Author Archives: David Vance

INCLUSIVITY

By | | ,
23 Comments

At this festive season, I am touched to read on the BBC that sales of Halal Turkeys are booming “as they enable Muslims in Yorkshire to join in the festive season.” Turkey – the true meaning of Christmas, right? Thank god (Allah) that the BBC have the resources to bring us this kind of insight, well worth the license-tax.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

ALL INNOCENT

By | |
8 Comments

Have to laugh at the content of the BBC item “Scandal probe clears Obama team.” Phew, what a relief that is knowing that The One’s team had “no inappropriate discussions” with Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. That’s the review conducted by Greg Craig, one of Obama’s trusted legal advisers. Not even a trace of a conflict of interests there then, right? Naturally all this Obama sanitisation is swallowed by the BBC’s intrepid journalists.


Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

MOST BIASED MOMENT OF THE YEAR

By | |
60 Comments

?

Well, as we approach year end, I thought it might be fun to review 2008 in terms of the worst example of BBC bias that springs to mind! I was looking back over events and I suppose the BBC’s utterly disgraceful one-sided coverage of the US Presidential election campaign stands out – with Justin Webb in particular provoking widespread criticism from this site and its readership. (He has, predictably, been promoted by the BBC as a result of his bias) Then again, we had the “Save Gordon” campaign with the BBC choosing to present our lamentable freak of a Prime Minister as if he were the saviour of the Universe. Funniest moment for me was Gordon confirming in the Commons that he had saved the world! Along the way there has been so much unbalanced left-wing bias from the BBC that it is a veritable target rich environment. So what stands out for YOU, dear reader?

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

A SUSTAINED SNEER

By | | ,
30 Comments

I don’t normally get to hear the main “Today” political interview as I normally otherwise engaged by 8am but this morning I did catch it and what a gem it was. Essentially, it was a ten minute sneer from John Humphyrs. US Ambassador Bob Tuttle was in the studio and the subject was the Bush legacy so you can imagine the vitriol dripping from Humphyrs mouth. To be honest I thought the Ambassador showed remarkable restraint given the relentless provocation from John Humphrys. Every lurid left wing imagination over the past eight years was trotted out to damn the outgoing President. It was a useful insight into how the BBC thinks – and very unpleasant at that! Did you hear it?

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

QUICK, QUICK SLOW…

By | | ,
53 Comments

I am sure you will have been following the media spat between Metropolitan Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick and the Conservative Party. Quick accuses the Conservatives and their running dogs in the press of running a “corrupt” campaign against him as he uses valuable policing resource to investigate that well known threat to national security Damian Green. He has subsequently withdrawn his use of the word “corrupt” from his tirade but I am sure you all get the general idea. Naturally, the BBC delights in reporting this and presents the entire issue as if it were merely between the bad Conservatives and hard-working Quick. It’s not. The broader issues here include why does Quick believe that investigating Damian Green is a greater policing priority than investigating Islamic terrorism? Is it appropriate for senior Policeman to make overt political attacks? After all, Quick was very quick when it came to offering support to the claims of Jacqui Smith over her 42 day detention bill earlier this year. With such an allegedly clear political bias in favour of the Labour government how can any conservative-inclined citizen feel confidence in the work of the Metropolitan Counter-terrorism Police? These are all questions the BBC has no interest in pursuing since the main point here is to paint the Conservatives as the enemies of effective policing.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

ROBERT MUGABE – VICTIM?

By | | , ,
16 Comments

Intrigued to listen to an interview on the BBC this morning that pointed out that tyrant Mugabe was cut off from “his feelings” because of a “rough childhood”. I was touched. South African journalist Heidi Holland then went on to equate Mugabe’s belligerent intransigence with the current US position on his failure to share power as explanation as to why there can be no progress here. So, even in Zimbabwe, the US is to blame, eh?

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

General BBC-related comment thread!

By | |
78 Comments

Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

NORTH OF THE BORDER

By | | ,
16 Comments

It appears that a different set of economic laws prevail in Scotland, if one studies this BBC report. On the one hand it is suggested that Mr Broon’s (utterly pathetic and entirely inadequate) VAT temporary reduction will save some thousands of jobs, but on the other it is argued that if the UK exchequer had just handed over a mere £1bn to Mr Salmond and his SNP pals, this would have “created or saved” (nice weasel words there, btw) double this number of jobs. At every point the working assumption is that Scotland is special and needs more money. Why? I suppose the BBC loves the fact that Scotland has a public sector that provides more than 51% of Scottish GDP and so anything that further builds this dependency will always get a sympathetic hearing.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

20 YEARS AGO TODAY BUT ONE WORD MISSING

By | |
11 Comments

I’m sure B-BBC readers will have been aware of the fact that twenty years ago this day, Pan Am Flight 103 was blown apart at 35,000 ft over the little Scottish town of Lockerbie. I read this BBC article on it but despite having checked it twice, there appears to be a missing word. It begins with “T”…wonder can you help me find it? Twenty years later, the verminous BBC refuse to call this event for what it was.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

HELP!

By | | ,
37 Comments

The United Kingdom’s small to medium sized businesses (SME’S) are the backbone of our economy. They generate almost 50% of our GDP, and employ millions of people in genuinely wealth-creating jobs (Unlike the State sector, for instance). Yet I picked up this casual report on the Beeb that says more and more of these businesses are planning to take an extra break over Christmas purely to try and save money. The benign report finishes by reassuring us that government “has announced new measures to help small firms in the pre-Budget report, including the ability to spread tax bills, and increased access to loans.” Yes, but the government has also delighted in tangling small business up in endless Brownian-generated expensive bureaucracy; the government has systematically raised taxation on small business; the government has imposed expensive liabilities on small business via its ludicrous “equality” agenda. I’d like the BBC to report the ENTIRE picture as to what Mr Broon has done to our SME’s, not this sanitised version.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.