232 Responses to MID WEEK OPEN THREAD..

  1. Joseph says:

    You have to love the hubris of the BBC – they have managed to get some of their highly paid presenters / actors to write a letter to the Prime Minister telling him that the BBC is a national treasure and should not be reformed.

    Looking down the list of parasites the vast majorities income is generated only through the BBC, hardly a case of an impartial audience!

    You will also note that over 60% of the signatures have openly supported the Labour party, so again we have a typical left-wing BBC approach of turning the attempted reforms of this over bloated entity into a political media storm. This latest spin / smear from the BBC has the fingerprints of James Purnell all over them.

       91 likes

    • Chuck says:

      80 BBC managers earn more than the Prime Minister. Mark Thompson was on £850,000. Jonathan “Zero talent” Ross on £6 million, not to mention the endless untalented BBC morons such as Russell Brand. Yet the cruel and heartless BBC doesn’t want to pay for the over-75 TV Licence. The fact is they could pay for the over-75s, give everyone free superfast broadband and cut the licence fee to £50 if they got rid of the idiotic salaries and the crap programmes like EastEnders, and BBC3.

         76 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Have you listed the signatories who’ve openly supported Labour or other left-wing parties? I had a strong suspicion that would prove to be the case, but couldn’t be bothered/didn’t have time to do the legwork.

         13 likes

  2. Umbongo says:

    Blimey – no overt BBC bias here – but on Today this morning even Montague didn’t believe the confidence and reassurance from Steve Holliday, chief executive of the National Grid, concerning the microscopic margin for electical capacity this winter. She expressed wonder that he was so relaxed about it. The corruption engendered by the “climate change” scam and the “zero carbon” nonsense put us all in danger. Well, not all of us obviously. Given a severe winter I’m sure Steve (and his job) will survive the power cuts: as usual it’ll be the “little people” who’ll suffer.

       48 likes

    • Stuart B(eaker) says:

      Ah yes, you’re there before me. I commented on the previous open thread about their coverage of this story earlier in the programme. I had thought I would have to grovel to the BBC for jumping the gun, when they dragged in this chap from the NG, who proceeded to place green energy on the table. However, after a couple of minutes I realised what he was saying – effectively, that wind and solar were making a ‘wonderful’ contribution to our energy crisis portfolio, and any minor problems with intermittency, economic viability and energy security could be easily overcome by some sensible rationing, and bribing those wicked industrialists who insist on using large quantities of energy, to go abroad ‘rest’ for a few hours.

      The economics of all this seem to be based on the Payday Loan principle of lurching from one ‘unforeseeable’ crisis to the next by short-term funding at vast cost, which is then passed directly to the poor old consumer. The figure of ’50p per household pa’ to pay for all these antics is moreover greatly misleading. It ignores the already planned built-in costs of intermittent energy sources, in the expense of building and maintaining all those standby plants to mop up the ‘inconvenient’ excess demand..

         37 likes

      • grimer says:

        I can’t say too much, but NG staff hate renewables – absolute nightmare trying to balance the UK’s power requirements/generation. Management (Directors), on the other hand, love them – huge government grants to ‘modernise’ The Grid and build power-lines to nowhere. Lots of opportunity to heap costs onto those projects…

        There have been long standing agreements to ask businesses with their own generating ability (glass/steel works, etc) to turn on their generators and pump straight into The Grid.

           10 likes

  3. Geoff says:

    93% of those bBC luvvies listed are guaranteed to have me hastily reaching for the channel up button should they appear on screen, typical bBC diverse bores.

    This morning for the 1st time in months I caught 5 minutes of Breakfast Time, from the local news and weather to the programme itself, its a load of over feminised, over inclusive insipid tosh, how people can stick it for more than 5 minutes, Christ knows.

    Flick to Radio 2 Evan’s is on holiday I hear, I’ll take a punt, who do we get standing in? Bloody Sara Cox, unimaginative 90’s chav presenter with the ‘text us your funny stories’ ‘tell us what your doing today’ matra. Is this the same station that at Breakfast time, brought us Ray Moore and Terry Wogan, intelligent presenters who were able to amuse us for hours without the safety net of texts and Twitter.

    You bet the bBC has lost its way, dumbing down is rife, they’ve won, they’ve produced a nation of adult kids unable to think for themselves, a nation of tattooed and metalised freaks, not long now until the bBC will be making a programme about ‘weird’ untattooed people, roll up roll up come and see the amazing untattooed woman….

    I digress!

       78 likes

  4. Phil Ford says:

    It’s fairly safe to say the BBC got a massive slap to the face yesterday when it made the mistake of opening up this story to comments from the Great Unwashed Masses. Lol.

    I’d love to see a statistical review of the comments, which, by my reckoning, showed a clear majority in favour of scrapping the licence fee altogether, and also a recognition by most commenters of a clear left wing bias at work across the sainted Corporation.

    I wonder if there’s a trustworthy university anywhere interested in carrying out a detailed statistical review of the comments..?

    Needless to say, the BBC has now buried the story deeper into the site, and (of course) disabled any further commenting. It was fun while it lasted. Will the BBC learn anything from this?

    Nah, I thought not.

       67 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      Much like the electors who got it so grevously wrong 2 months ago, this resistance to common sense is obviously explicable by the “false conciousness” of the licence-paying and voting public. You see voters really wanted a Labour government and licence-fee payers really want an increased licence fee and a continuation of the BBC as presently constituted (7 layers of “management” and all). If you don’t believe me I’m sure Jeremy Corbyn and Lord Hall could explain this phenomenon.

         53 likes

      • Phil Ford says:

        “…Much like the electors who got it so grievously wrong 2 months ago, this resistance to common sense is obviously explicable by the “false consciousness” of the licence-paying and voting public.”

        Yes, my thoughts, exactly. One would imagine that the budget for violins and eyedrops is already ballooning out of control at Politburo HQ as still more gurning ‘explainers’ at BBC Current Affairs self-indulgently pick over the dessicated corpse of something once calling itself the Labour Party, lost in a haze of self-delusion and wilful cognitive dissonance…

        The BBC opens up for comments on the issue of the ‘value’ of the license fee. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite get the overwhelming show of love it had expected from a grateful public. Sound familiar..?

           37 likes

    • Arthur Penney says:

      Any University – other than Cardiff or East Anglia.

         7 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Yes it will . It will learn that they must on no account allow the plebs to have any say whatsoever on the future of the BBC. They had planned to allow just a little participation from ordinary folks but they will now abandon that and instead use the people who select QT audience to provide representative cross section of the nation. This will prove by a margin of at least 10 to 1 that we all love the BBC as it is today.

         24 likes

  5. Leamas says:

    Well, Five Live have finally shaken off their GE election defeat.

    The phone-in was about Union reform, and it was a litany of hard left hyperbole. I lost count how many times the government were declared illegitimate due to only having 24% of people voting for them, but I’m glad I didn’t take a shot of tequila each time. I’d have been on the floor by the first travel update.

    Five Live needs to be closed. It is the Labour Party on the airwaves, and no longer cares who knows it.

       71 likes

    • deegee says:

      As I recall the people voted against a form of proportional representation. I don’t remember if the Labour Party was for or against.

         10 likes

      • grimer says:

        The people actually voted against Alternate Vote. Which most definitely isn’t PR. It would have entrenched the grip of the major parties – e.g. have your fun and vote UKIP, but the Tories will get the seat, once we count the ‘second preference’.

           5 likes

  6. GCooper says:

    Meanwhile, as the nation (that pays for it) sleeps, the BBC’s World Service continues its task of brainwashing anyone dumb enough to listen.

    I’ve mentioned it before but ‘Business Matters’ (sic) is a fine example.

    Depending on your point of view, there is a case to be made for running a business programme on the World Service. If you see its job as being to promote British interests, it could be useful to support British companies. If you don’t believe in propaganda (or correctly work out that few businessmen are dumb enough to fall for such nonsense), it could be used to explore matters of general business interest.

    But ‘Business Matters’ doesn’t do either, instead, it routinely takes the Lefty talking point of the day and and tortures it to fit a pretend business agenda. In the wee hours of today, for example, we had a lengthy celebration of Obama’s capitulation to his Iranian friends, followed by a breathless feature on Harper Lee’s new book, which has set the dovecotes fluttering in university English departments the liberal world over. Business relevance? Zero. Par for the ‘Business Matters’ course? You bet!

    Presented by a stereotypical BBC amiable-sounding doofus, Roger Hearing, Business Matters is clearly devoid of any understanding, appreciation or perhaps even interest in anything to do with business. It epitomises the BBC’s utter detachment from the world most of us live and work in. Money, trade, profit – my dear! How sordid! Did you see that feature in the Guardian on the yoghurt weaves of Namibia..?

    Close it down. It’s broken. All of it.

       55 likes

  7. outsider says:

    That letter’s brilliant.

    It serves to remind us plebs that the luvvies have grown extremely fond of their first class carriage on the gravy train, and have no intention of giving it up easily.

       55 likes

  8. Gunner says:

    Classic Devonshire this morning on the consultative Green Paper on Union Reform. A discussion which had two female public sector workers ready to erect the barricades at the drop of a red beret, and a random whiskery business gent who thought strikes were bad, plus of course Ms Devonshire’s “fair and balanced” approach. So, a pretty easy ride for the ‘sistas’. Just load the ‘panel’ both in numerical and gender terms and make sure you include a female fire fighter ‘cos we all love those. Oh and make sure you select only pro-union, pro militant email comments (obviously legit ones) to summarise the discussion afterwards. World class.

       46 likes

    • Leamas says:

      Yes, I just watched it, and it followed almost precisely the same methodology as the Five Live phone-in, although being television they seem to have decided the employer against up the union supporters should be made up as a werewolf to push home his evil narure.

      It’s Derbyshire by the way, not Devonshire. I get it wrong myself sometimes, so I remember it by telling myself that her name is Derbyshire because I’d much rather spend time in Devonshire.

         27 likes

      • Phil Ford says:

        “…I’d much rather spend time in Devonshire.”

        Me, too. I was born in raised in Devonshire. Sadly, these days, due to work, I’m forced to live in Bedfordshire (nowt wrong with it, but it ain’t a patch on glorious Devon, imo).

        One day I shall return! I miss the sea! And Dartmoor!

           16 likes

    • Cull the Badgers says:

      Can I please urge all contributors to avoid the sarcastic use of, as in this case, ‘fair and balanced’ in criticisms. Sadly, there are people who do not understand sarcasm, and may well believe that the words are meant in praise.

         4 likes

  9. noggin says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-33527844
    Obama s foes eh!, oh … and Iran is pleased with the deal.
    100 billion smackeroo s windfall … I bet
    Yet, today Iran s Supremo, is photographed trampling on the Israeli flag!
    and vowing that the ” Zionist Regime is Condemned to Vanish”?
    “vanish”, what happens to people who erm, “vanish” in Iran
    any ideas?
    http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/irans-supreme-leader-posts-photo-himself-trampling-israeli-flag
    Soooo … denying the last holocaust, and obviously vowing to erm reign over the next … that part of his strategic erm “talks”?
    Meanwhile, Obama, Kerry, the mainstream media are saying that the deal is advantageous to all … that include Israel?

       27 likes

    • noggin says:

      from yesterday
      “Just heard Al BBC gushing all over the Obama Iran “Deal”
      The deal appears to show that Iran will be given the right to veto the “anywhere, anytime” inspections of Iranian nuclear sites?
      Can Tehran continue to go on obfuscating its nuclear work and continue working on the bomb in secret?
      It seems they ll get better centrifuges to boot.
      Oh and Israel? … safety and security of Israel is apparently foremost

      … I have here in my hand, a piece of paper signed by …
      eh, Mr Buraq Hussein Obama”

         29 likes

      • Dotheyfinkwerestoopid says:

        What a star Mark Steyn is.
        His analysis of politics is always fearless and on the money.

        We need more people like him in the West , particularly the UK and Europe.

           37 likes

        • GCooper says:

          A point of information, Mr Chairman. Mark Steyn was for a very short while a regular on BBC R4.

          It took them that long to work out his politics. Following which he was made a non-person by our famously ‘unbiased’ broadcaster.

          Ain’t that true, Dez?

             17 likes

          • dez says:

            GCooper,

            It took them that long to work out his politics

            Of course, because right wing commentators are only ever on the BBC “by accident”. Just like Nigel Farage was “accidentally” invited on to Question Time 26 times in the last four years.

            Following which he was made a non-person by our famously ‘unbiased’ broadcaster

            Strange then that he was part of a Radio 4 programme about song lyrics just three months ago:

            http://bbc.in/1CF35w9

            He used to write a political column for the Daily Telegraph. He doesn’t any more.

               3 likes

            • GCooper says:

              Codswallop!

              So in your urgent quest to find a single Right wing commentator of any note, the best you can do is get your researcher to come up with the number of times Nigel Farage, a politician, has appeared on Question Time?

              Meanwhile, Steyn, one of the most prominent Right wing commentators in the world appears on a BBC programme to discuss…. song lyrics?

              You might fool yourself, dez, but you’re not fooling anyone else.

                 15 likes

              • John Anderson says:

                Every article I see by Mark Steyn, and every TV appearance, is a corker. Closely argued, witty, trenchant.

                But of course he is an arch-enemy of the Global Warming crew, and is fighting a valiant battle in his long court case against Michael Mann who invented the infamous Hockey Stick by fiddling the figures. So of course Mark Steyn is now largely persona non grata at the BBC.

                But the BBC finds plenty of occasions to interview lefties from America.

                   15 likes

  10. Guest Who says:

    In passing;

    http://order-order.com/2015/07/14/bbc-cock-up-microbit-rollout/

    The cock-up is taken as read being this is a BBC IT project, but one has to wonder what they were doing with this project at all in the first place?

    The comments seem ‘split’ (genuinely; not the usual BBC 100:1) between folk who know what they are talking about about and the 141-7/210 BBC PR snotties on station on every blog they need to crush.

       14 likes

  11. Guest Who says:

    Understatement of the day award (so far) goes to:

    http://order-order.com/2015/07/15/new-entry-to-bbc-pol-ed-runners/

    ‘As former Observer Pol Ed, he has the necessary credentials’

    And not just those. Lack of lady parts does mean Danny Cohen will still be crushed, though. Maybe if Kamal pulls a Caitlyn?

       9 likes

  12. Geoff says:

    Biased Gary? You? no way, you’re just worried about your 7 figure telly tax funded salary, still there’s always the crisps to fall back on eh?

    Always though Linekar was more intelligent that the average footballer, but after this and his Farage is a dick and Chris Evans is wonderful Tweets, I don’t think so.

       35 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Safe to say the comments aren’t all supportive! But at least he hasn’t banned them for disagreeing.

         15 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      Reading through the actual twitter page is a truly nauseating experience: I don’t recommend it. Luvvies, fellow travellers and common purpose chums all mutually agreeing with a hearty slap on each other’s backs that the BBC is ‘wonderful’, ‘beyond reproach’, a ‘national treasure’ and (and this really is rich) ‘belongs to the people, not to the Government’.

      On second thoughts: go visit the page and see for yourself just how completely liberal progressives indulge in astounding self-delusion, adherence to an agreed narrative and just how out of touch these reprehensible bottom-feeders truly are.

      They, of course, have no objection to an organisation which daily criminalises, terrorises and bullies ordinary people into handing it cash – mainly because these hypocrites and scumbags are lining their own pockets on the proceeds.

      Scrap the license fee now. Turn the BBC into a not-for-profit digital subscription service. Let’s find out how ‘treasured’ this ‘national institution’ really is, once and for all.

         58 likes

      • Geoff says:

        Its no coincidence that the bBC has produced nothing to be ‘proud of’ since 1997. All its productions are diverse inclusive PC twaddle that the ‘progressives’ simply love and can’t see anything wrong with.

           37 likes

      • Shelly says:

        Make it subscription only, I’m sure the money will be pouring in for this “National treasure”

        I’ve been pondering, if I contact Amnesty International and tell them I’ve been threatened with jail for not paying for something I do not want or watch, will they take up my case ?

           11 likes

    • Steve Jones says:

      Only the BBC could commission somebody as terminally unfunny as Miranda to produce a ‘comedy’ series and truly believe they are entertaining the masses. There must be a reason for this.

         25 likes

  13. noggin says:

    Cameron sends the boys round
    Led by tub of lard … Eric Pickles
    Graham Norton does a runner

       3 likes

  14. G.W.F. says:

    Boy Owen questions membership of the EU. Isn’t that waycist?
    Nigel, sign him up. Or perhaps a word with Marine le Pen will put him in the picture.
    Will Owen still remain a BBC favourite?

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/14/left-reject-eu-greece-eurosceptic

       17 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      “…Will Owen still remain a BBC favourite?”

      He will. He has impeccable credentials, after all. Plus, young master Jones has a history of false flagging operations (his hilarious accusations of ‘right wing bias’ at the BBC springs to mind). Jones can always count on his comrades at the BBC, no worries. This latest exercise is no more than a self-indulgent flagging operation – doubtless he’ll win himself a slot on Newsnight as a result; almost a forgone conclusion, tbh.

         23 likes

    • JR says:

      I despise Owen Jones.
      However after watching him talk about Greece on Dateline London (on iplayer if you’re interested) I think he might have gone off the EU in a serious way. Himself and increasingly much of the left.
      It will be interesting to see if the BBC remains Europhillic when their lefty fellow travellers are increasingly Eurosceptic.

         7 likes

      • Beness says:

        Owen Jones can go do one. All he proves is that the left are so thick that it takes them ages to catch up when they were being warned for years. He is stupid now, will be stupid tomorrow and will still be thick when he’s 60.
        The problem with the left is that they have no foresight of anything. Why would they have any common sense when non of them are anywhere near common. Far to intellectual (or so they think) for their own good.

           5 likes

  15. AsISeeIt says:

    “I may be biased but…” Gary Lineker

    Perhaps this ought to become the new BBC corporate catchphrase.

    I can see it now. Over to Huw Edwards for the 6 0’clock news from the BBC – “Good evening, I may be biased but….”

    And ouside Downing Street the BBC Political Correspondent Norman Smith has this to say: “I may be biased but, Labour say….”

    In Athens this evening Robert Peston had this insight: “I may be biased but….”

    Over to Israel and our correspondent Orla Guerin: “I may be biased but…”

    That could be worth the £145 a year

       46 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      I may be biased, but I tend to agree.

         31 likes

    • Stuart B(eaker) says:

      I think there is a very serious and central point behind what you say.

      The corruption of the BBC is not primarily due to the bias of its presenters, reporters, experts, etc, odious though that may seem to some. It is primarily due to its implicit endorsement of their bias, by resolutely denying that they are biased. In doing so, it becomes a crooked container, where the straight cannot stand.

      Bias is the very stuff of free speech. The denial of bias is the negation of free speech. Someone said earlier that it would be impossible for the BBC to be impartial as an organisation. I believe the opposite. If the BBC is to survive as an organisation, then it must give itself to a mission of impartiality with all the solemnity and commitment of a true marriage.

      At the moment, the corporation notoriously measures itself on the supposed ‘balance’ of complaints about its direction of imbalance. Whether this ‘balance’ is real or doctored, it is based on a fundamentally mistaken, degenerate even, statistical view of morality. It is based on what the BBC can ‘get away with’, and therefore makes it directly vulnerable to the cleverest manipulators who wish to make use of its facilities to propagate their views.

      If the corporation instead became utterly ruthless in disassociating itself with any biased viewpoint or ideology of any kind, in any sphere, while constructing and providing a whole-heartedly open platform for any and all such expressions, then I believe it could crawl back out of the gutter it currently inhabits, and start once more to earn the approval (perhaps grudging) of parties of all kinds on all sides of the arenas of dispute we are currently immersed in.

      It is possible for a public broadcasting service to be both popular and respected by most ‘sides’ in our society, if it makes it plain that it will ‘stand above’ the disputes which rive us, however tempting it is to take sides. That would indeed be a jewel in the crown of our nation, and it would then achieve a unity across divisions, a unity which it is speciously and egregiously claiming to achieve now by a combination of pandering and self-glorification on the thinnest possible basis of virtue in terms of its actual output quality.

         12 likes

  16. deegee says:

    I wonder what made the BBC change its mind?

    The BBC have changed the completely misleading headline “Video ‘shows Israeli officer shoot fleeing Palestinian’”’‘ to Video ‘raises doubt over Palestinian shooting claim’. Congratulations to BBC Watch and other Internet advocates who pointed out how inaccurate the previous headline was.

       35 likes

    • Lynette says:

      And thank you to those who emailed the BBC to complain at the deliberate misinformation.

         23 likes

  17. Arthur Penney says:

    Put all of the stars on a boat and it would capsize due to the unstable ballast heavily leaning on the port side.

       23 likes

  18. Thoughtful says:

    What qualifications / experience do you need to qualify as a BBC reporter / Journalist these days?

    Well, none it appears, only that you are a Pakistani, a Muslim, and that you have ‘started a course’ in Journalism.

    The BBC being so credulous and Politically Correct won’t actually check this, to verify if its true or not because as everyone knows Pakistani Muslims are scrupulously honest to a fault !

    Such is the case of BBC South East presenter Reham Khan who has recently left Britain to marry Pakistani Imran Khan.

    However on closer examination she never actually did start a course, the college she claimed she had enrolled at doesn’t offer such a course, or any in journalism at all, and has no record of anyone with her name !

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3161669/SEBASTIAN-SHAKESPEARE-Fresh-intrigue-past-Imran-Khan-s-new-wife.html

    It seems that the BBC now doesn’t care about someone qualification or experience when recruiting, the most important thing is your ethnicity and religion.

       44 likes

    • dez says:

      Thoughtful,

      What qualifications / experience do you need to qualify as a BBC reporter / Journalist these days?

      Well, none it appears, only that you are a Pakistani, a Muslim, and that you have ‘started a course’ in Journalism

      Reham Khan worked as a presenter on “Legal TV” & “Sunshine Radio” before joining the BBC.

         4 likes

      • Merched Becca says:

        Dez, do tell us, why are you on this site ?
        Are you here to help promote this link to new readers ?
        https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/end-the-bbc-licence-fee

           8 likes

        • dez says:

          Merched Becca,

          Dez, do tell us, why are you on this site?

          I’m just here to help, Becca; because there are so many people on this site obviously in need of some serious help.

             3 likes

          • Merched Becca says:

            dez
            Many, many people are here to give their opinion and comment about the biased angle taken by Al Beeb and to do away with and oppose an unjust television tax.
            Now how do you propose to help?
            Start by voting here ………………..
            https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/end-the-bbc-licence-fee

               9 likes

            • dez says:

              Merched Becca,

              Many, many people are here to give their opinion and comment about the biased angle taken by Al Beeb…

              And many people who post here are white supremacist, homophobic misogynists; attracted by their own inadequacies, to blog that indulges them with the myth of their own perpetual victimhood.

              I’m here to help you find a better way, Becca.

              You can thank me later…

                 3 likes

              • Demon says:

                And a (thankfully) small number of white-hating, heterophobic militant gays and racists, attracted by their own bigotry and prejudices, to attack a blog where people of higher moral fibre, who are able to think for themselves and actually make valued and normally correct judgements to compensate for their own feelings of inadequacy.

                Just to complete and correct your ad-hominems.

                   17 likes

              • D1004 says:

                “And many people who post here are white supremacist, homophobic misogynists…”

                My Widowed Grandmother rented out a room in her house to a man from India back in the 1960s when they were very few on the ground- she didn’t need the money and we all thought him a nice man, NEXT

                I have worked with homosexual men and women in various jobs all my life, like most people do. I do not wave my sexuality in their faces at work and nither do they….NEXT

                My Mother 30 years ago ran a hostel in South Wales for battered women…NEXT

                Inadequate ? Well happily married, son now a B A, my IQ was tested in my 20s and came out at 139, which I’m told is rather good, home owner , are you dez ?

                All in all dez your little rants at the people on here as usual are rubbish I suggest YOU are the inadequate here Dez.

                   22 likes

                • Stuart B(eaker) says:

                  I think that Dez is simply the archer of a thousand blunted arrows, whose net effect is not to pierce, but simply to deafen, disorientate and eventually suffocate.

                     10 likes

                  • Thatcher Revolutionary says:

                    He’s a researcher for the One Show.

                       11 likes

                    • Merched Becca says:

                      dez
                      Thank you for the offer of help. I am afraid you are ‘shooting the messengers’.
                      By its name, this site is specifically a critical base for viewers / listeners to offer their opinion of the media and its bias. Where hopefully, members of the so called ‘Trust’ can get some views from ‘out site the box’
                      You need to locate a site which is the opposite, where praise is given by the licence fee payer (if there is one?)
                      I appreciate that you feel very strongly about this but you appear to sound more and more like one of the passengers on the ‘clapped out bus’.
                      Does all the criticism affect your job?

                         7 likes

      • David Brims says:

        “Sunshine Radio”, is that like Hospital Radio ?

           15 likes

        • grimer says:

          It sounds like it might be the preferred station of those travelling in the ‘happy bus’.

             6 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        “Legal TV” & “Sunshine Radio” niche broadcasters who are not funded by taxation with criminal sanction!
        That’s the big difference Dez, no one here would give a stuff about the bias of the BBC is they weren’t being forced with threat of prison to pay for it!

        Then there are the false claims which she has made exposed as false by investigative journalism.

        If you have taken this information from her Wikipedia page (which I expect you have) then it is displaying that she undertook the journalism course in Lincolnshire which has been proved a lie.

        Unless you have some third party proof that these claims are true then I’m afraid we have to view them as highly dubious.

           9 likes

  19. Thoughtful says:

    Very strange story with a surprising lack of detail leading me to conclude that the Chinese were probably right and the people deported were Jihadis.
    To claim that they were not terrorists because some were doctors and businessmen is truly laughable.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-33532550

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3161103/Eleven-British-tourists-arrested-China-terror-group-having-propaganda-hotel-rooms.html

       18 likes

    • noggin says:

      “because some were doctors and businessmen” … level of supposed
      intelligence, social standing, vocation, wealth all immaterial, when it comes to Islam
      immediately rounded up and deported … go P.R.China
      … hmmm a lesson there somewhere

         14 likes

    • dez says:

      Thoughtful,

      Very strange story with a surprising lack of detail…

      Because the Chinese haven’t yet given any reason for their arrest.

      leading me to conclude that the Chinese were probably right and the people deported were Jihadis

      Yeah, of course, because The People’s Republic of China is well known as such a bastion of human rights.

      To claim that they were not terrorists because some were doctors and businessmen is truly laughable

      Yes it would be.

      If anyone had made such a claim.

      Which they haven’t.

         2 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        It is said that a drowning man will clutch at a straw.

        Even you must acknowledge that tour organisers have the names of the people who have booked these tours, air carriers keep passenger lists, and some border authorities know who has been in & out of the country.

        We know that Islam is a violent religion, and causes conflict where ever adherents reside, and China is no exception, with its Uigher Jihadists. No surprise that the Chinese are a little nervous. They believe in protecting the innocent, unlike the British government which believes in protecting the guilty!

        There’s a clue in the BBC article as to what’s been going on:

        “South Africa-based charity Gift of the Givers said it had been contacted by relatives of some of the tourists asking for help. Imtiaz Suliman, head of the foundation”

        So yet again another Islamic Jihadi fundraiser masquerading as a charity, and why would a charity send its workers on a 47 day tour/holiday of the country instead of travelling straight to the place where their ‘charity’ was needed.

        As for the Doctors and Businessmen quote, obviously the benefits of Google has passed you by, it’s really not difficult to use!

        http://ewn.co.za/2015/07/14/Confusion-questions-after-the-arrest-of-South-Africans-in-China

        “JOHANNESBURG – A prominent local humanitarian organisation says the 10 South Africans arrested in China have no links to terror groups and are in fact respected doctors, businessmen and even a former MK veteran. ”

        And that’s come from your revered ‘rainbow nation’ your holy of holies, and it can’t be criticised unless you’re a waycist !

        The Chinese have of course given reason for the arrest, and that is terrorism!

        I wish you’d learn to use Google Dez, it would make everyones lives easier, and prevent you from looking such a pillock !

           17 likes

  20. Phil Ford says:

    Some highly recommended reading:

    AUNTIE, WHY ARE YOU SO SCARED OF CHANGE?

    The BBC is simply another subscription service that, depending on your point of view, is either fantastic value or very underpriced. For example, when someone declares – and it’s almost a cliche – that ‘Radio 4 is worth the price of the license fee alone’, they’re sending out a pretty strong price signal. The signal is telling the BBC it’s leaving money on the table in preference for its state-granted entitlements. Remove the restrictions on the BBC, and its revenue prospects begin to look compelling – and very bad news for its rivals.

    Full article: http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/auntie-why-are-you-so-scared-of-change/17185#.VaZ3R_lVhBc

       17 likes

  21. noggin says:

    BBC -Iran deal is not cause for high-fives at the White House
    … no sh-t shylock
    BBC – Will Iran nuclear deal make the Middle East a less safe place?
    DUH! …. well of course

    “The United States and other world powers will help to teach Iran how to thwart and detect threats to its nuclear program, according to the parameters of a deal reached Tuesday to rein in Iran’s contested nuclear program”
    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/u-s-will-teach-iran-to-thwart-nuke-threats/

    … What could go wrong eh!

       20 likes

  22. Thoughtful says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33527967

    Filed away in the Business section but briefly reported on radio 4 news today.

    The risk of blackouts this winter has increased compared with a year ago, according to National Grid.

    It says the closure of some power stations will have left spare capacity on the system at just 1.2% – the worst for a decade

    Yet there is no attempt to investigate the cause of this. We all know what the cause is, the BBC is not prepared to even discuss it !

       33 likes

  23. Thoughtful says:

    Radio 4 PM news on the resignation of Barclays vice chair, Sir Mike Rake.

    The report finished off with the typical ‘hate’ one might expect from 1984, that Mike Rake was known as a cost cutter and was concerned about the performance of the investment side of the bank.
    His cost cutting they claimed could lead to bank closures and job losses, and if successful in raising the performance of the investment side – higher salaries for bankers.

    They just can’t leave it alone can they? So a man who improves the performance of a bank department resulting in higher profits which are then shared amongst those who make that happen is somehow a bad thing? Who do they think pays all the taxes which pay for their madcap left wing schemes? Certainly not them with their tax ‘efficient’ vehicles !

       22 likes

  24. David Brims says:

    I don’t know why the BBC luvies are squealing, the Conservative party, being gutless, will renew the charter, and the biggest heist in history, £40 Billion pounds from us, over a 10 year period will go to the BBC, to promote mass immigration, multiculturalism, anti white etc etc, propaganda.

       38 likes

  25. Geoff says:

    Another multi millionaire bBC luvvy who doesn’t understand democracy..

       13 likes

    • David Brims says:

      I never liked Basil Brush.

         11 likes

      • noggin says:

        “We won” … incorrect
        The aim is for Camoron and co to worm their way around it.

           4 likes

    • dave s says:

      Typical of this one. A very unfunny man. My good friend has just lost his entire henhouse ( part of his income) to the fox. A scene of slaughter. The fox kills wantonly and is merciless.
      The next night his neighbour lost his ducks.
      Sentimental drivel from the luvvie liberal class as usual.
      Who are these people?

         32 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      Oh, a cuddly fox cub and his mummy, how cute. I found the remnants of a hedgehog on my lawn on Saturday, its head had been bitten off by a fox. I can’t decide whether to mail its body to Ricky Gervaise or Brian May.

         15 likes

  26. Thoughtful says:

    A heads up for an appalling left wing program coming to Radio 4 on Monday:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b062jsnm

    In the first of this new series, Sarfraz Manzoor talks to Brits Abroad in Berlin as he looks at the other side of EU immigration.

    And I think we all know what kind of parallels he is going to draw, confirmed by the trailers. Brits who only speak English are no different to Pakistani Muslims who won’t learn it here !

    Not the same at all of course but then fairness never was on the BBC agenda.

       31 likes

  27. Mr A says:

    Astonishing! Just heard the BBC reporter in Athens (BBC News Channel) actually say, “I think this is the first Left-Wing government to tear gas its own people. It’s usually right-wing governments that do that.” I suspect half a billion former Eastern Bloc citizens might quibble at that. Oh and the people in North Korea. Oh, and China. Then again, in BBC land Tchianamen Square was probably just “creative tank driving.”

       59 likes

    • dave s says:

      Appalling ignorance. Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland ?
      WTF are these idiots doing on our screens?

         41 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      Best not even mention the killing fields of Cambodia, either…

         33 likes

      • D1004 says:

        To be quite fair to the beeboid the East Germans, the Hungarians, the Soviets, etc didn’t tear gas their citizens, they machine gunned them, a different order of attack. Come on bbc tell us how much catch up education you give all of these PPE graduates you employ to understand foreign climes ?

           20 likes

  28. Al Shubtill says:

    Interesting exchange between Jezza Vine and an ex-SAS soldier who was on his show today, re the deaths of 3 men doing SAS selection.

    Vine – “You need something like a coach in boxing to chuck the towel in”
    Ex-SAS chap – “We don’t do coaches I’m afraid.”

    There are many occasions when Vine’s limitations as an interviewer; and his sheer lack of common sense and deficiency in just basic general knowledge about things are clearly revealed, today was one of them.

       26 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Jizz has a problem with the military.
      Well remember his “Remembrance Day” debacle in 2011 when he played the drumkit of some poor squaddie who`d only recently been killed in Afghanistan, maybe Iraq.
      Tasteful or what?
      Pathetic little drummer boy-at least Stephen Morris seems a nice lad-Vine is a smug little shit.

         18 likes

      • feargal the cat says:

        Vine has a problem; he’s an ill-informed, sensationalising, speculative muppet.

        Isn’t he yet another of the off-the-books churnalists ’employed’ by the bBC?

        What became of the allegations that his pre-teen daughter is listed as a director of his ‘company’ in a Hodge-esque tax avoidance scheme?

        Newsnight-type speculation or were facts involved?

           19 likes

      • dez says:

        chrisH,

        Well remember his “Remembrance Day” debacle in 2011 when he played the drumkit of some poor squaddie who`d only recently been killed in Afghanistan, maybe Iraq.Tasteful or what?

        “Debacle”? Yeah… okay. You mean when he interviewed the mother of ‘fallen soldier’ Richard Hunt who was fatally wounded in Afghanistan or “maybe Iraq”?

        How very distasteful for you.

        http://bbc.in/1Mb71Yr

           6 likes

        • GCooper says:

          Dez, why don’t you ever address any of the serious and detailed criticisms of the BBC that appear here?

          Is it because you cannot?

             18 likes

    • dez says:

      Al Shubtill,

      ” ‘Vine – “You need something like a coach in boxing to chuck the towel in”
      Ex-SAS chap – “We don’t do coaches I’m afraid.’

      There are many occasions when Vine’s limitations as an interviewer; and his sheer lack of common sense and deficiency in just basic general knowledge about things are clearly revealed…

      Nonsense, Vine’s analogy was perfectly valid. The Ex-SAS chap was wrong; the organisers are there to coach the recruits; and in this instance they failed completely.

      http://bbc.in/1MuOvr3

         4 likes

      • Al Shubtill says:

        dez – This is the selection process for the SAS, not a school cross country.

           13 likes

      • Geoff says:

        Dez, do you in any way think that the BBC is biased?

           9 likes

      • disciplical says:

        You know absolutely nothing of SAS selection. Typical liberal arrogance on display claiming the SAS member was wrong as well!

           8 likes

      • Thatcher Revolutionary says:

        Well done – now get back to researching Bucks Fizz’s last top ten single for tonight’s show.

           8 likes

  29. chrisH says:

    The only trouble with Cameron making noises about the license fee, is that the BBC now do nothing else but “debate and discuss” it.
    Heard The Moral Maze tonight-which, funnily enough was discussing the greatness and wonderful value of the BBC.
    Jean Seaton was on-she wrote the “history” of the BBC, albeit stopping well before Brand and Savile, doctoring Royal footage and empty chairing of the Tories.
    She said she`s not been paid by the BBC-so she`ll have been a voluntary worker then, as she took the commission?
    Another BBC suckup said that the BBC needs to be there, because local news media is now defunct…and there was me thinking that the BBC online presence had quite a bit to do with that.
    But no connection in Beebworld.
    Final point-seeing that the likes of Lineker and Dench think we should all agree to pay them more to say that the BBC is grand at employing them-wonder if Lineker would pay his £145,500 so that me and 999 other “Garys People” could enjoy a free license…I`m 75 years old in my head-and if I feel myself to be over 75, then I am…am I not?

       17 likes

    • dave s says:

      What have the millions shoveled at the BBC over the years actually achieved?
      Well there was ‘Under Milk Wood ‘. But Dylan Thomas wrote that and it was before most of our times. A few good programmes years ago. I think John Betjeman did a few.
      Once in a while something good slipped through the rubbish ..
      I suppose East Enders and Strictly Come Dancing et al count for exactly what? An enhancement of our culture?
      Not really I am sure. The BBC makes shows as forgettable as their talent. Not that ITV is much better.
      Television has matured like a rubbish dump. Give it a miss.
      Then there is radio. Used to be quite good but now ?
      Rarely is worth listening to except as aural wallpaper.
      Compulsory funding is not under any circumstances acceptable any more. If this so callled conservative government lets it continue with the threat of prison then by it’s actions we shall know it and be warned thereby.

         18 likes

    • grimer says:

      It sounds like you might be transgen(erational). What you need is a groan inducing catchy twitter hashtag, so that the BBC can campaign on your behalf.

         0 likes

  30. JimS says:

    Simon Evans Goes To Market delivers a ‘comedy’ lecture on the evils of tobacco.
    Supposedly all about economics and people seeking pleasure we find ourselves in the 1920’s, “If only we had UKIP then, we could blame it all on women’s sufferage”. What on earth was that about? UKIP the universal bogie-men? If only Moses had had UKIP what laughs they could’ve had in Egypt! Talk about living in closed-circles, that must be a ‘joke’ only between him and his partner.

    Later on we are told that a smoking ‘guinea-pig’ has lost his pass and the ‘right-wing’ security guards won’t let him back in. I expect it was ‘right-wing’ border guards that used to shoot escapees from East Germany.

    Is there any Radio 4 ‘comic’ that is just, well, ‘normal’ or are they all from the Loony Left Fringe, what used to be called ‘extremists’ before Mrs. May applied that to anyone who raises an eyebrow of doubt over the ‘RoP’ mantra.

       36 likes

  31. noggin says:

    Al BBC … slave night special on Al Beeb 2, wicked ole whitey again.
    meanwhile Ch4
    Islamic slavery TODAY, Islamic sex slavery TODAY, ISIS slavery … Qatar world cup workers, little more than slaves, Sudan slaves.
    Afghanistan, even cases here in the UK.
    Yep! captive slaves, mandated in Mein Quranf, sex slaves too.
    Al BBC? ….
    prime time special ? …
    BBC? … Over 1400 years still going strong? … anyone?

       27 likes

    • dave s says:

      You can just imagine the excitement when the BBC execs etc got to discuss the programme on slavery.
      Look at just how awful the English were and are. The only reason these dreadful people got to be so powerful was that they built the whole lot on slavery.
      God we just hate ourselves so much and as for the English trash we can’t wait to show them just how awful they are ( or were ) just the same to us.
      The industrial revolution? No it never happened. All those inventions and agricultural and industrial improvements. Lies the lot of them.
      The English were slavers pure and simple. AS for the abolition of slavery well that probably never happened anyway at least not the way the history books used to tell us. It couldn’t have done as the English are just as rotten as hell and would be slavers still if they got the chance. That is why they vote Ukip. Or Tory and It is all that Mrs Thatchers fault anyway. She was a slaver too .She would have been given the chance.

         38 likes

      • Beltane says:

        Loved the little snippet, after slave owners and slavery being described as an exclusively ‘English’ activity for most of the programme, that pro-rata Scotland had the highest percentage of owner/users.
        That would be the Scotlish then?

           16 likes

        • teddy called Moh says:

          lets not forget the Million European white slaves held by the North African Muslim rulers.

             9 likes

  32. David Brims says:

    ” Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners.” I’m sure the BBC is going to take great delight and remind us all about it. Incidentally Russia had serfdom, very much like slavery, abolished in 1861, never seen a programme about it or a newspaper article, no calls for reparations either to the descendants. I suppose they just don’t count.

       23 likes

    • dez says:

      David Brims,

      Incidentally Russia had serfdom, very much like slavery, abolished in 1861, never seen a programme about it or a newspaper article…

      Russia: The Wild East:
      “The Downtrodden Serfs”
      http://bbc.in/1CF9Vls

      Andrew Marr’s History of the World:
      “Russian Serfs”
      http://bbc.in/1CFapYF

      Slavery in history:
      “Russian serfdom can be seen as a variant of slavery. At the time of emancipation in 1861, there were more than 22 million serfs”
      http://bbc.in/1CFaGuL

         4 likes

  33. David Brims says:

    Gosh !! the BBC in its entire 92 year history has only mentioned the plight of the Russian serfs 3 times ? an obscure 15 minute documentary on Radio 4 and old Jug Ears mentions it in passing on his show ” The History of the World and stuff.” You kind of prove my point.

       23 likes

    • Fiddy says:

      “You kind of prove my point”. What a bizarre world you inhabit David where someone can prove you wrong and yet you say you are right. A world where black can indeed be white. Although that thought is more than enough to give you an attack of the vapours and have you reaching for your little pills.

         2 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        Proved wrong? How? He didn’t say the BBC never made such programmes. He said he’d never seen them. Quite a different proposition and given that Dez, with all his BBC resources, can only find three short articles, dating back to 2011 & 2012, it would explain why.

           17 likes

  34. Dover Sentry says:

    Why have the main players in the BBC a left wing background?

    I can’t find any with a right wing background.

    Therefore….

    ..

       16 likes

  35. Edward says:

    Has anyone here seen the 1st episode of Dragons’ Den? If ever there was a perfect example of BBC bias, this is probably it!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b062r0nm/dragons-den-series-13-episode-1

    Notice how the ‘Dragons’ approach each business idea according to race – Asian woman gets the playschool treatment, Caucasian man gets ridiculed quite aggressively, and east European (?) bloke gets a deal, even though all the ideas in this episode are crap!

       16 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      The “offers” in this show are all subject to proper due diligence afterwards. I doubt more than a small percentage actually get the money in the end, but a TV show in which none of the contestants appeared to get any money would be too dull to watch. Frankly, I am bored with this show now, it’s all panto and I can’t be bothered to watch it.

         4 likes

  36. Leafysuburbs says:

    Wifey sent a text to a radio 5 dead discussion programme on a subject a while ago (many months).

    This week a producer from a famous radio 4 dial in show telephoned and said we have a section on this on our show. Can my wife please listen and dial in to give you view.

    Wifey’s view on this subject, government has got it wrong needs to do much more.

    I am sure they were setting up the otner side of the argument too.
    /sarcasm off

       9 likes

  37. Leafysuburbs says:

    Must be a database.

    How does Data Protection Act work?

    Keeping people’s data without their permission/knowledge?

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      So… John’s latest top wheeze is to create a whole new layer of public sector drone employment to assess whether people who may or may not want or like the vital Strictly or impartial Newsnight/BIJ editorial integrity? The man is clearly a market rate talent on par with his BBC counterparts.

      Plus the Telegraph poll cunningly splits negative options across several, equally applicable, areas. Daft.

         10 likes

      • Stuart B(eaker) says:

        Signs of politicians being neatly headed off by the civil service telling them what they ‘can’ and ‘cannot’ do; simultaneously making ‘helpful suggestions’ (pre-cooked in servant-only discussions) which will avoid rocking the boat too much..

        Never underestimate the skill of the civil service, particularly when turned on its ‘masters’.

           5 likes

  38. Phil Ford says:

    Last night’s edition of The Moral Maze on R4 took as its subject the future of the BBC (or to quote Michael Buerk: ‘Wither, the BBC..?’).

    My expectations sank (or plummeted, to be precise) as Giles Fraser was introduced as one of the panelists. Sure enough, Fraser was his usual sneering, snarling, aggressive-progressive self right from the off. In questioning one of the ‘witnesses’, Fraser superciliously demanded to know why, at (in his words) ‘…just 40p per day, the BBC wasn’t better value than, say, The Daily Mail (60p per day)..?’

    Unfortunately none of the ‘witnesses’ had the intelligence to meet that kind of idiocy with The Most Obvious Answer: Because nobody forces anyone to buy the Daily Mail every day.

    The entire program continued in a similar, ineffectual vein. Fraser was a total c*ck from start to finish, sounding aggressive throughout – but always with that ready sneer so typical of progressive fascists. Only one of the ‘witnesses’ appeared to be willing to take on Fraser’s belligerence, but even he didn’t really have his arguments marshalled adequately.

    If you have the stomach for it, you can find the programme here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b061t68r but I’d advise caution – and keep the sick bucket handy.

       17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      In (worthy) complement:

      http://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/tonights-moral-maze-on-whither-bbc.html

      So far the BBC seems to be handling their own defence with a deft touch. Not.

         10 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Unfortunately none of the ‘witnesses’ had the intelligence to meet that kind of idiocy with The Most Obvious Answer

      Presumably that’s why neither DV nor Alan were on it after all, to avoid having anyone on the panel willing or prepared to point out the obvious. Heck, we’ve all pointed that out here at some point, I’d imagine. It goes to show that it’s not just the spectrum of guests the BBC has on that demonstrates its bias, it’s the quality of guest they allow invite for each side.

         10 likes

    • Stuart B(eaker) says:

      Interesting for a prominent ‘Occupy’ protagonist that he so values the BBC exactly as it is. Does this mean he considers the BBC is already ‘Occupy’-d?

         9 likes

    • rampage says:

      Most hilarious was Giles Fraser telling us that when he arrives back in Britain from one of his foreign sojourns he got a real “Rule Britannia” moment when he listened to the Today programme. Forget about Trafalgar, the abolition of slavery, Waterloo, the Battle of Britain, the works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible, or even The NHS (ha ha ha); what this pillock finds best about Britain is a laughably biased 3 hour radio broadcast. His other arguments were equally fatuous.

      A sick bag was definitely required and as others on this site have pointed out it seems the BBC is really trying to get on the front foot. Not sure that this is necessarily within its remit.

         14 likes

  39. Old Goat says:

    Interesting item on “Today”, where the police had captured images of Michael MacIntyre (an alleged comedian) on the video camera of one of their drones, then tweeted about it, to all and sundry.

    Yet the Scottish police couldn’t find a crashed blue car, and the victims trapped inside for three days, despite having had the incident reported to them at the time, AND the details of the victims as having been reported missing, together with a description of the vehicle, even earlier.

    What a shower.

       27 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      The comparison was made, quite quickly, and on twitter, ironically.

      It is to be hoped the Scottish Police do not deem such tweeting activity as requiring their attention, as they also recently warned.

      Sadly for them, this was also greeted mainly by pointing out what they obsess about that doesn’t matter much, vs. don’t apparently have time for, which clearly does.

      Not really helping the ‘cuts’ narrative so beloved of the public sector and their PR divisions.

         11 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Yes but I’m sure they trawled through an awful lot of local bloggers checking they hadn’t made an ‘unacceptable’ comment!
      Most of the UKs Police forces have become little more than Political Correctness Enforcement Squads, ready to come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who dares post an ‘inappropriate’ comment, but when there’s an actual physical attack they don’t want to get their lily white hands dirty.

         21 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Imagine if that had happened in England. The knives would be out for the heartless Tories, starving the police of funds, and relentlessly pushed on the BBC. But up here, does St Nicola get any flak? Well, not that I’ve heard. Somehow the SNP, despite being in charge up here since 2007, seem to be responsible for nothing that goes wrong. It’s not just the BBC, but they must take most responsibility given their dominance in news broadcast, and perhaps goes some way to explain their current popularity.

         26 likes

      • Thatcher Revolutionary says:

        She and her gang were also mysteriously quiet and absent when the literacy statistics were released last month showing a lower level of Primary School literacy in Scotland compared to England & Wales.

           20 likes

  40. Thoughtful says:

    On Radio 4 ‘Today’

    Apparantly the Fib Dems new leader will be announced today with someone called ‘Tim Farron’ expected to win.

    Now I know that the Fib Dems have become something of an irrelevance as their space cadet leader has led them to obscurity, but compare the non existent coverage the BBC has given to their leadership contest to the saturation coverage of Labours election contest.

       19 likes

  41. Umbongo says:

    In the Radio 4 8:00 am “news” this morning Roger Harrabin was turning metaphorical somersaults in celebration of an “energy positive” house constructed in South Wales. This was not a “report” but was the usual tissue of carefully selected factoids propaganda piece since it didn’t tell us anything except what warmists and zero-carbon fanatics wanted the public to know. Luckily Tim Worstall and commenters deliver some of the disinterested considerations Roger was too excited to convey.

       17 likes

  42. AsISeeIt says:

    Lenny Henry has been an outspoken critic of British television’s lack of ethnic diversity in its programming. During a speech at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in March 2014, he called the lack of minorities “appalling”

    Lenny ought, therefore, to have approved of last night’s Channel 5 show Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords – featuring those people that Felix Dexter (the black comedian who was funny) who, when he was in character, might have termed ‘of a darker hue’ in all the starring roles as both the nightmare tenants and the slum landlords.

    And their appearance on this show was purely on merit, in contrast with Lenny’s guest editing of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, which received mixed reviews with some claiming “discrimination” as Henry disallowed white people from taking part.

       22 likes

  43. Wells says:

    BBC allowing comments on it’s own future! Get in quick before they shut it down or their own staff upvote all the leftys!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33537534

       12 likes

    • Phil Ford says:

      “…or their own staff upvote all the leftys!”

      Lol. I can just imagine them doing that, too. Thanks for the chuckle on a busy work-day!

         9 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      I left one pointing out the BBC had organised that letter from the stars. I think it’s the only place on the BBC website that you’ll read that particular story.

      Edit: I left that comment before seeing Phil’s link below to Michael Palin blowing the gaff as well. It may be the Beeb can’t keep a lid on it now and will carry our damage limitation.

         9 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Well, yours joins a rare collection…

        1. Posted by Holps
        4 hours ago

        713. Posted by BuzzcoreCrew
        15 minutes ago

        This entry is now closed for comments

        That’s impressive by even BBC message management standards.

        At least few actual licence fee payers got to chip in. Apt metaphor.

           8 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        They’ve started it up again.

        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33551874

        Maybe they didn’t like the first set of replies?

           8 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          That’s new, and pretty special even by BBC control freakery standards.

          Glad I took a page grab.

          I wonder what their excuse will be?

          That is 713 consigned where now?

          Too many ‘hard questions’ being asked of them by the public rather than the Government?

          Lucky they, at least, seem to have carte blanche to pull plugs at whim when needed. The memory hole censorship seems extreme if not unheard of. They must be bricking. especially now caught out covering up.

          The current second most liked seems prescient:

          32. Posted by tamaki
          35 minutes ago
          The BBC says “that it is important that we hear what the public want”. Do the BBC ever read these HYSs. It is obvious from comments heard on a daily basis here that there are numerous issues that the BBC need to resolve. Start being impartial again, drop the hyper PC policy and accept more comments where minority groups are concerned. Get rid of the vastly overpaid paid prima dona brigade.

          The ‘first’ (of their ‘new’ batch) rather sums up the stunt that is being pulled:

          1. Posted by sirumustbejoking
          47 minutes ago
          Three cheers for Auntie I say!!

          Wasn’t Daniel Craig by chance?

             10 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Just closed, again (?)… at around 5.30pm

          Can’t have anyone chipping in on their phone on the way home, can we?

             4 likes

  44. Thoughtful says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-33507650

    Birmingham Trojan Horse letter ‘no hoax’

    Note that the BBC puts the no hoax in inverted commas as it seems that they still cannot accept that their brown eyed boys are anything less than perfect.

    It doesn’t matter who tells them, or how much experience they might have, nor the degree of evidence (why let reality get in the way?) The BBC will not accept any criticism of their favourite religious and ethnic groups.

    And they wonder then why they get referred to as ‘Fascists’.

       28 likes

    • JimS says:

      Phil Mackie says it is a hoax and he and his wife are BBC reporters so it must be a hoax.

      How many times must he tell you before you believe, Insh’Allah?

         13 likes

  45. An English Gentleman says:

    I hear that it is likely that jeremy corbyn and tim farron are likely to be elected as leaders for their respective political parties.

    This is excellent news as it makes both of their parties completely unelectable.
    All we need now is to lose that liberal camoron and get a proper leader for the Tory party and then perhaps some proper decisions can be made.

    Oops…sorry, I have just fallen off the park bench

       21 likes

  46. Jagman84 says:

    Not BBc bias but an interesting exchange of views on the ebuyer blog site. “Should the BBC licence be scrapped?” A lot of support for the proposition. Nice to see the aversion to the telly tax spreading to non-specialist sites.

       17 likes

  47. Phil Ford says:

    How Pro-BBC Propaganda Works…

    “BBC boss Danny Cohen asked me to sign letter supporting BBC” says Michael Palin

    and here: http://order-order.com/#_@/yr1OZqBP3Y6cIg

       18 likes

    • Dover Sentry says:

      I also watched the Derbyshire propaganda piece.

      Palin (who I used to admire) stated that he was justified his vast BBC payments because he had always paid his TV Licence. What??

      And that criticism of his BBC fees was unfair as he had also worked for Channel 4 and ITV. What??

      He also stated that there would always be those with narrow agendas who criticised the BBC. What??

      Derbyshire quoted UKIP’s MP Creswell who compared the high salaries of the BBC to the Bankers. Palin sighed and said that Bankers had brought no good to the country. Derbyshire agreed.

      There was no criticism by him of the BBC whatsoever. And nobody else to put an alternative view.

      ..

         28 likes

    • Bobble Hatted Benny says:

      Oh dear! Poor old Michael Palin’s career with the BBC will be toast after that little lapse of truth. There are RULES Michael, relating to what you can say about the BBC in public. You have transgressed, and you will be severely punished for your indiscretion. No more ‘around the world’ jollies for you old son.

         7 likes

  48. John Anderson says:

    Excellent body-slam to the BBC by the Institute of Economic Affairs :

    http://www.iea.org.uk/in-the-media/press-release/it%E2%80%99s-time-to-end-the-bbcs-government-granted-privilege

    I have just heard the BBC Director of Strategy lying through his teeth on Radio 4’s World At One in denying that the “Luvvies Letter” was orchestrated by the BBC itself. What a creep !

    The debate on today’s Green Paper will take many months. The Luvvies maybe shot their bolt (or their BB-funded wad ?) too soon.

       20 likes

  49. Geoff says:

    Had a Twitter spat with a beeboid from Radio Shropshire last night,

    It went something like this,

    I replied to a 3rd party saying that since 1997 the BBC had not produced anything but diverse tosh.

    He picked up on the conversation and replied ‘None of this is true’

    I replied something like ‘that’s laughable coming from a BBC employee defending the indefensible and doing a Lineker’

    He replied ‘ I’m a self-employed licence fee payer, standing up for one of the great things about the UK’

    I replied ‘one of the great things about the UK’ Tell that to the victims of Savile’

    He didn’t reply!

    Beeboids are blind to the inadequacies, bias and sheer waste of the bBC, if nothing else I hope it made him think.

       21 likes

    • GCooper says:

      My money would be on ‘not’.

      Nothing makes these people think. Thinking leads to original thought and God help the BBC/Guardianista mindset if that happens!

         12 likes