The BBC has been to the fore of the “Anti Bonus and Anti Pay off” Jihad. But it is do as I say, not do as I do.
“The decision to pay a year’s salary to ex-BBC director general George Entwistle, who quit after eight weeks, has been criticised by senior MPs. John Whittingdale, Tory chairman of the commons culture committee, said he wanted to know why the BBC Trust thinks the £450,000 payout is “appropriate”.”
I thought Entwistle voluntarily stepped down so the basis for this pay off seems dubious but I suppose when it is OUR money they are splashing on their sacrificial lamb that is OK?
John Redwood has also criticised this on his blog diary.
Link: John Redwood’s Diary
Like most people on these level contracts he probably has lots of conditions in it to ensure a substantial payout. As having to resign is always a probability as DG any worthwhile lawyer would have built in a condition to trigger the payment if forced to resign.
As Cameron has discovered, you can’t take Banker bonuses back either without tearing up 200 years of contract law.
Morality doesn’t enter into it.
Fred Goodwin gave up part of his contractual pension after public pressure. Public pressure that was cheerlead by the BBC. Will they be doing the same for George Entwistle?
Look forward to to the ex head of Barclays doing the same.
Goodwin is hardly starving having walked into other City jobs.
The BBC hasn’t bankrupted the country and not watching Newsnight hardly constitutes a crime on the level perpetuated by the Banks.
The payment is obscene, not that’s the age we are in. Unfettered capitalism.
I think you’ll find that Labour bankrupted the country, by giving our money to the bankers without our blessing…
Let’s get a few things straight. Banks were irresponsible. Yes. Very.
The Labour Government allowed them to behave irresponsibly. As long as there was a debt fueled boom they were happy to take the credit.
They could and should have seen it coming but did nothing. A Goverment that liked to regulate everything that moved and didn’t sat on their hands.
That was negligent.
And before anyone tries the spread the blame game criticising what the Tories said in opposition – forget it. Labour was in power. They made the decisions. It doesn’t matter what others said or didn’t say. The buck stops with them.
Gordon Brown did – and he can’t be bothered to turn up at the House of Commons
Don’t be silly – Barclays is a private company. The board can do what they like as it is THEIR money.
The BBC is taxpayer funded, so they don’t have any – it is all OUR money.
Geddit?
“The BBC hasn’t bankrupted the country”
That’s debatable.
“you can’t take Banker bonuses back either without tearing up 200 years of contract law.”
No, but we’re not required contractually to pay the BBC Tax for the next 200 years.
I’m not paying.
Sure.
You seem very ‘sure’ of that.
Know something about the state politico-media-legal establishment others don’t?
After the Newbury FoI finding I am writing to my MP to ask him to offer a definitive stance upon the BBC across a variety of criteria, and his answer will guide not only my vote but my active campaigning.
I also await the promised (for what they are, or will be worth) a Trust finding that has taken several months already on the behaviour of their complaints department which will decide the fate of my DD too.
For one who has taken a blog name from a minor but celebrated word used in abuse by the powers that be-rewarded-beyond-belief, you suddenly seem very sanguine about huge payoffs. In the public sector no one has any choice over… at least.
Your complaint will look very different when it is published in the BBC Trust Editorial Standards Committee’s findings Bulletin.
Colin Tregear was the Project Director at the BBC’s Weather Centre before being appointed Complaints Director of the Editorial Complains Unit, his appointment shows that the BBC is aware that it is more vulnerable on complains about Climate Change, than any other issue.
Probably due to the scientific calibre of the people complaining.
As people become aware of the bogus rebuttal of the Cosmoclimatology theory, combined with the revolutionary findings of the Unified Theory of Climate. The BBC’s active support for the greatest scientific fraud in history will unravel.
According to 5Live ( proprietor Adrian van Klaveren),Entwhistle is contractually entitled to 6 months pay – £225,000. He has been given £450,000 because he might be tied up in enquiries and therefore not available for employment. This of course assumes a slightly shop soiled ex-DG would be in demand. Critics say that he has been handsomely paid in his previous positions at the BBC, and if £225,000 isn’t enough, he should fund any period of unemployment himself.
Are you saying that a BBC employment contract provides the employee with six months salary if they resign?
.
No wonder they need 3.5 billion pounds every twelve months.
It must be costing them a fortune.
I always wondered where all that money went, ‘cos it certainly aint on making programs!
I love the BBC!
The sheer nerve-“he might be tangled up in enquiries,” therefore ineligible for welfare benefits.
I imagine Gary Glitter sees his plane ticket to Laos being paid for by the BBC…after all, he may yet be called to give evidence to an enquiry sometime soon.!
Any Stephen Hester type hounding of George by the BBC…you know “court of public opinion” and all?
Anyone at the BBC able to tell us HOW exactly Pudsey got his eye patch?…pretty nasty down there so I`m told! Wouldn`t put it past the BBC to assault him, so he gives no evidence against senior management.
Nah-seen them all-blancmanges, fudge moniters, and queens of puddings…all of `em!
200 years of contract law is not the issue here.
It’s the BBC that writes the contract (on our behalf) not Entwhistle. It’s up to the BBC what they put in. You try going to your employer and say ‘I want this, this and this in, and that, that, and that out’ and see how far you get.
Of course the Trust are thinking,
‘If we give him this when he ‘resigns honourably’ then I’ll be ‘alright’ when I ‘resign honourably’.
Toady’s prime 8.10 slot is about trust in the BBC. And who have they chosen to interview? David Dimbleby! Keeping it in the cosy club, eh boys?
That’s OK…after all, Dimbleby isn’t an employee of the BBC…
The BBC interviews itself and finds itself to be a much loved and still trusted organisation which is well worthy of the license fee.
Really this weekend has proved that a) the BBC is beyond control and b) that the Timid Tories won’t dare to take it down no matter what it does.
The lesson that the BBC will draw from all this is that it is untouchable and it will crack on with its destruction of British values and culture because it sees that it has no opposition that can hurt it.
Deep despair. How can the monster ever be tamed much less killed when the Tories won’t even attack it over this series of scandals?
“…The BBC interviews itself and finds itself to be a much loved and still trusted organisation which is well worthy of the license fee…”
Worthy of the North Korean News Agency. Absolutely sickening to see the BBC repeatedly excusing itself for its lack of integrity in this way. Still, on the upside of this grisly pantomime…
The BBC’s director of news and her deputy have “stepped aside”, the BBC understands. The move by Helen Boaden and Steve Mitchell comes after director general George Entwistle quit on Saturday.
The BBC said it was not commenting yet, but there will be an announcement within hours.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20294283
Just what does ‘stepping aside’ mean in Beeboidspeak?
Just what does ‘stepping aside’ mean in Beeboidspeak?
Time for the garden and more vast compo.
At this rate, beyond securing the golden pension pots and flying to the US for Richard Bacon to help Paul Mason interview Americans Mark Mardell and Katty Kay find a bit too angry, I doubt they’ll be able to cover the ‘leccy bill to run Dad’s Army repeats this Xmas.
Still, offer Cameron a truce for a while and they’ll be sorted come the next review.
I notice Phil Ford in the link about Boden the words
“Sources told the BBC that Prime Minister David Cameron believes it was a matter for George Entwistle’s conscience as to whether he expected the full payoff – a year’s salary after just two months in the job.”
As I understand it, Entwistle’s contract was for 6 months pay if he resigned, – so weasel words within the website’s link. Why should I be surprised – this is the BBC?
‘The BBC interviews itself and finds itself to be a much loved’
So from ‘enhanced narrative’ to blatant propaganda.
All we need is rampant censorship and they may as well make Joseph Goebbels the new DG.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1352708478.html
‘The BBC’s chief engineer during the strike wrote more openly about his concerns. “It was not so much that the news was altered as given bias by elimination.”‘
But then.. it was another time, eh, Nick?
You had to love this one from DD:
“People who work in the BBC don’t do it for the money. They do it for the love of the public service they provide.” (I paraphrase – I don’t have access to the exact quote right now.)
OK. That’ll be why they have to pay market rates for the “talent”, I guess.
That’ll be why they have to pay market rates for the “talent”
Quite.
They seem to be engaging wallets before slipping feet into mouths.
Brains, if ever present, left behind.
To be fair they don’t solely interview people who work for the BBC, sometimes they interview Labour politicians or people who work for the Guardian.
What a privilege to eavesdrop these two swinging dicks at the BBC as they bitched about “thems upstairs” whilst taking a long pee in adjoining urinals.
Godawful bores…and we`re paying for this!
Boaden to step aside …well well…..another head rolls?
Steps aside = Suspended in BBC speak?
Not sacked.
They cling to their jobs like poo to a blanket.
Serious faces on the Breakfast BBc over payouyts and resignation ..it must be serious.
I suppose stepping aside while walking the plank is pretty serious though.
I thought the bBC was supposed to be earnest about, regaining the ‘trust of the public’. So Entwistle resigned of his own accord, Patten said it was ‘an honourable thing he has done’. The truth is now glaringly obvious; Patten has done a deal with Entwisle; ‘you reign and I will make it worth your while’. TRUTH – WHAT TRUTH!
Not so honourable if financial inducement was involved!
I’m sure “step aside” in BBCSpeak means a spot of gardening leave (as someone has alluded to above) and then a sideways move into another BBC job with a higher salary.
Could someone please expl;ain what stepping aside means ? Not a phrase used in the private sector.
It means stepping aside from the oncoming bullet to ensure it hits someone else.
It is one of the S words. Sacked, suspended, shoved out the door, seeking a payout, solicitors, sueing, super new job in a Quango, surprise peerage, spokesperson in the Lords, it is the BBC and public sector pathway.
Oh and Potty just happened to walk past the Beeb’s drawbridge just in time for an off-the-cuff interview, and she is blaming Murdoch and the Tories.
” surprise peerage,”
Dear Phil, please do not put ideas into that small brain of Dopey dave. It won’t take him long to make one of these losers a Lord, to sit with Petain.
Don’t worry Welsh, Dave doesn’t listen to me these days.
The BBC seem to like him, but I find Robert Peston’s tortured delivery to be painful in the extreme. However, I suppose that when you are in trouble you go to your friends. They may not give you relieable and truly unbiased advice but at least they will be supportive. They will probably tell you what you want to hear.
Hence BBC News 24 go to Peston for – not much a sound bite – more a long lumpy overstuffed mouthful.
Unsurprisingly he doesn’t criticie Incurious George’s big pay off. Doesn’t criticise Lord Patten, George’s big Pay-boy.
Oddly Peston then lends his weight and support to Helen Boaden. Is the BBC bringing us fair comment? Are Peston’s opinions neutral? A friendship there? Have Robert and Helen – dare I say – a Common Purpose?
Oh look….here’s the BBC in a nutshell
BBC News 24 reporter outside New Broadcasting House lines up his next interview : ‘It’s Polly Toynbee, of the Guardian, of course…’
Christ, they just don’t see their real problem there, do they?!
“they just don’t see their real problem there, do they?!”
that IS the problem-they do,but they don’t give a stuff because they get away with it
Yes, they see the problem as one of top management, whom they hate just like in any large corporation, and will not see how the bias informs so many of these decisions which are bringing the BBC down.
The same kind of hiring standards which put a man who thinks Bacon and Derbyshire are quality impartial broadcasters also allows the US division to hire an Obamessiah campaign worker as quality impartial reporters, and for all three of their top economics and business editors to be Left-wing.
And now the News Channel is repeating Harman’s proud declaration that you all must save the BBC from “enemies waiting to pounce.”
Oops, a bit garbled. I meant to say that the standards which allow the guy who thinks Bacon and Derbyshire are great to then be in charge of supervising the quality of Newsnight, plus the other examples, are clearly flawed.
Step Aside from Mary Poppins (BBC version)
Hugs Helen Boaden and all the Cast:
Step aside, step aside
Come on, mateys, step aside
Step aside
Step aside, step aside
Step aside, step aside
Never need a reason,
Never need a rhyme
Step aside, you step aside!
Peter Rippon, step aside!
Stephen Mitchell, step aside!
Votes for women!
Step aside
Down with the Tories! step aside
We hate Murdoch! step aside
Up the EU! step aside
Global Warming, step aside
Up the Arabs! step aside!
I’m assuming we will see the “Occupy Movement” heading over to broadcasting house to vent their spleen at the fat cat payoff
no?
I AM surprised 😉
Yep, comrade Mason will happily announce ” it’s kicking off everywhere” when talking about occupy!
Just thinking ahead here a little: How do you think they will pack the audience at the next Question Time show?
Thursday’s show to be cancelled?
Anticipation rising, but so much more can happen between now and then.
And all week they will be telling us that they know how times are hard but could we please all really dig deep for Children in Need.
they know what they can do with their children in need
All that money going to secret Swiss bank accounts via Africa.
What`s the betting that it`ll be bigger, raise more money for cheridee than ever before?
Just like GCSE grades-we get kinder and more loving towards the BBCs groomed stoolies by the year.
Suppose there`s no chance of us actually seeing the books for how much we dupes out here “donate” to the BBC.
A big dip into DFID I`m sure…and the EU to sign off on the authenticity, using Arthur Andersen.
Who else bub?
The organisation seems to have a death wish. What were they thinking.
Happy to concur.
Not so much a death wish, more of a “we’re so big we don’t care what anyone else thinks, we’ll carry on as before because we have a guaranteed income from an enforced licence fee. We answer to no one.” attitude.
Hubris always comes before a fall.
I truly believe that they are so caught up in their bubble that they don’t see anything wrong whatsoever. Either that or, that they are so utterly arrogant, that they know precisely how their behaviour will be seen yet regard themselves as untouchable. Neither option is particularly endearing.
Not sure it matters how many resignations they go for as will just be replaced by more of the same. Until the BBC and other main media accept that the root cause is the institutional bias within BBC itself nothing will change. Sky & every Tory politician should be pushing the bias angle now as they may never get a better opportunity – unless of course they are secretly happy with the situation
‘Sky & every Tory politician”
Interesting you should raise this.
I noted that, while happy to ‘report’, SKY also was not averse to running BBC-as-national-treasure PR sound bites and vox pops too.
And of course all pols seem to be pretty keen to keep their megaphone to the sheeple, even if it can bite the hand that allows them to keep feeding on occasion (I feel a ‘deal’ off the BBC/No 10 official diaries being hammered out as we speak).
And after the Newbury/FoI case, the UK judiciary seems to be only reliable in being relied upon to come though when the old boys use the mobiles not paid for by the public.
So we have a totally bent politico/media/legislative/judicial establishment working to save the BBC already.
My wife told me this morning that I was not going to jail over this and we were not being forced to pay fines.
What she went on to say was that we can pull the DD and save £145.50 as of December, and also pull the SKY sub too, thus saving £30 a month.
She is now researching free, legal, online options.
How the UK government and the broadcast media industry will view this loss of revenue and ad eyeballs in support of an unprofessional, tribally partial state broadcast system that is too unique to bear the weight of its own ineptitude and hypocricies will be interesting to discover, especially if others follow suit.
No licence fee means less in the pot for those payoffs and pensions too. And the money tree is already bare if they go looking elsewhere.
I may be middle-aged, middle class, middle-income, and middle of the road, but by golly I can still find a non-criminal route to civil disobedience by way of person power!
Well done! I hope plenty more will follow.
Well said.
Adrian van Klaveren gave the go-ahead for the “Thatcher-era Tory Paedo!!!” Newsnight broadcast. What’s his punishment? He’s returning to his usual job as R5L controller.
When he took over the role of overseeing Newsnight and Savile-related coverage van Klaveren told the Telegraph’s Neil Midgley: “I can focus on this 100% with no news department to run.”
That worked out well then. What happens when he’s not focused 100%?
Given how relaxed van Klaveren has been about bias on his own station (Richard Bacon being the prime exhibit) I’m not that surprised how incurious he was about the journalistic integrity of the “Thatcher-era Tory Paedo!!!” Newsnight.
What’s his punishment? He’s returning to his usual job
As we are now in the realms of farce with this deranged, unaccountable market-rate asylum, one could argue the punishment is fitting the crime.
The BBC – The Priory Meets ‘Unique’
My BBC biased top 6:
1. Radio 4 (obviously – radio lefty elite)
2. Radio 5 Live (socialism/sport mash up)
3. BBC London (Ken Livingstone’s former PR dept)
4. The One Show (socialism for the masses)
5. Question Time (socialist audiences)
6. Newsnight (need I say more?)
The One Show would keep this site going just on its own
Does “Eastenders” still have a script produced at Labour HQ?
No – the writers moved over to Ambridge.
The entire US division needs to be at the top of your list.
Maybe a poll to be had here!
1. Laurie Taylor.
2. The News Quiz
3. The Now Show
4. Libby “bloody” Purvis
5. Question Time
6. Newsnight
7. In Touch
8. You and Yours.
9. The Culture Show
10. Desert Island Discs.
The News Quiz
A song for George’s replacement, music man Tim Davie-
” I Entwhistle a happy tune.”
Harriet Harman giving a defense of the BBC against the political opponents “lining up” to do it harm. The Tory Cultural Minister is saying more or less the same thing. Envy of the world, highly-prized national institution, etc. Just like I’ve been saying all along.
The BBC is going no where, the license fee is not in jeopardy. If anything, the politicians will now be competing to see who is the best champion for the BBC and will win the garter when the tournament ends. Bradshaw even asked if there was Government interference in getting Entwistle to step down.
A pathetic display for the most part.
Quite good though for smoking out the trustie toadies though eh?
Poor old Polly must be spinning.
Bit like those oafs who defended Brands right to “ave a laff” at Andrew Sachs expense…not one of them has prospered since.
Not even on the Now Show, where they`re still the last pups in the shop( yes YOU, Jon Holmes)
The BBC are revealed as hypocrites if this happened at any other organisation their abusive journalists would be frothing at the mouth with self-righteous indignation.
This morning the new acting director of the BBC, Tim Davie, stormed away from a meeting clearly annoyed by the journalist’s questions. But this is the treatment his bullying interviewers regularly dish out – particularly if they regard the interviewee as “right wing”.
Now we have this situation where Entwhistle has obviously been sacked – you don’t get paid severance pay if you resign – but part of his severance deal was that he had to pretend he resigned. The whole thing is as phoney as one of the BBC’s reality TV shows.
This comes on top of a case of serious allegations of institutionally tolerated child sex abuse at the BBC. Then of course, there is the atavistic way in which the BBC is funded and don’t forget its ever more blatant leftwing bias .
It must surely be time for the BBC to go the same way as News Of The World.
‘Telegraph’:
“BBC in crisis as head of news ‘steps aside’: live.
“The scandal at the BBC over how it has dealt with child abuse allegations, both on air and off, has led to the resignation of the director-general George Entwistle. Here is the latest, as it unfolds.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9671705/BBC-in-crisis-live.html
News of George Entwistle’s resignation has now reached all BBC staff.
In a couple of weeks’ time it should reach George Entwistle.