that BBC licence-payers have just coughed up for, and the BBC’s attempts, reported in the Sunday Times, to justify the expenditure:
The BBC was embarrassed last night by e-mails that showed it “invented” a justification for spending £60,000 of licence payers’ money commissioning a Tracey Emin sculpture.
Emin’s Roman Standard sculpture of a bird on a post was bought by the BBC at a time when Mark Thompson, its director-general, was announcing big cost cuts.
Internal e-mails revealed serious doubts within the organisation about spending so much on a sculpture that had no links to the corporation.
An e-mail dated February 22 from senior BBC publicist Janet Morrow to Vanda Rumney, head of communications, gave warning that the commission could create a “sticky situation on the public art front which could blow up”.
Morrow noted that the sculpture “is not connected to a BBC building, nor is it linked in any way to a BBC broadcast or BBC activity — the BBC has purely used licence fee money to create a public sculpture”.
She then said she had “invented” a “plausible line” to justify the commission.
The thing that gets me about this sculpture is that 1) it’s on a four-meter high pole, 2) about as thick as my wrist, and 3) the bird is life size, which means it’s barely bigger than the thickness of the pole. Presumably you can either take your birdwatching binoculars and admire it from a distance, or stand underneath it and squint up, asking yourself, “What is that?”
Furthermore, the dough goes to Tracy Emin, whose previous works include My Bed (i.e., her unmade bed), and the spicy Everyone I Have Ever Slept With. If I’m not mistaken, this latter work was lost to posterity in a fire, a tragedy on par with the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.
Of course, I didn’t have to pay for the thing, so who am I to complain?
Scott seems unwittingly to have found a link to this sculpture by the BBC.
Bird Brained Corruption
O/T
Newsnight led with a report from the Mirror that Bush was talked out of bombing al-jazeera’s HQ in Qatar. (Who know if true, but odd as out of theatre & where incidentally the Coalition HQ is based).
Newsnight sought to give substance to this story by implying the deliberate targeting of al-jazeera offices in Kabul & Baghdad.
They showed the film of the BBC’s Kabul office being rocked by the missile landing on “al-jazeera’s office in Kabul”.
But Rageh Omaar’s report at the time had not identified al-jazeera, merely a building.
These media offices were in an area of Kabul that received other missiles as it housed leading Taliban residences & ministeries, such as “Ministry for propagation of virtue and suppression of vice”.
Now it seems the missile strike can be claimed to be a deliberate strike against al-jazeera.
(Omaar’s report for 13 nov 2001 at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2001/war_on_terror/tv_and_radio_reports/1652888.stm
Back to the ghastly Emin for a moment – surely what this highlights above all else is the total unaccountability of the BBC?
They have the freedom to tax us, spend our money how they please and then persecute us if we withhold payment of that tax and yet there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop them, other than (metaphorically) flap our arms as we scream in protest – which is what we do here.
We can’t vote the swines out of office, because they don’t hold office.
What a perfect position to be in. From their point of view. I wonder if GWB could be asked to bomb the BBC before he has a crack at Al Jazeera? In the greater scheme of things, it does far more harm.
OT I know but just how good are the Beeb at tracking down non-payers of the license fee ? About 18 months ago we received a warning from TV Licensing claiming we didn’t have a valid license for our TV. The problem was that the letter was addressed to a non-existant flat in our building (Flat 8 when there are only 6 flats). I called the Licensing people and explained their mistake and they said they’d deal with it. Since then we have received 16 warnings saying that their inspectors had us (i.e. the non-existant flat) on their list of properties to visit very soon and warning of all sorts of dire consequences if we didn’t call them asap. So, over a year on from their first threat of a speedy visit, still no sign of the Beeb’s hired goons. Is this par for the course ?
“Is this par for the course ?”
Yes. Don’t Pay.
” Is this par for the course ?”
Not sure….but I know that up until a few months ago, the literature from TV licencing said that they prosecuted some 9000 people a month in court…….a figure I always thought was quite high, I mean christ, how much does that cost the nation in court time????
Still…lately, TVL Literature claimed that they had taken 30,000 people a month to court…..so either they are catching a lot more people, a lot more people are not paying up, or their litereature is getting more desperate, either way, at that rate, they will have prosectued every man woman and child in the UK in 200 years…..lol.
Everyone in the UK will have a criminal record thanks to the BBC…..lol. Hardly the actions of a TV broadcaster in the “free world”…I wonder if they will ever wake up to their anti-human-rights BBC licence fee…..I mean prison over a TV??…thats really sick…..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4461642.stm
Can anyone see any missing words?
Also someone might like to do some digging into “defence lawyer Khurrum Wahid”…
Give us an M………..
Wahid is a NY based lawyer for CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) who like to sue anyone who whinges about Muslims etc. Funnily enough several top people in CAIR have recently been jailed for plotting bomb attacks etc…..don’t expect to see that on the Beeb anytime soon
I wonder whether any subsequent revival of “everyone I have ever slept with” would now have to include Mark Thompson?
Actually, surely this is the point. Do we know who – and I mean names – commissioned this piece? What, if any, are the limits on the BBC spending money like this? What, if any, are the checks against the commissioning person, or persons, getting kickbacks from the artist and/or agent? In most industries, if you give someone unaudited, unchecked power to buy anything, it’s an open invitation to corruption.
I can only guess, but I’d suppose that one of the governors’ duties is to keep an eye out for this sort of thing.
Does anyone out there have any information about how the system is meant to keep itself clean and/or who is responsible?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4460566.stm
Where’s the M… ?
This waste of money on a sculpture is just a joke, as are their feeble attempts at rounding up non-payers.
My brother-in-law has not owned a TV in 20 years, and still gets threatening letters. He used to ring to invite them to inspect (he has nothing to hide), but they have never done so. Not once. He now ignores the letters • another waste.
OT – yesterday on Radio 5 they had a story along the lines of ‘Another strike in the anti-supermarket campaign’, with loyalty cards for small shops in a town somewhere. The irony is lost on them completely • the big supermarkets face brutal competition, and they only win revenue from customers who voluntarily choose to go there. Unlike the BBC which faces far less competition, and wins revenue through the barrel of a gun.
Re the Emin bird on a stick: Why do I get the nasty suspicion that, post the fire that destoyed the “Tent” and other Eminent ‘masterpieces’ someone at the Beeb said “Never mind, Tracee luv, dry your eyes. Here’s forty grand for a bit of retail therepy and see if you can’t knock us something up to keep the auditors happy.” Anyone know the chronology on this?
OT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4459296.stm
I must say another big well done to the minds that be at No.10 for creating that imaginary story about the US wanting to bomb al jazeera in Qatar.
Now you may wonder why the headlines on the FT today ( a day later) say, “uk faces setback over US weapons” appears to have just popped up.
Well Done, The PR Team there, you failed to consider one factor: The americans are far brighter than you think.
More importantly, they know you’ve been screwing them in the back for the past few years. For whatever reason.
Again, congrats, now we all lose.
Can;t wait to see the strain on the face of Tony when he next meets George.
Assuming George actually bothers to invite him over. Highly unlikely.
Splendid comment on the Bush bid to bomb the friendly state of Qatar (or at least al-Jazeera’s offices in that country)
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said: “If true, then this underlines the desperation of the Bush administration as events in Iraq began to spiral out of control.
So the only “if” is the bomb plot and “desperation” & “out of control” are given facts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4459296.stm
Obvious Blatant bias.
MEPs ‘scaremongered to vote no’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/default.stm
1. The picture is cut to resemble a Nazi salute!
2. No mention of what party (Fine Gael) she’s with. BTW She’s 100% Beeb view aligned, a real tyrannanny.
3. (Q)NGO’s also do a great deal of lobbying and get free publicity and an easy ride in the medja.
4. No mention that banning things will cause job cuts.
5. Noone asks the question why MEPs are allowed to vote on things they know nothing about?
Exactly the sort of crap journalism you’d expect from the dreadful BBC.
To think people are jailed for refusing to pay for BBC junk broadcasting.
BBC losing viewers
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=369452&in_page_id=1773&in_a_source=&ct=5
how do they let this stuff get published? on the main news page now (12.04pm 23/11/05)
>>
NEWS
Little Britain sketch falls foul of incontinence charity
Saxon Brother,
About 18 months ago we received a warning from TV Licensing claiming we didn’t have a valid license for our TV. The problem was that the letter was addressed to a non-existant flat in our building (Flat 8 when there are only 6 flats)
Sounds to me like you have some vote-rigging going on there. This is how Labour manufactures non-existent supporters: they register the occupants of the eighth floor of a six floor building, intercept the ballot papers, and vote by post.
If you watch the BBC you’d be unaware of this – vote-rigging is a practice of the left so the BBC stays off the subject.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4461470.stm
They are whining about alleged secret CIA prisons. (The KGB/(now FSB), Iran and Fidel Castro don’t have them apparently…..)
“Spain said the allegations if true could damage ties with the US.
The European Union is to formally ask the US to clarify reports that it ran secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe. The US has refused to confirm or deny the reports, which surfaced in the US earlier this month.
A European investigator is seeking satellite images of Romania and Poland, alleged sites of the secret prisons.
The European investigator, Swiss Senator Dick Marty, is looking into what he called the suspicious movement patterns of flights in the region. ”
WHAAAAA? Let me just stop you there. SWISS SENATOR DICK etc? When did Switzerland join the EU? Checked the EU site just in case they signed up last night. Nope. Not members.
“This is absolutely not a crusade against America,” he said.
Naah. No really. Honest he said….just because I’m leading an investigation for an organisation I don’t belong to…. Who is paying his expenses by the way? And not a dicky on the Beeb about the surreal aspects of all these recent so called reports on secret prisons, locked doors stopping the President getting his battery topped up by Karl Rove, using legal weapons to kill bad guys etc etc! Man they are getting so desperate to actually find something wrong….rather sad really but better stuff for the scripts of Little Britain than the rubbish they are doing now..
Re SiN’s link to Daily Mail & fall in BBC viewing.
This seems like a crazy statistic
Figures published yesterday showed the number of viewers watching the BBC for at least 15 minutes a week was down to 87.9 per cent for the year to date, compared with 89.9 per cent over the same period in 2004
Yet 15 minutes a week seems all that is necessary for the BBC to claim the validity of its forced funding of £130pa
BBC bosses have long insisted that “reach” – that is, how many people tune in to its channels for a least 15 minutes a week – is a more important measure than “share”, the proportion of people watching its programmes at any one time.
BBC is biased – Official
One that was discussed at length here at the time.
BBC Complaints – Newsnight, BBC2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/news/2005/11/22/27443.shtml
In the light of the ruling, the members of the programme team have done further work to familiarise themselves with the different strands of Muslim opinion and activism in the UK.
The Editor of Newnight has re-emphasised with the team the need for balance across the range of controversial issues which may arise in a discussion such as the one in question.
also on the ‘Newswatch’ pages
Newsnight discussion lacked balance
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4460000/newsid_4461100/4461116.stm
Saxon Brother,
Now you know why our crappy, shoddily built British houses don’t have basements. It’s so there’s no place to hide when the licence farmers come to get you. As for lofts, unusable and criss-crossed with myriad support sticks, I guess they figure no one would be stupid enough to try to hide in one.
OT I know but just how good are the Beeb at tracking down non-payers of the license fee ? About 18 months ago we received a warning from TV Licensing claiming we didn’t have a valid license for our TV. The problem was that the letter was addressed to a non-existant flat in our building (Flat 8 when there are only 6 flats). I called the Licensing people and explained their mistake and they said they’d deal with it. Since then we have received 16 warnings saying that their inspectors had us (i.e. the non-existant flat) on their list of properties to visit very soon and warning of all sorts of dire consequences if we didn’t call them asap. So, over a year on from their first threat of a speedy visit, still no sign of the Beeb’s hired goons. Is this par for the course ?
Saxon Brother | 23.11.05 – 12:48 am | #
Short answer is Yes and beware of contacting TVL who are renown for twisting the truth. I would suggest you, and anyone else with similar queries, take this question to the Anti TVL website and forum who specialize in this subject for a more in depth answer and advice.
I’ve lived in my flat (shared with friends) for 18 months now. The TV licence ran out at least 12 months ago. Not a sign of the Beeb’s henchmen yet. But then again, everybody in my house works for a living. Which can’t be too condusive to the Beeb’s attempts to gain entry.
We’ve not even had a letter yet.
If you actually look at the BBC’s budget, they spend over 10% of their total income collecting the TV licence. If they were that good at catching people, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as much.
A collegue claims to have worked in a TV detector van. He assures me they don’t actually do anything except drive around in it. One of their main tactics is to park near the school gates at closing time, so that all the mothers and fathers can see it. They then get scared of being fined and buy a TV licence.
The BBC should use all the £3 billion per year it extorts from us to commission works of sculpture or other art. These would do less damage to the general population than the endless drivel and dodgy news the BBC produces at the moment.
If someone with artistic ability were to produce a nice leaflet saying “save 126 Quid!” and detailing the TVLA gestapo’s tricks, and how easy it is to avoid them, then they could be stuck on TVLA adverts on the tube, given out at uni’s and other meeting places.
I might even contribute some of the 126 quid the state broadcaster failed to extort from me towards printing costs.
A nice PDF would do, then we can all distribute them in our own way.
She included the unborn baby she murdered – how sweet. (is there an icon for throwing up?)
I am happy to replace most BBC staff with a sculpture – I think something like a giant Moloch would be emblematic.
Rick- that’s the best idea I’ve heard in ages – Please put it on DHYS!
Bore-la could be replaced with a pillar of salt.
Well, the Beeb surely have their favourite “artists”… What chance they’ll produce the next Billy Bragg album and spend 10 Million quid on it?
And who at the BBC decided to call Rhona Cameron a comedian?
If someone with artistic ability were to produce a nice leaflet saying “save 126 Quid!” and detailing the TVLA gestapo’s tricks, and how easy it is to avoid them, then they could be stuck on TVLA adverts on the tube, given out at uni’s and other meeting places.
I might even contribute some of the 126 quid the state broadcaster failed to extort from me towards printing costs.
A nice PDF would do, then we can all distribute them in our own way.
That is a great idea. If somebody could produce an eye catching “sticker” (credit card sized would be ideal ;)). Everybody that wanted to could print some out and distribute them as they felt fit.
All it would need it something like “Fight State Extortion & Save £126. Visit http://www.tvlicensing.biz/“
Or maybe steal the idea from http://www.tvlicensing.biz/ and have a nice simple
“Don’t get one. Don’t get done. http://www.tvlicensing.biz“