Quote Originally Posted by sidders View Post
As the original poster, I have been buoyed by most of the comment on this fred but there are two aspects of the fred that annoy me.
The first is that a number of posters - probably because of the title I gave - seem to have been distracted by the issue of punditry and whether or not it enhances MOTD.
Boris Johnson has stitched up the BBC by his appointments; Nadine Dorries is out to do the same with Channel 4. The men at the top of the BBC can now decide on what constitutes impartiality and whether you agree with Jackal 2 that there is no such thing as objectivity or not, that is a dangerous precedent to establish. For the party that has whinged incessantly about cancel culture it is an extraordinary act of hypocrisy. And honestly I would say the same if Labour had made this move.
Lineker said nothing about the holocaust but Braverman, a refugee herself, is implying that he has. Lineker did not use his BBC position as a vehicle for his views. Like most of us, he has a life outside his job and should be free to express his thoughts on a non-BBC medium. MAKE NO MISTAKE he shouts, this is a move in the direction of censorship and determining what people can say and think. Stand back and watch the row that's about to explode when the new Attenborough series hits the road.
The second characteristic of this fred has been some posters wanting to slag off Lineker. He's good at what he does and his failings are human ones. As I understand it, his tax issues have now been cleared up to HMRC's satisfaction.
Of course being a bit of a leftie, he has no right to accumulate wealth, does he? Despite the fact that he comes from modest working class roots, he has made a success of his life as a sportsman and a media performer. To have won the breadth of respect he has which has resulted in backing from the likes of Shearer, Wright, Jenas et al speaks volumes. I don't think it will bother him at all that a few anonymous footie supporters think he's rubbish.
What is also interesting is that in 2017 when Lineker tweeted 'Bin Corbyn' there wasn't even a murmur from the BBC in any capacity.

Surely that's a political statement? So why no backlash then?

Because the Beeb clearly have an agenda, and its ran by Tories.