499 Responses to Midweek 15 June 2022

  1. Thoughtful says:

    Now that the pound has hit a significant new low of £1.20 against the dollar I wonder if the craven and useless excuse for a Prime Minister will be making speech akin to the one a previous Labour leader gave which became known as “The pound in your pocket”.

    At this point the pound was worth more than double what it currently is at $2.40

    In WWII when Churchill pegged the value of the pound to the dollar it was at $4.03

    So far as I can tell this is the lowest level the pound has ever fallen to, and Boris owes everyone in the country an explanation as to why he has allowed this to happen.
    Alas there does not appear to be anyone in parliament with even an ounce of economic or commercial nous at all.

       24 likes

    • Kaiser says:

      if we had anything left to export …

         9 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      ” lowest level the pound has ever fallen to”
      bet it was lower about 2 years ago

      1.16 … 20th March 2020 (a short blip)
      ..1.20 ..10th August 2019
      … 1.216 … 10 March 2017 It was about that for 6 months
      https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=USD&view=10Y

         6 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        BTW a low pound is good for exports as it makes UK goods seem cheaper
        but then the UK government counteract that by insisting on stupidly high minimum wages and GREEN taxes and Green restrictive practices.

           6 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Catchup links to most recent posts on previous thread
      page 3 started 8am on Tuesday
      page 4 started 6:30pm on Tuesday

         3 likes

    • Sluff says:

      A long long time ago…..
      Do you remember the old ‘Half Crown’ ?
      Which was 2/6d.
      My late dad used to call one ‘half a dollar’.
      The logic of which is that the £ was worth 4 dollars.

      Meanwhile for those of you who are James Bond fans, in the film Thunderball there is a sequence where a ransom is discussed. It is £100 million OR $280 million.

      The pound has slumped over time and that tragically is the open market view of the value of the £ and hence the British economy.

      It was as low as £1= $1.05 in the 80s at one temporary point.

      But agreed it says a lot about our useless government giving out money like confetti and thus devaluing it. The price of populism is very high.

      You just cannot beat boring economic policies. See Switzerland.

         20 likes

      • taffman says:

        Stuff
        How does Switzerland manage to defend its borders?

           7 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Mountains. And chocolate. And cuckoo clocks.

          Plus money. And most of it that of folk who know not to cross them.

             9 likes

        • Banania says:

          By making sure it is worth no one’s trouble to invade, in which they are assisted by geography and the inherently low value of the territory.

             1 likes

    • Rob in Cheshire says:

      From memory the £ reached $1.07 in 1985.

      In wislon’s time, the £ was devalued from $2.80 down to $2.40, but of course, as he said, this did not mean the Pound in your pocket or purse had been devalued. Not totally sure how the pipe sucking fraud worked that out.

         6 likes

  2. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    We got stuffed 0 – 4 in the football but we really showed them how to get down on the knee to the lad in America who died of a lethal drug overdose.

    They (Hungary) must have been thinking ‘what a bunch of ninnies’ when our brave lads done their pre match grovel virtue signalling.

       61 likes

    • Jeff says:

      I hate to admit this, but I’m actually pleased when this England team and this manager get beaten. I simply can’t stomach thier ghastly, unmanly grovelling. These players make my flesh crawl.

      It’s rather sad…

         70 likes

      • markh says:

        Indeed, they’re an embarrassment to our country but are too thick to see what they’re doing- they are footballers after all. Southgate has a modicum of intelligence but is probably under orders from the woke FA. They are losing a lot of support and not just for the garbage football they are playing.

           14 likes

  3. Philip_2 says:

    Now that the WOKE brigade have embraced Communism as the ‘great equality’ alongside the ‘Green dream’ it worthwhile considering where the BBC finds all its wisdom from (or enthusiasm of the left). I saw this SPECTATOR magazine quote and it fits (perfectly) with BBC dreams of world wide influence and comfort blanket. It all makes sense to The Guardian and the BBC in particular, have lived of its rewards of (urgent) impending doom for decades.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-true-birth-of-communism

       20 likes

  4. Guest Who says:

    A fair question.

    Hence likely to see the poser banned.

       28 likes

  5. StewGreen says:

    23:00pm Sky Arts Anita Ranis biography

    Meanwhile the BBC show how much they respect gay people by filling today’s schedule with progs which are repeats from a few days ago

    21:00 Prejudice and Pride: The People’s History of LGBTQ Britain
    22:00 Repeat : groundbreaking lesbian film ..shown every 9 months
    Part of 4 hour of LGBT repeats

       15 likes

  6. BRISSLES says:

    The plane’s been grounded then !

       7 likes

  7. TheRebelUK says:

    Bbc main headline now https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61806383
    They helped succeed in keeping them imigrats from going to Rywanda. For days now the news just been showing articles about keeping illegal immigrants in the UK and don’t give a toss about the rest of us or the illegal people smuggling gangs. It’s time to pull out of the European human rights and the UK has our own bill of rights that looks after our OWN people and country not every single anybody that wants to live here and usually get benefits

       51 likes

  8. tomo says:

    European Court of Human Rights ?

    Who petitioned them, how much did it cost – and anyway – I was labouring under the misapprehension that our courts were sovereign?

    This is costing a packet I know – the BBC seem very reticent about the actors and funders…

       36 likes

    • Sluff says:

      What a glorious golden opportunity for the government to come out and say’look, we are trying to protect our borders and limit the unfettered mass immigration but look at all the left wingers, rich lawyers, and Labour Party supporters trying to thwart us at every turn’.
      They could really get on the side of the ordinary folk and win support.
      But I bet they will miss yet another open goal and resort to craven contorted explanations so as not to cause offence.

         51 likes

  9. StewGreen says:

    BBC website sidebar
    Editor’s video recommendations
    – . ‘We haven’t healed’ – Grenfell survivor. Video,
    Hanan Wahabi

    – How music helps me deal with the Grenfell tragedy

    ====================

    FFS

    Meanwhile at 9:55 Radio was airing the daily book about being working class, by a Scottish author
    The author was talking about a Scottish grouse laird actually being a good guy, when he suddenly switched and started ranting about Grenfell
    he’d found a piece of paper that said the cladding was done for aesthetic effect
    “See it was for the rich people !” he said
    FFS sure the housing dept wrote sometimes, but the actual real reason for adding cladding to blocks of flats was cos the eco-laws said you have to do it.

       26 likes

    • JohnC says:

      It will never, ever end because it’s roots are in racism.

         17 likes

    • Scroblene says:

      I’ve often, (actually occasionally, or usually when I can even be arsed), wondered what happened to the huge bunch of building inspectors employed by the council which built Grenfell.

      Did they get summonsed, or how much of the blame was put at their feet? Surely they all knew what was being put on the bloody place, or if they didn’t, then the council were negligent, possibly criminally if it was found that they cocked up the actual construction sign-off.

      In the eighties, I worked for a company building large sheds and supermarkets with composite steel cladding. The insulation between the two skins was an inert foam, but we had a dreadful time getting it past insurance companies, and building inspectors. It couldn’t catch fire as there was nothing to burn, so what on earth were Kensington and Chelsea doing?

      I’d ask the BBC, but they’d spike that particular story right away…

         24 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        Isn’t there a defence that the panels were coded by the manufacturer as being suitable for fire safe applications ?

        When you don’t insure your properties, and the Building inspectors work for you then perhaps there’s a conflict of interests ?

           3 likes

        • Scroblene says:

          Conflict – absolutely, Thoughters!

          Funny that we’ll never actually know, although the contractor got a right hammering, but so should the commissioning architects and engineers, who were employed by – ‘ya daaaah’, K and C!

          The BRE can easily sort out what’s good and what’s bad – I’ve seen the lengths they go to in fire safety!

             1 likes

      • Banania says:

        “Compliance” may account for 20% of the US economy, so it probably much the same here. What are we getting for this, that is actually useful?

           1 likes

      • Sluff says:

        Quite a bit of early Grenfell coverage was about how the residents were continually short changed by the council. By inference the cladding was done on the cheap.

        So let us remember. The council were spending around £8 million on the block improvements. For around 120 flats. That’s nearly £70,000 of taxpayers money per dwelling.

        Hands up if you’d like your council to give you £70,000 to upgrade your house?

        Yep, me too. But the likes of us don’t receive. We pay.
        Big time.

           8 likes

  10. G.W.F. says:

    It appears that the Border Force is not capable of protecting UK borders. OK then, put them on Lockdown, remove their boats and keep them out of the Channel. See what happens.

       30 likes

  11. JohnC says:

    US aircrew cleared in review of deadly incident during flight from Kabul
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61799998

    ‘The air force had said shortly after the incident that the crew had to depart the airport quickly due to a “rapidly deteriorating security situation around the aircraft”.’

    If it were Trumps incompetence which had caused this boys death, you can be 100% certain they would have mentioned him in the report. And provided links to other articles showing how his actions caused the mayhem.

    As usual, the BBC keep Bidens name far away from things like this. Despite him being directly responsible for it.

    Such are the gross and quite disgusting double standards of the ‘impartial’ BBC.

    Nobody disputes that the BBC are biased to the Left and Labour when they are bound by their charter to be impartial. Why does OFCOM do nothing about it ?.

       33 likes

    • Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

      … because many Ofcom people are ex-BBC and are there to protect it.

      BBC bias about the presidencies of Biden, Trump and Obama is now off the scale: I can hardly believe how bad it has become.

         29 likes

      • JohnC says:

        The head of OFCOM is Melanie Dawes, a career civil servant who spent 15 years in the Treasury and 5 years in HMRC.

        The first head was a man, since then the role has been filled by 5 different women who were either civil servants or ex-BBC.

        What a complete and utter joke. Like putting Putin in charge of regulating the media in Ukraine.

           27 likes

        • Scroblene says:

          When one reads the sections in Ofcom’s notes on ‘impartiality’, it’s pretty clear that the whole plethora of mumbo-jumbo couldn’t have been dreamt up by anyone but a civil servant, or a publicly over-paid individual.

          There’s an awful lot of twaddle and very little that the expensive lawyers at the BBC can’t get round!

             14 likes

  12. tomo says:

    243 Mules Visiting 5,700 Drop Boxes to State Legislature

       10 likes

  13. Yasser Dasmibehbi says:

    This is Boris trying to address the illegal landings. To me he seems to be little concerned. He doesn’t like the illegality of of it but at no point does he mention having strong borders. Watch him do jokes about lawyers ha ha and then to my mind lays out the case for more mass migration. As one comment points out he’s still the same old open borders idiot. He hasn’t changed his ambition to swamp his own country with foreigners. He relishes the prospect.
    Well if you can stomach the man you might like to watch this and tell me if you think I’m being unfair.

    Actually, since his pathetic win in the vote of no confidence has he taken any serious steps to signal he hears the concern of his own people or even his own party? Is he just going to continue in his arrogant way?

       21 likes

    • taffman says:

      His “Red Wall” is crumbling down ! He had better drop Peppa
      Pig and call in Bob The Builder in to “Build Back Better”.
      Britain is being invaded while we have anincompoop in and so called “Tory” government in charge, all sitting on their backsides !

         23 likes

      • theisland says:

        As most of us keep saying:
        Leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) see here, and
        Repeal Blair’s 1998 Human Rights Act
        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10907885/PROFESSOR-RICHARD-EKINS-Human-Rights-Act-undermines-democracy.html
        The Act is a powerful piece of legislation because it gives such groups the opportunity to argue in UK courts that our laws breach the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the international treaty signed by 43 countries – including the UK in 1950 – which is entirely separate from EU law.

        I agree that the ‘asylum’ backlog needs clearing.
        A competent group of people could do this quickly.

           21 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        Taff:

        It was when he made that bizarre and rambling Peppa Pig speech that I knew he had lost the plot. He is just not fit to be the PM. Can you imagine Mrs Thatcher making a speech like that? She always mastered her brief. Boris is a lazy slob who flies by the seat of his pants. You cannot do that if you want to be PM. That is what Partygate is all about. The underlings at No10 took their cue from the boss. They would simply never have dared to behave like that under any previous PM. Only this joker.

           8 likes

  14. StewGreen says:

    Oz, 3 crises from new Labor government
    #1 Stock market dropped 4% in one day
    #2 Third boat of illegals arrived in Oz .. cos gov is making extraordinary signals for people to come.
    #3 Shortage of electricity and gas
    5 areas had to ask customers to switch off
    PM “not our fault that the energy grid is bad”
    Bolt he’s the idiot that wants to get rid of more coal.
    “that’s economic suicide”
    .. https://youtu.be/xPWRS4TKn10

    Another video about the blackouts
    .. https://youtu.be/jXeBMviF5lw
    Partly cos they are boycotting Putin

    “There are 345 new coal powered plants being built around the world, many will be fed by Ozzy coal
    yet we suicide by closing our own”
    .. https://youtu.be/yA4KACpevuk

       16 likes

    • Yasser Dasmibehbi says:

      The good news is that Peter Dutton is now leader of the opposition. A Conservative. The Liberal Party had a chance to elect him about five years ago, but they went for the centrist Scott Morrison (Scomo) instead. In the latest election the centrist softies were the ones who lost votes and seats while the more conservatives held theirs.
      The Labor government is set to be as disastrous as Biden’s but in three short years Dutton should be PM. Just hope not too much permanent damage isn’t done in the meantime.

         12 likes

  15. Sluff says:

    Classic Toady. Classic BBC bias. Classic tactic.
    At 0710 they interview the hesd of Doughty Street Chambers law firm. They are leaders in preventing the refugee flight.

    But the guy is interviewed as an ‘independent legal expert’ and not as an organisation hell bent on preventing the government action. There was, needless to say, no counterbalancing interview.

    So what we have is a Leftoid position presented as independent legal opinion.

       34 likes

    • Banania says:

      Doughty Street Chambers: Geoffrey Robertson and Helena Kennedy. Say no more.

         2 likes

  16. Sluff says:

    Oh the irony.
    The BBC webshite is showing a story that a survey has shown people are switching off the news because it is too gloomy, negative, and doom-laden.

    Now whyever would they come to that conclusion???
    Readers may just have a teenie weenie idea on that!

       28 likes

  17. harry142857 says:

    Ever wondered what Marianna has been up to.

    This is about a girl in Reading who paid other teenagers with her Christmas present money to stab her ex boyfriend. The figure was less than £200.

    https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/20208202.olly-stephens-story-told-panorama-social-media-murder/#comments-anchor

    BBC Panorama will air an investigation into the ‘violent and disturbing’ digital world that preceded Olly Stephens’ murder.

    In A Social Media Murder: Olly’s Story, his parents expose the ‘bile and abuse’ young people are exposed to on social media, which they believe played a key role in their son’s death.

    The 13-year-old was attacked by two teenage boys in Bugs Bottom fields in Emmer Green on January 3, 2021, following online disputes, and died from stab wounds.
    Olly’s father, Stuart Stephens, said: “Know you children’s phone habits, if we had understood the bile and abuse Olly was exposed too, we would not be mourning his loss now.”

    He and Olly’s mother, Amanda, have worked with BBC reporter Marianna Spring and Panorama over the past six months to produce the show.

       8 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      It’s Ros now?. Apparently.

      ***

      Sea level rise threatens homes

      There’s a consensus among scientists that decades of sea level rise is inevitable. And due to this, nearly 200,000 properties in England may have to be abandoned by 2050. That’s according to a report which found a third of the country’s coast will be put under pressure. The study, published in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management, details the areas most at risk and looks at the possibly of defences. The realisation that a village will slowly fall into the sea casts a long shadow, says the landlord of a pub there. But the government accepts not all properties can be saved. Read more here.

      ***
      Nope. Jonah Fisher. Biblically apt.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61795783?

      But he has Rosesque environmental certainty.

      Or some geezer from BBC AEON (**** end of nowhere)

      How rising sea temperatures hit India’s fishing catch

      Rising sea temperatures are directly affecting the livelihoods of fishermen and fish sellers along India’s western coast who now have to make do with a diminishing catch. “We spent hours at sea, but couldn’t catch a single fish. Nothing in all five of our nets,” Darshan Kini, a fisherman in the coastal city of Mumbai, said in frustration one morning last month.

      The 36-year-old had just returned with his fellow fisherman to the harbour at Marve beach in the city’s Malad suburb. He has been going out to fish in this part of the Arabian Sea along the western coast of India with family elders since he was three or four years old. But things have changed dramatically since Mr Kini’s childhood. “My grandfather used to tell me how big fish like sharks, sting-rays, and dolphins would roam here.” This summer, marked by extreme heat, fish seem to have almost disappeared from this creek.

      Read full article >

      Janhavee Moole
      BBC Marathi

         3 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        What I know about fish could be written on a postage stamp, Guest, and that I learned from a neighbour with a pond. Fish don’t like heat and go deep in summer. Then, putting my feeble brain to work, I would have thought that fish would inevitably keep a low profile during summer anyway because, for example, sea birds have produced chicks that need feeding.

        Then on to some science learned from my Dad and backed up by my RYA tutors of long ago. Seas are not at their warmest in June. In the northern hemisphere, seas are at their warmest in late September and October and maybe November. It is possible to die of hypothermia in the English Channel in high summer in about twenty minutes. Maybe our Home Secretary should mention that to ECHR Judges?

           11 likes

    • Banania says:

      I am confused; is Marianna the “girl in Reading”?

         0 likes

  18. Guest Who says:

    Another ism is borne, to us, via the medium of media.

    And surveys, that say.

    Arise, Sir Leonard of Brum, the Wise.

       14 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      “People with strong northern English accents are viewed as “less intelligent” and “less educated”…”

      I thought that was us Brexit voters… Brexiteerism?

      You think a ‘Northern Accent’ is bad, try having a strong West Country one… you’re either viewed as a pirate “Arrr Jim Lad”, or a cuntry bumpkin.

      Have been to academic conferences where attendees actually laughed out loud at a colleague for his wurzelish, although I have to admit we laugh at him for it too, he’s actually a genius, but I bet you’ve never seen anyone on TV or in a film with a West Country accent who is portrayed as anything other than a complete idiot? I haven’t.

         16 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        a West Country accent on the telly
        Phil Harding (Time Team)~
        or Ian Holloway (Football manager/pundit)

           1 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Victim mentality is an acquired personality trait in which a person tends to recognize or consider themselves a victim of the negative actions of others, and to behave as if this were the case in the face of contrary evidence of such circumstances. Victim mentality depends on clear thought processes and attribution. Wikipedia

         4 likes

    • Nibor says:

      Depends where you are . In my area the Estuary English is not favoured and up the road Cockney was loathed .

         5 likes

      • BigBrotherCorporation says:

        There are a few regional accents I can’t take seriously – Brummy, Geordie, Essex/Estuarine Whine, Apples and Pears Guv’nar, Glaswegian Troll, Bog Oirish… but, I’m pretty sure most of my opinions about these accents are based on TV/Movie stereotypes, rather than reality.

        That’s how we all know the upper class (white, male) chap is really a cad and the villain from the second he sasheys on to the screen in his hunting tweeds, or parks his red sports car on the gravel drive, and steps out in his flat cap, sports jacket, and tan slacks, once he opens his mouth and speaks with an Oxford drawl we all know he did it, even if it hasn’t been done yet.

        My PhD supervisor was from the Black Country and had an accent I wouldn’t have associated with an educated man, but once I got to know him that changed completely.

           8 likes

  19. AsISeeIt says:

    Depressing stories turning more people off – admits our BBC: An increasing number of people are turning away from the news because it lowers their mood, new research suggests. The Reuters Institute’s digital news report suggests that almost four in 10 (38%) say they often or sometimes avoid the news – up from 29% in 2017.

    The proportion who say they distrust the BBC has grown from 11% to 26%. The survey suggests the majority of these are from the political right – ouch!

    Legend has it that it was the BBC’s sports presener David Davies who coined the phrase: “if you don’t want to know the scores, please look away now”

    The score, by the way, was Southgate’s Knee-taking all-stars nil, Hungary four.

    The big media story this morning is of course the non-revelation that migrant deportation flights are just as prone to delay and cancellation as our own holiday flights.

    So Boris’s token flight, removing a token number of illegal entrants, has been blocked by some token court based overseas on the basis of some token international treaty we signed (I say we but I’m guessing it was Tony Blair) and now dare not contravene – thereby somehow, by some token, scuppering the government’s token efforts to control mass immigration.

    Could this be Boris playing the game rather more cleverly than we thought he could?

    At the same time as he is supposed to be running the country he can now blame the lawyers and blame europe but still go on waving in the hundreds of thousands of newcomers every year?

    If only our Gareth had an equal grip on the subtle tactics of his game.

    We notice Nicola Sturgeon playing a textbook blinder in Scotland – mismanage the country but blame the English.

    Of course you will need a compliant media in support of your distraction technique.

    No more to be said.

       31 likes

  20. Guest Who says:

    Rob Burley liked this.

    All the old gang together… finding their voices.

       7 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      George Osborne’s Help To Buy Opens To Muslim House Buyers
      Asa Bennett
      — The Huffington Post UK
      11/02/2014 11:05am GMT | Updated February 11, 2014

      https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/02/11/help-to-buy-muslim-_n_4767237.html

      Muslim house-hunters will be able to use George Osborne’s Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme now ministers have unveiled a version which is compatible with Sharia law.

      The Treasury announced that the state-backed guarantees, which can be used with just a 5% deposit to buy a home worth up to £600,000, have been extended to providers of Home Purchase Plans, which are known as “Muslim mortgages”.

         7 likes

  21. Guest Who says:

    Worked for the BBC.

    Too.

       16 likes

  22. Up2snuff says:

    BBC WEB-SITE Watch #1 – funny, I thought. I thought funny …

    …. it is the cricket season and there’s no mention here of England’s remarkable and outstanding victory in the second Test Match against New Zealand. But the BBC do mention England’s soccer defeat with a clicky titled ‘Dismal England beaten by Hungary at Molineux’. The BBC really hate England.

       26 likes

  23. Guest Who says:

    Not a Khan.

    As with the bbc, the ‘client’ aspect is blurred by unique funding.

    Reportedly, they are incentivising for business over in Calais.

    Shakespearean.

       15 likes

  24. MarkyMark says:

    5 million UK Tolerant Muslims say they want to see Our Lady.
    5 million UK Tolerant Muslims say show Our Lady in Mecca Shrine.

       2 likes

  25. Guest Who says:

    A Khan.

    Next, the bbc cubicle gardens weigh in.

    Ah, the enrichment.

       16 likes

  26. Guest Who says:

    Labour MPs quote the BBC quote Labour MPs…

    Except when they don’t feel it serves… a bbc guide.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33520320

    Or, not…

    https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/chris-skidmore/mid-staffordshire-andy-burnham_b_2970110.html

       4 likes

  27. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – is it significant?

    Is what significant? I hear you think or ask. The revolving chairs/door on the TOADY Programme. This morning it was presented by stand-in Amol Rajan backed up by even more of a stand-in Katya Adler, doing her best gratey ‘Sarah Smith voice’. I get the impression that TOADY – the BBC’s flagship News Programme – is in serious trouble. I wonder what the RAJAR listener numbers are down to?

       11 likes

  28. digg says:

    The ECHR last minute intervention with tha Rwanda flight was so obviously pre-planned to cause as much drama for Boris as possible. I would bet that even the Border Farce officials on the plane were made aware before and knew the plane would not take off. This is a plot against our Sovereign Country and should lead to us relieving the Court of any jurisdiction in the U.K. And if they want to impose their authority they should expect to have to fight. This is the fourth Reich at work as usual.

    Come on Boris, wake up and smell the coffee!

       32 likes

    • G says:

      Digg,

      “This is the fourth Reich at work as usual.”

      Slight amendment: ‘This is the fourth Reich and Soros at work as usual.’

         13 likes

      • theisland says:

           11 likes

    • Flotsam says:

      The last minute intervention? Absolutely, it’s Politics played out in what is supposed to be a Court of Law. Anyone know if there was an applicant acting for the illegal immigrants?

      Has Sir Beer had much to say about it all?

      What I find hard to understand is the intensity of opposition and the numbers involved. You’re think people would be against illegal activities.

         18 likes

    • G.W.F. says:

      Also a good reason for defunding much of the Border Farce. If the court says we have to have open borders we don’t need a Border Force. Keep their boats in dock and give them desk jobs on land. Then see who escorts the new British to our shore

         10 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        G.W.F., the Border Force operatives could be re-deployed to larger UK airports with good effect.

           0 likes

  29. Thoughtful says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-10916099/The-TV-licence-court-pay-mistake.html

    Inside the TV licence courts.

    Meanwhile the courts hearing actual serious cases are looking at a 2 year backlog thanks to Bunter defunding the Police and courts.

       8 likes

  30. Zephir says:

    @Guest Who: the bbc never let the facts intrude upon their narrative

    “The 36-year-old had just returned with his fellow fisherman to the harbour at Marve beach in the city’s Malad suburb. He has been going out to fish in this part of the Arabian Sea along the western coast of India with family elders since he was three or four years old. But things have changed dramatically since Mr Kini’s childhood. “My grandfather used to tell me how big fish like sharks, sting-rays, and dolphins would roam here.” This summer, marked by extreme heat, fish seem to have almost disappeared from this creek.”

    erm….

    “Most dolphins prefer tropical and temperate waters as they are warm-blooded mammals and so it is easier for them to regulate their body temperature in these environments.”

    https://us.whales.org/whales-dolphins/facts-about-dolphins/

       11 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      Are we seriously supposed to believe tropical marine species are no longer living in the Arabian Sea because the water temperature has risen by a fraction of a degree in some coastal inlets… maybe, perhaps, possibly?

      ‘Sharks, stingrays, and dolphins’ are all predators, and will have disappeared because:

      1. Overfishing of their prey (nothing to eat)
      2. Overfishing of them (usually for the Chinese market)
      3. Pollution of the water

      All three can be squarely blamed on local practices, ‘climate change’ is just a handy ‘get out of jail free card’ – “it wasn’t us guv, it was climate change wot done it”.

         23 likes

      • Zephir says:

        Yes, the Chinese are particulary fond of dynamite as a fishing method, we spent a charming afternoon on a beach at Hainan watching them blow the sea to smithereens,

        I used to be a fan of John Wilson and his various methods of catching carp, until I went to China and realised you could save a lot of money on rods, reels etc

        just chuck a bomb in the lake

           13 likes

  31. MarkyMark says:

    Germany wants to support rejected asylum-seekers who voluntarily move back to their home countries with a one-time payment of 3,000 euros ($3,570). The Interior Ministry says those who qualify can apply by a Feb. 28 deadline and they would get the money once they return home.3 Dec 2017

    afdabdfb-de55-452b-b000-43e4d45f1094-8a17e9af-89a2-41a0-946c-209431ba3494

       13 likes

  32. Zephir says:

    Next is the Tropical region. This region houses the most complete list of shark species on the planet. These tropical waters average at about 21º C (69.8º F); a major difference from its polar counterpart. The shark species found in the tropical region include filter-feeders (whale shark, basking shark), hammerhead sharks, nurse sharks, and tiger sharks. Certain larger species of shark, including the whale shark, have been known to migrate to tropical regions throughout the world. Other large sharks, such as nurse sharks, are the complete opposite; preferring to stay in local, warm areas.

    The last region where sharks live is the Temperate region. These waters are a mix between the frigid polar and the warm tropical water temperatures. The average temperature range for these Temperate regions is around 10º-21º C (50º-69.8º F). The sharks that live in these waters tend to migrate south in the winter and north in the summer as the seasons and food sources change. These sharks include sandbar sharks, as well as short fin mako sharks.

       4 likes

  33. MarkyMark says:

    763141a3-bd39-4f89-8e79-49a40df7499a-01c09e0f-1802-4bad-8407-07db31f04ebb

       8 likes

  34. Zephir says:

    Do stingrays live in warm water?
    Image result for stingrays warm water
    They can be found in oceans in tropical and subtropical areas around the world. Stingrays like warm and shallow water. Most of their time, they will be hidden on the ocean floor. There are 60 different species of stingrays.

       5 likes

  35. Lunchtime Loather says:

    Response to a BBC complaint included this nugget:

    “Furthermore, impartiality is a core value of the BBC, and as with all our news coverage, we apply this principle when reporting on any politician, political party or news story with political significance. We are of course free from any political influence or agenda.”

    Oh, how I laughed.

       33 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      I have no idea what you are on about
      I don’t see that on the 2021 or 2022 corrections pages https://www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedback/corrections_clarifications

      I do see your paragraph was taken from a letter a lefty wrote to the-i
      https://www.in-common.co.uk/2020/11/25/readers-letter-why-isnt-the-media-calling-priti-patel-right-wing/
      In November , 2020

      As a left-winger, and proud of it, I wrote to the BBC about this issue and of course, received the usual bland, standard response, including: “We note your concerns regarding our recent coverage relating to Priti Patel. Impartiality is a core value of the BBC, and as with all our news coverage, we apply this principle when reporting on any politician, political party or news story with political significance. We are of course free from any political influence or agenda. BBC News never takes a position on any story that we cover. We report on the actions and policies of all involved, and then reflect voices both supportive and critical.”
      I’m sure that the BBC likes to believe this to be true, but their reporting, as with the written media, does not conform to the ‘impartial broadcasting’ that the channel so often proclaims, and that somehow they are right and I am wrong!

         3 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        There is a new correction note
        Decision 08/06/2022 The sophisticated tech predicting if an advert will work
        BBC News website, 2 March 2022
        This article has been removed for editorial reasons.

           3 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Dear Mr H

      Thank you for contacting us about Beyond 100 Days on the BBC News Channel. We note and appreciate your concerns.

      We can assure you that the scheduling of Beyond 100 Days has no relevance to the recent US Presidential elections. We would also highlight that you can continue to watch BBC News with Katty and Christian on the BBC New Channel.

      BBC News never takes a position on any story that we cover.

      We do value your feedback about this. All complaints are sent to senior management and we’ve included your points in our overnight report.

      These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the company and ensures that your concerns have been seen by the right people quickly. This helps inform their decisions about current and future content.

      Kind regards,

      Darren Loughlin

      BBC Complaints Team
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

         3 likes

  36. StewGreen says:

    More or Lesses attempted gotcha against Jeremy Hunt
    lot of blah blah
    then they get to : “This years maternity negligence payouts will ultimately be about £6bn
    : This years maternity staff salaries will be about £1.5bn
    Context ..we don’t cap as much as other countries do.”
    One voice said shortage of midwives partially accounts for the payouts.

    Other items
    : child’s question about bee numbers
    : PR for Simon Singh’s children’s math circle project
    : Oh our BBC friend Hannah Fry had cancer … bottomline they cut it out
    #2 “When you look at dead bodies a surprising number have cancer tissue which had not yet been detected”
    (Actually it’s a pretty old Danish study from the 1970s and only 77 women ..25%
    Then she said “this study has been replicated and we find between 2-9%”
    Wow that is an imprecise figure
    and also shows the Danish study was an outlier)

       5 likes

  37. StewGreen says:

    Why did the government sneak in confirmation of the fracking ban, in the middle of the night ?

    The Government does not agree we should lift the pause on hydraulic fracturing at this time given the lack of new, compelling evidence that shale gas extraction can be done safely.

    In response to Putin’s barbaric acts in Ukraine and against the Ukrainian people, it is important that we keep all energy options open. While shale gas could play a part in the UK’s future energy mix, the government has always been clear that its development must be safe.
    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/608745

       14 likes

  38. tomo says:

    Repeat post

    WhatsApp is by its nature “private” – but still…

    Policeman (at the time of the offence taking?) jailed for offensive George Floyd “memes”

    The clear inference is that “memes” are “bad” …

    There’s more to this… 5 months in jail for “social media” post… WTF did he post?

    elsewhere

    It’s irony or something – what’s the word?

       9 likes

  39. andyjsnape says:

    Tom Rice: South Carolina ousts Republican who voted to impeach Trump
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61807281

    bBC looking for news, nothing really to “report”

       10 likes

  40. JohnC says:

    Lady Evelyn Cobbold – why are Muslim pilgrims visiting her Scottish grave?
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-61759796

    A complete and utter non-story conjured up simply to write something with empathy about muslims. Total waste of everybodies time.

    This is who the BBC are letting write this kind of agenda-driven utter tosh:

    43wHONCe_400x400.jpg

    He’s the apprentice.

    It’s quite staggering just how far the BBC have fallen.

       19 likes

    • theisland says:

      Perhaps young Auryn should do a piece about the murder of young Kriss Donald.

         18 likes

      • andyjsnape says:

        theisland, it was shoking to read the link

        bBC related
        “The BBC has been criticised by some viewers because the case featured on national news only three times and the first trial was later largely confined to regional Scottish bulletins including the verdict itself. Although admitting that the BBC had “got it wrong”, the organisation’s Head of Newsgathering, Fran Unsworth, largely rejected the suggestion that Donald’s race played a part in the lack of reportage”

        About sums it up!

           14 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      This area of Scotland has a unique connection to Mecca through Lady Evelyn
      ……
      It was during her time there that she was first exposed to Islam, visiting mosques with her Algerian friends.
      …..
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-61759796

      Many societies throughout history have practised slavery, and Muslim societies were no exception.

      It’s thought that as many people were enslaved in the Eastern slave trade as in the Atlantic slave trade.

      It’s ironic that when the Atlantic slave trade was abolished the Eastern trade expanded, suggesting that for some Africans the abolition of the Atlantic trade didn’t lead to freedom, but merely changed their slave destination.
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/slavery_1.shtml

         8 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      ‘He’?

         2 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      I wish you guys had read the BBC article and summarised it.

      It’s not about Muslims in general

      Rather it documents an organisation of EVANGELICAL Muslims taking NEW CONVERTS to a place they consider a pilgrimage site
      : the grave of one of the first Scottish women to convert to Islam.
      It’s PRasNews for that org

      Can you imagine the BBC doing an article about a Christian evangelical group who specialise in converting Muslims, taking them on a pilgrimage to the grave of a historical Muslim person who had converted to Christianity ??? Can You ?

      No the tide only runs one way

      When I search under the journalist’s name
      One person has tweeted the story @YvonneRidley the white reporter covering Afghanistan who is now a headscarfed Muslim…Stockholm syndrome, many say.
      .. https://twitter.com/yvonneridley/status/1537048298879602688

      It’s also promoted by “MCB’s Centre for Media Monitoring: working for unbiased, responsible and accurate reporting on Muslims and Islam.”

         6 likes

  41. BRISSLES says:

    Heard a little snippet on GB News as a comment that wasn’t picked up, it was uttered during the heated debate by two black ladies on Dewbs re the Rwanda flight.

    “That there are many Ukranians who have left their original ‘host’ placements because they didn’t get on with the ‘host’ or didn’t like the accommodation. ” Er, so where have they gone then ?

    Funny that we haven’t heard much about this, because its a highly likely scenario.

       15 likes

    • JohnC says:

      I read how the Ukrainians have money, not are economic migrants like the dinghy divers – they just wanted to get out of Ukraine. I doubt any questions are being asked why.

      I can imagine that a lot just want to get in. Then stay.

         6 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Home Office loses track of more than 600,000 people who should have left country, finds immigration watchdog
      UK border checks branded ‘shambolic’

      May Bulman
      Social Affairs Correspondent
      Thursday 29 March 2018 16:39

         2 likes

    • Eddy Booth says:

      Free Premier inn or similar is my best guess.

         4 likes

  42. JohnC says:

    Nupur Sharma controversy: Prayagraj demolition breaks a family’s dream
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61793828

    I’m not sure if I just started noticing it or the BBC ‘news’ has indeed transformed from ‘news’ to ’empathy’ stories in a huge way.

    Just read the story above. The news is that it was demolished because they rioted and it is claimed it was illegal. The story should focus on the what happened in the riot to trigger it (the BBC don’t seem to want to cover that).

    Instead we have things like this all the way through:

    ‘She remembers spotting a photo of a drawing – a card that she made for her brother – lying on the crushed slabs and chunks of concrete that now lay where their house once stood and feeling vulnerable like never before.’

    And this exact same sentence is in every similar article:

    ‘Since the BJP came to power in India in 2014 – it has also governed Uttar Pradesh since 2017 – attacks and hate speech against Muslims have risen sharply.’

    No context whatsoever. Have the Muslims done anything to deserve this criticism from others ? (which will qualify as the unspecified ‘hate speech’ as far as the BBC are concerned). Did they make any ‘hate speech’ first ?. Every single time I read about what happened to Muslims, I discover they did something earlier to provoke it.

    As far as those riots go – the most crucial part of the story – all we get in the very long article of pure empathy is:

    ‘The house was demolished after the arrest of Ms Fatima’s father, a local politician named Javed Mohammad – Uttar Pradesh police have accused him of planning recent protests by Muslims which turned violent.’. What does ‘turned violent’ mean ?. That wording deliberately doesn’t tell us anything.

    Lets list all the people the BBC quote through this article:

    Somaiya Fatima – Muslim
    Mohammad Umam – Muslim
    Javed Mohammad – Muslim
    Afreen Fatima – Muslim activist
    Asim Ali – Muslim
    Govind Mathur – Former Hindu judge who – as far as I can tell from google – seems like the Hindu equivalent of our far-Left.
    2 Neighbours (don;t want to be identified) – Muslim

    Well, looks like the unbiased BBC has just given us the one side of the story which suits them again. And buried what little story they actually have in a mountain of empathy. Which seems to be more and more common these days.

       16 likes

    • BigBrotherCorporation says:

      It’s weak journalism – ok, I’m not a journalist, but it seems like weak, lazy journalism to me, either that, or outright propaganda, not sure which.

      Maybe, in this case, these specific Muslims didn’t do anything to provoke the attack, it’s possible, and if so, I feel sympathy for them, but the poor quality of the reporting – all one side of an argument, and clumsy attempts at ‘heartstring pulling’, doesn’t provide me with enough information to weigh up if I feel that is the case, or not.

      Given the BBC’s history of agenda pushing, I’m inclined to think we’re only being given one side of the argument for a specific reason.

      I used to trust the BBC, now I see it as a kind of downmarket ‘Take a Break’ mag, but without even the self-respect and dignity of that esteemed journal.

         12 likes

    • Terminal Moraine says:

      John it’s becoming so blatant I don’t understand how some people can’t see it.

      This was 4th top story on the main ‘news’ home page yesterday: “French burkini ban challenged by Grenoble in top court”. A municipal dispute taking place in another country which is noteworthy mostly because it provides the opportunity for us to spot the BBC’s relentless push to re-educate the UK and prepare us for the new normal.

      Most of their ‘news’ is simply O-level sociology homework masquerading as professional journalism.

      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61796421

         12 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      ‘It’s being built on our blood’: the true cost of Saudi Arabia’s $500bn megacity
      https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/04/its-being-built-on-our-blood-the-true-cost-of-saudi-arabia-5bn-mega-city-neom

         2 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      German study shows fake news appetite with far-right blog
      “A fake news blog created by German university researchers found an eager audience among far-right sympathisers who shared racially charged stories. … That story reached 11,000 people within four days and was shared more than 150 times, German SWR radio reported. … free prostitutes for asylum seekers”

      Dear BBC, you still have your fake far left news on your website which removes a nasty migrant from the story, I think it is still misleading people from September 2015.

      Why not tell us how many people visited your BBC page and were taken in by the story?

      Chaos as police stop Hungary migrant train – Gavin Hewitt – BBC -Sep 2015 @53s | BBC story
      “… the a really distressing incident happened. A women who was carrying a small baby began crying for help (photo of lady carrying baby). One of her companions tried to help her (photo of man with women on track, riot police reaching towards them) Somehow there became a push and a shove with the police. She ended up on the railway lines (by the male refugee dragging her and the baby to the floor, but this is not reported by Gaving Hewitt @ BBC {youtube fullvideo}) with the riot police trying to pull her back, and this of course inflamed all the other people…”
      -Gavin Hewitt – Sep 2015

      BBC, can I suggest you tag the story as “FAKENEWS” and change the introduction to – “Male refugee forces pregnant women refugee holding child down onto a train track, police drag him away for her safety. Riot police then lift women with child off train track with tender arms.”

      https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2017/07/31/start-the-week-open-thread-135/comment-page-2/#comment-856459

         8 likes

  43. andyjsnape says:

    In the Newsbeat section of the bBC website

    Nipsey Hussle murder trial: A background
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-61798237

    I guess its good that the likes of the bbc are discussing murder with children, something to get them used to living inner city these days and aspiring to.

    I remember Mr Whitehouse, she would have a fit with the bbc lowering its self to these standards

       13 likes

  44. andyjsnape says:

    NHS racism making doctors ‘anxious and depressed’
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61792140

    She says ethnic minority doctors are more likely to be complained about by their bosses, and are “highly scrutinised” – and that knowing this makes her extremely anxious at work

    I wonder why they are more likely to be complained about??

       20 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      GMC to look into higher number of complaints against overseas trained doctors
      Peter Moszynski
      2007 Aug 18; 335(7615): 320.

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1949468/

      Figures released by the GMC last month show that of the 3086 complaints lodged against doctors in 2006 where the doctor’s country of training was known, nearly 40% referred to overseas trained doctors—roughly in proportion to their numbers in the NHS workforce—but the percentage of overseas trained doctors who were then referred to hearings was twice that among UK graduates (34% versus 16%). However, in a further 1279 complaints made about doctors the doctor’s place of training was not given.

         3 likes

    • Tabs says:

      See how perceived racism is racism in the BBC eyes but when a white man suggests something similar he has to apologise.

      James Patterson: US author sorry for saying white writers face racism
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-61808108

         10 likes

      • BigBrotherCorporation says:

        Poor old Jim Patterson dared to suggest that because all those efnik and women and non-hetero sexual writers are getting all the writing work these days there’s not enough to go around and straight 50 year old white men don’t get a look in, and you “don’t see any of them any more.”

        Silly thing to say… absolutely 100% correct, but still, like the Emperor’s new clothes, not something you’re allowed to point out.

           1 likes

  45. MarkyMark says:

    Prince Charles sent to defend UK borders.
    main-qimg-8a6a33f7097d11db886f3c381eb1bed0-lq

       11 likes

  46. andyjsnape says:

    Russia Today is back online

    https://www.rt.com/news/557187-border-crossing-kursk-ukraine/

    I read the comments at the bottom of this article. Strange what people have typed and this is nothing like we get from the bbc – maybe the bbc isn’t being totally honest with its “reporting”

    Comment examples:-

    Ukraine is starting what they can not finish

    Russia has been very patient and methodical. I think that is going to change quickly as Ukro Nazis and their western enablers send more heavey weapons and rockets. Hitting border is killing Russian civilians. Red line to Putin isn’t just talk or threat, it is the red line and will respond with major force .

    Russia waited 8 years for the Minsk accord to fail before taking stronger action. They wait, then act, and everyone says, where did that come from.

       9 likes

  47. andyjsnape says:

    The wests sanctions against Russia, But..

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-15/russia-s-oil-revenue-jumps-to-20-billion-in-may-iea-says?srnd=premium-uk

    We in the west cut off our noses and the world is a big place, just sell to other markets, ie China, India etc

       3 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      India, which imports 80% of its oil, usually buys only about 2% to 3% from Russia. But with oil prices shooting up this year, the government has steadily increased its intake from Moscow, taking advantage of the heavy discounts.1 Jun 2022

         2 likes

  48. TrickCyclist says:

    Not BBC but Channel 4.
    Have you seen the trailers for upcoming C4 drama The Undeclared War, about a cyber attack on the UK during the run up to a general election?
    Trailers feature Simon Pegg as a GCHQ head (he’s been in some great comedies but, sorry I can’t take him seriously) and Adrian Lester as British Prime Minister Andrew Makinde (below).
    I’m out already.

    https://i.inews.co.uk/content/uploads/2022/06/SEI_108833329-640×360.jpg

       12 likes

  49. Guest Who says:

    Looking above, and BBc interventions in lieu of checking anything, my lunchbreak surf was interesting.

    BBC News
    The reason the US fared worse? In two words – high demand.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61569559

    Why is inflation in the US so high?
    By Natalie Sherman
    Business reporter, New York

    +++

    Nat is played here by Springster’s sister.

    However, on FB, five words are needed…. #CCBGB for that hilarious piece BBC revisionism.

    A top one:

    “Samuel Prime
    The inflation is high because Americans voted Trump out of his second term. Wall Street was so often energized by him during his presidency, but Biden knocked the wind out of the markets.”

    Tell it often enough Saz.

    Next, a BBc Charlie shows how the Labour/BBC link operates.

    Not a mole, but a ringer.

    Documentary film-maker & journalist making films for the BBC, Channel 4 & ITV. All views are my own. #wba fan

    QT panel glory beckons.

    Then there is just getting in the correct folk for the correct folk to quote.

    That might be worth checking. Not with Ros, Marianna, Nic or Alice.

       6 likes