England...WTF??

James331

James331

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James331
So I stumbled on this,

About 4 min in is where it starts to get interesting


So you need a TV license over there, aside from that being odd in itself, if the company THINKS you might have a TV plugged into the cable, they can search your home, even with zero evidence of a crime, zero suspicion, no tip, nothing!

And the police
"If you haven't committed a crime you have nothing to worry about"

And I always thought they were a civilized modern country, looks like something you'd expect in North Korea or China or something.

Anywho, I thought I'd post this, and there a TON of other videos about these BBC dudes randomly searching folks homes
 
I lived in London after college in '96 and this was a thing back then. One of my house mates answered the door and a govt agent fined him for not having a license. This was a rental house with 9 other people from all over coming and going. The landlord said don't show up at court not that my housemate planned on going. Why the fine didn't go against the land lord I have no idea.
 
That was pretty funny! He taunted them to get a warrant and then when they came back he was too dumb to have made sure the monitor wasn't displaying a TV show. He could have got away with it if he was showing a movie. Not the brightest guy and probably unemployed seeing he was watching TV during the day when the police came visiting.
 
GlennAB1 said:
Sure, nobody works nights....
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He must be a truck(lorry) driver doing the "to France and back" thing and is on strike until the immigrants are moved. Either that or he took the day off to watch the league cup match between Man United and Leicster city. That is considered a Holiday I would think
 
Oh yeah, it funds the BBC and in the old days you got a whopping 3 channels, 2 from the Beeb and one commercial channel.
Yes there were inspectors calling at your door but there were certain no-go areas where you knew the tv inspectors would not go, for fear of losing a knee cap or 2.

Don't start me on the poll tax.
 
it's odd, but that's how funding for the BBC works. since there is little to no commercials during a program.

If you really want to see somthing odd that we Americans would deem, "no big deal" look at news articles where a few rounds of ammunition have been left on the ground over there.
 
They have spy trucks that drive up and down the road looking for spurious RF from TVs. They match that up to the license database to find illegal users.

You need a license if you watch any live, recorded or online tv programs. This applies to any channel, website, or service. So if you have no TV, cable or OTA, but have a Ruku then you still need a license. This also implies any computer, DVD player, cell, etc.

The cost is about $300 for color tv or about $80 for b&w tv.

This cost covers the cost to operate the BBC.
 
midcap said:
it's odd, but that's how funding for the BBC works. since there is little to no commercials during a program.

If you really want to see somthing odd that we Americans would deem, "no big deal" look at news articles where a few rounds of ammunition have been left on the ground over there.
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It would be since guns and anything related to guns is tightly controlled, even the majority of the cops don't carry firearms, there are the exceptions like at airports or the armed response vehicles that are "fully" stocked and just drive about. In Ulster, all cops were armed due to the IRA threat, even owning ashotgun there required tons of paperwork

I love the 6 week election cycle over there, no prolonged BS.

PM question time is must watch TV, wish they had something similar here.
 
I like that the fines and all ended up being double just buying the darn license.
 
Scrabo said:
I love the 6 week election cycle over there, no prolonged BS.

PM question time is must watch TV, wish they had something similar here.
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It's also nice that their are very few if any commercials, especially on the BBC. Also a lot of commercials we are use to here are illegal in the UK. It is also illegal to do any type of product placement in a show. You have to warn the viewer if they will see an Ad.
 
ARFlyer said:
They have spy trucks that drive up and down the road looking for spurious RF from TVs. They match that up to the license database to find illegal users.

You need a license if you watch any live, recorded or online tv programs. This applies to any channel, website, or service. So if you have no TV, cable or OTA, but have a Ruku then you still need a license. This also implies any computer, DVD player, cell, etc.

The cost is about $300 for color tv or about $80 for b&w tv.

This cost covers the cost to operate the BBC.
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Perhaps some things shouldn't be funded at all. Especially by trying to force folks to pay

Great example

Little info on the Big Brother Corp



Funny how YouTube works, I always thought I liked the BBC, but after stumbling on all this stuff, not so much
 
ARFlyer said:
Also the Bedroom Tax. Which "taxes" you for every extra bedroom in your public house.
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That one actually makes sense... there were examples of large families waiting for public housing while a 3 bedroom house only had 1 or 2 living there. It's a encouragement to rightsize.
 
Scrabo said:
That one actually makes sense... there were examples of large families waiting for public housing while a 3 bedroom house only had 1 or 2 living there. It's a encouragement to rightsize.
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Makes sense especially since it's not your house to begin with.

I dislike houses that have useless rooms especially the McMansions type houses.
 
ARFlyer said:
Makes sense especially since it's not your house to begin with.

I dislike houses that have useless rooms especially the McMansions type houses.
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I imagine a public house is one owned by the government?
 
I'm different from James in that I love big cities and I'm willing to pay more to live in one, but like him I feel that all the stupid little taxes and rules are obnoxious.

Perhaps I need to just look at the overall cost of living in a given location and stop paying attention to all the little things that make up that number. Kind of like enjoying sausage without thinking too hard about how it's made. :)
 
ARFlyer said:
Makes sense especially since it's not your house to begin with.

I dislike houses that have useless rooms especially the McMansions type houses.
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And that's why Maggie introduced her poll tax.

UK version of property tax was based on the square footage of the property, hence McMansions owners would have to pay more. Poll tax was based on the number of people living there, hence a small 3 bedroom house with 5 or 6 people would pay more then a 20 bedroom mansion with only 2 people living there.
 
ARFlyer said:
It's also nice that their are very few if any commercials, especially on the BBC. Also a lot of commercials we are use to here are illegal in the UK. It is also illegal to do any type of product placement in a show. You have to warn the viewer if they will see an Ad.
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That seems rather silly. What is their rationale for that?
 
SkyDog58 said:
That seems rather silly. What is their rationale for that?
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You also can't bash your competitors.

You will also find many US stars doing commercials for foreign markets but not any US market.

You will however find more tv shows sponsored by brand names.
 
Scrabo said:
And that's why Maggie introduced her poll tax.

UK version of property tax was based on the square footage of the property, hence McMansions owners would have to pay more. Poll tax was based on the number of people living there, hence a small 3 bedroom house with 5 or 6 people would pay more then a 20 bedroom mansion with only 2 people living there.
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That does make sense in that with more people there is an increased likelihood that they would use more government services.
 
SkyDog58 said:
That does make sense in that with more people there is an increased likelihood that they would use more government services.
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Nothing to do,with it, she was looking after her big donors who owned massive estates - think Downton Abbey types...
 
Shepherd said:
England is a "guilty until proven innocent" judicial system.
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This is a bare faced lie. The amount of BS in this thread is as bad as journalists writing about aircraft accidents.
 
If I recall correctly, you didn't have the media circus for high profile court cases like you have here. Until the verdict was announced, no TV coverage. No OJ-style media frenzy.
 
James331 said:
And I always thought they were a civilized modern country, looks like something you'd expect in North Korea or China or something.

Anywho, I thought I'd post this, and there a TON of other videos about these BBC dudes randomly searching folks homes
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Are you f*kng kidding me? UK a "civilized modern country"?
My God. They are a stuck-in-their-1800's-ways left wing craphole, where even the slightest improvements to life quality are destroyed by unionized garbage they are so apt at. A country where it's fine to drink beer warm, have carpet in bathrooms, only heating available in the form of hot water bottles, and to wash your hands you need to figure out a way to mix water coming from two faucets on the opposite ends of the sink.

Should I tell how I really feel about that god-forsaken garbageland?

Then again, I do like the BBC nowadays, they produce, with a massive margin, the best scientific TV documentaries anywhere. No-one comes even close. I also like their other productions nowadays.

The TV License is just another tax, something they are very good at. But currently BBC uses that tax in an effective manner and produces very high quality productions, so I wouldn't complain about that.

The intrusion on privacy you see on the video, well, you clearly haven't been there much. That's just the beginning...
 
Witmo said:
If I recall correctly, you didn't have the media circus for high profile court cases like you have here. Until the verdict was announced, no TV coverage. No OJ-style media frenzy.
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Correct, no BS coverage with people like Nancy Grace camping outside.

Half my family are barristers and believe me, I have fun with them about wearing those stupid powdered wigs !!
 
How does this "TV Tax" work with poor people? If you can't afford the license, you can't watch TV and potentially not be informed? I actually respect the concept and yearn for the day when we can have advertising fee media content, but this system seems so flawed. What about competition? If you don't like the government supplied content and acquire other, you must still pay for the stuff you don't watch?

Oh well, not my fight. However I will give a great big thanks to the citizens of the UK for funding the BBC. I love loads of the shows they have done over the decades and they continue to be excellent. Thank You!
 
ARFlyer said:
The cost is about $300 for color tv or about $80 for b&w tv.

This cost covers the cost to operate the BBC.
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I would happily pay that to get commercial-free TV!
 
deonb said:
I would happily pay that to get commercial-free TV!
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This is what the u.s companies don't understand. People are turning off tv enmass right now just to have a chance to rid themselves of not only commercials but the agenda every channel, sports team and news agency is shoving down everyone's throats.
I watch zero USA sports teams and haven't for years, I can watch a better product from Europe and South America with no commercials and without hearing about politics, political correctness or whatever minority group is pushing their agenda that week. I watch almost zero USA based shows of any kind and none on television. The European television is fantastic with not only the acting but the content as well. Far superior to the crap we have to settle for here. The only exception coincidentally is pbs, they still have some great history, science and drama. nova and American experience are still well done.
 
Acrodustertoo said:
This is what the u.s companies don't understand. People are turning off tv enmass right now just to have a chance to rid themselves of not only commercials but the agenda every channel, sports team and news agency is shoving down everyone's throats.
I watch zero USA sports teams and haven't for years, I can watch a better product from Europe and South America with no commercials and without hearing about politics, political correctness or whatever minority group is pushing their agenda that week. I watch almost zero USA based shows of any kind and none on television. The European television is fantastic with not only the acting but the content as well. Far superior to the crap we have to settle for here. The only exception coincidentally is pbs, they still have some great history, science and drama. nova and American experience are still well done.
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Yup, pbs has no agenda....and I have a bridge to sell you.

But I do agree about some of the content. I have not watched network tv in a decade.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Yup, pbs has no agenda....
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Pbs has one helluva agenda! I get to minimize it by choosing what I watch. British dramas and mysteries are always good choices and nova/American experience are great if you steer clear from the tarnished subjects.

I used to listen to public radio, that has become unlistenable due to their extreme agenda laden content. I now tune into the CBC radio out of Regina. Much better and the content is nowhere like we have to hear locally.
 
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