Weekend Open Thread

Time for a new one of these….The BBC has given up all pretence of being impartial as it ‘reports’ on the EU referendum which gives us plenty to talk about….the floor is yours….

Bookmark the permalink.

216 Responses to Weekend Open Thread

  1. chrisH says:

    http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/homeless-man-chalks-out-antieu-book-on-pavement-in-trafalgar-square-a3262881.html
    What a nice story-and how come we`re not hearing or seeing more from Dan Hannan-a formidable debater?

       27 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      If Brexit wins. We should all attempt to jump into his drawings while singing “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”

         5 likes

    • Manonclaphamomnibus says:

      Err pity his analysis is rubbish. The problem with the EU is exactly the same problem with the UK and the US for that matter. It is called neoliberalism . What a recent paper from the IMF clearly pointed out that the neoliberalist agena of the last 4 decades has not resulted in greater wealth ,but rather increasing inequality and a corresponding decline in demand. In short what we are staring at is another financial collapse, which incidently has already started. Anyone know how increasing inequality is played out? The EU debate presents a false choice. You wont get democracy or any sort of local accountability whilst our government supports the neoliberal agenda of cutting the state and banking on the growth of enterprise and most importantly encouraging worldwide trade deals. Local democracy requires local control and management of economic resources. And by the way the answer to the above question is War!

         2 likes

      • Mike Hunt says:

        Troll alert (again)

           2 likes

        • Manonclaphamomnibus says:

          Mike Hunt

          If thats all you can come up with in the face of quite reasonable comments then you really dont have anything to say do you.

             1 likes

        • Marvin says:

          Your definition of “troll” being anyone who has an opinion different from yours?

             0 likes

          • Mike Hunt says:

            Internet troll

            From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

            In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3] often for their own amusement.

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

               4 likes

  2. SpinningReith says:

    I’m sure the BBC will be praying for rain.

       19 likes

  3. chrisH says:

    Oh-and joining Sir Ian Botham in the Pantheon of the Great Patriotic War of 2016 are…John Barnes, and David James!
    Maybe we should pledge to support any teams that feature players who will say no to the EU.
    Neither player mattered to me back when they were playing for assorted Scouse type teams-but I will now look `em up on Youtube!
    Wir sind alles Liverpool heute!
    http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/david-james-and-john-barnes-brexit-would-boost-homegrown-english-football-talent-a3262991.html?utm_content=buffer0d4bd&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

       13 likes

    • Fred Basset says:

      Oh no, Calamity James, we’re doomed!

         7 likes

    • Englands Dreaming says:

      It would be interesting if Beeb got a comment from John Barnes about the latest Gazza story.

      Paul Gascoigne: Ex-Spurs player to be charged with racial abuse
      http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36451693

         8 likes

      • NISA says:

        Or indeed the thoughts of one of the BBC’s Euro 16 team, Rio Ferdinand. Still offered the corporation’s shilling despite his racial slur against Ashley Cole – calling him a “choc ice”.

           17 likes

  4. Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

    One of the problems with Biased BBC (and it’s nobody’s fault, simply implicit in the theme of the site) is that, in order to comment on perceived bias, one first has to listen to or watch disagreeable material which one might prefer to avoid. I have been busy recently and listened to Radio 4 less than normal (‘normal’ is decreasing, in any case, compared to 10 or 20 years ago).

    Some things don’t change. The News Quiz on Friday evening was woeful: unfunny and very biased. It’s all so predictable, the attacks on Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Tories, the police et al. I forced myself to listen and regretted it. Disappointing also has been the slot called something like the Chris Mason EU Referendum news desk (on ‘PM’ at around 5:30 pm on weekdays). The attempts at humour usually fall flat, though they point out one or two amusing oddities. The main problem is, again, the predictability of it: some foreign dignitary is wheeled out to say it would be better for the UK to stay in (but doesn’t say for whom it might be better); meanwhile, one of the bad guys (Boris, Farage, …) is heard in a sound clip getting into a slight altercation with a member of the public, leaving the (intended?) impression that they are ‘divisive’ and ‘controversial’ and, well, not nice, not ‘like us’. It seems like yet more subtle bias, because favoured people don’t get that sort of treatment, e.g. reports on the US Presidential race don’t show Mrs Clinton getting tangled, only Trump.

       80 likes

    • engineerdownunder says:

      Yeah, The News Quiz with Jeremy Vine and that bolshy scottish fella. Both pompous know left wing alls. Although I did find myself amused when Vine without a hint of self-knowledge criticised Cameron for lecturing people.

         35 likes

    • Manonclaphamomnibus says:

      The question really is whether the attacks on the Brexit people you mention are justified. Given the whole of their argument boils down to a spurious attack on immigration,when the official leave campaign recognises its necessity, or spurious notions of new economic ties outside the EU it is quite clear that these people are quite clueless. Moreover the calibre of these characters is easily discerned by their complete inability in office. Johnson did absolutely nothing in London over his 8 year tenure, IDS ,a complete embarrassment, and Gove , a man that a couple of days ago says we dont need experts, has pretty much destroyed the education system. I think it would be slightly more honest if these very silly people just came out with a slogan of ‘send them all home’ which is pretty much the underlying motive for most Brexit voters I have come across.

         1 likes

  5. Sinniberg says:

    Muhammad Ali has passed away and the BBC are in full black-power support. The half-page sized headline this morning couldn’t have been bigger.

    Now, due respect to a man who has died and due respect for his achievments.

    But, from what I’ve seen and watched of Muhamid Ali what I see is a man full of anger and even hatred(towards whites). I don’t dispute the historic black and white issues of America but spitting out anger and blaming every white person for the problem isn’t going to solve the issue.

    The interview(linked on the BBC website) with Michael Parkinson was painful and reveals his under-lying anger. Interestingly enough, he also talks about “Allah”……

    Oh and “Obama: I keep a pair of his gloves”.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36452639

       54 likes

    • Soapbox says:

      It’s time the BbC website had an Obituaries Page so that all the luvvies can be eulogised there and not impose themselves on the main site. Then they can have mega-mega fest which could be everlasting and we need NEVER visit that page!

         37 likes

    • nogginator says:

      “what I see is a man full of anger and even hatred(towards whites). I don’t dispute the historic black and white issues of America but spitting out anger and blaming every white person for the problem isn’t going to solve the issue”.
      Well dude … that’s the nation of Islam for you, of course glossed over by Al BBC today
      Spiteful, Racist … Islamic … and Black! black Panthers and all that.
      but hey #black lives matter to the biased bulls-t concocters, don t ya know!

      Ali was a great great boxer, and great self publicist, a voice in the rights issues of the time … and a rebel
      not all sweetness and light, but the racist Al BBC are on pant wetting overload.
      In other news
      BBC – A panel should be set up to advise South Yorkshire Police on how to deal with far-right protest marches in Rotherham, a report has said.
      The review said the panel would help … ahem “limit the negative impact” of demonstrations on the town.
      It was commissioned by Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings after Muslim groups boycotted the force following a Britain First march in September 2015. The force said it hoped such a panel would be of “significant benefit”.
      so to summarise … Still going on, still complicit, still trying to cover it up,
      Yep, biggest case so far, 25 this time, bigger than Rotherham totally ignored by msm last month up in Leeds
      About to be dwarfed oh yes, with an upcoming 261 suspects and 188 victims. up in Keighley.
      Reliable info on the situation and its cover up?
      most up to date
      https://t.co/JSi1fsq8ev

      https://youtu.be/74CL_rLuZBo

         17 likes

  6. CranbrookPhil says:

    Nothing to do with the BBC, but this was sent me. It ought to be made known better.

    “Our rulers – Mrs Merkel and M. Hollande – have demanded that all European countries take their “fair share” of the (mainly Muslim) migrant hordes over-running Europe’s apparently unguarded borders.

    But how do you decide what a “fair share” is? Merkel and Hollande try to link the number of migrants to each country’s GDP as that will ensure Britain gets landed with most of the flood of human beings pouring into Europe.

    But why not link the number of refugees each country takes to its population density?

    Here is how it works out.

    Europe’s most densely populated country is England.

    England’s population density is 413 people per square kilometre (413 ppl/km2).

    Now, how many refugees would the main European countries need to take for them to reach the same population density as Europe’s most densely populated country – England?

    To reach the same population density as England (413 ppl/km2), Germany could take 67 million migrants, France could accommodate a whopping 160 million and Spain and even larger 161 million.

    And our close neighbours in Scotland have room for over 25 million! That should please Socialist Sturgeon.

    In all, just thirteen European countries could accommodate more than 680 million migrants before reaching the same population density as England.

    Well. That seems to solve the problem of deciding how countries should take their “fair share” of the migrant swarm. So, using my calculations, there’s no need for Europe’s most densely populated country – England – to take any migrants at all and our friends in these other countries can comfortably absorb over 680 million migrants.

    That seems to me to be giving each country the “fair share” that Merkel and Hollande demand!

    It is very fair and politically correct to argue that England is full for now.”

       111 likes

    • Oaknash says:

      Our fair share will be the trouble makers Merkel doesnt want – fortunately Dave and May will be pleased to have them cos it increases our GDP. I am sure they wont increase any costs on our NHS, housing, courts etc.

         52 likes

      • Oaknash says:

        CP – It appears to me that the supreme irony in this whole situation is that Merkel made this whole situation ten times worse by flinging the doors of Europe open to all and sundry.

        So after making a cock up on an absolutely monumental scale – she expects rest of Europe to commit cultural hari kari by taking our “fair share”

        To add to that she then tells us that if we leave the EU we wont have a say at the top “table” – I am afraid she can shove her top table up into the place where the sun dont shine – I expect theres plenty of room up there after all these EU funded banquets – looks more than ample.

        We all saw how much influence being at the top table with Merkel has with the “Big Deal” the Boy David bought home.

        Forgive me but I am having a Basil Fawlty moment. Stupid bint has set her own country on the road to ruination and wishes to drag the rest of the EU down with her because she is too gutless or stupid too admit she has made a mistake and set about putting it right which would involve hard decisions.

        And despite all of this Dave still wants to be part of this rapidly failing experiment and has employed the whole of the state machinery to try and achieve that end. Thick, stupid,naive or just a traitor – dont care but he has certainly shown his mettle on this one. Fortunately people may just be starting to catch on.

        The sooner he goes the better.

           65 likes

    • Al Shubtill says:

      Solid post CP.

         11 likes

      • G.W.F. says:

        Somehow I cannot think of this mess as solely the fault of stupid Merkel. Sure she is stupid as May is a stupid Homes Secretary who cannot allow a terrorist to leave, but they have advisors and indeed Saudi paymasters which suggests some kind of plan to transform Europe. The really stupid are our liberals, many Christians of the Interfaith outfits, academic and the media who support the destruction of Europe

           16 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      This has been going on for months! Don’t you follow the news? This is what is causing the rift in the EU with sanctions and voting suspension against Poland and Hungary.
      It doesn’t affect the UK because we have an opt out, but it illustrates exactly who is running Europe as Merkel attempts to mitigate her solo attempt to Islamise Europe on behalf of her Saudi masters.

         17 likes

    • manchesterlad says:

      As we know all these immigrants are such a benefit to the country that takes them, it does seem rather selfish of Britain to take all these benefits away from Germany.

      I vote that we – self sacrificing as ever – say to Merkel “No thanks very much, but we feel this time we will allow you to accrue all the benefits from this latest influx, no need to feel we must have our fair share. We won’t be offended”

         13 likes

  7. The Old Bloke says:

    A short video of what Hitler thinks of the new ‘Top Gear’ show:

       23 likes

  8. Fred Bloggs says:

    Nice of the bBC to let us know that the unelected head of the undemocratic EUSSR is a piss head. https://youtu.be/XPgiI46FCDU I am sure they said they wanted to tell us the facts about the EUSSR. I could not find this clip in their factcheck, some mistake surely!!!!

       37 likes

    • Al Shubtill says:

      Why hasn’t that been reported by the MSM?
      As one of the YouTube comments states: if that had been Trump it would have been broadcast 24/7.
      To think this drunken oaf is the head of European Commission and this performance is unreported.

      The other good comment was that they would like to see him try to do that to Putin; though I’m not sure he was anywhere near drunk enough here to attempt that.

         36 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Long been known that Junkbond is a drunken sot, whose legendary corrupt incompetence in regard of Luxembourg/EU funding arrangements are very Blatter…and blotto in this example.
        No chance of a “Booze At work” blitz in Brussels is there?-God knows we`ve got enough sobersides nannies working for the NHS here, who`d happily get the birch twigs out and chase Juncker and his boozehounds round the Berlaymont,
        But-seeing as the whole intention is to create a EUSSR Soviet Union-being permanently pissed with bad BO and manners means he`s either channeling Yeltsin or Brezhnev…we`ll soon see which he is.

           19 likes

        • john in cheshire says:

          Juncker was drunker than a skunker, lol. What could be funnier than a diminutive nonentity from an insignificant country making a fool of himself in front of the world?

             13 likes

    • Number 7 says:

      Set to music!!

         13 likes

    • Fred Bloggs says:

      For those confused as to who is in charge of the EU and where Juncker sits in the hierarchy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW6QHYmffEs

         7 likes

      • Mike Hunt says:

        Thanks Fred, top sketch – I think the blank faces on the PM and his aide say it all!! 🙂

           5 likes

  9. Soapbox says:

    This was sent to me by a friend. Thought it might raise a smile on a dire night of BBCTV1

    The poem the Poet Laureate should have written………

    ‘Won’t you join our Common Market?’ said the spider to the fly,
    ‘It really is a winner and the cost is not too high’
    ‘I know De Gaulle said ’’ Non’’, but he hadn’t got a clue,
    ‘We want you in, my friends and I, for we have plans for you.
    ‘You’ll have to pay a little more than we do, just for now,
    ‘As Herr Kohl said, and I agree, we need a new milch cow,
    ‘It’s just a continental term, believe me , mon ami,
    ‘Like ‘’Vive la France’’ or ‘’Mad Anglais’’ or even ‘’E.E.C.’’.
    ‘As to the rules, don’t worry friend, there’s really but a few
    ‘You’ll find that we ignore them – but they all apply to you.
    ‘Give and share between us, that’s what it’s all about,
    ‘You do all the giving, and we all share it out.
    ‘It’s very British, is it not, to help a friend in need?
    ‘You’ve done it twice in two World Wars, a fact we must concede,
    ‘So climb aboard the Market Train, don’t sit there on the side,
    ‘Your continental cousins want to take you for a ride’
    John Bolsover

       41 likes

  10. Mice Height says:

    David and Alan,
    I hate to break it to you, but the BBC is actually a Right wing propaganda machine, and extremely anti-Labour Party.
    Once you’ve confirmed this by reading the attached article and the comments below it, could you kindly remove your blog from the internet.
    Thanks.

    http://www.thecanary.co/2016/05/06/the-abysmal-local-elections-coverage-shows-the-bbc-has-moved-beyond-bias-to-pure-propaganda/

       10 likes

  11. wronged says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-36451861

    Arrests at Brighton anti-immigration demo
    In the report it states
    ‘Anti-fascists also confronted a group attending a Great Skinhead Reunion.’

    The BBC needs only to look in mirror to see an Fascist. I suspect the pro refugee groups who rallied are the real Fascist.

    It seems to me that just because skinheads have a rally, they are deemed by the BBC to be automatically guilty, they are Fascists, but what are they protesting about.
    Oh, they want to protect Britains borders and protest about Britains immigration policy, too many foreigners changing our culture. How dreadful! They are clearly Fascists. By BBC standards, I think I must also be a Fascist then also.

    I have already asked my wife ( she who cuts my hair) to give me a Number One cut tonight. I’m hoping she’ll join me. We’ll become Nanna and Grandpa skinheads.

    Pity they didn’t protest outside the house of the very,very pathetic and thoroughly useless Conservative Theresa May.

    What a weak wet pillock she is.

       52 likes

  12. Sluff says:

    Al beeb World News (am currently overseas) are masturbating themselves silly over Muhammed Ali.
    His death was the ONLY story in 45 mins coverage. Latest headline. Flags lowered in Louisville. My god. Hold the front page!
    I got more world news from watching the domestic German news bulletin and I don’t even speak the language.

    I’m old enough to remember Ali/ Clay fighting. His deserved statius as a supreme athlete and character was what made him, not some Al Beeb post event rationalisation Muslim narrative 35 years later.
    Gutter reporting as usual from Al Beeb just to please the RoPers.

       53 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      I don’t suppose the bbc’s reporting mentioned that unless Cassius accepted Jesus as his saviour before he died that he’s bound for Hell?

         9 likes

  13. Mike Hunt says:

    I am speechless. The only two EU “fact” stories appearing on the BBC’s front page are both heavily pro-Remain: The EU and Workers Rights, and Do out-of-work EU citizens have to leave? Unbelievable.

       30 likes

    • Grimer says:

      I found this nugget at the bottom of a BBC fact check

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36449294

      While Vote Leave says an overhauled system would “end discrimination” against immigrants from outside the EU, it’s unclear whether it would be worth the cost and effort of essentially replacing one points-based system with another.

      I don’t think I have ever seen the BBC question whether ‘ending discrimination’ is ‘worth the effort’. They are shameless in their hypocrisy.

         10 likes

  14. Mike Hunt says:

    Not on the BBC: Shanty towns in suburbia: Migrants working for just £40 a day are found living in squalid conditions in makeshift camps around London http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

       22 likes

  15. Doyle says:

    I didn’t watch it but here’s the Daily Mail’s blurb for tonight’s The Musketeers:-

    ‘Paris’s refugees are framed for stealing grain during a time of famine.’

    Wikipedia expands on that a little.

    The corrupt Governor of Paris conspires with the Duke de Beaufort, primary provider of food for Paris, to stage a robbery of the city’s granary and pin it on the refugees, only to later sell the stolen grain back to the King at an inflated price. D’Artagnan is taken captive along with the rioting refugees, and the other Musketeers (along with D’Artagnan’s wife Constance, now in charge of the Musketeer garrison) must rescue them from the hands of the Red Guard before they are executed.

    Innocent refugees check. Woman musketeer check. Corrupt upper class check.
    They never give up do they?

       32 likes

  16. Mike Hunt says:

    Another cheeky bit of BBC propaganda, from their article Reality Check: Is immigration hopelessly out of control?

    But would leaving the EU really mean immigration came crashing down? In theory, the UK could put a block on any more EU citizens coming to live here, and that could cut the net migration figures in half at a stroke.

    But if that were going to happen to EU migrants, why hasn’t it already happened to non-EU migrants?

    The UK isn’t bound to accept them by any international treaties, but nevertheless let 277,000 of them move over last year alone.

    The article doesn’t answer its own snide question, but the big difference is of course that every single one of the non-EU migrants would have had a work permit for the job they were coming to do. And, to get that work permit, their employer would have had to show that there were no suitable UK applicants, ie that we actually needed the immigrant’s skills.

    The second thing they cunningly “forgot” to mention is that every single one of these work permits would have been issued under the UK’s points-based 5 tier visa system. It’s funny how they continue to insinuate that this is something which only exists in Australia and which Leave would have to invent from scratch after independence leaving the EU, when we already have one and it’s working very well thank you.

    The Blatent Bias Corporation at its finest.

       48 likes

  17. BRISSLES says:

    Clearly the Beeb need to justify paying Lineker mega millions, so he’s now even looking more of a prat in full pantomime dress, along with Alan Shearer and the other one who doesn’t know there is a T in the alphabet – oh yes Rio Ferdinand, in the promo ad for Euro 16. I shudder to think what that’s cost me in paying for all the cast of thousands alongside them, equally dressed in fancy gear !

       29 likes

  18. DavidS says:

    Just wondered if anyone here bothers watching Have I Got News For You?

    Is it just me or is Ian Hislop trying just a bit too hard to please his paymasters?

    To listen to him you’d think he was a rabid lefty – always having a go at Farage etc. Paul Merton meanwhile, though undoubtedly a lefty, remains restrained compared to the shrill, virtue-signalling , ex-public school Hislop – a Tory if ever there was one.

    Just goes to show that these people will literally sat anything to keep his place on the BBC gravy train. Oh, he’s a rabid remainer too, surprise, surprise. Mind you when he’s following the anti-UKIP, pro-EU script if you observe him closely you can just about see the discomfort.

       30 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      It’s money for old rope. There’s no way he would ever rock the boat and risk such a sweet gig. I don’t think Peter Cook would be impressed, he always bit the hand that fed him, as a matter of principle. Mind you, Hislop has probably got school fees to pay, so…

         22 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      All five of them seemed to agree that they were ignorant of the issues surrounding any decision on whether to vote to leave the European Union or not, so they are all going to vote “Remain”

      A growing problem for the BBC is the fact that the average viewer is probably more informed by reading the Daily Mail, than BBC staff, who are selected from an inferior group of middle-class lefties who are ignorant of society because they live in a “Safe” fantasy world, by reading the Guardian newspaper, which seems to depend on journalists who write made up fictional stories.

      Also as is evident, the BBC’s political comedians are ignorant of political structures and institutions and the BBC’s best scientific experts are ignorant of atmospheric physics.

      So they all agree with David Cameron and Tony Blair on Climate Change and the European Union.

      But Ian Hislop is editor of Private Eye, so he should at least have access to knowledge of how the EU works, if not as much as experts such as Nigel Farage. And I am sure that Private Eye has been sent information about the Climate science con by many sources, but I was told that it seems to fly over the empty head of Hislop, into the bin in his office. So HIGNFY wont be inviting any MP with a science degree, or the brother of the Labour leader.

         29 likes

  19. Charlatans says:

    I do wish the BBC would have St Michael on Thought for The Day.

       0 likes

  20. taffman says:

    The former Labour leader and European Commissioner said young voters should ignore claims made by Brexit supporters, dismissing their promises as “pure fantasy” and “pants”, adding that “none of the figures add up”.

    Please Note – “The former Labour leader and European Commissioner”
    He would say that wouldn’t he !
    A Millionaire and a socialist, but where did his millions come from ? Erm, yes the figures don’t add up…….
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36447926

       31 likes

  21. HenryWood says:

    I have just been watching a recording of a rather fine documentary called “Addicted To Sheep”, originally broadcast by the BBC. I watched this after downloading it from Usenet and it was the whole programme from beginning to end and as usual, I should perhaps not have been so upset and disappointed at the continuity announcers’ end to the programme.

    The programme in itself I found to be rather fantastic – rather along the lines of the Hannah Hauxwell stories, except brought very much more up to date. Every single one of the family was involved in the work of rearing and caring for their sheep. The children especially seemed to know what was involved concerning animals – the good and the bad! Even the schoolroom scenes gave some hope about future generations.

    And then … and then … AND BLOODY THEN … just to spoil the whole glowing feeling of having seen something very, very nice on the BBC …

    … As the programme came to an end, up pops the now common “split-screen” …

    *AND* … along comes a “trailer”, set in half a screen on the right, whilst the credits for the just finished “Addicted To Sheep” documentary were still running on the left split-screen, and these were for the ‘next’ programme, and I quote:

    /QUOTE:

    “And the deeper meaning of foods in the lives of Londons’ everchanging immigrant communities is tonight on BBC4, catering to a rapidly evolving city at London’s fruit & veg market: “The Fruit and Veg Market: Inside *NEW* Spitalfields” : *NEXT*

    \END QUOTE

    So, we have just had a very, very well produced and very well filmed documentary created by the BBC, and as old blokes like me are sitting appreciating these [now very] occasional well produced, almost masterpieces, from our national broadcaster and saying, “Now, that’s how it used to be!”

    Well … they just can’t help themselves, can they?

    Who do you suppose decided to interpose that absolutely alien message about the “deeper meaning of foods in the lives of Londons’ everchanging immigrant communities” just as the final few seconds of a rather brilliant documentary about *English* sheep farmers in the Pennines happened to be coming to an end?

       35 likes

    • Oldspeaker says:

      Should so called BBC ever choose to repeat the coverage of Hannah Hauxwell lets hope Steven…

      “We’ve kind of got to tell a lie. We’ll go back into history and there will be black people where, historically, there wouldn’t have been, and we won’t dwell on that.”

      …Moffat is kept well away. I’m tired of being oppressed and having my culture appropriated, if you want to appreciate my culture then that’s a different matter, but you need to learn about it first. You are hurting my community Mr. Moffat,
      you are trivialising my need to be affirmed and undermining the true meaning of my cultures components, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum. Just lifted (or culturally appropriated?) the last couple of lines from a random rabid foaming at the mouth lefty hate speech site, but you get the idea, whats good for the goose. While browsing for said site I found this link, Lord preserve us, is this the kind of nonsense that keeps these people up at night?

      8 Signs Your Yoga Practice Is Culturally Appropriated – And Why It Matters
      http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/05/yoga-cultural-appropriation/

         13 likes

  22. Helena Hand-Basket says:

    The last thread contained a rather funny post about a US school that tailored maths problems to ethnic minorities. I wonder whether the BBC’s question sheets for job candidates are specially written to suit them – such as:

    BBC TEST FOR JOB APPLICANTS

    One hour is allowed for this test paper. But chill out, boys and girls (and, of course, the undecided), because there’s a ‘safe space’ room next door where you can go for a latte if any of the questions deal with racism, sexism or homophobia. Please note there are not necessarily any ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. We just need to know whether you’ll fit in with our organisation.

    1. Tristram receives a hundred pounds from his wind-farm investment. He spends nine pounds of it on organic groceries, ten pounds on a line of cocaine and eighty pounds on a Billy Bragg concert. Does he have enough left to buy a copy of the Guardian?

    (a) Um, I think so.
    (b) No, he has only a pound left, so the poor sod will have to make do with that cheapo fascist rag the Daily Mail.
    (c) Darling, I always read Mummy and Daddy’s Graun, and I’ve no idea what anything costs.
    (d) Can I have the name of Tristram’s dealer? Wow, only a tenner!
    (e) I’m too stoned to add up the numbers, but if you let me remove my ethically sourced sandals and socks I’ll try counting on my toes.

    2. The correct way to refer to Donald Trump in a news report is:

    (a) Controversial
    (b) Divisive
    (c) US Republican presidential candidate
    (d) Racist, Nazi bastard
    (e) Anything you like, as long as you accompany it with a really patronising, sneering smirk

    3. Something is wrong with the following sentence: ‘To fully acomodate the homeless would be dificcult in todays Britain.’ Is it:

    (a) It fails to blame Tory cuts.
    (b) It should be translated into Urdu and Polish for the sake of equal opportunities and a diverse workforce.
    (c) It contains spelling errors, a missed apostrophe and a split infinitive (but I mean that in a non-elitist way).
    (d) Who cares about all that bourgeois, archaic grammar and spelling bollocks when we’re discussing the injustices of the capitalist system?
    (e) The test discriminates unjustly against dyslexics.

    Sorry, but I’ve run out of time and ideas for any more.

       53 likes

  23. Richard Pinder says:

    1975 Oxford Union Debate on Brexit. Worth watching. Today at 10pm on BBC Parliament, Freeview Channel 131.

    Remain supporter, Edward Heath (David Cameron)
    Versus
    Brexit supporter, Barbara Castle (Kate Hoey)

    Also some interesting facts:

    1975, eight Tory MP’s support Brexit
    2016, eight Labour MP’s support Brexit

    1975, all SNP MP’s are for Brexit
    2016: all SNP MP’s are for Remain

       22 likes

  24. Mike Hunt says:

    1975 Oxford Union Debate on Brexit: Barbara Castle: “The Union was crammed. And what was quite clear, even before we started the debate, was that the Undergraduates were overwhelmingly in favour of staying in. It was the most pro-European meeting of the Oxford Union I’ve ever attended.”

    No wonder the Blatantly Biased Corporation is re-running it.

       29 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      It was interesting nonetheless. One had to get past the shock at the awful hair and clothing of the mid 1970s, but the fact was that Peter Shaw and Barbara Castle argued in a factual way, and have been proven right by subsequent events. The remain side was represented by two mendacious and glib homosexuals, only one of whom, as far as we know, ever tried to have a gay lover murdered.

      The Europhilia of the Oxford Union was marked, the vote was something like 490 to 90 to stay in the EEC. I hope the split would not be anything like that now. In 1975 people had the excuse that we had only been in the EEC for two years, and wanted to give it a fair try. Well we have done that now, the EEC is the EU, and well on the road to statehood, and its single currency has shattered the economies of Southern Europe. Anyone who votes to stay in this time, knowing what we now know, needs their head examined.

         9 likes

  25. Mike Hunt says:

    Oh god they’re at it again… now the only EU fact-finder on the BBC’s home page is “What would Brexit mean for Britons travel and living abroad?”

    The UK is not part of the Schengen agreement that lets people cross internal borders without showing their passport. Nor has it adopted the euro.

    Yes, but being part of Schengen doesn’t mean we have to show our passports at every internal border; it means we have to show our passports at the first internal border, after that we are waved through along with everyone else.

    And it also means we can check the passports of EU national on the way in, unfortunately we can’t keep criminals out but they don’t mention that either.

    Glad to see they remembered we still have the pound – but they conveniently forgot to mention that the Euro is a basket case which will quickly sink the EU unless they quickly move to an ever-closer political and taxation union. And that if the EU is so important to us economically, either it’s going to hit the rocks or it will become the United States of Germany – either way, why would we want to be shackled to it?

    The argument for staying in the EU
    There is no guarantee that Britons’ current rights to live, work, travel, own property and access public services such as medical treatment in the EU would be maintained, and their continuation would depend on new agreements the UK negotiated with those nations.

    Oh right, so the French are going to confiscate our holiday homes if we leave, are they? Har har har. Keep it coming, Project Fear.

       33 likes

    • Sluff says:

      MikeH
      Enjoying the hot weather over here in selected parts of Central Europe and I can report plenty of Americans and Japanese around having a good time. Our Senegalese via Wahington DC waiter last night seemed quite relaxed and clearly working and settled.
      Hang on. None of these people are from countries in the EU. Has anyone told the Remainers?
      Seems to be a slight problem with their arguments.
      Though it is possible the S**** of Brussels could be arsey just for the sake of it. In which case……..all the more reason to leave.

         18 likes

    • Grant says:

      Mike,

      And how many French live in the UK , especially London ? In any “Tit for Tat ” between an independent UK and the EU , the EU will lose out, whether it is property, trade, tourism etc. Not that the BBC ever point this out, of course.

         20 likes

      • 60022Mallard says:

        I believe London now ranks 6th largest city by population of French people. Why would they all wish to move here? Socialism and the Euro wrecking their own country?

        Based on the area of Normandy my in-laws live in there seems not to be any great desire of Brits to die there with many retiring retiring back to the NHS, but struggling to sell their properties as they are not what the French want.

        The influx over there seemed to drop off a cliff when Gordon Brown’s 20% devaluation of sterling to the Euro happened and early retirement for teachers was greatly reduced.

           12 likes

        • 60022Mallard says:

          Oh and that nice Mr Sarkosy, fed up with shelling out for “free loading” Brits, said anyone retiring over there before the French retirement age and not taking employment (and therefore paying the very modest tax levels over there) would not be getting free medical treatment and would have to show they were insured.

          Caused some very itchy bums among those with existing conditions until he conceded that those already resident were o.k.!

          Very communautaire – Not.

          I’m sure our French correspondents will advise if I have not got it quite right.

             8 likes

          • Sluff says:

            Youve highlighted an issue which has had very little coverage. Which is how many of our issues which we label as EU issues are more to do with our civil service and their messianic zeal in goldplating EU measures? I mean, if France can do as Mallard says, and I believe him, why the hell cant we?
            I wont bore you with the details of the 2005 asbestos directive but suffice to say we in the UK spent 5 years fannying around for what took the Italians one day. There is a vested interest issue between the EU and the civil service which gets no airplay.

               7 likes

  26. thirdoption says:

    Campbell ‘in clear’ in Chilcot report

    methode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F7f40024a-2a87-11e6-91b2-4cee63678661.jpg?crop=1280,720,0,0&resize=685

    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/campbell-in-clear-in-chilcot-report-3rq5fhx22

    You have got to be kidding?

       31 likes

    • scribblingscribe says:

      I fear there will be further disappointment ahead for those who thought Chilcot would finally prove that Blair is, in fact, the eldest son of Satan, chomps on a new born baby every morning before swilling it down with live chicken blood.

      Sadly, Blair’s true fault, in the eyes of the left, is that he had the temerity to win elections and achieve things rather than wander the streets with a poster: The East Fyfe Black Lesbian Society Say NO to …’ then fill in the blank. Always ensure ‘NO’ is written in capital letters lest someone thinks you are not virtue signalling as highly as others.

      In any war there will be errors, and no doubt the Blair haters will scour the Chlicot report the way insane gold prospectors rummaged through dirt, in search of the shiny stuff.

         8 likes

      • Maria Brewin says:

        “In any war there will be errors”

        Of course there will, but it’s generally a good thing if the whole war isn’t an error in the first place.

           27 likes

        • Rob in Cheshire says:

          If the man who literally wrote the Dodgy Dossier gets let off, then the whole Chilcott inquiry will be seen as a farce.

             28 likes

        • scribblingscribe says:

          Maria, I don’t have a problem with the removal of Saddam Hussein, not so much because he was in contravention of the UN sanctions, but because he had started a number of wars, one alone of which killed a million people.

          IMO The only errors made were the abandonment of the poor sods in BASRA, but that was by Gordon Brown and trusting Sunni Muslims to not blow each other up the moment they tasted democracy.

          The final point is a little churlish as most Iraqis were in favour of the removal of Saddam and were for Democracy but a minority had explosives and the Quran.

             7 likes

          • thirdoption says:

            Scribble,

            The problem with Alistair Campbell is that he epitomises everything that was wrong with the Blair years – he lied and lied and lied again. Then the BBC offered him a platform to lie again.

            I detest the man.

               22 likes

    • Beltane says:

      Forget Chilcot then, just read Tom Bower’s book on Blair and Campbell’s lengthy and detailed part in the whole debacle. Well researched and desperately depressing reading – that’s true depression Alistair, not the alcohol induced excuse you use to cover your duplicity – and obviously of much greater value than a government-driven ‘report’.

         14 likes

      • Soapbox says:

        Beltane…I am halfway through the book and, yes, it is a good read. Not only does it go into great detail on Iraq etc but I am astonished by the amount of money they wasted throughout their time in government. And Blair’s lack of grip on economic matters was outrageous. I dislike him even more now!!!

           4 likes

  27. Colboysigma says:

    Hidden away under fluff and Human interest stories is a fascinating little piece about a horrific (but common) “honour” killing in Pakistan… Horrible event but the interesting thing is the comment piece towards the end. I reckon this will be pulled shortly because of the following quote shows Islam in a BAD light:
    “Punjab province, where the attack on her happened, passed a landmark law in February criminalising all forms of violence against women.
    However, more than 30 religious groups, including all the mainstream Islamic political parties, threatened to launch protests if the law was not repealed.”
    Possible BBC editor comment? “Nah, that can’t be right, that’s the Religion of peace and we can’t pin that on Western foreign policy. Cut it and move on to more human interest and EU-Stay propaganda.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-36445714

       27 likes

  28. AsISeeIt says:

    Tributes have been pouring in this weekend, right across the BBC, from presenters and editors anxious to reassure oneanother what good right-thinking people they are. Coinciding with the death of an exponent of a sport for which they hold little regard (and often like to debate its banning) BBC staffers have nevertheless turned this event into what is likely the GREATEST virtue-signal of time.

       29 likes

    • Grant says:

      As,

      Yes, the health risks have been played down and not much debate about how Ali’s brain damage may have affected his judgement.

         14 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Yep, Not about Ali it’s about THEM* virtue signalling

      *BBC staffers

         3 likes

  29. Thoughtful says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36451693

    Paul Gascoigne: Ex-Spurs player to be charged with racial abuse

    the complaint centred on a remark the ex-England international is said to have made about a black security guard who was in a darkened part of the stage, about whom Mr Gascoigne allegedly said he could not tell “if he was smiling or not”.

    I find it difficult to believe that such a petty remark made by someone so obviously in fragile mental health would necessitate such a draconian response from the Fascist state.

    On further reading it does appear that this remark was made on stage to an audience, and charges brought by the ever so politically correct, but hopelessly inept West Midlands Police.

    http://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2016/06/04/paul-gascoigne-charged-over-racial-joke-at-wolverhampton-civic-hall-show/

    Where is the public good in these charges? It’s just another example of the poor white second class citizens being treated in a manner different to other ethnic groups. I didn’t even know there was a crime of ‘racial abuse’ and try as I might, I haven’t been able to find reference to any one being prosecuted for it before.

    So either the BBC are not reporting this correctly and there’s a lot more to it, or the state is becoming even worse than we thought.

       43 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      By the time West Midlands police have finished with Gazza, they’ll have fitted him up for the Birmingham pub bombings.

         28 likes

      • G.W.F. says:

        If I was Gazza I would toddle along to the local mosque, see an Imam, convert, and all charges would be dropped.

           19 likes

        • Rob in Cheshire says:

          Might be a bit of a problem for an alchoholic though.

             9 likes

          • Grant says:

            Rob,

            And Ramadan is coming up and no doubt the BBC will feature that endlessly.

               15 likes

        • BRISSLES says:

          A few years ago one Sarah Kennedy (early morning radio show) was castigated for the same ‘crime’. Maintaining that she had trouble in the morning and evening gloom of seeing a black driver in a car. Actually this is not a racist remark – its a fact. I once worked with an African doctor and he drove a 4 x 4 with tinted windows – hadn’t a clue of seeing him. When I mentioned this to him, he agreed it must look like the invisible man driving with only his white shirt waving the sleeves around ! Sadly there is no humour anymore without it all becoming sodding politically offensive.

             29 likes

          • Maria Brewin says:

            “– its a fact”

            Since when has that been a defence against an accusation of racism?

               12 likes

            • G.W.F. says:

              ‘It is a fact’. An appeal to facts, to the truth, will protect you in a libel case, but against a charge of being racially offensive the truth is not relevant. What matters is that the victim claims to have been offended. It is subjective and is being milked by Islamists and left liberals who have an interest in maintaining cultural boundaries free from challenge and the possibility of change.

                 11 likes

              • thirdoption says:

                I’m offended every time someone uses the term “Brit” but the BBC use it endlessly.

                Don’t hear them using the term “Paki” so much.

                   18 likes

                • G.W.F. says:

                  Agree. Although offence is a subjective matter, in the courts and activities by the plod, it is selectively applied. Jokes about a Scottish kilt, an elderly lady wearing twin set and pearls may give offence, but won’t put the joker in jail as they would if he mocked the burka.

                     9 likes

          • chrisH says:

            Ah Sarah Kennedy!
            Miss her kind on the radio these days…so enjoy the marvellous Lisa Tarbuck while you can.
            I see only Bacon, Iain Lee and Theakston , Doolin on the horizon…so enjoy the non-PC feisty types while you can.
            The BBC will probably be going into world governance and translation services for the EU/UN by then though-seems we`re a bit parochial and undeserving of them…so simultaneous translations of Dr Who. Top Gear and Eurovision by their digital `bots will be of more importance to them.
            Tower of Babel-what of it?

               9 likes

          • Grimer says:

            I heard Nigel Farage tell the story of the time he was run over in London. He said it was dark and raining. He was wearing a long dark blue jacket. He crossed against the ‘red man’ and the lady that hit him said she hadn’t seen him. He said she expressed a lot of remorse and he believed her story.

            Sometimes in London, I see black cyclists wearing black clothes cycling at night in the rain with no lights. Motorists don’t stand a chance, but you can be sure that a defence of ‘I couldn’t see him’ wouldn’t be considered acceptable.

               11 likes

            • Al Shubtill says:

              I should think that Nigel Farage stands a very good chance of being run over in London today; even if he was wearing a hi-viz jacket in the middle of the day and standing on the pavement!

              Hate not Hope and various other charming tw@ts have him in their sights after all.

                 7 likes

      • pete ongyo says:

        The charges were not brought by the police but by the CPS. The police submitted a file of evidence to the CPS after complaints by idiots. The police advised there should be no further action. The CPS agreed and no action was taken. One of the idiots complained to the CPS about their decision and they bottled out and authorised charges. We should not blame the police for politically motivated decisions of the CPS.

           5 likes

  30. Grant says:

    The BBC website should be renamed the Muhammed Ali website. I wonder if the same coverage would have been given if he had been a white christian.

       32 likes

    • Soapbox says:

      Quite! I said earlier the BbC should have its own obituary page where luvvies anonymous can be immortalised forever. Being a separate page, we would never need to go there!

         2 likes

  31. Maria Brewin says:

    Put on Sky news this morning sitting down for breakfast. Didn’t feel robust enough to tackle the BBC. “News” item about Farage’s “outrageous” comment that women in Britain might be put at increased risk by immigration. How silly. That, according to Sky, is why the Conservatives wanted to keep Farage at arm’s length, or something. The last bit is credible, with the Conservative party in its present sorry state.

    Had enough, retuned to RT instead, having made sure that John Prescott was not on again.

    Within a couple of minutes, RT covered the most recent attacks by Pakistani men in Germany, and reminded viewers of Cologne, and how attempts were made by the police to erase the word “rape”. True, they said Pakistani not Muslim, but it’s an improvement on “asians”.

    Next, RT once again covered the BBC’s attempt to deny Rotherham, playing a short extract from that dim witted clown’s radio programme a few days ago (Dotun Somethingorother). So Rotherham did happen, I didn’t dream it!

    RT is decidedly weird at times (why John Prescott?) but it cannot really be accused of being significantly PC.

    Time to do some gardening, having checked the bushes for lurking “asians”.

       41 likes

    • Dave S says:

      RT is as you say ‘weird’ at times. I think it has sensed that the BBC is losing audiences and is so hidebound by PC that it cannot realistically report many important news items .Hence there is a gap in the media that RT feels it can fill. Sky and C4 are just other BBC type PC outfits.
      If I were an ambitious journalist RT could be an attractive career move. The whole tone of RT is much more adult and serious than the BBC. The bias is easy to filter out as well . I genuinely think that the journalists try to get at the real news.
      I assume it’s budget is far less than the BBC’s .
      The BBC just not worth it’s pay.
      If that is so and it’s comedy and drama is so appalling. what is the BBC for? Sport? Hardly any left now.
      It is an institution rapidly losing it’s role.I always thought time and technology would do for it. It is only the innate conservatism of our MPs and the establishment that keeps it in being.

         17 likes

      • Maria Brewin says:

        “It is only the innate conservatism of our MPs and the establishment that keeps it in being.”

        And the laziness of people who don’t bother to look elsewhere. Know quite a few of those.

           6 likes

  32. chrisH says:

    Always a joy to see the guilty men who fucked this country over getting summonsed back from the grave to tell us not to vote Leave.
    John Major today-Heseltine on Friday, Kinnock on Thursday…Patten?…very much an I-Spy of political dead meat getting hauled onto the BBC slab to spout offal out of all orifices.
    Listen bub-when ONE of you has been elected, cleared of any EU funding and even had a passing acquaintance with competence, as opposed to malice and treachery on colossal scales-come tell us more.
    Until then-roll into your graves and shut up-you had your time and we all saw what you did with it.
    Doesn`t Michael Parkinson look like Shirley Williams…knew that vasectomy would catch up with him!

       32 likes

    • Grant says:

      And Major had the cheek to accuse the Leave campaign of “Deceipt “. Well he knows all about deceipt, just ask his wife. Of course, Marr couldn’t make that point.

         36 likes

  33. chrisH says:

    Good articles from Dominic Lawson and Janet Daley in the Sundays today( Times/Telegraph respectively).
    Lawson tells us of the fake Left-the likes of Owen Jones and Paul Mason who weep into their lavender hankies over the plight of Greece-but not enough to want US out of similar for when the croney capitalist conspiracy against the demos that is the Euro, collapses.
    In other words -fake lefty blowhards who`d rather give us a good king under the EU…than a bad parliament under Johnson, for example.
    So much for principle and solidarity with the poor and the unemployed of Cyprus and Italy eh?
    Daley sees a Government in exile coming as we bin the Corbyn-Cameron axis of privileged hypocritical and reflex idiots who channel McMillan and Roy Jenkins-but no longer have heart, brain or backbone to imagine anything but Juncker and Clegg.
    The Tories have smoked out Gove and Johnson-only to find that they represent a radical Tory tradition that will remove the charlatans like Hancock and Osborne within a few years.
    She`s right-or at least she`s raised a flag, like Hitchens and Phillips-all of who know what the Left is-and loath it, much as we do.
    Finally, great to hear a repentant greenie like Johnnie Walker on BH News review this morning-wants out of the EU and has rumbled the wind turbine scam…and not before time.
    Mark Mardell must have been surprised-old dopehead on the same side as Peter Hitchens…great stuff!

       33 likes

  34. Sir_Arthur_Strebe-Grebling says:

    Would anyone other than the bBBC think that anti-Brexit comments from John Major were the top ‘news’ item of the day?

       30 likes

    • Grant says:

      Sir,

      Still the leading headline on the BBC website. Most people under the age of 30 have probably never heard of him. It would never occur to the BBC that wheeling out failed dinosaurs like Major, Heseltine, Patten and others would actually play into the hands of the Leavers. As for Kinnock, don’t make me laugh.

         37 likes

      • Beltane says:

        I’d guess Marr’s team must have giggled with delight when No.10 sent Major round to the studio, and only Marr could have left him to vent his 25-year brewed venom unchallenged. Boris was of course not offered the same courtesy, but in the final analysis it only goes to show the extent to which Remain are shitting themselves.

           34 likes

        • Tabs says:

          I was fuming when Major said like “..one minute the leave campaign are saying immigrants are forcing wages down but they then say Turkey immigrants would flood here for those same low wages…” Marr (ignoring that lower UK wages would still be higher than Turkey wages) let that comment go without any correction/challenge.

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36454732
          his comment is in this video clip at 2m45s

          Bit ironic that Major was saying the leave campaign is deceitful when he just did the same.

             19 likes

  35. Sir_Arthur_Strebe-Grebling says:

    Can’t understand why this isn’t top news for the bBBC. Labour is considering adopting a policy of taking all the money from the workers and giving it to the lazy scroungers, provided that they vote Labour.
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-is-looking-into-feasibility-of-a-universal-basic-income-a7066401.html
    The idea went down well in Switzerland.

       22 likes

    • Grimer says:

      It could only ever work in a country like Norway – and then only if they closed their borders to everybody except the very highly skilled. This policy would make the UK the ultimate destination for everybody in the third world. It would be 30x the income of the world’s poorest and they’d be happy to live on it. They’re used to living on £1-2 a day. Imagine how they’d react knowing that they could rock up in the UK and get £50 a day, with absolutely no requirement to find work.

         4 likes

  36. Thoughtful says:

    I found this little Gem on the New Statesman web site , not BBC bias, unless it’s by omission, but never the less, why would the Labour party want to campaign for the part privatisation of the NHS?

    A useful tool for those ‘discussing’ Brexit with a Left wing Remainer.

    http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/12/how-eu-making-nhs-privatisation-permanent

       9 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Thoughtful, if I recall correctly, the NHS that we have (before Labour 1997-2010 got their hands on it) is unique in the western world and possibly the world over. Which makes health spend comparisons between the UK and France and the UK and Germany slightly misleading. I think they have a part insurance, part private element to their health care systems.

      I’m guessing here, but I would think that in Brussels/Strasbourg, it is assumed the Franco/German/Benelux model is superior to anything else and all EU member States will be expected to fall into line. “Harmonisation, old boy!” is what the Eurocrats will tell us.

      To protect our NHS and to have it run by our democratically accountable politicians: vote LEAVE.

         9 likes

      • Sluff says:

        The biased BBC constantly advertise that the UK spends less on healthcare as a % of GDP than France, Germany et al.
        Implication? That the Tories are underfunding the NHS. Cuts. Cuts.

        What the bBBC NEVER mention is that in France and Germany people are happy to spend their own money on their own healthcare. This contributes to the higher GDP total. We in the UK have been indoctrinated to believe that spending money on your own health is borderline evil.

        The state spending of the countries including the UK is comparable, the private spending is what makes the difference. Not something the bBBC marxists want to mention.

           11 likes

  37. taffman says:

    From the western parts of these islands there are rumours , and I repeat rumours, that we in Great Britain will be receiving TINs.
    That’s European Tax Identification Numbers . Will this mean that in the future we will be paying a European Tax ? (this should be a useful pot to bail out the pending financial difficulties that other EU nations are going to be in ).

       13 likes

    • Maria Brewin says:

      It would be a logical step from the EU’s viewpoint but wouldn’t it require another referendum, as a further step towards integration?

      Fat chance.

         7 likes

  38. Dazed and Confused says:

    it seems that some of the Beeboids are now signing off their programmes with the term “Inshallah” (God willing)

       21 likes

    • taffman says:

      Dazed and Confused
      Yea , but he had his fingers crossed 😉

         10 likes

    • Grant says:

      Dazed,

      And it will get worse during the upcoming Ramadan. I wonder if we shall all be expected to fast. Not a happy prospect at this time of year !

         14 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      I don’t believe this is an indicator of anything at all. I use this phrase sometimes & I’m pretty certain the English version ‘God Willing’ is derived from the Arabic, via Moorish Spain.

         2 likes

      • chrisH says:

        Probably worth a fatwa that.
        Just tell Luton Mosque that Nicky is blaspheming them all-he`s a kuffar, probably boozes and takes drugs like most at the BBC-and is no Muslim bruv!
        A lack of respect, and a fatuous sign off from a haram suckie…Salman was hounded for less.

           16 likes

    • Tabs says:

      BBC used to end their transmissions with the National Anthem – oh boy, how times have changed.

         20 likes

      • Mr.Golightly says:

        Yes Tabs. How long before the BBC end their transmissions with the Islamic call to prayer? Live from a Salford Media City minaret.

           12 likes

        • Tabs says:

          Maybe BBC News 24 won’t be on 24 hours a day soon. There will be regular prayer breaks and totally shutdown during Ramadan sunlight hours.

             7 likes

          • Grant says:

            Tabs,

            Well that is the only benefit of Ramadan if it shut the BBC down for a month.

               10 likes

  39. taffman says:

    Nothing to see here, move along now…………………………
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36455641

       7 likes

  40. taffman says:

    Nigel Farage at his best , he is the ‘cat among the pigeons’ – his predictions are usually right .
    We have already had ‘Rotherham’ and they tried to hide that .
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36455766

       16 likes

    • Lobster says:

      Not an article which allows comments, I notice. Quelle surprise.

         11 likes

      • taffman says:

        Lobster, Et Al
        Does anyone know why AlBeeb are no longer posting ‘HYS’ on news site recently ?

           0 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Always the same with the soft left like Leadsom(who is she by the way?).
      If you hit them where it hurts and it only reminds them of their bit soft underbelly-they howl like hell, and play the man.
      Hitler and Boris-Cologne and Nigel.
      Only hope that they know to keep doing it-Nigel surely will, Boris needs to think on doing the same-and let Gove and Patel be the reasoned case.
      The BSE swine are truly mad and angry-and the loss of careers and prestige, of the people not doing what they`ve been told to since 1973-is really bringing them out in beehives.
      So keep digging lads…utter scum, imagine our joy and Kinnock, Prescott and Patten losing all pension rights….aim high say I!

         16 likes

  41. AaronD says:

    Pienaar’s Politics (Sunday R5) offered a fair and balanced look at the Referendum with special guests expressing a range of opinions on the subject from extremely opposed to leaving the EU (decrepit Euro stooge and ERM fan John Major) to lunatically, eye-bulgingly opposed to leaving the EU (Nick van Clegg) to not prepared to leave the EU at any cost (SNP MP whose name escapes me), all given featherbed rides by Paininaars himself. At one point some kind of debate did actually intrude with ‘Daily Mail columnist’ Dan Hodges (opposed to leaving EU; featherbed ride) and an articulate lady for Brexit. At last, old Pienis bestirred himself into action, interrupting lady for Brexit as if the rules had suddenly changed and happy to allow Hodges to do the same. Finally, youth was given its head with a female Remainer (“they don’t teach us about Parliament in school, I don’t think we should have to go and find out about it myself, I’ve got other things to do. Duhh.”) against a young Brexiteer who actually had some grasp on the subject. Well, youthful unknowns are a bit of a gamble for Team Pienaar I suppose, you can’t win ’em all.

       22 likes

    • chrisH says:

      I do see the BBCs systematic use of the likes of Major and Heseltine as being akin to keeping some snakes in the grass, and then a few on call in the basket.
      The usual personal bites at Boris-he seems to really annoy them, so surely a good thing.
      These old defanged sloworms are basically puff adders who`ll come on on the BBC if the fakir plays the old tunes, and they can pretend it`s 1989 or 1992 again.
      Only the BBC give a damn-the rest of us are delighted at the senililty and irrelevance of traitors who brought Maggie down, who crashed out of the ERM, wanted us in the Euro and made the Tories unelectable for a generation.
      THESE are the people who want us to stay in the EU…so safe thing to do is move away from the dead heads at 180 degrees and create the future they`ll not be around long to see.

         16 likes

      • taffman says:

        chrisH
        They screwed up British Industry and come to think of it, so did the EU/Common Market !
        Before we joined, Britain was a massive industrial nation, now we can’t even make steel for our tanks any more.
        Time to get out and rebuild our nation .

           16 likes

      • Grant says:

        chrisH,

        Spot on and they have no shame at all. Defanged sloworms. LOL !

           4 likes

  42. taffman says:

    Are they clutching straws ? Here is one for the economists on this site……………………
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36323010
    So its good news for first time buyers then ? And …………
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36454017that's good news for savers then ?
    So is it good ‘Out’ or ‘In’ ? over to you ….

       3 likes

    • taffman says:

      Are they clutching straws ? Here is one for the economists on this site……………………
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36323010
      So its good news for first time buyers then ? And …………
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36454017
      That’s good news for savers then ?
      So is it good ‘Out’ or ‘In’ ? over to you …

         0 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        taffman, a market downturn (very slight) in property has already started thanks to the change in Buy-to-Let taxation. I would also have thought that overseas buyers from the EU who are not building property portfolios would have already got their EU collapse bolt hole lined up. There is a slowdown now. If we have to raise our interest rates would it hit business further? They should be prepared if diligent and it is said that many businesses of size that have been profitable despite 2007-2009 are sitting on cash reserves or have deleveraged to an extent.

        Think the oil price movement is probably the greatest threat at present.

        If the UK votes leave and the markets take fright, other countries can do three things: sell UK shares & bonds, sell Sterling and try to charge us more for their goods, especially raw materials where there is a narrow market. Would have thought that two out of three will hurt them as well as us.

        If they want to be spiteful, they could impose tariffs on UK goods but that hits their own businesses and jobs and population so it would not be a smart move for their own economies.

        The UK GDP, jobs and inflation numbers due just before the Referendum will be interesting. Some mutterings can also be heard about Greece getting back into the headlines before the autumn, too.

           4 likes

        • taffman says:

          Up2snuff
          Good analysis. We also have this ………………..
          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36368925
          The european tourist trade would also suffer if they increase air fares as quite a number of European countries rely predominantly on British tourists for their economy such as Greece, Spain and Portugal .
          In a nutshell ‘Its a win win for GB’.
          As for the motor industry well, they are on to a looser there .

             2 likes

        • taffman says:

          PS.
          Rumours in the west of these islands and I repeat only rumours, are that Greece has already had another bailout but it has not yet been reported?

             1 likes

  43. Tabs says:

    Just flicked though the channels and saw one of the Top Gear guests is Texas pop group lead singer Sharleen Spiteri being interviewed by Chris Evans. The few times I watched his TFI Friday (including the recent reboot) she was always on it. He seems to “interview” her every chance he can get.

    Are Top Gear guests going to be friends of Chris “one trick pony” Evans and be the usual bunch we saw on TFI Friday?

    My prediction for future Top Gear guests are Ocean Colour Scene, Billie Piper (making 3 appearances this series), Danny Baker, Will MacDonald, The Charlatans, and Sharleen Spiteri (just for another quick chat and to talk about her music from 1990s) etc.

       23 likes

    • feargal the cat says:

      I had the misfortune of hearing Evans ‘interview’ Spiteri on his R2 radio show on Friday morning. Ostensibly the interview was about her attendance at K-Con(?), some Korean comic book festival being held in Paris, but it very swiftly degenerated into a chat about her upcoming appearance on ‘Top Gear’.

      As the ‘interview’ came to an end the ginger muppet thanked Spiteri (I paraphrase) for bringing us up to speed on all things K-Con. Which bemused me as all they seemed to talk about was ‘Top Gear’.

      Or to put it another way, Evans was running advertising for his bBC2 TV show on his bBC R2 radio show. How very bBC, and yet they don’t want ‘advertising’ as it will demean their output.

         9 likes

  44. 7Clubs says:

    If you mean Andrea Leadsom she is a Tory junior minister and there has been plenty of money on her recently to be next Tory leader on the basis that she is seen as having had a good referendum for the leave camp.She`s 40/1.Not for me

       4 likes

    • wronged says:

      One of the brighter MP’s, and has certainly revelled in the spotlight whilst promoting Leave. At 40/1 seems like a reasonable punt for someone immensely respected by most in the party. Fell out with Cameron which strengthens her case.

      More likely to be a future Chancellor given her financial knowledge of the City. I wonder what those odds are?

         3 likes

  45. thirdoption says:

    Eddie Izzard is looking to run as a Labour Party candidate in the 2020 elections.

    methode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Ff3ceae98-2719-11e6-91b2-4cee63678661.jpg?crop=2250,1266,0,117&resize=685

    Wonder how he’ll go down in the traditional working class Labour strongholds?…….or the Muslims strongholds?

       15 likes

    • wronged says:

      Seems a perfect fit for the Labour Party.

         9 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        He is testing to destruction the theory that if you put a red rosette on a turd it would still get elected in some areas. We shall see.

           12 likes

    • chrisH says:

      Radical chic personified.
      Think Che Guevara had a fetching pink beret as part of HIS uniform as I recall.
      Maybe had he not been tottering around the jungle in high heels he`d not have been caught and given his final makeover.
      That beard of his was clearly jungle vine put on after he died, just to give Russell Brand a look.
      Funnily enough they`ll all smile for his photo above, but who on earth would want to sit next to him?…guessing that gender fluids can leak as well…and hope the authorities will ban him from planes seeing as he has more that 30cc of said gender fluids about his person as he tries to board.

         6 likes

  46. deegee says:

    Egypt warship: First French-made Mistral ship handed over was one of those stories which arise and just as quickly slide back into the ether.

    The BBC explains the Egyptian purchase Egypt is fighting a long-running insurgency in its northern Sinai region and fears being affected by the conflict in neighbouring Libya.

    That doesn’t quite jive with the Egyptian explanation. Egypt’s Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi, attending the ceremony in Saint-Nazaire, said the ships gave Egypt the “advanced capabilities in confronting terrorism within our borders and on our shores.

    A nephew of mine is currently serving with the Israeli Navy. He tells me that the paths of IDF and Egyptian ships frequently intersect. When Israel intercepts a Gazan fisherman outside the area that Israel allows Egyptian ships are frequently present with the crew urging the Israelis to kill the Gazans . Of course Israel doesn’t do it.

    The BBC has, as so often, ignored what the Egyptians see as their real threat, the Muslim Brotherhood and its sister organisation Hamas in Gaza.

       7 likes

  47. Deborah says:

    I could hardly believe the weekly forecast on Countryfile this evening. Apparently May was warmer than average. Living on the east side of the country the heating continued to come on every morning until this weekend.

       14 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      Who are you going to believe, the BBC or your lying eyes?

         7 likes

    • Soapbox says:

      Here in Orkney we’ve had about 10 days this year which I would call t-shirt weather.

         1 likes

  48. Mr.Golightly says:

    5Live Nolan just now. Dr. Will Jennings, senior lecturer in politics and international relations, tells Stephen that in London there is a 60/40 split in favour of Remain, while in the East of England there is a 60/40 in favour of Leave. If it was down to us over here in the wild east, we would be out of the EU tomorrow. The problem is London.

       16 likes

    • Grant says:

      Mr G,

      Why can’t London stay in the EU and the rest of us leave ?

         11 likes

      • Mr.Golightly says:

        Good idea Grant. The M25 (London Orbital) has a circumference of 117 miles. Hadrian’s Wall has a length of 84 miles. What the Romans achieved, surely we can too. With apologies to a Scot, Grant. Are the new Londoners the new Picts?

           5 likes

        • Grant says:

          Mr G ,

          LOL ! Funny to think of Londoners needing a visa to leave London !

             1 likes

    • Dave S says:

      London has always been a problem . The great wen of Cobbett sucking life and wealth out of the rest of England. From Norman times onwards nothing but a curse to us in the shires. Here the overwhelming vote is out.
      Maybe the fact that London has been deserted by the ethnic English will finally put an end to it’s overmighty attitude to the rest of the country. The place represents only itself and a particularly rapacious and unpleasant ruling elite.

         11 likes

      • Maria Brewin says:

        If more people in my northern shire showed a little more interest in education, and a little less in the demise of the wool and cotton industries, we might be in a position to stand on our own two feet financially.

        There are very few areas where a person with few qualifications can still earn a living pulling a greasy lever all day long. Unfortunately the penny hasn’t dropped yet. Much easier to blame London. I hear it every other day. However, they don’t go as far as blaming the Normans, partly because it’s silly, and partly because they don’t know who they were.

           2 likes

        • Dave S says:

          They have fogotten the harrying of the North I take it. More seriously I come from a Southern shire and a market town. We have no unemployment tp speak of. Those who want to work can . There are the usual suspects I have known for years who are happy not working. The schools are very good and results excellent. The town is tidy and looks prosperous.
          All sorts of trade and occupations are at work. I suppose there really is a north south divide and it is not just a matter of wealth but of attitudes.

             3 likes

  49. nogginator says:

    BBC News – Nigel Farage has been accused of “blatant scaremongering” by a fellow Leave campaigner for suggesting there could be a risk of sex attacks on women by migrants if Britain stays in the EU
    UKIP’s leader told the Sunday Telegraph the risk of attacks like those in Cologne, Germany, would be “the nuclear bomb” of the referendum campaign, but Treasury minister Andrea Leadsom, who backs Brexit, said he was wrong.
    “Obviously that is just an outrageous thing to say,” she told the BBC.

    Allegations that hundreds of women were groped, robbed and intimidated at Cologne’s central station on New Year’s Eve emerged in January”
    … allegations??? and just to correct you again BBC “raped in every orifice” “fingers in everywhere” held and sexually assaulted by groups of migrants, hundreds of reports soooo … they all erm, alleged then.
    and
    “blatant scaremongering” … how so?, one has to say a distinct possibility, is much closer to fact … and the more illegal immigrants, the more distinct it WILL be.
    and
    They (the BBC, and the politicians media party) really going for it on side-lining him, the whole establishment referendum set up stinks to high heaven, rotten to the core … this crock of sh-t spat between Camoron/Gove Johnson give me a break!.
    I told this site a Tory “lie a day” before the election, they re bloody doubling up on it now, as Cameron s going anyway
    This grasping self serving putrid cesspit of a government …… never underestimate the power of lies and money eh.

    https://youtu.be/J-ywMne-7lk

       13 likes

    • Glen.ws says:

      The same people used to hold Sweden as the perfect multi culti state, the way all of the EU should be, they said. Now they say nothing about the rape epidemic that has exploded in the country. The same people denied Rotherham for years, they tried to cover Cologne up, they are known as liberals, the progressives! Just a bunch of scum.

         19 likes

      • Al Shubtill says:

        Glen.ws
        “Only one faith on earth may be more messianic than Islam: multi-culturalism. Without it -without its fanatics who believe all civilizations are the same- the engine that projects islam into the un-protected heart of Western civilisation would stall and fail.”

        ‘No Fear’ Diana West.

           11 likes

    • taffman says:

      nogginator
      My sentiments exactly . The ordinary grass roots British people are being taken for a ride . Time to put an end to it .
      Vote out and shock ‘Scott’ and the rest of B..tards !

         9 likes

  50. taffman says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36454732
    Major attacks Vote Leave with “squalid” and “deceitful”
    Well he is fully conversant with the word ‘deceit’ as he liked his ‘Curry’ hot!

       9 likes

    • Oaknash says:

      Not much life left in the old bastard these days just bitterness – he must have had the life sucked out of him by Draculas Daughter. – He bears an astonishing resemblance to Tutankhamun – if this was a film he was starring in it would be entitled the Return of the Mummy. Hopefully after the election he will shuffle back into his sarcophagus and carry on decaying.

         9 likes

      • Englands Dreaming says:

        If you want deceit, it is Remains claim that every household will be worse off by £4300 p.a., millions of jobs will be lost, etc, etc.

        JM “Let me take the immigration issue head-on”

        Not once does the liar say how he would reduce the number, only that it is high and a problem, but dont worry its going to be all right the Eurozone is growing (30 seconds before he talked about trouble in the Eurozone) and Turkey wont join for a decade or two (but of course it will join) and that 88m Turks will not come here! Whoever suggested 88m would, 1% would still cause alot of problems and not being in Schengen matters not a jot. What an idiot.

           8 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      What I like about this campaign is how it’s bringing out the true colours of some so-called ‘Conservatives’.

      Thus we now know Major is a mass immigration multiculturalist and Cameron is probably the same, given the company he is willing to share a platform with to denounce Boris and Brexit today.

         7 likes