Autonomous Mind fisks a letter in today's Daily Mail from Roger Harrabin. The same blog also reports on an FOI request revealing Met Office spin about seasonal forecasts. (Coming soon from the BBC, a new documentary - "Meet Autonomous Mind, The Kitten-Eating Child Rapist") Julian Assange has taken his latest batch of documents to the Telegraph: As widely predicted, the BBC4 programme on climate change last night was a ham-fisted stitch-up. Richard North ably explains here. It's in their genes; anyone they think is outside their neme is isolated, gulled, done over and then ultimately ridiculed with all the grace and style of a two-dime huckster. The tragedy is that they genuinely think that this counts as legitimate programme making. I concur with Richard that this technique is deployed to salve their battered egos and shore up their belief systems, it is telling that this exercise has been on the drawing board for considerable time. Meanwhile, last night's Horizon - about latest research on pain - was also a gem of political correctness in the same mould. I deal these days a lot with people doing research into infant psychology. To cut a long story short, the central model of child development is called Attachment Theory, in which there is very substantial research that secure attachment to parents (or main carers) in the first years of life is essential in facilitating normal mental and social development. But in all the discussion about this said Attachment Theory(it was central to the argument about pain tolerance), the programme carefully and systematically - to the point of idiocy - avoided any statement that directly highlighted that a nurturing and relatively stable family life is important to a developing infant. The elephant in the room was glaringly not mentioned or circumlocuted. The BBC, of course, hates anything that supports the traditional nuclear family. Their response is Pavolovian. Update: Here, from the WUWT blog, is a videotape editor's review of last night's programme on Lord Monckton. It's long, but the guy has 25 years experience, and it is worth including in full to show the full extent of BBC bias: Been busy all day but tuned into the PM programme on Radio 4. Was intrigued to hear a debate on WHY UK and US foreign policy is to blame for the riots in Egypt. Great delusional stuff - but please, surely Palin is also to blame? And the Jews, of course. Good old BBC - cheering on the soon-to-be Islamic Republic of Egypt (copyright Khomeni, 1979) It is rather disappointing, but James Delingpole and Lord Monckton have both been apparently duped into getting involved in tonight's BBC Four hatchet job on climate change scepticism. I have been saying for years now that anyone who takes part in a BBC programme about anything that does not accord with the corporation's worldview does so at their own risk; documentary producers - especially - long since abandoned any pretence of objectivity because they are on a mission. At core, everyone (Lord M and Mr Delingpole clearly included) somehow naively hopes and believes that the BBC will once, just once, be balanced, accurate and truthful, and that somehow, the truth will prevail. The sad reality is that it never will - Auntie is rotten to the core. The documentary tonight and the equally squalid Keith Nurse programme last week provide compelling evidence for this; this is now a full-scale propaganda campaign. Well, this one was coming. On Today this morning. John Humphyrs coldly asked US official Michele Dunne just how much GUILT did the US have on its hands for what is happening in Egypt. Yes, the USA is to blame. Tomorrow, can we look forward to the BBC blaming Sarah Palin, or Israel...? I'll post the link once they publish it. This past week saw the BBC jihad against Richard Keyes and Andy Gray. The outrage at their (stupid but off-air) comments was visceral and god help anyone who dared suggest that it was all a bit over the top. So, you might find the in-print comments of the BBC's Perry Grove's interesting; 
ROGER THE DODGER
>> TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 01, 2011
Wikileaks In The Telegraph? Meh.
WikiLeaks documents that disclose how British ministers secretly advised Libya on securing the successful early release of the Lockerbie bomber demonstrate that Tony Blair's Government was "playing false" over the issue, Alex Salmond has said.
The BBC response so far: 
Apart from a brief mention during one of the paper reviews on Today this morning I haven't seen or heard anything about this on the BBC. How very different to the headline treatment given to similar recent Guardian stories (Wikileaks, Palestinian papers). In those cases the BBC seemed to be in the loop, primed and ready for action as soon as the early editions were out. Now that the Telegraph is splashing with Wikileaks revelations the BBC appears slow to react and uninterested. The fact that the latest documents are embarrassing to Labour could be a contributing factor too. No doubt something will appear eventually, but one gets the impression there's a greater sense of urgency at the BBC when the Guardian is involved in these stories. Apparently there are more important things to report on today, such as the suspension of a principal from a minor Scottish university. Update: The BBC's Wikileaks page hasn't been updated for a while: 
PAVLOVIAN
Meet the Skeptics’ was a great example of clumsy, heavy handed storytelling. Nothing more. The most telling techniques include the way Monckton was seldom given more than 10 seconds to say anything, with cutaways covering obvious edits in his talking in order to make it seem like he is saying something he probably isn’t. It’s easy. I do it everyday, though I tend to do it to enhance understanding not to misrepresent. On the other hand, Monckton’s detractors were given free reign to speak with 30, 40, 45 seconds of screen time to expound their ideas and make their point. The part where Monckton was caught (supposedly) looking forlorn as he read the (apparently) devastating report about his address to Congress was pure pathos, made all the more emotional by the sad piano music and then the cut to him sitting alone, in the distance, looking out onto the loch, no doubt contemplating the obvious and terrible mistakes he’d made. Except we didn’t learn what those mistakes were other than a rather lame mis-attribution which he owned up to. Murray had a chance here to actually present the sceptics’ case, however much he disagreed with it. Instead he chose to malign and mis-represent through juxtaposition (witness the homophobe and gun-wielding bigots), through use of music (the mournful piano and the buffoonery of Gilbert & Sullivan telling us what to feel), through language (such as the repeated use if the phrase ‘what he thought was true’ and it’s variations and naturally, through selective editing, Given the exact same material I could edit a programme that would tell a totally different story. Never be told that a documentary is truth.
UK AND US NOW TO BLAME
>> MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2011
WISHING AND HOPING...
US TO BLAME FOR EGYPT
WHEN BANTER IS RELATIVE
>> SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011
In an article published in The Sun newspaper last year, Groves wrote: “I know a lot of women and they’re not consistent from hour to hour. Footballers want the rules to be applied consistently and this wouldn’t happen with women refs. “It’s hard enough for male refs to earn respect from players. With a woman in charge, players will be thinking: 'You know nothing about football’. “Also, let’s face it, women have periods and we all know how hormones affect them. Would women refs be banned during their 'time of the month’ because they might be more emotional, depressed or aggressive?
Perry appears regularly on BBC 5 Live. The BBC response? A BBC spokesman said: “If you know Perry, yes he does give an analysis of the game but he is also a light-hearted foil to Colin Murray and that’s the kind of attitude and style that they have. “I don’t think Perry would stand by that as a serious analysis of women’s refereeing standards. As a regular on Fighting Talk he has a stock in trade of banter and fun and this is indicative of the kind of place he goes.”
Offside!!!!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
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