Unless the BBC takes firm disciplinary action against Nick Robinson for this, they cannot keep pretending that the UK any longer holds free and fair elections. For a state broadcaster to show this level of venom and bias against the opposition leader is utterly unacceptable.
It is indisputable that Robinson’s history is as a high ranking Conservative Party activist. They dominate BBC News, as a plain matter of fact. They have changed the culture of the BBC so they no longer feel any need to disguise their Tory cheerleading.
This is an Uzbek style election.
‘A moment of candour’ – at least one person was being honest on the BBC today. ?
https://wingsoverscotland.com/author/RevStu/
Ruth Davidson saying today that the SNP are “pouring negativity” on the UK. Her party are responsible for hard brexit, health service privatisation, food banks and the rape clause and much more. That’s quite a heap of negativity lady.
Ruth thinks that Scottish voters will be impressed because she was hanging out with Bill Gates this week. He’s probably forgotten her name already.
Hi reel guid, I suspect voters will be more interested in the warnings Bill Gates has made to the Tories about their planned cuts, than Ruth ‘I’m a celebrity’ Davidson’s latest stunt.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/19/lives-at-risk-if-tories-choose-to-cut-uk-foreign-aid-target-says-bill-gates
Hi JOML
Gates is talking serious issues there. Whereas, as you say, Ruth’s attempts at being a celebrity are getting on the nerves of the voters who now see how hard right she really is.
Go Jeremy. Trounce them and take La Kuenssberg and co with them. She has just emptied a pot full of her nastiness on the 6pm ‘News’.
Watch in full: Jeremy Corbyn’s speech launching Labour’s election campaign as “the people versus the establishment”
The Labour leader insisted he could lead the party to victory, despite sitting 24 points behind in the polls
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/jeremy-corbyns-speech-launching-labours-10261497
May has been meeting the EU President and visited Enfield where the MP is David Burrowes, an arch Israel supporter and a member of CFoI. He visited Israel twice in 2014, once under the auspices of the CFoI and another with the ‘Israel Allies Foundation’. The latter’s a new one on me.
It’s American. http://israelallies.org/
‘About the Israel Allies Foundation
Pioneered by MK Rabbi Binyamin Elon, the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) works with Congress and parliaments around the world to mobilize political support for Israel based on Judeo-Christian values.
The Foundation is dedicated to the purpose of promoting communication and information sharing between parliamentarians and legislators the world over who share a belief that the State of Israel has the right to exist in peace within secure borders.
History
In 2004 a group of Israeli Knesset members gathered together to form the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus. Spanning the spectrum of political parties in Israel, they came together to acknowledge the growing strength of the Israel supporting community within the Christian world and the need to develop better ties between Knesset Members and pro-Israel Christian leaders worldwide.’
So there you have it. Christian Zionist.
“It is indisputable that Robinson’s history is as a high ranking Conservative Party activist. They dominate BBC News, as a plain matter of fact. They have changed the culture of the BBC so they no longer feel any need to disguise their Tory cheerleading.”
Makes a change from the Labour cheerleading, the revolving door between the Labour Party and senior positions at the BBC, the champagne parties when the Tories lost and such like.
You are thinking of New Labour. Very different animal. They are consistently neo-con at the BBC.
It goes easy on the Tories when they are in power for reasons of its own survival but is anti-Tory at all other times. Pro Clinton, anti-Trump.
Incessant promotion of “diversity”. Pro-EU. Soft left and anti-Tory to the core though you get the odd exception like Andrew Neil given a slot when no one is watching. Admittedly if you are very far to the left then it looks like they’re all Tories.
Pro establishment, basically then.
Pro-Clinton isn’t anti-Tory. US politics are well to the right of UK politics. The BBC consistently dissed Miliband last time and has given Corbyn a hell of a hard time ever since he became Labour leader: it’s done nothing of the sort to May.. It’s been kinder to her than the Tory house rags, the Telegraph and the Mail, in fact. Also to Cameron. Good enough for me
The BBC has time politically for the Blue Tories and the Slightly Pinky Tories only. They have done what the shady Neocons told them since the coup. Google is your friend. And Wayback. Rofl.
A reminder of Nick Robinson in Scotland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_XhTALHQzI
Robinson is not alone. The BBC as a body has, since May’s announcement, behaved in the most appalling manner and appears to have torn up its own code of conduct on impartiality. Even by its usual shocking standards the last few days have seen BBC journalists and presenters going off the scale when it comes to sheer bias…..all publicly funded!
The disease is right across BBC news and current affairs programmes. Corbyn has been constantly ridiculed by BBC people, his contributions ignored or watered down and it has been shocking to witness. Tuesday’s edition of Newsnight was the worst ever as the male anchor creature soundly mocked Corbyn and the awful Sarah Smith delivered her personal (inaccurate) view on behalf of everyone in Scotland! This was followed by a separate report by another journalist as she spoke yo Davod Torrance and Lesley Riddoch. My admiration for Riddoch’s self control knew no bounds. I don’t know why Lesley didn’t deck her!
It is bad enough that newspapers can abandon principles on a daily basis. Seeing the BBC doing the same and using public money to do is, however, quite a different matter. The BBC is a disgrace and frankly should lose all public funding.
Ever since Mrs May became PM the eminences here have been complaining that she lacks a democratic mandate and that she should call an election. But now that she has called one they are furious. Why is that?
I’m not furious.
Bring it on.
Who the hell do you think is going to vote Tory..?
Doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters, etc, etc, etc.
By calling this general election, Theresa May has made the biggest political blunder in modern British history.
The Tories will be slaughtered on 8th June.
I’ve already put bets down on it, at brilliant odds.
“at brilliant odds”
I sincerely hope you are right, I’m not a Labour voter, I’m SNP through and through, but I’d love to see Corbyn in No 10.
ASDA chick, if Jean Luc Mélenchon is elected president (the first round of the French presidential election is this coming Sunday, and it will be the most historic European election since WW2), and if Corbyn becomes PM, the entire dynamics of ‘austerity’ and all the rest of it will be completely reversed.
The people will take back control, and all you have to do is put an X in the correct box. You still have that privilege, although if you put your X in the wrong box you won’t have that privilege for much longer.
As always I wish our friends north of the border the best of luck in what they decide to do.
Vote for whomever you want, just don’t vote Tory (ha!).
Rob g can i ask a question? With yet another “terrorist” attack in the lead upto the french elections,which candidate actually benefits from this? I would have thoight le pen?
Rob g can i ask a question? With yet another “terrorist” attack in the lead upto the french elections,which candidate actually benefits from this? I would have thought le pen?
Hi RobG,
Mélenchon would be brilliant – polls don’t bear that out for the moment – but he has similar meeting attendances to Jeremy Corbyn’s. However, the important thing is that it is not one of the Finance / Elite proponents: Macron, Hammon or Fillon who are elected.
Now that Brexit has been acted there is no alternative for the UK but radical policies reviewing democracy, the money supply, govt investment institutions and regulating the financial sector without that UK residents are toast.
Rergards
RobG u r think in a FRENCH-MINDSET
this is what will crush the economy of France.
Top-Heavy with people who earn their living from the state.
Doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters, etc, etc, etc.
English is your first language, right?
But of course you’re correct – get rid of all those “doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters, etc, etc, etc.” – who needs ’em eh? /Facepalm/
Looking forward to a country without doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters, are you? Plus the obligatory £2 carrot.
I sincerely hope you are right RobG and of course six weeks is a long time in politics.
Simple diversion.
Refers to Anon1 at 18.40.
Anon1,
Who are these ’eminences’ complaining May lacked a mandate and where are the links/quotes to back this up. Any fool with basic knowledge of our Constitution knows no PM requires any mandate whatsoever from the people, they need a mandate from Parliament, namely and ability to have the support of a majority of MPs – technically, a monkey could be PM if elected an MP. 101 law I’m afraid.
It was RoS mostly who put the word “unelected” in front of every reference to Theresa May, other did it as well.
Anon1
Because the Eminences are running scared.
Very scared indeed.
As are the other political parties and the SNP (I see the SNP as a sort of collective delusion led by a couple of self-aggrandizing politicos rather than a political party).
Mrs May has played a real blinder! 🙂
Craig used to call her
Islamaphobic Teresa May
The polls are advertising fodder, social proofing. Nine out of ten cats prefer… May isn’t anything, she’s an empty suit. You can’t quite get the measure of power can you? It’s always behind the throne.
Slight Typo there, Habbs. Should have read ‘Mrs. May has played a blunder’. Rofl.
Everybody should boycott the licence fee, see how the BBC would cope then. They couldn’t punish everybody. They used to, at least, try to cover up their bias but they don’t seem to even try to hide it now, should not be allowed. Some people actually believe their crap and this is when the problems become even worse.
A whole shedload believe their crap, ASDA chick.
It was tried in Wales by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society in the 1970s in an attempt to secure a Welsh language television channel but had limited effect. Hundreds of ordinary Welsh-speaking members of the public were hounded through the Courts, (securing in the process, it has to be said, Welsh-speaking court hearings).
In the event, it was only a highly publicised hunger strike by Plaid Cymru’s first Westminster MP, Gwynfor Evans, that forced the London government to implement the promised creation of what became S4C.
>
Does anyone have a video link to Corbyn’s speech this morning?
It is being completely blocked by YouTube.
Because we live in a free and open society, innit.
(keep trying to keep up the pretense)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1JsV51RSc-w
This worked for me.
JOML, we posted at the same time, and many thanks for providing the link.
Everyone needs to watch this.
It’s the first time in decades that the leader of a (below the border) British political party has stood up and spoken about how things really are.
This is history.
RobG, there’s a lot of talk about tactical voting here in Scotland but I can’t see how a Labour voter here could watch Jeremy’s performance today – and then go and vote Tory just to keep the SNP out. It’s going to be interesting – but good to see the focus back on basic honest principles.
“June marks the end of May”, I liked that one.
You need to be careful though, for they say in Scotland “Don’t cast the cloot till May is oot!”
Rob, I think May has just one ‘cloot’ in Scotland at the moment! ? I hope she doesn’t add any more ‘cloots’, come June, but it’s going to be tight.
Thanks for posting this. Sat and cheered all through it!
‘June marks the end of May’ is only the start – it is a super speech, and the way he turns every crap question upside down to give a brilliant answer is fantastic. I hope he will have the same result in the general election as he did in the leadership election.
But I really think he should combine forces with the SNP instead of raising conflict with them. Labour could so easily win 100% (or nearly 100%) of Westminster seats in Scotland – simply by making the SNP partners instead of competing against them. Just ditch “Labour Scotland”, it’s just a dead duck Blairite New Labour anyway – nobody wants it, it has no relevance to Scotland. SNP are his natural partners in Scotland.
I’ve finally found someone who’s put Corbyn’s speech today up on YouTube. Watch it and you’ll perhaps understand why YouTube, et al, have been censoring it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXCmDwPq1nY
(I’ve no idea how long the above video will remain online, because we live in a free and open society, innit)
The reaction to it on the BBC came from Norman Smith who basically trashed it and ridiculed Corbyn. Another glaring example of what apparently passes for impartiality on the BBC these days.
Hey Jo, tell me something please. Have you met Impartiality, actually met it, or is it a theory?
I suggest you check out the code of conduct which the BBC is required to operate under when it comes to impartiality.
Lovely. Doesn’t answer my question: Have you met Impartiality, actually met it, or is it a theory?
Get real.
I also suggest you check out L.I.F.E. — excuse the 4-lettered word and yes it’s a sexually transmitted disease.
The beeb is utterly redundant. It should be sold–money for jam for our coffers. Has Corbyn suggested that?
Transcript here RobG. Amazing that the video has gone. Says it all.
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/politics/rigged-system-jeremy-corbyns-launch-speech-full/
Thanks for that Sharp Ears. Everyone should read this transcript.
At the time of writing I can still only find on video sites the BBC footage of Corbyn’s speech this morning.
Love or hate Corbyn, it’s one of the most amazing speeches given by a UK party leader in more than three decades.
People can stay in the Matrix, and either take the red pill or the blue pill, or you can wake-up.
Being awake is kinda important at the moment.
Both the above video links are working for me now. They are probably being blocked in the UK by GCHQ. It’s good to have the (rather approximate) transcript, just a shame it does not include the brilliant questions and answers.
Craig makes some points. But the lack of substantive oppo to tories in England is not down to the Beeb. Liberals once had the moral high ground under the late Charles Kennedy, but coalition was fatal. Corbyn has to break through with new media and he needs a trump trumpet. If he can blow a good tune it will be heard. Bob Marshall’s switch says it all. If Bob can’t here Jeremy’s tune who will?
If in Wales vote Plaid. In England vote liberal (unless you really believe Corbyn can deliver a socialist society capable of functioning). In Scotland SNP if you wish, or even Tory so long as the Scottish Tories can establish their own independence from London.
So…..
Fwl sounds undecided, but he only has a vote in one place so its liberal.
Corbyn is now trying to jump on the popular bandwagon of dissatisfaction with mainstream politics by calling himself “anti-Establishment”. A day late and a dollar short. It is truly a pathetic spectacle. The man is an embarrassment.
Anon1,
You are a fucking right one ain’t ya, Corbyn has been anti-establishment most of his adult life and the wrath of the establishment has been brought to bare upon him since he became a contender for the Labour leadership in July 2015. Evidently you live under a rock or take much LSD, but your political nuance is seriously lacking I’m afraid.
Prep school educated Jeremy has been hanging around the Commons like a bad fart almost his entire adult life.
The farmhouse-raised member for Islington North has nothing in common with the working class. The only people who vote for him are time-serving state employed trade unionists who stand to gain maximum financial benefit, middle-class student Trots, benefits junkies and deluded old lefties like you and Glenn.
Working people vote Tory.
“The farmhouse-raised member for Islington North ”
Is he organic? His tie looks distinctly polyester.
Beautiful. Just beautiful. Corbyn’s election to leader of the Labour party started the bandwagon in the first place. Now he’s jumping on the bandwagon. Tory election strategy is play the man not the ball. Your post says sooooooooooo much. And you won’t ever understand it.☺
Anti-Corbyn cut-and-paste number-Oh, Sh*t, I’ve totally lost count because it’s now in the billions. Lol.
I think you’re letting the BBC off lightly.
Theresa May basically admitted this week that she’s called this election because she’s furious the opposition Parties wished to scrutinise the final Brexit deal. She attacked all of those Parties plus the HoL for simply wanting to check out the detail of the deal.
I would have thought this position by May would have been considered worthy of highlighting given the implications.
Mrs May also told a bare-faced lie when she declared that there was disunity only at Westminster and not in the country on Brexit! I would have thought that whopper would have been considered newsworthy too.
That the BBC was happy to overlook both of these extraordinary statements by Mrs May proves it is no longer fit to attract the public funding it currently enjoys. It is a national disgrace.
More on those “massive cuts”:
NHS budget:
2011 £110Bn
2015 £114Bn
2017/18 £120-130Bn
#Corbynomics
(Just looking at those eye-watering numbers makes the mind boggle, but we’ll leave that aside and pretend everything is hunky-dory with the NHS.)
Yesh right.
“The Government will cut the National Health Service’s budget per person in real terms next year, ministers have admitted in official figures for the first time.”
“Numbers released by ministers show NHS England will face a sharp reduction of 0.6 per cent in real terms of per head in the financial year 2018-19.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-cuts-spending-policies-theresa-may-jeremy-hunt-tories-labour-lib-dems-a7549686.html
Anybody with half a brain, knows your figures are BS.
Per person. Due to population increase. Due to…
Anon1,
Your statistics are really lacking, they are lacking because of the massive cuts made to care in the community and for elderly care, cuts that councils are forced to make, as a result of these cuts – that’s actual money removed from social care, huge pressures are then placed upon the NHS, which is then forced to spend large sums caring for the elderly and others – its called joined up thinking Anon1, something as a propagandist you seem incapable of understanding.
Councils are not forced to make those cuts. They make those cuts in order to say “Look what these bastard Tory cuts have forced us to do!” Rather than cutting all the excess dross and waste they should be cutting.
Anon1,
The problem is with your biased bullshite is this, namely, many councils are actually Tory run and have made it clear to the Tories in Westminster there ain’t fuck all else to cut. My God man even Cameron’s mother has complained about this salient fact. Still, you are a Tory and one expects fucking lies from a Tory.
£80 million a year on paracetamol. Asprin at £30 a pack. Diversity enforcement officers on £30k starting salary.
Dig deep, comrade.
Not to mention 350k per year NET immigration, plus health tourism.
Dig deeper, comrade.
Anon1: Do you get your cheap little talking points off some crappy Nazi sympathisers’ site or something?
Show me any major organisation which doesn’t have examples of excessive spending in some areas. On the whole, the NHS is a damned sight more efficient than comparable health care systems in other countries, and if you had a scrap of decency you could actually be rather proud of it as a great national achievement.
Instead, being the mean-spirited and thoroughly dishonest thug that you are, you want to run down great and well loved British institutions.
Don’t waste your time Chris Rogers. See how they take turns.
PS Good luck with your dental treatment btw. Root canal fillings are long winded but not at all painful. I had 8 last year as the R/T I had damaged the integrity of my jawbone. ‘Osteo radio necrosis’ I think was the name plus mesial drift! Please don’t reply. It will only annoy the usual suspects.
Sharp Ears,
I’m in danger of losing a few teeth if not sorted out soon, but the cost is now horrific, approx. £600 as opposed to £280 on the NHS, no NHS service available in my area, so must pay full charges. Still, at least I can help out campaigning in Cardiff and Gower – two marginals. Just a shame I’ll miss Corbyn in Cardiff on Friday.
Try deducting the actual sums that the NHS now has to pass to Social Services for social care, then there is the sums being spent on social care for people remaiing in hospital because there are no Nursing Home beds / Socail Care available in the community. Then, in case you haven’t noticed, the population has been increasing – and of course there is actual real inflation of drugs and energy costs and this year increases in business rates – this year the £ per head is going down. Then there is a huge increase in the costs due to the demand that ALL services are tendered, then given to the private sector who cream off the profits off shore. But keep dreaming that the Tories are protecting the NHS.
Getting dangerous in France
Policeman killed in Paris shooting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39662315
There are reports of shots being fired on the Champs Elysee in the heart of the French capital, Paris, on Thursday evening.
French police are telling the people to avoid the area.
France remains tense after the government declared a state of emergency following a series of terrorist attacks, including the the November 2015 attacks, which targeted the Bataclan concert hall and Stade de France sports arena, as well as café and bar terraces in the capital.
http://www.france24.com/en/breaking/20170420-one-policeman-one-attacker-killed-shooting-champs-elysee-interior-ministry
Sounds like another “Allahu Akbar” incident unfolding.
You animaux vermines are starting to get really annoying.
Hopefully over the next month or so the lot of you will be swept away/put on trial.
Otherwise, with these complete psychos in charge, it will be World War Three, folks.
I can assure you that it’s not the least bit dangerous in France (it’s always fear, fear, fear).
The only danger is a neo-con government brown-nosing the American psychopaths and an MSM that is a complete joke.
Lay down for a while. Wake-up and smell the wonderful French coffee.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité.
The 6th Republic is coming.
Hey ROB do u think it is a False Flag Event tonight in Paris?
Attaque terroriste sur les Champs-Elysées : un policier tué, un assaillant abattu
http://www.ledauphine.com/france-monde/2017/04/20/des-tirs-entendus-sur-les-champs-elysees
Marine Le Pen and François Fillon cancel their scheduled trips this Friday.
What is known at 11 pm
– Three days before the presidential election, a shooting erupted in Paris on Thursday night around 9 pm on the Champs-Elysees Avenue, the most famous of the capital.
– One policeman was killed, two others seriously wounded. The assailant was shot “in retaliation”.
– The anti-terrorist section of the Paris public prosecutor’s office has seized the investigation. Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve joined President François Hollande for a crisis meeting.
– An enormous police device is on site. The police prefecture wants to avoid the area.
michael, try not to get too paranoid about ‘Islamist terrorists’.
Every week in London, for example, a large number of people get shot and knifed, none of which has anything to do with ‘Islamist terrorists’.
Do you really want to give up all your civil liberties, to a bunch of psychos in government, because of all this totally made-up terrorist nonsense?
Lots of people in England get eaten alive by wild dogs but they are not set on the people by mad Islamists.
People have had their organs eaten in Syria by mad Islamists.
They’re mad Islamists completely supported and funded by your own government (it’s well documented).
Of the many Islamist groups in Syria, supported by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, I wonder how many of the tens of thousands are native Syrians,
not many I’ll bet.
Norton, it was a moderate, liberal, cuddly, West-approved rebel who ate the organs of a Syrian soldier on video, not a mad islamist (whom the West also approves, incidentally).
Are the French cows well secured Rob? According to Craig they are a much greater danger to life than twerrrorists. Need to make sure they don’t get loose on the Champs d’Elysée.
Everybody also needs to take great care when crossing the roads these days, especially under a State of Emergency. Large numbers of people get killed every year crossing the road, many many times more than from the twerrrorists.
So what? Is that going to lead to the election of Le Pen, as you so fervently wish? Or is it a false-flag, to produce more enthusiasm for the extreme-right?
So what? Is that going to lead to the election of Le Pen, as you so fervently wish? Or is it a false-flag, to produce more enthusiasm for the extreme-right?
Have the fuzz found the passports?
The fuzz?! Aren’t we groovy! Even if a little passe…
Not as dangerous as the United States – people are shot dead every day there.
No irony here!
Bias and the BBC
Was it fair over Brexit and can it survive in the 21st century?
Nick Robinson and Charles Moore
Nick Robinson and Charles Moore
15 April 2017 8:00 AM
Last week, Nick Robinson wrote an article in the Radio Times saying Radio 4’s Today programme no longer has an obligation to balance its coverage of Brexit. This led to criticism from Charles Moore that he was, in effect, admitting to BBC bias. The two met for a discussion in The Spectator offices.
/..
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/04/bias-and-the-bbc/
I’m quivering with excitement.
And to respond to one of your earlier comments you left begging for sympathy, yes i really do feel sorry for you.
As I said before, I want nothing to do with you. When you say, ‘I feel very sorry for you’, you are not expressing sympathy. You are saying ‘I pity you’. Correct?
I can’t help thinking we’re reaching the tipping point where people see through a horribly biased and/or partisan media, and bubble-wrapped politicians.
I also wonder whether the Tories aren’t making the grave mistake of refighting the last election, when they had the charming, personable Cameron at the helm, and no Brexit crisis. And just two years on, the tactics used by the Tories and the media may well be too fresh in the electorate’s minds for them to be effective again.
“.. if you are very far to the left then it looks like they’re all Tories.”
This is the problem. The criticism was that the BBC only tolerates neo-cons in foreign policy and neo-liberals in socio-economic policies.
Within those parameters it really doesn’t care what party labels are being sported. Like May or Blair you appear to believe that any criticism of the capitalist, imperialist order is beyond the pale. And that the BBC should not be allowed to air the views of critics of aggressive imperialist policies or attacks on the living standards of the working class.
You don’t have to be on the left at all to question the efficacy of either political poison.
As to the notion that their should be freedom of speech and a tolerance of all criticism of the government, that should be axiomatic in a healthy society. That it is become controversial is an indication that capitalism is incompatible with basic human values.
Pepe Escobar on the French Election: http://www.atimes.com/article/play-france-prepares-tear-political-playbook/
“More on those “massive cuts”:
NHS budget:
2011 £110Bn
2015 £114Bn
2017/18 £120-130Bn”
These are statistics of the worse than ‘damned lies’ sort.
The problem is not with totals earmarked NHS, but with the employment of the taxes raised for it. In specific terms, and thanks largely to the pioneering work of the BlairitesOne of the problems is that much of the services involved have been taken out of the public, non profit sector, and hived off to corporations, often tax sheltered, which charge on a ‘cost plus profit’ basis.
And then there is the incredible scam of the PFI schemes whereby financiers cream off enormous amounts in interest for lending money to build hospitals etc, which the public ought to financing directly.
Thus it is that, increasingly, the NHS becomes a welfare scheme for capitalists and promotes the interests of that greedy interest group above the urgent needs of the sick and vulnerable, the old and the infants. Dental care ought, and used to be, provided to all regardless of financial condition because it is a vital part of healthcare.
Spending on public services have got nothing whatsoever to do with taxation.
Total global debt now stands at a minimum of £200 trillion – with $60 trillion of that being added since 2007.
Since public services are not provided by taxpayers then the quality of those services have nothing to do with taxpayers. As debt s essential to the economy then it follows that PFI is also essential since it adds to total debt. Why should rich people pay taxes since their taxes are not necessary for any purpose. Indeed taxing the rich only serves to depress debt levels and depressing debt levels is bad for the economy. Rich people tend to be rich in terms of assets, not cash. If they were forced to sell assets to raise cash to pay taxes then asset prices would fall. As the value of these assets are underpinned by $200 trillion of debt then crashing asset prices would not be a good idea. Marx never quite foresaw that move did he?
The is the essential problem of the left. By agitating for public services that could not be afforded people sought to placate them by using debt to provide those services. You have now reached the position where holders of the debt hold all the cards – and seemingly they no longer wish to provide you with public services. Therefore you can’t have them. You most especially can’t have them because long ago you ceased to do any productive work – by outsourcing your jobs to China. Not doing any work means that you can’t pay for these services yourselves.
It’s a tough, tough world and you have lost. Your theories were worse than useless and now the price must be paid – but don’t worry they will let you go deeper in debt to pay the price – they just wont provide you with public services.
I’m not sure about Marx but from what I can gather you are talking nonsense. I doubt very much whether you understand it.
You seem to be quite happy entertaining two totally contradictory ideas at the same time: 1/that debt doesn’t matter and 2/ that borrowing money to invest in social services is impossible because it would add to the debt-that doesn’t matter.
As to the creditors- they hold only the cards they can cash in. And debts fraudulently incurred are liable to be found ‘odious.’ In my view most PFI debt is odious in the sense that it contradicts the clear public interest and was intended to create the false impression that it was not ‘on the books.’
When death rates rise, infant mortality increases and life expectancy declines the question of whether interest should be paid before services are provided becomes very easy to answer.
You are right about my not understanding – no-one understands the bizarre and twisted mess we are in. All that is known is that it will end catastrophically.
Public services are supposed to be funded by taxpayers – that way taxpayers have some locus over both the quantum of public services and the recipients of public services. That model is broken and public services are now funded via a toxic combination of debt and money printing. This removes all locus from taxpayers – since they are not paying for these services.
Of course debts that are fraudulently incurred are odious. The problem is that the entire economy is a fraud and hence odious. All your logic (and it is logic) does it collapse the entire economy. Because collapsing the entire economy would be bad for everyone logic and reason have been thrown out of the window. Without logic and reason it follows logically that no-one understands what is going on. Your pointing this out, whilst true, is of no help whatsoever.
Action must be taken against Nick Robinson,his remarks were unacceptable, but then the tone in his voice whenever he says Jeremy Corbyn’s name is unacceptable. The BBC are bias beyond belief, their attitude towards Corbyn is almost hostile and they lead their guests deliberately to make personal negative comments. It almost amounts to mocking. It has to stop. The BBC are a disgrace
This is utter nonsense…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/20/paris-shooting-policeman-killed-on-champs-elysees
Quote: “The French president, François Hollande, said the Champs Élysées attack was “terrorist in nature” and promised “utmost vigilance” by security services to ensure security around the presidential election. He has called a defence council meeting for 8am on Friday.”
Do people still believe all this bullshit?!
There’s a revolution happening in France, and the cockroaches don’t want you to know about it.
When is The French State of Emergency
supposed to be annulled?
It amazes me how anyone could vote for Macron, he is like a slightly younger shadow of Hollande, the least popular president of France – EVER
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/09/05/article-2411934-1B995FC6000005DC-384_306x423.jpg
Try reading up on the French elections, Norton. Macron is not a younger version of Hollande, though the Daily Mail might want you think that.
Aside from bias, this is astonishingly condescending. JC has won not one, but two leadership elections by a landslide. He consistently bests May at PMQ’s, and has stood firm against some pretty atrocious internal backstabbing. He’s a serious figure, no question, and deserves better than snide digs from a bad journalist. Robinson should be sacked, but won’t be.
I say again: I don’t believe those polls for one minute. I remain of the opinions Labour can win this one, or at least make it very interesting indeed. Nobody likes May, and that 48% figure is just the purest horseshit imaginable.
Well said, Hieroglyph.
Corbyn and what’s left of the Labour Party will wipe the floor with the Tories.
No one, no one, and I mean only people who have had frontal lobotomys will vote for the Tories.
Which I suppose includes most of May’s team.
Drop those bombs, baby…
More evidence of BBC bias from another serial offender Andrew Neil when interviewing Gina Miller tonight on This Week. She looked utterly taken aback by his hostility as he repeatedly insulted her claiming that Brexit had given her a “purpose in life”. Disgraceful behaviour from Neil, another bully boy whose conduct tonight equalled the approach of the Sun and the Mail towards Ms Miller. .
Old, thuggish misogynists like this are finally dying out. Serial molester, thug, right-wing stooge and overpaid elderly male presenter (also puffed up with ridiculous ideas of his great importance and influence) Bill O’Reilly got sacked this week.
No suggestion that Neil was a molester, of course, but he might have appreciated O’Reilly’s style of interviewing:
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/shut-up-watch-bill-oreilly-lose-it-when-al-franken-exposes-him-as-a-liar-during-vintage-segment/
Jo
In Radio 4’s PM the anchor, Eddie Mair continually interrupted Dawn Butler Labour MP commenting on Corbyn’s speech.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08m8z3b#play
starting at about 08.45 seconds into the interview. She courageously and politely resisted his continual bullying and interruption and successfully made part of her point.
In the morning Today programme yesterday John Humphrys disgracefully laid into Corbyn’s chances which I thought was a bit rich coming from a man whose continuing career relies entirely on BBC age-related political correctness. My conclusion as to why the BBC is so disgustingly biased is that they desperately want us to be agree to be brainwashed or switch off.
” If the polls are right Jeremy Corbyn ought to save us all a lot of trouble and concede defeat now”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08md6h8
Humphrys starts at about 52 seconds in.
Thanks for your reply.
The BBC feature the Butler interview with Mair on the news website claiming that Butler “struggled” to explain herself. Unbelievable.
Andrew ‘I’m paid more than the Prime Minister but I’m worth it because I work everyday except Saturdays’ Neil gets right on my titamaboobs
I listened to part of Corbyn’s speech. He really has not grasped how employment has changed in the last 30 years. Yes the system is rigged to create corporate profits, but yes also the socialist system of France is rigged to create jobs for the boys. In the UK you can get a septic tank put in for £6K but in France, that paradigm of pensions, short working hours and workers rights you will pay five times that amount because of all the red tape.
I remember when I had children in the 80’s and I was self-employed the benefit system refused to believe my accounts. They told me that they knew all self-employed people were fiddling the system and raking in more than they declared to the taxman. Corbyn jumped straight into that pot-hole and sat in it like a child playing with the mud. No. Since Thatcher anybody who needed employment needed to create their own, and run it as a business in a professional way. I believe Craig falls into this category himself.
Please Mr Corbyn get real. Wake up to life in the 21st century. Please don’t pitch your rhetoric at Blair’s Ford Sierra man because he doesn’t exist. Most people work for small companies which have been set up by Blair’s Sierra man , or they have become Q7 men or women themselves running their own business.
These are the people who begrudge large Corporations evading health & Safety Law and fiddling their corporation tax, because they have to pay their corporation tax and they have to spend vast amounts of keeping their workers well -paid and safe.
BBC Editorial Guidelines, Section 4:
“The external activities of staff, presenters and others who contribute to our output can also affect the BBC’s reputation for impartiality.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/impartiality
In my opinion Robinson’s tweet is a clear breach of this guideline. Also Section 15:
“A conflict of interest may arise when the external activities of anyone involved in making our content affects the BBC’s reputation for integrity, independence and high standards, or may be reasonably perceived to do so. Our audiences must be able to trust the BBC and be confident that our editorial decisions are not influenced by outside interests, political or commercial pressures, or any personal interests.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/conflicts-of-interest
I have therefore complained to the BBC on these grounds, and I urge readers to examine the Guidelines for themselves and complain about Robinson if they feel it justified.
Robinson has attempted to clarify his tweet on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NickRobinsonBBC/posts/1308490192554069
I think he is lying and I have told him so on Twitter and Facebook.
I am saddened by the demise of the BBC. It has always supported the establishment and wars of aggression across the world. But since Tony Blair removed any semblance of independence to push through The War On Terror in Iraq. By sacking and intimidation and continuous interference he has turned one of the best things about Britain into a mouthpiece for the Neocon New World Order. The IMF the World Bank and the WTO.
Gone are the days of investigative journalism. All its politics shows are totally supportive of global corporate capitalists. It’s presenters don’t interview guests. They either suck up to and prime them with leading questions or deride insult and undermine them.
They don’t even bother to appear to be impartial. Indeed I could list many examples of totally fake fabricated stories. Panorama spent 4 months chasing and spying on Labour members and found out some of them are a bit left wing even Socialists.
They never investigated any of the claims made about antisemitism in the Labour Party. They deliberately changed Ken Livingstones words even in supposed quotes. Kuenssberg even edited her reports on Corbyn to make it appear he said he wouldn’t order police to shoot active terrorists. He was asked about day to day police being allowed to shoot to kill.
In Syria they use as a source a felon and wanted criminal who tweets from Coventry. And to back it up the white helmets who are Al Nusra affiliates. They are on video beheading teenaged and staging events with crisis actors.
BBC news and politics is the biggest source of Fake news and establishment propaganda on the planet.
Les Campbell @ 00.50
1,000,000 % spot on!
I will remind people of your post here…
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/04/bbc-bias-clear-indisputable/comment-page-2/#comment-670077
Very well said, Les.
Excellent, Les-and nice to see you here.
Here we go
Fillon calls for presidential election campaign to be suspended as candidates cancel events after Paris terror attack just days before France goes to the polls
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4430422/Terror-Paris-minute-boost-Le-Pen.html#ixzz4eq0PMvLw
A study released earlier this week revealed that 51 per cent of French police officers plan to vote for Le Pen in the upcoming polls.
The latest attack in the heart of Paris so close to an election could send voters flocking to far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Sunday, experts believe.
It’s all total bollocks.
Mélenchon will most likely be the next president of France, which will be fun.
They keep trying to get you to buy into this increasingly lunatic paradigm.
Talking of bias, I just got a comment deleted in The Guardian. I don’t take it seriously, and really should stop reading. Just for fun, I dared to post a comment about Clinton, and how the feminists would follow her to war. Doubleunthinkbad. Comment axed for lacking ideological purity, within about 5 minutes. Not surprised of course, it’s a terrible neocon feminist rag these days, but still a bit pathetic nonetheless.
The Guardian, too, will treat Corbyn with merry disdain, if they even bother to cover what he says. However, this will benefit Corbyn, just as Trump benefited from the MSM. Game not over, no way.
Anyone who watched the BBC reporting of the 2014 referendum in Scotland ,will not be in the least surprised by this. Mr Robinsons blatant misreporting of the (then) First Minister Alex Salmonds answers to questions on the economy were nothing short of shameful .
The culture of pro neoliberalism doesn’t reside solely with Mr Robinson though, Jeremy Vine is also guilty. He tries ,rather cack-handedly, to steer his listeners subliminally to the right. Theresa May is always referred to as Mrs May, Theresa May or the PM. Jeremy Corbyn ,however is usually just Corbyn. Mrs. May has followers or party faithful, whereas Mr. Corbyn has “Corbynistas ” ( so much so,that autocomplete just finished that word for me)
Jeremy Vine is such a cretin. He essentially presents a radio phone-in and dicks about with the swing-o-meter on election night and believes himself to be a serious political journalist! No wonder Paxman hated him. The real nadir of his broadcasting was when he was talking to a doctor at the site of a natural disaster overseas; he was pressing the exhausted doctor on the number of fatalities and the doctor remarked that whilst this is indeed a terrible tragedy he and his team are also experiencing some life affirming cases, citing that he’d just helped a woman give birth, to which Vine snapped something like ‘one new life doesn’t make up for all those dead!’
Unfortunately, I live in the Netherlands so only have BBC News. When I here I now watch channel 4 News for this reason.
I have complained many times to the BBC about their lack of coverage of the march which I attended in London to but no reply.
Sadly, Julie, since the announcement this week Channel 4 News has been pretty awful too in terms of bias.
There has never been a free and fair election in the UK, the closest to one was the Lexit referendum.