463 Responses to Christmas 2021

  1. Zephir says:

    How to decipher the “news ” in 2021

    “Major brands will go broke if they DON’T go woke, marketing experts claim: Report says firms will be hit by consumer activism if they brush off objections to sexist ads”

    The study, led by Karen Middleton, senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Portsmouth,

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10347857/Major-brands-broke-DONT-woke-marketing-experts-claim.html

    OK lets check who this is:

    PhD Gender and diversity in advertising (in progress)
    MCIM

    Biography
    My main field of research covers gender issues in advertising. My work includes research questions such as:
    Why are there so few women working in creative roles in advertising?
    What are the cultural and socio-economic impacts on the portrayal of women in advertising?
    Does sex still sell?
    How do individual differences influence audiences’ self-evaluation processes when exposed to idealised body images in advertising?

       6 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Xe use Gillette to Brazilian xe’s sideburns and pits?

         3 likes

      • Zephir says:

        Who says there are “so few wimmin” you do

        What about why are there so few women out fixing the roads on night shift in the pouring rain or building houses in the winter ?

        Why are there so few men in HR departments ?

        What are the implications for public safety in lowering fitness standards to get more wimmin in the fire service ?

        Why are women bullies just called “feisty” ?

           10 likes

  2. Fedup2 says:

    Today / BBC News watch

    Deception in the news . The BBC – which I always regarded as a supporter of IRA killers – gleefully reports that papers released by Eire showed that the Traitor John Major admitted the IRA could not be beaten .

    What it did not say was that that was in 1992- I had to go way to research that . The truth ? That the USA permitted funding and emotional support to ‘the boys ‘ until the USA discovered terrorism on 9/11.

    After that it was a matter of time – and the door was always open to a more ‘robust ‘ military approach leading to them running out of ‘heroes ‘…

    BBC just wishful thinking and showing IRA support is still alive …

       21 likes

    • Doublethinker says:

      We all know that if the Republic’s government had wished to end the IRA’s terror and robustly cooperated with the UK the IRA would have been snuffed out in a few months.
      These days we once again see the Republic’s government using the threat of IRA terror for political purposes at the behest of the EU.
      I think it was the 19 th century German military theorist Von Clausewitz who said that war was the continuation of politics by other means. Well in the 21st century if we substitute terror for war the aphorism stands up well.

         24 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Double – I often gamed a another terrorist campaign where unionist fought against a unification move – with the republic as the chief victim ….but maybe time and money will take the sting out such an event .

        We have to add the EU guest workers to the equation now too

           3 likes

  3. Fedup2 says:

    BBC – I can’t think of anything more boring than watching cricket apart from talking about it ….

       8 likes

  4. theisland says:

    More vaccine stuff for the ‘experts’ at the bBC to check.

       0 likes

  5. Guest Who says:

    Warm out.

    Is that Justin and Matt behind in their thongs?

       4 likes

  6. Guest Who says:

    Trying to figure who Mike Wendling would block first.

       1 likes

  7. Fedup2 says:

    Today
    I think they had a green Marxist type as editor – Robinson ‘interviewed ‘ some plummy ‘city farmer ‘ gal about the cost of food . This comrade argued it was too cheap and was quickly cut off by Robinson before she went for the far left headline .

    My prejudice stepped in and I assessed her as very wealthy and carefree and had no idea about the struggles people without big bank balances or ‘portfolios’ go through each month .

    Funny how these green fundamentalists all sound so angry and hateful …. And far lefty ….

       28 likes

    • DYKEVISIONS says:

      Guest editor James Rebanks, paid up member of Labour Party, BBC stooge, being unchallenged on any ‘fact’ he blurted out.

      Plenty of politics and of course, to cure poverty …’redistribution of wealth’ is the answer. Oh and Trump is to blame for the opioid crisis and obesity in the mid west?

      Red Robbo listened carefully and praised the tick boxing commie diatribe in the time allotted.

      Listen, if you dare..
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0012s7d
      at 2:53:50
      l

         14 likes

  8. Fedup2 says:

    Can’t find the viewing figures but apparently the one with an Irish bloke dressed as a woman wasn’t watched much nor was the eastenders crap .
    The ITV – as usual – relied on the coronation street habit . Is that a case of watching a dead horse being flogged ?

       26 likes

  9. AsISeeIt says:

    Nervous ninnies, Bleak NHS
    Organisations purporting to parent us
    And surely things are worse than that?

    Sensing the flavour of the times the Daily Mail takes the plunge and in the silly season between Xmas and NY turns itself into the medical dictionary:

    Hi-tech goggles to beat glaucoma

    I won Strictly, but dancing has given me arthritis

    Can a lollipop really ease a sore throat?

    I know it’s not exactly the Lancet but ten out of ten for effort, I think you’ll agree.

    In light of the dire lack of good TV entertainment and rarity of live panto this year the Mirror meanwhile is making a big song and dance over its fretting that Boris hasn’t made the effort: ‘Johnson no-show. Record Covid cases… NHS staffing crisis looms… No NYE curbs but uncertainty reigns… and a nervous nation needs leadership. So hang on… Where’s the PM? Vacant. The empty Downing Street podium

    Cue Sir Keir Starmer? The man of the moment to save the New Year’s Day? The great leader, descending from on high, to rescue the nervous nation, entering the fray in some Leni Riefenstahl-like climax… or is he perhaps off somewhere, self-isolating yet again? You’ve found your best policy, mate. Lie low.

    The ‘i’ newspaper admits that it is not really Omicron that is filling scarce NHS beds and endangering the population, but the fact that so many NHS staff are off on sickies:

    But NHS remains under pressure with leading medics telling ‘i’ that hospitals face a ‘bleak’ situation ‘with no end in sight’ as thousands of workers are off sick with Covid

    Sorry, but that rastafarian telling ‘i’ always make me smile.

    We’ve elevated mild seasonal sniffles, or a dodgy daily test result for an otherwise symptomless case, or even yet some supposed pinged contact with one of the former, into reason and excuse for a welcome justified fully-paid break from work. Don’t even get me started on the tales they tell us pedestrians about the supposed effectiveness of medical masks. Plus there’s surely mountains of masks and the further readily available full panoply of PPE presumably available within the NHS? But best be on the safe side. Close the ICU and you take a nice fortnight off.

    The 1970s were the hay day of those short health and safety TV public information films, advising us about every danger from cartoon characters telling us when to call the coastguard to the incomprehensible cat Charley Says.. don’t go with strangers.

    Not that that cramped Jimmy Savile’s style by much. In fact, he even got in on the act with his Clunk-Click.

    The BBC don’t do ad breaks as such but they are always keen to get in on the act: ‘Smoking: Children of parents who smoke are four times more likely to take up habit, study says

    There’s scarcely an institution or organisation these days that isn’t purporting to parent us: ‘National Trust stubs out cigar sales at Winston Churchill’s home‘ (‘i’)

    Because yes, the fact that middle class off spring, couped up for a three hour excusion in the Volvo, only to be dragged vaguely willing around a National Trust stately home of a weekend, won’t now catch sight of a box of La Aroma de Cuba in ye exit via ye olde gift shoppe – that will obviously save the delinquents on the estates jonesing for a fag – when they’re already passing around the skunk.

    Speaking of stately homes…

    Following their initial excitment our BBC online news frontpage dropped the Windsor Castle intruder story like a stone – thrown off the battlements.

    The father of the teenager suspected of breaking into Windsor Castle with a crossbow has said: “Something’s gone horribly wrong with our son”‘ (Times) – yeah, he turned out not to be white British: ‘Two faces of “crossbow intruder who wanted to assassinate Queen”… Jaswant Singh Chali‘ (Daily Mail)

    I’m guessing we’ll soon be told he was radicalised by watching too many boxed sets of Game of Thrones and was only in the castle grounds because he was larping as Tyrion Lannister.

    Crossbows now a problem? Ban ’em! ‘Crossbow laws may be tightened by Priti Patel‘ (Telegraph) – ah, bend the knee and swear a great oath to the Brown Queen – who, by the way, can’t yet find any way to stop those other intruders storming our moat in their thousands.

    An Englishman’s home is his castle – albeit mortgaged to the hilt.

    Houshold energy bills “set to double”‘ (Times)

    But – as our jounalists are apt to ask – surely things are worse than that?

    Energy bills could treble unless £20bn fund is set up to help, ministers warned‘ (Telegraph)

    And, as they used to say in Game of Thrones – winter is coming.

    Or as the Mirror would have it – uncertainty reigns.

       18 likes

  10. StewGreen says:

    9:40am Radio4 “black workers are the care givers” ..”since slavery”
    The topic is supposed to be the future of social care, but the speaker has gone down a tangent.
    (She is Chinese American)

    9am A lot on Twitter described Jon Ronson’s show as lefty
    Yes he did a show about CRT without mentioning Rittenhouse, or Jussie Smollet,
    but in the section with Robin Di’Angelo he did give her enough rope to hang herself, questioning her about her weird phrase that people should shut up unless they have years of experience *
    and the emphasising that “everyone’s opinion is not equally valid”
    That is wooly ..cos the Emperor’s new clothes tells us the small innocent boy can expose truth over the experienced tailors.

    * Quote “if you are white, and you have not devoted years of sustained study, struggle, and focus on this topic, your opinions are necessarily limited, superficial and uninformed”

       13 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      I’m still a bit phased that the today programme yesterday had a white Tory peer telling us that 1 in 4 coloured men could get prostate cancer and in whitee it is 1 in 8 ..

      I guess wimmin s hour wouldn’t feature that on a regular basis ….nor have attention paid to it . NHS racist or sexism – using lefty nomenclature….

         8 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        Why 1 in 4? Are we different?

        More than one in four nurses in England is obese, according to a new study, which warns this could hamper their ability to deliver safe and effective care. … The analysis found 25.1% of nurses were obese compared with 14.4% of “other healthcare professionals”, which included doctors and dentists.5 Dec 2017

           8 likes

      • Docmarooned says:

        That is a blatant lie. Prostate cancer in 1 in 5 for coloured and 1 in 6 in white males. They just skew the figures to suit their narrative. I am a real doctor.

           13 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          Doc -can i have a PSA test as your medical mafia colleague aka my GP wont give me one.
          I am aware of the accuracy issue . I asked for the physical test but that was refused too …
          I am in a high risk group

             6 likes

          • Docmarooned says:

            Fed – As you allude to the problem is reliabilty of the test. Still a problem with false positive thus possibly causing unecessary investigations and possibly harmful treatment.

               2 likes

            • Fred Stubber says:

              But it would lead to a biopsy, and can’t that be done by MRI these days? (I wouldn’t wish the transrectal procedure on anyone)

                 1 likes

        • grobin785 says:

          You’re not a very good doctor;

          “In England, Black men are at twice the risk of being diagnosed with, and dying from, prostate cancer compared to White men. This is an important message to communicate to Black men. White, Black, and Asian men with a prostate cancer diagnosis are all as likely to die from the disease, independent of their ethnicity. Nonetheless, proportionally more Black men are dying from prostate cancer in England.”

          https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-015-0405-5

             5 likes

        • StewGreen says:

          @Doc I mentioned a few days ago that ITV carried a charity advert from a prostate cancer charity that first said 1/8 men get it, but then brought a black guy as their thrust became 1/4 black men get it.

             1 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      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

         3 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      The online prog is about 37 minutes
      That’s about 9 minutes longer.
      ah hang on the last 2 minutes is a trailor for Gabriel Gatehouse’s podcast The Coming Storm
      ..which has a weird take on January 6th Capitol
      “a strange fantasy had gripped America, about how a cabal of Satanic paedophiles had stolen an election.”

         2 likes

  11. MarkyMark says:

    China also accused the US of putting astronauts in danger by ignoring obligations under outer space treaties.

    BBC do not link to these treaties.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59806499

    …..

    Salvaged parts show Chinese firms supplied key components for North Korea’s rocket program
    The components include sensitive software and other items specifically banned for export to North Korea under UN Security Council sanctions, officials and experts said.
    JW
    By Joby WarrickThe Washington Post
    Thu., April 13, 2017

       5 likes

  12. MarkyMark says:

    Due to … Biden? Trump? Brexit? Islam? Taliban? Racism? Marcus Rashford?

    “Afghanistan: Children in Kabul working for a piece of bread”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-59761535

    More and more children are having to work to help support their families, amidst an economic collapse in Afghanistan.

    Even before the Taliban takeover, hundreds of thousands of Afghan children were forced to earn a living because of widespread poverty.

       4 likes

  13. MarkyMark says:

    BBC has found some good news …. Talbian are great …

    Afghanistan: Rural areas welcome peace and end of war

    Afghanistan: Rural areas welcome peace and end of war
    Close
    The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan has left many people, especially in the capital Kabul, with anxiety and fears over the future.

    But in more rural areas, which saw some of the fiercest fighting, many others are relieved to see the end of a war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-58456955

       6 likes

    • G says:

      As is usual with savages, ‘finish one, and look for another’

      “Pakistan Forces & Taliban Clash In A Massive Border War In Kunar Province”

         4 likes

  14. Fedup2 says:

    Good to see the Mail following up on the would be assassin of The Queen whilst the BBC has airbrushed it . But this Sikh kid is out in a week …

       13 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      2020 … A chicken shop worker acquitted two years ago of a sword attack outside Buckingham Palace has been found guilty of planning a series of terror attacks, months after walking free from court. Mohiussunnath Chowdhury was convicted at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday after prosecutors revealed an undercover operation in which he had bragged to police of having hoodwinked the earlier jury. This is the story of how he was finally caught.

      Chowdhury was nothing if not prepared for martyrdom.
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51405537

      Buckingham Palace attack: suspect was ‘Uber driver lost on way to Windsor’
      John Simpson, Crime Correspondent | Duncan Gardham
      Friday September 01 2017, 12.01am, The Times
      Mohiussunnath Chowdhury was arrested on August 25 after a struggle involving a samurai sword

      https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/buckingham-palace-attack-suspect-was-uber-driver-lost-on-way-to-windsor-mohiussunnath-chowdhury-zc99fq78q

         8 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Lizzie Dearden (Of the Indy) Jan 13, 2020
        Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, who attempted a terror attack outside Buckingham Palace in 2017, mounted another plot after being acquitted and freed from HMP Belmarsh
        He said he had met “likeminded brothers”, including Hassan (Parsons Green bomber), and got advice on fooling jurors

        Her February 2020 article goes into strange things at the trial, in that after researching jihadi websites he started reading Tommy an David Wood and said they actually did a good job of understanding islamist jihad.
        The Indy headline writer and followers twist that to imply that Tommy writing about Islamist terror fuels Islamist terror.
        https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/mohiussunnath-chowdhury-terror-buckingham-palace-sword-attack-tommy-robinson-a9322286.html

        I never noticed that the Indy has a paywall, (there are tools that retrieve the same articles free from archives)

           2 likes

  15. MarkyMark says:

    Last week the US Department of Justice (DoJ) found that Yale University discriminated against white and Asian applicants, for whom, said the finding, admission was between four and ten times harder than for black applicants with the same qualifications.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/positive-discrimination-is-racism-by-another-name-0bs5mhpng

       14 likes

  16. G says:

    I despair of sheeple.

    Change.org:

    “Councils are warning that homelessness could reach a record high this winter.
    Project 16:15 are campaigning for Parliament to create an independent body with the authority to oversee homeless support and temporary housing and ensure that homelessness services provide the level of care that people in need deserve.
    Sign this petition and call on Parliament to provide better homelessness services over the winter period.

    A, “record high” be damned. No ‘Record highs’ if you arrive by rubber boat.

    How ever can sheeple promote and support this utter nonsense?

       19 likes

  17. digg says:

    Scientists reluctantly sliding to admit that “omicron” is probably a common or garden cold.

    All of which means that now we have adopted this stupid doom atmosphere for every cough and sniffle, a large percentage of the let’s say less enthusiastic workforce including of course many teachers and public sector workers will be looking forward to making it an annual event.

       25 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      That’s the idea. I must stop slacking and do a TOADY Watch. 😉

         6 likes

    • Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

      Here’s a new word for Radio 4’s “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue” and its pretend ‘Uxbridge’ English Dictionary:

      Omicrony [derived from Omicron and crony] (noun) A friend, family member or colleague who stands to benefit from your continued advocacy for lock-downs and other anti-Covid-19 public health measures.

         3 likes

  18. Guest Who says:

    If you live in a gated bubble, maybe.

    Wait until the feral patrol Islington’s leafier parts or a diversity rucksack takes out the Ivy.

       25 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Ok guilty – i read it . A kidult islington type who hasnt been on the receiving end yet – celebrating the multiculturalism.
      I think she ll change with time …

      Dont read it – its pure guardian

         17 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        Hence Vile finding it ‘brill’.

        So much Jeremy.

        I was born and raised in London. Good memories. Then I left for a few decades.

        Came back and live in the shires. Get the heebie jeebies when the M25 signs start appearing.

           15 likes

    • harry142857 says:

      Doesn’t everyone live in a house like Vines?

      From Zoopla

      16 Airedale Avenue, W4 2NW
      Semi-Detached House
      Freehold
      Estimate
      £2.88m – £3.52m

      LAST SALE 2008, £2,000,000

         17 likes

      • JohnC says:

        Just stood outside it on Google streetview.

        Wouldn’t want to live there if you gave it to me for free.

           12 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        It’s not a good idea to doxx people by posting their full addresses, cos it could entice some nutter to their doorstep.

        As it happens we know what Vine’s house looks like from the Oct 10th story
        Despite the Daily Express headline “Anti-vaxxers besiege Jeremy Vine’s house over BBC’s pro-jab stance”
        no on beseiged his home, rather the protesters stayed back at the junction and a black guy and a white knocked on his door and handed their document to Vine’s wife.

        The house appears to be a narrow closely space semi with no front garden, so in most towns it wouldn’t be worth much
        It’s just its posh London location that gives it value.
        Seems it’s the same as the house across the street : basement room, two main floors then window in the attic. Back extended over kitchen etc.
        There’s no houses behind that street , so it seems the residents have car access from the back.

           1 likes

        • BRISSLES says:

          Awfully wide pavements though – that’s extra kudos to be sure. The pavements in my village out here in the sticks have been dug up by the facilities so many times, that they’re a complete mish mash of tarmac and concrete – oh and only wide enough for one person to walk on – sorry, change that to trip up on.

             5 likes

  19. Guest Who says:

    Pete don’t get out much.

       9 likes

  20. Guest Who says:

    https://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.com/2021/12/2021-in-nutshell.html

    The BBC nut in May is Martin Bashir, appropriately.

       9 likes

  21. Guest Who says:

    I am quite sure a % of BBC staff actively lie for various reasons: ideology, advancement, profit, etc.

    However I also believe a lot are plain thick and inexperienced and simply do as they are told.

    How many supposed ‘journalists’ or ‘reporters’ venture outside their cubicles or basement bunkers to source stories?

    I’d hazard not many.

    Even seniors like Laura or Toenails just wallow in the lobby until Spad feeds them a source who says.

    All of BBC N. America simply spent 20-21 RTing CNN.

    The rest simply await a #prasnews release on their beat to copy and paste out.

    Marianna just posts selfies, nasty tweets and feet. BBC Nome posts Nome polar bear numbers from Greenpeace. BBC Pidgin jus run dem BBC dumb stories from BBC He’d Orifice in gobbles an gook.

    All for £5,000,000,000 as Timmeh!, Franny and Caroline tour the world on millions saying how trusted, transparent, impartial and good value they are.

       22 likes

  22. theisland says:

    ‘Two-thirds of new Covid hospital patients in England only tested positive AFTER being admitted for a different illness, official data shows amid mounting evidence Omicron is milder’

    This suggest that having Omicron s so mild that many people don’t even know they’ve got it.

       8 likes

  23. tomo says:

    What’s The Difference between a “Conspiracy Theory” and the Truth?

    About 6 months … ‘parently

       12 likes

  24. tomo says:

    All too easy to transfer some of the points raised to the BBC?

       6 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      An unintentional funny piece on world at one by a pair of BBC droids sitting on moral highground criticising russia revising its history .

      … i was just trying to think of another similar bunch doing that to another country a bit closer to what used to be home – before it became a door mat ..

         5 likes

      • JohnC says:

        I’m still not sure if the Left are so consumed by their self-appointed moral superiority that they will not even entertain the idea that they are guilty of the same things they accuse others of (especially sexism and racism) or they are simply the most shameless hypocrites I have ever witnessed.

        The Jan 06 witchhunt is a good example. They are very clearly attempting to stamp on the people they hate. In other times and places, these people would have disappeared and been disposed of. But do they even realise what they are doing ? – or do they believe so absolutely that the world will be a better place if they destroy these people that they will not even consider how they are doing it to be wrong ?.

           7 likes

  25. Zephir says:

    @ AsIseeit

    You reminded me of the seventies with your comment on Charley the Cat safety films, we should resurrect this and play it around Rotherham:

       10 likes

    • Zephir says:

      My cat talks like that, maybe trying to tell me the brake light is gone or theres a gas leak or something who knows

         9 likes

      • Rich says:

        If they did resurrect this type of advert in live-action format white male ad-actors would be guaranteed work again. You can be sure the ‘strangers’ would be a lot less diverse than the sofa-buyers presently deemed representative of your average Brit, kind of like the ‘stabbing white hand’ used by the Bbbc.

           20 likes

  26. StewGreen says:

    A few tweets coming onto my Twitter timeline talk about the work of the pro-active group Cobra Child Protection
    They seem to have recently exposed an Indian masters student, a dingy diver etc. I wouldn’t want them to be only chasing non-whites, cos all victims matter. I do see that the majority they expose are white British guys.
    .. https://www.facebook.com/COBRA-Child-Protection-105348991857718

       3 likes

  27. Beltane says:

    Predictable breastbeating after another Ashes drubbing, with batting, bowling and fielding analysis from noted pundits of all shapes and sizes – and yet not one, to my knowledge, has mentioned the stultifying, confidence sapping and ‘constant looking over shoulder’ effects of Rafiq’s best efforts.

    Some might think his poison is confined to Yorkshire CC, results from Oz suggest otherwise. He must be so proud.

       18 likes

  28. Eddy Booth says:

    It seems bbc’s Janice Long died from pneumonia.
    According to
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10347517/Tributes-pour-radio-presenter-Janice-Long.html
    Of course the bbc and media won’t ask any questions, like did she have the covid jab recently, why wasn’t she taken to hospital.
    Just bury the articles in tributes.

       15 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      pneumonia is something that often finishes someone off, when they have been ill from something else like cancer etc.

      People speculating about her vaccine are going into conspiracyland.

         8 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        A cold can lead to pneumonia and then, if the person is weakened in any way – prior co-morbidities: dehydrated, heavy smoker, drug user, weak heart, obese – then it is ‘Goodnight Vienna’.

           6 likes

  29. Up2snuff says:

    A little bit of humour for the discerning BBC R4 listener. The start of ‘Call Ewan Yores’, the very first caller, (BBC R4 12.18). The theme for today’s programme was “How have your plans for NYE been affected?”. The first caller said something like “Oh, we’ll be having a party, a special night, as usual but there is reduced footfall already.” Apparently this first lady caller was running a bar, elicited by a question from Winifred Robinson who then asked where this bar was? “Felixstowe” came the reply.

    “Oh.” You could hear Winifred’s face fall!

    Radio is a dead give away at times. Beeboids should remember that. I wonder why the disappointment? No restrictions in England, unlike Wales and Scotland and N.Ireland? Felixstowe too far to go on NYE for Beeboids – anxious for a party – but living in Barnes, Kingston, Richmond and Wandsworth? Or the fact that the caller was not going to moan about the decision of HMG to remain open in England?

    The caller got some free R4 advertising.

       15 likes

  30. theisland says:

    See https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/news/2021/12/27/surging-illegal-boat-crossings-drive-record-spike-in-asylum-age-fraud and here.

       11 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Simple, just cut their heads off and count the rings

         12 likes

      • Jeff says:

        Thanks Zephir, that actually made me lough out loud!

        At one time of day we’d have had “near the knuckle” jokes like this on the telly.

        Sadly, not these days…

           9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Liverpool council finds 24 adult asylum seekers who are posing as children as it launches legal fight to stop almost £1million in taxpayers cash being spent on their care
      Liverpool council say 39 refugees with age in doubt have arrived in the city
      Following assessments 24 were found to be adults, while only 15 were under 18
      Support for under-18s is much better than for adults, so some lie about their age
      By LIZ HULL FOR THE DAILY MAIL

      PUBLISHED: 00:03, 8 December 2018

         12 likes

  31. The Mouse says:

    Come on BBC catch up with the news.

    ‘France 24’ reported –
    France has ordered the closure of a mosque in the north of the country because of the radical nature of its imam’s preaching, regional authorities told AFP on Tuesday.

    The mosque in Beauvais, a town of 50,000 people some 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Paris, will remain shut for six months, according to the prefecture of the Oise region where Beauvais is located.

    It said the sermons there incite hatred, violence and “defend jihad”.

    The move comes two weeks after Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he had triggered the procedure to close the site because the imam there “is targeting Christians, homosexuals and Jews” in his sermons. This, the minister said, was “unacceptable”.

       17 likes

    • moggie63 says:

      It’s come to something when even the French have more bottle than the British.

         24 likes

    • taffman says:

      The Mouse
      They must have read your post as it is there now .
      “ France’s interior ministry said it had investigated around 100 mosques and prayer halls over such extremism in recent months, out of a total of more than 2,620 in France”

      How many more ‘invaders” will we see coming across the Channel “escaping” from France while our supine prime minister does nothing to defend these islands?
      Peppa Pig has to go . He has become consocialist, green PM. Not what we voted for !

         19 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      @Mouse The BBC had already caught up when you posted
      The BBC story is timestamped 12:13pm

      Their tweet was at 12:44pm
      .. https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1475810367389552641

         3 likes

  32. Up2snuff says:

    TWatO Watch #1 – oops! was that an inadvertent slip by Jonny Dymond, has he ‘done a Montacutie’ ?

    Earlier this year, Sarah Montague was in the TWatO Chair and let slip that Laura Kuenssberg had been working with the Daily Mirror to discredit the PM. Jonny Dymond has been standingsitting in for the Montacutie this week and there was a report by Steve Rosenberg from Russia about the order to close down Memorial, a NGO institution that looks into the Soviet past, a ‘Truth and Justice Commission’, if you will.

    Did I hear right? Jonny appeared to suggest Steve Rosenberg was working with Memorial? If that is true, how many other Beeboids are going ‘off piste’ and dabbling in things that they really should not be dabbling in. Nadine Dorries should look into this possible Charter breach.

       16 likes

  33. Up2snuff says:

    TWatO Watch #2 – the BBC are going all out to attack the Prime Minister.

    Jonny Dymond led the cavalry charge into the Tory guns who were polite enough, generous enough, to not fire back. Season of goodwill and all that. Funny thing, the BBC insisted on representing the decision yesterday to keep restrictions in England as they are in the face of ‘Ommycron’ as being down solely to the Prime Minister. Is the BBC’s knowledge of UK politics so poor? Probably.

    Part-time may – like the Montacutie – be on her hols but Nick Robinson is still around. He could tell Jonny that there is such a thing as collective responsibility in Cabinet. It was a Government decision to leave the Pandemic arrangements for England unchanged, not just that of the Prime Minister, not just that of the Prime Minister.

       9 likes

    • digg says:

      The BBC are acting like poachers as far as the PM is concerned. They keep laying snares hoping that one will finally catch him out. They are not bothered about his performance or record they just want him gone. He represents everything that was pushed in their face over Brexit which is the biggest single factor.

         16 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Quite right, digg. It is from early morning to late at night on BBC R4: Framing ‘the anti-Brext narrative’ Today until The Westminster Hour and then maybe even beyond in the comedy that follows the 11 p.m. News Bulletin. Relentless.

           7 likes

  34. StewGreen says:

    BBC number 3 most read story “Man charged with murder after woman found dead”
    FFS that is a headline that hides a lot
    Open the story and the title does give you Newham

    .. then at the bottom
    Yahya Aboukar, 26, of Earlham Grove, is due to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court charged with her murder.
    Somali name ?

       13 likes

  35. Up2snuff says:

    TWatO Watch #3 – are the BBC trying to meddle in a By-Election?

    It is notable from the newspapers that Kim Leadbetter MP (Lab) has been putting herself about a bit, talking about her late sister. The Southend-on-Sea constituency will be facing a By-Election in the New Year following the murder (the correct word not used by Jonny Dymond) of their MP, David Amess. Kim Leadbetter was on the programme to comment with Tobias Ellwood MP (Con) about the ‘state of politicial discourse’ in the UK. Funny that.

    I wonder if Kim is going round the door steps of Southend try to get the Labour candidate elected? That might explain her appearance on the BBC today. It may also get the PM removed by the 1922 Committee after the North Shropshire debacle. It might help to keep Keir Starmer in his job as Labour Leader until the next General Election.

       7 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      I listened to that and wondered how a Roman Catholic MP who had been murdered – allegedly by a Muslim who planned it – could then be decanted into an argument about the ‘political discourse ‘ –
      I would submit that it was a propaganda piece used to prepare us for further repression of freedom in the name of ‘ safety ‘ ….

         4 likes

    • Yasser Dasmibehbi says:

      Up2 snuff, my understanding is that Labour are not standing a candidate in Southend West. They said they would stand aside along with the Lib Dems, Greens and Reform. Apart from the Tories only Ukip’s Steve Laws and British Freedom’s Jayda Fransen are standing so far.
      Correct me if I am wrong or not up to date please.

         1 likes

  36. Up2snuff says:

    TWatO Watch # 4 – the BBC in all out Boris Removal mode.

    So they turn their attention to and train their fire at a possible successor: Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss. Apparently she has topped a Poll in ‘Conservative Home’ again – for the person most liked to succeed Boris Johnson as Party Leader and Prime Minister. Of course, according to the BBC she has ‘blotted her copybook’. They mention, not once but twice that when the Daily Mail attacked the Supreme Court Judges for their interfering in politics and the choice made by the UK in the EU Referendum of 2016, Liz Truss as Justice Secretary did not instantly leap to their defence.

    Home Secretary Priti Patel will be grateful for the bit of peace and quiet.

       10 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Up2
      Yes nice bit of pure biased judgement by the BBC droid there . It must have been tempting to say something against those political judges yet alone stay silent .

      Very wise thing to do in my opinion . I guess the BBC will be targetting her from now …

      They were putting Sunnak at the main competition for PM but all that bloke had done is signec a shed load of cheques …

      Oh yeah – and encouraged superspreading by subsidised restaurants

         4 likes

  37. StewGreen says:

    Australia : Victoria government proven to have gone Orwellian
    .. In court one department applied to access private Covid data
    Instead of admitting that sometimes they do open up your Covid data, the Victorian Government applied to have the court records sealed for 5 years on the grounds that of the government was honest, it would knock public confidence.
    https://www.rebelnews.com/scandal_victorian_government_lied_tried_to_suppress_the_truth

       4 likes

  38. Guest Who says:

    Bet Springster has a poster of her over the mirror.

       7 likes

  39. StewGreen says:

    @Pug That strange Andrew Neil article is not new, it’s dated Dec 9th

       0 likes

  40. tomo says:

    Apparently Amazon Alexa has a “BBC Sounds Skill”

    I wonder when they’ll be rolling out “BBC Pidgin Skill” with free solar powered voice assistants to West Africa with the help of some DfID (or whatever they are now) assistance?

    The modern world is amazing huh?

    If the Amazon comments are a guide – the BBC droids promoting the “skill” have some erm… ground to make up…

       3 likes

  41. Deborah says:

    I can only think that the BBC’s PR Christmas cover team have been working extra hard today.

    Daily Mail headline
    “Sex isn’t enough to save A Very British Scandal! Viewers bemoan ‘depressing’ drama with Claire Foy’s ‘unlovable’ Duchess of Argyll and Paul Bettany’s ‘beastly’ Duke – as The Crown star strips off for ‘headless man’ polaroid”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10349555/God-depressing-British-Scandal-viewers-left-screaming-TV.html

    The article states more people watched Paddington 2 than watched this drama. As I posted yesterday, we only managed 15 minutes before we were plain bored.

    And yet… the most popular comment was

    “Well I’m sorry but I thought it was excellent. It was atmospheric and brooding and brilliantly acted.”

    The other top comments agreed with this one. I can only assume that the BBC either ‘encouraged’ someone at the Daily Mail to fiddle with the comments or that the BBC’s PR team spent hours making up positive comments and then going an upticking.

       12 likes

    • tomo says:

      Deborah

      why am I thinking Kenny Everett “all in the best pawshible taste”

      everett640.jpg

         4 likes

    • Jeff says:

      Yes, I stuck it out for about the same amount of time.

      It is dark, it is a bit depressing, but the main problem is there are no sympathetic characters. They’re all thoroughly loathsome.

      I vaguely remember hearing about the case when I was a lad and the intrigue about “who was the headless man” in the notorious photo.

      But having watched about half an episode of this turgid dross, I’ll attempt a southern drawl and say in my best Rhett Butler,

      Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn…

         7 likes

      • Deborah says:

        Yes Jeff, but who are posting on the Daily Mail website that it was marvellous? They just have to be BBC employees, don’t they?

           8 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          I wondered what it was all for ? And what the heck was it doing on at Christmas – glad I didn’t pay for it and feel,sorry for those who do …
          ……. I watched the hugely over rated ‘madmen ‘ recently – 7 long long series – I suppose the likes of the BBC can’t afford to buy that but can commission dire dross like that argyle thing .

             3 likes

      • Zephir says:

        Jeff,

        This last line of Gone with the Wind is often mis-quoted,

        They had an intense debate on the Wogan Show on Radio 2 one week and after some argument, over a few days, Mr Wogan dusted himself down and confirmed the line was actually :

        “I’ll get you Butler”

           8 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          Ahem! “I’ll ‘ave you Butler!”

             1 likes

          • Zephir says:

            Such a contentious subject it is rarely discussed, but I am glad you have not been seduced by the flat Earth “I ‘ate you Butler” faction.

               0 likes

  42. Zephir says:

    Critics slam ‘hypocrite’ Biden for claiming ‘no federal solution’ to pandemic after vow to ‘shut down’ COVID
    Biden faced backlash from both sides after seeming to take a drastically different position than he once had

    Former Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said Biden’s claim of no federal solution “is … not what he campaigned on. At all.”

    Critics on both ends of the political spectrum went full blast on President Biden’s claim Monday that states are responsible for solving the coronavirus crisis, pointing out Biden’s long history of claiming he would bring the country out of the pandemic.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/critics-slam-hypocrite-biden-for-claiming-no-federal-solution-to-pandemic-after-vow-to-shut-down-covid

    Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is centering his closing campaign argument on his ability to steer the nation through the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump’s rallying cry: The virus is no big deal.

    In a series of speeches in recent weeks, including one on Wednesday in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Biden has attacked the president’s handling of the pandemic, which has killed nearly 227,000 people in the U.S. New infections are surging to record levels in much of the country, where total cases are nearing 8.8 million.

       5 likes

  43. theisland says:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-in-limbo-over-covid-curbs

    Labour sitting on the fence again. Perhaps the party is keen to avoid a repeat of July, when Keir Starmer declared that ‘Boris Johnson’s recklessness means we’re going to have an NHS summer crisis.’

       9 likes

  44. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    Covid deaths today…18
    Probably an anomaly but they do have a record number of infections for the same day.
    Who knows what has happened to the data for 25th and 26th but plenty of room to manipulate it to present the case for whatever they decide to do.

    Maybe they have lumped a couple of hundred from today onto yesterday’s unpublished figures.
    That’s how you get to think when you have no trust in government figures.

       12 likes

    • taffman says:

      Emmanuel Goldstein
      I foresee next year as being the year of @rse covering. That is @rse covering by Bo Jo, SAGE and Al Beeb. Followed by The Welsh Assembly and The Scottish Gov.

         9 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Remember that total cases registered today
      didn’t happen today, rather they are catching up from previous days
      Peak day so far is Dec 22nd by actual day.

         2 likes

  45. Guest Who says:

    Found his voice too, I see.

       10 likes

  46. Zephir says:

    EVEN the Guardian:

    Don’t be nostalgic about Tony Blair. His effect on Britain and beyond was toxic

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/14/blairism-britain-iraq-war-tony-blair

       15 likes

  47. taffman says:

    “Covid: Enjoy new year but be cautious, care minister says”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59810878
    A Bit late ?
    Better late than never I suppose .

       5 likes

  48. Northern Voter says:

    I notice that Britbox, the Bedlam Broadcasting Corporation and Channel 5? attempt to break into the pay per view channels is going really well. Advertising over the Christmas period one can have the first month absolutely free and then three months at 50%. Lol, whatever that means.

       7 likes

  49. digg says:

    Are we all ready for the upcoming left-wing unions in the NHS when they inevitably to try to scream blue murder over Boris’s refusal to initiate the same restrictions as Scotland, Wales and Ireland?

    I predict they will massage the figures, throw abuse and tantrums right after Christmas, come out with fatuous scare stories, lots of footage of people on stretchers in hospital corridors etc. not to demonstrate their fear over the effects of Omnicron but very simply to try to stain and damage the Conservatives.

    It is obvious that the people couldn’t give a toss about Joe Public’s quality of life, they are simply hard-wired to attack the Conservatives at any cost to further the left-wing doctrine in this Country.

    Meanwhile the Guardian is rapidly evolving into a clone of the Socialist Worker. Apart from their usual lefty-whinging now lots of support for jailed environmental activists. It’s like reading a student union magazine now!

       19 likes