242 Responses to MID WEEK OPEN THREAD…

  1. AsISeeIt says:

    Terrorism does work

    Anecdotal, I know, but I heard an American journalist tell how he spoke with a counterpart on a Bombay newspaper who told him that his paper had a strict policy of never using the word ‘terrorist’ in their headlines.

    The Indian explained, candidly, ‘the terrorists don’t like to be called terrorists’. ‘Gunmen’, ‘bombers’ or peculiarly to India ‘ultras’ were feasible safe alternatives. The staff on the paper simply would not be safe were its jounalists to call a spade a spade.

    I’m sure the BBC’s excuses are somewhat more convoluted – but essentially boil down to part liberal angst part cringing fear.

       25 likes

  2. Dave666 says:

    BBc still on the anti-Trump agendahttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34930042

       11 likes

  3. Dave666 says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/49/the-making-of-spain “through to the glories of Spain’s Moslem age” Wonder what coverage they will give to Charles the Hammer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martel & the Battle of Tours?

       20 likes

    • Dave S says:

      The Muslim conquest of Spain. The British conquest of India. The former is hailed as one of humanity’s greatest triumphs and the latter ? I think we know the answer.
      So important is it to the liberal elites to make Muslim Spain some form of triumph of civilisation that facts are twisted and ignored. Once again the BBC agenda is crystal clear. A sad thing and a sad way for a once good broadcaster to end it’s days.

         28 likes

  4. Geoff says:

    Channel Four News catching on to the BBC trick of suspect communication connections when conversing with a UKIP member. There is an unbelievable delay and break up when discussing with Diane James today’s immigration figures. Some obese pro immigration Common Purpose female Labour member in the studio ends up with most of the airtime allotted to the subject, ie immigration is good, we need it and doesn’t cost the country anything, blah blah blah…

    FFS ITV can do a nightly link up from the Austrilian jungle, but the BBC and C4 struggle to do a link from just down the road, that when its a member of UKIP wanting to talk sense.

       58 likes

    • GCooper says:

      Very likely to be a BBC trained crew. All roads lead back to the source…

         21 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Couldn’t agree more with the p… poor communication on outside broadcasting link-ups. In 1969 a man was put on the moon, and here we are 46 years later, unable to have decent audio contact with someone 500 yards up the road ! (46 years prior to 1969 was 1923 and look at the progress in those between years); and as for those outside reporters interviewing one another on a split screen, its just laughable.

         21 likes

      • Deborah says:

        But how often do posters here get cut off when using a land line? When the BBC are interviewing a conservative MP it seems almost a daily occurrence.

           20 likes

    • Peter Grimes says:

      Not just any obese Common Porpoise (whale?) ZaNuLab gobshite but Barbara Roche for whom Andrew Neather wrote his open doors report to rub the Tories collective noses in the shit which flowed thereafter.
      She made the normal bullshit bit about increasing GDP but if these benefit-claiming immigrants earn less than about £30k, and most from the accession countries earn less, they contribute sweet f**k all, net, and clog up our services and homes.

         15 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Good to see old Babs Roche back though eh?
      Did wonder if she`d just dipped her hair in the flour(other white powders are, of course available to the political and liberal elite at the BBC)…before getting back on the screen as Jo Brand-equally funny, IMHO.
      Isn`t a roach a drugspeak for a fat rollon with a load of drugs inside it?
      Ken Roach? Ken Loach, Bill and Paddy?…best be off eh?

         5 likes

  5. nogginator says:

    Switzerland overwhelmingly votes for burqa ban with £6,500 fine for Muslim women who rebel
    https://t.co/eiIvab9cC4
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/paris-attacks-burka-ban-introduced-6890312
    “Those who want to integrate are welcome irrespective of their religion. But those who rebuff our values and aim to build a parallel society based on religious laws, and want to place it over our society … are not welcome.”
    … BBC?
    Meanwhile
    An Al BBC favourite pin cushion ?
    PVV leader Geert Wilders demanded he get a fair trial in the court in The Hague on Wednesday.
    He is now standing trial for his, “fewer Moroccans” statements made in a cafe in The Hague last year.
    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6958/geert-wilders-court-declaration
    … BBC?
    Major European Union (EU) diversity conference cancelled? … BBC? … no, nothing?
    A major European Union (EU) diversity conference has been cancelled at the last minute, after host-city Brussels’ ‘diverse’ population were judged as a terror threat, rather than something that needed celebrating.

    Ah well … narrative?

    Net migration to Britain hits new record … putting more pressure on Cameron?
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN0TF18120151126

       29 likes

  6. Roland Deschain says:

    You poor Sassenachs south of the border are going to miss this delightful programme which has just been trailed on BBC1 Scotland.

    Coming Oot! A Fabulous History of Gay Scotland

       28 likes

  7. AsISeeIt says:

    Ros Atkins BBC Outside Source : “On another day this [record UK net migration figures] would have been our top story”

    Yeah, right. I suppose we’ll have to take your word for that. Instead we have the French and Russian Presidents meeting and saying…. er…. nothing particularly surprising at all.

    Pity it wasn’t record UK net temperature figures – I’ll wager that would have been the top BBC story, knocking even Putin and Hollande off the headlines.

       24 likes

    • Englands Dreaming says:

      The Beeb has quickly removed the record net migration numbers from there main news sections, but we are treated with yet another NHS horror story:
      A & E waiting times “getting worse”
      http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34939034

      Must be all those “cuts”, cant be anything to do with hundreds of thousands of extra people making use of finite resources.

         22 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Speaking of the BBC quickly removing stuff… it is being noted on the premier ‘not news’ outlets, when quoting Ken Livinstone’s latest interesting contributions, they decided Labour was better served by omitting what was perhaps the most notable of his utterances.

        So they set it all up, and when it backfires they then cover it up.

        A national broadcaster acting as PR and censor in such a way is beyond the pale.

           15 likes

  8. Dave666 says:

    BBc 22:00 Migrants are bolstering the UK economy most of the new jobs go to them. Where do I start with that. Sod it I’ll just say go f*** yourself you ****** *****. UN report say it will be the warmest year. Now landfills are fueling global warming so they drag in the old story of us all throwing all our food away. Where do I start with this F**** yourself you ****** ****. Oh lavish advertising for “The Dansish Girl” I predict a box office Turkey, but meets the BBc agenda.

       31 likes

    • GCooper says:

      I caught the 10pm news on R4… and it lasted four minutes before I made a dash for the ‘off’ switch. I deserve a prize for courage in the face of the enemy. In particular, it seems the BBC has decided to rubbish any element of Osborne’s proposals that they can get their teeth into. And, of course, for all the wrong reasons.

      We have now reached a point where the BBC’s ‘news’ output is almost unending propaganda.

         34 likes

  9. Roland Deschain says:

    Nice free advertising slot on the News At Ten for The Danish Girl. About a transgender woman. Or is that man? I wonder what attracted the BBC to that one.

    Will Gompertz to Eddie Redmayne: “Did this role make you question your gender?” Seriously, he actually asked that.

       33 likes

    • Sluff says:

      Surely you know, Roland. In bBBC la la land, all those minorities they used to advertise are yesterday’s news.
      Transgender is the new black.
      Expect several more weeks of LGBT propaganda before they find another ‘under-represented’ minority to bang on about.

         17 likes

  10. taffman says:

    ‘UK net migration hits record high’!
    Mr Prime Minister the nation is at risk – you are not in control of our borders.
    The above headline was from last August …………
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34071492

       22 likes

    • wronged says:

      Exactly Taffman,
      Record migration figures coming into the country have meant the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) were able to upwardly forecast the the windfall of 27 billion today in the Autumn Statement.

      Maybe the influx was intentional? The Tories putting money/profit before identity/heritage and culture.

         20 likes

      • taffman says:

        That’s why there is a big push to build more ‘affordable houses’. I urge all you Englishmen (Essexman included), to vote UKIP at the next opportunity .

           34 likes

        • wronged says:

          Don’t forget the Welsh Taffman

             13 likes

          • Number 7 says:

            Wait for the next Sennedd election!

               11 likes

          • taffman says:

            You are correct .
            We will have a chance at next year’s Assembly Elections . But the place is so full of ‘died in the wool’ Labourites that we, true Welshmen, cannot make much of an impact to the bigger picture.
            I urge all true Welshmen viewing this site , working class or otherwise to vote UKIP.

               27 likes

            • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

              Well Taff, on a national scale you are right. But having lived until 10 yrs ago in constituencies in the valleys with 25k plus majorities for any labour sheep, I’ve now moved west.
              It’s so refreshing to live and vote in a marginal. The bastards still dont listen tho’ to their electorate, but it really is nice to remind them they can get voted out.
              I remind the Tory member I’m UKIP THROUGH AND THROUGH.
              One day I pray enough will awaken to unseat him.

                 16 likes

        • Essexman says:

          Ukip . have no policies , & we may have left the EU by the next election. So why would I change ? Ukip are a one trick pony , they don`t offer any thing else . What do the kippers think of Farage`s policy, not to be in an European Parliament alliance with FN ? You are all gushing about Marine le Pen , but Farage ignores her. Please explain ?

             1 likes

          • taffman says:

            UKIP Policies …………………..
            http://www.ukip.org/ukip_manifesto_summary
            Seems to me that Cam moron has been using some of them. With Labour now down the pan , UKIP are the only effective opposition of the future .
            Vote them in Essexman and tell your mates.

               8 likes

          • G.W.F. says:

            That is a good point Essexman. Farage has nothing to lose by doing a deal with le Pen. He and his party are branded as racists from the BBC to the street thugs of the Trot sects, but a united opposition to the EU bureaucracy would be of value.

               5 likes

            • taffman says:

              Broadcast nearly two months before the most deadly attack on France since the Second World War,
              “The UKIP leader believes events on the beaches of Greece and the border of Hungary have vindicated his predictions of ‘biblical’ migration to an EU which can’t control who comes in.
              He also believes his claim that so-called Islamic State would use the mass movement as cover for exporting terrorists to Europe is something that mainstream politicians are now repeating. He thinks it’s been proven that his party was utterly right on migration.”
              Perhaps Cam moron should have heeded his warning …………………
              http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34351725

                 8 likes

  11. taffman says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34927939
    We have an idiot who wants to go to war with an enemy at the front door, while he has been letting them in at the back door.

       33 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      It’s not an enemy at the front door, it’s an enemy on a different housing estate, whilst he thinks everyone in his front garden is all nicey nicey!

      Anyway, he doesn’t want to go to war, he just wants the appearance of doing so, so that he can posture about it, and keep his Saudi paymasters happy.

         17 likes

  12. Sluff says:

    Toady R4 7am headlines. Shadow Cabinet split on Syria military action vote. Many Labour MPs incredulous at the Corbyn letter.
    7.10am interview. Emily Thornberry, Labour MP (rich legal type who you remember was amazed to discover that people flew St George’s flags outside their houses), a lickspittle supporting Corbyn pledging to vote against any action. bBBC priority – steady the Corbyn ship.

    Bias revealed through juxtaposition.

       29 likes

  13. scribblingscribe says:

    Justin Webb on Radio Four’s Today this morning was interviewing a French woman about the possible support of the UK to France in the battle with ISIS.

    Quite a few times he spoke about how the ‘people of this country’ had questions or doubts about the enterprise. Those questions and doubts were ones that Guardian writers and BBC producers might have thought up but I have not heard anyone else offer them.

    Made me angry. The BBC has no right to create doubt about the UKs resolve or purpose in the mind of our ally at this sensitive time.

    Has it reached the stage where the BBC believes everyone in the UK lives in its own soft left bubble of thoughts and prejudices?

       35 likes

    • thirdoption says:

      That will be the same Justin Webb whose mother was one of those crazy Greenham Common harpies.

      No surprise that he’s turned out with the views he has if every time he came home from school he had to listen to his mum describe her day’s events chained to the fence.

      Bet the BBC couldn’t wait to sign him up.

         30 likes

      • GCooper says:

        Isn’t it curious how the children of leftist nutcases never seem to rebel, as most normal children do?

           6 likes

  14. Geoff says:

    After reviewing the pictures in the press and TV this morning of the greedy bastards grabbing Black Friday ‘bargains’ I think I’ve worked out why its called ‘Black’ Friday….

    What a sad state this country is in, culturally that sort of behaviour was never British.

       31 likes

  15. Peter Grimes says:

    Late getting up and caught the tail end of Sarah ‘Miss Shouty’ Montague’s love-in, certainly not an interview, with the anus end of the Stansgate-Benn hereditary political dynasty. Her soft tones and freedom given to Hilly to twitter on were in complete contrast to the harsh tone and constant interruptions used in any interview, sorry projection of Miss Shouty’s own view, of a Tory or UKIP spokesperson.
    I know that all of Al Beeb’s ‘interviewers’ (interrogators? of Tories only of course) do it but it still grates.

       29 likes

  16. Dave666 says:

    BBc Breakfast Racist Diane Abbott appears in a very edited section to say something about Corebin.NHS crisis looms because of a growing population and more old people. The Queen is in Malta for the Commonwealth summit climate change is expected to be discussed. Wow it must be the new cinematic masterpiece . After being given a massive free advertising spot on the 22:00 news last night the Danish girl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Danish_Girl_(film) gets more free publicity it’s even before the usual sales slot after 08:30.

       15 likes

    • Gunner says:

      When Diane Abbot is your “go-to guy” to prop up Chairman Corbyn then you know he’s already well past his sell-by date.

         11 likes

  17. Gunner says:

    Al beeb VD now pushing a “Syrian emigre” line that we should not join the attacks on ISIS in Syria until Assad has been dealt with (conveniently forgetting that Lab/Lib “victory” two years ago). Seems they will try anything to shore up Chairman Corbyn & co. What we are about to witness is either a Mao-style purge of the “extreme right” of Liebour or the shortest political comedy run in history.

       15 likes

  18. taffman says:

    “Maternity units in north Wales have had to suddenly close on 16 separate occasions in just 12 months”……..
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-34935321
    So much for all the ‘male bovine excrement’ that we have been fed by Al Beeb and the pacifists over the last few years about all the doctors and nurses that the migrants bring in to the country.

       14 likes

  19. chrisH says:

    How come the BBC newsreading poppet on Radio 4 8am tells me that Syria is a “divisive issue”?
    She says it en passant, by way of setting Corbys splitting of his party in a “well, we all understand why you`re conflicted Jez” kind of way.
    The BBC never use the word “divisive” when it comes to the EU, austerity, the very existence of “Islamophobia”. “global warming or-let me say again-the EU.
    Let alone the compulsory knowledge tax that is the BBC License fee-and their prosecutions of the “most vulnerable” in our society, should “an oversight” mean that it doesn`t get paid?
    If it`s not Corbyn screwing up-it`s divisive.
    In all the other cases I mention-the social science is settled, and all good people have a consensus-so it`s divisive to dare to question it.
    And-funnily enough-The BBC have settled on the settled science and squat over the landscape like a Sumo wrestler on Arthur Askeys old commode…and NO thinking allowed.

       14 likes

  20. Guest Who says:

    Bit of Friday Frolics…

    http://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/11/why-dont-the-french-bomb-belgium/

    ‘It may well be that when you first heard of the barbarous Islamist atrocities in Paris you thought: ‘My God. My God. How could they do that? At least now maybe the scales will fall from some eyes and we will tackle the problem head on.’ And then, like me, having thought this, you will have watched a BBC news programme and very quickly realised — nope, not a chance, business as usual. The same delusional rubbish, the same gerrymandering of public opinion, the same absurdities.’

    Used to be on staff. Apparently.

    I imagine he still gets a pension and it depends on everyone still being required to uniquely fund his ex-emplyers no matter what,

    Which makes this… brave(ish).

       12 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      Liddle’s columns in the Speccie and Sunday Times rip the BBC and Labour (and the warmists and the politically correctniks) to pieces – and (AFAIAA) he’s still a member of the Labour Party. Sure he used to be editor of Today but remarks about his Speccie article being “brave(ish)” and his BBC pension (which I suspect he’s not old enough to collect just yet) is IMHO just pathetic, juvenile snidery which, on this site, we expect from BBC canteeneers rather than from normally sensible commenters. BTW you might read this concerning his views on his ex-employer.

         4 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        This ‘we’ for whom you speak being?

        But raising pathetic, juvenile snidery in a defence of Mr. Liddle is quite special, as he will be the first to appreciate.

        Maybe disagree without that bit and it’s worth debating further.

        Lucky no ex-BBC employees are on occasion financially bound to toe the line, then. Especially with payouts often in excess of legal obligation.

        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11774805/BBC-escapes-ban-on-six-figure-public-sector-pay-offs.html

        The BBC’s ‘retirement’ package age ranges do remain murky, yes.

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

        Tx for the link, though. One for the collection.

           5 likes

        • Umbongo says:

          My point was that there are lots of ex and present employees of the BBC who deserve a going over: Liddle isn’t one of them.

             3 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            And my point is that he did it when many are hamstrung by gagging deals, that he clearly is either free from financially, or brave. Now.

            You can decide he is to be left alone, but you can also choose to make that point in a way that sees it, and your view, considered.

               3 likes

  21. chrisH says:

    Well-just heard Roger Scruton on Thinking Allowed.
    Now Laurie Taylor is not the sharpest pencil behind the ear, but did we REALLY need some vacuous picador called Mark Fisher to gainsay whatever “threats”(because threats they are!) Scruton represents to the corduroy class that allows a sinecure for Laurie and his dynastic fools, Fisher and his poly dollies back on camp?
    Like having Shakespeare on your show-then asking Dick Dastardley and Muttley on to “give a consumer friendly account” of the clever bits.
    Dumbed down BBC hogwarts…Scruton deserved better-and the time serving placements of the Left like Laurie Lorra Laffs were sure as hell not going to allow him to invade the airspace with stuff that might upset the BBCs intellectual class like Fry and Beard.
    Will tell the BBC that I bought his book specifically because he can string an argument that devastates all that the BBC social wanketeria prostrate themselves before…and if I need someone to sew on my elbow patches and pretend to be a non-smoker I`ll get Laurie to send an intern from Yawkwuni.
    Scruton not allowed on without a tag team of privileged and rather dense lefties up against him…but to be fair, he was actually listened to and not getting shouted down as he would anywhere else at the BBC.
    AND-they`d have had far more time if that Scouse dullard with the “inflected uptone on her recent essay” had not been given 10 mins to do her comprehensive Eliza Doonothing impression firstly…no point the likes of Taylor mocking these Neighbours parodies from the 80s(as teatime babysitting was done to her likes, no doubt back then)-and then droning on like Kylies chatty cathy that spent too long in a Bootle lost parcels bin.
    OH-and if Laurie hadn`t told us that he was NOT the role model for “The History Man”-and taking minutes to tell us-we`d have heard more from the Scrutable Colossus.
    We KNOW greats like Bradbury would not even think of Laurie Taylor for anything but Gandhis brand of odour eater-sandals or not!
    Scruton is thegold standard-Laurie and his ilk are metric corkscrews( made of frayed bungee cord)with no wine to uncork.

       12 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      Scruton’s been on the BBC airwaves 2 or even 3 times this year. I wonder why. Do you think there’s a charter up for renewal? Anyway, make the most of it. When Whittingdale and Cameron formally agree to “steady as she goes” (ie no change in funding arrangements or non-oversight of bias) Scruton and anyone to the right of Laurie will be banished for another 10 years.

         10 likes

  22. Guest Who says:

    In other news…

    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/still-chillin.html

    Maybe he’s handling Jezza’s new ShadCab for ‘balance’, if I may tease so bold?

    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/getting-warmer.html

    ‘He leaves behind 200 staff uncertain about where they’ll work and if they’ll work’

    So sad, and at Christmas too. Though maybe some may have looked around and thought… 200 of us? Why?

    http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/sicece-interim.html

    ‘The BBC’s staff organ, Ariel, is disappearing from public view. Available to all online since 2011, it’s to become what the HR world calls “an internal channel”

    There’a thing. It joins just about everything the BBC likes to keep its literal secret, making it pretty much totally unaccountable. Feel the transparency shining through.

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/in-good-light.html

      ‘For the BBC, Fran Unsworth put up a robust line, saying, yes, there were news staff in the former colony, funded by either advertising or the advertising opportunity, creating a “front page”, but everything was done under fair trading guidelines’

      Jon Dennison must be thrilled.

      http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/dark-clouds.html

      ‘Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide, was harassed by two MPs on the DCMS brief, and came very close to admitting that the Great Unimpeachable Creative Director might have some Intellectual Property in the BBC programme he presents and edits, Imagine, and thus a share, however small, in the revenue from sales abroad. Someone will get to the truth of this eventually, and then, I predict, there’ll be hell to pay.’

      Maybe Newsnight or Panorama could vie for the job of checking? or if dark figures lurk along the walls of their production meetings, Ch4?

      http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/just-count-them.html

      There’s an FoI in too. See how that fares.

         4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/double-your-money.html

      ‘I am genuinely joyful at the arrival of new Government funding for the World Service – delighted if it secures the continued employment of existing journos, even happier at the potential employment of new staff here and around the world, and immensely cheered by the belated recognition that the BBC’s deserved reputation for independent, fair-minded news coverage is an asset to the UK and its position in the world.’

      Ah, that’s what it does, does it? Probably better a better model than subscription, all things considered..

      http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/business.html

      Cable subscriptions to BBC America have fallen by more than a million over the year, to 77.1 million.

      http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/natty.html

      “No doubt there will be lots of television production companies active in the UK in the future. But only one of them is guaranteed to be owned in this country and operated on behalf of the British public, working right across the UK.

      Not yet your call, Peter.”

      When has that ever stopped them? Interesting vision of the future. Maybe he knows something?

         4 likes

  23. Grant says:

    BBC website ” How many guns are there in London ? ” . FFS !!

       8 likes

    • chrisH says:

      However many the BBC say-it won`t be enough to prevent another Paris.
      The law-abiding on London need a lot more-maybe the Americans could send us some…the BBC say that they seem to have a few going spare.
      Might lose Piers Morgan too-a side effect we could all agree is worth the pain.
      Why the hell do only Muslim nutters and Duggans lads merit unfettered access to guns?…Parisians have learned that if the good people can`t get guns-Islam and the drugs gangs Do get them-and very easily too.

         10 likes

      • Umbongo says:

        Until 1937 (according to this) a law-abiding citizen of the UK was more or less free to purchase firearms for self-defence purposes. Thus within living memory the right to bear arms under Common Law and the 1688 Bill of Rights – subject to (AFAIAA not unreasonable) regulations promulgated by the Home Office – existed in the UK. The Hungerford and Dunblane massacres were used, in effect, to completely disarm the British public while in practice restricting the possession and use of firearms to the authorities (police and military), criminals and terrorists. Oddly that state of affairs doesn’t make me feel any more secure than I used to when I lived in Colorado (in the 80s) where, as far as I recall, firearms were more or less freely available.

           9 likes