Nobody Cares about Britain

[Tigger]

They stole their flag from an episode of Jeeves and Wooster?

 

[Isabeau]

This article is 3 months old. I wasn’t aware that the BBC wasn’t included in taxes (probably to keep it out of politics, but I could be wrong). Anyway, forgive my ignorance, just seems kind of crazy all around. There must be a better way.

The TV licence fee scandal: why are 1,000 people a week being casually criminalised?

I found out about it after seeing this:

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Well.. that's not only a thing in the UK, but in Germany and Japan as well.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

You guys need a license to own a TV?

 

[Sheera Khan]

I guess it's not so much a license to own a TV as a fee to cover expenses of public broadcast stations, which is a common thing in Europe.

 

[Soen Eber]

It seems awfully off-putting to have someone peek in your home, and come in through the window to take stuff. This is satire, right? Where's the warrant?

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

I guess it's not so much a license to own a TV as a fee to cover expenses of public broadcast stations, which is a common thing in Europe.

I mean, we have public broadcast stations in the US as well. Nearly all of them are funded by government grants and private donations. So, I guess, in a sense, some of my tax money is going into paying for them, but it would be maybe a fraction of a percent of my taxes.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It seems awfully off-putting to have someone peek in your home, and come in through the window to take stuff. This is satire, right? Where's the warrant?

It's a spoof. If he were a bailiff collecting an unpaid fine for not having a TV licence he'd be showing the householder a warrant to collect the fine and unpaid licence fee, not saying he thinks the guy has a TV because he can see one through the window.

If he were a TV licence inspector he'd be asking whether or not the householder had a TV and asking if he could come in and confirm he didn't if the householder said there wasn't one in the house, not that he could see one through the window and wanted to climb in and take stuff (which would be burglary unless he had a warrant).

The usual course of events is that the TV licensing authority writes to ask why there's no TV licence registered for your address, and if you say you don't need one because you don't have a TV or are otherwise exempt, they'll send someone round to check. If the inspector confirms that you don't have one, then that's the last you'll hear from them for a few years, and then they'll write to you again to ask if anything's changed. If you ignore the letter or refuse to let the inspector in, then you'll get a letter telling you they're prosecuting you for not having a licence, which would lead to a fine and court costs.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Thread

 

[Beebo Brink]

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Several hours later, as I emerged from this rabbit hole of fashion details....

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Several hours later, as I emerged from this rabbit hole of fashion details....

While I couldn't have articulated most of the rules he identified, I recognised them all as soon as I read them.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Thread

I'll of course never forgive Milo for being the ultimate gay "Uncle Tom"; so I'm always happy to see him dunked on in any way, lol.

 

[Sid]

Well.. that's not only a thing in the UK, but in Germany and Japan as well.

Here in NL the public network costs are included in the income taxes.
It does not matter if one actually has a TV or a radio.

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

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I'm going to take a stab at it before I read the article to see if I get anything right.

Let's see, that's a sport jacket, traditionally NOT one worn in the city on business. The fit is wrong, it's too snug in the waist and I think the sleeves are too long. It and those trousers should NOT be worn together because of style AND color. There's no pocket square/squared handkerchief. And he should probably be wearing a waistcoat with it.

The shirt is wrong, it's a button down. IIRC Eton collar is traditional.

The tie is also wrong. Wrong shape, wrong pattern/color and wrong knot I think. And it is most certainly not straight.

Can't see the shoes, but they're probably wrong too.

Added after reading:

I was close, but not entirely right. While I caught that the tie was wrong, I didn't know it was because the stripe was in the wrong direction. And I didn't know the bottom button of the jacket should have been unbuttoned. And I didn't catch the collar and pockets thing on the jacket. Just knew it was wrong. And I was wrong about the pocket square.

 

[Erich Templar]

I was close, but not entirely right.

But you still have better fashion sense than Milo.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Yiannopoulos, proper English name right there.

 

[detrius]

I mean, we have public broadcast stations in the US as well. Nearly all of them are funded by government grants and private donations. So, I guess, in a sense, some of my tax money is going into paying for them, but it would be maybe a fraction of a percent of my taxes.

Well, Germany has 21 public TV channels and a few dozen radio stations. How many public broadcasters does the US have?

 

[Essence Lumin]

Well, Germany has 21 public TV channels and a few dozen radio stations. How many public broadcasters does the US have?

What? 21 separate channels with different programming on each? That is a lot. The US has PBS for tv with many stations throughout the country, 350 of them. For the most part they show the same content. Then there is NPR with over a 1000 stations for radio.

 

[Lexxi]

What? 21 separate channels with different programming on each? That is a lot. The US has PBS for tv with many stations throughout the country, 350 of them. For the most part they show the same content. Then there is NPR with over a 1000 stations for radio.

They don't share the same content. I know because I have access to something like three PBS channels, 23 Public access channels, and three C-Span channels, and they show, random example at ~noon:
PBS channel
1) A pet show;
2) the same pet show;
3) a cooking show;

Public Access Channel (that's the name of the channel)
1) A B&W burlesque show (WTF? It shows that? Who knew?);
Public Access Channel 2: A program from some high school;
3) An orchestral doing music stuff;
4) A slide show from my local library;
5) a different orchestral performing;
6) An unmoving image of hell . . . wait, no, a page that just says "This channel is reserved for Public, Educational or Governmental Access programming";
7) A stick figure ... with the words "Let's act it out!" . . . and nothing else? Oh wait, the stick figure now has a crayon and a basketball;
8) An opera from, hmm, 1950? In Italian with English subtitles;
9) A broadcast from some classroom. Subject: umm . . gardening, I think.
10) No idea, a woman is talking directly into the camera speaking Korean (these types of Public Access channels do not show a title for a program, instead they just all say, for 24 hours/7 days a week "Public, Educational, Government Access", so you never know what you might find).
11) Public access channel that says "unavailable";
12) A list of emails and terms for the Dumfries city council (no idea why, I do not live in Dumfries);
good grief and 11 more Public Educational Government access channels. Probably more since they intermix these channels throughout my cable. those 11 counted below, not checked.
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

C-SPAN
1) Climate Justice Movement show
2) Brad Smith (President/Vice Chair) from Microsoft talking to a Congressional committee about Cybersecurity Failures at Microsoft
3) Lecture by David Eisenhower, grandson of President Dwight Eisenhower, about D-Day

 

[Khamon]

PBS and NPR are national broadcasting organizations that receive federal funding and mostly large-scale private donations to provide content to state-level organizations such as APT and APR (Alabama Public Television/Radio) which also receive some federal finding plus state funding plus small-scale "member" donations to operate stations and distribute both national and local content. I don't know of any state that charges a specific fee to fund public broadcasting. It seems inefficient to track and enforce such an arrangement here.

Edit to confirm Lexxi's point: several states offer their own public access content, university courses, tourism channels, that sort of thing and that's usually wholly funded by tax appropriation rather than direct billing or donations. CSPAN are cable channels that charge licensing fees to carriers and subscriptions to individual viewers; they expressly refuse government funding.