Midweek Thread 11 March 2020

Budget Day . A golden opportunity for the Biased BBC to take the role of opposition desperately trying to undermine Brexit and a newly elected Government . Let’s see…

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375 Responses to Midweek Thread 11 March 2020

  1. Guest Who says:

    What exactly is going on in those bbc bunkers?

       4 likes

  2. Celtic_Mist says:

    R4 Today 08.39hr

       20 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Celtic – as I’ve mentioned here earlier Our Justin’s casual mention of the use of Article 25 to remove a head of state evidences the casual anti democratic attitude BBC droids will express when something happens they don’t like .

      I hope the US Ambo raises it with the managers of the BBC – although I suppose they’ll think this form of ‘free speach ‘ is normal for the ‘ beauties ‘ .

         15 likes

  3. Tabs says:

    BBC could scale back output if hit by coronavirus
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51851414

    From the aritcle:
    Diversity – Every key management group in the BBC will have two additional members as diversity advisors by the end of March “to add actual diversity – BAME or it could be a disability or whatever”, he said.

    You couldn’t make this stuff up.

       39 likes

  4. johnthebridge says:

    Did Pete and Roger REALLY say that?

       3 likes

  5. vlad says:

    Great, more ‘diversity’ shoved down our throats, at the extortion tax payer’s expense.
    But not conservative diversity of course.

       17 likes

  6. Terminal Moraine says:

    Switch on R5 last night — catch a snippet of Colin Murray with some American woman. 30 secs in, discover she’s a queer Muslim who’s written a book.

    Morning — Emma Barnett talks to a WaPo journo, then a NYT journo who thinks closing the US borders is Trump thinking about reelection. Building walls is all he knows… it’s a very ‘Trumpian’ decision, he says. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

    Then Guardian journo Lucy Mangan is on, she’s upset and emotional because she’s made the brave, soul-searching decision to not see her elderly parents for a bit while corona virus is a risk. Anyway she lives in central London and works for the Guardian, and it’s all emotional and upsetting and she works for the Guardian so it’s all upsetting and emotional. Emma’s there with the tissues. I wonder if we could set up some crowdfunding for an old Popemobile so her parents can visit, at least wave from the front drive.

    Bubble? Wot bubble?

       35 likes

  7. s.trubble says:

    The bloated bBC are strikingly frugal on their updates of the Salmond trial.

    if that had been been an ex Tory senior minister the description from the first witness of the accused stripped to his socks would have been getting blasted out from every orifice of its organ.

    Not even a mention from the bBc…..no speculation about the socks…tartan? saltire ? L & R markings?
    Nor a mention of the witness’s description of his state of arousal.

    This slug should’ve been on trial for the Independence white paper he ordrered to be produced in 2014 …..that alone was an act deserving of a jail sentence.

       35 likes

  8. fakenewswatcher says:

    Pug – the bbc has an agenda, anything else – e.g. truth, facts, news, entertainment etc are purely secondary issues.
    It believes it has the moral high ground and needs to re-educate anyone who thinks differently.
    Money, apparently, no object.
    They won’t be getting any from me.

       35 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      fakenewswatcher
      I’ll see you in Wormwood.

         6 likes

      • fakenewswatcher says:

        Lefty- Why’re you gonna be there? I certainly won’t.

           3 likes

        • Lefty Wright says:

          fakenewswatcher
          Well, I figured that I would plead guilty and maybe attain “victim” status in which case the snowflakes will feel morally obliged to offer me their support. Even the BBC don’t dare deny the desires of the snowflakes. Do they?

             8 likes

  9. Nibor says:

    This morning the BBC were telling us that setting up solar panels and a windmill were cheaper than setting up a coal fired power station to obtain electricity .
    Who would have thought that ?
    I wondered why my friend with the boat was buying solar panels rather than building a coal fired power station .

    But for powering a city ….?

       24 likes

    • JimS says:

      ‘CruisingThe Cut’ has a nice series on YouTube about life on a narrow boat and talks here about solar power in the winter.

         6 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        The solar boat video guy reckons that in winter at berth , his solar would only give him half his daily usage.
        So he’d have to run his cruising engines to charge the batteries.

        In the comments , no solar fan boys disagree with him.

           6 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Harra is as usual cheating by not taking into account the full cost cycle.

      They shout that wind and solar are free and you just need to harvest them.

      But so are fossil fuels .. they sit free in the ground.
      For the Saudis the harvesting cost is very low.
      Same for UK inland, but North Sea less so.
      But still the government is able to put a huge mining tax on.

      Sure we taxpayers could build solar power stations to replace gas ones
      but we taxpayers would them have to cough up to replace that gas mining tax that is no longer flowing into government coffers.

      So in practice it is very difficult for such solar electricity plants to ever have parity with coal and gas
      Plus actually solar/wind are not proper power they are intermittents.
      You in fact need to keep the same gas power stations open, but running on standby.
      Thus they don’t run as efficiently as when running flat out.
      So putting up the standby power component of your solar electricity set up.

         11 likes

  10. Rob in Cheshire says:

    President Trump made a political decision which the BBC hive mind obviously disagreed with. Thus Comrade Webb suggested invoking the 25th Amendment against him.

    This amendment is clearly intended only to be used if the president is actually unable to carry out his duties, not if he makes a decision which the BBC communists disagree with.

    The fact that the Comrade Commissar Webb could even suggest it (all the while having no understanding of what the amendment means) just shows the contemptible depth to which the BBC has fallen.

    Defund it now!

       36 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      Rob
      I agree mate. BBC viewers should be required to pay a subscription.Also they should be required to have a BBC account and then log in before being able to view BBC programs. Surely under such a system the BBC stand to rake in billions of pounds instead of relying on the threat of a criminal record for senior citizens who refuse to pay for something for which they have no use.

         20 likes

  11. scribblingscribe says:

    Some have pointed out how Trump’s every action on Coronavirus is treated by the BBC with contempt.

    I’m afraid it is exactly the same on Sky News, BBC News’ mini-me.

    Amanda Walker the US Sky News correspondent who is cute and blonde, blamed the market falls around the world on everything Trump has said. The word disdain doesn’t do justice to her manner when discussing the President of the US.

    Later, Ian King, who has been a national newspaper business editor since 2000, an editor on The Times and has won many Business news awards, said that the EU’s inaction and Madam Lagarde’s speech sent out the wrong signals thus crashing the markets.

    Who should we believe?

       34 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      scribbling, the 6pm News on R4 was read by a Mishal sound-alike and they managed two clips of contributors (one being Jim O’Neill of banking & House of Lords fame, the other Triggle Nick of BBC overstaffing dept) who both made disparaging comments about President Trump.

      Now I think said President can be big prat at times (esp. on Twitter or the golf course) but it has to be obvious to anyone with a brain that the action to ban flights into the US out of Europe was both timely and correct. It has now been followed by many individual countries within the EU.

      Ursula baby, where’s that famous EU solidarity and acting in concert, now?

         25 likes

  12. Up2snuff says:

    For the first time in well over a year I listened to most of PM on R4 tonight. (5pm-6pm). Missed first 9-10 minutes. They had virologist Chris Smith on to talk about you know what. Later on a lady Doc was added to the contributors. She was a bit wet & weedy at first; Virologist Smith was calm & collected throughout.

    Anyway, Non-Dr Snuffy is reassured that he has not been leading all on here astray. Chris Smith said most viruses fade away on surfaces “mostly in minutes, certainly within hours” but Dr Jarvis (think that may have been the name) said she had read or “seen a paper about Covid-19 that said up to three days.”.

    Am relieved I did not post false info. Am even more relieved that the Snuffy memory is not fading as fast as it seems to be at times and I can recall things I have been told in the distant past by scientists/virologists/medics either directly or via the BBC.

       14 likes

  13. Beltane says:

    David Garmston, the BBC West’s own Jon Snow with matching public school accent and fake socialist stance, simply could not avoid the ’10 years of Tory austerity’ mantra while summing up his personal assessment of Boris and his speech to the nation.
    He even had his own ‘expert’ on the sofa to contradict the sensible and measured advice from the PM and both senior advisors. More draconian moves NOW! That’s what we need.
    And who is used to provide the fine example we should follow?
    Krankie and Veruka with populations of 5.5m and 4.94m, a fraction the size of our 66.5m – and the first propped up by HM Treasury.
    And don’t forget ‘We must all pull together to get through this……’

       21 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      Beltane
      “We must all pull together” Now, in Communist terms that means all the peoples of the world must pull together. Sorry, but humanity WAS never and WILL never be capable of such a fete. We are, each of us, and forever will be, capable of individual thought. Therein lies the problem that, for any Marxist, will always defy solution. Thank goodness.

         15 likes

  14. taffman says:

    “EU to give migrants in Greece €2,000 to go home”
    Trouble in The EU?
    Thanks to Mrs Merkel.
    Lucky we’re leaving or we would have to cough up .

       18 likes

  15. Scroblene says:

    “BBC chairman: ‘If you pay for Netflix, you can pay for the BBC'” (DT).

    They only pay for alternatives because the BBC is so crap at all it does these days.

       28 likes

    • taffman says:

      Scroblene
      I shop in ASDA – why should I pay Tesco ?
      Is the Chairman some sort of clown ?
      I don’t want to pay for a rubbish broadcaster. If its so good it would make a profit and pay some tax back to all the poor people it has robbed over the years .

         24 likes

    • Oldspeaker says:

      Quite right if the sentence had ended ‘if you want to’.

         11 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      That’s so retarded it is laughable.

      I just feel like using so many derogatory words to describe this imbecile.

      His logic is only worthy of consideration by a psychiatrist in a lunatic asylum.

         16 likes

  16. NISA says:

    Biden demonstrates why he is favoured over Trump by BBC folk. He criticises Trumps Euro travel ban as showing favouritism, so Biden ignores the logic of banning flights from current high incidence European countries and shows himself to be no friend of the UK (just like his former boss).

       24 likes

  17. StewGreen says:

    TVland by it’s very nature is often a lie
    8:30pm @G_RhysJones on @ITV on Griff’s Great Australian Adventure
    Adelaide, Broken Hill and Sydney

    In Broken Hill Griff dressed up at the drag queen bingo night
    Then he did tearful shots of the Darling River , not a flow at all but a series of pools
    and talked about thoughts the drought would never end.

    Of course that was back in October or November when he filmed it.

    It rained loads there this year.
    I check Twitter and this weekends big cricket match might be cancelled cos tge ground is too wet to prepare.

    I think is an ABC Oz show that aired in January in Australia.

       20 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      10 mins in Griff arrived in Adelaide gets into a taxi
      and we get a lecture about how the driver is an Iraqi arrived in Oz 20 years ago.
      – Next second at the museum he’s looking at a map which shows there were hundreds of Aborigine tribes with hundreds of languages
      Yes true AFAIK
      The Aborigines were the only people in Oz for 60,000 years or something (I used to live in Adelaide)
      but I think Griff was virtue-signalling

      Next second Griff is arriving in Broken Hill 500Km away
      and straight into the club with fat drag queens and shouting the word ,”diversity”.

         19 likes

      • Lefty Wright says:

        StewGreen
        On a brighter note, here is something I predict we can look forward to in future.

           14 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          Lefty, I remember that. Schools had to close. Even in London. And I think had to repeat the exercise – at some point – in the two following winters.

             1 likes

  18. vlad says:

    The Beeb excitedly telling me that I ‘Must See’ Ellen Degenerate filming her chat show without an audience.

    Why beeb, ‘must I see’ the unfunny, anti-Trump, lefty lesbian?

    Oh, I see.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

    _111232862_ellenreuters.jpg

       21 likes

  19. Celtic_Mist says:

    Trump’s European travel ban sent the BBC and the rest of the MSM into meltdown.

    LK on R4 Today said that nobody knows which policy on (open borders) travel restrictions will prove most effective.

    This guy is in no doubt!

       17 likes

  20. lordelpus says:

    With the Coronavirus situation worsening by the day will the BBC/Sky/Itv/Channels 4/5 actually support the Government and not try to find fault with them?I also hope when this virus is over,that all the countries affected, and the W.H.O. demand that the Chinese Government stop the barbaric and unhygienic practice of slaughtering animals in market places for meat.

       20 likes

    • Dave S says:

      The last point is absolutely valid. The media you mention finds fault with the government because it is in its DNA. However I believe that today the governement has made a fatal mistake and will live to regret it. Just when we needed pro active policies this government has let us down and embarked on a course that wlll either lead to it’s demise or its replacement by another government that will be demanded by a traumatised and frightened people.
      The failure to close schools and stop big public events threatens us all such is the virulence of Covid 19. The rest of the world has at last understood the dangers. If it looks as if this lot have put the economics of the country ahead of a existential threat to life then it will fall and fall fast.
      In life one sometimes has to face reality head on and act. Boris and his cabinet have failed.

         6 likes

      • JimS says:

        Children in schools mainly keep company with those in their own classes so there is no reason for a virus to spread amongst a group that hasn’t got it.

        Children not in school interact with the wider population so may be more likely to pick up the virus, they are also, in these days of working parents, likely to be sent to stay with grandparents, an ‘at risk group’.

        Similarly ‘big public events’ are not necessarily bad. Someone attending a football match or concert will only be in close contact with a few people, whereas, bored out of their minds, they might go in for some ‘window shopping’ and come in contact with dozens of people.

        Politicians like Johnson and Trump will be closely following the advice of their own experts and in these matters I would put more trust in them than some bimbo from the BBC or Sky.

           20 likes

      • G says:

        Agreed Dave.
        I think Boris’ ‘Behavioural Scientists’ have it totally wrong. They, apparently, advise that any sustained restrictions on the public right now such as meetings, sports events and the like will run out of public enthusiasm in a short period. Then being of little effect when the main avalanche arrives. Seems they overlooked the main factor which I suggest is, that when human beings see and witness many dying (including relatives and friends) and getting seriously sick around them they sure, instinctively, will know that rubbing shoulders with others will likely be fatal for them or those they infect.
        Another example of the ‘experts’ ignoring reality and assuming the public is thick.

           4 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @lordelpus 5:30am local news on Redio Sheffield
      They opened by reading the government’s points
      (no government voice)
      and immediately following with a Labour voice saying why the government’s actions were wrong.

         10 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      lordelpus, we will need to tighten up on traffic through Heathrow. I seem to recall a few years back that one ‘personal consignment’ of bushmeat was only caught because the very large suitcase started to leak blood as it was carried down a corridor with a light colour floor, landside at the airport.

         1 likes

  21. JimS says:

    Just imagine what the BBC would say if Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson were even to speculate that ‘migrants’ should be paid to ‘go back home’!

    EU to give migrants in Greece €2,000 to go home

    If it’s the EU doing it, it must be OK!

       23 likes

  22. taffman says:

    “Starling rescued from drain cover in Downham Market”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-51852202
    Can any discerning readers spot something odd about the photograph of the drain cover being removed ?

       3 likes

    • JimS says:

      Well clearly not a drain cover as such, more an access cover.

      What is fascinating is how, according to Google, local newspapers throughout the UK have carried the same story verbatim.

      Nothing like a diverse media!

         5 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Do you mean that the guy has put the unlocking key into the hole that the birds head was popping out of in the previous photo ?

      God I hate these timewasting quizzes

      Story the same in all media ?
      cos it’s a cutNpaste from the RSPCA press release.

         5 likes

      • taffman says:

        StewGreen
        Yes sir!. World leading new broadcaster ?
        I am off to bed………..

           4 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          Stew beat me to it, but then Snuffy was deputed to go and check on the run on runny honey and has been away. I will post another visual puzzle, later.

             0 likes

  23. Celtic_Mist says:

    BBC coverage of h1n1 emergency

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8324070.stm

       19 likes

  24. StewGreen says:

    FooC on the Turkish border
    “The 3 men A Senagalese and 2 Afghans shared no common language, only the desperate goal to cross into Greece.
    The Senagalese Mustapha …”
    …hangon so these men with “no common” …seem to have Muslim names ?

    and isn’t Turkey actually making war on the EU
    .. with the weapons being migrants who soak up EU countries resources and threaten crime ?

       20 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Here’s the guys tweet
      but look at the rest of his tweets and it’s all Guardianlalaland
      – anti-Trump
      – pro Lineker etc.

      a few seconds earlier in the prog he mentioned the other refugee was Pakistani

         11 likes

    • G says:

      SG,
      “…. threaten crime.” ‘Cause’ crime more like if the stats are anything to go by, massaged or not.

         6 likes

  25. Darcy3 says:

    What a “surprise” cos they is black is ok innit: (and antisenitism and homphobia)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/12/bbc-complicit-promoting-misogyny-rap-musicradio-one-dj-claims/

    BBC is complicit in promoting misogyny in rap music, Radio One DJ claims

    Annie Mac describes “moral conundrum” of playing hip-hop on air

    Her comments were sparked by the conviction of Andy Anokye, a grime artist who performed under the stage name Solo 45. He was found guilty this week of holding four women against their will and repeatedly raping them.

    Anokye had appeared on Radio 1’s Live Lounge and was part of a grime collective called Boy Better Know.

       14 likes

  26. StewGreen says:

    Note the whataboutery in the BBC guys tweet when a former Washington Post journo does a story about Biden family corruption.

    That is the BBC shilling for the Democrat Party again

       12 likes

  27. StewGreen says:

    Piers Morgan called the police on a guy who posted a social media photo of Piers with the threat words “shall I open him up ?”

       9 likes

  28. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC: ‘Bristol sisters aim to raise awareness of ‘honour hate”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-51838298

    ‘Amaleehah and Nadia Aslam-Forrester, from Bristol, were bullied by members of the Asian community for posting photos of themselves in skirts online.’

    [OK, well Asia is a big place, could we be a little more specific?]

    ‘The sisters, who have a Pakistani mother and English father, said they were “slut-shamed” for not upholding cultural norms of women’s behaviour.’

    [And that, folks, is about as close to naming the elephant in the room as we are going to get]

    [It’s almost as though the BBC are afriad of being drummed out of the Labour Party for Islamo-thingy]

       28 likes

  29. AsISeeIt says:

    BBC: ‘BAME communities’ ‘unequal mental health care”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-51860052/bame-communities-unequal-mental-health-care

    ‘A new report by the Race Equality Foundation has found a wide range of inequalities linked to mental illness in Black, Asian and other minority ethnic communities.’

    [The BBC are more than happy to present these ‘inequalities’ in mental health diagnosis as a grievance. But is the ‘inequality’ of the diagnosis of Sickle Cell Anemia for instance caused by racialism in the British health services or is it the case that the BBC are deliberately reversing cause and effect here?]

    [By the way according to official NHS figures: 1 in 5 NHS staff (20.7%) were from all other than white (including ‘other’ white) ethnic groups. There was a higher percentage of staff in medical roles (working as doctors in hospitals and community health services) from the Asian, Chinese, Mixed and Other ethnic groups than in non-medical roles. So are we really to accept that the NHS is racialist?]

       10 likes

  30. Guest Who says:

    The national broadcaster seems to be talking to its own.

    Now legitimate debate on responses is fine, but given the bbc only fields those who say what the bbc wants, often to serve other agendas, I find bbc output less than helpful.

       17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Not the national broadcaster:

         8 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Also the National TDS channel.

        BBC News

        US officials say they have tested at least 11,079 specimens since January. The UK has tested more than 29,700.

           7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      BBC QT on Facebook quotes who they feel serves best…

      “Why is it always the UK that gets caught with their pants down?”

      Speaking on Question Time, an audience member criticised the UK’s airport screening for coronavirus compared to other airports around the world.
      https://bbc.in/2TM6Fkp

      Top comment:

      “Scared of the lack of screening at airports, but willing to attend a large public gathering in the Question Time audience when the virus is already airwave amongst the general public?! ????”

         28 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Toenails ‘is told’.

         9 likes

  31. Darcy3 says:

    SICKEY MOUSE

    ALL Disney parks closing including Florida’s Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris plus Cruise Line over coronavirus

    Sun online

       8 likes

  32. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – An explicable Shower of Snowflakes – The Bad Weather Phase

    The BBC are in full Labour Party Opposition mode this morning to the Government. They invite onto the programme Jeremy Hunt MP, former Secretary of State for Health and a rival to the current PM in the 2019 Tory leadership race. Jeremy Hunt plays – unwisely in my view – into the BBC’s hands.

    Hunt agrees with the BBC’s leading questions that the UK Government – and by extension the PM – are doing it all wrong. Hunt is forgetting, like the BBC, some important facts about the UK.

       16 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Bbc Moaning Emole in complement… with ‘quote’ perfected.

      Coronavirus approach ‘concerning’.

      Story detail

      To ban, or not to ban? While minsters say they must not move too early to prohibit large gatherings in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt says the decision to hold back is “surprising and concerning”. Measures announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson included advising anyone with a “new, continuous” cough or high temperature to self-isolate for seven days. Testing will now only focus on identifying people with the virus in hospital. He says closing schools or cancelling sporting events at this point could do more harm than good, should people tire of the restrictions.

      But the Scottish government has advised the cancellation of gatherings of more than 500 people, while Ireland has shut schools. And Mr Hunt says the UK is in a “national emergency”, with just four weeks until it reaches the stage that Italy is currently at. “You would have thought that every single thing we do in that four weeks would be designed to slow the spread of people catching the virus,” he argues. Susan Michie, professor of health psychology at University College London, suggests “nobody has the right answer”.

      The effects of the virus continue to be felt around the globe. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie are in 14-day isolation after she tested positive. Australia is stopping gatherings of 500 or more people, not including transport or schools. Ghana and Gabon are reporting their first cases, while India has recorded its first death. Sport is increasingly affected. However, just eight new cases are reported in China. In football, Arsenal’s visit to Brighton has been cancelled after manager Mikel Arteta tested positive. Follow all the developments via our live page.

      Looking for advice? See our guide on when to self-isolate and how to do it. And find out how to safely clean your smartphone.

      ****

      Looks like Canada’s PM, and bbc fave, is ahead of the game.

         7 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        And in complement…

        The crowd shot is awesome.

           7 likes

      • john in cheshire says:

        It’s more likely that the dressing up fop queen of Canada is in lockdown going cold turkey.

           5 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Katya appears…

           8 likes

  33. Thoughtful says:

    Not reported in any UK media so far as I can tell is the denied decision by EU Fuhrer Angela Merkel to refuse to sell any medical equipment nor fulfil any outstanding orders to her European partners.
    There is understandable fury in Italy that medical equipment including masks and aprons were turned back at the border by German customs officers.

    It’s a massive story because Italy is already Eurosceptic and the actions of the lead nation, Germany in abandoning what it has championed for the past 5 decades is showing them in their true colours.

    Germany they are saying wants us to do exactly what they want when the times are good, and talks a good talk, but when the times are tough, all that talk is abandoned as they simply look after themselves.

    https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-aims-better-control-coronavirus-responses/

    https://www.thelocal.de/20200312/mask-hysteria

       22 likes

  34. JamesArthur says:

    I am having to switch off BBC and all media today as I am sick of hearing the UK bashing….and the over the top hysteria along with the same advice being repeated ad nauseam…

    and why the BBC think footballers being tested positive is so important is beyond me…

       27 likes

  35. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #2 – An explicable Shower of Snowflakes – The Bad Weather Phase

    Gary Sport, one of the Sport twins and from memory rather elderly (he’s worked at the BBC for 40 years!) presents from the Cheltenham Festival while sounding quite husky. Gary presents the Jeremy Hunt statement as a fact in his question to the organisers of the Cheltenham Festival. “Why haven’t you cancelled everything?”

    This is an event taking place in the open air. Sure, railings and handles and other things will be handled by possibly infectious people who have just covered mouths while coughing or handled handkerchiefs and might infect others.

    People ought to be intelligent enough to know that all they need to do is wear gloves. Indoors and out. In late winter/early spring, when you would normally wear them. Especially while wearing posh outfits. And stay out of doors as much as possible. At an outdoor event. How hard is that?

    Unbelievable!

       16 likes

    • Dave S says:

      i take it you have never been to Cheltenham races. Open air is at best a half truth. Bars, restaurants, tented villages anyone?

         5 likes

  36. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #3 – An explicable Shower of Snowflakes – The Bad Weather Phase

    The BBC have been in the hilarious position this morning of completely contradicting themselves. The BBC were complaining about President Trump’s air flight ban at 6 a.m., a ban which was then followed by similar action to ban travel by other nations around the world. Then they are trying to complain that President Trump isn’t doing enough.

    You cannot make it up!

    Total hypocrites.

       26 likes

  37. Guest Who says:

    The struggle in the bbc house journal is real.

    Maybe Jon and Ems will simply block book a Lear?

       9 likes

  38. john in cheshire says:

    Does anyone else remember the period a few years ago when the word Tamiflu was, as they say, à la mode? From memory everyone was clamouring for it and our government spent a lot of our money building up a stockpile of the stuff. I wonder if it’s still in storage?

    Unfortunately, as I recall it didn’t work.

    I think when I know someone who has this viral infection I’ll start to get worried. Until then I’ll just take sensible precautions.

       13 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      j-i-c, was that the drug/vaccine developed in a response to Mexican ‘flu’/swine ‘flu’ ? Seem to recall Gordon Brown blew £4bn of taxpayer money on that vaccine. The vaccine came along pretty much after it was all over and, as Sir Patrick Vallance would say, “We have developed herd immunity.”

      Or am I muddling that Tamiflu with something else, a different outbreak?

         8 likes

      • john in cheshire says:

        I could be wrong but wasn’t it the subject of press attention during one of the ‘Asian flu’ epidemics around 2005 our thereabouts?

        It’s curious that it isn’t mentioned now. But then I’ve read that our current virus isn’t a flu virus, even though it seems to be a member of the flu viruses.

        Who knows, I certainly don’t?

           4 likes

  39. Fedup2 says:

    For the record – can somebody please cut and paste the ‘Oxford Grooming Gang “ story which is currently on the bbc website but will probably be ‘regional’ in an hour …. there’s a lovely picture – normally I hate ( personal view ) seeing pictures on this site but it’s necessary ….. ta

       14 likes

  40. Celtic_Mist says:

    R4 Today

    The Biasedbbc left-liberal irrationality is evident when it criticises the UK for following the science and on the other hand also the US for ‘not following the science’.

    To compound this hypocrisy it suggests that there is a range of scientific views (who knew) and it is a political decision as to which evidence to follow.

    Of course, the science on climate is ‘settled’

       19 likes

  41. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #4 – An explicable Shower of Snowflakes – The Bad Weather Phase might just end one day soon.

    Am thankful for Sir Patrick Vallance, a scientist, a doctor and Chief Scientific Adviser to HM’s Government and someone – at last – talking lots of sense about Covid-19 on the TOADY programme this a.m.. Tolerably good interview by Justin Webb for a change. Justin didn’t stand a chance anway against clear thinking and reasoning that was well-expressed.

    If you didn’t hear it, I would strongly recommend listening to it via Radio iPlayer a.k.a. BBC Sounds a.k.a. BBC ‘Noises’. (BBC R4 8.10 a.m..)

    It strikes me as very interesting that so many people have become so brainless and expect everything to either be done for them by Government or they have to be told what to do by Government.

    We are entering an interesting phase in the history of the world.

       12 likes

    • Celtic_Mist says:

      Up2

      Which of the strategies – the EU ‘authoritarian’ approach or that of the UK – proves most successful in dealing with the emergency will only become clear in the months ahead.

         9 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        C_M, I missed most of the TOADY interview with someone (French sounding male) who had been brought on to rubbish President Trump, rubbish the UK’s measures against Covid-19, dismiss President Trump, explain how Brexit is bad for Britain and the EU is wonderful, rubbish President Trump’s ban on air travel that other European nations copied within hours, pose questions about Christine Lagarde’s statement but mostly rubbish President Trump.

        Oh, and did I mention the contributor complained about President Trump. He duly obliged the BBC in all of their desires this morning.

        Sure, time will tell who has the best approach. I have to point out that the EU hasn’t taken any approach yet to Covid-19, authoritarian or otherwise. They appear to have been caught on the hop rather, firstly by the epi-centre of European infection arising in Italy and then the President’s air travel ban and the copycat action by individual EU nations, yesterday.

        That may explain their ire, as expressed by the post 8.31 a.m. contributor to TOADY.

        As I point out in my post below, we in the UK have been on this virus-thing right from the beginning.

           6 likes

    • Deborah says:

      Can I play ‘Metoo’? I caught the end of the interview with Sir Patrick Vallance on Today. Justin allowed him to speak and wasn’t trying to score political points. It made a fine change and allowed me to consider how the government is dealing with this.

      I have to say how refreshing it was to hear the interview. The Daily Mail website has obviously not forgiven Boris for Brexit or winning the last election. They are screaming for the schools to be closed (in spite of the government explaining the reasons why they haven’t).

      However Today moved on to I think it was something to do with black men in sport – I might be wrong – but it was something back to the old agenda and I switched off.

         2 likes

  42. Celtic_Mist says:

    For all the BBC scaremongering about the stock market, the fact is that the Dow is still over 2000 points higher than it was on 1/11/16 just after the 2016 US elections

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/L8ZfPjHN2E8lwAvXQsLyoxFzoge22hev5CDaC7VxR1r

       14 likes

  43. Up2snuff says:

    I feel like I’m living through an episode of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy listening to the TOADY Programme this morning. Think I should change my registered name/posting name to Ford Prefect. “Don’t panic!” Permit me to share some reasons why we shouldn’t panic.

    The UK has some distinct advantages in facing Coronavirus/Covid-19. Firstly, we are an island nation and have some other global advantages, time/longitude-wise. Secondly, we are a scientific, medical and bio-science nation. Thirdly, we have a national health service which although devolved across the four home nations does work in concert. Fourthly, we have a relatively open society news-wise. Finally, we have been ‘on this’ virus thing right from the beginning.

    On that last point, because it started in China, we have had a massive advantage handed to us in the UK. China went – in my view – through some difficult phases but have really helped the whole world.

    Firstly, they were in denial. Then they accepted it was happening and responded rapidly and progressively. Finally, they took an extreme measure and it appears to have worked. I recall that StewGreen posted stats yesterday for how the outbreak appears to have slowed substantially in China.

    I think the BBC and others would do well to note the above.

    As Sgt Phil would say: “Hey! HEY! Let’s be careful out there.”

       10 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @Up2snuff No I didn’t post about Chinese stats
      ..must have been someone else.

      For the population to be safe, a lot of people need to get Covid19 to give some herd immunity.

      Alternatively If we locked down the country for six months so no one gets it, as soon as we unlocked it would spread across the population cos there’s be no immune people to break the chain.

         6 likes

  44. fakenewswatcher says:

    I smell the stench of burning human flesh, as the unspeakable ANC ‘liberate’ South Africa with their petrol filled tyre ‘necklaces’ in the eighties. As Winnie-Madikizela Mandela put it: “with our matches we will liberate the country”. The fate of anyone merely suspected of ‘collaborating’, a true reign of terror, that goes on to this day. It was all part of the ANC strategy of ‘making the country ungovernable’.
    Why do I think of this? The ANC anthem is playing from somewhere in the house. I know immediately what the source must be: R4 has been left on. It is the pleasant-looking and soft-spoken Chris Riddell, artist and illustrator. Remember I said last Friday that if you will ever get a white male on desert Island Discs, it will be a lefty? He is the guest.
    The ANC anthem brings a lump to his throat, he says. His parents were from South Africa, ant-Apartheid activists, and he was born in Cape Town. I wonder if he’s been back lately?
    I know someone who is leaving CT for the US because of how much the city has deteriorated under the ANC government. From lack of water and electricity to boarded-up shops and crumbling roads and pavements. With deadly, rampant crime on the loose, as it is in the rest of the country, in which Cape Town is apparently the GOOD news.
    In the countryside many hundreds of farmers and their families have been mercilessly slaughtered – no mention of this on DID, needless to say. Cities across the country are frequently without power or other basic public services.
    ‘Ungovernable’ indeed. SA is currently in the throes of EWC – i.e. the legalised theft of land. Productive land which, on the basis of very good evidence, will soon become unproductive land.
    Noughts and crosses, anyone?

       19 likes

  45. Up2snuff says:

    Guess what is leading on the BBC’s News Page on their web-site? Yes, you are right. Jeremy Hunt’s criticism of the Government’s measures against the virus. Yes, those criticism’s that Nick or Justin led Hunt to contribute with some leading questions.

    Despicable.

    Guess what is not on the BBC’s News Page on their web-site? Yes, you are right. Sir Patrick Vallance, who was – unlike Jeremy Hunt – the interviewee in the 8.10 a.m. prime interview slot on TOADY.

    Extra despicable.

       16 likes

  46. BRISSLES says:

    Fatty Boulton on Sky interviewed the opposition health spokesman in Eire, and because everything is closed down over there, Boulton asked him a leading question as to whether Boris had got it wrong here in not closing schools and large gatherings. But was clearly disappointed in not getting the answers he wanted, the spokesman articulately put his opinions and even indicated that there was dialogue between the health services of north and south Ireland.

    Our government are damned if they don’t and damned if they do, by the media.

       20 likes

  47. dafydd says:

    Question Time last night had Prof John Ashton, long time leftie and Labour supporter.
    He stated that the Governments response to the Caronovirus was a disgrace and called Boris Johnson a liar, pathetic etc etc etc.
    The pathetic BBC just dont seem to learn and continue with this appalling bias…The WHO organisation states the the Governments measures are correct and sensible..Most rational experts express the same view that the government at the moment is spot on with its response.

    Only the disgusting BBC could politicize this crisis…

    Well done the BBC another new low

       25 likes

    • Dave S says:

      It was not bias. He spoke the truth. If you want to educate yourself further as to the nature of Covid 19 the read the latest on The Gatestone Institute site from a doctor in Bergamo Italy. Gatestone is by no means lefty inclined.
      This is not flu. How many times do we have to tell you all that.

         2 likes

      • JamesArthur says:

        Dave
        I agree it isn’t flu but the evidence so far is that it is no worse than flu..unless you know something I don’t

        I don’t doubt that the BBC are using this to attack the Government, but what I am interested in is your phrase

        “How many times do WE have to tell you ALL that?”
        Are you a WE and if so which WE?
        And I guess we are the ALL as though WE are a homogeneous group…

        Just interested…

           7 likes

    • Beltane says:

      ‘Professor’ Ashton’s best line was overlooked, when he referred to ‘How we did it in Bahrein…..’ which suggest to me that the noble expert has used UK and NHS qualifications to improve his own living standards rather significantly.
      The fact that he was on the QT panel was more proof of the BBC’s admirable efforts to ensure we all pull together.
      See Dafydd’s contribution, below……

         2 likes

  48. JamesArthur says:

    BBC at its best
    On BBC front page..headline Corona virus: ‘the worst bit is the uncontrollable coughing’ made to sound dramatic…adding hysteria

    but watch the video and you will see the person speaking is basically saying it wasn’t too bad…

    I know the person in the video and he is as straight and down to earth as you get but the BBC still use a misleading headline – it’s a true one but taken out of context

    Why didn’t they say Coronavirus – I have had had worse flu…or it is like a bad cold….

       15 likes

  49. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    India has only 1 death from coronavirus in a population of 1.3 billion.
    It hates the heat.

    What we need is to build lots of coal burning power stations to get that global warming up.

    It will get rid of the coronavirus quicker.
    A warmer UK.
    Lots of extra plant food.
    Stable and cheap electricity.

    What more could we want.
    What’s not to like.

    China is doing its bit by building lots of them.
    Only right though as they caused it by eating diseased mandolins.

       14 likes

  50. StewGreen says:

    I would be wary about stats
    #1 The UK can cheat in stats, but Asian cultures particularly have culture of being deceptive ..and that includes advanced countries.

    In Ghana an embassy insider told me how AIDS rates doubled between the survey papers and the form submitted to the EU/UN for aid donations.

    #2 In the UK they only reliable metric is the number of people who have died of it.
    You never really know who got it and then recovered.
    Nor the number of people who have it right now.

       10 likes