Most liked posts in thread: Owen Paterson.

Yes, I'm well aware of the arguments, and that there are lots of people who resent paying the TV licence and think the BBC should not be state funded. But I'm not one of them. I don't know whether they are a majority or not, and I doubt you do either.

Clearly it would impact on the range and quality of BBC output if the licence funding were removed, because some aspects of the corporation's output are fairly niche and wouldn't survive commercially without the public funding.

Since the Tories hate the BBC - because they, absurdly, believe it to be biased against them and most of them oppose state funding as a matter of principle - it seems highly likely to me that the licence fee funding will be removed eventually - probably after the next election. Some of the populist bits of the corporation might then survive on voluntary subscription but large parts of it would just disappear, never to be seen or heard again, and the country would be immeasurably the poorer for it.

 

Despite the cynicism of @Rogered Tart and others, all MPs are not the same.

The vast majority of second/third/fourth jobs are done by Tory MPs. The argument that this work brings in useful commercial expertise and experience to Parliament is largely bunk, because most of them don't go from proper jobs into politics; they get given these positions because they are MPs - for the inside tracks and contacts they can give to companies, who pay them vast amounts for the privilege.
These are mostly privileged people who expect to live lavish lifestyles, send their kids to expensive public schools etc and think that an £80k salary is a pittance.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/22/second-jobs-conservative-scandal-mps-lifestyle-politics?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

 

It I don't think it was as prevalent when Labour were in government.
I agree about banning second jobs. I believe it's now Labour's official position.

 

How would we know? The scandal didn't hit until after they left but we do know that the biggest beneficiary of big business after they left office was Tony Blair, its difficult to believe that he didn't make these connections whilst in office?

As for the Labour position - isn't it just banning paid consultancies and directorships (typical Conservative jobs) rather than banning them all? That strikes me as political game playing rather than particularly useful. Without the accompanying pay rise its not the same though, I don't want to get into a position where somebody who is capable of earning £150k - £200k is capable of running a company but realistically excluded from helping to run the country. That's as bad for democracy as having second jobs.

 

The Labour policy is to ban any jobs as strategists, consultants or advisers - ie where they are using their parliamentary position to further the interests of a company.
I agree with you about the pay rise. But, actually, how many of these MPs doing consultancy directorships are capable of running companies? It's not as though they give up successful business careers to go into politics. The vast majority get these extortionately remunerated sinecures simply because they are professional MPs, having had no prior business or industrial experience.

 

Pretty much every independent broadcaster is effectively a voluntary subscription service. It's just that it's done indirectly through advertising. No independent broadcaster does it for free. Before someone pipes up and says that people have the choice to ignore purchasing of products that have been advertised on their platforms - well that's a nonsense. You would have to go to the supermarket armed with a huge list of products that have and have not been advertised. It's for the birds. No one does it, it's far too time consuming. At the end of the day we all pay. Nice to hear that people have such a low regard for a great British institution with a great history. Perhaps we should just let a foreigner like Murdoch take it all.

 

The government’s shameful decision on the triple lock pension is pushing the elderly further into poverty, not the BBC.