You can learn as much about a country from its silences as you can from its obsessions. The issues politicians do not discuss are as telling and decisive as those they do. You can also learn a lot about  media organisations from the stories which they decide to cover and those they try to hide. The BBC has an increasing tendency to smother any report which would reflect badly upon … Continue reading →

Commenting on the proposed EU referendum, senior BBC foreign correspondent Hugh Sykes makes known his views of the better-off-out brigade. A taste of things to come from the BBC? @4d2b #EU faulty but only rats leave ships, & interesting tht Churchill had European vision. ‘It’s peace, stupid’ as #Clinton might hv said — HughSykes (@HughSykes) January 24, 2013 Update. Twitter has just changed the way tweets can be embedded meaning … Continue reading →

    You couldn’t make it up. In a report about the dearth of women speakers on programmes the BBC, Woman’s Hour no less, drops the female speaker in favour of a man: It is one of Radio 4’s flagship programmes, designed to offer a women’s perspective on the world. But Women’s Hour has been branded “misogynistic” and “patronising” after ditching a female technology expert in favour of two men … Continue reading →

        This report is in marked contrast to the one on the BBC website which fails to mention the word ‘Muslim’….though on a radio news bulletin they do get round to it….5 men arrested….‘who claimed to be Muslim’ says the BBC. That’ll be right…it’s all an EDL plot……..all to make Muslims look racist, homophobic and intolerant of British culture. One thing that would prove though…is that the … Continue reading →

Here you go and as requested! BBC ecstatic that UK economic growth shrank in Q4.

“Is torture ever justified”? I will be on BBC1 “The Big Question” on Sunday morning to discuss this issue and invite YOU to offer your suggestions here! I think the question itself is framed in a biased manner but broadly speaking I believe in whatever is necessary to save innocents from terrorism.  

    In spite of a scientific consensus, many continue to resist or ignore the message of climate communicators – but why? What are the social and emotional explanations for this reaction? Remember when the good comrades of the Soviet Union used to deal with their inconvenient political opponents or troublesome intellectuals by denouncing them as insane and locking them up safely out of the way in deepest Siberia? The … Continue reading →

So Fawlty Towers gets censored but the BBC puts up £5,000 to promote transgender comedy (ht DJ): The Trans Comedy Award opens up an opportunity for the transgender community and members of the general public to portray transgender characters and the transgender experience in an affirming manner. We are looking for original comedy sitcoms, comedy dramas or sketch shows featuring transgender characters and/or themes and written for television. An award … Continue reading →

From Our Own Correspondent did a quick report by Matthew Taylor on the Bedouin living in Kuwait…revealing the plight they find themselves in labelled illegal foreigners and therefore ‘stateless’ by Kuwait with no citizenship or rights…unable to get jobs, birth certificates or own property or run businesses. Kuwait claims they are in the country to claim the material benefits on offer to its citizens….free education, free healthcare, no taxes, subsidised … Continue reading →

    The BBC finally got around to reporting the ‘Muslim Patrol’…or the ‘Homophobic vigilantes’ as the BBC prefer…..a key identifier of the ‘Vigilantes’, both personally and to explain the reason for their actions is that they are Muslim…..and therefore an acknowedgement of that should have been in the report’s title. The BBC had to admit that the vigilantes claimed to be acting in the name of Islam but as … Continue reading →