The day BBC died

originally posted by: Freeborn
The BBC needs deconstructing and rebuilding as what it SHOULD be.

Agree. The BBC has become its own worst enemy. Top-heavy, left-leaning and echo-chamber for the people who dine with each other.

News - For the hundreds of journalists, the BBC produces very little actual reporting. It's mostly commentary and opinion of people whose opinions are all the same, and different from the rest of the world.

Drama - Some good. Mostly bad. Doctor Who is a good example of something that has become very poor in deed.

Comedy - One-track to help reinforce the views of the BBC top brass. A report last year was highly critical of the number of left-wing comedians - basicall all they "joked" abot was Boris and Brexit. Jokes get rather worn after being replayed 106 times.

Children's TV - Once great when my kids were young. Now there are 105 genders and that's the focus.

Salaries - jobs for the boys and girls, with ridiculous salaries.

BBC does not produce original and challenging content very much anymore. It does not produce value for money. It needs to start again.

a reply to: paraphi

I agree with a lot of what you said but is it REALLY 'left-leaning'?

Sure they pander to the woke agenda and there's a lot of 'champagne socialist' types presenting and reporting and also producing and dictating policy.
But there's no real grilling of government plans and decision making etc.
The government, its legislation and those involved are hardly put under the microscope.

Some crap comedian making rubbish jokes is hardly scrutinising government policy anywhere near the extent that we should both expect and demand.
And the Beeb hardly puts huge emphasis on what jokingly passes as Opposition criticism of government policies and conduct etc.

When it really comes down to it the BBC was, is and always will be an establishment outlet.

Your analysis of the News, Drama and Comedies is a pretty fair assessment.
There's very, very little in depth and balanced critique of government policy.
Drama's have become so infected with wokism that it effects story lines and credibility.
Comedy is no longer funny and very, very rarely biting.
I don't have to watch Children's TV so I couldn't comment.

Salaries are a joke.
Presenters jobs are increasingly determined by quota's rather than ability - a reflection of society in general.
That detracts from presenters like Alex Scott who is very good and has got where she has through ability and knowledge and not gender, race or sexuality.

The BBC has become a flagship of mediocrity, banality and wokism whilst failing to hold elected officials accountable.
It fails to present anything that may be controversial and upset the current incumbents of Downing Street and the Establishment and only serves up past employees, the aged, infirm or dead in historic cases which don't affect those currently in positions of power and influence.

a reply to: Freeborn

Thanks, mate, I’m glad you liked it!

I totally agree that the BBC has produced truly great programmes over the years - many informing both our childhoods for the better. And indeed it’s simultaneously often been a mouth piece of the government when called on; sometimes for the better, others not so much. I imagine that Churchill’s use of radio was integral to much needed national moral during the war. Whereas if the telly couldn’t deliver the propaganda that hugely boosted Thatchers polls, then she may not have allowed the falklands to be invaded in the first place (as astutely pointed out earlier by another contributor in this thread).

In that scenario we may have been spared another term of thatcher and the U.K. would probably be in a far better place now; ie the privatisation agenda wouldn't have happened and without that long Tory rule in the 80s and 90s the desperation wouldn’t have been there to allow Blair to take the stage and his false politics of popularism might never have been seeded in the U.K.


That current contradiction between the BBC’s support of the Tories, whilst also supporting the woke agenda (something that would seem counter to Tory values) is definitely an odd one. My guess is that the Tories welcome the tension and social discontent that arises from the woke movement. It distracts the masses from the Tories own disasters and insidious agendas and that’s more important to them than their anti-woke values. It’s dead cat-headline creating commodity that’s handy to have in play when more odious headlines threaten to capture the front pages. And is it fair to say that woke values only infringe on the private lives and business interests of Tories and their donors in superficial ways?

Divide and conquer, or in this case divide to rule


It’s indeed a painful experience to watch the once great question time now grovel on and off air with low bowls to its Tory overloads. So many obvious questions now go unasked and where at least noises from the audience that were too tricky to edit out could sometimes force the debate into uncomfortable areas for the Tories, its new remote-audience format is a farce of lip service to hot topics that always seem to conclude on message for the ministry of truth.

That being said, the audience format was also open to abuse, with audience members sometimes planted to misdirect from sensitive areas of debate. At least, that’s the way it sometimes came across.


The organisation does need rebuilding from the ground up to rid itself of al the systemic impediments to truth and it’s multiplying establishment friendly personnel. The catch 22 is that doing this will probably lead to that rebuild being controlled by the government, making matters even worse.

I think that unless there’s a miraculous change in government (not Tory, or Starmer, who’s Sade cabinet appointments and recent purge shows he’s just as prone paranoid micromanagement), then those honest staff at the BBC can only tread water and be ready for when that whistleblower finally appears with kompromat that reveals the levels of corruption and deceit created by the government’s direct control over the narrative.

a reply to: McGinty

The news this morning were discussing the salary of a diversity chief at the BBC.
They're already over represented by diversity quotas, even by their own figures but, apparently, June Sarpong is getting nearly £270.000 for what is essentially a part time position.

Not exactly good value for the cost of the licence fee.

a reply to: Tulpa

Its heart breaking to see what some people can be paid to essentially sit on there arse and do sweet fluff all when there are people out there working for minimum wage and not even being able to make enough to feed themselves and there family whilst paying rent at the same time.

Half of them should be swinging from the rafters along with the rest of the politicians, royals, aristocrats, and bankers.

a reply to: andy06shake

I refer to the BBC as "The self-harm channel".

People pay a fee to be entertained and informed.

Instead, the money goes to someone who wants to tell them they're all awful and their history and culture is something to be ashamed of.

a reply to: McGinty

the BBC are dirty pedo harboring bastards and should be shut down and all the license fee money refunded
as it was used to protect pedophiles and the government

a reply to: sapien82

The are a shower of fiddlin ben dirty wrong'yins if ever there was one.

That are happily willing to steal the very milk out of our pensioners Tea with glee.

There licence fee is the very epitome of extorsion imho.

Well, it seem that many people in the UK, including myself are starting to see the light and are refusing to pay the TV Licence fee.

BBC Licence fee in CHAOS: 700,000 rebels refuse to pay

Personally, I haven't watched anything on the BBC for years and I get all of my TV either from streaming services or downloads. I don't even pay for cable anymore.

Now I'm 40, so TV is pretty much my go-to entertainment, other than the odd hour or so I play on my Playstation, as with most people my age. My son on the other hand, who is 20, barely watches TV at all and I'm led to believe that this is fairly common among his generation and younger. Instead, he watches movies, plays Xbox or browses the internet - Instagram, TikTok etc.

Due to this, I'd guess that TV is a dying form of entertainment, so they're pretty much in trouble anyway!

a reply to: nik1halo

The old channel format seems to be on its way out, or last legs, which is what they deserve if you ask me.

Still a lot of older people canny get there heads around anything more than channels presented to them in a little box.

My 65" LG 4K TV makes a great second display all the same, so i don't see the actual hardware going away anytime soon, just its purpose changing.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: nik1halo

The old channel format seems to be on its way out, or last legs, which is what they deserve if you ask me.

Still a lot of older people canny get there heads around anything more than channels presented to them in a little box.

My 65" LG 4K TV makes a great second display all the same, so i don't see the actual hardware going away anytime soon, just its purpose changing.

Now you're just bragging! I've only got a 55" LG UHD HDR TV

You're right though. It the older generation that are going to suffer. Before he passed away, my Dad could barely get his head around how to change the input source from cable to DVD. Luckily, this was before smart TVs were a common thing. I'm pretty sure Netflix would have broken him!

I'm OK with it for now. I'm a techie and I work in IT. I have to admit though, there are a few things out there that my kid is messing around on that I have no idea about. When did I get old??

originally posted by: Freeborn
I agree with a lot of what you said but is it REALLY 'left-leaning'?

The problem with "left" and "right" is that it means different things to different people. Also. I am aware that the BBC is often accused of being “right wing”.

Perhaps the BBC is not so much as "left-leaning". More the BBC represents a narrow view of the British public opinion. What's described as the "metropolitan elite" is well applied to the BBC, and this translates as a lack of diversity in content or opinion.

a reply to: nik1halo

Me to mate, they play with things i just choose not to understand.

TikTok, Snapchat, and the like.

I bought my 8 year old a drone, and i have played with it more than he has all the same.

Suppose drone the thingamabob is a little off topic but my point being the world and people in it seem to be really changing and im only 46.

a reply to: andy06shake

Giant TVs?

Drones?

Are you sure you're not one of those rich folk who should be swinging from the rafters?



Just kidding around Andy. I know these things are not that hard to get these days.

a reply to: andy06shake

Exactly the same. I just don't understand the appeal of TikTok etc, but then again, I don't even have a Facebook or Twitter account any more and haven't for years! Best decision I ever made too!

I bought myself an X-wing drone a few years back, but that's just because I'm a massive nerd!

My son has had no interest in anything like that, but then again, he just spends all his spare time gaming and on the web. It's a little concerning. At his age, I was in the pub with my mates. I was in 2 bands, touring the country, gigging and going to see other bands. I travelled the world with friends, learned to ride a motorbike and had a side job building and repairing computers, etc.

Admittedly, COVID hasn't helped today's kids do any of those things and the internet was a much smaller place 20 years ago, but to be fair, he never had any interest in doing anything else. Most kids today just won't have the life experience that I personally have taken for granted and it shows in the lack of ingenuity and common sense that I see in the new employees coming through my doors.

/OldManRant

a reply to: Tulpa

I wish. LoL

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Tulpa

I wish. LoL

You and me both.

What a bunch of moaning old buggers!

The world we live in today is unrecognisable to the one we grew up in.

We literally didn't have a pot to piss in when I was a kid....but I had a great childhood.
The 6 weeks holidays were fantastic, I was never in.
Got up to all sorts of stuff.
And the council estate I was brought up on was/is right on the edge of town and the countryside was also our playground as well as the streets and avenues of our estate - a nod to a song by a band made up of childhood friends.

But we digress.

# it, any excuse to give these guys a bit of exposure:


At one point the video cuts away from the house I recently moved into and takes up just after my house.

I've been credited with singing on one of their album tracks.
Really good, hard working, solid lads.

a reply to: McGinty
The BBC was the dirty media arm of the government long before now.
1984 Orgreave. They edited the footage of the riot to make it look like the police were reacting to an attack by striking miners when in fact the police attacked the miners in the first place.

a reply to: Freeborn

"We literally didn't have a pot to piss in when I was a kid....but I had a great childhood.
The 6 weeks holidays were fantastic, I was never in.
Got up to all sorts of stuff.
And the council estate I was brought up on was/is right on the edge of town and the countryside was also our playground as well as the streets and avenues of our estate."

Damn , that sounds just like me !

We would cycle to the river and build various dens all day, only going home for tea.

I don't see my Fiancee's daughter putting down her blasted phone down other than to ask for food.

Having said that, kids these days stay hardwired to their gadgets and chatrooms so lockdown for most of them was likely barely noticeable. /SARCASM