And Here is the News

[woodieallen]

Are you standing again in the local elections, Jacob?

 

[Jacob]

Are you standing again in the local elections, Jacob?

No. I only stood once as a paper (i.e. no chance) candidate in the Parliamentary elections. Interesting but no ambitions in that direction!

 

[woodieallen]

What shame. I am sure that your talents would be appreciated. After all, labour does need all the help it can get ! As do the Tories. And I'm not too sure about the LibDems either

 

[Jacob]

What shame. I am sure that your talents would be appreciated. After all, labour does need all the help it can get ! As do the Tories. And I'm not too sure about the LibDems either

I am poised ready for the knock on the door!

 

[woodieallen]

LOL....I didn't think the Monster Raving Loony Party operated that far North.

 

[DerekJohn]

The BBC TV news has been unwatchable for about ten years - I use Al Jazeera who have some great documentaries and proper in depth news analysis. I used to enjoy RT (for amusement factor) but that has been shut off as has CCTV.
Channel 4 is / was great but even the Radio 4 Today program has descended into reporting pop music and emotional drivel.
Ah bring back Jack Demanio

 

[Phill05]

Caught the BBC TV breakfast news this morning and a very interesting talk Ben Wallace Defence minister gave, he could be one to watch for top job in the UK.

 

[woodieallen]

Caught the BBC TV breakfast news this morning and a very interesting talk Ben Wallace Defence minister gave, he could be one to watch for top job in the UK.

Agree with you 100%. Just goes to show that it should be compulsory for any MP of whichever persuasion to actually have held a 'proper' job before standing for Parliament. Too many of them are career politicians and IMO add very little.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

^^^^ that goes for teaching as well.

 

[woodieallen]

^^^^ that goes for teaching as well.

Why do you say that ? I know of many excellent teachers where teaching was their vocation.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I knew many lousy life long teachers as well.
Because far too many have unrealistic expectations for their pupils in the job real world employment market for one thing. An old friend is a retired teacher who worked in industry til he was thirty+ and he said the same, as did my brother in law only a couple of nights ago. He was a shipyard joiner until he trained to teach at nearly fifty, he retires in a year or two (as head of D.T.) and maintains that one of the worst things about the school where he teaches (in NZ) is that he is the only teacher there ever to have a job outside teaching. A letter in a newspaper a while back was from an elderly gentleman who went to school during WW2 - he said he was more fortunate than most as he was taught woodwork by a retired cabinet maker and metalwork by a retired blacksmith.

 

[woodieallen]

That's as maybe. I had many very good teachers. You can't tar them all with the same brush. One could apply your same argument to any job or profession. Maybe you think that no-one should become a doctor unless they've worked somewhere else for a number of years first ?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Doctors aren't teaching.

 

[selectortone]

^^^^ that goes for teaching as well.

Bit of a sweeping generalisation there Phil.

My daughter has been teaching A Level English for the last fifteen years in a mixed comprehensive and it has been really heartwarming to read the letters she has received over the years from ex- pupils thanking her for their time under her tutelage. It can be hard work but she takes her job very seriously and I'm extremely proud of her.

 

[joethedrummer]

I didn't like news even as a child, right up to present day, I'm particularly sick of how climate change is forced into every single programme and every single opportunity they get, another thing is the obsession with news presenters as celebrities, this needs to stop right now, if anything it just makes me dislike them even more because they aren't worthy of celebrity status, they just present the news.

,,Oh so right and they make it all sound like they are giving us the benefit of their great knowledge,, yeah right on,,,

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Just looked up the IPSOS veracity (trust to tell the truth) index - the views expressed by the forum are far from unusual.

The final four below estate agents and business leaders are journalists, government ministers, politicians generally, and in last place advertising executives.

I'm not sure what advertising execs have done so wrong as to place them below the other three!

 

[J-G]

I'm not sure what advertising execs have done so wrong as to place them below the other three!

That's easy - - - they take 'lying' to the extreme

 

[carry book]

I certainly wouldn't trust either the BBC nor the Channel 4 news teams to report in an unbiased manner especially when it comes to politics and the Conservative party, not that I'm a Conservative supporter myself I might point out.
Far from it in fact as I'm not a fan of the current government and to be honest I don't often watch the usual UK news sources if I want unbiased news reporting but when I do watch them, it's patently obvious that the news invariably contains gratuitous anti-Boris and anti-Conservative messages.

It's not hard to see why.
Both the BBC and Channel 4 are in the sights of the government for selling off so it's in their interests to get rid of the threat and what better way than to continually broadcast negative news reports.

I've never understood why we have to pay for a television licence which is effectively a tax which criminalises the poorest in society for not being able to afford additional costs so that the BBC mandarins can live the lavish life to which they have been accustomed.

If we are to pay a TV licence then fine but the taxes raised should be shared out equally with all broadcasters and not just given to one broadcasting body.

Yes the BBC does good work with regard public service broadcasting and it along with other programs from independent broadcasters should be funded specifically for doing so but if the BBC wants to avoid resorting to commercial advertising for funding as with other commercial stations then let it be a subscription only service so that those who wish to watch BBC programming can opt in to their service rather than forcing everyone to pay an outdated wealth tax which in this day and age of hugely rising inflation, is just another thing for the poorest to struggle to pay.

The only news channel worth watching is GB news

 

[cmoops2]

Doctors aren't teaching.

REALLY !!!

 

[DavidConnelly]

Indeed.
Today we have "News for dummies"
There appears to be no integrity at all. Cheap one liner soundbites and worse than that, extremely poor puns. Condescension is the name if the game. All is taken to the lowest common denominator.
A story about fuel will be filmed outside a filling station just in case we have difficulty interpreting the story. The BBC is the worst for this.