I am sure you will all have caught the BBC’s faux outrage over the fact that Sir Ian Blair has resigned from his role as Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Yesterday, as the news was breaking, Red Ken was instantly brought on air on 5 live and allowed to retail the idea that Boris Johnson has made a terrible mistake by introducing…politics into policing. Over the past 24 hours, the BBC has … Continue reading
Iain Dale has an amusing insight into how the Beeb “balances” the panel on Question Time. He reveals that UKIP’s Nigel Farage was bumped off the panel in preference to the CBI’s Richard Lambert, the former FT editor who famously got the newspaper to back Labour in the 1992 election (although he seems less keen on them now): So why don’t you bump Janet Street Porter instead, pleaded Nigel, pointing … Continue reading
Just a quick one – My favourite part from the coverage of the Palin Biden debate so far has to be Webb’s first thoughts on his live blog. He begins by criticising the choice of moderator, Obama fellow traveller Gwen Ifill, thus demonstrating an almost total lack of self-awareness. “What were they all thinking?” splutters the man who is tipped to take over Letter from America. Well, quite. Click through … Continue reading
Of all the examples in the comments yesterday of the different treatment given to Cameron’s speech at the Conservative Conference to Brown’s at Labour’s, perhaps the most simple and compelling for me was the running order on Radio 4’s flagship, Today*. Following Brown’s speech, the programme led with it as their first item and revisited it again in the prime 8.10am spot. And again just before 9am. Following Cameron’s they … Continue reading
Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use … Continue reading
… for arranging for a few dozen of their activists to protest outside the Conservative Party conference, cunningly disguised as “financial services workers”. It’s just the cut and thrust of politics, and while a neutral observer might wonder how the Tories are implicated in the current crisis, having been out of power for eleven years, trying to associate them with the sins of the incompetent banking fat-cats is all part … Continue reading
Party speech-writer…’ Seasoned members of the BBC audience will know immediately from that introduction – with the political affiliation rammed to the forefront – that the following story will not reflect well on the Conservatives. Even they, though, might be surprised just how insignificant, and how old, the ‘scandal’ it reports is. However, for the trusty BBC team it is, of course, front page news. Click through to read and … Continue reading
There’s been much already written about the difference in treatment the BBC has shown to the Conservative and Labour conferences, and it is a real contrast. Even less arguable, though, is the extent of the coverage. Look at the website, where this is easiest to evaluate. By this stage in the Labour conference last week, and in fact earlier than that, there wasn’t a single mention of the opposition parties … Continue reading
Was listening to a BBC discussion between Ed Stourton and a reporter on Today this morning just after 6am. Were I a Conservative, I would be engaged. It was asserted that there would be NO post conference bounce for the Tories and in fact the only way forward for Cameron was to set aside any notion of suggested tax cuts and instead prepare for tax increases. They then agreed that … Continue reading
I was listening to an item on the Today programme just before 7am concerning Iraq and was struck by the comment from the BBC report who said that he was stunned when John McCain claimed last week that the US was “winning” in Iraq. Further, he added that this was “an irresponsible” comment. He went on to state that although the Surge had worked, a lot of success was down … Continue reading
