I’ve just woken from a nightmare where the BBC Today Programme asked whether J.D. Vance had a point. When US officials are being asked to sign loyalty oaths and agree that Trump won in 2020
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Hey UK, looks like big brother America has kicked us out of bed.
Time to wake up and be manly enough, to admit we need to be part of Europe.
America is now run by morons, so we need to cut ourselves off from them as much as we can.
Vance's speech proved they're now on a different planet.
Some of it is ring kissing, but some of it is genuine confusion and denial to accept that it really is as bad as it seems … if only he had and genuine point and was not a part of far right, it may excuse the soft stance and politics we have been all endorsing in Ukraine - it’s guilt absolution
Democracy ends with poor education. It’s a well worn path.
We unfortunately keep voting Tory under misguided belief they are patriots. They are anything but.
Plus we don’t value education.
BBC are really failing to challenge any of the US rhetoric at the moment as they did with brexit and the reform party. They are indeed part of the misinformation machine by repeating the rubbish these dangerous idiots spout.
That's not a nightmare that's normal, everyday thinking at the BBC, it destroyed what tiny crumbs of any credibility it had left in its handling of Palestine/Israel reporting and platforming of Farage and the cohorts of right wing think tank supporters etc.
The BBC seems to be under the influence of ex GB news employees. The right leaning comic book reporting (let’s not call it journalism)and the click bait misleading headlines is becoming ludicrous.
The BBC is lost until there is a significant change at the top. The only good point is Victoria Derbyshire but she can’t do it on her own. Kier Starmer needs to do something
Giving equal weight to falsehood lies and criminality is not Ballance and impartiality it's a support of falsehood lies and criminality against reality truth and law
I'm afraid I can no longer watch or listen to BBC news programmes. How on earth did we get to this point and, more importantly, what can be done to stop the rot?
Last night I tried to listen to BBCR4 but it was the awful Sarah Smith and Justin Webb who were literally ecstatic about Trump, Vance and Musk. "They have hit the ground running. It's so exhilarating!"
No thought or empathy for the many thousands of federal employees summarily dismissed over the last week, from these smug fat cats who are employed by the licence fee payers. Just wetting themselves as their heros smash everything up.
Listen to Vance just acting as a Russian asset, note he criticised anyone for pointing out "misinformation" and "disinformation", the two biggest weapons in Russia's arsenal. Russia has beaten America in the information war, turned the Maga crowd against Europe.
Rory, we are a complete mess over here right now. Try to ignore us, feel free to ridicule us (we deserve it) and by all means protect yourselves because the inmates are in charge for the foreseeable future.
When they said at 7am that they were going to ask the question, I switched off. Altogether more barmy bothsidesism than I can face first thing in the morning.
I no longer watch the news of any description as it doesn’t do my blood pressure any good. Read it online as I can choose to read deeper or not, don’t have to hear the dreadful interviewers/panellists. The art of interviewing & holding people to account has been lost.
Same here. The BBC is no longer an organ of truth and impartiality. It’s now in contention with GBeebies for the title of right wing propaganda machine and purveyor of misinformation. Victoria Derbyshire is the only impartial journalist still working there. A beacon of light in these dark times.
Also heard, should we get Musk in to sort out NHS. He who has taken money out of government accounts, cancelled contracts (not ones he benefits from), sacked key workers and called people who receive benefits, such as pensioners, parasites.
"Previous Global Counsel clients include Nestle, Bank of America, Vodafone, and Peter Thiel’s Palantir, as well as now-sanctioned Russian oligarchs including Oleg Deripaska."
BBC news is rapidly becoming impossible to listen to. And I say this sadly as someone brought up listening to radio 4 & was always the source to turn to. No more😢😱
I was always a strong supporter of the BBC but I've actually given up watching their news content. The constant need to be 'balanced' rather than factual is infuriating & dishonest. I stuck with the BBC even as I was becoming dismayed and disillusioned. Can't do it anymore though...especially BBCQT!
It is very comforting that you share my dismay at the way the BBC is treating Vance’s astonishing interference in our domestic affairs on the world stage.
I wondered, but it is true that the Democrats alienated a lot of voters in swing states by killing 100 000 Palestinians, half of them children… while prancing about with celebrities and claiming to be focussed on love
The BBC are shameful. Why not mention Vance's complete hypocrisy: his own government is banning words, sacking people for non compliance, and forcing the judiciary to do things they disagree with (though at least some had the gumption to resign rather than comply). Dictatorship lectures democracy?
Dont think he’s bothered about the Constitution & pretty much daring anyone to try to stop him
Hope Europe will stand together against an ally whose VP called us the enemy within 😔
Well, I think like all fascists, they care about democracy (&/or the Constitution) with regards to them getting power. Once there, they are less in favour of it. The problem for Europe is that the far right are making inroads there too.
It’s a much bigger struggle than I think people appreciate atm.
Concur 🥺 daily struggle to balance my panic. Worry that fascism seems to be born out of fear and hate, and global rhetoric seems awash with that fear & hate (& greed)
Do we ever give peace a chance 😣
We can only do our little bit.
Educate those that need educating. Show them that the consequences of voting for the far right are not in their best interests. Speak to friends, relatives even local community groups.
Education is the key.
Fascists know this & detest education (see US).
I didn't hear the piece in question, but as a general rule I'm fine with people being asked a question like this, as long as they are robustly challenged on any falsehoods
Maybe everyone in the UK should not pay their licence fee so crappy journalism is made an example of. The BBC is becoming more and more of a disgrace. Vance has not and never has had a point…on anything. He’s scum, as is Trump and Musk
It's a sign of the times where I am genuinely not sure if this is a dream you're describing or an actual Today Programme report that you're sarcastically making a joke about
I’ve finally weaned myself off it. I’m lucky enough to be a French-speaker so I switched to France Inter. The equivalent programme is generally much smarter and bracingly sane on international news. They look out of the windows and describe the rain, as it were.
France Inter 7/10 on https://radiofrance.fr
One nice option is that if you drop down into the grille des programmes and then affichez les chroniques, you can pick the segments you’d like to hear from them running order (and they get them up in real time!)
I used to be able to listen to Radio France when I was doing my A levels many years ago. I think it’s time to tune in and see if I can revivify my French. Anything is better than what the BBC has become - as I realised when listening to news during cricket breaks on the ABC.
I should warn you not to be put off by the very strange news satire bits that are dispensed at roughly 1.8 speed immediately before the eight o’clock news. It’s not your French being slow, it’s not a fever dream and it’s very much not what you are probably expecting.
I gave up on the Today Programme in 2016. The relentless Brexit cheerleading and lack of actual analysis did for me. There is very little decent analysis in the news now, so disappointing.
I don’t think Trump won in 2024 (results were doctored)let alone 2020. As for the tragedy of the BBC. Once the finest broadcaster in the world is now a third rate propaganda channel.
If Trump wins in 2020, he can't run in 2024. So, yes, I also agree, in hindsight he did win and he was actually president when inflation hit 12%. That means Harris is President now.
The @newsagents.bsky.social asked in one episode this week what Starmer and Badenoch can learn from Trump’s communication strategy. Journalists still don’t seem to fully grasp the fundamental danger and utter evil of this coup in the USA.
Journalists by and large saw Brexit as an exciting game while people’s lives were destroyed by it. I have come to develop a strong disdain for most mainstream journalists over Brexit. They don’t care about truth or values, only the excitement of the next exclusive statement counts.
The consequences of doing the same over Trump / Musk could be significantly worse than Brexit
I'm sure it is exciting if you are in a newsroom, but a drift to authoritarianism needs sober reflection not breathless idolatry
I've not listened or watched the BBC news output for over a year. It would have been my go-to, but it has been taken over, and now is a sham of a news broadcaster.
The BBC is lost. I've listened to Radio 4 nearly all my life (even when I lived in the US) and I'm ready to ditch it. Just don't know what else to listen to.
To cap it all they had Big Brother Watch's CEO in to do a bit of sane washing and whataboutery. Set up by Matthew Elliott, he of Vote Leave and TPA infamy.
I am beginning to worry that this has been the strategy all along- drive the BBC news and current affairs into the ground to the point people support its end. A perfect scenario for extremists, fascists, populists, and supremacists.
A reasonable argument, that genuinely reasonable people like you will make.
When the fascists, extremists, populists and supremacists make the same argument, what do you think they know that you don’t?
I suspect they know enough people won’t subscribe- remain ignorant/ vulnerable to radicalisation
I’ve looked around and this story is appearing precisely nowhere else which shows a) nobody else thinks it’s a story and b) just how desperate Robbie Gibb is
The BBC is becoming a fucking joke. They have lost a sense of perspective & have forgotten what is normal. Their desperation to seek balance when the US is rapidly becoming a rogue state is laughable. They used to be *the* reliable source of news in a chaotic world, but that is no longer the case.
The BBC’s editorial policy. ‘Some on the Left complain that we triangulate. Some on the Right complain that we triangulate. Therefore, triangulation must be the way to report stuff!’
Similar on @lbc.co.uk @alimiraj.bsky.social earlier. "Sure, he supports the attempted coup of 6 Jan 2020, but putting that aside, doesn't he have a point about free speech?"!!!
And yet the BPAS rep just platformed to counter his inflammatory claptrap just tanked so badly she made him sound like he had a point! Jesus wept, I could have countered more strongly and I work in a shop!
Fair point but I do feel a paid representative of a charity, in a role of public advocacy, should be able to string a couple of sentences together at a level of coherence above stumbling out of a nightclub at 4AM. Compassion is for the poor women that didn’t have a voice this morning.
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Time to wake up and be manly enough, to admit we need to be part of Europe.
America is now run by morons, so we need to cut ourselves off from them as much as we can.
Vance's speech proved they're now on a different planet.
(I gave up on Radio 4 over Brexit)
We unfortunately keep voting Tory under misguided belief they are patriots. They are anything but.
Plus we don’t value education.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001324r
Top story on R4 evening news last night was Rachel Reeves. Couldn't listen.
Have a good day. Perhaps made better by Brentford winning at the Olympic Stadium.
What were they thinking
Do they also think it's a game?
https://www.palantir.com/uk/healthcare/
"Previous Global Counsel clients include Nestle, Bank of America, Vodafone, and Peter Thiel’s Palantir, as well as now-sanctioned Russian oligarchs including Oleg Deripaska."
https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/lobbying-watchdog-asked-to-investigate-peter-mandelson-global-counsel-qatar
In so doing they become the problem, and fuel misinformation
They can see the issue, hence bbc verify, but seem impotent to change
Oh, and have you heard Rachel Reeves? Well, she once bought a handbag on expenses and...
https://news.stv.tv/scotland/us-vice-president-jd-vance-attacks-scotlands-anti-abortion-buffer-zones
He's told everyone what he's done by accusing everyone else of the same thing
He’s already hinted twice publicly at running for a third term.
Hope Europe will stand together against an ally whose VP called us the enemy within 😔
It’s a much bigger struggle than I think people appreciate atm.
Do we ever give peace a chance 😣
Educate those that need educating. Show them that the consequences of voting for the far right are not in their best interests. Speak to friends, relatives even local community groups.
Education is the key.
Fascists know this & detest education (see US).
I’ve finally weaned myself off it. I’m lucky enough to be a French-speaker so I switched to France Inter. The equivalent programme is generally much smarter and bracingly sane on international news. They look out of the windows and describe the rain, as it were.
One nice option is that if you drop down into the grille des programmes and then affichez les chroniques, you can pick the segments you’d like to hear from them running order (and they get them up in real time!)
I should warn you not to be put off by the very strange news satire bits that are dispensed at roughly 1.8 speed immediately before the eight o’clock news. It’s not your French being slow, it’s not a fever dream and it’s very much not what you are probably expecting.
They need to find a voice
They knew about Brexit and (many) are now wringing their hands
The implications here are more serious
I'm sure it is exciting if you are in a newsroom, but a drift to authoritarianism needs sober reflection not breathless idolatry
The whole system has turned into a sick satire of itself.
Beginning to have sympathy to the idea of getting rid of the licence fee.
Thank god it’s not just me then!
When the fascists, extremists, populists and supremacists make the same argument, what do you think they know that you don’t?
I suspect they know enough people won’t subscribe- remain ignorant/ vulnerable to radicalisation
Always been awed by power, now they act like cowed lickspittles. Loss of a great, at one time defining, British institution.
Hypernormalisation at work everywhere.