Category Archives: BBC bias

Strong and stable or smartarse clown?

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Interesting that the ‘debate’ today had an audience that was markedly, to my ear, less loud in its appreciation of Corbyn. You would probably be suspicious that they were picked using a different criteria to the last one…a tweaked model of selection…which might indicate there was a problem[ I see the Tories made a complaint to the BBC….did it have an effect….if so how and why?  Will the BBC admit to a problem?  LOL].  Comres assured us the last one was merely a noisy mob of Corbyn supporters outshouting the silent Tories rather than an unbalanced audience….but as they admitted that the format meant, whatever the scientific balance intended, that it was dominated by people opposed to the government this meant it was not in fact representative or fair in the studio.

Tonight May gave the usual stolid performance only really facing a hard question on nurses’ pay…Dimbleby helpfully suggesting nurses were getting poorer and being made to go to food banks and asking if May could sleep at night….he also directed May as to what she could talk about in her answers and told her how long she could have to answer.

Corbyn on the other hand came across as highly untrustworthy and evasive…as normal. He is a clown who makes cheap jokes and smartarse remarks,..such as he appeared in a debate and May didn’t….but that debate was not a debate, it was not informative, it was not time well spent…it was merely showboating….as Corbyn’s remark illustrates…it was all about turning up rather than actually saying anything useful.  Tonight though was an act that he couldn’t pull off, he didn’t come across naturally as he shouted his way through the questions presumably thinking this was strong and authoritative rather than a sign of a massive bluff.  He still tries to avoid saying anything useful other than soundgood soundbites as he dodged the nuclear weapons question and in the end was left standing struck silent refusing to answer.  Dimbleby did press him on this question but he was allowed to slip away as with anti-semitism and the IRA.

More egregiously he was allowed to escape proper scrutiny on his economic policies and on the Single Market.  Dimbleby asked him what he meant by ‘Brexit’ but he was able to shrug that off by repeating his mantra that he would be looking for tariff free trade….we all know by that he means to stay in the Single Market and thus will have to keep  freedom of movement…but Dimbleby didn’t challenge him on that very critical point…surely one if the major ones of the election.

 

Corbyn was also allowed to make what are obviously false statements about the rich getting richer and the rest being left behind….not to mention the poorest not going to university due to tuition fees….we know for a fact that there has never been a time when there have been more students from poorer backgrounds than now…due to the availability of loans for tuition fees….they have not stopped students from going to university, the opposite in fact.

As for taxes, millions have been taken out of tax in the last 7 years as the allowance has been raised and the rich have in fact been made to pay a far higher share of the tax take than anyone else, not only that but interest rates, and thus mortgages and loans to business, have been at  record lows for years and inflation has been unusually low as well….OPEC doing us all a favour by keeping fuel and thus prices all round low.  So wages in cash terms may not have risen hugely on the face of it but spending power has been increased by other means as costs have been lowered…and people kept in jobs by agreeing to lower wages rather than having been sacked as in other recessions.

Corbyn was allowed to get away with that very simple picture of what has happened and treated us to the usual platitudes about equality, social justice, peace and negotiations…anyone who basically shouts his way through such a session as he did just doesn’t seem trustworthy…and his cheap clowning such as the dig at May for not being at the debate or as the programme finished shouting out that he had so much more to say said it all for me.  No one in Brussels will take him seriously especially as they know he is intent on staying in the EU…he has already surrendered one issue…on the status of EU citizens already in the UK whilst the EU has refused to say the same for Brits abroad.

This format is certainly a lot better than the circus of the last debate with all the leaders squabbling and point scoring. [Odd that the SNP deputy should criticise May for not being there whilst no sign of Sturgeon…he claims he is leader in Westminster…not a credible getout methinks].

However even tonight’s format is not perfect in that it doesn’t allow for extended questioning on one subject to any great degree, having to move on inexorably so that as many people as possible get to ask a question.  Perhaps we should have a written exam for the prospective PMs in which they set out in detail not just what they want us to hear as in the manifestos but the answers to questions that the public want to hear.

I note George Eaton at the New Statesman is silent on Twitter this time….have the Corbynistas got to him?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corbyn’s ‘magic money tree’…found!

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The BBC was always very obliging to Labour in the terms they used to describe Tory policies..the Bedroom Tax of course springs to mind, occasionally with an additional ‘so-called’ prefix as if that made it non-partisan, then we have the more current ‘dementia tax’.

What about ‘Garden Tax’?  Will the BBC be using that term, so-called or otherwise?  Unlikely as it is a Tory term for Corbyn’s proposed suggestion that a land tax might be in order to raise more money for local government.  Just how much money we don’t know, and who exactly will pay it we don’t know….isn’t the BBC eager to investigate?  Perhaps it is that ‘magic money tree’ Amber Rudd suggested was going to be the source of Corbyn’s funding?  Magic money gardens…..Corbyn sticking to his metric?… going for the inner city vote…the flat dwelling workers and Nottinghill/Islington media luvvies who have no gardens?

A Labour government will give local government extra funding next year. We will initiate a review into reforming council tax and business rates and consider new options such as a land value tax, to ensure local government has sustainable funding for the long term.

Had a Google of ‘BBC’ and ‘Garden Tax’ and nothing turns up…which is odd as it’s making the front pages of the papers and the farmers are up in arms warning us that food bills will rise…something normally the BBC would be desperate to report….from Horticulture Weekly…

Labour manifesto ‘garden tax’ concerns raised

Labour’s manifesto contains proposals to replace council tax and possibly business rates with a Land Value Tax (LVT) on homes and gardens.

Under proposals, the new tax would be imposed as an up to 3% levy on the value of land.

The annual tax is calculated using the market rental value of land so would hit those with large gardens harder.

The Institute for Public Policy Research says the tax might become a “tax on gardens”.

The National Farmers Union has warned that if agricultural land, which is currently exempt from council tax and business rates, is also hit it would simply lead to hikes in food prices.

I’m sure this will provide a rich source of jokes for the BBC’s finest from the News Quiz, HIGNFY and the extremely partisan muppets on the Today show…..no not Robinson and Webb, though easy mistake to make, I mean D’Ancona and Behr whose comedy run down of the election this week was basically a Labour political broadcast with jokes…much like its manifesto I suppose.

 

 

 

Big Brother’s Big Data

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The BBC has been consistently ‘concerned’ about ‘Big Data’ and social media being used to manipulate what people think and sway their votes….much claiming that Trump and Brexit were won by underhand subterfuge using such methods.

Today we learn that Labour has been the fortunate beneficiary of Twitter bots streaming out pro-Corbyn and anti-May messages, not just Labour but the SNP have been disproportionately figuring in the data.

Labour dominating Twitter conversation in UK election campaign, says study

Hashtags such as #VoteLabour and #JezzWeCan are outperforming the likes of #VoteTory and #StrongAndStable, according to the new study.

But the ‘junk news’ that blighted the US presidential race is also playing a role in the UK election, accounting for almost 13% of relevant content shared.

The researchers analysed more than 1.3 million tweets produced between 1 and 7 May 2017, using hashtags associated with the primary political parties in the UK, the major candidates, and the election itself.

Interesting though how the BBC plays this…it does report it but plays it down...very little ‘junk news’ …fortunately most people are sharing ‘quality news’…..

The research was based on an analysis of political news links shared by UK users in the first week of May.

Of those shared, 53% linked to professional news and information sources, while 13% linked to junk news – stories that are misleading or conflate opinion and fact.

The rest of the sample included links to content created by politicians, experts and blogs.

The study found users shared marginally worse quality news and information sources than German and French users, but far better than those in the US.

“It’s concerning and shows that social media isn’t the best source of political news”, Monica Kaminska, one of the report’s authors said.

“We still have junk news, bots that are active, misinformation that is being spread.

“[But] it seems to be the case that people are [still] sharing good quality news.”

Yep, all those reports from the BBC telling us Brexit was the result of fake news spread on social media…now apparently, when Labour are in the frame, not so much….all is cool…one is reassured…..

After the dramatic and close campaigns that led to Brexit and President Trump’s election, there have been concerns about social media eroding democracy.

In particular, there have been allegations about how wealthy individuals or foreign powers buying advert space on social media, or using bots – automated software that mimics human behaviour – to influence how people vote.

But this examination of the quality of news people in Britain can find on Twitter, which admittedly reaches fewer people than Facebook, is reassuring.

And don’t worry…it’s all positive thinking for Labour, none of that horrible fake news or rampant abuse…

“It’s difficult to say even whether the conversation is positive or negative about Labour”, said Miss Kaminska.

“[From] the hashtags that we’ve selected, I would lean towards saying the conversation is positive.

 

Hmmm….tonight’s Great Leap Forward’s ‘Tweetstorm’ on Twitter is hardly what you might call ‘quality’…oh yes, quality production, just a shame the content is wanting….33mins 55 secs of slow death…..unwatchable I suspect even for the most committed…and you’d have to have been committed to want to watch it……that hair!…..and Labour seem to be bombarding us with adverts on Youtube …great!

https://twitter.com/nonideefixe/status/870223890500505600

There can be only won

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So who did win the debate, such as it was?

Kuenssberg told us that it should be chalked up to Corbyn….others disagree saying a poll immediately after the debate gave it to Rudd…which would be quite remarkable achievement for her in the face of a baying mob and 7 other opponents….

Westmonster Poll: Conservatives won debate

A Westmonster poll of almost 8,000 people immediately following last night’s BBC election debate has seen the Conservative Party’s Amber Rudd backed as the winner.

40% judged Rudd to have won, with Jeremy Corbyn in second place on 33%. Paul Nuttall was third on 22% and Tim Farron bringing up the rear on just 5%.

Though this poll is massively unscientific, the fact that 62% backed either Rudd of Nuttall, who were both derided by the live studio audience points to public reaction across the country to be much different to in the massively pro-Remain City of Cambridge.

Sad this wider range of opinion wasn’t reflected in the audience on the night.

 

Any sign of this on the BBC which normally is so quick to point out the slightest suggestion that a single job might be transferred to the EU?

 

 

Person of no interest…rolling with the rumours

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More misinformation, guerilla war and the spreading of lies and half-truths..by the MSM….

The Guardian has started slinging mud at Farage….claiming he is a person of interest to US investigators in regard to Trump and Russia…one piece of ‘evidence’ the Guardian puts forward is his appeance on RT demanding to know if he was paid for such fraternising with the enemy [maybe he published highly secret and sensitive US intelligence supplied to him by someone who was quite possibly a Russian spy….did Snowden ever talk to Farage…or was he too busy peddling the secrets to the Guardian and BBC?]……

The spokesman also declined to comment on whether Farage had received compensation from the Russian state-backed media group RT for his media appearances.

RT, which has featured Farage about three times over the last 18 months, also declined to comment, citing confidentiality.

 

 

Oh…hang on…something’s wrong…..that’s not Farage…that’s….hmmm…surely that’s Corbyn….is he in the pay of the Russians too?  Where will this betrayal stop?  It’ll be David Dimbleby next on RT…..the Radio Times…..or maybe a Russian bath house in Moscow was the place for a clandestine meet with Ze Russkies….going to ‘talk business and cut deals with the big boys’…

 

 

Alt-Right….smash them. Alt-Left…who?

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The BBC rails against ‘fake news’ [despite it being the biggest provider of that delicacy…otherwise known as ‘tripe’] and more often than not associates it with Right-wing publications or social media sites happily ignoring the proliferation of Left-wing sites, and the Guardian…oh..not quite true…it in fact, far from ignoring them, promotes such sites as valuable providers of news from an alternative perspective…such as the hard-left Skwawkbox,

We’ve just mentioned Dimbleby moaning that Corbyn hasn’t had a fair deal from the Right-wing Press but what has he got to say about the Left or the ‘alt-left’…it’s out there but you’d hardly know it from the BBC’s lack of desire to investigate…from Buzzfeed…..

The Rise Of The Alt-Left British Media

They’ve been mocked, ignored, and dismissed as conspiracy mongers – but a small group of hyperpartisan British media outlets have quietly built enormous audiences on Facebook in the space of just two years with relentlessly pro-Corbyn coverage. But how will the British alt-left media cope with the election?

Just as the likes of Breitbart broke into the mainstream during the 2016 US presidential election by exploiting a lack of right-wing viral news, the 2017 general election is driving record traffic to the loose collection of alt-left British outlets that are positioning themselves as Corbyn’s outriders, jumping on stories without much of the nuance of outlets that remain rooted in mainstream reporting traditions.

What’s changed is that, according to analysis conducted by BuzzFeed News during the first two weeks of the election campaign, articles by Another Angry Voice and other similar alt-left media publications such as The Canary, Evolve Politics, and Skwawkbox are consistently and repeatedly going more viral than mainstream UK political journalism.

This election marks the tipping point following years of growth, where a core audience of millions of left-leaning readers are consuming such sites in isolation and obsessing over their completely distinct news agenda. Driven almost entirely by what shares well on Facebook, they barely register in the Twitter-dominated world of Westminster journalists, except when they’re occasionally mocked for their supposedly borderline-conspiracy interpretations of events. But there are common factors to their success: an unashamed role as a cheerleader for Jeremy Corbyn, producing openly slanted coverage in support of the Labour leader, all filtered through the prism of mainstream media criticism.

The BBC has heaped criticism upon ‘social media’ for swaying elections, frequently suggesting that the ‘Dark Arts’ have been used to subvert democracy…primarily because of course the BBC believes it’s responsible for Trump and Brexit….but we don’t see any such criticism for the same type of social media hype for Corbyn.

Any sign on the BBC of this attempt to smear The Sun?…

The Canary Deleted A False Viral Story About The Sun’s Coverage Of The Manchester Attack

The Canary has quietly deleted an article which alleged The Sun had ignored the victims of the Manchester terror attack by failing to put the incident on the front page of the newspaper – despite the fact that the paper’s first edition went to print 30 minutes before the attack took place.

 

 

Gary Linemypocketswithunpaidtaxeker

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Oh dear…the sanctimonious BBC crisp muncher has been through some taxing times it seems…from Guido:

Gary Lineker Tax Scheme Loses Court Bid

Gary Lineker is among a group of celebrities who have lost a court bid to overturn a £700 million tax bill. The achingly right-on footballer turned self-appointed current affairs expert claimed the press were pursuing a “vendetta” against him over his involvement in the Ingenious film investment scheme, where tax reliefs were claimed on artificial movie losses. It was all media lies, Gary insisted…

Seems the courts do not agree. HMRC argued that the scheme was an aggressive kind of tax avoidance and yesterday a tax tribunal judge ruled the tax relief claims were not “allowable deductions”. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke.

Trust? A bit of a problem judging by this BBC Anchor

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David Dimbleby, the man who will be fronting the BBC’s election coverage and who presides over Question Time, has come out for Corbyn…telling us he’s had an unfair rap from the ‘Right-wing’ Press…curiously he doesn’t moan that May has had an unfair ‘Press’…especially from, er, the BBC.

David Dimbleby: Jeremy Corbyn has not had a fair deal at the hands of the press

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is more popular than the media make him out to be and hasn’t had a fair deal at the hands of the press, says Question Time host David Dimbleby.

“If the Conservative story is how Theresa May is the ‘brand leader’, the interesting thing is that a lot of Labour supporters really like and believe in the messages that Jeremy Corbyn is bringing across,” says Dimbleby in an interview in the new issue of Radio Times magazine.

“It’s not his MPs in the House of Commons necessarily, but there is a lot of support in the country. And I don’t think anyone could say that Corbyn has had a fair deal at the hands of the press, in a way that the Labour Party did when it was more to the centre.”

“My own prediction is that, contrary to the skepticism and lazy pessimism of the newspapers and the British media, it’s going to be a really fascinating night, and it will drive home some messages about our political system and the political appeal of different parties that no amount of polling or reading the papers will tell us.”

What exactly is unfair about the Press coverage?  Is Corbyn not a proven terrorist supporter?  Is he not a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist who, along with McDonnell and Abbott, will bring this country to its knees with unions freed from legal restraints and economic policies that owe more to 1970’s socialist dogma than real policies that will protect and build a prosperous nation…Corbyn, as with all socialists, will sacrifice people, their jobs, their families, their futures, to adhere to that dogma come what may…for Corbyn it’s not about the end result but the journey…and his chosen vehicle is hard-core ruinous socialism.  Looks like Dimbleby is a fellow traveller on that journey.  No surprise really.

 

 

Kuenssberg…waste of space

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Image result for corbyn pantomime

 

Here’s Kuenssberg’s thoughts on the debate…it will be chalked up as a win for Corbyn…

 

She attacks May for not turning up and yet has nothing but praise for Corbyn who changed his mind and took the opportunistic chancer’s route of suddenly saying he will join the debate trying to wrongfoot May.

It is quite probable that this was the Corbyn plan all along, did the BBC know?, just as the ‘leak’ of Labour’s manifesto was quite likely deliberate…giving it enormous publicity and giving it time to assess reaction and then alter anything that got a bad reception without being accused of changing anything as it was a ‘draft’….unlike May’s change which has brought enormous criticism upon her including the charge that she changes her mind….unlike Corbyn who has had no criticism for changing his mind on the debate…if it suits the BBC then they won’t criticise.

Look at the BBC write up from last night [original version]…BBC debate: Rivals attack Theresa May over absence…and you won’t find anything about the debate being a complete shambles or about a biased audience.

The BBC are doing Corbyn’s work for him as it concentrates on criticism of May by her rivals…..and lines up quote after quote from the debate…as there were far more anti-Tory people in the debate this leads to a long soundbite of anti-Tory messages that the BBC is more than happy to keep pumping out.

The BBC is blaming Comres for the biased audience and the fact that as there were so many parties represented they all had to have their supporters in the audience and thus together outnumbered the Tories….that seems like a system that is not working then…even if it was done properly with the correct percentages of representation.  A system designed to produce a hugely, disproportionately, anti-government audience.

Pienaar came on to smooth things over…he admitted it was a bunfight and that he wasn’t sure we’d learned anything useful and that will have done nothing to change people’s minds[lol] however he claimed it was good as it showed the character of the leaders and how they’d cope in a bunfight.  You’d hope serious political negotiations, such as Brexit were conducted in a serious manner and not a bunfight.  He went on to say Boris would have been there [if PM], so sly dig at May, and goes on to say May is too measured and she wins no points for reducing risk…in his assessment….and May is ‘not a media performer’….er…not a performing seal for the BBC’s own delight….the debate was a circus from which we learnt nothing.

Even the Daily Mirror thought the debate was crap and pointless…

This could have been an opportunity for a serious debate on Brexit, the economy, defence and public services.

Instead we got a cross between the Jeremy Kyle show and the Weakest Link.

Unfortunately there was no way of eliminating any of the shouty seven when they talked over each other, uttered banal soundbites or offered a duff answer.

 

Pienaar then went on to praise Corbyn as someone open to argument[er…kept the same marxist pro-terror ideologies for decades] and that he was a ‘thoughtful man’.

Nicky Campbell naturally defended the BBC and attacked May and the Tories as he talked to Boris…calling him ‘disengenuous’…and of course bringing up the £350 million…when have you heard the BBC bring up the Remain camps’ lies about economic armageddon, families reduced to poverty, world war 3, an ’emergency budget’ to rescue Britain after the vote, 3 million people on the dole due to Brexit, investment down and businesses fleeing Britian in droves..oh…and Cameron wouldn’t resign after the vote…nuff said.

Such debates are entirely worthless and more showbiz than a useful tool to inform the Public about the issues in a rounded and measured way.

The BBC knew the Tories would be outnumbered and they’d get a ream of anti-Tory soundbites that the could play endlessly for days just a week before the actual vote.

The Independent headline says it all…

 

 

This is the BBC turning the election into a pantomime…a pro-Corbyn, or at least a Pro-Labour one.

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