497 Responses to Midweek 15 December 2021

  1. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – it’s not about Brexit so why did the BBC mention … . .

    . . …… two EU related items – but not the important English Channel one – in the 6 a.m. News after the headline item about North Shropshire? And who do the BBC go to for comment on that by-Election – a lot – but Roger Gale? In a rare burst of BBC honesty, Nick Robinson mentions that Gale is an anti-Brexit, pro-Remain, Kent MP.

    What we need to know now is the impartiality status of Kathryn Stone, the independent Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards. Has she ever been a member of a Trade Union? If so, which one? Has she ever been a member of a political Party and, if so, was it the Labour Party?

       15 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      I wonder which bbc crew was embedded with her, until… reassigned….

         7 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        Before I was elected, I was nervous about being a Muslim woman in the public eye. Growing up, I had seen the abuse that prominent British Muslims were subject to—I knew I would not be in for an easy ride. Today, I would like to say that I was wrong to be worried. When young Muslim girls ask me what it is like, I would like to say that there is nothing to worry about, that they would face the same challenges as their non-Muslim friends and colleagues. However, in truth, I cannot say that, because in my short time in Parliament, that is not my experience.

        https://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2021-09-09a.181.0&s=islam+speaker%3A25909#g184.0

        Let me read out a few examples. One person wrote to me to say, and I quote, “Sultana, you and your Muslim mob are a real danger to humanity.” Another wrote and said that I was a “cancer” everywhere I go, and soon, they said, “Europe will vomit you out.” A third called me a “terrorist sympathiser” and “scum of the earth”—and that is sanitising their unparliamentary language.

        . . . . . . . . . 1985 … UK ….. ISLAM MEETS ISLAM ……

        Ahmadis suffer vicious persecution around the world. The main source of fuel for that persecution is in Pakistan, but what happens in Pakistan does not stay in Pakistan.

        I know that from my experience in the Yorkshire market town of Batley. In August 1985, when I was 11 years old, my parents organised an inter-faith meeting in the town hall. It was interrupted and disturbed when, according to West Yorkshire police, more than 1,000 extremists, led by Pakistani hate preachers funded by the Pakistani state, were bused in from around the country. The mob brutally attacked my English mother and my father, a dermatologist; my eldest brother and I; and a Welsh Ahmadi schoolteacher who was with us. My first cousin, a GP, was by chance driving through the market town that day. He saw the mob and saw his family and friends being attacked, so he stopped. He was recognised, pulled from his vehicle and savagely beaten up.

        https://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2020-03-12a.177.0&s=islam+batley#g195.0

           5 likes

  2. Guest Who says:

    Headline:

    “I am being punished – and it is not my fault.”

    Comment:

    I was upset reading the headline, but after reading that the company offered her different routes and buses, I’m not sure why she wouldn’t accept some of these different solutions (unless there’s a valid reason which wasn’t explained in this article).

    Now, guess the ‘news’ outlet…

       8 likes

  3. Guest Who says:

    OT, but… bollux.

    ‘Some people’ maybe, and almost exclusively those with mental issues and/or a vested interest in the offence industry and/or a direct line to folk like Krishnan.

       8 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Pakistan: man sentenced to death for blasphemy on Facebook
      Taimoor Raza was found guilty of insulting the prophet Muhammad during an argument on social media with a counter-terrorism official

      Protest in Pakistan against social media
      Blasphemy is a sensitive charge in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where even unproven allegations can trigger mob lynchings and violence. Photograph: Faisal Mahmood/REUTERS
      Sune Engel Rasmussen in Kabul and Waqar Gillani in Islamabad
      Sun 11 Jun 2017

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/11/pakistan-man-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy-on-facebook

         9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “…BBC poll in 2015 found that 27% of British Muslims had quote ‘Some sympathy’ (27% or a third) for the people who went into the offices of Charlie Hebdo and killed the cartoonists, editors and journalists there. Channel 4 poll from last year (2015), found that only 1% of UK Muslims think that publications should have the right to publish the cartoons of Mohammed.”
      – Douglas Murray (2016?)

      VIDEO REMOVED …. xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LJF94jYMIw&feature=youtu.be&t=14m30s

      And in your opinion, should any publication have the right to publish pictures which make fun of the Prophet? Yes 1% // No 87%

      To repeat again … 83% UK Muslims proud to be British (Warsi reports 2013) verses 1% UK Muslims want Freedom of Speech/Press (Murray reports 2015).

      https://www.icmunlimited.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Mulims-full-suite-data-plus-topline.pdf#page=612

         9 likes

  4. AsISeeIt says:

    Lets remind ourselves – because BBC reports on the by-election result don’t – how the 10 Libdem MPs voted against introducing COVID passes.

    Some 96 Conservative MPs voted against the plans, along with eight Labour MPs, 10 Liberal Democrats, six DUP, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and independent MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Rob Roberts‘ (Yahoo News, 14th December)

    Meanwhile today’s Sun astutely observes: ‘Boris’s “Lockdown by stealth”

    We were all looking forward to spending a few bob on parties with relatives, meals with friends and work colleagues at restaurants, and possibly some convivial drinks down the pub. But don’t worry, those hospitality sector jobs will, apparently, be protected as the Chancellor spends our hard earned money there, on our behalf as it were, anyway: ‘Sunak in talks on bailout for pubs and restaurants

    Think of it as Puritan Socialism. It cuts out you the errant the middleman.

    Lucy Fry in the ‘i’ presents us with: ‘The joys of a sober Christmas

    So we can look forward to all the New Year financial hangover without the bother of the headache inducing over-indulgence.

    The mysanthropic coronaphobic ‘i’ newspaper is this morning caught in an ecstacy of gloria in excelsis: ‘UK shuts down to save Christmas

    In what way, shape or form, has Xmas been saved? And saved from what exactly?

    Millions stay at home with many offices, shops, pubs and restaurants deserted

    Speaking of excelsis (ex-Chelseas?): ‘You Blue it Tuch! Chelsea 1 Everton 1‘ (The Sun) – proving bad tabloid football related puns are still highly transmissable and can infect anyone who comes into too close a contact with them.

    Not since Noah was lad did the royal Court Circular make the frontpages – but for some reason the givaway former-commuter advertising sheet the Metro bucks the modern trend and tracks the monarch’s diary appointments for us: ‘Queen cancels Christmas lunch‘ – nice to get the news so I can reschedule – afterall, my royal invite cancellation note from Her Mage might have been held up in the post: ‘Parcel firm couriers throw gifts at walls and insult customers‘ (Times)

    I’m reminded of Viz Comic’s character Postman Plod – He’s a miserable sod: ‘… an incredibly lazy, drunken, miserable and bad tempered man and a chronic malingerer. He obviously hates his job and hates the people he is obliged to deliver letters to. Plod is bone idle and lethargic and frequently takes extended periods off work with questionable excuses that only hold water because they are supported with notes from his doctor who is just lazy as he is

    There’s something to think about apropos of the apparent ease to which lockdown has returned.

    Plus a rare appearance hereabouts for Viz Wiki hosted by Fandom your online popular culture fan resource where like-minded people may share their enthusiasms – and lets face it all of life, pastimes, friendships, social interaction… that’s all online now.

    Speaking of doctors – a rarely spotted species in the wild, especially at this time of year – however, they are most commonly encountered on TV these days… so what’s their latest advice: ‘DOC’S ORDERS I’m a doctor and you shouldn’t spend more than 10 minutes on the toilet‘ (The Sun)

    Posting to TikTok…‘ Not the Lancet, or the journal of the BMA, mind you. ‘Dr Karan Rajan revealed what you should never do – especially if you want to avoid haemorrhoid surgery. He explained: “Number one, straining”‘ – I thought that was termed Number Two straining?

    This isn’t just an excuse for toilet humour. I’ve learnt a lesson – here’s what doctors should do – so as to appear busy on our behalf – post handy gobbets of medical advice to social media platforms.

    Apropos of something or other… the FT today has a feature on the ethics of mind control.

    In overseas news – The Daily Star reports from a British point of view: ‘Le Grinch: Macron’s Brits ban‘ – whilst the FT reports the same story from a rather more Francophile stance: ‘Gate closing France acts to stem Omicrom‘ – suggeting the French can still perhaps secure their borders – when it suits them?

       16 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Ahhh Viz, I remember it well, sometimes they gave away games in a few of their issues.

      I vividly recall their game:

      “Carol Vorderman’s Bukkake Sudoku”

      “A combination of two great Japanese disciplines in a fun game for all the family”

         9 likes

      • Zephir says:

        For some reason, the wife refused point blank to allow me sufficient training to introduce it with any confidence of a winning position at the extended family Xmas party.

        A crying shame really there were some octagenarians who love sudoku.

        But if my knowledge of Japanese innovation and history counts for anything, it’ll be in Harrods and Toys R Us sooner rather than later.

        And the wife will have egg on her face then

           9 likes

      • Scroblene says:

        You can still see a sister/brother/’it’/’git’ version here, Z!

        http://framleyexaminer.com/archive

        Still as funny as ever! Much better than the awful BBC and The Guardian Examiner…

           2 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      AISI, I find it interesting which newspapers are missing from the BBC Blog and when. Guardian is absent today.

      On your first question: Rishi may be introducing another ‘eat out (but indoors this time) to help out’ scheme, Treasury officials not withstanding.

         7 likes

      • AsISeeIt says:

        On the subject of the Guardian being reported missing from the BBC online press line up – judging by the Gruan’s website the inclusion of their frontpage by the BBC today would be somewhat redundant:

        Same pic of the new MP, slightly different perspective – story headline – same anti-Tory perspective.

        Guardian: ‘Tory chair: North Shropshire voters have given us a kicking’

        BBC: ‘Lib Dems deliver shock by-election win in blow to PM’

           5 likes

  5. MarkyMark says:

    Paying for tyranny ….

    A licence fee amnesty put in place during the pandemic will come to an end on July 31, and the over-75s yet to arrange payment will be asked to pay up or face prosecution.

    BBC will send ‘enforcers’ to homes of 260,000 pensioners in TV licence fee claw back
    The warning comes eleven months after three million over-75s lost their entitlement to free TV licences following a funding row between the BBC and the government

    The BBC has instructed Capita, the firm that enforces licence fee payment, to make “customer care visits” to pensioners’ homes from the autumn.
    The BBC has instructed Capita, the firm that enforces licence fee payment, to make “customer care visits” to pensioners’ homes from the autumn (Image: Getty Images)
    ByEmma MunbodhMoney Editor
    10:15, 30 Jun 2021

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/bbc-send-enforcers-260000-pensioners-24426962

       5 likes

  6. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    The by election loss to the libdems was because of the parties and the wallpaper.
    I know this because I heard it on bbbc radio newcastle this morning.

    It was nothing to do with the tens of thousands of Emacron boat people and other uncontrolled immigration.
    Nothing to do with the poor deals Boris looks like getting from the eu regarding fishing and NI.
    Nothing to do with the highly negative handling of the latest covid (sniffles) quasi lockdown and over the top doom mongering.
    Nothing to do with the huge lurch to the left by the previously Tory party.
    Nothing to do with the unrealistic new Green Party (used to be called Tory party) and the electric cars/heat pump and other unrealistic daft ideas.
    If it was anything to do with any of the above they surely would have mentioned it….wouldn’t they?

    It looks like the days of being led by Carrie and her plus 1 are nearing the end.

       36 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Promote Diversity
      We will tackle institutional biases, promote equality and hold power to account through applying values of openness, transparency and accountability.

      Protect Civil Liberties
      We will build a society where rights and liberties are protected and where nobody has their privacy violated by prying instruments of the state.

      A Compassionate and Effective Immigration System
      We will welcome migrants coming to the UK for the skills and contribution that they bring, and ensure that everyone has confidence that the immigration system is functioning as it should.

      Dignity for Refugees and Asylum Seekers
      Too many people are wrongly denied asylum, with 40 per cent of refusals overturned on appeal: we will make the system work fairly for seekers of sanctuary.

      https://www.libdems.org.uk/plan

         9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Dignity for Refugees and Asylum Seekers

      Applies to:United Kingdom

      We must do all we can to protect people forced to flee their homes to escape war and persecution. The UK has a proud history of providing sanctuary to those in need, but Labour and Conservative governments have introduced a harsh system that fails to respect people’s dignity.

      Thousands of asylum seekers are forced to wait many months for a decision, unable to work, rent a home or support their families. Too many people are wrongly denied asylum, with 40 per cent of refusals overturned on appeal.

      Liberal Democrats are the only party who can make the system work fairly for seekers of sanctuary.

      We will:

      Give asylum seekers the right to work three months after they have applied, enabling them to work in any role so that they can support themselves, integrate into their communities and contribute through taxation.
      Provide safe and legal routes to sanctuary in the UK by resettling 10,000 vulnerable refugees each year and a further 10,000 unaccompanied refugee children from elsewhere in Europe over the next ten years, and expanding family reunion rights.
      Fund community-sponsorship projects for refugees, and reward community groups who develop innovative and successful ways of promoting social cohesion.
      Offer asylum to people fleeing the risk of violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identification, end the culture of disbelief for LGBT+ asylum seekers and never refuse an LGBT+ applicant on the basis that they could be discreet.
      Move asylum policymaking from the Home Office to the Department for International Development and establish a dedicated unit to improve the speed and quality of decision-making.
      Provide free basic English lessons to refugees and asylum seekers and scrap the 16 hours-per-week rule with respect to financial support for those unable to work due to insufficient English.
      Provide public health services, including maternity services, to people from the moment they arrive in the UK.
      Increase the ‘move-on period’ for refugees from 28 days to 60 days.

      https://www.libdems.org.uk/plan

         13 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Stop Brexit
      For over three years, Liberal Democrats have led the fight to stop Brexit. Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit and stay in the EU.

      https://www.libdems.org.uk/plan

         22 likes

      • Zephir says:

        So, this is not a political party but a fascist regime dedicated to ignoring the will of the majority of people and destroying what little democracy we have

           23 likes

      • andyjsnape says:

        Hello Marky
        I read the limbdems article on “stop brexit” etc, and at the top of the page they use the Union Flag – surely this should be a swazitca

           16 likes

    • moggie63 says:

      Since it should never have happened in the first place it’s about bloody time. I used to find it incomprehensible how that incompetent steaming pile of crap ever even made it as an MP but, looking at the current crop, it no longer seems so strange.

      This should be a reply to Emmanuel Goldstein further up but it refuses to stay there!

         8 likes

  7. Thatcherrevolutionary says:

    The Lib Dems were the only party that unilaterally voted against Vaccine Passports and mandating health workers earlier this week.

    Boris is at his Theresa May moment. There was no need to vote on any of these pointless restrictions. I’m afraid this pale imitation of a Conservative party is going to get what it deserves.

    Interesting to note that nobody bought what Starmer was selling with his BBC backup.

       19 likes

    • Beltane says:

      If only Boris had some acumen driven by political experience rather than testosterone, he might have told Paterson to take his month off on full pay and accept the inferred sleaze as a passing inconvenience, weathered by many in their house – Vaz and Bryant spring to mind.

      Then the by-election would not have been necessary, all the other sleaze could have stayed on file at the Guardian, those photos might have gathered dust for another year and we would have been spared the in-depth assessments of Linaker and Neville.

         7 likes

  8. G.W.F. says:

    Looks like the fight to replace Boris is on. Come on Nadine.
    Seriously. I wonder if Rishi the Chancellor cut short his visit to the US in response to the covid crisis or to prepare for the battle to replace Boris

    ”Rishi Sunak is cutting short a US trip for talks with businesses concerned about the impact of the Omicron variant.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59686356

       11 likes

  9. G.W.F. says:

    John Redwood
    @johnredwood
    BBC up to usual tricks. Invited me on for a live on Today at 7.10. I agreed. After hearing what I might say they cancelled and are talking about a pre record later! No surprise there.

       14 likes

  10. Guest Who says:

       16 likes

  11. StewGreen says:

    Millions of electricity customers are signed up to he LIE that they are getting 100% renewable power.
    That was not possible at 7am this morning
    Yet ASA and Ofgem play along with the lie.

    FGyyX_dXMAAUY18?format=jpg&name=small

       18 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      I can only see either incompetency or corruption in thr failure of the UK government to secure a domestic energy supply .

      The need to produce electricity and gas without threats from enemies such as the French or Russians seems a number one strategic importance to me .

      That thing about some model steam railway having to import coal from kazakstan ( press today ) sort of somes things up …( unless its a lie of course)

         10 likes

    • davylars says:

      Stew. Have you sent that Post to.
      https://wattsupwiththat.com/
      Or .Paul Homewood.? https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/
      Or. https://climatechangedispatch.com/
      Get a lot of people to see this, might filter the delusion Of 100% renewables up to the greenies so they hopefully see the madness and futility of this policy

         5 likes

    • tomo says:

      That “100% renenebabble” marketing bilge looks lame at best – flat out lie morelike.

      – and as you say ASA and ofgem just glide onwards leaving a trail of slime after they’ve eaten your lunch.

         4 likes

  12. Philip_2 says:

    LBC Friday 8.30am: Its official NAO confirmed the BBC now makes over a third of its programmes as BBC REPEATS (uninspiring quiz show and drama show repeats). LBC claim over 56% on some BBC channels other BBC channels its a lot more! BBC Christmas Bonus are expected at this time of year. TV License fee @ £150/year and prison if you watch anything ‘live’ without paying for the privilege of its news ‘opinion’ that is copied straight from The Guardian. This despite having more ‘* journalists’ (so called) than any newspaper or media empire In the entire UK (combined). * BBC claim 21,000 BBC journalists employed. This just shows how lazy and inefficient the corporation is. Fat Cats with a pot of cream.

       15 likes

  13. Philip_2 says:

    On LBC Nick Ferrari show this morning a caller rang in from France with an astonishing claim. HE said that Chris Witty received 40 million Dollars from the Bill Gates Foundation. HE was promptly ‘cut-off’ by Nick Ferrari as a claim that ‘could not be substantiated’. Interesting, that this was ‘terminated’ promptly.

    Within five minutes, Ferrari came back from his radio researchers that the money claimed did not GO DIRECTLY to Chris Witty but via his London School of Tropical Diseases (where he worked as a researcher). But the money was not denied.

    This confirm some sort of connection with Bill Gates and the length of the WITTY pandemic to scare us into MORE Vaccines. But the fact that GATES is involved introducing and developing BULK Vaccine’s – around the world is called into question. Gates has ‘political’ direct links to SOROS** (whom the BBC describes as a liberal philanthropist, who also helps the BBC find the right staff for the BBC through its Open Democracy foundation job programme. Never denied.

    But if you do your own research, you can see the connection is valid and not denied, just where the money went. The only question IS if Witty benefited from his close links with Bill Gates in the UK government as a doom-laden lock down ‘expert is now in question. LBC would have to prove the connection and I am not sure Nick Ferrari can do that on his own against SAGE and its cohorts.

    Chris Witty + Bill Gates links.
    https://evidencenotfear.com/chris-whitty-uk-chief-medical-officer-received-31million-pounds-of-funding-from-the-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation/

    Bill Gates Vaccines and his donations to ‘vaccine’ the world!
    https://aim4truth.org/2020/04/22/bill-gates-global-vaccine-warlord/

    **SOROS
    ‘The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and two organizations within Soros’s Open Society Network — Foundation to Promote Open Society ($2,594,780) and the Open Society Institute ($445,000) — have pumped Aspen Institute with at least $101,854,593 and $3,039,780 respectively between 2003 and 2020, according to Foundation Directory Online data. In addition, Aspen noted that the Commission was “fully funded” by Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the grantmaking organization of liberal billionaire Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. Last year, reporting showed that Newmark had spent $170 million to “save journalism” and “beat President Trump.”’

    https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/12/16/ministry-of-truth-the-aspen-institute-commission-on-information-disorder-funded-by-george-soros-and-bill-gates-aims-to-control-all-media-dialogue/

    So Its pretty clear to me where this pandemic came from and where its going. The BBC reputation attracts such donations add the TV license to that.
    And I can confirm the BBC has received money from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The BBC are always open to political donations! And they still claim to be short of TV license money – never enough!

    The amounts are likely to be far larger than the BBC reveal here..
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/about/funding

       16 likes

  14. Rich says:

    I see on the Bbbc NI webshite that footballer Rachel Furness has been awarded the Sports Personality of the Year award for Northern Ireland. Rachel, who it seems plays her club football for Liverpool, is now ‘Northern Ireland’s all-time top goalscorer’ and ‘has inspired a generation of young girls and boys to take up the game’. Apparently.

    The award was made by a panel, one of whom I know personally but didn’t realise he was involved in this, obviously on behalf of and guided by the Bbbc not it seems through any sort of public vote and most certainly not by any of those young players she has apparently so inspired.

    Having played the game to a reasonable level, including internationally, I’d like to think I’ve a fair idea what I’m talking about here and having coached kids in various age groups, I can guarantee you that the vast majority of them would have no clue who either Rachel Furness is or who she played for. In fact I’m pretty sure that they are more likely to be inspired by someone like Steven Davis, the Northern Ireland captain who this year played in his 132nd full international for Northern Ireland after becoming the most-capped British footballer ever when he reached 130. He did this in the same year he captained Rangers to their first SPL title in 10 years and, at the age of 36, also picked up the Scottish Footballer of the Year award.

    Is there anywhere other than the world inhabited by the dullards of the agenda-driven Bbbc where his sporting achievements this year would not be deemed more worthy of recognition than those of the chosen winner? Are the people given these awards really not aware that they now mean nothing? It’s just embarrassing.

       29 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      USA striker Alex Morgan (female player) and two players from MLS team Orlando City were escorted out of Disney’s Epcot Centre by police because they were “impaired and verbally aggressive” in a pub.{bbc.co.uk 04oct2017}

      – I guess when you play football you get all the traits of a footballer – equality for all.
      – “highly impaired” – does this mean drunk or is it a new gender pronoun?

      https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2017/10/04/mid-week-open-thread-127/#comment-871250

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41493777

         5 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Rich,
      The culture of ‘winning ‘ awards for achieving very little is almost universal. I caught an episode of Christmas University Challenge when the teams consisted of people who had ‘achieved’ something, well almost anything in fact, after they left university.

      Some of them had been awarded this or that prize for writing a book no one had ever read, or appearing in a film or play that no one had ever seen, or producing some collection junk masquerading as modern art that people rang the council to have put in the skip, some had read the news or presented the weather on the BBC.

      The programme lasted 30 minutes and at least 5 minutes was taken up with listing their so called achievements rather then answering the questions. After a while it became obvious why so much time was devoted to introducing them, they knew so little that it was embarrassing to watch.

      What they all had in common was a dearth of common sense and of general knowledge. The results of decades of the ‘prizes for everyone ‘ culture so loved by the liberal educational blob and this is only the beginning of our downward spiral!

         23 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        From John Gatto, it’s not just children that don’t want to know about the real working world anymore. Swap child for adults in the following article …

        The children I teach are indifferent to the adult world. This defies the experience of thousands of years. A close study of what big people were up to was always the most exciting occupation of youth, but nobody wants to grow up these days and who can blame them? Toys are us. … Time for a return to democracy, individuality, and family. I’ve said my piece. Thank you. {naturalchild.org – john gatto – jan1990}

        relates to Westerners: Guilty of Reading the News {atestoneinstitute.org 27sep2017}

           7 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          I’m ‘reliably informed’ by the BBC that the Chelsea Women’s team were sick with worry and anxiety about Covid before their 4-0 defeat by Wolfsburg.

          Oh dear.

          How sad.

          Never mind.

          I hope they are all healthy back in the UK for Christmas.

             1 likes

  15. MarkyMark says:

    Prisoners don’t have to pay the TV licence fee
    Prisoners who have been rewarded for good behaviour can get a TV in their cell. This allows access to nine free-to-view channels for a weekly TV rental fee of £1 per cell per week. Not paying this fee or bad behaviour are two reasons why a TV may be taken away.

    This fee does not include the TV licence fee as TVs used by prisoners in cells and communal prison areas are exempt from this charge.

    Update 21 July 2020

    https://fullfact.org/online/TV-licences-pensioners-prisoners/

       11 likes

    • Docmarooned says:

      I would have that bad behaviour would be punished by making them watch the BBC.

         9 likes

    • Philip_2 says:

      Ahha! but if we are imprisoned in our own homes we have to pay the full fat fee. But what when a prisoner is on remand watching BBC news?. The BBC could try and reduce the age of consent for the BBC to 12 (to align its sexual preferences) to the TV license. And then no immigrants are likely to pay the TV license, even under house arrest. The TV license really is a unique form of abuse.

         6 likes

  16. s.trubble says:

    So if they send the pensioners to jail for non payment they will get to see the bBC for free anyway?

    ps The bBC are very quiet on the Labour showing in Shropshire.

    Must be the ” Brammar Effect” taking a grip!

       17 likes

    • tomo says:

      I knew a guy in the 1990s who lost his pension (20 years in) to some of Maxwellian style plundering – I’ll always remember him saying “If I was 20 years older I’d have got a shotgun and guaranteed myself 3 meals a day, institutional heating and the respect of my peers for the rest of my life”

         2 likes

  17. AsISeeIt says:

    A brief cameo return for the occasional feature – Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner

    One notes our local primary schools appear to be open still. The kids are society’s future afterall. Teachers lead a long crocodile of kids down the street – and could this be a work experience outing? How interesting to see all the little brown kids already learning to wear their hi-viz jackets.

       5 likes

  18. Kaiser says:

    not really about motorcycles , but a flavour of whats coming from the so called torys

       4 likes

    • Philip_2 says:

      An old Matchless I think, or is an old Triumph? I the video he mentions is the ‘anti tampering law’ for all vehicles new and old which would make it illegal to replace any spare part with another of the same type. Think about that for a minute! It would be a total ban on all (cheap) ‘spare parts’ for any vehicle made past and present. Its absurd and so I signed the petition. (its at 82,000 sigs). The grand plan (as outlined) is that all such personal transport will be obsolete by 2050 and cannot be repaired. And illegal to sell spare parts to keep anything working. Absurd EU laws that are creeping in under the carpet!

      Recommend you do the same if you like old cars and motorcycles: (sign here)
      https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/600954

         6 likes

  19. Fedup2 says:

    The 4 young children who died in a house fire in londonistan today have been named – and the evening standard is claiming a woman has been arrested when it was found that the 4 dead babies were alone in the house .
    How will the BBC cover this one ?

       20 likes

    • JohnC says:

      You have to tell me the ethnic background of the woman before I can answer properly.

      If she is black, she will have been under so much pressure living under institutional racism, she had no choice but to go out and leave them alone.

      Nothing is ever their fault.

         10 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      27 yo Deveca Rose is a black woman
      All we know is that she’s lost her kids
      There might be a good explanation for why she left her kids, I don’t know.

         3 likes

      • G.W.F. says:

        If a woman is managing four kids without help from their father or other sources, there would be times when she may have no choice but to risk leaving them alone.

           3 likes

        • JohnC says:

          The relevant point here is how the BBC choose to report it.

          The deaths are tragic whoever they are.

          My point for something like this is that the BBC have no conscience at all about weaving their agenda into the story. Would the BBC report the same for things like this if she was white ?. I don’t think so.

             3 likes

  20. andyjsnape says:

    The BBC Correspondents’ Charity Dinner
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/support-us/correspondents-dinner/

    help sponsor the bbc, and from ONLY £3500 a ticket

       14 likes

    • Docmarooned says:

      Can think of nothing more nauseating. With a bit of luck Covid will take care of it. Is it a piss take?

         11 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      That’s £437.50 a seat – which works out to be 2.7 TV licences .
      I wonder how much the ‘hosts ‘ are being paid ?

      With a bit of luck it will be cancelled ….

         7 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      BBC Media Action is a charidee and front for globalism, financed by the usual suspects including:

      Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – £1.568 million
      European Union – £3.199 million
      UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office – £7.645 million
      UK Department for Internation Development – £2.767 million
      USAID – £1.005 million
      United Nations Development Program – £2.402 million

      Above figures are for 2019-2020.

      They have ‘corporate partnerships’ with the following organisations, amongst others:

      Accenture
      Facebook
      Twitter
      Universal Production Music
      Walgreens Boots Alliance
      Getty Images (bet that comes as a shock, eh?)

      The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been a generous contributor to Media Action. In August 2019 it committed $2,034,790 for a ‘Gender Equality’ project with the following lofty & lefty objectives (this may correspond to the sterling amount quoted above):

      “to help us learn deepen our underpinning of processes and user journeys for different sets of women’s empowerment collectives, develop use cases for where digital can help amplify effects bring efficiencies, and close gender gaps for women “

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/about/funding

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/support-us/current-partnerships/

      https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2019/08/opp1202266

         10 likes

      • Philip_2 says:

        And they go about TORY sleaze! The amount of slush money posing as ‘charity’ or ‘sponsorship’ in these left wing biases CORPS is corruption in public spaces. They are so confident now they don’t even have to ‘hide it’ anymore from public accounts.

        A good example was the HUGE amount of NATIONAL LOTTERY money being used to fund Labour ‘core’ (social) projects when taxation was weak. Now they get directly funded by the ‘Globals of Davos’ as some sort of entitlement. A contract to carve up the spoils of war. They expect nations to simply collapse and agree to socialist ‘globalisation’ by Gates and Soros & Co.

           8 likes

    • JohnC says:

      My God, I can’t imagine anything worse than being in the middle of those egos.

      Interestingly it doesn’t say anywhere about where the money goes. And after we discovered ‘Children in Need’ does not mean children who need it, it means the BBC charity who skim off 6 million for themselves with outrageous salaries for charity workers, I don’t trust them one bit.

         11 likes

  21. StewGreen says:

    Simon Webb on the ghastly case

       7 likes

  22. StewGreen says:

    “Suspected Armed Robber shot dead by Police in Kensington after botched robbery attempts
    At 3.04pmon Saturday, 11 December ”
    .. still not named/identified.

       14 likes

  23. StewGreen says:

    Tonight’s TV
    BBC1 Spiderman film

    BBC4 Disco tribute

    BBC2 Vic Reeves Walks, bit of Gardening, then Netflix type Vienna film

    Ch4 Awards for alleged comedians .. 2 hours

       6 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      StewGreen
      Same old shit. Different day. I lost faith a long time ago and I feel better for that. The BBC is on the wrong side of hist- — sorry -Common Sense. The trouble is that they are extremely Woke but they are fast asleep.

         9 likes

  24. Up2snuff says:

    TWatO Watch #1 – the PM has dropped a hint and the BBC have noticed ….. . . .

    . . . . and dredged up another Conservative with their heads firmly in the sand: some chap who founded the Conservative Home web-site. I assume he’s a Conservative or conservative. BBC R4 3 p.m. News bulletin, no doubt now repeated on R4 through until 10 p.m. and maybe including that main News as well.

       5 likes

  25. G.W.F. says:

    I have just watched the interview with John Cleese and the BBC girl. OK, so she was pushing for a gotcha and appealing to the views of ‘some people’.
    On the other hand, John Cleese was rambling, repetitive and frankly boring. A trained interviewer might have brought him back to his subject, whatever it was.

       9 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Can’t say I’ll be watching it but I guess in a way it has done no harm to either career . If I recall Mr Cleese needs money following some kind of domestic thing . And the BBC droid will claim a whitee male scalp …

         6 likes

  26. JohnC says:

    Been out all day and just got back to see the BBC gloating over the election and Kuenessberg once again using vague terms like ‘some MP’s’ in a desperate attempt to plant the idea Boris should be toppled. I can tell she does not like him at all – but she should not be abusing her position at the BBC to force it on everybody else.

    What I do notice is that they do not mention the turnout of only 46% nor do they mention how the Labour vote collapsed even though it was ripe for protest votes.

    Hopefully something good will come out of this – preferably the ejection of Nut-Nut from Boris’ ear.

       16 likes

  27. JohnC says:

    This Xmas party fiasco is getting ridiculous. Soon it will be clear that they ALL broke the rules at some point and it will disappear quickly once the lefties start to be implicated.

       12 likes

    • Banania says:

      @JohnC
      The other day you accused me of something, I was not sure of what exactly, but it concerned racist remarks. The complaint was made to some one else (I forget who) who said I was another one for a “list”, or similar words; again, I did not understand.
      Some one a little earlier (possibly you? I did not keep a note) had asked me if I was a friend of Maxincony, at which I thought, Has he got any? I have often responded to Maxincony in a fairly brutal fashion and regard him as a pest.
      In short, if I am thought of as an alien presence here, on a site which I have found congenial and stimulating, as well as necessary in keeping watch on our precious National Broadcaster, then I shall tactfully withdraw; I have other interests.
      Perhaps you would offer some explanation; I am quite mystified.

         5 likes

      • JohnC says:

        I replied to your earlier comment Banania. I just said that sometimes I got the impression you encouraged people to go further on their comments as if you wanted them to say something explicitly racist. And as maxi is logging everything anybody says, the only result of that is evidence to use against the forum should it be used in any attack on the BBC.

        I was very suspicious of you at the time – but I now think it was just a misunderstanding of
        intent.

           1 likes

  28. Dobyns says:

    Not al beeb but they’ll never look into it

    The US CDC is now saying Pfizer & Moderna are better options that J&J.

    What if all of the vaccine business is part of Fauci’s experiment?

    Play with a disease then play with something to cure it? Very little information about the disease has been released, just enough to say information has been shared.

    A scientific researcher postulated this, it put together the random thoughts in my head, and it made my stomach knot up.

       6 likes

  29. Guest Who says:

    BBC News

    Katelyn Mensah is one of the tens of thousands of people who have tested positive for Covid in the UK in the past few days.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-59697385?

    ‘I’ve got Covid so am self-isolating alone at Christmas’

    ***
    Well, that is unfortunate.

    Though she seems pretty happy about it.

    Journalism student. Probs a year below Alice then. And bang on newsworthy criteria.

       7 likes

    • micknotmike says:

      Journalism student? Self-isolating alone? As opposed to self-isolating in a group, I assume? She’ll fit right into the bbc without a doubt.

         9 likes

    • Dobyns says:

      Trying to get a spot as La Springster’s sidekick?

      Gotta wonder though, there’s no glamour shot accompanying

         3 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      If people are positive and are over it, is there any point in avoiding your neighbour who tested positive on the same day ?

         3 likes

  30. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    I just switched to sky news earlier to see what their reaction was to the by election defeat for the Tories and there was an interviewer with Boris happening and the interviewer was being very rude and personal.
    Cut back to the studio and some black news reader said they were going to get some reaction from an ex Tory politician.
    They dug up….Anna Sourbry who continued the attack on Boris.

    Back to GB News for some sanity.

       26 likes

    • taffman says:

      Emmanuel Goldstein
      Didn’t she leave the Tory party for another ?
      I wonder if Nadine Dorries saw that ?

         8 likes

  31. taffman says:

    “Man sentenced for wearing pro-terrorists T-shirt”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-59702242
    No doubt many more of these ‘Men’ coming across the English Channel unhindered .
    Lets hope the home Office is protecting us by deporting them .

       14 likes

    • JohnC says:

      I have noticed that Right-wing terrorists are always arrested for something they planned to do and Muslim terrorists are always arrested for something they did do.

      There is a lesson in there somewhere.

         29 likes

  32. Guest Who says:

    https://camera-uk.org/2021/12/17/bbc-ignores-media-revelations-concerning-rome-terror-attack/?

    Indeed. For some.

       5 likes

  33. taffman says:

    “Booster at least 80% effective against severe Omicron”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59696499
    Operative word at “least”.

       7 likes

    • Eddy Booth says:

      Brief summary: “could, should, modelling, limited information, uncertainty, trying to figure out…” etc
      Followed by
      “It remains the case that we still need to get vaccines current and future to the whole world.”

      No thanks, I’ll pass, maybe I’ll wait ’till the final vaccine comes out, and then binge the box set.

         12 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Effective at what ?
      .. stopping you catching it ?
      .. stopping you dying ?

         4 likes

  34. taffman says:

    “Omicron symptoms: Is a runny nose a cold or Covid?”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54145299
    Could it all be……………… just a Cold ?

       12 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      taffman
      Isn’t the common cold a variant of the corona virus?
      In October this year both me and Mrs Wright tested positive for Covid but we had no idea that we were infected because we were both completely asymptomatic for the whole duration. However, for the whole of my long life, almost every winter, I seem to have been a magnet for the common cold virus and the symptoms are always extremely unpleasant and can last for anything from six to eight weeks but amazingly Mrs Wright remains cold free. I wish I possessed her immune system.
      Anyway, if anybody should ask me which I would rather have of these two curses I would have to reply “give me Covid every time”!

         8 likes

      • Solomon Grundy says:

        Isn’t the common cold a variant of the corona virus?

        “… There are four types of coronaviruses that cause the common cold. They go by the names 2293, NL63, HKU1 and OC43.”

        From p35 of VIRAL The Search for for the Origin of COVID-19 by Alina Chan and Matt Ridley.

           4 likes

        • Lefty Wright says:

          Solomon Grundy
          Thanks for that info. which goes way above my head. I speak only from my personal experience of both Covid and the common cold. Covid, thus far, has caused me zero physical grief but the cold virus is another story.

             3 likes

  35. taffman says:

    When is the inquiry about the ‘great fiasco’, going to happen?

       4 likes

  36. StewGreen says:

    Covid : the narrative is there a great case growth each day.
    However when you look at the graph of positives by actual sample day
    you see we had a 50K line for weeks then on Tuesday there was a sudden step upto 80K, then fairly gradual rise on Wednesday, Thursday
    Obviously 3 days of data isn’t much.
    .. https://www.twitter.com/LawrenceGilder/status/1471885755446448132

       2 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      Zephir
      The International Swamp managed, sadly, to remove President Trump from The White House and it may now do it’s best to remove the rather indecisive and dubious Prime Minister Johnson from No10. However, should they succeed, they just might do Great Britain a favour. After all, if the heir to No. 10 should turn out to be say, Desmond Swayne MP or similar then – who knows??
      I will try to survive just a little longer to see how this pans out.

         5 likes

      • Lefty Wright says:

        Sorry Zephir
        I seem to have replied to your post before you had posted it.
        It must be later than I think.

           1 likes

      • Kaiser says:

        doris has turned out to be a swamp fraggle himself , I doubt they are in any rush to remove him

           2 likes

  37. Zephir says:

    Considering what Boris puts up with from the Kuensberg witch, watch how one of the bbc favoured ones deals with questions….

    You okay Nicola? Moment Sturgeon explodes at journalist ‘Yeah that would really help!’

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1537769/nicola-sturgeon-journalist-scotland-hospitality-omicron-press-conference-vn

       3 likes

  38. Guest Who says:

    BBC in its happy place.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-59690154?

    Sex and the pandemic: How did young people cope with lockdown celibacy?

    ***
    ROTFL.

    Must. Not. Comment. On. The. Thread.

       1 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      I’ve dipped in and out of R4 during the day . One result from N. Shropshire which is a discomfort for the BBC ( and thus no mentioned ) is the result for Labour . Ok – a true blue constituency is going to find it hard to put an x in the box for Labour but the number is poor . It doesn’t scream ‘party ready for government ‘ or say anything about the image of its ‘ leader ( name forgotten – lawyer bloke ) ….
      ……………. The BBC will be desperate to get the blue labour “civil war “ narrative going but will have trouble getting material in the next 2 Christmas weeks as everyone is at parties …..( inc the hapless cabinet secretary )

      Maybe nut nut couldn’t find anyone who didn’t go to a party last Christmas …

         6 likes

  39. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    I wonder what part the pensioners played in the Shropshire vote.
    Removing the triple lock and a below inflation pension rise can’t have motivated many of them to vote Tory.

       12 likes

    • Kaiser says:

      and neatly just before inflation took a massive hike that every man and his dog knew was coming

         2 likes

  40. Guest Who says:

    Isn’t he gone now? Why still trying to get the dags to pump out BS?

       7 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      “massive gas lobby”
      that sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.
      Most skeptics are self funding, there is no magic pool of free money for them
      but there is plenty of funding for Greens.

         9 likes

    • Kaiser says:

      best reply

      “I think the study indicates heat pumps can be installed in all homes, and we have to wait for the study investigating how they have performed. Note that hybrid heat pump systems were used in some installations, which also involved a gas boiler”

         3 likes

  41. StewGreen says:

    BBC2 walking prog “normally I would have a whole crew, yet here I am alone with my 360 camera”
    … em every now and then it cuts to a drone angle
    so that means there is a drone operator not far from him.

       7 likes

    • Lefty Wright says:

      StewGreen
      Yes but most people only notice and absorb the images on the screen and never bother to ask “who and why are they sending those images to my TV set. Nothing is just 100% entertainment.
      You only have to make a home movie to understand how easy it would be to impart to the viewer, with the aid of some crafty editing, a completely false impression of any given event.
      Nowadays, if I ever watch a TV program or TV advert I always think of myself as being behind the camera and not in front of it.
      I will film the event and edit out the words and images that do not fit the message my employer wishes to impart.
      My dream job would be as editor in any MSM newsroom.
      Oh boy would I have fun at least, that is, for an extremely short period time.

         8 likes

  42. Guest Who says:

    Toenails and Lewis. Dream team.

       0 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      With added Groper.

         1 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Robinson really should know better – a protest vote – not an earthquake – I’m not too sure how ( or if ) nut nut can redeem himself . The MSM can’t be blamed for showing his conduct . Someone with morality would have stopped parties last year .

      But nut nut has no morality apart from what’s best for nut nut . He won’t need the biased BBC to bring him down – he ll do that himself ..

         10 likes

  43. harry142857 says:

    Here in Reading.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-59706931

    Reading flats fire: Hakeem Kigundu, 31, charged with murder and arson.

    man has been charged with murder after a fire which engulfed a block of flats left one person dead.

    Two others remain missing following the blaze inside the four-storey building in Rowe Court, Reading.

    Thames Valley Police has said it does not expect to find any more survivors from Wednesday’s fire.

    Hakeem Kigundu, 31, formerly of Rowe Court, is charged with murder and arson with intent to endanger life and will appear before magistrates on Saturday.

    Four people were treated in hospital while another seven received medical care from ambulance crews after the fire broke out just before 03:00 GMT.

    ——————————————–

    Murder was a rarity in my hometown up to the last decade. Now the largest town in the UK is heading towards the 5hithole that London has become. I despair.

       18 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Harry – how you doing ? Welcome to the world of vibrancy and enrichment . The lies we are told about the ‘benefits of diversity ‘… but on the upside at least now that we are out of the EU a proper Right Wing government could – one day – control our borders and who is in the country … otherwise we’d continue to be a mass doormat well beyond how many dinghies turn up each day …

         13 likes

  44. Guest Who says:

    Presumably extra special bbc rules and exclusions will apply?

       1 likes

  45. Fedup2 says:

    So let me get this right – the Cabinet Secretary – the sharpest knife in the box – has now recused himself from investigating number 10 parties because of his own part(ies) …-and could not see his own position ?

    Who made that divot cabinet secretary – get another one – maybe with a brain next time . I say this bearing in mind that the Civil Service is now a barrier to good government – not a support for it .

       11 likes

    • tomo says:

      Sue Gray called in – the way all the twittering journalist spin it “The Cabinet Office” might be a couple of dozen senior clerks in an annex to Downing Street – when it’s got 8,000 staff and a budget of £2.1 billion…

      Sue Gray has an interesting résumé – although no hint if she’s also got a trophy wall covered with stuffed heads of department and senior managers + mandarins… more’s the pity.

         1 likes

  46. theisland says:

    Thread from a statistician re Covid misinformation or misleading facts being put out by the MSM and MPs here.

    See also https://www.statsjamie.co.uk and https://www.statsjamie.co.uk/planb/

       9 likes

  47. StewGreen says:

    Hugo Rifkind the Times TV reviewer
    He loved the BBC1 Black court drama You Don’t Know Me
    ..and reviewing Sex in The City, calls a character he doesn’t like “Donald Trump in a dress”

       6 likes

  48. tomo says:

    pfffffff…….

       2 likes

  49. Fedup2 says:

    It’s time for the weekend thread – let’s have a Party – or has that area of operation been taken by the blue Labour Party …?

       3 likes

  50. StewGreen says:

    Wokewatch.. the Times will always go for pic of a black person if it can
    The other Saturday the frontpage had two
    #1 Raheem Sterling
    #2 A refugee guy from Congo who is now a chef in England
    .. now I checked I see that was to promote the Refugee Charity that is part of the Times Christmas charity appeal.

       2 likes