The BBC ran this story with some enthusiasm today;
Boris Johnson says an email telling his senior staff to back him over the EU referendum has been withdrawn. The London mayor, who is campaigning to leave the EU, said the memo to deputy mayors and senior advisers was “a cock-up, and not something I agree with”.It told them to “either advocate the mayor’s position or otherwise not openly contradict it” when not at work. The email was sent 24 hours before Mr Johnson accused pro-EU campaigners of trying to gag opponents.
Talking of which, the BBC seems to have overlooked this story…
A senior aide to David Cameron gave a telephone dressing-down to the business chief who dared to speak out in favour of Brexit. Daniel Korski, who is paid £93,000 a year, rang John Longworth just hours before the British Chambers of Commerce sensationally suspended him from his post as director general. Friends of the businessman claim Mr Korski intervened to question why he was calling for Britain to leave the EU when the body had taken a neutral stance on the referendum.
Once again the BBC stands exposed as a key delivery mechanism for Project Fear and a far from impartial broadcaster!
The BCC’s John Longworth was forced to resign for his comments on Brexit and the BBC has been repeatedly playing a clip of Phil Smith, the managing director of ‘Business West’ and BCC member, making a very aggressive attack on Longworth on the BBC’s PM programme on saturday.(11 mins). Perhaps this clip should come with a health warning.
Smith is in no way impartial and has already set out his company’s views……
Earlier Guido noted that the British Chambers of Commerce had allowed their Kent chief to publicly endorse the Remain campaign. Now it emerges the chief executive of the Cornwall BCC branch has also signed a letter supporting staying in the EU. Kim Conchie wrote last week that:
“leaving the EU is playing Russian Roulette with the world’s fifth largest economy; it would be a great folly”
Remember, the official BCC line is that they are “a non-partisan organisation” and that senior figures airing personal views will “create confusion regarding the BCC’s neutral stance”. John Longworth lost his job for publicly backing Leave. Yet here are two top BCC spokesmen who have endorsed Remain with no consequences…
[The next government must] deliver a new settlement for Britain in Europe –because making the economic opportunities of the European trading bloc work for business, and ensuring clear safeguards for Britain against unwanted further integration, will be critical for our future success.
IF OUR PROPOSALS ARE DELIVERED:
•The UK’s future relationship with the EU will reflect what Chamber members tell us they want to see achieved: a reformed, more competitive, outward-looking EU where certain policies, such as social legislation, are decided at a national level to allow them to better reflect local circumstances and national preferences.
•We will have a future EU that ensures that Member States which have no intention of joining the Euro, such as the UK, will retain their economic independence and their influence over the Single Market.
•A future EU will see liberalisation of international trade as a top priority for the Commission and Member States.
The BBC is giving ex head of the BCC a reasonable hearing….but are not giving the BCC itself a hard time at all in questioning its actions in essentially forcing Longworth out and asking difficult questions about why his comments were so unacceptable all things considered……..
The BCC actually highlighted Longworth’s speech before the 2016 conference…if it was so controversial and they knew it was going way beyond his brief why did they not stop him saying it?…..
Highlights of John Longworth’s keynote speech at the BCC Annual Conference 2016.
At his keynote speech at the British Chambers of Commerce Annual Conference, John Longworth will say:
On Europe:
“As the British Chambers of Commerce, we have declared that we will not campaign, but that we will survey member companies, report their views, and inform the debate…
“Nonetheless, the people of our country now face a choice, between staying in what is essentially an unreformed European Union, with the Eurozone moving off in another direction and with Britain sitting on the margins, or leaving the European Union, with all the near-term uncertainty and disruption that this will cause.
“Undoubtedly a tough choice. You might say, a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.”
“Business leaders are, of course, by and large driven by economically rational decision making…
“Decision making in business suffers from the pressures of the short term and is naturally focused on the interests of the particular business concerned.
“If I were to ask the business community one thing in this referendum, it would be to look to the long term and the wider interests of the society in which you operate, and make your choice based not on the next financial year, but on what you want for your children and grandchildren.”
There are only 3 weeks left until the Annual Conference 2016. The exciting programme for the day includes a panel session on ‘Britain and Europe: Stay or Go?’, as well as question and answer sessions with German Finance Minister Dr Wolfgang Schäuble and a senior Cabinet minister. Ahead of the day, Ashley Shackleton, Head of Public Affairs at the BCC discusses Britain’s relationship with Europe.
The Prime Minister is currently renegotiating the UK’s membership of the EU in advance of a referendum before the end of 2017. The business community welcomes this attempt at reform of the EU and a new settlement for the UK. The British business community will be anxious to see what concrete changes are made before deciding how to vote. In a British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) survey of business leaders in September 2015 – half responded that the content of the Prime Minister’s renegotiation package was likely to affect how they will vote. On 23rd June 2015, the BCC Director General, John Longworth wrote to the Prime Minister on five key priorities for the reform and renegotiation discussions. The success of the Prime Minister’s renegotiation will be judged against the priorities set out in this letter. The full text of the letter can be found here. Whether the UK stays in the EU or not – reform is essential to ensure the economic success and competitiveness of the UK and the EU.
When the time comes for the British people to vote – it is vitally important that the facts are shared, so that a fully informed decision can be made. At the BCC Annual Conference on March 3rd 2016, Lord Stuart Rose, Chairman of Britain Stronger in Europe, John Moynihan from Vote Leave and Dr Gerard Lyons, the Economic advisor to Boris Johnson will debate the arguments of Britain’s membership of the EU and the case for reform. We will also have a unique Q&A sessions with the German Finance Minister Dr Wolfgang Schäuble and a senior cabinet Minister to discuss the question that is so vital for British business – Britain and Europe: Stay or Go?
Here is the letter Longworth sent to the PM on behalf of the BCC pre negotiations with the EU…
BCC Director General, John Longworth, has sent an open letter to the Prime Minister ahead of the EU leaders’ summit
‘This is a defining moment for our country and for our future prosperity. Businesses understand that you will want to guarantee the sovereignty of the UK and to secure a settlement which takes into account the UK’s economic welfare. If you do that, the tens of thousands of the businesses the BCC represents will be four-square behind you.’
So the BCC tells us it is vital for the debate to be informed….and the BCC will back the PM if he gets a good outcome to his negotiations.
And yet when Longworth tries to inform that debate he is ‘sacked’….but no one wanted to sack him when he said in the letter above that the BCC would support the PM, ‘four-square behind you’, and staying in the EU if the reforms were acceptable.
Nora Senior, president of the British Chamber of Commerce, told the BBC that his comments left the organisation with no option, as he had breached the BCC’s official position of neutrality on the referendum.
She said the BCC was a membership organisation with diverse views and their decision was to maintain a neutral stance on the referendum. Mr Longworth’s comments in his keynote speech at the conference had gone against that.
Her comments are patently untrue in light of the above evidence of the BCC’s position which is hardly neutral….but the BBC delves no further.
“My third theme arises from the challenges we face in our relationship with our near neighbours in Europe. Chamber members fundamentally support the Prime Minister’s position – Britain in a reformed Europe.
“I say – a new settlement for Britain in Europe is essential to achieving our economic ambitions – helping our businesses succeed here, at home, and across the world.
So he is advocating we stay in Europe…as long as it is reformed…essentially the position Cameron is in now..and yet no one objected to his pro-EU, not very ‘neutral’, statement last year. Why not?
Why am I asking these questions about the BCC and not the highly resourced BBC? It is clear that because Longworth is pro-Brexit he has been forced out and that the BCC is ‘institutionally’ pro-EU.
New week, more bias, same BBC. I was talking to Jon Gaunt earlier this morning regarding the Andrew Marr “interview” with Boris Johnson yesterday. In fact it was more of a sustained interruption than anything else! Marr exemplifies all that is rotten in the BBC, overtly biased and a creature of the liberal left. Anyway, here is where you can detail the bias!
Boris Johnson was interrupted 57 times on the Andrew Marr Show today; PM was only intrerrupted 23 times two weeks ago. #marr
Andrew Marr when interviewing Boris Johnson (40 mins) misquoted by omission Gerard Lyons, suggesting that he said Brexit would entail a period of dislocation, uncertainty and job loss in the transition…there would be, Marr told us, a period when people lose their jobs using a quote from Lyons to back that up….this is what Lyons actually said….
Leaving the EU will come with transition costs. While the UK public may want quick wins, the most important thing will be stability, a road map for the future and a clear strategic vision. Just as a new government may require one or two full terms to implement its manifesto, likewise it will take a number of years to repatriate powers and laws to our country.
Brexit will be an economic shock. We encounter such events throughout our own lives, when we move house or change jobs. Unless planned for they can be disruptive. That doesn’t mean growth will contract or jobs will be lost, but investment plans may temporarily be put on hold.
Marr then quotes, I paraphrase… ‘Leaving the EU is always worse than the alternative…’….a quote chosen you might suspect to put a very negative spin on Brexit..…But that is giving an impression so far from what Lyons thinks about the EU and Brexit it’s untrue…literally untrue…….
Leaving the EU would be an economic shock. Most, if not all, economic shocks depress economic activity. Thus economic forecasts that focus on, say, a couple of years ahead would tend to show that leaving the EU is always worse than the alternative. In compiling the Europe Report we felt it would be more meaningful to look at the likely impact longer-term, rather than just the initial shock period. Indeed the very fact that this referendum is taking place, four decades after the previous referendum, appears to support the case for a longer-term view.
Why does Marr not quote all the stuff Lyons says in favour of Brexit? Marr has deliberately plucked out a half a quote in order to back up a false claim that Lyons says Brexit will be worse for the UK….something Lyons clearly does not think…..as his Tweets confirm as he responds to Marr’s piece…..
Lyons himself is not impressed with Marr’s misuse of his words…..
Trump isn’t anti-migrant or anti-Muslim…he wants to stop illegal migration and temporarily control Muslim entry to the US until they work out how to deal with the threat of Islamic State infiltrators who aim to kill as many Americans as possible…..many established Hispanics support Trump’s statement as they see the vast numbers of poor Mexicans as a threat to their livelihoods…whilst the Democrats want an open door policy because those vast numbers of poor Mexicans will usually vote Democrat…in the same way that Labour hoped immigrants to the UK would vote Labour.
Many middle-class, non-immigrant Hispanics worry that large-scale migration will undermine their hard-earned status as core Americans, impoverish their neighborhoods, drive up crime, worsen local schools and compete for jobs. Polls show the growing support for conservatives policies as Hispanics families root themselves in America — but the polls also show how the growing number of poor Hispanic immigrants keeps refreshing the Democratic supermajority among Hispanic voters.
The BBC for some reason doesn’t have a bad word to say about Obama rigging the election by importing millions of potential Democrat voters.
Let’s not forget this when the BBC attacks Trump for his comments about controlling Muslim immigration…Obama said……‘we are at war with ISIL’…
After the San Bernardino killings in December 2015, Obama acknowledged in a televised address to the nation that the US was at war, a concession he must have made with some reluctance.
At war? Who with exactly? Of what religion are they exactly? If you’re at war then you have to take measures to control those who may adhere to the enemy’s ideology….the US didn’t just stop Japanese immigration after 1941 they interned all Japanese, even those born in the US.
Obama tries to have his cake and eat it by attacking Trump and then admitting some Muslim communities are radicalised…
If we’re to succeed in defeating terrorism we must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate.
That does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has spread within some Muslim communities. This is a real problem that Muslims must confront, without excuse.
President Obama ended his address by saying, “Let’s not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear.” What he probably should have added is that freedom, to be more powerful than terror, must be successfully protected.
Jim Naughtie, along with the rest of the BBC, really seems to have it in for Donald Trump, or ‘The Donald’ as he calls him in a juvenile attempt to belittle him.
Here’s Craig’s transcript of what Naughtie claimed Trump said and what he actually said….you might agree that what Naughtie missed out was rather important to the context and meaning…
Here’s a transcription of what listeners heard on The World at One. Would you really have assumed straight way that Donald Trump was talking specifically about Islamic State from this?:
James Naughtie:On international security you hear The Donald in full flow. This isn’t language the State Department would ever use, Nor a plan that any previous American administration would have contemplated.
Donald Trump: I would bomb the shit out of ’em. I would just bomb those suckers. And, that’s right, I’d blow up the pipes. I’d blow up the refin….I’d blow up every single inch, and there would be nothin’ left. And you know what? You’ll get Exon to come in there and in two months…you ever seen these guys, how good they are, the great oil companies? They’ll rebuild that sucker, brand new. It will be beautiful. And I’d ring it, and I’d take the oil.
For context, here’s a fuller version of what Donald Trump said:
Donald Trump: ISIS is making a tremendous amount of money because they have certain oil camps, right? They have certain areas of oil that they took away. They have some in Syria, some in Iraq. I would bomb the shit out of ’em. I would just bomb those suckers. And, that’s right, I’d blow up the pipes. I’d blow up the refin….I’d blow up every single inch, and there would be nothin’ left. And you know what? You’ll get Exon to come in there and in two months…you ever seen these guys, how good they are, the great oil companies? They’ll rebuild that sucker, brand new. It will be beautiful. And I’d ring it, and I’d take the oil.
Craig says…
What’s puzzling me here is that what Donald Trump actually said is pretty jaw-dropping, isn’t it? So why would any critic of Donald Trump (especially a BBC one) want – or need – to gild the ‘offensive’ lily any more?
But actually as with much that Trump says there is more than an element of truth to it and his ideas are essentially what most people probably think but don’t articulate in such a forceful manner.
In fact both the British and US government think he’s right as they carry out that exact policy of ‘bombing the shit’ out of IS oil assets…
The US-led bombing campaign against Isil has cut its oil revenues and squeezed its finances to a point where it is cutting fighters’ salaries, according to a new report.
Just hours after military action was approved, four British Tornado jets took off from their base in Cyprus to attack Islamic State targets in Syria. The first bombs were dropped on the Omar oil refineries in the east, that it’s believed were used to fund the terror group.
And as for what he said about Mexicans…
“[Mexico] are sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and their rapists,” the business mogul said.
US Gen Philip Breedlove said they were “weaponising” migration to destabilise and undermine the continent.
He also suggested that criminals, extremists and fighters were hiding in the flow of migrants.
Not a peep out of the BBC or the Guardian or all the others who attacked Trump for his comments so vocally.
Why are British prisons so full of foreigners now? Open the borders and allow anyone to come here unchecked and uncontrolled and what do you expect? The BBC et al don’t give a damn about the people murdered, the women raped, the thousands of victims of crime who wouldn’t be victims if we had proper border controls….they tried to whitewash Cologne, blame Paris and London on anyone but the people who carried out the attacks, and avoid associating any crime with immigrants….preferring not to mention ethnicity or religion if possible….such as in Rotherham where the BBC’s cover up still continues.
After David’s post on Somalia I thought this piece might be of interest and open a few eyes at the BBC whose narratives on Empire, colonialism and immigration are increasingly naive…..Diaspora Somalis are seen as ‘foreigners’ who do not integrate, destabilise Somali society which the Somalis want to keep ‘pure and authentically Somali’ and are acting like colonialists wanting to improve the natives…….
Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, is transformed between June and September every year as Somalilanders arrive from Europe, north America, the Gulf and the rest of Africa. Traffic jams clog the rough roads, salons fill up, hipster beards and skinny jeans appear, hijabs slip and skirt hems rise. It’s an important boost to the local economy.
Recently, though, appreciation for the returnees has shown signs of ebbing away, and there are a growing number of complaints about the visitors: that London boys are selling drugs from their hire cars; that gangs from Copenhagen are fighting gangs from other countries; that girls from Toronto are teaching local girls to dress and behave improperly.
Sign up to our Bookmarks email Read more The nationalities of those blamed change regularly, but the persistent refrain is “those” people are bringing their “foreign” ways to a country that the year-round residents are trying to keep pure and authentically Somali. At night, checkpoints at regular distances throughout Hargeisa maintain surveillance on diaspora youths and enforce cultural norms. Somaliland’s financial dependence on remittances sent by those who work overseas adds a further layer of tension and mutual hostility.
“Diaspora” is an ancient word that applies to many Britons. I have always felt myself part of one; from lullabies and superstitions to baby names and funeral rites, there are times when my roots on another continent blossom in my everyday life. For most members of a diaspora, perhaps Jewish, Indian or Somali, the relationship to the “motherland” is a complex, demanding and sometimes maddening one. You are both of it and beyond it, an insider and an outsider simultaneously. Called upon yet often ignored.
The reaction of Hargeisa’s diaspora visitors to this new antagonism varies widely: some accept the status quo and absorb the prevailing attitudes as the correct ones; some diplomatically maintain one public face and another private one; others push the boundaries and insist on acting just as they would at home. Simple decisions such as whether to wear trousers can become for women a radical act; similarly for men with earrings. This constant navigation can be exhausting and can lead to another form of them and us. A semi-colonial relationship rears its head, in which the “white man’s burden” is replaced with the “diaspora’s burden” – to enlighten, to change, to fix. A desire to return to make a positive change can sour when faced with suspicion and contempt, and turn into a belief that local Somalis are corrupt, backward, dishonest and all those other tropes that colonial officials perpetuated.
Jama Musse Jama, a mathematician and publisher from Pisa, Italy, returned after a 20-year absence to establish the Hargeisa book fair in 2008 and last year moved there permanently to establish and run the Hargeisa cultural centre. He is driven by a desire to celebrate literature, inspire debate and create a space for Somali arts. Sitting in his office, surrounded by ancient manuscripts from a religious order in Berbera, his work seems academic and peaceful; but it’s not always that way. This year there was much more vocal opposition to the book fair but Jama knows that he can only overcome it by reaching out to religious leaders, the government and the community itself. This commitment to staying and working with the local population is the necessary ingredient to making a successful return, it seems.
Growing up, I always assumed I would return to Somaliland, to “make a difference” and to reconnect with a place I was so abruptly torn away from. In those 30 years I have changed dramatically and so has my home city. I am one of those summer visitors and I see much that I identify with and much that I don’t. I intend to spend more time there, working in the arts and with organisations that work with vulnerable children, but I hope that the welcome I expect will still be offered in the years to come.
Here’s an interesting tip off I received in the mail. It concerns the BBC enforcing Islam compliance with regard to headscarfs. It shows how the BBC caves when it comes to Islamic bullying. How can we trust it when it does not trust itself?
“The BBC World Service has censored a video of its OWN JOURNALIST reading a news bulletin because Islamists complained she was not wearing a headscarf. The journalist works for the BBC Somali service which is paid for by BBC Licence Fee. The decision was made by BBC Africa Editor Solomon Mugenra and agreed by senior BBC managers.
Why, when the BBC is so interested in FGM and women’s rights, does it ignore a book by Elham Manea, a Muslim, that says the Islamic laws that some sharia courts in the UK propagate are more antiquated and extreme than in parts of Pakistan, courts that enforce laws that condone wife beating, ignore marital rape, allow men to have 4 wives and give the father ultimate power over everything his daughter does?
She says that the courts increase segregation, inequality and discrimination and eventually foment political instability and home-grown terrorism.
Surely some eye-catching statements there…and yet the BBC has ignored them preferring instead to keep feeding us conservative Islamic propaganda from the MCB through the ‘moderate’ voice of Ibrahim Mogra….the same MCB that says these same Sharia courts ‘perform an important function.’
Why is her book, ‘Women and Sharia Law’, not on Book of the Week?….after all the BBC instantly, the day it was published, put on corrupt Muslim cop, Ali Dizaei’s book, on the programme because it made lurid claims about police discrimination against him…the BBC is ever drawn to claims of racism for some reason…but only racism by white people.
The BBC is however quick to get a quote off her if it can be used to condemn Saudi Arabia (She is of Yemeni descent)…ironically the BBC complaining about the same Islamic laws that are being introduced into the UK…and yet it remains silent about that whilst being very vocal about the far distant Saudi Arabia.
The BBC has also ignored another major book…a biography of Tony Blair…..which the Daily Mail led with most of the week and the BBC studiously ignored even in its papers review….which was remarkable given its dominance in the Mail’s coverage….but of course you can understand the BBC’s reluctance when you know the contents of the book and how they are so diametrically opposed to the narrative that the BBC has spun for so many years about immigration….
‘I suppose throwing rocks at a tree does resemble, a little, the Muslim ritual of “stoning the Devil” on the hajj during Eid al-Adha, in which pious Muslims pelt three walls with seven stones apiece. Laura [The scientist who observed the chimp behaviour] did not make this connection – perhaps because buried within her is a certain valuable instinct for survival. I have mentioned it because, of late, I have become bored with my head and do not much mind being separated from it.’
It is in fact an interesting theological question…How would ISIS deal with religious monkeys? They have no pockets so can’t really pay the protection money tax, they can’t really convert, or can they?, so will they have to be exiled or killed? And what of the females? Not even going there!
BELIEF in the values of the BBC entitles an employee to the same protection at work as faith in Christianity, Islam and the world’s other leading religions, a review for the state equality quango has concluded.
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Christopher Hope 
Gerard Lyons 
