is the director of television at the BBC, and she explains her philosophy thus: “People who express highly controversial views are welcome on the BBC but they cannot be presenters of a news or current affairs programme”. So what’s Paxman doing working there, then? “Television must be allowed to engage with the real world, to challenge and inform audiences”. So that’s why we pay our licence fee. To be patronised, … Continue reading
Several people pointed out this piece by Justin Webb about deducing the innermost soul of America from half a dozen guys you met in a ski-lift gondola*, too. It seems the same piece was spotted (in its first incarnation as a Radio Four broadcast) by Myrna Blyth of NRO. (Hat tip: Hazel Stein.) Actually, I’ve got a soft spot for Justin Webb. No one who can write Faced with another … Continue reading
Several people have pointed out this Normblog post linking to, and quoting from, an article by Bartle Bull in Prospect Magazine. Iraq is not about America any more. This has been increasingly true every day since last June, and the failure – or refusal – to recognise this has underpinned much of the misleading coverage of Iraq. In the evenings leading up to the election, I sat on carpets on … Continue reading
is how the BBC’s Nisha Pillai introduced a report by Brian Barron about the growth of Christian music, radio and publishing in the US on BBC News 24’s Reporters programme this week. Did you notice a far right putsch in the US last November? Me neither, though I do recall a democratic election – one in which the winner took office in accordance with the law. Either the BBC’s definition … Continue reading
You’ve probably seen this article from the Times. As Neil Craig of A Place To Stand On says, it’s “generally going round the anti-green bits of the net” SOD OFF SWAMPY WHEN 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail. What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on … Continue reading
writes: In browsing the BBC complaints website recently, there is a report on complaints over the last few months, preceded by a statement from Mark Thompson, the Director-General. In that statement, I found a remarkable sentence. He states: “Of course there will always be cases where people are dissatisfied with the BBC’s initial response, and the aim then is to give them the opportunity of independent investigation by the Editorial … Continue reading
(from Blithering Bunny) Rare good news story about Iraq sighted at BBC: Iraq’s devastated marshlands can be partially revitalised, says a team writing in the journal Science. (via reader D. Burbage). Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
Ok, first off I’ll admit that I’m a luddite sceptic when it comes to the global environmental debate that seems to have been foisted on us for an indefinite period from around the mid-eighties. I’ve heard little except grave warnings, and deep grave warnings, throughout my life about what a mess we’ve made/are making of the world’s environment. My feeling about this statement has always been that it’s a shame … Continue reading
(from Blithering Bunny) EU Serf sends us this report: Kyoto Week, Blame Bush With the expensive and badly conceived Kyoto treaty the major news of the week, the BBC has been running full steam to blame everything on Bush. This morning whilst getting my daily dose of Bush-hating bias, BBC World News ran a story on the coal industry in the USA. In summary the story was something like this: … Continue reading
Discussing the arrest of seven people and recovery of £2.3M by the Irish police, which is almost certainly linked to the IRA robbery at Northern Bank, BBC Radio Scotland news ‘anchorman’ Andrew Cassell in discussion with a fellow BBC hack came out with the following gem: “So they [the IRA] must be bricking it” For the uninitiated, bricking it means to have, er, loose bowels. Click through to read and … Continue reading
