But firstly
Posted on
April 15, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
It’s Monday morning, so rather than have an “And finally…” tonight we thought we’d cheer you up ahead of the grimmest day of the week with a couple of completely genuine unPhotoshopped images from this morning’s BBC Breakfast.
We’d love to imagine this was a satirical “accident”.
The massed Metropolitan Police prepare to arrest any dangerous anarchists plotting to viciously turn their backs on the funeral procession without official permission.
Is that Johann Lamont at front right?
My eyes aren’t what they used to be.
ROTFL!
All that is missing is the parade of Trident missiles. Just like TV in the old days
Ah its that cold war nostalgia!
Racist
This reminds me of early 2012 when David Cameron came to Scotland to boost SNP membership. His speech (to business leaders, I think) was shown live on BBC and the banner in the bottom of the screen contained a typo:
“Cameron: United Kingdom is a previous thing”
The time stamp was also very appropriate.: 13:14
I liked to think someone at BBC had not made a genuine mistake in spelling.
Let me see if I can find a screen grab of that…
Will all kilted gentlemen be banned from the procession audience if they are “sans culottes” lest there is a “Braveheart” moment?
Not suggesting though !
Call me a pedant if you like, but the BBC really ought to have made it clear that this was only the rehearsal for Thatcher’s funeral held in Horse Guard’s Parade at the weekend.
@Seasick Dave
I thought it was Duncan McNeill, but then again, he prefers banging desks, so you could be right!
Thankfully, we will be high in the sky when Thatcher makes her way to eternity, so will miss all the shennanigens. Off to the Republic of France for a few days
Oh DANG!
That’s them off the honours list.
Long lines of useless helmets emoting on cue – come Wednesday they’ll be wearing different uniforms and badges.
FTWFLOT
@Seasick Dave,
“when Thatcher makes her way to eternity”.
I hope she gets a stiff neck from looking up at us for the rest of time.
Apologies to the deluded leader of the single party state if I’m wrong.
Rev, I am dismayed by your lack of forensic dissection on BBC Scotland and the Sunday Politics show in which Andrew Kerr gave a huge interview to an American right wing Republican and former aide to George W Bush, Franklin Miller, who helped the Unionist cause by launching an attack on the SNP’s NATO plans. It was one of the most blatant and biased pieces of reporting since Glenn Campbell went to America to seek out those who would create the non existent backlash to Scotland over Megrahis release. After two weeks he gave up and came home to report a pack of lies.
Frome Newsnetscotland.com who covered it in detail,
“Worse followed when show host Andrew Kerr asked a question that will have did his reputation no good. Just why he thought it appropriate to ask if a newly independent Scotland would face a “backlash” from the USA should Trident be removed, was not immediately evident. There has, as far as we can tell, no indication from anyone anywhere that the USA would retaliate in this manner should Scotland’s government remove Trident from the Clyde.” link to bit.ly
They also dissected the dreadful Brewer on his awful Newsnicht propaganda and disinformation slot. Again from Newsnetscotland.com
“Last week when the story broke, the BBC in Scotland was clearly reluctant to give it a high profile and actively sought to downplay its importance. On the day that news organisations received lawyer’s letters, leading to one website closing down, the BBC broadcast a rather bizarre ‘interview’ on Newsnight Scotland featuring someone called Severin Carrell.
For those not aware, Mr Carrell is the Guardian newspaper’s Scottish correspondent and one time regular guest on BBC Scotland. He is also very much pro-Union and regularly attacks the SNP in his Guardian columns.
His appearance on Newsnight Scotland was not so much an interview as a blatant attempt at minimising the significance of the news that had been circulating online for days. As you can see from the clip below, Mr Carrell also took the opportunity to attack ‘nationalist’ online blogs and sites who have a pro-independence slant.” link to bit.ly
As I said unless I missed it you appear to have not held BBC Scotland to account. Given that they are one of the most powerful mediums that has direct access to every household in Scotland every hour of the day. And that they never miss a chance to deliver unionist propaganda, I would have thought you would deliver a daily article on their blatant lies and propaganda. If not why not?
Racist
Damn. Now I feel like a fucking idiot.
Hen Broon as Newsnet have already done a fine job on it ,I fail to see the point you are trying to make here.
Also Angus Robertson on same piece took Murphy apart ,worth the watch.
Why reinvent the wheel?
Most of us read both sites and a fair few more too
“Rev, I am dismayed by your lack of forensic dissection on BBC Scotland and the Sunday Politics show”
I was out on Sunday afternoon and haven’t caught up on SPScotland yet. Sounds like others have done the job, though.
@Rod Mac
Agreed. The tag for this thread is “light hearted banter” hence my post at 9.41.
Loosen up lads !
Also, Sunday politics, Newsnight etc are not so important, I don’t think. How many people actually watch them? Not many, I’d wager, and most that do will be politically astute, if not actually politcally active. They are programmes for political nerds. Far more important is the mainstream media, and the steady drip, drip of misinformation and negativity.
Politics itself, and the kind of childish he said-she said; they’re worse than we are stuff really turns most people off any debate. Most people are not party political, or tribal and really couldn’t give a stuff about the party political details – they want yes or no facts. That’s a good thing for the independence debate.
Rod Mac, The point I am making is that the BBC need to be held to account with every means at our disposal. I have stopped paying the licence fee and give the money to sites such as this and the SNP, for that very reason. I agree with your analysis on the Newsnet piece. However given the reach the Rev now has, I feel this site should be nailing the BBC on every single page as they are far to powerful. Just because another outlet covers some thing is not a reason not to cover it other wise our newspapers would have perished long ago. The BBC needs to be held to account every single day, many people still treat their word as gospel we need to be reaching them. Fair enough rev you were out on Sunday, their is still time, your skills are required more than ever.
Cath IMHO you have got it very wrong. The BBC are very powerful and they know it, they need to held to account at every turn.
RevStu
I am upset that ypu are not omnipresent and omnipotent, and I suspect you of blatsntly having a personsl life!
nice screencaps above though
Making a financial contribution is not the same thing as buying the website or editorial control. I think you should be a little less demanding, Hen.
I hope the Rev does not mind me giving a plug to another sympathetic site
link to athousandflowers.net
Some excellent articles and another worth adding to the favourites
” The BBC are very powerful and they know it, they need to held to account at every turn.”
I don’t disagree; I just don’t think that power lies in overtly political programmes, which are preaching to the converted if they’re biased, while pissing opponents off. The danger isn’t there, but in the low level drip-drip on more mainstream programmes.
But I also don’t think overt propaganda is as powerful as propagandists think. For example, I bet many people are waking up to what the BBC has become this week with all the Thatcher stuff. There is a real danger to overt propaganda that the powerful are in far too much of a bubble to see.
This reminds me of a great tweet I saw at the weekend, going on about worshipping a dead leader, the state broadcaster censoring itself and various other ridiculous things, and it all being the view of the UK from Pyongyang. I’ve always thought it a bit rich when we go on about how much countries like China don’t have press freedom etc, but the UK has really excelled itself recently.
Nothing to do with the above but somehow related:
A YES vote will make Scottish History…
A NO vote will make Scotland history.
Tartan Seer.
The weekend political coverage, plus the repeats of FMQs on the BBC Parliament channel etc all help the Beeb demonstrate how much coverage they’ve given to ‘regional’ concerns.
Independent broadcasters have an obligation to provide x% of ‘social action broadcasting’ per annum, and that’s why we used to see public information films being shown in batches late at night (‘Learn to swim young man’, the old geezer falling asleep in his chair, dropping the fag-end onto the racing form, the toddler swigging from a lemonade bottle filled with bleach etc etc). These short films were shown when most folk were asleep and/or already well-alight.
The long and short of it – none of these broadcasters, even as the referendum is upon us, will sacrifice prime-time slots to make way for debates or political analysis of any kind. Best we can hope for is the highlights of pre-recorded studio debates a la QT.
So it goes…
Hen Broom
Have you noticed the last paragraph in every NNS article nowadays:
….how you can help make others aware of Scotland’s biggest independent online news site.
Quoting the REV, the bold is ALL mine
PS Just checked Youtube – hundreds of those public information films.
Here’s one of the less frightening.
(For some reason it reminds me of Willie Rennie and FMQs…)
Does this mean we will also see reruns of the “Dukes of Hazard” what with all this 80’s nostalgia and cold war shenanigans?
Yes the bbc news online re Scotland this morning was certainly full of doom and gloom, what with the article on NATO top of the list, then the lack of shopping taking place in Scotland during March, except in shopping centres, what next from the bbc?
No news is good news?
I did not know that “First Ministers Question Time” was on early this week, but fairs fair it does look like Lamont, Davidson and Rennie have been working out over the easter holidays.
PS. Is that the new uniforms of the “better together” (NO) campaigners.
Vote YES, so you dont have to wear a “NO” campaign uniform.
@henbroon
I’d demand your money back if I were you.
The Andrew Kerr show referred to above by HenBroon, and well reported by NNS, does look like fertile material for Rev Stu’s wit.
Way back in time the boyfriend of one of my wife’s friends was nicknamed Tattie Boogle due to him being tall, skinny and having massive hands. every time Murphy appears on TV….
And Murphy does try to be scary, crowing on with his concerns on defence – accumulated by years of study of defence matters? Or just some recently memorised one-liners? A bit like Mags Curran and her use of economics terminology.
Velofello
I can never look at the Murph without imagining him having fallen down a drain and only being held up because his ears have stuck in the grating
Pity that, for the sewer would should be his ancestoral home
@ Tom Hogg are you getting treatment for your Tourettes??
Little known conspiracy theories
NO. 1.
Did Alexander the Third fall or was he pushed?.
We’ll never be able to afford a funeral like Maggie’s for our Dear Leader if we go independent.
link to athousandflowers.net
s_s @2:34
We’ll never be able to afford a funeral like Maggie’s for our Dear Leader if we go independent.
Is that finally a positive case for the union?
I have just a brand new Macbook and am now trying to remove sanny and ham spatter from the screen and keyboard.
My solicitor will be in touch presently, Messrs. Swindle, Hoax and Dodger.