The BBC gave Melvyn Bragg his head and allowed him to go free range for two weeks spouting tripe about t’North in a highly personal, highly political one-sided rant.
Why? Just why did the BBC allow Bragg to proclaim independence for t’North?
Could it just possibly be that the Great Unwashed voted for Brexit and the BBC is doing its utmost to undermine that by cheerleading a move to split the UK up into regions….just as the EU wanted to do? The BBC is attacking Brexit by the backdoor…..it has always, ironically, backed the various ‘independence’ movements such as the IRA, the Scottish National Socialist Party, the Cornish, and Palestinian terrorists At the same time they attack UKIP and proclaim it a neo-Nazi, racist, hate movement. The only nation states they don’t like are the ones that work. Bragg suggests that those who voted for Brexit were the stupid and ignorant folk, a sort of peasants’ revolt against their betters.
Bragg argues that t’North is a separate country in its own right and should be recognised as such and the UK turned into a federalist confection. What this does is destroy the idea of ‘Britain’ and of course destroys the power that comes from the union built up over centuries to such good effect. The Left and the BBC has always sought to break up Britain with the aim of reducing its power and influence in the world which they see as malign and which fits in neatly with their pro-EU fanaticism…divide and rule…split up the UK and make it vulnerable and dependent on the EU, ala Greece, rather than have a proud and independent nation able to make its own decisions and stand on its own two feet.
Bragg’s two weeks of northern griping was two weeks of tripe, spinning a tale of a mythical North that was the centre of the universe but has long been abandoned by the far off politicians in London to rot and tumble into neglected ruin.
We heard that Thatcher was like William the Conqueror and had her own version of the ‘wasting of the north’ as she laid ruin to the the land. We naturally heard of the heroic miners who were basically ethnically cleansed by Thatcher, the NUM fighting a glorious last stand against the ravages of Thatcher’s decision to harrow t’North and lay waste to it. Never mind that the NUM ballot was against the strike and Scargill ignored that and led the miners out into a disastrous strike…never mind that the NUM bitterly attacked Labour in the 70’s for its own decimation of the coal industry.
The National Union of Miner’s own website says:
Throughout the 1960s, with a Labour Government in office from 1964, the pit closure programme accelerated; it decimated the industry. During this period, nearly 300 more pits were closed, and the total workforce slumped from over 750,000 in the late 1950s down to 320,000 by 1968. In many parts of Britain, miners now became known as industrial gypsies as pit closures forced them to move from coalfield to coalfield in search of secure jobs.They were victims of madhouse economics.
Bragg then joined up the dots to make a thoroughly unconvincing case that t’North has been the victim of a Southern inspired plot to reduce it to a penurious wasteland as he linked the miner’s strike, Hillsborough and Orgeave as evidence of political anti-northern connivance.
The last programme was essentially a Labour Party broadcast that pumped out all the old issues…and continued their highly political attempt to have an inquiry into Orgeave. This is business as normal for the BBC which of course wants to denounce the police for their actions at Orgeave and by extension attack Thatcher.
The reality is that the violence was always initiated by the miners and that Scargill used them as cannon fodder for his own political games not caring one jot about them, their jobs and their families.
Seems that the BBC has conveniently forgotten all that as it pillories the police and romanticises and glorifies the miners.
Bragg seems to forget that those politicians that he alleges ignore t’North don’t just come from London….they’re MPs from all around the country and I’m pretty certain most would be astonished to hear that they have abandoned their constituencies in favour of a London-centric world view…..something which the BBC itself is very, very guilty of….and you can take the Beeboid out of London, to Salford, but you can’t take the metropolitan sneer of superiority out of his mind wherever he is.
This was an utterly bizarre series in which Bragg spouted what in other circumstances the BBC would dismiss as racist pub-bore cant that was mythologising a North that never existed and which completely forgets that the rest of the UK exists and contributed to the ‘Great’ in Great Britain. How could Bragg forget the Midland industrial powerhouse, or the Cornish tin mines or the Welsh coal industry? According to Bragg the industrial revolution started in Manchester and stopped just north of Watford. When he complains that t’North was a forgotten land he seems to forget that many areas of the UK have problems…Cornwall and the East spring immediately to mind…or any coastal area.
But just how true is that image of t’North laid waste? The BBC in the run up to the election insisted that Manchester was practically an industrial wasteland…and yet that was far, far from the truth, Manchester was thriving as were many cities where industries came to prosper. Far from being abandoned a lot of effort went into regenerating t’North and attracting industry to it…such as car manufacturers.
Here’s Manchester City Council’s own view of the city’s successful regeneration…and note the original decline began in the 50’s not in 1979…
From ground breaking urban regeneration programmes, to the phenomenal success of the Commonwealth Games, Manchester has been transformed into a regional powerhouse of sustainable, economic growth offering opportunity and a better quality of life for all.
Over the last generation traditional industries have been making way for an economy based around knowledge, fresh ideas, expertise and entrepreneurialism. As the epitome of the post industrial city Manchester has seen some fundamental changes over the last 15 years. It now boasts an increasingly diverse economic base, real investor confidence, one of the highest concentrations of world class higher education activity in Europe along with cultural and leisure facilities that make it the nation’s most important destination for overseas visitors outside London.
This remarkable renaissance of the city has created the firm foundations on which to tackle the long term consequences of the economic and population decline in the city that began in the 1950s.
And finally a word from the BBC’s Evan Davis adopting a tone that is all too foreign to the BBC and indeed Davis himself…Just where does our renewed vigour and economic success come from?…Thatcher…..
If you want one simple fact to remind you of why we were not insane to follow the path we did, just note that our national income grew faster than that of each of Germany, Italy and France in the 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s. We were clearly doing something right. As fast as we exited some industries, we found new ones that raised national income per head. On average, we got richer, not poorer. And in addition to that, contrary to popular perception, there more jobs in Britain rather than fewer.
Oh, and let’s not forget this…
Finally, the church admits it was wrong on Thatcher: Bishops say ‘they failed to see the moral vision’ of former PM’s benefits reforms
Bishops yesterday admitted that the Church of England was wrong about Margaret Thatcher.
In a paper that amounted to a sweeping U-turn in the Church’s longstanding Left-wing attitude to poverty and the welfare state, they declared that it ‘failed to see the moral vision that informed Margaret Thatcher’s administration’.
Their acknowledgement that the late Tory prime minister was driven by ‘moral purpose’ contrasted strongly with the view taken by the bishops even last year, when before the General Election they were severely critical of her legacy.
Instead of demanding higher benefit spending and criticising the market economy – the default position of most Church leaders for more than three decades – they said that ‘we should support welfare policies which create incentives for work’.
Would that be Lord Bragg, the Labour peer?
When it comes to art, culture, history and science he is one of the finest minds on the radio when chairing a group of experts. However his party allegiance makes it ridiculous to let him near any program where political impartiality is required.
Exactly. Can you imagine the BBC giving a Conservative peer a ten part series extolling the South of England? The idea is absurd. Yet so are the Conservatives. They do not seem to realise that there is no Natural Law whereby the state broadcaster has to be run by leftists. They have complacently allowed this to happen, starting in the 1960s.
The state broadcaster is now, from top to bottom, leftist in outlook. If the Conservatives are too pathetic to do anything about this, they have only themselves to blame.
“They do not seem to realise that there is no Natural Law whereby the state broadcaster has to be run by leftists.”
Why is it that the BBC is allowed to demand “fairness and balance” only when it suits them?
They have been obsessive over the years in ensuring so-called equality for the groups it thinks are disadvantaged minorities such as blacks, muslims, gays, LGBT, etc, etc, leading to their recruitment in numbers far exceeding the demographic yet openly and brazenly employ nothing but left-wing journalists and comedians.
Since when are you allowed to pick and choose when you obey the law?
I heard much of this series – typical BBC fayre a mix of a few interesting facts which were concocted and mixed in such a way as to be a justification for its normal lefty message. It really was typical BBC disingenuous shite of the highest order. As only Aunty really knows how to do really well.
I have now learned that “The North” voted for brexit because it was a protest vote at the way the South has been ignoring it over the years. Poor darlings they must be very thick – “bet they hadnt even noticed the effects of migration on their northern towns too busy with beer, whippets and expressing their northern individuality.
Basically in the last few episodes it turned into what I classed as a patronising load of Bragg bollocks. I was sort of left with the feeling that “The oppressed North” just react and dont really think about all these other weighty issues that “intelligent people” in the south have to worry about over a ethical latte.
The main southern oppression as I see it was the importation (at the behest of industrialists and politicians) of large numbers of foreigners into the north from a culture that generally does not wish to integrate in any meaningful way.
Tell you what Melvyn perhaps you should move to Rotherham and tell the parents of those whos kids were abused about how much you understand and feel their pain over Southern oppression
– you may come home with more than one black eye.
By the way Melvyn – please blow your fat nose!
But Melvyn Bragg doesn’t come from t’North but the North West!
He was born in Carlisle and raised in Wigton, a small market town on the Solway plain, on the ‘wrong side’ of the Lake District.
Being head boy at the local grammar school probably didn’t harm his career prospects either. Fellow broadcaster Anna Ford was a contemporary of his.
Poor Melvyn.
Another one of these orbiting northern pretenders who dreamed of being from Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds or…even his nearest big town like Carlisle or (dream on Mel) Lancaster!
But found himself in Wigton…might as well have been Carnforth or Lytham.
This is NOT Northern Powerhouse Melvyn.
Of course these towns are all proud places-but Melvyn falls for the Four Yorkshiremen or Bobby Thompson parodies of Radio 4 cartoon culture.
Suppose there`s no chance of seeing what happened to British Industrial wastelands like Corby and Northampton, Yeovil or Trowbridge is there?
All of these were big industrial places too, but who hears THEM bellyaching and wanting T Dan Smith or Jack Cunninghams dad to feather their northern nests once more?
Likewise bloody Orgreave-have a look at the mines of Cornwall and (yes, slate mines of Cumbria Mel!)-how many songs and marches did Labour types find for all THOSE miners dumped on the dole and into cream teas or Wordworth costume then?
Bragg is a Neon Northerner-noble gassy blowhard with a bouffant in need of Vicks Sinex Nasal Spray(oh bub!)…and his bloody day trips up there to moan at William Armstrong, but laud the Stephensons is typical lefty crap from the bloody Woody Guthrie tribute act with an O Level that is Melvyn Puffin Billy Bragg.
Hampstead pomaded ponceteer!
Poor sod quotes the “Road to Wig On Peer”-the road to Wigton Pier turns out to be Highgate High Street instead of Nellie Mel!
Up on Ilkley Moor, he`ll be needing Lady Braggs hat pin to keep t`at on mi duck!
I`m told its how they speak up there if you blend those phonemes, what what?
Excellent observations as always Chris!
Big mates with cliff richard apparently…..liked to go out ‘on the razzle’ together
So to speak….
I listened to some of the episodes and was disappointed . I’d get more interest out of a teenagers o level paper .
The programme about Northern culture ; where was a good bit that could have been done about northern humour , why it evolved as it did , how it is different to other forms of humour .
Most of the time Mr Bragg seemed to reel off a list of names as though we know who they were , and whether they originated anything , excelled in anything or were a best example of anything we were not enlightened about .
Here’s a northern joke ;
I know you , I know you . Were you evacuated a Dunkirk in 1940 ?
No never been there
Were you in the desert in 41?
No , never went to Africa .
Were you in the final battle against the Japs in Burma ?
No , never fought them .
Were you in the Red Lion at lunchtime ?
Yes
I thought your face was familiar .
The North,South and Wales voted to leave ,so that blows his theory apart. Even Scotland had a higher leave vote then was anticipated.
Braggs feeling of superiority blinds him to the truth .The English and Welsh voted to leave the EU .He is playing the good old divide and rule trick. It won’t work this time.
Bragg suggests that those who voted for Brexit were the stupid and ignorant folk, a sort of peasants’ revolt against their betters.
You mean “deplorable” Farage supporters.
“Van for Ms. Thornbury. Black this time”
I listened to about 5 minutes of one of the programmes. He was talking about the strength of Roman Catholicism in the north during the 17th and 18 centuries, and how this led to a regional sense of “otherness”. His example of this in the 18th century was the large number of northern Catholics who joined the Jacobites in their march south. I haven’t bothered to look up the details, but my understanding of the history of the ’45 is that the Jacobites turned round at Derby because so few northern catholics had joined them.
Once I’d decided that I could trust the accuracy of his “facts” there was no point listening to the rest of the propaganda.
How many of you knew there was a place called Slovenia before the Jughead wars ?@ Or that Czeckoslovakia was actually two nations ?
How many languages are spoken in Belgium and how many nations are in it *?
Ditto Switzerland ^
And Holland**
I’m not trying to be funny here , or clever as this was part of my job , and others could show exotic locations in other continents rather than ( boring ) Europe .
My point is that when there is a bigger state , the constituent parts are diminished , not magnified . Melvin wanting a separate North within the EU would see it as independent as Estonia in the USSR . Everyone knew there was a Monaco , everyone forgot there was a Montenegro .
Computer playing up .
@ There were seven languages in Yugoslavia
* There are three langauges ( French , Flemish , German ) and four nationals ( Walloons , Flemish (Dutch) , German speakers and French speaking but not Wallonian Brussels )
^Four , SwizzoDeutch , French , Italian and Ticino Romansh .
** Holland is part of The Netherlands but there is a province which is called Friesland , where the cows originated .
All this is just divide and conquer desperation from the Left, I live in the North West and all this independence for the North or moving the Scottish border crap is only mentioned by sad Labour voters who wanted to remain in the EU and don’t know what to do next, none of it will ever happen.
**The only nation states they don’t like are the ones that work.**
And there you have the BBC mindset laid bare.
If “everyone’s equal”, as the Left fondly believes, then why should some people, and some societies, succeed while others fail?
To the Left, the only answer can be: the Successes have exploited the Failures. The Successes are Oppressors, the Failures are Victims. The bigger the success, the bigger the supposed oppression.
So, for “justice”, we must oppose all success, and glory in all failures.