Didn’t listen to start the week, but because of the half-price offer I’ve been reading the Telegraph quite a lot. There’s always something in there about the BBC, and today there’s another item by Tim Walker, “Mandrake,” headed “Mystery of BBC’s tax cut for Bono.” A guest on Marr’s programme on Monday morning, Marina Hyde, alluded to Bono’s tax arrangements.
“Your lifestyle can undercut the moral seriousness of your mission,” she said pointing out that the singer continually lobbies the Irish government to increase its aid budget, while he has a company based in the Netherlands for tax purposes.
This seemed to disturb Marr, who quickly added: “I should say I don’t know about Bono’s tax affairs. I don’t know if it’s true or not.” Hyde responded: ”This is true and you’re welcome to check it out.”
The evening repeat is 15 mins shorter, and one of the things that had been edited out was the snippet. A BBC spokesman claimed it was chosen because his tax avoidance was “old” news.
When informed that U2’s tax avoidance had, in fact been a big story in the Irish newspapers only last month, the spokesman relied: “Oh, I don’t know why he (the editor of the programme) would say that, then.
I don’t intend to start another tiresome discussion about Bono, but why is the BBC so keen on the fella?
Off topic, but a good post from ConservativeHome about bias:
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2009/04/a-specific-and-telling-example-of-bbc-political-bias.html
‘Cos their all closet luvvies .
In a similar vein, beboid hearts go out to the poor G20 protestor who had a run in with those nasty plod, leading story treatment. They were strangely silent when it was lady Countryside Alliance members that plod was belting over the head !
“…but why is the BBC so keen on the fella?”
Because they believe passionately in the UK government funding African Aid. They know that the British public would refuse to be lectured by a hypocrite like Bono, if they knew the truth. Therefore, it fits their agenda to suppress the truth. Simple as that!
” . . but why is the BBC so keen on the fella?”
What Grimer says plus Bono ticks all the other BBC boxes: a showbiz loudmouth with more money than is healthy for anyone with his lack of self-awareness. Also the BBC has the (mistaken) impression that Bono appeals to da kidz rather than a rather sad bunch of ageing wannabees trapped in endless adolescence.
The BBC is full of anonymous little Bonos – people who modestly imagine they are a force for good in the world.
Bono is just a pop star and BBC staff are just mass manufacturers of TV programmes, mostly of very dubious quality. It’s amazing how such people such grandiose ideas about their own importance.
Why does the BBC like Bono?
In a word, Africa.
The BBC is obsessed with Africa.
Bono raises money for Africa.
Put that together with BBC notions of Worthiness, Style, Maleness, Populariy, Cool and you have a marriage made in heaven.
The Irish tax system used to provide massive tax breaks to ‘entertainers’.This, as I understand, included no tax payable on royalties form song writing. Of course, many pop stars and singers relocated their tax base to Ireland in order to take advantage of the break. I would too!
About 2 years ago, this ‘loophole’ was closed and the company that owns the U2 song base (owned of course by the band) moved their tax base to the Netherlands. tax of 1% is charged on royalties (or was at the time).
You couldn’t make up this up. Is this Bono a dublicitous son of a b***h or what?
Oops…Typo: popularity
Twizzle
I believe John Simpson, the BBC’s Hero of Kabul, took advantage of the Irish tax breaks for many years.
but why is the BBC so keen on the fella?
The answer is because Bono is a witting or otherwise tool of the establishments system, as are all so called radicals.
The system creates murder and starvation in 3rd world countries, either through direct UN policies or straight forward corporate greed.
Then it enlists the services of brainwashed fools like Bono. Who then promote NON solutions to the problem that are specifically designed to make the situation forever worse, highly expensive and seemingly unsolvable. The same of course is equally true when it comes to establishment run and owned charities such as Oxfam and Save the Children.
Thus the public wrongly believe they are doing something positive to tackle the problem.
The Retail banks, backed up by international and national central banks that lent billions to 3rd world dictatorships to buy arms with and finance useless infrastructure projects, get bailed out by the western tax payer.
The population of places such as Africa continue to be deliberately culled and controlled.
A real bottom-up, sustainable African economic infrastructure is killed off before it has even started to appear.
Local war lords get a cheep and ready source of food and medical supplies.
The media get bribes/income from charities to fund advertising.
Politicians and idiots like Bono can continue to look good in the eyes of the public, while actually remaining much of the problem, rather then any type of solution.
Therefore
Every body, except those dieing in the 3rd world are happy. While those running this murderously insane system get forever more wealthy and therefore powerful. With the added bonus to our establishment of showing us the people the true value of human life ( which is less then a tin of dog food and falling fast )just in case we should ever start getting ideas above our station in life. Which is a low as our establishment can possibly keep it.
Started to get it yet?
The simple and self evident truth is this.
If the powers that be wanted the end of poverty, it would have ended before it had ever began.
Am I the only person on the planet who has heard of Bono but do not know what is his claim to fame or why he should be listened to. I have unlike the BBC heard of Daniel Hannan and want to hear more.
Atlas Shrugged,
Great post and well said.
You can listen to the Start the Week podcast, from which the comments weren’t cut. The speaker mentions the Bono/Tax issue several times and Marr sounds horribly uncomfortable.
Test
Atlas 12:41
Great post !
I was in Gambia and Senegal recently and one of my African in-laws said about Bono and Bob Geldof ” They are fakes and joker-boys ” !
Anyway, with all his tax savings, Bono can give lots of money to his favourite Africa charities.
I notice Bozo bigged up George Bush and his Africa campaign on aids etc. I saw on Fox News an article saying something like 1 million people had been saved by Bush’s project.
Needless to say the BBC didn’t bother to report on it. Could you imagine if the ‘one’ or St Michelle had run such a campaign?
Combine Grimer’s comment @ 11:17am and Umbongo’s comment right after it for the full explanation of why the BBC loves Bozo Vox so much.
Probably half of the current BBC top talent and management named U2 as their favorite band in high school or university, as much for the political angle as the music. Aid to Africa is the most obvious emotional, ego-inflating object there is, so it’s a winning combination.
Hyde was bashing Bono and the Beeb’s love-in in a Guardian column two or three weeks ago, so it’s obviously a bee in her bonnet.
As for Atlas Shrugged’s line ‘If the powers that be wanted the end of poverty, it would have ended before it had ever began’, whatever can it mean?
Red Lepond | 08.04.09 – 4:38 pm |
As for Atlas Shrugged’s line ‘If the powers that be wanted the end of poverty, it would have ended before it had ever began’, whatever can it mean?
It doesn’t mean what he thinks it means, that’s for sure.
David 4:44
Atlas doesn’t quite have your precise command of english !
The reason the BBC is so keen on Bono could be that Bono is a good friend of Professor Kadar Asmal, who was a law professor at Trinity College Dublin for 27 years, specialising in human rights, labour, and international law. He was also founder of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement as well as the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement in 1963 and chairperson until 1991. Professor Asmal was the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry in Nelson Mandela’s government
Grant | 08.04.09 – 5:01 pm |
Atlas doesn’t quite have your precise command of english !
It’s the command of logic and reason I’m concerned about.
Maybee Bono is keeping all his tax savings and sending them to Africa as an independant who does not want any publicity.
And maybee Peter Mandleson is a very misunderstood bloke who is not a money grabbing bastard.
And maybee Polly Toynbee is………(Author removed by adult).
Aid for Africa will be of little benefit until a generation has grown up that has been fed on a diet which includes iodine in its salt intake and iron in its flour.
Perhaps they should cast Bono in Secret Trillionaire (Zimbabwe Edition) You know the formula – pretends he’s not Bono, goes round a few townships, dicovers a lot of gap year students digging water wells and teaching Africans English so they can move to the UK, meets many families with six children they can’t support, can’t decide which one of them he should share his fortune, breaks down and cries, and decides to give it all to Robert Mugabe.
Is Gordon a Steve Sailer fan?
REd
Not a fan but he says things that are worth thinking about.
I’m a fan.
I very rarely want to come to the defence of The BBC, but in this case I have to give them a kind of rationale for cutting the reference to Bono.
if there is one thing that the BBC fears more than giving offence to Muslims, it is the generalised fear of being sued. They take this fear to the point of paranoia and jump on any disparaging reference to anybody.
A kind of a light hearted example of this, is the never ending use of the “joke’ that has become a pathetic cliché; the use of the word “allegedly”.
All this is pathetic, it is part of their mindset, but it is not “bias” in the sense that we usually understand the word.
“As for Atlas Shrugged’s line ‘If the powers that be wanted the end of poverty, it would have ended before it had ever began’, whatever can it mean?”
What, you mean you understand the rest????
Oddly they never seemed to publicise Bono’s comments about George W Bush, despite giving all his other opinions wide airing. I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Bono had a high opinion of Bush.
They’re keen on him because he’s an arsehole, and therefore fits in with them.
This shows Bono playing with himself behind curtins at a show!!