Next Friday OFGEM will announce the new price cap for domestic gas and electricity – to come into effect on 1 October . Can we an expect even more ‘Something Must Be done ‘ from the Far Left anti British BBC in the coming week ?
Weekend 20 August 2022
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Four in a row – will I get five? I cannot say. Down to chance or when Fed happens to put up a new Thread. Your timing was perfect tonight, Fed. Good to have a Thread from David Vance on here as well.
Will the BBC keep shroud waving over everything? Yes, without a doubt. It was A level results yesterday and today. I had to switch off TWatO on Thursday it was that bad. It was also ambulance waiting times today. I am sure the BBC will be revisiting that over the weekend.
Will the BBC keep up the ‘Rejoin the EU’ hints with subtleness or will they try to pretend that 1.3 million unemployed do not exist in the UK, be more direct and state we must get back in to the EU to bleed their hospitals and care homes dry of staff. There was one employment or business consultant who said this week that shortage of workers was a worldwide phenomenon.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Despite the BBC’s moaning.
You only win when everyone wins – back of the queue says Obama.
MM, 🙂
One of these days I’ll be first ….
Turn you monitor upside down – winner!
Fed, you’re always at the top of every Thread, you are a top man.
I think you’re a ‘lurker’ Up2, hovering and pouncing as soon as Fed strikes up the new page. 🙂
Better a lurker than a shirker, Brissles my dear old thing and didn’t England make a mess of the Lord’s Test!
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/about-us/our-structure-and-leadership/gema-and-executive-committee-members
Martin Cave was appointed in October 2018 for a term of five years as Chair of the UK Gas & Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA). Martin Cave has worked in government and academia as an economist specialising in competition law and the regulation of network industries.
Jonathan Brearley was appointed as an executive member of GEMA in 2018 and this appointment runs until January 2025. Jonathan became Ofgem’s Chief Executive Officer on 3 February 2020. This follows his previous appointment as our Executive Director for Systems and Networks in April 2018.
He has wide-ranging energy sector experience, having led Electricity Market Reform as the Director for Energy Markets and Networks at DECC.
Prior to this, he was Director of the Office of Climate Change, a cross-government strategy unit focussed on climate change and energy issues, where he led the development of the Climate Change Act. Earlier in his career, Jonathan was a senior adviser in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.
Lynne was appointed to GEMA in May 2018 for a term of five years. She brings a wealth of strategy, customer and operational experience gained in the aviation sector. She is a member of the management committee of International Airlines Group and is currently CEO of IAG Cargo and a non-executive director on the board of British Airways.
John was appointed to GEMA in December 2018 for a term of five years. He has a wealth of experience in the energy sector, and other regulated industries. He is a Chartered Engineer, who spent his early career designing, building and operating power stations. Subsequently he has run IT, business services and energy services businesses for international energy companies. His last full-time role in the sector was as managing director of Central Networks, the UK’s second-largest distributor of electricity, then owned by E.ON UK. He retired from the E.ON UK board in 2011.
He has held non-executive roles at the Office of Nuclear Regulation and in a telecoms company. He has been a member of the Army Board, he advises MOD on electricity generation and distribution, and is involved in housing and veterans’ charities.
Myriam was appointed to GEMA in January 2020 for a term of five years. She has held senior executive finance and operational positions in global technology companies, financial services in the UK, US and Europe, as well as the public sector. An experienced Executive Director, Myriam specialised in business transformation, operational restructuring and finance in both the private and public sectors.
Myriam is a chartered management accountant and a Board member of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA). She is a Board member of Home Group, chairman of their Scottish subsidiary, a board member of the Traverse Theatre and chairman of their Audit committee.
Barry was appointed to GEMA in March 2020 for a term of five years. He specialises in data and digital transformation and has worked in data for the whole of his career. He is currently Chief Data and Insight Officer for John Lewis.
Jonathan Brearley was appointed as an executive member of GEMA in 2018 and this appointment runs until January 2025. Jonathan became Ofgem’s Chief Executive Officer on 3 February 2020. This follows his previous appointment as our Executive Director for Systems and Networks in April 2018.
Priya joined Ofgem in early 2021 as Director of Communications where her team covers internal communications, media relations & public affairs, stakeholder engagement, strategic communications as well as the regulator’s web and digital output.
Priya is a senior veteran in the communications profession with her career spanning many high-profile issues and crisis working across government and politics. She has been named in PR Week’s UK Power Book 2022 (which ranks the top communications professionals in each sector) two years running.
Chris joined Ofgem in August 2021 as Director of Corporate Services with responsibility for People, Finance, Procurement and Technology functions. He also has responsibility for leading the Ofgem Transformation Programme.
Akshay is responsible for the economic regulation of Great Britain’s energy networks. This includes the development of the next generation of onshore network price controls called RIIO2, the regulation of offshore transmission infrastructure, and the delivery of an ambitious cross-border interconnection programme through the cap and floor regime.
Prior to joining Ofgem, Akshay was on secondment from HM Treasury to Transport for London, where he led TfL’s work on funding transport infrastructure in London by capturing the uplift in land and property values associated with transport projects such as Barking Riverside Extension, Crossrail 2 and the Bakerloo Line Extension.
Neil has been Ofgem’s Director for Strategy and Decarbonisation since April 2020.
Prior to this, Neil spent five years as head of Energy and Environmental policy and spending at HM Treasury. This followed a range of energy, economic, and strategy roles across the UK government, including working in Tony Blair’s Strategy Unit, running the Foreign Office economics network, and head of Globalisation and Emerging Markets in the Treasury.
etc..
Simon joined Ofgem in August 2018, to lead Ofgem’s regulatory and corporate finance and investor relations teams. Prior to Ofgem, he spent 26 years in investment banking, predominantly focused on the utilities, renewable energy and infrastructure sectors.
Simon was previously a senior energy banker at Macquarie Capital and head of European power & utilities at RBS / ABN Amro, advising on transactions including Iberdrola’s acquisition of Scottish Power, Cheung Kong Infrastructure / UK Power Networks and the acquisition of Bristol Water.
CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited, is the largest publicly listed infrastructure company in Hong Kong with diversified investments in energy infrastructure, transportation Infrastructure, water … Wikipedia
In a previous post we learnt that 25% of Britain’s sewage was in the river Humber.
I have been doing a course on ‘Maffs’ – BBC style, so I think I know where the other 98% is.
Wouldn’t want to work there anyway.
Showing results for bbc benefits
Search instead for bbc pbenefits
Competitive perks and benefits
25 days holiday each year and buy or sell days to suit you. As well as national bank holidays, you’ll also get an extra day-off between Christmas and New Year.
One of the best pension schemes in the business. …
Discounts at shops and restaurants. …
We’ll help you with commuting.
Enough to make every red-blooded Englishman hate and rise up against this reptilian vomit inducing bunch of vile bastards called the BBC.
Sorry I won’t pull my punches they are 100% bloody vile.
We need rid of this scourge. And all of the nasty hangers on who suck at the tits of this evil behemoth..
The BBC Pension Scheme is one of the biggest occupational pension schemes in the UK, providing benefits for over 50,000 people, it is closed to new joiners. The BBC believes the Scheme gives members valuable and competitive pension benefits that form a big part of your total reward package from the BBC.
The Trustees and the BBC have a dedicated in-house team at the Pension and Benefits Centre in Cardiff who administer the Scheme and are available to help members with their pension. You can call the pension service line with any questions about your benefits from the Scheme.
https://www.bbc.com/mypension/about-the-scheme/
The Scheme has a sole corporate trustee, BBC Pension Trust Ltd. The Board of directors of the corporate trustee is made up in the same way as a Board of individual Trustees would otherwise be appointed, and the directors are referred to as “Trustees”. There are eleven Trustees:
Three Independent Trustees, appointed by the Trustees with the approval of the BBC
Four BBC-appointed directors
Four member elected directors, including one pensioner Trustee
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/0cbWDoP2HmdbIUFqqLu_Ce1i9aI/appointments
623Million!!!
https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/RJ4zrkExS1BcgBeLNs3QFPHHT_fhZAfYV0wEgVbLhQo/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3OXLOZ2H4%2F20220819%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20220819T213305Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjELr%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJGMEQCIH11fv7JYX7%2BNI%2FziPp%2FOwRunqqEAaNiLaaBsgRWkig%2FAiB5COpFCjlhoni3kJ53z21o6kSGOpbClOMeFnDwItF4xSrTBAgzEAQaDDQ0OTIyOTAzMjgyMiIMwf9JHdLzNrE%2FR%2BBSKrAEiPJdgxmncTSkmU1xe73DZe2OdJG8lWC75ofcQBWINGtMersmNci%2FCO%2FTj1O%2FKScnvPjbxgwYi875%2BlMNL7RZMWKg%2BIPjXLLx%2B%2BxJkxkGFHJE2UGlrjKt17%2BdZrHn3X84p0PlYOfh2DamtDoXVWE96C6zBKWftGdmm2HJ%2BBU8iZtGBPhCknjUJMJ1llnIVU1mnrcqYUd9iuVxYjnBBs6qI4dYR%2BVc1eCgA%2Fdw6Z9eigt8aLFMLxcriyffm2aS%2Fl9dkoHw6uY%2F3yctb4QdOPiT4jBpagmNlo9Ca962bmYLcegA%2BllriG34VS1oK0jr5RZnysGjoUvWWUjl%2FlDUWdjefPBDmkVtcHMJ%2BmHmfAMwr9Xg14BJZxnd6vw60uuagcgkL%2ByL1X0FqfgEZVBWFyQSoMmpokL%2FWdJlk6oQODFBswfSpZUINMrKSpVB8rrxetgHHrs2py%2FIUcJKHCTrH8P3FrPXgyu9rXcslLaXlEQtc51%2F9GL9Y8tOPtFT7pHsC3WNTWtvr3X%2BrEFYD6okeArPi8q5FURMR4IaL6KiYlaUH0WhGC4kWordi1L5jzWgb%2BqvRHL3Z0wt3GmvxPOz0GMTNE1f2l7ZFm5KSmrkrJg8vLUHkq4YmMCCRDnuo8GfGVm9YOJSO%2FO6NYyB00K7ETj7j9Cm7mUrS7WJLo1DhsaWNJpJdQ0ev%2BSVoIrHB1PjG7uintjbXgQtpqm2YtobRB7qTfI2XX7pqAo6V3iUM5cfH%2BcwsY3%2FlwY6qgGaVmJ76YXL4FJBI%2FshQhpc0QdKY83b00oYycPlsj2E15zmpAJklsjUArGTbP5fFRJahcrIYdeayCWe6s3zo0QYJMQnQxPEEkEn09n8CrKqxO%2Ffo7ms6fZJalbxXxR5ilBA%2Bu64ph7D2GpfQjf9pxN4Bfo5uaJm7Bp7ObkvfiqUtYKYDEe5fF%2FneVs4I6%2BmaOcgBlkM3uPpBrWW2hc3dkyhWSkr9zpymxw4qg%3D%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D%22companies_house_document.pdf%22&X-Amz-Signature=0bf7624a0a6a1d06baeeba49bf5898e4474d7bdbfb5b1a56c773a8c6040c5260
That’s confusing as the BBC only have currently x21,000 employees. So more than half existing BBC employees are paying for the other half multi million pensions scheme. As a rough calc. they get about £2million each on retirement from the BBC, at least they used too, it may be even more now!
Its not sustainable at any level. I think they need a climate change, equality based, gender neutered and racially profiled to that of the last man standing when Jimmy Saville died.
I think the BBC pension fund is a genuine fund funded by the workers contributions, rather than like the state pension scheme where basically today’s pensions are paid for by taxing the current workers and borrowing more money too.
It may have 51,000 beneficiaries but many will have only worked a short time and collect only small money.
5 September 2019
Boris Johnson: ‘I’d rather be dead in a ditch’ than ask for Brexit delay
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-49601128
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he’d “rather be dead in a ditch” than go and ask Brussels for a delay to Brexit.
Not BBC . Gove announces for sunak . Says truss plans are fantasy . Follows this up with announcement he is quitting front line politics …..
Don’t you just want to say WTF ? Don’t these blue labour politicians realise there is real concern about basic life outside Westminster and that none of them mean as much as they think they do .
But if they are looking to become an opposition party they are doing pretty well at that .
Meanwhile in the US tucker thinks the republics have a death wish and want to stop Donald trump . Unbelievable .,.
Following on from the thinking of Steyn and Oliver it makes perfect sense that the establishment of the Republican Party want to stop Trump.
They are swamp dwellers , members of the global elite who win big whichever party is in power , provided that the government is in the hands of fellow swamp dwellers. Loyalty to the swamp globalist elite is much more important than loyalty to party. Both parties used to only support candidates that would toe the swampist globalist line. Politics had become a bit of circus for the masses to give them the illusion that Democracy was still alive and that they had a say by using their vote.
Then along came Trump who had enough money of his own, didn’t need favours , couldn’t be bought and decided that the swamp was the problem and pledged to drain it.He represented a huge threat to all swamp dwellers regardless of party.
By any number of illegal means they managed to hobble his presidency and stop him doing too much damage to the globalist swamp. But they had to come out into plain sight to do it. The thought of him back in power , thirsting for revenge , more determined to implement his anti swamp MAGA agenda terrifies them. They have been exposed and weakened by his first term , they may not survive his second . He can’t be allowed to succeed.
I really doubt that he will become President in 2024. By whatever means necessary they will take him out of the race. Once again they will have to come out into plain sight to do it , it will further weaken them but they will survive . Under Trump term 2 with Trumpist House and Senate they fear that the end would be nigh.
DT,
Not forgetting all the US Swamp’s, ‘International co-conspirators’
Does seem frankly mad that the Republicans are attempting to lose the midterm elections in order to prevent President Trump going for office .
It seems that candidates are not being funded or supported whilst half wit democrats are getting an easier time despite what is happening in the country .
In a way those elections – if fair – will be a reflection of just how upset Americans are about what Obama / Biden have done since they stole the election ….
Seeing new Graun shill Pippster obey the line is rather funny.
Just try to think of of any recent incident where they stuck up for anything remotely British. You won’t find it.
Dylan Thomas – 1914-1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
I suppose this kind of thing is the ‘normal’ for the BBC now – but they do show what a joke it has become so I’ll keep pointing them out:
Cost-of-renting: Young, struggling and short of cash
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62605819
ANother story which reads like it was written by children. It’s just terrible. But I was looking to see who they chose for their pictures:
But then I saw a picture of a pale-and-stale whitey !!. Oh – but he is the evil landlord.
So I checked which of the BBC’s finest produced this ‘report for idiots’. Here they are:
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
“NHS blows £1million on ‘woke groups’ for staff including ‘tea and rainbow cake’ picnics and a Filipino martial arts performance in the midst of growing cash crisis
Nearly 500 of the groups were set up by health trusts across the country
It has taken up around 36,000 hours of staff time a year to run events
Some groups use taxpayers’ money to put on the events, often during work day
These have included ‘rainbow cake’ picnics and a Filipino martial arts show”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11128537/NHS-blows-1million-woke-groups-staff.html
“These took up at least 108,807 hours of dedicated staff time over the last three years and cost the taxpayer £1,081,878 in this period.
The true figures are likely to be higher as only 111 out of more than 230 trusts responded to Freedom of Information requests. They only cover time spent running the groups, not attending them.
Staff networks are most likely to focus on LGBT issues, with 101 of the NHS groups related to this cause nationwide. This is followed by race, with 99 networks.”
I think you need to be sent on an education course.
You must watch this video (like everyone in the US Navy has to):
Our country is crumbling around us. Government agencies , eg police , civil service , NHS , refuse to implement the elected government’s policies with impunity.
Strikes are breaking out everywhere. We are being invaded and seem powerless to stop it. We are cowed into submission by looney Muslims . Mass rape gangs still operate. Free speech is dead. Fear stalks the land. Criminals do as they please without any fear of the police. The armed forces are more interested in diversity than in defence. Inflation is heading to 1970’s levels . The national debt is bigger than after WW2 . The political class is interested in net zero whilst we freeze in our homes. The established church is a woke joke.
Feeling just a little depressed at the moment.
DT,
But, ‘Apathy reigns’
But DT you forgot the positives
1 we are winning the war in afgee / Ukraine
2 we have a reliable and effective NHS
3 we have truthful politicians who care
4 we have a strong British culture
5 we have had a right wing government for 12 years
6 we have strong border control
7 87 year olds are safe
8 Man U is top of the table
9 our best years are ahead
10 none of this is true
Your turn …..
On a brighter note , well very very slightly brighter note, I have this morning received my 16 th letter from our friends at the BBC demanding money with menaces. As per advice from contributors to this site I ignore them but I do keep them as it pleases me to think that I at least annoying their computer.
As do I .
Think of the money you have saved !
We will just have to accept that the BBC is a media
organization which caters in principal for the ethnic and
religious minorities in the UK.
So far as the BBC is concerned the lowest rung on the ladder
is the indigenous pale stale male . Their number one aim
is to replace any still remaining pale stale males with one
of their “box tickers”.
We seldom now see pale stale males presenting or
reporting the news. The last major bastion left for “whitey”
is Gary Lineker on Match of the Day. But I very much
suspect that his days are numbered as well. The only doubt
about who will replace him is , will it be a woman? In fact
Gabby Logan is a very knowledgeable loquacious presenter.
BUT does she tick enough boxes ? I doubt it.
Nope, it won’t be a female. In current form it will be a BAME. Amol Ranji – now presenter of University Challenge, Clive Myrie – Mastermind, so I wouldn’t bet on it being anyone white.
The Amol tweets
Look at those eyes. Would you trust him ? someone else who’s parents no doubt arrived here with only a fiver in their pocket from India.
Amol went to private school
his family were not poor.
Catering for the ethnic minority well underway. BBC Spotlight South West last night had a long feature on Section 21 housing evictions (no fault of tenant). There have been 130 in Cornwall this year. A family of two adults and two children featured. They were put in an hotel and did not like it, spent a couple of nights ‘homeless’ and are now in a Travel Lodge with no cooking facilities and complaining heavily – family chosen to represent the state of affairs in Cornwall where getting accommodation is dire for all locals – Meshak Esien and Anjuman Akther and their two boys.
But Gary looked a bit ‘dark’ when compared to his Persil school mates and so they bullied him. Of course it could have just been because he was a Pratt.Or so he said in his attempt to claim victimhood , curry favour with BLM and , just perhaps , save his job at the BBC.
Emma Barnett getting the lady on the left on for tips on snagging a dweezil?
Guest Who – I think there should be a daily prize for the best one of these …
Meanwhile on Planet W1A, issued from the bath.
BBC News
“I feel it’s a probably something most farmers would think is a strange thing to be doing. I didn’t expect it to be so exciting.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-62596566?
Former farm site becomes wildflower meadow
***
If you look carefully, you can see a boatload of recent refugees gratefully grazing on sunflowers, which also provide awesome WiFi.
https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2022/08/20/the-annual-atmospheric-co2-variation-a-new-theory-net-zero-watch/
I will look it up later, but was wondering about the annual CO2 uptake of rotated crops vs. a field of flahrs.
Toady
It was a bit early ..but I thought I heard some scheme to enable people to pay their fuel bills by taking out interest free loans ….
I must be wrong . But I thought that anything that comes along now isn’t going to cover the first 3 months of the next price hike .
Any additional ‘support ‘ such as giving people their money back will never be enough – particularly for the BBC .
I am sure the BBC will be desperate for sad and bad stories of people freezing to death because of ‘Tory cuts ‘ or similar as usual ….
Fed, middle of the week, Richard Walker of Iceland Foods is making loans to customers. Not sure they are interest free. Of note, however, is the offer of £15 if you are in Iceland’s Bonus Club. You need to pay £100 onto your club card, ie. provide Iceland with a loan (they have probably been told by their bankers that they are having to pay 22%+, or more, on their own borrowings) so borrowing from customers is cheaper than from a bank. Ts & Cs apply to the £15 in that it will have to be spent in a narrow ‘window’ of dates before Christmas. Not on dates, but on everything in store during a limited period of time.
Three cheers for Iceland, I say.
Reminder: 10% off for over 60s on Tuesdays in their shops. 🙂
Up2
Thanks- I think the thing I misheard was some government thing.
I was going through papers this morning and found an old repayment mortgage statement when I was paying 14.5% interest – life goes on ( atthough these days I’d be offered counselling )
Fed, you’d need counselling. Base is still less than 2% (it should be at 4% or 5%) and my credit card company has warned me they will charging 24% soon! Good job I pay it off every month or try to.
I used to regular shop at B & Q on a Wednesday when it was 10% discount day for pensioners, but they consigned that to the dustbin after many years. Imagine the custom they would get now if it had carried on !
But not for Crown paint, probably.
BBC News 2
The autumn has come a month early . Grant shaps has called a COBRA . . Angee Rayner sez there will no autumns under Labour . There will be an independent public inquiry . It will be set up by ….. next autumn …
Rory looks different.
Is this one caused by global warming ? Brexit ? 12 years of Tory underfunding ? Not enough yoof clubs ? Putin ?
I’ll go putin …
The most frank leftist pronouncement of policy preference ever published edition (probably)
BBC: Why do the trees think it’s autumn already?
For a moment there my mind wandered off to fond memories of little pith helmet-wearing Don Estelle and the military moustachioed looming presence of Windsor Davies crooning “Whispering Grass (Don’t Tell the Trees)… ‘Cause the trees don’t need to know.”
Johnny Morris was once the main BBC proponent of anthropomorphism; the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities – in his case it was more often than not the animal inmates of Bristol Zoo to whom he gave voice and personality.
Frankly, considering how long our trees have been around, how many seasons and shifts in the climate they have witnessed, I think we can trust they know pretty well what’s what. Relax BBC, nature probably knows best.
Whereas our decidedly human NHS does actually appear confused as to the time of year: Avoid A&E, says NHS as winter crisis bites early (Daily Telegraph) – thank you for the advice doctor, I already endeavor to avoid A&E like the plague: Covid-style campaign launched to keep non-emergency cases away from hospital (Telegraph)
Let’s just remind ourselves of the basic facts of life as they pertain to our NHS – free to all and sundry all comers at the point of access – rationed by queuing and waiting list.
The Guardian frets that the incoming Tory PM doesn’t worship our nationalised health service with sufficient veneration: NHS ‘cannot be put on a pedestal’ – Truss… Revealed: Tory leader hopeful called for cuts and criticised ‘inexorable’ rise in doctors’ pay in 2009 magazine article – Blimey, if only we could hold her to those brave words!
NHS blows £1Million on ‘woke’ groups for staff (Daily Mail)
I’ve said it before but the left-leaning BBC and other media are watching the Tory leadership battle like we watched the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) – we enjoyed seeing both sides damaged – and the leadership race seems to have been going for about as long and is ultimately about as consequential as that forgotten conflict.
Top of the BBC picks from the press pile today is inevitably the formerly patriotic Times – because featuring front and centre are the futher peculiar political machinations of that rather odd character Michael Gove: Truss plans are holiday from reality says Gove – hand feeding the left yet another gift of a slogan as hostage to future fortune.
If Gove is Machiavelli… I’m sure there’s some personal upside somewhere to his three dimensional chess moves.
Game of Thrones? The Times today promotes the pale imitation prequel: House of the Dragon What you need to know – like the original but with less nudity, more CGI dragons and much more diverse casting.
Here’s one… strictly just for the fans… If Boris Johnson was Robert Baratheon, the chubby, somewhat gone to seed, pleasure-indulging, womanising, latterly assassinated, King of Westeros – plotted against by his power hungry wife Cersei Lannister (Carrie Symonds) – then who do we reckon was Michael Gove? I vote Petyr Baelish, (Master of Coin on the Small Council) nicknamed Little Finger…
Former cabinet minister [Secretary of State for Levelling Up] backs Sunak as he reveals his exit from frontline politics (Times) – leaving something nasty in the water for fellow bathers to contend with as he exits the swimming pool?
How topical…
BBC: Sewage: Untreated wastewater causes beaches to shut
If only there were more women in positions of political power…
Fight for the right to party Sanna Marin, 36, the Finnish prime minister has taken a drugs test amid claims she danced intimately with several men and sat in the laps of two during a night of drinking and revelry (Times) – revelry – that’s one of those words largely confined to the media and rarely used in common parlance – sounds almost as though Sanna Marin went medieval on her own ass.
The scandi party girl showing us it’s not all thick woollen jumpers, dour gloomy expressions, relentless feminism and stilted subtitles up there in europe’s semi-frozen northeastern frontier. Our Sanna makes frontpage pin up pic this morning in Times, Telegraph and FT.
The left-leaning ‘i’ newspaper meanwhile (taking second to top spot in the BBC press line up) comes out with what is probably the most frank leftist pronouncement of policy preference ever published by one of their own: Voters want handouts – this being a supposed gotcha polling survey result on Liz Truss. The full screamer headline reads: Truss blow: Voters want handouts not tax cuts
Asiseeit
Are you a spreader of false news? I thought the hot PM was danish – or is the Finnish one good for it too ? I suspect putin will be doing as much as he can to undermine NATO countries – especially new ones .
If ‘dancing ‘ is the best the KGB can do they’ve dumbed down a lot ….
Why doesn’t anyone ask about the Rwanda option being only for 200 enrichers. That’s just a couple of hours worth.
I liked the dig at the LGBBC by Truss on GB News hustings last night. They (politicians) do notice although they tend to keep quiet about it.
“UK drought: Why do the trees think it’s autumn already?”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62582186
Well, I never knew that trees had brains ! They never taught me that in school !
Does OfCom still exist ? If it does what does it do , more important, what does our ‘Conservative’ government do ?
“you might be thinking autumn has come early.”
Seems more BBC weeshful thinking.
drought narrative ?
Around here the nature is 99% normal
There are some dead leaves from when the power company pruned trees.
but most people’s water butts are pretty good
I used to think I was pretty canny with our electricity account (no gas), and wrote an enormous spreadsheet to work out the cheapest power around.
But after one year of a fixed deal for two years, I am already in credit by one month’s payment of around £190.00, and am getting a refund next week of TWO MONTH’S money!
So they’ve had all this dosh hanging around for a year to invest/put in money markets/waste on stupid ads etc.
We’re with the biggest supplier, so if they have – say – five million ‘customers’, they have over 25,000,000 splonders EBITDA to play with!
I wish there was someone in the BBC as clever as Harrabin to go and get the real facts, y’know, someone with a ‘degree’ in English…
To be really canny you want to have your direct debit set at a level where you owe them.
AISI, but that sticks it up ’em and they don’t like it, Cap’n. They don’t like it up ’em, they don’t.
Not sure how that can be done, AsI, shurely they’ll have the upper hand?
I have been reading the BBC webshite page on A level results and looking at the photographs.
I have concluded that white people are not allowed to take A levels, and that they are only open to BAME students.
Execrable biased woke virtue-signalling coverage from the Black Broadcasting Corporation. Just imagine the howls of accusations of racism if only white people were shown.
Actually this is closer to reality than many think. The country demographics may be only 10-15% BAME but for young people the % is vastly higher. Not that the BBC will mention it of course.
What does OfCom do ?
Seems to be a swan song years money sink for ex Beeboids before the full massive pension kicks in.
Springster has her eye on heading it up next year.
Allegedly.
Speaking of whom…
Sluff,
I’d love to know the passes in the ‘real’ subjects, like maths / physics /chemistry with levels of passes.
G
As little as 15% will get you a grade E..
Which is classed as a pass.
Not too challenging is it?
BBC Radio Humberide NewsPR was busy promoting today’s Afghan festival in Scunthorpe
It seem it’s part of a set of festivals organised by REFUGEE CHARITIES across the country
.. this was not mentioned by the BBC
Meanwhile Radio Lincolnshire mention the Lincoln Gay Pride day in a minor way
but I wonder if the TV will do a big feature.
The police and NHS workers will be marching with them.
Radio Lincolnshire DJ “I was off last week in London, it must have been 40C”
.. It wasn’t 40C you nutter
Our, “Government” recently approved the Moderna vaccine for all round use alongwith ‘flu jab starting next month. It was tested on 430 odd patients and it will be obsolete for many………………
Serious questions about Pericarditis and Myocarditis, Dr John Campbell slipped in at the end of his video on the subject, that he would not be taking it. Read into that what you will.
Left with the thought that there are still many backhanders flying around.
Tamiflu…..
– why isn’t there a widely available serological test for immunity … or are the NHS just pimping for the pharma companies – I know what I think….
The NHS antibody testing service to check if you’ve had COVID-19 closed in March 2022.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/antibody-testing-to-check-if-youve-had-coronavirus/
I’m not sure if I was surprised about the coverage of the rushtie ‘freedom of speech ‘ demo in New York – or the absence of one in London or Paris ….
…maybe they took place and I just missed them … or the whole thing has been filed under ‘don’t go there ‘….
But like Paki Racist Muslim Paedo Rape Gangs still fire proof with the support of local councils and plod and – government ….
11:30am From Our Own Correspondent
Abuse captured on video in Russia’s prisons.
Plus: Haiti’s many crises;
North Macedonians grow impatient,
Chile’s referendum angst;
the landslides menacing homes in Congo.
Russia : The prison didn’t have any technicians so an inmate was put in charge of staff bodycams
Sometimes it showed rapes
He smuggled out the footage and left the country.
Haiti gang violence has escalated in the capital, Port au Prince, with more than 200 people left dead after ten days of fighting back in July.
But the country’s fuel supply dried up completely too
Why has the EU not let in North Macedonia and Albania ?
Chile is gearing up for a confusing referendum vote on the 4th of September – on whether to approve or reject a new constitution.
Congo’s population is growing fast
– it’s also predominantly young and extremely urbanised
the forces of rain and rivers are immense, and tropical storms can reshape the landscape at a stroke an destroy homes.
Curious that no mention of America or Rushdie or both ….
the BEEB seem to have pulled the crack team out of USA now the Trump job has been done & Biden can do no wrong.
Re MMGW
Remember winter 2010? Possibly the coldest winter that I remember in 60 years. There was another cold one in 1963.
All due to global warming.
While the BBC draws attention to the funding crisis within the Anychess, it is reported that it is spending over a million on wokery projects.
From the Daily Sceptic
”The NHS has spent more than £1 million on hundreds of ‘woke’ staff networks at a time when it desperately needs more cash for patient care. The Daily Mail has more.
Nearly 500 of these groups have been set up by health trusts across the U.K. – taking up around 36,000 hours of staff time a year. Despite ministers’ calls for the NHS to cut back on “waste and wokery”, some groups use taxpayers’ money to put on events around transgender issues, sexuality and racism, often held during the working day.
These have included “tea and rainbow cake” picnics, a special session about pronouns and a Filipino martial arts performance. Amid fears of an impending winter NHS crisis, the audit by the TaxPayers’ Alliance found there are now at least 493 networks across the UK health service.
These took up at least 108,807 hours of dedicated staff time over the last three years and cost the taxpayer £1,081,878 in this period.”
https://dailysceptic.org/2022/08/20/nhs-blows-1-million-on-woke-groups/
WEF podcast reveals UN recruitment of 110,000 online information agents to counter misinformation and ensure you get the ‘correct’ information.
You might want to keep food and drink away from keyboard / screen
– so those busybodies “dunking on deniers” in the local rags comment sections and elsewhere are are paid for?
‘…conceited, entitled media lovey….’
You forgot diminutive Scotch Italian, pugz. Many a hang-up on display with that combination too.
Something Alistair Stewart said to both Rishi and Liz yesterday showed a big difference between GB News and the rest.
He said he wasn’t doing any ‘Gotcha’s’ during his questioning.
While the LGBBC and the rest of the lefty msm try to catch out MPs by asking them a seemingly innocent question (“what’s the price of a tin of beans ?”) and then using whatever answer against them, GB News ask the best questions and don’t use tricks.
I’m seeing more politicians on GB News as, (I think), a result of that.
Also, have you noticed, it’s always the lefty who is shouting down, interrupting and talking over the reasoned answer any from the right are giving.
Some of Michelle Dewbury’s leftie guests are terrible for this and Dan Wooton’s lefties are often just as bad.
When they get the likes of Kate Smurfwaite on its switch off time for me.
As politicians are seeing they get a fair hearing without the sly and sneaky gotcha tricks they get from the rest of the msm, more will come on to GB News.
Steyn and Farage are perfectly fair to their lefty guests.
No wonder GB News is coming on in leaps and bounds and it’s well deserved.
EG – the technical issues seems to be reducing and the variety of advertisers seems to be increasing . The lefty smears by people who have never seen GBNews seem to be harmless .
However the OFCOM file on their ‘targets ‘ must be getting thinker . But subjects championed by the likes of Mark Steyn are becoming more ‘main stream ‘ – such as unexpected deaths , Injury from the Chinese virus vaccine and – of course paki Paedo racist Rape gangs and their oh so many victims .
I notice how many plod and politicians are totally unaccountable …..
I confess to switching off when they dumb down with the likes of Lizzie Cundy and Daniella Westbrook – who haven’t got one brain cell between them. One has had so many face lifts she wouldn’t look out of place in Beijing, and the other has a face like a squashed football through her cocaine habit. How the regular hosts must roll their eyes when they see them booked for their shows.
The video from March, show the establishment saying Covid vax are 100% effective and then press backtracks since then.
It tries to weave in a narrative that Bill Gates is in it for the money
I thinks that’s a wacky conspiracy theory.
Ascribing motivation to Gates’s antics isn’t straightforward as his army of PR peeps are seriously all over any public exposure.
What does seem clear is that we’re seeing a v.tightly controlled version of events and reporting of relationships – which is bound to lead to speculation.
The divorce with Melinda was kept pretty low profile….
Nicola Sturgeon bellows “Diversity!” “Equality!”, “Inclusivity!”
Equality? All equally as stupid as me.
Inclusivity? Yes morons like you are included.
Diversity? Yes even freaks like you can lead the SNP
‘Nicola Sturgeon bellows “Diversity!” “Equality!”, “Inclusivity!”’
Except for the fecking Inglish.
I am pleased to report a great comedy programme on BBC R4 this afternoon: Party’s Over starring Miles Jupp although it was his fellow actors who deserve all the plaudits. It was a really good laugh. End to end. Brilliant.
“Channel migrants: More than 20,000 people arrive in UK in 2022”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-62539789
That’s 20,000 4 Star Hotel Beds, food bills, doctor’s fees and heating bills to fund .
Someone should tell our so-called Consocialist government that we are Full !
Deporting and removing them is going to cost us more . They should have been stopped in the first place, the present government has put the people of Great Britain in great danger.
Next time vote for The Reform Party and UKIP.
On top of the costs you mention Taffman don’t forget the 25 year olds that need to be educated in our Primary Schools! On a recent BBC Look East programme it was reported that one Education Authority in the East has received millions of pounds from the government over the past three years to educate these illegal minors and as they are dispersed throughout the UK I hate to think what the total cost is to the taxpayer.
In addition I have also asked through an FOI request for further information on the total cost of Border Force and RNLI taxi operations in the Channel and my request was refused on the grounds that the cost of gathering this information was outside of the threshold allowed under FOI legislation.
Surely the UK Taxpayers have a right to know the total annual cost of dealing with these illegals.
taffman, Yes 20,000 but that doesn’t include those coming in lorries under caravans etc via our other ports. And that’s just the ones who are ‘caught’- there are plenty who slip through. Without fail half of them have toothache or some other complaint and a doctor (who could be attending to other ill people) is called for. Then they are fed and watered- all paid for by us.
The situation is worse than ever. Strange isn’t it when someone (Priti et al) promised to sort this out it actually gets worse. Take the £20 million off the French, as it’s completely wasted and stop and turn or tow the illegal migrants back the the coast.
Biden’s diversity at work in the USA…..
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11127071/Shocking-moment-giant-flash-mob-ransacks-loots-7-Eleven-store-LA.html
The BBC seem to have overlooked this one! Can’t think what might have caused them to overlook it!
Maybe they could not connect it to Trump somehow, so not in the US teams mission brief ?
Senora O’Blene has just announced that Michael Gove looks like a prat!
Y’see, she reads the alternative press like most of us here, and is much better informed than idiots who watch the crap plastered all over the awful BBC!
I thought that I should share this fact with everyone while I slurp a refreshing glass of Chardonnay – the thinking man’s beverage!
(Actually, it’s my second, and the red comes later, followed by the single malt, but hey-ho, life’s for the living, not the dead-handed BBC)!
Ooops, forgot, I picked two pounds of blackberries yesterday, and have boiled them up with some nice apples and they’re cooling down for a safe sojourn in the freezer for when the standard of living crisis has made us all eat each other!
Mind you, in my younger days, I always wanted to have a ‘bite’ at Dusty Springfield, so nothing really changes…
There! That’s your Countryfile prog already mapped out, and you didn’t even need to turn on the BBC’s dreadful rubbish!
B****r me, wasn’t she just fabulous!
I told a chum at school that she only wore a black bra and no panties, and he went absolutely ballistic!
We were quite young in those days…
Censored: But Neil Oliver is now talking about it on GB News (am recording it for later). Its Censorship and Propaganda from the BBC and Guardian, to the Mail and the Telegraph. They censor mRNA jab deaths, and blame it on Lockdown. They all censor scientists who produce the evidence that the propaganda is fake news. The Wuhan Covid Bioweapon was a failure, the Plandemic Lockdown was a failure and the mRNA Vaccine was a failure. That’s why it is estimated that the so called vaccine is killing more people than the disease. Like in Climate science, the scientists are not to blame because those scientists that tell the truth like Richard Lindzen and Robert Malone are sidelined, defamed, slandered, censored and sacked. The morons are the Journalists, Politicians and Environmental Activists. The reason mRNA vaccines don’t work is because those scientists who produced the jab were those scientists who lied to the authorities. Scientists had no option because they got sidelined, defamed, slandered, censored and sacked if they told the truth. Nothing works because “YES MEN” scientists are the only scientists being paid by Big Pharma. The awfull conclusion from the Pfizer trials is that saying “NO it does not work”, is not an option for a scientist who wants to keep his job. Whether its Atmospheric Physics, Virology or Biology, if a scientist does not agree with a Pfizer executive, Stonewall or a brainwashed schoolgirl like Greta, then they must be sidelined, defamed, slandered, censored and sacked.
Richard, mirroring the end of The Roman Empire, it’s the slow slide into the end of Western civilisation in action.
Basically a culture that supports and encourages unnatural behaviour, unlimited sexual activity from an early age including children, a culture that viciously attacks any organisation or group that promotes healthy societies such as Christianity or family.
A culture that so devalues human life that it is relaxed about officially and lawfully murdering humans before they have had any earthly life just to make their own lives more comfortable. In fact the new “birth control” as created by Hitler and Mengeles,
A culture that cannot tolerate any criticism that reveals its weaknesses and gross abnormalities.
It is essentially paving the way for an ultimate invasion by Islam who will be overjoyed to stamp on the heads of those deluded infidel trying to welcome them with open arms.
I’m glad I will probably not be around to see it.
I am convinced now It is going to come to pass 100%. Our new woke society has no means of stopping it as this would take bravery, courage and love of Country, all of these have vanished into thin air in the West.
It will be followed by 1000 years of enslavement and barbarism. A new dark age in fact in which any Western race people left will be enslaved and considered as less than animals.
Digg,
Agreed wholeheartedly. Like most here, I will almost certainly not be around to witness the final destination. When that time comes, it will be a, ‘Mad Max’ scenario.
I already agreed with myself that I would not vote again. Little point when the policies are dictated by the WEF / Islam.
Realising that I am simply now a passenger on a large bus with no control whatsoever over the driver, I’d now prefer to sit back and enjoy the ride. Academically that is.
The sheer speed of destruction intrigues me.
Bezmenov is possibly the best antidote to mad marxist outpourings.
Every single BBC employee should be made to study and learn his words off by heart.
They have Saul Alinsky in the US to thank. Biden was the natural choice of Hilary Clinton as she or her husband Bill could not get elected at all. Biden was the chosen one, he had Chinese connections, his son – the Ukraine. Its all going to plan.
https://disk.swissdisk.com/artphoto/saul_alinsky.jpeg
A word only used by the BBC/Left/Unions.
‘Solidarity’.
Never heard it used by any other group.
Canadian trucker demonstrators used the phrase “hold the line”
that is the same as soldarity.
Probably some religions hold to the concept too.
Based on being on Magic Gramps’ mailing list and a few episodes of Sharpe, I find them significantly different.
One is a bunch of brave folk instructed to stand fast protect all those behind them no matter what.
The other is old biddies who smell of wee, deranged wimmin of color, bbc ex Newsnight editors and Richard Burgon standing somewhere safe holding a piece of cardboard to get in the news, who would still scatter like pigeons if a ballon popped nearby.
We all love rabbits, don’t we? Lovely cuddly fluffy little animals. But, bad news, sometimes we eat them…….What ?? How dare we.
Important news from the Beeb…….
A business that breeds rabbits for meat is closing its remaining farm and handing over 250 rabbits to activists (otherwise known as misplaced idiots)
Comedian Ricky Gervais is among those to have spoken out against T&S Rabbits, which activists claim has used a legal loophole to breed rabbits for fur and is amongst those complaining that they are being exploited (the rabbits that is, not Ricky gervais).
Members of the campaign group, called Shut Down T&S Rabbits, (note the original well thought out name) are due to collect the animals on Saturday morning. They will be taken to rescue centres and eventually rehomed. Aaaah. Not going into pies then?
The owner of this ‘horrible’ farm, who has been forced by these loonies to close, said “Lambs are still animals, and ducks, and turkeys, and chickens, and pigs, they are all animals,”
People have,of course, been eating (delicious) rabbit for hundreds of years and from a health perspective they have a light impact on the earth, and they’re healthy, all-white meat.” Rich in highly-quality proteins, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, and minerals like calcium and potassium, rabbit meat is also lean and low in cholesterol.
If these woke numpties had a bit of sense they could have donated Flopsy and his friends to a food bank. What’s wrong with these people ?
I shoot rabbits for people who have a problem with them on their properties. I think the meat is great and I try to persuade other people to eat them with some small success.
Once when attending a pot luck dinner of about forty people I took along a large rabbit casserole much to the dismay of the hosts.
“I can’t see anybody wanting to eat that” they said. So I thought I’d better put a label on it as I didn’t want any tender soul throwing up once they realised what they’d eaten so a labelled it with the old line, “Watership Down! You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the film, now eat the cast.”
The hosts were still dismayed but the guests went for it hugely and it disappeared much faster than any of the other contributions. So fast in fact that when I went to get a helping for myself there wasn’t any left.
Yasser
As a townie I converted to hunting the likes of pigeon and rabbits . Killing, preparing for the pot and eating teaches something many who just picks up a £5 chicken in a supermarket will appreciate – that this was once alive .
I miss my shooting – and only have shotguns now … back to the sea fishing …
Years ago, a friend would often give me rabbits for the oven, but I always insisted they were skinned first. I personally wasn’t keen as there were too many bones for my liking, and I also cringed when I shoved it in the oven – it looked like a new born baby – aaaaaagh ! hubby loved it with mushrooms and veggies though.
Fed, d’you remember a restaurant near Old Compton St, called ‘Le Bistingo’?
They served pigeon, and when I exited London as a resident to marry Senora O’Blene, a good chum took me there to celebrate – and pigeon was on the menu!
They used to put two on the plate but I only got one, and as it was burnt to extinction, I didn’t have a clue what it tasted like!
Er – what did it taste like please?
Hello Scroblene
It took me a while to get used to preparing wood pigeons for cooking but it was well worth it – although I was paranoid about biting a pellet and breaking teeth . …
… the taste – deep rich ‘gamy’ and cooked very slowly – I preferred pigeon to pheasant – which I tried to breed once upon a time …..squirrel was never worth the effort ….
The best tasting wild dish is hare. You have to cook it very slowly though. It’s more of a red meat than the rabbit’s white. It’s legal to shoot them here though I think they may be protected in the UK.
I don’t like shooting them though they can present an easy target I mainly let them alone and concentrate on rabbits, they are the real pests.
Dan Wootton monologue Lawless London
… https://youtu.be/n9M6m8w5y2Q?t=762
Libmob use framing trickery
Here the TalktV presenter merely suggests that dingy diver boats be knife whilst they are safely on the beach
The caller postulates that might be a way to fire darts to the deflate the boat whilst they are in shallow water, cos the dinghy divers will be safe since the wear life jackets
But Liam the Liverpool Echo guy opens the tweet with the word “Horrific” to deceive you into thinking the show is illegally talking about killing migrants
BBC Radio Humbersides Paul and James then pile in
Paul “This needs referring to @Ofcom”
FFS it is not illegal to talk about demobilising dangerous dinghies.
They won’t like me going on then, with my suggestion of harpoons – not darts !
I think the best option is for the UK government to covertly pay one of the people trafficking gangs to sabotage all the other gangs whilst stopping its own activities. The French police could stop the boats overnight if they wanted to at virtually no cost but Macron sees the invasion as punishment forBrexit. So we need to get the gangs to stop and buying one of them off is a convenient way of doing it. Need to keep the civil service out of the loop by going direct to MI6.
here’s a daft Idea, find out who they buy the dingy/boats from & shut any that can’t prove the sales are to legit buyers.
nah – probably to easy.
I’ve been saying for ages they should use drones with explosives making sure they strike in french waters so the french escorts have to pick them up. After Manchester Arena and grooming scandals I’m way past caring if any die.
The point is is the talk radio piece talked about kniving boats not knifing people, the BBC crew misrepresented that, so it’s no good us endorsing their false narrative that TalkTV calls for the murder of dingy divers.
OK I’m not going to endorse firing harpoons at unarmed people.
But there is an argument that dinghy divers are not innocents
They are an invading force, intent on securing UK resources for themselves.
They don’t act at gunpoint , but are rather using a kind of blackmail.
There is an argument that the French are suffering an even larger invasion.
Is that true ?
I am all for the UK helping the EU protect its southern borders from people trying to queue jump the refugee process.
Easy, send Special forces out to France to puncture the dinghies .
A good exercise for the SBS to carry out .
Simples.
1765 …. In a republic worthy of name, freedom to publish one’s thoughts is a citizen’s natural right.They may use a pen or their voice, and should not be prevented from writing any more than speaking …That is the law in England, a monarchical country, where people are freer than elsewhere because they are more enlightened. – Voltaire, Republican Ideas, 1765
2018 … Jack Fincham from ITV’s Love Island hounded by fans for supporting Tommy Robinson 04jul2018
https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2018/07/02/start-the-week-open-thread-2-july-2018/comment-page-4/#comment-927425
Ukraine borders – good/protect with UK weapons.#
UK borders – bad/leave open.
One from the DT – enjoy
STARTS When the BBC consigned the live broadcast of the Belfast Twelfth of July Parade to the editorial dustbin, more than six decades of in-depth coverage came to an end.
While the national broadcaster still provided highlights or marches, the second-by-second account of the Orangemen’s celebration fell to Auntie’s plucky rival to pick up.
GB News, the insurgent network trying to disrupt Britain’s media landscape with its opinionated take on current affairs, delivered the blow-by-blow coverage of unionist pride instead in a boost for the broadcaster’s credibility.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, which organises the events, welcomed the fledgling channel’s support. However, it told the Belfast Telegraph that the BBC’s decision was a “snub to our communities” that had caused immense disappointment and frustration.
It could be a taste of things to come. The BBC’s plan to scrap its two rolling news channels for UK and overseas audiences and launch a global station serving both has become the latest row to engulf the corporation amid fears it will dial down national coverage.
Taking to Twitter last week, BBC newsreader Martine Croxall lashed out at the plans. “I do not believe the true extent of the damage to the news channel has been made plain,” she said.
“The replacement channel will be commercial and aimed at an overseas audience.
“The UK licence fee payer will not recognise it.”
Poised to come into force next year, the shake-up will mean that studios at Broadcasting House helm UK and global news coverage during the day, before a a switch to presenters in Washington and Singapore overnight.
Cost-saving is among the driving forces behind the plans. They will put 70 jobs at risk, as part of the BBC’s enduring quest to slash its budget amid falling income from the licence fee.
With GB News bolstering its patriotic coverage following a fresh £60m investment and Sky News – helmed by the likes of Kay Burley – continuing to benefit from the deep pockets of its American owner Comcast, there is danger that the cutbacks are an open goal for the BBC’s rivals.
David Elstein, the former BBC editor and chief executive of Channel 5, says the move is likely to cause a slide in British viewers.
“If you go back a decade, to when BBC World Service was merged with BBC News and the old Peter Horrocks regime was wiped out, that was a major editorial error,” he adds.
“BBC World Service was a standalone, high-end, product, whereas BBC News was very much London based. That was all done to save money and streamline.
“You can’t straddle BBC News 24 and BBC World convincingly, either. Anything that dilutes the domestic coverage of the 24-hour news service, is bound to reduce audiences – that is the nature of the beast.”
The BBC has defended the decision as being a step towards creating a “digital-led” organisation delivering more for licence fee payers by offering international coverage previously unavailable outside the UK.
A dedicated team will also create a live feed for when a story breaks of national importance to ensure UK audiences do not suffer, the BBC says.
The corporation has dismissed the idea that such changes will cause it to cede ground to rivals.
“No, quite the reverse – we’re making better use of the licence fee to give audiences the UK’s best breaking news services, in the ways we know they’re using them, both on TV and online,” a spokesman says.
“Rather than running two parallel TV news channels, we’ll have one, better, channel, with the trusted, high-quality news people expect from the BBC.
“We’re not stepping away from UK coverage, we’re making that coverage better – on TV and online.”
Still, the question lingers: Why is the BBC watering down its 24-hour national TV coverage when British broadcasters are investing in UK current affairs to stop audiences defecting to the streaming giants.
While viewers are increasingly turning to catch-up TV and subscription services for entertainment shows on demand, news helps shore up audiences on traditional TV because it remains an appointment to view and is not offered by Netflix, Amazon or Disney.
ITV is extending its evening news bulletin to an hour as a result, and Channel 4 has handed the veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil a political interview show on Sundays.
And while GB News has yet to pose a substantial challenge to the BBC’s rolling coverage, the start-up’s audience is steadily growing and is posing an ever-greater threat to Sky News during prime timE
Gill Hind of Enders Analysis says the BBC decision comes as a surprise.
“You would think if the BBC is going to be doubling down on anything, they would be doubling down on news,” she says.
“Quite clearly, they have had severe cuts to the licence fee over the last few years and there are more huge cuts coming through.
“And given the cost of inflation, they are getting absolutely nothing. They do have to make some cuts somewhere. There will be some additional fat, but not a lot.
“What is slightly strange, however, is that you are going to have a 24-hour news channel by the BBC that is not focused mainly on UK stories.
“You do wonder if you get another big breaking story like Prince Philip dying, would they have that infrastructure in place to immediately change everything and really focus on that?”
TV journalism will suffer as a result, says Hind, particularly once a Comcast funding guarantee for Sky News comes to an end in 2028.
“It means we don’t have a UK public service broadcaster that has a 24-hour UK-focused news channel,” she says.
“We have Sky, which is a fabulous UK news channel in terms of output, […] but what is to prevent Sky News from no longer having that focus [after 2028].”
“You could end up in a few years time, with no high-quality 24-hour news channel focused specifically on the UK.”
Whether the plans remain intact come 2023 is up for debate, as the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) attempts to force the BBC into a U-turn.
The prospect of a strike has been raised, although a decision over whether to take such drastic action has yet to be formally made by members.
Michelle Stanistreet, the general secretary of the NUJ, says it understands that the BBC must make year-on-year cuts following a decision by the Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries to freeze the licence fee. However, she says the union cannot support plans that have a severe impact on coverage.
“We are concerned because it will result in 70 jobs going, but also because it will cause harm to the news provided,” she adds.
“The BBC News channel plays a major role in covering local elections, by-elections, floods and droughts as well as covering breaking domestic and international incidents they happen.
“Many of the BBC News channels packages and interviews are used across the BBC network, providing huge value to the licence fee payer.”
While the BBC is putting a brave face on its plans to overhaul the rolling news channel, the danger is that the mis-step may only become apparent when it is too late.
As the Orangemen Parade proved last month, not only does the BBC risk fuelling hostility from licence-fee payers – there are also now ready and able competitors eager to fill the void.ENDS
So muslim atrocities around the world, including attacks on Christian churches and the murders and rapes of South African white farmers will be features of the future bbc news channel then…..
Islamic Genocide of Christians: Past and Present
by Raymond Ibrahim
PJ Media
April 26, 2015
“As happens to this day under the new caliphate — the Islamic State — in 1914 the Ottoman caliphate crucified, beheaded, tortured, mutilated, raped, enslaved, and otherwise massacred countless “infidel” Christians. The official number of Armenians killed in the genocide is 1.5 million; hundreds of thousands of Greeks and Assyrians each were also systematically slaughtered (see this document for statistics).”
https://www.meforum.org/5202/islamic-genocide
interesting that depite these kind of atrocities committed around the world by muslims, a search on google under “muslim atrocities” reveals over four pages about muslims as “victims” in China and India.
funny that
“Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and personal witness of the atrocities, attested that “I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this.” He added that what the Turks were doing was “a carefully planned scheme to thoroughly extinguish the Armenian race.” In 1918, Morgenthau wrote in Red Cross Magazine:
Will the outrageous terrorizing, the cruel torturing, the driving of women into the harems, the debauchery of innocent girls, the sale of many of them at eighty cents each [today the Islamic State sells enslaved Christians and Yazidis for as little as $43], the murdering of hundreds of thousands and the deportation to, and starvation in, the deserts of other hundreds of thousands, the destruction of hundreds of villages and cities, will the willful execution of this whole devilish scheme to annihilate the Armenian, Greek and Syrian [or Assyrian] Christians of Turkey – will all this go unpunished?”
“The Islamic State’s recent slaughter of some 30 Christian Ethiopians in Libya — and two months earlier, 21 Christian Egyptians — is merely the latest serving of Christian persecution in post “Arab Spring” Libya.
Nor is this limited to the Arab world. In Muslim-majority northern Nigeria, Muslims, spearheaded by the Islamic organization Boko Haram, are waging a savage jihad on the Christian minorities in their midst. Boko Haram’s stated goal is to cleanse northern Nigeria of all Christians — a goal that should be reminiscent by now.
But even in non-war-torn nations, from Indonesia in the east to Morocco in the west, from Central Asia in the north, to sub-Sahara Africa — in lands of different races, colors, languages, politics and economics, in lands that share only a Muslim majority — Christians are, to varying degrees, being eradicated. Indeed, in Turkey today, even indigenous Turks who convert to Christianity are regularly persecuted and sometimes slaughtered in the name of Islam. See my book, Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians, for a comprehensive account of what may eventually culminate into the Genocide of the 21st century.”
Zephir
– there is a lot more to it
see HERE
just watched the beeb 2nd part – Afghanistan: The Lion’s Last Roar?
subtitle – “This two-part series tells the story of the conflict in Afghanistan and asks what has been achieved and whether the British have the will to fight in distant lands again.”
now, unless I watched a different prog (possibly since I can’t find a date) this prog covered the US withdrawal history starting with Obama/Trump & Biden finally pulling the plug.
funny how BEEB news items would make you think it was a British debacle not a US debacle under Biden !!!
I watched CSPAN on BBC world to get an unbiased take on the USA, since they allowed callers to call in.
BBC scraped that, to save money !!!
News is a real thing
but what we get on BBC and media tends to a particular type : NewsPR
controlled information like Pravda rather that full truth.
Inflation: Why price rises are worse for some people than others
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62553641
Energy bills could go up before October price cap rise
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62494406
Cost of living: Help is coming, says Kwasi Kwarteng
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62619761
There is no doubt whatsoever : the BBC is racist and sexist against white males.
Yet the ultra-hypocritical Lefty activists think this is OK. It’s bizarre. Do they even realise or have they concocted some twisted justification for it ?.
I can hear the BEEBOID saying “put on your sad face & cry if you feel that it may get you more taxpayers money”
BBC Something About Food News
Peanut butter swapped for beans and a chicken boycott are ways some people are adapting to the new circumstances.
***
There has to be an ism in there too.
They used to promise us the sunlit uplands of utopian paradise – now our left-leaning media appear hell-bent on demoralising us.
Our BBC promotes the Guardian-on-Sunday, their very own Observer, to top spot in their online press review…
Labour surges amid Tory fears over Truss’s tax cut plans (Observer)
That headline representing the culmination of either: leftist wishful thinking; some typically skewed pollster Psyop; or – if real – evidence of a profligately wasted Tory electoral majority of 80, mandated to do Brexit and curb hyper-immigration.
MPs are bunch of wasters – or so the Daily Star Sunday accuses. This is not about the reckless squandering of the conservative majority but – inevitably – it’s a: Cost of living exclusive Wasteminister Outrage as MPs and Lords bin 2.6 MILLION subsidised meals as families struggle (Sunday Mirror) – is that even possible?
There are 650 MPs: David Cameron would remove more than 60 MPs as part of a Tory plan to make parliament work more efficiently (Guardian – this article is more than 13 years old) – didn’t happen of course… one supposes their Liberal Democrat coalition partners horse traded that promise away?
There are 760 sitting members in the House of Lords: the second-largest legislative chamber in the world behind the Chinese National People’s Congress (thank you Wiki)
So that’s 1410 parliamentarians scoffing, let’s say, two meals a day…. to get through 2.6m plates of grub that would take 922 days – if my maths hasn’t gone awry? But that’s supposedly the portions they’ve thrown out. The subsidised grubstakes they haven’t digested – But I’ve digressed…
Back to the deep state…
Let’s not forget, they attempted to strangle it at birth, then battered the Donald Trump presidency half to death with a combination of frentically biased media, overblown pandemic fears and assorted deep state conspiracies.
Speaking of which…
It’s apparently a timely moment for the formerly patriotic Sunday Times, in collusive combination with the US Democrat-leaning deep state, plus our very own dark forces, to wheel out special agent Theresa May: Trump’s ‘ridiculous’ GCHQ bugging claims soured special relationship – really Theresa? What is about the activities of our British spies that might have tipped off and upset the Donald…?
The former British intelligence officer who had a key role in drafting the dossier that alleged Russia holds compromising material and information on President-elect Donald Trump… Christopher Steele, a former MI6 officer and the director of a private-sector security firm in London, was named as the author of the 35-page packet making the explosive — and unsubstantiated — claims… The president-elect described the allegations as “all fake news — phony stuff” and said it was “a disgrace that that information would be let out.” (The Washington Post, Democracy Dies in Darkness)
And another thing, Mrs May… you seem to suggest it is a ‘ridiculous’ notion that western secret agencies routinely bug one another…?
NSA tapped German Chancellery for decades, WikiLeaks claims. New documents released suggest communications between top officials including Angela Merkel were intercepted by the US spy agency (Guardian, this article is more than 7 years old)
The crisis came when a legal analyst claimed on television that Barack Obama had used GCHQ to put a wiretap on Trump (Sunday Times)
So spy agencies don’t ever do little side deal arrangements with third parties to carry out their dirty work at one remove from themselves…?
NSA spying row: Denmark accused of helping US spy on European officials (BBC, May 2021)
Back to our demoralisation Sunday…
BBC: Felixstowe: Strike set to begin at UK’s biggest container port; Barristers voting on all-out strike call – there’s a joke there somewhere about panic buying… supply chain… so sue me…
Fully Automated Luxury Communism apparently on hold?
Libraries to offer warm shelter for winter (Observer) – what, no global warming to save us?
Turn off appliances to earn extra cash… Millions of households with smartmeters will be paid for turning down appliances at peak times to protect the country from blackouts this winter (Sunday Times)
Build Back Better? More like another turn of the screw…
Universities push for ‘vital’ tuition fee rise. UK students must pay closer to £24,000 a year or lose their places to foreigners, argue bosses (Sunday Times) – apparently universities now have ‘bosses’ running them – rather than ‘dons’ these days.
How are students straight out of school going to pay what amounts to three years worth of average annual adult pay before tax – without massively increasing the national debt? Where’s the incentive? Unlike foreign students our own homegrown youngsters can buy their British passport for just £75.50