In fairness, Anna Soubry was laughing there at Emily's sweet "Do come back!" close to the interview. Emily couldn't have said anything nicer to her. Thoughts of them 'getting a room' must be immediately dismissed from the brain.
The BBC's love affair with Rory Stewart continues. He has the support of only 5* fellow Conservative MPs. In other words he is a no-hoper. But he is a no hoper backed by Ken Clarke, so a large part of the six o'clock news was given over to publicising his Jeremiads against a clean break Brexit.
Are we heading for a tipping point with the BBC or are they going to get even more brazen with their political viewpoint?
The total takeover of the corporation by those with a progressive liberal bias has impacted on everything it broadcasts. Licence payers have noticed the shift and as a result the BBC has lost the trust of a significant part of its’ audience.
The BBC have gone into overdrive with promoting their peculiar brand of cultural liberalism. The recent catalysts appear to have been the rise of The Brexit Party and the rise of populism embodied by the election of President Trump.
Everyone seems to jostling to get their dig in at Trump, Farage and anything remotely right wing. News programmes, drama, radio shows, comedy and Twitter are all fair game for presenters to make their point and virtue signal to their London elite echo chamber.
Their TV drama output is pure propaganda and social engineering for identity issues, liberal ideals, PC dialogue and diversity.
Their News programmes sneer, mock and ignore those who don’t adhere to their social liberal agenda.
In the last few weeks the President Trump visit and Brexit Party election success has enabled them to signal their bias in the most disgraceful way. Much of it has already been been documented on this blog and they seem to have discarded any sense of impartiality and balanced reporting.
Which is why I suggest that we may be much closer to a tipping point because of the exponential rate the BBC are currently politicising their output. It can’t continue at this rate without there being a reaction by those of us who finance it and disagree with the agenda it promotes.
If the Peterborough by-election returns a Brexit Party MP, the electorate will be in a much stronger position to engage with the BBC. Of course they will tell us it's a protest vote, a single issue party etc. If TBP continue to grow and prosper then I believe the next General Election will be a straightforward contest between the Lib Dems as Remainers and TBP as Leavers - a rerun of the 2016 Referendum. Whether the PPTP system would deny the majority their wish remains to be seen.
In the next general election I'd find it hard to choose between a reinvigorated, Boris-led Tory party & a Farage-led TBP (assuming that both were committed to 'sorting out' the BBC). A coalition, perhaps?
My concern is that Boris says is not what he will do. He was going to vote for the WA and on many policies is more like a Blairite than a conservative. I don’t trust him.
The mood has changed hasn't it? The Chequers deal and the Abject Surrender document were dire episodes in our recent history. I certainly felt very dejected by the whole thing. But then Parliament, despite all of Bercow's dodgy refereeing were unable to put together a coherent Remainer strategy. The ride turned. Once again we have Nigel Farage to thank for changing things around.
I am desperately hoping they take the seat tonight because such facts cannot be "silenced" by the BBC.
Ultimately in order to save the UK we need to smash the two party system and put in place PR. It's a long shot but unless we reconnect people and Parliament there's no hope.
It has to be said that the Peterborough by-election has not made it onto the BBC News website Homepage today. It's there as an 8 hour old snippet on the Politics page.
James O'Brien, no longer of the BBC parish, is certainly still among the most irritating of broadcasters. Normally I can't listen to him at all on BBC and the off button is soon pressed into service, so to speak, but today ostensibly it was a more interesting programme with listeners being invited to give their anecdotes from WW2 - either their own or those of family and friends. So not just JO'B droning on. But even so, he managed to annoy.
Every now and then he would sententiously remind the listener that there was a limit to what could be said because of the Peteborough By Election...but of course at every opportunity he was wringing "lessons from history" to say basically don't vote for right wing, nationalist or populist parties because that will immediately usher in full blown Hitlerism...and he was also laughing at the "rhetorical inversion" that claims it is the left who are the new fascists. Who's been promoting anti-semitism, banning books, closing down political meetings, throwing the milkshakes and assaulting pensioners mate?
But what annoys me most is his (widely shared) PC version of D Day.
I think if you had asked most of the people involved why they were doing what they did they would say one or more of the following:
1. For King and Country (nationalism)
2. For the Empire (imperialism)
2. For my people (racism)
3. To protect my wife, my family and home (right wing sexism)
4. For freedom, for our culture. (populism)
5. Cos I hate the Gerries (racism)
6. Because you've got to do your duty, haven't you? (authoritarianism)
Some would have said "to defeat fascism" but not a huge proportion I would suggest.
Just spotted on Guido: tonight's Question Time panel does not include a single person who voted Leave in the Referendum. They really are waving two fingers at the 17.4 million, aren't they?
It was a logical progression - they were gettting sick and tired of having the one Leaver on the Panel who would complain of being up against 4 Remainers.
You know how you sometimes think you've read an article saying something so horrendous that you suspect you may have really dreamt it? Well, I think I came across, today, an article claiming that May has said that she will not step down as PM until she's satisfied that the new party leader will be able to command a majority in the Commons. Has anyone come across this? I haven't managed to find it again, so am hoping it really was a dream - nightmare, more like!
I shan't relax until the removal van arrives at the back of number 10 to take away her power pack and box full of good, Transylvanian earth.
Right. Having seen footage of her with Trump on the 5th & today in France, I reckon she is more than usually dangerous at the moment - it's the eyes. Definitely wouldn't want to be left alone in a room with her.
Sharon White head of OFCOM is leaving to become the new boss of John Lewis and Waitrose. Hm. From Treasury to OFCOM and regulator of the BBC to J Lewis. I wonder what she knows about retail.
She's only going as Chair is my understanding - a figurehead...Just virtue signalling probably. I don't know her...not impressed by her supervision of Ofcom...Her salary is pretty obscene for what is probably a part time job - £990,000.
Yes, I've known that for ages. How they do recycle them. It's interesting though given the poor state of retail at the moment including JL. Wonder how that's going to turn out. Former heads of JL have gone in the other direction. Andy Street left to become a mayor in Birmingham? Somewhere Midlandy. The other one, the fat grocer (I forget his actual name but he called himself the fat grocer) thought he should leave to be head of Channel 4 but didn't get the job - why would he? They gave it to someone who had experience in the industry. And he took a job as a government minister I think.
Ah, Thanks, Sisyphus. I wasn't sure exactly and had some doubt whether it was actually Birmingham. It's odd though. I thought mayors were of a city or a borough. Maybe West Midlands is an administrative unit rather than just a geographical area which is what I've always thought it was.
If TBP lose, expect it to be blasted all over the BBC and the rest of the MSM (after very quiet coverage of the actual by election campaign because they didn't want to give TBP any traction).
Well, The Brexit Party got 29% of the vote without a manifesto. That's a pretty remarkable achievement . Conservatives down 25%, Labour down 17%.
That result nationwide would change politics in this country and finish off the Conservatives. So the fall out from this election result will still have repercussions to current events imo.
Interestingly on News at Ten last night, John Pienaar said that Labour were hoping that Muslim voters would turn out strongly for them because with a low turnout that would tilt the odds at the last moment.
Even the BBC are broadcasting how mass immigration has helped the labour vote.
Pienaar said that without a hint of concern. He wasn't bothered at all that a specific demographic will, and does, vote as a block. The U.S has the same problem.
It's indisputable that demographics will define the future of democracies worldwide, and those demographics are based on ethnicity.
As someone who grew up in the 70's in a very politically progressive environment, it makes me sad to see things turning out this way. So called progressives have created an environment of reverse racism where they openly condone and praise a hive mentality based on that which was condemned a couple of decades ago - skin tone.
Combined with social restrictions on questioning why that may be a bad thing, and the ready acceptance of commentators to accept and applaud that 'this is how it is now', I think we're headed in the wrong direction.
The BBC get a Guardian journalist to lecture us about truth and 1984 (and make clear that Political Correctness has nothing to do with the idea of thought-policing)!
For every brilliant concept introduced in 1984 - from "rewriting history" through "thought crime", "the two minute hate", "the memory hole" to "unperson" - a close parallel can be found in the internal workings and the broadcasting output of the BBC.
What is truly scandalous is that this story will be deemed irrelevant by the BBC. 4 or 5 years ago, Radio 4 had a Sunday evening doc about corruption in UK voting. It was very illuminating with lots of first hand evidence.
It simply wouldn't be on Radio 4 today. What happened in the interim ?
For Amjad Iqbal and Shabina Qayyum, two Peterborough councillors, the result highlighted the importance of Labour support in the Asian community. “I would say the Muslim vote played a vital role in Lisa Forbes’s success,” Iqbal said.
Iqbal enlisted the help of his cousin Shoukat Farid, a politician in Kashmir, who had been in Peterborough campaigning since 31 May. Farid said lots of Kashmiri people in the constituency knew him and he hoped he had helped to get out the Labour vote.
Arthur - there was a confusing stat that appears to have misled some people...I think it was something like there was 60% turnout of postal voters...that means 60% of those who requested a postal vote used it. You would expect postal vote turnout to be higher than voters on foot.
Arne - That is ringing all sorts of alarm bells for me...not least the Kahmiri connection...this was probably one of those "clan" operations, where everyone who belongs to a clan is told to vote for a particular candidate (doesn't have to be Labour of course - sometimes Lib Dem, sometimes Conservative).
We have imported these cultural practices, the Conservatives - May, Johnson and all the rest - have celebrated this diversity. But the truth is it is slowly eating away at all the wonderful principles that previously guaranteed a relatively harmonious society.
TBP should legally challenge the result. Doesn't matter if they lose. Someone needs to challenge this corruption of our electoral processes.
TBP should also put in its manifesto that it will restrict postal votes to people aged over 70 or who have a doctor's note.
...'labour (remain/second referendum in a majority leave Peterborough) got 5,000 of the 6,000 postal votes.' ...
Is there a procedure to have this apparent anomaly checked out? Right thinking people might expect to see a spread of postal votes per party commensurate with the overall vote.
The report I saw from the BBC, you would hardly know they were women; they were referred to as a 'gay couple'. I wonder why they chose not to highlight they were two women. Something going on. Priorities, priorities at the BBC.
And now the attack is caused by right wing populism says one of the victims - a perfect quote for the BBC
“A lot of people’s rights and basic safety are at risk. I want people to feel emboldened to stand up to the same people who feel emboldened by the rightwing populism that is, I feel, responsible for the escalation in hate crimes,” she told the BBC in a televised interview.
The Mash Report is just Guardian news comment disguised as "comedy".
Nish Kumar quotes one report (from a Munich based think tank) about immigration's impact on wages and jobs. This presumably EU-funded report found no negative impact. I've read plenty of reports from various bodies that do find there is a negative impact at the lower income end. Kumar ignores all those. He pins everything on this one report, which he likes, and uses it as an excuse to abuse Conservative politicians calling Cameron and Osborne "morons" for reflecting public concern about immigration - a concern which Kumar claims is completely bogus.
The BBC is dangerously out of control and beneath contempt.
Peter Hitchens has posted an update of the results of his Call the Midwife complaint 'pursued through every level of the BBC’s system for ignoring complaints' and a separate one about a BBC news report on the USA and Russian positions on calling for independent investigation into a chemical attack in Syria. This one strikes me as an example of the BBC's standard mode of creating drama and a political angle out of any event or piece of news. It has gone to OFCOM now but as he notes 'OFCOM is if anything even more politically correct than the BBC...' Amen.
He lets them have both barrels in his final paragraph about the Midwife case, laying out the nature of the BBC obligation under the Charter and the reason they nevertheless ignore complaints: because they can and we can't do a thing about it. https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2019/06/complaining-to-ofcom-about-the-bbc-is-like-complaining-to-cherie-booth-qc-about-anthony-blair-wmd-bu.html
Heard tonight's Radio 4 Profile (aka hagiography) of Sadiq Khan. Some observations:
1. The programme began, like lots of other BBC programmes, with the words of Donald Trump. It was the now famous stone cold loser tweet about Khan. And of course the BBC gave no clues as to what might have prompted it (don't need to be Sherlock Holmes - it was that lengthy, petulant Observer article by Khan associating Trump with 20th century fascists, despite him being a democratically elected leader who respects the constitution of his country).
2. The presenter (Becky Milligan) claimed that Sadiq Khan had said he had to defend "a lot of unsavoury characters like Louis Farrakhan" as a lawyer. Had to? Where is the evidence Khan thinks Farrakhan is "unsavoury", BBC? Many of us will have seen this video where Khan speaks respectfully of "Minister Farrakhan" as someone whom the UK should not refuse entry to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k_lYfGNtKg
3. There was no mention of MI5's interest in Sadiq Khan or Sadiq's political support for Babar Ahmed (he wasn't his client, despite Khan's subtle attempts to make us think he was) - Ahmed subsequently confessed to a terror-related offence in the USA.
4. There was no mention of Khan's contacts with pro-Sharia elements in local mosques or being happy to share a platform with supporters of Hamas, 9/11 conspiracy theorists and a Caliphate:
This looks interesting: 'A return of the series on dialect poetry in different parts of the UK. Poet and novelist Katie Hale explores the legacy of early dialect poets in her native county of Cumbria...' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005mg8
Previous episode was on Northumberland. I wish I'd known about it.
"My honourable and learned friend, who has a bad habit himself, reminds me that the correct spelling is amyl nitrite. I think the honourable gentelman..."
BBC (BH) allowing their Press Review to be used for naked politicking. Some Green functionary using the headlines as an opportunity to propagate the "Bumbling Boris" audio-meme. Jonny Dymond made an ineffectual attempt to remind her this wasn't supposed to be a party political broadcast...ok, well that must mean that all those BBC "comedy" programmes that propagate the Bumbling Boris audio-meme (News Quiz, Now Show, Dead Ringers, HIGNFY, Mash Report, Mock the News and so on) must all be party political broadcasts. For once Dymond is groping towards the truth.
Mark Easton in Herefordshire for a 10 o’clock news item once again misreads the reasons for Brexit. He homed in on Polish strawberry workers and local concerns about immigration and integration.
It’s not all about immigration, stupid.
But you will never hear from Easton or the BBC about the other major EU concerns that gave rise to the referendum result.
Never ever anything negative or critical about the bloated bureaucracy, the unelected officials, the cronyism, the corruption, the European army, the Euro, the superstate intentions, the laws they impose, the EC of J, and so on.
Precisely and I would add that the BBC confirm by their own coverage that the EU is not part of our society. Despite the fact that the EU plays a huge part in the laws that govern us the BBC hardly ever covers in the news any of the processes by which the EU governs us. Unless there is a major "crisis" there is no coverage at all of the EU Parliament, European Council or EU Commission deliberations. What does that tell you? Either that the BBC knows coverage will alienate us even more from the EU (ie piss us off more) - something they are at pains to avoid - or that the average Brit simply cannot relate to such a remote and bureaucratio process. Both answers are essentially pro-Leave points.
Easton loves to cover East European workers in our fields, so to speak...but he never queries why, well into the 21st century, we still need them.
If you go on You Tube you'll find basically that for any crop you care to mention there is a robot harvester. It may surprise Mark Easton to learn that just about every square centimetre of cultivatable land in Japan has something growing on it despite the fact they have an ageing population (much more than us) and are fiercely opposed to immigration of people from different cultures. If Mr Easton can find a square centimetre that isn't cultivated he might have a point - but he can't and so he doesn't.
What we have in the UK is lazy farmers who are only too happy to employ state-subsidised workers from mainland Europe to pick their crops. Well, sorry, farmers...new times - get online and find out how to pick your crops by other means.
Arne - A typical Easton fudge-piece. He tells us, rightly, that in the case of Eastern European immigrants, integration and assimilation are working well, but fails to mention that not all immigrant communities are willing either to integrate or be assimilated.
Probably working well at a cultural level - in the sense that East European cultural values are not v. different from ours - but not at a numbers level. In many parts of England this is what people objected to: the sudden influx of workers from abroad who had access - for free (no previous contributions) - to health, housing, education and a raft of other services.
I am appalled the BBC reporter interrogating Paludan is paid by us to spread anti-Free Speech propaganda across Europe. What's wrong with Free Speech? Free Speech made us great: it gave us as much liberty and happiness as anyone on this planet can get.
Not saying I agree with Rasmus Paludan on everything he says but he says a lot of good things about free speech - particularly that murderers (Jihadis)should not be allowed to determine the limits of free speech in free societies. Of course whatever the politicians or the BBC say, this is precisely what has happened, the Charlie Hebdo murderers (and others) have shifted the parameters of free speech with the connivance of a cowardly and defeatist media. The BBC and the rest of MSM now have a de facto ban on ANY Islamosceptic broadcasting. The Tom Holland cancellation was probably the final breach on free speech on Islam. Now, no one can say anything that can be conceived as "offensive" by
Only surprise - this video is still up on You Tube. I guess if it goes over 100K views they will ban it.
The Cokefiend and Remainist Party has a long, long, long way to go before it regains any sort of trust from the people.
Fortunately for them the "Spectre of Corbynism Stalking the Land" means the bar is set pretty low.
All they have to do is (a) select Boris as their leader (b) deliver a true Brexit by end of October (c) pivot towards a pro-industrial long term policy (low pound, state support, investment planning)... and they will be home and dry.
Only problem is most Conservative MPs hate Boris, want us to Remain in the EU and love the City (aka free money).
Fortunately though, our vestigial democracy means they still have to secure enough votes to remain in Parliament...without that they would definitely have Amber Rudd as PM, stay in the EU and let the money men of the City decide the whole of our economic policy.
Who do you think is running the campaign for Sajid Javid - who voted Remain in the referendum? None other than the leader of Vote Leave, Matthew Elliott who of course campaigned with Gove and Johnson.
OAN reporting is refreshing...doesn't mean I agree with them on everything but they show how the MSM maintain thought control over the general public...
I've commented often on this site about the BBC and MSM picture editors and their choice of image used to convey a bias. Another such is, once again directed at Boris Johnson last week:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48554853
... 'Brexit: Boris Johnson £350m claim case thrown out by judges'...
This unflattering photo showing Boris with a pained expression against the ubiquitous black background is credited to the PressAssociation (PA) with the photographer named as Brian Lawless. It appeared in News and Star The Cumberland News on 18th January 2019:
... 'Boris Johnson urges Theresa May to use Brexit to unite country' ...
The same picture, chosen for its negativity towards Boris was used by the Observer/Guardian at the week-end. The use of stock photos in this way runs counter to the concept of news reporting. It is nothing short of the wish to cause damage to one of the Leadership contenders. The stock photo was taken well before Theresa May resigned and the Leadership election started.
Absolutely Arthur - "the wish to cause damage". And that is of course why the BBC has a co-ordinated attack policy using its so called comedy news shows like HIGNFY etc to target their enemies and generate memes about them e.g. bumbling, bungling Boris (never kooky Caliphate Khan). These get stuck in the public's mind (you'll now hear even Conservative Party members voice them - they never give evidence, just assert these things which shows they are more a matter of brainwashing than anything else). No other candidate has had this sort of sustained negative coverage day in day out. The fact that he's still standing and in fact is in many ways a bigger hitter than ever tells you everything you need to know.
The BBC are leading with : Tory leadership contest: Boris Johnson pledges income tax cut for high earners.
It has been sat there as top headline all morning - it’s a self inflicted error for Boris even if the tax numbers stack up. The BBC know this is a vote loser and will use it to punish him along with any other slip up he make. And sure as eggs are eggs he will make more gaffs.
I’m no Boris fan but the bias the BBC display against him is blatant, constant and obvious to all.
There may be method in Boris's madness - promising the tax cut may be a way of trying to reduce the opposition to his candidature and subsequent Premiership from what one might call the Osbornite faction...the moneyed Mammon worshippers who hate Brexit because they think it will reduce their opportunities to make money and negatively affect their lifestyle.
For the record, this photographs appears on the PA website with a note 'file date 10/01/19 - well before any leadership election. Also, before well before the Chequers summit which prompted Boris's resignation from the cabinet - Sunday 24th March 2019.
At the time the photo was taken, the political landscape was totally different. Boris believed that Brexit would happen. The beleaguered, harassed look of discomfort must have been prompted by another set of circumstances - nothing to do with the leadership elections!
It's not just the photo, though. The headline itself creates a negative impression: worded like that, you might think the judges rejected a claim brought to court by Boris Johnson. It could be accidental or maybe accidental on purpose.
As Arthur observes above - the BBC has targets in the political world it wishes to damage and it will try and damage them in all sorts of ways.
Here's Zurcher, allegedly the BBC's expert analyst of the American political scene, yet showing on his twitter account that he either does not understand American politics and constitution or pretends not to.
President Trump tweeted:
"Twitter should let the banned Conservative Voices back onto their platform, without restriction. It’s called Freedom of Speech, remember. You are making a Giant Mistake!"
Of course Zurcher, although a journalist, sees nothing wrong with these restrictions on free speech because they are targetting his enemies and helping reduce support for the President.
So Zurcher, a registered Democrat as far as I am concerned, tweets as follows:
"The president also believes professional athletes should be fired for engaging in silent protest during the national anthem."
This tweet shows that, despite his contractual requirement to maintain impartiality (recently reiterated by Fran "Useless" Unsworth), Zurcher is completely partisan and is trying to damage Trump.
This is clear when you read the responses to Zurcher's tweet - it is very much supported by the numerous Trump haters who read Zurcher's twitter account. Also, note he doesn't even given Trump a capital P as President.
Of course Zurcher's tweet is nonsense. There is no inconsistency involved. Americans have a constitutional duty to be loyal to their constitution. Culturally this is reflected in respect for the flag. He's asking that the football authorities maintain that culture as it sends a huge message to the public. He's not asking for people to be stopped from stating their opinions about the USA and racism in the USA.
"The BBC's love affair with Rory Stewart continues" Part 4...breathless with admiration at the quixotic master of languid affectation. It was a phone in on WATO...or as I prefer to call it "another opportunity to influence public opinion by fixing questions from the public while making them appear to be random choices". Why else did the BBC end up with 3 questions asked from a Remain perspective and just 1 from a Leave perspective? Mind you, at least the Leave caller did manage to make the telling point that May's "deal" is in effective a no deal agreement or, if you prefer, a pig in a poke. It is a only a "deal" on our withdrawal from the EU - there isn't a single binding pledge about trade (apart from customs arrangements). Remember that - the BBC (and the rest of the MSM) have done a great job in hiding that fact from the public by constantly referencing May's "deal".
Crafty, too: any Tory leadership candidate who pledges to pay for the old folks' licences is going to be slammed for subsidising the Boomers, "That privileged generation that had it all" - Yes, right, struggling to pay mortgage interest rates of 15-16% etc!
StewGreen over on BBBC shows how the BBC have been removing posts from HYS where they are critical of the standard of Women's Football and BBC's PC promotion of these game. These comments are in no way offensive - just simple expressions of opinion. This is our future: full censorship by the State, the BBC, social media platforms and probably even WH Smith will want to know what you plan to do with that pen and pad of A4 paper.
Heard "Just a Minute" this evening. Made me think: how many programmes are left on BBC that haven't been PCified? JAM is about the only one I can think of.
You have to admire the BBCs sheer brass neck with their line of defence on dropping free licences for the over 75s. Tonight on the main news they said that 190000 people responded to their consultation.
48% said they were in favour of continuing concessions. Reforming the current rules was backed by 37% of respondents, with 15% in favour of scrapping concessions.
“So the will of the people must be upheld by 52% to 48%” said Mark Easton
He actually used that line to end the report. I couldn’t quite believe what he said.
I hope the BBC goes ahead with this...can only hasten the BBC's demise. Especially once the BBC get into bureaucratic cock-up territory, with people receiving pensions credit still being prosecuted for non-payment of the licence fee.
I agree with Guido that this could be a golden opportunity for the Brexit Party. Phase out the licence fee within 4 years - 25% cut each year. Also bring in statutory limits on the number of people earning more than £90K within BBC bureaucracy. Allow some bridging grant direct from the state over 10 years, so maybe their income reduces by 10% per annum over that period. Managed transition to subscription service.
Good plan. But how do we phase out the Jeremy Useless Wright currently persisting with cloth-eared legal answers in the House to the queue of MPs insisting that this is a government responsibility - and incidentally a 2017 manifesto commitment? Has there ever been such bland denial coupled with the hard-edged swagger and superciliousness of the practised man of the bar? You're not in court, mister.
And listen to Huw Merriman MP with his idiotic juxtaposition of the millionaire 75-year-old getting a free licence and a poor youngster who cannot afford a house. Ah, the fad for blaming those awful pensioners depriving the youth, which is promoted among Liddems, the Blairite Treasury classes, Lab and Tory, and by the Vicar of Resolution who longs to punish evil old people. Huw is the chairman of the All- Party Parliamentary Group for the BBC. Of course. It's those self-selecting special interest groups again. It took Sammy Wilson to put to Wright the idea that this could lead to viewers deserting the BBC. Naturally, this was brushed off with Wright's characteristic smugness.
MB - re: My reply of 20.20 yesterday, it occurs to me that, if you missed V Derbyshire's 'C-bombing' of Jeremy Hunt, the reference will have gone over your head. Hardly surprising since, BBC TV News seems to have forgotten to mention it. The 'slip' seemed deliberate to me.
A slightly, hic!...differently-named, thread!
ReplyDeleteShe smiles?
ReplyDeleteIf you're talking about her, she does.
DeleteIn fairness, Anna Soubry was laughing there at Emily's sweet "Do come back!" close to the interview. Emily couldn't have said anything nicer to her. Thoughts of them 'getting a room' must be immediately dismissed from the brain.
DeleteThe BBC's love affair with Rory Stewart continues. He has the support of only 5* fellow Conservative MPs. In other words he is a no-hoper. But he is a no hoper backed by Ken Clarke, so a large part of the six o'clock news was given over to publicising his Jeremiads against a clean break Brexit.
ReplyDelete* Boris has 40 supporters.
Think positive - the more no-hopers they back, the greater the chance of getting the right man into no. 10!
DeleteThe BBC hopes and those of Rory may take a big knock after tomorrow’s Peterborough by election. I hope so.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see how the BBC report the result and to watch their subsequent behaviour.
Are we heading for a tipping point with the BBC or are they going to get even more brazen with their political viewpoint?
ReplyDeleteThe total takeover of the corporation by those with a progressive liberal bias has impacted on everything it broadcasts. Licence payers have noticed the shift and as a result the BBC has lost the trust of a significant part of its’ audience.
The BBC have gone into overdrive with promoting their peculiar brand of cultural liberalism. The recent catalysts appear to have been the rise of The Brexit Party and the rise of populism embodied by the election of President Trump.
Everyone seems to jostling to get their dig in at Trump, Farage and anything remotely right wing. News programmes, drama, radio shows, comedy and Twitter are all fair game for presenters to make their point and virtue signal to their London elite echo chamber.
Their TV drama output is pure propaganda and social engineering for identity issues, liberal ideals, PC dialogue and diversity.
Their News programmes sneer, mock and ignore those who don’t adhere to their social liberal agenda.
In the last few weeks the President Trump visit and Brexit Party election success has enabled them to signal their bias in the most disgraceful way. Much of it has already been been documented on this blog and they seem to have discarded any sense of impartiality and balanced reporting.
Which is why I suggest that we may be much closer to a tipping point because of the exponential rate the BBC are currently politicising their output. It can’t continue at this rate without there being a reaction by those of us who finance it and disagree with the agenda it promotes.
If the Peterborough by-election returns a Brexit Party MP, the electorate will be in a much stronger position to engage with the BBC. Of course they will tell us it's a protest vote, a single issue party etc. If TBP continue to grow and prosper then I believe the next General Election will be a straightforward contest between the Lib Dems as Remainers and TBP as Leavers - a rerun of the 2016 Referendum. Whether the PPTP system would deny the majority their wish remains to be seen.
DeleteIn the next general election I'd find it hard to choose between a reinvigorated, Boris-led Tory party & a Farage-led TBP (assuming that both were committed to 'sorting out' the BBC). A coalition, perhaps?
DeleteMy concern is that Boris says is not what he will do. He was going to vote for the WA and on many policies is more like a Blairite than a conservative. I don’t trust him.
DeleteThe mood has changed hasn't it? The Chequers deal and the Abject Surrender document were dire episodes in our recent history. I certainly felt very dejected by the whole thing. But then Parliament, despite all of Bercow's dodgy refereeing were unable to put together a coherent Remainer strategy. The ride turned. Once again we have Nigel Farage to thank for changing things around.
DeleteI am desperately hoping they take the seat tonight because such facts cannot be "silenced" by the BBC.
Ultimately in order to save the UK we need to smash the two party system and put in place PR. It's a long shot but unless we reconnect people and Parliament there's no hope.
the "tide" turned!!
DeleteYes, the Peterborough result is important.
DeleteWhatever happens there tonight will not disguise the fact that a major shift in political allegiances is occurring.
Trying to ignore voters and election results is very dangerous and those trying to forment that will pay the price at the ballot box.
The electorate are not fools.
It has to be said that the Peterborough by-election has not made it onto the BBC News website Homepage today. It's there as an 8 hour old snippet on the Politics page.
DeleteJames O'Brien, no longer of the BBC parish, is certainly still among the most irritating of broadcasters. Normally I can't listen to him at all on BBC and the off button is soon pressed into service, so to speak, but today ostensibly it was a more interesting programme with listeners being invited to give their anecdotes from WW2 - either their own or those of family and friends. So not just JO'B droning on. But even so, he managed to annoy.
ReplyDeleteEvery now and then he would sententiously remind the listener that there was a limit to what could be said because of the Peteborough By Election...but of course at every opportunity he was wringing "lessons from history" to say basically don't vote for right wing, nationalist or populist parties because that will immediately usher in full blown Hitlerism...and he was also laughing at the "rhetorical inversion" that claims it is the left who are the new fascists.
Who's been promoting anti-semitism, banning books, closing down political meetings, throwing the milkshakes and assaulting pensioners mate?
But what annoys me most is his (widely shared) PC version of D Day.
I think if you had asked most of the people involved why they were doing what they did they would say one or more of the following:
1. For King and Country (nationalism)
2. For the Empire (imperialism)
2. For my people (racism)
3. To protect my wife, my family and home (right wing sexism)
4. For freedom, for our culture. (populism)
5. Cos I hate the Gerries (racism)
6. Because you've got to do your duty, haven't you?
(authoritarianism)
Some would have said "to defeat fascism" but not a huge proportion I would suggest.
Sopel can't help himself with the TDS - trying to blame Trump for delaying start of the D Day ceremonies...when it was actually Macron!
ReplyDeleteThe bias is now at such a pathetic, childish, moronic level...
https://twitter.com/BBCJonSopel/status/1136620545363963904
Roland Deschain at B-BBC spotted that too: "He simply can’t help himself, rushing in with a snark."
DeleteI might have committed the ultimate solecism of not h/t-ing...
DeleteIt's funny though as it must be fifty years since people wore hats.
DeleteBBC Radio 4's Law in Action
ReplyDeleteWhat will happen to the European Union judiciary after Brexit?'
What a strange question. Why should anything happen to it? Ah...but read on and you see what:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005mml
More like BBC in action.
Just spotted on Guido: tonight's Question Time panel does not include a single person who voted Leave in the Referendum. They really are waving two fingers at the 17.4 million, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteIt was a logical progression - they were gettting sick and tired of having the one Leaver on the Panel who would complain of being up against 4 Remainers.
DeleteLol! - except that I fear you're right!
DeleteYou know how you sometimes think you've read an article saying something so horrendous that you suspect you may have really dreamt it? Well, I think I came across, today, an article claiming that May has said that she will not step down as PM until she's satisfied that the new party leader will be able to command a majority in the Commons. Has anyone come across this? I haven't managed to find it again, so am hoping it really was a dream - nightmare, more like!
DeleteI shan't relax until the removal van arrives at the back of number 10 to take away her power pack and box full of good, Transylvanian earth.
Sis - it was in the Guardian - now retracted!
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2019/jun/06/tory-leadership-gove-boris-johnson-says-he-would-be-more-flexible-on-brexit-timing-than-johnson-to-avoid-risk-of-election-live-news?page=with:block-5cf91f488f0803f2a595bd45#block-5cf91f488f0803f2a595bd45
Thanks Arne! - glad to know I've not totally lost my grip! :)
DeleteStill don't trust the retraction! That's how she operates!! We need to know what Olly Robins thinks before we can answer for sure.
DeleteRight. Having seen footage of her with Trump on the 5th & today in France, I reckon she is more than usually dangerous at the moment - it's the eyes. Definitely wouldn't want to be left alone in a room with her.
DeleteSharon White head of OFCOM is leaving to become the new boss of John Lewis and Waitrose. Hm. From Treasury to OFCOM and regulator of the BBC to J Lewis. I wonder what she knows about retail.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jun/06/sharon-white-leaves-ofcom-to-join-john-lewis-partnership
She's only going as Chair is my understanding - a figurehead...Just virtue signalling probably. I don't know her...not impressed by her supervision of Ofcom...Her salary is pretty obscene for what is probably a part time job - £990,000.
DeleteI don't think she will be
...Didn't know she was the wife of Robert Chote, head of the Office of Budget Responsibility...it's a v. incestuous world isn't it?
DeleteYes, I've known that for ages. How they do recycle them. It's interesting though given the poor state of retail at the moment including JL. Wonder how that's going to turn out.
DeleteFormer heads of JL have gone in the other direction. Andy Street left to become a mayor in Birmingham? Somewhere Midlandy. The other one, the fat grocer (I forget his actual name but he called himself the fat grocer) thought he should leave to be head of Channel 4 but didn't get the job - why would he? They gave it to someone who had experience in the industry. And he took a job as a government minister I think.
Anon. Andy Street became mayor of the West Midlands - which is pretty 'Midlandy'!
DeleteAh, Thanks, Sisyphus. I wasn't sure exactly and had some doubt whether it was actually Birmingham. It's odd though. I thought mayors were of a city or a borough. Maybe West Midlands is an administrative unit rather than just a geographical area which is what I've always thought it was.
DeleteWhy is it so important that we all know TR's 'real' name yet all these married ladies operate under false colours?
DeleteQT - Piers Morgan becoming a potential future TBP MP? He seems to get better and better as time goes on.
ReplyDeleteAsk yourself why this story is not being covered in the UK MSM, (BBC as silent, possibly more so than the rest)...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGVu6cVTvvw
Steele, an "ex" British spy, was delivering poison into the American body politic. Why? At whose behest? Was he operating independently?
Apparently he has now agreed to testify to Barr...interesting.
Sounds like it's close but TBP have lost in Peterborough from what Tyce is saying...
ReplyDeleteLabour victory in Peterborough?
ReplyDeleteSo Labour MP is found to have lied under oath...sent to prison...
Current Labour leader is a hardline Marxist, supporter of GDR, surrounded by Stalinists...
The Labour candidate likes anti-semitic tweets...
And people of Peterborough elect a new Labour MP?
OK - well to agree, kind of, with Brecht we clearly need to elect a new people. :)
If TBP lose, expect it to be blasted all over the BBC and the rest of the MSM (after very quiet coverage of the actual by election campaign because they didn't want to give TBP any traction).
ReplyDeleteIf you are looking for objective news about the USA try OAN rather than Jon Sopel, Nick Bryant and Katty Kay...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miqi5YWRTz4
And here's the disgusting liberal-left in the USA - actually worse than the BBC...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s3Gaqbok-g
...absolutely no problem with exploiting the public remembrance for veterans and the fallen...
How shaming that a British electorate will elect someone who liked explicitly anti-semitic posts.
ReplyDeleteWhere do we go from here?
In my view TBP need to take the gloves off. This idea we are in the era of normal politics is just not tenable.
Yes, disappointing.
DeleteWhere do we go from here?....
Well, The Brexit Party got 29% of the vote without a manifesto. That's a pretty remarkable achievement .
Conservatives down 25%, Labour down 17%.
That result nationwide would change politics in this country and finish off the Conservatives. So the fall out from this election result will still have repercussions to current events imo.
Interestingly on News at Ten last night, John Pienaar said that Labour were hoping that Muslim voters would turn out strongly for them because with a low turnout that would tilt the odds at the last moment.
Even the BBC are broadcasting how mass immigration has helped the labour vote.
Pienaar said that without a hint of concern. He wasn't bothered at all that a specific demographic will, and does, vote as a block.
DeleteThe U.S has the same problem.
It's indisputable that demographics will define the future of democracies worldwide, and those demographics are based on ethnicity.
As someone who grew up in the 70's in a very politically progressive environment, it makes me sad to see things turning out this way. So called progressives have created an environment of reverse racism where they openly condone and praise a hive mentality based on that which was condemned a couple of decades ago - skin tone.
Combined with social restrictions on questioning why that may be a bad thing, and the ready acceptance of commentators to accept and applaud that 'this is how it is now', I think we're headed in the wrong direction.
It is illegal for clerics to exert undue influence over their co-religionists' voting. Still on the statute books...
DeleteThe postal vote needs rigorous policing - ie evidence of illness/absence from country should be required.
DeleteFile under "beyond parody"...
ReplyDeleteThe BBC get a Guardian journalist to lecture us about truth and 1984 (and make clear that Political Correctness has nothing to do with the idea of thought-policing)!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-48492465/why-nineteen-eighty-four-still-matters
For every brilliant concept introduced in 1984 - from "rewriting history" through "thought crime", "the two minute hate", "the memory hole" to "unperson" - a close parallel can be found in the internal workings and the broadcasting output of the BBC.
Must say WATO hadn't been very interested in the Peterborough by election up till now...boy are they interested now!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is scandalous:
ReplyDeleteA convicted vote-rigger was helping Labour in the Peterborough By Election.
https://www.politicalite.com/labour-2/exclusive-convicted-labour-vote-rigger-out-campaigning-today-for-labour-in-peterborough/
H/t to Cassandra on BBBC.
TBP need to challenge this result.
What is truly scandalous is that this story will be deemed irrelevant by the BBC.
Delete4 or 5 years ago, Radio 4 had a Sunday evening doc about corruption in UK voting. It was very illuminating with lots of first hand evidence.
It simply wouldn't be on Radio 4 today. What happened in the interim ?
From today’s Guardian
DeleteFor Amjad Iqbal and Shabina Qayyum, two Peterborough councillors, the result highlighted the importance of Labour support in the Asian community. “I would say the Muslim vote played a vital role in Lisa Forbes’s success,” Iqbal said.
Iqbal enlisted the help of his cousin Shoukat Farid, a politician in Kashmir, who had been in Peterborough campaigning since 31 May. Farid said lots of Kashmiri people in the constituency knew him and he hoped he had helped to get out the Labour vote.
From: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/234976/UKPGE-2017-electoral-data-report.pdf
Delete...Postal votes accounted for 21.6% of all votes included at the count. This
compares with 20.5% in 2015 and 18.8% in 2009...
Have I read that in Peterborough postal votes outnumbered actual attendees, or did I imagine it?
Arthur - there was a confusing stat that appears to have misled some people...I think it was something like there was 60% turnout of postal voters...that means 60% of those who requested a postal vote used it. You would expect postal vote turnout to be higher than voters on foot.
DeleteArne - That is ringing all sorts of alarm bells for me...not least the Kahmiri connection...this was probably one of those "clan" operations, where everyone who belongs to a clan is told to vote for a particular candidate (doesn't have to be Labour of course - sometimes Lib Dem, sometimes Conservative).
DeleteWe have imported these cultural practices, the Conservatives - May, Johnson and all the rest - have celebrated this diversity. But the truth is it is slowly eating away at all the wonderful principles that previously guaranteed a relatively harmonious society.
TBP should legally challenge the result. Doesn't matter if they lose. Someone needs to challenge this corruption of our electoral processes.
TBP should also put in its manifesto that it will restrict postal votes to people aged over 70 or who have a doctor's note.
JHB/Anne Widdicombe reference the issue...12:50
DeleteSorry - here's the link:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKd5llO8AnI
Won't do any good, will it if they import some 70 year olds from Kashmir or magic up a few thousand extra Peterborough oldies to vote by post.
DeleteH/t Emmanuel Goldstein at BBBC:
Delete...'labour (remain/second referendum in a majority leave Peterborough) got 5,000 of the 6,000 postal votes.' ...
Is there a procedure to have this apparent anomaly checked out? Right thinking people might expect to see a spread of postal votes per party commensurate with the overall vote.
Change.org petition to chase this nonsense up.
DeleteCopy and paste the whole thing into the search bar.
https://www.change.org/p/men-previously-convicted-on-postal-vote-fraud-employed-by-labour-during-this-by-election-investigate-the-postal-votes-that-were-counted-in-the-peterborough-by-election
Something not right about this report on a vicious attack on two innocent women:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48555889
"Bus operator Metroline said there was CCTV footage of the attack and it was co-operating with police."
BBC don't say/aren't interested in when it will be released. The perpetrators could be fleeing the country for all we know.
Why haven't we seen pics of the perpetrators?
Perhaps it's because 4 arrests have been made & video footage can't be shown without prejudicing a trial.
DeleteAnd even though they will have full CCTV footage of the attack, it will takes months or longer for a trial to be held...
DeleteThere’s something strange about it all - this story is going to develop or be quietly forgotten by the MSM.
DeleteMB - Maybe the fact that one of them is a child affects the process.
DeleteThe report I saw from the BBC, you would hardly know they were women; they were referred to as a 'gay couple'. I wonder why they chose not to highlight they were two women. Something going on. Priorities, priorities at the BBC.
DeleteAnd now the attack is caused by right wing populism says one of the victims - a perfect quote for the BBC
Delete“A lot of people’s rights and basic safety are at risk. I want people to feel emboldened to stand up to the same people who feel emboldened by the rightwing populism that is, I feel, responsible for the escalation in hate crimes,” she told the BBC in a televised interview.
The BBC doesn't think this the bomb explosion in Sweden which tore through a block of flats is newsworthy enough for its Europe page.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/PeterSweden7/status/1137043297237688320
But it does find space for a suggestion from a Polish Minister that people should be able to hunt and eat beavers.
The Mash Report is just Guardian news comment disguised as "comedy".
ReplyDeleteNish Kumar quotes one report (from a Munich based think tank) about immigration's impact on wages and jobs. This presumably EU-funded report found no negative impact. I've read plenty of reports from various bodies that do find there is a negative impact at the lower income end. Kumar ignores all those. He pins everything on this one report, which he likes, and uses it as an excuse to abuse Conservative politicians calling Cameron and Osborne "morons" for reflecting public concern about immigration - a concern which Kumar claims is completely bogus.
The BBC is dangerously out of control and beneath contempt.
Peter Hitchens has posted an update of the results of his Call the Midwife complaint 'pursued through every level of the BBC’s system for ignoring complaints' and a separate one about a BBC news report on the USA and Russian positions on calling for independent investigation into a chemical attack in Syria. This one strikes me as an example of the BBC's standard mode of creating drama and a political angle out of any event or piece of news. It has gone to OFCOM now but as he notes 'OFCOM is if anything even more politically correct than the BBC...' Amen.
ReplyDeleteHe lets them have both barrels in his final paragraph about the Midwife case, laying out the nature of the BBC obligation under the Charter and the reason they nevertheless ignore complaints: because they can and we can't do a thing about it.
https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2019/06/complaining-to-ofcom-about-the-bbc-is-like-complaining-to-cherie-booth-qc-about-anthony-blair-wmd-bu.html
Note to add:
DeleteThe Syria-Russia one went to OFCOM and failed.
The Midwife one has just been referred to OFCOM.
Heard tonight's Radio 4 Profile (aka hagiography) of Sadiq Khan. Some observations:
ReplyDelete1. The programme began, like lots of other BBC programmes, with the words of Donald Trump. It was the now famous stone cold loser tweet about Khan. And of course the BBC gave no clues as to what might have prompted it (don't need to be Sherlock Holmes - it was that lengthy, petulant Observer article by Khan associating Trump with 20th century fascists, despite him being a democratically elected leader who respects the constitution of his country).
2. The presenter (Becky Milligan) claimed that Sadiq Khan had said he had to defend "a lot of unsavoury characters like Louis Farrakhan" as a lawyer. Had to? Where is the evidence Khan thinks Farrakhan is "unsavoury", BBC? Many of us will have seen this video where Khan speaks respectfully of "Minister Farrakhan" as someone whom the UK should not refuse entry to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k_lYfGNtKg
3. There was no mention of MI5's interest in Sadiq Khan or Sadiq's political support for Babar Ahmed (he wasn't his client, despite Khan's subtle attempts to make us think he was) - Ahmed subsequently confessed to a terror-related offence in the USA.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/feb/21/houseofcommons
4. There was no mention of Khan's contacts with pro-Sharia elements in local mosques or being happy to share a platform with supporters of Hamas, 9/11 conspiracy theorists and a Caliphate:
https://www.globalmbwatch.com/2016/04/26/london-mayoral-candidate-sadiq-khan-once-shared-platform-with-ukmuslim-brotherhoodhamas-figures-we-told-you-about-this-in-2010/
Khan couldn't have been given an easier ride if the "profile" (nofile?) had been written by his mother.
This looks interesting:
ReplyDelete'A return of the series on dialect poetry in different parts of the UK. Poet and novelist Katie Hale explores the legacy of early dialect poets in her native county of Cumbria...'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005mg8
Previous episode was on Northumberland. I wish I'd known about it.
The Cokefiend and Remainist Party needs to smell the amyl nitrate and wake up. It's in danger of going down the pan.
ReplyDeleteYou can't have a party of place seekers divorced from the concerns of the people.
It's almost as if someone is beating a path to No. 10 for Corbyn.
Let me put it in language they will understand: you need to get your shit together, man.
They only get the one chance: select Boris and get us out of the EU by 31st October.
"My honourable and learned friend, who has a bad habit himself, reminds me that the correct spelling is amyl nitrite. I think the honourable gentelman..."
DeleteMaybe I've been on the coke all night...that last sentence should have read "I thank the honourable gentleman..."
DeleteBBC (BH) allowing their Press Review to be used for naked politicking. Some Green functionary using the headlines as an opportunity to propagate the "Bumbling Boris" audio-meme. Jonny Dymond made an ineffectual attempt to remind her this wasn't supposed to be a party political broadcast...ok, well that must mean that all those BBC "comedy" programmes that propagate the Bumbling Boris audio-meme (News Quiz, Now Show, Dead Ringers, HIGNFY, Mash Report, Mock the News and so on) must all be party political broadcasts. For once Dymond is groping towards the truth.
ReplyDeleteMartine, Martine, Martine, Mar-tiiiine!!
ReplyDeletePlease don't try to pretend you understand!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZibEHDH8G4
MB - Planks, two short, thick as!
DeleteMark Easton in Herefordshire for a 10 o’clock news item once again misreads the reasons for Brexit. He homed in on Polish strawberry workers and local concerns about immigration and integration.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not all about immigration, stupid.
But you will never hear from Easton or the BBC about the other major EU concerns that gave rise to the referendum result.
Never ever anything negative or critical about the bloated bureaucracy, the unelected officials, the cronyism, the corruption, the European army, the Euro, the superstate intentions, the laws they impose, the EC of J, and so on.
Precisely and I would add that the BBC confirm by their own coverage that the EU is not part of our society. Despite the fact that the EU plays a huge part in the laws that govern us the BBC hardly ever covers in the news any of the processes by which the EU governs us. Unless there is a major "crisis" there is no coverage at all of the EU Parliament, European Council or EU Commission deliberations. What does that tell you? Either that the BBC knows coverage will alienate us even more from the EU (ie piss us off more) - something they are at pains to avoid - or that the average Brit simply cannot relate to such a remote and bureaucratio process. Both answers are essentially pro-Leave points.
DeleteEaston loves to cover East European workers in our fields, so to speak...but he never queries why, well into the 21st century, we still need them.
If you go on You Tube you'll find basically that for any crop you care to mention there is a robot harvester. It may surprise Mark Easton to learn that just about every square centimetre of cultivatable land in Japan has something growing on it despite the fact they have an ageing population (much more than us) and are fiercely opposed to immigration of people from different cultures. If Mr Easton can find a square centimetre that isn't cultivated he might have a point - but he can't and so he doesn't.
What we have in the UK is lazy farmers who are only too happy to employ state-subsidised workers from mainland Europe to pick their crops. Well, sorry, farmers...new times - get online and find out how to pick your crops by other means.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteArne - A typical Easton fudge-piece. He tells us, rightly, that in the case of Eastern European immigrants, integration and assimilation are working well, but fails to mention that not all immigrant communities are willing either to integrate or be assimilated.
ReplyDeleteYes, Sisyphus. Spot on. That’s the elephant in the room but the BBC will never ever raise it. I wonder why not?
DeleteProbably working well at a cultural level - in the sense that East European cultural values are not v. different from ours - but not at a numbers level. In many parts of England this is what people objected to: the sudden influx of workers from abroad who had access - for free (no previous contributions) - to health, housing, education and a raft of other services.
DeleteMB - Point taken.
DeleteH/T to GWF at BBBC...Rasmus Paludan doesn't take any prisoners does he?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNqLl6J8jM8&t=375s
I am appalled the BBC reporter interrogating Paludan is paid by us to spread anti-Free Speech propaganda across Europe. What's wrong with Free Speech? Free Speech made us great: it gave us as much liberty and happiness as anyone on this planet can get.
Not saying I agree with Rasmus Paludan on everything he says but he says a lot of good things about free speech - particularly that murderers (Jihadis)should not be allowed to determine the limits of free speech in free societies. Of course whatever the politicians or the BBC say, this is precisely what has happened, the Charlie Hebdo murderers (and others) have shifted the parameters of free speech with the connivance of a cowardly and defeatist media. The BBC and the rest of MSM now have a de facto ban on ANY Islamosceptic broadcasting. The Tom Holland cancellation was probably the final breach on free speech on Islam. Now, no one can say anything that can be conceived as "offensive" by
Only surprise - this video is still up on You Tube.
I guess if it goes over 100K views they will ban it.
The Cokefiend and Remainist Party has a long, long, long way to go before it regains any sort of trust from the people.
ReplyDeleteFortunately for them the "Spectre of Corbynism Stalking the Land" means the bar is set pretty low.
All they have to do is (a) select Boris as their leader (b) deliver a true Brexit by end of October (c) pivot towards a pro-industrial long term policy (low pound, state support, investment planning)... and they will be home and dry.
Only problem is most Conservative MPs hate Boris, want us to Remain in the EU and love the City (aka free money).
Fortunately though, our vestigial democracy means they still have to secure enough votes to remain in Parliament...without that they would definitely have Amber Rudd as PM, stay in the EU and let the money men of the City decide the whole of our economic policy.
Who do you think is running the campaign for Sajid Javid - who voted Remain in the referendum? None other than the leader of Vote Leave, Matthew Elliott who of course campaigned with Gove and Johnson.
Delete...well quite!
DeleteI am not trusting in the honour of Conservative MPs only their sense of self-preservation.
OAN reporting is refreshing...doesn't mean I agree with them on everything but they show how the MSM maintain thought control over the general public...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2r9Qhl7ZVY
I've commented often on this site about the BBC and MSM picture editors and their choice of image used to convey a bias. Another such is, once again directed at Boris Johnson last week:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48554853
... 'Brexit: Boris Johnson £350m claim case thrown out by judges'...
This unflattering photo showing Boris with a pained expression against the ubiquitous black background is credited to the PressAssociation (PA) with the photographer named as Brian Lawless. It appeared in News and Star The Cumberland News on 18th January 2019:
https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/national/17366943.boris-johnson-urges-theresa-may-to-use-brexit-to-unite-country/
with the headline
... 'Boris Johnson urges Theresa May to use Brexit to unite country' ...
The same picture, chosen for its negativity towards Boris was used by the Observer/Guardian at the week-end. The use of stock photos in this way runs counter to the concept of news reporting. It is nothing short of the wish to cause damage to one of the Leadership contenders. The stock photo was taken well before Theresa May resigned and the Leadership election started.
Absolutely Arthur - "the wish to cause damage". And that is of course why the BBC has a co-ordinated attack policy using its so called comedy news shows like HIGNFY etc to target their enemies and generate memes about them e.g. bumbling, bungling Boris (never kooky Caliphate Khan). These get stuck in the public's mind (you'll now hear even Conservative Party members voice them - they never give evidence, just assert these things which shows they are more a matter of brainwashing than anything else). No other candidate has had this sort of sustained negative coverage day in day out. The fact that he's still standing and in fact is in many ways a bigger hitter than ever tells you everything you need to know.
DeleteIt looks like a Boris vs J Hunt run-off. We can expect the BBC to use Arthur’s type of guerrilla tactics to damage Boris whilst claiming impartiality.
DeleteThe BBC are leading with :
DeleteTory leadership contest: Boris Johnson pledges income tax cut for high earners.
It has been sat there as top headline all morning - it’s a self inflicted error for Boris even if the tax numbers stack up. The BBC know this is a vote loser and will use it to punish him along with any other slip up he make. And sure as eggs are eggs he will make more gaffs.
I’m no Boris fan but the bias the BBC display against him is blatant, constant and obvious to all.
There may be method in Boris's madness - promising the tax cut may be a way of trying to reduce the opposition to his candidature and subsequent Premiership from what one might call the Osbornite faction...the moneyed Mammon worshippers who hate Brexit because they think it will reduce their opportunities to make money and negatively affect their lifestyle.
DeleteBut it wouldn't be what I would focus on...
For the record, this photographs appears on the PA website with a note 'file date 10/01/19 - well before any leadership election. Also, before well before the Chequers summit which prompted Boris's resignation from the cabinet - Sunday 24th March 2019.
DeleteAt the time the photo was taken, the political landscape was totally different. Boris believed that Brexit would happen. The beleaguered, harassed look of discomfort must have been prompted by another set of circumstances - nothing to do with the leadership elections!
- 'Sunday 24th March 2019'. DELETE.
DeleteBoris resigned 9th July 2018 as Foreign Secretary.
It's not just the photo, though. The headline itself creates a negative impression: worded like that, you might think the judges rejected a claim brought to court by Boris Johnson. It could be accidental or maybe accidental on purpose.
DeleteAs Arthur observes above - the BBC has targets in the political world it wishes to damage and it will try and damage them in all sorts of ways.
ReplyDeleteHere's Zurcher, allegedly the BBC's expert analyst of the American political scene, yet showing on his twitter account that he either does not understand American politics and constitution or pretends not to.
President Trump tweeted:
"Twitter should let the banned Conservative Voices back onto their platform, without restriction. It’s called Freedom of Speech, remember. You are making a Giant Mistake!"
Of course Zurcher, although a journalist, sees nothing wrong with these restrictions on free speech because they are targetting his enemies and helping reduce support for the President.
So Zurcher, a registered Democrat as far as I am concerned, tweets as follows:
"The president also believes professional athletes should be fired for engaging in silent protest during the national anthem."
This tweet shows that, despite his contractual requirement to maintain impartiality (recently reiterated by Fran "Useless" Unsworth), Zurcher is completely partisan and is trying to damage Trump.
This is clear when you read the responses to Zurcher's tweet - it is very much supported by the numerous Trump haters who read Zurcher's twitter account. Also, note he doesn't even given Trump a capital P as President.
Of course Zurcher's tweet is nonsense. There is no inconsistency involved. Americans have a constitutional duty to be loyal to their constitution. Culturally this is reflected in respect for the flag. He's asking that the football authorities maintain that culture as it sends a huge message to the public. He's not asking for people to be stopped from stating their opinions about the USA and racism in the USA.
"The BBC's love affair with Rory Stewart continues" Part 4...breathless with admiration at the quixotic master of languid affectation. It was a phone in on WATO...or as I prefer to call it "another opportunity to influence public opinion by fixing questions from the public while making them appear to be random choices". Why else did the BBC end up with 3 questions asked from a Remain perspective and just 1 from a Leave perspective? Mind you, at least the Leave caller did manage to make the telling point that May's "deal" is in effective a no deal agreement or, if you prefer, a pig in a poke. It is a only a "deal" on our withdrawal from the EU - there isn't a single binding pledge about trade (apart from customs arrangements). Remember that - the BBC (and the rest of the MSM) have done a great job in hiding that fact from the public by constantly referencing May's "deal".
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48583487
ReplyDeleteThe BBC announced that they are to scrap free tv licences for over 75s
They say it will it will cost them £250m which is disingenuous because they will raise £579m.
This is where they aren’t playing it with a straight bat - nowhere do they mention the revenue.
Fake news and a disgraceful decision to boot. It’s the biggest gravy train going.
Crafty, too: any Tory leadership candidate who pledges to pay for the old folks' licences is going to be slammed for subsidising the Boomers, "That privileged generation that had it all" - Yes, right, struggling to pay mortgage interest rates of 15-16% etc!
DeleteStewGreen over on BBBC shows how the BBC have been removing posts from HYS where they are critical of the standard of Women's Football and BBC's PC promotion of these game. These comments are in no way offensive - just simple expressions of opinion. This is our future: full censorship by the State, the BBC, social media platforms and probably even WH Smith will want to know what you plan to do with that pen and pad of A4 paper.
ReplyDeleteIt does make you wonder what else they censor on HYS. The comments are often skewed to support a particular point of view.
DeleteAre they unadulterated comments or have they been doctored?
Heard "Just a Minute" this evening. Made me think: how many programmes are left on BBC that haven't been PCified? JAM is about the only one I can think of.
ReplyDeleteZurcher is getting nervous about Twitter censorship...
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/awzurcher/status/1138091767109226496
To effing little, too effing late, Anthony.
Language! Oo do you fink you are, Victoria Derbyshire? ;-)
DeleteYes, sorry about the language - that "to" should obviously have been a "too".
DeleteYou have to admire the BBCs sheer brass neck with their line of defence on dropping free licences for the over 75s. Tonight on the main news they said that 190000 people responded to their consultation.
ReplyDelete48% said they were in favour of continuing concessions. Reforming the current rules was backed by 37% of respondents, with 15% in favour of scrapping concessions.
“So the will of the people must be upheld by 52% to 48%” said Mark Easton
He actually used that line to end the report. I couldn’t quite believe what he said.
I hope the BBC goes ahead with this...can only hasten the BBC's demise. Especially once the BBC get into bureaucratic cock-up territory, with people receiving pensions credit still being prosecuted for non-payment of the licence fee.
DeleteI agree with Guido that this could be a golden opportunity for the Brexit Party. Phase out the licence fee within 4 years - 25% cut each year. Also bring in statutory limits on the number of people earning more than £90K within BBC bureaucracy. Allow some bridging grant direct from the state over 10 years, so maybe their income reduces by 10% per annum over that period. Managed transition to subscription service.
Good plan. But how do we phase out the Jeremy Useless Wright currently persisting with cloth-eared legal answers in the House to the queue of MPs insisting that this is a government responsibility - and incidentally a 2017 manifesto commitment? Has there ever been such bland denial coupled with the hard-edged swagger and superciliousness of the practised man of the bar? You're not in court, mister.
DeleteAnd listen to Huw Merriman MP with his idiotic juxtaposition of the millionaire 75-year-old getting a free licence and a poor youngster who cannot afford a house. Ah, the fad for blaming those awful pensioners depriving the youth, which is promoted among Liddems, the Blairite Treasury classes, Lab and Tory, and by the Vicar of Resolution who longs to punish evil old people. Huw is the chairman of the All- Party Parliamentary Group for the BBC. Of course. It's those self-selecting special interest groups again. It took Sammy Wilson to put to Wright the idea that this could lead to viewers deserting the BBC. Naturally, this was brushed off with Wright's characteristic smugness.
MB - re: My reply of 20.20 yesterday, it occurs to me that, if you missed V Derbyshire's 'C-bombing' of Jeremy Hunt, the reference will have gone over your head. Hardly surprising since, BBC TV News seems to have forgotten to mention it. The 'slip' seemed deliberate to me.
ReplyDeleteSorry, 20.12, not 20.20!
Delete