News Later Paper ISO

I'm late in catching up with today's The Andrew Marr Show .  Andrew's interview with far-left Len McCluskey of the Unite union was particularly gripping viewing. My favourite bit needs transcribing: Andrew Marr : Have you ever heard the suggestion around the leader's office that he's going to step down towards the end of this year? Len McCluskey : Absolutely not. It's fake news. Jeremy is a strong leader and people should stop putting him under pressure. This idea, even from comrades of the Left - Paul Mason. He seems to have lost his marbles -... Andrew Marr : (interrupting) No, he hasn't lost his marbles!   Len McCluskey : He's wanting... Andrew Marr : (interrupting) No, that's not fair! Len McCluskey : ...to sack everyone around Jeremy... Now I, of course, was mainly laughing there at Red Len's denunciation of Comrade Mason, ex of the BBC's Newsnight (though I shocked myself by finding myself agreeing with Len on

That’s why Jeremy Corbyn is such a strong leader!  Oh Len, on the Marr show, saying such weird things.  I know!  Someone must have dared him to try and get away with playing ‘opposites’ all the way through the Marr show.  Like the time when Penny Mordant  took on the challenge of seamlessly introducing some outlandish word into her speech. Wait till tomorrow, when he’ll admit he was playing ‘opposites’ and the joke was on the Beeb. ******* During a bout of insomnia, I turned on the radio - as you do - it’s a very effective soporific for we inso-maniacs. What I heard was something called A  History of Hate   Not wanting to appear like an apologist for the Serbs, or even worse, like an inverted version of a Nazi enthusiast who insists that “the Jews brought it on themselves” -  heaven forfend  - but I had the distinct impression that this programme was coming at me through a prism of rose-coloured, Islam-washing specs.  The moral of the story was that hatred of Muslims led

Source:- MBT Arjun Tank v/s. Al-Khalid Tank:- Who would win in a Head-to-Head Combat ? The Indian subcontinent is home to two of the largest armies on Earth. Not only are the armies of India and Pakistan both larger in personnel than the U.S. Army, but they have stood at alert facing one another since the dissolution of the British Indian Army in 1947. The two armies have clashed four times in the past seventy years, and may yet do so again in the future. Al-Khalid is a modified version of Chinese MBT-2000. It is specially customized for Pakistan Army and under production by Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT). It has an impressive firepower powered by 125mm smoothbore gun as main cannon. Arjun is an Indian Main Battle Tank research and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with german assistance only for designing phase(MkI only). The MkIA variant is a massive overhaul with several modifications over the base variant. Now, what if a Pakistan Army Al-Khalid sh

Doing our usual duty, I ought to report that the Labour leader in the European Parliament, Richard Corbett (who attends Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet), has charged the BBC with 'pro-Brexit bias' over Question Time . (Yes, I know!) And pro-EU types have been making hay with his stats ever since: Now, to be fair, his stats about MEPs on Question Time are correct and they do look startling. And maybe the BBC should have tried to get some Labour MEPs (like him) - and others - on. But Richard is missing the vital context here. Those anti-EU MEPs were regularly outnumbered - often by large margins - by pro-EU panellists. And why so many UKIP MEPs? Well, obviously, because UKIP were a major force in UK and EU politics until recently but had next to no seats at Westminster. To represent them the BBC had little choice but to mostly choose MEPs. Labour and the Conservatives, of course, have had vast numbers of seats at Westminster and have made vast numbers of app

Source:- What is the plan of the HAL & IAF for the Su-30MKI after China bought 24 Su-35-S jets? Super Sukhoi is an upgrade plan for Su-30 fleet that is currently under consideration. Under this upgrade, HAL along with Sukhoi will modify/upgrade 194 Su-30MKI to next-generation standards giving as equal capability as Su-35 that is advanced than current Su-30MKI. India had stepped up for final negotiations with Russia in 2017 to upgrade its 194 Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole aircraft with the near fifth-generation level at a cost of more than $8 billion. However, there is no final statement whether the deal has been done or not. India is planning to upgrade its Su-30MKI fighters with Phazotron Zhuk-AE Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar (also fitted in MiG 35). It is a X-Band configured radar that can track 30 aerial targets in the track as well as scan mode and engage six targets simultaneously. In AESA radar, the beam shifts direction electronically, switching rapidly be

Source:- ‘Justice for Balochistan’ banner flies over Headingley Cricket ground, Afghans trash Pakistani’s Clashes erupted between fans of the Afghanistan and Pakistan cricket teams during the 2019 World Cup match between the two sides in Leeds on Saturday. While videos kept surfacing on Twitter of clashes between the two sets of fans outside the stadium throughout the first half of the game, media reports from the spot said that fans had to be evicted from the Headingley Cricket Ground. Those evicted reportedly continued the melee outside the stadium and a few journalists who were trying to film the scenes were also allegedly harmed. There have also been reports of fans entering the stadium illegaly and occupying seats. “Supporters of Afghanistan cricket team go violent outside the #Headingley cricket stadium, attempt to break down security gate, throw bottles at the security team manning gates, police makes two arrests for violent actions,” said a tweet by a Pakistani reporter in

A BBC 'public information announcement' on Radio 4 within the last hour ran as follows: In June 2020, the Government's funding for free TV licences for the over-75s comes to an end. From then anyone over 75 who receives pension credit will still be entitled to a free TV licence which the BBC will pay for. We're introducing this new scheme to help the poorest older pensioners while making sure we can continue to provide the best programmes and services for everyone. If you currently get a free TV licence you don't need to do anything yet. We'll be in touch before June 2020 to tell you what you will need to do. To find out more about the BBC's decision go to bbc.co.uk/age That really does sound like a party political broadcast on behalf of the BBC from the BBC. Note how they place all the blame on the Government for ending free TV licences for the over-75s, even though it's actually the BBC's decision to end that funding following the 2017 l

Talking of news about the BBC, the Mail on Sunday had a rum story today headlined Left-wing 're-education camp' is accused of training journalists to flood the BBC's airwaves with pro-Corbyn commentators .  The MoS reports that a far-left organisation called the New Economy Organisers Network (Neon) - seemingly a pro-Corbyn equivalent of Common Purpose - is training Corbynista pundits to appear on the media. "When they appear," the MoS says, "they rail against the ‘mainstream media’ and traditional capitalism, and are taught how to ‘swerve’ difficult questions".  So far, so good for Neon it seems. They are getting lots and lots of invites. And the intriguing thing, for the purposes of this blog, is that the bulk of those invites have come from the BBC. Neon pundits have made more than 60 appearances on BBC shows this year alone. One of them is Grace Blakeley, who many of us will have seen many times already on the BBC. The disappointi

The BBC has been in the news quite a bit this week. Here's a round-up of some of those stories. 1. Channel 4 has complained to Ofcom about the BBC's plans to expand its iPlayer streaming service to allow programmes to remain available for a year rather than for 30 days. Channel 4 believes it could harm the BBC's rivals (including itself).  2. Though ending free licence fees for most over-75s, the BBC is spending more on its 'talent' this year than it did last year, with the amount spent rising from £148m to £157m.  3. There are now three women in Top 10 of the BBC Rich List - Claudia Winkleman, Zoe Ball and Vanessa Feltz. Hurray! 4.  Though ending free licence fees for most over-75s, the BBC will be spending £3m on branded mugs, magnets, hoodies and umbrellas - freebies to be given to staff and viewers to promote programmes and “corporate identities”. 5. Around 7 million people watched England’s win over Norway in the Women’s World Cup quarter-final

Also on the subject of The World This Weekend , the tone of its Trump-Kim coverage put me in mind of a tweet I'd read earlier from the ever-excellent Alex Deane: Donald Trump literally walks into North Korea.  If Obama had done it - in media, fireworks flare from eagles’ wings as choirs of angels sing hymns of praises, the clouds part and the face of God emerges to call the President wonderful, counsellor...  As it’s Trump... not so much.

Two Sunday's ago MB described that week's The World This Weekend as a 'Get Boris!' edition. Last Sunday I called the following week's edition ''Get Boris With a Vengeance!'. Well, this Sunday's edition could be subtitled, 'A Good Day to Get Boris!' Like last week's show, this one featured a 'BBC reality check' on one of the Conservative leadership candidates claims. Last week the leadership candidate Mark Mardell & Co. went after was Boris Johnson. They cast doubt on his claimed policy success over Russia. This week the leadership candidate Mark Mardell & Co. went after was, yes, Boris Johnson. (Jeremy Hunt will be pleased!) This time they cast doubt on his claimed successes in tackling crime in London. Chris Vallance's report did feature a defender of Boris - Kit Malthouse - but he was set against three very critical critics of the former London mayor. The report ended with Chris affirming that Boris's c

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's meeting in the Korean Demilitarized Zone produced a barrage of headlines and images, but left analysts questioning whether it was a small step for publicity or a giant leap for peace. The impromptu encounter saw Trump briefly crossing over the demarcation line -- becoming the first sitting US president to step into Pyongyang's territory. It came months after their second summit in Hanoi broke down over what the nuclear-armed North would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief. After around an hour of talks in Panmunjom -- the "truce village" in the DMZ that has divided the peninsula since the two sides and their allies fought each other to a stalemate in 1953 -- Trump emerged to say the two would begin working-level talks in the next few weeks. He also invited the North's leader to Washington "at the right time", he added. It was a more substantive outcome than many had expected after Trump issued his Tw

US President Donald Trump is widely expected to visit the Demilitarized Zone that divides South Korea and the nuclear-armed North on Sunday as part of his trip to Seoul following the G-20 meeting. The DMZ is the finishing line of the 1950-53 Korean War, where South Korean forces backed by a US-led UN coalition fought to a standstill with North Korean and Chinese troops. Here are some questions and answers about a place widely referred to as the world's last remaining Cold War frontier. Where is it? The four-kilometre-wide DMZ runs for 250 kilometres (160 miles) across the Korean peninsula, around 50 kilometres north of Seoul and 200 kilometres south of Pyongyang. At its centre is the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), where the front line lay when the ceasefire stopping Korean War hostilities was signed in 1953. Under the agreement both sides agreed to pull back their forces 2,000 metres. To the south, Seoul has established a further buffer zone of varying width where civilian

India's anti-satellite missile was a three-stage rocket, which successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite on 27 March. The Indian defence ministry claims that the test was conducted to intercept the missile in a manner that minimised the threat of space debris. Three months after India conducted an anti-satellite test in which it "shot down" a low-orbiting satellite, the 41 pieces of debris generated in the process remain in orbit. This accounts for about 50% of all fragments of debris that were created in the 'Mission Shakti' missile test, says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. This is in complete contrast to the claim made by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which said the test was planned in a manner to ensure that all debris would fully disintegrate within 45 days. McDowell estimates that the debris will take "at least a year or so" to fully deteriorat

Oh dear, Evan Davis has fallen out with the farmers !: What happened was that on Thursday's PM , Evan interviewed Minette Batters of the National Farmers Union - an interview he introduced by saying t here was a case for eating less meat when it came to animal welfare, diet, health and the environment. Then this happened: Minette Batters, NFU : We lead the world in animal welfare standards... Evan Davis : (interrupting) Yes, but they are not very good, let’s be honest. You wouldn’t want us to go around showing pictures of what goes on in a farm, would you? This led to Ms Batters tweeting "In 20 years of media interviews I’ve never been more shocked and sickened than by the interview with me today. Will you please, please apologise to Britain’s farmers?" and Evan replying "I acknowledge that my clumsy expression gave the wrong impression that I think all animals are mistreated. Fear not, I’ve been to farms and know that’s false. I’d never argue that, any

The Brexitcast cast I must admit that I've never listened to the BBC's Brexitcast podcast but it apparently goes something like this:

Answer: Katya Adler Here are three extracts from today's Sunday Times interview with the BBC's Europe Editor Katya Adler: I II III

As discussed on the open thread , here's that controversial BBC video report on Marxism - the one which calls it a "slur" or an "insult" to call Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell Marxists! As MB commented: Also, the commentary says Marx's ideas were "reasonable".   The video ends with the upbeat comment of a devotee suggesting that when it comes to Marxism "those ideas have held up".   Marxists have been responsible for the intentional deaths of at least 50 million and probably as many as 100 million people over the last 100 years.   Can you imagine the BBC adopting the same tone with the Far Right who are in the same totalitarian Death League? Boris Johnson has called Jeremy Corbyn "the leader of a cabal of superannuated Marxists" But what does it actually mean to be Marxist? [Tap to expand] https://t.co/yVMg1T8Ftp pic.twitter.com/zsDUvFeKT0 — BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 29, 2019 Another comment on this vide

Nick Bryant I've just found a post I prepared in July 2010. I was between blogs at the time, so I never published it. (I'd forgotten I hadn't published it though, so I've had to look hard to find it tonight as it wasn't where I expected it to be). It concerned the BBC's then Australia correspondent Nick Bryant, now the BBC's New York correspondent (though, famously, it's a rare day that you hear him reporting on news from New York). This is it: No worries The BBC is nothing if not consistent on illegal immigration. It is always 'intensely relaxed' about it. Looking at Nick Bryant's Australia  blog shows this to be the case. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant The BBC's Australia correspondent is always on message on the issue of immigration. He is squeamish about Australia's "messy debate over asylum seekers, which never arouses the nobler aspects of the Australian character". He