stlucifer

I'm starting count of the number of times we've heard the tories trot out the "stop the boats" slogan. It appears the need to limit the number of words to three, (Remember "get brexit done" and how that has panned out?), to allow their racist followers to understand their message. Division is a key element to their smoke screen. Anyone with a modicum of sense will realise that this plan is doomed to failure. Even the numbers don't add up. I believe the tories thrive on this sort of turmoil. Blame the Europeans. Blame the immigrants. Blame everyone while smuggling millions upon millions to their already rich mates. I cannot for the life of me understand why any common, decent person could vote for this mob.

It depends on which area of Ireland he's from. I have at least discounted the wild suggestions so you can thank me later.

I believe it's pronounced Quailon or possibly Keeylan.

What a pile of tosh. He is NOT a public servant. He is a freelance sports presenter being paid by the broadcaster. Do you really believe that every person paid from the public purse should be classed as a public servant? Isn your eyes, are all workers involved in supplying the bread for the BBC canteen public servants? He has every right to publicly give his view. The very fact he's been reinstated tells you this. He gets his payment for fronting a sports show FFS. You could argue that he's not worth the money he's paid and I wouldn't disagree. As for the BBC itself. It needs reform to ensure it is not used as an extension to the government of the days propaganda machine. The idea of the BBC being publicly funded so it has no affiliation to any particular section of the population is an excellent concept. It is the abuse of this institution that needs to be stopped. Any decisions that may affect this impartiality has to be done either by, at the very least, a cross party committee. This committee should be made up of an even distribution of MPs and overseen by an independent source. It's never easy to ensure impartiality but taking the opportunity to have it is not a way forward. The vacuum would simply be filled with those with the finance to push their agenda and we have enough of them at the moment.

And I agree. He would have won far more if there wasn't that unusual number of really top stars in his era.

As others say. A few months pay at worst. Saints get to run the rule over him and, if he turns out to be a gem, then we're in poll position to tempt him with a longer contract to ensure we get a decent fee if he continues to thrive and the inevitable happens.

What some people don't seem to get is that they would have to pay to watch TV anyway and, as you say, there would be no opportunity to have a fair, broad viewpoint. I would gladly continue to pay my licence fee but I believe that any appointments to senior positions should be done by a cross party committee to at least try to ensure we don't end up with a partisan cabal dictating what we are allowed to know. I also think there has to be a U turn, in fact more than that, on the issue of over 70s. I think anyone who is at pension age and exempt from NI should also be exempt from the licence fee. Generally, they've paid enough as it is There is no other route to try to ensure the "normal" folk get the truth. It's not perfect but I don't believe anything would be.

Crap pitch is a leveller though.

Staying away AND saying nothing was not the only option though. He could just as easily made a stand by openly refusing to be part of the tournament coverage and said his piece on other platforms. After all. He did on this recent issue. He chose to take part of the profits and covered it up by saying his piece from the comfort of his amassing fortune.

If I was blaming the workers for anything it was bad timing and being easily duped. Although it was a case of "damned if they don't".

Both my wife's parents worked in the factory, I worked in there as an apprentice contracting for a time and it DEFINITELY happened.

Back to Lineker and free speech. And the tories control of the BBC's "impartiality" I do hope we, as a collection of nations, don't fall into the trap.

Was it not Chrysler workers, AKA Krazy K, that constantly walked out? IIRC, most of the time the company antagonised them when the car park was full of new cars.

The BBC have changed their rules to include "high profile" presenters. WTF constitute low profile? Do those who front shows like bargain hunt or Escape to the country count as high or low profile? Surely EVERY presenter is high profile in some circles? I'm certain there would have been some people who would have found it difficult to pick Lineker out of a line. Not so much now though as he has become ULTRA high profile now and his statement is far more widely viewed.