The link to this documentary appeared in a comment I was reading in the Telegraph. I found it fascinating, though perhaps I am being naive. Regardless of what you think about Tommy Robinson and his political views, there appears to be little question that the BBC is extremely biased in its reporting, that its presenters are hypocrites and that it uses very underhand methods to extract information. If nothing else, this shows how the BBC licence fees are spent!
Tag: BBC
All hail to Rod Liddle
Once again my apologies for the blatant cut and paste in the original version of this post. I should have known better and I trust that this version falls within the rules.
All I wanted to say was that there is an article in the Spectator magazine that struck a cord with me. Rod Liddle presents a rather jaded view of the BBC’s fetish for Political Correctness. He takes particular aim at the Beeb’s recent production of Watership Down which he describes as being “woke”. (“The ABC Murders” also warrants a barb .)
He talks of of Bigwig being a “bruv from the ’hood” and alerts us to the fact that one of the warren is a campaigner for social justice while another is a transgendering rabbit called Strawberry. Not having seen the program, I cannot say whether this is an accurate representation or rather a bit of mischief by Mr Liddle, but I think I get the gist. It rather surprises me that Richard Adams’s estate allowed such nonsense.
Anyway, Mr Liddle concludes that his New Year resolution may be to join Charles Moore in refusing to pay the BBC licence fee. I almost wish I was living in the UK so that I could join the boycott.
The link to the article is here https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/01/the-bbcs-quest-to-make-watership-down-woke/. There is a pay wall, but generally infrequent visitors are allowed a 3 free articles a month.
The Open coverage scores 3/10
It’s rubbish!
In fact my 3 out of 10 includes 2 bonus points for the wonderful commentary and anecdotes of Peter Alliss, I have a book of his on the history of The Open, that’s my book jacket on the left but more on that later.
The camerawork is poor, failing to follow balls in the air, frequently having no idea where balls have landed and by way of apology panning across the green / fairway in the hope that somebody may spot it. Well, without an outdoor size mega TV screen with hi def we the viewers have no chance!
This from yesterday’s Mail by way of example …
It’s not great for the BBC – faced with Sky and their superior golf production challenging for Open rights from 2016 – that their cameraman on the second hole missed one of the shots of the tournament as Sergio Garcia holed with his second for an eagle two.
Fifteen minutes later, BBC finally showed a replay from behind of Garcia hitting the ball, but lost sight of its progress to the pin.
The captions or the lack thereof, are rubbish! Frequently wrong, “eagle putt” it says, no it wasn’t, it was for birdie, “4th shot” it says, no it wasn’t etc. etc.
And as for that ridiculous round detail where 18 holes are simply listed left to right without spaces, the player’s scores underneath is not only difficult to read but is shown for such a short space of time to allow any logical analysis impossible. Continue reading “The Open coverage scores 3/10”
Undervalued: Jeremy Clarkson
The pre-season rumour mill has Manchester United purportedly offering Barca £24million for Cesc Fabregas. For just over half that sum the Red Devils could buy Jeremy Clarkson. The divine JC took home a £14million salary from the BBC last year for his work on Top Gear. That’s fourteen million reasons to pay the license fee, if you ask me. Continue reading “Undervalued: Jeremy Clarkson”
Proud Father
‘unbelievable’ ‘indescribable’ ‘look, he cries, just like me’
We get all the coverage but of course not the BBC continuity nor interviews. JM brought this interview to my attention (thanks JM) it’s titled ‘The media moment of the games so far’ at only 1:45 it’s short, entertaining and well worth a look. (Link to BBC interview)
The Reith Lectures – Niall Ferguson
I have just been listening to the 4th and final of the BBC Reith Lectures presented by Niall Ferguson. Despite his conceit and reputation as a media tart, I like Prof Ferguson. I have read a couple of his books, Empire and The Ascent of Money both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. In my view he is a bright man with sound ideas
Ferguson was born in Glasgow and educated at the Glasgow Academy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_Ferguson
The subject of the Lectures this year was The Rule of Law And Its Enemies http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jms03
I am not sure if you can still find the first 2, but the 3rd and 4th are available and worth listening to, especially the last which is presented up in Edinburgh. Ferguson advocates more individual involvement in all aspects of daily life including social activities and private education, especially education and less government interference. His audience seems to entirely comprise Glaswegian left-wing academics and trades unionists; add to that the BBC’s Sue Lawley and he appears to be in a minority of one. But I find it difficult not to agree with almost everything he says and it leaves me depressed that there are so many who would oppose his views.
Have a listen if you can. I think Mr Mackie in particular would enjoy them.
Wonders of The Universe
There are over 3,000 specs of light in this photograph and each and every one is a galaxy! How do I know this? Professor Brian Cox told me so! Continue reading “Wonders of The Universe”
Heya, na na na
So there I was watching the television over the weekend and a promo comes on for Joanne Lumley and her trip down the Nile.
Looks like it could be a good series (okay, I know that most here have probably seen it already but we haven’t)
Back to the promo, in the background I hear one of my favourite tunes of all time, so I start googling to find the artist and hear a bit more than the BBC aired.
Couldn’t find it, it’s not on the DVD credits nor the BBC Knowledge website, I asked Mrs. Soutie just now, she says “oh ja, Heya na na na”
We found it and wanted to share…
Here’s the full version without the humanoids Continue reading “Heya, na na na”
‘David Starkey is ill-suited to hold forth on topics other than the Tudors.’ Discuss.
Boadicea. Perhaps you would like to start the conversation.
Becoming a criminal
I was struck by the last sentence in this article.
“Watching TV without a valid licence is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £1,000.”
Given the invasive nature of TV licence inspectors and the ruthlessness with which they pursue their objectives, I imagine that quite a few, otherwise harmless citizens, find themselves with criminal records. In the event, albeit unlikely, that I were to be successfully prosecuted for not owning a television licence and thus categorized as a criminal, I think that I would be more, rather than less, inclined to commit further crimes. There is an old saying, ‘one may as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb’ and I think this is a perfect example of how the pettiness of self-serving law-makers has the unintended but predictable result of creating more law-breakers. Having a criminal record creates all sorts of difficulties in a persons life including inhibiting one’s ability to travel, denying one job opportunities, prohibiting one from becoming a company director and so forth. I do not want a criminal record, but were I to have one, it would no longer serve as a deterrent. Tax evasion, amongst a host of other crimes, would suddenly become a real consideration. By branding me a criminal, you turn me into one. That is of course if one assumes I have no moral inhibitions.
Boadicea's Chariot 