PULL THE OTHER ONE, ROGER

I do need to scotch one particularly bizarre bit of blogbabble, though. Some bloggers depict me as a puppet for the BBC’s pension fund trustees trying to boost their investments in green technology. This is definitely going in my book – it is the most entertaining and baroque allegation I’ve ever faced. The truth is that BBC bosses issue very few diktats and most programme editors are stubbornly independent. I … Continue reading

OPEN THREAD

The previous open thread has agreed to stand down in favour of a new open thread, ushering in a fresh era of open threadness. For those of you not up to speed on recent BBC output, here’s a brief summary of the main points: Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

WATCH THE BIRDIE, ROGER!

It’s becoming increasingly clear, thanks to a series of posts from Autonomous Mind, The Register and Katabasis, that the Met Office is not only seriously incompetent but also full of viperous spin doctor “spokesmen”, whose sole aim is to dissemble and obfuscate. The facts are emerging piece by piece through persistent FoI requests. Thanks to these latest FoI revelations, it now seems that our £100m-plus-a- year Met Office weather service … Continue reading

A Smirk Too Far

I’m sure B-BBC regulars trawl roughly the same blogs, and I often recognise familiar monikers on comments pages.Grant wonders about the BBC’s lack of interest in Tunisia now that their uprising is old hat. I’d say it was a bit premature to hold it up as some sort of role model for the rest of the Arab World, though. Elder of Ziyoners will know what I mean.Hat Tip to Hippiepooter … Continue reading

ROGER THE DODGER

Autonomous Mind fisks a letter in today’s Daily Mail from Roger Harrabin. The same blog also reports on an FOI request revealing Met Office spin about seasonal forecasts. (Coming soon from the BBC, a new documentary – “Meet Autonomous Mind, The Kitten-Eating Child Rapist”) Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Wikileaks In The Telegraph? Meh.

Julian Assange has taken his latest batch of documents to the Telegraph: WikiLeaks documents that disclose how British ministers secretly advised Libya on securing the successful early release of the Lockerbie bomber demonstrate that Tony Blair’s Government was “playing false” over the issue, Alex Salmond has said. The BBC response so far: Apart from a brief mention during one of the paper reviews on Today this morning I haven’t seen … Continue reading

PAVLOVIAN

As widely predicted, the BBC4 programme on climate change last night was a ham-fisted stitch-up. Richard North ably explains here. It’s in their genes; anyone they think is outside their neme is isolated, gulled, done over and then ultimately ridiculed with all the grace and style of a two-dime huckster. The tragedy is that they genuinely think that this counts as legitimate programme making. I concur with Richard that this … Continue reading

UK AND US NOW TO BLAME

Been busy all day but tuned into the PM programme on Radio 4. Was intrigued to hear a debate on WHY UK and US foreign policy is to blame for the riots in Egypt. Great delusional stuff – but please, surely Palin is also to blame? And the Jews, of course. Good old BBC – cheering on the soon-to-be Islamic Republic of Egypt (copyright Khomeni, 1979)  Click through to read … Continue reading

WISHING AND HOPING…

It is rather disappointing, but James Delingpole and Lord Monckton have both been apparently duped into getting involved in tonight’s BBC Four hatchet job on climate change scepticism. I have been saying for years now that anyone who takes part in a BBC programme about anything that does not accord with the corporation’s worldview does so at their own risk; documentary producers – especially – long since abandoned any pretence … Continue reading