I despair at the standard of journalism these days....

Before I go on, note this is NOT about defending politicians of any party.

The Daily Mirror front page headline screams " Tory TV Licence Hypocrites " relating to free licences for MPs whilst scrapping them for pensioners as the BBC apparently cannot afford to lose the money. Now if that was taken at face value then most people including myself would be outraged, and rightly so. However.....

1 The most misleading aspect is that the 'perk' is for free licences for Constituency Offices i.e. business premises) So presumably it does NOT include free licenses for MPs homes. Given that constant access to media news is certainly important for MPs and staff working on the premises and licences have to be bought if you stream live media on any device PC, etc. it would be tax deductible expense anyway.

2 In any case this so called 'perk' would be applied to ALL MPs not just Tories. LIcences for 650 MPs is a drop in the ocean compared to the huge financial loss incurred by giving free licences to millions of pensioners.

3 Given what is currently happening in the country at the moment the choice running this as the main front page, the obvious bias by the Mirror aimed at one party simply confirms (not that we didn't know already that) Red Tops are only good for bias confirmation and people tend to read the papers that most agree with their political standpoint e.g. Guardian pro Socialist/ Pro Remain whilst Mail and Express pro Brexit. Reading/quoting one source makes it impossible to get a balanced view of current affairs, even the BBC the once the bastion of impartiality has agendas.

I don't find this annoying but it makes me sad at the state and declining standards of the media.

 

You'd really better not pick up the Daily Hatred then, can't imagine what you'll make of their daily headlines.

 

One of the real issues with the press is that they used up their hyperbole in the 80s and 90s. You cant sensationalise any further. Sensationalism is the new norm. So the natural progression now is to simply lie and evade. Our media is a propaganda machine. Simple as that. The UK may as well be North Korea in that respect without the national anthem... though maybe on 1st April (how appropriate) we'll add that to the new order.

2018 is a very poor vintage.

 

A bit (alright a lot) off topic,....

When you look at taxation I wonder how many people realise how much actually goes back into treasury coffers.

Most people pay income tax at various levels. Disposable income incurs tax on many items in the form of VAT. The items bought are produced by businesses who also pay tax on raw materials, plant, equipment business rates etc. The companies producing those raw materials, plant etc also have employees paying tax, pay for plant, premises , business rates. It is a huge money-go-round. When calculating costs of public sector major projects, the net costs to Government never seem to take into account the NET cost after they remove all the monies that will untlimately find their way back into the economy via the Treasury.
The 'leakage' for the UK economy is made up of imported goods and services, people spending abroad (holidays etc), foreign companies operation in UK with shell companies, people like myself who have retired abroad and income is UK based, foreign workers who send money home to families still living abroad. A major leakage is also meg-rich and Corporations offshoring funds. Exports and tourism offset some of those as do skilled migrants who work here and earn sufficient salaries to enter the tax bracket.

Obviously reducing imports and producing more food and goods etc domestically is hugely beneficial to the economy, probably more important than reducing the Welfare budget since most of the money goes to claimants a significant proportion of which remains in the money-go-round and does not leave the country.

All simplistic I know but, screwing over UK manufacturing scuppered the 'Buy British' concept of years ago which would have been helpful in the coming days I suspect.

 

The BBC political reporting has been in decline for a few years now, and is accelerating to the abyss. Always felt it was slightly aligned to the Govt (whichever colour rosette) However, nowadays it has way surpassed this and has become akin to the ‘Banana Republic’ type description.

 

It’s just reporting as the right wing press
,Sun etc you could have picked any story from any paper and run a biased (in your words ) the fact it was a left leaning papers story that grabbed your attention and wrath says something of your biased tbh.
As for the story it should be the govt initiative for free or reduced liscence fee imo.
How many buisnesses offer free products to the detriment of its produce?
MPs are just shoring up their popularity at the expense of the BBC and interfering by proxy in its output

 

Do you need a license for every device , I always thought if you had a licence for home it covered your PC Laptop

 

Your laptop and other devices are covered by your home TV license while you're at home, obviously. If you're away from home then it's covered as long as it's not plugged into the mains.

https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ129

 

Indeed. I have several old Sky boxes which I use to watch UK TV when I'm in France, without a subscription. Effectively Freesat with a few differences here and there. I couldn't buy a (second) TV license to cover that usage even if I wanted to.

 

When you logon to BBC abroad using either DNS proxy or VPN the site asks if you have a TV licence. Since it does not specify, I can honestly answer that with a 'Yes' since I have an Italian TV licence. Not exactly kosha but given BBC antiquated, pre global internet charter who cares!

 

Not really. It was the stand-out incongruous headline of the day filling the entire front page. As I said it was a not a political comment aimed at either party but an observation as to the poor quality of journalism these days. If you see the OP as biased towards the Cons it says more about you than it does me. In fact the poor quality of journalism these days is only matched or surpassed by the low quality of Politicians of all persuasions and main parties IMO. I also stated I was not angry so "wrath" doesn't enter into the discussion. You seem to have problems with basic reading comprehension by seeing things that are not there. P.S- Free licences cost £745m per year so I don't know companies that would offer free products at that cost vs revenue generated.

 

No companies would offer free products that’s why I was alluding to Govts interfering and making BBC pay for licenses when it’s a government initiative if they deem people are entitled to free Licenses then it should come from govt resources those that are living abroad and voting on what we in the uk should abide by should be persude without pity .
It was your political and social comments in previous posts that led to my i overall summary of your views not just the latter.
Ps I have no basic reading comprehensions but your insults confirm my suspicions of your character

 

Yawn! Likewise!

 

Headlines can be so miss leading.. Some years ago the Mail ran the headline...
Prostitution goes underground..


Whilst the Mirror ran with

Miners get all that they want...

Yes it's been said I'm a daft bugger lol