395 Responses to WEEKEND OPEN THREAD…

  1. Al Shubtill says:

    A friend Mrs S just returned from staying with friends who live in Sharm al Sheik, they told her that a car full of explosives had been found there recently – I haven’t seen that reported at all.

    I said to my other half, we only ever learn about 10% of what really goes on – and that is even since the advent of web sites and blogs.

       22 likes

    • Wild says:

      The BBC is reliable only in these sense that they are politically predictable. In the dictionary under BBC journalist it says lazy overpaid sanctimonious public sector Guardian reading twat who has never done any original research in his life – see Mark Mardell.

         9 likes

  2. Thoughtful says:

    Sharia Law in Essex ?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-34760116

    Man has hand cut off.

       11 likes

    • Essexman says:

      That’s not proper Essex, only a few miles from East End, not necessarily Mossies , though. The Krays did similar things in the late 50s, early 60s & they were Hideously White.

         6 likes

      • Aborigine Londoner says:

        It’s Essex police though in Loughton not the Met. Had a lovely meal there recently. Thought it was a nice place. Glad I don’t venture out after dark these days.

           9 likes

  3. Doublethinker says:

    For the third week in a row we had two Guardian journalists from the Guardian on a panel of three! How can this possibly not be rampant bias. How can a newspaper with a circulation of 400 thousand warrant two thirds of the journalists on the panel? On a pure circulation basis I reckon that there should be one Guardianista on every three months at the most. Surely not even the BBC can keep up this brazen example of leftist bias . But of course who is there with the balls to stop them?

       39 likes

    • Beltane says:

      And of that 400k circulation, at least 1k are freebie copies delivered to Salford and London – though of course they register as sales on the ABC rating.
      Looking on the bright side, the broadsheet format does play a valuable part in creative and exciting papier mache projects in various BBC crèches.

         19 likes

      • Wild says:

        “Surely not even the BBC can keep up this brazen example of leftist bias.”

        Public sector Leftist crap is the BBC brand identity. The same with The Guardian newspaper – except people are not forced to pay to have The Guardian delivered to their door 24/7. Scrap the BBC – let The Guardian readers pay for it.

           11 likes

  4. Guest Who says:

    The shenanigans of Fraser Steel and his tinkers at CECUTT never cease to highlight just how unique, if not vital the BBC is, especially in creating a whole new version of English to that commonly understood by the majority of the population still, along with a truly specular deployment of semantics to suit.

    http://bbcwatch.org/2015/11/08/bbc-complaints-terror-attacks-in-jerusalem-and-tunisia-are-very-different/

    Looks like they had to fall back on ‘belief’ when the complainant refused to be fobbed off and used those darn facts again.

    And it would appear there is a moral equivalence scale being used on degrees of terrorism. One day maybe an FoI might tease out what a 1.0 to 6.0 Mishal equates to in terms of dead Israeli civilians.

    Unless of course they go full transparency and refuse to answer on the grounds of they are nailed.

    One presumes they see this as a vital service.

       14 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      I can only guess the BBC treat ‘Palestinian’ atrocities as ‘acts of war’.

      And when you’re acting as both poacher and gamekeeper, you can define things however the hell you like.

         12 likes

      • deegee says:

        Actually no. If the BBC treated Palestinian violence as an ‘act of war’ they would be asking how the casualties are so low. In war if a soldier sees an enemy with a weapon (or not) he shoots him not arrests him. In fact, if he refuses to shoot him he is charged with a crime.

           0 likes

  5. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC bias for the reds as usual

    5 Live presenters noticeably down in the mouth as they go over to Anfield for a goal against Liverpool just now

       8 likes

  6. AsISeeIt says:

    ‘Million Mask March: Majority of arrested protesters bailed’

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34755336

    ‘The annual Million Mask March, organised by Anonymous, is held in a bid to hit back at austerity measures and perceived inequality brought about by the government.’

    ‘… hit back at…’

    Do we think that is appropriate language for a politically neutral national broadcaster?

    The BBC seems to wish it better luck next year..

    ‘One activist, who gave her name as Lola, said she had travelled from Hull to the capital to speak up for others.
    “There are people who aren’t represented; they should be here,” she said.’

    Be there or be square.

       20 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “Do we think that is appropriate language for a politically neutral national broadcaster?”

      Speaking only for myself, no.

      The CECUTT explanation for that choice of words would be interesting.

         7 likes

  7. G.W.F. says:

    I wonder how the BBC will present this?
    Israeli security guard forces a Palestinian woman to plunge a knife into his stomach.’
    I believe she may have been shot dead in the act. In which case it will be unarmed Palestinian woman shot dead by armed Israeli security guard. The a couple of sentences about ‘occupied territory’.

       24 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      Ah, would that be the territory the Israelis ‘occupied’ in 1967 in a blatant act of unprovoked aggression?

         11 likes

      • RJ says:

        But the Palestinians only want a small piece of Israel. It just happens to be whichever piece a Jew is standing on at the time.

           27 likes

        • Lobster says:

          If the Palestinians had the whole of Israel they would just turn it into a shit-hole like the rest of the Middle East.

             35 likes

          • Rob in Cheshire says:

            That’s not true, look at the vibrant multicultural society they have built in Gaza. Or at least they would have, if only those pesky Jews didn’t keep on bombing them for no good reason.

               9 likes

    • deegee says:

      The BBC won’t present this as news. There is a remote chance they will present it as trending.

         11 likes

    • R P McMurphy says:

      I stab you and claim my 72 virgins.

         7 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        Does the woman get 72 hunks or what?

           11 likes

        • R P McMurphy says:

          Hope it’s 72 Richard Bransons, that’ll teach the terrorist bitch.

             12 likes

          • ray_f says:

            This episode was on last night on BBC. The episode was about a suicide bomber Peter befriended. Incredibly, I noted how pissed off the presenter sounded when introducing the next episode. Normally full of excitement, lots of energy. “I hope you enjoyed that”,”I hope it doesn’t happen to you” were two of the comments. Somethings just make you stop and ask ‘wait..did I hear that right?’
            They would have been contractually obliged to play the episode I suppose.

               5 likes

    • Dover Sentry says:

      Thanks Dave666 for posting. Nice to see the BBC having to chew on their own petard!

         8 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Seemed his lack of talent saw him fast tracked quick enough into the Labour Party from the BBC, by sheer coincidence. Ben Bradshaw must be so proud.

         9 likes

  8. Thatcherrevolutionary says:

    I think on a day such as this, we should have a moment of quiet reflection for all the BBC & Channel 4 employees, Muslims, IRA, James Maclean of West Bromich Albion, the SNP and all the other scum that hate our way of life.
    God Save The Queen.

       33 likes

  9. deegee says:

    How does BBC coverage of Israel impact attitudes towards the Jews in the UK ?
    BBC WATCH / CAMERA / CAMPAIGN 4 TRUTH
    Tuesday, 10 November 2015 from 19:30 to 22:30 (CET)

    The upcoming revue of the BBC Charter presents a once in a decade opportunity to address issues relating to BBC coverage of Israel, Jews and anti-Semitism and to examine the wide effects on community cohesion in the UK.
    Prime minister David Cameron’s July speech outlining his government’s 5 year strategy dealing with extremism in the UK raised issues including conspiracy theories relating to Israel, Jews and anti-Semitic tropes.
    With its unparalled outreach and worldwide influence, the publicly funded BBC has an obvious obligation to excercise responsibility regarding those issues, amongst others, but does it live up to that expectation and how does its self-regulating complaints system fair when dealing with matters flagged up by its funding public?

       13 likes

  10. taffman says:

    The two numpties of the year ……….
    In the blue corner we have, ‘Maceroon’, who says he wants to negotiate better terms with the EU but reveals that ‘he wants us to remain in Europe’?
    In the red corner we have ‘Cor the bin’, who says that although we have a nuclear deterrent he would never use it?
    Who would you vote for?

       17 likes

  11. Geoff says:

    You couldn’t make it up, an 89 year old Radio 2 DJ doing a Remembrance special has a disclaimer at the start that ‘The following program contains lyrical imagery and references to war’

    No shit Sherlock, WTF does the listener expect on a Remembrance special? Just who does the BBC think they are offending reminding us of the sad fact that our ancestors shed blood, something they should remind us of daily, before any sob story about immigration, Europe or Corbyn.

    High time the BBC faced up to the realities of war instead of hiding the true facts of the latest atrocities that their new ‘best friends’ have perpetrated, now that would be worth a disclaimer if ever they should broadcast a near truth about them.

    The biggest irony has to be (having read elsewhere) that last nights Dr Who contained a scene of a plane being blown up by terrorists, no disclaimer given here…

    3 minutes in.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06mf67z#play

       27 likes

  12. mikehunt says:

    Latest BBC propaganda on behalf of immigrants. We are told these are ‘The tattoos Eritreans get before they leave for Europe’, as if this was some dramatic step.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34719682

    However the tattoos are just a bunch of amateurish tattoos, and there doesn’t appear to be any real connection to going to Europe.

    It seems (from a quick bit of research), that Eritreans just like to get tattoos. No connection to ‘coming to Europe’ at all.

    Either write a piece about tattoos in Eritrea (a bit of a marginal topic, but ok), or don’t. But don’t try to link it into more pro-immigration propaganda.

       25 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      Yet more BBC news propaganda on behalf of immigrants

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-34762988

      ‘Inmates have lit fires at Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre in a “major disturbance” that is yet to be resolved, say government officials.’

      And this, apparently, is a top world news story. No, it is BBC agenda-driven agit prop.

         31 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        I am simply intrigued how the BBC feels these fellows trashing yet another joint on their locust march globally is likely to win hearts and minds where they next seek to settle.

           18 likes

    • deegee says:

      When photographer Ricci Shryock met up with a group of Eritrean migrants in Milan, she noticed they had one thing in common – most had tattoos. They have asked to remain anonymous because most have fled compulsory military service to go to Italy

         21 likes

  13. AsISeeIt says:

    Here we go….

    ‘Five reasons people don’t wear poppies’

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34720464

    And why are the BBC telling us this?

    ‘ITV News presenter Charlene White has faced considerable criticism – and even abuse – for her decision not to wear a poppy on air.’

    Can’t help but pick up the tone of the BBC that they would prefer we dropped this ‘contraversial’ habbit of Remembrance. They have been brave enough to give a platform to those wanting to replace 5th November with Halloween. 11th November will surely ne next to go.

       28 likes

  14. AsISeeIt says:

    Double homo 7

    http://www.bbcamerica.com/london-spy/

    ‘London Spy is the story of a chance romance between two people from very different worlds, one from the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, the other from a world of clubbing and youthful excess’

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “I’ve packed my bags, I’m ready to go…”

         5 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      That will go with Cuffs as yet another load of politically correct shite I will not be watching. Isn’t public service TV wonderful, so much better than that American rubbish like Homeland or Fargo.

         14 likes

      • Wild says:

        I watched the first episode. It was a bit minimalist, but I thought it was well done. Will watch the next episode. The last BBC spy drama I liked was “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” so it is quite a gap. Both of course were inspired by actual events.

           3 likes

  15. AsISeeIt says:

    A black eye

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34764024

    ‘Woman, 87, punched in the face on Croydon bus’

    ‘She was taken to hospital with a black eye and was later discharged.’

    ‘The attack followed an incident in which two girls refused to pay to board the bus, according to Croydon Safer Transport Team.’

       14 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Given the circumstances, might the BBC be moved to discover why the teens targeted this woman in particular, or if the reasons fail to suit will there be ‘no time’ (c) A. Newsnight Editor of Integrity?

         16 likes

    • Dave666 says:

      Weird we briefly got the London news here this morning 1st story stabbing second story woman punched on bus.

         6 likes

    • Geoff says:

      One has to ask if the roles were reversed here would it be reported as a racist crime? The BBC would rightly be all over this if it were an 87 year old West Indian woman, just as they should this, but it looks like its already dropping down the order….

         14 likes

    • Anne63 says:

      Hope the 87 year old didn’t have the temerity to use any hurtful language otherwise she’s in dead trouble.

         9 likes

  16. Thoughtful says:

    Radio 4 Start the week:

    Anne McElvoy presents a special edition of Start the Week at the Free Thinking Festival at Sage, Gateshead, exploring injustice, myth and the role of the poet ‘to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides’. The American poet Claudia Rankine exposes the ever-present racial tensions in contemporary society, while the Syrian poet Amir Darwish, having arrived in the UK hanging underneath a lorry on a cross-channel ferry, writes of love, loss, exile and demonisation. The historian Catherine Fletcher looks at the stories told about Alessandro de’Medici, the 16th century duke of Florence who was believed to be mixed-race, and what those stories tell us about attitudes to race, while the philosopher Jules Holroyd tackles the thorny issue of implicit and unconscious bias.

    A shame they never look in the mirror to tackle their own implicit bias !

       28 likes

    • 7Clubs says:

      Anne Mcelvoy did not ask a single tough question in 45 mins despite opportunities such as when Jules Holroyd seemed to imply that all races are the same in everything implying that anybody who thought blacks were clearly head for head better at certain Athletic running events were guilty of `racial bias`.Holroyd should have been asked then how did she explain that 95% of the top sprinters have West African roots whilst 80% of top long distance runners have East African roots as with Mo Farah.One could tell that all 4 panellists plus Mcelvoy have exactly the same politically correct views on race & gender .No deiversity of opinion at all.Mcelvoy herself 4 years ago said that Ken Clarke should resign as a minister when he expressed clumsily in an interview that there were different types of rape – a self evident truth.In other words Mcelvoy has a basically totalitarian world view and it is depressing that she is often on the BBC and yet no one ever tries to expose her worldview

         9 likes

  17. Gunner says:

    You have to hand it to the sultans of spin who entertain us on the Al Beeb website. They never cease in their efforts to “inform” the unenlightened and nudge us all towards their version of Nirvana. First up this morning is a puff piece on the Treasury-led reviews of departmental spending over the next four years, accompanied by the obligatory picture of our Iron Chancellor looking both shifty and smarmy at the same time (what a blessing is digital photography which allows us to take so many snaps until we can find just the right one !). And the real point of the article is ? To continue the sniping at the Government’s efforts to restore our public finances to some semblance of sanity following on the tax credit torpedo from the House of Lords.

    A second splendid piece concerns “Five reasons why people don’t wear poppies” . And here they are : 1) “Because they don’t wear symbols anymore.” This seems to refer mainly to TV presenters who are prevented from wearing the symbols of other charities on screen because of “impartiality rules” – an argument entirely missing the point that wearing the poppy is first and foremost a token of remembrance. 2) “They believe the poppy has been misappropriated (by politicians)”. This refers to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the view of one veteran “our present wars on terror are eroding our democracy.” No space to debate this here but it is good to know that it is not terrorism which erodes democracy. 3) “They reject poppy facism”- now this one is a cracker. Step forward Jon Snow who apparently wrote some while ago that there was “a rather unpleasant breed of poppy facism out there.” Interesting use of the word “facism” given the context of WW2. 4) “They are pacifists.” 5. “They object to actions of the British Armed Forces”.

    Now fortunately as we still do live in some sort of democracy you don’t have to wear a poppy if you don’t want to, and this includes TV presenters. And the point of the article ? a) to provoke (job done) and b) to plant the seed in the minds of the impressionable that the poppy is a reactionary symbol ? To be continued methinks…

       26 likes

  18. Thoughtful says:

    Raising the Bar 100 Years of Black British Theatre and Screen – Lenny Henry

    In the first of ten programmes tracing a century of black British theatre and screen, Lenny Henry begins with the breakthrough moment when Kwame Kwei-Armah’s celebrated tragedy Elmina’s Kitchen, set on so-called Murder Mile in Hackney, was staged first at the National Theatre to great acclaim in 2003, and then – a first for a black British play – received a major West End transfer to the Garrick Theatre in 2005.

    In this programme, Lenny talks to the actor, singer, playwright and now theatre artistic director, Kwame Kwei-Armah about that key moment in his career, and in the history of the black British stage; a moment described at the time by the Daily Telegraph as ‘boom-time for black theatre’.

    Elmina’s Kitchen features an all-black cast of characters and is set in a Caribbean café in London,
    where family ties, gang violence, inter-generational conflict, tenderness and seething anger all mix in a classic story of jealousy, loyalty, masculinity and betrayal.

       15 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      Elmina’s Kitchen sounds like a wonderful play, and I am so glad it has no roles for hideously white actors. But why only a ten part series? This is typical BBC racism towards Sir Lenworth, that much loved national treasure.

         17 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Does Lenny Henry do anything these days, other than adverts, that isn’t connected to the fact he’s black? Does pointing it out make me more of a racist than he is?

         29 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        He is to replace Charlie Higson in the ‘Jonny’ sketches on the Fast Show. For consistency. Apparently, sources close to the BBC have learned.

           6 likes

    • David Brims says:

      ”set in a Caribbean café in London where family ties, gang violence, inter-generational conflict, tenderness and seething anger all mix in a classic story of jealousy, loyalty, masculinity and betrayal. ”

      Groan

         13 likes

      • Al Shubtill says:

        Sounds great! Maybe the BBC will have Sir Lenny make it into a film, so that we can all enjoy it.

           6 likes

  19. Old Goat says:

    John Cridland of the CBI (EU shill), interviewed on “Today” this morning blamed “climate change” for the closure of steel manufacturing and consequent loss of jobs, without enlightening us all as to how climate change was responsible for this, especially as the climate has been changing for approximately 4.5 billion years. It didn’t occur to him, that in the quest for non-existent inexpensive “renewable energy”, the source of continuous, usable energy for some considerable time, is progressively being shut down and destroyed. Can steel be made with fairy dust, and the odd zephyr occasionally driving a turbine, or two? I have my doubts…

       31 likes

  20. Thoughtful says:

    Funny that the BBC haven’t reported this Labour MPs jaw dropping antics!

    http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/mps-star-wars-r2-d2-10409810

    Paying £200 for a pair of shoes when people are using food banks is bad enough, but for novelty shoes like this? And then there’s the amazing hissy fit she threw, and the commons note paper too !

       23 likes

  21. Dave666 says:

    BBc Breakfast not advertising of the day. X factor loser Fluer with dire cacophony being played over the Asda xmas advert. Her album & single.
    Elsewhere sixth form college starts at 13:30 as it’s cruel making teenagers get up early.

       11 likes

  22. nogginator says:

    BBC reports (relentless) – Migrant crisis: ‘The pace of arrivals has picked up’
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34702122
    Migrant crisis: Three million expected to reach EU by 2017
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34702122

    But omits this
    Concerns over ISIS sympathies, in illegal immigrants – “the largest public opinion poll conducted in the Arab region.”
    http://english.dohainstitute.org/file/Get/40ebdf12-8960-4d18-8088-7c8a077e522e

    A teachers group in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt has garnered criticism after saying girls should be encouraged to stay away from male migrants– often Muslim
    http://www.dw.com/en/german-teachers-union-warns-girls-to-stay-away-from-refugee-men/a-18833589

       15 likes

  23. Cull the Badgers says:

    The BBC, and Sky I think, are going big on a death of someone on Christmas Island, thousands of miles away, property of Australia.

    Ah! but it’s the death of an ‘asylum seeker’, who they say broke out of a detention centre and then fell off a cliff. This event started a riot in the centre. It is not particularly newsworthy. Do we usually get reports of trouble in prisons from around the world?

    Now why would this one interest them? Silly question, he and they are ‘victims’, of Australia’s cruelty, and thus our Western oppression. It fits the narrative that these people are all innocent of any wrongdoing and are driven to all sorts of acts because we won’t give them what they demand when they demand it.

       31 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      JonDon pulling his Cockleshell (It think that was the term used) Hero stunt again to ‘gain access’ and ‘report’?

         8 likes

  24. seismicboy says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-33250937
    why give them the publicity they crave? They should at least point out that other muslim terrorists are available.
    Anyway, the new coins won’t have heads and tails, they will have heads and torsos.

       9 likes

  25. Dover Sentry says:

    BBC TV 24 Hours News at 12.45pm.

    A five minute feature. Fifty years ago today the death penalty in the UK was abolished.

    So, all we heard was the argument against the death penalty with many lingering scenes of the scaffold. Much about Ruth Ellis who shot her boyfriend. But no allowance was made by the court of course that the boyfriend had caused her to have a miscarriage. This elevates her to ‘feminist empowered wimmin’ status in the eyes of the BBC.

    There was NO mention that most of the UK population supports a reintroduction of the death penalty, particularly for child murderers and terrorists.

    As far as the BBC is concerned, they’ve taken the Left wing view (surprise!) that Capital Punishment is wrong and that’s it.
    It’s a ‘Settled Science’ as in Global Warming with no debate allowed.

    Wouldn’t it be amazing if the BBC took the opposite stance on Capital Punishment? But they never would.

    Why? Because thy are heavily biased to the left. Hence Biased BBC!

    (It’ll probably be shown hourly on BBC today).

    ..

       25 likes

  26. Guest Who says:

    http://order-order.com/2015/11/09/night-night-newsnight/

    Devastating news.

    ‘a scaled back 40 minute running time which has forced editor Ian Katz to limit how much can be put into each programme’

    I think the problem was more what keeps getting put in as much as what time constraints has seen left out.

       15 likes

  27. Guest Who says:

    Sometimes people wonder why even Govt. Ministers seem so smitten by the BBC and that unique funding that appears so vital…

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11980758/Ministers-make-50-million-from-BBC-television-licence-fee-evaders.html

    The perversion of the justice system for revenue seems unfortunate, mind

    ‘Downing Street is understood to have told Lord Hall that the licence fee is safe’

    One is sure it always was.

       14 likes

    • Grant says:

      The amazing thing is that the BBC kick the Tories remorselessly and the Tories soak it up like sponges. Possibly a good topic for a PhD in psychology. Are the Tories masochists ? The more important point is that an unelected , Fascist organisation , the BBC, is holding a democratically elected Government to ransom. It is as if the Tories are saying to the BBC ” if we preserve the licence fee, will you be nice to us ? “. Totally, utterly, pathetic.

         20 likes

      • 7Clubs says:

        Careerist tories know if they play their cards right they can follow Portillo with a BBC career after politics

           4 likes

  28. taffman says:

    At last!
    Al Beeb does do comedy again, I caught the tail end of the ‘Business Live’ news programme this morning, where there was an animated gurning Aussie news presenter, supported by a clown who must have come from a nearby circus wearing appropriately red coloured matching tie and braces. All they lacked was a red noses. They really were quite funny.
    Are we witnessing a return of ‘Not the Nine O’clock News?’

       12 likes

    • Grant says:

      Most BBC comedy these days is unintentional.

         13 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:

      ‘…animated gurning Aussie news presenter…’

      I believe this is Aaron Heslehurst – a hyperactive antipodean – so about a box-and-a-half tick for the terminally addicted to box ticking BBC

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

      Interestingly, just like the BBC, Wiki seems to think the second most inportant thing about people (after their DOB) is something they call ‘ethnicity’ Not race, that ethnicity thing – because our Aaron is ethnicity = Australian.

      It’s a funny old world we live in.

         11 likes

  29. BBdontSee says:

    I can’t understand why people keep paying the licence fee. It is perfectly possible to exist without broadcast TV. No aqualung is necessary despite what Tony blasted Hall thinks. If everybody who is due to renew their licence in the next couple of months simply stops watching broadcast TV the BBC can be brought to its knees perfectly legally. Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. can still be watched legally. Also, despite what TV licensing say, you have no obligation to inform them that you no longer require a licence. Let’s do this!

       12 likes

    • imaynotalwaysloveyou says:

      I completely agree. I’ve been licence free for about the last 3 years and I have no urge to see anything broadcast live. Maybe some people just need their daily ‘fix’ of BBC/Sky News whatever, but all you get there is MSM propaganda – you’re much better off with alternative websites. If I fancy seeing the odd live footy match I’ll go to the pub.

      I will try and pick out the rare quality item from iPlayer or 4OD etc to watch (but that amounts to no more than about 2 hours a week) and it’s currently perfectly legal.

      I would actually hope that most of the posters here have stopped paying the fee, although I could see it being a problem if you have a family that’s glued to the TV every night.

         6 likes

  30. AsISeeIt says:

    “An act of solidarity with militant groups”

    Always ready with a snappy new phrase with which to avoid the use of the ‘T’ word, the BBC correspondent excels here

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34764040

    ‘Jordan policeman kills two Americans and South African at training centre’

    ‘In the absence of any other obvious motive for the shooting it will be assumed that the killings were intended as an act of solidarity with militant groups in the Middle East, our correspondent adds.’

    BBC Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly

       14 likes

  31. AsISeeIt says:

    Not that I’m particularly interested, CNN are hooked, but I don’t know if she’s yet been picked up by the BBC

    “Islam turn out to be the religion that appealed to my feminist ideals” [snigger]

    “In my family, we have a holiday tradition of baking and decorating cut-out sugar cookies. Baking day is my most favorite time of the year…”

    “Ladies, have you ever ordered a prayer outfit online, only to have it arrive and realize that it is translucent, or that it is super clingy, snags easily, too cheapy and too expensive all at the same time?”

    http://islamwich.com/category/stuff-by-theresa-corbin/

    I sense Pankhursts spinning in their graves

       11 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Oo, baking… I sense a disturbance in the Farce if there’s baking involved with extra kit being worn.

      As BBC prodcerettes from the cubicle gardens are scrambled, how long before the BBC joins CNN, and they are both more than welcome to launch the career of this latest beacon of liberation and emancipation together?

      Is she allowed to drive?

      And those see-through prayer jobs are a nuisance when going stabby-stabby on the mall guards, as they can see your machete a mile off.

         8 likes

  32. AsISeeIt says:

    As Victor Meldrew used to say…

    “I don’t believe it”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34763036

    Warming set to breach 1C threshold
    By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News

    Sorry Matt, I simply don’t believe a single twisted word of it anymore

       21 likes

    • Steve Jones says:

      I wonder why the BBC is trying to stir up all things climate at the moment. Oh wait…

         16 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      For some reason, adjustments and data tampering are at record levels. In Astronomy, we have data sets that are warming from the “presumed errors” only. It was bad in 2014, but on the run up to Paris, “assumed errors” are at record levels. See below
      https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/ncdc-breaks-their-own-record-for-data-tampering-in-2014
      I have 0.76 Kelvin for Global Warming since 1997 till January 2015 (Hiatus or Pause). 0.81 Kelvin since August 2015 (end of Pause), and now 1.02 Kelvin from November 2015 (runaway Global Warming).
      At this rate, I calculate that at “0.21 Kelvin per three months” we will reach 2 Kelvin in 14 months time. So why bother with this Paris summit if its suddenly too late? Because if this is true, then in 2015, we have the greatest acceleration in Global Warming on record. But if you Cherry pick the areas that should be warming at twice this rate due to the Carbon Dioxide hypothesis, there is no change. So this proves that we have an acceleration of scientific fraud to unprecedented levels in the run up to this Climate Conference in Paris.

         15 likes

    • Wild says:

      I saw a bit of a documentary about the actor (Richard Wilson) who played Victor Meldrew. The writer David Renwick said “we knew he was on the Left and so politically sound”. Ah yes McCarthyism is fine so long as you have the correct politics.

         18 likes

  33. AsISeeIt says:

    ‘Is Winnie the Pooh actually a girl?’

    Is the BBC out of control?

    ‘Winnie the Pooh, always referred to as “he” in AA Milne’s books and with a man’s voice in the Disney cartoons, was in fact inspired by a female bear called Winnipeg’

    Quick… man (woman) the barricades!

    ‘Despite being based on a female bear, Lindsey does not necessarily think the character in the books should also be represented (as) a girl’

    Sorry, as you were.

    For the record:

    BBC 5 live Breakfast on November 9 2015

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p037klhn

    And linked from the main on line BBC UK news page as the second top item at the right of the page, God preserve us!

       10 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Ah, he’s transgender. That could explain how he wandered around with no trousers on yet was evidently a bear of very little manhood.

         11 likes

    • Oldspeaker says:

      Him – her, he – she, soon they will be examples of gender hate crime, genderism is probably next on the list of BBC hate crimes, address somebody as Mr. or Mrs and “how dare you genderize me” will be the war cry as the offended individual hotfoots it to the nearest human rights lawyer. Oh dear, hu-man, that will have to go.

         15 likes

  34. AsISeeIt says:

    Only one view is going to be tolerated over the airwaves, chaps

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34764663

    ‘BBC DJ Alex Dyke ‘in breach’ over breastfeeding remarks says Ofcom’

    Stick your head over the parapet lads and it’s going to be shot off tout suite

    ‘An online petition was set up, attracting more than 6,000 supporters, calling for Dyke to be taken off air.’

    One BBC Dyke I guess we won’t be hearing much from in future

       12 likes

    • Essexman says:

      Hope you Kippers are going to have a whip round soon, apparently your party is strapped for cash. Dig deep & put your money where your rage is. Unfortunately I won’t be contributing, as I gave about £50 to the British Legion. But I am boycotting Children in Need, you will be pleased to hear.

         3 likes

      • Charlatans says:

        I have asked for my Children in Need donation to go to Chilcot so at least my great, great, great grandkids get something.

        I posted this already here I think –

           6 likes

        • Essexman says:

          Good for you but if you pay the license fee, you sort of contribute, in that unique BBC way, unfortunately.

             3 likes

          • G.W.F. says:

            I flicked on the UAF FB site and they are wetting themselves over UKIP’s financial problems, hoping that all fascists – as they call them – will go the same way. Lucky UAF; they have Cameron behind them and indirect taxpayer funding of that I am certain.

               12 likes

  35. Steve Jones says:

    The news just gets better and better. This from the world of Scrabble (TM):
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34764670
    The clincher was this tricky rack of letters but Wellington pulled a blinder – eregfue. The three letter word in the top right corner looks unfinished to me.

       4 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    Not before the Zygons have stamped about a bit on the Nasca lines and set fire to Westminster to protest not getting a six up, eight down in Fulham, surely?

       8 likes

  37. Oldspeaker says:

    Girl arrested as woman, 87, punched on Croydon bus.

    BBC report- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34768815

    ITV report- http://www.itv.com/news/2015-11-09/teenage-girl-caught-on-cctv-punching-87-year-old-woman-in-face-on-bus/

    Sparse, or selective details from the BBC maybe?

       14 likes

    • Wild says:

      When I read that a teenage girl had punched an 87 year old woman on a bus in London I immediately assumed that the teenager was black, and when the BBC omitted to give any description of the girl, this confirmed it. How depressing that it is all so predictable.

         29 likes

      • Oldspeaker says:

        The BBC uses a police kettling style of journalism when reporting anything that upsets precious BBC sensibilities, reporting half a story is nearly worse than not reporting it at all. All the BBC lies, deceit and omission just makes peoples lives worse in the long term, they really have a lot to answer for.

           13 likes

      • David Brims says:

        Wild ” When I read that a teenage girl had punched an 87 year old woman on a bus in London I immediately assumed that the teenager was black.”

        Gosh !! that’s a bit racist.

           6 likes

        • Wild says:

          David Brims,

          Gosh!! Which bit do you find offensive? Do tell.

             12 likes

        • Alex says:

          Funny, I was just going to post on this story but you guys have beaten me to it. Isn’t it disgusting how the left-wing media ignore these frequent racist attacks by black thugs and hoodlums but are all too eager to post those which involve whites? The Kris McDonald case in Glasgow is the most worrying example of Leftie scum censorship. We were all made to feel guilty forever more about the Stephen Lawrence case, but the disgusting racist Muslim attack in Glasgow was ignored by the vile left. I ‘wonder’ why.

             15 likes

          • Wild says:

            I think that David Brims struggles to comprehend the difference between making a discrimination on the basis of race (or religion or sex et al) and making a discrimination on no grounds other than race (religion or sex et al).

            An example of the first would be to say we have decided not to advertise for basketball players in “Bushman Weekly” but we are going to advertise for chess players in “The Jewish Chronicle”, and an example of the latter would be refusing to give somebody a job because they are a particular race, even though they are the best qualified for the job.

               8 likes

          • Al Shubtill says:

            Quite right – also the Lawrence murder, terrible as it was, wasn’t (in my opinion) racially motivated.
            The Beeb and MSM decided to spin it that way; the ultimate consequences of which for: our police, the CPS, our legal system and our society have been far reaching to say the least – just ask the indigenous people of Rotherham and Oldham for example.

               14 likes

  38. Jeff says:

    Others have already noted the astonishing oversight by the BBC in giving us the full details re the 87 year old woman beaten up on a London bus. I’m sure we all remember the gobby woman who “racially abused” passengers on a Croydon tram. It would have been difficult to miss the story; the Beeb ran with it for a solid fortnight! And, of course, there were the loutish Chelsea supporters who pushed a black chap off the Paris Metro. I’ve lost count of how many times I have seen this incident. Both unpleasant cases and, I’m sure, both worthy of our attention. It has surprised me therefore just how coy Aunty has been in giving us the full details of this assaullt on a frail elderly woman. The attack was caught on cctv, so the Beeb could have shown us the whole thing in its entirety and exposed the two vile little bitches for the scum they are.
    You can look it up on the Mail website and I’m sure youtube will have it, but the dear old Beeb, always so quick in exposing racist attacks.
    Not a bleeding peep.
    I wonder why…

       27 likes

  39. GCooper says:

    No doubt the BBC’s response (if it could be troubled to give one) would be that, using the twisted insanity of ZaNuLabour’s perversion of the legal system, insulting a black person is a ‘hate crime’ and thus of greater magnitude than any other event that has ever taken place on earth, while the other is simply an attack on an old lady and, as such, really, no big deal.

    It is high time that the people who changed our laws in this manner were put on trial themselves. For treason, I would suggest.

       16 likes

  40. BBC delenda est says:

    University Challenge 2015:11:08.
    One team from an Oxford College, comprising a Norwegian, a South African and two from the USA.

    Meanwhile we are still on the weekend thread.

    It seems to me that a daily thread is required, due to the number of contributions.

       12 likes

    • Wild says:

      I think it is great that Oxford University can draw talent from all around the world.

      I hope that they settle here.

         9 likes

      • G.W.F. says:

        Many of our universities draw talent from around the world. There are layers of bureaucracy designed to encourage intake of foreign students. I wish most of them could understand basic English. And now the Government is hell bent on assessing the quality of university teaching there will be student assessments of teachers which translates as the mouthiest students get the high grades, and don’t moan about their inability to communicate or produce work on time. Subjects are designed as follows: International Law = Sharia; Family Law= Sharia, Sociology= Islamic communities, and so on. The ever growing subject of Queer Studies can be found in Human Rights Law, every aspect of literature and the social sciences, politics etc.

           9 likes

    • Rufus McDufus says:

      Meanwhile Only Connect was the annual leftie-fest that is the Children In Need edition, with Bonnie Greer’s sole contribution being a sneering attack on Nigel Farage.

         16 likes

      • GCooper says:

        Other than that she is a female Afro-American with a hugely inflated view of the value of her own opinions, can anyone think of a single reason why Bonnie Greer is so frequently on the BBC?

        Because I’m damned if I can.

           17 likes

  41. Geoff says:

    Anyone catch Jon Gaunt morph into Stephen Nolan when a caller was less than complementary about the unmentionables on his new radio station, which purports to be the home of free speech today?

    As always with such callers because of the conteniousness of the issue struggled to articulate himself very well (not that Gaunt really gave him chance) was shouted down as were the some of the following callers who tried to complain about his treatment.

    I did think that Talk2Me Radio may actually be worth listening to, but today I might as well of listened to O’Brien on LBC talking down to his callers. It would appear that despite Gaunts claims he still works to the same constraints as the BBC!

       11 likes

  42. Thoughtful says:

    One question which never seems to have been asked even on these pages is just how much Yentobs BBC and Children in Need gave to the Batmans Kids Company.

    It seems difficult to find out exactly, but figures are rumoured to be on the generous side of substantial.
    This is a scandal waiting to break if the figures can only be obtained.

       13 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/children_in_need_grants_made_to?unfold=1

      From Wikipedia:

      Camila Batmanghelidjh

      At the age of 25 she was employed as a part-time psychotherapist in a project in Camberwell, south London, funded by Children in Need. She has claimed to have been practising psychotherapy for more than twenty years, although she has apparently no formal qualifications on or membership in professional self-regulatory organisations with regards to psychotherapy.

         12 likes

  43. deegee says:

    Check this out before the BBC causes it to disappear into the Bermuda Triangle section of the Internet where if you don’t know what to look for you will never find it. Boris Johnson on ‘lefty academics’ who boycott Israel Even the follow up, Boris Johnson forced to cut short West Bank visit isn’t too bad by BBC bias standards.

    Johnson described supporters of the boycott as ridiculous, snaggle-toothed, corduroy-wearing academics and the BBC’s Karl Mercer actually repeated those words and some weaselly euphemism. That didn’t stop him pontificating at the end that Johnson has

       1 likes

  44. deegee says:

    Check this out before the BBC causes it to disappear into the Bermuda Triangle section of the Internet where if you don’t know what to look for you will never find it. Boris Johnson on ‘lefty academics’ who boycott Israel It can’t be embedded.

    The follow up, Boris Johnson forced to cut short West Bank visit isn’t too bad by BBC bias standards. However, it seems to that the losers in this particular episode are the Palestinians not Johnson. Unless BBC’s Karl Mercer knows something we don’t.

    Johnson described supporters of the boycott as ridiculous, snaggle-toothed, corduroy-wearing academics and the Mercer actually repeated those words and not some weaselly euphemism. That didn’t stop him stating that these are comments he is going to regret (surely a speculation not a fact?) and pontificating at the end that Johnson has learnt, you might think, a valuable lesson in international diplomacy (never tell the truth about Israel?).

       5 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “these are comments he is going to regret (surely a speculation not a fact?)”

      No, no… ‘analysis’ (deploying the ‘quotes’ the BBC uses when playing cute, not the “quotes” one uses when quoting).

      Be interesting how HIGNFY deals with this as ‘satire’. Or, in its case, not.

         3 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      deegree, Good find. Norman Smith of the BBC commented in the link you provided:

      The BBC’s assistant political editor Norman Smith said he understood the charity which had asked Mr Johnson to the ‘West Bank had withdrawn the invitation, while there was a suggestion that Palestinian politicians had also refused to meet him.
      Many people would regard the comments as “undiplomatic”, he added, although defenders would argue this was “Boris being Boris”‘.

      So what is undiplomatic about a British politician criticising a handful of gormless academics who have no idea about politics and history?

      And note the reference to the ‘many people’. I wonder who they are.

         3 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        “‘many people’. I wonder who they are”

        Norm pops head over cubicle: “Oi, Jezza… Boris… comments… undiplomatic or not?”

        Jezza doesn’t even turn his head: “Boris??? Bloody ‘ell, Norm, of course, no need to ask, mate”

        Norm turns back to his keyboard and starts to type: ‘Many people would regard….”

        Now that’s editorial integrity for you!

        Ask for substantiation and they’ll have Hugs and a half dozen vital FoI lawyers down on you before you can say ‘purposes of…’.

           2 likes

  45. LostOverThere says:

    Ex-Top Gear Producer to sue Clarkson for “racial discrimination”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34809758

    For once, dear ol’ Aunty is first with the news. Were they tipped off by a friendly source, or maybe just a coincidence?

    A cynic might think the knives are out for Jezza, now he’s taken their cash cow elsewhere

       6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Now, will the spirited BBC ‘got it about right’ defence and possible payout if the courts do not agree come as usual from the bottomless slush fund uniquely funded by the licence fee payer when the Beeboid is one of their own, or will there be a move to shunt this off the books and make a fuss as he is no longer one of the family?

      If the former, other staff facing budget cuts may be a bit grumpy if their colleague joins the golden black eye brigade.

         3 likes