Author Archives: David Vance

FRACK OFF…

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I see that Biased BBC favourite, Richard Black, has been leading the BBC charge against Fracking. There was an item on Today about it this morning and it seems to me that the BBC seems more like an echo chamber for Friends of the Earth, that radical hard left organisation. Mind you it’s a tough time for Richard. Here he is dealing with the fact that some glaciers are confounding the “global warming meme” and putting on mass.

DERBYSHIRE

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Biased BBC contributor Alan takes issue with Victoria Derbyshire here.

“Victoria Derbyshire confirmed every prejudice I ever held against her today as she presented a phone in on unemployment. Derbyshire lives in the BBC bubble completely out of touch with reality continually expressing either amazement or outrage at everyday realities that most people recognise as ‘normal’.

She of course is flown to work by her employers, and no doubt gets a couple of hundred thousand pounds for her trouble…when she turns up for work that is….and all paid for by the enforced generosity of the viewing public.

When told by an employer that people that applied for jobs either didn’t turn up for the interview or when they did they didn’t really want the job she firstly blamed him for not selecting the right people or wording his adverts wrongly….and these were jobs for a van driver and leaflet posters…but then went on to rant about him not paying them enough (although she didn’t actually know how much he pays).

Derbyshire in full flow (about 1 hour 17 mins into show)…’Well if you paid them a decent wedge they would do it (leafletting)…it’s got to be the most boring job in the world, it’s got to be difficult when it’s pouring down or when it’s freezing…but if you get a good hourly rate surely people would carry on after day one!?’

The employer said they wouldn’t.

Derbyshire then decides perhaps it would be good to do some journalism and to ask him what that hourly rate was…he said £7-8 /hour….working about 5 hours a day.

Derbyshire nearly faints at the thought declaiming in shocked tones….’£40 for 5 hours work?….would you do it?’

What planet is Derbyshire on?…this woman prides herself on being the nation’s conscience, it’s social and moral arbiter…a woman who presents these programmes day in day out looking into the heart of social issues of ‘deprived Britain’.

And yet she has no idea of what a normal working man might earn.

Leafletting/driving…..manual, unskilled labour…but paying up to £8/hour.

Let’s have a comparison taken from official figures……what might some other workers….many of them skilled, earn (all based on 8 hour day)?

L/Cpl Army…..Initial rate £7.50/hr
Emergency Care assistant in ambulance service…..£6.50/hr
Ambulance technician….£7.50/hr
2nd Lt in Army on lowest level….£7.50/hr
Fireman before fully trained to \’competent\’ level….£7.50/hr
(http://www.ome.uk.com/AFPRB_Reports.aspx)

My postman earns £7/hr….and out in the\’pouring rain and freezing weather’.

These are nearly all jobs that require a good level of training and yet they pay no more than the leafletting job that Derbyshire expresses her shock about.  How on earth can this person really put herself forward as a serious journalist if all she really relies on is her own personal prejudices and half baked beliefs to inform her inane witterings.

And it might be noted with great rolling of eyes that it was her ‘investigation’ into the recent riots that was used as part of the evidence into the causes of them….no wonder the conclusions that were reached were so far from the truth. Is it any wonder that the BBC sets itself against every policy that the government has when it has such unrealistic ideas about the real world and the lives people really live.

These presenters cushioned from the harsh realities of life, living it up on license payer’s money…the dustman’s, postman’s, nurse’s and leafletter’s on £7.50/hr…..have a naive and simplistic view of life little realising that real people have to work hard for what little they earn and that the relevant word is ‘earn’ not sitting there waiting for handouts or wandering into a nice warm studio to do a couple of hours chatting and then fly down to your well appointed London home.

Nice work if you can get it.

Oh and to Dan Cruikshank (who I like a lot), fish and chips may be nourishing, tasty and cheap but I don\t think they ‘more importantly represent the fusion of cultures….a fusion of the Jewish emigre culture of East London and the working class Communities of the North.’

FALSE HISTORIES

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A B-BBC reader informs me that whilst doing a bit of research on the internet he found a fascinating photographic comparison of how the City of David, just outside the southern walls of Jerusalem looked in 1915 and how it looks today as the Arab village of Silwan:

As is clearly evident from the 1915 photograph, no “ancient” Palestinian village existed on the this site, which was virtually empty, as was much of the land of Israel, prior to the return of the Jewish people to re-settle & develop their ancient homeland in modern times.

Now see this BBC story (from 2010) about this very same location, which faithfully follows the false Palestinian narrative, stating, “About 40,000 Palestinians live in Silwan. Some families have been here for generations.”  The BBC’s wording gives the false impression that the Arab residents of Silwan had lived there for “generations” and are thus the rightful owners of the land.  Plus ca change?

POWER TO THE PEOPLE..

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Been a busy morning for a little socialist evangelising on the Today programme. Earlier we had a charming item on the minimum wage postulating the theory that it has reduced in real terms over the past number of years because it has not always kept up with inflation. The focus of the interview was that the rate needs to increase and it was asserted that the advent of the minimum wage has had no impact on employment levels or other wage dynamics. There are plenty of economists who would dispute that this leftist political lever is not without negative consequences but they are conspicuous by their absence on Today. The listener is left with the impression that the minimum wage is unquestionably a good thing, it’s just we need to force employers to pay even more.

Then, we had an item on 70’s singer, Patti Smith. Never cared for her music myself, apart from her cover of Springsteen’s “Because the Night”. Anyway she was allowed to waffle on about the music industry but I smiled when she talked of the sheer horror of “working in a non-unionised factory” before she got her recording contract. How dreadful.  If only the Unions could control everything what a benevolent world we would live in.

The messages are always subtle.

AN INTERESTING INSIGHT..

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For an allegedly impartial broadcaster this is an interesting insight into the thinking of the next possible D-G of the BBC;

“With the post of BBC director-general now being advertised, former Newsnight political editor Michael Crick has an intriguing insight into the personality of one of the frontrunners, George Entwistle, the Yorkshire-born director of BBC Vision. ‘Entwistle used to be my editor on Newsnight, and I vividly recall him saying that our job every day was to come in and ask ourselves: “How can we f*** the Government today?” ’ says Crick, now at Channel 4 News. ‘I thought it was a great maxim for journalists.’

Well, that’s one way of looking at it i suppose  but the problem is that it seems to me that based on the track record of the past forty years the BBC want to f*** only some governments.  Thoughts?

THE IONA COMMUNITY

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I  wondered why it is that John Bell from “The Iona Community” is such a frequent contributor to the “Thought for the Day” programme. So I toodled over to their web site and read this….

“The Iona Community is a dispersed Christian ecumenical community working for peace and social justice, rebuilding of community and the renewal of worship.”

Mmm, and then…

Members’ involvement varies according to the area they live in and their individual circumstances, but it is clear that across the community there is an unwavering commitment to peace and justice, reflected in many types of activity, from quiet peacemaking in our neighbourhoods and families, to political lobbying and nonviolent opposition to weapons of mass destruction.

I can see the appeal for the entirely neutral BBC, can’t you?

THE BOUNTY HUNTER…

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Poor old Labour Peer Lord Ahmed. Having gone a bit under the radar since that unfortunate business when he was  jailed after being caught sending and receiving text messages at the wheel minutes before he was involved in a fatal crash on the M1 – he suddenly pops up again – this time allegedly offering a $10m bounty for the capture of US Presidents Obama and Bush. The BBC does cover this, in it’s on the news site here, but I have to say that I thought it merited a degree of coverage on the Today programme. After all, it’s not everyday that a member of the House of Lords calls for the arrest of US Presidents as war criminals. Sadly, Today had not time for this story although I suppose this is no surprise when it has more important matters to pursue such as Ed Milibands “courageous” call to cap party donations at £5000.  One could be forgiven for thinking that running an in item on Ahmed might be unhelpful to Labour at a time when Ed is showing such statemanship…..

TAXING AFFAIRS

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One of my favourite songs is called “I can’t stand up for falling down” and that certainly seems to be the position that the Coalition holds with at least some sections of the BBC. (I suppose even the very word “Coalition” has a certain significance for the BBC has a disturbing tendency to allege that this is purely a Conservative government, thus giving the Lib-Dem element a degree of helpful cover when it comes to certain policies. Furthermore even if the Lib-Dems DO get dragged into the discussion, Saint Vince is sure to be given an easy ride as that wise sage that people really should listen to!)

Anyway, the topic here is tax. The BBC has been to the fore in suggesting that this is a Government for “the rich” what with that reduction in the 50% top tax rate. Naturally any reduction in tax rates is guaranteed to produce howls of leftist outrage and the BBC has been quite prepared to indulge and advance these. The Government then tries to re-balance this by ensuring that “the rich” can’t hive up some of the income to charities and thus reduce their tax bill. Cue howls of outrage from charities and the BBC rides in. Did anyone catch the 8.10am interview with Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke MP? He was given a pretty rough ride by a viscerally hostile Naughtie (a bit like being savaged by a sheep though) and all because the Coalition was trying to close off a tax avoidance loop hole. Zac Goldsmith was deployed as the voice of reason, and of course Saint Vince was given an honourable mention! The Government can’t win. If it reduces tax for the wealthy, that is an outrage. If it closes off tax loopholes for the wealthy, that is an outrage! Is there a way forward?

YES.

Earlier @ 7.23am the BBC ran an item on the French Presidential election with a decided nod in favour of the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande. You can tell they are dreaming of a victory for the man who has declared that if elected he will impose a 75% tax rate on those pesky “top earners”. If only the Coalition would follow such a path to fiscal wisdom.

PS I was also intrigued to hear Naughtie declare that a socialist victory in France would be interesting against a background of centre-right European governments? Huh? Since when did the Big State big Spending EU become “centre right”?

CONSERVATIVES HAVE ALL THE BEST STORIES….

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Cassie posted this in the Open Thread section and we believe it deserves a far wider audience than might see it in the comments section….a few Liberals might see the light….and come over to the Dark Side.
http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Conservatives-Have-All-the-Best-Stories

“Conservatives Have All the Best Stories”

Biased BBC contributor Alan adds….

“It is low key but somehow extraordinary and mouth opening stuff. The speaker being a freelance journalist who once a Liberal, now, after her eyes were opened by the appallingly unfair and almost inhumane decisions of EU ‘Green’ commissars, is now a fully fledged normal person…who loves America and capitalism and the benefits such as vastly improved living standards and modern medicine that only it brings.

She tells us that she suspects the romanticism of the Liberals for non white European ‘cultures’ leads them into making almost racist decisions…ones that deny the benefits that the developed nations have….she says Africans don’t want to live in mud huts….I suspect she is right.

However she is also right about the cultural cringe, the aversion to ‘imposing’ anything Western upon other nations or cultures.

John Humphrys illustrated this for us on his first report from Liberia on the Today programme….

….’it’s a mismatched country and it just needs somebody to get it by the scruff of the neck and shake it, but that’s a European attitude.’

He tells us of the poverty and lack of amenities like electricity and water and sanitation….sewage polluting everything….but recoils at the thought that the solution might be some organisation and energy directed at improving things…..we can’t impose a European mindset on these people.

Really? What exactly is a European mindset? I would bet my bottom dollar that they would love to have an electric grid system or piped water and a sewage system and a transport system that works in all weathers. Hardly a European aspiration.

Just how do the Japanese cope? The Japanese industrialised and prospered because a Scottish engineer went there and put there economy on the right track. I don’t hear them complaining it’s all a European Imperial plot to colonise them by subterfuge and ideas.

Of course Humphrys and co would all be up in arms about a MacDonalds or Tescos moving into Primrose Hill.  At least they’re consistent in depriving the less well off, or less highbrow, of their pleasures and life improving amenities.”