Round x of Hunt versus Thompson

Stu

Maybe Hunts standpoint to bring the BBC to heal, should be, "licence fee,,what licence fee."
I buy sky and any other channel I want, why should I be compelled to pay for the BBC which I don't watch.

Chuck Unsworth

Largely true, but the Board is susceptible to pressures and influence, even if Thompson remains obdurate. The weakest point is not Thompson but those who wish to succeed him.

Alex Gallagher

Stu, ...because, as Dave'n'George has said "we're all in this together"...

liz elliot-pyle

Er, sorry to put this on here but I have been trying to donate to Prisoner Ben on the Old Holborn site. I was not able to do this, because I dont seem to have a google account (or not one that they recognise), so then I tried to email to say 'what the hell should I do?' but that didnt work. So then I tried to email Iain Dale, or even just leave a comment, but that was not possible. So I have given up, and a prisoner to whom I would like to give some money has not got any money.
Why do these bloggers make life so difficult? I have had these problems before, and that is why I am posting here - because this is about the only site where I can post a comment without having to jump through so many impossible hoops that I give up.

Marcher Baron

What would really please me would be the abolition of the licence fee. It's a tax by another name, backed up by the threat of imprisonment.

TomTom

Hunt could change the law so Licence Fee evasion goes to the County Court and not The Magistrates' Court. DECRIMINALISATION is within his power

Framer

Very low screech level on the Guardian's thread about those BBC bosses who refuse to move north (on six figure salaries) including the head of the Moving North programme. (Read Rod Liddle's priceless piece last week on the subject).

Those who do post are also few in number compared to the thread on possible BBC cuts.

Tells you something about when the BBC gets it so obviously wrong its mindlessly statist supporters go silent.

SUSAN HILL

The BBC could save money by getting rid of many of it its completely pointless 'correspondents' most of whom, other than the political one, seem to get paid a fortune to do little else but blog. What are they FOR ?

Roger Davies

The only rational solution is to privatise the BBC, split it up and sell the component parts to the highest bidders. I would pay £5+ PM fpr BBC1, BBC World, R3 and R4. As the BBC is part of the State any revenues should go to the Exchequer and help pay down "Brown's Burden".

alexsandr

What is BBC Parliament for? It broadcasts 24/7, and most is just old repeats. OK, it is important sometimes. And I do like it when it repeats old election night programmes. But most of the time it is just drivel. Room for a cut there, surely. And maybe free up some freeview bandwidth for something more interesting.

strapworld

Well, I wouldn't place too much faith in Hunt or this coalition to do anything about the licence tax or the BBC.

I wrote to the Prime Minister about the left wing biased BBC and the licence tax in June. On the 13th August I received a reply dated 11 August from the Department for culture,media and sport a 'Host Government Department'.

The Media Desk Officer, who replied on behalf of the Prime Minister!!! informed me "that the Coalition Government is committed to providing the National Audit Office full access to the BBC's accounts in order to improve transparency and accountibility. However, nothing that this government does will compromise either the independence or the quality of its output"

So those of us expecting or hoping for a change can forget it. Just another of those cast iron guarantees that has rusted over!

Norman Dee

My oft repeated answer, privatise the News organisation, put the money into reorganising the best part ie the entertainments. maybe a subscription base is the way to go.

Ian Walker

@Susan Hill: Not to mention the plurality of them - why do Five Live, News 24, Radio 4, the World Service, Newsround and Newsbeat all need a different correspondent at the same event? Surely a competent journalist (if that's not an oxymoron within the Beeb) should be able to record seperate pieces for the different audiences?

But why channel public cash to one rabid leftie when four will do?

TGF UKIP

On Marr a few weeks back, Big Ears demanded an assurance that we weren't going to get a "biased" news channel "like Fox News" coming in. Certainly not, said Jeremy, there was no question of a Fox News being allowed onto UK airwaves.

Said it all really.

david morris

I pay my bit to the BBC by cheque

made out to "Television Tax"

Its always been accepted & my "licence" issued.

Tax/License - Difference ?