296 Responses to WEEKEND OPEN THREAD…

  1. Olly boy says:

    This mass hysteria has the potential to match Lady Di levels….

       52 likes

    • Dazed & Confused says:

      Only at broadcasting house..

         37 likes

      • The General says:

        Well Radio 4 Today program trumped itself this morning at 8.18am. I turned on just in time to hear the presenter ask president Carter
        ” Some people compare Nelson Mandela to Jesus. Do you agree?”
        Unbelievable !!!!!!!

           48 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Did Nelson ever even GO to an indoor market?…let alone hate them?

             6 likes

          • Andy S. says:

            What are the odds of some washed up pop singers and z-list celebs exhibiting their right-on credentials by organising a memorial concert for St. Nelson of Mandela and getting the BBC to broadcast it?

               16 likes

      • Dazed & Confused says:

        I can’t believe that the BBC haven’t run with this vid yet…..There again all of their “reporters” are in melt down because of a ninety five year old South Africans demise…

           5 likes

  2. Thoughtful says:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519091/Not-TVs-Christmas-reheats-Almost-half-BBCs-festive-schedule-repeats–rivals-dont-fare-better.html

    It would appear that during Xmas week nearly half the BBC output will be repeats of ‘favourite’ i.e. programs which had some intrinsic value which todays corporation is unable to produce.

    On BBC 2 70% of the output is repeats which given that the news and the other topical programs can’t be repeated means that they are actually producing next to nothing new.

    What am I paying the television tax for, because the power for transmitting these repeats can’t cost that much !

       63 likes

    • David Brims says:

      What gets me is, why is the BBC celebrating the Feast of the Nativity ? since they’re all a bunch of atheist marxists who love islam, seems kinda hypocritical.

         72 likes

      • DICK R says:

        What is wrong with atheism?
        Not all atheists and republicans are lefties.

           14 likes

        • Demon says:

          True Dick, and not all atheists are republicans either. I even enjoy going into churches (not for services of course) but I actually quite like the religiousy aspects of Christmas. It doesn’t mean I believe in any of the supernatural side of religion though.

             17 likes

          • chrisH says:

            Fair play.
            I`m a Jesus Nut…whether I`m the kind that links the helicopter blades to the body of it(or not) remains to be seen.
            Even Dawkins admits that without churches, hymns, art and “being nice to each other”…his right to carp on at “Christianity-whatever THAT means”! -would be somewhat curtailed.

               18 likes

          • Andy S. says:

            Being an atheist doesn’t mean you don’t respect the traditions of Christmas – peace on earth, goodwill to all men, etc.

               11 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      What am I paying the television tax for, because the power for transmitting these repeats can’t cost that much !
      *****************************************

      5,500 lazy bastids masquerading as *journalists* don’t come cheap..

         57 likes

    • Bodo says:

      ‘What am I paying the television tax for,’

      Fat-cat salaries and multi-million £ salaries. Don’t you realise how much it costs Alan Yentob to heat his Tudor mansion in Somerset?

         52 likes

  3. Will all end in tears says:

    It’s the utter sycophancy in respect of Mandela that gets on my tits. Every guest or commentator trying to outdo the former with fawning platitudes.

    Bombing aside, he seemed like an alright bloke, nice smile and all, but that’s it, end of.

    But no, no, no it won’t be the end of at the Beeb. There’ll be Mandela (or Madiba if you’re really right on) this that and other for months to come.

    It was certainly bash the whitely on Nolan and Pienaar’s show last night and I’ve just heard the classic “he wanted to be remembered as flesh and blood” from Fogarty – confirming the Beeb’s nigh on deification of the man.

    I’m just wondering which of his four wives Jacob Zuma’s going to take to the funeral.

       87 likes

    • DownBoy says:

      …..and which palatial mansion the Zuma’s will emerge from.

         58 likes

    • Will all end in tears says:

      Headline in Telegraph – Peter Oborne article;

      “Few human beings can be compared to Jesus Christ. Nelson Mandela was one”

      Unbe-fuckin-lievable

         90 likes

      • The Poltergeist says:

        Did Jesus try to blow up trains full of people as well then?

           77 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:

        Oborne is a Christian/Mandelaian who went to Christ’s/Mandela’s College, Cambridge, and his wife is a vicar, so its unclear if he thinks Jesus/Mandela was a human.

           21 likes

        • Andy S. says:

          Oborne is a loose cannon among journalists. Sometimes he writes articles that one can agree with 100%, then he’ll write something that’s way off the mark you wonder how on earth he managed to have it published. Not that he has to write stuff that is popular only on one side of the political spectrum, but sometimes, Oborne is so off base you have to wonder if was pissed or not fully compus mentis when he cracked out the article on his word processor.

             8 likes

      • Mark B says:

        If Oborne really wanted to show his real love and sycophancy for the ‘great man’ (sic), he would not have chosen Jesus as his benchmark. Mohammed would have been a much more accurate, and would have drawn a more suitable response from its followers. But people like him know to blaspheme against the Christian faith, is pretty much a safe thing. Coward !

           36 likes

      • Dave s says:

        Oborne can be very odd at times. Not to be taken at all seriously.

           30 likes

      • Banquosghost says:

        Out of all the endless codsbollocks being spouted by the mindless, this is by far he most absurd and offensive. Oborne has his moments but with gargantuan verbal turds like that he may as well be a BBC drone!

           30 likes

      • Chop says:

        Wonder why they don’t compare him to Muhammad?

        I mean, according to the Beeb, he was a straight up guy, just a bit misunderstood.

        A gazillion Muzzbots can’t be wrong.

           3 likes

  4. Thoughtful says:

    Awuleth’ Umshini Wami

       4 likes

    • David Kay says:

      The best thing i like about this ANC struggle song are that the words are so easy to learn. St. Nelson of Terrorism must be so proud.

      My machine my machine
      Please bring my machine
      My machine my machine
      Please bring my machine
      My machine my machine
      Please bring my machine gun
      Please bring my machine gun
      You’re pulling me back
      My machine, Please bring my machine

      I’m not quite sure what it means. Did St Nelson of Terrorism sing along and clap his hands?

         29 likes

      • Joshaw says:

        Witty – and catchy.

        Franz Schubert, W. S. Gilbert, Irving Berlin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Alan Jay Lerner, Ira Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim and lots of others must be kicking themselves.

           32 likes

      • Milverton says:

        That’s Hawkwind, isn’t it?

           19 likes

        • chrisH says:

          Ah…so that ANC rant above(great lyrix) was about a SILVER machine then?
          If so then surely Nelson was the Man with the Golden Gun I expect.

             2 likes

        • ftumch says:

          No, but this is (and somewhat appropriate):

          I’m an urban guerilla
          I make bombs in my cellar
          I’m a derelict dweller
          I’m a potential killer
          I’m a street fighting dancer
          I’m a revolutionary romancer
          I’m society’s cancer
          I’m a two-tone panther
          So let’s not talk of love and flowers
          And things that don’t explode
          We’ve used up all of our magic powers
          Trying to do it in the road

          I’m a political bandit
          And you don’t understand it
          You took my dream and canned it
          It is not the way I planned it
          I’m society’s destructor
          I’m a petrol bomb constructor
          I’m a cosmic light conductor
          I’m the people’s debt collector
          So watch out Mr. Business Man
          Your empire’s about to blow
          I think you’d better listen, man
          In case you did not know

             3 likes

          • EmersonV says:

            Interesting this seems to have been forgotten, seems not alots changed to me. Marikana miners’ strike massacre….

               1 likes

  5. stuart says:

    what makes me rage with anger is this,for contempt of court and legal reasons i have to say the word alleged to say what i am going to say,so these 2 cowardly soldiers of allah that are standing trial for the alleged murder of lee rigby are cruel and evil beyond belief, for them to plead not guilty to the alleged murder of young lee rigby even though all week they have put lee rigbys family through absolute living hell by admitting how they butchered this young lad in the most evil and cowardly way,you have to wonder why they are pleading not guilty to the alleged murder of lee rigby which everyday we hear them giving evidence on sky news etc of them admitting the gory details of how they slayed in cold blood this young man,why are these 2 creepy soldiers of allah putting lee rigbys family through all this torment by dragging them into court everyday,it is cruelty beyond belief,if these 2 things were real soldiers of allah they would put there hands up and admit these charges of this alleged crime,they wont because they are gutless cowradly devils who i hope if found guilty of this alleged murder will rot in a hellhole of a prison cell for the rest of there lifes with only cockroaches as company,bring the death penalty back now for terrorists and paedophiles.

       61 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Their case for a not guilty plea is that they are at war with the Khuffars who, according to them are fighting the Muslims.
      Yes it puts the Rigby family through the mill, but I wonder if they realise just what harm it’s doing for the interests of Muslims in the UK? Now everyone realises just what an evil book the Qur’an is, even if the loonies on the left can’t admit it even to themselves.

      I do wonder how much it’s being sanitised though, because the Qur’an Surah 8:12 says

      ‘When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.’

      Now Adebolajo claims he wanted the death to be as humane as possible, or that this was the method the Qur’an gives in killing animals. Only it isn’t either ! Decapitating someone is not humans, and that is not the method described for Halal slaughter.

      The best thing they could do for other Jihadists planning to follow them would be to keep it as low key as possible, as it is though people are learning more of the violence of the religion we are being lied to is the ‘religion of peace’

         52 likes

    • David Kay says:

      I think their defence will be they dont recognise English & Welsh Law as it is man made law and the only law they recognise is the word of their [false] god Allah, and as we all know, [their false god] Allah wants them to kill everyone who doesnt believe in him

      Hopefully, some patriotic lifer who’s got nothing to lose will kill them both

         55 likes

      • Rob says:

        The useless armed police should have done the job. They are very good at killing innocent people, how about offing a couple of armed murderers for a change?

           31 likes

        • Llareggub says:

          But you have to remember that Cameron and Clegg have assured us that this ‘incident’ (shall we call it?) has nothing to do with Islam. So if the prosecution calls either of these two Islamic experts as witnesses they will destroy the defence claim that they were following the law according to allah.,

             34 likes

          • noggin says:

            the clues …
            being soldier of ALLAH,
            in court sitting with a QURAN in front of him
            addressing himself in court by his ISLAMIC name
            quoting the verses from said QURAN
            to kill the kaffir straight after his ISLAMIC mandated murder
            the very act itself carried out in an ISLAMIC way.

            on those deliberately lying again from No.10, to protect ISLAM.
            … “none are so blind, as those who
            refuse to see” …

               59 likes

            • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

              But Cameron insists, ” its nothing to do with Islam”.
              By the way, I cant hat-tip the responsible person, but Dhimmi Dave is absolutely perfect a description.
              Or even an obsolutely perfect description too.

                 21 likes

            • flexdream says:

              You’re just being Islamophobic in seeing a connection between these militants and ‘the Religion of Peace'(c)

                 17 likes

    • The Poltergeist says:

      Here, I have a full stop or two I can lend you.

         9 likes

  6. Leha says:

    The bBC East Anglia global warming stormsurge ends in a few sodden carpets.

    you can almost sense the disappointment.

       48 likes

  7. Doublethinker says:

    On the Daily Politics we were treated to an audience dear old Polly Toynbee. Unfortunately for her, she was robustly challenged by two other guests and each time she dissolved in verbal rubbish unable to answer their challenges. Andrew Neil ignored her wimpering and she was clearly unable to cope with such direct challenges. She needs to stick to the safe, even if bonkers, environment of the Guardian and to standard lefty BBC programmes where she get applause not challenge.
    One statement she did make was that the political thinker J S Mill said that ‘whilst not all conservatives were stupid, all stupid people were conservative’, she gave us one her smirks as she delivered this. This perfectly sums up the thinking of the liberal left, they really are so arrogant as to think that they have all the answers and that no one else does, and that anyone who challenges them is stupid. This allows them to believe that they have the right, nay the duty, to tell us what to think and to guide us down their chosen path.
    It is this belief system that is at the heart of the BBC bias. They really do think that it is best if they chose what the news is and what the correct opinions are. This is not only the absolute opposite of what Mill actually thought and wrote, but also a direct challenge to democracy. I really do loath the BBC. I can think for myself and I don’t want them to do my thinking for me.

       112 likes

    • David Kay says:

      “One statement she did make was that the political thinker J S Mill said that ‘whilst not all conservatives were stupid, all stupid people were conservative’, she gave us one her smirks as she delivered this.”

      ad hominem attacks are the cornerstone to leftist ideology when they know they cant win an argument. You see it all the time with climate change like when they say deniers are all pay of big oil companies without addessing the issue at hand

         78 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      As a Mensa member, I do not vote Conservative either, but then I vote UKIP.

      But my understanding is that the BBC/Guardianistas vote the same way as people in Labours inner-city strongholds, that’s why I think they are morons, as I am sure that people in inner-city areas are not more intelligent than people in the leafy Conservative areas.

      I was under the impression that Huntingdon was the most solid Conservative constituency because it had a science industry park full of Oxbridge/Mensa type employees.

         38 likes

      • #88 says:

        ‘I was under the impression that Huntingdon was the most solid Conservative constituency because it had a science industry park full of Oxbridge/Mensa type employees.’

        Yes, but they’ll be intelligent, pragmatic scientists…not the ‘away with the fairies’ PPE / Social Studies, Owen Jones types.

           39 likes

        • Richard Pinder says:

          The Conservative thing is out of date now, they would be slowly turning into UKIPers now.

             16 likes

      • Ian Hills says:

        Thanks for reminding me that you are are in Mensa, I had started to forget yet again.

           26 likes

    • Dear Polly. Ex Social Affairs editor at the Beeb (Anyone think she left her politics at her door when she worked at the Balkanising Britain Corp?) She invariably gets to be made a fool of when she is vigorously argued with. The tedious (but for this act alone he redeemed himself) Richard Littlejohn took her to the cleaners on Question Time when she was demanding a green tax on flights as people were flying far too much. Littlejohn asked her how she got to her Villa in Tuscany…she was literally left spluttering…then said “Lets not go there…” to hoots of laughter even from the selected QT audience. Its a prize to watch on Youtube.

         41 likes

  8. frk says:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2518904/3-men-convicted-grooming-girls-Facebook-sex.html…what is it with muslims and paedophilia of white children and the silence from the bbc today on this story

       54 likes

  9. Mark II says:

    I thought I had seen some hyperbole but Peter Oborne in the Telegraph seems to be going for the gold medal…

    “Few human beings can be compared to Jesus Christ. Nelson Mandela was one”

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100249502/few-human-beings-can-be-compared-to-jesus-christ-nelson-mandela-was-one/

    They have pro-actively disabled comments.
    Back in the 70’s I had a lot of sympathy for Mandela – but this retroactive bandwagon jumping makes me sick.

       43 likes

  10. Doyle says:

    A great, a giant, a legend, an icon, an inspiration, just words, there is not a word that can amply describe the man, the word has yet to be invented. He was a demi-god, a god, er, a God. He was a giant of a man, a colossus, a titan with the world on his shoulders, He was only 6 feet tall but to me He was 60ft tall, 600 feet tall, 6000ft tall, er … 6 zillion feet tall, is zillion even a number? He stood astride continents and countries, oceans and seas, He was African, He was American, He was British, He was European, He was Indian, He was Chinese, he was the very definition of the human race. He was an inspiration to millions, nay billions, there are children as yet unborn, eggs un-fertilised who will know His name. The world will mourn Him, Earth will mourn Him, the galaxy will mourn Him, the milky way will mourn Him, the universe will mourn Him. He is greater than all the 7 billion humans on the planet, greater than anyone who has born and died on earth, you can’t compare Him to the likes of Jesus, Mohamed or Buddha, truly He will sit at the right hand of God as an equal.
    It has truly been a desperately sad week but the world continues, one thing though it that we never forget. WE MUST NEVER FORGET. Beatification is not enough, Sainthood is not enough, I therefore propose that flags should be kept at half mast in perpetuity, that footballers should wear black armbands and that a minutes silence should be observed before every football match forever. I propose that there should be an hour on TV every day, on every channel dedicated to the great man. I propose that black should be worn for the next three years as a sign of respect for the worlds greatest human being.
    RIP Paul Walker. Oh, and some old terrorist died.

       57 likes

  11. Guest Who says:

    Ah well, 24 hrs on andemuch work has got done, principally by giving a mighty pass to certain noteworthy, but hardly world-shattering events, the curious over-reaction of some (principally, but it seems not restricted to the media… a few folk have really committed stuff to print, audio and video that may cause a blush in years to come), an unfortunate counter-reaction or several by others, and the deafening sound of the majority of the country getting on with their lives.
    I’d say leave the plot-losers to it as it keeps them out of actual harm’s way, but in some cases it can cause problems, and almost always ends up costing all but them an arm and a leg.
    Now, about the reporting of the Shadow Chancellor’s adventures whilst trying to secure the keys to this country’s economy again….

       18 likes

  12. Jeff Waters says:

    Outraged modesty: India stuck in the past on sex crimes – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25231695

    This is a completely one-sided article, written from a feminist perspective.

    No attempt is made at providing any balance (for example, by considering that some men accused of rape are innocent, or that sometimes the alleged victim’s sexual history is relevant).

    Jeff

       11 likes

    • Jeff Waters says:

      PS I was just looking at the author’s timeline on Twitter (@jojolly). This conversation with a fellow BBC journalist is interesting:

      Anyone who thinks that the film Love Actually shows an ‘immature view of women’ is clearly a Guardian-reading feminist! LOL!

         16 likes

  13. johnnythefish says:

    Well, at least one silver lining to the BBC uber-hype over Mandela – and that is they don’t seem to have time today for…..

    ‘But Labour says…..’

       33 likes

  14. Alex says:

    Does anyone else sense that The BBC WANT to see the break up of Britain? I found it loathsome the airplay they gave to the SNP yesterday during the budget speech. I also find that their sycophantic groveling regarding the SNP’s constant crap about oil figures is far from impartial.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25222891

       35 likes

    • onlyne says:

      You found some BBC comment on the Budget speech? Where was that? Had I relied on the Beeb, I wouldn’t even have known there had been a budget speech.

         27 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Aside from the usual emotional tendency towards supporting independence per se, why would the BBC want to see Britain broken up? It would severely damage their funding and hamper the relentless expansion (yes, expansion. While the BBC is cutting payoffs, staff, and spending on proper journalism, the tentacles reach ever further and grow ever larger around the world).

      Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy is also worth considering here:

      Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people”:

      First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.

      Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.

      The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.

      The BBC in a nutshell. If the pool of license fee slaves shrinks, the organization cannot maintain the status quo, never mind continue to grow.

         17 likes

      • Alex says:

        Yes, I’ve often thought of the lack of apparent logic behind the BBC’s nauseating dealings with the SNP but I suppose the old socialist textbook ‘any minority should be supported against the majority’ rule of thumb overrides self-preservation, David. Those bloody dreadful oppressive English….

           29 likes

        • Demon says:

          “the old socialist textbook ‘any minority should be supported against the majority’ rule”

          Apart from the middle-east, minorities of Jews and Christians are not supported by the left. The white minorities in Africa, particularly South Africa and Zimbabwe.

             15 likes

          • Chris says:

            *qualifyer*
            Against the white majority. Thewhite people are the only ones who are deemed worthy of socialism. See Hitler and see Engel’s ‘the magyar struggle’. All other non white races are reactionary and deserve to be destroyed. In the meantime they must be used to help destroy the current bourgeois cultural hegemony as per gramaci. vote fabian Labour if you agree.

               5 likes

    • Richard says:

      Yes, I’ve suspected it for a while, despite the fact that it doesn’t make any sense. It’s probably just a Pavlovian reaction with them; they just can’t help it.

         0 likes

  15. joef says:

    I’ve avoided all but one accidental minute on BBC news. No articles, no nothing. Bliss. Interestingly, Al Jazeera and Russia Today have largely been devoid of it apart from “Melson Mandela died” in the headlines.

       33 likes

  16. onlyne says:

    What is going on with HYS? Less and less items to comment on, today it’s yet again about the NHS. I can understand no comments on the death of Mandela, there might be too many comments on the over-the-top coverage etc. But nothing about the budget speech, the storms etc. Oh well, at least the OT coverage of Mr Mandela’s death meant we were spared global warming stories about the dreadful storms, I suppose. And of course, they didn’t actually reach London, so no news there then.

       24 likes

    • Llareggub says:

      HYS did have a short run on Mandela as I mentioned on another posting, but it was closed after either 17 or 18 entries. That surely calls for an explanation.

         18 likes

  17. leftieshatefreedom says:

    The bbc’s favorite terrorist and his beloved ANC have turned South Africa into a voilent, racist, corrupt hellhole! Huw Edward’s croaking voice was enough to get me raiding the mini bar! The pain returned this morning though!

       41 likes

  18. Milverton says:

    Not bias, but I did enjoy Gary Lineker pronouncing Belo Horizonte as Belly Hozzy Ronty just after the World Cup draw this evening. How much is he paid again?

    The correct pronuciation, a Brazilian friend tells me, is Bellow Horry Zonsh.

       17 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      £2.5 million pa I believe.

      25x what he would have accepted the job for, but the BBC have a rather curious approach to salaries.

      Paying ridiculously high salaries marks BBC out as an organisation of prestige don’t ya know. It would be vulgar to pay Lineker any less, and show the BBC in a poor light.

      There you have it.

      Madness.

         23 likes

      • Dinsdale Oblong says:

        I love the fact that the BBC jump on every sanctimonious Nanny State “Da kids are getting fatter, we must stop them killing themselves” story with gusto, then employ Lineaker whose sole contribution to our cultural enrichment is advertising crisps.

           22 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Think you`ll find in the original tongue of the Sting People with their CD players in their mouths-and an accountment who wore mittens at his calculator(should have been a sign TantricTwit)…it`s pronounced as “Harry Belafonty”
      All together now..Day O, day O…black man sing in de banana tree.
      Prize to anybody that can link Saviles playing of any one of the Fontz racist anthems(and now a secular saint of lefty progressives).
      Obama with a Carmen Miranda fruitbowl on his bonce!

         7 likes

  19. Ian Hills says:

    The strongest effect Mandela had on me was to create a lifelong hatred of lurid shirts.

       32 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Milton Jones…take note!
      One of the funnier, less lefty comedians still allowed on the Beeb!
      Cherish him whilst you can!

         15 likes

  20. George R says:

    INBBC’s odd take on Islamic Republic of Pakistan:-

    1.) includes-

    “Pakistan Idol talent show is broadcast for first time”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25263456

    2.) excludes-

    “Pakistan: Taliban say they will target journalists for spreading false report about them”

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/pakistan-taliban-say-they-will-target-journalists-for-spreading-false-report-about-them.html

       16 likes

  21. hadda says:

    Looks like the only Madela-free area on the Beeb is the News Quiz, which was recorded just that little bit too early.

       20 likes

    • Bendybus says:

      I wonder how it would have gone had Nelson popped off early enough for them to cover it?

         12 likes

    • Bendybus says:

      Also, I wonder if they are going to do an ‘insert’ in tonights Archers where David and Ruth of Brookfield Farm get all tearful about the demise of the world’s first secular saint?

         29 likes

      • OldBloke says:

        Nope. They had a story line of a once exceptional chippy, taking to drink and a drugs overdose, threatened with homelessness, excommunicated with his kids and wife, his actions splitting a Middle England family and we were all made to feel that he was the victim and with only 19 days to go to Christmas Day. All good family entertainment of life down on the farm. Not!

           21 likes

  22. Bendybus says:

    The News Quiz (R4 18:30)

    The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement arose as a topic but curiously nobody mentioned Ed Balls’ frantic, ludicrous (and hopefully career-ending) performance.

    I wonder why?

       54 likes

  23. Bendybus says:

    Front Row (R4)

    ‘Tonight – Nelson Mandela’s favourite commedian”

    Oh FFS!

       37 likes

    • OldBloke says:

      I switched over to Classic FM at this point. At least this one radio station was bearable today with just one or two tunes given over to the murdering communist terrorist.

         18 likes

  24. Mice Height says:

    Thousands of Africans are congregating outside Nelson Mandela House.
    Del Boy and Rodney have told them to fuck off . . .

       42 likes

    • Mice Height says:

      Just noticed Pounce had beaten me to it with that one!

         12 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Yet a lot of `em are singing and dancing, so sez Beebski!
      So-if you WERE rejoicing at the death of old Nelly…all that plugging of gold rands into his life support meter-another bed unblocked-the BBC would only say you were ecstatically mourning the death Mad Eva.
      Can`t win…ding dong , the Brown is bread?…luvaduck!

         5 likes

  25. Paul Stephens says:

    If Scotland does become independent then the BBC/Labour Party will lose 41 seats at Westminster and the Lib Dems 11. Bring it on.

       40 likes

  26. Joshaw says:

    I suppose they’ll be working him into Dr Who somehow?

       29 likes

  27. JayBee says:

    I was half expecting martial music all day on the Biased Broadcasting Corporation.

    That and their foot soldiers (Corporate Security – FKA your local constabulary) dragging us into the streets for a little mock crying for The Dear Leader.

    FIFA shoe-horned him into their raffle (or whatever it was) today. So too Masters Tennis on ITV4, where all were forced to stand in silence and Mr McEnroe regaled us with a story about meeting The Dear Leader and being told how to strip an AK47 blindfolded.

    The Thought Police have been out in force making sure that nothing but eulogies are tweeted or posted in comments. “Your career is in danger if you unthink the BBC viewpoint.”

    Oh well, we can expect half the streets on new estates to be called Mandela Way, traffic islands called Robben and a rejuvenation of Lenny Henry’s career in a new play about The Dear Leader. Katanga my friends!

       35 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Does endless replaying of Wham and Shaky Xmas hits of 84/5 on endless loops count as a martial response to the death of Nelly Pledge?

         6 likes

  28. bogtrott says:

    turned on the 6 o’clock news on the beeb and the woman
    newsreader was dressed in black,couldn’t believe it so off it went

       43 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Bloody grief thieves!
      Beach Boy shirts with matching rubber tyre necklaces would be far more fitting.
      Can we stretch all those bloody wristbands for “cheridee awarenesses”?…or would that strangle ourselves?
      Give this a try at home children if you “wanna `av a Go`”
      What was it that Nelson said about AIDS then?…Mbecki was merely Nelsons verucca salt!

         13 likes

  29. Marsh says:

    As if South Africa didn’t have enough to deal with – 5L have sent Rachael Burden.

       27 likes

  30. Teddy Bear says:

    Here’s a story that shows just why the BBC is not only a completely useless organisation for reporting the realities of this world, but they would actually carelessly and contemptuously do damage to this country to support their agenda, regardless of who it would hurt.

    So relentless in demonizing everything the present government did, any moves to improve the economy was immediately heavily criticized by their panel of ‘experts’, always on hand as the voice of doom. Think how happy the BBC would have been to have been proved right, never mind what that ‘right’ would have meant to the general public.

    Fortunately these harbingers of doom were proved wrong. Remember their names for future reference on their predictions.

    Here’s what I want to see in the media
    w0tlef.jpg

    Quote:
    The ‘experts’ who should hang their heads in shame…the journalists, broadcasters, academics and economists who predicted a triple-dip recession and misery for millions

       43 likes

  31. Teddy Bear says:

    Fat Patten is refusing to be questioned by MPs about how the BBC is covering issues to do with Europe. Patten claims that because he is a peer that he cannot be forced to attend.

    Which begs the question, why then he is put in the position that he has as head of the BBC Trust.

    Everything about this man has reeked of self serving, pompous, not fit for purpose, fat, waste of space. I hope MPs will be that much more frustrated with BBC behaviour to now decide to put it out to pasture.

    Quote:
    Fury as BBC chairman Lord Patten refuses to be quizzed by MPs about coverage of Europe

       45 likes

    • Dave s says:

      He is an ideal chairman for the BBC. Every time he speaks he does the BBC great harm .With luck he will end up ruining it.

         30 likes

    • DICK R says:

      Patten is just the type of buffoon favoured by the BBC as a ‘compassionate conservative ‘ , the truth is everything the idiot touches quickly descends into unmitigated failure ,he epitomises everything that has gone wrong over the past 30 years or so, but still he keeps being appointed to positions of power and responsibility where he has inflicted untold damage on this country, it is high time he was put out of our misery!

         19 likes

    • Philip says:

      Help needed! (BIASED BBC): – help sign the ‘Brassed off’ epetition to Privatise the BBC! (No more License fee!)
      A’ petition to privatise the BBC has already 514 signatures on this Downing Street petitions site: PRIVATISE THE BBC http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48101

      > Cameron is unlikely to look at any submissions below 5,000 – so lets all give it a go rather than moan about it, – give the BBC something to worry about as they try put out their poverty soup bowl for 2016… Lord Tony Hall is there to stitch up the BBC charter for another ten years…. send him back to the Opera House!

      This is a war against the BBC propaganda. By focussing on ONE petition, Cameron will be forced to have a proper debate in parliament. Many Ukip/Con MP’s would welcome a public petition to give them some ammunition. So lets all give it a go to stop to the BBC charter before 2016. Please sign the petition (and forward link by email to others who are as brassed of as we are): PRIVATISE THE BBC http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48101

      Thanks and over to you now… do you want another ten years of bias?
      Warning: I am discovering the joys of not tuning into the BBC at all, (so it can be done), although what you hear when you turn it back ‘on’ again is even worse than before, and that’s really depressing.

         4 likes

  32. Teddy Bear says:

    If you have a feeling of deja vu this Christmas, if you’re watching BBC it’s not a religious experience, just LOADS of repeats.

    article-2519091-19E25CBF00000578-846_472x648.jpg

    Does it make you wonder just where that £3.7 Billion goes?

    Quote:
    Not again! TV’s Christmas reheats: Almost half of BBC’s festive schedule will be repeats… and rivals don’t fare much better

       40 likes

  33. Mice Height says:

    So, Mandela left an £8m fortune.
    Just imagine how rich he’d have been if he wasn’t a Communist who believed in wealth re-distribution.

       56 likes

    • DICK R says:

      28years in jail and he comes out a millionaire his treatment must have been terrible life’s so unfair !

         21 likes

  34. Dazed & Confused says:

    I’ve purposely kept away from the BBCs grizzling for the last twenty four hours……And as far as I can ascertain it’s lucky lucky me..

    However, I’ve just called in on their website on the way to this page and was interested to observe one item…Not the wall to wall Mandella worship that was par for the course, but the sacrilege of tour union flag, as the BBC seem desperate to advocate an independent Scotland…

    Latest odds from those turf accountants that rarely get things wrong….

    SEPARATION 7/1 AGAINST THE UNION 1/9 ON. …….

    In other words, forgone conclusion that the people of Scotland will vote to stay within the U.K.

    The BBC haven’t backed the wrong horse again have they?…..Perish the thought……

    Is there anything about Britain the BBC don’t wish to see destroyed?

       33 likes

    • ember2013 says:

      Actually, what I’ve heard from some BBC commentators, they seem be under the illusion that they will still be able to collect the licence fee in Scotland and work for the SBS (or whatever Salmond concocts as national broadcaster). This couldn’t be further from the truth: it is Westminster that decides on the BBC’s scope/purpose and for an independent Scotland, would not include it in the Charter (to be negotiated in 2016).

         19 likes

      • Dazed & Confused says:

        Salmond has about as much chance of becoming President of an independent Scotland, as Nick Griffin has of forming the next Westminster government…

        Zero, nil, zilch, non…

        Only the SNP and the BBC seem to think otherwise….

        But why the BBC?

        Questions on a postcard to broadcasting house……Using E.U. stamps only of course…

           17 likes

        • Stewart says:

          I have noted before that the BBC seem conflicted over Scottish independence,
          Not only does present a possible reduction of their empire, but as you allude, it is contrary to their ideological drive towards the EU super state. It is also (despite ally’s creative accounting) damaging to labour.
          However the SNP are by definition anti British .More than that , based on their rhetoric, they are virulently anti English.
          This is irresistible to the Oikophobic
          BBC .
          The parable of the frog and the scorpion springs to mind

             22 likes

  35. ember2013 says:

    BBC under fire:

    Complaint

    We have received complaints from viewers and listeners who felt there was too much coverage of the death of Nelson Mandela. Some audience members felt there was not enough coverage of the storm affecting the UK.

    We also received complaints from viewers unhappy about the disruption to the BBC One schedule on 5 December.

    Response from BBC News

    Nelson Mandela was one of the most important world leaders of the 20th century whose long and complex life story represents a moment of historical change for people in South Africa and around the world. His death was something we regarded as sufficiently significant both to break into our scheduled coverage and extend our news programmes. His political and cultural influence was global and as both a UK and international broadcaster it is important that we reflected that, and the range of reactions to his death, to all our audiences.

    Complaint

    Arrogant response.

       72 likes

    • Dazed & Confused says:

      But it’s how the Guardian readers wished to pay tribute to “Madiba” and that’s all that ever counts…..

      There’s a readership of just under 200000 to keep happy don’t ya know, and most of them are connected to the BBC.

         49 likes

    • GCooper says:

      Exactly what we have come to expect from the snotty Guardianistas who flatter themselves with the term ‘journalist’. “We know best and damn what you think. You’ll get what you’re given”

         43 likes

    • Big Dick says:

      East Anglia could of been severely flooded last night , due to a storm surge , but the Bbc `s OTT coverage of some “black bloke” that had died was totally disgusting . Oh yeah its so obvious , that those people who live on the coast, are normal English people, that are white, & mainly vote Conservative or UKIP ,so we don`t give a toss about those hideously white scum , they can all go & drown ! We (the bbc ) only love & worship Mandela , nothing else matters .

         49 likes

      • onlyne says:

        Today, the BBC have managed to get a couple of reprters to Boston to report on the disastrous storms on Thursday. But that’s as far as they go, must have been really brave of them to go so far from London. Nothing from Yorkshire, Cumbria, North Wales or Scotland, all of which were severely affected. “British” Broadcasting Corporation? I don’t think so.

           12 likes

    • Stewart says:

      Some range ,from A to B (Adulation to Beatification )

         13 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Oh, dear. All those racists upset The One Show was interrupted. I bet these complaints just make the Beeboids hold their audience in contempt more than ever.

         21 likes

    • DICK R says:

      What condescending shit

         16 likes

    • Andy S. says:

      How much telly tax does the BBC collect from viewers around the globe? I think we should be told.

         23 likes

    • John de Melle says:

      Interesting report in the Mail about Rod Liddle’s comments.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519422/Columnist-Rod-Liddle-condemned-Mandela-BBC-remarks.html

      Look at the “Best Rated” reader’s comments.

         17 likes

    • #88 says:

      I don’t accept their response.

      All day before the Mandela death broke, the BBC were telling us of a perfect storm brewing, with thousands of people and properties in peril on the east coast. Anyone who will remember 1953 will know what danger people were in.

      That the only coverage was (belatedly) on local news, resulted in the rest of the country left with a news blackout – in fact most local news bulletins led on extended regional responses to Mandela’s death.

      I wouldn’t disagree that the Mandela story was momentus, BUT WHERE WAS THE F***ING BALANCE?

         22 likes

    • Bonie says:

      It is their view that it is IMPORTANT, it is my view and a sizeable majority, IT IS NOT!
      Moreover, they state they are covering the range of reactions to Mandela’s death, NO THEY HAVE NOT. They have only covered the approved reactions.

         19 likes

    • John Standley says:

      I suspect that this rebuttal to complaints was, like the obituaries, written long ago in anticipation of err… such complaints.

      BTW, am I the only one who thinks that those who have taken to calling Mandela “Madiba” in their comments had never heard the term a year ago?

      It’s becoming an annoying affectation.

         4 likes

  36. Anon. says:

    Most read at the moment.
    Fairly cryptic but not surprising as it involves muslim terrorists taking over a country,installing their own leader and of course butchering people along the way.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25273681

       17 likes

  37. Dave s says:

    Meanwhile Daniel Greenfield over at his SultanKnish blog has his own rather different take on the passing of Nelson Mandela. Sorry links are not my thing so look it up yourselves.

       11 likes

  38. Dave666 says:

    The end / start of another day. I’ve avoided the BBc all day and every other news broadcast. I did note however when I went onto Facebook to update my status that I was having beans for tea, a general lack of interest in Mandella. I expected almost every page to be dripping with sentimentality for the “great man” so I was pleasantly surprised for once. Not the BBc but I did notice on the program guide another channel were running Mandella Superstar. WTF?

       18 likes

  39. AsISeeIt says:

    Not directly related to the BBC but made me smile….

    H/T Evening Standard

    Quote of the Day

    “Naturally, the moment I heard of Mandela’s death, I wondered what Bono had though of him. Turns out he approved” Tom Holland.

    The wonders of Twitter, eh? No wonder the BBC love it so very much.

       23 likes

  40. Reed says:

    You’ve probably all seen these before, but…

    But for Christ’s sake BBC, give it a bloody break for five minutes, will you? It’s as if the poor bugger now has to bear your entire self-flagellating white post-colonial bien pensant guilt; look! Famous nice black man dies! Let’s re-run the entire history of South Africa. That’s better than watching the country we’re in being flattened by a storm.

    http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/rod-liddle/2013/12/nelson-mandela-dies-aged-95-the-bbc-goes-into-overdrive/

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2519422/Columnist-Rod-Liddle-condemned-Mandela-BBC-remarks.html

       26 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Liddle is an arch controversialist, so no real surprises here.
      However, having early on witnessed a grown man TV anchor behave with the passing of an elderly man like Gazan Aunty whose kids copped an errant Grad, the wailing, gnashing and rending of vestment industry has moved to serious excess.
      And they are getting a bit defensive as the OTT aspects pile up. I’m now seeing justifications pointing from Di Hard to likely Madge reaction.
      And they’re right. The whole thing was a circus before, and will be again. But mostly by cynical filling of schedules cheaply with wall to wall death notices.
      It has simply become the MSM’s very own Ex Factor.
      And in the case of an old, slow passing, it can be milked over and over, often for months. How many people, how much time, and money, to stand outside a hospital to say no one knows anything but the person inside isn’t well?
      And by such weight of medi cover, the bovine sofa dwellers think it must be important, which drags in the celeb and political badwagoneers. There’s also a useful side industry in the ‘Why have you said nothing?!’ accusations at any who are maintaining a respectful silence.
      Atop all the rating and content void shenanigans are the agenda-driven, which is where ‘controversies’ get introduced, often by sudden professional concern to cover all views, even those whipped up internally and handed to a one degree of separation source to whip up as ‘news’.

         12 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I enjoyed reading that evidence of the intellectual fascism of the Left. Liddle did express his regret for Mandela’s passing, and did express respect for his achievements. He just didn’t do it enough or in the approved fashion.

      It’s funny, but if the BBC didn’t have a temporary moment of madness where they actually did strictly enforce their impartiality rules, Liddle might still be with them and wouldn’t ever have written that. If only Twitter had existed back then, he could have gotten away with it.

         20 likes

  41. David Kay says:

    Al Beeb takes time out from its Mandela Madness reporting to tell us news we really need to know

    Elton John ‘sad’ over Russia anti-gay law

    “The British singer said he was “sad to learn” of a law banning the “propaganda of homosexuality” to minors.”

    does he want the age of consent lowering to 14 as well?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25258448

       25 likes

    • Stewart says:

      “does he want the age of consent lowering to 14 as well?”
      Probably, I seem to remember that at one of his birthday celebrations he and his bien pensant coterie ,were entertained by male erotic dancers dressed as boy scouts . When questions were raised about the appropriateness of this , they were laughed of by the BBC as typical DM readers knee jerk reactions
      That was some time ago though , and things were undoubtedly different then.

         14 likes

  42. John Anderson says:

    All due respect to Nelson Mandela – but has anyone heard the BBC using the word “controversial” about him – the word they used all the time when Margaret Thatcher died? I don’t recall Thatcher being a leader of a terrorist organisation. Not did dear Denis have any young people snuffed out. But somehow she was more controversial than Mandela ?

    Also I don’t suppose the BBC will remind us that Obama immediately announced he will attend the Mandela funeral – but snubbed Thatcher;s funeral, failing to attend and failing even to send any senior member of his administration – not even comic Joe Biden.

    That was appallingly bad form by Obama – another snub to Britain, and failure to recognise the huge contribution Thatcher made (in concert with the US) to the downfall of global communism which had threatened us for many decades.

    Mandela himself did not himself bring down apartheid in the way that Thatcher herself helped bring down the USSR. Ironically, it also looks as though Thatcher was more influential in the final downfall of apartheid than Mandela was.

    And Nelson Mandela had the grace to recognise this, to recognise Thatcher’s contribution to the future of his country. The BBC has neither the intelligence to recognise what Mandela saw, nor the integrity to even consider such balance.

    What is so silly is that the truth about Thatcher’s work on South Africa, which Mandela regarded as more helpful than the other UK Prime Ministers put together, adds factual interest and journalistic rounding to the Mandela story. But the BBC does not want news to be factually interesting or rounded.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/obama-margaret-thatcher-funeral-90210.html

    BBC – as much spine as the England batting line-up.

       61 likes

    • #88 says:

      ‘…in the way that Thatcher herself helped bring down the USSR…’

      And therein lay Thatcher’s problem.

      The BBC have never forgiven her.

         41 likes

      • Span Ows says:

        Indeed and it goes further than that: anyone who lived through the 70s and was old enough to realise what was going on politically know that the BBC hate her even more for stopping Britain becoming a 2nd tier member of the EUSSR. Youngsters think it hyperbole when told she ‘saved the country’ but it very much the truth.

           30 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        That and the weakening of the unions. Never mind that Scargill was responsible for dragging them all down with him and Thatcher and her crew were wise enough to let him. Weakening of the unions and the dwindling of mining and factory jobs for the noble working class north (darlings of the BBC) are primary motivations of their hatred. It doesn’t matter whose fault it actually was, or which political party closed more mines, or that wishing mines were still open while believing that coal mining destroys the planet is loopy doublethink, or that unsustainable government-subsidized industry is folly. This is about emotion, about conceptual feeling, not reason.

           20 likes

  43. flexdream says:

    What are the alternative news channels to the bbc? Tiring of the bbc world view i checked out a few websites by searching ‘syria nuns ‘ as i want to know more about the recent kidnap. The bbc scored nil. The winners from my list were rt.com fox news and wn.com. The first 2 are biased but seem less anti Christian than the bbc. I don’t know about wn.com. Anyone got any other suggestions apart from the Christian specialist news sites?

       12 likes

  44. flexdream says:

    Is the BBC now the Press Office for the White House? On the 7.30am R2 news headlines the second item was that President Obama will be at Nelson Mandela’s funeral. So this is now ‘news’ of interest to a British audience? Overall I have high regard for both Obama and Mandela, although the BBC is wilfully blind to their human flaws, but this is getting ridiculous. Has the BBC any independence of thought left?

       18 likes

    • Lobster says:

      But of course he couldn’t be bothered to get off his arse to go to Maggie’s funeral.

         21 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Which is why Maggie, Ronnie, Vaclav, Natan, Andrei, Alexandr and Karol Wotijla are so revered east of the Oder…and why the likes of Clinton, Carter etc are so despised(despite the BBCs hysterical efforts to laud these phonitonies).
        If there`s any town of size in the east that does not have a rondo or statue, plaque in honour of these true freedom fighters, I didn`t see it.
        The Revolution will not be televised-never was, never will.
        But YouTube and Independents like ourselves can see it unfolding as it must…why then do we pay for the leeches to suck our piss if our blood makes them put weight on at the hips.

           11 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Now? It’s been the White House foreign bureau since Nov. 5, 2008.

      Lobster makes a good point about Mardell’s – and his producer’s – blatant double standards regarding funerals. This would seem to support my contention that Mardell was there because they see it as all about racism, and little else.

         16 likes

  45. Katherine says:

    How many Beeboids does it take to cover the state funeral of a dead African president?Will be interesting to see

       32 likes

  46. Ian Rushlow says:

    Warning – just 15,000 years to go! An article on the BBC website quotes an alarmist report that we are running out of rare earth metals used in technology and gadgets, putting our society at risk (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25260174). However, there is a big problem with this report: despite the name, most “rare” earth metals are nothing of the sort. Consider, for example, one of the metals quoted in the report – Yttrium. This is used in manufacturing semiconductors and LEDs and responsible, for example, for the red colour in television and computer screens. The world currently mines 600 tonnes a year of it. How much is left? Just an estimated 9 million tonnes – enough for 15,000 years at current usage rates. Despite being described as “rare”, there is actually 400 times as much of the stuff as there is silver in the world (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yttrium). This is probably more a case of BBC ignorance rather than bias, although one can see that they would be concerned about a reduction in the amount of red on our television screens…

       28 likes

    • Span Ows says:

      [nerd on] In this case ‘rare’ no longer means rare. When these were originally discovered they were thought to be scarce as they usually only occur with various other rare-earth metals in oxide (rare earth) form with other minerals. [nerd off]

         10 likes

  47. Llareggub says:

    Has the BBC addressed the fact that the Mandela family are – as the left would say – capitalist running dogs.

    http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Mandela-family-rakes-in-millions-report-20130429

       20 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      They have no problem with St. Algore’s immense wealth, nor with Heroic Hillary’s ever-increasing wealth. They hold the approved thoughts. They believe that if you do good works, it’s okay to get rich. Clinton also said, “Rich people, God bless us. We deserve all the opportunities to make sure our country and our blessings continue until the next generation.” Hold the approved thoughts, and the world’s your oyster. It’s an old story, and it’s partially why the BBC doesn’t make a fuss about people like Hugo Chavez dying a billionaire while his country slowly starves.

      Of course, The Obamessiah once said, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.” It’s the only one of His positons that BBC management and on air-talent don’t believe in with all their hearts.

         16 likes

    • pah says:

      Why would they have a problem with it when they and their ancestors are/have been richer than our dreams of avarice? And I, for one, have some very rich dreams indeed.

      It’s us they have a problem with getting rich …

         8 likes

  48. RCE says:

    I rose early this morning and in my self-appointed role of intelligence gathering on enemy activity turned on R4 Today to hear Evan Davies express a troubled, querulous and problematic view of a serial rapist being convicted under double jeopardy. As ever, it reeked of narrative, but in my semi-somnolent state I couldn’t possibly see what problem the BBC could have with a repeated sex offender finally facing justice.

    An hour or so later, chores done, I caught the news item of the same subject which stated that Harbinder Khatkar had been sentenced to life for 18 offences and five rapes. Eureka.

    Funny how Labour’s Double Jeopardy rule wasn’t exposed to the same scrutiny during the trial of the murderers of… Well, you know who.

       47 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Excellent work…we “indigo subversives” probably need another forum sometimes.
      Kind of feel we`re getting as far with “BBC Complaints and Bitching” as we can.
      I hate the BBCs agenda and increasingly obvious tone of leftlibby flatulence ,borne of too may vol-au-vonts from Birts Bistro.
      Reckon they`re taking the piss-I want some Eurine left to test before I`m turned from grape to raisin!
      Anybody out there?

         8 likes

  49. Umbongo says:

    Call me paranoid but it seems to me – and I’ve no basis for this opinion, only my experience of BBC partiality – that the BBC is not telling us the whole story about the World Trade Organisation agreement reached in Bali. Since it’s no. 1 in the Radio 4 News (ahead even of the Mandela death-fest) the prospect of its being worth “hundreds of £billions” and allowing third world countries to subsidise their agricultural sector (with our money natch!) probably trumps the encouragement of genuine global free trade. Moreover (of course), the BBC can’t wait to tell us that development activists claim that the agreement “doesn’t go far enough”. Well it’ll never go far enough until the wicked first world is back in the stone age. What was actually revealed on Today implied that the agreement has little to do with trade but a lot to do with shifting money from the West to the kleptocracies of Africa and Asia.
    What was also interesting is that we – the UK – did not even have our own representative at the “top table”. Evan (?) let slip that we were “represented” by the EU (hence the scheduled interview – listed but I didn’t hear it – with the EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht) . However, AFAIAA Norway was at that table representing itself. Funny that: apparently – in BBC world (and the EUfanatic world for which it shills) – not having one’s own voice in an important negotiation somehow morphs into having a stronger representation.

       32 likes

    • DownBoy says:

      Anybody recall voting for Karel De Gucht to represent us? Nope, me neither.

         20 likes

    • flexdream says:

      I think the WTO agreement is a genuinely good story, and that Cuba was right to protest the US boycott of Cuba, which is not good for world trade. Unfortunately my trust in the BBC is so low that like you I tend to be suspicious of any story which it gives prominence to, especially when it seems such a new found interest in world trade agreements. I can see how it fits with the BBC narrative that the UK is best represented by the EU at these bodies, but I know that’s a lie and that the world’s wealthiest countries are often small and independent e.g. Singapore and Swtizerland.

         3 likes

  50. George R says:

    Islamising Turkey and its entry into European Union.

    Of course, BBC-NUJ, which supports the entry of 80 million Muslim Turks into E.U, makes no political connection between that, and this:-

    “Syria conflict: Foreign jihadists ‘use Turkey safe houses'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25274886

       19 likes

    • George R says:

      ‘Telegraph’ (£):-

      “Family jihad: father takes five sons to join Syrian rebels
      A Moroccan father has taken all five of his children — the youngest of them aged 13 — to fight for an Islamist faction in Syria, according to reports.”

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10501523/Family-jihad-father-takes-five-sons-to-join-Syrian-rebels.html

         18 likes

      • DICK R says:

        I think they will have a bigger problem on their return to Morocco , if they survive, than they would if they they were ‘ British nationals ‘ returning to the UK.

           14 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      The Tories are in favour of Turkey joining the EU, with their utterly insane schizophrenic of enlargement but no more immigration !

      They can’t get it through their greedy thick heads that enlargement AND immigration is the only deal on the table! There is no enlargement without immigration, but that seemingly doesn’t enter their heads. Until it’s too late of course when they will wring their hands about it!

         22 likes

      • Dave s says:

        Tories are not conservative. Liberals in disguise trying to wrest power from other liberal lefties.

           16 likes