Pensioners say BBC licence fee is not worth the money for over-75s – Yorkshire Post letters

From: Christine McDade, Morton-on-Swale.
The BBC is under fire for proposing to charge over-75s for their TV licence.The BBC is under fire for proposing to charge over-75s for their TV licence.
The BBC is under fire for proposing to charge over-75s for their TV licence.

I REFER to the letter from Clare Sumner, director of policy at the BBC (The Yorkshire Post, June 21) and agree that this is another broken promise by a Conservative government after Gordon Brown made the pledge that BBC licences would be free for over-75s.

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It should remain the responsibilty of the Government. The proposed action of the BBC has caused great concern and disquiet amongst those pensioners affected with effect from June 2020. Rightly so.

At the present time most of the BBC programmes are repeats and not worth the licence fee. There will be no great loss if some channels are cancelled. I watch very little BBC since it became so biased. Also the salaries paid are are not acceptable to pensioners who struggle to live on the very low state pension, having paid taxes all their working lives.

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A friend of mine who is over 75 years (as am I) doesn’t believe that she will be affected as she obtains all her television through Sky. I don’t know if that is correct or not, but I would like to know should I decide never to watch BBC programmes again.

Shame on the Government and shame on the BBC.

From: John Senior, Skelmanthorpe.

IS anyone surprised that, when the Government gave the BBC the chance to collect approximately £750m from the oldest members of our society, they chose to do so?

When the BBC ‘consulted’ on this, did anyone ask them to consider the plight of the widows and widowers and other single persons living alone on a single pension? These are the very people who are most prone to loneliness and who might find paying out an extra £2-£3 a week real hardship.

Is it right that these people should be asked to pay the same to watch TV by themselves as a family with two salaried people who maybe have multiple sets throughout the house? At least our local councils, whom I am sure are more cash-strapped than the BBC, give people living alone a 25 per cent discount on council tax.

From: Howard Rainbow, Stanley, Wakefield.

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WITH regard to the TV licence, in these times of electronic technology, surely it’s possible to eliminate the BBC from anyone’s television set? Then those who don’t want to pay, or cannot afford a licence, can watch the rest of the TV stations which are free of charge.

That way, the BBC won’t have to fund anyone over 75 years of age and neither will the Government.

Saving money for all concerned – or is this too simple an idea? Just thinking aloud.

From: Brian H Sheridan, Lodge Moor, Sheffield.

IT seems that poor Auntie Beeb just can’t get it right. The BBC has been criticised for supinely yielding major sporting events, including Test cricket, to commercial broadcasters.

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Now Mr A Shipman berates the Corporation for putting out women’s football which he sees as “hardly Friday night peak time viewing” (The Yorkshire Post, June 22).

For the record, England v Scotland women attracted 6.1 million viewers.

Free travel disparity

From: Andy Chaffer, Brandesburton.

RECENT Editorials and readers’ letters have rightly condemned the disgraceful lack of transport funding in the North, and the resultant (adverse) effect on transport infrastructure.

Rail and bus services are incapable of operating effectively enough to support people wishing to eliminate car journeys.

The situation in rural areas is appalling.

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Another large injustice in the UK is that a great many people enjoy free public transport by bus and train from the age of 60, whereas here in the North we have to wait until we are 66, the current state retirement age.

In a democracy where we all pay our taxes, how can it be that those in Greater London, Scotland and Wales get free travel six years earlier than the rest of the Union?

Why have Northern MPs allowed this situation to develop?

Field’s actions deserve better

From: Tim Bradshaw, Slaithwaite.

SO Greenpeace activist Janet Barker expected some resistance at the Chancellor’s Mansion House speech to the group’s protest of which she was representing “but not to be grabbed round the neck and physically removed from the room”.

Surely time to get realistic when security issues are foremost in most people’s minds? Mark Field MP deserves a medal, not a suspension, for his actions for preventing something unknown that could have happened.

Questions for ‘liberal’ Tory

From: Keith Punshon, Willow Bridge Lane, Dalton, Thirsk.

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APPARENTLY Conservative MP Dominic Grieve is called a liberal Conservative because he opposes Brexit.

As the third anniversary of the Brexit referendum passes with politicians refusing to acknowledge the result, it is odd that those calling themselves liberal are the most dedicated to denying the majority of the electorate the implementation of their decision.

Power clearly only belongs to the entitled, not to ordinary voters.

Mr Grieve chairs the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.

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As he threatens, with Remainer colleagues, to bring down the Government if 
they dare disagree with him, would he kindly reflect on the security policies of Jeremy Corbyn who could soon be 
Prime Minister?