286 Responses to Start the Week Thread 12th April 2021

  1. Guest Who says:

    Unverified claim.

       4 likes

  2. Guest Who says:

    That Jez, Dan and their people get a room.

       8 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Agreed.

      HOWEVER, I do hate the term “guys” used in conversation, which is an Americanism that’s been adopted here. Its constantly used by presenters – particularly A Place in the Sun, when referring to a married couple (man & woman), as “you guys” or “c’mon guys”.

         10 likes

  3. Guest Who says:

    “And they looked from Graun to ST; and back fr….”

       8 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      It’s quite obvious that most Times journos live in Guardianland
      commenters call them out all the time for it.

         8 likes

  4. StewGreen says:

    Tonight’s TV
    Not much to comment on
    7pm BBC4 Live coverage of the women’s football international friendly between England and Canada from the home of Stoke City FC

       4 likes

  5. StewGreen says:

    4:30pm Radio4
    Great Lives Yasmin Alibhai-Brown picks Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v2sn

       6 likes

  6. Piku says:

    Am I the first person to comment on the new site?

       9 likes

    • Rufus McDufus says:

      Yes you are! I’m about to send out a mass mail because I doubt everyone saw the Twitter update.

         6 likes

      • AWOL says:

        Don’t use twatter, don’t like its’ layout or politics. Reacted to the email.

           2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      No.

      Or yes.

      One of the two.

      Certainly eager. Almost… too eager.

      Ps: what new site?

         0 likes

      • Rufus McDufus says:

        It’s actually the same site – but different address/URL (biasedbbc.tv instead of biasedbbc.org)

           4 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          How exciting. We are now on TV.

          As it were.

          I will do my hair. I mention this as TV folk mention this. Like… a lot. And anyone gives a flying airborne set of simians.

          I of course err. Deliberately. Not the same as a lie, apparently, but lessons have been learned.

          No hair to do, but looking forward to sharing stuff again.

          Unchecked facts. Odd own views under corporate banners… the usual.

             4 likes

          • Rufus McDufus says:

            We thought we’d give a little help to the economy of Tuvalu. Of course now people are going to think this is just about BBC TV and not radio…

               4 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              Has to be faced. And accepted. Like Evan Davis.

              One supposes.

              At least the diversity kudos is through the roof.

              But Greta might be grumpy. I fancy visiting Fanafuti Airport, which appears to cater for C-130s.

              Nice. Especially the AC. If ever over W1A.

              Just sayin’.

                 3 likes

        • Dobyns says:

          I still feel right at home here even though I have a face made for .radio not .tv

             2 likes

  7. Guest Who says:

    https://bongino.com/project-veritas-catches-cnn-director-admitting-network-hypes-covid-fears-to-drive-ratings/

    Much to unravel here.

    Of course, first up one must check with Marianna, assuming she is still not stuck on feet. Certainly for one constantly seeking so many stories requiring her expertise, the ones she runs with seem very… limited.

    Assuming this one to be accurate and based on more than assertion, and the BBC is not finding such activity a bit close what they get up to as ratings is what gets pay rises even without non unique funding, one might wonder why CNN has been and is such a major ‘source’ of ‘news’ to the most trusted broadcaster in the known universe.

    To the point of being pushed a lot and seldom checked.

    Hey-ho.

       11 likes

    • Dobyns says:

      GW

      They’re now Chicken Noodle News …

      Back in the day they WERE a trusted source. This was when Ted Turner owned CNN and before Time/Warner bought the franchise.

         1 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      SkyNewsAut commentator 8 min clip on the CNN sting
      CNN Charlie Chester was caught on hidden camera explaining CNN’s anti-Trump campaigning, and how next they will move onto pushing Climate Change agenda etc.
      He claimed the plans come from CNN top boss Jeff Zucker

         7 likes

  8. StewGreen says:

    While we were away some posts were done at
    http://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.com/2021/04/april-still-continuing-open-thread.html

    I’ll copy a few things over

       1 likes

  9. StewGreen says:

    Green Peter slight backtrack

       7 likes

  10. StewGreen says:

    BBC : Global Warming activism
    Paul has exposed 4 BBC stories whilst we’ve been away
    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2021/04/

       4 likes

  11. StewGreen says:

    Episode 1 of the The Doom Goblin doco
    of the UK population of 67 million
    how many watched 50%, 20% . 10% or 1.5% ?

    Well 55% of those watching the previous prog switched
    The Greta doco averaged 1.08m viewers with a 6.3% of audience share, that’s actually 1.5% of UK popn.

    The same slot the week before, Masterchef, which averaged 3.56 million viewers with an 18.9% AS
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/04/14/delingpole-doom-goblin-greta-thunbergs-tv-show-is-a-massive-ratings-flop

    BTW “the sainted Greta is on the front of the Radio Times today”

       7 likes

  12. StewGreen says:

    The latest racebaiting from Vine
    On his C5 TV show today about the Duke’s funeral he said
    “We are going to see a group of 30 people who are going to be at this very restricted funeral, and I’m imagining it will be 30 people who are white.
    I’m just trying to think whether there’s anybody of colour in there and I don’t think so.
    Do you think that’s a problem?”

       9 likes

  13. StewGreen says:

    SNP news : the cuddly toy is coming down the SNP give-away conveyor belt.

       5 likes

  14. StewGreen says:

    “Marxist leaders realised street revolution wouldn’t work so took up an alternative plan
    of the ‘long march’ to take over society’s institutions”
    8 min SkyAust clip

       3 likes

  15. StewGreen says:

    BBCnews is theatre not portraying the world as it is
    but rather how libmob want it to be.
    They want shipping o be bad and and dirty, so they can be green saviours.

    So when they got an expert who claimed there were high Sulphur level around Suez and this must have been caused by ships waiting for the jam to clear they ran with
    “Suez canal blockage caused sulphur pollution spike
    When the Ever Given container vessel jammed ship traffic, the pollution was visible from space.”

    Original fake news version from BBC
    https://web.archive.org/web/20210413153443/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56735508

    It was first tweeted 4:46pm pm on Tuesday
    tweeted by Amos at 9:09pm
    and then30 mins later a proper expert gives a correction
    (a few other people also tweeted astonishment at the BBC’s bad science, and sent in complaints)

       7 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      The BBC page still stayed incorrect for a day
      Then an new article was written over the old
      with the correction note at the bottom
      The most dishonest place to put it.
      “This article replaces an earlier version that incorrectly attributed the SO2 emissions over Suez to shipping.

         9 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Stew, at least they haven’t come for oxygen, … yet.

        I’m amazed at all that settled science, on which 98% of the world’s clever scientists were said to be in absolute agreement that CO2 was the cause of all our planets woes including it’s heating up to boiling point, then these clever scientists who agreed on nearly absolutely everything suddenly decide to add more and more gases and pollutants to ‘the problem’.

        As a bit of a scientist myself, I have to say I hang my head in shame at the rubbish science being done by these so-called scientist people who do not seem very clever, aided and abetted – it has to be said – by the BBC.

           5 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      I would have expected the Suez pollution, if it had come from the shipping jam, to have been various noxious nitrogen gases. Most shipping runs on dirty diesel, very dirty diesel, although some more modern vessels run on cleaner ‘pump’ fuel that you might put in your diesel car, van, truck or bus.

         2 likes

  16. Deborah says:

    A rare occurrence during lockdown, I was in the car and decided I would try Radio 4, You and Yours which I hadn’t listened to for ages. They were just finishing one story and they lost the lady they were about to interview. A £4 billion organisation and they couldn’t hold a link. 5 minutes later we were back to the thrilling story of vital interest, why it is time growing chrysanthemums should make a come back. I think they were aiming for a niche audience. The first words out the guest’s mouth was ‘climate change’. I switched back to Classic FM,

       13 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @D yes being omnipresent I heard it
      The problem with chrysanthemums is that in a garden they die over winter, so you have to mess about with cutting in order to get a flower the next year.
      The truth is new varieties are harder and can withstand the winter.
      23mins expert “chrysanthemums are fantastic for late in the year and as our autumns with Climate change get lovelier you are in your garden more

         5 likes

  17. Deborah says:

    At least 10 years ago there was an article in Farmers Weekly about blackcurrants. The farmers were developing new varieties that didn’t require a frost to trigger flowering because climate change meant there were never be a frost ever again in the U.K..

    I think we have had a frost ever morning in April this year.

       11 likes

  18. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – normal service is resumed including the Cold War

    BBC very excited this morning about China Joe getting stroppy with the Russians. Apparently, the Russians didn’t give China Joe the landslide in last November’s US Election that he was promised.

    Well, that’s the Russians for you, Joe. Good job you had China in there also as back-up.

       7 likes

  19. AsISeeIt says:

    Low single-digit issues

    Bothersome tech problems…? One could always blame the Ruskies: ‘West condemns “malign” Russia’ – having named our putative Putin-led enemy, the formerly patriotic Times would, uncharacteristically, appear to go all jingoistic on us and seem to want us to march off to the Crimea (again).

    Moscow warned after US and Britain blame it for one of the biggest cyberattacks in history’ – really? Can’t say I noticed. Many’s the time I have had trouble with various internet sites – often the result of expensive duff government IT contracts – without realising my frustrations were made in Moscow.

    How serious is the problem? : ‘In Britain the NSCS [National Cyber Security Centre] identified a “low single-digit” number of public sector organisations that had been targeted’ – in other words possibly just the one?

    Targeted… as opposed to seriously damaged.

    The FT frontpage presents us with an interesting juxtaposition of foreign relations headlines: ‘Cool relations. US sanctions anger Russia’ and: ‘Siege mentality. Iran’s hardliners hail their resistance to sanctions’ – so the Biden-Boris great game here seems to be to piss off the Russians and likely drive them into alliance with the mad Mullahs.

    Just the other day, I noticed the cogent comment – had covid originated in Moscow, rather than Wuhan, the west would have had no problem at all in naming it the Russian Virus and moreover demanding Putin properly explain the origin of the outbreak.

    On the subject of what the teenagers might term first world problems: ‘Brothers will not walk side by side in procession from Windsor Castle’ (Telegraph) – as anyone who has ever been tasked with organising a family event will know the complications such as who sits where in relation to the top table, who has fallen out with who, and who doesn’t want to sit near the sleazy uncle, can be an equation complex enough to tax the brain of Prof Stephen Hawking. The Royals have the great advantage of a thing called protocol which will often solve the bickering. Mind you, this doesn’t prevent most of the popular press filling their frontpages in an attempt to make something of it.

    So much for fake news… in cake news: ‘Snooty M&S at war over Colin’ (Daily Star) ‘Caterpillar cake wars. Colin v Cuthbert as M&S sues’ (Daily Mirror) – for those uninitiated in this battle of the brands Marks and Spencer are taking Aldi to court over their apparent lookalike children’s birthday cake.

    Colin the Caterpillar, a sponge cake with milk chocolate and buttercream, topped with chocolate sweets and a smiling white chocolate face, was launched around 30 years ago.’ (Sky News) – I’m just surprised Public Health England haven’t used their newfound power over government to put a word in to impound both Colin and Cuthbert for their sugar content.

       9 likes

  20. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #2 – are the environmentalists just starting to wake up to some of the damage they are doing?

    TOADY was occupied at one point with COP26 due to be held in Glasgow this autumn. There are doubts as to whether it should go ahead. Should it be postponed due to the Pandemic? Should it take place ‘virtually’ which would, of course, save a great deal of CO2 emissions? That question was not put to David Shukman, BBC Science Editor, no less.

    He did mention that thousands of delegates from all over the world would meet in Glasgow and that there were real “benefits in meeting face to face” but I wonder whether the contradiction has occured to this so-called Science Editor? The BBC has been pointing out that the Pandemic has caused a fall in emissions because people are not travelling so much and instead are using on-line meetings for work and leisure activities.

    That single COP26 Conference would not only have thousands of delegates travelling from all over the world by boat and aeroplane and train and bus and taxi and car – all emitting CO2 – but it would have journalists, like David Shukman of the BBC, travelling from all over the world by boat and aeroplane and train and bus and taxi and car – all emitting CO2* – as well as various groups who want to ‘protest’ and ‘demonstrate’ travelling from all over the world by boat and aeroplane and train and bus and taxi and car – all emitting CO2.

    Has the ‘penny dropped’ in between David Shukman’s ears and at the BBC now – finally? Have they now realised that the claimed ‘CO2 warming damage’ of COP conferences is significant? David certainly sounded a little sheepish when claiming that it should go ahead.

    (* The journalists who attend COP conferences do most of the energy using, CO2 emitting, global warming of all.)

       7 likes