BBC Bias: Sack Laura Kuenssberg

I've lost count of the amount of times I've written complaints to the BBC on their political bias and how they are effectively the Tory government's propaganda machine rather than a supposed impartial public service, but today they reached a new low. Laura Kuenssberg's decision to orchestrate a twitter dogpile on the worried father of a seriously ill newborn daughter because he had the audacity to confront our alleged Prime Minister about how his government is destroying the NHS is disgusting. There is NO excuse for attempting to add to this man's trauma by encouraging far right activists to troll him online.

And so what if that father votes Labour? His political affiliations do not matter here, what matters is he feels his baby is not being adequately treated and he has firsthand experience of seeing how the lack of government funding is a serious factor in the shortcomings of his daughter's treatment. Not being a Tory does not make his experience any less valid, and he was right to call out Johnson for his publicity stunt and we all saw this disgraceful dictator stupidly, blatantly lie on camera when he said that there was no press in attendance.

The irony today is that I can't complain about this to the BBC, because their complaints site is crashing under the weight of incoming missives from people who feel as disgusted by Kuenssberg's biased and dangerous behaviour as I am. Hopefully this will make the BBC realise that Kuenssberg's position is no longer tenable and that they need to rethink how they report politics to their audiences. A Labour government who will initiate Leveson 2 and overhaul the BBC cannot come quickly enough.

#SackLauraKuenssberg

Theresa May: This Is What A Hypocrite Looks Like

This is our Prime Minister Theresa May, before she came into office, assuring us that she was what a feminist looked like.

Yesterday at PMQ's when her opposition rival raised the subject of the housing crisis in the UK, May chose to dodge the question and offer up the usual 'yer mum' kind of retort to the delight of her Tory MP's.

Except what made the retort unusual was the fact that she was quoting from the twitter feed of one Lewis Collins - a man who routinely posts racist, abusive and misogynistic comment.

So this, we must therefore assume, is what a feminist reads on twitter, and likes

The twitter feed also proudly proclaims that 'every time a Polish person is lamped, it will always be considered a Brexit hate crime. Even if they asked for it' and that, following the news that British schoolgirl turned ISIS fighter Kadiza Sultana died in an airstrike, he hoped that 'the airstrike crushed Miss Sultana like a grape'. He also came up with 'one man and his wog' with the hashtag '#edmilibandgameshows' and supported and defended the killer of Jo Cox MP, Thomas Mair.

Feminism doesn't mean possessing a vagina and doing a high powered, responsible and important job that is normally or nominally seen to be a man's role thanks to our patriarchal society. Theresa May (and her supporters who think a woman PM must surely be a feminist) needs to learn that, and fast.

Indeed I'm reminded of genuine feminist and comedian Bridget Christie's remarks regarding May adopting that T Shirt;

"On the back it says, 'Not really, I'm a Tory, you gullible dick. Then underneath that it says, 'i axed the health in pregnancy grant. I closed Sure Start centres' That one's got a smiley face next to it. 'I cut child benefit and slashed tax credits. I shut down shelters for battered wives and children. I cut rape counselling and legal aid' Winking face.

'I cut funding for CCTV cameras and street lighting, making women much more vulnerable. I closed down all 23 specialist domestic violence courts. I cut benefits for disabled children' Sad face with sunglasses on. 'I tried to amend the abortion act so that women receive one to one  abortion counselling from the pope before they go ahead with it' Winking face with tongue out. The back is much longer than the front, by the way. It's a tailcoat, basically. They're wearing tailcoats"

I'm not presuming for one moment that Theresa May personally follows Lewis Collins on twitter (I would hope she has better things to do) but it's clear that she didn't do her research when she, this 'feminist', approved her speechwriter quoting from this twitter account.

And the very fact that someone in the Tory office actually does follow, read and approve of the kind of filth Lewis Collins routinely spews out is very, very worrying indeed. Though not at all surprising, of course, because it is the Tory mindset to sneer at anyone who isn't male, white, privileged and well off.

This is what a feminist looks like? No, Theresa May is what a hypocrite looks like.

Cyberbully (2015)

“Easier when no one knows it’s us, right? We can say what we want. We can do anything!”

Cyberbully, Ben Chanan's follow up to 2013's Blackout, is another gripping and topical drama documentary at the cutting edge of modern society starring the impressive young Game Of Thrones actress Maisie Williams as Casey, seemingly your average digitally connected teenager. 

I like dramas like this, dramas that could be called socially responsible. OK at its worst it resembled an updated PIF, but this was on the whole unsettling stuff. The quote I've kicked this review off with neatly sums up the issue with the net; people hide. They hide behind their laptop screens, their smartphones, tablets and mobiles and they put forth their opinions via a bevy of platforms safe in the knowledge that their relative anonymity protects them. But the dichotomy at the heart of this is that the net isn't that anonymous - these seem people store reams of private information and reveal their innermost secrets. The online world is viewed via a split personality.

And what if you're a user who isn't as pure as the driven snow as you think? Casey appears initially to be a young girl positively luxuriating in being born in such technologically advanced times as she flits from Skype to Twitter to IM to speak with her friends. When an ex appears to tweet something hurtful and private about her, her first reaction is to lash out for revenge from someone tech savvy enough to hack into the ex's account.

But who is this knight in shining armour and what is his motivation?

"I help victims of cyberbullying" he claims.

But what exactly is a cyberbully? What actions warrant that title?

The great flip to Chanan's piece is that Casey is slowly revealed to be a cyberbully herself, appearing responsible for the trolling and eventual suicide of a former classmate. Trapped in her bedroom by a disembodied voice from her hacked laptop, Casey is hostage to her own online life - a mouseclick away from becoming public unless she apologises and pays the price for her activities. 

This was a deeply absorbing piece of television with a strong performance from Williams virtually acting by herself for much of the duration. I guess the more technologically knowledgeable in the audience might quibble over the probability of such total control of someone's computer but it's no matter, the message was brought across in a clear way and in keeping with Channel 4's commitment to change perceptions through documentary and drama filmmaking. We need to take a step back and look at what the consequences of our activities online truly are, be that sniping at people or simply sharing too much information.

"Everyone does it. It's fucking nasty. But it's normal"

But should it be? That's what Chanan asks. Is this what we really want? I can imagine a great many parents wondering what their children are doing upstairs on their computers right now, believing it to be 'normal'!  The internet could and should be a remarkable advancement in broadening our horizons but if anything it's making the world a much smaller, more insular and selfish place. If Cyberbully gets just one person to stop before they type to consider if they would say this in real life then I imagine it will have done its job. Online needs to meet reality more and in a week in which a young man met a boy he had played games with online and murdered him this was deeply unsettling, contemporary public service drama.

Opinions

Isn't it ironic/alarming,/hilarious/downright fucking infuriating (delete as applicable) when you find your input on a site that calls itself a community in a section called 'chat' is deemed to be offensive simply because it's not necessarily one the offended party wishes to hear.

When they point out they take your opinion personally and express anger at you for having the audacity  to have raised it in the first place yet when you try to defend your position they tell you they're not offended and that you're the one taking it personally.

Really? Tell your fucking attitude then.

When you state facts and find that that somehow offends someone, because heaven help the truth getting in the way of someone's hard on for something right?

When you support your opinion with personal experience only to find that irritates the person because they seem to believe they have the monopoly on personal experiences in life; seriously this is the kind of person who has to find a link with every possible tragedy imaginable. Someone died, they met them once et bullshitting cetera.

Well excuse me for having life experiences too.

What it boils down to I fear is a certain person cannot tolerate their word being challenged - especially when that challenge is put across relatively eloquently and insightfully (if I do say so myself) and comes from a bloke. There, I've said it.

I really do have to wonder why someone continues to participate on a site that is supposed to encourage debate and discussion when they solely want to air their views and their views alone and accept comment from their single crony and no one else.

It really must be a very small and narrow life to lead. Perhaps that's why all the lies and delusions exist, to fill such a life up?

Trolls

Thankfully, it's a rare occurrence to see one of these sad individuals in this particular corner of the net that I've created, but nonetheless it does happen.

Just to reiterate, I occasionally post views personal to me and my way of thinking. I am totally aware that my point of view is not that of a majority and indeed, I don't expect it to be. Whilst I welcome an intelligent debate and exchange of views - because after all, we can all learn something from a debate - one thing I will no tolerate is snide remarks that cast aspersions on me or this blog, or indeed any of its readership.

There's all too many corners of the net that are swamped with idiots who get a kick out of insulting others to make themselves feel big without this blog resorting to being yet another. So take my advice, you can either use those already established corners, you can simply choose not to read my output here, or you can take my professional advice and seek counselling to address whatever issue you clearly have with regards communicating and socialising with your fellow man. Because trust me, as a trained counsellor myself I can assure you you do have one if you get some gratification for being a troll.

This is not going to become one of those horrid corners. So if you find yourself not agreeing with the content here...

Opinions

To be honest that should actually read 'I have nothing nice to say, I say it regularly'


I'm getting a little tired of hitting a brick wall of offensive bile and hate on the net every time I access a message board. I know it's not just me, I know that everyone seems to be finding that the likes of IMDB, Youtube etc has become the domain of impotent little laptop aggressors claiming it's just their 'opinion' but in actuality are looking for fights.


This last week alone on youtube I was told that I was 'a sad moron who must have laughed at 9/11 and Omagh'


And why? Because I happened to say a 30 second TV advert was 'quite amusing'.

And then, I've also been told by some cretin on IMDB that in their opinion my comment that an actress seemed a little arrogant in a film commentary (and to which I added something like 'but that that's ok, she's young and probably not aware of how she sounds') is a negative opinion, which makes me akin to Hitler, in that he had a negative opinion on the Jews.


???


As someone who has worked with the mentally ill for a lot of my career I originally felt sorry for these people. What must be going on in their lives, or rather what must not be going on in their lives for them to exist online solely to gain a reaction from their hurtful pugnacious comments? I would often think.


Now, I think fuck 'em. Sad to say that what was once a pleasant enough place to chat to people and throw ideas and valid opinions around has now been lost to a minefield of bullies just waiting to attack.


So I'm withdrawing from posting on Youtube and IMDB as of now. It's sad, in a way it means the rise of the idiots have actually won. The last bastions of sane, mature opinion and occasionally dissenting voices fade away to let them take control. But for me, let them have it. I don't need the stress or increased BP. Things are far nicer on here, and on my favourite net forum which has for the past few years now, although the occasional prat does sneak under the radar, feels like a genuine community of like minds.

The Dude Abides

The perils of the internet is you often get terribly impotent people challenging your point of view as if any other than their own is completely invalid. Not on here you understand, but on many other sites. Often, and against my better judgement, I find myself rising to it and feeding the trolls. When in actuality, I should listen to one of my heroes, The Dude Lebowski, and say this instead....

The Dude Abides

Jenna-Louise Coleman Joins Doctor Who

The former Emmerdale and Waterloo Road actress (as well as appearing in Captain America) Jenna-Louise Coleman has been announced as the new companion in Doctor Who when the Ponds leave.

Excellent news I think. She's a great actress and easy on the eye.

However, you can't please everyone can you? And it has come to my attention that some 'charmer' posted this on a forum today;

'She looks chubby. I hope she's not prone to sweating in the running up and down corridor scenes'

?!?!?!

The little sad act, when challenged, went on to post

'I'm sorry but overweight people are prone to sweating'

We've had this discussion before I know (http://randomramblingsthoughtsandfiction.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/what-im-up-to-and-whats-currently.html) but seriously what is wrong with society these days?! For this little tit's information; Jenna-Louise is not overweight, she's.... wait for it....a real woman! Not one of those stick thin computer enhanced wank fetishes you salivate over whose only body fat is disproportionately placed around the chest and rear that cannot be physically possible! I do genuinely worry about these saddoes and how they'll react to real women when they step out of their seedy smelling bedrooms and come blinking into the light of the real world and see what real women actually look like. But worse, I do worry if there are girls out there who actually hear this kind of guff and start worrying about their own bodies.

One can only wonder and worry at what this delightful little trollish tosspiece would think of Who former companions like....

Victoria (Deborah Watling)

Romana (Mary Tamm)

Tegan (Janet Fielding)

Peri (Nicola Bryant)

.... he'd probably call them obese!!