A bit ironic this report from the BBC, The WW1 poet kids are taught to dislike, in which we are told of the prejudices and cultural values that teachers impose upon their pupils, not teaching them facts but attitudes, using the ‘facts’ as propaganda to sell the pupils a particular narrative. The teachers approach WWI as an event in history that was unremittingly appalling and anyone who supported the troops and the fight against the Germans should be condemned as jingoistic warmongers, the teachers using such people merely to contrast with the views of those ‘good people’ who opposed or who expressed cynicism about the war which naturally the teachers believe is the correct approach to viewing the war…..never mind that poets and writers are not perhaps the most inclined to be warlike or keen to fight and so may produce a rather jaundiced view of things whilst many people were up for the fight and had a ‘good war’.
It is all a bit ironic for the BBC to report critically on the teacher’s attitude when the BBC is probably the single most powerful purveyor of such an attitude towards War, the Empire, British colonies, British society and its influence in the world…all of which are apparently bad….no wonder any immigrant who comes here is disinclined to sign up to the institution of ‘Britishness’ when he’s told everything British is tainted by our history.
One part of Britain’s anachronistic history is still with us, John Humphrys, still treasured by the BBC which has let him off the leash to supplement his meagre BBC stipend with an article in the Telegraph, John Humphrys: Where did this general election go so wrong?, that is entirely negative and, whilst making little mention of political parties, is almost entirely weighted against the present government in its bleak view of life in modern Britain.
He tells us this has been a passionless, ‘bloodless’, election with little conflict or argument….can’t really see how he can say that when everyone else is saying this is an election that is breaking the mould, the end of two party politics (ignoring of course the fact we have had a coalition for the last five years…and several in the previous century), not to mention the rise of UKIP, the SNP, and Miliband turning ever redder if not tartan, and the TV debates certainly being examples of a great deal of passionate debate from the polticians.
Curiouslyy he tells us that in the most recent debate the audience was ‘angry’and ‘bad tempered’ [Peston thinks they were ‘irrational’…that is…anti-Miliband!]…..not exactly bloodless then.
Here he gives us a very narrow, and I don’t believe at all a representative view, of the public’s take on things…
It remains to be seen how representative of the national mood that bad-tempered audience really was. With Today’s little jaunts around the country, we wanted to get cossetted presenters out of the studio for a few days and try to find out what real people are thinking about the election, as opposed to what the politicians and experts tell us they are thinking. Often – too often, perhaps – the answer this election campaign has been not very much at all. Sometimes, it has been absolutely nothing.
I imagine the views expressed in that debate are exactly what the majority of people feel rather than ‘absolutely nothing’. By way of example Humphrys tells us of his talk with a woman in a car wash who wanted him to tell her what was going on in the election…
‘I struggled in the car wash was that she wanted me to tell her what, exactly, was going on. To which there was only one honest answer: damned if I know.’
Humphrys is ‘damned if he knows‘ what is going on in the election…..this is one of the BBC’s senior political reporters from their premier current affairs programme and he doesn’t know what is going on? Some might say that’s not a surprise.
Humphrys moves onto the economy and our lack of productivity…or supposed lack….again a Labour theme now that thye have lost the growth and living standards arguments.
‘This is the sort of business that Britain needs to succeed if we are ever to get our productivity out of the slow lane, and it has big ambitions to expand. Should things go to plan over the next few years, it will be the biggest technology park of its kind in Europe. That means plenty of jobs – the right kind of jobs – and a serious boost to the economy.’
He goes on to dismiss the jobs created in the UK as the equivalent of ‘mere’ hairdressers….a habit that most BBC reporters have of dismissing the new jobs as worthless and demeaning….
‘….the economy could not really be said to be improving if the jobs being created simply amounted to more and more people cutting each others’ hair. It’s not that I have anything against hairdressers – that’s what my mother did – but those jobs don’t create real wealth by boosting productivity.’
Never mind that Employment in Creative Industries grows five times the rate of the wider UK economy and that ‘the Creative Industries contribute more than £8m per hour to the UK economy, and generate more than £70bn a year, and is outperforming all other sectors of UK.’
No real wealth then from the ‘creatives’…which includes the Media of course.
Then we had another Labour narrative…Europe, we must stay in…because the big bosses tell us we must….Ed Miliband…the ‘voice of the People’!!….
‘Europe. Dr George Gillespie, the chief executive of MIRA, had just returned from a trip to China. One of the big bosses he’d been trying to impress there asked him if it was true that Britain was leaving the EU, because if it was, he couldn’t see much future in investing here. Clarity on whether Britain is staying in Europe or leaving matters to Britain’s bosses.’
Humphrys trundles off to Lowestoft and makes a comment completely untrammelled by the inconvenient fact that the very Europe he has just been praising is responsible for the death of the UK fishing industry…
‘The fishing industry is dying on its feet and there’s little to replace it. ‘
Then we get the idea that Ed Miliband’s ‘everyday folk’ have been ignored…another Labour narrative…
‘….walk ten minutes from the 21st century centre and you’re back in the grim days of derelict factories when Birmingham stopped being the manufacturing heart of Britain.’
Never mind that the Midlands is powering back to industrial health….and Birmingham is in there fighting its corner...Birmingham is top regional ‘hotspot’ for businesses going for growth
Then it’s on to housing and then university with that old lie about ‘debts’…
‘ for their sixth-form children, the worry of accumulating their own debts if they manage to get to university. ‘
Does he not know that more of these ‘children’ have been applying to university than ever before, and from the poorest backgrounds?
He finishes on a whimsical note…
‘The laws of physics dictate that when a moving object achieves a precise momentum, it will proceed on its set course because its weight is balanced against the curve and the gradient. Something like that. It struck me later that political leaders would have us believe in such a happy state. Set the course, press the accelerator and the country will cruise merrily along. Dream on.’
Of course that is not the Tory narrative that we can carry on as before by pressing the accelerator and spending our way out of trouble…that’s a Labour one.
Intentional or not Humphrys is peddling a pro-Labour narrative, one that is entirely negative not to mention mistaken in its perceptions of how people think about the election and events surrounding it.
I suspect they know a great deal about the political options on offer and the various scenarios that may occur should votes go one way or the other.
Humphrys paints a picture of the election and of Britain that is distinctly jaundiced…perhaps he has been listening to the news on the BBC from his own colleagues and swallowing their nonsense whole for too long.
.
Hmmm – I’m up for this..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11580179/Britain-should-hold-referendum-on-BBC-licence-fee-actor-Mark-Gatiss-says.html
‘ ‘Do you want this or not?’
“And I think 98% of the population would say: ‘Of course we do.’
98%? Interesting stat; wonder where that came from. Certainly one better than the magic 97% that settles all known scores.
Rather depends what the ‘this’ being wanted is, and how discussed, or not.
A £4Bpa propaganda machine arguing how great it is and obliterating any counters as it currently is doing with a supposedly democratic election sounds… unattractive.
I can believe the 98% figure, or at least see where he is coming from; this is why (and for the same reason) those petitions that you see every now again will NEVER reach their goal: the BBC bias we see everyday and talk about is obvious but this is only a fraction of BBC output; the ‘feelings’ for the BBC are visceral and before any referendum on it people will think of the radio, the documentaries, the dramas, the shows, the series, the sport etc. In some places the BBC is the ONLY thing available of any quality (taking about reception etc). This is why IMHO the BBC must be split up: 75% of the BBC could continue for a fraction of the cost but its news and politics portion must be lanced. By all means have a news output but it must be built from scratch.
I am reminded of an American journalist who couldn’t believe Nixon had been elected, because she had never met anyone who intended to vote for him. I am sure that in his left/liberal arts bubble, support for the BBC licence fee is in fact 100%, but just to be reasonable, and so as not to appear like the result of a North Korean election, he decided to pare it down a fraction to 98%.
Firs….!
Oh… darn… someone got there ahead of anyone else.
Ironically.
As usual, all the beeb has to do is use its vast resources to get on board as many aspiring young actors/performers as possible, then they’ve got ’em for life.
Such is the BBC’s monopoly that few could refuse any work or criticise the corporation for fear of being black-listed in perpetuity.
What a creep!
Alan,
“…never mind that poets and writers are not perhaps the most inclined to be warlike or keen to fight and so may produce a rather jaundiced view of things…”
Heaven forbid anyone experiencing life and death in the trenches having “a rather jaundiced view of things”.
“…whilst many people were up for the fight and had a ‘good war’.”
Yes Alan, WW1 was just super and I’m sure the 1,000,000 men who died in the Somme would agree with you if only their brains hadn’t been mashed into the mud and left to rot. Do you think they had a ‘good war’?
dezmong, if you wasnt a coward and had done your time in uniform, you wouldnt have that left wing traitors view of fighting and dying for your country
and yes they had a good war, they died protecting their country and their people. But as youre a coward marxist shit bag, i wouldnt expect you to understand the concept of patriotism
Don’t get too flustered over this piece.Alan got a bonus for writing it from the TV franchise that pays for this site.
As to the war there are several really good texts on the subject and I urge anyone who is really interested to get a hold of some of them. Particularly relevant today particularly in view of Russia and the push by mindless elements to break up the EU.
As to the attempted link to the BBC thereafter in Alan sadly shows a basic lack of understanding of economics or the real issues of the day. Next he will be telling us that Labour is socialist. A laugh a minute but I suppose you can afford it if you are a signed up BUPA member.
It’s usually about at this juncture Albaman appears, keen on proof of assertions.
Unless, like BBC editorial, the demand is selective.
‘Good war’ has an idiomatic meaning, which is probably why it was put in quotation marks.
Fuckwit.
Dez. ..You assume the usual left wing belief that the effects of war are universally bad on society and the individual. This is not so, many society’s improve when change to their usual methods is forced on them, one example in Britain in WW 1 would be the freedom given to women to work outside their usual roles and being allowed to move in search of well paid employment.
Another false left wing belief is that the individual cannot have a “good war” the shelves in any decent bookshop will groan with examples of men bettering themselves by rank and livelihood leading to a life way above where they came from before a war.
Must do better beeboid junior, do some research.
20 people on a bus….. You talk of Russia and “mindless elements trying to break up the EU”. I would remind you that it is the EU and it’s pushing eastwards that has led to the present mess in the East, you must also do better, all of you.
I would also add a prediction that a good war is coming to this country.
We all know that truth and the freedoms that we have enjoyed have been abused by the so called left to gain power.
I say so called left because LEFT = Lies Evading Factual Truth
They do so because they lack real reasoning and the ability to think.
Given this inferiority complex, rather than work on their shortcomings they have twisted society to give themselves the appearance that they are superior.
They are guaranteed to lose this war, as similar despotic regimes have done so in the past, because of their blinkard world view that has to shut out reality.
It’s only a matter of time, and given the deaths, suffering and frustrations these dimwits have and are causing, they have it coming.
Nice to see Alan is up to his usual high standards of schoolboy moderation – leaving up posts which resort to namecalling, while taking down posts which point out how they breach David Vance’s own calls for civility.
Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the rude posts agree with Alan, of course…
Honestly, is it any wonder nobody believes Vance when he calls for good behaviour, if his moderators can’t even be trusted to behave like adults?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/4180404.stm
Nice to see, to see… Nice.
So you think it’s okay for Just Sayin’ to post insulting comments, and for Alan to delete perfectly polite responses pointing out his lack of civility?
A simple “yes” or “no” will do. If you’re capable.
‘A simple “yes” or “no” will do. If you’re capable.’
I’m sure for you, it would. As it does when BBC staff get to define how debate progresses in terms they control. You, here, are not.
What I think about some posters vs. others is irrelevant.
I merely shared the BBC HYS rules.
On rare occasion you have a point. Most of the time you now come to a forum you claim no one cares about, or looks at, to make OT comments, provoke offence and then get upset about it, which you then bang on about endlessly to the exclusion of all else.
And you are a raving hypocrite, alternating between passive aggression and whinging victimhood.
* Keep your posts relevant. Each Have Your Say debate is about a particular story or issue of the day. Posts which aren’t relevant lower the value of the debate for everyone and may be removed.
* No inappropriate usernames (vulgar, offensive, etc).
* No multiple memberships. Please do not create more than one membership. It is unfair to the other users who only have one membership and abide by the posting and recommendation limit.
* Disciplinary procedure. Violation of any of the rules above may lead to your membership account be temporarily suspended or terminated. The BBC additionally reserves the right to suspend or terminate any membership account at any time and at its sole discretion. While suspended, returning to the site by creating another account will constitute a further offence and will result in your account being closed permanently. The BBC reserves the right to delete any posting, at any time, for any reason, and is under no obligation to publish any work submitted.
Yours, politely, and in civility and capability you have long ceased to have as trading currency,
Gusset Who
ps: With the inevitable Tourrettrant reply, don’t let autocorrect get the better of you too much. Again.
That’s a typically long-winded way of not answering the question.
Let me ask it again: do you believe Alan behaves responsibly when he lets those people he likes post abusive comments aimed at people he doesn’t, but deletes politely worded posts pointing out the inconsistency?
I’m going to take from your inability to answer the question that your answer, if you were ever to give one, would be, “I know he’s wrong to behave that way, but I’m too much of a coward to admit it.”
I’m still waiting for your apology to me for you thinking I was just an alias for Mr Vance. I am a real person with my own views on the world Scott baby. So how about acknowledging the fact however belatedly ?
It’s something of a mystery to me that the BBC never mentions the war when it involves Arabs trying to wipe Israel off the face of the map. And that’s not one war – it’s three.
Any ideas, Dez? (Still waiting for that apology, by the way. I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.)
Some years ago I met a former US soldier who had fought in Vietnam. I expected that would be a cloud hanging over him, but not at all; he considered it the best time of his life. He had been up in the mountains the whole time. Not everyone lived in the jungle and smoked dope to dull the horror.
Gatiss gets a free pass from me because of the League of Gentleman – one of the best British comedies ever made