BBC Gravy Train

The BBC has come under fire after it published accounts showing that staff pay had soared 3.5 per cent to £1.5billion this year - while the Corporation pushes ahead with its plans to strip a million over-75s of their free TV licences. (Mail Online)

The BBC's highest paid 'stars'.  Source: Mail Online

plus executive pay:

There are 91 BBC executives who are paid MORE than the Prime Minister and 11 bosses get more
than DOUBLE his salary.  Source: Mail online

The BBC's mission is "to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain".

It is a job they do well at their best but 'Auntie' is not what she used to be. Pay and 'bias' have again been dominating the headlines. 

Their salary bill is similar to the cost of running their main TV channels: BBC One- £1.2bn, BBC Two- £481.2 million and BBC Four- £52.3 million according to the BBC's Annual Report and Accounts for 2017/18.

In 2015, the government announced that the BBC would take over the cost of providing free licences for over-75s by 2020 as part of the BBC fee settlement. 

In a staggering breach of faith the BBC later claimed that "BBC Two, BBC Four, the BBC News Channel, the BBC Scotland channel, Radio 5live, and a number of local radio stations would all have been at risk" if they honoured the commitment that guaranteed their fee settlement.

Delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, demands for licence fees are being received by pensioners over 75 year old at the same time as the BBC published accounts showing that staff pay had "soared 3.5 per cent to £1.5billion this year".

There is no recognition in the BBC that part of the problem in honouring their obligation to elderly pensioners is the unjustifiable amount of money paid out in salaries when they cannot afford to do so.

I suspect that I am not alone looking at the photographs of the highest paid 'stars' only to find that just two of the ten have any impact on my life and then only because they are BBC newsreaders.

Personally I prefer Reeta Chakrabarti and Ben Brown at less than half the cost.

Programme content has become dire with endless repeats. New series are built around murder and violence while frequent soccer programmes pervade the airwaves, something that could well be left to other providers given the cost to the licence payer.

New content is bogged down in the BBC's 'diversity' drive. Knee deep in political correctness and wokism BBC's mission is increasingly questionable. Not all change is for the better as the BBC should learn from their mishandling of their previously successful Strictly Come Dancing.

In the 2011 census over 86% of the population were white with 13% identifying as  BAME but often the BBC's news coverage conveys the impression that white people are the minority in the UK. 

The BBC's Breakfast time programme constantly undermines the Government's strategy to defeat Covid-19 while some of the presenters adopt the role of official opposition to the Government.

One ought to expect the highest standards from a public service broadcaster but some of the trailers are jaw dropping. 

Following on from their promotion of BBC 3's Drag Race, the BBC are currently promoting Little Mix in a series that encourages grotesquely made-up youngsters to mimic their hosts by cavorting around in clothing that could easily be mistaken for underwear.

I do not watch EastEnders but the trailers illustrate life in the East End as constant misery and angst. No wonder the programmes are accompanied by health warnings.

As a public service institution the BBC should be readily available to all, informing and educating. 

Instead we have an over-paid politically correct woke elite constantly lowering standards by foisting their own liberal views on audiences thus 'normalising' abnormal behaviour.

The announcement by Gary Lineker that Sue Barker is to be replaced on A Question Of Sport by ex-soccer player Alex Scott brought one of the best suggestions: Alex Scott should replace Lineker.

That would be diversity!

TV license: BBC and soccer 'stars'

BBC ‘stars’ pay from public funds 2017                                                                          Source: TV LICENCE RESISTANCE

I was somewhat taken aback on hearing a statement in Parliament that the BBC enjoyed revenues from the British public amounting to £3.8billion plus another £billion from sales. The BBC's total income was £5.0627 billion in 2017–2018 (Wikipedia).

It puts into perspective the BBC's bleat about the £745m cost of maintaining government policy of free TV licensing for the over 75s which was part of the fee settlement reached with the BBC.

Although funded by the tax payer through the licence system BBC 'stars' have not suffered the wage restraint demanded of public servants. In the latest BBC pay list Gary Lineker has replaced Chris evans at the top with a salary of £1,750,000-£1,759,999 for presenting Match of the Day and Sports Personality of the Year. If £1 million were knocked off that figure he would still be over paid for a task that could be easily performed by any reasonably competent sports journalist/personality.

Why are there so many sports editors, correspondents and commentators most of whom are biased beyond measure? News readers hand over to sports presenters who utter a few words before handing on to a sports correspondent, something the news reader could have done. There is layer upon layer, all adding to production costs.

While on the subject of news readers I do not see Reeta Chakrabarti on the list despite being among the best of the bunch along with Ben Brown who appears on the bottom rung. Can it be because they have not turned their presentations into personality shows when personality is all that appears to count at the BBC? 

The BBC needs to take a good, hard look at itself. Soccer has been elevated to a state of religious fanaticism with BBC soccer 'stars' being remunerated on commensurate levels with the enormous amounts paid to star players.

Auntie might have known best when she was the voice of the nation but those days are long gone.