The last Open Thread filled up faster than the showboating politicians’ seats at Mandela’s memorial service…so here’s a new one….
Open Thread Midweek
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The BBC Grief-O-Meter has just exploded!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25337800
sure has…
What a load of absolute effing tosh!
I’d leave this one alone. It’s not madness for a black South African woman to get emotional over the death of someone she worshiped as her savior. She wouldn’t have the privilege of working for the BBC if South Africa had taken a different path.
The thing is, the BBC does this sort of first-person navel-gazing far too much, allowing their otherwise allegedly impartial journalists to expose their raw feelings. They blur the line between personal opinion and professional journalism often enough as it is without doing these deliberately personal offerings.
Yes, I know lurking journalists will tell me the personal touch is what connects, and it’s only reflecting what so many people feel deeply, blah, blah, blah. Where do you draw the line, though? How do you draw the line, and how can you expect your readers to do it?
Tell me that’s a reporter extracting the Michael…
“Call for Barbera Plett. Babs… Clean up needed again in aisle whine”
What Plett did is much worse than this. This piece was ordered and approved by a BBC editor. It’s personal, and the so-called impartiality remit doesn’t apply. Plett, on the other hand, was infusing her personal feelings into what was supposed to be an impartial journalist’s report about an story that had nothing to do with her personal life.
Like I said, the BBC blurs the line far too often as it is, and these personal statements don’t help the BBC maintain impartiality elsewhere.
re – bbc mourning Yasser Arafat all over again 😀
remember that, “pukebag” report from B Plett
Erom our Own Correspondent
Barbara Plett – Arafat unrelenting journey
BBC correspondent, West Bank
Fake reporting from BBC man Jon Sopel this morning.
Our Jon has to deal with what he calls the… ‘what-has-been-dubbed the “fake signer”‘
We see our Jon outdoors on a track somewhere on the veldt… (maybe he was out in the bush but within a minibar’s throwing distance of a five star I’m guessing. Be careful out there Beeboids – we don’t want to wake up to any Zulu Dawns)
‘I have to say (this is a bit like a ‘but Labour say’ so steady yourself for a Left-liberal comment folks….) ….the fake signer story is of little interest to those going to pay their respects to Nelson Mandela!’
Really Jon? No interest at all? Did you ask them?
Or was it a large group of hideously Left-liberal on-expenses BBC employees to which you were pointing?
Jon Sopel: reporting gibberish : has he an excuse such as schizophrenia or has he simply fallen victim to the excitment of the moment? Who accredited him? Who is it who have questions to answer?
“Really Jon? No interest at all? Did you ask them?”
—-
As you say, it seems rather governed by this now prevalent collection of carefully-selected, slightly vague BBC ‘sources who say’, who can be relied upon to confirm or dismiss anything, anywhere, anytime, to taste.
Hence Hortensiana ffook-Knowles, our woman from Europe, suddenly channels her inner Black (that’s the ex-BBC ‘We do science-stuff, we do’ chappie), to pass on that ‘many’ found rain in the second most rainy month of the year to be ‘unusual’.
Maybe this is the same ‘many’ telling Mr. Sopel exactly what he thinks the folks back home need to hear to get the glory of the moment back from ever-descending farce?
The BBC has demonstrated quite clearly that it has no idea what people are, or indeed are not interested in. Or doesn’t care.
The last. It does not care.
Why should it? No money worries at the top and a supine bunch of politicians who grovel in front of it.
It needs a reformation.
My comment is a mere detail about standards of the journalism. On our local BBC TV news last evening there was a piece about domestic waste collections in Swindon. I won’t mention the presenter’s name but she explained that changes were being made because savings had to be made ‘off of’ the Council budget. She mentioned this more than once so it wasn’t a slip of the tongue. It’s enough to make anyone weep.
Wiping tears aside, was there any more delving into the substance of this report or, as Newsnight last night discovered about the BBC, while questions need to be asked, some answers may explain why few want to go near them?
At a rather exciting council meeting our way, some hapless spokespersons presented the fiscal realities of service whereby either taxes went up or services were cut as the only choices.
Sadly a few well-informed types were unprepared to let the discussion get restricted to such framing, and raised other factors such as staff pay (esp. at senior level) and ring-fenced pension commitments at levels not enjoyed within the private sector.
The true realities exposed may reveal why the BBC doesn’t like shaking such a tree too much either, as the licence fee heads ever upwards, Dad’s Army is dusted off for Xmas, and Mark Byford throws another roll of fivers in the fire.
I see that the BBC is broadcasting Mandela’s autobiography on Radio 4 each morning. As part of its special remit to serve the disabled it should also broadcast it on television so that deaf people don’t miss out. The signing will be done by the same bloke who signed at the service the other day. Here’s a quick taster:
Qyiodtpg ntrnispe dt josmnfojnnba mdofnoj asopfnjogbf. Pfsdojn vbdnjo sgmgbkml. Fdgdbkmnl’vbkml.
Madiba!
Nothing to do with BBC bias – in fact, unbelievably, the reverse – when Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, was brought on to Today to discuss her organisation’s
encouragement ofacquiescence in the imposition of sharia law on university campuses. Not only did Justin Webb make Nicola look stupid (not difficult by the sound of her) but he expressed astonishment that she was prepared to defend (on the usual spurious ground of “human rights”) the practice of Islamic nutters who demand separation of their audiences by gender against the wishes of said audiences not to be so separated.Tellingly – and this goes to the heart of the moral corruption and fear engendered by Islam and its apologists – not one representative of government or opposition (except a retiring MP, Jack Straw) could be found to be interviewed on Today.
Actually, they did later find the ever-self-promotional Chuka Umunna (spelling?) to oppose the appalling stance of Universities UK. I have to say, CU was forthright and very clear in his condemnation, and I agreed with every word he said*. It was a plus point for Labour, and highlighted the stupidity of the present short-sighted, PR-obsessed Conservative administration declining the opportunity to say the same things as CU.
[* are rare moment indeed for me to agree with any of the current Labour ministers].
Well, good for Chuka. As you imply, the Conservatives score yet another own goal. But, of course, they are not Conservatives. To the contrary they are rather, according to Francis Maude, “modern progressive conservatives” which translates into something substantially akin to LibDems while scrabbling in Labour’s PR dust.
Chuka is such a nice man and so respectful of women…
lady bits.
Now if he had been a UKIP underling that would be lead story on the BBC web news.
‘Ere the vulture swoops, that’s not the real Chuka.
I’m glad you said that… I was wondering about the @HonestChuka bit. Rather like calling yourself Honest John’s Car Sales.
Worth noting that the student ‘cops off campus’ demonstrations had nothing to do with protests against gender segregation. Their protest activity consisted of chanting ‘the police murdered Duggin’ outside the coroner’s court and expressions of outrage against the brutal police targeting campus Islamic societies for no reason at all. Supporting the mini protests against segregation would have been akin to racism, fascism and Islamophobia, and the pensioners from the Class War anarchists, Trotskiets, and useful idiots were anxious not to divide the revolutionary class.
I agree with Umbongo and I think Justin Webb did a great interview with that dreadful Dandridge woman this morning. Top marks on this one.
I wonder how many bbc journos will be sent to Gerry Adam’s funeral.
A freedom fighter/terrorist (delete as you wish) like Mandela. Gerry stood up to old imperialist ideology like Mandela. 121 journalists and 11 days of mouring?
Of course, Gerry isn’t an African. Gerry wants to break up part of the union and take it from the commonwealth. Gerry doesn’t fit into the bbc mindset where insulting islam and muslims is punishable but insulting Christianity and Catholics in particular is a regular occurence on bbc radio/tv channels.
Church of Scientology is a real religion.
Things we can take from this.
1) That the Supreme Court is full of lefty f*ckwits like the bbc.
2) That if you can worship one cult (that of mohammed) then you can worship any loony, even L. Ron Hubbard.
3) This entrenches the view that all cults are good cults so this prevents any attacks on islam, the cult of cults.
NOOOOOH!! I watched BBc breakfast this morning. It was 20 minutes before I heard the first mention of St. Mandella. I thought I’d got away with it even North West hadn’t mentioned him. But worse was to follow I was under the mistaken impression they had already buried him. I didn’t know thee was going to be a second wave of the vomit fest when they bury him on Sunday.
To be fair I only turned over because:
Reason 1
Tesco are running their Xmas advert with Asians every ad break. Really Tesco/ Really?
Reason 2
The Argos Beats international from (Zero hour contract anyone?) Argos is also on every ad break. You may have been lucky and missed this “cute” (Not!) animated speakers tell you how loud they are. Along with the line “your neighbours won’t complained they will be leaving the building”. Now I have had problems in the past with morons deciding they want to share their taste in music with me, so I did not see this as a particular clever piece of advertising. Time to re-acquaint myself with another organisation that has a complaints department as useless as the one at the BBc. Tgis was the reply:
Thank you for your patience as we referred your case to the ASA Council for consideration. I am sorry to learn that this ad caused you concern, particularly in light of your previous circumstances.
The ASA’s role is to assess the content of ads and consider whether they are likely to breach the UK Codes of Advertising on the basis suggested. I should tell you straight away that the Council concluded that there was no breach of Advertising Code on this occasion. I realise this was not the outcome you were hoping for but I would like to explain their response in more detail below.
The Code we administer says that ads should contain nothing that is likely to cause harm or serious or widespread offence and the ASA bases its judgments on the content of the ad and the medium, audience, product type and prevailing standards in society. In cases relating to taste, decency or offence, the ASA has to consider that what may be extremely offensive and entirely unacceptable to one person, will not perturb another in the slightest. As such, complaints about offence often require difficult judgements. However, we don’t intervene where advertising is simply criticised for being in poor taste. Apart from freedom of speech considerations, even well-intentioned and thoughtful people will have different and sometimes contradictory opinions about what constitutes ‘bad taste’ or should be prohibited. We can only act if the ad, in our judgement, offends against widely accepted moral, social or cultural standards.
The ASA Council acknowledged that some viewers might find the statement “Your neighbours won’t be complaining, they’ll be leavin’ the building” distasteful, but noted that it was preceded by the voiceover stating “They love talking trash”. In that context Council considered most viewers would be likely to interpret the phrase as an exaggeration to emphasise the volume capability of the product rather than to condone anti-social behaviour. Council did not consider the ad likely to cause serious or widespread offence or to be seen as encouraging or condoning anti-social behaviour, and did not object to it for the reasons suggested.
I realise these decisions may not have been what you were hoping for, but I can assure you that the advertisers were informed of the concerns that were raised (without revealing the identity of those who raised issues) so they’re aware of your views on this matter.
So that’s OK then. Last time I complained was a while ago. If you recall there was an anti littering campaign where the person littering transformed into a pig.A Fair enough you might thing except for one little thing. Despite the advertising industries normal attempt not to represent the real make up of the population of the UK all the persons in this advert were of one colour. I made a complaint on this basis. I do not think theylike me very much there the reply was basically that they were not going to consider it or enter into a discussion about it. So there.
Although we will not be taking any further action on this occasion, I would like to thank you for taking the time and trouble to contact us.
Obama love – senior BBC business journalist Mantej Deol RTed Kevin Maguire’s plea for Obama to become PM:
She’s the same hack who called the GOP nutters, praised Alastair Campbell as a fighter for truth who’s “still got it”, and said she wouldn’t call an ambulance for an injured banker.
What party would he stand for? Would the Monster raving looney part have him?
SWP or Respect.
Left Unity; they have just become a Party and are dedicated to nationalisation and a recreated NHS as remembered by Comrade Kenneth Loach
Obama has made a total hash of the US economy – and lots of his time he has taken actions that are bad for business – excessive regulations, ObamaCare etc. Any “business journalist” that favoured Obama is severely lacking in judgment.
But that’s the BBC all over. No judgment, just bias.
No bias just real idiocy.
Are all BBC business journalists Left-wing muppets? Is there a single centrist among them, or at least one not in thrall to Progressive ideology? How can any serious person believe the President is even remotely suited to run an economy properly? How many businesses work well on the “spread the wealth around” principle?
Unless Deol is RTing that ironically (I don’t see any qualifier, so I very much doubt it), this should discredit him as a business journalist.
‘this should discredit him as a business journalist’
Gender issues and the presumed rhetorical nature of the first question aside, readers of BBBC have learned that most forms of ‘journalism’ as practiced at the BBC are indeed hard to credit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25345253
Is this story not worthy of comment today given the close links between the Co-operative movement and the Labour Party ? Not even a raised eyebrow from BBBC, instead they choose to lead with & highlight the distracting fact that Myners will be paid a mere £1 per year for his efforts……
“Sir Humphrey Appleby said Lord Myners was joining its board immediately in a new role as senior independent director and would chair its governance review.
Lord Myners said the group was at a “crucial point” in its development and faced “serious challenges”.”
There, fixed that for you, BBC.
Did anyone catch Labour’s Party Political Broadcast last night? Well Newsnight actually – the ‘on-message’ film on the ‘Cost of Living’ crisis aka ‘my fuel bills are going through the roof’. No studio discussion, no reporter, just an introduction from Paxman to a five minute weepie on what he said was the ‘political story of the year’. All approved by Milibandwagon, no doubt.
Cue the desperate, the old, the poorly, cue the mournful violin solo, cue ‘heating or eating’, cue the co-opting of all of us into Miliband’s, ‘Cheap fuel, vote for me and get your cheap fuel’ crusade. The hand wringers at the Guardian and Miliband would have been delighted.
Strange though, although the energy companies profits were mentioned (and sneered at by Paxo), no mention of the last LABOUR government’s use of taxation and charges to change people’s behaviour and encourage them to use less fuel. No mention of the useless windmill subsidy.
If the BBC cared that much about the pressure on people’s pockets, they could quite easily save them £145.50 – but hey, how would they get 120 people to South Africa.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25200808
Or giving the lie to the myth of high fuel prices and greedy utility firms !
What a shame they can’t link this to Millipedes stupid assertions that he will force a price freeze, but it shows that the BBC are aware that the prices charged for energy in the UK is amongst the cheapest in Europe.
So, now it is claimed that the BBC sent 140 people to the Mandela-fest, 3 times as many as all the other broadcasters combined.. what do we make of that? Do readers think they got 3 times the quality of output? I don’t!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2522470/BBC-sent-THREE-TIMES-staff-cover-Mandela-death-rival-British-broadcasters-combined.html
It’s not about quality: it’s about each and every BBC show and channel needing their own, individual, unique take on the story. Someone here remarked the other day that their own local news was being read out to them from Johannesburg, and we saw a tweet from some BBC Europe Beeboid enjoying the weather down there.
It’s unthinkable to have someone from another fiefdom do a report that gets fed to one’s own programme. Of course, I thought Lord Hall was going to work on reducing all the redundant reporting as part of his cost-saving initiative. Evidently there’s no sign of that ever changing.
I wonder if they’re all broadcasting from that £1 million facility they built for their 2010 World Cup coverage. And they’re sending only 140 Beeboids this time, a significant reduction from the 190 they sent for the World Cup. Value for money or what?
As BBC hero uncle Joe said
“Quantity has a quality all its own.”
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/795954-quantity-has-a-quality-all-its-own.
It seems an eternity since the passing of the sainted one and we are still not at the actual funeral , be warned, all that has gone before was merely the warm up act , it will be good advice to put as much distance between oneself and a television set as possible this coming Sunday .
The top of Ben Nevis seems a good option ………………. IF there’s enough space for everybody
From the You Couldn’t Make It Up Dept.:
Hill staffers warned not to rely on info from ObamaCare exchange
But all the BBC will report is that there are some inaccuracies with some Medicaid applications. They know all about this, and think you don’t need to. Instead, they’re reproducing yet another White House press release, currently the top story on the US & Canada home page, about enrollment tripling and assurances from White House mouthpieces that things will be on track. Actually, they’re pushing more than one at the moment. The President vows to keep fighting for His embattled signature healthcare law, does He? Gosh. According to the BBC, it’s embattled due only to bad publicity, not due to its being a complete and utter cluster@#$% due to inept and highly-politicized management, on top of a misguided and irredeemably poorly-written attempt at government control over tens of millions of lives and one-sixth of the economy.
I hope the Beeboids are as depressed over the failure of ObamaCare as they were ecstatic over His anointment in 2008.
I don’t detect depression, more like bubbling resentment that occasionally bursts forth in expressions of anger towards the GOP/Tea Party.
The crap has not really hit the fan yet. Yes there is lots of criticism about the website – but the front end that the users see appears to be working better, people don’t yet realise that the back-end is still a mess and there are endless glitches on getting from the “shopping cart” in Amazon terms to the actual checkout and a committed purchase of insurance including paying the first premium.
Only about 5 million existing policies have been cancelled so far – those of the self-employed. The far bigger test – and far more cancellations, tens of millions, will not come until next autumn. All facing much higher costs than for their earlier policies – which Obama had claimed they could keep.
In the meanwhile it looks as though many of the early users will not have formal new insurance in place – even though they think they have – by the start-date of 1 January. So there are going to be an awful lot of people turning up at surgery or hospital only to find that they are actually not insured. Facing bills they simply can’t afford. Even those who are properly insured by then will be facing not only higher premiums but also higher co-pay contributions to specific procedures and higher deductibles. Plus likely higher costs for medicines. And fewer doctors to choose from.
The whole ObamaCare disaster will be moving from “it “could get worse” to “It HAS got worse, far worse”. Repeated by endless thousands of cases.
The real train-wreck starts in January. And the BBC will be surprised by it all.
“The real train-wreck starts in January”. How true. (But as for the BBC being surprised – they probably won’t even mention it !)
I have just spent a couple of weeks in the US, and was astonished at how much of the media has been basically advising the US public to stick it’s head in the sand, its ar$e in the air and wait patiently to get shafted.
Almost a billion dollars has been spent on the front end of a system which other serious software organisations assess could have been built for less than $10 million, in less than a tenth of the time.
As mentioned – there is absolutely NO ‘back end’ whatsoever to this basic website – it does NOTHING securely, accurately or dependably with the data it gathers – and if anyone has found their way through the system and actually has bought insurance – it’s a miracle – and a pretty expensive one at that, compared to what they were paying before.
The assessment of many reports I heard was that only the very sick, those on Medicare and Medicaid (i.e. already government-subsidised and already ‘signed up’ anyway, in many cases), and those who haven’t been insured before (either not insured at all, or with existing illnesses which were not insured before) are really getting ‘signed on’.
How the hell this absolute clusterfcuk is going to be paid for, no-one seems to know – because the young, reasonably healthy citizens are being asked to cough up BIG time to keep pay for the additional cost and, not surprisingly, a great many of them (if not the massive majority) are willing to risk legal financial penalties rather than pay the price being asked of them (it will be MUCH cheaper).
Having basically told those already on personal insurance plans to ‘get stuffed’ when selecting healthcare insurance – paying coverage for all sorts of things they neither want nor need – and to just shut up and pay the price. 5 million of them ! But no-one seems to know how the employee insurance schemes are going to work, with many organisations seemingly going to abandon any schemes they may have since the additional costs to both employer and employee will be unacceptable to them – thereby driving even more people onto the individual market. And as for the progress on the system to manage that little ‘doozy’….??? No-one has a clue. And as for the system to reconcile the costs to be charged by insurance compannies whilst the government sorts all this out…..-it literally is ‘Send us any invoice you like, we’ll pay it and sort everything out later …. jeez – you can’t get a basic data collection system to work after three and a half years of trying – when, and how, the hell are you ever going to get a financial reconciliation system to perform ?
I used the word ‘clusterfcuk’ before, and it is perhaps the single most apt example of such a thing as I have ever seen before. There is so much wrong with it that Obama’s team are running around in circles trying to convince everybody that everything is OK (after all, Obama informs us the The Affordable Care Act – he and his team NEVER mention Obamacare nowadays – is actually working just fine – a few minor teething problems, and that he, Obama, never knew that any problems were occurring till a couple of days ago, and, wise old saint that he is, he’s had strong words with his team and now all is well again….). You have to sign up for this crap before you find out how crappy it is…..to mis-quote an Obama sycophant on the Obamacare Bill.
And as for the BBC informing us of all this mess….. cue wind, dusty street, tumbleweed… there you go !
Excellent observation, richard. It is truly a mess from top to bottom, with no way out but down the toilet. Readers of this blog have known for quite some time, yet BBC audiences have only the vaguest notion that things aren’t quite working out.
The BBC won’t report the lies, the mishaps, the other lies, the revelations of politics causing many of the management problems, the other, other lies, or the mathematic unsustainability of it all. That’s because they’re ideologically in favor of the underlying concept, ideologically in thrall to the President, and have a visceral hatred for opponents of both. The recent BBC reporting shows that they believe the problems are largely a PR issue, and that given time and enough Obamessiah speechifying, things will turn around. The overarching theme of BBC coverage in the long term, over the last three years, is that complaints are mostly due to an ideological opposition to the President Himself, and to the government’s responsibility in helping those in need. Deep religious conviction can do strange things to an impartial journalist.
The way they spin what coverage they do give and the things they leave out is revealing.
Yep, David…
….and I didn’t even begin to mention the practicalities of this thing actually translating into actual health care ! The objective seems to be to get 30-40 million MORE people into healthcare insurance who have had NO insurance before (well, actually, they have been able to access SOME healthcare – free of charge – despite the picture we are being presented by the BBC), and, in addition to those, millions more people who will now have lo/no-cost insurance for pre-existing conditions they were unable to get cheap insurance for before….. and this little lot is going to hit the existing primary and secondary medical support infrastructure at the beginning of next year….with no additional new medical staff (and perhaps many existing staff who, for financial reasons, will NOT offer support via these new healthcare plans….).
That, and they don’t know how, or even if, they will be paid for their services.
Watch out for the government borrowing ceiling having to BALLOON out of control next year in the US.
Obama’s government has tried to blame the opposition, Republican, party for all the ills of this system from the start….you watch when they go after massive extra government debt ceiling hikes to just ‘dust the surface’ of this…. it’s going to be a real problem – and the BBC was trying to make out that the so-called ‘intransigence’ of the Republican Party over the recent debt ceiling hike would ‘damage the world’s economy’…..
To quote a track from my ‘yoof’, by Bachman Turner Overdrive – ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet !”
This figure of 30 -40 million uninsured.
I used to accept that was a undisputed fact but in various podcasts I’ve been watching on the net ,the figure of 15 – 20 million has been repeatedly given. And the point made that some of those choose not to be insured even though they can afford it .
Now it seems 20 – 30 million have lost their policies already ( if you like it you can keep it ) with more (workplace schemes) to follow.
So even if the BBC figure of 30-40 million is more than just a construct, as stands, by the beginning of the new year there will be less people with health insurance
No need to ask if the BBC will report that
And many doctors and other health care providers are opting out altogether because they won’t be able to afford to stay in business with the low payments coming their way from the ObamaCare plans.
Not only that, but if I sign up, I’ll no longer be able to get treatment at the awesome hospital up the road from me, or from clinics in its system which gave me brilliant, reasonably priced emergency and about six weeks of outpatient care because ObamaCare plans have excluded the top systems. It’s one of the top care and teaching hospital systems on the planet, and I live in a very working class/welfare class area. They’ve always not only treated Medicaid patients (completely free at point of use) but has their own coverage program – with subsidies if you need them – if you’re in their system. So much for the BS about millions of uninsured being saved at last.
It’s all about lowering costs, apparently. Offer less and lower quality care with fewer plans, and you can lower costs.
But I’m not worried, because I’ll be able to get birth control pills with no out-of-pocket cost, and my next abortion will be covered, all while paying a higher premium than ever for the privilege.
Because part of the way ObamaCare is going to subsidize all these new plans for those who need it (which will be, let’s face it, the majority) is taking billions away from Medicare, I’m actually worried that my friend’s invalid elderly mother will lose her home healthcare worker, which means he and his wife will have to look after her 24/7. This will seriously cut into employment availability. Then I’m also worried about my own parents, who will be screwed if their coverage is reduced.
But opposing this is racist or something.
The depth and breadth of the obamacare cock-up is so great that the conspiracy theory, that it has been engineered to produce a catastrophe so great it can only be ‘saved’ by a ‘national health service’, seems to be gaining traction.
Has that idea migrated into the every day zeitgeist?
I’ve been saying it for over three years. I don’t think the idea that this was all deliberate to destroy the system is close to becoming mainstream. Not yet, anyway. Most people assume incompetence over malevolence, which is usually the best way to go anyway. Personally, with this crowd I think it’s the perfect combination of both.
also worth noting that one of the most senior managers of the company that built the ACA website (and is now getting paid to fix it) is Obama’s biggest personal donor
White liberal guilt alert: both the editor of Today and Fergal Keane are agreed that the focus on the fake sign guy is “uncomfortable”:
Racists.
Ha ha ha! Fat American Pigs. Geddit?
just look at the bunch of sniggering imbeciles
on the reply list … lawd! save us
If you, like many BBC journos, suffer from white Left-liberal guilt, look away now – it’s that fake signer story.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25345627
But if you watch BBC News Channel at 5pm then don’t worry – you can come out from behind the sofa…
All reference to Nelson Mandela has suddenly disappeared from BBC news headlines.
‘
South Africa’s Deputy Disability Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zuluadmitted thathiring an unqualified sign language interpreter was a mistakebut denies suggestions that thegovernmentshould be embarrassed’Replace the words struck out with ‘BBC spokesperson’, ‘all of what the BBC gets up to that backfires’ and the ‘BBC’, and this is pretty much exactly how they’re still trying to spin the latest male Patten bald-faced blustering.
I think Hendrietta has a better chance at pulling it off.
From Obamacare to Mr. Miliband’s free energy for all wheeze, it can be hard to get numbers to trust. Speaking of numbers, and trust…
http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/meeting-requests-not-yet-deleted.html
‘It’s clearly a document that you can read anyway you like’
It’s almost as if an episode of ‘Yes, Director General’ is writing itself.
As to the need for crossings out, the only ones the BBC seems adept at are redactions.
Still, at least they are fully committed to quality over quantity…
http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/person-job.html
‘And it’s gloriously vague on figures [feel the transparency pervade…]. The BBC employs “c21,000 staff” (An FoI response said the figure was 19,649 in September), and the HR Director has a staff of c500. That’s a generous one for everyone 40 employees, especially when you look at the personnel functions that are outsourced.’
But at least with such staffing, the licence fee payer can be assured that no honking great dodgy deals or howlers get concocted… right?
Question Time from Johannesburg. Apparently the BBC hasn’t yet had the chance to “debate” St. Nelson’s legacy properly. Your license fee hard at work. It’s almost worth watching just to see how much they suppress criticisms.
With Pik Botha, Tokyo Sexwale, Lindiwe Mazibuko, Andile Mngxitama, Mister Mxyzptlk and H from Steps. But Peter Hain. Or summat.
Ah, Tokyo Sexwale – winner of the 2001 Name Of The Year contest.
And wasn’t Mister Mxyzptlk a character in Lil’ Abner ?
Is it too much to hope that Hain doesn’t return from SA now that everything that made him leave (and land on us FFS) has gone ?
hope the “hand sign” guy takes up the whole show
sadly ……………………….. he won t 🙁
now what other South African news, was there erm … ?
of any interest to those here at home?
I have no doubt this has already been mentioned but I’ll say it anyway. Those Mandela worshipping Beeboids just can’t stop can they? QT from S Africa and if that’s not bad enough, bloody orange baboon himself Peter Hain (I can call him a Baboon can’t I?) When will this Bulls**t end?
I do hope his mother’s ‘office’ isn’t paying his air-fare/hotel bill/expenses. D’oh, what am I thinking. No doubt his trip will be paid ‘uniquely’ by the TV taxpayers.
Call him a baboon if you care to, but rumour has it that he’s really more of a mandrill……………..
Who cares?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25356034
The bBC seem to think that we are interested in a Mad Mullah being given the rope.
Are the 72 virgins on standby?
“Major international news organisations have urged armed Syrian rebel groups to stop kidnapping journalists, and to free those who are currently held.
The 13 organisations, including the BBC, have signed a letter to the rebels warning that the abductions threaten the coverage of the Syrian conflict.”
—-
One can see the dilemma, but the phrasing leaves me wondering what kind of deals such a situation could see cut to secure release or safety in return for ‘unthreatened coverage’.
“Stop kidnapping us. We’re trying to help you!”
Oh come on!, those “Good Ole” – militant/ freedom fighters/rebel – “Boys”
they re just a little hot under the collar because these journo s are not “Real Muslims”
if only they appreciate the ahem … “truth” and “beauty” of the “religion of pieces”
‘Telegraph’ (£):-
“Former BBC chief Mark Thompson buys run-down $3.4 million Manhattan apartment.
“New York Times chief Mark Thompson brings in the restorers as he buys grand but run-down $3.4 million Manhattan apartment.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10514583/Former-BBC-chief-Mark-Thompson-buys-run-down-3.4-million-Manhattan-apartment.html
This why the liberals hang on to power so tenaciously .Greed for more things. Big shiny expensive things.
They are like children in a toy shop with endless money from their parents except we, the plebs, are the parents.
Plenty of coverage on bbc this evening of the death penalty carried out on an Islamic extremist in Bangladesh but not a peep about the Christians abducted in Syria. Are we surprised?
I don’t know if this has been posted before on here, but how the BBC can deny this the same level of coverage beggars belief
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4432/the_islamic_jihad_on_christian_nuns
As one would expect, BBC-NUJ has a political piece about the consolidation of the power of the Labour Party with the ‘Unite’ trade union (with only one sentence of criticism of that set-up mentioned by Beeboid Watson).
“Unite trade union urges Labour not to dilute its voting strength.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25354933
Oh for Gods sake……Do they ever give it a rest?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/22826679
Wow, the ‘influence’ spin-offs could be near infinite.
Ballroom dancing….
Baking….
Not too sure about time travel, but we’ll see.
BBC News tonight seems only concerned with the cold weather affecting Syrian refugees. Damn climate change.
But it’s not the cold that’s the real problem, is it? It’s the bombs and bullets forcing those people to flee in the snow.
Also shown was a woman moaning about the lack of aid (in the form of mattresses), just to drive him the white liberal guilt.
From Ice Age Now
http://iceagenow.info/2013/12/500-villages-turkey-unreachable-heavy-snow/
http://iceagenow.info/2013/12/jerusalem-blanketed-white-heaviest-december-snowfall-1953/
A bit of a theological problem for the liberal inquisition
AGW Vs. Muslim victimhood ,which received tuth will win out?
Great start on QT. Already looking like it might be a delicious. car crash. First four guests, and the first audience member have microphone problems. TIA. What a load of bollocks. Will we be lucky enough for Peter Hain’s not to work at all?
Pik. Botha. Speaking. Like. This.
Now an African Che Guevara chimes in, complete with red beret.
Oh, God. This could be a complete disaster. Dimbleby will be lucky if he isn’t necklaced.
It is like everything else, take an established programme out of its core location, introduce new characters / new scenery / different environment or culture / different subject matter and it all becomes an absolute disaster.
You could say it was true of Porridge (when they made the film), Only Fools and Horses (when they went to the US), Dad’s Army (when they made the film) and there are countless other examples through history. The same is true of QT, in its established format it only really works in this country (although it is pretty bad here) but take it somewhere else, change the format and the participants or culture and it is even more of a disaster.
Hain believes in land redistribution. Interesting. What does Miliband think of that?
The South African Owen Jones with the red beret is a hoot. Just like Question Time back home.
My favorite line from the audience was “What have our oppressors given us?”
“The Aqueduct? Sanitation, roads, wine…”
Be great if they’d got a bloke signing at one side.
That would show Western inclusivity progress in all its glory.
Sadly pulling the dd on the TVL means I’ll need to catch up on iPlayer.
But it certainly sounds like good TV, depending on what your definition of good is.
I followed the hashtag #bbcqt just now for just a few minutes, and it was pouring on scores a second. Hilarious to see a few grandees trying to get noticed but being lost in the deluge.
Can’t wait for some sober critique in summary tomorrow when I wake up, but from what I can tell for now, they appear to have clicked on Pandora’s remote.
Interesting following hashtags that have anything #bbc in them, if only to see the passions swirl, pro on con, if oddly indispersed with variations of ‘this was worth the licence fee alone’ posts that ring less than genuine.
Perhaps a more interesting (and cheaper) version of the programme could have been made in London comprised of South African ex-pats.
Found the favourable references to Zim-o-nomics chilling…hopefully not a taste of things to come.
I deliberately avoided watching this last night – I just couldn’t put myself through the wretched experience, having seen that QT was coming from Johannesburg and the dreary list of panelists.
Instead I enjoyed a raucous evening playing Battlefield 4 online – heaps of fun! Thank god for the interweb!
Q – Is it time that South Africa adopts a more radical stance on wealth redistribution similar to that of Zimbabwe? #bbcqt
What the fuck.
Anyone get the impression that Labour and the left in the UK have used South Africa and Zimbabwe as an guiding example of race based Marxism?
Land distribution is marxsim. Aiming at the Whites is merely attacking the race you deem “reactionary”.
I said yesterday that ObamaCare was going to start to turn into a full-on train-wreck in early January. It now looks as though the White House recognises this – they have just announced what appear to be probably illegal changes to extend the deadlines a little, arm-twisting the insurers to treat people as insured when they are not yet insured. Arbitrary and unconstitutional fixes.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/12/12/chaos-hhs-asks-insurers-to-extend-multiple-obamacare-deadlines-until-january/
Just putting off the evil day – even if insurers and also doctors all go along with the “fix” :
http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/12/krauthammer-on-new-obamacare-rules-this-now-approaches-banana-republic-lawlessness/
These “fixes” for a couple of weeks apply only to the self-insured. For tens of millions of people covered by employers’ policies the chaos kicks in next year. But already it looks as though large numbers of employers are reckoning they will either put off new recruitment, cut working hours, cancel all employee coverage or require much higher employee contributions, Great news for the US economy !
http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/12/survey-nearly-half-of-cfos-plan-to-cut-jobs-over-obamacare/
Another “wedding attack” claim swallowed hook, line and sinker by the Beeb. “At least 13 people have been killed by an air strike on a wedding convoy in southern Yemen, say officials.” This story began before drones, it’s that old!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25357535
I thought the bad guys had given up on this narrative years ago. But I guess they think that BBC news editors are probably too young to remember this has been a staple of terrorist propaganda since 2002 in Afghanistan. How about some investigation of the facts before reporting what “officials” say?
Got this in the local paper, anyway:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11023364/DFP%20re%20Look%20North%20Dec%2012th%202013%20.jpg
well done done Bill.
Just out of interest, what did Look North have to say about the dead terrorist and how did they link his death to your neck of the woods? Did he like yorkshire puddings with his roast zebra on a sunday? Had he ever been to Yorkshire?
Did anyone see the BBC News at 10 the night before when it used the Mandela memorial event in Johannesburg to incite hatred against Israel.?
A BBC reporter stood directly in front of a banner advertising the Palestine Solidarity Alliance. Underneath that name and their logo was Nelson Mandela’s quote “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”. The reporter then walked away to give a clear view of the banner and the Palestinian Solidarity Alliance got 15 seconds of advertising.
See the details of the organisation the BBC is advertising with your tax revenue and the full report at http://richardmillett.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/bbc-news-at-10-advertises-israel-hate-organisation-from-mandela-memorial-event-in-johannesburg/
Classic BBC, from the staging to the inevitable ‘shocked, we tell you.. Shocked!’ If and when called on it.
Not sure the advertising route will garner any more sensible response from CECUTT, but given their primed patronisation before when something just happens to get in shot their response will no doubt convey much hurt that anyone would think so poorly of them.
“We understand you are unhappy that of all things waving about at the memorial to a South African leader, our film crew purely by chance found one that the BBC happens to support, but can’t admit to. And stuck our reporterette in front of it, and then moved her off for a better look.
The BBC is dedicated to impartial.. oh, screw it… we did it, we all know why… what can yo do abut it? Sod off. We control the cameras,the edit and the oversight committee.
But thank you for raising it. It will be logged in a file no one reads in a cupboard in a room in a locked basement with a sign that says ‘Beware of the Leopard’.
Please note: this letter is our little secret. Share it publicly, and Lord Patten will be around to stick a pony’s head in your kid’s bed.”
BBc Breakfast lol. After banging on about how alcohol is bad how much drinking costs the NHS what are they doing this morning? Yes they are drinking wine. Yes I suppose if it was lager like the proletariat drink it would be evil.o
I’ve always wondered what the corridors of the BBC must look like after they have been through one of their not infrequent temperance sessions with a nanny wagger they like the sound of.
Surely, eventually, even the dimmest bulb in the bouffant and peroxide sink reader-outer classes must ponder the fact that what they’re celebrating one week they’ve been shaking heads at not so long ago.
But then from top down, they seem to specialise in selective memories. Maybe it’s the booze.
What’s the betting if certain doctors with too much time on their hands turned their attention to actual real life luvvie classes vs. Fictional characters, the enthusiasm for the share within the BBC may be reduced? Certainly the Marr Show producers may see possible fallout (or grope in) issues.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25349738
oh to be a, “fly on the wall” at those BBC Christmas parties
eh! …
the unnecessary/wasted expense for one thing,
is all the food “halal”? – (should go well with the Champagne),
due reverence for “prayer breaks”
a “worthy” 2 min “shoulder cry” for NM, followed
a mass “face-time” jolly with all 140 plus colleagues
in S. African Hotel
add as appropriate,
“Michael Portillo on Nelson Mandela death media coverage”
(inc video clip).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25360700
Hypocritical BBC-NUJ reporting on SEGREGATION in Britain.
While many Beeboids are self-righteously politically preening themselves as Mandela supplicants over e.g. apartheid/ segregation in latter-day South Africa, they are inclined to be non-critical over the segregation of males and females to appease Islamic interests at British universities.
Note how, with typical pro-Islamic censorship, the following BBC-NUJ ‘report’ by Beeboid Ms Burns, omits any reference to the dhimmification of British universities via the political pressure from Islamic interests.
There is no reference to Islamic interests in the following, despite the fact that this is what this issue is all about!
“University segregation advice may need court ruling”
By Judith Burns.
Education reporter, BBC News.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25353882
‘Telegraph’ (£)-
“‘Gender apartheid’ is real in UK universities. So why aren’t more people fighting it?
“As 8,000 people sign a petition against gender segregation in British universities, a rally last night attracted only 100 protesters. Who is fighting the good fight, asks Emma Pearce.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10510284/Gender-apartheid-segregation-is-real-in-UK-universities.-So-why-arent-more-people-fighting-it.html
Spotted on Guido’s blog , this is the real Jack Dromey
Now if he were a Tory or from UKIP, 5 Live would drop everything and make the Pikey reference the controversy du jour, or possibly several jours. So far nothing.
Unfortunately I cannot make it to SA, and the details of the route to where the Saint is lying in state is no help to me. However, as a souvenir of this momentous occasion I would like to purchase a little plastic bubble with a Mandela inside, where snow will fall on the coffin when you shake it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25320016
The bBBC sends hundreds of reporters to South Africa but none of them can pronounce the name of Mandela’s birthplace (and burial place on Sunday) or his middle name.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-25356745
Watched part of a discussion programme on Russia Today last night. It was the perfect antidote to all the BBC’s sycophantic and pretentious drivel about Nelson Messiah. It was a four way discussion about Mandela’s legacy. Most of the participants said Mandela was a “just about adequate President” who did little about rising crime and political corruption in South Africa. The economy worsened under him and the ANC became a Kleptocracy.
Those pundits would never have been allowed through the doors at Broadcasting House.
Why I’m still boycotting BBC 5 Live
Unmitigated Obama/”Madiba” love from Richard Bacon
richard bacon @richardpbacon 10 Dec
Obama: “Mandela freed not only the prisoners, he freed the jailers”. Other world leaders, good luck following that.
richard bacon @richardpbacon 10 Dec
Effective attack by Obama on other leaders: “Too many people embrace Madiba’s reconciliation but reject any reforms & dissent.”
The BBC man says ‘please please provide me with a Left-liberal plattitude to help get me through the day – a re-Tweetable slogan will do. Just to let the kidz know they should lurve me’
Bacon’s a moron. The US President doesn’t tolerate dissent, either. It’s only because the US still has a couple of laws left that He’s not as bad as those He’s supposed to be criticizing.
Is racism dead is South Africa? From the fervent anti-white sentiment seen on last nights Question time, the answer is most definately not. Not that the panel considered that -remember racism only works one way. ‘Right on’ Hain mentioned Stephen Lawrence, but strangely not the far more numerous black on white murders. Also on the sinister ‘land redistribution’ question he cotemptously dimissed the plight of white farmers in Zimbabwe.
South Africans should look at themselves and their constant playing of the grievance card for their country’s failings, rather than the ‘legacy of aparteid’. Is mass rape a result of oppression?
By the way, I am in no condoning apartied.
I want to know why the BBC thought it necessary to drop Test Match Special from Radio 4 Longwave at 8.30, for Yesterday in Parliament, which could have been broadcast on R4 FM. With recent events we know the BBC change schedules, as a Brit I regard the Ashes as more important than the passing of some questionable nonagenarian ex leader….
In the car the only way of keeping up to date were updates via Gameshow Nikki on R5L, and he’s the last person I want to listen to on my commute.
How many cars have got DAB? <5%? and if you wanted to listen to Radio 4 that was still available on FM which 99% of cars have.
I don't use the BBC much for my £145, and they can't be arsed to bid for televised cricket or half measures on Formula One, but I do expect to be able to listen to the Ashes in car without the expense of a DAB car radio.
Rant over …