Wednesday 8 November 2017

The Secret Life of the FCO

I watched “The secret Life of 4-year-olds” last night. God know why. Mainly because the remote was out of reach and I couldn’t be bothered to get it. It’s supposed to be at once amusing and entertaining, but with a psychological edge. Info-tainment, I think they call it.

In fact it’s voyeuristic, pseudo scientific and pretty sadistic. Two psychologists secretly observe the children's reactions to a series of cruel stunts they’ve dreamt up,  then they (the experts) make simplistic and patronising observations about, e.g., a child’s inability to deal with disappointment. The kind of disappointment that no four year old would normally face, like being on a losing team. What fun.

I’m only writing this because it reminds me of the way team “politicians” and team ”journalists” have been behaving. 

61-year-old Theresa arguably means well, but she has completely messed up. She has woven a tangled web. No-one wants to play with her. Several team members have been very naughty, and won’t do as they’re told. It’s a shambles.

Most of the journalists are from the reception class. They don’t mean well, and haven’t learned to share yet, as they are still in a world of their own. They egg each other on with malicious gossip, and their immaturity means they are sometimes cruel and tribal.

Which brings me to last night’s Newsnight and the Priti Patel / Boris experiment. Can the BBC bring down the tories? 

Nick Watt, the ‘expert’  has all but abandoned his role as psychological analyst. He has been sucked in to the action and his eyes gleam with joyful malice as he talks with Evan.

Evan Davis got quite emotional. Nadhim Zahawi had to step in quickly to remind Evan that Israel was not an enemy state before poor Evan completely blew his top, but Evan is adamant. He thinks the issue is not necessarily about ministerial protocols, but about “misleading” the public, (oh, the irony) and he’s putting the blame for this squarely on Priti Patel. 

But here’s something revelatory that Evan should read. Breaking News:

First, long before James Landale’s scoop, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle was tipped off that there would soon be an announcement of cooperation between the UK and Israel over aid in Africa - that we would divert some of our aid money to the Israelis to fund some of their aid work there.

"It is a truism that with most scandals, the real fallout comes from the cover up."
Number Ten Knew About The Meetings!         Investigate that, James Landale. 

The secret life of the FCO, anyone?  

6 comments:

  1. Evan Davis thinks misleading the public is a resigning matter? Well then why didn't the whole of the Newsnight Team and the rest of the BBC's international staff resign over the way they misled us - in the grossest terms - about the Arab Spring. They told us it was a democratic revolt...even I have to admit that under their influence I did allow myself just a tiny smidgeon of misplaced optimism. The Government built a whole foreign policy on their misleading assessment and as a result tried to destabilise the Assad regime - with very tragic consequences. It was all a load of old baloney and it turned out these "democratic" revolts were really civil wars instigated by various shades of pro-Sharia Jihadists intent on unseating secularish dictators.

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  2. I missed most of the Newsnight report, but the BBC has decided that the current government is the same as the Major government of the nineties. A constant stream of ministerial resignations, followed by interviews with Labour shadows along the lines of "of course once we're in charge there'll be no more of this nonsense". The difference is back then, there was a government in waiting, just the formality of the 1997 election. Fast forward twenty years, although any future election is predicted as a Labour landslide (due to all these 18-24 year olds voting for our lord jeremy) By the time the election comes, Brexit (in whatever form) will have happened and Labour will have rid itself of any moderates. A media led attempt to collapse the current government may well lead to a more pro-WTO terms Brexit and more right wing leadership of the Conservatives emerge, as I doubt many tory MPs would be willing to fall on their swords and hand power to the hard left and it's a long time to 2022. The BBC should be careful what it wishes for...

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    1. Marianne, I'd slightly rephrase your first sentence to say that the BBC has decided to treat the current government in the same way as it did the Major government of the nineties. The BBC was a major player in causing that Government to appear broken and the Labour opposition to be vital. Always remember Garvey's comment about champagne bottles in Broadcasting House the night after the 1997 election.

      The BBC sees it's role to be undermining Conservative governments and supporting the Labour opposition. They've been at it since Douglas Hume (at least). They using all the same tricks now, focusing on, pouring oil on every "split" and "mistake".

      Meanwhile the hard left Corbyn crew is promoted. Alexi Sayle, the communist is back on R4, "Seven Days that shook the World" is serialized ... ah Utopia here we come.

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  3. On the theme of Newsnight...I watched open mouthed at the bias of the BBC's film montage of Trump's first year. It could have been put together by an Antifa safe space student from Berkeley. No mention of the USA's high growth rate, rocketing stock exchange, or the many companies returning factories and HQs to the USA. The BBC seem to have abandoned any semblance of impartiality when it comes to Trump.

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  4. So the BBC has run with what suits and blanked what does not.

    And even though it is erring on mediacidal indulgence, the government prefers this to what might be worse.

    Colour me shocked.

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  5. "the government prefers this to what might be worse"

    If BBC bashing were a vote winner Labour or the Conservatives would promise to do something.

    Ideas are implemented slowly or are strangled at birth; unless money or votes are involved.

    As a nation we do sacred cows. The BBC is one of the biggest.

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