Today's show 09/06/11

A lovely comment was left on my blog yesterday by Stonyground, who said: "Just a note to say that I generally agree with the posts here so closely that is is as if they are being written by another me from a parallel universe.". You see Jeremy, it is not just me!

I guess that today that you will be covering the top story published in the Daily Telegraph yesterday, as you didn't do so yesterday. The link is here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8562690/BBC-staff-earning-60000-will-be-given-1000-pay-rise.html and it says:

BBC staff earning £60,000 will be given £1,000 pay rise
The BBC is to reject George Osborne's call for public sector pay restraint by offering 95 per cent of employees a pay rise – with some annual earnings increasing by more than £1,000.

A spokesman for the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "It's unfair that BBC staff who are on close to £60,000 a year will get a significant pay rise at a time when public sector pay is frozen. BBC bosses keep pleading poverty and this comes at a time when they should be looking for savings, not increasing spending."

The BBC said the pay offer, under which all staff earning less than £20,000 would receive a £400 pay rise, was "affordable and realistic".

Speaking privately, union officials said that they were surprised by the generosity of the BBC's offer, as they had expected the corporation to use the backdrop of programme of cuts to its on-screen budgets as justification for proposing a pay freeze, or at best a one per cent rise for only the lowest paid staff.

This sounds like a fine topic for discussion on your show and I would like to formally propose it as such. I feel sure that you will have no trouble in justifying these pay rises, and firmly silence anybody who disagrees with you. It is your listeners, the licence TAX payers, that pay you to fill the airwaves with propaganda, lies, deceit, conjecture and just plain rubbish, so go on, tell us again how good you are. You love it!

And you don't seem to have discussed my suggestion from a couple of months ago, the one about what happens when you don't buy a TV licence. This is probably because there is nothing to discuss, because nothing happens! I am, oh, so tempted not to buy another one.

Oh dear... A quick check reveals that you have not chosen to discuss this important topic, and instead we have more of the usual tedium:

1) ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY CONDEMNS COALITION - The Archbishop of Canterbury condemns the coalition government and says nobody voted for these policies which are hitting the poor hardest. Is he right to speak out? : There is an old saying amongst clubs, societies, on-line egroups and forums, and the like: Don't talk about religion and politics. Well, you appear to be doing both. I expect nothing less than for the Archbishop to be your studio guest today, so could you ask him when we voted for:
 - the abolishment the 10p National Insurance band
 - pumping £billions in to propping up ailing banks
 - the Iraq war
 - involvement in Afghanistan
All of these occasions seem to have slipped my mind, but were all carried out by That Other Lot that the BBC continue to support in every way they can. I didn't vote for him so it will be a hot day in heaven when I take any notice of what the Archbishop of Canterbury has to say. This is just another opportune excuse for more of the usual and boring blatant bashing of the government by the BBC and is totally in keeping with the corporate line, so well done and have a pay rise! Oh, you already have. Next...

2) SYRIA CRISIS - People in Syria are terrified their government's about to brutally crack down on the demonstrators demanding freedom : Sounds horrible, but what difference will your discussion today make? Square root of nothing, I would suggest. Next...

3) SOUTHERN CROSS JOB CUTS - As the care home company Southern Cross sacks 3,000 staff, are you concerned that your relative is not going to get the care that they need? : According to the linked BBC web page "Southern Cross ... has announced proposals to cut 3,000 jobs out of its workforce of 44,000 staff". The important word is there is "proposals", i.e. they have not done it yet, but your web page today says they have been sacked already - "Southern Cross sacks 3,000 staff". So, the BBC is lieing to us again today - no change there then. Going back to the Telegraph's BBC pay rise story above, it was interesting to read that the BBC's strategy when short of cash is to cut services, not staff, but Southern Cross are proposing the exact opposite. From the Telegraph: "Mark Thompson, the Director-General, is considering a range of savings, including scrapping BBC Two's daytime schedule, cutting overnight programming and sharing some content between local radio stations.". As Southern Cross's philosophy is so different to your employer's is that why you are attacking them today? Fortunately, I don't have any relatives in care, so this is of no interest to me. Next...

4) SANDWICH BOARDS - Finally, as Dominoes Pizza's are attacked for making their staff wear sandwich boards, we talk to somebody that says this is a new form of slavery. Find out more in this Lancashire Evening Post article : Aaaahhh... a non-news trivia story to end today's listener experience ... and free advertising for a major fast-food retailer too. Bless. Since when did "Domino's" have an "e" instead of an apostrophe in it?. And the apostrophe in "Pizza's" shouldn't be there. "We ask if being paid to wear a sandwich board is slavery", you just said on Ken's show. Wikipedia tells me: "Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation". Hmmm... By definition then, if somebody is being paid they are not a slave. More lies. I've just checked Domino Pizza's web site for my nearest branch, and it is 30 miles away. I'll be sure to let you know if this ever becomes a problem around here.

The Jeremy Vine Show : First for lies, propaganda, bias and poor use of written English.