2010 draws to an end and I wanted to take a moment to thank you all, fellow-writers, commentators and those who just like to read, for your support to B-BBC over this past 12 months. Sometimes it can be very pressurised finding the time to keep things going and I do appreciate the great enthusiasm for the site.I get so many emails from you and wanted to let you know … Continue reading
I was very pleased when Richard Sambrook contacted B-BBC, ostensibly to put the record straight about why he had spoken to the Common Purpose group. My recollection of him – mainly from when he was head of newsgathering at the BBC back in the 1990s – was that he was a pleasant, congenial man, and I thought he had been in touch because he thought my concerns about CP at … Continue reading
OK, we are almost at the end of 2010 and the BBC has clocked up another year of seething bias, or, as they prefer to call it, professional impartiality so profound it is in their DNA. So, let me ask you what was YOUR biased moment of the year? There’s so much choice – not least their appalling coverage of the General Election. But the bit that turned MY stomach … Continue reading
Sorry about frequency of my posting here – but I live in a drought in the wettest part of the United Kingdom. BBC doing everything possible to avoid holding the Minister directly responsible (IRA terrorist Conor Murphy) to account so instead ……let’s talk about the great flu epidemic which is killing millions as I write.Hang on – killing 12 people. Anyway, the BBC meme has the evil Coalition (excepting Saint … Continue reading
I wrote the following article last week, but events prevented me from finishing it. Now I see that E.O.Z. has written on a similar theme, and has come to similar conclusions. So here’s mine. I’ve touched previously on the fate of refugees from the Horn of Africa after their perilous journey to Israel. Many of those that survived had been subjected to rape and abuse along the way. Strange that … Continue reading
Out with the old, in with the new Open Thread. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
Often you have to make allowances for things you see or hear, especially when the topic is you-know-what. For example, when you suspect that English isn’t someone’s first language, or in certain cases, that human isn’t their first state of being. When evaluating their choice of Richard Ingrams as guest editor of today’s Today, you have to take into consideration that the BBC is institutionally antisemitic, but even after making … Continue reading
Wondered if you came across this televisual delight from the State Broadcaster? It’s the “Intelligence Squared Debate” and as balanced as you would expect… “An Elected House of Lords Will Be Bad For British Democracy”. Nik Gowing chairs, with speakers Vernon Bogdanor, Shami Chakrabarti, Sir Simon Jenkins, Lord Adonis and Polly Toynbee and Billy Bragg. Oh joy. Thanks to the brave B-BBC reader who valiantly watched at least some of … Continue reading
Further digging into Common Purpose to follow up yesterday’s post. I accept fully Lloyd’s observation (in the comments) that £150,000 spent by the BBC on Common Purpose over seven years is small beer, when you consider that BBC income was around £17bn in the same period. But John Anderson also made an important point. The BBC should surely not be sending anyone on courses that are not directly related to … Continue reading
The propaganda is always there, as brought to my attention by an eagle-eyed B-BBC reader; ‘Missile attacks by US drones in Pakistan’s tribal areas have more than trebled under the Obama administration, research by the BBC Urdu service shows. Compared with 25 drone strikes between January 2008 and January 2009, there were at least 87 such attacks between President Obama taking office on 20 January 2009 and the end of June … Continue reading
