One of the reasons many people now do not listen to mainstream media news and commentary is the way that factual reporting coupled with expert and insightful balanced analysis has been replaced by a kind of campaign based activity. The BBC in particular has two regular campaigns running. One is to explain why the Remain campaign was really right and should not have lost. The other is to stress the need to cut back on carbon dioxide to avoid serious problems in the future.
IÂ have no problems with political parties, individuals, company shareholders, research institutes and others running campaigns about things they feel strongly about. I do not think this is in any way the task of an independent broadcaster paid for by taxation of all tv users in the country whether they watch the BBC or not, operating under a Charter to observe impartiality and to set high standards of journalism. It also makes for very tedious programmes.
In the case of Brexit I has lost count of how many times we have had the same old stories recycled as if they were news. They are not factual reporting. They are commentaries on various people’s forecasts and opinions. We get recycled opinions that we will be short of food, planes wont fly, short of medicines, that supply chains will be disrupted etc. All it needs is one quote from a Remain oriented think tank or business lobby group and we go round the same old scare story again. Rebuttals never attract the same attention. There is then the perpetual reuse of the Treasury 15 year forecast of a bit less growth on different scenarios, with no proper debunking of their base or of the whole idea of a 15 year forecast!
Where is the factual reporting of what airlines, pharmaceutical exporters from the continent, farmers in France and others are actually going to do on March 30th? Where are the balancing experts to offset the Remain “experts”. I have never been invited on and introduced as someone who correctly predicted the damage the ERM would do, or as someone who  has written extensively on the Euro project explaining its dangers and predicting the various Euro crises, nor as someone who has in the past led UK based international businesses with complex supply chains. If I had voted Remain and held the opposite view  I bet they would have mentioned that all the time.
We now see reported dozens of rumours about what deal might or might not be on offer, whilst it looks as if there is still no agreement on the Irish border issues or the wider issues of customs and goods inspections. The media that reports these things ignores the much bigger issue of why should we agree to pay them so much money anyway?  What linkage would there be between the Future Partnership Agreement and the Withdrawal Agreement, given that such linkage was thought to be fundamental to the UK negotiating position as defined by Mrs May in her Manifesto. If the EU in a couple of years time has in mind the UK should sign an Association Agreement along the lines of Turkey or Ukraine that would be the final denial of Brexit. Sensible MPs will not vote for the draft Withdrawal Agreement as it is a big  payment for more talks, which would simply prolong futile negotiations and leave the UK in a weak position.
No wonder many are turning off and being turned off by this approach. Let’s go back to news gathering, to reliable sources, to genuine experts or to clashes of experts where they disagree. We could also do with fewer reported briefings of sell out agreements when there is still no firm date for a November meeting to resolve the impasse, nor any leaked text of what might be agreed in such an event.
November 6, 2018
It is all about “framing the debate” by only presenting one side of an argument. It is evident that some reporting has moved onto the disreputable ground of “fake news”; as you point out some of this takes extreme forms. I expect we are going to get extra heavy doses of both as we approach the Brexit negotiations climax. This time Mrs May will join in as she tries to intimidate her Cabinet into supporting her draft agreement if today’s newspaper headlines are to be believed. This time the Cabinet should stand firm and insist on a line by line scrutiny to discover what sneaky wording has been inserted in this latest draft.
November 6, 2018
Indeed. No one in business would sign up to a 90 page contract of closely typed legalese without line by line professional scrutiny. The Cabinet should have insisted that they be given more time before agreeing Chequers. Of course Theresa May and Ollie Robbins knew the narrative would not stand up to forensuc analysis so held it back until the last minute and then bounced the Cabinet into agreeing on the back of threats and appeals to loyalty and it suited the Ministers so they could absolve themselves of personal responsibity.
November 6, 2018
Nig1, The Cabinet already signed up to the 104 page Chequers plan. So we will get Chequers, or worse. Theresa May authorised Chequers behind the backs of her own Ministers; and it has certainly been worked on at least since the infamous “Kit-Kat” tapes in March 2018. So all the concessions and Bremainerism in Chequers is already baked in. That includes the ÂŁ39bn bribe.
I am bewildered by JR maintaining that the EU will let us off the hook of Chequers. The EU always takes any concessions offered. Nor is it sensible just hoping that a few Leave Conservative MPs will be enough to throw Chequers out. The PM, the Chancellor, all the Cabinet, two thirds of Tory MPs, and very many Remain Labour MPs are all supporting Bremain. Chequers is the only (UK) plan on the table. It is too late for a genuine Brexit.
Reply I did not say the EU would save us. Mrs May will need primary legislation for any deal. I will not vote for a sell out
November 7, 2018
Today we read the choreographed treason by May in a communication strategy. Which must have been written before the cabinet meeting Yesterday!
Tusk yesterday explained at a news conference how he worked hard with Cameron to prevent Brexit! Cameron also used foreign heads of govt, govt bodies, business to act against our national interest i.e. Back of th queue. May’s communication and action to date follow the exact same lines.
When will you oust this horrible underhand odeous woman from office. She is a traitor to electoral democracy and is definitely acting against our democratic national interest.
November 7, 2018
Reply to reply: JR indeed I do trust you will not sell us out. But how many more are as resolute and honourable as you are? Twenty? A hundred? And how many Labour Remain MPs will betray your defence of the pass, allowing the Remain army to conquer democracy?
November 6, 2018
JR, much news about the Irish backstop. There was never a mention of a punishment extension, which later was labelled by May as a transition then implementation anything to con the public.
The transition period was intended to implement the details of the trade deal and go from one trading relationship to another. The punishment extension was never intended as an extra period to negotiate a trade deal because if it was the ÂŁ39 billion would have been given away legally to the EU without any legal obligation to agree a trade deal. A political declaration is an invitation to treat, an aspiration, hope, stated intention. Call it as you will it is not a legally binding obligation.
Therefore if we accepted, which of course no right minded person would, the purpose of the transition no backstop comes into play because all would be agreed by 29/03/2019 and the transition would allow that trade deal to play out for two years with a specific and definite end time of December 2020.
The gist of the above is also confirmed by JRM on his pod cast at conhome.
Therefore it is reasonable to conclude once more, May has failed to keep her word in her Lancaster speech and following comments, failed to deliver your manifesto commitment, failed to deliver Brexit, failed to honour the referendum and is a liar. May is making it up she goes to deceive the public. This is a central policy issue so why has she not resigned or been forced to go?
November 6, 2018
‘This time the Cabinet should stand firm and insist on a line by line scrutiny to discover what sneaky wording has been inserted in this latest draft.’
Can’t see that happening OT. May has constructed a cabinet of mainly ‘yes people’ and largely in her own ‘remain’ image. There aren’t many free-thinkers left and they are certainly in the minority. We’re talking about a sham group of sock puppets in the main who will do and think whatever they are told to by their EU masters.
The Tories had countless opportunities to get rid of May and give the nation strong leadership, but their inaction is precisely what these pro-EU nonentities in the cabinet have been counting upon. They drift along, wasting time, making mountains out of molehills, creating massive problems where there aren’t any, and trying to make out the task of leaving the EU is hard when it isn’t.
Slanted broadcasters like the BBC just love this artificial impasse. It gives them an even greater opportunity to ridicule the leave campaign and make Brexit look unworkable. To say I am angry is a gross understatement, and I know others feel just as passionately about May’s betrayal.
Tad
November 7, 2018
Tad Davison, That is quite profound. Well said.
November 6, 2018
Trend over the last 2 years has been Murdoch Sky news takeover blocked; Trinity Mirror bought express; new editors at express & Mail in 2018. My view is no coincidence. https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2018/06/who-will-speak-for-england-after-dacre-departs.html#IDComment1062857389
I think that The Establishment had hoped that Continuity Project Fear would have moved polls by now.
November 6, 2018
The BBC is a far-left mouthpiece for the EU and ‘remainerism’ It’s time it lost its licence fee and stood on its own feet.
November 6, 2018
Indeed. Also for ever higher taxes, ever more government, anti the private rented sector, pro the dire state virtual monopoly NHS that kills and harms millions, for absurd climate alarmism ….. in fact largely they support the daft May/Hammond agenda.
November 6, 2018
Nobody who works for the BBC should get pay than the Prime Minister (whover that is).
A fail to see any talent in Graham Norton, Gary Lineker or Chris Evan that warrant ÂŁ1m plus salary.
If you watch most of the media you would think that Bloody Sinday was the only atrocity during the Northern Ireland Troubles. Whatever happened on Bloody Sunday, the various versions of the IRA murdered well over 2,ooo people. This never gets mentioned by the media.
November 6, 2018
By the way when I said “atrocity” above I was not passing judgement as to what happened. This is the way the media report it.
November 6, 2018
Neither does the Ballymurphy massacre. Similar protagonists to Bloody Sunday but kept very quiet. You would have to google it.
November 6, 2018
The BBC losing the license is a UKIP policy. The Tories like left wing propaganda far too much to ever countenance such a thing.
November 6, 2018
Along with many other UKIP ‘policies’ this is a good one. So many sensible things in their manifesto – it sounds exactly like the one we’d like to see from our Conservative Party.
But when?
November 6, 2018
Indeed. May and Hammond seem to love lefty propaganda. They even seem to think the dire state monopoly NHS is the just great as it is.
November 6, 2018
@Old Albion
That would never happen under a LibLabCon govt, the last review by the Tory govt resulted in an increase to the BBC Licence cost and extended it to cover iPlayer.
On the other hand UKIP’s stated position is to abolish TV Licences together with the following:
⢠Inheritance Tax
⢠HS2
⢠Stamp Duty
⢠Foreign Aid
⢠EU membership
⢠Tuition Fees for STEM subjects
November 6, 2018
Many of UKIP policies are eminently sensible, thanks largely to Suzanne Evans’ intelligent attitude in drafting practicability. Foreign Aid is irrationally high, & needs moderation, but its abolition would be too extreme.
Others listed are prime candidates. BBC should be controlled by pay to view.
November 6, 2018
What you and I, John, and many other posters here would like is for the media to offer rational and informative discussion on all the many complex issues involved in running a country.
Sadly, the media appear to be in a collectively addictive state of mass-hysteria. We were used to seeing this whenever there was reporting on the NHS, for example; now it feeds on the Brexit negotiations, worsened by the Prime Minister’s unfailing propensity to get things wrong.
November 6, 2018
Your points today explain why I find your diary such a valuable resource.
The BBC I now disregard (whilst denying it the oxygen of funding).
November 6, 2018
Oh come come the conspiracy goes wider than that. The O B R , the Treasury, The Bank of England, the IMF, Economists not called Minford , The City , Manufacturers, Exporters Academia, something called the “Elite”, the Unions, the young, the EU itself, Charities , Human Rights Campaigners, The Metropolitan and especially London( Boo!), Parliament , The Arts, The Financial Times ( Boo!), Business “( Boo!), The Guardian of course , also the Times the I F S , Experts of all kinds Snowball Osborne.
Infamy infamy , they’ve all …etc.
I run the whole thing from my underground lair on behalf of my ” E U masters!
*strokes white cat and cackles *
November 6, 2018
It does indeed include the above.
November 6, 2018
Also the Economist magazine, most stand up comics, nearly all “actors”, most pop musicians, 85% of the people on Question Time or Any Questions …..
November 6, 2018
You forgot the civil service the judiciary and the Church of England
November 6, 2018
Lifelogic
“Also the Economist magazine, most stand up comics, nearly all âactorsâ, most pop musicians, 85% of the people on Question Time or Any Questions âŚ.”
I agree entirely. Indeed all thesbians and actors, actresses are seditious and subversive left-wingers by nature.
They’re always pushing boundaries. Promotion of minority’s characteristics on TV BEFORE the watershed is an example.
They always want more than they’re given, since their agenda is to dumb down British traditional and family values to the point where the nation wouldn’t be able to defend itself.
We already have minorities given more rights than the majority. In fact the majority are regularly stripped of their rights. Free speech being a fine example.
Oh and it’s also now a crime to ‘dislike’. If you have a dislike of someone else, you’re guilty of hate crime.
It all started years ago, one example being the abolishment of British wrestling from the TV, and it’s replacement by ‘tennis’.
Now the big thing in television media is dancing and baking cakes.
WOW ! there’s a thing! no one will dare try it on with us as we’ll retaliate with fairy cakes.
Makes you wonder what they’ll replace Trident with.
Stalin couldn’t have done a better job on the British.
Marxism, left-wingism, PC biased media and entertainments, suppression of free speech – all political subversion and a deadly disease to democracy.
November 6, 2018
Can we have some challenge to all these “experts” who say Brexit is a bad idea? Rather, what we see is obsequious media who only want to challenge Brexit advocates. Maybe then we will be in a better position to make an informed view.
So there might be some problems about leaving the EU. Do you suppose these are insurmountable? They are to those “experts” who haven’t the wit to think out of the box.
November 6, 2018
Dave Andrews:
The challenge was from the majority decision of those favouring Brexit in the Referendum, who disregarded the so-called experts’ waffle. So many Brexiteers already had, & have, an informed view based on experience of life, assessment of contrasting info sources, recognition of what is truth, & what is worthy of belief when predicted to happen.
If problems were to occur from leaving the EU, we British can find solutions free from its interference.
November 6, 2018
You pretty well named all those who thought the Euro was a great idea and now keep quiet on the matter, especially when Greece and Italy are brought into the conversation. How often do you here “without the Euro, Greece would be on its knees?”
The same will of course be true in future of their non-democratic EU plan and the UK.
November 6, 2018
I can easily believe that you are posting from your mum’s basement.
November 6, 2018
The rest of the BBC’s output. Drama, comedy. It’s all leftist.
November 6, 2018
Here’s a typical BBC tactic.
American Michael Lewis is on the BBC Breakfast Sofa promoting his book against Trump. He is allowed to sit alone without interruption.
When Peter Hitchens promoted his book recently he was joined on the sofa by Dan Snow who repeatedly interrupted him.
Those of right wing leanings must be accompanied by an opposing person – for balance, of course.
Whatever.
Dissatisfaction with the EU is not a fringe, mob issue. It is mainstream and yet there is no give from your side.
You will do nothing to redress the issues which gave rise to Brexit.
Very well. I shall never vote again. I get the message.
Andy certainly makes it clear that he’s a lot richer than me. I guess you (living in Lewes) must be too. I live in a deprived post code.
I’m already prepared for Corbyn. Are you ?
November 6, 2018
Of course – and it’s not a new concept-I can’t remember whether it was Trotsky or Brecht (or the one quoting the other):”Art is not a mirror to reflect society but a hammer to fashion it.”
See also the imposition of “socialist realism” across the arts in the Soviet Union
under the Zhdanov Doctrine.
November 6, 2018
BBC âcomedyâ is absurdly left wing and pro remain. Together with a bit of smearing UKIP as racists and attacking climate realists as âdeniersâ.
November 6, 2018
Thanks for the list of undemocratic, Guardian-reading, EU-funded, EU-protected, Globalist, immigration- loving, countryside-destroying, monopolistic, metropolitan, (etc ed – not all the bodies named have these characteristics), who are delighted that we have civil servants and a PM who have signed over the British forces to serve the EU High Representative in her expansion of an unelected bureaucratic state.
November 6, 2018
Newmania
Just giving us a list ( that we already know) of who supported the Remain campaign really doesn’t help your cause , or prove anything. I know you and facts aren’t remotely acquainted but here it is 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU and all its institutions. Yet very few journalists have made any attempt to really understand what some of the benefits of that might be. If they did make some efforts at balance maybe your arguments would get a better hearing too
November 6, 2018
I doubt that , even no, more than about 10% could tell you what those institutions are. Anyway I often give quiet thanks for the opportunity to experience the spiritual richness of being a poor drizzly backwater no-one cares about .
Its good for the soul, apparently, like starving and abstinence.
Yay!!!!
November 7, 2018
Newmania
So you think that the vasty majority of Remain supporters have no idea what the institutions you listed are even? Blimey thats some admission!
Of course doing nothing, being nothing is the lifestyle of choice for those who abdicate personal responsibility to unelected mandarins and get by doing as their told. Meanwhile some of us actually make a positive difference to the world
November 6, 2018
Libertarian, Newmania’s list just shows how lazy and full of Remain propaganda he is. He is too bone idle to read other economists than Prof Minford who favour independence. He even left out “Presidents of the USA”. Is that because PotUS Obama was a patsy for Remain, but PotUS Trump favours Brexit?
It is true that most of the government/quasi-government institutions he lists were Remain, but the City, Manufacturers, Business, the young, and London were divided. It is habit of Remains (like Newmania, Andy, etc) to claim support from all “the young”, for example, when many voted for Brexit, and more will be grateful for independence as they get older. Remains tend to speak in slogans: Leaves tend to speak the truth.
November 7, 2018
NickC
Great post and absolutely right
November 6, 2018
Nothing but insults, as per usual… No positivity about the merits of being an EU member? Mainly because there are none, unless you are Germany or you are willing to prostitute yourself, economically, to get scraps from the table. We really will be better off out and the BBC know this. However the EU pay them to say otherwise and finance remainer demos to subvert democracy. Freedom of movement still exists so you can stay in the promised land if you so wish.
November 7, 2018
Jagman84
Oh we’ve had a few reasons from our tame remainers on here about why the EU is great
We learned from Margaret that the EU is great because we get nice coffee and pastries in England now , We learned from Andy that he doesn’t have to show the passport in his pocket when he travels to France ( he does really he just likes to pretend he doesn’t) We learned from Newmania that the EU is great because it means he doesn’t have to do anything or participate in anything because he’s told what to do. We learned from Rein that the EU is great because they really dont want the UK in it and Peter vL believes that the Dutch will be able to sell more Tulips or something.
Odd though as you say apart from our Dutch friends the rest of them seem to hate this country but are strangely reticent to leave and to live and work in the EU
November 6, 2018
Bless – self awareness is the first step…, all the same crew that got it wrong about the ERM, EURO, and economic recession following the public daring to vote to leave the EU!!
LOL – I fear that you are more âMini Meâ rather than âBlofeldâ đ¤Ł
zorro
November 6, 2018
All self serving Establishment global ideologues, Newmania, many hanging on to the taxpayer’s teat, I note.
Some exaggerations, for example only a few manufacturer’s and exporters want to remain in the EU. Most would want to trade worldwide without EU restrictions. But thanks for the list.
November 7, 2018
a few manufacturerâs and exporters want to remain in the EU.
Wrong wrong wrong
November 7, 2018
Apostrophe abuse – I can forgive your remainerism but not the apostrophe abuse….
zorro
November 7, 2018
Newmania
62% of ALL UK business owners voted to LEAVE.
In the UK, there are 5.7m SMEs, which account for over 99% of private sector firms and 60% of total UK private sector employment. SMEs also account for 73% of all net private sector job creation in the UK, creating about 2m jobs since 2010. Just 29% of them in an exhaustive survey said they were concerned about Brexit
So as usual its you who are wrong
November 6, 2018
You won the referendum in 2016, and since then you have done nothing but whine. I will explain to you why the media spends so much time focussing on the downside of Brexit – that is because it is visible every single day, as your promises that we hold all the cards in dealing with the EU are shown up as false, as the easy trade deals with the rest of the world are shown not to exist, as investment drops. If you had a plan, you could publish it and the media might take you seriously. But you don’t have a plan. You never did.
Reply We sent full plans to the government in 2016 and repeated them many times since. I now have an even simpler plan. Leave on 29 March without signing the unacceptable Withdrawal Agreement.
November 6, 2018
Was it not clear to you that no EU member state can sign trade deals- you have to be out before you can do that? As shown in your post yesterday the assertion that investment is in some kind of freefall is fake news.
November 6, 2018
Leave on 29 March without signing the totally unacceptable Withdrawal Agreement.
Yes please, then replace May and Hammond with Conservatives who want far lower taxes, far less government, simpler taxes, fewer regulations, economic growth, no green crap subsidies, cheap energy and a real police service that actually deters real and violent crime …….
November 6, 2018
@lifelogic
Do you mean small “c” conservatives?
Not many of them in the Tory Party nowadays I’m afraid, that’s why I left them.
November 6, 2018
Better still do the second paragraph as soon as possible.
Tax to death Hammond and May are increasing probate costs from ÂŁ215 to as much as ÂŁ6,000 I reed, (this on top of 40% IHT) and still they have not even kept the IHT ÂŁ1 million threshold each promise yet! Promised by Osborne about 8 years ago but ratted on by Cameron/Osborne and Hammond and May. It is still just a pathetic ÂŁ325k. About 1/30 of the US figure. Sensible counties of course have no IHT at all.
November 6, 2018
Clearly we are living different lives Helena.
Investment isn’t dropping, is it?
As for cards, they’re no good in the hands of a PM who can’t play the game. Give us someone clever to play and we’d be where we should be.
November 6, 2018
Not even clever, just someone who understands negotiation and has had the sense to fully prepared for no deal as a back stop. So as not to destroys her bargaining hand.
She is absurdly incompetent, disingenuous, PC, dim and has idiotic tax and regulate to death economic policies too.
November 6, 2018
Reply to reply:
Your simpler plan is what should have been done from day one, sadly the infighting caused by a large number of perfidious politicians and others has torn this country apart.
We voted to leave not spend two years bickering over a Withdrawal Agreement, our government has let down and lost the confidence of the electorate.
It’s doubtful the Conservatives will be able to rescue themselves from the situation they have created.
November 6, 2018
Gary C
“Itâs doubtful the Conservatives will be able to rescue themselves from the situation they have created.”
Yes they’re toast. Unless they suddenly find some balls and bang the ungrateful EU to rights. Leaving is now not enough, we need to see some teeth sunk into Brussels backsides.
Even then every Englishman won’t forget the humiliation of this country brought about by Theresa May. especially not forgetting the fact that the conservatives let her do it.
No I don’t give ’em much of a chance at the next election, In fact I’d say they’ll probably be fit for nothing but shameful epitaph and satire.
Dear Tories
Should have got rid of her, like we your paymasters told you to do !
We also told you we would exact cruel revenge at the ballot box, we even told you we meant it. But you dismissed that too, along with dismissing the will of the British people – big mistake. Now reap the whirlwind and be enlightened as to how the British people – elected government relationship works.
Your demise as a political party will serve as an example to anyone else who thinks membership of Parliament provides divine right to treat electors as though they were irrelevant plebiscite garbage.
November 6, 2018
Cameron’s highly controversial ÂŁ9m pamphlet paid for by all of us taxpayers was totally for Remain and spelled out we were Leaving the single market, customs union, ECJ and free movement at our risk. The vote was sanctioned by parliament and the result is the result, it is called democracy.
64% of constituencies voted Leave and it is a disgrace if any MP does not fully comply with that mandate regardless of their opinion.
Very few thought the EUSSR would be sensible, their track record of not accepting national votes is considerable. The saddest element of this abrogation of democracy for me is the behaviour of the Eire Government and the EU using the border to suggest unrest could follow.
November 6, 2018
What is abundantly clear, Helena is that we do not have the leader to step up and take us out of the EU.
What summed up Theresa May’s ‘effort’ to get us out of the EU best was the cartoon of her getting trapped in a deck chair with ‘Brexit’ on it.
Only an actor can manage that deckchair skit. She was pretending to try to get us out of the EU and threw away all the cards, including her majority.
Time to give up and I have better things to do than play this silly Captcha game.
November 6, 2018
Anonymous
“Time to give up and I have better things to do than play this silly Captcha game.”
Yeah me too. I’ll just bide my time for when the lid blows off this country.
November 6, 2018
Helena
Ha ha ha the whining, crying and general meltdown is entirely with Remain
People like you who post outright fake news , get debunked with the facts then come back the next day and post it again.
You have been told 100’s of times that we can’t negotiate trade deals until we’ve left, (Why cant ed) you can’t understand that etc
November 6, 2018
Libertarian, I would refer to David Davis, writing on Conservative Home in July 2016, where he predicted that by September 2018 AT THE LATEST a comprehensive range of trade deals would have been negotiated. Reference below. Many other Brexiteers, including John Redwood, pooh-poohed the idea that such negotiation would be hard and lengthy. Could be done in an afternoon, said Liam Fox. You were not told the truth, were you?
https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2016/07/david-davis-trade-deals-tax-cuts-and-taking-time-before-triggering-article-50-a-brexit-economic-strategy-for-britain.html
November 6, 2018
Helena, As you have always been told the UK is bound by the EU’s CCP until we have fully left the EU. Consequently we do not have the power to sign trade deals with other countries. I knew that before the vote. Didn’t you?
November 7, 2018
Helena
Oh my word, we were promised an immediate triggering of Article 50, it never happened until March 2017 , I think there will be significant progress , very quickly after March 2019 when we are allowed to sign our own trade agreements.
I’m pleased that you seem to know what has been negotiated already, the Dept for International Trade seem to have been making a lot of progress with trade talks, they have listed quite a few publicly too, we just can’t sign them yet.
You see Helena this is an independent UK , Not the corrupt, moribund EU. The EU takes an average of 12 years to negotiate a FTA. The rest of the world takes an average of 14 months.
If you think I make decisions based on what politicians tell me you are seriously deluded. Just because remainers are rule takers and inert , supplicants it doesn’t mean the rest of us are.
I knew what I was voting for and what I wanted long before the referendum even happened so all your crying and hissy fits over Arron Banks, Cambridge Analytica ( lol) , Russian Bots and bus slogans is just hot air and gullible cobblers
Still waiting for your apology and retraction of the fake news you’ve posted twice
November 6, 2018
Helena, can you please answer 2 questions what would need seeing to by staying in the EU. What would the daily contribution go up to? ÂŁ100m/ ÂŁ200m/ ÂŁ300m a day? Brussels would decide as they would have all the power. And what would you do with the MILLIONS of immigrants coming here every year that we couldn’t deport or block? Unskilled, uneducated, non-English speaking etc. All would want and get housed, benefits, NHS, kids schooling. Who pays for all this? Please tell us your version of the so-called benefits of flooding this island with 3rd worlders who only want a free life on our taxes for contributing nothing.
November 6, 2018
Helena
“You won the referendum in 2016, and since then you have done nothing but whine.”
What !! ? it’s the moaning left wingers who lost the referendum who are the one’s doing the moaning from the second the result was clear.
Such is the new face of the left these days….if you don’t get the ballot box result you want then stamp your feet and continually wale ‘it’s not fair’ like cry babies. Then when that doesn’t work resort to whingeing for another referendum in the hope that you can somehow fiddle it.
Democracy is NOT about minorities getting their way.
“….your promises that we hold all the cards in dealing with the EU are shown up as false,”
Actually the UK has the capability to bring down the EU, we just don’t have a truly patriotic leader, and one who has a pair.
I believe you are not understanding the difference between complaining, and the sheer anger that is boiling close to the surface, not just in this country but across Europe as a whole.
The EU is destined to implode with a bang. Brexit is just the start of the process.
You cannot subjugate sovereign nations for ever. People just won’t stand for it. It’s been tried many times before and failed in every example – British empire, Soviet Union, French Indo-China & African colonies – all failed. So too will the current Belgian Walloon – French attempt.
November 6, 2018
This is the best plan and what is more, lots of my former remain friends think so too. They come out with it by themselves.
November 6, 2018
From day one your government spokespeople and Ministers have noticeably failed to contradict this stuff because it suits their Project Fear and I suspect that much of it comes from off the record tittle tattle from within government.
Is the Sunday Times going to give over its front page lead to something it made up to suit its own agenda?
You are correct about much of this tosh but should look closer to home for the reason.
We know Theresa May was not open and honest about the secret negotiations before Chequers. Why should the information we are being spun be anything different?
November 6, 2018
Hammond was at it again yesterday. May stated after the budget all would email the same even if there was no deal. Hammond stated th opposite yesterday in his continual scare mongering. May has never rebuked, sanctioned him over his comments against govt policy to leave th EU.
We read today Liddington went to Ireland three days after Raab and contradicted Raabs position over the Irish backstop!
You cannot trust May one may showed her capitulation plan to Merkel before cabinet, a parliament ad the people of this country. When a journalist asked Merkel to confirm she was given a copy May interrupted to prevent her from answering. I view this as a underhand/ if not dishonest act preventing the truth from getting out from legitimate questions about our democracy.
November 6, 2018
The BBC has always been an outlet for Establishment propaganda. Arguably, it was more restrained and subtle in previous times, probably on the basis that a good reputation was important for times when a particular line needed to be pushed.
Now itâs bias is more obvious and not confined to news programmes either. Diversity is pushed relentlessly so that even historical dramas must be âreprentativeâ of the current population regardless of whether that is accurate.
At the same time the BBC is losing important sporting events to other broadcasters so there is less reason for sports fans to watch.
Yet the BBC empire has expanded with extra TV channels and countless local radio channels. There is no sign of the TV licensing arrangements changing either.
November 6, 2018
Take Dr Who.
Once it was a serious attempt to frighten us. Now it is a propaganda machine for Feminism.
Take Countryfile. Once it was a nice programme about the problems which farmers face in their romantic fields and rolling pastures. Now it is a mish mash of soppy people and global warming.
I am surprised when a male person is allowed onto the News programmes. It is all vapid gossip by.
I could go onâŚ
November 6, 2018
Mike
Agree with your points on Country file etc.
The so called “soaps” are also very political in some of their content, that s one of the many reasons I do not view them, depressing really.
November 8, 2018
Once Dr Who was attempt to educate and give its audience some historical and scientific information along with entertainment and a bit of a scare!
It is a good example of the changes in what we see and read.
November 6, 2018
I think a referendum on the BBC would show it is overwhelmingly supported by the people but you are right. The days in which Polly Toynbee was appointed as Editor of Social Affairs without a murmur were deeply damaging
November 6, 2018
Do you NM?
A petition calling for a debate about the BBC licence fee has got over well over 300, 000 signatures.
And recent polls show majorities for changing the way the BBC is funded
November 6, 2018
Just goes to show how effective the mixture of BBC soaps and political propaganda is, Newmania.
November 6, 2018
I fail to understand how the same organisation that airs The World Service with it’s pretty forensic and pretty unbiased coverage … or even the early morning briefings aired on BBC before 6am in the morning manages to broadcast the Today programme with all its inherent bias as described so ably by John – without, apparently, noticing how radically different and contradictory its values are.
November 6, 2018
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6352949/Boris-slams-Mays-Brussels-fudge-urges-cabinet-colleagues-REJECT-deal.html
Irish PM warns May that Britain cannot decide when to pull out of the Brexit backstop, itâs about time Mrs May listen to the 17.4 million and not 4.7 million of the ROĂ, just tell them to get on there bikes and not to forget who bailed them out, and as for a hard border then build one we are just being brainwashed into the threat of terrorise, the ROĂ arenât close allies if they cannot stop the threat of the IRA or other terror organisation
November 6, 2018
The EU are intending for there to be a hard border in Ireland for two reasons :
Firstly, in the short term, they are hoping that this will cause trouble at the border and thus be seen as a punishment for the UK.
Secondly, in the long term, they need a hard border in Ireland because otherwise they will not be able so easily to force Ireland to be part of Schenghen.
November 6, 2018
No Mick that’s not the attitude expected going forward..there has been peace in Ireland for 20 years now thanks to the general acceptance of the Belfast agreement. Whatever we might think it has worked very well under the umbrella of the EU. But with UK pulling out now it’s going to cause huge disappointment and upset in some sectors. So all the more reason for the government to take good care about how all of this is managed.
November 6, 2018
Exactly right. The BBC, Channel 4 and other are desperate to push the âremain was rightâ and the people were daft, ignorant, uneducated or ill informed agenda. They also push climate alarmism at every turn with no rational scientific voices like Matt Ridley, Richard Lindzen to be seen. They want ever higher taxes and even more regulation of almost everything as well. Much of this is however coming from the various arms of government and âcharitiesâ often ones in receipt of government funding. The Met Office is an endless source of alarmism. Theresa May does nothing about it so one assumes she is cheering this on. Economic experts on the BBC are nearly all lefty and wrong headed.
Any debate on these issues is preframed by the BBC so as to restrict the area of debate. If one sound person is actually allowed on they will be outnumbered about 4 to 1 and endlessly interrupted or talked through. When did you last hear the BBC say that we already have the highest taxes for 49 years or attack Hammond for having taxes that are already far too high? Or pointing out that governments spend money so very inefficiently and on the wrong things.
November 6, 2018
Frustrating, but not a one-sided affair. Google on Brexit and there is a constant stream of anti-EU propaganda by e.g. the Daily Express, The Sun, the Daily Telegraph, all sold as news.
This has been going on for years, decades actually.
November 6, 2018
Yes Peter, but most people pressed for time just turn on the TV or radio and get what is served up by the Brussels Broadcasting Company!
November 6, 2018
And “a constant stream of pro EU propaganda from the Guardian,Mirror, Independent, Observer, Financial Times, Morning Star, Economist, BBC, Sky news, Channel 4 and 5 news channels.
All except the BBC are commercial businesses who can be as partial as they want to.
November 6, 2018
Peter vL
By the same token theres a stream of Pro EU stuff from Guardian, Mirror, Times, Mail on Sunday, Financial Times, Observer, Independent , BBC and Sky News all sold as news
This has been going on for years, decades actually
Its probably why newspaper readership and news watching has fallen off a cliff
November 6, 2018
Fully agreed. The Today programme was more or less the only BBC output I listened to or Watched on a regular basis, apart from Andrew Neil’s programme, the one good political discussion. But Today has become very tedious as you say with highly unbalanced reporting – If that’s the word- especially on Brexit and global warming.(We used to have the same thing on ‘cuts’ under the coalition with the BBC forever predicting downturns and recessions in line with leftist-keynesian theory). So now I’ve given up Today. Question Time is unbearable I long ago dropped that. Any Questions is going the same way. Unbalanced panels – a single Brexiteer or free marketeer is normally alone and howled down by a leftist audience. An irritating tendancy is interviews with other BBC journalists and also a resolute refusal to allow any refutation of a favoured BBC position on subjects such as Brexit and global warming.
Time to end the license fee and move the BBC to a subscription model with R3 &R4 + the world service paid for directly by the govt. A lot of it could simply be cut if it turns out there’s no demand.
November 6, 2018
Good morning
A very forthright piece from our kind host today.
I wish to recall a conversation I had last night. To was relayed to me and others of an interview our Chairman of the charity I am involved with had with the BBC. They came along to talk to him about our work. According to him they were;”fresh fsced”, i.e. young, and new nothing about us and did not know what questions to ask. He had to sit down with them and write the questions for them so as to get the right answers. If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, then this is a damning inditement of how far the BBC has sunk.
If the BBC wish to play at being amateurs then that is OK by me. Just don’t force me to pay for it just for wanting to own TV.
November 6, 2018
“Where is the factual reporting of what airlines, pharmaceutical exporters from the continent, farmers in France and others are actually going to do on March 30th?”
https://www.iata.org/policy/consumer-pax-rights/Documents/iata-brexit-study.pdf
November 6, 2018
âHe who pays the piper calls the tuneâ. The EU does not control aviation, even if they would like to. The market will prevail in the end. The EU will be gone sooner than we think. Their Berlin Wall moment is approaching with the Eastern European nations rebelling. Sooner the better, IMHO.
November 6, 2018
There might be Common Purpose behind all this.
November 6, 2018
Common Purpose is something very few politicians will even acknowledge the existence of, despite large amounts of taxpayers money being paid to it.
It’s a subversive organisation that has operatives throughout the public sector which is why our public services are full of PC nonsense which results in increased costs and reduced efficiency.
November 6, 2018
It is important for researchers on this site to realise that the majority of Common Purpose ‘graduates’ are victims, who have little if any understanding of the wider role of Common Purpose within UK society, nor of its connections to higher government and the European Union. Drawn into CP training by a flattering invitation, or selected by their company or organisation, this recruitment is normally carried out by a previously trained CP person – now recruiting for the cause. Candidates are screened and selected (or rejected) by CP Advisory Board members in their area.
November 6, 2018
I agree. Also damage caused to our standing internationally by a once trusted broadcaster. High time the BBC was reformed – but do not let the ‘back catalogue’ fall into the hands of a ‘management buyout’. I think as this historic content was paid for by the licence payer any legacy enterprise should benefit the nation not ‘oligarchs’.
November 6, 2018
Won’t happen under a LibLabCon govt for sure.
The back catalogue is kept under tight security in a “hazardous materials” facility until it can be “decontaminated” of offensive content.
November 6, 2018
Professional Journalism died with Robin Day. He conducted interviews in which he did not talk over the interviewee; listened to the answer given only interrupting when/if the interviewee deviated or flannelled the answer and ‘destroyed’ the person if he/she did not come prepared or did not know their facts – in which event he nailed their ass to the wall. Yes agreed – hard to follow someone like him BUT nowadays so many media journalists are nothing more than Game Show Hosts. How many times have we watched interviews where the ‘journalist/political commentator’ has fired off questions from a list in front of them and 15 to 20 secs into the reply cut that short to ask the next one clearly with no intention of listening to or drawing out the interviewee to engage in a meaningful debate. Problem is that nowadays these people are so lacking in knowledge, experience and the art of Debating that the only way they survive is by ‘bombast’. Classic example: the other week you were on with Piers Morgan et al and with you was that (Campbell ed)who disrupted what should have been an interesting discussion by shouting over everybody from beginning to end. ‘ONLY I AM ALLOWED TO MAKE A POINT’ is the rule of the day now in much of media journalism . Where one cant win by intelligent , well balanced reasoning one resorts to cant and rant in other words The Losers answer to winning.
November 8, 2018
But are these âjournalist/political commentatorâ cheaper than the old style journalists who (often not always) tried to keep their own opinions out of the discussion? Why the change?
November 6, 2018
That is only half the story though John. My guess is many Brexit Remain scare stories are being briefed to the BBC by Remain politicians, No 10, the Treasury, and elements in the Civil Service – your own party and government are complicit in this reporting.
November 6, 2018
I recently looked closely at the CO2 emissions issue and reviewed the scientific evidence to see if the global warming predictions are accurate. One graph that impressed me was the very close correlation between global temperatures since the industrial revolution and the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.
The measured global temperature rise is so obvious
that a causative relationship is almost certainly correct. Global warming is happening, the primary cause (CO2 emissions ) outweighs all other possible causes added together. This is why scientific opinion is so concerned; if we don’t collectively control the burning of fossil fuels very soon an environmental catastrophe will befall us all.
It’s not as if alternative sources of energy are not available to us; our civilisation is highly energy dependent and intelligent people have devised alternative, renewable sources of electricity.
What I don’t understand is why so many politicians are taking the easy way out and refusing the investment needed to introduce alternative technologies such as solar, fusion energy, offshore wind farms, energy storage systems etc
Burning coal and petrol is so last century. Can’t we collectively show our grandchildren an alternative future? The global costs of the coming sea level rises are stupendous. About 90% of the global population lives near the coast!
November 7, 2018
Well if you look at the theory of CO2 and its effect on warming the resulting increase has been much less than it should be.
Secondly the theory predicted much faster rises after 2000 due to accumulation but the rate of increase has fallen.
Thirdly if you look at CO2 levels and temperatures over many centuries the correlation looks much less certain.
Billions are being spent moving away from fossil fuels by USA and UK
You need to address your complaints to China and India.
If the UK became zero carbon, China would make up that saving of CO2 in one year.
Sea level rises have been predicted to be disastrous for centuries yet despite some changes to measuring methods the amount is still way below all these predictions of doom.
For example islands we were told would be submerged below the waves by now are still stubbornly in view.
November 7, 2018
Sakara Gold
Any explanation why Co2 levels in the atmosphere reached a much higher point long before the first human walked the earth?
November 6, 2018
One of the most insidious examples is the extremely unfunny comedy show where only right wing views are the subject of derision and laughter, obviously alongside clear “nutcases” just so the show is placed in the correct context.
November 6, 2018
Sir Joe Soap
I completely agree and have stopped listening to most current BBC radio “comedy” because I can’t stand the assumptions made about the audience’s point of view. The most outrageous remarks about anyone not “left of centre” are permitted (very much in the tradition of “lower than vermin”) but nothing remotely like that going the other way.
November 6, 2018
@Sir Joe
I usually listen to the “Now Show” or the “News Quiz” on Friday evenings as I drive home. These programs masquerade as comedy but are just a bunch of BBC approved lefties, usually including at least one lesbian ranting about Brexit, Boris, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump. They not very funny, often quite coarse, always politically correct and and never poke fun at any of left’s sacred cows.
You may wonder why I bother, well I suppose I get some kind of perverse pleasure from listening to their angst as they rail against populism, that and the awful cringy student activist type ditties, which have to be heard to be believed. ÂŁ4bn p.a. eh! đŹ
I’m just glad I don’t have to pay for it.
November 6, 2018
Yes, it’s been blindingly obvious now for some considerable time that the BBC’s become an extension of the political State. It’s embraced the role of chief propagandist of the EU and the liberal left with its primary function to present opinion as fact and truth. Pure, unadulterated, shameless propaganda.
Unfortunately, the Tories still continue to embrace the liberal left status quo. They still continue to elect leaders that are pro-EU. If May stays as PM this will not change anytime soon.
We desperately need a Tory leader that is Eurosceptic.
November 6, 2018
@Duncan
It should be renamed “The Ministry of Truth”.
November 6, 2018
Its such a great pity, because the BBC was once a national treasure, respected worldwide. I guess they are reflecting a sort of ‘default’ popular narrative that’s now endemic everywhere in the once culturally enlightened Western world. We can only buck the trend with the ‘fresh air’ of truth. There are signs this is beginning to happen, although it may be short-lived.
November 6, 2018
@Norman
Well if people carry on buying BBC Licences and voting for the Establishment, then it should come as no surprise that the long march through the institutions continues.
The only way to stop them is to cut off their funding. That means not buying TV Licences and not putting Common Purpose graduates into the House of Commons.
November 7, 2018
Better than now, but even during WW2, British soldiers used other words for the BBC acronym….
Zorro
November 6, 2018
Newspapers are free to be as partial as they wish, just read a cross section of them. However the BBC is not. It is a public funded entity , chartered to be impartial. Like the growing boil it will have to be lanced, sooner rather than later. I do not see any of our left wing parties being prepared to do so. In this I include the present government.
November 6, 2018
I have never had a subscription to a newspaper and so am not forced to support their biased opinions. I watch very little TV news/current affairs but have no choice but pay for the BBC even if I do not take their output.
Either ensure the BBC is neutral or remove their subsidy and the licence fee.
November 6, 2018
@David Price
Not true. I don’t pay for them, apart from a tiny fraction from my tax contributions which gets routed to them via Brussels.
I don’t have a TV Licence, but I do have a TV which is used for on-demand viewing (excluding iPlayer, thanks to the Tory’s last Charter review).
November 7, 2018
If I were unmarried and without children I would agree with you to an extent. As far as I know you must have a licence to receive live broadcasts.
November 7, 2018
@David Price
My kids love Netflix, which is cheaper than a TV Licence.
My daughter has discovered so old comedies too, the ones made when swearing and vulgarity wasn’t a substitute for being funny.
November 6, 2018
The dreaded BBC now has a great item to read online:
Reality Check: What are EU countries doing to prepare for a no-deal Brexit?
Pages and pages of unbiased reading! Of course I of course recommend the links in the section on the Netherlands’ preparations, (all in English).
November 6, 2018
PvL, If you’re trying to make a case you cannot go from the particular to the general.
November 7, 2018
@NickC: Going from the EU27 (in their no-deal preparations) to only the Netherlands (in its no-deal preparations) seems to me more going from the general to the particular.
November 8, 2018
PvL, The BBC, not Holland . . . .
November 6, 2018
All the broadcast media breach the broadcasting code of impartiality and accuracy regularly and with impunity. Ofcom, whose job it is to regulate this, does nothing. The government and most MPs don’t care as they are as biased as the broadcasters and enjoy their supporting daily propaganda. The worrying thing is that as Mrs May has been left in office, the chances of Brexit in name only have become overwhelming. Your party will not be forgiven for allowing this betrayal and the invidious moves to the left by Mrs May.
November 6, 2018
I listened, reluctantly, for a short time to Have I Got News for You last night. A ….. scotswoman ” comedian” was on and stated categorically “The brexit voters voted on the basis of lies”. No debate, no rational, no doubt .. I switched off.
November 6, 2018
Woody
Was the same on Channel 4 last night, Brexit what the Nation really thinks, viewed 5 mins of it, then switched over to view a pre recorded film.
November 6, 2018
Good No-deal aspects. I forgot to realise that under WTO rules (and post Brexit anyway), various UK sectors will be less competitive within the EU, which will provide more Dutch export opportunities in the short term. This way, a decrease in the 10bn annual export to the UK can be compensated for at our national level.
November 6, 2018
Peter vL
Which sectors would they be then? I notice as always just a scare never facts or evidence . Come on big boy let us know, which of us exporters should be worried?
November 6, 2018
@libertarian: I always thought (wrongly?) that you were a big boy yourself.
Just list which UK exports to the EU would not be affected by increased competition, once you’ll export under WTO rules.
November 6, 2018
PvL, The amount of competition will not change during the transition from EU rules on 29 March to WTO rules on 30 March 2019. The only thing that might change is the price due to import duties. But that’s a two way street.
November 7, 2018
@NickC: I understand the 2-way street.
That is why I mentioned (after reading the Dutch no-deal preparations) the slight competitive advantage for the Dutch when, post-Brexit they want to increase their exports to any of the other (26) EU countries.
Even though we like to export to say China (our per Dutch citizen export to China is now twice that of the UK), still three quarters of Dutch exports are to other parts of the EU single market.
So I wrote about compensating for the exports to the UK, where we will face more competion from other countries and the UK itself, post-Brexit.
November 8, 2018
PvL, There will be no more competition from one day to the next.
November 7, 2018
Fish.
November 7, 2018
If you are so convinced the economic outcome will be so spectacular for the Netherlands, why do you keep coming on here to berate those who wish to leave the EU.
November 7, 2018
@David Price: I trust the continental economists who predict that Brexit will give a lose-lose outcome in any of the scenarios (in spite of me mentioning that silver lining of increased Dutch exports to other parts of the EU).
I think that the netherlands can survive the 1.2% decrease in its GDP, now that it is (post referendum) growing more than twice as fast as the UK GDP.
In the grand scheme of things I believe that the UK is currently a misfit inside the EU. I would prefer the UK re-applying for EU membership in future, and then without all the current opt-outs.
November 7, 2018
Peter vL
So little man, you can’t actually answer the question then.
Er where exactly would this increased competition be coming from?
You seem to have a remarkably poor grasp of trade
Heres a couple of things.
1) My own exports to Europe ( antimicrobial, pain, cancer research, drugs) has NO EU based competitors
2) Cancer Scanners, the UK manufactures the most advanced cancer scanner in the world
3) Mobile phones, please supply a list of EU mobile phone manufacturers
The only difference under WTO rules is there MIGHT be some tariff charges. This works both ways of course. However the vanishingly small amount of extra charges on a small range of products could easily be absorbed
So once again as you bought this up, please tell us which Dutch products will increase their exports , to whom at our expense
November 6, 2018
@PvL Did you forget to realise that under WTO, various sectors in the antipodes and the Americas will competing with the diminished EU for a bigger share the market in the worlds 5th largest economy?
November 7, 2018
@Bob – no I did not. I was writing about compensating for some of the losses the Dutch will undoubtedly suffer on the UK market, post Brexit.
November 6, 2018
Nice one Peter.
While every sizeable trading venue has set up a regulated entity in the EU because of Brexit, BrokerTec — as the business is known — is the first to move an existing market from London to a continental European city: Amsterdam.
âAll of our euro-denominated bonds and repo will move to Amsterdam,â John Edwards, managing director of BrokerTec Europe, said in an interview. âWe saw no benefit in splitting liquidity pools. Our U.K. business will not be able to provide services to the European clients.â
November 7, 2018
@acorn: Amsterdam, like London has direct access to sea-cables, which is advantageous for fast (nanosecond?) trading. So in the competition with Frankfurt and Paris, so some trading platforms will expand or move to Amsterdam. I donât think that a large number of people are involved, so London doesnât need to worry about Amsterdam.
November 7, 2018
acorn
Lol Brokertec was taken over by CME group, looks like they are moving all the jobs to Amsterdam though…… 12 of them
November 6, 2018
We should not forget that the EU is not offering us genuine free trade but only trade based on a ‘level playing field’. I practice, this means that not only must we comply with EC specifications of what we produce but also how we produce it. They want to control employment, social and environmental rules that apply to our places of work. Mrs May’s approach is to swallow this hook, line and sinker – but it’s not what we want or need.
November 7, 2018
Lindsay
“We should not forget that the EU is not offering us genuine free trade but only trade based on a âlevel playing fieldâ.
As EU members we can trade freely with anybody we wish
For instance in 2016 Germany recorded the highest trade surplus in the world worth $310 b, making it the biggest capital exporter globally.
All we have to do is make things the world wants to buy!
November 7, 2018
The Germans are always cheating :
Running a budget surplus against Euro rules.
Breaking sanctions such as Nordstream 2 and selling generators to Crimea
Committing a massive diesel testing emissions fraud to give their car sales an unfair advatage
Not paying their fair share of NATO funding.
Setting EU regulations to be advantageous to their companies and disadvantageous to companies based in other EU countries.
Etc.
November 7, 2018
And have a currency which is 30% undervalued like Germany has would help.
November 7, 2018
Margaret Howard, Germany’s export surplus is on the back of mercantilism.
November 7, 2018
margaret howard
AT LAST…. you’ve finally got it. We DO NOT need the EU in order to trade . By getting out, we can escalate rapidly the time it takes to negotiate FTA’s with the rest of the world and we can negotiate FTA’s that suit us, not 27 other countries
One of the reasons Germany has such a high trade surplus is that it has no defence infrastructure at all relying totally on USA, UK and NATO to provide defence . The German government just announced they will spend 323 million Euros on defence , lol The USA defence budget is $700 billion. Once we leave and Trump tears them a new one, that trade surplus will fast disappear
November 6, 2018
Good for you. You also have the advantage that we have a PM who is desperate not to compete with you. Do feel free to crow over our misfortune, and don’t hesitate to sneer at us when we complain about it.
November 7, 2018
@John C. I donât mean to âcrowâ, I usually get upset or sarcastic when the EU is attacked as some outside enemy and misinformation is used in the process.
In truth I am quite concerned about all the polarisation I see, both in the USA and in the UK. What happens there has often been a forebode of what will happen over here, and Iâm much more a fan of more consensual politics.
Reply Great news. I look forward to your posting of how wise we were to leave
November 7, 2018
Reply to reply: L.o.l. there are exceptions though – we didn’t follow you in 1955 (Spaak committee) and there certainly won’t be any Nexit in the forseeable future either, but I admire your optimism that polarisation is such a blessing. Look at the state of your country!
November 6, 2018
“We could also do with fewer reported briefings of sell out agreements”
There might not be a firm proposal but we shouldn’t even be contemplating an agreement which has (i) the other side can amend the rules and you have no veto; (ii) you can only exit with their consent.
November 6, 2018
I must say that I do value advert-free programming very highly indeed. I also value intelligent and thought-provoking content.
The Reithian concept of âinform, educate and entertainâ was sound despite being open to criticism of it being boring or overly censorious.
Then again, times are different and there are not people of Reithâs mindset in high places in the broadcasting media. They are mostly laissez faire, moral relativists; so not the types to set or maintain standards.
November 6, 2018
Actually, Channel 4, Sky and often ITV are as bad. At least we can make a note to not buy anything advertised on biased programmes. The threatening behaviour of the licencing company makes refusal to pay for the enemy’s propaganda very difficult.
The reporting of global warming and renewable energy solutions such as wind, solar and electric cars is particularly annoying, as the reporters are not scientifically qualified and get the numbers wrong. The usual lie is to quote the capacity of wind generators and ignore that the energy generated is about 35% and that inefficient fluctuating gas stations have to back them up. The subsidized cost to the consumer is also ignored. And there is never a mention of all the other nuclear stations being built all over the world at at a fraction of the cost of Hinkley and in only 7 years.
November 6, 2018
Shouldnât the title be âPropaganda as Newsâ ?
The BBC and most media news will not have their ant-Brexit bias curbed because they are promoting the view of the government and a majority of Parliament to overturn the referendum result.
The BBC has two approaches.
Firstly it omits any information that does not fit its viewpoint. For instance, on last Sundayâs evening politics programme on R4 the presenter listed the fines levied by the Electoral Commission on the two leave campaigns but failed to mention that the High Court has ruled that âThe Electoral Commission misinterpreted election law in the run-up to the Brexit vote raising questions about the judgement of the watchdogâ.
Secondly it bullies both the viewer and any Brexit supporting guest by ensuring that there are more anti-Brexit guests than Brexit supporting guests (and often there are none of these at all) and by ensuring an audience is always anti-Brexit.
With any interview followed by an anti-Brexit summary by the presenter.
November 6, 2018
Isnât there something rotten and corrupt within the BBC when all the presenters of this public broadcaster only convey one side of a debate ?
This BBC bullying of the public probably explains why the pollsters have recently not been able to accurately predict election results.
The upside for leavers is that if the BBCâs reporting and broadcasts had not been so biased in support of the EU, thus giving Parliament a false impression of the popularity of the EU, then I expect Parliament would not have voted to have an EU referendum.
November 6, 2018
I watched the Channel 4 Brexit program last night expecting all the usual guff we regularly see, but instead it had a Monty Python feel and was great fun.
It was held in what looked like badly lit underground car park, with an audience (standing) grouped round the main speakers, and purported to represent the views of 20,000 representative voters.
The man in charge was obviously following orders to be as bombastic as possible, interrupt all the time, and to be gleeful at any anti Brexiteer opinion, backed up by charts.
Unfortunately for him every time he asked the university economist for his validation he got rubbished instead.
Nigel Farage gave his usual good performance but had that “what am I doing here” look on his face.
A good evenings entertainment – more please!
November 6, 2018
The BBC should reduce carbon dioxide by keeping its errant reporters’ mouths shut.
November 6, 2018
The BBC is having some difficulty dealing with Donald Trump. Leftist expectations were that Trump would be a complete failure and rapidly unpopular with the Democrats triumphing at these elections and taking the next presidency etc. Inconveniently: Trumps tax cuts and deregulation have generated a boom in the US with a surge in business confidence; the world is reluctantly coming to recognise that China does extensively cheat the global trading system, steal IP, bully itâs neighbours with illegitimate territorial claims (especially Taiwan); The Iran deal signed by Obama has led to an increase in Iranian backed terrorism in the Middle East as well as other bad developments such as missile development; there is no evidence of a conspiracy with Russia & Trump has been a much stronger ally eg on the Russian murder gang sent to the UK than any of our EU allies. Etc etc. It will be interesting to see how the mid terms go. Of course we only hear democrats and their sympathisers on the BBC on the rare occasions I hear it, but it does seem Americans think there is a different approach.
November 6, 2018
You mentioned my hobbyhorse – CO2 causing climate change. It doesn’t and to refuse a platform to those who dispute this on the BBC is a disgrace. Science is never settled apart from measurements, especially something as complicated as climate change.
November 6, 2018
John S – I agree.
To quote a PhD scientist friend: “There are lots of good (scientific) references to the slow changes over time on Google Scholar. Wiki has an article on the main warm period 1000 yrs ago, the Medieval Warm Period, and another on the cold phase 500 years ago, ‘the Little Ice Age’. They show the general shape of the changes but donât trust the recent bit in the graphs (the heavy black line) with a big warming because thatâs political. Better papers show a slow warming since 1600-1700 reaching levels that today are roughly equal in temp to the Medieval Warm Period. There was also a Roman Warm Period which was probably warmer than today. All proving that there are natural cycles and that people have survived our current temperatures quite happily in the past. Unfortunately you canât predict the future course from these graphs because no one knows for sure why there is this natural cycle – seems to fit overall changes in solar radiation levels but lots of argument about that.”
This is just one area where BBC and general Media bias is denying everyone a true and balanced perspective, with far-reaching political consequences nothing to do with saving the planet. Instead of genuine and respectful debate, all we get is howling derision. It’s a dangerous world, indeed!
November 6, 2018
Norman, Only the fanatical CAGW groupies still go along for the ride with the BBC. Most sensible people just switch off with boredom when the BBC gets on its CAGW hobby-horse. That’s one of the reasons why the BBC has lost so much of its audience.
November 6, 2018
Very good point, which demonstrates that the BBC deliberately gives us ones sided news…
Nobody is immune to propaganda, which includes politicians considering how many are blinded by the alleged science of MMCC
November 6, 2018
I think everyone recognises it’s just a taxation racket, but some people like taxation and state manipulation, and others resent it. It’s not really a scientific debate, it’s a political one.
November 6, 2018
John S
Apart from measurements you say? Not even that is settled
The Kilogram is about to be redefined !
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/280127-scientists-are-about-to-redefine-the-kilogram
November 6, 2018
Mr Redwood the BBC are no longer fit for purpose and needs to privatised. It should sink or swim on subscription as most of us don’t want it anymore. A bit like the dated legacy parties are not fit for the 21st Century where fptp is no longer acceptable in a democracy. We demand more choice!
November 6, 2018
@Timeaction
You will be pleased to know that this is a ukip policy.
November 6, 2018
Would Fox News do?
November 6, 2018
Margaret Howard, Fox is a bit too main-stream establishment and too Democrat for me.
November 6, 2018
We are compelled by law to fund the disgraceful BBC and receive all this tasteless propaganda. This should never be the case. I haven’t watched a tv programme since 2007, but the law seems to now encompass computers as well as tv sets. Personally I wouldnt pay, but I don’t have the final say in the household finances. On the rare occasions I’ve had the misfortune to catch sight of a tv programme, it’s been all about Brexit-bashing, or “experts” telling me to give up eating meat or else instructing me on how wicked I am to object to immigration.
However I don’t see your government, or any government under the current system, doing anything about the license fee or the BBC itself. It’s one of the most psychologically destructive tools since Haw-Haw seventy-odd years ago.
November 6, 2018
Dr Redwood, I’m not too sure the Remain Campaign has lost. From where I’m standing it looks as though they’ve got everything they wanted, and more, much more. The UK will remain in the EU in everything but name, as was the intention all along. It will no longer be the existential threat to the evil empire it always was and it will be made to pay very dearly for the privilege of not even being a sham democracy any longer. It won’t even have the semblance of a say in its own affairs at Brussels, or wherever in some foreign country on the Continent. The only real opposition in the European Parliament, UKIP has been eliminated for good, to the great relief of Tories and Remainers everywhere. So what’s not to like if you’re a Remainer? You got your cake and you get to eat it as well. Result!
Reply Why would the government try to sign up to that and why would Parliament approve it?
November 6, 2018
Well Chequers is all of the above, a comprehensive surrender to the EU, and it is government policy with nothing else on the table. As to why the government wold want to sign up to Chequers and inflict it on us, is a mystery to me. The only explanation I can think of is barefaced treachery, nothing less than that.
November 6, 2018
Reply -Reply
John, Some of us out here are worried because at the moment your voice of reason, is being drowned out by the remain fake news propaganda, which very many of your fellow politicians appear to support.
Whilst the Country voted to Leave, it would appear that the majority of Politicians including our Prime Minister and Chancellor, seem to think we should remain in all but name.
Given how the Party system seems to work it seems to us out here that Leave supporting MP’s are outnumbered by Remainers who want us to stay shackled to the EU, no matter what the cost, in Money, Trade, Law, Regulation, and simply do not want us to be a Sovereign Nation.
If we are not going to be a sovereign nation, then why do we need a UK Parliament.
Our once Colonial Countries to whom we granted Independance, have more independence than we do at the moment. !
November 6, 2018
Just wait and see.
November 6, 2018
Because, apparently, you won. It is what 17.4m voted for.
November 6, 2018
Andy, No, 16.1m voted to Remain. The 17.4m voted to Leave. We have not left the EU if we still have EU specific treaty ties to the EU. Locking us to the EU is Remain by definition.
November 7, 2018
17.4m people can vote for purple unicorns, streams of gold, magic money trees and a white Anglo Saxon utopia as often as they like.
It is not anyone elseâs fault that these 17.4m have a questionable grip on reality and the propensity to fall for the greasy and undeliverable promises of the snakeoil salesmen.
I bet many of you guys have been in touch with Watchdog or the like having fallen for scams. Need a new roof? Double glazing? Driveway? Timeshare? Yup – thought so.
November 7, 2018
Andy, You are revealed by projection. The scam is the EU: and you have been sucked in. You have been fooled by promises of EU gold and an EUtopia into giving up UK independence. It is classic: those that give up liberty for a promise of wealth get neither. What? you think Jonny Foreigner is going to subsidise you?
November 7, 2018
Andy
I’ve been in touch with Watchdog. I reported a company that despite making millions in profit, sacked all of its staff , yet the owner then bought a big house in France and went around telling everyone how rich he is.
November 6, 2018
Oh, that’s an easy one. THE GOVERNMENT (led by a Remainer) AND PARLIAMENT DOES NOT WANT TO LEAVE! That is why the government will sign up to it and parliament will approve it. You don’t seriously think we are leaving the EU in anything other than name only? Do you?
November 6, 2018
Reply to reply: JR, the government is likely to sign up to that because they have already put Chequers on the table – it’s there, the government has not withdrawn it. Moreover Parliament is likely to approve it because there are about 500 Remain MPs to c100 Leave MPs (at best).
Reply The EU does not agree Chequers
November 6, 2018
Reply to reply to reply: JR, the EU has not endorsed every part of Chequers true, but it does approve of most of it. But let us see which of us is right – me with my prediction that Theresa May will showcase a deal based on Chequers; or you with a deal based on . . . what? I sincerely hope you are correct, not me. But you have form in being over trusting of Mrs May.
Reply There is of course a danger Mrs May will want to accept a bad deal but it wont be Chequers
November 7, 2018
Chequers is a bad deal and it is May’s deal, the deal that May came up with. As things stand, i.e. with May as PM, the only changes to Chequers in the offing are those that will be agreed by the EU to make it even more disastrous for the UK than it is already. It is what May plans in order to make it look as though it is forced upon her, absolving her from all responsibility.
No Chequers isn’t even a bad deal, it is no deal, and it is a wicked rejection of the referendum vote which is designed to punish 17.4 million for having the effrontery to reject the establishment’s wishes by landing us in an even worse situation than before. That isn’t just a bad deal, it is a full blown constitutional crisis.
We didn’t vote for a deal, we do not need a deal, we voted to leave the EU.
November 6, 2018
UKIP has not been eliminated for good. Globalists believe in a world without national borders and unlimited migration. How does the UK free itself from the globalists control if not by voting for UKIP? UKIP is the only politically non-globalist party.
Vote UKIP, the only way to get our country back.
November 7, 2018
A lone voice in the wilderness?
Their one MP left to become independent. Farage failed after many attempts to get into parliament.
November 6, 2018
Politicians are in control of the news from the BBC and most, if not all of the MSM.
The next step will be the control of all internet news and comment which will be brought about by either fining the internet companies into submission or simply by blocking userâs access to their services.
This will be achieved by stealth by pretending to protect the public from fake news, loss of privacy, offensive ideas etc. etc..
November 6, 2018
Sorry off topic, but you really could not make up the now approved Kafka probate fees.
November 6, 2018
Good old tax to death, IHT threshold ratter pension and landlord mugger Hammond.
November 7, 2018
Imagine a firm of solicitors saying pay a ÂŁ6k fee for a service costing ÂŁ200 or we won’t let you have the house you have paid for and, by the way, there’s 40% on the purchase price if it’s over ÂŁ375,000.
It would be prosecuted as extortion or making money under false pretenses. The fact that the do called Justice Department is pulling this one is quite disgusting.
November 6, 2018
Mr Redwood,
You said that the ERM did (much?) damage. That is connecting two events: Britain’s short lived ERM membership and the economic problems chronologically following that period.
In your commentary on the brexit referendum and the subsequent period of (modest) GDP growth you do the same: you always state that the brexit decision did not lead to severe problems (never mentioning that the UK continues to be an EU member and that business expects that to be the case -effectively- even beyond the end of the implementation period) as were predicted by the vast majority of experts (of course the eminent Dr Minford not included).
Could it not be the case that the ERM entry (especially the exchange rate level at which the Pound would be pegged to the DM) was poorly handled, that the policy response once speculators sensed a profitable weakness was too weak and the the UK failed to get support from ERM partners for defending that peg? In other words that it might have been possible for the ERM to succeed?
Likewise, the consequences for the brexit decision have been an initial BoE response to expansion where only a year earlier slow contraction was envisaged, the creation of expectations (negotiation, transition, pro forma withdrawal agreement) among the foreign business community that the UK would give its best efforts to create an environment that would not make the foreigners leave again. Only since the middle of this year serious efforts have been made to confront the possibility of a “ne deal” brexit.
The facts are very simple: the Thatcherite tribe within the Conservative Part (as well as Michael Foot’s pupils) carried an internal conflict between “Great Britain”(Closed Shop respectively) and the fleshpots of a much more pedestrian European role. And when the EU tried to become more than just a sort of European NAFTA, Great Britain won in the UK. Hence the ERMcrisis and continued membership of the EU (where the UK was a difficult partner and chiefly responsible for the unfortunately early Easten expansion once the Soviet emprire collapsed and the orphans needed a new home) share the same root cause: inability of the UK to commit to integration into a cooperative effort of similarly small/medium countries in order to capture the political-economic benefits of scale. Politicians responsible for preaching this faith should ask themselves whether the majority of people living in their country however poorly served by the commercial media deserve to pay the price of someone’s political hobby horse.
Reply This is too silly for words. The ERM was a disaster which cost us dear, as I explained in advance of our joining it. It was not the wrong rate – there was no right rate!
November 6, 2018
Rien
Blimey mate, I’ve not read so much drivel in one post from a “banking expert” ( lol ) in a very long time
Its not even worth trying to deconstruct what on earth you are babbling about .
Thatcher caused the Eastern Europeans to join the EU….. ha ha ha ha ha ah
smh ….. No wonder your bank (had a problem) with analysis of that calibre
November 6, 2018
You can play with words all you like but the simple fact is whether you go in on the wrong rate or not does not matter. Different economies often follow different cycles and have different needs so varying exchange rates act like a shock absorber and can help through difficult times and temper when things start heating up.
If you want to share a currency you must also merge your whole economy into a federal system to help the weaker parts. Why all these clever EU economists and politicians never seem to acknowledge this simple fact I’ll never know.
November 7, 2018
davies
“If you want to share a currency you must also merge your whole economy into a federal system to help the weaker parts”
The US dollar is also the official currency of Caribbean Netherlands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, and Zimbabwe.
So how does this work out?
Reply You can hitch a ride on someone else’s currency if you a small economy but you have no control over it.
November 6, 2018
Rien Huizer
Hear Hear!
November 6, 2018
Rien Huizer, JR is correct about the causal effects of the ERM: indeed the same problems are apparent in the Euro now. The post-Referendum UK growth was in the face of the self-styled “experts” who predicted recession because of the vote to Leave, not actually leaving. Do keep up.
November 6, 2018
To reply exactly. The right rate today is the wrong rate an hour or day later. It was an entirely predictable and prediced disaster from Chancellor John still no apology Major.
November 6, 2018
Whatever you may think of him, President Trump called it correctly in the USA when he started calling the main-stream media ‘Fake News’. Since then the major news outlets over there have been exposed as being the propaganda arm of the Democrats. The same is true here in the UK. For years the BBC has been in the pocket of those who support the EU dictatorship while those of us who don’t have been branded as ‘Little Englanders’ or worse. The most annoying thing is that I still have to pay this horrible organisation ÂŁ150.50 a year to watch other channels on the TV. It’s akin to having to pay the Labour Party a membership fee while being a Conservative! Remove the licence fee so those who wish to watch the PC and politically biased drivel the BBC churns out can be the ones to fund it. I for one wouldn’t.
November 6, 2018
@Nick
1. You don’t have to pay. It’s your choice.
2. Abolishing the BBC Licence Fee is UKIP policy.
3. Continuation of the Licence Fee is what will happen under LibLabCon
4. Maybe people need to change their voting habits.
November 6, 2018
Its a shame because they do some good stuff. Perhaps their Charter needs to be re looked at with some sort of legal ramifications when they break it.
Not sure what the answer is but something needs to change.
November 6, 2018
Or – maybe you are just Little Englanders and the truth hurts?
November 6, 2018
Andy, No, Remain propaganda is boring.
November 6, 2018
Nick, It is a UKIP policy to remove the BBC TV Tax. The best thing currently is to throw away your TV (or only watch non-BBC catch-up) and save your licence cost.
November 6, 2018
Another persistent feature of mainstream media commentary in this country is the way the utter tosh peddled by the left wing Democrat controlled media across the pond is lapped up and regurgitated uncritically by our media domestic consumption, seemingly universally. A good example was Panorama last night which according to the Radio Times would be obsessing over Trump colluding with Russia to win the election, a laughable fantasy dreamed up by Democrats which no one (on the right at least) would give the time of day to. In fact the boot is very much, in reality, on the other foot with the Democrats having financed the fake dossier with large payments through intermediaries to an ex British spy colluding with the Russians. Yet to base a program on a real investigation, not flummery here isn’t going to happen because real journalism went down the tubes ages ago. And then there was the Torygraph devoting pages to Trump’s porn star accuser in the colour supplement at the weekend. How are the mighty fallen, Conrad Black must be appalled at what has become of the paper, I know I am.
November 6, 2018
The media are simply gathering up the crumbs distributed 24/7 from the Downing Street spin machine, and then regurgitating them.
I never listen to mainstream news now and instead go to trusted sources on the internet. There is some real investigative journalism there. It is another world, which of course the powers that be want to put a stop to. They will not succeed.
The success of the alternative media in the USA is tremendous as people become more and more aware of the mass of fake news that many in the mainstream media in the US seem to issue. The mainstream media (most of it) in the US has, in my view, become an arm of the globalists/deep state, and has been corrupted, often issuing nothing short of propaganda for the globalists, and very definitely ant P Trump. The true scale of the reported complicity in the corruption associated with the hoax Russia collusion narrative is soon to be revealed. It will not be edifying.
Hopefully these revelations of the corruption will have very significant implications for the globalists in the UK and their media arm. P Trump is changing things for the better, and the UK has a huge opportunity. Unfortunately, our politicians seem too cowardly to take the opportunity to drain the swamp in the UK. A tragedy, because what is at stake is the same choice facing the US, as aptly summed up in this election message by a Trump supporter:
“American voters have the clearest choice in governance since 1775. This one shouldn’t be difficult. Freedom and the responsibility that comes with it. Or obedience to the state.”
This too applies to us. We should heed the warning.
November 6, 2018
It started with fake news, then fox news, then the news as per Trump and Steve Bannon and it went from there across the Atlantic carried by Farrage and his version of the truth aided by M Gove and Boris and other ‘Johnnie come lately’s’ trying to outdo UKIP and so unfortunately we had the referendum before we had the debate.
November 6, 2018
I find it particularly irritating to have the BBC lecturing us about Climate Change by reporters who flit around the world , the latest example where they went off to Brazil to film a soya bean field. With long haul travel not environmentally friendly, the lecturing BBC must have one of the highest carbon footprints. They are a very polluting industry.
One you missed was the BBC’s desperation to be a player in the US elections, no guesses needed to figure out which side they support, it is not subtle.
November 6, 2018
Fake news comes from the MSM, real news from various sources.. mainly on the Net.
November 6, 2018
It is nothing unusual, happens all the time in all western countries, in the UK it especially bad, media is owned mainly by big business and you must ask yourselves, what is their aim.
Well at the moment in the UK their aim is to get a second ref otherwise you would not be having all the propaganda about it, there would no need, gov said there will be no second ref, but the media think differently and have been gearing up for one since the last ref for a win to remain.
When the next election comes around, will you bother with the media and all their propaganda of who to elected or just vote for an independent who is out of the loop with the voters as their party?
November 6, 2018
Clearly the BBC and most other media either have an agenda or are totally incompetent and just follow others in reporting issues… But what concerns me is how the whole thing seems to be orchestrated – In other words, whatever the subject, you will often see the same line of ‘news’ used over and over by different media.
JR you are right in calling this propaganda …. and its also very clear to see that many people are being led by the nose to view things in a certain way, whether it is Trump or immigration. I fear that, shall we call it the establishment – the governing ideology that makes even the government take notice, the establishment has control of the media, and is filling heads with ideology, false news and fake ideas…
November 6, 2018
Ian Dale is good at drawing attention to the campaigning bias of the BBC when he is invited on. They hiss and spit with rage when he does. Other people are beginning to do it on QT and DD becomes incandescent. As does his younger brother over on radio 4. Keep drawing attention to it so everyone can hear.
November 6, 2018
Dear Mr. Redwood,
‘Left-wing bias is written through the BBC’s very DNA’ – Peter Sissons
‘Massive left-wing bias at the BBC’ – Mark Thompson
‘The BBC is biased and liberal minded’ – Roger Mosey
‘The BBC is biased, politically correct and the licence fee should be scrapped’ – Jeremy Paxman
Could anyone see the BBC surviving as a taxpayer-funded organisation if its bias was to the right? Imagine the howls and screams of outrage from the liberal-left intelligentsia! It wouldn’t last five minutes.
As usual you hit the nail square on the head. Organisations should be free to spout whatever views they consider their viewers will stomach. Except where they are in receipt of taxpayers money.
Scrap the BBC! We could even have a referendum on it.
November 6, 2018
I feel disappointed that the people who led us to Brexit cleared off as soon as the vote came in.
They all turned out to be a bunch of wind bags.
November 7, 2018
Nigel Farage was not in the governing party so couldn’t play any part unless he was invited. He wasn’t. Boris and Gove both tried to stand in the leadership election but failed to get elected. Fox likewise. Andrea Leadsom got to the final but was then bullied out by the media and her party. Not what I would call clearing off. Pay some attention to our constitution and the rules of the Conservative Party and you won’t make these lazy mistakes – presumably picked up from the broadcasters.
The only one who cleared off was our PM – who had said he would implement what we decided. That was the great disappointment.
November 6, 2018
I see Blair wants MPs to vote against Mays Brexit deal to get a second referendum. It is all orchestrated to get the ‘right’ answer with another vote.
November 6, 2018
“I have never been invited on and introduced as someone who correctly predicted the damage the ERM would do,”
Or the damage the Iraq war did to this country? After all you voted FOR it!
Reply I tried to get my party to oppose it. I was too loyal on the vote
November 6, 2018
JR
John, thank you very useful debate and contribution
November 6, 2018
Mr R forgot to add the third BBC campaign :
3) Overthrow Trump
They really do seem to think this is in their gift!
November 6, 2018
Leaving aside the bias in these ‘news’ programs, they no longer focus on ‘news’.
Instead they report comments by politicians, vested interests, and celebrities which are in no sense ‘news’.
There must have been hundreds of days in the past two years and more where nothing worth reporting on Brexit has emerged, yet the BBC always has some new manufactured ‘revelation’ on the subject, often a comment from someone we’ve never heard of, to report.
At the weekend the BBC reported McDonnell as having said that Labour would vote against any ‘Deal’ unless it provided for permanent membership of a Customs Union.
This isn’t ‘news’. No one imagined that the Labour Front Bench or the SNP would vote for any ‘Deal’.
The only ‘news’ is the excuse they would offer. The fate of any ‘Deal’ is, in any case, dependent on the number of Tory backbenchers who vote against it and the number of Labour backbenchers who vote for it.
The firs thing the BBC needs to focus on, is on only reporting things when something ‘new’ has actually happened or likely to happen.
November 6, 2018
Anyone still think that, in any way, we are leaving?
November 6, 2018
It was the wrong question on the referendum ballot paper. Instead of …
Do you want to leave the European Union?
⌠it should have been âŚ
Do you want to leave the European Union in name only – such that you continue to be a member of the Single Market, continue to be a member of the Customs Union, continue to accept Freedom of Movement, continue to pay a huge membership fee each year – but have no say or influence whatsoever on future EU decisions?
No-one would have voted for that. But that is what you and your party are giving us.
November 6, 2018
You only consider it propaganda because it is deeply uncomfortable for you.
Along with a small band of largely right-wing malcontents you assured us Brexit would easy. It wonât be.
You assured us Brexit would make us richer. It wonât.
You assured us Brexit had all upsides and no downsides. It doesnât.
Brexit is a disaster. But, most importantly, it is YOUR disaster – and your party will never recover from it.
So it were a Brexiteer I would feel uncomfortable watching the news too – knowing that I would ultimately face blame for the car crash I am inflicting on the next generation.
As for climate – there is no longer a debate about whether the climate is changing or whether man is partly responsible.
Some people still believe the world is actually flat. That doesnât mean it is. It just means some people are either really obtuse or really stupid – or both. Climate change deniers fall into the same category.
November 6, 2018
Andy, It is a fact of history that independent nations do better in general than nations conquered by and run by another nation or empire. With a proper Leave (ie no EU specific treaty ties with the EU), we not only have the chance to prosper but to keep more of that prosperity rather than giving it to the EU. Above all we will have our independence back. But you know that Theresa May has no intention of a proper Leave, don’t you?
As for your comments about “climate change” you constantly give the game away that you are not technically competent, just as you betray your innumeracy. Of course there is climate change – but that means cooling as well as warming over a long enough time span. Variations which are natural, and mostly driven by the Sun.
The absurd concentration on only one greenhouse gas – CO2 – whilst ignoring the others – and ignoring pollution – led to the now discredited notion of catastrophic anthropogenic climate change (CAGW). Without apologising, the consensus is now that there is some AGW (amount disputed) all the while that climate sensitivity is found to be lower than first thought.
November 7, 2018
As for climate â there is no longer a debate about whether the climate is changing or whether man is partly responsible.
The debate is around whether man is mostly responsible, and whether climate change can be avoided or not, and whether government policy is cost effective or not.
November 6, 2018
Here is a direct quote that Polly Toynbee informed us about today: from the Institute for Fiscal Studies director, Paul Johnson, âPolitics is in turmoil,â he said. âSo is the economy.â Look what has befallen us since the crash of 2008, he pointed out: the country is 14% poorer than it would have been on its previous trajectory, so ÂŁ300bn has gone missing. The economy is over 2% smaller as a result of the Brexit vote: thatâs ÂŁ40bn less. Overall, that amounts to an average ÂŁ6,000 per head. Is this a fact John or opinion?
How did the IFS calculate this was as a result of the Brexit vote and not caused by the taxation policies of your Chancellor Mr Hammond and the effects of the new taxes on cars, homes and dividends?
The dithering of May’s strong and stable government may have stopped business investment but how do the IFS investigate this? Have businesses been questioned, how are the businesses that have stopped investing been identified and asked why?
November 6, 2018
I have broadly conservative opinions. I used to watch the BBC regularly. I no longer watch it at all. I get news and opinion from websites.
Whenever I turn on the BBC news (radio or TV), the agenda turns into a whinge about Brexit, or whinges from single interest groups. Usually these derive from some “report”, presumably always produced with vested-interest money, not the result of original journalistic endeavour.
They interview their own journalists for their take on the story, as though their take on the story is of interest, which in general it is not. Just give us the facts, don’t editorialise!
If most other conservative people are like me, they will be wishing they could give up on the BBC licence fee. Sadly I think it is no longer justifiable to keep it.
November 6, 2018
From the experts on the frontline of BBC reporting, both Michael Buerk and Peter Sissons have told us that they were always told to consult The Guardian for the News Stories when they were the News Anchormen at the BBC.
And we all know that this Newspaper is about as Left as you can get outside of the Socialist Workers Daily.
What I would like to know is Why? Why would a National Broadcaster want the country that actually feeds them, to be ruled by an unelected and unaccountable foreign cabal based in a foreign country? It makes absolutely no sense at all. Unless there is the Vested Interests at play again.
November 6, 2018
From the Telegraph website:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/11/06/final-brexit-negotiation-boils-will-uk-ever-able-quit-dreaded/
“The final Brexit negotiation boils down to this: will the UK ever be able to quit the dreaded Irish backstop?”
Which is edging closer to asking the crucial question that I posed yesterday:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/11/05/5-november/#comment-971129
âWhat sort of future trade or other âpartnershipâ deal does Theresa May think could be acceptable to the Irish government so that the âbackstopâ became redundant?â
The answer being that if the new UK-EU deal did not include provisions with the same legal effect as the âbackstopâ then the Irish government would veto it.
So, for a start, a free trade deal like that between the EU and Canada would not do the job as far as the Irish government was concerned because it does not put Canada under the rules of either the EU Customs Union or the EU Single Market, and any future trade deal between the UK and the EU would have to do both or the Irish would block it:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/11/04/bad-deals/#comment-971017
It’s nearly a year since I suggested that the Irish government had adopted such an absurd, extreme and intransigent position over the border that it would a waste of time and energy to even try to negotiate with them:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/12/02/the-irish-border/#comment-904608
“There is no point even trying to negotiate with such silly people.”
Because Theresa May and her favourite euromaniac civil servant Olly Robbins refused to see that they have wasted the past year.
November 6, 2018
For what itâs worth, my recipe for a more balanced BBC, with more interesting programs:
1. Ditch the âcorrespondentsâ. The BBC is not a newspaper. It should not have an âangleâ or an opinion. It should report events rather than speculate on them
2. Stop the BBC chairing debates. It should cover existing debates, especially those in national and local democratic chambers.
The BBC should never be in the position where it can:
– calls the meetings;
– chair the meeting;
– decide the date;
– decide the venue;
– decide who will attend and who to leave out;
– provide a preamble broadcast (often itself biased);
– decide the rules of the meeting;
– ask any questions it wants at any time;
– publish them, with full editorial control, at a time of their choosing.
This puts far too much power in the hands of the BBC. A company will pay a small fortune for this kind of media exposure for their products. Imagine then, how much influence a 1 hour broadcast can carry.
If the BBC ditched the biased talking heads and went out and covered real events, and reported actual events, I believe we would have a far more dynamic and interesting news output without the bias.
Finally, outside of the news, the BBC needs to derive its source of talent from a much wider and diverse pool. I have never subscribed the theory that âmost artists are left wingâ. How many of them need to pander to the Left in order get on the BBC?
If the above doesnât work, it is time for the government to move the BBC to a voluntary subscription model.
November 6, 2018
It’s high time that we took Nigel Farage seriously and analysed just how pervasive is the European deep State in British public life. How many so called ‘independent’ bodies are truly independent? And who are the kingmakers?
Bearing in mind that 52% of the electorate voted to Leave the EU, how do we explain the following:
– Three quarters of MPs are pro-EU
– The pro-EU majority in the House of Lords is 6:1
– The Electoral Commission is relentlessly chasing Aaron Bank
– The Electoral Commission has not examined the sources that funded Remain
– There is a pro-EU majority in the Supreme Court (siding with Gina Miller)
– Pro-EU people are good at getting themselves onto MP selection committees
– Conservative CCHQ contains a lot of Remoaners
– The EU claims credit for funding a lot of UK research, with UK taxpayers’ money
I think that we need to change the kingmakers, for example:
The committees to choose Supreme Court judges and members of the House of Lords should be elected by universal suffrage, a sort of indirect democracy designed to avoid conflicts with the House of Commons.
I would just love it, Mr Redwood, if you would post a blog on the subject of how to cleanse the Augean stables.
November 6, 2018
And not forgetting the process of appointing the Governors of the BBC
November 6, 2018
You and fellow pro-brexit MPs need to take to the airwaves and explain why being trapped permanently in a customs union with the EU is a non-starter. No point complaining about the BBC. The tendency of pro-brexit MPs to go silent is encouraging the EU to demand more and more and this incompetent PM to cave in time and again. We need to fight tooth and claw to stop this permanent vassalage.
Reply We are not silent but we are restricted in access to media
November 6, 2018
I am watching current events, all current events and it is my firm belief that the UK under this PM is on the verge of becoming an oppressive State that will tolerate no offence, that will tolerate no opposition to the prevailing liberal left orthodoxy, that will tolerate no comment that is deemed unorthodox
Theresa May and her liberal left sentiments are destroying our freedoms, freedom of speech and our liberties and your party Sir and indeed my party is part of the destroy our most basic, divine freedoms
November 6, 2018
seems obvious May is cooking up Brexit in name only, and expects to get away with saying one thing and doing another just like she did with her promise to bring immigration down to the tens of thousands…
November 7, 2018
JR – Have you seen the Brexit Grid Strategy Cabinet notes obtained by the BBC?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46109889
19th November – “We have delivered on the referendum” PM speaks at the CBI conference.
Saying this deal brings the country back together, now is the time for us all to unite behind it for the good of all our futures etc. She will also hold a business reception.
This is the day both the Withdrawal Agreement and Future Framework will be put to Parliament by way of a statement from Raab who will also do media. Junior ministers are doing regional media all day. Government lining up 25 top business voices including Carolyn Fairburn and lots of world leaders eg Japanese PM to tweet support for the deal.
etc etc.
Difficult to tell whether it is a Cabinet PR job or an elaborate wind-up.
November 7, 2018
Things have become so bad that we are now told that the possibility of whole of UK being in a customs union with the EU for the foreseeable future is a break-through for Mrs May.
Hang on, didn’t we vote to leave the customs union?
The view in the mainstream media now, and as far as I can tell generally in Westminster, is that Brexiteers constitute a rather eccentric lunatic fringe and that it a result of heir disruptions and irresponsible actions that the Government is now having to negotiate an accession agreement that will at least give some chance of slipping back into the EU as the next round of EU treaty changes are put in place. these are outlined in various white papers arising from the Five Presidents’ report of June 2015, the latest white papers set out the proposed agenda for the EU’s further integration after the 2019 elections:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/future-europe/white-paper-future-europe-and-way-forward_en
Personally I am quite convinced Mrs May’s intention is that the transition period will provide UK with this opportunity. She will never agree to UK having a right of unilateral withdrawal, and is ensuring that in the meantime UK is as closely aligned to the EU as she can possibly manage in the face of irresponsible opposition from the lunatic fringe of Brexiteers.
November 7, 2018
A question to all who regularly comment on here. I presume you usually vote Tory. How are you going to vote in future, assuming May forces through ‘Brexit in name only’?
Reply How could she do that?
November 7, 2018
Chequers is âBrexit in name onlyâ and she has the power to carry it out because not only is she PM (I cannot imagine why because she regards Conservatism as nasty) but because apparently there is a majority of remain MP’s at Westminster who are utterly determined to defy the will of the people as expressed by the referendum decision.
November 8, 2018
Easy. You and a few others might vote against or, more likely, abstain. Enough Labour MPs will vote on the basis that ‘any deal is better than no deal’. The most stupid, pointless ‘Brexit in name only ‘ will be vote for. Just wait and see.
November 7, 2018
I think you make an important and interesting point. And one that is very relevant to news broadcasters who are funded through the public purse. One of the issues I have with the BBC in particular is that they often present issues against an editorial context that accepts only one viewpoint as right. In other words, they pursue an agenda. And they do this on many levels. Using experts in an editorial context – good experts and bad experts. Using signalling words – controversial is a current favourite, but there are others. Using leading question to challenge the views of guests they donât agree with.
BUT how to challenge it?
November 7, 2018
Nothing will be done about the BBC (and House of lords) until after Her Majesty’s passing and this in deference and respect to her which she deserves after serving us for so long and so tirelessly. However after that it’s ‘GAME ON’ and we banish both (BBC& HOF) to the ‘gemaahuuloos’. THEN we move rapidly on to instituting an ENGLISH Parliament. All will happen in due time and once we are no longer shackled to a foreign institution and their laws.
November 7, 2018
I bet the Scots, Welsh and Irish can’t wait to be unshackled from us after they shed so much blood over the centuries to be rid of the English.
Will we have to pay them compensation?
November 7, 2018
We have been doing that for many years.
The transfer of money from England to the rest of the UK has been an constant feature of Westminster’s generosity.
November 8, 2018
Any reason why Westminster has been so generous? It’s not normally known for its altruism.
Whiskey tax?
Oil revenue?
November 8, 2018
JR I agree but why is this happening?
It has been a fairly consist shift across the mainstream media (MSM), not just with one organisation. One example of the shift is Jeremy Corbyn who used to be considered by most of the MSM hard/far left 30 years ago. I doubt he has changed is views much but is now treated by the MSM as mainstream.
One of the causes may be simply cost cutting. I have noticed some expert journalists disappear from our screens without replacement and wondered if this was due to their costing more than other staff. Instead of critically assessing raw news the less knowledgeable might simply except the free information provided by lobbyists and NGOs.
A whole load of the people who used to be part of New (globalist) Labour seemed to have moved on to NGOs or as lobbyists, which makes this a very biased source 0f news.
Of course group think reinforces the problem as most of the MSM journalist look at MSM news and confirm to themselves they have a middle of the road opinion. They follow up on stories they think are important and drop others they don’t. I also think the bias in the MSM is demonstrated as much by what they ignore or give minimal coverage to as by what they do say.
I don’t know or deal with journalists, so can only guess the cause of the shift in MSM. JR you have had extensive dealings with journalists over many years, so what do you think is the cause?
Is it possible to have a MSM outlet set up that takes an alternative view to the rest of the MSM?
November 8, 2018
Dear Andy, Newmania, Margaret Howard et al
You seen to have missed this as you haven’t mentioned it
ONS figures released this week show demand for British goods and services continues to grow, with exports rising to ÂŁ637 billion in the year to August 2018. This represents a 5.5% increase compared to the previous year and the 13th consecutive month where exports exceed imports.
#BrexitSuccess
November 8, 2018
Brexit success?
More like a closing down sale – Come and get it – everything half price.
Get it while you can!
November 8, 2018
The BBC’s coverage of the CO2 issue pretty well reflects what is to be found in peer-reviewed scientific literature. How else are they to handle science in general? Add in contributions from conspiracy theorists, bloggers, postmodernists, ignorant politicians etc etc ??
November 8, 2018
Well it would be nice if the just occasionally had a disenting voice on.
There is a debate to be had on the CO2 issue.
Policy
Opportunity costs.
Accuracy of statistics
Auditing of data and computer models.