BBC TV licence fee is ‘regressive’ and wealthier should pay more, says ex-chairman
Better-off households should pay more for the BBC, a former chairman has suggested, as he branded the current licence fee “regressive”.
Under the existing system, Richard Sharp said he was concerned those on lower incomes paid the same as richer people for the public service broadcaster.
He said the controversial flat-rate levy could be replaced by a charge linked to broadband bills or council tax.
The government is looking at whether to replace the £159-a-year licence fee with a new funding model after 2027.
The cost is due to start rising again with inflation next April, after a two-year freeze.
Mr Sharp, a Tory donor, quit as BBC chairman earlier this year after a report found he breached rules by failing to disclose the role he played in helping then-prime minister Boris Johnson secure an £800,000 loan.
Questioning the fairness of the licence fee, he told The Daily Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast: “I would be in favour of a form of a mandatory payment – currently the licence fee.
“There is one issue which is it’s regressive, which may need to be addressed.”
Pointing out poorer households paid the same price, he added: “You can look at models around the world, there’s a broadband tax, there’s a household tax and there’s the licence fee. Change is disruptive from moving from one mechanism that works to another.”
Labour has previously indicated it would consider means-testing the fee if it gained power.
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April: Richard Sharp’s resignation in full.
Women disproportionately prosecuted
Mr Sharp was also concerned the way the licence fee was enforced by door-stepping inspectors meant women were disproportionately likely to be prosecuted for non-payment.
Failing to pay the licence fee is a crime.
Almost 1,000 people a week – seven out of 10 of whom are women – are prosecuted for evasion.
He said: “The two challenges are obviously it’s regressive and also that the collection process can fall harder on women because women often answer the door.”
Mr Sharp said both sides of the House of Commons “broadly support the BBC”, and that any changes to its funding model should be debated in parliament.
But he warned against decriminalising the licence fee, saying it could lead to more people being brought before the civil courts over non-payment.
He said: “The sanction itself drives behaviour. If you go to civil litigation, you actually can increase the amount of litigation that takes place. So it’s not as obvious as you think.
“As a result of people paying the licence fee, you get a common good, which is you get an incredible value for what people are actually paying on a household basis.”
The government looking at whether to replace the £159-a-year licence fee, which funds the BBC
In the wake of his own experience as chairman, Mr Sharp also said he would advise someone going for the job to “make sure you and your family know what you’re getting into” and warned it made them “a target”.
He said: “It’s a sufficiently important institution that who ever is the chair is vulnerable.”
The issue of freelancers and impartiality at the BBC was also “something that needed to be addressed”, he said, after the controversy sparked by Gary Lineker when he compared the government’s language used to promote its asylum plans to 1930s Germany.
A sex scandal has rocked Thailand’s Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly enticed a string of monks into having sex with her and then blackmailed them.
At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.
Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, is accused of enticing senior monks into having sex with her and then pressuring them into making large payments to cover it up.
Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.
Several monks transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them, police said -her bank accounts received around 385 million baht (£8.8m) in the past three years, with most of that spent on gambling websites.
Wilawan was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital Bangkok, on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods.
Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau holding a press conference in Bangkok. Pic: Central Investigation Bureau/AP
An investigation was launched last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.
He had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship, investigators found.
She told the monk she was pregnant and asked him to pay her 7.2 million baht (£165,000), Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday.
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Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said on Tuesday.
The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Mr Jaroonkiat said.
“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”
World
Tomorrowland: ‘Devastating’ blaze destroys main stage at major festival – two days before it was due to begin
A huge fire has destroyed the main stage of a major festival in Belgium – two days before it was due to begin.
Tomorrowland is a dance music event as big as Glastonbury – and David Guetta was due to perform.
Footage showed flames and thick plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland on Wednesday.
The fire gutted the main stage
Fire crews attempt to bring the blaze under control
The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, is one of the biggest in Europe and attracts about 400,000 people over two consecutive weekends.
It is famous for its immersive and elaborate designs and attracts big names within dance music – including Guetta, best known for tracks When Love Takes Over and Titanium.
Dutch DJs Martin Garrix and Charlotte de Witte were also due to perform, along with the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz and Alok.
Black smoke could be seen rising into the sky
The festival’s website described the creative elements which went into the elaborate main stage.
The theme, described as Orbyz, was “set in a magical universe made entirely out of ice” and “full of mythical creatures”.
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Organisers said no one was injured in the blaze but confirmed “our beloved main stage has been severely damaged”, adding they were “devastated”.
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen added: “We received some truly terrible news today. A fire broke out on the Tomorrowland site … and our main stage was essentially destroyed there, which is truly awful.
“That’s a stage that took years to build, with so much love and passion. So I think a lot of people are devastated.”
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen told reporters ‘a lot of people are devastated’
Despite the fire, Tomorrowland organisers said they were still expecting 38,000 festivalgoers at DreamVille, the event’s campsite.
Israel has shown little respect for international borders since becoming the unrivalled military hegemon of the Middle East. Today that meant an Israeli airstrike on a government building in Damascus.
Israel says its attack on a Syrian defence ministry facility was intended as a warning to the new government: stay out of the part of southern Syria we have occupied or else.
Israel has moved into parts of the south of the country, built military bases and declared a line of control.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Syrian Defence Ministry in Damascus. Pic: AP
On Monday, Syrian tanks heading south to try and restore order following an outbreak of factional fighting were attacked by Israeli warplanes.
“The presence of such vehicles in southern Syria could pose a threat to Israel,” stated the Israel Defence Forces.
In reality, Syria’s ageing tanks pose minimal threat to Israel’s state-of-the art military.
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Syrian presenter interrupted by Israeli airstrike
The Syrian armour was attacked as it entered the area around Sweida in the Druze heartland of southern Syria following factional fighting there.
The flare-up reportedly began with clashes between Bedouin and Druze groups that ended in scores killed.
The background to the escalation is complicated.
At least three Druze militia groups are divided in their loyalties to different religious leaders and differ over how they should respond to calls to assimilate into the new post-revolutionary Syria.
Druze from Syria and Israel protest on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Pic: AP
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Israel is becoming more and more involved in Syria’s internecine war and says it will remain there indefinitely “to protect our communities and thwart any threat”.
Its critics say Israel is operating a policy of divide and rule in Syria, weakening the fledgling government and creating a buffer zone to protect the border with the Golan Heights – originally Syrian territory that it has occupied and annexed for almost half a century.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has used airstrikes to destroy of much of Syria’s military capability weakening its ability to impose control on outlying regions. This makes it more not less likely Israel will have a volatile unstable state on its northern border.
Syrian security forces walk along a street in the southern Druze city of Sweida. Pic: Reuters
America and European powers have chosen to normalise relations with the new government in Damascus and lift sanctions.
In contrast Israel has occupied its territory, bombed its military and today hit one of its government buildings in the capital with an airstrike.
Since its crushing military campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, Israel has emerged as the unchallenged military power of the region.
There is however a limit to what blunt force can achieve alone. It requires diplomacy to achieve lasting gains and Israel’s repeated assaults on multiple neighbours combined with its relentless campaign in Gaza are winning it few friends in the region.
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