Political Thoughts - the magazine

Social media is decried as the denizen of fake news and slander.  How did social media happen and does it have a problem? Twitter was founded in March 2006.  Amongst its first users were large media chains.  The BBC News was one of the first to publicise Twitter, joining in Jan 2007.  The joining dates of other big media were CNN Feb 2007, New York Times March 2007, NBC News March 2008, Daily Express Dec 2008, ITV News Feb 2009, Guardian Nov 2009, Daily Mail Feb 2010.  These established media companies used Twitter to host their user groups and provided massive advertising free of charge for Twitter - "if you wish to comment on this program go to Twitter hash tag bbcqt" etc.  Yes, the BBC advertised a commercial corporation on every other programme and no questions were asked despite this being against its Charter. The Twitter user population exploded: There can be little doubt that the established media advertised the new media for free and create...

The decision on whether to extend the transition period must be made by 30th June.  Does it need extending? Barnier says that the biggest obstacle is that "the EU will not agree to any future partnership that does not include a balanced and long-term agreement on fisheries" ( Euractiv ).  If that was all then you might have imagined that a trade deal could be obtained by January 2021 so what is the problem? The problem goes deeper.  The UK wants to have a trade deal like Canada or South Korea.  A deal about trade.  The EU wants to bind the UK into a sort of EEA deal in return for free trade. The EU expects that the UK will commit to keeping EU standards on social and environmental policy, as well as state aid, in return for a free trade deal with zero tariffs and quotas.  In Barnier's latest Press Release he says that the UK must agree to the supremacy of the European Court of Justice on many matters and accuses the UK of holding up negotiations b...

During the Referendum campaign and the three years that followed many supporters of British Independence cursed the BBC News and found it to be biased.  The Remain campaign realised that this was a threat and made counter accusations to provide the BBC with apparent evidence that by offending both sides it was being impartial.  It is now clear that the BBC was biased against independence, not only have there been objective reports showing that the BBC was biased against leaving the EU but most damning of all there was the testimony of  John Humphrys, a Remain supporting, Remain voting, top journalist who exposed the truth that the BBC had made no effort to be fair . The BBC has lost the confidence of a large part of the population. YouGov poll The YouGov poll found that among those who voted to leave the European Union, only two in five (40%) say they trust the broadcaster, compared to 54% of remain voters. The BBC is supposed to operate according to a Charte...