241 Responses to MID WEEK OPEN THREAD…

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  1. Geoff says:
    August 20, 2015 at 6:48 pm

    Maybe I’m missing something, but can someone tell me the bloody attraction that is ‘Banksy’ who in the real world or the pre Blair era would be classed as a criminal vandal.

    Points West is live from Weston Super Mare on the opening of his ‘bemusement arcade’ already had 10 minutes of it and another ten minutes to come. Yes the guy is good with an aerosol, but all this adulation?

    I guess we can expect that weirdo balding stick insect bBC arts correspondant Gompertz will be covering this non event on Newsnight tonight.

    As far as I’m concerned the emperor is wearing no clothes.

       31 likes

    • Up2snuff says:
      August 20, 2015 at 8:55 pm

      What’s likeable about Banksy & his work? Wit, subtlety, pointedness, humour, not money-grabbing (AFAIK), new and modest. How’s that for a start?

         3 likes

  2. EmersonV says:
    August 20, 2015 at 7:08 pm

    One show yet again with their biased views.

    These are not Migrants, but illegal immigrants..

       27 likes

  3. The Old Bloke says:
    August 20, 2015 at 8:08 pm

    Has anyone else noted that the BBC are not calling Jeza Corbyn a divisive figure?

       24 likes

  4. Al Shubtill says:
    August 20, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    I heard Humphreys this morning interviewing Damian Green (I think) about the “migrant” crisis; Humphreys’ contention appeared to be that there was no way governments could stop such large numbers of people, who wanted to cross their countries’ borders: so we may as well just accept it. Which was odd, as the countries behind the Iron Curtain seemed to have little problem keeping most people in or out of them.
    What Green seemed to be saying was that things weren’t that bad as long as we allowed it to happen slowly; a little like choosing to be killed slowly by poisoning over a period of time rather than by beheading, I suppose – the end result is still the same though, regardless of the method.
    Green also said that we, the West, need to build up the countries from which these people are fleeing; I thought we’d already been trying that for the past 50 or 60 years, but hey-ho.
    He gave South Korea as an example of a once poor country which is now rich, but he missed out the fact that the Koreans are very hard working and East Asians such as them are amongst the most intelligent races on the planet. It is true to say that neither of those descriptions apply to the inhabitants of the countries from which most of these “migrants” originate.

       27 likes

    • JimS says:
      August 20, 2015 at 8:37 pm

      South Korea (from Wikipedia)
      Although a variety of different Asian peoples had migrated to the Korean Peninsula in past centuries, very few have remained permanently, so by 1990 both South Korea and North Korea were among the world’s most ethnically homogeneous nations. The number of indigenous minorities was negligible. In South Korea, people of foreign origin, including Chinese, Japanese, Westerners, Southeast Asians, South Asians, and others were a small percentage of the population whose residence was generally temporary.

      Koreans tend to equate nationality or citizenship with membership in a single, homogeneous ethnic group and “race” (injong 인종, in Korean). A common language and race also are viewed as important elements in Korean identity. The idea of multiracial and multiethnic nations still strikes many South Koreans as odd or even contradictory.

      Racists!

         25 likes

    • Up2snuff says:
      August 20, 2015 at 9:00 pm

      Also important to remember that Korea until 1940s, South Korea afterwards, was heavily Christianised in the 20th century. If I recall correctly, the number of Christian believers in Korea at the start of the 20th century was in the hundreds. By 2000, it was in the tens of millions.

         13 likes

  5. Rampage says:
    August 20, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    Just in case the British public was finding so called climate science unconvincing….. As she was about to introduce the weather report, the odious Sophie Raworth couldn’t wait to tell us that “US scientists” had proclaimed July the hottest month ever (or some such fatuous statistic).

    The bias in BBC reporting is getting so crass I am finding it increasingly difficult to watch or listen to even for the briefest minute.

       22 likes

  6. JimS says:
    August 20, 2015 at 8:31 pm

    In the USA NOAA announces that July was the hottest month ‘ever’.

    Over to the BBC for its analysis:
    Analysis: Matt McGrath, BBC Environment Correspondent

    That July was an extremely hot month shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. It’s normally the warmest month of the year for the world as a whole.

    According to the Met Office, the UK had its warmest July day ever on July 1, when temperatures hit 36.7 C near London. There were record heat waves in many countries including Spain, while the African continent had the second-warmest July on record.

    One anomalous reading from Heathrow on one day – what about the rest of the country and the rest of the month? Talk about being economical with the truth!

       20 likes

    • Up2snuff says:
      August 20, 2015 at 9:05 pm

      On the US west coast, sure. What was it like on the east coast of the US? Anything like the western side of the UK?

      Are the NOAA and the Met just looking at single temperatures in different countries? Do they need to be reminded about the word Global in Global Warming? It implies an average across countries and continents, oceans and atmosphere included as well.

         10 likes

    • Flexdream says:
      August 20, 2015 at 9:13 pm

      The UK Met Office publishes data for UK weather stations http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate-historic/#?tab=climateHistoric. There isn’t one for Edinburgh so I chose Paisley. If I take the 57 years 1959-2015 (though 2011- is ‘estimated’, and 2015 is ‘provisional’) and look at July then for max temp 2015 is =38th warmest, the top 10 being;
      year max min
      2006 22.7 13.7
      2013 22.4 13.1
      1989 22.2 11.4
      1984 22.1 12.2
      1983 21.9 13.3
      1976 21.7 13.4
      2014 21.4 12
      1982 21.3 12.4
      1977 21.1 12.1
      2003 21 13.2
      …
      1968 18.2 11
      1978 18.2 10.7
      2015 18.2 10.6
      …
      There is evidence of warming but July 2015 has not been a scorcher here, nor has August so far.

         10 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:
        August 21, 2015 at 1:15 am

        The past gets colder and colder due to adjustments.

        In the 1967 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, the highest recorded shade temperature in the British Isles was recorded as 38c in Tonbridge, Kent on the 22nd July 1868.

        The adjustments now hinge around 1997, those adjustments before 1997 make temps cooler, those after this date make temps warmer. This seems to be because the Met Office believes that the approved computer programmers producing models based on a crude but politically essential assumptions, are more reliable than observations. But without scientific fraud you would expect random adjustments to produce no change at all, if there where a great many adjustments.

           11 likes

    • The Old Bloke says:
      August 20, 2015 at 10:21 pm

      The classic “…when temperatures (temperatures? No only one temperature) hit 36.7 C near London. Near London? You mean just 20 meters from a runway at Heathrow near London? How about just 1/2 mile away from the Heathrow boundary fence, where temperatures all around that fence recorded spikes 3 degrees cooler? Whatever you say BBC, whatever you say.

         17 likes

  7. Geoff says:
    August 20, 2015 at 8:56 pm

    Traffic Cops, North Yorks, member of public phones 999 she’s found two ‘Arfricans’ on her drive asking for food, plod dispatched.

    Our narrator tells us ‘strangers lurking in the dark often mean thrives’ Turns out they’ve just fallen off the back of a lorry and from Eritrea, our narrator warmly reassures us ‘the men aren’t theives they’re just cold and hungry and a long way from home’.

    No ID, suddenly can’t speak English, our friendly bobby’s, despite obviously being here illegally treat them like welcome guests. Their faces and identities obscured (why?) understanding plod, despite being the only traffic cops on duty in the whole area phone around for a translator and are off the road from more than a hour. Both are fed and watered, good job a microwave halal meal is available….

    Both are happy and confident to go along with the Police request to get into the back of the van, showing no fear, they know the drill, they know they’ve hit the jackpot, they know they won’t be sent home as the resume proves. This was filmed back in the winter yet still they are here awaiting their ‘asylum status’

    These two are a mere spec in view of what has happened in Calais since this program was filmed. Is it any wonder that they they are so keen to get over here when we make them so bloody welcome. Plod admits there is little chance of them being sent back, the program keen to point out how well we treat our ‘guests’

       35 likes

    • Flexdream says:
      August 20, 2015 at 9:29 pm

      Not all Eritreans are welcome.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Berhane
      ‘Helen Berhane (born c. 1974) is a Christian Gospel singer who was a prisoner in Eritrea….. She and her daughter Eva were granted asylum in Denmark… In 2010, Berhane was refused an entry visa to the UK, even though she had been invited to speak of her experiences of persecution in Eritrea at a series of meetings in Great Britain.’
      She should have just jumped in a truck to come here, then asked for halal food.

         22 likes

  8. John Anderson says:
    August 20, 2015 at 9:20 pm

    One pf the top stories in US politics these past months has been Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server for her official as well as personal emails. Definitely against regulations, possibly criminal as secret stuff was involved.

    The Benghazi scandal left Hillary almost unscathed, but the email server business has been doing serious damage to her campaign. She just keeps digging herself deeper into the mess.

    Of course most of this is not covered on BBC channels.

    The latest twist is that the email server was run by a small firm and housed in a bathroom in a flat in Denver, Colorado. Now who found this out ? The BBC – of course not ! A big US network or newspaper ? No. It was that dastardly Daily Mail.

    A couple of days ago Hillary held a press conference that made things worse again :
    http://hotair.com/archives/2015/08/19/video-say-how-many-times-did-hillary-lie-in-yesterdays-press-conference/

    The Daily Mail article is here :

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3201367/Hillary-s-email-firm-run-loft-apartment-servers-BATHROOM-raising-new-questions-security-sensitive-messages-held.html

       17 likes

  9. The Old Bloke says:
    August 20, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    Expect wall to wall coverage from the BBC (and Mr Harrabin) of a report that July average temperature worldwide was a record. Well, by how much? This much: NASA said temperatures in July 2015 beat the previous record in July 2011 by .036 degrees. What they do not tell you is that sea temperatures are now also included in the overall temperatures and data from recording stations can be “cherry picked” and that the degree of accuracy is +/- 1.5 degrees for long term trends. The inclusion of sea temperatures will include the natural occurring El Nino, which is a natural warming of those sea temperatures. What they also don’t tell you, is that those “record” spot temperatures around the globe which are included in their data meshing were recorded at…..wait for it…airports. Sigh. The earth in any case has been warming year on year average since the last ice age. Expect these finding of the “Hottest July ever” to be pulled apart, but not that we would hear this on your BBC or any other socialist broadcasting station. Good timing don’t you think with the Paris Climate Convention just a few weeks away and with austerity looming for many countries, interested parties will be after very penny they can get. Our July looks like being one of the coldest for 60 years with data still coming in and being processed.

       18 likes

    • Essexman says:
      August 20, 2015 at 10:32 pm

      Good Post , OB , I would also like to know , Why its gone all quiet on the Hurricane front?Down Gulf of Mexico way , we were expected to believe that every year, the Hurricane season would be more intense than the previous years . Hmm. Bugger all has happened .

         14 likes

      • The Old Bloke says:
        August 20, 2015 at 10:44 pm

        Hi Essexman,
        Yes, it has been a funny old year hasn’t it. Not a single Hurricane as yet and the season has only 6 weeks to go. A couple of deep depressions, yes, but not a Hurricane as yet. Without warm sea temperatures, they don’t develop, which kinda flies in the face of the NOAA saying that there have been record temperatures which includes the oceans. The Hurricanes think otherwise. I wonder why the cold sea temperatures? And while I’m talking about it, not many thunderstorms in the U.K. this year. The English Channel to cold to support the convection when they come across from France.

           19 likes

        • Essexman says:
          August 20, 2015 at 11:11 pm

          Many Thanks OB , Keep up the good work , on the weather front , er Global Warming , Climate Change stuff .

             11 likes

        • Richard Pinder says:
          August 21, 2015 at 1:38 am

          We are getting less Hurricanes, as is expected with the Cloud Albedo theory, you get a reduction of temperature contrast between the Tropics, which get cooler, and the Arctic, where clouds can trap heat input. So Global Warming would produce more Hurricanes and Global Cooling would produce less Hurricanes. You should read about the fracas between Chris Landsea and Kevin Trenberth at the IPCC. According to the carbon dioxide theory, warming six miles up should be at twice the rate of the surface warming, so you would think that the morons would be pleased with less Hurricanes, as this also reduces the temperature contrast, But as is evident, the morons do not talk about temperatures six miles up, because as with all other Planetary atmospheres in the Solar system, changes in temperature at 100 millibars do not and cannot change at twice the rate of the surface due to thermodynamics.

             7 likes

    • scribblingscribe says:
      August 21, 2015 at 10:22 am

      Thank you Old Boy, agree as ever with your points. However you said …

      ‘The earth in any case has been warming year on year average since the last ice age.’

      I think you will find that the earth has been cooling over the last few thousand years and that we are still in the middle of an ice age. From your previous posts I am sure you are aware of the Medieval Warm Period and the even hotter Roman Warm Period. If we go back to the Holocene Optimum, a ‘mere’ 5000 years ago, the temperatures of the North Pole were 9 degrees centigrade

      You could have rowed a boat around the North Pole wearing your shirt sleeves, sun glasses and Panama straw hat. And for any BBC producers or Guardian scribes reading this, you could still feed the Polar Bears who survived that warming period without any problems what so ever.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_climatic_optimum

         4 likes

  10. The Old Bloke says:
    August 20, 2015 at 10:37 pm

    What you will definitely NOT hear is this little detail that goes with all these so called records. This one is from the Australian Weather Bureau: Check out the dates they use for their “average” Laughable.

    The Monthly Climate Summary is prepared to list the main features of the weather in Australia using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. Later information, including data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review, usually published in the fourth week of the month.

    Climate Summaries are usually published on the first working day of each month.

    This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am EST on Monday 3 August 2015. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available, especially for rainfall where much more data becomes available as returns are received from volunteers.

    Long-term averages in this statement and associated tables are for the period 1961 to 1990 unless otherwise specified.

    The system used for calculating areal averages of rainfall was changed in July 2009; the main effect was that current and historical values for Tasmania were increased. Since July 2012, ACORN-SAT has been used for calculating areal averages of temperature; the major change from earlier datasets is that the ACORN-SAT dataset commences in 1910, and hence rankings are calculated using a larger set of years.

       4 likes

  11. Sir_Arthur_Strebe-Grebling says:
    August 20, 2015 at 11:25 pm

    Shock news on the bBBC NorthWest today. Apparently Cilla Black has died. They should have told us.

       12 likes

  12. nogginator says:
    August 20, 2015 at 11:42 pm

    BBC – Migrants crisis:
    Slovakia ‘will only accept Christians’
    BBC -Migrants Crisis
    Hungary sends police to deter migrants on Serbia border

    “Interior ministry spokesman Ivan Netik said Muslims would not be accepted because they would not feel at home. The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) called on countries to take an “inclusive approach” to relocation. But Mr Netik denied the move was discriminatory and said it was intended to ensure community cohesion.
    ‘Not going to like it’ … yep! pretty much.
    but but! … the enrichment!
    Broadcasting house is NOT happy 😀

       19 likes

  13. Old Goat says:
    August 21, 2015 at 8:45 am

    “Today” wittering on this morning about the “hottest July, evah”, and how the Former UK was likely to suffer severe storms, and tornadoes, this weekend. Batten down the hatches, man the pumps, etc.. They wheeled some meteorologist chappy on to explain. Most of what he said was true – cold air masses meeting warm air masses DO provoke instability and storms (which is why it’s so ridiculous to promulgate the idea that “global warming” will cause more extreme weather – it’s the other way round…). But it was all rather OTT, and unnecessary – more BBC grist to the Paris mill. Louis Lear wasn’t quite so impressed.

    Hottest July, evah ( or since “records began”, was it?

    https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/one-climate-prediction-that-came-true/

       8 likes

  14. TigerOC says:
    August 21, 2015 at 8:58 am

    BBC1 this morning in Sweden. Pure unadulterated propaganda. Talks to “asylum seekers” newly arrived in Sweden showing off their newly acquired language skills. So impressed was the man from the BBC department of mis-information he declared; “they are making huge efforts in integrating with the local community”.

       7 likes

    • GCooper says:
      August 21, 2015 at 9:13 am

      Reality in Sweden, however, is quite different. The BBC proves its utter bias by suppressive and selective reporting of events there.

      Close the BBC down. It is a blatant propaganda service for cultural Marxism.

         10 likes

  15. AsISeeIt says:
    August 21, 2015 at 8:59 am

    BBC Breakfast whisks us away for a moment from the Edinburgh Festival (‘Scotland’s chance to shine on the world stage’) and away from Carol Kirkwood’s make-up routine (no, I don’t mean passing on the Met Office’s mangled weather statistics – Carol’s make up routine is, of course, a special little film of her having her curlers put in).

    So off we go for a moment or two to idylic Sweden where ALL ‘refugees’ are taken in ‘if they can get here they can stay’.

    Any problems with that we wonder? Well, a few were so disappointed they thought about going back home – lack of jobs, their new housing not quite up to snuff, etc .

    Blatantly obvious where the BBC stands on this and how little they want to think this issue through. All emotive short term kumbaya my lord. One way traffic? Not quite.

    A quick sound bite from a “HARD” right local politician.

    “Hard” what does that mean? Well thinking about the broad political spectrum doesn’t help – we don’t hear Jeremy Corbyn and the British Greens described as hard left.

    Let’s look at the dictionary:

    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hard
    Hard
    1.
    a. Resistant to pressure; not readily penetrated; firm or solid: a hard material.
    b. Well protected from an attack, as by aerial bombardment: bunkers and other hard targets.

    Ok, I’ll sign up to that.

       10 likes

    • David Brims says:
      August 21, 2015 at 9:15 am

      ”A quick sound bite from a “HARD” right local politician.” A Swedish ”hard” right politician is actually a Liberal. That’s how far Sweden has gone.

         7 likes

  16. The Old Bloke says:
    August 21, 2015 at 9:01 am

    Old Goat,
    I didn’t hear this mornings “Today” programme, but did the BBC or the meteorologist state how this so called “Hottest July” World Temperature was brought about? Did they say by how much it was a record? (0.035 degree). This so called “record temperature for the MONTH of July has been derived from all those that could be bothered to report to the NOAA their July temperature data sets. Some of these data sets have still to be ratified. The “increase” of 0.035 degree is the increase in AVERAGE temperature across those reporting stations, which includes some sea temperature data, which includes the natural occurring and natural sea warming in the Pacific by the cyclical El Nino. The error degree (which nobody on the BBC or MSM, is +/- 1.5 degrees across an extended term. The data sets of this so called record also included spot temperatures (not a mean or average) from reporting stations at airports. Did the BBC also mention that here in the U.K. for July, that the CET (itself a hypothetical temperature data set) set a new record low for July of just 1 degree? No, I bet not. Don’t worry, this new temperature claim will get shredded just like most of what has come out of the NOAA.

       9 likes

    • The Old Bloke says:
      August 21, 2015 at 9:05 am

      Ooh, it looks like bits of my post has gone AWOL and so too the edit button. Never mind, most of what is important got posted. (SIC)” ….on the BBC or MSM tells us is…..”

         3 likes

    • Old Goat says:
      August 21, 2015 at 9:09 am

      Oh, no the BBC will never mention anything which might have the slightest risk of detracting from their AGW ideology, especially on the run-up to Paris, and all stops will be pulled out to ensure that their “message” gets across.

      (And posting here today is slow, and the page times out. My edit button also disappeared).

         7 likes

  17. Guest Who says:
    August 21, 2015 at 9:13 am

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/aug/20/government-anti-bbc-chris-bryant-dcms?

    A con? Surely not?

    Rather funny to see a dcms spokesperson mirroring a BBC spokesperson response to Mr. Bryant.

       7 likes

  18. John Anderson says:
    August 21, 2015 at 9:39 am

    I don’t normally watch much live TV but last night I caught the News on ITV and BBC1, switching between them. ITV made some play of Corbyn’s nasty comparison of US troops in Fallujah with ISIS – the BBC hardly touched it.

    His continual traducing of the US is part of a long pattern – which the BBC has not told us about. The guy is a “far-left extremist” – but of course that term is not used by the BBC because it is not in their lexicon.

       8 likes

  19. G.W.F. says:
    August 21, 2015 at 10:08 am

    This looks to me very like a stitch up between the Government (May and Cameron) the cops and the media, especially the BBC. Note how fast the BBC would react if a known hate preacher was being constantly arrested and re-arrested without any reason supplied by the police, Home Office and BBC who cannot be arsed to inquire why.

    Tommy Robinson re-arrested one month after being released from a previous re-arrest. No reasons given, no questions asked.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/08/20/tommy-robinson-arrested-again_n_8014628.html

    BBC bias hand in hand with government appeasement. To tackle BBC bias one needs to point the finger at the Government.

       11 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:
      August 21, 2015 at 10:54 am

      Can it really be the case that he can be arrested without being given any reason why? Can any lawyers on this board clarify? If this happened to any member of the Religion of Peace, or to someone of darker hue, you surely wouldn’t be able to move for the human rights lawyers wading in on his behalf, with the BBC’s news schedules cleared to make room for the story.

      Either we’re not being given the whole story or the authorities aren’t even pretending to be doing anything other than intimidating him to shut him up, and feel perfectly safe in doing so.

         8 likes

  20. Dave666 says:
    August 21, 2015 at 10:33 am

    So are we sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. BBc Breakfast. First an advert for the India Season. Complete with a special Goodness gracious me. Surprise I won’t be watching it or any of the season. Then on to some one from UNHCR wants us to do more with migrants. Do I give a **** what some unelected official at UNHCR thinks we should do. Of course no guest to say UNHCR can shove there opinions where the sun doesn’t shine. Then on to Sweden the land of paradise. The Swedes accept pretty much who ever makes it to the country the reporter informs us. On to video of migrants playing around and having a meal all lovely. Then onto the “Hard right” spokes person. Although she didn’t seem to be very “hard right” to me. Some deluded woman Major tells us they have the moral high ground. So the implication is we should do like Sweden. Oh yes let’s not mention the rapes. killings and crime all covered up by Swedish media. Again luckily I live in an age where I can obtain information from other sources. http://www.thelocal.se/20120227/2683 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19592372
    Oh yes and let’s not forget the latest Ikea murders https://uk.news.yahoo.com/eritrean-asylum-seeker-admits-ikea-double-murder-lawyer-164034762.html#XzaPkm2
    Didn’t see that on the BBc although within hours I’d found out it was a migrant on the net. Could expand on this but I have to go out.

       9 likes

  21. Pollystuscanyvilla says:
    August 21, 2015 at 11:08 am

    “Russell Brand has endorsed Labour – and the Tories should be worried”

    Headline from Guardian before election by Owen Jones.

    Dear oh dear.

       7 likes

    • 60022Mallard says:
      August 21, 2015 at 11:53 am

      You may need to update your nom de plume to Pollynolongertuscanvilla.

      I wonder if the “Do as I say, not as I do” critics of her led to its disposal.

      Possibly she donated it to the Italian government for use as a half way house for the “migrants” as a gesture of solidarity with them?

         5 likes

      • Pollystuscanyvilla says:
        August 21, 2015 at 2:58 pm

        You are right 60022Mallard.

        Apparently its Pollyslewestownhouse.

        Odd she has chosen such a conspicuously white expensive gentrified market town as her second home…or with these well healed faux-cialists probably not.

        Maybe (the boorish but in this case spot on) Mr Littlejohn may have encouraged her move…

           3 likes

  22. 60022Mallard says:
    August 21, 2015 at 11:10 am

    Many years ago we watched Star Trek with their science fiction communicators. Seemingly, apart from the transporting facility, we are now just about there.

    In “1984” the “television” was the means of Big Brother keeping an eye on you. As technology races along will the capability be long?

    Perhaps the organisation to look after the job could have some sort of catchy acronym, such as BBC.

    The existing Big Brother Corporation is already showing more than a few signs of wanting to control your thinking along “approved” lines.

       5 likes

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