BBC licence fee

mexico1970 said:
It stopped being a pillar of the community after Biddy blood Baxter left Blue Peter. Just a quick scan of the BBC news page is reminding me that it has nothing relevant on it that affects me past the knee jerk headlines. Again I am happy for you to continue to subscribe if you wish, but I want a quick death for it as you would for a poorly relative you had fond memories of until they started shouting at neighbours and eating the cutlery.
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Because it isn’t relevant to you personally it should die? And if it’s relevant to millions of others who don’t share your viewpoint, well that’s just tough?

A somewhat egocentric view.
 
BobKowalski said:
Because it isn’t relevant to you personally it should die? And if it’s relevant to millions of others who don’t share your viewpoint, well that’s just tough?

A somewhat egocentric view.
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If it's not relevant to me why should I pay for it? Why should I pay for something that attacks British culture? Paying for it should be left to those who want to pay for it.
 
A reminder about the 'proms' piece.
It was a column in the middle of a subscription-only magazine, written by the Times chief music critic (and who's been at the Times for over 30 years), which was excerpted for an article duplicated across various sites, including the Mail.
Has anyone actually read the whole article, or just the sensationalist reporting?

Magazines and news sites regularly publish pieces that oppose each other, or put forward radical views. The views in this one appear to be expressed in stronger terms, but at least one person raises the issue about LoH&G and RB almost every proms season. Identifying one piece in a niche publication and using it to flail wildly at a whole organisation is ludicrous to my mind.
 
I like the BBC’s output.

BBC Radio 6 Music is one of this country’s best and most important contributions to culture. I also like how most of the presenters are Northerners and a number are local residents: Radcliffe, Maconie, Riley, Charles, Hobbs, Keaveny... all live in Greater Manchester.

Apart from not quite playing enough psychedelic folk-rock (there’s been an underground world explosion of this genre in the last decade, it’s at its best since the 60s), it’s output is the best in the country by a mile. The one and only true alternative radio station that the vision of the likes of John Peel and Tony Wilson would enjoy and be proud of.

BBC4 is excellent, BBC2 decent too.

They make some genuinely excellent programming: Storyville, Horizon, their documentaries on geography/science/history/nature are world leading, The Culture Show, they cover the MIF, some of their documentaries on music are simply superb, Glastonbury coverage, Radio 6 Festival, food programmes from Rick Stein to the Hairy Bikers, The Super League Show and any live Challenge Cup rugby league, MOTD (yeah, I like it, it’s an important part of our culture), live FA Cup games, the Proms are really good, and yeah I even enjoy the Last Night of the Proms and watch it every year.

Their programming is by far and away the best any service has to offer. I also like that there are no adverts on the programmes I watch on there.

However, @Ban-jani is right, they are “pedophile employing, scouse and Rag sympathising... twunts”.

Although I’d go further and say that they’re paedophile cover-up twunts, because there were people at the BBC who knew the paedos were doing their noncing at the time and afterwards, and even said nowt when questions were being asked.

Their pandering to United and Liverpool is fucking sickening!

I also try not to watch the News too much. It’s a selection of what they want to tell us that day, not particularly anything I want to hear or what’s really important. I went for tea at my Mam+Dad’s last night and they like to watch the 6 o’clock News afterwards, and there was a piece about Johnny fucking Depp’s court trial. If the BBC think that’s one of the most important things going on in the world then they’re fucking deluded! What the fuck is that on the National headline news bulletin for the day for?

So it’s a bit of 50:50 for me. They’re an organisation of world leading excellence mixed with world leading cuntiness.

Should they become privatised? I’m not sure. Would that mean their programming would suffer as a result? The other commercial stations/channels are nowhere near as good as the BBC in their output. Advertising revenue does nothing to stop a race to the bottom of intelligence across those stations. I wouldn’t want that for the BBC!

Although, paying for a TV licence is a choice!

You do not have to pay it if you don’t want and still watch television as much as you want!

Since 2017, it is not a legal requirement to have a TV Licence if you don’t plug in an aerial to your tele and only use the tele to watch all TV stations (other than the BBC) online or by watching subscription apps like Netlfix.

If you don’t like the BBC and don’t want to pay the TV Licence, you already have the choice not to.

If you do like the BBC, like I do, then you wouldn’t mind paying it for the excellent output they do have.
 
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mexico1970 said:
If it's not relevant to me why should I pay for it? Why should I pay for something that attacks British culture? Paying for it should be left to those who want to pay for it.
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The BBC produces a lot of content I profoundly disagree with. I just don’t think the country should have to endure just ‘what Bob approves of or likes’.

I don’t have kids but I pay for other people’s children to be educated. Why should I pay for other people’s kids to be educated? Because in the long term it benefits the society of which I am part. The same is true of the BBC. It enriches our culture. It provokes debate. Some of which I will agree with and some I won’t. The BBC should reflect diversity and different strands of our culture, which itself evolves over time. To demand that the BBC only reflect one strand of that culture or one type of ‘patriotic’ song or one type of thinking is perverse and diminishes us all.
 
BobKowalski said:
The BBC produces a lot of content I profoundly disagree with. I just don’t think the country should have to endure just ‘what Bob approves of or likes’.

I don’t have kids but I pay for other people’s children to be educated. Why should I pay for other people’s kids to be educated? Because in the long term it benefits the society of which I am part. The same is true of the BBC. It enriches our culture. It provokes debate. Some of which I will agree with and some I won’t. The BBC should reflect diversity and different strands of our culture, which itself evolves over time. To demand that the BBC only reflect one strand of that culture or one type of ‘patriotic’ song or one type of thinking is perverse and diminishes us all.
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It's a corporation bud, and using your own words I believe that the BBC diminishes us and who we are. My wanting it gone isn't just one thing it's a mixture of things. Again if you like it them pay for it, it's going to go it's only a matter of time before it's finished.
 
Sometimes I wonder if a ha'penny on income tax would be more palatable than the license fee and would save a lot of the bother?
 
BobKowalski said:
The only obvious thing is you haven’t the first clue about patriotism. I value our culture and I value our Union. You value neither. You are no patriot.
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No, you've just demonstrated that you disdain it, you have no problem with
the BBC, specifically one of its controllers, wanting to axe songs that appeal to patriots.
You're kidding nobody.
 
There's a legitimate debate to be had over funding and the license fee, but the claim that the BBC attacks British culture, and wanting it to die, is spectacularly idiotic.
 
Ancient Citizen said:
No, you've just demonstrated that you disdain it, you have no problem with
the BBC, specifically one of its controllers, wanting to axe songs that appeal to patriots.
You're kidding nobody.
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That appeal to patriots my arse. They are songs that appeal to people, myself included as it happens. I’m just okay with having a debate about it rather than losing my shit over it and frothing about patriotism which is rich given you would be quite happy to see our ‘country’ divided and broken up.

Dissolve the UK, sneer about Scots. No problem. Fuck em off.
Should we play Rule Britannia? I’m outraged. Is no one patriotic anymore? Disband the BBC, blah, blah.

Symbolic patriotism over meaningful patriotism. I have nothing but contempt for sham patriotism.
 
MillionMilesAway said:
A reminder about the 'proms' piece.
It was a column in the middle of a subscription-only magazine, written by the Times chief music critic (and who's been at the Times for over 30 years), which was excerpted for an article duplicated across various sites, including the Mail.
Has anyone actually read the whole article, or just the sensationalist reporting?

Magazines and news sites regularly publish pieces that oppose each other, or put forward radical views. The views in this one appear to be expressed in stronger terms, but at least one person raises the issue about LoH&G and RB almost every proms season. Identifying one piece in a niche publication and using it to flail wildly at a whole organisation is ludicrous to my mind.
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I agree that on the face of it, this would be a silly knee jerk, but it's
only being mentioned now as reinforcement of the fact that the BBC has visibly
shifted to represent leftist politics and attitudes. This is why there is a fast growing
movement to defund it, years ago we all loved it, and nobody, or very few, wanted it
scrapped, but people want news, not the broadcasters interpretation of news.
 
BobKowalski said:
That appeal to patriots my arse. They are songs that appeal to people, myself included as it happens. I’m just okay with having a debate about it rather than losing my shit over it and frothing about patriotism which is rich given you would be quite happy to see our ‘country’ divided and broken up.

Dissolve the UK, sneer about Scots. No problem. Fuck em off.
Should we play Rule Britannia? I’m outraged. Is no one patriotic anymore? Disband the BBC, blah, blah.

Symbolic patriotism over meaningful patriotism. I have nothing but contempt for sham patriotism.
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What's this Scottish shit about? It's the fucking SNP, not me, that want to break up
the union, and they're now in the ascendancy, because that, apparently, is what they
want is it not? So, the Scots, bless 'em, want to quit the UK,and have voted for a bunch of
nationalists to do it, and those same nationalists have increased their support,
yet it's all our fault that they do? All we're saying is fine, fair enough, that's democracy
and all that, do one if you wish, but you, as per fucking usual blame the English for it.
 
Ancient Citizen said:
I agree that on the face of it, this would be a silly knee jerk, but it's
only being mentioned now as reinforcement of the fact that the BBC has visibly
shifted to represent leftist politics and attitudes. This is why there is a fast growing
movement to defund it, years ago we all loved it, and nobody, or very few, wanted it
scrapped, but people want news, not the broadcasters interpretation of news.
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I agree it's being used as reinforcement for already held opinions. The responses are written in ludicrously large type for the influence that the actual source material has, and using to rail against the BBC is practically deranged for that reason. It's a senior music journalist from the Times, which seems a pretty reputable source to have write a column.

It's a columnist piece which almost no-one would know about if not for selective excerpting in things like a Mail piece (the same text appears on multiple websites). That is all it is and nothing more - a grain of sand for all the weight and importance it has, with no indication that it is representative of the BBC as a whole.

Columnists write columns to raise issues, and middle-ground media get columnists from all perspectives to encourage thought about the points raised. To wit, the BBC Music magazine.

The alternative is that there would be an instruction to the BBC Music magazine that it only publishes columns according to strict guidelines and directives - that is infinitely worse as it suppresses alternative views, and becomes a house publication of whoever is holding the big stick.
 
BobKowalski said:
The BBC produces a lot of content I profoundly disagree with. I just don’t think the country should have to endure just ‘what Bob approves of or likes’.

I don’t have kids but I pay for other people’s children to be educated. Why should I pay for other people’s kids to be educated? Because in the long term it benefits the society of which I am part. The same is true of the BBC. It enriches our culture. It provokes debate. Some of which I will agree with and some I won’t. The BBC should reflect diversity and different strands of our culture, which itself evolves over time. To demand that the BBC only reflect one strand of that culture or one type of ‘patriotic’ song or one type of thinking is perverse and diminishes us all.
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Watching the BBC isn’t the same as going to school to be educated is it?

I shouldn’t be forced to pay for something I do not want to, that’s authoritarian and immoral, it’s actually stealing.

Kids need educating regardless of where it is, parents have no choice but to send kids to school to give them that start in life, watching the BBC is a choice and it’s supposed to be impartial, it’s really not, especially the sports department.
 
Ban-jani said:
Watching the BBC isn’t the same as going to school to be educated is it?

I shouldn’t be forced to pay for something I do not want to, that’s authoritarian and immoral, it’s actually stealing.

Kids need educating regardless of where it is, parents have no choice but to send kids to school to give them that start in life, watching the BBC is a choice and it’s supposed to be impartial, it’s really not, especially the sports department.
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You are paying for something that is contributing to the social good and cohesion of this country. It’s an institution that is familiar to everyone in this land and in all four parts of this United Kingdom.

And no it’s not authoritarian or immoral or stealing. You can dispense with a TV and not pay the license fee. You can consume as much media as you like via phone, tablet etc. The only exception would be the BBC but you’re not paying it for it so meh.
 
mexico1970 said:
Another nail in the coffin for the BBC, labelling people as "Karens" what an absolute nonsense.
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I just find it hilarious that, as a young girl of Pakistani origin, the moment she walked in they were ticking off her minority statuses, rather than treating her as an individual and judging her by her character.

This is what identity politics and collectivism does.

They must have been shocked when she revealed she was a conservative (not a Tory a proper one).
 
BobKowalski said:
You are paying for something that is contributing to the social good and cohesion of this country. It’s an institution that is familiar to everyone in this land and in all four parts of this United Kingdom.

And no it’s not authoritarian or immoral or stealing. You can dispense with a TV and not pay the license fee. You can consume as much media as you like via phone, tablet etc. The only exception would be the BBC but you’re not paying it for it so meh.
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Why should I have to get rid of my TV because the BBC want to charge me for something I don't use or want? They don't own the airwaves or indeed my TV. Again to look at who the BBC represent you have to look at who is defending it, and the answer is obvious.

I can have a TV and not have to pay the BBC, although the BBC enforcers seem to think otherwise.
 
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