245 Responses to START THE WEEK OPEN THREAD

  1. Guest Who says:

    Meanwhile, BBC editorial integrity hits one of its blind spots.

    http://order-order.com/2015/09/29/bbc-helps-plug-big-solar/

    Again.

       7 likes

  2. Al Shubtill says:

    If Al Beebus could produce comedy as good as this I would return to watching it.https://youtu.be/EgRv3a0-1Gg

       5 likes

  3. BRISSLES says:

    Anyone recognise anybody below ? and I apologise for the spelling….
    Dani Sinhar
    Karthi Dalasearum
    Alba Patel
    Seema Kateeha
    Tulip Mazumdar
    Rayeeni Verunathan
    Aaqil Ahmed
    Jethan Patek
    Sonali Shah
    Feema Makurduma
    Kulan Tanaja
    Rajesh Murshandani
    Nomia Iqbal
    Kamal Ahmed
    Agga Munchetti
    Aled Ghosh

    During a period last year it suddenly dawned that almost all the reporters/commentators were of ethnic origin. So every time I heard a new name I wrote it down. This is part of an old list which totals 28, and I hadn’t discovered this site then, so some may have moved on (and up the ladder), whilst new names have taken over. In the end I ran out of ink and paper.

       26 likes

    • Thatcherrevolutionary says:

      Reeta Chakrabahti

         14 likes

      • RJ says:

        Isn’t that the ethnic spelling of Ken Dodd’s friend Professor Rufus Chuckabutty? Who is the well known Operatic Tenor and Sausage Knotter.

           6 likes

    • Geoff says:

      Reads like a weeks schedule of The Asian Network!

         18 likes

      • BRISSLES says:

        I know; when we are drip fed these names it isn’t noticeable, but faced with a long list who are actually on air can make for uncomfortable reading, despite howls that there aren’t enough ethnics in front of the camera, and it makes for wondering what the percentage is who work behind the scenes and in other areas.

           10 likes

    • Aborigine Londoner says:

      Aren’t they all shop keepers on Barking Road Plaistow East London?

      Damn how I miss Bacon Sandwiches!

         15 likes

    • Jason says:

      “almost all the reporters/commentators were of ethnic origin”

      Yeah, right…

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

      And I wonder, whilst making a note of every non-White person you saw on TV, if you formed any other opinions; such as whether they where good or bad at their job?

      No? Just their skin colour. That’s the upper limit of your critical thinking skills?

         5 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        That you Dez?

           7 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        That is a list of presenters, not a list of correspondents ! No one has suggested that they are actual News readers so why have you posted the link?
        According to the Fascist left and their lie of ‘equality’ getting the proportions right is much more important than whether they can do the job – just ask Lenny Henry !
        If there were only white people in that list you would be emitting your meaningless bully word – ‘Waycism’ so how come on being presented by a list of ethnic names, the same standards aren’t applied, or could it be that you are yet another of the line of anti white Waycists?

           9 likes

        • Aborigine Londoner says:

          The problem with positive discrimination is what do you do when you have met your quotas?

          You can hardly say “Oh we have enough blacks/browns/yellows already!”

          Positive discrimination never was the solution to diversity and equality. Education is the only way to ensure equality in a meritocracy but of course certain cultures resist embracing our education system.

             11 likes

          • Al Shubtill says:

            The problem there A.L. is that certain races are more / less intelligent than others: all men are NOT created equal.

               3 likes

  4. Leha says:

    me wonders how much green energy costs & so called “global warming” policy contributes to the collapse of the steel industry in the north of England?…….

       15 likes

  5. Flexdream says:

    Rod Liddle, formerly of the BBC, shares a credible insight into the widely observed fact that BBC audiences for QT etc. are skewed to the latte Left.

    http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/rod-liddle/2015/09/if-only-middle-class-liberals-would-shut-up-we-might-get-a-proper-debate/

       20 likes

  6. JimS says:

    I wish Jeremy Corbyn well with his call for a ‘kinder politics’, especially amongst the ‘left’, the home of hate speak. No wonder the BBC seem wary of him.

       20 likes

  7. Dover Sentry says:

    I was watching the BBC News at 5pm and noticed that the BBC were providing an opposing view to Corbyn’s speech!

    Reporters were going beyond ‘some might say’ and actually providing a counter argument. How refreshing. A reporter for instance was in Morley, Leeds at a Working Man’s Club. Interviews with these traditional Labour chaps revealed that they wouldn’t be voting for Corbyn.

    Why had the BBC gone all objective and balanced? Perhaps because they follow the Blair dynasty?

    Balance of course will disappear when the topics of immigration, global warming, housing, NHS and Europe are discussed.

    ..

       18 likes

    • 60022Mallard says:

      That is a little strange as the ITV news have used Morley as their reference point on Labour matters, including visiting a working mans club, with the same result, but on the streets the younger element seemed more enamoured.

         9 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        The contrast between men who work and younger elements paid or indoctrinated by the BBC may explain much.

           3 likes

  8. Alex says:

    I AM BLOODY SICK AND TIRED with the BBC reporting Corbyn’s every syllable. It’s non-stop verbatim coverage. No other party leader ever gets this type of publicity, sorry hero-worship. The BBC simply adore Corbyn and his student politics and seem to worship the ground his sandals walk on. I mean, the colour of their webpage is even red, just like JC’s favourite flag. Pathetic!

       32 likes

    • CranbrookPhil says:

      I agree Alex. It is totally out of control now. Since the election Labour has dominated the news of the BBC, but with Corbyn it has just spiralled out of control. Who is the government? Who were the electorate who voted for the government? The Beeb has almost forgotten about these rather important entities. I wonder how the Conservative conference next week will be covered, ……back to immigration as the number one topic?

         28 likes

    • Demon says:

      “and seem to worship the water his sandals walk on”

      Fixed 🙂

         12 likes

  9. Deborah says:

    Look North in my area is showing a woman campaigning for a drug for pancreatic cancer that MAY give people UP TO two months more life at a cost of £5,000. The young woman being interviewed explains that it may give people the chance to see Xmas, or a new grandchild etc. Of course if I was in that position I would want the drug but in reality it is a high cost that may not work, may not give the person an extra 8 weeks and may not bring Xmas any sooner. But implied is the mean nasty Tory cuts.

       18 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      We have a Pakistani woman in our local press moaning the NHS won’t pay the £200K pa costs of a drug which is unlikely to work. The child suffers from a genetic defect, which is probably the result of an arranged marriage with a cousin, or uncle.
      Thankfully Labour aren’t in power or we all know what the result would be !

         4 likes

  10. Flexdream says:

    Is it just me, but has the ‘refugee crisis’ rather suddenly dropped off the BBC’s front page? You don’t think they realised how risible and unproductive their reporting had become?

       36 likes

    • taffman says:

      Continually broadcasting the ‘desperate refugee crisis’ is counter productive to AlBeeb’s pro EU agenda and bias. They realise this now that the referendum is slowly creeping up.

         20 likes

      • Flexdream says:

        They just need to spice things up …

           10 likes

      • chrisH says:

        What desperate refugee crisis taffman?
        So last week.
        Obama, Merckel have got it all in hand now, so nothing to fear.
        Of course, Hungary still get the eggy look and terrible body language-and the less we all say about the rest of the EU slavishly copying the Hungarians in closing their borders…well the better.
        No-this “crisis” has been put on ice whilst the caring sharing labour Party get days of airtime to emote, huff and puff and make it all up as they go along.
        This would be confusion, drift, indecisiveness and sheer 50/50 splits-indeed 80% of Labour MPs know all too well what “kinder politics” means.
        Spit-flecked abuse of Liz Kendall, as Gerry Adams gets compo..and a load of cybernats ready to tip your bins over.
        In short-this has been an utter shambles of a “Party Conference”-and wouldn`t the BBC still be shafting the Tories or UKIP if they`d ran an on-the-hoof rave of consciousness-raising like we`re seeing.
        But this is Labour-so the BBC regard it as consensus, inclusion and full of young virgins blood to sup.
        So-for this week only-the refugees can fup off.
        Bet you the refugees migrant holocaust will be given full vent next week as the Tories gloat in their arrogance-heartless types who seem not to accept Gerry Adams is innocent.

           16 likes

    • Dazed and Confused says:

      Who needs migrants when Comrade Corbyn is in Town?

      Hail the new chief and spiritual leader of the ghastly BBC.

         17 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Its dropped off the radar of all the media, as have all the reporters in Europe. Is it no longer a ‘crisis’, or have we all dreamt it ever happened. Even the issues at Calais no longer seem to be an ‘issue’.

         19 likes

  11. Flexdream says:

    Does the BBC believe in nature over nurture?

    We have the Dimbleby dynasty. Will and Simon Gompertz are cousins. We had siblings Andy and Liz Kershaw. Is this just the tip of an incestuous iceberg? Does anyone here work in another big organisation where relations hold prominent positions?

       11 likes

  12. G.W.F. says:

    For the BBC Americans are anti black racists. But when a black US politician makes some very relevant points regarding the incompatibility between sharia and the US Constitution the BBC digs into America’s history of Islamophobia, and all the tired old biased witnesses and arguments are trotted out. Look out for the cliches, extreme right, dada dada. What is it about the BBC which causes it to go overboard for Moslems?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34385051

       22 likes

    • Jason says:

      “For the BBC Americans are anti black racists”

      Without getting into the validity (or not) of your argument, what’s truly revealing is that you don’t refer to White Americans vs Black Americans; just Americans vs Blacks.

         0 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:

        I think that’s because both Richard Amerike and Amerigo Vespucci were White.

        So (1) Americans are White (2) Native Americans are Red. And (3) African Americans are Black.

           6 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Revelations abound.

        For instance what you don’t get into vs. what you do on a site addressing BBC bias.

        Reminds one of the blessed old days.

           2 likes

      • Angrymanupnorth says:

        “Without getting into the validity (or not) of your argument”.

        Your avoidance of ‘the argument’ is truly revealing. I call ‘leftard’ – Not wanting to engage with the validity of the argument. What a surprise!

           2 likes

  13. jeh77 says:

    Funny how the BBC fail to run frequent stories on the persecution of Christians in Saudi Arabia, perhaps they can use “Christianphobia” for that one ? Thought not, because they like to hide all the little dirty secrets of Islam. However, we are constantly assured it is a religion of peace, so all this “Islamophobia” is just us non-believers getting all worked up over nothing.

       21 likes

  14. Dover Sentry says:

    Lyse Douset’s BBC Website feature on immigration:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34377798

    Another pointless and rambling feature by her. And of course again, no opposing view to the benefits of immigration.

    Does the last photo look photo shopped?

    ..

       17 likes

    • Flexdream says:

      Some honest reporting creeping in, but is the BBC merely trying to restore lost credibility so that it can slip in more lies?

      “This uncontrolled movement creates opportunities for people who are not refugees to try to have their chance,” admits the UNHCR’s Guterres.
      “Europe has to realise it will take a massive capacity to assist people when they arrive, to grant them their dignity, to verify their stories, to ensure that when people say they come from Syria, they haven’t come from somewhere else.”

      When people like Farage say this, it’s racism and scare-mongering, but the truth is so obvious even an organisation as powerful as the BBC is now forced to refashion its mendacity so as to remain effective. They may have left it too late, but the damage to Europe has been done. Less so to the UK and Ireland, but many EU Schengen states must be angry. The next elections in Europe will be interesting.

         23 likes

      • RJ says:

        These people seem to have solved the problem of unwanted immigration to their island. But perhaps going a little bit further than we’d want to go.

        I’m wondering which BBC reporter I’d like to send there to cover the story – so many to choose from!!!

        http://badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=279861729031

           13 likes

        • Lobster says:

          So they evidently aren’t too keen on embracing diversity then ……..
          How terribly right wing of them – I bet they vote UKIP.

             9 likes

        • Al Shubtill says:

          “Every people has the right to exist and survive” – these islanders are just trying to enforce that right, I wish them every success in continuing to do so.

          Thanks for posting that link RJ, very interesting to read that such places and people are still existent.

          My suggestion for Beeboid to send there: Nikki Campbell.

             11 likes

          • nogginator says:

            They re all too busy, rushing to get them off the boats, punching the air … crying “you ve made it”.
            or desperately searching for a child who looks bedraggled enough for a photo opportunity to fit the narrative.
            Meanwhile … in the real world

            Merkel s .. . 500, 000 a year utopia is going swimmingly
            New Muslim refugees attack Christian refugees so often in Germany, that police chief says “they should be housed separately” hmmm, a question … when the Christian refugees are removed, whose next? if they can t stand them, how will they “cope” in modern Germany?.

            “Jörg Radek, deputy head of Germany’s police union, said migrants should be divided, following increasing numbers of attacks on Christians in refugee centres.
            “I think housing separated according to religion makes perfect sense,” Jörg Radek, deputy head of Germany’s police union, told German newspaper Die Welt, particularly for Muslims and Christians.”
            “The police have reached their absolute breaking point,” said Mr Radek. “Our officials are increasingly being called to confrontations in refugee homes.”
            http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/11896855/Christian-and-Muslim-refugees-should-be-housed-separately-says-German-police-chief.html

            They re not fleeing sharia, they re bringing it

               12 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          A few black ships and Commander Perry with a whinge of diversity officers. Sorted.

             5 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Dover Sentry, “Does the last photo look photo shopped?”

      No, not to me. But what is going on there? What was the event? Did I miss it in her report. Is she a journalist? Should she not find out and report on it? It was an AP (ie. agency) photo – they would (should) have provided a full caption with it. ‘Conditions are harsh at the ruined Yarmouk camp’ Is that AP’s full caption or Lyse’s words? It doesn’t appear to be a camp. It appears to be people collecting in a ruined city. Why? We need information. This is strangely absent.

      BBC: Inform, educate (forget the entertain, in this context) …. well?

         3 likes

  15. taffman says:

    AlBeeb is reporting the ‘UK to build £25m Jamaican prison’.
    All because we cannot deport 600 Jamaican nationals as a result of Jamaica’s poor prison conditions.
    What the heck !
    Deport them anyway and spend the £25m saved on our hospitals nurses and doctors.
    Vote UKIP and get the hell out of these stupid European rights laws.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34398014

       23 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Our Dave just loves spending our money, taffman. Sort of an eager, clean-to-the-point-of-glowing, sensitive, well-spoken, immaculately suited Con-socialist politician. Osborne should take away his UK cheque book.

         5 likes

  16. Thoughtful says:

    Interesting interview on Today with Jeremy Corbyn nice and cushy but he is so naïve that he still managed to make Mishal Hussein (?) draw a sharp intake of breath in astonishment.

    Q. And do you think that you would even be able to sway a few Tory voters to vote for you come the general election?

    A. Well we even had a few Tories working for my campaign so why not ?

    It doesn’t seem to have even crossed his mind that the Tories were trying to get him elected as leader because they know he’s unelectable !

       13 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      I thought it was Sarah doing the interview, Thoughtful? Mishal was in London. Sarah couldn’t resist trying to interrupt Corbyn. Post-Gilligan, the BBC made a ‘firm commitment’ to re-train all staff who were not providing the high standards the Licence Fee could and should expect. An hour on the Interview Technique Course for M/s Montague, please.

         4 likes

  17. AsISeeIt says:

    A happy little post-Ebola get together in the autumn sunshine around a cafe table – in London’s Green Park, if I’m not mistaken.

    Tulip Mazumdar has the news that two British nurses ‘are being honoured for their work in Sierra Leone’. Adding some colour in their lovely vibrant African clothes two Ebloa survivors join us.

    There’s still healthcare needs out there, so one rather posh female British nurse intends, hopefully, to go back to West Africa. The second, who as a side effect of the illness lost her hair and fears further after effects neglects to mention her future plans.

    Not so much talk of a return from our two African Ebola survivors, and I sense they won’t. One young lad ‘who lost 27 relatives’ is described as a ‘student’. I’m no expert on the Sierra Leonean further education sector – but I’ll take a shot in the dark and assume he’s come to Britain to study. His female compatriot’s ambition is ‘to be a nurse’ – based on the fact that Tulip impresses on us the unwillingness of local communities to ‘take back Ebloa survivors’ I’m guessing that asylum applications are in the post.

    Now I don’t want to appear hard-hearted – but I do think the BBC ought to level with us about the immigration status of the people involved in these stories. Immigration is a big issue – the BBC have admitted they have sometimes erred in their presentation of the issue in the past. It is really the subtle skirting around certain facts that sets off the doubts in the mind’s of viewers.

       10 likes

  18. Dover Sentry says:

    BBC Online News snaps up a Climate Change offering:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34396961

    “”Bank of England’s Carney warns of climate change risk””

    A good opportunity for Insurance premiums to be ‘adjusted upwards’ in anticipation of a non-event?

    ..

       7 likes

  19. 60022Mallard says:

    Following JC’s speech I am looking forward to the revised language of his supporters describing the Tories on websites etc.

    I suppose instead of “You Tory bastard” it will presumably be “Being a Tory, were your parents married at the time of your birth?

    I suppose it will be good fun replying to posts asking if JC would approve of the language used!

       6 likes

  20. nogginator says:

    08 45 – BBC5Live Nikki Campbell is all flustered, as he gushes over a report that the latest fashion statement is ? …
    wait for it ….. the Hijab?, H+M is the place to shop … come on girls.
    Yep! the BBC will be working tirelessly to get it “trending” … the BBC Sharia Dept is busy creating a “twitter storm”

       10 likes

  21. Dover Sentry says:

    BBC Online News.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34389129

    “”A mother’s search for her son 1,300 miles from home””

    The BBC again portraying immigrants as victims. No opposing view.
    The main cause of the mother’s ‘inhuman’ treatment in Hungary amounts to having to wait and queue.
    She received full medical treatment for diabetes, access to free transport and shelter.
    Oh, and she ended up at her specified country having passed through other safe European Countries.
    At one stage, she had no idea where she was!
    And she found her missing son.

    I demand she be recompensed at once….
    ..

       7 likes

  22. nogginator says:

    10 th year Anniversary of Mohammed cartoons?, (recent exhibit closed in London)
    For safety having to be run in the Danish Parliament?
    BBC has this tucked away in “from other news outlets” section
    http://cphpost.dk/news/danish-muslims-still-against-mohammed-drawings.html

       8 likes

    • scribblingscribe says:

      Murray is superb in that video, his speech encompassing many of my thoughts.

      Just how did the UK move from the 1960s where it celebrated finally moving out from beneath the yoke of religion, (The Catholic Church following the Lady Chatterly court case), to falling under the shadow of a religion that only encompasses around 5% of the UK population?

      The answer, by the way, is violence and cowardice.

         9 likes

  23. scribblingscribe says:

    BBC’s Newsnight is a complete waste of time.

    Its program last night was centred on the doleful speech by Jeremy Corbyn.

    The producers Ian Katz and his assistant are ex Guardian editors. They have Evan Davies interviewing Ellie Mae O’Hagen and Johnathan Freedland, both from the Guardian. For some balance they add the Guardian and New Statesman contributor Peter Kellner.

    I have nothing against any of the contributors who are all worth listening to but the Guardian is the second least read newspaper in the country, thus its views are shared by just few people. These interviews followed one with Len McClusky, the gangster from Unite who has bullied and paid for Corbyn’s rise from obscurity to being slightly less obscure. Surely the audience is not benefiting from a rounded analysis.

    There are areas of the left, from centre to far left, which strongly disagree with McClusky, the Guardian and the BBC’s political viewpoints. Examples would be subjects such as immigration, Trident and the EU. So where are they?

    If the left are not represented it has to be asked where are where are the journalists from centre and right wing news outlets?

    If I wanted to read the Guardian then I would either buy it from local newsagent else seek help from a therapist. What I want from the BBC is analysis in which I can have some element of confidence.

    Wonder why the audiences for Newsnight are on par with a documentary on twelfth century coral fishing from Alba TV.

       5 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      I recall in the 1970s many on the trade union left were opposed to immigration because they thought it would undercut wages. Is there anyone on the left that still believes this?

         8 likes

      • scribblingscribe says:

        Cranmer, quite right. The Unions correctly pointed out that both wages and working conditions are undercut by immigrants. I am sure many still do feel this way but would find it difficult to express such a view given the strangle hold of the soft left on thought.

        I bet few BBC viewers were aware that many on the left actually support Trident, albeit to keep jobs, want an exit from the EU and challenge the notion of limitless immigration. All these positions are only supposed to belong to little Englander right wing Tories according to the BBC.

           9 likes

        • Ian Rushlow says:

          The problem for the Labour Party and the area of incomprehension for the BBC is this: many traditional Labour supporters are economically left wing but culturally right wing, whereas those in charge of the party are the polar opposite, committed to global capitalism and are cultural anarchists. Posh dinner parties in Hampstead, immigrant nannies and adventures with rent boys don’t have much resonance in working class areas in Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle or other points north of Watford Gap.

             9 likes

  24. seismicboy says:

    Al Beeb.com – “A migrant has been killed on the Eurotunnel tracks trying to make it to the UK.”
    The real world – “A vagrant has been killed on the Eurotunnel tracks after illegally tresspassing on Eurotunnel property”
    Eurotunnel is normally quite safe if you have a passport/visa/ticket etc.

       5 likes