. Sometimes, given a fair degree of exposure to the endless cycle of enquiries which Tony Blair’s governmental culture has tended to foster, which has spread to many areas of society, I wonder whether in addition to all the cultures of this and that which the enquiries, studies and panels identify, there is a culture of enquiries themselves. Richard North, giving his view of the recently published BBC-sponsored report on … Continue reading →

‘A conspiracy to keep an important subject under wraps or a completely shambolic inefficiency, unprofessionalism and ignorance?‘ What a choice to be presented with by our national broadcaster! Or any broadcaster, indeed, whether you fund them through gritted teeth or not. Helen Szamuely raises the question through her vivid first hand account of trying to get a eurosceptical word in edgewise. (ps. at the moment I seem to be channelling … Continue reading →

According to our dear B-BBC commenters, this morning Radio 5 Live did a ‘text’ poll asking for people’s opinions on whether or not the UK should sign-up to the new EU constitution. The result of the poll was cheerily reported by the presenter as being 67% in favour of Britain signing up, with 33% against – which is, as anyone who reads the newspapers knows, almost the exact opposite of … Continue reading →

Caroline ‘Haw-Haw’ Hawley was in supremely miserable form on the BBC’s Six O’Clock News this evening, describing this morning’s loss of a US helicopter with thirty-one souls aboard as “A huge blow for the American military”, followed up by the programme presenter commenting that today was “A very bad day for the Americans”. Whilst the loss of the thirty-one people on the helicopter is a tragedy for the US military, … Continue reading →

(from Blithering Bunny) Leftists think asylum’s a huge issue, right? The leftist press went crazy over Michael Howard’s immigration proposals, insisting a storm had been provoked, although most people barely raised an eyebrow. So it stands to reason that when the EU steps in and says that Britain has already handed control of asylum to the EU, this has got to be an even huger story. But guess what? The … Continue reading →

Scott Campbell (from Blithering Bunny) A typical day at the BBC News website: No entry to Britain: Is the Conservative immigration plan as simple as they say? Lib Dem plan to help new mothers Tory expert denies defeatism Tories accused of ‘desperation’ The Tory stories all have negative headlines. But the headline that concerns the LibDems is presented as an offer to help. Those lovely LibDems. All they want is … Continue reading →

the prospects for the BBC’s self-regulation: ‘The idea that anything produced or sponsored by the BBC was ever going to find any serious defects in the BBC’s coverage is entirely facile.’ Yep. Any other notion defies commonsense. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

only to come up empty-handed once more. Yes, friends, the BBC has a story about Iraq the Model, a pro-western blog by Iraqis (and sometimes linked on B-BBC of all strange things). Now, however, such hopeful news is clouded by this ‘revelation.’ (Hmm, the Beeb must read the New York Times once in a while.) The fight has raised the issue of identity and misrepresentation in weblogs, where often it … Continue reading →

In the parallel universe inhabited by Beebazoids this panel might seem like a representative, even right of centre, assortment of opinion regarding the next four Bush years. Having selected eight panelists, all the Beeb can muster is two solid Bush supporters and a semi-supportive one. The remaining five might consider Michael Moore a bit too mushy. Alice in Wonderland makes better sense. The BBC must still be trying to come … Continue reading →

. The Diplomad is, well, kind of mad at the BBC. The EURef. is too. Both have recent excellent blog posts on the matter of the BBC, and in EUref’s case some interesting serious observations. The Diplomad is plotting its revenge for the BBC’s ‘balance’ in not covering the tsunami relief effort the way it is, but how they’d like it to be (amongst other items of complaint): ‘OK, so … Continue reading →