523 Responses to Midweek 12 October 2022

  1. Up2snuff says:

    Yes, become TellyTax free. In ‘the-cost-of-living-crisis’ you know it makes sense to save £159 a year. Buy boxed sets at Charity Shops and help a charity if you want something to watch.

       24 likes

  2. StewGreen says:

    Wednesday TV wokism ..seems less than normal
    22:50pm ITV Repeat from 1 years ago
    “Charlene White embarks on a personal journey to uncover the roots of her connection to the British Empire.
    Travels across Britain & Jamaica on a genealogy journey to investigate her own heritage”
    .. Part of #WhiteManBadMonth programming.

    9pm BBC 4 doco about how media didn’t want to talk about child sex abuse in a Sami community in Lapland.

    9pm BBC Three Virgil Abloh bio pic, he became a fashion designer, rose to head Luis Vuitton then aged 41 died of cancer.

       11 likes

  3. StewGreen says:

    9:30am Radio4

       11 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Nothing wrong with having the occasional black person on the radio
      and sometimes both presenter and guest night be black

      but what’s this at 4pm
      “Sport England research estimates that 95% of black adults in England do not swim. Determined not to be part of that statistic, Joyce Osei has taken the plunge in her mid-40s”

      7:15pm Black saxophonist Camilla George plays live

      8pm doco
      #1 Nigerian doctors are exploited in Britain #WhiteManBad

      #2 Nigerian public are suffering, cos the evil British keep poaching their young doctors
      #WhiteManBad

      10pm R4 news show have chosen to use pic of Kwasi Kwarteng as the thumbnail

      10:45pm Caleb Azumah Nelson’s award-winning novel about two London artists is both a tender, lyrical love story and a fierce exploration of Black British identity and masculinity
      On every day for 10 days

         17 likes

      • BRISSLES says:

        NIGERIAN DOCTORS ARE EXPLOITED ????? clearly no one listened to the 8′ Nigerian doctor with a British passport who was interviewed by Nige on gbn earlier.

        Amazingly Nigerian students who come here on visa have the right (?) to apply for a visa for one relative to come as well. Who knew ?? When Nigel challenged 8′ doctor on this, he grinned and said that no-one wanted to leave their homeland and family without having support here. WTF ? even Nige was aghast. Nigel pointed out the numbers in increased population here because of that, and mentioned that surely we were plundering Nigerian’s talent when they came here, but 8′ doctor just grinned, and said he ‘intended’ to return to help his people after this country trained him. Yeah right, so why bother applying for a British Passport then ?

        Nigel called us Treasure Island – he got that right.

           35 likes

        • JohnC says:

          I wonder if there any figures available for how many of the white-hating, UK/USA hating black descendants of slavery have actually used their freedom to go back to Africa.

          I would estimate somewhere in the low 1’s.

          They don’t want equality : they just want as much as they can get.

             39 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        All cultures are equal …

        Has voodoo been misjudged? {bbc.co.uk aug2017}
        While many African traditions and cultures are under threat from modern life, there is one which is holding its own – voodoo. It has suffered from a bad press internationally but is an official religion in the West African country of Benin. … The Regional High Priest (special person, no complaints allowed, special privilege) of Voodoo Daagbo Hounon is presiding over the day’s rituals. … With the government supporting it at home and the descendants of slaves embracing it abroad (Government backing suggests it will not survive on it’s own merits?), the ancient voodoo tradition has found a place in the modern world, where other African belief systems are often struggling for relevance.

        – Let me comment on this for the BBC, anything that gives a supernatural power over the rational is evil. It will mean that the Priest has a power that no one else can counter or complain about.

        Cast your mind back into the BBC past, 12 years ago, and how the BBC used to report things …

        Is witchcraft alive in Africa? {bbc.co.uk jul2005}
        Does witchcraft have a place in modern society? BBC Africa Live wants to know if it is relevant to you.
        In Africa, witchcraft has played a role in rebellions, fighting wars, gaining independence and is often seen at election time.

        Some people also consult witchdoctors to cure diseases or find a husband.

        However, the practise has negative sides – mutilated bodies are often found in Africa, with their organs removed presumably for use in magic charms. And recently in the UK, three people were jailed over the torture of an eight-year-old Angolan girl they accused of being a possessed witch.

        Comment by Kingsley Obika, Nigeria
        Two days ago in my neighbourhood. A girl of five was accused of killing her mother through witchcraft. She was tortured (tied upside down a tree) for hours to confess. What surprised me is the fact this girl had not heard of the word witchcraft and here she was being asked to make a so-called confession. In my opinion, those behind this child abuse should be brought to face the wrath of the law.

           11 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Has the BBC ever lied to me …. YES.
      “Gavin Hewitt in 2015 replacing video with still photos to hide a nasty refugee pushing a pregnant female refugee and small child onto a train track, the BBC made it look like the border guards were being tough.”

      Has the BBC ever hidden news from me …. YES.
      “May 2018 the Day of Freedom march was not reported on the main website or the main news channel and is not available on the BBC £3.5bn online search page – other news agencies including the Guardian reported it.”

      Has the BBC kept the public in the dark …. YES.
      “We know that the UK MP expenses continues and should be investigated with the £3.5bn BBC New Service every year to keep the MPs on their toes, David Lammy bought a bike for £650 on expenses (Claim Ref:387540/17oct2014) which is blatant misuse of Tax Payer Money. How come the BBC don’t check up each year?”

      Has the BBC ignored politician’s lies …. YES.
      “UK Politicians are on TV shouting austerity and recession but all have taken an 18% pay increase from 2010 to 2018. How can they talk for the people when the live in their own bubble?”

      Has the BBC moved from news to social engineering …. YES.
      “By 2020, the BBC wants its employees to comprise 50% women, 8% disabled people, 8% lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people and 15% people from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds.{bbc.co.uk 14sep2017}”

      Has the BBC let journalist break their guidelines …. YES.
      “Gary ‘£1.75m’ Lineker uses his twitter account to say Brexit is bad, EU is good. But not once has he confronted Jacob Rees-Mogg or Nigel Farage to talk about it. It is a one sided echo chamber.”

      https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2018/05/20/start-the-week-open-thread-21-may-2018/comment-page-6/#comment-918185

         17 likes

  4. Guest Who says:

    Vile’s little mascot’s manager really should not let him play unsupervised.

       20 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Question for Femi “Who’s being invaded ?”

         29 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        As the fleet crosses the Indian Ocean, the political situation in France becomes more charged. At a press conference about the crisis, a French official who offers a speech in praise of the migrants is confronted by a journalist who claims he is merely trying to “feed the invaders” and demands to know if France will “have the courage to stand up to” the migrants when they reach France. The official decries this question as morally offensive and threatens to throw the journalist out when he continues to yell. Other journalists seek to inflame tensions between the French and Africans and Arabs already living in the country. Over time, these journalists begin to write that the migrant fleet is on a mission to “enrich, cleanse and redeem the Capitalist West”. At the same time as the fleet is praised by those in Paris, the people of Southern France, terrified of the migrants’ arrival, flee to the north.

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

           3 likes

        • Mrs Kitty says:

          I’ve found that the people in the south of France don’t flee north they just make it easier for the illegals to move north. A bit like the southern states in the USA moving the illegals to democratic states and cities.

             12 likes

    • harry142857 says:

      The guys a ponce, no-one would give him a real job.

         18 likes

      • JohnC says:

        He’s lucky he’s black.

           14 likes

        • BRISSLES says:

          When he appeared on The Pledge, his articulation was abysmal, and would sit with a totally gormless look on his face, so his ‘career’ as a Twitterist is about as much as his intellect would allow.

             7 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      FIRST READING: It’s ‘entirely illegal’ for China to open police stations here, says Ottawa
      Feds say they’re backing off on taking action until the RCMP can confirm the stations are real

      Author of the article:Tristin Hopper
      Publishing date:Oct 07, 2022

      https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/its-entirely-illegal-for-china-to-open-police-stations-here-says-ottawa

         2 likes

  5. Thoughtful says:

    There appears to be next to no coverage in the media about how Europe is coping with the loss of Russian gas.

    There are some amazing stories of draconian laws that appear to hark back to medieval feudalism where people have been buying log burners and then going to forests and collecting fallen wood, or sawing up fallen trees, this has been made illegal on the grounds that the forests are private property, but it then transpires although some are, most of these forests are owned by the governments and they have no good reason to prevent people collecting wood to survive cold temperature.

    Similarly people have clubbed together to build communal heating arrangements using wood pellets and are now being told they can’t do this – but without any reason why.

    Others are being told they cannot light a fire to keep warm because it’s not Green and they must freeze to death which the government finds preferable!

    Most people do not appear to realise the scale of what is coming in Europe, and that applies to the media who are doing everything they can to prevent the public know the utter f**kwittery of the EU and most of the governments within it.

       19 likes

  6. Guest Who says:

       17 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      This might sound crazy, but according to the guy above, they’ve also been buying electric heaters because the homes only have central heating, and they have assumed heating one room is going to be cheaper than the whole house.

      Imagine the load that will put on the grid when all those 3KW heaters get switched on at peak time and we are already in a precarious power situation with an incompetent government unable to plan for the future.

         20 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        If gas is burnt in your home to make heat
        that is more efficient and cheaper,
        than burning the same gas at a power station to send electricity to your house to power and electric fire.

        Why ?, cos the gas at your house uses all its energy to heat your house
        Whereas gas the gas power station has losses, the transmission lines have losses

           34 likes

        • StewGreen says:

          Oh the other day @itvCalendar the local ITV newsPR show ran an item
          “People are buying an electric blanket to heat themselves instead of using gas central heating”

          Then they quoted figures of 20p for a hour blanket vs £2 to heat the room with gas
          Hmm our gas central heating costs a few pounds per day to heat a *whole house* It can’t cost £2 to heat 1 room for 1 hour.
          So how did they get their maths ?
          They said their figs were from The Energy Savings Trust
          Hmm that’s a green PR outfit.

          I see the boss of Octopus Energy making the same claim as he runs his scheme giving away electric blankets.
          .. https://www.twitter.com/g__j/status/1579059352152944640
          He’s saying you run a 10KW boiler for an hour.

          Em yes a boiler is 10KW but our boiler doesn’t sit there consuming 10KW for a whole hour. It fires up at less than 10KW spends some mins bringing the whole house to 18C then switches off
          The average use through the hour is nowhere near 10KW for one room.

             16 likes

          • BRISSLES says:

            Hot water bottles are even cheaper.

               19 likes

            • Mrs Kitty says:

              Especially if you use a camping kettle on the wood burner to heat the water.

                 7 likes

              • Wild Bill says:

                I have an open fire, coal and/ or logs, i have saying the the mrs, “we could boil water or cook on it if we wanted, we havent lit it yet but have a lot of coal and logs ready.

                   7 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Advert Sponsored by ….

         2 likes

  7. Guest Who says:

       32 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      New tweet there that quotes a meme that been around for 3 years
      The original quoted account @CrooklynVIII seems to have been deleted.

         2 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      ANd you pay for it! HA HA HA HA !

         4 likes

  8. Thoughtful says:

    Governor of the bak of England has just announced that they will no longer buy gilts past Friday and pension funds have three days to sort their affairs out or go bump.

    Given that Tories main source of votes are pensioners especially affluent ones, even their safe seats are probably going to be under threat, and those who are approaching retirement might find that which they thought would support them when they ceased work simply isn’t going to be there.

    Again Europe and the UK have not planned for the enormity of what is coming this Winter.

       17 likes

  9. StewGreen says:

    Almost always I am posting about things that were pushed in my face
    I just opened a Twitter Search page
    It told me “T Robinson” was trending
    .. but when I clicked instead of showing me, Twitter decided to go to a blank search page.
    So I had to manually enter his name.

    It appears he’s trending cos people have been talking about West Yorkshire Police have charged 24 people with raping a 13 year old
    .. and people kept saying ‘TR tried to tell us. but the establishment kept telling him to shut up’

       34 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      OK 30 mins later, a blank search page showed TR as trending, but this time on clicking I didn’t get another blank page it did show tweets mentioning TR

         7 likes

      • tomo says:

        Twitter UK is must be stuffed with infowar types.

           2 likes

        • StewGreen says:

          It was trending with 1,000 tweets
          That’s not huge

          Trending now
          #ClimateScam 3,601 Tweets

          Unvaccinated 45.7K Tweets

          Pippa Crerar is trending cos she or team operating her Twitter account are pumping out anti Tory tweets every hour

             4 likes

  10. JohnC says:

    IMF warns rising prices will be worse in UK
    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63206733#comments

    And yet another 100% anti-government piece which is almost child-like in it’s attempt.

    The victim:
    _127048857_shopper_index2_pa.jpg.webp

    The ‘standard’ BBC author/clone:
    mOtpMJtH_400x400.jpg

    And of course they have opened this one up for comments. And as usual it’s a tirade of immature Leftists venting their hate. These from the top:

    ‘THE BRITISH PEOPLE DEMAND A GENERAL ELECTION NOW!’

    ‘Truss out.’

    ‘All thanks to Kamikwasi Kwarteng and his useless boss Liz Truss.Need to get the Tories out of Government ASAP for the sake of the country’

    ‘I detest the Tories.’

    … and it goes on. The bias of the BBC has become beyond ridiculous and OFCOM are right behind them. They are obsessed with their own ideological agenda and don’t care if they destroy the country to get it.

    Will we ever get a PM with the balls to sort them out ?. I cannot forgive Boris for getting rid of Cummings before his work was complete.

       29 likes

    • Tabs says:

      There is no difference between the top comments on Have Your Say and the comments on Owen Jones’s Twitter page these days.

         7 likes

  11. JohnC says:

    If you are worried about WW3, you should be.

    Here’s what the President of the United States has been telling CNN:

    “But look, he’s acted brutally. I think he’s committed war crimes, so I don’t see any rationale to meet with him now,” Mr Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

    President Biden also said he didn’t believe Mr Putin would resort to nuclear warfare, despite apparent threats to do so.

    So much for the Left and their ‘jaw jaw, not war, war’.

    And the most bizarre statement of all:

    “It would depend on specifically what he wanted to talk about,” the US president said, adding that he would be open to discussing Brittney Griner, the American basketball star currently serving a nine year prison sentence in Russia on drug charges.

    Brittney is of course black.

    Where are ‘Stop the war’ now ?. Why isn’t Biden being pressured to do something to stop it ?.

    I am concerned about WW3. Not because of Putin but because of the senile old pervert in the Whitehouse and the agenda driven Leftist media – especially the BBC – who seem to have suddenly ditched all their journalistic ethics. They are actually fuelling this war by inciting hatred.

    I note the complete contrast to how they reported the war with ISIS which truly was terrorism at it’s worst.

       33 likes

    • tomo says:

      SOP over the ages….

      A bit depressing how many people are falling for it. It has to be said that truly low information Ukraine flag waving remainer nitwits are far more common than one might like…

         7 likes

  12. Fedup2 says:

    From the Daily Telegraph – a BBC Queer speaks

    STARTS
    BBC presenter Graham Norton has criticised John Cleese for speaking out against “cancel culture”, saying that cancelling people is about “accountability”.

    The host of The Graham Norton Show on BBC One argued that free speech should not be “consequence free”, stating that “cancelling” people is better described as holding them to account.

    Norton has taken aim at Cleese, branding him a “man of a certain age” who is suddenly facing this accountability and complaining about it.

    Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Norton said of “cancel” culture: “The word is the wrong word. I think the word should be ‘accountability’.

    “John Cleese has been very public recently about complaining about what you can’t say.

    “It must be very hard to be a man of a certain age who’s been able to say whatever he likes for years, and now suddenly there’s some accountability.”

    The 59-year-old added: “It’s free speech, but not consequence free. I’m aware of the things I say.”

    Cleese has been outspoken in his criticism of cancel culture and threats to free speech, and has recently accepted a role on GB News, vowing to speak about issues which are being “censored”.

    The Monty Python star, 82, said he had not been offered a BBC show but would definitely turn it down if he was.

    “I wouldn’t get five minutes into the first show before I’d been cancelled or censored,” Cleese told Radio 4 on Monday.

    Norton previously defended JK Rowling

    Norton, prior to his latest comments, had himself hit out against elements of cancel culture, and defended inviting JK Rowling onto his Virgin radio show, despite the controversies surrounding the Harry Potter author because of her involvement in the transgender debate.

    Norton said he did not want to be drawn into this debate.

    “My voice adds absolute nothing to that discussion. I’m sort of embarrassed that I’m somehow drawn into it”, he said.

    “If people want to shine a light on those issues, and I hope they do, talk to trans people .. Talk to someone who can illuminate this in some way.”

    Representatives of Cleese have been contacted for comment.ENDS

    On the upside – more free publicity for GBNews …

       23 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Re the above – ‘it’s free speech – but it has consequences – I’m aware of what I say ‘……..says queer Graham…..

      … so it’s not ‘free speech ‘ – it is self censorship … we know that there are subjects not addressed by the likes of the BBC – eg paki racist Paedo Rape gangs – but there are other issues it can’t stop reporting on – sexual perversions – Muslims / coloured as victims and green crap .

      The ‘consequences ‘?- use of certain words is a ‘career ender ‘ – declared unapproved with No Way Back to appear on thr State broadcaster ( eg Starkey – thatcher )

         26 likes

    • The Mouse says:

      JohnC,

      I wonder what the very vacuous and very loud G Norton has to say about those who say its okay to throw acid on people (Brand) you disagree with, if you say that “we want to kill white people”, if British Democracy can go to hell, that Tories are evil, and finally when the so called religion of peace goes beyond words (Rotherham, Bradford, Telford, Birmingham, Oldham, etc). Do we hear G Norton speak out, not a peep, the silence from these left leaning luvvies is deafening. The same middle class group who call themselves the ‘me 2’ movement and stand up for all successful woman who claimed they had been historically abused. Of course, the very young working class girls who had been industrially abused for years just don’t count. As I said, the silence is deafening.

         40 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        Graham Norton on BBC 2 – everything is shades of grey, no wrong or right. (See Jimmy Saville – dark grey)

           10 likes

    • G says:

      Fed,

      “Norton said he did not want to be drawn into this debate.”

      Just in case “accountability” switches to focus on him……………

      That’s Free Speech for you.

         12 likes

  13. Fedup2 says:

    GBNews
    Steyn lost it a bit last night with a texter who is a ‘vaccine harm denier ‘ and claimed that Steyn was peddling misinformation about the covid vaccine …. He used a couple of naughty words in response – and I could hear the sound of lefties monitoring GBNews hitting the BBCOFCOM speed dial .

    Earlier in the show a spokes fool for psfizer admitted in an EU inquiry that the vaccine hadn’t been proved to prevent covid transmission before being deployed …

       20 likes

  14. andyjsnape says:

    From frontpage page bBC webshte:- Netflix Ends Secrecy over viewing figures – but when clicking on this typically the head line changes, bBC does this often

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63218707

    Secrecy apparently?

    Loads of bBC content sold and used on Netflix, but sometimes the way it reports on Netflix implies it dislikes them

    A bit like the way it slags off Facebook, as it can’t control FB and tries to turn the public (that listen) against Facebook – personally I like and use Facebook

       7 likes

    • tomo says:

      There’s the question of tailored content delivery.

      “The BBC is better when you sign in”

      Life is too short to be scampering around obsessively looking at BBC tailored content to everybody – as I have commented here before the BBC definitely manipulates coverage on a geographical basis – and NOT in what I’d describe as a good way.

      You used to be able to trivially put BBC pages into the Wayback Machine and see the different USA delivered page recorded (I suspect they’re wise to this now) – but the manipulation goes further in that content sent there is different to what is delivered to a satellite ground station IP in Florida – and different again (obviously) to what is delivered to plebs in the UK.

      Mendacity runs through the BBC like “BLACKPOOL” through a stick of seaside rock candy.

      The differences vary – some days the pages are the same – other days they are completely changed between audiences.

         8 likes

  15. Fedup2 says:

    Today watch

    The BBC has a new cause – ‘free school meals for all’- it will only cost two thirds of a billion – a twig from the Money tree .

    But why stop there ? Shouldn’t every one have free food – and ‘seconds ‘ if you want them .

    There is an extreme weirdness at the BBC – one minute it wants another increase in welfare – next minute it’s wondering why the economy is crashing .

    Time and again sensible foreign economic types tell us the UK is living beyond its ‘ means( true ) – which is never challenged – never explained – and the bbc interviewer ignores such a profound comment .

    The TODAY programme spends its 3 hours attacking the blue labour government – every day – maybe Robinson should go into politics – or he has a ‘chip ‘ about his secondary role in the swamp …

    I try to think forward – just a couple of years – what seems now inevitable – a Starmer Government – will the markets be any kinder to a red labour government ? Will it be able to do anything ? – with endemic inflation – strikes – rising interest rates – housing market troubles ?

    It will spend its time in office blaming Johnson / truss for the mess – quite rightly – but that doesn’t help everyday life .

    Meanwhile all public services will diminish as uncontrolled legal and illegal immigration continues to rise – bringing regular disorder on a bigger scale than recent skirmishes in Leicester .

    Sorry to be so gloomy – now the weather – I write on the assumption that there is a non nuclear resolution of Ukraine ….( or a score draw )

    On the upside – the Welsh and Scottish girl footy teams failed to get through to some cup thing – a blessing – England and NI too please …

       23 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      All footballers to pay for it rather than prostitues and race cars? Lewis Hamilton to sell his nose piercing.

         3 likes

    • JohnC says:

      For the BBC, all money is free.

      Since Brexit, they have withdrawn into their group-think, metropolitan elite bubble and are increasingly out of touch with real life.

      They seem to be obsessed with getting as much empathy in a story as possible – such as this random one I picked from today. It probably has about 10 words of actual news in the whole article:

      Tales of bloody Iran protest crackdown at border crossing
      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63218963

      What has any of this got to do with giving us the facts ?.

      ‘Soran uses his hands often when he talks. His feet too, as he kicks out to show me how he was beaten by Iranian security forces.’

      ‘As a pack of wild dogs sleeps in the shade of a parked lorry, a new group forms at the minibus stop. Crouching in a low circle, they chat as they wait to leave. Most are Iraqi Kurds, but one is Iranian, and he describes his life to the others.’

      It’s amazing how the BBC will accept anyones word at face value if they can write an empathy-based victim story. No matter how obvious it is that they may be lying. They just love anybody suffering who they can virtue-signal with.

      They did the same with the women protesters in Afghanistan. I wonder what happened to them : they were dropped like a stone once the BBC ran out of new stories they could load up with emotion.

         19 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      There appears to be some question mark over whether Jamie OLiver has paid all the tax he might have, had he not avoided it.

      Now tax avoidance is of course completely legal, but it is massively hypocritical if you are asking for tax payers to fund your bleeding heart when you aren’t prepared to fund it yourself.

         6 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        FFS don’t take financial advice from Jamie Oliver
        “The very same genius who cost creditors £80m when Jamie Oliver restaurants collapsed resulting in over 1000 people losing their jobs”
        £40m owed to HSBC etc.

        Then taxpayer had to fork out 500K to staff when they sued.

           12 likes

        • StewGreen says:

          I don’t think he’s busted for tax fraud, but
          #1 HMRC is one of the creditors who lost in his bust restaurant chain
          #2’HMRC caught him keeping staff tips which were paid by credit card .. Guardian story

             5 likes

    • Wild Bill says:

      I worked years in a Primary school, the food that was wasted every day was appalling, we had a wheely bin full every week and it was heavy due to the weight of the food.

         9 likes

      • Mrs Kitty says:

        Mr Kitty and I were talking about the days when schools had slop bins that were picked up every day , I’m not sure why it stopped but I’ll go for the normal EU rules.

           6 likes

  16. Fedup2 says:

    Just to balance up things – here is a column by someone called marina Hyde in the bbc newspaper – again about John Cleese … lefties must be very worried …

    STARTS
    How very interesting to hear John Cleese explain how he’d be immediately cancelled or censored on the BBC, in comments made freely and at considerable length yesterday in the marquee 8.10am interview slot on the BBC’s flagship Radio 4 news programme. Explaining why he was about to become a presenter on GB News, the 82-year-old declared loftily: “The BBC have not come to me and said: ‘Would you like to have some one-hour shows?’ And if they did, I would say: ‘Not on your nelly!’ Because I wouldn’t get five minutes into the first show before I’d been cancelled or censored.” To which the only possible response is, “Morning, Major!”

    These days, Cleese claims to “live in hotel rooms” – a bit on-the-nose, but there you go – and evidently boasts a lively range of views. In the strictest interests of accuracy, we should note that he was recently given a whole two series of a sitcom on the BBC, with the last episode of Hold the Sunset broadcast in 2019, a few months before the pandemic hit. Furthermore, it was barely a month ago that Cleese was tweeting: “GB News is sometimes referred to, rather wittily, as ‘KGB News’. To what extent is GB News influenced by Russian interests?” I don’t know – but perhaps it’s a matter that could be explored on his new GB News show. We’re told anything goes.

    For now, what seems clear is that Cleese suffers one of the great afflictions of our age, a kind of delusional broadcast disorder that can make the sufferer believe they have been cancelled by the BBC even while they are literally on the BBC. The worst part of it is that we are not allowed to discuss this social sickness because of political correctness. I tried to tell my husband about it at breakfast yesterday – he works at the BBC – but he told me to be quiet so he could listen to John Cleese on the BBC. Like Cleese, I had been silenced.

    In any rational world you’d be able to state the obvious reality – the condition is overwhelmingly suffered by men. But you can’t say it! You can’t say it! You can look at Cleese, or Noel Edmonds, or Nigel Farage, or Laurence Fox, but you’re banned from saying what you see. You have to pretend that women are out there every five minutes wanging on about how they’re not allowed to have a primetime show forever, as well as a bus pass or leadership of a political party, and how their only alternative option is presenting hours of gloriously bitter live telly every week on one of our bazillion-pound news-o-tainment channels.

    In a sane world, you’d be allowed to say scientific facts, like the fact that 90% of heroically whingeing BBC cancellees are men, 95% of them are acrimoniously divorced, and 110% of them have “divorced energy”. (Obviously, it’s Not All Previously Primetime Men – Mr Blobby has behaved with perfect dignity.) Yet you can’t say it. You’d get cancelled in seconds. In fact, I don’t even know how I’m writing this next sentence.

    Pity me. In my incredibly vulnerable position as a newspaper columnist, I have to think about this stuff constantly. Constantly! I once described a soon-to-launch TV news channel as sure to become “unmoored from facts” – and its CEO voided his pram of all toys. He spent rather a lot of time to-ing and fro-ing with the readers’ editor demanding some mean words be changed, before handing Press Gazette a copy of his very grand letter to the Guardian (which was also subsequently published by the Guardian). In it, he explained: “We are absolutely committed to our mission to report news in the most accurate and balanced way we can. It is unfortunate that your article failed to adhere to this basic principle.” The channel in question? Why, it was GB News.

    Don’t get me wrong, I was and am still hugely amused by Angelos Frangopoulos, the adorable little Aussie snowflake who wrote that letter. But imagine how I felt last week when I saw his channel had given a guest spot to Naomi Wolf, who hasn’t been playing with a full deck of data points since the 00s. Wolf’s appearance was essentially a very, very long diatribe against the Covid vaccine. Her assertion that “mass murder has taken place” was bolstered by the GB News presenter Mark Steyn explaining that vaccines “cause every conceivable kind of damage”. Other lowlights of Naomi’s appearance, which was allowed to proceed without a single piece of disinformation being questioned? The claim that Covid vaccinations were “bioweapons” that were “sterilising people” and “poisoning breast milk”. Also, “civil society has been wholly co-opted by bad actors trying to destroy British civil society”. Wolf went on – entirely unchallenged – to compare today’s medical establishment to the eugenicists and exterminators of the Third Reich. Steyn just nodded along, repeatedly going “yeah”, presumably in “the most accurate and balanced way” he could. He booked her again the very next night.

    Anyway, a fun new stablemate for John Cleese. Cleese famously decided that the Brexit debate saw this country sink “to the lowest intellectual level ever”, so I strongly urge him to push that envelope and book Wolf on his first show. In the meantime, those of us saddened by a former idol’s comic decline should comfort ourselves that some of the best recent comedy has happened on GB News. Last year on the free speech channel, presenter Guto Harri took the knee live on air, got suspended for it, quit and was soon made prime minister Boris Johnson’s comms chief. The whole batshit saga was easily funnier than anything Cleese has done since A Fish Called Wanda (1988), and we must look forward to his promising new show in that spirit.ENDS

    Nice to see that the wife of a BBC employee watches GBNews isn’t it ?

    I like the sexism angle – and demographic of those who object to the BBC licence fee – I’d like to see the evidence for that .

    Perhaps the BBC / TV licencing can provide the data – ? – or dear BBC / troll / monitor – you could post it on this site .

    I do recall – however – that women are in the majority of victims of tv licencing inspectors ..

       21 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      But when the Muslims colonised Spain, for some six hundred years they administered a very enlightened, sophisticated and tolerant culture
      2:57 PM · Jun 1, 2019
      ·Twitter Web Client

      …….

      John Cleese says you can’t make jokes about Muslims – because ‘they’ll kill you’
      The British comedian argued that political correctness is ‘condescending’
      He said it starts out as ‘a halfway decent idea’ then goes ‘completely wrong’
      Cleese added that you can make jokes about Muslims but ‘they’ll kill you’
      The comedian was being interviewed on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher
      He also said that he finds any type of fundamentalism ‘terribly funny’
      By ANNABEL GROSSMAN FOR MAILONLINE

      PUBLISHED: 14:16, 27 November 2014 | UPDATED: 15:30, 27 November 2014

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2851888/John-Cleese-blasts-political-correctness-protecting-select-groups-ridicule.html

         7 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Cleese is yet another leftie – in his day a monster raving liberal and then backer of the failed SDP fantasy party. He was a part of a movement which laid the foundations for the modern day wokists to build their hate upone.
      Worst part is that he doesn’t appear to even recognise what he did, nor how that led to where we are today.

         6 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Thoughtful – agreed – and his mental health issues might raise questions as to whether he actually does the GBNews gig – at least he might attract a bit more attention to it – how ever poor it is ….

        Elswhere – having watched PMQs an urgent question to the Chancellor was addressed by the chief secretary to the treasury – Chris Philp.

        Mr Philp looked like a man at the end of his energy – and had probably been up for over 24 hours ( I did 3 days once ) ….but he did a fair job at defending the idiocy of the blue labour PM / chancellor ..
        The chancellor is at the IMF in the US ….

           5 likes

      • Greencoat says:

        You make a good point, Thoughtful.
        Cleese was happy, back in the day, to mock the ‘stuffy’ old Establishment and pave the way for a new order.
        But now – having donned his bowler hat and walked his silly walk – he finds that the new order is actually pretty horrible and he is complaining.

           9 likes

  17. MarkyMark says:

    Black History Month …. Comment by Danni, South Africa
    Each person is entitled to their own religion, belief or culture, but when that same thinking such as witchcraft in South Africa, encourages people to rape three-month-old babies to ‘cure’ them of HIV, people should rethink their views.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41048840

       13 likes

  18. AsISeeIt says:

    Random photos of the galaxy edition

    There’s a hoary old saying that goes… you can’t fool all the people all the time… but you can sure fool some people, some of the time…

    I love you to the moon and back… Fake astronaut tricks woman out of £27K to return him from space… An online scammer fleeced a love-struck woman claiming to be an astronaut who needed £27,000 for “landing fees for his rocket” Full story page 7 (Daily Star)

    Naturally the Star’s frontpage library pic of a moonwalking chap doesn’t present readers with a photo of Michael Jackson, or indeed Guion Bluford, the first African American in space, launching into low Earth orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983.

    Further tabloid reseach reveals: The man started up a conversation with the woman on Instagram in June. His profile was filled with random photos of the galaxy – and the blagger even claimed he worked at the International Space Station, where astronauts have limited access to phone service (The Sun)

    ‘Russian astronaut’ who convinced her he’d marry her if she could pay his ‘rocket landing fees’ (Daily Mail) – of course he claimed he was Russian… the latest media stock image bad guys. And who she? : Unnamed 65-year-old woman sent money so he could ‘fly’ down to marry her…He told her he loved her and that he wanted to start a new life with her in Japan – Japan? Because…? – the unnamed woman… in Japan has been scammed out of £27,350… Between August 19 and September 5, the woman sent 4.4 million yen

    Speaking of extra-terrestrial love scammers…

    NASA Astronaut Anne McClain Accused by Spouse of Crime in Space… The domestic troubles of Anne McClain… a decorated NASA astronaut, appear to have extended into outer space (New York Times) – How so? And what poor chap was the unlucky dupe this time?

    Summer Worden, a former Air Force intelligence officer living in Kansas, has been in the midst of a bitter separation and parenting dispute for much of the past year. So she was surprised when she noticed that her estranged spouse still seemed to know things about her spending – space may be a vacuum but the plot thickens – Lift Off, She Wrote, this one is worthy of: Tributes as Angela Lansbury dies at 96 (Mirror); As she dies aged 96, how Angela Lansbury became one of TV’s richest women (Mail)

    Ms. Worden put her intelligence background to work, asking her bank about the locations of computers that had recently accessed her bank account using her login credentials. The bank got back to her with an answer: One was a computer network registered to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (New York Times) – ah, there’s a twist… keep up with this 21st century tale… Summer Worden isn’t a bloke, he’s another she.

    Ms. Worden’s spouse, Anne McClain, was a decorated NASA astronaut on a six-month mission – the future isn’t what it used to be… obviously there have been cut backs – space exploration is somewhat curtailed since Captain James T Kirk set out on his five year mission

    She was about to be part of NASA’s first all-female spacewalk – for purely scientific reasons, surely – heaven forfend NASA is sending out random identity politics virtue-signals to the far reaches of the galaxy.

    Investigators from the inspector general’s office have since contacted Ms. Worden and Ms. McClain, trying to get to the bottom of what may be the first allegation of criminal wrongdoing in space… “I was pretty appalled that she would go that far…” – you’ve gotta expect that sort thing when you’re involved in such a very very long distance relationship, luv.

    “She strenuously denies that she did anything improper,” said her lawyer, Rusty Hardin, who added that the astronaut “is totally cooperating.” – not exactly the measured legal speech, occasionally decorated with the odd Wordsworthian flurish, we know and love from the likes of Rumpole of the Bailey – totally cooperating, indeed?

    There is of course some case law relating to space crime: In 2011, NASA organized a sting operation targeting a space engineer’s widow who was looking to sell a moon rock.

    I can’t help but recall the Two Ronnies sketch, where they played those two blokes from down the pub, in which Corbett was conned into the purchase of a Mallard Duck under the pretext it was an Argentinian Racing Pigeon. Barker pointed out how his mate was always being conned and how he had previously bought a lump of fake moon rock… from the coalman.

    The couple’s dispute revolved largely around Ms. Worden’s son, who was born about a year before the two met – of course no mention of the father… as far this article by the New York Times is concerned that birth might as well be by immaculate conception – or perhaps alien encounter or probe… of the sexual kind?

    Ms. Worden, who had previously worked at the National Security Agency, resisted allowing Ms. McClain to adopt the child, even after they were married at the end of 2014 – the concept of share and share alike is obviously something legally quite different from gay marriage.

    She remains a lieutenant colonel in the Army, and Stars and Stripes reported this week that she is on a list of candidates NASA is considering to be the first woman on the moon.

    But in a sudden switch a few days before the spacewalk, NASA scrapped Ms. McClain’s role, explaining that there were not enough suits available in the two women’s size – she simply had not a thing to wear for the big occasion!

    “The more we go out there and spend time out there,” Mr. Sundahl said, “all the things we do here are going to happen in space.”

    And finally… the big reveal at the end of the show… Update Aug. 27, 2020: An investigation subsequently cleared the astronaut Anne McClain of wrongdoing. Her former spouse, Summer Worden, was charged with lying to federal investigators.

    That’s all [the murder] she wrote…

       16 likes

  19. StewGreen says:

    R4Today “And a surgeon in Ukraine is taking a few minutes away from his breakfast break to speak to us”

    … em its 10:40am in Kiev hardly breakfast time.

       12 likes

  20. andyjsnape says:

    Something else not to watch on the bBC

    King Charles to star in The Repair Shop for BBC’s centenary
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63224720

       9 likes

  21. Guest Who says:

    Awks.

       4 likes

  22. MarkyMark says:

    King Charles to star in The Repair Shop for BBC’s centenary
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63224720

    The monarch will choose a piece of pottery made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and an 18th Century clock to be restored by the programme’s team of experts.

    The programme will explore the King’s and show’s shared passion for preserving heritage skills

       6 likes

  23. vlad says:

    Still nothing on the BBC ‘News’ webshite about Tulsi Gabbard leaving the Democratic Party, despite it being big news stateside and creating waves there.

    “I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.”

    She also accuses them of being anti-woman, undermining families and promoting trans nonsense.

    No wonder the BBC don’t like it.

    Full transcript here: https://tulsi.substack.com/p/why-im-leaving-the-democratic-party.
    (You might need to subscribe but there’s a ‘free’ option)

       17 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Breaking the glass ceiling .. “She also accuses them of being anti-woman, undermining families and promoting trans nonsense.”

         10 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Under the Obama administration, the IRS was used to target conservative groups. Biden’s DOJ recently indicted 11 pro-life activists for “organizing an event blockading an abortion clinic.” They didn’t use physical force. They weren’t dangerous. But seven of them are facing 11 years in prison and fines of $250,000.
      https://tulsi.substack.com/p/why-im-leaving-the-democratic-party

      The Biden DOJ and Department of Homeland Security has focused their newly formed Domestic Terror Unit to target parents who are vocally standing in opposition to radical curriculums and explicit sexual content being taught to young children in our public schools – labeling parents as “terrorists” for showing up at school board meetings and demanding change.

         8 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        “blockading an abortion clinic”
        blockading is illegal and can be terrorising.
        However when lefties like XR do it, its allowed

           10 likes

    • tomo says:

      The usual suspects in the USA are not carrying Gabbard’s words – they’re reading scripts over sometimes decade old photos of the lady.

      Meanwhile the VPOTUS just sails on spewing word salad and cackling

         12 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      SouthFront (sometimes written South Front) is a multilingual fake news website registered in Russia that, according to the European Union’s EU vs Disinfo, publishes news focused on “security issues, foreign policy, military analysis and reports on military hardware” while “loyally relaying whatever suits the Kremlin
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SouthFront

      classic story : “https://southfront.org › no-genocide…
      There was no genocide in Srebrenica – SouthFront”

         6 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        From its inception, through the Second World War (where its broadcasts helped to unite the nation), to the popularisation of television in the post-WW2 era and the internet in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the BBC has played a prominent role in British life and culture.[13] It is colloquially known as the Beeb, Auntie, or a combination of both (Auntie Beeb).[14][15]
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC

           1 likes

  24. MarkyMark says:

    Just About Managing… boris-speech.jpg?fit=600%2C675&ssl=1″

    35 days after leaving No.10, and about 24 hours after incorporating his private office, Boris last night made his first after-dinner speech since stepping down as PM. Taking to the stage at the Insurance Leadership Forum in Colorado, the former PM reportedly had the crowd in the palm of his hand with gags about guzzling “very fancy” wine with Merkel and Macron and how “expensive” it was being born in New York. No doubt it was all made worth it by the standing ovation the brokers gave him at the end of the show. That and the $150,000 cheque…

       15 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Good money – even Teresa May made £770k last year talking at people – can you imagine having your evening spoiled at the end by her ?

         18 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      That is nearly as much for a couple of hours work as the British PM earns in a year.
      Shocking how badly paid they are.

         5 likes

  25. Nibor says:

    The Markets , part 2 .

    The reason Im upset when the BBC and Labour party castigate Kwasi Chancellor because he isn`t doing what The Markets want is because I believe this country should not be beholden to The Markets . Whether his policy is right or wrong , we should not think all policies of this country should be tailored to The Markets .
    Because The Markets to me mean borrowing . Credit . Live now pay later .Hire Purchase . Not cutting your suit according to your cloth .
    The difference when we mere mortals do it , like Hire Purchase for a car is that we see an end in sight to it . We borrow , repay and own .
    But the government of a country should not be borrowing .
    Our country creates billions . It should be taxed within reason and the money disbursed to the relevant government departments for the proper running of the state . X amount of billions in tax , X amount of billion spent . No More and no less . In fact lets have less .
    Perhaps a government may need to overextend to fight the good fight , like the second World War against Nazism ( repaid 2008 ) or the slavery trade (repaid 2015) or to set up a grand grand project like the welfare state , or eradicate cancer etc .
    But to borrow just to run the state on a day to day basis is wrong . And proves the governance of the country is wrong .
    Let this country cut its suit according to its cloth , we cannot allow any more bogus asylum seekers to land here . We cannot put them up in four star hotels and we cannot allow their drag on the labour market .
    And if a government department says we need to spend billions on foreign aid otherwise the third world people will come to our shores . then the deal should be we do give the foreign aid but they cant land on our shores . At present , due to the Gramscis who infest the BBC , we have the worst of both worlds .

    The aim should now be for good governance which will reduce the power of these Markets .

       13 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      BBC want regime change …

      Labour pledges to strengthen the BBC’s independence and protect funding
      This article is more than 1 month old
      Party would insulate broadcaster from political pressure, says shadow culture secretary, as Liz Truss prepares to wage war on it

      https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/aug/27/labour-pledges-strengthen-bbc-independence-protect-funding

         4 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      I forced myself . I watched it . The Far Left “katty’ one from the BBC – starting with a sneer in the Deep South of the US and following on .
      I felt sorry for some of the good decent Republican Trump supporters who were her victim . They had no idea what she is – and being non metro – they didn’t know that she represents a Far Left Trump hating organisation which pretends to be an unbiased broadcasting organisation .

      I made it all the way through because I saw the narrative and could see the conclusion – but there was a wonderful sting in the tail – which I think the BBC would have ignored if they could –

      That Liz Cheney lost her seat by a ‘landslide ‘

      And that the 2 trump endorsed Republican candidates won their primaries …
      But will it make any difference -? How well will the democrats fix the votes this time ?

      It now becomes a matter of who can fix the vote better …

      It’s funny because if you are a reporter who thinks the 2020 was not stolen – then you cannot understand how people feel …but it did suggest trouble in America after the November elections …
      Obama Biden will throw sweets at the voters to try to buy them

         20 likes

      • tomo says:

        “throw sweets”

        Anybody remember the free mobile phones the Obama crew punted for his second term?

        I well remember Venezuelans showing me the vote buying tactics of Hugo Chavez “Bolivarist Revolutionaries” – in a UK context it would be like turning over Argos and Curries to the Labour Party and handing out fridges, microwaves etc for votes.

           10 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Nibor – agree but —— how do you cut the state in its current form – what difference is there between big spend blue labour and red labour ?
      The blue Labour Party can spend and spend but still be the nasty party . People like me want real ‘nasty ‘ – not put more and more borrowed money into the latest increase in the welfare bill

      Now it’s free school meals – it’s okay though – it’s not quite a billion a year – small change …

         10 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      You have got it completely wrong nibor, and as Margaret Thatcher once wisely said “You can’t buck the market”.

      The issue hasn’t come from the Kwamikharsi budget but from the ridiculous Socialist open ended promise by Truss to subsidise energy bills with an estimate cost of £200Bn.
      That’s a lot of debt for a market to swallow, but somehow it managed it, however the straw which broke the camels back was the ridiculous unfunded Socialist tax cut in the budget, meaning even higher borrowing levels were required and because the boE didn’t raise interest rates, the buyers wouldn’t buy the government gilts.

      How are you going to reduce the power of the market? Go full on Marxist? because that’s the only way you can’t force international buyers to buy UK debt.

      That’s why in capitalist free countries the market is king, only in Communist countries where the markets are heavily controlled by the state is it then supressed.

         1 likes

      • Nibor says:

        You have it completely wrong Thoughtful .

        Margaret Thatcher said that but she also said the country cannot live beyond its means .

        If we at least live up to Mr Micawber`s rules we survive , and the Marxists took on debt .
        The clue is in the word you use : debt .

        This debt is not new . Its not just happened after this mini budget , its been there because the country borrows not for a grand project , but just to run the country on a day to day basis meanwhile being profligate where it spends .

        The asylum and immigration system is systematic of this country`s problems . There is no need for this problem except to placate a very small minority of “intellectuals ” who demand cosmic justice from just the UK . Ditto about green levies on the populace .

        The whole civil service needs reforming .

           11 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        The timing is fruity again – the OBR papers to justify the blue labour budget is due on halloween – and if I’m right the Bank of England is due to review interest rates again .
        That’s all around 20 days time . One might wonder if the chancellor / PM will still be in their posts by then .

        Meanwhile this Friday is now being described as crunch day as pension fund support stops …

        Much of this is self inflicted because of an inept budget …

           2 likes

  26. BRISSLES says:

    Hmmmmm. a BAME lawyer on gbn discussing migrants now says that it takes a YEAR from claiming asylum to getting the first interview. Clearly there isn’t the staff available to fast track the tens of thousands already here, and with tens of thousands potentially arriving in the coming months, the word “swamped” doesn’t begin to cover what this country will look like in even 5 years time.

       27 likes

  27. moggie63 says:

    I was under the impression that ‘asylum’ is granted the moment the dinghies leave the French shore, it’s certainly the way it looks.

       22 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      What really made me reach for the Scotch, was when the BAME lawyer made mention that his Albanian client had been deported despite his (the lawyer’s) last minute Appeal to the High Court for him to stay !

      I know it happens, but seeing a foreigner in my country representing other foreigners with their asylum claims, just sticks in my craw.

         21 likes

  28. tomo says:

    Expropriation ?

    I wonder if Mark Rutte and chums / handlers have given any attention to Dutch firearm laws?

       15 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Zimbabwe has offered to return land to foreign nationals whose farms were seized under a controversial government programme two decades ago.

      Thousands of white farmers were forced from their land, often violently, between 2000 and 2001.

      The seizures were meant to redress colonial-era land grabs but contributed to the country’s economic decline and ruined relations with the West.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-53988788

         11 likes

      • Thatcherrevolutionary says:

        My cousin was forced from his farm/estate over 10 years ago and now lives in Scotland. He is quite happy for the Marxists to starve to death.

           4 likes

    • Terminal Moraine says:

      Rutte is a WEF global leader and the the Netherlands has been put down as a WEF “food innovation hub” — global coordinating of which is based in their country, rolling out to others.

      Increasing the amount of state-owned land and use of gene editing and agri-tech to ‘transform’ food systems. UK Gov are also offering lump sums for farmer to retire or leave their jobs. Build back better… after you’ve demolished the incumbent practices.

         10 likes

    • Flotsam says:

      Where’s the emoji for tongue hanging out?

      Mind you it’s not PC to be hetero these days. Perhaps she’s a trannie, that would make it ok I suppose.

         8 likes

    • Joe_Something says:

      Integrity, intelligence and beauty. Not a combination we often see on the political left. When I say often, I of course mean ever.

         10 likes

  29. Fedup2 says:

    Looks like the so called governor of the Bank of England is one step nearer to the exit door and peerage for his truly dumb comments ….

       11 likes

  30. andyjsnape says:

    TikTok profits from livestreams of families begging
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-63213567

    I can’t believe it! Just beg somewhere else then

       6 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Displaced families in Syrian camps are begging for donations on TikTok while the company takes up to 70% of the proceeds, a BBC investigation found.
      ……………..
      Prince William sold The Big Issue in London to highlight ‘solvable’ homelessness. Prince William said he joined a vendor on the streets of London earlier this month to sell The Big Issue to shine a spotlight on the “solvable issue” of homelessness.20 Jun 2022

         5 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      stop press the people doing the WORK of providing the platform
      and processing the money take a cut.

      Just like the *charity* BBC Children in Need seems to give a big bulk of donations to staff in the form of salaries.

         10 likes

  31. MarkyMark says:

    Historic ….

    China’s ruling Communist Party is expected to hand a third five-year term to Xi Jinping, arguably the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong in the 1970s.

    The decision – which comes after a two-term limit was abolished in 2018 – would further tighten his grip on China.

    It is possible that Mr Xi, 69, will remain in power for the rest of his life.

    The historic move is due at a Communist Party Congress in Beijing beginning on 16 October – one of the most important meetings in the party’s history.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-62970531

       3 likes

  32. tomo says:

       6 likes

  33. tomo says:

    Don’t mess with Eddie Izzard’s beret – Met plod will ‘av-U

       11 likes

    • Joe_Something says:

      The Metropolitan Police as proportionate as ever. Nice to know pink berets are a priority, or at least when the wearer of one is a member of a protected group.

         14 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Could be good protection tool
        When in London carry a pink beret, and then when your phone gets stolen you throw your beret on the ground and point at the phone thief saying he did tgat,
        boom the cops will appear and jump the actual phone ghief.

           11 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      e839adf6-3012-32ff-82d3-b8298e3f05f0.jpg

      DZpSSFAXUAA2Nvi.jpg

         17 likes

    • vlad says:

      @Tomo – Why are the police wasting time on trans Eddie’s beret when they should be out persecuting middle-aged Christian ladies for using wrong pronouns on Twitter?

      Isn’t that what we pay them for?

         8 likes

  34. Terminal Moraine says:

    Not BBC but I caught a trailer for a new Netflix film “Enola Holmes 2” — where the teenage sister of Sherlock Holmes embarks on a similar career path. Looks to tick all the boxes: young girl on a personal journey of empowerment, helps the poor, proves she’s more than a match for the men intellectually and physically… all set in a Victorian London with the diversity nob turned to 11.

    Anyway I did laugh at the wee teen ladies fighting off the rozzers and a large black girl in full period dress violently headbutting one of them. Bit of racism slipping in there, Netflix?

    I suppose it’ll keep people distracted until the food shortages kick in.

       19 likes

  35. atlas_shrugged says:

    Covid passport was a fraud, Dutch MEP questions Pfizer:

    https://3speak.tv/watch?v=rairfoundation/uwoesgqb

       7 likes

  36. Beltane says:

    Strange, isn’t it, that money experts having been lecturing on absurd house prices, coupled with ridiculously low mortgage rates for the better part of the past two decades.

    Now that it looks as though the situation might become better balanced with savers beginning to regain interest, it’s a financial disaster.

       16 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Beltane
      I suppose it is human ( dumb) nature to assume that things will stay as they are – so those in the last few years budgeting mortgages on interest rates below – say – 4% and living beyond their means – are getting a ‘wake up call ‘ ….

      I worry that lenders may have been granting mortgages without checking the income of applicants and that repossessions may rapidly head up ….

      … bearing in mind that the shortage of housing will prevent a collapse in prices . But where those being repossessed will go is more of a problem as social housing and rental properties may not meet the need.

      I don’t follow this carefully and know that there are better informed people on this site than me ….

         9 likes

      • Emmanuel Goldstein says:

        Fed.
        If people cannot afford their mortgage then can the lenders increase the length of the mortgage (by 5 years for example) from 25 years to 30 years.
        This would drop the monthly payments and nobody would lose their home.

           6 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          EG
          Yes there seems to be a view that financial institutions will use many methods to prevent people handing in their keys ( eg ‘interest only ) but there could be a time next year when rates are too high for many …

             4 likes

      • Beltane says:

        That was essentially the sub-prime situation, mainly in the US, that kicked off the 2008 collapse Feds – when that genius Brown ran the nation’s finances with a rusty iron fist and UK mortgage rates were in some cases close to 15%.

        But who remembers those days? An authentic, responsible and properly informed news source like, say for instance, the BBC, would point out such disparities but that would not be undermining the government, so no mileage there.

        Elsewhere I see Boris made a £150k with his first after-dinner speech. Keep it up Bo and you can afford to kick the author of your downfall into the long grass – she’ll feel at home there.

        Read Ashcroft’s book ‘First Lady’ it’s an education.

           8 likes

  37. tomo says:

    Meanwhile the vampires do their thing
    beatrice-accounts.jpg

       7 likes

  38. Sluff says:

    It must be pointed out that our government has been useless and inept for quite a few years now.

    But that said, one aspect of BBC bias which needs to be spelled out is the rapidity and regularity with which the BBC webshite offers its ‘Have Your Say’ facility to an incessant litany of soft anti-government ‘questions’ and then miraculously hundreds of anti -government posts appear. Almost as if writers knew in advance.

    Take today
    ‘Recession risk rises….’
    And
    ‘Investors wary….’

    Always designed to yield preferred anti-government narratives.
    And invariably succeed.
    Trebles all round.

       13 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      See there’s NEWS!!!!!!!

      And in MSMwerld, there is… news.

         7 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        And if all else fails, just spam OFCOM.

        . https://twitter.com/ofcom/status/1580144341905203200?

           5 likes

      • StewGreen says:

        Do newspaper headlines are theatre
        New reporting is theatre.
        The headline is clickbait
        a prediction about 2023 apparently
        but doesn’t tell you if that is UK or the world.

        – Anti-Tories claim the UK is just catching up with the rest , so will grow this year.

        Growth numbers can be an illusion
        If a country has inflation it economy appears to be growing.
        Likewise if oil prices drop
        spending will drop and the economy will seem smaller.

           2 likes

  39. MarkyMark says:

    Politicians have always been skilled at giving the public what they want. What we want is battle to be joined, epic courage and suicidal energy. If we can have a bit sex, a bit of treachery so much the better. But first and foremost, we must have the drama.
    order-order

    Politicians have always been skilled at giving the public what they want.

    Politicians have always been skilled at giving the public what they want.

    Politicians have always been skilled at giving the public what they want.

    Politicians have always been skilled at giving the public what they want.

    ??? SINCE WHEN ???

       6 likes

  40. vlad says:

    Appeal to all readers of this site: Change.org has a new petition titled: I’m not a criminal: Stop TV Licensing prosecuting people in the cost of living crisis.

    By logging in, you can sign this petition as well as a host of others at the click of a button.

    A quick and easy way to make your voice heard!

    And a smack in the face of the biased BBC.

    Click link below.

    https://www.change.org/p/i-m-not-a-criminal-stop-tvlicensingnews-prosecuting-people-in-the-cost-of-living-crisis

       12 likes

    • moggie63 says:

      Duly signed.

         7 likes

    • Mrs Kitty says:

      Signed

         6 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      Before I put my name to this, what is the alternative? The law at the moment is that you have to pay the TV tax in order to watch live TV, and why should some people who are almost certainly recidivists not pay for something everyone else has to pay for.

      Here we argue for a subscription based model where the people who want it pay for it, but if no one pays for it then it would completely fail leaving the UK without its main TV and radio media outlet.

      What therefore is the proposal, to delay prosecution until after the cost of green lunacy crisis?

      Most times the offenders get a slap on the wrist, a derisory fine and told to buy a licence if they want to carry on watching. IN some occasions single mothers come to court brood in tow telling the magistraits that they can look after the kids and Mum would be happy to spend some down time in prison!
      So the magistraits attempt to get some token gesture of a pound which gives them the excuse to close the case with a guilty verdict.

      It really is a joke and a nuisance ‘crime’ which wastes everyones time. It would be far better on an encryption subscription basis then no one need bother about criminal prosecutions.

         2 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      Nope won’t sign
      The law makes it illegal to not have a TV licence if you watch live TV
      So she is a criminal.
      They propose that the law stay but for some un-named period the prosecution of poor people should be not stopped.

      Nope some bigger solution is needed like the abolition of the BBC, selected pensions seized for its disinformation, and the assets of the BBC refunded to the public.

         5 likes

  41. tomo says:

       11 likes

  42. Thoughtful says:

    Today is the second day of the public inquiry into the scandal of the Horizon Post Office computer system and as suspected it turns out one of the main drivers behind the screw up was non other than Tony B Liar.

    Tony Blair was aware Horizon was a disaster that didn’t work. He was also told in no uncertain terms (in a message from a Fujitsu Big Boss carried to him by the British Ambassador to Japan) that if the UK govt biffed Horizon, it would cost hundreds of jobs, and do huge untold reputational damage to the government and to Britain’s standing in Europe.

    The message subsequently came from Number 10 that Blair did not wish to can Horizon, therefore a way to make it work had to be found. Blair didn’t know it, but he had ordered his team to make the impossible happen. With disastrous consequences.

    Boom

    Essentially Horizon was a bomb. Fujitsu didn’t want it blowing up its organisation and the government didn’t want it to blow up the government. They realised if they could stop it from going off for long enough, they might be able to park it inside the homes and businesses of individual Subpostmasters. Once there, Fujitsu, the government and the Post Office could step back to a place of safety and watch it explode, blaming the Subpostmasters for setting it off through their own incompetence or criminal inclinations.

    Another point about yesterday. This was elegantly raised by former Subpostmaster and IT expert Tim McCormack. He notes that although Subpostmasters were being set up for a catastrophe, this did not seem to be explicit in anyone’s thinking. The material effect of manually wrestling with an unwieldy and unfit for purpose IT system was only really discussed in terms of cost to Fujitsu, cost to the government and cost to the Post Office business. ”

    Here is a blog post about the continuing disaster which details how something which didn’t work and which everyone knew didn’t work was dressed up to look as if it did and then forced on Subpostmasters for them to cope with (and they still are apparantly).

    https://www.postofficescandal.uk/post/why-was-horizon-allowed-to-go-live/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=what_tony_blair_knew_and_why_the_unfit_horizon_it_system_was_green_lit&utm_term=2022-10-12

       12 likes

    • Flotsam says:

      We now possibly know why Horizon was clung onto so religiously by the Post Office. As a Lawyer Bliar could view people as objects subject to the legal system, he would have known how difficult it would be to defend the allegations of theft. Bliar would have considered the Postmasters as disposable. What an utter disgrace the whole scandal is.

         7 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        As I understand it – the aim of inquiry is to identify who was responsible for this .

        No doubt the inquiry won’t nail seniors like Blair for mifeasance in public office or perverting the course of justice

        But the consequences of the IT failure was to destroy honest hardworking lives . However we live in a country where honesty , honour and duty is in short supply so all the authorities involved will hide from the responsibilities and share out the fault so that no single person will be punished –
        But don’t worry ‘lessons will be learnt ‘….

           5 likes

        • tomo says:

          There won’t be any criminal charges direct from the actual enquiry – but it is to be hoped that some real pit bull lawyers turn up and sink their teeth in once the facts are established / laid out.

          ICL had some good people but they also had an awful lot of worse than useless ex-military officer twerps who sucked more of the same into the company – absurdities abounded in my limited experience.

          Wont hold my breath – this being an establishment cover-up ‘n all if there’s any chance of a prosecution there will be more inquiries until the pensioned perps pass through the curtains at the crematorium.

             4 likes

    • StewGreen says:

      I have inside information from some post office workers I know
      Despite being socialists they swore to me that even before the system was introduced there was a well known problem with quite a few Indian postmasters fiddling the money and feeing to India.
      So when people said the new system was a problem , people were inclined not to believe that
      And they firmly believed that some of the people pardoned recently are not innocent.
      They both said their post offices did not experience any accounting errors. They did a balance at the end of every night and it always added up.. except once it was exactly £1000 out and then by going through hours of CCTV they found a customer had taken out £500 yet they’d keyed in that she’d deposited £500.
      So that explained it: the till should have been £500 lighter and the input side also £500 lighter ..so they did now balance.

         6 likes

  43. Up2snuff says:

    TOADY Watch #1 – in which HarshMistress Mishal takes a spanking …

    Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP, SoS for BusEnInStrat is the interview candidate or victim for Mishal Husain at 8.10 a.m. but it doesn’t go to BBC plan. The TOADY Eds and Presenters were hoping to give a Conservative Government spokesperson a hard time over the PM’s daft policies announced via Kwasi Kwarteng at the recent ‘fiscal event’ or ‘mini-non-Budget’ after the news that Andrew Bailey has been mouthing off at some event or other on the other side of the Atlantic. When are we going to get a good old-fashioned style Governor of the Bank of England, for that is Bailey’s current job, who will keep schtum in public?

    Carney, Bailey’s predecessor, had the gift of the gab. A wise central Bank Governor would know that what he says in public might ‘spook the markets’ and Bailey appears to be following Mark Carney’s garrulous example and letting slip policy decisions that might be better kept private.

    The BBC R4 news from 6 a.m. onwards was that Andrew Bailey’s speech at an IMF ‘jolly’ had spooked the markets and the financial sky was going to fall in for all our pension funds in the UK. Which is not what has happened; as I write the £ sterling has appreciated by just over 1 cent against the US $. By being overwhelmingly polite and on top of his brief, J R-M was able to defeat HarshMistress Mishal by four goals to nil. As the interview ended, I could not help but be reminded of when a hopeless England football team were beaten by some minor national side, was it Iceland (the nation, not the supermarket) and was it at Wembley?

    The foreign commentator went into an exotically, frenzied, rant that ended with “your boys took a hell of a beating”. It is probably on the Internet somewhere. Your girl, BBC, took one hell of a spanking just when she was hoping to do that to Jacob Rees-Mogg as a Government Minister.

       10 likes

    • harry142857 says:

      There you go Up2.

         1 likes

    • moggie63 says:

      Are you really sure it wasn’t the supermarket?

         2 likes

      • Up2snuff says:

        Mogs, apparently it was Norway, away. Can’t remember who the England manager was but Maggie Thatcher got the blame for the defeat from the Norwegian commentator. Nothing much changes …. . . .

           4 likes

        • Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

          I think it was Ron Greenwood.

          Despite the Norway defeat, England qualified in 2nd place behind Hungary (who curiously they beat away and home) in a well-contested group including Romania and Switzerland as well as Norway. England went through the 1982 World Cup undefeated, eliminated in the second phase after draws with Germany and hosts Spain. Greenwood then gave way to Bobby Robson.

             4 likes

  44. StewGreen says:

    ITV local NewsPR
    “figures shared exclusively with ITV News”
    .. What’s that mean ?
    That a charity is looking for free PR, and ITV said OK we’ll give you a news report like an advert.

    Normal crafted and honed item with the tickboxes.
    .. “Without the foodbank Samira Islam would face a grim and cold winter”

    Em winter is cold whether there is a foodbank or not
    The report says she normally comes to the foodbank once a week for a sit down meal. The one pictured was a rice meal and then a big piece of fancy cake.

       3 likes

  45. StewGreen says:

    BBC local news PR opens
    “COST OF LIVING CRISIS Here we are at Boston church hall that serves food twice a week.
    featured super fatty Rachael who “needs” the centre
    Ah they are saying it’s part of the “warm spaces” programme
    The needy can get on their computer and look up the locations”
    A ticker runs along the bottom of the screen
    “Tories are evil, kick them out now and put in lovely Labour”

       5 likes

  46. StewGreen says:

    Next item “Here we are in Hull, everyone supports the bus strike”

    My point is Hull housing etc. is cheaper than big cities
    so of course they don’t pay the same salary as big cities

       7 likes

  47. Flotsam says:

    My son was a Trustee of a Merseyside food bank. He resigned when he realised that the staff/volunteers were helping themselves to the better food donations in a regular basis.

       17 likes

  48. Guest Who says:

    Just popping this one here.

       4 likes

  49. Thoughtful says:

    Big tech in action together to defend one of theirs under attack for their own woke stupidity.

    Paypal have made an absolute ass of themselves recently closing or limiting accounts of people who they don’t approve of (or the Chinese Communists don’t like), and threatening to fine account holders $2500 for what they call ‘misinformation’.

    So now they have withdrawn the threat of the $2500 fine and called it a mistake and google is now cleaning up the history on their behalf and even throwing search results that this was a rumour started by right wing conspiracists.

    Now you can try this for yourself because there is a twitter account called go woke go broke, so search on google for paypal go woke go broke and you get this message:

    “It looks like the results below are changing quickly
    If this topic is new, it can sometimes take time for reliable sources to publish information

    Check the source
    Are they trusted on this topic?
    Come back later
    Other sources might have more information on this topic in a few hours or days

    Get more tips”

    I’ve never seen this appear before, and although it didn’t stop me finding the site its clear Big Tech (Vanguard, Blackrock & Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar are major shareholders) are able to manipulate the history and are actively doing so in an Owellian manner to hide what has happened.

    It was a step too far though and the stock of Paypal has fallen hugely with people reacting as they did to the Halifax debacle and closing their accounts, so go take a look at the Twitter account #GoWokeGoBroke or better still perform the search and see how google tries to stop you !

       8 likes