We are now under election broadcasting rules.
Ian Austin left the Labour Party nine months ago. He was then appointed by the Tories as Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Israel. As of yesterday, he is neither a MP nor a candidate for election. He is a minor politician who achieved only the most junior ministerial rank, PUSS, and for only seven months. He is best known for heckling Jeremy Corbyn while Jeremy Corbyn was delivering the official Labour response to the Chilcot Report on the illegal invasion of Iraq, shouting “Sit down and shut up” and “You stupid disgrace” at Corbyn for criticising the war.
STRANGELY THE BBC FORGOT TO MENTION THIS
We are now under election broadcasting rules. How and why was Ian Austin invited onto the BBC Radio 4 Today programme today? He left the Labour Party six months ago, and has been a huge critic of Corbyn. It is hardly a surprise that the Tory’s Trade Envoy to Israel advises people to vote Tory. So who initiated Ian Austin’s appearance on the BBC Today programme, and why? It is obvious that the BBC knew he was going to urge people to vote Tory – or why invite a non-MP and non-candidate, to say exactly the same things he has been saying since Corbyn became leader?
That the Today programme at the BBC is produced by a Tory, under a Tory BBC Head of News, and hosted by a Tory is established fact and beyond dispute. The facts we need to know are these. Did Austin first contact the BBC or did the BBC first contact Austin? Who took the editorial decision to include this item in the programme? Was any organisation involved at any stage in any of the discussions, or did Austin at all times represent himself purely as an individual?
Following Austin’s vitriolic attack on Corbyn as a racist and anti-semite on BBC Today, he was given eleven full minutes unanswered on BBC Breakfast from 8.56 to 9.07. The presenter stated that they had no official response from the Labour Party.
Yet we are in an election, and under election broadcast rules. The BBC must have known what Austin was going to say – otherwise why invite him on? Why was not another guest invited at the same time Austin was invited, to give balance?
Austin’s appointment as Trade Envoy to Israel is not a Civil Service appointment, it is a political appointment. He is a Tory appointee urging people to vote Tory. Under election broadcasting rules, the massive broadcasting time he is being given must count as Tory time, and be balanced out by broadcast time given to the Labour, SNP, Brexit, Lib Dem and Green parties. I strongly suspect that the BBC is intending to avoid this and claim Austin is Independent so the barrage of “Vote for Boris Johnson” time he is being given does not, they will claim, count as Tory time.
That the state broadcaster connives actively to launch a fierce character assassination of the opposition leader as a racist, and urge everyone to vote for the Government, is a disgrace. That they have not mentioned he is Tory Trade Envoy to Israel is a disgrace. This is not how media behaves in a real democracy. It shows the ferocity with which the UK Establishment will resist the current real threats to its continuing hegemony.
This is very dirty. It is going to get worse.
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Don’t pay these bastards for their “TV Licence”. The BBC is a corrupt establishment institution.
Indeed, this is a just a hypothecated TAX not a “licence”.
Have you ever heard of anyone having their TV Licence revoked? Maybe for “dangerous viewing” or “TV abuse” perhaps? :-))
The idea that this is really a licence is yet another of the BBC’s scams.
As is the idea that there is any such thing as a separate “TV Licensing Authority”. It is just Capita Business Services doing the BBC’s dirty work for it, because the BBC ITSELF is the “licensing authority”.
It just wants to distance itself from all the threats and intimidation involved in collecting the money.
Craig,
Is this what you meant …
” … at Corbyn for criticising the war.”
Indeed – changed now thanks.
Oh … you changed it at the moment I copied it over … ?
The BBC is definitely part of the problem not the solution.
And a big part.
We need to work to keep the internet (relatively) free.
Love n Peace.
I was reassured to notice, in passing, that there are now several books strongly criticizing the BBC for its bias.
Can We Still Trust the BBC?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1472900898/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i2
BBC: Brainwashing Britain?: How and why the BBC controls your mind- https://www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-Brainwashing-Britain-controls-your/dp/1999359100/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=bbc&qid=1573164786&s=books&sr=1-1
The Noble Liar: How and Why the BBC Distorts the News to Promote a Liberal Agenda
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noble-Liar-Distorts-Promote-Liberal/dp/1785903497/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1573164786&sr=1-9
That is such important information, thanks very much. The main stream media would much prefer a Tory gov under Johnson , even though they don’t like him very much either, than a Labour gov. under Jeremy Corbyn. His policies must be what they, and the establishment they support , fear above any other.
The media don’t hate him for tax or anything else, that is simply a story that plays well with focus groups.
It is Leveson 2, and the commitment to both it and implementing recommendations of Leveson 1 they hate him for. And they do hate him.
Guardian especially.
The Today presenter saw no incongruity in a vehement anti-racist advising people to vote for . . . Boris Johnson.
@ Greg Park November 7, 2019 at 10:58
How on earth can a supporter of a racist apartheid regime in the Middle East be classed as a ‘a vehement anti-racist’?
Extreme bias during an election campaign
Please enter your complaint
The BBC showed an extreme bias in this morning in the Today programme. The tirade by Ian Austin against the labour leadership was given an inordinate amount of prominence. He was given eleven minutes to recite his tirade urging voters not to vote Labour. He is not an MP and not standing for parliament. He had left the Labour party 9 months ago and has been appointed by the Tory government as a trade envoy to Israel. It is therefore not surprising and not newsworthy that someone with a political appointment for the conservatives should advocate voting for the Tories. None of this came out in this interview nor in the news summary that incorporated this interview nor in Martha Kearney interview of Rebecca Long Bailey. This event was mentioned three times in the space of about half an hour. This is totally biased ‘reporting’ and breaks the rules of impartiality by the BBC during an election campaign that has a short duration. I would welcome an apology from the BBC and an acknowledgment that a serious error of judgement was made on this occasion and that in future such blatant bias should be carefully avoided.
Just sent this through the BBC complaints website. Hope many people send complaints.
thanks c&p’d, done!
+1
Not just in the Toady programme. Having concocted this blatant piece of black propaganda, an entirely home-grown effort, they have used it at the top of their news bulletins and in the lunchtime news, where it was allowed to take up a goodly slice of Mr McDonnell’s interview. It will still be sticking around for the PM show, I should think. Disgraceful.
I have tried that before, SA. But the BBC simply ignores complaints. Why should they care how many people complain? They have a government-enforced monopoly.
Keep on keeping on Craig.
Your voice is a bright light in the Darkness..
Thank you for answering part of my scepticism about that dreadful ‘interview’, which it was not. I immediately wondered who’d put Austin up to this propaganda mission & was about to search his possible involvement with one of the ‘Friends of Israel’ outfits.
Robinson didn’t attempt to question what makes a “fit” PM/Government..if JC/Labour is “unfit”. Mo Mowlem asked JC to assist with Belfast Agreement – not mentioned in response to Austin’s crocodile tears bubbling nonsense.
Like so much else nowadays I’ll alert Electoral Commission, DCMS…who else?
It’s all about not being willing to fire off the H bomb. Hence “patriotic”. Austin loves the bloody business of war.
True, but totally unsurprising. A few rightwing tabloids use Austin to bash Labour. BBC programmes take their ‘items of the day’ from the newspapers. It fits the narrative of a divided Labour, while completely ignoring the huge split in the tories since Boris dumped the old one-nation wing.
At the same time you ignore the far more insidious and ultimately more effective social media engineering the tories and the brexit party, with the help of Bannon and the Lynton Crosby dudes, are engaged in. The doctoring of videos is the least of it. It bypasses the old media, most of it you won’t even see.
Which is why an analysis of old media under the old election rules doesn’t get anywhere near the propaganda and manipulation being deployed. A fact very pertinent to those who know only too well what they are doing.
Shrugs.
Of course this one interview then gets echoed over the entire media.
Daily Express – “Emotional moment lifelong Labour MP Ian Austin quits during live interview ”
PUBLISHED: 08:24, Thu, Nov 7, 2019 | UPDATED: 10:20, Thu, Nov 7, 2019
They even make it sound that Ian has only recently quit the Labour party to become independent, no mention of his trade envoy role.
The Times – “The former Labour MP Ian Austin is standing down at the general election and urging voters to back the Conservatives”
BBC News front page “Former Labour minister Ian Austin said Jeremy Corbyn is “completely unfit” to lead the country.”
Looking at the papers and BBC news I can see that Labour had a really bad start to their election campaign while the Conservatives have an OK day while the PM channels Churchill.
Sigh.
The BBC propaganda was very effective in my workplace this morning. Radio FiveLive had the Austin story in each of its half hourly newsroom reports.
My two colleagues laughed at what they perceived as ” another labour mp jumping ship” . I corrected them , but they didn’t believe me , preferring to follow the BBC narrative.
The Austin story continued immediately after the 1130 news report when FiveLive anchor Emma Bartlett , on a walkabout , engaged the Labour Party candidate at key marginal Pudsey constituency . Emma , who is herself Jewish , suggested that antisemitism was behind Austins decision .
My colleagues heard the antisemite accusation and nodded along with it.
You’re not wrong Craig, I was shocked and disgusted to hear this on radio 4. I didn’t know all the ins and outs you’ve explained above, that makes it very clear.
This will just be another GE though it will be far more aggressive, underhanded and full of right wing reporting by the the BBC, as they line up Tory mouthpieces by the dozen to character assassinate Corbyn and Sturgeon.
Christ the BBC can’t even spell out the correct name of the SNP on their websites, deliberately calling them the nationalist party, in a pathetic attempt to invoke thoughts of fascism or hate tendencies.
Corbyn won’t get a fair crack of the whip from the British media, nor will Sturgeon, at least Corbyn gets to debate Johnson, whilst the third largest party in the UK, the SNP, and the only one registered in Scotland (Greens aside) gets sidelined.
I can’t wait fir this unholy union to be dissolved.
The branch office have dropped candidate Frances Hoole in Edinburgh South West. They’re still standing behind Specialist Reserve Officer in the 77th Brigade, Kate Watson in Glasgow East.
And don’t underestimate the massive and extensive influence of the Z**nist lobby in the BBC and elsewhere in the Establishment.
They are utterly intent in preventing anything approaching a critique of the apartheid state and the plight of the Palestinians.
A good start in the study of this is Christopher Mayhew’s superb book “Publish it Not: The Middle East Cover-Up”
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Publish-Not-Middle-East-Cover-up/dp/1904955193
written some years ago – it provides a prophetic primer for understanding Labour’s ‘antisemitism’ problem, and the extent of infiltration of the Establishment by these dark forces.
Name some names, then.
Joshua Rozenberg on the list of Jewish BBc employees?
Who else??
Rozenberg is also married to uber zionist Melanie Phillips
Emma Barnett and Emily Maitlis on Newsnight – for a start. Just watched more Corbyn-baiting tonight. Makes me think Newsnight is rhyming slang!
Thanks Craig.
Excellent piece.
https://i.imgflip.com/3fju7f.jpg
I’ve said this before on this site when Craig used racists smears against people who voted Brexit.
“Craig peddles the racist smear for the reasons outlined in the following poem, https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/345522-how-to-create-a-non-person/
How to Create a Non-Person
… to deprive a man
of voice and vote is easy
… call him a racist …
Craig simply wants to deprive a whole group of people of both voice and vote. As I said in an earlier comment, in the absence of this blood libel where is his argument?”
It is not acceptable to use anti-racist bigotry to deprive anyone (whether Corbyn or yer-bog-standard-Brexiteer) in order to deprive them ‘of voice and vote’.
“anti-racist bigotry”
Ha ha ha! Joke of the day! I guess I’m a great big bigot because I hate bigots!
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/341271-race-is-my-symbol-of-control/
I think I got the phrase from the above link … I suppose when our society does not tolerate intolerance we become an intolerant society. We get trapped in this intolerance which some of us (by that I mean you) use as political currency. As to the path forward …
Yup, people who hate nazis are the exact same as nazis. Projecting your inner rot much?
I had a gander at the wiki entry for the ex MP, I see it has had the benefit (!) of updates by Philip Cross, so no surprises there. But I am surprised that nobody has yet mentioned his role in the expenses scandal, in which he admits no wrongdoing, in spite of the flipping.
What is not surprising is that the BBC news is consistently pro Tory, they have a very curious notion of “balance” and no sense if irony at all. I have mostly stopped listening to the BBC news programs due to the lack of perspective, its patronising tone and the absurd parochialism that causes is to lurch occasionally into a ridiculous parody of itself.
It’s because of the lack of a critical perspective at the BBC that I feel obliged to consult with a variety of alternative news sources to check what is actual fact and what is opinion.
So, Craig, your voice is particularly important at a time when there is such a volume of unsubstantiated facts and partial opinion being bandied about in the mainstream press.
The BBC has no sense of balance, I can only assume they have a gun to their heads like ‘do this or we sell you to the yanks!’
I’ve never mentioned Brexit before, because it only ever seems to lead to off-topic digressions that are usually full of personal attacks, but I have to mention the weirdest example of the BBC’s moronic idea of “balance” that I’ve seen in recent weeks:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-49902321
“How death threats spread in pro- and anti-Brexit Facebook groups”
BBC News, 7 October 2019
A list of actual death threats by Leavers, under the heading “Death threat comments”, has to be “balanced” by a list under the heading “Anti-Brexit groups” – where all they could dredge up, to maintain the “balanced” fiction that one lot is just as bad as the other, was four people humorously (or at least not completely seriously) echoing Boris Johnson’s comment about wanting to die in a ditch!
Is there any intelligent life left at the BBC? Apart from the comedy department, of course – but even there, one has to avoid all “topical” shows like the plague (and I used to love The News Quiz and The Now Show). Even then, one is still liable to be unpredictably ambushed by infuriating jokes which, although they are sometimes actually funny, only achieve their humour by uncritically recycling mainstream propaganda about “anti-Semitism in the Labour Party”, “Russian influence”, etc.
@ Rhys Jaggar November 7, 2019 at 17:28
If Udo Ulfkotte had not ‘contracted’ a heart attack and died soon after his first book of a trilogy came out, I suspect he would say it has long been sold.
Craig, your recycled book, Murder in Samarkand, is as cheap as opinions on the web – so I sent you a cheque. Thanks for the overdue direct payment option.
It’s a lucrative business being a New Labour, snake in the grass. Failing upwards.
David Milliband appointed Chief Executive of International Rescue Committee (2013) after lobbying by New Labour / British American Project. Salary (2013) £300K.
Ed Balls appointed Senior Fellow, Harvard University, Kennedy School’s Centre for Business and Government (2015).
Douglas Alexander appointed Fellow of Harvard University and Visiting Professor at King’s College London, Policy Institute (2015).
John Woodcock appointed Special Envoy to tackle violent extremism (2019) by Pritti Patel (despite still facing charges of sexual harassment (innocent ’till proven guilty, but still)).
John Mann appointed government anti-semitism Tsar and Life Peer by Theresa May (2019).
Ian Austin appointed Prime Ministerial, Trade Envoy to Israel by Theresa May (2019).
Tom Watson ….. to be announced.
He has been made to be relevant by the BBC when in fact he is utterly irrelevant. His comments come from a bitter and resentful Zionist stooge, unhappy that the Labour leader is pro Palestinian. Nothing to do with antisemitism, everything to do with a radical Zionist agenda.,
You have hit the nail bang on its head. You are 100% correct. People like Austin who peddle these lies and then move on to support a Nationalist Right Wing , Islamophobic Government are the true racists. These are the sort of people that are turning our political system into a farce for their own agendas and damaging our so called democracy.They need kicking out of politics and replaced by people who have morals and principles and want to be in politics to improve peoples lives and give us the society that we all crave. Austin ,you are now complicit with all the food banks , poverty, running down of the NHS and all the other cuts that have made so many peoples lives unbearable for your own gain. You have jumped into bed with the true nasty party, where you belong and shown your hand,along with the Tory propaganda machines Sky News and the BBC. They all have no shame in wanting to prop up this government into continuing this attack on the poor of our country for their own greed. Absolutely shocking.
I would question whether in this election the BBC is primarily pro-Tory or pro-Remain. It’s rather difficult to work out. It was interesting to compare the relatively soft treatment of Austin (who was formerly Labour, and allowed to explain his reasons for leaving, with particular sympathy for his perception of ant1semitism) and the assault made on Farage later in the same programme. Count the number of times each interviewee was talked over, or interrupted so that the presenter can give the BBC take on the ‘background’ of the question.
Noted, during the Austin interview, was his assertion that “90% of British Jews think…” Labour is ant1semitic. Which is not surprising when you consider that everything from the Guardian via the JC to Algemeiner (far- right, Zionist) and the Times of Israel are telling them so. Evidence? Nothing that would stand up in a prosecution for littering, and none requested by the BBC.
Komodo. The BBC is a strange and powerful beast, control of which is contested between factions of the Deep State.
Prominent employees (non-exhaustive list) known to the British American Project alumni: Jeremy Paxman, James Naughtie, Jane Hill, Evan Davis, William Crawley, Isabel Hilton and Margaret Hill. These could be expected to hold Atlanticist leanings, but the metrocentric, Europhile sentiment of the Hampstead dinner party circuit would temper such indoctrination.
Prominent employees known to have been Tory Party members: Nick Robinson, Robbie Gibb and Andrew Neil.
Prominent employees understood to have been Tory Pary members: Laura Kuenssberg and James Lansdale.
Of course the common thread running through (nearly) all on the lists is private education. A quasi public body where elitist recruitment and nepotism runs riot.
Steph McGovern is the exception that proves the rule.
“Of course the common thread running through (nearly) all on the lists is private education.”
Yes – and running through the British state and power network generally. Labour need to make private schools a main issue in this election. Make it dominate a single news cycle and watch those polling scores soar.
This idea will only come across as absurd to those who haven’t acquainted themselves with the importance of these institutions to the British caste system. They are of the very highest importance. A Labour manifesto promise to get rid of private schools and nationalise their assets will be like a kick in the b***s for the Tories. Watch Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg try to defend them. “You’re jealous. You don’t like success. Eton makes money for everybody”. Really? Watch those fangs come out! Sure, someone like Andrew Bridgen who speaks like a barrow boy will be wheeled out but…bring it on. No way is class something the Tories are strong on.
It’s even possible the Tory party manifesto will promise to reintroduce corporal punishment in schools. (Will the cane be applied to the hand in state schools and the a*se in private schools, like in the old days, hitting the intended “tools of the trade” in the respective two parts of society?)
Given that the BBC’s choice of news for the day is nearly identical to the Guardian’s, and that its programming is increasingly touchy-feely, exhaustively multiethnic and largely aimed at….many of the commenters here…sorry…I’d say that in its efforts to influence the public it is doing a better job for metropolitan LibDems than anyone else. Its Brexit coverage was unequivocally for Remain, and if I were a remainer I would not bite the hand which had so generously fed me. Yes, there are a lot of Tories in it, and the ones you’ve heard of perhaps had private educations (Interest declaration: so did I and I am working well past retirement age at an average job because I cannot afford to do otherwise), but there is another factor. Most of the ones you’ve heard of got in via Push or Pull. Which are specialities of both the Tories and the posher private schools. But do you think either route to prominence would disappear if the schools were burnt down tomorrow? Of course they wouldn’t. Push is a universal, as are psychopathy and narcissism, and there is an adequate pool of pushy bastards in any social sector. While Pull attaches itself to the handiest step up the ladder in any social system. Push and Pull operate In Xi Jinping’s China as much as in Johnson’s Britain, in China’s aptly titled state broadcaster, CCTV as much as in the BBC.
So the question is whether Boris is pro Brexit or pro Remain. His BRINO piss-poor deal is worse than remain: a colony not an EU member, something no-one believing in Brexit could ever sign up to. But the BBC may see this as a prelude to the Remain they have always campaigned for.
There are a lot of very angry fulminating Leaver BTL comments across the MSM totally rejecting the propaganda the DM, DT et al are serving up.
The real question is whether they will tell both Labour and Tory parties to go jump in the lake….
Scotland has 2 choices, Boris for 5 years or Scottish independence.
He was also the ‘sky breakfast exclusive’ spouting the same BS to an a cock a hoot Kay Burley.
Obviously coordinated with Conservative Central Office, as no sooner had they finished the live on air interview with ‘torn and heartbroken Ian Austin’, we read out a statement from said central office.
Unfortunately far too many people are buying into these much repeated lies. (How was it that had some foresight on the repeating of lies & truth), about labor, corybn and Johnson being on the side of the little people evil parliament.
It’s part of the campaign to let its journalists find the issue which will swing it when the politicians can’t..
Ian was on BBC TV news at one.
I expect he will be on again at six o’clock.
Apparently his relatives were murdered by the Nazis.
More recently than any murder of any of Ian Austin’s family members 20 or 30 years before he was born, this turd has denounced immigration to Britain from the rest of the EU: ”
“I’ve held a dozen public meetings on immigration over the past few weeks and it’s absolutely clear that people in Dudley don’t think it’s fair people should be able to come to the UK to be unemployed, don’t think people should be able to claim benefits as soon as they arrive, or as he proposes, after a few short months.”
…and his own father was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. What a creep!
I see he was on the Education Select Committee too, notoriously chaired by Barry Sheerman, lobbyist for “Policy Connect”.
So you think the UK should have immigration policies the rest of Europe would never countenance?
I think you should stick to the topic at hand.
@ michael norton November 7, 2019 at 13:55
For which he blames Corbyn and the Palestinians? A lot of people’s parents were murdered by the Coalition in Iraq, a totally illegal and immoral war, yet that creature castigates Corbyn for being against the slaughter for oil and strategic position?
Well it is really not very surprising that Ian Austin should behave the way he did. See what is reported about him:
“Ian Austin, son of Holocaust survivors, leaves Labour over anti-Semitism”
https://www.cufi.org.uk/news/ian-austin-son-of-holocaust-survivors-leaves-labour-over-anti-semitism/
“MP Who Bolted Labour Over Anti-Semitism is Appointed Trade Envoy to Israel”
https://unitedwithisrael.org/mp-who-bolted-labour-over-anti-semitism-is-appointed-trade-envoy-to-israel/
“A prominent Conservative MP in the UK attacked Israel in the House of Commons, but was quickly put in place by a colleague of the Labour Party.”
https://unitedwithisrael.org/es/video-dejan-en-ridiculo-a-un-diputado-britanico-por-atacar-a-israel/
“Labour MP ‘apologises’ to Israel Knesset for growing BDS campaign”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180712-labour-mp-apologises-to-israel-knesset-for-growing-bds-campaign/
“Labour MP asks government to stop development aid to Palestinians”
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/labour-mp-asks-government-to-stop-development-aid-to-palestinians/
Is Ian Austin’s mother supposed to be a “holocaust survivor” too now? What’s her story then? His father left Czechoslovakia before WW2 started.
Craig,
“This petition closed early because of a General Election”
It was closed yesterday.
Tell me this if you condem people who murder other people and steal their land is that anti Semitic ??? I think that is a natural reaction to who ever is doing these crimes but in this case the world looks on and does nothing and it is allowed to go on not only that but some people take pride in calling themselves friends of these people if the world had taken the same attitude in 1939 towards Nazi Germany when the Jews were being murdered where would the Jewish people be today ??? No there is no anti semitism it just condemning wrong doing and those who are doing the wrong don’t like it they are terrified of the truth and as the man said methinks thou does protest to much
Didn’t one of the Israeli leaders (Ben Gurion ?) say that if he was a Palestinian, he too would fight for his land?
All Zionists hold that view.
@ wiggins November 7, 2019 at 16:40
And when Moshe Dayan was asked some time in the late 40’s / early 50’s if there would ever be peace between Jews and Arabs, he replied ‘no, because we stole their land’.
And the irony is that many of the people I live among think that the BBC is a nest of loony lefty communists. Where to start with the deblinkering? They would say they don’t have the time or the inclination to read a blog like this one, do a bit of research for themselves or try and fathom out other points of view that challenge their cultural beliefs and experience. It’s much easier and less frightening to let others do your thinking for you.
I listened to the first few minutes of that disgraceful “interview” this morning and turned off as soon as the A S smear was dribbled out.
The BBc is hub and spoke model of MI5/6 substations, simple as.
That is because the notion the BBC is ‘lefty’ is a massive lie spread by the entire media, including the BBC.
The BBC use the ‘lefty’ tag to gain credibility as being independent from the government and as a diversionary tactic from what they are really up to. Meanwhile, the rest of the media vilify the BBC as left-wing as a means to a) constantly shift the debate to the right, b) pretend there is balance to their right-wing lies and c) to give leftish people the illusion the BBC is their friend while in fact serving their enemies.
It is incredibly devious, insidious and really quite evil. I was deceived for a long time like your friends.
It’s obsession with royalty apart, the BBC, with regard to both news and non-news content, is seen as socially “liberal”, pushing identity politics relentlessly at its consumers via all outlets, and it is this policy alone that provokes right wingers to accuse it of leftism. (Although I would argue that there’s nothing inherently left wing about identity politics – on the contrary, it’s, by definition, divisive, ignores class, and militates against collectivism).
However, on economics the BBC is unashamedly neoliberal, and promotes exclusively the so-called Washington Consensus, Chicago School, free-market, privatising agenda which characterises it.
(As an aside, it’s becoming hilarious to witness the rabbit-in-the-headlights cognitive dissonance amongst BBC commentators now that the tide is beginning to turn, desperately needed fiscal stimulus is finally back in fashion, and even conservatives like Johnson/Javid, and arguably Donald Trump, are abandoning balanced budget fetishism.)
On UK foreign policy, the BBC is hard-right neo-con; it’s nothing more than the PR dept of the MoD, FCO, and security services.
So, in particular regarding BBC news and current affairs – from which, a considerable section of the population derives its sole information about what is going on in the outside world – about a half-portion of, questionably, progressive content, very effectively diverts attention away from the delivery of two-and-half portions of hard right economic, and foreign affairs propaganda. The tragedy is that so many people are deluded into thinking it’s reliable and unbiased, when it so obviously isn’t.
Dirty campaign for sure.
Last time the tory manifesto did not survive to its first weekend – dementia tax! This time their campaign is starting in a manner I haven’t anticipated – I have said before that Johnson’s mentors (Murdoch et al) made the same error as Brown (and May too) did – they blew their political ‘honeymoon’ capital with the voters by not having the early election.
But this is something else – it appears the Tories don’t care!
Either they WANT to lose – BADLY. or,
They are CERTAIN that they will win!
The first option implies a major economic catastrophe they want to avoid being on the bridge for.
The second option implies they are party to the greatest election stealing criminal conspiracy ever.
The MSM and Electoral Commission require independent monitoring- we should call in the international body responsible immediately. Especially the postal votes company connected to Lilley.
“Either they WANT to lose – BADLY. or,”
I thought they were trying to lose the previous one too. It feels like they don’t want to win but are even more scared of Corbyn winning.
Brexit is going to put the country in recession (unless it is a pretend Brexit). I can’t say if the voters will think that is a price worth paying or not. As a remainer I guess not because the actual benefits seem almost non-existent.
Another financial crisis is brewing as they never solved the previous one. 2008 was caused by an asset bubble and too much lending. Britain’s economy still has a large proportion based on finance and property ownership and the asset bubble has been brewing for years now. We need to move the economy away from rent seeking and finance and make real value while allowing the public to lower their debt.
Been thinking much the same. Global financial collapse II is on its way, 18 months max I would say and Deutsche Banks death struggle is continuing apace (if that little lot goes you can kiss good bye to Europe end of story) 10 years of austerity in the UK is going to look like foreplay when it hits, there is quadruple the exposure suffered in 2008.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-deutsche-bank-death-watch-has-taken-a-very-interesting-turn
Tim Morgans Surplus Energy Economics blog regularly covers the next financial global collapse amongst other things – or as it ties into energy issues, economies and climate change.
Conventional prediction of EU collapse – Brexiters have been repeating the same thing for 40 years.
@ Dungroanin November 7, 2019 at 14:57
‘…The second option implies they are party to the greatest election stealing criminal conspiracy ever…’
I believe that ‘accolade’ goes to G W Bush’s 2000 election steal, necessary for 9/11 and subsequent ‘War on Terror’.
It has been obvious to us in Scotland for years that the BBC is part of the UK state. It’s coverage of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum has been documented to show how biased it was. This continued at a lower rate after 2014, but, as the current election loomed, BBC Scotland began emphasising the “No Indyref 2” trope, with statements in each broadcast from not just the Tories but also from the LibDems and Labour. Thus the propaganda gets triple mention (It’s all in the interests of ‘balance, dontcha know?’
There has been a recent development in the ‘interview’ process. Historically, BBC Scotland reports the Tory comment on a Scottish Government policy, before it reports on what the policy actually is. The questioning then puts the Sottish Government spokesperson into the position of ‘denying’ that the policy does not suffer from whatever it is the Tories have isolated. The recent development is, after repeating the Tory comment, the interview begins: “That’s right, isn’t it?” Barely has the spokesperson begun to answer when he/she is interrupted with: “It IS right isn’t it?” The next attempt at responding is interrupted again, with the same assertion. Even if the spokesperson is not put out of her/his stride by this, the meat of the answer has been substantially obscured.
In Scotland the trope is “No Indyref 2”. In England it is “Do you really want a HARD LEFT Labour government PROPPED UP by the SNP?” or “Don’t we need to get Brexit done so that we can move on?”
There is no questioning of the unionists on why they arrogate to themselves the power to refuse – without reason (or with an unchallenged mendacious one) – the democratic wishes of the elected MSPs and MPs. In England, there is little explanation of what the Labour policies actually are.
“It has been obvious to us in Scotland for years that the BBC is part of the UK state.”
Wow! Really? Who’d have thought a state broadcaster was part of the state?
Is there no limit to the genius of the Scots?
Austin says he was appointed an unpaid trade envoy in July, along with 27 other MPs and peers from different parties, including Labour, to promote UK trade and exports.
An inconvenient truth ?
Indeed. Imagine if listeners and viewers were aware that Ian Austin had been appointed a trade envoy to Israel by the Tory government. They would immediately recognise him for what he actually is and his words would thereby be rendered meaningless.
So his appointment could hardly be a more inconvenient truth as far as the BBC were concerned. Which is why it has been left unmentioned both on the radio and TV.