UK IX: This Economy Will Self-Destruct In...

[huxley]

Just to make a point, if they do this...

There are presently ~1.4 million license holders in the UK.

There are also presently ~24 million households paying council tax in the UK.

A TV Licence costs ~£140.

So a quick calculation...

That means the licence should be under £9, per household, per year.

Who's going to bet they find a way to make it £50?

EDIT: Turns out it's £160, but my point still stands as that's not really going to move the needle all that much.

Does this mean they will remove the option to opt out?
I don’t watch live tv or use iplayer. Haven’t done for years. I’ve never opted out as I don’t want sign up for more crap and just ignore the badly worded threat letters.

[Brad]

Was it necessary for Johnson to take a flight in a Typhoon?

Apparently yes, in order to fully understand the capabilities.

Well, I expect him to work as a nurse for a week, a bin man, live as a homeless person and a school teacher for a week as well then, in order to understand what too.

[Hirst]

Lets be logical though. What the hell can the government do besides tell people to use their common sense by making sure they're fully hydrated and to keep out of the sun?
It's not like they can pop up free aircon centers around the country.

I'd agree the government can't do much more in terms of messaging.

Problem is that round here the health services are completely (deliberately through austerity) stretched and we've got a situation where two thirds of the ambulance fleet might be sat queued up at the hospital for hours waiting to be seen. Add that daily scenario to one where they get a few hundred extra cases - daytime drinkers who passed out in the street at noon, silly old fossils in big coats going out to buy cabbages because they "always buy cabbages on Mondays", a broken down train full of people who got stuck on it four hours with no air con and water... then we get a situation where somebody having a regular old heart attack or get in a car crash end up dying because they were too busy dealing with the rest. Would be useful if someone out there had a strategy to figure out what to do.

Anyway, I bloody love weather like this. Just had an ice cream and a full-fat can of Coke. Superb.

[wheelaa]

There are presently ~1.4 million license holders in the UK.

The 1.4m (approx) is BBC funded licenses.

Latest data at https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/...d-figures-AB18 shows approx 25 million licenses in force.

[fuse]

Was it necessary for Johnson to take a flight in a Typhoon?

I got unreasonably excited for a second there until I spotted the capital T.

[Asura]

The 1.4m (approx) is BBC funded licenses.

Latest data at https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/...d-figures-AB18 shows approx 25 million licenses in force.

Less than 6% of homes have a TV license?

Great - admittedly it seemed a bit odd. I googled it and that was the answer I got.

As for the homes thing, given the number of people I've known over the years who simply haven't paid, or don't have/need one, it didn't immediately strike me - but in retrospect it was obviously too early in the morning

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/jul/18/tory-leadership-third-ballot-rishi-sunak-liz-truss-penny-mordaunt-kemi-badenoch-tom-tugendhat-live?page=with:block-62d559488f083a0fe85d2e79#block-62d559488f083a0fe85d2e79

Sunak says decarbonisation is his plan for the environment issue

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2022/jul/18/uk-weather-heatwave-met-office-warning-forecast-temperature-london-schools-latest-updates?page=with:block-62d548648f08f134b15ff7f8#block-62d548648f08f134b15ff7f8

Johnson skips another Cobra meeting on the heatwave

[Lebowski]

The 1.4m (approx) is BBC funded licenses.

Latest data at https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/...d-figures-AB18 shows approx 25 million licenses in force.

24 million households, 24 millions licenses, sounds a lot more on the mark, theirs no way that license holding is in the minority as i don't believe that large areas of the uk would not have a TV. Swapping to put it on council tax would be fine for the majority of people and probably work out cheaper. The non payment side of the TV license and all the handling of it folds into the council tax enforcement, plus all the marketing they do would be redundant over night as their would be no way not to pay it. The few people who don't have a TV and those that have been dodging are the ones who will be caught out by this.

[huxley]

Over 300,000 people cancelled their TV licences over the last couple of years. The bbc want to do this as everyone would end up being paid up licence holders regardless or using the services or not. Why not just add Netflix and Prime to the council tax as well.

[Asura]

The few people who don't have a TV and those that have been dodging are the ones who will be caught out by this.

Cynically, I think there's another factor at play here.

Presently, there are those in the UK who don't have a TV Licence because they choose not to do so; they don't watch broadcast TV and don't use the BBC's services, because they're ideologically opposed to the organisation. In the wake of the Saville fiasco and the supposed bias of the news service (long debate, that one) even more people have kicked the BBC to the kerb.

If the government makes it part of broader taxation, that means you can no longer do this. You have to contribute to the state broadcaster, even if the government gut it, "reform" it, and turn it into a state mouthpiece like VGTRK in Russia. You won't be able to decline, even if the BBC adopts a cultural stance that you find entirely disagreeable.

[Lebowski]

turn it into a mouthpiece?

please ignore that the current chair Richard sharp A former banker, who worked at JP Morgan for eight years, and then for 23 years at Goldman Sachs and that was an advisor to Boris Johnson during his tenure as London Mayor, and to Rishi Sunak as Chancellor. or that He has donated more than £400,000 to the Conservative Party last year.

We dont talk about current Director-General Tim Davie ex councillor for the Conservative Party in Hammersmith in 1993 and 1994 and was deputy chairman of the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative party in the 1990.

then their was the bbc news chief political editor Laura Kunsberg who had social links to Jhonson and atteneded parties he hosted, impartiality was gone many many years ago

to quote ol Jim Royal "impartial my Arse"

[charlesr]

I've not had a licence for years either (or used a service that I'd need one for). I'd miss the Radio channels though.

[Asura]

turn it into a mouthpiece?

I get what you mean, but despite the fact that the BBC has problems, it's waaaaay short of being the sort of propaganda shown on Russian State TV.

No-one has ever had a go a politician on Question Time, and had a government agent come up behind them and inject them with a syringe. That's happened on Russian TV. Was in 2000; you can probably still find it online.

[Lebowski]

I get what you mean, but despite the fact that the BBC has problems, it's waaaaay short of being the sort of propaganda shown on Russian State TV.

No-one has ever had a go a politician on Question Time, and had a government agent come up behind them and inject them with a syringe. That's happened on Russian TV. Was in 2000; you can probably still find it online.

I don't think that would work in the UK you need to keep people onside and give the illusion of a democracy, the BBC didnt need to do a lot as the mainstream press is usually frothing at the mouth about the opposition. what i saw from the BBC was Endless antisemitism stories while ignoring the transphobia and islamaphobia of the Tories, a photoshoped picture of a Russian hat, a political editor that jumped on every slightly negative opposition story without fact checking it first. and question time audiences full of tory plants pretending to be the "general Public" its the death by a thousand cuts approach and it works pretty well.

[Anpanman]

I've not had a licence for years either (or used a service that I'd need one for). I'd miss the Radio channels though.

This is the same with us but it has now been engineered that quite a lot of people fall into the 'you have to have a licence' category. We can do completely without anything the Beeb does, but since I pay the NFL for a Gamepass subscription I have to stub up for a fee.

In short, I pay an American organisation to watch something that isn't available on TV here but since it's live I have to pay the BBC aka UK government some money as well, it's a protection racket.