Taking The Micky

 

 

Wake Up To Money’s Micky Clark must be good mates with Russell Brand or something.

 

Last week he told us that the Government was lying to us about low unemployment figures….this week he continues the theme (8 mins) saying we may be being duped by employers and politicians about the ‘good news on employment’...the employment figures are open to manipulation he tells us.

 

So…again he is openly claiming the Government is lying to us about the level of unemployment.

This is a constant theme with Clark, and indeed the BBC…either the numbers are wrong, a ‘puzzle’, or the jobs that are being created are low grade or part time or zero hours contracts, which MC has a problem with.

 

Never mind that most are in fact full time jobs, there are a record number of women in the workplace and youth unemployment is falling.

 

Women suffer the most?

Ministers welcomed the fact that a record of more than 14m women were now in work, with the female employment rate of 67.2 per cent the highest since records began in 1971.

 

Low grade jobs?

There were 32.35 million workforce jobs in September 2013, up 216,000 from June 2013 and up598,000 on a year earlier. As shown in Chart 9, the sector showing the largest increase in jobs between September 2012 and September 2013 was professional, scientific and technical activities which increased by 137,000 to reach 2.62 million.

 

900,000 young unemployed?

There were 917,000 unemployed 16 to 24 year olds (31% of whom were in full-time education),down 48,000 from July to September 2013.

 

All part time jobs?

The number of men working full-time, increased by 87,000 to reach 13.98 million.

The number of men working part-time, increased by 13,000 to reach 2.16 million.

The number of women working full-time increased by 122,000 to reach 8.09 million.

The number of women working part-time decreased by 28,000 to reach 5.91 million.

 

The BBC…half the News…all the Time.

No Good News Is Good News

 

BBC have been allocating a lot of airtime today to this:

More children on adult mental wards

An increasing number of young people with mental health problems in England are being treated on adult psychiatric wards, it emerges.

 

Note that link to ‘Mental health services ‘in crisis’…..an old story from last year…however not so keen to link to more recent news…….

…… just been listening to 5Live Drive (17:37) and LibDem Health Minister Norman Lamb talking about the lack of attention given to mental health issues.

He raised the fact that the BBC had ignored an important government announcement about care for mental health patients from a couple of days ago.

Presumably this is the one he was referring to:

A new agreement between police and the NHS seeks to improve mental health crisis care

Emergency support for people in mental health crisis is set to see dramatic improvements across the country as part of a far-reaching new agreement between police, mental health trusts and paramedics.

The agreement – called the Crisis Care Concordat – has been signed by more than 20 national organisations in a bid to drive up standards of care for people experiencing crisis such as suicidal thoughts or significant anxiety.

The Concordat, announced today by Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb, will help cut the numbers of people detained inappropriately in police cells and drive out the variation in standards across the country.

 

Odd that the BBC would ignore such ‘good news’ and only go for the ‘bad’…especially odd as if you have listened to Victoria Derbyshire you will know that this is an issue that comes up a lot….how police treat and care for people with mental health issues.

 

Peter Allen on 5Live Drive didn’t want to know and seemed quite put out that someone should dare to criticise the BBC saying ….never mind that, shouldn’t you, Norman Lamb, be providing more beds for patients?

 

Love it when they get the hump….as they always do when someone tries to hold them to account…the Beeboids don’t like the treatment they mete out to others being used against them.

 

 

 

 

North Korea…A Bit LIke Disneyland

 

 

Remember this:

Saturday Live on the 16th had an interesting little report. (about 0945)…all the way from the delightful People’s Republic of North Korea.

John McCarthy hears about the Arirang or Mass Games in North Korea’s capital Pongyang;  a dazzling display by thousands of marching, dancing, skipping, gymnastics and… flip charts. He talks to visitors to the games photographer Jeremy Hunter, former diplomat James Hoare and tourist Tony Pletts.

 

Fascinating what an upbeat little tale we have about one of the cruellest regimes in the world from the BBC….

We are witnessing an ‘ amazing stage, an incredible event….there is something here that these people have got, this system has got….the minders are really really wonderful…you only get to see what they want you to see but you really do get a sense of what life is like for Koreans…picnics and dances at the weekend….an element of Disney involved….it makes you appreciate just how different life could be from the life you lead at home….absolutely a thumbs up to go see one of the great spectacles of the world’

 

 

Thumbs up for those unspeakable atrocities!!!!……

World must act on North Korea rights abuse, says UN report

The international community must act on evidence that crimes against humanity are being committed in North Korea, says a long-awaited UN report.

A panel of experts mandated by the UN’s Human Rights Council said North Koreans had suffered “unspeakable atrocities”, and that those responsible, including leader Kim Jong-un, must face justice.

 

 

 

Let’s hope you now….’appreciate just how different life could be from the life you lead at home’

 

 

 

 

 

Believe

 

 

“Our first responsibility is to make money for our clients….and nothing is more important than oil.”

Jeremy Grantham….Bob Ward’s boss and also that of Lord Stern.

 

 

‘Something funny’s happening to the weather’.

 

Just some things to consider when reading BBC exclamations that man made climate change is here…

 

 

What to believe eh?

No Arctic ice?…and yet ice is increasing….drier, colder winters?…..and yet winter is warm and wet……drought in the summer? and yet the summers are wet……..it’s the Jetstream?…or is it 4% more moisture in the atmosphere…….or disturbed weather patterns over Indonesia… .or trade winds…or ocean heat sinks….or or or….?????

Funny old world……they admit there’s been no global warming for at least 15 years and yet they claim a bit of extra winter rain one year, never mind the winter droughts, is due to global warming…..and yet the warming decades running up to 1998 were getting drier…..only since global warming stopped has it got a bit wetter in places.

Groundwater levels timeline  1970 0nwards…click on the timeline at the bottom left to run show.

From the Met Office 2013/14:

SUMMARY – PRECIPITATION:

Confidence in the forecast for precipitation across the UK over the next three months is relatively low. For the December-January-February period as a whole there is a slight signal for below-average precipitation. The probability that UK precipitation for December-January-February will fall into the driest of our five categories is around 25% and the probability that it will fall into the wettest category is around 15% (the 1981-2010 probability for each of these categories is 20%).

Met Office: Arctic sea-ice loss linked to colder, drier UK winters

Decreasing amounts of ice in the far north is contributing to colder winters and drought, chief scientist Julia Slingo tells MPs

The reduction in Arcticsea ice caused by climate change is playing a role in the UK’s recent colder and drier winterweather, according to the Met Office.

Speaking to MPs on the influential environmental audit committee about the state of the warming Arctic, Julia Slingo, the chief scientist at the Met Office, said that decreasing amounts of ice in the far north was contributing to colder winters in the UK and northern Europe as well as to drought.

 

 

 

 

 

A rising trend in rain?

 

 

 

 

Record rainfall?

 

 

 

Stormier weather?

 

 

 

The recent storms and floods in the UK – new report

9 February 2014

As yet, there is no definitive answer on the possible contribution of climate change in the recent storminess, rainfall amounts and the consequent flooding. This is in part due to the highly variable nature of UK weather and climate.

 

 

Heavier but shorter bursts of rain will lead to flooding…right?

 

The     CEH Logo     says:

The most notable feature of the January rainfallwas its persistence – the highest number of rain days (>1mm) registered for January in the NCIC record for southern England (from 1961).

 

 

So persistence of the rainfall…ie the number of days it falls is the important factor here…..

Which contradicts exactly what Roger Harrabin peddles:

‘The issue is the way it falls in sudden bursts not the amount of rain.‘

or

There’s evidence to say we are getting slightly more rain in total, but more importantly it may be falling in more intense bursts” — Julia Slingo, Met Office, 3 January 2013

 

 

No sign of any unnatural increasing trend in rainfall here:

 

 

 

No, global warming did NOT cause the storms, says one of the Met Office’s most senior experts

  • Mat Collins, Exeter University Professor in climate systems, said storms driven by jet stream that has been ‘stuck’ further south than usual
  • He told The Mail on Sunday there is ‘no evidence that global warming can cause the jet stream to get stuck in the way it has this winter’

Em……

Prime Minister climate change opinion not backed up by science, says Met Office

“It’s impossible to say that these storms are more intense because of climate change.”

or….em…

Paul Davis, chief meteorologist for the Met Office said that very strong winds much of the UK experienced which was caused by jet stream.
“December has been the windiest spell since 1969, but unprecedented perhaps not. It probably feels unusual because the last few winters have been fairly settled and cold and we haven’t had the story conditions that just experienced.”

or…em….

Direct from the Met. Office:   There’s currently no evidence to suggest that the UK is increasing in storminess.

 

 

 

 

So we can expect wet winters due to climate change can we?……..

 

Drought predicted till Christmas

Published on Monday, 16 April 2012 09:19
Written by Scott Buckler

Seventeen counties in South West England and the Midlands have moved into official drought status, after two dry winters have left rivers and ground waters depleted.

Experts are now hoping for a steady rainy winter in 2012/13 to restore rivers and groundwaters, but the Environment Agency is working with the water industry to put plans in place now to deal with the prospect of a third dry winter. Water companies are looking at where they may be able to get more water, options to share water across company boundaries and how they can reduce leakage further. The Agency is urging all water users to save water now, to help prevent more serious shortages and environmental impacts next year.

 

 

Why are we in drought?

13 03 2012

Rainfall amounts across many parts of the UK have been below average for the last two years. Importantly, this includes two dry winters – the periods when we would normally expect our rainfall to replenish river, reservoir and groundwater levels.

2010 was the eleventh-driest year in the series from 1910 and the driest since 2003

This emphasises why there are concerns about drought in parts of England and Wales.

There is no one reason for the dry weather over the last few years; it’s all part of the natural variability of the UK climate.

 

Spelman: Water reform needed to tackle threat of future droughts

Britain faces a future of water shortages, and lasting environmental damage, with some rivers running dry, unless attitudes to water use change, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman cautioned today.

 

Is it climate change causing more moisture in the atmosphere leading to rain…or the Jetstream?

 

From the BBC 2012:

Why, oh why, does it keep raining?

The jet stream and its path is the cause of the repeated flooding being suffered during a British summer that has so far been one of the most miserable on record.

Normally, we would expect the pattern of the jet stream to keep shifting, for its shape to switch every few days and for our weather to change as a result.

Instead for week after week – and possibly for weeks ahead too – the meanders of the stream are sticking to the same shape so repeated rainstorms have become the norm.

The big unknown is why this current pattern is so static. The high-altitude winds that make up the stream are themselves still racing along but their path remains stuck in place so our battering continues.

“More than 60 years later scientists are still wrestling with the question of how the jet stream operates and what shapes it”

This is one of the major puzzles for weather specialists and the science behind this is fairly young.

The jet stream, a massive but mysterious driver of our weather, usually passes along a steady path from West to East across the Atlantic – sometimes a bit to the North of us, sometimes a bit to the South.

As a relatively small island, on the borderline between the Atlantic Ocean and the European continent, the precise location of the stream matters hugely to us and right now we’re on the wrong side of it.

 

 

 

Oh wait…here’s the Met Office in May 2012:

While the jet stream may be an influence, there is nothing unusual about its current position and it regularly behaves in this way.

With that in mind, it’s possible to go a step further and say there is nothing unusual about the UK’s weather over the last few weeks.

That may sound odd on the back of a record-breaking wet month, but we do expect to see records broken and they do topple fairly regularly for one area or another.

The past April fits into this expectation – it was exceptionally wet, but only slightly wetter than the previous record set just a few years ago in 2000 and there are several years close behind.

 

 

 

 

Dredging doesn’t help to stop floods?

On the Thames, centuries of history tell a less apocalyptic flood story

Flood plains are a natural part of rivers, and recent inundations are no more extensive than in the past, says one expert

In the modern era, the disastrous 1947 flood stimulated a river engineering programme (including channel realignments, dredging and improvements in weir design) to increase the capacity of the Thames, particularly through its middle and lower reaches. When completed, the river could accommodate more than 30% more flow within its banks. Thus, while peak flows exhibit little trend, peak river levels – the primary cause of flooding – decreased appreciably through the 20th century.

 

 

 

How Somerset Levels river flooded after it was not dredged for decades

Photograph taken in the 1960s shows a wide expanse of water passing through Burrowbridge with plenty of room for water levels to rise

 

Composite image of the River Parrett in Burrowbridge in the early 1960's (top left) when dredging was carried out on a regular basis, a recent picture before the current flooding event showing the encroaching river banks (bottom left) and during the recent flooding

 

 

10 Lefty Lies About The Floods Which Have Devastated Britain

Breitbart London’s new Executive Editor James Delingpole looks at the ten ‘best’ lefty lies about the UK flooding… then debunks them:

image

 

Winter Year Precipitation
mm
Oct – Nov 1929/30 521
1960/61 454
2000/01 474
Nov – Dec 1911/12 458
1929/30 608
1959/60 468
2001/01 456
Dec – Jan 1929/30 484
Dec – Jan 2013/14 451

 

 

 

 

And oh yes:

Grantham Research Institute (GRI) at London School of Economics received a sizable research grant from the tax payer-funded Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), during British economist Lord Stern’s tenure as vice chair of GGGI and chair of GRI. This happened despite warnings from GGGI officials about a conflict of interest

 

 

 

 

And remember this:

Bob Ward & Climate Fraud

If who finances who is so important you might be justified in asking who funds Bob Ward?  Bob Ward doesn’t want you to ask that though…because the answer ain’t pretty…it’s Big Oil…….

Ward works for the Grantham Research Institute, a “research department” at the London School of Economics (LSE)funded by an American hedge-funder called Jeremy Grantham and headed by the economist and former treasury official Lord Stern.

 

This is what Jeremy Grantham, Bob‘s ultimate boss (and Stern’s) and paymaster said about how he makes money:
Jeremy Grantham on how to feed the world and why he invests in oil
On whether there’s any conflict in him (via GMO and/or his foundation) investing in oil and gas companies?

“The first point is that each fund we have at GMO – maybe 80 or so – is run by its own team. I don’t think that money management can easily have too many rules coming down from the top. Our first responsibility is to make money for our clients….and nothing is more important than oil.”

 

 

 

 

EVERYDAY GLOBAL WARMING…

You might wonder why it is that despite its vast resources, and all those world class journalists, the BBC seem to have missed THIS explanation of why the Somerset Levels flooding. Turns out the Environment Agency (Under Labour quangocrat control since 2000) planned to flood the Levels. How awkward for those INTENT in turning this tragedy into one more excuse to advance the AGW agenda…

Bggu466CQAEP6W2

As I explained on the BBC this morning, one of the greatest dangers to the environment is the Environment Agency.

 

Degrees Of Separation

Look familiar? That’s not Israel or the West Bank but Northern Ireland

 

What’s in a name?

Build a wall and it seems the most pressing problem is how to define what that wall is intended to do….what to name the construction…..all very difficult if you have an agenda whilst trying to appear not to have.

 

In Northern Ireland walls that keep the warring parties apart are ‘Peace Walls’…and they’re still being built….as this BBC report from 2013 reveals:

New ‘peace fence’ at St Matthew’s Church in east Belfast

 

Peaceline at Cluan Place

 

and here explains the history of these ‘Peace walls’ as the BBC is happy to call them:

Peace walls were first erected in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s as a temporary measure to minimise violence between nationalist and unionist communities.

Four decades later many are still in place.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X7nusTS1xVY/T-o21Qm8p1I/AAAAAAAAJYw/qCwReKzfP3c/s1600/barrier.jpg

 

 

Belfast’s ‘peace walls’ treble after ceasefires

 

 

Funny that the BBC, so willing to recognise that the walls in NI are there to stop terrorism and violence, but can’t bring itself to admit the same motivations are what caused Israel to build its own ‘Peace Wall’.

 

The BBC’s advice to journalists on what to call the security barrier?

Barrier

BBC journalists should try to avoid using terminology favoured by one side or another in any dispute. 

The BBC uses the term ‘barrier’, ‘separation barrier’ or ‘West Bank barrier’ as an acceptable generic description to avoid the political connotations of ‘security fence’ (preferred by the Israeli government) or ‘apartheid wall’ (preferred by the Palestinians). 

The United Nations also uses the term ‘barrier’. It’s better to keep to this word unless you have sought the advice of the Middle East bureau.   

Of course, a reporter standing in front of a concrete section of the barrier might choose to say ‘this wall’ or use a more precise description in the light of what he or she is looking at.  

 

 

 

By using such non-descript terms the BBC is in fact using ‘terminology favoured by one side’…the Palestinian terrorist …because the bland, inoffensive, anodyne phrases strip the ‘Barrier’ of all meaning….and imposes another…the suggestion that this is about ‘separation’….feeding into the activists loaded ‘favoured terminology’ of  Israel as an ‘apartheid’ state.

This is a deliberate attempt by the BBC to play down Palestinian violence…just as it does with Palestinian rockets…invariably described as ‘homemade’ and ‘inaccurate’…the intention being to suggest they are essentially harmless and not a justification for Israeli retaliation.

Stripping away the real reason for the construction of the security barrier, to stop Palestinians bombing Israelis or shooting at them (hence the concrete sections), is a political intervention by the BBC on behalf of the Palestinians.

The BBC is hiding the fact that Israel has been under attack for over 60 years and is using language favourable to Palestinian terrorists.

(Remind me…why did the BBC spend £300,000 hiding the Balen report?  Does it say in effect ‘BBC News kills Jews‘?  Just which journalists and management are being protected?)

 

Perhaps the BBC should take note of what a Palestinian called the ‘Separation Barrier’….

Mohammed Assaf, winner of the Arab Idol says:

‘There  are many ways to make a difference in life, but my way is as an artist,” said Assaf, a graduate of Palestine University who has just become a UN youth ambassador. “I’ve always wanted to make my voice heard around the world, to sing about the occupation, about the security walls between communities, and about refugees. My first ambition is a cultural revolution through art. Palestinians don’t want war – they are tired of fighting.”

 

 

‘Security Wall’….So called because it provides security to Israelis from Palestinian terrorism.

Simple really…unless you have a political agenda and want to send a message.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24856275

Future of the BBC

Q1   Chair: Good morning. This is the second session of the Committee’s inquiry into the future of the BBC. I would like to welcome the former chairman of the BBC board of governors, Gavyn Davies, and the former director-general, Greg Dyke.Let us start with a general question. Since you both left the BBC, which is nine years ago, coming up to 10, what do you think of how the BBC has done since that time?

 

Greg Dyke: I will say this: in the summer before last—as someone who is interested in and always concerned about the BBC and as I looked forward—I thought this would be a very good time for the BBC. I thought the combination of a brilliant Olympics and the damage that had been inflicted on the Murdoch organisation, who are our long-term enemies, I think you could say, or certainly opponents of the BBC, meant that this could be a good period for the BBC. It just shows you how wrong you can be, really. A series of things, all coming one after the other, has led to a pretty dismal 12 months.

 

Why would damaging Murdoch be ‘good for the BBC’?

 

 

Just keeping you up to speed on this:
22 October 2013

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is holding an inquiry into the BBC ahead of its current Royal Charter ending in December 2016. The Royal Charter is the constitutional basis for the BBC. It sets out the public purposes of the BBC, guarantees its independence, and outlines the duties of the Trust and the Executive Board. It is supplemented by an Agreement with the Secretary of State that sits alongside the Charter, which provides detail on many of the topics outlined in the Charter and also covers the BBC’s funding and its regulatory duties.

 

The Committee will consider the BBC beyond 2016 and invites written submissions on any of the following questions:

  • What should the BBC be for and what should be the purpose of public service broadcasting?

 

  • How well has the BBC performed in the current Charter period in achieving its mission and public purposes?Are the public purposes in the current Charter the right ones? How might they change?

 

  • What scope, scale and remit should the BBC have? Should the BBC’s output and services be provided to any greater or lesser degree for particular audiences? What balance should be struck in what the BBC produces in-house, commissions externally and leaves entirely to others to create?
  • How have the BBC’s commercial activities during the current Charter fitted with the BBC’s public purposes and have they achieved an adequate return for licence fee payers? What should be the aims, scope and scale of such activities beyond 2016?
  • What role should the BBC play in developing technology and new ways of distributing content?
  • How should the BBC be funded beyond 2016? Is there a case for distributing funding for public service content more widely beyond the BBC?What comparisons can be made with the provision of public service content in other countries?
  • How should the BBC be governed, regulated and held accountable beyond 2016?In a constantly evolving communications environment, does a 10-year Royal Charter and Agreement with the Secretary of State, together, provide the most appropriate constitutional framework for the BBC?

 

 

 

The recent sessions (click on headings for link to video of session):

 

 

Future of the BBC  14th January
Witnesses

  1. David Elstein, Chairman, openDemocracy.net and Broadcasting Policy Group, Claire Enders, founder, Enders Analysis Ltd, and Steve Hewlett, Guardian columnist and presenter, BBC Radio 4 Media Show

 (Text version)

 

 

Future of the BBC   11th February
Witnesses

  1. Gavyn Davies OBE and Greg Dyke
  2. Lord Birt and Lord Grade of Yarmouth

(Text version)