The BBC’s coverage of the Glasgow East by-election is curiously mute on the reasons as to why Labour MP David Marshall suddenly decided to stand down from office. We are told it was for “health reasons”. So when we read in the press that the Labour MP used almost £500,000 of taxpayers’ money over six years to help run an office from his home which was staffed by his wife … Continue reading
It’s great to read that American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in … Continue reading
: several posts on this blog have remarked the BBC use of what some of my colleagues call ‘scare’ quotes to distinguish between left-wing experts and right-wing ‘experts’, right-wing terrorists and islamic ‘terrorists’ and so on (see examples here and here). An amusing story on BBC Ceefax yesterday (it may in time be less amusing for the baby girl involved, of course :-/) gave a classic example of not using … Continue reading
. I was listening to the news headlines on BBC Radio 5 live this morning and caught the surreal headline that “Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness is visiting Iraq on a peace mission.” Three thoughts; Why does the BBC not enquire when Mr McGuinness LEFT the IRA? Why does the BBC not enquire what atrocities the IRA committed when McGuinness was directly involved in … Continue reading
I hope you all have read this excellent article by Antony Jay explaining why the BBC must be broken up. I particularly enjoyed this section…. “The BBC spends more than £4 billion-a-year – far more than we spend on prisons. Yet because of the lack of real commercial pressures, it squanders far too much on bureaucracy, inefficiencies, policy centres and endless tiers of self-serving management. Further signs of corporate arrogance … Continue reading
The delight with which the BBC have been trailing the acquired scalp of Boris Johnsons’ Deputy Mayor, Ray Lewis, following his resignation last night has been a wonder to behold. There has been a positive glee in the tone and depth of the coverage adopted which should make Cameron recall the fable of the frog and the scorpion. Destroying anything and anyone right of liberal is what the BBC does. … Continue reading
Why is the article about accepting a role for Sharia in UK law given more prominence (with picture) on the BBC World News page than on the BBC UK page (where there is no picture, and it appears in the “other top stories” section. Oh, and the main story is something or other about a badger cull)? Update: Great link here from George R for those who wish to explore … Continue reading
Written an amusing pamphlet comparing the United States government and its foreign policy choices with those facing the Corleone mafia clan from 1972 gangster classic The Godfather ? “… the ageing Don, Vito Corleone – emblematic of a declining hegemony …” “… when he’s shot at the fruit-stand this is in many ways a parallel to what happened to the United States on September the 11th …” Take 10 minutes … Continue reading
It’s not so long ago that I put up a post asking for your favourite/most infamous example of BBC bias. The response was excellent and prolific and inspired an idea that I now wish to share with you. It is our intention to publish a book which details in glorious technicolour the BBC bias we talk about here on a daily basis. Provisionally entitled “The Little Book of BBC Bias” … Continue reading
The BBC is leading the way in blunting the Conservatives’ revival with this special coverage of… well, what exactly about Ray Lewis? Headlined “Mayor’s aide in sex claims enquiry” it’s never clear what the sex claims are in fact. The article is filled with something else on the financial side apparently pursued by the oh-so-upright Church of England back in the 90’s. It’s basically a mess of conflation. The usual … Continue reading
