[Gllug] BBC looking for campaigners

[Formi]

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003, Richard Jones wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 28, 2003 at 02:22:16PM +0100, Formi wrote:
> >  Yeah, you pay the license or you get a fine. And even if you don't have a
> >  TV set you might find yourself accused of having one.
>
> Come on, that's not true. I didn't have a TV set or a TV license for
> years when I was a student. I did have to use the reply-paid envelope
> every year or two to tell them, but I didn't tell them my real name so
> my privacy was still assured.
>
> Rich.
>

 Ovbiously they had a good laugh about it, but what I was told is that
 at the beginning they got letters for all the 3 ex-flats in the house.

 Then at some point letters started to appear addressed to the house with
 no mention of which particular flat.

 Where I come from the equivalents of BBC1 and 2 are paid directly by
 the goverment, and I pretty much doubt they are given ~100 quid year
 per household. I remenber they have to "aim" to be self-sufficient but
 being a public institution I pretty much doubt they can be that good.

 I still fail to see why it still happens in this country, being so
 democratic... And I shall not start mentioning things like "Fake Academy"
 and some bloke on the morning program of BBC London Radio.

 Appart I think that is a waste of "public resources" to keep part of the
 old "British Elitism", as of mentioned below. Not my words:

Using a television without a licence is an offence of strict liability,
carrying a maximum penalty of a level 3 fine (£1,000). There is no
custodial penalty inthe first instance; imprisonment is only possible (ultimately) as a
response to non-payment of the fine. Liability is rarely disputed. During
the financial year 2000/2001, around 160,000 prosecutions were undertaken.
All cases are listed for a hearing, although the vast majority are then be
dealt with as written pleas of guilty.  It is the perception of many
that this is an inappropriate use for criminal proceedings and a great
waste of magistrates' courts' time. An unsatisfactory feature is the
inconsistency in magistrates'sentencing throughout the country;
fines are generally well below the permitted maximum, but the normal
amount imposed (in the absence of any information about means) can vary
from £30 to £300 according to locality.

 And my point finally is:

 if you want to raise your concern about the government paying too much
 for m$ software, go ahead but I rather doubt they would be prepared
 to give you air time. I still remenber how much they gave to the anti-war
 demos, pathetic...

--
 Formi                               its-formi.net at rc
 FreeBSD 5.1 ThinkPad 570            Study the past, if you would divine
 Linux Registered User #235743       the future.              Confucius.

-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at linux.co.uk
http://list.ftech.net/mailman/listinfo/gllug