If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Malcom x
“Without Fear or Favour”: The BBC and Political Protest
“The BBC is the world’s most trusted international news broadcaster, reporting to a global audience of more than 400m people weekly without fear or favour”
The BBC released the above official statement in February 2021. Such declarations are typical of British media outlets and journalists, who loudly proclaim their fearlessness, impartiality and willingness to stand up to power.
Read Full ArticleKeir Starmer’s 10 Socialist Pledges: Forensic Gaslighting?
It’s just over a year since Keir Starmer swept to victory in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election. Front and centre of his campaign were 10 Socialist Pledges, a commitment to progressive manifesto pledges and policy statements forged under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
As centrist journalists never tire of explaining, Starmer is a canny political operator. Were his socialist pledges statements of principle or a cynical attempt to win the support of the contingent of left-wing members who propelled Corbyn to two leadership victories?
We look at the pledges a year on to see how long each one lasted..
READ FULL ARTICLEAssange-Navalny: A Case Study in Hypocrisy
“Alexei Navalny’s decision to return to Russia after being poisoned was a truly brave and selfless act. In contrast, today’s ruling was pure cowardice and fails to meet the most basic standards of justice. Alexei Navalny must be released immediately.”
Read Full ArticleDouglas Ross: Britannia’s Snake-Oil Salesman
This article isn’t just for those interested in Scottish independence. To quote Alasdair Gray, this article is “For All Independent Minds”. This is for all those that not only wish to understand, but also to mobilise against, the leviathan Conservative Party financial apparatus and the corrosive influence it has on our politics, and our futures. As Ryan & Geoghegan state:
Democracy depends on transparency. Unless voters know who is funding their politicians, how can they assess whether they are bending to the interests of those who are bankrolling them? Unless we have a clear idea of who funds the leaflets coming through our letterboxes and the Facebook adverts telling us who to vote for, why should we read them?
Continue reading “Douglas Ross: Britannia’s Snake-Oil Salesman”GB News: Not So Great and Not So British?
GB News (Great Britain News), fronted by BBC big-hitter Andrew Neil, will shortly be on our screens. The channel, backed to the tune of £60 million by wealthy funders, has been marketed by Neil and others as the go to news channel for the ordinary Brit.
Neil, the GB News chairman, claims that “British people are crying out for a news service that is more diverse and more representative of their values and concerns.”
It has also been claimed that GB News will be “proudly independent”, “impartial” and will focus on “debate that embraces all voices and opinions across Britain”.
How accurate are these claims? We investigate whose concerns GB News will REALLY represent.
Continue reading “GB News: Not So Great and Not So British?”Playing the Trump Card: Corporate Media Collaborators
“After the Nazis were defeated, almost everyone in France became a member of the Resistance.”
So tweeted The Guardian’s George Monbiot on January 7th, the day after shocking footage of the US Capitol building being stormed by a pro-Trump mob made worldwide headlines.
Read Full ArticleSeptic Sceptics: Toby Young, Allison Pearson and the Art of Being Wrong
We all know that January can be a tough month: post-Christmas blues, dark nights, depleted bank balances.
Spare a thought, then, for Toby Young and the group of right-wing, pseudo-intellectual shills he identifies as his “fellow lockdown sceptics…Allison Pearson, Julia Hartley-Brewer, Peter Hitchens and Lawrence Fox.”
Young and co. entered this challenging period trying to digest three almighty receipts: years of “libertarian” support for Donald Trump culminating in a deadly, anti-democratic assault on the US Capitol Building, Brexit posturing resulting in a trade deal as sweet as a lorryful of dead fish, and months of Covid-related scepticism coming back to bite them via 60,000 cases a day, a new variant and record UK death tallies.
Read Full ArticleSTALBURY TRUSTEES: THE GHOST OF THATCHER HAUNTS THE RED WALL
“What may this mean, that thou, dead corse, again in complete steel, revisits thus the glimpses of the moon, making night hideous, and we fools of nature so horridly to shake our disposition with thoughts beyond the reaches of our soul?”
So speaks Hamlet when confronted by the Ghost of his father on the desolate battlements of Elsinore.
Today the vengeful spectre of another former ruler haunts the ramparts of another desolate Wall, closer to home. It is a ghost arrayed not in steel but in iron, and a wall the colour of blood. It is the ghost of Margaret Thatcher, and it is the Red Wall upon which her sulphurous spirit stalks.
Continue reading “STALBURY TRUSTEES: THE GHOST OF THATCHER HAUNTS THE RED WALL”Complaint to the BBC on Environmental Article 19/12/20
In this post you’ll find our original complaint to the BBC, their predictably dismal response and the dialogue that ensues. Can we prevail against the bureaucracy!!? Read on to find out…
Continue reading “Complaint to the BBC on Environmental Article 19/12/20”Complaint to the BBC on Laura Kuenssberg
We write to complain about a piece BBC political editor Laura Kuennsberg delivered on BBC News at Ten on 17/11/2020. The subject of the piece was Keir Starmer’s decision to deny the parliamentary whip to Jeremy Corbyn and also appeared on the BBC website in article form – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54996354
We believe Ms Kuennsberg’s piece was heavily skewed and violated impartiality guidelines.
Continue reading “Complaint to the BBC on Laura Kuenssberg”