Author Archives: David Vance

SEND IN THE CLOWNS…

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I see that my old pal George Mitchell and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are in the Middle East to help “bring peace.” You can expect to see the BBC give the efforts of this pair of jokers a sympathetic hearing – they have always been kind to Senator Mitchell following his work in Northern Ireland. Now that Obama has recycled this Clintonian bagman him into this role I am certain that the BBC will use the Northern Ireland peace process as the preferred template for creating stability in this region. On News 24 last night I heard someone insist that Israel would “have to” talk to Hamas, just like the British government “had to” talk to the IRA. It’s a completely misleading analogy but the BBC are wedded to it and you can be sure that Israel will be cast as the intransigent villains if they do not set down and enter dialogue with the genocidal Islamic savages in Hamas. The BBC coverage of the brutal murder of an Israeli soldier by Hamas should have re-assured everyone that BBC faux protestations about its’ much vaunted “impartiality”on this issue are as shallow as they are insubstantial. Once again the narrative is that “both sides” have broken their cease-fires and so Hamas get a pass for their act of murderous aggression.

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MORAL DEPRAVITY DEFENDED.

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In my book “Unionism Decayed”, there is a section on how the UK government used the media, and the BBC in particular, to advance it’s’ own appeasement agenda at all costs. In particular, I point to how an accidentally leaked memo by a senior civil servant, Tom Kelly, made clear that certain high profile individuals had been identified as “champions” for the government view. One of the named individuals was Lord Eames – the same man who has co-authored the current proposals to pay the families of terrorists the same amount of money as their victims. The BBC is VERY sympathetic to Lord Eames, as you can read here. Ever wonder where that manipulative Mr Kelly came from? That’s right – the BBC. Ever wonder where he went to after the deal was done to institutionalise terrorism? That’s right – Tony Blair’s press office. It’s a funny old world watching those from the BBC effortlessly melt into the heart of government propaganda. I guess their on the job training is very good?

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BIAS WITH A SMILING FACE

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Ordinarily, I will tune in to Radio 4 “Today” or else check out the BBC main news portal as a means of assessing the presentation of news by the State broadcaster. But this morning, I am in London on business and I can only watch the TV news in my hotel room. So, for a change, I tuned in to the “Breakfast” programme on BBC1. It’s an eye-opener because it too has a rampant bias which is ever so subtle and aimed at the wider audience watching at this time in the morning. In that regard one could argue it is all the more dangerous in terms of its’ malign influence.

The lead story was concerning how people are being aggressively pursued by debt collection agencies. And who did the BBC choose to interview about this? A lady, clad in full Niqab gear, who claimed she was the victim of identity confusion. The fact that we could not even see her face because she chose to wear Islamic garb seemed an irony lost on the BBC. Cut to fluffy dog story – and then we had a story about Lord Rumba of Rio’s bail-out to the UK car industry, with an touching human interest interview with an ever so grateful car industry worker. Good ol’ Mandy – he’s providing much needed job security. Cue more feel good news about the octuplets. Then a story about rising child care costs in GB which are, thank goodness, being obviated at least in some areas by progressive local Councils and our wise government. It’s the proverbial curate’s egg, inane in some bits, toxic in others!

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TRIANGULATION

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The BBC is hyping up it’s refusal to air the ad from the DEC appealing for cash for Hamastan, thus suggesting it is without bias. Mark Thompson was on to say that he believed showing this appeal could be taken as favouring one side over another. Quite right. Sky has also refused to show the DEC sppeal so BBC virtue in this regard is not unique! So what do we make of the BBC approach here? Superficially I welcome it but of course having endured three weeks of pro-Hamas propaganda dressed up as news reporting, I rather worry that what the BBC is actually doing here is a little bit of sophisticated triangulating, giving itself cover so that any future criticism of its coverage of matters in the Middle East is invalidated because of this move. Your view?

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LABOUR BROADCASTING CORPORATION

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Tuned into “Today” this morning and was immediately struck by the revolving door it provided to government apologists. We had the loathsome Denis McShane being interviewed about the Corus job losses. Naturally McShane used this bully pulpit to point out how bad things had been under the Conservatives, and Ken Clark! He also endlessly emphasised that this issue is global and nothing whatsoever to do with Mr Brown. No other political opinion was sought. Then, a few minutes later, we had the abomination that is Baroness Kennedy in the spotlight discussing those “newspaper allegations” that some Labour Peers are for sale. Kennedy was also allowed to wiggle on the line and allege that the problem here lies with the lobbyists! The Labour establishment plans to kick this into the long grass and you can sense the BBC is going with this line. Again, no contrary opinion was allowed. Herein lies the issue – these are all political matters but the BBC is very keen to allow just one side – Labour – to have its say on them. This skews the entire debate and presents the listening public with a very unbalanced view.

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LORDS A MERCY

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The Sunday Times has done us all a favour in exposing the rapacious Labour whores in the Lords who are prepared to accept fees of up to £120,000 a year to amend laws on behalf of business clients. However I was curious about how the BBC has chosen to treat this expose of NuLabour corruption. It appears there is “concern” but I was amused to see that the BBC’s political correspondent Iain Watson felt able to suggest that whilst trying to influence Parliamentary legislation was outside the House of Lords code of conduct, peers not paid a salary can offer general advice to private firms as consultants. “That may be where there’s a bit of a grey area, where people can quite honestly say ‘I haven’t broken any rules’,” he said.

Sure. Thing is I don’t recall such generosity of spirit being extended to any Conservative found in such a “grey area”. Then it was sleaze. Now it is quelle surprise!

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A FIRST ANNIVERSARY!

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Hi folks. Today may be 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns but it is also a milestone in my time here at B-BBC for it marks one year to the date since I first started posting here! I wanted to firstly thank Ed for his very kind invitation to me in the first place, and to all those other illustrious writers who have preceded my time here some of whom still illuminate the site with their excellent work. I also wanted to thank all of you readers for your wonderful contributions, believe me I feel your insights always dwarf my own efforts. It’s a breeze being able to write here for you and after this time I hope you have become accustomed to my ways! Thanks to you all – after one year I’m now warmed up – now let the sport begin!

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ANY QUESTIONS?

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It would take a braver man than me to tune in to this week’s Any Questions! The panel consists of Ben Bradshaw, Minister of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, Shadow Health Secretary, Don Foster, Liberal Democrat spokesman on Culture, Media and Sport and Dame Suzi Leather: Chair of Charity Commission. Anybody tune in? Have you recovered?

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