601 Responses to START THE WEEK OPEN THREAD….

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  1. AsISeeIt says:
    November 13, 2015 at 10:20 am

    Norman Smith – supposed ‘political guru’ – does a skit for the Vicky Derbyshire show on the EU in/out issue.

    Nothing substantive about sovereignty or democratic deficit as far our Norman can see – it’s all just something ‘politicians like to bang on about’ and the press like to cover with ‘bent banana stories’. What on earth are you thinking? Get it right, Norm – that will be straight cucumber stories.

    And who do you reckon our Norm asks for an opinion – a rather good-looking French female journo based in London.

    Distraction tactic from our Norman? She’s probably wasting her time with Norman – he’s all pink ties and bent bananas – but I’m afraid she distracted me – I hardly recall a word she said.

    It was probably something along the lines of ‘hein … oh you silly ecentric English… get with the project, why don’t you…. it’s 2015…’

       12 likes

  2. BBC delenda est says:
    November 13, 2015 at 11:11 am

    Friday 11:09.
    Still on the start the week thread.
    An ever more frequent occurrence.
    Has the left secretly taken over BBBC?

       10 likes

  3. Geoff says:
    November 13, 2015 at 11:24 am

    I reckon Children in Need this year (in comparison with other years) could be a flop, Wogan has thrown a sicky (what does he know?), England are playing live on ITV and it seems less corporate, visited my local Sainsburys this morning, there was no silly dress and no crap merchandise being pushed.

    With Dermot O’Leary, Fearne Cotton, Nick Grimshaw and Tess Daly presenting, is it really worth bothering? Long gone are the days when Joanna Lumley got her kit off, far too politically incorrect.

    Apologies to our lady readers for posting, but as a teenager this was quite a moment (even Russell Grant seems to get excited) sadly all our teenagers have today is Little Mix and Fern Cotton, no class. To cut to the chase go to 4:10.

       10 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      November 13, 2015 at 2:22 pm

      Well, it was a different time. Not a bad one, clearly.

      Maybe a duet by Camilla Batty and Botney will lure the punters’ dosh in 2015 with a Strictly effort… if the Goodyear Blimp is available?

         4 likes

      • Geoff says:
        November 13, 2015 at 3:09 pm

        Obviously before Lenny Henry took himself too seriously or needed to point out his colour to us…

           9 likes

  4. scribblingscribe says:
    November 13, 2015 at 1:19 pm

    Finally Emwazi appears to have been killed.

    There is a truly curios piece in the Guardian (where else) presenting a positive picture of this sadistic thug, even quoting the disgraceful Cage quotes, (he was humble and beautiful according to Cage.)

    So I ask, the man the Guardian and the BBC most detest is Tony Blair, so has the Guardian ever sought to offer a different picture of Blair – or even a balanced one?

    What is it about Muslim thugs that attracts the soft left, making them want to justify and apologise for them?

       18 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:
      November 13, 2015 at 1:22 pm

      Shall we have a sweepstake on how long it will take until the BBC invite some creep on to complain about the US illegaly executing British nationals and demanding an inquiry about it?

         19 likes

      • John Anderson says:
        November 13, 2015 at 2:15 pm

        We have already had Mark Mardell on today’s Radio 4 World at One suggesting that it would be better to have had a court trial – and querying the legality of taking out the jihadi murderer.

           17 likes

        • Guest Who says:
          November 13, 2015 at 2:17 pm

          How’s Tubbo’s article on State warfare via Islamic stealth attack on fellow muslims and others coming?

             7 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:
      November 13, 2015 at 1:27 pm

      So, the producer punched by Jeremy Clarkson is suing the former Top Gear host and the BBC for racial discrimination.

      That’s the producer, Oisin Tymon, who I have to say doesn’t look a markedly different race to Mr Clarkson, but perhaps he believes he’s black. Or Mr Clarkson does. Or perhaps the language has been bastardised so that “race” means anyone from a different country that you have a disagreement with.

         18 likes

      • Old Goat says:
        November 13, 2015 at 1:58 pm

        If Mr. Oisin IS Irish, how can calling him an “Irish c*nt” be racist?

           15 likes

        • wronged says:
          November 13, 2015 at 2:01 pm

          I think Mr Tymon is taking the ‘Mick’.

             14 likes

        • Anne63 says:
          November 13, 2015 at 2:39 pm

          Perhaps Mr Clarkson made a derogatory reference to his preferred method for traversing water logged terrain?

             10 likes

        • Oldspeaker says:
          November 13, 2015 at 3:45 pm

          Ludicrous isn’t it, and yet if you pointed out the fact that Oirish is not a race you would probably be met with a vacant stare and drooling mouth from the thick as a chip hate crime caller. It’s really leading to a time when you won’t be able to highlight any difference between anyone or anything because we are all equal don’t you know. The whole gig is nothing to do with hate crime, equality or any other flavour of the month cause, it’s all about control. Plus I should add, there are always the chancers on the make.

             10 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      November 13, 2015 at 2:15 pm

      ‘What is it about Muslim thugs that attracts the soft left, making them want to justify and apologise for them?’

      Everything is relative, especially amongst the cubicle gardens of the BBC.

         8 likes

  5. Guest Who says:
    November 13, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    Given the BBC’s fondness for ‘quotes’ from ‘leading academics’, can’t wait for this one to hit the full airwave estate.

    http://bbcwatch.org/2015/11/13/bbc-could-be-perceived-as-institutionally-antisemitic-says-leading-academic/

    Unless, of course, there is ‘no time’ or ‘no space’ (c) A. Newsnight Editor of Integrity, as can often be the case.

       6 likes

  6. seismicboy says:
    November 13, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34807831
    “A “shocking” report has revealed only 1.5% of UK television is made by directors of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) origin.”
    Why is it shocking? is there discrimination against BAME directors? Not according to Directors UK in fact the D-word is only present once in the report and it doesn’t come from Directors UK it comes from a BAME director whose carrer has not gone the way he would have liked. So if it’s not discrimination, what is the problem then? Could it be talent by any chance? What is the obsesion with percentages these days? Why should it be that if the percentage of BAME in the population is X must there automatically be X percent BAME in every aspect of the workplace. It’s a pretty lame approach.
    Anyway one of the recommendations is…
    “Broadcasters, production companies and training providers (should) work with Directors UK to provide dedicated funded BAME career development initiatives and programme platforms at all career levels.”
    So let’s get this straight, broadcasters should spend money to make sure BAME directors get X percent of the work. Or to float another theory, to bring them up to the standard of non-BAME directors who have acheived without any funding? So it is actually an issue of a lack of talent. That’s not shocking at all.

       14 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      November 13, 2015 at 2:33 pm

      Have to say I am too shocked, but also shocked I tell you that the BBC has latched on to this like a dag.

      Luckily the IS/IS/IL/Daesh co-productions seem to see many a BBC reporter keen to understand the directors’ motivations and family feelings, though they tend to be shorts of mercifully dire quality.

         9 likes

      • Guest Who says:
        November 13, 2015 at 2:35 pm

        The BAME Army really needs a chant.

           5 likes

        • Oldspeaker says:
          November 13, 2015 at 3:53 pm

          I predict much wailing, gnashing of teeth and squealing like pigs among previously lefty right on BBC equality lovers should their own jobs come under threat to further the diversification jihad.

             8 likes

    • Sluff says:
      November 13, 2015 at 2:34 pm

      Well I certainly noticed that the BAME community was ‘significantly under-represented’ at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

         20 likes

      • Thatcherrevolutionary says:
        November 13, 2015 at 3:35 pm

        Not just the Cenotaph.
        When SKY showed the remembrance wreath laying at several UK venues, it was like TV in the 90’s again.

           12 likes

      • Al Shubtill says:
        November 13, 2015 at 5:26 pm

        Agreed Sluff, same as the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.

           5 likes

  7. Sluff says:
    November 13, 2015 at 2:30 pm

    The latest quarterly growth figures for the Eurozone are out today.
    The growth figure is a not entirely brilliant 0.3%.
    So where does the bBBC put this essential pre-referendum information?
    It’s at the bottom of the Europe page, in the also-ran section, and incongruously below the ‘Clarkson to be sued by Top Gear producer’ (and why is that on the Europe page at all btw????)

    It all rather smacks of being a ‘good place to bury bad news’.

       15 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      November 13, 2015 at 2:37 pm

      ‘why is that on the Europe page at all btw?’

      Perhaps in honour of the main case litigant’s apparent origins?

      Jezza should be worried; even if this punt is thrown out, Oisin can simply keep trying again until he gets the result wanted.

         8 likes

  8. seismicboy says:
    November 13, 2015 at 2:42 pm

    And while on the subject of the D-word, I see this has caught the eye of some today.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34809758
    How can giving someone physical and verbal abuse be discrimination? Racial abuse, maybe. Racial stereotyping, more likely. Discrimination? No. Discrimination requires favouring of one against another for reasons of race. That’s not the case here. The BBC, despite being the champions of racial equality, the supporter of the underdog and any other hard-done-by soul the world throws up, do not even know what racial discrimination means.

       10 likes

    • Guest Who says:
      November 13, 2015 at 3:23 pm

      To the BBC it really doesn’t matter.

      Bad man bad and throw anything at it until it sticks.

      Chimps in the zoo have more counter-argument integrity once a foe is identified.

         10 likes

    • Demon says:
      November 13, 2015 at 4:17 pm

      I think I may have said this before but on a football site that I used to frequent, someone described Thierry Henry as an “arrogant French c**t” (last word in full). The PC brigade were up in arms about it but the only word they objected to was “French”. I’m sure if M. Henry had seen it the only word he wouldn’t have minded was the F one.

         8 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:
      November 13, 2015 at 4:33 pm

      I questioned above (in a post that mysteriously appeared as a reply to something unconnected) whether ‘the language has been bastardised so that “race” means anyone from a different country that you have a disagreement with’.

      And the answer is yes, it has.

      9 Race
      (1)Race includes—
      (a)colour;
      (b)nationality;
      (c)ethnic or national origins.

      ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

         6 likes

      • Anne63 says:
        November 13, 2015 at 5:09 pm

        Except that criticism of, say, white working class Americans, particularly from the South, is very unlikely to be treated as racism in practice.

           5 likes

  9. Thoughtful says:
    November 13, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    Time for a new thread ?

       5 likes

  10. Anne63 says:
    November 13, 2015 at 4:48 pm

    Another area in which the BBC is becoming irrelevant:

    BBC Radio 3 misses out on young musicians

    Can’t help wondering if the National Youth Orchestra is just too hideously white and bourgeois for the BBC.

       7 likes

  11. scribblingscribe says:
    November 13, 2015 at 6:01 pm

    Anyone seen this Calais news story anywhere on BBC, whether it be radio, TV or web site?

    It is frightening, saying how migrants attack lorries even if the driver is female and how many police officers have been injured by these economic migrant thugs – or as the BBC and Guardian put it, these asylum seeking doctors and engineers.

    According to the report someone will be killed sooner rather than later.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1587005/calais-lorry-drivers-facing-extreme-violence

       10 likes

    • Mr.Golightly says:
      November 13, 2015 at 7:13 pm

      This story is being ignored. I wonder why? Russia Today have a reporter there, here’s the coverage from 2 days ago

      https://www.rt.com/news/321562-calais-clashes-police-migrants/

      Today’s report told us of camps springing up along the coast, increasing violence, even Cherbourg was mentioned as a target. Wherever there is a port seemingly. The fifth columnists No Borders are there stirring it up.

      (apologies to anyone who has already seen the above link as I had included it in a previous post on this everlasting thread)

         5 likes

  12. Thoughtful says:
    November 13, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/us-confident-jihadi-john-dead-10438342

    Funny that it takes a while to notice what should be screamingly obvious in photographs. Such as the black power salute by Stephen Lawrence most often cropped by the BBC.

    Here’s another one which seems to have passed everyone by. A photograph of Alan Henning murdered by ‘Jihadi John’ in the news today because he’s been killed, but notice the hand gesture Henning is making on the bonnet of the car. It is the Index finger pointing up.

    Yet again there’s a back story which the media is failing to tell us.

       7 likes

  13. Dover Sentry says:
    November 13, 2015 at 6:14 pm

    I’ve just been watching yesterday’s Question Time on catch-up.

    Stig Abel of the SUN made an interesting comment that UKIP is the only party that has a unified approach to Europe. Labour and the Conservatives are split.

    Nuttall of UKIP was allowed to speak after 10 minutes into the broadcast. He was giving a very eloquent response when Dimbleby cut him short and told him not to make a speech. Dimbleby allowed him 1 minute 40 seconds. He interrupted twice.

    Paris Lees was allowed two speeches without interruption and said how Corbyn was a nice guy who stood for peace and that we the UK have not been at war with France since the EU was formed so that’s good then. Her first speech was 1 minute long and pro-European and not interrupted by Dimbleby. Her second speech was 1 minute 30 seconds long and supported Corbyn and was not interrupted by Dimbleby.

    Dimbelby obviously saw Nuttall as a target.

    Sajid Javid (Cons) toed the party line.

    Lucy Powell (Labour) toed the party line.

    Applause for Left wing comments was louder than for Right wing but the same amount of people seemed to be clapping.

    I activated the ‘OFF’ switch after 17 minutes and went for a libation.

    ..

       11 likes

  14. G.W.F. says:
    November 13, 2015 at 6:57 pm

    Email update on the campaign against TV Licences from Caroline Lévesque-Bartlett

    ‘Hello everyone! Time for a little update.

    First of all: congratulations! We have now over 170,000 signatures! (170,445 last time I checked.)

    PRESENTATION TO THE PARLIAMENT

    Andrew Bridgen has now submitted the petition to the clerks of Public Petitions at the House of Commons. They, in turn, “re-drafted” it. In other words, they took the 800+ words original text and kept precisely 118 of them. It’s a massacre. All the bits about the bullying tactics used by TV licensing, the number of prosecutions and imprisonment each year, the fact that the system is outdated, the last paragraph on bias: it’s all gone! And, of course, the mention of the “fracas” was nixed too (even though this petition would not exist if it had not happened, since the BBC turning a deaf ear to 1 million people was the last straw for me). There is no need to say this is not going down well. Keeping only the blandest most general and inoffensive comments does not qualify as text grooming in my humble opinion. I explained that a petition is not a blank cheque, and as such, the terms cannot be renegotiated to the point of no recognition once it has been signed. 38 Degrees won’t allow it anyway, as they stated: “Once members have signed a petition, it’s important that the meaning of the campaign is not changed. People have already signed your petition calling for a specific thing to happen.”

    I’m now waiting for their reply. I’ll keep you informed when they do. All in all, it’s a long process, but as they say “if you want to go far, walk slowly”.

    PRESS

    A few weeks ago, I noticed something really fishy about the BBC surveys. If you noticed, the BBC released some partial results that were quite favourable to their position. I read the small print (which you should always do) and discovered that these results were not from the public consultation. I contacted the Daily Mail and thankfully, Katherine Rushton agreed to investigate the matter. She then penned an article called “BBC ignored public’s views on its future and instead used paid-for-study to represent the views of the population”, showing the world what a sham this public consultation has been so far. Read it here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3268840/BBC-ignored-public-s-views-future-instead-used-paid-study-represent-views-population.html

    Caroline Lévesque-Bartlett started this campaign on the 38 Degrees Campaigns by You website. If there’s an issue close to your heart that you’d like to campaign on, you can start your campaign here.

       6 likes

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