309 Responses to WEEKEND OPEN THREAD…..

  1. Truthdoctor says:

    The director general of Yemen’s Health Ministry, al-Khadher Laswar, said more than 62 people had been killed and 452 wounded in the city since Wednesday due to Saudi air strikes.

    So what’s BBc news online leading with?

    That’s right; “Elections in parts of Nigeria have been extended until Sunday after delays and a number of attacks”.

    Compare with the BBC’s hysterical, unrelenting, over-reporting of civilian deaths in Gaza last summer.

    The message from the sharia compliant, islamo-left BBC seems to be;

    It’s OK for muslims to kill muslim civilians.
    It’s OK for muslims to kill Israeli civilians.
    It’s OK for muslim terrorists to hide behind muslim civilians.
    Anything the Israelis do is wrong.

       32 likes

  2. I Can See Clearly Now says:

    Luv-fest for Foxy on the Beeb today. No mention of her treatment of Patrick Lumumba. The Gruniard gave him a voice:

    Amanda Knox is free because she’s rich and American, says Patrick Lumumba

       10 likes

  3. Arthur Penney says:

    Here is a racist mug
    Made by UKIP?

    Wait to see how the BBC demonises the political party for their racist attitudes.

       14 likes

    • Barlicker says:

      And no ‘control on immigration’ at all for those past and future mugs stupid enough to vote for the Islamo-Labour party.

         4 likes

  4. I Can See Clearly Now says:

    The Independent has revealed that Russia has an ‘online army of pro-Kremlin commentators’ paid to write at least 135 comments per day in response to articles about Russia.

    Perhaps they could have found an ‘Orwellian troll factory’ a lot closer to home than Moscow.

       20 likes

  5. AsISeeIt says:

    Further comment hardly seems necessary

    http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9481542/swedens-feminist-foreign-minister-has-dared-to-tell-the-truth-about-saudi-arabia-what-happens-now-concerns-us-all/

    ‘A few weeks ago Margot Wallström, the Swedish foreign minister, denounced the subjugation of women in Saudi Arabia’

    ‘Outside Sweden, the western media has barely covered the story’

       20 likes

  6. The Old Bloke says:

    Anybody know what this was all about?
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f47_1427574255
    WhitePride march?

       4 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      White Pride Rally. I believe that the EDL and others do not support it. Looks like a white backlash, with sinister overtones. Who knows? Maybe white people will retaliate in this way.

      http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2015-03-27/neo-nazi-white-pride-rally-to-be-held-in-manchester-city-centre/

         2 likes

      • johnnythefish says:

        All of Manchester will condemn the vision and hatred they are bringing to our city and having read some of the scandalous antics they’ve got up to in the past their presence here makes me sick to the stomach.”

        – Pat Karney, City Centre spokesman told the Manchester Evening News

        —————————————-

        Large portraits of Lee Rigby carried by four girls from Manchester marked the start of the fourth annual Manchester Day Parade.

        Followed by drummers from the soldier’s regiment, one spectator said it was a “beautiful tribute” as many were moved to tears….

        ….City councillor Pat Karney described the parade as “a great celebration of Manchester “saying he was “constantly amazed by the art works that are produced and the enthusiasm of all the participants”.

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-22745387

           2 likes

  7. Peter Grimes says:

    Is it pure coincidence that right now, 8.50 am Sunday on R4 there is a lecture on Independent Living Allowance/Disability Allowance just a few days after a leaked paper suggests that a TORY government had the reduction of these allowances in their agenda for benefits cuts if elected in May?

       13 likes

  8. Guest Who says:

    While the outrage caravan has moved on, it seems some are staying back to tidy up…

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/29/observer-view-jeremy-clarkson-tony-hall-bbc-better-place?

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/29/clarkson-sacking-bbc-crew-shed-light-tired-tetchy-hungry?

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/22/bbc-part-of-who-we-are-jeremy-clarkson

    The comments, as may be expected of those falling under Mrs Mitchell’s definition of an independent, unconflicted collection of ‘we’ folk, are a treat.

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      It now appears that death threats have been levelled at the DG. Clearly not nice. Or rational.

      How many, by whom vague, but one is enough. Certainly the PR machine is in full swing, and BBC commentators already have neatly made the required conflations and projections.

      I just wonder how many other threats come the BBC’s way, on what topics, that may not see such immediate news value attached?

      Maybe Theresa May should shut it down given its ability to inspire violent reaction?

         19 likes

      • I Can See Clearly Now says:

        But do we know for sure that it’s only independent trolls? Perhaps there’s a maverick – a Colonel Kurtz – in the Beeb’s own circle; ‘out there operating without any decent restraint….’.

        That’s the trouble with employing your own trolls… you can never be sure…

           15 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘But do we know for sure..’

        All anyone can surely know is what some choose to let be known.

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32103665

        Have to appreciate the ‘quotes’ there. Presuming scare not cynical in tone.

        http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/mar/29/top-gear-police-death-threats-bbc-boss

        Also noting a story evolution between headline and copy…

        ‘Alleged death threats…’

        ‘Lord Hall is reported to have received a threatening email’

        A rare instance where the BBC and Graun seem keen on DM scooping. And actually mentioning it with fanfare.

        ‘He said inquiries were continuing to establish from where the email was sent.
        No arrests have been made.’

        Wild guess, but arresting folk you haven’t identified, from as yet anywhere in the world… tricky.

        ‘A BBC spokeswoman said: “We wouldn’t comment on security matters.”

        Well, other than the blanket PR* blasted out thus far. Maybe get a senior BBC source to get leaky again?

        *’The Mail claimed the death threats were made to Lord Hall via email the same day as his announcement.’

        And the Mail knows what a nutter emails Tony Hall of the BBC how?

        I understand the cost of this protection detail is not small, maybe running to a Yentob annually (if it lasts that long. What is the duration of a death threat?). Not sure on whose tab.

        And it is to be hoped that Danny doesn’t feel he needs cover too, and any other BBC high up who may have narked anyone.

        In fact it seems odd that given the BBC has apparently miffed some out East with its coverage, nothing untoward appears to have made its way back by way of an expression of unhappiness at all to warrant such a high-profile ‘look what we face’ response. To one hate email. Allegedly. About the Clarkson affair.

        Heck of a precedent the BBC and authorities have set now anyway. Hope the licence fee can accommodate it, especially as revenue dips for various reasons.

           8 likes

        • I Can See Clearly Now says:

          Death threats are two-a-penny. How many drunk females on a Saturday night scream ‘I’ll ******* kill you, you…’ Bystanders mutter ‘Whatever…’ and ignore them. Threats didn’t used to make news unless they could be prefaced with ‘credible’, but that is no longer the case. Victimhood is de rigueur for any self-respecting activist. Feminists love it; undertones of violence against women. Even the rent-a-mob who terrorised Nigel Farage’s family last Sunday have been at it. But what a fuss over Lord Hall Hall; if anyone really intended doing him, they’re not likely to send him an email first.

          The police seem to take more interest in Hall’s safety than in Farage’s.

             16 likes

  9. AsISeeIt says:

    There was a time, relatively recently, when right-on left-of-centre views took precedence over more conservative views at the BBC.

    The BBC News Channel paper review just before 9am this morning shows how things have suddenly changed.

    The left-of-centre voices are the only ones to be heard. There are not even the odd balancing question or two from the BBC presenter. Just a pro-Labour pro-SNP BBC -style love-in.

    The BBC bod was a second string lad, new to me, But he played good backstop. Referring to the Clarkson fans putting an electronic contract out on Tony Hall splash (see how nasty they are?) he carefully says “We don’t know whether the Police or the BBC have brought in the extra security – well if you don’t know, son, I don’t know who does?

    To the case in point:

    I hinted in my post yesterday how Nicola Strurgeon’s attempted forray south of the border and her plans to pillage the English heartlands of tax payer cash would be supported by the BBC.

    Her speech had a very sympathetic ‘pre-reading’ from the BBC. Now our national broadcaster is going to manage our reaction to the putative SNP Labour coalition.

    So we have the pleasure of a Scots journo from the Observer (ie Guardian) on the BBC paper review. Kevin McKenna, I believe it was.

    He is the sort of journo who likes to give his liberal elite readers a good wallow in the poverty of parts of Glasgow of a Sunday morning. Talking about the appointment fo a ‘modern studies teacher’ in a rough area here’s an example of his purple tartan prose: “It is a sacred moment, and you feel blessed merely to have witnessed it” I won’t link to the Guardian just now – or what one might term ‘pass the frittata’ but read his stuff if you like.

    The second BBC-approved journo is a female from the Sunday Times. I didn’t catch her name but she looked like a Bloomsbury Fabian and spoke like a ditsy supply teacher “It doen’t matter about Nicola Sturgeon’s politics, but she’s a woman and that’s a good thing!”

       23 likes

    • I Can See Clearly Now says:

      Sky News this morning; Stephen Dixon and Gillian Joseph. Talking about Earth Hour. Dixon said ‘I must admit… sceptic… cynical’. Gillian was a believer. At least there was some recognition that reasonable people can have different opinions. It struck me that views like Dixon’s would never be expressed on the Beeb where the True Religion must be worshipped at all times.

         16 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Yup-we made no apology for switching off life support machines, ventilators and drip feeds , so Mother Gaia would be pleased with us.
        Any data on how switching off the lights in Paris or Rio affected the crime rates in those two fine cities?
        I myself used cigarettes to light my way, as I hurdled the medical waste and spent oxygen tanks at the back of our hospital…Wang Key Moon is a right oaf isn`t he?

           10 likes

    • Man on Clapham Omnibus says:

      Asleep

      You obviously didn’t see Landales love in interview with Cameron taking 10 mins of BBC prime time news. Asked about his privileged background ,the PM ,worth 30 million ,said the idea it made a difference was old fashioned.We saw him cut tomatoes like a pleb,watch his kids football game like a pleb and do other ordinary things like plebs do. I’m Sure this will cause great anxiety to those who are currently paying 40ish k a year for their kids to go to Eton. For the PM however being a pleb takes on a different aspect when the in -laws own half of Scotland. So anyone thinking the BBC is left wing take note! Take note also that this came right before the only sort of head to head debate with Milliband. Entirely coincidental of course!
      PS James Landale also went to Eton. He is also a pleb like the rest of us!

         4 likes

      • AsISeeIt says:

        Have to stop your bus there….

        The BBC has also carried plenty of sympathetic Ed-two-kitchens pieces.

        We know you don’t like Cameron, well if you actually read this blog you will see most posters here don’t like him.

        I don’t like Ed Miliband, how about that.

        The point at issue in my post is the complete abscence of any even slightly right of centre voice on an increasing number of occasions when the BBC presents current affairs.

        Are you going to address the point – if not we must ignore you as a troll.

           20 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Lucky if you can identify who you are addressing.

          Seems a lot of spaces now inbetween.

          Kind of apt.

             7 likes

      • Essex Man says:

        Does the Clapped out Busman , go on strike when ordered too, by Unite/ Millipeed/SNP/BBC ? Is he a Flying Picket too ? I think we should be told .

           12 likes

      • Guardian’s best social worker says:

        Hush now bus driver, grown-ups are talking.

           3 likes

  10. noggin says:

    The British Museum to erm … develop? … the image of Islam.

    “Art from the Islamic world will be shown in the heart of the British Museum, instead of on the sidelines ???
    In two new galleries funded by a Malaysian foundation which hopes to offset the image??? created by Islamic militants”
    Hmmm Denial, obfuscation, whitewash … denial, obfuscation, whitewash etc.
    http://www.en.prothom-alo.com/international/news/62387/New-UK-museum-to-help-develop-image-of-Islam

    No doubt the BBC will be camped out there, layering on the crap,
    ala – “1001 erm inventions” ,
    (ooer missus! … what an apt comparison eh!).

       23 likes

    • noggin says:

      PS
      Could always get Al BBC s Aquil Ahmed, involved he s been “developing” the erm “image” of Islam at the BBC for quite a while

         13 likes

    • George R says:

      Supplementary.

      ‘Jihadwatch’-

      Robert Spencer:

      (Opening excerpt)-

      “Forget about the murders, the beheadings, the hostage-takings, the sex slavery, the jihad-martyrdom suicide attacks, the threats, the boasts of imminent conquest, the institutionalized oppression of women and non-Muslims, and the rest — just look at this calligraphy!

      “More of the endless attempts by the British intelligentsia to compel the British people not to be concerned about jihad, Sharia and Islamization”

      http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/03/uk-new-islam-museum-hopes-to-offset-image-created-by-islamic-jihadis

         15 likes

  11. Thoughtful says:

    http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/

    The Sunday Times latest voting intentions poll has a 4 point lead for Labour following the debate, however this could be a blip, but the lengthy report on the debate, including those who watched it makes interesting reading.

       7 likes

  12. George R says:

    Islamic ‘trojan horse’ in British political system.

    Will INBBC censor this?:-

    “Revealed: ‘Walter Mitty’ Tory vote fixer exposed by MoS wrote jihadi pamphlet calling on warriors to create Muslim state in Europe.
    “Tory Election candidate was exposed for plotting with far-Right extremists.
    “Afzal Amin joined Birmingham wing of the Murabitu, a fundamentalist cult.
    “In 1992, at the age of 18, he left the group after becoming disillusioned.
    “Two years later, a book crediting him as the author criticised the Murabitun.
    “It praised men engaging in conflict against the kuffar [unbeliever]’ and hoped for the ‘liberation of the Muslims wherever we are.’
    “But Amin says his words were doctored to include the extremist views.”

    By BEN ELLERY AND NICK CRAVEN

    FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3016406/Walter-Mitty-Tory-vote-fixer-exposed-MoS-wrote-jihadi-pamphlet-calling-warriors-create-Muslim-state-Europe.html#ixzz3Vlnnge8Y

       6 likes

  13. George R says:

    No doubt, Beeboids will be happy to support pro-licence tax, Labour Miliband, and SNP Sturgeon, and her clones-

    “Delegates at the SNP conference back all-female shortlists in the Scottish Parliament election next year”

    http://www.itv.com/news/2015-03-29/delegates-at-the-snp-conference-back-all-female-shortlists-in-the-scottish-parliament-election-next-year/

       11 likes

  14. #88 says:

    Top Story on R4 this Morning, the apparent threat against the BBC DG. Top newspaper comments? The Daily Mail who put the story on their front page.

    Crikey, they do buy copies after all. Pity that they didn’t report the Mail’s front pages a few days ago. I wonder why not?

       27 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      I see the same thing occurred to you… a very good question.

         12 likes

      • chrisH says:

        And at least we all now know how to get the police out to protect you.
        Contrive a death threat-preferably from abroad,and claim that you`re worth your fat salary….and that any threat to your life will only make things worse with the return of Yentob, Thompson or Birt.
        Therefore set up snatch squads of paramilitary-style cops, and put them all around your house.
        Yes-Oxfords child abuse scandal could have been averted, had a parent or child said that they`d got a death threat from somewhere foreign…maybe even a picture that had bad body language implied?
        Now why didn`t all those poor white girls in Oxford think of THAT one?…about the only way to get the police around these days, unless you say something eggy about Islam, womens footy or mocking global boiling bunnies.
        Hope the “death threat” came from Argentina, Burma, Thailand, India or somewhere where Clarkson is indulged…I`m told that IS like his show, so expect a restoration of Clarkson if that is indeed the case.

           12 likes

  15. Guest Who says:

    Is AN’s contract coming up for renewal too by chance?

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/29/lucy-powell-interview_n_6963826.html?1427631458

    Hell if I know.

       1 likes

  16. Thoughtful says:

    Radio 4 news have been carrying IDS telling that Cameron would have to stand down before the end of the parliamentary term should he be elected this time.
    It is being pointed out that this is in direct contradiction to Cameron.
    Not so much that they’ve reported it, but the number of times they’ve done it and the prominence to something which might just be down to someone being ‘off message’.

    IDS has also said that the proposed benefits cuts are ‘feasible’ but would result in ‘life changing’ reductions for those having to rely on those benefits.

    I think this policy more than any other will prevent the Tories being electable. Most people are not gratuitously cruel like the Tories are, and although they want to see cuts, they do not want to see peoples lives destroyed.
    The DUP which might well hold the balance of power in a hung parliament have said that they will not allow the cuts on this scale.
    Even the Tories are unable to say how these cuts will be made, and are refusing to admit to anything before the election.

    Perhaps they might have a new election slogan – “Vote Tory because being hungry is too good for benefits claimants, they need to starve !”

       2 likes

    • 60022Mallard says:

      And the Labour Party will square the circle of the deficit by?

      While, of course, they are promising extra spending, ending the bedroom tax, more doctors and nurses, or is the “mansion tax going to sort all that out on its own?

      Having blatently politicised food banks I am hoping for an announcement by when, if Labour are elected, all those volunteers will be available for other charity work!

      I believe borrowing to “invest” is a policy. Now who described all Labour Party spending as “investment”? If you invest you hope to see a return. The NHS had real terms extra spending of 50% above inflation between 2000 and 2010 – anyone an opinion on what %age improvement that actually engendered, remembering that virtually every new hospital was not paid for at the time, which is adding hugely to financial pressure on the NHS now.

      Why have the number of families with no one working fallen – is that because benefits were raised or cut?

      Perhaps the best answer for a benefit cut is to announce no cash benefits will be paid for a third or more child claimed for with a birthday 9 months less a day from the announcement.

      That could have many benefits for the nation, Reducing the number of children born into poverty, making it rather less attractive to have more children than getting a job. Live in social housing and have four children and you need a £35k a year job to be better off working.

      Has the nation collapsed, as predicted by those who caused the mess, because of austerity? Do we really believe that the answer to all problems is to throw more taxpayers money at it and then believe it is solved. If the outputs rather than inputs of the last government were honestly measured I believe the law of diminishing returns would be well to the fore.

         9 likes

      • Manonclaphamomnibus says:

        Dont think the bankers predicted the collapse since it was they that caused the mess.
        The big question is for a wealthy country like the UK should we need food banks. Should children ,who are the future tax and pension payers grow up in poverty and underachieve. Personally I like kids to have all the opportunity they can. That way my pension gets bigger.

        ‘I believe borrowing to “invest” is a policy’

        Got that right.
        It was introduced as an idea by Keynes. Its the only way to grow an economy and was sucessfully used in the great depression and after. Obama also partially used Keynesian pump priming to restart the US economy after 2008,although it partially fizzled out because of his timidity and the ferocious opposition from the redneck republicans ,who presumably like to see people dying in the streets.

        Be in no doubt that the banking collapse was a worldwide phenomenon and not the fault of any one Government.
        For information the Labour deficit was diminsihing after 2006 until the government were obliged to pour money into the banks to stave off defaults. As a result of this the Deficit reached about 80%. It is also noteworthy that up to the time of the crash the UK was in better shape than the US and many other Europian Countries including Germany. This point was accepted by Osbourne despite his public protestations to the contrary.
        See Here:-

        Starts at 1:40

           2 likes

        • Thoughtful says:

          Apart from the fact that it wasn’t them that caused the mess! Nor were they particularly greedy either.

          The banking collapse was caused wholly by left wing policies, such as the community reinvestment act, and stupid green lunacy which saw land for food crops turned over to producing bio fuels which drove up the cost of food and meant they couldn’t afford their mortgages !

             13 likes

        • 60022Mallard says:

          “The big question is for a wealthy country like the UK should we need food banks. Should children ,who are the future tax and pension payers grow up in poverty and underachieve.”

          Can you remind me when the food bank movement got under way in the U.K.?

          It was on the watch of the first U.K. government to increase spending on benefits as a proportion of GDP in the “good times”.

          The failure of banks certainly precipitated the recession, but in most European countries was nowhere near as severe as in the U.K. because some idiot had decided he had abolished boom and bust. On that basis of ever rising future tax revenues he forward committed government expenditure from those taxes and yet more borrowing pumping up our GDP to way above trend line, which when the bank failures hit resulted in us falling off a cliff while others dipped.

          You will also not deny that demand for the services of food banks grew hugely in 2007/8 when 1million, mainly private sector workers, became unemployed as a result of Gordon,s balls up of the nations finances.

          Despite all that huge extra benefits spending I believe the number of children in poverty resolutely refused to fall. Presumably your answer is to throw even more money at the problem?

             5 likes

          • I Can See Clearly Now says:

            “… Should children… grow up in poverty and underachieve.”

            Fundamental error right there. Lack of consumer goods is no barrier to achievement. Most people today grow up with conspicuous consumption. It’s understandable that they are open to the claims of ‘disadvantage’ from the Owen Jones of this world. But many on this site are of a generation that achieved fine educations from what would be considered abject poverty today, but the idea of ‘poverty’ never entered their heads. Plenty of families, especially in rural areas, didn’t have electricity or running water until the fifties. Lefties don’t know how silly they look when they claim underachievement today is caused by poverty. Poverty of ambition is a greater problem that the lack of the latest i-Phone.

            Despite all that huge extra benefits spending I believe the number of children in poverty resolutely refused to fall.

            Didn’t Brown define it to be a percentage of average income, so it can never be eradicated unless we go for virtual communism?

               3 likes

            • Thoughtful says:

              In the local news a couple of druggie loons decided that they would burgle the home of an oldish couple who had won a couple of million on the lottery.
              The couple were at home when they broke in and they tortured the pair of them to reveal where they kept their gold chains, Rolex watches, and cash. Their minds could not extend to the fact that people with money do not live in the same way as the dealers they buy their drugs from.
              It’s all they knew. Everyone with money kept it as cash and bought gold and fancy watches!

              Up to around 50 years ago the wealthy live in the same areas as the middle class and the poor, and aspiration to ‘better oneself’ was quite normal. Those aspirant children tried at school and went to university to gain qualifications and a better life.
              Now kids don’t even know anything beyond the next flavour of pizza ! There is no aspiration because they don’t see anything to aspire to, every wealthy person has moved into big homes on the hill leaving the poor in the valley below.

              Much of this can be put down to Labours crazed class war which saw them building council houses in front of every nice house they could find, and using the compulsory purchase act to force it through.

              If all your horizon encompasses is life on a council estate where crime drugs violence and joblessness are the norm then you aren’t going to be wanting that Jag parked in a multi car garage of a detached home in the country are you?

                 5 likes

    • #88 says:

      Are the BBC obtuse or just biased (you don’t need to answer)?

      Anyone in business with any experience of succession planning (I know, it’s easy to understand why Labour and the BBC just don’t get this) knows that a leader (in this case Cameron – who as was reported – was talking about IF he was re-elected) can say when he will be stepping down so that a competition to replace them can be put in place, so the winner is ready to fight an election and take up the reins formerly, on the due date.

      The concept is so fucking simple as to leave me scratching my head as to why such a fuss is being made. But that’s me being obtuse – this is the BBC and they do have a party of their choice to get elected…and mischief to make.

         8 likes

    • RJ says:

      A comment on Thoughtful’s post as 3.13 on the report of IDS’s interview.

      Does he mean “life changing” as in “having to get a job”?

         2 likes

      • I Can See Clearly Now says:

        I have a neighbour who was given a terminal cancer diagnosis some years ago. He has just outlived his allotted time. Recently he was diagnosed with a second, unrelated, cancer. I’ve known him as a hard-working person. He doesn’t look at all well now. He has just been for an assessment and had his benefits removed – DLA or whatever it’s called now. Are you enthusiastic about that? How easy do you think it will be for someone like that, coming up to retirement, to find work? Or how pleasant to go through the appeal procedure, no doubt designed to deprive you of the will to live?

        I also know of lots of chancers; one family of a mother and daughters who all have separate houses in the same street. Another family member has housing, 4×4, horsebox, who-knows-what? It’s outrageous.

        I’ve never seen anyone on this site advocate giving benefits to chancers; they simply point out that there are plenty of deserving people out there. Basic, close-knit societies with hunters, farmers, cooks, etc. would have easily decided who needed to be carried. The anonymity of modern society makes that difficult. Most seemed to pull together during the war but that spirit has declined to where a large percentage want to be carried. The Tories do seem to have no compassion for the deserving, any more than the undeserving. They’ve set up the mechanised assessment scheme to trumpet their belief in ‘the market’ and consequently assessor ‘businessmen’ assess just about everyone as being fit to work… not because they think that but because they get paid a bonus for that ‘outcome’. Of course, with FPTP, the Tories need less than 40% to achieve an overall majority and they see demonising all benefit claimants as a way to achieve that. UKIP, alone, seems keen to mix common sense with compassion.

        PS I just get by so I’m not claiming, though I could.

           1 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        You’ve never been unemployed have you RJ? Never had to survive on a pittance wondering how you were going to feed yourself?
        Probably of an age when jobs were for life and now a cushy pension which won’t be afforded to younger people keeps you very nicely appointed.
        And that’s the point, this cynical Eton Toff has made sure that pensioners are unaffected by Austerity, but could you seriously live on the pittance paid now let alone live on nothing at all.

        Perhaps you’ve forgotten what life was like back in Victorian times? Or perhaps you think that they were so attractive you want a return to shoeless kids, starving people, and disease through destitution?

           1 likes

        • RJ says:

          Thoughtful,I’ve no wish to get into an argument and this is drifting from BBC bias, but I will answer your question.

          Yes I’ve been unemployed and had to change direction, start at the bottom again and work my way up. And I’ve lived on a council state where the working men drove second-hand cars while several of those on benefits drove new ones. And I’ve known of families with disabled children who have a “Motability” vehicle which the parents kept for themselves and used council paid for taxies to transport the children – claim one or the other, but not both.

          Unlike the BBC I make a distinction between the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor. The “deserving” poor need help and the “undeserving” need a kick up the arse. We still have a welfare system where those who know how to play the system do much better than those in genuine need who don’t know how to fill in the forms.

          If the budget was focused on the right people there would be more money available for each individual with a lower overall welfare spend – but the Today programme would be wall-to-wall sob stories..

             9 likes

  17. The Old Bloke says:

    Of course, the Conservative party have stated that there will be a referendum on the EU should they get elected. That is, if they stick to their promise. If the people of this country vote out, then think of the money that will no longer be paid to the EU? No need for cuts then is there?

       8 likes

    • Merched Becca says:

      Now let me get this right?
      We give the EU ‘loads of money’ and they give some of it back to us and tell us how to spend it.
      Is that how it works?
      I am sure that we can save a bit of money there in that deal. Like getting out!
      I am sure Al Beeb will support that.

         15 likes

      • Manonclaphamomnibus says:

        Ha Ha

        Ministers have been accused by a cross-party group of peers of trying to “bury” the results of the biggest ever Whitehall examination of European Union powers, after it found no evidence that the EU was interfering excessively in any aspect of British life.

        Poor ol Cameroon and his paring back of powers. Yet another buried report along with the rose report condemning Graylings awful HNS reorg.

        I think thats how it is actually going!

           2 likes

        • Merched Becca says:

          ‘no evidence that the EU was interfering excessively in any aspect of British life’.
          Now let me see, open borders by any chance?

             10 likes

        • Mr Glodstone says:

          It would be interesting to discover what, exactly, the committee would determine to be: “interfering excessively”. The E.U., in my view, has involved itself in every sphere of life here in the U.K., it tell us everything from what of type light bulbs we are permitted to buy to whether or not we can build another nuclear power station – and all and every manner of thing between the two; via the process of subsidiarity (interestingly derived from a German word) the legislation it passes doesn’t need to be enacted into law here by the U.K. Parliament; it’s sufficient to have been devised by the, unelected, European Commission and then rubber stamped by the E.U. Parliament.

             5 likes

  18. Dover Sentry says:

    Keith Vaz does not approve of this exhibition. It’s a crime museum in England which also exhibits IS brutality.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1454717/explicit-is-exhibition-branded-grotesque

    Why does he not approve? After all, it is the truth.

    I can’t find mention of it on the BBC.

    ..

       16 likes

    • GCooper says:

      I shouldn’t worry about it. No one but the mad approves of the vile Keith Vaz. That he remains in Parliament is a testament to the uselessness of our political system.

         14 likes

    • Anne says:

      This had me fuming this morning. Not because of Vaseline Vaz in particular, because my expectations of him are already rock bottom, but because it was a reminder of the prevailing view that:

      1) The museum, like everything else, is the Government’s business in the first place – it isn’t.
      2) The implication that we should only be able to do what this parasitic trash specifically gives us permission to do.

      The only reason this has come up at all is that it concerns the damn death cult that seems to dominate the news these days. We already know from the Salman Rushdie affair where this degenerate little prick’s loyalties lie.

         18 likes

  19. Thoughtful says:

    Oh dear the lunatic wing of the Fascist Left has moved another step closer to its dream of re-establishing the death camps of the 1940s !

    The NUS in an amazing move has condemned cross dressing and gay men especially if they behave like black women !
    They have also banned clapping as it might trigger ‘anxiety’ !

    Needless to say the Gay lobby isn’t very happy about this, but I have precious little sympathy as they went along with it for long enough when it looked like they were going to benefit.

    http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/uk-students-union-passes-policy-stop-white-gay-men-acting-black-women250315

    http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/03/28/nus-conference-condemns-drag-and-tells-gay-men-to-stop-acting-like-black-women/

    But just look at the positive spin the BBC put on this lunacy :

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/32032291

       13 likes

  20. Manonclaphamomnibus says:

    Silly story to get the stupid aroused.
    Are you aroused unthoughtful?

       2 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Busman seems agitated about it ?

         9 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      It’s important because these are tomorrows Labourite politicos, Trade Unionists, Journalists, BBC Types, and public sector workers.
      25 years ago we saw the students union and were able to call the policies what they were. Then came Tony BLiar and the madness was translated into policy. Now criticism of those policies carry dire ramifications.
      In another few years these people will be looking to implement their insanity too, and Labour will oblige, the Tories certainly won’t stop them, but the BBC judging by this report will be behind the madness all the way.

      Did you read the worried comments by the Gay readers omnibus, or are you of the same mind as the NUS that Gay people are now persona non grata ?

         8 likes

  21. noggin says:

    IDS has said that the proposed benefits cuts are ‘feasible’ & would result in ‘life changing’ reductions for those having to rely on those benefits.
    Once again Tories plan to hit the poorest/most vulnerable hardest.
    IDS, Cameron, Osborne typical silver spoon Tories, Smith especially ought to be bloody ashamed of himself, the eye watering mixture of incompetency and arrogance, of these charlatans is simply staggering.
    He knows how to save 12 billion but does not want to share it with the voter? … this should be a big nail in their coffin, “born to rule” liars/crooks who prove once again they have nothing but contempt for the voters.

       6 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      For Cameron to accept his ‘reward’ for implementing the policies of certain foreign countries then he cannot be in office. Thus he comes up with such an outrageous policy that no one in their right mind would vote for it.
      Because most people who are in receipt of benefits need that money, it would be like withdrawing £12 Bn from the economy at a stroke. The consequences will be devastating and there would be very many redundancies and bankruptcies.
      The situation would develop into a downward spiral. Not something I would like to see.

         5 likes

      • noggin says:

        It is abjectly clueless economics too, far from reducing the bill, Smith has in fact increased the “Welfare” bill. (ah!, “Welfare” how he loves that word since his “workfare trip to the states).
        This is due to forcing people into zero hour contracts and those people claiming Housing benefit and tax credits.
        He wants to stop obsessing, about punishing the poor, lowering their living standards, and raise the living standards of those on low wages,(who have claim benefits because of it).
        Another Tory toff government of selfserving, short term, idealogues.

        Smith … He must trawling though Dickens novels for his next trick.

           5 likes

  22. Voice of the Mysterons says:

    Operation Stonehenge is on BBC 2, and apart from the wild historic speculation and accompanying amateur dramatics, we get subtle but firm statements about the how continental Europe helped developed Britain, and how Britain of the day was better off part of ‘a larger network’.

    It’s subtle, but the pro EU bias is definitely there.

       16 likes

  23. George R says:

    Lee RIGBY memorial.

    Two reports: compare and contrast-

    1.) ‘Breitbart’:-

    “MEMORIAL FOR SOLDIER MURDERED BY ISLAMISTS”

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/03/29/memorial-for-soldier-murdered-by-islamists/

    2.) INBBC-

    “Lee Rigby memorial goes on display in Middleton”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-32101785

       8 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Even the Breitbart headline is offensive! Its should have read Murdered by Muslims and not Islamists, because that appears to accept that there are only a few Muslims who support Jihad when the reality is that this is a fallacy.
      Many many Muslims approved of the slaughter and there are now plenty of attempts & plots to emulate it. Now even the Political Correctness Enforcement Squad are being targeted. I wonder how PC they will be once one or two of their colleagues heads are rolling down the road into the gutter.

         14 likes

      • Mr Glodstone says:

        Quite right. It is like Daniel Greenfield described; the continuing existence of ISIS, possibly as a country within the Middle East, will mean it will become impossible for Progressives and the Politically Correct to deny what Islam truly is ie beheadings, open Jihad etc when a nation is governed under Shariah rather than, unlike other Muslims countries in the region, which had the vestiges of European systems of government, remnants from colonialism.

           7 likes

  24. DB says:

    BBC’s (Welsh) Washington correspondent Jane O’Brien RTed this anti-English bigotry from RS Thomas today:

    That quote is taken from the RS Thomas Wikipedia page. The next paragraph says this:

    Thomas was an ardent supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and described himself as a pacifist but also supported the Meibion Glyndŵr fire-bombings of English-owned holiday cottages in rural Wales. On this subject he said in 1998, “what is one death against the death of the whole Welsh nation?”

    So. a BBC journalist whose salary is paid for mainly by English people (lest they go to prison) endorsing vehement anti-English sentiment.

    Don’t you just love the licence fee?

       17 likes

    • Essex Man says:

      Some good news , the Bbc will hate . Sarkozy `s UMP doing well, in French local elections ,the socialist`s loosing . Bloody good riddance ,to that evil mob.Ditto Millipeed .

         12 likes

  25. Uncle Bup says:

    Throwaway line on DroidNews –

    ‘…Gaza is under siege’.

    Omitted to mention by whom.

    Dear Droids, the correct answer would be ‘…by Hamas’.

    A throwaway line that should have been, along with the quote unquote journalist.

       12 likes

  26. Jeff Waters says:

    Alex Salmond demands BBC control to ‘correct anti-SNP bias’ – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11502675/Alex-Salmond-demands-BBC-control-to-correct-anti-SNP-bias.html

       7 likes

  27. Thoughtful says:

    Gotta love this comment taken from the Daily mail comments section:

    “Pythagoras’ Theorem: ……………………….24 words.
    Lord’s Prayer: ………………………………………. 66 words.
    Archimedes’ Principle: ……………………………67 words.
    Ten Commandments: …………………………………..179 words. Gettysburg Address: …………………………………………….286 words. US Declaration of Independence : …………………………1,300 words. US Constitution with all 27 Amendments: ………………..7,818 words. EU Regulations on the Sale of CABBAGES: ………………26,911 words”

       21 likes

  28. I Can See Clearly Now says:

    Nigel Farage is the only modern-day leader to identify with Enoch Powell. His massive showdown with Cameron is only three days away and the Independent chooses Monday’s paper to release an allegation of historic abuse against Enoch made a year ago:

    Tory MP Enoch Powell investigated as alleged member of Westminster paedophile network

    It’s tempting to say ‘You couldn’t make it up’ but that wouldn’t be true. There’ll be plenty more smears stored up for release between now and May.

       15 likes

  29. dave s says:

    I heard the last twenty minutes or so of R4 Analysis tonight. At least I think that is the name of the propaganda show. It was a distillation of all that is arrogantly elitest in the output of the BBC.
    A quite extraordinary lack of self awareness and real analysis by the presenter.
    A real prize specimen of the liberal ascendancy and quite unable to understand why some of us would find his statements so absurd.
    His thesis was that the ethnic English must embrace diversity -that absurd word- and cosmopolitanism as it is our inevitable future.
    In as much as it became clear that the deliberate opening up of the country to immigration under the Blair government was part of the elite’s project to socially engineer this country I found him enlightening..
    That is now beyond denial. We have subjected the indigenous people of England to a deliberate attempt to create a new type of society. His worship of this was constantly reiterated. The liberal mantra is that diversity and cosmopolitanism- the values of the city- are good in themselves and must not be subjected to critical analysis. That would be “regressive” and probably “rascist”.
    It is ,according to him the job of the indigenous to make concessions and change not the incomers. Those of us who resist are written off as old and fearful.
    What an insult to an ancient people and their culture. Who do these people think they are ? Who do they think we are?
    That the most dangerous threat to the West comes from a culture that wishes to return to the 7th century seemed not to register with him.
    Nothing is inevitable in this world however much the deluded liberal believes that it is. I do not know how England will look in 2050 but I am sure it will not be as the current valueless elite desires it to be.

       21 likes

  30. Dover Sentry says:

    Enoch Powell.

    Was his love child with Margaret Thatcher named in a satanic ritual as Nigel Farage?

    Margaret Thatcher was an innocent lass and Enoch as a typical paedophile with racist genes and a hat took advantage.

    Thank goodness we now know the truth.

    😉

    ..

       9 likes

  31. Dover Sentry says:

    This country has a few million members of a religion that have been shown to have a desire to destroy the British way of life. Indeed some say, to destroy British people.

    Where do we go from here?

    Islam has many similarities with Nazi Germany. I’ll explain.

    1. An intent to kill all Jews and take their lands. Women and children included.
    2. An intent to destroy all those who oppose or who not of the true faith e.g. Christians or Hindus.
    3. An intent to destroy gays.
    4. An intent for world domination.
    5. An intent to ensure that all women are subjugated. And without education.
    6. An intent to create a legal system (Sharia Law) that has no place in European Law.
    7. An intent to impose draconian punishment on those who transgress.
    8. An intent to portray themselves as ‘victims’ with the consent of selected elements of the British media.

    The British (and the Scottish 😉 ) are and have been a tolerant people. Let’s not allow things to go too far?

    ..

       13 likes

    • Al Shubtill says:

      Both are totalitarian.

         2 likes

    • ID says:

      Yes, Dover Sentry the mathematician Paul Erdös, an agnostic atheist, used to refer to god as the “Supreme Fascist” or SF. So the parallels between ancient/modern monotheistic religions and modern totalitarian ideologies are well known. The SF, whether supernatural or natural has “all the answers”. To be an SFist, you must have blind faith in the SF and subject yourself to the SF’s will (der Führer befiehlt, wir folgen)
      Clearly, if you point out to an adherent of an SF that the SF does not exist or his tenets are contradicatory, deluded or unpleasant this may cause “offense” and you may find yourself being burned alive, losing your head or hanging from a meat hook. The highly gullible, the saints, martyrs, stankhovite workers, megafertile Nazi women and heros of labour are all picked out for special praise by other SFists. Maoist “heros of labour” are always highly amusing. I remember reading about Iron Hips Dong. At a dam building project, a concrete mixer containing a large amount of concrete failed to mix – a failure of socialism threatened. Quick as a flash, Iron. Hips orders the still liquid concrete to be poured into a pit and by gyrating his hips for hours on end he keeps the concrete usable so another part of the socialist dream can be built. How like the uplifting, pious tales of multiculturalism we get from the BBC.

         7 likes