Tag Archives: Channel 4

Tory government does something right! Channel 4 privatisation is called off

Michelle Donelan: she’s made the right choice.

Conservative Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan has confirmed that the government will not go ahead with a controversial plan to privatise Channel 4.

And quite right too!

Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries had been determined to sell off the company in order to make a fast buck for Boris Johnson’s spendthrift government, last year.

She ignored a  public consultation that resulted in 24/25 of respondents saying privatisation should not happen, claiming that Channel 4’s current ownership model, as a publicly-owned, advertising-funded broadcaster, is too restrictive. That model was, of course, dictated by the government.

Giving evidence to the Commons Culture Committee last May, she said Channel 4 is dependent on just one stream of revenue – advertising – but income is falling as advertisers have more choice. She claimed Netflix would be a better option.

And the government could not allow Channel 4 to borrow to invest, because the taxpayer would be liable for those debts, she said. This actually did make sense of one of the restrictions on the channel’s funding.

But later in the session, the SNP’s John Nicolson pointed out that Channel 4 is currently making record profits – belying what Dorries has been saying about advertising revenue.

Her response?

“That means it would be a good time to sell.”

Dorries said after the channel was privatised it would be better-able to make its own programmes, because the government would then lift restrictions on borrowing money or raising private sector capital by issuing shares.

But while remaining in public ownership would preclude the issuing of shares, it would be perfectly possible for the government to vary Channel 4’s current ownership model to provide it with other forms of revenue generation in order to make, and then sell, programmes.

And now that is what the government seems keen to do.

According to the BBC,

Michelle Donelan has now said the broadcaster “should not be sold”, instead proposing other reforms because “change is necessary”.

Her alternative reforms include allowing the broadcaster to make and own the rights to some of its own programmes – many of which are currently made by independent production companies – and moving more jobs outside London.

“This announcement will bring huge opportunities across the UK with Channel 4’s commitment to double their skills investment to £10m and double the number of jobs outside of London,” Ms Donelan said.

“The package will also safeguard the future of our world leading independent production sector. We will work closely with them to add new protections such as increasing the amount of content C4C [Channel 4 Corporation] must commission from independent producers.”

Channel 4 welcomed the news, saying the decision “allows us to be even more of a power in the digital world”.

The announcement came a day after a letter, in which Donelan recommended the move to the prime minister, was leaked – sparking an angry response from Dorries, who said the privatisation was one of a number of “progressive” policies that were being “washed down the drain”.

Here’s a video clip responding to that:

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Culture legislation review prompts question: was Dorries allowed to do whatever she wanted?

Michelle Donelan: this is the only image of her that This Writer could find, in which she didn’t have an enormous, daft grin all over her face.

New Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan is reviewing plans by her forerunner Nadine Dorries to privatise Channel 4 and scrap the BBC licence fee, and also the proposed Online Harms Bill.

Doesn’t this suggest that those plans were not widely supported by the Tory Party and that Dorries was put at the top of that department by Boris Johnson to do nothing more than distract attention away from him?

Also being revisited are provisions around “legal but harmful” speech in the Online Harms legislation.

The review of Channel 4 comes amid criticisms that privatising the channel would harm the future of many TV production companies at a time when new prime minister Liz Truss wants to create growth. The two policies would therefore appear to contradict each other.

With the BBC, Ms Donelan has admitted being sceptical about the viability of the licence fee. But she has said that coverage of the Queen’s funeral was excellent – and the kind of thing that streaming services could not provide.

Source: Ministers to review Channel 4 privatisation and scrapping of BBC licence fee

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Dorries contradicts herself – badly – over sale of Channel 4

Not making sense: Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has been telling us that Channel 4 must be sold because it is not making enough in advertising revenue – but it is in fact making record profits. Confronted with that fact, she said that means now is a good time to sell it. So it IS all about making money, then!

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has come badly unstuck on her reasons for selling Channel 4.

Giving evidence to the Commons Culture Committee on Thursday (May 19), she said Channel 4 is dependent on just one stream of revenue – advertising – but income is falling as advertisers have more choice. She claimed Netflix would be a better option.

And the government cannot allow Channel 4 to borrow to invest, because the taxpayer would be liable for those debts, she said. This actually does make sense of one of the restrictions on the channel’s funding.

But later in the session, the SNP’s John Nicolson pointed out that Channel 4 is currently making record profits – belying what Dorries has been saying about advertising revenue.

Her response?

“That means it would be a good time to sell.”

This is a woman who – like the character Eccles in The Goon Show – refuses to be defeated by logic.

If someone tried to make her understand how gravity works, we may reasonably expect her to say – like Eccles did – that she stays on the ground because she lives there.

What a goon.

And her answer reveals that this sale is not about what’s best for Channel 4.

It’s about making fast money for a spendthrift government.

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Top TV writer makes ‘perfect’ dig at government’s privatisation plans

Cash cow: campaigning organisation We Own It created this banner, with a highly-relevant message. And why DO the Tories want to privatise Channel 4 so much? For their own profit?

Russell T Davies has scored another hit – this time with a single sentence rather than a TV series.

The It’s a Sin creator and returning Doctor Who showrunner was speaking on the red carpet at the BAFTA Awards ceremony.

Asked if he had expected It’s a Sin to have the impact it did – raising money for HIV and AIDS charities and being nominated for 11 BAFTAs – Mr Davies responded as follows:

Of course, it was made on a channel that the government’s going to sell off while they’re also planning to get rid of the BBC licence fee so if you like shows like this, go and vote differently, that’s what I say.

He’s absolutely right!

If This Writer had time right now, I’d be making infographics with that quote all over it, using an image from shows like It’s a Sin, Doctor Who… Peaky Blinders would be another good one… with a tagline saying something like “Conservatives want to kill the best of British TV”.

Because they do.

Source: Doctor Who’s Russell T Davies praised for ‘perfect’ dig at government at BAFTA Awards – Birmingham Live

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Andrew Bridgen destroys his government’s credibility on EU trade talks

Andrew Bridgen: winner of this week’s “Inverse Genius” award.


Everyone with any political nous in the UK has been laughing at eurosceptic Andrew Bridgen after he swallowed both feet (metaphorically) in a Channel 4 News interview.

Discussing his Fuhrer Boris Johnson’s plan to renege on the EU withdrawal agreement that he signed in January, Bridgen said – well, see for yourself:

The reaction on Twitter has been universal:

https://twitter.com/cbailiss/status/1303110907732602883

What a… typical Conservative MP.

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Will Channel 4’s lockdown sex revelations mention these political shaggers?


Every time I write about Tory rules on sex in the Covid-19 lockdown, Google Adsense tries to penalise me for “extreme content”.

I kid you not – twice now I have been forced to demand a review, and twice it has come down in my favour.

I feel like the late, great Peter Cushing, whenever he was asked to justify the latest Hammer horror film. People would say, “Peter! This film is awful! The script is diabolical, the monster is creakier than the script… How can you be involved in something like this?”

And he would respond: “We’ve made another.

Well, here’s another article about lockdown sex – although in my defence, it’s about a TV show that somebody else has made.

According to my brother, the Beast, Channel 4 is getting on the bandwagon and on Friday (June 12) will screen Sex in Lockdown: Keep Shagging and Carry On.

He quotes the show’s blurb as follows: “Anna Richardson delves into the ways sex in Britain has altered since we’ve been in lockdown. People from across the nation talk to her about their experiences as she gets to grips with all things love, sex and romance in these unique times, from a separated couple who created a replica penis, to a singleton breaking the rules to have sex outdoors.

Well, there’s a title to thwack you between the eyes. Most of us are coping with social distancing, but how does sexual distancing work in these restrictive times, if you don’t actually live with your lover? If you crave an outlet for your desires, but Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and Grindr have ground to a halt? If you’re just craving a bit of romance?

“Anna Richardson, the writer, host of C4’s dating show Naked Attraction and partner of Sue Perkins, grapples with this topic – virtually, one hopes – and talks to Brits up and down the land, from a separated couple who created a replica penis to a singleton who flouted the rules to revel in sex outdoors.”

Personally, I’m not up for being thwacked between the eyes – certainly not with a separated couple’s replica penis. But I wonder whether any of the celebrity shaggers mentioned on This Site over the last few weeks will get a look-in.

Will boffin Neil Ferguson be mentioned, who resigned from a scientific advisory role with the government after he broke lockdown to boff his married lover?

Will questions be asked about Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who quit as a Labour whip to disport herself with a married man?

Will the show unearth other high-profile shagamuffins?

Will I get another rap on the knuckles from Adsense?

Yes, that seems most likely.

I may as well announce my soon-to-be-published porno bodice ripping classic Legover Crisis: Why I Must Spend More Time With My Family by The Hon. Willie Poker MP.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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Ex-cabinet ministers accused of telling China how to cash in on Brexit in C4 ‘sting’

The senior politicians were lured to a luxury Mayfair office (pictured) where they were secretly filmed discussing being paid for telling Chinese tycoons how to make money out of Britain leaving the European Union [Image from the Daily Mail].

Tory sleaze.

But is this the story the Sunday Times dropped for its fake news about a left-wing purge of Labour MPs?

A political storm erupted … over claims that three former Cabinet ministers secretly tried to earn thousands of pounds in a ‘cash for Brexit’ scandal.

The senior politicians were lured to a luxury Mayfair office where they were secretly filmed discussing being paid for telling Chinese tycoons how to make money out of Britain leaving the European Union.

Those targeted were ex-Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell, and ex-Trade Secretary Peter Lilley. All three … denied wrongdoing.

The latest Westminster sleaze claims follow a three-month investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme.

Source: Cabinet ministers accused of telling China how to cash in on Brexit


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Busted! Three lies about Labour in Hammond’s conference speech

Never mind the robotic Mrs Maybe, here’s Foot-in-mouth Philip Hammond! [Image: The Sun (I believe).]

Kudos are due to those eager little ferrets at Channel 4 News. Most of us needed a dose of anti-depressants and a lie-down after Philip Hammond’s Tory conference speech, but they’ve been busy debunking his lies about the Labour Party.

Well, three of them, at least.

First, the team examined the Zombie Chancellor’s claim that living standards have doubled since 1979.

The chancellor is right that living standards have doubled since Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in 1979.

But he’s wrong to suggest that this date marked a turning point, with an increased rate of improvement. In reality, it has now slumped.

The official measure of living standards, dating back to 1961… shows there was no significant change in living standards after 1979. Living standards remained on roughly the same trajectory all the way up until the financial crash of 2008. Since then, under the Conservatives, living standards have failed to catch up with the pre-recession trend. The IFS described the growth in average income as “very weak”, post-recession.

Oh dear! So standards have slumped under the Conservatives – and Mr Hammond tried to pretend they’ve improved hugely! Shame on him.

Ah, but how about the claim that Mr Corbyn wants to turn the UK into a regime similar to (stop laughing at the back!) North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and Zimbabwe?

There seems little grounds to compare Labour’s policies to those of authoritarian regimes. It is true that these countries exert high levels of state control; and it is also true that Mr Corbyn’s agenda would see a bigger, more active state in the UK. But the two things are on a completely different scale.

Many of the key policy pledges in Labour’s election manifesto are already in place in numerous modern western democracies. These include free tuition fees, nationalised railways, higher corporation tax and rent controls.

So Mr Corbyn’s policies are more mainstream than the current Conservative government’s, then.

Doesn’t that make Mr Hammond the extremist?

Finally, the FactCheck team moved onto Mr Hammond’s claim that Labour wants to “demolish our successful modern market economy and replace with a back-to-the-future socialist fantasy.”

I think by now we can all tell who’s the fantasist, but for the sake of completeness:

He is accusing Mr Corbyn of completely opposing free market capitalism. But opposing neo-liberalism (which is associated with freer markets and deregulation) does not, in itself, mean that Mr Corbyn is opposed to market economics – merely that he is against that particular form of it. He makes no mention of scrapping “market economics,” but instead simply suggests there should be a bigger role for the public sector.

You’d think the humilation would have ended there, but no! There’s a sting in the tail for the mendacious Hammond: After all his claims about Labour wanting to end free-market economics, it turns out that the Tories aren’t all that keen on such a system either – in fact, they manipulate it to suit themselves.

Indeed, the Conservative Party itself does not believe in a completely unrestricted free market – a belief which was spelled out in its manifesto.

“We do not believe in untrammelled free markets,” it said, adding that the government could make “consumer markets work more fairly”.

“Markets need rules and these rules need to be updated to reflect our changing economy.”

Dismissed, Mr Hammond. Go back to your grave and mull over your transgressions.

Source: Philip Hammond’s attack on Labour over ‘market economics’ – Channel 4 News


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‘First Dates’ encounter between Brexiteer and Remainer exposes deep divisions remaining in UK

Lettie, the Tory Brexiteer [Image: Channel 4/First Dates].

The United Kingdom remains a nation divided in all but name, thanks to the idiotic decision by Tory David Cameron to hold a referendum on our membership of the European Union to maintain unity in his own Parliamentary party.

His gambit didn’t work, by the way.

The cracks are even showing on reality TV, as this article in The Lad Bible demonstrates:

It’s divided a nation for over a year, so you can imagine it also split opinion on a first date also.

Twenty-three-year-old Lettie, a political activist, was set up on a date with Cambridge graduate Fred, 26, on Channel 4’s First Dates.

It was an obvious question for two educated, politically-minded individuals. And with one opting for leave, with the other remain, you can imagine that settled well.

Fred… asked: “When you came in here, were you hoping for someone of the same political bent?”

Lettie answered no, but then Brexit arrived. She herself a leaver, soon discovered that she was sat face-to-face with a remainer.

“Let’s struggle gamely on, as Boris Johnson would say,” joked Fred. It left a nice awkward silence between the pair.

It was not to be. Just like Britain and the EU, it appears the second date did not end well. In the closing sequences to First Dates, we are told the pair ‘struggled to maintain a united front’ and that ‘both plan to stay in the single market for now’.

Source: Awkward. Brexiteer Dates A Remainer On ‘First Dates’ – LADbible


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‘Sanctions, starvation and evictions are not entertainment. People are dying’

150805nopovertyporn

Are you as utterly sick of televised ‘poverty porn’ as you should be?

Night after night, main offenders Channel 4, Channel 5 – and even the BBC – flood their schedules with nonsense films designed to misinform the public about the lives of the deprived and enlist your collusion in their demonization and destruction.

It’s time somebody put a stop to it, and the United Disability Resistance Movement (UDRM) wants your help to achieve this.

“Some of us have recently been looking at asking our members to write a … letter to the individual members of OFCOM about the media portrayal of benefits ‘scroungers’,” wrote a UDRM representative in a message to This Blog yesterday.

“We think all should unite, able and disabled against the media rhetoric and narrative.

“At UDRM we are convinced that, if all protest groups worked together, we would stand a much better chance of changing things because we all want the same thing in the end. We believe there’s strength in numbers and we are already working with some other groups under the banner of ‘Unite and Fight’.”

The group is asking for anyone who agrees that ‘poverty porn’ should be stopped to send a copy of the following letter to one, many or all of the Ofcom members listed below, indicating their support for the points it makes, in a short campaign over two days between Saturday and Sunday (August 8-9).

It’s up to you.

Here’s the letter. Please consider joining this campaign.

Dear [insert name],

I am writing to complain about the number of programmes on mainstream British television and radio and in British print media at the moment which vilify, target and demonise people who are claiming welfare benefits.

People are being mocked and their struggles are being seen as entertainment when, in fact, it is day-to-day existence for many and not a fictitious variation of shows such as ‘Big Brother’. Sanctions, starvation and evictions are not ‘amusing’ or a joke, they are a reality for many and are horrifying in their brutality. People have died.

Programmes such as ‘Benefits Street’ and ‘Benefits Britain, Life on the Dole’ perpetuate the myth that claiming welfare benefits is a lifestyle choice. Vitriolic articles by so-called commentators such as Katie Hopkins incite hatred. Benefit claimants, migrants and job seekers are being portrayed as scroungers who have chosen a lifestyle of inactivity and modern-day begging. This is not the case. People claim benefits because there is nothing else they can do. People claim benefits because they were born disabled or have become sick later in life. People claim benefits because they have lost their jobs and have been unable to secure a new role. People claim benefits because employers are paying minimum, starvation wages and they cannot afford to feed and clothe their families. People claim benefits because they need help. People claim benefits because they have no choice. This is not entertainment, this is disgusting, this is frightening; this is tragedy.

Further to this, ‘Poverty Porn’ has alarming knock-on effects on the way people who have no choice but to claim benefits to survive are viewed. The result of this misinformation is the alarming increase in hate crime against those who are claiming benefits. Spying on friends and neighbours is encouraged. covert filming and recording is rife. According to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2014 there was a 213 percent increase in the number of prosecutions for hate crime against disabled people. In 2011 the report, ‘Ready Willing and Able’ highlighted the fact that 38 percent of the general public perceived disabled people to be a burden on society. On 24 April 2015 the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein compared British print media’s attitude to migrants to propaganda in 1930s Nazi Germany.

The TUC has stated that “The government’s austerity programme is reshaping the welfare State through cuts in benefits and the privatisation of public services, including health, education and drastically reduced state support. The impact of benefits cuts and of the associated campaign of demonisation of disabled people, the unemployed, migrants, asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups has been catastrophic. Crimes motivated by hate have wider and deeper roots, but austerity has made the problems worse.” This is not healthy. This is frightening. This can only lead to the further disintegration of our society.

I am asking OFCOM to look into this trend in the British media to publicise non-stop ‘poverty porn’ in print, on the radio and on television. I am asking OFCOM to do the right thing. I am asking OFCOM to have the courage to say ‘No More’. The public should be shown the true stories of the struggling majority, not the glamorisation of the extreme minority. Over many years the British press has been lauded for its fairness and unbiased reporting. Please do not allow this to change.

Yours sincerely,

[insert your name]

Here is the list of possible recipients:

[email protected], Mehmuda Mian, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

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