Huw's got his Christmas jumper on, though he's not very happy. Apparently, lots of us aren't going to get presents from him this year because we've been very naughty by accusing the BBC of bias!!
At this time of short days, long nights and cold winds from the north, it's good to pursue a home-based hobby. May I recommend my current favourite: twitter-trawling.
Take a twitter feed from some Boris-hating Beeb favourite (I've been on Rachel Sylvester's)...start a few months back, enjoy just how prejudiced and wrong all their tweets, predictions and attached articles are as you work forward, until finally you get to that awkward bump in the road on 12 December - or more accurately that yawning chasm of a credibility gap for these pundits and pontificators! - and see how nimbly they negotiate it...
If you get a chance to watch her 'The Papers' performance, do. I think it was around midnight. Clearly, she has learned nothing from the election result. The fanatical gleam in her eyes looked positively deranged - I would not want to find myself alone in a room with her!
Huw 'anchored' the 5pm bulletin on the News Channel. He had bags under the bags under his eyes and looked as though he'd been slugged with a large bag,full of wet sand - or something. Perhaps he'd just emerged from an 'interview without coffee' with Lord Hall - That's a fine mess you've got me into!" Even the Divine Sophie was looking chastened, earlier on.
Just switched over to see what nonsense Newsnight were sprouting and just caught a minute of what's described as Christmas comedy from Philomena Cunk, and guess what? Stuffed full of the usual BBC PC drivel. About as funny as a boil on your arse.
... Newsnight were sprouting and just caught .... Christmas dinner on your mind there Anon. Did you mean 'spouting'? I have set these five-minute interludes to record so that I can watch them all in one go.
Gold seems to be the channel where traditional British comedy ends up. Diane Morgan who plays Philomena Cunk was quite good recently in The Cockfields - a comedy set on the Isle of Wight. Nigel Havers, Sarah Parish,Sue Johnstone and Bobby Ball were amongst others who made up an experienced cast. Probably, the only means by which this type of programme would be broadcast on the BBC would be if it ticked a good few PC and diversity boxes.
Fair amount of nonsense on 'The Papers,' too. Breathtaking arrogance from Rachel Shabi who spent the programme sneering and smirking at Digby Jones' every utterance. Ms Shabi believes that Labour's policies were extremely popular with the public - anybody less conceited would have been silenced by Digby's, "Oh, I see, that's why they've just been annihilated at the ballot box, is it?" (I paraphrase).
Yep, they've just put up a puff piece about Thornberry...
For some reason they allowed comments, which could in all honesty be going better. This one is typical:
"Emily Thornberry is one of the most malevolent, malignant individuals ever to soil British politics. She is a truly self-serving, self-pitying, self-righteous big mouth with lots of drivel but no content. "
Then there's the Amol Rajan article, defending the BBC's impartiality in totally partisan terms that offers not an iota of concession to the BBC's critics.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50817529
The dismissive, derisive tone is captured well here where he refers to the "characters" in government:
"Right now, the characters in charge of Britain, who have a strong mandate and the wind in their sails, include several known sceptics of [sic] the BBC."
Had Labour come in and media policy was under the control of Dawn Butler or Angeline Rayner, would he be referring to them as "characters"? Er no. He'd be reverential in tone as he is with the progressive media types who populate his "look-at-me" radio show.
Yes, I read this article written by he who never smiles. He refers to the 'knowing nods' from the elders of the BBC who have seen it all before - 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned'. The BBC really couldn't care less. They are totally bomb-proof. Any radical changes to the BBC would undoubtedly make wealthy men and women of the senior staff to ease their way into gardening leave or retirement.
Ah bless...the BBC Reality Check team of 100 plus personnel seem to have had a collective nervous breakdown and haven't produced a Reality Check for the last 5 days apart from one telling us the Durham Miners Gala takes place in the City of Durham...after Michael Gove repeated an error from Piers Morgan.
You really need to take action on the housing crisis (the causes of which have never been properly investigated by the BBC).
Obviously the most important thing to do is to turn off the migration tap, certainly to stop low income migrants coming here who then need financial support to afford housing. You'll need a proper infrastructure levy on migration, deterrents to bogus asylum seeking and breaking of the link between work-related migration and naturalisation. Restricting sales of old housing stock to overseas buyers is also necessary.
OK, that said, you also need to address the acute housing shortage caused by the errors of the Blair-Cameron-May period.
First up, you need to increase the supply. And do so seriously. This will probably require a number of approaches:
1. Putting in place an innovative programme of cheap housing solutions. Government needs to find a way of producing units cheaply. Here is one example - 3D printing:
3D and prefab construction will also reduce our dependency on migrant labour in the construction industry.
2. In addition to finding ways of producing housing cheaply, we need to free up land for that housing. Here we may need to create obligations on local authorities, water companies, Network Rail, government departments, land hoarders and others to lease land to a housing body at cheap rates.
3. We then need innovative ways of letting out or selling these new properties. In many European countries housing estates are owned by co-operatives. People buy into the co-operative rather than a particular property.
So that might be one route. Another might be to sell off renewable ten year leases. People can then sell on their ten year leases, after 10 years, to others or renew their own. This way people will have a truly affordable entry into home ownership.
4. In many parts of the country, the housing units are there but in the wrong place. There the solution might involve building fast transport routes between city centres and outlying villages and towns. To do this quickly will probably involve creation of many more tram routes. A stop-gap might be to create subsidised express bus routes.
5. Create incentives for older people to move out of large houses. You might for instance create a system where anyone aged 70 or over receives the proceeds of the stamp duty on their house if they sell on within the next three years.
I couldn't agree more, but there are some seemingly unsurmountable difficulties with almost every potential solution. Overcrowding within cities, with London the prime example, is the underlying cause. An unprecedented building surge in annual housebuilding is needed just to stay still, and prevent conditions from worsening.
From personal experience I can say that prefabrication or modular building makes perfect sense in terms of economy, but will never be accepted by developers, architects or building societies.
Another major issue comes with the eco-home concept. This is akin to social engineering. I have no doubt that schemes such as the Stirling Prize winning scheme in Norwich will have requirements for cherry-picking their tenants, that might impact upon their 'quiet enjoyment' of their property.
As for Sadiq Kahn's hollow promises about substantial housebuilding in the gardens of outer London, this is pie in the sky - Corbynomics.
Yep, they never learn, do they? Katya Adler continuing in her role as EU Media Spokesperson (from her twitter account):
"Keep hearing: «Johnson has stonking majority. Gives him huge power in trade talks» BUT EU view is thats it’s in stronger position: huge trading bloc of 27 nations plus EU Commission whose lifeblood is negotiating trade ALTHOUGH Having so many players is potentially a weakness for EU as must agree strategy and keep everyone onboard throughout. EU managed that beyond anyone’s expectations in #Brexit divorce deal. Trade talks will be harder. EU countries have differing priorities. AND YET Despite all that, EU still believes it’s in a far stronger negotiating position than UK."
As another tweeter comments: "Thank you for openly shilling for the #EU. The #BBC is very like the #EU -- living off other people's money and thinking it has the moral high ground to tell them what to do and think. Both institutions need radical overhaul or dissolution."
On the R4 News on Today this morning I heard an item about what Thornberry said in September about Labour's policy of Exiting the EU. Bizarre, I thought, to give it prominence in a news bulletin. And they even brought in Kuennsberg to opine. Why? It's not interesting or of moment. Who cares what she said or thought anyway? Are they trying to support her in some way for leadership or in her spat with Caroline Flint? No. It turns out Kuennsberg has a programme on tv tonight and this was a plug! On Politics Live they did a piece on it, which seemed interminable, with Kuennsberg featured, rabbiting on and on as if it was something worth our time. Incidentally, does she know the word 'Conservatives'? The rabbiting seemed to be 'Tories' only.
The BBC is shameless with its self-promotion and its determination to fill the air and the screen with self-important babble.
They are certainly giving her support, I guess until Starmer throws his hat in the ring, if he does. I suspect Starmer will be their favoured candidate, since he probably attends the same dinner parties that Lord Hall does and is slightly more voter-friendly than Thornberry.
They learn nothing do they? BBC favourite Ayesha Hazarika is pushing Sadiq Khan as a future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
This is the guy who gave his political support to Babar Ahmed (now convicted in the USA of terrorism-related offences), was investigated by MI5 and who announced as Mayor that we just have to get used to terrorist incidents in London as they are "part and parcel" of big city life (in Budapest too, Sadiq?).
You would think that they would have learned after Corbyn's associations with terrorists and weak stance on terrorism caused such offence on the doorstep.
Incidentally Ayesha works (along with George Osborne) for a paper that was bought out by a Russian KGB officer and his son - and the son, Evegeny Lebedev is still in charge. Can you imagine how they would be screaming blue murder if a "right wing" publication had that background? Note also the Camerons attended a big celebration put on by Evgeny Lebedev the other night.
Was that party not attended by the PM as well? Hazarika was an adviser to Miliband Ed, an old mucker of SadiQ Khan's. When she's not on the BBC, she's on Sky News. Lebedev is also the owner of The Independent; the Standard's City editor seems to do duty on both papers. There's another BBC connection too, none other than Amol Rajan who used to edit The Independent.
Thanks...yes I initially thought Boris had been to the party, but now think he didn't. Not that I would have been surprised if he had...
I am simply pointing up the absurd contradiction between the elite's (mostly ridiculous) claims about Russian influence over our democracy when they allowed an ex KGB guy to buy up slabs of our media - that's REAL influence!
After the shock result, the BBC are putting together the new narrative:
1. It was an unpopularity contest, and Boris had negative ratings like the other two main leaders. So his victory is illegitimate despite him scoring 33 points better than Swinson and 39 points better than Corbyn. A better Labour candidate would obviously have beaten him. Johnson just got lucky - getting lucky doesn't mean he deserves to be PM.
2. He didn't win a majority of the popular vote. He only won because of our unfair FPTP system. His victory is therefore not legitimate.
3. He cannot get Brexit done within a year, so he will break his promise to the British people, or he will leave on No Deal, which will also break his promise to the British people. Breaking promises make his victory illegitimate.
She writes - A moment of early chest beating - The new clause in the Brexit bill might rattle business - and the opposition parties - because it is, in theory, making it more likely that we could exit the EU departure lounge without a full trade deal in place. Whatever metaphor you want to use, be it a trap door or a new cliff edge, there is outrage already in some quarters of Westminster at the move.
Outage by some? Only those in Broadcasting House. The below the line comments are very supportive.
This line of attack will be built into a narrative over the coming aimed at causing the Government discomfort. BBC journalists will be busy gathering quotes from the usual remainer/rejoin suspects and filming supportive voxpops.
On the 6pm BBC One News John Pienaar said Boris ran his first cabinet like a pantomime and a messy no deal Brexit was back on the cards.
EU shill Katya Adler said the EU will have shrugged it’s shoulders and thought it was just sabre rattling and a game of chicken which is bad news for our viewers.
We can expect much more of this and it will just further alienate Conservative voters. The content and tone is not balanced so just who are they trying to impress or win over?
But then you're intelligent enough to know all three of those points are true. The BBC always goes with plausibility for the sake of historical record. The Conservative front bench has decided to follow Trump's playbook - keep the base onside while it's a base. But they haven't got the clout or the brass balls, so how will it pan out ?
Chris Morris has done a reality check on the new clause. He’s a very clever chap because he can see into the future and explains with some certainty how the trade deal is going to pan out.
Charlie - Yes, Chris Morris is Mystic Meg Morris! He can see far into the future...obviously he didn't see how easily Boris would find it to achieve a new Withdrawal Agreement...but that is now in the past so that doesn't count.
Anon - I wouldn't say those three points were "truths" - they are "ways of seeing" as the late John Berger might have said...yes they have factual kernels which provide the kind of deniability the BBC likes but they are essentially polemical points which you would expect to be proposed by politicians, not allegedly impartial broadcasters.
But listen to the tosh LK is coming out with: "The judiciary have an allergy to politics" - or something very like that. Really??? The sense I get is that people like Lady Hale and Jonathan Sumption are only too happy to enter the political fray, given that they do and have big smiles on their faces when they do.
Lewis LURVS the Lady (the mad cat lady pretending to be a judge)...that's good to know as he will soon be spreading his pro-EU, pro-Labour, anti-Boris bias on BBC's Newsnight! :)
Here’s a piece of analysis from my favourite topic BBC Reality Check. It’s from Ross Clark in The Sun today;
I’ve just been through the Twitter feed of the BBC’s “Reality Check”. Since the parties launched their campaigns, 39 of its tweets rejected claims made by the Conservatives and two tweets were generally supportive of claims the party had made.
By contrast, only seven tweets rejected claims made by Labour, while 13 supported its claims. Not one tweet, though, dealt with the biggest lie of the campaign by far — Labour’s charge that the Conservatives are planning to sell off the NHS.
Yes - that's interesting Charlie. They must read this site, because I conducted the same exercise a couple of months ago on a random ten latest tweets and found 90% were targetted at the Conservative or Leaver statements.
And yes, I've noticed how reluctant the Reality Check are to address the "Big Lie" about the Conservatives selling off the NHS.
They also have not tackled the truth or otherwise of Corbyn's claims that he personally abhors anti-Jewish hate - if so, why has he shared platforms with so many people who peddle such hate? Or that he was an early supporter of the peace process in Northern Ireland? Really?? Well no doubt there will be pictures of him speaking to and shaking hands with the Peace Women.
Many claimed he could not win the election. Only a few were firm in their predictions, people like John Ashworth MP but for some reason he has been slow to take credit for the accuracy of his prediction.
Today's Jeremy Vine show has a section dedicated to 'why we lost the election'. He is joined by other Labour supporters (M.P.s). Please only 'phone in to join the discussion if you belong to the Labour Party.
As another post highlighted earlier, at the moment (always, perhaps) the BBC is totally obsessed with Labour, the aftermath and the new leader. Just about all their energies are going into this as if the rest of us are as interested at the metro-liberals are.
For leader, I hope they pick a London-centric remainer like Starmer or Thornberry to put the final nail in their coffin.
The whole pack of them are all potential coffin nails.
Probably Starmer is the most dangerous...but first thing Labour has to decide is whether to apply to rejoin the EU. The Remainiacs won't be giving up. Give it 5 years and they will have all drifted to a "Rejoin" and even if they don't Boris can claim that's what they secretly intend. Chris Morris will enjoy reality-checking that one!
... 'General election 2019: Labour losses in Stoke-on-Trent' ...
But, the headline is:
... 'Johnson's buffoonery won over Corbyn's ideology'. ...
Of course, when the article is archived the damaging headline will be removed. Will the BBC never learn that their efforts to ridicule Boris Johnson just make them look foolish.
I've made a complaint to the BBC over the use of this clickbait headline. Readers should know that complaining is easier now than it was a month or two ago. There are three stages with only a handful of boxes to fill out.
Someone somewhere was warning that as with the anti-Trump factions in the USA, they will never give up. They managed to temporarily halt his advance to the highest office (thanks Mr Gove) and they tried to scupper his Leadership campaign by enlarging his personal failings to produce a picture of being "unfit for office".
They thought they could derail his Prime Ministership through the politicsed Supreme Court and by turning him into a marionette of the Remainiacs in Parliament. That ultimately failed - they could not stop him getting an election.
They thought however that they could by publicising tactical voting and through electoral pacts engineer a hung Parliament and so kick Boris out of office.
Another failure.
So what next? Probably something suggestive of financial rather than personal scandal might be their next gambit. Or some bogus Russian influence scam. Anything they feel could force his resignation.
Be prepared for a Sweeneyesque Panorama Special: "The Lure of Putin's Lucre" or "Did Vladimir Putin Win the UK Election?" (cue shadowy dramatisations of money changing hands and sinister music).
BTW was anyone else intensely irritated by the use of a synthesiser drone, used to try and disguise the comic nature of Ben Chu's presentation on Newsnight last night, in a desperate attempt to insert some menace into the electoral news. If they were going to put some music in it should have been Cliff Richard's "Congratulations" played at maximum volume to drown out Chu's inane pontification. Lol
The BBC's pandering to people whose illegal actions cause injury to others is horrific, wrong and biased. Look at this sympathetic article about a "You Tube Star" and a case of a dangerous dog out of control...
For some reason the BBC don't tell us the perpetrator in this case called the elderly victim "a b****", and an "idiot" on his YT channel after she was attacked by his uncontrollable dog.
Why is our publicly funded broadcaster protecting this guy, who is clearly full of hate, by not reporting that?
i posted last night about the experience of watching laura K, news at 10 and then newsnight; today: 5 mins of Evan Davis on Radio 4:
- to a US Talk Radio host "in the UK, most radio stations are relatively impartial - how is it in the US?" I laughed out loud at that one
- interviewed a reindeer breeder and the phoneline went. Turned to a person from the RSPCA - her line broke up as well... Evan: "Oh dear. Lets play a recording instead. Here's Charlie Falconer talking about LABOUR'S PROBLEMS. Everyone really is talking about it today..."
You couldn't make it up!
I hope next time there is a communication issue with Charlie Falconer, they talk about reindeer instead.
I am getting the feeling that Blair is preparing to launch a new party once Rebecca Long Bailey has been elected new Labour Leader. You can tell the MSM are getting excited. John Craig made a gnomic referrence to "Mainstream"...Mainstream Labour Party (sounds like an Alistair Campbell idea) or just Mainstream Party. It's a good name, I'll give them that.
So stand by Chukka, your political career is not yet over.
Will Blair lead it? Though there are many reasons to loathe him he remains one of our best political communicators. New Labour was a formidable political machine. Blair looks like he still has it. I wouldn't write him off yet.
Oh come on, you are so wide of the mark on this. Chukka is done. He's been trying to squeeze into photos for years, that's all he does, squeeze into photos. Blair ? He exists in the netherworld. The media still listen to him, but they still listen to Straw and Campbell. Any real spotlight on that era - game over. Momentum will ensure spotlights on that era.
Great video on "the other channel" (Biased BBC)...put up by Vlad at 6.31pm: interview with David Starkey on the Sun channel...this is the sort of intelligent programming they used to have on the BBC and ITV decades ago. No longer! Now you have to go to The Sun!
H/T to Vlad on the other channel who asks why the BBC haven't focussed on this story...very long prison sentences for a series of nasty attacks on homosexuals by members of a certain section of the community.
I have never experienced reporting as bad as how the BBC is reporting on Trump's impeachment. It really is shocking in its propaganda content.
Over the last few days there has been not one mention of the Horowitz IG report on the BBC.
They've been interviewing just about every anti-Trump figure they can find - currently Anthony Scaramucci on Today. The tone in the voices of all the reporters is gleeful. Sopel's reports are way beyond a joke. I'm finding it hard to believe they are getting this, as so much else, so wrong.
Lisa Nandy is one of the no-hopers hoping to become leader of the Labour Party - or, in her case, hoping to become leader if she can overcome her hesitations about applying for the job. On the evidence so far, the party wouldn't be acquiring a leader who is decisive and has massive resolve if they chose her. She may be a 'moderate' but she's a Labour Party 'moderate' with severe illusions and delusions - one of many.
Lisa Nandy became Chair of 'Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East' in 2018. The address of the organization's Website is https://www.lfpme.org and the pages which give information about current MP supporters begin with the page https://www.lfpme.org/supporters At the time she became chair, the list of supporters was chaotic. The current membership list is exactly the same. Nobody at 'Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East,' including Lisa Nandy, their incompetent Chair, seem to have noticed the mistakes.
The MP's on the Website's current membership list include Michael Meacher, constituency, Oldham West and Royton. But Michael Meacher isn't currently an MP, or a supporter of the organization. He died in 2015! Years afterwards, the Website still hasn't been updated.
Simon Danczuk, suspended by the Labour Party in 2015 after sending explicit messages to a 17-year old girl, banned by Labour from standing as a Labour Candidate, replaced as MP for Rochdale by Anthony Lloyd in 2017 is still claimed to be the current MP for Rochdale, the MP who supports Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East. Others listed as current MP's supporting the organization include these people: Sadiq Khan (Tooting.) Left parliament in 2016 to become Mayor of London. Steve Rotheram (Liverpool Walton). Left Parliament in 2017 to become Metro Mayor of Liverpool City Region. Andy Burnham (Leigh.) Left Parliament in 2017 to become Mayor of Manchester. What would we think of a business whose Website was as unreliable and out-of-date as the LFPME site? Is the person who isn't, on this evidence, fit to lead the LFPME ready to face the far more difficult challenges of restoring the reputation of the Labour Party or becoming a future Prime Minister?
Other members of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East include candidates for Labour Leader, already declared or possible, including Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Emily Thornberry. The membership also includes Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, people who can't sort out the problems of the Labour Party but claim they can sort out problems in the Middle East.
Richard Burgon, said to be running for Deputy Leader, spoke to Muslim constituents urging them to look into Labour MPs in Friends of Israel as though that was illegitimate. Clearly someone motivated by something very close to anti-semitism. He apologised for his attempt to set the mob on Labour Friends of Israel.
Sadiq Khan gave his political support to Babar Ahmed who subsequently pleaded guilty to a terrorism-related offence and was sentenced to a long sentence in the USA. Khan had claimed he was innocent and should not be extradited. Ahmed was NOT his legal client though Khan likes to give the impression he was by mentioning his role as a lawyer.
I looked up Richard Burgon on the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Website. He's listed as a member, although a listing on the LFPME Website means next to nothing (the next person on the list of MP supporters, Rob Marris, shouldn't be on the list at all. He retired from Parliament at the 2017 General Election.) A link is provided to Richard Burgon's Website, which contains this information: 'I am not currently an MP.' He is an MP, of course. Leeds East has re-elected this internationally-minded MP, who said that 'Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people.'
The LFPME membership list is a complete mess. The current membership number is nowhere near the inflated number claimed. Finding a name on the list generally takes far too long. It became easier for me once I worked out the peculiar, stupid organizing principle. The first name on the list is Afzal Khan and the last name is Yasmin Qureshi - the list follows alphabetical order of first names, not last names! Richard Burgon appears not on an early page, with the 'B's' but on a much later page, with the 'R's.'
Lisa Nandy's attention to detail in her role as Chair of 'Labour friends of ...' doesn't inspire confidence. The Home Page of the LFPME site, slick and glossy and stylish, to an extent, may well please people who haven't much interest in substance and basic accuracy. Lisa Nandy's personal Website gives the information that 'Wigan Constituency Labour Party have reselected Lisa Nandy MP as their candidate for the next General Election.' The 'next General Election' is the one which we've just had, of course. She hasn't updated the site for a long time. It will be interesting to see if this MP does put herself forward as a candidate to succeed Corbyn.
A suggestion, a proposal, no more than that: Momentum is the name of the Labour Party organization founded by Jon Lansman. I propose a new Labour Party organization, with absolutely no official status, of course. The name of the new organization: 'Mediocrity.' I can think of quite a number of Labour MP's qualified for membership of 'Labour Mediocrity,' including ones who are members of Momentum.
Who was the female Labour MP on Huw Edwards's discussion panel this morning in the programme about the State Opening? I didn't catch her name or who she said she was supporting for Labour leader.
Radio 2 news at 3pm 10 seconds on Queens speech, then a 30 seconds voxpop by Caroline Lucas saying Boris isn’t doing enough on green issues
Radio 2 news at 4pm 10 seconds on Queens speech then 30 seconds voxpop with Corbyn saying there isn’t sufficient support for NHS and 30 seconds voxpop from SNP saying QS should include a referendum for Scotland.
I think we are beginning to see the key lines of attack by the BBC for the Boris government
1. Keep the government on the back foot regarding the NHS and look for weak points where Boris isn’t delivering as promised and highlight where Labour would be trusted more with health.
2. ‘Get Bexit Done’ was a lie - keep reminding licence payers that it will take years to do a decent deal and only if we make huge concessions. A no deal is still a threat and that would be a catastrophe for the UK.
3. Boris is a populist and serial liar who can’t be trusted. He and Trump are peas in a pod. Just because he won doesn’t change these things and he constantly tries to dodge scrutiny.
4. There is a climate emergency which this government doesn’t take seriously and are not going to prioritise and deliver the green agenda.
5. Whip up support for the SNP and their demand for a referendum so it is a constant thorn in the governments side.
Yes all the above...plus: a desperate search for a financial or other corruption scandal that will result in Boris having to resign. As with the Dems and Trump they will be be prepared to magnify the most minor misdemeanour or oversight into a crime of monumental proportions - or, as with Trump, they will simply claim there is something there when there isn't.
I understand that in 1971 the bbc was involved in a payola scandal, girls for plugged records. There was a report Neil. This was around the time that Saville was being pushed as a star. Any info?
"A 15 year old Iraqi migrant was found walking on the central reservation of the M6 near Birmingham last night at 10pm" said BBC radio 2 news today.
It went on to say that West Midlands police commented "It's impossible to imagine how scared someone would be, not knowing where they are, not knowing where their parents are, unable to speak the language."
I mean that is pretty grim but I can see why the BBC loved that quote from the police and why they were keen for that to be the story.
Lots of criminals are scared when they commit their crimes. The Police don't normally paint picture of how they feel when committing their criminal activity.
Time for Boris to end the bogus asylum game. All asylum seekers to be processed in St Helena. The supply will dry up within a month.
New form of bias? I'd calling it: "Using the B team when you could have used the A team."
In this summary of the Impeachment Debate, the BBC - although giving Republicans something like 40% of the time allotted to Dems, cleverly use the less than impressive rather lacklustre B team of the House of Representatives. They don't use the Republican "stars" who are much more effective.
The impartial Daniel Sandford of the impartial BBC commenting in an impartial but rather critical way on some politicians who were driven out of the Labour Party (plus a few ex Conservative Remainiacs)!
I think I can better Daniel: "They wanted to Remain but were kicked out nonetheless."
What did Nish Kumar say to the audience at the Freelance Awards 2019? StewGreen has an image up at 3.51pm today on Biased BBC suggesting he said "I want you white people in the audience to do something for me...I want you to go home and k**l your racist Brexit-voting parents..."
If true, surely our public broadcaster can't allow him to continue broadcasting at licence fee payers' expense given around half are going to be Brexit supporters - he's calling for them to be murdered and given the racist nature of the comment!
Outrageous, but I suspect the BBC will say he is a comedian and was only joking, he didn’t mean it literally. Plus he wasn’t working for us when he said it.
They will probably give him a pay rise because his stock has just gone up with this and the Grosvenor House do.
Yep, not sure they ever gave Bernard Manning that free ticket. Or Jim Davidson. Or Carol Thatcher...But yes, they will protect and promote him as they have done with Jo Brand.
Do you think Charles Moore was right to sign up as a Guest Editor on Today? I'd say no in principle but it will be interesting to see how he handles it. If he has gone in as a subversive to completely blow out of the water the BBC's PC ideology then I may change my view.
Tonight on the main BBC One 10pm news, Ed Thomas went to Leigh where they returned a Conservative MP for the first time. He was using the useless voxpop format to see what people think about the Queens speech.
He paced up the high street asking whether they believed Boris will repay their trust.
‘Do you believe him?’ he repeatedly asked voters as he paced up the high street. Yes, they replied. Ed was agitated and tense because for once he couldn’t find a Labour stooge with the right answer.
He asked a lady who said she voted Conservative for a change. Quick as a flash he said ‘but they’ve already been in power for 9 years’. ‘Not here’ she said.
After he filed his report Ed went home an unhappy bunny and hit the bottle.
Nick Watt predicts Boris will be winning Parliamentary votes "for the moment".
No shame. They have Gauke on...no reference to his defeat and rejection by his voters. Now on to lecture us on the perils of democracy like some 18th century aristocrat.
I guess we are going to see a lot of Soubry, Grieve, Woolaston, Gauke, Ummuna on Newnsnight over the next year.
There are plenty of other defeated MPs Newsnight could have on to discuss this issue but they lurv Gauke like they lurved Rory Stewart.
Gauke showing he has no understanding of the difference between "migration leading to naturalisation" and "migration under temporary work permit".
Gauke worried about no deal. Big deal. Eff off please.
Zahawi - a good battler - comes on.
Note: more difficult for BBC Newsnight presenters to interrupt, badger and harrass. But Kirsty is trying her best.
Wark now being condescending about voters oop north - they aren't interested in the Supreme Court she claims. I beg to differ. I think they were effing furious when the Supreme Court blocked Brexit.
Wark now promoting mass immigration - only way we can construct the housing required. Wark means mass immigration leading to naturalisation ie more Labour voters. Forget it, Cummings and Johnson aren't that stupid.
Wark now claiming Conservatives will increase migration.
Does she ever claim Labour will increase migration?
On to the next agitprop issue: Scottish Independence.
Wark says Sturgeon won't go illegal. OK. End of story. Next. Unless she is going to do a Braveheart, there's nothing to look at here. Wark now sounding like an SNP spokesperson.
Newsnight graphics helping underlining Kirsty's SNP propaganda.
Wark omits any mention of the Unionist counter-case in her introduction. Why should she?
On to anti-Hindu pro-Congress propaganda...
BBC worried India will become "a Hindu state". Never heard them worry about the fact that Islamic Republic of Pakistan is...well...a Muslim State.
Now accusing India for wanting to tackle corruption and fraud through biometric ID system.
Right at the end, Wark asked the analyst: "how do you think the coalition will hold up?" To which the analyst replied "You mean the [labour] voters?" And Wark nodded.
Am i missing something?? Why is the current govt. referred to as a coalition?
Good on Zahawi. He was a lot bolder than i've seen him before - pre-election. Hope all Con. MPs push back at BBC presenter nonsense in the same way.
I think she was trying to make the point that the ERG/JRM are not going to buy into extra spending for restructuring of the UK and the "Tories" are in reality a "coalition" between Blue Collar Conservatives and hard-hearted capitalists like JRM. Just the usual caricature. People like Mark Francois and Steve Baker in the ERG are I suspect quite happy with the Blue Tory strategy. I suspect most Conservatives think that if billions have to be spent they are best spent on winning the next election.
Was watching Eddie Hughes' (Walsall North)speech in the Commons.
Great speech and he actually had a very pertinent point to make. He said he was looking forward to the day when robotic factories locating in his constituency to produce goods for Birmingham rather than us importing them from tens of thousands of miles away (with all the negative environmental impact that entails).
This is definitely the way forward and counters Gauke's depressing "can't do" comments on Newsnight.
If we want to reintroduce industry to this country we can. But we have to have the political will, we need to invest and we need to plan.
They never learn do they? Yvette Cooper still banging the drum for open borders mass migration...thinks we should let in every person who claims to be a child, even if they are bent over, grey-haired and walking with a stick.
Cooper also told Sky News she and her husband, Ed Balls, would be prepared to accept a refugee. The shadow home secretary and Labour leadership contender said: “If that’s what it took and that’s what was needed, then of course, I think lots of people would be.
Hypocrite, she never did and never intended to. Neither did Geldof or Sturgeon who promised to at the same time.
Not just her of course. The then Archbishop of Canterbury promised to do the same. So did Lily Allen and a host of others, none of whom went ahead and actually brought a "refugee" into their home (or even one of their homes plural).
We need an end to this moral blackmail. Of course there are deserving refugees and we should offer some help. There are many Christians, Hindus, agnostics and atheists who have been persecuted and need help. If we are to make places available, they should be the priority.
For unauthorised migrants claiming to be asylum seekers, they should be processed offshore in secure facilities and their claims should be subjected to detailed scrutiny. A genuine refugee under threat of death or persecution won't object. The bogus refugees will simply stop coming here if we do that, since there aim is to not to find sanctuary but to tap into our economic wealth. It will also be an example to mainland Europe on how to deal with the problem.
There seems to be a great big gap in the coverage of Brexit at the moment - seems to apply to BBC, Sky and ITV and the main radio news stations.
I haven't heard anyone challenge a Remainer on the crucial issue of whether they are going to apply to rejoin the EU. Since they claim Brexit will cause "irreparable harm" to the UK, surely their own logical position has to be that they will press for the UK to immediately reapply to join the EU.
Why haven't our useless reporters and presenters asked the Remainers about this? Have I missed such an occasion? Or are they trying to spare the Remainers' blushes?
We know that pics persuade, which is why the BBC chooses them carefully. Despite possessing thousands of its own images relating to Brexit, including in house graphics, it rifles through Getty Images for a suitably downbeat image - a crossroads on a lonely, deserted moor (you can almost hear the sinister whistle of the wind), with distressed looking signposts and a sign that looks like those fire escape signs - run! Another good thing, from the BBC's point of view, is that it offers the usual conflation of "Europe" with "the EU".
Another Getty Images classic. Presumably they've got one of a bowler hatted gent waiting at a bus stop, naked except for a union flag flapping in the wind...
Getty Images actually advertise 12104 Anti-Brexit stock photos and images. To be fair, they do also advertise 6 Pro-Brexit stock photos and images. That's only a difference of 12098 and they probably get complaints from both sides...a very BBC outfit!
Bravo, MB. Enjoyed the 'bowler hatted gent' comments above too!
Some excellent contributors to this site, but when Craig and Sue themselves haven't been able to keep up their usual much appreciated output from day-to-day, your prolific observations have kept the blog worthy of a regular read.
Thanks to all of you, and here's to less frustration next year. With the fog of uncertainty at least partially cleared, I'm looking forward to some 2020 vision.
Let us all celebrate Christmas. It's that time of year when we are spared the incessant Remain/PC output from Auntie - because, all the familiar faces are off to their second properties in Cornwall/Mediterranean/ Caribbean/Florida etc. Therefore, we won't be hearing from them until after the new year.
What will annoy me is when they take up exactly the same biased massage when they return. they will show the same level of outrage, interrupt people they don't like, and continue to preach unabated.
This is what happens when you think the world revolves around you as they all do at the BBC.
They will preach to us about homelessness, food-banks, NHS waiting times, the plight of 'migrants' etc - a harsh reality to some, but not to them - Champagne Socialists.
Interesting that you say what the virtuous luvvies and lefties are preaching about - see an article about that by Joanna Williams on spiked and the go-to word that falls from every earnest lip.
It appears to be a term that Pienaar has invented himself but he doesn't know what it means!
I suspect that Boris doesn't have a philosophy as such and that is why the BBC can't understand him and can find nothing to attack.
With luck Boris will prove to be a positive, inspirational leader. "Let's get things done!" encourages people at all levels to have a positive attitude and do their best, whereas the BBC believes that everything has to be micro-managed by well-paid committees that will call for more studies, more money and get nothing done.
No point except to let Pienaar claim at future dinner parties that he invented the term "Johnsonism" (even though he didn't - think I saw it years ago).
The whole article is typical of the rather crabby approach of BBC journos at the moment: a rather sour-faced, grudging acceptance that Johnson has won but at the same time some keen gardening taking place - putting down a lot of spring bulbs on a range of issues that they hope will flower in public disillusionment in a few months' time.
Rachel Shabi thinks more immigration, weaker immigration controls, closing down debate on immigration, more Corbynism and listening to Diane Abbott would have made Labour more electable.
Ah yes, I gave up on that after a few minutes. I only really stayed with it to see if the Idiot Nihal would say anything really stupid, but they were on his strongest subject - Instagram - so it was very boring.
Just got in, but for those of you - especially Monkey Brains - who might not have seen it yet, The Conservative Woman has a new, popular post headlined Fifty Shades of BBC Bias. Well done MB, your Festive Fifty is travelling afar (like the Three Kings of Orient Are).
The 'Fifty Shades' tag leaves the way open for a sequel. For instance:
The BBC's 'Fifty Shades of Falsehood'.
1. Women's cricket is as exciting as the men's game. 2. Ditto Rugby Union. 3. Ditto, Football. 4. Far-right terrorist threat is equivalent to RoP ideological extremism. 5. AntiSemitism has an equal and opposite - Islamophobia. 6. Only charity and public sector workers can be worthy heroes/angels. 7. LGBT + issues impact upon everyone, regardless of age location and tradition. 8. Left-wing 'comedy' is to be loved by all. 9. Ditto BAME comedy. 10. Traditional British comedy has no place in 21st C UK. 11. Ditto traditional theatre. 12. Ditto Christian tradition and artwork. 13. BAME actors must be equally suitable for all acting parts regardless of historical fact. 14. Global warming is a scientific fact. 15. Renewable energy is a reliable alternative to other forms of production. 16. Oceans are running out of oxygen. 17. Polar ice is melting away. 18. The oceans are full of plastic waste. 19. Battery electric cars will not affect the demand for additional electricity supply. 20. Batteries do not represent a pollution risk.
21. That increased immigration doesn't put a strain on the NHS and other public services. 22. That inter family marriage amongst some communities doesn't add an above average load on NHS services.
25. That inner city boxing clubs in receipt of public funds really are helping divert young people from crime and are not used as centres for steroid distribution and other nefarious activities.
26. That every pound of additional public expenditure adds to human happiness.
27. That the BBC is providing a public service by encouraging young people to be anxious rather than to celebrate their youth.
28. That FGM is being "tackled".
29. That knife crime is being "tackled".
30. That online fraud is being "tackled".
31. That Radio 4 listeners enjoy listening to rap.
32. That the Seychelles are disappearing beneath the ocean.
33. That Dawn French is a babe.
34. That Andrew Marr is an insightful interviewer.
41. That success is a relative term dependent upon how underprivileged one was to start with.
42. That privilege is an obstacle to success and plaudits. 43. That emotive response, eg tearfulness, will always outbid logically presented facts. 44. That racism can only be reported when the victim is of a BAME ethnic group. 45. BAME groups cannot themselves be racist.
1. The BBC Beast is wounded and staggering for sure. Temporarily having to pump out seemingly less biased programming. Only seemingly. The dinosaurs are rattling their egg-sized brains to try and think up how to defeat Cummings-Johnson in the four dimensional chess game they are playing. The dinosaurs may not be clever but there are a lot of them.
2. The MSM are not pressing Labour and Lib Dems on why they aren't proposing an immediate application to rejoin the EU (currently it is only raised in relation to the SNP). The Conservatives should press them on this - challenge them to rule it out "for a generation" as the saying goes.
3. All this election victory has done is buy time. The working of immigration, population growth in migrant communities, PC propaganda on the BBC and in most of the MSM generally and indoctrination of youth in schools and universities is growing the Labour and Lib Dem vote. Bring in a leader with less baggage and more charisma, take away the Brexit issue and hone down policies to a more credible size, we may yet find ourselves with Marxist as PM in 5 or 10 years.
4. The BBC's diversity obsession and constant promotion of Islam has helped create a dangerous political dynamic, whereby Muslims are increasingly identifying with the Labour Party but Hindus and Sikhs are identifying with the Conservatives. Diversity brings division.
At this time of short days, long nights and cold winds from the north, it's good to pursue a home-based hobby. May I recommend my current favourite: twitter-trawling.
ReplyDeleteTake a twitter feed from some Boris-hating Beeb favourite (I've been on Rachel Sylvester's)...start a few months back, enjoy just how prejudiced and wrong all their tweets, predictions and attached articles are as you work forward, until finally you get to that awkward bump in the road on 12 December - or more accurately that yawning chasm of a credibility gap for these pundits and pontificators! - and see how nimbly they negotiate it...
It's great fun!
Rachel Shabi's delusional tweets were fun to read!
Deletehttps://twitter.com/rachshabi?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
If you get a chance to watch her 'The Papers' performance, do. I think it was around midnight.
DeleteClearly, she has learned nothing from the election result. The fanatical gleam in her eyes looked positively deranged - I would not want to find myself alone in a room with her!
Huw 'anchored' the 5pm bulletin on the News Channel. He had bags under the bags under his eyes and looked as though he'd been slugged with a large bag,full of wet sand - or something. Perhaps he'd just emerged from an 'interview without coffee' with Lord Hall - That's a fine mess you've got me into!" Even the Divine Sophie was looking chastened, earlier on.
ReplyDeleteJust switched over to see what nonsense Newsnight were sprouting and just caught a minute of what's described as Christmas comedy from Philomena Cunk, and guess what? Stuffed full of the usual BBC PC drivel. About as funny as a boil on your arse.
ReplyDelete... Newsnight were sprouting and just caught .... Christmas dinner on your mind there Anon. Did you mean 'spouting'? I have set these five-minute interludes to record so that I can watch them all in one go.
DeleteGold seems to be the channel where traditional British comedy ends up. Diane Morgan who plays Philomena Cunk was quite good recently in The Cockfields - a comedy set on the Isle of Wight. Nigel Havers, Sarah Parish,Sue Johnstone and Bobby Ball were amongst others who made up an experienced cast. Probably, the only means by which this type of programme would be broadcast on the BBC would be if it ticked a good few PC and diversity boxes.
Yes getting too excited, about sprouts not BBC Christmas output.
DeleteFair amount of nonsense on 'The Papers,' too. Breathtaking arrogance from Rachel Shabi who spent the programme sneering and smirking at Digby Jones' every utterance. Ms Shabi believes that Labour's policies were extremely popular with the public - anybody less conceited would have been silenced by Digby's, "Oh, I see, that's why they've just been annihilated at the ballot box, is it?" (I paraphrase).
ReplyDeleteThe BBC are carrying on regardless is if the election hasn’t happened.
DeleteBut did we really think anything would change?
Yep, they've just put up a puff piece about Thornberry...
DeleteFor some reason they allowed comments, which could in all honesty be going better. This one is typical:
"Emily Thornberry is one of the most malevolent, malignant individuals ever to soil British politics. She is a truly self-serving, self-pitying, self-righteous big mouth with lots of drivel but no content. "
And no, it wasn't me what wrote it!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50817406
Then there's the Amol Rajan article, defending the BBC's impartiality in totally partisan terms that offers not an iota of concession to the BBC's critics.
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50817529
The dismissive, derisive tone is captured well here where he refers to the "characters" in government:
"Right now, the characters in charge of Britain, who have a strong mandate and the wind in their sails, include several known sceptics of [sic] the BBC."
Had Labour come in and media policy was under the control of Dawn Butler or Angeline Rayner, would he be referring to them as "characters"? Er no. He'd be reverential in tone as he is with the progressive media types who populate his "look-at-me" radio show.
Yes, I read this article written by he who never smiles. He refers to the 'knowing nods' from the elders of the BBC who have seen it all before - 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned'. The BBC really couldn't care less. They are totally bomb-proof. Any radical changes to the BBC would undoubtedly make wealthy men and women of the senior staff to ease their way into gardening leave or retirement.
DeleteAh bless...the BBC Reality Check team of 100 plus personnel seem to have had a collective nervous breakdown and haven't produced a Reality Check for the last 5 days apart from one telling us the Durham Miners Gala takes place in the City of Durham...after Michael Gove repeated an error from Piers Morgan.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/BBCRealityCheck/status/1205504216833372172
I do hope they recover their mental health and are are able to start up their pork pie production again soon.
Perhaps they could start with "Are people really imprisoned for not paying the TV Licence Fee?"
Memo to Boris:
ReplyDeleteYou really need to take action on the housing crisis (the causes of which have never been properly investigated by the BBC).
Obviously the most important thing to do is to turn off the migration tap, certainly to stop low income migrants coming here who then need financial support to afford housing. You'll need a proper infrastructure levy on migration, deterrents to bogus asylum seeking and breaking of the link between work-related migration and naturalisation. Restricting sales of old housing stock to overseas buyers is also necessary.
OK, that said, you also need to address the acute housing shortage caused by the errors of the Blair-Cameron-May period.
First up, you need to increase the supply. And do so seriously. This will probably require a number of approaches:
1. Putting in place an innovative programme of cheap housing solutions. Government needs to find a way of producing units cheaply. Here is one example - 3D printing:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/12/business/worlds-first-3d-printed-neighborhood-trnd/index.html
We also need to look at prefab approaches.
3D and prefab construction will also reduce our dependency on migrant labour in the construction industry.
2. In addition to finding ways of producing housing cheaply, we need to free up land for that housing. Here we may need to create obligations on local authorities, water companies, Network Rail, government departments, land hoarders and others to lease land to a housing body at cheap rates.
3. We then need innovative ways of letting out or selling these new properties. In many European countries housing estates are owned by co-operatives. People buy into the co-operative rather than a particular property.
So that might be one route. Another might be to sell off renewable ten year leases. People can then sell on their ten year leases, after 10 years, to others or renew their own. This way people will have a truly affordable entry into home ownership.
4. In many parts of the country, the housing units are there but in the wrong place. There the solution might involve building fast transport routes between city centres and outlying villages and towns. To do this quickly will probably involve creation of many more tram routes. A stop-gap might be to create subsidised express bus routes.
5. Create incentives for older people to move out of large houses. You might for instance create a system where anyone aged 70 or over receives the proceeds of the stamp duty on their house if they sell on within the next three years.
One thing that can't be done is to do nothing!
One thing that can't be done is to do nothing!
DeleteI couldn't agree more, but there are some seemingly unsurmountable difficulties with almost every potential solution. Overcrowding within cities, with London the prime example, is the underlying cause. An unprecedented building surge in annual housebuilding is needed just to stay still, and prevent conditions from worsening.
From personal experience I can say that prefabrication or modular building makes perfect sense in terms of economy, but will never be accepted by developers, architects or building societies.
Another major issue comes with the eco-home concept. This is akin to social engineering. I have no doubt that schemes such as the Stirling Prize winning scheme in Norwich will have requirements for cherry-picking their tenants, that might impact upon their 'quiet enjoyment' of their property.
As for Sadiq Kahn's hollow promises about substantial housebuilding in the gardens of outer London, this is pie in the sky - Corbynomics.
Haven't seen anything about this from the BBC - the latest Tonge-lashing for the people she doesn't like...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/12/16/former-lib-dem-peer-blames-corbyns-defeat-on-pro-israel-lobby/
Yep, they never learn, do they? Katya Adler continuing in her role as EU Media Spokesperson (from her twitter account):
ReplyDelete"Keep hearing: «Johnson has stonking majority. Gives him huge power in trade talks» BUT EU view is thats it’s in stronger position: huge trading bloc of 27 nations plus EU Commission whose lifeblood is negotiating trade ALTHOUGH Having so many players is potentially a weakness for EU as must agree strategy and keep everyone onboard throughout. EU managed that beyond anyone’s expectations in #Brexit divorce deal. Trade talks will be harder. EU countries have differing priorities. AND YET Despite all that, EU still believes it’s in a far stronger negotiating position than UK."
As another tweeter comments: "Thank you for openly shilling for the #EU. The #BBC is very like the #EU -- living off other people's money and thinking it has the moral high ground to tell them what to do and think. Both institutions need radical overhaul or dissolution."
UK unemployment falls to lowest level since 1975
ReplyDeleteThe BBC website article is as negative as they can manage given the positive news.
The highest rated comments btl give the BBC the kicking they deserve. The public know exactly what they are like. They are truly found out.
They haven't learnt a single thing since election night have they? Stop with the Auto-Pessimism! Stop with the Project Fear!!
DeleteOn the R4 News on Today this morning I heard an item about what Thornberry said in September about Labour's policy of Exiting the EU. Bizarre, I thought, to give it prominence in a news bulletin. And they even brought in Kuennsberg to opine. Why? It's not interesting or of moment. Who cares what she said or thought anyway? Are they trying to support her in some way for leadership or in her spat with Caroline Flint?
ReplyDeleteNo. It turns out Kuennsberg has a programme on tv tonight and this was a plug! On Politics Live they did a piece on it, which seemed interminable, with Kuennsberg featured, rabbiting on and on as if it was something worth our time. Incidentally, does she know the word 'Conservatives'? The rabbiting seemed to be 'Tories' only.
The BBC is shameless with its self-promotion and its determination to fill the air and the screen with self-important babble.
They are certainly giving her support, I guess until Starmer throws his hat in the ring, if he does. I suspect Starmer will be their favoured candidate, since he probably attends the same dinner parties that Lord Hall does and is slightly more voter-friendly than Thornberry.
DeleteCorrecting a rogue 'of' : I should have typed: 'Labour's policy ON Exiting the EU.'
ReplyDeleteThey learn nothing do they? BBC favourite Ayesha Hazarika is pushing Sadiq Khan as a future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
ReplyDeleteThis is the guy who gave his political support to Babar Ahmed (now convicted in the USA of terrorism-related offences), was investigated by MI5 and who announced as Mayor that we just have to get used to terrorist incidents in London as they are "part and parcel" of big city life (in Budapest too, Sadiq?).
You would think that they would have learned after Corbyn's associations with terrorists and weak stance on terrorism caused such offence on the doorstep.
https://twitter.com/ayeshahazarika/status/1206620571209019393
Incidentally Ayesha works (along with George Osborne) for a paper that was bought out by a Russian KGB officer and his son - and the son, Evegeny Lebedev is still in charge. Can you imagine how they would be screaming blue murder if a "right wing" publication had that background? Note also the Camerons attended a big celebration put on by Evgeny Lebedev the other night.
Was that party not attended by the PM as well? Hazarika was an adviser to Miliband Ed, an old mucker of SadiQ Khan's. When she's not on the BBC, she's on Sky News. Lebedev is also the owner of The Independent; the Standard's City editor seems to do duty on both papers. There's another BBC connection too, none other than Amol Rajan who used to edit The Independent.
DeleteThanks...yes I initially thought Boris had been to the party, but now think he didn't. Not that I would have been surprised if he had...
DeleteI am simply pointing up the absurd contradiction between the elite's (mostly ridiculous) claims about Russian influence over our democracy when they allowed an ex KGB guy to buy up slabs of our media - that's REAL influence!
After the shock result, the BBC are putting together the new narrative:
ReplyDelete1. It was an unpopularity contest, and Boris had negative ratings like the other two main leaders. So his victory is illegitimate despite him scoring 33 points better than Swinson and 39 points better than Corbyn. A better Labour candidate would obviously have beaten him. Johnson just got lucky - getting lucky doesn't mean he deserves to be PM.
2. He didn't win a majority of the popular vote. He only won because of our unfair FPTP system. His victory is therefore not legitimate.
3. He cannot get Brexit done within a year, so he will break his promise to the British people, or he will leave on No Deal, which will also break his promise to the British people. Breaking promises make his victory illegitimate.
They've probably got a whole team working on it!
Agreed. Laura is already working hard on no 3.
DeleteShe writes - A moment of early chest beating - The new clause in the Brexit bill might rattle business - and the opposition parties - because it is, in theory, making it more likely that we could exit the EU departure lounge without a full trade deal in place. Whatever metaphor you want to use, be it a trap door or a new cliff edge, there is outrage already in some quarters of Westminster at the move.
Outage by some? Only those in Broadcasting House. The below the line comments are very supportive.
This line of attack will be built into a narrative over the coming aimed at causing the Government discomfort. BBC journalists will be busy gathering quotes from the usual remainer/rejoin suspects and filming supportive voxpops.
On the 6pm BBC One News John Pienaar said Boris ran his first cabinet like a pantomime and a messy no deal Brexit was back on the cards.
EU shill Katya Adler said the EU will have shrugged it’s shoulders and thought it was just sabre rattling and a game of chicken which is bad news for our viewers.
We can expect much more of this and it will just further alienate Conservative voters. The content and tone is not balanced so just who are they trying to impress or win over?
But then you're intelligent enough to know all three of those points are true.
DeleteThe BBC always goes with plausibility for the sake of historical record.
The Conservative front bench has decided to follow Trump's playbook - keep the base onside while it's a base.
But they haven't got the clout or the brass balls, so how will it pan out ?
Chris Morris has done a reality check on the new clause. He’s a very clever chap because he can see into the future and explains with some certainty how the trade deal is going to pan out.
DeleteCharlie - Yes, Chris Morris is Mystic Meg Morris! He can see far into the future...obviously he didn't see how easily Boris would find it to achieve a new Withdrawal Agreement...but that is now in the past so that doesn't count.
DeleteAnon - I wouldn't say those three points were "truths" - they are "ways of seeing" as the late John Berger might have said...yes they have factual kernels which provide the kind of deniability the BBC likes but they are essentially polemical points which you would expect to be proposed by politicians, not allegedly impartial broadcasters.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07y4x6d
ReplyDeleteWhy now??
Yeah - why now!?!
DeleteV bad timing.
But listen to the tosh LK is coming out with: "The judiciary have an allergy to politics" - or something very like that. Really??? The sense I get is that people like Lady Hale and Jonathan Sumption are only too happy to enter the political fray, given that they do and have big smiles on their faces when they do.
Laura K - "Boris will be PM for 10 years and Brexit is just the beginning..." black screen... ominous music...
ReplyDeleteNews at 10: Warboys - the justice dept. is to blame
2 mins on the conservatives then immediately on to LABOUR'S PROBLEMS
Sopel/Trump...
20 seconds on unemployment figures - record low for women. Nothing more than a mention.
5 minutes on Caroline Flack
"Now let's spend a bit more time on LABOUR's PROBLEMS"
Newsnight:
let's focus on what the election really meant (and particularly, LABOUR's PROBLEMS)
Why do i put myself through this??
Lewis LURVS the Lady (the mad cat lady pretending to be a judge)...that's good to know as he will soon be spreading his pro-EU, pro-Labour, anti-Boris bias on BBC's Newsnight! :)
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1207066759997603841
Ah shame...Afua thought there would be a hung Parliament! lol She shouldn't watch so much BBC News!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVO-ulzKiqQ
Check the Traitor ex Foreign Office guy!Absolutely shameless!!
Here’s a piece of analysis from my favourite topic BBC Reality Check. It’s from Ross Clark in The Sun today;
ReplyDeleteI’ve just been through the Twitter feed of the BBC’s “Reality Check”. Since the parties launched their campaigns, 39 of its tweets rejected claims made by the Conservatives and two tweets were generally supportive of claims the party had made.
By contrast, only seven tweets rejected claims made by Labour, while 13 supported its claims. Not one tweet, though, dealt with the biggest lie of the campaign by far — Labour’s charge that the Conservatives are planning to sell off the NHS.
Yes - that's interesting Charlie. They must read this site, because I conducted the same exercise a couple of months ago on a random ten latest tweets and found 90% were targetted at the Conservative or Leaver statements.
DeleteAnd yes, I've noticed how reluctant the Reality Check are to address the "Big Lie" about the Conservatives selling off the NHS.
They also have not tackled the truth or otherwise of Corbyn's claims that he personally abhors anti-Jewish hate - if so, why has he shared platforms with so many people who peddle such hate? Or that he was an early supporter of the peace process in Northern Ireland? Really?? Well no doubt there will be pictures of him speaking to and shaking hands with the Peace Women.
Here's the sort of Reality Check the BBC should have done on Corbyn's claim to be interested only in the peace process in Northern Ireland...
Deletehttps://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2017/comment/jeremy-corbyns-past-views-on-conflict-in-northern-ireland-leave-many-questions-to-be-answered-35780405.html
For your amusement and delight, here's BBC favourite Steve Richards, telling us "Why Boris Johnson will never be prime minister".
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/12/boris-johnson-never-prime-minister
And here's that great seer Philip Hammond making the same claim:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/philip-hammond-says-boris-johnson-will-never-be-pm-1-4807715
Many claimed he could not win the election. Only a few were firm in their predictions, people like John Ashworth MP but for some reason he has been slow to take credit for the accuracy of his prediction.
Today's Jeremy Vine show has a section dedicated to 'why we lost the election'. He is joined by other Labour supporters (M.P.s). Please only 'phone in to join the discussion if you belong to the Labour Party.
ReplyDeleteVine really is the epitome of the metro-liberal BBC journo. One of the very worst hypocritical illiberal liberals.
DeleteAs another post highlighted earlier, at the moment (always, perhaps) the BBC is totally obsessed with Labour, the aftermath and the new leader. Just about all their energies are going into this as if the rest of us are as interested at the metro-liberals are.
ReplyDeleteFor leader, I hope they pick a London-centric remainer like Starmer or Thornberry to put the final nail in their coffin.
The whole pack of them are all potential coffin nails.
DeleteProbably Starmer is the most dangerous...but first thing Labour has to decide is whether to apply to rejoin the EU. The Remainiacs won't be giving up. Give it 5 years and they will have all drifted to a "Rejoin" and even if they don't Boris can claim that's what they secretly intend. Chris Morris will enjoy reality-checking that one!
Here is another appalling headline from the BBC News website:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/election-2019-50839024/general-election-2019-labour-losses-in-stoke-on-trent
... 'General election 2019: Labour losses in Stoke-on-Trent' ...
But, the headline is:
... 'Johnson's buffoonery won over Corbyn's ideology'. ...
Of course, when the article is archived the damaging headline will be removed. Will the BBC never learn that their efforts to ridicule Boris Johnson just make them look foolish.
Arthur, no they will never learn. I think the election result will make them worse. Let’s see.
DeleteAlso they have used the classic BBC quotation marks trick to separate themselves from the headline
Delete'The BBC is an unpatriotic menace to our democracy'. Yes, I see what you mean.
DeleteI've made a complaint to the BBC over the use of this clickbait headline. Readers should know that complaining is easier now than it was a month or two ago. There are three stages with only a handful of boxes to fill out.
DeleteAt the first stage, they don't seem to need the substantive complaint, just the gist of it. That's streamlining for you
DeleteWell done Arthur.
DeleteSomeone somewhere was warning that as with the anti-Trump factions in the USA, they will never give up.
ReplyDeleteThey managed to temporarily halt his advance to the highest office (thanks Mr Gove) and they tried to scupper his Leadership campaign by enlarging his personal failings to produce a picture of being "unfit for office".
They thought they could derail his Prime Ministership through the politicsed Supreme Court and by turning him into a marionette of the Remainiacs in Parliament. That ultimately failed - they could not stop him getting an election.
They thought however that they could by publicising tactical voting and through electoral pacts engineer a hung Parliament and so kick Boris out of office.
Another failure.
So what next? Probably something suggestive of financial rather than personal scandal might be their next gambit. Or some bogus Russian influence scam. Anything they feel could force his resignation.
Be prepared for a Sweeneyesque Panorama Special: "The Lure of Putin's Lucre" or "Did Vladimir Putin Win the UK Election?" (cue shadowy dramatisations of money changing hands and sinister music).
BTW was anyone else intensely irritated by the use of a synthesiser drone, used to try and disguise the comic nature of Ben Chu's presentation on Newsnight last night, in a desperate attempt to insert some menace into the electoral news. If they were going to put some music in it should have been Cliff Richard's "Congratulations" played at maximum volume to drown out Chu's inane pontification. Lol
The BBC's pandering to people whose illegal actions cause injury to others is horrific, wrong and biased. Look at this sympathetic article about a "You Tube Star" and a case of a dangerous dog out of control...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-50836296
For some reason the BBC don't tell us the perpetrator in this case called the elderly victim "a b****", and an "idiot" on his YT channel after she was attacked by his uncontrollable dog.
Why is our publicly funded broadcaster protecting this guy, who is clearly full of hate, by not reporting that?
Time to reform the BBC.
i posted last night about the experience of watching laura K, news at 10 and then newsnight; today: 5 mins of Evan Davis on Radio 4:
ReplyDelete- to a US Talk Radio host "in the UK, most radio stations are relatively impartial - how is it in the US?" I laughed out loud at that one
- interviewed a reindeer breeder and the phoneline went. Turned to a person from the RSPCA - her line broke up as well... Evan: "Oh dear. Lets play a recording instead. Here's Charlie Falconer talking about LABOUR'S PROBLEMS. Everyone really is talking about it today..."
You couldn't make it up!
I hope next time there is a communication issue with Charlie Falconer, they talk about reindeer instead.
I am getting the feeling that Blair is preparing to launch a new party once Rebecca Long Bailey has been elected new Labour Leader. You can tell the MSM are getting excited. John Craig made a gnomic referrence to "Mainstream"...Mainstream Labour Party (sounds like an Alistair Campbell idea) or just Mainstream Party. It's a good name, I'll give them that.
ReplyDeleteSo stand by Chukka, your political career is not yet over.
Will Blair lead it? Though there are many reasons to loathe him he remains one of our best political communicators. New Labour was a formidable political machine. Blair looks like he still has it. I wouldn't write him off yet.
Oh come on, you are so wide of the mark on this.
DeleteChukka is done. He's been trying to squeeze into photos for years, that's all he does, squeeze into photos.
Blair ? He exists in the netherworld. The media still listen to him, but they still listen to Straw and Campbell.
Any real spotlight on that era - game over. Momentum will ensure spotlights on that era.
He's Blair's mate. I can't see him not getting involved with Blair in this project if it comes to fruition.
DeleteGreat video on "the other channel" (Biased BBC)...put up by Vlad at 6.31pm: interview with David Starkey on the Sun channel...this is the sort of intelligent programming they used to have on the BBC and ITV decades ago. No longer! Now you have to go to The Sun!
ReplyDeleteH/T to Vlad on the other channel who asks why the BBC haven't focussed on this story...very long prison sentences for a series of nasty attacks on homosexuals by members of a certain section of the community.
ReplyDeletehttps://metro.co.uk/2019/12/12/teens-lured-gay-men-grindr-tied-urinated-11771543/
I have never experienced reporting as bad as how the BBC is reporting on Trump's impeachment. It really is shocking in its propaganda content.
ReplyDeleteOver the last few days there has been not one mention of the Horowitz IG report on the BBC.
They've been interviewing just about every anti-Trump figure they can find - currently Anthony Scaramucci on Today.
The tone in the voices of all the reporters is gleeful. Sopel's reports are way beyond a joke.
I'm finding it hard to believe they are getting this, as so much else, so wrong.
Lisa Nandy is one of the no-hopers hoping to become leader of the Labour Party - or, in her case, hoping to become leader if she can overcome her hesitations about applying for the job. On the evidence so far, the party wouldn't be acquiring a leader who is decisive and has massive resolve if they chose her. She may be a 'moderate' but she's a Labour Party 'moderate' with severe illusions and delusions - one of many.
ReplyDeleteLisa Nandy became Chair of 'Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East' in 2018. The address of the organization's Website is https://www.lfpme.org and the pages which give information about current MP supporters begin with the page https://www.lfpme.org/supporters
At the time she became chair, the list of supporters was chaotic. The current membership list is exactly the same. Nobody at 'Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East,' including Lisa Nandy, their incompetent Chair, seem to have noticed the mistakes.
The MP's on the Website's current membership list include Michael Meacher, constituency, Oldham West and Royton. But Michael Meacher isn't currently an MP, or a supporter of the organization. He died in 2015! Years afterwards, the Website still hasn't been updated.
Simon Danczuk, suspended by the Labour Party in 2015 after sending explicit messages to a 17-year old girl, banned by Labour from standing as a Labour Candidate, replaced as MP for Rochdale by Anthony Lloyd in 2017 is still claimed to be the current MP for Rochdale, the MP who supports Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.
Others listed as current MP's supporting the organization include these people: Sadiq Khan (Tooting.) Left parliament in 2016 to become Mayor of London. Steve Rotheram (Liverpool Walton). Left Parliament in 2017 to become Metro Mayor of Liverpool City Region. Andy Burnham (Leigh.) Left Parliament in 2017 to become Mayor of Manchester. What would we think of a business whose Website was as unreliable and out-of-date as the LFPME site? Is the person who isn't, on this evidence, fit to lead the LFPME ready to face the far more difficult challenges of restoring the reputation of the Labour Party or becoming a future Prime Minister?
Other members of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East include candidates for Labour Leader, already declared or possible, including Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Emily Thornberry. The membership also includes Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, people who can't sort out the problems of the Labour Party but claim they can sort out problems in the Middle East.
Richard Burgon, said to be running for Deputy Leader, spoke to Muslim constituents urging them to look into Labour MPs in Friends of Israel as though that was illegitimate. Clearly someone motivated by something very close to anti-semitism. He apologised for his attempt to set the mob on Labour Friends of Israel.
DeleteSadiq Khan gave his political support to Babar Ahmed who subsequently pleaded guilty to a terrorism-related offence and was sentenced to a long sentence in the USA. Khan had claimed he was innocent and should not be extradited. Ahmed was NOT his legal client though Khan likes to give the impression he was by mentioning his role as a lawyer.
I looked up Richard Burgon on the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Website. He's listed as a member, although a listing on the LFPME Website means next to nothing (the next person on the list of MP supporters, Rob Marris, shouldn't be on the list at all. He retired from Parliament at the 2017 General Election.) A link is provided to Richard Burgon's Website, which contains this information: 'I am not currently an MP.' He is an MP, of course. Leeds East has re-elected this internationally-minded MP, who said that 'Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people.'
DeleteThe LFPME membership list is a complete mess. The current membership number is nowhere near the inflated number claimed. Finding a name on the list generally takes far too long. It became easier for me once I worked out the peculiar, stupid organizing principle. The first name on the list is Afzal Khan and the last name is Yasmin Qureshi - the list follows alphabetical order of first names, not last names! Richard Burgon appears not on an early page, with the 'B's' but on a much later page, with the 'R's.'
Lisa Nandy's attention to detail in her role as Chair of 'Labour friends of ...' doesn't inspire confidence. The Home Page of the LFPME site, slick and glossy and stylish, to an extent, may well please people who haven't much interest in substance and basic accuracy. Lisa Nandy's personal Website gives the information that 'Wigan Constituency Labour Party have reselected Lisa Nandy MP as their candidate for the next General Election.' The 'next General Election' is the one which we've just had, of course. She hasn't updated the site for a long time. It will be interesting to see if this MP does put herself forward as a candidate to succeed Corbyn.
A suggestion, a proposal, no more than that: Momentum is the name of the Labour Party organization founded by Jon Lansman. I propose a new Labour Party organization, with absolutely no official status, of course. The name of the new organization: 'Mediocrity.' I can think of quite a number of Labour MP's qualified for membership of 'Labour Mediocrity,' including ones who are members of Momentum.
Heart warming images in Parliament earlier...just had to capture this one...
ReplyDeletehttps://i.imgur.com/8lXUBDX.jpg
Merry Christmas everyone!
That was even better than a glass of mulled wine, Rob!
DeleteWho was the female Labour MP on Huw Edwards's discussion panel this morning in the programme about the State Opening? I didn't catch her name or who she said she was supporting for Labour leader.
ReplyDeleteThat was Rachael Maskell (MP for York Central). She said she was supporting former BBC reporter Clive Lewis.
DeleteThanks for that Craig. I wondered who the 'he' was that she described as radical etc. Didn't seem to fit Keir Starmer.
DeleteRadio 2 news at 3pm
ReplyDelete10 seconds on Queens speech, then a 30 seconds voxpop by Caroline Lucas saying Boris isn’t doing enough on green issues
Radio 2 news at 4pm
10 seconds on Queens speech then 30 seconds voxpop with Corbyn saying there isn’t sufficient support for NHS and 30 seconds voxpop from SNP saying QS should include a referendum for Scotland.
I think we are beginning to see the key lines of attack by the BBC for the Boris government
1. Keep the government on the back foot regarding the NHS and look for weak points where Boris isn’t delivering as promised and highlight where Labour would be trusted more with health.
2. ‘Get Bexit Done’ was a lie - keep reminding licence payers that it will take years to do a decent deal and only if we make huge concessions. A no deal is still a threat and that would be a catastrophe for the UK.
3. Boris is a populist and serial liar who can’t be trusted. He and Trump are peas in a pod. Just because he won doesn’t change these things and he constantly tries to dodge scrutiny.
4. There is a climate emergency which this government doesn’t take seriously and are not going to prioritise and deliver the green agenda.
5. Whip up support for the SNP and their demand for a referendum so it is a constant thorn in the governments side.
Yes all the above...plus: a desperate search for a financial or other corruption scandal that will result in Boris having to resign. As with the Dems and Trump they will be be prepared to magnify the most minor misdemeanour or oversight into a crime of monumental proportions - or, as with Trump, they will simply claim there is something there when there isn't.
DeleteI understand that in 1971 the bbc was involved in a payola scandal, girls for plugged records. There was a report Neil. This was around the time that Saville was being pushed as a star. Any info?
ReplyDeleteYes here it is along with a heavily redacted Neill report
Deletehttps://scepticpeg.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/the-bbc-payola-scandal/
In the old days the PM got the pic when there was a Queen's Speech:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7079333.stm
Well, no longer - not when it's an Effing Tory!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk
"A 15 year old Iraqi migrant was found walking on the central reservation of the M6 near Birmingham last night at 10pm" said BBC radio 2 news today.
ReplyDeleteIt went on to say that West Midlands police commented "It's impossible to imagine how scared someone would be, not knowing where they are, not knowing where their parents are, unable to speak the language."
I mean that is pretty grim but I can see why the BBC loved that quote from the police and why they were keen for that to be the story.
Lots of criminals are scared when they commit their crimes. The Police don't normally paint picture of how they feel when committing their criminal activity.
DeleteTime for Boris to end the bogus asylum game. All asylum seekers to be processed in St Helena. The supply will dry up within a month.
He was unable to speak the language but he clearly knew he was 15.
DeleteLet hope he wasn’t 15 going on 29 like some of the other Calais migrant's.
New form of bias? I'd calling it: "Using the B team when you could have used the A team."
ReplyDeleteIn this summary of the Impeachment Debate, the BBC - although giving Republicans something like 40% of the time allotted to Dems, cleverly use the less than impressive rather lacklustre B team of the House of Representatives. They don't use the Republican "stars" who are much more effective.
Clever eh?
Here's the link:
Deletehttps://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1207717411899760640
I thought I'd take a look.
DeleteFirstly, the post is titled :
"Here's the key moments from the night"
Here's applied to a plural ?
Secondly, the first reaction :
"Wow imagine if we had this level of scrutiny and eavesdropping 100 yrs ago, of even WW2.
Churchill would be toast, and we'd all be dead."
Aint that the truth.
I give you the new Oscar Wilde, the new George Bernard Shaw and the new Disraeli, all rolled into one walking epigram:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/BBCDanielS/status/1207716390305710081
The impartial Daniel Sandford of the impartial BBC commenting in an impartial but rather critical way on some politicians who were driven out of the Labour Party (plus a few ex Conservative Remainiacs)!
I think I can better Daniel: "They wanted to Remain but were kicked out nonetheless."
What did Nish Kumar say to the audience at the Freelance Awards 2019? StewGreen has an image up at 3.51pm today on Biased BBC suggesting he said "I want you white people in the audience to do something for me...I want you to go home and k**l your racist Brexit-voting parents..."
ReplyDeleteIf true, surely our public broadcaster can't allow him to continue broadcasting at licence fee payers' expense given around half are going to be Brexit supporters - he's calling for them to be murdered and given the racist nature of the comment!
Outrageous, but I suspect the BBC will say he is a comedian and was only joking, he didn’t mean it literally. Plus he wasn’t working for us when he said it.
DeleteThey will probably give him a pay rise because his stock has just gone up with this and the Grosvenor House do.
Yep, not sure they ever gave Bernard Manning that free ticket. Or Jim Davidson. Or Carol Thatcher...But yes, they will protect and promote him as they have done with Jo Brand.
DeleteDo you think Charles Moore was right to sign up as a Guest Editor on Today? I'd say no in principle but it will be interesting to see how he handles it. If he has gone in as a subversive to completely blow out of the water the BBC's PC ideology then I may change my view.
ReplyDeleteI’m all for anyone even vaguely right wing doing it if only to change the record which is stuck.
DeleteTonight on the main BBC One 10pm news, Ed Thomas went to Leigh where they returned a Conservative MP for the first time. He was using the useless voxpop format to see what people think about the Queens speech.
ReplyDeleteHe paced up the high street asking whether they believed Boris will repay their trust.
‘Do you believe him?’ he repeatedly asked voters as he paced up the high street. Yes, they replied. Ed was agitated and tense because for once he couldn’t find a Labour stooge with the right answer.
He asked a lady who said she voted Conservative for a change. Quick as a flash he said ‘but they’ve already been in power for 9 years’. ‘Not here’ she said.
After he filed his report Ed went home an unhappy bunny and hit the bottle.
I think Ed might have to commit hara kiri after that failure.
DeleteThere must have been one or two Corbynistas in Leigh that he could have sought out!
Sounds like Gina Miller is getting ready to go back to her mates...sorry, I mean Supreme Court...to STOP BORIS!
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/thatginamiller/status/1207716007525134336
:::NEWSNIGHT WATCH:::
ReplyDeleteNick Watt predicts Boris will be winning Parliamentary votes "for the moment".
No shame. They have Gauke on...no reference to his defeat and rejection by his voters. Now on to lecture us on the perils of democracy like some 18th century aristocrat.
I guess we are going to see a lot of Soubry, Grieve, Woolaston, Gauke, Ummuna on Newnsnight over the next year.
There are plenty of other defeated MPs Newsnight could have on to discuss this issue but they lurv Gauke like they lurved Rory Stewart.
Gauke showing he has no understanding of the difference between "migration leading to naturalisation" and "migration under temporary work permit".
Gauke worried about no deal. Big deal. Eff off please.
Zahawi - a good battler - comes on.
Note: more difficult for BBC Newsnight presenters to interrupt, badger and harrass. But Kirsty is trying her best.
Wark now being condescending about voters oop north - they aren't interested in the Supreme Court she claims. I beg to differ. I think they were effing furious when the Supreme Court blocked Brexit.
Wark now promoting mass immigration - only way we can construct the housing required. Wark means mass immigration leading to naturalisation ie more Labour voters. Forget it, Cummings and Johnson aren't that stupid.
Wark now claiming Conservatives will increase migration.
Does she ever claim Labour will increase migration?
On to the next agitprop issue: Scottish Independence.
Wark says Sturgeon won't go illegal. OK. End of story. Next. Unless she is going to do a Braveheart, there's nothing to look at here. Wark now sounding like an SNP spokesperson.
Newsnight graphics helping underlining Kirsty's SNP propaganda.
Wark omits any mention of the Unionist counter-case in her introduction. Why should she?
On to anti-Hindu pro-Congress propaganda...
BBC worried India will become "a Hindu state". Never heard them worry about the fact that Islamic Republic of Pakistan is...well...a Muslim State.
Now accusing India for wanting to tackle corruption and fraud through biometric ID system.
Fave BBC weirdo Amit Roy now on.
Right at the end, Wark asked the analyst: "how do you think the coalition will hold up?" To which the analyst replied "You mean the [labour] voters?" And Wark nodded.
DeleteAm i missing something?? Why is the current govt. referred to as a coalition?
Good on Zahawi. He was a lot bolder than i've seen him before - pre-election. Hope all Con. MPs push back at BBC presenter nonsense in the same way.
by [labour] i mean the implication (based on the preceding vox pop) was former labour voters which had turned blue
DeleteI think she was trying to make the point that the ERG/JRM are not going to buy into extra spending for restructuring of the UK and the "Tories" are in reality a "coalition" between Blue Collar Conservatives and hard-hearted capitalists like JRM. Just the usual caricature. People like Mark Francois and Steve Baker in the ERG are I suspect quite happy with the Blue Tory strategy. I suspect most Conservatives think that if billions have to be spent they are best spent on winning the next election.
DeleteWas watching Eddie Hughes' (Walsall North)speech in the Commons.
ReplyDeleteGreat speech and he actually had a very pertinent point to make. He said he was looking forward to the day when robotic factories locating in his constituency to produce goods for Birmingham rather than us importing them from tens of thousands of miles away (with all the negative environmental impact that entails).
This is definitely the way forward and counters Gauke's depressing "can't do" comments on Newsnight.
If we want to reintroduce industry to this country we can. But we have to have the political will, we need to invest and we need to plan.
They never learn do they? Yvette Cooper still banging the drum for open borders mass migration...thinks we should let in every person who claims to be a child, even if they are bent over, grey-haired and walking with a stick.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/YvetteCooperMP/status/1207719034831147016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1207719034831147016
Will the BBC be amplifying the migration narrative or will they realise this is one of the main reasons why Labour didn't win?
Cooper also told Sky News she and her husband, Ed Balls, would be prepared to accept a refugee. The shadow home secretary and Labour leadership contender said: “If that’s what it took and that’s what was needed, then of course, I think lots of people would be.
DeleteHypocrite, she never did and never intended to. Neither did Geldof or Sturgeon who promised to at the same time.
Not just her of course. The then Archbishop of Canterbury promised to do the same. So did Lily Allen and a host of others, none of whom went ahead and actually brought a "refugee" into their home (or even one of their homes plural).
DeleteWe need an end to this moral blackmail. Of course there are deserving refugees and we should offer some help. There are many Christians, Hindus, agnostics and atheists who have been persecuted and need help. If we are to make places available, they should be the priority.
For unauthorised migrants claiming to be asylum seekers, they should be processed offshore in secure facilities and their claims should be subjected to detailed scrutiny. A genuine refugee under threat of death or persecution won't object. The bogus refugees will simply stop coming here if we do that, since there aim is to not to find sanctuary but to tap into our economic wealth. It will also be an example to mainland Europe on how to deal with the problem.
Mahyar Tousi had a great election. Kept my spirits up!
ReplyDeleteIn all the rush of the election result/impact I haven't caught up with his videos. This is his celebration one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JAYeSYwzVs
We need more people like him, like Rishi Sunak, Andrea Jenkins, Priti Patel, Mark Francois and Steve Baker...they didn't bend, they were resolute.
There seems to be a great big gap in the coverage of Brexit at the moment - seems to apply to BBC, Sky and ITV and the main radio news stations.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard anyone challenge a Remainer on the crucial issue of whether they are going to apply to rejoin the EU. Since they claim Brexit will cause "irreparable harm" to the UK, surely their own logical position has to be that they will press for the UK to immediately reapply to join the EU.
Why haven't our useless reporters and presenters asked the Remainers about this? Have I missed such an occasion? Or are they trying to spare the Remainers' blushes?
We know that pics persuade, which is why the BBC chooses them carefully. Despite possessing thousands of its own images relating to Brexit, including in house graphics, it rifles through Getty Images for a suitably downbeat image - a crossroads on a lonely, deserted moor (you can almost hear the sinister whistle of the wind), with distressed looking signposts and a sign that looks like those fire escape signs - run! Another good thing, from the BBC's point of view, is that it offers the usual conflation of "Europe" with "the EU".
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50838994
And another that caught my eye earlier - a Union Flag painted duck, floating alone and isolated on a wide expanse of water.
DeleteIt's relentless!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32810887
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/2DD9/production/_109273711_duck_crop.jpg
Another Getty Images classic. Presumably they've got one of a bowler hatted gent waiting at a bus stop, naked except for a union flag flapping in the wind...
DeleteGetty Images actually advertise 12104 Anti-Brexit stock photos and images. To be fair, they do also advertise 6 Pro-Brexit stock photos and images. That's only a difference of 12098 and they probably get complaints from both sides...a very BBC outfit!
What is that I hear?
ReplyDeleteIs it Steve Bray?
Is it Gina Miller?
Is it Dominic Grieve?
Is it Anna Soubry?
Is it the BBC?
Nay, nay and thrice more nay!
That, ITBB'ers is the sound of the Brexit klaxon.
:-)
Let's celebrate with another glimpse of this:
https://i.imgur.com/8lXUBDX.jpg
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love sent to me:
DeleteTwelve Gummers gumming
Eleven papers piping
Ten Lords a-lying
Nine pundits panning
Eight MPs a-milking
Seven donkeys Braying
Six Ginas a-claiming
Five Hu-ugh Grants
Four Fib-all Dems
Three French MEPs
Two Project Fears and
We still voted for Brex-it.
Bravo, MB. Enjoyed the 'bowler hatted gent' comments above too!
DeleteSome excellent contributors to this site, but when Craig and Sue themselves haven't been able to keep up their usual much appreciated output from day-to-day, your prolific observations have kept the blog worthy of a regular read.
Thanks to all of you, and here's to less frustration next year. With the fog of uncertainty at least partially cleared, I'm looking forward to some 2020 vision.
Let us all celebrate Christmas. It's that time of year when we are spared the incessant Remain/PC output from Auntie - because, all the familiar faces are off to their second properties in Cornwall/Mediterranean/ Caribbean/Florida etc. Therefore, we won't be hearing from them until after the new year.
ReplyDeleteWhat will annoy me is when they take up exactly the same biased massage when they return. they will show the same level of outrage, interrupt people they don't like, and continue to preach unabated.
This is what happens when you think the world revolves around you as they all do at the BBC.
... message ...
DeleteThey will preach to us about homelessness, food-banks, NHS waiting times, the plight of 'migrants' etc - a harsh reality to some, but not to them - Champagne Socialists.
DeleteInteresting that you say what the virtuous luvvies and lefties are preaching about - see an article about that by Joanna Williams on spiked and the go-to word that falls from every earnest lip.
DeleteI just saw a tweet on BBBC from BBC's Joey D'Urso:
Delete'Logging off here for a month or so".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50873869
ReplyDeletejust what the hell is the point of this article??
The only place i have heard the word johnsonism is on the BBC.
pooh!
It appears to be a term that Pienaar has invented himself but he doesn't know what it means!
DeleteI suspect that Boris doesn't have a philosophy as such and that is why the BBC can't understand him and can find nothing to attack.
With luck Boris will prove to be a positive, inspirational leader. "Let's get things done!" encourages people at all levels to have a positive attitude and do their best, whereas the BBC believes that everything has to be micro-managed by well-paid committees that will call for more studies, more money and get nothing done.
No point except to let Pienaar claim at future dinner parties that he invented the term "Johnsonism" (even though he didn't - think I saw it years ago).
DeleteThe whole article is typical of the rather crabby approach of BBC journos at the moment: a rather sour-faced, grudging acceptance that Johnson has won but at the same time some keen gardening taking place - putting down a lot of spring bulbs on a range of issues that they hope will flower in public disillusionment in a few months' time.
A detailed record of self-delusion...
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/rachshabi?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Rachel Shabi thinks more immigration, weaker immigration controls, closing down debate on immigration, more Corbynism and listening to Diane Abbott would have made Labour more electable.
NEWSNIGHT:
ReplyDeleteSix deluded liberals babbling away incohorently, often simultaneously and over each other, Nihal particularly strident and deluded.
Complete drivel.
What was it Iain Dale said?
"The BBC is broadcasting a view of the country that most of us do not recognise."
Yup.
Ah yes, I gave up on that after a few minutes. I only really stayed with it to see if the Idiot Nihal would say anything really stupid, but they were on his strongest subject - Instagram - so it was very boring.
DeleteJust got in, but for those of you - especially Monkey Brains - who might not have seen it yet, The Conservative Woman has a new, popular post headlined Fifty Shades of BBC Bias. Well done MB, your Festive Fifty is travelling afar (like the Three Kings of Orient Are).
ReplyDeletehttps://conservativewoman.co.uk/fifty-shades-of-bbc-bias
Of course, we on the high moral ground of ITBBCB? website did not succumb to use of the tacky 'fifty shades' wording.
DeleteThanks for that Craig...
DeleteIf only there were shades of grey at the BBC - instead everything is painted black and white.
The 'Fifty Shades' tag leaves the way open for a sequel. For instance:
DeleteThe BBC's 'Fifty Shades of Falsehood'.
1. Women's cricket is as exciting as the men's game.
2. Ditto Rugby Union.
3. Ditto, Football.
4. Far-right terrorist threat is equivalent to RoP ideological extremism.
5. AntiSemitism has an equal and opposite - Islamophobia.
6. Only charity and public sector workers can be worthy heroes/angels.
7. LGBT + issues impact upon everyone, regardless of age location and tradition.
8. Left-wing 'comedy' is to be loved by all.
9. Ditto BAME comedy.
10. Traditional British comedy has no place in 21st C UK.
11. Ditto traditional theatre.
12. Ditto Christian tradition and artwork.
13. BAME actors must be equally suitable for all acting parts regardless of historical fact.
14. Global warming is a scientific fact.
15. Renewable energy is a reliable alternative to other forms of production.
16. Oceans are running out of oxygen.
17. Polar ice is melting away.
18. The oceans are full of plastic waste.
19. Battery electric cars will not affect the demand for additional electricity supply.
20. Batteries do not represent a pollution risk.
etc.
21. That increased immigration doesn't put a strain on the NHS and other public services.
Delete22. That inter family marriage amongst some communities doesn't add an above average load on NHS services.
23. That housing shortages especially in London can be solved by building more within an area with little or no available development land.
Delete24. That knife-crime is endemic to the whole of the UK, and not principally confined to certain ethnic groups.
Delete25. That in the BBC worldview London is the UK and the UK is London.
Delete26. That's there's plenty of room in the UK for all-comers.
Arthur you started on a very long list!
Delete25. That inner city boxing clubs in receipt of public funds really are helping divert young people from crime and are not used as centres for steroid distribution and other nefarious activities.
26. That every pound of additional public expenditure adds to human happiness.
27. That the BBC is providing a public service by encouraging young people to be anxious rather than to celebrate their youth.
28. That FGM is being "tackled".
29. That knife crime is being "tackled".
30. That online fraud is being "tackled".
31. That Radio 4 listeners enjoy listening to rap.
32. That the Seychelles are disappearing beneath the ocean.
33. That Dawn French is a babe.
34. That Andrew Marr is an insightful interviewer.
37. That a degree in History of Art will equip reporters with the knowledge to cover economics, climatology and foreign affairs.
Delete38. That Mumbai not Lord's is the capital of the cricketing world.
Delete39. That a degree in English will equip a journalists to report on business and economics.
Delete40. That Rome is not Roma and Moscow is not Moskva but Bombay is Mumbai and Peking is Beijing.
41. That success is a relative term dependent upon how underprivileged one was to start with.
Delete42. That privilege is an obstacle to success and plaudits.
43. That emotive response, eg tearfulness, will always outbid logically presented facts.
44. That racism can only be reported when the victim is of a BAME ethnic group.
45. BAME groups cannot themselves be racist.
46. That US and UK politics are directly comparable - Democrats are 'people like us' and should be supported without question.
Delete47. That keeping an eye on 'food miles' should help us cut down carbon emissions - apart that is from Masterchef the Professionals.
Delete48. That a fully functioning higher education system should produce only left/liberal/PC clones of themselves.
Delete49. That, for a man to fancy a woman, or vice versa, is gender stereotyping.
Delete50. And finally - Kids know best!
DeleteYour 50 - that pops up a lot on soaps...always makes me laugh. :) But then soaps and news output are umbilically connected.
DeleteWell it is a new dawn, is it not as Tone intoned?
ReplyDelete1. The BBC Beast is wounded and staggering for sure. Temporarily having to pump out seemingly less biased programming. Only seemingly. The dinosaurs are rattling their egg-sized brains to try and think up how to defeat Cummings-Johnson in the four dimensional chess game they are playing. The dinosaurs may not be clever but there are a lot of them.
2. The MSM are not pressing Labour and Lib Dems on why they aren't proposing an immediate application to rejoin the EU (currently it is only raised in relation to the SNP). The Conservatives should press them on this - challenge them to rule it out "for a generation" as the saying goes.
3. All this election victory has done is buy time. The working of immigration, population growth in migrant communities, PC propaganda on the BBC and in most of the MSM generally and indoctrination of youth in schools and universities is growing the Labour and Lib Dem vote. Bring in a leader with less baggage and more charisma, take away the Brexit issue and hone down policies to a more credible size, we may yet find ourselves with Marxist as PM in 5 or 10 years.
4. The BBC's diversity obsession and constant promotion of Islam has helped create a dangerous political dynamic, whereby Muslims are increasingly identifying with the Labour Party but Hindus and Sikhs are identifying with the Conservatives. Diversity brings division.