Rishi Sunak - and his miserly Government

Ros Atkins on the Gary Lineker saga




Even though the BBC has completely shit the bed over this, it reminds us with pieces like this and others over the last couple of days one of the reasons why it remains so crucial. Show me another organisation, Government, public body, media organisation, intergovernmental orgs, ngos, charities, private companies that are as tenacious & transparent with their self criticism as this.

Well Cruella proved Gary Lineker's point about the rhetoric/language used by her & the tories was spot on by demonising immigrants on small boats as being criminals who get up to all sorts of unpleasant things in parliament yesterday

(13-03-2023 20:59 )Snooks Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 13:46 )Snooks Wrote:  The BBC has been consistently bullied by numerous governments over the years.
What is needed is no government interference in the affairs and running of the BBC.
It needs to be completely independently regulated and not at any degree of mercy of politicians who have shown they simply cannot be trusted to not make life difficult for the BBC at every opportunity.

It is no surprise to me whatsoever that those on the political right have claimed the BBC had no choice but to do what they have done while those on the left are accusing the BBC of cowardice and weak leadership.
Pretty much sums up what I said before.
Everyone kicking the BBC about like a political football (pardon the pun).
It is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't.

The primary blame in this specific situation is with the government for a ludicrous right wing populist piece of shit of a policy in the form of Stop the boats and for spending so much of its time bullying the corporation into submission as pretty much all governments do.
The BBC should never be a government play thing to use and abuse for its own ends (cough cough splutter splutter) Richard Sharp anyone? .

The BBC has not exactly covered itself in glory on this by any means but I would be intrigued to know what conversations have been had between BBC executives and the government about the Lineker issue since the story broke.

And that.......ladies and gentlemen comes from a most respected BBC journalist of many years standing. If anyone knows then he does .

To me the best policy ideas on how the BBC should be funded and organised come from the Green Party (and I am not a Green Party supporter by the way)

Quote:b) Public Service Broadcasting
CMS640 In television and radio an important component of a public service obligation is the production and promotion of non ratings-led programming. Public service broadcasters will not be expected to maximise ratings where they can demonstrate a cultural value to their work.

CMS641 The primary public service broadcaster will remain the BBC (and S4C in Wales) funded wholly by public money The existing licence fee will be abolished and replaced by a guaranteed inflation linked payment from general taxation.

CMS642 As part of its public service obligation the BBC will be required to continue to develop its centres of excellence in all regions of the UK and have a significant local presence in all regions. The centralisation of functions in London does great dis-service to the rest of the country, and modern technology makes it feasible to run a fully dispersed national organisation.

CMS643 The BBC should be organised primarily as a public service and thus not have to behave as if it operated in a commercial market. This is not to discourage innovation in the BBC or to prevent the BBC competing in certain markets against commercial companies, but to recognize that the value and success of the BBC is not solely measured in commercial terms. Following from this the funding of the BBC cannot be viewed solely through an economic prism, but must include the idea of public utility.

CMS644 The Green Party believes in maintaining public funding, as long as the BBC is pursuing clearly stated commitments to non-ratings led programming and continuing to fulfill a public service remit defined by the government through the regulators. This would include significant local production and distribution of content reflecting local communities.

CMS645 Whilst the BBC remains a public service organisation it is vital to distance it from Government or State interference. The level of funding available and its distribution between the BBC and other organisations fulfilling public service obligations shall be removed from direct government control through a democratically appointed Public Service Media Council.

CMS646 The Public Service Media Council (PSMC) will agree with government the total level of funding required for all public service media to deliver the agreed public service obligations. PSMC will distribute the funding to appropriate organisations including the BBC.

CMS647 Where an existing public service medium is being supplanted by a new alternative (as for example in the switch from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting, or the possible movement of some public service programming to new media) then the government has an obligation to ensure universal access before the old medium is discontinued.

https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/our-pol...nd-sports/

Ahead of the budget Newsnight's Ben Chu looks at two of the bigger points:

Corporation Tax



and Childcare (The BBC acknowledged an error in this report: Northern Ireland does not currently have 30 hours free child care for 3-4 year olds, but rather 12.5 hours of free funded pre-school in the child's immediate pre-school year)

Interesting Budget indeed

Nice bit of fiscal drag with the tax bands being frozen until 2028. Anyone close to the thresholds now could be caught out simply by getting a pay rise.

My refusal to do any overtime at all will continue

(15-03-2023 16:03 )Tumble_Drier Wrote:  Nice bit of fiscal drag with the tax bands being frozen until 2028. Anyone close to the thresholds now could be caught out simply by getting a pay rise.

My refusal to do any overtime at all will continue

But that means that you have less opportunity to max out your £60,000 per year annual pension allowance.

Edit: I would also like to say that this post was made in jest.

I was excited about the end of Work Capability assesment then forgot it was the torys and a new plan by IBS so whats the thing replacing it prob no such thing as disabillty and even those in Comas will have to look for work

The childcare policy is smart economics for the reasons stated above but also really smart politics. Labour were looking to make childcare one of their defining policies going into the next election & The Tories have parked their tanks on the enemy's lawn as the saying goes.

Beyond that The Tories are struggling with younger voters as the cost of owning a home and being able to raise a family is out of reach for many, most millenials & all Gen Zs have had a Tory government their entire adult lives (having been born in 88 i am in the middle bracket & The Tories came into power when I was 21) and so will look no further than them on who to blame. The largest ever increase in childcare would be a good step in turning that tide.

The past 4 weeks have probably been The best for the Tories since the Owen Paterson scandal in 2021. The revised Northern Ireland Bill has been heralded as a breakthrough in the deadlock and been met with minimal pushback from The ERG. The UK economy grew by 0.3% and now looks like it may avoid recession. Whilst the immigration bill has proved controversial and will probably fail, it plus the new detention centre in France will at least in the short term give the perception to those that care about the boats that the government is attempting to make progress. The budget promising the largest ever increase in childcare has stymied one of Labour's central policy positions going into the next election.

Will all this matter ? In 96/97 the economy was actually in decent shape but the perception of The Tories 4+ yrs after The ERM & Black Wednesday, amongst other things, meant they were wiped out regardless.

Will the Kamikwazee budget be this Tory Government's ERM ?

Next year's budget will be the big sweeties giveaway in a desperate attempt to bribe voters before the next election .

Thankfully I doubt it will work this time.