Hi all. My wifi problems have finally been resolved so am back online and able to upload! Here’s a pre Xmas open thread for you to knock the stuffing out of the BBC! Detail that bias here please and don’t be shy about it…
MID WEEK AND PRE XMAS OPEN THREAD….
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Completely O/T, so apologies. Just when I thought the News could not get any worse before the end of the year, I now learn that Ed Balls has been appointed as Chairman of my football club (Norwich City). WTF!! He joins Stephen Fry as Director and of course Delia Smith as joint majority shareholder.
Here is a link to the local paper. Some of the comments are priceless.
“We’ve certainly got plenty of left wingers in the squad now.”
Mr. B
Sunday, December 27, 2015
“Surely this is a poorly timed April Fools joke? A failed politician as Chairman, a celebrity cook as owner and a comedianactormedia lovey as a director? What next? Perhaps appoint Mr Blobby as club physio? You couldn’t make this stuff up.”
kenfoggo
Sunday, December 27, 2015
http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/fans_reaction_to_ed_balls_appointment_as_norwich_city_chairman_1_4360562
Whats Mr Cooper – Balls link to the Canaries then ? Never saw him talking about Bootiful Turkey`s in the past . I am off to see Rod at Carrow Road in June . I hope Balls stays away.
He was born in Norwich, is a life-long supporter, and wanted to play for the team when he grew up! That’s about it. I’m off to the must-win Villa match this afternoon. Balls is sure to be introduced to the crowd. Groan.
But Balls was educated at the private Nottingham Grammar, and professed support for the likes of Leeds when his constituency was involved.
Very much a “Fast Show” kind of “soccer supporter”.
And to think Norwich have let Charles Clarke squat in their private box as he needed a photo op to be “of the people”.
At least the likes of City, Chelsea, United and Liverpool had foreigners signed up who`d looted their own countries tax take to fund their vanities…Norwich seem happy to let Balls flog off their floodlights, raid the kitty and then let thousands of Syrians camp out on the pitch.
Football died at Ibrox didn`t it?
As a cricket fan, I naturally look down on the plebian sport of soccer. But, whereas, I can understand why Brighton’s nickname is “seagulls “, why are Norwich know as the “Canaries ” ?
The colour of their shirts (Green/Gold.) “The budgerigars” would sound so naff!
Arthrup, thanks for that. Budgerigars would probably be too difficult a word for football fans to pronounce anyway. I am expecting a slagging from football fans on this site now, but if you have ever faced a really fast bowler that is nothing !
Norwich was a centre for canary breeding:
“Research indicates that the Norwich Canary was developed about 400 years ago by Flemish settlers in Norfolk, England around the city of Norwich. The Norwich Canary of today is larger than it’s predecessor of the 1800’s, which only reached about 5 1/4 inches (13.3 cm) in length, and it is not quite as skinny.
Drastic changes in it’s appearance are attributed to breeding practices in the late 1800’s; the introduction of the practice of colorfeeding along with outcrossing them with larger canary breeds, as the Lancashire which carries a crest. In 1890 at a gathering of over 400 breeders and enthusiasts at the Crystal Palace, an official “type” standard was decided on. This beautiful fluffy bird emerged as one of England’s most popular canary breeds to show.”
There is a good selection of show canaries at every Royal Norfolk Show.
Now that Ed Balls is involved with The Canaries there might have to be some changes of allegiance to The Tractor Boys.
It’ll be interesting to see how BBC Radio Norfolk cope.
“the city of Norwich had long connections with canaries owing to its 15th and 16th century links to Flemish weavers who imported the birds to the Low Countries from the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean.”
Come on The Canaries!
Yes, chrisH. Balls reminded me too of the two Fast Show champagne-socialist characters who enthusiastically attended Arsenal matches, but knew sod all about the game. But gave them street cred.
A bit like Cameron’s recent ‘I support West Ham’ comments.
Unprecedented
Like many I’m sure going cold turkey between Xmas and New Year I abscent-mindedly switch on BBC News Channel and suffer a painful ten minutes (seemed like an hour) of second-string presenter Chris Rogers extemperizing over chopper shots of soggy York.
‘look, there’s a couple of cars on a rare bit of dry road…. our helicopter camera zooming in there on what looks like a rescue boat… a boat being the only way to get around… with some… what look like rescue workers in high-viz-jackets’
Hey Mr Golightly, our Chris surely up for a last minute James Joyce award for stream of consciousness babble!
Also have to love his oft repeated ‘water has receeded somewhat since earlier’ theme. Gosh, you think this looks bad… you ought to have seen it earlier!
The Environment Agency says ‘unprecedented’ over and over again – and as the late great Mandy Rice-Davies would have said – “Well (giggle) they would, wouldn’t they?” Them being responsible for flood defences and all.
Don’t expect much speaking truth to power from the BBC on this. Government and BBC will call a truce and call it Climate Change. Oh and Hilary Clinton Purple Heart or somesuch for that heroic camera man. It must have been like Vietnam up there above York.
Less James…more Yootha maybe?
BBC Today programmethis am. Mentioned the Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph as Conservative newspapers. I look forward to the Guardian and Inde. being describe as Socialist
Found this on the Gates of Vienna website c/o Baron Bodissey,
To quote David Coleman…”quite remarkable”, seeing as Al Sisi is Egypts President and he is speaking in the very heart of the world Islamic Intellectual powerhouse-Al Azhar University in Cairo.
No wonder the BBC mourn his replacing Muslim Bother #1-Muhammad Morsi.
Sisi is as brave and as good as Islam gets in this world at the moment-I`d saty away from any military parades next October 6th though.
Brave man-needs supporting I`d say.
Yes chrisH, he is a brave man and he does most certainly need supporting. The sad but desperate reality, however, is that he has very probably signed his own death warrant – the applause seems general but not all are fully enthused.
Where I live, in Gambia, President Jammeh, although clinically insane, makes a point of inviting all christian leaders to a reception on Christmas Eve and always emphasises religious tolerance . On the other hand, a few weeks ago, he announced that Gambia is now an Islamic State, much to the surprise of the Muslim Council there ! And the amusement of most of the population . But I know of no religious extremists in Gambia.
Al-sisi is in a different situation in Egypt where, it is true,he has probably signed his own death warrant. By the way, I know a few Egyptian muslims who live in Gambia because they cannot bear the muslim intolerance in Egypt. The world is indeed a complicated place.
Egypt has already lost a President to Islamist assassins. Anwar Sadat was murdered after signing a peace treaty with Israel – even though the treaty meant that Egypt regained Sinai.
I don’t usually link to Wikipedia, but this page is a reasonable summary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Sadat
Of course, it goes without saying that the BBC didn’t like him.
“The BBC also produced a film on Sadat titled “Why Was Cairo Calm?”. Film director and blogger Adam Curtis summarizes the documentary: “It tells the story of Sadat’s presidency—and how the American TV networks created a fantasy vision of him as a wise democratic leader who had opened up the Egyptian economy to the free market, and was loved by his people for making peace for Israel. As the film shows—this was a complete illusion.””
You can always rely on the BBC to support anti-western terrorism.
You can always rely on the BBC to support anti-western terrorism.
The BBC never met a terrorist it didn’t like.
If the BBC knew anything about the Middle East, it would know that Sadat restored Egyptian pride by getting the Sinai back, with the peace deal including the removal of all Israeli settlements.
But the BBC can only see the Middle East through its lefty, terror-supporting tunnel vision.
Grant, is your assessment of The President’s mental health received opinion in Gambia? I’m only asking because in some countries calling the leader “clinically insane” can get you into a lot of hot water. Stay safe.
The BBC is carrying the touching award to the French Police dog – Diesel killed by a Muslim woman suicide bomber. Have a read through the article though, and you will find absolutely no reference to the religion or how the poor dog died. An appalling white washing of the facts of the death of a faithful animal by a murderous ideology.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35189099/dickin-medal-for-diesel-the-police-dog-killed-in-paris-attacks-raid
Oh dear-don`t like the look of this one!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35100612
What`s the betting that Bassetts All Sorts won`t survive the coming conflagration of all sugared sweets of colour, now the BBC have seen the evils of the jelly baby?
Was George Harrison the first victim of JellyBaby assaults?…and why are there no jelly babies that represent our black and brown communities?
And surely jelly babies only insult those who can`t have babies-Caitlyn Jenner and Lotetta from Life Of Brian come to mind here.
For that matter-why no white licorice?…oh Lord, I`ll hand myself in at York, once they`ve mopped up.
From the Spectator, a reminder of Britain standing alone and proud early in WW2. Lots of people sleeping on the tube station platforms – not a very multiculti crowd though.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/12/no-bells-rang-out-for-christmas-in-england-in-1941-bells-meant-nazi-invasion/
A clear explanation of why the floods are caused by lack of dredging – work which had been carried out from time immemorial until the EU interfered and our craven politicians caved in :
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/12/28/the-eu-is-to-blame-for-britains-flood-disaster/
No chance of this explanation being put out by the BBC in all its hysteria about the floods – much easier to blame so-called Climate Change, to slag off Cameron and to whinge about an imaginary north-south divide.
Anyone with half a brain would wonder why climate change has only resulted in the flooding of small geographical localities. Why not everywhere to a degree or other?
I think the cat is slowly emerging from the bag. Before long….it will be out of the bag. And asking the Emperor as to why he has no clothes? And why he has spent so much of our money on these non-existent clothes?
..
BIASED BBC AWARDS 2015 – Update
I was hoping to have posted the 20 final nominees by now. I am still holding out for a new open thread to arrive soon. Once it does arrive, please be warned that I am going to be exposing you to smallish photos of our candidates. To vote simply press like next to each post.
Thank you for all the ideas as to categories and nominees. What started out a week or so ago, with me jokingly proposing Jenny Hill, has blossomed into a hotly contested end-of-year competition.
David and Alan, if you can hear me. Please may we have a new thread.
I wonder why this story might have appealed:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35179269
The irony is that what they are finding out now tallies surprisingly closely with what some anthropologists were saying at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries.
I’m not sure the BBC has thought that one through yet.
Indeed.
I await the discovery of a piece of pottery illustrating children in make-shift life jackets crossing the channel…
Razia Iqbal introduced the obligatory little piece of anti-Israel bias on the World Service today:
Now, for decades Israel has had a problem with feral cats [and BBC hacks]. There are an estimated 2 000 000 of them on the streets. A neutering programme run by an animal charity has been keeping the numbers down. This year it faced a challenge from a right-wing minister [doesn’t take her long to indicate her disapproval] who felt it was against Jewish ethics to spend state money on interfering with the reproductive cycle. For now the charity has won the argument. Our correspondent Kevin Connolly went to see it at work.
[Actually Connolly was far less interested in the programme than he was in bashing Israel. After some meowing and dumb observations about the cats, he moved on to his real agenda]
Connolly: The religious right-wing [here we go again] Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel has tried to divert state funding away from the programme, arguing that a prohibition in Judaism on interfering with the almighty’s preferred arrangements for reproduction applies to animals as well as humans.
[At this point Connolly digs around for more ammunition for his attack on the Israelis, starting with the following bizarre statement:]
…if you’re British and you’re waiting to hear how this problem in the Middle East is somehow originally your fault, keep listening.
[First, I suppose to keep people in suspense until his grand revelation, he brings in a Jerusalem Post reporter to tell a little anecdote about her South African mother-in-law sidestepping the prohibition against neutering. Probably Connolly is trying to prove to his BBC colleagues (nudge-nudge, wink, wink) that he’s not just biased against religious Israelis but also against other religious Jews.]
The J Post reporter continues: The legend in Israel is that there was a rat problem and that the British brought cats to Israel to take care of the rats and now we have no rat problem [untrue] and we have many cats.
The British authorities turned desperate Jews away from Palestine and back into the Holocaust, conspired against the Jews of Palestine, armed the Arabs and even fought on the Arab side in 1948. But Connolly imagines that when the Israelis think of the British they think of imported cats.
That’s the level of reporting we’ve come to expect from the BBC.
For anyone who can bear it, it’s at 43 minutes in:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03b2mk2#play
This pertains; http://bbcwatch.org/2015/12/24/why-did-the-bbcs-kevin-connolly-resurrect-an-irrelevant-moggie-story/
Thank for that. I see that BBC Watch published their report on the 24th and the World Service on the 28th. This non-story is now nearly 2 months old and yet the WS sees fit to ‘update’ us with it on ‘World Update.’
And these people regard themselves as capable of working in the media.