346 Responses to Midweek 3rd April 2024

  1. andyjsnape says:

    Smart meter left woman, 87, scared to turn heat on
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckk77v4wvr0o

    An 87-year-old woman lived in an “icy cold” home all winter because she was so afraid of high bills caused by a suspected faulty smart meter.

    “Diana Bowen resorted to living in one small room within the house, with a portable heater and electric blanket in order to keep warm.”

    So Diana Bown had a heater on, but the house with icey cold?

    bbc I did the same, heated 1 room. So not much of a “story”

       16 likes

    • Flotsam says:

      We hear much about the very real North South divide and, from the Government, ‘leveling up’. The ill fated HS2 has wasted £Billions, it was supposed to have benefitted the North, a completely false premise.

      My idea for levelling up would for starters be to make the M6 Toll part of the normally free Motorway network. Anyone travelling on the M6 will know there is a choice between paying eye wateringly high charges for the Toll road or sitting among lines of thousands of cars and trucks on the M6 in Birmingham. The charges on the M6 Toll are so high that most haulage companies won’t pay for their trucks to use it.

         20 likes

      • Thoughtful says:

        HS2 was part of the government ‘shadowing’ EU legislation to make rejoining more seamless. The Marxist Tories are clueless now they are expected to come up with policy decisions which for decades was done for them by the EU.

        It was never about levelling up it was always economically going to entrench the divides in London and impoverish the North as people such as BBC types refused to move to Manchester and remained in Hampstead and Islington.

        I believe the UK needs a new freight only network to take containers from the ports inland. A spine North and South from Southampton with a spur to Felixstowe. A trans pennine route from Hull to Liverpool. legislation to force companies to get their freight off the roads onto the rails.

        There are a couple of things I am told about the current situation, one is that our railways are still based on the Victorian infrastructure which is not large enough for transport of containers, hence new being needed/

        Secondly is the report that it is cheaper for Europe to ship to Hull and offload, freight to Liverpool and reload than it is to sail around the UK hence the amount of trans pennine road traffic.

        Imagine the savings on road traffic, the greens should be all over this idea as long haul freight is removed from the roads. The greens should wet themselves over the emissions saved !

           15 likes

        • MarkyMark says:

          My Message to my local MP …

          Dear Darren Henry,

          13
          Parliament’s £13 billion restoration.

          150
          HS2 £150 billion, original budget £36 billion.

          37
          Track and Trace £37 billion – no tracking or tracing where this money went.

          1.1
          £1.1bn of COVID small business loans identified as fraud

          4
          £4 billion of unusable PPE bought in first year of pandemic will be burnt “to generate power”

          13 + 150 + 37 + 1.1+ 4 = £205 billion

          Nuclear reactor = £6 billion

          Cheers,
          Mark

             11 likes

          • Ian Rushlow says:

            And that £6 billion for a nuclear reactor can further be broken down:

            Cost of building and commissioning nuclear reactor £2 billion
            Money for French government via EDF £4 billion
            Grand total, £6 billion.

               2 likes

        • Flotsam says:

          I’m far from convinced that getting freight off the roads and onto the trains is such a good idea. There are certain specialised uses of rail freight which are good, such as quarry and mine products but by and large, freight is better and more versatile on the road and after all, most rail freight will end up on the road eventually anyway.

          I’ve noticed the amount of ship traffic on the Mersey has increased considerably in recent years. I wasn’t aware of the M62 freight bridge, I’ll look into that.

          HS2 was backed by our Parliament. MP’s voted for it, no wonder. MP’s get travel expenses, for first class rail travel and Taxis at both ends. Most us can barely afford the ridiculous ticket prices.

             13 likes

          • atlas_shrugged says:

            Flotsam

            I think you are right that rail for some reason is not a good choice for freight. Felixstowe docks which was built up with investment from Trinity College, Cranebridge is one of our busiest container docks and by coincidence a major road building program of the A14 and M11 and M25 took place. Many view Thatcher as a class warrior but my own view was that she was a gender warrior with a specific agenda to destroy the collective power of the working man. For example the power storage plant at Dinorwig was built to smooth out our power demand so there was less need to keep coal fired power stations running – useful if you want to defeat a miners strike.

            It really ought to be possible to use the long spine of our country to deliver freight by rail and yet Royal Mail has persistently ‘railed’ against our rail companies for poor performance and high costs.

            In other news the rail people had all their wages paid for by UK taxes during lockup and rewarded the public when this finished by going on strike. Yet train drivers are well paid.

               6 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        Funny that HS2 money is available – yet in debt.

           3 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Rishi says his swimming pool is only half full due to climate net zero changes …

      “Smart meter left woman, 87, scared to turn heat on”
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckk77v4wvr0o

         3 likes

    • callinson says:

      Me too – I only heat the basement where I spend most of my time (knee problems) and I also have a heated throw to cover the knees and legs – very cosy for reading or watching telly. Of course if there is any risk of the weather being so cold that pipes could freeze, I put the heating on low throughout the rest of the house.

         4 likes

  2. MarkyMark says:

    Is this a hate crime? See Scotland for answers.

    73f199a4-cf70-495d-a051-874471e30ef8-dd18033f-070c-4264-b8ea-557bc3d26799

       18 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Body double for the Scottish one ? Or the Welsh ? Don’t know what they’ve got in Eire now …apart from 2 million foreigners on top of 3 million Irish …

         10 likes

  3. AsISeeIt says:

    Gaza edition – Mr AsI goes there (not literally but argumentatively of course) plus other news and a letter from TV Licencing

    What do you call a motley band of ex-servicemen, all former members of some fictitious special forces unit, now freelance mercenaries working under cover on cartoonishly convoluted suicidal missions requiring them to drive around a warzone in their ad-hoc customised van – adapted on the fly using ordinary household and kitchen objects – despite every form of leathal munition blasting around them in all directions – yet they have no apparent fear of any injury or jeopardy to themselves whatsoever…? One last clue – one member of our band of off-beat heroes has – as it transpires – an understandable fear of aircraft?

    Nope it’s not that 1980s tv series starring George Peppard as Colonel Hannibal and Mr. T as BA Baracus – The A-Team

    I’m thinking instead of: Brave Brits: Rishi Sunak praises ex-soldiers… Israel attack condemned by PM… drone strike after delivering aid in Gaza (giveawy Metro)

    Hamas love it when a plan comes together – there’s one for the teenagers

    What was their original intention behind the 7th October attack on Israel?

    Well, with the collective west (as Alexander Mercouris of The Duran likes to say) deeply distracted by their Ukraine proxy war – and with President Trump having moved the US embassy to Jerusalem and his early progress with what was dubbed the Abraham Accords rapprochement between the US, the Jewish state and its Arab neighbours – Hamas felt it was time for a quick rendition of…

    Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds, 1985

    But what was the Hamas after plan? You can’t just solve every episode plot finale by disappearing into a shed and adapting a campervan and some old drain pipe into an armoured vehicle equiped with a bazooka (although that is more or less the ideal everyday jihadist gameplan).

    Of course Israel was going to retaliate to the provocation – massively. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

    Ukrainians returning home to get dental treatment (BBC) – but I digress.

    Measure for Measure – Shakespeare might have said but Israel can reliably be expected to go asymmetrical.

    Here’s the phase two of the Hamas plan – the Vietnam war wasn’t won by the communists in the Tet Offensive – it was lost by the US on their own home television news reports

    PM refuses to rule out halting arms sales to Israel (Times)

    Foremr supreme court judges add voices to to calls for Israeli arms ban (Guardian)

    Bear in mind that the collective west (TM The Duran) was already prior to 7th October a tad miffed about Bibi Netanyahu – he’s “far-right” dontcha know.

    Lights! Cameras! Cast of screaming women in headscarfs in the rubble with crying bloodied babies in their arms! Jeremy Bowen! Foreign bang-bang galore! World’s anger at aid convoy strike (freebie Metro)

    In other news…

    Preparing the world for the next pandemic (FT)

    The left-leaning hypochondriacal ‘i’ newspaper just can’t wait that long: Hay fever season is here… What to do by an allergy expert (‘i’) – lock yourself down indoors and get some jabs?

    The bigotry of low expectations

    I’m teaching my daughter to love being average… not perfect (‘i’)

    Judges look at soft terms for ‘deprived’ offenders (Telegraph)

    Daytime thefts are at record high (Telegraph) – Mr AsI loves a bit of juxtaposition of clashing narrative-busting headlines when it comes together

    Painting by the numbers

    NHS waiting lists are ‘missing 2 million’ (Telegraph)

    TV Licencing wrote to me recently and got me playing with the numbers: We visit around 5,000 adresses a day – there’s an asterix and some small print about this number not applying in the year 2020 – if only there were some form of official public inquiry that could look into that.

    Our Officers visit an address every 10 seconds – quick tip for readers – it takes less than 5 seconds to say “Not today, thank you” and close the door.

    Inspired by keen mathematics promoter Rishi Sunak (I see a little silhouetto of a man) let’s do the maths…

    Estimated TV licence evasion rate rose from 5.50% in 2012/13 to 10.31% in 2022/23 (House of Commons Library)

    I know the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance – I assume that means that’s 10% of households now simply not buying a tv licence – whatever their motivation.

    There were an estimated 28.2 million households in the UK in 2022; 6.1% or 1.6 million more households than there were in 2012 (ONS) – this is surely an underestimate – see previous editions of this review hereabouts and evidence provided by such diverse sources as our food retailers, sewerage industry and Polly Toynbee of the Guardian – although unlike the difficulties of our over-flowing sewers – for her its no biggie: Britain’s booming population is a blessing, not a curse (Guardian)

    Let’s work with the official figures 10.31% of 28.2m makes 2.9m evader households. At 5,000 addresses a day – I make that a 580:1 chance of a visit on any given day – assuming they also call at weekends. There are other complicating factors. I heard TV Licencing used to avoid working in Ulster. I’m not sure about that. Do please check my maths. Someone like Stew is helpful with this sort of thing.

    Sometimes these segueways write themselves

    Five-fold rise in ADHD and autism (Telegraph)

    No offence intended there to our dear Stew – please don’t report me to the Scots cops for a hate crime

    Shapps: We can’t play Russian roulette with Nato funds (Telegraph)

    The formerly serious, formerly patriotic, now largely female interest Times of London intensifies its blooming bromance with Keir Starmer: I wouldn’t date a Tory… Why young women are more left-wing

    And finally, your…

    Left-liberal wishy-washy, namby-pamby, hoity-toity, la-de-da, fannying about, up yer social worker (TM Inspector Grim The Thin Blue Line) Thought for the Day: Pet owners deserve paid bereavement leave (‘i’)

       27 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Asiseeit – thank you for mentioning about the need for pet bereavement leave – I full support this – although I don’t do pets .
      It follows on from the pet foodbank thing I mentioned last week .
      If you play your cards right you could be on permanent
      bereavement leave as well as needing counselling -paid for by the taxpayer should a pet being unable to jump the shark

      Those working from home – such as most government agencies would not be able to because the death of their pet ..

         9 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “Shapps: We can’t play Russian roulette with Nato funds (Telegraph)”
      – PUT IT ALL ON BLACK! (BBC verified)

         3 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        In another time – a U.S. president suggested European States stop living of the U.S. taxpayer on defence – he was then ridiculed when he repeated the same during the current presidential campaign .

        The truth might be – that with humanitarian aid – they promise a lot – but deliver not so much … meanwhile we squander borrowed taxpayers money on carriers which fit for not much …

           2 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “Pet owners deserve paid bereavement leave (‘i’)” Goldfish dies every week?

         6 likes

  4. MarkyMark says:

    Open Borders – anyone supporting this can open their house doors 24/7

       10 likes

  5. tvlicensingblog says:

    BBC TV Licensing Blog Exclusive:
    New damaging revelations about the effectiveness of TV detector vans that will leave the BBC very annoyed and egg-faced, so please share far and wide!

    Surveillance Regulator: BBC TV Detection Methods “Struggling to Keep Up with Technology”

       12 likes

  6. G says:

    Circumstantial Evidence is defined as “……evidence of relevant facts (facts from which the existence or non-existence of a fact in issue may be inferred)…..”. “Its importance lies in its potential for proving a variety of different relevant facts all of which point to the same conclusion” – ‘The Modern Law of Evidence’ Butterworths.

    When the BBC ignore even Circumstantial Evidence and/or its existence in their news reporting, you just know that that news topic and what will follow, will be entirely biased toward their own pet hatreds and away from the item/entity forming the subject matter and any honesty. The Real US President is a glaring example of the BBC at work. The last US elections (and previous); No better example exists and I use this example when I am asked for examples of BBC blatant bias. But now? A new round begins of bias against D J Trump. Expect the volume to be slowly wound up as November approaches.

       17 likes

  7. MarkyMark says:

    Note – Rishi will never leave, he will inform from behind the green screen from his new USA home with accounts in Ukraine!

    themanbehindthecurtain_400x225.png

       7 likes

  8. Eddy Booth says:

    “Dog fighting group helped run bouts across Europe”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-68728805

    Story includes usual retarded dog owners, plus the
    RSPCA’s Insp Kirsty Withnall and Ch Insp Ian Muttitt of the charity’s special operations unit.

    “During several visits to the property, visibly injured dogs were found alongside a stick used to break up dog fights and a DIY vet kit – including a text entitled The Dog Repair Book.

    RSPCA officers found dogs had been chained to treadmills at a house in Essex owned by Phillip Ali, known in the dog fighting world as Dr Death.”

    BBC happy to blur the story to make it look like the RSPCA
    raided the properties themselves and gathered evidence from phones etc, generally continuing the falsehood that the charity has powers similar to police – when they’re in fact exactly the same as any other member of the public.

       14 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      But Brexit stopped all EU dog fights? BBC verified! Brexit stopped the boats! Brexit stopped the House of Commons being ran from Brussels!

         11 likes

      • moggiemoo says:

        If we ever actually get Brexit, it would be interesting to see what changes.

           16 likes

  9. harry142857 says:

    From Guido.
    https://order-order.com/2024/04/04/beeb-slammed-for-spaffing-3-2-million-on-left-biased-bbc-verify/

    BEEB SLAMMED FOR SPAFFING £3.2 MILLION ON LEFT BIASED BBC VERIFY

    BBC Verify may be an avid fact-checker on some more centre-right outlets, though they aren’t known to to be quite so thorough on their some of their own content. Perhaps that’s why they’ve ramped up spending on the department. According to an FOI request from Guido, the BBC has recently moved a number of staff from other areas of News into the BBC Verify Team. As of the beginning of February 2024 there are 63 people with combined salary costs of £3.2m…

    Tory MP Andrew Percy blasted the revelation, saying:

    “It is staggering that the licence fee payer is shelling out millions of pounds for the laughingly labelled ‘BBC Verify’ team. Far from upholding high standards of journalism, BBC Verify has on too many occasions being bias and pushed out misleading information to viewers and readers, the very opposite of verification!”

    Now we know where the hike in the the licence fee is going…

       20 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      By Deborah Turness
      CEO, BBC News

      Annual remuneration (as at July 2023)
      £233,000

      https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/whoweare/deborah-turness

      . . . . . .

      Salary of the Prime Minister
      Date Entitlement Claimed
      1 Apr 2019 £158,754 £154,908
      1 Apr 2020 £161,866 £157,372
      1 Apr 2021 £161,866 £157,372
      1 Apr 2022 £164,951 £159,584

      ……

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65650822

      In the early hours of Wednesday 3 May, video footage emerged showing what appeared to be two drones crashing into a dome of the Kremlin complex in Moscow. But was the video real or fake? Did this “attack” actually happen? And how could we tell?

         5 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Harry – I think they should spend far more on Verify – maybe 20 million – the more spent on management crap the poorer the value for people still paying for the bbc – which might lead to an even faster cancellation of licences …

      Although red labour will be very happy with the BBC I cannot see the costs being subsumed into general taxation – nor the poll tax – non benefits people are being hammered on those now and pouring more on will really cheese people off even more …

      I can’t really see a way that red labour can increase taxes even more than the current disaster – increasing the pension age is an easy one but otherwise I reckon they will be really challenged … and debt repayments will cripple any wish list they have …
      I do wonder if red labour will be more Tory than blue labour … particularly if the communitarian ideal is dug up again …

         7 likes

      • Kaiser says:

        Im sure the one eyed scottish idiot ex chancellor has a few stealth taxes that he been dreaming about since 2010 still up his sleeve and will give them some advice behind the scenes

           6 likes

  10. digg says:

    I see that Hale woman spider judge is at it again after trying to shoot down Brexit.

    Says The UK should stop selling arms to Israel… thus being straight out of the Hamas/ISIS – BDS activist playbook….

    BDS is a Global movement trying to throttle Israel using trade bans and Barriers and hence can be viewed as thoroughly racist and anti-Jew.

    I am convinced the aim behind this is not to stop civilian casualties in Gaza but to render Israel weaker so that it can be obliterated in due course.

    Makes you wonder if people like this realise who are our allies and who would dearly like to wipe us out!

       25 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      In the lecture, Rand admonishes American businessmen for apologizing for capitalism and for, in some cases, directly funding detractors of the free market. Notably, she says that “It is a moral crime to give money to support your own destroyers.” She also answers audience questions after the lecture.

         5 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      _108930996_gettyimages-91301037.jpg

         3 likes

      • atlas_shrugged says:

        Marky

        I get triggered whenever I see pictures of these legal scumbags. It brings me out in a rash. They should be wearing sackcloth and ashes because of the harm and destruction they bring to the UK.

        Can’t we send them all off to Gaza to investigate war crimes or something?

           19 likes

  11. friend of yogi bear says:

    DID I HEAR THAT CORRECTLY.

    It is very sad that 3 British citizens have been killed in an Israeli air strike. Did l hear correctly that their remains are being repatriated to this country via Egypt?.
    Does it follow then that only the deceased can cross the Gaza-egyptian border?, that’s the one that the Egyptians have closed for every other purpose.
    Might be interesting to follow that up , or at least give some , or indeed any coverage of the on going closure.

    Let’s not hold our collective breaths on that one.

       26 likes

  12. harry142857 says:

    Going on strike (but not until Autumn)

    Teachers currently on a two week Easter break, followed by another week mid-term in May with a further six weeks at the end of July.

    12% pay rise over two years would suffice for most people. My workplace is struggling and we are getting zero this year.

       7 likes

  13. Althepalerp says:

    The Gaza – Egypt border is the most secure border in the world.
    How do they do it?

       16 likes

  14. MarkyMark says:

    Recess
    House rises
    House returns

    Summer 23 July 2024 TBA
    Whitsun 23 May 2024 3 June 2024
    May Day 2 May 2024 7 May 2024
    Easter 26 March 2024 15 April 2024
    February 8 February 2024 19 February 2024
    Christmas 19 Dec 2023 8 Jan 2024

    https://www.parliament.uk/about/faqs/house-of-commons-faqs/business-faq-page/recess-dates/

       3 likes

  15. MarkyMark says:

    2023 …. Banning free speech in the name of inclusivity and diversity is the Fringe’s sickest joke
    If you don’t like Graham Linehan, don’t buy a ticket – whichever side of the argument you are on, this kind of censorship should scare you

    Suzanne Moore
    18 August 2023 • 8:34pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/graham-linehan-edinburgh-fringe-banning-free-speech/

    ………………………………………

    https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill

    People are currently protected by specific laws on the basis of:

    disability

    race (and related characteristics)

    religion

    sexual orientation

    transgender identity

    This Bill adds age to that list and allows sex to be added at a later date.

    The Bill creates a new crime of stirring up hatred against any of the protected groups covered by the Bill.

    The Bill also abolishes the offence of blasphemy which has not been prosecuted in Scotland for more than 175 years.

    crime of stirring up hatred against
    crime of stirring up hatred against
    crime of stirring up hatred against

       9 likes

  16. MarkyMark says:

    In the lecture, Rand admonishes American businessmen for apologizing for capitalism and for, in some cases, directly funding detractors of the free market. Notably, she says that “It is a moral crime to give money to support your own destroyers.”
    ………………………

    We must not “pitchfork away” every Chinese investment, says UK PM (Boris)
    By Reuters
    July 7, 20214:22 PM GMT+1Updated 3 years ago
    ………………..

    How David Cameron tried to make his fortune with cash from China

    ………………………..

    “It is a moral crime to give money to support your own destroyers.”
    – How David Cameron tried to make his fortune with cash from China
    – We must not “pitchfork away” every Chinese investment, says UK PM (Boris)

       2 likes

  17. tomo says:

       18 likes

  18. andyjsnape says:

    Shocked bar owner believes mural is LGBT tribute
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5vneeqre1o

    “Shocked” really, honestly, what a load of …….

       7 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Let’s hope some right-minded Brummies who disagree with that sentiment do not decide to deface or paint over the holy image. That would be really terrible and nobody could encourage or condone such action.

         12 likes

  19. Fedup2 says:

    Looks like the interns are still in charge over the Easter period – as long as they lower standards that’s the main thing …

    … talking of lowering standards … every so often bowen or similar add the criticism of Israel for refusing journalists access to Gaza .
    I agree – let them in – we can then see how long they last before either being deaded or taken hostage ….

    I hope the IDF have stocked up on munitions because it looks increasingly like woke states are going to cut supplies off . .. gonna be a long war …

       18 likes

  20. MarkyMark says:

    Bradford CIty of UK Culture ….

    “A man has been found guilty of murdering a police officer by planning the armed robbery in which she was shot dead almost 20 years ago.

    Piran Ditta Khan, 75, spent nearly two decades evading justice for his part in the killing of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford on 18 November 2005.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bradford-west-yorkshire-68685046

    https://bradford2025.co.uk/

    Whose culture?

    https://bradford2025.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/bdfestival190821-mhpb-0241-1024×682.webp

       10 likes

  21. MarkyMark says:

    PC Beshenivsky, 38, was gunned down on her youngest daughter’s fourth birthday as she arrived at the scene of robbery at a travel agents in the city centre.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bradford-west-yorkshire-68685046
    Before Khan was jailed, a further six men had been sentenced in connection with PC Beshenivsky’s death

    _133019991_beshmontxx.jpg.webp

       9 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Multiculturalism – the opportunity to be robbed, raped, beaten or murdered in your own country by someone from elsewhere.

      Immigration – killing Britain and killing Britons

         35 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        It’s strange how a particular slaughter – quite a few years ago – still remains there … I’d hang them …

           12 likes

        • Scroblene says:

          I wonder how many ‘historians’ recorded that once GB Inc. took in countless immigrants, we’d all be a safe, secure community, with nothing to fear from these foreign cultures?

          It ain’t happening, is it…

             15 likes

    • Mrs Kitty says:

      I imagine they’re all out now and enjoying themselves.

         1 likes

  22. Thoughtful says:

    ‘Stop ramming your left wing views down our throats!’: BBC viewers say Sunday evening has become full of ‘moralising claptrap’ thanks to sudden ‘wokeification’ of Antiques Roadshow and Countryfile

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13271191/antiques-roadshow-countryfile-viewers-propaganda-left-wing.html

    Antiques Roadshow and Countryfile viewers have slammed the BBC for ‘ramming left wing views down our throats’ – as a Sunday double of shows which ‘once avoided politics’ have been accused of being full of ‘moralising claptrap’ and ‘propaganda’.

    Of course as we all know there is an easy solution to all this – stop paying the TV Tax and stop watching it!

       24 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      I think the bbc tv types used to call the time between 8pm and 10pm Sunday night – ‘the habitat hour ‘ .. when it was white people watch white people – all creatures – heartbeat – whatever – to remind the mugs that it was still Britain … time long ago … if only they’d switch off …

         21 likes

  23. Terminal Moraine says:

    Following harry’s post above (and acknowledging my own obsession with what Team Verify get up to) they are getting a kicking on Twitter. This is a fairly representative comment:

       15 likes

  24. Terminal Moraine says:

    More on the crime where a man kissed a woman: “Luis Rubiales has questioned if he is facing trial for sexual assault ‘because he’s a man’.”

    “Spanish prosecutors want the ex-head of the country’s football federation to be jailed for two and a half years, with Rubiales facing a charge of coercion in addition to the one for sexual assault […] Rubiales was alleged to have coerced Hermoso into saying the kiss was consensual in the aftermath…”

    2.5yrs in prison for sexual assault… and the BBC will be cheering it on.

    https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68730227

       14 likes

    • atlas_shrugged says:

      A kiss is just a kiss – Makers of the film Casablanca to be dug up and tried for a hate crime.

         4 likes

  25. Guest Who says:

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/04/04/extinction-rebellion-attack-electric-vehicles-at-the-new-york-auto-show/

    Interesting one this, because XR have been totally indulged by the politico media establishment for helping push their various idiocies.

    In other news popped some cheap supermarket E5 in the 4×4 to get us home from Scotland. Took about two minutes. As we have hounds we then stopped in several service stations back down to let them wee on the EV’s tyres as they charged, and charged….

    The 4×4 is helpful as the roads are utter pants now thanks to heavy EVs. Ironic really.

       15 likes

    • Mrs Kitty says:

      I still enjoy the article I believe from Germany where they glued themselves to a car showroom floor and were left locked in overnight. Also rewatching the underground video where they were dragged off the roofs warms my heart.

         2 likes

  26. Guest Who says:

    https://x.com/leng_cath/status/1775758952946368600?s=61
    Astonishing amount of space given in this updated piece to comments from India Willoughby from last night’s Reporting Scotland.
    The BBC has never written up anything from @ForWomenScot or @mbmpolicy in this amount of detail.

    The views of my Scots rellies are… interesting.

       5 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      https://x.com/shayan86/status/1775909188373287186?s=61

      I am currently on my third single finger of a glorious Jura single malt.

      So, thoughts?

         3 likes

      • moggiemoo says:

        He’s an ignorant idiot.

           2 likes

      • Scroblene says:

        Bit peaty for me…

        I was spoilt by a surfeit of Laphroaig once, which went over the top for me, but my neighbour used to call round regularly, once he knew I didn’t like it…

        But enjoy, GH – you’re worth it!

           5 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Slipping’ down a treat.

          Thank you.

          I have discovered Scots rellies are generous when they think it may not appeal.

          Sadly for them, I have not met single malt that did not meet.

             4 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      India Scarlett Willoughby is an English newsreader, broadcaster, journalist and reality television personality. She is Britain’s first transgender national television newsreader and the first transgender co-host of an all-women talk show, Loose Women on ITV. Wikipedia

      first transgender co-host of an all-women talk
      HA HA HA HA!
      all-women **

      ** conditions apply

         16 likes

      • Kaiser says:

        HE is Britain’s first transgender national television newsreader and the first transgender co-host of an all-women talk show,

        there I fixed it

           17 likes

  27. Guest Who says:

    Stuff in Gaza is horrible.

    That said, it is down to Hamas. Supported by every cretin in the politico media estate.

    https://x.com/khaledhzakariah/status/1775860919362285590?s=61

       15 likes

  28. Guest Who says:

    Let it never be said the bbc does not hold power to account.

    https://x.com/bbcscotlandnews/status/1775960549076939088?s=61
    Humza Yousaf would welcome end to SNP finances inquiry

       7 likes

  29. Thoughtful says:

    Toby Young:

    “Socialism always begins with a universal vision for the brotherhood of man and ends with people having to eat their own pets.”

       21 likes

  30. tomo says:

    If anybody was going to say it …. but still, my irony meter needle is bent.

       14 likes

  31. tomo says:

       6 likes

    • atlas_shrugged says:

      First Blast of the Trumpet
      Let us go forward and send
      A monstrous regiment of Feminists to Ukraine
      They surely won’t be kissed.

      (With apologies to John Knox and G&S)

         11 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Women only armed forces! We need equality!

         2 likes

      • JohnC says:

        It’s a little known fact that Ukraine’s army was >50% women just before the war broke out. When it quickly dropped to 0% and every single person we saw in combat was a man. Usually with a big beard.

        Another example of the BBC’s agenda propaganda. They have no ethics or shame whatsoever about doing it. They truly believe their ideology justifies telling any blatant lies they see fit.

        Just about the only thing I can think of which they have in common with their Muslim friends in Gaza.

           7 likes

  32. tomo says:

    This conniving, odious PoS (had official dealings as HoC PACAC Select Committee Chair) deserves to go down…

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/04/william-wragg-admits-honeytrap-sexting-scandal-whatsapp-pic/

    Fire-Shot-Capture-186-William-Wragg-admits-involvement-in-Westminster-honeytrap-sexting-sca-www-tele.png

    full text:https://archive.is/NmM4Q

       14 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Everyone to be given a green card and swimming pool – new Voter winning policies + taxed in India!

         2 likes

  33. tomo says:

       8 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Free food and drinks! Yeah!

      How David Cameron tried to make his fortune with cash from China
      Former prime minister, now the UK’s top diplomat, sought hundreds of millions of dollars from CIC for his UK-China fund

      https://www.ft.com/content/c1adc439-1847-4229-8e7c-486dccf6f5b9

      leaflet-_3290524b.jpg?imwidth=680

         3 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      I’m impressed that Cameron can seamlessly read an autocue whilst walking. Biden and White House puppet operators: please take note.

         5 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Really looks like Dave is looking for a big job after we throw his gang out in a few months … sec gen NATO /? UN ? Dave – tax free – big bucks and bungs …

         8 likes

  34. tomo says:

    Soup ladle, apron and a ticket to Rafah for Owen?

       10 likes

  35. tomo says:

    Meanwhile at Amazon….

       8 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Must be boring watching punters in Amazon shops having the expression ‘ every thing is really expensive ‘ makes Waitrose feel like Lidl …

         4 likes

  36. Guest Who says:

    https://x.com/skynews/status/1776122344022614471?s=61
    🇸🇪 Sweden has a problem: gangs with guns and bombs are unleashing terror on the streets.
    How has a peaceful European country ended up the gun murder capital of the EU?
    @SiobhanRobbins has been to find out 🔽

    Seems Sky has its own Verify babe. Who gets out more.

    #ccbgb though

       16 likes

  37. Guest Who says:

    Speaking of #ccbgb here is BBC Newsjoke:

    https://x.com/bbcnewsnight/status/1776011065014222895?s=61
    ‘Those pledges were to get him through that leadership election and job done’
    On the fourth anniversary of his leadership election win, Politico UK Editor, Rosa Prince, says Sir Keir Starmer sometimes changes his plan based on his goal.

    So, BBC, there is ZERO point in voting?

       9 likes

  38. tomo says:

    Ricky Gervais’s vodka advert…

       5 likes

  39. AsISeeIt says:

    Selling England by the pound edition

    Help me out here… whether one agrees Britain ought still to be selling munitions to Israel – or whether you disagree with that proposition – the question is one of foreign policy priorities, or alternatively, if you will, one of ethics?

    That decision, either way, should be an executive choice for the government to make and take responsibility for that decision. It may well be informed by the interests and direction of our senior ally – in Washington. On the other hand it may be influenced by street protests on behalf of the islamic ummah – sadly now located very much closer to home.

    Whatever the arguments for or against – what that decision ought not to be – is one left to the lawyers. Supra-democratic ivory tower secluded legal grandees interpreting the small print of past legislative screeds like long-beareded Talmudic Rabbis (if you’ll forgive the similie).

    Sunak urged to publish legal advice on arms sales to Israel (left-leaning ‘i’ newspaper) – and there, ladies and gentlemen, is the modern leftist-liberal dream for the future way of the world. A technocratic managerial system of democracy-circumventing, non-leadership, anti-decision making – all policy choices strictly confined within an elite expert only interpretable legalistic framework.

    The Swindon Tescos supermarket PA calls out above the heads of the shoppers: “Mr Rishi Sunak, if you are on the shopfloor, come to the office, please”

    Our Indian heritage young manlet – recently appointed district manager – had indeed been busy on the shopfloor doing some maths and ordering his minions to ban dangerous looking dogs and put all the ciggies and vapes on the top shelf, where the kids can’t reach them.

    Despite his diminiative stature, he’s wearing an overly-tight suit, borrowed from his even shorter brother-in-law, sadly missing his favourite jacket pocket protector. He does proudly wear his corporate name badge. This is the most exciting economic zone. As ordered he comes to the back office to consult the regional policy rule book.

    Turns out he isn’t allowed to make any executive decision over where exactly in the grocery section he can locate the sprouts, or whether he can offer a BOGOF on carrots this week. “That would be an ecumenical matter” – much in the way that Father Ted taught Father Jack, to say whenever he faced difficult questions.

    A word from the No10 mouthpiece, our Rishi lackey loyalist Daily Express: Make no mistake! Migrant flights to take off soon

    Make no mistake! BOGOF on carrots next week – unless head office vetoes it, of course.

    As pointed out previously hereabouts, just as a tramp has no fixed abode – so the left have no fixed principles. And both have a nasty whiff about them. Having implied in their headline that the existing body of law as happens to have been writ should now dictate policy like the quranic hadiths (if you’ll forgive the similie) to override our poundshop PM Sunak’s capacity for executive decision – now on the contrary our left-leaning poundshop Guardian that is the ‘i’ newspaper in their sub-header insists it may be up to Joe Biden to call the shots – or order the ceasefire: Protect civilians or risk losing US support, Biden tells Netanyahu

    Gone are the days of our national leaders in the west. Men who made big decisions. Now we have mere managers. The Guardianistas can only celebrate the big man, the executive decision maker, the Don in fiction: It’s an offer you can’t refuse. The films of Marlon Brando – ranked!

    Sequels rarely live up to the original: Netflix’s Prince Andrew drama is gripping – but the original was better (‘i’)

    Tory leadership demonstrate their contempt for party members – you bigots, golf club bores, racist Brexit nuts and fruitcakes don’t get to choose a leader, you’re nothing more than a mere mailing list to be bought and sold: Tories planned for app to make party millions… plans to hand over its entire party membership database for a commercial venture – the Guardian gleefully reports

    Chinese banks hold fate of Thames Water (Telegraph)

    Tory MP in gay honeytrap (Telegraph); He admits swapping intimate photos as police launch probe (Daily Mail) – futher comment there would seem superfluous.

    Oddly, our BBC are not going big on this Tory scandal – perhaps it’s the gay aspect?

    On the other hand: Why is BBC STILL paying Huw Edwards £439,000 a year (Daily Mail)

    In reference to Gaza all the noise from our mainstream western media is now about ceasefire – whereas…

    Arsenal footballer would fight in Ukraine if called up (BBC) – Mr AsI is wont to advise the ladies to calm down, dear – he says to this chap – you go for it, mate.

    Our BBC may have neglected updating their Donbas battle map since 21st February yet their headline here seems aposite: In Ukraine, the show must go on – this of course refers to the: Kharkiv Opera and Ballet

    Jeremy Corbyn’s dreams come true

    The forced bailout of rail operators in recent years means 40 per cent of mainline passenger travel is now on trains controlled directly by the state (FT)

       21 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      Islam dictates the world now …

      2024 .. “The boycott was sparked after Muslim-majority countries such as Kuwait, Malaysia and Pakistan issued statements distancing themselves from the firm for its perceived support of Israel.”
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68735706

      . . . . . . . .

      The issue received prominent media attention in some Muslim-majority countries, leading to protests across the world in late January and early February 2006. Some escalated into violence, resulting in more than 250 reported deaths, attacks on Danish and other European diplomatic missions, attacks on churches and Christians, and a boycott of Denmark. Some groups responded to the intense pro-aniconist protests by endorsing the Danish policies, launching “Buy Danish” campaigns and other displays of support for freedom of expression. The cartoons were reprinted in newspapers around the world, both in a sense of journalistic solidarity and as an illustration in what became a major news story.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy

         4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Indeed.

      Of course, like all things, stuff gets fudged by pols, but in theory they are there as our proxies.

      I recall when this fair isle was rather in need of ordnance to avoid being obliterated by a force in every surrounding country.

      Goofy talking heads from charities and ‘formers’ ramming every luvvie chat show about one war and one war alone is getting tiresome.

         3 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Asiseeit – I presume you are inferring that the reason rail travel is a rip off is because the State runs it … and of course the service is poor not there ( rail strike today …)

         4 likes

  40. Thoughtful says:

    More boring financials, but yesterday the US stock market opened in the green everything up across the board by the time I went to bed. Get up this morning and virtually everything is blood red with everything down so as people are inevitably asking WTF happened?

    Remarkable how one ill timed idiots words can turn an entire market around, but Tony Blinken said he wants to see Ukraine join NATO !

    This of course is insanity and he might well have simply been talking empty as Biden often does however, stocks are down and oil is up as a result.

    So when you get to the fuel pump and you see the price is higher than you paid last week just remember the direct link between a small number of ill chosen words and you being directly affected by them.

       9 likes

  41. MarkyMark says:

    treason. noun. trea·​son ˈtrēz-ᵊn. : the offense of attempting to overthrow the government of one’s country or of assisting its enemies in war. specifically : the act of levying war against the United States or adhering to or giving aid and comfort to its enemies by one who owes it allegiance.

    . . . . . . . .

    How David Cameron tried to make his fortune with cash from China
    Former prime minister, now the UK’s top diplomat, sought hundreds of millions of dollars from CIC for his UK-China fund

    . . . . . . ..

    Barry Gardiner defends donations worth £500,000 from Chinese agent

    . . . . . . . ..

    adhering to or giving aid and comfort to its enemies by one who owes it allegiance.

       6 likes

  42. Guest Who says:

    Emma looks like she will fit right in.

    https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2024/news/journalist-leaves-city-news-site-for-national-bbc-role/?
    “Emma tained at News Associates in Manchester”

    Maybe after a wee stint as a poof reader?

       8 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Mummy and daddy must be so proud…..

      …. I’m not doing the BBC at the moment – but I bet it’s covering the rather unethical letter from a bunch of retired? Lawyers – a few law lords amongst them pronouncing on the IDF fight against an aggressor called Islamic Hamas ….

      These lawyers are saying that Israel is committing war crimes and so supplying help to Israel ( weapons ) should be stopped .
      Now I get fed up when lawyers accuse the government of interfering in their world ( eg moaning about postmasters ) yet when it’s something they don’t like they have no reluctance in telling the government what to do ….

      Keep going IDF – go faster as the weak west is sending more stuff to Hamas ….

         26 likes

      • Emmanuel Goldstein says:

        Fed.
        Littlejohn in the Daily Mail has done an excellent article today (Friendly fire when Americans do it)
        It’s accessible if you do the x in the Google box as soon as you click on the article. It may take a couple of goes.

           8 likes

        • Fedup2 says:

          EG- cheers …

          EG – read it thx – littlejohn makes the point that the soft West is just looking for an excuse to shut down the ability of Israel to defend itself … I bet if the same slaughter / hostage taking took place in the US there would also be a lot of shooting – and ‘innocent ‘ people dead…

             13 likes

      • MarkyMark says:

        Yemen? “In Saada: Saudi missile and artillery bombardment on the Baqim border district”
        https://yemen.liveuamap.com/

           4 likes

  43. digg says:

    The slimy Brexit assassins at The Guardian are still chipping away….

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/05/michael-gove-moral-cowardice-brexit-campaign

    Matter of time before this puerile made up nonsense finds its way onto The BBC.

    Drip, drip, drip……

       14 likes

  44. friend of yogi bear says:

    DON’T MENTION THAT “OTHER” BORDER CROSSING.

    Yet again on the BBC this morning the selectively aggressive Ms Hussain was tasked with interviewing a BBC colleague, today it was middle East “know all “Jeremy Bowen and didn’t they chat on and on about the border crossings between Gaza and Israel, each one of them setting up the other, in turn, to comment on how the wicked , Israelis(jews) wouldn’t allow this, that and the other , across, around, through,etc,etc. They catalogued the crossings with only one exception.
    Yes…even Mr ” knows everything about the middle East, right back to Richard the Lionheart” doesn’t seem to know about the Egyptian crossing into Gaza, as it didn’t get a mention again.

    Must be some mistake ….another task for the 60+people and multi million pound budget Verify team to check up on, perhaps?

    Anyone would think that crossing into Egypt didn’t exist. The bbc may not be alone in this area of ignorance because it would it seems that Mr Biden , who we understand is “Sharp, decisive” and on the ball, a master of all the facts, is also in the dark about the gaza-egypt frontier. That is a world turned upside down situation , we are led to believe that the U.S. President is a terrific and inspiring leader privately in meetings , who curiously transforms himself into Mr Pastry ( older readers will get the reference), in public. Fancy him not being told that other border crossings could be used. He did talk about Egypt’s border with Mexico recently but I’m confident he was just pulling our legs.

    If the Verify team is to busy , then this could be a job for the Panorama gang, that way the existence of an Egyptian crossing could be a BBC headline one Monday morning, as all panorama programmes are automatically squeezed into BBC news on the day of broadcast.

    Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this but sadly nothing will change as the BBC seek to be irrelevant.

       26 likes

  45. Fedup2 says:

    The NHS is ‘world beating ‘ right ? We are so proud of it – right ?
    There’s a story in the msm of an inquest into the death of a doctor – who was a specialist in the disease which killed him – along – it seems with the help of the negligence of a Manchester hospital . His wife is also a senior doctor and she spilling the beans on the gloriously inept NHS – I’m guessing the BBC will be preoccupied with waving Palestinian flags …..

    BTW – the doctor was too ill to treat himself / give advice to those meant to be treating him for a rare illness RIP

       15 likes

  46. Terminal Moraine says:

    I just discovered something called BBC Monitoring, whose function seems to be… to monitor? Are they ranked higher or lower than Team Verify? Who gets the good seats in the W1A canteen?

    There’s also The Global Jigsaw hosted by something called Krassimira Twigg. This is probably not a Chris Morris spoof, but it’s hard to tell any more.

    So many departments spawning other departments while the licence fee goes up… the sorcerer’s apprentice comes to mind.

    https://x.com/BBCMonitoring/status/1768655623904727533

       12 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Terminal – monitoring has been about for decades – I think it used to funded by the FCO during the Cold War pre internet – what is does now ?no idea

      ..I just caught the BBC r4 news …. Which was followed by a programme which investigates ‘the effect of climate change on ethnic minorities ‘… I laughed out loud as the ‘off switch ‘ was eagerly put to work ….

      ( mind you – as a whitee Engleesh speaker in londonistan it might have been for me – since I’m an ethnic minority in what used to be my own country

         17 likes

      • Terminal Moraine says:

        Thanks Fedup. From the Global Jigsaw: “Think of us as your media detectives, helping you get past the propaganda and misinformation.”

           4 likes

    • harry142857 says:

      BBC Monitoring used be based up the road from me in Caversham (Reading). They have a massive multi million pound estate to work from, think they moved it about 8-10 years ago, and sold it off for luxury housing. I believe they listened in on overseas radio and television, especially the CCCP.

         8 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      “Iran’s Axis of resistance” – not hell for trans women in hijabs?

         2 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Munny to burn.

      https://x.com/anon05136448000/status/1776213765773480209?s=61
      The BBC tax being spent well I see.

         2 likes

  47. Foscari says:

    The IDF have admitted to the deaths of aid workers
    was a terrible mistake . And those responsible have been
    sacked.
    I am sure many of you know the terrible events of many wars
    where” friendly fire ” has been the result of HUNDREDS of
    deaths running into thousands upon thousands in the Second
    World. War.
    In just one example in 1944 when the Allies began operation
    Cobra in Normandy . A total of 101 Americans men were killed and 462 wounded including the death of General Mc Nair by
    their own side !! Of course all of these accidents were hidden
    for as long as possible. And dozens upon dozens of similar
    tragedies happened.
    BUT the BBC will bleed this terrible event dry. But you would
    expect this from the media partner in the UK of Hamas!!

       23 likes

    • MarkyMark says:

      It appears to have begun when Osborne became fixated on Three Girls, a three-part BBC drama about the Rochdale abuse scandal in which most of the victims were white and most of the perpetrators were Pakistani-heritage men.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42886464

      3 girls = 1400 girls and counting up still!

         9 likes

    • Thoughtful says:

      And if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you in Baltimore!

      This was no accident, the IDF had absolute information supplied to them about the convoy down to the names of the individuals in each vehicle. The drone systematically GPS targetted each vehicle and deliberately destroyed each one.

      A mistake or an accident is where someone is caught in the blast of a weapon.

      This is nothing like friendly fire. There’s no excaping this save through wilfull blindness. The more the facts come to light the more damning they are. Even America is turning from support to opposition and that is an incredibly rare thing.

      You can believe what you choose, I will always seek the truth and that is a very different thing to the fairy tale you’ve written.

         2 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        There were/are odd aspects to this.

        But again you appear privy to verified information as yet unavailable or produced.

        Using ‘even America’ is however quite funny in context.

           15 likes

        • Thoughtful says:

          Not at all the case, but the gung ho Israel can do no wrong crew will never believe information which contradicts their view even if it comes from the mouth of Netanyahu himself or the IDF !

          https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13275407/Israel-FIRES-two-military-commanders-World-Central-Kitchen-attack.html

          “Israel has fired two military commanders and reprimanded a third over a drone strike in Gaza that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers on Monday, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.”

          There’s no get out here for people like Foscari. This was NOT an accident, it was not friendly fire and that comes directly from the IDF itself.

          The drone chased down three vehicles despite them being clearly marked and intelligence having been supplied, they deliberately targetted and used precision munitions to destroy them with zero evidence of them having any military value at all.

          This is why the Israeli government and the IDF have taken action.

          This is the truth of what happened, and despite all the earlier excuses when the lies became untenable the story changed. It’s sad but unfortunately predictable to find some unwilling to accept the truth and still parrotting lies as truth.

             1 likes

          • Foscari says:

            Thoughtful– Are you actually saying that the IDF
            said “lets kill some aid workers.” Terrible
            consequential acts happen in War. It WAS a terrible
            event which should of been preventable. But if you
            really think that the IDF really went out of their way to
            kill these aid workers. Then I know I am being facetious .
            But I consider your user name to be nothing more than an
            oxymoron.

               12 likes

            • Thoughtful says:

              AH the perjoritives, didn’t take long did it?

              Clearly you’ve lost the argument as all who do such things have.

              However despite that There are voices now suggesting Netanyahu care nothing about the hostages, and the Hamas issue is a smokescreen for a land grab.

              Once source in Israel is saying that they are already building new settlements in the North of Gaza and it would appear the strike on an aid convoy forcing the aid agency to leave Gaza was a deliberate act to ‘cleanse’ the area.

              Now I have no evidence to support any of this, only what I have been told, time will tell but yes there is at the moment circumstantial evidence to support the possibility that it might well have been deliberate.

              Of course I don’t expect you will believe any of this, and the perjoritive will fly along with the gish galloping and accusations of anti Semitism which have now been made against just about every critic of Netanyahu including Israeli Jews.

              So let me end with this anti Semitism is like Racism, there’s no such thing !

                 0 likes

              • Guest Who says:

                No pejoratives in your direction evident.

                Along with any other evidence (now admitted) to at least form a factual basis to claims on events and views on fellow posters here.

                What you have been told, as with ‘belief’ is the stuff of BBC editors, not thoughtful forum posters. Alternative takes are not ‘lies’.

                ps: Try ‘end of’ to effect a conclusion. O’brien uses it to equally devastating lack of effect.

                   12 likes

                • Thoughtful says:

                  Well that’s an entire post entirely wrong!

                  I related what I had been told, unlike the BBC I stated I could not evidence this and that time would tell, but that some of it had come not from one but from several sources.

                  That’s how news gets out of conflict zones it is later proven one way or another.

                  I note that you too do not seek to deny there is the distinct possibility that this is a land grab under the smokescreen of something else.

                  It is something Donald Trumps Son in Law Jarred Kushner has been speaking about on the record, and he is working out how much money he can make from developing prime Mediterranean facing real estate.

                  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/19/jared-kushner-gaza-waterfront-property-israel-negev

                  Jared Kushner says Gaza’s ‘waterfront property could be very valuable’

                  Donald Trump’s son-in-law also says Israel should bulldoze an area of the Negev desert and move Palestinians there.

                  Now if Schlomo Levy at the local pawnbrokers were saying this it wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans, but it’s the son in law of the ex President and potential next President of the USA – a senior person with high level contacts.

                  It’s not proof to a courtroom evidential standpoint, but it’s a pretty clear indicator as to where the thinking is at at senior levels.

                     0 likes

                  • Guest Who says:

                    “I note that you too do not seek to deny there is the distinct possibility..”

                    Faith, m’lady, once you start this kind this lark I will have bow out disgracefully.

                    I don’t know. You don’t know. I’ll now leave you to make claims and have beliefs and count angels on pinheads.

                       5 likes

            • Up2snuff says:

              Foscari, the TWatO with Jonny Dymond was interesting this lunchtime. He spent most of the programme on the WCK killings. A Beeboid has had access to drone footage. There were armed Palestinians/Hamas fighters in a truck that went in to the warehouse. Then someone carrying a bag, was incorrectly ID as an armed terrorist/Hamas fighter, and (maybe – programme didn’t say) got into one of the WCK cars.

              The Beeboid who has seen the drone footage said the WCK identifiers on the roofs of the vehicles didn’t show at night. The Beeboid added, however, that there were simple ways to make an aid convoy visible at night. Sticky tape reflective strips that the BBC use on their own vehicles.

              Some questions arise:
              Why were the WCK people working under cover of darkness? Was it to avoid Hamas stealing the aid?
              As I have already posted, when the first missile hit the car (apparently without injury to the occupant) why did the Security Team not instruct the aid workers to take cover outside the vehicles? Instead they ran into the second vehicle which was then hit by a missile and then the third vehicle was destroyed and all the occupants (the whole team?) were killed.

                 4 likes

              • Thoughtful says:

                If that is the case and they mis identified a single terrorist in one of the vehicles it would make it a war crime. So thanks for pointing that one out up2!

                The key to this lies in proportionality. If there is a major Hamas commander in a refugee camp it might be argued that it would be proportionate to kill him regardless of civilian casualties (to a reasonable degree)
                A single ordinary fighter who may or may not be in a vehicle would not meet that same threshold of proportionality and this therfore would at least meet the test for a trial under a war crimes charge.

                That however is not what the IDF has said and the account you relate above, espcially given its source appears highly questionable.

                I would suggest you watch the footage of a missile strike and it might give you some idea why no one reacted. It’s like saying why didn’t Princess Diana phone an ambulance.

                We don’t know why they were out so late one suggestion has been Ramadan, but I think a bigger question is this, how much food can you actually move in a small 4X4 full of passengers, and were they escorting other larger vehicles which were not targetted ?

                   0 likes

                • Up2snuff says:

                  T, the Beeboid (yeah, I know about the BBC’s record in Gaza) has seen & watched the drone footage. The security team were obviously alive or it was one of the aid workers AFTER the first missile strike because they ran to the second vehicle which was then hit. Do pay attention! Apparently it was a convoy of three cars. The Ramadan reason makes no sense because a Ramadan fast ends with daylight and in the Middle East that would be around 7 p.m. The vehicles were being moved at midnight! There would be a time code on the drone video footage. Is it on the BBC web-site?

                  Did you note the still photo on the Guardian front page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-68737506. If the Israelis are drafting the Ultra Orthodox among their population then it means they are in a fight for the survival of Israel.

                     1 likes

                  • Thoughtful says:

                    Hmmmmmm Yeah, I know how the Jews view the BBC and I don’t know one who has any trust in them. I don’t believe the IDF or any Israeli official has allowed the BBC to see any military footage unless it’s on general release and then it would be properly ‘presented’.
                    iu
                    I haven’t seen this footage so I can’t comment, It was a convoy of three vehicles but they were quite widely spaced and I wasn’t aware they were stationery when hit.

                    The Ramadan reason isn’t my suggestion, but if they are having to distribute a lot of food to a lot of people then perhaps it does. It’s speculation though but what I can tell you is that the guy who head up that World Kitchen outfit is a mate of Joe Biden, he has some access and some clout.

                    At your suggestion I read the BBC report:

                    “The IDF’s internal investigation also found:

                    A plan setting out WCK’s movements which had been agreed with the IDF was not given to the drone unit
                    Evidence an armed man was in the convoy was insufficient to justify targeting it
                    Drone operators kept firing on the convoy after the initial strike

                    The unit involved in the attack has been suspended from duties and evidence has been passed on to the Military Advocate General, the Israeli army’s top legal authority, the IDF said.”

                    So it appears the IDF confirm my earlier post about proportionality.

                    “The IDF said those who carried out the attack could also face criminal prosecution.”

                    And also confirmation from the IDF of my assertion that this would potentially constitute a war crime.

                    The ultra orthodox are a weird bunch, even the orthodox appear to see them as odd. When women got upset they would go and stand in a neighbours doorway, and because the men can’t touch a woman they aren’t married to they couldn’t leave the house!

                    I have no experience so I can’t say, but people like Col Douglas MacGregor suggest the IDF are not being as succesful at killing Hamas as they might have been in the past.

                    Going back to WWII in France the Gestapo killing civilians in response to resistance attacks was 8.5 civilians to every dead German soldier, in Gaza that number is 300 giving an insight into just how bad it is.

                    I understand the need to wipe out Hamas, even if I remain unconvinced it can be done, and even less convinced by the tactics currently employed.

                    I worry for the future of Israel. The GDP fell a collosal 20% at the start of the war, and without US support it will fail economically even if there is no military attack.
                    Netanyahu appears hell bent on a war with his neighbours, all they need do though is wait for the US to collapse – which it will.

                    Funny thing is that Putin is one of the few world leaders Netanyahu respects and likes, there are a lot of Jews in Russia and Putin has in the past been a friend to Israel. Their hope might well lie in him and his solution for the future and not with America.

                       0 likes

          • Broadcasting-on-Behalf-of-the-Caliphate says:

            Thoughtful ““Israel has fired two military commanders … saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement ….” This was NOT an accident, it was not friendly fire and that comes directly from the IDF itself.

            That’s not true. All friendly fire is intentional and done on purpose. The issue is whether the targets for whatever reason were misidentified by the person doing the targeting. What you quoted “mishandled critical information” still falls within that condition.

            It is also friendly fire if the person doing the targeting went against protocol or believed the information provided to him / her was incorrect and targeted the vehicles believing that Hamas members were in the vehicles or were likely to be in the vehicles.

               14 likes

      • Rob in Cheshire says:

        So the Israelis deliberately killed the “aid workers”? That does not seem like a very good policy, does it?

           2 likes

  48. MarkyMark says:

    “Each year, tens of thousands of UK citizens are charged with non-payment of their TV licence fee – from the man who missed payments while in hospital, to a woman with a brain injury who forgot to pay”

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/29/tv-licence-fee-scandal-1000-people-week-casually-criminalised

       9 likes

  49. Johnda says:

    just had my family to stay two 40 year old s and two children 12 and 14. None of them watch live tv. My elder son 50 does not watch live tv . His younger children 7 and 9 haven’t watched live tv.
    By live tv I mean specifically BBC. We In our 70s watch very little BBC as its so woke.
    BBC going for the younger viewer at the cost of the older viewer.
    How can they get it so wrong no one is happy with them so defund now.

       27 likes

    • moggiemoo says:

      It’s not just the BBC though, is it. Look at all the companies that chase the black, gay, trans, whatever, minority business, usually unsuccessfully, whilst alienating it’s main customer base. This main customer base is becoming increasingly less loyal as they see themselves being marginalised.

         15 likes