Come the revolution

Meanwhile in a galaxy far, far away...

I suppose I ought to mention #wreathgate. 

In a thrice-shown segment on Monday morning's BBC Breakfast, the BBC mistakenly ran a 2016 clip of Boris Johnson laying a wreath at the Cenotaph, rather than video from this year. The BBC has subsequently apologised. The programme's editor said that a producer used archive video in error, which had been restored to preview Remembrance Sunday.

So it was just a cock-up.

Or was it? Well, not according to the BBC's Corbynista critics. 2,000 of them have already complained about it, accusing the corporation of "misrepresenting, distorting and lying" by deliberately inserting that three-year old footage into the package "to make Johnson look good".

Why would the BBC do that? Because Boris apparently laid the wreath the wrong way up this year and looked scruffier this year, whereas three years ago laid it the right way up and looked less scruffy, so the BBC were covering for him because of their pro-Tory bias.

The fuss became the usual Twitter tornado and Richard Frediani, the editor of BBC Breakfast, was even hauled onto Newswatch this week to go over it all over again, and apologise all over again.

I don't doubt that Mr Frediani's very detailed explanation was correct, but the Corbynistas are refusing to accept it.

The anger of the Corbynistas seems genuine and has, at times, taken a turn towards the downright sinister. Many a 'come a Corbyn government and you'll pay for this' tweet has been sent forth this week.

And it didn't stop there. The same crowd then got angry at the BBC for using a caption on Friday's Politics Live quoting BT's managing director Neil McRae, who'd branded Labour's broadband plans "broadband communism". The caption had a question mark at the end of those two words and quotation marks around the second word, and it was discussed with Labour's eyebrow-raising Rebecca Long-Bailey. And it alternated with a section caption that read 'Labour promise free broadband', which no Corbynista could surely object to.

Ash Sarkar's best buddy at Norovirus Media, Aaron Bastani, led the charge, accusing the BBC of smearing Labour, and one subsequent reply to their exchange - cited below - sums up a fairly widespread sentiment among the angrier Corbynista outriders:

Rob, you're extremely disingenuous. But I'll be straight with you -

When we win we're going to put you and those like you out of a job. We will reform the BBC and ensure it is a proper unbiased platform rather than a mouthpiece for any government.
Expect us.

— Vote Labour (@DrKRodgers) November 15, 2019

If we do get a Corbyn government on 13 December this threat is more than likely to be realised.

P.S. ITV's Alistair Stewart paid this warm tribute to the BBC's Mr Frediani:

Honourable & characteristic of the man. I worked for Richard Frediani for many years at ITV News: he is a man of total honesty, integrity and candour. Innocent mistakes happen. Good folk say sorry and redouble their efforts to avoid such mistakes in future. That is all.