Letters to the editor – 23/08 – BBC Licence Fee, Foreign companies, Best of Twitter
BBC Licence Fee
[Re: TV licence offences responsible for a tenth of all UK court cases, Wednesday]
Currently, if you have a TV but don’t watch live TV over it, you’re still subject to “reminders” to pay – even though you’re not liable. A better system would be to make us pay for what we watch. It would quickly dismantle BBC claims about the quality and value of its massive output.
John Smith
The licence fee disproportionately hits those least able to pay it. And if the BBC is as universally loved as it claims, it’ll prosper under a subscription model.
Name withheld
……………….
Foreign companies
[Re: We should be glad that foreign firms want to buy British companies, Wednesday]
Part of the problem is a real famine of business leadership in the UK. We have plenty of serial entrepreneurs, but far too few business leaders willing to keep hold of their companies for the long term. And when these companies are acquired by new foreign owners, far from the scare stories of asset strippers and jobs being shipped abroad, the result is often increased investment. Take Jaguar Land Rover. It’s now a subsidiary of Tata Motors, is growing rapidly, and British people are falling over themselves for a job at this Indian-owned firm.
Ally Till
……………….
BEST OF TWITTER
Today, four workers for every pensioner in the EU. If demographic trends hold, will drop to two by 2060.
@ianbremmer
Number of people prosecuted each week for not paying money owed to Wonga: zero. To BBC: 3,500.
@DouglasCarswell
Rising bond yields are the way that US monetary policy is impacting on the rest of us.
@notayesmansecon
ONS’s plans for an additional regular estimate of zero hours contracts in the UK workforce is much needed.
@ChukaUmunna