Corona Virus Treatment

I used to think it was only nutters who didn't trust the BBC, but now I'm not so sure. When my current TV licence expires they'll get no more funding from me.

 

That was one facility that we could be proud of.
You could sign up for an evening class to learn almost anything at the local technical college.
Welding, art, electronics, almost anything. Our local one would try and fix a subject up if enough people applied.
I did a QA one (Quality assurance) many years ago.
Thinking about it, i wouldn't mind doing an art one now..
That's out of the question for the time being.

 

Not a lot different to how people handled rationing during the world war years? Perhaps it's lack of patience in this 'must have it yesterday' world we live in. I don't mind queuing. Sometimes striking up a conversation with the socially distanced person near me, or whiling away the time deep in thought.

Has anyone made a comparison between the figures of covid and the flu epidemics of the past please?

 

[QUOTE it became "here is your daily dose of what you should think" a[/QUOTE]

What do you mean by that, in practise? What aspect of BBC news reports is telling you that? Are you saying the entire corporation is secretly ordered by some shady conspiracy, or that there is some institutional bias that is revealed on listening or watching closely? I've truly thought about this in no small way over the years but have found that people tend to say it when they feel their own view isn't being given a fair airing. Left wingers say the BBC has a right-wing bias, right-wingers say it is biased to the left. If either of these were true, the other side couldn't claim it. Usually when I ask for evidence of BBC bias, people just respond by saying things like, "If you genuinely have to ask that question, there's no hope for you." Just yesterday I had a discussion on facebook with someone claiming the public's concern over covid is down to "BBC brainwashing" and after almost literally pleading with him for so much as one shred of factual evidence of this brainwashing or who was responsible for it, he couldn't provide any. Even when people do, it can be swiftly followed with a counter example. Was the same with the Brexit debate. Many on both sides were absolutely convinced the BBC was biased against their side, but when you step back from it and look objectively you can see the picture is far muddier.

 

I agree with you, and I don't so much mind the queuing in its self (even if I can never spell the word!) and used to quite enjoy taking a book with me to pass the time during "the Tesco Tango," or "the Sainsbury's Shuffle," as I nicknamed the experience. However, I think what has got/is getting so many people down is the sense their freedom is dribbling away, with no real end game in sight. Even the reasons behind the restrictions have widened. If we have to do it again during the colder, darker months it will be a different experience than in summer, with also an increased risk of crime. I don't mind being on my own, but many people have suffered with loneliness and a lost sense of belonging, and are craving a return to social or cultural activities denied them.
On your last point, I do know that a radio company I sometimes work for produced a 3-part series on the 1918 Spanish flu earlier this year for Radio 4, part of which compared the two situations. It should still be available. I confess I haven't yet listened as I fear it will just be depressing to me in my current circumstances due to the subject matter, but it is definitely on my list.

 

I totally agree with Pete and Sheal.

Strange but true. I was born at the start of the last war, yet even now, so many memories are as clear in my mind as if such events took place yesterday.

Since losing my wife, albeit ten years ago. I have managed to enjoy life as best as I can. Shopping, although a chore, it gave me a chance to search the supermatket shelves, compare prices etc, then to have a chat at the checkout. Now, although with the best of intentions, all this limiting numbers in shops is daft. Some can go in, grab what they need and out again. Others, perhaps with dietry needs, can take ages to shop, as reading the labels etc.
Tesco have done well out of this new shopping pattern. Soon high streets will resemble ghost towns. There will be no income from rents etc, so the government coffers will dry up.

Warnings are. The virus spreads indoors. So what goes on? Lockdowns. Keep people off the streets. Never mind what way we look at this pandemic. The strategy isn't working.

 

Here we go again:

A second national lockdown could be introduced in Wales amid rising coronavirus cases, the health minister has suggested.

 

[QUOTE
It is not confined to their news output - there is a drip, drip, drip thing with the BBC[/QUOTE]

I agree with some of what you say. But the thing is, no matter how sincerely expressed, I know for a fact that, were I to ask the same questions to someone passionately against Brexit, or on the extreme left, they would give me just as earnest arguments "proving" a bias in the opposite direction. Its just always been my experience.
Not sure what you mean re Bobby Beale. Isn't he basically a moderate Muslim? As far as I can see, they've shown bigotry and extremism from most major faiths, including Islam, but for the most part just portray people warts-and-all. I personally see Bobby as a well intentioned but sometimes flawed character, who is squeezed between a kind of innate innocence and naivety, and the fact he was responsible for his sister's death, which makes him a very complex character who is never 100% sure of himself, and always one step from a nervous breakdown.

 

The BBC spend more time telling us what Trump said last night on instagram than they do what Boris Johnson is saying or doing.
And the fly on Pense's head, that took up a good bit of the news a few days ago.
I dont think ITV is much different to be honest.

TV news used to be unbiased but now they seem to have become like newspapers and have a political following, difference is newspapers are out in the open about it.


Yes the BBC have their own agenda, but not quite worked out what it is yet, I think its anti white, anti Right, and obviously wrong.

 

the thing about BBC bias is, they employ over 20,000 people. Hard to imagine how such an organization, whose territory spans the world and broadcasts in and out of nearly 30 countries, can be tied to one ideological direction. Assuming it is, are we talking from the top, or across the board? The governors, directors general, production personel, or presenters? Senior management? Journalists? Canteen staff? I work for a company that makes many programmes for the Beeb, so I wonder if I am by extension assumed to be part of the scam.
I personally think Tory ministers get an easier time of the two flagship news programmes book-ending the day - Today, and Newsnight. On the other hand, the cultural side of programming veers more to the left. On Brexit I would agree that most presenters generally seemed more sympathetic to Remain, yet it is also true that Nigel Farage seemed to have a season ticket for Question Time (and lunch time news bulletins, where for a while he was invited to give his view of virtually every subject on an almost daily basis) and whenever they did vox-pop slots it always seemed to be a depressed looking pensioner in Preston, standing on a rainy street asking "We voted to leave - why can't they just get on with it?"
The long and short of it is that I genuinely don't see how any allegation of bias can ever be fully proven or disproven. I stand firm in my belief that many Leavers, Remainers, the Left and the Right all passionately (and I am sure sincerely) believe it is biased to the side that they oppose, and all will have anecdotal evidence to prove it. Personally I think even if a particular DG were determined to do it, they would still struggle to brainwash an entire corporation with a 22-thousand strong workforce - but I may be wrong.

 

Brainwash, you don't brainwash your staff, you, over a period of time only employ people who fit.
It goes on all the time, its the old system that if you face don't fit you don't get anywhere and eventually leave.
To be replaced by someone who does.