Standards of BBC journalism and reporting and impartiality deteriorating.....

Complete Wan*er on BBC news just now...talking to the NUT leader at the head of the protest march taking place in Manchester.. he asked " What would you do instead of these cuts given the state of the finances....?" She explained about collecting unpaid tax/clamping down on tax evasion/keeping the 50p rate for high earners and imnposing the proposed levy on financial transactions. He responded by asking her "What is the alternative to the cuts??" She, to her credit, patiently said "...err what I just said!!.
He then turns to someone else saying... " It's not just Unions taking part but ORDINARY people as well!!" FFS BBC and the media constantly talk as if union members are somehow not part of the public. Granted union membership is nowhere near as high as it used to be especially as the the overwhelming majority of people are employed by small businesses but how can you say teachers, nurses doctors, police, firemen, health and care workers etc. etc are not ORDINARY people.
The language used by the media and the BBC seems to reinforce the current governments anti-union stance in an attempt to turn public opiniopn against the union movement. What a shame so many people never read beyond the headlines or the 1st paragraph.
PS I am not a labour voter or particularly pro union but seeing biased reporting with lack of impartiality makes my blood boil!

 

Excellent post


..........

 

You should read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. The parallels with our current disgrace of a government's policies are scary.

 

Although not one for conspiracy theories, it ties in with my view that the ruling elite would like nothing more than a return to the status quo per 1920's i.e. ruling rich with people in service, Super rich served by the masses on minimum wages and an end to egalitarianism.
An interesting short story from CM Kornbluth written in the mid 20th century has a different slant where the masses are kept under control by being provided with 'entertainment' and a false 'perception' of wealth and prosperity (along the lines of the 'games' and free bread at the Roman colosseum' under the Caesars.....(strictly come dancing X factor and London 2012 and "...all in this together" anyone???).
The irony of that book though is that the minority ruling elite are practically slaves to the masses having to come up with ever creative ways of satisfying the masses to keep them subdued. It was called 'The Marching Morons"

 

I'll check it out. It sounds a bit like the ludicrous situation in Communist Russia under Brezhnev and just after. I've read some Soviet school texts about "The Motherland's gifts to the children of the Soviet Union" and they're comical and disturbing in equal measures.

 

The scary thing for me listening to various politics shows this morning was how many times, the Tories harked back to Thatcher's time... they want a return to the selfishness and greed of that era, as it will line their own pockets and make the middle class and above more wealthy, whilst keeping the lower paid, always just that!

 

I really cannot understand why anyone could possibly have thought anything other than what you describe.
Tories never have and never will give a **** about anyone other than the rich, Labour , whilst trying to seem like they give a ****, also cuddled upo to the rich whilst all along feathering their own nests, Lib-Dems are just a waste of space as has be proven by their inability to actually care about the policies they said they cared about, since getting into bed with the Tories. Much as I hate to say it UKIP looks better everytime I see Farage on TV.

 

Let's face it, whoever is in power will end up going the same way. Unless we get some politicians who don't want to self-serve, can't see it unfortunately. By the very nature of being politician means they will always be part of the better off class, us working class will never be properly represented again.

 

And NOW Theresa May wants Britain to opt out of the Human Rights Act

Whilst I can see her ppoint that too many foreign criminals and convicted asylum seekers are hiding behind it to prevent their extradition it does also provide some protection for us against some of the excesses and abuses of authority. However I don't see how you can apply some bits and ignore others (a bit like being a part time virgin)

On the subject of human rights how did a 'learned!!?? judge rule against the plaintiffs who took the Met to court over' kettling'. Unless martial law or something is invoked how can holding people (including pregnant women and innocent shop and office workers trying to go home) for several hours without water food or toilet facilities against their will be anything other than excessive force or false imprisonment?
Kettling, to the best of my knowledge is not on the statute books or enshrined in law and is merely a policy or tactic used by the police. It assumes guilt before innocence and so breaks every principle of english law. This suggests the 'learned' judge is not learned and used the law selectively and is polically biased. If we do opt out of human rights the plaintiffs have no where to turn when such ludicrous decisions are made by out-of-touch/politically motivated judges. Yes the police have a difficult job at times but the Met are on many occasions out of control and and seem to be above the law at times.

 

Whether you agree with these strikes or not the BBC should report the facts impartially and without bias however to be fair to the BBC I find their 5 live and Radio Four services to be excellent. Nicky Campbell in particular is an outstanding journalist and broadcaster.

 

Re: And NOW Theresa May wants Britain to opt out of the Human Rights Act

An excellent idea IMO. The Human Rights Act is not fit for purpose and protects people who don't deserve protection. The sooner it is replaced by a Bill of Rights that suits our country and our sovereignty the better.

 

Re: And NOW Theresa May wants Britain to opt out of the Human Rights Act

But it won't be, will it?

 

The BBC is doing all it can to cosy up to Dave and George in the vain hope of not being sold to Rupert.

 

Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor is former Chairman of the Young Conservatives and should have been sacked after his blatant bias during the last election campaign. Paxman and the Daily Telegraph reporters behaviour on Newsnight the other night towards an EU official was a total disgrace, he should be sacked as well. Andrew Marr and his Super Injunction against reporting his affair, he should be sacked. All the Sky Fox News team should be banned from journalism for life,the way they have reported the Meredith Kercher murder has been appalling ,no coincidence Fox News has been supporting Amanda Knox's appeal bid

 

They don't even want a sizeable middle class, they just want a land-owning elite running a closed shop for themselves, and a divided working class, struggling with atrocious public services and with very few rights who are paid peanuts, totally expendable and politically inert. I live in such a country, it's completely dog eat dog. No way am I staying here to bring up my daughter. Society here is rotten to the core, and the scary thing is, the greed is catching. And yet Britain seems to be going the same way, hmmmm. Maybe I could move to the moon? At least Putin or Cameron wouldn't be likely to turn up there.

 

To be fair to Paxman.....

...I did see him absolutely annihilate a Conservative politician (Francis Maude I think) on newsnight on the day of the Teachers strike. When all the other so-called' journalists were spouting government mantra - i.e. "gold-plated pensions", "private sector paying for public sector pensions" - (teachers pensions ARE contributory and they also pay a lot of tax)," it is wrong to strike whilst negotiation are still ongoing" and " we are all living longer and that's a good thing!" , Paxman took each of the key sticking points of the 'negotiations' and challenged Maude as to whether they were on the agenda.
Systematically he exposed Maude's and the government's hypocrisy and negotiations as a sham as every point he pressed home turned out top be non- negotiable. The (not so) Honourable MP blustered and waffled through each point and each time Paxman said " so not negotiable then?" Maude gave the usual "what I would say..." response as well as chanting the mantra over and over again "...but we are all living longer and that's a good thing!"

Finally, lumping all Public sector pensions in the box marked 'unsustainable' is one of the main sticking points as each pension fund is different. Some are perfectly sustainable and affordable, having been changed a few years ago to head off any impending problem re affordability, so they should be subject to separate negotiations.

Furthermore the proposed increase in contributions is NOT ring fenced and, although this has not been reported by the media, the additional money will simply disappear into the treasury to pay off the national debt leaving the way clear for the govt to claim in 2 or three years that pension funds are insufficient to meet demand and so give justification to change the terms yet again! This, incidentally is one of the main reasons why the pension problem exists in the 1st place since Gordon Brown raided the pension funds (Private and Public) taking billions out of them by taxing them. Thatcher and the Conservatives also allowed employer contribution 'holidays' during the good times but expect employee contributions to make up the shortfall now it has all gone' t*ts-up'.

Thes are facts conveniently ignored by the vast majority of the popular press who, rather than search for news, rely on Govt hand outs etc for the 'facts'. Clearly they want to set public and private sector workers against each other to divide and conquer.

 

Yh his best work was Wheel of Fortune.

 

Re: To be fair to Paxman.....

That's EXACTLY what they want to do,

 

Re: To be fair to Paxman.....

And that is exactly what is happening, have a look at any thread on here that mentions people out of work.
You will get some that just swallow everything they hear, "work shy, scum etc etc". Repeat things often enough and some people take that as the truth.

 

what the same ukip that says the tory cuts don't go far enough or the ukip that says the union leaders should be jailed if strike action is taken or the ukip that wante to abolish workers rights. i'd read the small print if i was you mark these ukips are posh tories. you may agree on a couple of things but watch the trap.