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Global rumours sparked by BBC staff member's errant tweetThe BBC apologised today for accidentally sparking Twitter rumours that the Queen had died. Rogue tweets were sent while the corporation was staging a dress rehearsal for reporting the death of the Sovereign. One stated: “Queen Elizabrth [sic] has died.” Buckingham Palace was forced to issue a statement reassuring the public that the Queen was in good health. The incident happened during one of the corporation’s regular rehearsal for broadcasting the Queen’s obituary which BBC bosses had asked staff to keep off social media. A tweet from the account of Ahmen Khawaja,...

Chris Evans has signed a three-year deal to replace Jeremy Clarkson as the presenter of Top Gear, the BBC says. The broadcaster decided not to renew Clarkson's contract in March after it emerged he attacked a producer on the programme at a hotel in North Yorkshire. Evans will lead an all new line-up, the BBC said.

Long before Frank Underwood, there was Francis Urquhart. Ian Richardson stars in this sublime political thriller from the BBC. Long-serving and highly respected Tory Chief Whip Urquhart has hopes of a spot in the new PM's Cabinet. When those hopes are dashed by the new - and rather feckless - Prime Minister Henry Colingridge (David Lyons), Urquhart begins to have his own ideas of how to run a country...

When I met Rachel Dolezal, I found it easy to accept her description of her ethnicity. Along with BBC correspondent Jonny Dymond, I talked to Dolezal in 2011 in a coffee shop in Spokane, Washington, while producing a BBC World Service documentary on a surge in extremist militia activity in America. She told us that she was of mixed racial heritage but that she primarily identified with her black ancestors. She matter-of-factly listed the abuse she says she received at the hands of racists, including threats, break-ins, and nooses being left at her workplace. At no time during our hour-long...

A BBC documentary depicting Winston Churchill as a drunken enemy of the working class has been branded as ‘graceless’ and ‘ill-informed’ by his grandson. Churchill: When Britain Said No, broadcast on BBC2 last week, was an account of how the wartime leader lost the 1945 General Election. It showed him as a deeply hated figure among the working class, in part because of the harsh economic policies he pursued as Chancellor in the 1920s. The most vocal critic of Churchill in the programme was a man presented as ‘activist and writer’, Dave Douglass. He said of Churchill: ‘His role during...

Greg Dyke, former director general of the BBC, has claimed that the British Government "tried to kill" Andrew Gilligan. Reporter Gilligan broke the story that British intelligence had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq that sought to justify Britain's support for US-led invasion of the country. "The Government tried to kill him," claimed Dyke about Gilligan, who was forced out of his job at the BBC in January in the wake of the Hutton report that inquired into the death of scientist David Kelly. Kelly was the main source for Gilligan. Dyke was speaking at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature...

“BBC under fire after Home Affairs Editor Mark Easton ‘compares extremist preacher Anjem Choudary to Gandhi and Mandela,’” by Steph Cockroft, MailOnline, 14 May 2015: The BBC is under fire after the Home Affairs Editor appeared to compare notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

The BBC was feared to have fallen victim to an ISIS cyber-attack this evening as 'hackers' appeared to post Islamic State propaganda during a live broadcast. Viewers were left stunned as the words 'Je suIS IS' appeared on TV screens following a feature on the BBC News Channel. Above the red and white writing was the word 'CYBERCALIPHATE'.

Nigel Farage has accused the BBC of “clear and evident bias” after he came under pressure over the quality of Ukip’s general election candidates. A number of Ukip candidates have been accused of making inappropriate comments and one was caught up in an expenses scandal, but Farage blamed Tory defectors to the party for causing the problems. He criticised the BBC for asking him about them, saying other party leaders were not grilled about their rogue candidates.

Former Top Gear presenter says being sacked by the BBC was a ‘wake-up call’ as he joins host of celebrities backing climate change campaign The disgraced former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has become the latest celebrity to support the Guardian’s campaign for fossil fuel divestment. Following what he described as a “dark night of the soul”, Clarkson said he hoped to “regain the trust of the British public” by dedicating his time and financial resources to sustainable energy, road safety and forging mutual understanding and tolerance between people of different cultures and religions. The 54-year-old said that the “fracas”...

Alleged death threats made against BBC director general Tony Hall are being investigated by the Met Police. Lord Hall is reported to have received a threatening message after dropping presenter Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear because he had punched a producer. The Mail on Sunday also reported Lord Hall and his wife were under 24-hour protection from security guards at their Oxfordshire home. …

A BBC radio presenter vented his anger on air after losing his slot on a mid-Morning show because he is engaged to a Conservative MP standing for re-election. John Darvall proposed to Bristol North West MP Charlotte Leslie on Christmas Day, two months after the pair began dating having first met on his show four years ago, the Bath Chronicle reports.Having kept the decision quiet, the twice-divorced presenter revealed his anger during a phone in regarding the BBC’s decision to fire controversial presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

WHY? WHY? WHY?That is what your humble correspondent wants to shout at the computer screen while watching this BBC Mundo report presented by Daniel Pardo in Venezuela. Pardo actually has a good idea, namely to see how long it takes to buy eight basic home products (yes, including toilet paper) while waiting on the notoriously long lines in that country. Unfortunately he does not inform us "why" the situation is so dire even though the S-word providing the answer is proclaimed on wall posters all over that oil-rich but impovershed nation. Therefore Pardo is this week's winner of the John Chancellor Avoidance of...

Jeremy Clarkson, Bête Noire, of the left in the UK, may have gone too far this time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Clarkson It appears that early March 2015, he was involved in an argument with one of the producers of the show 'Top Gear' which he presents, which ended with Clarkson swinging a punch at the producer. Clarkson's co-presenters, James May and Richard Hammond managed to hold Clarkson back. Clarkson appears to have attempted to patch things up with the producer afterwards but to no avail. He then reported the incident himself to the BBC management and wheels began to turn. The BBC suspended...

Top Gear could have stayed on air without Jeremy Clarkson - but his co-hosts reportedly refused to present the show without him. James May and Richard Hammond were offered the chance to front the motoring show during Clarkson’s suspension, according to a BBC executive. Discussions were held about broadcasting the last three episodes with mainly recorded segments while the two co-stars filmed the studio parts. However the BBC insider told the Mirror that May and Hammond rejected the offer and refused to go on air without their long-time colleague. The source said: "They didn't want to do it without Jeremy...

Jeremy Clarkson made light of his suspension by the BBC, as an online petition for him to be reinstated topped 500,000 signatures. The Top Gear presenter told reporters he was "just off to the job centre" as he left his home in London.

The corporate media have swiftly moved on from Peter Oborne's resignation as chief political commentator at the Telegraph and his revelations that the paper had committed 'a form of fraud' on its readers over its coverage of HSBC tax evasion. But investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed has delved deeper into the HSBC scandal, reporting the testimony of a whistleblower that reveals a 'conspiracy of silence' encompassing the media, regulators and law-enforcement agencies. Not least, Ahmed's work exposes the vanity of the Guardian's boast to be the world's 'leading liberal voice'. Last month, the corporate media, with one notable exception, devoted extensive...

Journalists and media organisations have warned that the jailing of three correspondents for Al-Jazeera English by the Cairo regime was intended to intimidate others from reporting freely on events in Egypt. The jail terms of between seven and ten years for Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were met with outrage from veteran correspondents who have reported on the Egyptian uprising and its aftermath. Jeremy Bowen, the BBC's Middle East editor, said the verdicts and sentencing were a blow to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. "This is also at least partly designed to intimidate other journalists, and...

The pigheaded refusal to acknowledge that sometimes the ends justify the means reflects Europe's moral impoverishment. Dahu Khalfan Tamim now has a world-class reputation for detective work. The head of the Dubai police swiftly determined that Hamas’s Mahmoud Mabhouh did not die of natural causes at the five-star Bustan Rotana Hotel on Jan. 20. He was assassinated. Let’s for the sake of argument grant that Israel did away with Mabhouh; that he was not killed by Iran or over some intra-Palestinian dispute, and that clues pointing to Israeli culpability are genuine. Mabhouh certainly deserved to be assassinated by Israel. Hamas...

The UK is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of twelve cloned British passports in a Dubai murder, the BBC has learned. Foreign Secretary David Miliband will make a statement to Parliament later. Israel has said there is no proof that its agents were behind the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room in January. Diplomatic sources stressed the British government has stopped short of accusing Israel of the murder. However Mr Miliband had demanded that Israel co-operate fully with the investigation into how the passports were obtained. The foreign secretary is to make the statement...