You are spot on, as usual. I love your descriptions of the dim witted Reform members. The thing that scares me about them is the disproportionate amount of airtime and media coverage they get. Always shoving their angry clueless faces at us.
The public desperately needs a media service that serves the public. But we are about as far away from that as it’s possible to get. We have The Guardian only for proper mainstream journalism. Byline News/Times/TV for good journalism is every field but it reaches so few. Then we have the scant few independents like you with your blogs. But up against those good things we have a loud and crowded media owned by billionaires with massive Conservative/Financial agendas. And they grab all the attention. I don’t know how we get past that.
As for the BBC. How the mighty have fallen. Standards are on the floor and coverage is endlessly biased. A couple of days ago I caught a bit of a BBC report about the huge armament warehouses drone attack and fires in Russia. The pretty but dim news reader couldn’t pronounce any of the Russian towns or area names. She either butchered them slowly or mumbled so I couldn’t hear. And then she said something about the armaments depot. And pronounced it with the silent “t” in full voice. It was cringing. I have no idea what she said about Ukraine after that. I could only hear “depoT” ringing in my ears. I king since stopped getting news from the BBC. If I do catch it I check it with other sources if it interests me.
The decline and fall of standards of journalism in the BBC *appals an* old git such as me. Clearly, education, education, education hasn't delivered anticipated outcomes.
Excellent article. Journalism fails to lead an honest, fact-based discussion on this issue. Because of this failure, many are misinformed, which leads to hysterical populist outpourings. We deserve much better from mainstream journalism.
Definitely agree that we need to start having honest and nuanced debates and not just about immigration. Culture Wars just entrench people on both sides and just encourage black and white thinking with no compromise. Farage may pretend he has his finger on the pulse but those riots? If anything the public came out in larger numbers to condemn them. I’ve spoken to people around me and many of them switch off the news because it depresses them. We need this toxic media feeding frenzy to stop, we need change and that indeed requires bravery and communication. What troubles me a little is that communication is not Keir Starmers strong point.
"Anything constructive will be branded surrender" well said and for me anything less than constructive can get in the bin. Ferage is a parasite feeding on the blood of idiots the best way of removing or disposing of parasites is (sorry if anyone I'd having breakfast reading this) is to flush it out and the best way to flush Ferage out is to starve him of coverage, of headlines and until the media in this country does this the parasite will keep feeding, he might feed in a different suit with a different badge on but he will keep feeding. That film sounds very me haha I'll give that a go!
But the cancellation of the Winter Fuel Allowance has played right into Reform’s hands! The number of older folk who are now changing their vote to Reform is total! I hope and pray that the October Budget puts everything back into perspective or else for Labour!!
It seems such an odd thing for them to have done right at the start and with nothing else following on. I support what they are doing. No way did everyone need that money. I think the way of testing for it is too blunt. But it played right into the hands of the opposition and it didn’t have to do that. It should have been announced in the budget with loads of other changes.
I don’t support what they’re doing, this is not a policy that would have been made by a “real” Labour government. I’ve voted Labour for over forty years and had a dilemma voting for them at the last election. I shall never vote for them again, even though it may well let another right wing party in. Labour are not an alternative any more, they’re just a same old continuation of the previous government. There needs to be a much touted shake up in politics, funny thing is the they um and ah, but nothing changes, I wonder why.
My parents always donate their winter fuel allowance to charity, as do all their friends.
It’s clear that a targeted, scaled approach is needed. Problem with anything like this is where to put the threshold, as there will always be people who fall just below. Also, generally speaking, older people feel the cold more than younger people, so need their homes to be a few degrees warmer.
I’ve heard a few radio adverts calling for people to get in contact with the DWP to see if they’re eligible for pension credit – around 880,00 haven’t signed up, and therefore won’t automatically receive the fuel allowance. Let’s hope that those who should receive pension credit are signed up in time.
Is Labour doing this so that they can raise taxes for those with the ‘broadest shoulders’? Imagine the Daily Mail/Express headlines trying to justify protecting the super-rich folk when the pensioners have already ‘done their bit’!
It's much too soon to make such far reaching decisions about a future we have currently got no handle on. This government has already done lots of good things. Don't let one change that has been blown up by the R-wing media focus you.
That’s fair enough, but do you still feel the same way now. I’ve not swayed, there doesn’t appear to be any activity on the policies I voted for them on. Before the election Starmer said free movement was important and he’d move to get that achieved, now he’s completely anti free movement. I mean he’s done more u turns than a hackney cab in London. I just see him as a continuation Tory, and like Tories he talks rubbish. My vote at the next GE will not be going Labour’s way. Or Reform’s or the Tories. I think that man with a bin on his head rightfully deserves my vote. Mainly because those in government do not listen to the people, they’re drink on power and think they know best (Wes Streeting). The aforementioned is a loathsome little toad and personally I don’t trust him, pretty much all the party are the some to me. I don’t want to hear Rayner bleating on about her childhood, mine was horrific, so horrific that I’m 60 years old with complex PTSD, the usual anxiety that’s prevented me leaving my house for a year and to cap it all off I’ve a functional movement disorder that means I can’t walk. Every time I hear about her ‘hard’ life, I think of my life. She is an imposter using that to make her looking working class. The only good thing she’s done is call Tories scum, but then she backed down. Like her boss she did a u turn. The whole party is riddled with I turn culprits. I despair of the so called politicians in Great Britain now, all charlatans, all in it to line their own pockets. I won’t vote for that rubbish with any party.
I’m not so sure I agree. Labour seem to have lurched right and to be they’ve don’t nothing to benefit my day to day living. I know it’s early doors, but the things I voted for them on have either been ditched or swept under the carpet. My faith in politicians is at an all time low and Starmer makes.my blood boil because of that.
Imagine rephrasing the question to the public as ‘what percentage of total immigration is NOT made up of asylum seekers?’ and hearing the answer ‘93%’.
Agree with all of this. With so many still relying on the BBC as their main source of news, the BBC must take a share of the blame for the widespread misconceptions on this topic. They faithfully and regularly report the numbers of small boats arriving, giving it disproportionate prominence and of course the amount of airtime given to Farage is inexcusable. If the media can start to use the correct figures as pushback every time the false narrative is put forward, this would be a welcome start.
On ‘the will of the people’ stuff, this is an issue on the hard left as much as much as the hard right.
One of the great traditions of Australian elections is after once again failing to crack 12% a Greens MP (or losing candidate) will waltz into the ABC studios and lecture the Labor panelist on the will of the people, this is often presaged by the ABC acting like yet another Greens failure was some kind of success and the Labor landslide is in fact a tragic failure that means Labor needs to listen more to a society they’re losing touch with. The most shameful example of this was the last Victorian State election where Labor miraculously did better than the Danslide of 4 years earlier but the ABC covered it as a great Greens victory despite them moving slightly backwards from their already low primary vote.
Well given that the UK has the self-loathing BBC middle class staff determined to take the Reform view of ‘The people’ you must get a right wing version of this happily amplified by the right wing print media.
I propose a simple rule, until you break 30% of the vote we don’t have to listen to you talking about the will of the people unless you’re explaining why you can’t seem to understand it
Late to this but just wanted to say that the existence of a BBC journalist whose job, as detailed in his Twitter bio is to 'stand[s] on clifftops' to give his followers a context-free daily update of the numbers making small-boat crossings - is a neat encapsulation of this 'failure of journalism' that Ian describes.
And he bowled so well in the 2005 Ashes. How the mighty have fallen.
<John Peel voice on> 'Mortifying dimwit entourage'.....another two from them after the news
Lovely stuff. You could also hear it as a Mark E Smith snarled lyric.
You are spot on, as usual. I love your descriptions of the dim witted Reform members. The thing that scares me about them is the disproportionate amount of airtime and media coverage they get. Always shoving their angry clueless faces at us.
The public desperately needs a media service that serves the public. But we are about as far away from that as it’s possible to get. We have The Guardian only for proper mainstream journalism. Byline News/Times/TV for good journalism is every field but it reaches so few. Then we have the scant few independents like you with your blogs. But up against those good things we have a loud and crowded media owned by billionaires with massive Conservative/Financial agendas. And they grab all the attention. I don’t know how we get past that.
As for the BBC. How the mighty have fallen. Standards are on the floor and coverage is endlessly biased. A couple of days ago I caught a bit of a BBC report about the huge armament warehouses drone attack and fires in Russia. The pretty but dim news reader couldn’t pronounce any of the Russian towns or area names. She either butchered them slowly or mumbled so I couldn’t hear. And then she said something about the armaments depot. And pronounced it with the silent “t” in full voice. It was cringing. I have no idea what she said about Ukraine after that. I could only hear “depoT” ringing in my ears. I king since stopped getting news from the BBC. If I do catch it I check it with other sources if it interests me.
The decline and fall of standards of journalism in the BBC *appals an* old git such as me. Clearly, education, education, education hasn't delivered anticipated outcomes.
> twat outliers
Love it. That's exactly what they are.
Twoutliers
Excellent article. Journalism fails to lead an honest, fact-based discussion on this issue. Because of this failure, many are misinformed, which leads to hysterical populist outpourings. We deserve much better from mainstream journalism.
Definitely agree that we need to start having honest and nuanced debates and not just about immigration. Culture Wars just entrench people on both sides and just encourage black and white thinking with no compromise. Farage may pretend he has his finger on the pulse but those riots? If anything the public came out in larger numbers to condemn them. I’ve spoken to people around me and many of them switch off the news because it depresses them. We need this toxic media feeding frenzy to stop, we need change and that indeed requires bravery and communication. What troubles me a little is that communication is not Keir Starmers strong point.
God I love your brain nuggets, Dunt.
*immediately notes down all those stats to shut people up with*
Suffice to say that I was shocked and horrified to learn the proportion of immigrants seeking asylum has rocketed up to 7%, I thought that it was 4.4%
Excellent piece, thanks again Ian.
"Anything constructive will be branded surrender" well said and for me anything less than constructive can get in the bin. Ferage is a parasite feeding on the blood of idiots the best way of removing or disposing of parasites is (sorry if anyone I'd having breakfast reading this) is to flush it out and the best way to flush Ferage out is to starve him of coverage, of headlines and until the media in this country does this the parasite will keep feeding, he might feed in a different suit with a different badge on but he will keep feeding. That film sounds very me haha I'll give that a go!
But the cancellation of the Winter Fuel Allowance has played right into Reform’s hands! The number of older folk who are now changing their vote to Reform is total! I hope and pray that the October Budget puts everything back into perspective or else for Labour!!
It seems such an odd thing for them to have done right at the start and with nothing else following on. I support what they are doing. No way did everyone need that money. I think the way of testing for it is too blunt. But it played right into the hands of the opposition and it didn’t have to do that. It should have been announced in the budget with loads of other changes.
I don’t support what they’re doing, this is not a policy that would have been made by a “real” Labour government. I’ve voted Labour for over forty years and had a dilemma voting for them at the last election. I shall never vote for them again, even though it may well let another right wing party in. Labour are not an alternative any more, they’re just a same old continuation of the previous government. There needs to be a much touted shake up in politics, funny thing is the they um and ah, but nothing changes, I wonder why.
My parents always donate their winter fuel allowance to charity, as do all their friends.
It’s clear that a targeted, scaled approach is needed. Problem with anything like this is where to put the threshold, as there will always be people who fall just below. Also, generally speaking, older people feel the cold more than younger people, so need their homes to be a few degrees warmer.
I’ve heard a few radio adverts calling for people to get in contact with the DWP to see if they’re eligible for pension credit – around 880,00 haven’t signed up, and therefore won’t automatically receive the fuel allowance. Let’s hope that those who should receive pension credit are signed up in time.
Is Labour doing this so that they can raise taxes for those with the ‘broadest shoulders’? Imagine the Daily Mail/Express headlines trying to justify protecting the super-rich folk when the pensioners have already ‘done their bit’!
It's much too soon to make such far reaching decisions about a future we have currently got no handle on. This government has already done lots of good things. Don't let one change that has been blown up by the R-wing media focus you.
That’s fair enough, but do you still feel the same way now. I’ve not swayed, there doesn’t appear to be any activity on the policies I voted for them on. Before the election Starmer said free movement was important and he’d move to get that achieved, now he’s completely anti free movement. I mean he’s done more u turns than a hackney cab in London. I just see him as a continuation Tory, and like Tories he talks rubbish. My vote at the next GE will not be going Labour’s way. Or Reform’s or the Tories. I think that man with a bin on his head rightfully deserves my vote. Mainly because those in government do not listen to the people, they’re drink on power and think they know best (Wes Streeting). The aforementioned is a loathsome little toad and personally I don’t trust him, pretty much all the party are the some to me. I don’t want to hear Rayner bleating on about her childhood, mine was horrific, so horrific that I’m 60 years old with complex PTSD, the usual anxiety that’s prevented me leaving my house for a year and to cap it all off I’ve a functional movement disorder that means I can’t walk. Every time I hear about her ‘hard’ life, I think of my life. She is an imposter using that to make her looking working class. The only good thing she’s done is call Tories scum, but then she backed down. Like her boss she did a u turn. The whole party is riddled with I turn culprits. I despair of the so called politicians in Great Britain now, all charlatans, all in it to line their own pockets. I won’t vote for that rubbish with any party.
I’m not so sure I agree. Labour seem to have lurched right and to be they’ve don’t nothing to benefit my day to day living. I know it’s early doors, but the things I voted for them on have either been ditched or swept under the carpet. My faith in politicians is at an all time low and Starmer makes.my blood boil because of that.
This is the actual problem. The way it was announced and how the subsequent fallout has been ignored.
If these pensioners think that Reform is the answer, I fear they are likely to be disappointed.
Don’t be frightened, you’re right.
Imagine rephrasing the question to the public as ‘what percentage of total immigration is NOT made up of asylum seekers?’ and hearing the answer ‘93%’.
Exactly. The whole debate needs turning on its head.
Agree with all of this. With so many still relying on the BBC as their main source of news, the BBC must take a share of the blame for the widespread misconceptions on this topic. They faithfully and regularly report the numbers of small boats arriving, giving it disproportionate prominence and of course the amount of airtime given to Farage is inexcusable. If the media can start to use the correct figures as pushback every time the false narrative is put forward, this would be a welcome start.
On ‘the will of the people’ stuff, this is an issue on the hard left as much as much as the hard right.
One of the great traditions of Australian elections is after once again failing to crack 12% a Greens MP (or losing candidate) will waltz into the ABC studios and lecture the Labor panelist on the will of the people, this is often presaged by the ABC acting like yet another Greens failure was some kind of success and the Labor landslide is in fact a tragic failure that means Labor needs to listen more to a society they’re losing touch with. The most shameful example of this was the last Victorian State election where Labor miraculously did better than the Danslide of 4 years earlier but the ABC covered it as a great Greens victory despite them moving slightly backwards from their already low primary vote.
Well given that the UK has the self-loathing BBC middle class staff determined to take the Reform view of ‘The people’ you must get a right wing version of this happily amplified by the right wing print media.
I propose a simple rule, until you break 30% of the vote we don’t have to listen to you talking about the will of the people unless you’re explaining why you can’t seem to understand it
Is it really a journalism failure? Journalists successfully report what they are told to report by the media owners who employ them.
Great article. Unfortunately Labour aren't interested in finding any meaningful way to do anything.
This may be the best (and most important) thing you’ve written
Late to this but just wanted to say that the existence of a BBC journalist whose job, as detailed in his Twitter bio is to 'stand[s] on clifftops' to give his followers a context-free daily update of the numbers making small-boat crossings - is a neat encapsulation of this 'failure of journalism' that Ian describes.
And he bowled so well in the 2005 Ashes. How the mighty have fallen.