tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post7084745191112062403..comments2024-01-01T17:21:52.555+00:00Comments on Is the BBC biased?: September Open ThreadCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08741318067991857821noreply@blogger.comBlogger189125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-5768017869550717582019-09-11T12:53:19.294+01:002019-09-11T12:53:19.294+01:00There are more contradictions than you can shake a...There are more contradictions than you can shake a stick at. It looks as if the Johnson plan was to take them on head on in the manner of Trump - May appeasement was simply disastrous and besides, Johnson carries a sort of template of Churchill the maverick, the bold, the one who stood up and stood out, worked against the odds, often suffering defeats and setbacks but ploughing on. The hero of the hour would be the defiant blond destroyer.<br />One of the most contradictory things is that this heroic figure who is gambling on turning everything upside down, from the Conservative MPs, the Speaker, the Junckers and Tusks <br />(even Barnier hasn't been so visible or so full of himself lately), is from a family that is LibDem at its core even when Conservative and he himself is the same and has some of the worst ideas for example, about open borders, letting illegals and players of the system in and give them amnesty. Anything else he says about tough immigration is merely a sop to the electorate in my opinion. He is contradictory and untrustworthy on many things, he throws out silly statements that he has to retract, his understanding of some subjects is superficial and I'd never want to underestimate the ability of clever people to be stupid or say or do stupid things. Yet he has the capability out of that superficiality and mutability to come up with something unusual or original and do something that previously seemed impossible or hadn't even been formed as an idea let alone a way forward. <br />They will make him or break him and so far it has been defeat all the way and they've stitched him up like a kipper. Yet we hope against hope that he will somehow spring free and we will be free. Maybe something will come out of it because of the kippering - it went too far and that itself will bring about a breakthrough and a result they hadn't foreseen. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-26567471761149754712019-09-11T08:32:14.323+01:002019-09-11T08:32:14.323+01:00Yes Anon, engineering has traditionally been the p...Yes Anon, engineering has traditionally been the preserve of white males. PC ideology would suggest a shake-up is overdue.Arthur Thttp://otboae.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-35716423977979423242019-09-10T22:16:08.120+01:002019-09-10T22:16:08.120+01:00The Institution of Engineering & Technology ha...The Institution of Engineering & Technology has gone that way too. It is fantastic when all the prizes go to the girls! Women are the same as men but they bring something different to the job so they are better! But then the job has to change to something that the girls like to do, so how does that work?<br />My experience as an engineer was that (certainly British) managements don't like engineers because they point out problems, (spotting the problem is the first step in finding a solution). Girls do what they are told at school, they follow the rules. That is exactly what managements want, we followed the brief, we did what was asked for, now pay us! Oh, it doesn't work? New brief, new contract, more money but lousy engineering!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-85256130036927489502019-09-10T19:57:32.364+01:002019-09-10T19:57:32.364+01:00I should add that so many of these jobs have becom...I should add that so many of these jobs have become politicised from the smallest of schools upwards. Staff from anywhere will be briefed to replay the message in a parrot-like manner. On the other side of the coin, the independent voices are always belittled and/or patronised - indicating low intelligence, bigotry etc. Business views are passed on by the likes of the CBI (I should have included them in the list above) - hardly ever from a Dyson or a Bamford. Arthur Thttp://otboae.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-22763101373883960582019-09-10T19:40:00.894+01:002019-09-10T19:40:00.894+01:00The PC ideology of which the BBC are such worshipe...The PC ideology of which the BBC are such worshipers pervades every walk of life. Especially it represents an entry key into parliament, civil service, academia, art and architecture, the church, charities and public sector such as education, NHS, police - in fact everywhere but in traditional workplaces such as farming, building trades, manufacturing, independent shopkeeping etc.<br /><br />Anyone seeking a job in a PC ideological environment MUST comply with energy and commitment to the PC code, otherwise there would be little hope of gaining employment there.<br /><br />Gradually, generations of like-minded people are picking up the plum jobs offered by the same clones - like hoards of terracotta soldiers marching under the PC banner. PC ideology has become so ingrained now that any off-message remark is greeted with howls of indignation. Arthur Thttp://otboae.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-13849397050055259332019-09-10T17:24:16.831+01:002019-09-10T17:24:16.831+01:00LK like all the Beeboid Remainers suggests that it...LK like all the Beeboid Remainers suggests that it is Boris's "errors" that have got him to this point...<br /><br />"That "long shopping list" of errors, according to one member of the cabinet, means the prime minister's self-imposed Halloween Brexit deadline looks further out of reach than a few short days ago."<br /><br />This is nonsense. Boris isn't stupid. He knew the arithmetic. He knew the Traitor Tories in the Rabble Alliance would move before the 31 Oct deadline. He was never going to be able to slip no deal past this Parliament. His prorogation simply flushed out the Rebels a little early. It does help him that they are now out of the Party in the Commons. He should keep it that way in my view. I dont think Grieve and Hammond ever expected to be kicked out like that. <br /><br />I don't know what Boris's end game is now. I have speculated that perhaps he is seeking to terrify the EU into believing (a) he will definitely win a General Election and (b) that he will then become a majorly disruptive influence within the EU. <br /><br />It's possible that the EU might decide to cut its losses and let the UK go, and offer no further extensions if it calculates that the Remainer parties are never going to get to the Referendum. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-78100247283667597072019-09-10T17:12:10.242+01:002019-09-10T17:12:10.242+01:00I think LFPME are part of a conspiracy to destroy ...I think LFPME are part of a conspiracy to destroy Israel - along with a lot of other groups supported by Corbyn. <br /><br />An example of both conspiracy and cock-up was Israel's support initially for Hamas which to begin with posed as a religious, pious, social aid network. Israel thought it was being clever doing down the PLO. In a sense it was but Hamas soon reverted to type and got involved in the armed terrorist attempt to destroy Israel, eventually replacing the PLO in Gaza. That part was a good example of a cock-up by the Israelis. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-21309963676050281362019-09-10T17:04:51.210+01:002019-09-10T17:04:51.210+01:00I think you are probably right...less time is spen...I think you are probably right...less time is spent now discussing the details of bias since it has become so obvious. In fact we have more and more examples of what I call "gross bias" where presenters don't even try to hid their bias under a cloak of claimed impartiality. <br /><br />We are now faced with a power struggle. The BBC has accumulated huge power and refuses to share it between shades of opinion. We need a populist government that will rein it in, reform it and if necessary break it up. <br /><br />I think one of the things people hate most about the modern PC BBC is that if you dare to protest against it you are immediately labelled a "conspiracy theorist", "Far Right" and not "progressive" - a kind of Catch 22. <br /><br />But is PC progressive? PC policies have produced modern slavery, FGM for tens of thousands of girls, Scottish and Welsh separatism, domestic terrorism targetting teenagers at a music event, grooming gangs, religious restriction of free speech, an Electoral Commission that favours the Left, young couples left with no hope of owning a home with a garden, people being arrested for expressing legitimate views about gender, an anti-semitic Labour Party and the possiblity of a Marxist totalitarian taking power in the UK. Nothing "progressive" about any of that. <br />Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-11986003821567483382019-09-10T10:46:23.021+01:002019-09-10T10:46:23.021+01:00Or, ... 'Parliament stamped their authority ov...Or, ... 'Parliament stamped their authority over populist far-right Government'...Arthur Thttp://otboae.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-39149113390639309792019-09-10T10:11:49.289+01:002019-09-10T10:11:49.289+01:00So far, we haven't heard from the BBC what the...So far, we haven't heard from the BBC what the Newspeak version of recent events in parliament will be. It will be something like 'Parliament exercised their authority over populist Government'. Arthur Thttp://otboae.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-92170033650624159462019-09-10T08:25:55.427+01:002019-09-10T08:25:55.427+01:00Dear Craig, Sue, MB and other ITBB Gurus – Am I ri...Dear Craig, Sue, MB and other ITBB Gurus – Am I right to assume that the dearth of bias commentary here is due to the original question posed by the site’s title is now no longer questionable but rather a ‘given’?<br />I am involved in a long-running (20+ years) project to measure the size of radio audiences, where, each week, different communities are asked to keep a record of what they listen to. When I have to go to ex-coal-mining villages I emphasise the fact that the survey is for commercial stations and only add, if pressed, as a quiet caveat that the BBC is also involved so as not to offend. I regularly get told to f-off in those villages – anyone who is vaguely associated with the BBC is persona non grata – they have long memories and it all goes back to the miners’ strike. However I was shocked recently when I was in a council estate in West Yorkshire where there was the same very hostile reaction. I wasn’t expecting it and so enquired (of some of them) ‘why’. I was looking for some historical moment, such as the miners’ strike, but there was none. All I got was ‘they’re biased; they lie’. And the bottom line was - they won’t even tune in to Pop Master. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-18709845394327934872019-09-10T08:17:34.512+01:002019-09-10T08:17:34.512+01:00[Part 2]
Obviously, the weaknesses exposed by a c...[Part 2]<br /><br />Obviously, the weaknesses exposed by a cock-up aren't always outweighed by strengths. This is the address of the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East site, the first page of the list of 'current parliamentary supporters.'<br /><br />https://www.lfpme.org/supporters<br /><br />The LFPME Website claims that 'Currently, 131 MPs support our work in Parliament'<br />and gives information about the MPs, their name and constituency and in all cases but two, a photo. <br /><br />The MP's on the Website's current list include Michael Meacher, constituency, Oldham West and Royton. But Michael Meacher isn't currently an MP. He died in 2015! (His entry is one of the two without a photo. The other is Diane Abbott.)<br /><br />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 claimed to be the current MP for Rochdale!<br /><br />Other people falsely claimed by Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East to be currently MP's and supporting the organization (they may support the aims and objectives of the organization but they aren't MP's):<br />Sadiq Khan (Tooting), who left parliament in 2016 to become Mayor of London, Steve Rotheram (Liverpool Walton)who left Parliament in 2017 to become Metro Mayor of Liverpool City Region and Andy Burnham (Leigh) who left Parliament in 2017 to become Mayor of Manchester. The site lists a whole group of other MP's who left parliament in 2017.<br /><br />Anyone who uses the membership pages of the site to find out if a particular MP is or isn't a member will find that it's not at all straightforward. The list of MP's seems to be random, with no organizing principle at all. In fact, there is an organizing principle, a ridiculous one. Anyone interested in solving this particular puzzle, a challenging one, perhaps, is welcome to take a look at the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Website. <br /><br />I don't claim that all Labour MP's are incompetents or that all the Labour MP's who support LFPME are incompetent in every way, but some views are decisively falsified by evidence of incompetence and other evidence, such as the view that there's a socialist utopia or near-utopia ready to become a reality if the country has a Labour Government. Utopias and near-utopias are dealt with very harshly by reality. They're vulnerable to attack and if non-utopian socialist states are incompetent, without the wide-ranging skills needed for successful management of the economy then of course their schemes can't be financed.<br />Paul Hurthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05105912331531047780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-61269993356849022412019-09-10T08:12:53.779+01:002019-09-10T08:12:53.779+01:00[I've had to divide this reply into two parts ...[I've had to divide this reply into two parts - it's too long for acceptance.]<br /><br />Sorry - your view that 'politics is 50% conspiracy and 50% cock-up' is surely very wide of the mark. Views based on personal experience often miss the most important things. To give just one illustration, during the Northern Irish troubles, someone feels that he's been treated unfairly by a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He happens to know other people who say they've had similar experiences. He concludes, based on his experience, that the Royal Ulster Constabulary is rotten, the British state is rotten, protest against the British state is justified, armed struggle against the British state is justified, killing members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British army is justified. Personal experience here doesn't supply the wider context, which surely includes this: during the Second World War, Ireland was protected by British military power and has been protected by British military power ever since. The Republic's defence spending has always been pitifully low. It should be obvious that if Irish nationalists had used the slogan 'Stop arming Britain' during the Second World War, it would have been idiotic - as idiotic as the slogan used so often now, 'Stop arming Israel.' The Israeli Defence Force protects Palestinian territory against invasion. An independent Palestinian state would be militarily weak, unable to deter or oppose aggression. In the unstable Middle East, Israeli power is a massive, decisive advantage but it isn't one that Palestinian personal experience would be likely to reveal.<br /><br />Military action, like politics, is so often complex, vulnerable, subject to cock-ups. British and American military action in the Second World War included some spectacular examples. They don't in the least show that the British and Americans were always incompetent, let alone that they were'just as bad as the Nazis.' To give an example from the First World War, the Gallipoli campaign. Churchill's involvement in this disastrous campaign doesn't in the least show that Churchill's political career was '50% conspiracy and 50% cock-up.' Churchill's strengths vastly outweigh the weaknesses. I won't give more objections to your view here. I'd rather use the space to give some information about one particular cock-up (in the second part of the reply.) If I did give more detailed criticism of your view here, it would co-exist with appreciation of your strengths, MB, your insights and your incisive comments. <br /><br /><br /><br />Paul Hurthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05105912331531047780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-69513779024556145042019-09-10T04:15:40.178+01:002019-09-10T04:15:40.178+01:00'Conservative', aren't those the peopl...'Conservative', aren't those the people that stone to death anyone that holds the koran the wrong way up?<br /><br />(Those self-same people become an oppressed but protected minority once they move over here!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-18809864531075898732019-09-10T03:00:54.527+01:002019-09-10T03:00:54.527+01:00Things you won't hear from the BBC discussing ...Things you won't hear from the BBC discussing Mugabe's "legacy" (aka "criminal record"). <br /><br />https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/09/09/exclusive-video-legacy-of-torture-and-murder-zimbabweans-dance-to-celebrate-death-of-tyrant/Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-65315432844862223552019-09-10T00:25:12.614+01:002019-09-10T00:25:12.614+01:00The BBC keeps telling us not to believe in conspir...The BBC keeps telling us not to believe in conspiracy theories. They're bad for you, they say. But the problem is that reality points in the opposite direction:<br /><br />"Olly Robbins - the architect of Theresa May's disastrous Brexit In Name Only deal - gets rewarded for his efforts with a senior job at key donor of the Remain campaign and banking giant, Goldman Sachs. Makes sense...!"<br /><br />https://twitter.com/LeaveEUOfficial/status/1171168395213070337<br /><br />I mean - he hasn't gone to work for Aaron Banks, The Brexit Party or the Institute of Ideas has he? Join the dots, BBC!<br /><br />My own view, based on personal experience, is that politics is 50% conspiracy and 50% cock-up. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-47412735426046620322019-09-09T23:32:56.238+01:002019-09-09T23:32:56.238+01:00For some people the Tories are likes Sprites in El...For some people the Tories are likes Sprites in Elizabethan times...who curdled the milk? the bladdy Tooreez!!! <br /><br />This is one of the reasons I object to the BBC and MSM generally referring to "Tories" since it is a title like the American "Limey" for Brits which can range in implied tone from affection to utter detestation. The media folk know that which is why they so frequently use "Tory" rather than "Conservative". Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-50834486891741142872019-09-09T23:27:51.197+01:002019-09-09T23:27:51.197+01:00Arthur, I am praying for a miracle...
I am liking...Arthur, I am praying for a miracle...<br /><br />I am liking the talk from Boris of a Canada Plus FTA which is what any patriotic Conservative PM prepared to accept the Referendum result (ie not May) should have gone for. I am happy with the idea of special arrangements for agriculture on the island of Ireland if the DUP are (and I suspect they will be). <br /><br />There is an outside chance that Boris might just wangle a deal by persuading the EU that he will definitely win the (November) election and then make their lives hell if they have managed to lock in the UK to the EU. I can see that prospect, of a disruptive UK within the EU, a UK not prepared to play the game but exposing the EU for what it is at every turn could give Merkel and Macron pause to think. <br /><br />I certainly think we should all pray that Boris can pull this off - that goes for the atheists among as well. :) <br /><br />I hope Boris returns with a thumping majority, sacks Bercow's Mini-me successor, takes away Bercow's pension, launches a Court of Inquiry into the treasonous behaviour of Grieve, Blair, Mandelson, Adonis and several others, abolishes the House of Lords, reforms 50 Labour constituencies out of existence and reaches an FTA with Trump within weeks. I accept that not all these things will come to pass.:) <br /><br />Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-82313074988097241872019-09-09T22:30:44.273+01:002019-09-09T22:30:44.273+01:00I don't like 'protected characteristics...I don't like 'protected characteristics' either and politics, religion and while we are at it, national characteristics, should be up for criticism.<br />But what comes out of this man isn't reasoned argument it is just pure hatred and yet he is never challenged let alone cut-off. I rather suspect that it is the BBC that calls him!<br /><br />Try "All [Jews/Muslims/Blacks/Pakistanis/Tories] are lying scum bastards".<br /><br />It's a fair bet Mr Aston inherited his politics. For him the Abefan disaster, albeit under a Labour government, Labour local authority and nationalised ownership was all the fault of the 'bloodee torees'. That sort of hatred must be almost genetic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-2397021802641400872019-09-09T22:25:58.293+01:002019-09-09T22:25:58.293+01:00MB you make this sounds like the day that the 17.4...MB you make this sounds like the day that the 17.4 million Leave voters were told to accept that, in the biggest democratic exercise the country has known, their votes have been ignored. I hope you are wrong.Arthur Thttp://otboae.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-68496711765229605602019-09-09T21:51:57.285+01:002019-09-09T21:51:57.285+01:00Totally impartial Nick "Indabubble" Robi...Totally impartial Nick "Indabubble" Robinson doesn't like Boris, despite him riding high in the polls...<br /><br />https://twitter.com/bbcnickrobinson/status/1171148886959894528Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-35357125733060056672019-09-09T21:03:17.811+01:002019-09-09T21:03:17.811+01:00It's not clear to me why religion is a "p...It's not clear to me why religion is a "protected characteristic" but politics isn't (personally I don't think we should have any "protected characteristics", just reasonable laws). One's politics like one's religion is often inherited from one's parents. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-708582283696918262019-09-09T20:39:59.685+01:002019-09-09T20:39:59.685+01:00I refuse to sign up to BBC Sounds so I am sorry th...I refuse to sign up to BBC Sounds so I am sorry that I can't give a link/time but today, 9/9/2019, Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 took a call from Dale Aston of Pontyprydd. Regular listeners will know that he is a caller of many years' standing but his comments never change. Basically he hates Tories, young, old, ancient and modern, they have no redeeming features whatsoever.<br />One could imagine the same words being applied to anyone of any religion, any race or any colour and their call wouldn't last half a minute and they would never get past the switchboard ever again, yet because it is the 'bloodee torees' he gets to play the same record unchallenged for at least the last six years. (Do a 'Google'!).<br />At least the tame Muslim caller, (called-up?), from Northampton fits his party piece to the story of the day, unlike our Dale, who is always, "[insert name]? bloodee toree! What can you expect?". Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-26149995824753318312019-09-09T20:13:06.211+01:002019-09-09T20:13:06.211+01:00Arthur - Not following your logic here.
The Rebe...Arthur - Not following your logic here. <br /><br />The Rebel Alliance doesn't have to have an answer to the GE motion...it just needs to wait till after 31 October. By then the EU will have offered a lengthy extension which Parliament will have agreed. The only way that won't happen is if Boris can somehow get the Act reviewed by the Supreme Court in a way that gums up the works... I don't hold out much hope on that. <br /><br />If Dominic Cummings has found some way round this, I will be the first to cheer him to the rafters. <br /><br />If Boris does find some roundabout route then the Rabble Alliance will simply replace him with a Government of National Unity using the VONC resolution procedure plus perhaps a letter to the Queen from majority of MPs saying they will vote in X as PM. It might be John McDonnell as a temporary PM, just to agree an extension with the EU. <br /><br />Macron-Blair-Varadka are scared that the UK might escape the EU on no deal...that's why they are ploting for a long extension well beyond the 3 months disingenuously suggested by the Rabble Alliance (who are in on the plot). <br /><br />It's all about getting us into a rigged rerun of the Referendum.<br />Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-85559286279994503012019-09-09T19:32:35.413+01:002019-09-09T19:32:35.413+01:00Varadkar will be under pressure because without th...Varadkar will be under pressure because without the UK's contributions to the EU, Ireland as a net contributor of late, will be expected to help find the shortfall.<br /><br />The Rebel Alliance has no answer to the motion for a GE. What better an outcome would there be than that Jeremy Corbyn as the newly elected PM take the letter and ask for the extension? Of course that won't happen - Corbyn would run a mile.. They might have Boris cornered in the Hoc for the rest of today, but once Parliament is prorogued all bets are off.Arthur Thttp://otboae.comnoreply@blogger.com