Last Sunday I highlighted the fact that neither the Andrew Marr Show or the Politics Show had interviews with either a Tory or a LibDem politician. Well, guess what, more or less the same thing has happened today. On Andrew Marr (live from Scotland) we were treated to Alex Salmond and Wee Dougie Alexander, along with Sir Hugh Orde and Ian Rankin. According to Events, Dear Boy the last time a Shadow Minister appeared on the programme was on 8 February. I've checked the programme archive and he is right.
On the Politics Show today, we were treated to interviews with trade union leader Mark Serwotka, Labour Peer Lord Hattersley, Work & Pensions Secretary James Purnell and Defence Secretary John Hutton. Then there was a 45 second clip of LibDem Steve Webb and a perfunctory 3 minute piece with Andrew Lansley on alcohol pricing. And this is supposed to resemble balance?
In a 15 minute interview, James Purnell was allowed by John Sopel to make all sorts of spurious allegations about 'Tory cuts' without being challenged on a single occasion.
What I think may be happening is that Labour media managers are refusing to allow their Ministers to appear on TV with their Tory or LibDem opposite numbers. And BBC producers are acquiescing. We know for a fact that Mandelson is refusing to appear on the media with Ken Clarke. If this is indeed happening more generally, Labour's bluff should be called and they should be empty chaired on programmes like the Politics Show if they refuse to enter into debate.
Iain, it is clear what must be done. You must tool yourself up with the latest military hardware and single-handedly storm the BBC television centre. You can then put Andrew Marr and the rest of that ramshackle crew on trial while wearing a black cap.
ReplyDeleteThey will never mess with us ever again.
Iain, I think you are right with your analysis. The Tories need to address this. But does it really matter. Who is listening to Labour any more.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to know what the ratings for the Sunday morning shows are compared with Newsnight etc, which for all its faults does tend to be slightly more even-handed.
ReplyDeleteIf it's only the politics junkies that are watching on Sunday mornings (I've always assumed this to be the case), then it won't be making too much difference.
I suppose there are some Scots Conservative politicians (who don’t represent the highlands of Ken & Chelsea etc)?
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with Aex C - Sunday morning pols’ progs - tedious or what? There are better things to do.
Before the 97 election Alistair Campbell told the BBC and other broadcasters that they would not do interviews other than on a 1-to-1 basis, if the broadcaster refused, they didn't get a Labour spokesman. This continued when they got in to Government and it now seems Campbell is back to his old tricks and perhaps pushing even harder to deny Conservatives any airtime by threatening to deny Marr, Toady, Politics Show etc Government figures if they don't play by his rules.
ReplyDeleteIs there any way to ask the question off the BBC if this is happening?
Complain , complain and complain again.
ReplyDeleteThen ask PQs on how many complaints there have been.
And put in FOI requests asking for the numbers and the details of those who took the decisions that led to the bias.
They will only change when you expose them corporately and personally
It's in the BBC charter, about political bias. This must come from the top, i.e. McBias and Thmpson. As Gov cannot be trusted and now totally corrupted institution then only it's downfall will do. Then the proles can have something permanent to remember as the lasting legacy of ZaNULab. The end of the BBC.
ReplyDeleteI hope the conservatives are noting who the producers are.Perhaps a list for future boycotts.
ReplyDeleteThe sooner the bbc is no longer propped up by an enforced licence fee the better.
Softening us up for the June Election, for sure.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC will be shut down after June 2010 and replaced with an independent broadcaster.
ReplyDeleteAt least I hope so!
There is no attempt at meeting the highest standards of journalistic impartiality within BBC.
ReplyDeleteLabour party electioneering is now the name of the game, and without any management control, it will only get more biased as the election draws nearer.
CROWN said... “The BBC will be shut down after June 2010...”
ReplyDeleteAgain: Wager?
I think you're being very brave or very foolish to assert that Labour are actually stopping Tory people appearing as a contractual condition.
ReplyDeleteUnless you have some proof ...? And even if it were the case that some of 'em wouldn't go up head to head that would not stop any broadcaster taking separate 1-2-1s. Or items like the Lansley one.
Looks to me like the relevant Tories who are invited can't or won't make it. Too busy with their second and third and fourth jobs, I'll be bound. Or deliberately saying no to create a story fro some muppet to taa-daa with.
Grant Shapps perhaps?
Few of them are capable of holding their own anyway. That's the truth. the Tories virtually disappear when Cam has time off.
It was the same on 5 live gabby logan show earlier.
ReplyDelete"BBC producers are acquiescing." Oh really? You KNOW this? You've ruined what could otherwise have been a thought-provoking rant with this one sentence. Laying yourself open to accusations of libel and ignorance. Stop beating the same tired drum, Iain.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI was told by a BBC employee working on the Toady Prog that Campbell told them this and they all rolled over and had their tummies tickled. Remember Blair refusing to go on if Humphreys was going to do the interviewing?
Same game being played now, I suspect.
The BBC is a stinking morass of left wing scum.
ReplyDeleteI constantly grow tired of complaints about the Tories not getting their message across.
There is precious little airtime as it is. The way the BBC operates there is even less.
@ Chris Paul
ReplyDelete"to assert that Labour are actually stopping Tory people appearing as a contractual condition."
Evidence for this? Where does it say this in Iain's piece?
It's the usual bollocks - putting words into other people's mouths.
Clown.
Makes sense. I have, in the past 2 or 3 months, complained to the BBC about the interviewing of cabinet members, which has in effect turned into a party political broadcast by the Labour Party. I neither case was there an opposition spokesperson.
ReplyDeleteNeither complaint received a reply.
People. Don't just stop paying the license. Chuck the TV out. You won't miss it, and if you have a reasonable broadband connection, most of the little you might end up wanting to watch is out there.
Say BOO to the BBC. Another institution suborned by the nasty infection that is New Labour.
Chris Paul.
ReplyDeleteIf some of the New Labour front bench (a sorry lot, it has to be said) had done a real job at some point in their lives, then we wouldn't be reading articles like this, would we?
Proof - government hasn't a fucking clue
That fact is that the country is now run by a commissariat, none of whom have any experience of work except New Labour politics. They are ideologues, and management mad, as seen in the perfection of this madness, James Gordon Brown.
Perhaps, as well as The Madness Of King George, people will one day flock to the cinema to see the Madness Of Gordon Brown.
Only they won't feel sorry for him. They'll jeer the screen and howl abuse at him.
I have complained to the BBC before (to no avail)regarding the BBC South part of the politics show, where more often than not, there is no Conservative representation on the panel discussion - they always manage to invite Sandra Gidley, Chris Huhne, Normal Baker or Annette Brooke from the Lib Dems, and likewise either John Denham, Jim Knight, Celia Barlow or Laura Moffat from Labour.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you expect? The BBC is nothing but a liebore/gummint mouthpiece. Face facts, no one trusts or listens to the BBC these days, with their selective news items and biased reporting.
ReplyDeleteI recall Tory Ministers (by negotiation with producers) refusing to appear with a Labour Shadow during previous Conservative administrations. Newsnight used to take the piss bigtime with camera angles.
ReplyDeleteI am not staggered with surprise to hear suggestions the same thing is happening now.
But someone inside (or recently retired from) TV news should do an exposé about it notwithstanding.
Rab C. Nesbitt said... “Face facts, no one trusts or listens to the BBC these days...”
ReplyDeleteI trust and listen to the BBC these days. (Everyone I know does too.) Ditto in my case (to my surprise) Murdoch’s Sky News.
Under a Tory government, nothing would change at the BBC except:
ReplyDeletea) The attidude of staff towards govermnent ministers, and
b) Spitting Image would make a comeback
The BBC will be reformed as soon as UKIP are voted into government.
@ Simon. More fool you then.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same too. I have complained in the past and got nowhere. The BBC are simply not interested. It will do its best to prop-up this government until its dying day.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC must be dismantled, it is an abuse of taxpayers money. It should be there to create good drama, educational, current affairs and unbiassed news services. If anybody watched the awful Bonekickers last year, they will know that the BBC has totally fallen to left wing political ideas, even in drama thay cannot show political neutrality.
ReplyDeleteIf the Conservatives win the next election, look for a forensic enquiry into the BBC's election coverage to make sure that it met the rules for impartiality, and God help Thompson and his lefty idiots it it fails.
I agree, Iain. Mind you, every time a Labour politician is allowed to get away with it, what do ordinary viewers do? They might start to add the balance for themselves.
ReplyDeleteWell done, BBC! Well done, Labour!
I suppose there are some Scots Conservative politicians (who don’t represent the highlands of Ken & Chelsea etc)?...
ReplyDeleteYes. The Scottish Parliament. They are involved in that.
I think Alex Salmond was excellent as usual. Didn't realise he was on until someone mentioned it. Pity Marr brings up situations which are ridiculous but then that's what he does.
ReplyDeleteShame Aunty Annabelle wasn't asked too -(that's Annabelle Goldie of the Scottish conservatives to the people who don't know).
You might oppose this Labour bias on the BBC but the trouble is that EU Dave will not. He'll probably apologise for not protesting about it sometime next year.
ReplyDeleteThe other day PoliticsHome did a PH100 survey which suggested that the majority of their Westminster insiders thought that there would be more focus on the Conservatives from now on.
ReplyDeleteMy immediate reaction was 'If only there were.'
How is this going to happen if the opposition is almost entirely ignored by the Andrew Marr Show and the Politics Show?
Does the BBC not realise how absurd they look when they give the impression that their idea of political coverage is giving us a brief, watered down glimpse of internal Labour/BBC debate?
David Cameron has ofcourse got another one over on GORDON BROWN. By apologising for his Tory policy on the economy, he has now trumped Gordon's poker card. If GORDON doesn't apologise for his part in the financial mess, when DC has, he will look arrogant. If he does, he will be regarded as a copycat. Another reason why we are heading towards a Tory administration....
ReplyDeletewww.plenty2say.com
Mr Plenty, just a small point.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you regularly publish your blog URL (I assume to attract readers) when your Blogger profile is blocked?
Eh?
Thatsnews said... “I suppose there are some Scots Conservative politicians... Yes. ‘The Scottish Parliament. They are involved in that.’”
ReplyDeleteThanks. I knew that. I was being not very funny.
It just goes to show you can't be too careful.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the BBC capitulating its the BBC colluding with the Labour machine. It has been a tendency for a long time now. The Today programme has been slowly reducing its quota of opposition spokespeople for some years - now its reached a near zero (the couple of minutes they deign to give to Tories early or late in the show are the exceptions that prove the rule). Similarly Andrew Neil's Daily Politics has been nobbled since Gordon came to power. It used to be one of the few programmes you could watch and hear all sides of the issue. No longer. They now always have a Labour minder on the show. All PMQs have a Labour person sitting in and this is now supplemented by pro Labour spin from voice over and Nick Robinson. Now the process of wiping out the opposition has reached the Sunday shows. This is precisely how non-democratic countries operate. They obliterate the opposition. I have no idea why so many people are so slow to wise up to what is going on.
ReplyDelete...but Iain the clowns that Labour put up for these programmes are so hopeless they cause far more trouble for their own party than would an opposition politico.
ReplyDeleteThey need no assistance whatsoever in digging their own political graves
It doesn't really matter what the BBC do in a few years - their role will change because people won't have tellys.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame they can't get their politics editing up to a decent standard - it's some kind of organisational atrophy.
They can make good programmes but other than Newsnight (which we all whinge about but is pretty good) it's a whole bag of spanners.
Why is Peter Sissons the only dude who seems to be able to do the news on his todd except the graveyard shift? Why has he been relegated from front line political stuff and that dispicable little gimp Sopel allowed out when his breadth of knowlege is lamentable bordering on the bloody ignorant?
It's been a joke for ages watching Question Time - a drinking game based on spot the right winger - you'll still be sober at the end! Even the Tories on that are dripping wet.
It is exactly the wrong part of the election cycle for a cataclysmic recession going on - yippee.
Tim Sebastian was brilliant & Steven Sakhur has a twatty personality but really good at his job. What happened to Tim Sebastian - not dead is he?
Loved it at the end of the interview with the writer dude when Andy Marr said 'thank you both' and there was only 1 guy there!! He has problems counting to 2 apparently.
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ReplyDeleteChris Paul:
ReplyDelete"Looks to me like the relevant Tories who are invited can't or won't make it. Too busy with their second and third and fourth jobs, I'll be bound. Or deliberately saying no to create a story fro some muppet to taa-daa with."
Could be so. But then usually if the BBC try to interview someone from an organisation and that organisation doesn't make anyone available the BBC cover themselves by stating sthg like "We asked X to provide a spokesman but no one was available". They haven't done so in this instance which to me suggests the BBC made no effort to get a Conservative spokesman.
Plus these interviews are very pleasant, easy going affairs for teh govt spokesman concerned. Almost sycophantic even. Were they hard going which gave the ministers/Labour reps a good going over then I could see your point. But they are not.
So taking the above two points together, I think Iain's stance seems very reasonable. Can you explain why it is not? Without making stupid catty remarks that is...
Oscar Miller - Andy Neill is ace though isn't he? He's a knob but he knows it and makes them be a bit more human.
ReplyDeleteHe has good skills - he's incredibly clubby and has seen it all before and yet still is idealisticly enthusiastic about British politics.
He does some brilliant put downs.
Liam Byrne last week was quality. Apparently young and curiously elfin like Liam wrote a missive to his staff insisting on coffee at 11.45 and soup and 12.30. He also insisted they didn't send him long memos that had 'extraneous words' in them. Bottom line - he doesn't understand the brief and thinks he can fly it - or a git, or both.
Neill got him coffee & soup at near the time. Fantastic. It ain't high brow politics but he makes them appear like the idiots they are and that's can be slightly more devasting.
Dick the Prick said... “It doesn't really matter what the BBC do in a few years - their role will change because people won't have tellys.”
ReplyDelete!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSurprised?
ReplyDeleteDear Iain,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I am disgusted by the Labour bias of the BBC political reporting. I have written a letter of complaint about the matter on the BBC webstie, I should receive a reply within 10 days. I am not holding my breath. I guess I will be fobbed off with the usual 'we are fair and balanced' etc etc, I will let you know how it goes.
Simon - hard wired projection thru laptops. How long would that take?
ReplyDeleteI really love the BBC though. 1st time ever i've not paid my licence and it's getting a bit edgy. A dude called round last week and I stoopidly confirmed my name but then hit a mantra of 'sorry, can't help you mate!'.
ReplyDeleteI'm an idiot - i'll pay it this week. It was all about the amount of hacks that went to the US for the elction - that incredibly got me angry. Can you remember Simon Schama going native? Matt Frei is a Hoon and Katy Kay is tring to get a better gig. Webb? Webb? Webb? It I wanted a fake Alistair Cook I'd have asked Humphrey Littleton to ask Alan Coren where Ned Sherrin was. Idiot - and he's coming to Toady replacing Stourton who has absolutely no agenda. Ballyhoo - where's the bunting?? Just in time for an 'emotional' election?
I like to think of myself as an impartial observer of psephelogical movements, emotive responses (I am the guy in the boozer who'll ask you who your gonna vote for next - I like hearing people's first responses).
ReplyDeleteEveryone can interpret polls - the need for narrative should be set higher than the Draper school of aspiration. The media feeds itself.
Why do anchormen & lasses have to diversify into some vague drivel. Fiona Bruce on Antiques Roadshow a moment ago was an absolute treat but Andy Marr doing Darwin when Robert Winston is the man is freaky.
Sod it - I'm a strict Catholic with straight biology A level. Politics & evolution ain't ever tangled but Marr didn't understand evolution. Had to be Bobby Winston.
I much prefer the Sunday Supplment on Sky Sports. Four intelligent sports journalists talking, WITHOUT blaming anything on the USA or Global warming!
ReplyDeleteThese regional programmes on the BBC are frustrating. The internal politics of Scotland bother me not one jot, likewise Ireland and Wales.
Whenever Question Time visits one of those countries we have to put up with third grade politicians trying to answer questions way beyond their capabilities.
But I am sure, on the main point, Cameron will have kept a log and he will be able to have deep and meaningful discussions with the BBC Director General when he is Prime Minister. Something along the lines of "Mr DG we are going to have a Royal Commission into Public Service Broadcasting and whether there is still a case for a licence fee"
Now such a move would please many people and cause some consternation in the correct places!
How cool is 'in our time?' - 8/10 (12 on a good day)
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you just sleep through Sunday mornings instead, Iain?
ReplyDeleteDick the Prick said... “hard wired projection thru laptops. How long would that take?”
ReplyDeleteForever, I’d say. Personally I’m a consumer of foreign TV (principally newses) via satellites and the web equivalent is basically crap and will remain so for the foreseeable future*.
And I don’t think my mother-in-law is in the market for a laptop of any kind - let alone a net connection. I also don’t think the infrastructure looks like coming anytime soon.
I use the net a lot but it’s no replacement for broadcast TV - which gets more rather than less varied. If you aren’t into it you wont *believe* how much digital TV is now available from all over Europe and beyond via satellite. http://www.lyngsat.com/ It’s staggering.
And boy am I pissed-off with those damn Sky-player ads (not Mac compatible).
*I want MSNBC anyway I can - but all that’s available is some podcasts. I want Saturday Night Live but web access to the library is barred outside the US. I’d like CNN-US (audio-only available). BBC World broadcasts to homes all over the world - many of which will never get net access. I use TF1, Fr3 from France (the web stuff is lousy).
I find it strange that no media moguls ever mention bias at the BBC.
ReplyDeleteNobody touches it. There are the occasional renegades like Jeff Randall, who arrived at the BBC to have his union jack cufflinks challenged on the basis it was a BNP symbol, but on the whole the MSM stays away from the subject.
And yet, even Andrew Marr said this:
'The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias.'
Another area of bias is the reluctance of the BBC to use the word England or English, as if it does not exist. Nu Labour appears to have banned the word and the BBC have rolled over and complied.
The BBC is also the recipient of £141 million in soft loans from the EU - how is it going to remain neutral on referendum issues? It was enough to cause Conservative Bob Spink to ask:"I am concerned that the independence and objectivity of the BBC may have been improperly influenced by funding from the EU.”
Remember James Naughtie, saying on Today, "If WE win the election..." when interviewing Ed Balls.
Remember Orla Guerin who appears to be a mouthpiece for Hez Bolla?
The list is endless, and remember, propaganda is not generally about barefaced lies, it is often merely the sin of omission:
Propaganda is the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people.As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.
Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.
—Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion
Why do I wanna listen to young people? When did youth become so bloody great that I didn't wish I was older? I like getting on a bit - 34 in a minute but, I don't wanna be a teenager again.
ReplyDeleteGordon Brown describing the celebs who climed Kilamanjaro is a bit fluffy. I'm not surprised the BBC are getting worried - almost like this is a cross variate recession - dilemma! Nah, have fun with it - consolidation is key, obviously.
I'm not implying anything here, but You don't suppose there is anything more sinister afoot here ? Do You suppose Mugabrown spent all that time and effort, just to lose it all at the hands of the electorate He has skilfully avoided for so long ? It won't be long before He's trying to restrict his opponents from speaking out at all. I could be wrong of course, lets hope so.
ReplyDeleteWrinkled Weasel said... ...arrived at the BBC to have his union jack cufflinks challenged on the basis it was a BNP symbol...
ReplyDeleteThey are a BNP/UKIP symbol. I’ve never come across a UKIP speaker without them - though no doubt there are some.
You are all assuming that election next year will just come about, well You'd better be on your guard, Youd better be prepared to stand up and be counted. Liebour can't win, but I don't believe they won't try to stay in power, by any means. Like I said I hope I'm wrong, I really do, You have been warned.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC is institutionally anti-tory. It has been for at least twenty-five years. This is a function of the mean average of the political views of its staff. Not really surprising for a public sector body that recruits through The Guardian.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the Tories can not draw attention to this too forcefully, because that will make the BBC even more determined to prevent their election. Cameron et al should just note the reality and deal with it when they are in power.
This may violate the BBC Editorial Guidelines.
ReplyDeleteBTW. Picking guests is the main exercise in the BBC editorial guidelines training course; which is mandatory for everyone in BBC Vision.
Simon Gardner, it is not a symbol of the BNP,its the national flag of the United Kingdom, like it or not, and as such should at least be treated with a degree of respect. There is nothing to prevent the BNP from using it, (nor indeed should there be,)but that does not make it their property. As for UKIP they are not the BNP and Nigel Farage has had to fight hard against those in the party who would ally with them.
ReplyDeleteI just wonder how many postal votes Labour have already got put by for the General Election.
ReplyDelete"Salmondnet
ReplyDelete...Cameron et al should just note the reality and deal with it when they are in power"
One of the best points made on Question Time
Don't encourage them.
Complain to the BBC. Everyone. They have a charter duty to be impartial.
ReplyDeleteLabour touched upon a successful campaign strategy in Glenrothes. Dominate the media with staged canvassing and hope for a temporary bounce. They might try it again in desperation.
We need to see real debate, not propaganda.
How silly of Me You meant cuff-links per se. I cant speak with any authority on them as I never wear them, believig them to be completely fatuous, like tie pins.
ReplyDeleteNadine's on side
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKing Athelstan said... “Simon Gardner, it is not a symbol of the BNP,its the national flag of the United Kingdom”
ReplyDeleteYou’d look pretty damn silly saluting a pair of cuff links.
“As for UKIP they are not the BNP and Nigel Farage...”
Oh yeah? SPLITTERS!
But why do we hear nothing about all this from the Tory party. They need to put the wind up the BBC with comments like we are not happy and something will be done when we come to pow.....
ReplyDeleteJohnny Norfolk, I was contracted to a government department when Thatcher came to power. All the Tories re-emerged, blinking into the sunlight, and suddenly all the silly socialists went quiet.
ReplyDeleteI have no reason to think that the BBC will be any different.
What is wrong is that the BBC is not just a party political football, it has a momentum and a philosophy of its own - a cultural liberal bias - as Andrew Marr has said, and it will take a lot more than Cameron to change that.
The BBC has always been run by a patrician caste, a small club that decides who and who not to invite. This is perpetuated by its own very arcane recruitment policies and by a wall of lies, obfuscation and propaganda that would shame the USSR as amateurs. It is now so powerful, and so unaccountable, that the only way to tame it would be to dismantle it altogether.
There is a ray of hope. Soon, significant revenue will be lost as people turn to online entertainment media. The reliance on the licence fee as their main source of revenue will dry up and people stream programmes to their computers.
And you can bet they know this and are already lobbying politicians to work out a way to screw us in other ways.
Crumbs. BBC do not agree with Mrs Dale shocker!
ReplyDeleteIt's called denying the Conservatives the oxygen of publicity and it will get worse as election time nears. NB: election time does not necessarily mean we will be allowed an election, using the CCA is still a possibility.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with this lies in the fact that the BBC has unashamedly become the propaganda mouthpiece of New Labour. Partly due to this and also the mess the economy is in, will convince the Tories to sell off/close down most of the BBC when they come to power in the next 15 months. The rump of the BBC that is left will become similar to PBS in the USA with no finance or room in its schedules for the kinds of programmes that Marr presents.
ReplyDeleteIain,
ReplyDeleteBring it up next time you're on News 24. You might lose the gig but at least it'll be out in the open.
The Andrew Marr show has become such a non-entity of a program.
ReplyDeleteMarr has really wasted the credibility that David Frost had built up for the BBC's Sunday morning political slot.
The lack of balance is made worse when they allow Labour ministers to get away with blatant misrepresentation of opposition politicians and their own track record in government.
If for a moment, I believed all the arrant nonsense talked here by the dottier Tories (Iain Dale says they are unrepresentative), I would be even more alarmed than usual at the prospect of a Conservative government.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that the jewel in the crown of British culture and British public life - the BBC - might be somehow at risk is horrifying.
Fortunately, I believe no such threat to the BBC exists from David Cameron.
So that’s all right, then.
Simon,you detest royalty,you apparently detest the union flag,but then you love the "british"bbc!!!!and eussr.
ReplyDeleteYou say you watch a lot of television,congratulations you are one of the many gullible bbc brainwashed.
Simon said...
ReplyDeletea)
The idea that the jewel in the crown of British culture and British public life - the BBC - might be somehow at risk is horrifying.
No it's not - the BBC is a tool of socialist propaganda, and this extends throughout news, current affairs to drama, comedy and cbeebies.
b)
Fortunately, I believe no such threat to the BBC exists from David Cameron.
Agreed, except for the word "fortunately".
And Tory head bangers hereabouts note:
ReplyDeleteSTOP PRESS STOP PRESS
Cameron at today’s presser reiterated (whilst saying no license fee rise) full Conservative party support for the BBC and its centrality to our life and the British way of life.
“I am a supporter of the BBC. I am a supporter of the license fee. I think the license fee can go on.”
I don’t think there’s much room there for the more idiotic rantings here (especially recently) about how the BBC will be broken up/abolished/castrated under any putative Cameron government.
For which I say - “phew”. As well as a loud - “I told you so”.
dmc said... “you apparently detest the union flag”
ReplyDeleteAnd you can stand up this claim how exactly? Feel free to quote whilst attempting to substantiate your allegation.
It’s a very nice flag. A very, very nice flag. The BNP/UKIP cufflinks, however...
@ Simon Gardner
ReplyDelete"I trust and listen to the BBC these days."
Evidently.
"(Everyone I know does too.)"
Know very many people?
"They are a BNP/UKIP symbol."
Rubbish.
"I’ve never come across a UKIP speaker without them"
How many is that, actually?
"I was being not very funny"
Yes indeed.
"You’d look pretty damn silly saluting a pair of cuff links"
Who mentioned saluting?
Unsworth said...
ReplyDelete"I’ve never come across a UKIP speaker without them"
“How many is that, actually?”
Far, far too f****** many. as it happens. I long ago lost count. And their supporters are the most unsavoury bunch I’ve ever seen.
"You’d look pretty damn silly saluting a pair of cuff links"
“Who mentioned saluting?”
Oh dear we have had sense of humour by-pass, haven’t we? Those BNP/UKIP cuff-links are not a flag of any kind - capisce?
@ Simon Gardner
ReplyDeletea)
So, put up some numbers then, rather than bullshitting as usual. How many - and care to name them?
b)
Clearly your soi-disant 'sense of humour' is not shared by me. A merciful relief on my part. However if these cufflinks are not a flag presumably they have no significance - to the BNP or anyone else for that matter.
"And their supporters are the most unsavoury bunch I’ve ever seen".
Probably - but then it's clear you ain't seen very much. Travelled at all?
What part of “I long ago lost count,” don’t you understand?
ReplyDeleteState control of the media is one of the sine qua nons of a totalitarian state.No wonder the Left love the BBC so much.I have never been able to convince any leftist that forcing people to subsidise views they do not agree with is tyrannical.The only way they would possibly get the message would be if they were forced to buy the Daily Mail with their Guardian each morning.
ReplyDeleteniconoclast said... “State control of the media is one of the sine qua nons of a totalitarian state.”
ReplyDeleteFortunately, that’s precisely what we don’t have.
This despite the fact that the head-bangers here want to do just that. (And believe they can - which is fortunately also not true.)
@ Simon Gardner
ReplyDeleteYou're a victim of State Education, clearly. Can you count beyond the fingers of one hand yet? Remedial classes for adults are available, apparently, so - physical age-wise - you shouldn't have too long to wait. The question is, will you actually become an adult?
The fact is that you cannot even put a number to your claim - let alone a name - so (unless it's the usual Simon Gardner bullshit) would you care to provide an 'estimated' figure, then?
And surely you'd remember just one 'name' - or is the memory at fault as well as the 'numeracy'?
Unsworth said... “You're a victim of State Education, clearly. ”
ReplyDeleteAlas no.
And let’s say over 40. And no, I fortunately can’t remember a single one - though it would include every candidate in the ********* & ********* regions in the last Euro election.
Their supporters were indistinguishable from BNP ones which why I can confidently confirm BNP=UKIP and vice versa.
@ Simon Gardner
ReplyDeleteWell, a confirmation of the customary Simon Gardner bollocks then. You meet "over 40" people? Cannot remember a single name? Cannot even name a region?
Zero credibility.
You misunderstand the asterisks, I am NOT GOING to name the regions. I remember them just fine.
ReplyDeleteI am on public record here over only two elections and have no intention whatsoever of going any further, thanks. The two were the Ken Livingstone first (non-party) mayoralty election and the 2004 US presidential election.
I have no desire nor intention of naming any of the numerous others. And again, there have been far too many to count anyway.
Now p*** o**.
@ Simon Gardner
ReplyDelete'p*** o**'?
What's to 'misunderstand'? I 'misunderstand' nothing.
It's quite clear that you simply cannot back up your inane claims - and everyone here can now see that for themselves.