the Tories.
Osborne promised to get us out of the deficit by 2015. He’s failed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_government_austerity_programme
The Tory press are running around trying to find a plausible excuse. They won’t of course.
Not sure how the BBC is biased in reporting this. Nor does your verbose article (which seems to conflate welfare and global warming!) add much light.
Playing the man not the ball.
Even Tony Benn doesn`t do that-neither should you!
No-one here surely defends the dreadful useless Tories and Coalition types.
But bad though Osborne is…he`s not Balls.
To hope that that shower of Labour liars get another chance to choke the country as it did unchallenged for thirteen years is pretty odd, I`d say.
And if you don`t see the BBC as the pink ciphers for the privileged liberals that crave radicalism( as long as they`re not expected to risk a pinkie to do so)-then you`ve not been watching the Beeb for very long.
Any views on why those weekend rebels at the BBC don`t seem to ever mention THEIR compulsory regressive tax on rich and poor(oh , so unfair maan!)?…the TV licence?
Hope to hear from you L&T!
@Loyal and True
The Tories don’t need to find a “plausible excuse”, there is one staring them in the face.
The EU, whose wealth destroying regulatory burdens are much loved by the BBC and the Left, is the only economic zone in the world which is not growing. Add to this the farce, which is rapidly becoming a tragedy of the Eurozone (again much promoted by the BBC and you have the perfect recipe for a week economy http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100223990/i-wrote-that-europe-and-antarctica-were-the-only-continents-not-growing-i-was-wrong/
Until we manage to loose the shackles binding Britain to the socialist EU we will burdened with low growth. As it is, Mr Osborne should be congratulated for avoiding taking into another recession following the disastrous legacy he inherited from the Labour Party.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10145392/No-double-dip-but-household-squeeze-hits-25-year-high.html
Alan,
“The Daily Mail‘s Stephen Glover sums up what is wrong with the BBC and its reporting of the economy and government policies:
Let me say it again. State spending is not being cut. And it’s iniquitous of the BBC to claim otherwise.”
Stephen Glover’s article is pretty feeble stuff. He says that most people think there have been cuts in public expenditure and this all because of the BBC reporting the; “horrendous effects of Government cuts”.
But there haven’t actually been any cuts.
Except that; “Of course, I appreciate that the budgets of many departments have been cut, in some cases drastically.”
So actually there have been cuts. But there haven’t; so why do most people think there have? Must be the BBC and nothing at all to do with headlines in The Daily Mail such as:
Chancellor unveils extra £11.5bn in cuts
http://goo.gl/nim0N
Or The Telegraph:
Britain faces another £25bn of tax rises and spending cuts
http://goo.gl/pPbbo
Or Fox News(!):
UK Treasury chief announces billions in spending cuts
http://fxn.ws/11HNcAl
As for the rest of your post, I see you have reverted to your habitual tactic of misquoting what people said; leaving large sections out (sometimes you use ellipsis – sometimes you don’t); or just completely dishonestly changing the odd word here or there to something that better suits your argument.
For example: you QUOTE (in bold type) Ed Davis as saying; “vote Labour if you want to help the poorest people”
Did he actually say that? No.
For example: you QUOTE (in bold type) Ed Davis as saying; “You would conclude if you want to help the poorest and you want to put money in their pockets you would vote Labour…otherwise don’t vote Tory.”
Did he actually say that? No.
Just one more EPIC FAIL to add to your collection 🙂
Oh god dez is that it a few links to nothing we don’t already know ? wow but where is the pro pedo Islam angle Dez ? are you slipping is it the Mon Morn lag ?
par·a·graph /ˈparəˌgraf/
Noun
A distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line, indentation, or numbering.
The BBC will always oppose anything that it believes may result in a less statist Britain. It is a bastion of the liberal left elite’s ( LLE) view that the state knows best and that ordinary people should depend on the state to an ever great extent. Of course under this system the state employees who run the country are that self same elite and they have all the trappings of power and money that goes with leadership positions, and the BBC is their precious mouthpiece.
The BBC long ago abandoned any pretense to be impartial, honest and truthful. It manipulates news and current affairs to suit the liberal left world view. It fills the airwaves with documentaries and drama designed to show ordinary people what to think and what societal norms should be. In strict accordance with the LLE world view. It is one of the most anti democratic organisations in the free world.
Political parties in Britain only rule with its consent. If they have policies which the BBC believes does not fit with the LLE world view, then the BBC opposes them root and branch. Political parties are scared of upsetting the BBC because they know that the corporation will use its near monopoly to try and turn millions of voters against them.
But ,despite the decades of manipulation by the BBC, it is pleasing to see how robust the British mind set still is. Large sections of the population have had enough of the bloated , overpaid , under performing welfare state. The self serving public sector unions. They are fed up with the attempt to turn Britain in an alien country, a multicultural theme park where the threat of being branded racist stops the police from doing their job. They deride an education system which produces so many young people who can barely speak, let alone read and write.
At almost every turn the British have been failed by the state.Hopefully they will soon realise that they have been manipulated by the Orwellian BBC and clamour to have it abolished so that they can be told the truth and not be forced to pay for a diet of self serving omissions, distortions and lies broadcast by the BBC on behalf of the liberal left elite.