MARKET RATE?

I’m sure you will have been reassured by the news that a report due out later today and commissioned by the BBC Trust makes it clear that the BBC is not paying “stars” such as Jonathan Ross beyond the going market rate. The review will also say such salaries have not inflated pay in the talent market. It comes after pay details were leaked last year, including a three-year deal for Ross reportedly worth £18m. So,£6m a year for being an oily self-obsessed vulgar sycophant is the going rate? In which universe might this be? Ross is a particularly obnoxious character whose Friday evening lewd programme represents a nadir in the values that BBC allegedly espouses. When I see the words “BBC” and “Trust” together, I know I am going to be misled and this latest white-wash will not cover up the wanton wastefulness of the State Broadcaster.

AIN’T LIFE GRAND?

I wonder if you read this report about the freebies bonanza that afflicts those senior executives in the BBC? They have to endure being provided with the likes of Rugby Final tickets, Elton John concert tickets, even freebie cookery lessons with a Michelin-starred chef, poor dears. Naturally they take all these onerous tasks on the chin, such is their commitment to providing us with a public service without compare. Raise a glass of champagne to the pigs with their snouts in the trough of your financial largesse.

RIP OFF BBC.

I’m sure you have seen the news that the BBC is facing a record fine of up to £250,000 after repeatedly ripping off licence fee payers on a string of shows. It’s expected to receive its biggest ever sanction when Ofcom rules on its faking of competition winners on a number of programmes. Viewers on shows including Children in Need, Comic Relief and Sport Relief were all duped. Production staff were found to have made up names of winners and even posed as contestants. The regulator, which will rule on 12 cases, will not give the BBC any special favours. An Ofcom spokesman said: “Whether publicly funded or not the same rigorous high standards apply to all.” The fine will almost certainly be a record and the maximum £250,000 censure is thought to be under serious consideration. Now I do understand that other TV broadcasters were at the same sordid scam but then again no other broadcaster forces us to fund their activities. Given the years of BBC crowing about how much good work it does for charity, this recognition of a lack of control over how production staff operates rather blinds Pudsey in the other eye. How can we trust them when they have shown they cannot regulate their own standards?