Author Archives: David Vance

POLICE TO BLAME..

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Did you read this BBC report on a new study by the London School of Economics and the Guardian newspaper (Naturally) which places “anti-police anger” as a key factor in the summer riots.

Of those interviewed, 85% cited anger at policing practices as a key factor in why the violence happened.

I see. Or, to put it another way, the police are to blame. How dare they try to uphold the rule of law. It’s a recurring BBC trope, all this “anger” felt by a certain type of person. And so much easier to deal with than accepting the opportunistic thuggery of a significant number of inner city inhabitants.

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FRACK ME

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Anyone catch “CountryFile” this evening. John Craven was doing his best to demonise the Fracking process for  making the most of Shale Gas. It says something of the note struck that when that swivel eyed eco-loon Chris Huhne is interviewed he comes across as a bit of a hardliner on the topic! Craven talked of flames coming out of taps, of earthquakes, all that was missing was the 4th horseman of the apocalypse!  I used to like CountryFile before it became a political programme.

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ONE RULE FOR THEM….

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I caught Nick Clegg on the BBC this morning as he was given a free canter on how to further demoralise the UK’s wealth-creating sector. Using the much loved “excessive boardroom pay” meme, Clegg was allowed to claim – outrageously – that “the public sector can’t do ALL the heavy lifting” when it comes to re-balancing our economy. (WHAT?) No dissenting opinion came back so we can be sure the BBC gets quite excited about the idea of the State telling private companies what they should pay. Who says the USSR did not have some good ideas?

So, a power grab by an already bloated State is sanitised, presented by nice Mr Clegg as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world, and given clear passage by the BBC. Where is the voice arguing for less State intervention in private enterprise? Where is the voice pointing out that Government has no business telling any privately owned business what it should pay those who work for it?

We saw the farce of the Public Sector strike a few days ago now, with the BBC laying on the onions and violins every time some greedy trade unionist hit the spin button. It seemed then that nothing is so expensive that we can refrain from lavishing it on the Public Sector. But when it is the Private wealth-creating sector under the spotlight, well, it seems more wage austerity is deemed OK by the State Broadcaster.

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A ROSE BY ANY LABOUR NAME…

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B-BBC contributor Alan notes;

“For a long time it has been apparent that John Pienaar allows his delivery to be coloured by viewing the world through rose tinted glasses….a Labour Rose that is. Tory plans and policies are rubbished whilst Labour’s are ‘actually quite good’…..despite appearances!
I haven’t seen much criticism of Pienaar and began to think perhaps it was my imagination, until I read Peter Oborne’s book, The Triumph of the Political Classes, and the chapter on ‘client journalism’. This illustrates Pienaar’s reaction to the forced resignation of David Blunkett….according to Pienaar by the media ‘sharks’ hunting down Blunkett the innocent ‘victim’. Osborne tells us that ‘Pienaar did not merely present the Downing Street line very faithfully – it was almost as if Tony Blair or Alastair Campbell were speaking.’

Osborne tells us that ‘Journalists were recruited as an essential part of the apparatus of government control.’ I imagine some journalists were a lot easier to convince than others about the merits of a Labour government.

Pienaar today continues on his merry way….listeners may have heard him recently giving us the run down on the Border Agency chief, Brodie Clark’s statement to the inquiry concerning the loosening of border controls….”
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Pienaar’s analysis seemed to bear little resemblance to the words and content that I heard. Pienaar suggested it was all a big mistake, confusion not conspiracy on Clark’s side…..I heard a man desperately trying to avoid any blame being attached to him, one who did not maintain a consistent story, one moment saying he allowed in passengers on grounds of health and safety, the next on the pretext of increasing higher security checks on higher risk passengers.

Pienaar seemed to be enamoured of Clark…..’The very model of a Whitehall civil servant with his steel grey hair and metal rimmed glasses. He’s choosing his words very carefully and the measured, cool Scottish accent just adds to the impression of a safe pair of hands who was doing nothing that he shouldn’t have been doing.’….and seemed determined to present him in as good a light as possible….essentially a good man doing his best to do a good job in difficult circumstances until unfairly having his reputation and professionalism brought into question by a scheming Tory politician.

This is Pienaar massaging the truth and subtly changing the perspective to give a radically different view of events favourable to Clark and designed to sandbag Theresa May by implication.

Pienaar does not shout his allegiances from the roof tops but they are there if you care to look…and I would judge they are clearly championing Labour’s narrative.

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WHEN RESISTANCE BECOMES MURDER…

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Biased BBC Martin from a land down under points on BBC’s double standard;

“When deadly rocks are hurled by Arabs in Israel against Jews it’s called “resistance” but if it occurs in the UK then it’s “murder”: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-16018789“

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ELEPHANT IN ROOM – EYES WIDE SHUT

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Hi folks! Been away for the past few days so trust this finds you all well. Quite a bit to catch up on and I think I will start with this one because it nicely articulates my own views having read the same BBC report; From the Commentator;

“All right. I’m not going to make this difficult. The families giving the orders, as well as the victims, are in all, or almost all, cases Muslim. Surprised? No, of course you’re not. Honour attacks ranging in brutality from beatings to murder are commonplace in many parts of the Muslim world. Since Britain, like many other European countries, has imported sizeable Muslim communities, which are to a significant degree unassimilated, the cultural practices of the old country have survived the transition to the new. Finally, the figure of 2,823 attacks is almost certainly a gross under-estimate since, apart from anything else, it is drawn from only 39 of 52 UK police forces. 

Got it? In just over 150 words (including title and summary) you now know all the basic information, and as intelligent, informed citizens you can have a discussion on what to do about it. That’s what journalism is for. 

Propaganda, on the other hand, is intended for something else. It is designed to present a politically charged narrative held to with a fanaticism that will allow no mention of facts that contradict it. It is thus deliberately intended to lower the quality of the discussion by erasing key pieces of information. Enter the BBC, which reported on the matter in a lengthy, 700-plus word article and failed to mention the words “Muslim”, “Islamic” or “Islam” even once.

Very true. I also got to watch BBC breakfast news coverage on these “honour killings”  and again the sanitisation was all too evident. It’s never news, it’s always propaganda. The BBC seems determined to ensure that Islam escapes any criticism even when, as in this case, the savagery is crying out for the strongest condemnation.

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FREE MASONRY?

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Newsnight's Paul Mason puts the case for rioting

Fascinating insight into the BBC’s Paul Mason here.

“In what will doubtless be seen as further evidence of a Left-wing agenda at the BBC, Paul Mason, the economics editor of Newsnight, posits the case in a new book that the summer riots were part of a “global revolution”.

The publishing house Verso gives a taste of the line that Mason takes inWhy It’s Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions in its latest catalogue.
Beneath a picture of the 144-year-old furniture store House of Reeves ablaze in Croydon during the riots in August, Mason is quoted as saying: “What has started with students in Millbank now erupts across the poverty-stricken streets of London: the network defeats the hierarchy; the political elite flounders, bereft of explanations.”

The bit that makes me wonder is here did Mason gain his credentials to talk about economics? As far as I can see he is qualified as a music teacher.

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OPEN THREAD

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Well, the public sector may be closed but we are OPEN and awaiting your comments. Just to let you know that I am going to be away for a few days on holiday so I pass the torch to my fellow writers. I shall return…,..

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IN WORLD SERVICE, WE TRUST?

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Here’s an interesting response to;

BBC: World Service Trust
Question
Asked by Lord Laird

“To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the Department for International Development has made a grant of £90 million to the BBC World Service Trust; what proportion of the trust’s income this grant represents; how they have assessed the cost-effectiveness of this grant; and whether they will place copies of the grant application correspondence in the Library of the House.[HL13438]

Baroness Northover: The Department for International Development has made a grant of £90 million to the BBC World Service (WST) in order to increase the scale of its impact on governance, health and humanitarian results. The grant will reach some 200 million people, across 14 countries, most of them fragile, in order to: improve democratic governance by enhancing political accountability and reducing the risk of conflict; improve the health of people living in poverty, particularly maternal and child health;improve communities’ ability to cope with humanitarian crises; and build a stronger evidence base by making sure that the results from the investment are closely monitored and are used to improve the effectiveness of aid spent on support to media and communication. The grant builds on development results already being achieved and delivered effectively by BBC WST. It puts the relationship on a longer-term, more strategic basis so as to increase global reach and impact. It increases efficiency by bringing together existing programmes funded by DfID in one place, and builds on the BBC WST proven track record of contributing to governance, health and humanitarian results through media.

The grant represents one-third of the BBC WST’s projected income over the life of the grant and will not exceed 40 per cent in any one year. The strategic grant was deemed to represent good value for money and be a cost-effective way of reaching a large number of people. The cost-effectiveness was assessed in a number of ways, including looking at the cost per person reached which is £0.45 and the cost of staff time to administer the grant which compares favourably to the cost of managing multiple grants.

The business case for the grant will be published on the DfID website.”

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THE WORKERS, UNITED, WILL NEVER BE DIVIDED?

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Theatre nurse Eleanor Smith (centre), President of Unison leads health workers out on strike at midnight from the Birmingham Women's Hospital
Well, here we are on November 30th – the day the State sector has chosen to hold us all to hostage. With Diversity and Equality co-ordinators off for the day, it’s gonna be a tough one. It’s also been a tough start to the day on the BBC what with the Met Office being out of commission, no sign of Humphyrs or the fragrant Sarah on Today, but Evan Davies and Justin Webb have been doing their best for the comrades on the picker lines. I was entertained by this interview with Trade Unionist Dave Prentice, with Webb claiming the government are “spoiling for a fight”. Really? If the government were any more supine on this they would be horizontal yet through the BBC prism this is Thatcher in 1979 all over again.

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