Gary Lineker's tweet

Defund the BBC. Time for a subscription service all the people /posters who are happy to pay for it can. If you're happy to pay for Lineker's inflated salary £1.3 million for a few hours presenting the football you can and Zoe Ball's salary £1 million plus, the so called BBC talent you can. I think more people will be cancelling their TV License in protest.

Doodledog

Siope

My key takeaways from this:

The corrupt, transactional legacy of Boris Johnson will take some lengthy unpicking

When next negotiating its Charter, the BBC needs to ensure more independence from government influence (regardless of which party is in government)

The BBC needs more confidence. The bile spewed by the Mail and it’s ilk does not reflect the views of the majority), but even if it did, the BBC shouldn’t be cowering in the face of bigotry, and, regardless of future licence fee negotiations, it should not be afraid of the (any) government

The sports team working with the BBC rocks.

I agree with all of the above.

Me too, well done Gary, and well done sports people, you have done the cause of free speech proud.

Siope

My key takeaways from this:

The corrupt, transactional legacy of Boris Johnson will take some lengthy unpicking

When next negotiating its Charter, the BBC needs to ensure more independence from government influence (regardless of which party is in government)

The BBC needs more confidence. The bile spewed by the Mail and it’s ilk does not reflect the views of the majority), but even if it did, the BBC shouldn’t be cowering in the face of bigotry, and, regardless of future licence fee negotiations, it should not be afraid of the (any) government

The sports team working with the BBC rocks.

I agree with all of the above.

And I wish my damn auto-correct would not change its to it’s.

Bodach

"I'm just wondering what the reaction would have been if any other poster had written Fp's post.
I'm feeling that there is another agenda being operated here."

Dear MaisieD
Would you care to elaborate on these remarks?

No I don't, because I think you know exactly what I am talking about.

My key takeaways from this:

The corrupt, transactional legacy of Boris Johnson will take some lengthy unpicking

When next negotiating its Charter, the BBC needs to ensure more independence from government influence (regardless of which party is in government)

The BBC needs more confidence. The bile spewed by the Mail and it’s ilk does not reflect the views of the majority), but even if it did, the BBC shouldn’t be cowering in the face of bigotry, and, regardless of future licence fee negotiations, it should not be afraid of the (any) government

The sports team working with the BBC rocks.

The BBC now needs to tackle the chairman and board.

It is absolutely astonishing the level of evidence of Tory bias when you start to look in depth at the BBC.

I do appreciate the nuances you describe Whitewave and understand them. It’s freelancing for anyone else -v- freelancing for the BBC. Does it impact? Some? None? I dare say the legal beagles will be all over this in the weeks to come. I genuinely don’t know the answer. These are just my musings on the topic.
😊

Bodach

Fleurpepper

Bodach

Fleurpepper

I gave the list which showed 16 above, and stopped at the UK. Simple enough. No twisting.

Come off it, Fleurpepper. How can you write "and finally UK" without conveying the impression (to someone taking a quick look) that UK is at the bottom of the European List. If that ain't twisting, then I'm a (even less diverse) Dutchman!

Yes, finally, after the other 16. No twisting. It is clear from my short list than I was not going to list every single country in the world.

"It is clear from my short list that I was not going to list every single country in the world". The list you published was not labelled as 'world-wide', but as 'European Countries'. If you had wished to be clear, you could have written something about the UK ranking 17th out of the 44 European countries. But that would not have suited your particular agenda, would it?

Someone said the UK took more, and I gave a list which showed it was 17th ...not first. No agenda, just a simple correction.

And yes, Maizie!

A real issue there though.

People at the top of their game, be it sports presenters, environmentalists, scientists, naturalists, satirists etc are all contracted to appear on various programmes by the BBC, but they are all INDEPENDENT and that is the point.

The BBC cannot control peoples thoughts and opinions and the ability to express them when they are not employed by the BBC and even then I think they are on dodgy ground imo.

Gary Lineker seems a nice man. A decent footballer in his day for Leicester. Seems the BBC need to get their house in order regarding what is & what isn’t allowed from people who work for (or with) them. It’s been a dog’s dinner. GL is a very wealthy man and will have had his lawyers scrutinise his contract which is why he knew he could say what he did on Twitter (not MOTD). The BBC now look craven but it’s their own fault. They’ve had to apologise and GL hasn’t. The BBC had to wrap this up fast as if GL had decided to take them to Court, the BBC couldn’t stomach a big settlement fee out of taxpayer’s licence fees.

Over to you now BBC lawyers. Review your contracts so that next time (and there will be a next time - with somebody - down the line) both sides will have clarity on where they stand. Better for all I think.

Good.

He works freelance for the BBC. He is not their front-man or spokesperson for their News or Politics broadcasts and doesn't represent them on these issues. Therefore his views are his own and, like anyone else, he has a right to express them.

Andrew Neil, one-time political commentator at the BBC, regularly shared his personal views on Twitter, none of which came under the same scrutiny as Lineker's, nor attracted the same media splash. And Neil was not one to hold back, either.

Both Lineker's and Neil's opinions should be challenged, not censored.

(WWM)

YES!

"I'm just wondering what the reaction would have been if any other poster had written Fp's post.
I'm feeling that there is another agenda being operated here."

Dear MaisieD
Would you care to elaborate on these remarks?

Lineker to return.

The BBC is to apologise

Lineker to return to air this weekend after BBC deal reached
Gary Lineker and BBC management have reached a deal to get the presenter back on air, after the weekend's disruption to BBC Sport schedules.

Director General Tim Davie says: “Gary is a valued part of the BBC and I know how much the BBC means to Gary, and I look forward to him presenting our coverage this coming weekend.”

In a statement, Davie also announces the BBC will launch an independent review into its social media guidelines, with a particular focus on freelancers outside news and current affairs like Lineker.

Gary Lineker says in the statement: "I am glad that we have found a way forward. I support this review and look forward to getting back on air."

Bodach

Fleurpepper

Bodach

Fleurpepper

I gave the list which showed 16 above, and stopped at the UK. Simple enough. No twisting.

Come off it, Fleurpepper. How can you write "and finally UK" without conveying the impression (to someone taking a quick look) that UK is at the bottom of the European List. If that ain't twisting, then I'm a (even less diverse) Dutchman!

Yes, finally, after the other 16. No twisting. It is clear from my short list than I was not going to list every single country in the world.

"It is clear from my short list that I was not going to list every single country in the world". The list you published was not labelled as 'world-wide', but as 'European Countries'. If you had wished to be clear, you could have written something about the UK ranking 17th out of the 44 European countries. But that would not have suited your particular agenda, would it?

I'm just wondering what the reaction would have been if any other poster had written Fp's post.

I'm feeling that there is another agenda being operated here.

Eloethan

Maizie I don't believe it was you that made the comment re Rod Stewart. I'm not sure who it was. Apologies.

Phew! I'd just started reading your post and my eyebrows were reaching my hair line in astonishment 😂😂😂

No worries, it's an easy mistake to make.

I am Maltese - and we get many, many immigrants, most of whom are told that they will be taken to mainland Europe, and are either made to jump ship with a gun pointed at them, or placed into overloaded boats, which sink - and they drown. Some of them do make it here, and yes, we have media personalities who speak against this trade in humans, which earns the traffickers megabucks. But we also have a lot, and I mean a lot, of racists. And... to anyone saying that these people are gypsies, tramps and thieves... would you have the guts to pay thousands of pounds, for an unknown future, facing death? hbtsr.cityofsanctuary.org/2020/08/16/no-one-leaves-home-unless-home-is-the-mouth-of-a-shark-no-one-puts-their-child-in-a-boat-unless-the-water-is-safer-than-the-land#:~:text=No-one%20puts%20their%20child%20in%20a%20boat%20unless,of%20people%20met%20in%20a%20cafe%20in%20Hay.

No, it definitely wasn’t Maizie!
It was Forsythia

Maizie I don't believe it was you that made the comment re Rod Stewart. I'm not sure who it was. Apologies.

Maizie In criticising Lineker you make a comparison between his actions and Rod Stewart, commenting:

"Rod Stewart put his money where his mouth was. He paid for people’s scans on the NHS but did not bad mouth anybody while doing it. Saintly Gary could learn from him."

In the recent documentary, White Riot, Rod Stewart was mentioned, along with some other 70's artistes:

"Remember that time Eric Clapton got up on stage and snapped “Get the wogs out, get the coons out” of his native Britain?

That time David Bowie said “Britain is ready for a fascist leader?”

“Good old days,” right?

"Adam Ant using Nazi agitprop to launch his career. Clapton and Rod Stewart (my emphasis) singing the praises of the white supremacist/Nazi “National Front,” a fringe political party that threatened to go mainstream before Thatcherism turned Britain hard right without the spoken-out-loud bigotry." "

I am in agreement with Stewart's criticism of our current government, though it is interesting that no such criticism was voiced when Johnson was prime minister but only now that Sunak is in office. I applaud Stewart's generosity in paying for scans. He may well now have have altered, and regret, his opinions regarding immigration but the fact remains that, at a time when immigrants were being subjected to outright discrimination, intimidation and sometimes violent attacks, he sided with the far right groups that Powell's words appeared to lend legitimacy to.

Fleurpepper

Bodach

Fleurpepper

I gave the list which showed 16 above, and stopped at the UK. Simple enough. No twisting.

Come off it, Fleurpepper. How can you write "and finally UK" without conveying the impression (to someone taking a quick look) that UK is at the bottom of the European List. If that ain't twisting, then I'm a (even less diverse) Dutchman!

Yes, finally, after the other 16. No twisting. It is clear from my short list than I was not going to list every single country in the world.

"It is clear from my short list that I was not going to list every single country in the world". The list you published was not labelled as 'world-wide', but as 'European Countries'. If you had wished to be clear, you could have written something about the UK ranking 17th out of the 44 European countries. But that would not have suited your particular agenda, would it?