LATE on Saturday, a gunman tried to assassinate Donald Trump, setting off a stopwatch and a question in my own head.
How long before the BBC subtly tries to shift responsibility from the shooter to Trump himself?
You may have been up earlier, but it was 6.09am when BBC Breakfast’s Gary O’Donoghue said: “Let’s be clear here . . . ” — one of those phrases politicians use when they’re about to muddy the waters irretrievably — “ . . . no one deserves to be shot.”
I sensed a “but” coming, in the same way it always comes when someone says: “I believe in a free Press . . . but every tabloid that disagrees with me should be shut down.”
“No one deserves to be shot. But will this be the moment Trump’s kind of rhetoric is put aside in the interest of keeping the country together or will it be something that’s used to prosecute an election campaign to a successful conclusion?”
Like many skewed reports, there is a cold-hearted element of truth to what he’s saying, of course.
But to recognise the extraordinary double standards at play here you have to try to imagine some psychopath taking a pot-shot at Jeremy Corbyn, a long-time terrorist sympathiser, and the BBC immediately ordering him to dial down the pro- Palestinian rhetoric and stop looking for the sympathy vote.
You can’t, because it wouldn’t happen.
The BBC is governed by double standards, though, that don’t just apply to individual politicians, they apply to whole countries, as O’Donoghue, who’s actually the BBC’s North America correspondent, demonstrated on Sunday morning.
“Here we are in the 21st Century,” said Gary, failing to disguise his sneer, “And America is still dealing with political violence at the same time as claiming it is the most exceptional country on Earth.”
With the obvious exception of Israel, if any other foreign correspondent spoke with such lazy, prejudiced contempt for their hosts, the BBC would probably sack them before they could be horse-whipped by angry locals in the main square.
But Gary O’Donoghue is no outlier here.
The BBC speaks with this same anti-American, anti-Trump voice across the board.
No other view is really tolerated, to such an extent that Laura Kuenssberg was almost answering her own questions about political violence during her show.
“Who do you think is responsible for creating the current political climate in America, and what do you think is Donald Trump’s responsibility?”
As well as this “he was asking for it” tone, there was also an undercurrent to the BBC’s coverage throughout the day.
A look of concern that wasn’t driven by basic human compassion for any of the shooting victims but by the dawning realisation there were electoral consequences to the assassination attempt and the pictures that began emerging.
Sometimes it was stifled, but it came bursting on to the screen when BBC News host Maryam Moshiri told one guest: “Apparently, he emerged streaked with blood, pumped his fist in the air and mouthed the words ‘fight, fight, fight’. The question is, what is he fighting for and is he now escalating the rhetoric.”
He’s just been shot, for pity’s sake. What the hell do you expect him to shout? “Oggy Oggy Oggy?”
None of which, I trust, leaves you assuming I’m a Trump supporter.
I’m most certainly not.
I instinctively dislike and distrust all politicians.
As a licence fee payer, though, I am a nostalgic fan of the old BBC neutrality concept.
A brilliant idea that has turned into a sick joke.
’Cos you can tell, just by their demeanour, the BBC hated Brexit, loved Keir Starmer’s victory and now know the shooting means that, the morning after America’s election, on November 5, the whole network will enter another four-year student sulk.
If the BBC and other like- minded networks, who play into his “fake news” agenda, want to find the guilty parties, though, they needn’t point their fingers at Trump and the voters.
They should just plonk a mirror on their newsdesk and the stupid, smug, hypocritical answer will be staring them in the face.
THE eternal search for a single redeeming human being continues on Love Island.
A task that’s every bit as futile as the next rainbow chase, I realise.
But if this mythical beast ever does appear, it certainly won’t be in the form of Joey Essex.
He has revealed himself to be a sly, short-tempered, pot-stirring opportunist with a nasty passive-aggressive manner and an astonishingly high opinion of himself which means he’s incapable of seeing any fault beyond the possibility: “I’m probably too honest for my own good.”
ITV will, of course, be thrilled that these flaws have put him front and centre during many of the arguments on Love Island, but it’s come at the expense of entertainment and his own reputation for endearing stupidity, which has reared its head only once, during this conversation with Harriett.
“My dad’s got his own glazing business.”
“Wassat, like cakes?”
The rest of his time in the villa?
I think we should probably just glaze over.
THE Chase, Bradley Walsh: “Which band headlined the 1969 concert The Stones In The Park?”
Anna: “Queen.”
The Finish Line, Roman Kemp: “In the film The Wizard Of Oz, which character wants a brain?”
Virren: “Pinocchio.”
Roman Kemp: “Odor Eaters products are designed for which parts of the body?”
Emma: “Armpits.”
And Roman Kemp: “Poke is a raw fish dish originally from which US state?”
Nicky: “Japan.”
THIS week’s winner is Ireland’s women’s football team manager Eileen Gleeson, as seen on ITV, Friday night and Patrick Kielty.
Sent in by Terence Slade, of Brighton.
BBC2’s brilliant and fascinating documentary Daley: Olympic Superstar exploring all sides of Britain’s greatest-ever track and field star.
Sky Atlantic repeating Chernobyl, arguably the greatest drama ever made.
Bill Maher’s “Bye bye Biden” routine on Real Time (Sky Comedy).
And Simon Cowell imagining he was off-air when he muttered: “I bet he’s on Spanish TV right now” a minute after veteran BS merchant Uri Geller had made his latest “water-tight” psychic prediction on Friday’s This Morning: “There is no slight feeling with me, I’m a totally positive thinker. We have to win. England will win.”
Keep it up, Uri.
MICAH RICHARDS: “I’m running out of superbatives.”
Ian Wright: “England got a bit of unluck there.”
Andros Townsend: “Hold-up play means holding the ball up before playing it.”
Thanks, Andros.
(Compiled by Graham Wray)
SEANN WALSH introducing a “no laughing” rule on Battle In The Box, which is a bit like Michael Gove demanding groupies are banned from Question Time.
A grovelling Gary Neville appearing to be on heat while interviewing Keir Starmer before the Euros final.
The BBC’s Wimbledon team all saying “Carlos Alcarathhhh,” as if they were from downtown Valencia.
And the words used by the offending network to accompany its Saturday screening of the 1966 World Cup final: “As never seen before.”
Gaslighting Channel 4 bs.
WHAT’S Dave’s new celebrity-based game show Battle In The Box, with Jimmy Carr like?
Well, after an episode and a half stuck inside a confined space, Joe Swash developed severe food poisoning and sounded like he was blasting the toilet with the sort of force that could cut diamonds in two when a visibly-repulsed Seann Walsh said the smell was: “Like being punched in the face by s***.”
So let’s just go with that, shall we
GREAT TV lies and delusions of the summer.
Good Morning Britain, Darren Lewis: “Gareth Southgate has made England enjoyable to watch again.”
ITV2 continuity: “Isn’t this the most amazing series of Love Island?”
And Saturday Kitchen, Sarah Keyworth: “I wrote a radio show called Are You A Boy Or A Girl? about my gender experience and it’s really funny.”
Bet it’s not.
IN terms of Wimbledon innuendo, I thought Nick Kyrgios’s claim that “Cam Norrie’s like Lleyton Hewitt – he will come in your box” was more than matched by Anne Keothavong’s suggestion “Elina Svitolina needs a good fist pump to get her going”.
Thereby ending scurrilous suggestions I don’t give women’s sport equal billing
QVC, Wednesday: Dannii Minogue Up To 60% Off.
90% and we’ll talk.
