French Round-Up

Some debate was occasioned at B-BBC by this article from Hugh Schofield. Biased or not, was the question. Francis at the Olive Tree thought it quite good, though demonstrating trademark bias. I think that's close to the mark- what could be more a BBC trademark than saying, for instance, by way of an introduction, that Sarkozy

'normally thrives on the kind of acute law-and-order crisis that the country is currently going through.'

What kind of a ghoul do the BBC think he is? What kind of starting point is it for any sort of impartial and insightful reporting? Answer: no kind, and therefore like so many BBC forays into the real world it's scuppered before launch.

Such things aside, I suppose the analysis that Vilepin and Chirac are manoeuvering to edge Sarkozy into the line of fire is about right- but blindingly obvious to any that has even seen these three men's faces on the TV or internet.

But in any case it could be much more serious than business as usual emanating from the continent's cultural centre. Mark Steyn thinks so. And Helen Samuelzy at the ever informative and stimulating EU Referendum blog, talks a bit about the rottenness that appears to have ignited in the state of Denmark- but only a bit, because the main point is that we're kept in ignorance of it.

This kind of thing illustrates what I mean when I say (as, like a broken record I do say) that the British media, amongst which the BBC is preeminent and draws upon itself maximal responsibility, has utterly failed to carry out its function to inform us about the news that matters to us. That is the great fault which lies in the largely ignorant and visceral coverage of matters American. It's as if the BBC hasn't noticed that Europe is really far more important to us, with regards to social trends and economic and demographic pressures. The US couldn't, wouldn't and shouldn't save us from the consequences of our own fatuity. So busy have the British media (amongst which the BBC claims top dog status) always been in saying how important Europe is to us- in order to defend the grande projet of the EU- they have failed to pick up on the fault lines which run through the EU, which threaten us: namely, corruption, massive immigration, demographic decline and spiritual vacuity (to name but four: I could add assimilation of Eastern Europe, reduction of agricultural subsidy and deindustrialisation to the list of Europes's massive problems).