Insomnia prompted me to watch HardTalk at about 4:30am. Stephen Sackur was TalkingHARD to Nasser Judeh, Jordan’s foreign Minister. The whole point of Hard Talk, Mr. Judeh pointed out helpfully, is that the talk is hard. Fair enough.If Sackur was interviewing a lettuce he’d have to press home forcefully the argument from the slug’s perspective. If God Almighty was in the opposite chair, Sackur would be obliged to be devil’s … Continue reading
Panorama, what is it for?The one about teachers being unsackable. Melanie Phillips has written about this state of affairs here.“Just imagine the outcry ” she says “if incompetent doctors weren’t struck off but were moved to another hospital, thus exposing yet more patients to dangerous treatment.”Or if paedopriests were shunted away to other child-rich parishes.Oh wait. Shocking innit.Seriously, schools might be a shambles, state education may be all over the … Continue reading
BBC delighted to report that anyone who comes to the UK claiming asylum on the grounds that they are gay can stay. No dissent allowed. From Cameroon to the North of England – we’re all gay now. Not the first time Mike Lanchin has shown an interest in this subject… good to see Stonewall getting their say in as well. Nicely unbalanced from start to finish. Click through to read … Continue reading
As we all know, Israel never gets a fair chance on the BBC. With Israeli PM Netanyahu visiting Obama today, it was predictable that the BBC would use the opportunity to get stuck in and so they did! Just listen to Jeremy Al Bowen here — quite stunning in the tone and substance. Bias incarnate. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
In last week’s Telegraph Neil Midgley wrote a piece headed ‘BBC’s £12,000 for lawyers to help keep pay secret.’ The BBC Trust used Baker and McKenzie, an international law firm, to stop the National Audit Office disclosing figures that would allow ‘those in the know’ to make an approximate calculation of individual BBC staff’s paypackets. We’re going to know this soon anyway aren’t we? I wonder how much more of … Continue reading
Richard Black, the esteemed BBC environment reporter, reminds me of Godzilla; no matter what is thrown at him, he rampages on, extolling the perils of global warming. For days, the blogsphere has been alive with further evidence that seriously undermines the credibility of the IPCC’s AR4 assessment, not least of which was its claim that 40% of the Amazon rainforest was at risk from minor changes in rainfall. The back … Continue reading
We may not like it, but we have to accept that the BBC regularly employs controversial characters, the flakier the better, to boost the ratings.The risk they’ll say or do something outrageous live on air adds a certain frisson. Will Self and Tracey Emin are popular for that, and Frankie Boyle. So is George Galloway. A number of viewers surely tune in to Question Time when he’s on the panel … Continue reading
You have to hand it to the BBC, they never shirk from expressing their admiration for tyrants and their hanger-ons. Listen to this item, on the mistress of Simon Bolivar. Note how Huge Chavez is given an approving name-check and of course Bolivar himself is presented as a lovable rogue. Two tyrants in five minutes, stamp-marked with the tacit approval of the State Broadcaster. Click through to read and contribute … Continue reading
Did you see the BBC giving lots of publicity to singer songwriter Ricky Lee Jones this morning? She was on TV and Radio this morning, extolling her admiration for the Black Panthers. You can understand why the BBC likes her. (No link yet) Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
BBC leading the charge this morning about the evils of drinking. On both Radio and TV, it is running with the idea that up to one in three kids are horrified at the drinking they see going on in the home.The BBC itself has commissioned the study which suggests that a third of children said they feel scared when adults drink, a fifth say they have witnessed angry and aggressive … Continue reading
