Britannia Radio

 

OPEN THREAD...

>> FRIDAY, JANUARY 08, 2010

Here we go, as requested, the floor is yours....

BBC IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Last night, BBC Northern Ireland ran a very important "Spotlight" programme which raises fundamental questions concerning the behaviour of Northern Ireland's leading political dynasty - the Robinson family. This is causing seismic tremors in the local political topography and I think the BBC should be congratulated on finally producing a programme that has the consequence of challenging the political status quo. As I say, there are many issues flowing from this and some of these may limit my time here in the days ahead.....interesting times, folks!

David Shukman on weather and climate

>> THURSDAY, JANUARY 07, 2010

Following yesterday's item aimed at making sure the kids are still on message about MMGW, today we had Newsround for grown-ups. In a report which aired on the 6 pm news on both BBC 1 and Radio 4 this evening, David Shukmanexplained:

"The key thing is that there's a difference between the weather and the climate. The weather's what you get day by day, month by month, like this cold spell. But the climate is the kind of weather you get over a thirty year period, and that's what the scientists say is changing."

He was a little less clear about any distinctions back in May 2008 when he reported on a dry spell affecting Spain:

In a year that so far ranks as Spain's driest since records began 60 years ago, the reservoir is currently holding as little as 18% of its capacity - at a time of year when winter rains would usually have provided an essential boost by now...
And it may also remind people of the forecasts from climate scientists of still drier conditions to come in the approaching decades.

As soon as Shukman left the area, it rained. A lot. From the Guardian, 7 June 2008:

After months of the worst drought for 60 years, Spain has experienced the wettest May since 1971; it rained on 18 days of the month. Heavy rains have continued into June, which is rare during the Spanish summer...
In Catalonia, the worst affected area, reservoirs whose levels had been reduced to only 20% are now nearly half full.

A proposed water pipeline, cited by Shukman as evidence of the changing climate, was cancelled. From New Europe, 16 June 2008:

The Spanish government recently cancelled a controversial plan to build a 62-kilometre pipeline to divert water from the river Ebro in the Tarragona region to the Catalan capital Barcelona, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said. There was no longer the situation of "extraordinary necessity" that had prompted the plan, Vega said.

If Shukman did a follow-up pointing any of this out, I can't find it online. 

Here are some images from his May 2008 report. This, remember, was explained with reference to climate change:



And here are some images taken from a Spanish blog in October 2009 showing the blogger's recent kayaking trip to the same Sau reservoir:


The blogger states (via Google Translate):

This year the Sau had a significant level in the water, exposing only the latest instalment of the famous bell tower of the church of Sant Romà de Sau.

As far as the BBC is concerned, some weather events are more climate change than others.

Update 8 January 10.40am. The BBC School Report website offers children the benefit of David Shukman's top ten tips for reporting the environment. In tip 7 Shukman tells the kids:

If it's about a drought, stand in a dried-out reservoir.

If the drought then suddenly ends, thus undermining your narrative, don't worry - just move on to the next alarmist story. 

Best of all is this sentence from tip 9:

You're an ambassador for common-sense in a world of spin.

Who knew Shukman had such a sense of humour? (Hyphenating "common sense" in that context isn't setting a very good example to budding journalists, though.)

SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH I...

Excellent spot by a Biased BBC reader here. Matt Frei, that stalwart of B-BBC, ponders what turns someone into a suicide bomber. He reviews the cases of several suicide bombers and wonders what they all have in common. Clue - he misses something rather obvious and it begins with the letter I....!

WOSSY IS OFF!

So, I am sure you heard the news that Jonathan Ross is to quit the BBC. Good. However in a way it doesn't matter since there are MANY more spongers in the BBC feeding off our £3.5bn. So, one down but many more to go!

Foregone Conclusion

Who could have doubted the sincerity of the bushy bearded cherub innocently proclaiming his bafflement and perplexity over the actions of his former best buddy?
Not the BBC. They accepted it without a murmur.

Our friend Qasam Rafiq is now the spokesman for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies. Those cute little cupid’s bow lips are employed to invite a multitude of speakers who have supported the holy war and called for an Islamic Caliphate.
Now we hear that not only are we more complacent than ever about the number of Muslim extremists coming to the UK, we are gaily tolerating radical Islamic Societies in our own universities who invite speakers to come over and evangelise Jihad under our noses.

Malcolm Grant, the provost of UCL still won’t have it. He must be a Guardian reader and a devotee of the BBC. He’s chairing a review into violent extremism at universities. I wonder what the outcome will be.

ALARMISM IN THE KINDERGARTEN

Following on from DB's excellent post, G.O.T has produced the visual goods for your entertainment...

A HAPPY CABINET?

You can't beat the Today programme for sheer pro-Labour entertainment value. I caught Shaun "Where's my Butler?" Woodward being interviewed by James Naughtie this morning on the issue of Gordon's leadership (or lack of) and yesterday's fun and games with Hewitt and Hoon. Woodward naturally dismissed this all as a distraction from the real issue (Cameron's dithering) and declared (hand on heart, scout's honour?) that he sat in "a happy cabinet." This surreal statement was not challenged in any way by Naughtie and so a line in drawn through the winter revolution in Labour. As an add-on, Woodward was also gifted an easy question concerning Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson which was designed to allow him to wax lyrical on the wonderful relationship between the DUP leader and the IRA in the form of butcher boy Martin McGuinness. All one big set-up, and a complete disinterest in asking hard questions.

Gonna Start a Riot

>> WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 06, 2010

The treacherous MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, George Galloway has been away from his constituency lately. He’s been sparking off riots in Egypt. His recent publicity-seeking escapade, getting a convoy of aid to the Palestinians who are currently perceived to be imprisoned in Gaza and starving, has even antagonised the Egyptians.
“ The Egyptian foreign ministry launched a scathing attack on convoy leader British Respect MP George Galloway, claiming that his comments regarding the hold up of the convoy defied “honesty and facts.”
“Being aware that Mr. Galloway loves media exposure, for various reasons, the ministry refrains from engaging in media arguments with someone who deliberately changes facts for personal objectives and masters the promotion of false championships that are based on wrong impressions leading to wrong conclusions,” it said.”

The convoy, organized by Viva Palestina, was unable to get to Gaza in time for the celebrations. 
The BBC doesn’t tell us this because they’re more concerned with interviewingthe poor activists who have been beaten up. They’re also keen to tell us part of what Gorgeous George said.
"It is completely unconscionable that 25% of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza."
They didn’t bother to report the end of that statement, which was blatantly slanderous and far-fetched: “because nothing that goes to Israel ever arrives in Gaza.”

Review of science coverage

Trust to review impartiality in science coverage:

The BBC Trust has today announced that it will carry out a review to assess the accuracy and impartiality of the BBC's coverage of science.

(h/t George R)

FRYING KENYANS

While the rest of us freeze, the BBC website is still fervently pushing global warming. The main goal continues to be to give a platform to greenie fanatics who want to increase the hatred between the developing world and the West, by cultivating the line that the West is responsible for a whole catalogue of 'climate change' crimes. This latest 'opinion' piece is by Greig(sic) Whitehead, ofInternational Climate Challenge, another of the type of brainwashing organisations that the BBC help sustain by giving them unmoderated publicity. His piece is about Kenya, a country I love and know well, and it's typical of the genre. Opinions, of course, are the stuff of democratic discourse, but there are limits. This greenie is a preacher of hate. 

It took me two minutes on the internet dispel his preposterous lie, that 'climate change' is creating widespread devasatation in the country. 

Climatic risks are the norm in the dry pastoral areas of East Africa and often account for widespread social and economic costs and human suffering. Nowhere is this more apparent than in northern Kenya and southern Somalia, which in 2000 were once again caught in the throes of a terrible ‘natural’ disaster. 

Kenya has always suffered from droughts, not because of 'climate change' but cyclical weather patterns that are highly complex. On top of that, the population has risen from 5m to 35m in a little over 50 years, and the result has been widespread timber felling, affecting rainfall, the water table and waterflows from the crucial Mount Kenya region. 

Extremists in countries like Kenya with a colonial legacy will use any excuse they can to attack their white 'enemies'. So, too, will Muslim fundamentalists, of which there is a significant minority in Kenya. I sympathise deeply with the plight of Kenyans, but what is needed is genuine understanding of their problems, not the spreading of baseless propaganda. What Greig Whitehead is doing by filing such pieces is adding highly-toxic tinder to the complex political set-up in the country. Such men are dangerous, and the BBC should hang its head in shame for encouraging and spreading such naked agitprop.