Many moons ago, I used to be a BBC FoC. That is, I was father of the chapel (shop steward) of the National Union of Journalists BBC information division branch. There were even in those distant days at least 70 people working in BBC spin (the total last time I counted was almost treble that), but I thus know from personal experience that we were a militant, left-wing, revolting lot. … Continue reading
It must be true because scientists say so: People with left wing views may have their political opinions controlled by a “liberal gene” BBC US correspondent Katie Connolly is concerned: Don’t worry Katie, we don’t need genetic tests to get to the essence of liberal bias at the BBC – we have Twitter. In other news, the mythical BBC “impartiality gene” still eludes discovery. Click through to read and contribute … Continue reading
Question Time tonight comes from Glasgow; twinned with Havana and a Conservative-free zone since 1982. In 2006, 29.4% of the population were on the dole and it has the lowest life expectancy of any UK city. On the panel tonight we have Ed Davey, Nicola Sturgeon Murrell, Chris “Y-Fronts” Bryant, Hugh Hendry and Simon Schama. It’s also David Dimbleby‘s 72nd birthday. For those playing the Buzzword Bingo, we’ll be using the Congratulations Rules so … Continue reading
Very few people, apart from Richard North, admirably summing up the position here, understand the extent to which we are actually now ruled by Brussels, and how powerless we are to stop anything emanating from it. The reality is that David Cameron and the rest of his useless party, by saying that they want to be “in Europe but not run by it”, are guilty of disseminating a great big … Continue reading
Online reports so far from the BBC: Obama tells Daily Show more time needed for reformsObama appeals to voters on satirical TV show The Daily ShowObama’s mid-term election pitch on US television networkCagey Barack Obama spars with Daily Show’s Jon Stewart‘Yes we can… but’ says Obama (If you spot any more add them in the comments) UPDATE 5pm. If you were thinking that what the BBC’s midterm election coverage really … Continue reading
If you’re getting your information about the US midterms only from the BBC you are no doubt aware that Republicans are outspending the Democrats by millions of dollars. Yesterday’s report by Katty Kay on campaign funding focused almost entirely on Republican spending (there’s a very brief mention about union support for Democrats, but the thrust of the piece is clear – Republicans and their supporters are trying to buy the … Continue reading
North Sea oil and gas transformed the economic fortunes of the UK from the grim days of the 1970s and underpinned our re-emergence as a world power. The boom ensured that we had abundant energy and could keep warm cheaply. This is a fundamental reason why our living standards are so relatively high today. Now the Cleggeron government is severely limiting further exploration (and has needlessly restricted the number of … Continue reading
The BBC is overjoyed today because there is a disturbance in an Israeli-Arab village. What’s more, it’s a deliberately provocative incitement by a hardline right wing group, reminiscent of the Orange marches in NI. Last year on a similar occasion a clip on the BBC website featured Katya Adler in a fetching baseball cap, ducking the occasional missile, saying that all the Palestinian residents want to do is live in … Continue reading
A new thread… Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
Richard Black is cranking up the pressure on biodiversity, today repeating from Japan the killer line that a fifth of the world’s species are under the threat. And on Today, James Naughtie simperingly accepted the Cleggeron line from Caroline Spelman that another £100m needs tipping down the aid chute to assist with the biodiversity nonsense. His only concern was whether it was enough. Meanwhile his business BBC colleague Richard Anderson … Continue reading
