286 Responses to Start the Week Thread 12th April 2021

  1. Garry Lavin says:

    Ha. Just seen this. I know it’s Channel 5…..they are doing some good stuff.
    ‘Intruder wraps up with 1.8 million’. Wins the slot.

    Call me bitter, twisted, angry…..but most of all….unemployed…..I wrapped up with 2.7 million. Hit.
    £40,000 a show v £200,000 a show.

    Wrong class, wrong caste.

    https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/overnights/intruder-wraps-up-with-18m/5158726.article

       7 likes

  2. Northern Voter says:

    GL couldn’t you just rejoice in being first?

       6 likes

    • Garry Lavin says:

      Oh yes. I suppose so. I didn’t know it was a game.
      Will I get a gong at the Baftas? I hope the star of the film of my life story is nothing like me….play it any way you want. I’m hip like that.

      And if it’s a disabled actor…..that’s ok…..because I have a little disability…..but we don’t like to talk about it….

         10 likes

      • BRISSLES says:

        Bit of a given that we all go a bit manic when we get the top spot – a perverse sense of achievement ! 🙂

           8 likes

  3. taffman says:

    “Iran nuclear: ‘Terrorist act’ at underground Natanz facility”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-56708778
    I wonder who ?

       12 likes

    • Garry Lavin says:

      I wonder. People who are good at it I suspect.

         5 likes

      • Garry Lavin says:

        I don’t use the BBC website…..but I can’t find that story elsewhere…..

           5 likes

        • taffman says:

          Garry Lavin
          You are sounding like another taffman to me ?

             2 likes

          • Garry Lavin says:

            Really? In what way?

               2 likes

            • taffman says:

              Gary Lavin
              That’s the way I started with my total avoidance and abstinence of Al Beeb, but then I realised I had to view their news website to gather information about their biased view of the world. This was confirmed during the lead up to Brexit.

                 18 likes

  4. Fedup2 says:

    GL – really sorry but I don’t know who you are or what your first post was about – I guess you are an actor in a TV programme?

    As for being first on a thread – it’s a small ‘honour ‘ which I always sought before taking on the moderator role .

    Anyway – what ever it is – I hope you prosper and don’t come across so …. bitter .

       12 likes

    • Garry Lavin says:

      Quite so. Well said. I didn’t expect you to know me.

      I wrote and presented a BBC 2 series once.

      I suppose the BBC did me a good turn…..but then they did a duplicitous non good thing.

      That’s show business I suppose…..so like you…I find their current holier than thou attitudes contradictory and a bit hard to take.

         23 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Garry – ah – I get it – I think . One of the things this site doesn’t do – in detail – is to monitor or report BBC ‘figures ‘ on a regular basis .
        I think I mentioned a 20%? Week on week reduction in numbers for the ‘flagship ‘ ‘line of duty ‘ thing because of – apparently – a disordered plot – but otherwise not much else . …

           8 likes

  5. vlad says:

    For those interested, Alex Belfield now has a date for a Court Appearance on April 20th.

    Alex has the bit between the teeth and is keen to take the fight to the BBC in court, and to their accomplices in the police.

    He’s also in full campaign mode to help others fight the corrupt beeb, the courts and the police. It could be big if the press pick up the story.

    In the past I’ve been reprimanded by the admins here for posting his vids, so instead I will merely post a link to his channel, and suggest anyone interested click on the recent vid titled Finally In Court. (The photo is not an active link.)

    https://www.youtube.com/c/CelebrityRadiobyAlexBelfield/videos

    hqdefault.jpg

       28 likes

    • taffman says:

      vlad
      If Alex Belfield manges to bring down Al Beeb and the Telly Tax, what will happen to this site ?

         16 likes

      • vlad says:

        Non-stop celebration for a few months.

        But don’t worry, it ain’t about to happen. At best, one more hole in the wall, until the whole rotten edifice comes tumbling down.

        Oh happy day.

           31 likes

      • Nibor says:

        Let’s all meet at the champagne bar at St Pancras .

           13 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Right it seems it’s not Belfield suing the police yet
      but rather for the first time the police are bringing Belfield to court;
      unusually it’s a civil court.
      I think he mentioned an anti-harassment order.
      I wonder if it’s this : there is a kind of ASBO to prevent harassment.
      The complainant goes to police, and the police come to you saying we don’t have so much evidence of harassment, but sign this agreement saying you won’t do X, Y, Z and then the complainant will feel safer.
      You could say “nope I won’t sign it” I guess that’s when it goes to a judge to be enforced.
      Belfield plausibly says he has not harassed anyone, so won’t sign owt.
      In the middle of the vid AB brings up the Vine FOI
      He’s always explained the BBC gave Vine £1,000 to fund a radio personality’s memorial do. Now this do was actually funded by somebody else, so by rights the money comes back to the licence payer, but no BBC/Vine gave it to charity instead.
      Now trolls often post a copy of an FOI which says that Vine never had the money in his control.
      In this vid AB says the BBC gave a doctored version of the FOI to police and he has the original , that explains why he never backed down to Vine. In the vid AB doesn’t name him but just calls him “A national presenter”.

      I expect the police will get the April 20th court date delayed.

         26 likes

    • vlad says:

      PS. He looks a bit daft, and sometimes rambles, but he’s fighting the good fight.

         21 likes

    • NCBBC says:

      Vlad
      Thank you for the link. I hope P Morgan will be loved even more by his bank.

      He is interviewed by Tucker Carlson, not exactly a fan of Markle

         4 likes

    • ListerBoy says:

      What the police did was disgusting, taking there collar numbers off and switching off there personal cameras…

         3 likes

  6. Philip_2 says:

    The Mystery of The Disappearing Hislop
    As the editor of Private Eye and host of the BBC TV show Have I Got News For You, Ian Hislop was admired for his intelligence and loved for his independent spirit. He was hilarious, too – and in those days a sense of humour was considered an advantage in comedy.

    But working for the BBC has its price… and pound of flesh. Its all gone wrong for Hislop, and now he’s disappeared down the woke rabbit-hole.

    He’s been consumed by the BBC, and may never be seen again as his former self. Just another humorless daft idiot on the BBC. Shame really, but fame has its price and at least the BBC pay is far better than running Private Eye, which may be better off without him.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-mystery-of-the-disappearing-hislop/

       39 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Phillip – I thing Hislop died a while ago and was replaced by a BBC clone . .. a sad passing … money talks

         23 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      I don’t know what Hislop earns as editor of Private Eye. I do know he has turned it into a pro-EU magazine which sneers at the misguided 52%. However, I doubt he gets less than a quarter of a million, maybe more, for HIGNFY. As such, there is no chance whatsoever of him biting the hand that feeds him. For a man who edits a so-called satirical magazine, that is pretty gutless, but I suppose the money makes up for it.

         13 likes

      • NCBBC says:

        Hislop’s humour is now of the BBC type- predictable and therefore tiresome.

           8 likes

  7. taffman says:

    “Greensill: Lessons to be learnt over lobbying – Cameron”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56712418

    Yes, lessons to be learned !

       13 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      The best lesson would be to pay senior politicions a decent amount, and keep paying them when they leave office. Ban them from taking any other employment, or speaking engagements which have often been used as a method of transferring bribery.

         8 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        He’s an ex-PM. So already qualifies for a security team an a car paid by taxpayers.

           5 likes

        • Beltane says:

          Speaking of ex-PM’s StewG, did you note Major’s bouffant ‘wings’ in his Elder Statesman role on Marr this morning?

          Could it be a rather pathetic attempt to out-Heseltine Tarzan himself and re-establish his credentials with the ladies after the Edwina fumbles? Bit late, I’d say.

             13 likes

          • StewGreen says:

            Dunno Beltane I’ve never bothered with Marr.
            ITBB used to write a report after every Sunday show.
            Instead I listen to TalkRadio on YouTube at double speed skipping past the news and ads.

               10 likes

            • Beltane says:

              Yes, well, let meself down there, haven’t I?
              All I can say is that I only watched the last few minutes – and that’s the truth. Before that I was looking to waste more money on eBay.

                 4 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Yes – don’t get caught ….

         4 likes

    • Deborah says:

      Sounds as though Mr Cameron was wrong to approach Richi directly but if I understand it, he was firmly told to go through official channels and the government didn’t buy anything from Greensill anyway. Am I missing something? Why is it so important that it is the second story after Prince Philip on the Sunday BBC1 news? It was reported with plenty of suggestion and raised eyebrows, with the BBC being full on smear and no substance. I also consider one Anthony Blair has made millions from using his position as an ex Prime Minister but the BBC doesn’t seem as interested in him.

         37 likes

  8. taffman says:

    Meanwhile down in taffland……………………….
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56708893

       5 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      I summarised it on the last thread
      Basically it’s anniversary PR after the suspect escaped from Indian custody 4 years ago
      The did the same campaign 2 years ago
      The guy murdered a 17yo ten years ago when they got the wrong house, escaped to India but was jailed for something else there.

         11 likes

  9. taffman says:

    “Coronavirus: UK sets new record for Covid jab second doses”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56709870
    Will this completely end ‘Lockdown’?

       9 likes

    • Jeff says:

      “Will this completely end Lockdown?”
      Blimey, Taff, you don’t honestly believe that, do you?

      The (so called) government and their masters at SAGE have misled us so often I don’t believe anything they say. I wouldn’t trust Johnson to tell me the bloody time…

      Sometime, later this year, there’ll be a new variant. Whitty will predict a catastrophe, Laura, Beth and Peston will start badgering Boris, who will immediately go into panic mode and we’ll be shut down again. The podgy and pathetic waffler will appear dishevelled and apologetic and blather about being open for Christmas…or the new year…or Easter…or mid summer’s day…

      And so it goes on…

         44 likes

    • Philip_2 says:

      JD: ‘. . . would they make anyone take an unsafe vaccine.’

      JD: What’s your answer to that?

      MY: Well, that’s my instinct too. And I’m struggling. I have come to the point and my wife feels the same, we can’t live here. The country we grew up in doesn’t exist. And the signs of it are all around. Every institution that normally protects you, James, the things you just listed, they’re gone. The BBC has lied to everybody all the time. They just don’t give you faintly accurate information. I’m sorry. It’s true. That said, the BBC, you know, there’s no question that the mass media is not giving fair and balanced information to its people. And I could have understood it in the first few weeks and months of a . . . of a crisis whose dimensions we didn’t have. I did understand that, you know the sort of Ofcom coronavirus broadcasting guidelines, but for them to still be in use in a year, which is making sure that there’s simply not a competing voice about what should be happening here, that isn’t normal. We normally do have, you know, quite a rumbustious press. And they’re all just poodles pretty much.

      I find it all rather worrying. The ‘end-plan’ to vaccinate those without any COVID symptoms (including children) is very, very odd and still ‘experimental’ as there are no major ‘follow up’ scale trials on ANY (so called) vaccine anywhere in EU or USA (including GB). This is most unusual in global drugs roll-out which, further down the road, may lead to unexpected deaths and complications.

      Worth reading.This is part 4 of the series.
      How can SAGE predict they are safe, when….
      https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/ex-pfizer-science-chief-on-the-covid-lies-part-4/

         23 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        I’ll highlight that bit
        “.. The BBC has lied to everybody all the time.
        They just don’t give you faintly accurate information.
        I’m sorry. It’s true.
        .. there’s no question that the mass media is not giving fair and balanced information to its people.
        And I could have understood it in the first few weeks and months
        … but for them to still be in use in a year.. isn’t normal.

        I disagree it’s not just the BBC, this country is a banana republic where people don’t have basic math skills so “2+2=5” thinking is rife.
        Most people don’t have to ability to accept there things beyond “2+2=4” that are uncertain
        ..instead they want to rush into certainty.

           8 likes

  10. taffman says:

    Not on Al Beeb yet but ‘some say’, that Harry has ‘escaped’ and is back in Blighty.

       15 likes

  11. Fedup2 says:

    Taffman – so he is in the Ramada Heathrow for 10 days having airline meals dumped outside his door x3 a day …..

       26 likes

  12. Beltane says:

    Anyone watching ‘Line of Duty’ can sleep easy tonight. Should, by some remote chance, you find yourself in a Transit van on its side under fire from several Heckler&Koch smgs, the bullets can’t penetrate the roof – or the sides, for that matter.
    And they say Chinese steel is rubbish.

       35 likes

  13. Rich says:

    Apparently the BAFTAs have been on the bBbc for the past two nights, BBC 2 last and BBC 1 tonight. Who knew?

    There’s been a fair amount of hype lately about a Britsh actor named Daniel Kaluuya, the next “great Black hope”, he’s won a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and now a BAFTA for his role in yet-another-film-i’ll-give-a-miss “Judas and the Black Messiah”. He’s of course now hotly tipped for an Oscar.

    Over the past few years he has been lauded for his performances in several of the Afrocentric yet “diverse” movies that have been released, all “critically acclaimed” of course.
    He’s also the bloke who quipped on Saturday Night Live when he was guest host recently,
    “I’m what the Royals feared Meg (sic) and Harry’s baby would look like”.

    Every time I see him though, all I can think of is his character in “Harry and Paul”.

    Remember “Parking Patewayo”, the stereotypical African traffic warden? Bit racist if you think about it. Certainly wouldn’t get away with it now.

    Funnily enough none of the articles I’ve seen about him, Wiki aside, seem to mention it.

       25 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Who ? Like when tennis went ‘all Eastern European” , if I cant pronounce their name I lose interest. The news channels are getting the same – awash with names that aren’t terribly Buckinghamshire.

         41 likes

    • vlad says:

      ‘Critically acclaimed’ means the woke liberal critics love it, while real people stay away in their droves.

         45 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      BAFTAs have always been a bubbleworld
      Even years ago I wouldn’t have heard of most of the film, let alone watched them.
      Oh Anthony Hopkins 83, won best actor

      EyukIqJU4AAZQf1?format=jpg&name=small

         8 likes

  14. StewGreen says:

    A Belfield caller shouted there is a big media cover up about an army veterans PTSD camp near Bath
    where there was a massive raid with police with a helicopter etc.
    Unfortunately a load of conspiracy theorists have jumped on it and the story is all muddied.
    People put masses of tweets up to YouTube videos
    which is dumb cos YouTube simply deletes the videos
    ah there are couple of surviving videos. One with the Blair twins 1 hour 50 minutes

    “Dion & Jo Drayson run a camp for homeless vets Norwell View Farm, Bath, UK.
    4.45 am March 30th police raided”
    – The police story is that they got a tip off it was full of right-wing terrorist with guns.
    – The Drayson’s story is it’ simply a refuge place for veterans with PTSD and that the police raid resulted in money going missing
    and the place getting smashed up.
    And they do seem to have been released without charge
    https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/bath-police-raid-farm-live-5245122

    The daughter on video seems to say that they are banned for the farm for months while police dig up the place to look for guns.
    An antifa account screams it’s a Nazi training camp and has posted photos of the camp culled from social media
    In one a guy in a beret is pointing one rifle.
    In another some guy is sleeping with an armalite, but that looks to be an old photo from army operation times.

       17 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      By April 4th the veterans are all back on the farm
      but the guys says that even tho the police had keys for everything they’d ended up smashing doors in etc. and ripping external cladding off walls
      jumpy video

      There are other videos of mixed quality Youtube search

         8 likes

  15. TrickCyclist says:

    I’m up far too late but something just came to mind. . .
    Anybody here ever seen “Bowfinger,” a satirical comedy from 1999 starring Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy? I saw it when it came out and from memory it wasn’t bad at all.
    In it Murphy plays dual roles, one of them a Hollywood superstar called Kit Ramsey, an insecure lunatic to whom everything is a racist conspiracy.
    What’s funny to me is how this rather OTT comedy character of 20 years ago now resembles real-life people who get taken seriously by the media.
    Fortunately, Movieclips has the scene I was thinking of on YT (2mins 45secs, F-words).

       13 likes

  16. vlad says:

    ‘Every living US president pays respects to Philip’ shouts the BBC headline. So guess which one they showcase to illustrate the article?

    Their favourite Kenyan muslim, of course.

    And guess which one doesn’t get his photo in the article (the only one not to)?

    Yep, in best Stalinist tradition, Trump has been airbrushed, unpersoned, from BBC history.

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

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56698311

    Z

       53 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Trump lives in their heads rent free
      and they spurt out a mountain of hate and think they are the good guys.

         19 likes

  17. Scroblene says:

    Yes I noticed that, Vlad.

    All the usual suspects except the one man who really did make a difference.

    Now he really was a ‘heck of a guy’ for most Americana!

       38 likes

  18. taffman says:

    \\Covid-19: G7 nations ‘should finance global vaccine scheme’ – Brown//

    Mr Brown , lMHO China should do that .
    Why are so many ex PMs coming out of cupboard?

       27 likes

  19. taffman says:

    “ Could we bring back mammoths to fight climate change?”

    Al Beeb is fond of the use of “we”.
    Well Al Beeb , I do not relish the return of another lce Age .

       20 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @Taffman even that is a repeat
      It’s one of the ’39 Ways to Save the Planet’ the Radio4 series.
      back in January

      Even the Times ran a report on March 3rd

         4 likes

    • Banania says:

      That sounds like turning cows round to make it rain.

         2 likes

  20. harry142857 says:

    If anyone is sitting in a pub garden today having a few beers, please have a pint for me. ps Take a shovel and I hope the snow eases up. I will be waiting til you can go inside.

       22 likes

  21. Guest Who says:

    Out of respect?

       19 likes

  22. Up2snuff says:

    BBC WEB-SITE Watch #1 – didn’t know they did food

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-56711121

    BAFTA is apparently Bafta – a restaurant – a restaurant doing takeaways in these partial – half in, half out – virus hyphenated Lockdown days.

       11 likes

  23. Guest Who says:

    Made for radio.

       12 likes

  24. Up2snuff says:

    BBC WEB-SITE Watch #2 – when you know the idiots are in charge of the asylum

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/could-we-bring-back-mammoths-to-fight-climate-chan/p09cdh9z
    Well, we’ve had the Chinese let a virus loose to kill hundreds of thousands of humans, let’s not do things by halves, bring on the sabre tooth tigers as well.

       27 likes

    • Garry Lavin says:

      Ha ha ha. They’ll complement the wolves……which, I understand, are now as far northern France.

         11 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        They’ll be arriving here ona boat any day now. If the RSPB think cats are bad, they only have to wait until wolves are re-introduced into Britain . . . ….

           11 likes

        • The WestWyvern says:

          Cats are bad.

          So far this spring, the ginger menace near to me has destroyed two Blue Tit nest sites, one Robin and one Blackbird. The Wren has utilised the Ivy festooning my back garden shed so hopefully will be a success, assuming the patrols of Covids, Magpies and Seagulls don’t spot it.

          Funny how the cat ignores those Avians.

             17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      George Monbiot so on it.

      Live on R4, in Peckham.

         1 likes

  25. Guest Who says:

    Dave in their sights.

    Fine.

    Just do it equally.

       15 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      The reality is that senior politicians are so woefully underpaid this is seen as a way to get the money which the state should have paid them for doing the job in the first place.

      We now have the ridiculous situation where those in charge of administrating small provincial towns are paid more than the PM, and even the PM of Iceland is paid more than the British PM !

      We should have a system like the Americans where the senior politicians are paid their salary for the remainder of the lives, with a proviso they cannot take a job which relates to politics afterwards, and cannot engage in any kind of paid public speaking abroad which is often a cover for receiving bribe money.

         10 likes

      • JohnC says:

        I think they would do it the same whatever they got paid.
        It’s in their nature – what made them want to be politicians in the first place.
        Greed.

           20 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          John, I don’t think so.

          I think many people go into politics really wanting to make things better for ordinary people. Don’t know what happens afterward. I suspect the party political system, Parliament and the Whips, plus the inevitable lure of the top job (and with it the hope of really changing things), the greasy pole and the (un)subtle influence of praise, offical’s influence and that of the media but it always seem to end in failure.

          Even Margaret Thatcher – possibly the best PM since Attlee and the war-time Churchill – sabotaged herself, due to impatience, hubris or whatever.

          She ended in failure.

             4 likes

          • Fedup2 says:

            Up2
            I disagree – politics is a way of having a well rewarded ‘job’ with the promise of more reward outside .
            If anyone was looking for evidence for this – just look at the expenses claims and ‘ life style ‘ choices such as the use of First class travel .
            Also – look at the number who move from uni to spad to councillor to MP
            And never get a real job . Id include lawyers in this .

            I would like a politician who has lived in and represented a constituency to show how they directly improved things for all their constituents ….

            The high ground of exploitation has to be the likes of barristers such as Blair busily making money on the graves of British soldiers he sent to war ….

               17 likes

          • JohnC says:

            I see your point, but my argurment would be that those people seldom get into the top jobs. They are trampled on and stabbed in the back by those with no such scruples.
            Dana said showbusiness is dirty like politics except that in showbusiness, people will help you when you are down. In politics they will push you further into the dirt.

               4 likes

          • Banania says:

            You might say that every political career is almost bound to end in failure. What matters is what the politician achieves before the failure sets in. Taking that into account, Thatcher was an amazing success.

               4 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Thoughtful – arguing the wrong way as usual – cap all politicians pay – ban second jobs – reduce expenses – cut the peers – ban lobbying for 5 years – never a shortage of politicians – pay the ‘market ‘ rate – maybe £100k tops for all of them .
        Have you seen how much an Ex PM gets as pension ? Obscene – compared to the average taxpayer .

        Perhaps the same should apply to any benefit derived from public office – no big book advances – profit given to the taxpayer .

        And you want to pay politicians more ? Are you related to one ?

        None of this will happen of course – because politicians make their own rules . And the corruption is ignored – I include civil servants in this .

           21 likes

        • Scroblene says:

          Here in Kent, roughly 1,000 households pay the cool salaries of over 100 grand for just 16 people, via the Poll Tax. Pensions come later as well.

          It must be much worse in larger places, but the inequality of these enormous sums paid to these people is always questionable.

          Perhaps when the awful bbbc is kicked into the real world, we might be able to afford the eye-watering dosh forked out to so many fat cats, for very little return.

          Our state pension went up by £6.33 a week from today. We spent nearly all our private pension pot (after Gordon Brown had squandered it in as many ways as he could) just keeping our business afloat.

             16 likes

          • Up2snuff says:

            Correction, Senor Scrobie, permit me a small correction, it is non-Poll Tax, it is paying tax via the evil Council Tax.

            Council Tax (and Business Rates) is a tax devised by ‘the people’ – see my post to JohnC on this Thread!!!! – albeit with the Labour Party and various extremist groups stirring things up on the sidelines.

            Had Thatcher introduced the Community Charge (a.k.a. Poll Tax) properly and been willing to iron out the faults in it, I suspect we would all now have been considerably better off.

               13 likes

            • Scroblene says:

              I stand (or sit – maybe lounge) corrected, Up2 – thank you!

              I use the term Poll Tax as when I do ‘The Turrets’ accounts every Monday, the spreadsheet reference is ‘poll’, and therefore reminds me that we have to start paying it again for the next ten months!

              The TV Tax (I hope you’ll be OK with that term), is quarterly, and creeps in like a burglar – unwanted at every turn…

                 4 likes

              • Fedup2 says:

                Up2/ scrob
                Having been reminded of the basis of council tax valuations I’m sure the Treasury must be itching to revalue ( up ) every council tax in the country to raise revenue to pay a bit of the expanding national debt ….
                But perhaps political suicide …

                   5 likes

                • Scroblene says:

                  Yes, I’ve been wondering when that might happen, Fed!

                  With so many circumstances under which bad news can be buried, it means much more vigilance required than before!

                  Seeing Capitalists @ Work website, Cityunslicker has quite a shrewd insight to the issue, but without mentioning that particular factor…

                     5 likes

      • Thatcherrevolutionary says:

        Can you let Obama know then please?

           1 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Re MPs pay
        #1 You have to count the full reward
        pay, pensions, expenses, employing the spouse/children
        side and after jobs etc.

        #2 Respect to ex-MPs Dave Nellist , Terry Fields, Pat Wall
        and current crazy Nottingham MP NadiaWhittomeMP
        who took home only half salary
        and Zarah Sultana gives away 5%
        Of course giving money away to your mates charities is not the same as not taking in the first place
        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-23289962
        https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/youngest-mp-salary-charity-workers-labour-nadia-whittome-a9246686.html

        #3 Rich people can be much more skint than poor people
        Boris has so many of his children in private schools he needs £200K to survive

        #4 Cameron’s family are so rich, they never need to work anyway.

           5 likes

  26. AsISeeIt says:

    Reports about hair cutting in the Daily Mail today: ‘Go on! Cut loose with a Freedom Day hairdo

    Freedom Day? – we’ll come back to that.

    Meanwhile, there are reports of bureaucratic hair-splitting in the Daily Telegraph: ‘Scores of pubs and restaurants face confusion as Covid rules ease today in England after being told their outdoor seating spaces primed for reopening did not count as outdoors. Government guidance says that shelters, marquees and other temporary structures with roofs must have half their walls open at all times.‘ – do they want us to catch a chill?

    There’s been a feeling abroad in the UK for sometime now that our metropolitan elite were rather keen to promote a shift in British social habits toward a more european-style cafè culture of eating and drinking outdoors. Perhaps those with supra-national ambitions embraced the notion of global warming as an enabling circumstance?

    Sadly our old friend the British weather stubbornly refuses to cooperate. As witnessed by the plethora of neglected rusted barbecue sets that now adorn suburban back yards like some post-Brexit rust belt. The Japanese have a legend of their kamikaze or “divine wind”, ancient storms which saved their islands from Mongol seaborn invasion.

    Greta, the all-conquering foreign eco queen, may never subdue us here in our islands, so long as we remember we may still have massive winter heating bills to pay.

    Perhaps bored on this rather mundane Moday morning with a slight touch of ennui setting in the Guardian seems to advocate for a race riot: ‘Young black people three times as likely to be jobless as white peers. Two in five out of work – same as rate at time of Brixton riots

    That sounds like a sound economic and social cohesion argument to freeze mass immigration right now, anyway that’s just to my naive calculation.

    The FT also seems to threaten race riots, this time in the US: ‘America on trial. World awaits crucial verdict in George Floyd case‘ – let’s be clear, the world, in all honesty, would have very little real stake in this case were race not promoted as being the big issue.

    Were a (relatively) innocent man done to death by police then that is wrong and those responsible ought to be dealt with justly. You bring race into the equation and you get a febrile mess, where justice is less likely to be done. Race campaigners obviously long for a modern reverse lynching mob where a cop has to be publicly punished as symbolic of his type.

    Freedom Day. So what’s this supposed day of liberation where the ‘i’ newspaper still runs a headline: ‘Caution urged as shutters come up’ – and officials treat the British public as though we were errant school kids: ‘Shoppers, diners and pub-goers are asked to “behave responsibly”

    Boris Johnson, noticably slow, or perhaps unwilling, to order the protection of the monument to his supposed idol Churchill, instead seems to occasionally invoke the man [once again we recall Japan and how it still remained unconquered on VE Day]: “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing; but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead

    Are we waiting for the Yanks to drop an A-bomb before he can finally say [or admit?] that’s the end of it?

       29 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Asiseeit
      Maybe the BBC can run a story about riots breaking out in Brixton caused by a lack of coloured hairdressers because of Brexit … there’d be a prize for that .

      Apparently because the country is in mourning because of the DoE there won’t be pictures of politicians being ‘ordinary ‘ having haircuts and drinking pints . What a loss .

      Stop press – BBC reporting queues forming outside Nike shops – laugh out loud.

         23 likes

      • Scroblene says:

        As I am at the risk of looking like John Major, I can report that my sweetheart gorgeous hairdresser phoned me up a few weeks ago to book me in on only her second day back!

        Senora O’Blene has to wait a week!

        Scrobs-power rides again!

           11 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      As you brought up a similar case to the George Floyd one I can offer you this as an example and it seems very close to the Floyd case only it’s a White man and of course you have never heard anything about it:

      https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/death-police-custody-drugs-alcohol-20085727

         15 likes

    • Banania says:

      “…do they want us to catch a chill?”
      Worse than that, I am beginning to suspect.

         3 likes

  27. Fedup2 says:

    It looks like the BAFTAs is not going to win the award for ‘best award show ‘ when the best male and female actor luvvies couldn’t be bothered to accept their award – even on the zoom thing .
    Apparently the BBC showed it – in its full woke mediocrity .personally I find it warming when I hear actors / theatre types begging for tax money to keep their lefty gigs going .

       25 likes

  28. StewGreen says:

    9am R4 show about nuclear arms. Amol presents.
    – Cuban crisis with historian Serhii Plokhy.
    – 2019 US & Russia both pull out of limitation agreement.
    – “Sarah Rainsford is now the BBC’s Moscow correspondent and explores how far Khrushchev’s political scheming and disinformation compare to the strategy of President Putin.”

    blurb doesn’t mention Iran, Pakistan, India etc.

       11 likes

  29. Fedup2 says:

    Can anyone help?

    I listened to some ‘expert’ being ‘expert ‘ . I wondered is there is an ‘expert checker ‘ similar to the self publicist ‘fact checker ‘ girl on the BBC. ?

    Has there been an expert over the last year who has been completely right in predictions and recommendations ? And vice versa .

    How can Joe public possibly give any weight to some bod who turns up now – spouts stuff about speeding up / slowing down freedom et al when we are not told how correct they’ve been in the past .?

    Maybe that would ‘filter out ‘ rubbish ‘experts ‘…

       19 likes

  30. Jeff says:

    Well, I was looking forward to an al fresco beer today. Indeed, I enjoy a pint as much as any man, but…

    Peering through my frosted window at the falling snow, I think I’ll give this one a miss. Shivering outside The Dog and Ferret, wearing my duffle coat, woolly hat and mittens, while trying to quaff a pint of Old Peculiar, doesn’t really appeal. Now, if we could go inside and huddle in front of their roaring log-fire, I’d buy us all a pint. Next time…

    Oh, while I think about it, the sainted Ms Thunberg is on the BBC this evening. “Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World”. It’s a three part series and each episode lasts an hour.

    It’s good of the Beeb to offer the diminutive teen activist a spot on prime time TV, in which she can lecture us all about the perils of global warming.

    No doubt we’ll see ice-bergs crumbling, forest fires raging and villages being swept away in floods. There will be that famous piece of film where the tiny goddess looks daggers at President Trump. And I guess we’ll be hearing from the likes of David Attenborough, George Monbiot and (if we’re really lucky) Meghan and Harry.

    On reflection, I think I’ll give this one a miss, but if you fancy it…
    I’d certainly put the heating on.

       40 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Jeff – should the mentally challenged girl grow up to – say – age 70 – and the climate is just as messy as it is now – I wonder how she will deal with that?
      Unbelievable that she is given public exposure – and all that comes out of it is higher taxes .

         29 likes

  31. G says:

    Amidst the flotsam & Jetsam of so-called, “News” what’s going on in the South China Sea is not deemed important by the broadcasters. In fact, it is an immense intractable issue which no party to the events can back down from so is likely to form the basis of WW3.
    I found this excellent summary and evidence of the issues. Well worth watching the 1hr 22 mins if interested. Illuminating.

       16 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      If all that sabre rattling goes live we won’t need amile / amol to do a ‘show ‘ about ‘why WW3 didn’t happen “

         7 likes

    • Garry Lavin says:

      Quite so. Conservative writers have been going on about this for twenty years.
      Criminal how it is under reported.

         12 likes

    • vlad says:

      A quick fast-forward and if I’m not mistaken it’s about China’s illegal, decades-long land-grab of islands in the South China Sea, an area of vital importance for fishing, oil, natural gas, shipping lanes, and military strategy, that threatens the smaller countries of the region and could trigger war.

      The BBC don’t care about that stuff, they prefer to obsess endlessly over some criminal who died high on drugs while resisting arrest.

         24 likes

  32. Fedup2 says:

    A number missed – on Saturday 475000 people got their second covid jab – 7 million total with second jab – figure courtesy of a tweet from the PM . ….

       15 likes

  33. StewGreen says:

    NationalGrid News ..must be a wind lull or something
    The grid is buying some balancing power at 15 times normal market rate.

       21 likes

  34. JohnC says:

    I see another innocent black victim has been murdered by police.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56714346
    Some are so upset, only looting TV’s and trainers can quell their anguish.
    As usual, it’s very, very light on the details of the actual shooting. The twitter mob are baying for blood claiming he got shot for having untidy air freshners. We are told he had an outstanding arrest warrant (no details given) and ran back into his car and tried to escape. I doubt he would be shot just for that – but no details are given about what he actually did. The bodycam footage will make no difference to the riots. BLM don’t care one bit about right and wrong. Just black and white.
    Maybe people like the BBC should lecture black people that when an armed police officer tells you to get down on the ground, you get down on the ground and protest your innocence back at the station with a lawyer. If you run back into your car, they might well think you have a gun in there.
    I followed the usual twitter link which is another tirade of Left wing activists. I clicked a few and they were all the same. Long lists of political propoganda. As every single one the BBC link to is.

       40 likes

  35. Tabs says:

    Daunte Wright shooting: Protests near Minneapolis after police killing
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56714346

    Reading through the BBC article you can see how they hide the important facts until the end.

    1. Headline mentions protest and ‘police killing’
    2. First paragraph mentions ‘protestors’ rather than rioters.
    3. Fourth paragraph race baits by comparing this killing to the George Floyd one.
    4. 7th paragraph “Tensions rose as police donned riot gear, and two police vehicles were pelted with stones and jumped on” as if the police were to blame by getting dressed up.
    5. 9th paragraph the BBC mention the ‘protestors’ were looting.
    6. More mentions of George Floyd to hammer home this is ‘racism’.
    7. Finally at the 15th paragraph we discover the man had an arrest warrant and tried to flee police, got shot and then crashed his car whilst escaping.
    8. More mentions of George Floyd to hammer home this is ‘racism’.

       34 likes

    • Old Goat says:

      Copied (with credit to you) and reposted on Going Postal. Hope you don’t mind…

         5 likes

  36. Thoughtful says:

    How long before the hopeless coward of a PM sees this and decides to make it mandatory:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9460389/Pentagon-scientists-invent-microchip-senses-COVID-19-body-symptoms.html

       11 likes

  37. StewGreen says:

    Dover : Fiver migrants have been found hiding on board a vessel destined for Dover, the Home Office has confirmed.

    In a statement on Monday evening (Sunday ?) , it said Kent emergency services, supported by Border Force, were dealing with an “ongoing” incident
    https://unitynewsnetwork.co.uk/illegal-channel-crossings-migrant-stowaways-found-hiding-on-a-vessel/

    I see Little Veteran’s YouTube channel got banned
    I don’t know why?
    “The Little Veteran” TERMINATED for a violation of “Terms of Service”, 3/4/2021,
    Antifa accounts celebrated
    He put up a new account but that was taken down too

    And TR.news can’t be loaded
    Their last post was April 1st A Youtube video Steve Wraith interviewed TR 1h40min

       16 likes

  38. G says:

    “The final episode of the BBC’s ‘A Perfect Planet’ contains multiple factual inaccuracies ……”. No, you don’t say!! Who would credit our, “Worlds Most Trusted Broadcaster” with ‘factual inaccuracies’?

    https://www.thegwpf.org/bbcs-a-perfect-planet-contradicts-mainstream-scientific-findings/

       16 likes

    • gb123 says:

      Having seen how effective scare tactics have been over the last year I’m sure the BBC are planning many more “fact” filled documentaries.

         13 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Meanwhile “The Sky News Daily Climate Show is an exercise in activism, not news” writes Ben Pile
      https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/04/08/the-main-casualty-of-the-climate-crisis-journalism

      “One clue as to the propagandistic intentions driving Sky News’ intervention is the most notable characteristic of the 20-minute show: it was crap.
      And dull.
      I don’t just say it as a mean-spirited, long-time climate bore myself. I had to rewind it because I fell asleep. Twice. The show’s cast and crew clearly do not have their hearts and minds invested in this project.

      They couldn’t start to explain the ” paradox of green politics being hostile to the development and extraction of the resources that ‘green’ technology is dependent on”
      SkyNews “is no longer a news broadcaster.
      Like other British news broadcasters, the BBC and ITN, it has attached itself to a political cause, and has shown itself unwilling and unable to reflect critically on a domestic and global political agenda. And it has signalled that it would prefer to be a ‘partner’ to government than to offer critical analysis,

         17 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      BBC is infected with “2+2=5” thinking on its pet agendas
      On Saturday I mentioned the Steven Moffat the Doctor Who producer quote
      We‘ve kind of got to tell a lie.
      ..
      “We’ll say, ‘To hell with it, this is the imaginary, better version of the world.
      By believing in it, we’ll summon it forth’.”

         13 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Was not impressed by ‘truthiness’ or other BBc versions of W1A lying by other means when first floated, and still am not.

        Especially when backed by an ECU designed to make any admission and/or apology unlikely to almost impossible.

           3 likes

  39. Fedup2 says:

    You might recall that the state Stasi – sorry – plod closed a mass in an RC church on Good Friday . The BBC reports that the Met police now ‘regrets ‘ the action ( no apology ) and had ‘learned ‘.
    It apparently sent a detective superintendent with the RC Archbishop? Of Southwark to the church yesterday to ‘explain the thinking ‘ ( my words ) ….

    I’m sure mosques and Freemason halls will be treated the same

    ( I fear my thinking might be ‘checked ‘ on this comment )

       32 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      John McManus (journalist @BBCNews Religion & Ethics) tweeted last night
      1) The @metpoliceuk has said it “deeply regrets” the hurt that was caused when officers interrupted a Good Friday service at a church in south London, and ordered the congregation to leave the building.
      The incident happened at Christ the King church in Balham where a Polish-language service was taking place during the most important period in the Church’s calendar.
      The comments were made by Superintendent Andy Wadey, who visited Christ the King today with the Archbishop of Southwark, @RC_Southwark John Wilson.
      Archbishop Wilson said that “we are all deeply saddened by the events that took place”
      and that the “genuine concerns” had been “heard directly by the Metropolitan Police Service.”

      Superintendent Wadey told the congregation that #Covid restrictions had been challenging for Faith communities, but
      “We know, however, that many people were very upset by what happened on Good Friday and we deeply regret that. “
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-56708973

         8 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        That’s a classic non-apology apology. They do not apologize for what they did, but for any “upset” caused. This is just weasel talk. What they did was wrong, and they should apologize for it. But they never do.

        Meanwhile, lessons will be learned…

           8 likes

        • vlad says:

          You can be damn sure they wouldn’t have broken up certain other ‘faith communities’ of a bombing persuasion.

             13 likes

      • Banania says:

        If the priest had stood firm he could probably have sent them packing.

           1 likes

  40. Sluff says:

    Ever since I attended a packed out presentation in a small room at a European science conference in 1980 not otherwise devoted to the subject I’ve been less scepticsl of the manmade climate change story than many readers. But equally I prefer rationalism to outrage.

    I’ve been catching up with my academic reading and found a paper in Nature Climate Change by Lorenzo Polveni.

    His team reckon about half of Arctic warming and sea loss is due to things called ODS or Ozone Depleting Substances. Manmade substances such as Dichlordifluoromethane are 11,000 times more ‘globally warming’ than CO2.

    It’s a sort of equivalent situation to the more prominent story about the Antarctic ozone hole.

    The ODSs in question were banned by the Montreal Protocol in 1987 though no doubt some dodgy countries are still shovelling it out, so long term things are now improving.

    The point of all this is of course that is shows the superficiality of the Harrabins and Thumbergs of this world and the BBC in totality who paint the apocalypse picture every time someone starts up their car, the sun comes out, a raindrop falls out of turn, and a gramme of CO2 is produced. In the UK of course, it’s OK to outsource CO2 production and import the proceeds, hence the ridiculous moratorium on the new Coalmine in Cumbria.

    We can get to somewhere better incrementally without casting aside everything we value and replacing it with hair shirts, while China builds another coal power station.

    Thank goodness we still have gas power, which contributed 50% of UK electricity during yesterday’s very cold and windless weather that brought many wind farms to a standstill, an issue for which the eco-warriors have no solution other than to huddle together in mud huts.

       26 likes

  41. Fedup2 says:

    Sluff
    I was told here recently that the ‘China building coal powered stations ‘ is an urban myth . I don’t know if they had told that to the Chinese.
    I’m still of the view that we do not have the knowledge of the complexity of the climate to deduce that human activity is affecting it or indeed that such human activity can be reduced – a lot of the world is still -er – developing and so will be consuming –

    As a layman – I talk about complexity in such as volcanic or solar or oceanic changes …. but at least the climate evangelists will welcome reduced numbers of humans and human activity through ‘nature ‘ producing a virus ….

       11 likes

  42. StewGreen says:

    Ban of the day “Army bans Lads”
    First, the army tried to hire ‘snowflakes’. Now, soldiers have been banned from using words like ‘lads’ and ‘gents’ because they aren’t inclusive enough. Why has the military gone so soft?
    … If you see British troops today surely it’s safe to call them ladies … oh unless they are trans men.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/04/12/do-we-need-a-gender-neutral-army

       18 likes

  43. tarien says:

    Can anyone advise as to the current advice/rules dished out by the Government and their Sage masters, whether we can meet family (6 people only) inside the house? or are only allowed to meet outside the property, in the cold? It seems daft if not, as the Gyms are now open and they can accom many more people than 6. Confusing as usual.

       7 likes

    • Tabs says:

      I’m not sure about the current rules but I have been meeting my family inside throughout the last year

         14 likes

  44. Guest Who says:

    Who is served up by whom on matters climate seldom surprises. Or convinces.

    ***

    ‘I have often wondered if a government hosting a United Nations COP conference, might actually propose a plan commensurate with halting climate breakdown out of sheer embarrassment. Sadly, that will not happen at COP26. ‘
    Paul Mason for The Ecologist.

    http://ow.ly/oMav50EmcEQ

    ***

    Sky or BBC.

    Greta and Dame Emma, George and ex-Beebtle Paul, or the current band of Justin, Matt, Rog and Marianna being prime examples.

       4 likes

  45. Right Angle says:

    Thought BBC bias couldn’t get any worse? That’s because you were only watching the English-language version!:

    https://order-order.com/2021/04/12/bbc-radio-presenter-exposes-identity-of-israel-lobbyists-trying-to-sack-david-miller/

    Last month the Jewish Chronicle published an investigation which found “a pattern of anti-Israel bias and inaccuracies” being broadcast from the department [BBC Arabic], accusing them of “ignoring the corporation’s own impartiality guidelines”:

    “Alleged infringements include systematically downplaying terror attacks on Israelis; repeatedly using Hamas-inspired language; showcasing extreme views without challenge; and publishing a map in which Israel was erased.”

    Re the last part, I have personally seen this with my own eyes, when watching the TV news of another country many, many years ago. The name “Israel” appeared nowhere on the map. I think, in its place, was “WEST BANK” in huge black letters.

    It has probably got worse since, but I never thought I would see the BBC tamely following suit …

       15 likes

  46. StewGreen says:

    It’s Twitter what did you expect ?

       8 likes

  47. StewGreen says:

    Jess Phillips case
    300 emails – sent over 9 months until February last year, a month before Eckersley was arrested
    had a “profound” effect on the MP .. (Really ?)

    sentenced to 28 months in prison as the judge said the sentence should “serve as a reminder to any other self-styled keyboard warriors that the courts will not tolerate this kind of behaviour”.

    Eckersley claimed to be interested in ‘the criminal elements within Islam’ but the judge said his emails were ‘diatribes punctuated with sinister threats’.
    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/inadequate-man-trolled-jess-phillips-20356857

    had a “profound” effect on the MP
    Sorry I don’t believe that
    The newspaper report contains no examples of things that are frightening like actual specific threats.
    All I see is guy who probably has the mental age of a child firing off hundreds of emails 99% which should have never reached her eyes.
    a couple of mad emails come in ..her staff scan them and add his email address to the bin list
    he tries again with another address ..same process.
    This is just not real crime compared to physical rape sexual assault etc.
    The message I see is do real crime, and mostly the police will ignore you but dare to shout playground insults at the metroliberal establishment figures and the law will drop on you like a tonne of bricks.

       15 likes

  48. StewGreen says:

    R4 drama now a repeat : gene editing to improve athlete
    Two jobs for actors one acts the athlete and another the scientist.
    Oh plus mother of athlete
    No job for white actors of course

    blurb : “A timely retelling of the Julian Mason scandal, one year on from the closure of Project Hermes” ..em it’s fiction actually

       7 likes

  49. StewGreen says:

    Labour Councillor Wishes Pandemic Had Happened Before Brexit to “Cull” Leave Voters
    David Everett
    https://order-order.com/2021/04/09/labour-councillor-wishes-pandemic-had-happened-before-brexit-to-cull-leave-voters

    wDCkEhY4?format=jpg&name=small

       10 likes

  50. Thoughtful says:

    It appears that Gestapo are living up to their epithet by conducting wholly political arrests and interviews under caution because a certain Labour MP doctored evidence to falsify a claim someone opposed to her was influencing an election (a bit rich comming from Labour with their record of electoral fraud).

    The video starts 10 minutes in after the Imran Khan statement and an allegation this Labour MP knows him personally and has failed to criticise this statement made by him.

       3 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Youtube declared the video dangerous, so it won’t play in embedded mode
      direct link to mins in

      “.. not the MP for Oldham, but for Oldham Eastern Saddleworth Debbie Abrahams, who’s a very close friend of Imran khan”

      UK MP Debbie Abrahams Meets Pakistan PM Imran Khan After Her Deportation From India (India on arrival said her visa had already been cancelled)

         1 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Raja Miah describes something similar to Belfield
      .. The Labour MP had doctored the evidence and submitted it to police
      Police call him in and saying we have concrete evidence that he had done election fraud.
      At the police station the officer read the doctored text msgs to him
      His solicitor said “here’s the phone with the original mgs on”
      The officers face dropped
      Six months later the officer sent him an email saying the case against him had been dropped.
      Rajah seems like a Muslim guy who adopts traditional British values and condemns grooming gang coverups and other corruption.

         1 likes