Best Of

If the BBC ceased to exist next week, I don't honestly think we would miss it much now.

Perhaps feel nostalgic for what it was, but miss what it has been reduced to? I can't see it.

Ironically I think the younger you are the less you would even notice it wasn't there.

On a weekend where Scotland had a huge game against the All Blacks, Liverpool (reigning champions) vs Man City (best side of the last decade), a Grand Prix, and countless other great sporting events the BBC showed the dead rubber of Eng vs Aussie in a sport so obscure it’s limited to a few towns in Northern England and some bits of Australia.

Nothing more encapsulates the death of the BBC. Streaming, pay per view whatever, the viewer can choose what content he or she watches and pays for it. The BBC licence fee is indefensible in the modern age. I don’t pay Ford when I buy a Toyota. I don’t pay Waitrose when I shop in Lidl.

The BBC is infected with unbiased bias. It# inhabited by right on types who have swallowed whole that men can be women, that Gaza is all the fault of Israel, that Trump is evil. I think many BBC employees will be like some on here tonight defending the Trump editing. I men FFS.

It’s right that Tim Davie and Deborah Turness have finally taken responsibility and resigned from the BBC. But let’s be honest, this has been a catalogue of serious failures that runs far deeper.

The Prescott report exposed institutional bias that cannot be swept away with two resignations - strong action must be taken on all the issues it raised. The culture at the BBC has not yet changed.

BBC Arabic must be brought under urgent control. The BBC’s US and Middle East coverage needs a full overhaul. And on basic matters of biology, the corporation can no longer allow its output to be shaped by a cabal of ideological activists.

The new leadership must now deliver genuine reform of the culture of the BBC, top to bottom - because it should not expect the public to keep funding it through a compulsory licence fee unless it can finally demonstrate true impartiality.

https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1987601695057367165?s=20

True impartiality to the BBCs critics is to fellate the right wingers . The right which already owns most of the UK media wants total control .

My dislike of Reeves was kindled when I heard her pre-election chit-chat with Bad Al and Rory Stewart.

In a generally soft-ball interview, Stewart innocently asked whether her tax plans would be sufficient, and Reeves jumped down his throat and started ranting about Tory effrontery.

She’s obviously quite a bitter individual, and as we’ve now discovered, destructively useless as well.

She's bitter that she never held a real job in the city and I think she not so secretly hates the economic engine of the UK because it chewed her up and spat her out early in her career and shunted her into a customer service role for a retail bank.

The rumour is that the top rate or tax will go up to 49% (47% IT and 2% NI) or a 64% marginal rate in the £100-125k income band. Any of the last few Labour supporters want to tell me that either of these rates aren't work disincentives?

This country is a joke and the Laboir party are having a laugh at our expense.

I think there is a bigger problem lower down in the payscale.

From my anecdotal experience the people dropping to 4 day weeks are typically people on £50k - £80k who are paired up, have a mortgage, and/or have kids, so the leisure/work balance has hit the top rate of tax at 48% here in Scotland and the decision is obvious. Those on £100k in my line of work tend to be highly driven and for them, frankly, the cash is only a small part of why they work so hard - it's more about prestige/power. I think this is why the £100k band effect is difficult to discern in the data.

Essentially the Treasury is taking advantage of the hustle of people working for their first flat or are highly driven, and the inversion point on the laffer curve is actually very high for these individuals - possibly even as high as 70%. If I were Reeves, I'd be much more concerned about how to keep parents and people with mortgages working 35+ hours, where the point could be as low as 30%.

We are now in a situation where 25 % of teachers are choosing to work part time. This has been a problem with doctors for a while but the problem is now spinning down the public sector ranks. Those earning around £50k look at what the government is proposing to take of any increase and choosing more leisure time instead.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/07/one-in-four-teachers-now-part-time/?msockid=286f17fc1c606c5a0eb002b31dff6dac

I agree that the really high earners tend not to be motivated by money as much as by status or ambition but an ever increasing share of our work force are looking at the numbers and saying sod this.

Ambition doesn’t pay the bills.

To echo Casino’s point I have been a Supply Chain departmental Manager three times in my career. The first time I was ambitious. The last two I ended up with all this extra work and hassle and being expected to be on call pretty much 24-7 for what, a few meaningless perks I got taxed on, like BUPA, and losing a large chunk of the extra cash.

Fuck that. I’d rather have the time and less hassle and a job paying just under the threshold. So I took a step back and refused any other opportunities that I was asked to consider.