Phil Tinline
@philtinline.bsky.social
Author, THE DEATH OF CONSENSUS (The Times' Politics Book of 2022)
GHOSTS OF IRON MOUNTAIN ("riveting" - The New Yorker)
https://tinyurl.com/Ghosts-Iron-Mountain
Last on Radio 4: Societal Collapse https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002lppp
GHOSTS OF IRON MOUNTAIN ("riveting" - The New Yorker)
https://tinyurl.com/Ghosts-Iron-Mountain
Last on Radio 4: Societal Collapse https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002lppp
Reposted by Phil Tinline
It’s already started - the BBC allows Newsmax boss to opine about bias, suggest some of the Jan 6 mob were merely innocent tourists visiting Congress, without pushback
November 11, 2025 at 8:35 AM
It’s already started - the BBC allows Newsmax boss to opine about bias, suggest some of the Jan 6 mob were merely innocent tourists visiting Congress, without pushback
This is not an accident. The BBC was set up as it was in the 1920s partly as a way of avoiding the screeching cacophony of early American radio - the medium which would soon bring the world the hugely popular fascist rantings of Father Charles Coughlin.
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
November 11, 2025 at 8:03 AM
This is not an accident. The BBC was set up as it was in the 1920s partly as a way of avoiding the screeching cacophony of early American radio - the medium which would soon bring the world the hugely popular fascist rantings of Father Charles Coughlin.
Far more British people trust the BBC than the Daily Mail. Which would you miss more?
November 11, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Far more British people trust the BBC than the Daily Mail. Which would you miss more?
Reposted by Phil Tinline
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
UK newspaper editor calls Bill de Blasio fake interview blunder ‘humiliating’
A Times associate editor reportedly addressed situation in an email to staff, saying: ‘We should have been on our guard’
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Phil Tinline
SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
November 10, 2025 at 6:40 PM
SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
I think this would be different if her name were Sophie Cash-HSBC
🗣️ "Think hyphens are common, Andrew? You’re missing out," says Sophia Money-Coutts
"People may laugh at my double-barrel name but I’m down with the kids. Honest"
"People may laugh at my double-barrel name but I’m down with the kids. Honest"
Think hyphens are common, Andrew? You’re missing out
www.thetimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I think this would be different if her name were Sophie Cash-HSBC
Damn straight.
November 10, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Damn straight.
Reposted by Phil Tinline
Half of British culture is quoting lines from BBC comedy at each other.
November 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Half of British culture is quoting lines from BBC comedy at each other.
Reposted by Phil Tinline
Excerpt from #AdvanceBritannia which is now available in the UK! North American release January 6. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/brit...
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Excerpt from #AdvanceBritannia which is now available in the UK! North American release January 6. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/brit...
Reposted by Phil Tinline
Public trust in media (Reuters/Oxford) 2024
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news...
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news...
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Public trust in media (Reuters/Oxford) 2024
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news...
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news...
Nigel Farage doesn't want you to watch The Traitors.
Mail Online reports Nigel Farage says that the BBC may have no future.
He imagines bringing to an end century of public service broadcasting in the UK - because the populist politician and his US political ally Donald Trump do not want the BBC to survive
No thanks, Nigel.
No thanks, Donald
He imagines bringing to an end century of public service broadcasting in the UK - because the populist politician and his US political ally Donald Trump do not want the BBC to survive
No thanks, Nigel.
No thanks, Donald
November 10, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Nigel Farage doesn't want you to watch The Traitors.
Reposted by Phil Tinline
The automated problem factory!
‘A new service called Objector is offering “policy-backed objections in minutes” to people who are upset about planning applications near their homes.’
Another reminder that AI can be used for things you don’t like as well as things you like…
Another reminder that AI can be used for things you don’t like as well as things you like…
Bloody hell www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
November 9, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The automated problem factory!
I was thinking exactly this reading Michael Prescott's memo. The notion that BBC coverage must be worded so as not to upset the American right is simply wrong. American viewers know what the first B stands for. No one is forcing them to watch, or pay the licence fee.
One thing not being said - indeed, I think everyone misses this - but the requirement for the BBC to show impartiality and balance relates to the politics of *this* country, there’s no requirement to show some mythical balance globally, only to report the truth without fear or favour.
November 10, 2025 at 8:51 AM
I was thinking exactly this reading Michael Prescott's memo. The notion that BBC coverage must be worded so as not to upset the American right is simply wrong. American viewers know what the first B stands for. No one is forcing them to watch, or pay the licence fee.
Precisely. We have a quisling problem.
Notable that the supposedly “patriotic” wing of British politics wants to destroy / defund almost all of our national institutions
November 10, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Precisely. We have a quisling problem.
This is key. There is a huge difference between calculating how to raise tax revenue on the basis of numbers alone, and on the story your choices tell. It has to add up politically, not just mathematically.
November 10, 2025 at 7:55 AM
This is key. There is a huge difference between calculating how to raise tax revenue on the basis of numbers alone, and on the story your choices tell. It has to add up politically, not just mathematically.
Reposted by Phil Tinline
Something something the future something something the past...
Made this a few years back with the late great Steve Hewlett - a history of the BBC's many mortal crises:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, The Future of the BBC: A History
Steve Hewlett explores the troubled past behind today's debates on the future of the BBC.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Something something the future something something the past...
Should anyone want to read up on a spectacular example of the perils of thinking satire is real because it fits your priors:
www.amazon.com/dp/1668050498/
www.amazon.com/dp/1668050498/
November 9, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Should anyone want to read up on a spectacular example of the perils of thinking satire is real because it fits your priors:
www.amazon.com/dp/1668050498/
www.amazon.com/dp/1668050498/
Reposted by Phil Tinline
![Cartoon by Stephen Collins for The Guardian. Script as follows:
[scene is Winston Churchill in a bbc studio, giving his 'finest hour' speech]
1
CHURCHILL:
The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.
2
CHURCHILL:
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war.
3
CHURCHILL:
If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free
and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sun-
BBC PRESENTER:
Thank you prime minister
4
BBC PRESENTER:
Mr hitler, your response?
5
HITLER [in the studio]:
Vell zis is hysterical woke nonsense as usual from mr Churchill
6
HITLER:
What we are proposing -
CHURCHILL:
Hang on
7
HITLER:
Let me finish - what we are proposing eez a simple power-sharing arrangement -
8
CHURCHILL:
What's he doing here
BBC PRESENTER:
It's important we hear both sides of the debate
9
CHURCHILL:
This isn't a debate
You don't debate fascists
10
HITLER:
Oh here we go with ze Godwins law!
11
HITLER:
Why must you people always compare ze things you don't like to 'fascists, Nazis, Hitler'...
CHURCHILL:
Because you are a fascist Nazi Hit-
12
HITLER [standing up, saluting]:
RAUSS!
BBC PRESENTER:
*Please* Mr Churchill let him speak
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreibw4ldc3fhslbvxgy2oqrof2oys5kpgh7zu6a5f3usmx3lf4547qm@jpeg)
If Harris had also sought to foment an insurrection, this would have been a sensible point. As it is, it's the epitome of false balance, as overused a criticism as that is. The BBC Editorial Guidelines require due impartiality, not supine impartiality.
Michael Prescott was ‘“shocked” that after an hour-long Panorama documentary dealing with Trump and the January 6 insurgency, there was no “similar, balancing” programme about Kamala Harris.’
More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes
More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes
The departure of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness means the BBC is leaderless when it needs leadership more than ever. Where are the people at the head of the BBC standing up for it?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 9, 2025 at 9:46 PM
If Harris had also sought to foment an insurrection, this would have been a sensible point. As it is, it's the epitome of false balance, as overused a criticism as that is. The BBC Editorial Guidelines require due impartiality, not supine impartiality.
Next time someone tells you that people from business can come in and run complex public sector institutions because they're just better, Davie from Pepsi will stand as a counter-example. You cannot run the BBC like a private corporation and you should not try.
More than any time since the 1980s, perhaps ever, the BBC needs a journalistic warrior to lead it. Someone who can see the shape of a fight coming and work out how to win it and have the will to do so. Davie was never that guy. It can't be a hack from the queue. Maybe it should be a refugee from CBS
November 9, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Next time someone tells you that people from business can come in and run complex public sector institutions because they're just better, Davie from Pepsi will stand as a counter-example. You cannot run the BBC like a private corporation and you should not try.
Reposted by Phil Tinline
There has been a dramatic rupture in geopolitics, and far too many people are pretending all is normal...
November 9, 2025 at 8:50 PM
There has been a dramatic rupture in geopolitics, and far too many people are pretending all is normal...
More than any time since the 1980s, perhaps ever, the BBC needs a journalistic warrior to lead it. Someone who can see the shape of a fight coming and work out how to win it and have the will to do so. Davie was never that guy. It can't be a hack from the queue. Maybe it should be a refugee from CBS
November 9, 2025 at 8:41 PM
More than any time since the 1980s, perhaps ever, the BBC needs a journalistic warrior to lead it. Someone who can see the shape of a fight coming and work out how to win it and have the will to do so. Davie was never that guy. It can't be a hack from the queue. Maybe it should be a refugee from CBS
Reposted by Phil Tinline
I was born in Massachusetts in 1970. I was about three when my mother and stepfather took me house hunting. I remember a man repeatedly saying to them, "And hot and cold running water. For the baby." (Me, I just took offence at being called a baby.)
November 9, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I was born in Massachusetts in 1970. I was about three when my mother and stepfather took me house hunting. I remember a man repeatedly saying to them, "And hot and cold running water. For the baby." (Me, I just took offence at being called a baby.)
One of my favourite clips from 20 years mining the BBC archives is a woman interviewed about moving from the east end to a new town in the 1950s who saw her new house and said she thought "Ooh, heaven! Paradise!" She then discovered iirc that it had hot water *upstairs*.
My dad was from an extremely middle class vicarage family and he still used to love going to stay at his godmothers in the 1960s because she had central heating
November 9, 2025 at 8:12 PM
One of my favourite clips from 20 years mining the BBC archives is a woman interviewed about moving from the east end to a new town in the 1950s who saw her new house and said she thought "Ooh, heaven! Paradise!" She then discovered iirc that it had hot water *upstairs*.
Reposted by Phil Tinline
The new book from @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social promises "an astonishing undercover investigation into the paranoid and misogynistic subcultures of the manosphere."
He joins us on Tuesday 18 November to discuss what it means for our politics and what we should do about it.
He joins us on Tuesday 18 November to discuss what it means for our politics and what we should do about it.
November 9, 2025 at 7:58 PM
The new book from @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social promises "an astonishing undercover investigation into the paranoid and misogynistic subcultures of the manosphere."
He joins us on Tuesday 18 November to discuss what it means for our politics and what we should do about it.
He joins us on Tuesday 18 November to discuss what it means for our politics and what we should do about it.