I quite agree. Mr Crow’s words on Baroness Thatcher’s death ” ‘I wont shed one single tear over her death……. as far as I’m concerned she can rot in hell.’

Exactly, what goes around comes around.

I read that:

“….Tony Benn and his brother Michael, both joined the Royal Air Force during the war. Tony successfully served as a pilot officer in South Africa and Rhodesia, but Michael was tragically killed on 23rd June, 1944, when as a result of a faulty air speed indicator, his aircraft crashed at Chichester….”

Can anyone expand on this ?

There is another interesting comment on the death of Tony Benn here: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/tony-benn-was-entirely-ineffectual-and-usually-wrong-9194699.html

It makes me laugh whenever celebs are asked this question, when they appear on chat shows.
They always say the same thing.

“I’ve had such a wonderful life, and I wouldn’t change a thing” ……… Lying bunch of whatsits.

There will be irresponsible people though, who draw out their pension, then run out of money in the future.
It happens now, when people take a 25% lump sum (as I did last year). Some of them blow it all in the first
few years.
There will also be plenty of stories of how people are falling victim to scams, and losing everything.

Then again, there will be those who use the money wisely, and maybe also have plenty of money
from inheritances to see them through into later life.

It’s not easy to generalise.

Blues

Do they have to start with ……” Well I woke up dis’ mornin’ …………. ? 🙂

I don’t know about the BBC being the finest broadcaster in the world, although it is certainly “one” of the best.
Taking news output for instance, with the advent of satellite TV, we can see how other countries do it, even if they
may be funded by the US.
I have an intense dislike of the smug attitude of people like Mary Hockaday, who often appears on Newswatch to defend
the output of the BBC news. As far as she is concerned, they are omnipotent, it is us the public who are always wrong.
In the face of the indefensible, nobody is ever available for comment. Then again, if I were on £150,000+, I would no
doubt defend my staff and decisions.
Are newsreaders really worth £500,000 a year ?

To be honest, I hardly watch anything on BBC1. Their weekend schedule is pretty dire.

If the BBC hadn’t spent so much money trying to compete with ITV and Sky over the years, maybe they wouldn’t
have been after a licence fee increase so often ?

When ITV announced they were going to introduce Breakfast and daytime TV, the BBC had to jump in first.
They introduced a 24 hour news channel channel, to compete with Sky News. Then often duplicate the same output
as is being shown on BBC1.
They brought in BBC three (soon to go) and BBC four which often shows repeats of BBC1

BBC1 and BBC two already show lots of adds between programmes, promoting their own output.
They also make a lot of money by selling their programmes abroad.

The question is: If the BBC did go subscription only (and it’s by no means certain they will), how would they do it ?
Easy enough on Sky to turn programmes on and off, but how about Freeview, and Freesat ?

How much would it cost the BBC to provide everyone with a pay to view box ?

I think we can take it as read that the BBC make some very good programmes.
They also make some pretty dire quiz and unreality shows.
I also don’t think there are many of us who like adverts.

Saying that, I watch a lot more non-BBC programmes. With virtually everything I watch having been recorded.

Discovery and Nat Geo, are probably worth the Sky subscription alone, and having not seen it the first time around, we have just finished watching “Hornblower” on ITV4, excellent series.

You wouldn’t have seen “House” or watch “Homeland” on the BBC. Not all US programmes are rubbish.

It’s not a case of envy, but I just despise people like Paxman and Anne Robinson being on £1 million a year, of licence payers money. Money which we have no choice but to pay (if you watch any live TV at all).

Who can remember those threatening adverts the BBC used to run, about paying your licence ? Showing a detector van outside a house, with a voice over saying “we know what you are watching”.

Detector vans which probably never even existed.