I’m actually feeling sad – not that the licence fee is going to be abolished (hopefully) — but that the relatively impartial BBC of the 1980s and early 1990s that I grew up with no longer exists. If it did still exist, we wouldn’t have a situation where most people are calling for the licence fee to be abolished. They’ve sown the seeds of their own destruction by giving up on that impartiality over the last 20 years or so.
In the 80’s and 90’s the corporation was run by mature men who had grown up during the war (work out the maths), so had a different ‘take’ on things. It is now their grandchildrens generation who are running the whole shebang – the generation who ‘know their rights’ – (from a post earlier), so cannot be told anything and only their way is the right way. AND it wont get any better, as the upcoming generation cant see any further than their smart phone.
Fascinating, Banksy's twee tat was been sprayed over by specific words "BCC w**kers" and non of the reports want to report that BCC = Bristol City Council – the BBC here literally say nothing about what was sprayed. This is not reporting, it's managing https://t.co/BFiFVc3O3H
— The Leopard In The Basement Is A Stupid Name (@tlitb) February 16, 2020
There’s no bias at the BBC ….. however there’s a programme on right now with a studio audience addressing the question “Should Britain be ashamed of its deportation policies” ….. not a leading question at all, no ????
It was often alleged that the Broadcasting Act 1990 was brought about to end Thames TV’s franchise because of Margaret Thatcher’s displeasure at the channel’s “Death on the Rock” documentary. Is Boris going to do the same for the BBC?
Those currently circling the wagons to defend the BBC as “the world’s greatest public service broadcaster” – have they watched BBC TV lately? At least Thames made some decent progammes when it was replaced by the inferior Carlton TV. BBC drama – EastEnders, Doctor Who, Holby City – is a benchmark for awfulness and contains the same political bias as it’s news output. BBC comedy? Switching channels and accidentally finding Live at the Apollo or one of their panel shows is like walking around a corner and finding yourself confronted by a bunch of aggressive charity muggers. As for the BBC’s much trumpeted successes, such as the top Christmas ratings for Gavin and Stacey – well, I’ve never watched the programme or heard a single acquaintance mention it in conversation.
I’m not attracted to anything on Netflix or Amazon, either – I’d like to watch less TV, not more. I’m from the TV generation and often switch on out of habit (even sometimes watching EastEnders, which is how I know how truly terrible it is). Young people do not have the same habit. Many retired people spend most of their time on the internet.
Abolish the BBC. No-one with any sense will care.
If you want to watch something superior to anything on the BBC, this Sunday night.
8pm (Channel 5) Rob Bell walks the lost railways of the North East and visits Beamish.
9pm (Channel 81) Bruce Forsyth and Norman Wisdom at the London Palladium.
10pm (Channel 81) The Boys From Brazil: Josef Mengele creates 94 clones of Hitler.
11pm (Channel 57) Aerial Britain flies over the Scottish Highlands.
The top program on the BBC tonight, is an Orwellian comedy.
Travel with the TARDIS (Transgender And Racial Diversity In Space) and experience a true story about a Transgender Doctor, who inspires Mary Shelley to create the scientist Victor Frankenstein. Also see one of the Doctors Racially Diverse Assistants inspire Mary Shelley to create the hideous creature made by Victor Frankenstein.
I see ‘The Big Question’ has been back on our screens for the last 4 weeks.
I watched today’s show and would advise you to give it a miss, especially if you have blood pressure issues.
The 2 topics started with one about the deportations (this Jamaica lot)
Should we be ashamed, is it the right thing to do (and most of the mainly non white audience thought these people should be allowed to stay)
The couple who didn’t agree were interrupted by Nicky and others as well as Nicky pushing one particular case (phone theft) and brushing over all the murderers and rapists.
Steven Woolfe talked sense (when allowed to speak) but it was mainly the usual lefty rubbish.
Then, a question about defining Islamophobia and again the lefty majority were given a very easy ride.
Anyone trying to make a point which didn’t fit in with the bbc islamophile view was quickly talked over, interrupted, or at the end drowned out with Nicky encouraging everyone to talk at once.
Of course, the far right were mentioned (as if leaving a sausage roll in the same street as a mosk was equal to blowing up little girls at a pop concert)
Maths, and up-to-date news, obviously not one of the Guardian’s strong points. How similar to the BBC!
The new EU Budget round, if I recall correctly, would have been wanting a £20bn to £22bn contribution for Year 1 had the UK remained and the likely escalator was again 2% to 2.5% per annum. For the last five year Budget (not sure where Guardian gets seven years from), the EU bosses were after a 5% Escalator but ‘Call me Dave’ and Boy George put their foot down and said no. I would not be surprised if the EU was after a 5% annual Escalator again.
We are a bit off-topic for the Thread but as you say DS, “Never mind.”
I listened to part of the Radio4 7am News with amusement today. The BBC in full dishonesty mode.
Am relying on memory but it went something like this. The rumour from Downing Street, that the BBC would have to give up the Licence Fee and rely on subscriptions in future was reported as part of the newspaper review. This was followed immediately by the statement that the BBC was immensely popular with the public with a 90% approval rating.
Now what was the question asked?
If I recall correctly, a recent polling of the general public (cannot remember which Research/Polling Company) had 67% of respondents wanting the Licence Fee scrapped.
Up2
I think we can expect further character assassination on number 10 and anyone stamped as Tory – they ll desperately look for dissenters to start ‘cracks ‘ in the Party / government – particularly so if there are signs of a real attempt to change the BBC as opposed to newspaper talk.
Our side could do with a BBC scandal to further undermine it ..
NG, would not be surprised if the BBC try to wriggle out and go for the Licence Fee being given up but a substantial amount to be added to Council Tax bills to finance the BBC that way.
Fed, quite so, am sure they will. It will be important if some of us have Labour MPs to let them know how we feel about the BBC. That will help to spread the pressure around Parliament a bit.
The BBC attack on the Crown Prosecution Service this morning was so strong that I wondered if they would be trying to knobble Keir Starmer, former CPS head, in his Labour leadership bid. I noticed on Friday or Saturday that in News Bulletins, despite Der Starmer being the front runner, Rebecca Long-Bailey was named first, followed by Starmer and then Nandy.
Up2
I don’t know anything about the ms flack stuff but I understand that it was a ‘domestic violence ‘ charge against her . The BBC and others have banged on about Domestic violence for ages – but mainly seeing it as ‘women as victim ‘ . Therefore the policy on prosecution has led to zealous prosecution of those accused – like ms Flack – who may turn out to be a victim of that mindset /policy .
The bubble will occupy itself with that case for a while until something else distracts them ….. kidults .
Didn’t intend to distract you off topic, Fed, not that this lot can stay on topic for long 😉 🙂 but what I really noticed was the vehemence used about the CPS. I took that as a sign of their political chicanery that will be applied to all sorts of things, not just the LF, the Labour leadership but also things like the Budget, US Pres.Elections, etc., etc.
I think the BBC has become a monster and it will be difficult to get it dealt with but the longer it is put off, the worse it will become.
Up2
I can’t think of any Labour MPs who would come out against the BBC – quite a few decent ones lost their seats and largely Corbynites remain – hence the limited shower contending for the leadership and deputy spot .
I think Labour is neither in ‘reflecting ‘ or ‘listening ‘ mode and the best it can do at the moment is question who paid for Bojos holiday in Mustique / mistake . They’ll probably link it to Andy Windsor / Epstein .
Yes, but just think Fed, if you have a story of BBC cruelty and personal hardship to tell and your MP is a Labour MP or some other variety and you have told them about it, they cannot then say ‘I think the BBC is wonderful, I haven’t heard a voice against it.’.
Up2
I thought the BBC would love Keir Starmer as he is a trougher like themselves .
The Labour Prty was set up to represent and further the interests of the worker .
By the eighties it had drifted off course and was more interested in furthering the cause of minorities and social excluded .
Now it’s beached on furthering the nests of international organisations , university lecturers , Bilderburgers , Common Purpose , public sector Chiefs , charities , pressure groups , and any other Gramscian filled organisation .
That’s why I thought a trougher like Der Starmer was their man .
Nibor, yes, me too. That’s why I noticed the ‘(re)arranged order’.
The BBC could possibly be trying to downplay his success so as to not appear too ‘Neil Kinnock’ (nudge, nudge, wink wink) or it could be the Beeb feel that if they promote the trougher over the Socialist no-hoper they will attract more enemies among the general public and eventually the MPs.
Quite right, Stew. Depends of course at what subscription level is set: I gather from a previous Thread on here that a combined Netflix/Amazon thingy is £13 per month approx . That’s Licence Fee territory. If the Beeb try it on at that figure, then, thanks but no thanks. They won’t get me back, even if I have to go hunt for a radio station somewhere digital.
Up2snuff
They can set the subscription at a half a crown a month and I would still not watch. To my mind the BBC output is one big social training exercise, with the rest of the mind benders not far behind.
I received my social training in the 1940s and 1950s from far better teachers than the mass media produce today and that training is still valid today thank you very much.. With a few notable exceptions, the MSM can get knotted as far as I’m concerned because they neither entertain or inform. They lack talent and honesty.
Countryside a special on Diversifying
.. cos the BBC think current industrial farming is wrong
“Diversification is the name of the game”
.. This episode will feature repeats of old examples
New item a farmer in Essex being paid to let the sea breach the wall and flood pasture to make it a salt marsh.
No doubt the sea breaching the wall is due to climate change. They did say that, didn’t they? (I wasn’t watching, just predicting).
They said on the Radio 4 6pm news that the Environment Agency (or is it the Met Office? I try to get it right because I know Maxi would correct me) was the highest ever issued, implying climate change is having an affect. They can issue any number of warnings, but unless followed up with actual flooding, a warning is meaningless. We are never told what triggers a warning, whether they have changed the balance of probability, whether they take into account the ruddy great new housing estates being built up the road or even just the number of people covering their front gardenon which to park their 4×4.
The song accurately reflects the fact that many goods common in Britain during the Victorian era were harvested or produced by slaves in other countries. The contribution Britain made to ending the slave trade prior to this period has been featured in other Horrible Histories episodes.
No mention of those pointing out the blatant inaccuracies.
And the ‘we mentioned over… oo, look, squirrel’ attempt is as risible as ever.
So with the bbc having such a high approval rating whats the issue?
Personally I find most of it’s content dull and of no interest, some of it I find offensive, why should I be forced by law to pay for it?
But according to the poll I’m in a minority, in that case with a head start on subscriber base and high popularity the bbc is ready for the market, it would then be free to increase its subscription rate to cater for any shortfall. Those currently compelled by law to fund the bbc could stop doing so without the threat of capita harassment.
Everyone wins.
The #purposesof exemption is even more pathetic than #viewsmyown for BBC individuals to avoid being held to account, a claim they are making at others a lot without irony.
Earlier someone mentioned the BBC’s odd commitment to economy (not class) and Gretarrific planet saving when it comes to pond-jumping to engage in some TDS-relief.
I wonder if there will be a mass demonstration in favour of maintaining the licence fee for the worlds most prestigious broadcaster. I hope one is called as it would be interesting to see how the pictures measure up to the estimate of the crowd
G.W.F.
Doubt there will be a mass demonstration but you can bet maxincony or the like will start a petition.
BTW, has Al Beeb covered the end of the Telly Tax yet ? Will they risk a “Have Your Say” on the subject ?
Yep, a mate of mine has just emailed me to let me know there is a petition running already, it has been started by a certain Robin Priestley on 38 Degrees.
More evidence of the scientific ignorance at the heart of the BBC Complaints Unit. The BBC says that Vaccine critics are a virus. This uneducated view was the opinion of David Grossman who is currently a correspondent for the BBC in America.
Its not just Climate scientists fighting the morons at the BBC. An exchange of letters between Professor Chris Exley and the BBC complaints director Colin Tregear, once the Project Director at the BBC Weather Centre and great friends of the Trans, Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual community.
BBC Newsnight says that all vaccines are 100% safe and that only uneducated people think otherwise. The letter reveals that like Climate science, the BBC invites scientifically uneducated experts with no background in vaccine safety. Just people paid by the taxpayer to spread the opinion of bureaucrats and politicians.
Professor Exley says that the majority of vaccines include an aluminium salt as an adjuvant. The latest research highlights the toxicity of aluminium in vaccines and its role in many of the serious adverse events reported in individuals following vaccination. The frequency of such adverse events (data from the vaccine manufacturers) is acknowledged to be as high as two and a half percent, which equates to twenty-five thousand healthy people per million recipients becoming ill following vaccination. Displays of lies or at best ignorance as occurred throughout this Newsnight piece are not what is needed to improve the safety and success of vital vaccines.
Jane Martinson – a Guardianista – has written a worried sounding piece today concerning apparent plans to change the BBC . She says the BBC must ‘regain public trust ‘ – which should be encouraging in our campaign to destroy the BBC – an admission like that in the printed part of the BBC .
I wonder what the BBC could do to ‘ regain public trust ‘? Perhaps closing down its propaganda / news department would be a start. Kill off Marr, newsnight , panorama , daily politics – they’ll only be pumping out anti Tory poison until the next election and have all been shown to be against the views and votes of the non London British TV taxpayers
There’ll be plenty of the likes of Martinson writing BBC defence pieces in coming days and weeks .
Good morale boost for this site . After the BBC there’s a need to stop taxpayers money being used to buy newspapers – like the Guardian – after all – the Guardian describes it as a ‘war’ so let it be one .
@Richard is there anything new ?
AFAIK that stuff was dealt with in November 2018.
Bottomline vaccines are so safe the society risk is way lower than the benefits.
With the risk of serious harm being way less than one in a million.
About the claim that someone says the risk is zero, someone is either misrepresenting what someone said to be able to attack.
OR if they did make the claim it is provably wrong
Cos the NHS has a vaccination compensation scheme that pays out a couple of times a year.
I think that is about once in every 30 million vaccinations or something.
‘The government response to the FOI request states that between 1978 and April 2017, 936 claims for a vaccine damage payment have been successful, with the total payout coming to £74,130,000.’ https://fullfact.org/online/vaccine-damage-fund/
Read the Fullfact link @NameNotNumber cos it does say that about 2017-2019
Seems I read it fully and you didn’t
… preferring the confirmation bias of a large number that doesn’t reflect the pattern of recent years
.. Do you really think I made the five number up ?
Richard, you are quite right, the big pharma producing these vaccines go to some trouble to put a piece of paper in with the ampules (as they do with any drug including the humble aspirin) that the GP, the practice nurse and the patient should all read. It will detail all sorts of things including (probably) an estimate of the proportion of recipients per 100,000 who may suffer some reaction, an adverse reaction or a severe reaction.
I’ve nearly been killed by a couple of GPs in the distant past, so the more recent ones tend to be extremely careful to check before prescribing anything for me.
How desperate are BBC gravy-trainers to retain their privilege and perks? THIS desperate > > > The beast is screeching. Let's go in for the kill. Pressure, pressure & more pressure.https://t.co/zgHJvOqZd2#DefundtheBBC#scrapthelicencefee
Just watching Ski Sunday. Thought it was an agenda free zone. Bit they have just had a woman say that climate change is undeniable and there has to be care in the mountains. Just for emphasis she has just repeated climate change. Apparently some people have made a film about it and she has just repeated Climate change for the third time. Last week there was a section about taking severely disabled young people skiing in Europe. CC been mentioned 3 more times while I was typing this. I give up.
Someone replied to them – Telegraph : American ski resorts to stay open until July
– Web results : Australia’s Perisher Ski Resort is extending to October 13.
OMG. #skisunday on the #bbc has just gone all climate emergency telling us how the ski resorts are doing everything they can to lower their carbon footprint. I’d just turned over from being brainwashed on #countryfile as well. Silly me for even trying the #bbc again. Never again
Thursday’ s Question Time . One audience member asks
Are the BBC and its apolologists circling the wagons about the licence fee ?
In Business (BBC2) can the Beeb survive outside its bubble in the real business world ?
Moral Maze ; is it right to try to force everyone to pay for something they don’t agree with . Is the BBC ethical with its threatograms ?
Science Today ; how subscription and other ways are used to pay for broadcasting , the new generation of broadcasting and Internet , the choices that should be available .
In Our Time ; a historical look at the Wireless and Telegraphy Act 1948 and how it affects our lives today .
CBBC : why public service broadcasting is so important and everyone should pay for it , how it gives your young minds the truth , why only Nazis hate the BBC , why anyone the BBC doesn’t like is a Nazi , the parallel between Josef Goebbels and those who couldn’t care less about the BBC , Trump ,write and tell us how you like the BBC , what will you do to save the BBC .
Except for the last , I made those up . But you knew that .
@Nibor you forgot to say that Nish Kumar will present the CBBC show
And that Countryfile will have a report
where Tom Heap will talk around the large number of licence fee abstainers in the countryside
and conclude that it correlates with people being Far Right.
Whatever your view on the BBC, the quote from a govt source is alarming “we are having a consultation and we will whack it. It has to be a subscription service”. If you are going to “whack it” and “it has to be subscription”, what’s the “consultation”?
Anyone who has ever responded to a government, (of whatever colour), ‘consultation’ will find that it is always a case of choosing from the options that have been proposed.
Indeed there can be a whole set of consultation documents that need to be read before one can even properly respond, i.e. “Which of the options set out in Schedule 4a of Consultation Paper 5 do you prefer?” And then Schedule 4a will say “Option 1: The scheme set out on Schedule 2 of Consultation Paper 3; Option 2: The scheme set out in Annex 6 of Consultation Paper 4 or Option 3: The scheme set out in Annex 7 of Consultation paper 4.
Essentially they are just going through the motions.
Sorry if this has been highlighted before .
But I’ve just started reading the Sunday Times article and it paraphrases Sir (trougher – Keir Starmer friend ? ) David Clemanti .
” he argued that a move to a subscription model would mean a loss of earnings for the BBC that would lead to POPULAR programmes being axed and that the introduction of Netflix style payments could result I the loss of ” public service ” programming in a race to attract paying viewers ”
ie they would axe ” populist ” shows so that they could broadcast — populist shows —- so that the populists pay them ?!?!?
So it looks like the ” high brows ” subsidise the “low brows ” under the current subsidy scheme at Al Beeb which shouldn’t be changed because otherwise the “low brows ” would just be paying for what they want without subsidy and the high brows wouldn’t get their shows what the low brows pay for unless they went to a subscription service but it might not pay .
That is a ” unique ” payment method .
Poor Mary , worried about her regular source of income – TV taxpayers ‘ money being reduced or ended ? There’ll be plenty on the gravy train popping up…. I somehow think that the overpaid such as Linaker might stay out of this as he has seen how much influence he carries with regard to brexit ….. stick to the crisps and the prem Gary ….
Front page of the Telegraph (business section) is a move to rename the RBS Bank to Nat West. As a former Nat West customer myself – I moved bank (many years ago) well before RBS was exposed as being a bit ‘dodgy’ financially and I was proved right when RBS became the biggest banking failure in the UK history. (it was all based in Scotland, and Scotland could not bale out its own bank), not now and not then either. It had to be bailed out by the UK government as Scotland is part of the UK. I mention this because RBS was (considered) too BIG to fail – and so HMG had no choice but to bail it out. It was ‘Nationalised’ and we still,own 62% of what its now worth. It will survive under a new name Nat West, (which was ‘goodish’ bank before RBS got its mucky hand on it..
When the US bonds went tits up with the junk bonds schemes (chasing easy money from poor blacks who could not afford a mortgage (being promised that you never need to pay it off). That was the root cause of the US banking crisis. RBS was not the ONLY one to loose Billions. Icelandic Bank suffered as well and recovered quickly. RBS took a very long time, it was too BIG to fail when the money ran out.
The BBC is also too BIG to fail when the money runs out. It has had warnings before to stop the reliance on taxpayer money (but )- under Lord Hall’s watch, he went native and BBC salaries went up, now matching the top financiers of RBS. We are talking over 20 to 200 who have £1miilion pound + salaries (some over £2 million) and many more hidden away on ‘BBC WORLDWIDE’ which is the takeover vehicle when the BBC finally hits the financial wall next Charter.
Its uncanny that the same salaries in top UK financial companies are mirrored in the BBC. Whereas the BBC claims they have to pay ‘top’ talent’ when many of these people are overpaid civil-servants – who have never worked commercially – or had a job outside the BBC. What skills they have (or think they have) will never be tested until the BBC runs out of money. Its clear it cannot raise any more money from the TV license fee, its costs are rocketing and its market is falling. Its set up to be the biggest financial failure in UK media history, but that won’t happen either because, we the UK taxpayers will end up paying for it as we will have to bail it out for ‘national prestige’ reasons before the next Charter fixture in 2027.
Its a distinct possibility based on its own BBC projections and BBC expansions plans that are just as dodgy and speculative as RBS was then. Nobody wants to buy a TV license and the imposed criminality factor is the only thing keeping it propped up.
Now RBS changes its name to Nat West and is about to drastically ‘downsize’ by ridding itself of multi-million pound salaries (overheads) and bonuses (that still exist in the BBC) which also has no plans to ‘downsize’ the media monopoly which we all know wastes £ millions (if not 3.9 Billions of Taxpayer pounds annually).
Re the Sunday Times
It is quite interesting that the Woke-supremacists of the BBC going subscription.
The thing is now that The Times is SUBSCRIPTION
and the vast majority of its staff are Woke-mob
.. so the comments beneath its articles are incredible as the majority of Times readers are able to call out so many aspects of their news stories
.. The proportion of Pro-Brexit , anti-GreenDream , anti-woke commenters in times comments is similar to those on the BBC HYS when the BBC opens comments.
I dipped into ‘The Westminster Hour ‘ – which used to have some genuinely informative themes . Now it is a London bubble
Talking shop of rumours and the likes of criminals like Vicki Price ? – economist and former significant other of ex pompous politician Chris Hune – delivering her judgement on the new government – and every one is gunning for Dom ….. off switch .
And with that I close this busy thread and move into Monday as the Paul scholfield ? story is now linking to the TV lady who killed herself …..
BOOM ???? 200,000 homes ditch their BBC TV licences in a year prompting funding crisis at the corporation as No10 says it wants Netflix-style subscription system https://t.co/v10NzTv7iY
It is painfully clear a very serious education drive needs to be made about WHAT the BBC does, WHY it’s important and HOW it’s paid for. That there’s a level of ignorance out there is probably our fault, with the service taken for granted for far too long.
Of course, an endless line of entitled luvvies on Joe, a lefty twat site, really is going to help.
“I would man the barricades to defend it.” — Steve Coogan is prepared to battle British PM Boris Johnson’s assault on the @BBC
This is not just a British fight. This is a battle to save an institution that is a source of independent news for the world.pic.twitter.com/Ld496RG21U
ZephirNov 23, 10:18 Weekend 23rd November 2024 Thanks for leaving me with the indelible image of a bunch of thickset tattooed skinheads all singing “Super Millwall”. “Oh…
MarkyMarkNov 23, 10:17 Weekend 23rd November 2024 1400 Islamophobic kids ignored in Rotherham. ** wearing a Hijab would solve this!
GNov 23, 10:11 Weekend 23rd November 2024 I’ll wager that not one of my fellow contributors here, think that the UK has been managed well over the…
AsISeeItNov 23, 10:09 Weekend 23rd November 2024 Indubitably, sir. Chas only needs to take a trip down as far as Hackney Wick to get the same thing…
Fedup2Nov 23, 10:08 Weekend 23rd November 2024 Asiseeit It does seem perverse to wish the UK further ill in order to get rid of the reds .…
MarkyMarkNov 23, 10:07 Weekend 23rd November 2024 sureyl AsISeeItCancel – “Royal Exclusive… King to tour India ” India to arrive on UK shores to visit King?
GNov 23, 10:02 Weekend 23rd November 2024 Z, ““Why Trump is looking to Britain as he plans to crack down on illegal migrants….”. Wot? Perhaps as a…
I’m actually feeling sad – not that the licence fee is going to be abolished (hopefully) — but that the relatively impartial BBC of the 1980s and early 1990s that I grew up with no longer exists. If it did still exist, we wouldn’t have a situation where most people are calling for the licence fee to be abolished. They’ve sown the seeds of their own destruction by giving up on that impartiality over the last 20 years or so.
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In the 80’s and 90’s the corporation was run by mature men who had grown up during the war (work out the maths), so had a different ‘take’ on things. It is now their grandchildrens generation who are running the whole shebang – the generation who ‘know their rights’ – (from a post earlier), so cannot be told anything and only their way is the right way. AND it wont get any better, as the upcoming generation cant see any further than their smart phone.
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D’ya know, Brissles, I thought you’d said ‘smart-arse’…
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Lewis has chipped in. That helps somewhere between Polly and Sweeney!
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World class editorial integrity.
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bbc when did you stop beating your wife? at it’s finest.
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It was often alleged that the Broadcasting Act 1990 was brought about to end Thames TV’s franchise because of Margaret Thatcher’s displeasure at the channel’s “Death on the Rock” documentary. Is Boris going to do the same for the BBC?
Those currently circling the wagons to defend the BBC as “the world’s greatest public service broadcaster” – have they watched BBC TV lately? At least Thames made some decent progammes when it was replaced by the inferior Carlton TV. BBC drama – EastEnders, Doctor Who, Holby City – is a benchmark for awfulness and contains the same political bias as it’s news output. BBC comedy? Switching channels and accidentally finding Live at the Apollo or one of their panel shows is like walking around a corner and finding yourself confronted by a bunch of aggressive charity muggers. As for the BBC’s much trumpeted successes, such as the top Christmas ratings for Gavin and Stacey – well, I’ve never watched the programme or heard a single acquaintance mention it in conversation.
I’m not attracted to anything on Netflix or Amazon, either – I’d like to watch less TV, not more. I’m from the TV generation and often switch on out of habit (even sometimes watching EastEnders, which is how I know how truly terrible it is). Young people do not have the same habit. Many retired people spend most of their time on the internet.
Abolish the BBC. No-one with any sense will care.
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If you want to watch something superior to anything on the BBC, this Sunday night.
8pm (Channel 5) Rob Bell walks the lost railways of the North East and visits Beamish.
9pm (Channel 81) Bruce Forsyth and Norman Wisdom at the London Palladium.
10pm (Channel 81) The Boys From Brazil: Josef Mengele creates 94 clones of Hitler.
11pm (Channel 57) Aerial Britain flies over the Scottish Highlands.
The top program on the BBC tonight, is an Orwellian comedy.
Travel with the TARDIS (Transgender And Racial Diversity In Space) and experience a true story about a Transgender Doctor, who inspires Mary Shelley to create the scientist Victor Frankenstein. Also see one of the Doctors Racially Diverse Assistants inspire Mary Shelley to create the hideous creature made by Victor Frankenstein.
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I mostly watch Quest HD and The Smithsonian Channel HD. Great programmes.
Fred
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I see ‘The Big Question’ has been back on our screens for the last 4 weeks.
I watched today’s show and would advise you to give it a miss, especially if you have blood pressure issues.
The 2 topics started with one about the deportations (this Jamaica lot)
Should we be ashamed, is it the right thing to do (and most of the mainly non white audience thought these people should be allowed to stay)
The couple who didn’t agree were interrupted by Nicky and others as well as Nicky pushing one particular case (phone theft) and brushing over all the murderers and rapists.
Steven Woolfe talked sense (when allowed to speak) but it was mainly the usual lefty rubbish.
Then, a question about defining Islamophobia and again the lefty majority were given a very easy ride.
Anyone trying to make a point which didn’t fit in with the bbc islamophile view was quickly talked over, interrupted, or at the end drowned out with Nicky encouraging everyone to talk at once.
Of course, the far right were mentioned (as if leaving a sausage roll in the same street as a mosk was equal to blowing up little girls at a pop concert)
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The Guardian:
“‘Fighting like ferrets in a bag’ as EU tries to plug Brexit cash hole.”
“UK’s withdrawal has left £62bn hole in bloc’s purse for the next seven years ”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/16/stressed-heads-to-start-brussels-budget-talks-post-brexit?fbclid=IwAR08gILWgaxNVPjY8wfa6n7QRMl-zS74hD9MrYtTu2T2M-PJuOGtJG1nWac
What a pity. How sad. Never mind. 🙂
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Maths, and up-to-date news, obviously not one of the Guardian’s strong points. How similar to the BBC!
The new EU Budget round, if I recall correctly, would have been wanting a £20bn to £22bn contribution for Year 1 had the UK remained and the likely escalator was again 2% to 2.5% per annum. For the last five year Budget (not sure where Guardian gets seven years from), the EU bosses were after a 5% Escalator but ‘Call me Dave’ and Boy George put their foot down and said no. I would not be surprised if the EU was after a 5% annual Escalator again.
We are a bit off-topic for the Thread but as you say DS, “Never mind.”
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I listened to part of the Radio4 7am News with amusement today. The BBC in full dishonesty mode.
Am relying on memory but it went something like this. The rumour from Downing Street, that the BBC would have to give up the Licence Fee and rely on subscriptions in future was reported as part of the newspaper review. This was followed immediately by the statement that the BBC was immensely popular with the public with a 90% approval rating.
Now what was the question asked?
If I recall correctly, a recent polling of the general public (cannot remember which Research/Polling Company) had 67% of respondents wanting the Licence Fee scrapped.
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Up2
I think we can expect further character assassination on number 10 and anyone stamped as Tory – they ll desperately look for dissenters to start ‘cracks ‘ in the Party / government – particularly so if there are signs of a real attempt to change the BBC as opposed to newspaper talk.
Our side could do with a BBC scandal to further undermine it ..
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I agree that a ‘real attempt’ to move State Broadcaster to subscription is still not on the agenda.
My suspicion is that a premium service will be offered in return for a capped fee plus free for the over 75s?
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NG, would not be surprised if the BBC try to wriggle out and go for the Licence Fee being given up but a substantial amount to be added to Council Tax bills to finance the BBC that way.
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Fed, quite so, am sure they will. It will be important if some of us have Labour MPs to let them know how we feel about the BBC. That will help to spread the pressure around Parliament a bit.
The BBC attack on the Crown Prosecution Service this morning was so strong that I wondered if they would be trying to knobble Keir Starmer, former CPS head, in his Labour leadership bid. I noticed on Friday or Saturday that in News Bulletins, despite Der Starmer being the front runner, Rebecca Long-Bailey was named first, followed by Starmer and then Nandy.
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Up2
I don’t know anything about the ms flack stuff but I understand that it was a ‘domestic violence ‘ charge against her . The BBC and others have banged on about Domestic violence for ages – but mainly seeing it as ‘women as victim ‘ . Therefore the policy on prosecution has led to zealous prosecution of those accused – like ms Flack – who may turn out to be a victim of that mindset /policy .
The bubble will occupy itself with that case for a while until something else distracts them ….. kidults .
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Didn’t intend to distract you off topic, Fed, not that this lot can stay on topic for long 😉 🙂 but what I really noticed was the vehemence used about the CPS. I took that as a sign of their political chicanery that will be applied to all sorts of things, not just the LF, the Labour leadership but also things like the Budget, US Pres.Elections, etc., etc.
I think the BBC has become a monster and it will be difficult to get it dealt with but the longer it is put off, the worse it will become.
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Up2
I can’t think of any Labour MPs who would come out against the BBC – quite a few decent ones lost their seats and largely Corbynites remain – hence the limited shower contending for the leadership and deputy spot .
I think Labour is neither in ‘reflecting ‘ or ‘listening ‘ mode and the best it can do at the moment is question who paid for Bojos holiday in Mustique / mistake . They’ll probably link it to Andy Windsor / Epstein .
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Yes, but just think Fed, if you have a story of BBC cruelty and personal hardship to tell and your MP is a Labour MP or some other variety and you have told them about it, they cannot then say ‘I think the BBC is wonderful, I haven’t heard a voice against it.’.
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Up2
I thought the BBC would love Keir Starmer as he is a trougher like themselves .
The Labour Prty was set up to represent and further the interests of the worker .
By the eighties it had drifted off course and was more interested in furthering the cause of minorities and social excluded .
Now it’s beached on furthering the nests of international organisations , university lecturers , Bilderburgers , Common Purpose , public sector Chiefs , charities , pressure groups , and any other Gramscian filled organisation .
That’s why I thought a trougher like Der Starmer was their man .
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Nibor, yes, me too. That’s why I noticed the ‘(re)arranged order’.
The BBC could possibly be trying to downplay his success so as to not appear too ‘Neil Kinnock’ (nudge, nudge, wink wink) or it could be the Beeb feel that if they promote the trougher over the Socialist no-hoper they will attract more enemies among the general public and eventually the MPs.
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90% approval rating? I don’t remember being asked?
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@Up3snuff they quoted the Times
“Polls show the BBC retains high approval ratings with more than 80% of voters. ”
They don’t say where these polls come from
Anyone who believed such polls wouldn’t have a problem with the BBC going subscription would they ?
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Quite right, Stew. Depends of course at what subscription level is set: I gather from a previous Thread on here that a combined Netflix/Amazon thingy is £13 per month approx . That’s Licence Fee territory. If the Beeb try it on at that figure, then, thanks but no thanks. They won’t get me back, even if I have to go hunt for a radio station somewhere digital.
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Up2snuff
They can set the subscription at a half a crown a month and I would still not watch. To my mind the BBC output is one big social training exercise, with the rest of the mind benders not far behind.
I received my social training in the 1940s and 1950s from far better teachers than the mass media produce today and that training is still valid today thank you very much.. With a few notable exceptions, the MSM can get knotted as far as I’m concerned because they neither entertain or inform. They lack talent and honesty.
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Misinformation? From the BBC? Can it be?
Plus… a blast from the past.
https://tv-licensing.blogspot.com/2020/02/tv-licence-publicity-sparks-fresh-wave.html?
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Countryside a special on Diversifying
.. cos the BBC think current industrial farming is wrong
“Diversification is the name of the game”
.. This episode will feature repeats of old examples
New item a farmer in Essex being paid to let the sea breach the wall and flood pasture to make it a salt marsh.
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No doubt the sea breaching the wall is due to climate change. They did say that, didn’t they? (I wasn’t watching, just predicting).
They said on the Radio 4 6pm news that the Environment Agency (or is it the Met Office? I try to get it right because I know Maxi would correct me) was the highest ever issued, implying climate change is having an affect. They can issue any number of warnings, but unless followed up with actual flooding, a warning is meaningless. We are never told what triggers a warning, whether they have changed the balance of probability, whether they take into account the ruddy great new housing estates being built up the road or even just the number of people covering their front gardenon which to park their 4×4.
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Just noticed this is currently lurking on the Complaints page.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaint/horriblehistoriesbrexit
The song accurately reflects the fact that many goods common in Britain during the Victorian era were harvested or produced by slaves in other countries. The contribution Britain made to ending the slave trade prior to this period has been featured in other Horrible Histories episodes.
No mention of those pointing out the blatant inaccuracies.
And the ‘we mentioned over… oo, look, squirrel’ attempt is as risible as ever.
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So with the bbc having such a high approval rating whats the issue?
Personally I find most of it’s content dull and of no interest, some of it I find offensive, why should I be forced by law to pay for it?
But according to the poll I’m in a minority, in that case with a head start on subscriber base and high popularity the bbc is ready for the market, it would then be free to increase its subscription rate to cater for any shortfall. Those currently compelled by law to fund the bbc could stop doing so without the threat of capita harassment.
Everyone wins.
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http://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.com/2020/02/just-one-more-thing.html
The #purposesof exemption is even more pathetic than #viewsmyown for BBC individuals to avoid being held to account, a claim they are making at others a lot without irony.
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Earlier someone mentioned the BBC’s odd commitment to economy (not class) and Gretarrific planet saving when it comes to pond-jumping to engage in some TDS-relief.
http://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.com/2020/02/a-bakers-dozen.html
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I wonder if there will be a mass demonstration in favour of maintaining the licence fee for the worlds most prestigious broadcaster. I hope one is called as it would be interesting to see how the pictures measure up to the estimate of the crowd
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G.W.F.
Doubt there will be a mass demonstration but you can bet maxincony or the like will start a petition.
BTW, has Al Beeb covered the end of the Telly Tax yet ? Will they risk a “Have Your Say” on the subject ?
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Yep, a mate of mine has just emailed me to let me know there is a petition running already, it has been started by a certain Robin Priestley on 38 Degrees.
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More evidence of the scientific ignorance at the heart of the BBC Complaints Unit. The BBC says that Vaccine critics are a virus. This uneducated view was the opinion of David Grossman who is currently a correspondent for the BBC in America.
Its not just Climate scientists fighting the morons at the BBC. An exchange of letters between Professor Chris Exley and the BBC complaints director Colin Tregear, once the Project Director at the BBC Weather Centre and great friends of the Trans, Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual community.
BBC Newsnight says that all vaccines are 100% safe and that only uneducated people think otherwise. The letter reveals that like Climate science, the BBC invites scientifically uneducated experts with no background in vaccine safety. Just people paid by the taxpayer to spread the opinion of bureaucrats and politicians.
Professor Exley says that the majority of vaccines include an aluminium salt as an adjuvant. The latest research highlights the toxicity of aluminium in vaccines and its role in many of the serious adverse events reported in individuals following vaccination. The frequency of such adverse events (data from the vaccine manufacturers) is acknowledged to be as high as two and a half percent, which equates to twenty-five thousand healthy people per million recipients becoming ill following vaccination. Displays of lies or at best ignorance as occurred throughout this Newsnight piece are not what is needed to improve the safety and success of vital vaccines.
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Jane Martinson – a Guardianista – has written a worried sounding piece today concerning apparent plans to change the BBC . She says the BBC must ‘regain public trust ‘ – which should be encouraging in our campaign to destroy the BBC – an admission like that in the printed part of the BBC .
I wonder what the BBC could do to ‘ regain public trust ‘? Perhaps closing down its propaganda / news department would be a start. Kill off Marr, newsnight , panorama , daily politics – they’ll only be pumping out anti Tory poison until the next election and have all been shown to be against the views and votes of the non London British TV taxpayers
There’ll be plenty of the likes of Martinson writing BBC defence pieces in coming days and weeks .
Good morale boost for this site . After the BBC there’s a need to stop taxpayers money being used to buy newspapers – like the Guardian – after all – the Guardian describes it as a ‘war’ so let it be one .
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@Richard is there anything new ?
AFAIK that stuff was dealt with in November 2018.
Bottomline vaccines are so safe the society risk is way lower than the benefits.
With the risk of serious harm being way less than one in a million.
About the claim that someone says the risk is zero, someone is either misrepresenting what someone said to be able to attack.
OR if they did make the claim it is provably wrong
Cos the NHS has a vaccination compensation scheme that pays out a couple of times a year.
I think that is about once in every 30 million vaccinations or something.
https://www.ageofautism.com/2018/11/the-bbc-vaccine-critics-are-a-virus.html
https://fullfact.org/online/vaccine-damage-fund/
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‘two times a year’ Stew?
‘The government response to the FOI request states that between 1978 and April 2017, 936 claims for a vaccine damage payment have been successful, with the total payout coming to £74,130,000.’
https://fullfact.org/online/vaccine-damage-fund/
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Can’t you read ?..how many payouts were there between April 2017 and May 2019 …?
Five
Of course the earlier figure was bigger cos it is skewed by the payouts in the 1970s
And what’s the point in posting the same Fullfact link that I posted in my post ?
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Perhaps you should read your own post, (where does it say between 2017 and 2019?) similarly your own link.
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Read the Fullfact link @NameNotNumber cos it does say that about 2017-2019
Seems I read it fully and you didn’t
… preferring the confirmation bias of a large number that doesn’t reflect the pattern of recent years
.. Do you really think I made the five number up ?
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Richard, you are quite right, the big pharma producing these vaccines go to some trouble to put a piece of paper in with the ampules (as they do with any drug including the humble aspirin) that the GP, the practice nurse and the patient should all read. It will detail all sorts of things including (probably) an estimate of the proportion of recipients per 100,000 who may suffer some reaction, an adverse reaction or a severe reaction.
I’ve nearly been killed by a couple of GPs in the distant past, so the more recent ones tend to be extremely careful to check before prescribing anything for me.
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Just watching Ski Sunday. Thought it was an agenda free zone. Bit they have just had a woman say that climate change is undeniable and there has to be care in the mountains. Just for emphasis she has just repeated climate change. Apparently some people have made a film about it and she has just repeated Climate change for the third time. Last week there was a section about taking severely disabled young people skiing in Europe. CC been mentioned 3 more times while I was typing this. I give up.
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I caught a glance of the show
the downhill competition seemed to being shot from a helicopter.
Twitter noticed
and in this thread 3 other people echo him
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Someone replied to them
– Telegraph : American ski resorts to stay open until July
– Web results : Australia’s Perisher Ski Resort is extending to October 13.
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Yes David, I genuinely believe the end is in sight. Early indications are that this is a Government of action, not words.
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Next weeks programmes on the BBC
Thursday’ s Question Time . One audience member asks
Are the BBC and its apolologists circling the wagons about the licence fee ?
In Business (BBC2) can the Beeb survive outside its bubble in the real business world ?
Moral Maze ; is it right to try to force everyone to pay for something they don’t agree with . Is the BBC ethical with its threatograms ?
Science Today ; how subscription and other ways are used to pay for broadcasting , the new generation of broadcasting and Internet , the choices that should be available .
In Our Time ; a historical look at the Wireless and Telegraphy Act 1948 and how it affects our lives today .
CBBC : why public service broadcasting is so important and everyone should pay for it , how it gives your young minds the truth , why only Nazis hate the BBC , why anyone the BBC doesn’t like is a Nazi , the parallel between Josef Goebbels and those who couldn’t care less about the BBC , Trump ,write and tell us how you like the BBC , what will you do to save the BBC .
Except for the last , I made those up . But you knew that .
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@Nibor you forgot to say that Nish Kumar will present the CBBC show
And that Countryfile will have a report
where Tom Heap will talk around the large number of licence fee abstainers in the countryside
and conclude that it correlates with people being Far Right.
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The Wireless Telegraphy Act was 1947 not 1948.
Fred
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There is something about Mary.
Is it… the chekky?
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Anyone who has ever responded to a government, (of whatever colour), ‘consultation’ will find that it is always a case of choosing from the options that have been proposed.
Indeed there can be a whole set of consultation documents that need to be read before one can even properly respond, i.e. “Which of the options set out in Schedule 4a of Consultation Paper 5 do you prefer?” And then Schedule 4a will say “Option 1: The scheme set out on Schedule 2 of Consultation Paper 3; Option 2: The scheme set out in Annex 6 of Consultation Paper 4 or Option 3: The scheme set out in Annex 7 of Consultation paper 4.
Essentially they are just going through the motions.
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Sorry if this has been highlighted before .
But I’ve just started reading the Sunday Times article and it paraphrases Sir (trougher – Keir Starmer friend ? ) David Clemanti .
” he argued that a move to a subscription model would mean a loss of earnings for the BBC that would lead to POPULAR programmes being axed and that the introduction of Netflix style payments could result I the loss of ” public service ” programming in a race to attract paying viewers ”
ie they would axe ” populist ” shows so that they could broadcast — populist shows —- so that the populists pay them ?!?!?
So it looks like the ” high brows ” subsidise the “low brows ” under the current subsidy scheme at Al Beeb which shouldn’t be changed because otherwise the “low brows ” would just be paying for what they want without subsidy and the high brows wouldn’t get their shows what the low brows pay for unless they went to a subscription service but it might not pay .
That is a ” unique ” payment method .
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Poor Mary , worried about her regular source of income – TV taxpayers ‘ money being reduced or ended ? There’ll be plenty on the gravy train popping up…. I somehow think that the overpaid such as Linaker might stay out of this as he has seen how much influence he carries with regard to brexit ….. stick to the crisps and the prem Gary ….
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Front page of the Telegraph (business section) is a move to rename the RBS Bank to Nat West. As a former Nat West customer myself – I moved bank (many years ago) well before RBS was exposed as being a bit ‘dodgy’ financially and I was proved right when RBS became the biggest banking failure in the UK history. (it was all based in Scotland, and Scotland could not bale out its own bank), not now and not then either. It had to be bailed out by the UK government as Scotland is part of the UK. I mention this because RBS was (considered) too BIG to fail – and so HMG had no choice but to bail it out. It was ‘Nationalised’ and we still,own 62% of what its now worth. It will survive under a new name Nat West, (which was ‘goodish’ bank before RBS got its mucky hand on it..
When the US bonds went tits up with the junk bonds schemes (chasing easy money from poor blacks who could not afford a mortgage (being promised that you never need to pay it off). That was the root cause of the US banking crisis. RBS was not the ONLY one to loose Billions. Icelandic Bank suffered as well and recovered quickly. RBS took a very long time, it was too BIG to fail when the money ran out.
The BBC is also too BIG to fail when the money runs out. It has had warnings before to stop the reliance on taxpayer money (but )- under Lord Hall’s watch, he went native and BBC salaries went up, now matching the top financiers of RBS. We are talking over 20 to 200 who have £1miilion pound + salaries (some over £2 million) and many more hidden away on ‘BBC WORLDWIDE’ which is the takeover vehicle when the BBC finally hits the financial wall next Charter.
Its uncanny that the same salaries in top UK financial companies are mirrored in the BBC. Whereas the BBC claims they have to pay ‘top’ talent’ when many of these people are overpaid civil-servants – who have never worked commercially – or had a job outside the BBC. What skills they have (or think they have) will never be tested until the BBC runs out of money. Its clear it cannot raise any more money from the TV license fee, its costs are rocketing and its market is falling. Its set up to be the biggest financial failure in UK media history, but that won’t happen either because, we the UK taxpayers will end up paying for it as we will have to bail it out for ‘national prestige’ reasons before the next Charter fixture in 2027.
Its a distinct possibility based on its own BBC projections and BBC expansions plans that are just as dodgy and speculative as RBS was then. Nobody wants to buy a TV license and the imposed criminality factor is the only thing keeping it propped up.
Now RBS changes its name to Nat West and is about to drastically ‘downsize’ by ridding itself of multi-million pound salaries (overheads) and bonuses (that still exist in the BBC) which also has no plans to ‘downsize’ the media monopoly which we all know wastes £ millions (if not 3.9 Billions of Taxpayer pounds annually).
From The Guardian perspective (2018). RBS were TOXIC brands.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/11/ten-years-rbs-toxic-brand
Probably more news on this tomorrow morning… Could not find Telegraph link to confirm that top (BBC style) salaries are being axed at RBS, but it’ll be in Mondays editions.
https://news.sky.com/story/state-backed-rbs-finalises-plan-for-305m-bonus-pot-11923493
Sunday Times: (Jobs for the Girls) – losses what losses?
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-bank-of-london-rbs-boss-alison-rose-is-queen-of-the-south-vv9t2f9tz
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Re the Sunday Times
It is quite interesting that the Woke-supremacists of the BBC going subscription.
The thing is now that The Times is SUBSCRIPTION
and the vast majority of its staff are Woke-mob
.. so the comments beneath its articles are incredible as the majority of Times readers are able to call out so many aspects of their news stories
.. The proportion of Pro-Brexit , anti-GreenDream , anti-woke commenters in times comments is similar to those on the BBC HYS when the BBC opens comments.
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I dipped into ‘The Westminster Hour ‘ – which used to have some genuinely informative themes . Now it is a London bubble
Talking shop of rumours and the likes of criminals like Vicki Price ? – economist and former significant other of ex pompous politician Chris Hune – delivering her judgement on the new government – and every one is gunning for Dom ….. off switch .
And with that I close this busy thread and move into Monday as the Paul scholfield ? story is now linking to the TV lady who killed herself …..
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Do we get a Boom Boom from Basil? Or Emily and Katty?
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Clive weighs in.
#CCBGB
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Of course, an endless line of entitled luvvies on Joe, a lefty twat site, really is going to help.
Will these barricades be XR style ones, turning back ambulances but letting Jon Sopel’s Fiat 500 through to park in the airport short term?
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Bingo!
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Another bbc pensioner chips in.
I wonder what he claimed?
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When in hole, prove why you are in it.
https://twitter.com/samwhitetky/status/1229271058789724160?s=21
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£100,000,000 of wasted money is a bbc magic number already.
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