Midweek Thread 25 March 2020

Over to you – maybe we should a notional prize for the most biased BBC ‘journalist ‘- but it’s stiff competition .

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456 Responses to Midweek Thread 25 March 2020

  1. john in cheshire says:

    The name Andrew Cuomo, CNNs Chris (Fredo) Cuomo’s brother, is now being talked about as a possible presidential candidate for the Demonrats.

    This 9 minute video by Josh Bernstein throws a very large bucket of cold water over Andrew Cuomo and his chances of beating President Trump:

    https://youtu.be/2iQBJmjyFbs

       7 likes

  2. JamesArthur says:

    R4 Twato…

    Jesus..all they are doing is looking for things to knock the Government – even when the interviewee isn’t biting they just keep throwing in the comments that they want to have reflected back…

    Don’t want to hear that antibody tests might actually be ready in weeks….keeps saying so months…so months..

    BBC – you are doing a great job of ramping up fear and undermining the Government at every turn..
    and you wonder why Boris doesn’t want you at any meeting or to let you have your ‘sources’ around him..

       50 likes

  3. StewGreen says:

    The libmob don’t think they are the fascist ones
    Their creation of the #BeNice hashtag is ironic

    I bump into these kind of hatey tweets from them all the time.

       30 likes

  4. Lucy Pevensey says:

    Let’s turn all BBC studios & offices into hospitals/emergency medical centres. Make them useful for the first time in over 20 years.

       48 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      How many of the hive’s drones have volunteered to work for the NHS?

      How many MPs?

      How many from the House of Lard arses?

         17 likes

  5. john in cheshire says:

    UKColumn news today contains more information on half an hour than I suspect the racist far-left bbc has reported this year:

    https://youtu.be/82qsclco1Oo

       9 likes

  6. Celtic_Mist says:

    The BBC won’t report this? –

    https://gript.ie/over-500000-sign-petition-demanding-who-chief-resign/

    A petition called for the resignation of the Director-General of the World Health Organisation [WHO], Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has now been been signed by over 500,000 people.

    The petition was creating following criticism of the manner in which the WHO has dealt with the COVID-19 outbreak, with critics saying that the WHO was influenced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the critical early period of the outbreak when the virus could have more easily been contained.

    Dr Tedros was heavily supported by the CCP when he ran for election to the position of the Director-General of the WHO in 2017. It’s understood that the CCP did considerable work behind the scenes to ensure that Dr Tedros would take the position in an election that saw Dr Tedros accused of covering up three separate cholera outbreaks when he was Ethiopia’s Health Minister.

    The petition argues that Dr Tedros is unfit for his role as WHO Director-General and that the rapid spread of the virus is due to his ‘underestimation’ of the coronarvirus.

    On January 10th the WHO told the public that it did not “recommend any specific health measures for travelers to and from Wuhan” and “WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on #China based on the information currently available”.

    Reports have also said that pressure from the CCP was the reason why the WHO refused to class the COVID-19 outbreak as a global health emergency after meetings on the 22nd and 23rd of January. It was not until January 30th, when the situation had gotten significantly worse, that the WHO moved to class the outbreak as a global health emergency.

    As last as early February Dr Tedros said that the spread of COVID-19 outside China was “minimal and slow”, and that there was no need for measures which “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade”. He also said that China had set “a new standard for outbreak control”.

    Leaked documents have now shown that the Chinese Government lied to the WHO about the COVID-19 outbreak for several months, including telling them that there was no evidence that the virus could move from human to human. You can read more on that HERE.

    The petition ends by saying “Please help the world to gain faith to the UN and WHO again”.

       26 likes

  7. Celtic_Mist says:

    Expect to see a BBC push back and ‘fact-check’ on this one!

       11 likes

  8. StewGreen says:

    BY coincidence Donald Trump Jr
    recommends this thread

       12 likes

  9. Celtic_Mist says:

    The BBC would dismiss this as ‘far-right’ conspiracy theories –

    https://gript.ie/a-timeline-of-chinas-attempts-to-coverup-the-covid-19-outbreak/

    The Daily Wire, an American news site linked to Ben Shapiro, has released a devastating timeline highlighting the attempts of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to cover up the COVID-19 oubreak. It details how the CCP tried to hid the existence of the virus through a combination of aggressive actions against their own citizens, destroying samples of the virus held by labs which the CCP didn’t directly control, detaining journalists, and lying to the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the nature and severity of the virus.

    Doctors in Wuhan were aware, or at least strongly suspicious, that COVID-19 could move from human to human by December 6th, but the CCP told the WHO on December 31st that there was “no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission and no health care worker infections have been reported”. This was despite the fact that by December 25th medical staff in two different hospitals in Wuhan had contracted what was thought to be viral pneumonia from patients they had been treating who it now appears had contracted COVID-19.

    Leaked Chinese documents have also shown that the CCP was aware that as many as 1 in 3 of those infected by COVID-19 could be totally asymptomatic. They did not inform the WHO of this fact which led the WHO to issue a statement saying that asymptomatic transmissions were ‘extremely rare’ and that, following a research trip to China the WHO could state that only 1% of cases would be asymptomatic infections.

    The overall impact of these lies and attempts to obscure the nature of the virus was that the rest of the world was largely unprepared for outbreaks of COVID-19 when it inevitably spread. 44% of COVID-19 cases in Italy are classed as asymptomatic, and the Italians, due to the failure of the Chinese government to inform the world of its research, were totally unaware of the danger those people represented. To be clear here, if China had been open about what their research showed Italy would have acted sooner and the devastation the region is now undergoing could have been avoided.

    The CCP is now waging a PR war on two fronts. Firstly they’re trying to position themselves as a world leader in efforts to combat COVID-19, offering supplies and other help to impacted countries. Secondly, they’re openly and clearly trying to sow doubt as to the origin of COVID-19 in an attempt to avoid being blamed for the global spread of the virus.

    The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released multiple statements saying that the COVID-19 virus may have originated in America, and senior figures in the Chinese government have even taken to Twitter, a site which is illegal inside China as it would allow Chinese citizens to see information the CCP didn’t approve of, to say that the outbreak in Wuhan may have been the fault of the American military.

    The first is laudable, but it must be understood in connection with the second method and the now undeniable fact that the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, and the mass deaths we have seen, and will see, around the world are a product of the CCP’s attempts to hide the truth. If they hadn’t of done so the aid they are now offering may not even have been required.

    Below is the timeline of the coverup published by the Daily Wire, their full story on it can found HERE.

    November 17: The first case of someone suffering from COVID-19 occurs in Wuhan, according to the South China Morning Post

    December 10: Wei Guixian, sold goods in Wuhan’s wet market, reportedly started feeling sick on this day. Thankfully, she was released from the hospital in January, The Wall Street Journal reported.

    December 27: Zhang Jixian, a doctor at the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, sounds the alarm about a new disease that has already affected 180 patients, the Morning Post reported.

    December 26-30: The first evidence of the new virus is revealed through Wuhan patient data, which had been sent to multiple Chinese genomics companies, Caixin Global reported.

    Hubei’s health commission orders a genomics company to stop testing the new virus and destroy all samples, according to an anonymous source in Caixin Global.

    December 31: More than a month after the first incident of COVID-19, Chinese officials alert the World Health Organization (WHO) China Country Office about pneumonia with an unknown cause affecting people in Wuhan, Caixin Global reported.

    Chinese Internet authorities started censoring terms relating to the virus on social media, including “Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia,” “SARS Variation,” “Wuhan Seafood Market,” and anything critical of the government’s response to the disease, Citizen Lab reported.

    January 1: Eight doctors, including Dr. Li Wenliang, are detained and questioned by the Chinese government, who condemn them for “making false statements on the Internet,” CNN reported. Li is then forced to write a letter saying his warnings “had a negative impact,” the Journal reported.

    Caixin Global reported that the Hubei health commission ordered genomics companies to stop testing the virus and destroy samples, confirming its earlier report.

    The Wuhan seafood market where the virus allegedly first broke out was finally closed, though it is then “disinfected” without swabbing the individual animal cages or drawing any blood from the workers, meaning the evidence of what may have been the source of the virus was destroyed, the Times reported.

    January 3: China’s National Health Commission issued a gag order and ordering pneumonia samples moved to designated testing facilities or destroyed. The Commission also orders institutions not to publish any information about the still unknown disease, Caixin Global reported.

    January 5: Professor Zhang Yongzhen of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center provided the genomic sequence of the virus to Chinese authorities. On the same day, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission stopped releasing daily updates on new cases, the Journal reported.

    January 9: WHO released a statement about the cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, suggesting the cases pointed to a coronavirus as the possible pathogen causing the issues. The statement also said China ruled out SARS, MERS, influenza, bird flu, and other common pathogens.

    January 10: Wang Guangfa, a prominent People’s Republic of China government expert, told state broadcaster China Central Television that the pneumonia outbreak was “under control” and downplayed the virus as a “mild condition,” the Times reported.

    January 11: Because the Chinese government took no action on Yongzhen’s genomic sequence, he published the data online to help the world work on testing methods, the Morning Post reported.

    January 12: The National Health Commission shared the virus genomic information with the WHO for the first time, Caixin Global reported. On this same day, Youngzhen’s lab in Shanghai is closed for “rectification,” the Morning Post reported.

    January 14: WHO said there may have been human-to-human transmission of the virus, Reuters reported. Also on this day, Chinese police wearing plainclothes start detaining journalists trying to report on the outbreak at Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital. The journalists are forced to delete any footage taken and hand over their phones and cameras for inspection, Business Insider and the Times reported.

    January 15: Li Qun, head of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) emergency center, claims the risk of human-to-human transmission is “low,” the Journal reported.

    January 17: After 12 days, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission started giving daily updates on new cases of the coronavirus.

    January 18: Despite the presence of the coronavirus, Wuhan holds a “potluck” banquet for 40,000 families to try and break a world record, The New York Times reported.

    January 20: Dr. Zhong Nanshan, who helped fight SARS, says in a TV interview that the coronavirus is spreading from person to person. Nanshan also said later that if the Chinese government had acted in December or early January to contain the virus, “the number of sick would have been greatly reduced, the Journal reported.

    This same day, Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang said Beijing rules kept him from disclosing information about the threat of the coronavirus, the Journal reported.

    January 23: Wuhan is finally locked down, even though about 5 million people had already left the city without being screened by that time.

    February 6: China President Xi Jinping orders the country’s Internet watchdog to further control social media platforms, the Morning Post reported. On this same day, citizen journalist Chen Qiushi, who was also a former rights attorney, disappeared in Wuhan after posting footage from overcrowded hospitals and panicking families, the Times reported.

    February 7: Dr. Li Wenliang dies of the coronavirus, which he contracted from a patient. Wenliang was detained for sounding the alarm on the virus, the Journal reported.

    February 9: Another citizen journalist, Fang Bin, who was also a local businessman, disappeared after posting videos from Wuhan on Chinese social media, the Times reported.

    February 15: President Xi tightened control over Internet discussion even further, the Agence Free-Presse reported. On this same day, activist Xu Zhiyong was arrested for a February 4 essay calling for Xi to resign for suppressing information about the coronavirus. Xu had been on the run for two months, NPR reported.

    February 16: Professor Xu Zhangrun was put on house arrest and banned from social media and the Internet for publishing an essay stating “The coronavirus epidemic has revealed the rotten core of Chinese governance,” The Guardian reported.

    February 19: Reporters for the Journal had their press credentials revoked by Beijing over their coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, the Journal reported.

    March 14: Another activist, Ren Zhiqiang, disappeared in Beijing after criticizing the way Xi responded to the coronavirus, the Times reported.

       30 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      I think it is clear beyond doubt that Communist China is a vile police state and a threat to the world.

      We should shun them and have as little to do with them as possible. If Boris Johnson thinks for even one second that after all this mayhem and carnage courtesy of Red China we should be using their Huawei spyware in our 5G system, then he would simply be unfit for office.

         15 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      November 17th might be the first recorded case, but how many were there who didn’t report, or were simply dismissed as ‘Flu’ ?

         6 likes

  10. StewGreen says:

    We in Britain are stuffed, cos we have no foreign seasonal harvest workers
    ..whereas in Germany they … oh hang on.

    https://www.thelocal.de/20200325/germany-bans-foreign-farm-workers-over-coronavirus

       16 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      How’s that murder enquiry going in Germany, y’know when ‘a man’ drove ‘a car’ into a crowd?

         12 likes

  11. StewGreen says:

    21 yo from Coventry died of Covid19
    with no underlying health complications

    BBC claim

       7 likes

  12. Fedup2 says:

    A bit of good news for BoJo -at the hour long PMQs some things were said about comrade Corbyn -who lacks humour and grace even at the best of times – as he withdraws from leading the socialists to electoral oblivion

    In response he said he is the retiring and will return to his soviet dug out where he can continue the sniping and plotting he was doing all the way since the 1970s .

    He was coughing – he didn’t look well . He is 70 . 3 of his henchmen were thrown out of the chamber because they were sitting together and taking pictures .

    One of them was seamus Milne ? Who we need to thank for engineering an 80 tory majority .

       27 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Apparently, Corby minor works for Milne – or is it Corby major, Jezza’s sons both?

         4 likes

  13. StewGreen says:

    10am Local news : local police seem to have ramped up there warning
    \\ They say they will take action against people flaunting the isolation rules//
    As ever the newsreader continues to overspeak
    saying “parents have been asked to keep children INDOORS”
    .. she means AT HOME

       15 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      It is a wonderful time for neighborhood snitches who might photograph you and report you as a Non Com, should you appear to be not complying with the isolation rules.

         5 likes

  14. Excartographer says:

    Well that’s all right then, BBC have just, within the tv news, broadcast a message of hope from Dr. Who – thank goodness for public service broadcasting!

       12 likes

  15. theisland says:

       5 likes

  16. StewGreen says:

    New stats have not come out on time
    I do see that NorthLincs county has got to 5 cases to date
    That is 1 in 50,000 people
    And Northeastlincs has 4 cases

    North of the Humber East Yorks has 15
    probably cos Hull is using the big out of town hospital so the cases are counted in East Yorks tally instead of Hull
    I reckon the ratio is still about 1 in 50,000 people there also

    London 2,872 ..that’s 1 in every 3,000 people !
    SE 751

       13 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      BTW looking at death per day
      Most countries double every 3 days (even Germany)
      The UK is not bad ..it doubles every 4 days

      China/Iran/Japan .. I don’t trust the stats

         17 likes

  17. JamesArthur says:

    What is it with these BBC and C4 reporters….asking Bojo questions with an underlying or actually an open hostility…with the view that everyone is getting it right and we are getting it wrong….

    They don’t seem to get it…..the Government and advisers have more to do than sit on their hands and think up stupid questions

    and now R4 saying Bojo was wrong and disagreeing with him despite no evidence…about testing…Bojo answered the question and I just think the BBC with their arts degrees- are too stupid to understand it…

    BBC – you are the enemy of the state! Start being positive about the UK or self isolate

       53 likes

    • Beltane says:

      The latest press conference was simply a catalogue of negative and implied criticism – one after the other correspondent, starting with the BBC, then Sky and others more easily forgotten, indulging in a pathetic point scoring charade without any real concern for anyone other than their editors.
      It begs the question, just what do they think such questions and implications achieve?
      We are where we are, uniquely, frighteningly, so what actual benefit does asking adroitly worded means of showing the PM up do for the situation? Not one of the bastards gave a hint of praise for the 450,000 volunteers who will take much of the pressure off over-stretched resources because their primary concern was to put the government, and Boris, in a poor light.
      Shameful shits.

         55 likes

      • Charlie Farley says:

        Beltane
        Thank you that’s sums up the righteous Bastards….don’t want to be nasty but hopefully one or more of them will get it and suffer accordingly !

           21 likes

        • BRISSLES says:

          The calibre of this generation of journalists is shocking. I’ve heard more than once that the puerile questions being asked at press conferences is beyond embarrassing. In all solemnity one idiot asked what should boyfriend and girlfriends do if they live in separate houses – god almighty really ???? I thought yeah right, just the sort of question I could imagine Robin Day asking.

          Most of them are only fit for a job on CBBC.

             29 likes

  18. Tabs says:

    BBC News suspends 450 job cuts to ensure Covid-19 coverage
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52035875

    Lord Hall said (to BBC staff), “…We’ve got to get on with doing the job that you’re doing really brilliantly.”

    HYS comments couldn’t get any worse for the BBC!

       26 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Jeremy Corbynski features prominently. Would he be a friend of ours, by any chance?

         6 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Oh that is 450 that will now have to depend only on their Labour Party salaries.

         7 likes

  19. JimS says:

    Will the Supreme Court rule that parliament can’t take an early Easter break?

       15 likes

  20. popeye says:

    Oh dear, poor BBC. The Government asked for volunteers and thousands signed up – but it appears not many BAMES have the British Spirit. On the 6.00 BBC news all the featured volunteers were disgustingly white. You can guarantee that if any ethnics were available they would have been front and centre!

       58 likes

    • Dave S says:

      First thing My wife said.

         16 likes

    • popeye says:

      Further to my observation above, just watched the programme on Coronavirus on BBC showing how families are managing and AGAIN with perfectly normal, but awfully white, and very photogenic nuclear families (all with fathers – maybe that’s a clue). I really don’t believe that, given time, the BBC wouldn’t push their agenda forward so I have to believe that the crisis has stopped them searching for appropriate BAME families and coaching them, but have to make do with “normies”.

         12 likes

  21. Sluff says:

    On tonight’s edition of BBC shit-stirring (BBC1, 6 pm)………

    A doctor has been found who has had to buy his own masks.
    A sports cameraman has no work.
    A nurse is afraid to go to work.
    Someone is stranded in ….errr…. Brisbane!

    All non-ideal, but out of 65 million people, dredging the bottom of the barrel in the way we expect of the biased BBC.

       42 likes

  22. john in cheshire says:

    How’s that parliamentary debate about releasing their report on the muslim rape gangs coming along?

    I suppose now that the rats have scurried off back to their nests, they will hope we’ll all forget about it.

    Also,
    Has the racist far-left bbc reported on the draconian new legislation that the swamp has voted to impose on us? It’s getting Royal assent either today or tomorrow. Maybe once it’s in place, the China virus will suddenly disappear.

       22 likes

  23. Sluff says:

    I’m self-isolating from the BBC, and am already feeling much better……..

       25 likes

  24. Richard Pinder says:

    A nice book to read called, Groupthink: A Study in Self Delusion, by Christopher Booker. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Groupthink-Study-Delusion-Christopher-Booker/dp/1472979540

    Christopher Bookers final book begins in early 2019. He singles out Islamist terrorism, the European Union, the secular religion of Climate Change, a rift between the ruled and their rulers and identity politics. Underlying all of them is the peculiar social pressure to conform with a whole range of views deemed to be ‘politically correct’ marked out in those caught up in it by their aggressive intolerance of anything or anyone who differs from their own beliefs. Beliefs that defy simple scientific proof that they are wrong, such as the simple evolutionary reason for the existence of only two genders, as well as the growing catalogue of scientific evidence censored by the BBC, proving that carbon dioxide warming is a hoax.

    For a scientific explanation of this growing zealotry, Booker turned to a thesis put forward more than 40 years ago by Irving Janis, a professor of psychology at Yale University. In “The Victims of Groupthink”, Janis observed how “a group of people come to be fixated on some belief or view of the world which is hugely important to them. They are convinced that their opinion is so self-evidently right that no sensible person could disagree with it. Most telling of all, this leads them to treat all who differ from their beliefs with a peculiar kind of contemptuous hostility”. Its why the BBC only allows environmental activists (best scientific experts) to comment on Climate science.

    Booker defines the three rules of groupthink: the adoption of a common view or belief not based on objective reality; the establishment of a consensus of right-minded people, an ‘in group’; and the need to treat the views of anyone who questions the belief as wholly unacceptable. He shows how various environmental interest groups, BBC journalists and governments in the twenty-first century have subscribed to this way of thinking, with deeply disturbing results.
    As Booker shows, such behaviour has led to a culture of fear, heralded by countless examples throughout history, from Revolutionary Russia to Napoleonic France and Hitler’s Germany.

    The Rt Hon Frank Field says “Parts of the book will please half the population and the other half of the book will infuriate the other half of the population. That is evidence of success for the final polemical book by Christopher Booker”

       29 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Richard – it will be fascinating to see what the outcome of the Chinese bug will be – following the various inquiries which will be going on .
      The inquiries will all be unsatisfactory because the Chinese will want an even better cover up than they’ve already done . And it’s easy to kill off dissenters with the virus .

      With this in mind imagine being able to listen to the G7 chat today or the G20 tomorrow . …

      I suppose group think comes in waves with the ultimate extreme being that of national socialism and what that groupthink achieved .

      Tricky to guess what the overall public reaction will be once restrictions are lifted and people can go back to super abundant supplies .

      Unless directly affected through personal loss I suppose people will move on and shrug and forget .

         8 likes

      • Adezeroonie says:

        Fed,
        It would be fascinating to see the outcome of the various Chinese bug inquiries but unfortunately it is not in the public interest to release the reports.

           2 likes

    • Sluff says:

      Richard
      Adding to your narrative.
      I recall an article by Janice Turner in the Times.
      She talked about a purity spiral or purity vortex.
      The ‘purity’ is the defined-by-the-Left issue of the day. The ‘vortex’ is the boundary between the ‘in group’ and the ‘out group’. The ‘spiral’ reflects a circular ascension. The point being that there is no upper limit which defines whether you have passed the purity test so the Lefties have to outdo each other to prove themselves.
      Combine these constructs in an atmosphere of groupthink and you have a perfect underpinning and explanation of the BBC news agenda and selection criteria for stories of interest to them.
      Thus sensible approaches to, for example, recruitment of LGBT in the workplace (where they are the best person for the job) mutate into separate toilets for self-identifying transgender personages. Other examples abound.

         11 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        @Sluff said article

           2 likes

        • Sluff says:

          Stew
          If you happen to read this, now hidden in the middle of the thread, then I have to say- Amazing!!!!!! Many thanks.

          But in its way, a nice proof that a few amateurs like us can report more accurately and factually than thousands of so-called ‘journalists’ at the BBC.

             5 likes

    • G says:

      RP,
      I’d prefer the basic explanation of, ‘Marxism’.

         0 likes

  25. davylars says:

    BBC news reporting on the 1000’s waiting in long queues on the telephone to make claims to the Department for Work and Pensions.
    They managed to find someone who had been in a telephone queue for ‘x’ amount of hours and was whinging about the fact he’d had lost his slot…
    Why? Cos he fell asleep….
    Who’s fault is that?

       22 likes

  26. Lucy Pevensey says:

    Three north London men have been convicted for raping a 16-year-old schoolgirl, after one threatened her with a machete, robbed her and held her captive.

    “North London Men”
    Hilal Mohamed, 22, Abdisalam Mohamad, 21, and Roberto French, 22

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/enfield-rape-roberto-french-abdisalam-mohamad-hilal-mohamed-a4356271.html

       31 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      No results found for site:bbc.co.uk “Roberto French”
      No results found for site:bbc.co.uk “Abdisalam Mohamad”.

      etc.

         20 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      If there was a referendum on capital punishment for these animals, I believe it would be supported by a massive majority. They’re useless eaters ( a lefty term that they coined for us) who will cost us a fortune to keep in jail for a few years. And when they’re released are likely to revert to type.

      They’re never going to be productive citizens of our country. The kindest thing would be to deport them and their families.

         21 likes

  27. Celtic_Mist says:

    Shock horror – biased BBC

    https://righttolife.org.uk/news/impartial-bbc-upholds-complaint-of-bias-over-ni-abortion-legislation-coverage/

    The BBC has upheld a complaint of bias over its coverage of the UK Government voting to impose abortion on Northern Ireland.

    Andrew Todd complained to the BBC after news coverage of the parliamentary vote last year only showed interviews with people who were pro-abortion and in favour of the extreme change in law.

    The BBC initially responded by claiming it had approached a number of potential pro-life contributors but was unable to source an interview with anyone who opposed with the vote.

    However, Andrew then contacted five pro-life charities who all confirmed they had not been approached by the ‘impartial’ public broadcaster for comment.

    This prompted Andrew to file a “stage 2” complaint to the BBC Executive Complaints Unit, The ECU admitted earlier this month that “due impartiality” was not achieved and would brief production teams.

    A couple of months after this incident, the BBC’s political editor for Northern Ireland referred to the picture of a premature baby on a pro-life postcard as a foetus.

    The insensitive comments were made live on BBC Newsline, by Mark Davenport, just hours before a law imposing Europe’s most extreme abortion legislation on the province came into force.

    In the build-up to a debate on the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill, the BBC drew attention to an amendment, that eventually brought Europe’s most extreme abortion regime to Ireland, calling it an “exciting titbit“.

    For a number of years the BBC’s ‘News Style Guide’ has required their journalists to ‘avoid pro-abortion, and use pro-choice instead’. When it comes to describing the pro-life position they advise journalists to ‘use anti-abortion rather than pro-life’.

    The BBC has also been caught suppressing polling they commissioned for a documentary, called Abortion on Trial, which showed that there was no widespread support for further liberalising the existing law.

    Instead, in the documentary that aired, the BBC cherry-picked minority results from polling that supported what appeared to be a clear bias in the documentary towards removing the current legal restrictions and safeguards around abortion.

    The same documentary was also criticised for dropping a pregnant woman from their panel who had chosen not to abort her daughter who had Down’s syndrome.

    Responding to the outcome of the complaint, Director of Advocacy of pro-life group Life Charity, Liz Parsons, said:

    “The BBC has for many years been widely seen as being on the side of the abortion lobby. Its behaviour on Tuesday 9 July 2019 was just one of the many instances in which it gives precedence to the pro-abortion side of this debate. We commend Mr Todd for taking the BBC to task about its biased reporting and we urge other viewers to do the same in future.

    “As a public broadcaster in receipt of public funds, the BBC has a duty and obligation to be impartial in its reporting. Its coverage of abortion and assisted suicide must reflect the views of all sides of the debate in a fair and balanced way.

    “We hope this ruling will help guide the behaviour of the BBC in future. We also call on the regulator, OFCOM, which disappointingly refused to hear this complaint, to step up and do its duty to hold the BBC to account.”

       17 likes

    • john in cheshire says:

      These baby killers will not want to hear this but on their day of judgement, they are going to have to answer to God for what they have done. I doubt it will have a happy ending for them.

      Jesus has some very harsh words for those who harm children. And a child begins at conception regardless of what the Godless choose to believe.

         9 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Extreme John – but true – I wonder if one of the consequences of the virus will be a renewed enthusiasm to ‘ off ‘ people not deemed as an ‘asset ‘ to the State –

        – all done in the nicest way of course . And it’s ‘ for the best ‘ sic

           8 likes

      • R P McMurphy says:

        I am not religious in any way but I agree with you John in every way.
        A rare insect in the way of a new motorway has more rights than an unborn human baby.
        Life begins at conception and it is the mothers duty to care and nourish this miracle she is carrying. And as far as the pro-killers are concerned the father is a none entity with no rights or any emotions concerning his child.
        And wasn’t it the now disgraced David Steel who has bought about the annihilation of millions upon millions who should be with us now.
        There is another word I could use but I do not wish to upset anybody who lost family back then.

           14 likes

      • Celtic_Mist says:

        Abortion activists ramp up efforts to hijack Coronavirus Bill
        Posted on March 24, 2020

        https://righttolife.org.uk/news/abortion-activists-ramp-up-efforts-to-hijack-coronavirus-bill/

           2 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          Celtic – I guess what’s happened there is some faction with in the Dept of Health had thought that in the turmoil of getting that Slab of emergency powers through on a couple of days they to tack more pro abortion provisions onto it . Evil is always there .

             8 likes

          • Nibor says:

            I was ambivalent , if I can use the word , about abortion even though my extended family was against it .
            But as the pro life was given the usual BBC “impartiality ” i turned against it .

               5 likes

  28. Up2snuff says:

    TWatO Watch #1 (sorry am well behind today) – Exceptional Exceptions

    The Big Bash the Government at lunchtime was presided over by the Montacutie. She was obviously upset that Bojo and HMG had not written to everyone who had been working in the UK in the middle of the month of March, explaining how their situation had changed as from Monday night and detailing minutely what they should specifically do on Tuesday and Wednesday morning and when returning home, especially in respect of London Underground trains.

    The BBC managed to claim that construction workers might actually have to touch a fingerprint scanner to gain site access and thereby contract Covid-19 from another worker on site.

    How many construction sites do you know or have you seen with fingerprint scanners at access points? Do feel free to correct me if I’m wrong; I only have experience of those in London. They usually have a gate that you can get a truck through and a bloke with a hi-viz and walkie-talkie.

    The BBC are starting to get very, very silly and they are now sounding stupid in their nit-picking.

       25 likes

  29. StewGreen says:

    8pm R4 Talking about whether we should condemn panic-buyers etc.
    JuliaHB just started

    psychologist Prof Andrew Colman of the Univ. of Leicester

       5 likes

  30. Up2snuff says:

    It’s a puzzle to me why the Guardian front page should be seen sharp enough to read on the BBC web-site but other newspapers less so. I wonder why?

    On a different note, I see The Thunderer does not know where St Thomas Hospital is, on which side of the Thames.

       11 likes

  31. stanley_plank says:

    A lot of people have already had this in the UK. Early Jan to Feb. As we will soon find out. I know many who say their symptoms tally and some are still struggling with less lung function. A very dry cough which got deeper and went straight to your lungs. It seems to sink deeper as it progresses. My lungs felt cold and like a brick was sat on them. To anyone with underlying problems they would be in trouble. I got worried though didn’t see my doctor. They only started checking old folks with pneumonia for covid19 in march., but before they were putting their deaths down to seasonal flu. How else would it target old people, unless it was all around them for some time. Yes this is worse than flu, but the death rate is not going to grow exponentially in society because there is a ceiling to very old people with underlying issues. The media have pulled us to this position. They have all been looking at the data with one eye closed.

       15 likes

    • honestus says:

      Stanley, your post echos misgivings of my own.
      Whilst up in the Smoke just after Chrimbo and during the sales you couldn’t move for Chinese and the 2 inch exclusion (seclusion) zone was definitely not being observed. Also aware of the temperature/coughing thing going around as fairly usual for the time of the year and deaths of very ill (underlying conditions) people would be part and parcel and not raise undue concerns. I suspect that the brass suspect that many of us (general population) have had it and come through, though with lack of testing they cannot be sure and factor this in which could result in far fewer potential victims than their current ‘model’ predicts.

         9 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      stan, I’ve had something similar but for three years; from about a year after I last had that funny ‘flu’. The respiratory rattle was severe enough for my GP to have me X-rayed and the results seen by an oncologist. Was clear then, no sign of lung cancer which was what we were looking for. But was it Covid-?whatever? linked?

      The problem is that my symptoms vary a lot in intensity. That makes it much harder to diagnose anything. I do actually feel for a GP in that sort of situation. I’ve worked on cars where some fault has been intermittent or where two or more components are failing but intermittency in one is masking the problem of the other(s).

      Probably would seek a repeat check this summer but Covid-19 might now be getting in the way of that.

      That is another question that I have for an expert virologist. All about that strange influenza that existed in 2015 and 2016. Cannot say that I have heard of anyone getting it since winter 2016/17.

      Come on BBC. It is time for you to step up to the mark with all your journalistic resources and contacts. Ask some really good questions on behalf of the listeners and viewers.

         6 likes

  32. Deborah says:

    It is now 9pm and today’s figures for those who have been diagnosed with Covid19 and the number of deaths still haven’t been released. Usually it has been circa 4.30pm. I really hope it is because yesterday was a spike and today’s are better and against the narrative – but not really believing it.

       7 likes

    • Celtic_Mist says:

      This updates throughout the day before resetting at MN –

      https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

         1 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Not the best site cos it has errors and has revised figures downwards before

        The 9pm news said stats had come out but they garbled it
        cos they were mixing the UK tallies and England tallies
        Earlier Worldometer had updated cos the Scot/wales/NI tallies were in

        Multiple sources “43 new deaths in UK last 24 hours, 28 in England.”

        Wow That England tally is a massive fall on the 83 yesterday
        meanwhile Scot/wales/NI tallies rose !

        UK cumulative is 465 ..but the official page still not updated itself

           9 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          Stew – if I recall the trend was going to be upward with a forecast of 120 for Thursday . The variables affecting the real / actual number are many – including – I think the current weather / climate

          Maybe the aim of reducing the ‘curve’ is working – I’ve just seen something on twitter reporting that dyson has just been commissioned by the government to producer 10000? Ventilators … although it doesn’t say when they will be actually delivered .
          I’m waiting to hear criticism about the 400000 plus people who have volunteered to help the NHS -… I know it’s coming …. but like testing kits …

             5 likes

          • taffman says:

            Fedup2
            “I’ve just seen something on twitter reporting that dyson has just been commissioned by the government to producer 10000? Ventilators”.
            This nation could have done far more if we had not given away our industrial base to the EU over the last 30 years. Highly skilled engineering trades just flushed down the pan.
            Wasted.

               15 likes

      • honestus says:

        as useful as this update is (and it is very popular), many of the figures are so under reported seriously skewing any realistic analysis.
        For eg, USA only started to ramp up testing a few days ago and are only scratching the surface similar to UK where only admittance’s to hospital are being tested leaving 000’s of positives stewing in isolation in their own homes, only becoming a dot in the stats when they become ill enough for hospital care.
        As for China/Russia and many third worlders, forget it. They all have skin in the game and lapels to burnish.

           3 likes

        • StewGreen says:

          @Honestus as I said before, the only stat i pay attention to is deaths
          and even then it’s the tri-daily trend cos individual days will blip up and down .
          And there is another stage of the game when we are upto hundreds of deaths per day and hospitals might be overwhelmed.

          One thing someone pointed out is that our death curve seems a lot less steep than Italy’s

          I collated my notes and created a BH thread
          http://bishophill.squarespace.com/discussion/post/2761467

          I included notes about tonights More Or Less stats special

             2 likes

        • Terminal Moraine says:

          honestus, under reporting of positives is an issue — samples from the wider population are currently missing and what we have had so far are those already presenting with symptoms or in hospital.

          But if more positives in a random sample of the population appear it would mean a lower death rate per capita. A point which is being raised by many but maybe this is not being reported in the mainstream media?

          E.g. a peer-reviewed study in France:

          “the problem of SARS-CoV-2 is probably overestimated, as 2.6 million people die of respiratory infections each year compared with less than 4000 deaths for SARS-CoV-2 at the time of writing.”

             1 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Deborah, numbers for Kent came out very late just now, around 22.00hrs. Normally it is earlier in evening, web-site says 09.00 hours.

      Not good, a jump of 24 to 96 which means there has been an exact doubling in three days. Still not all with virus will have been tested.

         6 likes

  33. Dover Sentry says:

    Has Shrine Grenfell been abandoned? The BBC have abandoned the Shrine in favour of Messiah Virus.

    Messiah Virus, empowered by the BBC, will strike down Boris and Brexit. Boris can do nothing right and the only alternative is to stop Brexit.

    The BBC are shameless in using the Virus as a political tool.

    The BBC must go, and go very soon.

       39 likes

  34. MarkyMark says:

    Wednesday 18th March 2020: News bulletin (1pm), BBC Radio 4, 14 March 2020
    In a report about Coronavirus in Italy the number of deaths was said to be more than 12,000. In fact the total number of deaths to date on that day was 1,441 – up from 1,266 the day before.

    Tuesday 17th March 2020: The Andrew Marr Show, BBC One and BBC Parliament, 8 March 2020
    In an interview it was claimed that there were 700,000 homeless deaths in the UK last year. In fact the most recent estimate from the Office for National Statistics for 2018 puts the figure at 726.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedback/corrections_clarifications

       21 likes

    • honestus says:

      Mark,
      as your namesake has written, “There are four kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, statistics and BBC.”;

         18 likes

  35. taffman says:

    “UK broke law over IS ‘Beatles’ by passing information to US”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-52034646
    I find this unbelievable. Who are the “Justices” mentioned ?

       14 likes

  36. AndyDozefeet says:

    You really couldn’t make it up!

    Six o clock bbbc news story about the 400,000 NHS volunteers, shows the faces of a sample of 8 of them. All white (commented upon earlier).

    Ten o clock news they’ve run the exact same VT but edited it with the addition of a further 5 faces, 2 of which are Asian.

    Obviously seen the earlier comments on here and rushed to change it cos they have absolutely nothing better to do.

    Just f**k off bbbc.

       34 likes

    • taffman says:

      AndyDozefeet
      They have been monitoring this site for a long time now . But I suspect Dominic Cummings has been monitoring them ?

         7 likes

  37. Nibor says:

    In the Catholic church there is a sin called Culpable Ignorance .

    This is where one does not want to know about an uncomfortable or inconvenient fact , and strives not to see any evidence of that fact .

    Perhaps it should be British Broadcasting Culpable Ignorance

       13 likes

  38. Tabs says:

    BBC2 Newsnight has Emily Maitlis Tory bashing Nadhim Zahawi about the EXACT number of ventilators available in 2 weeks. No matter what he said Maitlis just screwed her face up. She obviously has more engineering production experience than Dyson and car manufacturers.

    If the Tories managed to supply 25,000 ventilators at the peak demand and they were 1 short Emily Maitlis would yet again be saying “surely the goverment should have known that you needed 25,001 ventilators”.

    Newsnight might as well give up interviewing and just rename it “Emily Maitlis Opinion Show”.

       30 likes

    • walter plinge says:

      yes. i found the interview profoundly depressing. i learned very little from it but was left with the feeling that emily really ought to show us how it should be done. i’d be very happy to support her application for the job if i felt she could do it. perhaps she can. who knows? i don’t think she wants it though.

         8 likes

  39. taffman says:

    \\Plan to cut the number of MPs axed over ‘Brexit workload’//
    Here is a far better plan – cut the Members of the House of Lords.
    Simples

       13 likes

  40. taffman says:

    “Trump seals emergency virus deal worth trillions”
    How is Al Beeb dealing with this positive news ?
    Shares soaring !
    Interesting .

       13 likes

  41. Celtic_Mist says:

    The BBC will never be impartial whilst it employs people like Nick Bryant – list of articles

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

    “Coronavirus: What this crisis reveals about US – and its president”

    “Trump impeachment trial: Is US politics beyond the point of repair?”

    On and on…

    No doubt he honestly sees the world this way, however, surely he should keep his opinions to himself?

    It’s a waste of time bothering to complain

       18 likes

  42. StewGreen says:

    I wonder if any foreigners thought they might have Covid19
    so jumped on a plane to London so they could get treated on the NHS ?

       18 likes

  43. StewGreen says:

    Sweeney again : His bio now says “NHS Volunteer”

       8 likes

  44. StewGreen says:

    Like unwanted guests at a party
    who INVITED THEMSELVES into your HOME and who won’t leave

       19 likes

  45. Celtic_Mist says:

    Sack them all!

       11 likes

  46. taffman says:

    That’s maxincony gone then ?

       7 likes

  47. Celtic_Mist says:

    Just checking –

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints

    Contact the BBC
    Contact Home
    Questions
    Comments
    Complaints
    The One Show, 26 February 2020
    04 March 2020
    Summary of complaint
    We received complaints about the dance routine of The Pussycat Dolls.

    Our response
    The Pussycat Dolls are well known for their dance routines and outfits and we announced at the start of the show that they would be appearing. Their performance then came towards the end of the programme, just before 8pm.

    As with all performers, we worked with the band to ensure their performance was suitable for the programme. We felt it was appropriate for the time slot and wouldn’t fall outside the expectations of most viewers. However, we appreciate that some viewers didn’t agree.

    The programme also included a film which looked at cosmetic procedures which are being purchased by children, without the need for parental consent or appropriate checks. We believe this film highlighted an important issue. We have noted that some viewers felt that these two items shouldn’t have been included in the same programme

       8 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Classic BBC.

      Their complaints page summary encapsulates every daft dodge in the book.

      Editorial integrity in what to select, or not.

      Shunting excuses elsewhere.

      Straw men.

      Total lack of sincere contrition.

      And now Samira on squillions to chirrup away on how they got it right.

         8 likes

  48. Terminal Moraine says:

    Someone posted here the other day about the Hitchin incident with the Corona-abused couple, and that the BBC managed to completely omit that it was Tommy Robinson who was responsible for intervention.

    The Guardian have done exactly the same (“A man in his 30s who tried to intervene…”) If you search online there’s almost nothing. The New Statesman did however post an article which surprisingly looked like it was commending TR.

    “Tommy Robinson was the unlikely hero of a coronavirus scuffle – so why didn’t the media say so? The far-right and anti-Islam activist came to the aid of an eldery couple being bullied on the street. Should we be talking about it? … Today’s sign was an altercation in the market town of Hitchin…”

    I say looks like… because now the link is dead and the article has been pulled. Imagine just how much coverage this would have received if it had been anyone other than TR.

    As so often, tumbleweed tells a more powerful story.

       32 likes

  49. Celtic_Mist says:

    Hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of the ‘China’ virus

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/25/can-chloroquine-really-help-treat-coronavirus-patients

    Because of their hatred of Trump, the article is completely irrational?

    Read the article and then the Chinese letter –

    https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bst/14/1/14_2020.01047/_pdf/-char/en

       6 likes