Tuesday 31 October 2017

Halloween Horror - BBC Brexit coverage

"I voted remain, can you tell?" Kamal Ahmed, BBC Economics Editor




OK, so this is a tiny bit samey but wow, has the BBC plumbed some depths today to find its bad news Brexit coverage.


Unsurprisingly it comes for a remoaning journalist by the name of Kamal Ahmed, so bad that he is comes nowhere close to replacing Robert Pestion.


Anyway, read the article, it starts with a bold headline, rows back, throws in some surreal numbers quoted by a man down the pub and then comes round to the idea that it was right all along.


Then is undone by the facts at the end which quote hundreds of job changes, not thousands or tens of thousands.


On the days when Brexit and talking about it just get me down, this stuff reminds me how hard the establishment will fight and lie. I feel for Donald Trump on this basis too, the whole US Government and Media really is out to get him and it must be very trying indeed!





17 comments:

Electro-Kevin said...

Yes. And the impact of Brexit on farming again. (Pronounced BRREXXit, as though they can't say it without a gag reflex.)

The BBC is easy to deal with. A mass boycott and they're stuffed.

Those trapped in the USSR could only have dreamed of the power we have over the UK's Soviet Central Television.

Nick Drew said...

All this coming justafter one of the biggest #despiteBrexit's of recent weeks (Grauniad, natch):

UK most attractive European country for employers and staff -
Talent, quality of life, location and cost put London ahead, with Edinburgh and Bristol in top 20 despite Brexit

Swiss Bob said...

Kamal Ahmed simply isn't up to the job. I'd like to see the Today program's Dominic O'Connell replace him, he's much sharper.

Nick Drew said...

this sounds like an old joke, but it's true: I was at a jovial international roundtable gathering recently; Germans, French, Belgians, Dutch, a Norwegian, a Spaniard etc

when the inevitable topic arose, one of the French said, well, all those City jobs will be moving to Paris

a German replied, I think Frankfurt; and a Belgie said no, it will be Brussels

the Norwegian (for some reason, possibly nordic sarcasm) said surely Hamburg?

the Spaniard said, with a big smile - actually, Madrid

then they all roared with laughter

Anonymous said...

The constant fearmongering got tedious months back, but I think at this point Brexit will end being viewed as a success simply as most of the direst predictions won't appear.

After years of the mantra of doom, dooom, doooooom, anything short of a resurgence of the Black Death, London becoming an enclave of ISIS and Word War Three will be regarded as the mildest of inconveniences to a population being told to expect The Brexpocolypse.

There'll still be iPhones X's and quinoa. They won't fade away. People will still get up and go to work. I'll still dance like a twat on a Saturday evening. Business, mostly, as usual.

Headlines, sporting the spittle from gritted teeth, will pretty much all say Oh, Well, Wasn't That Bad After All. The Graun will find something negative to say, the Daily Heil will still whine about immigrants and the Express will somehow manage to tie Brexit, Princess Diana and House Prices together as that pretty much covers the bit of the Express that is allegedly for news.

We'll have years of post mortems, talking heads explaining how their predictions did happen, we just didn't notice. Or they didn't mean it. Or we were lucky. Pretty much the economic version of the fucking godbothery loons who keep informing us the world will end next Tuesday, only to state it was delayed two months when the sun pops up the day after we were all supposed to have been crushed by an invisible planet.

Steven_L said...

But it's interesting that the BofE are still scaremongering about brexit, the 75,000 figure cited at the top of the article comes from the BofE.

I'm still bet against them raising interest rates on Thursday. There's hardly any downside if they do raise rates. Everyone is talking about it as a certainty now.

I wonder if rather than George Osborne's 'punishment budget' we are about to get Mark Carney's 'punishment monetary policy'? Remind me who his former employer was?

Anonymous said...

Have to say I'm quietly confident about Brexit now with two main reasons

The EU has two main cycles. The budget one and the political one. AFAIR they are out of sync but no matter the budget one is key as that is where the political aspirations are given form.

By indicating the transition would be no more than the end of the budget cycle prompted by May's "two more years", there appears to be some common if not concrete ground there.

This was then followed up by an indication of internal discussions on the form of trade that each EU member would like to see post exit. Clearly if end 2020 is the de facto exit, no-one wants a disruption in key products and services so there will most likely be a core deal e.g. financial service, agriculture, cars, transport especially flights.

Peripheral items may not get into the core and will have a cliff edge so the choice for these industries would be to try to be core; to seek opportunities outside the EU; or to wait until Dr Fox delivers those trade deals.

As a final thought, I loved the last dig which was that the EU is willing to discuss Brexit "with whoever is PM".

IMHO despite the odds, she's pulled it off. 2020 it is

Anonymous said...

@ nordic sarcasm

Really? Must be a first.

Sebastian Weetabix said...

"anything short of a resurgence of the Black Death, London becoming an enclave of ISIS and Word War Three"

That seems a fair summary of Richard North's soothsaying.

Nick Drew said...

I'll still dance like a twat on a Saturday evening

- that you, Peston?

Anonymous said...

Brexit and Trump have such huge parallels.

Ruling elite totally blindsided by results but trying desperately to reverse them. BBC is almost indistinguishable from the Guardian.

Incidentally, I note the media distraction technique used about organised gang abuse/rape in the UK ('It's everywhere! Investigate dead white males asap!') is now being used post-Weinstein.

I can't imagine anywhere other than Hollywood where a fugitive child-rapist would get a standing ovation from the great and good of the industry. Say what you like about BBC and the music biz, but Rolf and Glitter aren't getting Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Note Meryl Streep, and who can that chap at 1.17 be?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXnNOBj26lk

Electro-Kevin said...

"BBC is almost indistinguishable from the Guardian."

Add to that the London Evening Standard of which the former Tory Chancellor is editor.

Did you ever imagine you were voting for a Guardianista as second in command ?

Electro-Kevin said...

"...but Rolf and Glitter aren't getting Lifetime Achievement Awards."

'tis a great shame. I had planned a semi retirement of tribute acts in retirement homes.

Two Little Boys and Leader of the Gang were to have been my bread and butter. Now all I'm left with is Black Betty and that's banned for cultural appropriation.

Anonymous said...

"I'm the man who put the bang in gang" - lyrical majesty. Note that he's NEVER played on any radio despite the towering genius of his oeuvre, whereas Polanski carries on making films and getting awards and ovations.

Electro-Kevin said...

Yes. It was meant to be the Boomer's anthem and would have kept pub flooring businesses in work for decades.

Charlie said...

"That could mean trading jobs moving to Paris or Frankfurt."

Even the French and Germans working at my tier 3 don't want to move to Paris or Frankfurt. It's just not going to happen.

formertory said...

@Anon, 1038hr.......... excellent grumpy rant.