It is amazing how voters will come out of the woodwork to make sure Le Pen doesn't win. I wouldn't trust the run off polls. Even those who viscerally loathe Macron will vote for him in the second round if Le Pen is the opponent. I don't believe these second round polls can pick that up
Some not all.
Zemmour voters will overwhelmingly switch to Le Pen in the runoff. More Pecresse voters will vote for Le Pen in the runoff than Fillon voters did.
Many Melenchon voters will stay home rather than vote for Macron and a few will even actually vote for Le Pen
One of the oddities of the French system is that many of those standing for President are the usual suspects who have already been rejected by the electorate. In this country leaders of the serious parties tend to get 1 or a maximum of 2 goes before the party looks for a new look or voice. It's like the country is run by half a dozen Liberal Democratic parties.
This makes it quite difficult for new candidates to come forward within the system and candidates often seem to come from new parties or groupings which must have very little in the way of data for canvassing etc. Macron did this spectacularly the last time but I really don't see the likes of Le Pen or Melenchon doing much but causing a block to the new. Zemmour is the new candidate with the new party this time but his brand must surely do no more than damage Le Pen.
I am not a fan of Macron and he is absurdly hostile to the UK but I cannot see anyone that has any kind of a chance of beating him. I did get a bit of a laugh from a column in the Telegraph yesterday indicating that his great drive to relocate finance from London to Paris has so far resulted in the location of just over 7k jobs and Paris remained at 12 in the world as a financial centre whilst London was second to New York. It seemed to me typical of Macron, lots of bluster but very little practical result.
Not likely to keep second spot for long thanks to Brexit. The writing is well and trully on the wall. None of the top 20 fell by as many rating points as London.
One of the oddities of the French system is that many of those standing for President are the usual suspects who have already been rejected by the electorate. In this country leaders of the serious parties tend to get 1 or a maximum of 2 goes before the party looks for a new look or voice. It's like the country is run by half a dozen Liberal Democratic parties.
This makes it quite difficult for new candidates to come forward within the system and candidates often seem to come from new parties or groupings which must have very little in the way of data for canvassing etc. Macron did this spectacularly the last time but I really don't see the likes of Le Pen or Melenchon doing much but causing a block to the new. Zemmour is the new candidate with the new party this time but his brand must surely do no more than damage Le Pen.
I am not a fan of Macron and he is absurdly hostile to the UK but I cannot see anyone that has any kind of a chance of beating him. I did get a bit of a laugh from a column in the Telegraph yesterday indicating that his great drive to relocate finance from London to Paris has so far resulted in the location of just over 7k jobs and Paris remained at 12 in the world as a financial centre whilst London was second to New York. It seemed to me typical of Macron, lots of bluster but very little practical result.
Not likely to keep second spot for long thanks to Brexit. The writing is well and trully on the wall. None of the top 20 fell by as many rating points as London.
NEW: Jeremy Hunt becomes the most senior Tory to criticise plans to privatise Channel 4. The former Culture Secretary: "I'm not in favour of it because as it stands Channel 4 provides competition to the BBC on public service broadcasting." https://twitter.com/KevinASchofield/status/1511232996468310017
Competition on public service broadcasting...
Erm...
Does that mean we need a second NHS?
Isn't this how the Israeli health care system works? And is generally quite good?
The Israeli healthcare system is based on the National Health Insurance Law of 1995, which mandates all citizens resident in the country to join one of four official health insurance organizations, known as Kupat Holim (קופת חולים - "Sick Funds") which are run as not-for-profit organizations and are prohibited by law from denying any Israeli resident membership. Israelis can increase their medical coverage and improve their options by purchasing private health insurance.
One of the oddities of the French system is that many of those standing for President are the usual suspects who have already been rejected by the electorate. In this country leaders of the serious parties tend to get 1 or a maximum of 2 goes before the party looks for a new look or voice. It's like the country is run by half a dozen Liberal Democratic parties.
This makes it quite difficult for new candidates to come forward within the system and candidates often seem to come from new parties or groupings which must have very little in the way of data for canvassing etc. Macron did this spectacularly the last time but I really don't see the likes of Le Pen or Melenchon doing much but causing a block to the new. Zemmour is the new candidate with the new party this time but his brand must surely do no more than damage Le Pen.
I am not a fan of Macron and he is absurdly hostile to the UK but I cannot see anyone that has any kind of a chance of beating him. I did get a bit of a laugh from a column in the Telegraph yesterday indicating that his great drive to relocate finance from London to Paris has so far resulted in the location of just over 7k jobs and Paris remained at 12 in the world as a financial centre whilst London was second to New York. It seemed to me typical of Macron, lots of bluster but very little practical result.
Not likely to keep second spot for long thanks to Brexit. The writing is well and trully on the wall. None of the top 20 fell by as many rating points as London.
The loss of jobs in London has so far been less than 1% of what was forecast and indeed has not even offset the indiginous growth in difficult economic times.
The Telegraph article was looking at figures from 2020 by the look of it. It's surprising how close the top six are to each other if you look at the 2022 ratings.
Why privatise Channel 4? Just seems like ideological dogma to me
Privatising the BBC/Channel 4 is one of the few issues that I’ve completely changed my mind over, over the last few years.
I used to be completely against privatisation, now I don’t see what the problem is. I’m in favour of a smart state, flexible about moving things in and out of private/public ownership.
Generally - If there’s a market, genuine competition and space for innovation, it should be private.
Essential service &/or a natural monopoly? Public.
I’d bring water, energy and trains into public ownership - and privatise the BBC/Channel 4.
Not convinced about public ownership - the problem is that high capex unsexy activities such as investing in the electricity grid will always lose out to schools’n’hospitals if they are run by government.
But there should be a creative alternative model to finance the investment - perhaps owned by a mutual or public sector pension funds for example.
Huge cost to the Tories though. Instead of a propaganda platform like GBeebies they have this woke hipster thing which undermines everything Dorries stands for
Huge cost to the Tories though. Instead of a propaganda platform like GBeebies they have this woke hipster thing which undermines everything Dorries stands for
This the true motivation IMHO, they've had a bee in their bonnet ever since they put that ice figure on TV when the Tories couldn't be bothered to turn up to a debate on climate change.
We are living in extremely dark times. I see no cause for optimism at all in this world
I realise this can appear to annoy people, but this is precisely why I've stopped looking at the News after my morning catch-up. Even then I only take a cursory look now. Too much hatred, violence, disrespect, nastiness, anger etc.
In my brief exchange I had with JJ this time yesterday I suggested that we can, to an extent, make our own reality. Or rather there are multiple realities. We can choose to live in a way that is happier and less stressed but it requires disengaging from a lot of modern particularly western life. At some points of my life I've lived in extremely remote locations, freed from the encumbrances of modern life. They were blissful times.
I think JJ inferred that this was escapism but I find no greater Reality than when I'm in contemplative meditation embedded in Mother Nature.
As I say, I accept that this is alternative but it works for me.
I also found out this weekend my father has six months left.
Life’s crap.
I’m sorry to hear that. There are no words - losing a parent is always a traumatic experience. Just try to spend as much time with him as you can - that’s the one thing you can’t get back later/
It's not just Putin. When large groups of, presumably Russians, demonstrate in support of Russia's brutal war against Ukraine we know the rot in among Russians go far beyond Putin and his small inner circle.
@HannaLiubakova · Apr 3 An enormous car parade of cars with mostly Russian flags in Berlin, #Germany, today. Reportedly, the parade in support of Russia gathered 5000 cars.
They can't complain about the media blackout in Germany. They have access to information and can see what Russians did in Bucha.
Needs everybody in Germany that gives a shit about Ukraine and the genocide being inflicted upon it by Russia to get out this weekend with a Ukrainian flag draped across their bonnet.
NEW: Jeremy Hunt becomes the most senior Tory to criticise plans to privatise Channel 4. The former Culture Secretary: "I'm not in favour of it because as it stands Channel 4 provides competition to the BBC on public service broadcasting." https://twitter.com/KevinASchofield/status/1511232996468310017
Competition on public service broadcasting...
Erm...
Does that mean we need a second NHS?
Well that is why Trusts are set up that way, to compete with each other. So not a second NHS, but hundreds. Thousands if you include GPs.
In jollier news, one of Fox jr2s girlfriends is a TikTok sensation, with 1.1 million followers at age 20. Anyone know what that means in income? This is her stream:
This site reckons she could earn ~$2,000 per post, but it also says that tiktok earnings are primarily via partnerships with brands, rather than passive earnings from ads, and the website likely has an interest in being optimistic about the potential for earnings.
Interesting.
Just curious. She does theatre make up, which is how they met. No longer an item though, Fox jr2 moves around.
NEW: Jeremy Hunt becomes the most senior Tory to criticise plans to privatise Channel 4. The former Culture Secretary: "I'm not in favour of it because as it stands Channel 4 provides competition to the BBC on public service broadcasting." https://twitter.com/KevinASchofield/status/1511232996468310017
Competition on public service broadcasting...
Erm...
Does that mean we need a second NHS?
Well that is why Trusts are set up that way, to compete with each other. So not a second NHS, but hundreds. Thousands if you include GPs.
Regarding GPs, I reckon if Labour promised to abolish them, they'd gain a lot of support.
If you’re not already familiar the concept Guido doesn’t plan on explaining it here; keep an eye out for Guido’s own NFT coming soon…
I keep on reading the Verge's explainer and I still don't think that I understand what NFTs are, and why people would pay real money for them. I think this might be a sign that I've reached that age where all new technology is "against nature", while when I was younger new technology was exciting and about the future.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
NEW: Jeremy Hunt becomes the most senior Tory to criticise plans to privatise Channel 4. The former Culture Secretary: "I'm not in favour of it because as it stands Channel 4 provides competition to the BBC on public service broadcasting." https://twitter.com/KevinASchofield/status/1511232996468310017
Competition on public service broadcasting...
Erm...
Does that mean we need a second NHS?
That might not be as daft an idea as it sounds, if you believe in competition. Israel has something like this iirc. Better than the internal market.
Official channels silent on the killings - while posts on Chinese social media claim that it was part of a Ukrainian genocide perpetrated on Russian speaking Ukrainians.
If you’re not already familiar the concept Guido doesn’t plan on explaining it here; keep an eye out for Guido’s own NFT coming soon…
I keep on reading the Verge's explainer and I still don't think that I understand what NFTs are, and why people would pay real money for them. I think this might be a sign that I've reached that age where all new technology is "against nature", while when I was younger new technology was exciting and about the future.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
Me neither, if it is any consolation. I can only suppose they are like tulips - which also replicate. If not so quickly.
We are living in extremely dark times. I see no cause for optimism at all in this world
I realise this can appear to annoy people, but this is precisely why I've stopped looking at the News after my morning catch-up. Even then I only take a cursory look now. Too much hatred, violence, disrespect, nastiness, anger etc.
In my brief exchange I had with JJ this time yesterday I suggested that we can, to an extent, make our own reality. Or rather there are multiple realities. We can choose to live in a way that is happier and less stressed but it requires disengaging from a lot of modern particularly western life. At some points of my life I've lived in extremely remote locations, freed from the encumbrances of modern life. They were blissful times.
I think JJ inferred that this was escapism but I find no greater Reality than when I'm in contemplative meditation embedded in Mother Nature.
As I say, I accept that this is alternative but it works for me.
I also found out this weekend my father has six months left.
Life’s crap.
I’m sorry to hear that. There are no words - losing a parent is always a traumatic experience. Just try to spend as much time with him as you can - that’s the one thing you can’t get back later/
Yeah sorry for @Taz - use the time you have as best you can.
In jollier news, one of Fox jr2s girlfriends is a TikTok sensation, with 1.1 million followers at age 20. Anyone know what that means in income? This is her stream:
With both @Jeremy_Hunt and @TomTugendhat now coming out in opposition to privatisation of @Channel4, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there. https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473 They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
Huge cost to the Tories though. Instead of a propaganda platform like GBeebies they have this woke hipster thing which undermines everything Dorries stands for
This the true motivation IMHO, they've had a bee in their bonnet ever since they put that ice figure on TV when the Tories couldn't be bothered to turn up to a debate on climate change.
Which they claim now they care about.
There's no doubt that C4 is rabidly anti-tory. Want a cheap cheer on the Last Leg, slag of the Tories. (This includes baroness Warsi, who you have to wonder is a sleeper agent, so much does she seem to hate her own party). And then there's Jon 'F*ck the Tories' Snow.
Would a privatised channel be any different? I guess it depends who buys. GB news has not exactly captured the market in the Fox news style.
With both @Jeremy_Hunt and @TomTugendhat now coming out in opposition to privatisation of @Channel4, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there. https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473 They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
The sale of Channel 4 is politicians and civil servants thinking they know more about how to run a business than the people who run it. Very unconservative. Mrs Thatcher, who created it, never made that mistake.
NEW: Jeremy Hunt becomes the most senior Tory to criticise plans to privatise Channel 4. The former Culture Secretary: "I'm not in favour of it because as it stands Channel 4 provides competition to the BBC on public service broadcasting." https://twitter.com/KevinASchofield/status/1511232996468310017
Competition on public service broadcasting...
Erm...
Does that mean we need a second NHS?
Well that is why Trusts are set up that way, to compete with each other. So not a second NHS, but hundreds. Thousands if you include GPs.
Yes the classic idea of letting the market improve things. Yet you don't really get a choice of GP do you? If your surgery is too busy because there are too few GP's and too many patients, you can't choose a different surgery (at least not in my mid sized market town, as there is only one.)
If you’re not already familiar the concept Guido doesn’t plan on explaining it here; keep an eye out for Guido’s own NFT coming soon…
I keep on reading the Verge's explainer and I still don't think that I understand what NFTs are, and why people would pay real money for them. I think this might be a sign that I've reached that age where all new technology is "against nature", while when I was younger new technology was exciting and about the future.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
Why privatise Channel 4? Just seems like ideological dogma to me
Privatising the BBC/Channel 4 is one of the few issues that I’ve completely changed my mind over, over the last few years.
I used to be completely against privatisation, now I don’t see what the problem is. I’m in favour of a smart state, flexible about moving things in and out of private/public ownership.
Generally - If there’s a market, genuine competition and space for innovation, it should be private.
Essential service &/or a natural monopoly? Public.
I’d bring water, energy and trains into public ownership - and privatise the BBC/Channel 4.
Would you be happy for it to be bought by Richard Desmond and turned into Express TV?
What would be wrong with that in principle? If it abides by the Ofcom regs then fair game.
I was quite uneasy about the rush to ban RT though, so have a unusually strong tendency towards press freedom.
It seems a waste of energy to privatise it but again, don't see a fundamental issue with it. The government takes on all the risk for an institution that doesn't have a fundamental role in our society - exactly the kind of thing we should try to avoid.
Film on 4 and the 7 o'clock News. If they went we would be the poorer for it and for what? So that some Oligarch could get rich or worse-peddle his politics?
As Jeremy Bowen essentially put it war crimes occur with many armies during conflicts. But happening systemically as a matter of policy is on another level.
If you’re not already familiar the concept Guido doesn’t plan on explaining it here; keep an eye out for Guido’s own NFT coming soon…
I keep on reading the Verge's explainer and I still don't think that I understand what NFTs are, and why people would pay real money for them. I think this might be a sign that I've reached that age where all new technology is "against nature", while when I was younger new technology was exciting and about the future.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
Nah they are just tulips.
Important to remember that some people made a lot of money from Tulips. You just had to get in and out at the right time.
Same for NFT's.
In a sense you could look at most money as NFT in some ways. What really is a pound coin? Its not like in history where coinage actually contained gold/silver etc. And what is a note? And a BACS transfer?
I’d rather redeploy the capital tied up in the business to build another school
If we permit that sort of lazy fungibility every spending argument reduces to We could buy another intensive care ward for really sick kiddies instead of [other thing]. Let's examine [other thing] on its own merits shall we?
I despise cameron for letting this argument be put over AV, and of course it led directly to 350m for the NHS.
What exactly is the point of the Channel 4 privatization. This seems like a solution looking for a problem . Lucy Powell is right this is a vendetta against it for daring to criticize the government .
I'm not saying Russian public opinion isn't fucked up but if you'd gone and interviewed a bunch of random British people during The Troubles or the Iraq war and picked out the maddest ones you could have put together quite an impressive selection of genocidal bigotry.
Obviously this doesn't apply to Iraq (and, actually, I'm not sure you would have heard such views here during that), but at least some of that emotion during the troubles would have been understandable giving the murders committed in Britain by the IRA.
What's more interesting/concerning, is the "it's all going really well" views of Russians. They really have no idea what's actually going on in Ukraine. Perhaps if they knew that (some of) their boys were getting their arses handed to them, then things might be different.
Perhaps a few years of Russia not playing international football etc. might make the people wonder what exactly is going on.
They - or at least it seems the majority - refuse to acknowledge the reality. There are too many stories of Ukrainians with Russian relatives, who when they call them are faced with hostile indifference and denial, to think that it's just ignorance.
It’s a total brainwashing of large sections of the Russian public, that’s been going on for years.
Russians (outside the young and educated groups with access to external media) genuinely think that Ukraine is populated by Russians and Nazis, and that Russia is currently helping get rid of the Nazis in the Donbass. They don’t understand that there’s a fully-fledged war going on all over Ukraine.
Maybe attitudes will start to change as nearly 20,000 body bags come back to Russia, or maybe Putin can gloss over that too.
NEW: Jeremy Hunt becomes the most senior Tory to criticise plans to privatise Channel 4. The former Culture Secretary: "I'm not in favour of it because as it stands Channel 4 provides competition to the BBC on public service broadcasting." https://twitter.com/KevinASchofield/status/1511232996468310017
Competition on public service broadcasting...
Erm...
Does that mean we need a second NHS?
Well that is why Trusts are set up that way, to compete with each other. So not a second NHS, but hundreds. Thousands if you include GPs.
Yes the classic idea of letting the market improve things. Yet you don't really get a choice of GP do you? If your surgery is too busy because there are too few GP's and too many patients, you can't choose a different surgery (at least not in my mid sized market town, as there is only one.)
Even in larger towns because the commissioning trust will be owned by the GPs as a whole.
I’d rather redeploy the capital tied up in the business to build another school
If we permit that sort of lazy fungibility every spending argument reduces to We could buy another intensive care ward for really sick kiddies instead of [other thing]. Let's examine [other thing] on its own merits shall we?
I despise cameron for letting this argument be put over AV, and of course it led directly to 350m for the NHS.
My bigger issue is that it's a "one-off" a bit like a windfall tax. Perhaps it's right to sell Channel 4 and perhaps a windfall tax on energy companies is fair enough. But let's not pretend that the money raised can be the basis for financing public services.
At least with the EU referendum, the money was something we were spending constantly.
With both @Jeremy_Hunt and @TomTugendhat now coming out in opposition to privatisation of @Channel4, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there. https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473 They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
Good morning everyone. Which Tory donor or group of donors have their eye upon it? Surely that's the question.
Someone has a comment yesterday somewhere, which I thought was cynical, to the effect that Orban had pretty well all the Hungarian press and TV owned by supporters and that was why he'd won. As well as juggling with the voting rules and constituencies to disadvantage the Opposition.
With both @Jeremy_Hunt and @TomTugendhat now coming out in opposition to privatisation of @Channel4, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there. https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473 They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
You could have asked the same question in the 1990's. The broadcasting legislation then wrecked the quality of ITV and Channel 4, followed by the placeman Birt at the BBC, as discussed many times on here.
With both @Jeremy_Hunt and @TomTugendhat now coming out in opposition to privatisation of @Channel4, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there. https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473 They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
Any doctors? Got a blood test back for allergies, Lymphocytes are 1.15, says this is a bit low? I'll talk to doctor of course but just wondered if I should worry in the mean time.
If you’re not already familiar the concept Guido doesn’t plan on explaining it here; keep an eye out for Guido’s own NFT coming soon…
I keep on reading the Verge's explainer and I still don't think that I understand what NFTs are, and why people would pay real money for them. I think this might be a sign that I've reached that age where all new technology is "against nature", while when I was younger new technology was exciting and about the future.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
Nah they are just tulips.
Important to remember that some people made a lot of money from Tulips. You just had to get in and out at the right time.
Same for NFT's.
In a sense you could look at most money as NFT in some ways. What really is a pound coin? Its not like in history where coinage actually contained gold/silver etc. And what is a note? And a BACS transfer?
Of course they did - there are still some people living off the profits of the SouthSea Bubble or the Japanese real estate boom (who remembers the imperial palace being “worth” more than California)
Fiat currency is a state backed token - but it is designed to be fungible as a common basis of exchange; an NFT is more like an art work - something with little intrinsic worth but which someone will pay for due to scarcity/prestige etc.
A BACS transfer (although you really should be using FP these days) is an instruction to to your bank to make a book keeping adjustment
Why privatise Channel 4? Just seems like ideological dogma to me
Why should the state fund a TV channel out of taxation? If there is demand for the products it produces they can fund externally.
It isn't state funded, it is state owned, funded by advertising. It commisions work, with very little direct production. It was set up under Mrs Thatcher that way, to encourage a diverse array of independent creative producers. This is part of the reason we have such strong creative industries.
Ruth Davidson explains it well:
Channel 4 is publicly owned, not publicly funded. It doesn't cost the tax payer a penny. It also, by charter, commissions content but doesn't make/own its own. It's one of the reasons we have such a thriving indy sector in places like Glasgow. This is the opposite of levelling up
To me the idea of a TV channel with a schedule etc is becoming increasingly archaic and relatively pointless. I cannot think of a program that I have watched according to a schedule in the last several years other than sport.
If C4 had not been invented when it was it certainly wouldn't exist now where there are a multiplicity of offerings on various platforms but it does exist, it doesn't on the face of it do any harm, it adds a different voice and doesn't cost the public money.
I really cannot see the point in changing something not obviously broken. I think it is doubtful, as channels fade into irrelevance, that it would be capable of providing an additional income stream to a shareholder. It is better that all of its advertising revenue is fed back into programs. This will help it survive for a bit longer but I suspect in at least its current form its future is limited and that income stream will no longer be sufficient. Not exactly an enticing investment.
C4 is an asset, the value of which will slowly decline over time as people continue to move away from linear broadcasting.
Huge cost to the Tories though. Instead of a propaganda platform like GBeebies they have this woke hipster thing which undermines everything Dorries stands for
This the true motivation IMHO, they've had a bee in their bonnet ever since they put that ice figure on TV when the Tories couldn't be bothered to turn up to a debate on climate change.
Which they claim now they care about.
There's no doubt that C4 is rabidly anti-tory. Want a cheap cheer on the Last Leg, slag of the Tories. (This includes baroness Warsi, who you have to wonder is a sleeper agent, so much does she seem to hate her own party). And then there's Jon 'F*ck the Tories' Snow.
Would a privatised channel be any different? I guess it depends who buys. GB news has not exactly captured the market in the Fox news style.
If C4 were to keep its young/edgy pitch (and given its history and where the money is, that seems rational) then it could end up going woker. Which would be ironic.
But given the incomplete nature of this announcement, and the "we'll send people on small boats to Rawanda" report in today's Times, it could just be reheated bibble to shore up flagging Conservative support. Something to say, not to do.
I struggle to see how Melenchon gets more than 17% in the first round although I agree he's still just about a value bet to make the run off. It's surely to late for Zemmour to recover though with a lot of his sympathisers voting strategically for Le Pen.
Channel4 has to go because it’s inconvenient politically to the Tories. Their idea of a free media is a dozen Daily Mails all ramping for them.
Channel 4 News, as mentioned in many places again today, is essentially the last holdout of the original upmarket Channel 4 ethos, before the 1990's changes the Tories put in, in the first wave of trying to "deal with it". That means the whole channel has to go, as far as people like Dorries are concerned.
I’d rather redeploy the capital tied up in the business to build another school
If we permit that sort of lazy fungibility every spending argument reduces to We could buy another intensive care ward for really sick kiddies instead of [other thing]. Let's examine [other thing] on its own merits shall we?
I despise cameron for letting this argument be put over AV, and of course it led directly to 350m for the NHS.
Not at all. Government should do what government does best, not everything.
Taxes are raised for a purpose - to fund activities that society deems necessary and appropriate. Government should only accumulate assets that are necessary for those purposes (including a suitable reserve) not for the sake of owning assets.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
I struggle to see how Melenchon gets more than 17% in the first round although I agree he's still just about a value bet to make the run off. It's surely to late for Zemmour to recover though with a lot of his sympathisers voting strategically for Le Pen.
Where Melenchon voters go in the runoff though will likely determine whether Macron or Le Pen wins the Presidency.
Culturally they probably overall prefer Macron but on economics and foreign policy they are probably closer to Le Pen
I just cant see it getting that tight in the end, Macron just seems the obvious sensible choice. Le Pen to build on last time? Sure.
We live in strange times ! Le Pen has managed to make herself look less of a threat and Macron decided to tell the French the pension age would be going up from 62 to 65 . This might be facing reality but many French aren’t in the mood to hear this .
I’d rather redeploy the capital tied up in the business to build another school
If we permit that sort of lazy fungibility every spending argument reduces to We could buy another intensive care ward for really sick kiddies instead of [other thing]. Let's examine [other thing] on its own merits shall we?
I despise cameron for letting this argument be put over AV, and of course it led directly to 350m for the NHS.
Not at all. Government should do what government does best, not everything.
Taxes are raised for a purpose - to fund activities that society deems necessary and appropriate. Government should only accumulate assets that are necessary for those purposes (including a suitable reserve) not for the sake of owning assets.
Sure, but in 1982 it was the most brilliantly necessary and appropriate use of public money. Five Go Mad In Dorset single handedly justified the entire investment. If divesting is now the right thing to do make the specific case, not the Appeal to Our Wonderful NHS.
If you’re not already familiar the concept Guido doesn’t plan on explaining it here; keep an eye out for Guido’s own NFT coming soon…
I keep on reading the Verge's explainer and I still don't think that I understand what NFTs are, and why people would pay real money for them. I think this might be a sign that I've reached that age where all new technology is "against nature", while when I was younger new technology was exciting and about the future.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
The only sensible explanation of NFTs is that they are digital art.
The problem is that they are associated with cryptocurrencies, where we are seeing again every financial scam that’s been regulated out of existence in the past 100 years in the real currency world.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
The privatisation would very likely drastically reduce the amount going to news and current affairs under the public service remit - Channel 4 spends a huge amount on that proportionally to its size. That's also very likely to be a significant factor in why they want to do it in the first place.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Any doctors? Got a blood test back for allergies, Lymphocytes are 1.15, says this is a bit low? I'll talk to doctor of course but just wondered if I should worry in the mean time.
It is amazing how voters will come out of the woodwork to make sure Le Pen doesn't win. I wouldn't trust the run off polls. Even those who viscerally loathe Macron will vote for him in the second round if Le Pen is the opponent. I don't believe these second round polls can pick that up
I find it a bit odd that Macron has suddenly collapsed in runoff polling now against Le Pen when he's surely a known quantity unless this is all just related to reforms he's just announced? I can understand the consolidation of Le Pen's support just intrigued by all the runoff polling.
With both @Jeremy_Hunt and @TomTugendhat now coming out in opposition to privatisation of @Channel4, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there. https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473 They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
If you’re not already familiar the concept Guido doesn’t plan on explaining it here; keep an eye out for Guido’s own NFT coming soon…
I keep on reading the Verge's explainer and I still don't think that I understand what NFTs are, and why people would pay real money for them. I think this might be a sign that I've reached that age where all new technology is "against nature", while when I was younger new technology was exciting and about the future.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
I read the article. It was very funny, particularly towards the end. It is weird in that the explanation is quite clear, particularly when compared to physical art, but my brain keeps going 'But why?'
With both @Jeremy_Hunt and @TomTugendhat now coming out in opposition to privatisation of @Channel4, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there. https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473 They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
Many sympathies to Taz. On the whole, I think it's better to have some warning, and enjoy some time together before it gets too bad, but losing a parent is a trauma however it happens. All the very best.
With both @Jeremy_Hunt and @TomTugendhat now coming out in opposition to privatisation of @Channel4, it's a reminder the PM has to take his party with him to any pass legislation. Q now is whether the numbers are there. https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473 They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
It's not just Putin. When large groups of, presumably Russians, demonstrate in support of Russia's brutal war against Ukraine we know the rot in among Russians go far beyond Putin and his small inner circle.
@HannaLiubakova · Apr 3 An enormous car parade of cars with mostly Russian flags in Berlin, #Germany, today. Reportedly, the parade in support of Russia gathered 5000 cars.
They can't complain about the media blackout in Germany. They have access to information and can see what Russians did in Bucha.
Needs everybody in Germany that gives a shit about Ukraine and the genocide being inflicted upon it by Russia to get out this weekend with a Ukrainian flag draped across their bonnet.
Good post. It takes a lot to make me go to a demo. I have done it once in my 67 years. That would make me do it.
If you’re not already familiar the concept Guido doesn’t plan on explaining it here; keep an eye out for Guido’s own NFT coming soon…
I keep on reading the Verge's explainer and I still don't think that I understand what NFTs are, and why people would pay real money for them. I think this might be a sign that I've reached that age where all new technology is "against nature", while when I was younger new technology was exciting and about the future.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
No, NFTs are just a full on scam bucket of a shit show. There is nothing good in them that isn't covered by what we primitive humans call "a contract".
To help, The Beano produced a very concise explanation of what an NFT is
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
The privatisation would very likely drastically reduce the amount going to news and current affairs under the public service remit - Channel 4 spends a huge amount on that, proportionally to its size. That's also very likely a key reason why they want to do it.
You have no idea how privatisation will affect it. There is an appetite for MORE news and current affairs. See GB News, Times Radio, etc, they may not have triumphed - yet - but they clearly sense there is business to be done
Sell it.
The government owning C4 is about as sensible and justifiable as the government owning Pizza Express
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
If you're right that it won't be worth much, I think the implication is that some rich person will buy it and use it to promote whatever cause they're into. So the question is just whether you want more media to be controlled by random rich people.
It is amazing how voters will come out of the woodwork to make sure Le Pen doesn't win. I wouldn't trust the run off polls. Even those who viscerally loathe Macron will vote for him in the second round if Le Pen is the opponent. I don't believe these second round polls can pick that up
I find it a bit odd that Macron has suddenly collapsed in runoff polling now against Le Pen when he's surely a known quantity unless this is all just related to reforms he's just announced? I can understand the consolidation of Le Pen's support just intrigued by all the runoff polling.
The left have a high abstention rate and aren’t breaking for Macron with those intending to vote split . The latest Opinion Way won’t help the Elysees jitters . Macron 26 Le Pen 23 in the first round .
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
The privatisation would very likely drastically reduce the amount going to news and current affairs under the public service remit - Channel 4 spends a huge amount on that, proportionally to its size. That's also very likely a key reason why they want to do it.
You have no idea how privatisation will affect it. There is an appetite for MORE news and current affairs. See GB News, Times Radio, etc, they may not have triumphed - yet - but they clearly sense there is business to be done
Sell it.
The government owning C4 is about as sensible and justifiable as the government owning Pizza Express
Look at the precedents - once you remove a public service remit, things are very different. GB News is like Talk Radio, or Twitter ; noise and fire for clicks. When the Tories removed the public service requirements for the ITV channels, for instance, both the quality *and* quantity of current affairs went through the floor. That's essentially the precedent they're interested in ; removing the politically troublesome.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
The privatisation would very likely drastically reduce the amount going to news and current affairs under the public service remit - Channel 4 spends a huge amount on that, proportionally to its size. That's also very likely a key reason why they want to do it.
You have no idea how privatisation will affect it. There is an appetite for MORE news and current affairs. See GB News, Times Radio, etc, they may not have triumphed - yet - but they clearly sense there is business to be done
Sell it.
The government owning C4 is about as sensible and justifiable as the government owning Pizza Express
It's set up as the 1980's equivalent of a "community interest company" which is what it is - it provides the backbone upon which our independent TV sector has been built over the past 40 years.
It's fine saying privatise it and let it try to compete with Netflix and Amazon but that just shows how little the Government understands Netflix (and especially Amazon's TV) business models.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
Channel 4 is several channels including all4, more4 and E4. Channel 4 seem better than the beeb at realising linear channels are on the way out too.
I cannot see any reason why it should be state owned.
As a broadcaster it’s okay. It’s hardly a bastion of high quality tv. It has some good stuff and plenty of pap on it. Like any other broadcaster. I’ve not heard one good objection to it being privatised.
In the long term it is too small, too niche, and hard to see who it will appear to in future.
I suspect the Tory objections are partly party politics.
NEW: Jeremy Hunt becomes the most senior Tory to criticise plans to privatise Channel 4. The former Culture Secretary: "I'm not in favour of it because as it stands Channel 4 provides competition to the BBC on public service broadcasting." https://twitter.com/KevinASchofield/status/1511232996468310017
Competition on public service broadcasting...
Erm...
Does that mean we need a second NHS?
Well that is why Trusts are set up that way, to compete with each other. So not a second NHS, but hundreds. Thousands if you include GPs.
Yes the classic idea of letting the market improve things. Yet you don't really get a choice of GP do you? If your surgery is too busy because there are too few GP's and too many patients, you can't choose a different surgery (at least not in my mid sized market town, as there is only one.)
Beckenham has 47,000 people and six GP surgeries, so far as I can make out from 30 seconds with Google, so yes. It may be different where you live, and perhaps if there is one practice per 5,000 people then there will be patients with less choice.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
If you're right that it won't be worth much, I think the implication is that some rich person will buy it and use it to promote whatever cause they're into. So the question is just whether you want more media to be controlled by random rich people.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
I must admit I'm finding that a bit persuasive. While C4 has a youthful, challenging air, there's no guarantee that it always will, and conversely a buyer may think it in their commercial interest to retain that aspect of the brand.
I do know a lot of people who simply put the TV on when they feel like watching something, and then flip through the channels for something they like. But like you and most younger people, I tend to pick things to watch by theme and convenient time for me, rather than because they're broadcast at a particular time.
The exception is the news, and the last poll I saw showed that's still a common exception, with BBC1 at 6 still dominant. I wouldn't even know how to follow the news by looking for it on YouTube or Twitter - do many people do that as their primary source? Understanding of what's happening does seem pervasive - at least, polling gets opinions on all sorts of news items reather than a wall of "don't knows" - so those who don't watch news live are getting it somewhere. How does a typical 25-year-old follow what's happening?
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
If you're right that it won't be worth much, I think the implication is that some rich person will buy it and use it to promote whatever cause they're into. So the question is just whether you want more media to be controlled by random rich people.
There is plenty of media controlled by random rich people. And socialists. And fascists. And (perhaps, who knows) Zoroastrians.
It is of course the watching/purchasing public that actually controls the media.
Why privatise Channel 4? Just seems like ideological dogma to me
Why should the state fund a TV channel out of taxation? If there is demand for the products it produces they can fund externally.
It isn't state funded, it is state owned, funded by advertising. It commisions work, with very little direct production. It was set up under Mrs Thatcher that way, to encourage a diverse array of independent creative producers. This is part of the reason we have such strong creative industries.
Ruth Davidson explains it well:
Channel 4 is publicly owned, not publicly funded. It doesn't cost the tax payer a penny. It also, by charter, commissions content but doesn't make/own its own. It's one of the reasons we have such a thriving indy sector in places like Glasgow. This is the opposite of levelling up
To me the idea of a TV channel with a schedule etc is becoming increasingly archaic and relatively pointless. I cannot think of a program that I have watched according to a schedule in the last several years other than sport.
If C4 had not been invented when it was it certainly wouldn't exist now where there are a multiplicity of offerings on various platforms but it does exist, it doesn't on the face of it do any harm, it adds a different voice and doesn't cost the public money.
I really cannot see the point in changing something not obviously broken. I think it is doubtful, as channels fade into irrelevance, that it would be capable of providing an additional income stream to a shareholder. It is better that all of its advertising revenue is fed back into programs. This will help it survive for a bit longer but I suspect in at least its current form its future is limited and that income stream will no longer be sufficient. Not exactly an enticing investment.
C4 is an asset, the value of which will slowly decline over time as people continue to move away from linear broadcasting.
The best time to sell it off was yesterday.
We all know that isn't why they are selling it off.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
Channel 4 is several channels including all4, more4 and E4. Channel 4 seem better than the beeb at realising linear channels are on the way out too.
I cannot see any reason why it should be state owned.
As a broadcaster it’s okay. It’s hardly a bastion of high quality tv. It has some good stuff and plenty of pap on it. Like any other broadcaster. I’ve not heard one good objection to it being privatised.
In the long term it is too small, too niche, and hard to see who it will appear to in future.
I suspect the Tory objections are partly party politics.
One reason for retaining the current structure is that the public service requirements very likely won't survive privatisation.
This also happens to be the same reason why parts of the Tory radical right are interested in it.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
Channel 4 is several channels including all4, more4 and E4. Channel 4 seem better than the beeb at realising linear channels are on the way out too.
I cannot see any reason why it should be state owned.
As a broadcaster it’s okay. It’s hardly a bastion of high quality tv. It has some good stuff and plenty of pap on it. Like any other broadcaster. I’ve not heard one good objection to it being privatised.
In the long term it is too small, too niche, and hard to see who it will appear to in future.
I suspect the Tory objections are partly party politics.
Channel4, or whichever incarnation it is of it - All4, etc, has the most extraordinary (and currently free, albeit with ads) back catalogue of mini-series. I'm sure there will be a plan by a private owner further to monetise that beyond ad revenue. Or perhaps the ad revenue is very healthy.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
If you're right that it won't be worth much, I think the implication is that some rich person will buy it and use it to promote whatever cause they're into. So the question is just whether you want more media to be controlled by random rich people.
There is plenty of media controlled by random rich people. And socialists. And fascists. And (perhaps, who knows) Zoroastrians.
It is of course the watching/purchasing public that actually controls the media.
Would that be the public whose taste nobody ever went broke underestimating?
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
I must admit I'm finding that a bit persuasive. While C4 has a youthful, challenging air, there's no guarantee that it always will, and conversely a buyer may think it in their commercial interest to retain that aspect of the brand.
I do know a lot of people who simply put the TV on when they feel like watching something, and then flip through the channels for something they like. But like you and most younger people, I tend to pick things to watch by theme and convenient time for me, rather than because they're broadcast at a particular time.
The exception is the news, and the last poll I saw showed that's still a common exception, with BBC1 at 6 still dominant. I wouldn't even know how to follow the news by looking for it on YouTube or Twitter - do many people do that as their primary source? Understanding of what's happening does seem pervasive - at least, polling gets opinions on all sorts of news items reather than a wall of "don't knows" - so those who don't watch news live are getting it somewhere. How does a typical 25-year-old follow what's happening?
Nick I couldn't tell you the last time I watched a news programme on TV. Someone else's house perhaps.
I read the headlines online, I read here, I have Twitter. That's enough for me; even though I watch hours and hours of YouTube, I don't need it for news.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
Channel 4 is several channels including all4, more4 and E4. Channel 4 seem better than the beeb at realising linear channels are on the way out too.
I cannot see any reason why it should be state owned.
As a broadcaster it’s okay. It’s hardly a bastion of high quality tv. It has some good stuff and plenty of pap on it. Like any other broadcaster. I’ve not heard one good objection to it being privatised.
In the long term it is too small, too niche, and hard to see who it will appear to in future.
I suspect the Tory objections are partly party politics.
If the Tory objections are partly party politics, then you have to say Channel 4 only have themselves to blame. You can predict with 100% accuracy which way they will come down on a story - and their gotcha! interviews mean nobody wants to go on their news output.
A somewhat more nuanced approach occasionally might have paid better dividends.
Of course, they might survive with a blatant left-wing slant in a commercial sphere. Might.
Proof of concept for what is possibly the most quickly achievable way of building a commercial fusion plant to generate electricity.
Now, that is quite exciting. The laser approaches have looked promising, but this is an interesting alternative take.
Also, what a fun project to be working on. Sometimes I wish I'd stuck with physics (I had an interest in fusion at one point, but observed a jaded lecturer who'd spent most of his career at JET and had come to the conclusion that fusion would be forever just out of reach).
Hmm.. 7 point leads seem to be a theme at the moment. An unusually strong and exact confluence of pollsters, n'est-ce-pas ? Maybe public opinion is unusually settled at the moment.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
The exception is the news, and the last poll I saw showed that's still a common exception, with BBC1 at 6 still dominant. I wouldn't even know how to follow the news by looking for it on YouTube or Twitter - do many people do that as their primary source?
@BartholomewRoberts is your man for that. He looks at everything but the Beeb for everything.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
If you're right that it won't be worth much, I think the implication is that some rich person will buy it and use it to promote whatever cause they're into. So the question is just whether you want more media to be controlled by random rich people.
There is plenty of media controlled by random rich people. And socialists. And fascists. And (perhaps, who knows) Zoroastrians.
It is of course the watching/purchasing public that actually controls the media.
Would that be the public whose taste nobody ever went broke underestimating?
Boris Johnson prizes loyalty to him above all else. And as he is the least loyal person, in every conceivable way, that public life has ever known, only the very stupidest people would ever be loyal to him. And this is where it ends. https://twitter.com/NewStatesman/status/1463856383598735362
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
Channel 4 is several channels including all4, more4 and E4. Channel 4 seem better than the beeb at realising linear channels are on the way out too.
I cannot see any reason why it should be state owned.
As a broadcaster it’s okay. It’s hardly a bastion of high quality tv. It has some good stuff and plenty of pap on it. Like any other broadcaster. I’ve not heard one good objection to it being privatised.
In the long term it is too small, too niche, and hard to see who it will appear to in future.
I suspect the Tory objections are partly party politics.
If the Tory objections are partly party politics, then you have to say Channel 4 only have themselves to blame. You can predict with 100% accuracy which way they will come down on a story - and their gotcha! interviews mean nobody wants to go on their news output.
A somewhat more nuanced approach occasionally might have paid better dividends.
Of course, they might survive with a blatant left-wing slant in a commercial sphere. Might.
Yes and no. First off I think it should be privatised. But penalising it for taking an editorial position doesn't seem right. Then again, once it is in private hands such a point becomes moot as it can do whatever it wants and if there is appetite for it from consumers then the govt can do one.
Why privatise Channel 4? Just seems like ideological dogma to me
Privatising the BBC/Channel 4 is one of the few issues that I’ve completely changed my mind over, over the last few years.
I used to be completely against privatisation, now I don’t see what the problem is. I’m in favour of a smart state, flexible about moving things in and out of private/public ownership.
Generally - If there’s a market, genuine competition and space for innovation, it should be private.
Essential service &/or a natural monopoly? Public.
I’d bring water, energy and trains into public ownership - and privatise the BBC/Channel 4.
Would you be happy for it to be bought by Richard Desmond and turned into Express TV?
All it needs is a decent editorial / regulatory framework.
And perhaps a golden share.
If it is so viable that it costs us nothing, then it can stand on its own 2 feet just as well.
C4 does not necessarily have to be a commercial corporation - there are other models. I've argued in the past for an NT style membership model for the BBC, and that could just as well be used for C4.
Good morning. The news about onshore wind is profoundly depressing. It seems we will wean ourselves off foreign fossil fuels by doing, erm, pretty much the same as we have always done.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
The exception is the news, and the last poll I saw showed that's still a common exception, with BBC1 at 6 still dominant. I wouldn't even know how to follow the news by looking for it on YouTube or Twitter - do many people do that as their primary source?
@BartholomewRoberts is your man for that. He looks at everything but the Beeb for everything.
Since the pandemic, I've made every effort to avoid the BBC for news. The only interaction I have with it is news bulletins on radio 6 - even then I switch over as often as not. Even before the pandemic, I can't remember the last time I went out of my way to watch broadcast news. And I'm someone who is quite interested in news.
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
Channel 4 is several channels including all4, more4 and E4. Channel 4 seem better than the beeb at realising linear channels are on the way out too.
I cannot see any reason why it should be state owned.
As a broadcaster it’s okay. It’s hardly a bastion of high quality tv. It has some good stuff and plenty of pap on it. Like any other broadcaster. I’ve not heard one good objection to it being privatised.
In the long term it is too small, too niche, and hard to see who it will appear to in future.
I suspect the Tory objections are partly party politics.
If the Tory objections are partly party politics, then you have to say Channel 4 only have themselves to blame. You can predict with 100% accuracy which way they will come down on a story - and their gotcha! interviews mean nobody wants to go on their news output.
A somewhat more nuanced approach occasionally might have paid better dividends.
Of course, they might survive with a blatant left-wing slant in a commercial sphere. Might.
Is that actually true? Have there been more complaints? Is it just an impression because comedy shows, for instance, will make most of their jokes about the government?
The government is broke. If selling Channel 4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
I must admit I'm finding that a bit persuasive. While C4 has a youthful, challenging air, there's no guarantee that it always will, and conversely a buyer may think it in their commercial interest to retain that aspect of the brand.
I do know a lot of people who simply put the TV on when they feel like watching something, and then flip through the channels for something they like. But like you and most younger people, I tend to pick things to watch by theme and convenient time for me, rather than because they're broadcast at a particular time.
The exception is the news, and the last poll I saw showed that's still a common exception, with BBC1 at 6 still dominant. I wouldn't even know how to follow the news by looking for it on YouTube or Twitter - do many people do that as their primary source? Understanding of what's happening does seem pervasive - at least, polling gets opinions on all sorts of news items reather than a wall of "don't knows" - so those who don't watch news live are getting it somewhere. How does a typical 25-year-old follow what's happening?
Nick I couldn't tell you the last time I watched a news programme on TV. Someone else's house perhaps.
I read the headlines online, I read here, I have Twitter. That's enough for me; even though I watch hours and hours of YouTube, I don't need it for news.
The idea of watching a news bulletin just seems so antiquated to me. I have PB, I have Twitter, I have breaking news alerts.
Comments
Zemmour voters will overwhelmingly switch to Le Pen in the runoff. More Pecresse voters will vote for Le Pen in the runoff than Fillon voters did.
Many Melenchon voters will stay home rather than vote for Macron and a few will even actually vote for Le Pen
'If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have formed Stonewall.'
Labour peer Lord Cashman remembers close friend June Brown following the Eastenders legend's death today.
@IainDale
https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1511053000772567047
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Israel
The Israeli healthcare system is based on the National Health Insurance Law of 1995, which mandates all citizens resident in the country to join one of four official health insurance organizations, known as Kupat Holim (קופת חולים - "Sick Funds") which are run as not-for-profit organizations and are prohibited by law from denying any Israeli resident membership. Israelis can increase their medical coverage and improve their options by purchasing private health insurance.
But there should be a creative alternative model to finance the investment - perhaps owned by a mutual or public sector pension funds for example.
Which they claim now they care about.
Just curious. She does theatre make up, which is how they met. No longer an item though, Fox jr2 moves around.
Or it could be that NFTs are an inexplicable fad, a psychosis born of lockdown.
ETA scooped by @Eabhal
https://twitter.com/DemesDavid/status/1510830400653783047
Official channels silent on the killings - while posts on Chinese social media claim that it was part of a Ukrainian genocide perpetrated on Russian speaking Ukrainians.
But that just makes the case stronger… why does the government own a private business? That’s not an asset required for the delivery of state services
https://mullandionaferrycommittee.org/2022/04/03/two-ferries-two-buyers-same-shipyard-but-two-very-different-prices/
https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1511245649379049473
They asked for ‘a debate’; 90% of submissions in that debate said it was a bad idea. But still they go ahead. Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/04/nadine-dorries-to-press-ahead-with-plan-to-privatise-channel-4
Would a privatised channel be any different? I guess it depends who buys. GB news has not exactly captured the market in the Fox news style.
https://twitter.com/DamianGreen/status/1511060868724887561
Same for NFT's.
In a sense you could look at most money as NFT in some ways. What really is a pound coin? Its not like in history where coinage actually contained gold/silver etc. And what is a note? And a BACS transfer?
I despise cameron for letting this argument be put over AV, and of course it led directly to 350m for the NHS.
Russians (outside the young and educated groups with access to external media) genuinely think that Ukraine is populated by Russians and Nazis, and that Russia is currently helping get rid of the Nazis in the Donbass. They don’t understand that there’s a fully-fledged war going on all over Ukraine.
Maybe attitudes will start to change as nearly 20,000 body bags come back to Russia, or maybe Putin can gloss over that too.
At least with the EU referendum, the money was something we were spending constantly.
Which Tory donor or group of donors have their eye upon it? Surely that's the question.
Someone has a comment yesterday somewhere, which I thought was cynical, to the effect that Orban had pretty well all the Hungarian press and TV owned by supporters and that was why he'd won.
As well as juggling with the voting rules and constituencies to disadvantage the Opposition.
@Foxy can you offer any insight?
Fiat currency is a state backed token - but it is designed to be fungible as a common basis of exchange; an NFT is more like an art work - something with little intrinsic worth but which someone will pay for due to scarcity/prestige etc.
A BACS transfer (although you really should be using FP these days) is an instruction to to your bank to make a book keeping adjustment
The best time to sell it off was yesterday.
But given the incomplete nature of this announcement, and the "we'll send people on small boats to Rawanda" report in today's Times, it could just be reheated bibble to shore up flagging Conservative support. Something to say, not to do.
Taxes are raised for a purpose - to fund activities that society deems necessary and appropriate. Government should only accumulate assets that are necessary for those purposes (including a suitable reserve) not for the sake of owning assets.
4 would make us all £1bn, then sell it
How on earth would it change, if sold? It will still be just another tv channel with advertising. I don’t know a single programme which I watch “because it’s on Channel 4”. And I never ask myself “ooh, what’s on Channel 4?” - because I don’t use TV like that any more. I pick and choose from online, streaming etc
And there’s the rub. The idea of “channels” is dying. Which means that soon C4 will be almost worthless - just a brand and some buildings. Worth ten million
Sell it now when we can make real money
Culturally they probably overall prefer Macron but on economics and foreign policy they are probably closer to Le Pen
The problem is that they are associated with cryptocurrencies, where we are seeing again every financial scam that’s been regulated out of existence in the past 100 years in the real currency world.
The more recent first round polling is much more favourable to Le Pen
To help, The Beano produced a very concise explanation of what an NFT is
https://twitter.com/xannov/status/1509089728506826768
Sell it.
The government owning C4 is about as sensible and justifiable as the government owning Pizza Express
https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1511248760915038211
Brexiteers love it.
Conservatives know it's fucking stupid.
It's fine saying privatise it and let it try to compete with Netflix and Amazon but that just shows how little the Government understands Netflix (and especially Amazon's TV) business models.
I cannot see any reason why it should be state owned.
As a broadcaster it’s okay. It’s hardly a bastion of high quality tv. It has some good stuff and plenty of pap on it. Like any other broadcaster. I’ve not heard one good objection to it being privatised.
In the long term it is too small, too niche, and hard to see who it will appear to in future.
I suspect the Tory objections are partly party politics.
I do know a lot of people who simply put the TV on when they feel like watching something, and then flip through the channels for something they like. But like you and most younger people, I tend to pick things to watch by theme and convenient time for me, rather than because they're broadcast at a particular time.
The exception is the news, and the last poll I saw showed that's still a common exception, with BBC1 at 6 still dominant. I wouldn't even know how to follow the news by looking for it on YouTube or Twitter - do many people do that as their primary source? Understanding of what's happening does seem pervasive - at least, polling gets opinions on all sorts of news items reather than a wall of "don't knows" - so those who don't watch news live are getting it somewhere. How does a typical 25-year-old follow what's happening?
It is of course the watching/purchasing public that actually controls the media.
This also happens to be the same reason why parts of the Tory radical right are interested in it.
I read the headlines online, I read here, I have Twitter. That's enough for me; even though I watch hours and hours of YouTube, I don't need it for news.
📈Labour 7pt lead
🌳Con 33 (-2)
🌹Lab 40 (+1)
🔶LD 11 (=)
🎗️SNP 5 (=)
🌍Green 4 (+1)
⬜️Other 8 +1)
2,220 UK adults, 1-3 April
(chg from 25-27 March) https://twitter.com/SavantaComRes/status/1511257309070114816/photo/1
A somewhat more nuanced approach occasionally might have paid better dividends.
Of course, they might survive with a blatant left-wing slant in a commercial sphere. Might.
Also, what a fun project to be working on. Sometimes I wish I'd stuck with physics (I had an interest in fusion at one point, but observed a jaded lecturer who'd spent most of his career at JET and had come to the conclusion that fusion would be forever just out of reach).
And perhaps a golden share.
If it is so viable that it costs us nothing, then it can stand on its own 2 feet just as well.
C4 does not necessarily have to be a commercial corporation - there are other models. I've argued in the past for an NT style membership model for the BBC, and that could just as well be used for C4.
Even before the pandemic, I can't remember the last time I went out of my way to watch broadcast news. And I'm someone who is quite interested in news.