Fact checking the BBC

I was surprised to receive an email from the BBC after my interview on Monday of last week. It asked me to prove that German carbon dioxide emissions were twice as large as the UK’s,  a claim I made in  my interview. I was surprised because I would expect the BBC to know the main sources of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide as practically every BBC news show and comment show has to have a climate change item on it these days. I sent him back  couple of sources that a simple google search  yielded. I had of course checked my recollections of the numbers before doing the interview so I knew they were correct. He expressed no interest in my allegations about China which accounts for around 27 times as much CO2 output as the UK.

He returned to the issue having consulted someone else to point out that if you looked at consumption patterns rather than at where fuel was burned and  things made the Uk would have a worse figure and Germany as  a leading exporter of carbon dioxide drenched products would have a bit better figure by transferring some of their CO2 to the importing country. Germany would of course still be the larger emitter.  I explained that I was talking about COP 26 and the global Treaty framework. The whole basis of the international conferences is to get countries to pledge to cut the CO2 that is generated on their territory, as that is more subject to their control. Surely  the expression Germany’s CO2 output means just that, the CO2 they produce.

He agreed that the figures used were correct but felt he needed to write an additional essay about how perhaps we should use consumption based figures instead of the agreed international output based figures. I objected to this being done in  the name of a fact check on what I had said when it was obvious I had cited accurate normal figures. Nonetheless the BBC fact check then posted a long essay which did begin by quoting another source to show my figures were accurate before going  into a long apology for Germany and a representation of figures to cast Germany in a  better light. Why? Why does Germany have to be protected when her business model includes digging out plenty of brown coal and burning it, and producing millions of fossil fuel burning vehicles. In contrast the UK has all but phased out coal from the mix. Why no mention of Germany’s rows over extending open cast coal mining, her refusal to eliminate coal  this decade, and no mention of China, the world’s largest carbon dioxide producer?

185 Comments

  1. Everhopeful
    August 17, 2021

    Well I’m sure that we all know the answer to the questions in the last paragraph.
    The real question is 
has Johnson been fooled by “blaming” which is much like “waaaycism”. Always point the finger at those you want to destroy!All pro EU, anti British forces want us to fail.
    Imagine a leader who opened coal mines, opened the factories, protected our borders and got the country back to work!
    How terrifying for Germany and China!

    But what a CHEEK to question JR like that!
    How does that work then? Is it a legal requirement?
    On yer bike BBC!

    1. Cynic
      August 17, 2021

      Thanks to the internet, we are no longer subject to the BBC’s truth or facts! Anyone can now fact check the BBC and their ilk. They just expose their own bias.

      1. Mitchel
        August 17, 2021

        Facts,like taxes,are only for the little people!

        1. Hope
          August 17, 2021

          Tories in govt for 11 years!! Ample time to bring about change.

          Cameron and Johnson pledged to change the BBC. The Tories allowed a price hike and allowed over 75’s to be forced to pay!

          JR, should be bleating why his party/govt has failed the nation in another policy failure!

      2. Tad Davison
        August 17, 2021

        Brussels Broadcasting Corporation. They still bear allegiance to the EU. Why therefore, should the British public bear allegiance to the BBC?

        The BBC is clearly not fit for purpose, but poor Boris hasn’t quite got the measure of public opinion or he would act. Defund it, dismantle it, bin it.

        1. John Hatfield
          August 17, 2021

          Boris, like the BBC, is pro-EU. If he wasn’t, he would not have made the appalling concession of the Northern Ireland Protocol nor would he have given away so much of our fish. He must have known that no-deal would have been best for the UK but no, he overrode Frost and we ended up in the mess we are in.
          Boris thinks nothing of the serfs, he is a globalist plank.

    2. Timaction
      August 17, 2021

      ……imagine a leader…….. I’m afraid Thatcher left office 33 years ago and what we have tolerated since is nothing but mediocre left wing anti English political pigmies!

      1. G.Wheatley
        August 17, 2021

        +1 !

      2. Lifelogic
        August 17, 2021

        Well yes but even Thatcher was rather a left wing, big state person and incompetent in many ways. She abolished loads of grammar schools, denied real freedom of choice for almost everyone in education, healthcare & broadcasting, she buried us further into the EU, went for the political disaster of the poll tax, appointed the socialist idiot John Major as Chancellor and even let him take us into the ERM as a precursor to the Euro.

        The UK has suffered appalling PMs and governments all my life from Wilson and Heath through to Cameron/May and now Boris. Thatcher was the best of them but still not really a decent or sound PM or a real Conservative.

      3. Jim Whitehead
        August 17, 2021

        +1

    3. NickC
      August 17, 2021

      BBC bias is so grotesque that they are losing audience and TV tax payers in droves. Even though you need to pay the BBC to watch other channels, which is itself grossly unfair.

      1. Lifelogic
        August 17, 2021

        +1

    4. Guy Liardet
      August 18, 2021

      John it’s terribly simple. Germany has spent billions on windmills and any suggestion that IT DOESNT WORK reflects directly on UK’s ludicrous Net Zero policy and the expensive and useless windmills Boris wants. The ‘Saudi Arabia of wind’ must be the stupidest remark of 2020

  2. Everhopeful
    August 17, 2021

    Actually.
    This is exactly what happens when one bends to one’s enemies.
    It’s like paying a blackmailer.
    The one single certainty is that they will come back for more.
    And more and more.
    And don’t forget
the Left has its own “truth”.

    1. MFD
      August 17, 2021

      +1

  3. The PrangWizard of England
    August 17, 2021

    Why do we not get to know the name and job title of the man involved? Probably because Sir John thinks that would be ‘unfair’ but that just helps the BBC – would never do to fight the whole battle.

    1. Peter
      August 17, 2021

      PWoE,

      I would certainly like to see the article which resulted from this ‘fact checking’.

      1. Peter
        August 17, 2021

        A google search does reveal NB’s article of three days ago.

        1. Peter
          August 17, 2021

          As Dr. Heinz Kiosk used to frequently point out ‘We are all guilty.’

          Dr. Kiosk and the BBC reach the same conclusion. So that’s alright then.

          Incidentally you contact the BBC and request them to fact check a topic. Much scope for mischief but I suspect the Beeb on topics on which they choose to reply.

        2. Timaction
          August 17, 2021

          It doesn’t matter who wrote it but demonstrates clearly that the BBC is no longer fit for purpose and this runs through the whole BBC establishment who recruit like minded lefties with the same “truths”, just from a wholly unhealthy left wing pc/wokism and we all know it. What are the Government doing about it…………………………nothing.

          1. MiC
            August 17, 2021

            I suggest that you examine the CVs of both the BBC’s Chairman and of its Director-General.

          2. John Hatfield
            August 17, 2021

            The goverment is complicit.

          3. Peter2
            August 17, 2021

            I suggest you examine the CV’s of the rest of the BBC’s staff.

    2. Lifelogic
      August 17, 2021

      I assume he does not have a decent science degree – they so rarely do.

      1. Ian Wragg
        August 17, 2021

        People with science degrees would be most unwelcome at the BBC. Anyone questioning their version of the truth would be banned.

      2. Lifelogic
        August 17, 2021

        MiC one read PPE Oxon. the other English at Cambridge – not remotely encouraging.

    3. dixie
      August 17, 2021

      Google can help – the article is a “Reality Check” entitled “Climate change: Does Germany produce double the UK’s carbon emissions?” by Nicholas Barrett
      … It is anything but a “reality check”

      1. Micky Taking
        August 17, 2021

        Sir John should send this report of what transpired to the BBC Directors, asking why did this person feel it necessary to harangue you? It must have felt like being accused of a falsehood? Steps should be taken via Line Management to ensure no such attempt at forgiving facts which demonstrated a negative point against a country or policy should ever be allowed. What ever happened to unbiased fair reporting?

  4. Mark B
    August 17, 2021

    Good morning.

    I would have told the BBC to do its own homework. After all, it takes enough in License Fee payers money.

  5. Sea_Warrior
    August 17, 2021

    I hope that you send a link to your post to the responsible minister and to Tim Davie. The vile BBC must be fed to the wolves – privatised – so that it will come under pressure to behave responsibly.

    1. Mike Wilson
      August 17, 2021

      Privatise the BBC – so it will behave responsibly? That made me laugh. Behave responsibly like all the privately owned media? Good one.

      1. NickC
        August 17, 2021

        Mike, Whether the BBC behaves “responsibly” or not, if it is privatised the customers can make their own choices. Instead of being forced (if one wishes to watch other live TV) to subsidise BBC bias.

      2. MiC
        August 17, 2021

        Virtually everything saleable by the BBC has already been sold.

        Almost every practical thing that it does has been outsourced long ago.

        It is largely a commissioning house.

        However, it does remain the most highly-resourced news operation in Europe, and I doubt very much whether the Establishment – the real one, which includes John’s party – will want to let THAT slip through their hands.

        1. Peter2
          August 17, 2021

          So why does it need nearly 5 billion a year?

          1. MiC
            August 18, 2021

            To pay for all those programmes that they buy in, sporting rights etc. and for that news operation.

            What else?

          2. Peter2
            August 18, 2021

            If it just commissions programmes why does it need 22,000 staff?
            Netflix manages with 9,000.

  6. Cynic
    August 17, 2021

    Thanks to the internet, we are no longer subject to the BBC’s truth or facts! Anyone can now fact check the BBC and their ilk. They just expose their own bias.

    1. MiC
      August 17, 2021

      Yes, you can fact-check The Lancet, by going to homeopathy websites on the same “logic”.

      That said, when it matters, the BBC does slip in the odd whopper now and then. They have to be truthful for the rest of the time though, or folks would not fall for it. And then there are the stories that they, along with much of rest of the UK news, simply ignore.

      Such as the fact that they ignore these stories, like the hobbling of Empty Dwelling Management Orders by the Tories.

      1. Micky Taking
        August 17, 2021

        ‘whoppers’ can be forgiven when a genuine mistake. But going out of the way to try to present a fact as untrue speaks to State or rogue reporting, the like we see daily from China, Russia, N.Korea, the EU Commision – hell, even the USA.

        1. MiC
          August 18, 2021

          Yes it does.

      2. NickC
        August 18, 2021

        I decided not to fall for the BBC whoppers a long time ago, Martin.

    2. hefner
      August 21, 2021

      P2, BBC has about 29,000 staff as part of PSB Group, BBC Television, BBC Radio, BBC Monitoring, BBC World Service and now BBC Online and BBC iPlayer. Given the various BBC TV and Radio channels covering entertainment, news, current affairs, arts, are 29,000 staff so much more than the 9,400 staff at Netflix, a company that essentially relies on as many as 48 external companies for its ‘contents’?

  7. Nig l
    August 17, 2021

    I guess you have the clout so please ask them and let us know. As I don’t listen to them ever what they say is irrelevant as it is increasingly to other people.

    If your government wasn’t so spineless as we see right across it, they would get stuck in and sort it.

  8. Lifelogic
    August 17, 2021

    Such is the BBC. Though the UK’s policy of exporting energy intensive industries and related jobs and also of importing wood to burn at Drax instead of gas or coal (to pretend this is low carbon electricity) is idiotic. Wood is young coal and causes more CO2 per KwH of electricity than coal or gas.

    Get the BBC to fact check if keeping your old diesel car for another ten years, rather than causing a new electric car plus (two) batteries to be manufactured (and Allegra Stratton/Alok Sharma to check too) actually causes far lower net CO2 emissions – it does. Get them to check how much CO2 is caused by constructing, maintaining and the fossil fuel back up needed for wind farms is over their life time. The figures are surprisingly poor.

    Get the BBC to check how much of their output is misleading alarmist drivel nearly 100% I would estimate. Also get them to see if 5 people cycling say 50 miles or walking 10 miles (fuelled as they are by extra human food) actually produces more CO2 than sending them in a small diesel car. It does. Plus the world temperature is not it seems even that sensitive to atmospheric CO2 concentrations – there really is no climate emergency anyway.

    1. Lifelogic
      August 17, 2021

      ‘No one saw this coming,’ says Dominic Raab on the swift Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

      No one Raab? Tens of millions of people did and had you been in touch with reality and doing your job properly you should have known too. We have been there for 20 years?

      Do you still think the wet market is “the most likely source of Covid 19”? When are you going to admit (what is surely the truth) given the virtually overwhelming evidence about the Wuhan lab leak (prob. after gain of function experiments)? Or did no one see this either?

      1. Lifelogic
        August 17, 2021

        John Bolton today in the Telegraph.

        Joe Biden’s bungled Afghan exit is a calamity for America and the West
        There was an alternative to following Trump’s policy. Now our enemies will look to exploit our weakness

        I am sure Trump would not have done it this incompetently Biden is a disaster.

        A rather silly article yesterday from Chris Scidmore MP yesterday. We need our universities more than ever. People who say we have too many graduates ignore the world-beating value of a British higher education.

        Good to see that almost 100% of the comments were against him. We have far too many people with ~ ÂŁ50k of student debt and worthless degrees and 50% of this debt will be paid off by tax payers.

      2. G.Wheatley
        August 17, 2021

        LOL. I think most of us ‘saw this coming’ as soon as DJT announced plans to pull US forces out of Afghanistan…. and 2 seconds later the Taliban would have started to implement their plans (formulated as they were, in readiness for when the Russians ‘left’).

        Well over a week ago, I and many of my associates were alikening the current ‘withdrawal’ to the US evacuating Saigon in 1975. The ‘finger on the pulse’ BBC only cottoned-on to that parallel a few days ago…..

        1. Lifelogic
          August 17, 2021

          +1

    2. Timaction
      August 17, 2021

      Show me the science, not assumptions that directly link CO2 concentrates with climate. ……………….waiting.

      1. NickC
        August 17, 2021

        Timeaction, As you are probably aware, there is no direct causal link proving that the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere over the last century is causing (or will cause) catastrophic global warming.

        In fact, since we are nearing the end of the current interglacial (compared with previous interglacials) it is much more likely that we are headed to a new ice-age. The precautionary principle certainly means we should be preparing for a new ice-age, rather than wasting time and resources on a mythical global meltdown.

        1. hefner
          August 17, 2021

          ‘Nearing the end of the current interglacial’: how many more years to get to it?
          ‘More likely’: what probability?
          What would be your recommendations for ‘preparing for a new ice age’?

          1. NickC
            August 18, 2021

            Why don’t you ask those same questions of your own CAGW religion, Hefner? As for the probability of a new ice-age, bar intervention by God, it’s 100%.

        2. bill brown
          August 18, 2021

          Nick C

          Instead of predicting a new ice-age with some non-factual assumptions, why, don’t you show us the scientiic proof of your potential prediction?

    3. Mitchel
      August 17, 2021

      Article in Barents Observer 16/8/21:

      “Big oil,gas and coal making headway on Russian Arctic coast.Hundreds of ships loaded with construction materials shuttle to sites of non-renewable energy projects.”

  9. wes
    August 17, 2021

    but we all know the BBC is an anti British organisation, don’t we ?

    1. Lifelogic
      August 17, 2021

      Certainly anti-English and anti-real science it seems. A left wing, ever bigger state, climate alarmist, propaganda outfit that we are (virtually) forced to pay for so they can propagandise this endless agenda/drivel to us. Or give ÂŁ1.5 million of the licence frees to a charity of “the royals” choice!

    2. MWB
      August 17, 2021

      No, the BBC is anti English.

    3. bill brown
      August 18, 2021

      wes
      Please, kindly elaboarate so we ca better understand your underlying assumptions stated?

  10. SM
    August 17, 2021

    I can’t imagine how you don’t explode in a massive fit of apoplexy at times, Sir John!

    1. MiC
      August 17, 2021

      Nah – he doesn’t need to bother.

      He’s got you lot to do that for him.

  11. J Bush
    August 17, 2021

    The BBC has received monies from the EU in the form of ‘loans’, which do not require repayment in the past and wonder if they are still on the EU’s ‘payroll’? It would certainly explain their continued all things related to the EU = good, everything about the UK = bad.

    1. MiC
      August 17, 2021

      Why don’t you look at the BBC’s accounts?

      They’re on the internet.

      They used to get about ÂŁ700kpa from the European Union for decentralisation – a tiny fraction of a percent of their revenues.

      Ukip on the other hand got nearly all of their lavish salaries and expenses from it, so what exactly is your point?

      1. Peter2
        August 17, 2021

        Should the BBC accept such external donations?

        1. MiC
          August 17, 2021

          In what way were they ever “external”, while this country was part of the European Union?

          Come on, Peter, even you can do better than that, eh?

          1. Peter2
            August 18, 2021

            You know what I meant by “external”

      2. Micky Taking
        August 17, 2021

        As did all MEPs – your point is that you would deny salaries and expenses to those you don’t approve of?

        1. MiC
          August 18, 2021

          Not at all, my point is that the OP suggests that anyone who receives money from an entity is pro that thing.

          That would have made ukip thousands of times more pro-European Union than the BBC if true.

    2. bill brown
      August 18, 2021

      J Bush

      unsubstatiated assumptions, please provide us with some proof and not just guesses?

      1. Peter2
        August 18, 2021

        They are not unsubstantiated billy.
        The BBC is on public record as having received large sums from the EU.
        Did you not know?

        1. hefner
          August 22, 2021

          Indeed mon petit P2, the BBC is on public record to have received ÂŁ258m over the five years 2013-2018. Its annual budget in those years was between ÂŁ3.8 bn and ÂŁ4.7 bn. Its budget for 2021/2022 is ÂŁ5,283 m.
          Soooooo 
. 258/5= about £52m /year. In 2013, that would be 1.36% provided by the EU, in 2018 a HUMONGOUS 1.11%.

          If you, a self-declared businessman obviously very well aware of figures and orders of magnitude, are able to say that these EU grants are large sums of money (and implicitly essential to the BBC’s work and I guess the reason why the BBC is so EU biased), I am very happy to never have had to do business with you, as such a comment would make me very suspicious of your business flair and aptitude.

          But please keep on your good work, it is always a pleasure to debunk your interesting comments.

  12. Lifelogic
    August 17, 2021

    Rather a silly BBC discussion programme on the other day – “Global Questions – Climate and the Caribbean.” We get little but a pure propaganda from the BBC on climate alarmism, mainly delivered by deluded art graduates with little understanding of energy, climate systems, energy economics, logic or much else.

    1. mongoose
      August 17, 2021

      Mr Barrett’s bachelor’s degree was earned in ‘Digital Media’.

  13. dixie
    August 17, 2021

    I read Nicholas Barrett’s “reality check” (14th August) article which is loaded with sophistry – calling it a “reality check” and labelling accepted emissions data as your “claim”.
    He claims Germany’s bigger population is a factor, however the GCA country emission figures for 2018 show (UK) 5.7t and (Germany) 9.1t per capita per capita, so still close to double.
    As you say he then goes on to claim consumption emissions are a key factor in comparison and then cites a climate researcher at U of Exeter who “calculates” the difference –
    “By measuring consumption emissions, experts can better understand how responsible a country is for emissions produced abroad (for example, by another country making the goods which it is importing).

    On this measure, the gap between the UK and Germany appears smaller.

    We asked Dr O’Sullivan to calculate the difference.” who states the UK was only 20% lower in 2018.

    Except, if “reality” were truly being checked the author would have pointed out that nothing was actually measured and O’Sullivan’s figure is an unqualified guesstimate. There is nothing to describe how he “calculated” anything, what measured data was used, what assumptions were made, what uncertainties and omissions were are in the method.

    The Global Carbon Budget is part of the same Project as the Global Carbon Atlas. If you look at it’s data sources, under Consumption-based emissions it links solely to a 2012 paper by Peters, David and Andrew on the copernicus.org website.;

    Peters, G. P., Davis, S. J., and Andrew, R.: Corrigendum to “A synthesis of carbon in international trade” published in Biogeosciences, 9, 3247−3276, 2012, Biogeosciences, 10, 4845–4846, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-4845-2013, 2013. entitled “A synthesis of carbon in international trade” published 23 August 2012

    … a 2012 paper, so how is this a valid source of trade related data for 2020 (per the GCB page) or 2018.

    The BBC article is neither a reality nor fact check but is yet more theory and unsubstantiated “models”

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      August 17, 2021

      All that you write above is true @dixie but anyone doing a reality check would just have asked themselves “If Germany has to generate more power to produce goods for the world and it is so virtuous, why hasn’t it moved to renewables quicker? Why is it opening coal power stations?”.

      That is the question to ask, China, India, Germany and all the other producing nations. They produce for other countries because they produce good of acceptable quality at a heaper price. That price is heavily influenced by energy costs. Ergo they have chosen to produce in this way.

      ** This assumes that carbon production is an issue which it may not be, pollution yes, carbon maybe not.

      1. dixie
        August 17, 2021

        I believe Germany has abandoned nuclear so they don’t have a lot of options for dispatchable power and renewable energy isn’t dispatchable until you can store it conveniently and economically.
        BTW Germany imports a lot from China as well.

    2. Dave Andrews
      August 17, 2021

      So in other words we can reduce our carbon footprint by stopping importing stuff we don’t need from China.

      1. Micky Taking
        August 17, 2021

        which boosts their production figures and economy no end!

      2. dixie
        August 18, 2021

        We would improve our position enormously by making our own stuff with our own energy within a circular economy.

    3. G.Wheatley
      August 17, 2021

      I still find it laughable that the BBC have a ‘Reality-Check Correspondent’.
      Irony isn’t one of their strongest attributes.

  14. JayGee
    August 17, 2021

    A link to the Reality Check by Nicholas Barrett allows everyone to make up their own mind.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/58148881

    1. Peter
      August 17, 2021

      ‘British Conservative MP John Redwood’. The article either assumes the readers never follow the news or it is aimed at a foreign audience.

      It also refers to Mr. Redwood as opposed to Sir John Redwood. So our host is definitely on the naughty step.

      1. Mitchel
        August 17, 2021

        The BBC is a globalist organization,it therefore presumes it has a global audience.

        1. Micky Taking
          August 17, 2021

          well it shouldn’t be. British should be a clue.

        2. MiC
          August 17, 2021

          Says someone who apparently watches the US-originated Fox News…

          1. Mitchel
            August 18, 2021

            No.A mixture of Sky,RT and Al-Jazeera,but I mostly take my news from specialist sources.

    2. Lifelogic
      August 17, 2021

      Well the article does make some sense you cannot just consider CO2 emitted in the UK. Just exporting all our manufacturing and jobs to other countries damages our economy and does nothing for world CO2 emissions.

      But then again the warming caused by world CO2 emissions and atmospheric CO2 is grossly exaggerated. It is not even the main greenhouse gas. Furthermore the governments “solutions” – electric cars & vans, heat pumps, hydrogen, wind farms, cycling, walking, public transport 
 do not save significant (or even often any) net CO2. Plus many are vastly expensive too – economic & political suicide Boris.

  15. Brian Tomkinson
    August 17, 2021

    The BBC are propagandists and are unworthy of the title public service broadcaster.

    1. Bryan Harris
      August 17, 2021

      @Brian Tomkinson

      +100

    2. Lifelogic
      August 17, 2021

      +1

    3. michelle
      August 17, 2021

      They are. A one sided openly anti-English blob, becoming more anti-white male without any opposition to them whatsoever.

      Yet we have had an alleged Conservative Govt. for nigh on 10 years or more and the BBC have gone from strength to strength.

  16. Narrow Shoulders
    August 17, 2021

    I read the article last week and “an apology for Germany” sums it up rather well.

    Politicians use facts and statistics quite shamefully to promote their causes but the BBC’s Fact Check service is an editorial tool not one that is concerned about accuracy. The writers are skilled in spin.

    As you write above Sir John, why not think about China and even after the supposed mitigations Germany still produced much more CO2 per head than we do. Yet we are the ones who flagellate ourselves. I will not take any measures that inconvenience that are not statutory me until I see the larger emitters doing similar.

  17. X-Tory
    August 17, 2021

    We all know that the BBC are far-left, Britain-hating traitors, but the real blame for this situation lies with the man you never criticise: Boris Johnson. He has a majority of 80 and should do two things: (i) decriminalise the non-payment of the licence fee, and (ii) appoint a DG with explicit instructions to SACK all journalists and producers who are politically biased against the national interest. Until there is a slew of sackings nothing will change.

    As for the specifics of your case, it is obvious to any rational human being that CO2 emissions are calculated by country. The world’s worst offender is China (by a country mile), and Europe’s is Germany. Trying to play with the figures to twist them some other way just proves the saying about ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’. And as for COP26, as I have said before, the UK should NOT make ANY expensive commitments until these two countries (together with India and the US) have significantly reduced their greenhouse gas emissions. Otherwise our actions will be masochistic, pointless and moronic. What’s the betting Boris Johnson will prove to be all three?

    1. Dave W
      August 18, 2021

      Remember, the BBC doesn’t want to confuse the issue with facts
      As for their “expert” ex means has been, and spurt is a drip under pressure

  18. Newmania
    August 17, 2021

    It is not necessary to believe the UK to be uniquely delinquent country to agree that climate change is a real and pressing problem. The consumption view is not a ridiculous perspective to introduce but the stark fact that the climate change is a Global problem in which National solutions are largely gestures cannot be avoided simply by delighting in self loathing.
    The problem is that John Redwood`s position is this :
    1 National environmentalism is a meaningless gesture given massive global output
    2 International environmentalism is a democratic outrage

    Result

    Do nothing

    1. Philip P.
      August 17, 2021

      Newmania, I could be wrong, but I interpret SJR’s position as:

      1. National environmentalism is a meaningless gesture, given massive global output.
      2. International environmentalism is also a meaningless gesture, given massive global output.

      Evidently, China and India remain to be persuaded of the case for man-made global warming. They may feel that the 1 degree C temperature increase they experienced in the last hundred years or so does not set the alarm bells ringing for them.

      I trust a country’s freedom to do what it judges best for itself is not something you want to override. Or are we seeing your world government mindset peeping out?

    2. JPM
      August 17, 2021

      Any climate action by the UK to reduce CO2 emissions is an empty meaningless gesture without international co-operation as we as a nation collectively generate 0.04% of annual global CO2 emitted.

      In the absence of meaningful international co-operation, today in other words, we might as well not bother unless we introduce an international system of taxing CO2 in imports, to which, of course, developing and exporting countries will never agree.

      Come up with a meaningful and practical plan and the population will support it, keep feeding us manifest nonsense and we will not.

    3. SM
      August 17, 2021

      I have decided to make some major personal alterations to my lifestyle, Newmania, for the good of the planet and its people and environment:

      1. I will give the private Caribbean island I own to a refugee charity to provide homes for those fleeing persecution across Africa and the Middle and Far East.

      2. I will give my super deluxe ocean-going yacht, currently moored in Monaco, to the UK Patrol Force in the English Channel to prevent further deaths.

      3. I will stop my regular import of Beluga caviar from Russia.

      4. I will attend no more sumptuous film premieres, and will sell my wardrobe stuffed full of couture gowns and the contents of my jewellery safe.

      5. I will cancel my next planned trip to Mars.

      1. Lifelogic
        August 17, 2021

        Me too. I am going to keep my families personal travel bills to under 10% of Prince Charles’s ÂŁ1 million+ PA. Plus I will spend less than 5% of his various house heating bills to heat mine. I will also fly less than 5% of Alok Sharma’s annual air miles – (he flew to 30 countries in just 7 months).

        I will also only fly economy with no private jets, helicopters or Aston Martins and will keep my old ICU cars as long as possible so as not to waste energy on building new EVs or other cars. I also will spend on 5% of what Carrie spent on No 10 interior design to save that energy too. Plus I will not heat rooms not in use.

        1. bigneil - newer comp
          August 17, 2021

          Well done LL – you cut your energy consumption – because the millions coming here will use a hell of a lot more – while our power production capability falls through the floor.

        2. Fedupsoutherner
          August 17, 2021

          LL. Love this post and SM’s too.

    4. Peter2
      August 17, 2021

      Your conclusions are incorrect Newmania.
      The UK is implementing the radical Climate Change Act
      The UK has set ambitious targets for net zero.
      The UK has set a time to phase out gas heating and internal combustion engines.
      The UK is closing down coal fired power stations.
      The UK is hosting the COP26 conference and is an interested party in the UN and G7 meetings.
      And the UK is spending billions a year to help develop renewables
      We are plainly trying to encourage greater efforts by the largest emitter nations because it is a global problem that the UK cannot solve on its own.
      It seems OK for environmentalist pressure groups to campaign against USA China India and Germany’s need to reduce their CO2 outputs andcuse of coal but not for Sir John to point it out.

      1. glen cullen
        August 17, 2021

        That list is impressive and it show a massive effort from the UK….however its meaningless to China, India, most of Africa, most of South America and Russia
        Try as we might to show them the correct path, the light of renewable, the evidence of climate change, the benefits of banning fossil fuel(s) and its by-products – they walk there own path, and do as they like and just ignore our hardships to reduce the temperature by 1.5 degree
        There logic ”the more the UK does the less we have to do” and who really cares we have 1.4 billion mouths to feed

    5. NickC
      August 17, 2021

      Newmania, Climate change is real, but that in itself does not make it a problem. Do you mean that you think CAGW is a problem? The climate scientists are backing away from belief in CAGW, leaving climate activists like yourself, Greta, Prince Charles, Al Gore, etc, high and dry. Anyway, it is much more likely that we are headed for a new ice-age than an irreversible global melt-down.

      1. Lifelogic
        August 17, 2021

        CAGW – Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming – the only real climate emergency is to stop Boris’s (and other) idiotic governments from wasting many ÂŁtrillions on this Net Zero religion. This will do nothing for the climate, will certainly kill very many people, destroy jobs, make people poorer & hugely damage the economy.

        Also it is political suicide Boris and will not work – wake up Boris/Carrie.

        1. Hat man
          August 17, 2021

          ‘Wake up Boris/Carrie?’ I think it’s too late for that, Lifelogic. You should listen, if you haven’t already, to Mark Dolan on GB News interviewing Jennifer Arcuri, who says he has been taken over.

          If it’s true, who set the honey trap, I wonder?

  19. Roy Grainger
    August 17, 2021

    Extraordinary. I assume the main problem is you said something which suggested the UK and it’s government weren’t the worst in the world, and that contradicts the main “fact” the BBC works by.

    The point they make that CO2 should be measured by consumption is an interesting one – it would mean for example there should be no objection whatsoever to UK opening a coal mine and making coking coal for steel making rather than the current situation of delegating that to Canada. So why was there so much opposition to it from BBC types ?

    1. Mockbeggar
      August 17, 2021

      The same goes for fracking. We import LNG from the far east. It has to be cooled to turn it from gas to liquid, then transported halfway round the world and, when discharged, has to be warmed up to turn it back to gas (natural warming would take too long).

      1. Mitchel
        August 17, 2021

        I believe we import LNG from the Middle East rather than the Far East-according to the last figures I remember seeing Qatar was by far the biggest supplier,followed by USA and Russia.Long distances for sure but not that far!

        1. Mockbeggar
          August 17, 2021

          I bow to your superior knowledge. I do believe that quite a lot comes from Indonesia though.

          1. hefner
            August 21, 2021

            LNG imports 2019 (in GWh):
            Qatar 97,670
            Russia 34,442
            USA 32,649
            Algeria 10,800
            Trinidad & Tobago 9,111
            Nigeria 3,720
            Norway 3,653
            Peru 2,937
            Equatorial Guinea 2,715
            Angola 982
            Cameroon 911

            statista.com ‘LNG imports to the UK by country 2019’

    2. Lifelogic
      August 17, 2021

      +1

  20. Nota#
    August 17, 2021

    Are we now surprised by BBC bias. EU and its States – Good to Brilliant, the UK abysmal to shameful at everything in their eyes.

    Not forgetting and I am sure they haven’t during the Brexit debate the BBC received funding from the EU to paint the EU in a good light for UK’s eyes. Not forgetting BBC’s license fee services are cheaper in the EU than in the UK

  21. Nota#
    August 17, 2021

    And the BBC neglected to point out that 50% of the Worlds polluters have not signed up to to the Boris/UN mantra of ‘cut back or die’. By coincidence its the same 50% that produce the bulk of the pollution.

    It all goes astray as Boris is dictating that we must all buy in new of everything from the Worlds polluters. That’s the only bit the BBC is correct on, the UK is held hostage by Government dictate, political will and is a great consumer of shabby products from the less desirable parts of the World, as such it can be reasoned we are still part of the Worlds pollution problem. That side of it is a political decision by the UK Parliament, they were complicit in selling off the UK’s internal capability to others.

    It all adds up to illustrate what nonsense this Government spews out, always the ‘grandstanding gesture’ followed by a ‘virtue signal’ so the World is now alright.

  22. Gregory martin
    August 17, 2021

    We need to know the number of deaths from carbon di oxide not the number of deaths with carbon dioxide

    1. Bill B.
      August 17, 2021

      + 1
      Nice one, Gregory.

    2. Micky Taking
      August 17, 2021

      err zero? – unless one held their breath, and went through an airlock into a chamber full of only carbon dioxide.

  23. Sea_Warrior
    August 17, 2021

    The Gestapo would, I believe, knock on the doors of people overheard making disparaging comments about the Nazi Party and the conduct of the war.

    1. bigneil - newer comp
      August 17, 2021

      Was that your door SW?

      1. Sea_Warrior
        August 18, 2021

        Your point escapes me.

    2. MiC
      August 17, 2021

      So nothing whatsoever like the BBC then.

      1. Sea_Warrior
        August 18, 2021

        There’s a clear parallel. Look harder.

        1. MiC
          August 18, 2021

          No matter how hard I look, I can’t see anyone being dragged from their homes, tortured and shot by the BBC old flower.

  24. Bryan Harris
    August 17, 2021

    Clearly there are several things more important to the BBC fact checkers than the raw truth:

    – the need to denigrate the UK at every possibility;
    – support of Germany in this case is support of the EU generally;
    – the need to make BBC fact checkers right;
    – to support the notion that the BBC knows best and is beyond question.

    Personally I’d have been quite put out by such a response – I trust you were not too diplomatically inclined with this jobsworth.

  25. Mike Wilson
    August 17, 2021

    I wonder how many of you are paying the BBC to produce their biased output.

    My wife occasionally has to be reminded that we can no longer watch live television. She, oddly, watches A Handmaid’s Tale – which is broadcast at 9pm on Sunday. I had to remind her she couldn’t watch it on Sunday – as it was broadcast. So she watched it last night.

    You’re a Member of Parliament Mr. Redwood. Can’t you introduce a Private Member’s Bill to end the madness that means I can pay Amazon and Netflix to watch their shows, but I cannot watch them as they are broadcast unless I pay the BBC. It seems like legalised extortion to me. Yet the government allows it.

    I do wish more people would refuse to pay. I am encouraging my sons to stop paying the fee. They rarely watch the BBC – it means nothing to them – and, when they do watch the box it is invariably streamed content from Netflix or Amazon.

  26. Mike Wilson
    August 17, 2021

    In some ways it will be helpful if the BBC, and others, use consumption based figures.

    It will help people to realise that all globalisation does is outsource the production of CO2 to countries with far lower environmental standards (if that is even possible!) than us.

    Our rivers are filthy again.

  27. Mike Wilson
    August 17, 2021

    I thought the grave offence of ‘non payment of the licence fee’ was going to be decriminalised. Another broken promise.

    Why are you so afraid of the BBC?

  28. BJC
    August 17, 2021

    Sir John, you have the patience of Job! You’re not answerable to the BBC, so who are they to believe they have the right to “police” you? I’d have told them to do their job properly and carry out their own research into what is an alien concept for the BBC, i.e. both sides of the argument and reporting the outcomes…..equally!

  29. Mike Wilson
    August 17, 2021

    My wife was incandescent with rage recently when she read how much taxpayers’ money (from the licence fee) had been used to build a new set for the truly appalling East Enders. (Watched a few episodes when it was first on – couldn’t stand the way they speak.)

    Given the Licence Fee is a tax, why is it paid out of already taxed income? It should be an allowable relief.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      August 17, 2021

      Mike. I’ll join your wife and say I’m incandescent with rage over the wage bill for the BBC. You are quite right about East Enders too. It’s such a depressing and nasty programme. I have to turn over just hearing the music. With that and Holby City (which I understand is finishing) about time too, and Casualty which should have been binned years ago there is not much I do watch now. We find most of our evening is taken up with reading and GB News in the background.

      1. MiC
        August 17, 2021

        Wasn’t brexit supposed to make you all Happy Ever After?

        What ever went wrong?

        😂😂😂

        1. Peter2
          August 18, 2021

          No that isn’t what Brexit was supposed to do MiC.

      2. ukretired123
        August 17, 2021

        Reply to Fedupsoutherner – Agreed
        What is sad too is that it is viewed across the world as modern Britain, a tacky reflection of how the BBC utopia would have us all aspire to. Remember Cherie Blair’s father in Till Death Us Do Part – another ghastly show?

  30. John
    August 17, 2021

    No mention of Nord Stream 1 and 2 by the BBC and also not addressing Sir JR either.

  31. Alan Jutson
    August 17, 2021

    John the simple reason is, they do it because they can, they do not have to compete for paying customers, because legislation says we all pay even the over 75’s now, and they had set their mind out to try and discredit your comments, because they did not like them.

    I am convinced the BBC now have some sort of hate agenda against the UK, what it stands for, its past history, and its present government, because nothing whatever the Country or Government does is right, nothing is simply reported anymore without being questioned or opinionated on by some sort of dubious expert pushing their own thoughts. Plenty of air time and support it would seem for very minority groups and organisations.

    Time to change its Charter, it has been long overdue.

  32. Oldtimer
    August 17, 2021

    Thank you for this latest exposure of BBC propaganda and bias.

  33. Nota#
    August 17, 2021

    From the BBC’s slant on the World you could reason that if we all stop buying from German Companies they (the BBC) would, but probably not, show the UK in a better light.

  34. Know-Dice
    August 17, 2021

    I did see and partially read it… He seems to be saying that carbon emissions should be allocated to the country where goods finally reside rather than the country that actually produces the CO2?

    That’s a new one, I guess in his book China then produces very little CO2?

  35. J Mitchell
    August 17, 2021

    The BBC know that if the British public realises that Germany produces twice as much CO2 as we do, then people will quickly lose interest in doing anything.

  36. Richard1
    August 17, 2021

    Why indeed. And no mention of the humbug and folly of the Nordstream2 pipeline either.

  37. formula57
    August 17, 2021

    The more one learns about the BBC and its antics, the one despises it.

    I do not fund it, I do not use it, and I await the removal of its unjustifiably privileged position in our life so I can make full use of its competitors legally.

    1. Lifelogic
      August 17, 2021

      +1

  38. graham1946
    August 17, 2021

    Was that ‘Andy’ of the BBC? Certainly sounds like his ilk in their desperation to prove everything in the EU is wonderful and the UK responsible for everything bad. We hear it every time there is something good to say, there is always a ‘but’ however tenuous.

  39. Richard1
    August 17, 2021

    This is another example of the BBC foisting a political angle on us under the guise of ‘fact checking’. In this case it’s the policy to avoid or go very light on criticising or pointing out humbug emanating from the EU and it’s leading members. For some reason they are very easy on China also on this issue. They go much lighter on the US these days also, now there is a president they like. Expect that to change in 24 when eg Pompeo or de Santis gets in.

  40. Donna
    August 17, 2021

    The BBC is not an impartial broadcaster. It constantly fails to abide by the terms of its Charter.

    So why has the Empty Suit in No.10 not scrapped the Charter and ditched the BBC Poll Tax which gives it a massive and very unfair advantage over other broadcasters and media outlets?

    1. Bill B.
      August 17, 2021

      Why, Donna? Because there are puppet strings attached to the back of that suit.

  41. turboterrier
    August 17, 2021

    Further proof to what a lot of people are slowly waking up to in that all the figures and computer analysis is just as it always has been, open to interpretation and not proving to be all the doom and gloom predicted when viewed with an open mind.
    Sadly our national broadcaster has only one way of doing things, their way, no discussion or further investigation let alone admit they could be wrong.
    Proof that all of this climate alarmist churned out daily is all pie in the sky stuff from the back of a fag packet.
    The BBC once again has proved it pays no attention to detail , never presents a balanced argument and basically not fit for purpose

  42. ChrisS
    August 17, 2021

    How interesting that the BBC should waste licence fee payer’s money in trying to undermine the facts projected in your interview. Of course the reason is obvious : The BBC is always trying to show the United Kingdom, ( and particularly England ), in the worst possible light.

    Merkel took fright after the Fukushima nuclear accident and took the unilateral decision to close all of the country’s nuclear generation plants which, at a stroke, guaranteed that their carbon footprint would remain much larger than it otherwise would be.

    I have seen the German Lignite coal mines myself and they aren’t pretty. The coal produced is the worst polluting material in use anywhere. By rights, it should have been phased out years ago. Then, of course, there is Merkel’s controversial new gas pipeline from Russia which will not only perpetuate Germany’s reliance on gas but is a strategic mistake of immense proportions.

    We need no lessons from Germany or the BBC on climate change or anything else, for that matter.

    1. Andy
      August 17, 2021

      Except most of you clearly do.

      1. NickC
        August 17, 2021

        No, Andy, it is you who needs lessons in technology and science. Most of all, to not make them your gods – particularly when your knowledge of them is so poor.

      2. Fedupsoutherner
        August 17, 2021

        Andy. Is that in your expert opinion? Oh, well then, I’ll ignore it if you don’t mind.

    2. Mitchel
      August 17, 2021

      Denmark has just shattered Poland’s dreams of energy independence from Russia in the foreseeable future by withdrawing permission for the proposed Baltic pipeline from Norway(about which there were already considerable doubt re economic viability) to cross Danish territory – due to the dislocation it will cause to various bat and mice communities!

      Poland is also a major importer of coal from Russia(presumably it’s own coal reserves are either unsuitable or uneconomic).Despite declaring that it would be banning such imports,attempts so far have only resulted in shortages and price hikes.

      Another Russian controlled energy corridor to the EU/central Europe may also be back on the agenda-originally proposed more than a decade ago-a nuclear power plant in Kaliningrad is again being mooted.

  43. X-Tory
    August 17, 2021

    The government’s failure to act on the problems at the BBC is typical of their failure in every other sphere. First they make some reassuring noises to pacify their gullible supporters (and MPs), then they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

    They said they would challenge the Chinese takeover of our main silicon chip producer (Newport Water Fab) but in the end they did nothing and this sale has now gone through, even though there was an alternative, British-led consortium willing to take it on and develop it. On the massive illegal migration crisis we were told that we would open a holding camp overseas, but now it turns out the government are going to spend ÂŁ2 million buiding a centre in Dover (which will then cost ÂŁ1.5m a year to run). Why would they need this if all migrants were to be immediately shipped abroad? Clearly this promise has been dropped by Priti Useless, who once again is living up to her name.

  44. A.F.Fanculo
    August 17, 2021

    We should be grateful to Cameron who gave us the referendum.
    His most sensible saying was ‘Cut the green crap’. Pity that didn’t happen since.

    1. Micky Taking
      August 17, 2021

      ‘grateful to Cameron’.
      The most unlikely idea I’ve heard after discounting stuff from the Boy Wonder or Martin.

  45. glen cullen
    August 17, 2021

    So the BBC employs a big team to survey and investigate the ‘interviews’ programmes of other TV channels
.is the role of the BBC to police all aired programmes – when where they appointed with the powers of ‘ofcom’

  46. Lester_Cynic
    August 17, 2021

    Jeremy vine revealed the BBC’s policy when a caller had to tell an untruth to get past a researcher in order to get onto the programme, JV made strenuous efforts to cut him off!

    Shouldn’t that be enough evidence to launch an enquiry into the BBC’s conduct and bias?

  47. Kenneth
    August 17, 2021

    I stopped reading the BBC’s “Fact check” propaganda a long time ago.

    It usually finds some “facts” and then – as always with the BBC – layers it with the BBC’s own angle.

    It is useless

  48. MWB
    August 17, 2021

    The BBC is institutionally racist.
    They always refer to people from Scotland or Wales as Scottish or Welsh, but always refer to English people as British or as Britons. OFCOM are useless and take the BBC side.
    Fortunately, I no longer pay BBC any money, and currently do not watch live TV.

    1. Kenneth
      August 17, 2021

      I agree that OfCom is useless

  49. Ex-Tory
    August 17, 2021

    Interesting. Presumably they don’t have time to “fact check” every single statement made by everyone, so they must be very selective and subjective.

  50. Atlas
    August 17, 2021

    After studying matters a few years ago I came to the conclusion that Climate Change had attained the status of a Religion. Hence for those who have studied the operation of religions, the BBC’s attitude is to be perfectly expected.

  51. Tad Davison
    August 17, 2021

    Brussels Broadcasting Corporation. They still bear allegiance to the EU. Why therefore, should the British public bear allegiance to the BBC?

    The BBC is clearly not fit for purpose, but poor Boris hasn’t quite got the measure of public opinion or he would act. Defund it, dismantle it, bin it.

    1. Lester_Cynic
      August 17, 2021

      TD
      The Brussels broadcasting corporation are providing an extremely useful service to the government as their propaganda arm, the promise to decriminalise non payment of the tax predictably came to nought

  52. Ignoramus
    August 17, 2021

    BBC staffers were recently treated to an internal audience research brie#ng telling them how best to convey messages about climate change to different audiences an”e briefing – which one insider described as being more reminiscent of ‘a campaigning organisation’ – identifying seven different groups of viewers and how to appeal to them: ‘progressive activists,’ ‘civic pragmatists,’ ‘established liberals,’ ‘loyal nationals,’‘disengaged battlers,’ ‘backbone conservatives,’ and ‘disengaged traditionalists.’ Full details and copies of the action plans were revealed in The Spectator by “Steerpike” on 9 August.
    This reveals, perhaps not openly, that the BBC believes it has a duty not to be impartial about the science of Climate Change. I hope Sir John that you can raise the matter in Parliament. What else does it believe it can promote?

  53. john McDonald
    August 17, 2021

    The reason for the fact check was that Sir John you are not from the liberal elite/left. So your figures can’t possibly be accurate.
    We can be greener than Germany because we don’t manufacture much.
    I am sure all the liberal left will be returning their BMW’s as they are made using coal and not renewable energy with zero CO2 ???

  54. Edwardm
    August 17, 2021

    Your experience with the BBC is good evidence that the BBC is political propaganda organisation operating for the benefit of our competitors and adversaries. The BBC is utterly disloyal to those in its own country who pay for it.
    I do not understand why the Conservative party has not abolished the licence fee, and why the BBC does not face charges and fines for continually breaking its impartiality requirements.

  55. G.Wheatley
    August 17, 2021

    Sir John,

    The BBC have only been on nodding terms with the concept of what constitutes a ‘fact’ for quite a while now.

    They only remain “The World’s PremierĂ© News-Gathering Organisation” in their own minds and perhaps should be ‘sectioned’ because of that?

    The member for Hertsmere would be advised to review the terms of their broadcasting licence. Were I in his position, I would revoke their licence within nano-seconds of being appointed to the role of Minister for DCMS.

    One also wonders whether Her Majesty might be inclined to withdraw their Warrant and ban them from using the word ‘British’ to describe themselves.

  56. mactheknife
    August 17, 2021

    Unfortunately I’ve pointed out to the BBC on several occasions that their ‘fact check’ is nothing more than a defense of the BBC’s pet subjects. In one complaint I made I pointed out that the headline of the ‘Fact Check’ asked one question and the fact check answered a completely different one.
    Another occasion they introduced spurious data into justifying their answer to a question in the same way they did here, which meant of course they diverted attention away from the original question. My responses were batted into the long grass.

    The only course of action Sir John is complain directly to the DG. If I was in your position I would definitely do it.

  57. Andy
    August 17, 2021

    Why are you all getting your knickers in a twist about this? The fact check found evidence to support Mr Redwood’s claim. It simply pointed out that the claim is open to interpretation.

    The grown up world – which I appreciate is beyond much of the Brexitist Taliban – is not always black or white. Sometimes it is a shade of grey.

    1. Peter2
      August 17, 2021

      If only you would demonstrate such a laid back attitude towards other people’s opinion that fail to chime with your own views, that would be a move forward young Andy.

    2. Micky Taking
      August 17, 2021

      it was not a claim ‘open to interpretation’….it was FACT.

    3. G.Wheatley
      August 18, 2021

      Are you MiC’s brother. Or perhaps a 2nd account?

  58. Gregory martin
    August 17, 2021

    The BBC should be required to calculate and publish in programme credits,the amount of energy/carbon involved in producing, transmitting, and receiving each of their transmissions, so that one may properly evaluate the ‘value ‘.

  59. Margaret Brandreth-
    August 17, 2021

    They may be playing your own game .

  60. mancunius
    August 17, 2021

    I looked at this BBC ‘fact check’. One glaring untruth masquerading as a ‘fact’ is this: “For a start, Germany is bigger than the UK. It’s home to 83 million people, 17 million more than the UK.”
    Not so. As long ago as 2011, when the UK’s ‘official’ population size was thought to be ’64 million’, its true size was assessed at ‘between 77 million and 80 million’ using reliable food consumption statistics as a guide, with the population estimates of a supermarket chain, an agricultural production statistics source and city analysis. The figures were contained in an article by Martin Baker in the Business pages of The Independent: ‘City Eye: Facts on a plate: our population is at least 77 million.” (24 September 2011) This ‘statistic that dare not speak its name, though eventually it must’, a figure ‘that has huge ramifications for the civil and political life of this country…and, most immediately, the residential property market’ has recently received support following the discovery of the un-guessed at extra millions of EU citizens who – without filling in census forms or notifying anyone of their presence here, have swelled the population without being included in the ONS stats. (And they are only the ones who have admitted to being here: the hidden figure will represent several additional millions) Most statisticians not employed by the government (which constantly lies in understating the pressure of immigration on housing and wages) conclude rationally that the present population of the UK is *at least* 85,000,000.

    1. Micky Taking
      August 18, 2021

      perhaps it is true that the population has reached 85m, it is clear enormous numbers are moving into the new housing estate formerly called Wokingham.

  61. rose
    August 17, 2021

    I should have pointed out to the the EU’s mouthpiece that Germany tears up ancient forests in order to carry out the open cast mining of dirty brown lignite.

  62. Rhoddas
    August 17, 2021

    Guess the fact-checking of Martin Bashir slipped them by….
    Ditto all the remainiac nonsense about the collapse of everything in UK…

    Nothing less than a complete Beeb purge 1-by-1 necessary, sadly Tim Davie ain’t the bloke to lead on this.
    Shame on this appointment, completely missed opportunity, owned by this Government and your party.

  63. Paul Cuthbertson
    August 18, 2021

    Have you just woken up to the fact that the Left wing EU funded BBC along with your government are promoting the Globalist Agenda. Thankfully the EU will not be in position for much longer along with other organisations. Nothing can stop what is coming, NOTHING.

    1. bill brown
      August 18, 2021

      Paul,
      Kindly define the globalist agenda for us?

      1. mancunius
        August 18, 2021

        Define ‘us’ – ‘Bill’ ! :-))

      2. Peter2
        August 18, 2021

        A simple explanation can be found under Agenda 21 on the UN website and on Wikipedia if you search Globalism.
        Did you not know bill?

        1. hefner
          August 22, 2021

          Oh yes P2, the scary Agenda 21 produced in 1992, whose implementation was reaffirmed in 2002. As you seem to be so well versed in its intricacies could you tell me what its achievements since that date have been. I guess they must have been numerous and must have created havoc wherever such actions have been implemented.

          Or is it something like the bogeyman to raise fear in poor credulous little children like you? Suppressing 95% of the population by 2030, anyone?

    2. hefner
      August 22, 2021

      PC, certainly not the overflowing stream of your super Mensa intelligence, out of bounds on the Wechsler’s scale.

  64. Mark
    August 18, 2021

    The really embarrassing fact for the BBC is that German emissions are rising, this year because renewables have been very disappointing in output, and next year because their remaining nuclear capacity will close. They will have no option but to increase coal burn while they wait for increased gas supply via Nordstream 2. But even then, the nuclear closures are going to force their hand.

Comments are closed.