Mark Thompson is a twat, The BBC , lack of Trust and the triumphs of Strictly Come Dancing

The Trouble With Trust: Building Confidence In Institutions by Mark Thompson, DG of the BBC. Speech given at QEII Centre, London Tuesday 15 January 2008.

Is a tiresome piece of corporate self serving bullshit , only worth reading to confirm one's first (and lasting impression) about this lickspittle accountant and Gubment apparatchik . He kicked off by quoting Comrade Blair's "feral beast" speech to Reuters last year , as he exited with his carpet bag to keep the Zionistas happy in Tel Aviv (who evidently don't give a fuck about public trust, local or global) ..

"... this relationship between public life and media is now damaged in a manner
that requires repair. The damage saps the country's confidence and self-belief;
it undermines its assessment of itself, its institutions; and above all, it
reduces our capacity to take the right decisions, in the right spirit for our
future."

The audience in his echo chamber composed of metropolitan muttering classes were bombarded with charts, slides and powerpoint wizardry (apparently) ..but everything is OK now ..

"Surveys definitely suggested falling public confidence in phone voting, yet the
actual numbers of people voting – at least on BBC programmes like Strictly Come
Dancing – went up, not down."

So that's alright then. Thank Christ..democracy is safe in their hands.

He concluded .."Public trust is the life-blood of the BBC." and in the way they can of course orchestrate public views (see the current beautifully directed Newsnight / Today / WATO / PM syndicalised and syndicated drumbeat on Radicalising the young brown skinned, Koran waving, internet groomed , terrist, suicidal jihadist fundamentalist sons and daughters of chip shop proprietors ) the DG was on "Feedback" today just after WATO.. and Mark Thompson was batting off the softballs lobbed by Roger Bolton " ...this is all about giving the public the information , the facts and the arguments so they can make their own minds up.." (20.40 secs into recording available here (only available for 7 days replay)

Well consider this information ...

The Guided Bomb Unit-24 (GBU-24) Paveway III Low Level Laser Guided Bomb [LLLGB] consists of 2,000-pound of lethal High Explosive , in the typical MK-84 general purpose bomb, US $55,600 a pop. The operator (pilot) illuminates a target with a laser designator and then the munition guides to a spot of laser energy reflected from the target. One way to deliver LGBs from low altitude is a loft attack. In this maneouvre, the aircraft is pulled up sharply at a predetermined point some miles from the target and the LGB is lofted upward and toward the target. Get it wrong and the bomb will impact well short of the target. This can be dropped from Harriers and Tornado GR4's and other now antique RAF hardware and the Typhoon / Eurofighter (19 years in development at a cost that makes Northern Wreck look reasonable) dropped it's first into the Irish Sea recently , althoughn it neded another plane to illuminate the target (We'll ignore the BL755 CLUSTER BOMB with 147 bomblets that they can also carry and drop).



These two photographs show the general configuration and one with artificers gives a better idea of the size ...these are big muthas .. 2 tons all up.




Now the Royal Air Force are dropping these bombs on Iraq and Afghanistan every day ... and have been for years ... have the BBC provided you ...er .. " information , the facts ..." or even "the arguments " for dropping them?

Go and have a look at the daily bulletins of the Coalition bombing from the air on civilians for the last 4 years which Bomber Harris and the embryonic perfected in Iraq in the 20's and Hitler tried out first in Spain in the 30's

Here is the most recent (Jan 16th) of the daily airpower summaries for coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan

..."In total, coalition aircraft flew 65 close-air support missions for
Operation Iraqi Freedom - and Five Air Force and Royal Air Force intelligence
surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft flew missions as part of operations in
Afghanistan

" What happens on "close-air support missions" missions is rarely detailed ..on Jan 13th .."A Royal Air Force GR-7 Harrier performed a show of force to deter enemy activities in Musah Qal'eh. A JTAC confirmed the mission a success." In reading these reports for years, we haven't seen one described otherwise.

This relentless, endless daily listing of the massive firepower of the coalition forces, unchallenged either from the ground or the air does have it's comic elements. Only today there is a fine piece of military journalism ... entitled "Don't overlook airpower in joint counterinsurgency doctrine"

Field Manual 3-24 by the Army and Warfighting Publication 3-33.5 by the Marine
Corps, has been widely celebrated since its publication in December 2006 for
filling a gap in American military doctrine.

However, its relegation of
airpower to a five-page appendix does not fully recognize the important part air, space and cyberspace operations can play in neutralizing insurgencies, said
Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr., the Air Force deputy judge advocate general.etc.,

Apparently according to Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr., over 4 years into this illegal invasion of Iraq and "recosntruction" of Afghanistan the Coalition Air Forces aren't dropping enough bombs, shooting enough missiles and shooting up the terrists.

Now that's something else mark Thompsons BBC , dedicated to trust and "giving the public the information , the facts and the arguments so they can make their own minds up.. haven't told you. Yet.

As we finish this vile bile we are listening to BBC 4 "PM" .. Toni Fabuloso is inconsoleable to learn from the news headlines that Dawn French AKA Vera Duckworth of ITV's "Coronation Street" is killed off tonight.