315 Responses to Weekend Thread 9 October 2021

  1. Up2snuff says:

    TWoTWeee Watch #1 – don’t mention the A word

    Doh! You mentioned the ‘A’ word. ‘Disjointed’ was presenting The World This Weekend and focused for the first part of the programme on COP26. As he mention Attenborough’s name I had to switch off and miss the rest of the programme. Can’t listen to those sanctimonious burblings.

    Attenborough (and Packham) and the BBC and environmentalists like Princess NutNuts are why we are in this mess: no coal, not enough oil, not enough gas, not enough fracking, taxes on energy, no electricity from turbines because the wind is not blowing, limited electrictiy from solar panels because it is foggy. What Disjointed Dymond should have been asking is “Is God sending us a warning that the mad environmental path we are on is doomed to fail and damage us, maybe – even – cost lives?”

       28 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Throw babies into the volcano to stop the CO2.

         8 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Up2
      Don’t worry – we will have heat pumps -efficient wind farms – unlimited solar – mini nuclear reactors in every town … in 2150…( subject to planning permission )…

      …more seriously I wonder what the effect of the first black out in a big city is going to be ? Obviously the environmentalists and rapist plods will love it – but for voters ? Er ….

         12 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Fed, maybe if it is in Salford it will take the BBC off-air.

        That will be a hoot!

           5 likes

  2. theisland says:

       31 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Its evident that the Channel is NOT a dangerous crossing as is continually maintained in the media. There appears to be more chance of me getting knocked down on a trip to my local Co-op than anyone dying on that 22 mile stretch of water !

      Over 30,000 have crossed over, (that’s the population of Deal, St Neots, or Beverley) and how many have died ? ONE. It needs thousands to die before the risk factor is considered too high for the gimmegrants to take a chance, because there is no other way to plug the gap other than having the Border Patrol armed with guns.

         26 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Any with a male cirvix?

         2 likes

  3. BRISSLES says:

    Have just watched an excellent edition of Hardtalk – Circa 2017, and recommend a view. The subject was Ben Ferencz at 98 and the last remaining U.S. Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. A great age, yet his memory and articulation was sublime about the horrors he witnessed and the actions of evil he was prosecuting. I found it riveting.

       9 likes

  4. Fedup2 says:

    Not exactly the BBC but with all the verbal spats and provocation between the Chinese and Taiwan I wonder how the coming war is going to pan out ?

    China isn’t going to be ‘bought off ‘ over a principle se I guess a shooting war is coming .

    If anyone has more informed analysis ( easy with regard to me ) I would appreciate it ….

       6 likes

    • tomo says:

      Taiwanese seem quite fond of Twitter

      YouTube

      ADV China a S. African and a Yank – both Chinese speaking ex-pats married to Chinese. They follow China media and online as well as a network of family and contacts there – both fallen foul of Xenophobia … (and shooting their mouths of a bit carelessly) – but for insight, hard to beat some “Man on the Beijing Bus” and idiomatic renditions of what the CCP is feeding their own peeps…. Both have independent channels in addition to ADVChina.

      The CCP have recruited a cadre of expats to flannel away, some quite extraordinarily shameless or flat out craven. They show up in the YouTube suggestions…

      What is worrying is that the economy appears to be faltering and internal dissent wrt gangsterism and high handed officialdom is obvious is surging. The social scoring thing is bonkers.

      First hand experience is that once over the border from Hong Kong …. The Great Firewall of China works pretty effectively and according to acquaintances translations – we aren’t getting anything like an honest rendition of CCP domestic propaganda in the outside world. The CCP are seriously stirring the always simmering Xenophobia pot.

      It seems to me that BBC/MSM reports are reliant on interpreters with a light sprinkling of bi-linguals (in both directions) – that isn’t a good thing imho.

      Then there’s

         4 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        2017 …

        Amber Rudd, are schools teaching “Islamist extremist material” being tracked?

        A DEGREE OF INFLUENCE: The funding of strategically important subjects in UK universities
        “What is noticeable from the research undertaken in this report is the disparity
        in the levels of funding from the countries studied. There are huge amounts
        of cash currently being donated by Arab and Islamic sources (University of Cambridge / £1.2m / UAE / Appointment of a full-time lecturer specialising in Islam / 1996), and this has undoubtedly
        led to a degree of influence in the oversight of UK universities. China,
        however, while donating only a relatively small amount of cash, has managed
        to gain a disproportionate amount of influence in UK higher education via its
        Confucius Institutes. What is also clear is that, in terms of money donated, the
        likes of Japan and Russia do not appear to have the desire to influence higher
        education in the same way as China or certain countries in the Muslim world.”

        http://www.christopherdavidson.net/files/Foreign_funding.pdf#page=21

        https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2017/07/10/start-the-week-open-thread-132/comment-page-4/#comment-851565

           4 likes

  5. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    I have a solution for the NI problem to protect the eu from UK exports going into Ireland from NI.

    Pretty Patel and Kwasimodo should demand £54 million and we will police the NI border to make sure no illegal cargoes of goods get through to Ireland.

    Just like the frenchies are stopping all the illegals from setting off to cross the channel, and being paid for it, we will stop the flow of illegal exports (like sausages) to Ireland from the UK (NI)

       18 likes

  6. 1 of 8e9 says:

    Not on BBC news AFAIK

    https://news.sky.com/story/scotland-taliban-supporter-who-rents-farm-close-to-uks-nuclear-submarine-base-asked-to-leave-12430161

    What was it that Private James Frazer on Dad’s army used to say…

       11 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Give Taliban ‘the benefit of doubt and opportunity’, says Leading Nottingham scholar
      He said the Afghans are not ‘fleeing for their lives’
      https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/give-taliban-the-benefit-doubt-5819029

         8 likes

    • theisland says:

         13 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        Took him ages to get to this point … from 2018 …
        https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2018/10/19/weekend-open-thread-20-october-2018/#comment-947909

        Let us all stop funding UK terrorism!

        It would seem Khalid Masood (Westminster Attack 22.03.2017 5 Innocents Killed) was on benefits which comes out of National Insurance payments by the workers of the UK. Thus, it would seem prior to these findings the workers in the UK were unknowingly funding terrorism.

        But now we know terrorists operate using welfare benefits it would seem we are knowingly paying terrorists.

        Can I suggest that the Government please make sure NI payments by UK workers don’t go into the hands of terrorists by removing the terrorists in the first place. Can you also calculate how much we have/are funded terrorism via welfare benefits by simply getting all known terrorists (left,right,islamic) arrested to-date and those on the watch list and check welfare payments made to them or their immediate family (under various names possibly).

        Another example is where imams preaching intolerance such as Anjem Choudary (preached hate 1999-2016) to his hundreds of worshippers (5 times a day, everyday), can all imams be checked if they are on welfare benefits, paid by UK workers, and these payments be stopped immediately. It is the community that needs to fund the imams if they want religious teachings, similar to how the Church of England was funded with donations in the past.

        . . . .

        The father-of-four (Anjem Choudary preaching hate 1999-2016) takes home more than £25,000 a year in benefits and lives in a £320,000 house in Leytonstone

        . . .

        “…and don’t you worry. It’s coming to a place near you…we cannot have state subsidized preachers…give it up or give it to your deadliest enemy and pay for the rope that will choke you.“

           11 likes

      • tomo says:

        guffaw…. – they’ve obviously got an Iranian IRG guy on the PR team…

        You don’t ask, you don’t get.

           2 likes

  7. MarkyMark says:

    What losses are produced at each stage?

    Picture1.png?format=1000wp

    Specifically, hydrogen has a wide range of flammable concentrations in air and lower ignition energy than gasoline or natural gas, which means it can ignite more easily. … Because hydrogen burns with a nearly invisible flame, special flame detectors are required.

       7 likes

    • tomo says:

      The sums are out there – but the Green slime are intent on *marking their own homework* and producing whizzy graphics.

      Quite surprised there’s no Teletubbies lolloping around for scale.

      The marketeers have been busy too with Hydrogen colours.

      Green
      Blue
      Pink
      Turquoise
      Grey
      Brown
      Black

      When the last two colours get dissed there’ll be some sparks…?

         2 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Bottomline anyone is free to do it WITHOUT a subsidy
      .. BUT they don’t
      .. cos it’s a million miles from being economic.

      Commercial suppliers of hydrogen, get it from treating methane with steam.

         0 likes

  8. MarkyMark says:

    The UAE is planning to add nuclear, renewable, and coal-fired electricity generating capacity to accommodate rising demand, but the country currently relies primarily on natural gas, with oil playing a secondary role.12 Sept 2020

       3 likes

  9. Fedup2 says:

    Ive been trying to work out what other energy source can be closed down in order to get the UK to minus zero emissions – so far –
    Coal
    Gas
    Fracking
    Electric supplies from other countries
    Wood burners
    Nuclear ( closing down )
    Wind ( to calm )
    Hydro ( wrong sort of water )
    Diesel
    E numbers petrol

    Are all being done away with – anything left ?

       12 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      Fed, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, mosquitoes and their habitats, all other methane emitting wildlife and humans.

         4 likes

    • Jeff says:

      I’ve been chopping logs for my wood burner all afternoon.

      The nights are drawing in and there’s a distinct chill in the air and one of the few things that makes winter bearable is my lovely old log burner. Well… that and a glass or three of Merlot. Blimey, I don’t ask for much…

      These climate fanatics won’t be content until they’ve reduced us to the living standards of rural peasants from the middle ages.

      They don’t want us to use cars, go abroad on holiday or even have our homes properly heated or lit. Every form of energy, other than wind, sea and sun, is a problem for them. That’s why we have to import gas from abroad. It’s insane.

      These are the new puritans and the green movement is clearly a religion for most of them.

      Unfortunately for us Boris Bunter is one of them…

         18 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Jeff – sounds fine – but I think it’s wrong to blame nut nut .

        He hasn’t got a view about anything – and his political belief is based on whatever keeps Mrs nut nut happy ….

           6 likes

  10. StewGreen says:

    BBC local news ran the same Abdullah commemoration story
    that ITV local news ran on Friday
    ITV reported the story then cos it had happened on Thursday
    Yet the BBC left us with the impression it had just happened today.

       3 likes

  11. StewGreen says:

    GBnews @NickDixonComic was really laying to the BBC
    saying he appeared on the One Show and he has never received the £100 fee

       5 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Be interesting to know what the ‘hierarchy of fees ‘ is stew .
      I recall that a lot are on a £700 fee …

      It would help us with the common ‘go to s ‘ for racial nonsense or other ‘approved ‘ thought types ..

         4 likes

  12. StewGreen says:

    Last Sunday BBCone messed around with the schedule
    by putting on The Earth Prize Clamate Change prog at the slot Countryfile is normally on

    Then this Sunday they have given the Antiques Roadshow slot to “The Mating Game” an Attenborough vehicle aimed at pushing Climate PR.

    Antiques Roadshow has ended up on BBC2

    9pm BBC1 show Ridley Road seems aimed at building the narrative that there is a huge threat from “the far right”

       7 likes

  13. StewGreen says:

    9pm BBC2 Romesh Ranganathan show features Nadiya Hussain as a guest

    9pm Channel 5 has Carol Drinkwater series 1/6 about living in Provence

       2 likes

  14. Dover Sentry says:

    Children’s BBC (CBBC):

    “Tell us who your black heroes are
    This October we celebrate Black History month and we would love to know who your black heroes are! They could be a famous person from the past or a present-day celebrity, or perhaps you’re inspired by a family member or a friend? ❤️”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/bp-your-black-heroes?collection=black-history-month

    Get ’em youg, as a famous Nazi once said…

       13 likes

  15. StewGreen says:

    The Times film guide always picks out productions with black actors so tonight chooses
    11:30pm -1:20am Channel4 The Last Tree
    “The Last Tree: A Nigerian boy who grew up with his foster mother in Lincolnshire moves in with her birth mother to London. Her mother beats him for not doing chores. Later in adulthood, he (Sam Adewunmi) befriends a small-time hustler. But wonders if this is the life he wanted.”

    However this film has suddenly been cancelled and replaced by a Tom Cruise film

       5 likes

  16. Thoughtful says:

    British Airways have told cabin crew not to refer to passengers as Ladys and Gentlement in th ename of Diversity
    Ryan Air has told its crew not to refer to passengers as Dem Foo*in Eeejits !

       16 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Thoughtful

      Ha ha 5 star emoji s

      You forgot the Ryanair pizza which costs more than the flight …

         5 likes

  17. StewGreen says:

    9:45pm-10:45pm BBC2 “Dave — US comedy about a bumbling rapper ”
    “A half hour comedy series about a white Jewish rapper, whose schtick is making dick/pussy jokes, just made me cry.”

       1 likes

  18. StewGreen says:

    Lenny Henry probably didn’t say this off his own back
    His PR people are probably looking for a killer angle to sell *his new book”

       8 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      UK Charlie Williams . Gary Wilmott , Norman Beaton, Carmen Munroe, Ram John Holder, Gyearbuor Asante,Kim Walker, Geff Francis, Derek Griffiths, Shirley Bassey, Cleo Laine, and God knows how many jazz musicians.

      US : Sammy Davis Jr., Ritchie Pryor, Eddy Murphy

      And the music industry always had an over representation of black stars

      Characters in Desmonds
      FBR7O31WEAIxTrO?format=png&name=small

         8 likes

      • TrickCyclist says:

        Don’t forget Elvis Payne, who was a bit of a stalwart of ITV children’s programming in the 70s – You Must Be Joking, The Tomorrow People, Our Show.
        Immortalised by Denis Norden for that clip where he corrects little Melissa Wilkes’ pronunciation of “Grand Prix.”

           3 likes

  19. Fedup2 says:

    DT and Clarkson v Countryfile

    DT Statrs – Jeremy Clarkson has done more for farmers in one TV series than the BBC’s Countryfile has managed in 30 years, it has been claimed.

    James Rebanks, a sheep farmer and prize-winning author, said the BBC did not think farming had appeal beyond “a niche group of idiots” and instead filled Countryfile with other content.

    He said the farming community prefers Clarkson’s Farm, in which the former Top Gear presenter chronicles his attempts to work his Cotswolds land.

    Appearing at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Rebanks was asked if the Amazon Prime show had helped or harmed farming’s reputation.

    He replied: “I can report back from within the farming community: they all loved that programme. They loved it. Ok, he’s clowning around and he plays to that audience, and a lot of farmers are lads that like machines and they would have watched Top Gear and all the rest of it.

    “But what they really liked is [that] they have been frankly p—– off with Countryfile for about 30 years because the whole logic of Countryfile is that you can’t make a mainstream, prime-time TV programme about farming because farming is for a niche group of idiots.

    “And what Clarkson has come along and done is gone, ‘Actually, no, everybody will watch a programme about farming, you just need to do it in a certain way.’”

    Rebanks added: “What they really like is he got people to spend 10-15 minutes of a programme thinking about farm economics and how tough it is.

    “There were silly bits… but in the farming community they are just delighted that someone high profile would stick up for them or have any kind of genuine empathy.

    Clarkson ‘makes working-class rural men the heroes’

    “The other nice bit of the programme is, he sends himself up and in a funny way makes the working-class rural men the heroes of the programmes, and that goes down very well in our community.”

    Kaleb Cooper, a young local who helps Clarkson farm his 1,000 acres, has become the breakout star of the show.

    Countryfile has been the focus of viewer disquiet on various occasions over the years. In 2009, it was revamped with a move to a teatime slot from its traditional place in the Sunday morning schedules.

    Earlier this year, the BBC came to the show’s defence after 161 viewers complained about a feature on a black women’s hiking group.

    Rebanks said Clarkson had succeeded in illustrating how hard it is to make a living from farming.

    “There’s an episode where he says, ‘I didn’t make any money – what’s everyone else doing?’ And I know what everyone else is doing, which is that they’re working for nothing or going broke,” he said.

    Rebanks recently won the Wainwright Prize for nature writing with English Pastoral, in which he describes the Lake District farm that has been in his family for more than 600 years.

    At the literary festival, he dismissed what he called “the Jamie Oliver mentality” of thinking that shoppers will seek out food in supermarkets if it is labelled as sustainable or environmentally-friendly.

    “I don’t mean it disrespectfully to Jamie Oliver, because he’s done a lot of good things. But there’s an idea that if only Jamie Oliver makes a programme about this, we’ll all go to Sainsbury’s or Waitrose or Tesco and only buy the right things off the nice farmers – problem solved,” said Rebanks.

    “Really? In a supermarket? A supermarket [shopper] is my wife with three kids hanging off her, and teenagers buying stuff that they shouldn’t, and the three-year-old pulling things off the shelves.

    “Who’s got time to read all the labels? Who’s got the money to make perfect decisions? Who’s got a perfect farming education?”ENDS

    Personally I don’t know the difference as I haven’t watched countryfile for maybe 20 years – but the Amazon Clarkson farm show was proper TV ..

    And there another series coming … I hope there is more hunting …

       15 likes

    • Banania says:

      That series about a Yorkshire farm was/is very popular, I believe. Not BBC perhaps.

         1 likes

  20. Beltane says:

    And by contrast the BBC promotes more absurdly massaged figures to show the UK is close to meltdown in ‘biodiversity’ , bumbling along at just over 50% when the ‘world average’ is 70% and the ideal is 90%, apparently.
    Without actually saying so, the cure would seem to be stop farming, house building, industry, transport and mining and revert to an ecology closer to that of pre-industrial revolution Britain.
    Much the same argument, by one of those odd coincidences, as proposed only yesterday by another BBC Prophet Packham and a group of similarly duped Gretas who, just like their brave leader, seemed to have no knowledge or interest in the World Wildlife Fund and the Duke of Edinburgh’s lifelong promotion and involvement. Far better to ‘re-wild’ and reintroduce wolves, lynx, beaver and similar species – to ensure a brave new world becomes reality.
    And by another coincidence, a dubious and stage managed ‘incident’ resulting in the varnish being scorched off a pair of gates is given prominence, and ensures Packham’s ‘brave stand’ is applauded.
    Meanwhile, as Feds tells us, Clarkson remains genuinely real and really popular.

       7 likes

    • Garry Lavin says:

      The Clarkson show was great. I’ve always been surrounded by such types and my son is a farmer worker and fixer and friends and relatives are Pennines farmers.

      Having had a hit authored BBC 2 series about the home….I’ve asked them many times if I could do something about real farm life and gizmos. No response.
      Here on IoM, there is novel wildlife and farming concerns.

      My lad had a lot of poultry…..but a lot were killed by the abundant polecats and rats. So he trapped and killed a few polecats.
      And no badgers so no bovine TB….and consequently lots of hedgehogs.

      I sent the producers lots of emails about doing something on Countryfile……having once reported on The One Show. No reply.

         8 likes

      • JohnC says:

        I just wish Clarkson would not be so blatant in the set-ups he does and pretends they are real. I can’t work out if he is pitching it at stupid pub-drinkers who will believe it like they did on Top Gear or it is a deliberate spoof we are meant to see through. Everything points to the former for me.
        The bit when he went in the farm shop and spent £80 after getting a tenner out or installed the gate in a field which he only discovered was 2 feet too short AFTER he had finished were just stupid.
        The genuine parts are good though : I laughed out loud as he stood watching all his sheep jump out over the stone wall.

           2 likes

  21. Fedup2 says:

    Cheers Beltane – did you win a race on Satdee?….

    Time for a new thread …

       0 likes

  22. StewGreen says:

    Someone claiming to take apart the BBC ivermectin piece

       2 likes

  23. JohnC says:

    Periods and low confidence put some girls off sport
    https://www.bbc.com/news/education-58841868

    My God. Is there no end to the injustice suffered by women ?.

    How lucky I am that I am a heterosexual white male. I can just keep my head down and get on with the mountain of problems and responsibilities life gives to everybody like me without having to spend my entire time pushing them in front of everybody else for attention and demanding everything changes to suit ME.

    Why is the money people like me (but not me) earn to fund the BBC being spent on utter guff like this ?.

       5 likes

  24. StewGreen says:

    Tuesday Radio4’s #DayOfTheScientist
    R4 Today features Tories @Jeremy_Hunt about Covid + David Willetts on science
    and then Labour’s @ChiOnwurah maybe as balance

    also @jimalkhalili, Sir Patrick Vallance, David Spiegelhalter

    The R4 graphic looks very Soviet

       2 likes