BBC may cut digital and radio services after 2012

BBC may cut digital and radio services after 2012: "The BBC may cut digital and radio services after the analogue switch-off in
2012, according to the director general, Mark Thompson."

Radio presenter reads news from iPhone after BBC system crashes

Radio presenter reads news from iPhone after BBC system crashes: "A BBC radio news presenter was forced to read the news from her iPhone after
the corporation's computer and telephone system crashed as she was due on
air."

COCKERMOUTH NONSENSE

COCKERMOUTH NONSENSE: "Diane Abbott MP, as those who worked with her in the early days of TV-am will attest, is not the brightest tool in the box. But she knows a political opportunity when she sees it. Last night - miracle of miracles - the BBC1 programme on which she reguarly appears, This Week, mentioned 'climate change', and there was a sensible exchange between Michael Portillo and Andrew Neil in which the ex-MP mentioned the CRU emails and said the affair illustrated the need for politicians to exercise caution in backing expensive measures that almost certainly were not needed. Bravo!

Ms Abbott's response? To pronounce, without any doubt or hesitation (and no evidence, either), that the Cockermouth floods proved that 'climate change' was definitely happening and must be halted. An audience member on last night's Question Time made the same blunt assertion. The culprit responsible for this inanity? Well it must be in no small measure the BBC itself. On the back of its relentless tide of pro-warming propaganda, Ms Abbott - and millions like her - have become self-declared scientific experts, influenced by the 'climate change' soundbites the BBC push out round the clock. And Ms Abott - as well as people like last night's Question Time panellist the charmless Marcus Brigstocke - seize on this propaganda with relish because it accords with their lefty agenda to cripple our economy and create their ultimate goal of a Stalinist state.

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"

HARRABIN SKEWERED

HARRABIN SKEWERED: "James Delingpole, of the Daily Telegraph, here, has an excellent assessment of Roger Harrabin's role in reporting what is now being called Climategate.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

"

BBC abandons ballet with deformed rapist Pope

BBC abandons ballet with deformed rapist Pope: "The BBC has abandoned plans to screen a ballet featuring a deformed Pope who rapes nuns which it had announced as one of the highlights of its Christmas schedule.

"

SO, WET OR DRY?

SO, WET OR DRY?: "With the Global Cooling Sceptics Deniers in full retreat now that the CRU scandal seems to have spread to New Zealand, the BBC are wheeling out any excuse for a we're all doomed story...even if it flatly contradicts a previous example of how we are, errr, all doomed.



On the BBC, today:

Nigeria's most celebrated environmental campaigner is about to launch a reality TV show to highlight the dangers of global warming for Africans.



At almost 72 years of age it is a wonder he still has the energy, but with three crossings of the barren wastes of the Sahara desert already behind him, Newton Jibunoh is preparing for the most ambitious desert adventure of his life.



After more than 40 years spent travelling the world explaining the dangers posed by global warming, and in particular the worsening problem of desertification in the Sahara region, Mr Jibunoh says his greatest concern remains the lack of awareness among Africans of the gravity of the situation.



The show is his way of spreading the word to a new generation of African environmentalists.

But as recently as July the BBC told us:

The evidence is limited and definitive conclusions are impossible to reach but recent satellite pictures of North Africa seem to show areas of the Sahara in retreat.



It could be that an increase in rainfall has caused this effect.



Farouk el-Baz, director of the Centre for Remote Sensing at Boston University, believes the Sahara is experiencing a shift from dryer to wetter conditions.



'It's not greening yet. But the desert expands and shrinks in relation to the amount of energy that is received by the Earth from the Sun, and this over many thousands of years,' Mr el-Baz told the BBC World Service. 'The heating of the Earth would result in more evaporation of the oceans, in turn resulting in more rainfall.'



Last year the local research centre, called Gobabeb, measured 80mm of rain. In the last decade they have seen the local river, a dry bed for most of the year, experience record-high floods. All this has coincided with record-high temperatures.

Make your mind up, guys. Wet or dry? That, of course, isn't really the question for us here - inconsistency isn't the same as bias. But the continued BBC attempts to spin and manipulate the Great Global Warming Hoax is clear bias for all to see, and that's indisputable.

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"

Question Time 26th November

Question Time 26th November: "

Welsome to the BBC Question Time live-chat here on Biased-BBC.



It is broadcast from Edinburgh tonight, and our glittering array of joyful smiling faces this week are Labour peer "Lord" Falconer, the former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP and the columnist Melanie Phillips. And Marcus Brigstocke will be the oxygen thief on the end. Enjoy!

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"

Climate change scandal deepens as BBC expert claims he was sent leaked emails six weeks ago

Climate change scandal deepens as BBC expert claims he was sent leaked emails six weeks ago: "
Weather presenter and climate change expert claims the documents allegedly sent between some of the world's leading scientists are of a direct result of an article he wrote."

"KILLING COWS IS COURAGEOUS IDEA"

"KILLING COWS IS COURAGEOUS IDEA": "One day, the story of how climate change hysteria took over the BBC will be told. Just like CRU, they have disgracefully refused FoI requests to reveal how they shadily arrived at the outrageous political decision to back the scam with every sinew and every resource at their disposal.

Meanwhile, their journalists continue to act like bigoted charlatans when they discuss anything to do with the topic. This morning, Today presenter Sarah Montague and political reporter James Landale discussed as if it were a serious topic a lunatic idea from the Department of Health that we should kill one in three cows in Britain to reduce methane emissions and thereby also improve the nation's health by reducing meat intake. Landale betrayed his climate change fanatacism by saying admiringly that the idea was 'courageous'. Montague tought the whole thing was a bit of a giggle because someone had pointed out that dairy and cattle farmers might be offended.

If the BBC were a true journalistic organisation, the story here would have been an investigation of what the hell the DoH is doing wasting our money by coming up with inane reports that are an insult to the intelligence of a three-year-old.

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"

Inappropriate

Inappropriate: "From this morning's Today programme (06.30-ish), here's BBC political correspondent Norman Smith commenting on the Tories' claims that government money has gone to schools run by Hizb Ut-Tahrir activists:

'It does seem to me to raise questions, too, about judgement and tone. Judgement as to whether it is appropriate to make such very serious allegations in this way, and although the Tories say that if they hadn't raised it in this way the issue wouldn't have been dealt with and the government wouldn't have acted, I'm sure there will also be people who will argue that well, actually, perhaps it's better to make such sensitive claims in private through the usual channels.'

So here we have a BBC journalist wondering if it's even appropriate to discuss openly the 'sensitive' issue of Islamic fundamentalism.

The families of the dead at Fort Hood know where that sort of thinking can lead.

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"

Question Time 26th November

Question Time 26th November: "

Another Thursday, another BBC Question Time. Tonight it is broadcast from Edinburgh and the panel will feature the Labour peer "Lord" Falconer, the former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP, and the columnist Melanie Phillips. The and-somebody-else mouthbreathing spot this week goes to Marcus Brigstocke who is supposed to be a comedian. But isn't.





As usual we will be following the occasion with a live-chat which will carry on through This Week until we can either suffer no more or the alcohol has run out. Probably a combination of the two. Please join David Vance and myself at 10:30pm UK time for the fun and games!

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

"

BBC criticised for holding Christmas parties for 'talent' despite scrapping staff bashes

BBC criticised for holding Christmas parties for 'talent' despite scrapping staff bashes: "The BBC has been accused of holding parties for its top entertainers despite
scrapping Christmas staff parties."

BBC Worldwide flotation becomes a possibility

BBC Worldwide flotation becomes a possibility: "The prospect of the flotation of BBC Worldwide, the corporations's commercial
arm, was raised last night by Sir Michael Lyons, the chairman of the BBC
Trust, when he said he had an 'open mind' about its future."

BBC 'sorry' for shipping forecast blunder

BBC 'sorry' for shipping forecast blunder: "The BBC has apologised after it mistakenly broadcast a shipping forecast from
the wrong day during one of the worst storms of the year."

CLIMATE CHANGE MANIA RESUMES

CLIMATE CHANGE MANIA RESUMES: "Yesterday, I said that remarkable things seemed to be happening at the BBC in terms of reporting that there were problems in the global warming/climate change scam. I spoke far too soon. Roger Harrabin and his fanatical, deeply politicised lefty chums have clearly been fighting behind the scenes to push warming up the agenda to blitz levels. Today on the website are at least four stories all of which illustrate just how deeply enmeshed in the scam the corporation is.

First there's a report that African conflicts go up when the weather is warm, thus showing that global warming is to blame for the continent's miseries in more ways than one. The idiotic compilers even blame the Darfur fighting on carbon dioxide. I have read a lot of history that is deterministic tosh, but that takes the biscuit. I suppose the boys and girls at the BBC think the heat is more important than fanatical Islam fundamentalism?

Second on the list, is the news that the government/quango employees at the Forestry Commission, aided an abetted by environment secretary Hilary Benn are wasting millions more of our money by urging the planting of millions of trees 'to suck carbon out of the atmosphere'. Of course, there may well be some environmental sense in planting more trees, but hoovering up CO2, a perfectly harmless gas, is not one of them. To the BBC, of course, it's the number one reason.

Third is that the Met Office - which works closely in tandem with the discredited CRU centre in Norwich - is predicting that this year could be the third hottest in the history of the world, ever. Putting aside that such data is hotly denied by 'sceptics' (why can't we call them something less negative, such as 'realists')because the methodology of measurement is hotly disputed, Harrabin has reported such baloney yet again as accepted fact.

And fourth, heavy prominence is gven to the idea that part of East Antarctica may be melting. There's hardly a peep in the report that, even according to the paper itself, it might not be - because the measurements involved are highly speculative.

What is entirely missing from the BBC website (as far as I could see) is a report about the real impact of all the 'climate change' measures the government are introducing. Namely, that thousands more pensioners die in winter than summer because they can't afford the fuel bills that have been vastly inflated by the EU's emissions directives and the madacap rush to build hugely expensive and inefficient renewable sources of energy.

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"

BAD SCIENCE, GOOD BBC

BAD SCIENCE, GOOD BBC: "

Biased BBC contributor Chris Hartnett writes..

Heard the BBC Today programme this morning!

Two separate universities were peddling terrible science-Durham and Bristol no less!

1.Durham tell me that monkeys smell the genes of suitable mates!

This is clearly due to (and therefore confirmation of) natural selection. WE don`t know HOW they do this but we can say that they do it deliberately! This confirms the famous 'smelly T-shirt tests' of the 90s and shows that we too will no doubt 'unconsciously' choose our mates in the same way-hold the Downs Syndrome research please! This was Durham University Anthropology Departments offering!

2. Bristol tell me that-on this the day of a 'strategic policy announcement' by the Government by happy coincidence-that a survey of 1300 girls and vulnerable Young women shows that all men and boys are 'totally beastly'. They need to be told early in primary school that domestic violence is' inappropriate '('out of order!' for those less gifted maybe?) and the senior research 'fellow'(surely Harman needs another word here!)-one Quango Christine Barter(honest!)-tells us that they all lack self-esteem(natch!). This is what Bristol's Centre for Gender and Violence(formerly under Luton University's wing until all equality was removed there in 2005!) offered us up to the news at 8.00!

So my points?

James Naughtie may know his opera but does he have the first clue about science-a survey of 1300 girls say that boys can be 'totally' a pain-did Barter ask Jane Andrews? is 1300 a sufficient survey size?-might not her department get a little funding and support for its agenda?-were the NSPCC and other charities helpful-and why today to coincide with State plans?..so many questions!

Are the great gods of 'equality and men bashing' as well as Darwins theory (no chance mate-its fact or you`re excommunicated from the funding streams!) to be indulged by the liberal arts graduates who put these asinine gobbets of pseudo science into the mouths of the Today presenters?

Lets hear no more about dumbing down from Durham or Bristol unless they set out whether their funding depends on getting on Naughties stump to smear teatree oil over all their academic reputations-UEA ought to warn them that it`s slippery out there!

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"

PUTTING ON THE STYLE

PUTTING ON THE STYLE: "The BBC reports that the UK economy shrunk less than thought! (Less than who thought?) Yes, economic output shrunk by only 0.3% in Q3, not the 0.4% originally suggested. Ring out the bells. Maybe the BBC could provide us with some insight into why it is that ONLY the UK of ALL the major global economies remains firmly in recession, given that our Prime Minister is on record stating the UK was better placed than most to weather the recession. Turns out that we were less well placed to withstand the storm than any other major economy. Who shall we blame?

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"

DEVOLVING POWER..

DEVOLVING POWER..: "The BBC has been a loud voice in hailing the imagined 'triumph' of Labour's wretched devolution plans which have resulted in a much weakened UK. This morning, on Today, during an item on the Calman Commission's report which suggests that Scotland should now be provided with tax raising powers. former communist and now Labour Minister Jim Murphy got to claim that 'everyone' agreed that devolution was a success. No. That is his opinion, fair enough, but there are plenty of people who view the manner and model of devolution espoused by Labour to be a miserable failure. Why does the BBC not provide a platform for those seeking to argue that point of view? I suppose anyone who seeks to promote the intrinsic stability of the United Kingdom is always going to be Persona non Grata with the BBC - our State broadcaster.

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"

Heh

Heh: "Amusing Biased BBC mention on Damian Thompson's blog at the Telegraph.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

"

BBC radio presenter DJ Spoony arrested and cautioned for assault on his ex-lover

BBC radio presenter DJ Spoony arrested and cautioned for assault on his ex-lover: "
The 39-year-old DJ admitted grabbing the woman by her throat during a heated row at her home."

BBC's commercial arm vows to curb spread into non-TV market that distorts competition

BBC's commercial arm vows to curb spread into non-TV market that distorts competition: "
The BBC's governing body has rejected calls for the corporation's commercial arm to sell off travel publisher Lonely Planet, but ruled that a similar deal should not happen again."

Re : Sarah Palin (and Barack Obama)

Re : Sarah Palin (and Barack Obama): "Don't expect to see these polls featuring on the Today programme tomorrow.

Not that it matters politically because obviously she's a female Republican dunce and he's obviously a male Democratic genius.

But Sarah Palin's poll numbers are strengthening.

And President Obama's are sliding.

Guess what? They're about to meet in the 40s.

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"

World Have Your Say

World Have Your Say: "Last week I noted that the producers of the BBC's World Service programme WHYS were complaining that they couldn't generate any interest in Copenhagen and climate change. Well there's plenty of interest now, and last night the programme actually had three sceptics on: the great Christopher Booker, Patrick Michaels from the Cato Institute, and Prof Richard Lindzen from MIT (who hung up the phone in despair at the quality of argument when he was compared to, among other things, a slavery denier [new one on me] by a representative from a Kenyan NGO). There were also three believers in MMGW, plus presenter Ros Atkins who was clearly antagonistic towards the sceptics (or deniers as he called them on more than one occasion). (Download podcast here.)

This level of balance appears to have been too much for the warmists because Atkins has had to defend the decision to have the sceptics on. The alarmists are trying to close down the debate again; it is essential that pressure is kept on the BBC to ensure that the sceptical voices we've heard on the airwaves over the past couple of days are not just some temporary token gesture.

Update. Forgot to add - the sceptics kicked ass!

Update 2. Great piece by Gerald Warner on the BBC's coverage of Climategate. (Hat tip George R).

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

"

SYNCHRONICITY...

SYNCHRONICITY...: "

And just when it seemed like the BBC might be having second thoughts on the validity of the AGW agenda is has pursued with such vigour!

'Three UK groups studying climate change have issued an unprecedented statement about the dangers of failing to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. The Royal Society, Met Office, and Natural Environment Research Council say the science underpinning climate change is more alarming than ever. They say the 2007 UK floods, 2003 heatwave in Europe and recent droughts were consistent with emerging patterns. Their comments came ahead of crunch UN climate talks in Copenhagen next month.'

The tone and content of the debate this morning could not be clearer - the world is going to suffer unprecedented global warming unless our leaders at Copenhagen gain agreement on how to tax the hell out of us and cripple our economies. Talk about hot air...

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"

BBC "SAT ON CRU FILES FOR A MONTH"

BBC "SAT ON CRU FILES FOR A MONTH": "Truly astonishing things are beginning to happen at the BBC over the CRU emails. First, Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics yesterday posed some decent questions about what had gone on at CRU and about the climate change record generally. Second, a genuine climate change sceptic (Professor Fred Singer) was allowed to speak, only the second time in recent history that I've seen this happen. Thirdly, Neil worked hard to expose the vacuity of the warmist stance.

I've never seen an interview like that on the BBC, ever, and believe you me, I've searched.

Next, the fanatic warmist Harrabin actually seems to be treating the CRU hacking as a story that might matter. Perhaps it's because his chum George Monbiot has called for the resignation of CRU boss Phil Jones, but whatever the reason, I've seen correspondence that shows him to be on the case. And last night, he actually broadcast a piece on Radio 4 which, to quote the excellent Bishop Hill, was 'not a complete whitewash'. That's a miracle.

Finally, there could be even further reverberations to come. It seems that the BBC weather reporter Paul Hudson - he who last month shocked us all by becoming one of the first BBC staffers to admit that there were holes in warmist propaganda- has revealed on his blog that he had received, and had been sitting on, the hacked email files from CRU for more than a month. You couldn't make this up.

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"

IS IT COS I IS BLACK?

IS IT COS I IS BLACK?: "Familiar BBC meme - the Police are racist. This morning the BBC has covered concerns raised over routine DNA tests which seem to suggest that some groups featured disproportionately on the database - with young black men 'very highly over-represented.' I guess that means one of two things - either our Police are indeed racist or young black men commit more crime than the population average. I notice that the BBC don't pursue the latter possibility. Why?

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"

BIASED AND ARROGANT!

BIASED AND ARROGANT!: "Excellent article here by George Pitcher on the arrogance that defines the leadership of the BBC.

'There is now a Versailles mentality among the BBC aristocracy. On being told in their plush parlours that we peasants are being starved of decent broadcasting, the response is less 'let them eat cake' as 'let them watch cack'. But we peasants are revolting. I'm sure BBC execs would smirk in ironic agreement at that observation, but they would do well to mark that the public mood has turned ugly towards those who line their pockets at our expense.

There has been an assumption among the political and banking classes that all this will blow over and that they will return to business as normal, as they see it; that's why parliamentary reform has been dilatory and the shameless 'bonuses are back' slogan is heard in banks, even after their semi-nationalisation.

The third pillar of our public-sector greed culture is the BBC. The signs are that the public stick will eventually discipline Parliament and the City into behaving in a better manner than sponging off the state, which means us. So it must and will be for the BBC.'

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"

Same Old Same Old ...

Same Old Same Old ...: "The BBC's Matt Frei is surely a worthy successor to Justin Webb. Take a listen to Sunday's 'Americana' on Radio Four - although I must warn you that you will never get those 30 minutes of your life back (fortunately I had a long drive to do on Sunday).

'As Sarah Palin kicks off her book tour around the nation this week, Americana takes time to learn more about the women that represent America as well as the women who work each day to make it run.'

Otherwise known as 'let's find a succession of women to take a pop at Sarah Palin'.

I particularly liked the woman chosen to give us the more sympathetic take on Palin, the BBC's idea of a 'devil's advocate', one Amy Alexander, whose website shows, er, an interesting sensibility.

'Demonising Sarah Palin solidifies Sarah Palin's base - the same crowd that calls President Barack Obama a socialist, a totalitarian sleeper and worse. The Left's relentless demeaning of Palin gives more fuel to this crowd's perverse, puritanical sense of victimisation. Palin, after all, is a human being - she is therefore worthy of respect. And for the liberal feminists out there of any gender, it is foolish not to admit that Sarah Palin posesses a high degree of ambition, self-confidence, and what we Americans call moxie - gumption to everyone else. Those are qualities we say we want to cultivate in women. I think it's time we stopped fretting about Palin's hypocrisy, contradictions, mangled syntax and stagey flag-waving, and acknowledged the postive parts of her persona. They do exist, and recognising them does not require you to dismiss her obvious shortcomings'.

She really came out fighting for Palin, didn't she ... the main guest, one 'Cokey' Roberts (I won't hazard a guess how she got that name) turned out not to have actually read Palin's book - but she apparently knew what was in it without reading it !

(One Republican representative was interviewed - and Frei opened by opining that Palin was a wake-up call to the 'white old men' of the party. And so it goes ...).

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"

Alan Yentob: 'The BBC is not driven by ratings'

Alan Yentob: 'The BBC is not driven by ratings': "The BBC's Creative Director tells Serena Davies about his plans to improve the Beeb's arts coverage."

BBC: a corporation where greed is still good

BBC: a corporation where greed is still good: "While bankers and MPs show contrition for their excess BBC executives still act like the French aristocracy argues George Pitcher."

BACKING THE IRA...

BACKING THE IRA...: "For decades, the IRA has had a very sympathetic hearing from the BBC. I do not suggest that the BBC supported the killings, the bombings, the maimings carried out by Irish Republicans but it did seem to have a visceral sympathy with the IRA ideal that 'Britain' needs to get out of Northern Ireland.

This morning, the BBC was coming to terms with an attempted massive car bombing of the Policing Board offices in Belfast by Irish republican 'dissidents.' The BBC is forced to report that these 'dissidents' are in fact IRA terrorists who simply seek to further advance their cause by violence but it spins it in a way that suggests that Adams and McGuinness are the 'good' IRA whereas these weekend bombers are the 'bad' IRA. In this way, all the atrocities of the past decades are sanitised.

The BBC had convicted Old Bailey bomber Gerry Kelly on - a man who subsequently put a bullet in a prison officer's head - and let him spout about how dreadful this attempted bombing was and how those who have any information should tell the police all they know. Fine words, but why did the BBC not ask why Kelly and his kin do not tell the police all they know about bombings that DID take innocent life? The hypocrisy is staggering but the BBC do not pursue it. Might it be that the BBC still sees itself as a participant rather than a reporter in what passes for 'peace'?

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"

GAIA WORSHIP

GAIA WORSHIP: "I'm sure Biased BBC readers will be familiar with the shocking news concerning the fiddling and misrepresentation of statistics at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. Naturally this represents a problem for the BBC which has been to the fore in promoting AGW. So this morning we had an item @ 7.35am on this issue debated by Lord Lawson and Prof Robert Watson and I felt that Watson was given much more time than was Lawson and his strident assertions contrasted with Lawson's moderation. Given the last word, Watson asserted that there is 'no uncertainty whatsoever' that humans have been responsible for climate change over the past fifty years! In what sense is fifty years an appropriate time period to come to such a conclusion and in what sense is there incontrovertible evidence for such an AGW claim. We'll never know - the BBC did not pursue it!

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"

ON THAT SPANISH FLAG INCIDENT

ON THAT SPANISH FLAG INCIDENT: "The BBC has been anxious to make us aware how put out the ppor Spanish are over the alleged firing by the Royal Navy on a Spanish flag on a buoy in the straits of Gibraltar. Jeremy Paxman's brother, Giles, who is British Ambassador to Spain (natch) has apologised for any misunderstandings (shamefully, in my view but this is not enough and the Spanish opposition is now calling for a 'tougher line' on Gibraltar. The BBC allows a Spanish analyst to offer his insight on the issue which is fair enough but where is the effort to allow a Gibraltarian perspective? I suggest the BBC should contact B-BBC contributor the All Seeing Eye if they want to try and introduce a little balance here.

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"

Not in a bad way...

Not in a bad way...: "We finally got a discussion about the CRU emails on the BBC with Lord Lawson and UEA Professor Robert Watson appearing on the Today programme this morning. Listen here.

I, like Cassandra in the comments, was struck by the little qualifying statements made by Professor Watson:

'These scientists at the University of East Anglia are both honourable and world class. Their data is not being manipulated in any bad way whatsoever… these scientists are not manipulating or hiding anything… UEA work with the British Met Office and they're absolutely beyond doubt that they have not manipulated the data in any negative sense…'

Depends what you mean by 'bad' and 'negative', I guess. Fiddling the code, changing results, deleting emails, claiming to have lost data and threatening to destroy it rather than release it through FOI requests, getting those who disagree removed from prominent positions, refusing to include contradictory research in the IPCC report - just a brief list of the things done by these 'honourable and world class' scientists. But not in a bad way.

Here's a neat little quiz highlighting some of the honourable activities revealed by the emails.

I'm reminded of the words of comedian Dom Irrera:

'When people say to me, 'Can I be honest with you?' No, please be as misleading and deceitful as possible, that's all I'd expect from a lowlife scumbag like you. And I don't mean that in a bad way.'

(Update - sorry, didn't notice that David had already posted on this.)

Update 13.15. Tonight's edition of Newsnight:

Susan Watts will be bringing us the latest on the story that the e-mail system of one of the world's leading climate research units has been breached by hackers.

Watts, you may recall, is no stranger to the manipulation of information where climate change is concerned.

[Newsnight also has a film on 'controversial' Polish MEP Michal Kaminski. How many BBC reports have there been on this one man? Where are the equivalent investigations into senior European politicians with 'controversial' left-wing backgrounds (the new unelected European foreign minister, for example)?]

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"

Jeremy Clarkson in trouble over 'jokes' about Romania

Jeremy Clarkson in trouble over 'jokes' about Romania: "Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson makes jokes about Romania."

One to watch?

One to watch?: "BBC2, 7pm Wed 25 Nov: Can Obama Save the Planet? presented by Justin 'Ethical Man' Rowlatt.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

"

REPEATS TRUMP RESPONSIBILITY

REPEATS TRUMP RESPONSIBILITY: "So what do you make of the news that Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC, has vetoed a review of executive pay because the corporation’s private polling shows that viewers care more about repeats? The Telegraph has the details here. I cannot see how the BBC can adopt such an arrogant approach although listening to David Cameron on Marr this morning did not inspire me into thinking that the day of reckoning is coming anytime soon. DC seemed very pally when he talking to some actress luvvies on the Marr couch.

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"

Our Man in the West Bank

Our Man in the West Bank: "Deegee highlights numerous signs in Jeremy Bowen’s article that indicate he’s not really BBC Middle East editor at all, but a correspondent representing the Palestinians. Like Alan Johnston, Bowen obviously wants to assure his friends that “I’m telling your story.”
The article is riddled with clues as to Bowen’s personal feelings, and is dumbed down by lazy over-simplifications of the sort that invariably get repeated over and over till they become set in stone.
'President Mahmoud Abbas, America's current Palestinian partner, is so fed up with the lack of progress towards independence that he has threatened to leave his job.'

“Is so fed up!” Is that Bowen’s summing up of Abbas’s political strategy?

Deegee says: “Abbas’s period as president has expired. He would be resigning from a position he no longer legally holds.”
The BBC’s own website publishes a variety of interpretations, which show that Abbas’s threat to stand down is a little more complex than Bowen’s misleading brief - that he is “Fed up”

Having established that Jewish settlements are the obstacle to peace, and that they are illegal, Bowen somehow manages to erase the Palestinians’ refusal to recognise Israel or renounce violence from the equation altogether as though it isn’t an impediment of any significance whatsoever.
Melanie Phillips says, “Let us not forget that it is the ‘moderate’ Abbas and the forces he leads whom America and the west say are ‘entitled’ to a state of their own, to which Israel is unreasonably providing obstacles'

That has now become received wisdom. Bowen ups the ante by calling them 'little fortresses.” He then rearranges history by reiterating another myth that has established itself in the narrative. He implies that Rabin’s assassination by a Jewish extremist was responsible for ending the peace process.
In a critique of one of Seth freedman’s Guardian articles, which is similarly economical with the actuality, Israelinurse dispels this myth.

'Freedman descends into the realms of fantasy, stating that “with three bullets, assassin Yigal Amir managed to irreversibly derail the peace process” and claims that the entire region’s political journey abruptly changed course as a result of that tragic event.
In actual fact, the Oslo Accords continued to be implemented. On January 20th 1996 agreements were made regarding the IDF redeployment from areas to be passed over to PA control, the election of the Palestinian Council and the head of the Palestinian Authority. The 23rd October 1998 saw the signing of the Wye River Memorandum and on September 4th 1999 the Sharm El Sheikh Memorandum was agreed.
Just as the peace treaty with Jordan, signed just over a year before Rabin’s murder, did not fall apart, so the agreements with the Palestinians went ahead. But on July 11th 2000, the Camp David negotiations fell through and just over two months later the second Intifada began, shaking Israel to its core.”

Deegee says; “It could easily be said the peace agreement had already failed by the time of Rabin's death and it was far from certain he would have been re-elected.”

So however sad it is that there is as yet no peace agreement, the Jewish extremist’s act of murder was not the reason.
Bowen even refers to the notorious handshake on the lawn as a kind of 'finest hour'. Anyone who has read about Arafat’s scurrilous behaviour during and after that and the Camp David fiasco would have to laugh.

Bowen makes no attempt to conceal his contempt for Binyamin Netanyahu, who he depicts as an arrogant bully causing poor Bill Clinton to use the F word No mention of what poor Bill thought of evil old Yassir after he effectively scuppered Clinton’s last attempts at peacemaking by instigating another Palestinian intefada.

In 'My Life' written by president Clinton, he wrote that Arafat once complimented Clinton by telling him, 'You are a great man.' Clinton responded; 'I am not a great man. I am a failure, and you made me one.'


Throughout the article Bowen continually refers to what “the Palestinians want” for their state. He completely ignores one thing. They do not just want a small amount of territory in Jerusalem, because they do not want Israel to have any territory at all. For the Palestinians, one inch would be too much, because there is an inherent and virulent hatred for Jews at the heart of their religion. Bowen and his ilk will never tackle that, maybe because it’s unpalatable, or perhaps it’s because they feel the same.

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