Friday 30 November 2018

Yet Another November Open Thread


Thanks for all of your comments. As the last Open Thread is getting full, here is another one. 

Williamson's Park, Lancaster, looking worth a visit

170 comments:

  1. Theresa May's appearance during her phone-in on BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday highlights the risk of a radio presentation so far as photographic images accompanying the event are concerned. The stills put out by the BBC show her in a bad light. She sits slumped uncomfortably in badly adjusted chair. Her eyes appear closed, replaced by bags, which, like it or not, engage the viewer who might be studying the PM's demeanour, looking for qualities of truth, openness, determination etc - or lies - in her eyes.

    Instead, only negative qualities have been presented. To cap it all, photos show her with a strange blue halo - actually the wall-mounted 5 Live logo behind her.

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    1. Yes, I thought that. But I let it go because she had it coming and deserves all the negative publicity coming her way.

      But... I was being biased with TM and the BBC are wrong to manipulate images and news for anyone, however deserving!

      But it’s hard isn’t it, when you have a mindset biased against someone. And therein lies the problem with BBC reporters and Trump.

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    2. To allow these images of Theresa May looking 'not at her best' runs counter to recent BBC support for her and acclaim for the Withdrawal Agreement.

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  2. They seem to have used a fish-eye lens too - probably by accident, since they're doing their best to bolster her up, along with her 'deal'. They could have used some of that footage in yesterday's 'nightmare' sequence on Newsnight.

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  3. PS If you think the stills were bad, you should see the video! It could be used to control unruly children: "Behave or I'll show you the Maybot video'"

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  4. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DswhoCrWkAApff_.jpg

    Based in no small measure on...

    https://memegenerator.net/Evil-Toddler-Kid2

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    1. Peter: copied it out by hand, typed it in & it didn't 'go'. Expect I made a typo somewhere!

      Boris Johnson's speech to DUP is on Guido - don't somehow think much of it will be on BBC.

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  5. Sisyphus - out of my skill set! Sorry.

    Have you tried simply placing the cursor over the URK, and adjusting 'copy' to either end?

    I do this even on a clearly 'unique' (in a BBC way) Blogger page and I get the option to 'go to Address/in new tab/in new window' options on right click. And they do work.

    Or... simply copy and paste in browser.

    Beyond that... I got nuffin. :(

    If it is any consolation. clicking the 'notify me' comment check box... doesn't.

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    1. Peter - confession: I was on my tablet. Sorry!

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    2. I thought I had solved it!

      https://support-splashtoppersonal.splashtop.com/hc/en-us/articles/230005547-Introduction-to-iOS-gestures-iPad-iPhone-

      Confession - I had not.

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  6. I am just at the R4 Home Page where there are listed "Highlights". I can see three on the screen left to right:
    1. - Michelle Obama's memoir with big picture of her
    2. - "How to be a Muslim Woman" by Sayeeda Warsi
    3. - "Nigeria's patient prisoners" with picture of a Nigerian lady

    Hmmm not much there for me.

    I know let's scroll down to the next 3:
    4. - The Film Programme with a picture of two women kissing
    5. - "Songwriter Emmy" with picture of said Emmy I suppose
    6. - A thriller and, gasp, the first mention of a man, Matthew who is the writer, although the star is billed as one Hattie Morahan

    This is not the first time I'm observed an overpopulation of women in the highlights, especially BAME or American women although Garvey and Glover's love-in show is often top billing.

    Anyway nothing for the usual R4 demographic to listen to is a "highlight" in the BBC's view. They are in a different world to their potential audience.

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    1. There was an old Beatles song...in honour of that I suggest they be dubbed: "Radio 4 No One". I doubt more than 1% of the ethnic and religious minorities they are so keen to "include" actually tune in whereas they are alienating probably at least half their real demographic.

      I suppose women might like being flattered and fawned over 24/7 but most women I know are nothing like the women on Radio 4: they don't talk about cars, they don't want to train to be helicopter pilots and they certainly don't wait with bated breath for the Women's Football match results...and they don't listen to Women's Hour (either because they are at work or find it intensely irritating).

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  7. Mrs May...

    "And all because the lady loves to betray."

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  8. Our Prime Minister is a liar. Why? Here's why:

    1. She claims that her deal is the only deal on offer. But we know the EU have offered us both an EEA style deal and a Canada style deal. She herself and her ministers have confirmed it. Either of those would be preferable to the ball and chains of the May deal.

    There is nothing wrong with a Canada style deal. That is what we should be aiming for in my view and I think is what most Brexit voters had in mind.

    We also know that if her deal is defeated in Parliament, the EU will immediately offer to tweak it so she can take it back to Parliament - so it's an obvious lie.

    2. She claims that the Withdrawal Agreement guarantees control over migration. She is lying. The subsequent future framework/trade deal could easily completely undermine that claim. As the Withdrawal Agreement gives the EU all the cards they need to exert pressure over that later agreement, we have no idea whether we have taken back control over migration. I doubt we will have. I suspect if this Abject Surrender Document is approved by Parliament then a year or so down the line we will find the FF/trade deal will involve an extremely lax migration regime.

    3. She claims that the N Ireland issue is at the heart of the difficulties in reaching any deal. BS.

    https://www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2018/1118/1011673-brexit-uk-ireland-eu/

    The Irish Republic have no intention ever of putting a hard border in place, even in the event of no deal, and neither do we, so May has lied to us all along about this. She went along with a bogus negotiating tactic because, being the lying sort she is, she wanted to.

    4. Like Cameron before her she claims she has no intention of resigning in the event of defeat, but she will. Another lie, another liar.

    We have every right to feel aggrieved at our lying Prime Minister. But words fail me in describing the very people who should be protecting our democracy, our borders,our culture and our future: the Conservative MPs. A more despicably cowardly bunch of chancers I can''t imagine. At least the Labour benches are signed up to the destruction of the UK and can actively work for it with clear consciences. But the Conservatives? As I said...words fail me.

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  9. Agreed MB. Have written to tell my, tory, MP that my vote in next election is conditional on ousting May & her wretched 'deal' by Christmas.
    Think I'm going to start watching Sky news - better for blood pressure. They, at least, were quite open about suspicions that she has betrayed the Gibraltarians, too.

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    1. Yes, Sky are completely PC and globalist but they are less actively dishonest in the way they present the news. I used to use Mail Online as well to get my bearings, so to speak but that is no longer possible. Increasingly we are being driven to online websites which is unsatisfactory (present company excepted) since you want places you can go for a comprehensive news service. I tried Reuters during the EU Referendum campaign thinking they might be better than the BBC but they were actually worse.

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    2. Yes, site-hopping is hugely time-consuming. At least, for the time being, there's still the Telegraph.

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  10. Here's an electoral strategy:

    Boris Johnson and the ERG split from the Conservatives and make an electoral pact with UKIP while remaining two entirely separate parties.

    Under the pact the country's constituencies are divided up between UKIP and the new conservative party (names please - Democratic Citizens Party, National Unity Party or some such).

    The aim would be to get UKIP to target mainly northern and eastern Labour seats where the new Conservatives would pledge not to stand and for the new Conservatives to target mainly Conservative seats in the Midlands and the South, where UKIP would pledge not to stand. The two parties would also seek an explicit alliance with the DUP in Northern Ireland and sponsor the creation of a Scottish Unity Party in Scotland in an attempt to weaken the SNP and Labour in Scotland.

    The UK Alliance or whatever you wish to call this electoral pact of two parties would pledge to immediately abolish the Electoral Commission and seek a second referendum within four weeks of forming a government on the proposition that the government fulfil the 2016 mandate and negotiate a Canada style free trade agreement with the EU, or - failing that - simply leave and operate under WTO rules.

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    1. That's wishful thinking MB, although I agree with your cunning plan. Politicians, the BBC, and MSM have a predisposition to shout down any suggestion such as this. UKIP can't agree amongst themselves, and therefore they're an easy target for the malevolent press. Gerard Batten has a good range of debating skills - but he is at odds with Nigel Farage.

      No - the only hope is for the emergence of a reinvigorated Conservative Government under a changed leadership demonstrating that it has the best interests of the UK electorate at its heart. I suspect this is wishful thinking too.

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    2. Yes that was my hope as well. But having seen the behaviour of even the bulk of ERG Conservative MPs over the last few weeks, I think it is now a faint hope.

      If we see some kind of meltdown in Europe, if the economy goes into a nose dive, if we see the future trade deal turns us even more into a "vassal state", then a split in the Conservative Party is more likely than possible.

      Also it is quite likely that we will see a resurgent UKIP depriving the Conservatives of seats in suburban areas.

      With May's Abject Surrender Document in place and the "same as usual" pro PC and pro migration policies in place, the future looks 'orrible rather than orange.

      So, I guess you can take my musings as a meditation on what might happen then.

      It's much more likely that after a second go incorporating "changes" that Brussels magically pulls out of a hat that it currently declares isn't there, the whole thing will pass and the Conservatives, bar a few recalcitrants, will be locked into May's deal, as well as the nation.

      In

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    3. It would be nice MB, but how on earth would you persuade existing Tory MPs in Northern pro-Brexit seats to stand down in favour of a UKIP candidate? Don't see it happening.

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    4. I didn't know that the bastion of European independence and self-determination Switzerland, is itself going through the same debate about the EU with regard to their own democratic systems.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46302030

      'Swiss vote on going it alone in sovereignty referendum'

      The BBC News website article takes exactly the same position as it does over the UK's relationship with the EU.

      One of the ubiquitous Swiss referendums seeks a mandate from the electorate to take back sovereignty. A yes vote, so say the no vote 'Remain equivalence' would allow the Swiss lawyers to unpick the many bilateral agreements that the Swiss have with the EU and thus diminish the hold over Switzerland that the EU has (despite Switzerland not being a member of the EU and being outside the EU's grasp).

      Whilst looking for a more balanced view of this matter than the BBC provides, I stumbled across this on You Tube.

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

      It's the same BBC article - set to thumping music with the text trailed across the bottom of the same photos as in the BBC piece. This is all very strange. Is the BBC feeding their 'on-message' content to You Tube by stealth?

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    5. Unsurprisingly, it is the Nein vote lobby (that is the pro EU Remain group) that appears to be well funded. I'll wager that Trojan Horse didn't come cheap.

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    6. These are exactly the same battle lines as are being drawn here in the UK. 'Populists' are seeking to take back control of their country, their borders, their culture, their traditions and their laws, whereas the 'progressive pro EU Elite' are seeking ever-closer ties to the EU.

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    7. OK, it's a rant, but let's consider that if the Swiss are experiencing the unrelenting creep of EU laws and rules into the fabric of their democracy when they are not even members of the EU, then how can the UK be free from the EU's grasp when we might have consented to this Withdrawal Agreement which effectively binds us and future generations in perpetuity.

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    8. The Nein vote has carried the day much to the delight of the BBC News and their Europe reporter Imogen Foulkes. The article letting us know the result goes on to say:

      ... 'Some analysts are already asking whether the SVP's brand of populism - it is the largest party in parliament - has peaked.' ....

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  11. Paris riots: Isn't it strange that, in a lengthy report on yesterday's 'high-vis' riots in Paris, the BBC failed to be shocked and appalled by the use of water cannon? As we saw, they were highly effective & Boris's controversial purchase was clearly justified.

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  12. I'm watching Marr while typing this. Blair has just said that, if there's a second referendum he will abide by the result. Didn't the snake-oil salesman once promise to hold a referendum himself & then fail to do so? Talking of oil, Donald Trump appears to have told him where to buy the sort that turns the skin orange.

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    1. Didn't over 500 MPs promise to abide by the result of the first Referendum? Didn't every major Party leader say the decison of the 2016 Referendum could, would and should be implemented if that was how the vote went?

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  13. LATEST NEWS FROM BRUSSELS:

    It's a dung deal! A mile high heap of ordure with a side serving of Brussels. It's a shite mountain to rival the butter mountain of old.

    And May begs the public to sell their birthright, put their children in hock and forever hold their peace.

    No way, old May.

    Time for some fresh thinking. And don't give us the Brussels Balls about this being the final offer.

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  14. I was thinking of a theme song for some of the key figures. For 'sad' and 'tragic' Junket and Tusk: You're Breaking my Heart
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5zYLXqHI6M&list=PLTFzQlK7fWk-1r73JpXVGdFhkJGbY8MZO&index=132

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  15. For the PM: The Continental ('beautiful music, dangerous rhythm')
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwRCf_nvuQY

    For Spain and DUP Arlene Foster: I Won't Dance
    ('Why should I?')
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdhteCj9E90

    For Corbyn: Flip Flop and Fly ('Like a Mississippi bullfrog sitting on a hollow stump')
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNpvOUmXglM

    For Blair: Blue Suede Shoes ('Don't you step on my...')
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm5HKlQ6nGM

    For the MPs: Stormy Weather ('Can't get my poor self together... weary all the time')
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGp55bOrHvM

    We're Leaving youeuuuu: Don't think twice it's all right ('We never did much talking anyway')
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Y3KfJs6T0

    So looonnnng, honey babe...

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  16. Sisyphus Re your earlier question: "It would be nice MB, but how on earth would you persuade existing Tory MPs in Northern pro-Brexit seats to stand down in favour of a UKIP candidate? Don't see it happening." I wasn't thinking of an Tory MP sitting down but where the Tories did not hold Labour seats in the North and East, those seats could be left open to UKIP to put up candidates. The New Conservatives or perhaps "UK Conservatives" would be a better title would support UKIP in those constituencies. Likewise UKIP would stand down their candidates in the South, the West and Midlands. Obviously you'd have to have some horse trading. I think if you were aiming for say 100 UKIP MPs and 300 pro-Brexit UK Conservatives that would feel about right to me. UKIP would necessarily have to be the junior partners.

    I don't think anyone can say with any certainty now that the Conservatives will hold together. They have split before over the Union. They may split now over the European Union. Who knows what is going to happen? NO one knows. May has bet all on red so to speak. She is gambling with our future.

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  17. OK, but I'm afraid UKIP is now a tainted brand - too many crackpots & extremists. Nigel Farage needs to start again with a new party, based around a kernel of trusted party workers from the old one. Trouble is it all takes time, which we don't have.

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    1. Well personally I don't think it's crackpot or extremist to think that the Sharia ideology is a threat to every single person who doesn't follow that ideology - a clear and present danger as the Americans were once fond of saying.

      I think it is crackpot and extremist to try and make everything fit the other way round: to claim, as Farage does, that somehow Sharia law can be accommodated into our British culture.

      Even the European Court of Human Rights declared some years ago that Sharia law is incompatible with human rights.

      So I would ask Farage: how exactly is this supposed to work, then? How is Sharia law going to fit in with our democracy, our (fast vanishing, largely under pressure from Sharia) free speech, our relatively uncorrupt electoral system, our legal equality for women and gays, our love of humour, sport, alcohol and art and our tolerance of atheism?

      Farage makes the mistake often observed in politics of assuming that not to be a vociferous extremist is to be a moderate. Quietism, according to Farage, is acquiescence when, of course, it is nothing of the kind.

      Not preaching violence or mayhem doesn't necessarily make you compatible with our society.

      The Farage gospel is this: "As long as people don't say 'We are here to subvert and then ultimately destroy your culture because we sincerely believe in a completely different approach to life.' then all is well and good. Sorry, Nige, it ain't.

      Farage in that sense is no better than May and perhaps betrays his City-broker roots and lack of understanding of how culture is a lot more important than finance or, ultimately, sovereignty.

      Whatever you may think of Batten as a politician I do not think you can fault him one jot for his bravery and steadfastness in addressing the growing elephant in the room and saying - "It's huge, it's got a trunk, it's got tusks...it's an ELEPHANT".

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  18. It took long enough, but the BBC has at last got its first money shot from ‘the caravan’.

    https://twitter.com/bbcjamescook/status/1066794600046637058?s=21

    Approximately nothing behind this adds up.

    But Jim seems on board.

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  19. Meanwhile, up North...

    "Being black is something I can give to the country." - Ten people share their experiences of being black in Canada.

    Justin’s economy problems are reversed in an instant.

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    1. There have always been blacks in Canada. There were blacks before Canada became Canada - they fled the USA to escape cruel and unjust slavery. Why are the BBC pretending it's a big deal? Does the BBC think that seeing everything with race goggles on is a good idea? If so then the Inuit were there first, long before the black Canadians got there...so who's the victim here?

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  20. There's another story which gives lie to the Government's manifesto pledge to reduce immigration to tens of thousands a year:

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/11/25/hypocritical-uk-govt-to-sign-un-migration-pact-despite-pledge-to-control-borders/

    '‘Hypocritical’ UK Govt to Sign UN Migration Pact Despite Pledge to Control Borders'...

    ... 'While debate on the UN migration pact rages worldwide, with a growing number of nations following the United States in withdrawing, the major deal has seen little discussion in the United Kingdom'.....

    ... 'Among those that have confirmed, or indicated they are rethinking joining, are Australia, Poland, Israel, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Croatia'....

    ... 'President Trump said at the body’s New York headquarters in September: “Migration should not be governed by an international body unaccountable to our own citizens'.....

    If immigration was a factor in the Brexit vote, and the majority of the electorate were looking for better border control, the news is that in the near future there will be two levels of red tape to deal with making the tens of thousands per year pledge even more unlikely to be realised.

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    1. Classic duplicity from May. Presents herself as someone concerned by mass immigration and understanding of people's concerns, then signs up to some mad Soros-inspired pro-migration pact which our Crazy Courts will then use to justify yet more flagrant denials of UK citizen rights eg right not have people who hate us and want to do us harm roaming our streets.

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  21. BBC News is putting Project Fear MkII on hold while it launches its 'sympathy for that poor courageous StTheresa being bullied by those nasty men campaign.'

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    1. By the end of the week of this Downing Street onslaught she will be being carried aloft through the streets waving a banner and dressed as Boudicea.

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    2. Yes...let's not examine the Abject Surrender Document. Let's not note that any "cast iron" guarantee on migration can immediately be (and will be) watered down in the future relations/trade deal (no one really knows what it is - it could be anything or nothing)...in fact it could make us a de facto Member of the EU again if the EU so chose.

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  22. Hitchens takes a swipe at the BBC's famed impartiality:
    'Professor Roberts, who is on TV a lot, has just become the new face of Humanists UK, a movement dedicated, as far as I can make out, to spreading the belief that there is no God.
    Note that the Professor’s increasingly public commitment to being anti-religious has not prevented her from presenting several prominent programmes on the supposedly impartial BBC. These days it hardly seems worth even questioning that.'

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    1. I've no time for Peter's pomposities. He's a poor shadow of his brother and probably in his mind still fighting his atheist sibling for Mummy's attention.

      We all know the BBC is biased. Peter Hitchens has as far as I know never made one sensible suggestion about how to deal with that fact of life. He seems to enjoy accepting it and having his mock fights with them...when in reality they are only too happy to have BBC scepticism associated with a kind of sub CS Lewis 1950s Christian ethic.

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  23. Where's Mogg? Where's Johnson?

    Why aren't these stupid Cons shouting blue murder from the rooftops?

    This is our worst Prime Minister since Chamberlain. This is the worst deal since Munich. This is the most psychologically disturbed party leader since Jeremy Thorpe. This is the most PC and pro-migration Prime Minister since Tony Blair.

    If we don't stop her the country is sunk...holed in the middle. No chance.

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    1. They've both tried, eg Boris's speech to the DUP, which received little coverage on BBC News. But just look at - with honourable exceptions - the bunch of abject vegetables they would have to convince. Even IDS, in an interview the other day, couldn't bring himself to say he would vote May's deal down. Good article by Boris in today's Telegraph.

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    2. Boris's speech is on Guido. It struck me as low key, as if he's playing a waiting game. Maybe, when the Withdrawal Agreement is voted down in the HoC, May will resign, and he, or one of the ERG group could take over as PM.

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  24. Only time will tell who is right and who is wrong. Churchill was right on Munich. Churchill was wrong on Atlee bringing in a Gestapo.

    My view is that this is a "deal" (rather abject surrender) of quite cataclysmic proportions, the disastrous effects of which will take some time to work through.

    Some of the worst features are:

    1. It was born of duplicity. Our Prime Minister lied to Parliament, to the public and to her party about who was leading the negotiations. She was, not Davis. But she chose to lie to us about that. How horribly, malignantly deceptive of her. Our own Prime Minister lying like that.

    2. It has been presented as a "no alternative" situation - always the worst argument (sorry Maggie) because, since we are human, there are always alternatives. In this case it is a bare-faced and deliberate lie. The EEA-style set up and Canada-style FTA are both definitely on offer from the EU. She lies, deliberately yet again.

    3. We have no idea how the trade deal/future relationship will look. It is a complete pig in the poke. There is no doubt there will be a price tag attached. We could even end up de facto members of the EU, even more than Norway, Monaco or Leichtenstein. So this "deal" is literally "no deal" in the sense that we have no idea how it will end up. The future relations-trade deal could easily cancel out whole swathes of the Withdrawal Agreement, and not necessarily in a good way.

    4. Worst of all, this deal may well usher in a huge disenchantment with democracy. The BBC are always fond of giving us "lessons from history" - well here's one: don't deliberately set out to make your people disenchanted with democracy.

    5. Once the PC multicultural elite realise they have won, if only on points rather than on a knock out (with a second referendum), just wait and see the triumphalism.

    It will be "game on". There will be Project Fear Mark III. There will be a renewed propaganda push from the BBC. Within 10 years we will be back in the EU but with the Euro and Schengen. All resistance to the PC-left agenda will collapse. We will lose free speech and democracy will crumble (to be replaced by a corrupt electoral system based on group rights). We will become either a kind of globalist satrapy or we will collapse into some absurd rerun of the Bolshevik Revolution.

    But there is still a glimmer of light...if only we have one brave and resolute politician to lead us...

    If we defeat May's abject surrender we have a ghost of a chance of seeing through a real Brexit and then reclaiming our destiny.

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  25. I remember Thatcher saying that if Labour had won in 1979 she would have sought to get her children out of the country and set them up somewhere else...I always thought that was grossly unpatriotic, a kind of betrayal of your compatriots in those circumstances. Our country was not lost foreever back in 1979 and to desert it would have been a betrayal.

    But now? If May's deal goes through?

    I think the cause is lost. By "the cause" I simply mean that great river that runs through all of us: our cultural traditions taking in comedy, laughter, art, music, sport, free speech, democracy and all that is best in us. What we face now is far, far worse than what threatened us in 1979.

    If May's abject surrender is signed off by Parliament then I think we can only advise our children and grandchildren to seek out new opportunities elsewhere on the planet. Australia and New Zealand seem an obvious choice. It is hard to advise your children in this way. But then it was hard no doubt in 1930s Germany to talk of migration. It is always hard to imagine a dark future...we are naturally built to be optimistic creatures as optimism is necessary to survival. But optimism can also trap us and sign our death warrants.

    For me May's deal is the "final bifurcation" * - no turning back from here on. You are being led into the darkest of woods.

    * I'm claiming copyright on that - never seen it elsewhere but I think that is where we are now...we've been through many bifurcations in the last few decades and this one feels final to me.

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    1. Despair not - when the deal is voted down even the most abject of Tory cowards is likely, however briefly, to grow a spine & depose the woman.

      May's camp has clearly done its research and picked up on the fact that women tend to sympathise with her for her 'bravery'. I hope the ERG is doing research of its own. Meanwhile, much more should be made of her failings: the fact that it was her personal decision to refuse asylum to the Pakistani Christian woman & her dishonest use of the water cannon business to bash Boris, for a start.

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    2. I would have thought that the process is even worse in Australia and New Zealand as they are fully into the 'guilt' of invading the lands of the Aboriginal and Maori people. It can't be long before New Zealand changes its name.
      At least here the BBC et al struggle to make out that the British Isles were 'always black' on the basis of the odd tinted Roman or trophy maid belonging to an 18th century aristocrat.
      The former soviet satellites might serve better for our lifetimes and longer term China must surely be on the winning side, (but will it be a side that we would like?).
      What is it that drives these people? We had the best of all times, we embraced what we thought were self-evident truths about freedom of thought and speech and yet our 'leaders' seem hell bent on ditching the lot. The younger members of my family talk of a new world of 'equality' and 'tolerance' where anyone who disagrees can be physically beaten down.
      I don't know about 'final bifurcation', seems more like social entropy.

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  26. Radio 4's Feedback has long been a vehicle for the BBC to tell us that they 'got it just about right' but it really ought to be called Feedforward now as more and more of it gets taken over to promote new output like 'BBC Sounds' and 'Podcasts' and the various presenters and controllers as they move from job to job.
    When the actual listeners do get to have a say there seems to be far too much (organised?) 'feedback' of the style "the BBC shouldn't be broadcasting that opinion" rather than the "liked/disliked" of old.

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    1. I noticed that trend a while back - the BBC telling US what THEY think rather than the other way round.

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  28. 2pm News Channel. Vox Pops from a market in Leeds - the market workers/shoppers appear to have been asked something like, "Do you think T. May should go back to Brussels & renegotiate or should they just stop arguing & get on with it?" - which just naturally invited & got the answer, "Yes, I think people are fed up with arguing about it."
    Brenda from Bristol appears to have moved up North!

    We'll be seeing a lot more of this, followed by opinion polls, just before the crucial vote to frighten wavering Brexit-supporting MP's. Dr Goebells would be proud.

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    1. Yes, I saw the Leeds shoppers on the 1pm news - it’s pathetic, I wonder how many they had to ask before they got the quotes to fit the narrative.

      Chris Morris was also on to back up the presenter when talking about May’s deal. He was wheeled on there to say “what we have just told you is definitely true” because I’m employed by the reality check team.

      Roger Harrabin was also on talking about the 5 degree increase in temperature. Totally fake news because the Met Office published a fishtail max/min range. Whilst Harrabin briefly said no one really knows what will happen and that the 5 degree was the extreme, he then spent the entire report talking about the extreme as if it was fact and tutting about the consequences. He said that southern Britain would become like south of France and the elderly and outdoor workers would by at risk. So by that logic, outdoor workers and the elderly must be dropping like flies right now in the south of France.

      Another random irritation was the EU flags and people’s vote banners and flags allowed as a prominent backdrop to the entire bulletin. No doubt if it was a UKIP banner or anti-immigration flag, the BBC would have changed the camera angle.

      Delete
  29. As a non-TVL owner, I of course access matters BBC by only alternative legal means.

    One such is its morning emole summary of 'top stories', which are very BBC and hence worth maintaining the free sub to enjoy.

    This was one of said 'top stories'...

    +++

    Why are Iranians crossing the Channel in dinghies?

    Police say more than 100 migrants, claiming to be Iranian, have attempted the 21-mile crossing of the Channel from France to the UK in the last three weeks. It's very dangerous, as they are using dinghies on a route that's busy with shipping. The BBC investigates.

    +++

    Nothing like a good BBC 'investigation' to gird the loins.

    This 'story' has now been ported to Facebook and twitter and, to coin a phrase, comments could be going better; not just on their repeated use of a question in lieu of a headline, but also in showing up the sad lack of worthwhile satire on the BBC in comparison to the comments, where enabled, about its 'reporting' (BBC quotes).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If the current lot of BBC lifers had been in charge in 1939 it would have been "Why does Hitler keep invading countries?" .

      It's the questions the BBC don't ask that are always more interesting:

      "Why don't these chancers claim asylum in France?"

      "Why is there a Northern Ireland Border problem if both Varadkar and May have stated clearly that they have no intention of putting a hard border in place under any circumstances whatsoever, deal or no deal?"


      Delete
  30. When Chris is deployed to have a colleague's back, they are clearly in the doodoo before starting, despite that famous BBC 'pre-production vetting' and post event editing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never mind, they have a star reporter in the Commons Lobby: Vicky(Vicki?) Young has just solemnly informed us that, "Theresa May hasn't had overwhelming backing...(for the deal)." Really Sherlock

      Delete
    2. That's like saying Nick Clegg didn't get overwhelming backing in the 2015 General Election.

      Delete
  31. MB - Indeed. BBC pretence is a wondrous thing, and matters of color seem to bring it out in spades. The victim is the licence fee payer. However, in this case, everywhere I saw it... comments could again have been going better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peter- 2nd half, first sentence: -er :) :) !

      Delete
  32. Oh look: A BBC Labour man from Cumbria who is a staunch, indeed angry-sounding, remainer. Who could that be, I wonder.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-6428025/ANDREW-PIERCE-thats-bets-Mogg-vs-May.html

    ReplyDelete
  33. The item on Woman's Hour today where they interviewed someone called Alex is worth a listen, if only for a glimpse into what passes for discussion and who can pass as qualified to take part while refusing to participate in discussion - I was astounded to find out afterwards that Alex is a professor. A Professor in a University. For anyone who has access and might want to listen, I'm not certain of the order of items but I think it might have been the third topic, which would be around 25 - 30 minutes in, at a rough guess.

    ReplyDelete
  34. MB points out that the BBC isn't asking, "Why is there a NI border problem if both Varadkar & May...have no intention of putting a hard border in place?"

    The answer is, of course that it's a decoy or distractor - a favourite technique of my old boss. What you do is, among a string of unacceptable conditions, make one utterly outrageous demand, a sacrificial one, which absorbs all the victims' attention. Then, at the last minute, you concede the point, leaving the suckers to gratefully accept the remaining crock of dung, which is the only thing you wanted to get through.

    At the last minute, St Theresa will jet over to Brussels & negotiate a solution to the NI problem & return to a heroine's welcome from a grateful liberal élite - having sold us all into abject slavery!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Chris Morris has just posted his latest reality check - it confirms the BBC (un)reality about May and her Withdrawal Agreement. Morris has an uncanny knack of raising my blood pressure within seconds of reading his articles. But they are always a revealing window into the BBC mindset.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46344443

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In my view , as posted a year or so ago, Morris is simply a liar. It’s not just bias, it’s lying. He can get away with it only at the BBC. I refuse to be lied to , so always switch off as soon as he appears.

      Delete
  36. And just how will this Brexit story develop on the BBC?

    President Trump has said the Brexit deal is great for the EU and has cast doubt on whether the UK will be able to make a trade arrangement the US.
    Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he said he didn't think Theresa May meant to make a deal that would mean the UK wouldn't be able to trade with the US.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-46351829/donald-trump-brexit-agreement-is-great-deal-for-eu

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just got my answer in the shape of Jon Sopel who said it was not accidental but considered and provocative and that Trump had walked into the debate wearing his size 12 hob nail boots. He also said that Trump had an open line of communication with euro - sceptics implying that Farage was behind it.

      Delete
    2. And, on the 10pm News, John Sopel isn't happy about Trump's intervention on the Brexiteers' side. Strange that! - They were ecstatic when Obama spoke up for 'Remain'!

      Delete
    3. In these difficult times we can at least take some pleasure in the evident pain being experienced by BBC News reporters and presenters. The dullards at the BBC like to know (a) exactly what the PC/virtue signalling line is and (b) that they are on the winning side.

      The current uncertainties are clearly giving them a bad case of the heeby-jeebies.

      I keep hearing that tone of regret about the "resilient" and "stoical" "woman" (not just a PM, you know but also a Nachurall Wurmun!) who is faced by impossible arithmetic in Parliament. I hear the slight tremble in their reporting: this could run out of control, we might end up with Johnson as PM , heaven forfend! And then the notes of confusion when they have to report on the Lord's True Remainers still arguing for a second referendum with Remain option. They feel a pull in that direction as well...And then there is the frustration with Old Rogue Corbyn, who won't give them the full throated Remainer lines they want.

      Leaving aside the salary and the pension, now is a difficult time to be a BBC News presenter or reporters.

      Delete
    4. And don’t forget the expenses and free trips to USA whenever you like!

      Delete
    5. Thank you Ozfan for that very correct correction! :) Where would James and Emily be if she couldn't bunk off to the States every six months?

      Delete
    6. ...I mean they...I mean separately... :)

      Delete
  37. Heard on Today this morning...

    The reporter - Ross someone - said "There was the hope..." referring to the possibility of the Labour leadership backing a second referendum... whoops,your bias is showing. Not "Remain-backing Labour members hoped that..." but "There was the hope..." Indeed there was the hope and the BBC have been dancing around the totem pole of this hope for the last two years. Enough!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Speaking of BBC North America (I reply to Sir TH, but where this appears heaven knows)...

    https://twitter.com/BBCNorthAmerica/status/1067368618814509056

    "Oprah Winfrey pays tribute to late mother Vernita Lee"

    Guess they needed to mix it upon a bit with the TDS.

    ReplyDelete
  39. The easy route seems pretty much a default setting with the BBC Klingon Editor.

    https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1067330773747937280?s=11

    ReplyDelete
  40. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_godfather_of_fake_news?
    +++
    The godfather of fake news
    Meet one of the world’s most
    prolific writers of disinformation
    +++

    It's the Aunty of it you need to be more careful of.

    ReplyDelete
  41. And a don't you just love the smell of Jon in the morning...
    +++
    Jon Sopel (@BBCJonSopel)
    26/11/2018, 20:00
    Umm. Don't want to quibble. But remember when you asked me in that news conf where I was from, and I said '⁦‪@BBCNews‬⁩,' and you said 'Another Beauty.' And I said 'free. fair and impartial,' and you said 'what, like #CNN?' Well we're the strong competition to them around the world twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
    +++

    Every aspect of that tweet makes him worth what anyone dumb enough to pay the licence fee forks out.

    ReplyDelete
  42. On the subject of "comments could be going better";
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46346051

    ReplyDelete
  43. It is rather funny when the swamp diss each other...
    +++
    Ben de Pear (@bendepear)
    26/11/2018, 08:47
    Wow - the £10 million the ⁦‪@BBC‬⁩ will spend on promoting ⁦‪@BBCSounds‬⁩ is a bit more than we have spent on promoting our promotions- by about, er, £10 million. We're putting every spare penny into journalism and investigations thetimes.co.uk/article/bbc-sp…
    +++

    Meeeeow.....

    ReplyDelete
  44. Very BBC and you could have guessed it (twice).

    First - Chris Morris at reality check has taken no time at all to try and dismantle Trumps comments about Brexit being good for the EU.

    Second - the two prime examples Chris Morris chose about the US were chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-treated beef.

    That’s BBC reality for you. There appears to be nothing positive at all in Chris Morris’s assessment of s US trade deal. We need to concentrate on the much more valuable EU trade.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's quite right of course - it's much better to eat proper British chicken, with salmonella bacelli, not just on the skin, but on the outside of the plastic wrapping. You can keep your American germ-free stuff!

      Delete
    2. Indeed - or mad cow beef or even halal slaughtered beef

      Delete
    3. It's weird isn't it...because the average Guardian reader is just the sort of person to go swimming in a chlorine-filled swimming pool because it's "healthy". I'd bet they take in more chlorine with one gulp of water than if they ate 100 chickens.

      Hormones is another issue. But that's the kind of thing you talk about when you have a free trade deal.

      Delete
  45. I caught “Middle England”, Jonathan Coe’s “new satire on Brexit Britain” this morning in which the author tries to rebut accusations of being patronising by being well, patronising. Could the BBC have chosen a book that is a more apt personification of themselves? Is there a category amongst the plethora of awards the media likes to bestow upon itself for the for the most spectacular lack of self-awareness? Considering the rest of the BBC’s output the competition would be very high, but this would surely be on the short list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've referenced this elsewhere. I was reminded of those public information films from the 40s that Harry Enfield used to satirise. "Gor blimey guvner it's because I is so uneducated and mistreated by those cunning Conservative types that I is so racist as to wanna vote fuh Brexit! Now you've read me that Guardian editorial it don't half make sense of all this malarkey."

      Delete
  46. The BBC and Laura Kuenssberg doing everything they can tonight to persuade viewers to back Theresa May’s deal. Outrageous and shameless propaganda particularly on the interview with the NI business owner - where was the balancing view? Nowhere to be seen because the BBC have chosen which side of the argument they are on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a full-on assault right across the BBC. The One Show had its own version of project fear this evening - talking to coldstore operators about how food and perishables were being stockpiled. What came out a week or two ago was that it is the EU companies that are stockpiling goods so that their market share doesn't dip when we are - allegedly - no longer in the grip of the EU.

      Delete
    2. I don't know...I think they are now tilting to the EEA option. I think they are getting a bit desperate. They don't believe May can swing it.

      We're all flailing around I think. But the BBC are taking it very badly because they feel they should be in control of events and events are nowhere near under their control.

      Delete
    3. Yes, I agree, they are indeed getting desperate - good! The one thing the Beeb may be beginning to achieve is to spread the notion that the Brexit deal is boring so we should just get on with it. I presume their aim is to persuade people to vote Remain in the event of a second referendum. But surely, anyone so dim as to vote out of boredom will be too apathetic even to vote,

      Delete
    4. Good point - people who get bored say "fuckem" not "I'm going to go out and vote and teach them a lesson".

      It's people who are pissed off who go out and vote, or people who are happy with the status quo or people who enthusiastically want to change things or people who are fearful of something.

      But I think the "being bored" strategy is something they often try. In this case they think they can undermine the will to Brexit.

      They tried this "boredom" strategy before we approached the start of the Referendum campaign. We had to witness idiot BBC breakfast TV presenters miming yawns before the campaign even started.

      Of course the BBC had to change tack v. quickly when they realised the electorate were engaged as never before. Then the BBC switched to a "divided nation" rent apart, forgetting they had ever claimed we were bored by the issues. They are really beneath contempt!:)

      Delete
  47. OK, Newsnight are now getting their money's worth from the end of prog "news opinion" section (after the first few months of bogus balance - how tiresome for them to have to go through that balance rigmarole before they could let rip the bias ).

    Far Left extremist "no-borders" Sonia Saduh is on using an alleged "article" (rant) by Owen "Pointless" Jones in the Guardian to conduct a kind of Master Class in PC propaganda. I reject her opinions, but I admire her ability to communicate (she's up there with Blair and Mandelson - no Rachel Shabi, she).

    She's off and running from the beginning, knowing she only has a couple of minutes to do her thing.

    Without missing a beat she managed to associate Brexit, the Far Right, racism, "Stephen Yaxley-Lennon" , Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, dog whistles and even the mildest form of scepticism towards the benefits of mass migration in one long seamless smiling Guardianesque slanderous monologue (uninterrupted by the enthusiastically nodding Maitlis).

    She could have come on and simply said "Boris Johnson is a Nazi and anyone who doesn't like mass immigration is a Nazi." But that would have sounded like the words of a lunatic. Instead she converted her lunacy into a game of guilt by association or six degrees of separation.

    In my humble opinion Sadhu is a very dangerous lunatic extremist bent on destroying our country and our culture (are we still allowed to have a culture? - I've never heard our Prime Minister refer to our culture so I suppose the answer must be "no" - probably a criminal offence to claim we have one). But the BBC have no problem with giving her extensive unchallenged airtime to propagate her extreme views.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On the subject of "Stephen Yaxley-Lennon"...it's almost as if there was a conference on one of those yachts in the Med back in early September when they said "Oh yeah and from this point onwards never say Tommy Robinson without stating his 'real' name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon".

      Ever since, any PC mainstream media presenter (= all mainstream media presenters) feel the need to emphasise Tommy Robinson's legal name.

      It's an absurd and counter-productive because, as Al Murray might say, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is a "beautiful British name"...If I were Tommy I'd simply announce that since the UK MSM want you to be known as SYL you are going to go along with that. The UK MSM will then have to refer to him as "Stephen Yaxley-Lennon who used to be known as Tommy Robinson" as they will then be propagating the idea that he's really Tommy Robinson. After that he can switch back to Tommy Robinson and make complete fools of our brain dead journos.

      Remember the BBC never give Malcolm X's real name, or Tony Cliff's real name or Graham Norton's real name (Graham William Walker in case you are wondering) or Nelson Mandela's real name or Tony Blair's real name (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair - google the full name).

      If the claim is that they are only doing it because he is a convicted criminal then you would have to also apply it to Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela at least...and some want "Charles Lynton" indicted for war crimes while others claim someone of the same name committed some offences when Tony Blair was a young man.

      Names are confusing! :)

      If the "Real Names Only for Convicted Criminals" policy spreads, it will be v. confusing for BBC Radio 6 Music if they have to give the real names of all the "drill" (AKA "incitment to violence") artists they promote...especially when the stars (or their close relatives) get "merked" and "drilled" as a result of their real names being put out over the airwaves.

      Delete
  48. 10 pm News. Huw Edwards gave a grossly over-simplified summary of, "the so-called backstop - that is a kind of insurance policy which would keep an open Border between NI and the Republic in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a formal deal."

    There was no mention of being forced to remain in the customs union, where we would be unable to implement a trade deal with, for example, the USA. OK, this was mentioned by someone else, but much later in the programme.

    The fact that any one country, France for example, could refuse to agree the details yet to be negotiated unless we made further concessions, eg fishing rights was not mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quite. And no mention of the fact that Varadkar has in any case stated he has no intention of putting a hard border in place in event of no deal ie in the event of no backstop at all. The UK has no intention of putting a hard border in place, so where is the alleged "problem". There is no problem. We have here simply a Blarney-Brussels coalition to create a non-existent "barrier to an agreement" which can be used as a negotiating tactic to tie us in tightly to the spider's web.

      Can you imagine just how much EU crowing and intimidation there will be in the unlikely event our Parliament approves the "abject surrender document"?

      The BBC can go on all they like about "divisiveness" - the amount of division this "dung deal" will create if approved will be astronomical once the EU start laughing at us, saying how easily they won a famous victory and demanding a whole raft of further concessions on migration, fisheries, agriculture etc. as part of the final future relations/trade deal.

      Delete
    2. Just occurred to me that I thought Varadkar was a very unpleasant individual who was making things difficult for some sort of grandstanding effect. But to be fair to him, when you look at it the round, he has been batting for the Republic's interests. The worst thing that could happen from Ireland's point of view is that we float free and Ireland has to compete with other countries all around the world to supply our needs.

      So apologies to Mr Varadkar - you played a blinder on behalf of the Republic and its interests.

      A shame from our point of view that you were up against a sheep rather than a lion.

      Delete
    3. The one consolation is the failure of what Blair called the civil service 'camouflage' of the 'deal' - we've seen through it. Not the first time he has underestimated our intelligence.

      Delete
    4. A more forceful and wily UK negotiating position and strategy would make sure that the border issue is solved when the Republic leaves the EU and joins the UK's customs union.
      This is the best solution for all!

      Delete
  49. On BBC radio today , whilst talking about Philip Hammond saying Brexit will leave UK economy worse off, a BBC reporter said;
    “No one voted to be poorer”.

    No, the vote was to leave or remain the EU. The phrase is meaningless yet continuously used by remainers.

    I didn’t catch the reporters name but I think he unwittingly (or deliberately) revealed his bias.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes exactly, it's common Remainer saying. But it assumes the Treasury forecast etc. are going to be correct. Which they won't be.

      Also it depends upon the definition of "poorer". A few elite who make a lot money out of the EU and it's open borders may lose out, but many, the ordainary folk could be better off.

      And of course are you really "richer" when you have no democratic vote to control your rulers?

      Delete
  50. Be interesting how the BBC reports this (the Mail poll and/or the Guido analysis), or not. With fingers and toes crossed...
    Guido Mail Poll

    ReplyDelete
  51. The Mail is on a roll. Expect Geordie on every BBC sofa and panel soon...
    Guido Letts Quits

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was wondering how long Quentin Letts could stomach it or be tolerated. Great that he has gone as that will mean further decline in circulation for the Miserable Mail. Letts is one of the few sane voices left in the UK MSM. He has been persecuted by the BBC as a result (over his filleting of the Met Office).

      PS How can it be that 17 million plus Brexit voters are now completely unrepresented in our national media - all the big papers (I don't accept The Sun is a Leave paper - it vacillates), BBC (TV and radio of course), Sky and ITV are resolutely Remain in outlook.

      Delete
    2. Well the voice that the 17 million represents has been absent in mainstream politics for 40+ years so it is hardly surprising that the national media is the same.

      Regardless of what happens in the next few months it would serve the so-called Conservative, Labour and LibDems right if no-one voted for them again, starting with the May local elections, assuming we are still allowed elections, (probably banned under some clause referenced by May's Armistice Agreement).

      Delete
    3. MB: I find myself agreeing with you on many, indeed, most things, BUT you are UTTERLY wrong to claim that 17 million plus Brexit voters are now unrepresented in our national media. If you believe that, you have not been reading the Daily Telegraph! Please buy it & read their star journalist, Allison Pearson - she's easy to miss because, for some reason, she usually appears in the 'Features' section. You like Julia H-B, well Allison Pearson is out of exactly the same mould, but, if anything, more outspoken.

      When you've read her, turn to the letters page - today, every single one of nine letters is opposed to May and her rancid deal - and no punches are pulled. The first, splendid, letter ends thus: "Theresa May is an embarrassment to her party, her Government and her country. This woeful, one-woman wrecking ball needs to go." You would not find such letters in the 'Financial Times' or the 'Times.'



      Delete
    4. I do get the Telegraph occasionally. I don't find it has a strong editorial line in favour of a clean Brexit break...and there is always William Hague (ex Eurosceptic) who is now banging the drum for the European Imperial Superstate replete with army and central fiscal policy.

      Delete
    5. OK - maybe I'll "enquire within" a bit more often, rather than just focussing on the crossword and the Great War despatch! lol I'm glad Allison Pearson has given up her errant liberal ways of old, when she used to be a BBC regular...she wouldn't get through the door now, and it's not just her political opinions that would stop her. :)

      Delete
  52. I use various hashtags to log idiotic attempts to hide wishes behind supposed facts by supposed professional, impartial media. The BBC uses one word in almost every headline. If not twice.

    #couldfiles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peter, your link was in blue! :)
      Yes, they've just used the dreaded 'could' word re: the '5° increase in temperature' that they're hoping for. Sadly, Guardian readers will fall for it, but readers of ITBB are made of sterner stuff!

      Delete
  53. Attempting a link of color (but likely grey).

    #BBC ‘expert guests’, What are they like?

    As you can see I am getting daring with my subject lines.

    CW is fast becoming as valuable on how the BBC doesn't do its job as ITTB.

    What with Iain Dale doing Jo Coburn's job for her correcting matters of simple accurate fact (which Labour pols, especially thick diverse ones... are there any others, punt out the exact reverse as sound bites like hedgehogs after a U boat) and now such as this, just what are these 'market rates' talented at?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peter, you're on a roll! - the 'expert guests' one is blue too! :)

      Delete
    2. CW is superb. And your links are proving that our antediluvian comments system CAN actually do basic technical things that any 2018 blog's comments system should allow its users to do - even though I'd no clue it could! Tx Peter.

      Delete
    3. And tx very much too to Stew for his technical savvy here.

      Delete
    4. Credit goes to Stew, though it took me a few attempts to get what he shared to work! I now have a template saved to insert into before copying here.

      Delete
  54. Sisyphus - tx for that. I just followed her on the dreaded twitter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peter- re: CW, I tend to look at it & also Conservative Home after my last read of ITBB. Must admit I resisted looking at CW for a long time - afraid it was going to be full of recipes etc - how wrong can you be!

      Delete
  55. Just heard a feature (2 of 3) apparently on R4 PM by Kevin Connelly from Budapest. Complete anti-Orban propaganda from Evan's intro to Connelly's oh so BBC "fears are beginning to mount" (i.e. about Orban being an anti Democrat) ending.

    Few facts, plenty of innuendo and gloomy forecasts, only interviewed anti-Orban voices, Soros don't you know is a liberal Financier with a "private fortune".

    Connelly (one of the Beeb's worst in my view) mentioned that Hungary has been occupied by Austrians, Germans and Russians, so somehow this makes them yearn for "strong leaders" (boo, hiss).

    What he omitted from this history, conveniently, is that Hungary's longest and most damaging occupation was 150 years of the Ottomons. That's what's in their national memory and why they largely look on in horror at the EU's importation of millions of young muslim men. This they want no part of , wishing to preserve their culture for more centuries, just as they have had to fight to do for centuries past.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The more I reflect on that item, the worse it gets. Surely Soros using his ill-gotten billions to influence nations is the anti-Democrat? Who has voted for Soros?

      And the BBC's new adoration for the likes of Soros, Carney and the Goldman Sachs crew, clearly exposes how the BBC has become a mouthpiece for the Globalists, influenced, I would bet, by one Tony Blair.

      Delete
    2. Many will remember the scandal caused, on Amber Rudd's watch, when we agreed to take in some refugee 'children', a significant number of whom turned out to be men in their late twenties to mid-thirties. The suspicion then was that a 'dodgy deal' had been done 'behind the chair' in discussions with the French.

      The BBC informs us that, in recent weeks, the number of immigrants attempting to cross the Channel from France in small boats has reached unprecedented levels. Then, this morning, we read that Sajid Javid wishes to bring back the Royal Naval vessel, currently engaged in rescue work in the Mediterranean, to act as a rescue ship in the Channel. In other words, we would be operating a cross-Channel taxi-service. Is this another of May's dodgy deals with France?

      Delete
    3. Almost certainly. and the more accountability is transferred away to the unaccountable EU , the more the scope for dodgy deals, its a road to conflict we are on that the children at the BBC push us along.

      Delete
    4. Orban's democratic credentials are untouchable - IIRC I think he's won 4 elections (3 in succession) - with something like 50% of the vote (which would be unprecedented in the UK, where our governments are nearly always "minority" governments in terms of a popular vote.

      Delete
    5. LBC contacted the Home Office yesterday to ask how many boat migrants have so far been rescued in the Channel.
      The answer was "We don't know, you'll have to tot up the totals from media reports".
      This was reported on Farage's LBC show last night - 28.11.
      And still no-one is discussing the UN Migrant Compact due to be signed in December.
      It sometimes feels like someone is poking a hornet's nest.

      Delete
  56. Evan Davis had a serious run-in with Mogg on PM today (or should that be the "Evan Davis Airs His Prejudices Show").

    Mogg is getting some fire in his belly and following the Lilley example of not taking any sh*t from the BBC, especially underhand Davis.

    Davis impugned Mogg's honesty today by using one of his disingenous-style questions "Wouldn't it be better if you were just honest and said..." Mogg wouldn't have any of it and gave him a well deserved Etonian head butt, telling him it wasn't for BBC presenters to allege dishonesty is present when there is an honest disagreement over policy. Davis tried one of his sly returns later claiming that Mogg was "cross" with him...which he enunciated so patheticaly, it made it sound like another episode of "Paddington Bear". Mogg wasn't cross - he was furious and rightly indignant.

    I am taking heart from both Lilley and Mogg. Maybe they always knew the BBC was grossly biased but they never said it before. Now they are...during interviews at the very point when you should push back. The BBC presenters don't like the push-back. It unsettles them - they then say things which make them sound more nakedly biased and/or stupid.

    All Brexiters - please take note!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Bullying is reprehensible and where it happens within school bounds, the school has to take full responsibility for its negligence in allowing it to happen. However I think putting a bit of what used to be called horseplay as one of your lead items shows a lack of judgement. ITN went even further than the BBC, having it as their first story. No one was killed. No one was hospitalised. It was wrong and regrettable and the school is entirely at fault. But a top story? Compare and contrast with this story which was effectively suppressed by the BBC and other UK MSM.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/530314/aaron-9-bullied-to-death-for-being-white/

    Compare with the BBC report:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-28299544

    ReplyDelete
  58. Conservative Home has a video clip of PMQs in which Zac Goldsmith asks May whether it is true that she intervened to stop Britain granting asylum to Asia Bibi. Note the body language: May more tortoise-like than usual as she attempts to retract her head into her body, eyes flittering from side-to-side as she looks anywhere but at Goldsmith, the mouth flapping, like a stranded fish, as she stutters out her non-answer. Would you buy a used car - or a Brexit deal - from this woman?

    ReplyDelete
  59. Headline : Nabra Hassanen: Virginia man admits murder of teenage girl

    Lede : A Virginia man has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of a 17-year-old Muslim girl whom he attacked near a mosque during Ramadan.

    Only in the final sentance of piece does BBC get close to the truth about the 'Virginia man':

    "Originally from El Salvador, US media report he is suspected of being in the country illegally."

    No suspected about it. He is an illegal, and the BBC can't fail to know it.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Replies
    1. Brlliant! Assumed she was some sort of evangelical crackpot vicar but the truth is even better. Since they subjected us to several nights of her 'authoritative' views, should they not be beginning the next edition of Newsnight with an explanation & apology? (This may have already happened - didn't see any TV yesterday pm))

      Delete
  61. Anon - At the BBC, to know things is to.... be very careful and check on what keeps your job before running.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Replies
    1. I dare you to put up the pic of Anita Anand in the Obama hat! lol

      Delete
  63. Replies
    1. Has she ever tweeted a full stop or "period" as they say over there? That would be the ultimate.

      Delete
  64. That would be the end, as after that... no more point.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Replies
    1. Peckham

      Delete
    2. How does the BBC choose these unbelievably weird "panels of voters"? Lynn the Pastor is apparently an internet-certified pastor and part time extra in the acting field. Didn't anyone think...hmmm,that's not really very representative of the British people as a whole...maybe we should try a call centre worker from Merthyr.

      Delete
  66. Meanwhile, Newsnight continues its unashamed policy promoting a 'one eyed' view of the news again tonight. This evening we had Faiza Shaheen, pulverising the English language with diction unmatched on television and radio, giving her extreme leftist take on the papers and comment sections. Not only did we have her Marxist take on the papers but she only reviewed papers on left of the political agenda; the Guardian & The New Statesman. It is bad enough having such a biased, leftist only, procession of news and comment reviewers night after night but now they are only analysing the news media on the left.
    You could not make it up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Faiza's rule "When your tongue lets you down show your teeth". And she has a fair set of gnashers, I'll give her that. The Newsnight newspaper opinion review section has become - as predicted - an excuse to air left-liberal bias without restraint (after the first few months of "bogus balance").

      Delete
  67. This Week this week:

    The cosy consensus on "Tommy Robinson" (note to editor - why did no-one refer to him as "convicted criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon"? - please refer to internal BBC guidelines, not for release via FoI requests) and "UKIP" aired yet again...all agreed reprehensible, discredited and busted...but then (hmmm) they agree it's odd how UKIP aren't doing so bad in the polls at 8%.

    Adrian Chiles - doing the "bored of Brexit" thing...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm bored of Adrian - does my vote count?

      Delete
  68. When I connected to this link via a Biased BBC comment my computer went bat-shit crazy. Why? Surveillance? Seems happier with this direct link:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOZEWm-0LiY

    Anyway v. interesting alternative perspectives on this story which was No. 1 on ITV last night and a lead story on BBC as well.

    If we believe TR - and I believe him much more than ITV or BBC - this story is a lot more complicated.

    Comments suggest the UK MSM are now drawing back realising that the narrative is false and that they are making fools of themselves.

    Of course I've no idea what the truth is in this particular case but I do know the BBC and the UK MSM time and time again jump in on a story and accept there is a victim narrative in place when they have done little or no research.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Talking of which, since Katie Razzall has been presenting Newsnight recently it's time to remind ourselves that she was leading on a heart-warming tale about how Syrian refugees were integrating nicely, with a few bumps along the way, into UK society up in the North East. The tale was told in such an emotionally engaging way you couldn't help but feel empathy for the refugees...

      And then the tale was no longer told. Like to tell us why Katie? I don't think we ever had a proper explanation from Newnsight...

      Surely there can't be something "untoward" behind the decision to discontinue the heart-warming tale...

      To be fair, though, Katie was BBC's first fearless correspondent into Cologne after the New Year celebrations with the multiple serious assaults on women debacle...er, some FIVE days later when the BBC decided they could no longer suppress the story.

      Delete
  69. A local update on the Huddersfield Syrian schoolboy. The local story here is that the young lad had said or done something ‘inappropriate’ to a white girl at the school and was being taught a lesson. BBC Look North (Yorkshire) said that over £100,000 had been raised for the Syrian family. My son, who works in Huddersfield, piped up that the family of the white girl had been turned away when they’d gone to the Huddersfield Examiner with their side of the story.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Then there's subtle-bias Fake News.

    Apparently, Radio 4 would have us believe the Prime Minister is "putting pressure" on MPs to vote for her deal.

    Not that she is trying to do so, or aiming to do so, or hoping to do so...no - she is.

    This could only be true if her absurd general election style campaign was proving successful. Currently there is no way of knowing if it is having any success but the indications are that it is not and that May is making a complete fool of herself, since the more she sets out her claims for the deal, the more the whole thing unpicks itself and people realise just how "locked in" to EU influence we will be. So, in my estimation, the pressure is diminishing through her campaigning - the direct opposite of what the BBC tells me to believe.

    But of course we know that the BBC is currently, oddly, unprecedentedly on side with May...and so, in lots of subtle ways, is trying to talk her up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thinking about it, I suppose the BBC have calculated that they have to give May some kudos and the deal some credit in order to get it on the ballot paper for the second referendum they want.

      Were they to just rubbish it as the worst ever deal in British history and a complete disavowal of the Conservative manifesto of 2017 and of May's own words, then it would be flushed down the toilet.

      But if it can get the thing on a Referendum ballot paper as one option in a binary choice betweed deal and renewed EU membership then the Remainers will be home and dry.

      Delete
    2. You're describing two versions of Remain there MB. That would make a sham of any democratic intent. I can't believe the electorate would tolerate it.

      Delete
    3. Couldn't agree more Arthur but I think that must be the plan. Would they try it? They might throw in "no deal" if they feel Project Fear has worked this time round.

      Delete
    4. MB - many links to share later when I get to a Mac that will play ball, but for now, it does seem that the bbc sees Treezer as the best of a bad bunch, albeit in that uniquely impartial way they have.

      Just got my daily bbc email summary of ‘top’ stories:
      By Justin Parkinson
      Home and away: May sells Brexit deal

      That would be ‘attempts to’, Justin.

      Delete
    5. Did everyone see "May's Freudian Slip" on Guido? Apparently she said, "It will be a decision for Parliament as to whether they accept the deal that I and the Government have negotiated on behalf of the European - err of the United Kingdom with the European Union."
      You see, she CAN tell the truth - if only briefly!

      Delete
    6. See BBBC comment from Beltane:

      .... 'Nadhim Zahawi’s better-than-Freudian slip, on QT last night, only goes to confirm an underlying fear that comes ever closer to the surface. Zahawi said, in the context of the May 2019 deadline, ‘If there is no deal or no Brexit…..’ implying that the whole fiasco will implode if May’s (PM not month) sell-out is not approved. Beware the phrase ‘Back to square one’ because while it might easily be construed as meaning re-start the process, it could equally mean go back to the way things were. Pretend it hasn’t happened.' ...

      Is this the opinion of May's Withdrawal Agreement backers within the main body of Conservative backbench MPs? I think it might be, in which case a new Remain Party Leader might be voted in against the wishes of the 17+ million Leave voters and what is a minority of Conservative MPs under the ERG banner. The Conservative Party is imploding.

      Delete
    7. Yes, I think if it elects another Remainer, it will implode, most definitely. They need someone who can lead them out of the wilderness, not further into it.

      Of course a lot depends on what happens in the future. I base my conclusions on the fact that "the ever closer union" is not going to stop getting closer...next up European Army, fiscal unification.

      But there are even bigger questions. The EU has shown itself incapable of patrolling its borders. Africa's poulation is on course to reach a staggering 4 billion by 2100 (these are very sober projections BTW not some nutjob stuff). There will be tens of millions of people wanting to get into Europe to escape poverty, violence and corruption, and it will be easier than ever before. There are already working models of passenger drones - think of what fun the people smugglers will have with those.

      https://www.engadget.com/2016/01/06/184-delivery-drone-for-people/

      Once people see increasing instability on mainland Europe there would be a renewed sense of outraged betrayal if we were still locked into it either on a return to the EU or as part of May's Abject Surrender Deal.

      Delete
  71. That's odd I thought...the BBC referring to a group of teenagers involved in a violent altercation with Police as a "mob"...hmmm...let's take a closer look...

    Soon as you go into the article and view the footage, you can see why the BBC (applying its Newspeak thought processes) is perfectly relaxed about calling this particular group of teenagers a "mob".

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-46398021

    Doublethink Goodplus!

    ReplyDelete
  72. It’s been all over the news. A 15 year old has been attacked in the playground for being a refugee. For being different. [1] So after fleeing war in Syria, now he’s facing violence in Britain. A place that should make him feel safe.

    When we read news like this we can sometimes feel powerless. We know this isn’t who we are. We want to live in a country where refugees fleeing war feel welcomed. And where racism isn’t tolerated. But it can feel like it’s too big a problem to fix.

    But there’s something we can do today to show this family they aren’t alone. And to send a message loud and clear to the people who want to divide us, that we won’t let our country be a place of hate and hostility. If thousands of us sign a letter to the family showing our support, we’ll be standing up for our values of compassion and kindness. It won’t fix the whole problem, but it’s a good place to start.

    Peter, will you add your name today? The 38 Degrees office team will make sure to deliver the letter to the family, but first all of us need to add our names.

    "I was disappointed when I came to the UK because I was thinking my life is going to be good.” - 15 year old victim [2]

    No child should feel unsafe in our playgrounds. This wasn’t the first time he’d been attacked and his sister has also been targeted. [3] It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. Nobody wants to think their children aren’t safe when they leave them at the school gates each morning.

    Attacks like this are on the rise in our schools and across the country. [4] Politicians with their own agendas are using racist language that makes certain people feel targeted. And some in the media are fuelling the fire by spreading this message of division. [5]

    This letter isn’t the only thing we’ll do, but it’s a first step. When we sign this letter, we’re sending a message that we won’t tolerate attacks like this. When thousands of us add our names it will drown out the voices trying to spread hate and racism in our country. And it’ll give us the power to do more in the future.

    Thanks for everything you do,

    Beth, Rachel, Charlotte, Kieran and the 38 Degrees team

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OK get your Irony Detector switched on...

      Good to see Professor Jonathan Portes (you know, the guy who thought that migration from Eastern Europe would amount to no more than a trickle), acting as an impartial and objective academic and not using social media to spread "Project Fear Mark II" talking points.






      https://twitter.com/38_degrees

      Delete
    2. Jonathan, in case you didn't know, is the sidekick or is it mentor of Anand Menon, the other impartial, free, fair and objective academic so beloved of Evan.

      Delete
  73. NOTES:
    [1] The Independent: Syrian refugee attack: 16-year-old boy charged over assault on schoolboy in Huddersfield:
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/syrian-refugee-attack-boy-charged-huddersfield-video-police-arrest-charged-a8655696.html
    The Guardian: Bullied Syrian refugee says he no longer feels safe at Huddersfield school:
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/29/bullied-syrian-refugee-huddersfield-school
    [2] The Evening Standard: Syrian schoolboy 'cried himself to sleep after bullying’:
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/syrian-schoolboy-cried-himself-to-sleep-after-bullying-a4003071.html
    [3] See notes for [1]
    [4] BBC News: Religious hate crimes: Rise in offences recorded by police:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45874265
    The Globe and Mail: Videos of Syrian students being bullied signal rise in hate crimes in Britain:
    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-videos-of-syrian-students-being-bullied-signal-rise-in-hate-crimes-in/
    [5] The Sun: Teen accused of ‘waterboarding’ attack on Syrian schoolboy shared Tommy Robinson far right posts:
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7845353/tommy-robinson-racist-posts-far-right-attack-syrian-schoolboy/
    The Guardian: Boris Johnson: pressure mounts in Tory party over burqa remarks:
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/07/boris-johnsons-burqa-remarks-offensive-foreign-office-minister-alistair-burt
    Hope Not Hate: Labour and antisemitism: the way back from this new low:
    https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/2018/07/27/labour-antisemitism-way-back-new-low/
    The Independent: Neo-Nazis benefiting from dramatic rise in racist websites to spread hate and incite violence, UN warns:
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/neo-nazi-racism-far-right-social-media-hate-speech-twitter-facebook-un-a8613496.html
    The Independent: The Financial Times is embarrassed about giving a platform to Steve Bannon – so it shouldn't:
    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/steve-bannon-financial-times-platform-embarrassed-trump-strategist-breitbart-a8264626.html

    ReplyDelete
  74. Speaking of funny, here is J'OBsworth trying to ensure the alumni Xmas party goes with a bang:

    ***
    James O'Brien (@mrjamesob)
    29/11/2018, 08:38
    John Humphrys is the patron saint of people who ring my show convinced that they understand Brexit and that it is a good idea, only to see their certainties crumble like a soggy sand castle under the simplest challenges.
    He's just lucky that he never has to justify his position.
    ***

    As was James when serving there. Did he ever 'star' in a Newswatch?

    ***
    James O'Brien (@mrjamesob)
    29/11/2018, 17:10
    The #NewsnightVicar story is nothing like what many people on here seem to think it is. An eccentric, self-styled cleric, with thespian ambitions, has as much right to be in that studio as any other member of the public.
    (You don't need to point out that I used to work there.)

    ***

    'Work' seems quite the claim. Even the BBC had to ditch him for the damage he was doing.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Meanwhile CSI:W1A has a new 'expert' investigator.

    ****
    jenny hill (@jennyhillBBC)
    30/11/2018, 08:44
    German air force rule out deliberate sabotage after Angela Merkel’s G20 plane encounters serious technical problems forcing unscheduled landing in cologne. Mrs Merkel missing start of summit including scheduled bilats with Trump and others

    ****

    I'd have thought landing in cologne would cause quite a stink. Glad Mutti was not being stalked by 'dark forces' in her own aircrew.

    Bet the lads in the BBC EU office work on their bilats when they know she is swinging though.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Meanwhile, over at Newsnight...

    Stormy out?

    A blonde and quite a blow. Katty will be jelly.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Not over yet, but another postscript worth adding:

    <a href="https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/a-salute-to-tobias-ellwood-the-man-who-wont-walk-on-by/?> Tobias Elwood</a>

    I must confess I had made the link between the two incidents and the same man.

    A shame, as he seems to have placed a target on this 16yo (who may or may not be a thug-grade chav, along with a large chuck of history's youth) every bit as much as the BBC did Malala.

    I might also note that since the tweeted law suit threat from Sue, Hackit and d'Etonate, the whole thing as gone from wall to wall to down the bunker.

    ReplyDelete

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