Breaking: Mandela Dead

This is going to make Diana’s death look like The Man Who Never Was. There’ll be at least a month of enforced national mourning, including the public stoning of anybody wearing a tie that isn’t black. A one-off tax to pay for the erection of gilded statues of the great man in every London Borough.

The BBC will disappear up their own backside. Mandela is lucky he’s going to miss it.

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127 Responses to Breaking: Mandela Dead

  1. kev says:

       24 likes

    • noggin says:

      yep! … half the world away, a south African terrorist has snuffed it ……………………….. and? ………… so?

      The candlelit vigil has started, black armbands all round, and sycophantic weepathon begins in Salford.
      yep! … who gives a sh-t.

      At least the orchestrated, and well planned South African “jolly” can go ahead now for hoards of Broad House “worthy” … all at out expense!

      Pass the puke bag
      ps. not on BBC anytime soon.

      http://plaintruthmagazine.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/crimes-of-terrorist-nelson-mandela.html

      more joy from the rainbow nation

         45 likes

      • DICK R says:

        The hideously white bastards deserved it

           6 likes

      • flexdream says:

        Thanks for posting this, which is shocking. But did Mandela have any responsibility for this?

           4 likes

        • noggin says:

          He was the damn President? … his responsibility was to ensure this DIDN T and DOESN T happen, just like any Presidents/leaders after his tenure.
          Otherwise what difference is there?
          you apparently just replace one face for another?

             11 likes

  2. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Like it or not, the man became a symbol of victory over Apartheid and racism. Any hatred spewed at him right now is going to be seen as hating that victory, so perhaps different battles should be sought.

    Cue anger hurled my way for being the morality police or whatever. I don’t give a damn.

       49 likes

    • David Kay says:

      what would you say to the hundreds of people, black and white, who died violent deaths because of him?

         27 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        I would tell them it’s awful and that I have sympathy for their pain. That doesn’t change the big picture, unless you want to claim that Israel and the US – to name just two – are equally illegitimate because of the body count their founders left behind.

        Go ahead.

           13 likes

        • David Kay says:

          so if Bin Laden [wasnt dead] renounced violence, became a head of state and preached peace, all would be forgiven?

          Fair enough, Mandella didnt kill no where near as many people as Bin Laden, but thats like saying national socialism was ok because it didnt kill no where as near as many people as communism

          back to you!

             28 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            Apples and bloody oranges there. And your attempt at an analogy about socialism and communism is baloney as well. All is not forgiven, but rather viewed in a larger context. There’s a difference.

            I see you’re unable to address the issues of Israel and the US.

               4 likes

            • David Kay says:

              baloney my arse

              what you are saying is its ok to kill so long as you are doing the right thing. Thats very marxist of you.

                 17 likes

    • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

      Yes, that’s the way the lefties have rewritten history. But it was actually de Klerk who brought about the end of apartheid.

         67 likes

    • Stewart says:

      That’s all true, but even if it wasn’t it would still be bad form to celebrate the death of enfeebled old man.
      If one of my relatives had been gunned down outside shell house I might feel differently (I’m not sure I would feel that justice had been done though) but I’m not.
      Will I be angered by the BBC’s hypocrisy and doubled standards, in relation to the death of Margret Thatcher (who never planted a bomb ). Yes but let the bourgeois left roll in the mire ,as they all ways do.
      Dave’s point (below) is what concerns me most , will our government extend refugee status to those Africans who must truly be in fear of their lives, as they have to so many others who seem to have the most spurious of claims .And will the BBC campaign on their behalf?

         35 likes

      • Dave s says:

        The BBC is part of a liberal ascendancy. It will look the other way because it has to . It will be up to all of us to demand refugee status for the whites if it comes to it.

           32 likes

      • Mark B says:

        Where I live, there is a very large South African (mostly white) and Zimbabwean (Rhodesian) community. My experience of them, and I have quite a lot, is that they are very arrogant. Almost as arrogant as the French. So I would not like them to come here. But come here they do.

           7 likes

        • Observation says:

          I’ve always found them to be quite the opposite. A little outspoken, and speak as they find, realistic but not arrogant. It might be more to do with the creeping political correctness that has entangled us in the UK, and prevents us from saying what we mean.

             13 likes

    • Ian Hills says:

      A symbol of victory over apartheid and racism? Then it’s a pity we don’t have a white Mandela, because discrimination against the British majority is getting worse, and not just on the box either!

         47 likes

    • mo says:

      Fair comment David

         6 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      As ever with the BBC, it’s all about balance, and I very much doubt we’re going to see any over the coming weeks….

         11 likes

    • Richard says:

      It’s over the top to suggest that people are spewing hatred at him. Some may, I suppose, but what I get overall is the impression of people calling for some kind of balance.

      For a start, Mandela himself isn’t responsible for this highly artificial and totally contrived public weep-in. That’s the fault of people who indulge themselves in this fantasy. The problem is that to justify their self-indulgence they re-write history. This is not just a technicality. If we are truly to learn the lessons of history and do better in future, we have to be as objective about it as we can. Making it up as we go along for tv ratings and to please the mob is going to do nobody any good.

      I don’t know what you mean about anger. Why should I or anybody else be angry at you. I just don’t agree with you, that’s all, and if you don’t give a damn, then why go to the trouble of giving us your (perfectly legitimate) views?

      Your use of the word ‘symbol’ is interesting. Why should we be interested in symbols? That in itself suggests superficiality.

         0 likes

  3. Dave s says:

    I hope I am wrong. If I was white I would leave South Africa now . At once with my family and what I could carry.
    The murder rate of white farmers since 1994 has been horrendous. Nearly 4000 have been murdered. The Western liberal media has looked the other way.
    Now Mandela is dead we could be on the verge of a tragedy in South Africa.
    We must hope that sanity prevails but I am not hopeful.

       57 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      See, this is a very fair comment, Dave s. It’s kind of pointless at this stage in the game to focus on blaming Mandela for this, as you realize, because it pretty much would have happened regardless of how innocent he was of all the blood on his hands. Sadly, as we all see over and over again, the BBC tends to treat Mugabe, for example, with a lighter touch because they can’t grasp that concept due to their soft racism of lowered expectations and reflexive gainsaying of anything their perceived ideological opponents say about the matter.

         11 likes

  4. David Kay says:

    champagne-glasses.jpg

       16 likes

    • Dave s says:

      Whatever you think of Mandela it was only his prestige that has safeguarded the whites these last 20 years. And despite that thousands have been murdered. Check Genocide Watch. His death is no cause for celebration.

         28 likes

      • David Kay says:

        tell that to the people who are dead because of him. A murderous terrorist is a murderous terrorist. No difference between Mandella and Bin Laden.

           25 likes

        • Dave s says:

          With friends and family there I am concerned with the living not making points about the dead.

             14 likes

  5. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    Half an hour already of the bBBC Ten o’clock ‘News’, with Huw Edwards’ voice croaking almost as much as the blessed terrorist. Pass the sick-bag please.

       48 likes

  6. Olly boy says:

    Is Huw Edwards on the verge of tears?! Dear lord!
    Think it’s fair to say that I won’t be tuning into the BBC for the rest of the year….

       41 likes

  7. Pounce says:

    Pound to a penny the bBC will promote a Nelson concert in Hyde Park. they will get Gay Icon Elton John to write a song, they will then have a host of X factor stars to sings songs to commenerate his life, Saints Bono and Bob will be there. Seeing as this is the bBC I am talking about they will have 1001 reporters flown in from Salford to report on this momentous parade, and seeing as this is the bBC they will bring on Winny to tell the world how much she misses Nelson (But nobody mention the Football team she was shagging when Nelson was banged up)

       41 likes

  8. ember2013 says:

    I have great respect for what he finally achieved (although the sanctioning of terrorist attacks is surely a blot that we can discus in the same way that left-wingers were more than happy to discuss the miners’ strike when Thatcher died).

    It’s the BBC’s coverage we must focus on.

    Already Newsnight is devoting its entire programme to Mandela – proof that it was prepared and the viewer must receive such a broadcast, regardless of other important domestic news today.

       49 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Well said. This site is about BBC bias, so let’s try to keep it there and not sink to the depths that some on the left did when Maggie died.

         46 likes

    • Arthur Penney says:

      Anyone on the BBC mentioned his first wife Winnie yet?

      What shoes were to Imelda Marcos, Necklaces were to Winnie Mandela.

         24 likes

  9. Rob Peterson says:

    One less terrorist

       24 likes

  10. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Recommended reading, hat-tip to David Brims:
    Into the canibals pot
    By ilana Mercer.

       12 likes

  11. John Anderson says:

    I accept and agree that Nelson Mandela tried his level best to be a statesman when he was released from prison. Apartheid had been a great stain, we should not forget that.

    But I dread the OTT unctiousness with which the BBC has already started – “People around the world have feared this day”, “the moral standard bearer of all the past decades” and so on. Rational people will accept that it is sad that a very old man has finally died. Will accept that he towers above those who have followed him. But the BBC is already embarrassing in its tone.

    I don’t think we here should dwell on his early days of ANC terrorism – although that is part of the life of the man, it is part of his overall record. In power, his policies were often misguided, especially the old leftie ideas on the economy. But on his release he genuinely strived for peace in his country – epitomised by his stress on the need for co-existence after the evils of apartheid. Magnanimity we have not seen elsewhere in Africa, perhaps highlighted by his happy behaviour at the Rugby World Cup Final.

    Allowing for all that, yes, I have feared this day – not because Mandela was going to die, but because it would be a trigger for the wretched BBC is to go beyond respect to outright slobbering worship. On to Radio 4 comes the creepy Paul Boateng, on comes Jack Straw rather than the Foreign Secretary.

    Batten down the hatches, I suppose. God rest him, but God help us from this craven BBC.

       85 likes

    • Demon says:

      John, yours is the best comment I’ve seen in this thread so far.

      How long will it be before there aree claims that some organisation poisoned him, as they did with Arafat?

         23 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      Well said, John. RIP Mandela, but the BBC is now totally insufferable, just as so many here feared it would become the moment he pegged it. I’m just going to avoid all BBC News for the next week or so; it really is the only way to avoid the self-serving, well-rehearsed drivel the Corporation is now determined to subject its audiences to regarding the Mr Mandela.

         37 likes

    • DownBoy says:

      Thanks John for your comments. Despite the OTT hagiography and early record, plus soft lefty positions Mandela had a magnanimity, humour and generosity of spirit which it would be wrong to deny. I fear there is no-one to fill his shoes in the black majority community of South Africa and it is only a matter of time before the country slides on to a Zimbabwe path.

         17 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Well summarised, JA – I suspect you have voiced the feelings of many on this website.

         8 likes

  12. Rob Peterson says:

    Bet Stompie Moeketsi’s family aren’t mourning

       37 likes

    • Doyle says:

      That’s a blast from the past. Don’t worry, it will be excised by the BBC.

         15 likes

    • pah says:

      Just put stompie into the BBC News online search engine.

      His last mention was January 2010 and the rest are mostly about Winnie Mandela’s trial and most of those reports are her saying she was ‘framed’.

      History has already been re-written it seems.

         11 likes

  13. Big Dick says:

    RT for the news until further notice.

       24 likes

    • David Kay says:

      its been RT for a long time. its a shame one has to watch a foreign broadcaster to get the news in the UK

      But i suppose that why people in the rest of the world watch the BBC, so they can watch their local news. its just a shame we are forced to pay for it

         24 likes

  14. Wild says:

    A good example of how the BBC is run by and on behalf of a tiny Leftist minority. I was watching the history of Byzantium and about halfway through there was “Breaking news on BBC One” flashing away, ruining the rest of the programme. When Maggie Thatcher died a few months ago I do not recall programmes being interrupted, so what was the momentous event? A nuclear attack upon Japan by China? An imminent collision with a comet? The second coming of Christ in Jerusalem? No, an elderly black terrorist in Africa had just died.

    If he had left South Africa a beacon of light instead of a racist , corrupt, and crime ridden failing State I might have supported them (even through Maggie Thatcher was infinitely more significant for this Country) but he didn’t. and so I don’t. The racist BBC imposing their Leftist values on the population who are forced to pay for them as usual. Message to the BBC, only a tiny number of people care about this egotistical Marxist politician who propped up Mugabe. They truly live up to their reputation as the Stalinist broadcaster – seeking to educate the public in correct Party thinking.

       74 likes

    • mo says:

      “the Stalinist broadcaster – seeking to educate the public in correct Party thinking. ”

      Brilliantly well put Wild. Well said

         44 likes

  15. Voice of the Mysterons says:

    Oh, it’s soooooooo nauseating. Both the Mail & Guardian are deleting negative comments.

    So much for free speech.

       51 likes

    • bobjustbob says:

      A story in itself, the so called liberal defender The Guardian newspaper today was deleting dozens of posts not even negative to Mandela but rather any pointing out how Mandela would be treated today by the Uk and the US. The hypocrisy of the Guardian is so obvious and so in your face as to demean Mandela’s so called legacy and his memory, whilst simultaneously proclaiming his greatness. It is clear that Guardian reporting has lost all credibility ,especially remembering they died him off once before.

         33 likes

    • Frank Words says:

      The Mail did the same when Doreen Lawrence got a peerage.

         25 likes

  16. Anon. says:

    Got to laugh at Owen Jones he’s trying to get “The Specials” sic to Christmas No 1. He just copied the video title. Someone then tweeted him to suggest that the money should go the Nelson Mandela Foundation and he’s agreed that would be a great idea!

    https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/408727310880505856

       18 likes

  17. George R says:

    Reprise.

    -And now we have ANC rule, which BBC-NUJ also supports politically:-

    “The ANC’s Real Achievement:
    Building the New Plutocracy”

    By R.W. Johnson.

    Click to access leadership.pdf

       12 likes

  18. Anon. says:

    Haha what a prat. Plus he’s giving away their money!

       9 likes

  19. thoughtful says:

    It seems like very many people are pissed about the news being suspended, the BBC complaints line is so busy it’s not accepting call due to exceptionally high call volumes.

    I suggest everyone phones up to register a complaint and then a formal response will have to be made. Not that the BBC EVER accept they get it wrong! even when the trust say they have they don’t accept it !

       48 likes

    • Stewart says:

      Phone Number any one?

         13 likes

      • David Kay says:

        03700 100 222

        im just about to phone and complain

           17 likes

        • David Kay says:

          done lol

             15 likes

          • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

            I’ve just tried but after 3 minutes of press button 1, press button 3, etc, got the recorded ‘high volumes of calls’ message and was cut off. No doubt that’s how they decide they get it about right.

               26 likes

            • David Kay says:

              keep trying!!

                 10 likes

              • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

                I gave up telephoning and submitted my complaint online.
                BBC1 News at Ten ignored all the important news stories of the day – such as a storm surge threatening the lives of thousands of British people, and the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement affecting everyone in Britain – to spend 50 minutes on Nelson Mandela. Of course his death merited the lead position, but the ‘news’ programme then descended into BBC journalists interviewing each other about what they felt about Mandela. That is not news.

                Your news editors obviously lost all sense of perspective.

                It was nauseating to see your staff competing with each other to express their grief. If you wanted to do that, you should have scheduled a special programme for a later date – which no doubt you already have done – but not hijack the news to do so.

                Finally, at 22.50, after 50 minutes of no other news, the programmne broke for ten minutes of ‘news where you are’, only for NorthWest News to lead with a couple of BBC staff reading out tweets about Mandela from people who lived in the NorthWest. There was no connection with local news except that some of the football players whose tweets were selected are currently playing in the NorthWest.

                Clearly the loss of perspective extends beyond your main news editors. You need to get out of your bubble.

                I tried to report this complaint by telephone at 23.37 yesterday evening but your complaints telephone was swamped with calls and a recorded message just cut me off: a neat way of ensuring that you don’t get the complaints that you deserve.

                   33 likes

  20. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    After 50 minutes of the bBBC ‘News at Ten’ they finally break for ten minutes news ‘from where you are’. So the lead item on bBBC Northwest Tonight is for the newsreading bimbo to read out tweets about Mandela from people who live in the NorthWest!
    The bBBC has finally lost it, living in the loony echo-chamber where they have lost all sense of proportion.

       72 likes

  21. Pounce says:

    People, there is salvation near:

       10 likes

  22. DICK R says:

    any body who isn’t heartbroken is WAYCCCIIIISSSSTT

       31 likes

  23. Jon says:

    I thought at least the Thames barrier had been overtopped by the bad weather when a “breaking news” message came up on BBC2. What a huge disservice to everyone else involved in, affected by or needing to know any other news. Because Mandela’s death was not unexpected, everyone in the BBC wanted to get their little prepared piece on air, convinced it was the best piece of journalism ever. Do repeated ego trips really honour the death of a great statesman?

       37 likes

    • DICK R says:

      A dead terrorist more like

         15 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      “…Because Mandela’s death was not unexpected, everyone in the BBC wanted to get their little prepared piece on air, convinced it was the best piece of journalism ever.”

      I think Huw Edwards’ gut-wrenching turn on BBC 1 last night provided ample evidence of the preening, self-important ‘journos’ at the BBC, all eager to impart their no-doubt astonishing ‘insights’ into Mr Mandela to a grateful nation. What a horror show of vastly inflated egos and insincere mawkishness.

         45 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Sick-making group-think sycophancy and for insincerity not a million miles from Blair choking back his sobs at Princess Di’s funeral.

           8 likes

  24. Banquosghost says:

    The old terrorist is dead, he will get his just desserts from Old Nick I have no doubt.

    What is nauseating is the overwhelming, suffocating levels of crapulence from the BBC and no doubt echoed around the world wherever the ignorant gather to be brainwashed by the foolish.

    For the first time I actually look forward to the trolls to come forth over the next few loooooooooooooooooong fucking months to show where the BBC hasn’t been biased by omission in its wailing tugfest.

    Roll on the cricket, roll on an icy vodka and goodbye BBC during its ‘I can out grieve you athon’.

       26 likes

    • DICK R says:

      They will be banking up the grief for the next time , cue anti racism , free movement of peoples within the EU,blah blah, hard working Romanian immigrants, discrimination against the roma blah blah blah, persecuted by the nazis’ blah blah blah . seeking new opportunities in the west blah blah blah escaping repression in their homelands blah blah blah, and so ad infinitum

         24 likes

  25. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    Hey guys, look on the bright side … no Question Time!

       32 likes

  26. Geoff says:

    Piss poor bBC, coverage on BBC1, News 24 and Newsnight, no explanation as to where Question Time is.

       16 likes

  27. Bof says:

    11.42 and the squark love in continues on 2
    No QT here either…….

       15 likes

  28. Arthur Penney says:

    The BBC must be gutted – after all their planned highlights of the pre-budget report with all the good news on the economy they have had to drop it.

       35 likes

  29. AsISeeIt says:

    Beeboids and former Beeboids are taking the death of the former President of South Africa awfully personally….

    Paul Simpson ‏@dutchPaul 1h
    The news of our loss leaving me very sad. Knew it was inevitable, but still never expected it somehow. RIP #Mandela

    “Our” loss? Is this some exclusive extra-territorial club? Some world-wide tribe of supporters implying that there are those who are “not-us” (to paraphrase a rather Thatcherite descriptor)?

    Paul Simpson btw is a former Beeboid with Lib-Dem connections – his CV suggests he last worked for the Licence Fee Payer in 2001

    Although he likes to trumpet his BBC past on his Twatter profile, even to the extent of mimicking that famous disclaimer….

    Paul Simpson
    @dutchPaul
    London PR lecturer @ University of Greenwich. Head of PR @ BBC Radio 1 in former life. ♥ radio, LUFC, baking & flowers. All opinions my own (or the black dog)

       25 likes

  30. Arthur Penney says:

    Think of the legacy Mr Mandela has left.

    A one party State
    Tribalism
    Corruption
    Poverty
    STDs (Inc HIV and AIDS) at record levels
    Rape capital of the world. – Extremely high levels of child rape
    Inherent violence in Society.

    In fact a perfect left-wing leader.

       51 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      Add: bad causes and tactics elsewhere which he could have used his influence to condemn, and a hell of a lot of dead farmers.

         7 likes

  31. David Kay says:

    i think QT is starting at midnight on BBC2

       7 likes

  32. Geoff says:

    My Freeview EPG is showing the BBC1 News Special running until 6am, at which time Breakfast New Special starts!

       13 likes

  33. David Kay says:

    521487_550200335004835_1060341370_n.jpg

       27 likes

    • noggin says:

      Rageh Omaar, Paul Boteng, has that slimy b-stard
      K Vaz jumped on the grievathon bandwagon yet!
      “The BBC will reach all the world over, to bring you
      the story of the worlds grief” …. click! … off switch

         14 likes

  34. David Kay says:

    gotta luv sickipedia, the jokes are in already

    “‘Nelson Mandela dies at 95’

    Respect where it’s due…

    That’s 5 miles an hour faster than Paul Walker. “

       17 likes

  35. Bones says:

    Worth a read for those who want a view other than that propagated by the bBC:
    http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2012-12-03-to-my-generation-listen-listen-very-carefully/#.UqGA1tIU2uL

       6 likes

  36. Jeff says:

    Like most people I heard the news of Mandela’s death late last night. I knew that the BBC would go into meltdown when this happened, but the coverage has surprised even me. There has been no attempt at giving a balanced portrayal of the man; no mention that the “Rainbow Nation” has failed and is now is one of the most violent country’s on God’s earth.
    It’s been wall to wall sycophancy and fawning; no pretence at balance.
    So strange they didn’t behave like this when Mrs Thatcher died…

       32 likes

  37. DICK R says:

    Very soon now we will all be asked’ where were you when you first heard the news of Nelson Mandela’s death’. and be expected to give a deep meaningful reply while choking back a tear.
    There is going to be no escape the BBC will be cancelling Christmas’ unless of course they have prepared a Nelson Mandela Christmas special

       17 likes

    • bannerman says:

      Quite enjoying Mrs Browns Boys actually….I guess there’s not much point in setting the DVB for anything due on the tele anytime soon!

         4 likes

  38. johnnythefish says:

    The hypocrisy of the BBC. How they praise Mandela for ending apartheid (conveniently omitting De Klerk’s pivotal role) but turn a blind eye to the gender apartheid in our universities enforced by Islamic extremists.

       30 likes

  39. Old Timer says:

    All this nonsense is just reverse racism. The media have to prove that Mandela, and of course the communist in the White House, are the new messiahs. No contrary view point is allowed. The fact is that the truth is hiding behind a wall of hypocrisy so thick and tall that I fear our children will not see over it for a hundred years.

    We all know that it is just blind propaganda because of their colour and that no white man or woman would ever receive such blind adoration and accolades. It is also the same with the so called religion of peace, I wonder if there would be such forgiveness for a white group that were bombing, raping and beheading innocent people across the world? I think we know the answer to that one.

    This stupid belief is not only wrong but very, very dangerous, and not just for white folk. If society, our leaders and the sycophantic media don’t open their eyes and understand that the fact that a man or woman is black is not justification for seeing no evil, when it is in fact very plain to see, then civilisation will go backwards. In truth it has.

    It is the old ‘the king has got no clothes’ syndrome, when truth has gone there is nothing left, we are naked .

    Mandela may have helped South Africa on the road to peace but why can it not also be mentioned without fear that he was also a very determined terrorist in his time. Even he did not deny that.

       33 likes

  40. Bangernofski says:

    Three hours solid phone in on bBC Radio London. No ‘balance’ that was so obvious when Lady Thatcher died.

       16 likes

  41. ember2013 says:

    Oh dear.

    The BBC behaved worse than I forecast.

    I thought, by midnight, I was watching the “South African Broadcasting Corporation” given the extensive coverage of Mandela’s death.

    What began as an hour’s extended ‘news at ten’ melted into continuous lament.

    It typifies the BBC’s attitude to broadcasting. Instead of understanding that it is there to serve the people it instead used its powers to serve itself. Providing a channel devoted to lamenting one of the left’s biggest heroes.

    People pay the licence fee to see news at scheduled times and then to watch programmes. It is fair enough to extend the news by up to an hour for significant events, but the BBC revealed to the nation its true colours last night.

    Don’t expect this coverage when that other great political figure of freedom: Mikhail Gorbachev, departs this Earth. He is neither black nor commie enough for the BBC.

       29 likes

  42. Jon says:

    Look on the BBC News website for “most read” articles. Where is Mandela in that list? – at number 7. Surely even the BBC will get the message of where this item should be in the news running order.
    (And I promise I have not been repeatedly reading all the other news pages to bend the statistics.)

       23 likes

    • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

      Excellent point!
      The two items are now down to #9 and #10. Way behind ‘Rottweiler and Westie have puppies’ in the readers’ view.

         18 likes

  43. Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

    Oh gawd! We’ll have another ten days of this as the funeral isn’t until Sunday 15th.
    I wonder if Winnie is going to give a hand with the cremation?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25254269

       16 likes

    • OldBloke says:

      It has been reported that Winnie has been spotted cruising around scrap car dealers.

         3 likes

  44. John Standley says:

    I just hope nobody proposes a minute of silence at this weekend’s football matches, or I shall implode.

       4 likes

    • Buggy says:

      Don’t know if it’ll implode you, John, but we’re to have that recently imported foreign horror “the minute’s applause” at footy matches for, well, no earthly reason I can really see. Glory be.

         5 likes

      • OldBloke says:

        Oh I don’t know. I think that the one minutes applause is most applicable when Birmingham City score a goal (any goal) this season. It also keeps the hands warm when there is nothing else to applaud concerning the performances of Birmingham City.

           3 likes

  45. Henry says:

    The BBC have long hero-worshipped Mandela in the way they now worship Obama. There’s a certain sort of person that wants to show how wonderfully lacking in racism they are. So they find a black political leader and laud him or her to the skies.
    .
    There’s apparently an unending line of people who want to look holier than thou. It’s silly enough well before they get to the point of denouncing any critic of Obama/Mandela as racist. By that stage it’s just a silly game.
    .
    At this time one has to keep some respect for the dead, though. Certain groups will take snapshots of some of the comments above as evidence for how bonkers we all are. We need to persuade people – which we won’t do by posting pictures of champagne glasses.
    .
    I will not celebrate his death – my sympathies go to his loved ones. But I’d like to see a balanced account of his life somewhere. The BBC’s massive failure to give one is unsurprising – but a disgrace all the same

       6 likes

  46. Gary says:

    Just a bit disappointed, i was up all night waiting some updates on the storm, it took 7 hours for anything, because of the loop they played all night, i was more concerned for my elderly relatives living behind the sea wall, than i was for mandela

       1 likes