Author Archives: David Vance

Biased BBC contributor Daniel Pycock writes…

“I’ve written before on this blog about the BBC’s relentless promotion of comprehensive schooling – the worst education system the UK has hitherto had: http://biasedbbc.tv/blog/2013/12/23/the-bbc-on-education-ignore-the-evidence-believe-ofsted/

Now they’re promoting Anthony Seldon’s unworkable reform whereby parents would have to pay £15,000-£20,000 per annum per child to educate their children at “good state schools”. The article at least addresses the fact that selection is by money, rather than ability nowadays. But the lack of criticism is astounding: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25798659

In what sense it it fair to charge a family already paying in the region of £32,000 (income tax), and more including National Insurance and indirect taxation, £15,000 per-annum for schooling at an arbitrary £80,000 cut-off point? A family that earns £79,999 pays nothing and then you get hit with a de facto tax at £80,000 household income? This is clearly not thought through properly.

That doesn’t stop the BBC however, which is so anti-grammar school and free-school that it literally prints any article in favour of unworkable reforms to save its pet-obsession: comprehensive schools.

P. S. The BBC will not let me comment on the article thus far – wonder why that is…?”

Sorry this is late but here you go….a new thread to start the week.

Ed Miliband is here to save the banks and don’t the BBC love it? Here’s a new Open Thread to see us all off into the wild blue yonder of the weekend!

A Biased BBC reader notes;

“I watched Wild Winter: Surviving Avalanches on BBC4 last night (Tuesday). A fantastic documentary, except for the following. At the 39 minute mark we have cine material showing the snowy Cairngorms in the 1960’s, and then scenes of the next two snowless decades. This is followed by news footage of the last three years of sever snow. The narrator adds a token global warming comment and then goes on to explain how weather is affected by many things. BUT, right in the middle of this a bizarre scene has been crudely inserted where a ‘climate scientist’ tells us he knows what the weather is going to be in 2080, and it’s going to be hot! Cue scene with orange glow. I have watched it again and again, and if you mute this brief segment, the narrator’s voice effortless segues, making perfect sense. I have shown this to a colleague who doesn’t share my bias, and he agrees that this clip appears to have been edited in afterwards in order to remain ‘on message’.  The programme is on iplayer now on BBC4, fast forward to 39 minutes and watch BBC warble gloaming propaganda at its finest.”

Oh Mr Miliband, you DO so impress us. First you take on the “Big 6” energy companies and now you take on the “Big 5” banks. Amusingly, you then send Chris Leslie, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, onto the Today programme and ..oh dear, it’s a car crash. Did you hear it by chance? Just after 8.08am Mishal Husain was pretty straight with him and he wiggled like a worm, showing just how lightweight Labour is on this topic. So, top marks for her but I did notice that Nick Robinson was doing his usual spot of cheer-leading for Miliband’s nonsensical new big idea.

Middle of the month, my birthday, so a new Open Thread for you and I am off for the day shortly! Enjoy.

Now, to be honest I could not care less who or indeed what Francois Hollande sleeps with. Firstly, he is not President of my country and second, it’s what he is doing to the French economy so vigorously that is the real concern. BUT his liaisons with a french actress and the hypocrisy involved is surely an issue worth some coverage? No. Or so BBC correspondent Hugh Schofield informs us….

A long half-hour of less-than-riveting talk about the economy finally ended, and the first question came from the French press. As expected, it asked the president to clarify the position following the allegations about his affair with the actress Julie Gayet. His answer was concise and not especially revealing. Yes, he was passing a difficult moment in his private life. And yes, there would be a decision about the status of Valerie Trierweiler in advance of his planned visit to Washington next month.  But for the rest, this was a private matter – and therefore he was not ready to say any more. The French press accepts this. It is perhaps to its credit that it agrees that private matters should remain just that.

However, when it comes to similar affairs involving Conservatives, the BBC never flinched from reporting suchlike. Privacy for the left, but not les autres…

OK folks, here is a new fracking approved Open Thread. Anyone spotted Barbara Plett crying about Ariel Sharon? Nope? What a shocker. The floors is yours….

I see that the BBC is hoping to use the ‘soft power’ of the Teletubbies, Top Gear and Doctor Who to …cough…break down North Korea’s hardline regime.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has revealed the Foreign and Commonweath Office is working with BBC Worldwide to provide programmes ‘that could be shown on Korean TV’. Negotiations are also on-going with Pyongyang to strike a deal to broadcast a range of shows on the state-run Central Television Station.

Did you read this?

“The BBC has spent tens of thousands of pounds over six years trying to keep secret an extraordinary ‘eco’ conference which has shaped its coverage of global warming,  The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The controversial seminar was run by a body set up by the BBC’s own environment analyst Roger Harrabin and funded via a £67,000 grant from the then Labour government, which hoped to see its ‘line’ on climate change and other Third World issues promoted in BBC reporting.”