Start the week 20 December 2021

As the party season is in full swing will the BBC declare a Christmas Truce over the hounding of the Prime Minister or Project Fear with everything and everyone being overwhelmed ?

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474 Responses to Start the week 20 December 2021

  1. harry142857 says:

    SPOTY – No thanks. Reccomend ITV4 – A Christmas Carol with George C Scott. Not quite Alistair Sim, but 7/10.

       20 likes

  2. An English Gentleman says:

    Until Boris (or whoever is the PM) gives permission to trigger Article 16 the N Ireland protocol/EU problem will remain. All the reichmasters in Brussels have to do is sit there and say NO to everything
    Apparently, Frost had been trying to get Boris to trigger A. 16 and he refused

       46 likes

  3. Northern Voter says:

    Can we be sure it was Boris, I know the man is a buffoon, but his advisers also know this and so, they are given free rein to give him bad advice with impunity.

       16 likes

  4. Up2snuff says:

    BBC WEB-SITE Weekend Watch #1 – yeah, I know it’s late

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-59667079 [read carefully] An incredible tale but am glad the marmoset is recovering. Mind you, if it was offered cocaine (and took it) I would expect it to be over the Moon.

    I’ll get my coat. Second time today. Oh dear.

       10 likes

  5. Zephir says:

    RE Boris, Not quite a buffoon maybe an enigma.

    I came across this opinion a while ago:

    “Johnson may be clever in the sense of Eton and Oxford, classics and descriptive subjects.

    His quick and entertaining mind is obvious to all – with a penchant for rhetoric or hyperbole – depending on the way one sees it.

    And yet clever is relative.

    There is another kind of clever that is able to pay attention to detail and take responsibility. These are inclinations and talents he seems to lack.

    You see Britain isn’t just the legacy of Chaucer, Keats or Tennyson. There is also the legacy of Newton, Keynes and Turing.

    The issue is that the kind of clever Johnson has cannot appreciate the latter.

    This issue is much more extreme in the UK than any other developed country. There is almost a medieval feel to it – with various explanations provided for it.

    CP Snow identified this nearly 60 years ago.

    This lack of ability to focus, to think rhetoric is everything, is the other side of clever of Johnson and Cameron, May and Gove, Eton and Oxford.

    The two cultures separation that Snow identified decades ago has long adversely affected the UK.

    Clever is not just Eton classics or Oxford PPE. Much more diversity of training, skill, and clever is needed.

    Johnson would have been a fantastic West End actor – but leading a country is more than entertaining rhetoric.

    The Two Cultures – Wikipedia

    I quote from Wikipedia:

    Snow’s Rede Lecture condemned the British educational system as having, since the Victorian era, over-rewarded the humanities (especially Latin and Greek) at the expense of scientific and engineering education, despite such achievements having been so decisive in winning the Second World War for the Allies.

    This in practice deprived British elites (in politics, administration, and industry) of adequate preparation to manage the modern scientific world. By contrast, Snow said, German and American schools sought to prepare their citizens equally in the sciences and humanities, and better scientific teaching enabled these countries’ rulers to compete more effectively in a scientific age. Later discussion of The Two Cultures tended to obscure Snow’s initial focus on differences between British systems (of both schooling and social class) and those of competing countries.”

       24 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Zephir
      I must agree – the fault lies with promoting those who are career minded whilst they exploit the minds of the science / fact / numbers minded.
      Infrequently someone in the latter mode makes it to the top – see maggie thatcher – but even they can lose the plot ….

      I bet nut nut surrounded himself with ‘ like minds’ leaving Cummings to do donkey stuff .

         5 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Mrs T, Fed, sometime after her death received a damning assessment from her old tutor at Oxford on BBC R4. Apparently she was too impatient, didn’t like learning facts and relied on gut instinct and intuition. Those latter two are necessary in a very small way for chemists (biologists can play with them all they like and physicists make money from them) but relied on too much by a chemist you can end up with big bangs as well as Big Bangs and cause a lot of collateral damage as happened.

           1 likes

    • G says:

      Z,
      The academic idiots I have come across have no idea that those much lower down the social scale, in the absence of any academic ability, possess a faculty they lack and can never develop:
      Raw animal cunning.

         7 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        A preacher I know used to use the words ‘street smart’ for the ‘quality’ you describe.

           3 likes

  6. Zephir says:

    The bbc, it appears, is full of “gernalists” with similar, although distinctly diluted qualifications in surprisingly non scientific “disciplines”, for a national news organisation that likes to pontificate on such matters at length,

    just sayin

       23 likes

    • Zelazek says:

      Zephir

      There is something in what you say, of course. But I also remember Enoch Powell saying that studying the classics was a good training for a politician because if you could master Latin and Ancient Greek you could probably master any portfolio allocated to you by the PM. Powell of course was an exceptional intellect who understood, in a way most of his contemporaries did not, the madness of mass immigration, the loss of sovereignty resulting from membership of the common market, and how printing money causes inflation.

      Boris Johnson’s problem, in my opinion, is a problem of attitude. He has the mental age of a gap year student. The PM job is merely something he has found to amuse himself with until he attains the maturity to settle down and become a responsible adult.

         31 likes

      • Zephir says:

        Z I do not disagree but will add something to consider:

        Boris is not a career politician, and considers himself an author, as such this tenure is nothing but a research episode at the expense of so much for the rest of the country

        Also, IMHO the classics are not the height of education, try quantum physics and also consider whether that gives one the right to run a country or just spend the day bouncing atoms into each other and see what happens

        Christ only knows what would have happened if my old Latin master was given half a chance in government, he had a big metre ruler known as the paki basher and another stick just to hit fat kids called the ham slicer

        Actually, now I think about it, why not

        With the psychotic violent Welsh ex boxer maths master they could form the dream team, but they would probably spend their time hanging around in the corridors nicking Jeremy Corbyns lunch money

           16 likes

        • Zephir says:

          I suspect there would be many more, like our school output that wake up in a cold sweat chanting the solution to quadratic equations, minus B plus or minus B squared minus four AC over 2 A and Caesars Gallic wars, “Gaul is divided into three parts etc”

          No doubt useful in Covid measures and trade wars with the Europeans, never did me no harm, never did much use either

             13 likes

          • Zephir says:

            Although I have developed over my formative years, an almost primal ability to dodge a well aimed, heavy wooden chalk duster whatever the velocity, and this has served me well in marriage as it also applies to many kitchen implement such as rolling pins

            They make much of transferable skills in the workplace nowadays so I also add side swipes from handbags, often after offering innocent well meaning driving tips such as which side of the road to occupy is the most beneficial for health and wellbeing and that giving way at junctions is a road rule not a charitable act depending on ones mood for the day

               24 likes

        • Zelazek says:

          Zephir

          Very entertaining.

          I would agree that quantum physics is harder than classics. But does that mean its graduates would make better politicians than classicists? I don’t think so.

          Quantum physics is such a rarefied field requiring an imagination that is way beyond most of us. I would say though that the price you pay for that imagination is losing touch with the concerns of ordinary people and everyday society.

          Thatcher was a chemistry graduate. A retentive memory is all that is required in that subject.

          Studying the Latin authors is a good training for a politician because every problem a modern politician is likely to face already happened in Ancient Rome.

          Of course this doesn’t mean that every classics graduate would make a good politician. Not at all. Most would be hopeless. Most people, no matter what their degree was in, would be hopeless. Good leadership is a very rare quality in my experience.

             5 likes

          • MarkyMark says:

            Former MP Keith Vaz launches surprise Labour comeback
            This article is more than 1 year old
            Disgraced former minister voted in as local party chair in Leicester East
            #https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/15/former-mp-keith-vaz-launches-surprise-labour-comeback

               1 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Not just the BBC. The attempts in the written media to illustrate various alleged trends, statistics ,facts etc on the pandemic have been laughable. The latest widely reported statistical joke, or perhaps something more sinister, has been the increase in the number of cases reported which fails to mention that the number of tests has also increased , almost in the same proportion as the number of cases! If theyreported the % of tests which gave a positive result the line would be an un dramatic slight increase over the past fortnight but no let’s have the meaningless hockey stick graph and cause panic just before Christmas.

         19 likes

  7. Sluff says:

    There now seems to be a headlong rush to impose more covid restrictions. And not just in the UK. The scare, doom and gloom mood music is palpable.
    Meanwhile the death rate is still going down while hospital admissions are fractionally up but way (80%) below the maximum of last January. And the growth in cases is mainly due to the under 35 group for whom covid serious illness rates are minimal. In older, boosted age groups, infection rates are flat.
    I sense a desire by certain sections of the public sector to keep themselves in work for ever by keeping the rest of us under lock and key for the same period.

       25 likes

    • JimS says:

      The public sector we can perhaps deal with, Bill Gates, George Soros, the EU and the UN perhaps not.

         19 likes

    • G says:

      Kay Burley acting like a proper journalist to get to the bottom of the ‘statistics’ and numbers hospitalised:

      Making mincemeat out of a Government representative.

         1 likes

  8. digg says:

    So.. we have Liz Truss as our representative for negotiations with the EU. Liz Truss the avowed remainer… I am just gobsmacked that this government can nod this sort of utterly anti national vote crap through.

    We need another election now!

    They are just taking the piss!

    Boris needs to go now!

       29 likes

    • taffman says:

      Brexit has been betrayed .
      Have you all forgotten the Conservative / Liberal Dem coalition ?
      The Tory party has been infiltrated by Libtards. That is why the BBC still gets funded by an archaic Tax, and more importantly that is why we have been invaded by 27000 plus illegals immigrants
      Wake up for God’s sake !
      Remember this Tory promise…………………………
      https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-pledges-to-control-and-reduce-immigration

         24 likes

      • G says:

        Think the majority across the country view this Government as finished. Thanks to lying, cheating, deceit and for law graduates, “going on a frolic of their own”.

        It’ll be all different under Xi.

           2 likes

  9. Zephir says:

    Give any normal person a few million and I would say they would be happy, buy a few nice cars, holidays etc

    but give a certain type of person a billion and they want to change the world society

    The Clintons keep coming back over and again and the Obamas via their wifes

    WHY is that ?

    And if they don’t win watch this space that Megan monster will be the next puppet

       24 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Closer to home Blair is stirring in his lair. Only fear of Labour hard left being in open revolt is stopping him being brought back by theunholy alliance of remoaners, The MSM , and the liberal blob. We have nothing to thank the hard left for but on this issue they are saving us from even more immigration, re joining the EU and Alistair Camobell.

         9 likes

  10. digg says:

    Liz Truss is the beginning of the end of the UK leaving the EU. We are about to be sold down the river.

       29 likes

    • theisland says:

      She was easily duped by (or compliant with) the crooked serpents at the MoJ when Justice Minister, so just think how easily she will be ‘managed’ by a combination of the traitors at the Foreign Office and EU officials. She will swallow everything they tell her.
      Not to mention the fact she campaigned for Remain.

         14 likes

  11. digg says:

    This government is now a joke. To all those people who thought their vote in the EU referendum was meaningful I say this. .. you have been duped and shat on. Now us the time to rise up and scream foul!

    Don’t let these foul Westminster weasels cheat you!

    I would like to see a MASSIVE vote for Farage at the next election. This Country now needs this to survive as an independent nation.

       34 likes

    • G says:

      On the basis of how Farage ‘managed’ UKIP. I don’t think so. It seemed to me that when I was a member, every other was at the throat of any other. Divisive to the extreme. I went into reverse quicker than I drove in. Give Farage the country………………
      He’s a one trick pony.
      I wrote to Farage P&C earlier this year with a suggestion that the next time he met up with the real leader (of proven ability) DJTrump esq, he put a valid suggestion to DJT. A very serious suggestion. Not even the courtesy of a reply.

         0 likes

  12. Zephir says:

    Give her a chance I say, the only Conservative politician with a decent pair and nice legs

    A first considering May and the likes, and as for the labour back bench, they look like a row of of witch doctor’s rattles, after a bad fire and someone putting it out with a shovel

    Send her into negotiations with a short skirt and tight blouse we might keep some fish and a few prawns whilst the french fiddle around in their pockets and breath garlic all over her

    just hand them a biro and tell them where to sign as she crosses her nylon clad legs

       23 likes

  13. digg says:

    Farage needs to put up a candidate in every election from now on.

       16 likes

    • taffman says:

      Farage was betrayed by the media .
      He did not get the support he needed from the Conservatives .
      The only way out now is a coalition of The Reform, Reclaim and UKIP parties .
      A revival of the Brexit Party .

         24 likes

      • Zephir says:

        Emerging & Minor UK Political Parties

        Now that the UK has moved away from a two-party (and two-and-a-half-party) system, it is necessary to consider the policies and ideologies of other parties. These parties have achieved varying successes at local, devolved and national level in recent years. This has been due to:

        The movement of Labour and the Conservatives towards the centre-ground, in an attempt to win over ‘swing’ voters, has left the left and right wings respectively of these parties feeling less represented, meaning smaller parties have been able to appeal to them
        Emerging parties are often populist, directly appealing to the people and presenting themselves as ‘outsiders’, away from the ‘Westminster political elite’. This has proved popular amongst many voters.
        Support for the Lib Dems has declined significantly since 2010. They were often seen as the obvious choice for those not wishing to vote for either of the two main parties, however being part of government changed their statues as the ‘protest’ party. Voters therefore wished to look for alternatives to them.

        UK IP

        The United Kingdom Independence Party was founded in 1993 by members of the Anti-Federalist League. The party’s main objectives were to secure the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union. The party is commonly known and referred to as UKIP.

        The Eurosceptic, right-wing populist party first made its first significant breakthrough at the local elections in 2013, when it came third in the nationwide share of votes, and fourth in terms of the number of council seats the party won.

        The most successful leader of UKIP was Nigel Farage, a founding member who held the position from 2010-16 (although he also held the leadership from 2006-2009), and had been an MEP since 1999.

        In the 2014 European Elections the party received the most votes from the UK – the first time for more than a century that a party other than the Conservatives or Labour has won.

        In October 2014 the party gained its first elected MP at Westminster by Douglas Carswell winning the Clacton seat by more than 12,000 votes – a swing of 44% from the Conservative party. Its second seat was achieved by Mark Reckless, a Tory defector who resigned and was re-elected for UKIP in Rochester and Strood.

        The public’s perception of a ‘single issue’ party led to Farage performing a full policy review, with his goals of ‘the development of the party into broadly standing for traditional conservative and libertarian values’. Despite gaining 12.6% of the vote in the 2015 election, UKIP only won one seat (Carswell). Farage himself failed for a seventh time to become an MP. Nevertheless, it has been argued that Farage and UKIP were the catalysts for the 2016 EU membership referendum. Following the vote to leave the EU, Farage resigned and was eventually replaced by Diane James. James only lasted 18 days as leader before herself resigning. Another candidate, Steven Woolfe, resigned from the party in October 2016, claiming it was ‘ungovernable’. Paul Nuttall became leader in November 2016. In March 2017, Carswell resigned from UKIP, declaring himself an independent MP.

        UKIP’s purpose having been fulfilled, the party has struggled to continue its success in the post-Farage, post-referendum era. Nuttall has pledged that UKIP will be the ‘guard dogs’ of Brexit, although the party fielded fewer candidates in the 2017 election. Support for the party in May 2017’s local elections declined significantly, with many Brexit voters opting to switch to the Conservatives.

           15 likes

        • Zephir says:

          “Steven Woolfe, resigned from the party in October 2016, claiming it was ‘ungovernable’.”

             2 likes

        • taffman says:

          Zephir
          “many Brexit voters opting to switch to the Conservatives.”
          I am pretty sure that many Brexit UKIP and Reform voters would reform and rally around a strong leader joined by true Tories because the present Tory Party is finished.

             13 likes

      • Banania says:

        It would be wonderful to keep Lord Frost on side. He would actually make an excellent Prime Minister.

           3 likes

  14. Zephir says:

    And how is the ‘ungovernable’.” addressed ? I was in Parliament Square on Brexit day (hundreds reported by bbc yet thousands there and around the city) and still pro Brexit rabble shouting abuse as Farage spoke for thier own strange agendas
    Like so many fringe parties, in no way shape or form a party in the true sense of common political identity, or discipline unfortunately, and never likely to be

       8 likes

    • taffman says:

      Zephir
      Well the Tory party are not “governing” they are dictating and destroying Great Britain. The have betrayed us .
      “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time”

         10 likes

  15. Zephir says:

    Dictate:

    state or order authoritatively

    Govern:

    conduct the policy, actions, and affairs of (a state, organization, or people) with authority.

       2 likes

  16. BRISSLES says:

    Still trying to figure out that 2 weeks ago we shut the door on all incoming flights from S Africa because of the Omicron, yet a week later there are 40 thousands cases and rising – now doubled. So, clearly Omicron was already in this country then BEFORE we shut the door ????

       21 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Remember COP26 ? a few weeks ago, all the world, Africa, Asia, Europe, descended upon us, from around the globe, with all their hundreds of drivers, security guards, PAs, typists and hairdressers and no one raised an eyebrow about it

      And no one will in the bbc especially, and yet my wife can still not travel freely to meet her elderly and near death relatives in asia without self isolating and paying thousands etc for a year so far

         32 likes

  17. taffman says:

    “Nadine Dorries ousted from Conservative WhatsApp group for praising PM”

    “He said there were two “critical” reasons for Mr Johnson’s large win in the December 2019 election – his Brexit deal being rejected by Parliament and the fact “someone (ahem) but not him persuaded [Nigel] Farage not to run against incumbents”.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59719162
    Rule Britannia !

       11 likes

    • Zephir says:

      She is treading a fine line….staking her future on a gamble

      I happen to know a couple of her aqaintances and would suggest she does not choose them wisely maybe

      BTW he is not a lord just calls himself that and is her neighbour: in a small village:

      Lord’s plan to open lap-dancing club until 4am

      Shaylers A CONTROVERSIAL lap-dancing club has applied for an extension of opening and alcohol serving hours.

      Shaylers in Church Street, Ampthill, which has sparked protests outside its building and thousands of residents signing a petition, made the proposals this week to open until 4am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

      It has also applied to Central Bedfordshire Council to serve alcohol until 3.30am on those respective days.

      Its current opening licence allows it to stay open until 1.30am but the club’s owner Lord John Shayler has sought for an additional two hours of sexual entertainment at the venue.

      Shaylers opened its doors in November amid protests among those there was the MP for Mid Bedfordshire Nadine Dorries.

      Dancers at the club claimed they had to enter the building undercover to avoid abuse.

      I happen to know she was a guest not a protestor and he does not own the building and had no permission to undertake this venture

         16 likes

  18. Zephir says:

    Curioser and curioser:

    “Bedfordshire ex lap dancing club grinds to sudden closure
    The controversial Number 4 bar and restaurant in Ampthill has myteriously closed its doors

    Hundreds of people protested against the opening of the dance club three years ago, with Mid Beds MP Nadine Dorris getting behind the campaign. (his neigbbour invited to the opening)”

    Her blog, when she has arrived home struggling to park her car after an 18 hour day and throws her keys to her neighbour Mr Shayler to park, is now no longer extant

       14 likes

  19. Zephir says:

    A Tory backbencher has admitted writing “fiction” on her blog to reassure constituents about how hard she was working.

    Nadine Dorries made the startling admission to investigators during a sleaze probe that cleared her of abusing the Commons expenses system but found she had “misled” voters.

    The Mid Bedfordshire MP had been accused of wrongly declaring her constituency property as her second home, even though she spent most of her time there.

    The arrangement meant she was entitled to allowances worth some £24,000 a year to fund the property.

    However, standards commissioner John Lyon concluded that the MP had not breached the rules – because she was actually spending the majority of her time in the Cotswolds.

    Ms Dorries told the probe the Bedfordshire property was merely used “as a means of maintaining a base in my constituency in order to assist with my duties as an MP”.

    Mr Lyon challenged her over posts on her blog that seemed to indicate she was spending more time in Bedfordshire than she really was.

       15 likes

  20. Zephir says:

    Still fancy that as an alternative Taff ?

       10 likes

  21. Zephir says:

    I recall this fool approaching my acquaintnce he rented the premises from unti he stopped paying rent and asking her can you just call yourself a lord ?

    It seems ms Dorris and the press believed him

       5 likes

  22. Zephir says:

    IMHO she is as bent and untrustworthy as they come, personal experience trumps all

    with the added charm of a whining Liverpool accent, desperately reduced into middle English in public as she sees opportunity, but no doubt there when she demands her car is parked for her

       16 likes

  23. Fedup2 says:

    On my last day before returning to Blighty I’ve already turned ‘Today ‘ off and now looked at the international BBC website – which features adverts ….. ( no moral issues there BBC )

    Anyway a leading story is complaints about ‘pret ‘. *Apparently ‘pret ‘ offered a deal where for £20 subscription a month you get unlimited drinks . But sometimes all the drinks are not available . Andrew from Watford says that in the afternoon all the mango and pineapple smoothies have gone .

    I think the suffering of Andrew deserves a moment of silence …is this a dream ?….

    * other overpriced coffee shops are available ( or closed )

       16 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Reading this story about not being able to buy a mango or pineapple smoothie in the afternoon (with tears in my eyes), I think I now know what they mean by ‘A First World Problem’. Now, I wonder what the odds are on one or more of the tormented souls referenced in the article being a BBC employee or otherwise connected with the BBC?

      Hint: phrases such as “100 percent” are likely to feature in the answer.

         8 likes

  24. Fedup2 says:

    Another day – another leaked number 10 picture …. I wonder if they know who is spilling thr beans ? Actually – it doesn’t really matter any more – ‘photo fatigue ‘ has set in . The public now believe nut nut is even dodgier than he was before ….

    … and denouncing people for not masking or distancing or whatever is so fashionable . Just shows that if you put the right ingredients / circumstances in – treachery isn’t far away …

       11 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Leads the Moaning Emole of course.

      Nothing else matters in the bizarre bubble the bbc inhabit.

      Labour, paragons of virtue, organisational genius and a bbc government in waiting, are afforded acres about the need for truth to be told.

      Via the BBC.

         10 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Ed is… pretty sure… good enough.

         4 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        BBC News FB

        A photo of Boris Johnson, his wife and 17 staff members in the Downing Street garden with bottles of wine and a cheese board in May 2020 shows them having a “work meeting”, No 10 has said.

        ***
        Clearly a stretch.

        And not good.

        But hardly the most crucial ‘news’ outside the kindergarten world of politics and media.

           12 likes

      • Johnda says:

        Isn’t this man chair of the “standards” committee. Who has no standards. On one morning breakfast show he slagged of Boris once again no standards. He is a disgrace.

           5 likes

  25. Zephir says:

    Interesting and rather disturbing how few things one can do on the supposed free internet without “creating an account” or “registering” or “subscribing”

    Try looking at facebook without an account and endless pop ups “you need an account”

    If one was conspiracy minded one could suggest a new and different form of control, I sold a guitar for a large amount of cash recently (paypal is insidious and I do not trust it as any buyer can claim anything and they will always refund)

    trying to use this cash it was difficult, I was looked at rather strangely for offering cash in many places, this is grounds for conspiracy, using the virus as an excuse

       17 likes

  26. dafydd says:

    More picture of Downing Street…

    What I really would love to know who the leak is..His must be being paid well.

    BBC not going on this hard but Sky going for the jugular and don’t you just love the irony that Kay “law breaker ” Burley is pushing this story.

    Love the way correspondents walk the streets trying to find people who are shocked at these new pics but forget to interview the majority who couldn’t give a sh-t and as usual they drag out and interview the angry relatives of the COVID dead and I dare say many were unvaccinated

    And why are they neglecting the picture of Starmer who last May was also was caught having a beer indoors with other canvassers..

    Media will not rest until they have there political scalp

       25 likes

  27. Zephir says:

    This is headline news according to the bbc this morning:

    Tortured to death: Myanmar mass killings revealed

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59699556

    this is not news AT ALL according to the bbc so ignored entirely:

    Thousands of Nigerian Christians have been murdered or abducted by Islamic militants since the beginning of the year, a civil liberties group has reported.

    Intersociety estimates that almost 3,500 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 1 January 2021, attributing the majority of deaths to extremist Fulani herdsmen.

    Nigeria is one of the worst countries in the world for Christian persecution – ranked ninth in Open Door’s World Watch List – despite almost half of the population being Christian.

    https://www.christian.org.uk/news/dramatic-rise-in-persecution-of-christians-in-nigeria/

    The Horrific Killing of Christians in Nigeria

    Horrific massacres of Christians in the northern and middle parts of Nigeria at the hands of Muslim militants and terrorists have been a daily occurrence in recent years.

    Nigeria, a nation of close to 200 million, is made up about evenly of Christians and Muslims. Christians live predominantly in the South; Muslims are the majority in the North.

    Over 11,500 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria since June 2015, Genocide Watch reported in April.

    https://www.heritage.org/africa/commentary/the-horrific-killing-christians-nigeria

    With mass murders of Christians and persecutions of other religious minorities, should Nigeria be redesignated a Country of Particular Concern?

    https://baptistnews.com/article/with-mass-murders-of-christians-and-persecutions-of-other-religious-minorities-should-nigeria-be-redesignated-a-country-of-particular-concern/

       29 likes

  28. Zephir says:

    But the bbc is happy to report:

    Nigeria’s Muslims applaud lifting of hijab ban in Lagos schools

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-36865257

    and

    A portrait of Nigeria, seen through the eyes of a new generation of writers and poets.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06s7xct

    and yet more:

    Nigerian law student allowed to wear hijab at graduation ceremony

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-44792635

    the bbc are truly sick twisted f@ckers

    Christian pastor is beheaded by Islamists in Nigeria days after appealing for help in a Boko Haram video – and less than a week after child shoots dead another Christian in ISIS video

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7917627/Christian-pastor-beheaded-Islamists-Nigeria-days-begging-life-Boko-Haram-video.html

       35 likes

    • Zephir says:

      How sick and twisted in one’s mind does one have to be to portray Nigeria as a country where muslims struggle to wear a scarf around their head whilst completely and utterly ignoring the mass murder of Christians by the very same muslims ?

      Maybe as sick as accusing Jews being racially abused and attacked by muslims for saying a bad word whilst under attack

      Truly sick in the mind

         43 likes

  29. andyjsnape says:

    Tortured to death: Myanmar mass killings revealed
    “reports” the bBC
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59699556

    Grandpas been tortured, because someone said it was the military, its the military

       7 likes

  30. Guest Who says:

    Stats, darn stats, and… Dick

       3 likes

    • gb123 says:

      To use a Cathy Newman tag . So what you’re saying is, the facts don’t fit the agenda so we need to deflect and omit what we don’t want the public to know. Normal Beeb tactics in full swing.

         16 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      Nothing , absolutely nothing, that appears on the BBC is what it seems and nothing can be trusted.

         21 likes

  31. theisland says:

    Tony Blair Institute for Global Change Education, Education, Education by Tony Blair and Andrew Adonis,
    Submission to The Times Education Commission
    June 2021.

       7 likes

  32. Guest Who says:

    Via Marianna, so it is likely accurate.

       4 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “H-” = Heterosexual Minus.

      Tensions between trans women and gay men boil over at Stonewall anniversary
      By Matthew Lavietes

      4 MIN READ

      NEW YORK (Reuters) – A black transgender woman wanted to be heard, but the white men wanted to celebrate.

         4 likes

    • Zephir says:

      OK Josh, first story for you

      I met a woman and one thing lead to another (as you know) , and next thing he’s got his big hairy cock out and asking me to do terrible things and taking a strong interest in my number 2 thing

      am I transphobic ? should I apologise ?

      Where is that bloody Harry Potter woman when you need help, I may be able to smack his balls with a dencent wand

         9 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      2 previous @BBCNews LGBT producers in 2021

      Her bio now says : Senior Home/Social Affairs producer for the BBC.
      so I guess she is leaving the LGBT job soon

      Ammar Ebrahim tweeted Feb 22
      Had a fun few months working as the LGBT producer on @BBCNews with @BenInLDN .
      Proud to have shone a spotlight on the experiences of LGBT Muslims
      and the challenges faced by LGBT people with #LearningDisabilities.

         3 likes

  33. AsISeeIt says:

    Iconomics

    So it is that the BBC’s legacy light entertainment, still lingeringly semi-popular, Strictly dance show becomes a rainbow glitterball showcase for the promotion of bien pensant difference in race, sexual orientation and now disability. The left-leaning metropolitian millennial midwit-pitched ‘i’ newspaper best catches the BBC spirit this morning: ‘What Rose’s Strictly win means for deaf people like me. By Liam O’Dell

    Our Liam’s Twitter: ‘Great to speak to BBC News this evening about what @RoseAylingEllis #Strictly win means to the #Deaf community. It’s important now that the buzz, passion and momentum generated by Rose’s journey does not dissipate – let’s continue uplifting Deaf people!

    Our Liam’s Twitter profile:

    Award winning deaf & disabled journalist/Campaigner” – you see it’s all about the awards and the indentity and – nor forgetting – the campaigning. (Pronouns “He/Him” – who asked?)

    And the first two Twitter comments he elicits: ‘I agree. The momentum needs to continue.‘; and ‘I absolutely agree Liam! Rose’s Strictly win is just the start- lets see more!

    Never enough, is it, when you’re a campainger?

    So what will a Strictly moment actually do for the deaf?

    I’m reminded of how little the entire dance career of Fred Astaire did for baldies: “Slightly bald and can dance a little” – was Fred ever held up like an icon for the follically challenged?

    Let’s not bother to look too closely at how a half-Romanian half-Chinese girl apparently resident in Bromley – but of course ‘Raducanu gave her speech from self-isolation after testing positive for COVID last week while in Abu Dhabi for a tournament‘ (Sky News) because the international tennis circuit is… international… manages to win BBC SPOTY, for the supposed reason – as the Times gushes: ‘She ended Britain’s 44 year wait for a women’s singles championship…

    Boards more diverse. Almost half of Britain’s leading quoted companies now have a director of colour…‘ (Times) – not a director of sales or a director of production, but a director of colour, mind you – one speculates on the response from campaingers? “The momentum needs to continue… absolutely agree! … just the start – lets see more” (?)

    The ‘i’ frets: ‘Sunak faces calls for emergency Covid Budget to bail out crisis-hit hospitality sector‘ – the govenment knackers the private hospitality sector with the pretence it is protecting the public hospital sector and then has to repair the damage with cash borrowed and printed for which we the tax payers will have to pay. That’s ‘i’-conomics. for you.

       16 likes

    • Zephir says:

      “half Romanian half Chinese” I am sure I came across one of them once they picked my pocket then 40 minutes later I wanted another one

      Neither of them worked properly

         6 likes

    • JimS says:

      “What Rose’s Strictly win means for deaf people like me. By Liam O’Dell”

      And there is me thinking that the deaf already run government and the BBC. Or maybe they just aren’t listening?

         9 likes

  34. Guest Who says:

    Along with a few others, Champion… literally.

       5 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Playing ping pong with that nice mr stalin …

         6 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Bet her zoom bookcase is a hoot.

        I wonder if the politics little red book section is separate from the library of massive championships…

           6 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      PInochet was a bad man
      but has Ash ever criticised similar Arab or Pakistani dictators ?

         12 likes

  35. Fedup2 says:

    John Redwood on twitter makes a valuable point about the msm needing to show an ‘expert ‘ prediction record when they put them on the TV to spout panic .

    The BBC has a ‘stable ‘ of ego driven scientists whose records are never questioned …

       18 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast
      BBC Radio 5 Live, Wednesday 3 January 2018

      During a phone-in on the programme a contributor, Danielle Tiplady was introduced as a staff nurse. We should have established and made clear on air that she was a political activist.

      08/01/2018

         8 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      This tweet ?

         9 likes

  36. MarkyMark says:

    John Cleese to complain over BBC interview
    Published3 days ago

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59681167

    The Monty Python star tweeted that journalist Karishma Vaswani had tried to portray him as “old-fashioned, uncaring and basically harmful”.

       10 likes

  37. MarkyMark says:

    Last year he laid into the “cowardly and gutless” BBC after an episode of Fawlty Towers was temporarily removed from a BBC-owned streaming platform.

    A 1975 episode titled The Germans was taken off UKTV’s streaming service because it contains “racial slurs”.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59681167

       8 likes

  38. Zephir says:

    First and second generation immigrants, not accepting British values or religion, imposing their sexist, homophobic, completely intolerant culture and racism upon the country that they gained their education and benefits from

    It is, in our charming immigrants opinions “completely unaccceptable” for our culture to do what we do

    (which, by the way does not involve burning churches and attacking Christians which they may be familiar with)

    https://news.sky.com/story/batley-grammar-school-protest-over-image-of-prophet-mohammed-shown-in-class-unacceptable-say-education-officials-12256247

       17 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      article dated Friday 26 March 2021

         2 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?)

      https://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).
      Who can reconcile that?
      What were Warsi’s thoughts on Hebdo and kiddy cartoons?

         12 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        That video is marked “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been closed.”
        Its title was
        “7 Times Douglas Murray Offended Your Idiotic Beliefs”

        Here’s a similar title … https://youtu.be/t9jkuaeTcrk

           7 likes

  39. Sluff says:

    And here are the football results from this weekend.
    Newcastle United 0 Manchester City 4. Attendance 52,127
    Manchester United 5 Aston Villa 0. Attendance 1,001.

    Wait a minute. 1,001? Yep. That one was the women’s match.

    Seems the BBC’s incessant ‘wimmins equality in football’ campaign has some way to go, out here in the real world.

       21 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Surely this can be settled easily, get the two top football teams to compete. Weight the wages based on the final scores e.g. A score of 2/2 would mean an equal split. A score of 100/1 would mean the side what won got 100x wages. Do this every year, an interesting game indeed. *

      It is commonly believed that a screw-propeller for ships is more efficient than a paddle wheel. Have there been any experiments under properly controlled conditions?

      THE event that settled the argument took place in April 1845. The screw-driven Rattler and the paddle steamer Necto , both ships of similar size and power, were joined stern to stern and engaged in a bizarre tug o’war in the North Sea. The winner was the 200 hp Rattler (screw design), which towed the Necto (paddle design) backwards for 5 miles at 2½ knots {theguardian 2011}. – Julian Frost, Leighton Buzzard, Beds

      * just a thought experiment!

      https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2017/08/02/midweek-open-thread-34/#comment-856747

         6 likes

    • Zephir says:

      If they were to take their shirt off when they score it might add a couple

      but a quick perusal from me no, dont bother, I am hoping its offside, get your shirt on

         7 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      500 girl friends and relatives per side seems a good turn out .

         11 likes

  40. Sluff says:

    The BBC news department are absolutely in heaven this morning. You can hear it in the joy in their voices, the upbeat tone of a section of the main news
    How so?
    Because a ‘left wing former student activist’ has defeated the ‘far right’ candidate in the presidential election in….errr…….Chile.

    Reports on Venezuela interestingly have not featured for months.

       21 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Ideology blinds Jeremy Corbyn to Venezuela’s plight
      British Labour party leader prioritises the collective above the rights of the citizen
      https://www.ft.com/content/83424336-2a29-11e9-88a4-c32129756dd8

         3 likes

      • Sluff says:

        For Jeremy Corbin you can read
        1. The Labour Party
        2. The Greens
        3. The SNP
        4. Increasingly the Lib Dums (whose original differentiation with Labour was priority for the individual – clearly no longer)
        5. Regrettably, Boris and a number of red Tories.
        6. The whole of the public sector.

           9 likes

  41. Zephir says:

    WE ALL KNOW the muslims in Luton abused soldiers and there is NOTHING left on the commonly used internet

    why ?

    instead we get this :

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1351507/Britain-holds-Christian-Patrol-Luton-streets.html

       9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      BBC Strictly Come Dancing contestant Stacey Dooley … will the BBC mention Stacey’s visit to home town Luton and meeting Anjem Choudary (Anjem backed the remain campaign)?

      “What’s the solution? If Muslim people are in the wrong and they are committing crimes… you know, no one is above the law.” – Stacey Dooley

      “If the law of the land is Islamic, we will respect the law of the land. If it’s not Islamic (the law) then the law of the land, and those who make them, can go to hell quite honestly.” – Anjem Choudary

      “Oh my God!” – Stacey Dooley

      “Because Allah says in the Koran Q33v1 ‘Fear Allah, and do not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Is David Cameron a Muslim of a disbeliever? Guys?” – Anjem Choudary

      “Disbeliever!” – mumbles crowd of 5 other Muslims

      “So you (a Muslim) can’t obey him (UK Law). So he (David Cameron) can go to hell.” – Anjem Choudary

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=197&v=b2nlIfn8tNA

      “Go put on some clothes.”
      – Muslim women wearing black Burqa talks to Stacey, who is wearing a pretty summer dress

         9 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        That video is marked “This video isn’t available any more”
        One title was
        “Muslim Burka women tells English girl she’s naked”

        5 minute Youtube contains the segment : https://youtu.be/hHvDy_X_hDM
        full video : https://www.mrctv.org/videos/my-home-town-fanatics-stacey-dooley-investigates

           7 likes

        • MarkyMark says:

          Video removed to stop hate spreading – or a non crime being committed.

             4 likes

          • StewGreen says:

            Lefty videos tend not to get removed
            Righty videos do get removed, partially as a result of lefties using false reporting as a weapon
            but also cos righty account owners are often clumsy and they give YouTube an excuse to close down their whole account
            and thus remove other videos which did comply with the rules.

               11 likes

          • Banania says:

            Can a “non-crime” be “committed”? If it is a non-crime—i.e. there is no crime—then “committing” doesn’t come into it.

               2 likes

            • Philip_2 says:

              You don’t have to actually ‘commit’ a crime – when its registered by the Police. It is enough to ‘simply ’cause’ an ‘offence’ (to be registered and recorded by the Police) – and there is currently UK no Court ruling on any of it nor (as it non-crime) – so cannot it be ‘removed’ by The Courts but it goes on a ‘file’ for ‘public services’ access and tracking, i,e barring from ‘state’ jobs possibly by CRB checks and DBS.
              A 1984 trick adopted. You cannot ‘remove it’ as it officially does not exist! Twitter followers love it who are easily ‘offended’. BBC types mainly claiming LIFE is ‘offensive’. The Police never question the motive.

                 0 likes

  42. Sluff says:

    Just thinking about the latest shock horror picture of people in the Downing Street garden.
    First up. The PM lives and works in essentially the same building. So when does work stop and private time start? Does he need to clock in and out?

    Second, and getting a little technical. I recall a cultural breakdown between ‘monochromic ‘ cultures and ‘polychromic’ cultures. In one type ‘work is work and play is play’ and is typical of the UK, Japan, USA etc. in the other ‘work is part of life’ and is typical of the Indian subcontinent. Think about the cliche of the ‘corner shop’.
    Boris is stuck in the middle of this. He’s basically on duty 24/7 but lives above the shop. How is the guy supposed to live during a time of rules differentiating between work and home?

    Ok so he’s useless but even so. Do we really want the country only to be run on Zoom so ‘it’s the same for everybody’?

       14 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Boris had Covid early on
      so certainly has a degree of natural resistance
      so anyone sitting next to him is unlikely to be catching Covid off him
      Perhaps some of the 17 staff have also had Covid.

         7 likes

      • BRISSLES says:

        Well, to my weary eyes, apart from Bo and wife, the rest are suitably spaced apart, and even in the background, people who are standing are not exactly clinging on to one another.

        If a photographer happened to walk past my house around that time in 2020 they would have spotted in my front garden, a table and 4 chairs suitably spaced, where I held an afternoon tea and cake party !!!! So sue me !

        Having a social drink with someone in an outside setting during summer is totally different from kissing and hugging someone at a funeral or wedding.

        In essence, I couldn’t give a monkeys what Downing Street get up to, but I do worry about the idiot ‘advisors’ with a teenage mentality that Bojo has around him. He needs middle aged suits to advise him, and should send the current lot off to play on the beach.

           18 likes

  43. StewGreen says:

    The #BBC100Women list is deliberately 50% Afghan
    isn’t that BBC racism ?

       9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Every women killed in Afghan is due to Biden’s failed policy? YES? NO?

         7 likes

      • JohnC says:

        Don’t forget the hundreds of men who have disappeared and/or been executed.

        The BBC don’t give a flying f*ck about them. They only care about touchy/feely stories like air hostesses who got told not to go into work, girls football teams or a couple of musicians.

        They have been the extra mile to support Biden + try to destroy Trump and their hands are as wet with blood as his. But they do not care one bit : the agenda is everything. This is the real face of the Left.

           17 likes

    • JohnC says:

      The BBC don’t seem to realise that by doing this, they make every other award and list they conjure up utterly worthless.

      I dismiss them without even reading them now.

         12 likes

    • digg says:

      Utter childish Fluff!

         1 likes

  44. Guest Who says:

    BBC News

    Early season snow on Mont Blanc is the best Chamonix has seen for years – but Brits won’t be there to enjoy it. 🏔️

    ***
    Even the BBC Rome Correspondent?

    Keen skier. Apparently.

    Corresponding… maybe less so.

       6 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      400 NHS doctors, including surgeons, took a break at French resort Val d’Isere.
      The conference at a luxury ski resort held despite the NHS’s worst winter crisis.
      It was taxpayer-subsidised with doctors given seven hours every day to explore.

         14 likes

  45. MarkyMark says:

    NHS in Crisis …
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5320623/NHS-doctors-ski-break-winter-emergency.html

    NHS crisis? What crisis?: Hitting the champers after a hard day on the slopes of a très chic ski resort…400 doctors take a break from NHS’s worst winter emergency at a medical conference – bankrolled by YOU
    400 NHS doctors, including surgeons, took a break at French resort Val d’Isere
    The conference at a luxury ski resort held despite the NHS’s worst winter crisis
    It was taxpayer-subsidised with doctors given seven hours every day to explore
    By SIMON MURPHY FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

    PUBLISHED: 22:14, 27 January 2018

       5 likes

  46. Guest Who says:

    Going well online.

       6 likes

  47. dafydd says:

    Does anybody on here really give a sh-t about all these pictures of Downing Street, i sodding well dont..??

    Lets not kid each other, i bet most at some stage broke covid rules, intentionally or other wise.

    The hypocrisy of Kay Burely on Sky, giving Rabb a hard time over the latest picture. What gives that awful woman the moral justification to question anybody after her antic’s.

    Interestingly the BBC are quite quiet on the latest picture disclosure. Perhaps its because rumors are still circulating regarding the conduct of there own staff during lock down.

    Either way, with all the crap thats going on in the world the media needs to move on and cover stories that need covering not just spiteful innuendo and waffle…

       14 likes

  48. MarkyMark says:

    Responding to non-crime hate incidents
    Not every reported incident is a crime. If officers are unsure whether a reported incident amounts to a crime, an initial investigation should be undertaken to establish the facts to determine whether it is a hate crime or a non-crime hate incident.

    https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/major-investigation-and-public-protection/hate-crime/responding-to-non-crime-hate-incidents/

       4 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      College of Policing : Hate Crime rules have just been overturned by High Court judgement
      see the next page.

         7 likes

  49. MarkyMark says:

    Where it is established that a criminal offence has not taken place, but the victim or any other person perceives that the incident was motivated wholly or partially by hostility, it should be recorded and flagged as a non-crime hate incident.

    https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/major-investigation-and-public-protection/hate-crime/responding-to-non-crime-hate-incidents/

       5 likes

  50. MarkyMark says:

    There may be an overlap between a perceived non-crime hate incident and the legitimate exercise of rights and freedoms conferred by the Human Rights Act 1998.
    https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/major-investigation-and-public-protection/hate-crime/responding-to-non-crime-hate-incidents/

       7 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Breaking : College of Policing just lot in court
      .. they may appeal.

         25 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        “lawfully sacked for writing tweets which criticised government policies.” {bbc.co.uk aug2019} – the death of freedom of speech.
        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-49259942

        1765 …. **In a republic worthy of name, freedom to publish one ’s thoughts is a citizen’s natural right.** They may use a pen or their voice, and should not be prevented from writing any more than speaking …That is the law in England, a monarchical country, where people are freer than elsewhere because they are more enlightened. – Voltaire, Republican Ideas, 1765

        2019 …Australia’s highest court has made a landmark ruling that a public servant was lawfully sacked for writing tweets which criticised government policies. The court rejected her claim that she had been denied a right to free speech. – Australia, 2019

        1765 … **In a republic worthy of name, freedom to publish one’s thoughts is a citizen’s natural right.**

        2019 … ** a public servant was lawfully sacked for writing tweets which criticised government policies.**

        https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2019/08/06/midweek-open-thread-7-august-2019/comment-page-4/#comment-1005808

           10 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Stew – thanks for that – i will read the Appeal Court judgement with interest —i wonder if there was dissent? A very important case …

           10 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Ah there college might not be able to appeal further, cos this was a Court of Appeal judgement.

        Harry Miller has won his case against the College of Policing at the Court of Appeal.
        The court ruled that the CoP’s guidance on the recording of non-crime hate incidents is unlawful interference in freedom of expression. Full judgement to follow.

        The college answer back
        https://www.college.police.uk/article/court-appeal-hate-crime-guidance-ruling

           8 likes