Wintons week Shamed, Rotten BBC Has Come To The End Of Its Useful Life Mature Nations Have Competing News Outlets, Not Monopolies Sell-Off Light Entertainment, Adverts Will Fund That End License Fee; If It’s Really World Class, BBC News Will Thrive Time to kill a few myths It is time for us British to finally face up to some unpleasant facts of life. The National Health Service isn’t, and never was, the envy of the world. The BBC might fleetingly have been, but now it is simply an obese anachronism, crying out for reform. The NHS, controlled by government, can never be more than a chronically inefficient organisation, shamefully failing its citizens. The more the vulnerability, the worse its failure. But the British still cling to the misguided myth, in the face of all the evidence at home and abroad, that state funded medicine makes sense. You’ll never hear that contradicted on the BBC, lover of the welfare state and the status quo. Some people might think that reforming the BBC is not that important. After all, nobody will die if it carries on in its corrupt, biased and incompetent way. But I beg to differ. If the British insist on retaining this relic of a bygone age, when governments still felt they could veto the people’s access to news and information, they will always be suckered into ignoring the uncomfortable, negative facts of political life. Islington Chatterers The BBC perpetuates the myths that fit in with a leftist view of the world. These subjects are closed and are never up for discussion in the presence of the anointed - those chosen few chattering away in Islington and reading, and believing, the Guardian and the Independent. Global Warming, the Minimum Wage, Economic Freedom, the National Health Service, State Education (the last two as long as the limousine liberals can opt out for themselves and their children), Illegal Immigration, the Conservative Party, Islam, America, and Israel - all these problems or issues have been solved by the left and can never be debated, according to the conventional wisdom at the BBC. So human induced Global Warming is a fact and action must be taken to solve it. An effective Minimum Wage doesn’t cause chronic unemployment. Economic Freedom favours only the rich. The National Health Service works. Vouchers for education, outrageous, can’t do that. Illegal immigration is really the exploited seeking asylum. The Conservative party is suspect. Islam is a peaceful religion and worthy of respect. America (at least when governed by the Republicans) is a would-be coloniser and an evil force in the world. Israel is bad and homicide bombers are victims. All these myths are perpetuated by the BBC, our state-controlled media service. Tainted Davies, Dyke In the fallout from the Hutton report, we surely have seen how ludicrous it is for a seemingly educated and mature nation to have its news filtered through an organisation that is a gigantic monopoly, incompetent and corrupt, made worse when led led by socialists or their dupes. Don’t forget that former Director-General Gavyn Davies was a Labour party stooge. He made fortunes working at Goldman Sachs while at the same time advising socialist Prime Minister James Callaghan and later Labour leaders on ways to make sure nobody else could. Greg Dyke, the editor in chief who hasn’t ever edited, was also tainted by his contributions to Labour coffers. His actions after the Gilligan affair just underlined the editorial cul-de-sac which the BBC has been in. The government appointed Davies and Dyke. Isn’t that shameful? We allow our government to control our biggest, most influential, news organisation. And now we have the second-rate Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport (why do we need anyone to do this?) talking pompously about the quest to find some god-like figure to take over at the BBC. Chapter-And-Verse On WintonsWorld If anyone doubts what I say about the BBC and its inability to report news with balance and fairness, just take a look at the BBCWatch section on my website for chapter and verse. In particular read my June 2003 letter to the Broadcasting Standards Commission. Surely now is the time for the British to finally grow up and consign patronising organisations like the BBC to history. It makes no sense to retain as one mammoth outfit the news and light entertainment output of the BBC. As far as I know, Greg Dyke is superbly qualified to decide if East Enders is up to scratch. But he plainly knew nothing about news. Spin-off the soap operas and light entertainment, and sell advertising to fund it. Dump BBC News24 That leaves the news. You can dump BBC News 24, the futile and expensive attempt to rival CNN as the TV station of choice in the Dakar Holiday Inn. This money munching enterprise was one of the reasons that the BBC let Britain down with its biased reporting of the war in Iraq, with the help of a certain odious lardo, Andrew Gilligan. The BBC felt that if it was to make money outside of Britain it could no longer afford to offend anyone in the third world. Fund BBC News With Subscriptions We are told that BBC TV and radio news output is the best in the world. If this is so, why not end the license fee and allow the BBC to raise money by selling subscriptions to the public. Surely with all this excellence, the middle classes would fall over themselves to sign up and pay. So lets stop this farce in its tracks and grow up. We don’t need a BBC controlled by the great and good. Sell off the underclass’s’ light entertainment garbage. Advertising will fund that. Tell Tessa Jowell to stop furrowing her brow in the impossible task of finding us an elder statesman to head up the BBC. Truth Is Right Of Centre Let the various components of BBC TV and radio fight their own way in the world as subscription services. That will also mean that at least 90 per cent of the presenters and reporters will be surplus to requirements as subs-paying middle classes will insist that the journalism reflects the truth, which most of the time is rather to the right of centre. And now for the NHS! Neil Winton – February 4, 2004 Top