The past can cast a cold hard light upon the mutterings of today and embarrass those who change their tune in order to press their own agenda.

Last year in the run up to the election we heard a lot about the government’s, the Tories’, intended spending cuts….we were told in alarmist terms of how savage they would be in the second term.  We were also treated to faux outrage at the size of the government debt at around £1.4 trillion.

Now Price Waterhouse Cooper had predicted way back in 2009 that the government debt would be £1.4 trillion in 2015….

So no surprise there…..unless you had an agenda that wanted to tell us that the Coalition had run up horrendous debts and this was a ‘shock’.

Curiously back in 2009 the BBC told us the same thing about debt….

The war of words between Labour and the Conservatives about which party is best able to make “nice” versus “nasty” cuts without details from either on exactly what will be cut is still going strong, yet leaves the public none the wiser.

A recent IPSOS/MORI poll found that 50% of people still do not accept that there is a need to cut spending to pay off the national debt, now rising at a giddy £5,656 per second, and set to go on rising until 2014 when it will settle at just under £1.4 trillion.

Not only that but the famous IFS, the goto organ of economic wisdom for the BBC, told us that we had at least 8 years of belt tightening to cope with….

Eight years

An even higher percentage of the electorate are probably unaware that based on current government forecasts, Britain’s is facing not one but “two parliaments of intensifying pain”, as the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) predicted.

The IFS said that for each of the next eight years, a new round of cuts will have to be found to fill the black hole in the nation’s finances – a hole the Treasury estimates amounts to a £90bn shortfall between tax revenues and government spending.

Odd how all that has been forgotten and the recent IFS’s alarmist tales of more savage cuts were taken up by the BBC and presented as if this was all news to them and the cause was either Tory incompetence or a political ideology that meant cuts for the sake of cuts…not the reality as noted by the IFS, and the BBC, back in 2009, under a Labour government, that the cuts were necessary to fill that ‘blackhole in the government’s finances’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UeTSaUm2Js

After blaming former prime minister Tony Blair for the 2005 atrocity, Mr Livingstone – who was mayor at the time – told the audience: ‘They did those killings because of our invasion of Iraq.

‘They gave their lives, they said what they believed. They took Londoners’ lives in protest at our invasion of Iraq.’

Why is there outrage at Ken Livingstone’s comments about the 7/7 bombings?  This is the narrative that the BBC and mainstream Muslims have been peddling for over a decade…a narrative that has supported and excused Islamist terrorism all that time….this is the narrative that has fed Muslims a line that tells them Muslims are under attack from the West, that Iraq was part of that and that their anger is justifiable about this…the violence is terrible…but…but…but….

There BBC can’t deny its guilt over this having spent the last two weeks excusing the Paris terrorism, starting just hours after the attack…this time adding in more alleged causes of terrorism…. poverty, unemployment, exclusion and alienation, as excuses to mass murder people.

Change the narrative, stop excusing slaughter on our streets.

Curiously Ken seems to have changed his narrative….in 2005 he told us that the 7/7 attackers were cowards out to destroy our free society and that they would fail…though bizarrely Ken thinks the bombers were out to stop immigration to the UK…..

From the Spectator for your delight and amazement:

You have to admire the shameless, brass-necked dishonesty of the BBC’s delusional reporters as they discuss the possible collapse of the, their, European Dream.  A dream that the BBC has given fulsome support to with endless, relentlessly pro-European reports that were intended not to shine a light on events in Europe but to persuade a critical and dubious British Public of the EU’s benefits.

Here Gavin Hewitt tolls the bells for the possible death-knell of the EU…read it and your mouth will just gape wide open at the way he reports with a straight face all those doubts people had about the EU, immigration and Islamist’s in our midst but which the BBC spent years trying to playdown, cover up and deny…..

Is the European project falling apart?

An unwinding rarely has a start date. It settles in over time. It is an erosion, deceptive, slow at first, and then it is all around you; old certainties crumbling; the believer’s glint dulled; the claim on destiny weakened.

In just a matter of months, the idea of Europe has been unwinding, buffeted by successive crises; the Greek drama, the columns of migrants; the terror attacks.

So how does the unwinding reveal itself?

It can be glimpsed in the edginess of European officials.

In the confessionals: Sweden, declares its prime minister, had been “naive” about Islamist extremists.

[In the confessionals eh?….many a BBC journo should join them after having been such enthusiastic backers of the Islamist narrative]

It is an era defined by the stripping away of illusions.

[Let’s hope so……the BBC’s own biased illusions most of all…perhaps we can get some honest reportng about the EU from now on]

The terror attacks in Paris exposed layers of deceit and wishful thinking.

Europe’s borders were not secure.

The extremists had moved around Europe’s passport-free borders – guaranteed under the Schengen agreement – undetected.

[F**king cheek ….The BBC has been the chief cheerleader for mass immigration and open borders, and went so far as to try and deny there was any danger from Islamist Jihadis coming into Europe with the migrants so desperate were the BBC not to allow anything to give a reason to put controls on immigration….the BBC were happy to see terrorists enter Europe even if it meant mass murder…as happened in Paris.]

Schengen was more than just an agreement; it was an article of faith that there would be freedom of movement between 22 of the EU’s member states.

But recent weeks have laid bare the flaws. Returning citizens with EU passports were hardly ever checked against watch lists or security data bases.

But civil liberties trumped security.

[Yes they did…..liberal arrogance got people killed]

Change at last

Now belatedly change is coming.

[What?  The BBC is now the cheerleader for change in Europe and secure borders….FRO]

Even before the Paris attacks, Europe’s discomfort had deepened with the migrant crisis.

For Angela Merkel this was the latest great test of the European project; refugees were to be welcomed as a reflection of European values.

She was first baffled and then angered by the refusal of other countries to see it that way. They resisted the burden-sharing of quotas.

The attacks in Paris did have a link with the refugee crisis.

Most mainstream politicians correctly resisted the suggestion that migrants were potential terrorists but the fingerprints of two of the Paris bombers were recorded at a checkpoint in Greece in October.

[Ahhh…it’s all the politicians’ fault…the same politicians that the BBC lauded as they welcomed millions of immigrants to Europe, as they told us Islam was a religion of peace, as they told us of the peace and prosperity the European Union would bring us]

New realism

Europe, stripped of some of its illusions, is already engaging in a new realism.

The Europe of values will shortly try to clinch a deal with the increasingly authoritarian President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

[The Europe of values…ironically the very values that are at most risk from the immigrants being allowed into Europe]

Plenty of those who support the deeper integration of Europe now say that officials and leaders allowed dreams to get ahead of reality.

Quite simply, if Europe cannot provide security then voters will demand the nation states step back in. The old slogans will not suffice.

A harder-headed Europe will have to emerge that protects people and delivers jobs and security.

[Laugh, laugh loud…isn’t this the same BBC that tried to malign the Front National leader’s policies as ‘typically hardline’…

Le Pen: France ‘crying for its dead’

Posted at 14:49

Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right opposition National Front party, has taken a typically hardline position in response to the attacks.

And here’s a whole article from only two months ago designed solely to portray Le Pen and her policies as somewhat odious…

Is Merkel a recruiting sergeant for French right?

“It [uncontrolled mass immigration] is welcome for all the xenophobic parties of Europe, who can say that what is happening now is not immigration. It is an invasion from the Middle East.

“And if, God forbid, there were to be a terrorist act carried out by someone who could be shown to be from this mass movement, then that would play into her hands still further.

“We can expect a lot more of the fear factor as the elections approach.”

[An invasion from the Middle East by millions of Muslims?  Can’t say Le Pen would be wrong if that is what she said.]

 

The biggest irony is that it is the BBC’s, amongst many others’, own deception of the public, its own self-deception on immigration and the European adventure that has led to this crisis, both in immigration and the EU as an idea.  Promoting open borders was always going to be a disaster and lead to anti-immigrant feeling and then ultimately to bloodshed.  The BBC’s refusal to report straight on the EU and to arrogantly sneer at the sceptics, going so far as to label them racists, was never going to be a successful strategy long term and only bred discontent and distrust over Europe.]

 

Douglas Murray in the Spectator has also noted the change of tune on the Left…

‘One minor point of interest to me over recent days has been watching some survivors of the left who have spent the last decade attacking anyone who has written on terrorism and Islamism now beginning to talk like old pros about Islamism and terrorism. You’d almost think they’d spent the last decade addressing these issues, rather than trying to shut down anyone who did address them. I suppose they’ll make some running of it and bluff along for a while, but these people seem to me little use to anyone.

Why should anybody feel cowed by accusations of ‘racism’ from a political side led by Jeremy Corbyn? The answer is that very soon they won’t be. So the left’s moral authority on racism seems to have gone. And any remaining authority on security or foreign affairs now looks likely to follow. All of which is wonderful news for the right. But I would say that it is beginning to look terminal for the left.’

 

 

Top story, front page in Independent….Corbyn must quit.

Curious what the BBC doesn’t want to highlight…..

From the Telegraph:

Jeremy Corbyn told to resign by Labour MPs as Syria vote engulfs his ‘unsustainable’ leadership

From the Independent:

From the BBC:

Shadow cabinet seek to defuse Jeremy Corbyn Syria row

Senior shadow cabinet members are seeking to defuse a row over UK air strikes in Syria that threatens to split the Labour Party.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn is against air strikes – putting him at odds with more than half of his top team.

He faced warnings of resignations after he wrote to Labour MPs rejecting David Cameron’s case for military action.

But Labour deputy leader Tom Watson and others who disagree with him say they will not be resigning.

The BBC almost ignores the fact that senior Labour MPS are calling for the leader of the Labour Party to resign…a huge story surely?  Not for the BBC who seem all too eager to play down any bad news for Corbyn.

They certainly know of the call to resign as it was made by one Labour MP on BBC radio…From the Independent:

‘The first Labour MP to publicly call on Mr Corbyn to stand down, Ms Mactaggart, who agrees with him in opposing British intervention in Syria, said his “weak leadership” was causing damaging divisions in the party and was failing the party’s responsibility to hold the Government to account. 

“He hasn’t got a strategy to lead the party from where it is to where it needs to be and the people of the country can see that,” she told BBC Radio Berkshire.

“I think it [his leadership] probably is unsustainable. The problem is that my party… doesn’t have the hunger for power that the Conservative party has and the Conservative party is good at getting rid of leaders who they can see aren’t getting to lead the party to victory – my party isn’t.”

Asked whether he should stand down, she said: “I think that would be a sensible strategy because I think that the division at the moment is causing real problems.”

Her comments were immediately echoed by Mr Spellar, who told shadow cabinet members not to resign if Mr Corbyn refused to give a free vote on air strikes.’

The BBC itself merely reports her saying this…

‘Another ex-minister, Fiona Mactaggart, said Mr Corbyn’s leadership was “weak” and “unsustainable”, although she was also unconvinced about the case for bombing Syria.’

No mention of her call to resign though they do mention Spellar’s call for Corbyn to resign…..but it is way down at the bottom of the report…

‘Labour MP John Spellar, a member of the defence select committee, said Mr Corbyn’s behaviour over the Syria vote debate had been “unacceptable”.

And he urged shadow cabinet members considering resignation to stand their ground, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: “If anyone should resign after this incident, it should be Jeremy Corbyn.”‘

Shouldn’t such a calamatous breakdown in trust within the Labour Party be headline news not buried at the bottom of the page where most readers won’t bother going to?

There must be great consternation at the BBC as the Corbyn “led” Labour party falls into absolute chaos. We all saw Shadow Chancellor McDonnell screw up his response to the Autumn Statement by quoting Chairman Mao. Now I see there is clip of Diane Abbott saying “on balance Mao did more good than bad”. Meanwhile Ken Livingstone excuses the 7/7 bombers by saying “they gave their lives” to stop the Iraq war. And of course the dear Leader himself is causing a massive fracture in the PLP by insisting he will not support any military action against Islamic State. It’s a horror of a week and the BBC must be aghast that the brave new world of principled socialism promised by the Corbynistas is just one more myth that even the BBC can’t keep peddling.

Here you go, a new Open thread to see us all off into the weekend. This is where you detail the bias.

At a time when, due mostly to Muslim anti-Semitism, Jews are saying….

‘There is no future for Jews in Europe’

…..Shouldn’t we know who we’re dealing with when someone aspires to be the Prime Minister of Britain?….Why does the BBC neglect to do eye-opening exposés of Corbyn and his dodgy associates like the one below?

From Harry’s Place:

Jeremy Corbyn and the Finsbury Park Mosque

A Refuge
A man battered in Parliament, clobbered in the media, and berated by his own MPs needs a welcoming refuge.

Jeremy Corbyn does have one – the Finsbury Park Mosque.

Labour’s leader paid a visit last Friday. He had nothing but praise for the mosque, saying “I strongly support it”, “I value this mosque”, and “I admire the participation of the community in this mosque and the role this mosque plays in the community”. He also offered greetings on behalf of “sister” Diane Abbott.

The mosque is keen too. No wonder. Here’s its chairman Mohamad Kozbar:

‘He [Corbyn] has been consistent in opposing the controversial counter-terrorism laws that hugely impact communities, and specifically Muslims, introduced since the Iraq war of 2003.’

Kozbar shares Corbyn’s “our fault” world view too. Our foreign policy is to blame:

‘While some may dismiss a connection between foreign policy and life at home, it is sadly a reality. Foreign interference by some Western powers has made things worse which in effect impact on Muslims in the UK – the young in particular.

It is no surprise therefore to see that a small minority of young British men and women have decided to join and fight alongside the extremists abroad, in recent times the so-called Islamic State.’

The relationship is very deep. Corbyn has been a champion of the mosque for years and has held surgeries on the premises. Islington Council does its bit too. It has gifted £78,500 to the mosque over its last four financial years.

This is outrageous. The Finsbury Park Mosque is a pillar of the extremist community. It should be scrutinised, criticised and shunned, not lauded and funded.

This post presents some of the evidence.

Read it all.

Interesting that a Muslim, Hamas hardliner Mahmoud al-Zahar, is praising the French for expelling Jews, from their ghettos, in 1253 who ‘sucked the blood of France…they shed the blood of the French, slaughtered them, stole their money and conspired against them….The French had no choice but to expel them.’  A warning from history for any who shed French blood, slaughter them and conspire against them?

Via Bishop Hill:

The Spectator doesn’t do a great deal on the climate front, but when it does, it does it very well. At the moment they have a long piece (£, but you may get a free look) by David Rose on Judy Curry, which although containing little that will be new to BH readers will be informative for many.

If it’s pure entertainment you want, they also have a preview of Paris from Hugo Rifkind (£), a man with a wonderful facility for words, but also one who is just a moderately loud repeater of metroliberal certainties on the state of the climate. His effort this week is rather more thoughtful than usual, but he still retains some odd notions. Observing, quite correctly, that everyone in the UK is backing off green policy, he says that as a country we are starting to look a bit provincial:

Germany’s big push for renewables (which was admittedly predicated on an hysterical and frankly stupid post-Fukushima fear of nuclear) is surging ahead, in precisely the manner that Scotland’s could be if anybody still gave a damn.

This seems strange because according to Wikipedia, renewables as a whole generated just 11% of German energy last year – a strange kind of surging. And the renewables industry are facing a series of reforms to the subsidy regime that is going to make life rather harder for them.

He also seems to think that China is on board with the green cause:

China now worries enormously about CO2 emissions, and doesn’t just pretend to in order to stop Europe shouting so much.

China is famously opening one new coal-fired power station per week, a strategy that would be strange for a nation that was slightly concerned about CO2 emissions, let alone one that was worrying enormously.

But it’s when he gets to the new solar power station in Morocco that he really goes off the rails. This facility has been getting greens very excited – see for example Roger Harrabin here – in recent days. Here’s Hugo’s take:

With far less fanfare, Morocco is opening a vast solar plant next month in its otherwise useless desert, and aims to get 42 per cent of its energy from renewables (far more than us) by 2020.

With weary inevitability this turns out to be complete drivel. Every time a renewable power station is launched, its installed capacity is rapidly transformed into an expected level of power generation. These can easily be different by an order of magnitude, and perhaps by a factor of four for desert-based solar.

A little light Googling reveals that this is precisely what has happened here. The Moroccan government has actually set itself a target of 42% of installed generation capacity being renewables by 2020. So Hugo has made a howler of fairly epic proportions. But he is a wordsmith, and we should therefore be charitable if he struggles with numbers. Roger Harrabin, who is supposed to be a specialist in these areas, did exactly the same thing. There the howler is harder to excuse.

Complete drivel from Harrabin and his ilk cheerleading climate change alarmism?  How unusual.