Mark Prichard MP, The Pope Vs. BBC
In today's Mail;
'Blatant bias' in BBC's coveragea
A Catholic MP has accused the BBC of 'institutional Christianaphobia' over its coverage of the Pope's visit.
Mark Pritchard is urging Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to give the corporation's director general Mark Thompson a dressing-down for its news stories on Catholicism and Pope Benedict XVI.
The Tory, who is vice chairman of the parliamentary group for the Holy See, said the BBC had displayed a form of 'blatant, anti-Christian bias'.
He said he was fed up with wall-to-wall reports of the how the church was supposedly in decline.
The BBC's main bulletins have also led with debates on the Vatican's response to child abuse and homosexuality.
The Tory MP for the Wrekin also questioned why there were no positive stories about the church.
'The Catholic Church is an imperfect institution but it is amazing the BBC has found nothing positive to say about a church whose key message is to love thy neighbour including feeding the poor and helping the homeless,' he said.
'The coverage of the church ahead of the Pope's visit so far shows yet more evidence of institutional Christianaphobia at the heart of the BBC.'
If we're talking about blatant how about the blatant mis-information and agenda driven hand ringing from the Wrekin MP. Apart from the arguments about a religious organisation masquerading as a sovereign nation so it can have State' visits, The BBC (and other outlets) are reporting this state visit more than than they would for just about any other, with the exception of perhaps a US President. If the Holy See is a State as they claim, then what other head of a State with of a population the size of the Vatican (900) would get a similar amount of coverage? None.
It is a FACT that the Pope is visiting. It is a FACT that some people are happy about it. It is a FACT that lots of people are not so happy about it. It is a FACT that they have sold fewer tickets than they expected (30,000 fewer in Glasgow for example). It is a FACT that there is ongoing controversy over child abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. It is a FACT that the Church is in decline.
This is how the media works Mark, I'm sure you know this (of course you do, you're playing the game too). The Good stuff is irrelevant when your beloved institution fails to act and in certain cases protects CHILD RAPISTS, not to mention it's medieval views on women and homosexuality.
The BBC are doing exactly what they should be doing, reporting the news. Not acting as a cheerleader for this deeply flawed organisation. A good friend works for the BBC and has told me over the past couple of months just how much effort (for effort also read cost) just to cover this blokes visit to Birmingham, in all his years at the Beeb he's never been so busy. They've even had a line fitted near the runway at Birmigham Airport so they can report when his 'Holiness' gets on his plane....it's unprecedented.
Midlands Today have been leading with positive Pope stories for weeks, about how to get tickets, who will be performing for him, etc. I'm sure he knows this but it doesn't fit Mark Pritchard's BBC bashing agenda. No doubt when the costs are announced in a few months time he'll have something to say about the wasteful spending within the BBC.
They've been raping Children, protecting those who have raped children, denouncing homosexuality, denying women equal rights, promoting the spread of HIV/AIDS and large families in some of the poorest areas in the world through their opposition to contraception and want to deny Women the right to an abortion in all cases
AND YOU WANT POSITIVE STORIES?
Once again Mark Pritchard MP has shown himself for what he is; an ill informed mouthpiece who really isn't fit for office.
Mark Pritchard MP is a disgrace to the Wrekin.
Labels: BBC, Catholic, Child Abuse, Church, Holy See, Homosexuality, Mark Pritchard, pope, Vatican
Don't count your chickens
With the exception of the BNP, all the parties contesting the general election in Telford & Wrekin, have been out putting up their posters.
But it seems that Mark thinks he has the election in the bag because whilst his counterpart in the Telford constituency, Tom Biggins, has literally plastered his constituency with posters, the only evidence of Mark Pritchard's campaign is a handful of posters around the Leegomery and Wellington area. And they're old posters at that, using the old Tory torch logo.
I think Marky boy is counting his chickens before they've hatched.
Labels: Mark Pritchard, Posters
Mark goes to college...
A source wrote on a local website recently with the following information;
Fact 1: TCAT (Telford College of Arts & Tech, Wellington) is opening a new unit on Friday devoted to health care.
Fact 2: Mark Pritchard and David Wright have been invited to be among the "honoured" guests.
Fact 3: Mark's PA phones TCAT and asks if the Shropshire Star is going to be there.A couple of days later, our source writes;
Sure enough Mark was at TCAT today, glad-handing all the staff who were there, announcing who he was and saying he had worked hard since he was elected five years ago to ensure sufficient funding for the college.
As one member of staff told me, "We've hardly ever seen him until the last few days!"Keep up the good
electioneering work Mark.
Labels: Education, electioneering, General Election, shropshire star
Labour targeting the Wrekin
It looks like Marky boy is going to have a fight on his hands come May 6th.
According to the BBC, Labour is going to be targeting the Wrekin constituency with a view to winning it back. As well as Labour ploughing resources into their campaign in the Wrekin, there is a UKIP candidate splitting the conservative (small "c") vote and who knows what fate will befall the Lib Dems who have thus far been a largely irrelevant political force in the borough?
We live in interesting times.
Labels: General Election, Labour
Practice what you preach Marky boy
Some MPs have signalled their intention to go on sympathy strike on budget day after being instructed by the PCS union not to cross their picket line outside Westminster Palace.
Jack McDonnell, the Labour Party Chairman, has emailed members of the PCS all-party parliamentary group informing them that there will be a picket line at Westminster and asking MPs not to cross "in solidarity" which
has got Mark Pritchard's back up ...
MPs should be servants of their constituents and not servants of militant unions. Any MP who fails to turn up for work should have their pay docked and the Speaker should be called upon to investigate.
Couldn't agree more Marky boy. As your
average attendance in Parliament is only 63.3%, I'm assuming that you will be refunding the taxpayer £23,769.12 (36.7% of
an MP's £64,766 salary)? Just make the cheque payable to Charlie Whelan and cut out the middle man, there's a good lad.
Update by Merk: I find his comments even more ironic given that if anyone emailed Mark last week they'd have received an Out of Office Reply back!
Labels: Jack McDonnell, PCS
Come fly with me ...
Marky boy has been in the news a fair bit these last few days.
Earlier this week it was for
getting slapped down by the Speaker of the House, John Bercow, for being a naughty boy in Parliament and then getting a further telling off for suggesting that Bercow was being prompted by a Labour Minister.
And hot off the press,
the Unite union has accused British Airways of "buying" MPs with free flights, singling out Mark Pritchard who they say has had £15k worth of free flights from them in the past few years and suggesting that might have something to do with him criticising BA staff in the House of Commons the other day.
The Unite Union is sponsoring 25% of all Labour candidates at the general election, including Mark's neighbour,
David Wright MP but I must stress that that doesn't mean those MPs or the Labour Party has been "bought" by the Unite Union because the unions are "democratic" so that makes it ok.
I wonder if MP
2 will be leading the
campaign to give Bercow his marching orders ...
Labels: British Airways, John Bercow, Unite Union
Africa
Last week was a busy week in Parliament for Mark with him asking questions on some vital matters to the people of Telford.
On Tuesday,
he asked the Foreign Secretary whether he was aware that some ships around the horn of Africa are turning off their automatic transponders in contravention of the international convention for the safety of life at the sea. Do these rules apply to the boating lake in Telford Town Park?
On Wednesday,
he highlighted the plight of girls in Sub-Saharan Africa not being able to afford school uniforms and therefore being deprived of an education. A noble cause but unless I'm very much mistaken, Telford is several thousand miles away from Sub-Saharan Africa.
On Thursday,
he asked if the Minister for Further Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs knew that TCAT was doing an excellent job but their funding was being cut next year. The Minister said he will look into the proposed funding cuts at TCAT to see if there is anything untoward.
Keep up the good work Mark.
Labels: Africa, Parliament
Long time no speak...
We're back, blogging on Mark's behalf.
Standby in..5...4...3...2...1...
