Shameless

Utterly shameless and disgusting is the only way to describe Newsnight’s opening salvo in the election campaign last night. Employing just about every fallacious argument in the book it sought to sling as much mud as possible on the European Conservatives grouping in the hope that some of it might stick.

This of course is a rehash of David Milliband’s attack on Michal Kaminski back in October in which he labelled him an anti semite. The idea of course was to portray the Tories as “hanging out” with racists and by extension being on the “fringes” of Europe. The hope is to contrast this with the alleged Labour position – spun as being in “the heart of Europe”, which is why we hear that particular soundbite bantered around so frequently. Dragging the name of our European allies through the mud to assist a domestic election campaign is naturally not below this desperate politician. For the BBC however this is a new low.

So addicted is the BBC to it’s licence fee funding that it is terrified of what a Cameron government might to do constrict the mighty flow of funds it regards as it’s birthright. Jumping in to assist it’s Nü Labour comrades it is hoping to ensure that this nightmare scenario does not occur. In doing so it has tossed away even the pretense of impartiality into becoming a full blown propaganda arm of the Labour government.

Of far right meetings in Poland where Jews were denounced

Although Kaminski was not present at these meetings, some allege he helped inspire them

No need to name names obviously. Kaminski is a politician with political opponents in his country. Finding people to allege things against him would be pretty trivial for journalists on the Observer / BBC.

Another corker, after hearing Kaminky defend himself against allegations and defend Israel.

But what does this man really think?

Shameless. This issue was put to bed back in October when the chief Rabbi of Poland no less, Michael Schudrich, stated

“There is no doubt that Kaminski is a strong friend of the State of Israel. He himself has spoken out against anti-Semitism on several occasions during the past decade. It is a grotesque distortion that people are quoting me to prove that Kaminski is an anti-Semite.”

But the BBC chooses to resurrect it because slinging mud at the European Conservatives (and the Tories) is an effective smearing campaign.

The BBC has indicated in no uncertain terms that it is prepared to be the mouthpiece for it’s Labour chums in this upcoming election. That is does so with monies forcibly extracted from Tory, LibDem, SNP and UKIP supporters alike is a travesty and is unacceptably undemocratic.

Make good your pledges

Having the last laugh

Sir Michael Lyons, the chairman of the BBC Trust, clearly thinks that we’re all far too worried about the economic climate and future tax hikes, and with the front pages dominated with pictures a rather grim looking Chancellor, has seized his opportunity.

I’m talking of course about his decision to allow Jonathon Ross to return to his £6 million pound a year job – with full regalia. He had concluded, presumably, that a month holiday on full pay (a tidy £500,000) constituted the “appropriate action” the Prime Minister called for.

In truth, Ross acting like a twat and managing to insult just about everybody is hardly surprising. It is entirely within character and presumably precisely what the BBC was hoping for when it offered signed him up on a record breaking 3 year £18 million contract. Undoubtedly they thought he would make them appear “hip, cool and relevant” and “reach out” to a younger audience.

It is now apparent, if there was ever any doubt, that from the very beginning of this scandal, the BBC had no intention of taking any real action beyond short term damage control.

Since it’s founding in 1922 the BBC has achieved a level of groupthink and consensus thinking that is possibly unrivalled in any organisation. The BBC has no intention of listening to the public because they view themselves as the guardians of what represents British moral standards and not the other way around. When BBC internal reports uncovers a culture of bias, it is treated with dismay not because it feels it doesn’t have to answer to anyone, but because it genuinely regards itself as representing the Vox populi.

And when the BBC airs a joke, be it about the Queen’s sexual organs, prank calls to old age pensioners about f—ing their granddaughters or simply asking David Cameron whether he masturbated about Lady Thatcher, it is by definition “edgy” comedy. Those who find it tasteless, crude or worse, have the temerity to complain are routinely dismissed as out of touch with cool Britannia, of which the BBC is standard bearer.

It is this attitude of utter incredulity towards it’s bonded financiers that must stop. The mentality that the British public can be forced to pay for what has long been a commercial enterprise and in return have it’s views and moral sensitivities trampled upon is a travesty. If the BBC wishes to be answerable to nobody but itself then it can damn well finance itself.

So ladies and gentlemen, I make the call. it’s time to make good your pledges and boycott the BBC license fee. That means you Charles Moore, and all the rest.

http://the-daily-pundit.blogspot.com/2008/11/campaign-to-boycott-bbc-license-fee.html

Al Qeada. America. Friend. Foe

The PC Brigade

As we enter rememberance day tommorrow it’s always reassuring to have the BBC to remind us of those who toil behind the lines fighting the dark shadows that would destroy our freedoms. Yes, those secret service field operatives who endeavour behind the tinted glass of the Ziggurat on the Thames, too risk their lives fighting the enemy that lurks within.

But sometimes in the cloak and dagger world of espionage it is never black and white and knowing who the enemy really is can be far from trivial. We were reminded of this on tonight’s episode of Spooks. To quote the cliché, naturally used within the episode, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”.

In tonight’s episode, having managed to gain the trust of an actual Al Qeada operative, finally mange to meet him, face to face. Here, our rather dashing and most eloquent radical states that his organisation’s aims are “justice for Palestine, an end to the corrupt government of Saudi Arabia and America out of the Middle East”. All quite rational really. Infact – no difference here to the political ideology of the BBC itself.

The idea of course is to encourage viewers to question their preconceived notions as to who the enemy really is and to push the politically correct and “multicultural” viewpoint that radical Islam is perhaps really not so bad after all.

To quote Andrew Marr

‘The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It’s a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias.’.

And the BBC is intent on using all of the tools in it’s arsenal to push this biased line, even if it is contained within a production that must also pass for entertainment.

There is nothing wrong with propaganda of course, these viewpoints are no different from those expressed in The Guardian and most all newspapers in Britain push a political point of view. The difference is that my local newsagent doesn’t threaten to incarcerate me if I don’t purchase a copy of The Guardian on the way to work each morning. And certainly nobody is forcing those “trendy Left-leaning liberals” at the BBC to purchase a copy of The Daily Mail.

On the other hand we all have no choice but to fund the BBC propaganda machine facilitating the production of programmes that push ever more radical views that are by now increasingly bordering on duplicity. On the BBC News the substitution of “terrorist group” for “militant network” occurred two years ago and references to these groups as Islamist will ne’er be heard on the beeb.

Tonight our trusty PC spooks, after much soul searching of the moral dilemmas presented, negotiated with Al Qeada and were rewarded for their efforts with valuable information. One wonders, might the BBC’s policy just be to soften public opinion for negotiating with terrorists? I for one find the concept of subsidising the promotion of a policy of negotiation with mass murderers to be nothing short of stomach churning.

Oh, and the enemy, revealed right at the end of tonight’s episode for maximum effect. Why those dastardly Americans of course, who ruthlessly destroy our by now cooperative Al Qeada agent by blowing up his plane and blaming the whole thing on Islamic terrorists. Hey, isn’t that the same trick they used on the twin towers?

America, Al Qeada, friend, foe. Sometimes it’s so difficult to know who’s who. But if you reckon you’re as likely to figure it out without the BBC properganda service – it’s time to boycott the BBC license fee.

Jackboots hit South London for Halloween

The BBC’s brownshirt enforcers, TV Licensing, will be active in South London this Halloween reports the South London Press.

TV Licensing spokeswoman Joanna Pearce said: “TV Licensing has a duty to enforce the licence fee on behalf of the honest majority who pay, which is why we’ll be visiting cheats in South London this Hallowe’en.

Notice how those who don’t pay the BBC tax are referred to as “cheats”. Wheras the corporation that forces all TV owners to pay it – whether they watch the BBC or not – as well as utilising an army of strongarm enforcers is supposedly above board.

Other channels must compete for funds on the open market and moreover be accountable to those sources of funds. It is the BBC that cheats by electing instead to compel the public to finance it’s nonsense at risk of imprisonment.

“We would always prefer people to buy a licence than be haunted by the spectre of a £1,000 fine.”

Not as haunted as the beeb would be of a mass boycott of their license fee.

A Perfect Storm

To gauge the mood over at the BBC one only has to read today’s “analysis” of the Ross/Brand affair. A Perfect Storm Torin Douglas informs us is what the whole shebang has become.

The growth of e-mails, YouTube, and message boards have all helped to create a perfect storm in which complaints can escalate exponentially, with journalists demanding responses and politicians feeling obliged to step in.

So you see it’s information technology which is creating the illusion of indignation rather than any real outrage itself. And as for Mark Thompson’s suspension of Brand and Ross, drastic he calls it.

it’s hard to recall a previous occasion when the BBC’s highest-paid star was suspended – but it is just a holding action

As though paying their “talent” huge sums of ratepayer money should protect them from such action. Indeed the mere notion of being accountable to the public appears to be contemptible to Mr Douglas.

As for the possibility of a £250,000 fine by Ofcom, it will be criticised by many apparently

since it means the licence-payer is footing the bill for lapses by BBC staff and/or presenters.

and here in lies the problem – we will have to foot the bill. Happy as they are to force the ratepayer to pay their lavish salaries how dare we expect standards of decency or accountability from it’s presenters.

‘It’s been blown out of proportion’

He then proceeds to defend the “edgy” comedy that “must be seen in context”.

Meanwhile, many younger listeners are asking what the fuss is about. Calls and texts to Radio One’s Newsbeat have mostly been supportive of Brand and Ross, saying they found the remarks funny.

The younger listeners, one suspects, are not only closer to the mental age of Brand and Ross but also not the license fee payer of the household in which they reside. Those of us who are have indirectly financed the harassment of an old age pensioner. And we have every right to be outraged.

£6 million per annum

Jonathon Ross

Yes under a £18 million 3 year deal signed back in 2006 that’s what Mr Jonathan Ross is paid each year. A back of the beer coaster calculation reveals that 43,000 license fees go on Mr Ross’s annual salary alone. Assuming an average of one television and two people per household that’s the city of Bath.

Whether or not Mr Ross is worth this astronomical amount, a full 250 times the average Briton’s salary is of course largely academic. This is because the BBC and the salaries they deem fit for their employees, have no need to be based on anything as crass as market forces. And they certainly have no need to be accountable to those who are forced to pay them.

Indeed it is a culture of a total lack of accountability that is currently being exposed with the scandal of Ross and Russell Brand’s disgraceful obscene message “prank”. Neither clearly felt the need to apologise until the full weight of the media fell upon them, and heaven forbid there be a review of his salary contract. But the BBC itself, clearly, felt no need to apologise to a recalcitrant public who should pay up and leave decisions as to what constitutes good taste to their betters.

Any other broadcaster of course would have reacted swiftly and expediently since their paymasters (advertisers) would have protested immediately and in the strongest possible terms. Indeed it is precisely this need to respond to the wishes of viewers and advertisers which makes the commercial broadcasters accountable.

The sooner the BBC has it’s right to extort money from virtually every household in the UK removed the sooner we will see an end to this insult. It is time for all of us who have had enough to take a leaf from Noel Edmond’s book and boycott the BBC license fee.