489 Responses to START THE WEEK OPEN THREAD….

  1. scribblingscribe says:

    Today’s competition:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-36101130

    Spot the word traveller or gypsy in this article.

    The reason I flag it up is, recently some dopey woman called Patricia Connors died chasing her dog across the motorway – I guess there aren’t any signs saying ‘do not chase dogs across the motorway’. Her husband and sons kept slaves in Cardiff, as everyone has to have a hobby. She and her family are also travellers.

    I can recall the BBC reporting of slaves being kept for up to 20 years in Cardiff but no mention of the slaver’s backgrounds. Can’t think why.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4394962/Great-grandmother-died-run-M4.html

    Which makes me wonder about this ‘horse farmer’ in this item:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-29754284

       49 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @SS Yes they made an effort to hide the ethnicity in that last example
      but a Google does show me that they usually do mention gypsy/travellers.

      I was once hitching back from the airport 20 years ago and the gypsies offered me work.

         4 likes

      • scribblingscribe says:

        re Google. Possibly so Stew, but I can assure you that during the TV news items for the Doran family they were definitely referred to as farmers not travelers. The Connolly’s, I believe, weren’t mentioned as travelers, nor did the BBC cover the other slave scandals of traveller camps around the UK, one of which held a man for longer than the 20 years of the poor sod in cardiff.

           6 likes

  2. Dr E says:

    In my opinion BBC News engages in bias by :

    A) omission
    B) guest selection
    C) story promotion
    D) interruption
    E) ridicule
    F) weasel words
    G) affect when reading written material
    H) burying unwelcome facts on inside pages online
    I) deletion of effective comments online
    J) biased audience admission

    Did I miss any?

       97 likes

    • Rareview says:

      Hmm .. what do you call the simply purile use of a rather dated photo with Obama (along with me-too blue tie) as the Twitter public face of our honest & true WH reporter Jon Sopel ? (No suggestion that tweets are his own opinion but then we are seeing all too often that BBC Reporters are more interested in giving us their ‘opinion’ instead of actually researching & reporting on the facts). Searching for the right words .. he certainly employs (e) and (f) ..

         34 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      DrE,
      An excellent list . The only additions that I can make are a) the inclusion of doubt and negative opinions whenever there is good news that the BBC doesn’t like eg good economic news, b) the broadcasting of outright lies which a moments research would have revealed to be lies, often this is done by allowing guests to make assertions which go unchallenged.
      But the most insidious way in which the BBC propagandises on behalf of the liberal left globalists is through its documentaries , educational and drama programmes. These are so heavily tainted with the liberal left , bien pendant PC attitudes that they are unwatchable by any sensible person. The educational programmes must be particularly dangerous in shaping the beliefs and attitudes of young people.

         54 likes

    • popeye says:

      Add the choice of pictures for the “goodies” (e.g. Obama) and the “baddies” (no need to mention names I’m sure).

         16 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      We should really make a Wiki
      zero) Agenda setting in choosing what stories to report
      – A thousand important stories happen across the world everyday, but watch the BBC copy the Guardian in selecting SJW stories and ditching others.
      H) is selecting some stories to be classed as LOCAL news
      ..reported once and buried
      K) Selecting pet stories for #BbcOperationBangingOn

         6 likes

      • Cranmer says:

        Another one is the juxtapositioning of headlines which are ostensibly separate but which, when read together, show bias. For example when the Brexit referendum went through, the BBC’s news page was ‘Britain votes to leave EU’. This should have been the only headline required, but they had to put underneath it something about the pound dropping to its lowest level. Both were facts, but the way they were put on the same page was obviously intended to show the first headline as negative.

           4 likes

  3. In The Real World says:

    Haven,t been on here for a little while .
    My browser [ Google ] has not let me access the site saying that the connection was unsecure .
    Only , after a week or so , when I tried under a different browser did I find find that Biased BBC was still going OK .

    Is this another part of the loonie left trying to control the Internet , has anybody else seen this problem or is it just me ?

       31 likes

    • Grant says:

      Real,

      Haven’t had that problem although the site has been “down” for a few hours on a few occasions in the last year or so.

         17 likes

    • Demon says:

      Real World, yes I have.

         2 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      After my post on biasedbbc about the CIA, MI6 and GCHQ spying on Trump. I was blocked. All I got when logging on to biasedbbc.tv was this:

      This site can’t provide a secure connection
      biasedbbc.tv uses an unsupported protocol.
      ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH
      The client and server don’t support a common SSL protocol version or cipher suite. This is likely to be caused when the server needs RC4, which is no longer considered secure.

      Anyway, a man came and sorted it out, showing me a list of security relays that could have been added or removed to block me. Anyway, he says it looks like it was caused by an addition of NSA malware by GCHQ. In fact there has just been more leaks about this and the names of people doing this, as there seems to be a civil war between those who owe elegance to the United States and its president Donald Trump, and those who don’t.

      Also, GCHQ could either have acted as useful idiots for those traitorous agents or the traitors could have pretended to be GCHQ. The “Russia excuse” being used to get loyal and patriotic agents to look at emails, phone calls and financial transactions.

      Also, beware of security updates, as they can be the very opposite of security. As this is how the Orwellian state security services spy on us, and if your system in incompatible, block access to biasedbbc.tv, again.

      But then it now looks as if there must be a significant number of people for which biasedbbc.tv is now “internet invisible”

         14 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      If you know the site
      click the bit at the bottom of the warning which says something “proceeed/advanced ..I know the risks”
      Such certificate errors can come up cos of time stamp errors
      eg your PC or one in the internet chain has the wrong time on etc.

      Or You can use a proxy type : proxy unblocker into Google

         4 likes

  4. Dover Sentry says:

    Dover Sentry
    April 17, 2017 at 9:56 am

    BBC Online News:

    “”London attack: Victim Melissa Cochran returns to US””

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39618203

    This was a TERRORIST attack. Not just an ‘attack’. Terrorism or Islam is not mentioned once.
    The IRA committed Terrorist attacks and the word Terrorist was always used.

    Why drop it just because Islamics are involved? Oh, wait….

       82 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      No it wasn’t a terrorist attack as I keep telling people!

      Islamic attacks are vastly different to Terrorist attacks in that they have no other set of objective than to kill as many Kuffar as possible.

      A terrorist by definition has a set of political objectives that he or she wishes to bring about by the use of force & violence.

      Islam is a violent religion, and attacks like these are just part of Muslims living in a society different to those they fantasise about, but which don’t exist anywhere.

         46 likes

      • Oaknash says:

        Thoughtful – Its all quite understandable really – they are just following Mo s Famous instruction manual ” How to Enslave Existing Cultures and Kill People”

        When in court they can come out with the old “We were only following orders” – Funny seem to have heard that in relation to something else!

           30 likes

      • Emmanuel Goldstein says:

        Isn’t it about time that these lorries and 4×4’s that have been killing all these people were locked up.
        Even the damaged ones can be repaired and before you know it they are mowing down people again.
        Send these vehicles back to where they came from.

           41 likes

  5. G says:

    I’ll avoid Sainsbury’s and Asda like the plague in future.
    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/04/uk-two-large-supermarket-chains-wont-stock-christian-easter-egg-but-do-carry-halal-ones

    All for less that 10% of the population?

       88 likes

    • Grant says:

      G,

      They have just lost me as a customer forever. And how many customers have they gained by this ? Total idiots. All non-muslims should boycott them.

         53 likes

      • Grant says:

        PS,

        Credit to the other supermarkets for not following suit. They have just increased their business from me.

           44 likes

        • Justin Casey says:

          I shop at Iceland and Lidl ….. they don`t seem to be so bad…

             5 likes

          • Scroblene says:

            Tesco have also shot themselves in the foot by sending out ‘coupons’ giving £7 off a £50 shop!

            There’s only two of us fergodsake!

            Waitrose are much better, although more expensive, at least they have profiled us better with £6 off a £30 shop!

            Especially as they do good throwing whisky at £15 a litre before the discount…

            C’mon bbbc, start a campaign, if you know what that is!

               1 likes

  6. Sluff says:

    Here’s one for you. Make sure you are sitting down and calm.
    On Toady this morning, the snowflakes in the bBBC editorial suite are having apoplexy about the State of Arkansas wanting to crack on and execute several people on death row.

    John Humphries gets the chance to interview the mother of a little girl who was (some or all of) abducted, raped, strangled and murdered.
    Admittedly talking quietly, Humphries, clearly under the thought control of the snowflakes, asks the mother in terms how she feels about the suffering the condemned man is going to endure ????!!!!! (Because apparently one of the drugs used in the lethal injection process can cause discomfort for up to 40 minutes)
    Very calmly the mother contrasts that level of potential suffering with the level endured by the little girl as she died and by the grieving family in the years since the murder.
    Massive credit to her for staying calm and not wrecking the studio and smacking Humphries in the chops.
    I think the words required are something like “the bBBC are utterly beneath contempt”.

       116 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Perhaps Humphries might have asked I’m on a different planet Clegg if he is happy with the consequences of his snowflake banning the sale of the execution drugs to the USA, and the fact that the states with the death penalty are bringing forward executions so the drugs do not pass their use before dates.

      Consequences of their actions? What consequences? the (il)liberal Left are ALWAYS right and the usual left wing denial means they can blame their faults on other people, usually just before murdering them en masse for their perceived ‘crimes’.

         35 likes

      • Oaknash says:

        Sluff in some ways the fact that Humphries even considered this a reasonable question to ask a mother who has had her daughter raped and murdered by a sexual pervert also says quite a lot about our morally bankrupt politicians.

        These basically, washed their hands of any responsibility for ensuring the Corporation is suitably supervised in the way it deals with any sort of sensitive or high profile subjects.

        In effect the BBC has been given the green light to champion all SJW issues it takes a fancy to, no matter what other “fallout” there may be.

        I suppose we should not be surprised that yet again the BBC seems to champion the rights of deviants as opposed to their victims. It certainly managed to keep a lid on the Saville situation for long enough.

        Yet when the BBC “Morality Police” find someone to smear whos politics or social standing are at variance to the Comrades beliefs (such as Cliff Richard arch Christian or Lord Bramall – warmonger) The BBC are all over these stories like VD rash.

        And additionally does not seem to require any sort of evidence before hitting the airwaves just the say so of some bloke called Nick, Bob or Harry who wakes up one day and decides that they were probably abused forty years ago.

        Nothing surprises me these days about this organisation – But I just find it depressing that this obviously corrupt and morally twisted corporation has so much establishment protection even when it has been caught out bang to rights.

           57 likes

        • Grant says:

          Humphries, there’s another effing beauty. Disgusting man, with the sensitivity of a brick. Perfect Beeboid.

             48 likes

    • Flexdream says:

      What is the BBC’s obsession with the US? When it comes to the death penalty Communist China and Islamic Iran execute far more. In the US it’s a State’s matter and some States don’t have it. It’s none of our business or interest or relevance. It does allow Beeboids to display that assumed superiority over the US that some in the UK and Europe assume. All while reporting from the comfort and luxury of the hotel comforts and freedoms which are amongst the fruits of the US system.

         21 likes

      • Grant says:

        Flex,

        And the BBC’s beloved Erdogan is planning to bring back the death penalty in Turkey. I wonder what BBC cnuts will have to say about that ?

           16 likes

      • Cranmer says:

        Flexdream, leftists have always disliked the USA because of its individualism. Even today, it is an important principle that the individual is higher than the state in the US. The left can’t stand this idea because it scuppers all their plans for centrally imposed utopia.

           5 likes

  7. Mice Height says:

    From Lauren Southern’s FaceBook page –

    “Violence at Berkeley Trump tax march”
    BBC literally just spliced together two entirely different events. The free speech rally I was at that got crashed by Antifa and the Tax Marches going on in different cities.
    They are trying to make it look like Trump supporters showed up to the tax event to fight.
    Unreal. This isn’t just fake news … this is VERY FAKE NEWS.

       47 likes

    • Mice Height says:

         31 likes

      • nogginator says:

        The “burkha boys” at it again?
        I ve been waiting for the Al BBC to spin it, regular as clockwork!.
        https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9kZiluUAAADjTE.jpg
        … hope the pictures show this time
        Never mind our impressionable kids are safe from those extremist clutches
        and erm … just vote Malia
        https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9j1IF4XcAAmY-A.jpg
        (“Women Of Colour”? Malia??)

           14 likes

        • nogginator says:

          “The recent election of Malia Bouattia, whereby she has been globally hailed as the “First Black Muslim Woman to be elected as NUS President.”, raised questions and concerns for me, in terms of the use of language around the liberation campaign “Black Students”.
          Why?
          Quite simply because Malia isn’t black. She self-defines as black … ‘politically’.”

          Hasn t there been an absolute media storm over Rachel Donezal?
          Over this “self defining” SJW nonsense?.

          Student Voices – NUS needs to evaluate the use of “Political Blackness” in the student movement
          http://www.studentvoices.co.uk/2016/05/nus-needs-to-evaluate-use-of-political.html
          “NUS have endorsed this ‘Politically Black’ position which openly rejects ethnic Blackness rooted in African ancestry as being too exclusive and creating ‘separation’ and ‘disunity’ among minority groups. I believe that those who self-define as black should be reflective and consider that Political Blackness and its enforced flexibility, can actually cause ethnically black students to be subsumed and alienated from their own skin-blackness, under the guise of ‘solidarity’. Let’s say for example, an ethnically black woman becomes the next President of NUS – Will it be a historic moment or has this accomplishment already been claimed by a non-black person?”

             20 likes

  8. Dover Sentry says:

    BBC Online News:

    “”Green groups warn of ‘race to the bottom'””

    “”Some observers within the environmental community have expressed concerns that green issues could become bargaining chips in the effort to secure trade deals””

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39592515

    More BBC (Brexit Bashing Continually) anti Brexit propaganda.

    I’m still waiting for BBC pro Brexit propaganda to provide balance.

       52 likes

    • Grant says:

      Dover,

      “Actress Anna Friel is among the celebrities who have backed the letter “. That is the clincher for me.

         44 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      How would these ‘Green groups’ have dealt with environmental decline

      – before humankind existed

      – before humankind had spread over significant areas of this planet’s surface

      – before humankind had spread over significant areas of this planet’s surface in significant numbers in order to have the ‘manpower’, time & prosperity to spend on it?

      Get the ‘Green groups’ to answer those three questions to put the problem in perspective. Then, ask one more question of each signatory to this letter: “Would you as an individual be willing to commit ten per cent of your income, or more, to dealing with environmental decline in the knowledge that very few others or no-one else will?”

      The answers will be illuminating.

      They may possibly throw a spotlight on the waste paper bin.

         16 likes

    • gaxvil says:

      Come on Ofcom get your finger out.

         12 likes

  9. G.W.F. says:

    Since the Syrian airstrike the BBC has started to tone down its criticism of Trump’s foreign policies. Here Trump is being portrayed as an Arab hero, and Hussein Obama seen in a negative light.
    It looks as if the BBC is shifting with regard to Trump, maybe more once he is completely surrounded by Democrat advisers.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39581911

       20 likes

  10. Up2snuff says:

    Belated Happy Easter to everyone on here. Been kept away from the PC by activities.

       22 likes

  11. Deborah says:

    I have been watching Line of Duty, gripping stuff and no agenda……well not until last night when DC Huntley turned on the investigating officer. He had called a female policewoman ‘darling’ and had investigated too many women. She turned in seconds from a woman suffering from a fever to a woman ready to take on The world single handed. I just hope this does not turn into a series where a black woman has been wrongly accused and come up as the victor because she is a black woman.

       30 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Articles everywhere about how ‘A’ lister (?) Thandie Newton combatted bullying, racism etc etc as she grew up in Cornwall, and how its hard to get decent acting parts for ‘brown’ women etc etc. Fair enough. BUT is it just me, or can anyone name more than a couple of roles she’s been in ? and as for her acting skills, these seem confined to her ‘serious’ facial expressions, because apart from a couple of instances of shouting dialogue in Line of Duty, there doesn’t appear to be much ‘acting’ going on !!

      I suspect she had ‘her face on’ when her young daughter spat the word c…t at Boris Johnson, and then said how proud she was of her. Very nice Ms Newton, how would YOU feel if a young child called you a derogatory term for someone of colour, and their parents then patted them on the back ? No different eh ?

         37 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Articles everywhere about how ‘A’ lister (?) Thandie Newton combatted bullying, racism etc etc as she grew up in Cornwall, and how its hard to get decent acting parts for ‘brown’ women etc etc. Fair enough. BUT is it just me, or can anyone name more than a couple of roles she’s been in ? and as for her acting skills, these seem confined to her ‘serious’ facial expressions, because apart from a couple of instances of shouting dialogue in Line of Duty, there doesn’t appear to be much ‘acting’ going on !!

      I suspect she had ‘her face on’ when her young daughter spat the word c…t at Boris Johnson, and then said how proud she was of her. Very nice Ms Newton, how would YOU feel if a young child called you a derogatory term for someone of colour, and their parents then patted them on the back ? No different eh ?

         5 likes

      • Oaknash says:

        I think you are just being double prejudiced Brissles

        1 Cos Thandie is black and you have just critiscised her. Remember she has had had to fight so much harder than everyone else to get blah blah blah zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
        2 SORRY I FELL ASLEEP! Her daughter probably has some sort of Tourettes type condition and has probably had to fight so much harder than everyone else to be able to swear at a Government Minister zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
        Anyway I am sure it isnt bad parenting cos Thandie is black and she has probably had to fight so much zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

           34 likes

    • Moodswing6 says:

      Hi Deborah. Since I’m on the Prosecco I couldn’t resist getting in touch. I loved the first series but my initial reaction to the second instalments were tepid. This has something to do with my general difficulty accepting anything that the CBB are involved in. I grew up in Australia and was a huge huge fan of their output from my late teens. Now I’m of a very different mindset. Still, as I am paying my license fee I decided to catch up on the current episodes On I player last night.
      Overall I think it’s still a bloody good show but it’s let down for me by some scenarios that are beyond believability. An aspect of this is while watching each episode I kept wondering how could anyone remain together and seemingly in control. Sure she’s had years of experience (yet even that’s a bit of a push as she doesn’t look old enough to be that seasoned) still it’s beyond my ability to believe that someone could get as far as she has without cracking. This brings me to the big interview scene. She’s not well and almost been caught out time and time again yet miraculously she has all this detailed damning information (from a source) but her coolness, I just couldn’t accept. To be fair in this instance regarding the AGENDA issue by use of the word ‘darling’ I think this is something the character would honestly use without meaning it to be sexist. What’s more interesting to me is the use of her words, something like ‘I’d prefer you to use neutral gender language’
      and at the risk of severe criticism here, it shows the woman to be more sexist than the man. Oops if I’ve gone to far blame the Prosecco. I’ve raved on again but I do love theatre and good television. The CBB once did good stuff, now like everything else and despite the 4 plus billion pounds and The plethora of TV and radio stations, for the most part unwatchable, unlistenable, and very very unbelievable.

         9 likes

      • Deborah says:

        I felt it unbelievable how the woman in the first half of the interview who appeared to be ill and feverish could switch in an instant and could take control over a very experienced officer…. and then all this politically correct stuff over gender. Suddenly I could see the BBC script instead of a gripping storyline that with a push could have been believable. It is like a nature documentary which appears to be interesting switches on the climate change button. Mentally I switch off. That interview in The Line of Duty may be my switch off moment. I also enjoy calling it Thin Blue Line, it puts humour into a drama that has none.

           8 likes

  12. Deborah says:

    I am terribly worried about the people wading out to sea, the twitchers and the mountain rescue shown between programmes, there isn’t a black person amongst them. Do I report the BBC, the swimmers, the mountain rescuers or the bird watching society to the Equality Commission?

       45 likes

    • Emmanuel Goldstein says:

      Deb, all the black ones are reading the news.

         20 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Deb, they are in evidence ! the wheelchair basketball/football (?) team, then there are the Indian dancers in turbans throwing themselves around.

         4 likes

  13. Despairada says:

    What do you think about the result of the Turkish referendum to make Erdogan Caliph dictator for life?

    This is a good comment from an article at the Spectator. I hope the contributor doesn’t mind me reproducing it here:

    “Stupefying, but expected, reaction to the vote from the BBC this morning. Its theme seemed to be “Is this a move towards a possible autocracy in Turkey?”. (Yes, this is the same ant–Brexit, pro-Islamist organisation we’ve got use to.) Yes it is you dozy f*****s it is. It’s been effectively a dictatorship for several years while Erdogan has been becoming more and more demented and meglomaniacal just like the mad old sultans of the Ottoman Empire. He dreams of being a new Caliph.

    Haven’t you noticed the thousands of innocent people imprisoned and tortured by Erdogan, the imprisonment of more journalists than any other country, the closure and forced takeover of opposition newspapers and TV and radio stations, the banning of political parties, the bombing of Kurdish civilians etc. etc.Yes, I think this is known as dictatorship.

    Obviously we can always rely on the fearless and transparent journalism of the BBC to make people like Erdogan feel even stronger and more contemptuous of ‘the West’.”

       52 likes

    • gaxvil says:

      Can’t believe the people voted for this – if they really did?

         18 likes

    • Lucy Pevensey says:

      BBC bosses must admire Erdogan’s press control.
      In case anyone is interested, Erdogan’s approved mouthpiece since the fake coup has been Yeni Safak. They conveniently have an English edition here: http://www.yenisafak.com/en/
      For what it is, it’s actually more honest than Beeby. But as we all know that’s not saying much.

         15 likes

      • Grant says:

        Lucy,

        Sorry, but still no hard evidence that it was a fake coup ! All I have seen is mere hearsay. But many vested interests to suggest it was. Turkey is a very complex country, in comparison the UK is quite simple.

           5 likes

        • Lucy Pevensey says:

          Grant,
          It’s not likely there will ever be any hard evidence.
          But just think, within 24hrs it was all over. That alone is highly suspicious.

             8 likes

          • Grant says:

            Lucy,

            I have studied Turkey for over 40 years, lived there, speak Turkish have also studied the 3 successful coups . The idea that Erdogan staged this is totally absurd, but it suits some people’s political motives. I would suggest that the most likely scenario is that Erdogan had intelligence on the coup and allowed it to go ahead so he had a further pretext for cracking down. But , it you want to believe the “Fake Coup ” theory, go ahead. I shall only believe it when there is hard evidence. Do you not think it is highly suspicious than none has appeared yet ?

               8 likes

            • Grant says:

              PS,

              Lucy, many failed coups are over in less than 24 hours, that is totally irrelevant.

                 3 likes

              • Lucy Pevensey says:

                Grant,
                I believe you and consider your insights informative & interesting but I didn’t develop a ‘staged coups’ perspective from the media. As far as I could see, Western sources were all presenting the coups as legitimate. I know a Turkish Cypriot family & they hate Erdogan. It was mainly from their stories I was convinced that Turkish security may have facilitated, enabled or orchestrated the coups. Or the authorities simply ignored the warning signs & did not pursue a crackdown because it was more useful to The Sultan if he appeared to have put down usurpers easily. (And I am told it wouldn’t be the first time for such tactics)
                One hears things about Erdogan’s son in law & them planting operatives in the PKK & planned assasinations and so on. His family sounds like a high-level Turkish-Mafia outfit.
                So while I can’t claim I KNOW anything. I also wouldn’t put anything past them.

                   6 likes

                • Grant says:

                  Lucy,

                  The debate has been raging on the internet ever since the coup. You can google it and spend happy hours reading many different points of view and many different theories. It was the CIA wot done it, it was Putin, it was aliens ( just made that up ), it didn’t really happen ( a bit like the people who think that the moon landing was faked ) and so on.

                  But it is all speculation, gossip and hearsay with no evidence. I am a great believer on “Occam’s Razor “. People , of course are free to believe what they want.

                     2 likes

                  • Lucy Pevensey says:

                    Grant,
                    I’ll go with the aliens 😉

                    erdouyk29CN7.jpg

                       0 likes

                  • Lucy Pevensey says:

                    Grant,
                    I’ll go with aliens 😉

                       3 likes

                    • Grant says:

                      Lucy,

                      LOL ! You mean “Alien Abduction” ? Don’t get me started on that !

                         0 likes

                  • Up2snuff says:

                    Grant, there is one bit of possible ‘evidence’ that you may have overlooked or forgotten. The coup in Turkey last year resulted in the immediate arrests & imprisonment of a whole strong of people. They occurred within hours. What do you think?

                    That did appear rather suspicious.

                       1 likes

                    • Grant says:

                      Up2,

                      Not suspicious. They would all be on the list. Just a case of “Round up the usual suspects “. Many of whom would be under surveillance anyway. Many would probably be innocent, but why would Erdogan care ? As I say , this has all been discussed on the internet ad nauseam. You can google it. I gave up contributing months ago !

                         1 likes

                    • Up2snuff says:

                      Grant, I’ll pass on the kind offer of an internet trawl on the subject. It would definitely send me to ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

                      or deprive me of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

                      Agree what you say is common after coups – failed or successful – but it was so quick, too quick to be credible and took out swathes of different professions, law, journalism, education, that makes the possibility that it was a ‘set up’ very credible. I have an open mind on the matter.

                      Shome shcope for BBC inveshtigative journalism, shurely! 😉

                         2 likes

  14. scribblingscribe says:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul-Wahid_Shannan_ar-Ribat
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39620469

    The BBC and Guardian are winding up themselves into a tizzy of excitement as UK courts indulge the Iraqi army’s former Chief of Staff Abdul-Wahid Shannan ar-Ribat. He is bringing a private prosecution against Tony Blair for the Iraq War. Of course, Michael Mansfield is involved with his pockets outstretched – hopefully no tax payers money is involved.

    Oddly the BBC/Guardian omits the fact that as Chief of Staff, the delightful Abdul-Wahid Shannan ar-Ribat would have been involved in the small matter of his boss, Saddam Hussein’s, wars and genocide. One of those wars alone cost the lives of over a million people and another, the invasion of Kuwait, led to the Iraqi army butchering hundreds of thousands of its own citizens.

    Perhaps on the days when Saddam Hussein was torturing innocent people to death in the most obscene ways, Ribat was declaring that he would take Saddam Hussein to the highest Iraqi court.

       25 likes

  15. gaxvil says:

    Meantime, I wonder when a delegation of students and professors will be heading a delegation around the Middle East to promote the use of, ‘Safe Spaces’ and ‘Comfort Dogs’?

       14 likes

  16. StewGreen says:

    1:16 R4 “Trump’s ban on Muslims”says the Turkish commenter
    and as usual Mardell lets that FalseNews meme to continue, without putting up a hand.

       25 likes

  17. Grant says:

    BBC Website describes the US Missile Defence System in S. Korea as ” controversial” , but does not say with whom or why. Drip, drip, drip …..

       29 likes

  18. G says:

    We’re probably all aware of this lot –
    http://citizengo.org/en/node/1?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWVdSa1kySXhaV1EzTURWaiIsInQiOiI5bnc2a3FXQUFYemVRNndQak5uSmVwbUlLWUlkanNSMHpBaEpJb25ZOG5EaFVsNmZzYU5cLzdpNW5Ud2pFK21kNU5RRjJBRm5lMmpMV1g5U1VMR0RWUllOR2VcL3BKNkMwWnpOK0ExREw2a2ZNamNhOTRYZnMzUzFyNzJWQldlb2tPIn0%3D#donde
    having signed one or two of their petitions. But, every time I receive an alert email from them now, it is pleading for money for Iraq. I note they are not registered as a charity in the UK so, goodness knows what happens to the money received – its effectively unaccountable. No money from me I hasten to add.

       13 likes

  19. taffman says:

    “Hackney nightclub acid attack leaves at least 12 injured”
    Are we being informed of the full facts by Al Beeb?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-39618490

       26 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      Taffman, until a few years ago articles like that would conclude with the words ‘Operation Trident detectives are investigating’ which was PC code for black-on-black gang crime. They no longer do that. Call me cynical, but the words ‘Hackney nightclub’ have, to my mind, more or less the same meaning.

         13 likes

  20. Lucy Pevensey says:

    Good news for me-Swiss Chocolatier Lindt is currently Halal-free. (I love those choccie bunnies!) Anyone interested in boycotting Halal might find these links useful:

    http://www.boycotthalal.com/

    https://www.buycott.com/campaign/1085/boycott-halal-certified-products-in-the-uk

    Unknown4.jpeg?resize=225%2C225

    560682_400262619998236_1250023487_n.jpg

       50 likes

  21. nogginator says:

    Waiting for the Al BBC on this one, after all its plastering of “hate” rhetoric over its news, used at every opportunity.

    “Primary school children were taken to meet an Islamic preacher described as ‘extremist’ at the mosque where Lee Rigby’s murderers worshipped.
    The trip saw pupils from Kilmorie Primary School in Lewisham, London, meet controversial preacher Shakeel Begg, who the High Court said ‘promoted and encouraged religious violence’. Students at the school, aged eight and nine, were taken to the Lewisham Islamic Centre to take part in a discussion with the imam
    … Come on Al BBC to slow to catch a cold.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article…/Primary-school-took-pupils-meet-extremist-imam
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/15/children-taken-meet-islamic-preacher-hadpromoted-encouraged/
    https://www.rt.com/uk/384958-school-children-extremist-islam
    http://tundratabloids.com/2017/04/uk-primary-school-children-taken-to-visit-imam-at-islamonazi-mosque-where-murderer-of-lee-rigby-frequented/

       26 likes

    • nogginator says:

      Something has to be done about this … primary schools??
      There is one reason only to discuss Mosques and Islam in regards to young children, that is caution, and vital information
      Are these vulnerable children going to be informed, that the Paedophile mass murderer who founded the cult, married a child their age when he was in his 50s?

      That they have, HAVE to stay as far as possible away from many of the cults followers as their personal safety is at great risk, and could destroy both their and their Mum and Dads lives.
      Because if that is not the case … the school is guilty of gross negligence over information vital … VITAL in regards to every child s personal safety.

      The facts appertaining to this information is freely available to any education chiefs, to both Heads and Teachers

         31 likes

  22. StewGreen says:

    It’s worth reading Rod Liddles post about the BBC ..and dig at C4, London bubbles etc.
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/04/what-meat-free-mondays-tell-us-about-the-bbcs-smug-liberal-bubble

    Commenter “Masses of BBC staff now live, like me, in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Chorlton is a miniature, and arguably concentrated version of the ‘well-heeled, liberal, middle-class… bubble’ that is London. Apart from being a bit shouty and giving their children ridiculous names, they’re really very nice people, but tediously orthodox in their liberalism (and astonishingly intolerant of dissent).

    At a BBQ last summer I asked a dozen or so BBC staffers if I’d find a tory or UKIP voter anywhere in Media village. They found the question ridiculous!”

       34 likes

    • Grant says:

      Stew,

      Rod Liddle is pretty good most of the time. Wonderfully un-PC !

         17 likes

    • Moodswing6 says:

      Stew that article was so good I’ve just subscribed to The Spectator. I’ve wanted to for a while but the direct debits begin to add up. Cheers!

         6 likes

      • Charlie Martel says:

        Moodswing, cancel your beebistan extortion fee and you’ll have £145.50 to spend on serious news and opinion outlets like The Speccie.

           11 likes

  23. Broadcasting-on-Behalf-of-the-Caliphate says:

    Okay this is for those that follow sport.

    Now we all know that the BBC have been carrying out a witch hunt against British Cycling – which started out as a claim of a bullying culture made by one of the female cyclists who wasn’t picked for the Olympics. The BBC constantly hounded the British Cycling management and there was eventually some resignations. The BBC then turned their attention to Team Sky Cycling and have been hammering away at them. Here is an example of one of their articles on the bullying culture within British Cycling:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/39234548

    Anyway, today the BBC’s top sports story – is a denial by Barry Hearn that he has been bullying Ronnie O’Sullivan. In this article the BBC poke fun at Ronnie O’Sullivan’s past behaviour in press interviews. So here they are not taking seriously Ronnie O’Sullivan’s claim of a bullying culture in Professional Snooker. Why is that? Then I thought – of course, the BBC have a special deal with Barry Hearn over broadcasting rights. SO they have no interest in pursuing the bullying claim and instead act as the mouth peace for Barry Hearn. What self-interested feckers the BBC are:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/39619481

       21 likes

  24. nogginator says:

    The BBC was cock a hoop and assigned lots of airtime after Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai was made the youngest ever UN Messenger of Peace…
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/39563319
    Expect another, when some Al BBC roving reporter cut and pastes this

    We are not representing true Islam’: Malala Yousafzai condemns Pakistani student’s murder,
    “the Holy Prophet (PBUH) never advised his followers to “be impatient and go around killing people”. “We have forgotten our values. We are not representing the true Islam,”
    Oh Dear Mal! (shakes head), have you never read your book?
    … and she only wants girls to go to school, if that’s still the brief.

    http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-watch-we-have-forgotten-our-values-we-are-not-representing-true-islam-malala-yousafzai-condemns-pakistani-student-s-murder-2402919

       26 likes

    • Charlie Martel says:

      the Holy Prophet (PBUH) never advised his followers to “be impatient and go around killing people…”

      Oh but he did, sweetie, he did:
      https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/violence.aspx
      “The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called ‘hypocrites’ and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.

      Unlike nearly all of the Old Testament verses of violence, the verses of violence in the Quran are mostly open-ended, meaning that they are not restrained by historical context contained in the surrounding text (although many Muslims choose to think of them that way). They are part of the eternal, unchanging word of Allah, and just as relevant or subject to interpretation as anything else in the Quran.
      (…)
      Unfortunately, there are very few verses of tolerance and peace to balance out the many that call for nonbelievers to be fought and subdued until they either accept humiliation, convert to Islam, or are killed. Muhammad’s own martial legacy, along with the remarkable stress on violence found in the Quran, have produced a trail of blood and tears across world history…”
      More, much more here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/violence.aspx

         34 likes

    • imaynotalwaysloveyou says:

      That silly girl is a communist, and her addled-headed young mind is full of anti-western propaganda. No wonder the UN thinks she’s the bees knees.

         18 likes

  25. Thoughtful says:

    More evidence that the Western Press is not telling the truth about Syria:

    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/press/syria-pipeline-how-the-press-will-not-tell-the-truth-about-syria/

    Back in December 2015, I explained what Syria was all about and why the Obama Administration wanted to invade to help Qatar get a pipeline through Syria to compete with Russia selling gas to Europe. I explained there were two pipelines one approved by Russia from Iran through Syria and the other Obama agreed to with Qatar also through Syria. The American press supported Obama by trying to make everyone believe Obama cared about innocent civilians being gassed. Nothing was further from the truth and the US was supplying the weapons to rebels who were slaughtering people and throwing them in mass graves. Obama turned a blind eye because the pipeline was more important than people in Syria.

    Finally, after more than one year from when I reported the real truth behind Syria, the Australian Press has now broke the story. The question is why now? It seems the media will now switch the focus and claim Trump is the one doing this for the pipeline now that their favorite son, Obama, is out of the picture. Mainstream media is out to defeat Trump. That is what they are directed to do from their big corporate owners who Dan Rather exposed in 2008, but now defends the press as being honest and real and the devil is Trump claiming they are fake.

    Interesting how they can hide the story to help Obama and then flip the same story to attack Trump. It looks like Trump is falling prey to being set up to think this is really about chemical weapons and saving people. Sorry – that was all BS. The evidence came out that it was the rebels supported by Obama who were using the chemical weapons. Investigations revealed that back in 2013, they used sarin gas – not the Syrian government.

    http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-05/news/sns-rt-us-syria-crisis-unbre94409z-20130505_1_chemical-weapons-sarin-syria

    GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria’s civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.

    The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, said commission member Carla Del Ponte.

    “Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated,” Del Ponte said in an interview with Swiss-Italian television.
    “This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities,” she added, speaking in Italian.

    Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney-general who also served as prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, gave no details as to when or where sarin may have been used.

    The Geneva-based inquiry into war crimes and other human rights violations is separate from an investigation of the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria instigated by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which has since stalled.

    President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the rebels accuse each another of carrying out three chemical weapon attacks, one near Aleppo and another near Damascus, both in March, and another in Homs in December.
    The civil war began with anti-government protests in March 2011. The conflict has now claimed an estimated 70,000 lives and forced 1.2 million Syrian refugees to flee.

    The United States has said it has “varying degrees of confidence” that sarin has been used by Syria’s government on its people.
    President Barack Obama last year declared that the use or deployment of chemical weapons by Assad would cross a “red Line”

       20 likes

    • Oaknash says:

      Got to say Thoughtful Assad using sarin does not really make any sense to me.
      Why would he use sarin when
      1 The USA had pretty much accepted that there would be no regime change in Syria

      2 With the help of Russia, Syrian forces are in the ascendancy against ISIS

      I do not understand why Assad would put all this at risk for some short term tactical benefit. If regime change is now to be his ultimate fate short of going to Russia where would he go?

      I do wonder if Trump has been somewhat shanghaied into taking some hasty military action against Assad without bothering to find out the true facts. Unfortunately with the USA now committed to regime change I expect it would now be virtually impossible for Trump to change tack without severe political repercussions to his presidency.

         16 likes

      • Grant says:

        Oak,

        It makes no sense at all. Assad may be a very evil man but he is not stupid. The only reason I can see is for him to blame it on ISIS but, so far as I am aware , he has not done that .

           10 likes

      • RJ says:

        “I do wonder if Trump has been somewhat shanghaied into taking some hasty military action against Assad without bothering to find out the true facts.”

        In this instance I think that Trump was looking at a bigger picture. His most difficult foreign problems are North Korea and getting America taken seriously again after 8 years of Obama. We can then add that once the US press started jumping up and down about the gas attack he had an immediate domestic problem because of the fake news about Russia helping him steal the election. We also have to remember that the Chinese leader was in the USA at the time.

        By attacking the air base, with no risk to American lives and minimal casualties to anyone else, he made clear that he would use force whenever he thought it appropriate; he gave the lie to the allegations that he was working with Putin; he enforced one of Obama’s red lines that Obama had run away from; and he gave himself the perfect opportunity to talk to the Chinese about cooperating on North Korea – unless they wanted to leave it all to him. He reinforced all this with the MOAB in Afghanistan. A possiblr future gain is that he can keep his people digging on what really happened in Syria and if the CIA got it wrong he’ll have the perfect excuse for a clear out of more swamp creatures.

        None of this had anything to do with Syria, but what could have been a major problem for him was used to make several different points, all at minimal cost. The grown ups are back in charge in Washington.

        Of course all the BBC will report is a Trump U turn on Syria, with a few Democtrats pretending to be disappointed Trump voters.

           15 likes

        • Oaknash says:

          I hope you are right RJ – But from our point of view the longer instability continues in the middle east the more enrichers that will come here.
          I suppose at the end of the day the USA is probably sick and tired with European “hand wringers” and its SJW policies and has probably reached the point where it wants to let us all “stew in our own juice”

             8 likes

    • Oaknash says:

      Sorry posting thing has gone funny on me!
      contd
      I have said before in previous posts – little ever seems ever to make sense in this region. This least of all. Whilst I have never really liked conspiracy theories for Assad to have done this would probably be one of the most spectacular political own goals of the century. For me I am afraid timing wise this gas attack fits seems to fit the agenda of Assads enemies just too well.

         8 likes

      • Grant says:

        Oak,

        Maybe you should give up the Oaked and stick to Unoaked ?

           2 likes

        • Oaknash says:

          Grant maybe I should just give up pressing buttons and go back to the slate – But apparently I did something wonderful with my Zs on an earlier post Emmanuel G was most impressed!

             3 likes

          • Grant says:

            Oak,

            You can’t beat a blackboard and chalk.

               2 likes

            • Oaknash says:

              Got to be honest Grant – In some ways I often feel I was born 50 years too late. Both my values (and Mrs Oaks) seem completely at variance with what modern life seems to expect. Maybe we are now the dinosaurs destined to be made extinct by the emergence and ultimate ascendancy of “Onsie Man”

              Imagine it (all to be said to the accompianment of Copelands fanfare to the Common Man)
              He came
              He saw
              He put his head under the duvet and hoped it all went away!

                 18 likes

          • Emmanuel Goldstein says:

            zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz?

               1 likes

            • Emmanuel Goldstein says:

              Keep it as one word with no spaces and it continues to the end of the page Oak.
              Little things eh!

                 1 likes

              • Grant says:

                zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

                   2 likes

              • Oaknash says:

                Emmanuel – Does this mean I better withdraw my application to MIT as a software development engineer. They offered “Clock Boy” a place by virtue of his amazing clock – I thought I might also get a place too and am writing my faeces now on how to do a big ZED!

                   5 likes

    • Flexdream says:

      Maybe the BBC is on the ‘dump Assad’ bandwagon. While happy without evidence to blame Assad for chemical attacks, the BBC is happy to make the equally unsubstantiated and frankly bizarre claim that the Syrian government was behind the recent suicide bombing of government supporting civilians.

      link to earlier thread discussion

         9 likes

  26. StewGreen says:

    R4 Now has ANOTHER prog about a 1960’s Black American feminist writer
    …Ticking those boxes

       21 likes

    • Grant says:

      Stew,

      Strange that it is ok to be a man-hating feminist, but not a male chauvinist. Seems a bit sexist to me.

         21 likes

  27. Dover Sentry says:

    BBC Online News:

    “”Did Melania give husband anthem ‘nudge’?””

    “”The first lady appears to subtly remind the president to place his hand over his heart at the White House Easter egg roll””

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39622126

    Who cares? The BBC do. Anything anti Trump or anti Brexit will do.

       30 likes

    • Grant says:

      Dover,

      Just when you think the BBC cannot get any more trivial, they surprise you.

         23 likes

      • Dover Sentry says:

        Indeed, Mr Grant.

           7 likes

      • LynetteO says:

        Changing the subject to something serious. Sadly, there is no doubt that the BBC will cover the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Israel’s 6 day War in June in a fundamentally flawed and biased way that will incite hatred. . It is not often you get advance warning of the fiction and slander against Israel that the BBC will broadcast so those that are interested see http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Know-Comment-Beware-the-tyranny-narrative-486954

           22 likes

        • Grant says:

          Lynette,

          You can be sure that the perverts at the BBC will turn a brilliant military victory into a defeat. And they will not highlight the comments by that scumbag Nasser and other Arab leaders who made it clear that their aim was to totally destroy Israel. The BBC will re-write history as usual.

          Of course , in the eyes of BBC vermin, the result was a disaster. If Israel had been “wiped off the map “, we wouldn’t have the problems in the Middle East that we have today, would we ?

             22 likes

          • gaxvil says:

            We used to think the some newspapers were the worst – scurrilous, banal, purulent and not averse to manufacturing stories.
            Little did we know that this was the BBC model.

               13 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      Dover Sentry

      Whereas Hussein would need a kick up the bum to remind him where to place his hand. Wonder if the BBC published this photo.

      anthem.jpg

         34 likes

  28. Grant says:

    BBC reports that the Russians have arrested a man suspected of training the St. Petersburg bomber. His name is Abror Asimov and he is from Central Asia. In that part of the world people in countries taken into the Soviet Union were forced to take Russian family names , so Asimov is not much of a clue. But Abror or Abrar is Arabic for “Faithful, devoted to God “. I am trying to work out what religion he may be. Can anyone help me ?

       28 likes

  29. G says:

    Erdogan, a message from one of the “Crusaders” you refer to, your current problems of Referendum legitimacy could be solved easily: lock up the voters who did not agree with your plans. Simples.

       7 likes

  30. Flexdream says:

    This is news?! Front page of the BBC news website.

    “Outspoken Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf has been the target of trolls – congregating on anonymous websites – ever since his anti-Trump performance art project began in January.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39592281

       12 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      I’m surprised the trolls could spell his name ! I have trouble pronouncing it !

         7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Well, it is the BBC, so not news, for sure.

      Thanks to this site I now know failures to place hands on hearts has afflicted other presidents, and to Twitter just now that dreadlocked Antifa protestor suddenly elevated to sainthood and old fashioned chivalry status has quite the interesting backstory, up to and including her activities pre-decking.

      There’s the MSM, and then there is what you can find out for yourself. In the BBC’s case, at a £4b saving.

         6 likes

    • Expat John says:

      Shia LaBeouf?
      Hang on, I think I’ve got that recipe somewhere…

         8 likes

  31. Flexdream says:

    Another non-story on the front page of the website of the world’s leading news shite.

    “Two Easyjet passengers were removed from an overbooked flight and not offered compensation a day after a United Airlines passenger was dragged off a plane in the US.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39620088

    Meanwhile the drugs war in Mexico rages … but 2 people couldn’t get seated on an EasyJet plane.

       17 likes

  32. Foscari says:

    Please somebody let me know if I am wrong and have gone completely paranoid. I watched the 6PM news followed by the Londononistan programme. I counted the number of male presenters and reporters. I counted ONE on the main news and NONE on the other? Am I going mad? Is the BBC on a trial to see if we the viewers can spot these things and care?
    OK on any given day 80% of the news presenters are women. BUT do the BBC have a new policy where we will only see women presenters and reporters? Are Gary Linekers days numbered?

       30 likes

    • gaxvil says:

      Woke in the night and scanned UK radio stations, then had a bit of a panic. Thought I’d suffered rendition to foreign parts while asleep. Wall to wall Islam, Middle East, Punjab, you name it – no English voices or subject matter.

         26 likes

      • Lobster says:

        It’s not only the BBC. I went into Morrisons this morning, and there was a whole section devoted to selling products to celebrate Ramadan. I left my shopping trolley in the aisle and went to Aldi instead.

           31 likes

  33. StewGreen says:

    I’d forgotten about the EU loans to the BBC
    You know how much that takes the BBC EU connection up to ?

    …€258 million according to 2008 Parliament
    http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2007-08/791

       22 likes

    • scribblingscribe says:

      Is that real? If it is it is wholly disgraceful. What the hell is the bbc doing borrowing money from the EU?

      Almost 260 million? This should be known by everyone in the UK.

      Well done Stewgreen.

         17 likes

  34. Up2snuff says:

    The BBC have discovered and enjoy using a new bogey-word: Divisive.

    The EU Referendum was ‘divisive’. The US Presidential Election & subsequent result were ‘divisive’. Now the Turkish Referendum is ‘divisive’.

    There’s a good chance that the French Election will be ‘divisive’, despite a multiplicity of candidates.

    Will the BBC be lobbying for just no more Referendums to be held in the UK? Will disappoint their pal Cleggie and other Remoaners if they do. Or perhaps they disapprove of the sweaty proletariat going to vote at all and would like future Governments to be chosen by an elite Electoral College, perhaps comprising a spread of BBC executives and Political Correspondents?

    If you listen to today’s Radio 4 News bulletins on the Turkish Referendum, you can hear the word ‘divisive’ being spat out by the contributing journalists and the presenters.

       27 likes

    • Cranmer says:

      Well spotted, Up2snuff. It seems ‘divisive’ is another PC expression for anything that is of ‘not-we’ or anathema, ie which goes against accepted PC dogma. So Donald Trump, Mm Le Pen, Brexit, Geert Wilders etc are ‘divisive’. Barack Obumma, mass immigration, Jeremy Corbyn and Polly Toynbee are not.

         29 likes

      • Grant says:

        Cranmer,

        Don’t forget that anyone or anything the BBC disagrees with is also “Controversial”.

           19 likes

  35. StewGreen says:

    Anyone ever met anyone who stopped watching the BBC due to its “right-wing” bias ?

    No cos that’s False Narrative
    ..I’m sure the claim of “right-wing” bias is only put up in political discussions and mostly by PR industry people, not the man on the street.

       33 likes

  36. Thoughtful says:

    Data released by the Home Office, which dates back to 2004, showed that last year only 3,446 failed asylum seekers were removed from Britain. This compared with 18,220 in 2006 when Labour were in power and 10,394 when the Tory-led Coalition came to power in 2010, itself equating to a 66 per cent drop.

    Yet in 2016 alone, a total of 21,059 claims for sanctuary were refused – meaning they were eligible for being kicked out immediately.

    The Government says the number who are ‘subject to removal action’ is 26,879. But this does not count thousands who are embroiled in appeals against rejection – some often launched as they are being put on a plane home.

       27 likes

    • G says:

      T/ful,
      This highlights the problem with the UK – it’s too heavily regulated in every respect and those that wish us harm or want to abuse the system have free rein to use and or abuse the plethora of laws some of which they use to their advantage. The European Convention on Human Rights being one major source of the problems you specifically mention.
      I have always thought the Communists had considerable control over the populace, we? We simply have legislation – tons of it, much of which is conflicting.

         3 likes

  37. Guest Who says:

    A few showers (it is April), but on the whole a lovely long weekend.

    Topped off in glorious style by the BBC Trump Derangement Editor, again speaking for W1A in misrepresenting the UK public forced to pay for her.

    Just how much hydrogen peroxide has seeped into that addled brain of hers?

       15 likes

    • Expat John says:

      Wouldn’t take that much to fill such a tiny brain cavity.

         7 likes

    • Dave S says:

      Interesting and it shows just how President Trump is confusing the media and laying down a new way of operating that owes little to the last generations of media/military/diplomatic rules.
      It is necessary that I believe. All our past assumptions need to be discarded. That the US leadership would always act in a predictable way is over. This now looks to me like the way things were in the past . In Roman times and in medieval days. The USA is by far the most powerful nation on earth and now needs to exert that power whichever way it feels for the best for it and the West. I seem to recall that the President did signal that he would judge allies by their actions and enemies by theirs.
      So it does not really matter if Assad used chemical weapons. Somebody did and this is not to be tolerated now and sometimes justice is rough and imprecise but so what . The message has been sent . The same with North Korea. This is the end game after years and years of that place taunting the USA.
      It has recently been assumed that we and nations act entirely from economic and financial motives. This is historically far from true and maybe the old way is returning which gives the President an edge. Impose a Pax America on his terms. The progressives will hate it and much of the moaning powerless world will complain but again so what
      Maybe I am wrong but wait and see.

         10 likes

      • Al Shubtill says:

        Trump is alienating a lot of his support with these foreign interventions, he has flipped his positions (prosecuting Hillary; military excursions in the ME; NATO; China’s currency manipulation; getting along with Russia) or half heartedly attempted to implement things he promised (ditching Obamacare; kicking out foreign criminals; reducing taxes; building a wall; implementing controls on Muslims entering the US) that his core supporters are beginning to get p****d off – and rightly so.

        He appears to have allowed himself to fall under the malign influence of the neo-cons (note the rise of the son-in-law and the sidelining of Bannon) and I fear that Americans will just end up with another four years of the same s**t they endured under George W.

        It would be a shame, but even if Trump turns out to be NDG, the giant which his campaign awakened (i.e. middle America) isn’t going to go back to sleep anytime soon.

        Maybe he’s just John The Baptist and the real deal is still to come along?

           14 likes

        • Yasser Dasmibehbi says:

          A good post Al. Trump does look like he’s going off course a bit.
          This is the first time I have commented on Trump on this blog. While I was pleased,nay thrilled, he won the election I was wary of joining the euphoria simply because he is not a skilled politician and he does not have a party behind him. I figured that it would be only a matter of time before the system would get to him.
          But you are so right when you refer to the “giant his campaign awakened”.
          Whatever happens from now on the genie is unlikely to back into the bottle and that pleases me. All it needs next is a skilled politician with a bit more political nous to take Trump’s achievement and make it a more solid force.

             13 likes

        • G says:

          Al,
          I was under the impression that Trump’s problems in getting through his changes is either political opposition or people using the law (whether that be abused or otherwise). So, I cannot subscribe to your assertion he has, “..flipped his positions..” and I very much hope that his followers see it that way as well. I’m more inclined to think that his efforts are more, ‘work in progress’ than failures as the BBC wish to portray. How long’s he been in control?

             4 likes

          • Al Shubtill says:

            G – I don’t recall any people using the law to make him launch $110,000,000 dollars worth of cruise missiles at Syria or drop a $250,000,000 dollar bomb in Afghanistan to kill 100 people – both of which were illegal btw as there was no direct threat to the US (required under the Emergency Powers Act) in either case and he didn’t get approval from Congress for the military action.

            I’m just judging him by what he said he’d do and what he’s actually done. I recall he said that on his first day in office he was going to begin to deport illegal immigrants who had committed crimes in the US – that hasn’t happened. The list goes on and on, Sam Bushman on his liberty round table radio show had an entire feature on the things Trump has gone back on or not followed through with.

            He may yet turn out to be a great president and I would love that he does, but if he doesn’t bring the jobs back he promised and is influenced by those around him to continue the Neo-con, foreign-military-adventures agenda: then he won’t be getting re-elected.

               2 likes

      • Grant says:

        DaveS,

        Good post. Career politicians owe a lot to the media so they have to kiss journalists’ asses. Trump owes nothing to them so he can play with them. Trump has actually done things in the real world whereas most politicians and journalists have not. It is wonderful watching him run the media ragged. They just can’t deal with him. It is a man playing with kids. Great stuff.

           8 likes

    • Grant says:

      Even by Beeboid standards Katty Kay is one of the most superficial and dimmest.

         9 likes

  38. Tabs says:

    Did anyone else watch BBC 4 ‘Inside Chernobyl’s Mega Tomb’ at 8pm tonight?

    For once the BBC produced a top quality documentary with a straight forward descriptive narration. They didn’t feel the need to slag off Russia, Putin or evil men resulting in a very watchable programme.

    It brought back memories of when the BBC used to make quality programmes like this before they started to become a political ideology.

       22 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Why would they slag off Putin when he wasn’t even in power when Chernobyl happened? Why would they slag off Russia when Pripyat is in the Ukraine?

      The BBC might have done exactly as you suggest if those two conditions had been different.

         7 likes

      • Grant says:

        Thoughtful,

        Because at the time of the disaster Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and Chernobyl was controlled by the Russians.

           8 likes

      • Tabs says:

        Thoughtful, Putin has made many military incursions into Ukraine in recent years. It was refreshing to hear the BBC mention Ukraine without making any reference to Putin/politics etc

           6 likes

  39. taffman says:

    Has Al Beeb covered this ? Will they cover it ?
    “The respected immigration campaigner argues it solves the labour problem faced by restaurants and bars when Britain leaves the EU and ends freedom of movement.
    But as the workers won’t be here for the longterm, they won’t add to pressure on already groaning public services.
    Explaining his plan, Lord Green told The Sun: “We can kill two birds with one stone here.”
    Will it apply to all EU including NHS workers ?………………..
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3345015/home-secretary-amber-rudd-wants-to-introduce-new-barista-visas-to-ensure-coffee-shops-and-pubs-are-still-fully-staffed-after-brexit/
    Will Al Beeb cover it now that they see it on this site ?

       9 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      That BBC lady exec who needs Friday afternoons off to run her bistro will be relieved.

      I wonder if Andy Burnham is a regular?

         5 likes

  40. Richard Pinder says:

    MIT Professor Theodor Postol, has concluded that the dispenser of the chemical toxin at Khan Sheikhun was a metal tube and not a missile. It was exploded on the ground by and was not even set off by the air strike on a takfiri weapons depot that contained chemical weapons for future use, as originally thought possible. Professor Postol says the White House claims, repeated by Nikki Haley at the UN, were ‘obviously false.

       19 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Interesting. There were photos of the remains of a yellow tube doing the rounds and, IIRC, one was shown on the BBC web-site. It could therefore be Sarin, Richard. The next question is: can arms dealers get their hands on the stuff?

      If the answer to that is ‘Yes’ then the likelihood of it being a rebel force grudge attack (against another rebel faction) or a ‘False Flag’ incident grows greater.

      The one thing I haven’t seen mentioned at all in relation to this recent gas attack is that the US (and probably UK, maybe the Russians too?) have access to some incredible satellite-based imaging technology. They should, if stories are correct, be able to identify not just the container but its delivery and ‘detonation’.

         4 likes

  41. Beeb Brother says:

    On Toady, they are discussing an increase in knife crime. Like everything, all due to cuts if you pardon the pun.

    What if the Police did not waste so much time and money on political nonsense such as the ethnicity of offenders and ‘diversity training’? The rule of law should be absolute and applied equally to all communities. The onus should not be on the Police to spend millions on diversity training – everyone should just obey the law.

    Also, the ultra hip Radio 1Xtra regularly hosts grime artists who glorify violence and criminality. Of course, the Beeb is too busy being ultra cool and celebrating all that vibrancy to think that it maybe should not give a platform to people who promote such a lifestyle.

       28 likes

    • Oaknash says:

      BB some good points. I dont know what “grime artists” are but I am assuming it is similar to Rap.

      Many years ago I used to go to a boxing club for their “white collar sessions” More for the fitness rather than the fighting (put it like this Anthony Joshua or Carl Froch wouldnt have had to worry too much if I was around!)

      But we used to train/warm up to rap music especially good for skipping etc. I used to think of it as “the music of low expectations” The lyrics always seemed to be about entitlement, drugs, arguments, sex, violence or the threat of violence.- If you dont get given what you want you take it.

      Whilst I suppose the tracks we trained to “put me in the mood” for a bit of controlled violence. It did occour to me that the music hardly calmed the mind and in association with some sort of “gangsta” lifestyle certainly, would have enforced the feeling that you do not really have anything in common with normal society.

      Whilst I suppose many youngsters (if initially given the right values) grow up and see rap for what it is. I can easily see if a child has no role model in their life. The lazy and violent approach to life espoused in much of rap would encourage an impressionable child to embrace this lifestyle (full of quick fixes and little morality)

      As you say the chinless wonders at the BBC are so keen to be seen to be “down with dem kidz” they are always willing to put aside even the smallest reminder of morality in order to encourage any “art form” no matter how destructive in order to court cheap popularity. It is why they tolerated the likes Saville for so many ears and it is why if you are seen as “anti establishment” you can pretty much say what you like and the BBC will give you airtime.

      It is for reasons such as this. In years to come looking back on society the BBC will
      be seen as one of the most destructive forces in our society. For now most people still do not or choose to not see this – But as it continues to crash through established societies social mores more and more people will be affected and see the BBC for the “divisive” force we know it to be.

         21 likes

      • Grant says:

        Oak,

        Spot on about the BBC. They give little publicity about conservative and christian side to many black Africans and West Indians. I can’t stand rap, but I am a closet reggae fan ( ssshh , don’t tell anyone ), you have to be in Gambia. Even some of my best friends are rastas. Many reggae songs are quite moralistic and try to persuade youngsters to lead a good life. For example, Horace Andy “Skylarking “. But I guess the BBC would not be much interested in that aspect of “black culture “. However, I draw the line at smoking “ganja”, tried it once but didn’t inhale.

           14 likes

        • Oaknash says:

          Ah Grant me bruvver – me sees yooz in new light wiv Ganja – Giving It Rasta Grant Vibration in mans yard – Yo – We all be one wiv Jah!

          Hope you enjoyed that – I feel much better!

          Did go to see Misty in Roots once and a sound system contest at Southall Town Hall, London. I actually quite enjoyed it, but you could cut the ganja filled air with a knife ! And as for my ears they almost bloody fell off!

             6 likes

          • Up2snuff says:

            Oak, I see you ain’t lackin’ man!

            That is, not lacking in the language department.

            I just wanted to show off my new slang word, acquired courtesy of a contributor to the BBC’s Radio 4 programme, TODAY, on the wireless this very morning.

               2 likes

      • Beeb Brother says:

        You see the attitude amongst sportsmen who blithely say that if they had not made the cut, they would have had to join a gang like so many of their peers. How many times have you heard that? Anthony Joshua said recently that if he had not been a boxer he would have ended up in prison. Nobody called him up on this; it is seen as a totally acceptable outlook. They are basically saying they just want easy money.

        I wanted to be a professional comedian. As it did not work out, I have done all sorts of other jobs: teaching; social work; admin jobs. I would NEVER consider crime as a professional option and no right-thinking person should. Honestly, who thinks like that? “I did not get my dream job so I will have to steal for a living.”

           20 likes

    • Deborah says:

      I noticed that the Today paper review highlighted an item from the Guardian (where else) that the influential young people that are the Royals should highlight ‘cuts to benefits’ as well as mental health. Where does one start

         8 likes

  42. Grant says:

    Daily Mail reports that UK gives £4m pa to N. Korea and Foreign Office has no plans to stop it. One for the crusading BBC to take up, surely ?

       20 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Grant, I think many western nations give money to N. Korea. Biggest donor, IIRC, is the USA. It tends to be given in the form of food. Without those donations it is claimed that many in North Korea would starve.

      BBC R4 have refered to it in the past but some decent, investigative journalism rather than propaganda or ‘trendy news’ on the part of the BBC – as you suggest – would be most welcome.

         10 likes

      • Grant says:

        Up2,

        As with all aid , whether food or not, it is impossible to know what happens to it. Just another reason for the UK to cancel “Aid” but help poor countries directly on the ground with agriculture, business, infrastructure etc. The problem is that the Governments would still want a cut, otherwise they would refuse to let us in.

           7 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Totally bizarre. And like so many other misguided humanitarian aims, achieving the precise opposite effect to the one intended.

             7 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          Sure, Grant, and it is not impossible to wonder whether the US grain enhances rather more the fat bellies of ‘the chosen ones’ rather more than the ordinary people. We cannot be too critical in the West as our ‘system’ has some similar tendencies. 😉 But N.Korea had a major famine crisis a while back. I heard it on the BBC. (It was corroborated by other news outlets, though.) Without food aid millions would have starved and they would not have been those in the Politburo & military & the dictatorship machine.

          The aid from Western nations was given to keep them alive. IIRC, China and other ASEANs helped, too.

             0 likes

  43. Tabs says:

    BBC are going into Malala Yousafzai overload. Here is another article with the “worlds most young woman”. This time we get to hear about her mother.

    Malala Yousafzai’s mother: Out of the shadows
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-39550681

    Interesting how her mother talks about finding friends at the English classes who are from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. Not really integrating with the natives is she?

    BBC editor checklist…
    Hijab – tick!
    Promote Malala Yousafzai – tick!

       19 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Can she bake cakes?

         11 likes

    • nogginator says:

      No her mother isn t… integrating hmm?, Iraqi, Afghani a paragon of rich “diversity”?, if it was only in my own language.
      The whole Malala thing stinks of political manipulation, I m glad she s well anyone would wish that, but the “circus” is as politically rotten as it can be, objectively question her father is what I would want to do
      The BBC was cock a hoop and assigned lots of airtime after Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai was made the youngest ever UN Messenger of Peace…
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/39563319
      Expect another, when some Al BBC roving reporter cut and pastes this

      We are not representing true Islam’: Malala Yousafzai condemns Pakistani student’s murder,
      “the Holy Prophet (PBUH) never advised his followers to “be impatient and go around killing people”. “We have forgotten our values. We are not representing the true Islam,”
      Oh Dear Mal! (shakes head), have you never read your book?
      … and she only wants girls to go to school, if that’s still the brief.

      http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-watch-we-have-forgotten-our-values-we-are-not-representing-true-islam-malala-yousafzai-condemns-pakistani-student-s-murder-2402919

         8 likes

  44. taffman says:

    “One of the frontrunners in the French presidential election, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, says she would suspend all legal immigration to France.”
    Will Al Beeb operate the same bias against Le Pen as it did against Brexit, Trump and Farage?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39625509

       10 likes

  45. Guest Who says:

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/18/facebook-purges-tens-of-thousands-of-fake-accounts-to-combat-spam-ring?

    Be interesting if the law of unintended consequences kicks in.

    Or are there modding plans, like HYS and CiF, to ensure only the ‘correct’ comments are allowed?

    “There’s a modding coming, Ned”.

       4 likes

  46. GoingInNowDan says:

    The NUT conference has been manna from heaven for the Fifth Columnists at the so-called BBC. Here’s a selection of stories from the would-be brainwashers of our children from the last week; all found in the Education section of BBC’s website. Here’s a thought; teachers, stick to teaching. If you can’t stand the heat, go and get a real job.

    Poor “less likely to be at top primary”
    New 9-1 GSCE grades “create uncertainty”
    Teachers head towards SATS boycott
    Teachers threaten strike on school cuts
    Parents asked to fund school budgets
    Young teachers “quitting over workload”
    Scrapped free schools “waste £140m”
    Pupils “sit in coats” in cold classroom

       7 likes

  47. quisquose says:

    Norman Smith (I think) speaking on Toady this morning: “I attended both the rallies of the centre-left Macron and far-right Le Pen in Paris yesterday. Macron spoke in front of 20,000 in a packed arena and his ‘Thatcher or Trotsky’ line was rather delicious. Le Pen spoke to a rather smaller crowd, and the police had to use tear gas outside.”

    I don’t know why he didn’t just say “I hope Macron wins”.

       21 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      That would lack impartiality.

      Serious.

      ?

      Any word on the reason for tear gas being required? Berkeley rules apply?

         6 likes

  48. Sluff says:

    The selective memory bBBC eco warriors are out on Toady today.
    A story about the increasingly hyped forthcoming diesel car scrappage scheme.
    Clearly they are trying to get into a position where this government is to blame and can be attacked for slow response.

    While at the same time conveniently forgetting to mention the Labour government (Blair, early 2000s) that got us into the situation in the first place.

    And I note that old cars are to be targetted. But not old buses.
    Which obviously, being for public transport, are exempt from any bBBC criticism.

       15 likes

  49. Sluff says:

    And continuing on my eco warrior theme, and useless selective bBBC reporting…..
    A few days ago there was a listing of the most vehicle-pollution affected places.
    Very high up on the list were Caerphilly and Oxford. Anyone wonder why?
    Caerphilly is a small town in the Welsh valleys. But it has a hill which traffic grinds up. Nothing has been done to improve it.
    Oxford is awash with eco-warrior initiatives. Punitive car park charges, park and ride, cycle friendly. Surely it should be clean, yes?
    What the bBBC cannot bring itself to consider is that quite often people do not WANT to drive, they HAVE to drive commensurate with their lives. So people put up with all the draconian policies and stay in their vehicles. Politically correct policies which aim to deter motorists often just reduce road capacity, average speeds, and thus INCREASE the very pollution the warriors are trying to stop. Proper road capacity and getting the traffic moving is what is needed, not the failed leftie deterrance policies which create miles of stationary vehicles with engines running.
    But it’s not what the student activists at the bBBC can bear to contemplate.

       27 likes