GB News Vaccine Hypocrisy

As I noted at the weekend, while Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”), had engaged the services of former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, who wanted to bang on ad infinitum, and indeed ad nauseam, about all those Scary Migrants™ arriving on the south coast in small boats, rather a lot of the channel’s potential audience wanted to hear anti-vaccine propaganda.

And so it came to pass that the wacko fringe was thrown a little red meat by the channel’s array of variously untalented hosts, with this example from yesterday: “‘To all of you who applaud these vaccines passports [sic], ask yourself ‘what next,’ and when will the point be that you start to feel uncomfortable’ … Michelle Dewberry says ‘I guarantee you that vaccine passports is not where it ends’”. Scary stuff! and there was more.

When one Tweeter asserted “Regardless of my Vaccine or antibody status, I will be treated as a 2nd class citizen because I will not carry a Vaccine Passport. I will be part of a minority, segregated, discriminated against and ridiculed. Remember when that used to be illegal?” Ian Oliver responded reassuringly “I will be with you”. Or would he?

The problem for these less than totally august individuals was that Silkie Carlo of Big Brother Watch had had first hand experience of what happens when one visits the GB News studios in Paddington. “It’s great that debates on Covid passes are happening on [GB News]. Unfortunately their own studio policy essentially requires Covid passes. Guests currently need a LFT to enter. Recently, two producers separately told me only double vaccinated guests could enter the studio”. Oh dear! And there was more.

“Then that changed to a PCR. I’ve been trying to explain to them why this is a bad idea and why I’m not going to put forward staff for health ID checks. Nor will we accept a remote interview as an alternative as differential treatment as the price of medical privacy is wrong … I agreed to do one interview, with [Dan Wootton] as his show agreed to allow me into the studio without showing a Covid pass. Others didn’t”. And more.

“I know office managers etc are putting these policies in place with the best intentions … But when we talk about the need for a debate we need a real debate, not just for clicks and views … These big debates should happen internally and externally. The presenters’ monologues about how awful vaccine passes are sit uncomfortably when issued from a studio that, at least until recently, only invites double vaccinated guests”.

What should also be borne in mind is that BBW is not a group of Rotten Lefties™: the organisation began as a project of the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance, and its founder was none other than dishonesty pusher supreme Matthew Elliott of Vote Leave infamy. This isn’t a left/right issue, but one of consistency - and, ultimately, hypocrisy.

While The GB News Twitter feed tells readers “‘Government is very, very good at taking powers during an emergency, but is somewhat reluctant to give those powers back’Nigel Farage tells businessman Hussein Lalani that ‘it’s beginning to feel a bit less like the free world’”. it manages not to include itself in that lack of freedom category.

GB News - do as they say, not as they do. Or why they’re taking their viewers for mugs.

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