The investigation of the conduct of the 4th highest paid BBC presenter continues . Maybe the ‘victims ‘will come forward to give their account . In any event the BBC – in its 100th year – remains subject to criticism- from which it will continue to try to deflect.
Weekend 15th July 2023
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Radio 4’s 6pm news started with the actors’ strike in the US. Yes, really.
BBC one at 6pm started the same
“Are we bovvered?”
Luckily, it’s mentioned that the ‘strike’ may go until the end of the year!
That’s an awful lot of ‘resting’ – maybe they ‘earn’ a bit too much…
Fist clenched, ready to go…………..
No we ain’t bovvered, the luvvies can stay on strike till Kingdom come.
BBC WEB-SITE Watch Sunday #1 – brilliant, absolutely brilliant
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-66213889
The MATT cartoon comments on the contents of your Top-of-the-Thread post, Mustapha.
Regarding Huw Edwards mental health, is he in a private establishment or one run by the anychess. Whichever one it is Joe Soap the public will be paying.
I’m thoroughly disgusted to see the closing of ranks around Huw. The hypocrisy! Only days after Paul Scofield, and then there was operation yew tree (some wrongly accused), Nick and operation Midland, Cliff, Paul Gambaccini etc etc. remember anyone defending them?
Apologies to Pug who has expressed this much better than myself, on the previous thread.
Loobyloo, there may be more to the Huw Edwards story that has not yet been revealed.
“B…….. is a dirty word, let’s call it fishpaste.” © I AM SORRY I’LL READ THAT AGAIN
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/ex-bbc-presenters-close-ranks-around-huw-edwards/?
After Sopes made an utter twat of himself, who better to join him than BS?
The desperate irrelevance of the ex Newsnight mean girls is matched only by their collective pension pots.
Oh no, they have lost George Galloway.
“What a complete cod the BBC is making over handling the sex allegations against a star presenter. You’d think Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris had never happened”
Gavin Esler liked Kirsty’s bit.
Only missing Violet Elizabeth Bott
Sopel is defending Edwards purely because he is a mate. If he didn’t like him, he would argue completely the other way.
Which shows without doubt that Sopels views are based entirely on what suits him at the time. Which in turn makes everything else he says completely worthless. It could change tomorrow.
How on Earth has this idiot got where he is ?.
Maybe they go clubbing together with other mates?
Same with Farage who had little to say on the matter because he’s a ‘mate’,
I would say Mart that in situations like this where you have a conflict of interests, it is FAR more ethical to say nothing than openly wade in for your mate and pretend he didn’t do anything wrong like Sopel has.
JohnC, why have the Met Police said no offence has been committed?
Is – members of the same golf club – the answer.
Or was the lad paid off from the same piggy bank that hired him a lawyer?
BBC should publish photos of Hue Edwards (alleged) 5 children, with names, ages and descriptions of their lives.
Why not, they happily did the same with Putin’s daughter.
Good question Up2. Considering the general talk was that the boy was 17 at the time, taking pictures should have been illegal.
Maybe watching on Skype doesn’t count and they didn’t confiscate any equipment to check for a recording because it was too quick.
The complete lack of any explanation does stand out considering the magnitude of the case.
Seems like another ‘Starmer COVID party’ and a Leftist chief constable to me.
I am in no doubt now that we live in politicaly corrupt society which isn’t that far from 3rd world countries. We are just very good and making sure dissenting voices are not heard and keeping things like this out of the news. Tommy Robinson is a very good example. They have made a monster out of him – totally different from the person I hear when he talks.
See how the story has been totally dropped by everyone overnight. How did that happen ?.
Kids went to Dulwich £ college together – nice – swamp
Not much news on the BBC front page so I took a look in ‘London Violence’ at the BBC.
Amazingly enough, plenty there which would make a headline in other circumstances (ie if whitey did it).
To cut a long story short, here are the names of the murderers/murdered for the latest articles:
Sven Badzak
Rashid Gedel
Shiroh Ambersley
Asim Hasan
Aaisha Hasan (Asim’s wife who he stabbed 36 times)
Andre Salmon (black) : his murderer is described as being black and in his late teens or early twenties.
All ‘enrichment’. This must be that ‘triumph of diversity’ the BBC keep telling me about.
This hypocrisy and covering-up to protect the leftist agenda by the BBC is completely out of control now.
Meanwhile OFCOM are going after GBNews AGAIN.
What a complete joke the current situation with BBC and OFCOM is. They are cheeks of the same arse.
So sad losing all these promising young footballers because of those said to have mental issues.
Teams overrepresented by whitey = hideously white.
Teams overrepresented by blacks = triumph of diversity
THAT is the level of Leftist double-standards we are up against.
Just think, it wasn’t for much of the black stuff, there would not be much, ‘News’. As less than 4% of the population, they should be happy.
BBC Radio 4 Today Programme and immigration.
Of course they never ask the pro immigration lobby like Ivette Cooper why they want more immigration.
Is it ;
To increase the population, and by how much
Or
To replace some or all of the existing population, and if it is some , which ones ?
I seem to remember that Germany “invited” Turks to move
there in the 80’s. They were if memory serves called “Gastarbeiters” ie guest workers, it worked so well that in the 90’s there were too many guest workers that they started kicking them out. Some made their way to the UK via trucks and lorries on P&O North Sea Ferries out of Rotterdam.
By the way immigration concerns are not a skin colour thing
I speak to some BAME who do help their relatives abroad, but draw the line at them trying to come to stay with them on student visas etc.
They fel they have got busy lives and have got enough to do without housing dreamers.
Whilst the BBC and MSM are salivating about the current heat wave in Southern Europe.
‘ Cerberus heatwave: Hot weather sweeps across southern Europe’. ( BBC headline)
And interviewing tourists who obviously didn’t expect it to be hot in Southern Europe in the summer,
I don’t suppose the Spanish national broadcaster could come up and interview me in Tyne/Wear, so I can tell them that It is currently 13c and we have just put the central heating on…
It’s the First Night of the Proms on BBC.
Let’s see how it’s going…….
Female conductor. Check.
From Ukraine. Check.
Presenter with no music pedigree who happens to be black. Check.
Ukraine music premiere. Check.
Lesbian main guest. Check.
Off switch. Check.
#whitestraightmalesdontmatter
PS Expert musician Huw Edwards was rostered as a guest presenter later in the concert series. I can’t wait.
Not forgetting the Just Stop Oil mob who were in disruptive mood again.
Big story at the BBC along with a recap of their demands.
Tony Blackburn said it was total hype on his show today : that they went up, got booed and quickly disappeared. It was hardly any event at all.
I bet there are a few BBC wives in that group (and extinction rebellion).
Some UK people are clearly not very happy:
Click to access document.pdf
The 7 Nolan principles of public life.
Hot weather dramagreening by Sky News woman
Qatar Airways is the new sponsor of Sky News Weather. The 12-month deal marks a first for Qatar Airways, which has never before used television as a promotional tool in the UK. It is part of a strategy to target the business and premium leisure market.
Happy St. Swithins Day everybody!
If it rains, we all get forty days of non-stop rain, if it doesn’t, we don’t!
Just checked my part of Kent, and there may be a shower or two, but the rest of the week seems fine enough – if you can believe the MET…
But with the Med being around 45 degrees Cerberus, the Gretaholics will no doubt trash the normal weather here as a sort of aberration from their fanatical ranting, so be prepared for an onslaught from Beebanghamandpay35grand Place…
(Of course, I’m so sorry if friends here are looking out of the window at a tsunami elsewhere, perhaps St Swithin didn’t have a bike)!
Scrobie, think it was Helen Willetts doing the pre-TOADY weather forecast, and she was somewhat apologetic about the ‘autumnal feel’ to the UK weather at present. She then forecast for the south-east and East Anglia that temperatures would be in the region of 18-20°C, which of course is normal for an English summer. Perhaps our Helen has been in the sun too much in Europe and has a touch of heatstroke?
At the moment here in the South of France, it’s 22C getting to a max of 28C and overcast. Tomorrow may hit 35C and sunny, pretty normal for here and has been for many years.
And happy St Swithins to you Scrob – surprised it’s not banned for being ‘exclusionary ‘ …. Any way londonistan is on weather alert because ‘wind prune ‘ is due at 0900 to 2500 with gusts and doom ….
Im off to tescos so have taken out travel insurance ….
On Tuesday I’m off to meet Cerberus or the striking Gatwick staff … or both …
Thanks Fed!
Just got back with the dog in drizzle and a slight breeze, so as Uppers says, it’s just normal, especially if you’re off to play cricket!
Great runner bean weather here!
Fed, is Wind Prune a relative of the famous Angus Prune?
Today
Vintage news
1 councils want to ban something – vapes
2 it’s gonna be hot in the med
3 feckless people didn’t get energy benefits
4 will Arab woman be first to win tennis thing
5 green crap protesters liven up dire proms
6 huw admits sex addiction
I might have made up number 6 – or maybe not ..
BTW – John Humphreys writes about huw in the mail – summary – no change at BBC ….
“sex addiction”
On 2 December 2015, at the Theresienbad swimming pool in the Austrian capital Vienna, a 10-year-old boy was raped. The perpetrator, an Iraqi refugee who had arrived in the country two months earlier, claimed that he was motivated by not having sex for four months.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_swimming_pool_rape
an Iraqi refugee who had arrived in the country two months earlier,
an Iraqi refugee who had arrived in the country two months earlier,
motivated by not having sex for four months.
motivated by not having sex for four months.
motivated by not having sex for four months.
Agreed. But it would have been interesting to see who the slobbering commentators at Wimbledon would have been forced to decide between, if that horrible racist Ukrainian woman, Svitolina had made the final against their beloved Ons Jabeur.
Who scores higher in points for the BBC to support; an Arab, Muslim, Female OR a Ukrainian, Russian hater?
TOADY Watch #1 – laugh a minute time
First Night of The Proms: apparently, the invasion of the stage by by JSO demonstrators (no, not the Japanese or Jewish Symphony Orchestra) was accompanied by boos from the audience! The BBC propaganda and brainwashing hasn’t worked. At all. The JSO demonstrators complained that the BBC were not ‘doing enough’ on Global Warming and Climate Change. I laughed again at that!
‘Some people’ might say the BBC are doing too much on AGW & CC brainwashing and propaganda.
Did you know that when the Bermuda Philharmonic Orchestra were playing the Proms a few years ago, the bloke playing the triangle suddenly just disappeared…
Scrobie, not heard that one before. LOL & 🙂 x5
Emma Thompson flies in from USA to help out?
It’s Resurrection Day For GBnews Patrick Christys as he learns how school bullies work
They wind you up
and and then when you shout one thing back
they gang up and get the teacher to ban you
eg .. https://twitter.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1679760051651616769/photo/1
Christys asked viewers for back up and his account was brought back to life.
There is also a fake smear operation going on against Dan Wootton
seems he will explain on Monday’s show.
Nah – they fired Steyn and the rest stood bye – but I was forgetting – not much honour amongst dog eat dog ‘journos ‘ ….
“lawfully sacked for writing tweets which criticised government policies.” {bbc.co.uk aug2019} – the death of freedom of speech.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-49259942
1765 …. **In a republic worthy of name, freedom to publish one ’s thoughts is a citizen’s natural right.** They may use a pen or their voice, and should not be prevented from writing any more than speaking …That is the law in England, a monarchical country, where people are freer than elsewhere because they are more enlightened. – Voltaire, Republican Ideas, 1765
2019 …Australia’s highest court has made a landmark ruling that a public servant was lawfully sacked for writing tweets which criticised government policies. The court rejected her claim that she had been denied a right to free speech. – Australia, 2019
1765 … **In a republic worthy of name, freedom to publish one’s thoughts is a citizen’s natural right.**
2019 … ** a public servant was lawfully sacked for writing tweets which criticised government policies.**
https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2019/08/06/midweek-open-thread-7-august-2019/comment-page-4/#comment-1005808
Morning all.
Very late to the party on this one so apologies if already covered.
The other day there was a report, I think on Newshite about the asylum seeker/economic chancers boat that sank near Greece about a month ago.
The report was centred on a ‘BBC Special Investigation’ that questioned the accuracy of the Greek coastguard reports.
Now why, pray, would a UK news station want to spend its licence -fee payers money on a ‘Special Investigation’ of this kind, hundreds of miles away from the UK?
The answer, of course, is because of its bias. It wants to continue to peddle the narrative about poor unfortunate immigrants and therefore to promote Leftoid Marxist open door immigration, let’em all in’, policy.
As clear a bias on this issue as you are likely to see, masquerading as ‘investigative journalism’
BBC fave bloke.
“Mao did more good than harm?” (c) Diane Abbott
TOADY Watch #2 – FalseNews? FakeNews?
The Conservative Government has failed, gleefully reported by the BBC, to implement their Energy Support Scheme properly. The MP chairing the Select Committee was Angus MacNeil (SNP) who is suspended by his Party but that didn’t stop him 1. criticising HMG, and, 2. making a fool of himself by his claims.
Apparently, as Angus MacNeil claimed 80% of households failed to claim the Government’s Energy Support because they were travellers (a.k.a. gypsies or tinkers), living on narrow boats or living in park homes. Who knew that 80% of the UK population had no permanent homes?
Phew, the UK housing crisis must be bad, much worse than we thought or imagined.
I’ve been seeing an exponential rise in the number of gypsy/traveller sites around Cheshire. I assume it’s the same in other places. One tactic that’s employed is to buy small parcels of land and just set up on them without planning permission. The local authorities often have to cave in and let these camps stay because the travelers argue that there are insufficient sites in the area. Yes, the Government has directed that sufficient numbers of sites have to be provided. In the face of that all sorts of unsuitable sites have been allowed to proliferate.
Build a mosque on it to stop the Gyspsies?
Why aren’t Irish travellers done for fly tipping when they leave an area in a mess ?
BBC WEB-SITE Watch #1 – The BBC are guilty of producing FalseNews & FakeNews
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66203677 Now, there’s a thing! Not the first time that someone on this site has caught the BBC out on doing its FakeNews, FalseNews thing. If you read the linked article you will find that the BBC have reported incorrectly in the 7 a.m. News and again in the 8 a.m. News. The article mentions a specific Government Energy Support Scheme that only applied to those who were travellers, living on houseboats or in park homes.
But the BBC did not report it like that in the News. I wonder why?
No, I don’t. I know why. The BBC wish to make a Conservative Party Government look bad. Some on here would say, there’s no need to do that, HMG is doing a good job of that all on their own.
Rishi Sunak, man in charge of country’s money, doesn’t know how to use contactless
https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/rishi-sunak-contactless-fail-video-b2043035.html
MM, has Rishi’s card been ‘eaten by the machine’? I hope it was the one with National Debt on it! 🙂
Modern gladiatorial tales from the Colosseum edition
MELTDOWN – screams the Daily Mail.
With reference here not primarily to the hot summer weather that so excites certain media outlets, come silly season
The Mail’s main concerns are: Holiday crisis as strike threatens to cripple Gatwick – and, lest we imagine striking to be a uniquely British disease: Second walkout could hit one in three flights across Europe… a separete decision by European air traffic controllers
The Mail, a title seemingly stuck in a permanent state of flabbergasted and appalled thunderstruck horror – as, albeit as an afterthought, it just can’t resist lapsing into that other dread British disease – banging on about the weather as though it were the news: …and if you do get there, it’ll be a swealtering 45C
And if that’s a problem for you, may I recommend instead a fortnight in Skegness this summer?
We speak of course of that foreign region our travel agents (there’s one for the teenagers – they used to have a shop on every high street filled with glossy holiday brochures and models of jet airliners) well, they used to term it “The Med” – but now that tourist hotspot region finds itself rebranded “Southern Europe” by our principle global warming fretters: Europe heatwave: Red alerts issued in 15 Italian cities… several visitors to the country have collapsed from heatstroke, including a British man outside the Colosseum in Rome. (BBC) – take that report with a pinch of Cerebos Salt – the last time a so-called British tourist was reported thereabouts he was up to no good inappropriately indulging in the suitably Italian-dubbed habit of inscribing his and his girlfriend’s graffito on the archaeology at the famous Roman landmark – loudly touted to be a British lout, he turned out to be a Bulgarian barbarian ‘based in Bristol‘ – but I digress
Guardian: Heatwave Health warnings as extreme weather grips southern Europe
Europe heatwave… Southern Europe bakes as more record temperatures expected next week… Heat feels ‘like burning in Dante’s Inferno‘ say locals (‘i’) – nice classical reference there
I hear hereabouts locals likening the weather in our own northern climbs to Shakespeare’s blasted heath
The cause is the Cerberus heatwave – named by the Italian Meteorological Society after the three-headed monster that features in Dante’s Inferno. Italian weather forecasters are warning that the next heatwave – dubbed Charon after the ferryman who delivered souls into the underworld in Greek mythology – will push temperatures back up above 40C next week. (BBC) – I wonder, was the girlfriend of that plastic Brit who scribbled on the Colosseum a true blue born and bred Brit, perhaps named Sharon? I jest of course.
By Jupiter, by Jove! Perhaps the only chap we have is Boris with the sufficient classical education up to the Herculean task of leading us through this impending mythological apocalypse?
Do I hear any advance on 40C… 45C…?
Inevitably, the Daily Star: Blowtorch Brits… 49C Euro heatwave.. but that still can’t keep us off the beaches
The raunchy ‘i’ newspaper, that shameless promoter of ‘thruples‘ is at it again: How to have a holiday romance… including with your partner
Cole Porter once observed: In olden days, a glimpse of stocking, Was looked on as something shocking, But now, God knows, Anything goes
Mum ‘immediately recognised’ BBC presenter as they waited in ‘pants’ for child… The mother of the alleged victim has claimed a well–known BBC presenter stripped to their underpants for a video call with their 17-year-old… (Daily Express)
Seems to be the thing these days – there’s a lot of it about: A photograph of Yevgeny Prigozhin sitting in his underpants has been “leaked” shortly after Vladimir Putin said the Wagner leader no longer exists (Telegraph)
Is Huw now left Mate-less?
The Daily Mirror is keen our Huw doesn’t find himself no longer in existence, shoved down the memory hole, airbrushed from history: We want Huw back on TV… the majority of the public want to see Huw Edwards back on the BBC, a Mirror poll has revealed – who thought to set that question as a poll, then?
Telly pals rally for stricken star as poll shows viewers support his return… Former Newsnight host Emily Maitlis… branded the reporting “distasteful” (Mirror) – whereas our Huw’s behaviour was…?
Who’s who at the BBC?
Stars rally round Huw Edwards as John Simpson and ex-BBC stars Dan Walker and Jon Sopel share support for their former colleague. (Daily Mail)
“She’s next on his list of who to sue”: Victoria Derbyshire’s Huw Edwards slip-up video goes viral amid BBC presenter scandal… On the night of Monday, July 11, Derbyshire supposedly made a slip-up while discussing the BBC presenter scandal during an episode of Newsnight.
On her way to explaining why BBC was choosing to not yet name the presenter, she said: “We do know that the BBC is in the middle of another crisis and big questions are being asked again about who – who knew what, when, and why the corporation is on the back foot.” The journalist repeating the word “who” twice and even stumbling on it before quickly correcting herself led netizens to speculate about Huw Edwards’ alleged involvement in the BBC presenter scandal. (Sportskeeda.com)
Meanwhile in the more respectable environs of SW19
Unstoppable Djokovic marches into final (Daily Express) marches into… sounds just like what we’re told Putin did to Ukraine
Djokovic’s running battle… He taunts fans in semi-final victory (Telegraph)
…the Serb was docked a point for hindrance, judged by British umpire Richard Haigh to have disturbed Sinner with a long grunt, and then warned for taking too long to serve… Djokovic was becoming increasingly tetchy as a result. He had an exchange with a fan after saving two set points at 5-4, sarcastically telling them to stop crying, then smiling in the same direction after securing victory in the tie-break. (BBC)
Take any single combat mano-a-mano (or woman-o-a-woman-o) one-on-one (despite what the ‘i’ newspaper may be up for) gladiatorial sport and you’ll find it tends to develope into a hero versus a heel confrontation. I’ll leave it to readers hereabouts to guess how come No-vax Djokovic has got himself somehow framed in the heel category.
Meanwhile our BBC nurtures hopes for a new heroine: The popular Tunisian hopes her third major final proves lucky as she aims to be the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles title. (BBC) African or Arab? How best to play this one?
Achilles’ heel
And the part of the heel will be played by: Vondrousova has come through… a two-set win over Elina Svitolina. The latter came in front of a partisan Centre Court crowd, who were emotionally invested in Ukrainian Svitolina’s run that came nine months after having a baby and against the backdrop of war. (BBC)
For ‘emotionally invested in‘ – read media-sponsored Two Minutes Hate
In the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell, the Two Minutes Hate is the daily public period during which members of the Outer Party of Oceania must watch a film depicting Emmanuel Goldstein, the principal enemy of the state, and his followers, The Brotherhood, and loudly voice their hatred for the enemy and then their love for Big Brother… The political purpose of the Two Minutes Hate is to allow the citizens of Oceania to vent their existential anguish and personal hatred toward politically expedient enemies (thank you Wiki)
AISI, today the Sun (no surprise) and the FT (no FT, no comment) are both missing from the BBC Blog, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-66208883, but in their newpaper reviews on TOADY they obviously have both newspapers in the studio for Amol and the Bee Lady to look at.
So why have the BBC not put these two newspapers up on their Blog?
Hhhhmmmnnnn.
Noted impartial professional Alan writes…
“There’s still much we don’t know about Huw Edwards’s behaviour, and the question of public interest in reporting it. But what we do know is that, over the past week, the Sun has pushed the limits of privacy to breaking point. On our website, Prospect editor Alan Rusbridger writes that the tabloid has a long history of blurring the lines between private and public.”
It’s a tabloid, Al. Like the Mirror. And the Graun and BBC when the target suits.
Were they filming when the Patel family arrived from Uganda?
Covid and vaccine lies:
https://thorsteinn.substack.com/p/how-lies-prevail
https://memory-holed-news.blogspot.com/2023/05/freedom-soon-comrade-one-more-jab-then.html
Roger Waters:
“Why aren’t you journalists phoning me up to ask?”
@7:35
She was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich (LMU) with her brother, Hans. For her actions, she was executed by guillotine. Since the 1970s, Scholl has been extensively commemorated for her anti-Nazi resistance work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl
Is it not so that in the present day every honourable German is ashamed of their government? And who among us can foresee the extent of the infamy that will be on us, and on our children, when the veil is lifted from our eyes and the most horrific crimes, crimes beyond all measure, come to light?
First pamphlet of the White Rose
ISBN 978-1-85124-583-3
Goodbye BBC reporting … hello HELLO Magazine …
“Is that news? Are you serious? Somebody’s tooth brushing habits … I’m not going to waste the viewers time with this rubbish. Let’s talk about toothbrushing .. Emily do you floss?” Gorka @4:16
https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2018/01/06/weekend-open-thread-172/comment-page-4/#comment-891452
“Europe migrant crisis”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-66202565
Great Britain is facing a state of emergency . Time for Sunak to “stop the boats” and defend our nation .
Time for Sunak to “stop the boats” and defend our nation – that time has passed – Sunak will give someone 5 billion and say he did his bit.
https://tapnewswire.com/2023/07/will-emergency-block-2024-elections-plus-several-excellent-excerpts-and-links-dr-john-day/
BBC search for China – https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=china&d=HOMEPAGE_PS
Old Photographs Fever – The Search for China’s Pictured Past
Paul Jackson reports on TV in China, and the British producers hoping to succeed there.
Carrie Gracie looks at the past and future of the relationship between Britain and China.
Omission is the greatest lie …. China infiltrating all aspects of UK life … HA HA HA …
order-order.com
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12288673/China-sends-spy-disguised-tourist-infiltrate-HoC-briefing-Hong-Kong-dissidents.html
Does the UK have a strategy policy?
A ‘China Strategy’?
Well yes it has.
Replicate everything Chinese and allow them to steal as much information as they want.
David Cameron to lead £750m UK-China investment initiative
This article is more than 5 years old
Former prime minister will take charge of £750m fund to improve transport links between China and its trading partners
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/16/david-cameron-to-lead-750m-uk-china-investment-initiative
In answer to Horrabin’s question
“No mate, but you need help”
What a crock
If you can stand it there’s a write-up of the pantwetter’s visit.
To climate science what Paul Mason is to economics – a wittering twerp who’s never had a clue but wants to push his religion.
The BBC recruit the best and the brightest huh?
“Are these from 28 days of a hot day?” from order-order.com
I don’t expect that users of this site are at all surprised by the hypocrisy shown by the majority of theMSM , the BBC , Global and the Guardian in particular, over the Huw Edwards scandal.
We all know that had Huw been a right of centre supporter those outlets would have had him hung drawn and quartered by now, guilty until and unless proved innocent , and even when proven innocent, they would make sure that it was career ending.
Not so with dear Huw who they are shielding from scrutiny , trumpeting that nothing illegal happened , that the Sun over stepped the mark and hoping that he is rehabilitated and soon back on our screens. They will also use this an excuse to impose more censorship when it suits them.
Whilst we expected and can clearly see hypocrisy writ large , do the rest of the public see it? Do they think like us that Edwards should never be seen again on TV , that the Sun did a decent job in exposing the scandal ? Or do they swallow the line that Huw is a victim and innocent of any crime and do they want him back on tv after a suitably tearful apology of course and an in-depth soul searching programme on mental issues?
If the latter then I wash my hands of the people of this country. They are too stupid to be bothered about , impossible to rouse to resistance and almost deserve what they are going to get in the next two or three decades .
We only have to think of Neil Parrish ex MP and how the BBC treated him.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61284125
One rule for anyone right of centre and one rule for the Left and BBC employees (although for the vast majority of BBC employees the word ‘Left’ includes them too.
Double, having read some of the comments by the public to the scandal in online DM I fear your fears may be well founded.
I am dumbfounded by the “leave him alone” “I wish him well” “I like him and hope he’s back on our screens soon” comments
by subscribers ………. christ its as though he’s Santa Claus – and he has kids sitting on his knee, but thats ok though, he’s a nice kindly man and we forgive him.
Regardless of the legality or not, what he did was unbelievably repugnant to most morally minded people and who now isn’t fit to read the weather.
Brissles,
Hey! Leave the weather out of this. “Settled Science” and all that……….
Deborah and Brissels . It certainly looks as though there is a growing possibility that dear Huw will be back on tv within a few months.
No doubt the BBC will have to pretend to take some of the blame for not noticing his distress , not asking him every few weeks if he was OK, was the work load they were heaping on him just too much. The reality of course is that Huw is a 61 year old pervert and entirely responsible for his own actions. But the best outcome for the BBC is that the dumbo public exonerate him and the face of the BBC returns by popular demand . The ten o clock news read by St Huw of Llanelli .
The BBC know as well as we do that Huw’s retreat for sanctuary in the Priory and the dark muttering from his friends about the possibility of suicide , is just a cover story designed to stop him being questioned until suitable answers have been dreamt up . The bonus for Huw is that it elicits a huge sympathy vote from the millions of idiotic gullible nit wits who comprise a disturbingly high proportion of the population.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the BBC offered him compensation for the mental anguish they caused him and then a pay rise due to his immense popularity.
It is sickening to see how easily the public can be manipulated. They are like putty in the hands of BBC.
Brissles why take things at face value ?
Anyone can create a thousand Daily Mail comment accounts.
Likewise when news says “a surveys says” the survey might well be rigged
ttps://churchmousec.wordpress.com/2023/07/14/chris-bryants-targetting-and-pursuit-of-boris-johnson/
Something seems to link such as the BBC, Bryant and how political ‘reporting’ progresses; just need to connect the dots.
Boob was BBC.
Boob should have kept his gob shut.
Any questions on underpants to get on Ceebeebies?
Question 1: the BBC office boy
Question 2: Doesn’t work at the BBC
Question 3: the BBC Showbusiness correspondent
Give me the child at …. and I have them for life. Indoctrination / brainwashing, its scandalous.
“Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.”
― Aristotle, The Philosophy of Aristotle
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/709859-give-me-a-child-until-he-is-7-and-i
“Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.”
I agree with that 100%.
It’s nature. Creatures are formed in their early years and after that they are set.
THAT is why all this ‘enrichment’ come here, set up ‘enrichment’ districts to ensure the following ‘enrichment’ grow up the same and we gradually morph into the place they came from.
We should have a charter for immigrants to have to swear they will uphold the culture and values of the country who is giving them sanctuary. And when they don’t, they should accept that they may be forced to leave.
I live in Thailand for the most part of the year. I would not dream of demanding they change their way of life to suit mine. I have chosen to live in their culture and I feel honour bound to respect it. I made the choice.
If they want to live like animals, they should stay in France. Recent events suggest they will be more at home there.
*this is the conversation we will be having when the Mullahs nuke us*
*this is the conversation we will be having when the Mullahs nuke us*
*this is the conversation we will be having when the Mullahs nuke us*
“To cite the other person you just said that would *trigger you Sam Harris*, Mark Steyn said this the other day, *this is the conversation we will be having when the Mullahs nuke us*.Everyone will be discussing if someone is transgender despite the fact they’ve had no operation (ref Jack Monroe in UK)” – Douglas Murray when he’s angry, but he still makes sense.
………..
The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of MPs has published its report into China’s influence on Britain, and it doesn’t make for easy reading.
https://order-order.com/2023/07/13/intelligence-and-security-committee-says-china-poses-main-state-security-threat-to-uk/
Britain is now “severely handicapped” by its “short-termist approach” to taking Chinese cash without asking too many questions.
https://churchmousec.wordpress.com/2023/07/14/chris-bryants-targetting-and-pursuit-of-boris-johnson
That was just correcting @GuestWho’s link
but somehow has appeared 10 posts below
#CCBGB
Earlier that morning:
BBC ?
Yes ..
Good. Tony would like to be on TV again. Can we arrange an interview for tomorrow ?
Of course
Good. Put one of those attractive-but-clueless women up you have so many of so he can oggle her a bit and not get asked any awkward questions.
No problem. Payment by brown envelope again ?.
Yes – he’ll give it to the producer when he arrives.
Boody hell Guest! That needed a trigger warning!
Could you revisit the 2009 UK MP expenses again, I would not like to find out that MPs like Tony Blair have ran to the shredder prior to your investigations.
Reference CAS-5141940-GLNRS4
Thank you for contacting us about BBC News.
I understand you feel we should cover alleged expenses abused by MPs.
We know that not everyone will agree with our choices on which stories to cover, or the order in which they appear. Our news editors make these complex decisions, based on the editorial merit of all the stories at hand. We accept that not everyone will agree with each decision – various factors are at play and there’s often debate in the newsroom too.
A range of factors affect how we put together our news bulletins. Is it breaking news, or a dated story? Does it follow on from a recent event, or change our understanding of things? Is it unusual, or attracting national interest? We consider these things and also put great importance on verifying events and building up a clear picture – before reporting in a reliable and trustworthy way.
Editorial decisions are more of a judgement call, than an exact science – so you’ll even find variety from one BBC programme to the next. Time constraints, the expected audience profile and the style of each bulletin or current affairs programme can all play a part.
Nevertheless, we appreciate the feedback that our viewers and listeners give us when they feel a story has been overlooked or marginalised.
All complaints are sent to senior management and programme makers every morning and we have included your points in this overnight report. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensures that your complaint has been seen by the right people quickly.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards
James Kelly
BBC Complaints Team
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
. . . .
YOUR COMPLAINT:
Complaint Summary: Follow up UK MP expenses of 2009 – MP paid £65K
Full Complaint: Dear BBC £3.5 billion paid under threat of prison complaints department,
Could you revisit the 2009 UK MP expenses again, I would not like to find out that MPs like Tony Blair have ran to the shredder prior to your investigations.
Here are some details, can you use Journalists who are avoiding the BBC Gary ‘£1.75m’ Lineker Pay Gap and see why an MP on £77K salary tops up their money with a job giving them £65K extra a year.
Maybe find other MPs on such amazing schemes and why they are getting free tickets to concerts when they have so much cash sloshing around in their MP expenses accounts.
Chuka Umunna MP, Streatham (tax payer pays him £77K per year) is being paid £65,040 a year Advisory Position at Global Progress (London) Ltd …
1) Look into what he produces for £65K a year. 2) Look at who owns the company and other players – Tony Blair is linked to it. 3) Find other MPs doing the same. 4) Ensure they are paying taxes on the extra money. 5) Maybe interview them and ask some questions rather than how they feel today? For a head start you can find the details on : THEY WORK FOR YOU https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=24950americanprogress.org https://www.americanprogress.org/about/staff/browne-matt/bio/ COMPANIES HOUSE https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/11079851/filing-history Good luck and let me know how you get on.
p.s. I also see that MPs claim their MP Office BBC TV Licenses Tax on their expenses, thus the UK tax payer has to pay their own TV License and their MP’s TV License. Might want to consider stopping this for the 650 MPs.
https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2018/10/28/start-the-week-open-thread-29-october-2018/comment-page-2/#comment-949837
An abortionate attempt at ‘Steepling’? No he’s simply an abortion, period.
https://www.psychmechanics.com/body-language-steepling-hands/
The issue is more what ‘doing well’ is now in politico-media circles.
Ms. Rayner gets overpaid for shouting a lot and into many tv studios.
Not an ambition or example most parents would be keen to see their kids emulate.
Obviously not enough places in private schools for Labour MPs children and friends so they need the numpties to go to the state schools.
Just remind me which private school Dianne Abbott send her kid to.
I cannot look at her now without remembering the hatred she was inciting at that Labour meeting calling the Tories scum. It wasn’t a joke : it was nasty and meant sincerely.
And she was completely let off the hook by our media. Just imagine if they had got Boris saying it about her.
Wait until the BBC ‘Far’ or ‘Hard’ Editors regain their composure.
Well, It’s time to get rid of your pet fish…..
Climate change: What’s the carbon fin-print of your pet fish?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66201178
That Meghan Rapinoe in retirement?
Still, xe must have Clive Lewis’ full support.
“Meghan Rapinoe in retirement?”
If only!!!
That bastard should have his medical licence revoked.
Banning conversion therapy (BAD)
Updated 9 December 2021
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/banning-conversion-therapy/banning-conversion-therapy
National FGM Support Clinics (GOOD)
-Female genital mutilation (FGM)
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/female-genital-mutilation-fgm/national-fgm-support-clinics/
‘My first thought as I came round was Oh God! What have I done?’: Man suing the NHS over trans surgery he bitterly regrets has bravely waived anonymity to share his ordeal
Ritchie Herron, 35, says life has been unbearable since surgery four years ago
His case first emerged after he shared experience on Twitter under pseudonym
He claims NHS failed to take mental health crisis into account before procedure
By SANCHEZ MANNING FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 22:11, 25 June 2022 | UPDATED: 17:16, 28 June 2022
On thar first line – I think that every time I put up a thread ..
HA! Here we go again … If you can’t stand the Huw get out £35k!
Just in and taking a quick gander at GB News. Their roving reporter is at Wimbledon, chatting to people queuing for the women’s final.
Everyone seems to want the same woman to win…and the GB News lad wondered why…and so did I…
Apparently, this particular lass “has a lovely personality”…”she’s charming”…”she wears her heart on her sleeve”… and then one tubby white woman let the cat out of the bag.
“It would be so nice to have an Arab / African winner.”
Why? What possible difference can it make? And…
Imagine, when the muscle-bound Williams sister was winning every year and someone said, Oh, yes, I’d love the white girl to win.”
Blimy, there would be a police investigation…
The anti-White racist bias of the stinking rotten BBC in tennis is nothing new. The bias in favour of the Williams sisters, Coco Gauff and Eubanks is probably still fresh in people’s minds but it’s been going on for decades.
Forty years ago circa, when Dan Maskell was still commentating, there was men’s doubles match between Arthur (Black Power salute) Ashe and Yannick Noah (French, also Black) against two baddies from South Africa (booo!) Bernie Mitton and Andrew Patterson. It reminded me of Saturday afternoon tag-team wrestling with Kent Walton on ITV back in the 1970s.
More recently, but still a while ago, Steve Rider (I think) seemed to be celebrating a ‘trend’ of sorts that he’d noticed, in which two Black American singles players (Shelton and Washington, but I might be wrong – tennis experts can correct me) had beaten two White (European?) established players. I think we were supposed to welcome this! It’s a Good Thing (hat tip to Sellar and Yateman).
La Balding is fully on board with this. It’s gutless but I suppose these BBC parasites know which side their bread is buttered on. Tennis must have been deemed to be too White and so has to be dragged down by the BBC Trots into racial politics like everything else.
Oh dear! It’s 6-4 and 1-0 (service break) to the bad girl.
I’m not watching but saw this on the BBC’s biased text coverage:
“Jabeur is really rattled. She is so unsettled by the game of Vondrousova.
It could be nerves. Also she is the heavy favourite here. The whole continent of Africa is depending on her, Tunisia, Arab women – the expectations are immense.”
Comment by former player Tracy Austin. Etc, etc.
But Jabeur fights back (2-1) the morons love it:
“Jabeur gives the people what they want. [sic!!!]
The roar which greets her putting the second set back on serve is greeted by a noise akin to One Direction walking out on stage.
Plenty of people jump to their feet in celebration, too.”
Don’t be that Guy.
In the BBC’s beloved U-empire, including here, you’d be amazed what you get put in jail for, often with fatal consequences.
MoneyBox which should be renamed ‘get welfare ‘ had a comrade MP called Angus McNeil on to moan about those who didnf get the £400 energy payout using borrowed taxpayers ‘ money .
Apparently 750 000 householders didnt get the payout and now its too late .
The BBC and mr mcneal seem to think money should just be thrown at everyone .
SAY WHAT YOU WANT – HA HA HA
Hungary and Poland lose EU funding fight over laws
Published
16 February 2022
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60400112
Poland is fighting back against the EU.
“Another day, another spat between Warsaw and Brussels. This time, Poland has declined to participate in the European Union’s latest plan to relocate migrants and asylum seekers within the bloc, with countries who refuse being expected to pay €20,000 per refugee. Hungary has also voted against the pact, while Malta, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria have quietly abstained.
On 15 June, the Polish parliament (the Sejm) went further and passed a resolution opposing the plan, with the ruling conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) announcing a national referendum on the matter. The referendum will take place on the same day as the general election in either October or November this year.
… Brussels has also been on Poland’s back for years, not just the past few weeks, about taking more immigrants. In 2020, the European Court of Justice ruled that Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic had breached their obligations under European law by refusing to take in refugees.
…And ultimately, what can Brussels do if Poland flatly refuses to comply or even negotiate? Apart from getting very annoyed, not very much, says Kielanowski. ‘Nothing in the EU can be enforced. They can think of some penalties, but if they fine Poland for this, Poland will start fighting it in the European court, which will take years, and eventually Poland may win.’
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/polands-battle-with-the-eu-over-migrant-quotas/
Likely the same across the country esp in local government – certainly feels like it in Wiltshire – 10 weeks (and counting) to get Building Control to approve a sewage connection.
Mind you – it is Wales…
Fill with MIgrants?
Working from home Tax ….
With 34 at their desks they might just be covering 40 hours of work. Between them.
Is it just me, or is the BBC appallingly biased, hoping and hoping that Ons Jabeur, African, Arab, Muslim, olive-skinned will win the Wimbledon Ladies Final.
As opposed to East European whitey Vondrousova.
It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box. All through the critical years many left-wingers were chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British.”
― George Orwell, England Your England
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7383343-in-intention-at-any-rate-the-english-intelligentsia-are-europeanized
…………..
Honour killing barbie with mo the slaughterer?
Do they make a mutaween outfit for Ken so he can give Barbie a battering for un-Islamic behaviour?
Yesterday, after the 2 men’s semi-finals, there was a vote on the BBC tennis page, who do you want to win the men’s final, Alcaraz or Djokovic?
To vote, click thumbs-up for Alcaraz or thumbs-down for Djokovic.
In other words they decided that the non-vaxxed Djokovic would be the thumbs-down vote.
No hidden agenda there then hey BBC……
You know how those totalitarian regimes used propaganda -‘the message ‘ for everything everywhere ?
Well here the same techniques are now being used for of all things – the weather – every other day there is a ‘global warning inspired ‘ ‘warning ‘ about extreme weather .
Well today in londonistan it’s a bit blowy – but the warnings I’ve seen declare the world ending …..
Sell the lie – often and many times ….
We had some rain here this week. I’m going to build an ark if I can get the wood delivered, gopher’s are scarce round here so I assume the wood is too.
Sometimes the BBC gets carried away with its ‘ unquestioning support for ‘coloured folk ‘.
This time it’s a Tunisian girl in the tennis thing final . Whatever it is – it will be a ‘first ‘ .,.. a sort of approved nationalism approved racism .
Not about the lady herself – but what she is supposed to ‘represent ‘… if it’s ‘approved ‘ there’s no stopping the BBC …
The BBC agenda image for anything to do with public
interest features. ” Are we in for more travel chaos
this summer,” ” BRITS will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last
year.”
” Ok imaging dept this is a direct order from BIG BROTHER
from the diversity dept . As usual I don’t want to see
the face of an indigenous Brit . If this is difficult at an UK
airport . I demand that as few white faces are on view as
possible.”
Just as an appendage. Does Getty’s Imaging just employ
black models? Or do the BBC just insist that
even for “Experiencing soaring temperatures in ITALY”
has to feature an agenda image? Am I going mad
or something. What for Christ’s sake is going on with
the BBC and the advertising industry ?
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/ see for yourself!
Douglas Murray The Truth about Google Images
The use of black models to illustrate soaring temperatures (sic) in Italy is entirely appropriate. Black people evolved in cold countries such as Britain (e.g. Cheddar Gorge man) and hence find it extra challenging to cope with warm temperatures. This is similar to the manner in which they are also uniquely affected by financial matters in the UK such as inflation, energy costs, shortage of ATMs, the rising cost of food – things which do not affect any other group.
Fos, if you open any women’s mag all the advertising features ie cosmetics beauty products, fashion , food supplements fitness, show a mixed race model. It’s been like this since long before lockdown.
There must be an awful lot of white models – male, female and children who have lost regular employment because of the advertising industry’s fixation that black is good.
Its the Ad agencies. They have been told they must use diversity in all ads or be fined by OftTwat. So to avoid fines All models TV, Radio , Add in Newspapers are now 40- 70% black, as no other race exist in the UK apparently. This long term aim is called ‘positive discrimination’ and started in America as ‘compensation. for being black. Its a Left Wing thing, that all black people are retarded and constant victims of white suppression. Only the EU and Socialism will make everyone equal (it is claimed). Free BBC TV license, no doubt based on special needs will follow.
https://newsthump.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/happy-black-man-thumbs-up.jpg
‘Hey, we are 4% of the British population but we control the advertising industry’. Celebrate with us’…………….
From The Times.
A Manchester City footballer called Mendy has been found not guilty of rape. He may be due £9 million in back pay. We are told that Premier League contracts state that players cannot do or say anything that could bring their club into disrepute.
Two BBC related points.
1. Will they please desist from endless reporting of ‘rich bankers’, FTSE CEOs, and especially Cabinet Ministers with their snouts in the trough. Your average footballer is never criticised for his earnings, yet would not get out of bed for the money those on the above list get. Total hypocrisy.
2. Do BBC staff not have a ‘bringing the BBC into disrepute’ clause in their contracts? If not why not? If yes, how come Huw Edwards has had his behaviour unchallenged for months if not years?
The Charter sets out the BBC’s Public Purposes:
To provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them.
To support learning for people of all ages.
To show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services.
To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy across the United Kingdom.
To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world.
https://www.bbc.com/editorialguidelines/guidelines/editorial-standards/#accountability
…………….
Ahmadis suffer vicious persecution around the world. The main source of fuel for that persecution is in Pakistan, but what happens in Pakistan does not stay in Pakistan.
To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world.
I know that from my experience in the Yorkshire market town of Batley. In August 1985, when I was 11 years old, my parents organised an inter-faith meeting in the town hall. It was interrupted and disturbed when, according to West Yorkshire police, more than 1,000 extremists, led by Pakistani hate preachers funded by the Pakistani state, were bused in from around the country. The mob brutally attacked my English mother and my father, a dermatologist; my eldest brother and I; and a Welsh Ahmadi schoolteacher who was with us. My first cousin, a GP, was by chance driving through the market town that day. He saw the mob and saw his family and friends being attacked, so he stopped. He was recognised, pulled from his vehicle and savagely beaten up.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2020-03-12a.177.0&s=islam+batley#g195.0
To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world.
I’m quite tempted to make a real version of this actually, just need 30 celebrities, although I guess I could pad it out with notorious non-BBC criminals like Fred West or the like. (too white and male to get on the telly)
…….Wimbledon update.
In a long, gladiatorial contest….( not), an unseeded player (so much for stand-out strong leading players ) beats an underwhelming, error-prone bottleless opponent in 1 hour 15 minutes. Given the BBC bias for who turned out to be the loser, a rather nice egg-on-face result.
The winner gets £1.15 million more than the loser.
Who would not want a pay rate of £1 million per hour? Every business leader in the country, employing millions, to name a few hundred.
The men, who will play tomorrow, will earn nothing like that, for a great deal more effort.
Equality? I think not.
Next up. The toe-curling interview with the loser, ‘how did you feel when you knew you had lost’? If only she had the guts to say ‘f*** off’!
Oh dear the wrong woman won the women’s final. BBC not happy
Cue more rioting in France and elsewhere? An Islamophobic result?
“Mostly fiery riots!”
The women commentators sound so depressed.
Expect to see them baring their bums on the internet later then checking in for therapy.
Oh and the winner gets the same prize money as the male player. Despite only doing about 50% of the work.
I think it is vile that the BBC bring racism into everything . No doubt they’ll demand more tickets for Tunisians … mind you the Czech lady sure likes her ‘tats’….
Not bbc
My local east londonistan paper reports that the only cinema ( empire ) in the area has gone bust .
Perhaps the crap put out these days doesn’t attract paying punters now …. … I wanted to see the top gun thing on the big screen – I went in and asked – the staff couldn’t care less – sometimes you know when a business is doomed ….
Go woke go broke
…perhaps the days of big cinema are over and the audience is now happy with Netflix sized box sets ….
Apparently Disney is putting out a new ‘Snow White and the 7 ‘companions ‘ which has all the ingredients of being a real stinker , ,,
.. stinking so much as to achieve ‘cult ‘ or ‘classic ‘ status – those 2 over used words …
Janet Daly in the DT on the BBC – enjoy –
STARTS Let’s talk about what’s really wrong with the BBC. The problem is not just the latest crisis – or even the record of previous ones which were much worse than this. The question that needs to be asked is whether any other broadcasting organisation in the world could have survived the truly shocking Jimmy Savile/Rolf Harris/Martin Bashir episodes, and thus lived on to fall into yet another public disaster.
What is it about the BBC that makes it apparently invincible? Bear in mind that the third episode in that list of catastrophes involved the heir to the throne publicly denouncing the Corporation over an incident which he believed led to his late mother’s sense of persecution and possibly, by implication, to her death. That unprecedented statement in which Prince William accused the Corporation’s management of covering up a deliberate deception was described by a Today programme presenter as “one great national institution” attacking another. And that is the real key to this mystery.
We must understand that the apparent invulnerability of the BBC, even after the exposure of grossly irresponsible behaviour, is connected to its conception of itself as essential to national identity. Indeed, as the Today presenter helpfully made clear, as essential as the monarchy. Of course, the people who now run the Corporation are aware that they are no longer a monopoly provider: that the unique sense of mission with which the enterprise was launched is now not just out of date but completely anomalous. Everybody knows that the BBC is simply one broadcasting outfit among many competing for audience share. But this recognition has not led to any productive discussion about alternative ways of defining itself.
Instead it has induced a kind of systemic derangement: somehow the totemic role of the Corporation as the official unifying voice of the nation must be maintained at the same time as it engages in the market competition that is now required for survival. This is, as I expect you can see, logically untenable. An organisation cannot both have a unique function and, at the same time, see itself as competitive with rivals offering other such services. This conundrum is at the heart of pretty much everything the BBC is getting wrong.
In order to maintain its mythic role as speaking to, and for, the entire country, it must appeal to new generations of younger viewers. In its (largely futile) pursuit of them, it is treating its older core audience with unconcealed contempt – removing their favourite presenters and replacing established programming with badly judged, embarrassingly patronising formats. (Recent example: the Wimbledon commentary round-ups which looked and sounded like children’s programmes).
The message that comes across is quite unmistakable: we are just waiting for all those older viewers to go away and die so that we can concentrate on getting in touch with a new youthful audience whose tastes and attitudes we barely understand. Ironically, this is an approach that no successful commercial organisation would ever adopt: no other media outlet whether broadcast or print, would choose to alienate its core following, however eager it was to recruit new customers. But the BBC knows nothing about what it takes to succeed in an open market and it is not interested in learning. For all its apparent desperation and alarm, it is at its heart, still steeped in arrogant self-regard.
It is not surprising that the BBC is getting this all wrong – because there is no way of getting it right. Its attempts to get down with the kids look like Dad dancing – at best, fumbling and silly, at worst simply grotesque. But more damagingly, the obsession with staying relevant destroys the very thing that once did (and still could) make its output immeasurably valuable – and justify its poll tax funding arrangement.
It is clearly avoiding what would once have been seen as its duty to transmit high culture to a mass audience for fear of being labelled “elitist” but at the same time, it is failing to keep up with the most recent artistic developments in modern broadcasting.
Television drama is now the premier art form of the age. The most stunning examples of this, such as Succession and The White Lotus, have not come from the BBC but from HBO, an American broadcasting company which is free from advertisers’ constraints because it is paid for by subscription. But the BBC, which does not have to worry about advertisers either, has produced nothing of this courageous inventiveness. (Happy Valley, probably its most distinguished recent effort, was essentially superior soap opera.)
For all its proud independence, the Corporation fails to take creative risks or to defy conventional expectations. It does not even seem to value what is genuinely unique in its portfolio. It is turning the Proms into a middle-brow, dumbed down mish-mash rather than a serious classical music festival, and it tried to abolish the BBC Singers chorus. It seems determined to divest itself of all the features that once made it a true public service in order to emulate – in bad faith and with little comprehension – material that is widely available elsewhere. And all of this is made necessary by the funding model.
What drives this incoherent attempt to be two incompatible things at once – both sacrosanct embodiment of national identity and successful competitor for ratings – is the need to justify the licence fee. The Corporation’s apologists like to claim that 159 pounds a year for access to the whole of the BBC’s output is much better value than most streaming outfits. But this is a wildly misleading argument.
The TV licence is not a permit to watch the BBC: it is a licence to own a television. It is nothing like a Netflix subscription. It is more reminiscent of communist Romania where you needed a licence to own a typewriter and it is utterly out of touch with the expectations of those youngsters that the BBC is so anxious to attract. That is the real crisis which is going to have to be faced someday. ENDS
And I try to put my feet into the shoes of the BBC –
1 we are a global trusted brand
2 we unite the country at big events
3 we major in inclusivity and diversity
4 we provide coverage for minorities
5 we are cheap compared to Netflix
6 our output numbers remain strong
7 huge numbers still pay the licence
8 the licence is cheap for what it gives
9 we are expanding our services
10 we are untouchable
“the USSR, rolled out in Romania after the 1947 Communist takeover. The measure was lifted in the early 1960s, but brought back under Ceausescu. In 1983, Ceausescu’s government enforced a law requiring typewriter owners obtain a license from the police to own or even retain these ‘dangerous’ devices.17 May 2023”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12298801/EXCLUSIVE-Snow-White-Seven-Politically-Correct-Companions.html
That film has the look of greatness …
https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/tv-licence-fee-evasion-highest/?
What with one thing and another, it is unlikely to improve.
Hard to see any politically savvy anyone thinking trying to load this ancient virus into something like council tax is going to play well.
BBC apologises for failure to scrutinise Nadine Dorries’ claims about Sue Gray
This article is more than 4 months old
Former culture secretary called into question neutrality of civil servant after her appointment as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/10/bbc-apologises-failure-scrutinise-nadine-dorries-claims-sue-gray
The BBC is self-destructing
– All About a certain News reader ‘now recovering’ in a BBC paid private hospital for trauma victims! He hopes to be back soon on the BBC, as the Police cannot trace the where the (shock) Cocaine came from, or where the £35,000 came from (such poor photographs of a bum). We shall never know, as I suspect, the BBC luvvies do like a victim they recognise as one of them. BBC trained (as they all are).
Anyway: Rod Liddle writes about it here in Specatator
(excerpt)
…. It seems that quite a few BBC employees are aggrieved at the way in which the corporation has behaved, not least in its attempts to protect its star. We are told, too, that the director-general, Tim Davie, only learned of this issue comparatively recently and that the police have now been informed twice about the matter.
The problem, then, is that the BBC complaints procedure even now – after Jimmy Savile – is not designed to discover the truth and adjudicate appropriately, but to dissemble and fob off the general public as far as is humanly possible until one day, a long way down the line, when it really hits the fan, at which point the director-general resigns or something similar. In other words, it is not a genuine complaints procedure: it is not designed to give the licence-payer the satisfaction of knowing that his or her complaint has been taken seriously.
I know this from good experience, after once being subjected to a tirade of politically motivated abuse on Newsnight from its then presenter Emily Maitlis. Many people complained – and were told by the BBC to get stuffed. It was only through the decency and diligence of a very senior BBC exec that eventually the complaints were properly considered and it was decided that the interview did indeed suggest to viewers that Emily might be a bit biased. Not that anything was actually done after this finding, mind – the programme was ticked off a bit but it did not remotely change its approach to interviewing people with whom Emily dis-agreed politically. They still got dog’s abuse.
In the latest case it would seem that the BBC battened down the hatches and simply hoped to God that the story would go away. That the complaints unit did not tell the director-general that one of the corporation’s stars faced these allegations suggests to me a stupidity bordering on the criminal. And, of course, that despite all those promises and a sacked DG, nothing, since Savile, has actually changed at the BBC.
Rod Liddle article in ‘The Spectator’ this coming week
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-bbc-is-self-destructing/
” fob off the general public as far as is humanly possible until one day,”
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual
Exploitation in Rotherham
1997 – 2013
Alexis Jay OBE
https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/279/independent-inquiry-into-child-sexual-exploitation-in-rotherham
Chilcot report etc….
There is some bizarre algorithm on FB that fires me ‘suggested for you’ posts from all over, usually utter tripe
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Yorkshire Live
TV friends demand Huw Edwards returns to BBC news and the public want him back https://tinyurl.com/PublicWantHuw
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Seems those friends and ‘the public’ failed to get the memo, looking at the comments….