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Some links from around the web:
Brown faces disaster in Crewe (Mail)
Class war by-election(Guido)
Political Betting on the Crewe poll

Frank Field threatens to bring down Gordon Brown

I was listening to "Any Questions" this afternoon, and it was absolutely extraordinary what Frank Field was saying with regards to the 10p tax rebellion amongst backbench MPs

A commenter on politicalbetting.com sums it up:

BBC radio 4 - question time 1.45 today- in a nutshell he said unless he gets what he wants and he has not got it yet when the 10 p issue comes back to parliament then the mood of the back benchers which is getting increasingly angry they will vote against - this was clarified by dimbleby as a vote of confidence in the government
Frank Field is effectively setting government policy on this -Brown must dance to his tune and not get one step wrong or resign - it seems to be be clear cut

GB will have to do as he is told

Now, after hearing this, guess what the following "Any Answers" phone-in with Dimbledore does?

Completely fucking ignore the bombshell that Frank Field dropped

You can listen to "Any Questions" via it's webpage over here. If you missed it , i really do recommend you have a listen.

update: if anyone cares to at least transcribe what Frank Field said, please do leave a comment and i'll add it to this blogpost. thanks.

update 2: ConHome has also noticed it and provides a partial transcript.

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BBC, Boris and the BNP

Ever so subtlely i might add...

Note this about Boris meeting Bloomberg




Now scroll down - note the photo of the BNP's Barnbrook.



IT'S GOT FUCK ALL TO DO WITH THE BORIS MEETING BLOOMBERG STORY. NONE WHATSOEVER!
Can't you see the bigger "framing" picture here? Mention Boris, mention BNP. It's a typical leftist strategy, which the BBC is all too willing to embrace.

I do hope that Boris has seriously good media advisers. The leftist fightback has started. He's going to need them...

update: here's another example i blogged about previously on how the BBC are trying to frame Boris with a "BNP" taint.

Labour's worst polling ever

LABOUR has slumped to its lowest levels of support since records began in the 1930s, a devastating Sun poll reveals today. The Sun’s findings put the Tories on a massive 49 per cent with Labour trailing on 23 per cent — a gap of 26 points.

As reported by the Sun

Now , have a look at the BBC politics page




update: The BBC bury the poll ratings in this story about Boris.

Dumb

This is the BBC's idea of election coverage - Jeremy Vine pranching about in a cowboy hat.

Hat tip : Political Betting

update: and here's the video on YouTube

Hugh Hewitt interviews Steven Pressfield

Hugh Hewitt has released a 2 hour interview with Steven Pressfield, the author of "Killing Rommel". Hugh writes
"I am certain you will love the book, and especially so if you are a member of the military who has served in one of the desert wars of the past 15 years. Pressfield has an uncanny eye for geography and a great feel for the life and calling of a special forces soldier (he was a Marine reservist which helps of course.)"

You can listen to the interview by using the audio players embedded below:

Part 1:


Part 2:


update: the odeo players seemed to have dissapeared. more than likely , it's Odeo blocking me from using them as i don't have an account with them. oh well - it was a useful experiment.

in the meantime, here's a direct link to the Pressfield interview:
Part 1

and
Part 2

just do the usual "right click , save as" to download the mp3s. they're only about 8 meg each.

Boris Town

London is officially liberated

An utter disgrace

The BBC somehow manage to associate Boris with the BNP. Don't believe me? Well, here's a BBC report on Boris being sworn into the London Mayor position - here are the opening paragraphs - and NOTE , they are the OPENING paragraphs. Sets the scene and all that...

"I'm sorry, but you're late", says the shaven-headed press officer outside City Hall.

It is fully 15 minutes before Boris Johnson is due to arrive to be sworn in as mayor of London, but such is the interest that the press places are all taken up, according to those who handle such matters.

Arguing over time is clearly not going to work, so there is nothing else to do except join the considerable masses that have gathered on the South Bank to await Boris' arrival.

The crowd is five-, six-deep in places, pushed up between the crash barriers and the edge of the Thames, bathed in mild but warming sunshine. A tall black man pushes to the front and starts shouting abuse.

A British National Party member, apparently the subject of his outburst, can be seen walking away from the building's entrance.

The police have a word with the protestor, which draws a few grumbles from the crowd about him "only expressing his opinion".

AN UTTER DISGRACE....

just trying out embedded mp3

just trying out something here. an embedded mp3 player. if it doesn't work for you , don't worry..




note - it's only music at the moment, but this odeo player allows me to host mp3s elsewhere - plus you can skip through the mp3 and it will stream from the position you skip to. i intend to use this , if it works, for reposting those American talk radio interviews that I think are essential listening,

ConHome livechat on the London results

ConHome has a live chat over here as the London GLA and mayoral results come in. Go Boris!

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Propagandising for Islam

Yet another puff piece for the wonders of Islam from the BBC

I am tempted to fisk this and blog in full-on Devil's Kitchen swear-mode, but i couldn't be arsed. The BBC article above speaks for itself.

No wonder BBC has the moniker of "Al Beeb"

According to the congregation their Imam is so loyal to Britain that he prays for the Queen every week in Friday prayers.

pur-lease...

Guido Fawkes is a "public service"

Via Guido

Guido has only just become aware that Ofcom has published a consultation paper on Public Service Broadcasting in the Digital Age. So what?

Well, this blog is cited in the review of "public service content available online" as "an example of a widely read and influential blog that has become a must-read in Westminster." Of course, but is it a "public service"? It is, after all, primarily for Guido's personal amusement and mischief making merriment. This is not a public space, it is private property.

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Credit Crunched

Well ok , it's not as desperate as the picture above, but it serves a purpose - to draw your attention to this blogpost.

Because of the credit crunch, John Trenchard, aka Archduke, is currently "on the market", whoring myself to various recruitment agencies.

So , if you know of anyone who needs a seasoned php/mysql/linux web developer , with experience going back to the dot com boom (aka - ten fucking years), give us a shout.

M3/M4 corridor + central London preferred. Relocation to Switzerland or Ireland a bonus.

johntrenchardcato@googlemail.com


Best laugh this week - agency calls me up and asks if i have php/mysql skills - but if i also have LAMP skills in addition to the php/mysql.

(sorry - only geeks will get that one...)

The BBC, the UN and climate bullying

El Reg has more on the Harrabin/ecoloon story. Turns out that the UN was also involved in getting news outlets to "fix" their stories.

BBC and Labour

Have you paid your BBC tax?


Via Guido Fawkes we learn that ex BBC producer Nicola Burdett is now a spinmaster for Gordon Brown.

Via one of Mr Fawkes's co conspirators , here's a list of Beeboids closely connected to the Labour Party:

Chairman Gavin Davies (later Labour adviser)
Chairman Sir Michael Lyons (previously Labour council chief)
Director General John Birt (later Labour adviser)
Director General Greg Dyke (previously Labour donor and candidate)
C.O.O Caroline Thomson (previously Roy Jenkin's aide)
Head of Political Research Bill Bush (later Labour spin doctor)
Deputy Head of ditto Catherine Rimmer (later Labour spin doctor)
Director of Strategy Ed Richards (later Labour spin doctor)
Head of Corporate Planning James Purnell (now Labour Minister)
Head of Northern Ireland News Tom Kelly (later Labour spin doctor)
Scottish News Editor Tim Luckhurst (previously lLabour spin doctor)
Political News Editor Joy Johnson (later Labour spin doctor)
Political Editor Andrew Marr (student Labour organiser)
Home News Editor Celia Barlow (now Labour MP)
Head of European Affairs Chris Bryant (now Labour MP)
Newsnight Producer Phil Woolas (now Labour Minister)
Foreign Correspondent Martin Sixsmith (later Labour spin doctor)
Current Affairs Reporter Ben Bradshaw (now Labour Minister)
Current Affairs Reporter Lance Price (later Labour spin doctor)
"Question Time" Editor Gill Penlington (previously Labour researcher)

and thanks to some digging by Jon in the comments , here's some more:
Austin Mitchell,BBC journalist, now Labour MP
Katie Kay, former diary secretary for BBC Director General Lord Birt, now works for Tony Blair
Ed Richards, BBC policy wonk, now Downing Street policy wonk
Sarah Hunter, ex-member of BBC's policy directorate, now doing the broadcasting brief at Downing Street
John Dickie, Labour deputy of Camden council, now head of BBC's Public Affairs and is responsible for the BBC's corporate relationship with the government

Update , April 13th:
Anna Gorman, wife of chief Brown spinner Stephen Carter, is working on rebranding BBC News.

if you know of any more, please do leave a comment

The Obama Faith and Guns gaffe

Hat tip John A
Currently, the top story on Politico, Real Clear Politics and Townhall is the Obama "faith and guns" gaffe that he made during a speech in San Francisco.

Townhall says that it gives Clinton an opening:

A political tempest over Barack Obama's comments about bitter voters in small towns has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new opening to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive.

At issue are comments he made privately at a fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday. He was trying to explain his troubles winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:

"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Politico.com has twelve reasons why this is a gaffe.

The BBC do cover this story on their America news page, but I don't expect their poster boy to last much longer with elitist gaffes such as this.

Justin Webb plays down it's significance, equating the gaffes of Obama with the the gaffes of McCain.

How should British broadcasting be funded?

The Telegraph asks the question, which generates a surprisingly large amount of anti-BBC comments.

Harrabin caves in to ecoloon

El Reg has more

Update: DK Has more
via here
Newsbusters has got wind of it

The emails were originally posted on the Campaign Against Climate Change website. Jo Abbess is also a member of this Yahoo group.


Parts in bold are my emphasis.

From Jo, April 4, 2008

Climate Changers,

Remember to challenge any piece of media that seems like it's been subject to spin or scepticism.

Here's my go for today. The BBC actually changed an article I requested a correction for, but I'm not really sure if the result is that much better.

Judge for yourselves...

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from Jo Abbess
to Roger Harrabin
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 10:12 AM
subject Correction Demanded : "Global temperatures 'to decrease'"

Dear Roger,

Please can you correct your piece published today entitled "Global temperatures 'to decrease'" :-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7329799.stm

1. "A minority of scientists question whether this means global warming has peaked"
This is incorrect. Several networks exist that question whether global warming has peaked, but they contain very few actual scientists, and the scientists that they do contain are not climate scientists so have no expertise in this area.

2. "Global temperatures this year will be lower than in 2007" You should not mislead people into thinking that the sum total of the Earth system is going to be cooler in 2008 than 2007. For example, the ocean systems of temperature do not change in yearly timescales, and are massive heat sinks that have shown gradual and continual warming. It is only near-surface air temperatures that will be affected by La Nina, plus a bit of the lower atmosphere.

Thank you for applying your attention to all the facts and figures available,

jo.

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from Roger Harrabin
to Jo Abbess ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 10:23 AM
subject RE: Correction Demanded : "Global temperatures 'to decrease'"

Dear Jo

No correction is needed

If the secy-gen of the WMO tells me that global temperatures will decrease, that's what we will report. There are scientists who question whether warming will continue as projected by IPCC

Best wishes
RH

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from Jo Abbess
to Roger Harrabin ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 10:37 AM
subject Re: Correction Demanded : "Global temperatures 'to decrease'"

Hi Roger,

I will forward your comments (unless you object) to some people who may wish to add to your knowledge.

Would you be willing to publish information that expands on your original position, and which would give a better, clearer picture of what is going on ?

Personally, I think it is highly irresponsible to play into the hands of the sceptics/skeptics who continually promote the idea that "global warming finished in 1998", when that is so patently not true.

I have to spend a lot of my time countering their various myths and non-arguments, saying, no, go look at the Hadley Centre data. Global Warming is not over. There have been what look like troughs and plateaus/x before. It didn't stop then. It's not stopping now.

It is true that people are debating Climate Sensitivity, how much exactly the Earth will respond to radiative forcing, but nobody is seriously refuting that increasing Greenhouse Gases cause increased global temperatures.

I think it's counterproductive to even hint that the Earth is cooling down again, when the sum total of the data tells you the opposite.
Glaringly.

As time goes by, the infant science of climatology improves. The Earth has never experienced the kind of chemical adjustment in the atmosphere we see now, so it is hard to tell exactly what will happen based on historical science.

However, the broad sweep is : added GHG means added warming.

Please do not do a disservice to your readership by leaving the door open to doubt about that.

jo.

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from Roger Harrabin
to Jo Abbess ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 10:57 AM
subject RE: Correction Demanded : "Global temperatures 'to decrease'"

The article makes all these points quite clear

We can't ignore the fact that sceptics have jumped on the lack of increase since 1998. It is appearing reguarly now in general media.
Best to tackle this - and explain it, which is what we have done

Or people feel like debate is being censored which makes them v suspicious

Roger

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from Jo Abbess
to Roger Harrabin ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 11:12 AM
subject Re: Correction Demanded : "Global temperatures 'to decrease'"

Hi Roger,

When you are on the Tube in London, I expect that occasionally you glance a headline as sometime turns the page, and you thinkg "Really?" or "Wow !"

You don't read the whole article, you just get the headline.

A lot of people will read the first few paragraphs of what you say,and not read the rest, and (a) Dismiss your writing as it seems you have been manipulated by the sceptics or (b) Jump on it with glee and e-mail their mates and say "See ! Global Warming has stopped !"

They only got the headline, which is why it is so utterly essentialy to give the full picture, or as full as you can in the first few paragraphs.

The near-Earth surface temperatures may be cooler in 2008 that they were in 2007, but there is no way that Global Warming has stopped, or has even gone into reverse. The oceans have been warming consistently,for example, and we're not seeing temperatures go into reverse, in general, anywhere.

Your word "debate". This is not an issue of "debate". This is an issue of emerging truth. I don't think you should worry about whether people feel they are countering some kind of conspiracy, or suspicious that the full extent of the truth is being withheld from them.

Every day more information is added to the stack showing the desperate plight of the planet.

It would be better if you did not quote the sceptics. Their voice is heard everywhere, on every channel. They are deliberately obstructing the emergence of the truth.

I would ask : please reserve the main BBC Online channel for emerging truth.

Otherwise, I would have to conclude that you are insufficiently educated to be able to know when you have been psychologically manipulated. And that would make you an unreliable reporter.

I am about to send your comments to others for their contribution,unless you request I do not. They are likely to want to post your comments on forums/fora, so please indicate if you do not want this to happen. You may appear in an unfavourable light because it could be said that you have had your head turned by the sceptics.

Respectfully,

jo.

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from Roger Harrabin
to Jo Abbess ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 11:28 AM
subject RE: Correction Demanded : "Global temperatures 'to decrease'"

Have a look in 10 minutes and tell me you are happier

We have changed headline and more

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