BBC license fee to go up by £15. Will you keep paying it?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Hitler's secret 50 stone dad was a hamster, surely.

[DefTrap]

covered up all kinds of horrible corruption and nonces.

Yeah but they're not the only ones. They've, deservedly, taken the rap over Savile but there are a whole host of others who are in it up to their necks on that score and who have conveniently allowed it -all- to fall on their shoulders: numerous celebrities who "knew all about it" but said relatively nothing; royalty making alliances with him for kudos; other TV channels had him on to boost their ratings; charities and hospitals used his status to raise funds and awareness. And not forgetting us Joe Public who were prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, because all the accusations were from snowflakes, leave the cheeky chappy alone etc. All of these aided and abetted by feeding off his massive celebrity status rather than exposing him. Only when his star billing and influence started to wane did anyone get the balls to make any serious accusations.

So its kind of a nugatory accusation really, we're all tarred with that brush to some degree.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I'd just like to say I always thought Jimmy Saville was a creepy fucker, he was way to touchy feely with children on Jim'll Fix It.

[Count Steer]

So its kind of a nugatory accusation really, we're all tarred with that brush to some degree.

'Nugatory'. I like it.

Saville was also rampant some years ago. If there's anyone left from that era that's still working there in a position of authority then they should be given a very hard stare.

[Sunny]

[...] forced to pay for it when you didn't ask for it or don't want it.

You can opt out though, as a Trinity said. So you aren't forced to pay for it if you don't want it.
My parents haven't had a TV, or a TV licence for 25 years. Zero hassle.

We never watch live TV, but I like Radio 4, and while you don't need aTV Licence to listen to the radio, I like the idea of funding it.

[Taipan]

It does seem odd though. We have to pay it to watch or stream any tv, but only the BBC get a draw from the fee, even though they aren't the only content provider? I guess the BBC are probably worth the fee, but if I dont want to pay it, I should only be excluded from watching BBC programs. 5 card trick innit!

[Mr. Dazzle]

My parents haven't had a TV, or a TV licence for 25 years. Zero hassle.

My FiL didn't have a TV or a TV licence for 3 years, that didn't stop him getting loads of hassle. They even threatened him with a court appearance, despite multiple "I don't own a TV" communications.

He was dead the whole time though, so we'll let him off.

[Mr. Dazzle]

simply sheer incompetence

"Computer says no"

I'd be very surprised if a real person ever actually looked at his case. I only let it drag on because a) he was dead the whole the time and b) he was already 6 ft under.

TV licencing seems to operate on the assumption you have a TV. You have an address, therefore you have a TV. They never seem to believe you when you say you don't. As above though, I suspect it's all just automated systems.

[Count Steer]

It does seem odd though. We have to pay it to watch or stream any tv, but only the BBC get a draw from the fee, even though they aren't the only content provider? I guess the BBC are probably worth the fee, but if I dont want to pay it, I should only be excluded from watching BBC programs. 5 card trick innit!

I suppose that's the basic principle. It's the UK TV Licence, not the UK BBC Licence so it's a fee charged for using TV and the cash raised is used to fund the state broadcaster in a transparent manner and separate from general taxation. (Apparently 91% of the UK population do use BBC services in one form or another).

I remember when you needed a radio licence but transistor radios seemed to be the end of it, along with rising TV ownership.

Whether the BBC is too big/expensive and whether the funding mechanism needs to change is up for debate, but, because 9% of the population claim they don't use their services or people complain they don't like what they say or how they say it doesn't seem to justify scrapping the Beeb!

[Yambo]

TV licencing seems to operate on the assumption you have a TV. You have an address, therefore you have a TV. They never seem to believe you when you say you don't. As above though, I suspect it's all just automated systems.

The underlying principle behind that is contrary to British Law, that you are innocent until proven guilty.

TV licensing work on the principle that you are always having to prove your innocence and that, quite simply is wrong. Banks can close your account because they suspect you are breaking the law, again, you are effectively guilty without any investigation. I'm sure there are probably other situations where the same thing applies but I simply don't know about them

You may be happy with that of course as you think you don't break the law - the innocent have nothing to fear - but in reality the innocent have lots of reasons to be concerned about. One of the principles of English Law is being eroded - by consent and apathy.

[Yambo]

I'm sure there are probably other situations where the same thing applies but I simply don't know about them

Thinking about it, I do know of one, and I guess it's a common occurrence.

A few years ago I was visiting my son and like a lot of other people, I parked on the pavement on the corner of the road he lived on. There was plenty of room, the pavement was the width of two cars due to trees not being removed when they tidied things up a few years before.

I got a parking ticket through the post advising me I'd broken the law and must be punished. There was of course the implied threat that if I didn't pay the penalty quickly I'd be punished for that as well. At the time though I was working for the County Council in Traffic and Safety and I could confidently say that the road markings, yellow lines around the corner where I'd parked, were not legal. I took some photos as evidence. I also worked in the next office to the guy who dealt with Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) and I parked my arse on his desk and asked him if there was a TRO in force for that location. There wasn't but there had been in the past when it had been part of a bus route, it had been rescinded.

I wrote to Preston City Council and told them to prove there was a legal restriction in place (produce the TRO enforcing it) or take me to court where they'd have to produce the TRO.

I got the inevitable reply that "On this occasion, we'll let it go."

I wrote the same letter a couple of years later and got exactly the same response. I gave a copy of my letter to my son who stupidly paid up when he got a fine for the same non-offence. I have no idea how many other people were wrongly fined and paid up but they were wrong to do so and Preston City Council were making people guilty without any proper investigation and were probably breaking the law themselves by doing so.

As I said, apathy rules.

[Mr. Dazzle]

As I said, apathy rules.

Well, that and underfunded/understaffed/DGAF councils.

How many people are offering to pay extra tax to properly run these services for example?

We're all as guilty as everyone else. Want a level of personalised and diligent service, don't want to pay for it. It's similar with banks, how many people pay their bank for the services they offer and yet you all want 24/7 service everywhere in the world. Then you wonder why you get chewed up by a faceless machine.

[MyLittleStudPony]

I'm ok with contrary viewpoints in BBC programmes and I'm ok with programmes that aren't to my taste, and I'm even ok with them wasting a bit of money in the pursuit of art that turns out to be rubbish, but the duplicity of what's ok and what isn't is amusing, if we're pointing fingers then I was going to comment earlier that people were enraged when a lady was asked to remove her hat in Qatar whilst she went through a security checkpoint - but they're completely blind to the morally unethical situation of people that maybe cannot afford to feed themselves or heat their homes, being forced by the state to hand over money (for a service that they don't want) to a British corporation....

The northern poor? This is what they voted for. They knew what they were voting for. And they've got blue passports, all that fish and dramatically reduced immigration (!) to keep them warm.

It does make me chuckle that their obliged to pay for an organisation which is a mouthpiece for the chattering classes, leftists and woketati though.

[Greenman]

As I said, apathy rules.

Well, that and underfunded/understaffed/DGAF councils.

How many people are offering to pay extra tax to properly run these services for example?

We're all as guilty as everyone else. Want a level of personalised and diligent service, don't want to pay for it. It's similar with banks, how many people pay their bank for the services they offer and yet you all want 24/7 service everywhere in the world. Then you wonder why you get chewed up by a faceless machine.

Banks have enough money to pay massive unworthy bonuses to their CEO's so they clearly have enough money to provide services they are required with little cost to the customer, but they don't. They will offer a service that is all singing and dancing, it will fail then they say that you now have to pay extra if you want it to work, it's a standard model all the big organisations use to con you out of more money because most people are too stupid to see it happening.

Also, the point you make about having to pay more taxes to get the qaulity of service you want is utter and total shite.

We have never paid more tax in our lives yet the state of the government controlled services is appalling!

I'd be quite happy to pay a little bit more a year on taxes to improve the services but i honestly don't think it will make any difference due to the level of incompetence and corruption that is shown by the ones who would need to be given the money to make the changes. It's like saying giving a child extra money directly will help improve their education, but we all know that child will have spent that money of 15 packs of sweets within an instant...

[Pirahna]

It does make me chuckle that their obliged to pay for an organisation which is a mouthpiece for the chattering classes, leftists and woketati though.

The BBC is a mouthpiece for the Conservative party, unless presenters like Laura Kuenssberg and Naga Munchetty have changed sides.

This should really be in the arguing about current affairs section.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Also, the point you make about having to pay more taxes to get the qaulity of service you want is utter and total shite.

We have never paid more tax in our lives yet the state of the government controlled services is appalling!

Have you ever actually looked at what the Government spends your money on and how much it all costs?

Yambo is right in what he says about apathy, but it's his fault as much as anyone else's. Yours. Mine. Everyones.

[Greenman]

Also, the point you make about having to pay more taxes to get the qaulity of service you want is utter and total shite.

We have never paid more tax in our lives yet the state of the government controlled services is appalling!

Have you ever actually looked at what the Government spends your money on and how much it all costs?

Nope, why would i believe anything that is written on a gov website?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Also, the point you make about having to pay more taxes to get the qaulity of service you want is utter and total shite.

We have never paid more tax in our lives yet the state of the government controlled services is appalling!

Have you ever actually looked at what the Government spends your money on and how much it all costs?

Nope, why would i believe anything that is written on a gov website?

So how are you sure that services are appalling and we pay more than ever?

[Mr. Dazzle]

It does make me chuckle that their obliged to pay for an organisation which is a mouthpiece for the chattering classes, leftists and woketati though.

The BBC is a mouthpiece for the Conservative party, unless presenters like Laura Kuenssberg and Naga Munchetty have changed sides.

This should really be in the arguing about current affairs section.

This ^ happens alot though right? You can find people who say they're the mouthpiece of the left, the mouthpiece of the right. As (I think) Count Steer said, this is reasonable evidence they're somewhere in the middle. If 50% of people hate 'em but that 50% is always changing that's a pretty good sign IMO!

I think we can all agree Strictly Come Dancing is the mouthpiece of the dim though

[Greenman]

Have you ever actually looked at what the Government spends your money on and how much it all costs?

Nope, why would i believe anything that is written on a gov website?

So how are you sure that services are appalling and we pay more than ever?

Because i have to use them on a daily basis just like you.