Way back in December 2014 we posted the below about the BBC and Phil Shiner…I see no reason to change anything…..it more than stands the test of time which is more than Shiner and the BBC do…..Time for Lord Hall to apologise for all the slurs and traumas he has helped put British troops through.
If like me you have been listening or watching the BBC for the last few years and hearing their coverage of the alleged abuse of Iraqis or Afghans by British troops you will know that the BBC has given itself over to the likes of lawyer Phil Shiner and his extraordinary tales, his own very singular version of the truth.
Today the BBC must be absolutely gutted as the Al Sweady inquiry clears, as expected, British troops of allegations they tortured and killed prisoners.
The BBC has put a lot of work into helping Shiner smear the Army’s reputation and put a great many soldiers through the wringer for so many years.
In 2008 the BBC’s Panorama produced a programme, On Whose Orders?, that claimed to investigate the allegations….here is what one viewer thought of the programme:
Is it just me or do these left wing lobbyists and solicitors actually work with, or very close with the BBC , they have a voice out of all proportion and seem to be able to spout whatever bollox they like on the BBC, I swear they should give Shami Chakrabati her own show, for someone who’s never been elected as any kind of public official, she seems to get more airtime than the PM!
Is it any co-incidence that her sister works for the beeb?
What I’m getting at is do these far left lawyers aproach the bbc with program ideas?
Make no mistake , this was phil shiners program, the bbc only tried to distance themselves from him at the end because of all the critisism they’d recieved in all the major newspapers , that’s the reason they emphisised the program was still being made in the newspaper reports, to do some last minute distancing from phil shiner.
The Sun newspaper wasn’t impressed:
Beeb ‘slurs’ on Iraq heroes
The BBC were initially blocked from broadcasting the programme but went to court to force the issue so insistent were they about finding out the ‘truth’ of the matter…here they are boasting of their ‘victory’:
Panorama’s legal victory
Panorama has won an important victory in the High Court against the Ministry of Defence which was attempting to prevent the broadcast of details of alleged abuse by soldiers in Iraq.
The Panorama programme ended with a bit of a disclaimer…as set out in the web report:
Panorama has seen no proof that prisoners died at the hands of their captors and concludes that the case being brought by solicitors Phil Shiner and Martyn Day represents the most extreme interpretation of a troubling but confusing incident. They are asking for the bodies to be disinterred and evidence to be handed to Scotland Yard.
Despite that dsitinct lack of proof for the next 5 years the BBC continued to bombard us with the allegations in a manner that suggested there was far more substance to them than there was…as we now know…they being the result of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hatred….you can wonder whether the judge was talking about the Iraqis, Shiner, the BBC or all three of them.
The BBC was very proud of its Panorama programme stating this on the announcement of the inquiry:
New inquiry into British army abuse in Iraq vindicates Panorama
Ironically the first line of this pyrrhic victory was this:
Time can make a world of difference in an emotive, ongoing story.
The BBC goes on to suggest:
In revisiting these allegations through public inquiries, the entire system of military justice will inevitably be called into question.
Well I imagine military justice has been vindicated…the RMP said there was no case…and there was no case….it was clearly a case of highly suspect allegations being encouraged by ‘ambulance chasing’ lawyers backed up by a media organisation that had its fingers badly burnt as it was caught lying about the Iraq War Dossier and has been seeking to exact revenge ever since.
As the BBC was so clearly ready to congratulate itself on firstly getting its ‘legal victory’ and then slapping itself on the back when it thought itself ‘vindicated’ perhaps it should now make a very large apology to the Public it so badly misled and not least the soldiers it helped pillory and their families who have all had to suffer these allegations for so long.
Con Coughlin at the Telegraph is of the same mind:
Al Sweady inquiry: The British Army deserves a full apology from the BBC
Looking back, it is amazing just how many people were prepared to believe the accusations that the British Army routinely tortured detainees.
Of course it was the BBC and its fellow travellers on the Left who made the most of accusations that British soldiers had committed what amounted to war crimes following a three-hour battle with Iranian-backed insurgents in Iraq in May 2004. Rather than praising the British soldiers for their undoubted heroism in tackling the Shia-dominated Mehdi Army in a fierce battle that could have gone either way, the BBC preferred to concentrate its considerable resources on Iraqi claims that some of the captured insurgents had been killed in cold blood, while others had been subjected to torture.
It is hard to imagine a more damning indictment of the Army’s accusers, and all those at the BBC and elsewhere who were credulous, or naive, enough to believe them. But now that the truth is out, perhaps those responsible for making this programme, and who gave an air of credibility to the claims, would now like to issue a fulsome apology to the British Armed Forces for their own grave errors of judgment.
They could even make a new programme explaining why they got the story so horribly wrong in the first place. Now, that really would be a first.
More seriously, though, Tony Hall, who as the BBC’s director-general has overall responsibility for the corporation’s current affairs output (in a previous life he was in charge of BBC news and current affairs), should undertake an urgent investigation of his own to find out how Panorama got it so badly wrong.
Sorry Alan, wrong.
All already found guilty.
Death sentences must take place without delay.
Time for an alliance to destroy the traitors in the EU, thank you Donald.
I wonder if Lord Hall and the BBC have committed any criminal offences or if the soldiers have a right of action against them ? The BBC should certainly be punished in some way.
The more one reads about the BBC itself, The carrying ons of the BBC’s staff and the BBC’s so called journalism be it the current phil shiner case or the classic willingness to hide the BBC’s rampant paediphilia over decades. The more that I believe that for many reasions
#1 The BBC is beyond redemption and must be killed of
#2 The BBC is no longer the “British Broadcasting Corporation due to its incessant treasionious attacks on the British way of life, The British achievements, the British Ideals and way of life, the British Identity, The British Armed forces and their members
#3 The BBC no longer does balanced, non biased, well researched journalism but instead gives us nothing but lies, fake news and propaganda yet suffers from delusions that it the BBC is “The Gold Standard” to emulate for news and current affairs
#4 The BBC is more than willing to sell Great Britain out to aforeign power aka the European Union and a foreign culture islam over the indigious power Westminster and Parliament
#5 The BBC is always ready to give a voice to such leftwingers like phil shinner and his ilk and deny a voice to anyone or to shut anyone down who proves the left wing, muslums, the phil shiners or anyone else who disagrees with the BBC’s left wing, pro immigrant, pro islam agenda wrong
#6 All of the above the BBC have been caught doing time after time but still the BBC considers its self the most trusted broadcaster in the UK….The BBC trusted by the sheeple and its hand picked audiences maybe but trusted by us who know better and are awake and wise to the BBC no way
Time we started working for the revocation of the BBC charter and the long overdue demise of the BBC as it is increasingly obvious that the BBC show remove the “British” of its name and replace it something more appropiate to its values brussels and islamic come to mind
Could they be charged with sedition or even flat out treachery? This is not the only case of the BBC against the Country!
I noticed every report on Phil Shiner last night on the BBC emphasised that there were still some cases on going, it was not all cases could be ignored, etc etc. They were also careful not to say that these cases were made up, only that Shiner and his practice had sought cases to take forward.
Grant, you are correct, the bbc must be punished for this. The problem is, who is able to exact a fitting punishment? I have just had a reply regarding the petition to revoke the bbc’s charter which lists the main points of the recent settlement; the bbc got everything it could have hoped for, including being allowed to appoint the majority of bbc board members. With the game stacked in their favour how are they ever going to be held to account?
john,
Yes, the BBC are totally unaccountable , except to the Courts. I was just wondering if the soldiers have any right of action against them. Just a long shot (so to speak ! ), but I am not a lawyer. Sadly, I fear that the BBC is above the law.
Grant, I think you are right – how can the left-liberal judiciary that passes for our justice system these days possibly find against their Common Purpose mates at the BBC? Just look at what happened in the 28gate case and the upholding of the BBC’s refusal of a FOI request – which effectively gave them the right to meet in secret with whoever they choose to discuss whatever they choose and then use those discussions as a basis for broadcasting policy. They show utter contempt for us ‘little people’, aka the licence fee payers.
Yes but the speed in which the Liberal-left Judiciary changed its mind after the list of attendees appeared in the Media was remarkable. It was as if they where desperate not to be seen as defending the indefensibly corrupt BBC. But the response of the Liberal-left Judiciary is now to protect itself by introducing an explosion in the number of secret courts and super injunctions for hiding the embarrassing failures of the liberal-left establishment when it comes to “children and families“, “asylum seekers and their lies“, “terrorism and Islam”, “science and environmental activists” and “the criminality of the Liberal-left establishment”
There are now so many secrets piling up that leaks may reveal super injunctions by the BBC legal team protecting the BBC around these issues.
(1) Why was Richard Tait replaced by Richard Ayre?
(2) Why was Jos Wheatley and Tessa Tennant replaced by Tim Jackson and John Ashton on the official seminar attendance list?
(3) Was Roger Harrabin at that seminar or not?
(4) Did it really cost the BBC over £250,000 to hide the lies?
(5) Is it legal for the BBC to use environmental activists to advise the BBC to overturn its due impartiality rules on Climate science?
(6) Is it legal for the BBC to lie to Parliament and the General Public about the quality of its advisers, who included not one attributional Climate scientist?
(7) Did the BBC Trust really advise the BBC to get rid of Professor Peter Cox?
The facts are now obvious that the Liberal-left judicial establishment, BBC, Guardianistas and Lovvies need super injunctions and secret courts to protect themselves from the free press reporting the truth of its failures, lies, corruption, criminality and BBC fake news to the plebs.
The Tories seem to be frozen on the spot over this issue, but I understand that they can inspire the conditions for leaking information that would appear on the internet, and like the 28 Gate incident, embarrass the Judiciary to the point where it could appear in the Daily Mail without the Daily Mail being subject to legal action.
I too read the “governments” excuse for this. It was sickening, the Culture Secretary should resign NOW!
Im not a lawyer but I hope that all the army personnel falsely accused by Shiner can find a way to bring civil actions against him, perhaps jointly .
The government needs to try to reclaim the £3.5 m in wasted legal aid that he has cost the tax payer. I believe that the MoD also made some oblique reference to investigating the case for action against Shiner in its statement yesterday .MoD costs in dealing with Shiner will be considerable.
Apart from ruining him financially, I do hope that there is a criminal case against him.
His firm PIL had a number of lawyers on its staff including his obnoxious daughter (I once heard her interviewed on Today and she made one’s flesh creep). Any possible claims against them should also be investigated.
Did I hear correctly that this treasonous specimen was once voted solicitor of the year? Seems to me they should stick to conveyancing.
Never mind just ‘struck off’, surely that Phil Shiner should be facing a jail sentence, preferably in an Iraqui jail?
I would suggest that some of the methods used by Public Interest Lawyers in order to ‘encourage’ the numerous malicious claims against various members of the Armed Forces could well amount to the crime of Conspiracy to Pervert the Course of Justice.
It would certainly appear that what has been happening is not a case of a lawyer, as is their proper duty, presenting the best case which can be made for a client but rather a case of going to extremes with the sole intent of knowingly encouraging, people to deliberately make completely false allegations with the sole intent of gaining massive monetary gains.
Such fraudulent behaviour falls well outside the behaviour which any lawyer should legitimately engage in and needs to be treated as such.
Surely the mistake here is to assume that the law as practised today continues to be interested in the pursuit of justice? Fame or notoriety (the one being every bit as beneficial as the other, as Mrs Blair can confirm) is the guiding factor, coupled with the ability to gain exorbitant fees, mostly at the expense of the taxpayer. Hence the rise of such creatures as Shiner, Day and Mansfield – who currently occupy the space at the top of the heap though they sit astride many more of their ilk.
Our local MP Johnny Mercer (ex Army) is on the case. One of his emails came in this morning and apparently he was appearing on radio 4 today to discuss Phil Shiner. In his ‘note’ he says ‘There can be no doubt that he (Shiner) should have been stopped far sooner. I look forward to seeing what I can do to seek reparations on behalf of those who’s lives have been irrevocably damaged by his endeavours. There are more than just him though and I will continue to pursue Shiner’s type with the same vigour with which he pursued our soldiers to ensure we are far more robust against this sort of threat to our people in the future’.
Indeed, Johnny Mercer MP says he intends to pursue Shiner as he pursued the innocent soldiers. Lord Ashcroft has offered him his help too. Shiner must be charged with criminal offences or there is no justice.
Peter
Without doubt the BBC should apologise. It seized on deceit to malign our troops simply because it disagreed with the removal of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban. The BBC hates the west, despises the UK and will fulminate against anyone says otherwise.
Those soldiers were heroes, risking their lives to safe guard some Kurds yet have lived 12 years of their young lives being terrorised by the BBC. The BBC is despicable.
The idea of the BBC apologising is as fanciful as Corbyn kissing Donald Trump’s feet, as anyone who has used their complaints process will know.
The fact is that our state broadcaster, the so called British Broadcasting Corporation actually hates the British and Britain.
From that basic truth everything else follows, including hatred of Brexit and here, promoting Shiner ahead of British military personnel.
I think we have to thank the Daily Mail for this primarily. They have been insistant that these were inequitable actions and totally unfair to prosecute Troops for post war crimes that Phil Spencer (Lawyer) invented, actively encouraged and profited by state handouts. He has sixteen charges which brings the legal profession into disrepute so he was ‘struck off’ from ever working again as a lawyer. But he should face further legal proceedings himself for the stress he has caused to Troops suffering from fighting (on our behalf) in a war that left many disabled and crippled for life. And then Shiner makes a tidy profit in prosectuting then for so-called ‘war crimes’ many of which are fabricated. No doubt will be elevated to the BBC and praised for his unique contribution to leftie causes. Another Anarchist trot.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4186648/DAILY-MAIL-COMMENT-Shiner-stain-legal-establishment.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
Philip,
Shyster is a BBC hero. They will probably give him a job as “legal correspondent “.
Goodness, Brexit, Trump, the city supporting Brexit, Le Pen, Wilders, the left in total mental breakdown, and now Shiner, all my Birthdays and Christmase wishes just keep rolling in!
Jerry,
And the Berkeley riot, horrible though it was, must work against the Lefty fascists.
Certainly has not done their PR agencies in the media much good either as folk notice what they report, don’t report and mislabel.
But there is still a “wall of shit” protecting the BBC.
The “wall of shit” comprises licence fee payer funded super injunctions and secret courts to protect the BBC from the free press reporting the truth of its failures, lies, corruption, criminality and fake news.
How long before Shiner is rehabilitated by the BBC and he becomes their go-to person for legal commentary, specialist subject ‘the Military’?
johnny,
I went a bit further in my post above !
Apologies – I went straight comment on this one instead of reading other posts first.
Guido reports today that Denis MacShane, convicted expenses cheat, has been pontificating on the subject of expenses cheats. Shiner has a lucrative Beebyanka career ahead of him.
Remember also the proliferation of appearances on the appalling BBC by the Europhile Greek economist and alleged magician (that is as a ‘remote’ driver of cars) Vasiliki Kourmouzi, better known as Vicky Pryce, or Mrs Chris Huhne as she might have been styled until 2010.
Denis MacShane is also a nom de guerre, of the man who was born Denis Matyjaszek. According to Wikipedia, he worked for the BBC from 1969 to 1977, until he was sacked for phoning into a show under a pseudonym. In 2012 he began a relationship with … Vicky Pryce. ‘Quelle coincidence!’ as he might have said himself.
Drain the swamp here too!
It never ceases to amaze me how many of these odious creeps feature the BBC in their curriculum vitae.
Sadly, just like so many charities, the once worthy cause of ‘human rights’ has become both intellectually (it’s a UK prisoner’s ‘right’ to vote – therefore ‘right’ to satellite TV, hot showers on tap? – Where do you draw the line?) and morally discredited since being commandeered by the left. Tony & Cherie Blair were at the vanguard of establishing a worldwide multi-billion pound human rights industry (which was massively lucrative for them personally) that is now no longer aiding free speech and freedom, but creating victims and inequalities (think of the consequences of hate speech law).
It is about time that not only some swamps got drained, but the human rights industry was dismantled so we can start again.
Blair should have been thrown out for that. It was no coincidence that his wife had the Chambers all set up and ready to go as soon as he signed the papers. And all have suffered ever since.
Why was I not surprised that the callow Jeremy, heart on my sleeve Whine was narrating this particular Panorama. He must have shed lots of man tears for all these poor badly treated prisoners – poor babies.
As for Shiner in another age when establishment figures dishonored themselves they would have drawn their revolver and done the honorable thing. Dont expect it though, because Shiner is a victim too, a victim of the pernicious and vindictive right wing press. All he was trying to do was right some wrongs and perhaps make a few bob on the side as well. Why the press had even made him too ill to attend his own hearing.
This leech would not know what honour is if it smacked him in the face, the only thing Shiner understands is his own poisonous prejudice and hate. Its obvious the soldiers were lying because they represent the right wing establishment whereas poor little Muhammed and his mates – Why I bet butter would not melt in their mouths.
I am afraid that this whole charade is typical of how the BBC and much of the liberal judiciary are intertwined. Justice these days seems to have a distinctively yellow hue. yellow for the liberals and also representative of the moral courage and integrity of the left.
I used to wonder whether the likes of Hall and his sneering acolytes ever wonder just exactly what keeps them safe in their well re-numerated lives and what organisations prevent society from sliding into chaos. It must be quite distasteful to think that at the end of the day some working class lad from the provinces (who votes the wrong way) is the only thing keeping our society safe from external forces (and now internal -since we have so many new visitors) which would more than welcome the chance of destroying us.
Never mind that Jocasta Lets go on next weeks demo in support of the refugees/wimmin/transbitrisexuals – I dunno lets just go cos there is important work to do.
As for Hall apologising – why bother? It would just be more “weasel words” from a totally discredited organisation. Lets just hope this whole sickening saga helps to shine an even stronger spotlight on this organisation which seems to value disloyalty to our country above all else.
Keep the faith, ladies and gentlemen. I do believe that we are returning to a more common sense World here in the Western nations. The liberal elite, the lefties and their supporters are hurting very badly following Brexit and the election of President Trump. They are squealing like stuck pigs because they know their number is up. The silent majority have found their voice. It’s not over yet by a long chalk, but in the end we shall be victorious and they shall be mocked and vilified and consigned to the dustbin of history.
Peter
The real choker is that we, the unsuspecting and law abiding British public, have funded this propaganda campaign…and continue to do so. The BBC only ever report news items that are contrary to their left-wing agenda when they absolutely have to.
This repellent Shiner creature has had the full and uncritical support of our state broadcaster. They have undermined our troops, the innocent have been prosecuted and the BBC have helped to create a false image of the British military suggesting they were as bad as our enemies.
I have no doubt some of the (home grown) terrorist attacks on Blighty have been encouraged by this treacherous series of lies.
During the war the people of Britain had to endure the constant propaganda from American born Nazi, William Joyce, Lord Haw-Haw.
However, there was one big difference.
They didn’t have to pay for him…
Jeff,
Spot on . The Left-wing Fascists , like the BBC are entitled to their perverse opinions, even though they try to prevent the rest of us saying what we think. But, they must be laughing at us having to pay for their bullshit. BBC, every day I despise them more.
Grant
It probably why the odious BBC hates the internet where those of us who are awake and aware of the BBC agenda go to get our news and current affairs from where on the internet we can access multiple sources of information and analyise them and make up our own minds as to which is fact and which is fake. Something that you would never get from the BBC even though the BBC suffers from delusions that the BBC thinks it is the gold standard for news and current affairs and that we should trust Auntie instead of anything you can find on the internet/alt-media/social media. Dont know about anyone else here on this site but the last time that I bothered with the BBC for news and current affairs was 2003 and the run-up to and the happenings and aftermath of the Iraq war. Though of course the BBC had its agenda then as the BBC had for decades prior to the Iraq war and has of course the BBC has had its agenda since. Me trust the BBC sorry BBC but I would sooner trust a Rattlesnake with a “pet me” sign than the BBC and its so-called news and current affairs
@Alan shouldn’t you correct the spelling error in the title?
Personally Stew – I think an aplogy would be suffishent
(Foortunatlee I nevver make spelin mishtakes)!
I’m old enough to remember when aunty beeb was something to be proud of.
I can’t remember when they morphed into the left wing zealots we have now.
I used to complain on a regular basis,but,as always,they don’t find in my favour.
It doesn’t matter how good the evidence is,as in this shiner case,nothing will change
the BBC.
I have complained again regarding the shiner episode,without any expectation
that anything will come of it.
I think a movement that cannot be ignored is required,as thing stand,the bbc will
not become without bias because they don’t have to,
Dominic Lawson has found out a few Sinister links to Phil Shiner (a communist) and his links to the hard left connections prasing him; ‘One such is The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers. In 2015, it announced ‘Solidarity with Phil Shiner’ and complained to the Law Society about what it described as ‘the attacks by Right-wing media . . . on our vice-president, Phil Shiner’. That’s probably why the BBC think he is a hero alongside Stalin (who was misunderstood) they would claim.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4194422/I-sinister-agenda-shark-smeared-troops.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
I`m surprised the BBC as yet hasn`t made a panorama program titled At least Jimmy Saville wasn`t a racist and used his victimisation of predominently white children to vindicate him and allow the BBC to declare `some might say ….they got it about right…. #Despite Brexit`..