The Queen Of Madland
We try very very hard not to be crude on this website. But sometimes you’ve just got to bite the bullet and point out that someone’s a completely boneheaded moron who shouldn’t be sent out for bread and milk without grown-up supervision, let alone given a senior political position in what was once a respectable major party.
Margaret Curran wants to be Secretary of State for Scotland.
Here she is, in today’s Herald:
“Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary, Margaret Curran, accused the First Minister of ‘playing fast and loose’ with the BBC, which faces being broken up if Scotland becomes independent. She called on Mr Salmond to say whether Scots viewers would continue to receive all the same BBC programmes for free in the event of a Yes vote next year.
The BBC costs every household with a television set £145.50 per year, a charge diligently enforced in law. That’s not “free”, you unimaginably stupid halfwit.
We’re not aware of Alex Salmond, or anyone else in the SNP or the Yes Scotland campaign, EVER having suggested that a Scottish broadcasting service would be provided for free, nor that BBC programmes would be broadcast in Scotland for nothing. But since they’re not provided for nothing now, we’re not entirely sure what that has to do with anything anyway.
What IS clear, as we’ve explored in some detail on this site before, is that for the same licence fee Scots pay now in the UK, an independent Scotland would be able to fund its own national broadcaster with the same budget as BBC Scotland, AND buy in the full current BBC service, with many millions of pounds left over.
Someone sit down with a book of very short words and explain it to Ms Curran, eh?
Just stumbled across your previous article on the BBC, finish reading, refresh my twitter feed, and see this at the top of it. Are you watching me?
Awful, awful person that she is. Add Bella’s article that shows up her propensity for porkers and you get a fairly good picture of what state the party must be in to allow her to wear that rosette, let alone hold a senior position.
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2013/05/28/being-there/
The irony is that while it’s not free in Scotland just now, it potentially could be after independence.
The BBC broadcast via satellite with no scrambling. Anyone outside of the UK can receive it right now for free – I do and I live in Luxembourg.
I wonder if anyone at the Herald, or anyone at all, has called Ms Curran and simply asked what she meant by free, just to get a bit more of an explanation. That would be an idea, right?
She’s pointing at whoever it was that ran off with SLAB’s pink jacket, forcing her to wear mufti.
Maybe she doesn’t pay her own TV licence (gets it on expenses?) and assumes it’s the same for the rest of us?
Anyway, she’s clearly trying to up her profile a bit. Must be worried what will happen to her career after independence… PS Where is Johann?
It could well be argued that Secretary of State for Scotland is the ideal job for a “completely boneheaded moron”.
Seems Curran still has to have a Sandwich shop or takeaway in close proximity for a sharp exit in case some OAPs start asking awkward questions on camera. She’s just a coward with an oversized mouth, an undersized brain and no conviction.
Waking Up in Madland
Queen of Madland
Useless journalists, useless politicians, useless just about everything else.
This is what the No side what people to think, so they don’t think about the independence debate, and so they don’t vote Yes. Unfortunately, as it ties in with the impression that a lot of people have (thanks to the media), it will be having some effect.
O/T Jackie Bird made an intervention saying “IMPORTANT” news effecting the Independence debate,
This was in the 6.30pm reporting Scotland program. I wanted to see again what she said as it came across as a very serious incident. I went to BBC iplayer today to again look at how she presented it, she is now not the replay.
Realised they look bad in a crazy over the top outburst. Which I am sure she would have known about it prior to the news. BBC of maximum impact? THEY ARE THE SCANDAL !
Margaret Curran. About as bright as two o`clock in the morning!
We could make an exception!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gossip's_Bridle
It is free as long as you pay for it, I think is what Magrat meant.
EphemeralDeception says:
“She’s just a coward with an oversized mouth, an undersized brain and no conviction.”
Yeah! But you should see the size of her expense account!
I can recommend Netflix. £72pa. Lots of great shows.
Netflix doesn’t have Strickly Come National Lottery Saturday Night Drivel though. You’ve been warned.
May I nominate Margaret Curran for the title “That Awful Woman” now that Thatcher no longer holds the position.
She is a good ‘streetfighter’, that’s why she has done well. Take her out the hurly burly and she struggles to make sense.
Shame you weren’t around when Wendy Alexander was Labour leader in Holyrood, now there was a woman who talked like she had simultaneously swallowed a management speak bible and a whole lot of magic mushrooms.
Is Margaret Curran dodging paying the licence fee or is she claiming it off her MP’s expenses?
We need to be told.
More than 400,000 people were caught watching TV illegally, i.e. without a valid licence, in 2012.
It could be 400,001 now.
Blethering Bryan is still alive and well: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-23790083
Maybe she’s located the invisible woman and they thought the BBC was something else we were getting for nothing. The more i hear them the more i realise what a pox on all our houses that self serving lot are, Vote YES to get well rid.
Here’s the rules:
You can watch anything on iPlayer without a license, as long as you don’t watch the live streams.
When confronted with someone who is clearly wrong, it’s normally worth asking whether the error arises from stupidity or malice.
In the case of SLab however, you can be reasonably sure that the cause is both stupidity and malice.
Margaret Curran wants to be Secretary of State for Scotland.
Johann Lamont wants to be First Minister for Scotland.
Wee Dougie wants to be a Washington Shitehawk
Mr Ed wants to be President Tony Mk2
Jim Murphy wants a perpetual war
Alistair Darling wants to be a Lord
Ian Davidson wants a fight
President Tony wants to be the richest man in the world
El Gordo wants to be a working class hero
Anas Sarwar wants anything he can get his hands on
What do they all have in common? They will all f*ck Scotland over to achieve what they want!
O/T – Just to let you all know that I have posted a Helpful Hints walkthrough for personalising your ‘avatar’. You will find it in the Off-Topic folder as shown at the top of this page. Any problems then let me know and I will try to help.
I can’t understand why Magnus ‘East Lothian Question’ Gardham didn’t pick Curran up on the obvious contradiction in her statement.
The chalet I was staying in over the summer, high up in the French Alps, had BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4 (thanks to Freesat). All the brit-owned chalets have the same Humax dish system that can receive freeview channels like this.
Rev-
With these pictures on consecutive days you are really spoiling us.
She’s saying: “Heh, you? aye, you? see you? you’ve goat a big boagie hingin oot yer nose so ye huv, aye, you, aye, see, aye, goat-ye! Made-ye-look, made-ye-stare, even though there’s nuthin there, eh? Belter, eh?”
BBC is offering no guarantees of impartiality in its selection of public panel.
“The BBC’s Newsnight Scotland programme is appealing for members of the public to join an audience for its next debate on issues associated with the independence referendum.”
“Guidelines require the BBC to reflect a broad range of views.”
“To help us do this, we will ask all members of the audience whether they are associated with a political party and if they already have a view on the referendum.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-23780825
Among the detailed and extensive questionnaire #13 requires a very close look:
Have you been on a BBC Scotland TV or Radio Debate before?
And why would they need to know that? Unless they are planning to separate the wheat from the shaft?
Ahhh, another BBC debate held in Glasgow. Good to see they’re making the effort to get opinions from all corners of the country.
Oh Jeez and I thought my grasp of finance and basic arithmetic was shaky. The lady should perhaps lie low for a while after her ill advised, poorly written article and this howling soundbite.
I’d say I’m embarrassed for the opposition, but I’d only be lying.
Sorry if this has been posted already…
https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-scottish-government-approach-the-osce-and-request-an-election-monitoring-mission
Get signing.
she is bonkers
here is an example of what you get for your licence fee
Was going to mention ‘Pointers’ ….. but that would be an affront tae dugs
As SofS for Scotland, she wasn’t aware of the Ireland Act 1949 which clearly stated that the Republic of Ireland was not a foreign country. If she can’t get the big answers right then not knowing we pay for the BBC seems credible. I guess TV Licence might be one of the things MPs get paid for them.
A retired Professor, who continued to work in my Dept well into his 80s, told me the story of after the fall of Singapore, a makeshift headquarters was set up in Ceylon. As a veteran of the WW1 he volunteered to help. They with officers from Sngapore, set up a map/operations room, with all the activities of Japanese and the Allied forces on it.
One day after they had done all this a British general arrived and watched and listened to the explanations and directions for a while, then asked, puzzled, “So, what is this, and what are all these things you are moving around on the map?”
I think he was one or two step up from Margaret Curran.
These are serious questions and real Scots want answers. Why should “something for nothing”, independent Scots receive BBC broadcasts for free?
How many sleeps is it until we are rid of these people?
This is the kind of Unionist politician that the MSM is so busy attempting to protect and prop up. They know well that if they are exposed too much then the Union is finished. That is why Lamont and co get such an easy ride from the MSM. I guess the same thing happened in Eastern Europe with all the Communist politicians. I wonder how long they can keep protecting talentless political time servers, such as Curran and Lamont?
“How many sleeps is it until we are rid of these people?”
Far, far too many.
This from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23790933. The needless criminalisation of otherwise law-abiding people on this scale is quite staggering and appalling, I think.
The TV tax is the Poll Tax that came before the Poll Tax – one of the places TVL get names & address from is the electoral roll.
The TV Tax might have been justified when there was only the state broadcaster filling the air waves. In these modern times, when we have multiple channels from multiple providers supplied over the airwaves and internet, it is nothing more than a relic from a by-gone age.
It’s time the TV Tax was repealed.
_________________________________________________
The BBC was responsible for more than one in 10 criminal prosecutions last year, according to the lead in the Daily Telegraph.
Some 3,500 thousand people a week appeared before magistrates accused of watching television without a valid licence.
The paper says that, while BBC services remain popular with millions of viewers and radio listeners, there is mounting anger over the cost of the licence measured against financial waste at the corporation.
And it says there are growing calls for non-payment of the licence to be treated as a civil matter – like non-payment of utility bills and parking fines – in order to free up the criminal courts for more serious business.
_________________________________________________
“Is Margaret Curran dodging paying the licence fee or is she claiming it off her MP’s expenses?
We need to be told.”
Maybe she gets her TV licence paid for from her address in the East End where she claims to have lived all her life? No, wait. She said that was a slip of the tongue, she doesn’t (and wouldn’t) live there at all. She stays in a very expensive villa in the South Side.
Hang on, let me think – Maybe it is because she hasn’t ever heard of, or paid for, a TV licence, hence the reason she thinks it is free?
@Alba4Eva-
Done.
The petition currently has 1921 signatures – 579 still needed.
Why do you get the feeling that Labour’s cream of boneheadery – Curran, Lamont, Sarwar – are being set up by the likes of Murphy and Alexander, who are conspicuous by their absence from the debate? These latter two will have no difficulty in switching sides in the event of a Yes Vote, leaving the poor saps like the boneheaded trio above to carry the can.
Aye, you get out there, Mags, you tell ’em. Jim and I will be right behind you. With you all the way.
quote
“What other supposedly independent voices are being paid bungs to say what the nationalists want? What else are they willing to do to deceive the people of Scotland?”
Who do you think said that?
none other that the laudable Mr Blair McDougall
the most disingenuous man in Scottish politics,
the sound of pots and kettles methinks
a man who wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and bit him on the ass
It could be the media support people like Curran because it easier to control those stupid as she is. She would never ask any important questions or pose a threat to the real power in Westminster.
I have just realised that this morning I took my car to “Mr Tint” to have my windows tinted “Limo Black” (Me Paranoid?). The operation takes about three hours and I had my dog with me so we went for a long walk around the local park and surrounding area. We had plenty of time to spare and were just ambling along. One thing that I noticed was how despondent everyone was. Also how haggard and worn out some of the older ladies standing at the bus stop with their bags of messages were. Not uncommon in most Scottish city’s but this was a bit more prevalent around here.
I should have known better I was on Alexandria Parade / Alexandria Park and who is the MP around there our very own Margaret Curran. That explains a lot!
a man who wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and bit him on the ass
…….and let’s face it, the truth would hardly miss such a target.
Margaret Curran wants to be Secretary of State for Scotland.
Sorry to burst your bubble hen, but Scotland is having a Referendum to abolish that colonial post.
“Netflix doesn’t have Strickly Come National Lottery Saturday Night Drivel though. You’ve been warned.”
no but ye dinne get that irritating burd yelling riccckkkkkyyy though
naebd says:
“Netflix doesn’t have Strickly Come National Lottery Saturday Night Drivel though”
Tsk Tsk naebd! You omitted the most important bit!
“Netflix doesn’t have BRITISH Strickly Come National Lottery Saturday Night Drivel though”
Alex Salmond can’t be trusted on the BBC…
She’s definitely got that the wrong way round.
The first thing an Independent Scotland must do is to introduce a new broadcasting outfit responsible to the new Government and staffed by people who believe in Scotland. And definitely not ANY legal or other connection to the old regime in London, apart from normal commercial relations like buying the programmes Scots want to see.
That is one of the reasons the BBC is so anti-Independence.
“She’s pointing at whoever it was that ran off with SLAB’s pink jacket, forcing her to wear mufti.”
“I’ll have you Sturgeon”
Scotfree 1320
The prosecution statistics are fairly staggering – but while the Telegraph article refers to the ‘UK’ – it also refers to ‘Magistrates Courts’ so if it is an England and Wales figure only the total could be yet higher. It is also worth bearing in mind that TV licensing is handled by Capita at a cost – again according to the Telegraph – of at least £560m over 8 years.
So far as the BBC staff job security is concerned, that would be the security reasonably guaranteed by the EU TUPE regulations then, which rUK may shed?
I don’t have a telly and get a nasty threatening letter at least 4 times a year. Can we send the detector vans round to Margret’s house as it would seem that she does have a telly but doesn’t pay her licence.
Actually i can’t see ANYBODY reading that and not thinking ” free?….. what?”
And the last time the telly man came round , he didn’t want to come in after I said I don’t have a telly, it was quite clear that he already knew this, I made him look in every room anyway.
When this article appeared i was listening to the song ‘nasty girl’ by Notorious B.I.G. Karma or what!
Will never forget Michaeal Crick (newsnight political editor in 2008) coming up to the Glasgow East by-election to ask Curran a few questions about the disappearance of her predecessor in the seat one David Marshall, and how the Labour party attempted to airbrush him from their history despite holding the seat for a number of years. She knew nothing of course, despite him controversially using his house to double up as a constituency office yet there was no campaign posters up and no answer at the door! She also was busy back tracking over her slip of the tongue about living in the East End. Crick pursuing a panicking Curran down the street lives long in the memory. I guess she has form as she was the one with the awful Grayman running away from a small group of pensioners to take shelter in a Subway sandwich shop.
Crick done what no so called Scottish journalist was prepared to do at the time and ask the necessary questions of the Labour party and hold them to account. Shameful stuff. Maybe thats why she has turned into the madwoman of madland. Times are changing as wings and other pro independent sites and blogs are now asking the tough questions of the Unionists. Just watch them collapse in horror wondering why the whole of the msm hasnt got their backs.
“Someone sit down with a book of very short words and explain it to Ms Curran, eh?”
Or to increase the chances of success perhaps pictures would be better?
My take on the bold Mags and free TV.
http://norrie.wordpress.com/
Posted the following on the Herald article by Magnus Gardham
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendum-news/first-minister-urged-to-outline-proposals-for-new-broadcaster.21929056
I note that Norway, with a population similar to Scotland, its state broadcaster
NRK has 4 TV Channels (plus an HD channel) and 11 Radio stations. In addition it as 12 regional offices around Norway. Each office has its own broadcasts on both television (on NRK 1) and radio (on NRK P1), as well their own news sites on the internet. They also contribute news coverage to national news programmes
http://www.NRK.no
Finland is another country with a similar population size to Scotland, its state broadcaster YLE, has 6 TV channels 9that includes an HD Channel) plus 7 radio stations plus a World radio station
Meanwhile in Scotland, with a population similar to Norway & Finland. Has the BBC, which has 2 Dedicated TV Channels, showing not much in the way of Scottish output. Plus 2 London based channels (BBC3 and 4), a 24 hours News Channel, a couple of kids channels and a Parliamentary channel, which doesn’t show much in the way of Scottish content!. The BBC have only 1 dedicated English language radio station for the whole of Scotland as well as a Gaelic Radio Station, plus the assortment of London based radio stations, that don’t have any relevance to Scotland.
One wonders how the likes of Norway and Finland with similar populations sizes to Scotland can manage to cover each of their respective countries, including some of the remotest in Scandinavia
Should be interesting if Herald mod’s let it through
I think it should be a paid license but not enforced, in consequence the SBC (if it’s named that way) will be obliged to transmit quality news. That way it will not be able to be polarized and controlled .
The same Margaret Curran, who’d never heard of Denis Healy.
Ah, paying BBC Scotland to fund their political agenda against Scotland, those were the days.
Sorry to repost in this thread, this post was meant for this thread all along but broadband blackouts and the cricket distracted me.
Oh great!
I just wrote a really brilliant, thoughtful piece in defence of public broadcasting, with criticisms of the BBC, but admitting that right now I’m listening to online BBC/ABC radio for the fifth Ashes test at the Oval. (I learned to love cricket in Australia so I’m always supporting Oz in the Ashes.)
Just when I tried to post my brilliant piece, my cable broadband decided to have one of its two second blackouts. Poooof, there was my brilliant comment wiped out, lost in cyberspace. [frustrated smiley here]
I think the most important thing I said is that the licence fee/public broadcasting tax enables our public broadcaster YLE not only to provide news in Finnish but also to commission Finnish drama, comedy, in short, make Finnish programmes for a Finnish audience, in addition to the BBC nature/history documentaries, costume/crime drama and other quality stuff they buy from other European or world TV channels/ production companies.
So, however much indy-minded people in Scotland hate the UK propaganda machine that the licence fee -funded BBC is, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. The only way indy Scotland is going to have Scottish programmes is through SBC. The commercial channels are going to be saturated by American chaff, maybe some sort of news/weather. Scottish drama, comedy, meaningful current affairs programmes need a public broadcaster. The SBC isn’t going to be another BBC.
Finland, with a population of 5,4m has “free-to-view” 5 public broadcasting (YLE) TV channels, two-three major commercial TV channels, several “niche channels”, then dozens of pay channels. YLE has produced programmes that have been sold to other countries, despite our weird and impossible language – though our Nordic cousins have done rather better (think Borgen…)
Sigh. Mags hasn’t travelled much, has she?
People watch the BBC in the Netherlands for free. I live in Ireland. I pay a 160 euro licence fee for RTE but I get my tv fix from freesat…………Yup, the same freesat as the uk with all the BBC channels for free. Last time I checked I was living in a separate sovereign state, not the uk.
Hold on (switches tv on) Yup, BBC 1, 2, 3, 4 HD, Parliament, Alba are all on. so are all the ITV and C4 channels etc etc and they are all free to watch. Are the BBC going to force every household in the FUK to get a decoder to unscramble their free to air and digital transmissions just so Scotland can’t watch the effin one show or whatever celebrity master puke is on? I think not.
1000 apologies for my low level grasp of mathematics here but in what altered realm or universe does £145 = free?
Last time I was at school, and yes it wasn’t yesterday, £145 = £145 and free = nothing!
I was always led to believe that our politicians were supposed to be the elite of our communities, the intellectuals of the day. Looking and listening to Curran I am convinced that her constituents have been gravely short changed in all aspects here. As far as her constituents are concerned they have been sent down shite creek without the proverbial paddle!
‘Useless journalists, useless politicians, useless just about everything else’
JasonF
Their loyalties oppose the wishes of many Scots.
Perhaps they might want to consider their future careers – or are they just planning to load up their plodding bullock carts and trundle South.
arbroath@7.08
I don’t like to delve into this “low information voter” thing, it’s patronising and demeaning on either side, but… Well, what would you call voters who tribally vote for Labour to keep oot the Tories? While the Labour party’s policies are actually well nigh indistinguisable from Tory policies. Mags Curran won her seat on the back of tribal “any donkey wi’ a red rosette”. She’s increasingly shrill in desperation to preserve her own position, the cushy MP seat. And, sadly, I think, to justify to herself her support for a right-wing, basically SE England party that gives FA about Scotland. Cognitive dissonance galore.
Still, I think pink jaikits look good on most middle-aged women (I’ve got one!), so Margrit shouldn’t be slated for that. Some SNP women have worn pink jaikits once or twice. (Though I must confess I had a good chuckle when WoS did their gallery of unionist female politicians in pink jaikets.)
I hope my post didn’t come across as attacking the “low information voter” lumilumi because that was not what I intended. I do admit that I’ve questioned the reasoning of some voters who follow the old “my grandad voted Labour, my dad voted Labour, my brothers and sisters voted Labour so I’m voting Labour” regime but hey ho each to their own. Perhaps after the events of 2010 and the current state of affairs that has resulted, including Labour not changing anything if they get back into power in 2015 might finally be getting through to folks.
I find even just appearance of Curran on TV, in papers etc as totally nauseating, and that’s before she opens her mouth. Curran is most definitely one of those “politicians” who really must engage their brain before they open their mouth.
This woman is a symptom. That is all.
I despair when that woman appears in the MSM. I am not surprised by the “free” tv slant, fact checking not necessary when creating headlines or content for articles.
Arbroath 1320 says:
I hope my post didn’t come across as attacking the “low information voter” lumilumi because that was not what I intended. I do admit that I’ve questioned the reasoning of some voters who follow the old “my grandad voted Labour, my dad voted Labour, my brothers and sisters voted Labour so I’m voting Labour” regime but hey ho each to their own.
I always cringe at people who vote for parties on that basis but my family vote together in that way (hence the cringe although I have investigated the issue) but for the SNP and of course Independence. My mum (not Scottish) will vote yes because my dad thought it was the way forward for Scotland and it all stems from my great grandad after WW1.
Whilst the influence of family should not take away from the fact that we should all use our critical faculties of observation, analysis and evaluation, not everyone has the ability to digest the facts I think some people find it easier to do what those closest are doing. For example My sister will vote yes and votes SNP because I do on the basis of my analysis and judgement. In her own words it saves time.
By the high standards of this website, I am a political virgin however in my family, I am a guru! lol Thanks in part to the people who write in this website and the generosity of the commenters on this site. There willingness to share thought, information and opinion has greatly increased my knowledge so my whole family know, we are doing the right thing by voting Yes. Hail Alba.
Hey, Arby, I didn’t meant to criticise your earlier contribution, it just inspired me to go off on a tangent, that’s why I quoted you. Sorry about that. 🙂
Though the thing about “low information voter” still stands. That encompasses most voters. Most people aren’t like us anoraks, they’re not interested in politics, or even referendums that decide their country’s future until a few weeks before. That’s why YES Scotland has to keep its powder dry, take everything on the chin, work on the grassroots. Not go mad bad bang scatter gun like the NO campaign.
I think, in the end, sense and sensibility will win. Scotland is already a prosperous country, even when its revenues are sent down south to Westminster for pocket money back. And by god, what have the SNP done with the pocket money! Made Scotland the envy of the rest of the UK! No subsidy junkies but paying their way and providing well for their citizens, and more. Solidarity? Northern England is already seeking cooperation with Scotland, regardless of the outcome of the referendum.
Oh, and the sensibility (emotion) bit. I don’t know about you Scots but as a Finn, the most important thing for me is Finnish independence. My grandparents were kids, teenagers during our final independence struggle. Lighted the two candles in a window… To this day, we light two candles in the window on our Idependence Day (6 Dec), now perhaps to commemorate the dead of Winter War (1939-1940) and the Continuation War (1941-1945).
For me personally, Finnish independence is the most important and precious thing in my life, a defining characteristic of who I am, despite of having lived many years in English-speaking countries.
I think it’ll be really horrible if Scotland votes NO in 2014. How can a people not want to have their own country become a potentially better country and really their country? What is the lure (and the lie) of the unionjackery, britnattery??? Nobody in their right mind would want to be part of the UK! Ask anyone around the world!
I’ll sign off by saying good night to the poor MI5 and MI6 agents who have to read my witterings. (Poor dears, they have to wade through all subversive websites.)
Lumilumi, my dear, I love your witterings. I’m so jealous of your country’s independence, but I have hope that we’ll be joining you soon.
And you’re nothing like Finland in satw!
For me, the BBC being consigned to history would be one of the major attractions of independence.
I’ve just had an idea. Wings should ask Margaret Curran a difficult very current question and in tandem with this leaflets with the question should be distributed across her constituency asking voters to watch for her reply on Wings.
This could be done to any MP.
Oh, I forgot to explain how our excellent public broadcaster YLE is financed. It used to be TV licence fee, per household, now public broadcasting tax, per person.
I never paid the TV-licence until my late thirties when I was sort of settled back in Finland with a full-time job. Before that, me and my friends all dodged the fee, never opened the door unless we knew a friend was coming. But part of growing up, becoming a real adult in Finland is that you start paying the TV-licence. Mostly because you realise that the money goes into good-quality news, current affairs programmes, original Finnish drama, comedy etc. It ensures that our broadcasting isn’t run over by cheaper American series and reality-tv cuff.
The whole TV-licence thing was changed as of beginning of this year. Now everybody (regardless of whether they have a TV set) pays “public broadcasting tax”, or “YLE-tax”, as it’s usually called. The poorest are exempt, low earners pay as little as €50 a year, the more you earn, the more you pay until you reach the cap of €140 at lower middle income (€20,600 per annum). For my household of one, it means my TV fee is slashed! The old system, one TV-licence per household, meant about €250 per year, now I only pay €140! Middle-income couples have to pay €140+€140=€280, so they don’t like it.
I’m getting old and boring because I’m happy to pay this €140 (or even €252, as I did last year) for Finnish-language news, weather, some drama, some sports coverage. Most of all, I don’t want to leave Finnish broadcasting at the mercy of commercial market forces. They’d never produce “Pikkukakkonen” (our version of Blue Peter) which is a lifesaver to all Finnish parents with kids under 10.
So maybe the ice hockey world championships and the formula 1s have moved to pay channels but YLE still does a very good public service. And it’s less biased and state-controlled than the BBC, these days. Ho-hum.
Oh, and the licence fee/telly tax pays for foreign-language programmes to be translated. Usually subtitled, but little kids’ programmes are dubbed.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons why Finns are so good at reading. We watch TV, we read. Anything that isn’t in Finnish is subtitled.
Subtitling (translating) is an art, it requires a vast amount of cultural background knowledge, fluency in two or more languages, an amazing ability to squeeze everything into a line or two for a couple of seconds and still convey all that was said. Sadly, commercial TV channels don’t want to pay for professional translators any more, they hire students who make a mess of it. Money talks, everybody suffers (except the shareholders).
I like Dave McEwan Hills’ suggestion very much.
‘Wings . com’ asking the questions the BBC are afraid to ask’
Or something like that.
It puts Mags on the spot/ it puts the pathetic bias of the BBC into the limelight.
Two birds with one stone. 🙂
I think Margaret Curran should be applauded on her stance…it REALLY makes Big Eck look DAMNED good..when you see just how pathetic others are!! What competition does he have…when you have the likes of Maddie Curran, Wee Ruthie and useless Wullie to contend with – I won’t mention Joke-Ann…cos no-one knows where she is anyways.
If Scotland went independent and closed down the bbc in Glasgow how would the BBC in Salford stop us receiving their signals as they can in mainland europe and Ireland?