BBC missing something out?

The BBC have a class calculator on their website and it's a rich source of lefty thought.

Here's two examples; there are seven UP classes, the bottom one being described thus:

'Precariat

• Percentage of population 15%
  Average age 50

  This is the poorest and most deprived class group. People in this group score low for economic, social and cultural factors:
  

  • They tend to mix socially with people like them
  • Jobs in this group include cleaner, van driver and care worker
  • They tend not to have a broad range of cultural interests
  • People in this group often live in old industrial areas away from urban centres
  • More than 80% rent their home' 

   

Oddly no mention of unemployment being a reason for people being in this section.


The top section is described thus:
'Elite

• Percentage of population 6%
  Average age 57
  This is the wealthiest and most privileged group in the UK:
  
  • They are the UK's biggest earners
  • They score highest for social, cultural and economic factors
  • Many went to private school and elite universities - 24% of people in this group were privately educated, far more than in any other class group
  • This class is most likely to be found in London and the home counties
  • This group is exclusive and very hard to join, most come from very privileged backgrounds
  • 97% of people in this group own their own home

Hmm, 'This group is exclusive and very hard to join, most come from very privileged backgrounds'. Neither Mrs NotaSheep nor I came from privileged, let alone very privileged, backgrounds but we seem to be in this Elite group. My parents scrimped and saved to send me to a good school, likewise Mrs Notasheep's parents for her. Neither of us went to elite universities (a term undefined).

Who says that the BBC has an agenda?

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21162621

'Labour's Dennis Skinner teased the prime minister about leaving "austerity-riddled Britain to wine and dine at Davos" with "bankers" and "tax-avoiding millionaires."

He called David Cameron a "posh boy", but the prime minister reckoned the veteran MP might agree with his speech to the World Economic Forum, which would cover tax avoidance and evasion.

The pair have a history of frosty exchanges in the House of Commons.'

 The BBC happy to push the Labour agenda at all times.

Fisking Trenton Oldfield

The Boat Race saboteur Trenton Oldfield's online manifesto includes this:

'The boat race itself, with its pseudo competition, assembled around similar principles of fastest, strongest, selected …etc, is an inconsequential backdrop for these elite educational institutions to demonstrate themselves, reboot their shared culture together in the public realm. It is also inconsequential to the performance that the overwhelming majority of the population continue to remain interested in their own lives and disinterested in the boat race. The boat race, while accessible to everyone, isn’t really advertised or promoted as something for the general public to attend, you know when it’s on because it is part of the social networking calendar. This is a public event, for and by the elites with broader social relations aims.'

Let's examine the 'logic':
' pseudo competition' - anyone who has ever rowed knows the effort involved in becoming a good rower, let alone of the standard to compete in the Boat Race. The 16 rowers who made it to the Oxford and Cambridge Eights have been competing for at least a year just to get a place in the boat, let alone the effort involved in keeping free of injury so as to make it to the stake boats at Putney. As to the racing itself, the Olympics and World Championships are raced over 2,000 metres. By the time Trenton Oldfield raised his ugly head in front of the crews they had rowed far further than that and had further to row. 'pseudi competition'? I think not.

'assembled around similar principles of fastest, strongest, selected' - yes that's how elite sports selection works and much more in this society should.

'inconsequential backdrop for these elite educational institutions to demonstrate themselves, reboot their shared culture together in the public realm' - anyone who has studied up at Oxford and Cambridge knows how important the Boat Race is to both of those great educational institutions, obviously one being greater that the other.

'inconsequential to the performance that the overwhelming majority of the population continue to remain interested in their own lives and disinterested in the boat race' - Just as the majority of the population of this country are disinterested in cricket, rugby and maybe even football. Sport is for the people who are interested in that sport, the rest are free to ignore it if they wish. The Boat Race is about more than just sport, it is a piece of tradition that helps to bind this country together and keep it rooted in its shared past. People choose to support Oxford or Cambridge despite never having studied there, not knowing anyone who has studied there or often never having even having visited either. It's about feeling connected to history.

'The boat race, while accessible to everyone, isn’t really advertised or promoted as something for the general public to attend, you know when it’s on because it is part of the social networking calendar' - What utter rubbish. The Boat Race is covered live by the BBC who, along with the broadsheet newspapers, for days beforehand show the course of the race, the best vantage points and of course the best pubs to watch the race from. What is the social networking calendar? I think the very confused Trenton Oldfield may be thinking of the social calendar that includes the far more exclusive Henley rowing regatta as well as tennis at Queens and horse racing at Ascot.

'This is a public event, for and by the elites with broader social relations aims.'' - This makes the least sense of all of the pillock's claims. It is a public event, in that it is held on a public river, in full view of the public but the rest of the claim is tripe...

Thanks for almost ruining British rowing's big day - Trenton Oldfield

Oxford crew member William Zeng used Twitter to send Trenton Oldfield, the protester, a series of emotional messages after the race.

Mr Zeng, a doctorate student at Oriel College, tweeted:

‘When I missed your head with my blade I knew only that you were a swimmer, and if you say you are a protester then no matter what you say your cause may be, your action speaks too loudly for me to hear you.

‘I know exactly what you were protesting. You were protesting the right of 17 young men and one woman to compete fairly and honorably, to demonstrate their hard work and desire in a proud tradition.

‘You were protesting their right to devote years of their lives, their friendships, and their souls to the fair pursuits of the joys and the hardships of sport. You, who would make a mockery of their dedication and their courage, are a mockery of a man.’

Nice and lucid sentiments from an articulate as well as athletic young man, who is a credit to his family and life.

On the other hand we have the ramblings of Trenton Oldfield from his own website:

'THIS IS A PROTEST, AN ACT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, A METHODOLOGY OF REFUSING AND RESISTANCE. THIS ACT HAS EMPLOYED GUERRILLA TACTICS. I AM SWIMMING INTO THE BOATS IN THE HOPE I CAN STOP THEM FROM COMPLETING THE RACE AND PROPOSING THE RETURN OF SURPRISE TACTICS. THIS IS ‘PEACEFUL’ … I HAVE NO WEAPONS (DON’T SHOOT!) MY ONLY FEAR, IS NOT SWIMMING FAST ENOUGH TO GET IN THE RIGHT POSITION TO PREVENT THE BOATS.'

Trenton Oldfield's manifesto continues:

'The boat race itself, with its pseudo competition, assembled around similar principles of fastest, strongest, selected …etc, is an inconsequential backdrop for these elite educational institutions to demonstrate themselves, reboot their shared culture together in the public realm. It is also inconsequential to the performance that the overwhelming majority of the population continue to remain interested in their own lives and disinterested in the boat race. The boat race, while accessible to everyone, isn’t really advertised or promoted as something for the general public to attend, you know when it’s on because it is part of the social networking calendar. This is a public event, for and by the elites with broader social relations aims.'

I will give that statement a good fisking tomorrow.

As for Trenton Oldfield's suggestions for other class warriors:

' If you work in a restaurant where elitists eat, can you serve the food once it is cold or cook the wrong food?

If you are a builder repairing the house of an elitist can you also bug it and share the footage and audio online?'

There is a word that is coming to my mind...

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and the last acceptable prejudice - hating 'posh' people - inc Saturday morning Kia Abdullah update

Until Thursday I had never heard of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley but then I heard a nasty film review on a BBC radio station of the new film Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. I am sure the film is poor, the previous two looked dire enough but the reviewer was obsessed by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's 'posh' accent, he even made 'fwah, fwah, fwah' noises as an approximation of her accent. Would impersonating an East End actress or an Indian actress in a similarly insulting way be acceptable? I don't think so. So why is insulting 'posh' people acceptable on the BBC?

I thought that I should at least find out who this Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was, all I knew was that she was 'posh' and a lingerie model. I found many pictures of her, some of which I repeat below for your information.

But is she posh? Here's some video of her being interviewed...

Posh? She is well-spoken and only uses 'you know' once; but posh, I don't think so. Walk around Sloane Square and you will hear 'gels' who make Rosie sound common. That's the trouble with England today; if you don't speak Estuary English or have a regional accent then you are posh... Does that make me posh? I will ask people today...


Prejudice against 'posh' people also reared its head today with the news of the tragic deaths of three gap-year travellers in Thailand. When occasional Guardian contributor Kia Abdullah heard that three 19 year old students had been killed in a bus crash in Thailand, her first thoughts weren't 'how dreadful' or 'how horrible' for the parents or even 'that's dreadful, I wounder if I could write a piece that would be relevant to all the Guardian reading parents whose children are travelling at the moment'. No she Tweeted this:

Kia has of course since 'apologised' and deleted those Tweets and the many replies she received criticising her comments. But just read those two two Tweets and ask yourself 'what sort of a person Tweets that she has no sympathy for anyone killed on a 'gap yaar' and 'smiled' when she saw they 'had double-barrelled surnames'. is vile too strong a word? I don't think so... Deleting history does not mean it never happened, I wonder if Kia Abdullah has also blocked all of us who criticised her/ I would guess yes, after all she does not want reality to intrude into her left-wing prejudiced world...

'John Rentoul: The right to speak truth unto prejudice'

John Rentoul defends Howard Flight's right to free speech and much of what he said.

'John Rentoul: The right to speak truth unto prejudice

The words about breeding by a former Tory MP were correct. It was the ritual 'gaffe' fallout that was really unspeakable

...

The soon-to-be Lord Flight suggested that state benefits encourage claimants to have more children. "We're going to have a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it's jolly expensive, but for those on benefit there is every incentive," he told the Evening Standard. Both parts of that statement are demonstrably true, but the social psychology of groupthink requires everyone to perform their allotted roles in rituals as formalised as those of the Roman Catholic Church that condemned Galileo.

First, journalists report a "gaffe" – a word of almost theological definition, which is not used in normal English. Opposition politicians and commentators then condemn the maker of the gaffe, often for things that he or she has not said but for an implication or extrapolation. The third stage of the ritual involves disciplinary action and attempts to avoid it. In this case, Flight went through the full sequence of available responses, from "my words were taken out of context" (which they weren't) to an "unreserved apology" and a retraction. That proved enough to avoid stage four of the ritual, and to persuade David Cameron not to withdraw his nomination to the peerage. '

The politically correct left and their thought police control too much of what passes for public debate in the UK and I can't see how that will change as they are too well entrenched.

Has satire died again?

When Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the distinguished musical satirist Tom Lehrer decided that he could no longer perform. "It was at that moment that satire died," says Lehrer, "There was nothing more to say after that."

I feel somewhat the same as I hear that John Prescott features in Gordon Brown's resignation honours list. John Prescott in the House of Lords! John Prescott the man who said that "I'm against too much flunkery and titles." John Prescott who had has less class than almost any MP I have ever seen.

Gordon Brown's last laugh on the Country that he comprehensively ruined? I doubt it, I am sure that there are more skeletons in the Number 10 cupboard.

Thank heavens for Tesco

"Thank heavens for Tesco, it keeps the scum out of Waitrose". So goes the old joke so I was not that surprised to read that a Tescos branch in Cardiff has put up a sign that says:

"‘To avoid causing embarrassment to others we ask that our customers are appropriately dressed when visiting our store (footwear must be worn at all times and no nightwear is permitted).’"

The reason?

"While the dress code would appear to be common sense to the majority of shoppers, Tesco staff at St Mellons, Cardiff, said they were forced to put up the posters.

This is because increasing numbers of young women have taken to shopping in their nightwear after dropping their children off at school in the morning.

A shopper in her pyjamas is reported to have said "'I just don't understand it. I go in other shops in my pyjamas and they don't say anything.

'You used to always be allowed in Tescos. But not now, it is ridiculous and stupid. I've got lovely pairs of pyjamas, with bears and penguins on them. I've worn my best ones today, just so I look tidy.'

'I walked in with my trolley and the security guard came over and told me to leave,' said she said.

'He said it offends people. But I've never seen anyone offended.'

(The shopper) admitted she is often still in pyjamas in the morning after sorting out her children for nursery.

She said: 'It is just when I'm in a rush or busy with the kids. I haven't got time to get myself all dolled up.

'I would usually put a coat or something over the top and it's not like I'm flashing the flesh or anything."

"get myself all dolled up"! It's not getting dolled up, it's called getting dressed. Put a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt over the top of the pyjamas, have some self-respect and respect for others. You have just spent 7 hours in bed wearing pyjamas, do you think your fellow shoppers really want you wearing them and nothing else as you brush up against the fresh food displays?


Another disgruntled shopper said ‘I won't be bothering with Tesco anymore, I'm off to Aldi.’ Hmmm I may have to amend my opening line!

Is having gone to Eton such a bad thing?

It's odd how old-Etonian is thrown around as an insult. Gordon Brown, Ed Balls and mush of the Labour party seem to think that just by pointing out that David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Zac Goldsmith went to Eton that they have destroyed their credibility and voter appeal.

However, does anyone disagree that that Eton provides a seriously good standard of education, maybe some of the finest education that money can buy? If an Eton education is so good then is the argument being put forward not really that old-Etonians are too well educated to be Prime Minister? Would the UK rather be governed by well educated politicians or those who admit that they are not very good at mathematics?

So it's Bercow

So the Labour party leadership look like getting the tame Tory Speaker they always wanted, the chance to pretend that the Speaker is a Conservative not a CINO (Conservative In Name Only) and John Bercow gets a nice fat salary and juicy pension.

Maybe I should stand against John Bercow at the general election, it'd be fun to see him be out of a job in under a year.


Political Betting think that it isn't done and dusted. Oh to see the faces of the Labour left when they see an old-Etonian Conservative leader, an old-Etonian London Mayor and an old-Etonian Speaker. Why do they obsess over educational history.

Update:
Unfortunately it is John Bercow, not a lot of resistance as he is "dragged" to the Speaker's chair.

NotaSheep's conclusion - He cannot be as bad as the despicable, biased and inept Michael Martin was, nor as bad and as biased as Margaret Beckett would have been. I just hope that at PMQs on Wednesday John Bercow actually shows some backbone and warns Gordon Brown for lying to the House if he does so.

Class war - New Statesman style

Peter Wilby in this week's New Statesman comments on the MPs expenses scandal and brings it all back to class, well this is the New Statesman.

"If we must have grasping representatives, I prefer those who charge for the mundane things you or I may buy, such as lavatory seats, hanging baskets, saucepans and £3.49 bottles of Tesco wine – and who care enough to use bath plugs rather than let water go to waste – to those who charge for moats, paddocks, chandeliers and horse manure. When they go to the hustings, Labour MPs should point out their expenses are those of the decent working class, while Tories charge toffs’ expenses."

"decent"? I think not.

As I have predicted before, the next general election campaign is going to be nasty as the cornered Labour party fight dirty.

What delightful people

Class War's delightful front cover - "How to keep warm ­during the credit crunch...? Burn a banker."

Incitement?

Harriet Harman class warrior

Harriet Harman has plans. Harriet Harman that doughty class warrior who managed to escape her working class roots to reach the exalted higher echelons of the Party and State. Sorry that was a flight of fancy; Harriet Harman being of course the daughter of a Harley Street physician and a solicitor, the niece of an Earl, the grandchild of a RAF Group Captain Malcolm Spicer and having as other recent ancestors an MP, and members of the Spicer paper manufacturing family. Harriet Harman also attended the impeccably upper middle class St Pauls Girls school.

So Harriet do you really want to make

"homeowners ... pay more council tax than local authority tenants in identical properties under plans that could lead to 'class war', the Conservatives warned last night.?"

Is it true that :

"At present, they would be in the same tax band. But the Government wants to base bills on the social background of homeowners, it is claimed.?"

Is it class war?

Gordon Brown sneered when he was questioned as to whether the £50,000 saving protection limit per banking institution was enough; the limit was "perfectly adequate", or so he said. Gordon Brown knows that 97% of savers have savings of less than £50,000, he also knows that the other 3% have savings that represent around 50% of bank deposits. If the banking system were ever to fail then it would wipe out the, as Gordon Brown sees it, "wealthy". Have the former class warriors Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling been planning this for a while? Is it beyond the realm of possibility that Gordon Brown is indulging in clandestine class-warfare?

Labour return to "class war"

I read on Ian Bone's blog claims that :

"Labour work and pensions minister ANNE McGUIRE has called Cameron ‘A FUCKING TOFF’ to his face after Thursday’s expenses vote in the Commons. Labour MP IAN AUSTIN followed this up by shouting at GEORGE OSBORNE ‘YOU FUCKING TOFF ‘ minutes later. Theres no doubt that after Boris Johnson’s fuck ups the posh prep school chums of th Tory party are being exposed as the useless toffs they are. I warmly welcome this conversion to CLASS WARSPEAK by Labour MPs!"

Let's see, one typo, one missing apostrophe - not bad for a class warrior. Do take a trip over to Ian Bone's site and wallow in nostalgia, it's like 1985 all over again.



Benedict Brogan reports the same story in today's Daily Mail.

Class war on Conservatives banned?

According to The Telegraph amongst other newspaper, "Stephen Carter, the Prime Minister's principal adviser, told the Cabinet that the attacks on the privileged background of Mr Cameron and George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, had to stop. Mr Carter caused consternation by referring to the two men as "Dave and George", saying they were "good guys". He said voters would be turned off by negative attacks on their upbringing." Many papers also reported that some of Gordon Brown's attack MPs such as Ed "so what" Balls and Ian Austin cold be reluctant to follow this instruction.

I see in the Sunday Mirror that their personal attacks on David Cameron continue. Following on from "bicyclegate" comes the "news" that he is accused of comparing his untidy four year old daughter "to someone who had "fallen out of a council flat"." The Mirror obviously think that attacking David Cameron's roots is going to win Labour votes at the next election; they also breathlessly tell us that "The former PR man lives in a £2million mortgage-free home in West London, and has a country house in Oxfordshire worth £1million." I wonder how many current and ex-Labour MPs are in a similar position? Shall we start with Tony Blair, Neil Kinnock and Peter Mandelson?

The personal attacks continue, "Mr Cameron spoke of the "huge gap" between homeowners like him and people in social housing. But Mr Cameron is far from the man of the people he likes to claim. He is descended from King William IV, making him a distant relative of the Queen. Wife Sam, 36, is the creative director of upmarket stationery company Smythson of Bond Street. Her stepfather is Viscount Astor and she is a direct descendant of Nell Gywn, mistress to Charles II."


Thankfully the readership of the Mirror is much reduced from its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s and I would imagine is mostly read by the sort of tribal Labour supporter that buys the paper out of habit. Mind you you can also get an idea of the readership they want by looking at the two lead articles on their news website today:

"Ashley and Cheryl Cole plan dream home to rebuild marriage"

"Heather Mills tried to pull Johnny Depp lookalike"


Serious political coverage to the front as always...