Balls from the BBC

There's nothing wrong with a good booze up, let alone a fat pay rise, so in theory one shouldn't begrudge others enjoying such perks now and again. But when the aforementioned are funded from my own pocket, and granted by people unaccountable to me, i tend to get a bit miffed.

This perhaps explains BBC Director General Mark Thompson's piece in today's Telegraph, proclaiming that "40p a day for the BBC must be good value". Maybe Mark feels the need to justify the recent +25% pay-rises and celebratory binge at The Ivy for the Beeb's executives and "star performers".

Mark's key line of defence is that, were it not for the BBC, the British public would be deprived such joys as The Office, The Proms and, most disturbingly of all, Alan Partridge. He says that British talent would go unfound, predicting, for example, that musicians in the BBC's orchestras would "be busking on the street". Put simply, he believes that without our benevolent BBC, the British economy would be unable to generate opportunities for these talented individuals.

Mark's premise succinctly encapsulates all that is wrong with the BBC and the Labour Government it panders to. This deep-seated belief that society at large is inherently unable to generate opportunities of its own, and that our lives must be nurtured and guided by the all-knowing hand of big government, explains so much of what has gone wrong with our Country over the last decade.

It is time to cut the apron strings.