From
Big Brother Watch comes the photo above and a piece about how the BBC uses threat and force to intimidate people on the grounds that they are guilty of not having a TV licence before it's been determined whether they have a TV or not.
It brought to mind a phone call I got the other week from a young mum who was terrified that she would be picked up and locked up on her child's birthday because she had been convicted and fined for not having a TV licence when she knew nothing about it.
As someone who has no money other than what lasts half a week - basically enough to feed her child and the gas and electric meter - she has nothing left for any kind of pleasure - not even a bar of chocolate.
She probably shouldn't watch TV because it's against the law to do so without a licence - as is using a computer without a TV Licence also - but she simply cannot afford it.
When you're poor, little things like sitting down and watching CBeebies with your child for pleasure is a simple luxury that in this technological age is surely not too much to expect.
Sadly it is for TV Licensing who send the bullies round to intimidate such young families because they can. They can waste acres and acres of newsreel telling their viewers how much they care about the poor and vulnerable both here and abroad and the BBC is terribly biased about those things which it perceives could harm "the poor" like smoking and drinking.
But it has no qualms at all about threatening, bullying, intimidating and imprisoning those on low income when it wants it's very unfair share of their very limited cash.
The young mum caught without a licence once already paid a heavy price in a huge fine that she is still paying off. Because of this BBC greed, she would have to sit half the week without heating or light, or without food, just so the multi-million pound organisation can have its pound of flesh for the utter rubbish and Govt propaganda it spews out. It also needs to steal from the poor to pay the rich and fund the likes of Jonathan Ross's personal millions.
Luckily, she has managed to keep borrowing from Peter to pay Paul to keep the BBC off her back but then without warning, she suddenly received a letter from her local court telling her a warrant for her arrest had been issued because she failed to appear in court on a second charge of watching a TV without a licence.
She was hysterical and extremely upset because she had not had a second visit from TV Licensing, she received no court summons, and by the time she received a letter the warrant had been issued and the police were set to arrest her. If she had been unlucky enough to get picked up at the end of the week, she might have to wait until the Monday for her case to be heard. That would have meant two days locked up without having been convicted fairly of any crime at all. Yes, we really do lock up the innocent in this country simple because they have no money.
Her biggest fear was that she would either be arrested by police outside of the school gates or on the child's birthday the day after she called me.
I advised her to get a solicitor immediately, to ring the court and explain, and it appears the warrant has now been withdrawn but she will still face a court appearance when no one from TV Licensing even checked whether she still had a TV or not. They tried her and convicted her in their own minds without even bothering to see if there was any evidence to support such a conviction.
The BBC should not charge any fee. It is state broadcasting and does not work on behalf of the public but simply acts as a mouthpiece for the state.
It is a hypocrite pretending to care for the poor and vulnerable and yet being one of the worst offenders when it comes to using its great power to bully them into submission.
We are in an age of multi channel television. There can be no excuse for supporting the BBC when it does not support its audience. The BBC should advertise like everyone else. Not one ounce of quality would be lost if it did. It doesn't have any morals, it cares not about truth. It's time it was abolished and it fended for itself like it expects from so many young and vulnerable families it steals from.
