Saturday 20 February 2010

UK Music complains to BBC over report on Digital Economy Bill - Guardian

UK Music complains to BBC over report on Digital Economy Bill: "

Music industry organisation says Culture Show report misled and was biassed towards opinion of presenter Mark Thomas

UK Music has filed a formal complaint to the BBC over what it believes is a breach of the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy and impartiality. The complaint relates to an an edition of The Culture Show broadcast on BBC2 on 4 February, 2010, which featured a segment on the Digital Economy Bill (DEB), which includes measures on clamping down on illegal filesharing.

The umbrella organisation that promotes the interests of Britain's music industry claimed the programme-makers misrepresented certain facts relating to the bill that had been presented to them in advance. In a letter to the editor of the show, UK Music stated that this resulted in a broadcast it believes was not only grossly misleading and inaccurate, but also misinformed the audience in a biased and prejudicial manner.

In reference to the lack of impartiality, UK Music pointed out that The Culture Show's 10-minute DEB report only afforded one minute and 40 seconds to those who didn't support presenter Mark Thomas's viewpoint.

UK Music claimed that Thomas's assertion that the bill is 'another example of the Labour government giving excessive powers to corporations and actually intruding on our privacy' is wrong.

Feargal Sharkey, the chief executive of UK Music, who was featured in the show, said: 'We very much welcome an open debate on the Digital Economy Bill. We would have expected a distinguished broadcaster like the BBC to present a balanced feature, based on facts and with all sides of the discussion being represented. On this occasion, however, we believe the BBC fell short on all accounts.

'Due to the seriousness of these breaches, we believe that the only appropriate and effective remedy would be an on-air retraction and apology.'

I was also interviewed for the programme and referred to the Featured Artist Coalition's official statement, which supports temporary throttling of the internet connection for repeat offenders, but my contribution wasn't broadcast.

In the report Thomas also stated that the bill 'gives the film industry and the music industry the right … to actually seek a court order to get you cut off from the internet with a bare minimum of evidence being presented'.

Another contributor to the report, Cory Doctorow, said the bill meant copyright holders could submit 'three false accusations and then taking bolt cutters to someone's internet'.

However, Sharkey said Thomas was presented with evidence in advance of the broadcast that the DEB proposal suggests a person suspected of infringing copyright will be sent approximately 50 copyright infringement notices before being considered to be a 'serious repeat infringer'. Rights holders will not know the person's personal details at that time.

A parliamentary explanatory note says it is only at this point that 'technical measures' might be taken against serial offenders. These could be anything from port blocking, bandwidth throttling or temporary account suspension. From that point the person will have the right to appeal to an ombudsman – most likely working for Ofcom – with the option of appealing to a first-tier tribunal.

The programme also stated that the DEB will 'criminalise' filesharers. Sharkey points out that the DEB deals exclusively with civil law.

Thomas said that clause 17 of the bill allows the secretary of state to change the law on copyright without having to put a new law before parliament. But the UK Music complaint stated that, from the outset, clause 17 required the secretary of state to seek and gain parliamentary approval to amend copyright legislation.

'We would find it somewhat difficult to believe that a mere lack of oversight or due diligence alone would account for such a gross misrepresentation of fact,' said Sharkey.

Since the draft bill was published, clause 17 has been amended so that parliament's oversight of the order has been considerably strengthened, according to UK Music. As it stands, the secretary of state must consult those affected by the order, before including the response in a draft of the order laid before parliament. Parliament then have 60 days to examine, debate and change the order, during which a committee of either house can block the progress of the order.

A BBC spokesperson said: 'We are aware of the letter [from UK Music] and will be responding in due course.'


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BBC apologises for reading out wrong shipping forecast THREE times in one bulletin - Daily Mail

BBC apologises for reading out wrong shipping forecast THREE times in one bulletin: "
For almost 90 years it has helped fisherman safely navigate their way around British waters and been a comfort to those struggling to sleep."

I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Cleudo - Biased BBC

I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Cleudo: "The BBC is not alone in its certainty over who killed the honourable Hamas Commander. While it is still by no means a foregone conclusion, other MSM have also known from the outset, and have had no problem telling the world, that Israel is the guilty party.
As it stands there are many unanswered questions, inconsistencies, and suspects with a motive.
Even if it turns out the culprit was actually an elderly BBC presenter, with a pillow, in the conservatory, the BBC will still believe it was Mossad, and continue to insinuate such by innuendo and snide remarks from people like Jeremy Hardy “It’s a matter of give and take; or in Israel’s case, take.” Ba boom The News Quiz.

‘Must be time for another reminder of how awful Israel is’, thought the producers of Today, (scroll to 0:43:44) so they got someone to go to Nablus to find out what has happened to the generous gift of olive trees a charity has sent along. But alas and alack, the land had been stolen by a nearby settlement, illegal under international law, and the poor farmer was very sad. The Olive Tree is a symbol of Arab nobility, and Settlements embody Israeli oppression, so this was a gift in more than one sense.

Anyway all that is by the by. Back to the assassination. There has been a spate of assassinations, or as some people like to call them, mercy killings, recently. A Saudi Prince has done one in a hotel, apparently. Some have our approval, some not.

The press and blogosphere are going mad. All hell has been unleashed in the rush to condemn Israel and implicate Jews in a worldwide conspiracy in which they're all traitors and would-be assassins on standby. I myself always carry a pillow with me just in case.

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Friday 19 February 2010

Newspapers' fury at BBC's mobile push - Independent

Newspapers' fury at BBC's mobile push: "

Britain's national newspaper companies, which are already experiencing severe financial difficulties from the growth of the internet and the downturn in advertising during the recession, are furious that the BBC is preparing to compete with them by launching new applications for mobile phones.



"

BBC presenter admits mercy killing of lover who had Aids - Telegraph

BBC presenter admits mercy killing of lover who had Aids: "Documentary-maker Ray Gosling said he had smothered the man with a pillow as
he lay in his hospital bed."

BBC radio host apologises for swearing guests - Telegraph

BBC radio host apologises for swearing guests: "Lauren Laverne, the BBC Radio 6 Music host, apologised to listeners after
indie band Freelance Whales turned airwaves blue during her daytime show."

SAVE GORDON - FULL STEAM AHEAD - Biased BBC

SAVE GORDON - FULL STEAM AHEAD: "Cracking morning on the BBC Today for the visceral bias so many of us detest. It's been pushing the letter(s) from 'leading economists' supporting Labour's inept financial management of the economy. The Keynesian delusionalism which drives Labour policy was nicely personified in the fawning interview with Lord Skidelsky, the man who has authored several books on 'The Master' Keynes. Naturally there were no challenges for Skidelsky on his ludicrous endorsement of 'Spend, Spend, Spend.' Then, moving swiftly along, poor old Conservative Theresas Villiers got a bit of a mauling over Conservative refusal to endorse Labour transport policy. On the up side, the BBC got her to repeat Conservative opposition to runway three at Heathrow (One in the bag for leftworld!). The closer we get to the election the more desperate the BBC becomes. Any old nonsense is trotted out to help Save Gordon whilst the Conservatives get eviscerated.

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SNOUTS IN TROUGH - Biased BBC

SNOUTS IN TROUGH: "Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) since 2006 - and thus the world's climate change fanatic-in- chief - is stepping down from his lofty role. He's off to make megabucks as a consultant at KPMG, the multi-national accountants and business consultants who are leaders in the carbon market scam, their efforts aimed at making sure their clients benefit from the trillion dollars bonanza. He will be joining in his new job Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick, KPMGs international boss of corporate social responsibility, who had the same role at the BBC and is still an advisor to the BBC World Service Trust and Comic Relief on its climate change policies. And Mr De Boer will also surely soon be sharing platforms again with the BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin, who in March 2009 was chair (no doubt for a fat fee) of the Carbon Market Insights conference (also attended by KPMG) which was an international glutton-fest of all those groups who want to get their snouts into the CO2 trough. Mr Harrabin led Mr de Boer in the in-depth discussions about how the new CO2 regime would be introduced and policed.

In the corrupt world of climate change it's all very, very cosy for those who make the running.

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"

The Bias That Keeps On Coming - Biased BBC

The Bias That Keeps On Coming: "Mark Barlex (BBC News On Demand Editor) quoted on the BBC College of Journalism twitter account:



The link takes you to this BBC video report of the Iraqi guy throwing his shoes at George Bush, complete with different camera angles and a slow motion replay.

A few minutes later there was a further tweet highlighting another one of Barlex's favourite BBC online items:



The BBC's position on American politics summed up in two tweets.

On the subject of BBC echo-chamber Obama-loving Republican haters, there was a typically biased discussion about Sarah Palin hosted by self-important left-luvvie coke-snorting fame junkie ex-children's TV presenter Richard Bacon on his Radio Five Live show yesterday. A perfectly nice American woman who - horror of horrors! - likes Sarah Palin had to endure Bacon's continuous sneering and the negative comments of two journalists from anti-Republican publications (Newsweek and the Guardian). Another fine example of what passes for balance on the BBC.

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"

Carry on Assassinating - Biased BBC

Carry on Assassinating: "Where’s Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams and Sid James? I’ve got a great idea for a Carry on Film.
It’s about a plot to assassinate this awful bloke, a murderer and a villain who deserves to die, and the gang bump him off after an elaborate Carry On type of adventure.

The antics of the gang could be hilarious. They play members of Mossad, the infamous Israeli intelligence service. In real life their ingenious planning and meticulous preparation would miss nothing, only in this version their antics and blunders are played for laughs. First, they recruit an enormous gang of assassins, when more than three or four would look superfluous, so everyone should get the joke.

Then they clone several passports, overlooking the risk that the locations of the real passport holders could give the game away, and point the finger at themselves! That’s amusing isn’t it?
Then for another laugh, they ignore the ‘no grinning’ rule for a passport photograph, and have some of them grinning in their pictures. I nearly split my sides at that one.

The preparation is the funniest bit. It’s supposed to be meticulous and thorough, don’t forget, but hilariously the gang overlooks the CCTV cameras that are positioned every six inches from the arrival hall at the airport to the hotel en suite, capturing on camera every gang member as they enter the hotel lobby and step in and out of lifts, right up to the to the moment when Barbara Windsor goes into the bathroom bald and comes out wearing a wig. Sid James and the skinny one are disguised as tennis players, and everyone is wearing dark glasses just like a James Bond movie or something, only a spoof.

Afterwards, the gang escapes but everyone is full of moral outrage at the dastardliness and audacity of the plan, and public opinion forces the prime minister to take some sort of action a bit like when the Queen was made to look sad when Princess Diana died. Even the murder victim seemed less bad, or not bad at all, and people even felt sorry for him, and the BBC started calling him a Hamas Commander. But worse even than that, is the plight of the poor people whose identities had been stolen. The media even forgot that they were Israeli Jews, and called them British, and were engulfed with moral indignation on their behalf.

I’m not sure of the ending yet, but it’s bound to be funny, and involve the sort of come-uppance we all love and expect from the BBC.

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MR BENN - CLASS WARRIOR - Biased BBC

MR BENN - CLASS WARRIOR: "Did you see that the BBC has also been pushing the anti-country sports agenda of Hillary Benn this morning? We had a little trailer around 7.30am and then the blessed Benn himself came on an hour later to explain why he has written to Cameron asking why he seeks to restore freedom to those who live in the country. The little totalitarian Benn is fawned over by the dolts in the BBC who loath the idea of people being allowed to practice country sports. Has anyone in the BBC ever lived in the country? Have they any idea of what life is like there, how traditions run deep and rich? Or is it just a foreign country of which they know little?

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THE MOSSAD MENACE - Biased BBC

THE MOSSAD MENACE: "Having spent yesterday spinning the unemployment figures for Labour, today the BBC is obsessing on those evil Jews, Mossad in particular. How dare they kill cherubic vacationing Hamas warlords! Something must be done. I heard Hague being interviewed just after 8am and his responses were pretty pathetic as the BBC did everything possible to get him to condemn Israel. What he should have done was congratulate whoever killed the Hamas monster holed up in Dubai and then sat back and watched the BBC faces fill up in anger. Hamas seek the destruction of Israel and have engaged in the casual killing of innocent men, women and children. The fact that that Hamas are a bunch of anti-semitic genocidal killers is of little interest to the BBC. The main issue is the actions of the shadowy Mossad and in that regard the BBC are determined to hold them to account.

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Compare And Contrast - Biased BBC

Compare And Contrast: "


From the new site for spoof Labour posters.
Click on the image to enlarge or you may miss the speech bubble!


Compare and contrast the following headlines today:



Daily Telegraph: Long-term unemployment highest since 1997



The Times: Number of people on the dole hits 13-year high



Guardian: Unemployment claimant count rises again



ITN: Long-term jobless total soars



BBC: UK unemployment falls for second month in a row



Saving Gordoom....it's what we do.



Hat-tip: Regular Biased-BBC contributor Robin Greer

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Follow The Money - Biased BBC

Follow The Money: "The Marxist theory of history, as studied in their rebellious youth by so many senior BBC people, emphasises the importance of economic factors and the relations between what were called 'the forces of production'. From these relations and their associated class relations sprang all the other institutions of society - and even the consciousness of the individuals in each class.

As P J O'Rourke puts it : 'As a philosophic recipe, marxism is a cannelloni of the economical, stuffed with economics, and cooked in economic sauce.'

Living in pre-Welfare State days, Marx and Engels devoted little thought to 'the forces of consumption' - non-productive individuals who consume scarce resources. In a previous B-BBC post I pointed out some of the demographic issues on which the BBC has been so strangely coy over the last 30 years.

The timebomb is serious, and makes the Government's current credit crunch deficit look like small change. You can see a 'population pyramid' here - note the immediate post-war 'blip' of babies, then the great bulge born in the 50s and 60s. As that bulge moves into retirement over the next 25 years, the ratio of taxpayers to tax consumers (elderly people need more care and particularly more medical care) will fall. Where will the money come from to pay for their care ?

The Financial Times excellent Alphaville blog has an interesting (if depressing) post on the impact of demography upon government debt - and the ratio of government debt to gross domestic product (GDP) which is a rough measure of the capability of a country to repay its debt.

The unfavourable shift in dependency ratios, combined with sharply increased spending on pensions and healthcare is likely to cause a sustained deterioration in primary fiscal balances and a continuous increase in government debt to GDP ratios.
Translation : 'Ageing populations will lead to an explosion in government debt over the long run'.

















The cost of medical care is enormous, at 18% of the UK budget. Pensions and 'social care' account for around another 20%. The NHS bill is about to take off over the next two decades, as the boomers born between 1945 and 1965 move into retirement. Pressure to contain this budget will be enormous.

As the BBC's pro-euthanasia campaign grinds on I can't but think that some BBC editors and producers need to recall what they were taught or picked up from all those Politics and Sociology courses. We are moving into a period where governments, of any complexion, will be desperate to control rising health costs - and when, for the first time, the State broadcaster is running a continual stream of pro-euthanasia propaganda. To paraphrase Marx : 'Follow the money'.

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DAMAGE LIMITATION OVER MORNING COFFEE! - Biased BBC

DAMAGE LIMITATION OVER MORNING COFFEE!: "Interesting watching Breakfast BBC this morning. With the latest employment figures out later this morning, the BBC is running the line that many people who have lost their jobs have found this to be a good thing since they have gone on to do other things that they enjoy. Oddly enough, during the 1980's, I don't recall the BBC running with such a benign view on job losses, do you? One rule for when the Conservatives are in power, another when the socialists have grabbed control....

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"

THATCHER IN THE TARDIS - Biased BBC

THATCHER IN THE TARDIS: "The headline says it all.... 'How Time Lord Doctor Who took on Mrs Thatcher.'


Doctor Who actor Sylvester McCoy has claimed that scriptwriters of the cult TV show wrote material in the 1980s which was designed to undermine Margaret Thatcher's government.


Who would have thought THAT then? I mean BBC scriptwriters are all such a balanced lot.

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THAT DUBAI KILLING... - Biased BBC

THAT DUBAI KILLING...: "Did you catch Jeremy Al Bowen on Today this morning discussing the killing of senior Hamas terrorist
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh by unknown people in a Dubai hotel? Jeremy was quick off the mark to label this as Mossad killing but at no point did he, or indeed anyone else on the BBC, discuss the precise role this piece of Hamas filth played in the killing of innocent Israelis, nor for that matter did they enquire as to what he was doing in Dubai. Israel was in the frame and that is all that matters. Hamas are the victims here, nothing to see..move along.

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RAY GOSLING - BBC HERO - Biased BBC

RAY GOSLING - BBC HERO: "I see that BBC presenter Ray Gosling has been talking about how he smothered his gay lover who was dying from Aids. The BBC is enthusiastic about supporting 'mercy killings' and this story is simply an extension of this narrative. I do not doubt the pain Mr Gosling and his lover went through but in the final analysis, smothering another human to death is a crime and it is a disgrace that the BBC chooses to portray this in the most sympathetic manner possible. What is your view?

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ALL IN THE PAIN - Biased BBC

ALL IN THE PAIN: "BBC seems disturbed that those who work in the State sector may have to share in the pain of the recession which at this point has almost exclusively been experienced by private enterprise. Whilst no one wishes any person to lose their job the harsh economic reality is that the State sector has grown fat and bloated under Labour and cannot be economically sustained. (Rather like the BBC in fact) So whilst the BBC ponders how it can be that even as the Public sector faces cutbacks, the private sector contemplates modest job increases, it ignores the obvious answer; namely that the Private sector has already contracted and made adjustments. The days of the vast Gordon Brown created state monolith are over. The days of the BBC as a vast state monolith deserve to be over.

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MANDELA WORSHIP...AN ONGOING SERIES - Biased BBC

MANDELA WORSHIP...AN ONGOING SERIES: "This was spotted by an eagle-eyed B-BBC reader, another shameless plug from the BBC for Nelson Mandela worshippers. It would be nice to see less politics injected into Sport.

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Sunday 14 February 2010

Luke Johnson exterminates the BBC - Guardian

Luke Johnson exterminates the BBC: "

Luke Johnson could have checked with the Channel 4 chief executive to get the lowdown on the BBC

HE LEAVES with an acrid turn of phrase. 'I failed to understand properly that the BBC is the single most influential lobbying organisation in Britain,' growls Luke Johnson, pictured, the departing chairman of Channel 4. 'Whether it's backbench MPs on BBC local radio, print journalists on its payroll, ministers on the Today programme, tickets to the Proms or Wimbledon... when its £3.5bn 'Jacuzzi of cash' is threatened, the entire machine dedicates itself to seeing off any rival – rather like Dr Who and the Daleks joining forces to defeat the ultimate enemy.'

Luke should clearly have hired the BBC's supreme marketing director and made him C4 chief so all these things could have been explained to him much earlier... or maybe he didn't talk to Andy Duncan, start to finish.


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'Mendacious Mandelson' duped BBC into Chris Patten smear - Daily Mail

'Mendacious Mandelson' duped BBC into Chris Patten smear: "
Lance Price, who worked for Tony Blair, has disclosed that Lord Mandelson was behind a groundless BBC report alleging the ex-Hong Kong governor faced being prosecuted for leaking state secrets."

Top 300 BBC salaries - Telegraph

Top 300 BBC salaries

Revealed: BBC scriptwriters tried to use Doctor Who to bring down Margaret Thatcher -Daily Mail

Revealed: BBC scriptwriters tried to use Doctor Who to bring down Margaret Thatcher: "
Left wing scriptwriters hired by the BBC during the 1980s tried to inspire a 'Tardis revolution' by using Doctor Who as propaganda to undermine the then-PM."

Waste of the Day: How the BBC squanders £2,000 a week on taxis to ferry Alan Shearer and Co home from Match of the Day - Daily Mail

Waste of the Day: How the BBC squanders £2,000 a week on taxis to ferry Alan Shearer and Co home from Match of the Day: "
In yet another example of the corporation's extravagant spending, former footballers Alan Shearer, Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson are regularly chauffeured home to the North on your tab."

BIAS? WHO'S BIASED... - Biased BBC

BIAS? WHO'S BIASED...: "They deny it until they are blue in the face, but readers of this site know that behind the closed doors of the rats' warren corridors of the the BBC, the boys and girls who work there are immersed in finding new and exciting ways of spreading lefty groupthink. Finally, 25 years on, we have a glimpse of that murky world, courtesy of today's Sunday Times. The late John Nathan-Turner, then producer of Doctor Who (watched in those days by audiences of 16m), hired a cabal of lefty script-writers to find ways of discrediting Margaret Thatcher. One of them, Andrew Cartmel, was reportedly asked by Turner at his script-writing interview what he wanted to achieve by working for the programme. He got the job when he said, without missing a beat, 'I’d like to overthrow the government”.

Mr Cartmel told the Sunday Times: “I was a young firebrand and I wanted to answer honestly. I was very angry about the social injustice in Britain under Thatcher and I’m delighted that came into the show.” So that's how you get a BBC job! He and his fellow scriptwritersr plotted away between them to introduce anti-Thatcher themes, and weren't too fussy about subtlety, introducing a villanous character called Rehctaht (Thatcher backwards).

The BBC's reaction? Well of course, it's not true. They were as unbiased then as they are now. As this shows.

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I Used to be Indecisive… but Now I’m Not so Sure…. - Biased BBC

I Used to be Indecisive… but Now I’m Not so Sure….: "
Nick Clegg has finally done the right thing. He’s sacked Jenny Tonge!

The BBC reports this as though it was a quick decisive move by the Lib Dem leader. But this was done after considerable equivocation and hesitation, and protestations that she is not anti-Semitic, and is still worth listening to. Something must have got to him. Maybe Jenny Tonge was right all along about the Jewish Lobby getting its evil grip on ‘our party.”

Unfortunately, it can’t be much of a grip because Nick Clegg wants to halt Britain’s arms sales to Israel and persuade our EU counterparts to do the same, and suspend the proposed new cooperation agreement with Israel till ‘things change in Gaza.’ etc etc etc.

From what I’ve read about Nick Clegg’s policies on the Middle East, some lobby or other might have had a hand in forming his ideas, but it certainly wasn’t the ‘Israel’ one.

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Unmentionable Matters - Biased BBC

Unmentionable Matters: "A BBC world service programme, Politics UK discussed Neathergate with Sir Andrew Green and Denis MacShane.

Presenter Dennis Sewell’s admirable introduction promised a frank and open discussion, but it quickly reverted to type as the participants carefully avoided mentioning the detrimental effect Muslim immigration in particular has had on western society, and the obvious vote-conscious stranglehold it has on politicians with Muslim-heavy constituencies.

The next item tackled Ali Dezaei’s exploitation of the PC-driven taboo that prevented criticism of Black’nAsian police. The whole saga seems like a microcosm of the UK.

When the institutional racism in the police force was recognized after the Stephen Lawrence affair, the pendulum swung so far in the other direction that political correctness rendered objectivity nigh on impossible.

The considerable effort expended by politicians and the BBC in persuading the population to accept and embrace all cultures, even ones that abhor the very tolerance that facilitates their good fortune in being unconditionally and paradoxically welcomed here, echoes the collective blind eyes that refused to see a “black’ policeman as a crook.

Desperate bluster by politicians in order not to appear racist, and the media’s frantic attempts to normalise Islam parallel police anti racist measures like promoting ethnic minority individuals above their ability or setting up a Black Police Association.

If the police scenario does parallel that of the UK as a whole, the eventual conviction of a corrupt ethnic-minority policeman offers hope that this country might one day come to its senses.

Before that can happen the BBC must somehow become unbiased, and allow a wider spectrum of opinion to share the platform enjoyed by the cosy consensus that currently dominates the airwaves.

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