Monday 14 May 2018

Bog Standard Everyday May Open Thread



Yes, it's still really the same Open Thread (bumped) but now with added blossom.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, said Shakespeare. Well, I hope not. I'm sick of rough winds.

Thank you for all of your comments and your support.

102 comments:

  1. BBC1 6pm News: Sopel gives Trump credit for bringing about rapprochement between the two Koreas - good grief!

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    1. Speaking of those, along with Katty Kay, of using BBC space for annoying ads...

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  2. Anyone get the feeling that the BBC, MSM, and Globalist PC Multiculturalist elite might have underestimated Trump?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv1r1wWKcMc

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    1. Steve Hilton has a good analysis:

      "The truth, revealed this week, is that the elite have shown themselves to be totally superficial. Their hatred of Donald Trump is not based on policy, or real-world results, or anything at all of substance. Otherwise they would acknowledge and welcome the good news on the diplomatic front – and indeed the economic front back home."

      http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/04/28/steve-hilton-trump-s-triumphs-are-driving-his-critics-crazy.html

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    2. Eavesdropping on their Twitter conversations, here's some typical recent BBC Twitter action:

      Kim Darroch (British ambassador to the USA): Delighted that President @realDonaldTrump will visit the UK on 13 July and hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister May.

      Katty Kay (reply to Ambassador Darroch): Does the timing of this, coming on heels of Macron’s super successful DC trip, looks like UK playing don’t-forget-about-us?

      Anthony Zurcher: We now have a set date for Donald Trump's "working visit" to the UK. July 13. I wonder if he'll pop over to Paris to catch another Bastille Day parade.

      Katty Kay (replying to AZ): OMG that would just be salt in the wound!

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    3. Has she passed on any gems from her 'peers' at the Washington Whinge Club roast yet?

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    4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HTggNxOGWw

      I think you can see why Trump gave it a miss.

      From about 38:30 you can see the comedy act. Michael Wolff in drag...Michelle Wolf? Actually she's got one or two good lines.

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    5. Andrew Neil isn't a Michelle Wolf fan:

      "Never heard of Michelle Wolf and after last night’s White House Correspondents Dinner hope not to hear of her again. Bad jokes delivered in a voice that sounds like an electric saw cutting through especially tough timber."

      https://twitter.com/afneil/status/990589744974311424

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  3. The Sunday Times front page (and two more pages inside) has Russian Twitter bots tried to swing general election for Jeremy Corbyn.
    As at 1:30 there is nothing on the BBC News website - only Voter ID plans 'deeply flawed', says Electoral Reform Society.
    Last year I was interviewing a lady in Dewsbury. She told me that her father 'chose' who 3,500 people in the ward would vote for. She then proudly showed me [separate] photographs of her dad with Ed Balls, Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham.
    Just heard John Curtice (from Strathclyde) telling Mark Mardell on TWTW that Kirklees could swing to a Labour majority in this week's elections. If it does, I bet no-one will say that the local population might be in favour of anti semitism........... Curtice and the Beeb certainly won't.

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    1. That story makes a mockery of the dismissals of electoral fraud as barely relevant. Labour need to gain two seats to win a majority in Kirklees. 3,500 votes matter in such circumstances.

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    2. P.S. Not a Sheep has a very interesting take on that Voter ID plans 'deeply flawed', says Electoral Reform Society report:

      'Elections voter ID scheme 'deeply flawed' - as is the BBC's coverage

      http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/elections-voter-id-scheme-deeply-flawed.html

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  4. Crikey! Tying a few of the comments here together, Jon Sopel has now gone and re-tweeted one of Katty Kay's media friends denouncing Michelle Wolf for being un-PC about Donald Trump's press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. What's got into Jon Sopel this week?

    Jon Sopel Retweeted
    Mika Brzezinski: Watching a wife and mother be humiliated on national television for her looks is deplorable. I have experienced insults about my appearance from the president. All women have a duty to unite when these attacks happen and the WHCA owes Sarah an apology.

    https://twitter.com/morningmika/status/990585968825597954

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    1. That said, of course, "Crazy Mika" was also having a go at Donald Trump there.

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    2. The BBC article on Michelle Wolf roasting Sarah Sanders is sympathetic to Wolf. Some balance but overall it is clear where the author (and BBC) stands on the subject.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43939793

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    3. Craig: Don't know what's got into Sopel, but wouldn't be at all surprised if the Beeb decided he'd make an ideal Siberia correspondant!

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    4. He was a bit p'd off with Emily Maitlis being shipped in to the US for whatever it was recently, wasn't he? And also he was hung out to dry during the Carrie Gracie affair...the BBC didn't exactly leap into to defend his inflated salary did they? Maybe he's getting his own back by slight deviation from the official narrative.

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  5. Rudd gone...the government is Ruddless but one hopes not rudderless...May needs now to get a grip. Rudd was a malfunctioning cog in what should be a smooth government machine. First thing May needs to make clear is that she will go to the country for a renewed mandate if there is any attempt by Rudd to frustrate Brexit.

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    1. It seems to me that it is May who has been doing her best to frustrate Brexit, by taking advice from her pro-remain spads & civil servants. The LAST thing May should do is go to the country - her performance would be still more disastrous than last time. It's time for the '22 Committee to tell her to step down in favour of Gove or JRM.

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    2. I was going to say I expect the 1922 Committee is packed full of Remainers. But it seems otherwise, I'm pleased to observe. But it's possible if the Committee took that line then a sizeable chunk of the Tories might join the Lib Dems or form a new pro-Remain centre party.

      The situation we have now is definitely a mess. If only the Tory Leavers had not taken it out on Boris, we would be in a far better place now. May is a useless negotiator, a sort of reverse Trump who lets her opponents see all her cards at the opening of the game. We now have the insane spectacle of Barnier going around Ireland deliberately destablising the UK and risking a return to hostilities in Northern Ireland. Then, May is a mouse when it comes to migration. No one is speaking up for the tens of millions of Brits who are deeply concerned about continuing mass immigration something she seems incapable of addressing, or even acknowledging. Cameron was pretty useless, but May is proving a real walking diaster zone. The opposition offer only reheated communism and the Liberal Democrats are now a byword for political senility. The Greens have turned themselves into advocates of damaging the environment and destroying habitat in order to facilitate further mass immigration. The "nationalist" parties support further moves to creating a supranational political entity in Europe. UKIP has been hollowed out and left looking absurd.

      You might tell I am not too impressed by the current political scene.

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    3. I don't suppose it is because they are all women or men who wish they were women?

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  6. What is it at the BBC with the new fad of turning so many article headlines into questions?

    On tonights BBC website front page they have;
    English local elections - what's it all about?
    What is it like to be sectioned?
    Are you fat on the inside?
    How many lives does breast screening save?
    Will Cambridge Analytica return from the dead?

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    1. Just another part of turning speculation into news. It has being going on for years, in fact I think they should dump the word NEWS and call it what it is, namely Speculation, Hype and Irritating Trivia, which also happens to be one of the BBC's favourite words.

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    2. Monkey Brains4 May 2018 at 20:23

      Nice one! "Cryptocommentary" might be another way of describing it. And here's a few questions for the BBC to answer:

      Mass immigration - might there be a few negatives as well as the positives we keep going on about?

      Crime - why do we call for long sentences for crimes we don't like but argue for leniency otherwise?

      How have we ended up working for political censorship, overturning democratic votes, and introducing blasphemy legislation?

      What does the first B in BBC stand for? - it's not what you think...

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  7. Early yet, of course, but local election results seem to be causing lots of long faces on the BBC coverage tonight.
    Excuses so far;
    Labour was at a high water mark.
    Nothing can be read into these results.
    Britain is a "different" place from 2014 (?)
    It is "simply" too "complex" to analyse the results.

    So, we'll see then...

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    1. Monkey Brains4 May 2018 at 20:12

      It was quite funny seeing them running through their pieces which they obviously had planned for Labour's great victories, explaining how the Great Helmsman Comrade Corbyn had achieve those victories (e.g. outrage over Grenfell and Windrush) but presumably having had to re-record the voice over. :) So now, it's not just "despite Brexit" it's "despite Grenfell", "despite Windrush" and so on...Still, every cloud has a silver lining and the Beeboids have been unable to disguise their glee at the demise of UKIP.

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    2. MB They may be counting their chickens as far as UKIP's concerned - I suspect that, if May sells us down the river (or across the Channel) the Party will undergo a dramatic resurrection.

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  8. They're still pretty gloomy tonight, but trying to claim 'mixed results for the parties.' Fortunately, we can get the true state of play from Guido! The verdict of John Curtice on BBC at about 5 a.m. was that,'the truth is there isn't really much for the Labour Party to celebrate this morning.' - for some strange reason, this particular piece of expert opinion didn't make it on to the 6p.m. news!

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    1. Monkey Brains4 May 2018 at 20:41

      They also don't mention that EU citizens can vote in local but not general elections. There are nearly 3 million EU citizens, probably something like 7% of the local elections electorate. The could have a significant effect, especially if there turnout was higher than the rest of the electorate.

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    2. John Pienaar on news tonight repeating the BBC mantra that the local election results prove Britain is more divided than ever since Brexit. Thats an odd way to summarise the results. But they have to reinforce their narrative at every opportunity.

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    3. The BBC seem rather subdued in their reporting today. Its almost as if they are disappointed that there isn't a big story that Labour did extreme well or that the Conservatives did badly.

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    4. Monkey Brains4 May 2018 at 23:33

      Emily Maitlis showing hyperbolic anti-Brexit/Tory bias, claiming on Newsnight that "no one" left the polling booths happy with the way the government was handling the Brexit negotiations. Really? I am not happy but there are probably millions of people who probably think May is doing a good job in a difficult situation, or think David Davis is a likeable bloke who is doing well in the job of chief negotiator or think it's not the UK government causing the problems it's the EU, the Lords, the BBC and litigious rich people.

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  9. Monkey Brains5 May 2018 at 00:43

    Some forms of bias can be rather subtle...thinking back over the election coverage, I've just realised that when reporting on UKIP undeniably disastrous performance, there appeared to be a complete empathy vacuum. When the Lib Dems suffered a wipe out, there was at least some recognition that Lib Dem members might be bitterly disappointed at the result after having tried to make the coalition work. Likewise when Labour or Tories have done very badly, there is as I recall some sense conveyed that parties are made up of human beings and they will be devastated to lose so badly. But nothing like that for UKIP - it was treated more as a welcome event that was unrelated to human emotions...UKIP had collapsed, just as you might say there had been a break in the weather after a prolonged period of oppressive heat.

    This is a subtle way of indicating that UKIP are not (in the view of the BBC, and indeed other media) an acceptable part of the democratic political process, and puts them in the same category as fascist parties.

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  10. This, at about 1hr 10mins in the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2, is worth a listen: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b0gdbq

    Today apparently is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx. JV had an item in his show to celebrate the occasion. First he had vox pops from two 'members of the public'. The first gave substance to the alienation that Marx had felt, and the second, 'a fourth generation Welsh miner' promoted Marx's preachings on the subject of workers' oppression.

    JV played the entire version of Billy Bragg's Internationale - which I found quite pleasing in a Les Mis sort of a way.

    And then, the debate between two guest speakers, Paul Mason and Sir Roger Scruton. Mason was introduced as 'a Marxist and Journalist' - no mention there of 'former economics editor, News night and Chanel 4 and BBC favourite. PM seemed less abrasive than usual. He seemed comfortable to be introduced as a Marxist. Sir Roger was, as usual, politely firm in his insistence that Marxism held very little relevance to today's workers. He said that in the UK there was no oppression of the sort that Marx described.

    I'm waiting for the counterpart of this item - a debate about the economic advantages of the contemporary employer/ worker status. I shan't hold my breath though.

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    1. I am surprised (not) that the Welsh 'caller' was let on, (he is a regular when they need a bit of Toreeee bashing), as, on his last outing he couldn't have given a better demonstration of how Labour is anti-semitic to the core. But then they let Alastair Campbell back on (and on and on) and I'm sure Carol Thatcher will be forgiven some time never.

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    2. Right on cue Radio 4 has a play about Marx in a contemporary setting of today's global economy, African mines and all: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b1hwwj

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    3. From The Sun: 'NIL MARX FOR JUNCKER' Jean-Claude Juncker blasted for attending ceremony marking the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth....

      ... Chief Eurocrat Jean-Claude Juncker received criticism from across the globe after giving a speech during the ceremony to mark 200 years since the birth of Marx...

      ... Politicians from Eastern Europe, much of which was subjected to the misery of Communist rule, were also enraged....

      .... A group of Hungarian MEPs decried the EU Commission chief for gracing the event, which marked the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth...

      .... In a statement they said: “This is particularly appalling for the citizens of countries which suffered for decades under Communist dictatorships....

      .... “We oppose the European Commission head’s supportive presence at the celebration.”....

      Let's wait and see if this nugget appears anywhere on the BBC News website or broadcast output. I don't suppose it will - news that shows the EU in anything less than a rosey-red glowing light will be censored and immediately suppressed.


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  11. Monkey Brains5 May 2018 at 12:23

    Mason's specific predictions are about as prescient as Marx's. Mason was forever telling us Greece was on the brink of workers' revolution. In the end the Greek lambs went quietly to the EU slaugherhouse. Also, Mason, Corbyn and other Marxists like to ignore how racist Marx was.

    That said, it is sometimes underestimated just how much of Marxian thought has been incoporated into our general way of seeing the world. Prior to his arrival on the scene, I don't think there was a good understanding of the relationship between technology, ownership, class, capital investment, social and economic impacts, cultural impacts, art, crime and so on. Now, whether you are on the left or right of politics, you at least accept there are very strong connections between all these phenomena. And in an age where we have seen the rise of the multi-billionaire in the techworld industries and services it's a bit too soon to dismiss notions of concentration of capital.

    Also, Marx was right about capitalism's careless cutting of the bonds that tie human beings together. We have seen this with globalism (aka modern capitalism), which approves of and encourages mass immigration, the undermining of national cultures through PC multiculturalism, and overturning democracy when it suits.

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  12. The BBC have worked hard today to make a major story out of Trumps comments on London knife crime.
    Their fake outrage is all about trashing Trump because his comments in themselves were nothing remarkable but the mix of US gun laws vs London knife crime was simply too much of an opportunity for the BBC liberal elite. I suspect The Guardian and the BBC got their researchers telephoning furiously until they found a doctor with the appropriate soundbite to fit their narrative.

    It is a classic example on how the BBC create news by inflating a small story and then framing it to fit their political view/position on a given subject.

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    1. Agreed F.C. - the Trump story was also a useful distractor from critical post-mortems of Corbyn's less than brilliant local election results. The 6p.m. News Channel bulletin was spinning like mad to make the results sound good. They did, to be fair, allow Alastair Campbell a brief spot to condemn Labour's performance, but I suspect rather longer may have been given to a young man who wanted to defend Corbyn and Momentum. D'you have your trusty stop watch handy, Craig?

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    2. President Trump can be forgiven for thinking that knife crime is widespread in the UK. After all the BBC consistently promote the idea abroad that the UK is London and London is the UK.

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    3. Yes good point LC. Despite Salford Quays and the pretence they are for all the UK with regional programming. In reality everything at the BBC spins around their London axis.

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    4. Monkey Brains5 May 2018 at 23:43

      You're right, there is a general offensive on this issue as the left-liberal media can see this as a threat to one of their favourite narratives.

      We do know that London is now approaching and possibly surpassing the murder rate in New York, despite the lack of gun availability. So though as always Donald Trump accusations are rather wayward, there is a worrying kernel of truth to them.

      As always the MSM offer up fake arguments. On Channel 4 tonight the reporter was comparing deaths from knife CRIME in the UK with gun deaths in GENERAL in the USA (which of course include suicides and accidental shootings). Also, they are conveniently avoiding mention of deaths from other forms of aggressive attack e.g. acid attacks, driving of cars into people and, another UK speciality, the single unsignalled punch to the head.

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    5. "another UK speciality, the single unsignalled punch to the head."

      Sorry, but it isn't. The "sucker punch" has been well known within certain US communities for some time.

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  13. The BBC have made the Brexit Customs issue their main story across all channels today.

    Greg Clarks comments were manna from heaven for the BBC. It wasn't difficult today so see where their preference lies.

    Very clear bias on display:
    90% of the output and words on how a customs partnership is still on the table and the damage that could be done to business if it isn't supported. Greg Clark, Anna Soubry and Amber Rudd supportive.
    10% on Brexiteers and Jacob Rees-Mogg being difficult.

    It's all in the words and phrasing and always very clear who is in the dock and why.

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    1. Monkey Brains7 May 2018 at 01:00

      Sir Topham,

      There was the nail and you hit it bang on the head. :)

      This is exactly how they operate.

      Taking a leaf from the book of the security services, they always apply "deniability" to their stories. There will be formal "balance" in terms of both sides being represented, but not fairly and not in terms of how they are described, as you point out. They will slip in stories here and there in the deepest reaches of the website or their networks to show they have "covered something".

      Most of their reporters are careful not to say directly "Vote Labour", "Stop Brexit" or "Allow All Would Be Migrants In" (though they come close to that on their twitter accounts).

      If all else fails, the lefty anti-Brexit, not borders activists, can be relied upon to complain to the BBC that they are insufficiently committed to Corbynism, no borders internationalism, the EU project, transgenderist superfeminism or whatever, thus allowing the BBC that ultimate defence of "complaints from both sides".

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  14. Monkey Brains7 May 2018 at 00:52

    The Evening Standard managed to notice the "Day for Freedom" march in central London on Sunday, which included a speech from the UKIP leader Gerard Batten. In case anyone hasn't noticed, UKIP are a mainstream party with many elected MEPs and hundreds of elected councillors, even now.

    Strangely, the BBC News website - unlike the Evening Standard - don't seem to have noticed the event on their London page, despite the event being attended by "thousands" according to the Evening Standard.

    They do however have stories about 13 and 15 yr olds shot in Wealdstone, a 'promising' (their inverted commas) teen shot dead, a "noxious substance" sprayed on three people in the early hours, and of course a classic photo of their talisman Mo Farrah. So that's OK then.

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  15. It has been noticeable that Jeremy Corbyn has featured very rarely on the BBC News website Home page of late. Prior to the Agent Cob story, and the Labour anti-semitism row, images of JC were always on show - sometimes two or three at the same time, usually with the Labour message in red in the background. Now, they are much less frequent. After the local elections last week, his image is strangely absent. Have the BBC decided that he is unelectable? All their weight is now behind achieving the Brino of their dreams (JRM's phrase Brexit in name only).

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    1. Monkey Brains7 May 2018 at 10:40

      Excellent observation! I think the BBC may go back to trying to revive the Lib Dems, which was the BBC's initial policy in the 2017 election campaign. They are probably thinking: "How can we get in place an anti-Brexit coalition?" maybe comprising Labour (with Corbyn under pressure from the soggy left), Lib Dems, a breakaway Tory group led by Rudd and Soubry, Scots Nats and Plaid Cymru...

      Key to that will be getting the final date for introduction of an EU-UK trade deal to extend beyond the date of the next election...that might provide a constitutional mechanism for derailing Brexit, going back and having a second referendum.

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    2. Yes, an anti Brexit coalition. Sir Vince and the Lib Dems don't command sufficient support at the moment - so, will the BBC be plastering wall-to-wall images of him against a yellowy background, smiling and waving to his supporters - at Glastonbury maybe?

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    3. Monkey Brains7 May 2018 at 13:36

      I doubt Sir Vince is their first choice for the Lib Dems any more than Corbyn is their first choice for Labour (that was supposed to be Chukka or Yvette Cooper). Maybe they are hoping Nick Clegg can sneak back in at a by election but by elections are quite rare these days. Although the BBC have all that media power, when they look at the political scene, they must despair. Their only hope is to keep up the anti-Brexit offensive with the aim of causing a split, or keeping us bound to the EU one way or another. That would be victory enough for them now. "Something will turn up" has to be their motto for the time being.

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  16. Be sure to see Guido:

    .... Last week Oxford University’s Geography department unveiled its ‘Wall of Women’, a new collection of portraits celebrating female graduates who went onto become leaders in their fields, including one Theresa May....

    ... “We’re keen to celebrate the successes of our women students and staff as much as those of men. From a medal-winning Olympian to a Prime Minister, the portraits aim to inspire the next generation of women geographers to aim high in their future careers,” the university said....

    .... Not for long. Following a protest by left-wing students – they even set up a Twitter account to campaign against the PM’s inclusion – the portrait of May has now been removed. Sad....

    ... UPDATE: Eagle-eyed Gabriel Pogrund notes that on the left of the photo, and not the subject of any protest, is the Marxist geographer Doreen Massey, who was an adviser to the Chavez regime in Venezuela (and a friend of Jeremy Corbyn)....

    So, Oxford University’s Geography department is controlled by left-wing activists. Either that, or the authorities there seek to appease left-wing activists. Academic freedom of thought and speech are such that they should be protected from subversion.

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    1. Guido tells us that Theresa May's portrait will be reinstated. Check out the BBC News website Homepage. The story is there - on the Family and Education pages. Just how political need the story be to be on the Politics pages?

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  17. President Trump announces cancellation of Iran nuclear deal.

    Project Fear in full swing on BBC 1 news tonight. Lots of negative comments on US foreign policy and anti -Trump rhetoric but no analysis of the threats posed by Iran and why US have responded.

    Lyse Doucet, Katya Adler and Jeremy Bowen just basically saying that it is a terrible decision, peace is threatened, US diplomatic relationships are damaged and nothing good will come of it.

    Why can't we have proper journalism from our premier broadcaster? The pubic deserve better than this.

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    1. Monkey Brains8 May 2018 at 23:33

      Mark Urban's summing up on Newsnight explicitly stated the deal was working, which is precisely what is in dispute and is not an impartial analysis.

      Iran is not a problem you can "solve". It is a regime you have to confront. As Gorka managed to expose, the deal even has a sunset clause, which would allow Iran legally to resume nuclear weapons development after 7 years if it so wished. Remember, the deal released about $150 billion of assets to Iran and involved a direct cash injection from the USA of well over $1 billion.

      The lifting of sanctions also allows the Iran economy to grow at a much faster rate.

      In other words the deal gives them the wherewithal not only to destabilise the whole mid-East through subventions and support to Hezbollah, Assad, Iraq and elsewhere but to resume the nuclear weapons programme at an accelerated rate when the moment is right.

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  18. Monkey Brains9 May 2018 at 20:30

    Nice bit of bias on Radio 4 news tonight. Apparently, three previously imprisoned Americans are accompanying Mike Pompeo back from North Korea to the USA, as though this was a complete coincidence. No suggestion that their release has anything to do with Mr Pompeo, or that this might be a triumph for Trump. Can you imagine how they would have greeted such releases had they occurred under St Obama's presidency?

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    1. I'm not sure anyone at the BBC has given Trump credit for anything ever or spoken about him in positive terms.

      Perhaps we can start a list and keep it updated when they do.

      Maybe we can use Jon Sopels' backhanded Trump complement on the two Koreas as number 1.

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    2. Monkey Brains9 May 2018 at 22:46

      I think that's going to be number one longer than My Way, Mull of Kintyre, Love Is All Around and Everything I Do combined!

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  19. Monkey Brains9 May 2018 at 22:55

    Vibrancy visited on the UK yet again...

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-44055435

    They can't even find a way to spin this one...

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  20. BBC Reality Check with another stunning piece...of diversion...

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44053904

    Yes, guns are a bit of a worry...but the real concern expressed over the last few weeks have been the horrible gang-related knife (and acid) attacks. The UK's record on gun crime is quite good...so in the interests of diversion, the BBC focuses on that rather than knife crime.

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  21. US/North Korea summit

    Nick Bryant on BBC1 new tonight saying because Trump is predicting the summit will be a big success it demonstrates he is desperate for the talks to be seen as successful. Therefore he risks accepting Kims' word on denuclearisation too readily when he hasn't meant it on previous occasions.

    This is another example of a BBC journalist offering his own personal opinion as analysis. Very annoying.

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    1. Agreed. But then Nick Bryant (so called "New York" correspondent, except he hardly ever reports on that) has form on that. He wrote a 10,000 word essay that appeared in the BBC "News" section giving his personal opinion on how Trump was destroying the American constitution and making racism respectable again.

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  22. The Electoral Commission seems to be one of those PC bureaucracy job fests that is entirely unnecessary. We had essentially fair elections for about 150 years, then Blair, I think it was, decided to bow to pressure from the human rights lobby and create an Electoral Commission...

    https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/our-work/who-we-are/executive-and-management-team/kieran-rix

    We know the Commission is obstructive towards parties it doesn't like but it would only take a tweak in legislation of the sort one can imagine a Corbynista government introducing to make it a sinister arm of government.

    One of the pledges of a progressive populist government should be to axe the Electoral Commission.

    The CEO's CV is a joke: once an expert on offenders, now an expert on electoral law and policy while also being an expert on all things internetty. She is a pure PC product.

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    1. I read somewhere that, by sheer coincidence, they have an ex-Labour MP, and an ex-Beeboid on their balanced team.

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    2. Salaries for this lot (inc pension)
      Claire Bassett £182k
      Carolyn Hughes £127k
      Andrew Scallan £113k
      Bob Posner £122k
      Ailsa Irvine £97k
      Craig Westwood £98k
      Alex Robertson £97k

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    3. Which of them do public speaking at £2000 a time off the back of their jobs?

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  23. See above on 7th May comments about the absence of any news or photos of Jeremy Corbyn on the BBC News website Homepage - really since the local elections. Today on the Politica page there is something:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44092538

    'Brexit: Jeremy Corbyn must change stance, says Lord Kinnock'

    This appears to be a new tactic from the BBC - to bring out the Old Guard of the Labour Party to bolster their arguments against Brexit.

    .... ' Lord Kinnock said: "It would be a serious evasion of duty if Labour did not seize this chance to protect our country from the rockslide of 'hard' Brexit."....

    Brand Jeremy Corbyn seems to have lost its shine.

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    1. The BBC never miss an opportunity to promote no Brexit or BINO. So the words of Neil Kinnock were always going to be seized on and broadcast as a main item.

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    2. The BBC are clearly out of love with Corbyn, if they ever were in love. All they are interested in is delivering their agenda: preserving the licence fee and lax supervision of its adherence to impartiality rules, tying us to the EU and stopping Brexit, promoting PC multiculturalism, implementing uberfeminist measures, facilitating more mass immigration, exterminating the Conservative Party or any other weak semblance of nationalism in the UK, advancing Sharia and destroying British culture. Its a tidy list, but they fear Corbyn will not deliver on it because he is too obviously a Marxist and because he's not actually committed to the EU.

      They really don't know how to play it I think but they have certainly cooled on the Corbyn Love-In. If he were ever to commit to stopping Brexit, you'd see a v. different approach from the BBC.

      Delete
    3. I might add to your list:
      Promiting global warming propaganda, soft on drugs and drug culture, pro socialism and liberalism. Anti Trump, pro Marcron and Merkel. Big fans of NHS. Against capitalism and big business. I could go on....

      Delete
    4. ....anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian, never a negative word to say against Robert Mugabe as he slowly but surely ruined Zimbabwe and silent as the ANC implements its comprehensive programme to ruin South Africa.

      But I see Monkey Brains was dealing with the BBC's UK agenda.

      I watch Question Time a lot now that it's posted regularly on YouTube soon after it's televised. Dunno about the BBC as a whole cooling towards Corbyn but it seems Dimbleby likes questions on Labour critical of Corbyn. Here's the latest, at 53 minutes in:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOQ_oaCfiWg

      Delete
  24. Seems the link is inactive. I guess people can copy and paste it to their address bar or just Google Question Time YouTube May 10

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  25. (As we learn from Wesmonster.com) France's Europe 1 (an important broadcaster in France) reports that the murdering knife terrorist in Paris tonight shouted "Allahu akbar" but the BBC report leaves out this important information preferring to highlight the French Police's warning against spreading rumours on social media.

    The BBC are beneath contempt.

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    Replies
    1. Their excuse for important omissions - In the interests of social cohesion

      Delete
    2. It might interest readers to learn that the BBC did report the words of the Paris knifeman "Allahu akbar" - on the Radio 2 news bulletin at 7-00 am this morning. This is a common tactic - to pick a time which will, by its scheduling, limit the likely audience for this type of news.

      Also on the same bulletin was ... 'EU rough sleepers win damages for illegal deportations' ....

      Delete
    3. They later included it in the website report. But you just get the impression they don't want to report it,and they put it off as long as possible, prefering instead to highlight the Orwellian strictures of the French Police against spreading "rumours". The only reason people do rumours is because the authorities don't give out accurate information. We had the same during the London Bridge attacks when they was virtually no meaningful news from the Police for about 5 hours.

      Delete
    4. Also - they might report it but they don't contextualise it e.g. they don't say "This is a call associated through history with Jihad and is used by Islamic terrorists when making their attacks." If they translate it they mistranslate it as "God is Great" rather than "Allah is the Greatest".

      Delete
  26. Knife attack in Paris
    These reports always follow a pattern on the BBC and that’s the problem I have with their reporting
    A. The focus is on the attacker
    B. They are never suspected murderers, always attackers or jihadists
    C. They always question why they weren’t stopped by the authorities
    D. They try to avoid mentioning religion
    E. They always have a quote about how the attackers won’t win
    F. There is always a mention of legitimite grievances
    G. There is always very little on the victims
    H. There is never outrage

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    Replies
    1. All very true. They are also careful to avoid showing gruesome images, even though they are happy to show pictures of dead child refugees. Re G, if there is a victim allowed on the screens unless it is going out live (rare for the BBC), they will only use victims prepared to utter the usual pieties.

      Delete
  27. Are these the tweets of an impartial, free and fair BBC journalist -

    https://twitter.com/awzurcher/status/995284801052606464

    Or are they those of an American who is fully part of the political process, a committed pro-Democrat partisan?

    Here's a taste:

    "What amazes me is that Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail that the Iraq War was a disaster. It set him apart from other candidates. Then, less than a year into his presidency, he makes one of the war’s chief architects his national security advisor"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BBC staff can get away with literally anything on their social media feeds so long as it reinforces their liberal ideals.
      Its one way traffic though, stray off that path and you are likely to get a reprimand or warning.

      Delete
    2. And of course on the news today, one of the main headlines, they are pushing the "reverse the Brexit vote" views of David Miliband - who works for a charity based in the USA, and who lives there with his family.

      Miliband is not an MP, MEP, or Lord and has no active and consistent involvement in our national public life. Yet they choose to highlight his opinion. Presumably there defence would be that he is an ex Cabinet Minister. But they never publicise the views of pro-Brexit Nigel Lawson in the same way do they?

      BBC bias at its best - unashamedly promoting the views they share.

      Delete
    3. The BBC are still very much aligned to new Labour and their vision for society. Blair blotted is BBC copybook with Iraq but not sufficiently enough to make him persona non gratis.

      When they want gravitas added to a story they always seek out a quote from Blair, D Miliband, Blunkett, Campbell, Mandelson and Brown.

      Delete
  28. A classic set up on the Radio 4's Start the Week. Clearly, following the Cathy Newman debacle on Channel 4 it was decided to take out Canadian academic Jordan Peterson - you know, the guy who has the temerity to suggest that duties might be as important as rights and taking responsibility for yourself might be the best route to happiness. This time they would take no chances.

    So they line up an Irish feminist who specialises in rewriting mythology (Peterson is a Jungian and so they must have thought that was a good attack line), a Black African refugee who has made a success of life (to give the discussion a nice bit of raciness, shall we say), and a liberal anti-Trump Texan (to show the alternative "North American man"). And then of course you have the BBC-biased chair of the discussion, Tom Sutcliffe, only too eager to win some battle honours for the PC liberal media.

    A much exercised Sutcliffe aggressively, obsessively queried all of Peterson's main ideas - fair enough you might say, but of course he did not do that with the Irish feminist, the Black barrister or the liberal Texan. They all got the kid gloves treatment.

    I thought Peterson (whose book I find a bit too self-helpy by the way for my liking, but no doubt it has done a lot of good in the world) held up well to this ambush. It's difficult to be in a 4-1 situation where the chair is against you and not-so-subtly feeding attack lines to the other guests. Bit like being the lone Brexiteer on QT with Dimbleby doing his faux fair act.

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    Replies
    1. Any interview with Peterson by the BBC will be an attempt to bring him down. He represents a huge threat to the left. The 4 to 1 proportion of the panel confirms that. But I am not so sure that it really quite worked out the way Sutcliffe intended. Hashi Mohamed, although on the left politically is in many ways a living example of Peterson’s philosophy. Even he acknowledged this. Lawrence Wright didn’t really challenge Peterson at all. I found quite a lot of what he had to say about Texas very enlightening. It was only Sutcliffe and Louise O’Neill who waded in against Peterson. But the real failure of the debate was that it was so unfocussed - jumping from one point to another. O’Neill was predictable to the point of caricature.

      I agree with a lot of what Peterson has to say, but not everything. He loses me completely when he strays into areas like religion and metaphysics. I can agree with him up to a point about the importance of myths. But then I’m not a Jungian. Like you I have an aversion to self-help books. I also worry that through no intention on his part, a certain cult has formed around him. Although Peterson plays this down, there is no doubt that among his numerous followers are a minority of very unpleasant characters. But he is misunderstood. He is not part of alt-right as most of his critics seem to suggest. He also does address problems like inequality and racism, just not in the old tried and failed Marxist way of the left.

      Delete
    2. The BBC (and left-leaning MSM generally) clearly identify (correctly in my view) Peterson as a potent threat. They particularly don't like the idea that he is popular with so many young people. They prefer state dependent individualism as opposed to self-sufficient individualism.

      Imagine if we lived in a society where young people were encouraged to be confident, self-sufficient, responsible, and drug-free (legal or illegal) rather than anxious,dependent, irresponsible and drug-friendly.

      Delete
    3. Radio 2's Chris Evans mustn't have read the memo because he interviewed Jordan Peterson this morning on the subject of his book. Peterson received a warm welcome from Chris and the team, he was allowed to express his thoughts without interruption which he did, and he was prompted to expand upon several points, which he did most eloquently.

      I looked up BBC Radio listening figures for that time of day. Evans gets over 9 million, and Today around 7 million. It occurred to me that these two groups are mutually exclusive - either they will listen to R4 or R2, not both. Therefore you will have roughly equally sized groups - one being told to be critical of Peterson and the other being told to applaud him.

      Delete
    4. ps. I suppose from the BBC this is 'balance' of a sort. I'm sure however that the 'balance' in this case was purely an oversight.

      Delete
    5. pps. see https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/bbc-lets-peterson-get-a-word-in-edgeways/

      Delete
    6. There are all sorts of intriguing possibilities here. Have the BBC allowed him onto the Radio 2 Chris Evans show in order to undermine his academic status and therefore his credibility. Or, do the BBC consider the Evans' listeners to be the uneducated Leave voters, who won't spot the importance of Peterson and will see this as just another book promotion?

      Delete
    7. The Peterson interview was preceded by three warnings by Chris Evans when he said not everyone will agree with his views and I just hope this is going to work.
      Why mention his views as a concern? The BBC only use this type of warning on right wingers. I suspect it is a type of virtue signalling because the BBC is left leaning. The audience isn’t all left leaning though....

      Delete
    8. I'd never heard of Peterson before the Chris Evans show this morning, but I'm warming to him rapidly !
      However I suspect Chris may have blotted his BBC issue copybook with this one. The left could organize a "twitterstorm" and force Evans into an on-air apology.

      Delete
  29. Jeremy Bowen slips this sentence into his report on the US embassy move;
    Placards in Jerusalem praise Mr Trump. The local football club, Beitar, infamous for fans who chant "death to Arabs", has included "Trump" in its name.

    Why include this? It’s done to set an impression because he could have included that some Palestinians chant Death to Israel or Jews or the US.

    But no, Bowen has written that way to make clear his position and to enjoin the embassy move, Trump and Arab haters.

    A classic BBC ploy to mask bias and subvert objective reporting.


    ReplyDelete
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    1. An excellent spot. If Jeremy Bowen hadn't taken the road of BBC journalism he could have easily pursued a glowing career as a propagandist. That sly sentence certainly reads as if it was written by a propagandist.

      Delete
    2. "Jeremy Bowen, who has often been seen in friendly conversation with representatives of anti-semitic terrorist groups..." - see it's not that difficult is it?

      Delete
  30. On a lighter note, there is a heart-warming tale on page 9 of the Times today: "Knickers to the lot of you, says professor..." It seems that the International Studies Association (ISA) has ordered Professor Richard Lebow to apologize to Simona Sharoni, a professor of 'women's & gender studies' for asking someone to press the button for ladies' lingerie, while in a lift at an ISA conference. The professor has refused, likening his case to book-burning under the Nazis. He is concerned that humour is now becoming off-limits. Has the BBC reported the Professor's heroic stand against the forces of PC? No, of course not!
    Meanwhile, Theresa May is wondering whether it would be a smart piece of virtue-signalling to ban ladies' lingerie or Professor Lebow, or both.

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    Replies
    1. To be fair, though I didn't catch the entire piece, Five Live Drive did cover this story. It included a right to reply by Lebow in a live interview, which was conducted in a reasonable manner by Tony Livesey.

      Delete
    2. Thanks Rob, didn't see that.

      Delete
  31. This is how Anthony Zurcher exercises his BBC-approved impartiality:

    "Since his inauguration, Mr Trump has taken aim at practically every one of his predecessor's signature achievements."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43902372

    Achievements? Collins Dictionary describes an achievement as "...something which someone has succeeded in doing, especially after a lot of effort".

    So clearly Zurcher is claiming that Obama had a number of significant and objective successes in relation to trade deals, climate change, North Korea, Israel-Palestine and Iran etc.

    Could you get more partisan?

    Also notice the insulting "Mr Trump" not "President Trump". Zurcher, an American, is signalling that Trump is not "his" President (a common trope among American leftists).

    ReplyDelete
  32. re the Peterson interview on Start the Week, previously discussed, here's a good analysis of what Sutcliffe was up to...

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/bbc-lets-peterson-get-a-word-in-edgeways/

    ReplyDelete
  33. If ever you needed evidence that BBC journalism, and particularly its Business pages, is stuffed full of socialists, this piece on Venezuela seizing a Kellogg factory takes some beating.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44136293

    A long list of excuses for Maduro's dismal governance peppers the report, including the "US...waging economic war against his government", that "Venezuela's battered economy has been hit by falling oil revenue", and Maduro blaming "Venezuela's problems on an 'economic war' being waged by foreign governments and businesses."

    The report does include details of the problems facing Venezuela, including "the plummeting value of its currency, the bolivar" and that it "...also has one of the highest rates of inflation in the world" but offers no explanation of how these things may have come to pass outside of the excuses listed above.

    Nowhere in the report is it mentioned that Maduro is a Socialist, under whose rule the country has declined so spectacularly (if that's the right word to describe the tragedy unfolding there) over the past 5 years, with the only sop to any pretence at'balance' in the entire report being offered with the closing sentence that his "critics say government mismanagement is the chief cause."

    "World class journalism" right there. Incredible.


    (I'll also drop a link below to a saved page from the Wayback Machine, in case this story is later updated as occasionally is the case with stories that are so clearly unbalanced:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20180516090128/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44136293 )

    ReplyDelete

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