Have a look at this recent BBC article about Russian birth rates. Like some unpaid p.r. agency for non-Western nations Aunty pretends that basically things in the Bear’s garden are getting rosier: ‘In the latest in our series about the role of the state in encouraging couples to have more children, Patrick Jackson in Moscow looks at how a rising birth rate is bringing cheer to Russia but mortality rates … Continue reading →

Viewers of this evening’s BBC News were treated to a Hugh Pym report on Chip and Pin card fraud centred around a small number of Shell petrol stations (256Kbps, WMV format). Near the end Pym appears next to a till with a card terminal to wrap up his report – strangely though not a till in a Shell petrol station! No, Pym manages to get himself downstairs to the BBC … Continue reading →

Throughout their coverage of last night’s local election results the oh-so-pleased-with-himself Jeremy Whine repeated, ad-nauseam, the oh-so-clever sequence in the clip above with such enthusiasm he seemed at risk of wetting himself with excitement. I wonder how many other groups the BBC would dare to depict thus… Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

For those that can’t play the clip: “And it will also be the first test for the new LibDim leader, er, LibDem leader, Sir Menzies Campbell…” Right on sister! Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

‘Note to Biased BBC, you are getting under their skin. You will be pleased to know you are the recognised enemy.’ Well, funnily enough I feel the same way about them. Guido Fawkes was at the opening night of some We Media thing which the BBC is hosting, and has observations to offer. There are of course many reasons for not resisting the temptation to become an enemy of the … Continue reading →

. Guido is his usual kind self to Nick Robinson over the genial political editor’s apparent defensiveness concerning the Prescott-monster with his Clintonesque escapades. Just as we are, Guido is ‘willing to give Nick Robinson the benefit of the doubt when he says “I’m not covering up for Prescott!”‘ The choice presented is this: either Robinson knows things and isn’t prepared to enlighten his employers, the public, or he doesn’t … Continue reading →

Paul Reynolds has an article about terrorism experts ‘floundering about’ in an attempt to understand suicide bombers. He seems to think they are missing something: ‘I felt that the conference rather ignored some of the political influences on suicide bombers, like the world events -Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East, Chechnya, Bosnia and others – that provide a basic motivation for many of them.’ Well I am quite prepared to accept … Continue reading →

, Guido Fawkes has a bombshell to give to Nick Robinson: ‘Nick Robinson blogs that Prescott’s mistress was “a bombshell” to his family and colleagues. Bullshit Nick. It was hardly a bombshell to the lobby or his colleagues. Trevor Kavanagh admits he knew of Prezza’s serial adultery, half the less connected Westminster village from the lowliest research assistant and up knew. If the political editor of the BBC finds this … Continue reading →

Sorry, that should be ‘needs reporting’, but with the BBC’s reporting recently I seem to be experiencing tense confusion. The BBC report, most strangely, ‘US economy kept growing, Fed says’ in this report, and in the headline leading to it. Now, this is weird, because journalistic practise is generally to use the present continuous when some event is up to the present: US economy ‘keeps growing’, or maybe present simple … Continue reading →

I only ask because the BBC have reported ‘clashes’ between rival Palestinian ‘students’. Obviously the Beeb had checked out their enrollment details, or perhaps one could say it’s obvious they were just undertaking a practical module. The fact that the BBC describe the violence thus: ‘throwing stones and homemade explosives and exchanging gunfire’ suggests that it couldn’t really have been a harder term for the poor undergrads. They then say, … Continue reading →