664 Responses to Start the Week 16 May 2022

  1. digg says:

    For anyone wondering about the openness and transparency of our national press, thus advisory page for anyone wishing to submit confidential blather to the Guardian is both eerie, Orwellian and worthy of MI5 at the same time…

    https://www.theguardian.com/securedrop

       21 likes

  2. Sluff says:

    It’s ‘Spot the Difference’ time on the BBC.

    Shootings in America give this.main headline
    ‘US gunman deliberately sought black victims…’
    Quick off the mark with the race check.

    Meanwhile, rather lower down the page, we have this.
    ‘Teacher charged with sexual assault on schoolgirls’

    Not quite so open in the headline on this one, are you BBC?

    But when I saw it, I somehow knew. This being the BBC.

    The accused, wouldn’t you know it, is one Muhammed Taimoor.

       64 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Like the justice system.

      The BBC is big on belief. And #callsfor.

         25 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        I agree – crime should ne seen as a health issue – therefore fund plod out of NHS funds which means a lot of constabularies pCc s and chief constables can be made redundent … save money on local taxes too

           21 likes

      • NCBBC says:

        It was a major mistake to require a college degree for the police.

        The degrees are usually sub-standard, based on a woke left agenda. The result is what America has in California, Oregon and other Democrat states. Massive unreported crime, rising drug related deaths and general criminality.

        Hopefully the same country that brought this about will lead us out of it.

           18 likes

      • BurnaTyreForGreta says:

        It is his duty to enforce the law not express an opinion

           5 likes

    • JohnC says:

      Exactly the same as me Sluff !.

      I was browsing their page, saw the headline and it hardly caught my attention. And precisely because it was so bland, I decided to check it.

      Sure enough it was a Muslim and I realised the front-page title was no accident at all. They were doing whatever they could to keep you from looking at it.

      Note how it’s the main page which has the bland title. His identification is given in full when you go into the article. And it’s the article which stays on the system for the fact/bias checkers. They can manipulate the main page wording as much as they like until it disappears.

      It’s one of the dirty tricks the ‘News you can trust’ BBC use to minimise who sees it.

         46 likes

  3. Deborah says:

    The BBC1 news on Sunday at 10pm just had to show the Women’s FA cup final played in front of a record breaking crowd of 50,000 . They didn’t tell you that the capacity of Wembley is 90,000. So the FA cup final (women’s) was played in front of a half filled ground, it doesn’t sound quite the same as the excitement with which they reported it,

       41 likes

    • moggie63 says:

      The big question should be, how many of the 50,000 actually paid for a ticket?

         32 likes

    • Wild Bill says:

      What will the FA do when they get trans men playing unfairly in the womens teams?

         8 likes

    • zxcvbnm says:

      back in the 90s darts was split in to the PDC and the BDO.

      The PDC had all the best players and was only available on Sky.

      The BDO had the 2nd-tier players and was on the BBC.

      20 years later, the BDO effectively went bankrupt and the PDC has gone from strength to strength, hosting regular tournaments to packed crowds on a regular basis.

      Give it some time…

         6 likes

  4. Nibor says:

    Not quite the BBC (although they never beg the question ) .
    The Rwanda project .
    Why not any MP who objects to it has to take (bogus ) asylum seekers into his/her constituency and his/her constituents have to pay for them – no funding from central government ?
    And if Nichola Sturgeon says that Scotland welcomes all asylum seekers then all asylum seekers are sent there ?

       37 likes

    • Wild Bill says:

      Trouble is they will mostly head south once they get to Scotland.

         11 likes

    • zxcvbnm says:

      i heard on the radio this morning:

      “the uk government will tell 50 migrants that they *might* be sent to Rwanda”

      Out of the 8,000 that arrived this year.

      Pretty strong stuff.

         12 likes

  5. Guest Who says:

    Interesting bio. He should become an overworked South London MP too.

       15 likes

  6. Guest Who says:

    As what?

       12 likes

    • taffman says:

      Guest Who
      Trans Daleks?

         27 likes

    • digg says:

      Cheap BBC trickery to try to recover the alienated fans cheesed off with how their diversity drive has trashed the program. The BBC will represent it as a cuddly “reprise” but in actual fact it’s sheer blind panic.

      Tennent and Tate will not be overly concerned as long as they pick up a nice wad of License Payers cash though.

         28 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      How many years ago was that, 20? Feels like several centuries.

         11 likes

  7. Guest Who says:

    BBC Moaning Emole

    The new jet set – why private plane usage has soared

    Entrepreneur Rick Schirmer says that he and his family “feel safer” travelling by private plane. “Flying private means our family is able to avoid the airport security experience, airport crowds, flight rage, and being surrounded by people who often won’t mask properly,” says the Los Angeles-based marketing boss. While the vast majority of us have never been on a private plane, it is easy to understand the appeal.

    The other recent advantage to private planes was that they continued flying during the pandemic. So, while airlines grounded services over the past two years, the super rich and business leaders were still able to travel, safe in the knowledge that they were sticking to their own Covid-19 bubble. As a result, private plane usage has soared, especially in 2021. Last year there were 3.3 million such flights around the world, the most on record, according to aviation data research firm Wingx.

    Read full article >

    Susan Hornik
    Business reporter

    ****

    And the odd other ‘leader’, Suze….

    https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/lizzo-bares-almost-she-boards-013420272.html?

    She’s an Eco campaigner, so expect her at Davos with Leo and the gang.

       23 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      Lizzo looks like she needs a private jet, just to get off the ground… never understood how fat people can claim to be ‘green’.

         17 likes

  8. andyjsnape says:

    The new jet set – why private plane usage has soared
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61391638

    Dont forget us plebs, go green often

       15 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Don’t forget Mishal had to fly to listen to Greta say stuff, as both were…. (Checks notes)… ‘busy’.

         21 likes

  9. dafydd says:

    BBC at its stunning best….

    Blaming the economic crisis solely on the Government..

    My brother lives in Germany and he says it awful over there.

    I recently went to France and a litre of unleaded was £2.38.

    Why don’t the BBC explain that this is not an exclusive UK problem.

    My brother says in Germany they were in envy of the financial help the UK Government gave it’s people, he says it was almost non existent in Germany.

    As we all know the Left will blame this government for anything but most rational hard working people know it’s been a difficult two years and understand the problems we are all facing. I agree it’s hard times but the BBC needs to smell the coffee and report the facts not push its own political agenda..Parasites

       55 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      They will blame the government solely out of ideological bias, but they will not blame the Socialist policies which have caused this mess – the worst since the last Socialist Labour government and the one before it.
      Gordon Brown and Callaghan / Wilson. What should be of the greatest concern is that in the past there was a notionally conservative government to pick up the pieces after Socialism had wrecked the economy, but who is going to put things right after Blue Labour have wrecked everything ?

         29 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “Why don’t the BBC explain that this is not an exclusive UK problem.”

      That is not how power is held to account in the bbc way, such that it gets in Labour using £5,000,000,000 of enforced propaganda.

         20 likes

  10. Fedup2 says:

    Today
    Henry dimbleby wants to tax food to cut obesity. Excellent idea – put 20% vat on all food . He can then starve the population and end ‘ the obesity crisis ‘ – ive got a better one – make food delivery a crime – no on line deliveries – you get a fine if caught ordering online …
    Sometimes the nanny state really does me …

       27 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      Mr Dimbleby looks a bit roly-poly to me… we should put an extra, special 20% tax on his salary too, and on those of other BBC employees, would cut down on the entitlement crisis this country is currently suffering, a move which is urgently needed.

         15 likes

  11. Guest Who says:

    Also on the ‘mole… BBC language…

    “ Millions of people speak Urdu, it’s a supple and expressive language – the preferred choice for some of India’s most famous poets and writers. What’s its origin? India’s right wing seems to think Urdu’s a foreign import but that’s not the case. Here’s why.

    Let’s move to another language – the language of love. Butterflies, feeling giddy, sweaty palms… there are a long list of things you feel when you’re in a relationship, especially a new one. But when do you know love is love and not lust? And what’s going on in your brain when you fall in love? Check out the answers here.”

    See, right wing = hatey.

    Left is pure love, and maybe a poo on the duvet.

       14 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      Urdu = Orda = Horde – the Turco-Mongol name for a ‘tribe’, ‘people’, or ‘army’ (all the same thing if you’re an old school, nomadic Mongol).

      The language is technically a foreign import to India, via Babur and the Timurid Moghuls/Mughals (‘Mongols’), but then a lot of the best things in India are foreign imports (as we’re told are here too… and being a curry fan, I don’t entirely disagree).

      Modern Urdu is a mix of native words from various languages, along with many Turkic and Mongol imports, as you’d expect from a language which evolved in the markets and ranks of the Mughal army, with their mostly Indian wives, low caste, tribal water dhobies, Afghan horse traders etc…

      The Hindu Nationalists currently ruling India are every bit as confused, hypocritical, and nonsensical as the SNP running Scotland, or Sinn Fein in Ireland. Without the Mughals, and later the British, India would be in the same kind of state as Africa… no, probably worse, but that won’t stop them destroying any vestige of Mughal and/or British rule with EXTREME prejudice, and to self detriment. Taj Mahal will be converted to a Hindu temple next, with ‘foreigners’, women, and Muslims banned from entering, even though it was a Mughal, Muslim tomb for a Rajput Princess.

         9 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Er – gotta be a case for more Urdu programmes on the BBC – maybe they could – er – have their own channel — …

           12 likes

  12. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – the BBC have been banging on about the ‘cost-of-living-crisis’ …

    and their Labour Party friends have been asking for “the Government to act” and now that it has, the BBC and, no doubt the Labour Party also, don’t like what the Government have done. Oh dear! How sad! Never mind. But that doesn’t stop wealthy, highly paid (multiple sources? including the Government purse taxpayer?) Henry Dimbleby from getting a TOADY airing just to say that poor people and those on low incomes should pay a sugar, salt and fat tax, so that higher paid and wealthy individuals can avoid fiscal drag and pay less Income Tax.

    Well he probably didn’t say that last bit but that would be the net effect, of that I am sure, whatever Party was in Government. I had already switched off in protest at HD’s distortion of food science. Henry Dimbleby really wants food processors to be forced to add chemicals to their products instead of fat, salt and sugar. Those three that Dimbleby sees as evil occur naturally in the food chain.

    I would rather have them (fat, salt and sugar), in my food in moderation than unnatural manufactured chemicals.

       19 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Up2
      I’m trying to work out why mr dimbleby gets so much BBC attention – I really have no idea – he sounds like a sound chap – no riffraff regional accent that needs subtitles – good Home Counties type – so he must be right – he is from a ‘ think tank ‘ so must be right – but who pays for that ? Is it the companies which will produce the chemicals to replace natural sugars and fats ?

      If people want to stuff their faces and die younger than due -so be it – there is enough propaganda about exercise and diet and fruit and blah blah blah ….
      Now here’s a feature about cakes and an advert for a food programme – with Mary cherry …buy more stuff and eat it – you’ll feel and look betterer …

         22 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Update
        Just looked Henry up – apparently he is really

        Henry Richard Melville Dimbleby MBE – went to eton . Good chap – still don’t understand why the BBC likes him so much …

           17 likes

        • harry142857 says:

          This Henry Dimbleby.

             16 likes

          • Fedup2 says:

            Yes Harry – I wondered if there was a clue in the name …

               8 likes

            • harry142857 says:

              Ah, you knew all along, you scamp! 😉🐒

                 6 likes

              • Fedup2 says:

                Harry – yes – the BBC does like its’ family dynasties doesn’t it —- wonder if he is in the family production companies …?( guest who got there too…)

                   8 likes

                • Beltane says:

                  What always puzzled me about dynasty founder and oversized cheese Richard was the chain of local newspapers he owned.

                  Fair enough, their sale for £12m helped no end in funding education and lifestyle for David and Jonathan, but how did the BBC reconcile media ownership with impartiality?

                     8 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        The BBC is proposing to cast him as Steven Carrington in a BBC remake of ‘Dynasty’, reportedly.

        With Grayson as Alexis and Sir Boaty as a shoulder pad.

           13 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Fed, all the Beeboids eat at Henry Dimbleby’s restaurant, like you I cannot think why except that the prices are so high and the portions so small that only Beeboids on salaries of £250K+ can afford to eat chez Dimbleby.

           3 likes

  13. AsISeeIt says:

    While the Khan’s away the machetes will play
    And, there needs to be more regulation edition

    Stop the presses – as jounalists used to exclaim – football on the frontpage of the otherwise rather unsporty Guardian: ‘Chelsea clinch double in another extra-time final‘ – “calm down dear” as both Michael Winner and Dave Cameron were once wont to say… this is of course: ‘Chelsea’s women went one better than the men’s team‘ – as you’ll no doubt note there – a rather bitter side swipe from the Guardian at the west London chaps in blue. I wonder for a moment about Russian oligarch links with the women’s team? However this team of gilrs in blue are apparently on the contrary very much persona grata. More of Chelsea later…

    If the men’s Liverpool side this season under the toothy wunderkind Jurgen Klopp do happen to achieve the quadruple (VAR-assisted), one supposes there will be no editorial side swipes made at the equivalent team of red-shirted female scoucers currently still languishing in The FA Women’s Championship second division league, after relagation a couple of years ago.

    Different jounalistic rules clearly apply.

    The BBC is keen on such rule changes: ‘A tale of two femicides – and media bias By Megha Mohan and Amalia Zatari BBC World Service and BBC Russian‘ – here we go…

    Our BBC ventures into the rogue state that is Putin’s Russia, representing all that is reprehensible in the world today… where we are told of the murders of Alexandria and of Olga – the victims of two basic sex-killers.

    But there’s so much more the BBC wants us to learn: ‘The media prefers some female murder victims to others – one killing gets blanket coverage, while another is quickly dismissed. But crimes of femicide – when a woman is killed because of her gender – may at least be counted more accurately, if the UN can persuade countries to use a new, expanded framework for identifying cases

    And, one might add, our media, especially the BBC, avoids like the plague, mention of certain multiple grooming gang rape victims rather closer to home than: ‘Beryozovsky, a small town east of the Ural Mountains in Russia

    But like Basil Brush attempting to interupt Mr Derek Fowlds’s story telling to crack a joke, I digress… boom-boom..

    Frankie Valli used to sing the Barry Gibb composition Grease is the Word but the BBC’s word is “Femicide

    BBC: ‘Femicide is defined by the World Health Organization as “the murder of women because they are women” and by the UN as “the gender-related killing of women and girls”

    Because of course – despite Brexit – UK sovereignty in such culturally significant legal matters is trumped by the unelected supranational WHO and by the UN

    And we can presumably wait until hell freezes over due to global cooling before the murder of a man because he is a man is given such interantionally elevated status.

    To the somewhat negalected comuter free-sheet which is our capital’s Evening Standard… West End Final edition no less, where we find a puff piece for Sadiq Khan: ‘Khan pledges to speed up greener transport‘ – the celeb-obsessed Standard: ‘You’re on the list! Inside last night’s hottest parties‘ – or so it promises readers, liken little man Khan to some rock star on tour and you too can be a star – Andy Warhol would approve with his 15-minutes future of fame for all and sundry prediction: ‘Movie roles: Sadiq Khan at Universal Studios and outlining his goal to get young Londoners film industry apprenticeships

    While the Khan’s away the machetes will play – The Standard goes with a big crime splash: ‘Terror in Chelsea: machete robber ambushes lawyer for his watch‘ – this is a rather audacious broad daylight machete and moped attack on the victim and his girlfriend.

    Mr Dinsmore, who in the same week as the robbery was elected as a Conservative councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham, said the attack had left him fearing for his safety‘ – not good news that anyone is attacked in this manner – or in this manor as Londoner’s are wont to say – however, they do say a liberal is just a conservative who hasn’t been mugged yet… so perhaps this chap might speak out about the letting loose in our capital of the sort of individuals who perpetrate this novel form of crime? Of course not.

    I did some research and found that I could easily buy a machete online… There needs to be more regulation” – not of our borders, obviously.

    Detectives are investigating the incident and appealing for information

       23 likes

  14. Fedup2 says:

    Maybe the khan went to America to get a new police commissioner — after all – they are famed for the law enforcement – I’ve seen that CGI show …

    Lawyers as victims …. No comment …

       13 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      I still can’t get my head around how 50000 people went to the girls FA cup thing …. I was trying to do the sums …
      Say each club get 25000 tickets – each player gets a 1000 –
      So say the squad is 25 including staff – that’s …. 25000 …

      But each player has a 1000 tickets – so – say – 250 for friends 250 for family – 250 for neighbours – 250 for gifts … that’s 1000!
      So 50000 went – but no one paid .

         22 likes

      • AsISeeIt says:

        MENS: FA cup final ticket prices
        Category 1 – £145 (adult) / £135 (concessions)
        Category 2 – £115 (adult) / £105 (concessions)
        Category 3 – £70 (adult) / £60 (concessions)
        Category 4 – £45 (adult) / £35 (concessions)
        Premium seats located on Level 2 are also available priced as follows:
        £250 (adult) / £230 (concessions)
        £225 (adult) / £205 (concessions)Ticket Prices (1-8 tickets)

        SOLD OUT

        WOMENS: FA cup fianl ticket prices
        £25 – Category 1 (Adults)
        £20 – Category 2 (Adults)
        £10 – Concessions (Over 65s & Students)
        £2.50 – Child (Under 16s)
        For group bookings of 9 or more, please use the Group tab when booking tickets. Group prices:
        £12.50 – Category 1 (Adults)
        £10 – Category 2 (Adults)
        £5 – Concessions (Over 65s & Students)
        £2.50 – Child (Under 16)

        5/9 of stadium capacity sold or perhaps gifted

           28 likes

      • Northern Dreamer says:

        Top price ticket £20, then £10 and many concessions, and they still couldn’t sell out the stadium, virtually giving the tickets away. Compare to mens game, £45-£145, and level 2 premium tickets £250. Sold out. On Saturday morning the ticket agencies were asking £800-£2300 for a ticket. The right for women to play football is undeniable, but it is an inferior product, fact.
        Take wimbledon, if the mens and womens tournaments were played independently, what price commercially could be asked for tickets to the 2 events. I guess mens tickets 5 times price of womens.
        It’s not sexism, it’s the market, and the BBC etc. can promote the wimmins game all they want.
        And don’t get me started on womens rugby…..jeeeeez..
        Funny how the world of fashion models isn’t subject to the same scrutiny.

           25 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          It’s enough to have a bunch of girls running around falling over in the box in the prem – but actual girl footy ? Please … I wonder who played ? Actually I could care less ….

             13 likes

          • BRISSLES says:

            I wouldn’t cross the street to watch women’s (they are of a ‘type’) football/rugby/cricket/boxing – any sport in fact that is men’s territory. Its akin to watching a load of hairy blokes playing Netball. Is there women’s snooker ? I used to enjoy playing the fellas years ago at the Social Club.

               21 likes

            • Fedup2 says:

              Wow – Brissles – hairy blokes playing net ball – concept – ideal BBC Saturday afternoon fare – call it … er … grandstand ….

                 11 likes

            • zxcvbnm says:

              There are 2/3 women snooker players who compete with the men but very seldom do they win a match.

              There is no money in exclusively women’s snooker and it effectively gets zero coverage – barry hearn is anything but daft when it comes to money

              As an aside, BBC showed some of “the women’s game” during this year’s world final. And the answer is yes, the BBC did find a token tranny competitor to display.

                 5 likes

  15. digg says:

    Looks like the faux woke showbiz Hollywood luvvies and their agents are muscling in on the Queens Jubilee razzmatazz.

    No doubt it will not be about celebrating our Monarchy, History and Pagentry but another push for “diversity” by minimising the Royal element and promoting the usual “protected” groups and other such blather.

    They realise that they have little chance of cancelling the event so instead infiltrate it to try to water down the patriotism.

       28 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Digg Digg Digg
      Look it’s well known that Tom cruise has strong ties to the British Monarchy – ©😢so he was bound to ‘host ‘ it’s a royal pageant … ©️with a fly past from the Lolita express©️ … and a choir from the Liverpool FC charm school of music …©️

         14 likes

  16. Fedup2 says:

    Today
    The bloke from OFGEM – the fuel price people – says they are going to do the price cap thing every quarter – they will need for staff and more money – so the price of fuel bills will be going up just a little bit more to pay for this – …( I might have made some of this up) ….

    More seriously – have a look at the standing charge cost per day .. now there IS a rip off …

       19 likes

    • Deborah says:

      I had my Monday morning 5 minutes of the Today programme just as the Ofgem chap was being interviewed. Does Amol do the Today programme? It sounded like him. But he was so rude, sneering with every question and not giving time for the answer. Whoever it was can interview nicely because after he had wrung out the Ofgem man out, he went to Paul Lewis from Moneybox. ‘Amol’ (I really thought it was him) was all sweetness and light, asking gentle questions in a gentle voice, and allowing Paul to speak. There was no arguing back and I could imagine his head nodding in agreement.

         18 likes

  17. Zephir says:

    BBC Liars:

    (you can trust us etc etc etc)

    The BBC’s (false) prophet of doom: His wife supports Extinction Rebellion, his sister has been fined for protesting with Insulate Britain… No wonder insiders says their climate editor Justin Rowlatt is more ‘campaigner’ than reporter

    Justin Rowlatt is more ‘campaigner’ than reporter, BBC insiders have claimed
    The climate journalist’s wife also supports activist group Extinction Rebellion
    It was reported ECU upheld complaints about two claims he made in a series

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10819211/Insiders-say-Justin-Rowlatt-campaigner-reporter.html

       32 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      So that bloke who claims to be a journo but is the ‘older ‘ bbc green propaganda bloke now has younger and better connected competition then … can’t see OFTHING going after green propaganda though – Steyn / GBNews is a far easier target to silence …
      They’ll want a ‘head ‘ to impress their new boss – lord grade of sizewell …

      Rowlatt has a distinguished pedigree and( 4 kids (not very green )) – from wik –

      Sir
      Sidney Rowlatt

      Relatives Justin Rowlatt (great-grandson)
      Sir Sidney Arthur Taylor Rowlatt, KCSI (20 July 1862 – 1 March 1945) was an Anglo-Egyptian barrister and judge, remembered in part for his presidency of the sedition committee that bore his name, created in 1918 by the imperial government to subjugate and control the independence movement in British India, especially Bengal and the Punjab. The committee gave rise to the Rowlatt Act, an extension of the Defence of India Act 1915.

         19 likes

      • Zephir says:

        “But this is not the first time BBC viewers have been misled by the Corporation’s climate editor.

        Last December, the ECU had to clarify a claim made by Rowlatt that Britain’s offshore wind is ‘now virtually subsidy-free’.

        As was clarified, such a claim may be true of recently installed turbines, but many older models were built under contracts which guarantee them subsidies for many years to come.

        Some at the BBC, it seems, are losing patience with their climate editor. ‘The Justin Rowlatt stuff is grim,’ an unnamed BBC source told one newspaper this week. ‘These are not ‘mistakes’; he’s a campaigner.’

        Climate campaigning certainly runs in his family. His wife, Bee, herself a former producer for the BBC World Service, has boasted on Twitter of joining Extinction Rebellion protests.

        ‘Best thing about #BlackFriday,’ she tweeted in 2018, ‘is Extinction Rebellion bringing Oxford [Street] to a halt.’

        She has also supported a ‘justice’ fund which gives protesters access to legal advice.

        Rowlatt’s sister Cordelia was fined for taking part in one of Insulate Britain’s dangerous protests on the M25 last year.

        But what about Rowlatt himself? As a BBC journalist, he is supposed to maintain scrupulous impartiality at all times. Look through his output, however, and it is hard to argue that he is even trying.

        Two days before his Panorama programme in November, Rowlatt shocked viewers with a hysterical interview with Boris Johnson at the COP26 summit in Glasgow. He accused the Prime Minister of looking ‘a little bit weaselly’.

        ‘[You are] not ruling out opening a coal mine in Britain, a new coal mine in Britain!?’ he breathlessly exclaimed. ‘We started the Industrial Revolution — we should close the mines!'”

           25 likes

  18. Zephir says:

    Anyone who watched the BBC’s Panorama programme on November 3 last year without previously having taken an interest in climate change probably found themselves terrified.

    That edition of the Beeb’s flagship documentary series, called Wild Weather: Our World Under Threat, began with the corporation’s climate editor, Justin Rowlatt, telling viewers: ‘The world is getting warmer and our weather is getting ever more unpredictable and dangerous. The death toll is rising around the world and the forecast is that worse is to come.’

    Footage of terrible floods, storms, droughts and fires rolled on — with the clear implication that this had all been caused by man-made climate change.

    Now jump forward to last week, when it was reported that the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) had upheld complaints about two claims made in the programme.

    First, it wasn’t true that the death toll from natural disasters is rising. In fact, the opposite is true.

    According to ourworldindata.com, the number of deaths globally from natural disasters has tumbled each decade for the past century, apart from a small blip in the 2000s, from an average of 524,000 a year in the 1920s to just 45,000 in the 2010s — despite a booming global population.

    The ECU also ruled that Rowlatt’s claim that southern Madagascar was ‘on the brink of the world’s first climate-induced famine’ was incorrect, as other factors were involved.

       30 likes

    • Sluff says:

      Zeph
      Good series of posts and excellent Daily Mail article on page 17 of the old-technology version today.

      One could suggest that the mere appointment of a ‘climate change editor’ tells you a lot about the BBC’s newsroom students and children.

      Mr Rowlatt is to impartial climate reporting as Paul Mason was to impartial economics reporting. The BBC of course know this, which is why they hire their kind in the first place. And continue to do so.

         29 likes

  19. Zephir says:

    By the way, if you are not aware, I was informed televisually that it is the BT Spring Sale:

    BT Fibre prices are from £26.99 per “MUNF”

    Yep, you got it, per “MUNF”

    I had to check online, as the announcer appeared not familiar with the English language, and I can confirm that BT Fibre prices start at £26.99 per month, for all the English out there.

    Maybe in Brixton, or Nigeria they understood ?

    I am considering asking BT if they could recruit announcers that had an English education, it would be a help when he attempts to communicate with English people.

       31 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Zephir – don’t you come on here with your achronisms – I’ve been pulled up many Times by achronism fiends who wonder at my lack of knowledge (LOK ) of such things LOL …

      £27 seems a bit rich ..

      Manchester United No Football ?

         4 likes

  20. G.W.F. says:

    All about Racism

       20 likes

  21. JohnC says:

    Afghanistan face veil decree: ‘It feels like being a woman is a crime’
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61402309

    And once again in a story which is 100% about the barbarity and intolerance of Islam, the BBC give us lots and lots of description about the ‘what’ but don’t go anywhere near the ‘why’.

    Just so they don’t upset other Muslim’s.

       30 likes

    • theisland says:

      Some points from a Spectator article last year (September 2021)
      https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-sect-behind-the-taliban-s-cheerleaders-in-the-uk

      The Taliban is a Deobandi regime.
      The Deobandi is an anti-imperialist, socially conservative and religiously dogmatic movement that emerged in India in the 19th century which later sought to purify Islam from contamination by British colonialism. The sect, which spread throughout South Asia, urges followers to reject any compromise with western values, cut all contact with nonbelievers and to prepare for conflict to establish the global victory of Islam.
      This sect runs more than 40 per cent of mosques in the UK and trains most of our imams.
      According to a 2004 study of British Islam the Deobandis also run at least 16 schools and seminaries.
      Two thirds of Muslim prison chaplains follow the Deobandi denomination, according to a review commissioned by the Ministry of Justice.
      In the UK, a significant number of convicted terrorists have had Deobandi connections.
      In 1993 the Pakistani Deobandi cleric Masood Azhar, head of Harkat ul Mujahideen, gave 40 speeches in British Deobandi mosques and madrassas.
      The 2016 review of social cohesion by Dame Louise Casey found that there is still ‘nowhere near’ enough emphasis put on integration in the UK.
      Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly commissioned a secret report on Deobandi Islam, but it has not been published.

      Conveniently ignored by all and sundry.

         20 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      MPs line up to blast Boris Johnson as he brands Afghanistan mission a success

      Anger boiled over in a packed House of Commons as Theresa May warned the PM must face ‘consequences’ – and Keir Starmer declared: “He was in a position to lead – but he didn’t”

      VIDEO UNAVAILABLE
      Boris Johnson says it’s ‘unfair’ to say government was ‘unprepared’

      ByDan BloomOnline Political Editor
      10:26, 18 Aug 2021

         2 likes

  22. JohnC says:

    Well, I made a prediction that the Geneva Presbyterian Church Shooting which killed one, critically wounded 4 others and could so easily have killed more than the supermarket shooting would run one small article for one day on the BBC because it wasn’t a white man doing the shooting.

    I have to stand up and admit I was wrong. As far as I can see, they haven’t reported it at all.

       38 likes

  23. Sluff says:

    Not biased BBC as much as useless BBC. To wit, the weather forecast.
    A friend asserts that, post the 1987 gales, the BBC are scared witless about missing a major weather event. Consequently at the slightest drop of rains or gust of wind, we get warnings of tempest, plague, and pestilence. In general, I’m sure he is right.

    Not so yesterday. The south was repeatedly promised a dry day with the chance of a shower. Yet a cursory look at the met office rainfall radar showed huge blobs of rain coming over Northbound across the channel. Almost anyone could predict rain within an hour or two. And sure enough it rained most of the morning and most of the afternoon, finally stopping around 5 pm. In other words, not exactly the chance of a shower. If I can see this, why cannot they?

    All this talent for only £4 bn a year.

       32 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      They changed from the Met Office to Meteo, amazing how market forces can convince the Left to drop their prinicples as the guy who head Meteo is what they would call a climate change denier – much like most weather professionals the world over.

      It is however the Met office who issue the weather warnings not Meteo or others.

         16 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Sluff – the same risk averse disease suffered by SAGE…?

         7 likes

  24. Fedup2 says:

    Think for a moment of the BBCs’ Frank Gardner . Mr Frank says he was stuck on an arriving aircraft at Heathrow because there were no airport staff to get him and his wheel chair off the plane – which had just come from war torn Ukraine …

    Mr Frank said he didn’t want to make anything of it apart from getting on the DT website and touring the TV and radio. Stations repeating his ordeal …. ( made up bit – maybe )

    More seriously – if you travel regularly – and are not prepared for such events – don’t travel . Eg – a war story – – was on a 2 hour Ryanair flight once – on arrival it took 3 hours to get the baggage – oh the ordeal …

    It didn’t say the airline in the piece but the commenters assumed it was BA …

    Disclosure – I’ve had to use a wheel chair in the past as well as crutches – call me lucky )

       16 likes

    • Docmarooned says:

      As per bloody usual Gardner comes out with his whinging moans. Guy is a proverbial pain in the ***. Perhaps he should just stay in the UK and stop putting other people at risk looking out for the ungrateful tosspot.

         19 likes

  25. MarkyMark says:

    As inflation begins to bite and food prices soar, MPs are resting easy knowing they’re being spared the horrors of forking out nearly £7 per pint, all courtesy of taxpayer generosity. This round’s on us.

    New figures released following a Freedom of Information request from OpenDemocracy reveal all 17 of Parliament’s bars and restaurants have been making huge losses for the past few years, with taxpayer cash being used to keep them afloat. More than £6.6 million was spent in 2020 alone, with the tab coming to a staggering £17 million over the last three years. In fact, the average cost of dinner in the Members’ Dining Room actually fell by more than £1 between 2018 and 2021…

    order-order.com

    red-lion-parliament-prices.png?w=400&ssl=1

       20 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Don’t forget that these facilities are used to entertain members of the public visiting parliament in groups together with their local MPs.

         7 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        On expenses! HA HA HA HA!
        Cost of living – we are in it together

           6 likes

    • tomo says:

      There’s a subsidized press bar?

         8 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      That graphic is a bit crap
      That Red Lion “next door” must have the craziest of crazy prices

      Meanwhile our Wetherspoons still has Ruddles at £1.60 pint
      The club down the road sells £1.40 a half
      I think you can eat in Spoons for less than £6
      but I’d never eat out in the UK even at that
      In loads of countries you can eat for £1 .. Steak and chips was 75p in a mid range eatery in Indonesia

         3 likes

  26. Fedup2 says:

    Oh Thoughtful – how to defend the indefensible.

    Surely these politicians are so important that they shouldnt pay for anything at all .

    We owe them so much for their £ service ….

       13 likes

  27. taffman says:

    “Foreign aid: UK cuts funding to UN in change of strategy”
    “Instead, the Foreign Office will spend the aid money on individual projects and countries that are UK priorities.”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61466163
    How about prioritising the people in Great Britain ?

       29 likes

  28. Zephir says:

    “Tough on crime ?”

    “Hilarious moment ‘serial shoplifting’ crisp-loving seagull believed to have nabbed £300 worth of snacks from a Tesco store makes off with his latest steal – a packet of Mini Cheddars”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10821225/Hilarious-moment-serial-shoplifting-crisp-loving-seagull-makes-latest-steal-Video.html

       13 likes

  29. Eddy Booth says:

    16:39
    End of an era for McDonald’s in Russia
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-61461805#lx-stream
    Steve Rosenberg
    “I was in the queue when the first Russian McDonald’s opened on Moscow’s Pushkin Square in January 1990 – way back in the USSR.
    There were so many people outside the restaurant, it took three hours to get inside.”

    Cue flags at half mast, hushed tones…
    BBC: tabloid stories with chav staff.

    Picture I’d have used
    hqdefault.jpg

       10 likes

  30. MarkyMark says:

    Russia’s suspension of deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria over their refusal to pay in roubles, the Russian currency, was a stark reminder of the threat facing the Eurozone. Russia has the largest natural gas reserves in the world and is the largest exporter, accounting for around 40% of Europe’s imports.

    The EU wants to cut supplies by two-thirds by the end of the year and become independent of all its fossil fuels by 2030.

    However, energy economist Carole Nakhle says that with the combined exports of Africa’s big players in the industry – Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria – amounting to less than half of what Russia supplies to Europe, they are “unlikely at the moment to compensate for any losses in Russian supplies”.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-61334470

       8 likes

  31. MarkyMark says:

    Entrepreneur Rick Schirmer says that he and his family “feel safer” travelling by private plane.

    “Flying private means our family is able to avoid the airport security experience, airport crowds, flight rage, and being surrounded by people who often won’t mask properly,” says the Los Angeles-based marketing boss.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61391638

    avoid the airport security experience
    people who often won’t mask properly
    avoid the airport security experience
    people who often won’t mask properly
    avoid the airport security experience
    people who often won’t mask properly
    avoid the airport security experience
    people who often won’t mask properly
    ?????

       11 likes

    • Sluff says:

      ……but if we fly or use our cars then the BBC waste no time in guilting us for contributing to climate change, and Justin Rowlatt and his entourage would be all over it.
      Do as I say, not as I do,

         14 likes

  32. taffman says:

    “Bank governor in ‘apocalyptic’ warning over rising food prices”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61469532
    What’s he going to do about it ?

       10 likes

  33. Richard Pinder says:

    In 1959, Britain came second to the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest, but the Netherlands declined to host the contest in 1960, it was held in Britain. In 2022, Britain came second to the Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest, but it looks unlikely that the Ukraine can host the contest in 2023. Britain has come second in the contest sixteen times.

    The lunatics want to hold the contest in the city of Mariupol, so we must persuade the BBC to send as many of their staff to Mariupol as possible. But the safest area of the Ukraine is in the west. The only venue in the west of the Ukraine that could hold the contest is, Arena Lviv, which is a football stadium turned into a refugee shelter and does not currently have a roof. So they would have to throw out the refugees and put a roof on top of the stadium, if the city were to be awarded the rights to host in 2023. But the whole of the Ukraine is a war zone, so the Russians would probably bomb the stadium early next year if they did that.

    So Britain coming second in this years contest means we will probably be holding next years contest in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Brighton or Harrogate in Yorkshire.

       13 likes

    • Halifax says:

      We should hold it in Middlesbrough or Rotherham as a way of getting our own back on the pants score we received up until this year.

         4 likes

  34. Fedup2 says:

    On the twitter that Martin Lewis apologised to the OFGEM people after apparently losing it in a press briefing about the quarterly price cap reviews ….
    …..the news is reporting that these quarterly reviews are good because prices will be cut quicker …. But what it doesn’t mention is what happens if prices stay up or go higher across – say – the next 12 months …..
    The pressure on energy firms – centrica and EON and the like to subsidise fixed contract domestic supply must be really hurting ..there was talk recently of the likes of EdF or Eon pulling out of the UK market …

    … could that happen …. Would we have a nationalised gas and electricity supply by default …?

       10 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      The high prices are as we saw yesterday being caused in no small part by the fall in the value of the Pound on international markets. Until it picks up again an awful lot of prices are going to go higher.

      Interest rates need to rise rapidly now. Back in the 1980s 1990s they were in double figures and even if the BoE increases them by 2 or even 3% they will still be low, people who borrowed money should have factored in the possibility interest rates would rise, and they’ve had it cushy for nearly two deacdes now.

         11 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Thoughtful – but if the Bank of England policy committee is as inept as it sounded in the treasury committee yesterday – the chances in interest rates going up quickly enough is just not going to happen ….

        Before the last rates decision – a .25% rise last Thursday a lot of commentators were saying it had to be .5% …. I wish I was a betting man because I Knew the bank would be too timid to do the .5% – so that has to happen next month and maybe the month after ….

        If anyone has their fixed mortgage coming to an end – and if there are deals available – I’d fix right now for as long as possible ( I have no skin in this game abs am not financially qualified ) –

        Thoughtful – as you say – interest rates returning to ‘normal ‘ after such a long time is going to come as a shock to the system for a lot of kidults who didn’t go through the ERM horror ….
        I still recall people asking me for advice about ‘negative equity ‘,,, The horror … the horror …

           3 likes

  35. Wild Bill says:

    Trouble is they will mostly head south once they get to Scotland.

       6 likes

  36. Thoughtful says:

    Today India has announced an export ban on Wheat, causing consternation in Europe – as it very well should, but how long can it be before they announce a similar ban on rice?

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/05/16/global-food-crisis-india-export-ban-sees-european-wheat-prices-hit-record-high/

    We know certain areas of the world is going to be facing a starvation scale famine later this year, and my great fear is that Socialist leaders in Europe like Boris the Red will give away food needed in this country in the same way he is giving arms to Ukraine, only this time it will have very real consequences for the poor here and import third word famine into England.

       12 likes

  37. MarkyMark says:

    Rishi Sunak has been binge-watching Bridgerton like the rest of us (Picture: Reuters)

    https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/01/rishi-sunak-has-been-spending-a-lot-of-time-bingeing-bridgerton-14681762/

    My Sunak was a big Baywatch fan growing up (Picture: Fremantle Media/Shutterstock)

    ‘We would spread a plastic picnic blanket out and I’d go with my dad to pick up either Pizza Hut or KFC from Portswood in Southampton, and we – Mum, Dad and my younger brother and sister – would eat on this picnic mat and watch The A-Team, Baywatch and Blind Date, which were on one after the other.

       3 likes

  38. Fedup2 says:

    Marky – the first 10 minutes of the Brigerton show was the end of my Netflix subscription …

    … elsewhere … Steyn is on fire ( once again ) as a genuine campaigning journalist – I wonder if many msm types watch him to see how proper TV is done ….?

    And elsewhere – again

    Discussions about the statue of Lady Thatcher – being damaged – and the residual hatred of a lady long gone – but if you think about the effect she had – foreign policy wise – freeing up Eastern Europe – ending the USSR – and the rest …. How can she be rubbished ?

       21 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      Blame Shonda Rhimes – she is a one woman missionary, whose aim it is is to cast black actors in any and all roles and to hell with history.

      “On August 14, 2017, Netflix announced that it had entered into an exclusive multi-year development deal with Rhimes, under which all of her future productions will be Netflix Original series. ”

      And that is how Netflix went woke

         16 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Brissles
        Isn’t Shonda Rhimes a country singer? – maybe a career change . Pretty impressive decision if you want to half the share price of a growing concern like the Netflix .

        The remedy seems no change in ‘woke’ but they are going to make you pay a reduced subscription to watch adverts – that’s really – not – gonna work – short the stock … ( whatever that means )

           5 likes

  39. StewGreen says:

    Is immigrant crime disproportionate ??
    BBC local news “In Hull today the Peel Project organised an event to BRING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER after the murder by stabbing of 20 yo Abdullah Balouchi in gang violence 18 months ago”

    ..Scenes of youth football ..the leader saying “Yes we are bringing the community together.. we have Polish, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Somali ..before they never looked at each other”
    … OK so no mention of British.. Most people in the footage are not white apart from 3 volunteers who may be teachers.

    The anchor said that 4 youths were convicted in the Abdullah Balouchi case, in fact 2 further suspects escaped one was the orchestrator a London drugs man B .
    The court heard that B said that a guy had stolen his big bag of cannabis, Balouchi was a friend of the guy who’d taken it and he promised to sort it, but then ended up threatening B. Later B’s gang chased Balouchi and stabbed him to death.
    3 of the jailed are Muslim named, the other is a Scunthorpe man with a Hungarian name.

    Most local crime never makes it to the BBC local TV, what does make it is that where there is a strong PR angle. In this case Abdullah Balouchi’s family have made a great fuss and have been running big campaign efforts.
    I guess they are saying they wish that their son hadn’t got caught in gang stuff. And are now doing community stuff to stop the same happening to other diverse kids.
    ==========

    The show also featured another crime vigil in Sleaford
    About a Lithuanian immigrant couple
    .. For some reason the husband murdered the wife and then killed himself ..leaving 3 kids.

       12 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      ITV local news had the same Peel Project PR
      The word “diverse” was sprayed out like a machine gun

         8 likes

  40. StewGreen says:

    ITV local news “Lauren Arafat’s deleted 211 appointments at the Batley spa when she was sacked”
    OK sympathy to the owner
    but it’s not the 1980s, these days most databases have functionality to undelete such deletions

       7 likes

  41. tomo says:

    Finger wagging fwit off to a flying start

       8 likes

    • Halifax says:

      Wow she is terrible, really poor delivery.
      Needs to sort that eye make up out !! Looks like her eyes are open when they are shut.

         8 likes

    • JohnC says:

      Is there a single person in the Democrats who is capable of answering a question without reading a prewritten script ?. And she can’t even do that.

      It’s just ridiculous.

      Bottom line is that she is there for 3 reasons:

      1) She’s black
      2) She’s a lesbian
      3) She really, really hates Trump

      ‘Ability’ is not on that list. She is one of those dangerous people whose self-confidence writes cheques her brain can’t cash. Like Lammy and Abbot.

      Sometimes I wonder if I’m living in some kind of parallel universe.

         15 likes

  42. Zephir says:

    Looks just like the thugs who attack anyone right of centre, masked and hooded antifa twats:

    ‘Emmeline would be proud’: JK Rowling praises feminist who ‘never dropped her flag’ as she stood up to masked trans activist thugs blocking statue to suffragette icon and ‘intimidating and assaulting’ women defending their rights

    Do you know the woman who was attacked by the trans activists? Email tips@dailymail.com
    JK Rowling hit out at the group who dressed in balaclavas and black outfits and appeared to assault protester

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10820413/JK-Rowling-praises-feminist-never-dropped-flag-stood-masked-trans-activists.html

       10 likes

  43. taffman says:

    “Channel migrants: More than 600 people cross in small boats”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-61463984
    It’s as if by design?

       11 likes

    • Eddy Booth says:

      Good luck getting a reasonably hotel room these days

         6 likes

      • Mrs Kitty says:

        Try airport hotels, if they put them there the yuman rights lawyers would start screaming about mental health issues because the little dears will think they’re being deported.

           7 likes

  44. Eddy Booth says:

    Now they’ve come for the milk!
    Sainsbury single pint – this year up from 55p to 60p and today 70p.

    main-qimg-2c1140b15e7d8b3be11ac023b76afeab-lq.jpg

       7 likes

  45. Zephir says:

    Good luck getting an impartial jury when Clinton’s lawyer is on trial for lying about Trump:

    Jury selected in Durham-Sussmann trial: Sussmann is charged with making a false statement to the FBI

    The jury includes one federal government employee who told the judge they donated to Democrats in 2016 and another government employee who told the judge they “strongly” dislike former President Trump—both of those jurors told the judge they could be impartial throughout the trial.

    The overwhelming majority of jurors selected told Cooper they had not heard of the case prior to jury service.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/jury-selected-durham-sussmann-trial-opening-arguments-testimony-democratic-lawyer-marc-elias

       11 likes

  46. Zephir says:

    In February, Durham said data was exploited “by mining the EOP’s DNS traffic and other data for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump,” adding the data was used to establish “an inference” and “narrative” tying Trump to Russia.

    Durham also alleges that Sussmann in February 2017 provided an “updated set of allegations,” including the Alfa Bank claims, and additional allegations related to Trump to a second U.S. government agency, which Fox News has confirmed was the CIA.

    The prosecution has argued that Sussmann desired to conceal a “joint venture” with the Clinton campaign, which Cooper wrote that the prosecution claims “supplied a motive” for Sussmann to “misrepresent” to Baker “that he was not providing the data to the FBI on behalf of any client, when he was actually representing both Mr. Joffe and the campaign.”

    Mueller’s investigation yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.

       7 likes

  47. Eddy Booth says:

    Smart-Select-20220517-011909-Chrome.jpg

    Laying the biased, heroic “fighters” tag on a little too thick today.
    Didn’t they surrender? Or Is it impolite to say that…

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-61461805
    0:12

       5 likes

    • JohnC says:

      It seems the phrase the BBC have settled on is ‘evacuated’.

      ‘Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian military, intelligence and negotiating teams, as well as the Red Cross and the UN were involved in the evacuation operation.’

      So put that through the propaganda-to-reality translator and it comes out ‘they negotiated their surrender’. The only bit in the article which gives it away is : ‘Ms Maliar said the troops would be exchanged for captured Russian soldiers.’

      We are living through a level of propaganda the world hasn’t seen since WW2.

      I suspect this is going to end in some kind of stalemate and the Russians will keep the Eastern part of Ukraine. But what really worries me now is that we are on the cusp of a new cold war and arms-race, especially if Sweden and Finland join NATO. Russia have been given a short, sharp lesson in the weapons they face and they will realise they need to be able to match it. On a massive scale considering the new lengths of border they need to fortify.

      It’s a war we just can’t afford, never mind the threat of China just over the horizon. I really do wonder what is going to happen next. I get the feeling we are at the start of a new phase of global events which will eventually lead to a new world order. What a shame we have a nasty, senile old groper as POTUS. Or perhaps that’s actually the reason it has started now.

         14 likes

  48. Halifax says:

    So in a society that accepts that you can put what you want up who you want where you want, it comes as a massive surprise that a Blackpool FC player has come out as gay.

    Its a total none story the left want us to accept every manifestation of human sexuality and are outraged if we don’t then go on to make a massive story about this sexual none event.

    I really don’t get it…

       13 likes

    • JohnC says:

      Looking down the list of Newspaper front-pages, apart from the obvious BBC, the only ones which think this is worthy of the frontpage are:

      iNews
      The Guardian
      Metro
      The Times

      All the others talk about the cost of living crisis and inflation.

      What a complete joke the Left is. I can’t take iNews seriously at all after watching Bender Butterworth completely losing his cool and screeching ‘racist’ at everybody else on GB news.

         12 likes

  49. Zephir says:

    KYIV/LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Tuesday it would suspend the flow of gas through a transit point which it said delivers almost a third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe through Ukraine, blaming Moscow for the move and saying it would move the flows elsewhere.

    Ukraine has remained a major transit route for Russian gas to Europe even after Moscow’s invasion.

    GTSOU, which operates Ukraine’s gas system, said it would stop shipments via the Sokhranivka route from Wednesday, declaring “force majeure”, a clause invoked when a business is hit by something beyond its control.

    But Gazprom (GAZP.MM), which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline, said it was “technologically impossible” to shift all volumes to the Sudzha interconnection point further west, as GTSOU proposed.

    GTSOU CEO Sergiy Makogon told Reuters that Russian occupying forces had started taking gas transiting through Ukraine and sending it to two Russia-backed separatist regions in the country’s east. He did not cite evidence.

    The company said it could not operate at the Novopskov gas compressor station due to “the interference of the occupying forces in technical processes”, adding it could temporarily shift the affected flow to the Sudzha physical interconnection point located in territory controlled by Ukraine.

    Ukraine’s suspension of Russian natural gas flows through the Sokhranivka route should not have an impact on the domestic Ukrainian market, state energy firm Naftogaz head Yuriy Vitrenko told Reuters.

    The state gas company in Moldova, a small nation on Ukraine’s western border, said it had not received any notice from GTSOU or Gazprom that supplies would be interrupted.

    The Novopskov compressor station in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian forces and separatist fighters since soon after Moscow began what it describes as a “special military operation” in February. read more

    It is the first compressor in the Ukraine gas transit system in the Luhansk region, the transit route for around 32.6 million cubic metres of gas a day, or a third of the Russian gas which is piped to Europe through Ukraine, GTSOU said.

    GTSOU said that in order to fulfil its “transit obligations to European partners in full” it would “temporarily transfer unavailable capacity” to the Sudzha interconnection point.

    Gazprom said it had received notification from Ukraine that the country would stop the transit of gas to Europe via the Sokhranivka interconnector from 0700 local time on Wednesday.

    The Russian company said it saw no proof of force majeure or obstacles to continuing as before. Gazprom added that it was meeting all obligations to buyers of gas in Europe.

    The United States has urged countries to lessen their dependence on Russian energy and has banned Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.

    U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday’s announcement does not change the timeline to lessen global dependence on Russian oil “as soon as possible.”

    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ukraine-gas-system-operator-declares-force-majeure-sokhranivka-entry-point-2022-05-10/

       5 likes