Can someone help me out here. Why was Carol Thatcher fired?
Carol said somethiing unacceptably offensive to 12 people in a hospitality suite. Subsequently, she apologizes, but nonetheless, gets the heave-ho. Jonathon Ross fires off a litany of offensive comments, tapes it and broadcasts it to the nation. He, too, apologizes, but keeps his multi-million pound job.
More generally, what are we going to do about the BBC? Isn't it time we cut it loose, and abolished the poll tax that funds its politically biased agenda? There is a poll on the right hand side of this page. Tell me what you think?
24 comments:
I wrote a letter to them (highlited on my blog) saying that I didn't want to be billed by them anymore because they have a leftist agenda (hey ! According to a couple of recent tests I'm a leftist)
Apparently thousands of people are not paying - no refusal - they're just omitting to pay. According to reports very few are being chased up and when they are it's a case of simply refusing entry to the representative who's on commission and has no power of entry anyway.
The detector vans are a fiction - empty mock ups allegedly.
I think Carol Thatcher was wrong by the way. Jonnathan Ross should have been subject to a police inquiry.
Simple question - if you watch TV on your computer, are you breaking the law? Do you need a TV licence?
Anothe question, why do you need a licence to watch the BBC on a TV when you can download programs for free from iplayer?
"A TV licence for your computer, Sir ?"
I've not heard of it, Roy.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/test
A nice little test for ya all. I'm right on the crosshairs. I don't know if that's because I'm a fence sitter or because I'm a repository of conflicting extremist views - ie hanging crack dealers whilst supporting the legalisation of whores.
EK Maybe you are orthogonal to both axes?
Usual " is n't the BBC left-wing ?"
argument.I am left-wing and I find the BBC as unrepresentaive as everybody else.Being a slacker as well, (it goes with the territory) I pay for God knows how many subscription channels ,which are all incredibly boring despite being delivered by the Invisible Hand in person.I only ever watch Mythbusters regularly and this is nearly always a repeat.If good television needs loads of subsidy then let the BBC have it as the commercial channels are running drastically short of advertising revenue.
Apparently Carol Thatcher described the tennis player Andy Murray (the Scottish whinger who is on record as saying that as a Scot he always wants England to lose) as a "Golliwog" for some reason.
Apparently this was treated as the ideal excuse to get on a high horse and generally cause a "politically correct" stink.
Naturally, the identity of the tennis player in question was kept quiet because then people might realise that they were being spun a lie designed to suggest that she was just a racist...
WHAT!!!!!
I thought she was being racist!!!!
I'm outraged that she was fired for this!!!!!!
i didnt know tsonga was a scot.
tatcher got the boot because of the ross affair. funny, daily mail hysteria has bitten one of their own on the backside
Apparently they were talking about the womens tennis final and Thatcher said that Feder would struggle against 'that golliwog' with no surprises as to whom she's referring. And by the way she has refused to apologise, that is why shes in trouble. None of this Daily Mail PC rubbish.
C Thatcher is just as useless as her brother.
I wonder why its unacceptably offensive. A gollywog is an actual noun that any one of us can clearly identify. Seeing as she wasn't refering to a black player (much less in racist fashion) then she's clearly remarking on a minor physical likeness. It does not follow that this is offensive because some racists call black people gollywogs any more than the word "murder" is offensive because some people murder some other people.
FWIW even if she had been extremely racist, it shouldn't have mattered. It was a private conversation.
To answer Alice's question - the difference between Brand and Thatcher is that Thatcher had committed a thought crime. Brand merely behaved in a callous and ill-judged manner.
Thatcher's comments indicated (or confirmed what her co-workers must have already suspected) that she held thoughts and attitudes which jar certain modern and BBC sensibilities.
The concept of not agreeing with someone but accepting their right to be offensive has gone. I'm also slightly spooked by (a) co-workers reporting naughtiness to teacher element and (b) the demand for a complete and total and utter and complete heart felt apology and admission that one has sinned in the worst way possible.
I'm living in London but from New Zealand. This wouldn't happen there. Attitudes are 15 years "behind".
Adrian Chiles is a nasty little man, and I hope people shun him where ever he goes from now on.
AntiCitizoneOne.
I'm sure that there is some confluence in my result; however, I've always thought of myself to be a walking paradox - I believe in duality of mind, spirit, Universe ... multi-layered, multi-dimensioned realities (yes - I mean more than one reality)
A centerist position (sincerely held) must be truly unique - it is axiomatic that it actually involves straddling several paradigms at once ... I wouldn't go so far as to say that it borders on schizophrenia - my real self is quite strong enough to prevent my alter-ego from taking over ...completely...
... in view of all this does it bother you that I drive trains for a living ???
(I don't like Adrian Chiles much either)
Could we perhaps privatise all the BBC except Radio 4 and the World Service, which could be funded from a negligible element of general taxation as public services?
All the BBC archives would have to be made simply public property, of course, as a living memorial to the possibility of a civilised society and the forgotten ideals of quality TV programming and conscientious public service.
Think of all the layers of pointless bureaucracy which would be unloaded from the public. Sack them all. It could pay for a slice of the banking crisis!
B. in C.
Could we perhaps privatise all the BBC except Radio 4 and the World Service, which could be funded from a negligible element of general taxation as public services?
All the BBC archives would have to be made simply public property, of course, as a living memorial to the possibility of a civilised society and the forgotten ideals of quality TV programming and conscientious public service.
Think of all the layers of pointless bureaucracy which would be unloaded from the public. Sack them all. It could pay for a slice of the banking crisis!
B. in C.
MY Favoured solution is this.
BBC becomes mutual society owned by subscribers to it's scrambled digital signal.
TV Tax abolished.
Subscribers elect BBC board.
Higher subscription for advert-free TV.
DBC Reed
I can't bare to watch any soaps, police/hospital dramas ... There is an overt left-wing bent in all of them. Even Life on Mars was supposed to be a snipe at bigotry but backfired as the audience (sick of crime) loved Gene Hunt.
I feel compelled to check BBC news sources with other channels for balance.
I've felt the need to write to David Dimbleby about his biased treatment of 'right wing' panelists.
My boy's school was the site for a Cbeebies programme. A school comprising 95% white, they asked for ALL ethnic minority children to be used in filming. This resulted in Highwood Primary School looking 50% ethnic (not that I care) with a lot of kids disappointed. It wasn't the 'names out of a hat' selection that would have given kids an even chance of being on their favourite programme.
Try explaining that to a 7-year-old who hasn't even noticed colour yet !
Auntie's definitely not right.
"What are we going to do about the BBC?"
Put Jeremy Clarkson in charge?
Fire Wossy, forgive Thatcher.
TV detector vans do work kind of, they just can't distinguish between tvs and computer monitors (old style CRT/tubes).
Maybe they don't work at all for plasma or lcds.
"BBC becomes mutual society owned by subscribers to it's scrambled digital signal.
TV Tax abolished.
Subscribers elect BBC board.
Higher subscription for advert-free TV"
I like this one. Saves the existing advert driven networks from losing revenues and finally throws the BBC from its lofty public sector (wasteful) position and into the real world.
Post a Comment