313 Responses to Start The Week 14th December 2020

  1. taffman says:

    It’s very quiet around here ????
    Anyone about ?

       13 likes

  2. Dobyns says:

    C’mon taff you know as well as I that Black Lives Matter only when a non-BAME, privileged individual (a/k/a Whitey) can be blamed for the death

       39 likes

  3. digg says:

    The BBC telling people not to stockpile food ahead of the exit from the EU pretty well assuring that is exactly what will now happen…

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55293595

    Despicable barstards!

       57 likes

  4. Deborah says:

    Saturday I read in the financial section of the Telegraph about a young woman who was a runner in film production. Rishi wasn’t doing anything for people like her. The article explained that she was living with her parents but sometimes had to skip meals because she wasn’t being bailed out by the government. The article didn’t explain if her parents were skipping meals too but if she was living at home just what was she spending her money on? Needless to say the article explained that lockdown had caused problems with her mental health. The same day I read an article about a small charity where 200 people on their books had found work. I wondered why this young woman in the Telegraph hadn’t at least done some voluntary work which would have helped her mental health.

    Today on the Daily Mail on line was an article about a woman who had wondered how she had caught covid. She said she had kept to all the rules. She had a primary age child that was being cared for both by her and her ex-husband (and he had been to the cinema with a friend), she had been to the gym, to the supermarket, and to a cafe. And she couldn’t understand why she had caught covid.

    My point is the standard of journalism and I have no reason to think it is any higher at the BBC (especially when those really stupid articles aimed at the 20 somethings on line are posted here.
    But the really scary thing is to consider if young people in other careers are as poor as these journalists are. If our doctors, our air traffic controllers, etc are as badly educated it is a worry.

       64 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Its the same with percentages.

      In the paper today it was reported that almost 83% have had medical appointments cancelled due to Covid, and nearly half – 49.3% said their health had worsened. Which means that just over half had said it had’nt worsened, but nobody (according to the press) wants to read anything positive.

         28 likes

  5. JimS says:

    Remember the days when the Royal Mail managed to deliver postcards to ‘that lady called Helen who had a small dog, that we met in Malaga’?

    One of their largest mail centres has managed to route a Christmas card posted in the same city for delivery in the same city to me, 50 miles away.

    I do share the same house number and first six characters of the street name so the delivery to my house isn’t entirely by chance!

    (In my youth I did work on Christmas post and recall heaving a bundle of mail towards a bag frame only to watch it teeter on the edge, then rather than falling forward to the desired North England bag it fell back into the South West one instead. Unsealed envelopes were also notorious for carrying other smaller envelopes to the wrong place – happy days at 3s 6p per hour!)

       21 likes

  6. taffman says:

    John le Carré has died. End of an era .

       18 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Wonder if there’ll be a Special Souvenir Supplement in the paper next week, like there was this weekend for Barbara Windsor. Probably not.

         23 likes

      • Yasser Dasmibehbi says:

        Yes, there’s one already in the press. It’s specially for people like you.
        It’s called “Carre On Bristling”

           13 likes

        • ScottishCalvin says:

          Carrion Barbera

             10 likes

        • BRISSLES says:

          Yeahhhh ! fame at last.

             9 likes

          • BRISSLES says:

            I’m ‘bristling’ again…… a woman’s magazine I see has brought out a Barbara Windsor Souvenir Edition !! bet there’s no mention of the numerous abortions she had due to her numerous affairs.

            I’m just incredulous that people would want to buy that and keep tucked away as a souvenir. That’s just me though.

               1 likes

  7. StewGreen says:

    Book : “The War Against the BBC
    : How an Unprecedented Combination of Hostile Forces Is Destroying Britain’s Greatest Cultural Institution
    … And Why You Should Care

    We know a couple of months back
    The Guardian had excerpts from this book
    by Peter Yorke and Patrick Barwise

    The Beeboid Libby Purves reviewed it on Saturday in The Times

    This Paragraph leapt out

    EpDXudZXMAAh3U6?format=jpg&name=small

    So BBC workers who finally speak up when they pensioners & safe from retribution are *traitors *.
    AND
    journalists that criticise the BBC are BAD
    She quotes an example from the book: James Delingpole
    See he is so thick that he criticised the BBC Drama The Bodyguard ..for having a female PM and a female Home Secretary
    when actually in the real world we really had a female PM and female Home Secretary

    So this book has made this extraordinary claim about Delingpole
    do you think it’s true ?

    of course Dellers was hopping mad yesterday
    pointing out that is #FakeNews he had never said that
    rather his review in 2018 had pulled up the BBC’s habit of pushing woke agenda leading to females & non-whites being pushed into implausible characters
    eg in The Bodyguard
    “The whole exercise was like an extended United Colours of Benetton advert, with black female snipers, an Indian/Pakistani SWAT team head, an oriental bomb disposal expert, etc..
    screenshot of review

       37 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      So a thug book attacking the critics of the BBC
      was reviewed in the Times by a beeboid who chose to take a ridiculous piece of FakeNews in the book as truth
      even though Dellers had already complained about similar MISREPRESENTATION in a paragraph in the Guardian.
      Link : Libby’s Times article
      .
      And we have Team Mariana pushing this narrative
      ‘Yeh fakenews it’s over there on Social Media,
      …, it’s not the BBC/Guardian gang’

      ====

      Then Purves answers back
      “Take it up with the authors of the book quoted “

      So she is allowed to outrageously misrepresent someone
      ..cos she only quoting what was written in a book.

      We know tabloid press routinely make outrageous claims about people.
      Are we allowed to repeat them ourselves
      saying “Well I was only quoting ” ?

      I suppose it’s the weapon we call “quote as a headline”
      It seems like a school bully gang tactic to me.

         30 likes

    • NCBBC says:

      Its only the beginning. Once the fake president elect is in the White House, I see an entire army of woksters. There will be continuous drama of Black dramas, comedies and history. Already, Radio 2 is full of Black pop. I just wonder what Afro-Caribbean and Africans think of all this obvious patronising.

      Too, I have a feeling we will be back in the EU by the back door.

      Boris was never ever keen on Brexit.

         33 likes

  8. Nibor says:

    I’ve bought the book The War Against The BBC – How an unprecedented combination of hostile forces is destroying Britain’s greatest cultural institution….. And why you should care , by Patrick Barwise and Peter York .

    That is the title . It’s a Penguin book for £10.99 .

    If Fed allows , I’d like to give a discursive piece after every chapter as I read it . It’s a long book at 488 pages including notes but not index .
    The two authors began the book in spring 2018 and finished in late 2019 . I can only collect my thoughts on their work as I hit the keyboard, without notes or prepared essays. Sorry if it shows .

    The introduction is titled You Don’t know what you’ve got ‘ till it’s gone .

    So it starts by telling us about the video by Mitch Benn of the Now Show – Why I’m Proud of the BBC . It lists lots of what they say are the “ glories “ of the BBC . In all I count 36 .

    Here’s the first rub . Yes the BBC has produced some good stuff — why wouldn’t it ? A huge monolith that boasts how much talent it employs , it would be criminal if it couldn’t produce more than mediocre shows . Stalins Russia produced the T34 and Kalashnikov. Big things should do something right sometimes.

    Mitch Benn explains why he wrote the song of his video :
    “ I had this feeling that not only were people tired of relentless criticism… they genuinely resented that the BBC couldn’t really fight its corner because it’s literally public funded … So I thought I’m going to fight it’s corner for it “ .

    How old Mitch got that feeling isn’t explained. Who were the people ? How did they convey their feelings to him and where and when ?

    The authors then tell us that seasoned travellers miss the BBC . Perhaps some do , I never did .

    Amazingly the next paragraph mentions working men’s clubs , trade unions , companies, Victorian pubs , giant cinemas, department stores and high streets —that interwar intellectuals said were destroying the world but twenty first century intellectuals are sentimental about !
    Who are these intellectuals, and why the mention? It’s that old trick Al Beeb apologists have — the BBC is a tradition. More later .

    The next para is about radio 4s Saturday Live. And what’s so great ? One presenter is gay , the other daughter of immigrants.
    So is that great because they think only the BBC and no other media would employ them even if they were best for the job ?
    IE: the BBC is virtuous and the others bigots.
    Or the BBC employed because they were gay and of immigrant backgrounds?

    I’ll stop here because this would be a long post and I’m only halfway through the introduction. But remember this is the most vigorous defencive book yet about the BBC and I’m sure you’re not swayed if you read it .
    I’d like to discuss this book more if I can as I read it I hope you will enjoy some of it .

       37 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Nibor
      ‘ if fed allows me’ – sir with respect you are doing a public service for our cause .
      Anything which sheds light onto the BBC is welcome . And it builds on the day to day incidents of bias we all describe / moan about here . So Thankyou

         28 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Nibor,
      I look forward to a second volume, ‘How and Why the BBC was Destroyed by the British People’.
      The best line will be , ‘ it is hard to find words to describe the feelings of those who loved the BBC when a cockney spiv called Trotter , made a fortune by claiming that a grotesque piece of abandoned junk was a modern art monument in remeberence of the Corporation and then charging people an entrance fee to piss on it, the British people just didn’t deserve the BBC’.
      From here in Yorkshire I could make a good business running excursions for those who wish to relieve themselves on top of the BBC.

         24 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      Did Mitch Benn write that before or after the woke BBC replaced him on the Now Show for a BAME?

         7 likes

  9. Nibor says:

    Sorry Stew I wrote that post before I saw yours . Great minds etc ,
    So far I can’t see the authors changing anyone’s minds .

       10 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Ha that is strange, I actually tweeted Dellers that screenshot yesterday
      and I was waiting for it to play out before I posted my notes
      which I will add to now.

      #1 Purves wrotes that the book dealt with a number of recent things
      but couldn’t keep up , it doesn’t mention Bashir
      Yes the BBC is so scandal ridden the book can’t can’t keep up,

      #2 “BBC is central to the country ..being the sole source of quality children’s programming.”
      False : The UK has lots of independent studios doing children’s programming Ardnam and internet outlets etc.

      #3 Finally she admits
      “On the other hand, you cannot help noticing that some of the said articles do point out the reality of a certain groupthink, which frankly is hard to deny.”

      #4 Review end
      The book “concludes that the BBC is always an easy target,
      and the result of all this buffeting is a culture of fearful, uncreative caution. ”
      “Maybe the “hostile forces” should cut it more slack under the new cleanskin director-general.

      Top Comment under Libby’s article
      More like the BBC’s war against Britain, its history, culture and people.
      A broadcaster once universally loved, turned on its supporters until eventually it became universally loathed.”

      #2 comment
      I certainly won’t care until they get rid of Gary Linekar and his ilk.
      I would happily pay for the BBC of 20 years ago go but not for this biased, bigoted organisation of today.

      #3
      “During the 2017 election campaign, almost all Radio 4 news bulletins began with the words Labour, Labour say, the Labour Party or Jeremy Corbyn. One reason we have this appalling Brexit is that the BBC trolled the centre right for the preceeding decade. I remember time after time the BBC broadcasting jokes whose premises were that everyone over 35 is racist.
      People got completely fed up with this and rebelled in 2016.

      #4
      It killed itself by ignoring its audiences and being oh so Norf London lefty.

      I continues on like that
      with some lower comments seeming like they come from the BBC PR team

         31 likes

  10. StewGreen says:

    A Times comment is signed Alastair Stewart
    I love the BBC it’s a wonderful organisation which produces programs that other broadcasters wouldn’t do.
    They produce everything from arts documentaries great sports news and current affairs and brilliant drama and comedy the BBC has been the best at comedy throughout my lifetime and I don’t think any other channel even Channel 4 and ITV can compete even still with the amount of comedy that comes through the BBC.
    But throughout the years since the Birt times people like Greg Dyke warned about the wastage
    and yes some of that wastage had been cut back
    but it still continues to happen
    Let me give you one example the BBC left Television Centre removed a lot of the programming to Glasgow or other parts of the UK
    So Television Centre was considered not fit for purpose so why today can I watch This Morning and Loose Women broadcast from TV Centre ?
    Why was news moved from broadcasting house to TV centre and then moved back ?
    The BBC built a massive complex about five minutes walk from TV centre at White City and this is being mothballed
    The One Show used to be broadcast from there and guess what it’s now back at New Broadcasting House
    This is what I mean about wastage
    .. the BBC’s building places all over the UK to accommodate some of its programming when it has ample room in London.”

    That last sentence is a bit strange .. it actually recently built New Broadcasting House IN CENTRAL LONDON
    when it didn’t need to and thus cemented its London bias even more.

       30 likes

    • taffman says:

      StewGreen
      Spending other people’s money?

         16 likes

    • Scroblene says:

      The BBC are experts on putting their buildings in expensive places. What they never seem to realise, is that there is a negative carbon cost on all the expensive finery they seem to desire, in all that gold-plated construction. White City may be a dump, but so what? Lots of people work in far worse surroundings – it’s their job!

      Costly buildings like the people’s palace in Langham Place take up huge amounts of carbon to produce. The cost of all that steel is just one item, but taking into account all the posh fixtures and fittings inside, there will always be a carbon deficit for their pomposity in demanding so much finery to ‘work’ in and be seen. I think the carbon payback numbers well over 1,000 years on buildings as extravagant as that place.

      If Roger Harrobin had more than a ‘degree’ in something like ‘vegan gender studies’, he might like to sum up how all the buildings he ‘works’ in have produced so much carbon dioxide in this world, but I don’t really expect that anything as informative as this particular subject will ever occur to him or his mates.

         32 likes

  11. Nibor says:

    The contents page reads ;

    1: What , Exactly is the BBC .

    2; The Media Landscape Today : A Netflix Universe

    3:What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us ?

    4; £230,000……on TEA

    5;Under Sustained Attack – Towards the Current Charter and Funding Deal

    6; The Addams Family Of World Media

    7; Rupert , Paul and the Gang

    8; In Which We Meet

    9; Bolshevism’ Brexit and Bias

    10; Worse Than The Poll Tax

    11; The Scope of its Activities Is Chilling

    12; To Err Is Human

    13; Vox Populi , Vox Dei

    14; Culture Wars

    Conclusion ; We Have a Choice

    Appendix A ; The BBC Deprivation Study

    Appendix B ; The Academic Research on BBC Bias

    Appendix C ; The Peacock Report Commitee and its Wider Legacy

    Appendix D ; The Trouble with Subscriptions

    Appendix E ; Research on the BBCs Market Impact

    Notes

    Acknowledgements

    Index

       14 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Nibor, what do Amazon reviews say ?

         5 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Only 5 reviews cos it hasn’t had many sales
        (only 2 were from verified sales)
        It’s 19,000 th in the charts
        One review is from a critic.

        4 positive all give it 5 stars
        #1 review, a few lines in says “I admit to being involved in the research for 2 chapters.”
        Home of the impartial people then

           12 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Perfect for an entirely BBC ‘peer reviewed triumphant bestseller’ accolade.

             5 likes

        • Rob in Cheshire says:

          Peter Yorke had a big hit in the 1980s when he wrote the “Sloane Ranger’s Handbook”, but it’s been all downhill ever since. Looks like he has finally hit rock bottom.

             6 likes

      • Nibor says:

        Sorry late reply
        The Guardian and the New European are fulsome in their support .

           2 likes

  12. Nibor says:

    The BBC is our most important cultural institution, our best-value entertainment provider, and the global face of Britain .
    It’s our most trusted news source in a world of divisive disinformation. But it is facing relentless attacks by powerful commercial and political enemies , including deep funding cuts— much deeper than most people realise — with imminent further cuts threatened. This book busts the myths about the BBC and shows us how we can save it before it’s too late .

       10 likes

    • JohnC says:

      The very fact that the BBC has political enemies shows it has failed in it’s duty.
      When those ‘enemies’ are the majority of the public (who are forced by law to fund it) then it is entirely unfit for purpose. As is the body who are supposed to act as watchdog.

         36 likes

  13. Deborah says:

    The past few weeks on a Saturday evening I have been watching Francesco de Mosto’s Italy on BBC4. What a joy. Informative but with no blatant agenda, no mention of climate change, interviewing BAME’s Italy because they are BAME, speaking about the poor (and admitting some things like the country’s shame of deep poverty or his dislike of self flagellation in front of a small child). He speaks with rich people without trying to make them appear fools. The programme was made in 2006. It would not be made now by the BBC and it is amazing they are allowing this ancient series to be repeated.

       44 likes

  14. Deborah says:

    I switched on Countryfile. 5 seconds . That was all it took to hear the words ‘Climate Change ‘. Man from the RSPB went on about it relentlessly. But all the presenters were in more thick fleeces, scarves and padded jackets than I have ever seen them in. Maybe it was to stop them getting sunstroke.

       49 likes

    • Banania says:

      I bet they will give plenty of coverage to this:
      Green Unpleasant Land explores the repressed history of rural England’s links to transatlantic enslavement and the East India Company. Combining essays, poems and stories, it details the colonial links of country houses, moorlands, woodlands, village pubs and graveyards.
      Green Unpleasant Land | Peepal Tree Press
      It was written by some one who had escaped from an old Peter Simple column.

         1 likes

  15. BRISSLES says:

    Apart from walking my dog in a lightly quilted jacket this winter – in the rain, my winter coat has yet to see the light of day, and I think it was only worn 3 times last winter. We do seem to be having milder winters in general.

       11 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      Oooh!! Sacrilege!

      You just wait, a cold one will be along in a while, then another, and another, and another…

         10 likes

    • Banania says:

      Yikes. If you live near the sea, move immediately to higher ground.

         1 likes

  16. ScottishCalvin says:

    This Christmas I do find it reassuring that families will still sit round and watch a movie (on a streaming service) and many will have Dave/Yesterday on in the background. But not the BBC who seem to have overplayed their lefty hand and pushed themselves into obscurity. The days of everyone turning and seeing a Guarding column about the environment loosely dressed up as a preachy Dr Who story are long gone. I don’t know anyone who watches mainstream tv when they visit their folks these days. That TV will be on all Christmas day but it will be showing XBox, not an LGBT retelling of Dickens where Scrooge learns to come out.

    Doodle and thoughts for the season:

       44 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Calvin – a vintage 5 minute broadcast – thanks – appreciate the effort . I somehow think by the time of your next doodle the current ‘outgoing PM will still be extending ‘talks ‘ with Brussells .

      I think he has sold out – but they need time to dress it up to look like he has stood firm …. or waiting for Biden to be certified as the winning cheat ….which I think is due this week …

         25 likes

  17. taffman says:

    “A UK source said the “process still has some legs” but Boris Johnson has warned a no-deal is the “most likely” outcome.”

    This process appears to have grown more legs than a centipede since we had the biggest democratic vote in the history of Great Britain !
    We the people voted to leave not for a deal.
    Successive governments have been deliberately dragging their feet for the last four and a half years to keep us in the EU. That’s four and a half wasted years to prepare for no deal, all under a Tory Government. Even now some Tory MPs are trying to undermine the UKs bargaining power. What motivates these MPs?

       48 likes

  18. taffman says:

    “Blood donation: Rule change means more gay and bisexual men can give blood”
    Will this result in HIV entering our blood banks?

       22 likes

  19. Guest Who says:

    When Amol channeled Lionel.

       12 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      When I used to ‘take’ the BBC I used to find Rajan like a second hand car dealer ( no offence ) and just couldn’t rely on him . The reply to the rhetorical question he asks is ‘a lot’.

      Brexit MPs have been through the ringer – I’d challenge any Spanish TV station to take on the likes of John Redwood . They’d just lose the argument .

      By the way – is ‘Rajan’ now on the DG bias naughty step for showing his obvious bias on social media ? Or is he excluded like so many others ?

         30 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        This John Redwood?

           58 likes

        • tarien says:

          One of the few Guest Who, with any real sence of what the BBC and media are doing to destroy this great nation. This whole Covid Virus issue has been measured in Project Fear.

             28 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          Yes – mr redwood would be declared a ‘harder brexiter ‘ by the traitors . I don’t know how often he is on the BBC now but I used to listen to him calmly laying out reasons to leave the Reich and withstand the abuse from ‘some say ‘ Nick Robinson and his type – whilst by the end I’d be ready to destroy the radio – yet alone the BBC type . Mr Redwood is quite a rarity these days – a right wing conservative . Good Twitter feed too,

             23 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Hey Amol, you Don’t think Portillo could do that ?

      BTW bubbleworld Hugo Rifkind also tweeted yesterday
      ‘look at this Spanish woman who agrees with me SMART
      ..yet British MPs don’t agree with me so they are thick’
      .. paraphrased

         12 likes

  20. Guest Who says:

    BBC Moaning Emole, based in headline terms on what has been said, by a…. ‘source’.

    ****

    Brexit process ‘still has legs’

    Trade talks between the UK and the EU will resume on Monday after the sides agreed to “go the extra mile” to try to reach a deal. The sides had set Sunday as the moment to decide whether it was time to walk away, but following a phone call between Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a joint statement was released with a more positive tone than anything else of late. As one British source put it: “The process still has some legs.”

    BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says there’s a sense the ground has shifted enough to make the chance of a deal worth pursuing. However, the prime minister told his cabinet colleagues no-deal was still the most likely option. Read more on what’s being done to prepare for that eventuality. Britons are being urged not to stockpile food, but firms have told us the ongoing uncertainty is a nightmare.

    The familiar sticking points remain – we explain them here – but the EU is reported to have dropped the idea of a formal mechanism to ensure both sides keep up with each other’s standards and is now prepared to accept UK divergence, provided there are safeguards. On fishing, there are whispers of what our Europe editor Katya Adler calls “a kick-the-can, down-the-road fudged compromise, involving considerable European concessions”. She says neither side will approve a deal it can’t subsequently portray as a victory – for the EU that means protecting the single market; for the UK, it means being able to demonstrate a boost to sovereignty.

    ***

    And quite a lot more of what Remain Beeboids ‘call things’. And ‘firms’ have ‘told us’. Meanwhile Laura’s spidey sense is again twitching.

    What a Crock.

       21 likes

    • tarien says:

      “You must cut free of the lethal embrace of the Empire” states Andrea Hossó Economist, Financial Professional, and Former Trade Negotiator. Deadlines keep passing in this interminable purgatory of Brexit ‘negotiations’ without much actually happening. There is a lot of talk about trade, the usual handwringing about impending economic disasters, and dark warnings about the UK’s diminished standing in the world.
      Project Fear is again – still – in full swing trying to avert the inevitable: the UK’s departure from the EU to turn into a fully independent, sovereign state.
      Philippe de Villiers, right-wing French politician states: “A European citizenry is an illusion. There is no agora and no such thing as a European people. We are too divided by our traditions, our past and our languages, to be able to form a political community capable of thinking together with a view to a common good. But the Union keeps marching on stealthily. It is a creature of the depths; what it fears is the light. It thrives in the shadow of this kratos with no demos and this parliament with no people. Perfectly put I think.

         22 likes

  21. Guest Who says:

    Fat chance.

    They’ll have Nish on a trolley run through Fortums on Ceebeebies next.

       20 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Does that mean I have to go out and panic buy more toilets rolls -? I’ve still got boxes from the last time …. cue footage of fights in Asda’s for the last Christmas pudding ….

         25 likes

    • JimS says:

      Surely our customs officers just wave the goods through?

      The French customs officers might not be so obliging – which will really annoy the Spanish, Dutch and French transport companies if their trucks are locked in Calais.

      The ‘remaining’ media don’t seem to have worked out that if a ship can’t load or unload then it stops another ship taking its place. If they can’t send stuff to us it will automatically stop us sending stuff to them, even if that ‘stuff’ is actually empty EU trucks.

      Ditto ‘where will our food come from?’ – how long can a Dutch glasshouse hold/grow lettuces and tomatoes without a buyer?

         27 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      Alok Sharma thinks the British economy can be run on wind by 2030. I wouldn’t trust a word he says.

         6 likes

  22. Guest Who says:

    Sad lefty tabloid, with scaffolding.

    Sad lefty broadsheet, without.

       11 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      I am going to award myself a whisky every time project fear rolls out a ‘Tory grandee’ to undermine UK sovereignty in the run up to 1 January – … I think I’m going to get very very drunk ….
      And the winner today is – dodgy £€ Heseltine …. yesterday …was Christopher £€ Patten

      There are 18 days left of 2020 – who will be tomorrow’s EU soros mouthpiece ?

         46 likes

  23. Guest Who says:

    Fiiight!

    Valid, surely? Presenting untruths as views would be…. oh, very bbc.

       21 likes

  24. AsISeeIt says:

    ‘Brexit talks until New Year’s Eve as latest deadline missed’ says the Telegraph headline. Which New Year might that be, we wonder?

    “In the year 2525, if man is still alive…” – so said Zager and Evans, back in 1969 in their rather sinister-sounding space age dystopian pop hit. Were they referencing Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World or did they envisage the cure-all vaccine? Perhaps it was just about society adjusting to the new availability of birth control?

    “Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie
    Everything you think, do and say
    Is in the pill you took today”

    The Telegraph’s frontpage picture of Boris, purportedly on the phone to Frau von der Leyen, puts one mind of some lovelorn sap and his main squeeze, playing one of those “no, you hang up first… no, you first” hokey cokies, so beloved of our phone service providers.

    In other news, in the capital, little man Khan is determined to throw his light weight around: ‘Khan calls for all London schools to close as Tier 3 looms’ (Telegraph) – kids and teachers will be applauding that. Here’s where we should hum along to Alice Cooper’s Schools out for Covid, Schools out for eva…!

    The Guardian dodges news reporting and instead finds a celeb to endorse their prejudices in the most unsubtle of terms: ‘Cher “Trump doesn’t have one drop of goodness in him”‘

    I’m reminded of the time Cher was booked for half-time act at Superbowl 1999. She claimed she had always watched Superbowl on tv as a child. In fact the event was first held in 1966. In that year Cher was already in her 20s and making hit records with Sonny. No one likes a liar and perhaps the Guardian ought to carefully fact check their interview with this pop queen.”I got you babe”

    The complacency before the economic storm continues to astound this poster: ‘Lockdown savings give households a £7,000 Christmas present’ – perhaps the Times jolly journos should take a trip down to the local shopping centre and note the many shuttered never-to-return small businesses. The furlough-happy shirking from home classes have a very rude awakening in the offing come March.

    The FT likewise says it’s all good. We can happily binge to our heart’s content on the fruit of the magic money tree: ‘Martin Wolf. Growth is far more pressing concern than debt’ – yeah, think about this… we make nothing, we provide no services, we trade in nothing – but apparently we can live high on the hog by borrowing from ourselves.

       39 likes

  25. StewGreen says:

    9am not too much agenda pushing
    “The astronomer Stuart Clark, whale writer Rebecca Giggs and sculptor Antony Gormley take inspiration from the stars and the natural
    Giggs asks how far the lives of whales might shed light on the condition of our seas, and *the impact of climate change*.”

    Then 9:45am St Obama reads his autobiography book of the week.

       21 likes

  26. StewGreen says:

    11:30am The Covid Vaccination series
    is basically a prog against anti-vaxxers.
    – GP Margaret McCartney,
    – Marianna Spring
    – Professor Heidi Larson, Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project at LSE

       16 likes

  27. The WestWyvern says:

    Monday morning rant after catching some of today and them mentioning rationing and shortages post Brexit.

    You know what, I am sick to death of the BBC, MSM and failed near dead politicos such as Hesseltine and that bellend Campbell going on and on and on and on and on about project fear. They have nearly 5 bloody years to sort something out. Sadly the EU will never negotiate as Cameron clearly found out.

    I hope we get a no-deal Brexit and I hope it does cause shortages of imported food and other goods held at customs. I hope it does cause people to go without and have to learn to tighten their belts rather than have the latest iPhone or mile wide digital tv imported at great environmental cost from China. I hope it may teach people patience and manners again and learn how to make do an mend a little more. Need a new coat this winter? No. Get another years wear out of the one you bought last year.

    I feel nothing for the poor lefty Islington luvvies that may not be able to get their sundried tomatoes and Parma ham in February in the Uk. Well bloody tough. Buy some English Cheddar and local Gloucester old spot bacon and live on that you cretinous pretentious barstewards and drop your ‘me me me’ mantra and learn some humility.

    Sorry fed, but I’m feeling a bit fed up today????

       76 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      The West – I thought your post was a bit short – you see why I chose my name – ? I start of Fedup and then really get going .
      I share your sentiment about people needing a dose of real ‘austerity ‘ – not just those who use food banks .

      However – the superabundance of cheap food has become so ingrained into everyone’s expectations that I think a lot just couldn’t hack it – and – of course the MSM will go for its favourite ‘vulnerable groups ‘ with some poor single mum unable to find somewhere to park the 4×4 in the Waitrose car park ….

         36 likes

      • The WestWyvern says:

        Ha. I keep the short retort for the anti British, flag burning, serviceman hating troll that comes out of the woods occasionally.

        I think the 4×4 Waitrose set will actually be ok as I’m pretty sure we’ve signed some deals with parts of Africa and the Far East that means avocados, yams, melon and breadfruit will be available all year round, 24/7.

        As for the ‘deal’ I think it’s already been done, with Doris the outgoing PM waiting for Bidens Electorial College nomination before he sells us a stitch up deal. A unnamed source told me recently that a 5 year fishing deal was agreed weeks back and it’s just been posturing since then. I hope it’s not the case but I don’t trust the red tories one bit.

           24 likes

    • tarien says:

      Well put that man, just what the majority of us think. Sadly we that is the British people, excluding those who have become citizens in the last 50 yrs, have become stale, lost backbone, lost the courage to fight that we once had-too easily led and nicely slotted into the comfortable zone encouraged by the Elitists who would have us subjugated and enslaved to do their bidding to bring about this so called New World Order. Davos in January will decide where it is this world is going-gawd help us!

         19 likes

  28. Nibor says:

    Why is the BBC and those likeminded suddenly interested in business and the economy?
    When I was trading, going abroad we were desperate for the Powers That Be or people of influence, like the BBC , to take an interest and highlight the unfairness that we were up against.
    Thousands of businesses collapsed due to our membership of the EU , but EUrophiles were ignoring that while eulogising about the glories of this project, the biggest of which seemed to be that students could travel with a little more ease to other member states .
    Now it’s out with the ideology ( sovereignty or subsumption into a federal state , democracy or rule of bureaucracy) and in with economy , something they are ignorant of .

       32 likes

  29. StewGreen says:

    Sheffield radio : baked goods factory owner
    “For every 1 truck going into Europe,
    3 come into the UK
    so if things get disrupted we see huge opportunities for UK businesses”

       47 likes

  30. Guest Who says:

    BBC News

    Models at Dakar Fashion Week showed off West Africa’s latest fashions in the open air among baobab trees because of Covid restrictions.

    bbc.in/3ng76zU

    ***

    A bunch of idiot, wastes of space white luvvies pop off on a jolly to look at some ladies of color walk around each other.

    One talks to the interviewer by removing her mask.

       17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      BBC News

      “When I got home I could hardly [afford to] eat.”

      Clemence did an internship at a fashion magazine to gain valuable work experience but had to work for free – how useful are internships as a route into full-time, paid employment?

      bbc.in/2K2wRFt

      ***
      Maybe Clemence got carry the bbc crew bags in Dakar?

         7 likes

  31. StewGreen says:

    “Gardens are racist” : “Wong is wrong” says Belfield

    https://youtu.be/NsOd9u-cJX0

       24 likes

    • The WestWyvern says:

      My comment to Mr Wrong (Views his own, I presume).

      You are clearly another UK hating lefty. Well perhaps you can just leave. The U.K. Is a freeish country and you could get some crowdfunding from your woke snowflake followers on Twitter to pay for the plane ticket.

      Bugger off to Malaysia, the native homeland of your ancestors.

      Practice what you preach there instead of trying to destroy the millennia old culture of these British Isles you bloody cretin.

      BBC Gardeners Question Time, another unlistenable pile of woke manure, riddled with Virtue Signallers, Eco Loons and climate change mentalists.

         50 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Is he pretty ? I suppose he fills that yearning BBC girls have – like that gormless kidult who does the astronomy gig . These creatures are in a tight market so they have to play the Race card to offset the queue of coloured Muslim girls waiting for fame and fortune ….

           19 likes

  32. StewGreen says:

    Penally Camp : Duncan Lewis solicitors
    6 asylum-seekers held at an ex-army camp have launched legal action against the Home Office over conditions at the site, which they claim amounts to “false imprisonment.
    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/asylum-seekers-launch-legal-action-against-false-imprisonment-ex-army-camp

    Making out food is bad
    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/asylum-seekers-in-wales-given-undercooked-rice-and-chicken-campaigners-warn

    This not tabloid distortion, it’s a lefty newspaper supporting them
    ” Stand Up to Racism West Wales said at the weekend that residents were *forced to drink from bathroom taps* as drinking water often ran out”

    “This is just somewhere for soldiers, it is too difficult in winter to stay here”

       30 likes

  33. Dover Sentry says:

    I suspect that the EU negotiators are still in touch with the Remainers and their mouthpiece, the BBC.

    This gives them a distorted view of the real picture and provides them with encouragement and false hope. Don’t give in, the Remainers say, all will be well.

       20 likes

  34. Guest Who says:

    And, as day turns to night, inevitably…

       33 likes

  35. StewGreen says:

    “While the UK has being trying to implement the Brexit vote
    America has had 3 different presidents”

       33 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Stew,
      Rather more than half of us have indeed been trying to implement the democratic decision whilst a sizeable minority , led by a band of elite internationalists , have been collaborating with the EU to try and prevent that decision being implemented. I have no doubt the fanatical Remainer elite will do as much harm as possible to our country to pave the way for us returning at the earliest opportunity. Sadly I suspect that within ten years they will succeed. Beating the internationalists is extremely difficult as President Trump has found. Democracy isn’t enough to beat them.

         36 likes

      • G says:

        DT,
        Are you implying that Brexit has been a ruse? Ten years later rejoin and all the benefits like remaining out the Euro et al. will be lost. How could you (he, he!) suggest that right now we are in the first phase of a grand conspiracy………..Well, I never did!

           5 likes

    • JimS says:

      Don’t forget that the EU has three presidents now and neither we nor Dominion voted for them!

      David-Maria Sassoli
      Charles Michel
      Ursula von der Leyen

         18 likes

  36. Fedup2 says:

    Get your pop corn out – someone called Tyson Fury – nominated as a sports personality – is taking legal action against the BBC to get taken off their nomination list .

    Such an action – I suggest – makes him sufficient personality to win it …. er … yeah …. does any one care?

       29 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      BBC put out a video announcing he was a nominated on Dec 1
      Dec 2 Tyson put out his “no thank you” video.

      He didn’t quite say
      “you fiddled me out of it a few years back cos I am not woke.
      So give it to Lewis Hamilton, he’s your boy”

         36 likes

    • Jeff says:

      I don’t care who wins…just so long as it’s not that virtue signalling arxe wipe Lewis Hamilton.
      Can you imagine, he’d turn up to collect his award, lecture us about BLM, kneel and make the raised fist black power salute and the BBC would genuflect and call us all racists if we voiced an objection.

      Vote for Fury, whether he wants it or not!

      Just don’t tell him I said that…

         51 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        But Jeff – where is your Christmas spirit – ? the sight of a multimillionaire tax dodging half coloured self obsessed car driver telling us how tough life it will make for excellent viewing …
        The BBC will be using the same counting kit the democrats used for the stolen election ….

           30 likes

        • Scroblene says:

          Wonder how many ‘votes’ he’ll get from Stevenage?

          ‘Bling boy’ drives fast, looks a tit and gets a prize…

          …rivetting stuff.

             7 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        Hamilton probably wouldn’t turn up as he’s a tax exile.

           3 likes

  37. StewGreen says:

    SadiqKhan says London is special and needs more money
    “I’m sure he is no where near the person interviewing him, so why is he wearing a mask, when he doesn’t wear one when out in public”

       35 likes

    • Jeff says:

      What on Earth does he look like… wearing that…thing?

      I couldn’t make out if it was an ancient tea cosy or one of my old jock-straps.

      I don’t like to brag…

         27 likes

  38. StewGreen says:

    The Queen’s speech

       7 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Harry off heroing elsewhere?

      Bri’s chrome dome polish appeal?

      The search for Don’s sanity?

         7 likes

  39. Guest Who says:

    BBC We Do Science We Do ventures out with a headlines that immediately makes one suspect this is going to be pretty typically BBC:

    Are hurricanes becoming more powerful because of global warming?

    The Climate Question podcast investigates. bbc.in/372i9ag (via BBC World Service)

    ***
    I wonder who they wheeled out?

       15 likes

  40. StewGreen says:

    Ebay advert just now
    Black voice “I used my knowledge of Ugandan fabrics to make money on Ebay”

       12 likes

  41. StewGreen says:

    Belgian Care Home Event
    Care homes have Covid safety systems
    Like compartmentalising into blocks of 20 or 30 residents with their own dedicated workers
    And having proper ventilation etc.

    Then you have to have a list of worker precautions
    #1 they have to take special care outside
    eg best if workers are in a bubble and not in contact with husbands/kids who go to high risk areas.
    #2 Regular testing guards against reckless workers.
    #3 Once in the home workers should follow distance/touch/mask rules
    no eating etc.

    Follow the rules and you don’t get a high impact event.

       7 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      However if one of your workers was asymptomatic
      and residents came down with infection
      and it was after the Belgian Dec 6th festival day where he had dressed up as Santa
      You get the headlines
      “Santa Claus infects Belgian care home”

      Belgian newspapers suggest it’s nowhere near as simple as that.
      That it was a team of normal workers/volunteers who have going in the home regularly
      and as well as distancing/touch rules being broken ventilation was not sufficient.
      “The masked Saint was played by the son of one of the residents, who also regularly lends a hand as a volunteer.”
      He did test positive with a high viral load, but they can’t rule out other staff as well.
      Residents were excused masks ..but the volunteers not, cos the mask is to protect the user spreading Covid.
      https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20201213_95454952

      They are not sure if he was the only worker carrier.
      “All 150 residents of the Hemelrijck Care Home have been tested for the virus.
      57 of them have tested positive. (so far) ”
      “The results of all tests conducted among residents and employees are now known.
      In total, this concerns 61 infected residents”
      “14 employees passed a positive test among the employees. Four employees show symptoms”
      , there is certainly still sufficient capacity available to take in seriously ill residents.
      – One resident with serious disease symptoms receives extra care via respiratory therapy within the residential care center.
      – Some other residents have a mild fever.
      – one infected resident died in the past 24 hours, but was already in a palliative stage before the infection”

      -UxgHdgX?format=jpg&name=small

         7 likes

  42. Guest Who says:

    Another…. Fighhhhhht!

    Glorious.

       13 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Only happened at 11:17am and already a news story
      4,000 people side with Sugar
      8,000 sided with Dan Walker
      but 30,000 Liked Jamie Carragher’s tweet condemning Sugar
      (speaking for Liverpool I guess)

      “Liverpool’s 2001/02 cup treble-winning hero manager Gerard Houlier has passed away, aged 73.”
      Not so old but I think he had a big heart attack in his late 50s.

         6 likes

  43. Nibor says:

    Moreno the book The War Against The BBC .

    Page xi of the introduction has a paragraph that starts :

    Despite the BBCs weakness – its timidity in the face of power….

    I presume the authors don’t see the irony that on page xv they say :

    In 2010 , George Osborne tried to do exactly that [abolish free licences for the old ] , but was faced down by Mark Thompson ( the director-general ) and sir Michael Lyons (the chairman) ,backed by the trustees .

    Quite why the elected Chancellor should be told what to do by those two and six others , and not the electorate is not explained by the two authors . But already in just the introduction I do see a propensity for “ names” that are in the tribe to be given undue attention. For example on page xii we get quotes from Armando Iannucci giving a lecture . That’s two comedians (?) so far seven pages in . If it’s funny people we should take as our guiding light , why wasn’t the BBC and the country run by real comedians in their heyday, like Morcambe and Wise , Dick Emery and the Goons ?

    More to follow .

       13 likes

  44. Peter Sausages says:

    Anyone see the new beeboids reporter on the news Jack Fenwick? Looks like he has been dragged through a hedge backwards!

       8 likes

  45. Guest Who says:

    Just found out why Nish is back.

    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2020/10/22/47160/goodbye_america

    The BBC does like someone who can help blow billions in months.

       6 likes

  46. Fedup2 says:

    Not BBC
    London to go into Tier 3 … whatever that means … but I’m going to record my own anecdotal experience of life in NE London today . NE London – of course – has one of the highest R rates in blighty – good for hyperbole ….

    Anyway – I had to break quarantine to go to get a blood test and a flu jab . I got a bus . I went upstairs . All the windows were closed and the air muggy – 2 teenage coloured girls – no masks – on their way to school . Once they got off I got all the windows open . …

    Then the GP surgery – which shocked me – 3 empty hand cleaning dispensers before I found a working one . All the windows shut – no ventilation – dirty . I couldn’t stay in the waiting room – much like a Petri dish .

    And a blood test unit – even worse . Hot steamy no ventilation – no cleansing and a care free ‘nurse ‘ …. I waited outside …..
    ..
    Conclusion – no wonder infection rates are going up…. back into house arrest for another 5 days ……

    I was thinking of giving feedback about the surgery but if they don’t care – why should I ?

       24 likes

    • G says:

      Fed,

      You won’t be clapping next time it’s called for then?

         14 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        G
        Careful now – you make me bite ….. I have very strong feelings about the NHS and the 1.7 million people employed by it …. today just re enforced my view .

        The saddest thing is that precautions such as ventilation don’t cost anything – are vital to reducing the transmission of all sorts of bugs – but the staff either don’t care or are too thick ….

        And I wrote to TFL about ventilating buses but they could care less either ….

           22 likes

  47. Fedup2 says:

    Confession – I caught a bit of match of the day 2 to see how Spurs performed ( badly) … but at the end they showed a bit from the start of the match where the idiots ‘take a knee’ – but two players forgot too and ‘played to the whistle ‘ believing the game had started …..
    ……………..they were Christian bent eke and son yong min -…… the BBC droid said one of the coloured kneeling palace players ‘gave them a look ‘…..

       14 likes

  48. Jeff says:

    “Just found out why Nish is back”
    Blimey, have you read the excuses?

    “Despite attracting such names as Jennifer Lopez, Reese Witherspoon and Steven Speilberg, he failed to find an audience…”

    Some blame has been put on the rather short, ten minute pieces they were showing. Others mentioned that there were “technical difficulties” And someone else suggested that tastes had changed. Hmmm…

    Look, let’s cut the crap, we all know why he’s bombed in the US, he’s bloody awful!

    He only cuts the mustard on the BBC because he ticks some important boxes. He’s an ethnic minority left winger who tells jokes about Trump, Tories and Brexit. If he can get in a few racial jibes against white men so much the better. The fact that he’s devoid of any discernible comedic talent is of no consequence. It never stopped those Radio 4 stalwarts, Jo, Sandi or Marcus.

    If you had to choose between watching this left-wing wally, or having a painful deep root filling (without anaesthetic) I wonder which one you’d choose?

    Open wide…

       34 likes

  49. Sluff says:

    Not BBC but certainly BBC sympathetic.

    Another rip-roaring success from our NHS heroes

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-55300747

    ‘Leeds man who ‘begged’ for MRI scan dies from cancer’.

    Save the NHS? Increasingly it seems to be more a case of saving the public from the NHS.

    But then again, what should we expect from socialist-model institutions where the producers are typically more important than the recipients.

       20 likes