The BBC’s Lisa Jardine gives us her point of view…..

A point of view: When historical fiction is more truthful than historical fact

Fiction has the power to fill in the imaginative gaps left by history, writes Lisa Jardine.

In my search for understanding the motivation of those who joined the race to produce the bomb whose use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki appalled the world, I eventually decided to turn from fact to fiction. If historians could not fill the gaps in the record that made the knowledge I was after so elusive, perhaps storytellers less shackled by documented evidence might do so.

Yes, less shackled by documentary evidence…that is a bit of pain isn’t it having to have evidence for your journalism.

On that basis I imagine the BBC prefers this method of interpreting the Koran....

‘This reading of the spirit of Islam, its true core meaning, transcending any scriptural formalities.’

Documentary evidence and actual scriptual formalities such as what the Koran actually says are such a nuisance and an unnecessary curb on our particular understanding of any subject.  So much better to make it up to fit in with your own world view…just say ‘Islam is the religion of peace’…..and all the pain goes away.

Always interesting who the BBC plucks from off the street to present its programmes…Giles Fraser, Stacey Dooley, Michael Portillo and Lisa Jardine who writes such delightful tomes such as  What’s Left?: Women in Culture and the Labour Movement  and Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory.

No surprise perhaps that in this article Jardine manages to have a go at Mrs Thatcher…managing to quote this:

“Dorothy did not have a very high opinion of Thatcher,” she went on. “As a chemist she thought her average; as a politician she deeply disapproved of her.”

One of the most popular reports on the BBC website is that the UK economy is in a double dip recession…a story from 2012.

Even then it wasn’t a true story:

There was no UK double dip recession, ONS data suggests

Britain’s double-dip recession may be erased from the history books after the Office for National Statistics said the construction industry grew more strongly than thought at the start of last year.

Even the BBC admitted as much:

UK double-dip recession revised away

Could it be union activists trying to distort the news?  Or perhaps it could be all those lefty Daily Mirror reporters doing their research trying to cook up an anti-Tory story such as they did with this: (From the Telegraph)

Brooks Newmark sex scandal: How a tabloid newspaper tried to snare Tory MPs

The Telegraph’s report delves into the Mirror’s entrapment of the Tory MP and its attempts to snare others and looks at the rules in regard to ‘Public interest’ journalism.

The BBC isn’t very interested, limiting its exploration of the issues on the Labour supporting Mirror’s actions to this:

Asked whether he thought Mr Newmark had been entrapped, Mr Fallon said he was unable to comment as he “hadn’t seen the details”.

Looks like a very dirty election….and think about it…this is a Labour paper setting out to trick a Tory MP into doing something for which he is then forced to resign his position.

If that had been a Murdoch paper the BBC would have been all over this questioning the malign influence of the right wing Press on UK politics.

Evan Davis was so upset about the homeless migrants in Calais living hand to mouth in makeshift shelters that he cried all the way to his second home in France.

He could of course give some of them a room in one of his homes if he cares so much about them.

Next time anyone reading this is passing through Calais I recommend you hand out Evan Davis’ email address, along with his fellow pro-immigration advocate’s and tell the migrants to give them a call.

Don’t suppose Davis and Co would be all that keen on immigrants then…. the ones that take your job, your home, your kids place at the school, your place in the queue for medical treatment, the ones that rob and rape and kill you…they don’t mind so much about.

BBC employees like Davis are well insulated from the downsides of immigration with the money to keep the unpleasantry at a distance…though of course they do their bit for the immigrants by employing them…cheaply…at the expense of the local workers.

And no surprise the BBC often uses Davis to front its programmes and interviews on immigration.

I see the BBC are bigging up this welcome news.

Hundreds of people have taken part in a protest led by France’s leading Muslim cleric against the beheading of a French hostage by jihadists in Algeria. Dalil Boubakeur, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, told the crowd outside the main Paris mosque that the killers had no claim to Islam. He said French Muslims were united against “barbarism”.

However, the BBC seems unaware of this…

Up to 15 percent of French people said they have a positive attitude toward the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The share of ISIS supporters is largest among France’s younger generation,

So, maybe not ALL Muslims? I wish they would give us balance, but they won’t.

I see the BBC is playing down the fact that this was a MUSLIM who cut the head of a fellow worker having tried to convert others to the religion of peace. The name for this is Fort Hood syndrome.

A thread to take us across the weekend. Detail the bias as you see it HERE!

Well, it must have been such a tough one for the Comrades. I am referring to Red Ed’s absolutely woeful keynote speech at #lab14 and that unfortunate business of “forgetting” to discuss the Deficit and Immigration! How to spin THAT one, then? As we get closer to next May, the BBC are going to have their work cut out portraying Miliband as the next Prime Minister. It’s a bit like Michael Foot all over again.

How’s about THAT then, boys and gals?

The BBC’s Dominic Laurie laments the British union’s lack of commitment and fervour when compared to the Frenchies:(50 mins)

‘What we know is that workers for French companies are willing to go all out in industrial action and to prolong it and do it for a long time…Air France will have to back down if the pilots are this adamant.

As we know in the history of France when you strike for a long time you tend to win…it works!’

Peter Allen interjects….‘It used to in this country…we should remember that’.

Presumably Allen was looking back nostalgically to the era before Thatcher and the days when there was no legislation to control the wildcat strikes that destroyed British industry….good old unions in the 70’s…the interests of the workers at heart not their paymaster’s in the Kremlin….LOL.

It did seem that Laurie had just a little bit too much admiration for the French strikers and was more than a little bit rueful that such belligerent attitudes didn’t manifest themselves more here in the UK.

Good for the BBC…standing up for the oppressed and downtrodden worker!

Here is a new Open Thread for your attention and focus!