So It Goes...

Monday, 9 December 2019

Laura Kuenssberg's Spreads Misinformation, Again

The big news story today of course is the fact that Jack Williment-Barr, a four year old boy with suspected pneumonia, was forced to lie upon a pile of coats on the floor at Leeds General hospital. An utterly tragic state of affairs that can only be changed by voting Labour on Thursday.

Twitter knows that this is today's big story, because a video of Joe Pike from ITV Calendar's attempting to hold our alleged PM Boris Johnson to account about this has been watched by (at the time of writing) 4.8m people.

One person on Twitter however refuses to acknowledge that this is today's big story and that person is Laura Kuenssberg, the alleged political editor from the equally alleged impartial public service broadcaster, the BBC. Kuenssberg's refusal stems from the fact that this story is damaging for the Conservative government. So what does she do instead? She proceeds to spread outright lies and smears about activists bussed, at Labour's expense, to Leeds Hospital to confront the Health Secretary Matt Hancock. More, she claimed that one of Hancock's advisors was physically attacked by one such advisor. Why did she do this? Because the Tories told her too. Because it would damage the Labour party. Robert Peston also swallowed the lie and quickly, dutifully spread it around Twitter.

But none of this was actually true. Subsequent video footage shows no hundred of activists (and how can you know for certain that they had been transported by Labour anyway?) and no punch.

Once again, Laura Kuenssberg has swallowed whatever her 'senior Tory source' has told her to report. How many more times must we complain about this blatant propaganda masquerading as political journalism? I'm afraid we must do so once more at least. Please make a complaint to the BBC, let them know that this kind of behaviour from their staff cannot be tolerated. We pay a licence fee for impartial news, not to simply repeat the fantasies of the Conservative government. We need a promise that this mysterious 'senior Tory source' will no longer be listened toby their news team. More, we need that source to be identified. We also need Kuenssberg to apologise and resign. If she refuses to, then she should be sacked.

What Kuenssberg, and Peston, have done here is similar to the despicable stance The S*n took when reporting about the Hillsborough tragedy. The establishment have fed them a line that suits their own interest and rather than investigate it like real journalists would, they have simply reported it as fact. The S*n now sells less than 2,000 copies on Merseyside per day as a result of such slanderous smears. Is boycotting the BBC the way forward?

Sunday, 8 December 2019

Are You Watching Marr, Peston, Kuenssberg, Bruce, Neil etc?

Because this is proper political journalism right here...and it's from the North West of course.

Granada Reports own Hannah Miller met with Boris Johnson in Cheadle this weekend to ask him what the Conservatives plan to do about children's services being at breaking point. As you can see, Johnson began his usual waffling response, pulling out impressive sounding sums of money which are nowhere near the sums his government has cut in the last nine years, talking about the economy, before finally pulling out the inevitable, it's all the fault of the last Labour government line.

But Miller, who has proved herself a tenacious and highly skilled political correspondent on Granada Reports in recent moths, refused to let him off the hook. Like any good journalist, she challenged him, held him to account and kept him on topic, and she did it all in a polite, yet firm manner.

This is the type of journalism we need right now. We need to put an end to these fawning enablers who are blatantly impartial, middle-class, right wing snobs, who consider themselves above reproach as they hide behind corrupt BBC editorial guidelines drafted up by former staffers of David Cameron, and who love the sense of privilege they get because they're in the same atmosphere as politicians, all in return for giving them an easy ride at the next round of interviews.

Johnson flails under such scrutiny. All he can do is bluster, smirk, lie, make excuses and dominate her personal space. And ultimately, he cannot promise anything. Like all the pledges he has made in this election campaign, this funding cannot make up for what has been slashed already from such integral public services. Vulnerable children will still be in dire straits, needing help and resources that simply are not there because of Tory cuts.

Do you really want this man to still be the PM at the end of the week?

If not, then vote Labour.

Vote Labour to say enough of this uncaring, selfish government.

Why Jeremy Corbyn - Vote Labour on Thursday

This weekend I thought I'd try and put something into words that would hopefully answer the kind of questions you hear from people who may right now be undecided about who to vote for on Thursday. My intention here was to bloggerise some of the experiences I've had canvassing and, just like I've attempted to do face to face, alleviate any concerns that people may have about the Labour party or Jeremy Corbyn and reassure them that the most sensible thing to do this week is to vote Labour.

Then I saw that that excellent protest singer and beautiful comrade Grace Petrie had already done this on Facebook and far, far better than I could ever have hoped to. So please, just go and read that instead.

What I will add is that there seems to be this idea that Boris Johnson will, as he is always telling us, 'Get Brexit Done'. He won't. As Boris Johnson has consistently proven, he cannot be taken at his word. He lies, he cheats or he simply moves the goalposts. John Major knows that Johnson cannot deliver on Brexit. But the simple truth is that we cannot trust Boris Johnson on anything (and we certainly cannot trust him with the NHS) so why place your trust in him on Brexit? Far better to vote Labour. They will get a significantly better deal and they will put it to the people. If you still want Brexit, vote for that deal. If you don't want Brexit, vote to remain. Simple.

Please do not vote for a fascist who believes inequality is essential in our society. He says this because he knows he has had the good fortune to be born into privilege. Boris Johnson believes in inequality so much that his party have said that people with learning difficulties should be paid less because "they don't understand money". His party repeatedly deny they are racist and, when they are caught out being racist, they refuse to apologise - yet they intend to give the police greater laws in removing Roma families and traveller camps. Just like Hitler did.

Why vote for that, when you can vote for a party that wants everyone to have better lives, more pay, more leisure time and a healthcare service that is free at the point of use for all?

Vote Labour on Thursday...or, if you live in a contested marginal, vote tactically for the best way to keep the Tories from returning to power.

Let's not wake up on Friday regretting the opportunity we had to make our country a better place for all.

Silent Sunday: What We All Need To Do On Thursday

Saturday, 7 December 2019

Out On Blue Six: New Order

I had completely forgotten that Fine Time had a Christmas-themed music video until it popped up on this week's repeat of Top of the Pops on BBC4 dating from 8th December 1988.