352 Responses to Start the Week 22 August 2022

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  1. Zephir says:
    August 21, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    “Silencing comics will lead to a dark destination, says ANDY SHAW
    WE ARE living in a culture where a minority of angry people are deciding what we can see, read and watch. Of course the cancellation of a comedy show in Edinburgh is a world away from the brutal stabbing of Salman Rushdie. But they are linked by the thread of free speech.

    We see cultural leaders indulging a minority of people who claim that they are “offended” by words with which they disagree. They accept and nourish the idea that words are a form of personal attack on identity or religious belief. We see the cowardice of the arts industry and their failure to resolutely defend free speech, emboldening those who want to silence others.

    Last weekend Jerry Sadowitz – the Scottish comic who has built his entire career on making offensive jokes – had his show cancelled at The Pleasance, the biggest venue at the biggest comedy festival in the world,The Edinburgh Fringe.

    It was claimed that both staff and audience had been made to feel “unsafe” by the content.

    But people who book a show called “Not For Anyone” know what they’re in for.

    The decision to cancel Sadowitz was an act of cowardice.”

    “One (ex performer) recently said to me: “What’s the point? You can only get on TV if you think like they do. The industry only gives awards to people who have the right ‘identity’ and no one cares about good comedy.

    Nobody goes to stand-up comedy to “feel safe”. Some of the greatest comedy shows I’ve seen have offended everyone in the audience. Some of my favourite jokes deal with topics off-limits in the mainstream, satirising targets that are beloved by those in power.

    “Greta Thunberg – there’s a homework project that got horribly out of control…” [Tania Edwards].

    Silencing comics and their acts is no different from condemning books and their authors. It is a dark path and will lead to a dark destination. Now, more than ever, we need comedians to deal with the subjects that are off-limits.”

    https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1658389/comedy-free-speech-Salman-Rushdie-Jerry-Sadowitz

       37 likes

    • BRISSLES says:
      August 22, 2022 at 11:29 am

      We are on a runaway train to dystopia, and its going to be hard to stop it, unless we see the end of Social Media, which is never going to happen. No social media, no trolls, no ‘offended’, no controlling the media.

      Endless comments by actors and comedians about programmes and shows from years past that “would never be made now – we live in a different world”. Yes, but to suit whom ?

      I’ve thought hard about the last time I really laughed. In fact how often do you see people laugh now ? yes, we smile but not a lot more. There was always something on the tele to laugh at, not anymore. There was also less mention of ‘mental health issues’ also, so, we laugh less so there’s more mental problems, and so the train continues.

      One things for sure, I’m glad I won’t be around to witness the full effect of the world in a few decades time.

         18 likes

    • Wild Bill says:
      August 22, 2022 at 5:00 pm

      I was shocked hear my son disparage the comedy writer Graham Linehan a while ago, he is the writer of classics, ‘Father Ted’, ‘Black Books’ and ‘The IT Crowd’, my son used to be a big fan of these series, but because Linehan speaks out against transgender endangering women and children, he is now cancelled.

         11 likes

    • Zelazek says:
      August 23, 2022 at 10:55 am

      A joke in my opinion must have a close relation to the truth for it to be funny. The joke about gammons = brexiteers is funny, even if I don’t like it. I am a brexiteer who is frequently called a gammon. Most people who are called gammons probably did vote for Brexit. The joke is funny because it makes sense. It has an element of truth. The wokerati laugh their heads off at it while I accept that the joke is against me and I will just have to grin and bear it.

      What the wokerati want suppressed is humour that they not only do not like but which calls attention to the truths they don’t even want acknowledged, in particular truths about their beloved minorities and those with protected characteristics. When Jerry Sadowitz makes jokes about Asian shopkeepers shortchanging customers or Jimmy Carr jokes that gypsies dying in the holocaust was a positive, most of us laugh because we recognise truths about these groups and our own secret negative feelings towards them. If there was nothing true about these jokes, they wouldn’t be funny.

         6 likes

  2. Flotsam says:
    August 21, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    Comedy, satire. Is it always a good thing?

    BBC’s “Have I Got News For You” used to be worth a watch but steadily became more and more Metropolitan and anti Tory. After Brexit Ian Hislop, the presenter, the panels and audience were all solidly Remainer. Hislop was Remainer in Chief, for reasons best known to him.
    I’m surprised by and very disappointed with Hislop who I thought of as someone who is intelligent and prepared to take on the Establishment. What is more Establishment than the EU?

       64 likes

    • Nibor says:
      August 21, 2022 at 11:46 pm

      Radio 4 I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue 12.30pm . Purports to be satire.

      The Uxbridge Dictionary = new meanings for words .

      Backgammon; : keep a distance Brexiteer .

      You can see the racism , the so called comedians can’t . Well they are BBC types .

         34 likes

    • StewGreen says:
      August 22, 2022 at 8:35 am

      There is the issue of free speech
      but then there is the issue of bullying by excluding one side from a platform.
      The BBC platforms lefties whilst EXCLUDING righties.

         20 likes

  3. Up2snuff says:
    August 21, 2022 at 10:08 pm

    “I don’t believe it” © V. Meldrew

       10 likes

    • Scroblene says:
      August 22, 2022 at 6:37 am

      Why aren’t you first, Uppers?

      In the good old days, you were always up with the lark, but today you didn’t!

      Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs!

         8 likes

      • Up2snuff says:
        August 22, 2022 at 7:17 am

        Scrobie, I was off reading an article and posts on a TCW Thread.

        Serves me right*. Well done, Zephir.

        * Am I bovvered? Not really. Five in a row would have been an achievement, someone has done it. Cannot remember who. Remind me please, someone. In the meantime, I endorse the suggestion of our top man, Fed, for a solution to the cost of living crisis: cancel the TV Licence, give up telly watching for internet radio and much more besides. At current rates, I am over £2500 less poor than 17 years ago.

           18 likes

  4. Emmanuel Goldstein says:
    August 21, 2022 at 10:27 pm

    With these ‘droughts’ happening and things appearing from the past like the stone circle in Spain I wonder when Atlantis will make an appearance.
    This ancient State which disappeared underwater because of rising sea levels/climate change/Ozone/Carbon/Brexit should be spotted any time soon.

    Next, Noah’s Ark (with him and wife Joan on board)

       28 likes

  5. Guest Who says:
    August 21, 2022 at 10:30 pm

    Usually Mad Al puts out a hit.

    So using anonymous witnesses is just bbc level dodgy.

       21 likes

  6. tomo says:
    August 21, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    waycist !!!

       15 likes

  7. taffman says:
    August 22, 2022 at 12:19 am

    “Tyson Fury makes emotional knife plea over cousin’s death”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-62624382
    Lots of stabbing going on in London?
    Import the third world and you get the third world .

    Importing the third world was done against the wishes of the people of Great Britain .
    Who ever voted for it ?

       52 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 8:55 am

      David Lammy MP says absent fathers ‘key cause of knife crime’
      Published
      3 October 2012

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19815831

      A London MP has suggested that absent fathers are a key cause of knife crime.

      Tottenham Labour MP David Lammy said most young people who have stabbed someone to death come from single parent families.

      Former gang member Sheldon Thomas, now a government advisor on youth violence, said he agreed with Mr Lammy “100%”.

         7 likes

  8. taffman says:
    August 22, 2022 at 12:33 am

    Parking: Ceredigion ticket machines ‘driving tourists away’
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62610728
    Bonkers !
    Get rid of the Welsh Assembly.

       20 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 8:56 am

      Parking: Ceredigion ticket machines ‘driving tourists away’
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62610728

      “People are not using them, as we’ve seen this morning, because they can’t use them, and driving off,” Ms Evans said.

         8 likes

      • markh says:
        August 22, 2022 at 10:44 am

        For goodness’ sake, park there anyway and if the useless buggers send you a penalty notice then appeal on the grounds that there was no clear signage. If enough people do it….

           5 likes

  9. Yasser Dasmibehbi says:
    August 22, 2022 at 1:55 am

    I don’t know if this has been posted before but look who we have got on our side!

       18 likes

  10. Halifax says:
    August 22, 2022 at 3:43 am

    Funniest joke at the Edinburgh fringe.

    : “I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I couldn’t get pasta.

    Obviously told by a BME gentleman and obviously none offensive unless of course he used the word “her” as the wrong Pro noun ?

    They should resurrect Bernard Manning Jokes, like:

    We had no money when I was a kid my mum got all our clothes from the Army and Navy store. I spent the first 2 years at schoold dressed as First Flag officer of the 2nd flotilla of Japenese Imperial Navy.

    Always tickles me.

       45 likes

  11. Zephir says:
    August 22, 2022 at 5:02 am

    Just imagine writing a satire 50 years ago about this, it would be seen as too fanciful:

    “Fury at ‘woke’ Lincoln Police after officers are filmed dancing the Macarena at Pride festival while number of unsolved crimes across the UK remains high

    Local residents have questioned why the officers were not fighting street crime
    But the Chief Constable hit back saying he ‘expects’ his officers to dance at Pride
    A dispersal order in the city centre had to be issued just two hours after the post”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11132029/Fury-woke-Lincoln-Police-officers-filmed-dancing-Macarena-Pride-festival.html

       26 likes

  12. Zephir says:
    August 22, 2022 at 5:04 am

    BTW they are taking no further action on investigating the asian muzzie who verbally abused and threatened me for “coughing” in a town centre, and have “filed it” despite witnesses and CCTV.

       33 likes

    • StewGreen says:
      August 22, 2022 at 9:49 am

      It’s not new
      @Forbes Nov 5, 2021
      Meghan Markle has reportedly called Republican lawmakers seeking their support for Democratic legislation to provide paid family leave
      http://on.forbes.com/6011JX4cx
      bbc https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59186204

      “The first part her getting the Republicans’ private numbers is old news, but the part about Meghan Markle being late and refusing to leave the senators her number is new. ”
      That looks like an attempt to portray her as arrogant.

         2 likes

  14. andyjsnape says:
    August 22, 2022 at 6:39 am

    bBC is keen…

    Edinburgh Fringe funniest joke: Pasta gag wins top prize
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-62626292

    Personally…

       10 likes

  15. taffman says:
    August 22, 2022 at 6:58 am

    BBC News .
    No news.

       18 likes

  16. Up2snuff says:
    August 22, 2022 at 7:07 am

    TOADY Watch #1 – the who’s sorry now edition

    I hate to say I told you so, not. More polling – not that you can always go by the polling – suggests that voters are sorry that Boris Johnson has been deposed as PM. They find they do not like the thought of voting for a Conservative Party led by Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak. Think the BBC said that these voters were the all important floating voters. Oh dear!

    Ooops!

       15 likes

  17. Fedup2 says:
    August 22, 2022 at 7:18 am

    Plod watch
    The BBC is on the case of a coloured nurse with ‘mental issues ‘ who is missing in londonistan and apparently wandering around the rail system ….. today it reveals that they released pictures of this person – except it wasn’t the right mentally affected missing coloured girl ….

    This incompetence triggered that thing about plod . They’ve been big on ‘diversity ‘ for years in the belief that more different types of plod would make plod better .

    Well I beg to differ . To me more diversity is leading to a worse and less effective plod . They cannot do the basics but they can do virtue signaling and ‘prioritising ‘ their own social and political beliefs – eg add queerness and not going after paki rape gangs until forced too .

    The rot is in the whole organisation . Once upon a time plod depended on consent . Now ? Well best avoided – which is sad really for what was once an ‘okay ‘organisation which used to investigate crime and keep the streets a bit safer ….

    I wonder if the new Met commissioner ( who cares ) will have to resign if the missing nurse turns up dead now that the BBC is making it a ‘thing ‘ ….?

    BTW I’m surprised the third world story about a corrupt Met traffic plod being found guilty of taking money not to prosecute naughty car drivers didn’t receive more coverage …..

       29 likes

    • BRISSLES says:
      August 22, 2022 at 11:36 am

      Fed, haven’t we got the Notting Hill Carnival coming up ? Lets see if the Met can outdo their colleagues in Lincoln PF doing the Macarena , and up the anti to doing a full Strictly in the streets.

         13 likes

  18. andyjsnape says:
    August 22, 2022 at 7:33 am

    Is there a green solution to the vinyl record backlog?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-62426472

    Green = Expensive, again?

       4 likes

  19. Guest Who says:
    August 22, 2022 at 7:38 am

    So close to the full set.

       12 likes

  20. Guest Who says:
    August 22, 2022 at 7:43 am

    Using Saddo Khan’s pr team gets the media to run stuff straight faced.

       6 likes

  21. Guest Who says:
    August 22, 2022 at 7:47 am

    Seems Springster and Justin are flying out to tackle things.

       12 likes

    • tomo says:
      August 22, 2022 at 8:23 am

      noooo… no influence at all – he’s given the money with absolutely no expectation of currying favour or getting better PR pushing at The Guardian.

      The least Moonbat could do is elaborate the reason Gates gave the money – lame – even by George’s own known low standard.

         16 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 8:53 am

      Now showing projects related to:
      “bill and melinda”

      https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/search

      https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-205273/summary

      Working in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on a set of co-investments, DFID’s funding will increase the development and adoption of new agricultural technologies that build resilience to climate change, diseases and pests and increase productivity, particularly for smallholders in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

      £30,493,507 (88.81%)

         4 likes

      • tomo says:
        August 22, 2022 at 7:29 pm

        Not so much Bill + Melinda Foundation now is it?

        Not since the missus compared Bill’s travels to Epstein’s island with what Bill said he was doing – eh?

           1 likes

  22. Guest Who says:
    August 22, 2022 at 8:13 am

    Sounds like BBC Editorial, ECU and The Disinformation Team.

       28 likes

  23. AsISeeIt says:
    August 22, 2022 at 8:24 am

    You join us on a Monday morning when our BBC attempts to cheer us up with: Edinburgh Fringe funniest joke

    I give you due warning this one is coming up… wouldn’t want you to be taken unawares and split your sides laughing…

    Meanwhile, politics fails to excite any interest – BBC: Tory leadership: Rishi Sunak criticises Liz Truss’ economic plans… Party members who haven’t yet cast their vote have just under two weeks to do so

    But I say, never mind the floating voters: English beach sewage dumps not monitored properly, data shows (BBC) – what about the boating floaters…?

    I suppose that’s one way to get our own back on the French – for what they allow to come floating out across the Channel in our direction.

    Swimmers’ sewage risk due to faults in monitors (Guardian)

    Turns out the best gag at Edinburgh Fest was a lame pun – that isn’t even topical: Masai Graham was voted the winner with his gag: “I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I couldn’t get pasta.” (BBC)

    Lame pun? Is that the name of some Korean involved in: Wargaming a North Korean attack… Kim Jong Un accused the US and South Korea of bringing the Peninsula to the “brink of war” (BBC)

    So veteran Scots stand up comic Jerry Sadowitz didn’t pick up any prizes at the exclusively right-on, anti-racialist, politically correct, identity politics, trans-friendly, safe-space – increasingly unfunny – Edinburgh Fringe, then?

    ‘We’ve all got to do our bit to keep it clean’ By Andrew Picken, BBC Scotland News, reporting on the Edinburgh Festival – well, quite.

    The report goes on: The piles of fast food boxes, bottles and cans are inching ever higher next to Edinburgh’s overflowing street bins. Only four days into the capital’s 12-day waste collection strike and the city centre is already a sorry sight… “Around this area there are a lot of street shows, some of the acts do dangerous stunts and the last thing they want is a pile of rubbish getting in their faces.” – seems the global warming-minded, save the planet-conscious, re-cycle keen Edinburgh Festival crowds are pretty casual when it comes to chucking away their litter. And the minority Labour administration of Edinburgh council, having recently taken over from a SNP-Labour coalition, can’t manage to keep their city streets clean.

    Let’s try a new angle in our daily headline watch…

    A little something I like to call “Could, Fear, Risk” – you never know, it might catch on.

    We start the game with the ever speculative Daily Mail: New bood test could stop 1 in 10 cancer deaths – quite why 1 in 10 gets underlined in their headline will have to remain something of a mystery.

    Next up we tentatively – and with due caution – pick up the Guardian, in search of fear: Ukraine fears Russia car bomb revenge – Mr AsISeeIt really does fear this is a very dangerous escalation by either Zelenskiy or his western handlers. Seems someone is begging for a Russian retaliation.

    If like the left-leaning ‘i’ newspaper where: ‘We all think Diana’s death was suspicious’ – then: Daughter of Putin ally killed in a car bomb (Times) – can hardly be explained away as an accident.

    From the funniest joke from Edinburgh, where lame puns rule the day, to the lamest unfunniest most ineffectual joke of a government minister, our very own Priti Patel – who provides us with the final element in our headline cliché trifecta – risk: Facebook risks ‘grotesque betrayal’ of children, says Patel (Telegraph) – also a potential contender in a potential think about the children headline game.

    And finally, the booby prize, our conspicuously patriotic award this morning goes to – Free cuppa and slice of cake. For every reader… Terms and conditions apply (Daily Express) – don’t they always?

       16 likes

    • Fedup2 says:
      August 22, 2022 at 8:54 am

      Sometimes I find it hard join the dots . One page there’ll be a story about a new treatment or test for this or that ailment .

      On the opposite side will be the daily about the NHS wanting people to die rather than clog up the Blessed NHS A and E car parks …. No GP appointments – thousands dying untreated . Fat lazy nurses – doctors on the money …

      And I you notice – the lie that everyone ‘clapped the NHS during the induced Chinese virus hysteria is now used in pay demands . No surprise there ….

      BTW The killing of an 87 year old in a mobility scooter has now been consigned to ‘non story ‘ – presumably using the cloak of ‘pending trial . I wonder if the killer will use ‘self defence ‘ as a defence ….

         29 likes

  24. Guest Who says:
    August 22, 2022 at 8:32 am

    BBC Vague News

    Many Hindus – who had fled Kashmir in the late 1980s after being targeted by militant groups – had returned to the region as part of a resettlement programme started by the government. But now they say they want to leave again.

    ***
    Targeted, by groups, who are militant, but mostly peaceful, surely?

       21 likes

  25. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 8:38 am

    “The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.” – Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (ca 410 BCE)

    TELEMMGLPICT000303752069_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqyhZ9Xgyq97F5co5BOX-J7l8wzx_5VZ5DVWyJHL_H324.jpeg?imwidth=480

       11 likes

    • Fedup2 says:
      August 22, 2022 at 8:56 am

      Got to say Carrie really has done for Johnson – going on serial holidays whilst Blighty gets more and more worried about stuff is not a good look … but I suppose he will just be regarded by history as a not too clever buffoon ……

      ..but he has signed off on a nuclear power station – which they’ll start to build in 2035 to be operating by 2060 ….

         17 likes

      • taffman says:
        August 22, 2022 at 9:15 am

        Fedup2
        News Reports are claiming that Tory voters want him back?
        Well, we all know what he should go and do with that bazooka and his Net Zero tax…………………………….

           11 likes

        • Fedup2 says:
          August 22, 2022 at 9:29 am

          Taffman
          People like clowns – politics as entertainment . A man so out of his depth at such a serious time ,

          I wonder if the ‘thing ‘ about getting the Chinese vaccine first will turn out to be an irrelevance when it comes to the number who have died/ are dying – from non Covid causes as well as those suffering / dying from the side effects of the vaccine ….?

          I know it is hindsight but the politicians gave unlimited power to the medical mafia / SAGE and much money made as a result – borrowed taxpayers ‘ money that is .

          Somewhere there is a calculation of the numbers who would be killed by the virus., the vaccine. Non covid causes , – but that calculation and those numbers will never be seen by us …..
          …maybe ‘free er societies will publish them ….?

             18 likes

          • MarkyMark says:
            August 22, 2022 at 9:33 am

            “unlawfully intrusive”
            “unlawfully intrusive”
            “unlawfully intrusive”

            A February 2008 Freedom of Information Act request for the release of details of MPs’ expenses claims was allowed by an Information Tribunal but challenged by the House of Commons Authorities on the grounds that it was “unlawfully intrusive”.[2] In May 2008 the High Court (England and Wales) ruled in favour of releasing the information.[3][4] I

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

               2 likes

          • taffman says:
            August 22, 2022 at 9:34 am

            Fedup2
            “Somewhere there is a calculation of the numbers who would be killed by the virus., the vaccine. Non covid causes , – but that calculation and those numbers will never be seen by us …..”

            I am sure that the Beeb will spin it somehow . Maybe that is why the TV Tax is retained by the government ?

               11 likes

            • Fedup2 says:
              August 22, 2022 at 9:43 am

              They knew that the vaccines would kill x number of people . But denied it unto quite recently – but as GBNews reports – they are starting to pay out . The drugs companies are immune from suit …..
              ………take up levels of the next jab will be ..interesting …
              There will be 3 project fears running – covid – fuel – putin

                 17 likes

      • Deborah says:
        August 22, 2022 at 3:01 pm

        HhI am sure Boris will go to work for one of those ‘green organisations’ on a huge salary or give talks to them at a million pounds or dollars a pop. I read a couple of days ago (I forget where) a tweet of Boris saying so many days to net zero and what he had achieved in office (green issues only).

        I had such hopes for Boris and feeling and era of optimism. I know he nearly died of covid and I wouldn’t wish that on any one. But I wouldn’t want him back for all the tea in China. He became obsessed with green at a cost to everything else.

           11 likes

        • Up2snuff says:
          August 22, 2022 at 5:25 pm

          Thing is Debbie, from December 2024, we more than likely will have to put up with 5 years of Starmer/Starmer facing a leadership challenge/Starmer deposed in favour of Rayner/Phillips/Corbyn combeack/whatever time is left after that with the country going ever further left while travelling down the pan. Then we will have ten years of BBC gripeing while a Conservative Government tries to sort out the mess left behind by Labour.

          I’d rather not do that.

          I don’t know how many years I have left – I might be on borrowed time/short-time/longer than average – so no upheavals, please.

             4 likes

    • Nibor says:
      August 22, 2022 at 2:14 pm

      Turners ( where I’m loading at the moment) is not your typical haulier . Most of the Turner groups work is food distribution and cold store warehousing .

      It’s the owner drivers and small hauliers which will go to the wall , not just lose a few shekels.

         6 likes

  27. andyjsnape says:
    August 22, 2022 at 8:54 am

    Sky High Club: Exploring the barriers to becoming a pilot
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/01c2790d-acba-4184-ad2e-0ca92d14c8bb

    Anyone for targets with getting pilots, or maybe the just employ the best person what for job.. What can go wrong 🙁

       15 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 9:03 am

      The issue of fake licences surfaced in the wake of the tragic crash of a Pakistan International Airlines plane in Karachi on May 22, killing 97 people, when Minister of Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan told the media that 260 of the country’s 860 active pilots had either fake licences or had cheated in their exams.20 Dec 2020

         20 likes

  28. Up2snuff says:
    August 22, 2022 at 9:02 am

    Has anyone ever tried a search on the BBC Web-Site for their own Radio 4 Home Page? Good luck if you find it!

    If you find it, please let me know where it is. Even the BBC do not know. Please inform them as well.

       13 likes

  29. Fedup2 says:
    August 22, 2022 at 9:06 am

    Andy – it cost me about £30000 to get a private pilot licence . I saved and saved to do it ( and used the money from not having a TV licence )

    . My flying school at an unnamed airport was next door to a commercial pilot training school . Some airlines sent their recruits there – other people paid independently . I’d look at their daily flying school routine and wondered …

    I thought about a career change and going commercial . But the cost stopped me . It’s not about diversity . It’s about real life . Flying is not a culture which harbours whinging and whining . It demands a positive outlook .

    Reading sob stories like this – I really can’t see standards being dropped like elsewhere to get various members of the ‘community ‘ into the cockpit . Besides – the training and job can be really hard work …..

       25 likes

    • AsISeeIt says:
      August 22, 2022 at 9:11 am

      Ironically enough, it was a joke about equal outcome hiring for airline pilots that I recalled Jerry Sandowitz making when I last saw his act at Edinburgh a few years ago. He asked his audience whether they would really honestly want their jet captain coming over the intercom pre-take off sounding as though he had learning difficulties? Then he pointed out how he was sure they would rather hear a confident-sounding educated articulate transatlantic accent than a cheerful Nigerian or Pakistani.

         22 likes

  30. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 9:18 am

    Sky High Club: Exploring the barriers to becoming a pilot
    Pilots are expected to pay up to £120,000 to train, according to the graduate careers website Prospects. We look into how these costs are causing “a significant problem with diversity”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/01c2790d-acba-4184-ad2e-0ca92d14c8bb

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/06/04/tucker_carlson_obama_administration_put_diversity_over_safety_in_hiring_air_traffic_controllers.html

    Tucker Carlson: Obama Administration Put Diversity Over Safety in Hiring Air Traffic Controllers
    Posted By Ian Schwartz
    On Date June 4, 2018

       11 likes

  31. taffman says:
    August 22, 2022 at 9:21 am

    Headline news ?
    “Inside the secret world of trading nudes”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62564028

    What about all the child grooming going still on in this country?

    How much is the Telly Tax now ?

       18 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 9:30 am

      ‘Omission is the greatest form of lie.’

      Dear Marianna Spring (BBC wages paid under threat of prosecution),

      As I’ve had to look at your BBC news and use other sources to determine that your news is not news but selective editorial opinion I’d like to request that I have a refund for the last 4 years plus get the BBC free from now on.

      Please let me know how I can go about this as I am willing to create a full list of articles that I’ve had to investigate plus time taken for me to check your fact checker whilst realising that the BBC intentionally removes news rather than incorrectly report on it, uses images to sway opinion or misleads with the main titles hoping no one reads the full article.

      ‘Omission is the greatest form of lie.’

      CAS-4987700-SY1FTF : BBC NewsWatch says boredom with pro-Brexit march.

      CAS-4844672-N8FDYY: Update on the MP Expenses 2009 scandal in 2018.

      CAS-4939547-J71Z1V: Here’s hoping Ireland do the right thing G.Lineker.

      CAS-4937378-YKMWBJ: BBC not reporting ‘Day of Freedom’ March 06may2018.

      CAS-4906141-BFJQL0: I take offence that presenters promote their books.

      CAS-4892811-C820SC: I am offended that I have to pay the BBC TV Tax.

      CAS-4824332-633N1P: What happened in Italy was not covered …

      CAS-4933135-ZV3V7F: The omission is the most powerful form of lie …

      CAS-6005141-S1V9D1: Not seen a report on the UK Governments Covid19 

      Let me know how to go about resolving the issue of paying for something that wastes my time as I have to check each story rather than rely on its accuracy.

      Cheers,
      Mark
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedback/corrections_clarifications

         9 likes

  32. taffman says:
    August 22, 2022 at 9:31 am

    “Climate change forces indigenous islanders in Panama to relocate”…………
    ” although others think the islands may not all be submerged until the end of the century.”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-latin-america-62497711
    Operative word “may”.

       13 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 9:39 am

      The Panama government estimates all islands of the Guna people could be under water by 2050, based on forecasts by an independent group of scientists, although others think the islands may not all be submerged until the end of the century.

      2050 vs end of the century.

      …………………

      New research shows Maldives, Pacific and other small islands may not disappear under rising seas. New research shows that low-lying islands like those found in the Maldives may not be at risk.11 Jun 2020

         10 likes

      • Thatcherrevolutionary says:
        August 22, 2022 at 10:26 am

        Put a marker stick in the harbour, and check every year. Simple.

           11 likes

        • Up2snuff says:
          August 22, 2022 at 5:30 pm

          Observation science, Thatch, is a big NoNo as far as the UN’s IPCC and AGW/CC fanatics are concerned. They much prefer rattling a few bones, sacrificing a chicken – or two – and looking at the entrails because the science is settled.

             6 likes

  33. taffman says:
    August 22, 2022 at 9:38 am

    “Tory leadership: Choose tax cuts or help with bills, Sunak warns rival”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62628176
    How about ridding us of the crazy “Net Zero Tax” ?

       16 likes

  34. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 9:45 am

    Many Hindus do not cremate unwed girls and young boys, and many poor people cannot afford cremation so they wrap the body in white muslin and float it in the river.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-35359089

       6 likes

  35. andyjsnape says:
    August 22, 2022 at 9:52 am

    Ukraine war: Russia appeals for new recruits for war effort
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62553629

    bBC doing its bit for Ukraine

       7 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 9:58 am

      “The problem for the Kremlin is that most Russian people are not going to die for Putin or for the restoration of ‘the great Empire’. Recruitment isn’t possible in current circumstances because there is no civil consensus in Russia for the war.

      “Compare this with Ukraine. The Ukrainians are ready to fight.”

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62553629

      …

      The Ukrainians are ready to fight.

      ….

      Since Zelenskiy declared martial law at the start of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military service and are forbidden from leaving the country. There are a few exceptions such as men with poor health, or fathers of three or more children.7 Jul 2022

         5 likes

    • brexiteerkent says:
      August 22, 2022 at 2:41 pm

      Is Russia, I wonder, giving priority to women blacks and gays being sent to the front line ?!

         4 likes

      • Up2snuff says:
        August 22, 2022 at 5:50 pm

        Once upon a time, if I remember correctly, Russia used to release prisoners from jail, put a gun in their hands and forced them to fight as infantrymen. The professional soldiers In the Russian Army were one or two rows back from the crimis and the conscripts and were allowed – in fact were ordered to – to bayonet or shoot any of the crimis not fighting hard to save Mother Russia. If the crimis won a medal (or two) they had their criminal records wiped and their time fighting in the infantry was deemed equivalent to fully serving their sentence.

           6 likes

  36. taffman says:
    August 22, 2022 at 10:01 am

    A pertinent message to Al Beeb from the past…………….

    “You can fool all of the people some of time; you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”
    Watch your tv licence subscriptions drop like a lead balloon .

       14 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 10:03 am

      You can fool people all the time if they pay to be fooled and feel they cannot stop paying.

      ……………………………..

      Least we forget how it all works … videos, words, pictures … you don’t get to choose the arrangement …

      Chaos as police stop Hungary migrant train – Gavin Hewitt – BBC -Sep 2015 @53s
      “… 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 said) with the riot police trying to pull her back, and this of course inflamed all the other people…”
      -Gavin Hewitt – Sep 2015

      Watch the video and the male refugee (companion trying to help?) drags the women and baby to the floor, by force.

      Even the Mirror (03Sept2015) says “… this refugee couple cradle their tiny baby, after throwing themselves (NO! Male refugee drags women and baby onto train tracks) on train tracks as police try to take them to migrant camps in Hungary”

      Gets better. Two days (05Sept2015) later the Mirror then report it as
      “Refugee who dragged pregnant wife and baby son onto train track did it because ‘death would be better’”

      1. BBC Version uses words and pictures to hide the video version
      2. The Mirror shows the video but uses words to tell a different version

      Can I suggest a little story – “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 track with tender arms.”

      https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2017/07/03/start-the-week-open-thread-131/comment-page-3/#comment-849798

         7 likes

  37. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 10:05 am

    UK general government gross debt was £2,382.8 billion at the end of 2021, equivalent to 102.8% of gross domestic product (GDP); this was 34.5 percentage points lower than the average debt of the G7 member states.
    https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicspending/bulletins/ukgovernmentdebtanddeficitforeurostatmaast/december2021

    Calendar years² 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
    Debt (£ billion)¹ 1,731.0 1,785.9 1837.0 1,890.7 2,204.8 2,382.8
    Debt (as % GDP)³ 85.8 85.2 84.5 83.8 102.4 102.8

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicspending/bulletins/ukgovernmentdebtanddeficitforeurostatmaast/december2021

       3 likes

  38. Flotsam says:
    August 22, 2022 at 10:06 am

    I’m pretty sure Putin is quite able to muster whatever consensus is required. I don’t think being a conscienious objector in Russia will carry much weight with the alternative being a trip to the Gulag, torture and beatings.

       6 likes

  39. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 10:14 am

    Whilst Rome burns…..

    Guido’s just been sent a press release from the Tories’ LGBT wing announcing a new range of “limited-edition” political-themed condoms in time for this year’s party conference in Birmingham. Some of which bear the names of MPs…

    Slogans include:

    Strong and Stable
    Unleash Britain’s Potential
    Honourable Member
    Labour isn’t working, but this condom will (*99% of the time)
    Some patrons of the group, including two MPs also have personalised versions:

    Gary Sambrook: Strap it for Sambrook
    Peter Gibson: Glove it for Gibbo
    Andrew Boff: Boff – Safely
    Emma Best: Bang for Best
    Nick Rogers: Roger for Nick
    Not a Johnson pun in sight…

    LGBT Conservatives chair Elena Bunbury comments, “This is just a small step in the work we have done towards safer sex, but we hope it provides a fun tool and useful memento for all those using them.” A fun tool indeed…

    orderorder.com

       5 likes

  40. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 10:16 am

    There is Hope yet for Tony Blair ….

    Imran Khan: Pakistan police charge ex-PM under terrorism act
    By Leo Sands & Merlyn Thomas
    BBC News

    Published
    14 minutes ago

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62628124

    ………………………………

    Why was Tony Blair being paid by the UAE while working as Middle East envoy?
    It’s indisputable that his globetrotting role trying to solve the Israel-Palestinian crisis put him at many tables with world leaders with whom he could do business with

    Anthony Harwood
    Tuesday 15 August 2017

       8 likes

  41. StewGreen says:
    August 22, 2022 at 10:24 am

    “Commercial radio beats BBC in summer numbers for first time since 1990s” Aug 4th
    “Radio fans spent more time listening to commercial stations than the BBC over the first part of the summer – for the first time since the 1990s – as deep-pocketed rivals invest heavily in marketing, poaching talent and launching new services.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/aug/04/commercial-radio-beats-bbc-in-summer-numbers-for-first-time-since-1990s

    John Carne mention this in his new video
    This figures is in total hours of listening
    I guess it is skewed by lorry/van drivers spending 9 hours/day with the radio on.

       10 likes

  42. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 10:33 am

    DaLZC7TXcAAzVSr.jpg

       11 likes

  43. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 10:36 am

    Masai Graham was voted the winner with his gag: “I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I couldn’t get pasta.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-62626292

    …

    Masai Graham’s organ donor gag is Edinburgh fringe’s funniest joke
    This article is more than 6 years old
    Award goes to care worker who says winning gag isn’t his best – ‘only the clean ones get on the list’ – but he’s not complaining

    https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/aug/23/masai-graham-organ-donor-funniest-joke-edinburgh-fringe-2016

    ….

    Edinburgh Fringe: Jerry Sadowitz show cancelled by venue bosses
    Published
    13 August
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-62533592

    …..

       3 likes

  44. StewGreen says:
    August 22, 2022 at 11:04 am

    Avi Yemini turned up at Melbourne airport to fly to to New Zealand He says the check-in people said NZ border control say you are banned from NZ on the basis of a new newspaper article about you
    New Zealand Herald

    Fal2W2HagAAXBn_?format=jpg&name=small

       7 likes

  45. Tabs says:
    August 22, 2022 at 11:08 am

    BBC News opened a Have Your Say on
    Tory leadership: Choose tax cuts or help with bills, Sunak warns Truss
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62628176

    I posted: “with the cost of living crisis the TV license should be the first thing to go” and my post was removed before going live.

    Other posts such as “worst government in history” are up so it appears you can criticise the Tories but not the BBC.

    Edit: My post was removed for “being off topic” so for a test I reported 3 other comments for also being off topic. These were:
    1. “Whatever they say now, there will be U-turns, whoever is elected.”
    2. “Worst government in living memory.”
    3. “Choose life! Tories are out at next election.”
    The moderator replied saying these 3 comments do not contravene house rules.

       14 likes

  46. MarkyMark says:
    August 22, 2022 at 11:35 am

    During 2021, Drax power station in Yorkshire burned 8.3 million tonnes of pellets made from around 16.6 million tonnes of freshly cut (‘green’) wood. This was the equivalent of 155% the UK’s entire wood production, to meet just 0.85% of the country’s recent final energy demand.

       10 likes

  47. JohnC says:
    August 22, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    Criminal barristers in England and Wales vote to go on all-out strike
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62629776

    _126403108_gettyimages-1241838993.jpg

    The racist discrimination of the BBC is just relentless.

    I doubt the public will be too sympathetic to a group of people on a median salary of £79,800. Only politicians are lower in my estimation than lawyers. People who want to be either are usually driven completely by greed.

       22 likes

    • Foscari says:
      August 22, 2022 at 12:31 pm

      John-You couldn’t make this up !! I know I have written
      about this before, and by now ccntributors have probably had enough.
      BUT it’s as if BIG BROTHER from the diversity department
      has made the default position of the BBC internet news to
      image a black face in every public interest story they convey.
      I agree with you. It is taking on racist connotations. It ‘s becoming more and more
      like the Jamaican Daily Gleaner. Other than
      the fact that the main feature on
      today’s Gleaner, is that “Jamaican teachers should reconsider taking up higher paid jobs overseas to PREVENT LGBTQ foreign educators
      entering local classrooms.” So maybe that’s
      a paradox the BBC being similar to the
      Gleaner !!

         16 likes

      • JohnC says:
        August 22, 2022 at 12:49 pm

        It’s now beyond doubt that they specifically make choices towards BAME people over white people purely because of their race – which is racial discrimination by any definition. And it’s illegal.

        With the BBC, it’s more insidious and deliberate so it warrants ‘racist’ instead of ‘racial’ IMHO.

        What I cannot understand is why the Left seem to think it’s acceptable. The only argument I ever heard was ‘They have suffered racism long enough so it’s time they were compensated with it the other way round’ which is complete BS. When does it end ?. It seems the Left can just ignore the law when they think their political agenda is more important.

           25 likes

        • BigBrotherCorporation says:
          August 22, 2022 at 1:44 pm

          Latest figures (according to UK Gov):

          White British make up 80.5% of pop of England and Wales (even higher % of UK as a whole).
          Add non-British white people (mostly Irish and Poles) and that comes to around 86% just in England and Wales.

          About 8% are Asian – with a third of those being Indian (don’t hear much about those), and a quarter Pakistani (fastest breeding).

          Just over 3% are Black – half of those are ‘African origin’ (half of whom are new arrivals in last decade).

          Just over 2% are ‘Mixed Race’ – with over half of those black/white.

          Would be interesting to see the figures if we factor in Scotland and NI, they’re both low populations (relatively), but also very low non-white populations, I suspect.

          If we work on 87% white, 8% Asian, 3% Black, and 2% ‘mixed race’, that’s probably about right… in other words nearly 9 out of 10 of the UK population are white, a little under 1 in ten Asian (with around 1 in 30 Indian, and 1 in 50 Pakistani), and about 1 in 30 black and 1 in 50 mixed race (around 1 in 100 mixed black and white).

          Does that match what we’re seeing in adverts, movies and on TV?

          If not, then there seems to be a strong argument for ‘racism’, or at least ‘racial discrimination there.

          The same could be said of older people, fatter people, uglier people, balder people, regional accents etc…

             19 likes

          • Up2snuff says:
            August 22, 2022 at 6:44 pm

            It’s just that the guy who represents the trade union for barrister’s just happens to be BAME at present.

               0 likes

        • dhunter says:
          August 24, 2022 at 12:25 am

          john – if watch any BBC news/current affairs piece you get BAME 1st up for a comment.

          this also seems to be the new rule with any science piece, woman & BAME almost every time.

          I can almost hear what the BEEBOIDS say when asking to have someone they can interview on TV.

          “Hi the BBC, can we interview somebody on tv about xxx ?”
          ps – Ofcom rules mean we must try harder to include woman & BAME in our interview, so both would be perfect. thanks.

             0 likes

    • StewGreen says:
      August 22, 2022 at 1:39 pm

      ITV Oct 2021
      “It comes as figures show only 3% of all barristers working in the UK are black,
      with that dropping to just 1.2% when it comes to QCs – the most senior barristers. “

         8 likes

  48. Guest Who says:
    August 22, 2022 at 12:18 pm

    Still a bbc voice they find.

    Sorry Fed, but this is who they see fit to get in.

       16 likes

    • MarkyMark says:
      August 22, 2022 at 12:24 pm

      BBC2 Alastair Campbell: Depression and Me

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005btv

      In an intensely personal and often surprising film for BBC Two, Alastair Campbell candidly talks about his experience living with depression and explores if radical new treatments can make a difference.

      Alastair is best known for his role as Tony Blair’s formidable and often contentious spin doctor, but, away from the public eye, he has been dogged by crippling bouts of depression for most of his life. Some days, just getting out of bed is too hard. Therapy and anti-depressant medication is helping him keep his head above water, but is that really the best he can hope for?

      Encouraged by his family, Alastair sets out on a journey to explore if cutting edge science can offer him – and the millions of people like him – the hope of one day living depression-free. As he tries to understand his depression better, he also reflects on key events in his life and asks if they could have had a negative effect on his mind.

         5 likes

      • dhunter says:
        August 24, 2022 at 12:48 am

        might have guessed he is pushing a BBC prog.

        “Some days, just getting out of bed is too hard”

        So stay in bed until you want to get up !!! do you have a job to go to ?

        some people have to get up, feeling shit, to go to work !!!

           0 likes

    • StewGreen says:
      August 22, 2022 at 12:59 pm

      ‘Kinder politics’ doesn’t last long in @UKLabour
      . Perhaps he might call Tories ‘scum’ next.

      1 hour Campbell followed up with
      @campbellclaret 10:36am
      Twelve years of the Tory shits being in power well summed up by @mattfrei

         8 likes

    • Fedup2 says:
      August 22, 2022 at 2:44 pm

      Guest Who – no worries . But it does worry me that creatures like Campbell regularly turns up on channels to rant about this and that .
      The man has never held elected office – was the front man for the sordid Blair and just deserves to be buried …

         8 likes

  49. Thoughtful says:
    August 22, 2022 at 12:19 pm

    It’s enough to make you slit your wrists as UK gas prices accelerate another 21.5% BY MID DAY

    https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/uk-natural-gas

       3 likes

    • StewGreen says:
      August 22, 2022 at 12:40 pm

      Such market prices are not necessarily the same ones your own suppliers pay
      Especially if they own their own gas fields.

      I see no reason to spread panic , like the BBC does.
      For many places in the world you can still get heat by collecting wood and coal.

      We give away rubbish, yet it has value as mist of it can be recycled into electricity in safe incinerators.

         5 likes

    • Fedup2 says:
      August 22, 2022 at 2:26 pm

      Yeah but think of all that gas we have sitting under the ground in the UK – we re all millionaires ….

      Thoughtful – I don’t see your comment as’ spreading panic ‘- to use a fashionable horrible phrase – it is what it is ……

         5 likes

  50. StewGreen says:
    August 22, 2022 at 1:33 pm

    “ethical” Harrabin has left the BBC, He taken tweeting pictures of a person’s front door and SHAMING them cos they have 20W worth of fairy light in their garden

    10:33 PM · Aug 20
    Energy crisis hits south Oxford

    11:35 AM · Aug 21,
    Crisis? What crisis? South oxford last night

    Neighbours defended

    FatxDfSWYAQxSH7?format=jpg&name=small

       10 likes

    • tomo says:
      August 22, 2022 at 7:39 pm

      Mr Harrabin at No 27 is a well known joyless, supercilious busybody?

      – who knew?

         3 likes

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