It’s quite amazing to read the starry-eyed treatment the BBC affords the latest claims from Chairman Mao fan John McDonnell.

Labour insisted that the new rule was not a commitment to spend more money than the present government. Chancellor George Osborne has put in place rules saying that the government will create an overall budget surplus “in normal times”. Labour voted against the rule in Parliament, and Mr McDonnell said any future Labour government wanted to invest more than the Conservatives. Which could mean more borrowing. The Office for Budget Responsibility – the government’s economic watchdog – will be given new powers to “whistle blow” when it believes that the “credibility rule” has been breached. And under the Labour plans it will also report to Parliament rather than the Treasury.

Spot the weasel word from the BBC. Yes. it’s “could”. OF COURSE McDonnell will increase spending – but he redefines that as “investment” in true Marxist fashion.

An eagle eyed reader sent me this!

“Less than 12 hours after first publishing what I would think is a pretty major story, it has now been burried on the bbc news site:

ECB stimulus surprise sends stock markets sliding

The telgraph are leading with it in their business section:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/

and the Times:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/

The BBC will bury any story that shows the EU as anything less than an economic paradise. This suits Mr Cameron very well at this time.

David Cameron in PMQs condemned the fact that Labour had allowed back into its ranks one Gerry Downing…..

“I was completely appalled to see yesterday that the Labour Party have readmitted someone to their party who says that the 9/11 suicide bombers, and I quote, “must never be condemned”, and belongs to an organisation that says “we defend the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq”. These are appalling views and I hope that the Leader of the Opposition will throw this person out of the party rather than welcome him in.”

Guido broke the story originally...

I want to take this opportunity to welcome you back into full membership of the party.

All the Best,

Compliance Administrator

The Labour Party

Guido aslo notes Downing’s attitude towards Jews:

An unbylined article on Downing’s Socialist Fight website, which Downing himself tweeted, is headlined: “Why Marxists must address the Jewish Question”. The piece speaks for itself:

“The role Zionists have played in the attempted witch-hunt against Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership campaign is glaringly obvious… Since the dawning of the period of neo-liberal capitalism in the 1970s, elements of the Jewish-Zionist bourgeoisie, from Milton Friedman to Henry Kissinger to the pro-Israel ideologues of the War on Terror, have played a vanguard role for the capitalist offensive against the workers.”

The BBC completely ignored Cameron’s comments in PMQs and instead glorified in the fact that Corbyn has managed to ask his 100th question…

Jeremy Corbyn poses 100th Prime Minister’s Question

The BBC really knows what is important…..ah but the Labour Party has responded to Cameron and the BBC has had to catch up and report the expulsion of Downing and all without a single acknowledgement that this was a story that they ‘missed’…or did they deliberately ignore it as once again it underlined that the loony left that has captured the Labour Party, something the BBC seems remarkably quiet about as it prefers to concentrate on US politics and attacking Trump?  Note how the BBC report on Downing is actually more a defence of him and his views than anything else.

Let’s look again at Cameron’s comment…

“I was completely appalled to see yesterday that the Labour Party have readmitted someone to their party who says that the 9/11 suicide bombers, and I quote, “must never be condemned”, and belongs to an organisation that says “we defend the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq”. These are appalling views and I hope that the Leader of the Opposition will throw this person out of the party rather than welcome him in.”

Then look at the BBC’s Jim Muir’s ‘explanation’ as to the growth of Islamic fundamentalism….it’s all the West’s fault and although he admits there is an Islamic element to the Jihadi movement it is all based upon an inaccurate interpretation of the Koran, one that no ‘true’ Muslim would ever use……note Muir slips in the usual BBC lies about the Iraq war….

The invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003 was, it turned out, entirely unjustified on its own chosen grounds – Saddam Hussein’s alleged production of weapons of mass destruction, and his supposed support for international terrorists, neither of which was true. [Curious that the world renowned weapons inspector, David Kelly, said that the government intelligence was accurate and that he believed Saddam Hussein was developing weapons and that he represented a serious threat to the world….but a biased BBC reporter obviously knows better]

IS is also filling a desert left by the collapse of all the political ideologies that have stirred Arab idealists over the decades. [This ‘Jihadi’ narrative is exactly the same one that is wheeled out by the BBC time after time as their own explanation of events….instead of feeding into the Islamist propaganda perhaps the BBC should do its job and actually tell the truth about this narrative…instead Jim Muir reinforces that narrative and justifies terrorism helping to convince more Muslims that the cause is just and they should join ISIS and fight the West]

In this vacuum, IS took up the cause of punishing the West and other outsiders for their actions in the region over the past century:

• the carve-up by the colonial powers 100 years ago, drawing a border between Iraq and Syria which IS has now erased
• the creation of Israel under the British mandate for Palestine, and its subsequent unswerving political and financial support by the US
• Western (and indeed Russian) backing for corrupt and tyrannical Arab regimes
• the Western invasion and destruction of Iraq on the flimsiest of pretexts, with the death of uncounted thousands of Iraqis
• the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisoner abuse scandals….

The roots of IS also lie in a crisis within Islam.

“Isil is not Islamic,” said President Obama, echoing statements by many western leaders that “IS has nothing to do with Islam”.

It has.

“It is based on Islamic texts that are reinterpreted according to how they see it,” says Ahmad Moussalli, professor of politics at the American University of Beirut. “I don’t say they are not coming out of Islamic tradition, that would be denying facts. But their interpretation is unusual, literal sometimes, very much like the Wahhabis.”

The reason the BBC didn’t bother reporting on Downing is because they have sympathy with his views…..including the ones about the Jews…just look at Jeremy Bowen’s latest anti-Israeli screed….ironically he also reported Joe Biden denouncing those who defend the Palestinian terrorism….

Biden criticises failure to denounce Palestinian attacks

“Let me say in no uncertain terms: the United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts,” Mr Biden said.

“The kind of violence we saw yesterday, the failure to condemn it, the rhetoric that incites that violence, the retribution that it generates, has to stop.”

Just unfortunate that the likes of Bowen and his underlings don’t agree and continue to incite against the Israelis…

Bowe tells us….’Violence does not come out of the blue. It has a context. Once again, the problem is the unresolved conflict between Palestinians and Jews. It is at the heart of all the violence that shakes this city.’   Of course Bowen’s context is rather one-sided…….I have picked out only the bits that put the Palestinian’s case….erm…that’s pretty much all of the report then…….

Jerusalem knife attacks: Fear and loathing in holy city

Expanding city

Jerusalem has been simmering dangerously for two years or more. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been asserting what it believes is its national right to build homes for Jewish Israelis wherever it decides they are needed in a city that it calls its undivided, eternal capital.

The government’s backing for the expansion of settlements in the sections of Jerusalem captured during the 1967 war, and classified as occupied territory by most of the rest of the world, has transformed some districts.

Palestinians feel they are being squeezed out of their home. They believe that their territory is being eaten up by Israel’s appetite for land, and loath what they see as a national ideology designed to enforce the dominance of Israel and Judaism.

For almost 50 years, Israel has worked hard to unify West Jerusalem with the occupied east side of the city. Public transport and road systems have been integrated.

Jews have settled alongside areas that were wholly populated by Palestinians, in some cases right in the heart of Palestinian neighbourhoods.

Normal teenager

So why have Palestinians carried out appalling crimes, seemingly random attacks on passers-by simply because they are Israeli Jews? Some of the assailants have been well-educated young people without security records.

When I met Khaled Mahania, the father of 15-year-old Hassan Mahania, who attacked and badly wounded young Israelis in a settlement in East Jerusalem, he is unable to explain.

Hassan was shot dead as he carried out the attack; his 13-year-old cousin and accomplice was run down by a car and badly hurt.

The Israeli government blames the attacks on incitement by political and religious extremists. A video has circulated of a Muslim cleric in Gaza waving a knife and calling on Palestinians to slit the throats of Jews.

Khaled Mahania told me he had not replaced his son’s smartphone since he broke it last year. He had no mobile internet access, and none at home.

Khaled had even thrown out the TV because he believed his children should read and talk to each other. Khaled broke down as he said his son was a typical teenager, not political and certainly no radical.

Many Palestinians have told me they believe the reason for the attacks is that another generation is realising its future prospects will be crippled by the indignities and injustice of the occupation of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

The last straw has been the widespread belief that Israel is planning to allow Jews more access to the compound of the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which Palestinians call the Noble Sanctuary and Israelis call the Temple Mount.

Vicious circle

Israel’s use of considerable force in defence of its people also causes anger. The shooting dead of some assailants has been condemned, not least by the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Israeli government denies that it plans to change the status quo around the Aqsa Mosque. It maintains that agitators have incited trouble by spreading baseless rumours.

But the perceived threat to the Noble Sanctuary is widely believed by Palestinians, not least because it comes when Israeli settlements in occupied Jerusalem have been expanding.

A big part of the conflict is the military occupation of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, that has lasted for nearly 50 years. It is impossible to ignore the effects of an occupation that is always coercive and can be brutal.

In successive Palestinian generations, it has created hopelessness and hatred. In some cases, that bursts out into murderous anger. Jerusalem this week is crackling with tension and hate, directed by both sides at each other.

Biased on behalf of Palestinian terrorism?  Just a bit.  No context that the Muslims, and that is obviously the relevant factor…Muslim Jordan does not get the same treatment that Israel does despite being ‘carved’ out of Palestinian territory just as Israel was… want, and intend, to wipe Israel off the map and have been attacking Israel for over 70 years.  Any reason that the Israelis might want to defend themselves?

The BBC appeases Muslim terrorism and aids and abets it by spreading the Islamist’s anti-Western, anti-Jewish propaganda.

It wasn’t that they weren’t keen to report on Gerry Downing.  They just didn’t see the problem.

David Dimbleby presents Question Time from Dundee. On the panel: leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson MSP, deputy first minister of Scotland John Swinney MSP, Shadow cabinet secretary for Health & Wellbeing Jenny Marra MSP, Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie MSP, Scottish Greens MSP Patrick Harvie and Daily Telegraph columnist Tim Stanley.

An enthralling prospect, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Kick off tonight (Thursday) at 22.50

Chat here, register here if necessary.

Time for a new OPEN thread for you to detail the bias. The floor is yours….

The BBC ran this story with some enthusiasm today;

Boris Johnson says an email telling his senior staff to back him over the EU referendum has been withdrawn. The London mayor, who is campaigning to leave the EU, said the memo to deputy mayors and senior advisers was “a cock-up, and not something I agree with”.It told them to “either advocate the mayor’s position or otherwise not openly contradict it” when not at work. The email was sent 24 hours before Mr Johnson accused pro-EU campaigners of trying to gag opponents.

Talking of which, the BBC seems to have overlooked this story…

A senior aide to David Cameron gave a telephone dressing-down to the business chief who dared to speak out in favour of Brexit.  Daniel Korski, who is paid £93,000 a year, rang John Longworth just hours before the British Chambers of Commerce sensationally suspended him from his post as director general. Friends of the businessman claim Mr Korski intervened to question why he was calling for Britain to leave the EU when the body had taken a neutral stance on the referendum.

Once again the BBC stands exposed as a key delivery mechanism for Project Fear and a far from impartial broadcaster!

The BCC’s John Longworth was forced to resign for his comments on Brexit and the BBC has been repeatedly playing a clip of Phil Smith, the managing director of ‘Business West’ and BCC member, making a very aggressive attack on Longworth on the BBC’s PM programme on saturday.(11 mins).  Perhaps this clip should come with a health warning.

Smith is in no way impartial and has already set out his company’s views……

This is Business West’s business manifesto for 2015.….staying in the EU is essential and they don’t even want a referendum….here’s the European Union page….

Smith talks continuously of the BCC being neutral and yet we have shown it is anything but that and he clearly isn’t himself.

Guido has been catching a few other BCC members out in their outspoken support for the EU…and yet they haven’t been suspended or ‘sacked’…..

Earlier Guido noted that the British Chambers of Commerce had allowed their Kent chief to publicly endorse the Remain campaign. Now it emerges the chief executive of the Cornwall BCC branch has also signed a letter supporting staying in the EU. Kim Conchie wrote last week that:

“leaving the EU is playing Russian Roulette with the world’s fifth largest economy; it would be a great folly”

Remember, the official BCC line is that they are “a non-partisan organisation” and that senior figures airing personal views will “create confusion regarding the BCC’s neutral stance”. John Longworth lost his job for publicly backing Leave. Yet here are two top BCC spokesmen who have endorsed Remain with no consequences…

 

[The next government must] deliver a new settlement for Britain in Europe –because making the economic opportunities of the European trading bloc work for business, and ensuring clear safeguards for Britain against unwanted further integration, will be critical for our future success.

IF OUR PROPOSALS ARE DELIVERED:

•The UK’s future relationship with the EU will reflect what Chamber members tell us they want to see achieved: a reformed, more competitive, outward-looking EU where certain policies, such as social legislation, are decided at a national level to allow them to better reflect local circumstances and national preferences.

•We will have a future EU that ensures that Member States which have no intention of joining the Euro, such as the UK, will retain their economic independence and their influence over the Single Market.

•A future EU will see liberalisation of international trade as a top priority for the Commission and Member States.

The ‘neutral’  BCC 2014/15

The BBC is giving ex head of the BCC a reasonable hearing….but are not giving the BCC itself a hard time at all in questioning its actions in essentially forcing Longworth out and asking difficult questions about why his comments were so unacceptable all things considered……..

The BCC actually highlighted Longworth’s speech before the 2016 conference…if it was so controversial and they knew it was going way beyond his brief why did they not stop him saying it?…..

John Longworth: EU referendum a choice ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’

This is a page from their website pre-conference…

Britain and Europe: Stay or Go?

There are only 3 weeks left until the Annual Conference 2016. The exciting programme for the day includes a panel session on ‘Britain and Europe: Stay or Go?’, as well as question and answer sessions with German Finance Minister Dr Wolfgang Schäuble and a senior Cabinet minister.  Ahead of the day, Ashley Shackleton, Head of Public Affairs at the BCC discusses Britain’s relationship with Europe.

The Prime Minister is currently renegotiating the UK’s membership of the EU in advance of a referendum before the end of 2017. The business community welcomes this attempt at reform of the EU and a new settlement for the UK. The British business community will be anxious to see what concrete changes are made before deciding how to vote. In a British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) survey of business leaders in September 2015 – half responded that the content of the Prime Minister’s renegotiation package was likely to affect how they will vote. On 23rd June 2015, the BCC Director General, John Longworth wrote to the Prime Minister on five key priorities for the reform and renegotiation discussions. The success of the Prime Minister’s renegotiation will be judged against the priorities set out in this letter. The full text of the letter can be found here. Whether the UK stays in the EU or not – reform is essential to ensure the economic success and competitiveness of the UK and the EU.

When the time comes for the British people to vote – it is vitally important that the facts are shared, so that a fully informed decision can be made. At the BCC Annual Conference on March 3rd 2016, Lord Stuart Rose, Chairman of Britain Stronger in Europe, John Moynihan from Vote Leave and Dr Gerard Lyons, the Economic advisor to Boris Johnson will debate the arguments of Britain’s membership of the EU and the case for reform. We will also have a unique Q&A sessions with the German Finance Minister Dr Wolfgang Schäuble and a senior cabinet Minister to discuss the question that is so vital for British business – Britain and Europe: Stay or Go?

Here is the letter Longworth sent to the PM on behalf of the BCC pre negotiations with the EU…

BCC: businesses will back PM if he secures reform deal in the interests of UK economy

So the BCC tells us it is vital for the debate to be informed….and the BCC will back the PM if he gets a good outcome to his negotiations.

And yet when Longworth tries to inform that debate he is ‘sacked’….but no one wanted to sack him when he said in the letter above that  the BCC would support the PM, ‘four-square behind you’, and staying in the EU if the reforms were acceptable.

The BBC reports this…

Nora Senior, president of the British Chamber of Commerce, told the BBC that his comments left the organisation with no option, as he had breached the BCC’s official position of neutrality on the referendum.

She said the BCC was a membership organisation with diverse views and their decision was to maintain a neutral stance on the referendum. Mr Longworth’s comments in his keynote speech at the conference had gone against that.

Her comments are patently untrue in light of the above evidence of the BCC’s position which is hardly neutral….but the BBC delves no further.

This was his speech from last year…

ON BRITAIN’S FUTURE PLACE IN EUROPE:

“My third theme arises from the challenges we face in our relationship with our near neighbours in Europe. Chamber members fundamentally support the Prime Minister’s position – Britain in a reformed Europe.

“I say – a new settlement for Britain in Europe is essential to achieving our economic ambitions – helping our businesses succeed here, at home, and across the world.

So he is advocating we stay in Europe…as long as it is reformed…essentially the position Cameron is in now..and yet no one objected to his pro-EU, not very ‘neutral’, statement last year.  Why not?

Why am I asking these questions about the BCC and not the highly resourced BBC?  It is clear that because Longworth is pro-Brexit he has been forced out and that the BCC is ‘institutionally’ pro-EU.

New week, more bias, same BBC. I was talking to Jon Gaunt earlier this morning regarding the Andrew Marr “interview” with Boris Johnson yesterday. In fact it was more of a sustained interruption than anything else! Marr exemplifies all that is rotten in the BBC, overtly biased and a creature of the liberal left. Anyway, here is where you can detail the bias!