This is a photo of the Secretary of State for Scotland addressing the Tory Party Scottish Conference (courtesy of Wings). I have analysed this and other photos taken from different angles, and learnt this.
There are only six rows of seats at the Scottish Tory Conference. The front row has 24 seats, the second 26, the third 28, the fourth 32 (sic), the fifth 34 and the sixth 36. That is a total of 180 seats.
How many delegates does a party Conference have, which only has 180 seats? There is, for example, no separate gallery for the media. In this photo there are, including those standing, less than 200 people.
My wife is a film producer. She is completing her first two feature films as producer this year, having previously done a couple of shorts, including one short as director. In supporting her, largely by making the tea, I have picked up a basic smattering of comprehension of camera work.
The BBC coverage has been, systematically and undoubtedly deliberately, utilising shots that create a completely false impression of the numbers at the conference. This has been done by setting the cameras low and well zoomed in, to show speakers above an apparent tight sea of heads and shoulders. Wider shots and higher shots have been quite deliberately eschewed. Any side shots or front shots have again been quite deliberately low set and highly zoomed. A tight zoomed diagonal shot across the hall will get sixty heads densely in it, and create the false impression of a packed crowd.
I want to emphasise the question of directorial choice. These are deliberate directorial choices to make the Tories look good, and deliberately to present a distorted perspective of the size of the audience (and the strength of the Tories) to the viewer. The media are, in effect, deliberately hiding from the viewer how tiny the Tory Conference is.
This is the only audience reaction shot used – twice – by the BBC during their main news item on Theresa May’s speech to the Scottish Tory conference:
This is of course only the visual representation of a much larger con trick in the boosting of Ruth Davidson. The BBC Politics operation in Scotland was devoted all weekend to the return of Ruth Davidson from maternity leave, and she was touted again and again, breathlessly and shamelessly, as a future First Minister after the next Holyrood elections. Not once did any BBC presenter point out that the Tories currently stand at 22% in Scotland, and that Ruth Davidson’s chances of becoming First Minister are, even with full on MSM adulation, much the same as my chances of being Britain’s Next Top Model.
The myth of the free press in the UK is finished. The media is owned by right wing billionaires, or by the Tory state. Look forward next week to hearing how Ruth shot a round of 23 at Gleneagles. While driving a tank.
Finally, here is a statistic to cheer you up. The 1,200 plus Tory councillors who have just lost their seats in the English local elections represent precisely an astonishing 1% of the entire membership of the Tory Party. Not of Tory councillors, 1% of all Tory members just lost their job. That is a very happy thought.
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The BBC is currently excelling itself in its portrayal of the occupied Palestinians as aggressors. The violence begins when the Palestinians do something and the Israelis only ever retaliate…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-48160098
The stuff the BBC ignores:
https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-pictures-april-2019/27256
Is it impossible that Palestinians started this escalation?
Is there a con-census here too that will censor different views on this topic?
You could always try the mass media Anthony if you’re feeling pro-Netanyahu/ Israel-as-victim narratives are excluded and unrepresented.
The BBC have for years had coverage that gives the Israeli line on things such as who instigates aggression.
I complained about one BBC journalist’s presentation of the casualties in Gaza… the BBC upheld one part of the complaint but I wasn’t satisfied and took my complaint to the end of the road. On the plus side they do have a complaints process. On the downside – its a wearying one. You spend time writing intelligent arguments – they make lazy dismissals.
That journalist’s entire career was founded upon having got an internship with the Jerusalem Post. Amongst other things I suggested that when writing an (extremely biased) article on the Gaza conflict that interest should be declared. The final response was that they didn’t think there was a “conflict of interests”. So they didn’t even get my complaint. They didn’t understand the difference been a declaration of interests and a conflict of interests – even though I spelled it out many times. That was the top of the BBC.
Should the fact that a BBC journalist once did an internship constitute an “interest” that needs to be declared? I don’t think so. But if it does, should that “interest” be declared before every report or only before reports dealing with the Middle East? Should it be declared throughout that journalist’s career? Should the same declaration be de rigueur for all journalists’ “interests” everywhere? It is a silly idea, and, worse, impractical and vaguely Stalinist (“was your father a kulak”?).
If you’re going to write on a conflict where you have a clear association with one of the two sides you should declare that.
That journalist however showed himself to be unsuitable to write on the Gaza conflict in an allegedly impartial organisation – even the BBC upheld part of my complaint. His article was a terrible piece of journalism.
Je
Whether his article was a terrible piece of journalism is one thing (one thing which is probably subjective, but never mind) but that has nothing to do with your core complaint, which concerns declaring an interest. On the latter, I would not take as the gospel truth (it is in fact not provable) your claim that the “jounalist’s entire career was founded upon having got an internship with the Jerusalem Post”. Is that anything more than your opinion. But if you can make out a persuasive, logical case for that assertion, please don’t hesitate. I should be very interested to learn.
Charles Bostock –
He didn’t have any journalistic qualifications.
But he got an internship at the Jerusalem Post and was able to have a career as a journalist thereafter.
Ergo his entire career was founded upon his internship with the Jerusalem Post.
(Sigh…)
Je
What is the matter with you? By definition, no one starting on a career – whether the first career of a new one – had any “qualifications” – except perhaps if they have done an internship.
Or are you saying that only persons with a degree in journalism or a post-grad diploma or something similar are qualified to become journalists.
Look, let’s face it : you don’t like something a journalist has written about Israel/Palestine, presumably because it does not accord with your views. Instead of beong honest and coming out with tht, you attempt to rubbish him because either he’s not “qualified” in journalism or because…..he has had work experience on the Jerusalem Post.
Duh !
It is not possible that the Palestinians have started any aggression, British followed by Europeans and Americans started the aggression in 1947. Everything the Palestinians do is in defence of themselves or an attempt to reclaim land stone from them. To present any other argument is to deny facts.
No aggression?
Not quite true, actually. The Palestinians did their fair share of aggressing in the 1920s and 1930s (against the Jews – before large scale Jewish immigration) and by way of acts of terrorism since 1967. Not to mention the Arab/Israel war, started by the Arabs. Those are facts to set beside yours.
And yet you have precisely no evidence for that statement.
I need to provide evidence? Read any history of the region/period. You sound like the sort of person who would ask me to provide evidence for the Holocaust or the Stalinist purges.
They are not facts to set against his, Charles. If you read the great Evil Shleim you would see that the Jewish state deliberately decided not to make peace with it’s Arab neighbours. It knew that with the help of it’s American friends it was in a strong position .
Granted when Israel did decide to attack or retaliate it always made sure there was a pretext. E.g.. Suez.
You’re full of it, Charles, and you know it. First you write “It is a silly idea, and, worse, impractical and vaguely Stalinist (“was your father a kulak”?)”; then a mere six minutes later you write of what some Arabs did in Palestine in the 1920s. Is any lie or contortion too low for you when the aim is to defend the J__ish fascism called Zionism?
Re Geoffrey: “Evil Shleim”
Do you mean Avi Shlaim? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avi_Shlaim
Who seems to have a different take on Israeli history.
Avi Shlaim of course as written in ” The Iron Wall” a great book. Apologies Avi.
Moon of Alabama’s latest thread makes it clear that Hamas was responding to Israeli aggression.
Oh well, if Moon of Alabama says it it must be true !
Have you read it? If not I suggest that you do and learn the facts.
Even if Palestinian resistants aren’t responding to a specific attack their resistance to the Nazi-style fascism that carries the Star of David banner is justified.
Here is an excellent account of what happened-
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2019/05/israel-again-bombs-gaza-but-is-it-in-response.html
MoonofAlabama is quoting a Haaretz personal opinion piece comparing Gaza with the Warsaw Ghetto: what a freedom of opinion in tiny Israel!
I always though that the Jews in Warshaw were trying to defend themselves against ongoing annihilation in concentration camps which their fast declining numbers proved. Hamas made Gaza into an aggressive ghetto with fast rising numbers of Palestinian Arabs. Warshaw was cut off; Gaza receives million$ every year from oil Arabs, the EU and other sympathizers: they even pay the families of their fallen pensions. Westerners find Gaza poor; Africans and South + East Asians find it rich.
From seeing numerous videos and films of life in Gaza (during both peaceful and less peaceful periods) I would certainly concur that there are very many places on the planet a lot poorer than Gaza and that there can be no comparison with life in the Warsaw ghetto.
The report in the Bezos organ Washington Post, it says:
“In a joint statement, Gaza’s militant factions said the rocket fire was in response to the “targeting and assassination” of their militants a day earlier. “Our response will be tougher and larger and broader in the face of aggression,” they said in a statement.
The Israeli military reported on Friday that two soldiers were lightly wounded in a shooting incident along its border with Gaza. In response, Israel struck sites belonging to the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, killing two fighters.
Also on Friday, two Palestinian protesters were killed taking part in ongoing weekly demonstrations at the border fence with Israel, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
“It’s a reply to the Israeli targeting of peaceful civilians yesterday by Israeli snipers during the 58th Friday of Great March of Return,” said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s bureau for international relations, referring to the weekly protests staged in Gaza since last year. “Also, to the procrastination policies of the occupation toward lifting the siege on Gaza.””
The exact order of these events is not clear from this muddled report, but it does look like the bombing was not proportionate to the events that let up to it. To put it crudely it looks like the action of a bully using lethal force on hostages in a prison.
Here’s the BBC account:
“A Palestinian gunman shot and wounded two Israeli soldiers at the boundary fence. Israel retaliated ”
“2014… In that year, Israel launched a ground offensive on Gaza following the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers.”
“Since then, Palestinian militants have continued to carry out sporadic strikes on Israel.
In a previous wave this year, in March, several rockets were fired into southern Israel, triggering raids on Gaza by the Israeli air force. ”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-48167234
So three out of three times in that article the Palestinians initiated it and the Israelis retaliated. Words like “occupation” don’t appear.
*
What I meant to say in my previous comment is I spelled it out many times clearly that I was talking about the journalist declaring their interest – that got morphed into “conflict of interests” in their dismissal. The BBC is full of its own alleged impartiality… but doesn’t seem to understand basic journalistic standards.
Have no journalistic qualifications but get an internship with the Jerusalem Post – and that’s the foundation for your whole career. Then decide to write a (completely biased) article on Gaza casualties and don’t think you have to mention a word that.
That was a long while ago… the BBC seems to be getting even worse, not better.
The journalist who wrote that above piece isn’t named – so we don’t know who they are.
The Hamas leadership in Gaza knows full well that Israel will retaliate if 200+ rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza. And on top of military retaliation, the Israel/Gaza border will be closed again.
One wonders if Hamas is not screwing up the tension in advance of the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Israel later this month. Having failed to get it cancelled or abandoned by other means, perhaps Hamas is trying this way to ensure it takes place against a background of tension and death. After all, what’s a little destruction and death in Gaza when compared to making a measly “political point”?
If the above is correct then it marks a new low in Hamas cynicism and disregard for Palestinian lives.
That’s what we might call ‘A Conspiracy Theory’, Mr. Bostock. I’m sure you have heard of those.
Now over 600 rockets – and mortar rounds. And let no one say (as people have said before, including on here) that those rockets are feeble affairs, incapable of causing harm….
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are guilty of war crimes : firstly, for firing rockets and mortar rounds into civilian areas and secondly, for firing them from civilian areas and so putting into jeopardy civilians once Israel retaliates (as Hamas/Islamic Jihad knows it will).
D_Majestic
I agree it’s a theory. But not a conspiracy theory. A conspiracy theory would be – for example – that the 600 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza by Israeli secret agents who has somehow infiltrated Gaza.
See the difference?
They are feeble affairs incapable of inflicting much harm.
The point of the Z__nazis’ participation in the Eurovision song contest is to justify the existence of their murderous ethnic supremacist regime. That was true back in 1979 too when they won with the song “Hallelujah” which painted the said regime as one of peace and mellowness, a mere six years after the Yom Kippur war. They have no shame whatsoever.
I see no acknowledgement in these familiar Hasbara exchanges that, for days, Israel has been pounding Gaza with air strikes and missiles and fire from tanks which are lined up on the ‘border’ of this benighted strip of land containing 1.3 millon people, most of whom have no proper homes, the previous ones having been turned to rubble by Israel’s many wars. Potable water, electricity, medical supplies and facilities are in short supply.
Netanyahu wants another full scale war and says so.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/05/gaza-militants-and-israeli-forces-lurch-into-new-round-of-violence
‘Air and tank strikes kill 19 Palestinians after Netanyahu orders ‘massive attacks’, while rockets kill four in Israel’. (A pregnant woman and a toddler are among the 19 killed)
‘Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the armed forces to conduct “massive strikes” on Gaza and reinforce the edge of the enclave with tanks, artillery and soldiers.
“This morning, I instructed the [military] to continue massive attacks against terrorist elements in the Gaza strip. I also ordered the reinforcement of the units around the Gaza strip with armour, artillery and infantry,” the prime minister said.’
N_
“The point of the Z__nazis’ participation in the Eurovision song contest is to justify the existence of their murderous ethnic supremacist regime.”
Do you really think that Israel feels the need to justify its existence by participating in the Eurovision Song Contest?
If Hamas has done as you theorise then they have secretly planned to do something. What’s a word meaning that?
Johnny
I don’t think theter’s anything particularly secret about it. Hamas would no doubt like to see the Song Contest take place in an atmosphere of tension and heightened security. Being stupid as well as cynical, Hamas probably thinks that other countries would think the worse of Israel if that was the case.
So we have Palestinian snipers, according to this report, who alledgedly started the attacks?
Not impossible, but I find this highly unlikely as it coincides with J.Kushners, alledgedly worked out in 2 years, ‘peace plan’
In a long line of peace plans, this one would have been ticked off by Bibi himself, a thank you for the Gholan accessition guesture.
Fake news, as their ?Trumpian fanbase would mew.
The BBC is claiming that
“Mr Bolton claimed that they would counter any attack by Iran with unrelenting force”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48173357
The BBC says that Bolton has ordered an aircraft carrier to enter the Gulf of Persia, to be ready to smash Iran, should Iran wish to smash America.
You might think America could avoid confrontation, if they refrained from intimidating Iran, why don’t the BBC ask Bolton, that question?
Nick Cohen reaches new depths today in the Observer with a piece that is simply a series of abusive comments. One of the worst is that Corbyn suffers from an inferiority complex and would have joined Scientology if he join an intolerant hard left gang. Plus the mandatory jibes about anti-Semiticism.
Clive p, I hope you didn’t use your hard-earned to buy ‘The Observer’. I’d hope people would boycott it and it’s sister shit-sheet ‘The Guardian’ and let them fade away.
I wouldn’t buy it. Just look on the internet
Hope you have not selfharmed your eyes too much Clive P. , I declined picking up the Observer whilst waiting at the surgery and opted for the Beano, getting funny looks from parents and children.
Is Cohen competing with Freedland in the Guardian to see who can cast the most slurs against Jeremy Corbyn? Is there a club at Kings Place?
First thoughts – Antisemitism
Jeremy Corbyn is either blind to antisemitism – or he just doesn’t care
Jonathan Freedland
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/01/jeremy-corbyn-blind-antisemitism-hobson
This letter from Prof Donald Sassoon from Queen Mary College
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/may/02/jeremy-corbyn-hobsons-imperialism-and-antisemitism
is a corrective to the piece by two other Guardianistas, Heather Stewart and Sarah Lucas who wrote https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/may/01/jeremy-corbyn-rejects-antisemitism-claim-over-book-foreword
How does Viner live with herself? I remember her outrage about the killing of Rachel Corrie when she co-wrote The Death of Rachel Corrie with Alan Rickman in 2005. She was considered to be an advocate for Palestine then. That was before she was given the top job of course. Bought, sold and paid for.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17449855.2014.883174?
Given up totally on the Guardian/Observer now.; ” Comment is free…but facts are sacred” it says at the head of its Opinion section, but the number of articles we are permitted to comment upon are pitifully few. So the opinions of the likes of N. Cohen et all cannot be immediately challenged.
Sacred facts have to be hidden in an inner sactum, away from profane eyes. After proper selection, thorough cleansing, seasoning and cooking othey are available for free to the feeble-minded public.
I wouldn’t worry about it Clive. The words “would have” are always a sign that the writer has reached the point of desperation.
It is a very unpleasant and disgusting piece from Cohen. it demonstrates how fearful he and the naysayers are of Jeremy Corbyn getting into No 10. Any smear will do. Their days are numbered.
Jeremy Corbyn
Remember Orwell’s chilling warning to boot-licking propagandists…
Nick Cohen
Arguments on the left are less to do with ideology, more with the lure of the gang
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/05/remember-orwells-chilling-warning-to-boot-licking-propagandists
Oh dear, is Nick Cohen still going? He’s really got it coming to him. I didn’t like Jeremy Corbyn’s genuflection to the Steinerite nuts regarding a “climate emergency”, but to say he would have joined Scientology (or Anthroposophy) under any circumstances is a slur against him personally and of course against the left, as also is the lie about anti-Semitism. No shame…
Everyone does it.
In shallow shoals
English soles do it
Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love!
Davidson obtained a slot on Marr this morning. He hardly got a word in! She kept introducing Nicola Sturgeon’s name into her remarks.
Video.
On Brexit https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1124972086617722880
On Scottish Independence https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1124973976525008896
Marr will have to have a lie down later.
Nothing like 100,000 self organised and motivated, regular punters on the hoof to throw the Deep State into a tizzy.
BBC Radio Shortbread gives free advertising this morning to Smith Institute apparatchiks Kezia Dugdale (Director) and Catherine Smith (Chair). The usual “Third way”, mentoring, inclusive, outreach, pish. The whole thing reeks of Deep State control, not that this is ever suggested. John Smith was British American Project. Catherine Smith (daughter) just happens to Chair the institute founded in his name. Sarah Smith (daughter) just happens to be a BBC political propagandist. Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill (wife) was director of private (deniable as Deep State asset) spook outfit Hakluyt. Dugdale’s never had a proper job in her life. Oh, and Dugdale likes Nicola’s concept of Citizens Assemblies. Talking shops where the punters can be deluded into thinking they are contributing to direction while the agenda, narrative and outcome remain firmly in the hands of Chair.
Meanwhile, three SNP “big hitters” (Robertson, McDonald and Smith) are given column inches to attack the greater Indy movement.
It’s all very depressing. Bear in mind that Humza Yousaf is (quite rightly?) touted as a future party leader. Yousaf appears to be highly personable and very hard working but he is a graduate of the US State Department’s, International Visitor Leadership Program. The fix is already in people.
Vivian.
Very well put.
Thought I’d take in the BBC’s politics show in Scotland this morning, big mistake.
The BBC’s “Scottish” Politics show, should really be named the Unionists in Scotland’s Politics show. Apart from a wee dig at Pete Wishart, and a five second glimpse of the AUOB independence march yesterday, the entire show was a unionist talk in.
Leslie Evans remains Scotland’s top civil servant despite spouting demonstrable lies in the wake of the Alec Salmond case.
Donalda MacKinnon remains head of BBC Scotland despite spouting demonstrable lies in the wake of the Question Time scandal.
Evans has Sturgeon’s explicit support, MacKinnon has Sturgeon’s tacit support. The fix is in.
There must have been several times more stewards at the AUOB march yesterday than there were delegates at the Scottish Tory conference.
I remember the BBC using similar camera tricks to promote the presidential style rallies under the Blair labour government. More generally I don’t think the BBC is fundamentally pro Tory, rather the BBC just report favourably on whichever party currently happens to be in government. Or more specifically they report favourably towards any party which has the ability to scrap the licence fee.
In bygone decades the BBC were seen as a respected national institution by the general public which protected them against any government deciding to axe the licence if they didn’t like BBC news editorial decisions; I remember the Thatcher government in the 80’s continually toyed with the idea. These days however the BBC have far less respect due to people being able to read/watch non UK government sanctioned news and decide for themselves who’s being more balanced. Also the BBC are well aware the licence fee is an anachronism in the modern world where so many people pay to watch TV from providers such as Netflix, Amazon, BT, etc. As such they know the majority of people would now happily see the licence fee scrapped and let the BBC either stand on the basis of its own ability to commercially fund itself or be directly funded by the state. The latter of these would at least make clear the state dependent nature of the organisation rather than the obfuscated indirect control the state currently has over permitting the licence fee to continue.
Redshift
It is worth having a read of the last major independent content analysis of the BBC’s news, politics and economics coverage. It was commissioned by the BBC Trust in 2013 to look at the corporation’s news output from the previous decade and is called Hard Evidence. It found consistent, glaring right-wing bias across the board.
Hardly surprising given that the man who was then determining what news we were told, and how we were told it, was one James Harding, Director of BBC News and Current Affairs. He is an ex-editor of Murdoch’s Times and recently penned a gushing front cover review for the libertarian Dominic Frisby’s ‘Life after the State: why we don’t need government’.
On-screen, the BBC’s chief political correspondent is still a former president of Conservative Students; the anchor of its flagship political shows, the Daily Politics and This Week is another ex-Murdoch editor; the host of Newsnight for a generation was an avowed Tory. His successor has penned a book calling for a “streamlined” state. They are just some of the many well-known Tories and Blairites parading in plain sight on the BBC.
It would be interesting indeed to see if any believers in BBC evenhandedness and impartiality could provide a countervailing list of similarly high-profile and influential left wingers filtering news and political coverage at the BBC. Or perhaps point towards an independent content analysis of the BBC’s news, politics and economics coverage that has ever identified balance, much less leftwing bias.
I often refer to this from Electronic Intifada in 2013 Harding, Purnell and Thomas feature.
Apologists for Israel take top posts at BBC
https://electronicintifada.net/content/apologists-israel-take-top-posts-bbc/12395
Purnell (Director of Radio and Education – previously Director of Strategy and Digital) is still at Portland Place.
https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/whoweare/james-purnell
Harding who was Head of News left in 2017 to set up some outfit called Tortoise. You will have to work out what it is and what he does.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/22/james-harding-tortoise-rich-persons-club-journalism-problems
Thomas has also left and is now ‘Director of public affairs and communication at Oxford University’ whatever that means.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceri_Thomas
Thomas has moved on to Oxford University.
So you’re referring to something from 2013 and two of the people you mentioned have left the BBC. Where’s the interest in 2019?
Background. The interest should still be there in 50 years time. Maybe you’d care to google who is now in those posts and let us all know? I’m pretty sure you’ll find ex Murdoch/ tories. I’m not planning on being surprised but go for it.
Yeah that makes no much sense.
I was not aware that the right wing were clamoring for the BBC to play songs that seemingly venerate the activities of sex rings
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/bbc-bans-rap-song-chaabian-16221115
Here is the BBC reporting on the case of a teenage girl who was criminalized for posting “racist rap lyrics” to an Instagram account
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-43816921
No doubt it is another right wing policy for the BBC to operate outside of the law that they wish to impose on everyone else.
This kind of lying (by inclusion or omission) and/or manipulation of still photography and video footage (the “accidental” reversal in the order of the police charge on horseback and miners’ retaliation at Orgreave instantly springs to mind) has been going on for decades, has entered into ‘folk wisdom’ via plays and film (from The Front Page to the excellent recent series Detectorists) and has been well documented by, variously, the Glasgow Media Group (http://www.glasgowmediagroup.org/) in the UK and Noam Chomsky in the US.
However, far more important today are the censorship practices being implemented by the corporate social media, largely following the templates laid down by Chomsky 30-40 years ago. The reason is simple: social media have democratised access to the media space, allowing the lies of State narratives to be rebutted almost in real-time and election results to go the “wrong” way. The corporate social media are thus simultaneously undermining the legitimacy (and economic model) of the traditional corporate media and themselves as they introduce this censorship.
The most important battleground will be in the US in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. If the corporate social media giants continue to be afforded the status of “platforms” by law, rather than that of the publishers that they have de facto become, then both the Left and the Right (it has affected both, if not equally in outright no-platforming then at least in shadow-banning and the like) will be excluded from public discourse. You might not like InfoWars or Milo, but you all know the words of Martin Niemöller.
Mods Agreed.. I Sometimes find it hard to remove Domestic..( Indy ) thoughts from International Evils. . And thank you for being kind about My O.T.
The BBC provides stasis , or in May language stability, regardless of truth. In other words the BBC is intrinsically un- analytical, recidivism and conservative . Its job is to mask real threats with old tropes and real progress with bored normality. The last thing on earth it wants to do is assist justice or morality which it regards as dangerous, fanatic or even revolutionary.
Does that mean it is political? Only in the sense that presents radical conservatism as normal and mild socialism as Marxist.
Being a large dinasoar inevitably means that it is responding to the issues of 1980s Thatcherism now and is completely oblivious to state capitalism as exercised by China.
It’s sole purpose is to be irrelevant.
I really don’t understand why anyone expects it to be even remotely relevant to today.
It’s flag ship The Archers might just as well be called The ’50s. Black and white serial about a forgotten age.
The people in charge of the BBC, I mean, the people who decide editorial content and political output are invariably pro-Tory, right-wing, and really quite hawkish. They fear not privatisation threats, because they believe Labour will always defend public service broadcasting regardless of how opposed to the left its output is, so what can the left do?
Labour should imho, scrap the license fee and have the BBC as a 24hr news channel only, maintain radio output – all funded out of general taxation much lower that at present. That 24hr news channel could be forced to be strictly impartial. The days of the BBC being a hive of dovish lefties ready to hold power to account is long since gone and Labour should wake up to the fact.
I don’t think anyone has ever accused the BBC of being “right wing Tories” before.
Geoffrey
So here is our proxy Tory expert from the proxy Tory think tank next to whet the chartered Thames do th flow. Chatham House.
Proxy rabid Tory -ism fudge over with an unhealthy dripping of culture and art
I think the BBC is a mouthpiece for the European Union.
When Question Time comes on, the guests are virtually all for the E.U. and against Brexit.
Not strictly true. The BBC consistently amplified the voices of fringe anti-EU Tories for decades, on an issue nobody in the real world gave a shit about. (The EU was ranked 19th in a list of issues important to voters in polling conducted on the eve of the 2015 election.)
Xavi, I am talking about since Brexit.
Since we have had the Referendum the BBC have been, for the most part, vehemently in favour of the European Union and very against Brexit.
Re “I think the BBC is a mouthpiece for the European Union.”
Well that wouldn’t explain the many, many appearances of Nigel Triage.
Geoffrey
Directly above I accused them of being rightwing Tories, with the evidence to back it up. Have a stab at providing some countervailing evidence that proves balance.
During our Indy Marches..A popular chant is.. Wherz your Cameras.. Wherez your cameras BBC.
Nowhere to be seen
Because they love aberdeen
If you believe That ???
A crap Haiku..
But i was Very pleased to hear Craig mention Native Americans
It’s an Ongoing Genocide.. today..All the missing women
Thank you Craig
Ruth is all rhetoric with no substance, no policies, nothing costed, nothing new and in a recent interview she got nothing for Scotland from her new Brexit friends. She’s obsessed with trying to beat Nicola with lies and bullshit. Full of wind and pish. She comes back from maternity leave as if she’s the new messiah come to save us all from ourselves. Such a shallow person. Is she really Scots?
The only put down Ruthy would accept is on the Dojo, a heavy task indeed. Dare I moot that she would be overcome with equality of actions, that she would want her offspring to be present at such monumental confligration.
why do we continue with nuclear weapons which kill hundreds of thousands and destroy buildings
surely an EMP causes no lifes lost or buildings destroyed
as it only affects electronics which leaves a country helpless
or is there another reason?
Did you know that a service was held at Westminster Abbey last week to give thanks to God for the UK’s 50 years’ possession of the nuclear deterrent, ie Trident?
Ms Mordaunt in her new capacity of Defence Secretary, attended. So did Prince William. He was heckled by protestors.
The CoE, represented by the Dean, tried to spin it as giving thanks to the men and women in the Navy for their loyal service.
Why not celebrate properly like Saddam
Point your weapons straight up , fire and hope they don’t land on your head.
Whew! So glad itchy fingers has gone.
Is mordant the one who said God had given her the wrong equipment?
On second thoughts bring back Gavin.
@giyane “Is mordant the one who said God had given her the wrong equipment?” Sounds more like Ruth Davidson …
Godwin
Google it. On second thoughts, don’t
Mordaunt is the one who lost a bet and had to include the word ‘cock’ as many times as possible in one of her Commons outpourings**. She managed six mentions of ‘cock’ and five of ‘lay’ or ‘laid’. Thanks are due to the Torygraph for the video and the word count.
She seems to have some problems.
She is in the RN Reserves btw.
**Watch Penny Mordaunt’s naughty cock speech to Parliament
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvLcYUXBBuc
CM – “The media is owned by right wing billionaires, or by the Tory state”
On this point, there was an unusual programme on BBC radio 4 at 1.30 p.m. on Sunday 5th May about the failure to run the Leveson 2 enquiry.
The main point of the programme was that much evidence which could not be given at Leveson 1 because of imminent criminal prosecutions would have come to light in Leveson 2 (e.g. Glen Mulcair gave no evidence at Leveson 1). Also there have been many out of court settlements since Leveson 1 which could provide more insight into the corrupt relationship between the press, the police, and politicians.
Andy Hayman, who investigated the July 7th 2005 London bombings, carried out initial investigations into phone hacking, but subsequently left the police for a job with News International. Andy Coulson replaced Rebekkah Wade as editor of News of the World and then went on to work for the then prime minister David Cameron. He was convicted on phone hacking charges.
There were two interesting interviews one by Alistair Campbell and one by Guto Harri. Harri worked for the BBC then worked for News International. He claimed in this programme that there were just a few bad apples. The civil court cases to date have cost half a billion pounds. Campbell said that the cancellation of Leveson 2 by Matt Hancock (and presumably agreed by May) was an indication of corruption within the body politic.
Here’s a link to a piece by Brian Cathcart on the Guardian’s endorsement of the cancellation of Leveson 2.
https://www.byline.com/column/68/article/2074
Campbell is an accomplished liar. Without him it is unlikely we would have to bear the responsibility of the death of millions in the Middle East.
He should be facing trial.
Not forgetting Ms Mensch’s part in supporting Murdoch when she was on Whittingdale’s DCMS Committee.
Here she is on https://www.theawl.com/2012/08/the-unavoidable-louise-mensch/
‘The freewheeling, unpoliced character of other social networks is an issue close to Mensch’s heart. Having used Twitter to bolster her public profile, often tweeting many times a day from the House of Commons, she recently endured the site’s nasty flipside. In May, when the Culture, Media and Sport Committee released a report saying that Rupert Murdoch was “not fit” to lead a major international company, Mensch vehemently but quite mystifyingly declared on various news shows that, unlike her left-wing fellow committee members, she considered Murdoch senior to be a “great newspaper man” who was “obviously fit to run a major company.” ‘
Life imitated art when Rupe married Jerry! They could be the leads in her bookie, ‘Destiny’ feat. Luxury-Love-Scandal
Craig has ‘menschioned’ her a few times also. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/?s=mensch
Radio news reports 20 ‘people killed’ – I wonder if they were all Palestinians or all Israelis ?
Must be a very ‘balanced’ war, with each side equally armed. The Palestinians seem to have hundreds of ‘rockets’ to fight the Israelis.
I wonder how many tanks, jet fighters, ships, submarines and sophisticated air defences, nuclear weapons etc.. the Palestinians have to defend their homeland against an ever expanding and all conquering Greater Israel. Who is David and who is Goliath. Must be like shooting fish in a barrel. Shame on the world to stay silent as another one sided slaughter takes place on the worlds biggest longest concentration camp that is Gaza. Shame on Israel..
mini Nukes being tested…as the evil fuckers do… Have been Doing for many years.. Bastards
Is there some reason for the seemingly endless interest in Israel and Palestinians and the total lack of interest in China and the Uighur’s
I understand that there are ongoing campaigns to boycott Israeli products. Given that China produces and exports vastly more goods than Israel then surely it would be easier to boycott Chinese goods.
Taking up the Uighur cause and boycotting Chinese goods would be beneficial for opposing climate change and also perhaps provide some defense from the claims of anti-Semitism that so often dogs the most obsessive proponents of the Palestinian cause.
Of course you are right Loony what is happening in China and not just to the Uighurs is appalling.
Don’t you think though that as in the UK have direct responsibility for the plight of the Palestinians we should pay attention to them.?
GB was involved in dealings around most of the globe for pecuniary and political advantages and neither China,Tibet, Arabia, South Asia or southern Africa were exceptions. You want to claim direct responsibility for all instability left behind today there equally?
If it is only for Palestine than there is a word for it which you don’t want to hear or admit.
GB had no part in creating the states of China and Tibet and at least now no longer supports apartheid in Africa. I agree with you though that it takes some dodgy Arab money.
What is that word you are looking for Autonym ?
As you well know, Loony, if you type Uighur in the search box you will discover this site was campaigning on the Uighurs ten years before the current fashion-led MSM journalists spouting on about it now, had ever heard the name.
I love it when ‘stout parties’ are ‘collapsed’.
China and the Uighurs – Craig Murray
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2008/08/china_and_the_u/
6 Aug 2008 – There you would be among the Uighurs, a people culturally and linguistically extremely close to the Uzbeks. Like the Tibetans, the Uighurs are …
Think About The Uighurs – Craig Murray
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/07/think_about_the/
7 Jul 2009 – This is the only leading blog which has regularly commented on the plight of the Uighurs under Chinese oppression. This is not the simple …
The Hague Comes of Age – Craig Murray
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/01/the-hague-comes-of-age/
15 Jan 2019 – Indeed when I started writing about the Uighurs in 2005, I am willing to bet not one of the MSM so-called journalists who have recently churned …
etc etc
PS Loony Your greengrocer’s apostrophe is redundant in a plural word.
‘fashion-led MSM journalists’
No, US Dept of State led. State has been very active promoting this issue for years on their media arms eg RFA, which the PRC has attempted to block. Trump now has extra leverage to use in his trade war, after which the Uyghurs will probably be dumped. Radio Free Asia began treating Uyghurs as a stand-alone issue in 2007-8
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/story_archive?year=2008
Certa certi
How do we know that China is not copying the own vomit eating Brita and re-indoctrinating the Uighers from their hatred of Russia and China to a hatred of USUKIS?
We only have their word for it that they are being brought back into normal society. Maybe it’s time to give the own vomit eaters a helping hand to taste the mischief they have made in the Middle East.
After all what is good for the dog must also be good for the …
Where is the sick bucket?
Adulation from Brian Taylor for Ruth. Appalling stuff.
Ruth’ Return
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-48160441
She will have to invite him round for supper now or perhaps he’s already been.
The Lying BBC are claiming Donald Trump is crashing the World Economy.
The BBC really, really dislike Donald Trump, one might almost say they show a bias?
Trump Welcome Here
Today is the 20th anniversary of the Clinton administration bombing the hell out of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade for helping Milosovic avoid the destruction of his efforts in keeping Kosovo, thanks to intelligence it was transmitting to Serbia that a Turkish officer in NATO was providing. For its role the Ecevic government was hit with an earthquake at Ismit that finally brought it down.
But you would never learn this from the article iin the BBC,
so will the 1200 Tory councillors who lost their jobs, receive a pension ? ( available at retirement age, )
Its all a bit 1984 , the departments or ministries may have different names but have same aims , anti nationalist in Scotland ,nothing good is ever praised but errors or missed targets get maximum publicity .
If you look back at tv audience footage for game shows they have applied this for at least the past 60 years, by both BBC and ITV. No news here in terms of camera angles. Just another person with a biased view to further their own points.