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, I watched the first of this week’s Panorama programmes, the one about Weekend Nazis, and was thoroughly unimpressed. It was a weak and ineffectual edition that achieved little beyond undermining the reputations of Panorama and John Foghorn Sweeney for genuine investigative reporting.

In short, a small number of people get a kick out of dressing up like Nazis and play-acting second world war battles at a show in Kent attended by 100,000 people. David Irving was there quietly flogging some of his books. Some people were selling various bits and pieces of allegedly genuine WW2 memorabilia.

The worst that Foghorn exposed was, shock horror, that one of the weekend Nazis is a police officer and that a couple of others (one of whom was a Dutchman not even from the group Foghorn was investigating), late at night and after much drinking, privately expressed some unpleasant opinions on the subjects of race and immigration, though probably no worse than you’d find in any pub in the land near closing time about any racial group not of the speaker’s own (whether they be Black, White, English, Scottish, whatever).

And that was about the sum of it. The two comments broadcast were recorded on a hidden BBC camera – though of course we were shown none of the preceding context of the conversations or any encouragement that the undercover Beeboid might have given to the speakers. And of course we all know how honest reporters and editors are when it comes to getting the story!

Whoever tipped off Panorama about this enormous threat to society should be crossed off their list of contacts immediately. It might have made for an amusing ten minutes on one of Louis Theroux’s weird weekends, but it certainly wasn’t the ‘telling of stories that powerful people don’t want told’ that Sweeney specialises in.

Here’s a tip for John: Keep sticking it to the real SS threats in Britain:

• the Social Services Nazis who think it’s okay to take children in to the State’s care from loving families on flimsy evidence, get the children adopted by new ‘parents’ (separating brothers and sisters even) and then after that irreversible process is complete, find that there was an innocent explanation all along – and yet still keep their jobs and neither admit their mistakes nor apologise for them. It is such a monstrous and horrific abuse of the State’s power that you should keep banging away at it, for all our sakes please – even if you do a whole series on this topic alone;

   

• the Culthurch of Scientology Shysters. ‘Nuff said.

Thank you.

Strangely, the Weekend Nazis edition of Panorama hasn’t been included in Panorama’s online archive (though a later programme has been). Can any of our resident Beeboids tell us why please?

You can, however, read John Sweeney’s own Times article about the programme, and also The Times’ own, equally unimpressed, review of it.

has had a much needed one–two (two links) at Abd al-Bari Atwan, Editor in Chief (no less!) of Al Quds Al-Arabi (it’s all Greek to me, but it means ‘Arab Jerusalem’, nice and subtle) – “Barry” Atwan to his friends at BBC News (and Sky News too).

It seems those dastardly truth telling jews at Memri have had the cheek to translate some of “Barry’s” Arabic pronouncements into English – pronouncements just a tad different from the emollient and moderate “Barry” that the BBC so oft shows us:

“If Iranian missiles hit Israel, I will dance in Trafalgar Square”,

Abd al-Bari Atwan, ANB TV, June 27th, 2007.

Presumably our “Bazza” hasn’t considered the possibility of Maddog Ahmonajihad spoiling his little jig with a missile strike on Trafalgar Square.

– covering Malaysia’s 50th anniversary BBC Views Online style. Good old News Sniffer!

Updates: There are now four versions – see the list on the left at News Sniffer.

Martin comments that it’s worth reading the related Have Your Say thread, sorted by reader recommendations, to get a real (rather than a Beeboid) insight into the reality of life in Malaysia.

Laban has written about this at greater length on his blog.

Thank you to Mike_s for the tip.

, following his recent outspokenness against the BBC’s work on a planned day of Planet Relief propagandagrammes (see below), writes on the BBC Editors Blog that the BBC has No line on climate change:

BBC News certainly does not have a line on climate change, however the weight of our coverage reflects the fact that there is an increasingly strong (although not overwhelming) weight of scientific opinion in favour of the proposition that climate change is happening and is being largely caused by man.

Well Peter, that’s a big ‘and’ that you’ve slipped in at the end there, and is, I’d venture, one of the central points of contention in the climate change debate – i.e. the extent to which climate change is caused by man vs. other influences on the earth’s atmosphere – an area that, so far, the BBC doesn’t seem terribly keen to explore thoroughly.

Further to this, supposing that we accept that climate change is largely caused by human activity, the other significant area of debate that the BBC as a whole doesn’t explore adequately is the question of what to do about it.

The BBC ‘line’, if you’ll indulge me with such a notion, seems to be all about reducing carbon output (unilaterally) in the UK and the developed world, primarily through curtailing flying and private car use, whilst ignoring what’s happening elsewhere on the planet (for example, the 500 new fossil fuel power stations planned and under construction in China).

Moreover, the BBC ‘line’ seems, at best, to ignore reliable carbon-free nuclear power generation (though expensive, unsightly, unreliable windmills and suchlike get a big BBC thumbs up) and other technological solutions, such as hydrogen powered vehicles and carbon-sequestration techniques.

BBC news programmes and our website of course reflect alternative views but we do not balance these views mathematically as that is not our judgement about where the argument has now reached.

It is highly debatable just how well BBC news programmes and BBC Views Online do reflect alternative views. Alternative views, to use your term, get the occasional passing reference on minority interest programmes such as Newsnight or a brief mention on News 24 from occasional guests such as Nigel Calder, but in the main, these views might as well not exist at the BBC for the minimal airtime they receive.

BBC Views Online in particular rushes to report man-made climate change news prominently, whilst slowly, ever so minimally, if at all, reporting news to the contrary, hence we have people such as Dr. David Whitehouse, a former BBC science correspondent (and believer in man-made climate change), warning: “look on the BBC and Al Gore with scepticism. A scientist’s first allegiance should not be to computer models or political spin but to the data: that shows the science is not settled”.

For many years the BBC has treated EU-sceptics (euro-sceptics as you term them) as if they were deranged flat-earthers braying at the moon (rather than a large portion of the UK population). Those with alternative views on the twin issues of 1) the causes of climate change; and 2) what to do about climate change, seem to be even less well regarded at the BBC.

That is definitely not the same as us propagating a view ourselves about climate change.

Uh-huh. I think we could argue about that too.

It’s not our job to do that.

Indeed. And that’s why this site is here, free-of-charge, unlike the BBC.

In the Edinburgh session the possibility of the BBC doing a “consciousness-raising” event about the subject, possibly called Planet Relief, was raised.

There has been no decision yet about whether there might be such an event, nor what its editorial purpose might be. However it is clear that all BBC programming about climate change – whether about the science itself or the potential policy response by governments – needs to meet the BBC’s standards of impartiality.

Sounds like a spot of back-pedalling Peter. According to The Grauniad there’s been eighteen months worth of development work already. Have they got you on the rack now that they’ve you back from the freedom of Edinburgh?

I was pleased that you and Peter Barron both spoke out against this latest nonsense that the BBC has been quietly planning to inflict on our unwitting nation, but I cannot help but feel that your concern has more to do with protecting the BBC from itself than from genuinely seeking to return the BBC to a state of impartiality on the causes of climate change and the steps we should take in response.

In closing, let’s have the last word on the BBC ‘line’ on man-made climate change straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak:

“People who know a lot more than I do may be right when they claim that [global warming] is the consequence of our own behaviour. I assume that this is why the BBC’s coverage of the issue abandoned the pretence of impartiality long ago”,

Jeremy Paxman, Media Guardian, Jan 31st, 2007.

Update, 6pm: Come on Peter, I submitted my own very reasonable comment on your BBC blog post around 12.15pm (you know, the one with the Paxman quote and a link back to the discussion here), and yet it seems to have been skipped over for some reason in favour of apparently later comments. What gives? Have I caused offense? Please feel free to comment here on my blog post if you prefer. Thank you.

Update, midnight: I’ve just checked again and, as if by magic, my comment has appeared in the right place, bumping the previous no. 57 up to no. 58. Thank you Peter. Much obliged.

Who says the BBC is full of moral relativists ?

“Outrageous Wasters sees a crack team of eco experts on a mission to transform Britain’s most wasteful households … Joanna, Dan and Andy descend on a household of wasters to assess just how bad they are based on what they see in the house, by ‘interrogating’ them and from the evidence of a waste diary that the family has compiled. The family then spends up to five days living at ‘the house of correction’ – a purpose built eco-camp of large traditional Mongolian yurts (tents) – where they live without creature comforts and have Joanna and Dan teaching how them to waste as little as possible and how to live off the land. Meanwhile, Andy oversees an eco-makeover at the family’s home – designed to challenge their behaviour and inspire them to change their ways …”

“Just how bad they are”, “house of correction”, “to what extent our outrageous wasters have reformed their lives” – that kind of evangelical, Victorian moral certainty has pretty much disappeared from BBC Religious Affairs, but no matter. We have a radical new priesthood, too – represented here by “anti-waste enforcer Dan Carraro“.

(via Tim Blair)

the widespread criticism of Wednesday’s Snooznight Special interview of David Cameron (see posts below), asserting that If BBC reporter Stephanie Flanders speaks for Britain, I’m a gnu – flaying Stephanie Flanders for her patronising response to the idea of a marriage tax-break. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“Have you ever met anybody who gets married for £20 a week?” she sneered. “If I decided to go home and get married, you’d give me £20 a week just for getting married.

“I’m not sure I’d need it. Why is that a good use of scarce public resources?”

(Have you noticed how “public resources” are always “scarce” on the BBC?)

Her petulant outburst tells you an awful lot about the “liberal” mindset.

It’s not about you, pet. I don’t suppose she does need an extra £20 a week (though her cleaning lady probably wouldn’t turn her nose up at it). Not on a six-figure salary from the BBC and a partner who presumably pulls in a few bob, too. But she chose deliberately to miss the point.

And, for good measure:

I can only assume that while she was studying at Harvard, she didn’t stumble across the work of the eminent economist Arthur Laffer, who asserts that people will always be poor if you pay them to be poor.

Miss Flanders is symptomatic of the whole BBC/Guardianista/New Labour mindset – patronising, statist, nanny knows best.

She exemplifies the way the self-appointed “liberal” elite have imposed their own values and prejudices on society – and to hell with the consequences.

And still they don’t get it. What’s good for Stephanie Flanders is not necessarily good for Vicky Pollard or for society as a whole.

Do read the rest!

Please use this thread for BBC-related comments and analysis. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not (and never has been) an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or use as a chat forum. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.

“Headlines suggesting the Tories have “lurched to the right” are, of course, precisely what Mr Brown wants”.

– from a Nick Assinder piece headlined Is Cameron lurching to the right?

I noted that BBC Views Online’s instant reaction to Cameron’s 45 minute Newsnight interview was to big up on the Immigration ‘too high’ – Cameron line (a truly shocking notion to the Guardianistas at White City).

Now, courtesy of Iain Dale, we have a first-hand account of BBC Radio 4’s Toady programme shopping around their Conservative (sorry Beeboids, Tory, facking Tories!) contacts list looking for someone to agree with their already chosen line, that by agreeing that immigration is “too high”, Cameron was Indicating to the Right? Return to a Core Vote Strategy? Er, No….

Manipulating the agenda to fit our view of the news: The BBC – it’s what we do.

being interviewed four-to-one by Gavin Esler, Michael Crick, Stephanie Flanders and, who was the fourth one? Oh yes, Mark Urban, was an underwhelming experience all round.

Gavin Esler was typically tedious as he repeatedly tried to put the word ‘swamping’ into Cameron’s mouth when discussing the record high levels of immigration, legal and illegal, into the UK over the last ten years.

Stephanie Flanders was as seductively haughty and posh as usual, but Stephanie we’re really not interested in your domestic arrangements (or the contents of your drawers) – you might be an unmarried mother, but, leaving aside the rest of your domestic arrangements, which you omitted to mention, I doubt that on your tellytax-funded wedge you’d qualify as a typical family, the sort of family that would benefit noticeably from a) marriage; b) a £20-a-week tax break. Give us a break.

As for Michael Crick, sorry Michael, but you really ought to have stuck at doing the mocking coverage of by-elections and other political gaiety of the nation stories that you were pretty good at. You don’t seem to have found your feet as Political Editor (at least not yet, and it’s been a while now, hasn’t it?).

Who was the fourth guy again?

It’d be better to run these sorts of leader interviews, perhaps annually, using the Question Time format – real questions from real people (at least if they didn’t rig the audience that is), complete with questions being put to an empty chair if Gordon Brown refuses to grant the public an audience (as seems to be his wont).

I wonder if we’re yet to be treated to a ‘me too’ style Newsnight Cocoa with Ming Special, even if it is a bit late for the old boy to be up? That’ll be even more of a Snooznight Special than this one, especially since we no longer have Martha Kearney, who at least had the measure of the LibDims.

A couple of final thoughts: Since this was a Newsnight Special, why was it broadcast yesterday afternoon on News Twenty Bore in advance of Newsnight? And weren’t the cubs at BBC Views Online a hoot with their coverage of the Cameron interview headlined with Immigration ‘too high’ – Cameron! What a shocking notion!

You can watch the programme here or read more on the BBC’s Talk about Snooznight page.

Update: For an alternative (and somewhat harsher and possibly not-so-safe-for-work) review of the Snooznight Special you should see what Mr. Devil’s cooked up in Devil’s Kitchen. Messrs. Dale and Fawkes also have views on this too (is that how you spell messers? 🙂