324 Responses to MONDAY OPEN THREAD…

  1. F*** the Beeb says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25758108

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25779671

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25802251

    Three articles about Man Utd/David Moyes in the space of a week. No other team has been discussed during that period and no other articles have been opened for HYS. You’d have thought they were the only team in the English league. Not to mention, there have been very few sports articles opened for HYS in the last several months.

       25 likes

    • Geoff says:

      Are there any English teams left in the English league?

         20 likes

    • Marvin says:

      Football fan = ‘fanatic’.

         3 likes

    • DJ says:

      If the BBC was a real news organization, we’d get to know if there was any truth in the rumour that their pension fund has a significant holding in a certain Manchester-based PLC. Unfortunately, as a ‘unique’ organisation, we’ll just have to take their word for it that their sports department is pure as the driven Real Madrid kit.

         30 likes

    • bannerman says:

      Manchester United fans were facing a sad and long journey home from Chelsea last night. There was line work on all trains to Guildford and there were delays on the M20 all routes south.

         18 likes

      • Doyle says:

        The old one’s are the best eh? Funny enough, where I live in Manchester, virtually everyone supports United.

           7 likes

        • johnnythefish says:

          Yeh, bit of a myth (though I’m no United fan). Hear them singing and chanting and the accent is definitely northern, if not discernibly Manc.

             4 likes

          • Chop says:

            Manchester is RED!…(Says the bloke living in Watford….but, in all fairness, I was born and bred in Manc…..sort of…only became a Southern poofda 7 years ago)

               2 likes

  2. RAsh says:

    BBC once again withholding names of criminals when it suits.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-25801407

    And his name according to local press is ‘Mohammed’.

       61 likes

    • Doyle says:

      From the Norwich Evening News …

      ‘Officers tonight charged Mohammed Labead, 19, of Kinghorn Road, Norwich, with three counts of assault and one count of inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent.’

      … a lickle ol’ local rag, more informative than the 4 billion pa BBC.

         46 likes

  3. EmersonV says:

    Typical bbc, a parish councillor says something weird, bbc has orgasm about it.

    This appeared on R2 Vines show plus Daily politics.

    Interesting how the UKIP guy got a grilling yet the Lib dem guy was allowed a free run over their serious allegations.

       72 likes

    • Ken Hall says:

      Also interesting that this parish councillor and his religious opinion was completely ignored by all the mainstream media when he was a tory. He skips to UKIP, writes about the floods which he claimed he predicted and the whole establishment want to jump on this nutter in order to cause maximum embarrasment to UKIP.

         4 likes

  4. EmersonV says:

    I can’t think why the bbc never got round to reporting this.

    Anyone guess why?

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2539825/Fishery-bailiff-kicked-ground-stabbed-challenging-poachers-dead-pike-carrier-bag.html

       40 likes

  5. Idiotboy says:

    Lengthy piece on Radio 5 Live this morning on the coming demise of BBC rival ITV’s soap character Hayley Cropper.
    Why the interest ?
    Concern for sufferers in the real world ?
    To give well deserved praise for the undoubted acting ability of the two main characters involved in the storyline?
    To announce new advances in the treatment of the disease concerned ?
    No, of course, this is merely another opportunity to push BBC groupthink on euthanasia.
    Expect this to continue through the coming week.

       48 likes

    • Lynette says:

      Influencing the public to accept that legalisation of euthanasia is necessary is rather frightening and it is certainly not the job of a publically funded media service. Strong complaints should be made against this.

         26 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Wasn`t there a “transexual” called Hayley some time back.
      Played by a real woman of course, given how grotesque it might all be-and we can`t have that is SoapWorld.
      So until a few ladyboys get a visa or two we`ll be stuck with real women “!patronising” the Transexual Community with their catricatures.
      Maybe we could settle on Pete Burns for now….
      In years to come-who knows?…women playing sex changes will be as offensive to some new-fangled rights lobby, as Al Jolson or John Inman.
      Maybe Womans Hour could do something about Victim Group No 1001…the unemployed transexual!

         8 likes

      • Leha says:

        who the fuck wants to be seriously ill, languishing in some crappy hospital where no one gives a monkeys, and no relatives to look out for you? Everyone in the country should be given the choice of a blue pill and some dignity at the end of their days. And not all TS folk are victims.

           11 likes

        • pah says:

          You are right on both points but there is a significant difference between suicide and euthanasia. Just ask all those grannies on the ‘Pathway’.

          If we grant the State power to bump us off when it feels like we have no further use ask them too they will do so with relish.

          Would you really trust the likes of George Galloway, Owen Jones or Gordon Brown with your life?

             17 likes

  6. #88 says:

    Evan Davies (Yes definately Evan Davies) on this morning’s Toady programme, cheerily tells us about the good news that the bad weather brought with it earlier this month.

    ‘The 6th January, he tells us, ‘was the best day on record, for wind turbines, At 7pm, the peak point, wind was supplying, GET THIS, 14% of our electricity.

    The words were from the Daily Telegraph, apart for the ‘GET THIS’ which were his own.

    Davies’ on message comment can be heard below at 45:05, and heard reaching for the tissues a few seconds later.

    You need to watch out for premature congratulation, Evan. This morning wind was producing just a piddling 0.94% of our electricty.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q5d6y

       61 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      He neglected to mention,of course, that during periods of high winds, generation is of necessity curtailed, and the public purse has to pay back the owners approximately £5 million for lack of electricity production. Get that

         55 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Presumably this may be an instance where the BBC is less keen on those averages that they can spin into balance?
      From installed capacities that ‘could’ power half of Scotland to iconic days that fit the narrative for the rest of the month, when it comes to data, what they BBC sees fit to work with appears to be blowing with the wind.

         22 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      In the interests of balance, as and when we experience the next sustained blast of freezing weather when pressure is high and temperatures are low – they’ll report on the static wind turbines and the fact they’re producing eff-all energy just when we need it most.

      Like f*** they will.

         28 likes

  7. The PrangWizard of England says:

    The review into the Police Federation has been published and the BBC is reporting it. The Federation is accused of being politicized, of attacking and smearing opponents of its viewpoint, stifling critics, of secrecy and hoarding funds, amongst other things. In effect it seems to be saying the organisation is politically, morally, and financially corrupt. The authors recommend total reform, from top to bottom, and subscriptions to it should be reduced.

    Does this criticism remind anyone of an organisation with which we are all very familiar? I did hope the reporter had his own employers in mind when he was reciting all this, but I imagine not.

    I suspect the BBC will deny if challenged that there are any similarities with itself, but we know better.

    The BBC is overdue for similar treatment, it is urgent.

       65 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘The authors recommend total reform, from top to bottom, and subscriptions to it should be reduced’
      As a matter of interest, what are the parameters governing such subs?

         16 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Without the paedophile rings and the hyper efficicient tax schemes though I`d imagine.
      No Occupy, no NCSPP, no Rantzen were able to come to the phone I`d imagine….why else would the BBC choose to miss out on these two great scandals of Big Oil, Big Pharma,,,,oh, and now Big Media…that`ll be the BBC then!

         10 likes

  8. Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

    Daily Politics show today, after quizzing Ming Campbell on Rennard, had a welcome distraction by outnumbering a UKIP spokesman by 4 to 1 including the presenter, and having a great laugh at the expense of UKIP.
    Cheryl Gillan, Tessa Jowell, and Ming, all chuckling uproariously at UKIP oddballs. Even one who was previously featured on the Conservative Party Website.
    Cheryl Gillan poo-pooed the UKIP threat, dismissing it.
    Didn’t catch name of UKIP spokesman, but he handled the pisstaking well, keeping his composure.
    Will all these folk be laughing like drains after the Euro Elections I wonder?

       74 likes

    • stewart says:

      Not so much laughing as whisterling in the dark perhaps?
      http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timwigmore/100254439/why-labour-should-be-terrified-of-ukip-2/

         31 likes

    • David Brims says:

      The Media Industrial Complex is going into overdrive to smear and discredit UKIP, there must be a European election on the horizon. I particularly like this planted / black ops story in the Daily Mail.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520012/Send-home-In-shocking-video-UKIP-councillor-key-Farage-ally-launches-astonishing-racist-rant–tells-MoS-I-stand-word.html

         33 likes

    • David Brims says:

      ” UKIP oddballs.”

      or you could say ” Eagles fly alone while sparrows fly in flocks.”

         23 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      When that fruitcake who leads the Tory party said something dogmatic about the cause of the floods, even the Met Office complained about that “wishful thinking fruitcake statement” about Climate Change.

      But the Tory’s have still not sacked their fruitcake of a leader, I suppose it is because the sacked UKIP councillor has a very old fashioned religious fruitcake thought process, while the the leaders of the LibLabCon parties have a very modern atheist form of fruitcake thought process.

         43 likes

    • Oldbob says:

      What these arrogant twats don’t yet get, is that there are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of totally pissed off and angry traditional Tory and Labour voters, like me, who are going to vote Ukip in the Euro elections simply because if enough do it is guaranteed to scare the shit out of both the UK and the Brussels establishment. The 2015 election is another matter, but it seems to me that regardless of any reservations people may have about Ukip, a vote for them in May can have a real and lasting effect on these two festering crapheaps.

         49 likes

      • Dave s says:

        I think they know this and it terrifies them. No democratic legitimacy is their greatest fear. Not that they (the liblabcon) have much respect for democracy it is just that they need large voting numbers to keep the facade in place.
        I hope we can say bye bye to the libdems and put the fear of God into Cameron and Milliband.
        A vote for UKIP is essential. Nothing to do with whether you really like them or not. Just do it at the EU elections.
        And the General as well

           25 likes

  9. Scrappydoo says:

    Lowell Ponte on Radio Liberty Friday Jan 17th 1st hour, discussing climate, weather and debunking the warmist’s position ( Al Gore, The Ship of fools etc.).

    [audio src="http://mediaarchives.gsradio.net/radioliberty/011714a.mp3" /]

       12 likes

    • Arthur Penney says:

      Well hopefully THIS ARTICLE will go someway towards paying off the rescue costs.

      PS – can you spot what is NOT in the article – presumably too embarrassed to mention it.

         10 likes

      • lojolondon says:

        Maybe the fact that the Antarctic ice shelf has been growing steadily for the last decade? Maybe the fact that 100 years ago Mawson sailed his little boat way past where the expedition reached last month and came away safely, without being trapped? – Oh yes, this is one of the features of global warming – massive increase in the amount of ice – along with Niagra falls freezing over – if you can believe that!

           24 likes

  10. David Brims says:

    Turned on my television yesterday morning looking for something to watch and I came across a programme I’ve never seen before, with a hyperbolic title called ” The BIG Questions !!! ” presented by the one and only Nicki Campbell.

    Phony Nicki was putting on that insincere look of ” I’m a SERIOUS journalist and I so desperately want to be taken seriously !!”

    I looked at the demographics of the ”audience” and I thought to myself, why is this being broadcast from an Ethiopian studio ? then I realised it was Manchester. I found the whole experience somewhat disagreeable.

       76 likes

  11. Doublethinker says:

    Surely E Miliband’s latest coup de theatre on forcing more competition in banking and energy supply is bad news for the BBC. Of course, it is not proven that what E Miliband proposes is either necessary of will be effective, but if he is going to look at areas of our national life where the consumer interest has little or no say, and the service is in the hands of vested interests, then he need look no further than the BBC. Another obvious examples where real competition would benefit the consumer would be that mighty Labour sacred cow the NHS but he certainly won’t take it to the abattoir.
    But back to the BBC. The near monopoly enjoyed by the BBC is surely one which must be broken up. There is no need for a state funded broadcaster in the 21st century.Indeed, even ignoring the crucial issue of bias, one can make a case that the BBC is doing great harm by preventing other providers from being able to break into the market. Isn’t this exactly what Mr Miliband so dislikes in other spheres? So I will offer him a deal. I will support him starting up his two new, but probably unnecessary , challenger banks, if he promises to give nearly every family in the country a bonus of £145 pa by getting rid of the License Fee and commercialising the BBC. Could any politician resist such good news for the consumer?

       30 likes

    • Deborah says:

      Lord Young of Darlington, according to Wiki helped form the present Labour Party, and is the founder of Which magazine and the Consumers’ Association. It might have been relevant to Ed’s newest scheme for these organisations to report to Government on competition. Were these links highlighted on the Today programme. Not on the snippets I heard.

         17 likes

      • #88 says:

        It is simply unacceptable that these ‘so-called’ independent organisations be co-opted into the regualtion of business. They should be independent of the Government – at arms length.

        Yesterday I posted links to two Spectator threads that showed the very close ‘Which?’ links to the Labour Party and predicted that the BBC would be giving them a platform anytime soon.

        Around 12 hours later, their Exec Director, Richard Lloyd was on the ‘Today’ programme in an odd interveiw, supposedly recorded at around 4.45am, responding to Miliband’s announcement. Richard Lloyd is a former adviser to Tony Blair.

        The other leading light in ‘Which?’ is Sonia Shoda. Read her stuff and you’ll see it is pure Miliband rubbish. Not surpising when you discover that Shoda was adviser to Miliband until fairly recently.

        When the BBC have ‘Which?’ on ‘Today’ and their other programmes, they don’t tell you of these links…or that ‘Which?’ speaks for the Labour Party.

        Look at their press releases (something that I posted yesterday) and ask yourself, can you trust ‘Which?’, can you trust the BBC?

        http://press.which.co.uk/#?intcmp=GNH.About-Us.Press-Office

           26 likes

      • Big Dick says:

        Jo Coburn ,from the Daily Politics is up for election to the Which board , read it in one of their recent editions ,the other day .

           7 likes

  12. The Poltergeist says:

    Three things:

    1. Yesterday’s top World News item was the death of one of their own. Not the riots in Ukraine or other important news. One of our employees has died.
    2. The Howard League for Penal Reform gets another free advertisement as the beeb continues its agenda of portraying the criminal as the victim. The story that rapists and murderers are killing one another in prison is clearly a bad thing. Not to 99% of the UK it isn’t.
    3. Mark Duggan. Panorama. The Death of an innocent little wallflower and how the Police are all evil.

       54 likes

  13. The Highland Rebel says:

    Just stop handing over your wonga to them

    http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUoQx_r4KP70nC5jjtJ_tvg

       8 likes

  14. George R says:

    INBBC news editor briefing this morning:? ‘Let’s skip the ‘Daily Telegraph’s lead page 1 story, shall we?-

    “Al-Qaeda training British and European ‘jihadists’ in Syria to set up terror cells at home,
    “Al-Qaeda training hundreds of British and European jihadis in Syria – and telling them to return home to set up terror cells”

    By Ruth Sherlock, Gaziantep, and Tom Whitehead

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10582945/Al-Qaeda-training-British-and-European-jihadists-in-Syria-to-set-up-terror-cells-at-home.html

       25 likes

  15. George R says:

    We can expect some fair and impartial political propaganda from pro-al Jazeera, pro-Muslim Brotherhood Beeboids on this case:-

    “Three Al-Jazeera Egypt journalists ‘facing charges'”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25765825

       9 likes

  16. David Preiser (USA) says:

    BBC journalist Jane Bradley admits that journalism is about effecting change. Not impartial at all. She’s only chagrined that more people RTed her tweet that contained a picture of a penis than any of her stuff about Chomsky or Occupy or Assange or other Left-wing darlings or pet issues.

    The BBC is not an impartial news organization. BBC journalists believe their job is to influence public opinion. Not merely to inform, but to change.

       56 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      By failing to grasp this, and then share that failure (in the manner adopted), she has made a right abbreviated Richard of herself.
      Hence that tweet would seem to accurately define her career and output.
      Guessing Mr. Hughes already on the blower (that’s telephone BTW, at least outside the BBC) to the lady with an offer she may not be able to refuse, at least without counsel present.

         19 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      Her Twitter profile.

      ‘Another investigative journalist who thinks they work for MI5.’ BBC Panorama. Senior Broadcast Journalist (Multiplatform Producer). I think for myself.’
      —————————————————————————

      ‘I think for myself’.

      Yeah, sure you do, Treacle. That;s why you read the Guardian

         30 likes

  17. David Preiser (USA) says:

    BBC Digital maven, Richard Leeming:

       17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      AbbreviatedRichards.com
      There’s a lot of ’em about at the BBC.
      Danny Cohen’s boys & girls to be sure.
      Humph best watch his back (more than any staff need to do, all things considered).

         9 likes

  18. David Preiser (USA) says:

    From the BBC College of Journalism blog, Mark Mardell’s expert advice on how impartial journalists should work a press conference:

    They get called for their network, not because they are nice or clever. Working for the BBC, or another big company, it could be you. If so, it can be a good idea to work out a game plan with trusted competitor colleagues – hunting as a pack can be ugly but sometimes it works.

    Critics of the media complain when we see this happen, and journalists get all defensive and swear there’s no collusion, but here we see it openly admitted and recommended.

    And then your LOL moment:

    Of course, be prepared. But really know the stuff – half-digested detailed information is more dangerous to comprehension than stumbling in with a blank notebook and lots of ignorant questions.

       17 likes

    • therealguyfaux says:

      That won’t have been something our Mark was doing with Ezra Klein et al, back in the early Obama days, co-ordinating questions– now would it have been? Someone would have needed to get Mark up to speed. Nothing like a good chin-wag with the mates, eh, Mark?
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JournoList

         4 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        I think Mardell was still the BBC’s Socialist Europe editor at the time. Craig and I tried to figure out (mostly Craig’s work) which Beeboid was actually part of the JournoList, but never had any hard proof. Craig thought it might have been Max Deveson. Certainly ex-BBC and current Democrat strategist (a lateral move) Katie Connolly was connected on some level, as she often RTed and quoted JournoListas on message. She was definitely Twitter buddies with a few.

           6 likes

        • therealguyfaux says:

          Mardell’s CV shows him to have been in DC whilst the JournoList still existed (Summer ’09 till JL disbanded, June ’10). It had been rumbled already, and was the butt of jokes, but it still existed.

          Not to say he specifically participated, you understand, but that he might be considered to have been broadly in sympathy with them and, being the new boy, he may have let them do his heavy-lifting for him till he would have found his sea legs. Wouldn’t have done for a BBC’er not to dig and find what the Obama-bhisti choir were practising, so when they all asked everyone to sing along, he’d have some idea what their programme was.

             1 likes

          • David Preiser (USA) says:

            I’m pretty sure Mardell would have been spouting his far-Left drivel anyway. After all, he openly admitted from the moment he arrived in the US knowing that he suspected that everything was about race and racism, and has spent the last four-plus years convinced of it, refusing to let anything change his mind. He once expressed to his audience at the BBC College of Journalism how appalled he was that wonderful revolutionary effects of “the 60s” weren’t much in evidence.

               4 likes

            • therealguyfaux says:

              Well, of course Mark Mardell would be so predisposed as to figure everything to do with America and US politics, especially under Obama, is down to race. My point is that JournoList operated shamelessly (until it couldn’t keep either its face or its lies straight anymore) as the sort of collusion Mark seems to think is all right to be engaged in. He may have seen it as a crib-sheet to fill in a few details he may have needed to know, I was thinking more like.

              The bigger issue than whether Mardell and Ezra Klein ever collaborated in anything is whether “journalists” continue to collaborate for the purpose of either going easy on a particular public figure of whom they’re fond, or to ask fraught “Still beating your wife– yes or no, sir?”-type questions of one they don’t care for.
              Of course, when evidence of nonfeasance, misfeasance or malfeasance is all around, and any idiot with an IQ higher than room temperature can see it, for journalists NOT to ask the hard questions seems like a dereliction of duty, so they DO at times bring up unpleasant subjects public figures had rather they hadn’t. And if the public figure’s response is in effect to say, “Whom do you believe, ME– or your lying eyes?”, of course it will look like the reporters are ganging up when they all ask the same thing– something that has occurred to even someone who is not the sharpest knife in the kitchen. Campaigns of silence are suspect, but when the reporters all go hard, they are called a “feeding frenzy.” It’s not these instances to which I refer– it’s when the reporters all seem to be, and are treated as, “Politician X’s steno pool,” that I am talking about, with regard to seeming Borg-like unanimity.

                 1 likes

              • David Preiser (USA) says:

                I’m sure lots of journalists talk to each other and share info and the like. I wouldn’t say that’s the same thing as collusion at all. But there are clearly times when they do, i.e. the JournoList or instances where reporters are caught coordinating an attack at a press conference. The fact that the BBC College of Journalism offers this as a recommendation to aspiring journalists is revealing. So is Mardell’s reference to “trusted” colleagues. If that’s not an admission of shared ideology, I don’t know what is. It’s too bad no actual journalists still read this blog, as I’d love to hear one of them try and tell me I’m reading something that isn’t there.

                Collusion does exist, probably on a number of levels and in different ways, and no journalist can deny it.

                   1 likes

  19. Thoughtful says:

    Radio 4 Food and the Future of Pubs, the Food program, and basically the future is take over by Asians who drink like Sikhs – who seem to be the biggest drinkers ! (Biggest drinkers I’ve ever met).

    The producer Perminder Khatkar

    Sheila Dillon hears the latest on the role of food in the future of the British pub. From traditional Asian curries to the influence of Michelin starred chefs.

       7 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Er, not for Batley, Dewsbury etc-where other Asian gentlemen would rather no pubs were there…and now they`re not!
      Any comments from the Food Programme?

         19 likes

  20. The General says:

    Sky New headlines report IMF says Britain’s economy is growing faster than predicted and faster than any of the leading economies.
    BBC failed to even mention it on ALL their outlets. How is that for blatant bias? Had the IMF said we were flat ling they would have been all over it.

       42 likes

  21. The General says:

    We are emerging from the most devastating financial crisis in history. It has had major implications in the lives of the majority of the working population of the country and ruined many businesses. Economies feed off confidence and the raising of confidence is dependent on the reporting of favorable financial information.
    The BBC it seems are determined to deprive the public of that information where they can, no doubt to assist their friends in the Labour Party. The good of the country and journalistic values take a back seat.

       41 likes

  22. Mark II says:

    Oh the humanity – poor little beeboids like Paxman, Maitliss and Bruce may well be forced to take a 25% pay cut as the BBC feels that their freelance contracts are allowing them to make off-shore tax arrangements thus minimising their tax bills – so they will have to become in-house staffers and pay proper UK income tax like the rest of us.

    I guess that they will be threatening to take the Murdoch shilling – just imagine a world where the BBC had lost its “talent”.

    Strangely I can’t find any mention of this on the BBC news site – but here is the Telegraph’s take on it…
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10582550/BBC-stars-face-25-pay-cuts-in-tax-avoidance-clampdown.html

       36 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The freelance contracts which allowed them to avoid higher taxes on BBC advice, you mean.

      Yet another instance of the BBC reluctantly cleaning house after massive media attention. Imagine how disgustingly corrupt and mendacious the BBC would be if not for a few enemies from the Right who occasionally pounced. And I don’t mean Uncle Rupert.

         12 likes

  23. Doyle says:

    We’ve talked about this before, that is, period characters (in this case the 1950’s) mouthing contemporary opinion.

    Father Brown: The Prize of Colonel Gerard
    Father Brown is staring at a stuffed tiger.
    “What a strange compulsion man has to try and conquer nature. I fear that someday we will reap the whirlwind for such arrogance.”

    Was he really talking about a stuffed tiger or was talking about something else, you know, something the BBC zealously believe in?

       17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Rather unengaging series, despite a fair amount thrown at it (didn’t even connect it was the BBC), rather placing it with Atlantis on our tv triage viewing list.
      Last episode we watched was good for an stuffed metaphor.
      Daft, greedy Aunty disappears down a black hole seeking more treasure and gets stuck when nobody can (wants to?) pay heed to her any more.
      If a BBC commission, maybe not the one they were aiming for.

         8 likes

    • mikef says:

      I recorded the Father Brown second series and am now working my way through them. It seems to me far inferior to the first series which tended to stick more closely to the original stories. Just watched one about the WI. Gosh, how they must have sniggered at the storyline! It started with a poster advertising two talks: Educating the African Orphan and then Go Gay without Meat (or something like that) about vegetarian cooking. All the women were twin set and pearls types, some even with upswept glasses. BBC producers inhabit a world of stereotypes, don’t they?

      The previous one involved a woman sentenced to death. Long scene in the condemned cell, with a noose prominently displayed. I remember reading that Albert Pierrepoint would dispatch the condemned person in seconds – they would be blindfolded and bundled off to the gallows. But the BBC doesn’t approve of capital punishment so they have to make it as much of an ordeal as possible.

         12 likes

  24. Reed says:

    More BBC impartiality…

    See the BBC Noticeboard Mocking Tory Cock-Ups

    http://order-order.com/2014/01/20/see-the-bbc-noticeboard-mocking-tory-cock-ups/

    As Guido says, “No doubt they’ve got a noticeboard devoted to laughing at Labour MPs the other side of the office. Right?”

    torylol.jpg?w=480&h=486

       48 likes

  25. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Today on Today:

    0645

    Opposition leader Ed Miliband set out a plan yesterday for a Labour government to foster more competition in the UK, using consumer groups such as Which? to keep checking that competition in the UK is working effectively. Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, discusses.

    Evan Davis asked the Which? boss if Labour asked him before announcing his organization’s involvement if they were capable of actually doing what Miliband wanted. No, came the reply, but that’s how it usually is anyway. Unquestioning trust is the order of the day. Then Davis asked if the current government agency overseeing business competition was “rubbish”. Reply: “Their record is patchy,” and the Which? boss then entered into a monologue about how his organization would help balance out the business interests in meetings.

    No asking what Labour would actually do, nothing from the opposition to perhaps say they weren’t crap.

    0832 (actually 0836)

    The Labour leader Ed Miliband says he wants to promote competition and support consumers. Independent columnist Steve Richards and economist Professor John Kay debate.

    Left-wing Independent, who thinks Miliband’s announcement was “politically astute” and gives commentary on what a good election strategy this is. He’s not necessarily condoning the ideology, of course. Davis does his usual rephrasing of what his guest side, but curiously it was in support of his guest and not mischaracterizing it. Also present was the LSE’s (natch) John Kay, while not too far Left (he doesn’t approve of State-controlled economies per se), is a proponent of “disciplined economic pluralism”. Here’s something from an old interview in the Guardian:

    He compares greedy boardroom fat cats to corrupt African dictators. He thinks anti-globalisation protestors are naive and wrong. He takes sideswipes at his old Oxford colleagues and believes Tony Blair could be the best thing for the centre-left since Roosevelt.

    In other words, more or less of the Left, and so no real balance. But of course, he wasn’t there to provide balance at all. He was there to give his own expert views on what a Labour Government might do. Kay’s input was more about streamlining policies in place to do more what Miliband seems to want, and offered suggestions for what he’d agree with if Miliband had said it. Davis pointed out that Miliband’s announcement was light on actual strategy, with which Kay agreed. So? That doesn’t mean the ideology behind it is wrong, and nobody was there to provide a different viewpoint about competition or possible strategies. But it’s okay for Miliband to be vague here. Policy statements by the Opposition, he says, are “symbolic”, no need to flesh it out. The Independent guy objected to that, from a political strategy point. No actual criticism of Miliband offered on any level.

    Two segments on Miliband’s announcement, no alternative view provided, no opportunity for the current Government to defend itself or discuss the announcement. Perhaps tomorrow?

       25 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      And I bet they all greeted each other with their secret Common Purpose handshake.

         22 likes

      • stewart says:

        How does that work-Left hands giving two fingered salute to the proles, while their right hands indulge in some mutual masturbation?

           14 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      UPDATE: Nope, nothing from the other point of view today on Today, either. So two essentially pro-Labour segments, and nothing to balance it out either in the same programme or the next day’s edition.

         5 likes

  26. johnnythefish says:

    BBC North West News this week running a little feature on how you can save on your energy bills. I assume the crescendo on Friday will be the living in a hut made of grass cuttings and cowshit – i.e. the Agenda 21 ‘final solution’.

    But in the meantime our intrepid reporter was up on the Saddleworth Moors – ‘the windiest place in the region’ – where some fruitbat had installed a wind turbine (cut to blades whirling like a dervish) at an eye-watering cost of £50,000.

    I missed the opening exchange because of the noise going on in the gym at the time, but I’m pretty sure there was some mention of doing his bit for climate change, but I might be wrong.

    Anyway, reporter bird must have noticed the noise so fruitbat explained the ‘chopper like’ sound you could hear (pretty constant, I’d imagine, if it’s as windy up there as the she was making out) was apparently made by the blades as they rotate past the body of the turbine. Ah, that’s….sort of ok, then, if you’re living some kind of 24/7 ‘Apocalypse Now’ fantasy.

    And apparently it will only take said fruitbat 7 years to recoup his ‘investment’. How? Not explained. Subsidies? Not mentioned. Lifespan of the turbine? Didn’t get asked. What happens when there’s no wind? Er, talk to the hand…

    So there you have it. Today’s solution for cutting your energy bills is to move up to the moors and buy yourself a £50k wind turbine – bought ‘as seen’, of course.

    Out of touch eco-socialist wankers.

       31 likes

  27. Guest Who says:

    BBC World News
    What’s trending on social media where you are? Have you shared a trend that you think we should cover? ‪#‎BBCtrending‬ wants to hear from YOU! Send us your suggestions in the comments below or tweet @BBCtrending. We’ll take a selection of your tips and make a video similar to this one
    They want to hear from YOU!
    So have it it, Social Mediateers (the current submissions are a bit… lacking).
    Small caution to avoid disappointment: that ‘We’ll take a selection..’ bit rather means what they want to hear about and from whom may pass through a bit of a filter before popping out to speak for the nation in the way required.
    Want to find out more? Click…

       10 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Just got to this…
      BBC News
      Your chance to talk to BBC science editor David Shukman at 14:00 GMT today. He’s just returned from China. You can find out what he discovered by watching the video below and reading his blog: http://bbc.in/1aYI5gd. Please post your questions here.
      Bit late to join in, but looking at the thread things rather spiraled downhill across a variety of criteria.

         9 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        Cracking comment:

        ‘They should clone Tigers, Rhinos and Elephants. Mass produce them so that the price for illegally poached animals drops, and therefore the temptation to hunt and destroy the wild populations goes away! Invest some of the profits in conservation of the wild populations of those animals.’

        Straight off the Viz letters page!

           12 likes

  28. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The BBC has renewed marching orders from the President, via “this interview in the elitist, white, Left-wing New Yorker:

    “There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black President,” Obama said. “Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black President.” The latter group has been less in evidence of late.

    It’s always about racism in the end. It’s all He has, and it’s all they have. He knows He gets a pass because of white guilt, and that’s apparently okay. But as long as we have the “they don’t like the black man”, even if He qualifies it as “some”, the media, and especially the BBC, will focus exclusively on that and act as if almost all opposition is due to racism.

       32 likes

    • MartinW says:

      An astonishing remark for a president to make in any circumstances. “Some people don’t like me because I’m black”. How pathetic is that!?

         33 likes

      • stewart says:

        More interestingly
        ““Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black President.” The latter group has been less in evidence of late.”
        Does that mean his 95% black voter support is slipping? And if so can they still be counted on to transfer loyalty to Mrs Bill?

           18 likes

        • Lynette says:

          the BBC (Radio 4) chose to emphasise again that Obama was the first black president and we again heard his words when he was sworn in the second time round.. But this time it seemed important to mention he was sworn in on his wife’s bible. I wonder why? ( It was one of the news stories that happened on this day in the past ).

             14 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Not at all astonishing, really. It was only a matter of time. To His credit, He’s mostly refused to play that game and has taken care not to appear like He’s the President for Blacks above others. Now that He’s losing serious credibility and ground, though, He’s got to play the last card He and the Democrats and Progressives have.

        What’s funny is that He’s accidentally admitting that the guilty whites who gave Him a pass previously (meaning He knows He was elected due in part to white guilt) are now realizing He’s a lousy President and are no longer looking the way other way. Even if they, like Mark Mardell are only disappointed that He hasn’t shifted the country far enough to the Left, they’re still realizing He’s not good at His job. Many on the Left, though, are not happy with the way He lied about ObamaCare or about the NSA. Mardell sort of admitted once that He’s just not that good at the political compromising of being President, but to the BBC’s US President editor that just means His special personality makes Him superior to the ugliness required in DC, all that is beneath Him, not that He’s bad at it for less than flattering reasons, or that His policies are actually bad. The only policy Mardell or anyone at the BBC has ever objected to is the drone wars, and they whisper that quietly.

        A cynical person would see this as the President playing the race card in order to remind those people who are “less in evidence of late” where their duty lies. He’s a divisive President not just because His policies are divisive: He does it on purpose. But that’s why we call Him the Community Organizer-in-Chief.

        This will be shocking to the BBC.

           25 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          PS: I forgot: Mardell also objected to the President bombing Libya. But of course he blamed us for forcing the Reluctant Warrior-in-Chief into that, so not really His fault, per se.

             13 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      I too wondered if this was serving his legacy well.
      The notion that folk were not racist in a different time when they were supporting him, but are now when they’ve stopped does not make much sense other than in ways that should make a few heads explode.

         14 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      In denying the part of his heritage pertaining to whiteness, Obama obviously doesn’t like the ‘idea’ of a mixed race President.

         16 likes

  29. stuart says:

    this liberal peer lord rennard come across to me as a bit of a oddball and fruitcake,i have not got a clue whether he allegedly touched up and sexually harrassed these fellow liberal women,there are 2 sides to every story but i know who i believe,tonight on radio 5 live he said no way would he apologise for something he has not done,i aint done nothing wrong is the standard line these days from politicians these days,have i not heard that line before from the expense fiddlers down parliament,but whether he is guilty or not we will never know,one thing i do know if he did put his hands up and admiited these serious allegations that would probably open up a new police investigation,a very strange and sleasy bag of worms could then be opened up into the going ons within the liberal party,very strange indeed.

       7 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      The World at One spent at least 10 minutes covering this. Sorry, but sexual harassment is getting blown (oo-er) out of all proportion – either that or it’s being used to further an already shagged-out (oooo-errrr) agenda. I’m just amazed that these ’empowered’ women never think of giving these groping pervs a good slap whilst threatening them with exposure (ok, that’s enough) and/or reporting them to the police if they don’t pack it in. Don’t they have any balls?

         17 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        To be fair….
        As one who has spent the last few decades either self employed or an employer I may be missing a few up to date tricks, but taking the BBC as a guide, I’d say any lady showing some cojones in a fellow faux-equal opportunity environment like the Limp Pervs would be unlikely to see much support from management or colleagues either.

           6 likes

      • Deborah says:

        Yes, Johnnytf, it annoys me immensely when highly paid women complain about harassment. Even when I first started work I knew how to deal with trouble in the work place. Often reminders that the men wouldn’t expect their wives or daughters to be treated in that way usually worked and I therefore never had to resort to a smack around the chops – but I would have if it had proved necessary. But if Rennard really was threatening that these women would never get a constituency if they were not nice to him, that is perhaps more difficult to deal with.

           11 likes

  30. George R says:

    More BBC-NUJ propaganda for ‘asylum seekers’.

    Beeboids use the political voice of Lib Dem, Menzies Campbell, to launch their joint political campaign.

    “Syria: UK must accept refugees as ‘matter of humanity'”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25816108

    The following objections are censored out:-

    1.) No mention of maximum numbers.
    No mention of human rights legislation making permanent settlement of such people in Britain guaranteed.

    2.) The inevitable cultural apartheid.

    3.) High education costs.

    4.) High health costs.

    5.) High housing costs.

    6.) High welfare costs.

    7.) The real threat of jihad violence from among the Islamic jihadists using the ‘asylum’ system.

    8.) Views of indigenous British people relegated, or ignored by political class (inc BBC -NUJ).

    9.) No political party supported mass ‘asylum seekers’ as a policy in their last political manifesto.

       37 likes

  31. George R says:

    For BBC-NUJ, re-‘asylum seekers’ in Sweden-

    “A Nation Commits Suicide”

    (inc 4-min video clip).

    http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/09/a-nation-commits-suicide/

       15 likes

  32. Will all end in tears says:

    Wank hand Bacon providing us with his well thought out and reasoned insight into the “Empire Games”

    “We came and took your resources……..”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q5lzr
    01:41:50

    Had I wanted student union debating society politics I’d have consulted Nick fucking Clegg.

    Deep down, in his heart of hearts Bacon knows he’s a despised tosser.

    His shouty, “everybody pay attention to me” style is a dead giveaway.

       35 likes

  33. Rufus McDufus says:

    This surprised me – a good article by Dan Snow on WW1 myths today. I was expecting it to be a full-on Gove attack but it actually seems to concur and go against the ‘Tony Robinson’ version of events.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25776836

       32 likes

    • ember2013 says:

      Yes give Snow credit for getting that past the BBC censors.

         13 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      This is good, but it would be more effective (Beeboids become journalists to change hearts and minds, right?) if the BBC produced a special debate with Snow against Tony Robinson and some other BBC luvvie who spouts the usual received wisdom.

         16 likes

  34. George R says:

    INBBC censors this beheading of his mother by Islamic convert in Edinburgh area?:-

    “Irish Muslim Convert Beheads, Dismembers His Mother in Savage Honor Killing Inspired by the Quran: ‘he believed very strongly in the morals of the Koran.'”

    Read more: http://pamelageller.com/atlas_shrugs/2014/01/irish-muslim-convert-beheads-dismembers-his-mother-in-savage-honor-killing-inspired-by-the-quran-he-believed-very-strongly-in-the-morals-of-the-koran.html/#ixzz2qyH9w5Ao
    Follow us: @Atlasshrugs on Twitter | pamelageller on Facebook

       15 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Dez says this doesn’t exist.

         12 likes

      • dez says:

        David Preiser,

        James Dunleavy was found guilty of culpable homicide on grounds of diminished responsibility. Soon after his arrest he was transfered from prison into the local hospital with suspected paranoid schizophrenia.

        But never mind eh? Wouldn’t want the facts to get in the way of your bigotry.

           9 likes

        • Rufus McDufus says:

          Ah, that makes it OK then.

             5 likes

          • johnnythefish says:

            Funny how any criticism of Islam is bigotry in the world of Dez.

            Funny too, how the world of Dez is so like the world of BBC in this respect.

               3 likes

          • johnnythefish says:

            Funny how any criticism of Islam is considered bigotry in The World of Dez.

            Funny, too, how alike The World of Dez and The World of BBC are in this respect.

               3 likes

        • Joshaw says:

          So it was just a coincidence that a Muslim convert happened to choose beheading, and if he had chosen the Salvation Army instead he would have done it anyway?

             2 likes

  35. Pounce says:

    How the bBC lies over how many cons die.
    Prison suicides at six-year high, Howard League says
    The number of suicides at prisons in England in Wales in 2013 was the highest for six years, the Howard League for Penal Reform has said. In total, 199 deaths were reported, 70 of which were self-inflicted. Howard League chief executive Frances Crook said almost all deaths in custody were “preventable”. The Prison Service said it was committed to safety and each death was investigated by police and the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. The Howard League statistics are based on notifications from the Ministry of Justice.

    So reading the above how many convicts died inside prison in 2013 (Not 2012 bBC) 129 you think from how the bBC open with that article? Wow that is a lot isn’t it. But hang on what’s this further down the article:
    The Howard League said there were four murders or suspected murders in prisons in 2012, the highest for 15 years.

    4 deaths out of of a prison population (As of Nov 13) of 85,382 add the fact that every one of those 85 thousand inmates isn’t an angle and you have to admit that 4 deaths isn’t that high a figure. But hey to the bBC its a human rights crime.

       17 likes

    • Pounce says:

      Meanwhile inside Birmingham prison:
      An HMP Birmingham inmate used a shard of glass to launch a “frenzied” attack on several guards after smashing the TV set in his cell, a court has heard. Ahmed Sharif Jama Al-Sharif, 53, is alleged to have “cut down to the bone” of one prison officer’s arm.

      Where the Howard League when you want them to make a comment?

         34 likes

  36. Geoff says:

    My local BBC West Inside Out program had an item about energy theft featuring Hackney and Lewisham (BBC West ??) It was stated that 1000’s of rented properites had bypassed meters, one even admitted to digging up the road to connect a multitude of homes.

    Just to balance the item they visted a leafy superb and an upmarket 8 bedroom house, but although they blanked out the homeowners we did get a glimpse of a female member of the houshold, her clothes were not similar to what my misses would wear…..

    Of course this being the BBC, not once was the bloody big mammoth in the room mentioned….

       32 likes

    • chrisH says:

      The poor lambs are only putting themselves at risk was the message.
      As if a few cannabis growing suppliers might be missed were they to fry their brains more than their drugs do for them.
      I do hope we get a few green martyrs sometime soon…and you can bet that the BBC will
      a) want to ask the Energy Companies why they did not clearly state the risks in 80 languages
      b) did not send this personally to said Shahadi with the bill he`s not registered to receive-him not being a customer.
      c) want Cherie Blair, Phil Shiner to get over to Strasbourg to haul Big Leccy before the Latvian beak-and ensure compo for all who suffered distress as a consequence…from Shahadi to his tribal village, his travelling pals in camps and ultimately-Russell Brand, Rosie Boycott, MS clients and Johnny Dymond, Richard Bacon.
      They`re all stakeholders you see.

      Yet-the BBC don`t denounce these freeloading druggies for selfishly seeing off a snow leopard or two. This Green Crime against Gaia is a Gore One…for the Greater good, and raises consciousness in the plebs while they burn the air miles up in virtuous cause-they always are such to them.
      One final thing-any lefty, green gonk decided to run his dope farm on wind turbines yet?…or would that only confirm how shit they are at providing energy.
      No wonder these Green Beeboids of Brighton are such low wattage…be better off with ReadyBrek to provide a pilot light for under their berets!
      Ouanquers sans legeauveurs…

         10 likes

    • The Prangwizard of England says:

      And on standards; on the trailer for the programme, I noticed the reporter saying that people were stealing the ‘gas and electric’. Ill educated reporters – Dumb AND DUMBER.

         2 likes

    • Joshaw says:

      “her clothes were not similar to what my misses would wear…..”

      I though at first that she might have been a nun, but then the BBC wouldn’t have tried to blank that out, would they?

         0 likes

  37. George R says:

    Just as Indian TV stations should not come over to the U.K to make programmes to tell British people what age gaps should be between children in a family, so BBC-NUJ should not play that culturally colonial game in India, on U.K taxpayers’ money.

    “Listening to the women of Bihar”

    By Peter Horrocks.
    Director, BBC Global News.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs/the_editors/

    But the smiling, propagandising Beeboid, Horrocks is so proud of himself…

       14 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      That that all the comments in response so far to the latest idiot editors outing seem under moderation is interesting if not surprising.

         7 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Just popped back.
        All still in limbo.
        Impressive for the totality of comments over a 3-day period.

        Comment number 1. Nayna Desai
        17TH JANUARY 2014 – 23:54
        This comment is awaiting moderation. Explain.

        Comment number 2. Micky
        19TH JANUARY 2014 – 13:48
        This comment is awaiting moderation. Explain.

        Comment number 3. consideryourself
        20TH JANUARY 2014 – 16:16
        This comment is awaiting moderation. Explain.

           5 likes

        • Roland Deschain says:

          Still in limbo. I’ve felt bound to add another.

             2 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            🙂
            If yours is not gushing support too, I’d predict a closing.
            Mr. Horrocks not noted for the thickness of his Directorial hide.
            I’ve bookmarked and page captured the story so far, in case they go straight to closing with all who’ve posted left hanging, which will be frustrating for them and… unfortunate for any who get high horsey about blog modding but seem curiously uncurious about the BBC’s record.
            ‘A smaller family, with healthy, better educated children is smarter economic logic, they believe… Munni, no more than 28 or so, showed me her beautiful fourth baby.’
            Uh-huh.

               3 likes

            • Roland Deschain says:

              And lookee here, they’ve all been passed now. I never knew I had such influence.

                 3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Except Jeremy Paxman said this is how the BBC should “spread influence”.

         5 likes

  38. Geoff says:

    Don’t you just hate lefties, a few 1000 more votes for Mr Farage…

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G4H-VkvVjpw&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DG4H-VkvVjpw

       20 likes

    • Buggy says:

      Margate, home territory of Amy “Plant” Rutland. Frankly the whole place is ‘Benefits Street’ expanded to town size and would be greatly improved by nuclear attack.

         18 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      The clip contains one very honest and straight forward comment from a Left-wing campaigner : ‘He moves the agenda to the right and that’s why we have to stop him’

      Remember this mantra is at play every time you hear the BBC prioritise an anti-UKIP report.

         31 likes

      • Llareggub says:

        Thanet. The Socialist Worker Party, animal rightists and some kissing gays, with a few members of Cameron’s pals in the UAF. The UAF are calling for no platform for Mr Farrage, which should be interesting.

           13 likes

        • Ken Hall says:

          So the UAF want to prevent a legitimate, legal, non-racist political party, with democratically elected representitives, one which may even win a national election this coming May, from having any freedom to talk…

          UAF need to unite and attack a lot of mirrors. They are nothing but small-minded, intolerant fascists, the lot of them.

             11 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      And they call UKIP a bunch of fruitbats……..

         11 likes

  39. Ian Rushlow says:

    Swastika bricks! The front page of the BBC website currently (7.00am) has an item under features called “Swastika bricks – the farm in Brazil where fascists held black orphans as slaves” (no, this is not April 1st). It leads to an article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25815796) where Nazis, black slaves and football combine in a frenzy of BBC obsessions – all that are missing are some references to global warming, the threat of UKIP and the ghost of Fatcha. But are we missing something? The story of Nicolas Anelka is still in the news, the black Muslim football accused of making an anti-semitic gesture on the pitch. Given this history of fascism, slavery and football is he… somehow… justified in what he did? Should we not be… a bit more… understanding… given this legacy that presses down on him every minute of his life? Tomorrow’s article: Should we privatise the police service and withdraw bobbies from the streets so can then concentrate on checking Twitter comments?

       16 likes

    • Sir Arthur Strebe-Grebling says:

      I guess these beeboids don’t realise that the swastika shape was used for about 12,000 years as a good luck symbol, especially by such racists as, errrr, Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists, Navajo, Hopi, etc. It is only the unthinking lefties, indoctrinated to believe that saying ‘racism’ wins any argument, who automatically associate it with the German Socialists.

         11 likes

      • Ian Rushlow says:

        Indeed. There’s an example on the Indian High Commission in Aldwych. It’s next to Bush House so many BBC World Service-types who worked there should be familiar.

           10 likes

  40. Lynette says:

    A pity that the BBC Today team(Tuesday ) would not have recognised the appropriate connection between their advertisement of a future programme on Anthony Trollope the Victorian Novelist ( also known for the nasty anti Semitism in his novels )to the announcement that their next item was anti Semitism in football !

       9 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      Elgin himself looked ten years younger, now that he’d cast the die, but I thought exuberance had got the better of him when he strode into the saloon later, threw The Origin of Species on the table and announced:

      “It’s very original, no doubt, but not for a hot evening. What I need is some trollop.”

      I couldn’t believe my ears, and him a church-goer, too. “Well, my lord, I dunno,” says I. “Tientsin ain’t much of a place, but I’ll see what I can drum up —”

      “Michel’s been reading Doctor Thorne since Taku,” cried he. “He must have finished it by now, surely! Ask him, Flashman, will you?” So I did, and had my ignorance, enlightened.”

         4 likes

    • uncle bup says:

      I’m reading Orley Farm at the minute.

      No hebes so far though.

         3 likes

  41. Guest Who says:

    May just be temporary, or a glitch on my browser but, FYI, on the new thread about The Quenelle, it seems there is no ‘Leave A Reply’ facility and it simply says ‘comments are closed’.
    Only mention as I have never seen this before.

       3 likes

  42. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC News Channel lead their hourly bulletin with no less than 10 minutes on Syria.

    Of course it would be considered as heresy in certain quarters to agree with Kelvin MacKenzie and protest that the British public are simply fed up with the kind of overseas news so beloved of the globe-trotting setting-the-world-to-rights journos at the BBC.

    Perhaps our national broadcaster should listen to Mackenzie’s warning that their out of tune priorities are ‘killing TV news’.

    I too overhear ordinary Licence Payers making comments such as this : ‘When they (the BBC) warn that the news contains images that may distress viewers… well why do they then have to show them?’

    I must admit that I can see some logic in that.

       9 likes

    • Dave s says:

      This is one major reason my daughters in law and my daughters do not let the children watch television other than strictly supervised. This is not just the BBC .ITV is as bad.
      Young children should not be exposed to the news.
      In defence of the TV companies I must say the real onus is on the grown ups.

         5 likes

  43. Dazed & Confused says:

    Interesting to see Labour party activists attacking Nigel Farage in Kent….

    New tactic from the “anti Fascist” humanitarians?…

    http://nopenothope.blogspot.co.uk

       16 likes

  44. chrisH says:

    Got to say that I enjoyed Ann of Cleves( Cathy Newman…looks like a pox-carrying doxy from the 17th century!) getting that bad body language, moans and sniffs from assembled liberal chimps at yesterdays launch of their “Care in the Community” stuff on mental health.
    Reckon they had a fair few of the client base there in the room as Cathy raised Rennard again( and don`t the Liberal ladies seem to do the same?)
    Don`t think I`ve seen such a mix of Liberal pieties and self-interested chinless frocks all mooching under a padded tent.
    As if THEIR approach to all this isn`t worth a sectioning stiff`kit for 28 days.
    A modern parable-and the hiding behind mental health customer bases in the hope of encouraging us to think that this “party” deserves to exist just shows peachy socialism and lime green bile had made one psychiatric unit of this country.
    Benefits Street?…Easy Street to the likes of Clegg and Newman!
    Time to review their situations…and ask ourselves why we even give them houseroom, let alone pay for them.

       11 likes

  45. Guest Who says:

    I continue to be amazed by just how thin the news spread created by vast media estates overpopulated by low to no talent ‘reporters’ desperate to fill the 24/7 maw has become.
    At least the BBC FaceBook complements allow interactivity, but the calibre of input is so dire it’s hardly worth bothering with, if sometimes fun, or an education, or downright scary what and who they host.
    There was a classic #prasnews, ‘scientists say could…’ punt today, on the deleterious health effects of shift work.
    Now this ‘could’ have been interesting and maybe even be of value, but the whole thing seemed to spiral off into a classic BBC turd in the pool effort.
    Personally, I’d say there is little doubt that mucking about with traditional, non-nocturnal sleep patterns, especially over short periods, is going to have an effect.
    I hated it. So I did all I could not to. I also recognise what those doing it go though.
    But what was the point of the story? I doubt there will be a sudden ban on shift work. Even BBC employees need to cover the graveyard slot. And I’m sure they may be aggrieved if they stub their toe and hospitals were only 9 to 5 (though there may be another story there). And what about their addiction to far flung places? On top of shifts, what about those whose time zone clocks are constantly messed with? No stewardesses… no jaunts to Eco conferences in Bali.
    So this ‘could news’ was basically just squeezed out on a ‘poo happens’ basis.
    There is an argument that a clear issue of lifestyle demands warrants discussion to perhaps discover ways of mitigating matters, but it came across as simply another tale of woe that essentially served only to wind up folk.
    Job done then.

       4 likes

  46. George R says:

    E.U. flag at half-mast at BBC-NUJ Broadcasting House?:-

    “EU regulation forcing Europe flag to be flown outside UK Government departments scrapped”

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/455000/EU-regulation-forcing-Europe-flag-to-be-flown-outside-UK-Government-departments-scrapped

       19 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      Never mind, there’s always golf’s Ryder Cup to give the BBC an excuse to fly the EU flag.

      And here’s a Lefty argument that goes some way to explain why it is that the BBC are so keen on this particular competition.

      Also a worrying watch-this-space warning about ‘Europeanization’ of football.

      http://rensmicrodiplomacy.com/2012/03/28/guest-post-the-relationship-between-eu-identity-and-sports/

      ‘Shared identity is unsustainable without incorporating culture and sports under the European umbrella’

      ‘In 2004, the European team won the Ryder Cup and displayed the EU flag in triumph. Winning a golf tournament under the European flag, however, does not carry the same impact on a stronger EU identity nearly as much as an EU football team win could.’

      ‘One shining examples of successful integration in European football is the French national team that won the World Cup in 1998 and the Euro 2000. Half of the team was assembled of players whose origin was other than French. Such a team best represents a genuine French melting pot, unlike the homogenous German team that won the 1990 World Cup’

      You have been warned.

         11 likes

      • Buggy says:

        I’ve wondered before just what will happen when a Europe-qualified golfer from a country not belonging to the EU (Norway, Switzerland) qualifies for the Ryder Cup team since he’ll be playing under a symbol which has nothing to do with his country ?

           9 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Note that Eric Pickles will be plonking the EU flag on a noticeboard in his Department Cellar, well out of view.
      Apparently it was Prescotts boozehole when HE was the fat git who squatted over us all, when not over Tracey Temple.
      Pickles has done us all a service, looking forward to the BBC/Guardian and liberal types howling him down.
      Or-if they did-would it open a sluice that the BBC know would create blowback up their own sewers….so I sense a “hold a nosegay under the nose, `e`s not worf`it” response to Pickles gleeful shaft at EU/BBC symbols of the Occupation.
      Wonder if this could be the “Peace Process” needed for Ulster…stick the Tricolour up under a cellar bar to please Adams, McGuinness and the BBC there?

         10 likes

  47. +james says:

    Cheeky barman tried to put Tony Blair under a citizen’s arrest for ‘crimes against peace’ while the former Prime Minister dined with his family in a trendy east London restaurant.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2542868/Cheeky-barman-tried-Tony-Blair-citizens-arrest-crimes-against-peace-former-Prime-Minister-dined-family-trendy-east-London-restaurant.html

    Not on the BBC, mustn’t make our messiah look bad.

       14 likes

  48. #88 says:

    I spotted this in the Telegraph last night, following the latest episode of the programme the hard-left hate, ‘Benefits Street’.

    Serena Davies wrote, ‘Perhaps it is mere coincidence, but it is interesting to note that the BBC pulled late from its schedules a documentary about the disadvantaged and the marginalised in Britain. ‘These Four Walls’ was due to go out on BBC Four next week and features inhabitants from a deprived part of Leeds and a single mother in Sheffield.

    So the censors at the BBC are at it again, this time, at very short notice, censoring their own work.

    Is this a case of the activists within the Corporation (and Owen Jones) demanding, ‘No more’, or a polite request from Labour asking the BBC not to make life any more difficult for them ? Labour, that is, who trashed the benefits system

       31 likes

    • DICK R says:

      Nobody on the BBC ever asks these’ singool muvvers’ why they didn’t keep their legs closed !

         25 likes

      • chrisH says:

        That would be more closures as a result of Tory policies from Thatch onwards in 79.
        Labour will re-open them along with any borders if we`re mugenuff to let them near the drinks cabinets or drugs trolleys ever again.
        F888 the BBC…only Radio 4, the crims, druggies, welfare wallies and the public sector, the Islam mongers and EU lawyers by Belmarsh will be voting for that Golden Shower next time…surely.

           9 likes

      • Arthur Penney says:

        The good time that was had by all?

           2 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Anybody notice a new word that the Big Bird on Sesame St used last night?…calls herself white D( that`ll be white Drugs/Depressants etc)…but Big Bird off Sesame St is fair enough!
      The fatsap across the road “borrows” her laptop to do a “See V”…and says he likes…er “socialosing”…as opposed to socialising!
      He`s very good at it…and it`s a joy to be at the birth of a word that will soon be rampant maybe?
      The BBC and the Guardian are political royalty and cultural squatters over this once-proud nation…but the benefits community and their pals in Islam,North Korea and the EU, The liberals and Labours refugees from 1997-2010?…LilyHollandBand Gurlz-they are socialosing, but they won`t be reporting this…just checking that they`ve got the lifeboats and access to the bunkers.
      This site is having fun in closing off their routes and choking the chickens that don`t think they need come home to roost!
      Benefits St-teaching us a new alphabet!…and more than one grouch living in a dustbin too…and heading for Owen,Polly and Yasmin. Harriet, Nick and Ed sometime soon “inch`Olly”( The East End call to Pub…Allah not so Akbar!)

         8 likes

      • DICK R says:

        These layabouts are fast becoming celebs in the same manner as that illiterate thicko Jane Goody, before too long they will be appearing on television ‘ reality ‘ shows .
        The worse example is the cretinous bone idle wastrel Philpot who burned his children to death in order to gain advantage, he first came to fame on the Jeremy Kyle show.

           16 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Hate left? I think it’s the whole left and not just the hard ones! The Grauniad even sent a special squad to present a ‘different spin’ otherwise known as a cover up, or better a lie!

         12 likes

    • Marvin says:

      More likley legal reasons.

         2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      It will most likely be the former. After all, it can’t have been a very flattering documentary, and no Beeboid wants to be seen as pouring salt in the open wounds of the poorest and most vulnerable when the real danger to society is income inequality and Tory Cuts.

         12 likes

  49. Bonzo says:

    Dangers of carbon dioxide slipped in at the end. (yawn)
    http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140121-sea-otters-our-ocean-protectors

    Lighten up: Armand and Michaela Denis spoof from the early 60’s. “Here is our water otter – we call him kettle”

       8 likes

  50. AsISeeIt says:

    The news where you are….?

    BBC TV London News and frankly it is a surprise when the bulletin fails to lead with : ‘The Mayor, Boris Johnson, was criticised today by campaign groups who say….’

    And what do the young ambitious journos at BBC London judge to be of primary interest to we Londoners….?

    This story

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25824904

    ‘The coroner investigating the murder of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko said there was a prima facie case that the Russian state was involved, it has emerged.’

    Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

    Breathless Beeboid delivers much excited talk of High Court lawyers, public inquiry, Putin, the Kremlin, Russian mafia links etc etc.

    In reality this is simply a procedural appendix to a past story (2006) and if it has any interest at all it belongs mid way through national news bulletins.

    One suspects that trendy young Beeboids are so keen to Kremlin bash (oh how times have changed) that they have simply lost sight of what regional news broadcasting is supposed to be about.

    Perhaps the introduction of some competition into their cushy little number might refocus their minds back to what interests the viewing public?

       13 likes