Start the Week 17 January 2022 THE DORRIES ANNOUNCEMENT

Is it possible that the government has finally realised that the State Broadcaster is at war with it ? And is going to do something about it – by freezing the Licence fee ? It will be a small step towards the end of the BBC in its current form – and can’t come too soon. The government must put something in the coming manifesto about changing the BBC too .

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467 Responses to Start the Week 17 January 2022 THE DORRIES ANNOUNCEMENT

  1. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – Disappointment looms large

    Some of us on here had hoped that the PM’s former fixer had been a skilful double agent working to a plan. Now it it does look – as Rick Nobinson said on TOADY – that Cummings was going for his old boss out of revenge. Unless there is a big reveal with files being pushed across desks of D-Gs, Newspaper Editors, certain Party leaders and a Statement to the House on Thursday then sadly Rick appears to be right.

       4 likes

  2. Doublethinker says:

    In the report of the debate in the HoC of Nadine’s announcement re capping the License Fee it was claimed by a Tory MP that the BBC sold 700,000 fewer licenses last year than the year before , or about a 4% drop. Excellent news, if this trend continues coupled with the cap on the LF fee , the BBC could be in financial difficulty in a couple years time.
    Every effort should be made by every one with a patriotic inclination to accelerate the rate of decline of the numbers who pay the LF.

       18 likes

  3. MarkyMark says:

    “it would normally, if it’s not corrected…if it’s lying and deliberate in the way that you describe […] it would normally under the Ministerial Code and the governance around Parliament be a resigning matter. That is the principle…”
    order-order.com

    ….. PREVIOUSLY ….

    “Keith Vaz (67% voters for Labour in GE17), the senior Labour backbencher, claimed more than £75,500 in expenses for a flat in Westminster despite his family home being a £1.15 million house just 12 miles from parliament.”
    “Mr Vaz’s claims have always been in accordance with the spirit and rules of the Green Book,” – Reported 9 May 2009.

    https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2017/11/13/monday-open-thread-51/#comment-880395

       7 likes

  4. MarkyMark says:

    Unless we act the BBC as we know it will be destroyed, hidden behind a paywall, and only accessible to those who can afford it.

    https://www.change.org/p/nadine-dorries-save-the-bbc-oppose-the-abolition-of-the-license-fee

    You only need a TV licence if you watch or record TV as it’s being broadcast or use iPlayer – if you only use other catch-up sites, you don’t need one. A rule that came into force in September 2016 means you need a licence to legally use BBC iPlayer, even if you’re only watching catch-up TV.21 Sept 2021

       6 likes

  5. MarkyMark says:

    Save the BBC: oppose the abolition of the license fee

    87,101 have signed. Let’s get to 150,000!

    https://www.change.org/p/nadine-dorries-save-the-bbc-oppose-the-abolition-of-the-license-fee

       1 likes

  6. digg says:

    A Guardian readers letter: (Probably a Guardian hack!).

    The Governments attack on the BBC is a threat to democracy.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jan/17/governments-attack-on-the-bbc-is-a-threat-to-our-democracy

    I’ll just correct that headline for you Guardian!

    The BBC’s attack on the Government is a threat to democracy,

    We elected the government but we never elected the BBC….

    We can unelect the government but we can’t unelect the BBC, is that your understanding of democracy Guardian reader?

       35 likes

    • theisland says:

      “The Governments attack on the BBC is a threat to democracy.”

      This is just more or less what Starmer was saying on LBC yesterday.

      Pathetic.

         11 likes

  7. Fedup2 says:

    Marky
    With a bit of luck the whole question about the existence of the BBC will nudge a few more good people into not paying the TVL .
    Whittingdale – the tamed former culture secretary in parliament yesterday – said that there was a reduction of
    700 000 licences last year .

    How would a reduction of over a million this year be received ?

    Elsewhere – the BBC DG was on today this morning sounding like a dodgy second hand car dealer – they left the issue of ‘bias’ to the bit before the weather .

    The DG said he relied on data , how can he when the complaints system is corrupted ? Surely a leading indicator should be the fall in licence numbers – as well as viewing figures which I just do not trust .

    I get the feeling the outfits who do the viewing figures are like those dodgy credit rating agencies funded by the finance industry to tell that industry what it wants to hear – as in property crashes …

       15 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      If we get Katty Kay’s hourly rate (which the BBC does not report on) we could work out how much each letter in ‘Wow…’ tweet {twitter} is costing the TV Tax Payer, having to pay under threat of prison.

      W = £1*
      O = £1*
      W = £1*
      . = £1*
      . = £1*
      . = £1*

      * estimated because the BBC don’t report hourly rates or additional wages.

      Related to value for money in the BBC, if we had the hourly rate we could compare Katty Kay with Graham Ellis ….

      BBC Deputy Director goes to Paris and stays at Eiffel Hotel and spends 51 pence on expenses in feb2017 … mystery and intrigue! {bbc.co.uk – pdf – expenses for Graham Ellis}

      https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2017/10/09/start-the-week-open-thread-146/#comment-872215

         1 likes

  8. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #2 – ooh, that’s a large number

    Nick Robinson, iirc, gets to chat to his boss, the D-G, just before the 8 a.m. News. The D-G does his best Amol Rajan impression without actually using the word ‘mate’. The D-G is asked what freezing the Licence Fee (a.k.a. Telly Tax) will mean in lost revenues for the BBC. Apparently all those claims of £2bn ‘not going into programmes’ were false. Somebody lied! The D-G had had the numbers worked up: £285,000,000 is the ‘loss’.

    “Oh, that’s a lot of money.” said Robinson. Yes, Nick. It is about the size of your salary x1000. So, if you were made redundant for being rude to the PM, and 999 similary salaried people were sacked by the 20,000+? employee BBC, the BBC could put all that money into making programmes.

    Now, there’s an idea.

       24 likes

    • tarien says:

      Now where in Director Generals little interview speech was it mentioned by him that there was a need to cut all salaries, those of the News Presenters, Political Commontators, Other presenters, Journalists et al- all and including the DG are over paid for the very poor service now being thrown at the TV licence paying public-absolute rubbish most of it and frankly why is it necessary to have 24 hour news, TV- 12 hours would be quite enoug, I’m sure you will agree. Quality! Well I won’t dwell on that subject-many really do not know how to speak the English language-much having gone to speak a type of American.

         10 likes

  9. MarkyMark says:

    BBC presenters salaries revealed: Lineker remains highest-paid star while Ball’s salary jumps £1m
    BBC on-air talent Salary band
    Nicky Campbell £300,000-£304,999
    Nick Robinson £295,000-£299,999
    Laura Kuenssberg £290,000-£294,999
    Jason Mohammad £285,000-£289,999

    Mohammad was born and brought up in Cardiff to a Pakistani father and Welsh mother,[3][4] going to school at Glyn Derw High School.[5] He studied Welsh and Politics at Swansea University,[6] and then attended Cardiff University for a postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism.[7] He is a practising Muslim.[4]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Mohammad

       8 likes

  10. MarkyMark says:

    Boris – 80 seat majority over 2 years = 0 action.
    Boris – caught with wine and cheese = cancel BBC and send navy to channel.

    HA HA HA HA!

       9 likes

  11. MarkyMark says:

    As per the BBC Annual Report, which was released earlier today, the BBC Asian Network’s content cost remained £8 million for the 2019/20 period, the same as the year before. It is worth adding that the BBC Asian Network’s cost was on par of BBC Radio 1Xtra at £8 million.15 Sept 2020

       5 likes

  12. MarkyMark says:

    BBC in discrimination row after opening trainee role only to ethnic minorities
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/bbc-discrimination-row-advertising-job-ethnic-monorities-b941600.html

       9 likes

  13. Zephir says:

    I notice, as an aside to the parties reported, frequent marxist attacks on “booze culture” now England cricket team attacked for this.

    I assumed this was part of the islamification of the UK until I remembered they drink cheap wine when gang raping our children:

    “I was raped by THOUSANDS of men from the age of just 14, says victim of Asian grooming gang

    2017: Caitlin Spencer – not her real name – was abused by an Asian grooming gang
    The mother-of-two has written a book outlining the terrible abuse she suffered
    She had seven abortions and two miscarriages and two daughters while abused
    She claims that the gang who abused her is still at large ”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4905000/Asian-sex-gang-victim-writes-book-detailing-ordeal.html

    “Although she got the courage to complain to police no successful prosecution has ever been brought.

    Ken Macdonald, Britain’s former chief prosecutor, said some of the blame lay with particular communities who regarded ‘vulnerable and disordered young girls (as) just opportunities for sexual abuse.’

       18 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Professor Alexis Jay, who wrote the latest report, said there had been “blatant” collective failures by the council’s leadership, senior managers had “underplayed” the scale of the problem and South Yorkshire Police had failed to prioritise the issue.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28939089

      The inquiry team found examples of “children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone”.

         12 likes

  14. Thoughtful says:

    Dominic Raab this morning on TV calling Cummings claims of the Bottler misleading Parliament ‘nonsense’ in the face of all the evidence.

    The cowardice uselessness incompetence of the Tories is all too evidence even when they are going to lose any election by a landslide. Many of them deserve to be on the dole because they couldn’t perform any useful function.

    It puts me in mind of the crew of the Titanic whilst it is in the process of sinking and the water is around their ankles denying anything is wrong, that the ship is unsinkable, and refusing to launch the lifeboats because they are too scared to leave the sinking ship.

       6 likes

    • G says:

      Thoughtful,

      They must all be co-conspirators in the, likely illegal act. After all, its surely, “Collective Responsibility” isn’t it?

         3 likes

  15. theisland says:

    People who want to scrap the bBC licence fee are generally more serious about our security and defence, which is what really matters, because they recognise that the bBC is a mouthpiece for traitors and quislings posing as a public broadcaster. As far as I know all the newer centre right parties are promising to scrap the LF.

       26 likes

  16. MarkyMark says:

    Ah! Remember when the Tories were tough on BBC .. ha ha ha ha

    “BBC’S RAID ON OAPS Theresa May demands BBC to rethink decision to scrap free TV licence for millions of OAPs”
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9265232/theresa-may-bbc-free-tv-licence-scrapped-pensioners/

    It means only over-75s who receive Pension Credit will be eligible to claim the free TV licence fee from June 1 next year.

    It will see 3.7 million over-75s dragged into paying the £154.50 licence fee – the first time the age group will have to pay the charge since 2000.

       6 likes

  17. MarkyMark says:

    Biden’s fault?

    ….

    ‘Can you help me?’: Boy in tears found alone at US-Mexico border

    ‘Can you help me?’: Boy in tears found alone at US-Mexico border
    Close
    The 10-year-old boy from Nicaragua had woken up to find he had been abandoned by his group.

    He was travelling without his family and was taken to a Customs and Border Patrol facility.

    Migrant detention centres are over capacity as US authorities struggle keep up with a rise in unaccompanied minors crossing the southern border. Over 18,500 children crossed the border in March, shattering previous records.

    Published7 April 2021SectionBBC NewsSubsectionUS & Canada
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-56670094

       7 likes

  18. Fedup2 says:

    Pug
    A good piece . As i sit on a sunny beach far far away i am trying to think this through .

    Now that the BBC knows it is under overt threat i think it will go even further in ensuring regime change .

    Scenario one
    The BBC manages to nail nut nut and a new PM is selected . The BBC will want to do a deal with new PM .

    Scenario two
    Nut nut remains . The BBC will look for another ‘set of lies ‘ to continually undermine him to cause defeat at the next election

    Scenario three
    Nut nut remains – but is plastered as a ‘lame duck ‘ – every ‘ bad thing ‘ will be laid at his door even more than now .

    Scenario four
    Nut nut remains – something Really Serious happens – pestilence – war – the other one – and the BBC is required to report The News as Events and not part of a propaganda exercise .

    Will the likes of Charles Moore ever appear on the BBC in a meaningful way ( not the QT sneer/ interupt way)?
    I doubt it .

    Like other public sector monopolies – plod – NHS – the BBC cannot stand Any criticism . Cannot admit it is wrong ( or is dragged screaming to do so ) …

    Whats next ?
    A BBC campaign to show what will have to be cut to save money – naturally the more popular crap will be mentioned . …

    … oh yeah Operation Target Dorries – theyll be digging up comments and expenses claims as i write ..

       13 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Boris did all he could to appease libmob
      … Was that enough ??
      Nope, they’ll always demand more.

      #capitulationFallacy

         5 likes

  19. MarkyMark says:

    Licence fee freeze will cost BBC £285m and hit programmes – director general
    Published1 hour ago

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60036446

    Gary Lineker remains the BBC’s top earner despite agreeing to a pay cut of just under £400,000, the broadcaster has revealed in its annual report.

    PAY CUT….£400,000
    PAY CUT … £400,000

    NURSE …1 0-1 £18,546
    https://www.nurses.co.uk/careers-hub/nursing-pay-guide/

       4 likes

    • Up2snuff says:

      MM, pay for a nurse @£18k must be for a student. NQs start at £25K.

      Average pay for a nurse is estimated at £33K-£35K which is close to median pay for the UK. Average pay for everyone else in the UK is much less than median pay.

         7 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        Better a trainee nurse than an over priced script reader.

           6 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        @Up2Snuff as you indicate The libmob trick is to compare SALARY of nurses
        to EARNINGS of everyone else
        .. salary misses shift allowances etc.

        apples vs oranges fallacy

           2 likes

        • Up2snuff says:

          Sure and overtime and other pluses, Stew. That link in MM’s post goes to a nursing web-site that tells nurses how to get even more money. They are well paid at lower levels.

             0 likes

  20. Up2snuff says:

    By the by, the Stock Market – shares and currencies – appears to be taking a dim view of the attacks on the PM.

    Just saying …

       5 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Up2
      I think it is more likely that they realise the EU economy is in trouble from inflation. The highest official rate it spain at 6.6% which probably means 10% in real life .

      Christine LeGardde is in charge of the EU economy so enough said … she reckons theres no need to do anything because its a passing trend …

      Or has the war started ?

         6 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has been convicted over her role in a controversial €400m (£355m) payment to a businessman. French judges found Ms Lagarde guilty of negligence for failing to challenge the state arbitration payout to the friend of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.19 Dec 2016

           5 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        A French court has found International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde guilty of negligence but did not hand down any punishment.
        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38369822

           3 likes

  21. MarkyMark says:

    Gary Lineker ‘signs three-year deal with Walkers Crisps for £1.2million’ but won’t be in as many adverts
    https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/08/gary-lineker-signs-three-year-deal-walkers-crisps-1-million-13389234/

    The former footballer, 59, has been working with the brand for 26 years now, first teaming up with Walkers in 1994 and has appeared in 150 adverts.

       5 likes

  22. tomo says:

    Elsewhere I see a local MP has claimed for a £3600 leccy bill at his second home.

       7 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      BBC staff in uproar after canteen ‘limits them to six chips’
      Comment
      author image
      Chris Caulfield
      Saturday 23 Nov 2019 10:33 am
      https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/23/bbc-staff-in-uproar-after-canteen-limits-them-to-six-chips-11205275/

      BBC News producer Callum May tweeted: ‘UPDATE: Just been told by a canteen source (as I was served a total of 14 chips) that the six-chip rule has been ‘relaxed’.’

      The BBC has been contacted about this story.

         1 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Customers of SSE Energy Services, bought by OVO Energy in January 2020, were sent an email offering ‘simple and cost-effective ways to keep warm this winter’. Among the suggestions were to have a cuddle with your pets and loved ones, chomp down some ginger and porridge and avoid chilli, ‘as it makes you sweat’. Another suggestion was to ‘get moving’ by doing star jumps, cleaning your house and challenging ‘the kids to a hula-hoop contest’.

      Somehow, E.ON managed to top that godawful attempt at being helpful by actually sending 3,000 customers a pair of socks, with the tag: ‘Leaving lighter footprints. Heating down. CO2 down.’ Pretty galling for the many customers now obliged to cut their carbon footprints because they can’t afford to put the heating on anyway. The razor-sharp minds in the E.ON marketing department clearly think the rest of us are so profoundly stupid that it wouldn’t occur to us, as the condensation from our breath fills the cold living-room air, that sticking some socks on might be a good idea.

         7 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      If you can’t afford to heat your home turn the thermostat down from 24C to 18 and put it on timer for a couple of hours in the first place.

      Secondly stop buying cheap plastic jumpers which thanks to biased media reporting are not recognised as being the main source of plastics in the oceans (not the shopping bags the British people have been led to believe).

      Technical fabrics which do cost more will keep you warm – if Ranulph Fiennes can get to both North and South Poles then you can survive a British Winter.

      If necessary put on a coat it’s not the end of the world I always wear a coat indoors because it would cost an astronomical amount to heat my home.

         7 likes

    • tomo says:

         5 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        Environmental damage from construction

        One of the first effects OWFs have on their nearby surroundings is physical damage caused by their construction. The main effects of this are seafloor habitat destruction and sediment suspension in the water column, caused by the disruption of sand and silt from the seafloor. Sediment suspension is likely to have a negative impact on fauna by increasing turbidity, mobilising contaminants and smothering sessile suspension-feeding animals, such as corals, sponges and anemones. A reduction in visibility from sediment suspension can also affect photosynthesis in algae and disrupt key behaviours in visual animals.

        https://marinemadness.blog/2020/08/14/the-effects-of-offshore-wind-farms-on-marine-life/

        figure-1.jpg?w=545&h=315

           2 likes

      • JimS says:

        A little thing perhaps but why are generation prices given in £/MWh when the public buys it in pence/kWh?

        £224/MWh is 22.4p/kWh or ‘unit of electricity’.

        Shell Energy, (other retailers are available), is currently selling at 16.197p per kWh, which means that the wholesale price of off-shore wind is 38% more than Shell’s retail price.

        I think I have answered my own question.

           3 likes

        • Thoughtful says:

          It’s qouted that way because all generating methods are itemised the domestic tariff isn’t.

             0 likes

          • JimS says:

            I expect that when a supermarket chain buys spices it pays for them by the tonne and then sells them by the gram and the same logic applies to buying electricity in bulk.

            However, as I demonstrated above, changing the units of measurement does disguise the high prices that our ‘leaders’ are prepared to accept to supposedly ‘go green’.

            That comes on top of the usual trick of using SJ, (Système Journalistique) rather than SI, to measure power, i.e. ‘homes’ rather than kW, hiding the fact that a wind turbine produces what engineers call ‘damn all’.

               2 likes

  23. BRISSLES says:

    I can understand teenage girls wanting to buy cosmetics or perfume that’s promoted by their favourite pop star, but I’ve never ‘got’ why Walkers would pay such money to Lineker to be the face of a bag of crisps ! I don’t buy into the thought that people buy their crisps because Lineker’s involved. You want crisps you buy a bag, end of.

       24 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Linekers main job is to front a prog whose main role is to advertise gambling companies
      ..Hence they want a cleancut face.

      Likewise Walkers PepsiCo want his cleanface.

         3 likes

    • moggie63 says:

      Most people I speak to in Leicester think he’s a left-wing, gobby, hypocritical twat and are more likely to avoid buying Walkers if he’s the face of them.

         11 likes

  24. MarkyMark says:

    walkerswest.png

       4 likes

  25. theisland says:

    Someone on order-order suggested putting the entire civil service on fixed term contracts followed by job justification hearings for all grades above janitor.

       9 likes

  26. MarkyMark says:

    No list of Corbyn and Starmer parties – ha ha ha

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59952395
    How many Covid lockdown parties were held in Downing Street?

       5 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      And one should differentiate from Civil Service parties
      and actual Tory Party ones.

         3 likes

  27. s.trubble says:

    Change at the bBC with any expectation that it can alter itself is an impossible dream , I would beg to suggest.

    The imposition of a Change Programme upon them with a singular objective,,,” define a roadmap transforming the bBC from a state funded Licence Fee to a subscription service” ..might produce some partial success although it would be contested ad nauseam by the bBC.

    Considering the unwillingness of the bBC to change, the route needs to be that it is sold off…in 2 parts

    1) Local UK services
    2) International services ( world service etc,)

    The value to the marketplace can then be determined and indeed if the Government believe that the soft power contained in 2) is compelling then they can absorb it into general taxation as opposed to selling it off. An examination of this “soft power” could be further evaluated as part of the Change Project.

    The initial bBC response 43p a day/£13 quid a month and the usual mouth music from Lineker etc. is totally predictable.

       5 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Just check out how much real estate / property the BBC own in prime city centre locations, much of which is unused and undeveloped and there’s a scandal right there in itself.

      Perhaps now they might get round to doing something about it, but remember that is effectively our money not theirs.

         20 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Some property was sold and leased back
        ..but the point is, if you just walk away, you are leaving libmob with assets that you paid for over the years

           2 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      The World Service used to be funded by the FCO but then the BBC took responsibility for it – turning it from a good source of news to ‘radio bongo bongo’ in quick time-
      Which is when i dumped it . I dont know how the existance of the world service fits with the existance of the internet .
      If they were looking to save money im sure some of those ‘ production companies’ made up of ex BBC staff could be dumped – but no doubt they are all ‘chums’ …

      Has OFCOM received any complaints about GBNews playing the National Anthem at 0559 yet ?

      I wonder ….

         16 likes

  28. tomo says:

    O/T – but I wonder if the sponsorship of this “charity “ is a tacit omission that they bundled up all their troublemakers and put them on ferries to the land of milk and honey?

    Ireland.jpg

       4 likes

  29. tarien says:

    Far too much money spent on programming Soccer to the disadvantage of many other sports that are internationally strong-Tennis, Golf, Rugby, to name but a few. Stop paying the enormous amounts of money paid to the soccer presenters, no names but they are known.

       6 likes

  30. Right Angle says:

    Oink, oink! Oyez, oyez! What’s all that ruckus in the HOC? Henry Deedes gives the lowdown:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10412053/Nadine-Dorries-faces-squealing-lefties-HENRY-DEEDES-watches-Culture-Sec-shredding-licence-fee.html

    You’d have to visit a pig farm at feeding time to hear the squealing Nadine Dorries faced: HENRY DEEDES watches the Culture Secretary serving notice on the BBC licence fee

    I say, we are most amused!:

    “Heavens, the noise! Tea time in the Commons yesterday and opposition MPs were making a right din. It’s been a while since a minister’s statement has caused such uproar but Nadine Dorries’s turn at the dispatch box had sent them into apoplexy.
    Normally you’d have to visit a pig farm at feeding time to hear such a cacophony of high-pitched squealing.”

    “Rarely do ministers enjoy announcing a budget freeze but in this instance Nadine was raring to make an exception.
    Hates the Beeb. Loathes it. All those pointless strategy meetings, all those oily management types who peer down their noses at her.
    She regards it as a haven for Lefties and judging by the howls of protest that greeted her announcement – not least in The Guardian – she may well have a point.”

    “For about an hour Dorries stood defending her decision to try to drag the BBC into the 21st century.
    During the Cameron and Osborne era, she was always denounced as old-fashioned.
    But it was those attacking her while defending the corporation’s antiquated business model who risked looking outdated.”

    Bye, Biased Corp!

       29 likes

  31. andyjsnape says:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60036446

    Please see comments at the bottom of the link 🙂

       5 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “I used to love the BBC. I grew up with some brilliant television & radio from them and I realised as I got older that they were a first class, accurate and impartial news service. Then they became all PC, woke, anti brexit and did not report the news in a factual and honest way. Biased reporting and carefully selecting images for a story to put their slant on it means I no longer support them.”

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60036446

         28 likes

    • tomo says:

      Hmmm…. I just clicked a “thumbs up” on one comment and the total decremented…

      I see Lineker gets a mention…

         5 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Pattern of comments
      top get 500 Likes, so not huge
      shows not many people read bbcwebnews
      but anti BBC comments win by miles
      Pro BBC ones, look as if written by staff.

         8 likes

  32. Guest Who says:

    Having posted the claim, the bbc now turns to the denial.

    And in reply all Lewis’ lefty mates are saying they don’t believe him.

    Ain’t it grand when checking facts and substantiating stuff does not apply to you, bbc?

       13 likes

  33. MarkyMark says:

    Comprehensive whole-population data on COVID-19 vaccine uptake in pregnancy and SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and COVID-19 outcomes are lacking1. Such data are required to help guide decision making by women, clinicians and policymakers on measures to prevent and control COVID-19 in pregnancy, in particular, vaccination.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01666-2

    Covid-19: Pregnant women urged to get vaccine after new study
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60023039

       0 likes

  34. MarkyMark says:

    Available now
    There are currently no available episodes

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0063fzt

       1 likes

  35. AsISeeIt says:

    Our BBC feels the need to do a hit piece on: ‘Anti-vax protests: ‘Sovereign citizens’ fight UK Covid vaccine rollout’

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/59870550

    Is this really news? Is it really an important issue? Well, it’s bread and butter and just another day in the office to the BBC Monitoring Reality Check staff – you know, that branch of the BBC we licence payers so much admire along with all the great dramas and those fabulous animal documentaries…

    Personaly, just like our much vaunted Far Right groups, one suspects these people are mostly rather self-consciously performative individuals, with a good smattering of Agent Provocateur members on the police payroll. But hey-ho, the BBC gets excited at their very mention.

    ‘Followers of “sovereign citizen” and “freeman on the land” conspiracy theories wrongly believe they possess the legal power to bring leading politicians, civil servants and scientists before so-called “common law courts”… They allege “crimes” over Covid restrictions and vaccinations, even though such claims have no basis in law.’

    Fair enough, we have democratic ways of altering our laws – we can’t have unelected independent assemblies circumventing Parliament made up of representative MPs who stood on manifestos – that would be anarchy.

    However:

    ‘UK Climate Assembly: what is citizens’ assembly on climate change, and what does their Net Zero report say? BBC 2 documentary The people vs Climate Change explores the changes we need to make to our everyday lives, according to the members of the first citizens’ assembly on climate change’

    https://www.nationalworld.com/news/environment/uk-climate-assembly-what-is-citizens-assembly-on-climate-change-and-what-does-their-net-zero-report-say-3460129

    ‘Why was the assembly created?
    Politicians have pledged to cut the carbon emissions which are overheating our climate. But they’re fearful of making policies that affect how people live their lives – how we heat our homes, what we buy, how we travel, and what we eat. Often when ministers propose policies restricting emissions, some people angrily object. So the assembly was formed to help a group of people learn about climate change, and then suggest how it should be tackled. ‘

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-54090352

    ‘Attenborough to Climate Assembly: ‘You’ve given me a lot of hope’

    ‘Sir David Attenborough has met the Climate Assembly in Parliament to discuss action on climate change. The Climate Assembly brings together people from across the country to discuss ways that the UK can reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050’

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-58495142

    Ah, well, I suppose that BBC-approved brand of circumventing our Parliament and our previously democratically agreed laws is different then?

       17 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    Sky Emote Editor.

    Not a journalist.

       7 likes

  37. digg says:

    It’s becoming obvious that the doomsday green nutters are going off on one again over the Tonga earthquake.

    CNN publish two images of the same place claiming it shows the “damage”.

    https://edition.cnn.com/

    Look closely and it is screamingly obvious that the only difference between the two is the murky but natural cloud cover on the after image contrasted with the bright sunlit day in the before photo.

    This is basically a low form of lying for effect and is used repeatedly by the anti-freedom brigade and the left in general.

    My dad used to say “cheats never prosper”.

       11 likes

    • Expat John says:

      Oh but they do, digg – if their snouts are in the public trough, payable under fear of fines and imprisonment.

      #Defund the BBC

         7 likes

  38. MarkyMark says:

    Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources
    Name of donor: Lord Philip Harris of Peckham
    Address of donor: private

    Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Gift hamper with a value of £500, which has been donated to a good cause

    https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10999/boris_johnson/uxbridge_and_south_ruislip#register

       1 likes

  39. MarkyMark says:

    Arrest EVERYONE!

    The video showed four officers ordering Root, Anderson, Head, Carey and Lyon, who were sat around a table populated by beer bottles, to disperse from a roof terrace.

    It was shot by England assistant coach Graham Thorpe, who can be heard naming the players and saying he was “videoing this for the lawyers”.

    Thorpe took charge of England for the drawn fourth Test in Sydney when head coach Chris Silverwood was in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.

    England’s coaching team were already under pressure following England’s 4-0 series defeat.

    The incident comes the day after a newspaper report suggested a drinking culture had developed on the tour among England staff and players, exacerbated by Covid restrictions placed on the tourists.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/60035895

       2 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      BBC page “The most embarrassing thing from England’s point of view is that the video of the police intervention has been widely shared online. How did it get out? And why?”

      Doh, you have to video interactions with police
      for your own legal safety.
      If you release that footage early, then you get your narrative out
      ..before the media get a chance to to make up a misleading narrative and promote that.

         7 likes

  40. G.W.F. says:

    If Boris goes will the new BBC appointed PM sack Dorries and end her decision to scrap the licence fee?

       16 likes

  41. dafydd says:

    Sky and BBC political correspondents now saying Johnson will be gone by the end of week or sooner. Stating the 2019 intake of MP’s are leading the charge to get rid of him and are putting in letters of no confidence.

    Irony, if it wasn’t for Johnson the 2019 intake would not have got elected..

    I hope these reports are wrong not because I want Johnson to stay but for the fact that the BBC and Labour have got there scalp..

    He needs to stay until Mays elections, thats the time to say goodbye..

    By getting rid of Johnson, this could be the end of the Tories for years…Love or loath him he has the knack of winning.

    So sad that his fellow MP’s have fallen for all the hysteria.

    I genuinely don’t know any fellow Tory members around me who want him gone.

    Can you imagine the f–king BBC if he goes..!!!

       15 likes

  42. StewGreen says:

    Radio4 now Engineer Roma Agrawal ‘I picked her cos like me she was born in Mumbai and we share so much culture’
    … I guess when the prog has a white guest they often feel guilty is they are white and they choose a white person.

       1 likes

  43. digg says:

    Remarkable how some errors of judgement instantly spur the left wing press into calls for heads to roll,

    Example:
    Boris spends 20 minutes in the garden with his staff.

    While other and potentially much more serious errors of judgement are simply accepted as normal.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/18/mi5-investigated-texas-synagogue-hostage-taker-malik-faisal-akram-in-2020

    Example:
    MI5 chiefs cock-up and it’s – “nothing to see here!”.

       18 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      ‘WICKED PROBLEM’ Ex-terror boss reveals 40,000 potential terrorists could launch attack in UK at any time
      Alex Winter
      8:47, 22 Jun 2020Updated: 15:50, 22 Jun 2020

         6 likes

      • JohnC says:

        Those 40,000 are why the far-Right threat is so ridiculously overblown by the likes of the BBC.

        If anyone actually stood up to the terrorists and rapists, it would be taken as a direct attack on Islam – egged on immensely by the BBC for their other agendas – and suddenly we have 40,000 angry jihadists living among us.

        That’s why the government play any and every dirty trick they can to put down people like Tommy Robinson. And our ‘free press’ all know they must not report it. Our society is nowhere near as ‘free’ as people think.

           14 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      Digg

      Understandable why MI5 cocked up.
      Malik Faisal Yaxley Lennon Akram is not a white supremacist and has no connections to the far right.

         17 likes

    • JohnC says:

      They don’t want to draw any attention to the fact this man was a Muslim who had evaded all our intelligence. It’s simply astounding hypocrisy and double standards that the BBC can write such lengthy articles without once mentioning it was an act based on Muslim religious hatred. And there are tens of thousands more just like him.

         12 likes

  44. MarkyMark says:

    Ten leading US airlines are warning that the imminent rollout of 5G services could be disastrous.

    They say the new technology could cause thousands of flights to be delayed, and risks leaving large parts of the US aircraft fleet grounded indefinitely.

    ^^ WILL HAVE NO IMPACT ON HUMAN’S BUT CAN BRING DOWN PLANES! HA HA HA HA

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60042178

       2 likes

    • tomo says:

      The impact of 5G frequencies on aircraft radar altimeters is down to poor design of the radio part of the altimeters and feck-all to do with 5G really.

      Some radar altimeters have wholly inadequate input filters that allow signals nowhere near (in RF engineering terms) the reflection into the signal processing bit

      https://search.theregister.com/?q=5G+altimeter

         2 likes

  45. MarkyMark says:

    Staff shortages are a particular problem in the UK, due to Brexit and the pandemic, and are prompting some employers to raise wages.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12196322

       0 likes

  46. Fedup2 says:

    The GBNews Brazier think piece today has sailed as near to the OFCOM alarm as I think I’ve heard . He challenges the MSM diverting tactics regards Muslim terrorists such as the latest one – a 44 year old who went 8000 to attack American Jews –
    The old song of ‘should have been stopped ‘ was challenged – which you just do not hear but read enough regularly here
    . He didn’t go so as saying bits of Islam are evil – but near …

       21 likes

  47. Zephir says:

    “One Year After Being Unjustly De-platformed, Parler Has Overcome the Odds and Actually Built Back Better
    Decries Big Tech, Big Government Control Over Freedom of Conscience”

    https://parlersocial.substack.com/p/one-year-after-being-unjustly-de

    “One year ago, Parler was scapegoated and de-platformed by a gaggle of Big Tech cronies. Based on what we’ve heard and read in the last several days, it’s apparent that some still believe Parler’s de-platforming was necessary and proper. But others, like us, see it in the context of the officious de-platforming spree of 2021. They understand that kneecapping Parler was likely intended, not only to deprive former President Donald Trump of a platform—recall that, just days before, Trump had been banned from Twitter and was rumored to be joining Parler—but also to give Parler’s competitors absolute control over narratives impacting our freedoms and health.

    During the year of Parler’s rebuilding, it has become crystal clear that the control this conglomerate wishes to exercise doesn’t involve the suppression of “hate speech,” or even threats or incitement, after all. Instead, what they seek, and have come close to achieving, is control over the permissible boundaries of scientific or political debate. Today, anyone who questions this week’s “settled science,” or who criticizes the legal, normative, or even practical justification for COVID-related restrictions or mandates is, in the tech cronies’ fantasy, destined for the Memory Hole in which they thought they had discarded Parler.”

    “It’s becoming more apparent each day that the platforms we’ve been sold as a means of connecting with others have instead divided and alienated us. Now they are going even further, helping to revive the practice of physically segregating human beings based on irrelevant characteristics. Finally, we are beginning to perceive how tech giants’ data-mining practices could lay the foundation for a “social credit score,” which might soon be the next thing leaked from a Chinese lab.

       9 likes

  48. Halifax says:

    The beautiful young lady murdered in Ireland is so tragic. But I can’t help but think that the perpetrator is already known and he is white.
    I dont think this tragic story would get this level of coverage if the murderer was an immigrant or BME.

    Such a beautiful young lady and such a tragedy.

       11 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      He has been arrested, no details. But he might belong to a protected community, which is not connected to the far far far right

         4 likes

  49. G.W.F. says:

       7 likes

  50. Zephir says:

    “Russia evacuating embassy in Ukraine – media
    Report alleges Moscow has begun repatriating representatives and their families

    With tensions rising on the Russian border with Ukraine, Moscow has started to remove its diplomats and their families from its embassy in Kiev and consulate in Lvov, the New York Times has claimed, citing anonymous officials.

    In a report published on Monday, the newspaper claimed that 18 people, primarily children and wives of Russian diplomats, left Ukraine on January 5. A further 30 people allegedly left in the two weeks following that, and diplomats from two other Russian consulates (Kharkov and Odessa) had reportedly been told to prepare to leave the country.”

    In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that “The Russian embassy in Kiev is working normally,” but did not deny any downsizing.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/546357-moscow-evacuate-embassy-ukraine/

       4 likes