UK Politics

[The Gaffer]

I don't really get where you're coming from Janny. The BBC is required in its charter to attempt to present both sides of the story, which means it falls foul of the current trend towards a right-wing agenda in the media. Give me some examples and we'll see.

Personally, I regard its greatest shortcoming as its pro-Establishment, upper class leanings, in which the musings of some posh twats are given far more prominence than those of the hoi polloi.

Like the NHS, the British like to kick it in the teeth and yet it's the envy of the world. Have you ever watched the news in any other country?

[Janny]

Sorry, source error. The demostrations featured in this article was also the subject of a radio 5 report last night because some went past BBC buildings to protest at the 'Zionist' coverage given by the BBC. Zionist+BBC into Google covers the tone of demonstration.

The specific criticism from the interviewee was that the news headline "Israel makes limited incursions into Lebanon, Hezbollah fire rockets into northern Israel" showed a lack of balance on behalf of the BBC.

My slating of the BBC, which I stand by, was more to demostrate that I wasn't prone to support the Beeb in any given argument. Have I seen the news in other countries? Yes, from the USA, Germany and Italy. Also, I believe there is the news station in Russia where the newslady gradually unbuttons her blouse... anyway, I digress. Yeah, it is pretty dyer, but just because the BBC is better doesn't make it good.

[Butterbeer]

ahh, the ol' Royal charter, heh? ./...bit of a thistley spiked issue eh what?


well, the BBC is western anglo-phile, centred .... but to a large degree i can agree with both of you - the worthy Janny and the inimtable one an' only Gaffer ... (to quote the highlander wi' 'is free swingin' kilt ... there can be only one! )

it tries .... and IS comparitevly bloody good ... but it isn't fer sure ... a grouchuo Marx club ...

... complicated matter the middle east ... ( i 'ave nein idea what thread this is about btw ... )

best, tho' BB

[The Gaffer]

Blinking flip, we're all in agreement then. The BBC is the worst news organisation in the world, apart from all the others.

A more sobering experience is watching BBC World in other countries: it is absolutely dire.

But, you know, Paxman and Humphries between them are probably worth the licence fee.

I did what you suggested, janny, and came up with bollocks along the lines of

As a result of the BBC Zionist propaganda, the British public remain confused and unable to differentiate between the gross violence of the oppressors (the Israelis) and the retaliatory self-defence of the oppressed (the Palestinians).

Now, my experience is that Brits are more sympathetic towards Palestinians than many other countries from whom we may or may not be divided by a common language....

So anyway, my point would be that it's not a good issue on which to attempt to measure "objectivity". Show me an objective line on Palestine and I have a nice shiny Nobel Prize with your name on it. Oh, and an already-prepared obituary for the next day.

[Jonathan]

So Blair has announced he'll stepp down as prime minister within twelve months.

There seems to be quite some turmoil within the Labour party. What's going on?

[The Gaffer]

It's hard to see what more could happen for Bliar to quit; seven of his ministers resigned this week, and he got a letter asking him to go signed by about 50 of his own MPs.

As you probably know, Gordon Brown has been queuing up for the past 5 years waiting for the moment, publicly supporting Bliar's policies but privately putting his machine into place.

It seems that Blairites are trying very hard to sabotage his takeover, however, to the extent now of commenting that his (Brown's) support for Bliar is a weakness for him when he takes over, given that everyone is baying for Bliar to go.

There are some fundamental fault lines within the party, particularly over PFI (Private Finance Initiative - getting private consortia to build hospitals/schools/etc. then renting it back off them at an inflated rate, a sneaky way around the fiscal rules for public sector borrowing which lines the pockets of a load of w-w-w-bankers), privatisation of health services (e.g. NHS logstics being outsourced to the private sector), education policy (faith-based schools and nonsense like that) and foreign policy (no prizes for guessing).

The thing is that when Brown does finally get into office, all these things will still be there to be dealt with. The expectation on both the right and left of the party is that he will reign back some of the Bliarite reforms. Hence, Bliar wants to wait as long as possible before resigning so Brown doesn't have enough time to undo them before losing the next election to the Tories.

It's almost as if Bliar would rather have David Cameron as the next Prime Minister than his own Chancellor.

[Janny]

And he's still in office... It just doesn't seem very difficult to stay in office when parliament isn't in session. His party members can squabble and resign on mass, but they can't block legislation. Rather than the PM looking weak for not being able to do anything, it's the party that looks childish for acting like, well, politicians. Also the Now Show is off the air at the moment.

On another fun issue: how do you rate the Yellow Party conference and all the stuff with Charlie K? Or should we just take our silence on the (now finished) conference to be meaningful?

[The Gaffer]

Wotcha janny. Settled into Oxford yet?

We'll see. Today sees the first national strike within the NHS for 20 years in protest over the outsourcing of NHS Logistics. This is a real ideological fault line. The Labour conference should be interesting.

Unlike the Lib Dems'. All that I saw of it was 1) the proposal to ditch the 50p top rate of tax in favour of "environmental" taxes, and 2) Ming being potentially upstaged by Chuckles.

Sadly, the former ain't going to win them any votes, and might lose mine depending on what the environmental policies actually are. It has the whiff of a knee-jerk reaction to the Tories' new logo (did you see THAT?? Ha ha ha ha hahahahaahahaaaaaaaaaAAAAARGit'll probably work).

You would have thought that if a party wanted a charismatic leader they wouldn't have elected Ming. When you see him doing the Adoration of the Magi routine it's a bit like watching someone's dad dancing at a school disco.

EDIT: Here's Steve Bell's take:



However, they have missed SO many opportunities over the last 3 years it is pathetic. There was an open goal over Iraq and Kennedy couldn't put the ball in the net. (Of course, maybe the fact that he thought there were four nets, all swirling around one another in a rather unsettling manner, probably upset his aim somewhat.)

As usual, the conference had a lot of substance, which of course means that the press have no idea how to report it so they go with Posh Spice's pants instead. On to the stage-managed journo-fodder of the Labour and Tory meets....

[Janny]

Wotcha Settled in? Goodness me no! If we start working now our 8 weeks will be up far too long before Christmas. *sigh, but no complaints*

If you don't vote LibDem and you can't vote for either Labour or the Tories... Are you feeling disenfranchised?

The Tory logo if awful. However, it will work. I thought that the quip about the logo was one of Ming's two good jokes. An oak can take up to 20 years to bear any fruit...
The other good one was the one about changing the Lib Dems from a party of opposition to a party of government. What a corker!

I was too overawed by being told that it was all about substance no spin to notice any of the substance. That said, now I know that Ming can run really fast and knows who the Arctic Monkeys are, I may well vote for him...

[Butterbeer]

Originally Posted by Janny

Wotcha
The other good one was the one about changing the Lib Dems from a party of opposition to a party of government. What a corker!

the yellow submarines had a conference?

must have missed it ... worra shame.

Have they brought in Claire short yet? She's on the transfer market ya know ... could be a damn good signing ..ya know ..someone people have heard of ...

Big Sam allayardice was rumoured to have been seen tapping up Minge the merciless at a wilderness crossroads recently ... rumours are that Claire had 'No comment' ... but NO ONE can beleive that ... couldn't even get it past the editor of THE Sport after closing time!

what was Cognac charlie up to then?

good luck at Oxford Janny btw!

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

i don't care about politics anymore, so long as there isn't a tory gov't or a "new" labour anymore i am pleased - we've had far too long of bliar's antics so far

y'know, i think "new" labour is thatcher's longest surviving legacy

[Butterbeer]

Bliar ... B liar - Billy Liar?

heh, reminds me Chrys - you ever read the extremely comic 'accidental death of an anarchist'?

as i recall it's a hoot!

if ye ain't read it!

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

hmm, i haven't i shall have to look out at a book shop - author..?

[Butterbeer]

ah, now ye are asking .... begins with an F i think ...italian bloke ...hang on a mo i'll do a search ...

[Butterbeer]

DARIO FO ...had an F, so i call that a result!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...095159,00.html

[Janny]

Cheers BB.

I'm sure there's no money Sam Allayardice could make out of the Lib Dems... though you'd expect the same remarks to go with Bolton FC...

Claire Short? Lib Dems? Heck a real politican in the Lib Dems?

Poor Chrys is having Gaffer syndrome. You've just run out of parties to vote for.

[Butterbeer]

There's always the dream ticket ..the SunStar / BB party!

ahhh ...Gaffer syndrome ... deadly ...quite deadly ...

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

lol, there's always respect, good old gorgeous george lol

[Janny]

Ooo cattie... not you, gorgeous George.

sun-star/BB? How about going with Sheen/Sorkin, and get them to pretend to be Bartlet?

[The Gaffer]

Now I'm back north, I do have the additional options of the Scottish Nationalists (the second party up here) and the Scottish Socialists. However, they are so inept they make the LibDems look competent. And independence would be a bad idea I think: the world needs less countries, not more.

THe only sliver of hope I see is if Brown turns out to be the PM that I think he could be. At least he will (probably) get a fair crack at it.

EDIT: forgot about the 8-week Oxford term. Blimey, it's a hard life eh?