Well, it’s Budget Day and I noticed the BBC telling us that Osborne will use this for electoral purposes, targeting key groups of voters. Gosh. How fortunate that Brown and Darling never played such low politics during THEIR Budgets. Anyway, here’s a new much needed Open Thread for your completion.
MID WEEK OPEN THREAD….
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An awful lot of people coming out to criticise the Tory plans for Massive cuts to government spending. Too many just to claim that it’s just left wing bias and think tanks and Labour supporters, now even the head of the Office for Budget Responsibility has joined in the criticism.
I don’t like ‘Call me Dave’ at the best of times, and I like even less being lied to. There are times such as with Gay Marriage, and immigration that it is impossible to know what a politician is planning to do, but both turned out to be lies by the Tories.
The current cuts the Tories claim they are planning also are either a lie (which I believe) or they would cause such damage to the UK that they would disadvantage the country for a very long time.
Many areas of the economy are difficult to calculate effect because of so many external factors possibly influencing the outcome, the easiest to show effect is perhaps benefits spending.
The Nuffield foundation have provided some possible scenarios of how the cuts might be implemented in a reasonably balanced way.
I do take issue with the ‘no increase’ in benefits as a cut, because it isn’t!
If as the Tories have said the largest group of claimants – pensioners are to be exempted again, then the whole of the cuts will fall on working age people. Please remember that much of these benefits go to people who are IN WORK, and not what might be termed ‘scroungers’, who perhaps should be targeted but are not being.
With the ‘Bedroom tax’ and the council tax cuts people on very low incomes now cannot afford to live. If I were claiming JSA then nearly all my money would be gone back to the government leaving me with next to nothing to live on. We know that JSA is ‘manifestly insufficient to live on’ and if the Tories were challenged in Europe they would probably lose. We know that the Tories know that the amount is too low, but it doesn’t seem to bother them. This is simple cruelty.
There has currently been £17 Billion of cuts to welfare, with none of it affecting the largest claimants, pensioners. Now the Tories want to find another £12 Billion !
The freeze on increases on non disability benefits saves £2.4 billion
That means the government has to take away £800pa from 16 million claimants !
Although the Tories are cruel beyond measure, even they know that they cannot get away with attacking the disabled, and to a lesser extent single parents, which means that yet again the burden will fall on the working poor and the unemployed.
I’m sure that I could write pages on this, but I shall stop here. The Tories are lying, their plans cruel and unworkable, and there are a lot of influential people speaking out against them.
http://election2015.ifs.org.uk/article/deeper-benefit-cuts-needed-to-hit-conservative-target
I do take issue with the ‘no increase’ in benefits as a cut, because it isn’t!
It depends how you define a cut.
There are two meanings a cut can be exactly that,a reduction in the nominal amount.
It can and often does mean no increase or a lesser increase compared to an anticpated growth in say costs of living or core inflation or expectation in a betterment of service etc.
In the past the term cut was generally thought of in terms of the latter.
In respect of the Tories being liars I wouldnt agree with that particularly. I think they are extremely ideological and totally incompetant ;think Gove, Grayling and IDS and the complete mess they have made in their respective deptments. More importantly they are serving a class of people beyond and above the ordinary citizen.
They represent in many ways the hidden election that along with the one everyone is talking about now will not be voted on.
You will note that this election is about principally debt reduction
and austerity economics.
Who is this important to and who is framing the election?
To understand that you have to go back to 2008 and for a really thoro examination to Thatcher.
One of the key aspects of this election is economic competance particularly of the Labour party. This stems from the crash caused through illegal and fraudlent trading on the part of US banks (and others) and the incompetance of the rating agencies(again in the US). The effect as everyone knows was that Labour was obliged to raise borrowing from 37% (decreasing) to 77% of GDP overnight to bail out the banks.
Why was borrowing 37% in the first place? Because true to form the previous Tory administration under Thatcher/Major had decimated services including the NHS and Blair came in on a ticket to repair the damage,which incidently he did pretty well.
Under Blair borrowing increased but then after 2006 began to drop back down.
The failure of the banking system in 2007/8 put paid to good financial husbandry however . Whilst a lot of Tories and the ignorant like to blame Brown, it is notable that ALL major countries took a hit and that the UK’s finacial position was considerably BETTER THAN MOST COUNTRIES.
Ok, so why does everyone think Labour cant run the finances? Basically because someone has told you they cant and those people are the ones that want to recover their losses from the last crash ie. the financiers.
Austerity economics,the stuff youve been sold endlessly and the stuff Labour has been forced to sign up to because of its political incompetence has absolutely no economic validity whatsoever. It was an idea that was hatched up by a couple of US University Profs but was subsequently found to be bassless. Nonetheless the US OECD and the right signed up to it.
Why?
Because a fiscal policy that focuses on deficits rather than creating sustainable employment or monatary policy that screws down inflation serves the interest of creditors not people that go out to work.
So why are successive governments going along with this.
Its because the offshore tax haven known as the City of London where representives are voted in on the basis of how many employees they have and where freedom of information is prohibited and where secret accounts fund London wide developments demand recompense.
The real election is whether you want to be controlled by a system which brought down most western economies, is key to the movement of large volumes of corporate cash out of the country and is instumental in a system that is destined to crash. The question you should be asking yourself is what has happend to rectify 2008 to make sure it never happens again.
The answer my friends is simple. You are on the butt end of a system that considers all your petty squabbles about foreigners,poles,ISIS together with ‘Britishness’ as entirely irrevant. You are a unit of work along with the machine you operate and your country is a convenient plot of soil on which to carry out your task. If ISIS was a good bet you can be sure big business would be doing the selling. Nothing has changed from 2008. Those with money will continue to get more money and those that work will continue to stay relatively impoverished particularly the young.
By voting for any of the current parties whether ‘wacky’ or mainstream you will be voting for this.
If you vote for Labour you might at least stave off the day of execution however. Gilts are at an all time low. Buying these is like like spending 10 quid and getting 15 back. If the government borrowed long term debt it would be possible to inflate the economy so that people got real jobs and proper wages. That wont make the money men happy but it may at least keep the roof over peoples heads.
LOL.
You forgot to add ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’ otherwise it was completely on message.
Well done you – have a Public Sector job for your troubles.
Dont need it Thanks. I retired last year.
Index-linked no doubt. Interesting commitment of the time.
Albaman usually expresses surprise at this. No doubt professional courtesies prevailed.
‘… why does everyone think Labour cant run the finances?’
That would be because they’ve bankrupt the country every time they’ve been in power.
… stems from the crash caused through illegal and fraudlent trading on the part of US banks…
Nothing to do, then, with the house price bubble inflated by Brown? People with common sense say it coming years in advance. Here’s a housepricecrash web page from February 2008:
At the time of writing (Feb 2008) I would say that we are in the ‘Denial’ stage. Make sure you are strapped in tightly and get ready for the ride!
Lifecycle of a Bubble
Or the real estate bubble in any other Major country. This was a system failure. Not Mr Brown.
Never mind that they’ve bankrupt the country every time so far – maybe if we give it just one more go, it will work out next time….eh?
It’s funny. You’d like to see a Labour government because you think, against all odds, it will work out next time.
As a Kipper. I’m at ease with the prospect because I know it will be a disaster and the chaos might shake the slumbering giant that is our indigenous population out of their slumber.
‘Never mind that they’ve bankrupt the country every time so far – maybe if we give it just one more go, it will work out next time….eh? ‘
2008 was a banking crash brought about by fraud,principally in the US. It affected most Major nations. How did Labour do that then?
Please at least have a go at answering.
OK, let’s say you’re right and that our deepest ever recession (and the fact we were in a worse position than most other major Western countries) was not anything to do with the profligate borrowing and bonkers policies of the Blair and Brown government.
You would then have to admit that it’s a real quirk of fate that during every Labour Government this country has finished in a far worse state than before: Wilson in the 60s devaluing the pound and a citizen inspired I’m-backing-Britain campaign as the government didn’t have a clue how to govern.
Wilson and Callaghan in the 70s presiding over massive inflation, record strike days lost, unemployment rising, the mines and manufacturing industries being closed at a record rate, Britain being called the sick man of Europe. It took years of courage for a Thatcher government to bring sanity and confidence back to this country (something I had never seen in my lifetime before and thought I never would).
Then the disaster that “happened” during the Blair and Brown governments.
If there is no influence that a government can have over the country’s economy then there is no point even debating it. And if Labour Governments are always so unlucky that the country goes tits up every time they are in power then surely no-one should ever vote for them as we definitely don’t want this much bad luck to happen to our country, our economy, our jobs and our lives.
Gordon Brown admits ‘big mistake’ over banking crisis
2008 was a banking crash brought about by fraud
kindly explain (without resorting to personal insult please) how this ‘fraud’ happened and why so many of the worlds major banks were all so corrupt that they joined this fraud without anyone actually knowing.
This is the biggest problem with the banking collapse. So many lefties blaming the bankers making wild allegations which when the merest scratching of the surface cannot be explained.
I can tell you exactly what happened to cause the banking collapse and it has nothing to do with ‘fraudulent bankers’ !
‘2008 was a banking crash brought about by fraud,principally in the US. It affected most Major nations. How did Labour do that then?
Please at least have a go at answering. ‘
Here’s an answer – for the third time. And being a tad tired of your wilful ignorance, I’ve copied and pasted from elsewhere:
The Northern Rock, Bradford and Bingley, HBOS et al business models had nothing to do with the US except for the fact they were exposed when banks stopped lending to each other as a result of the Lehman Brothers crash. But this has been explained to you before and you chose not to answer, so like any good socialist you duck down then pop up a while later and repeat the same old dishonest shite.
And:
Er, he stripped the B of E of its supervisory role which led the banks’ (note: not all banks) rotten business models to get totally out of control whilst turning his blind eye. Greedy banks – yes! But also greedy borrowers and greedy chancellor. Again, this has been explained to you….(see above).
Those British banks were borrowing on the inter-bank market – to fund their reckless spending spree – way beyond what their balance sheets could sustain, so as soon as that money dried up they went into meltdown. On top of that, their lending books were well out of kilter, with way too much in the property sector.
Lehman brothers, Northern Rock, et al were all casualties of the banking crisis their collapses happened as a result of problems in the US.
Your response begs the question as to why Lehaman collapsed in the first place.
The answer lies in the USA and Democrat policy called ‘The Community Reinvestment Act’ which forced banks to lend to high risk black & Hispanic borrowers. Then there was green policy of eco fuel forcing up food prices and meaning that poor people couldn’t afford their mortgages.
The cause of the banking crisis was a combination of left wing & green stupidity !
I still blame the BBc for being implicit in the collapse of Northern Rock. With their don’t panic reporting. And no I have no interest in Northern Rock it’s the view from where I was standing and a conversation with someone (not a friend) who worked for the bank. Other than that Thoughful I agree with you exactly on the root cause.
IIRC Northern Rock was the building society of choice for many lefties looking for a cheap mortgage – they even asked which party you voted for on their application forms! This was exposed at the time by the Spectator I think.
It was Peston that blew the gaffe, probably to warn his mates in Labour to get the hell out before it was too late.
Cue Run On the Rock.
The whole Sub-Prime mess was a disaster waiting to happen and was triggered, IIRC, by China pulling the rug on Goldman Sachs’ shenanigans in Malaysia – they were trying to reduce American financial influence in the area. This precipitated a surge in asset sales …
None of this was Brown’s fault. His part in the tragedy was to slip the brakes off and press the accelerator before blithely leaving the driving seat to allow the economy to fall into the abyss created by the collapse of some of the banks. He was incompetence personified and was warned many times from 2000 onwards that his policies were building up a dangerous level of debt. He, typically ignored all contrary advise and blundered on.
A few decades ago such a failure would have necessitated a trip to the study and a taste of his service revolver. Naturally Labour do not have any sense of honour unfortunately.
And who was the instigator in all this? Who was it that threatened all the banks with Racism because they weren’t lending to the Black and Hispanic peoples? Who was that trainee layer who forced the “The Community Reinvestment Act”? Who was it that through the “Black Vote” became the first Black American President? Who is it who is a rabid Lefty? Yeah, let all the lefties blame the “Bankers” if it makes them happy but let us make sure that those nasty bankers have a nought percent growth on all those leftie pension funds.
‘Lehman brothers, Northern Rock, et al were all casualties of the banking crisis their collapses happened as a result of problems in the US.’
Only indirectly, as I explained above. Northern Rock was always an accident waiting to happen – and it would have done eventually anyway, regardless of the US crisis.
‘It’s a speech that is becoming well rehearsed for Applegarth after two days in which his bank’s financial position has been under fire. Listen to it often enough and you could almost be forgiven for thinking that Northern Rock has been entirely a victim of circumstance.
But that’s not entirely true. No other lender has been more aggressive in growing its share of the ever-more inflated UK housing market. No other bank has gorged itself on cheap debt to the same extent in order to maintain its relentless growth profile. No other bank has been so dependent on short-term cash from the money markets to keep funding its business model.
There has always been a school of thought that believed Northern Rock was an accident waiting to happen. For Applegarth to simply blame the credit markets is equivalent to suggesting that “a big boy did it and ran away”.
“They’ve built a great machine, an amazing machine,” says one senior investment banker. “But they should have filled it with -petrol, not high-octane rocket fuel. This thing’s been running with the speed gauge on red. It was always going to start creaking at some point.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2815859/Why-Northern-Rock-was-doomed-to-fail.html
seeing as I was presenting this from the point of the spender, then the cut must mean a reduction in the amount spent, and it is disingenuous to talk about cuts in relative terms of inflation.
If the government spends £100 million, and doesn’t give a yearly rise then ceteris paribus it still spends £100 million and hasn’t cut anything, and instead has avoided an increase.
All day long there have been people queuing up, from all political shades & none to condemn these plans, they simply cannot be imposed without serious social damage.
Pull £12 billion out of the economy and it’s going to have a massive effect.
Sure, Labour are lying too, about different things, but lying none the less.
This crazy dogma might just be the straw that breaks the Tories backs. They can’t even explain where they are going to find more than £2 billion of welfare cuts !
But then for a long time I’ve been saying that leftie Dave doesn’t want to be re-elected, because he won’t be able to collect his fat reward from the Sunni Muslim backers while he’s in office !
‘If the government spends £100 million, and doesn’t give a yearly rise then ceteris paribus it still spends £100 million and hasn’t cut anything, and instead has avoided an increase.’
If however inflation was raging at 10% then after a year that 100m would represent a cut because the relative spending power would have decreased.
These are both legitamate versions of the word cut.In Government circles anyway.
‘But then for a long time I’ve been saying that leftie Dave doesn’t want to be re-elected, because he won’t be able to collect his fat reward from the Sunni Muslim backers while he’s in office ! ‘
Sadly your Meds ran out in the middle of your reply! (Or was it the eclipse?)
Ehhh, where to start with this crapola of a socialist/BBC rant.
‘Who is this important to and who is framing the election?
To understand that you have to go back to 2008 and for a really thoro examination to Thatcher.
One of the key aspects of this election is economic competance particularly of the Labour party. This stems from the crash caused through illegal and fraudlent trading on the part of US banks (and others) and the incompetance of the rating agencies(again in the US).’
The Northern Rock, Bradford and Bingley, HBOS et al business models had nothing to do with the US except for the fact they were exposed when banks stopped lending to each other as a result of the Lehman Brothers crash. But this has been explained to you before and you chose not to answer, so like any good socialist you duck down then pop up a while later and repeat the same old dishonest shite.
‘Why was borrowing 37% in the first place? Because true to form the previous Tory administration under Thatcher/Major had decimated services including the NHS..’
Mrs T increased year on year spending on the NHS in real terms – fact.
‘Whilst a lot of Tories and the ignorant like to blame Brown….’
Er, he stripped the B of E of its supervisory role which led the banks’ (note: not all banks) rotten business models to get totally out of control whilst turning his blind eye. Greedy banks – yes! But also greedy borrowers and greedy chancellor. Again, this has been explained to you….(see above).
‘the UK’s finacial position was considerably BETTER THAN MOST COUNTRIES.’
No it wasn’t, it is generally accepted it was in the worst position of all the developed countries.
‘The real election is whether you want to be controlled by a system which brought down most western economies…’
I think you’ll find they’re still there and some (like ours) are doing very nicely indeed, thank you! Any suggestions you have for an alternative will be seriously considered.
‘The answer my friends is simple. You are on the butt end of a system that considers all your petty squabbles about foreigners,poles,ISIS together with ‘Britishness’ as entirely irrevant. You are a unit of work along with the machine you operate and your country is a convenient plot of soil on which to carry out your task.’
Bloody hell, I finally believe in re-incarnation! How you doing, Karl?
‘ If ISIS was a good bet you can be sure big business would be doing the selling.’
Forget that earlier request for a pint of what you’re drinking – too fucking dangerous!
‘Those with money will continue to get more money and those that work will continue to stay relatively impoverished particularly the young. ‘
I judge from your earlier posts you’ve done pretty well out of it (as one of the 1%). Must have been heartbreaking for you when it took Labour 13 years to introduce the 50p tax rate, though.
And btw, our granddaughter is doing very well in her place of work, thanks – the company is thriving. My kids not doing too badly, either, or those of our friends – some doing exceptionally well financially, actually. In fact, you know what, judging by the continuing boom in coffee shops, restaurants, bars, takeaways and retail generally, and looking at those that are spending in them, I’d guess that’s pretty well the situation generally.
Capitalism may not be perfect, but it’s a darned sight better than any alternative. So lighten up, be thankful for our free and affluent society and just hope that wealth creation* can continue to give us the standard of living we’ve come to take for granted in this country.
*I know facts aren’t your strongpoint, so you might like to do a bit of research into how much financial services contributes to the Exchequer, then consider the type of ‘cuts’ you’d have to make without it.
Next!
I m afraid lying, and fiddling, and living up to their name as Selfservatives is second nature, is it any wonder they spent so long in their self deserved wilderness?.
The poor and most vulnerable? always first in Tory sights
They have learned nothing, desperate to huff and puff into another housing bubble, (new ISA anyone), no mass council house sell off this time, while simultaneously preventing replacement of social housing.
Better look for another quick sell off eh!, oops Post Office gone ..
thank goodness for the NHS cash cow fire sale … Lord Carter and co … coming along nicely.
If it wasn t for oil prices – low inflation eh!
His erm, “Long term plan”? … which one 😀
I did listen in to this smug toff idealogue, with his hands luckily on a few quid
… until he started lying about child poverty as well
Obviously youre on the BBC payroll like Me. I like their Cups with the logo on.
So is that why the top 1% of earners pay more in tax than they did under Labour?
And what about the massive rise in the basic tax allowance? I know that is sacrilege to socialists – they believe in taking money off the poor so the government can decide whether they deserve to have some of it back or not (whilst employing an army of civil servants to do it).
TUNISIA:
-INBBC still censoring online on Islamic jihad nature of massacre of Kafirs.
“Tourists killed in ‘jihadist’ attack on Tunis museum”
http://www.france24.com/en/20150318-tunisian-forces-free-all-hostages-deadly-museum-attack-gunmen/
“Tunisia terror: British woman among 19 killed in ‘Islamic State’ attack.
“A BRITISH woman was killed in the terror attack on Tunisia’s national museum which left 23 dead.”
By ALIX CULBERTSON.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/564791/Tunisia-terror-British-woman-among-19-killed-in-Islamic-State-attack
“Media mystified by latest slaughter of 17 Western tourists;
what Muslim terrorists?”
Read more: http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/03/18/media-mystified-by-latest-slaughter-of-17-western-tourists-what-muslim-terrorists-188076#ixzz3UpXzcdi0
“A Message Before the Attack at the Bardo Museum”
http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/03/a-message-before-the-attack-at-the-bardo-museum/
BBC moaners hour blatantly political today with a piece about how wrong those people who are concerned about immigration are.
Aggressive (verging on violent) Fascist condemnation of those who don’t share their values, and promotion of immigration.
Condemnation of UKIP & Tories because immigrants don’t like it.
” Clarkson’s real crime?
“He represents everything the Left hates yet is HUGELY successful. ”
By STEPHEN GLOVER
FOR THE DAILY MAIL.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3001758/STEPHEN-GLOVER-Clarkson-s-real-crime-represents-Left-hates-HUGELY-successful.html#ixzz3UpEGTkXP
Or he hit someone which because evidently isnt left wing must be right wing. Conclusion the right wing support violence. Bit like ISIS except without the robes (I assume)
Violence more like the UAF (but a lot, lot milder) and without the hate and spittle-flecked rage that you get from these people and their Beeboid supporters and anti-semites.
… and like the typical leftist hatemonger you appear to have treated an allegation as evidence. Is that the justice system you want? People being convicted on allegation alone?
Every time you post you condemn yourself.
‘This comparison of Clarkson with Savile – which, unsurprisingly, has inflamed the petrolhead – is as unhinged as it is malicious. While the BBC is conducting its supposedly even-handed investigation (and why on earth need it take so long?) one of its executives is blackening his name.
Suspicion first fell on the former Labour minister James Purnell, who has found a £295,000-a-year berth at the BBC as its so-called head of strategy. (Shouldn’t that be the Director-General’s job?) However, Mr Purnell and the BBC have categorically denied that it was him.
Another suspect was Danny Cohen, BBC Director of Programmes, who is known to disapprove of Clarkson. Some say he is too circumspect to talk in such a way. ‘
**Tired sigh**
‘Bit like ISIS except without the robes ‘
Never mind robes, I’d look out for the men in white coats if I were you.
Why are people failing to see what else is going on here?
Clarksons contract with the BBC ends within a month, if the BBC doesn’t want him they can simply not renew his contract. (assuming that there aren’t some carry over clauses).
Clarkson reported himself to the BBC bosses, not some lefty producer, or the guy who allegedly got hit.
Clarkson et al sold Top Gear to the BBC for a lot of money. If he can get out of this contract then he will be free to commence another program for goodness knows how much pecuniary advantage!
Clarkson is forcing this issue the BBC are being forced to respond to it, as I typed in an earlier article the drones are too stupid to be able to see a commercial game which they are playing in ignorance. What does it matter to them if they lose a few hundred million? They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again they can always just put the licence fee up it simply doesn’t matter !
To me this is not a matter of BBC bias it’s a matter of BBC incompetence (again)!
I (as well as many others) had great fun in predicting who the politically correct creeps, who run the BBC, would choose as a replacement for Clarkson and co when they finally ‘get him’. Stephen Fry ticked so many BBC boxes, he was the satirists dream candidate.
While we were only joking, it seems that the leftie liberals in the BBC are seriously considering Fry.
If so, the BBC are clearly taking the piss.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3001616/Fry-revs-replace-Clarkson.html
Or Alan Partridge
@BBCNewsEnts tweeted: 15,000 people demand Alan Partridge should replace Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear:
18/03/2015 – 23:05
If a fictional character is in the frame did they consider Mrs. Merton?
Or Homer Simpson…?
Only one cartoon character is ideal for the job.
Bring on Dick Dastardly !
Whacky Races in the 21c .
Dick Dastardly will remain the same , but all the other cartoon characters — a houseful of ghouls , 20s gangsters , Stone Age men , sniggering dog etc would not be diverse enough for the Gramscian liberal/left .
Re: Thoughful
You are correct. Although I reckon the terms of any non-compete have run out by now and even if they haven’t could be quite easily subverted. I can think of a few ways. If the BBC was planning on signing Clarkson up for another series they would have done so already. Therefore I believe Clarkson knew his time with the Beeb was over and reported himself for the publicity. Prior to starting his new career on Sky/Netflix/ITV.
Must have been a blow for the BBC executives when May and Hammond refused to do the last three episodes without Clarkson.
Almost passed this over as it was looking simply like the latest in what is the BBC’s latest sloooooow-motion car-crash.
Actually a pretty balanced piece on the protagonists and issues. Though a Mail writer remaining in the dark as to who leaked the Savile quote the Mail intrigues.
However, another bit way down caught my eye:
‘On Tuesday night, BBC2 showed a programme called Suffragettes Forever in which the historian Amanda Vickery suggested Margaret Thatcher had let down the feminist cause.
In a reference to the 1982 Falklands War, she claimed Thatcher ‘did not shrink from personally ordering the sinking of an [Argentinian] troop carrier with the loss of over 300 lives’.
This was a reference to the Belgrano, a cruiser rather than a troop carrier, which was sunk because, in the opinion of British naval commanders, it presented a danger to our ships.
There was immediately a shot of Mrs Thatcher saying: ‘Just rejoice at that news, and congratulate our Forces and marines.’ We were invited to conclude that she had heartlessly said this in response to the sinking of the Belgrano.
But the truth is she spoke these words a week earlier, after British Forces had retaken the island of South Georgia without the loss of any British lives.
One Argentinian died, though Thatcher did not know this when she asked the nation to rejoice at the recapture of British territory which had been illegally seized.
In other words, that great hate figure of the Left, Margaret Thatcher, has been traduced once again by a supposedly reputable historian.
Will Amanda Vickery apologise? Of course not. Or Danny Cohen and Tony Hall? Not a chance. I’d like to see them submit to a Clarkson-style investigation, but they will sail blithely on.
Yet again, the BBC engaged in blatant misrepresentation, indulged from on high, and likely with no consequence.
Unique doesn’t come close.
O/T but I remember reading, years later, that the Captain of the Belgrano said they were zig-zagging so the direction away from the protected zone was just temporary as they would have changed again in time. He also said that the sinking of his ship was a legitimate act of war and he would have done the same.
IIRC it was on it’s way to attacking the Task Force and was a legitimate target even if it was indeed, like that traitor Tam Dalyell kept on saying ‘returning to port’.
Only a lefty and/or a traitor could question the actions of HMS Conqueror.
I always thought it was a bit like saying we shouldn’t have sunk the Bismarck in 1941 because it was trying to get back to its home port of Brest.
The trouble with all the bbc and the lefties is their assumption that the sinking of the ship was a cruel and vindictive act by an all powerful Royal Navy ruling the waves and firmly under the Prime Ministers control, nothing could be further from the truth. We sailed with two types of Destroyers, the Counties were obsolete, with their main Sea Slug missiles being unusable, their replacements the 42’s were horribly short of length, space, weapons with their Sea Dart missiles an unknown quantity designed to take down “Bears” ( the same ones as today ) at long distance and high altitude, not strike aircraft at zero feet and 500 mph. Our Frigates were designed to find and sink Russian Nuclear Subs, not the same strike aircraft, against which they were virtually useless armed with an obsolete anti aircraft missile which had to be fired and guided to its target by a seaman on the top deck. We had 3 Nukes which were looking for the Argentine Carrier using rules of engagement which seriously hampered them in their task. The Belgrano was not as the bbc thinks a useless hulk but a Cruiser with 6in guns which could hit a ship from 13 miles, one salvo of which would easily sink a British Frigate which had no armour fitted ( making it as vulnerable as a cross channel ferry ). Her escorts were also fitted with Exocet anti ship missiles likewise highly effective. Simply put if this force came across a British Frigate or a 42 on picket duties ( which is what they would have if they got close enough ) then they would have very likely sunk it with heavy loss of British lives. We used our one advantage, Nuclear Subs, to effectively force their heavily armed Navy to run and hide in port because they could not face the idea of a battle at sea with a weapon they could not fight. To make the point again, the Task Force was equipped with ships for a role which was not the role they were fighting, the Navy knew it and knew they would lose ships for so doing. They accepted this flaw and did their duty as the Navy always has done. They were a long, long, long way away from any safe port and help, they were facing a coming Winter at sea and fighting an enemy close to home. They were in a very dangerous position where it could easily turn into a bloodbath of British blood. The fact that the bbc refuses to see this even now just goes to show how totally treacherous they were and still are, they would have far rather have seen such a scenario resulting in the Prime Minister being kicked out, they would have been happy with that result then and still wish it now and to hell with the loss of our young men. Traitors the whole lot of them.
Good post. Unfortunately you are hampered by a knowledge of the facts, as opposed to the ideology of Marxist feminism, so you have no chance of ever becoming a BBC gob on a stick.
Good link, GW.
The BBC are beyond contempt.
From our own Correspondent:
Around the world in less than half an hour! In this edition: euphoria in the Nigerian army as successes are notched up in the battle against the jihadis of Boko Haram; a stunning election victory for Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel — but it means frustration, anger and dismay for the country’s Palestinian population; bombs explode in a Christian neighbourhood in Pakistan – we hear how Christians there are regularly targeted by extremists and feel abandoned by their government; how the argument between states and the White House over immigration to the US is raising profound questions about what kind of a country the United States is and a community in China exclusively for those who are short in stature – we’re off to find out whether its residents feel exploited or happy with their lot.
The Pakistani Christians who have come under attack by Muslims have come under attack by the Pakistani government, but it’s not their fault ! It never is! Under Fascist rule the BBC has to find a way to blame whitey no matter how twisted & broken logic history and reality are in the process.
It is of course our fault because they converted to Christianity at the time of the British Raj.
“Muslims must never be criticised no matter what they do” (Labour party policy).
‘….a stunning election victory for Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel — but it means frustration, anger and dismay for the country’s Palestinian population.’
Hmmm, it actually wouldn’t make any difference as the Pallys never have and never will be interested in a 2-state solution – not that you’d ever know that from the BBC’s not-so-subtly-redacted version of Middle Eastern history.
Oh dear, oh dear, diversity and stupidity rules, early night for me tonight.
Wait! Dia Chakravarty is Political Director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance. She’s a smart lady, and can’t be accused of being pale, male or stale!
I wish she would join The People’s Army.
Wimmins Hour this morning had a whine about the effects of the ‘immigration debate’ on immigrant women. They were really depressed that some Asian women are intending to vote UKIP.
Dia Chakravarty is indeed a smart lady (lovely too). She was excellent in her previous QT appearance.
Not 5-0 to the lefties tonight!
In fact I’d call it only 3.25 – 1.75 to to lefties this week, so they don’t have a chance! Go Dia!
To ICSCN. (Pendantry – please forgive)
Asian women don’t get the vote. British women are intending to vote for UKIP!
Go British women! Common Sense and Reason.
This is interesting. Trevor Phillips says telling the truth can’t be racist and says we need “new rules” for how diiferent communities behave.
Maybe the first signs of a swing away from political correctness and towards more honesty in society. A hint also that decades of multiculturalist policies have been a dismal failure and are leading us down a dangerous dead end.
He’s been on the radio plugging a tv show tonight.
http://l-bc.co/6Nskhl
‘Trevor Phillips says telling the truth can’t be racist and says we need “new rules” for how diiferent communities behave.’
In terms of providing the glue that bonds this nation together all ‘communities’ share an equal responsibility and in this regard should behave exactly the same.
“Woman in Luton Airport terror arrest”
“A 21-year-old British woman has been held by counter-terror police at Luton Airport after landing from Istanbul, ”
Could she be a ‘M….m’?
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-31966424
Or, as the pedants would say, a ‘M….ma’.
Same thing here in telegraph.
We must listen to Trevor Phillips and his inconvenient truths about race.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11479761/We-must-listen-to-Trevor-Phillips-and-his-inconvenient-truths-about-race.html
Does INBBC support austerity for Islamic jihadists in our midst?-
“France cut welfare benefits for 290 jihadists last year”
http://www.france24.com/en/20150318-france-cut-welfare-benefits-jihadists-cazeneuve/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-31961591 an article about Paris smog. Now Boris gets it in the neck from the bBC for air pollution in London, but not a squeak about the EU allowing Paris to produce volumes of smog.
Fashion advice from the Beeb.
In photos: How to wear your hijab
I await “How to wear your burqa” with interest.
If we must have such a thing, that should be on the Asian Network website and nowhere else.
In the interest of cohesion there should not be an Asian Network. They came here for British values , ideals and freedom of speech or was it something else ?
Why the hell do they need to wear a ‘burqa’ in this country where there are no sandstorms ?
Why to hide their beautiful, toned and thoroughly yummy bodies from us evil white rapists of course.
Mr. Ed’s response to George Osborn’s Budget speech was simply to re-hash the old Labour argument that the Chancellor has a “secret plan” to slah NHS spending. Really? Why is it that the Coalition Government has been so desperate to ring-fence NHS spending, a policy that will be followed by any Labour Government? None of the current political parties are going to tamper with this economic sacred white cow, because they are terrified that if they made an attempt to change its funding they would be decimated at the polls. It was depressing to hear Adam Boulton, Joey Jones and Co. describe Mr. Ed’s response to the Budget speech as the most effective so far!! Unfortunately, Pienaar and Co at the BBC are adopting the same depressing approach. In despair I turned over to Sky Sports to watch a masterclass in football from Lionel Messi and Co at Barcelona. Come to think of it, the pedestrian appeoach adopted by the English clubs to the Champions League this season very much mirrors the approach taken by all the political parties towards the long-term spending problems of the NHS.
The point I am making is that simply ring-fencing the NHS will not solve the current financial problems besetting the NHS. When the organisation was set up, the problems of obesity and an aging population did not exist. My late father died of a heart attack aged 54 in 1962 and none of his brothers and sisters lived to the age of 60. However, with the spectacular improvements in health care, the original policy underlining the creation of the NHS is no longer sustainable. I recently read a newspaper article by a Dr. Max Pemberton in the Daily Telegraphn in which he stated that a survey conducted in 1967 found that 9 out of 10 people had attempted to lose weight compared with 57% od adults in 2010. His verdict was that the NHS “will be killed off by obesity.” For instance, managing type 2 diabetes costs the NHS £10 billion a year, and the problems caused by obesity take up just under half of the entire NHS budget. Why are the political parties not proposing to tax fatty, processed or unhealthy foods? What about directing people to make greater use of chemists, a policy which was a successful policy introduced into Holland? Alternative medicines – horror of horrors? What about the political parties introducing some form of compulsory insurance, as is the case on the Continent, to defray the financial burden of the NHS, with exceptions made for low income groups? Broadcasters such as the BBC and Sky need to take the iniative on this matter, in view of the timid approach adopted by the political parties, and to try and persuade the British public to take a more grown up approach towards this problem. The broadcasters need to tell the public that it is no longer sufficient to simply repeat the old mantra, “Isn’t our NHS wonderful.” It is no longer fit for purpose and needs to be radically changed, both in terms of attitude and funding. The broadcasters and the public must no longer hide their heads in the sand, but demand that the politicians stop kicking this problem into the long grass and come up with a viable long-term solution. However, I am afraid that neither the broadcasters nor the public have the courage or the foresight to initiate such a radical course of action.
Labour use the NHS as a political football. If outsourcing to a private company resulted in better patient care and/or cost savings but the company made a profit, Labour would be against it. They are in the pockets of the unions and have to protect public sector staff and their pay and conditions at all costs – and stuff the patients. Then they have the brass neck to call the Tories ‘ideological’. What a bunch of jokers.
Unfortunately healthcare is very labour intensive which makes it very expensive.The issue of insurance has its own problems both in terms of coverage and causing health cost inflation. The best way forward is to enhance public health.Its completely nuts to allow those foods that are known to cause health issues into the food chain. We simply are not designed to eat the volume of carbs we do and sit in offices and in front of the telly.
Most people don’t know this but the healthiest time in the UK was 1850. If you take away childhood disease and death in labour then the life expectancy is about 9 months less than now. Their average intake was 4500 calories per day and manual workers were three times stronger. The only way forward is to make everyone healthier- then they won’t need healthcare.
In other words ‘let them eat rice cakes’?
Do you actually read what you post?
Unfortunately healthcare is very labour intensive which makes it very expensive.
The number of employees is related to the size of the population. What makes it really expensive is that, as wages in the real economy were squeezed by immigration, Labour raised NHS wages far above the historical trend. The doctor’s deal was just incompetence. The nurses’ was the usual leftist nonsense; convert a job requiring basic education to one with degree status and pay accordingly. Hey presto, we’ve just made a progressive step improvement to wimmin’s rights. Shame it leaves our health service unaffordable.
Good Post Odo.
RE BBC Lord Haw Hawrabbin CO2 imports propaganda
Thanks @Pounce @Goat for the comments, I just repeated them on THE Bishop-Hill.net posting on the topic where bIsh correctly observed that when Lord Lawson said our CO2 was not really going down, cos wed just export\ed the industry ..Harrabin wouldn’t report it
BBBC should get into the habit of posting a link to BH’s dissection of the latest BBC Climate crap..as it seems often BBBC doesn’t to have the time to write a specific post.. that way you guys can directly give your input there
“bIsh correctly observed that when Lord Lawson said our CO2 was not really going down, cos wed just export\ed the industry ..Harrabin wouldn’t report it”
Except he did.
“The UK government’s claim to lead the world in cuts of carbon emissions has been challenged by researchers.
UK emissions are rising overall because current calculations omit pollution from goods imported from countries like China, Leeds University experts say.”
Roger Harrabin
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31952888
The question is even if the BBC hadn’t reported on Lawson why should they.Lawson is not a scientist, he represents the City and has interests in the biggest coal burning polluter in Europe
Absolutely correct.
Just as the BBC should not have reported the IPPC report as it was written by people who were not climate scientists and most of the contributors weren’t neither.
Oh wait a minute …
‘Lawson is not a scientist….’
Nor are 95% of the global warming advocates we hear on the BBC.
OT (for now):
http://order-order.com/2015/03/19/green-media-spokesman-does-a-bennett/
Be interesting to see if this becomes news, or not, as various factions within the BBC grapple with not showing up their eco-chums as nuts, vs. doing just that lest more of Ed’s votes dribble away as folk forget what they actually have by way of policies, or not, or forget (though in Ed’s case, relative merits to run things close).
Brilliant!
And I guess the cap on 20% ‘ownership’ of the media – whatever that means, and he couldn’t explain – would not apply to the BBC with its 70% news coverage, a sort of reward for being the number one publicity machine for its green 28gate mates.
I wa driving back from work lunchtime and caught R4. All I heard was cuts cuts cuts. Cuts that might happen ,cuts that might never happen and cuts that should never happen or should happen, I ended by bored stiff and unable to take any more.
Is this the BBC’s idea of news or is it just propaganda now?
No. Its he commentary from all & sundry about the Tories proposed policies should they be re-elected. It seems they have been met with universal condemnation.
See the first post on the thread.
The BBC Budget coverage was very flat yesterday without Brillo. He was back today, on fine form. He humiliated David Gauke, the Tory Treasury man, for not saying where the deep cuts would be made, and Chris Leslie, his Labour opposite number, for pretending that Labour’s plan doesn’t require borrowing. Two-nil to Brillo.
In other words – balance. A quality generally lacking at the BBC as exemplified in Budget coverage on Today and TWATO where the Labourites got a very easy ride indeed on their ‘plans’.
I think that’s because anyone with any sense will know that the Tory plan to tank the UK economy in order to appease creditors,(read banisters) isn’t reall a plan at all. It’s a continuation of an ideology routed in economic misconception. The only way you can get an economy going is to inject cash into it. Cheaply and profitably done through gilts which are at an all time low.
I believe you will find that after the budget announcements the Chancellor now proposes to reduce public expenditure as a %age of GDP to just a tad above that of Gordon Brown in 2000.
“The only way you can get an economy going is to inject cash into it. Cheaply and profitably done through gilts which are at an all time low.”
So Manon wants to continue to borrow to keep us in the luxury to which we have become accustomed and leave the bill to our children then.
Did he not read the finding (strangely overlooked by the BBC in summarising their poll!) of the “Newsbeat” poll that young people wanted the government to make serious cuts now to avoid that situation.
But then you are a baby boomer retiree, part of a large group who have done extremely well for themselves out of the borrowings of governments since the war (and probably hugely subsidised house purchase) and seemingly want to keep it that way at others expenses.
Oh dear, I’ve just described Labour’s basic economic policy.
‘The only way you can get an economy going is to inject cash into it. ‘
Which doesn’t necessarily mean more government borrowing, as has been proven with the splendid growth rates we’ve been seeing recently. The difference between this last recession and the one before – in the early 90s – is that this time around there was ‘no money left’* in the government’s coffers to inject into the economy.
*Copyright Liam Byrne.
Carbon Brief:
Storm damage
The week began with the world’s gaze fixed sympathetically upon the tiny Pacific island state of Vanuatu. On Saturday morning, one of the fiercest storms ever recorded tore across the archipelago. Wind speeds of up to 300km per hour left dozens dead and infrastructure and homes destroyed. With cruel timing, Cyclone Pam struck just as representatives from the world’s governments were gathering in Sendai, Japan, to formalise a new United Nations agreement on disaster risk reduction.
Among the dignitaries in Japan was Vanuatu’s president, Baldwin Lonsdale. With no available flights back to his capital Port Vila, he told the media in Japan that he thought climate change had “contributed” to the rise in extreme weather events, such as Pam. The comments led to a flurry of articles asking whether such a link could be made. Roger Harrabin, the BBC’s environment analyst, walked his readers through the evidence, concluding: “[Lonsdale] can’t be sure that the gusts of Pam were propelled by human hands. But he can be very sure that, as greenhouse gases increase, it is his people who are among the most at risk.”
I wonder if JonDon has posted that bottle of Evian to the saltwater-chugging residents yet? Hopefully Baldwin did without the duty frees on… his flight… and sneaked a few extra cans of Ginger ale out at least.
“As you walk through the storm, hold your head up high…”
I wonder if dopey Harrabin has read this:
http://www.thegwpf.com/no-link-between-cyclone-pam-and-climate-change/
‘But he can be very sure that, as greenhouse gases increase, it is his people who are among the most at risk.’
Very sure eh, Roger. I think even if you go into the depths of the IPCC report – it being drafted by t’ world’s top scientists an’ all (or so the IPCC ‘scientists’ keep telling us) – it doth not speak with such conviction.
As the preacher in Blazing Saddles famously remarked: ‘Son, you’re on your owwwn.’
More Muslim sob stories for Islam Not BBC (INBBC)?:-
“Watch-list of European Islamic State sympathisers stands at 10,000 people ”
– See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2015/03/watch-list-of-european-islamic-state-sympathisers-stands-at-10000-people.html/#sthash.DBFJ4pvw.dpuf
BBC radio 4 “inside science” spreading the lie that everyone in Britain is the result of immigration.
Thinly veiled swipe ay UKIP and anyone with concerns about immigration. What isn’t properly mentioned is that most mass immigration occurred about 1000 years ago, and that it came in the form of violent conquest.
Probably much the same as the current invasion will go given time.
There was no ‘Mass immigration’ at time of Norman conquest in fact very few Normans settled in England (as percentage of population) the level of Anglo-Saxon migration is still a matter of dispute but that aside there has been no ‘mass’ immigration in to British Isles for thousands of years -that is up until 20th century
To see just how much of a lie the sorelian ‘nation of immigrants’ myth is read Civitas pamphlet of same name
‘A Nation of Immigrants? A Brief Demographic History of Britain’
By David Conway
Same old attacks on the English, nothing changes at the BBc.
The Norman Conquest was exactly that – a conquest. No mass immigration just a change of elites. Thegns into Barons and Norman Bishops instead of English ones. There has never been mass immigration until very recent times.-like right now. Do not fall for the old lies.
We have been bloody invaded now and we can blame the
liblabcons for the mess !
http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/restricted.html?
“Oo, oo, me Sir me… is it the new budget for yet more staff to tell everyone how trusted and transparent the BBC are??”
Dame Janet Smith, apologising for delays to her report on Savile ‘culture’ – now, spookily, due for publication after the General Election ?
Yes, let’s go with ‘spooky’ that Labour’s PR megaphone is even more discredited waits until after it doesn’t matter any more.
Interesting that Be Stephenson is keen to go even further left, but simply needs a heap more wonga thrown his way to stay in touch with the people.
This link was at the bottom of the webpage that Roland Deschain referred to above.
Video : Fashion tips for kids from the IN-BBC, I’m guessing this has featured sometime on CBBC, unbelievable.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/31960437
Next up: ‘Gender segregation and how it empowers Muslim women’.
And then maybe some romance tips: ‘FGM – the Muslim woman’s way to her man’s heart’.
And perhaps a bit of relationship guidance: ‘How Sharia showed divorce was not right for me’.
After Cameron s Islamophilia
Now its Clegg s … to recognise
the “moderate” Palestinian State?
Sheesh!, I bet the BBC typewriters are on fire
hmm still smarting over Bibi s Victory?
For anyone in the West’s political ‘leadership’ and MSM (inc INBBC) who were surprised by the Islamofascist massacre in Tunis, this was published two weeks ago-
“ISIS Sets Sights on the Mediterranean”
by Peter Martino
March 2, 2015.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5301/islamic-state-libya
A link from above, of a month ago–
“Experts:
“ISIS Poses Terrorist Threat to Cruise Ships in Mediterranean”
http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2015/02/articles/terrorism-1/experts-isis-poses-terrorist-threat-to-cruise-ships-in-mediterranean/
INBBC’s dangerously misguided political line on Islamic State (I.S.), is wrong on both A.) and B.) here:-
‘ A.) I.S. is pretty awful, but it’s nothing to do with Islam.’
Correction:-
INBBC is inclined to do what CIA does on this:-
“CIA Projects Western Motives onto the Islamic Jihad”
By Raymond Ibrahim.
http://humanevents.com/2015/03/19/cia-projects-western-motives-onto-the-islamic-jihad/?
‘ B.) I.S. doesn’t directly affect us in the West.’
A corrrection (many others available):-
“Watch-list of European Islamic State sympathisers stands at 10,000 people”
– See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2015/03/watch-list-of-european-islamic-state-sympathisers-stands-at-10000-people.html/#sthash.fTuLKzj9.dpuf
I note that a Labour candidate Marie Rimmer is in court today for kicking a woman at a polling station. Just imagine had she been a UKIP candidate, the BBC would have it as headline news, but as she is Labour there is nothing reported.
They have time to report this though:
UKIP MEP Janice Atkinson suspended over finance claims
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-31976343
Can anyone explain why the BBC haven’t asked the Eds….
‘So if you win the election, will you abolish boom and bust again?’
Channel 4 News just had a long piece with Paloma Faith on politics. Surprise, surprise…. she doesn’t like UKIP. Seems Owen Jones is doing support act for her. Now that Ofcom considers UKIP a ‘major party’ it will be interesting to see how C4 achieves balance.
http://www.channel4.com/news/russell-brand-is-wrong-we-need-to-vote-then-complain-paloma-faith
Why would C4, or indeed the BBC bother. Who is going to enforce it?
India students caught ‘cheating’ in exams in Bihar
You need to check out the first photograph here… it’s remarkable. I know standards have slipped drastically in the UK, but this…..!
Some of these students will be presenting themselves for jobs in the UK any day now.
Are they medical students? Unlikely, medical degrees are harder to come by – probably more expensive to counterfeit copies.
Multiculty dhimmi teachers combat radicalisation, which is not based on religion it can happen to anyone. We might start by sacking such stupid teachers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/31963737
After the Al BBCs own “taster” for the show?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/projects/my-hijab-and-me/try
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05n2fn7
BBC – Airing the Muslim? Miss World documentary
… ooer missus! …
So erm isn t this :-
objectifying women … erm demeaning them?
insulting to the BBCs beloved feminazis
and all the other usual crap spouted by the BBC?
mind you, they did actually get to mention last years
BBC – Miss World 2014:
wait for it … “How my African heritage helped me win ”
… oooh brother!
This Tunisian beauty, she loves little puppies, beautiful roast pork dinners
… and, wait for it ………………. world peace!
Aw! just kidding, not really, she calls for “free Palestine” which means eradication of the Jews, of course.
Regarding the sickening murders of the Western tourists in Tunisia, and the lesson we should take from it – stay as far away from Muslims as you can. This is not hate speech: it is good guidance.
As to the presence of Islam in the Europe, it could not be more out of place in Western civilization.
Why would anyone who’s not a Muslim and who had a choice even think about going to a Muslim country? Unless your idea of a good night out is a mint tea and mosque crawl.
Hats off to Al Beeb for exposing the racket of trafficking illegals out of Britain and into Italy, where they then claim asylum as boat people and then come back into Britain legitimately or some go on to Syria and join IS. Al Beeb deserve praise for exposing the utter mess our border control has been left in by the so called Tory government.
On the other hand, is Al Beeb using the story in an attempt to undermine the present government by getting the disgruntled Tory voters to move to UKIP and get Liebour in through the back door. Are they that naive?
Thats the Evil Bbc`s plan & many on this site are falling for it .
Well the ‘Cons’ are not doing themselves any favors. They have let this Nation and its people down.
Remember the Muslim demo in Downing Street? Remember I (and others) complained about the non coverage? Remember I got a template reply? Remember I had a sense of humour failure and complained? Well this has just popped into my in box (21:01).
Thanks for contacting us with your further comments.
“We apologise for the delay in replying to your e-mail. We realise that our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we’re sorry that you had to wait on this occasion.
The fact that a march takes place does not necessarily make it newsworthy, no matter what the issue involved. To take one example, marches happen in London most weekends and we do not cover them all. It is the nature of such events that those taking part consider them to be newsworthy, but we must bear in mind other factors, such as competing events happening at the same time and how best to use our resources. The 8 February was busy news day, with our bulletins covering the ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and the government’s extension of pension bonds, among other stories.
We are sorry to tell you that we have nothing to add to our previous reply. We do not believe your complaint has raised a significant issue of general importance that might justify further investigation. We will not therefore correspond further in response to additional points, or further comments or questions, made about this issue or our responses to it.
We realise you will be disappointed to hear this but hope this explains why we are not able to take your complaint further. If you remain dissatisfied about our decision you can appeal to the BBC Trust, the body which represents licence fee payers. The Trust has asked that we should explain to complainants that the BBC’s Royal Charter draws a clear distinction between the role of the Trust – which determines the overall scope of the BBC’s services and sets its standards – and that of the BBC Executive – which runs the Corporation and decides what to broadcast and publish.”
I am not surprised Dave666, the excuse of being a ‘busy news day’ is used frequently by the BBC to hide bias by omission. I am pretty sure that it was the excuse used by the BBC for only briefly mentioning the death of the Fogels.
That reply is BULLSHIT. To use a gambling phrase “they are calling your bluff”.
The delay in their reply is indicative that they are worried about the fact that the demo was not covered and they want you to “go away”.
Go to the Trust (for whats it is worth). Make the bastards squirm.
I have every intention to take it as far as I can. The excuse they were busy running their anti Russian agenda cuts no ice with me.
Do. I am usually dubious of taking them on on matters of editorial integrity in what is or is not news as they control the whole process and can simply wave their ‘belief’ wand to make it all go away.
But this one is farcical. This was a major march in the heart of government, when usually two community leaders and a placard would see schedules cleared to hear their grievances.
This is pure censorship, ironically because the BBC PR machine could see blowback a mile off.
And now the cover-up is hanging on to haunt them.
Well done for trying anyway Dave, I also recorded your exchanges with them on this on my website.
Bearing in mind that the BBC had no problem reporting about the police visits to various newsagents asking who had ordered the Charlie Hebdo magazine, despite the other major news stories going on at the time.
So 10,000 people marching against free speech outside Downing Street, in direct opposition to the values of our society, doesn’t get a mention, but 400 PEGIDA marchers in Newcastle a little later in the month must have happened on a slow news day for the BBC because they sure reported on that.
Even our resident trolls will recognise the difference between who composed the different marches, and I’m not talking about John Philip Sousa 😉
Liberty Bell ? (Sound of squelching foot.)
Here’s a snapshot of the BBC homepage with the stories they covered for the day of the march.
Worth noting the main story was Prince Charles concern about radicalisation in the UK. Somehow the BBC couldn’t relate this with the march, and it was begging for it.
But to be fair to the BBC, it was also the day Nigeria decided to postpone it’s presidential vote which certainly has far greater import to us here in the UK.
🙄
Or Ed Miliband’s Bermuda tax warning.
The BBC has zero credibility on their ‘no space for not news’ stance, and they know it.
There will be a lot of senior executives expending a lot of belief to make this one go away.
It might just be possible to argue that the demo was not worth including in headline news programmes. But as far as I can recall it didn’t get a worthwhile mention anywhereat the BBC – including the website
There was a coverage embargo. No doubt about it.
How can a demonstration at Downing street questioning English Law and demanding Shar’ia law not be newsworthy? But holes in fences for hedgehogs is?
The lack of competence of the editorial decision maker needs explaining in light of their response to the complaint.
Anyone watching Trevor Phillips on Ch4?
Talking about Rotherham now and how the authorities were frightened about being branded racists for exposing islamic, pakistani rape gangs.
Trevor phillips doco on Ch 4:
Things liberal Britain don’t want to hear. How an educational film warning of the dangers of islamic gangs was never released and was then re-filmed with a white actor as the baddy (because it wasn’t pc to tell the truth and show muslims as the abusers).
“If you pretend it’s not happening, you condone that behaviour. You’re saying it’s alright. But It’s not alright”.
All of this could describe How the BBC operates every day; slaves to political correct ideology, dishonest censorship, timidity, bias and social engineering.
On UKIP;
“Supporters profoundly angry with Westminster. UKIP is a vote on deeper social trends in Britain”.
“United by their dislike of the metropolitan, liberal elite.
Phillips interviews Farage who criticises the “media class” for “suppressing the truth”.
About to interview Blair.
Trevor Phillips interview with blair.
Blair refuses to admit anything’s wrong, slags off Enoch Powell whom he calls a racist.
Phillips says political correctness is the new racism. Blair denies everything and won’t have it.
Blair is loathsome and out of touch methinks.
In his uber-rich man’s bubble occupying a seat in Club of Rome Class, Blair doesn’t have to even think about living with the consequences of his own policies.
Phillips concludes “we need to be more honest. Then we will be able to see people in their true colours”.
Interesting programme. Interesting it was channel Four. BBC far too gutless and out of touch to make a show like that.
I’ve just about managed to keep my supper down whilst watching patronising leftie, Trevor Phillips. He informed us that he was absolutely astonished at the mass murder of 7/7, though I don’t think anyone else was. I was most certainly expecting it. Nick Griffin had forecast it years earlier and very nearly did a lengthy stretch at Her Majesty’s for telling the truth.
As for the appalling politically correct hand wringing over Rotherham and the industrial scale rape of white girls we all know the establishment just wanted it to go away. They all admitted as much.
I think part of the problem is that the comfy, smug pc left live in a sort of social ghetto; meeting at cosy Islington dinner parties, chortling at what the plebs are saying. Not many of the chattering classes are to be found in grubby council flats in Peckham. This is how we got the Allison Pearson article the other day. Clearly with such old friends it would be so impolite to remind us what role this highly paid civil servant played in our nation’s demise.
Why on earth give a programme to this parasitic pillock who has been proven wrong about almost everything he’s been preaching and helping to impose for decades?
Well, I think we all know why. And we all know what to do.
Vote UKIP.
It’s hard not to agree. I know we’re supposed to be ringing the church bells and lighting beacons because an idiot has repented but the fact is, like Labour politicians who now, albeit grudgingly, admit their actions on immigration were wrong (‘treasonous’ would be a better word), Phillips has done untold damage and yet now expects to be hailed as some sort of hero on the strength of his awakening to common sense.
When the birds come home to roost on immigration, ‘global warming’, grooming, Saville, Smith and all the rest, what is needed is a series of sharp legal processes, resulting in prison sentences.
In other words, exactly what the ‘elite’ dishes out to the likes of us when we break the laws they make.
Aren’t we also supposed to slay a fatted calf (non halal) at the return of the prodigal son?
The whole show was as you say -essentially patronising .A belated recognition that the liberal elite’s attempts to engineer England into some fantasy dream of theirs has failed and reality is hurtling down the road towards them.
Best of luck liberals and your apologists in the liberal media and especially the BBC. You are going to need it.
I’ll be voting UKIP. For sure. I know it’s the right thing to do. The polls currently have them around 15%. Part of that vote is soft, worried about ‘letting Labour in’. Call Me Dave will ruthlessly employ the dog whistle. No one knows today how many will defect by May.
There will be another few per cent; tempted, but not yet convinced. They want to be thought ‘nice people’. There is massive propaganda that you are not nice if you support UKIP. ‘Fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists’. So I have to disagree with others about this programme. What C4 and Phillips did tonight was priceless in legitimising UKIP in the eyes of some voters – and that can only be good.
The Tory – Lynton Crosby? – strategy for dealing with immigration was to treat it as ‘a boulder on the road’. They hoped to get the boulder off the road with Cameron’s ‘big speech’ last November, and to then studiously ignore it until May. C4 have just crowbarred a massive boulder back on to the road. Maybe they have their own pro-Labour agenda. I don’t care; anything that secures more votes for Nigel is good; even 1%. Ditto other journalists jumping on the bandwagon. It’s good that there seems to be a bandwagon; let’s just welcome them on board.
Farage doesn`t want to be PM , & will resign from the leadership if he doesn`t win his seat , so what are you going to do then , I think we need to know .
I think we need to know .
We’ve had this discussion before. I see uncontrolled immigration as a disaster unfolding before our eyes. Unlike you; I rate the danger of another economic blip from Labour as minor in comparison. UKIP is the only party committed to tackle the problem, so the who-to-vote-for decision is easy.
Admittedly the game is probably lost, given the momentum already built up. But I think Farage will win his seat. He’s pure box-office, so he’ll cause mayhem in the Commons. UKIP will establish themselves as the main opposition to the sitting MP in 100+ seats. Maybe if the result is messy, there’ll be another election in a year. Even if there’s not, maybe the steady stream of journalists saying ‘something has to be done’ will cause a public outcry.
Alternatively, you can vote for Call Me Dave. He will spin you the line that the trivial tokens Merkel allows him are major reforms. The BBC will tell you the country will fall apart if you vote to leave Europe. Dave will win the vote and achieve his ambition to be remembered as the leader who finally settled the Europe issue once-and-for-all. And the 600,000 immigrants will keep coming and the numbers will increase. And we’ll still only guess how many illegals by measuring food consumption.
A coalition between the Cons and UKIP is the start of things to come . Ukip will expose all the idiots and freeloaders that run this nation . Once again, we are lions led by donkeys. Donkeys that have taken us for granted for far too long .
Well one of the kippers MEP`s been caught freeloading. Some of you obviously want the Millipeed to win, so he can trash the economy , then its back to Square 1 again , another 5 years of pain, rebuilding the economy under the Tories . But in the meantime ,Millipeed/SNP will let in thousands of more immigrants , give the Bbc a massive increase in licence fee , & no referendum . Farage won`t win his seat though .
The circumstances are all too convenient, the bBC and MSM going into overdrive = establishment stitch up.
Farage is currently 11% ahead, what do you know? Another stitch up?
And there’s that chap ‘two jobs Shapps’ ……
At present the kippers freeloading is ‘alleged’.
Since the polls show Farage ahead, who do you think Tory voters in that constituency should vote for to keep Miliband out?
Conservative , because some some Labourites & Libs will tactically vote Tory to keep Farage out .
Uncontrolled immigration is a disaster but so is the currently collapsing economy. Until people start to understand the need to re inflate business through government investment issues about immigration will continue as resources available to all will shrink. But sadlyY Farage doesn’t address this.
Moreover he is entirely hypocritical over his , on the one hand dismissal of the Eu and support of UK sovereignty, and on the other his support for TTIP a secretive deal between the Eu commission and 192 corporations which will determine what chemicals go into our soil ,what services we can have and how they are to be configured.Disagreements over this will be held IN SECRET by a specially created court. Similar schemes have been set up with other countries and disputes often mean taxpayers end up compensating big business.
Check it out for yourself.Farage will never get my vote just because he is a high rolling hypocrite.And the fact that he has one policy,nothing else he says holds water.
Governments have no money unless provided by the taxpayer or at least they used not to until they discovered the fraud of creating it from nothing.
Government investment? On what? A new British Leyland?
Immigration is an existential matter now and little to do with economics.The ethnic English are in a minority in London and heading that way in other cities.
Check the demographics . Check the birthrates in London and the rest.
Reality here and nothing to do with economics.
No people has ever ,I repeat ever, voluntarily ceded their land to another.
Man on a crap bus “he has one policy” ?
http://www.ukip.org/policies_for_people
I have called Phillips a professional racist before. I have condemned him for the damage he has done through his poisonous rhetoric. It is clear he knows he was wrong and has been man enough to say so ever so publicly. I will applaud him for that.
However, I agree with ICSCN’s take on this. This program is a step forward in exposing the dangers of the fascist leftard mindset. No one else could have made this program but Trevor Phillips.
Anybody watching could see that where Phillips was wrong, was in believing UKIP are looking backwards . Blair showed how out of touch and deluded he is. He doesn’t look a well man. Farage came across as straight, honest, correct, fair, aware and with answers.
Phillips is a closet Kipper now and hates himself for it. He should be embraced by right thinking people.
Vote UKIP
I’d have to disagree about Phillips. I thought that after reading the pre-broadcast publicity about this programme that Phillips had had some sort of epiphany and realised that the multi-culti crap he’d been pushing for the past twenty-odd years had been totally wrong. Watching the programme, however, I thought he’d mistaken the minor doubts he’d had for a colossal “eureka!” moment. Those controversial claims he made at the start of the programme were, to my mind, nothing of the sort. What gave away the timidity of this production was the interview he had with ex- Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffoor (remember he backed the bent ethnic senior Met copper, Ali Dizai) about crime committed by immigrants. Nowhere in that interview was reference made to black street gangs and black on black shootings in London. All other ethnicities were mentioned committing various types of crime but they gave the impression that the Afro-Caribbean “community” were totally law abiding. In fact that little segment all but gave the black community a clean sheet. I have to admit I switched off at that point so I didn’t see the rest of the programme. All I can say is from what I saw it wasn’t the groundbreaking documentary the pundits had been promising.
He was walking on a knife edge. Its a shame you didn’t watch the program all the way through.
Andy S.
Phillips did mention figures on your likelihood to be shot. Black people was about 4 times white people and he did say that the majority of black victims were murdered by blacks.
What disappointed me on reflection was that he did not do a breakdown of the changes in %ages over the last 20 years of place of birth of the residents and ditto for “ethnicity”
He also avoided the leap in birth rate from 1.7 to 2 children per female between 2000 and 2010, with mothers not born in the U.K. somewhat “over represented” as immigrants have tended to be younger than those leaving with their wealth to France, Spain etc.
He also failed to mention whether Jews were over represented in the prison population as well as in the areas he chose to examine.
And finally I do not remember religious background being discussed after the initial Jewish segment, which for some will make integration several more generations down the line at the present rate of progress, while most EU incomers will have been absorbed within a generation.
The leftard masses need coaxing back to reality. He (Trevor Phillips) wasn’t talking to those who see. He was talking to those who remain blind. Phillips could hardly go full ‘brick bat’ on the liberal fascist mindset that he appears to have cured himself of. He did infer that socialist idealism could lead to fascism, with his clips of Stalin + comrades.
Just imagine this. The program was made as shown last night, except fronted by Steven Woolf. Imagine the reaction from the BBC and Guardianistas? “UKIP Waysists” and the rest I would suggest. And it was that left wing reactionary censorial fascist mindset that Phillips succeeded in describing and condemning.
‘As for the appalling politically correct hand wringing over Rotherham and the industrial scale rape of white girls we all know the establishment just wanted it to go away.’
If it was just one authority where a deliberate blind eye was turned to these appalling crimes against children then it could have been argued it was an isolated case. The fact the same PC-motivated culture of denial was prevalent in towns up and down the country to me shows it was a national conspiracy. The government and national race institutions of the day – so that would incude Phillips – should be scrutinised by the current enquiry.
People need to understand that politicians are not going to get us out of this.
Brillo!!! I just love you! Did anyone see him ambush Dianne Abbott? He took her to the cleaners over race, and her impression of a bull dog chewing a wasp was priceless!
Thank you brillo for making my week!
More like a boxer dog chewing a wasp .Who the hell votes for her ?
Becca. You have a point. A boxer dog has more chins.
Brillo cleans up again. I’ll get me coat….
It’s been posted by Guido:-
http://order-order.com/2015/03/20/diane-abbott-gets-brillod/
Craponabus has hijacked this thread with his sanctimonious leftist drivel and myth-making. If I wanted to read that kind of crap I would go to “Comment is Free” or Labourlist. Is it his intention to bore the pants off the rest of us with his propagandising for the Labour Party and its media arm, the BBC? He’s certainly managed to divert attention away from the egregious left wing bias of the Corporation. He must be a full time troll with the number of posts he’s making. It’s getting laborious scrolling past his repetitive posts . Can I request that we all ignore this idiot. You cannot argue with a fanatic, so don’t even attempt to engage with him. He’s not interested in your replies, he just wants to disrupt this site. If you totally ignore him , he may get bored with the lack of response and eventually try being irritating on another blog.
Remember the BBC said the BBC wasn’t going to say any more about l’affaire Clarkson until after the inquiry findings are announced?
Well after the astounding success of the Savile comparison, guess what?:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jeremy-clarkson-could-be-given-a-minder-ahead-of-potential-top-gear-return-10119603.html?dkdk
“..an unnamed BBC executive told The Mirror: “
Is there any other kind of executive at the BBC? Well other than those with seniority above Andy Wilman, whose ‘job’ will be to sit around on vast pay doing nothing. Those they have plenty of.
rather than ranting why don’t you argue the quite reasonable and factually based arguments I present.
It occurs to me that you view the world as a religious person (like many others )and following on from this you require a set text with which to adhere your world veiw. Ok I get that but it is a bit rich when you start to moan about others when your script runs out..
“… you require a set text with which to adhere your world veiw. (sic)”
Just like your view on global warming.
Have you done your homework yet and are ready to post the global warming and CO2 emissions equations for the last 15 years on here?
This is my first and only reply to you craphamomnibusleftard. As can be seen from your numerous posts, you either disappear when someone responds with an argument you don’t have an answer to or you divert the argument with redundant moral relativism which is par for the course with leftards. I’ve no time for answering straw man arguments and whenever anyone demolishes your so called “facts” and very selective statistics, like the hydra’s head, up pops another straw man construct you expect contributors to waste their time arguing with.
By the way, I am not religious in any way. I’m atheist and regard all organised religion as contributing to the violence and other problems in the world. And don’t try to retaliate by saying Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin, etc. were atheists. Their political ideology was their religion and their fanaticism was just as bad as the religious fundamentalism causing death and destruction around the globe today!
Totally agree with you Andy. He can’t sustain an argument for more than a couple of posts, disappears, then pops up again later repeating the same old propaganda then it starts all over again. It’s like Groundhog Day featuring a wilful child rather than a very entertaining Bill Murray.
Definitely here to disrupt and divert, so best ignored.
Only a minor thing, but I couldn’t help noticing that the dipstick doing the presenting this morning, John Kay, mispronounced a place name. Whilst doing the usual patronising “don’t stare at the sun”, he held up a photo of some children from Baguley Junior School. Now, most people from Greater Manchester will know that it’s pronounced “Bagley”. Ever the professional though, John showed his ignorance by pronouncing it, “Bag-you-ley”.
Like I said, a minor thing, and somewhat amusing I think. Still, you’d someone at the all powerful BBC would at least have checked the correct pronunciation.
Unfortunately ,as always,an extremely right wing show very poorly presented..
You know it’s the right thing to do.
Put it out of its misery.
The-finger-on-the-pulse BBC reporting essential news… it’s all about priorities I suppose –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31962154
Yes an offence has been committed against the holy law of political correctness. It is the duty of the BBC high priests and their zealots to root it out and destroy it.
All hail to the Metropolitan, liberal, new labour elite… Hail to almighty God Tony Blair (may allah bless him), destruction to those who stand in our way.
Have they not reported on this tradition in the past? Or am I just imagining it.
This is all about Fascists attempting to destroy a countries traditions and their identity. It has nothing to do with race what so ever and I think the lefties know that.
The weather woman has left London to visit the Isle of Lewis. Remember don’t look at the sun. They are still banging on about the partial eclipse. No wonder they don’t have time to report “certain” stories.
Apparently it’s full on the Faroe Islands and sloo are covering it online.
Not bias, so please accept my apologies, but I liked the Scottish weathergirl going to the cloudier part of cloudy Scotland to look at the cloudy eclipse. “Don’t look at the sun”. She asked the camera man to turn around to look at the Loch. “Don’t look at the sun”. In shot was the producer, director, lighting engineer, sound engineer etc. etc. “Don’t look at the sun”
How much is this all costing, to look at clouds in the cloudier part of cloudy Scotland. “Don’t look at the sun”
BBC : “Don’t look at the sun”
For some strange reason I’m reminded of that old Clash song
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/clash/red+angel+dragnet_20031786.html
‘For the same reason no one ever
Pointed a telescope at the sun’
‘Let’s remember, these 16 and 17 year-olds are children, they need to be supported’
The impassioned plea of a spokesperson from the Children’s’Society this morning as BBC sofa bods nod and approve and bowl slow under arm questions to enable her to make her case – which seems to boil down basically to a call for more funding for local authorities and a political change in policy rather than any direct appeal to the public for donations to the charity which pays her wages.
The message is hammered home in ‘the news where you are’ London BBC tv telling of ‘1,000s’ of teenagers at risk.
‘Let’s remember, these 16 and 17 year-olds are children, they need to be supported’
Let’s remember, these 16 and 17 year-olds are children – when Leftist political parties call for them to vote in elections.
Shouldn’t there be funding to take the boy Clegg and BBC poster boy Owen Jones into care?
They certainly need help and shouldn’t really be allowed to vote either.
For me BBC/Leftist’s ageing poster boy Owen Jones brings to mind ‘Methuselahs Syndrome’. This, I believe, is an invented condition placed in the popular imagination by the sci-fi hit Bladerunner.
Oddly – or perhaps I should say expectedly – these days, Methuselah Syndrome is something of an internet syndrome…
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/02/116_144361.html
‘An online blogger has shot to instant popularity by posting on Korea’s No.1 search engine Naver a description of a rare human condition called “Methuselah syndrome.” According to the text, people suffering from the syndrome often desire to time-travel back to their happy past rather than face harsh reality’
Owen Jones and his fans or what?
The BBC itself would be proud of the all happy-clappy comments produced…
“Disposing of bad things and accepting only good things is such an awesome way of living life.”
“Let’s live with only happy thoughts.”
Now this is an odd thought…
‘The syndrome’s name comes from a biblical figure, Muthselah, who appears in Genesis 5: 21-27. Methuselah is Enoch’s son’
“Let’s remember, these 16 and 17 year-olds are children – when Leftist political parties call for them to vote in elections.”
And not old enough to decide if they want to buy cigarettes or alcohol. Old enough to decide to engage in homosexual relations with a stranger, but not sexual relations of any kind with a person of “influence” over them.
Life must be very confusing for them.
Aslseelt Yes I saw that the sofa sloths wheel out yet another charity http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/. Love the £10.00 will buy a phone card. I also noted the interviewer jump in with a leading question about being offered drugs. Still it would be difficult for them to vote with no fixed address “If you have lived and will be living in relatively stable accommodation for a year or longer it possible to register in the usual way by registering as a resident at. You can register online at http://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
“If your accommodation is less stable, for example, you are sleeping rough or are staying in short-term emergency accommodation, you can register by a Declaration of Local Connection. This means that you can register at any location where you spend a large proportion of your time. This can be a day centre, a project base, a shop or a cafe.
You will need to complete a Declaration of Local Connection – Homeless Person Registration Form (pdf 1,800 Kb)”
Breakfast weather woman has just said “don’t look at the sun” again 09:18.
Had enough I’m watching “Jet attack” (from 1958) on movies4man now
Whoops, handbags versus AK47s at dawn?
‘Bert and Ernie ‘gay wedding cake’ case could set precedent forcing Muslims to print Prophet Mohamed cartoons, claims human rights lawyer’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/bert-and-ernie-gay-wedding-cake-case-could-set-precedent-forcing-muslims-to-print-prophet-mohamed-cartoons-claims-human-rights-lawyer-10115637.html?origin=internalSearch
Best call a time out for a quick review of the victim top trumps rules. Blimey, I thought the off-side rules were complicated enough!
“Don’t look at the sun” just heard it again. They have a special program on for it now.
Rod Liddell talks about last night’s Trevor Phillips C4 prog and more.
“If you transgress any of a vast array of PC shibboleths, fury will rain down on you”. Worth a read.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/rod-liddle/9473522/i-should-feel-sorry-for-tim-lott-i-dont/#comments
Why do you bother with man who crapped on a bus?
Some trolls are fun , engage politely and bring a healthy counter argument. Eric Crapton here just gain says and winds.
I personally would advocate not feeding him for a while until he cheers up a bit. IM ever so humble O