289 Responses to Monday Open Thread

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  1. Alex says:
    February 4, 2014 at 6:12 pm

    We all know that the SNP Nazis have taken over Reporting Scotland… which explains why stories like the following, stories which shed light on the uncertainties that businesses entertain over Independence, quietly slip down the page beneath finer-on-the-pulse devastating news scoops like Medieval coins found in field. As an Englishman living and working in Scotland, I find it nauseating having to be subjected to Nationalist bias from Reporting Scotland. Looking to move back to England this year so I don’t have to look at and listen to that fat repugnant lump of lard, El Presidente Salmondo!

       15 likes

      • DownBoy says:
        February 4, 2014 at 8:20 pm

        Will you stay up there long enough to vote, Alex?

           4 likes

      • Albaman says:
        February 4, 2014 at 8:20 pm

        Currently second story on the main news page which kind of discredits your post just as ” SNP Nazis” and describing Salmond as a “fat repugnant lump of lard” does.

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

           6 likes

        • LurkerDroneNumber141 says:
          February 4, 2014 at 8:31 pm

          What do you mean by second story?
          Currently, 5 mins after your comment, the second story is “Taliban criticise peace talks delay”. And it isn’t in the most read section, either.
          The BP story is down in the “Business” bar.

             12 likes

          • Albaman says:
            February 4, 2014 at 8:39 pm

            Who don’t you just click on the link. Clearly second story on the page linked above and also second story on the Business page:
            http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/

            Maybe it is not in the “most read” section because no one is bothering to read it!!

               4 likes

            • LurkerDroneNumber141 says:
              February 5, 2014 at 1:25 am

              Nope. Sorry Jock, I did click on the link and it was not second story. It was exactly as I described in my post. Maybe the main news page on the website is country specific. What country are you in?

                 15 likes

              • pah says:
                February 5, 2014 at 5:14 pm

                When I click on the link the story is second in the ‘economy’ section and first in the ‘most read’. It certainly isn’t stand out nor in prime position in the main section of the page.

                   1 likes

        • Pounce says:
          February 4, 2014 at 8:52 pm

          Oh come off your high horse yer porridge wog. For years now we have all see this huge myth grow that the Scottish are somehow the victims of….England. Utter bollocks. It was the inclusion of Scotland which made the British Empire.
          But the thing is the bBC subscribes to this notion that everybody and anybody can only be a victim of the English and yes the SNP do act like the Nazis . How many SNP mandates have been issued which paint Israel as..pure Evil. You know the same SNP which bent over backwards in which to try and secure Islamic funding for releasing a terrorist behind Lockerbie , the same SNP which has given more money to Islamic groups than Christian groups, the same SNP which remained silent on the racist murder of Kris Donald (Even to the extent of closing down Operation Gather ,which was looking into Muslim gangs in Scotland)
          http://www.scotsman.com/news/murder-hunt-police-drop-politically-incorrect-gang-crackdown-1-518252
          But hey how the SNP swung into action to try and ban Nick (As repugnant as he is) Griffin from visiting Scotland.
          And we see the something similar in how the SNP have played the nationalist fiddle in which to scream:
          They can never take my freedom
          Ironically played by another fucking Nazis defender.

          So while you play the oh look at me I am a Scottish victim card , here’s a little food for thought. Scotland one of the bedfellows of the largest (and greatest Empire the world has ever seen) has no right to play the victim card. When I the child of an Indian (India was occupied for how long by the British Empire?) have never played the victimcard, instead I am proud of my birth country and all that it stands for and in fact I have given the best years of my life (And still do) in defence of that country ,which includes….Scotland.

          So, why don’t you fuck off to a purse Scottish website and wax lyrical about how Great Scotland will become over the next few years. You know what I will respect if you vote to leave. But here’s something, if you do, I’ll put money on the table that within a few years a huge exodus will take place and all those that can will move South. Oh look there’s that ‘H’ word again.
          Say Hi to your wife with my Kids. In fact I saw her last night, but only from behind.

             26 likes

          • Albaman says:
            February 5, 2014 at 10:22 am

            “Say Hi to your wife with my Kids. In fact I saw her last night, but only from behind.”

            Not for the first time Pounce resorts to attacking and insulting my family. What a “hero” you are posting such comments from the anonimity of your keyboard. Can I suggest that you either grow up or seek professional help!!

               7 likes

            • Joshaw says:
              February 5, 2014 at 1:27 pm

              The answer, I would suggest, is to stay away.

              Unlike Pounce, your only contribution is endless nitpicking. If you could provide a well structured argument why the BBC is worthwhile, we’d be very interested and I’m sure you’d be taken seriously. But you don’t, that’s why people find you irritating – like wasps at a picnic.

                 9 likes

    • Albaman says:
      February 4, 2014 at 8:36 pm

      Seems that he does not even know what his own organisation is doing.

      http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/careers/locations/uk/north-sea.html

      “Right now, BP’s investment in the North Sea is at its highest level since the 1990s. Last year, our investment reached £2 billion and we have a number of years ahead of high capital investment. We have three major new field development projects underway in the UK and recently completed two major projects in Norway. We also have an active exploration and appraisal programme in place to identify and develop longer term options. From established fields to new assets, we’re focused on innovation and growth.
      We have a number of major projects ongoing which will ensure continued opportunities for jobs for the future. The £4.5 billion Clair Ridge project is the second phase of development of the giant Clair field west of the Shetland Islands. The project, which will install two new bridge-linked platforms to access an estimated 640 million barrels of oil and gas, is planned to come on stream in 2016 and will extend production from Clair to 2050. BP and its partners also confirmed plans in 2011 to progress a £3 billion redevelopment of the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, west of Shetland, which will take production to 2035 and possibly beyond. BP is also leading a project to tie back the Kinnoull field to its Andrew platform in the central North Sea.”

         6 likes

      • A2+B2=C2+D2=E2+F2=1 says:
        February 4, 2014 at 9:03 pm

        Funny how you seem to annoyingly pop up almost immediately after a comment regarding Scotland is posted. Perhaps you have more than one moniker on this site, or have something to do with admin. Either way, you vex me.

        PS It was Reporting Scotland and not the UK BBC News page Alex was on about… And, the SNP, in my opinion, are anti-English bigots with all the makings of Nazis. They are scum.

           25 likes

    • DICK R says:
      February 5, 2014 at 10:16 am

      I to have relatives in Scotland ,recently they transferred their ISAs and other savings into England along with a few hundred thousand others I suspect Salmond won’t know whats hit him when he finds out the extent of the capital flight if he gets his way on the referendum.

         10 likes

  2. Thoughtful says:
    February 4, 2014 at 6:56 pm

    Why doesn’t Radio 4 change the name of ‘the moral high ground’ to ‘who can be the most pompous, politically correct asshole’? because that would be more accurate!

    With questions like ‘your father hates gays and finds them unnatural, would you pretend to be gay to shut him up’?

    The correct answer should have been that everyone is entitled to their views in a free society, and that I’m not so intolerant of other peoples views that I would attempt to make them feel uncomfortable in their own home.

    Of course that wasn’t the answer with the guest waxing lyrical about how nice it would be to actually be gay.

    More sickeningly biased politically Correct shite from this national propaganda outlet.

       23 likes

  3. Guest Who says:
    February 4, 2014 at 7:01 pm

    A very sorry bunch….
    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-hardest-word.html
    So the obvious solution is… more of them!
    ‘Hall was looking for “two additional non-executive members” of his top board’
    Maybe there’s a chance at a breeding pair?

       7 likes

  4. OldBloke says:
    February 4, 2014 at 7:13 pm

    Oh dear. A new series of the *Dilemma* on the comedy slot on Radio 4 at 6.30pm. All going well and I let my guard slip by thinking that at least this comedy show was not going down a political route. I should have known better. The very last piece, the quick fire round with only one minute of the programme remaining, gave the programme producers a chance to have a go at the Tory back benchers. Did any one from the Labour Party get a kicking? Of course not. Bias for all to hear.

       19 likes

    • DownBoy says:
      February 4, 2014 at 8:23 pm

      Hosted by right-on lesbian Sue Perkins. Hooray for diversity. Only two left wing lesbians hosting bbc comedy panel shows at the moment.

         22 likes

  5. George R says:
    February 4, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    Afghanistan.

    While INBBC talks of Islamic jihad killers of Taliban demanding ‘peace,’ the reality which is the Islamic violence and repression there, now includes –

    “New Afghanistan law to silence victims of violence against women.
    “Small change to criminal code has huge consequences in country where honour killings and forced marriage are rife.”

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/afghanistan-law-victims-violence-women?

    Of course, ‘Guardian’s Ms Graham-Harrison does her damndest not to understand the essentials of Islam in all this, by trying to avoid an explanation of how this is the implementation of Islamic sharia law.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/afghanistan-law-victims-violence-women?

       11 likes

    • Pounce says:
      February 4, 2014 at 9:43 pm

      My mate is a Captain and he has just returned from Afghan. He mentioned the other day that everybody out in theatre despise the bBC and see them as apologists for Islamic terrorism.
      But hey it isn’t anything we didn’t already know.

         28 likes

  6. OldBloke says:
    February 4, 2014 at 8:36 pm

    I know some think that David Icke can be a bit *off the wall* but this article within his web site concerning the Somerset levels Flooding is well worth a read and follow up. I wonder why the BBC have not reported any of what Mr Icke has discovered concerning E.U. policy and a direct link to both the Labour Party and the current bout of flooding?
    http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1061977526

       8 likes

  7. OldBloke says:
    February 4, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    Following up on my last post, I Googled: Ed Miliband Somerset Levels Flooding. And you know what? Nothing. Now I wonder why he has said so little about the flooding and why the BBC hasn’t pointed out to us that their preferred Prime Minister hasn’t really said anything on the matter? I wonder why that would be?

       17 likes

    • Fred Bloggs says:
      February 4, 2014 at 10:03 pm

      Something to do with the two chairmen of the EA, both labour, both advocating non dredging. Baroness Young even said ‘she would like to see the pumping stations blown up’.

         19 likes

  8. Pounce says:
    February 4, 2014 at 10:16 pm

    I’ve noticed that the bBC is in a right old anti Tory, anti British mood at the moment, we have the story about the attack on the golden temple in 1994 the bBC headlines reads:
    “Golden Temple attack: UK advised India but impact ‘limited’
    Thus implying that the advice the British gave was somehow flawed and incorrect
    Really?
    In Feb 1984 a SAS Captain (A very Junior Officer) was sent to india for 10 days in which to look at the situation. 10 Days of which (I can grant you 2 were at least a jolly) he overlooked the situation. He advised an air assault and only as a last resort. Now in the real world that would have entailed running through the plan of action day in day out for weeks on a mock up of the temple. Seeing as the attack took place 6 months later, if they had carried out their 6 Ps.
    ( Poor, preparation and planning leads to piss poor performance.) they wouldn’t have earned the wrath of the left. But hey this is the bBC, they hate the British and so they invent fake anger in which to rile up the Sikhs, like they do with the Islamic world. FFS The indians went in to remove a terrorist threat which had destabilised the bread basket of India for over 2 years. Think I am kidding here is a report from Time magazine written in Oct 1983.
    “For India’s 15 million Sikhs, the city of Amritsar is a sacred place, and its holiest sanctuary is the Golden Temple, a resplendent 72-acre compound that is known to the faithful as the City of Joy. These days it more closely resembles a city of death. Inside the temple compound, fierce Sikh warriors wield submachine guns, guarding against encroachment by government security forces. Outside, the security men keep a nervous vigil, all too aware that the bodies of murdered comrades often turn up in the warren of tiny streets around the shrine.

    Thus has Amritsar, in the northwestern state of Punjab, become the center of a bitter feud between Sikhs and Hindus. Distinguished by their traditional beards and turbans, the Sikhs follow their own casteless, monotheistic religion, and over the past 15 months those in the Punjab have mounted a determined drive for greater autonomy from New Delhi. The more the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has resisted, the more savage the Sikh campaign has become. Last month six men hijacked a night bus at gunpoint, herded eleven Hindu men into a field and, with cold-blooded efficiency, shot six of them dead (five escaped). Hours later, terrorists randomly opened fire in an express train, killing two officials.

    These outbursts prompted New Delhi to impose President’s rule, effectively removing power from local authorities. More than 3,000 government troops in Amritsar were then licensed to shoot on sight, arrest without warrants and even penetrate traditionally off-limits Sikh sanctuaries (a step they have yet to take). But the violence has not abated. Two weeks ago, 17 were killed and 133 wounded when terrorists derailed a crowded train. Since the bloodshed began last year, more than 150 people have been killed, and 150,000 Sikhs have been arrested.

    Located on the Pakistani border, Punjab is one of India’s most strategic states. It is also the wealthiest agricultural region, supplying the nation with 80% of its wheat. Yet when it comes to industrial development, claim the Sikhs, the government consistently slights them. Sikh moderates would be appeased by an increase in state power; a small radical minority, however, is determined to fight for an entirely separate state called Khalistan. So far, more than 100,000 Sikhs, known as the Akali Dal (Action Party) ‘Sacrifice Squad,’ have sworn to lay down their lives in the present struggle.

    Gandhi has declared that she is ready and willing to negotiate with the dissidents. But the two most powerful Sikh leaders, both hiding out within the Golden Temple, scoff at such claims. While deploring the recent terrorism, Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, 51, the moderate president of the Akali Dal, remains convinced that the government has been increasing tension rather than soothing it. ‘If anyone is to blame for the terrorists’ presence,’ he told TIME, ‘it is the central government.’ His more fanatical colleague, militant fundamentalist Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, 36, voices a common suspicion that Gandhi is exploiting the friction in order to buoy her popularity before the next election.

    The violence has shattered centuries of friendship between Sikhs and Hindus, and it is spreading. Three bombs have already exploded in Delhi, and last week, in Punjab’s neighboring state of Haryana, Hindu mobs began storming Sikh-owned shops. With neither side giving way, tensions seem sure to mount. In the ominous words of senior Akali leader Prakash Singh Badal, ‘The central government has already taken the Punjab problem to the point of no return.’

       8 likes

    • Pounce says:
      February 4, 2014 at 10:25 pm

      Then there’s the article about how a Pakistani who was in UKIP was found to have spent time as a member of a kidnap gang and guess what he was a Tory activist.

      Well closer inspection reveals he was a Tory helper for one year after he left prison. But hang on as much as we all hate lags, the bBC (and the left) go to great lengths to promote the view that once a man has paid his price to society he is…innocent. Well if you are a Liberal MP, his ex wife or even a Muslim terrorist working for Amnesty international , then the left will only see you as a victim, but hey get a job with UKIP and you can only ever be a criminal and the rules don’t imply . Which is why they have no problem screaming out
      Mujeeb Bhutto: Kidnap gang ‘boss’ was Conservative activist

      Yet refrain from saying that Mozzam Begg was (and still is) a Islamic terrorist.

      Anybody else get the impression that the bBC are playing party political broadcasts for Labour prior to next year?

         21 likes

    • Joshaw says:
      February 5, 2014 at 10:34 am

      I think Hague could have put it better as well. India clearly took no notice whatsoever of our advice.

         3 likes

  9. OldBloke says:
    February 4, 2014 at 10:32 pm

    It would appear that Global Warming has arrived in Afghanistan with vengeance. I can’t think why Mr Harrabin has been so quiet on this one:
    http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2012221102246504375.html

       6 likes

    • OldBloke says:
      February 4, 2014 at 10:37 pm

      To quote from the report: “While much of central and eastern Europe continues to struggle through the bitter winter weather, Afghanistan is also battling against one of its harshest winters in 15 years. In the case of Europe, we do expect milder air (and with it the threat of flooding) to finally filter in from the west this week. However, in the case Afghanistan, forecasters do not expect an end to this current cold spell for the foreseeable future.

      At times this winter, we have seen the temperature in the capital, Kabul dip to minus 16C which is around 12 degrees below the seasonal average. The city is located in a valley at an altitude of about 1800m so snow is a regular feature here, but even since the start of 2012 we have seen a staggering 90cm of snow so far, with more to come.”
      Global Cooling anyone? Mr Harrabin? BBC?

         12 likes

  10. Pounce says:
    February 4, 2014 at 10:38 pm

    How the bBC defends intolerant Islam
    Nigeria lynch mob ‘kills pastor’ in Katsina state
    A Christian pastor has been killed by a lynch mob in northern Nigeria after a schoolgirl was mutilated and killed, a local MP has told the BBC. The girl’s body was found in the preacher’s house, which was then burnt to the ground, said Ahmed Babba Kaita, MP for Kankia in Katsina state. The pastor died on his way to hospital, Mr Kaita said. The crowd apparently accused him and another man of killing the girl for ritual purposes. A house and shop belonging the other man were also reportedly set on fire. Police have intervened and the town is now said to be calm.

    So the bBC reports a Christian priest has been murdered by a mob after a girl was found mutilated and we all know that Priests have form don’t we bBC.

    But here is what the bBC leave out, The Northern Half of Nigeria is Islamic, it is run under sharia law and the Mob would have been……..Islamic. Yet the bBC only mentions Christianity and in a negative light.

    The bBC, the traitors within our midst

       23 likes

    • John says:
      February 5, 2014 at 12:06 am

      That link didn’t work for me – try this

         1 likes

    • John says:
      February 5, 2014 at 2:20 am

      I can’t find other news organisations reporting this. Either the BBC is doing a good job being ahead of the game, or it has swallowed a story ‘a local MP has told the BBC’ because the BBC wants stories like this.

         3 likes

  11. Dave666 says:
    February 5, 2014 at 8:40 am

    North West marking the anniversary of the 2004 Morcambe Bay cockling disaster, studiously avoiding the phrase illegal immigrants.

       18 likes

  12. OldBloke says:
    February 5, 2014 at 8:41 am

    The South West, and in my area Devon, took and is taking a bit of a battering from another winter storm. Listening to Radio Devon this morning, the reporters of the weather events of last night were trying so hard when interviewing those affected, to get them to say it is the worst I’ve ever seen etc etc. Well it might be, as they might be newcomers to our area. The main reporter on Radio Devon was interviewing a spokesperson from the Exeter based Met Office, and he was trying so hard to get this lady to state that the succession of winter storms was due to Climate Change. Thankfully, she didn’t and was very diplomatic in her answer, which was a correct one, in that whilst the weather is relentless in these storms, things have been just as bad in the past. When you listen to these BBC reporters, mass hysteria springs to mind. What they seem to forget, is that when you build houses on flood plains and houses on sandstone cliffs, when it rains you are asking for trouble.

       19 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:
      February 5, 2014 at 10:20 am

      That lady won’t be working for the Met Office for long, methinks. Isn’t it policy there to blame global warming climate change at every opportunity?

         9 likes

    • Dave s says:
      February 5, 2014 at 10:20 am

      The hysteria of youth. In this case the beeboids. I used to drive furniture vans from Devon to Hampshire. Sometimes it was just too risky to try. Other times the wind would almost bring me to a stand. Nothing new as you say. If they looked at the trees they would see just how they lean away from the prevailing winds from the west.
      Have done for centuries.
      City people with city minds who never look at the sky, the sea or the land.

         11 likes

  13. GCooper says:
    February 5, 2014 at 8:57 am

    We talk a lot about the BBC’s devotion to Labour on this site, but a lot less about its equally strong bias in favour of the Lib Dems.

    Today, for example, the Telegraph is reporting that Clegg’s Clowns are, effectively, allowing Britain’s spendthrift councils to steal yet more of our money to fund their ‘expenses’ (sic) and out of control spending.

    Apparently, the Tories’ pathetic plan was to limit council tax rises to 1.5 % (a 20 % cut seems nearer the mark to me, but I digress). The Lib Dems, however, have blocked this.

    The BBC’s coverage of this outrageous behaviour by their ‘progressive’ allies? Well it’s not on the Corporation’s third rate ‘news’ website, that’s for sure and it wasn’t on R4’s 8 am news!

    The BBC took a conscious decision to promote the Lib Dems back in the 1990s when the party was as good as dead and deserved little attention from the media. That we are stull suffering from the activities of the real party of ‘fruitcakes’ and ‘nutters’ is very largely attributable to the life support system the BBC has provided to the UK’s truly ‘nasty party’ – the Lib Dems.

       18 likes

  14. Thoughtful says:
    February 5, 2014 at 9:05 am

    Today program doing a piece on the new Robocop and that it MUST continue to have a left wing anti business message as per the original film.

    Louis Savy & Paul Fannel (?) the two interviewees were not quite as enthusiastic on the far left message.

       7 likes

  15. Milverton says:
    February 5, 2014 at 9:06 am

    A delicious dissection of Nicky Campbell on Five Live circa 8.40. The subject, the Sochi Olympics, and the Peter Tatchell Gay-mes due in London today. The interviewee, a St Petersburg politician. The problem Campbell faced was simple. The politician cared not a jot for Campbell’s liberal bias, and had not been infected by the British political disease of “Ah, but on the other hand.” That was his belief and that was that.

    Campbell reduced to the old ” if you don’t like homosexuals you probably are one” argument, to which the politician replied, “That’s like saying all policemen are criminals and all firemen are arsonists.”

    Stephen Fry was also mentioned, as the same Russian had apparently described Fry as mentally unstable the last time he was on. “He does have a mental illness.” he continued, “Fry thinks sin in normal, and normal is sin.”

    My opinion on gay issues is the same as my opinion on Islam, by the way. I’m sick of hearing about it, and a single day off from either topic on the BBC would be gratefully received.

       29 likes

    • Thoughtful says:
      February 5, 2014 at 10:13 am

      I sent an E mail to a prominent openly gay Liebour MP this week, after he came out with a load of nonsense about Russia and Gay issues.

      I asked him what he had done or planned to do about the issues of the world cup in Doha Qatar, where even being gay is a crime, gay people have been told to stay away and there is ‘testing’ to see if visitors are gay.

      I asked him if he condemned the open hatred against gay people expressed in the Qur’an and if he condemned that teaching.

      Or whether his condemnation was only reserved for the ‘nasty white people’.

      He refused to condemn Islam in any way.

      We can only take it that people on the left gay included are quite happy to be murdered, just so long as it’s the right ethnic group following the ROP doing the killing.

         29 likes

      • Dave s says:
        February 5, 2014 at 10:26 am

        Sadly a typical MPs respionse. And not just linited to Labour. many Tories are as two faced.

           14 likes

        • Pounce says:
          February 5, 2014 at 10:56 am

          A few years back I wrote a complaint to a Tory MP who had claimed for a wreath he laid during Rememberence day. he wrote back explaining that he had served in the TA for a number of years in which to try and gain the moral high ground. For some strange reason he never did reply to my my responce which simply stated:
          I’ve spent more time in Naffi breaks, than you have worn Green

             15 likes

      • Phil Ford says:
        February 5, 2014 at 2:44 pm

        “…I asked him if he condemned the open hatred against gay people expressed in the Qur’an and if he condemned that teaching.”

        It’s an important question and one that nobody – on either side of the argument – ever seems to want to answer. Meanwhile the feted House of Saud continues to hang its gay teenagers.

        As one of the few openly gay regular posters here I’m always disappointed by the sometimes hateful comments directed at homosexuals by some commenters, but I accept my sexuality is an uncomfortable issue for many, no matter that I consider myself on the ‘right’ of the political spectrum and that I agree in large part with the general policies of UKIP (who, by the way, don’t hate queers – in fact Mr Farage has several times gone out of his way to remind the BBC that UKIP considers itself inclusive when it comes to the matter of sexual orientation and equalities – apart from the issue of gay marriage).

        No matter – I do think the BBC is cowardly, in the same way almost every politician is cowardly – when it comes to addressing Islam’s attitude to homosexuality and how, in some of the more extreme Islamic nations, it acts murderously upon those prejudices in the name of ‘the religion of peace’ against gay men and lesbians.

        It’s a huge elephant in the room. It’s the same elephant that allows cowards to attack the soft underbelly of Russia for its blatant homophobia while giving a free pass to Islam, for fear of reprisals.

        How many of its gay teenagers has Russia murdered recently?

        *tumbleweed*

           10 likes

        • Guest Who says:
          February 5, 2014 at 3:00 pm

          Well said. On all counts.
          I am not going to offer excuses for such as the BBC, but it is understandable that any (rational, non martyr-driven) activist given the choice will err on being active where they can score points and, as a bonus, not risk too much in the process.
          Baby steps.
          Thing is, as any parent will confide, start taking the easy path by taking line of least resistance and cracking down on the more cooperative errant child because another is monster, simply makes a worse monster and may even set the better-behaved one down a negative path too.
          I don’t think anti-gay, counter-live & let live measures are tolerable anywhere, but if high horses are going to get mounted, especially on the basis of association, picking and choosing what to shout about and what to suppress to suit other agendas is simply going to backfire.
          And here, clearly, it has.

             2 likes

        • Richard Pinder says:
          February 5, 2014 at 4:18 pm

          One of UKIP’s MEP’s was gay, that is why we have never seen her on the BBC.
          It could also have been because she was a woman, a woman is now top of the UKIP list in Yorkshire, so we won’t see much of her on the BBC, unlike, Godfrey Bloom. Its also the reason that you do not see any Labour or Tory MP’s with scientific qualifications on the BBC, commenting about Climate Change, or the same Labour MP commenting about the EU. Bias at the BBC is very predictable, it reflects the frustrations of the left-wing morons at the BBC, that Labour is not left-wing enough for them.

             3 likes

  16. noggin says:
    February 5, 2014 at 10:18 am

    Ukip MEP says British Muslims should sign charter rejecting violence – Gerard Batten, Ukip’s immigration spokesman, proposed Qur’an severely needs updating?

    clear, concise, and painfully correct

    any guesses? … where the BBC stands on this?
    a clue, the demonization of Mr Batten/UKIP on this
    … has started already

       16 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:
      February 5, 2014 at 10:28 am

      To my surprise, I’ve not heard or seen this story on the BBC yet, but I have no doubt which way they’ll play it. They’ll think it is doing UKIP harm; I suspect many more people will say to themselves, “That’s exactly what I was thinking, but don’t dare say”.

         9 likes

      • Oldbob says:
        February 5, 2014 at 1:41 pm

        That is the beauty of these smearing campaigns and rabid attacks though. As predictable and frustrating as they are, the left wing liberal idiots at the BBC that concoct them are so far up their own fundements that they have absolutely no comprehension of the fact that, every time they do so, they simply ensure that more and more people will support Ukip, simply as a means to spite the BBC and the traitors that infest it.

           8 likes

    • Dave s says:
      February 5, 2014 at 10:32 am

      On Tuesday Daniel Greenfield posted one of his very best essays that should be required reading for us all. I do not do links but you can find it on his blog.
      sultanknishblogspot.co.uk
      Greenfield is one of the very best essayists writing in the world today.
      He makes the average liberal journalist look like a callow amateur

         5 likes

  17. AsISeeIt says:
    February 5, 2014 at 10:48 am

    If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?

    I have no idea as to whether Ben Brown, reporting for BBC News Channel, has an interest in metaphysics or is a particular fan of Immanuel Kant.

    Furthermore, to be honest, I am not very interested in the question posed at the top of my post. Indeed although trees falling and bad weather to my mind are a fine subject for local regional news reporting – it is not really something that I enjoy hyped up to the level of nation catastrophe.

    What I do know from watching BBC news is that a decision has been taken to ‘run with’ weather as a ‘hot’ news topic. So if a tree falls these days you can bet your mortgage that the BBC will have a Johnny or a Jenny in a parka there to bring us the ‘news’

    You only have to witness Ben Brown’s excitment – indeed relish – in Dawlish this morning to realise that he has been well schooled in the new art of ‘extreme weather’ reporting a la BBC.

    Just for a moment I thought I was watchcing early Monty Python as, the blustery conditions, the anoraked reporter interviewed a local character whose beach hut ‘had been reduced to match wood’ and was ‘gutted’.

    (The word ‘gutted’ was my clue that this was not the early 1970s – and this was BBC news in deadly earnest)

    Then, I wonder, will some one say ‘it’s getting too silly, now for something completely different’. Will we cut back to the BBC studio before Ben has cued up the essential money shot – the BBC paydirt.

    Ben did not disappoint : ‘Is this the worst you’ve ever seen?’

    Don’t you just feel that when the BBC fluffer cues up that climax you really are getting your Licence Fee’s worth?

       12 likes

    • Deborah says:
      February 5, 2014 at 11:01 am

      Mr D heard there are 1000 homes without electricity, well here in the north, with the first snowflake, we boil the kettle and fill the flasks because we know we will be without electricity for some hours.

         3 likes

      • Deborah says:
        February 5, 2014 at 11:02 am

        sorry forgot to say that Mr D heard on the Today programme that there were 1000 homes without electricity.

           1 likes

  18. Bangernofski says:
    February 5, 2014 at 11:02 am

    Woke up this morning to a Tube strike in London. Good job I don’t live there anymore. BBC on R2 news Vox Pop four commuters who are all in favour of the action and Comrade Bob. Eh?

       16 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      February 5, 2014 at 11:11 am

      ‘news Vox Pop four commuters who are all in favour of the action’
      That’s odd. I posted on FaceBook earlier how horrible it was walking the dog today in the wet & windy boonies here, and the responses I got from those still blessed with enjoying the joys of the London commute (many seemingly with time to spare on various platforms) were rather terse… and at odds with the BBC and its selected audience’s views.
      Wonder where the BBC finds ’em?

         9 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:
        February 5, 2014 at 1:15 pm

        The BBC doesn’t need to find them. They find the BBC, because they know they’ll be given the microphone.

           7 likes

    • Bangernofski says:
      February 5, 2014 at 11:13 am

      Oh and Radio London this morning in full on RMT support mode. Just announced that they will stop the Tube Strike calls and now switched to how the Tories target unions and membership thereof. It really is utterly relentless.

         13 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      February 5, 2014 at 12:12 pm

      Guessing R2 news Vox Pop commuters are not big Speccie fans…
      http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/02/sorry-rmt-theres-no-proof-the-public-support-the-tube-strikes/
      All these questions together put together tell RMT’s side of the Tube strike.
      Interesting which media saw fit to look a bit closer, and those which weighed in in support.
      DNA-imprinted, apparently.

         4 likes

  19. George R says:
    February 5, 2014 at 11:05 am

    “Over by Christmas – the non-debate that is BBC Charter renewal”
    By LIS HOWELL.

    http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourbeeb/lis-howell/over-by-christmas-%E2%80%93-non-debate-that-is-bbc-charter-renewal?

       6 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      February 5, 2014 at 11:20 am

      All interesting points, and a few ‘analytical hypotheticals’, such as…
      ‘Either they don’t mind rolling over to be trounced by the Tories, or they are supremely confident. But no organisation can be that sure of itself, even with a blameless record. Could this confidence be because something has been going on behind the scenes?’
      A stitch up? Between the organs of the state and the state media monopoly? Total lack of transparency and yet more breaches of trust?
      Shocked, I tell you. Shocked!

         4 likes

  20. Deborah says:
    February 5, 2014 at 11:05 am

    I watched the Dimbelby lecture last night on the BBC delivered by the fragrant Ms Lagarde. What a disappointment. Much mention of climate change and rising sea levels, lots of problems and no solutions. An excellent speaker as in fantastic delivery, just no substance. And lots of BBC journalists and socialists in the audience (or are the two the same?) just drinking in her every word.

       17 likes

    • Ember2013 says:
      February 5, 2014 at 11:57 am

      These are the phrases I heard:
      “Interconnections”, “Global”, “Network”, “Income Inequality”, “Stakeholders”, “Global Village”, “Climate Change”

      The woman is clearly a member of the international socialist party.

      As per usual these lectures moan (essentially) about problems we may face but do not offer any viable answers.

      I also noticed a number of BBC journalists in the audience including a man with his arm around a women in the back row. Who may or may not be a BBC employee.

         8 likes

  21. Llareggub says:
    February 5, 2014 at 11:44 am

    Hopefully the anti Sochi protestors will keep their banners and BBC support for the World Cup soccer in Qatar. Can someone remind me how many gays has Putin executed?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26043872

       10 likes

    • Braithwaite's Sheds and Lingerie (Doncaster) Ltd says:
      February 5, 2014 at 12:26 pm

      The output of the professional homosexual lobbyists, such as the BBC, would lead one to believe that Russia has outlawed homosexuality whereas, in fact, they have only taken moves to protect children from the rather substantial paedophile section of the shirt lifting community.

         9 likes

      • JimS says:
        February 5, 2014 at 12:39 pm

        “professional homosexual lobbyists”

        Radio 4 on Sunday: A tale of two homosexual horses, followed by a story told by GW Bush’s homosexual dog, followed by a trailer for a story based on a homosexual food writer. Just a ‘normal’ day on the BBC.

           10 likes

  22. George R says:
    February 5, 2014 at 11:58 am

    BBC-NUJ has been propagandising a lot recently (pre-election) on the notion of a future Labour Party being less politically and financially dominated by the trade unions.

    But the ‘Daily Mail’ has this:-

    “Ed’s union reform kicked into long grass for five years: Party fears shake-up could leave it ‘bankrupt.’
    “National Executive Committee has backed ‘watered-down’ reform package.
    “Union members will continue automatically donating to Labour until 2019.
    “Sources say asking each person’s consent will lose the party £4m a year.”
    By JASON GROVES, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2551908/Eds-union-reform-kicked-long-grass-five-years-Party-fears-shake-leave-bankrupt.html#ixzz2sRoZxZ2J

       4 likes

  23. Beeboidal says:
    February 5, 2014 at 12:11 pm

    The Institute of Economic Affairs has issued a new report on that other section of Gordon Brown’s stay behind army – charities.

    Government must do more to end state-funded political activism

    I look forward to it being thoroughly discussed on the BBC.

    My favourite from the report is War on Want. This outfit is so politicised (and mad) that it can’t bring itself to support something which it should support.

    Government funding (2010/11)
    DfiD : £162.544…
    = 8.7 per cent of income
    Examples of campaigning activity
    Conducts numerous political campaigns for ‘tax justice’, ‘social justice’,supermarket power’, ‘justice for Palestine’ and ‘food justice’. The latter campaign – supported by a DfID grant – blames ‘corporate farming’ for hunger and proposes small scale organic farming as the solution.

    War on Want criticised other NGOs for co-operating with the British government of the IF campaign , saying : it is unacceptable for NGOs to suggest that David Cameron’s government is a leading force for social justice at a time when its austerity programme is driving unprecedented numbers to food banks in Britain, and when its overseas actions are fuelling hunger and poverty around the world.’
    Notes
    Also received £387,712 from the EC

    The IF campaign was the idea to spend 0.7% of GDP on foreign aid.

       5 likes

  24. StewGreen says:
    February 5, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    Is it sexual equality to have the same woman on every programme ?
    Downloading todays podcast I see Germaine Greer was on WS Outlook, R3 Arts and Ideas, R4 Woman’s Hour

       10 likes

  25. JimS says:
    February 5, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    As the rain continues to fall, was it only a year ago that every BBC gardening programme warned of the demise of grass and the need to find drought-tolerant species?

    I’m keeping a tight hold on my copy of the BBC published book, by Nigel Calder, warning of the coming ice age, I’m sure its time will come again.

       10 likes

    • Old Goat says:
      February 5, 2014 at 12:59 pm

      Yes, the Met Office (echoed by the all-knowing BBC) were busily trumpeting their predictions of a dry, warm Mediterranean climate for the Former UK within the next fifty years. Changed their tune a bit, I suspect – now, apparently, the country can expect much more “extreme” weather much more often, and it’s still all due, allegedly to climate change of the warming variety, and it’s all our fault.

      I am so sick of the two words “climate” and “change” when put together, and wonder why it has only just been noticed, when it’s been evidently occurring for a few billennia?

      The BBC blandly stick “climate change” into just about everything these days, together with “carbon footprint” “CO2”, and other stupid phrases, when most of us are screaming at our tellies and radios “we know none of it is true, and do the BBC think we’re all stupid?” for all we are worth. Clearly, they think we are as stupid as they are.

         15 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:
        February 5, 2014 at 4:38 pm

        As Lintzen said the other day, the best people with Maths and Physics did not go into Climate science.

        It is the same with the BBC, all those middle class morons who managed to get into University, where all doing the dumbed down Arts, Languages and Humanities courses, and guess what, these are the qualifications of the BBC’s EnvironMENTAL Journalists.

        So the BBC morons must feel as though they are on the same intellectual wavelength as scientists at the Met Office.

           4 likes

    • GCooper says:
      February 5, 2014 at 2:21 pm

      You are right – it’s quite true that BBC gardening programmes promoted this absurd mythology as ‘science’ (and to an extent still do).

      I’d like to know how many people’s gardens have been ruined and how much money has been wasted by this idiotic advice.

         7 likes

  26. BBC Heart Labour says:
    February 5, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    On the Politics Show right after PMQs, that sneering presenter always seems to go out of her way to read out more pro Miliband comments than pro Cameron ones, and she always starts the summary with the “Didn’t Miliband do well” / “Cameron was poor” type comments.

       7 likes

    • #88 says:
      February 5, 2014 at 3:22 pm

      Yes.

      I don’t know why the BBC bother reading out the comments, they serve no useful purpose and most of them are probably written by Labour staffers even before the event.

      Listen hard, those praising Miliband seem to be formulaic, cut and paste comments which are the same week in week out. And in the background there are those e-mailing who abhor the noise. (These commenters usually making a Bullingdon reference, perfectly and suspiciously choreographed to chime with Miliband’s New Year Mr Softly, Mr Statesman, now discarded, strategy).

      I don’t know why the BBC bother reading them out? I do actually.

         10 likes

  27. Guest Who says:
    February 5, 2014 at 2:44 pm

    Don’t know why, but ‘evolving the story’ as a negative captured my interest…
    Jay Rosen
    @jayrosen_nyu
    Here’s how you do a correction. Don’t mince words. Admit you blew it. goo.gl/4bO7wc None of this “the story was evolving…” crap.

       4 likes

  28. LurkerDroneNumber141 says:
    February 5, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    Top story just now (on my page, probably not Albaman’s):
    UN: Vatican must remove abusers

    The UN has said that the Vatican should “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers.

    The UN watchdog for children’s rights denounced the Holy See for adopting policies which allowed priests to sexually abuse thousands of children.

    Howzabout this instead, guys and gals:
    The UN has said that the BBC should “immediately remove” all staff who are known or suspected child abusers.

    The UN watchdog for children’s rights denounced the BBC for adopting policies which allowed on air talent to sexually abuse thousands of children.

       3 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      February 5, 2014 at 4:31 pm

      Maybe his simply have not yet been published yet?
      ‘Evolving stories’ can sometimes trip one up.

         1 likes

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