It must be a fundamental human right not to have to pay James Purnell. The obnoxious Blair clone is on £420,000 a year at the BBC. I found this article absolutely horrifying; the BBC has appointed as director of news and current affairs James Harding, a man who wrote a defence of the 2008/9 massacre of 1400 Palestinians in Gaza, which used illegal and horrifying white phosphorous bombs as well as depleted uranium, and killed hundreds of small children. That attack was so shocking it reintroduced a significant proportion of the British student population to the idea of radical politics.
That the BBC should appoint the openly politically partisan to top positions – and that they should be openly neo-con – is not shocking because we have come to accept the depredations of the political class as normal.
The purpose of the BBC ended when Grag Dyke and Andrew Gilligan were forced out and the BBC issued a formal apology – in effect to Tony Blair – an apology for telling the truth about Iraqi WMD and the “dodgy dossier” which Blair, Campbell and Scarlett conducted. The BBC has seldom made the mistake of telling the truth since.
I increasingly find myself advocating political opinions I would have found anathema five years ago. I am forced to the opinion that now it is time to abolish the licence fee and end all public funding to the BBC. We should not be blinded by nostalgia; the BBC has no claim to impartiality or “public service ethic.” Nor, for the most part, to quality. Talent shows, reality TV and endless cooking and property auction programmes are not something everybody should be obliged to pay for, on penalty of not owning a television.
Doubtless bits of the BBC would survive in the private sector. World Service broadcasting might be taken over by DFID – another “fake independent agency” can be interposed if desired. But even if some good were lost, the overall harm done by this inflated structure and its all-pervading propaganda is such that it would be worth the sacrifice.
The Leveson Inquiry was a brilliant sleight of hand which managed to get liberals arguing for more government control of the media, while the real problem – the need for a radical breaking up of media ownership – was ignored. If we fracture the Murdoch empire and break up the BBC, with radically tough regulations restricting the percentage of the market any owner can have, we have a real chance to have a diverse media and broader political debate.
All institutions tend to corruption the longer they have existed. Over time those who control the structures of power develop ways to make sure large institutions are twisted to their personal interests. There is not much the rest of us can in truth do about it, except to give the kaleidoscope a good hard shake every now and then.
It is time to shake the kaleidoscope and abolish the BBC.
UPDATE
Just received from BBC Press Office:
Hi Craig
We wanted to draw your attention to our release from 14 Feb this year:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/tony-hall-senior-team.html
James Purnell’s salary as Director, Strategy and Digital, will be a total of £295,000 not £420,000.
Best wishes
BBC Press Office
So that’s OK then.
Sorry Dreoilin For name misspell
Dave i cant get google to open up regard a saturday rally… will keep trying though whats happenin and wen ( times ) cheers
I was at the anti trident rally a few weeks ago…and guess what the bbc tried to lie about numbers – saying there was 300 – when in fact there were more than 2000 protesters
ZBC determined not to let a sleeping dog lie, even though the dog lies through its teeth, is resurrecting the chemical weapons story.
Syria conflict: BBC shown ‘signs of chemical attack’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22549861#
The signs, the signs……
BBC News:
Syria’s chemical weapons
“Evidence” cited by the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22549861
“The CIA BELIEVS Syria has had a chemical weapons programme for years…”
“Syria is BELIEVED to possess mustard gas and sarin, a highly toxic nerve agent”
“The CIA also BELIEVES that Syria has attempted to develop more toxic and more persistent nerve agents, such as VX gas”
“A report [NOT REFERENCED] citing Turkish, Arab and Western intelligence agencies put Syria’s stockpile at approximately 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, stored in 50 towns and cities”
“Syria has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) or ratified the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)”
[There is no mention that the country “next door” – Israel – has not signed the BWC or ratified the CWC].
All that this “evidence” tells us is that Syria may possess chemical weapons. There is speculation that chemical weapons may have been used but we don’t know by whom.
[There is no mention that the country “next door” – Israel – has not signed the BWC or ratified the CWC]
Possibly because it’s utterly irrelevant to the subject under discussion.
Possibly because it’s utterly irrelevant to the subject under discussion.
Obviously. Otherwise you might be tempted to apply the same standards of conduct to both countries. See also, Golan Heights, airstrikes on Damascus, etc, etc.
Reading this BBC headline would lead one to believe that HMRC had taken Goldman Sachs to court and won. No. It was UK Uncut Legal Alliance who took HMRC to court for making a deal with Goldman Sachs that was not in our interests. UK Uncut have lost. God knows what their legal fees are.
HMRC wins Goldman Sachs court case http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22552109
Leigh Day are good people. They might have taken the case pro bono.
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/actions/1015
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/the-great-tax-robbery
BBC Scotland found guilty of distorting news:
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-news/7385-exclusive-boothman-facing-questions-as-bbc-scotland-found-guilty-of-distorting-news-programme
Chalie McGrath on the US media. He could as easily be talking about the Bitish media including the BBC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lAmMMdfLac
“The DWP are advertising for a News Manager with experience of ‘crisis management’”
http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/lying-bastard-wanted-dwp-advertise-for-head-of-news/
hello
i mentioned not watching live tv and therefore no requirement to have a tv license as a way of fighting back in a previous article here, the only response was a smartass troll and lots of ‘blank stares’
its my impression that many people here are dogmatic political types part of the same old left right circus, you dont really want to see substantial change youre too comfy for that just want things more your way, completely ignoring anything that is outside of your framing.
this country could be brought down in a month, power could be ripped away from corporations and real change effected, but none of you really want that you have too much invested in the status quo.
how?
easy for instance everybody with a santander account withdraw all your deposits as quickly as possible may take a few months, watch the domino effect as other banks get wobbly. eu banking rules, they only hold 1.5% of deposits in physical cash
turn off all live broadcasting cancel tvl watch youtube and iplayer. there are loads of old british quality films on you tube a real joy
boycott one brand of petrol station, so it goes out of business,
and so on it is quite easy with a sufficient number of people reading from the same plan to get power back from the corps and their political sock puppets no need for years of austerity fear mongering or spilling of blood.
also bring back the rule of law and prosecute these financial criminals and confiscate money and property as recompense
ban arms sales outside of our borders
remove all masons from the gov and public service, seems to be an obvious conflict of interest to swear oaths to a secret society while governing
bring about the trying of war criminals like tony blair etc
aint gonna happen within the existing framework, so do you want change or not?
Look what Max Kaiser just said about the BBC:
“BBC Scotland found guilty of distorting news:”
They’re still at it, just look what happened then Nigel Forage was set upon by SNP Black Shirts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22566183
Fred
17 May, 2013 – 7:29 pm
“BBC Scotland found guilty of distorting news:”
“They’re still at it, just look what happened then Nigel Forage was set upon by SNP Black Shirts.”
So Fred you are a UKIP supporter. Are you also a supporter of the BNP or EDL by any chance?
Fred is just a sad echo of whatever black propaganda the unionist camp spew forth, flogging a dead horse long after it has fallen flat, it is better not to sniff his stinky bait.
Print this out Fredo: http://picpaste.com/credit-K.Deffeyes_rough_map_north_sea_oil_gas.jpg
Stick it on your wall of your stately home.
“So Fred you are a UKIP supporter. Are you also a supporter of the BNP or EDL by any chance?”
Don’t be fucking stupid.
I have never once said I support the UKIP, I have even stated on this blog that I would vote against leaving Europe.
I am against SNP thugs going round harassing anyone they think might take votes from them. I wouldn’t agree with any political party using threats to prevent someone speaking.
The SNP don’t want another independence party on their turf and they are using their bully boy tactics to prevent one even getting to talk.
None of this alters the fact that the BBC Scotland presenter was obviously biassed.
So do your research next time moron, I have consistently spoken against nationalism in all forms, especially when people think it gives them the right to use threats and intimidation.
“I increasingly find myself advocating political opinions I would have found anathema five years ago.”
Great and good news – Craig Murray is finally approaching political maturation.
@ garye17 17 May, 2013 – 6:21 pm
Quite agree, and it wouldn’t take that many people as a percentage to make change happen, however, most people are sheep, lazy, want an easy life, can’t be bothered to find out, do not want make much fuss, exhibit typical British apathy and the establishment just loves that, the way it is. Sadly it is only when the individual is affected directly and in great numbers then change will happen. This may come about through mass unemployment or some unexpected event due to natural disaster, war or economic sanctions.