PERFECT COMBO

PERFECT COMBO

>> THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2011

Charlie Haden, an obscure jazz bassist whose hero is the muderous thug Che Guevara - to the extent that he has written whole albums in praise of him - is not widely known outside jazz circles. No matter, his hatred of Nixon, his opposition to the Vietnam war and his lifetime of "political causes" and "liberation" made him a perfect Today programme guest this morning. ReporterNicola Standbridge virtually wet her knickers in admiration of the great man and opened it with his love of Che. Tough questions about why he idolised a mass murderer? Not on the agenda. News relevance? Zero. The exchange was, of course, nothing but a plug for his forthcoming concert - for the BBC, a perfect combo: a fawning reporter, left-wing fanatic, right-on music and free publicity. Only Bono could hope for better treatment.

Ancestral Voices Prophesying War

>> WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2011

BBC news journalism to a very large extent relies on reporting stories that fit an existing left-liberal narrative and ignoring stories which challenge this narrative - the classic example being the enormous disparities in their reporting of racist murder - those disparities relating to the ethnicity of both perpetrator andvictim. Where BBC journalists go looking to make the news, by unearthing new facts or obtaining an admission from a politician or businessman, the same rules apply. Sending undercover cameramen into BNP meetings hoping to hear bad things being discussed? Sure. Sending them into mosques with the same brief? Er ... we'll leave that to Channel Four, thanks very much. A favourite sport of Today presenters is to try and create the lunchtime news headlines by getting some interviewee to either "drop a clanger" or "reveal their real agenda", depending on your viewpoint. Even a Victoria Derbyshire can do it if the interviewee is ill-briefed and ill-prepared enough.  But sometimes the quest for what's perceived to be the killer admission can ruin the interview - for some reason I always think of Evan Davies interviewing anyone at all on drugs policy, where he seems incapable of keeping his personal enthusiasms in check. And sometimes the quest for a not-very-important admission can blind the interviewer to the most remarkable statements being made by the interviewee - which go straight past the journalist's head because they're nothing to do with the little verbal traps he's setting. That failure to actually listen to the interviewee constitutes IMHO diabolical journalism. John Humphrys (for it is he) should listen to his Patrick Mercer interview from yesterday morning, then tear up his NUJ card and announce his retirement. The subject of the interview was a leaked letter written by Defence Secretary Liam Fox to the Prime Minister, expressing concern that the Government planned to make a legal commitment to increasing its overseas aid spending at a time when armed forces budgets are being cut heavily. The subtext of the interview, as Humphrys revealed, was Conservative division. In the studio were Patrick Mercer, a former army officer and former Conservative security spokesman, broadly sympathetic to the Fox concerns, and Lib Dem MP Malcolm Bruce, very much against them. You'd imagine Mercer is reasonably close to current military thinking, and current M.O.D. thinking. It was near the end of the interview, emboldening is mine : Mercer : 

"At a time when the armed forces are being cut and cut hard, when they're at war in Afghanistan, Pakistan and indeed in Libya, with other conflicts on the horizon ... you can see why the defence secretary is concerned"

Humphrys, completely missing the above and intent on his 'Tory division' narrative (I paraphrase) :

"But .. Liam Fox wrote to the Prime Minister and addressed him as 'Dear David Cameron' .. now we know he would like to be Tory leader - isn't there an ulterior motive?"

Mercer :

"at a time when money is stretched ... at a time when we are at war on at least two fronts, and probably a third front to come, no doubt Liam Fox is fighting his corner as any other Secretary of State would do".

Now it may be that Mercer's statement that we are at war in Pakistan is a slip of the tongue, and he's thinking of the Americans, who do seem to have made one or two trips across the Durand Line recently. But what are these "other conflicts on the horizon"? What is this "third front to come", assuming Front 1 to be Afghanistan and Front 2 Libya? Have I been asleep lately - should I know all about this war to come? Syria ? Seems unlikely. Iran ? Ditto. Are the Argentinians planning another crack at the Falklands (and if they were, how could we possibly form a front down there once Mount Pleasant was lost, having no carrier capability?). I would really love to have known what Mr Mercer was talking about - and I imagine BBC listeners might have been interested, too. Pity the BBC couldn't find a journalist to ask him!

UK UNEMPLOYMENT FALLS, BBC UNHAPPY

I'm posting this on behalf of "The Aged P"...with thanks to him for nailing this one. "Probably much consumption of valium at the Beeb this morning as the ONS reported a 36,000 drop in unemployment, the second consecutive quarterly fall. There are now 29.24 million in work against the May 2008 peak of 29.56 million, just before the Blair/Brown regime’s chickens came home to roost (sorry, Mr Balls, before the global banking crisis engineered by those furtive foreigners undermined the Styrofoam foundations of the Brown boom)

Moreover, though earlier today the BBC website told us that youth unemployment was expected to reach one million and had obviously lined up a complete rugby union squad of sorrowful teenagers ready to pin the tail onto the heartless coalition donkey, the latest figures show it flatlining at 935,000. Imagine the gritting of those BBC molars as they had to include this quote;

"Some observers said the rise in employment was a sign the economic recovery was strengthening. “The strong growth in full-time jobs is especially encouraging, as this is one of the key indicators of a sustainable recovery,” said Ian Brinkley at the Work Foundation."

That sound? David Dimbleby ripping up predictable Question Time favourite “Tories and their fat cat banking buddies love to grind the unemployed into the dirt” Don’t worry, David, there will be plenty of poverty stricken pizza and beer guzzling students and whingeing public sector workers in the “randomly selected” audience to pour out their sob stories.

KEN COMMITS POLITICAL SUICIDE ON BBC?

Well, has Victoria Derbyshire taken Ken Clarke's scalp following this? I don't recall such a tough approach from her with Labour Minister's during the Golden Years but that said, since I find Clarke a C.I.N.O. I hope he does get sacked.

NEW OPEN THREAD....

Midweek and time for a new Open Thread as I can see the Monday one is already approaching the 200 mark! Happy with good old Auntie - no? Well, tell me why...

CLEGG GETS MUSCULAR!

Following his whipping in the recent local Council elections and the heavy loss in the AV poll, Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg evidently feels that he must be seen to be more hostile to the Coalition in which he sits. So he takes that unadulterated object of BBC worship - the NHS - and says he is opposed to the Coalition plan to improve it. The BBC lines up with Clegg on this one since it sustains the meme that the evil Conservatives want to introduce competition into the NHS and as we all know the BBC does not like the concept of competition. It continually misrepresents the very concept of free market competition in true neo-Stalinist style, always suggesting it is about fat-cats trying to make as much money as possible without delivering any advantages to anyone. There's an interesting debate here on Today you should listen to if you get the chance. I thought Peter Bone did well, mind you. At heart, we all can see the BBC doing what it can to bring about the fall of the Coalition fall - so any chance it can get to chisel out cracks within it are taken up with great relish.

HATING THE POLICE

One of the more colourful attack lines the BBC is running against the Conservatives is that it is out for "revenge" against the good and kindly Police Federation ! The hilarious accusation that this Government is out to be "kind to criminals, kick a cop" is solemnly repeated by the BBC and the implication is made that Conservatives are out to undermine UK Policing. Naturally during the Golden Labour years, all was well and the Police were highly motivated by the "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" soundbite which Labour decided was a good substitute for actually doing anything. Of course the BBC is very sympathetic to the Police Federation and never more so when it seeks to confront the Conservative Party. That also explains why the oleaginous Sir Hugh Orde gets such an easy ride when he comes on to propagandise on behalf of ACPO. It's only when Police talk about policing that the BBC starts to feel uncomfortable.

SCOTLAND THE NOT SO BRAVE

>> TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2011

BBC lauding the prospects of an Independent Scotland - cheerleading for Mr Toad look-a-like Alex Salmond. It slyly claims that Salmond would keep the Queen as Head of State and the Pound Sterling. How kind. The BBC has a record of indulgence towards the SNP - after all any political party committed to breaking up the Union will always get BBC hearts a beating. A considered dissection of the SNP position is one thing you will never hear on the BBC which is all the more reason for this site to pick up on it/

THAT ROYAL VISIT

BBC loving Her Majesty paying tribute to the "Fenian brotherhood" and the "old IRA" in Dublin. I find the BBC coverage nauseating and, of course, politically contrived. The BBC has been a long time cheer-leader for the appeasement process here and today is a culmination of that.