What on earth will the BBC do with all its time if Labour wins the election?
‘The Casual Vacancy’ is continuing on its merry leftwing way whilst BBC News brings us the Truth when the Legend becomes the Truth. Tomorrow we have Panorama bringing us a whole series of programmes on the state of the Nation…the description doesn’t give you much confidence that it will be a programme that is in any way uplifting….any doubts that the ‘rich will be getting richer whilst the rest are getting ever poorer’ under the Tories and a new economic system or plan must be implemented…preferably a 5 year one?….
With the General Election fast approaching, reporter Fergal Keane investigates whether modern-day Britain is up to the task of delivering on the things that have traditionally defined `good living’ for generations. In the first of four programmes, Keane asks if owning a family home, having a good job, feeling part of a community and retaining hope for the future remain realistic aspirations for today’s Britons.
As the standard of living, or ‘good living’ as the BBC terms it, is a Labour meme it might be thought that the BBC is feeding us a line that ties in with the Labour election campaign.
The BBC receives millions of pounds from the EU to pump out pro-European propaganda. What does it get for its money?
The BBC is bringing us something that is outrageously biased and should result in an immediate referral to Ofcom for gross failure to comply with its legal duty to be impartial….or in the words of the BBC something…’Sombre, thought-provoking and witty, the film frames Europe through the eyes of those who have most at stake – the Europeans themselves.’
BBC’s apocalyptic drama about the tragedy of an EU break-up is condemned as ‘scaremongering propaganda’
An army of Islamic State terrorists has advanced to the outskirts of Vienna, Spain has cut off routes to Gibraltar and Nigel Farage – prime minister of ‘Great England’ – has deported all immigrants who have arrived in the past ten years.
This, according to the BBC, is what the world would be like if the European Union were to collapse.
The apocalyptic vision of a continent in which social order has broken down – to be screened on BBC4 tonight at 10pm – has been condemned by Eurosceptic critics as ‘scaremongering’.
The 75-minute film shows what the supposedly impartial broadcaster suggests might happen should the EU implode, and depicts the final days of the European dream as it turns into a nightmare of worthless currencies and predictions of even darker days to come.
The BBC describes The Great European Disaster Movie as an ‘authored documentary’, but the film – which features comedian Angus Deayton as an archaeologist struggling to explain what the single currency was to a young girl sitting next to him on a plane – has been criticised as a hyped-up piece of pro-EU propaganda.
Horrifying images of concentration camp victims are interspersed with wartime footage of devastated cities, while commentary is provided by former Economist editor Bill Emmott, who made the film with Italian journalist Annalisa Piras.
- In the film, Mr Emmott warns: ‘Our worry is that if Europe continues on its current path, the EU will collapse and that that would have catastrophic consequences for all of us.’ Viewers see a glimpse of a post-EU continent in which:Visas and landing cards are required for travel between European countries;
- A power crisis in Germany has put Berlin airport out of action.
- The new president of France, far-Right leader Marine Le Pen, has declared a state of emergency.
- EU chiefs, meeting in Berlin, have abolished the euro.
- Looters are rampaging through Rome after the shooting of protesters by police.
- Fierce fighting erupts in Vienna as the ‘unstoppable’ advance of IS fighters continues.
The terrifying sequence of events ends with Angela Merkel resigning as European Council president and overseeing a vote to abolish the EU. In his commentary, Mr Emmott admits immigration imposes financial burdens on nations but insists that in the long term it creates the resources needed to maintain a welfare state.
In the film, the girl – apparently being deported from Britain because she has an Italian mother – asks Angus Deayton about pictures of bridges on an old euro banknote.
He tells her: ‘They were supposed to symbolise unity, unification, all the countries being connected. It was a great idea but unfortunately it didn’t work.’
Son of a Labour Peer, Robert Peston, will be ‘debating’ the film on Newsnight…
The Great European Disaster Movie: Newsnight Debate
Robert Peston presents a discussion in which a panel of guests debate the issues raised by Bill Emmott’s authored Storyville documentary on the problems facing the European Union.
April fool! No, wait this is March 1st.
Still, this has to be a joke.
Doesn’t it?
I will watch it. I think the scenario is much more likely if the EU carries on and continues to create a fake enemy of Russia.
Interesting that it has been made now and indicitative of the impossibility of the BBC staying neutral over the EU .
To the liberal the nation state is the ultimate nasty thing.
“Ukip savages ‘BBC bias’ over ‘pro-EU mockumentary’ and
questions Corporation’s EU funding.”
http://www.cityam.com/210525/ukip-savages-bbc-bias-over-pro-eu-mockumentary-and-questions-corporations-eu-funding
Ukip need not bother. It was appalling drivel and just not worth it. There is some discussion about it now on. I would rather stand out in the rain that waste any more time on it.
It the BBC is going to try it’s hand at 1930s style propaganda at least make it entertaining.
There was one highlight. The Swedes. What can you say. A people so far from understanding reality that they really do not deserve to have a nation.
More votes for UKIP I hope.
… 1930s style propaganda…
The were times when I thought ‘Leni Riefenstahl would have been impressed with this’.
No, she was a skilled film maker who made clever propaganda, not cut & paste agitprop.
Deayton’s ramblings on the plane to that kid were just totally, excruciatingly, embarrassing. They may as well have flashed up “Propaganda Alert!” on screen.
I believe it was Harrison Ford who complained to George Lucas when making Star Wars, “George, you can write this s**t, but you sure can’t say it…”
If I was Al Beeb I would produce programmes promoting UKIP in a good light to take votes off the Tory voters and let Labour win the general election in May.
Perhaps they are not that bright or have I just given them food for thought?
That isn’t a real issue. In safe or fairly safe Labour constituencies people will feel safe voting UKIP. In Tory marginals they’ll not risk it. They’ll vote Tory.
Well, it’s all going awfully well on the BBC’s new spiritual home that is twitter.
Even a few usually empathetic appear aware a slight lack of finesse may have nudged things into dodgy territory with a public perhaps more aware and less tolerant of being played for fools.
The internet age means the old ways of propagandising across the Channel may struggle more to take hold, and even backfire as badly if not worse than they did before.
Wonder if Lord Hall Hall has quite grasped this?
“BBC calling. BBC calling…”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054v5cf
May be worth a big bucket of popcorn once available.
Shame those involved not informed by what my news feeds are lighting up with.
A few thoughts.
The ‘authored documentary’ is ‘very much a personal view’ according to our Pesto. So, like twitter, the BBC pretends something is factual that isn’t, and then excuses it by saying views not theirs (just paid for and run by them). OK.
Interesting the Lobster Pot ‘too big once all staff shovelled in to pay the redundancy payments now’ BBC seems here keen on raising concerns. Do that with their output and CECUTT will have you on the naughty step for holding them to account before you can utter trust or transparency. It’s a unique feature.
Marina gets brought in with a specific question and pulls an excuse that would have Jenny Jones leaping to the mic to ensure she is not asked any nasty follow up stuff. Then says… heaven knows what. Pesto, to his credit, tries to clarify. Fails.
Bill’s first words: ‘the finger on the problem is one of Trust’. Not a great word to raise on the BBC, really.
“In the first part we concentrated… er, you concentrated…” Freudian, Pesto? Jim Naughtie will approve.
Love ‘the liberal establishment’ being an entity that Bill & Pesto are not part of in their heads.
Also noted Peter Hitchens’ first salvo. Rather set the tone at a welcome new level with clear accusations of falsehood. Shame the chair not keen to see that debated to see who was correct.
Bill thinks most of the problems in most countries are self-inflicted. So… handing stuff over to a bunch of Eurocrats will solve that? Uh-huh. Then he tries a daft equivalence with NATO… and football???!
Bill then plays fast and loose with the famous BBC ‘we’. Again, a shame this was not really delved into to discover who this ‘we’ and ‘their’ actual desires were. Mark Reckless raises the anti-democratic facts later. Anyway, back to the ‘authored documentary’…
‘Fear can make you value the important things in life’. Like shiny-shiny. Uh-huh. Peter Hitchens then nails it. Ukraine, anyone? Bill asked a question by Pesto… doesn’t answer and then authors a new documentary… rightly dismissed as more churnalism.
Then, more football from Bill. Didn’t go well. Then the BBC ran out of time. Luckily.
Envy of the world, Ma.
http://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-great-european-disaster-movie.html
With links to other sites equally bemused by the new BBC genre that is ‘authored documentary’, which may be yet another unique to add to a growing list.
“Annalisa’s reply was:
We thought if we went into trying to give both sides of the arguments for all these very complex issues we wouldn’t have survived. We would have died in the process.”
Giving both sides so very last definition of balance.
At least they still have their reputations.
I watched this documentary and was seething at what I thought was just another piece of BBC pro-European propaganda, but the discussion afterwards levelled things up when Mark Reckless; Nigel Lawson and Peter Hitchens completely took the documentary maker Bill Emmott’s arguments apart and made him look very foolish!
I’m very suspicious of the Beeb approach in showing pro-EU propaganda followed by right-wing rebuttal. When the referendum is due we can expect unrelenting propaganda like this. Last night’s show was a good rehearsal for the real thing. It would have had just a tiny audience – so no downside – but would have been invaluable as a test run. No doubt those in charge of ‘the project’ will have learned lessons on finessing the propaganda narrative and on rebutting arguments from the best brains that the ‘Out’ campaign can put up.
The aircraft scenes were cringe-worthy, but some sections were very effective. Expect the 2017 show to be far more slick…., plus the panels then will be stuffed full of lefties, eloquent English-speaking European luvvies and, above all, business people warning that the country will be a waste-land in the event of an ‘Out’ vote.
Well, that mocumentary about the collapse of the EU was bad. Start with the background music – dreary and irritating Then the team of authors all plugging their boring books. The man with the little girl on the train reminded me of Dr Who and I thought as the plane was going down he would whisk her away into the Tardis. BBC finally lost it in the discussion where Reckless and Hitchens demolished the half witted producer of the film. I feel motivated to complain that as Daleks are so essential to BBC culture they were not represented in the movie.
“Brussels cash for BBC film… about ‘disaster’ of the EU breaking up: Money will be used to translate mock documentary to be shown in other member states.
“The Great European Disaster Movie showed a vision of future if EU ended.
“It warned a break up would have ‘catastrophic consequences for all of us.’
“But it emerged the production company had received EU funding for film.
“Funds will be used to translate it to be shown in various member states.”
By TAMARA COHEN, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
FOR THE DAILY MAIL.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2975005/Brussels-cash-BBC-film-disaster-EU-breaking-Money-used-translate-mock-documentary-shown-member-states.html#ixzz3TGcXgvJn
Beeboids’ ‘European Disaster’ was a disaster in terms of extreme political bias and its phoney mix of fiction and E.U propaganda.
A Deayton plane-crash production indeed.
In the name of HALL’s one-way street political ‘diversity,’ there will be no commissioning of programmes to counter such pro-E.U Beeboid propaganda.
I am very surprised that the BBC would broadcast something as amateurish and superficial as the Great European Disaster Movie – and that the FT gave it 4 stars! (Although the Telegraph yesterday gave it just one, and in my opinion, rightly so!) The background music was terrible (it reminded me of another very disappointing documentary about Italy broadcast by the BBC last year by the same authors – Girlfriend in a Coma). I found Emmott and Piras’ appearance at the beginning of the programme ludicrous and patronising (never have I seen before a documentary where viewers were warned by the authors). A huge missed opportunity (also I did not understand what role the German interviewees played – and found the medal with the swastika pretty annoying and out of place – they could have artfully cut it out). All I can say is that there is plenty of real talent out there – the BBC should focus more on making way for truly original, thought-provoking documentaries.