BBC Cuts

A knowing co-worker nudged me this morning, "here, what about this Dan?".... 

from Sky News:

BBC To Axe Two Digital Radio Stations
Hazel Tyldesley, Sky News Online

The BBC has confirmed plans to close down the digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network as part of wide-ranging cuts....

Ahhh the BBC.... where to start?

OK, let's start with my broad sentiment on the BBC. I think the BBC is completely outdated in every sense of the word, and it is my belief that everything it touches and involves itself in is worse off for the BBC having been involved… Or, at least could be better off if an alternative to the BBC were the broadcaster. The notion of the "Licence Fee" is an infringement to every adult and every house in the country. What’s more, I do genuinely believe that there are individuals operating from within the BBC with motives are using the public broadcasting as a shield to further their own agendas. Everything about the BBC is in my eyes wrong.

The announcement of two digital radio stations shutting is music to my ears. For years now the BBC has been using the licence fee to involve themselves in radio space that just does not need them. There are local radio stations all around the country that are doing a very good job without public subsidy, yet must compete with the local BBC station which is completely immune from market forces. There are national and digital radio stations that have been set up that you could argue filled a space before an independent broadcaster got on the scene. The licence fee maybe less than my Sky subs in a month, but at least I have a choice if I want to pay for Sky or not. With the BBC I have to pay for them before I can look at alternative offerings. If I do not pay for the BBC but put a TV in my home I risk being put in prison and no market where one large player is basically a wing of the government can be without distortions.

I really do believe that if we closed the local and regional BBC radio stations down tomorrow, everyone would see the benefit as independent radio would lose its subsidised rival. Those working for the BBC that are of a genuine talent will find work in private sector based on their value in the market.

As for TV channels, I have to ask what the hell are we paying for? I load of old tosh normally. The BBC does not in my view make any good dramas or thrillers. We do not need to pay to produce documentaries, when channels like Discovery and the History Channel (to name two of many) do a brilliant job of producing factual documentaries. Sky Arts has recently launched a second channel because it found an audience willing to pay to see art's programmes. If the BBC were not providing free to air competition there would be a whole world of programming available to competitive programming. There are probably 20 Kids channels, and only a few that have regular English and British accents. That's because, unless you are with the BBC there is little opportunity, despite there being a market for Children’s shows. Again, lift the BBC out by selling CBBC and its brands and let the shows compete on an even keel with all the other channels. The news arena is much the same with other companies such as Sky and CNN available, why should we be paying to prop up a company that is more interested in promoting an editorial line than reporting news?

You may disagree, but I think that there is nothing the BBC makes that other channels don’t make better, or at least would do if they didn’t have to square up against the corporation.

My ill will towards the BBC goes further than just not being very good at making and broadcasting TV and radio, but as I alluded to above, and as I think is now recognised by just about everybody the BBC is neither impartial nor balanced. To be impartial would be neutral or unbiased and the BBC just cannot help itself but promote a left of centre political bias; and of course this is not limited to its news and politics shows but is evident in very nearly every show it makes. It is not even typically a broad left wing bias, it is a honed metropolitan left wing bias that is probably heartfelt by many in central and west London, but does not resonate much further. I would imagine that it would be very hard for any corporation to be impartial, as it is not easy to cover one’s self from criticism. But it would instead be very much possible for the BBC to be balanced in the absence of impartiality; that is to say to provide both or all sides or the argument. However, despite claims to the contrary the BBC is incapable of balance as it editorially limits itself to a narrow viewpoint. Why should anybody have to pay for this? We do not need a State Broadcaster tell us how to think about Climate Change and about Conservatism. In a truly free society, we would be able to make our own minds up if we were free from the overarching propaganda machine that is auntie.

Further still, I deplore the fact that the Licence Fee is basically a poll tax on the population, with women and the elderly targeted for non-payment so that their fate is held as an example to the rest of us that we must pay our fee’s or go to gaol. The BBC commissions adverts that inform us that they are looking into our houses and have no problem with the symbolism of helicopters and tracking dogs in their relentless pursuit of my money. If such adverts were the trade of North Korean or Chinese Ministry staff they would be reputedly shown at the UN as an example of how repressive these countries are; we would use the numbers of people in prison for not paying the broadcast tax as reason to denounce them. Instead we have none of the three formerly independent parties (now all a factions of the one “Westminster Party”) who think it illiberal, immoral nor just plain wrong to carrying on with the BBC.

So what would my recommendation be?

Make available for sale every channel of the BBC to private firms, including allowing exploration of employee cooperatives. Keep back a few of the more recognisable brand shows and sell those separately, i.e. Postman Pat, Top Gear, Eastenders. The BBC Archive which I understand to be extensive should be included in the individual sales with it a condition that the new owners all are able to and willing to keep the archives in good condition.

We should immediately release anybody from prison who has not paid their licence fee. Should in future any Government feel the need to push TV and radio broadcasters for a certain type of programme, then it can do so via Parliament and the public purse. That way these decisions are done with consultation to Parliament and to the people in elections who can withhold their vote, and also so that we can let our pensioners enjoy a bit of snooker on telly without fear that they will be banged up.

Failing a amicable sale and carve up of the BBC I would favour closing it down, and being done with it to carrying on.  It is a shame that none of the main political parties would advocate the same or even drastic reform, but there in lies the point that the BBC is not just a part of the establishment it is a powerful leftwing tool that the right wing, and pretend right wing parties will not touch.
For more reading on the BBC with a similar line to this blog post, see Biased BBC and The All Seeing Eye who are more frequent, passionate and more eloquent about the BBC and how crap it is than I am.

A Missed Opportunity

David Dimbleby will miss Question Time tonight for the first time in 15 years after an unfortunate accident involving his wife’s bullock.

The press statement reads:

David Dimbleby will not be chairing Question Time this week – the first he has missed in over 15 years – but he will return next week. John Humphrys will temporarily take the chair tonight.

David Dimbleby was injured yesterday in a minor farming accident. David was loading a bullock onto a trailer when the bullock reared resulting in David being briefly knocked out. He also received a cut to the head that required stitches.

David is recovering well. He attended hospital yesterday, but as he received a head injury, he is staying there for observation. This is just as a precaution, which is not unusual for a patient suffering concussion, and he should return home shortly.

David would like to thank the staff at the hospital and he looks forward to returning to Question Time next week. He said: “I haven’t missed a Question Time in over 15 years. Trust my wife’s bullock to take me out. I’ll be giving bullocks a wide berth in future.”

Though I obviously would wish Mr Dimbleby a speedy recovery and hope he recovers well, I was disappointed to see that the replacement host has been announced as John Humphrys. Not because I have any particular gripe with Mr Humprys, it’s just, a more radical guest host could make for a one off exciting episode.

Imagine say, David Starkey or Nigel Farage steering usually sterile debate along in a different direction. There are absolutely loads of people who could have made a one off crack at it that could have make for an excellent episode. Perhaps even more of a firebrand, someone like George Galloway who might not bother letting the panellist answer and just answer all the questions himself with some blairing rhetoric.  This is such a missed opportunity!

Ho hum.

As it happens, joining Mr Humphrys tonight will be former Tory Shaun Woodward, Pauline Nevile-Jone for the Conservatives, Lib Dem Julia Goldsworthy, Will Self and James Cracknell. Might I also recommend that if you are watching Question Time you simultaneously join in with the excellent live blog session that will be hosted over on Biased BBC where the debate and lively banter is never sterile.

BNP On Question Time

I am a supporter of Freedom of Speech, and I happen to think that it is essential to a free society that people be allowed to express themselves freely.  With curbs at law allowing compensation for such things as slander, on the whole we, in principle at least, have a reasonable and decent set up.  Yes, the walls have been closing in quite a bit in the last few years, but I think this has been broadly acknowledged, and as soon as this particular Government is ousted I believe on this issue under the Conservatives we can return to a normal debate and square some of those issues away.

As Newton pointed out, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  Though this is a law of physics, it can sometimes be applied to situations in our lives.  To allow for Freedom of Speech there is a cost or in this analogy opposite reaction, which is that we don't just then hear what we want to hear.  We have to allow for the fact that people are going to have opinions vastly different to yours and mine and that those opinions may well cause offence.

The equal reaction is that The BNP, and in this case Nick Griffin is also subject to this and he will have to hear what those of us who do not support the BNP have to say.  I think it is right that the BNP have their say, as much as I disagree with them it is the price of free speech and one I am glad to pay.  And on this score the BBC are right to have allowed Mr Griffin onto their flagship politics show.

If you cannot allow for this, even broadly, then I do not think you can really be a advocate for free speech.

I hope that the fellow panel members take the full opportunity to debate Griffin on TV.  Over one million people voted BNP at the EU elections, and I wonder how many of them have actually heard Nick Griffin speak on TV or Radio?  I would wager not that many; certainly a low percentage considering he is a party political leader.  The concerns expressed by those who do not want the BNP on TV are that he will be "recruiting" - as if National Socialism and Racism were some unstoppable irresistible force that must not be allowed into people's ears.  I just do not understand this rationale.  Informed debate and giving people ALL of the facts is what is needed, and the mainstream political parties need to get better at doing that, even if it means we learn more about them than they don't like.  Let people hear what he has to say, it may turn out that instead of recruiting new people those that did vote BNP may now not do so again in the future.

I know Jack Straw and Chris Huhne are due to appear, and they will need to up their game for this.  I am not sure who the other two panellists will be*, I hope someone from the conservatives and someone from the centre-right press.  Question Time does tend to swing four lefties to one centre-right panellist many weeks, so tonight may well be no different on that score.

I happen to think that if the panel spend an hour screeming "raaaacist!" in Nick Griffins direction, they will themselves not come off too well.  In my opinion, they should try to draw out some opinions and policies that go beyond what will have been rehearsed off screen prior to an apperance, and then look for an opportunity to explain how poor those policies and opinions are, and how they would adversly affect the country and the people that live here if widely implemented.

I also just want to say that despite my absence from the B-BBC live blog in recent weeks (due to the unseemly time I have to get up these days, QT is on when I am usually in bed) and though I will be annoying the wife, I am going to make the extra effort to be there tonight so we can deliver our own collectively unique commentary on events.  I would urge others who would like to join to be there early, as the unmoderated slots will go quickly.


*If you know who these panellists are, can you let me know in the comments, I did look on the QT webpage but it is not listed.

Question Time Tonight

Caroline Flint who is the Minister for Europe was on Question Time tonight, she is famous, so far as I can tell for two things. Firstly for asking to be taken seriously despite a number of pictures floating around of her posing, in what I assume is supposed to be a seductive manner [but was lost on me] on various loungers.

Secondly for being the Europe Minister and admitting that she has not read the Lisbon Treaty - despite her strongly advocating it's adoption.

So you would think that a Minister, who was previously embarrassed for admitting she has not read a Treaty that fundamentally affects us all and the manner in which we are governed, appearing on a show called Question Time might have prompted the question one week before European Elections "Have you read the Lisbon Treaty yet?".... but alas, it did not.

So I am still none the wiser, I suspect the answer is no.

Daniel Hannan and Nigel Farage were good value and Sir Paul Judge popped up in the audience with a question of his own for Nigel.

Need To Vent Your Spleen?

Want to have your say on MPs Expenses?

Feel like having a rant?

Nothing to do later tonight?

Then please allow me to recommend the B-BBC live blog later this evening to have a bit of a rant and put the world to rights during BBC's Question Time. Normally, it is a very hard programme to watch; but the live blog will provide enough blog medicine to help see you through. Tonight's guests are pictured, and unless you have been living in a cave, you can see there is a tantalising line up for tonight's show.

The fun won't end there, if David and Geoff can be convinced, or are sufficiently drunk, the festivities will spill over into This Week.

Pop over at c10.30 to join in the fun!

Biased BBC Complaints System

On 25th March whilst I was very much enjoying repeated viewings of Daniel Hannan's speech in the EU Parliament ticking off Gordon Brown I raised a complaint via the BBC website as they seemed to refuse to show it or acknowledge it had happened.

I published it on my blog at the time, the original post is here, but it is reproduced below.

The longer you go before you show Daniel Hannans video on your main TV news shows the worse you already sullied reputation evolves. The continued absence of Conservative viewpoints from your channel tarnishes a once proud broadcasting record. You have destroyed the service with your ignorance and contempt for free speech and the people you are supposed to serve.

The BBC made a conscious decision to ignore what has become a worldwide phenomenon; you are funded by enforced taxation and work for us. Your fear of a Conservative future has been exposed.

You do not and have never represented my point of view, so stop pretending that you are somehow impartial or responsible broadcasters.You are stood in the middle of a the proverbially crowded room with your trousers around you ankles, fingers in your ears shouting "LA LA LA LA we can't hear you"

Another nail in the corporation’s coffin.

When I lodged the complaint I requested when prompted that I would like to receive a reply by email, which [I recalled] was promised within a month. This follow up email never arrived. Having re-read the website, I see that it is in fact policy to respond in 10 days, not a month.

Furthermore, I just thought I would have a look and see what is listed under the complaints policy on the BBC website and I saw that they do publish standard responses to complaints, but there is no response replying to their refusal to show the Daniel Hannan video.

Now, when Guido and Draper were on The Daily Politics, I seem to remember that they did indeed show the video that day, and that Brillo acknowledged that there had been a lot of emails of complaint asking why the BBC had not shown it. It was a good few days after the event but they then, finally did show it.

I know other people sent complaints to the BBC, did any one else get a response? I still want mine so I will be following up via the number provided on their website.

Daniel's video of him bitch-slapping Gordon Brown can be seen, here.
Nigel Farage landed some blows as well on the same day, which can also be seen, here.

Recommended Reading - The Biased BBC Edition

I was going to post my normal Saturday Morning Recommended Reading post, lots of good stuff today on the BoS on the BBC, so because the BBC's contempt for you and me is so totally apparent, here are a few two fingered salutes back.

John Redwood says he was invited on the Today Programme, then uninvited when he proposed making a rational argument, here. (Also see some of the comments on this other post, here.)

Biased BBC has no separate posting links, so here is the main site. Recently posted items include a Vlog from Mr B-BBC himself David Vance and a poll questioning what aspect of the Bias most worries you.

Not A Sheep, Maybe a Goat analyses that same BBC Bias, here.

Events Dear Boy, Events reveals it will be yet another Tory free Andrew Marr show, here.

And, is Doug Carswell MP advocating non-payment of the Licence Fee in protest of the BBC's failure to argue in favour of capitalism? Here.

BBC Complaint Email

The longer you go before you show Daniel Hannans video on your main TV news shows the worse you already sullied reputation evolves. The continued absence of Conservative viewpoints from your channel tarnishes a once proud broadcasting record. You have destroyed the service with your ignorance and contempt for free speech and the people you are supposed to serve.

The BBC made a conscious decision to ignore what has become a worldwide phenomenon; you are funded by enforced taxation and work for us. Your fear of a Conservative future has been exposed. You do not and have never represented my point of view, so stop pretending that you are somehow impartial or responsible broadcasters.

You are stood in the middle of a the proverbially crowded room with your trousers around you ankles, fingers in your ears shouting "LA LA LA LA we can't hear you"

Another nail in the corporation’s coffin.

The BBC is supposed to not only be funded for the purpose of providing an excellent broadcasting service, it is supposed to represent all political views in this country in its news and political outputs. Click here and register your complaint.

Balanced BBC

There is no mention of this video on the BBC website.



However, this was worth a mention. How do they keep getting away with their political bias?