514 Responses to Start the week open thread

  1. Grant says:

    Ian, “Raki” in Turkish. Actually owned by the Government ,unless it has been privatised. “Altinbas ” ( literally “Gold Head ” ) is one of the leading brands.

    Where I live , in Gambia, which is mainly muslim, the brewery “Julbrew” is owned by the Government. I have never seen any Raki in Gambia, but Pastis from Senegal is common. Gambians make alcoholic palm wine which is quite disgusting. But they also make liqueurs , including one from honey which is as good as Cointreau or Drambuie.

    A Gambian muslim friend of mine , who drinks and smokes, once said to me ” Grant , you have to remember that most of us are “plastic muslims ” !!!!

       16 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Lets hope none of these ‘drinking’ Muslims are never caught with home made hooch in the boot of their cars then !! – bloody hypocrites . Yes we have to obey the laws of the ‘land’, so I take it those Muslims who carry out atrocities over here that end in murder, never got the memo ! perhaps we should start the flogging process over here for Muslims as they are so used to it !

         16 likes

  2. Number 88 says:

    They really don’t help themselves, the BBC.

    I see that the old bore Stephen Fry has stepped down from QI. Faced with the opportunity of freshening things up by appointing a replacement who would be far more entertaining and less snide than the old metropolitan luvvie (or cancelling the show altogether – which would have been an improvement), the BBC have predictably reached into their inner circle of like leftie minds and pulled out one of their tired old group thinkers as a replacement..Sandi Toksvig (FFS).

    Toksvig, you will remember left the NQ to set up the ‘Women’s Equality Party’. So why is it that she can turn up now on a prime time show? That the BBC have given a weekly platform and profile to a political activist and one of the leaders of a party that will contest the GE, is completely unacceptable.

    What next? Corbyn to do ‘Homes Under the Hammer’; Watson, ‘Children in Need’; McDonnell, ‘The Money Programme’; Jeremy Hunt, ‘Casualty’ ???? That’s a bit far fetched, I know…the BBC would never allow Hunt in their studios!

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11931020/Sandi-Toksvig-to-host-QI-after-Stephen-Fry-quits.html

       46 likes

    • Grant says:

      Number88. Too many Hunts at the BBC already !

         16 likes

    • DJ says:

      Yep, that’s Al-Beebia for you. Obsessed with the supposed under representation of transgender astronauts, but whenever the plum jobs come up, they always go to Metropolitan luvvies. Hey, couldn’t a paraplegic black Muslim be doing that job?

         18 likes

    • oldartist says:

      Well, I suppose the obvious replacement for one old bore is another old bore.

         13 likes

    • Aborigine Londoner says:

      She is an immigrant though!

         12 likes

    • DownBoy says:

      Yeah and a beeb favourite and former big hitter Stephanie ‘two Eds’ Flanders emerges as one of the main front people for BSE Britain Stronger in Europe (sic).
      She also got a free go yesterday to disagree with George Osborne’s proposal on budget surplus. I suppose balancing the books doesn’t matter to public sector leftards.

         17 likes

  3. AsISeeIt says:

    The BBC are in full elect-Hilary mode

    If you are one of those people who find the former First Lady an obnoxious self-seeking so-and-so then look away now, and continue to look away for the next few months

    Not that many licence payers have a vote, still, in the words of J Lennon: ‘we’re all doing what we can’

    Through the democrat-goggles of Kim Ghattas(?) (I think it was she) in reviewing the recent debate between five contenders we only need focus on Hilary (of course) and the ‘guy with the glasses’. Bernie Sanders – think Corbyn without the charisma. Colonel Sanders without the Southern charm, the special recipe or the patriotism

    The BBC highlights package was a delight for the bias seeker.

    Hilary undercut Bernie on gun control – and of course we all know which side of the fence we stand on that, right? Poor Bernie, the old leftie is not sufficiently anti-NRA. Poor old codger looked as though Hilary had told the audience, not only about his Corbyn vest, but had blurted out a tale of his skid marks.

    Lest Hilary look too triumphant – and that’s the trouble with La Clinton (do I recall an old punk band named Smugness Abounds? – Hilary would have been lead singer) so for balance (as if) the BBC touched on the Email Scandal. Nice clip of Bernie telling the audience we’ve all heard quite enough about that, thank you – much to Hilary’s and the BBC’s delight.

       26 likes

    • Grant says:

      I have no brief for Hillary, but she has more balls tha Obama !

         5 likes

    • Oldspeaker says:

      Read a couple of articles recently in which the BBC has suggested Hillary is working on her trustworthiness and credibility, no mention of her “misspeaking” about a corkscrew landing under sniper fire in Bosnia though. Funny that.

         7 likes

      • richard D says:

        Mis-speaking after mis-remembering mis-sing events.

        Hmm, from Whitewater, through Bosnia, Monica Lewinski’s blue dress, and on to Benghazi, this woman and her husband seem to get a complete pass from the Democrats in the US for anything they do.

        And they have the gall to point fingers at anyone else….

           22 likes

    • logiebored says:

      The antidote to all this predictable beeb bias is Fox News. Worth the extra quid on your Sky sub for Mark Steyn alone, when he regularly lays into la Clinton on Hannity. Tres amusant.

         15 likes

  4. Thoughtful says:

    How mad are socialists, or how much are they just more concerned about themselves?

    From the Mail Longford report:

    “I have no problem with immigration, I moved here from Sweden, but there are too many in a small village.”

    Proof of the insanity and double think in Sweden ! The two statements are mutually opposed ! Obviously you do have a problem with immigration !

    “‘They are all men. If it was a family with children from Syria, we would welcome them to the village, for them to be part of the community, they would be good neighbours.”

    Really? When did you live in Syria and for how long? Can you explain why it is that so many ‘Syrian’ families are absolutely not good neighbours or are you just saying any PC shit which comes into your head?

    Villager Stan Woods said: ‘We have to accept refugees but you need to plan it properly – not put them in the middle of a community where they don’t fit in.’

    In other words I’m just far to idle to do anything about it, I don’t want them living near me, but I couldn’t give a shit if they put them near someone else.

    “I have to be careful what I say, I don’t want people to think I am racist but it is a problem.”

    That’s the extent of BBC propagandising for you, I couldn’t give a toss if someone thinks I’m a ‘racist’ it’s as meaningless a word as calling someone a witch.

    Funny how similar the BBC and the Guardian reports are, like they’d been written by the same person.

       34 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      Thoughtful, you make a good point:’ I couldn’t give a toss if someone thinks I’m a ‘racist’ it’s as meaningless a word as calling someone a witch.’ According to Mackay’s ‘Extraordinary Popular Delusions’ book, one of the reasons the witch-mania eventually ended in Europe was because there were so many accusations of witchcraft made that the judiciary couldn’t cope, and the term became meaningless. Let’s hope something similar happens with ‘racist’ as a way of closing down debate.

         32 likes

      • BRISSLES says:

        Good comment Cranmer ! I’ve discussed this ‘racist’ business with a few friends of a more mature age, and we’ve all said that we’ve become ‘racist’ as we’ve got older. Something that never occurred to us when we were younger. We had a “live and let live” attitude for much of our lives, but immigration has infected so many parts of our way of life, that I reckon most of the white population of this country are ‘secretly’ racist. As a group we were of the opinion that “who cares if anyone thinks we’re racist – its their problem not ours, and so what ? do we get sent to prison ? er no.” An interesting point was raised when one made a mention of the Football League and how it was always possible to name most of the players in the top clubs, unlike now when you’d struggle to even pronounce the name if you knew it !! and Welsh they aint !

           23 likes

        • Geoff says:

          We ain’t racist, we just want to protect what is ours, a natural human emotion, more so when blood has been shed in the past by our ancestors to protect that very same thing, were they racist for going to war?

          Rooney aside I can’t name one of the current England side, but I can name the 1966 winning team and I wasn’t even born…

             31 likes

          • BRISSLES says:

            I had just left school in ’66 and I think EVERYONE in the country knew the names of the winning team AND no trouble with pronunciation. I was a supporter of Spurs when Bill Nicholson was in charge, so no probs with naming the teams back then; in the late 70’s we had our first foreigners in the side – Ricardo Villa and Ossie Ardiles, such a novelty ! Now its a novelty to have a home grown Englishman in any side !

               22 likes

            • Demon says:

              As well as England 66 I can also name the main Man Utd and Leeds teams from about 1969 when I was first getting into football. All British and Irish.

                 14 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Britain is one of the least racist countries in the world – one of the reasons that millions of people from other countries have felt able to make their home here. There will always be some people who don’t like others because they are fat, left-handed, ginger-haired, support the wrong football team or have a different skin colour. But inasmuch as racism, sexism, homophobia and all the other -phobias and -isms – real and imagined – are a problem, I would say that most of it is in direct response to the excesses of liberalism. The BBC, with its extreme pursuit of cultural Marxism, is what is causing ordinary people to say “enough is enough”.

         38 likes

  5. scribblingscribe says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34525656

    So Hilary won the first leader debate for the democrats. Indeed, reading this piece only Hilary spoke as the entire article is predicated on her. In truth there were four others also speaking. In fairness to the BBC reporter that is the general view in much of the press.

    Oddly ALL opinion polls say Bernie Sanders won. Yes, all opinion polls of those who watched. Every single one. Not a tiny little poll from a small town in outer Alaska demurs from the general opinion. Sanders won hands down. In fact, he gathered almost twice as much support as she did.

    So someone must be in error. Hmm the entire population of the United States or the BBC. Perhaps we should have a poll.

       29 likes

  6. AsISeeIt says:

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/14/stephen-fry-step-down-presenter-bbc-qi

    ‘BBC2 controller, Kim Shillinglaw, said Toksvig was “exactly the kind of bright, brilliant company I want to see on BBC2”.’

    Remind me to make a point of missing that.

       38 likes

    • JimS says:

      Are there no Syrians that can do this job? Is homosexuality part of the job description? I guess that is what ruled out Britain’s new ‘national treasure’, Nadiya.

         25 likes

    • Anne63 says:

      BBC’s policy on recycling rubbish in action.

      Same old smug, unfunny, lefty, cliquey trash over and over again.

         24 likes

    • Geoff says:

      This woman is ‘bright and brilliant’? Has she borrowed Corbyn’s cardigan and suit?

      Tick, tick, tick, job done!

      Is there an agency that the BBC have on speed dial, Lefties ‘R’ Us ?

      Sandi-Toksvig.jpg

         30 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Interesting on a few levels.

      Clearly if he is off then a mighty hole is left to fill (think of this as an homage to the tittering ye not host).

      I merely note this little link on the same Graun page: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/16/sandi-toksvig-bbc-denied-me-host-role-because-im-a-woman

      Seems holding one’s breath until turning bl… red or skweaming and skweaming can still be effective for the spoiled female LGBY NaughtieMarr classes.

      Ironically this coincides with Danny the Quota Cohen pursuing other interests after lumbering QI and HIGNFY with anyone sporting ovaries in lieu of comedic ability.

      The BBC is very proud of its DNA; but this does suggest the gene pool would make a Pharaoh blush.

      The Graun comments are rather funny. Especially as they mull the attempt to shoehorn ‘first gay dwarf evva!’ in as a major scoop.

         17 likes

    • hadda says:

      At least it’s not that bloody Susan ‘My Wife’ Calman.

         9 likes

    • Pollystuscanyvilla says:

      Yep.

      Change one privately educated Oxbridge grad’ for another privately educated Oxbridge grad’ says BBC2 Controller Shillingworth yet another Oxbridge grad’. Makes absolute sense.

      BBC’s big on diversity, immigration and “hard working” foreigners to undercut and take ours and our relatives jobs – ironic its such a closed shop at the Beeb.

         21 likes

  7. Aerfen says:

    The nurse Pauline Cafferkey is now critically ill.
    We are told by the DM

    She was critically ill and spent almost a month in an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital before being discharged in late January.
    She then started working part time in mid-March as a nurse based in Blantyre Health Centre near Glasgow and had been well when she was last at work on October 1.
    Two weeks ago she received a Pride of Britain award from Lenny Henry and Carol Vorderman in London and met Samantha Cameron in Downing Street the following day.
    And on Monday last week she met children at Mossneuk Primary School in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, to speak about her charity work in Sierra Leone, where she contracted Ebola.
    However, it was just hours after attending the primary school that she fell unwell and visited the out-of-hours GP clinic with Ebola symptoms.

    Does this mean that patients where she worked, and schoolchildren have been put at risk of ebola?
    The media should be asking this.

       35 likes

    • Al Shubtill says:

      She (nor anybody else) should ever have gone there, to have even been exposed to infection, in the first place.

         13 likes

      • richard D says:

        I said this at the time, but anyone having gone to that area in a medical capacity should have had to serve a suitable period in a quarantine centre right there in the area – especially as we British taxpayers had actually funded precisely that sort of environment at precisely the location where she contracted the disease, staffed by precisely the sort of people to deal with any issues arising. She apparently attending some sort of religious event outside the medical centre, shortly before returning to the UK, which was where she contracted ebola, if I recall correctly.

        The problem was that all sorts of British medical staff (notwithstanding that their Unions and professional associations were screaming blue murder about critical shortages of nurses and doctors in the UK) were jetting off at taxpayers’ expense to areas where they really spent only a few weeks of their time actually doing anything sensible (the rest of their time was spent in acclimatisation and local training to work there), and then returned to Britain demanding, for instance, that free personal taxis be laid on for them from Heathrow to all parts of the UK.

           22 likes

    • richard D says:

      Nope – according to the BBC report at the time – when she was being whisked London-bound in the very early morning in a military aircraft in a sealed environment………….shades of last year……….

      I do recall someone being quoted last week as stating that there was absolutely no risk of anyone having the disease transmitted to them from Ms Cafferkey…..sort of inconsistent with the mode of transport, then….although I’d hate to be the health officer who said she should travel by normal means to London if that quote turned out to be not quite correct.

         21 likes

  8. Oldspeaker says:

    Camila Batmanghelidjh is back again

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34508149

    Problems since 2002 apparently, coincidentally this would be about the same time she (allegedly) took her Common Purpose
    Matrix course, doesn’t say much for that then. Mr Yentob seems to be getting off lightly considering the support and promotion he lent her.

       22 likes

    • ray_f says:

      http://www.cpexposed.com/graduates
      No she is a common purpose graduate. There is also no accounts reported for 2002. And I think 2003 was the year the big tax bill was written off, when Yentob called his mate, which was hidden in the 2003 report. I’ve read enough to see money hidden. Stupid, when Kids Co accounts are very basic. That seems to be something fishy considering the money involved, but nobody questioned anything.

         23 likes

      • Oldspeaker says:

        And a BBC staffer on the same course too, wonder who paid for that? Time for me to return to the rest of “Oh Mr. Porter”, the oldies help me get through.

           7 likes

  9. Brett says:

    Look east tonight, knife crime doubles in the last year in Peterborough. The police say that its dowm to “teenagers accross the board, trying to look cool”. Beeboid interviews mp Stuart jackson , who says considerable immigration over the last decade may have something to do with it, beeboid says ,”but the police say its nothing to do with immigration. Hats off to mr jackson, he tells beboid that he has put in a foi to cambs police to get some figures! That shut her up, interview abruptly ended.

       37 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      I wonder if Cambs police have an exemption based on ‘the common purposes of not letting anything dodgy see daylight’?

      If not, the BBC has some experience.

         19 likes

      • Richard Pinder says:

        I think the secret BBC Climate Change seminar had 12 ethnics amongst the 58 attendee’s. All amongst the specialists or “best scientific experts” as the BBC described them. But only one was a scientist. A Nordic racial type.

        All 28 BBC attendee’s where of the White race, but of the low IQ “Lefty, middle-class, W1A, Arts, Media, Languages, Glass floor moron type”

           14 likes

  10. Thoughtful says:

    A wonderful sight, the money grubbing weasels of the legal profession! Permission is given to challenge the previous decision. It doesn’t mean that permission will be given, but it does mean a lot of work for greedy weasels, thanks to other greedy weasels in what they call the purple lifeboat.

    This is an unelected body making law again, with no accountability, and no way of removal from office if the public object. If the government has set down in law the right to a clean break then that is what it should be, and parliament should be able to slap down these laws.

       13 likes

  11. chrisH says:

    Dover sentry earlier decries the bias in employing women at the BBC.
    Men seem to be browbeaten and sissified as they seek to ascend the greasy lap dancing pole.
    Was long through the charity shops today-pretty clear to me than mens clothes are fast going the way of vinyl and cassettes.
    They were all stocked with womens stuff, presumably so we will all have no choice but to discover our inner Chelsea, Kellie and-but of course-the Sainted Caitlyn of Bel Airhead.( That`s a folk band innit?).
    Funny too that the BBC seem to have taken a “good on yer girl” approach to some blokes have to stump up more to their exes in a “divorce settlement” that didn`t give the women enough of hubbys mouldy old dough.
    Thought Jenni would see that as “patronising”; “putting wimmins equality back many years”.
    Thought too that Annie and Arethas anthem scorned anything but the ladies/sistas “doing it for themselves”.
    Yet here we are and they go all Jowett on us…my hubby pays those horrid, hard bills…so no extradito consigliere!

       21 likes

    • JimS says:

      I think women generally work on the ‘buy many, wear once’ principle while men go for ‘buy once, wear many’.

      Women’s clothes in charity shops are from the living,; men’s clothes are from the widows.

         26 likes

  12. richard D says:

    Here we go again. BBC News Channel, just after 7pm this evening…”….8 israelis have been killed over the last few days, while more than 30 Gazans have been killed in the same period.”

    No mention whatsoever of how many of these 30 were Gazan terrorists, who died whilst killing or trying to kill these and other Israelis, or attempting to kill IDF members by lobbing stones and petrol bombs at them. And no mention whatsoever of how many of the 8 Israelis were killed whilst just going about their normal lives.

    We’re heading straight back to the good old BBC mantra of Israel’s response to terrorist attacks being ‘disproportionate’ . The BBC would rather that Israel just did not defend itself, or its people.

    BBC – the masters of Bias by Ommission.

       39 likes

  13. Thoughtful says:

    Racism:
    When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail.

       20 likes

  14. AsISeeIt says:

    Channel 4 – but I feel the need to share

    Bitter lemons, your excellency, gosh you’re spoiling us

    Channel 4 News (or 7 o’clock hate – if you like) Myopic leftie Jon Snow snidely asks the Chinese Ambassador “How come your Premier is making a special trade visit to this middle ranking european country?”

    A question so loaded I hope Jon had a safety catch on it

    To which nasty remark (how to offend one nation whilst interviewing the representative of another) the diplomat (God bless him) replied. ‘We regard Britain as first rate nation’.

    Word to the wise, Mr Abassador, our leftie media don’t – some of our customs are rather inscrutable. Watch some more BBC, you’ll soon catch on.

       42 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      One thing I’ve noticed on travels abroad is how highly regarded Britain is amongst foreigners. Far higher than the British themselves regard it, or at least our official media. The cultural self-hatred promoted by the left seems genuinely puzzling to foreigners, even those from quite lefty countries themselves.

         13 likes

  15. taffman says:

    Al Beeb hates Britain, it thinks its an International Broadcasting Corporations despit the fact it is funded by British people.

       22 likes

  16. Geoff says:

    Black Policeman – Tick
    Homosexual Policeman – Tick
    Strong Female Policewoman – Tick

    All crammed into a 45 second trailer for the new BBC1 drama CUFFS. One to avoid. Danny Cohen’s swansong?

       34 likes

    • GCooper says:

      Epitaph, let’s hope.

         19 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Typical example of the way in which the BBC wastes money. They could have used a Black Lesbian Policeperson TM (‘Policeperson’ is a registered trademark of BBC Worldwide Enterprises Ltd) instead of three separate people. Even better, she could be equipped with a wheelchair and headscarf and bake cakes whilst pondering cases, much in the same way as Sherlock Holmes played the violin. Total lack of imagination from the BBC – I blame the Tory Cutz myself and the return of the Grammar school.

         24 likes

      • Geoff says:

        Forgot to add actress playing ‘Strong Policewoman’ = Wife of Labour supporter and sometime political broadcaster Martin Freeman, Amanda ‘fuck the Tories’ Abbington,

        Who could forget this tweet?

        Amanda_Billington_3250749c.jpg

           13 likes

        • shelly says:

          Ah yes Old Mother Freeman, she went bankrupt to avoid paying tax then claimed it was all sorted, after the press got hold of the story.
          Never found out if she paid the full amount owed, so far so socialist. When asked why her multi millionaire socialist Husband couldn’t help out, she responded that she was an independent Laydee who didn’t rely on Hubby for assistance.
          Hmm that must be why she got the gig on Sherlock, no nepotism there, just like with Cumberbatch’s Parents.
          Wonder who pays the socialist Freeman/Abbington kids private school bills ?

             10 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      I wonder if it can be worse than that rubbish about Customs? I can’t even remember the name of that pile of old shit.

         3 likes

  17. Brett says:

    D.i.y sos big build in Manchester, doing up a street for servicemen. Now, I know its a long shot but im not seeing many volunteers of the enricher variety. Although, plenty from Bolton, Bradford etc seemed to make it to the calais jungle.

       30 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      have you ever seen the work done by Pakistani tradesmen?

      I’ve just watched a brick pavior drive laid on polythene sheets, and 2.5cm of sand with no compaction what so ever. All the digging out was by hand – it wasn’t much, and the bricks were bedded using a rubber mallet. Two brick pillars for gate posts were laid while it was raining, and the cement has trickled down them leaving a white mess.

      I’ve heard of silver tape used in place of lead flashings, and worst of all an illegal connection to a gas supply using copper pipe as push fit, i.e. never soldered, and leaking gas.

      These are just a few of the horror stories, and there are several !

         23 likes

      • Cranmer says:

        Thoughtful – this reminds me of when I got an extension built for my late father’s house, because he was too frail to use the stairs and needed a downstairs bathroom. We got a British builder but he subcontracted the work out – from what we could work out, he was flying builders in from India every fortnight on ‘holiday’ and paying them a pittance. My father – who had some experience in the building trade – said at one stage he had to explain to one of them how to do pointing on brickwork! It did get through Building Control in the end but lesson learned – stick to using Federation of Master Builders, it’s worth the extra money.

           12 likes

  18. Al Shubtill says:

    BBC Look North tonight devoted the first 12 minutes of the half hour programme, to covering the Pakistani-heritage family of seven from Bradistan who have travelled to the Islamic State. Why didn’t the authorities stop them? Could the police have done more? The “push factors” of Islamaphobia and poverty etc etc. WTF!

    I haven’t spoken to a single, indigenous Brit who thinks that it is a bad thing that folk such as these are leaving; if anything the general consensus is that it would be a good thing if there were more of them, and that the government needs to stop trying to prevent them from going.

       42 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      needs to prevent them coming back though !

         31 likes

      • Al Shubtill says:

        Hopefully the Russians will kill them so we don’t have to worry about that, but you’re right they should never be permitted to return.

           19 likes

  19. taffman says:

    The benefits of being in the EU.
    Anything on AlBeeb about this yet ?
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/612119/Calais-crisis-outrage-French-rail-SNCF-migrants-free-tickets-Brita

       12 likes

  20. Guest Who says:

    I wonder, given the source and direction, whether this will see Fraser Steele engage in one of his instant, rare, selective mea culpa breastbeatings, or will an interesting precedent be set where the BBC admits that it breaks its own rules at will and really gives a flying fig? Again.

       10 likes

  21. Al Shubtill says:

    Just listened to Toady piece about the new annexe to a State grammar school in Kent; Monty Cue then interviewed some woman who thought (basically) academically selective grammar schools were dreadful.

    There had been no one invited to the programme to argue for the opposite view; and Monty herself didn’t offer any counter arguments to the points being made. Al Beebus: so, so biased, and it doesn’t give a f**k.

       26 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Just read the Guido on the new ShadMin for the City car crash interview (is there any other kind from Jezza’s GOAT herd in waiting?) on Ch 4.

      Seems another the BBC will need to ignore or keep well away from Andrew Neil. Or even the Breakfast geniuses.

         12 likes

    • Dave S says:

      One of my grandsons has just started at at State grammar school. I have seen some of his work and homework schedule. There is no comparison to be made with the local comprehensive. The schools are in different leagues if not centuries.
      This is the reality the liberal will not admit and it harms this country and our children.
      Why Cameron is so opposed to more grammar schools can only be explained as the normal efforts of the ruling class in England to ensure that they stay on top and keep us scum in our places.

         16 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        No, it’s because Cameron is a flabby faced coward with no ideals or principles. He is a managerial Tory, just like the ones who thought their job was to “manage Britain’s decline” in the 1960s and 70s, and who thought the best we could do was join the “Common Market”. The sort of person who would run a mile from Enoch Powell but embrace the idea of a Muslim Prime Minister. In short, an absolute shit.

           13 likes

  22. Thoughtful says:

    BBC radio 4 is running a small piece each day on Saudi Arabia, sometimes quite critical of the constitution and the punishments handed down. The discussion this morning seems to be about beard length.
    They are avoiding Islam, Sharia, Whabism etc etc, but the bias here is that Jeremy Corbyn has been extremely critical of Saudi, so suddenly the BBC has decided to take up the baton on Labours behalf.

    To me this is blatant, if it hadn’t been for Corbyn raising the issue, then the BBC would never have covered anything about it. I am grateful to Corbyn for this, and I believe as a man he would be much more difficult to bribe than ‘give me the money’ Tories and Blair.

    I sincerely doubt if a Tory or UKIP minister had been critical of Saudi that there would have been a peep of coverage on the BBC anywhere.

       17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Be a shame if they were asked to leave the building.

         2 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      Yes the good thing about people like Corbyn (and Trump in the USA) are that although they will probably never get real political power, they have forced organisations like the BBC to take note of what’s really going on in the world. The cosy Blairite centre-left illusions of the last few years must be getting harder and harder to maintain in Beebworld.

         11 likes

    • Leha says:

      According to Cameron, Assad is personally kicking barrel bombs out of the back of helicopters and using poison gas on civilians.

         10 likes

  23. Guest Who says:

    Just stumbled across an oldie but still worth repeating;

    http://life.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/alan-yentobs-crumbling-empire/

    Danny and Alan and Tony and Helen and Ted and Alice….

       8 likes

  24. Guest Who says:

    BBC says ‘Sawwwy’, insincerely, for the nth time… this week.

    People are forced to pay for this!

       17 likes

  25. The Old Bloke says:

    The fear of speaking out and telling the truth:
    https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/frances-top-weatherman-forced-off-air/#more-23433

       14 likes

  26. Alex says:

    The pathetic Guardian always manages to report the ‘big’ stories –

    http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/15/homeland-is-racist-artists-subversive-graffiti-tv-show

    What a pathetic bog roll of a paper it is. And did anyone catch Newshite last night? Complete pro-Liebour garbage.

       18 likes

  27. AsISeeIt says:

    Victoria Derbyshire Show, taking up the BBC News Channel airwaves, comes away from the dodgy Kids Company charity hearing (to save Yentob and Batman’s blushes, no doubt) ostensibly for a nice chat about the colour of autumn leaves and the price of soccer tickets. Meanwhile BBC Parliament Channel covers a dry debate in the House. Why pay for two live news and parliamentary channels and then use one to broadcast a chat show? What’s on BBC 1 and 2? Homes Under the Hammer and another-way-to-watch the VD Show!

    Blimey, it’s as though Alan Yentob planned the BBC schedules

       21 likes

    • Dave S says:

      Ironically On RT was a serious interview with Vaclav Klaus ex President of the Czech Republic.
      An object lesson to the kiddies on the BBC in how to conduct an interview with a most important man talking about real and important things. I cannot imagine that he would tolerate the average BBC interviewer for five minutes.
      The BBC is just poor now. Poor quality and descending into irrelevancy. Why are we paying for this stuff?

         24 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Blistering live feed on the Telegraphs site re “Kids Company”.
      The Dream Team of Batman Yentob are getting a clubbing-plenty blubber to be garnered, murder on the dancefloor-Save the Whale and “The Yentob Song” never seemed to be less of a tune to whistle.
      By the time BBC edit it later-no doubt, it`ll all be Lady Porters/Mrs T`s faults.
      Still- at least the Iraq/Iran War is settled-these two smug “refugees” from Teheran and Baghdad-albeit via Sherborne and Oxbridge-are putting up a united front..”If The Kids are United”…by this unlikely Sham 69 double act.
      Batman Kelly and Yal Menkoff are getting a battering-even Kate Hoey and Paul Flynn(Labour both) are doing a fine job too.
      Pigpile!
      Knew Kate was a good`un-but a joy to hear Paul Flynn sticking Das Boot in!

         16 likes

  28. Number 88 says:

    It’s on Parliament TV where Batmanchlamydia is getting grilled – it’s getting heated too.

    (BTW: I wonder if I need a TV licence to stream this access to our democratic institution?)

    http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/5e1ce27a-7279-4ba3-9f3f-ed9998fbae7e

       10 likes

  29. BBC delenda est says:

    BBC last night.
    “Ultimate swarms”
    About loveable insects, not the epidemic of malevolent viruses.

    “Songs of the South”
    But not about the heroic Confederacy.

    Why are we still on start the week on Thursday? Again.

       6 likes

  30. Steve Jones says:

    More HYS comments that aren’t going according to plan:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34535983
    Even the thickest, left-wing, metro-pillock working for the BBC (and there are lots of them) must be wondering why the plebs aren’t being swayed by the propaganda. Must be so confusing for them.

       18 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      This struck me in the article as particularly egregious:

      “In desperation, the authorities have been turning shipping containers into refugee homes and repossessing empty commercial properties and open spaces to build new migrant centres”

      You can only ‘repossess’ something if you possess it in the first place! What is happening here is that Private property is being seized, commandeered, stolen in some instances.

      Yet again the shadowy and unnamed ‘far right’ is brought in to support the BBC cause (modern witchcraft!)

         18 likes

  31. Cranmer says:

    Holy Crap Mr Jones – the comments are incredible – how long will the BBC allow that lot to stay online? The left have absolutely no response except feeble insults about ‘Kipper trolls’ etc.

       12 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      Yes, I have noticed this more and more – the left only have insults, no platform policies, and censorship. It is time to bring out whatever enables us to laugh at their multikulty impractical and miserable world.

      12075029_10204910118582061_7340200243924687539_n.jpg?oh=da5c630c51a317c102ae33af5d0b04d5&oe=56977F1A

         8 likes

      • Cranmer says:

        Indeed G.W.F. A common rebuke I see on BBC HYS about the migrant crisis is ‘you reap what you sow’ and ‘it’s all caused by Bush and Blair’ etc. As if that somehow closes down the argument. It’s like saying you have to accept Hitler’s policies because they were brought about the Treaty of Versailles. Mind you at least that’s one step up from just calling everyone a racist or a UKIP troll I suppose.

           7 likes

  32. scribblingscribe says:

    Does the BBC wag the Guardian or does the Guardian wag the BBC.

    I ask such a profoundly brain hurting question because of two items in today’s Guardian:

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/14/eu-europe-britain-vote-no-cameron-reform-deal

    http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/oct/14/trojan-horse-teachers-gave-pupils-handout-saying-wives-cannot-refuse-sex

    I.e. a cogently argued case for the UK getting out of the EU and evidence that boys at Muslims school are told to rape their wives in the UK. (BTW Rape is a criminal, newsworthy offence in the UK unless perpetuated by Julian Assange, Muslims in Rotherham and members of the Socialist Workers Party).

    I shall be watching Newsnight and BBC news avidly to see how it continues these reports. So far nothing on the BBC news web site.

       14 likes

  33. Jerry Owen says:

    Danny Cohen down…. Yentob to go. Doesn’t get any better, however spare a thought for poor ( sic ) Jeremy Clarkson who unfortunately appears to be destined to meet Cohen again as he is likely to join Amazon.

       9 likes

  34. Jerry Owen says:

    The BBC is asking for opinions on it’s new charter….. ‘we represent the views of the license payer’ ( never asked mine ) on LBC. Please all here do the right thing and make your opinions known.

       9 likes

  35. Jeff says:

    This is beyond belief. Just heard a snatch from the Kids Company questioning. Batty Camilla has said that “sometimes” children would be given £200! This would only occur if the family were particularly needy.
    Just remember this is OUR money.
    I’ve been going wrong somewhere; getting my weary arse out of bed at 4 am every morning for the past four decades. I should have just laid in bed and sent the nippers down to see Camilla.
    This is an utter shambles and and an embarrassment and it’s all due to the feel good factor of look at me I’m helping under privileged black children. It’s staggering how complacent our governments have been in patronising this self promoting woman.
    Kids Company? Spongers Anonymous would be a more apt name.

       27 likes

  36. Thoughtful says:

    http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/oldham-mum-isis-husband-syria-10264142

    Unbelievable and offensive crap from Channel 4 who don’t seem to have even questioned this woman’s lies – probably because she is a Muslim.

       12 likes

    • Dover Sentry says:

      Thanks for the link, Thoughtful.

      This extract says it all:

      “”He was suspected of terrorism by the Americans but freed from the US detention centre (Guantanamo) in 2004 after lobbying by the British government””.

      He’s now in Syria killing for the so-called Islamic Front for muslims.

      ..

         7 likes

  37. scribblingscribe says:

    As Camila Batmanghelidjh has lived in the UK since 1974 ought she have learnt basic English such as ‘yes’ or ‘no?’

    But her Ronnie Barker in drag impersonation is impressive.

    The fun continues on ..
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11932736/Watch-live-Kids-Company-leaders-questioned-by-MPs-on-how-taxpayers-money-was-used.html

       14 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      At around 16:30 on the video Yentob is asked the perfectly reasonable question about the Batman putting her own property up as surety in order to get a government grant. Yentob responds he knew nothing about that, to which the questioner interrupts, that he as Chairman of trustees should have absolutely known and can he name another similar sized charity which is run in this fashion?
      Yentob then responds in a way which appears to imply that he did actually know the Batman offered her property as surety .

      Why has no one asked Yentob how much time he devoted to his charity, because they are suggesting that he devoted a lot, when he is supposed to be holding down two jobs – and taking the pay, at the BBC ?

         17 likes

      • GCooper says:

        In any case he seems to have been equally useless at both organisations.

           10 likes

      • wronged says:

        Today at the Public Administration commitee he stated that he had personally donated 250k. He struggled badly about the deficit in financial reserves for which as Chairman he was responsible.
        This is contrary to the rules stated in running a charity, his response was that he had strong financial backers on the board. He was not asked for proof of director guarantors.

        I thought the Commitee was weak in its line of questioning. Where is the audit as to where the money was spent, who were the recipients of public funds, rumours of mortgages being paid, monies paid to 20 and 30 year olds,for hat purpose was the monies spent,etc???

        These questions needed to be asked

           13 likes

        • Cranmer says:

          I find it incredible that a charity could simply dole out money without properly accounting for it. My late father was a churchwarden and occasionally had to deal with ‘gentlemen of the road’ who would appear at the church asking for assistance. The church never gave out cash but would, in rare circumstances, authorise payment for things like travelcards to help somebody get to a night shelter. Yet all of this had to be accounted for. If a small suburban church run mainly by volunteers can do this, why can’t a national charity?

             7 likes

          • Rob in Cheshire says:

            Possibly because when money got tight, this “charity” could just get Botney to ring some mug in the government and get another £3 million wired across.

               7 likes

    • Sluff says:

      Now Camilla is not running Kids Company maybe she could offer her services to one of the NHS’s obesity campaigns. Having watched here walk/waddle along on the coverage I’m sure this could be a win-win.

         5 likes

  38. Beltane says:

    Watching the 1 o’clock news it’s clear that our Norm, Norman Smith no less, sees himself as natural successor to Robert Peston. Agonising pauses, exaggerated arm movements, meaningful glares, all are there for our delectation – it will only take an un-ironed shirt or two and skipping the shower for a few days to fully reincarnate an all-time favourite.

       14 likes

  39. AsISeeIt says:

    “Are you comparing Kids Company to the BBC?”

    An awkward question put, in exasperation, by an MP to Alan Yentob today as that BBC grandee – who brought along with him a huge pile of brightly-coloured laundry to deflect attention – faced the closest he’ll ever see to a firing squad.

    He has his very own lift at W1A, don’t y’know.

    He trots into the office. presses a button and…..

    ‘Toksvig to QI, Toksvig to QI’ – can’t you just hear it now over the BBC intercom…
    What on her own, no double act with Paloma Faith? But they were so very good together at the BBC Jubilee Celebrations…. just loved the Royal Sick Bag shtick.. please, please, give us republicans another crack of the whip…. think of the children… they’ll be rioting and a return to savagery in Southwark – see if there won’t!

       14 likes

  40. Thoughtful says:

    Seems the PMs hippy wife has been warned about the symptoms of Ebola after the liberal nutter met the Scottish nurse, and apparently kissed her on the lips, around a fortnight ago.

    Although the risk is said to be low it seems that liberal minded fools will even put their own lives in danger in their attempts to win a Darwin award

       16 likes

  41. GCooper says:

    The BBC’s coverage of the ‘migration’ crisis is probably the least honest of any of the Corporation’s deceitful campaigns down the years.

    Newspaper photographs of the Middlesex village where illegal immigrants are being despatched, clearly show a majority of black Africans. Accompanying reports confirm this. And yet the BBC assists the government with its lie that the ‘asylum seekers’ are from Syria and other countries currently suffering from terrorist problems caused by ISIL and similar lunatics.

    Someone should be holding the government to account over its lies and that should be a fiercely independent media. In the UK, however, not a single broadcaster is prepared to do that job, not Sky,, not ITV and certainly not the BBC.

    We are being betrayed by our government and the broadcast media are helping it get away with that betrayal. There needs to be a reckoning.

       27 likes

    • Dave S says:

      Vaclav Klaus( ex President of the Czech Republic) makes the valid point that communism took 70 years for the fantasy to be seen as exactly that. It is the same with the PC liberal fantasy world. It is a fantasy and it will end. What we are seeing are the increasingly desperate attempts to re order reality.
      We are in for a rough time and I fully expect the liberal elites in Europe (including our own ) to use force and threats to stave off the inevitable collapse.
      Once it becomes clear to enough of us that our governments are actively working to destroy our civil society in EUrope under the insane illusion that it is a historical necessity then real trouble lies ahead. Enjoy our free speech while you can. Soon we will have to struggle for it.

         17 likes

      • Wild says:

        It is uncharacteristically optimistic of you to assume that nobody believes in Communism anymore – tell that to the Labour Party members who voted for Corbyn.

           14 likes

  42. Rob in Cheshire says:

    I was just listening to a short programme on Radio 4 in which the rentagob scientist Steve Jones was fantasising about the future. He explained that people in Scotland evolved to have pale skin and red hair because that was the only way to get vitamin D in that cloudy place. But he confidently predicted that in 300 years the Scots would all be olive skinned because of the interbreeding caused by inevitable immigration. This will be all right so long as they remember to take vitamin D tablets to ward off rickets.

    I knew that’s what they really thought, but it’s nice to have it confirmed. The future is brown; he actually said it. The leftists see no future or value in white people, and expect us to be eliminated by mass immigration. The gobshite let the cat out of the bag, but I doubt he cares, because he thinks he’s won.

       22 likes

    • lmda says:

      But looking on the bright side, he has betrayed his total unbelief in global warming.

         10 likes

      • Cranmer says:

        I heard last week’s episode where the black woman from The Sky At Night was sent back to the 60s to see her Nigerian father arriving in London looking for somewhere to live. You can probably guess what’s coming. ‘He’s looking at a sign in a shop…’ ‘what does it say…?’ ‘It says, “no blacks, no dogs, no Irish’. Lots of tutting and ‘how terribles’ from Jon Snow. Fast forward to the future and we saw aliens arriving from another star who had only managed to do so by ending war. She’s been watching too many 50s sci-fi films! It’s usually wars that speed up technological development, rather than slow it down.

           11 likes

        • Anne63 says:

          “no blacks, no dogs, no Irish”

          Wasn’t there a discussion not that long ago about how the only photographic evidence of one of these signs had been photoshopped?

          Not sure where, might have been here.

          I’m sure a few did exist but I also suspect it’s one of those things that lots of people “know” about but never actually saw themselves. At least they were open. I wonder how a flat hunter would fare wearing a Star of David in Tower Hamlets? Chances of survival?

             10 likes

    • scribblingscribe says:

      This is the same Steve Jones, (devout believer in multiculturalism, endless immigration and general Guardian/BBC totem), who discovered that Muslims actually don’t want to learn about science when their Imams tell them not to go to lectures.
      http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Science/article831217.ece

      Paywalled but in essence he is astounded that Muslims don’t attend his lectures. This is not because he is a boring and sanctimonious liberal wet but because they are banned from doing so by their leaders. He also says that Muslims training to be doctors won’t attend certain medical lectures if they involve anything that goes against creationism. Gives you confidence in the quacks of tomorrow eh?

      He is worried about our descendants having to take vitamin D pills whereas I am worried about our descendants being as ignorant as those who avoid his lectures.

         11 likes

    • David Brims says:

         1 likes

  43. Sluff says:

    Big story yesterday about 7 migrants shipped by stretch limo from ‘migrant city UK’ ie Longford near Heathrow, to their new homes in Manchester.
    Leaving aside the limo. And the housing queue jumping, the migrants were (once again) shown in passing as all male.
    Yes, once again the incredible gender imbalance of the ‘migrant community’ is revealed by accident and then ignored and glossed over by Al-Beeb.

       22 likes

  44. TPO says:

    Could we have a new thread please.

       4 likes

  45. BRISSLES says:

    Its not Friday yet !

    Dulled by daytime tele, I was watching A Place in the Sun on Ch 4, when the Presenter, one Scarlette Douglas (looking about 18 and dressed for a night clubbing), informed us that she is a “property developer of some experience having bought and sold houses for the past few years, and would now be using her skills to help ??? buy in France “.

    Being the cynic I am, I found Scarlett Douglas, with no mention of property development, but a long CV courtesy of Becca Barr Management of stage work, including a stint as backing dancer for Ant & Dec, as well as being a product of theatre school. I don’t have a problem with that, but I wish the producers of programmes whether its the news or tripe, wouldn’t take us for complete imbeciles. It was clear that this lady had never seen a building site in her life as she wore her killer wedges across uneven ground, so for us to believe she was a ‘property developer’ is a small indication of how the media attempts to pull the wool over our eyes.

       9 likes

    • Aborigine Londoner says:

      Maybe the following phrase will help her in her French Property development escapade.

      “Ne passez pas aller , ne recueillent pas de 200 £”

      Do not pass go, do not collect £200!!!

         3 likes

  46. oldartist says:

    I hope you are right Dave S and one day the liberal/left PC attitudes of today will be seen as stupid and regressive as witchcraft and fall like Communism. But this liberal/left PC Western world we are living in now is just an extension of that same Communist fantasy that devastated Russia and Central Europe seems even more entrenched.

    When I was young and stupid I too believed that the answer to all the World’s problems could be solved by the philosophy of the Left. Then one day I grew up and saw the sheer destructiveness of Socialism. I’m not making any claims of having superior knowledge, but it does seem as if we living in a world that refuses to grow up and face the reality that some people do have greater abilities than others and some cultures are, to be blunt, more advanced than others. It doesn’t mean that we have to live in an inhumane society, just a realistic one.

    The argument over grammar schools is a perfect example. I watched some left wing education spokeswoman on the BBC News today state, unchallenged, that grammar schools didn’t assist social mobility. The same Spokeswoman would almost certainly decry the fact that all the prime ministers since Blair had been privately educated. Yet their predecessors, Edward Heath, Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher were all products of the grammar school system. Grammar schools were not perfect, but would no doubt have evolved over time to be more flexible if the system had been left in place. But fantasyland Socialism couldn’t face up to the harsh reality that some children are brighter than others. The answer, according to the Labour party at the time was, destroy it.

       10 likes

    • scribblingscribe says:

      OLDARTIST: ‘all the prime ministers since Blair had been privately educated. Yet their predecessors, Edward Heath, Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher were all products of the grammar school system’

      … including the present leader of the labour party, that famous anti toff who is a toff who went to public school and then to Grammar school. He was so impressed with the 2 x grade E GCSEs he squeezed out of the system that his own son went to Grammar school. Can think of better recommendation.

         3 likes

  47. Thoughtful says:

    Are we being lied to?

    We cannot ask the Libyan government to stop asylum seekers leaving for Europe in ramshackle boats, because there is no government in Libya.

    Tonight the BBC tells us:

    The Libyan authorities are being asked if the FBI and Scottish Police can interview suspects of the Lockerbie bombing.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-34543983

    If there is such a thing as Libyan authorities then why can’t they be asked to stop Asylum seekers leaving their beaches?

       6 likes