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Bill Clinton's remark 'the economy stupid' reverberates all the time. People in every land and clime cannot escape that stark fact! Questions about the economy and especially about how families make ends meet while the cost of living keeps going up, with oil and energy prices sky-rocketing, are pertinent issues. Issues need to be aired and advice given succinctly by qualified experts.The questionnaire helps in gauging people's fears and hopes in an uncertain world where politicians seem out of their depth or unable to find pragmatic solutions! Living in hope is one thing but being governed through incompetence is another!

The Parliamentary committee looking at Carers recently recommended more financial help for Carers. Last Autumn Gordon Brown and NHS minister Ivor Lewis instigated a high profile CONSULTATION with meetings around the country, television and radio interviews praising Carers for their contribution and saving the country £87 billion a year. Brown said Carers deserved more and better recognition. Then of course he didn't have an election and didn't care about the votes so when the results of the Consultation were made in June this year guess what Carers got ? NOTHING NEW.
When I queried this with the NHS they said it was no longer anything to do with them as the DWP were in charge. The new Green paper from the DWP now recommends that Carers Allowance be ABOLISHED and that Carers be placed on Job Seekers Allowance. So far from recognising the worth of Carers this government wants to now destroy CARING as a benefit role thereby destroying the morale of millions of Carers around the country who struggle day and night with severely disabled loved ones. It shows once and for all the shameless betrayal of Carers by an uncaring government.

It's OK about you admitting your survey was unscientific and self-selecting; It's not like other polls are more valid - I mean how unbiased can you get, as a "professional" polling organisation by putting your surveyors in a shopping centre on a weekday afternoon ? Great if you want specific demographics (mother with young kids and the unemployed), but not very unbiased...

I think it's appauling that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is now featuring news feeds about Big Brother on its website. I have always valued the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ as being able to produce impartial, accurate and unsensualised news, and the thought that it is held in high regard across the world is an asset to our nation.

Has our culture really reached the depths of sensationalism and voyeurism that it has stooped to the lowest common denominator of covering Big Brother headlines. If so, it is a poor reflection on our society. I am ashamed of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ that it is reinforcing this belief.

There is far too much SCAREMONGERING in the media which only serve to compound the further problems.

So called "experts" , surveys, reports and Great British Media all together promoting DOOM and GLOOM and talking us into recession....!

Would be possible to find out how much faith people really have in surveys carried out by the media? Perhaps the opinions of my circle of friends and acquaintances are unusual. They are, however, very similar and to the effect that most of present day media is self-serving and very unreliable.
Would you do something really useful? Publish a list of the owners of the various sections of the media with details of their political affiliations?




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When the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ puts quality ahead of quantity and style then it may recover some of the trust it has lost. Unfortunately, these days, it spends a lot of time carrying out surveys that have built in filters - text messages, online, telephone etc etc.

When the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ stops trying to be all things to all people it may restore its ability to carry pure unadulterated news - factual, concise, and clearly labelled as news and not presenter or producer opine.

Since the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ chooses to emulate the worse excesses of the tabloid breed of media outlets it can no longer claim to be a news outlet people can trust.

i have just been listening to the news, and have heard that the goverment are thinking about making an all black school, how are children going to learn to mix with other races, the country is going crazy, this will encourage more racism and more fights, between schools etc; i do not think this is a good idea at all.

i'm so surprised.....what bbc news that s update toofast...
andthe informatio not mootone.....
how about information in jaya pura (indonesia)
i never see it in this site

come to my blog

Quite simply put - the Gestalt is missing from todays media. Previously, informed, educated and experienced paople were employed to research and report on stories, but nowadays 'tweedom' reigns.
Instead of reporting, mindless banter and over-sensationalising of items are the norm.
When looking at the macro overview of globalisation, who with half a brain didn't realise that invading Iraq would have a two-fold effect upon oil production. The instability of the last 5 years has caused problems with production and with confidence in the futures of oil. Additionally, the rhetoric of Western leaders towards the OPEC countries has led to a stubborn view by the producers. The Saudi government allowed Western troops to use their country to invade Iraq, causing some anger at home, especially amongst the more radical Islamists. How does George Dubya thank the Saudi Royal Family - he announces that the Saudi and UAE governments are monarchies and un-democratic, and should be replaced. (Likewise, President Musharaf in Pakistan, who has now gone and the fundamentalists from the Western regions are gaining strength). The oil price could have been kept much lower, if these countries had been inclined to greatly increase availability of their reserves, but why help such ungrateful countries?
Western banks have been lending hand-over-fist in both the UK and USA. The sub-prime market required continued and sustained growth, or would easily collapse like a house of cards. Likewise, unsecured credit card debts and loans were being offered to all and sundry, in a shortsighted feeding frenzy. Both these markets were unsustainable and fragile. The downturn due to oil inflation led to a very predictable collapse.
The full effect of the Enron/Anderson affair has still not been exposed. Hidden amongst the stock market crashes globally are the true figures of how many companies were falsely and artificially overpriced. Does anyone really believe that a company like Anderson would falsify accunts for one company, and not do the same for other big clients?
None of this is new, and simply looking at the overview and the markets as a Gestalt, show that the current events were inevitable once the steps mentioned above were taken - the results were predicatable and unavoidable.
Where were the investigative reporters then?
Since the events have unravelled, the media has reported that the UK had too much financial debt, that banks were stupid (none moreso than the board of Northern Rock), the FSA was pathetic and toothless. 20 years ago the media would have been reporting this in advance, and warning people whilst making governments have to act. Nowadays, they report after the fact.
A fine example of this stupidity in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ was the coverage of a little rain in New Orleans. 3 days of daily reporting from that beautiful city (still recovering from the last fllods) until the storm missed it by miles. Meanwhile, (and for the benefit of non-UK readers of this blog) heavy rain hit England with very little advanced reporting. 5 people dead, Morpeth under water, and still the news only tell us that 80 fllod warnings are in place. If you want to know where - phone a local charged (unlike the US, local calls are not free in the UK) phone number to find out. Surely the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ should be telling us this information!

#11.

It is absolutely correct to look at the economic policies of the US and the UK in the past decade and wonder how serious economic commentators could seriously believe that growth would continue unabated. It is also absolutely correct to note that at the time of the collapse of Enron there were at least a dozen other top US companies suspected of over-valuation. Was the sub-prime fiasco a "hedge" against this?

And, with our wholesale dependency on gas and oil, it seems incongruous that we should sell North Sea oil to Europe only to buy it back at heavily inflated prices. This is a rich area of investigative reporting particularly the recent actions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia over an oil pipe that the US regard as their symbol of independence from Russia. Just what are the politics of the relationships between the US and the former Soviet Union states?

Just how much of the UK Government's refusal to hold a referendum on the EU constitution relied on diktat from NATO?

It has always been accepted that there are high levels of corruption in "new" high growth economies. Are "old" high growth economies any different?

Well - how can restrictions on liquids being taken onto planes be relaxed now that the 6pm ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ news has shown us ALL how to make a bomb in a bottle. Well done ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. How stupid can you get.

Can anyone explain why when oil has fallen 30%, fuel priceshave remained almost unchanged

ISRAEL IS GOING TO LISTEN, WHEN I SPEAK. HERE ME O PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. ISRAEL WILL, BEGIN TO MAKE PEACE WITH THE ARAB WORLD. ISRAEL SHALL, EXTEND AN OLIVE BRANCH TO ALL THE ARAB COUNTRIES. ISRAEL MUST, BECOME THE HUMBLE MEDIATOR FOR THE SAKE OF ALL MANKIND. ISRAEL SHOULD, MAKE PEACE WITH THE PALISTINIAN PEOPLE AND GIVE THEM "RESERVE STATUS" LIKE CANADIAN INDIANS. Godspeed Swift [Personal details removed by Moderator]

When the German armies invaded Russia ,and got bogged down in a a Russian winter, a national scheme was organised to collect warm clothing for the soldiers.
Should we, in the UK, do the same thing for our own elderly, now that fuel is so expensive, so that they do not freeze in the coming winter?
If so, we should take action before bodies start arriving at Casualty.