Over the last couple of weeks we’ve seen the new coalition government gearing up for an attack on the BBC. First we had the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt calling for a cut in the licence fee. Currently the full cost of the BBC licence fee stands at £145.50. This works out at just under 40p per day.
So for the same price as a tabloid newspaper containing a substantial amount of advertising, celebrity gossip and a small amount of actual news (biased of course) you can get access to the wealth of content provided by the BBC. Read more…
I read a quotation from Andy Burnham yesterday on LabourList about the Labour party being too London-centric and it got me thinking about an issue that has been annoying me for some time now. Namely the habit that the Labour party has of parachuting candidates into safe seats around election time. Read more…
Does anyone remember the sketch from the Fast Show where the woman is repeatedly ignored by the men she’s with? They’re trying to solve a problem and she’s giving them the answer but they don’t hear her. It’s like she’s not even there.
Then suddenly one of the men comes to a realisation and repeats her idea exactly. Brilliant say the others and away they go leaving the woman standing there thinking WTF! Read more…
Over the last couple of days there has been report after report about how the new coalition government are going to demand cuts of up to 40% in some departments. This figure has been revised from the 25% projected previously. There are various theories being expounded for this increase. Some people are saying that the cuts have to be this deep in order to manage the national debt whilst others argue that the tories are using this as an excuse and these cuts are simply part of their plan to advance some right-wing ideology. Read more…