It's all in the tone

Just listen to Peter Allen on BBC 5Live, his tone says it all. With Labour figures it's all we are joined in sorrow, with LibDems there's a tone of sympathy, with Conservatives it's much less friendly.

By the way, what was the voice from the studio during Nigel Farage's resignation speech, sounded like a snort of disbelief. Did anyone record it? More BBC anti-UKIP bias? Who was the snort actually from?

The BBC finally cover the Margaret Hodge story, sympathetically of course

On Wednesday I predicted how the BBC would report the Margaret Hodge story when they could no longer ignore it. Well the BBC have finally deigned to cover the Margaret Hodge story with a sympathetic interview on 5Live.  

'Speaking to Peter Allen on Radio 5 Live, Margaret Hodge has defended her own tax affairs after accusations that she has benefited from shares which were held in the tax haven of Liechtenstein, although she has been a vehement critic of tax avoidance and evasion.

Ms Hodge said that she never controlled the trust which held the shares and paid tax once the shares came onshore. She insisted she had not benefited during the time the shares were offshore.

She said "I have always paid tax to the full."

Her family came from Germany and Austria and after World War II, her family was dispersed across Europe.

The trust was set up by an aunt in France and an uncle in America. She said her relatives shouldn't have set up the scheme but repeated she never benefited when the shares were offshore.

Asked if she felt she could serve again as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Ms Hodge said she was hoping Labour will win the election so "it won't be up for grabs because it will be held by a member of the Opposition".

"But I don't believe that I have acted in any way inappropriately," she said.'

 So let's look at my predictions:

The Times has several pieces that are of special interest, first:

'... just under 96,000 Stemcor shares handed to Ms Hodge in 2011 came from [Liechtenstein], which is renowned for low tax rates. Three quarters of the shares in the family’s Liechtenstein trust had previously been held in Panama, which Ms Hodge described last month as “one of the most secretive jurisdictions” with “the least protection anywhere in the world against money laundering”. The veteran Labour MP was accused of sheer hypocrisy. She has repeatedly attacked big businesses and bankers who used offshore arrangements, but has not declared that she benefited from an offshore trust.'

But the extract that may be of most relevance is this:

'Ms Hodge's Stemcor shares were transferred onshore using the Liechtenstein Declaration Facility LDF)... The LDF was established in 2009 to encourage people with undeclared income or unpaid taxes to repatriate their assets from Liechtenstein by offering favourable terms. Tax liabilities under the scheme need be declared back to 1999, rather than the standard 20-year period. Users must pay the back taxes due, plus interest for the period, but the penalty is set at 10 percent of the sum owed, rather than 100 percent, and there is no threat of criminal prosecution.'

When the BBC deign to cover this story, they will be probably be quoting Margaret Hodge or one of her BBC supporters, stating that all taxes due were in fact paid. I doubt that someone will raise the question of the LDF's 1999 limit and ask how much tax might have been due if the more usual 20-year period had been applied. Likewise how much penalty was saved by being applied at 10% rather than the normal 100%.

So indeed the BBC did report:

'She said "I have always paid tax to the full."'

I'll not hold my breath waiting for any BBC 'journalist' to ask any of the more penetrating questions that I laid out on Wednesday and repeat above.

Supporting BBC Local Radio

Yesterday it became clear that the BBC were considering all but scrapping BBC local radio in an effort to save £400 million a year. The plan would allow the local radio stations to keep their morning breakfast and afternoon drive-time shows but broadcast BBC 5Live the rest of the day and night. I think readers of this blog know that I have many differences of opinion with the BBC over many matters but I am something of a fan of Radio London. Whilst listening to Radio 4 can be a joy when they manage to avoid politics, they manage that too rarely. Thus I usually miss Womens Hour and You and Yours, likewise the afternoon play which usually has 'an angle'. 5Live's daytime presenters are solidly left wing and irritating from the faux impartiality of Nicky Campbell, through the enraging 'uhnggss' and inane interviewing of Victoria Derbyshire, the banal and hugely irritating Richard Bacon, the almost as irritating Gaby Logan before we get to the well past his sell by date Peter Allen and his current sidekick Aasmah Mir who manages to be both bland and infuriating.

The radio genius that is Danny Baker turned me on to Radio London during a period when he presented the breakfast show and I was regularly driving at that time. His move to the afternoon show meant I missed him for a while but eventually I got back into sync and sometimes planned meetings so I would be on the road between 3pm and 5pm. Why the Danny Baker was/is the only two hour show on Radio London I will never understand, they should take an hour of off Eddie Nestor, who would complain at that? So against Nicky Campbell & Victoria Derbyshire Radio London have Vanessa Feltz. Now Vanessa Feltz I know is someone who is not universally popular, she irritates many people I know. However, she is intelligent, caring and a bloody good presenter. Yes I do have to turn her off when a particular show has moved to the
mawkish but you cannot please all the people all of the time. Likewise Robert Elms's shows can get somewhat infuriating when he is one of his 'I am so funny and interesting' moods or when his guest and he are indulging in some 1980s anti-Tory reminiscences but most of the time he manages to wind back the politics and present an interesting programme. I don't think I need to say anything much about the Danny Baker Show other than that on occasions (and the occasions are frequent) Danny's programmes are brilliant, hysterical and life-affirming. So the news that Danny Baker is returning to Radio London on 18 April having, I presume, beaten his cancer, is the best news of this year so far. Unfortunately Eddie Nestor follows Danny Baker and I cannot abide the man, he is a dreadful phone-in host and I can rarely listen to more than 5 minutes of his show.

The BBC plan would be a disaster for Londoners like me who don't want to listen to 5Live presenters thrust their politics down our throats and cannot bear to listen to the day time run of LBC presenters where mediocrity mixes with intellectual muddle until the arrival of the intelligent and able Iain Dale, a show that just does not fit in with my schedule. What other alternatives are there during the day? I am not a music radio person which means that I can safely ignore Radio 1, I have a fear of becoming a Radio 2 man and do not have DAB in my car so that wide choice is out of reach. TalkSport can be entertaining but I really cannot get too excited about discussing the latest Wayne Rooney excess for three hours and anyway any radio station that employs George Galloway is somewhat suspect in my book.

I hope that the BBC's plan to destroy local radio is a ploy to raise awareness and garner support from around the country as I, and others, would miss Radio London hugely. I am sure that the BBC could find £400 million of annual savings from other parts of the radio budget. Radio 1 is a monstrosity that dominates its market but does nothing that commercial radio stations cannot also do. Nothing apart from pay the likes of Chris Moyles too much money that is. So cut Radio 1 that will save over £40 million, cut the pay of the likes of the Radio 4 Today programme presenters (it won't save that much money but would make me happier) and save the rest from cutting the BBC bureocracy and from the bloated BBC television budget. How much would scrapping Eastenders save? I don't care what 'reach' it has, it should have no place on the nation's broadcaster.

Reach is the word that I keep hearing when local radio is being discussed and that confuses me. Each individual local radio station may have limited reach, but surely taken as a whole, as a service they have huge reach?

One theory  that I have heard is that Radio London's facilities are required for 5Live when the station supposedly moves to Manchester. The BBC are realising that MPs and many other interviewees will not want to schlap up to Manchester for a 15 minute interview and then have to come back down, so studio space in London will still be required. of course that is another area where savings could be made; cancel the move of BBC services to Manchester, £1 billion is the cost of that move I believe.

As I say, hopefully this plan is a ruse to get people complaining and like 6Music, BBC local radio can be saved, if not there will be some very angry people out there and the BBC had best beware.

"Not a good result" - More BBC bias

BBC Radio 5Live at 16:05 and Peter Allen links to Aasmah Mir in Florida with the words "Not a good result".

Not "not a good result for the Democrats" or "Not a good result for President Obama", just "Not a good result".

Surely it was a very good result for the Republicans so why "Not a good result"? Is the BBC so tied in with the Democratic party in the USA that "Not a good result" is acceptable language? Is the BBC officially allied with the Democrats in the USA as they are with the Labour party in the UK?

"Impartiality is in our genes"; really?

BBC 5Live's Peter Allen upsets Ed Balls and Ed balls's doesn't like it

Thanks to Liberal Vision for the recording. You can find links on that website to the full audio.

Ed Balls really is a truly unpleasant man and he really doesn't like criticism. "You cannot justify that statement", "You're being very political", "I think you, as a presenter, have got a bit more responsibility than...", "Of course it's not bust Peter and the idea that you would talk our country down in that way on national radio really surprises me... I'm very surprised.. complete and utter nonsense", "rather than say to me highly polemic things which I don't think you can substantiate for a minute".

Well done Peter Allen for standing your ground, maybe some other BBC presenters could learn a lesson from your balls.

BBC 5Live limber up for the general election update

The new 5Live line-up starts on Monday 11 January and there is an even more left-leaning line-up than ever before.

06:00–09:00 - 5 live Breakfast - All the main news with Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogarty. I think we can tell all we need to know about Nicky Campbell for his description of Paul Staines/Guido Fawkes as a 'fascist'. Campbell introduced Paul Staines as a 'Right-wing political blogger' so Paul Staines countered with the comment that 'It's nice to be on the Left-wing BBC this morning'. Nicky Campbell decided that it was appropriate to respond 'It's nice to have a Fascist on, Good morning!' before he tried to calm the situation by adding 'just joking'. I believe that Nicky Campbell later apologised for his remarks but I think the original comment speaks volumes for his political leanings.

09:00–10:00 - 5 live Breakfast Phone-in - Nicky Campbell takes your calls on the day's big story. More of the very expensively privately educated Nicky Campbell.

10:00–12:00 - Victoria Derbyshire - Original stories from across the UK, news, sport, and exclusive interviews. The vile VD keeps a show to inflict her irritating "nnnh" noise and inept interviewing on the populace.

12:00–14:00
Gabby Logan - News from around the UK with Gabby Logan. Including sport, politics, and money news.I wonder if Gaby Logan will interview mainly left of centre figures on this show as she seemed to her on her weekend show.

14:00–16:00 - Richard Bacon - News, sport, entertainment, and big guests. Plus your emails, texts and tweets. Richard Bacon's bias is well documented on Biased-BBC, here's a few links that may be of interest - anti-Sarah Palin tweets, Obama fanboy and more Obama fan boy

16:00–19:00 - 5 live Drive - The latest news, sport and travel updates with Peter Allen and Anita Anand. More from the crusty Peter "We've always got time for Kevin Maguire" Allen


Here's an extract from another Biased-BBC article that seems pertinent:

"In a column from last November titled "BBC must end its smug comedy consensus" the Guardian's Martin Kelner said he was helping produce some pilots of a talkshow for Radio Five Live; he explained that he was keen to avoid the "cosy broadly leftwing" consensus found on shows such as Richard Bacon and Gabby Logan. I was reminded of this when, flicking through the stations this morning, I heard Mrs Logan chatting with her studio guests - Mark Steel, the old school leftie comedian, and Mark Thomas, the old school leftie comedian."

The description 'leftie' hardly does justice to the political leanings of Mark Steele, a man who I discussed over two years ago:

"Mark Steele is a regular BBC commentator on Radio 5 Live where his political affiliations have never been mentioned (so far as I am aware), despite his being invited to discuss politics on a semi-regular basis. Simone Clarke was denigrated by the media for being a supporter of the BNP a party whose views many would find no more repugnant than those of the SWP."

As if by magic

Peter Allen on 5 Live says that the show has been receiving lots of texts about the local elections and they have all been anti the Labour government. Five minutes later, as if by magic, Peter can happily read out a text from a "labour supporter" that insults Conservative public schoolboys; the normal state of affairs is resumed, Peter can breathe easy once more.