The BBC has very dutifully looked at the recovery and decided ‘nah….not gonna happen really.’
The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, says the recovery “has finally taken hold”.
So why the worry?
The BBC goes on to tell us why we might worry:
The challenge of good economic news
The final words from the BBC….
The challenge for Labour is to keep the political debate off the recovering economy and back onto the cost of living.
Might I suggest that they’ll have little problem with that….the BBC’s phones being manned 24 hours a day.
‘The challenge for Labour is to keep the political debate off the recovering economy and back onto the cost of living’
What was that quip about certain books being warnings from history, not manuals for the future?
This looks like the BBC’s PR squad have decided to avoid the more discreet nudges of the past and are simply advising up front what they’ll get behind whenever Labour is ready to fire off the fax.
Most know they see themselves as a more competent opposition (just that darn democracy thing still needs Ed in No. 10 to sign the new BBC funding forever deal as part of the.. ‘deal’), but this comes across as rather overt even for the ‘who cares, we’re unaccountable’ national treasure.
Having read the whole article I have difficulty in understanding what Alan is getting at. The article is well balanced and makes the key point that “the impact of the growing economy has still be felt by the public”. In particular wages are still rising more slowly than inflation (as they done for a significant period of time) and as such there is some way to go before public confidence will lead to higher consumer spending.
Alan, along with his core of sycophants may not be concerned about the “cost of living”, however I would suggest they are in the minority. With stagnant earnings, increasing fuel bills and rising prices it will take more than increased growth and a rise in house prices to make the vast majority feel better off.
It is also interesting that Alan is selective in his final quote. The full paragraph actually says :
“So essentially the political challenge for George Osborne is get the balance right between optimism and pessimism. And as the economy recovers, that is a balance that is going to keep on changing. The challenge for Labour is to keep the political debate off the recovering economy and back onto the cost of living.”
A summary that makes perfect sense to those who have read the whole article and not Alan’s (biased) synopsis.
Stooping to low insult yet again Albaman…everybody knows that when you do that it is a sure sign you are losing the argument.
This blog is about BBC bias….when you read a post best keep that in mind as it might inform your thought processes and subsequent understanding of what’s going on..
“This blog is about BBC bias………………………….”
No, it is about your narrow prejudiced perception of bias.
“This blog is about BBC bias………………………….”
‘No, it is about …’
Telling a blog editor what their blog is about; now that’s classy.
Can’t wait for when you start ‘The BBC Isn’t Biased’ and pack it with peans of praise.
You’ll be hitting 23 and a half million views in no time.
Answer his points.
Albaman, please do not forget to tell us about the increase in tax threshold and the very low rates of interest on most borrowings at the moment. Also the very low rate of inflation. All these help with feeling a little better about ourselves, but alas, none of these are talked about by the BBC. If they did, it would paint a picture the BBC do not want us to see.
Albaman, the article is a very silly bit of political hackery, albeit of a kind very common in what passes for journalism these days. Landale is warning that real economic recovery might be tricky politically for the Conservatives come election time, and they shouldn’t get too cocky. It’s dopey, not balanced at all, and comes across as forced, but he’s a political correspondent and has to write copy for his editor. God forbid a BBC journalist should be asked to write about something positive where Conservatives are concerned without caveats. It’s tedious fodder for politics junkies, nothing more.
It’s not balanced at all on this main point about future political dangers, but it was never meant to be. Combine this with Peston’s doomsaying about possibly imminent inflation killing the economy (remember when he was warning about Gordon Brown’s “green shoots of recovery” being a worry? Yeah, me neither), and the dearth of articles/reports on how the Tories really are on the way to fixing the economy and no mistake, and we can see that the BBC is not at all providing balance over time, in the big picture, across the spectrum. They always claim that we mustn’t take a single piece and should instead consider the whole of their reporting on a given issue, and we can see that’s a load of crap.
We now know from Roger Mosey’s recent admission that the BBC does coordinate editorial positions on issues across the spectrum of their broadcasting, just as we’ve always claimed and despite assurances from them and defenders of the indefensible and journalists that they don’t. This is more proof, but you won’t see it.
Albaman – what you and the BBC don’t seem to understand is that the country lived well beyond its means during Brown’s so-called ‘boom’ years and now we are seeing a long-overdue correction. In addition, the elephant in the room which has become a permanent feature of the BBC’s reporting of the economy and unemployment has been the impact of immigration. Also, whenever do you get the BBC getting under the skin of what the ‘cost of living crisis’ actually means? How has it affected people? What are they spending their money on and are they making the right budgetary decisions to ensure their basic needs are met? How come UK households can throw away a fifth of their food if it’s so expensive? How come restaurants, coffee shops and takeaways are booming?
Nah, none of this. The BBC just adopt the latest Labour mantra without question whilst quietly forgetting ‘Plan B’. Investigative journalism at its most non-existent.
As for your claim of ‘balance’, I don’t seem to remember any worthwhile examination of Brown’s economic ‘no more boom and bust’ miracle when it was happening despite statistics making it obvious to one and all that personal and public debt mountains were building at an alarming rate.
Hells bells I am actually going to agree with Alby. I am not on board with his ad hominem pops at Alan BUT he is spot on with the fact that just because we are told the economy is on the up doesn’t mean life has got any easier. I remember the 80’s boom, didn’t happen to me, I remember the 90’s boom again I must have missed that one too. What I have noticed is there is so much lag in the feelgood factor getting to the bottom that I have always seemed to be better off for the first year or two of a recession. Labour started throwing borrowed money all over the place and especially in the public sector from about 2000 on and my wife and I got our feelgood factor around 2008 on to 2012.
I am not all that clever when it comes to the economy but something tells me it is going to be a long time before anyone currently on less than 30 grand feels good, such is the nations debt.
Here`s a clue what Alan might be getting at Albie.
It`s that “the challenge for Labour IS”…not might be, or may well be.
We can therefore expect this “challenge for Labour” to be the stiletto, the battering ram, the big-eyed plea and swivel-eyed rant until Labour parrot the same…and they`re already rehearsing it.
We can count the number of mentions from now on.
That OK Albie?
Call again!
Your calling it a ‘plea’ is your interpretation of what the BBC says here, not what it actually says.
You can’t seriously be suggesting that by using ‘is’ rather than ‘might be’ that the BBC is somehow helping Labour here? Their party strategists will already be well aware of how to maximise their chances of winning the next election. They won’t read this and suddenly go ‘Oh yeah, that’s what we should be doing’, as they’re already doing it.
In any case, the report used ‘is’ for both the Conservative and Labour parties in the final paragraph. So how you can accuse it of being biased in favour of Labour is beyond me.
‘Your calling it a ‘plea’ is your interpretation of what the BBC says here, not what it actually says.’
That wouldn’t, by chance, be according to your preferred interpretation would it?
‘They won’t read this and suddenly go ‘Oh yeah, that’s what we should be doing’
So you are seriously saying that there has been no instance of BBC staff, skilled in TV and PR techniques, seamlessly moving to and fro between party and broadcaster?
And at no point have some professional policy shaping advocates in the BBC felt a little hampered in the ‘correct’ message not getting across by what they feel is a bunch of inept goons (if democratically elected ones), who can need the odd nudge and interference run on occasion?
‘So how you can accuse it of being biased in favour of Labour is beyond me.’
That, clearly, is sadly self-evident.
Peston is pushing the same line too.
“Is the UK’s recovery too robust?”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24929379
Poor old BBC, gave up on impartiality 40 years ago.
Peston, in the article says:
“…………… is there a danger that the growth – at 3% or so for the next three years – is too robust?
Because growth that prompted a sharp rise in inflation would (surely) force the Bank of England to raise interest rates sharply.
And that would be a miserable prospect for millions of people with big mortgages and other debts.
So if interest rates rose by only two or three percentage points, too many would struggle to maintain their payments.
How great is the risk of an inflation-induced, economy-crippling rise in interest rates over the next couple of years?”
Seems a perfectly valid point to make unless of course a significant rise in interest rates would be of no concern.
You seem to miss the point Albaman…this blog is called ‘Biased BBC’….it looks at the BBC’s position when reporting events.
For the past three years the BBC has been telling us that growth is too small and has been promoting Labour’s Plan B.
Now the economy is moving in the right direction that growth is the ‘wrong sort of growth’ or as Peston claims ‘too strong’.
Simple really if you stop to think about it.
“Simple really if you stop to think about it.”
I did, did you?
Devastating comeback. Totally nailed. Fact.
“..the risk of an inflation-induced, economy-crippling rise in interest rates over the next couple of years..”
A large number of people have been suffering because of the artificially low interest rates. Pensioners who rely on interest from their savings to maintain a basic lifestyle.
No. This was just Peston fanning the flames of any perceived pessimism as usual.
Too many people live for today by borrowing against tomorrow for the latest fad.
“…………… is there a danger that the growth – at 3% or so for the next three years ”
And the BBC has been very quick to point out at every oportunity an unfavourable growth rate in the UK in comparison with the US when the US has been reporting growth rates close to 3% and the UK half of that.
You really do want your cake and eat it. Much like the unashamed bias in BBC reporting on anything which reflects a swing to the better in the UK economy.
Keep pushing the Plan B agenda like your masters.
‘And the BBC has been very quick to point out at every oportunity an unfavourable growth rate in the UK in comparison with the US when the US has been reporting growth rates close to 3% and the UK half of that.’
Absolutely smashed the nail on the head there, TPO.
‘Because growth that prompted a sharp rise in inflation would (surely) force the Bank of England to raise interest rates sharply.
And that would be a miserable prospect for millions of people with big mortgages and other debts.’
Sounds like the penny has finally dropped.
“Having read the whole article I have difficulty in understanding what Alan is getting at.”
thats because youre a socialist
David, what is factually incorrect in the article?
Here is a factualy correct statement.
“The Labour party and Unite have failed to explain the irregularities in the selection process for a parliamentry candidate to represent Falkirk”
I am unlikely to see/hear that on the BBC. That is because it is not part of the narrative arc that the BBC maintains. The BBC reporting on the economy that I heard on the radio stressed that whilst there was an apparent recovery, nobody is benefiting as inflation is still thhree times higher than wage growth. THis is their news agenda, and it co-incides with the Labour strategy
nothing is factually incorrect. its a fact its all factually correct. al beeb is doing everything possible to play down the ecominic recovery and promote labour lies that because of the cost of living, we’re all living in poverty
Miliband, Balls, that sneering Rachel woman are like arsonists complaining their victims are having difficulty replacing the house the Labour lot burnt down.
The recovery has finally taken hold?? Oh dear, the BBC will be disappointed. Have they dragged in a Labour spokesperson yet to explain A). why it hasn’t really , and/or B). why its the “Wrong sort” of recovery? I bet they have.
Not BBC bias but still Channel 4 has a contribution from the tax payer – we have just had 25 minutes on Channel 4 news of misery. Not the typhoon but the wrong sort of growth – pushing for interest rates to go up before the next election – mainly because it will be bad for the Conservatives I guess.
“The economy is not growing in the way that many believe will permanently sustain recovery”
Ahh…the elusive “many believe”, or similarly, “some would say…”
The classic BBC proxy for the reporter’s personal views.
H/T David P for first pointing this out a long time ago.
I call it the BBC ‘ODOS Technique’.
For ‘One degree of separation’.
Basically they can say or write or show whatever they like if it’s covered, like a ‘views my own’ tweet weasel, with a bit of implausible anonymous source space not under their roof.
Hence, ‘what Labour would call… the Bedroom Tax’ stays in the lexicon via Borg adaptation within minutes of them actually being held to account, if with no penalty, for flat out inaccuracy using it to that point.
It’s just another ‘unique’.
I don’t remember the BBC trying to throw a spanner in the works when Labour were in power. I don’t remember the BBC warning that Labour’s ‘no more boom and bust’ was threatened by a state spending more than it received in taxes whilst also maintaining a large debt.
The reason our economy is picking up so well is partly down to a more competitive labour market.. People (in the private sector at least) have realised just how fragile the security of their jobs are and are taking less time off in sickness and are turning up for work on time and putting in an honest day’s work to receive an honest day’s pay. (Unions tend to place the words ‘work’ and ‘pay’ in the opposite context. – first pay us and then we will work – except, when you already have the money you tend to break your promise to work hard) Not only that but they are happy to take pay freezes and unpaid leave, just thankful they have a job at all!
Contrast that with many in the public sector who are striking over pension deals! Pension deals no less! The public sector in which pensions are generous and not subject to the volatility of the stock market, Pensions which are guaranteed irrespective of economic performance.
Standards of living are not improving, but then our standard of living over the ‘boom’ years was, as is so bloody obvious today, far too indulgent and fed by debt.
Our standard of living is simply coming back down to where it should be.