Police search Cliff Richard's home - BBC News

'Police search Berkshire property belonging to Sir Cliff Richard in relation to alleged historical sex offence'

Oh my... 

More here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28790718

This might make me watch the TV news - A vaguely Rule 5 Friday post

Her name is Melissa Theuriau and she's a bit of a sex symbol in France, I can see why.

Fiona Bruce and Natasha Kaplinsky you have more than met your match!

Here are some stills, the last of which may or may not be a fake...

I know how she feels

Russian newsreader Tatiana Limanova gives Obama middle finger during a News Cast, she has been sacked - shame!

The BBC hiding the truth about some of the Egptian revolutionaries

The BBC report that (verbatim):

'Senior CBS correspondent Lara Logan is recovering in hospital in the US after she was beaten and sexually assaulted by a mob while covering the Egyptian protests, the US network says.

It says the attack occurred on Friday in Cairo's packed Tahrir Square after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down.

Ms Logan became separated from her crew and was rescued by women and soldiers.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has said 52 journalists were assaulted and 76 detained during events in Egypt.

The New York-based group said all of them had since been released.

'Courageous reporter'

In a statement, CBS said that Ms Logan and her team became "surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration" with a mob of more than 200 people "whipped into a frenzy".

It said Ms Logan was recovering following what it described as "a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating".

A group of women and an estimated 20 soldiers managed to save her after she became separated from her colleagues and security, it added.

The 39-year-old South African returned to the US on Saturday.

Ms Logan is CBS News' chief foreign affairs correspondent and has reported from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the attack was "alarming", describing Ms Logan as a "brilliant, courageous, and committed reporter".

In its annual report issued on Tuesday, the CPJ said Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010, with 8 killed while doing their job, out of 44 worldwide.

The number of jailed reporters was 145, an increase from previous years.'

Two things come to mind; first that it is reported that:

'A network source told The Post that her attackers were screaming, “Jew! Jew!” during the assault. And the day before, Logan had told Esquire.com that Egyptian soldiers hassling her and her crew had accused them of “being Israeli spies.” Logan is not Jewish.'

Why no mention of that on the BBC; need I ask?

Second I wonder how many journalists were attacked or imprisoned in Israel, that nasty apartheid state that the BBC heap such opprobrium upon, when compared with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan?

An odd Twitter news juxtaposition

An odd Twitter news juxtapositiontahnks to Sky News.

Coming at a news story from just one point of view

BBC Today programme 07:00 news and a short item that said that (I paraphrase) children in poor areas are more likely to be killed by cars than those in rich areas and that it was unclear if this was due to the relative lack of places to play in poorer areas or because richer children were carried everywhere in big cars. Of course, I shouted at the car radio, it could also be because drivers in poor areas drove less carefully but somehow I doubt that such a thought would be allowed to be expressed on the impeccably left-of-centre BBC Today programme. The result was that I turned on the radio to hear the news and turned it off within 30 seconds; is there an alternative source of morning news that I will find less biased?

Why is 'Daily Mail reader' such an insult?

Last night I blogged three pieces of news that came from The Daily Mail, I knew that this would provoke at least one derogatory comment about The Daily Mail and my reading it, and I was not disappointed.

I have pondered before on the way that the British left see The Daily Mail and its readership as something amusing, something that can be instantly discounted, something that is automatically wrong. I suppose it saves them the time of addressing any legitimate problems raised by articles in The Daily Mail.



For the avoidance of doubt, I don't 'take' a daily paper, I read parts of The Telegraph and The Times (for the moment) on-line and dip into The Financial Times (on-line and in its pink version). I also a couple of times a week may skim through The Daily Mail and less often The Sun. At weekends I buy The Telegraph & Sunday Telegraph most weeks and The Times and Sunday Times less often and skim through several more on-line.

How news reports are structured

Thanks to Mr Eugenides for the spot and Charlie Brooker for the work of near genius.

How ridiculous

The Telegraph report that:

"ITV News At Ten is to drop the Big Ben clock face from its titles, after judging the image was too "London-centric". "

Apparently:

"ITV managers decided that the internationally recognised clock, which overlooks the Houses of Parliament, could be off-putting to viewers outside the capital.

A spokesman said: "We didn't want the news to be too London-centric. "

Do these people have any self-respect or common-sense? It's the Clock Tower at the Houses of Parliament, the parliament for the whole of the United Kingdom. What image would better reflect the United Kingdom? The Arndale Centre, Spaghetti Junction, Lake Windemere? Get a f***ing grip ITV, get a grip.

Scepticism that you wouldn't get from the BBC

Adam Boulton on Sky News last night showing a lot more independence of mind and bravery than any BBC interviewer that I have heard interview a Labour politician.

I have to admit that I normally watch the BBC news until I get too irritated by the bias and switch off or walk out. Last night I watched Sky News and was very impressed by Adam Boulton, channel 501 may be a regular watch from now on.



Thanks to Iain Dale for spotting this piece of video.

The Telegraph

I used to read The Times but swapped to the The Telegraph as The Times became more and more pro-Blair and also over its pro-China government stand. Recently I have been growing more and more disenchanted with The Telegraph; hardly a week goes by without a column by a senior Labour Minister or a flattering article about one of the same. I don't want to read about Harriet Harman's softer side or Gordon Brown's latest views on the world depression, I want to read attacks on this most corrupt and evil government. So it was with some interest that I read Guido Fawkes's comments at My Telegraph today:

"There are a lot of bitter, jealous journalists at the Telegraph and you have behaved shamefully over the McBride story. You even tipped off Downing Street in advance as to exactly what I was up to. It reflects on you a lot more than it does on me.

You revealed sources, broke a confidence, breached a signed non-disclosure agreement and behaved like patsy's for McBride.

You still failed to spoil the story. Your political team is about as weak as it gets, that is why you sucked up to Downing Street.

The Telegraph was once run by gentlemen for gentlemen. This would never have happened under Deedes or Charles Moore.

Do your worst."

So what paper do I swap to?

BBC bias

Delicious.com reveal the newspaper sites with the most links from the BBC Editors blog. You will be shocked to learn that the list of the top four is as follows:
Guardian 56
Telegraph 31
Independent 24
Mail 18

No other paper received over 6 links.

Now why would the BBC have more links to the Guardian than any other paper and so many to the Independent? Could it be that they are the two most left of centre newspapers? I wonder how many of the links to the Mail are critical or sneering and how that compares to the links to the Guardian and Independent?

Maybe I'll find the time to do a links:readership calculation, somehow I think the Independent will rank rather high on that basis.

The BBC's left of centre bias is just so obvious isn't it.

Sub-editor?

Tuesday's Telegraph newspaper included an article entitled "Britain a nation of bystanders when witnessing crime". This included the rather odd sentence

"Six out of ten people in Britain would be unlikely to challenge a group of teenagers vandalising a bus shelter , compared with six out of ten in Germany, say researchers."

That's a huge difference between the two countries! Sub-editor...

April Fool

Some of the following short stories are an April Fool, the rest are true - but which are which?

1. According to the Toady programme this morning, Ed Balls has had a "big idea"

2. To clear the baggage backlog at Heathrow Terminal 5, BA are sending a large quantity of bags to Milan for sorting and onward shipment by road or air.

3. According to Guido Fawkes Boris Johnson will lead for the Conservative party at PMQs tomorrow so he has the right to question Gordon Brown about his recent lies.

4. Today's scheduled RAF flypast to celebrate the RAF's 90th anniversary has been cancelled due to complaints that the planes' red white and blue paint trails are racist symbology.


Take your pick...

What's going on?

Sky News and BBC News are both reporting that "A language school in Edinburgh has been sealed off after suspected radioactive packages were found inside.
Emergency services have placed a cordon around the Regent Language Training School after the discovery of three small packages that may contain radioactive material."

"Emergency services placed a cordon around the Regent Language Training School in Chester Street after the discovery of the three small packages. It is believed the packages may contain radioactive material."

What happened on that oil rig?

What happened on that oil rig? Apparently "Police are making arrangements to fly a 23-year-old woman from a North Sea oil platform which was at the centre of a security alert.
The British woman, who had been working aboard the installation, was detained by the offshore installation manager. She is thought to have been sedated."

I am sure we are all awaiting more news on this one.