The Incredible Bias of the BBC 648


The right wing bias of BBC Question Time tonight staggers belief, even for the BBC. One Francoist, two Tories, the still more right wing Chukka Umunna, all “balanced” by Akala, who thankfully has more brains, and certainly more compassion, than the rest put together.

Esther McVey, Tory. Champion of the rape clause, minister implementing benefit cuts and promoting privatised benefits assessments, lobbyist against regulating gambling machines. One of the very nastiest of Tories.

Chloe Westley Another Tory. Here representing the tiny far right fringe group the “Taxpayers Alliance”. Proponent of fierce benefit cuts. Studying the rampantly Islamophobic counter-terrorism course at St Andrews University. Her twitter handle is “LowTaxChloe” which is all you need to know.

Alejandro Agag Another Tory, invited by the BBC as a “businessman”. Former MEP for the Francoist Spanish Popular Party – the current government in Spain which is busy jailing as many political prisoners in Catalonia as they can get their hands on, and is happy sending in paramilitary thugs to club old Catalan ladies waiting to vote.

Chuka Umunna Full time taxpayer-funded right wing campaigner against Jeremy Corbyn.

Akala Very decent guy. Performing this year at our Doune the Rabbit Hole festival for which you should pull your finger out and get buying tickets now.

Why is the BBC permitted, day after day after day, to pump out programming which actively promotes a political programme far to the right of where the British population actually stand? With the continual over-representation of nutty right wing groups like the Taxpayers’ Alliance and the Henry Jackson Society, while left wing groups of much larger membership such as Stop the War are completely ignored. Why low tax campaigners but no invitation ever to groups like Black Triangle who represent claimants interests? Not to mention the routine ignoring of the SNP, parliament’s third largest party.

I strongly urge you not to pay your TV license to fund this barrage of right wing propaganda. I and thousands of others in Scotland have refused to pay since 2014, and other than lots of silly threatening letters nothing has happened. Just stop paying for this nonsense.


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648 thoughts on “The Incredible Bias of the BBC

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  • Republicofscotland

    O/T, but very interesting.

    This half-hour documentary reveals that UK seas are teaming with radio-active elements. High level nuclear waste has been dumped all around the coasts of the UK, until 1993 when it became illegal to do so.

    Area’s particularly polluted are the Irish sea and the English channel, where over 28,000 plain oil barrels of Uranium, Polonium etc were dumped.

    In recent years the IAEA found that dumped barrels in Hurd Deep (only 100 metres deep) in the English channel have eroded and released their radio-active contents, beaches and marine life (fish etc ) have been contaminated, and some professors claim a link between this and high levels of cancer in coastal areas if the UK and Europe.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZhPndLmpAQ&app=desktop

  • George Falconer

    I have been ranting about this for some time, but “the BBC in Scotland” really pushed me over the edge this past few weeks with its ridiculous “Scotland is shit, only Westminster can save you, ditch your parliament” drip feed of negativity and bollocks. I am truly baffled why Sky, BT and Virgin cannot / won’t offer a “BBC Omitted” version of their services. I imagine this would be a winner. One would also imagine that’s technically feasible. I’m also vexed as to why ways things are, I need to pay a licence fee to watch the commercial channels. Why do the commercial channels put up with this? It appears the only way I can see anything on a screen is to cancel my Virgin account, ditch the box, and watch only Netflix and Youtube on my web connected DVD player. So, when the BBC’s jackbooted enforcers come calling to accuse me of watching the BBC I can prove this isn’t possible. But then I couldn’t watch Channel 4, therefore can’t see the ads they show which fund the channel. In an ideal world, I would gladly never hear or see the BBC again, leaving it to the stone faced unionists to prop it up, but simply “not paying the fee” where they can demonstrate you are able to do so and take me to court for not paying the fine – seems a risky strategy.

    • JOML

      Yes, George, change the BBC to a subscription channel, but then the State can’t force you to pay and, by default, listen to their propaganda. Beggars belief why we are forced to pay in a ‘free’ society (I know there are options not to pay but why is it so difficult?). In addition, many of us are forced to pay for Trident and other WMD, but at least we are comforted by the fact the BBC tell us we’re the good guys and our bombs only kill bad people, who deserved to be killed.

  • Mark Bevis

    Not forgetting the Tory plant in every QT audience, that is always known by name to the presenter:

    https://skwawkbox.org/2018/05/11/bbcqt-tory-plant-identified/

    I’ve boycotted the BBC since 2011, after the Jody McIntyre case (not that I really like quoting the Guardian anymore, just here as a quick example of the subject matter, and perhaps confirming a poster’s thought below that google searches now end up with MSM sources)
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/dec/15/jody-mcintyre-protester-dragged-from-wheelchair

    It may be surpise new for some, you don’t need a TV to have a life.

    • Mark Russell

      Indeed. Haven’t had a TV since 2006. Tony Rooke’s defence seems almost naive – although perfectly justified – in light of recent events. In an independent Scotland, Pacific Quay should be left to rot. But that’s just my opinion.

      What is curious is the contrasting division in society. I know many unionists are lovely people and it is the British broadcasting company after all, but as they say, communication is only partly verbal – and it’s perfectly obvious what the message says. What makes these young men in Union Street behave they way they do? They have only walked a short way down the road, but their visceral hatred was so obvious for all to see. Why is that? Surely we have enough intelligence to work out a decent and sustainable way to live by now?

      Television was there for entertainment. I was born in 1961 and can remember our first black and white set. It had a sticky back plastic coating on the screen coloured in red, blue and green – to give the hint of colour. It was a magical (Scottish) invention that allowed me to see the Beatles playing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” at Christmas in 1963 – my very first memory. But like most human inventions – its obvious potential for good has an opposite role – and that’s what has been exploited by the media and governments alike.

      Drones were first developed for SAR applications, but their military capabilities were recognised early in the R&D phase and that’s where the real investment came from. The media is a military tool – in the same vein – and we should recognise it as such. There is still an element of “free” internet space – this blog for one, but for how long?

      With geopolitical events unfolding rapidly – and to a magnitude we haven’t experienced for a long time – how long will this communication medium last? Until the first EMP wave? Or the Samson virus? I’m sure the comments on this site will have been noted by the intelligence services – and clearly, knowledge is a threat to the established order – and I wonder how long it will last.

      Perhaps this is peak perception. Who knows. But what a terrible waste and disappointment politics has become.

  • Phillip Slater

    Hello Craig, I’m in total agreement with you.
    This may seem odd of me to ask but did you inform the BBC you were refusing to pay or simply cancelled your direct debit?
    Thank you.

    • JOML

      Not odd, Phillip, I’d love to know how exactly you can stop paying, while avoiding penalty.

      • lysias

        I never paid while I was a student at Oxford. In my room, I had no TV, and only listened to radio there. I urge others to do the same. The only things I now watch on television are DVDs that I have bought and paid for.

        • bj

          Hear hear. Not watching is for sissies. Just chuck the TV proper, and all the licensing that comes with it.
          Movies can be had on DVD, or by torrent, and be watched on a PC screen. Be free and enjoy.

    • Tatyana

      I wonder, what is letter ‘D’ in D-notice stands for?
      Donald-notice? Democrate-notice? Don’t-ask-question-notice?

      • Tatyana

        Just finished reading 4-th part of journalist investigation by Galina Sapozhnikova who visited Britain and made an observation on Skripal’s case. I don’t know if I can trust her, but she writes so many details missing in other sources!
        e.g. she says there are 2 persons – Christopher Steel and Alexander Goldfarb – both were connected with Litvinenko case and both contacted with Sergey Scripal.

        • John Goss

          Tatyana, Dr Alexander Goldfarb worked for the New York Public Health Research Institute. During the TB epidemic in the 1990s when the Soviet system was replaced with capitalism the source of the disease was overcrowding in prisons with little medical treatment and these were apparently on release spreading the disease throughout the community. He predicted, along with Mercedes Becerra, that if the 30,000 annually released prisoners continued to be released and nothing was done about the problem by 2005 11% of the Russian population would be carriers (16 million). (source: Klebnikov: Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky . . . 106)

          Reportedly on his death bed Litvinenko made the following statement dictating it to Goldfarb: “But as I lie here I can distinctly hear the beating of the wings of the angel of death. . . You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.” (Source:Dunkerley: Litvinenko Murder Case Solved, 176

          Litvinenko’s English was not good enough to have made that statement but our media never questioned it. Goldfarb later admitted he had written the statement. That reminds me of the Met Statement on behalf of Yulia Skripal who I hope is still alive.

          https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-let-yulia-skripal-speak

          • John Goss

            Incidentally nobody signed the Skripal petition yesterday and only one or two the day before. Today, up to now, 46 have added their signatures.

            Incidentally can anybody advise me as to why signatories to the Allow Yulia Skripal to speak petition do not appear in real time when with this related petition for Boris Johnson to resign or be sacked for blatantly lying do. They are both Change petitions.

            https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-boris-lied-he-must-be-sacked

          • Tatyana

            Galina Sapozhnikova says the same in her observation.
            Yet she says Christopher Steel was the chief of the investigation on Litvinenko case! He lives near Salisbury and his wife is russian. Steel was the Head of ‘Russian Department’ at MI6

    • lysias

      If D notices are to protect sensitive defense information, why would they be needed to protect the “retired” MI6 officers Miller and Steele, currently employed by the “private” outfit Orbis?

      • AntonyI

        Good point. Its effectively an official confirmation that MI5/6 is still involved with Miller and Steele, thanks!

  • Republicofscotland

    On Corbyn’s jaunt to Glasgow today, he’s in Glasgow waxing lyrical that MoD ships must be built in Britain, fair enough. However the ships that he’s in Glasgow to speak about three auxiliary naval ships were intended to be built at Rosyth, and not Glasgow.

    Of course there’s not really enough voters in Rosyth to justify a jaunt north. Furthermore Corbyn backs Holyrood’s stance on the Continuity bill, again good intentions, fair enough.

    However his Labour branch office in Wales capitulated spectacularly in the face of the slightest Westminster government pressure, on its Continuity bill, yet I don’t recall Corbyn having a go at his Welsh compatriots.

    It all leaves me to believe that Corbyn’s visit to Glasgow today, was really just a propaganda stunt, hoping to gain votes for his severely flagging Scottish branch office.

    • JOML

      RoS, perhaps the weather in Scotland is different from Wales, hence the weather vane’s different direction? ?

    • Alasdair Macdonald.

      BBC Scotland had an interview with the thuggish former MP Ian Davidson, who elevated himself to the position of speaking on behalf of Mr Corbyn and did not need to ask Mr Corbyn, because he knows how Mr Corbyn thinks. Mr Davidson was pressed on the promise around the time of the infamous ‘VOW’ that the Clyde yards would be awash with naval work. He also said, at the time, that this should be conditional on Scotland voting NO. He dodged this by saying that Labour was not in power at present. He was also pressed on Ms Mhairi Black MP’s comments that Mr Corbyn was sympathetic to Scottish self-determination. Mr Davidson responded by saying that Mr Corbyn supported the union and that this is the position of the Labour Party in Scotland and England. He was claiming that he knew Mr Corbyn’s thoughts.

    • Stu

      “It all leaves me to believe that Corbyn’s visit to Glasgow today, was really just a propaganda stunt, hoping to gain votes for his severely flagging Scottish branch office.”

      You’ve really cracked the code. Party leader visits Scotland in an attempt to win votes.

      Rosyth is a 50 minute drive from Glasgow. Many of the workers on the Clyde have probably also worked at Rosyth, that’s how the world is for tradesman nowadays, short term contracts and follow the work. I’m sure no one minded him brining it up.

  • Dave

    Any Questions on now has Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party at Westminster Kirsty Blackman MP, the Secretary of State for International Trade Dr Liam Fox MP, the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party Richard Leonard MSP, and the Chair of Republicans Overseas Scotland Drew Liquerman.

    Fox and Liquerman – the last a Trump nonentity – on one panel.

  • Tony

    As you recently confirmed you’re happy to pay a monthly subscription to Sky, do you really think you should be urging others to run the risk of prosecution by not paying their TV licence? I agree that the BBC is a shambles and that it’s an outrage we have no choice whether to fund it or not – but with other equally (more so?) news organisations we do have that choice at far less risk.

  • Bunkum

    May to Trump, please tell me what horse to ride

    PM call with President Trump: 11 May 2018

    A Downing Street spokesperson said:

    The Prime Minister held a telephone call with US President Donald Trump this evening.

    The Prime Minister began by congratulating the President on the safe return of three US citizens who had been held in prison in North Korea.

    The two leaders looked forward to the summit which will take place between President Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore. The PM said the UK would continue to work with the US to keep up the pressure on North Korea to denuclearise.

    The Prime Minister and the President condemned the Iranian rocket attacks against Israeli forces earlier this week, and strongly supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Iranian aggression. They agreed on the need for calm on all sides and on the importance of tackling Iran’s destabilising activity in the region.

    The Prime Minister reiterated the Government’s position on the Iran nuclear deal, noting that we and our European partners remain firmly committed to ensuring the deal is upheld, as the best way of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

    The Prime Minister raised the potential impact of US sanctions on those firms which are currently conducting business in Iran. They agreed for talks to take place between our teams.

    Finally, the Prime Minister and the President looked forward to the President’s visit to the UK in July.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-call-with-president-trump-11-may-2018

  • Jeff

    I’ve clearly made a mistake and today is really April1st. Right wing bias of the BBC?! What have you been snorting? You’ll be telling us next that they’re also pro Brexit and love Donald Trump. This must rank as one of the daftest articles I’ve read.

    • Mochyn69

      Oh Jeff, where on earth on the political spectrum are you, if you cannot see the inherent pro-toxic tory, UKgov bias of BBC programmes like QT????

      It’s the same with BBC Radio 4 Today, where Humphreys rarely rises to interrogate their most favoured spokes persons.

      As for Laura Kuenssberg, well words fail me.

      ****

      • Radar O’Reilly

        Yes Jeff, I spent many years relying on the BBC for news. Now I just check-in occasionally to check what is today’s Government Message of the day.

        They are very professional at hiding their bias, some of the junior staff may be caught up in a culture of mid-speaking, but the seniors are all paid shills. This became obvious during the Skripal month.

        Get ready for the next April First ‘joke’ – read ex-CIA , then the explanatory warning about the subversion of the comments section below .

        Time has moved on from the cover-legend of a ‘left-wing bbc,’ even if they still pretend it hasn’t.

        https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/49897-rsn-the-coming-us-war-against-iran

        Finally, do you think BBC will remind us of the positive side of Persia, in the coming war? will they accurately report and speak peace between nations?

    • Jon

      The question of what is “left” and “right” seems these days to be determined by the politicians available (and that the politicians we get now are mostly all shifted to the right, a significant change of position of the Overton Window). To find out more about this, I urge you to take a look at the Political Compass website (it’s on Wikipedia as well) – they argue that notions of left/right ought to be fixed terminologies, not blowing in the wind.

      That you mention Donald Trump is a case in point. It’s no secret that the media dislike him, but the right-wing pundit logic is that if the media are biased against him, those corporations must be “left wing”. For the US Presidential elections, many media outlets came out for Clinton, and conservatives thought that meant she was the “left wing candidate”.

      Of course, she was no such thing. She was/is pro-war and the disaster in Libya is hers to own up to. She’s very cosy with American banks, and likes getting paid tidily for speeches at their annual events. She hates environmentalists and whistleblowers. She’d be a death knell to the Middle East peace process, or what’s left of it, since she is fiercely pro-Israel. The likes of Corbyn and Sanders have some genuine claim to being left wing, and the media have given them a much harder ride.

  • Colin

    Excellent work as always Craig, thanks for all your posts. Keep shining the light sir. ✊

  • bj

    Am I the only one here waiting, any day now, for the sinking of a US vessel, in the Gulf of Oman, by the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy?

    • flatulence

      actually wouldn’t put it past US sinking it themselves and claiming it was someone else. No questions asked, all out invasion. Gun sales up. Recruitment up. Military spending up. Munitions sales up. Millions to die but profit forecasts are looking good!

  • Tony_0pmoc

    The important thing is to say and write regardless of the consequences.

    Just write the truth, as best as you can.

    Why Lie – No one is going to believe you – once they see the evidence.

    Just Tell the Truth – it is so much easier – cos you don’t have to make stuff up, that you can’t remember.

    I have been doing my best to support my British point of view on The Russian Saker’s website….

    I doubt if all my latest comments will be published, but I tried my best to be polite, and not swear, and merely tell the truth, as best I know…I accept I could be completely wrong about all sorts of stuff, but I try my best.

    If the truth doesn’t set you free..nothing will…

    All these things can be tested in a court of law.

    Under oath, most people tell the truth. They do not have the memory to lie convincingly – or they get interrogated, by the witnesses to the event in court.

    “The Skripals will most likely never be allowed to talk”

    https://thesaker.is/the-skripals-will-most-likely-never-be-allowed-to-talk/

    Tony

  • giyane

    Any Questions. Liam Fox. Brexit.

    You’d’ve thought these politicians would have negotiated an answer about customs before launching on a referendum about leaving the EU. Not 2 years after and counting. oh says Fox they will give us a good deal because it’s in their interests to do so. No, Mr Fox, divorce doesn’t work like that. After you split up you buy a house near your children and then your ex takes your children 200 miles away and tells the police you are a mad, extremist. You can drive for 5 hours to visit them, provided you’re prepared to be blinded in one eye from the laser of an automatic rifle when you are asked to go back home. When you arrive home a police car awaits you outside your house to confirm visually your actual presence.

    Why on earth would the EU make it easy for the UK to set up a rival customs space on its doorstep? They have promised they will be more than awkward, and we citizens will be punished through visas and travel restrictions so that your gangster entrepreneurs can make a quick buck on Chinese imports.

    I voted to leave the EU because of Germany’s involvement with the war against Syrian democracy, the next phase of the expansion of the EU, into Russia’s sphere of influence. I didn’t vote to leave the EU for extreme right-wing Tories to make it impossible for me to travel to the Middle East. Our freedom to travel will be sacrificed for the sake of Tory business pockets. We didn’t know our politicians would be so very short-sighted that they would break the customs union to line their own pockets. Cutting off their nose to spite their face.

    • Quiet_Life

      “I voted to leave the EU because of Germany’s involvement with the war against Syrian democracy”.

      I literally cannot believe you wrote that, unless it is hard core satire….which it apparently is not.

      This reminds me of the taxi driver who voted leave because he’s upset about Uber.

      The mind boggles.

    • Bayard

      “You’d’ve thought these politicians would have negotiated an answer about customs before launching on a referendum about leaving the EU. ”
      Well, no, after Indyref, the government thought that were staying in the EU and the referendum would just be a rubber stamp, so why waste the time doing that.
      “I didn’t vote to leave the EU for extreme right-wing Tories to make it impossible for me to travel to the Middle East.”
      Since we are still in the EU, it is highly likely that the same extreme right-wing Tories would have still made it impossible for you to travel to the Middle East even if we had voted to stay in.

    • nevermind

      Hahaha, great joke, so Germany was involved in the Syrian war long before our special forces trained mercenaries in Jordan to start the Deera uprising? get real Giyane.
      next thing you will tell us that Muslims don’t drink alcohol…..

  • Hieroglyph

    Ah Chuka. For some reason, senior assholes in the Labour Party are constantly trying to push Chuka on the world. It’s entirely mysterious to me, as Chuka, well, doesn’t across as the sharpest tool in the box, has little in the way of charisma, and is basically just a spokesmodel for the Blair-ite wing. I wouldn’t even employ him as a media adviser. I can only assume he scores well in some internal polling, and nods his head yes or no at the appropriate moments, so he’s the new leader-elect. I can almost see the strings, with Mandy in the background.

    I find Craig’s anger at the BBC quite endearing. I suspect it’s a generational thing, where Craig and others are old enough to remember when the BBC was decent. I’m not that young, but for my entire adult life, the BBC has been pretty awful, and I’ve scarcely paid attention to it. I suspect the younger generation think it’s what their Dad’s watch\listen to, and mock them for it. Ignore and avoid, as you would your average narcissist – and now in pleasant circularity we are back to Chuka. Ignore and avoid that jerk too.

    Also, call me a snob, but I could give a flying what your average hop-hop artist\comedian\actor\musician thinks. This isn’t America.

    • SA

      Chuka quickly withdrew from the first leadership elections when he discovered that to stand as leader his background will be fully scrutinised.

    • joel

      Craig is right to be outraged by the increasingly blatant bias of the BBC. Probably a majority of the country still get their political opinions and perception of the truth formed by its news. That issue doesn’t go away just because a few of Craig’s readers don’t watch it.

    • Alasdair Macdonald.

      Hieroglyph – Yes, you are a snob.

      Akala is one of the most insightful and thoughtful actors/poets around at this time. The fact that one of his main media is rap is probably the reason for your distaste. In a democracy, everyone is entitled to express views.

      On such a blatantly right wing panel with a right wing chair, he was the only one putting forward views outside of the right wing/Brexit hegemony and the permitted non-threatening opposition of Mr Umunna.

  • Mochyn69

    Not fit for the purpose:

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/may/11/bbc-rejects-complaints-newsnight-corbyn-russian

    So boycott the bent BBC now!

    Let’s have a full scale licence fee strike until they bloody well start listening and end their appalling bias.

    In fact on second thoughts, in Scotland why not establish an independent Scottish Broadcasting Fund and pay the licencing fee into that for the purpose of promoting truly independent broadcasting in Scotland? I am sure there are some of the wretched Edinburgh lawyers Craig so likes to castigate who could rise to the task of setting up the necessary charitable trust fund!

    **

    • BrianFujisan

      Mmnn..I agree with Some of what yoy say..BUT..It Ant Craig’s Fault

  • giyane

    Quiet Life

    Hi. I don’t know why I can’t access Reply. Maybe I’m supposed to pay a sub.

    http://www.voltairenet.org/spip.php?page=recherche&lang=en&recherche=germany+syria&x=0&y=0

    ” Damascus (Syria) | 28 January 2016
    The neo-conservatives and liberal hawks who have been preparing the war against Syria since 2001 have been relying on several states from the UNO and the Gulf Co-operation Council. While we know about the role played by General David Petraeus in launching and pursuing the war until today, two personalities – Jeffrey Feltman (number 2 at the UNO) and Volker Perthes (Director of the main German think tank) – have remained in the shadows. Together, with the support of Berlin, they have been using and are still manipulating the United Nations in order to destroy Syria. “

    • nevermind

      More quaint than a quiet life. here is what you are missing in your Germany fairytale.

      JUNE14.2012, four years before your link, Giyane. My experience during elections is that many ex immigrants, now bona fide bought British Citizens, are the worst anti immigrants in Britain today, whether its in Bradford, Blackburn, Birmingham or London.

      http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/14/u-s-military-completes-planning-for-syria/comment-page-1/

      “United States, Britain and France have all been discussing contingency scenarios, potential training and sharing of intelligence about what is happening in Syria with neighboring countries including Jordan, Turkey and Israel. But it is Jordan, so far, that is most seeking the help because of its relatively small military and potential need for outside help if unrest in southern Syria were to impact Jordan’s security.

      U.S. special forces are training and advising Jordanian troops on a range of specific military tasks they might need to undertake if unrest in Syria spills over into Jordan or poses a threat to that country, three Defense Department officials told CNN. The officials declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the training. Jordanian officials also are refusing to publicly confirm details, but a senior Middle Eastern government official also confirmed details to CNN.

      The U.S. has been training in Jordan using mainly special operations forces under a program called Joint Combined Exchange Training, which sends troops overseas to train foreign soldiers and units in specific missions. Jordan’s major security concern is that if the Syrian regime were to suddenly collapse, then it would face unrest on its northern border, as well as the possibility of large refugee flows, weapons smuggling into Jordan, and potential disarray in Syria’s chemical and biological weapons complex. Jordan also is considering how and where to potentially set up humanitarian assistance bases inside its borders, another matter the U.S. is advising it on.”

  • Charles Mclaughlin

    Rather than not pay your licence why do we not campaign to privatise the BBC and make it a pay to view channel, then ignore it and it’s right wing bias

  • Hatuey

    It’s interesting to read some of the comments on here from the English left who seem to have just woken up to the bias of the BBC. This is another area where Scotland is way ahead of the English curve.

    In Scotland they’ve been scrutinising BBC bias for about 5 solid years. All the leg work has been done. It’s something that most Scots just accept as a fact of life and when they see others enthusiastically talking about BBC bias they must feel a bit left out; been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

    Truth be told, it’s a bit embarrassing to part of a conversation that revolves around stating the blindingly obvious. It’s s bit like the situation you find yourself in when a new guy starts work next to you and he’s full of enthusiasm and excitement for something that you’ve been doing for years. Part of you you just wants him to shut up.

    Of course, Scots see exactly what the BBC is doing towards Corbyn, just as they saw what they did to discredit Ed before him. It’s important that we recognise and condemn bias towards others just as we recognise and condemn it towards ourselves.

    But, for the life of me, I can’t remember the English left recognising or condemning BBC bias towards Scottish independence during the trench warfare of 2014. I remember plenty of them fighting on the same side as the BBC, fighting for Great Britain and British socialism, pop stars, politicians, comedians, you name it.

    You really do reap what you sow in this world.

    • Republicofscotland

      I take it that you’ve read G A Ponsonby’s London Calling BBC Bias?

      Which is really bad for your blood pressure. ?

    • Loony

      Is it possible that you have false memory syndrome? Very few people in England care one way or another about Scottish independence. They most certainly do not care enough to dig a trench, much less fight in one. Who cares what some 3rd rate media whore says or does? By definition they will say or do anything for attention.

      Did you notice that in addition to being President of the largest economy on earth Trump has also also found the time to ban the sale of Irn Bru on his Scottish facilities (spillages are bad for the carpets apparently) Makes you think, does it not?

      • Vivian O'Blivion

        Orange with a cloying after effect, least ways that’s what Stormy says.

    • SA

      I do not follow your logic:
      BBC pro establishment = bias against Scottish independence.
      Leftists pro solidarity of working people everywhere therefore see Scottish independence as fragmentation of effort and are against it.
      Therefore leftists do not recognise BBC bias but only recognise it when there is BBC bias against the left.
      This is all a non-secreteur I am afraid.

      • Hatuey

        SA, I agree, you don’t follow my logic. You’re blinded by your bias.

        I see where you went wrong though. You equate and assume that socialists are against nationalism or national liberation movements everywhere because national borders result in fragmentation of the sacred working class movement.

        There’s a thousand ways of putting this junk and we have been hearing it for about 2 centuries now.

        Apart from the fact that it’s utterly deluded to think this working class movement has any chance of achieving a thing — it hasn’t in the last 40 years at least — British socialists from a Scottish perspective are nothing but hypocrites in supporting national liberation everywhere but in Scotland. We can go through examples, if you like.

        Irish, Palestinian, Indian, Vietnamese, Kosovan, and a million others are all good for independence and national liberation, but not Scotland… because we are British… rule Britannia.

        The big problem with your standpoint though, that you are too blind to see yourself, is that it doesn’t take into account what the Scottish people themselves think. And what the Scottish people think must and always should be paramount.

        It’s not for the British socialist movement to dictate to Scotland or anyone — it seems to have escaped your notice that Britain is basically a second world country and your days of being listened to nevermind waving big sticks are long over.

        Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  • Republicofscotland

    There is speculation, that the darling of the BBC, Nigel Farage will attempt to become an MP. The DUP are the party Farage is said to have his eye on, aided by his well known wealthy sponsor of course.

    Enoch Powell, found a way back into politics after quitting the Conservative party, in the Ulster Unionists.

  • Sharp Ears

    Why do the Kinnocks think that their voices are important?

    Now the father sounds off on Corbyn’s stance on the EU. The EU is much loved by the peer and and the peeress. She was infamous for keeping her Brussels taxi running whilst she went in to sign on.

    Brexit: Jeremy Corbyn must change stance, says Lord Kinnock
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44092538

    ‘Kinnocks on the Brussels gravy train
    June 7 2016 The Times

    Stephen Kinnock and Helle Thorning-Schmidt met at an elite college in Bruges Photo

    In raising the possibility that pro-Remain MPs could fight a parliamentary rearguard action against Brexit, Stephen Kinnock has highlighted his own family’s many links with Brussels.

    Having campaigned to leave the Common Market in 1975, his father, Neil Kinnock, became one of Britain’s two members of the European Commission in 1995. The former Labour leader was responsible for transport and then became a vice-president with responsibility for administrative reform.

    By the time he left in 2004 Lord Kinnock was earning £163,453 a year alongside a housing allowance and an entertainment budget. He received a payment of nearly £273,000 on leaving office. He has an EU pension thought to be worth more than £60,000 per year alongside the pension he receives for more than 25 years’…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kinnocks-on-the-brussels-gravy-train-xcxbdkx6r

    The Kinnocks. Troughers extraordinare.

    • Loony

      Why do you think their voices are important?

      Could it be that it all provides a useful distraction from real news. Like the news that the FBI placed a mole inside the Trump presidential campaign. It seems increasingly likely that this mole either was himself or was coordinated by the British.

      Now that would be real news. No Russian collusion but British interference in another sovereign nations electoral process, but not just any old nation but the most powerful nation in the world. No wonder the useful idiots are being mobilized to protest any Trump visit to the UK – he might just drop some truth bombs about the venal corruption that infests and infects every corner of your septic isle. A nation of bleeding hearts who will pay any price – short of a fall in their house prices to signal their virtue.

        • Loony

          Oh Joe say it aint so. You people are truly unbelievable. Here you are wailing about media bias and then relying on fake media to bolster your own prejudices.

          According to Maher Comey could not work for because Trump is akin to the mafia. According to reality Comey was fired for malfeasance as was his deputy McCabe. Hard to challenge that contention given what is known about Strozk and Page and the reliance on a British produced fake document all about urinating prostitutes.

          Ah this just could be a domestic US issue all except we now now that the FBI infiltrated the Trump campaign. The one thing we do not yet know is how this infiltration occurred. Straws in the wind indicate that this was an operation with significant British involvement – naturally not something of interest to the British.

          But oh we wail about Skripal and the lies surrounding that. The British being capable of stringing two logically coherent thoughts together – not a chance. We have rights and we have laws about hate speech unless that hate is being directed toward Donald Trump then Sadiq Khan will lead the charge of hate.

          It really does not matter what you think about Donald Trump. It matters only as to whether you believe in the rule of law. Manifestly the British do not, but they are too cowardly to admit it and instead content themselves with infantile smears and a resolute refusal to examine evidence. It is for this reason that you have the BBC. The BBC is providing to you the lies that you demand to be told.

          • zoot

            ” Here you are wailing about media bias and then relying on fake media to bolster your own prejudices ”

            that’s the don himself you’ve described there, a fox so called news addict.

          • SA

            “It really does not matter what you think about Donald Trump. It matters only as to whether you believe in the rule of law.”

            It really couldn’t happen to a nicer more law abiding person.

    • laguerre

      There was a comment thread on the Indie just now about Kinnock’s article there. 98% of the comments were anti-Kinnock ad hominems, just like yours.

      Britain has (had) a right to an EU commissioner. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear they’re all paid the same. The costs of the EU bureaucracy are in fact minimal, far less than the national bureaucracies of the countries which compose the EU. Somebody has to do the job. Was Kinnock a worse candidate than another, as you seem to be suggesting? Should the job have been given to a right-wing Tory, to increase his tax-haven wealth?

    • Charly

      Neil Kinnock’s EU pension will be much more than £60,000. And after tax, not before.

  • Chaerles

    In Britain, when the Law requires that an Inquest be conducted, there are just two ways to avoid that circumstance;

    1) Replace it with a public inquiry

    2) Don’t have the death in the first place

  • Republicofscotland

    International Trade secretary Liam Fox wants to relax food regulations once we strike a deal with the US.

    US food production standards are virtually nonexistent, when compared to EU regulations which protect us for now.

    http://archive.is/v1Bv7

  • Ian

    How do they get away with it? What, apart from withholding the licence fee, can one do?
    They are disgraceful. Trouble is, they influence so many million who have not bothered to seek out other versions of the ‘truth’.

  • Republicofscotland

    Tory ran Northamptonshire County Council goes bust.

    “A scathing independent report later judged the council had “lost tight budgetary control and appeared to abandon strong and effective budget setting scrutiny”.

    “The report also advised Northamptonshire County Council should be completely scrapped after the next local elections in May 2020.”

    http://archive.is/eo5kQ

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