Can’t you see into yourself far enough to know that you are paltering with necessity? Are you such a feeble creature that you must be at the mercy of every childish whim, and ruin yourself for lack of courage to do what you know you ought to do? If instability of nature had made such work of me as it has of you, I’d cut my throat just to prove that I could at least once make my hand obey my will!
George Gissing - The Emancipated (1890)
BBC licence fee to be frozen at £159 for two years, government confirms
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Ms Dorries said the government could "not justify extra pressure on the wallets of hardworking households".
Following the two-year freeze, she said the fee will rise in line with inflation for the following four years...
In a joint statement, Mr Davie and BBC chairman Richard Sharp said the settlement would mean the BBC "will now have to absorb inflation".
"That is disappointing," they said, "not just for licence fee payers, but also for the cultural industries who rely on the BBC for the important work they do across the UK."
I don't know what 'cultural industries' are, but this is obviously another can kicked down the road. Those involved in the cultural industries may sleep soundly.
5 comments:
There are 'industries' which make products and 'industries' that make money. I can see the value of copyright to ensure that artists get some payment and produce more art. I am rather more cynical of industries that do their best to extend copyrights and enforce them to make money for themselves. And I rather suspect the BBC enables the latter kind of industry. So I have no sympathy for the BBC.
A two year freeze will cause a few of their accountants to burn the midnight oil working out how much they are likely to lose dependent upon the rate of inflation. If they sacked a few accountants, they could probably save the money anyway.
To listen to the chorus of disapproval from Lineker and those sucking at the teat of the bloated monster, you would think that they had already broken it up and sold it off to Murdoch.
I can imagine there's no BBC. It doesn't worry me, there's plenty of alternatives. The very best will be pay per view or monthly subscription, but a much more direct relationship with the quality and desirability of the output.
Perhaps they should re-read their charter, then follow it.
(I would not mind paying the licence fee if they did that, although it would only need to be approximately one tenth as much after all the dross had been removed.)
Sam - and of course the chorus of disapproval receives lots of publicity. It may be that this is the only way to get rid of it politically, by slowly whittling away the licence fee in real terms.
DJ - I can imagine a world with no BBC too. We hardly ever watch it because as you say there are plenty of alternatives.
Ed - that's a good point. Sticking to the charter would transform it, although I suspect mass redundancy would also be required.
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