I was sorry to read of the death of Seamus Heaney but am no fan of his work. The BBC went into a paroxysm of activity, with Andrew Marr telling us this morning Heaney had been our greatest living writer! Talk about hyperbole. I have endured a stream of abuse from alleged Heaney fans for simply suggesting that IN MY OPINION, Heaney was dire. But that’s beside the point. What … Continue reading →

It’s funny, really. Obama is looking so far out of his depth on Syria that it is posing a problem for some of his BBC fan club. So, cue the bugle and send for Mark Mardell. Here’s Mark with the entirely neutral headline “Obama’s canny, democratic move”.  Canny in the sense that Obama is desperate to ensure he doesn’t take sole responsibility for doing that which he has argued for. When … Continue reading →

  Was just about to fold up the tent and steal away for a beer by the riverside but I couldn’t let this lie:   Syria crisis: ‘Blair to blame for Cameron downfall’ From the journalist who exposed the Iraq War deceits, a searing indictment of MPs’ failure to act against Assad’s brutal regime from Andrew Gilligan ‘Scarred by the hubris and lies of their predecessors, the British and American … Continue reading →

  Hope no one’s been rudely cut off mid stream….here’s a fresh page to list the bias and other things of note and interest….

  Listening to Nicky Campbell’s ‘Your Call’ (09:40)on Friday and was amused to hear Nicky leap to the defence of a beleaguered minority. You can have a long diatribe about Obama and his red lines being to blame for violence in Syria, you can say the Rebels used the chemical weapons, you can say Rebels are creating martyrs, and Nicky won’t say a word, but when you say  Muslims are … Continue reading →

  The BBC is having to play catch up as their initial assessment of Miliband’s performance in regard to the vote over Syria was that he was the ‘architect of Camerons’ defeat’ and that he could now ‘walk tall’.….as Assad supporters fly the Union Jack in Damascus in celebration.  The BBC’s two senior and important political reporters, Nick Robinson and John Humphrys,  got it wrong.   Apparently even the Labour … Continue reading →

  The Sunday Times (paywalled) says that the BBC has hired yet another Labour man…Godric Smith, Blair’s official spokesman between 2001 and 2004 and head of strategic communications until 2006. (mentioned in the Guardian in July) His PR firm, Incorporated London, has been hired by the BBC, without tender, to ‘help rebuild its  reputation in the wake of the Savile scandal’. One of his jobs might be….explain how he was … Continue reading →

      Obama was trapped by his own Red Line on the use of chemical weapons in Syria…I note he now says action will only be taken if there are significant casualties resulting from the use of chemical weapons…..so presumably that is designed to give him a bit of leeway in not having to respond to attacks resulting in relatively few casualties. Obama is now seeking a vote in Congress to get … Continue reading →

  Thursday the BBC  (on 5Live at least) actually performed its task of reporting the events and considerations leading up to the vote on any attack on Syria with a fair degree of balance…though Seamus Milne and Labour’s Madeleine Moon I thought got off lightly without challenge to their anti-war stance. Friday it all went pear shaped and normal service was resumed with the knives out for Cameron whilst Ed Miliband was being … Continue reading →

   Listening to 5Live today I heard a report about an attack on a school by a Syrian aircraft using some sort of incendiary bomb.  Now I’m fairly hardened to images of war and the resultant carnage that results but I have to admit when I heard one man making his plea to the UN (10:14:30) it kind of stopped me dead in my tracks.  Dear UN What kind of peace are you … Continue reading →