Surveys of public opinion concerning the performance of the Main Stream Media – including the Biased BBC – are showing great levels of dissatisfaction with the way it is reporting the Chinese Virus . Let’s hope there is a reckoning afterward .
The Midweek Thread 15 April 2020
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/coronavirus-wuhan-lab-china-compete-us-sources
I make no comment to much stuff like this around.
Only time will tell and ultimately judge.
Border force drone over the channel.
https://fr24.com/GTEKV/245d6e1b
Halifax
And when the Border Farce spots an illegal invader what do they do then ?
Heads up to whoever is supposed to be in charge. The wind is light in the Channel for the next three days. That means invaders will be en route. If you are quick and love your country you can stop them and reverse them. Under no circumstances pick them up and bring them here.
ti – One million approvals, and that is just me.
The BBC is up to no good here – just can’t quite figure it out?
It’s the last sentence –
“The government is not involved in chartering flights of European workers to the UK.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52293061
Brillo engaging sensibly in a bit of professional distancing from the entire profession.
They can, of course… ‘check facts’.
Always instructive what the BBC chooses to “fact check”. And chooses not to.
There’s a small but telling difference between this article and the related one that was published yesterday. In the first one, the second sentence stated ‘Philanthropist Bill Gates, a major funder of the WHO, said it was “as dangerous as it sounds”. ‘. It then went on to state that it is‘Funded by a combination of members’ fees based on wealth and population, and voluntary contributions.’. Today it states that ‘It is funded by fees and voluntary contributions from its 194 member states, with the US the largest single contributor. There is now no reference whatsover to the role of non-government funding, which is significant. Of the top ten financial contributors to the WHO, only four are governments: the US, UK, Germany and Japan. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is actually the 2nd largest contributor and the others include the GAVI Alliance (founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Rotary International and the National Philanthropic Trust.
As a globalist with a lot of money, the BBC likes Mr Gates. He has a keen interest in viruses and vaccines for them, having spoken about the subject at TED talks since 2015, financed pandemic planning exercises such as Event 201 at John Hopkins in October 2019, and recently investing in 7 factories that will be manufacturing any successful vaccines that are approved. Hence the BBC decision to interview him on the Breakfast show last week. But let us assume that Mr Gates is a genuine philanthropist who acts out of principle and belief, rather than to some agenda. The point is this: the BBC wants to give the impression that the WHO is financed exclusively by governments. It is not – a vast proportion of the money comes from foundations, philanthropists and from commercial interests, and this is significant in determining its overall direction, objectives and recommendations. The fact that ‘the usual suspects’ including the BBC have rushed to the WHO’s defence when it is under the spotlight tells you all you need to know.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52291654
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/2/bill-gates-and-his-coronavirus-conflicts-of-intere/
https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/
Guest
– I think the value of journo questions in those briefings were never high but have dropped to Peston level since they were all forced to become keyboard warriors .
I was wondering whether that idiot highlighted by brillo would have asked that question face to face or with people around him instantly trying to distance themselves from him .
In answer to the question about care homes – no one gave a damn in the first place so when the Chinese bug came along everyone got busy with darling hero nurses and doctors And the PPE whilst the frailest were left unprotected in the care home system .
So all that curve flattening crap is a lie . They don’t know about infection rates because there’s not enough testing . God I realise this from common sense not From some Robot programmed ‘ chief medical officer ‘ .
The side effect being a total fixation on hospitals but not ‘ real life’ such as those dying in care homes and at home – too frightened to ‘ be a burden ‘ to the sacred NHS .
Now let’s all clap .
Defensive much?
Start of thread.
Everything I detest in them; the initial homepage says “Trump claims virus peak has passed as death toll rises”. So, it should follow this up with facts as to whether the Daily Death Toll is falling or, the number of New Cases is falling or rising, as deaths always follow the cases.
Yet when we go into the article;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52304993, the title is now different:
“Coronavirus: Trump says peak is passed and US to reopen soon”
The “claims” is missing in the title as it actually refers to the peak of cases. And after a quick scan, the article NEVER alludes to the earlier comments on deaths. It’s an incredibly shoddy written article, with loads of meaningless, short paragraphs.
It then drifts into embarrassing biases about guns and luxury cheeses being the “essential” items.
Utterly disgraceful reporting. Equally, they don’t have the balls to actually put who wrote this slop.
Having scanned the papers – I think the telegraph today had a company which produces testing kits moaning about the Dept Health failing to acquire their approved testing kits .
The failure of the administration at this level might be the long lasting effect on the ‘ new’ government . The briefings are failing to reassure or inform – they are lucky that there are only 5 left before parliament takes over .
They really are just ‘thank Fests ‘
I’d like to thank you for reading this as well as the web people , the cleaners and kitchen staff …..
Newsnight goes #wefiles and #bbcquestionasaheadline
Oh, well, hopefully the BS is still getting her roots done.
There’s another theory that covid 19, the China virus, is possibly an exosome rather than a virus.
This Dr Kaufman puts his reasoning in this video; about 38 minutes long. There are other videos on this matter on YouTube but I chose this one because I can understand it.
If the theory is correct then the wise men in government and their wise advisers are using the wrong treatments for the wrong cause.
https://youtu.be/3u88aQXmp4w
Remember when the the bbc claimed ‘views were split’ over the Graun lauding of the 10:10 video? By about a factor of a hundred against?
Basically this film asserts that the UK is the only country in the world suffering from Covid-19, a virus that originated in the UK. The pathetic indigenous British are cowering in their houses, afraid to come out. Fortunately for them a bunch of brave, genetically stronger, foreigners are putting their lives at risk by feeding and caring for the natives, despite the fact that they despise them for their cowardice etc.
As the white British die in their homes they should be grateful to their new masters, who are going to take over anyway.
–00–
So the Ratner brand of PR is alive and well, insulting ‘the customer’ isn’t the best way to sell an idea.
It is like all our TV adverts now, rather than encourage ‘harmony’ and ‘community cohesion’ they come across as a victory parade by the invaders.
BBC hiring and audience targeting explained.
Funny they still use VD and the Bronzed Strumpet as megaphones.
Guest, yeah but, no but ….
VD and the Bronzed Strumpet (a.k.a. The Walnut One) won’t see a decade or two after the age of 30, ever again. Would have thought OAPdom and retirement must be close for The Walnut One or maybe the wrinkles are premature or something?
(Edit correction: the wrinkles are premature – The Walnut One is still a forty-something. Just.)
She’s more than 49.5 yo
She’s 50 in 20 weeks 3 days
The relentless march of time, Stew. Eeeeek!
It’s nearly 11 a.m..
Why is time going so quickly; it should be dragging – right now – for everyone?
GW
“there is a more than 50% chance that she will have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder”
And 100% (certainty,) that the diagnosis will be correct.
Now happily Licence Fee free I watched a You Tube clip of an ITV News report on the virus in Birmingham.
Having dipped out of tv news for months now and become unused to the daily dose I found myself somewhat shocked at the sight of this thing.
It was very short on facts, figures or explanations. But made bold assertions and unsupported predictions. It was heavy on emotive fear-inducing scare stories. Sowing helplessness, division and blame by subtle and not so subtle implication.
Clearly it was a editorialising infotainment (light on the info). The best you could claim for it was that it was an opinion-based documentary-style report. Not News.
I guessed I wasn’t missing much and now I know I’m not.
The piece came over in a condescending metropolitan way – it seemed to say – look at these poor Brummies suffering. Something must be done. For a moment it could have passed as Comic Relief.
One could tell it was packaged for a metro-liberal audience. Reluctant as one may be to bring race into the matter the choices of the film makers show they certainly had race on their minds. We see a sad west indian funeral, a caring pakistani undertaker (with a clip of him on the phone to coffin suppiers which looked suspiciously stilted and staged) and then of course a clip of people breaking social distancing rules – white scum of course.
Had to stop watching this trash after 3 minutes . I think it was 6 minutes long . Rohit is obviously after a job with the BBC and an award for false ‘ gravitas ‘ .
If he ever changed career he’d do well as an undertaker .
AsiSeeIt . This is pure Damian Day stuff out of Drop the Dead Donkey. No wonder satire is dead.
Asiseeit – anyone who wants to waste their time watching that nonsense – re your last paragraph, the Muslim undertaker is wearing a face mask . When he is making his staged ‘not enough coffins ‘ phone call – his face mask is below his nose. I wonder is he ll get the Chinese bug if lacking that much hygiene discipline ( yes I know most face masks don’t stop little viruses – but it’s nice to at least try )..
Here’s an equality issue unlikely to see the light of day in the equality industry in general and the BBC in particular.
Ofqual have discovered that BAME and ‘disadvantaged’ students are more likely to have their exam grades over-predicted by teachers than white or higher performing students.
Conclusion? The teaching profession are scared witless that they might be accused of racism. And to be fair, who can blame them with an entire industry and the Far Left likely to land on their heads if they were so deemed.
Even the Telegraph is now getting hacked off with the lack of coronavirus testing.
Companies seem to want to help but just cannot get anyone from the public sector to listen. They ring and email but the discourse is unanswered.
The government gets the blame for everything of course, and the NHS and PHE (what do they actually do?) get away scot free.
Meanwhile, the one central laboratory in Colindale appears to have gone AWOL over Easter.
What the hell is going on? Job protection? Patronising ‘we know best’ civil servants?
Once again we see the literally fatal flaws in centralised, nationalised, statist industries.
Germany, with its 170 odd mainly private sector testing laboratories seem not to have the same issues.
One must distinguish between genuinely front line NHS and care workers and the useless officials hiding in the background.
Sluff, think the National Biosample (Testing) Centre is actually in Milton Keynes.
[ Just don’t want maxi getting at you. 😉 ]
Thread.
TOADY Watch #1 – Sign of a push back, Man Utd lose again. Oh no!
Yesterday, Miliband Minor was allowed by Nick Robinson to waffle on, almost uninterrupted. This morning, a Government Minister no less, was hectored, hurried and hinterrupted by Nick Robinson but Matt Hancock showed some courage and fought back. He got stroppy with Rick Nobinson to the point he raised his voice and insisted on being allowed to speak. Well done, Matt.
Matt Hancock 2 : 0 Rick BBC Nobinson.
The Negative Nobs at the BBC are pathetic. “And that goes for all of them.” “Tarrah!”
Up2
I’m guessing government ministers ( Hancock ) ( Richy) would plead lack of time for a proper in-depth interview by a proper journo like Brillo or maybe Humph on a calm day – but what value there is in going back onto Toady to be ranted at escapes me .
And it’s nice that C4 is keeping a running total of days “no government minister has been available to come on the programme ..”…. but it does give ms Newman , the Rev snow and the ethnics something to be ‘bitter’ about ……
I have just wasted an hour reading the Guardian Opinion pages.
The intention was to discover statements worthy of criticism, a plethora available, several lifetimes of work required, how to choose?
What I read was how wonderful Socialism, Socialists, the EU, the UN, the WHO, the IMF etc are.
How everyone who voted Conservative is in league with Satan.
How every Conservative MP is useless and any child of six indoctrinated by Common Purpose could do a better job solving the virus problem.
Because it is so easy, look at country A, B, C etc. They are all doing better than the UK.
Providing one is willing to indulge in some, well a lot, of cherry picking.
The increasingly hard left Guardian opinionists (the facts are sacred was ditched decades, ago although nobody
has the honesty to remove it) are champing at the bit for an opportunity to do better than the current Government at solving the virus problem. Whilst coevally permanently solving all the iniquities of society.
Whilst lacking the introspection to enquire if they are capable, or examining their earlier problem solving record.
I seem to remember that in December 2019 a General Election took place in which the Labour party was led by an untrustworthy Marxist whose conversations were mostly with terrorists, alleged former terrorists and turnips (in his allotment, were he was likely not at an intellectual disadvantage).
An election in which the Labour candidates were rejected, even in their heartlands, and only some multiple voting saved them from oblivion.
More recently, when turnip head had been jettisoned, a replacement turnip competition was held.
Best candidate won, in terms of intellect, all the electorate need to do to vote Starmer is to forget that he is an untrustworthy hard left lawyer who has selective amnesia about gang rapes.
But the remaining Labour leadership contestants were two cretins, one imbecile and an idiot.
That these were the best candidates the Labour could field is at odds with their supporters’ beliefs that they could persuade several zillion viruses to walk into the “river Weser deep and wide”.
Then there were those who did not rate highly enough to merit the description “cretin” and get into the leadership contest.
Most were intelligent enough to become shadow ministers!
Man who helped steer the Indy to online oblivion posts…
Guest – always nice to have good news / no news ….
Yippee! If that means we have less of these hate rags
Oh dear, the BBC will have to buy many more copies of the Guardian, with Licence payer’s money
Last chance – a confession
Whenever I’m feeling a bit down and dejected – I turn to the guardian (free!) – more specifically the JohnCrace column .
Now mr Crace earns a living out of trying to be as funny as someone like Quentin letts – but fails because he thinks too much of himself ;
Anyway – I don’t read the column . I read the comments . It always cheers me up – I used to get upset by the sheer level of delusion. – but now I just think they are funny. The more hateful the comments – the funnier I find them . So I get a lot of laughs . Thanks Mr Crace …..
Yesterday I wrote here that the UK presdgazette is reporting despondency in its ranks on NUJ members that people are going to be laid off to cut costs as people don’t go out to buy papers . That was another thing to cheer me up .
There has to a bit of fear within the BBC that the plan to bin 400 plus ‘journos ‘ will need to be increased after the Chinese virus moves off the front pages . The redundancies were suspected for some reason ( to cover the virus ?) but let’s face it – what stories are there apart from the daily shortages and the government /NHS/ plod screwing up again .
I’d have thought the number of bbc staff being laid off could be more than doubled without any one noticing . There is no need to travel – and to do so is irresponsible in current circumstances – so these journos are all at home – right ?
I’m waiting for one of these idiot “journalists” to contract the virus after making themselves a pain in the neck by going into people’s homes, stopping people on the street, going into hospitals and care homes. They are a disgrace and the public have definitely woken up to the fact that they are the enemy.
Crom
The chap who has raised 12 million ‘for the NHS’ was interviewed on sky – outside – but on my judgement both his daughter and the Sky reporter were too near …..
He is 99 so needs extra care in my opinion – but the MSM have ‘gone big ‘ on his story – which is obviously a good one – but you know we are in a completely propaganda controlled state when the autocue readers get all chirpy before getting back to vomiting out the next anti government pro NHS ‘facts ‘.
I know this will be tough to read but t think a lot of people are going to need help paying for funerals – unless the State is going to pay .
Fed
Not on the news yet, Jeff Bezos has just died, I inherit his entire estate.
Boris, I am willing, and now very able, to assist in paying for funerals which might otherwise require taxpayer funds.
Let me decide who is buried and I will open my cheque book.
Last – if you’ve inherited a few bob …. I’ve worked out what to do with a hundred million ( lottery win ) so It would be convenient if you forward that sum as soon as possible .
Fed, refresh my memory, still Nigeria?
Last chance – yes in my bit of London it often feels like Nigeria . When you forward the money don’t forget your account and sort number as well your pin and the 3 numbers of the back of the card ….
With the BBC moaning about how to leave the current restrictions, despite demanding them a few weeks ago, I read this earlier today.
Whilst it is American in origin, the basis remains the same.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/04/15/how-to-re-open-the-country-and-control-covid-19-coronavirus/
Well worth a read. Random testing to get a better idea of the scope of the virus. A three day week start seems logical to me.
Quote from the BBC about Captain Tom Moore (Well done that man by the way) :
“The chancellor, Rishi Sunak hailed Moore’s “true Yorkshire spirit” in raising so much money for NHS Charities Together.”
Just waiting for the outcry over Mr Sunak mentioning ‘True Yorkshire spirit”. Remember the kerfuffle from the looney left when he was shown drinking “Yorkshire Tea”:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/yorkshire-tea-rishi-sunak-teabags-a4370436.html
Are there going to be calls on Twatter to boycott “Yorkshire spirit”??
TOADY Watch #2 – It’s the way they tell ’em or is it?
The Newspaper Review. Turned on in time to catch this. According to Sarah, the Daily Telegraph – usually pretty supportive of a Conservative Government – is highly critical of our present government. Was that Sarah ‘Gravel’ Smith’s assessment for BBC purposes or personal opinion? Or has the DT really joined the LeftMob?
Risky strategy. We learn again today, that the UK public are turning against their media. Even the BBC’s Amol has noticed this.
https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazette-poll-shows-half-believe-trust-in-journalism-has-fallen-since-covid-19-outbreak/
I am surprised that Sadiq leaps in and push a narrative
‘that a woman who was off on maternity leave, was working as a nurse at the time she died’
Really ?
“ITV News understands that Ms Agyeiwaa Agyapong had been on maternity leave before being admitted to hospital.
It is understood that Ms Agyeiwaa Agyapong’s father has also died after contracting coronavirus, just days before his daughter.”
Skynews : “But the hospital said it did not have any coronavirus patients before she took maternity leave.”
Guess what?
There’s an online appeal.
Already up to £60k.
She was working until March 12 but why that date is mentioned is unclear. Was it her last day or not?
She tested positive on April 7 and her father has also died.
The ‘baby’s father’ is also infected.
Now this is as much a tragic case as many others.
But it looks as if she contracted the virus having left work, which had no cases.
So what we have here is a salacious media feeding off the sentimentality of the public to peddle a totally false proposition of a ‘brave selfless nurse’ working at personal risk to herself. When in truth, absolutely nothing of the sort happened.
Does wonders for anti-government Far Left narrative though. Not to mention the online income.
This year’s Town Hall Rich List has revealed some eye-watering figures from local authorities!
https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/town_hall_rich_list_2020
Peter Clarke in Oxfordshire must be ‘of the highest quality ‘ to be paid so much and get £165?k in benefits and expenses ?
And I think I’ll move to the most generous city in the UK – Glasgow – where all those generous Glaswegian taxpayers live .
You have to pay well to ‘get the best people ‘…..
Fed – Sorry if I seem to be stalking you today.
“You have to pay well to ‘get the best people ‘
But you can hire a lot of your inadequate lefty mates on best people’s pay grade, knowing they are incompetent.
If you know a nice QANGO that will employ anyone about to “leave” leftydom under an “incompetent” cloud, with a pay rise, better expenses and fewer hours, win win, lefty win.
No doubt the private sector will clean up the Marxist mess.
Q: What is the difference between private sector musical chairs and public sector musical chairs?
A: When the music stops in public sector musical chairs, they add a chair.
LastChance
I threw in the line about ‘ paying well to get the best people ‘ because that is the lie often thrown out when allegations of greed are made .
It’s often used before some institution fails and it turns out that senior staff have received bonuses or dividends or special payments just before the end .
In the case of these public servants when they fail its pension time , golden goodbyes and a new job with a favoured outsource company .
Now look the other way. Don’t forget to clap . We ll be checking you do……
An insider writes a long thread on world PPE shortages
@Uncle_Albert_ Apr 12th
I’m fed up of reading drivel about PPE so thought I’d do a thread with my two cents.
For information, I worked in the PPE for many years (admittedly over 15 years ago) today work with a number of importers of safety products getting their products online. read more
Apologies if this has been mentioned before, but I’m wondering if anybody has seen the Spring 2020 report from The Creative Diversity Network. CDN is an organisation dedicated to increasing diversity in the broadcasting sector and has been working with the main channels to collate diversity data.
Here’s the report –
Click to access CDN_Diamond_25Feb.pdf
What the report inadvertently reveals is a lot of systemic discrimination against straight white males, but of course CDN has no interest in anything that doesn’t suit its agenda.
As this is a BBC bias site I’m going to concentrate on the Broadcasting section. Take a look at Table 6 and at BBC on-screen representation. Women now dominate with their on-screen presence being 55.8% of the total. BAME contributions are a staggering 26.6%, more than double BAME actual proportion of the population. LGB representation is at 10.7%, again well above actual proportion of the population. If one assumes that roughly half of the BAME and LGB representation is male then it doesn’t take a genius to work out that straight white male representation has fallen to around 25%, a shocking figure when one considers that the straight white male population must be somewhere around the 40% mark. Only a deep, institutionalised bias could have produced such a result.
Will any of this satisfy Sir Len and other lobby groups? I doubt it.
And they’re all there because of errrr straight white males!
Just remind me who discovered/invented electricity,light bulbs, photography, television,the trains and cars they travel in to get to the studios and many other things these darlings take for granted.
LR
In the next report I expect to see an improvement in the representation of white female children who have been gang raped by racist Muslims imported by the racist Labour Party.
Radio 4, 11am Thursday – I think it has gone under ‘Crossing Continents’ programme. Just had half an hour about protests in Chile occurring before the pandemic stopped them. I haven’t heard anything about the Gillet Jaune protests in France.
But the whole programme was really about inequality, how unfair it was that even at the best state school a pupil hadn’t had the same education as her fellow university students who had been at private universities and that she had arrived there a year behind with her studies. Reminded me of the UK, no suggestion that the state schools up their game, it is just unfair. We had her friend, a wealthy activist also supporting the riots. She too thought it unfair that when it came to jobs, the wealthy student would get the job offer rather than the one from a poor background. (Yes, I can see the unfairness if both are exactly equal but how often is that the case?) But what the student wasn’t asked, was what if she never got a job because there was a commitment to prioritise the poorer students.
D78
Best T shirt idea since God’s dog was a puppy. Where can I buy one?
New York has had more Covid19 deaths than England which has a population 3 times larger (18 million vs 56m)
New York state deaths : 11,586
England deaths : 11K
Is that Trump’s fault ?
.. or incompetent mayor Bill Deblasio and the leading health official that decided to tell everyone to go out and celebrate a Chinese festival at the start of Feb ?
You are slightly conflating New York State with New York City and as Sky TV seems to each and every day.
Andrew Cuomo governor of New York State and who resides in Albany and quite far upstate from the city.
Bill de Blasio: mayor of New York City.
The proper comparison is city versus Greater London – about the same populations . I think the hospital death numbers for London is around 1000 so using the fedup formula of adding home and care home deaths make that 3000
I don’t have the New York City death stats to hand,
that is why I had to use the NY State to England comparison
Twitter says “New York City accounts for more than 10,000 deaths”
Like nagging children in the back seat of the car on a long journey they whine:
“When will we get there?”
“Tell us how far there is to go?”
We note that Keir Starmer, Guardian, BBC, mainstream media (but I repeat myself) have hit on the heads I win / tails you lose strategy of pestering Ministers to make promises we all know they obviously can’t keep.
Mixing my metaphors again – the opposition will keep the ace in the game up their sleeve – just as soon as Boris does relent and tells us it is safe they will violently wave the death shroud of the next flu victim in his face.
Every once in a while (and it’s quite rare), you find a BBC article that surprises and is contrary to the usual narrative.
Here is a case in point with the BBC reporting that 91% of CV deaths are those suffering a pre-existing (and often serious) health condition. And goes on to say that CV is mostly just life-shortening for the already very ill rather than a pandemic that seriously impacts the rest of us now locked down and heading for bankruptcy and for little reason or any real benefit:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52308783
Yes AFN and Prof David Spiegelhalter said this long ago
But it would be a different thing if the hospitals were overwhelmed.
Spiegelhalter also noticed something I mentioned before
that lockdown causes a severe loss of lives
(and once you add up youth Life Years Lost QALYs
it’s quite a number )
Stew – trying to read these stats – without getting stressed – is very difficult. If the government policy was based on ‘better safe than sorry ‘ – from the likes of Ferguson predictions – and it turns out that it’s 25 thousand and not his 250000 – then they’d better find a way out of lockdown .
One of the papers had a piece about Aand E manager minutes saying that people have been frightened away from hospital and a lot more are dying at home ( eg heart attacks ).
The fixation with PPE and ventilators has masked other things going on which are equally or even more harmful than what’s going on in hospitals .
I’m applying my ‘triple ‘ number now – infection , hospital and fatality numbers should be tripled to account home and care home cases .
I think the medics and ministers at the briefings will appear even more shifty ….
BBC interviews Keir Starmer the other morning – and he gets free rein to say whatever he likes, for as long as he likes – avoiding any questions about what he would do if PM by bloviating all over the place mainly about his intent to ‘support’ the government in these trying times – whilst damning it in every second sentence with absolutely no facts whatsoever. Apologies offered by the Beeboid for any minor interruptions to the Party Political Broadcast from the Labour Party.
BBC interviews Matt Hancock, acting Prime Minister of trhe country this morning on Today programme – and Robinson essentially never let him finish an answer – clearly not even listening when Mr Hancock is speaking – desperate to get to the next ‘gotcha’ question so that he can be demonstrated to be under tremendous pressure on many fronts. At last Mr Hancock explodes and demands to be allowed to answer an important question…. Any apologies from Mr Robinson ? – don’t be daft – “I’m only hurrying you because we don’t have time….”
All that, whilst telling us in other segments about the flower growers in Kenya having to throw away their crops, and some Fairtrade loon on about how difficult everything is in other countries…. and how we will have to fund their recovery…..
Strange – any non-Conservative can get any amount of time they like.
BBC News at One just ended with a story about the 2.6 Challenge, the attempt by UK charities to recoup the losses caused by the cancellation of mass participation events like the London Marathon.
The item ended with a montage of clips of runners in fancy dress from past marathons. The very last image was of someone with a cardboard cutout of the Queen on their back – the Queen’s blue outfit being decorated with EU stars.
FFS.
And now, Tomasz Schafernaker with the weather. . .
Not for the many – just for the one… At the time of writing the lead story on the BBC website is ‘Social distancing needed until vaccine found’. The subtext is ‘Scientists say “significant” measures should stay for some time’. Er, not necessarily. Note that word ‘scientists’, as in plural of ‘scientist’, suggesting a wide body of support for the idea. Clicking the article reveals it is the opinion of a single scientist – Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London – and no other scientist or support is cited. Who made the comment on the BBC’s own Today programme on Radio 4 (one of the BBC’s 61 radio stations).
He may be right, he may be wrong, and there has been a lot of criticism of his past errors. But in this context he is simply one man making an opinion, rather than expressing the agreed policy of a large body of scientists to a government body. Just so happens to fit in with BBC policy on the matter.
Ian, I checked the webshite during my lunch break, to understand the enemies latest positioning saw this article and concur wholehearted with your comments.
There was no review or alternative balance provided in the article, just another propaganda piece by the AntiBBC that fits perfectly their on-going campaign.
Its items like this that just enhance my view that there can be no compromise, they need defunding and abolishing.
Ian,
Same could be said of those, ‘Climate Scientists’……….
Plenty of anti BBC MSM traffic on the Twitter today . The few benefits of lock down – more and more people are waking from a woke nightmare .
Plod continues to exceed itself by being dumb whilst being filmed -.footage of a chap filming and arrest and being ‘ dispersed ‘ by half a dozen cops outside a park in London does not make them look good at all …..
Be careful because they’ll be knocking to ‘ check yer thinking ‘ ….
Amazing how quickly we became a police state
It wont last Fed, people are waking up to what is going on, its taking a bit of time, but this socialist experiment is going to badly backfire on the architects of its creation.
When we were free to go about our business relativity unhindered and law abiding, most people in society did so and were happy to practice their freedoms, work, leisure, pubs, football, Soaps, TV, sun bathing, fishing…. whatever (the list is long)
Now all this has been removed – and its taken a few weeks, but the populous need more than just food and force fed TV.
The proles have at last begun to realise what’s at stake with this enforced unscientific lock-down.
Where’s this footage please?
Try @2010LeeHurst on Twitter .
The Spectator
It’s useful in politics to remember: just because Trump says something, it does not make it wrong. And, with his current finger-pointing at the WHO, Trump does have a point:
***
Journalism in the U.K. But with the bbc still necessary.
Guest,
If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no-one there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Similarly, in some imaginary future, if Donald Trump says something and there’s no BBC left to hear it, will he still be wrong?
BBC News
Thousands are returning to the UK but some said the government’s response was “uncaring” amid the coronavirus pandemic.
***
#CCBGB
Folk across the board are pretty fed up with anonymised shingle-stirring by the bbc on behalf of relatives.
Thousands are returning, this Including hundreds of unwanted veg pickers from Eastern Europe.
And uneeded, a radio segment on some chanel, apparently this flight was for a single farm.
A caller said her daughter had tried to get a job on any farm and was told they are all full, and then added she was “flabbergasted to hear of the Romanian arrivals’
Many on the Left were tweeting how happy they were Boris had Covid-19. Many were tweeting how they wished him dead.
The Lefty press bell weather, the Guardian published a cartoon of Priti Patel mocked up as a bull.
And then go into meltdown over a cake of Saint Jacinda !!! They are bonkers.
The BBC says “Ms Ardern’s handling of New Zealand’s coronavirus outbreak has received widespread praise in the media.”
Even supposing they are able to eliminate the virus from the country, which in most countries is not a realistic goal for the lockdowns, they will have to quarantine (or reliably test) everybody arriving in the country until an effective vaccine is developed, otherwise they will have to lock down all over again. In a year or two it may be a very different set of countries that will look smart about the way they handled the pandemic.
Rule 1: Space yourself 1500 km from your nearest neighbour.
Rule 2: Only have 46 people per square mile.
Rule 3: Have a ‘mummy’ for a PM. Mummy is never wrong and will kiss any problem better if you cry enough.
Most New Zealanders didn’t vote for her or for her party, she became Prime Minister as part of a coalition.
So tell us BBC, ought Cruikshank have apologised for his cruel cartoons of George IV ?
Is it a female politician thing…? Should Spitting Image have lampooned Margaret Thatcher?
Do we tell Steve Bell cartoonist of the Guardian he’s out of a job?
Or does this offence only skew leftward?
AISI – Bell a cartoonist!? – I knew it began with c.
Is that one of Marina Abramovic’s less successful spirit cooking meals?
16:00 BBC Inside Science
Lockdown lessons for climate change
and the carbon neutral Cumbrian coal mine.
“Marnie asks environmentalist George Monbiot if there are lessons for dealing with climate breakdown that we can learn from the lockdown.”
FFS “Asking Monbiot” is NOT science
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h7sc
Yet again an entire “science” show is entirely GreenDreamers agenda
I see the (self styled) wurld klass bbc are on top of their game as usual, latest news report put up some text about police opinion on purchasing “luxery” (sic) items
sheer class
The bbc seem to have an endless supply of anti-Trump correspondents in the US. I suspect that they are all hoping that the virus-induced economic problems will undermine the President in the election.
I know about our friend Jon Sopel, but today we heard from David Willis and Barbara Plett-Usher. From yesterday I remember James Landsdale and, I think, Nick Ryan. O’Donaghue lurks in the bushes around the White House. And where is Trump ‘expert’, little Chris Buckle?
The list of licence-fee fed fans of St Obama the Plotter seems to be endless. I can’t even remember all the others, offhand. Look out for them soon, pushing nice stories about Sleepy Joe.
Joe could pick -as running mate- any of the Lieutenant-Governors of all the various states, who (according to beeb) actually run the country. (But, of course, are NOT responsible for any economic problems!)
He could also pick that nice Socialist, Bernie Sanders. Socialist champagne corks would then be popping in Lord Hall Hall’s office and the beeb team in Washington/New York doubled!
Fake – I think the running mate will be a girl who hasn’t got early stage dementia like sleepy Joe . I reckon mrs obama or Mrs Winfrey might be on the candidate list – Clinton is too toxic and AOC is just mcmad. Must put a bet on ….
At least President trump doesn’t carry the direct blame the UK health secretary carries for not having the right sized PPE in some hospital somewhere in the NHS empire ….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h7sc
“While the world is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, those who are concerned about the environment are saying that an arguably bigger crisis is being side-lined. Climate change, or climate breakdown, is still happening. He recently wrote that coronavirus is ‘a wake-up call for a complacent civilisation’, and he discusses with Marnie Chesterton whether there is some hope that can be taken from the current crisis..
Writer and environmentalist George Monbiot thinks so…
Even Guardian is more honest because it’s version is under ‘opinion’
“The worst possible people are in charge at the worst possible time. In the UK, the US and Australia, the politics of the governing parties have been built on the dismissal and denial of risk. Just as these politics have delayed the necessary responses to climate breakdown, ecological collapse, air and water pollution, obesity and consumer debt, so they appear to have delayed the effective containment of Covid-19.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/18/politics-public-covid-19-tobacco-johnson
fnw and c_m, that then begs the question: are the high numbers of Covid-19 cases in these countries, especially in the USA, due to deliberate infection?
A friend who is very involved with CofE church and all that it entails said that once this CoVId crisis is all over she hopes the world will be very different. She suggested that we will need to consider how much we fly and drive and mentioned climate change. I told her very firmly that CoVId was nothing to do with Climate Change and I didn’t like the idea of people dying now being used for another agenda. I suspect her ideas had come from discussions amongst the clergy who had probably all nodded their heads in agreement with each other and she had thought it a safe thing to say.
She did apologise in an email but finished with, ‘at least the BBC are trying to cheer us up’. How to leave me speechless.
Beeb TV says there is to be an investigation into why the percentage of BAME COVID victims is disproportionally high. It doesn’t seem to need one: between them the TV newsreader and Rianna Croxford seem to have put their fingers on all the possible causes, in an exhaustive discussion. Easy and obvious stuff.
Is this to be just yet another costly virtue-signalling exercise?
Couldn’t help noticing a completely white aircraft landing at Heathrow to bring in labour. Never seen anything like it. No sign of who the airline are. Anonymous is hardly the word. What are they afraid of?
But, fnw, will the BBC be honest enough to report it if the main causes are found to be self-inflicted – like multi-generational and multi-family homes, benefit depencency, lack of parental responsibility (i.e. no fathers around), lack of ‘social distancing’ for ‘cultural’ reasons, personal lifestyle choices (e.g. drug-taking, obesity, etc., for instance) and so forth ?
Can’t believe that they will find this as a result of anything but ‘racism’.
Where is the investigation into men being more likely to die than women?
Wimmins Hour will probably be asking if trans women are/should be include in that group…or not….or whatever….it’s the governments fault, anyway, stinky old Boris the Butcher.
Guest – the segment of this character being introduced as a Labour Party member( on a sky interview ) is popcorntastic- he reacts like he’s being accused of being a war criminal . Old socialists sure are touchy.
Diff subject – perhaps the BBC won’t dwell on the twitter announcement -the chief UK brexit negotiator has declared there will be no extension of EU membership/ transition and if the ReichEU asks for one the answer will be no .
Looking at the twitter reaction – there is a petition to extend the extension because of the China virus -it’s on 18000 so far – so soros / miller et al still around -like a nasty foreign virus . …
Queuing (2 metric metres apart) in the supermarket recently I noticed for the first time rows of plastic bottles of special water for use in a steam iron.
How come David Attenborough isn’t all over that like a cheap suit?
Why pick on plastic straws? Why do us plebs now have to struggle with a limp paper item at the fast food outlet of our choice? Could it be because Sir David doesn’t have to deal with this when he’s sipping his gin sling?
Come on Dave, launch a campaign to ban the plastic bottles of iron water.
Just out of interest, has anyone here been able to find a link to the regulations that the police want to impose on the ordinary Joe Public?
For something affecting so many people as ‘lockdown’ it ought to be front a centre of some primary legisation, not buried as a Statutory Instrument under some sub-clause.
The recent Boris Brochure should have quoted actual law, not advice masquerading as law.
Printed off and carried in my pocket ….
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/6/made
When I was young and still a pupil at school, each year during harvest time we, in our village, spent the school holidays in the fields helping the local farmers to bring in their crops. And get paid by the amount we picked. My mum, her friends and all the children were involved. It was good.
Now, we have this:
It was not that long ago (well, I can remember it (but I’m no ‘spring chicken’) when North-Eastern Scottish kids had a break during autumn term – mid-terms did not exist in these times – when they and their families joined the potato harvest -‘tattie-howking’ was the term employed, I believe.
Amazingly, the BBC fails to call out those on benefits who seem to feel that harvesting in the UK is either too hard, commits them to getting up at an ungodly hour, is beneath them, isn’t rewarding enough, or just plain doesn’t provide enough incentive to get off their butts when compared to benefit levels – and then have the cheek to complain that there are no jobs available in the countryside…..
.show me a link to a vegetable picking job where these people you describe might apply?
That’s what the UK Job centres should have been providing…… and not just this year either.
Labour markets clear, if they are allowed to. An extreme example is New Zealand which has had means-tested immigration for many decades, meaning that manual labour is locally in extremely short supply and is blisteringly expensive; I’ve not checked but their statutory minimum wage must be around the world’s highest relative to median income. New Zealand has a highly competitive and unsubsidised agriculture sector that doesn’t require a pool of low-cost labour.
If a country has declared a ‘State of Emergency’ you would expect a decent journalist to tell you why and give a scale of the problem requiring such an extreme measure.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52313807
You would expect a decent journalist to do so.
Just not at the BBC.
No indication at all; I searched in vain for it, in the anonymously authored article. Instead, the BBC just seem to want to attack the Prime Minister of Japan and his government’s approach to the pandemic. This is laughable because in a country with nigh on twice the population to the official UK figure, Japan yesterday had 8,600 cases approximately compared to the UK’s 98,000!
Michigan goes French!
Hmmmm big fanfare in getting all the Nightingale Hospitals up and running, with a Royal opening, and filmed footage of the first occupant being ferried by ambulance. And since ? nothing. Now I read that there are only 19 patients in residence throughout ALL the field hospitals, because the general hospitals are actually coping. I take it all the spare respirators that the journos where whingeing about will be going into storage until the next pandemic.
I suggest one be sent each to Kuennsberg and Rigsby to sit on their desks as souvenirs.
Curve flattening gone too far.
B – “I suggest one be sent each to Kuennsberg and Rigsby to sit on their desks as souvenirs.”
Too much information,
I suggest one be sent each to Kuennsberg and Rigsby to sit on.
Sorry if I’m being thick: is “Rigsby” referred to hereabouts your name for Nick Robinson?
Probably Beff. Though that might not help either 🙂
Doom and gloom Laura Kuntsberg appears on the 6 pm news wearing all black.
Should we call her ‘The Undertaker’ in future ?
Her funereal tone at all times is a disgrace.
Sluff, maybe the BBC have realised they are on the losing side for the third or fourth time in four years?
And this time, it may go really badly for them?
Others have the disaster imperative voice
Two cheers for Chris Whitty.
At the news conference the Sky news personage played the race card – lots of BAME workers are dying.
Back came Whitty. No there is no evidence for this. But there is evidence that men are more likely to die than women.
Wham!
It won’t be followed up of course and it was only on the BBC because they have no editorial control over the news conference. But a rare if welcome dose of a truth inconvenient to LeftMob.
Music to clap by ……
Had been thinking about this on and off since posting last week’s effort from Toto, who were on top form. I had my first Covid-19 related dream last night and it inspired a choice for tonight. I’m going to annoy StewGreen because it comes with a quiz attached. I want to know which famous TV series this was played on and what was the visual sequence on-screen at the time?
Another live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY__agG_eXc
Want a clue? It’s ‘medical’.
Wot? No guesses ….. ?
Wot? Still no answers.
Come on you lot, you’ve got nothing else to do. 😉
Watching todays appalling government broadcast I became disgusted at the way Dominic Raab use his own ‘upset’ about the numbers who have died as a result of the coronavirus.
They are using this as a shield against criticism. He opened his speech talking of his ‘heartbreak’ over the 13K dead, – didn’t say anything about how he didn’t even mention the 25K who died in the Flu epidemic.
Then it was a real two fingered salute to those he said were suffering with household finances, and whose businesses were going under, as he said “I’m very upset every time I leave this podium over the loved ones who have died”
He offered no additional help or sympathy just his own crocodile tears. It made my blood boil.
What additional help or sympathy do you think he should be offering? And to whom?
those “suffering with household finances, and whose businesses”, he could at least have offered a little sympathy.
Friend who has been sturying behavioural science has told me that the speech was one of the most carefully constructed she has seen, the ‘pain’ being definitely used as a shield against criticism, and as an attack ‘how could you be so callous? unfeeling?’ etc etc.
We now have red and yellow chevrons on the podiums which I can assure you have been specifically chosen for the warning signal that sends against the three commands they give.
Most people probably haven’t even conciously noticed them, but they will have subconciously have done so.
In the case of the current ‘crisis’ it is being very carefully stage managed. These speeches are being written by very clever people and you need to be picking them apart to see what they are up to in order to protect yourself from propaganda influence which is probably more underhand and subtle that the BBC could ever hope to accomplish.
What’s a “cruel torchlight “?
Thoughtful
I disagree – I don’t think the speeches are written by clever people – they’re written by a committee . The fun is listening for what is suddenly left out – such as numbers of ventilators ( not mentioned any more ) – or the status of the various new covid warehouses .
I’d say the stats are designed to both be difficult to see and read as well as data lacking in consistency and regional detail . For instance it’s not easy to find out how may have died in London against the same date in previous years – as well as the rules and practices used to certify someone died as a result of covid infection as opposed to something else .
As for the signs – the messages used to change each day but now they are playing ‘ keep it simple ‘ .
I’ll be glad when they stop next week . The quality of the questions won’t improve because it will be MPs doing ‘ gotch ‘ instead of Peston type pseudo journalists
I’m pretty sure that 80% of the public, everyone not employed in the public sector basically, has been adversely affected by this.
I for one am not interested in receiving any sympathy (faux or genuine), I can get that from people who matter to me. I am absolutely interested in my government getting on with practical stuff like making sure that everyone is given the best chance to get through unscathed, I can carry on with my life as soon as reasonably practicable and my young adult children aren’t left without opportunities or paying for all this for years to come.
Unfortunately these days politicians have to practice “defensive government” i.e. making decisions which attract the least possible long term criticism from an over powerful media.
I too crave a government that cuts through the crap and takes them on and highlights them for the liars and charlatans that they are but I’m afraid that agenda is for another day. At the moment the agenda has to be one of damage limitation and staving off the very real threat of a far left publicity coup which would lead to civil unrest and attempted anarchy.
Sorry, but the only thing subliminally that the red and yellow chevrons are sending me, are to ‘mind the step’.
Honestly ? I’m not reading too deep into anything these days. The government are damned if they do and damned if they don’t, by so called ‘experts’ on all sides. I think whoever is on the podium answering questions show great restraint with some of the puerile questions being asked.
If it was me answering, I’d be inclined to say “if you can do any bloody better, then come on in and try”. We’re not talking about dinner ladies not getting enough, or the cod wars, its something far more serious, and if Dominic Raab hasn’t got a suitable ‘face’ or his emotions aren’t good enough for some, then sodding tough.