Tony Hall will forever be remembered as the BBC boss who betrayed over-75s and let liberal bias run wild
ABOVE all the other scandals, Tony Hall will be remembered as the BBC boss who betrayed over-75s by stripping them of the free licences he promised to fund.
But he was also the Director-General who defended the indefensible — the compulsory TV tax, as archaic as a black and white telly, which still gifts the Beeb a gargantuan £3.7billion a year.
Hall’s seven years were plagued by criticism of the mind-boggling and unjustifiable salaries of its stars, notably the £1.75million lavished on Gary Lineker, as well as men being paid far more than women doing similar jobs.
Under Hall, the BBC’s obvious liberal-left political bias became an open sore.
When it came to Brexit, Leavers were belittled on news programmes as liars or fools and routinely outnumbered by Remainers the Beeb’s journalists liked.
ABSURD CRIMINAL PENALTY
It was utterly out of step with the paying public, as the results of both the referendum and December’s election then proved. Which makes Hall’s defence of the licence fee even more ridiculous.
In an era of multiple-choice subscription TV it is absurd for one broadcaster to be funded by a tax enforceable by criminal penalty.
It is even more laughable to claim it “ensures independence . . . obliges us to serve everyone and reflect every part of the UK”.
Hall’s BBC spent his entire tenure turning a deaf ear to half the UK. Hence its shock at last month’s Tory triumph.
Hall’s decision to rob over-75s of the free licences he agreed to in 2015 was equally outrageous.
The idea that the £750million cost will harm vital BBC services, when so much of its content amounts to needless competition with commercial rivals, is fatally flawed.
His successor must run a smaller Beeb, more in touch with the public, less in the grip of suffocating “wokeness”, focused not on gratuitous expansion but the high-quality shows it does best.
This new chief should accept that non-payment of the licence must be decriminalised and the levy finally replaced with a voluntary subscription.
Only then will the BBC join the 21st Century.
Rubbish, Harry
THE problem with Harry saying he and Meghan had no option but to move abroad to avoid our “powerful media” is that not a word of it is true.
It is sheer paranoia to say the Press has done anything but legitimately scrutinise a publicly-funded couple.
And the reality is they do not want to avoid media. They want to avoid criticism.
Indeed they crave media attention if it meekly writes their PR puff pieces. Corbyn’s Labour is the same.
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As for having no choice, what drivel.
They could have grown up, developed a thicker skin and done their royal duty as they first promised.
To pretend that dark forces made them seek a vast fortune as A-list celebs in the LA sunshine is self-serving cobblers.
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