It took my breath away to hear BBC Radio 4 attacking GB News because they do not observe the BBC’s view of “ neutrality”.
Why do the BBC think they reflect the range of political views in the UK? How can they not see themselves as they are, a voice for the public sector establishment. They seem to be pro Biden and anti Republican, pro Social and Liberal Democrat groupings and anti “populist” parties that sometimes win elections. You see that in their choice of stories, choice of “ experts” and line of questions. They are anti Brexit going on and on about trade with the EU as if that was the main point of it, anti lower taxes and a smaller state. Their chosen experts in economics slavishly follow the failed forecasts and models of the OBR and Bank. They find comfort in continuously getting it wrong together.
They seem to believe that every problem can be solved by government action, usually requiring more spending and higher taxes. Yesterday their US political correspondent had to tell us some are raising age issues about Mr Biden, yet he told us as a fact that Biden is only two and half years older than Trump. He is 3 years seven months older than Trump. Why not tell the truth and let us decide if either or both are too old to undertake another 4 years in the top job?
They refuse to interview the Bank of England to hold them accountable for inflation and the collapse of the bond market. They tell us the Bank is independent and responsible for inflation so why no tough interviews? They made a huge fuss about bond yields rising under Truss, but far less fuss now they have risen higher. They fail to interview the management and advisers to HS 2 to find out why it is so massively over budget and out of timetable. They do not cross examine top management of the NHS about the poor employee relations and productivity issues. They do not interview the OBR to explain their hopeless record on forecasting the deficit.
They are the main cheerleaders for an extreme version of progress to net zero for the UK, so we have to rely on imports from countries still burning coal. They decline to examine the problems with carbon accounting or the way in which some of the net zero “solutions” actually increase world CO 2.
They do not regard £24 bn of losses year to date by the Bank of England as news. They fail to report and discuss the government studies showing a collapse of public sector productivity this decade. They do not mention the loss of 800,000 self employed since February 2020. They fail to offer regular critical analyses of policy and politics in France or Germany, seeing the EU as a repository of international values they clearly like.
They rarely interview Conservative thinkers or explore popular Conservative ideas. They prefer to find caricature slots for them or to highlight it when someone makes a mistake in what they say.They read little and talk to few sources outside a circle of similar thinking establishment figures. They promote every kind of diversity save diversity of thought.
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