Dear LPG, 

I want to tell you about an email I received recently and which I believe makes a lot of sense.

The message reads…

Please do not watch any BBC channel on Friday 21st of June 2019 in protest that the government has withdrawn the funding for people aged 75 and over to have a free TV license; all this to claw back £700,000 for our pensioners. 

I am starting this and asking everyone to share the message and get it all over the country.

Let’s look after our pensioners. 

I hope that I am not the only reader who feels this to be yet another privilege which is being taken away from us because the government feel that they will get away with making money since we will not answer back.  The authorities keep telling us that they need money and forgetting that we, the consumers have been paying into a fund all our lives which was supposed to make our old age easier, but it seems that all the agreements that were made are being changed and in such a way that the only people who are losing out are the consumers that paid in the first place.

We paid into this, and lots of other funds, but all we ever hear about these days are the ways in which the government are going to take those services away from us and make us pay for them a second time. 

When first introduced in this country, the money generated by the television licence fees was supposed to be paid to make the BBC possible.  Every other television channel we have  pays for itself and while many of us find the advertisements irritating on those independent channels, they allow us to watch Freeview programmes without having to pay.  Paying for cable or satellite TV is something that we can choose, but the BBC continues to expect the public to fund what they do.

I have never quite understood why we are forced to pay for the privilege of having a video or DVD player either.  If we only have to pay to watch the BBC, as long as we don’t record their programs I believe that those who do not watch the BBC should not need to pay for the license at all.

Perhaps we need to ask the manufacturers if they can give us a choice of DVD and televisions that will block any viewing and recording of BBC programs.  Or perhaps we should campaign to have the BBC closed down.  There will always be some independent channel to replace the programs that they produce. 

And if they are getting all this money back, why are all the other license payers’ fees not being reduced down from the £154.50 that everyone who does, is expected to pay at the moment? I missed that aspect of this news story.

I never watch the BBC anyway, but strongly suggest that those who do  skip EastEnders for the one day and let the government know how we feel.

JW, Beckenham.

(►►►)   (►►►)