Monday 29 May 2017

After the Bank Holiday Open Thread


Thank you for staying with us, and please keep on sharing any thoughts you have with us below.

And if you're fancying spending your bank holiday tomorrow in a seaside resort that ought to be more popular than Sandbanks don't forget: There's always Morecambe. 

12 comments:

  1. I can imagine the slogan for the poster in the 1930s: "More come to Morecambe!"

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  2. I'm a fan of Andrew Neil, but his Leader's Interview with Nicola Sturgeon missed the point completely. Why quiz NS on her performance in the Scottish Parliament in a national general election? It would have been far better to ask her about whether SNP MPs would vote on English-only matters, or if her MPs will keep abstaining on everything to do with Brexit.

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    1. I found the whole idea of interviewing NS puzzling when she is not standing in the GE.

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  3. I listened to Today this morning where Humphries had a discussion with Francis Maude and a pundit about the GE campaign. The discussion was entirely about the Tory manifesto and Mrs May's perceived failings. Within that frame it wasn't too bad a discussion with Maude doing very well to explain and defend the policies whilst ignoring Humphries repeated attempts to stop him doing so.

    One things though stood out for me. No mention of the Manchester massacre. It was very much "back to politics as usual". Almost as if the week's break had a been a political holiday.

    In fact 22 were killed and 50 injured. The police have now arrested 13 (?) with 20,000 jihadist sympathizers in the country - in short more death is likely unless very new policies and approaches are quickly brought in. The nation is under attack. But not a mention. The BBC bubble.

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    1. After the terrible bombing in Manchester a week ago, the BBC have sought stories that shore up their own narrative. One such story that might not have received much attention otherwise was the stabbings in Portland:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/40082080/portland-attack-eyewitness-let-s-call-this-a-terrorist-attack

      …..A Portland attack eyewitness has said that the stabbing of three men who tried to help two Muslim women being harassed on a train was an act of terrorism. Describing what he saw, Michael Kennedy said the attack, in which two of the men died, should be called "what it is”. Meanwhile an emotional vigil has been held for the victims….

      Here is an easy target - the perpetrator appears white, uneducated, a manual worker etc?

      It is back to the bias business as usual for the BBC.

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    2. The BBC is becoming infamous for its creative use of 'quotes', "quotes", sources who claim, questions as headlines, etc.

      And that's when not just making stuff up all on their own. I still recall 'it's what he might have said' and 'truthiness' as supposed excuses for this practice.

      I don't have Flash on my Mac so I can't run the video, but presume this is from the lips of the eyewitness?

      The BBC using laypersons, or even vaguely qualified third parties to 'call something something', especially at such a juncture seems... what... premature exclamation instead of news?

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    3. The eyewitness was able to provide a perfectly produced soundbite which was split into two short sections by some video of the tearful vigil, and a woman in a veil using a megaphone to address the crowd of twenty or so, and provide emotional tearful footage to go along with the eyewitness's comments. (The video was filmed as a series of close-ups of distressed attendees, so we couldn't estimate with any accuracy the total number in the vigil).

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  4. Don't rely on the BBC for accurate news...

    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/05/portland-killer-ranted-against-jews-christians-and-muslims-media-reported-him-as-islamophobe

    Apparently the Portland murderer was an equal opportunity religiophobe who ranted against Christians and Jews as well.

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  5. Is the BBC biased?YES, YES, YES.To suggest that Women's Hour should have Conservative women alternating with the current presenters is ridiculous .Emma Barnetts interview of Jeremy Corbyn is proof of that.Why not have the Tory cabinet as presenters and be open about it.

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  6. From the 'Ecce Homo (though not at the BBC)' thread earlier this month we were informed of the BBC's reluctance to cover a story about the Mark Wallinger sculpture Ecce Homo, which was being exhibited at St Pauls Cathedral under the sponsorship of Amnesty. We were intrigued to know why they had not covered this story.

    Anon, in comments under 'Douglas Murray and Sara Kahn' explains:

    .... Incidentally, Islam effectively forbids figurative art especially images of sentient beings: ....

    Have the BBC adopted a policy of Aniconism?

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    1. More to the point - Jesus is a Prophet of Islam, and is considered to be a man (as the sculpture implies). So, who knows - in the weird PC mess that passes for cognition at the BBC - maybe this was a consideration.

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    2. We might have stumbled upon an inconvenient and a most uncomfortable truth here. Imagine the buzz of activity if Tracey Emin had been sponsored (by a well-known charity) to recreate her Turner Prize-winning unmade bed. Will Gompertz would have been sent hotfoot for an in-depth interview with the artist, the BBC would have been all over it like a rash. Tracey pops up here and there within the BBC's programme making, and is, I guess, on-message politically.

      Could it be the case that within the BBC hierarchy, Religious Affairs have a veto upon an Art Critic's output? I hope not, but what other explanation is there?

      If this does prove to be the case, then is this the thin end of the wedge which might dictate that in order to appease one section of the listening/viewing public (a minority), the BBC are willing to ignore news items which would be of great interest to other sections of their audience (the majority)?

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