Watch out for baloney from BBC’s heavy mob
IHAVE a confession to make – please don’t hold it against me. I love some of the BBC’s current output on Radio Four and television. I can’t get enough of The Archers (I hope alcoholic Alice Carter hasn’t done anything silly after going awol), love Celebrity MasterChef (isn’t Su Pollard delightfully quirky), and found the second series of crime drama Baptiste utterly absorbing (Fiona Shaw is yet again a revelation).
Yet it doesn’t mean I am happy with all things BBC. Far from it. Some of its new ‘comedy’ programmes on Radio Four make for uncomfortable listening, are not fit for purpose, and frankly should not be aired.
And although I am a long-time listener of the Today programme, its continued aggressive interviewing of guests has made me question whether my regular early morning dalliance with it should be suspended indefinitely.
There is also an air of arrogance within the BBC – plus a worrying overload of wokeism – that I find appalling.
It seems I am not alone in my criticisms. Here, at The Mail on Sunday, we pride ourselves on providing a mouthpiece for readers who are outraged about the actions of a particular company or organisation – or, for that matter, regulator or Government. Occasionally, we receive a torrent of emails and letters so overwhelming that we have a duty to take heed.
As my colleague Toby Walne reports opposite (and also reported seven days ago), such a situation has now arisen with the BBC. In a nutshell, readers are outraged about the tactics TV Licensing – the payment collection arm of the BBC – is employing to ensure that pensioners over the age of 75 now pay for a TV licence.
This follows the Corporation’s controversial decision last August to scrap free licences for four million pensioners aged over 75 (those on low incomes will still no longer have to pay provided they are in receipt of Pension Credit).
Having encouraged pensioners to pay up with gentle reminders, TV Licensing is now ramping up the pressure on the remaining 260,000.
These tactics are unacceptable. It has sent out some letters warning pensioners that they will be visited by an enforcement officer if they do not play ball. ‘Our officers visit an address every six seconds. Day. Evening. Even weekends. And if no one answers, they can come back,’ the letters say.
It is Orwellian behaviour. Of course, the BBC was wrong to have removed the right of a free licence for all pensioners over the age of 75.
Although that wrong cannot now be righted, it doesn’t mean that the voices of those pensioners who are angry about the BBC’s move should not be heard.
Hence our decision to give them a platform to air their opinions, today and last week.
We would also never recommend that readers should refuse to pay for a TV licence because ultimately they will be taken to court and could end up in prison.
But, again, we will report the views of those who remain determined not to pay – and expose the unacceptable tactics the BBC is using via TV Licensing to intimidate them into paying.
YOU would have thought that a BBC whose motto is ‘nation shall speak peace unto nation’ would understand this. But it doesn’t. Instead of listening to those who feel aggrieved about the loss of their free TV licence – and accepting that the use of payment enforcement officers is a step too far – it has spent the past seven days in self-denial.
It has attempted to persuade the MoS that its enforcement officers are not being sent out to ‘enforce’ payment, but to provide some form of customer care. Baloney.
For those pensioners who feel aggrieved over the loss of their free TV licence, they should look at their humble goggle-box sitting in the corner of their living room and ask themselves two simple questions.
One: ‘Do I still really need to watch the BBC and live TV on other channels?’
Two: ‘Can I live without BBC’s online iPlayer service?’
If the answer to the first question is ‘no’ and the second ‘yes’, then you do not have to pay for a TV licence. That will silence any BBC payment enforcer who comes knocking on your door.