Parking and Clamping
This was discussed on Radio 5 Live yesterday morning, after reports that the government were to ban clamping on private land. It is probably right to ban the aggressive aspects of this, but what do you do if say you have a private car park on your offices that is always being blocked by illegal parkers. They also interviewed the man who refused to get out of his clamped car, so it could be towed away. Most had sympathy with the man, but I don’t, as he shouldn’t have parked where he did in the first place.
When I could drive, I never parked illegally and I think that in over forty years of driving, I’ve only had a handful of tickets. most of which were because I misread a sign or put the wrong amount of money in a meter.
Now that I use buses a lot, I realise how illegal parkers are a complete menace and slow the traffic a lot more. My post about chaos in Trafalgar Square was partly about illegal parking, but mainly about stupid idiots, who were trying to drive where they shouldn’t.
The irony about the BBC phone-in was that the stand-in presenter, Stephen Nolan admits that he gets lots of parking tickets outside the BBC in Belfast, because he claims there is nowhere to park. Surely, he should use the bus. But then he is almost proud of his very obese state, so I suppose the extra walk would be just too much for him.
I hope the BBC don’t pay his parking tickets.
A Bad Move by the BBC?
It has now been confirmed that the BBC is moving its flagship BBC Breakfast program to Salford Quays in Manchester.
It has also been reported that some of the presenters and broadcasting staff are not that happy.
I don’t think I am either, as will some of the more interesting guests bother to go up to Manchester, when they can get as much publicity by sitting on the sofa at GMTV in London? I will still probably watch the BBC, as I’m allergic to adverts.
To illustrate this problem this morning, where the Pakistan floods are dominating the news, they called in a representative of the charity, World Vision, which is based in Milton Keynes, who talked with great knowledge about the problem. Would they get the same quality of expert in Manchester, especially as most charities seem to be south-east based? It is also the day when many of the major banks are reporting. This would have to be an outside broadcast no doubt.
It is a bad move, especially as the guy in charge of it won’t be moving.
I actually think that if the BBC Breakfast program suffers badly in quality because of the move North, then there would be a gap for a high-quality, serious news program based in London, probably paid for by some means like a subscription.
Is It a Good Idea to Cut the BBC Licence Fee?
There are reports today, that the government is wanting to cut the BBC licence fee, as we must all make sacrifices in these hard times.
Obviously, it could be good for the country, but we must make sure that the quality of the BBC’s output doesn’t decline.
My viewing habits are I think fairly typical of someone, who is male and reasonably well off, as I have a subscription to Sky Sports, and digital television and a Sky+ recorder.
- I watch football, cricket, tennis and sometimes other sports on Sky.
- If sport is on the BBC, I usually watch it. Because there is nothing else to do today, I’m watching the golf, but I’d prefer to be watching football, cricket, tennis or athletics.
- I never watch soaps or any drama series that require you to see all episodes. Even things like Spooks, which I do like, I rarely watch.
- I watch intelligent quizzes, like Mastermind, University Challenge and QI and sometimes inane ones like Shooting Stars.
- I always check BBC3 and BBC4 for intelligent or interesting programs.
- I watch old comedy and rarely any new stuff, except for things like Have I Got News For You.
- I watch the repeat channels like Dave, for repeats of programs I like.
- I rarely watch films on television, as you should see them in a proper cinema.
- I never watch anything other than sport with adverts.
- I watch a lot of documentaries and history programs.
- I watch a lot of news programs and always start the day with BBC Breakfast.
- I don’t watch property, gardening and makeover shows
- I only watch ITV, if I’m really desperate.
- I listen a lot to BBC Radio 5 Live and I often contribute to programmes with e-mails.
So cutting the licence fee would not affect my viewing much, unless shows that I liked weren’t made anymore. I worry about BBC Radio 5 and BBC Sport going to Manchester, as I think that could reduce the quality, as the good commentators and production staff, might not want to move north. One northern-born Radio 5 presenter said as much very stridently in an off-air comment, that a microphone picked up. If the north was so good, it would create more jobs without government subsidy, just like London and the greater South East does.
I hope too, that BBC cuts don’t mean that the BBC dumb downs. In fact cuts should mean that programs like East Enders, which are expensive to make should be replaced by something less inane, that would hopefully give ambition and perhaps a degree of education and enlightenment to those less fortunate than myself.
But what we really need is a better way to collect the licence, so that everybody pays and thus it could be reduced without atually reducing the total take to the BBC. Years ago, I proposed a Reverse TV Licence, where the BBC was paid for out of general taxation and if you didn’t have a TV, you got a payment from the government.But with technology now, we could go a lot better. Especially, as we’re all going to have to go digital and many of us will go to satellite or the Internet. Remember, many of us, pay a large subscription for all sorts of services on our mobile phone, but think that all television, music and film should be free.
One thing that has to be born in mind though, is that if the BBC cuts its budget and staff, many of the people affected will not just give up. They will form their own production companies and make innovative programmes, that will probably broadcast through the Internet. The good ones will be found and promoted by the broadcasters and the amount of material generally available that is worth watching and listening to will increase.
One point, I should make, is that the BBC sought my cooperation in a new program project. It droned on for a couple of years and they must have spent a fortune to get no program at all. The program commissioning at the BBC is in my experience, a complete waste of space. It would be so much better if independent companies took all the risk and then presented them to the BBC and others to broadcast. It would not be easy, but in the end, we’d get much better and more affordable television.
I think it is true to say, that some of the best programs, I have seen over the last few years, were created by independents and promoted by the likes of the BBC and Channel 4.
We live in interesting times.
A Friend Across the Ether
i’m lying in bed listening to BBC radio 5 live through the internet. I hope the BBC realises how important a good worldwide feed of the their internet radio staitons is to people like me.
The Anonymous Widower 