More on that Now Show Green thing

As the John Hathorne character in the ongoing witch-hunt against the poor, voiceless, victimised comedians of The Now Show it would be remiss of me not to note (with ignorant sadistic crypto-fascist foam-flecked glee, naturally) that the Tory candidate for Brighton Pavilion is asking the BBC for a bit of clarification.

Update. Brigstocke: "we had to be very careful to ensure that The Green Party were not hosting or organising it"

Update 2. It's getting weirder. In the comments to the original blog post Brighton-based musician Chris T-T (no, me neither) is demanding money for use of a photo freely available via Twitter. Happy to give him credit - but not money - for the photo. Mr T-T, who apparently played at the Green Party benefit gig on Saturday, is also a columnist for the Communist Party of Britain's house rag The Morning Star.

Another Twitter Genius

One more from Twitter:



Piotr M. Kaczynski works for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a think tank which claims "high standards of academic excellence" through "quality research". Roughly a third of its funding comes from EU institutions and national governments, and one of its main research areas is climate change (it gave a number of presentations at Copenhagen).

And one of its leading "thinkers" believes that the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile were caused by climate change.

But remember, it's the sceptics who need educating.

Update. Piotr responds in the comments - unconvincingly but (and please note) very politely.

OPEN THREAD...

OK folks, a new week and a new Open thread...

The Trials of The Diaspora and Other Stories

When Melanie Phillips went to Australia she thought she had died and gone to heaven. She discovered that down under, unlike here in Blighty, supporting Israel does not have to be done in private, by consenting adults.

For your information, Melanie Phillips is “known to be an extremist Zionist insane warmongering Islamophobe” who must be treated with circumspection and labelled “Mad Mel” by all liberal-leaning followers of the BBC. She does appear on the BBC from time to time, but as her views are deemed insane the listeners and viewers are allowed to snigger, knowingly.

Start The Week.
Good grief. Anthony Julius is on!
There’s good news and bad news.
The good news is that Andrew Marr was unsettled by Anthony Julius’s book, and the bad news is that Marr and guests still seemed to think anti-Semitism (in the UK) is understandable because of the actions of Israel.
Or do I mean anti-Zionism.
“We could go on talking about this for ages” said Marr. But we won’t. There was an elephant in the studio somewhere, too.

It might be time to get my coat.

MITCH BENN RETIRES HURT...

The comedian Mitch Benn, having been fingered as an active Greenie by taking part in a Green party fund-raising event, attempted to justify in a series of responses to this post his partisan approach. I suppose I sort of congratulate him for at least making an effort; but his foray into what he clearly regarded as enemy territory ended in tears - he departed waspishly calling all the contributors to this site right-wing ranting bigots. His stance yet again illustrates all that is wrong with the BBC mindset. Like all of them, Mitch, talented as he may be, regards any view that is not suitably trendy and liberal as right-wing thuggery, flat-earthism or racism.

And his justification for taking part in the show was totally bizarre. He claimed he was not a green, but thought he would join in because as a struggling party, it deserved a shot in the arm; sadly, he couldn't do the same for BNP because they were racist thugs. That's as may be. But I'm afraid, Mitch, that turning up to take part in a gig which had the sole aim of trying to get a Green party candidate elected in Brighton is partisanship, however it is presented.

One further thought. Isn't it strange that all the comedians who appear on BBC comedy show seem to support the same views? I can't see Brigstocke et al turning up to do a fund-raiser in John Bercow's seat to support Nigel Farage of UKIP. Can you?