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'Supporting the BBC’s defence isn’t about partisan politics'
Donald Trump’s £7.5billion lawsuit against the BBC isn’t a legal claim – it’s political theatre (Metro, Wed).
The US president is demanding compensation over an edit of his January 6, 2021 speech, in which he urged supporters to march on the US Capitol to challenge president Joe Biden’s victory. The absurd sum reveals its true purpose – not to win in court but to intimidate, bankrupt and exhaust a public service broadcaster.
The timing – filed the day the BBC’s critical funding review was launched – was no accident.
It’s a deliberate attempt to frame the BBC as a villain in the dock during its own fight for survival, aiming to sway public and political opinion.
This isn’t about a year-old documentary edit. It’s about burying the edit’s purpose – to highlight the undeniable link between Trump’s ‘fight like hell’ rhetoric and the Capitol riot. He’s not suing over words – he is trying to smash the mirror reflecting back to him his intemperate behaviour.
The BBC’s response –confirming ‘we will be defending this case’ – is the right one. This is a classicStrategic Litigation Against Public Participation (Slapp) suit. Its goal is to chill free speech and punish accountability and we should see it for what it is – an assault on truth-telling itself.
Supporting the BBC’s defence isn’t about partisan politics – it’s about defending an institution from being silenced by a billionaire’s braggadocio and bluff. Hal, South-East London
Trump is a ‘narcissistic autocrat’
Trump’s vicious and absurd attack on the BBC is an attack on us all because it attacks our democracy. Look how this narcissistic autocrat has already snuffed out free speech in the US.
I’m proud to see that the BBC has decided to stand up to this bully, to stand up for what is right and moral and decent, to stand up for the values that still make me proud to be British. Guy Wilkins, Richmond, London
Are people not turning up to hospital appointments the problem?
Having attended three hospital appointments with family members recently it was shocking to see only one out of five patients attended two of the clinics and two out of five the other.
Staff said people who didn’t turn up gave no notice and there were two translators sitting waiting for two of them. What a huge waste of time, money and resources. A Henry, Leeds
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Reader says ‘The murderous rampage on Bondi Beach was the embodiment of the call to ‘globalise the Intifada’’
The murderous rampage on Bondi Beach was the embodiment of the call to ‘globalise the Intifada’ – an explicit call to Jihad, to murder Jews and Israelis wherever they happen to be, simply because of who they are.
This is pure antisemitism, a hatred of Jews and it is evil.
It is time for governments around the world to stand up to this evil, to put an end to these hate marches that call for the genocide of the Jewish people and the destruction of the state of Israel, to punish those who openly call for the killing of Jews and those who openly support terror groups.
It is also time for these governments to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood – already banned in many Arab countries – and deport their leaders, to take action against other radical Islamic groups operating in their midst and to sanction regimes that support terror, such as Iran and Qatar. YS, London
Fare-dodgers need to be challenged, says reader
Dec (MetroTalk, Mon) is right about how much revenue must be lost to fare-dodgers – he mentions those ‘tailgating’ through the barriers.
I chased one who was on their own and, when challenged, they simply didn’t think they had done anything wrong. I despair but until action is taken this will get worse. Sue, London
Train-related correction to Metro…
Today In History (Metro paper, Mon) says the last steam locomotive was No.92250 and made in Crewe in 1958. It was actually No.92220 Evening Star made in Swindon in 1960. Ian, Chelsea
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