Be alert to the scammers
IT IS truly disturbing that the Financial Conduct Authority and Pensions Regulator are set to reveal there have been £30million in pension scams since 2017. Lockdown has reportedly made the problem worse. So, Daily Express readers, beware. There are evil people out there trying to scam you out of your hard-earned money. They use sophisticated techniques and messages so always double check people are who they say they are and never give away your bank details.
OUTGOING BBC director-general Lord Hall was right to say this week that the BBC is perfectly placed to be a voice for democracy and tolerance around the world, helping to promote UK interests. It is one of the most widely recognised global brands and an organisation we should be proud of, yet frequently undermines its reputation by playing politics.
Rather than acting like the venerable institution it is, too often it seems hijacked by highly-paid bureaucrats more in tune with the privileged views of metropolitan dinner parties rather than the broader concerns of taxpayers across the UK who pay its licence fee.
Any institution that distances itself from its traditional supporters will come to a sticky end. When one-time champion of the working class, the Labour Party, embraced student activist politics under Jeremy Corbyn it crashed to its worst performance for 85 years.
With a series of recent missteps, the BBC is in peril of a similar loss of goodwill among the majority of people that pay for it. A poll earlier this year reported that 63 per cent believe the BBC is an “important part of British culture” but only 28 per cent believe it should be treated differently from other channels.
CALLS for the licence fee to be stripped after removing the patriotic words from Rule Britannia on the Last Night of the Proms may be a little over the top, but it does reveal a tendency to appease radical activists rather than charting a steadier course, taking a more sober, balanced view of current issues.
The BBC can and should be more like our other internationally loved institution – the Royal Family. Embracing our past, celebrating traditional values and yet willing also to accept a new generation will always seek to do things differently, but in an incremental way not by revolution. This can and should be the only path for a long-established institution backed by public money.
Yet too often BBC journalists act like they’re working for some edgy newssheet. They do not seem to have learned the lessons of 2016. It is not racist to be concerned about mass migration. It is not transphobic to question the scientific reality of changing sex. It is not nationalistic to be proud of our past. The views of older generations are just as valid as those of younger people.
We look to the BBC for neutral news reporting not editorialising with an agenda. If BBC journalists want to do that, they can join a newspaper more attuned to their views. If they want to pander to young activists, write a blog.
The BBC was too willing to use the recent battle over free licence fees for over-75s as a stick to beat the Conservative Government for not giving them more of our money.
But that does not mean the BBC should not continue to be funded by the taxpayer.As Lord Hall made clear in his speech this week, the BBC has a major role to play in bolstering Boris Johnson’s vision of a global Britain. Its enormous resources put it at the forefront of the digital age. The World Service reaches 500 million people a week.
It is soft power at its more effective, communicating the best of Britain to global audiences. “Independent research shows there’s an exceptionally high correlation between places where people are aware of the BBC,” says Lord Hall, “and places where people think positively about the UK. We even help UK trade.”
At a time when citizens in Belarus, Lebanon and Hong
Kong are battling for democratic, corruption-free government, the BBC can be a beacon of hope.
Long may the BBC continue to promote our best values globally, but it must not risk all this by adopting an increasingly narrow social perspective that is frequently at odds with the more conservative values of people from different cultures. The world looks to the BBC for truth not fashionable opinions.
IT IS right for the BBC to embrace diversity but that should not just mean diversity of skin colour and heritage but also of thought and belief. By doing that it will maintain its reputation for fairness. It should never be a tool of government but to maintain its independence it must listen to the entirety of its audience.
Why should working class viewers in Sunderland pay for a service that favours the opinions of middle class listeners in Hampstead?
Once the BBC steps away from political posturing, there’s no reason why it should not continue to be subsidised by the taxpayer and enjoy the respect and trust of audiences at home and abroad.
‘The world looks to the BBC for truth, not fashionable opinions’