Author Archives: David Vance

HAPPY DAYS

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Did you read that one of the BBC’s most senior executives is involved in running a media training company that makes thousands of pounds a year by teaching the Corporation’s own presenters how to perform in front of the cameras? Jay Hunt, who earns up to £280,000 a year as the Controller of BBC1, is company secretary of the firm, which is owned by her husband. Perhaps I am being cynical in seeing a slight a conflict of interests here but surely all this does is reinforcce the very special relationship between the State Broadcaster and the taxpayer. They loot us for revenue, we pay.

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MARR ON SUNDAY

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Quick – Universal Shami alert. Yes, the doe eyed champion of human rights and liberty is guest starring on the Andrew Marr show, along with philospher king Tony Parsons. Stephanie Flanders is filling in for Andrew but the usual balance is there – left and hard left. Further update – Saint Vince Cable is on – introduced as ” a bit of an economics guru” by the lovely Stephanie!

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COMPARE AND CONTRAST…

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Consider the latest economic news from the States, dear reader!


The BBC reports this under the heading “Pace of US economic decline eases” and declares…

“The US economy shrank at an annual pace of 1% in the April-to-June quarter, government figures have shown. The data was better than expected, but marked the longest period of decline since records began in 1947.”


Subtext? Obama is working his special magic. Remember – better than expected.

There is another way of looking at it: Under the heading ” Recession worse than prior estimates” it says…

“The first 12 months of the U.S. recession saw the economy shrink more than twice as much as previously estimated, reflecting even bigger declines in consumer spending and housing, revised figures showed.

The world’s largest economy contracted 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the last three months of 2008, compared with the 0.8 percent drop previously on the books, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.

“The current downturn beginning in 2008 is more pronounced,” Steven Landefeld, director of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, said in a press briefing this week. The revisions were in line with past experience in which initial figures tended to underestimate the severity of contractions during their early stages, he said.”

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OPEN THREAD

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OK – it’ll soon be the weekend, and here is a new open thread for your use! That’s July in the can – well over 100 posts and here comes August! You all enjoying the Barbeque summer?

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OVERKILL?

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Is the sad death of Sir Bobby Robson really the single BIGGEST news story in the UK today? The BBC are giving it massive prominence which seems a tad disproportionate and I speak as someone who has a son who is a fervent Newcastle FC supporter! Look, it’s a shame that he has died, I think he was a nice guy and I did watch the testimonial for his Charity at St James last week BUT this is overkill. Wonder what bad news the BBC are really trying to hide?

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NIGERIAN BLUES

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Yes, it’s awful news, isn’t it? I refer to the killing of Islamic Jihadist leader Mohammed (sic) Yusef in Nigeria. Thank goodness those Human Rights activists in New Yorky City are on the case and pleading for an immediate investigation as to how this outrage could have happened. Let’s hope the results will be made public as it’s a bad news day when an Islamic killer gets, erm, killed. Anyway, what intrigued me about the BBC report was the comment that “Sharia law is in place across northern Nigeria, but there is no history of al-Qaeda-linked violence. The country’s 150 million people are split almost equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.” Hang on a second. Why is it that so many Christians live in the south, exactly? The weather? Nope. Might be something to do with this. With executions, amputations and merciless persecution of non-believers in the Religion of Peace , it’s hard to tell the subtle difference between this and Al Queda linked violence. But the BBC can discern it. Lucky them.

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YOU SAY TOMATO…

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I notice that the BBC have been reporting on the deaths of two Spanish Civil Guard officers on the island on Majorca. It seems they were killed by Basque Separatists ETA. Mmmm. Or, alternatively, they were brutally murdered by Basque terrorists. Even the leftwing Spanish government call this an act of terrorism but the BBC studiously avoid the T word. Too judgemental, you see.

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DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS !

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I’ve been posting here on Biased BBC for 18 months now and one lesson that I have fully taken on board during that time is NOT to feed the trolls that come along here. There has been one recurring troll who reincarnates himself under different names – he started off as Hillhunt and is now masquerading as Medicated not Educated (or something like that!) His key function is to derail discussions and I would urge our sensible commentariat not to feed him since in the act of doing so he achieves his aim. I suspect he is unable to stay away from B-BBC but that does not mean that we can’t stay away from him.

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REJOICE – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIE

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Wonder what you make of the BBC’s coverage of the victory that MS sufferer Debbie Purdy has had concerning her battle to have the law on assisted suicide clarified? She wanted to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her end her life in Switzerland. The DPP must now clarify the position. It strikes me that the BBC is almost celebratory in tone and clearly in sympathy with the aims of Mrs Purdy. The counterview is buried at the very bottom of the extensive item. Whilst we will all feel sympathy for the likes of those such as Mrs Purdy nonetheless there is a substantive body of opinion which does not support assisted suicide and I wish the BBC would provide it with the same sympathy as it does Mrs Purdy.

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NATIONALIST NATIONAL ID!

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Had to laugh at this pathetic bit of reporting from the BBC on the topic of the National ID card unveiled by Alan “Postie” Johnson today. Buried away in the linked BBC report (scan down to 11th paragraph) is the Home Office line that the absence of the Union Flag from the National ID card has nothing to do with offending Northern Ireland’s nationalist minority community. That’s not what is reported elsewhere….

“A Home Office statement said the ID card scheme must work in a way that “fully
recognises the identity rights of the people of Northern Ireland as laid out in
the Belfast Agreement”. The Government went on to say it had “sought to
design features which can reflect all parts of the United Kingdom, such as the
inclusion of the shamrock to represent Ireland within the tactile feature, and
we have sought to avoid symbols such as flags”.

But “the people of Northern Ireland” are British! So what’s the problem, Postie and why is the BBC not sharing the reason for the lack of our National Flag from the National ID card? The reality is that this government, and the BBC, are ashamed of our British identity and any chance to ditch it is grasped with eagerness.

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