News Round-Up
- “Multiple heads tipped to roll at BBC after Tim Davie quits in disgrace” – A senior BBC executive who defended the corporation’s decision to doctor a speech by Trump is under growing pressure to quit, reports GB News.
- “BBC facing ‘fundamental’ overhaul of licence fee” – The BBC faces a battle over the TV licence fee within weeks as ministers launch a “fundamental” review of the corporation, according to the Telegraph.
- “Is this the man who can save the BBC?” – If the BBC wants to secure its future and regain trust, it should make Trevor Phillips Director-General, says Stephen Pollard in the Spectator.
- “It’s delusional to think criticism of the BBC is a Right-wing plot” – Wrapped in a cloak of virtue, top BBC executives have made clear that they feel they have nothing to be ashamed of, writes Janet Daley in the Telegraph.
- “Is Nick Robinson’s furious blame-shifting a confession of guilt?” – In the Telegraph, Charles Moore makes the point that it isn’t a plot by Right-wing free marketers that has plunged the BBC into crisis, but it’s own egregious errors.
- “No, Nick Robinson, this is not a matter of Right and Left. It is right and wrong” – Blaming the Telegraph is a cheap cop-out by those who wish to make this a political argument. It isn’t, says Alan Cochrane in the Telegraph.
- “Former Sun editor defending BBC is behind tabloid’s most toxic stories” – The former Sun editor who claims Tim Davie was the victim of a Right-wing coup by “a cabal of toxic plotters” presided over some of the tabloid’s most toxic stories, reveals the Telegraph.
- “The future of the BBC is now in doubt” – The BBC scandal is as embarrassing – and enjoyable – as the discovery that a puritanical pastor is an alcoholic gambler with a Catholic mistress, writes Tim Stanley in the Telegraph.
- “10,000 small boat migrants since Shabana Mahmood became Home Secretary” – More than 10,000 small boat migrants have reached Britain since Shabana Mahmood became Home Secretary, after 2,000 crossings in just four days, reports the Mail.
- “Second migrant deported to France under ‘one in, one out’ deal returns to UK on small boat” – A second migrant who was deported to France under the ‘one in, one out’ deal has returned to the UK on a small boat, says Sky News.
- “Anita Dobson says East London has become ‘unrecognisable’” – EastEnders legend Anita Dobson says the area of London where she grew up has become “unrecognisable in a shocking way” after she returned on a recent visit, according to the Mail.
- “Woman stabbed in Birmingham near Bullring shopping centre dies” – Katie Fox, 34, who was stabbed in the neck in an unprovoked attack at a bus stop in Birmingham by a 21 year-old man called Djeison Rafael, has died, reports the BBC.
- “Reeves warned Labour faces meltdown if she breaks manifesto tax vows” – Rachel Reeves is facing a mounting revolt amid warnings that breaking promises on tax would trigger disaster for Labour, says the Mail.
- “Diversity has to be more than a mere pose” – This is a government that places the symbolism of representing something ahead of actually doing anything, writes Trevor Phillips in the Times.
- “The Green Party wants more illegal migrants, just not in their constituencies” – We shouldn’t expect straight talking from a party that indulges in endless virtue signalling, says Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
- “NHS needs more managers, says think tank” – The King’s Fund says that front-line staff are spending too much time on admin rather than caring for patients, according to LBC.
- “Reform’s masterplan to unseat the SNP” – Nigel Farage sees immigration and oil industry struggles as key issues for Scots, not independence, writes Jacob Freedland in the Telegraph.
- “The Government bribed us to drive electric. Now it’s punishing us for complying” – Successive governments’ pushing of electric cars has been too successful, so now owners are being punished, says Dia Chakravarty in the Telegraph.
- “Packham uses Remembrance Sunday to call for ‘war’ on climate change” – Chris Packham has called for world war-style action against the climate crisis on Remembrance Sunday, reports the Telegraph.
- “Climate change is coming for some of our favourite vices” – Top grape, coffee and chocolate growing regions in western Europe, South America and West Africa are under threat from climate change, according to the Independent.
- “Climate apocalypse is science fiction” – On the Briefings For Britain blog, Dr Craig Walton argues that claims of climate catastrophe are wildly exaggerated.
- “The demise of Ian McEwan” – There has perhaps always been a centrist dad lurking inside Ian McEwan, writes Hugo Timms in Spiked. His latest novel – set in a future ravaged by climate change – confirms he is now firmly out and proud.
- “No jail for man who lied to get social welfare” – A man who gained €145,744.05 after claiming social welfare using a false name and identity has avoided jail in Ireland, says Gript.
- “Former French President will leave prison later today” – Ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived home after being freed from prison following an appeal court hearing, reports the Mail.
- “Spain has ‘lost control’ in narco war, union claims as officer is shot” – Spain’s largest police union claims the country has lost control in its war against drug traffickers after an officer was seriously injured in a gun battle with narcos in Sevilla, according to the Mail.
- “How a German domestic spy agency classified a random man as a ‘potential Right-wing extremist’ for no reason and nearly ruined his life” – On Substack, Eugyppius exposes how a German professor was branded a “potential extremist” after staying one night at a friend’s house.
- “Sky News invents a Christian crisis” – On Substack, Laura Dodsworth explores Sky’s moral panic, the Church of England’s political drift and why Catholics and Evangelicals are filling the pews.
- “Meet the Remainer lawyer trying to dismantle British sports’ transgender ban” – The Good Law Project, founded by Jolyon Maugham, is suing the ECB on behalf of a trans cricketer in a potentially landmark case for British sport, reports Ben Rumsby in the Telegraph.
- “They clearly don’t accept there is a problem of political bias at the heart of the BBC’s news coverage” – On Talk with Julia Hartley-Brewer, Toby welcomes the “good news” about BBC bosses Tim Davie and Deborah Turness resigning.
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https://civilservant.org.uk/csr_detail-note25.html ‘I’ve never thought…..was the right person to run the civil service. He doesn’t have sufficient experience and the problem with Whitehall is that it operates too much like a court, and….is about the most extreme example of a courtier you can find.” Another senior official, referencing ‘partygate’, said of….: “There is a view that the person at the top isn’t going to fight for what’s right and that is a potentially fatal reputational blow.” The name of the senior official has been removed because the above statements could almost certainly have been made of every head of the civil service of the last thirty years or so. The problem: ‘Heads of Departments’ average years as Permanent Secretary fell from 8.5 in 2019 to 4.2 in 2023.’ ‘…it’s a culture that’s manifested in a structure which prioritises departmental autonomy, essentially. That your loyalty, and I used to say this when I was in government, is primarily to your department. Secondly, but quite a long way second, to the government of the day.’ ‘The prizing of ‘clever’ policy brains above operational expertise, combined with Whitehall’s siloed structure means that securing the buy-in and action of Permanent Secretaries is almost impossible’ ‘It’s extraordinary how… Read more »
https://www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/blog/whitehall-reform/
‘Why is Whitehall so hard to reform?….. the Victorian departmental silo model being complemented by a lattice of cross-departmental experts with which most in the commercial sector will be familiar’.
Yes….’matrix management’ is just a silly way of avoiding major structural reform and delegation. If you need ‘matrix management’ then, de facto, your existing management structure is not working and must be changed…and then you won’t need ‘matrix management’.
Disadvantages of matrix organizational structure:
Confusion surrounding roles and responsibilities
More expensive
Managers can have conflicting objectives
Managers may have different management styles
Priorities are difficult to establish
Decisions must go through multiple people before being approved
Tack that lot onto the existing problems of embattled silos and you get what Britain now has in Whitehall:
Dysfunctional inertia
‘As the conversation moves on to solutions to Whitehall’s imperviousness to reform, meaningful engagement with ‘outsiders’ would sharpen understanding about the relationship between efficiency and public service outcomes. They are, after all, the people the Whitehall machine should serve.’
Systemic Reform is required
https://re-state.co.uk/rethink/open-letter-from-10-former-health-and-care-ministers/ The problem: Open letter from 10 former health and care ministers ‘We are deeply concerned by the lack of meaningful debate about the future of the health system. At its creation, the National Health Service was visionary. Three quarters of a century later, facing unprecedented pressures, it is ill-equipped to cope with the dramatically different health needs of today’s population. A Service largely built to provide episodic care is now heavily dominated by treatment of chronic conditions and multi-morbidity. Healthcare is accounting for an ever-growing share of public spending, yet on many indicators the health of the population is deteriorating. This is broadly true of all high-income health systems. Our hospital-centric model is no longer fit for purpose. Yet despite successive plans and strategies committing to shift focus and expenditure towards prevention and community-based care, little real progress has been made. In fact, NHS spending on hospitals as a share of health spending has been increasing since 2015. An urgent rethink is needed.’ The solution: ‘Recommendation 1: The Government should commit to phasing out NHS England as quickly as possible. The Department of Health and Social Care should take on NHS England’s remaining specialised commissioning functions, as well as… Read more »
This 11th November remember that there are principles that are worth going to war to defend.
Furthermore, the principles of the justice of war are commonly held to be:
‘Having just cause, being a last resort, being declared by a proper authority, possessing right intention, having a reasonable chance of success, and the end being proportional to the means used……Possessing just cause is the first and arguably the most important condition of jus ad bellum. Most theorists hold that initiating acts of aggression is unjust and gives a group a just cause to defend itself…..Self-defence against physical aggression, therefore, is putatively the only sufficient reason for just cause.
Nonetheless, the principle of self-defence can be extrapolated to anticipate probable acts of aggression, as well as in assisting others against an oppressive government or from another external threat.
It is commonly held that aggressive war is only permissible if its purpose is to retaliate against a wrong already committed (for example, to pursue and punish an aggressor), or to pre-empt an anticipated attack.’
https://iep.utm.edu/justwar/#H5
Many thanks for the link to the IEP site.
War being justified by being declared by a proper authority seems extremely ambiguous and susceptible to historical revision. The winners of a civil war are able to declare it to have been a ‘just’ war because they have won and are now a proper authority. Similarly Starmer declaring Palestine to be a ‘State’ is tantamount to giving it’s current leaders retrospective authority to declare war. Again similarly, Putin declares that Ukraine has always been part of Russia and that therefore the ‘civil war’ against his armies is not justified.
“Climate change is coming for some of our favourite vices” Ask some English vineyards, and I think you’ll get a different story this year. The weather has been, and almost nil frost yet, could lead to some top of the range output later on.
The BBC must now be defunded! No resignations or apologies can change this fact, the BBC have lost the right to public money
All BBC staff can be allowed to stay in their posts for all i care, just stop them being paid from the public purse, make them earn their wages like the rest of us!
No disrespect to Toby but it would be better to link to Rod Liddle on SpectatorTV about the BBC: ‘They’re utterly deluded’ – Rod Liddle on the BBC’s bias row
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpkHy7evKxE
“Reeves warned Labour faces meltdown if she breaks manifesto tax vows”
She’s exploiting rumour. Make it sound even more extreme than it actually will be – then be acclaimed as a hero when it’s not quite as bad.
May I add this to today’s Round-Up, in honour of Remembrance Day: Minister refuses to say if IRA terrorists will join Labour’s Troubles commission No More Lawfare Against Op Banner Veterans Now the interesting thing about this new minister for Veterans, Louise Sandher-Jones, is that she was suddenly catapulted from obscurity as an MP serving for only a year, to a Labour government ministerial post in charge of military veterans, though she explained that her military service in Afghanistan involved going round the capital city for meetings, and writing reports. And pretty young blonde Louise Jones was catapulted into this minister’s post only a couple of weeks after proving her Leftist credentials by marrying a Sikh MP Jeevun Sandher in a lavish Sikh wedding ceremony, both dressed in beautiful traditional Sikh wedding costumes. The interesting thing about him is that he was one of Kim Leadbeater’s co-sponsors of the Assisted Suicide Bill, for which both he and his new bride Louise voted in Parliament. The snag is that ASSISTED SUICIDE IS BANNED AMONG SIKHS, so neither he nor his new ?Sikh-convert bride will be topping themselves anytime soon. But he, like many other Third World Ethnics who are NEVER so… Read more »
And here’s another important news item to add in honour of Remembrance Day today:
Unprecedented: Generals Warns ‘Lawfare’ Undermining British Military
“Nine recently-retired generals, including heads of the British military and top NATO commanders have made an extraordinary intervention against the government undermining national security with human rights law.”
“Former French President will leave prison later today”
Sent to prison with great fanfare for five years for corruption, he was quietly released after only THREE WEEKS.
Poor Lucy Connolly had no such luck.
“Diversity has to be more than a mere pose” says Ethnic African Trevor Phillips
Yes, just what the beleaguered Indigenous Britons need: an Ethnic African keen on “Diversity Action” to make the BBC even more woke.
“10,000 small boat migrants since Shabana Mahmood became Home Secretary”
But not to worry! The devout Pakistani Muslim woman has already deported TWO of them…who came right back again on a different dinghy.
“Second migrant deported to France under ‘one in, one out’ deal returns to UK on small boat”
So it’s “10,000 in, two out, and those two back in again”.
If Britain were run by a good businessman, she would have been sacked long ago.