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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think public service broadcasters would do well to stop ridiculing anyone with even vaguely leftwing economic ideas?

57 replies

SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:08

Since Ed Miliband became leader of the labour party the problem seems to be getting worse.

I can't switch on the Radio or TV without hearing 'unbiased'publicly funded broadcasters repeating endlessly 'And of course the press are already calling him 'Red Ed'' (Really? Well as i don't read the tabloids I would have been blissfully unaware of the fact if you hadn't just repeated it eight times during the Today programme!)

and 'Of course what he can't start doing is just opposing the spending cuts' or 'Is Ed Miliband going to lead Labour on a Lurch to the Left?' 'Is he in danger of driving away mainstream voters?' John Humphreys, i'm looking at you in particular.

I feel like yelling 'I'm a mainstream voter and i'd gladly vote for him, if only he'd promise to sell off the publicly owned banks now, while there's a profit to be made for us, and cover the bulk of the budget deficit that way, instead of selling off my dc's education to the highest bidder as the coalition insists!'

Last night took the biscuit, I couldn't even sit through 5 minutes of 'What's The Point of the Unions?' on Channel 4 - all grainy hidden cameras and 'Bob Crow and the unions have the power to hold the country to ransom through strikes, this is utterly undemocratic etc' Yes, like the utterly undemocratic banks held our country to ransom, and they weren't even doing it to demand fair pay, or rights for workers or anything remotely principled, why aren't you piping the scary music in their direction?

We may as well let Rupert Murdoch and his son get their way and force the BBC and C4 to be sold off because as far as I can see they're already setting the entire agenda.

Socialist principles are now publicly derided from every corner, whether or not the organisation deriding them was set up under those very socialist priniciples or not. Any debate about economic ideas must be conducted within such narrow principles in order to avoid being laughed off the airwaves it's almost not worth having.

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belledechocolatefluffybunny · 28/09/2010 14:10

Hello David.
Are you feeling a little jealous of your brother?

SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:11

i'm not very eloquent when i'm angry, sorry.

hopefully you'll get the gist.

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SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:12

I don't understand. Why would David Miliband be saying the same things I am? He's much further to the right than his brother.

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SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:15

narrow boundaries, even

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belledechocolatefluffybunny · 28/09/2010 14:16

Your first few paragraphs do seem to be all about Ed.

I don't think there's anything interesting for them to show. Personally, I'd rather watch something about the soldiers (how they are welcomed home, support they are given etc)

gentlyfalling · 28/09/2010 14:16

YADNBU

Unfortunately, this was brought on by the Labour Party attempting to distance themselves from Socialism with NuLabour. They brought it upon themselves...and the rest of us.

scaryteacher · 28/09/2010 14:19

As the broadcasters have spent the last 13 years ridiculing anyone with right wing ideas, it makes a pleasant change to see that someone thinks they are ridiculing the left.

I don't think anyone derides socialist principles, just how they pan out when put into practice, leaving the country in a shit load of debt that the Coalition has to sort out.

SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:19

gentlyfalling - yep and that's apparently because only cenre/centre right parties are electable

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SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:22

scary teacher -who derides the right? andf i hate to play the Cuba card so soon but feel i have to when someone says socialism doesn't work in practise!

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smallwhitecat · 28/09/2010 14:24

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Chil1234 · 28/09/2010 14:25

Wait a cotton-pickin-minute there.... I thought the BBC had a reputation for being too left-wing, right-on, etc!! Criticising Humphrys for referring to the 'Red Ed' tag is like criticising Robert Peston for reporting that the banks were in trouble. Or have we all forgotten that now?

Humphrys (and I listen to him daily) savages anyone of any political persuasion and has a talent for finding the one thing that really makes them squirm. (And boy does the 'Red Ed' tag make EM squirm) This week Labour's conference and leadership vote mean the BBC is being avalanched with press-releases and devoting a disproportionate amount of time to the whole thing. Humphrys redresses the love-fest nicely... more power to his little welsh elbows.

SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:26

oh and it wsa the global economic recession which caused the economic meltdown not public spending by the labour party (unless you're talking about the piblic spending they had to do to bail the bnks out which was a symptom of the meltdown rather than the cause.)

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scaryteacher · 28/09/2010 14:29

Well, I've listened to James Naughtie and John Humphries doing so for years on the Today programme, and not altogether politely either. The left wing bias of the BBC is fairly evident imo.

I can't say I'd want to live in Cuba, and I wouldn't hold it up as an example of a socialist society working. I wouldn't have wanted to live in Soviet Russia either (socialism in practice Comrades), as it struck me as hypocritical. It seemed to work on the some are more equal than others principle. At least the right (and the capitalists) are more honest about it.

smallwhitecat · 28/09/2010 14:29

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BeenBeta · 28/09/2010 14:30

Sorry but the two phrases 'pubic sector broadcaster' and 'ridiculing left wing ecoomic ideas' just do not belong in the same sentence.

The constant public sector media campaign againt public sector cuts and the Coalition is relentless.

SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:31

Chil123 id the beeb is really too left wing i truly shudder to imagine a world without it. It's not the fact that they ask if he will steer the party to the left which bothers me, it's the constant implication that this would be a bad thing!

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Chil1234 · 28/09/2010 14:31

You're changing the subject now... Economic meltdown yes, caused by banking crisis and global recession. But governments are responsible for looking ahead, anticipating downturns and developing economies robust enough to combat them. Not promising 'an end to boom and bust' & 'prudence', selling the silver, taxing us to the hilt and then blowing the cash on nothing much at all.

scaryteacher · 28/09/2010 14:32

SBR - it is blatantly obvious that Labour overspent and in an attempt to create a client base of voters. They were doing it well before any global economic crisis came into sight, as GB announced his end to boom and bust.

smallwhitecat · 28/09/2010 14:32

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SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:33

beenbeta - please link me to examples of the campaign you refer to - i'll gladly join in!

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SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:34

where the heck are all the MN lefties when i need em? i know you exist! somewhere...

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Chil1234 · 28/09/2010 14:35

'the constant implication that this would be a bad thing'.... is what his own party are saying. Nick Robinson and other political journos have been briefed like crazy for months by the David M team on why an Ed M led labour party moving left would be a political disaster. Can't suddenly switch horses in midstream.

SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:37

swc - no! i don't want it to be biased either way. Just give me facts and i'll make me own mind up

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smallwhitecat · 28/09/2010 14:43

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SweetBeadieRussell · 28/09/2010 14:47

chil - yes it might well make labour unelectable but i just don't agree that means going to the left would be bad in itself. I'd rather our leaders were aiming towards social justice and equality for all, even if it made them unelectable because i believe just principles are valuable for their own sake and that it's up to those of us who hold them to stick to our guns and try to convince others rather than watering everything down to make it palatable to big business floating voters

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